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Reviews
Great Performances: Talking With (1995)
Well geez...
I had no idea that there was a television version of this... this. As one can guess, I haven't seen it, but I did perform in it a while back. I was the washed-up rodeo cowgirl, as Kenn-15 so eloquently put it. And as there are no comments, I feel it my duty to tell what I know.
The monologues... are fairly bad, and, though I'm not really a feminist, I was relieved to find out that Jane Martin isn't a woman. I, as well as most anyone else, trust all of the actresses on the cast list.
So, at least the acting will be good. PS- Talking with reminds me a lot of Working. So if you like that kind of thing, you'll probably like this.
Panama Hattie (1942)
Better Than Expected
I felt it my patriotic duty to write a comment, since this movie was commentless. So... A little background: I'm a big fan of Cole Porter, Ann Sothern, musicals, and 40's movies, and had been wanting to see this film for a while before I actually saw it this afternoon. Coming into it, though, I had my qualms. I saw another 30's Cole Porter musical turned into 40's movie, Dubarry Was a Lady. It was so horrible that I almost cried. Most of Porter's original songs had been scrapped for non-Porter crap songs. Lucille Ball's voice was dubbed. Red Skelton was an idiot. But... this is not a forum for how horrible Dubarry Was a Lady was. So, I entered with trepidation the world of Panama Hattie to realise that the script was quite witty, full of sight gags, yes, but tasteful sight gags, the non-Porter songs were not crap, Ann Sothern is a competent vocalist(Nothing compared to Merman, who originated the part, but really, who is anything compared to Merman?), and Lena Horne's in it. Any movie with two Lena Horne numbers is worth watching simply for Lena Horne. But, I suggest watching this movie for more than just Lena Horne. While she is the best songstress of the bunch, Virginia O'Brian is rather fun to watch with her deadpan singing. She was quite famous for that, as I vaguely recall watching a short of her doing a lavish production number with Jimmy Durante or someone similar. I found Red Skelton, whom I so loathed in Dubarry Was a Lady, to be extremely likeable, along with his sailor buddies. Rags Ragland was the funniest of the three, but I came away wanting to marry Ben Blue. Dan Dailey was also fun to see, but I thought it was very odd that he didn't get a musical number. Anyway, the plot is slim to none, but the movie really wasn't about plot, it was about fun and peddling war bonds.
Should Ladies Behave (1933)
Not bad... Not that great either.
I caught this on a Sunday on TCM. They were showcasing films of the great Lionel Barrymore. It didn't do very well at the box office, perhaps because it wasn't dirty enough to compete with the simultaneously released Mae West film, "She Done Him Wrong." Nevertheless, the action of the former took place at the hands of a rather dysfunctional but high class Connecticut family. It seems that when the matriarch married the patriarch, she was young, beautiful, and vivacious and he was older, dashing, and had more money than brains. He was in love with her, she was in love with another man, and the whole marriage started off on the wrong foot. Their daughter falls in love with a similarly endowed older man, whom the mother remembers as her former lover, who is now dating her thrice-married sister. It's sort of confusing to tell about, but a funny movie in most respects. I personally believe that "The Women" is better, but that's only because I really like "The Women." Another very good film to see, if you like this sort of awkward love triangle thing is "When Ladies Meet," starring Greer Garson, Joan Crawford and Robert Taylor, I believe.
Sons o' Guns (1936)
... Not too bad, not too good. FAKE FRENCH ACCENTS MAKE ME HAPPY!
Well, Sons o' Guns was on TCM this afternoon. Being a lazy bum, having nothing better to do, and being a rather big fan of Joan Blondell, I reclined on the sofa and watched it. I missed the first five minutes and a couple minutes here and there, but the gist is this: Joe E Brown is a somewhat bumbling private who ends up first being in a lot of trouble and then becoming a big hero. The accents were fairly bad. Most notably Joan Blondell's French one and various of the Germans'. When Mr. Brown, in the movie Dzzeemee (That, of course, is Jimmy in Joan Blondell French), did accents they were ok. The singing and dancing numbers left something to be desired, but on the whole it was a charming film. I don't necessarily reccomend it, but it was charming none the less. I give it a 5 out of 10. I have the feeling it would have been better if Busby Berkely would have been involved, but really, I don't know a lot of musicals that I couldn't say the same thing for.
The Sailor Takes a Wife (1945)
I'm the First to Comment On Something!!!! Warning: The Spoilers with Marlene Dietrich was on today... Wait a second...
I saw "The Sailor Takes a Wife" on TCM just this afternoon. I didn't think it was particularly good or bad, it's just that it didn't have a comment and I've been waiting for the chance to be the first to comment. Well, the basic premise of the movie is simple. Mary (June what's her face that was in the so-called "musical" remake of "The Women" which had a non singing or dancing Ann Miller and an eternally pregnant Menopausal Joan Blondell) works in a canteen during the war. She falls in love with John (Robert, the soldier from "Since You Went Away" and Bruno in "Strangers on a Train" Walker), whom is a sailor. (Is "whom" the correct word?) Anyway... Mary divulges that she could never fall in love with someone not in uniform and they get married. Mary rents an apartment, thinking hubby will be back for the weekend. He returns early however, as he is booted from the Navy because of an injury, leaving him home and a civilian. They have a series of quarrels and misunderstandings, mostly involving her old flame, nay ember, and the foreign woman on the 3rd floor. All in all, a good movie to watch when very bored or late at night or when you've already seen the Montel Williams show that's on.