A British drama directed by Alexander Korda, starring Paulette Goddard and Michael Wilding.
A politician sold classified papers long ago in order to become the rich and respectable man that he is now. A woman who knows about this tries to blackmail him into supporting her scheme that he previously disapproved of.
Boring and outdated. The plot did not hold my interest and I did not care about the characters. One thing to note is that one of the leading female characters was well on her way to developing saggy jowls (picture). The old technicolor style of video was actually kind of cool. The bright and oversaturated colors caught my eye initially. There was some sloppy audio editing with clicks everywhere and a very strange sound at one point. Overall, not what I like to watch. It now becomes clear why I had so much trouble finding anything from the Korda brothers' filmography. I turned it off at 44 minutes out of the hound and a half duration. In accordance with my turnoff policy, I rate this shit. DO NOT WATCH!
An American western musical comedy directed by William Witney, starring Roy Rogers and Andy Devine.
An author of cowboy novels visits a rural town where a border inspector is looking for silver smugglers and their mine. An English gentleman from Scotland Yard also visits, looking for a man who has changed his name.
This was actually a great movie. I think what stood out to me was good acting by well-portrayed characters. Speaking of characters, I've heard the sheriff's voice before. He's Andy Devine, Friar Tuck from Disney's Robin Hood (1973). The plot was a little on the complex side and because of time restraints, I had to restart 3 times to get through the whole duration. The video looked good in primitive color and the audio was alright. The musical numbers were few and far between, adding some extra style without wearing out their welcome. This is a keeper. I may be biased because of my preference for westerns and cartoon voice actors, but I rate this good. Recommended for those who want a good, clean western set in modern times.
An American comedy written, directed and produced by Preston Sturges, starring Harold Lloyd.
A man is fired from his job and given a pension. He meets a stranger on the street who is trying to borrow money from him. The stranger takes him to a bar where the bartender creates a special drink for the unemployed man. Upon becoming drunk, he accidentally wins money by betting on a horse race. He then blacks out and wakes up two days later with no memory of what happened.
The plot and characters definitely held my interest. There was always something going on. The audio and video were of the times and there was an editing mistake in the bar scene. I thought the comedy was actually funny, unlike most other comedic films. Another aspect that caught my attention was the character figuring out what he did the day before by what was going on in the present. It helped to make the plot more interesting. The tame lion was a really cool addition as well. I rate good. Watch it for the clean '40s humor.
An American mystery directed by Christy Cabanne, starring Bela Lugosi, George Zucco and Nat Pendleton.
A woman is on "The Table" in a morgue and the story of her death is told in flashback. She is living in a house with a doctor, his son, their security guard, maid and a guest magician who brings a dwarf/midget. There is talk of identifying folks in a picture and the soon-to-be-dead woman being kept in the house against her will.
This was Bela Lugosi's only color film and color is the only thing that differentiates it from his other films. The plot was slightly more complex, but at the same time quite boring. The large number of characters prevented any of them from being developed or gaining any depth. I believe that the rentacop wanting coffee was the deepest character with the most development. The audio and video were actually decent, with everything being relatively audible and visible. My opinion is that Bela played his type-cast role quite well, being the one trick pony that he was. I rate this bad. It would be a good idea to avoid watching this.
An American romantic musical comedy directed by Bud Pollard, Del Lord, Leslie Pearce and Mack Sennett, starring Bing Crosby.
Bing Crosby's career is shown by way of sections of films that he has been in.
This was utterly horrible. The audio was uneven, muffled and treble-biased. The video was unevenly too dark or too bright, but never correctly exposed. Plot and characters were not a priority besides Bing himself. The only positive thing about this was the 53 minute duration. I rate it bad and would strongly advise against viewing.
An American romantic comedy mystery directed by Elliott Nugent, starring Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Lon Chaney Jr. and Bing Crosby.
A timid photographer has an office next to that of a private eye detective. The detective leaves on business and a woman thinks that the photographer is the detective when she meets him in the office. The woman drags the photographer into a complex plot involving dangerous men.
I had to turn it off at an hour and 8 minutes because I couldn't watch another 20 minutes of this stupidity. The style and production were a little older looking than the '47 date, but there weren't any real technical mistakes in the film. The editing was good and the pacing kept things moving. I just got really tired of plot twists, the web of intrigue and the stupid, timid photographer being fooled by everyone he meets. An hour and 27 minutes is exceedingly long for me to pay attention to an old film of a genre that I dislike. I have to rate it shit because I turned it off.
An American comedy directed by Benjamin Stoloff, starring Kenny Delmar.
The wife of a loud man decides to run for senator in an election. Her political rivals induce her husband to run against her. When the husband looks like he will win, the politicians kidnap him.
That, I say, that is Foghorn Leghorn! In all actuality, it really is. Wikipedia cites the main character of this film as the inspiration for the cartoon character and the film character's name is Beauregard Claghorn. Most of the comedy in this film was situational, with some slapstick physical comedy thrown in. The plot and characters were communicated well and the pacing was quick enough to hold my attention. There isn't much room for filler in a film that is only an hour long, but the style left a little to be desired. The audio and video were on the prehistoric side, hurting the general production value. The song inspiring feats of strength from the character was my favorite aspect of the film. It was generally entertaining and I think it was presented as well as could be expected. I rate it adequate. You may want to watch this if you're interested in the origin of the cartoon character or if you just want to see a decent older movie.
An American adventure film produced and directed by Edward Finney, starring Robert Lowery.
A woman goes on a safari in Africa to search for her lost husband. The husband has entered into a romantic relationship with a woman who is the leader of a group there.
Yet another jungle crawl film. The plot and characters were clearly presented and easy to keep track of. The audio and video were pretty normal and standard for the time. The cook's stylized monologue stood out to me and there was a moment in which a spear is thrown and I thought I saw it impale a person (pictured), but it didn't. Standard standard, boring boring, whatever. I rate this poor for not being special in any way.
An American noir crime mystery film directed by William Berke.
After a car crash, a woman is rescued and relates the story that lead up to crashing the car. The story involves a district attorney, gangsters and corruption.
When not making the movie would have been a better decision than deciding to make it, that's bad. This was extremely dry and boring. The characters were not memorable, the plot was muddier than a swamp and the style was very utilitarian (not a compliment). The only part that caught my attention was the black piano player. They showed close shots of him playing and I think he may have actually been playing the music that you hear in that scene. If so, it's the only thing they did right in the whole film. They made a horrid movie and I hate it, but I watched the whole hour and three minutes. I rate it bad.
An American western written and directed by James Edward Grant, produced by and starring John Wayne.An injured gunslinger meets a farming family on his way to deliver a message. Once the message is sent, the gunslinger loses consciousness and is nursed back to health by the family. He sheds a little more blood of other men before things change drastically.John Wayne has not forgotten the face of his father (except for that time when he did a comedy). He's a real gunslinger in this film, say thankee. This may have been a partial inspiration for The Dark Tower, with characters referring to eachother as "thee". I was waiting for Andy, the robot to come marching onto the screen, but it didn't happen. Overall, the film was a little lack-luster and half-assed. It just wasn't very interesting. I'm rating it poor, but not with a vengeance.
A drama directed by Mitchell Leisen.A British spy in Germany before world war 2 has to pretend to be a gypsy in order to elude the German soldiers.The gypsy theme of this film has it's own quaint charm to it and there was a fight that looked very real. The whole story is told in a flashback when the man is questioned about his pierced ears. Otherwise, it was mediocre and mundane. I'm rating it o.k. for blending in with the crowd.
