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Post by louise on Nov 27, 2023 13:35:38 GMT
We’re Not Married (1952). Fairly amusing comedy about five couples who find out they are not legally married,and how they deal with it. Ginger Rogers and Steve Allen particularly good as two radio stars who play a happily married couple on the radio but can’t stand each other in real life.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Nov 28, 2023 13:32:52 GMT
Cast a Dark Shadow (1955)
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Nov 29, 2023 17:08:17 GMT
Kiss of Death (1947)
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Post by Prime etc. on Nov 30, 2023 6:40:47 GMT
THE SEVEN-UPS - 1973 -Is there such a thing as 70s noir? This film certainly would qualify. Made by the producer of the French Connection and starring Roy Scheider--it really feels like a relative of that film but the story is more deep and sinister. There's something really creepy about it--the musical score is unnerving--and especially during scenes in a car wash. I find car washes to be unsettling actually but this movie makes them very unnerving. Scheider runs an undercover unit that uses dirty tactics to catch crooks and he has a childhood friend in the mafia who gives him information so he can make his busts. Unknown to Scheider, his friend is using the information he gets from him to arrange kidnappings of mafia figures so he can extort money from them, using the pretense of a police arrest (Richard Lynch plays one of the fake cops).
I forget a lot of the movie after I see it (much like what happened with the French Connection) but the story is superior in depth. The standard "cop has friend who is a criminal" plot is turned upside down since Scheider is a nasty person who will even stoop to torture a dying patient to get information he wants. Typical 1970s cop is bad guy theme but it is handled so skillfully it doesn't feel repetitive or preachy.
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Post by louise on Nov 30, 2023 13:43:34 GMT
Picnic (1955). William Holden is a drifter who arrives in a small town on the day of the town picnic. He meets up with an old friend who he hopes might give him a job, but unfortunately falls for old friend’s girlfriend (Kim Novak). Various people are affected by his presence, including Rosalind Russell in a wildly over the top performance as a frustrated spinster desperate to get married.Quite entertaining drama.
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Post by louise on Nov 30, 2023 19:27:53 GMT
Mr Roberts (1955). Henry Fonda is Mr Roberts, an officer on a cargo ship in the Pacific in 1945. He is desperate to take an active part in the war before it is over. James Cagney is very good in the unsympathetic part of the Captain, who is selfish,petty and spiteful. He and Henry Fonda are at loggerheads throughout the film. William Powell is charming in his last film role as the ship’s doctor, and Jack Lemmon provides some comic relief. Quite an interesting drama.
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Post by Prime etc. on Dec 2, 2023 7:13:45 GMT
KILLER MCCOY 1947 - Mickey Rooney is very effective as a lightweight boxer who gets into the profession through a boxing mentor who he accidentally kills in the ring. He then gets involved with the daughter of a racketeer in what is a tearjerker melodrama but it still got to me on second viewing. The "Swanee River" song and dance by Stanley Donen is a particular highlight.
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Post by louise on Dec 2, 2023 11:38:04 GMT
The Wackiest Ship in the Army (1960). In the far east in 1943, Jack Lemon is a naval captain who is dismayed to find his new command is a sailing yacht, destined for a special mission. He is an experienced yachtsman and is expected to train a crew who know nothing about sailing. Very entertaining comedy-drama based on a true story.
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Post by Prime etc. on Dec 3, 2023 8:00:12 GMT
COP IN BLUE JEANS - 1976 - Tomas Milian's signature role. I had not seen it before. Was a series of movies about a cop with a pet mouse named Serpico. Jack Palance gets kicked between the legs.
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Post by louise on Dec 3, 2023 14:54:27 GMT
St Martin’s Lane (1938). Charles Laughton plays the leader of a group of buskers (street entertainers) who perform for London theatre queues. He meets a young girl (Vivian Leigh) who he recognises has talent, and she joins their group. Then she meets a successful actor, Rex Harrison, who becomes intrigued by her, and he and Charles Laughton become rivals for her affections. This is a charming comedy-drama, with Charles Laughton, Vivienne Leigh, and Rex Harrison all on top form.
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Post by louise on Dec 4, 2023 14:17:46 GMT
Midnight Lace (1960). Doris Day is an American heiress who has recently married suave British businessman Rex Harrison, and finds herself being menaced by a sinister stalker who makes threatening phone calls to her. Unfortunately,nobody but her ever hears the stalker’s voice, and there is a suspicion that she might be imagining the whole thing, even her kindly auntie (Myrna Loy) isn’t sure. Doris Day gives a very convincing performance as a woman being driven mad by fear and suspicion.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Dec 5, 2023 6:12:05 GMT
The Frightened City (1961) Tough as nails, yet talky British crime feature with a solid Sean Connery performance. First hired by a newly formed crime syndicate as an enforcer, eventually Paddy Damion is double crossed by his employer, foreign love interest and the law is hot on his tail to testify against them. However he decides to settle the scores… his way.
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Post by louise on Dec 5, 2023 13:12:28 GMT
Poet’s Pub (1949). Derek Bomd is an unsuccessful poet who takes to running a pub in this whimsical comedy. There’s a valuable ring that several villains are after, James Robertson Justicea as the gruff critic whose daughter Bond falls in love with, and Joyce Grenfell as an eccentric lady putting on an Elizabethan masque. Mildly amusing.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Dec 5, 2023 15:19:56 GMT
Marked Woman (1937)
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Post by louise on Dec 5, 2023 16:54:35 GMT
Lloyds of London (1936). Period drama which begins in 1770 in Norfolk with a young poor boy called Jonathan (Freddie Bartholomew) who with his friend young Horatio Nelson uncovers some skullduggery involving insurance fraud, and walks to London to let them know at Lloyd’s Coffee House. The grateful management give him a job and presently he grows up to be Tyrone Power and a successful insurance man. Then there’s more skullduggery and George sanders arrives to be the villain and Madeleine Carol to be the love interest and the Napoleonic wars start and George sanders gets more and more villainous and it is all quite entertaining.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Dec 6, 2023 21:35:58 GMT
The Mistletoe Promise (2016) - TV Movie.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Dec 8, 2023 11:42:16 GMT
Dick Tracy (1990)
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Post by louise on Dec 8, 2023 15:24:24 GMT
Home Sweet Homicide (1946). Lynn Bari is a widow who writes mystery novels. Her three children (Peggy Ann Garner, Connie Marshall and Dean Stockwell) want her to marry again so she won’t be lonely when they grow up and leave home. When a real life murder occurs next door they set out to help their mother solve the crime, and also to get her married to the police inspector (Randolph Scott) who investigates, assisted by his gruff sergeant(James Gleason). Very amusing comedy mystery.
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Post by Prime etc. on Dec 10, 2023 6:49:59 GMT
PRINCE OF THE CITY 1981 - Wanted to get this in ever since Treat Williams passed away earlier this year. Heard of it but never saw it or knew anything about it. So I sacrificed an Ironside and Columbo rerun to watch this. I think I would have enjoyed the tv shows more. I had a better reaction to the Hill, The Offense, and Serpico as far as Lumet films go. This felt really overwrought in some places-especially Williams-- he was too unhinged emotionally for me to be able to stay locked into the film. It felt like a parody at times--this one scene that stands out is where his cop colleague gets news that a second member of their team committed suicide and he calmly goes into the backyard and screams. Then one of the Feds watching is so disturbed he says he will never work with cops again. As far as police information movies go-I would rather revisit Donnie Brasco than this. And if I want a Treat Williams movie--it is Deep Rising for me!
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Dec 10, 2023 16:36:09 GMT
Scarface (1932)
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