What classics did you see last week? (3 Dec to 9 Dec 2017)
Dec 12, 2017 20:41:29 GMT
Doghouse6 and spiderwort like this
Post by Salzmank on Dec 12, 2017 20:41:29 GMT
OK, tryin’ to remember what I did see…
I saw Spider Man: Homecoming (2017), which was recommended to me largely because of Michael Keaton’s performance as a villain, and enjoyed it quite a bit…wrote some comments here.
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I finally got to see (thanks, TCM!) Lady on a Train, a whodunit (I certainly wouldn’t call it a “noir,” as I’ve seen it described) that I’ve wanted to see ever since Everson praised it in The Detective in Film (and I think it was recommended to me here, in the whodunits thread?) Lots of fun, and Deanna Durbin is as cute as a button. I guessed the murderer from the moment
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I also got to see another picture I’ve long wanted to watch, James Whale’s The Great Garrick, which was also lots of fun (and also featured Edward Everett Horton, amusingly enough). The story and camerawork are pure Whale; if the picture is never quite as funny as it thinks it is, it remains an enjoyable farce, Olivia de Havilland delivering a very sweet and sympathetic performance. (The Great Garrick himself, Brian Aherne, comes across as a bit of a popinjay, making the viewer almost sympathize with the efforts of the Comédie-Française to ridicule him!) The whole thing also features Whale’s ability to handle an ensemble cast; there are frequent similarities with Bride of Frankenstein, Remember Last Night?, Show Boat, and Man in the Iron Mask, especially in managing to be always theatrical but never stagey. Very good indeed.
I saw Spider Man: Homecoming (2017), which was recommended to me largely because of Michael Keaton’s performance as a villain, and enjoyed it quite a bit…wrote some comments here.
__________________________________________
I finally got to see (thanks, TCM!) Lady on a Train, a whodunit (I certainly wouldn’t call it a “noir,” as I’ve seen it described) that I’ve wanted to see ever since Everson praised it in The Detective in Film (and I think it was recommended to me here, in the whodunits thread?) Lots of fun, and Deanna Durbin is as cute as a button. I guessed the murderer from the moment
his
name appeared in the credits, but that’s no real flaw: it’s fast-paced and entertaining, with some great set pieces (the Circus Club, recalling the West Indies Club in Another Thin Man). Oh, and it’s set at Christmastime! My one real criticisms were its underuse of the great Edward Everett Horton, funny (as always) and welcome though he is, and its doubtlessly-required-by-producers lulls for Miss Durbin to sing (her rendition of “Silent Night” is beautiful, but the other songs only serve to stop the film in its tracks). Ah, and the story was written by Saint creator Leslie Charteris (and borrowed wholesale [stolen?] by Agatha Christie for 4.50 from Paddington). ___________________________________
I also got to see another picture I’ve long wanted to watch, James Whale’s The Great Garrick, which was also lots of fun (and also featured Edward Everett Horton, amusingly enough). The story and camerawork are pure Whale; if the picture is never quite as funny as it thinks it is, it remains an enjoyable farce, Olivia de Havilland delivering a very sweet and sympathetic performance. (The Great Garrick himself, Brian Aherne, comes across as a bit of a popinjay, making the viewer almost sympathize with the efforts of the Comédie-Française to ridicule him!) The whole thing also features Whale’s ability to handle an ensemble cast; there are frequent similarities with Bride of Frankenstein, Remember Last Night?, Show Boat, and Man in the Iron Mask, especially in managing to be always theatrical but never stagey. Very good indeed.