Showing posts with label comedy-drama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comedy-drama. Show all posts
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| Ida Lupino and Monty Woolley |
"On the stage you're still a god. Off, you're still a hairy monster."
Kathy Thomas is a lame young lady who lives and cares for her actor father, Madden Thomas (Monty Woolley), an irascible chap who is rather too fond of his liquor. Madden figures that he's all washed up in the theater, but he's offered a job by a neighbor, composer Robert Carter (Cornel Wilde), and then has a chance to star in a new production of "King Lear." But will he muff his chances for success with his usual self-destructiveness, and will his selfless daughter wind up an unloved spinster caring for her father for the rest of his life? Life Begins at Eight-Thirty doesn't dodge the tough questions about being a caregiver, especially for someone you love but find exasperating, and also ponders how much of a person's life they should give up for another's. [Of course, Madden is not exactly ready for a nursing home.] The worst dialogue is given to Wilde, who's quite stiff as Robert and offers one of the least romantic proposals ever seen on film. Lupino and Woolley are excellent, but the picture is nearly stolen by Sara Allgood, perennial supporting player, who has one of her best and longest roles as Robert's wealthy aunt, who has been carrying a torch for Madden for many years.
Verdict: Entertaining comedy-drama with equal parts cliche and insight. ***.
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| Sherwood (Otto Kruger) is in love with Letty (Madge Evans) |
BEAUTY FOR SALE (1933). Director: Richard Boleslawski.
"If he gives you a hat in only an hour imagine what he can do in three weeks."
Letty (Madge Evans) takes a room with the Merrick family, which consists of the mother (May Robson), her daughter Carol (Una Merkel), and son Bill (Eddie Nugent), who's stuck on Letty. Carol helps Letty get a job at the beauty parlor where she works, which is lorded over by the dragon-like Sonia (Hedda Hopper). Unlucky in love, Carol is keeping company with a wealthy, much older man named Freddy (Charley Grapewin). Their fellow employee, Jane (Florine McKinney), is having a secret relationship with Sonia's son, Burt (Phillips Holmes). Letty falls in love with a Mr. Sherwood (Otto Kruger), who happens to be married to one of the beauty spa's customers, the flighty and affected Henrietta (Alice Brady). Will any of these women find happiness? Well, maybe ... Beauty for Sale is a highly engaging comedy-drama with a very appealing lead performance by the luminescent Evans and excellent supporting performances from Merkel, McKinney, Brady and Kruger; the others, such as Hopper, are also well-cast. The movie blends its laughs [all the funny gossiping that goes on at the beauty parlor] and tragic moments expertly, and is well-directed by Boleslawski, who often favors extreme close-ups at tilted angles. There's a nice bit when a bathroom door slowly closes on the huddled figure of Jane after she gets some shattering news. Isabel Jewell [The Seventh Victim] is very sharp and saucy as the receptionist, Hortense, and Nugent scores as the likable but sadly immature Bill, who nearly drives Letty crazy [his mistreatment at her hands is sort of glossed over]. Boleslawski also directed the interesting Storm at Daybreak and Les Miserables.
Verdict: Minor classic is well worth the watching. ***.
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| Robert Hooks and Lynn Redgrave |
"Go home with you? -- but I don't even know you." -- Myrtle
Myrtle Kane (Lynn Redgrave), who once belonged to a group called the "Mobile Hot Shots," gets a stranger, Jeb Thornton (James Coburn), to pretend he's engaged to her so they can win some prizes on a local game show. Unfortunately, the host also wants to marry them on the program. Jeb takes Myrtle back to his dilapidated plantation, Waverly, where he lives with his black half-brother, "Chicken" (Robert Hooks). The dying Jeb agreed that Chicken would have the plantation after his death if he helped him work it, and signed a paper to that effect, but now he sends Myrtle out to get back the paper by any means possible. But Chicken knows something that may make all of Jeb's manipulations unnecessary. Loosely based on Tennessee Williams' play "The Seven Descents of Myrtle," it's a wonder why anyone thought Mobile Hot Shots would make a good movie. Everyone is miscast, and Lumet is certainly the wrong director. The movie can't seem to make up its mind if it's a comedy or not -- there are a couple of chuckles, but that's it, and the final revelation is a pip -- but its biggest failing is that with all that's going on it's still a bore [even a climactic flood doesn't help much]. Redgrave seems to be channeling Geraldine Page in Sweet Bird of Youth (although her character is completely different), but she makes one of the the least convincing Williams' heroines ever. Coburn makes some effort but gets nowhere, and Hooks comes off best, but in this movie that's not saying much. Still it's hard to play Williams just right, and mediocre Williams is even harder. Gore Vidal's screenplay at one point seems to hint at homosexual incest, but as it comes out of nowhere and is unconvincing anyway, it was probably just to set up a quick, dumb gag late in the movie. The premise of the picture is intriguing but the development is just dismal. With Hooks playing a character who denies his being black, one would have to say Hot Shots is horribly dated as well. [If one wonders why anyone would want to own a property like Waverly in the first place, all I can say is real estate!]
Verdict: This should just be washed away with the flood. *1/2.
Dr. Travis (Richard Gere with a white-haired dye job) is a Dallas gynecologist with an exclusive clientele. His wife Kate (Farrah Fawcett) has a public meltdown -- she takes off all of her clothing and steps into a fountain -- and winds up institutionalized, after which he embarks on an affair with new golf club employee, Bree (Helen Hunt of Empire Falls). Meanwhile his family and patients are bothering him with an assortment of problems: nurse Carolyn (Shelley Long) is secretly in love with Dr. T, and his daughter, Dee Dee (Kate Hudson of The Skeleton Key), has invited her former female lover (Liv Tyler) to her wedding (to a man) as maid of honor; Dee Dee's sister thinks the marriage is a mistake, for obvious reasons. [Bree has a supposedly open-minded but pretty stupid reaction to this whole rather contrived business.] Other cast members include Lee Grant as a shrink; Andy Richter, who makes no impression, as a buddy; Janine Turner as a neurotic patient; and Laura Dern. In its treatment of the lesbian couple the movie strikes some liberated, if awkward, sparks, but somehow it still seems old-fashioned and unsatisfying, although it's more watchable than a lot of Altman's[Popeye] movies. One interesting sequence graphically shows the miracle of child birth.
Verdict: Typically rambling and unfocused Altman with some good scenes and okay acting. **1/2.
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| Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn |
Doris (Ellen Burstyn) and George (Alan Alda) are dining alone in a restaurant at a country inn, when they decide to have dinner together, leading into a one-night stand. Both of them are happily married with children, but decide to meet again at the same inn the following year. In five year increments, the movie shows them meeting up each year for a romantic weekend, telling each other both good and bad stories about their spouses, and changing with the times and as they grow older, suffering losses but remaining in love. Same Time, Next Year is entertaining but it never quite recovers from its highly contrived and theatrical premise, which probably worked much better on the stage. The performances are okay -- sitcom star Alda [The Mephisto Waltz] seems perfect for what is, in effect, a two hour sitcom, but Burstyn [The Wicker Man] completely lacks a finely-honed comedic gift, tossing off lines that might have been funnier had her timing and delivery been better. One foolish sequence has Doris showing up for one rendezvous when she's eight months pregnant. Some nice moments, but it probably should have been done as a TV special and not a theatrical movie. A basic problem with the whole concept is that it would be hard for two people to grow that close when they only see each other one weekend out of the year. Robert Mulligan also directed To Kill a Mockingbird and many others.
Verdict: Pleasant enough but very small-scale. **1/2.
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| "Do you come here often?" Kane Richmond; Johnston White |
Grandpa Sanford (Burr Caruth) is delighted to learn that he has a winning ticket in the Irish sweepstakes, but concerned to discover that his number is associated with another person's name. Grandpa has, unfortunately, been sold a phony ticket, and when the crooks try to get it back from him they give him a fatal heart attack. Reporter Joe MacIntire (Kane Richmond) suspects nightclub owner Tony Franco (Harry Worth) of being behind the phony ticket racket, but Sanford's grandson, Mike (Frankie Darro) and his sister Gloria (Phyllis Fraser), both of whom work for Franco, don't want to believe their benefactor could be such a skunk. Johnston White plays a drunk in the nightclub who gives Joe pause when he asks him if "he comes here often" and has quite a few tricks up his sleeve. Franco reports to a sinister unseen figure who gives him his orders, and has a jealous girlfriend, Myra (Betty Burgess), whom Joe happily romances for info, although Gloria is his girl. The actors give their all to this B material, with Darro his usual effervescent self, and Burgess especially snappy and attractive. Richmond is as handsome and stalwart as ever and White is terrific. Burgess had presence, looks, and talent but she only made five pictures.
Verdict: Minor but has a few surprises. **1/2.
Dick Wallace (John Wayne) is a good-natured, girl-happy playboy addicted to gals, parties and late nights. His grumpy father (Reginald Barlow) takes him into his firm but fires him on the first day when he fails to collect money owed by a minister. It seems the cleric uses his funds to help the poor -- and he happens to have a pretty daughter, Marion (Evalyn Knapp). Dick and Marion get married, but the elder Wallace wants nothing to do with them. Marion gets a job as the old man's private secretary and uses it to ingratiate herself with him, but a bigger problem may be Dick's old girlfriend, the slinky and conniving Polly (Natalie Kingston). His Private Secretary isn't as interesting as it sounds, but the likable characters and players help a lot. There's a nice scene when kindly Marion intercedes when Wallace fires dyspeptic employee, Mr. Little (Arthur Hoyt), even though he wasn't all that nice to her. Wayne [Legend of the Lost], Knapp and the others all give very good performances. Knapp starred in the sound-remake of the serial The Perils of Pauline the same year.
Verdict: Minor comedy-drama with very pleasant cast. **.
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| Matt Damon and Michael Douglas |
There seems to be no way around the fact that popular entertainer Liberace (Michael Douglas) was a big, flamboyant, outrageous gay stereotype, and this telefilm makes no attempt to get around it. It is also based on the book by Liberace's [ex] lover Scott Thorson (Matt Damon), so really has to be taken with a grain of salt. Thorson appears to be a type of [supposedly bisexual] hustler who moves in on Liberace even as Liberace moves in on him -- and suggests he move in with him. The movie suggests that the promiscuous entertainer eventually wanted to replace Thorson with a younger model, making him little different from a lot of straight guys. The one thing the telefilm has going for it is the acting, with Douglas [The China Syndrome] giving an outstanding performance that almost makes Liberace likable, and Matt Damon [The Departed] is not far behind him. Rob Lowe is also quite good as the shady "feelgood" Dr. Startz. Dan Ackroyd and Cheyenne Jackson [The Most Happy Fella] also have significant roles, and Debbie Reynolds is fine as Liberace's mother. Soderbergh also directed Douglas in Traffic.
Verdict: It's well-acted and certainly holds your attention, even if it often comes off like a gay dirty joke. ***.
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| Stephen McNally and Linda Darnell |
Evelyn Warren (Linda Darnell), an unmarried teacher who's sick of the men who want her just to be a mother to their children, has just won a "Teacher of the Year" award. She goes off to Nevada for a vacation and tries her hand at gambling, not realizing that the chips she's playing with are each worth $100 instead of a buck. Before long she's in the hole for $7000! Fortunately, the manager, Matt Braddock (Stephen McNally) offers her a chance to pay the money off by temporarily becoming a companion and tutor to his young daughter, Diana (Gigi Perreau). But still Evelyn won't let go of her dislike for Matthew, although things may be percolating behind her unpleasant demeanor. The Lady Pays Off is a contrived comedy-drama with good performances from the three leads, as well as good support from Ann Codee as the housekeeper, Virginia Field [Dial 1119] as Matt's old girlfriend, Kay, and especially Nestor Paiva [Mr. Reckless], who is a riot as a crazy captain of a fishing boat. The ending is completely unconvincing. McNally also played a pit boss in the superior The Lady Gambles with Barbara Stanwyck.
Verdict: Easy to take if instantly forgettable. **1/2.
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| Cate Blanchette |
BLUE JASMINE (2013). Writer/Director: Woody Allen.
Jasmine (Cate Blanchette) once had a successful husband, Hal (Alec Baldwin of The Departed), a great life in New York, plenty of money, and pretty much never let her sister, Ginger (Sally Hawkins), whom she finds declasse, forget it. But now her husband is a jail suicide, her life is in tatters, she's flat broke, and her stepson, Danny (Alden Ehreinreich), won't even talk to her. Who does Jasmine turn to, but Ginger in San Francisco, with whom she moves in, continuing their love/dislike relationship. Flashbacks show Jasmine's former life, and reveal that Ginger's ex-husband, Augie (Andrew Dice Clay), who invested with crooked Hal and lost all of his money, still believes that Jasmine knew everything the man was up to. Ginger has a boyfriend, Chili (Bobby Cannavale), but enters into an affair with Al (Louis C.K.), who turns out to be married, while Jasmine fights off advances by her dentist employer, and meets a great guy in widower Dwight (Peter Sarsgaard of Green Lantern), only to have ... well, that would be telling. Blue Jasmine is Woody Allen's [Shadows and Fog] best movie in years, a totally absorbing comedy-drama with expert thesping, a great cast, and a totally winning lead performance from Blanchette, who manages to make Jasmine sympathetic in spite of everything. The movie examines how we can love people we may not otherwise respect or approve of, and looks at how lives can go completely awry without any warning, especially when it comes to people left behind when their loved one is convicted of various malfeasances. Blanchette won a completely deserved best actress Oscar, as well as several other best actress awards.
Verdict: Near-perfect with a fantastic Blanchette. ***1/2.
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| Mickey Rooney and Lewis Stone |
When Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) discovers that an elderly couple may lose their home, he enlists son Andy (Mickey Rooney) in a search for their daughter, who might be able to help. Andy enjoys looking for the lady as it brings him into contact with several nubile schoolgirls: eternally giggling Euphrasia (June Preisser): the oh-so-Southern Clarabelle Lee (Margaret Early); and the attractive, unhappy Elvie (Martha O'Driscoll of Li'l Abner), who pretends to be 14-years-old but is actually much older. In a sub-plot Mrs. Hardy (Fay Holden) develops pneumonia and is placed in an oxygen tank by interne Jack Mulhall. One of the film's highlights is Andy's well-written and well-acted talk with his sister, Marian (Cecelia Parker). Judge Hardy and Son is a very entertaining comedy-drama that boasts an interesting story with some novel twists, fine acting and an outstanding performance from Rooney. The religiosity of the piece never quite gets out of hand. Marie Blake/Blossom Rock plays housekeeper Augusta, and Maria Ouspenskaya is one half of the elderly couple. Ann Rutherford is on hand as Andy's ever- jealous girlfriend, outraged as usual when she sees other girls' lipstick on his pan.
Verdict: One of the better Hardy Family entries from MGM. ***.
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| Impossibly young Three Stooges in a party scene |
Joe Gimlet (Lee Tracy of Dinner at Eight) owns a drug store with his wife, Mary (Mae Clarke of Waterloo Bridge), and the two are getting by, but Joe reviews his status in life when he meets up with old friend, Ted (Otto Kruger), who married wealthy Elvina (Peggy Shannon). Ted wants to invest the Gimlets' life savings for them, but Mary is understandably wary. Getting drunk, Joe wanders off, gets hit by a car, and wakes up twenty years in the past. Now he can do his life over and marry Elvina instead of Mary, giving him all of Ted's wealth and power. Nice guy, huh? The fact that Joe is a jerk (although he does do some nice things) is one of the movie's main problems, as is the fact that Joe is played by borderline shrill Lee Tracy, who gives a good performance but is also as slick and somehow irritating as ever. Turn Back the Clock has a great idea but it becomes increasingly ridiculous, with a predictable wind-up. The Three Stooges appear as wedding singers in one scene and almost look like children. Clarke, Shannon and Kruger give very good performances, and the film is fast-paced and has a few directorial flourishes as well. Because of a similar time travel element, Repeat Performance has always been seen as a remake of this picture, but the plots are so different that that really isn't the case. Oddly, when Turn Back the Clock was remade as a telefilm with Connie Selleca, it used the plot of Repeat Performance instead.
Verdict: Nice idea; mediocre execution. **1/2.
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| Wilcox, Davenport and Kent at the parade |
YOUNG FUGITIVES (1938). Director: John Rawlins.
"You got enough money there to get so educated you won't have a brain in your head."
After the death of his old buddy, Tom (Tom Ricketts), Joel Bentham (Harry Davenport of Son of Fury) is the last surviving Civil War veteran in his southern town. He is given a check for $50,000 and moves into Tom's farm with his buddy, Benjie (Clem Bevans of Gold Raiders). The two men sort of adopt a young female "bum" named Meg (Dorothea Kent), and then Tom's grandson Ray (Robert Wilcox) comes along and also moves in. But Meg, who is attracted to him, wonders if he really wants the simple life, or is he chiefly interested in old Joel's $50,000? The performances are good -- the always reliable Davenport has a good scene when he thinks of the war, the past, and all the dead young men -- but the movie is contrived and a bit on the dull side. Wilcox and Kent make an appealing couple. Mira McKinney scores as the landlady, Letty, as does Mary Treen as Joel's friend, Kathy. John Rawlins directed everything from cliffhanger serials to Sherlock Holmes movies to Dick Tracy features such as Dick Tracy's Dilemma.
Verdict: Some nice moments, but nothing special here. **.
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| Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes |
A man with the unlikely moniker of Joe Miracle (Glenn Ford) returns from service and discovers that hoods have taken over his nightclub and murdered his partner. We never actually see Miracle learning about this -- we're introduced to him after he steals money (his money rightfully, he feels) from the nightclub safe and is on the run from the police. He eventually winds up befriended by a do-gooder named Jenny Jones (Evelyn Keyes), who works for a settlement house where there are numerous cute youngsters and the comparatively stern but warm-hearted Mrs. Hangale (Beulah Bondi), not to mention a handyman played by Percy Kilbride (The Egg and I). John Ireland (Raw Deal) is cast against type as a bespectacled reporter who wants to get info from Miracle. The trouble with Mr. Soft Touch is that it tries for equal amounts of sentiment, comedy, and action, but these elements simply never jell. Ford's character is so unlikable for the most part that the actor gives one of his few charmless performances. Keyes and Bondi come off better, but the movie just doesn't work, and you find yourself not only not caring for anyone but even for what happens. It seems to take forever to just end.
Verdict: A misfire on virtually all levels, deservedly forgotten. **.