a superior melvyn leroy film from the 30s. this is notable for a). claude rains donning a southern accent and b). lana turner's first onscreen role. if its amazing how much charisma and screen appeal she had when she was 15. turner's character is killed and a murder mystery develops in a small southern town. good film with solid performances
the claude rains-athon continues! this michael curtiz director film from the 40s stars humphrey bogart, peter lorre, and syndey greenstreet alongside rains. for film buffs, you will note that this the core that made up casablanca, curtiz's legendary film made the year earlier. aside from the cinematic interest of seeing this reteaming, the film is told in flashback...in a flashback...in a flashback. its not a great movie, but an interesting watch overall. also, as an interesting aside, this film stars michelle morgan, the french actress that curtiz originally watched cast in casablanca for the role that went to ingrid bergman. morgan turned the role because she wasnt offered enough money
the last film in my claude rains-a-thon also stars robert mitchum and mauren o'sullivan. this is an excellent film noir about a doctor who falls in love with a insane patient. to make things more complex, mitchum gets a concussion and is slowly deteriorate healthwise as the film progresses. its DOA mixed with a lil hitchcock (notorious perhaps). great noir!
from claude rains and robert mitchum, i moved on to a robert mitchum movie. a vincent minelli noir also with katherine hepburn making a rare film noir appearance! robert taylor plays hepburn's husband which might be crazy and trying to kill her and its up to mitchum to save the day. if someone needed to save my life, i would probably choose mitchum too. shes in good hands.
lets move forward in time by ahead 60 years. this was the jason statham 2008 film which was actually pretty good. ive always been a sucker for a well done heist film and this is indeed one of them. not much to say about it aside from it was solid and entertaining.
this is referring to the HBO film with jessica lange and drew barrymore from earlier this year. ive of course seen the maylses brothers documentaries (grey gardens and beales of grey gardens) and find big and little edie to be two of the most fascinating crazies ever to live. this film is actually a nice little footnote to the docs and provide some more background information on the lives of the beales mother/daughter. i can see how they didnt get a theatrical release but as a TV film, its a good watch.
weird. creepy. unsettling. interesting. 90s indie at my peculiar.
another 90s indie movie, director wilt stilman's debut (last days of disco, barcelona). this one is in the vein of yuppie talking movies (thanks IMDB). this shares a couple cast members from kicking from screaming, another one of my favorite 90s indie movies about nothing. metropolitan is a satircal film about the vapid lives of new york debutantes. its a nice social commentary with witty conversation. a decent, engaging film overall
