good film noir. so refreshing.

i love a good film noir. perhaps its because of the acting and the feel of the 40s (high pants fast talking etc). maybe its the sirens; gene tierney, ida lupino, or nina foch (yeah, she wasnt a star really but she is in the film in reviewing now)

MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS was recently shown on TCM as part of bob's picks; a collection of films specifically recommend by TCM legend and film historian robert osborne. before i go any further i want to talk about robert osborne and his delivery on his channel.

flow of movies on TCM

intro by osbourne

movie

outtro

simple. effective.

if he REALLY loved the film, he will begin his outtro with a simple and succinct, 'great movie.' then he will say something sad and depressing about one of the stars, director, or the movie itself before carelessly segueing into the next movie theyre showing

example:

judy holliday never got that big second chance that she was hoping for because she painfully died from breast cancer several years after the blastlisting...UP NEXT don knotts in the apple dumpling gang

come on bob, try to tie em together a little more. granted, he does occasionally pimp other similar films that TCM shows.

john wayne, john ford, and agnes moorehead all ended up dying from the cancer they developed as a result of shooting on this set...AND YOU CAN SEE all of their movies on TCM

back to review part.

right, my name is julia ross was directed by joseph h lewis, one of the more prominent film noir directors whose guncrazy is easily one of the greatest noirs ever made and one of the best films ever period. he was big on exploring psyche of his characters and does it well in movies like the big combo and the lady without a passport. not my name is julia ross though; that was just a simple and effective noir. girl gets suckered into being kidnapped by a creepy family and hijinks ensue. dame may whitty was in this! and she plays a villian!

this was about 65 minutes long and uses every minute of it effectively. not a second wasted! there are some great noir-ey twists and turns and whispers. all i can say is 'great movie.'

dame may whitty died soon after this film was made. we can only assume it was painful. UP NEXT on mise en meh, the cabbage patch kids movie.

a pair of TCM movies -- david copperfield and a lubitsch silent

neither of these held up very well. david copperfield or ...

The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger

is interesting for one reason and one reason only. WC Fields...reciting dickens.

WC Fields + Dickens!!!!

yeah, that needed to be bolded because it was awesome. i dont know whats better, the classic WC fields delivery or the occasional british pronounced word. the rest of the movie is pretty uneventful and typical or 1930s drama. long on length and short on interesting camerawork.

on the other hand the student prince in old heidelberg is...not on the other hand at all. it is also a not very interesting but not bad lubitsch silent. its always nice to see norma shearer in something and in this crazy day and age ole norm shears (what the cool kids) is somewhat endangered. not sure what to say about this one either!

this doesnt have the lubitsch touch; for that you need to watch his later and much superior works.

um...yeah so...PRE's new album rokz. i love scream-ey noise metal or disorganized female punk. like AIDS wolf...fuck yeah. ok, im going to sleep.

these three v. the childrens hour

both of these films were based on the same lillian helman play but until this week, ive only seen the childrens hour the unfortunately hammy and heavy handed audrey hepburn vehicle. i love audrey hepburn. i even named my cat after her but she did make some awful films (green mansions anyone?)

TCM showed these three and it was a definite improvement on the remake. i love merle oberon though and think her beauty is incredible and exotic. what else could a welsh and an indian person create but a beauty? another positive addition to these three is the great joel mccrae one of the awesome dapper tough guy / guy's guys of the first half of the 20th century. perhaps the most impressive addition for me was bonita granville. she played the busybody/bitch that wrecks the lives of the two ladies who run a girls school. she claims she saw some homosexual goings ons (which she didnt) but the damage was done. she is one of my favorite obscure actresses of early sound film. she was nancy drew peoples!

im going to break out of michael --- film guy for a moment to interject

IM NOT GAY

im definetely a gay friendly dude (yay for gay marriage and gay rights) but i am extremely hetero and love girls. so regardless of what i sound like on this blog, i just want to clarify. just because i like nancy drew films...

back to the blog

bonita granville rokzed. what a little nosy bitch! love her! anyway, these three wasnt fascinating but a good effort from william wyler and definitely deserves a place in film history

the childrens house - 1/5

these three - 3.5/5

ps walter brennan cameo! GOLD GOLD!