Old Movie Buff

2009-06-20T07:04:00.001-07:00

Twitter: For now, at least, I've got lots more movie reviews at my NewRepublican twitter account.

2009-05-31T13:52:00.000-07:00

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I always kind myself finding pleasing any character Lionel Barrymore plays. I guess he had one heck of a contract.

This movie's protagonist is pretty weak, but the plot/legal device used to tie it all up seems appropriate today, to.

2008-08-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

The Two-Headed Spy, 1958

I really have no idea if Britain had a spy in the Nazi General Staff. Perhaps they did, and this is the real story. Either way, it is an exciting movie.

2008-07-23T09:22:00.001-07:00

Honky Tonk, 1941

Hard not to like the characters and dynamics that propel this movie to its anti-climactic finish.

2008-07-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

I Dood It, 1943

This was an awful movie. That said, the first number is solid, and there is a bit with a multiple jump rope dance that _must_ be repeated. Please think worse of Red Skelton for this effort.

2008-07-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

That's Right -- You're Wrong, 1939

Unless you were a big fan of Kay Kyser's radio show "Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge," you have no reason to see this movie at all.

But at the end there is this song "Chatterbox," and I was moved by how pretty it was. I'm just talking about her voice. Chatterbox MP3. Her trill at about 2:00 is basically the best, but it might be better in the movie.

2008-07-05T20:11:00.001-07:00

The Cat's Paw, 1934

Harold Lloyd plays a sap in a town of crooked racketeers, raised in China, he quotes an (imaginary?) Chinese philosopher aptly, even as most everything else he does is out of place. Of course the premise is hard to swallow, but the execution is good, making it the first Lloyd movie I enjoyed this much.

2008-07-05T20:10:00.002-07:00

Design for Scandal, 1941

A fun movie.

2008-07-05T20:10:00.001-07:00

Topaze, 1933

John Barrymore is an actor I tend to always like. This is a quaint movie, with some too true lessons. Enjoyable.

2008-07-05T19:58:00.001-07:00

A Walk in the Sun, 1945

This is the war movie, the opposite of Saving Private Ryan. The title song is useless and too oft repeated, but that could be replaced for future re-releases. The soldiers grumble, complain, and not a positive word is said of the war effort without a sardonic or sarcastic tone. The whole movie is about a platoon who lands in Salerno and is told to take a farmhouse, six miles away. It's not that the idea behind WWII is unimportant, it is that it is completely unimportant to someone trying to complete a mission and survive.

During the war itself, most war movies were over-the-top patriotic, but this, as some IMDB reviewers have it, is the war from the soldier's perspective. Another commenter writes "My uncle, a veteran of Tunisia who went into Salerno as a Ranger, hated most war films, but not this one."

2008-07-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

The Kid From Spain, 1932

As with other movies of this era, the repetitious use of one song can be quite annoying, and there are numerous other parts of this relatively slapstick movie which would discourage one from watching it, yet, for some reason, the jokes are funny and the movie is happy.

2008-07-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

Libeled Lady, 1936

This is a movie with some great dialogue, and a solid performance from William Powell and Myrna Loy. Worth a watch.

2008-06-06T11:32:00.000-07:00

They Won't Forget, 1937

This is a forgettable movie. One exchange, however, caught my attention...

Norris (playing Hale): Memorial Day?

Warren (playing Buxton): Yes, sir, for the Confederate dead.

Norris: Well, in my part of the country we call it Decoration Day, and it comes a month later.

Warren: In your part of the country you can call it whatever you and all the other Yankees please, but down here it's Memorial Day.

When did the Confederate holiday become the national holiday?

2008-06-06T11:31:00.001-07:00

No More Ladies, 1935

I really couldn't help but quite like this movie. The dialogue was exceptional, and most of the acting was good or better.

2008-04-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

Meet The People, 1944

Not particularly good movie, pretty much just war propaganda. However, there is a bit in the middle where Mussolini sings "Shickelgruber" to a chimp dressed up as Hitler. The ape is great.

2008-03-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

Hot Fuzz, 2007

No, this is not an old movie. I, for one, enjoyed Shaun of the Dead. This, containing much of the same cast, was quite enjoyable.

2008-02-04T17:33:00.000-08:00

Wings, 1927

It's over 80 years old. Two young guys both join the WWI effort. Gary Cooper's first role. How can I really get into silent movies? It is tough. Sometimes it is better just to turn off the sound, so the silly orchestration doesn't change anything.

My grandfather was too young for WWI, only 17 years old when it ended, and too old for WWII, 40 years old when it started. He told me a story about when he was 4 or 5 years old, standing on the curb, yelling "Get a horse!" to people who were driving those new-fangled cars.

In many ways, the world he lived in was much worse than today's. The "war to end all wars" makes Iraq look like a visit to the slums of Pheonix, Arizona (most violent city in America, this year).

Sometimes learning history can be a bad thing, because it can excuse the horrors of today by suggesting they are less bad than the horrors of yesterday. Still, if you don't know how we got here, it is doubly tough to get yourself out.

2008-01-30T17:08:00.000-08:00

Beau Brummel, 1924

I don't usually enjoy silent movies, and, with some humorous exceptions, this was no exception. I was suckered into watching it by the claim that this was the first time, in the movie's 84 year history, that it had ever appeared on television.

One thing I did notice, and wanted to note, that, among all the actors and actresses in the movie, Mary Astor had a hairstyle which would seem perfectly normal today. It was modern. Everyone else was playing in their period roles (1811-1840, from Brummel's beginnings in society to his death). According to the movie, Brummel invented natural hair styles in protest over the tax on the white powder for wigs.

2008-01-28T13:38:00.000-08:00

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

One of my favorites of all time, mostly for Huston's role. Sure, it goes over the top at the end, but I've never had so much gold...

2008-01-28T13:36:00.000-08:00

Handle With Care, 1958

For those of us who might have been born after 1922, this makes for an interesting tale. I can't say much without spoiling it, suffice it to say that a law student in a town (not his hometown) uses a mock grand jury trial to expose issues with the book-keeping of the long-serving mayor.

2007-02-21T18:03:00.000-08:00

Three Smart Girls, 1936

This has to be one of the best movies ever.

2006-07-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

Alphaville, 1960

This is truly a great movie, one of the greats of all time. Sure, it lacks a little polish, and some special effects that might make it better. It gets a bit surreal at times, but it is so much more.

2005-12-12T19:33:00.000-08:00

Series: This Is Your F.B.I.

Episiode: Death of a Draft Dodger

Originally Aired: 1946, September 13th

The introduction talks about soldiers and grumbling and I love it.

2005-12-08T09:19:00.000-08:00

Series: Johnny Dollar

Originally Aired: 1956-02-13

Episode: "Qui Bono"

(Latin for "Who Benefits?")
Twin Peaks?
The character Sammy is great.

2005-11-11T15:28:00.000-08:00

Series: X-1

Episode: Appointment in Tomorrow

Originally Aired: 1956, November 11th

Good stuff.

2005-11-03T15:40:00.000-08:00

Counter Spy "Carbon Consul", Originally Aired November 3rd, 1950

An interesting peice relating to the colonial era, specifically a non-colonial country.

2005-09-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

Cape Code Radio Mystery Theatre, "Whereabouts of Heidi McKnown"
8.2 of 10, Oh! I think it is from 1993, it seemed much older.

2005-08-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

Old Time Radio

Lately I've been listening to what is most commonly called "Old Time Radio" instead of watching old movies. Lately I've been listening to the Antioch station at Shoutcast.com. Search for OTR at Shoutcast to see a list of some others with music stations mixed in. If this format doesn't work for you, Live365 has a large list of stations (with commercials if you don't pay) under the category "Spoken Word". I've especially been enjoying...

Fibber McGee & Molly (comedy)

The Magic Island (1930s Sci-fi, weird racism, but interesting)

Let George Do It (detective show)

Have Gun Will Travel (western)

2005-05-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

1954, The Runaway Bus (UK)

I missed the beginning, and it is the kind of story which could never happen today, or could barely be imagined in the day when it was told, but was pretty darn amusing.

2004-07-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

1995, Outbreak
When the Department of Defense lets you use their equipment in a movie, they get some script control. They used it, apparently, in this case, to bash FDR and laud Truman. A character in the movie claims that if only FDR had sent Stilwell into Vietnam, he would have saved us the later Vietnam war. Is he smoking crack rock? Does he believe Vietnam, today, would be the only colony left on Earth, a French one, at that, if FDR had gotten involved? The Vietnamese would have risen up, and we may have lost WWII if FDR had taken forces away from the main conflict to prop up France's colonial empire. Second they give Truman a slap on the back for the dropping of the atomic bombs.
Listen folks, the problem wasn't in the dropping, it was in the target selection. Someone suggested CIVILIAN targets, instead of military ones. The first ideal target would have been a small military base. It would have _dissapeared_ off the map, and the Japanese would have been much impressed. The second target could have been a bigger military base. We had sufficient air superiority, correct? The target selection was terrible, like in Dresden. If we only attack the military, the civilians know it isn't personal. When we destroy their towns and homes, what cause do they have to think that a cessation of military hostilities will result in a cessation of anti-(Germanic,what-have-you) activity.

2004-06-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

1948, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
It's one of the best, certainly. Walter Huston is not acting, he is being.

2004-06-22T05:02:00.000-07:00

2001, Who is Cletis Tout?
Not only was it surprisingly amusing, but Tim Allen's character is constantly throwing out lines from old movies. How many can you recognize?

2004-06-22T04:56:00.000-07:00

1988, Mississipi Burning
This movie is about the FBI's desperate attempts to solve a triple murder, perpetrated by Klansmen, who also happened to be the authorities. The case is broken after the FBI kidnap the Mayor of the town, place him in a shack, and threaten to slice off body parts. In the movie, the interogator was only ever known as a "specialist." In real life, the man who did this was actually a mobster hitman from the NYC area. Who OK'ed that? The mayor killed himself, even though he wasn't even a Klansman, nor in on the murder, according to the movie. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Hoover's FBI had the Mayor killed, so he wouldn't ever talk about his interrogation.

2004-06-22T04:51:00.000-07:00

1939, Ninotchka
Greta Garbo has some amazing lines, playing a patriotic Soviet. However, at the end, her three compatriots start crowing about how great the West is. They lied. They said we can say anything we want, "no one cares!". I guess they don't know that the government, for any reason, including political views, does monitor, invade, and generally make paranoid all of its ideological differers.

2004-06-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

1947, Ride the Pink Horse
Movies can be lots of different things. One usually thinks of Orson Welles and film noir. Robert Montgomery is not a typical hero. It's important to see if you want to better understand the full range of movies. The angles are simply very different.

2004-05-30T06:35:00.000-07:00

1959, Verboten!
A story of post-WWII american occupation of germany, and the local resistance.

2004-05-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

1967, The Hour of the Gun
Starts at the end of the classic gunfight at the OK Corral. This is a smart movie. Don't look for great acting, but the story, weaving through the courts, the ballot, back to the courts, with guns always in the background.

2004-05-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

1939, The Mortal Storm
For a good number of reasons, including the year it was filmed, some of the acting (Sullivan as Freya) and for showing happy, drunk, singing Germans, all in the context of the internal Nazi/Communist political struggle in SW Germany, makes this one of my favorite old movies.

2004-05-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

1940, Santa Fe Trail
Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan star in this very racist rewrite of the story of the abolitionist John Brown. For example, in real life John Brown sent his son out under a white flag and the townspeople shot him. In the movie John Brown sends out a hostage and then John Brown shoots the hostage in the back. No hotages were actually taken. I can imagine the same being done to the story of Ruby Ridge someday. John Brown was right about abolition, and wrong on his methods, but that doesn't excuse this peice of crap.

2004-05-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

1996, Pandora's Clock
This movie has some truly hilarious attempts to be serious about terrorism. For instance, the terrorists apparently intercept and trinagulate all calls from all CIA operatives. It's way too long, but, still, it will get one's brain juices thinking about terrorism from a non-standard camera angle.

2004-05-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

1984, Sword of the Ninja
Don't be fooled, its pretty bad.

2004-05-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

1934, Murder in the Private Car
This one has a couple really unnecessary racist bits in the middle of a movie that is slowish, unusual, and at one point unique.

2004-04-25T06:46:00.000-07:00

1948, Fort Apache
Very hackneyed. It's like Fonda had pooped in the Producer's studio and they forced him to be stupid for the whole movie. Either that, or he hated the part so much he played it badly on purpose. Shirley Temple and John Wayne fill out the cast of this real cardboard cutout loser.

2004-04-25T06:37:00.000-07:00

1993, The Last Party
Robert Downey, Jr made this movie, and then had a lot of legal problems.

2004-04-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

1970, Catch-22
By 1970, the troops in Viet Nam were many, and more were going. Actors and many Hollywood people are cool by profession. Liking bomber squadrons, even WWII ones, was not. It's a reflection of what people want to think.

2004-04-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

1949, Twelve O'Clock High
A great movie about the lives, and deaths, of a American bomber group in England.

2004-04-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

2001, The Gristle
This movie is not about race. It stretches credulity. It's not an old movie.

2004-04-02T11:15:00.000-08:00

1939, The Kid from Texas
Hokey comedy. Not much there.

2004-03-31T05:49:00.000-08:00

1950, Hit the Deck
One of the last big musicals, and a well done example of the genre. Tons of good lines. The straight Shore Patrol characters are classics.

2004-03-30T17:11:00.000-08:00

1949, Colorado Territory
A western about outlaws.

2004-03-30T10:57:00.000-08:00

1937, Dead End
This is a slice of life from a time far gone, when the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor might be across the street from each other in NYC.
The movie is a bit hammy, and not every performance is easy to watch, but there are plenty of great bit parts (the doorman does exceptionally well, if you ask me).
Give it a watch.

2004-03-30T10:47:00.000-08:00

1939, Espionage Agent
A pre-WWII drama which vastly overstates the German menace to American shores.
To the best of my knowledge, about 8 agents landed in America for espionage. The movie pretends there are hundreds, right in Congress, and thousands more, which could effectively stop all transportation and war production on a dime.
A total lie, no?
There were a lot of movies before America started fighting in WWII that encouraged Americans to fight, and many of them were decent.
This movie offers very little to that, or any other, genre.

2004-03-29T18:40:00.000-08:00

1948, The Lady from Shanghai
This should be remade with a "ask me" instead of Orson Welles.
Many tidbits throughout the movie make it a surprising watch.
Most? of the characters are very real.
The movie is dark.
The plot is definitely not easy.
Welles can't avoid some overt mental gymanstics, an excessive brogue, and there's odd camera work. This will ruin the movie if you are just too awake.