Big House, The (1930)
“The whole prison system is cockeyed!”
“The whole prison system is cockeyed!”
“Money’s money, no matter where you get it.”
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Response to Peary’s Review: Redeeming Qualities and Moments: Must See? Categories Links: |
“If we didn’t have thieves, we wouldn’t need banks.”
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Review: Redeeming Qualities and Moments: Must See? Links: |
“You are the life of the fatherland, you boys!”
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Response to Peary’s Review: In Alternate Oscars, Peary agrees with the Academy in naming this the Best Picture of the Year, and elaborates on what makes it so enduringly powerful. He writes that while “the boys enthusiastically enlist en masse, all hoping to be heroes”, “once in uniform, they realize that there is no glamour to war” — “instead, there are dictatorial officers, endless marchs, hunger, fatigue, nostalgia for home, rats in the trenches, mud and rain…” Indeed, there is “no heroism. Instead there is confusion, terror, hysteria, madness, amputations, [and] meaningless deaths. All that matters is survival, and those who survive are either insane, without limbs or sight, or unfit to return to civilization where old men still champion wars.” Most chilling and heart-stopping among many powerful moments is “the battle scene in which Arthur Edeson’s camera pans while charging soldiers are mowed down by machine-gun fire” — a scene “as impressive as it is terrifying”, and which “becomes even scarier when soldiers break through and jump into the trenches for hand-to-hand combat.” As Peary adds, “Significantly, not one shot is heroic or glamorizes war; instead we see how vulnerable all soldiers are and want to close our eyes until the fighting stops.” This almost unbearably impactful film will quickly convince you that war really is hell. Redeeming Qualities and Moments: Must See? Categories (Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) Links: |
“I do not wish to marry, and they cannot make me!”
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Response to Peary’s Review: Redeeming Qualities and Moments: Must See? Categories (Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) Links: |
“What am I fit for? What have you left me fit for?”
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Response to Peary’s Review: Peary’s assessment is spot-on. However, while he argues in Alternate Oscars that “Harrison was the best thing about My Fair Lady,” I disagree: Harrison’s lack of any singing range whatsoever beggars belief about his casting, and while his chauvanistic characterization may (sadly) be true-to-life, he’s so unlikable he fails to elicit any sympathy. Hepburn’s transformation, meanwhile, doesn’t ring true in the slightest: she’s initially a shrewish nag, yet once her lessons with Harrison are done, she’s become someone entirely different. Yes, I know that “transformation” is the entire point of the play — but we should be seeing more hints poking through of her prior mannerisms than merely some Cockney grammar slip-ups. Worst of all, of course, is that we most certainly do NOT want Hepburn to fall for Harrison, yet we know this is what the story is leading us towards. The lesson is all wrong; this film has dated terribly, if it ever somehow managed to ring true. Redeeming Qualities and Moments: Must See? (Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) Links: |