“A huckster is a peddler — you know, a hawker.”
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… and Gable’s love triangle between Gardner and Kerr doesn’t hold much weight:
You can skip this one unless you’re a fan of the big-name stars. Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:
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“I’m not worried — not with Captain Hornblower!”
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… and it’s enjoyable seeing Mayo emerge as a worthy and invaluable member of the crew. However, it’s the naval adventures that most interested viewers will be curious to watch, and there’s plenty of that.
Unfortunately, Mango’s role in dark-face as the deranged “El Supremo” is demeaningly stereotypical, and truly cringe-worthy:
Thank goodness he doesn’t take up too much screentime. Meanwhile, watch for young Christopher Lee in one of his first supporting roles, playing a Spanish captain.
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“He paid with far, far better things than money.”
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… showing us how calculating (literally) Martha is, in the best sense of the word — from the opening scene in which she carefully determines how much money their family has left to spend after accounting for all expenses:
… to a sequence in which she figures out how to protect her bullied sister (Ellen Corby) — hoping to marry the town mortician (Edgar Bergen) — from merciless teasing by their mean older sisters (Hope Landin and Edith Evanson):
… to her ruse for sneaking into the hospital to visit her child:
… and her ability to leverage her cooking expertise and people skills as she helps Bel Geddes gain support and advice from a renowned female author (Florence Bates):
While the primary focus is (appropriately) on “Mama”, this long-ish film (it clocks in at over 2 hours) shows us a wide variety of memorable anecdotes and characters from Bel Geddes’ past — including a lodger (Cedric Hardwicke) who pays for his room and board through absorbing read-alouds:
… her sister Dagmar’s (June Hedin’s) travails with a tom cat named “Uncle” Elizabeth:
… and, most especially, her overbearing Uncle Chris (Oskar Homolka):
… whose household presence and failing health take up a bit too much screentime, though this is forgivable precisely because he had such an outsized influence in her memory. Nicholas Musuraca’s cinematography is stellar throughout, with especially impressive use made of location shooting to portray life in early 20th century San Francisco:
This films remains very much worth a visit, particularly for Dunne’s stand-out performance, but also simply as an overall “good show”. Note: It was jarring for me to hear Homolka’s Austrian accent passed off as Norwegian, though I’m sure most audiences won’t mind. Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:
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“My nephew will find it harder than he thinks to get the better of me.”
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It’s chock-a-block full of characters from Dickens’ 952-page serialized novel:
… with Cavalcanti and screenwriter John Dighton admirably keeping us engaged and able to follow along as Bond and his loved ones encounter a seemingly endless string of bad apples:
… with a few decent ones tossed in here and there:
Note: Cavalcanti was clearly a genius of sorts, originally studying law, architecture, and interior design before embarking on his career in cinema, primarily making his mark with this and “The Ventriloquist’s Dummy” sequence from the omnibus film Dead of Night (1945). Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:
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“Ever since I met you, nothing makes sense.”
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Perhaps most interesting early on are scenes of some of the entertainment opportunities Boyer attends to pass his time — including a surreal slap-dance-fight (?):
… and “swan ringing” at a carnival (done to impress Darrieux):
The remainder of the storyline is fairly standard doomed-romance fare, though the ending provides more of a jolt than expected — and it’s all very atmospherically filmed. Note: It was interesting reading up on Boyer after watching this film; he married the love of his life in 1934 and committed suicide two days after her death in 1978. So much for his movie-star persona as a womanizing Frenchman! (He was also multi-lingual — speaking not only English and French but German, Spanish, and Italian — and had a degree in philosophy from the Sorbonne.) Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:
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“You belong to the railroad, and it belongs to you.”
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… though it’s not really clear how he makes a viable living this way; and you’ll be seriously irritated by the repetitive songs that pop up again and again (“You Can’t Get Far Without a Railroad” and “Follow the River”). Meanwhile, real life WWII-hero Audie Murphy doesn’t make much of an impression as a (sort of) baddie with a surprising twist to his background:
… and other supporting characters are either shallowly limned (i.e., where exactly did De Wilde’s character come from?):
… and/or annoying (i.e., Ellen Corby’s shrewish housewife and Dan Duryea’s whiny outlaw):
You can skip this one unless you’re curious. Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:
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“The question is, where are the rockets — where?”
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Widmark is well-cast as a no-nonsense yet caring leader who suffers in private, but keeps going, while British character actor Gardiner gives perhaps the most nuanced supporting performance as a keep-calm-under-all-circumstances translator who plays a pivotal role in the proceedings (and won’t give up his fancy cigarette holder, thank you very much):
Meanwhile, we see many other familiar Hollywood faces showing up, including handsome Wagner in his first credited film role (albeit only for a short while):
… Brand playing a tough sergeant (but not a bad guy):
… and Palance playing (no kidding!) a nice guy who faces a sincerely tough dilemma:
Made with extensive cooperation from the U.S. Marine Corps (and purportedly used as a recruitment tool), the film looks as authentic as can be, with California’s Camp Pendleton turned into a convincing simulation of a tunnel-ridden island in the Pacific:
Less successful are the flashback sequences littering the film’s first half-hour:
… though these thankfully come to an end, thus allowing us to become fully immersed in the exciting action at hand. Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:
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“Boys, the honeymoon’s over. From now on you’re Marines.”
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The fictionalized characters bear enough resemblance to who and what was actually on the island — a garrison of 449 Marines, a handful of sailors, a few Wildcat fighter planes, and 1,221 civilian construction workers — to make the narrative feel plausible, and the cinematography and battle sequences are impressive. This one isn’t must-see, but remains worth a look for its historical relevance as a morale booster. Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:
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“If you haven’t got the courage to kill me, don’t try to save me.”
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… is second only to the confusion of having a German-born-and-accented actor (Jurgens) playing a British Major (the lame excuse given in the screenplay is that he’s a Boer). The narrative begins to pick up steam once we see the deadly extent to which the two men allow their neuroses and rivalries to play out in the hot desert sun.
… with a particularly harrowing sequence showing Burton being forced, as he puts it, to “kill the living and save the dead”:
Other tension-filled desert-survival scenes include a potentially tainted water source:
… and a deadly scorpion:
Meanwhile, the black-and-white cinematography — much of it shot on location in Libya — is gorgeous, making it all the more frustrating that the overall storyline doesn’t quite deliver. Note: Watch for Christopher Lee in a minor supporting role as an accompanying soldier.
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“I didn’t make the rules; I only live by them.”
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Having just watched Guadalcanal Diary (1943), I was eager to see another movie taking place during this specific period of World War II-era history — but sadly, I didn’t learn a whole lot of new information. This film seems primarily made to show off aerial footage in Technicolor, particularly of Marine aviators fighting Kamikaze flyers.
As DVD Savant points out, “This particular movie is so generic it could have been directed by the focus-puller. There’s nothing for Ray to sink his teeth into here — it’s not exactly personal auteur material.” With that said, Savant points out that at least it’s “a downright sane Howard Hughes film compared to some of his other productions” — i.e., Jet Pilot (1957). Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:
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