The 10 SADDEST old movies (I've watched)

NOTE: This entry was reposted over MovieFanFare, becoming one of their most popular articles with nearly 1,000 comments :)

Well, you know them. You're watching them and you're thinking:

"Mother of god, life can be awful. Why people have to suffer so much! I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry. Think of something positive. Or something that makes you angry. Oh no, a tear is coming. I'm gonna cough to try to pass this heavy lump in my throat. Oh, what did she or he have to say that line? That's the saddest thing..."

Credits

Anyway, I sacrificed myself for you, and re-watched some of these films. I included movies in which the predominant feeling is sadness or those whose endings are very dramatic.

So, grab your tissues, here we go (warning: spoilers ahead):


10.- Les parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)
Plot: A girl and a boy fall in love and have a child but can't be together (review).
You can't hold your tears when...they say goodbye at the train station (watch).

Credits

9.- Waterloo Bridge (1940)
Plot: Vivien Leigh thinks her boyfriend Robert Taylor is dead so she finds a socially rejected way to survive (mentioned in 5 movies in which tragedy was caused by chance).
You can't hold your tears when...the camera focus a little special object after some tragic event and then Robert remembers Vivien in the bridge (watch the ending).

8.- The Wedding Night (1935)
Plot: A writer (Gary Cooper) falls in love with a girl (Anna Stern) from a strict Pole family of farmers (review).
You can't hold your tears when...at the end, Gary looks out the window and "sees" the love of his life disappearing (watch a clip from the movie).

Credits

7.- This Land Is Mine (1943)
Plot: Awesome Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara respectively play a coward teacher and his love interest in this World War II film (review).
You can't hold your tears when...Charles sees how a teacher he admired and respected is killed. But the worst part is the ending, one of the best fictional uses of the Declaration of Human Rights (watch).

6.- Camille (1936)
Plot: An impossible love between a courtesan (Greta Garbo) and Robert Taylor (listed in Favorite Movies).
You can't hold your tears when...Camille faces Lionel Barrymore and when Robert visits a "very weak" Camille in the last scene (watch the trailer).

5.- A star is born (1937)
Plot: After two actors marry, the success of their careers enter in a inversely proportional relationship (review and haiku).
You can't hold your tears when...the granny takes her granddaughter to the station. And when Fredric March embraces Janet Gaynor knowing it would be the last time and then he says "do you mind if I take just one more look?" (watch the second moment).

4.- Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Plot: An old couple (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi) realize they have the worst children in the history of cinema (mention).
You can't hold your tears when...these people are humiliated and separated, which is practically the whole film (watch an example).

Credits

3.- Three Comrades (1938)
Plot: After World War I, three German friends (Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, Robert Young)  meet Margaret Sullavan and their lives change forever. Adapted by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
You can't hold your tears when...you watch the final scenes. Really. (here are some of them edited).

2.- The small one (1978)
Plot: A poor family have to get rid of their old donkey, a task that is entrusted to the kid (mention).
You can't hold your tears when...the last time I saw this one I cried my eyes out like the whole film, especially when the kid tries to cheer up his little animal and the ending (watch the whole film).

1.- Ever in my heart (1933)
Plot: Barbara Stanwyck marries a German before World War I (review).
You can't hold your tears when...the family faces tragic situations (I mean TRAGIC) and the ending (trailer).

Honorable mentions: Letter from an Unknown Woman (mini review), I Remember Mama (mention), Penny Serenade and Doctor Zhivago.

What do you think?

Caption it #3: Ava Gardner & Robert Taylor

Hi guys, here's the third edition of Caption It:

Get inspired, check the previous posts:

• Ben-Hur, Messala & the Vespa
• Greta & the Lion

The 20 coolest on-screen couples from classic movies

'Cool' definition from Wordreference: fashionably attractive or impressive.

Here's my list of 20 couples that looked terrific together on screen, that complemented each other and had fun together all the movie (or until the script spoiled it all for them) or overcame difficult situations to be together and hopefully lived happily ever after.

In no particular order: 

Harry Morgan & 'Slim' Browning from To have and have not

Gilbert & Iris Henderson from The lady vanishes

Paul & Corie Bratter from Barefoot in the Park

Nicky Ferrante & Terry McKay from An Affair to Remember

Nick & Nora Charles from The Thin Man

Robin & Marian from The Adventures of Robin Hood

Sean Thorton & Mary Kate Danaher from The Quiet Man

Ben Quick & Clara Varner from The Long, Hot Summer

Capt. Daniel Craig & Lucy Muir from The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

Juan Herrera & Vance Jeffords from The Furies

C.C. Baxter & Fran Kubelik from The apartment

Joe Bradley & Princess Ann from Roman Holiday

Noah Praetorious and Deborah Higgins from People Will Talk

Leon and Ninotchka from Ninotchka

Longfellow Deeds & Babe Bennett from Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Jane & Tarzan from the Tarzan movies with Johnny & Maureen.

Peter Joshua (or whatever his name is) and Reggie Lampert from Charade

Brian Hawke & 'Spitfire' Stevens from Against All Flags

Armand Duvall & Marguerite Gautier from Camille

Johny Case & Linda Seton from Holiday

What do you think?

11 mini reviews including "Hold back the dawn" and "Topper"

When I started this blog, I wrote my posts  in Spanish. I translated and updated these reviews so you can read them :)

1. Der blaue Engel (1930; Josef von Sternberg)

Who's in it: Marlene Dietrich, Emile Jannings.

What is it about: A school teacher has the very bad idea of falling in love with Marlene Dietrich playing a cabaret dancer....

The good: the powerful and dramatic story, the character development, Janning and Dietrich's moving performances, the suffocating atmosphere achieved by director Josef von Sternberg.

The bad: Nothing, poor guy.

Should I see it? Yes, but it's really depressing.

2. Kiss and Make-Up (1935; Harlan Thompson)

Who's in it: Cary Grant, Helen Mack, Genevieve Tobin

What is it about: A plastic surgeon (Grant) thinks he's in love with one of his operated clients and not with his secretary....

The good: the initial idea of a plastic surgeon having to choose between fabricated beauty and natural beauty; the rather funny scene in which you see how many treatments one of the clients has to follow in order to look beautiful; Cary Grant sings...

The bad: the story is awfully developed, it just paces around and halfway trough the movie you still don't know what's the main story ; the 70% of the characters are not very interesting (I couldn't care less what happen with them at the end) and their actions are really unbelievable.

Should I see it? No.

3. Topper (1937; Norman Z. McLeod)

Who's in it: Cary Grant , Constance Bennett, Roland Young

What is it about: A wealthy young couple that LOVE parties have a fatal accident and reappear as ghosts... and to move on they need to help a guy that has marriage troubles...

The good: the story is original and very entertaining, the actors are great in their roles, but the best are the special effects...really, they are flawless and surprising: the ghosts appear and disappear, pencils and wheels float on the air, invisible lips smoke a cigarette, etc, etc...

The bad:  some parts are unbelievable and I'm not talking about the ghosts: how someone married to Cary Grant wants to chase an older man???

Should I see it? Yes.

4. Midnight (1939; Mitchell Leisen)

Who's in it: Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore, Mary Astor.

What is it about:  A taxi driver falls in love with a broke party crasher girl that wants to marry a millionaire....

The good: The script written by Billy Wilder and Charles Bracket, full of hilarious and memorable moments and dialogs; the performance of the main actors, especially Miss Colbert and Mr. Barrymore (he has a really funny scene over the phone).

The bad: Nothing.

Should I see it?:  Yes.

5. Escape (1940; Mervy LeRoy)

Who's in it: Robert Taylor, Norma Shearer, Alla Nazimova

What is it about: During World War II, a (handsome) young man wants to rescue her mother from a concentration camp in Germany...

The good: the plot is interesting, there's tension present and it's generally well handled (will he save his poor mom?), and the relationship between the young American and his countrywoman with some influences on the Germans ends being credible.

The bad: the relationship starts being unbelievable; the German character was too stereotyped; some of the main characters reactions and dialogs are kind of repetitive.

Should I see it? Only if you want to see a very good and tense rescue scene and don't mind the unconvincing main relationship.

6. Hold back the dawn (1941; Mitchell Leisen)

Who's in it: Olivia de Havilland, Charles Boyer, Paulette Godard

What is it about: An European Casanova needs to cross from Mexico to USA...even if he must marry an innocent school teacher.

The good: Everything, starting with the script written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, full of unique moments and a racconto storytelling that makes you wait expectantly for the end; the story is appealing (and melodramatic), the characters evolve and the secondary stories are all interesting, the main actors are excellent in their roles and the film leaves no loose ends. Oh, Mikhail Rasumny's scenes (the car mechanic) are hilarious!

The bad: Maybe that Boyer didn't have vision enough to accept a scene proposed by Wilder in which he talked to a cockroach about his problems..

Should I see it? YES.

7. I married a witch (1942, René Clair)

What is it about: A witch and her witch daddy want to take revenge on a descendant of a guy who locked them like 200 years ago.

Who's in it: Fredric March, Veronica Lake.

The good: the story is entertaining, Veronica Lake is fine in her role, there are some hilarious scenes (like the one of a woman trying to make a speech in a wedding being interrupted again and again), there are some interesting visual solutions supporting this fantasy film.

The bad: the emotional development of the characters is not very well defined, so you don't fully understand their actions or attitudes at some points; the end is a little bit abrupt.

Should I see it? If you don't mind some script problems, go ahead.

8. Never say goodbye (1946, James V. Kern)

What is it about: A comedy about a separated couple whose little daughter want them back together...

Who's in it: Errol Flynn, Eleanor Parker, Lucile Watson., Hattie McDaniel, (the always funny) S.Z. Sakall.

The good: Flynn is convincing in his role of the affectionate and relaxed daddy; the Watson kid is entertaining as Shirley Temple (only that she doesn't sing or dance...nor has jumping curls); Mr. Sakall scenes are really funny, especially those with Flynn in which he has to run from table to table trying to maintain two different conversations like Robin Williams in "Mrs. Doubtfire".

The bad: Eleanor Parker's character (the mom that wants to go back with her ex husband only that she's not sure) is not very powerful; the story isn't very well developed because the reconciliation is dragged out and gets more and more unbelievable.

Should I see it? Only if you want to see some nice scenes with Flynn, S.Z. Sakall and the little girl.

9. Letter from a unknown woman (1948, Max Ophüls)

What is it about: the ultra melodramatic story of a woman that loves a guy and he doesn't notice until she explains her crush in detail...

Who's in it: Joan Fontaine, Luis Jourdan

The good: the script (based on a story by one of my fave writers, Stefan Zweig) contains unforgettable moments (like the one on the fake train from the amusement park); Joan's performance playing an adolescent and then an adult, the photography.

The bad: That the guy didn't notice before  :)

Should I see it? Yes, keeping Kleenex handy.

10. The Sundowners (1960, Fred Zinneman)


What is it about: Dad, mom and son travel in a wagon around Australia...only that mom and son don't want to travel in a wagon around Australia anymore.
Who's in it: Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov.
The good: The powerful performances by the main actors, Fred Zinneman's sharp direction, the attractive story, the character development, the locations.
The bad: It ends.
Should I see it?: Yes, totally.

11. Les demoiselles de Rochefort (1967, Jacques Demy)

What is it about: Two French singer sisters want to be famous and marry ideal guys.

Who's in it: Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac (she died a year after the movie was released), George Chakiris, Gene Kelly.

The good: everything, especially the joy that the film transmits via their lovely songs and melodies, the colors, the choreographies, the dialogs and the actors performances. The songs contain information that help the story to move, something that all musicals should do.

The bad: like most musicals, the story is a bit trivial but I didn't mind. I wish Gene Kelly was younger.

Should I see it? Yes, please. Oh, if you haven't seen it, you should also check "Les parapluis de Cherbourg" (reviewed here) a drama also directed by Demy and starring Miss Deneuve.

My Top 10 Average|Bad Movies with Terrific Actors

After watching "The proud and the profane" the other day I thought: "with these actors they could have done a better movie". And then I thought: "hey, that's a good idea for a list!". I don't usually see movies that have low ratings and bad reviews, but I dared to watch some of these just because of the casting. Last thing: I would say that the top 3 qualifies as "bad" the rest is just "average":

10. Undercurrent (1946: Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor, Robert Mitchum): This movie starts OK (I got very interested), but ends ridiculously. Kate Hepburn marries an important guy (Taylor) with issues with a "bad" and missing brother (Mitchum). He talks about him so much that Kate gets interested. Finally, nothing is like it seemed and things get violent and creepy. The best of this film is this lovely theme by Brahms played all over the film.

9. Made for each other (1939: Carole Lombard, James Stewart, Charles Coburn): A couple marries the day after they met; Carole has problems with her mother-in-law because she disapproves her lack of housewife skills; then the couple has a baby that sleeps in the living room because the apartment is too small, etc. A not very well constructed movie, the main genre isn't properly suggested from the beginning which is disconcerting; the story is very basic (I mean, before the last 10 minutes their problems are not really that dramatic); the main actors are totally wasted, playing characters that don't have real chemistry. Has its moments though.

8. Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942: Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers): One of the two opportunities these two had to work together... in a film that doesn't make justice for such event. Ginger wants to have a better social position so she marries a German Baron. Cary, a reporter, is investigating this Baron because he's probably a Nazi. Ginger and Cary fall in love. There are some interesting and tense scenes, but overall this a forgettable movie.

7. Green Mansions (1959: Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Perkins): This movie was directed by Mel Ferrer, Audrey's husband at the time. The things you do for love. Audrey plays Rimma, the Bird Girl that lives in the jungle. Some natives believe she killed the son of the chief, so she has to hide with her "grandparent". She falls in love with Anthony Perkins, a prisoner of this tribe that was sent to kill her. They start a trip to visit the remains of her town, something that the grandpa was avoiding since always. It's not very well edited, the distances they cover don't feel right; most importantly, the story is not convincing and the ending is weird. Great song though.

 

6. The proud and the profane (1956: William Holden, Deborah Kerr, Thelma Ritter):  A disperse melodrama based on a novel that wants to be epic like "From here to eternity" and fails. Deborah Kerr is widower of a soldier. She wants to know all about his last minutes of life so she enlists to help. An aggressive Colonel with issues with his origins arrives to the base. Thelma Ritter, Deb's superior, founds the Colonel despicable but she manages to show him Deborah sunbathing on the beach. The editing is not very good and it loses tension half way trough the movie. The character of a chaplain is used to explain what's happening with the main characters and important info is given trough little characters that talk a lot. Everything gets more and more soppy and tragic. The end.

5. Dance, Girl, Dance (1940: Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball,  Ralph Bellamy): I didn't get it. Maureen wants to be a ballet dancer but she's stuck with a group of girls that dance in clubs. One of these girls, Sassy Lucille becomes famous and invites serious Maureen to dance ballet in her comical number just to laugh at her. Since her opportunity to meet an important ballet guy is lost after her teacher is run over (really), Maureen accepts. There are some characters that are not very well defined, at the point you don't know who they are. The ending is ludicrous.

4. Man of the World (1931: William Powell, Carole Lombard):  A con man (Powell)  falls in love with the nephew of one of the man he defrauded. This could have been great, but Carole's character was too good, simple and nice (and boring) for her and you forget the whole film after "The End" can be read on the screen.

3. Paris Blues (1961: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier, Louis Armstrong): Boring, boring, boring. Two girls go to Paris and fall in love with two musicians. They go to some endless jam sessions and talk a lot.

2. Man-Proof (1938: Myrna Loy, Rosalind Russell, Walter Pidgeon): Use it in case of insomnia. Myrna is in love with a terribly dull guy that marries Rosalind Russell playing an awfully plain character.

1. Bloodline (1979: Audrey Hepburn,Omar Sharif, James Mason, Romy Schneider): The worst movie I've ever seen. Avoid it. After Audrey's dad is killed, she becomes the president of a great company and the new target of...I don't know, some killer. I never liked Ben Gazzara as a “romantic” lead, he's so unattractive. The whole movie is awfully edited, it looks like a trailer: some scenes don't seem to have a real connection. It even has a flashback to early XX century that seems out of place. There are a lot of shocking scenes (sex and murder) that weren't really needed, and what's more stupid, they are repeated along the movie, when they could have been suggested. The story is really badly developed, at some points you really don't understand where it is going. Most of the characters are despicable and there are some plot holes (if you think that someone wants to kill you, and you have escaped from death in several occasions, would you go alone to dark and solitary places and expose yourself?). Well, the worst (and saddest) thing is to see great actors like Audrey and Omar Sharif in this... thing.

What do you think?  Do I need to re-watch any of these?

Coming around again...

...after committing one of the most terrible sins in blogging: not posting in ages (well, it was like a week and a half). Let me start by telling you that —just like Regina Lampert said—I'm not a lady of leisure anymore. I got that good journalism internship offer that I told you about, so I'll be very busy from 9.30 am to 19 pm starting tomorrow and ending in September.

So this is gonna be the last long post that you read in my blog in months (I've planned to answer a survey that will provide me an easy to make post per day for a month). And this last long post it's gonna be very random, since I'm gonna try to cover all the things I didn't wrote about last week. So fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy post.

Finished "The secret lives of a princess" by James Spada and I tell you, I wouldn't trade my life for Grace's. I mean, she had an awful family, her father was obsessed with success but never said something nice about her little girl, even when she won an Oscar; her sisters were abusive when she was a kid, and her mother sold stories about Grace to the press! Had lots of famous lovers but couldn't settle down with any of them, mainly because of her family opposition. Loved to act, was great at it, but her studio (when it didn't lend her to others) just gave her stupid parts. Then she marries the Prince —who had a list of possible Hollywood actresses to wed just to improve Monaco image— in a ceremony paid by MGM. She has to suffer all the archaic customs of the palace, but she was prohibited to make another movie, even when Hitch offered a role in "Marnie". The only escape she found was raising her kids the better she could, but the girls turn out to be rebels and had dissipated lives. AND then she died in a car accident. So, no thanks, poor Grace.

This knowledge increased my inner debate about whether is good or not to classic film fans to investigate the private lives of performers and directors. I mean, sometimes you really loved someone's work, but then you read something bad about their behavior, something sad about their lives, or you realize that they beliefs are very very different to your own, and then what was more important —the films— are kind of overshadow to your eyes by this knowledge. Anyway, it doesn't happen to me frequently, one of my cases is Norma Shearer (I've been avoiding watching more of her movies) because I read somewhere that she got the parts mostly because she was married to Irving Thalberg.  And of course, it does happen the other way around, for example, I appreciate the work of Myrna Loy even more since I learned about her fight for human rights. 

Anyway, been reading "People will talk" by John Kobal, and I want to read more of his work. It's like any of us, classic movie lovers, have had the opportunity to sit down and chat with the stars. Loved his interviews with Gloria Swanson, Ingrid Bergman, Mae West and other famous actresses and professionals related to movies. Loved the way he describes the way the stars treated him (like Marlene Dietrich putting him up in her hotel room, since he had traveled a long distance and didn't have a place to stay). Or the way the stars of silent films described their work, so vividly...If you find this book, buy it, I'm loving it.

Well I saw a lot of movies in May, I talk about the most of them in previous mini-reviews. But the last two weeks a saw three great films:

a) I remember mama: Irene Dunne was a great actress. When you see her in this film, you forget who she is, you forget the other roles she played, because she really is the Norwegian immigrant mother. There are some scenes that break your heart, especially when she goes to visit her little girl at the hospital.

b) Witness for the prosecution: I love Billy Wilder, I just had forgotten how much I loved him. My Film Review teacher always said that we should avoid treating the subjects as masters, but he was one. Laughton was terrific, Marlene was terrific, Tyrone Power was great, and Agatha Christie did it again.

c) Three Comrades: Maybe the movie written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald is the weakest of the three, but I liked it very much. Saw it last night and I couldn't sleep well. Saw the scenes over and over in my mind. Robert Taylor is #7 in my top 25 favorite classic actors (someday I'm gonna update and translate that post), and I don't care if his characters are pretty much the same in every movie I've seen him in, I always enjoy his presence on screen. I just had seen Margaret Sullavan in the "Shop around the corner" but her performance is really heartbreaking, her character seem so defenseless, but at the same time strong minded and generous. 

Well, I can't write more, because we're too many in this house using one computer, but let me finish this post with this picture I captured from "Stardust, the Bette Davis story" I saw today. Don't you think that the classic stars can look even more modern than modern actors? I want to see this picture in the next Everlast campaign :) 

Well, see ya tomorrow with the first post of this meme.

April is gone...so the [last] monthly review has come...

[I forgot to add the post title and Blogger took the first line I had to create the url direction...I hate when this happens]

This is the second and last monthly review because I think it's better if I review every movie right after watching it. I saw some films that I didn't include because I'm gonna add them in a complete filmography post I'm preparing. Anyway, April brought great movies to see. Let's go...

Carole was too good for this minor role. Anyway, she married William.

Man of the world (Richard Wallace, 1931)

Who’s in it: Carole Lombard + William Powell

What it's about: a con man falls in love with the nephew of one of the man he defrauded.

The good: William Powell is always attractive, and the movie depends on him; the romantic scenes are fine (they should be, since William and Carole married three months after the movie was released); there’s tension coming from the main character's ex-lover and “co-worker”; the ending was unpredictable.

The bad: Carole’s character was too good, simple and nice for her; saw it yesterday and now I don’t even remember what there was before the ending. 

Should I see it? Only if you are a fan of Powell or Lombard.

IMBD explains: "The title refers to the superstition that if three people light their cigarettes with the same match, the third person will soon die"

Three on a match (Mervyn LeRoy, 1932)

Who’s in it: Joan Blondell + Ann Dvorak + Bette Davis (+ Bogie)

What it's about: the story of three classmate girls, and how their lives change and connect when they grow up.

The good: interesting story, unpredictable switches, and the little boy was so cute; all the actors are fine, Bogie is very young (has few scenes though).

The bad: too melodramatic at some points; the way to show the passage of time was kind overblown and repetitive; Bette’s character seemed to have no life of her own and was a minor force in the movie.

Should I see it? Yes, it’s good overall.

One Edward G. Robinson here...

...and two of them here.

The whole town’s talking (John Ford, 1935)

Who’s in it: Edward G. Robinson + Jean Arthur

What it's about: a modest employee is confused with an awfully bad gangster ...and the latter takes advantage of the situation…

The good: Edward G. Robinson plays the two roles (employee-gangster) magnificently; you really believe they’re two different people; his employee is so kind, and sweet, and Jean is funny as always, loved the scene at the police station in which she starts to blame Mannon of everything, it’s hilarious; the story is unpredictable and interesting.

The bad: Nothing I guess.

Should I see it?: Yes, good movie.

 This belongs to the first tree quarters. 

Small town girl (William A. Wellman, 1936)

Who’s in it: Robert Taylor + Janet Gaynor + Jimmy Stewart

What it's about: A girl from a small town (yes, the small town girl) is sick and tired of her boring life and the dull people that surrounds her so she decides to go away with a young and handsome doctor from a big city…

The good: The first three quarters of the movie are great; Janet Gaynor knew how to play this kind of role, she looked vulnerable but she was also very funny; Robert Taylor is very good with his two sided character: on one hand he’s a despicable and conceited rich kid but on the other he’s a sensible doctor that takes good care of his patients.

The bad: In my opinion the last part is not very well developed, Robert’s character behaves awfully and Janet’s boring admirer (Stewart) proves to have great values, so the ending is kind of weird.

Should I see it? Yes, the first three quarters worth it.  

Alone in the woods. a romantic detail by Wilder and Brackett.

Arise, my love (Mitchell Leisen, 1940)

Who’s in it: Claudette Colbert + Ray Milland

What it's about: Reporter Augusta Nash (Colbert) and soldier Tom Martin (Milland) fall in love…just before World War II begins.

The good: everything; the script by Wilder + Brackett, filled with details, some funny, some emotive, but always interesting; the story is entertaining and captivating; the performances of the leads are delicious.

The bad: Nothing.

Should I see it? Of course.

William & Myrna: great chemistry again.

LOL

I love you again (W.S. Van Dyke, 1940)

Who’s in it: William Powell + Myrna Loy

What it's about: After his head is hit with a boat oar a role-model- man (Powell) recovers his first identity … a con man. The problem is that he's going back to a small town where he's very well known...

The good: The leads have their usual perfect chemistry; William Powell is great, funny and clever as always and his performance is solid; there are a lot of hilarious moment (loved the one with the scouts).

The bad: Loy’s character is kind of subordinated to Powell’s, and this isn’t very frequent in their movies; she doesn’t have many memorable lines.

Should I see it? Yes, it’s funny.  

What a beautiful couple were these two.

That Hamilton woman (Alexander Korda, 1941)

Who’s in it: Vivien Leigh + Laurence Olivier

What it's about: the love story of married Emma Hamilton and married English Naval officer Horatio Nelson.  
The good: the leads are great in their roles, and they (obviously) have chemistry; the story is very dramatic and the tension is very well managed; there are some great scenes.

The bad: the movie ends abruptly.

Should I see it? Yes.  

Seemed to be such a happy couple.

Rex Harrison's eye in detail.

Unfaithfully yours (Preston Sturges, 1948)

Who’s in it: Rex Harrison + Linda Darnell

What it's about: An orchestra director (Harrison) imagines different ways to confront her apparently cheating wife…

The good: the story is very original and unpredictable, Rex is great as the husband and his reactions from denial, to suspicion and then to anger are all good; there’s chemistry between the leads; there are great shots (like the the extreme close-up to Harrison’s eye); the last part is very funny.

The bad: Some scenes were very brutal and exaggerated for my taste and that didn’t seem very funny to me; the end is too fast and brief after all the hypothetical situations.

Should I see it? Yes, just because it’s something unique.  

"Tree"

"Rooster"

Johnny Belinda (Jean Negulesco, 1948)

Who’s in it: Jane Wyman + Lew Ayres + Charles Bickford + Agnes Moorehead

What it's about: a good and nice doctor (Ayres) teaches deaf-mute girl (Wyman) to communicate…but not all the men in town are that good and nice.

The good: everything! the story is so interesting and emotive; the way the show how these two people start communicating is so touching and memorable; the characters are so well played by the leads, Jane Wyman is great as the impaired girl (won Oscar), so vulnerable but at the same time with such a inner strength; Lew Ayres is excellent too; the girl’s dad (Charles Bickford) and her aunt (Agnes Moorehead) change their attitude to the girl in such believable and moving way; the bad guy (Stephen McNally) is really really bad and despicable; the movie is beautifully shot, there are some great countryside scenes. Everything is very well developed. 

The bad: Maybe that there's an unsolved case, but it didn't bother to me.

Should I see it? Saw it twice in two days.

Movies I couldn't finish because I fell asleep:

BO-RING.

Man-Proof (Richard Thorpe, 1938): Starring Myrna Loy as a girl in love with guy that marries another woman (Rosalind Russel in a part that was too simple for her). Zero chemistry, you really don’t understand why she loves him so much; and the scenes are boring and she argues all the time with other guy (obviously she will end with him). The only interesting thing was the personality of her mother, a liberal writer that gave her some advices.

Vulgar and violent.

The bank dick (Edward F. Cline, 1940): I didn’t get the humor of this movie; W.C. Fields’s character was really detestable and all the women seemed to be uneducated and violent. Una Merkel was there too but her character was boring and she didn't shine. I’m blaming this kind of movies for some awful and decadent comedy movies we have today (like Borat, and movies starring Ben Stiller, Mike Myers or Adam Sandler).