Movie Review #5 - Arsenic and Old Lace

                      Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Director: Frank Capra

Cast: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Josephine Hull, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Jean Adair, John Alexander, Edward Everett Horton

Running Time: 118 minutes

Production Co.: Warner Bros.
Academy Award Nominations: none

 

A dark comedy, Cary Grant stars as Mortimer Brewster, a newlywed dramatic critic. His two aunts seem normal but they have a secret. They kill lonely old gentlemen. Then there is his brother, Jonathan (Massey)who looks like Boris Karloff and his brownnosing assistant Dr. Einstein (Lorre). There's his happy go lucky wife, Elaine, who frankly, talks way too much. Breezily directed by the master Frank Capra (of It's A Wonderful Life fame). Not for very young children but older children, teens, and adults will enjoy this movie. Full of laughs and contortions, this is sort of a dark slapstick comedy. Highly recommended.

Top 6 - Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman is one of the best actresses ever to grace the silver screen. Her name is synonimous with grace, beauty, and great acting ability. One of my favorite actresses, i think Bergman is up on the platform with Davis and Hepburn. As with all the stars it is hard to pick 6 movies. Here is what i have:

Casablanca
Notorious
Gaslight
Spellbound
Autumn Sonata
The Bells of St. Mary's
Honorable mention:
Murder on The Orient Express

Halloween plans

On Halloween night, i will be watching two movies "Psycho" and "Arsenic and Old Lace". Oh i'm excited. Every Halloween i have a tradition of watching either a scary movie (not too scary) or a Halloween themed movie. And i will be giving out candy. Twix and Milky Ways n' 3 Musketeers. Man i really want to gobble them down but i won't....

Movie Review #4 - East of Eden

                    East of Eden (1955)

Director: Elia Kazan

Cast: James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Richard Davalos, Jo Van Fleet

Running Time: Warner Bros.

Production Co.: 115 minutes
Academy Award Nominations:

Best Supporting Actress-Jo Van Fleet

Best Actor-James Dean
Best Directing-Elia Kazan
Best Writing (Adapted Screnplay)-Paul Osborn

Based on John Steinbeck's book with the same title, East of Eden is a story of Cain and Abel. Young Cal Trask (Dean) seeks his fathers (Massey) love. Meanwhile he envies his brother (Davalos) because his father loves him and not Cal. There is a lot in this movie which i will not spoil so go see it for yourself.

This is my personal favorite of James Dean. Rebel Without A Cause is his most famous, one that is good but not great. Giant is very interesting but as i said good but not great. East of Eden is something different. Dean is very raw as an emotionally hurting boy. I think his performance was very convincing and richly deserved an Oscar nomination. I've never been that great a fan of Dean because he always seemed to try to be Brando. This movie was the only one released while James Dean was alive. Raymond Massey is good, as usual, as the strict, religious father. The cast is good and does a good job of acting.

A note to Hollywood

Hollywood shame on you! How far you've fallen...from Gone With The Wind and Casablanca, such great stars like Gable, Grant, Hepburn, Davis, and directors Hitchcock, Capra and Wilder TO...well what have we now? Fake, druggies who can't act their way out of a paper bag (their are exceptions!). Why i could probably act better than they can. All the stars are made out of the same cookie cutter. There is no variety! That's what made classic Hollywood so great! I can't think of many contemparary directors who are good. The movies have little or no plot, are packed with CGI, sex, nudity, and other obscene stuff! That is why i scoff at so called "stars" like Megan Fox. As for looks, old Hollywood was glamorous and real. Not fake body parts. The men were handsome and could act (for the most part). The woman could be sexy, tough, or mysterious. Hedy Lamarr or Grace Kelly, or Audrey Hepburn could knock their fake faces off. Give me Clark Gable, Cooper, Valentino, or Cary Grant over the Brad Pitt's of Hollywood.

Oh and stop with the remakes!

Star of the Week: Deborah Kerr

Last week's star was Peter Lorre. This week the new Star of the Week is Deborah Kerr.

Real Name: Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer

Born: September 30, 1921 in Helensburgh, Scotland

Died: October 16, 2007 (age 86)

Height: 5-7

Academy Award nominations: 6 nominations-

Edward My Son(1950)
From Here To Eternity(1953)
The King and I(1956)
Heaven Knows Mr. Allison(1957)
Separate Tables(1958)
The Sundowners(1960)
No Oscar wins!

Trademark: played classic English ladies

Deborah Kerr made an entrance into Hollywood, playing proper English woman. Her role in "From Here To Eternity" cast her as an adulterous woman. In 1956 she starred in what is arguably her most beloved work "The King and I" opposite Yul Brynner. The following year, she starred alongside Cary Grant in "An Affair To Remember" (which is one of my personal favorites). In 1968 she retired from movie making. In 1994, Deborah Kerr received an Honorary Oscar for her motion picture achievements.

Deborah Kerr is one of my favorite actresses. While not a Hepburn, Davis or even Bergman, Kerr was an extremely underrated actress who wasn't as appreciated as she should be. She was entirely believable as the prim-and-proper lady, though she would grow tired of this role. I have seen many of her movies and i have loved every one, especially The King and I and An Affair To Remember. Deborah Kerr holds the record for most nominations (6) without a win. Only Thelma Ritter has more nominations (8) without a win. 

Notable Films: From Here To Eternity, The King and I, An Affair To Remember, Black Narcissus

A TCM lovefest...

TCM. I'm sure you've at least heard of it. It stands for Turner Classic Movies. All they do is broadcast classic movies 24/7 with no commercial interruption (i hate commercials!) and promos of their own stuff. You will never see a McDonald's commercial on. All this is great. They show great old movies, the only problem is...i don't have them. I don't have cable or satellite. Just plain old boring TV, which i rarely watch. Oh i wish that i had TCM. So you know what i do? I find out their schedule and when a certain movie is on, i watch it at the same time, so it's like i'm watching TCM (i know it's dumb). Once i went to a friend's house and found out they had TCM. "I didn't even know i had that channel". I was thinking here are good people with that glorious network and they don't even know they have it while i dream of having that. So i joked "maybe we should switch houses".

Well i'm sure you get the picture, i love TCM (their film fest was absolutely amazing, mindblowing, aahh!). Oh maybe one day i'll get it and then i'll never do anything else.