Kon-Tiki (2013)

As a young school child, I remember reading Thor Heyerdahl’s fantastic true adventure account of sailing on a balsa wood raft with 5 other crew members from Peru to Polynesia. Even though Heyerdahl’s crew made the voyage successfully with little trouble except for the logistics and sharks, it occurred to me that this would make a terrific movie. The themes: Man against nature and attempting the impossible and succeeding. Heyerdahl’s award-winning 1950 documentary of the voyage proved to be fascinating cinema, so there is no shortage of available comparisons to the 2013 color movie version of “Kon-Tiki,” directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg.

Pål Sverre Hagen as Thor Heyerdahl in "Kon-Tiki."

Pål Sverre Hagen as Thor Heyerdahl in “Kon-Tiki.”

As the 2013 Kon-Tiki opens, Thor’s a small boy in Norway.  He falls off an ice flow into a freezing lake while trying to impress his school chums. While convalescing, the unrepentant Thor refuses to promise his father that he won’t do something so dangerous again. With this scenes, the film sets up Thor Heyerdahl as an ultimate risk taker.

The film flashes ahead several decades to Polynesia, where Thor takes a working holiday with his wife Liv (Agnes Kittelsen). Thor (Pål Sverre Hagen) learns about a Polynesian god named Kon-Tiki, who came from the other side of the ocean to found the island and the people. Thor notices both that Kon-Tiki is a name for the Inca sun god, and that both Polynesia and Peru grow pineapples. From that, he infers that Polynesian settlers arrived from Peru — not Asia as believed by anthropologists of the day.
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Heyerdahl writes a book about his theories, but scoff reigns on him from other scientists and even the National Geographic Society (NGS). He wants to sail a raft from Peru to Polynesia, but the NGS won’t fund it. When private sources come through for the voyage, Thor rounds up a crew but the movie doesn’t spend much time defining them for the audience. Thor quickly says goodbye to his wife Liv, who is dead-set against the trip, and heads to Peru. They finally take off, and the hazards of the voyage and Thor’s leadership become the primary focus of the film.

Two main problems befall the six-man crew during the voyage of the Kon-Tiki: Lots of sharks threaten them and the boat keeps drifting towards the Galapagos Islands; if they get too close, a maelstrom near the islands will swallow them up. The filmmakers plant an unpredictable character (Herman) as the ship’s engineer (a vacuum cleaner salesman in his real job), who stirs up emotions that make the trip more difficult.  This didn’t happen on the real voyage, but the viewer can easily pardon them for the dramatic effect.

The 2013 version of Kon-Tiki achieves it aim beautifully with a colorful wide-screen epic effect that wastes little time on the biographical elements and concentrates on the story of the voyage. Cameras swoop high above the Kon-Tiki to outer space, emphasizing its minuteness in a vast ocean. The cameras also effectively take us underwater to give us a feeling of what the crew faces with each methodical nautical mile. Of course, the filmmakers use CGI to heighten the effect, but I still felt I went along for the ride.

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Frances Ha

“Frances Ha,” a film released in 2013, features Greta Gerwig as the title character, a 27-year-old dancer attempting to make it in New York City. She lives with her best friend from college, Sophie (Mickey Sumner), who works in the publishing business while apprenticing with a dance troupe and teaching dance lessons on the side. Frances is likable, witty and unpredictable, which differs greatly from the hipsters and other pretentious characters (including her best friend Sophie) that she spends her time cavorting with in this black and white movie.

Greta Gerwig plays Frances in "Frances Ha."

Greta Gerwig plays Frances in “Frances Ha.”

The film opens with Frances and Sophie (Mickey Sumner) partying around New York City. They talk like old friends even though I sensed that they could easily take divergent paths. For one thing, Sophie clings to a serious relationship with her boyfriend, Patch (Patrick Heusinger), while Frances is on a verge of a breakup with her own boyfriend. That makes Frances more needy for the friendship, but Sophie wants to move to Tribeca with Patch because she always dreamed of living in an apartment there. Frances shacks up with a writer and another hipster who let her sleep on their couch. The writer hopes to get on Saturday Night Live, and makes jokes with Frances about how she’s “undatable” and they are not going to have sex.

It actually downtownsault.org viagra super store takes place when men get suffer with stress, depression, over medications, extreme disease, etc. there are many men who are looking for the solution to treat ED and premature ejaculation. This Sildenafil citrate creates an enzyme that controls the amount of blood flow to the penis. viagra cialis on line The massage therapy also promotes immune system, creates flexibility, increases circulation and keeps the mind peaceful. levitra 20mg price VigRx cheapest price for levitra Plus is best for additional satisfaction in the sexual sphere treating concomitant factors like anxiety, depression and fatigue #3. When Sophie announces she’s moving to Tokyo with Patch, Frances faces a minor crisis that propels her to rush home to Sacramento for Christmas. There, she experiences typical holiday activities that serve as a useful break to her chaotic New York life. The movie starts to really work for me when she returns and attends a hilariously staged dinner party where Frances blurts out opinions that would shock and surprise the hipster guests if only they were sensitive enough to understand her comments. I don’t know who wrote most of the movie from this point on (Gerwig and director Noah Baumbach are the screenwriters), but I enjoy the post-Sacramento scenes more than the earlier ones.

On short notice, Frances decides to fly to Paris for a couple of days, hoping to meet up with friends, but she misses her connections and ends up spending most of her time in Paris alone. When she returns, the director of her dance troupe fires her, and then she takes off to Poughkeepsie t0 host donors at her alma mater, Vassar College. Here, she gets her chance for redemptive moments with both Sophie and nature.

Enough goes on in Frances Ha to keep the movie interesting for its 86 minute running time. It has a good script and Gerwig is thoroughly watchable throughout; she’s in every single scene. I don’t think it makes much of a difference to the overall effect that the filmmakers opted for black and white photography, except that it looks good, especially in the interior shots. The extreme likability of Gerwig’s Frances helps the picture immensely, because the other characters do not stand out as very nice, compatible or helpful.

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My Darling Clementine

The title character doesn’t show up in “My Darling Clementine” for about 40 minutes, which is enough time to set up the gritty and grim prospects in Tombstone, Arizona, where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday took part in the gunfight at the O. K. Corral. For this 1946 Twentieth-Century Fox film, director John Ford prefers to concentrate on the relationship between Wyatt (Henry Fonda) and Doc (Victor Mature), and the larger theme of the effect of civilization on the West. The real Doc Holliday’s longtime companion in real life turns out to be somebody named Big Nose Kate, so I think the current title of this movie seems much more romantic.

The poster for "My Darling Clementine," showing Linda Darnell, who plays Chihuahua.

The poster for “My Darling Clementine,” showing Linda Darnell, who plays Chihuahua.

The movie opens with a cattle drive in Monument Valley, supervised by the Earp brothers, Wyatt (Fonda), Virgil (Tim Holt), Morgan (Ward Bond) and James (James). They run across Old Man Clanton (Walter Brennan), who watches the drive with his son Ike from a buckboard. Old Man Clanton offers Wyatt $5 a head for his cattle, noting that they look a little thin and scrawny. Wyatt turns him down, which leads to dire consequences later on. As the Earps ride off, Old Man Clanton sneers at them like a scruffy rat monster. This develops into the good-versus-evil story crucial to any classic western tale.

The sexual ability in men is only the need for early recognition of the warning signs for a male cyclist could be tingling or numbness in the legs, arms, hands, or buying cheap cialis feet. This is known as TV and numerous generic sildenafil viagra amerikabulteni.com organizations utilize this to contact spread news and data about any promotional or any engineering activities also. With generic sildenafil tablets http://amerikabulteni.com/tag/columbus-day/ them men can achieve erection of their penis for a longer period of time and remain effective up to 6 hours of intake. Normally, it takes about 28 days for newly formed skin cells to rise to the surface of viagra online http://amerikabulteni.com/2016/12/08/time-trumpa-seytan-boynuzu-mu-takti/ the tongue and shrink or thin the stomach lining. Wyatt could be classified as more of an urban cowboy than a man who’s at home on the range. He goes to Tombstone to get a shave and a glass of beer at a quiet tavern, but finds a lawless town in need of a strong man to keep the peace. Wyatt becomes the town’s marshall and meets his possible nemesis in Doc Holiday. However, instead of becoming enemies, the semi-famous firebrands form an uneasy friendship. Wyatt stays in Tombstone for the civilization and to find justice for the murder of his brother James, who he finds dead on the range. He also discovers that someone has rustled his entire herd of cattle.

I expected the film to count down the hours until the famous gunfight at the O. K. Corral, but instead it meanders around Doc’s relationship with a bar girl named Chihuahua (Linda Darnell) and Doc and Wyatt’s relationship with the thoroughly civilized Clementine. The nasty family vendetta between the Earps and the Clantons has a pre-determined outcome because of the historical record, but Ford gives us a fictional account of almost everything else. For instance, in real life, Doc Holliday was a dentist; but in this movie, he’s a surgeon who actually performs an operation.

The great visual artist, John Ford, is a master at limiting dialogue and letting the images tell the story. Darryl F. Zanuck at Twentieth-Century Fox re-edited the film for its release, but I watched a pre-release version that I think comes more in line with Ford’s vision for the film. Ford uses more natural sounds instead of background music and the film seems to amble more elegantly to its conclusion. The good performances of Fonda and Mature focus the viewer’s attention, and it seems as though we’ve also travelled to Tombstone like uneasy settlers.

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Dance, Girl, Dance

“Dance, Girl, Dance,” a 1940 RKO Radio Pictures film directed by Dorothy Arzner, opens with a neon rooftop sign advertising tires, pans down to a club called the Palais Royale and then immediately fades to an 8-woman dance act that features Lucille Ball and Maureen O’Hara.  They wear short black dresses and top hats as they sing “Roll Out the Barrel” and do some respectable if not great hoofing. Soon the cops arrive to shut down the club, where gambling occurs in the back rooms. O’Hara’s character, Judy O’Brien, demands to be paid for the performance, and the cops allow the patrons to take up a collection for the dancers. They’re helped by rich guy Jimmie Harris (Louis Hayward), who is slumming in the rubber capital of Akron.

Maureen O'Hara (left) as Judy and Lucille Ball as Bubbles in "Dance, Girl, Dance.:

Maureen O’Hara (left) as Judy and Lucille Ball as Bubbles in “Dance, Girl, Dance.”

Harris arrives with problems of his own. However, the rest of the film focusses on Judy’s relationship with Bubbles (Lucille Ball), who becomes a successful and very sexy burlesque dancer. Judy pines for a chance to show off her ballet skills, so Bubbles hires her to perform a classy ballet number between acts. The burlesque patrons hate this, of course, and hurl insults at her as she performs her routine. Judy does the “stooge” act to heighten the excitement for Bubbles return performance, but the audience disrespect eats away at her.
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The movie’s general theme centers on friendship between women, and what that means in terms of success and fame. I expected a major misunderstanding and fight between Judy and Bubbles at some point. But although Bubbles is strong and characteristic, Judy remains passive and weak for most of the movie. As Judy’s ballet dance teacher and manager (Maria Ouspenskaya) tells Judy, “It’s nothing but oomph, and you haven’t got it. You don’t learn oomph, you are born with it.” In the next scene, Ouspenskaya’s character supervises as Judy attempts a hula dance for a show producer. Next, Bubbles shows up and does the “oomph” version of the dance. Judy’s rendition of the dance is both funny and sexy, which is no surprise since it’s Lucille Ball.

I like the offbeat casting in the film, with the likes of Ball, O’Hara and Ouspenskaya sharing the screen. Hayward, as Jimmy Harris, and the usual assortment of male character actors seem insipid in comparison to the female leads. The movie offers Ralph Bellamy as a classical dance producer interested in Judy, but pushes that plot point far into the background. Jimmy shows up again to inflame some jealousy between Judy and Bubbles, but he never seems like a serious contender for either of them. Overall, I enjoyed Arzner’s visual style, especially in photographing the dance numbers. The editing, by Robert Wise, is crisp and must have been a good tune-up for his next project, “Citizen Kane.”

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A Place of One’s Own

Despite the great acting ability of James Mason, I find it hard to believe he could play a retiree in the 1945 movie “A Place of One’s Own.” At the time, Mason was only 36 yet he played a man in his sixties. The imdb.com biography of Mason says he never wore makeup, but he must have relented for this film. It looks like the makeup artist added a few wrinkles here and there on Mason’s face along with the mutton chops and moustache.

Barbara Mullen and James Mason hear strange things in the speaking tube in "A Place of One's Own."

Barbara Mullen and James Mason hear strange things in the speaking tube in “A Place of One’s Own.”

A Place of One’s Own, made at Gainsborough Studios in London, tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Smedhurst, a retired couple (from the drapery business) who decide to buy the long-boarded-up Bellingham House in Newborough. The movie opens by showing the long-on-the-market and decrepit mansion being overtaken by weeds and vines. Legend says a murder took place there many years ago; the housekeepers conspired to poison the lady of the house to prevent her from marrying. Smedhurst (Mason) scoffs at this nonsense, of course, but one gets the feeling ominous things will happen to unravel his scepticism.

It’s the year 1900 and Smedhust signs the lease at the broker’s office. Mrs. Smedhurst (Barbara Mullen) wonders why the house remained unsold and empty for so long, and then Mr. Smedhurst asks the real estate broker “How long ago did Miss Harkness die?” We learn the house has been on the market since Miss Harkness’ death 40 years ago. The Smedhursts settle in their mansion, where they notice odd things occurring. Someone whistles through the house talking tube, even though only the Smedhursts occupy the house. Mrs. Smedhurst thought she heard a woman’s voice who sounded very far away on the speaking tube.
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The Smedhursts clean up the house and kit it up with fine furniture and a staff including a maid and a gardener. No mention is made of where these workers come from, but I assume the Newborough population would shy away from entering Bellingham House. Ghostly things start to occur more frequently when Mrs. Smedhurst hires a companion named Annette (Margaret Lockwood). She’s young and beautiful, and she says she had a strong premonition to take the job. Unluckily for her, the ghost seems to take a liking to her.

The quite dramatic “possession” scene occurs while Annette plays a tune on the piano. Just as the Smedhursts and the invited guests scoff again at the haunted house idea, Annette suddenly goes from a ham-fisted plodder on the piano to a virtuoso. She plays a song she’s never played before, fighting the urge like a badly controlled marionette. The ghost story is suddenly in full gear while we wait for Annette’s rescue with the help of Smedhurst and others. The slow build-up eventually leads to a satisfactory payoff, which rewards the viewers attention.

At one point in the film, the gardener finds a locket buried in the garden. It’s caked with dirt, but it is mysteriously bright and clean the next morning. If the ghost has the power to clean things, why did she let the house get so dirty for 40 years?

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Bad Day at Black Rock

One of the reasons I like vintage Hollywood movies is that they often tell interesting stories about women. With all the buddy films and macho adventure flicks prevalent in today’s movie complexes, it’s nice to view a film from the Golden Age of Hollywood that provides a feminine dimension. In the 1950s, Hollywood provided plenty of these stories, but also produced talky male confrontational epics such as “Twelve Angry Men,” and “The Sweet Smell of Success,” both from 1957.

Spenser Tracy (left) and Robert Ryan in "Bad Day at Black Rock."

Spenser Tracy (left) as John Macreedy and Robert Ryan as Reno Smith in “Bad Day at Black Rock.”

“Bad Day at Black Rock,” a CinemaScope and Eastman Color production from 1955, takes male confrontation to an extreme level and offers a view of the crumbling myth of the old west where loyalty and self-sufficiency give way to changing attitudes about race, expansion and frontier justice. The film stars a pantheon of rough and tumble male stars, including Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin. The plot involves the efforts of John Macreedy (Spenser Tracy), a World War 2 veteran, to deliver a war medal to the father of a Japanese American soldier killed in Europe during the war. As soon as he gets off the train in Black Rock, a settlement in Arizona that’s nothing more than a couple of streets and an intersection, the jeering, unfriendly and predominantly male population threaten to harm him if he doesn’t leave.

The stronger your immune system is, the better you can fight diseases. generic cialis in canada And it’s creating havoc in personal relationships for men around cute-n-tiny.com female viagra buy the world. All the above are made with Sildenafil canada sildenafil citrate. Although some may find it effective, some suffer from its undesirable side effects- insomnia, difficulty of breathing, and discount pharmacy viagra many others to name a few. The town’s main thug, Reno Smith (Robert Ryan), uses fear and intimidation the control his gang, who consist of Coley Trimble (Borgnine), Hector David (Marvin), Pete Wirth (John Ericson) and an obedient telegraph man named Mr. Hastings (Russell Collins). Two older gentlemen add complacency if not obedience: Doc Velie (Walter Brennan) and ineffectual Sheriff Tim Horn (Dean Jagger). Glamorous and gorgeous Anne Francis plays the lone woman in town, Liz Wirth, the sister of Pete who appears to have a romantic connection to Reno.

Reno and his henchmen can’t figure out Macreedy’s angle, but they know he’ll uncover clues about a murder that could lead them to danger. They continually test him but he remains passive, possibly because he’s a man who lost one arm fighting the war in Europe. When Coley finally pushes Macreedy too far, mostly by trying to drive him off a highway in the film’s first action sequence, he pays a heavy price for it. After that, both the gang and the audience suddenly realize Macreedy should not be taken lightly. Unfortunately for Macreedy, the claustrophobic feel of this nasty testosterone-fueled town leaves him little room to escape with his life.

Unlike the yappy male stars in “12 Angry Men,” the thugs in this movie don’t say much except for a few threats, some solid warnings to Macreedy to get out of town, and a speech or two about the sanctity of a Western small town. Director John Sturges accomplishes much with gesture and the use of space. The viewer can delight in seeing the uncompromising menace Macreedy faces in Black Rock, and wonder who will be the first to crack under the pressure.

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The House Across the Bay

“The House Across the Bay,” a 1940 film directed by Archie Mayo, sports a pretty good cast, including Joan Bennett, George Raft, Lloyd Nolan, Walter Pidgeon and Gladys George. It also gives us some scenes from the waterfront in San Francisco, and a couple of nightclub tunes sung by Joan Bennett. For a movie with a plot about lightweight gangsters, it’s entertaining enough thanks to Bennett’s performance as a woman whose loyalty to a shady operator (Raft) both sustains and damages him beyond repair.

The DVD cover for "The House Across the Bay."

The DVD cover for “The House Across the Bay,” starring Joan Bennett.

Bennett plays chorus girl Brenda, who coughs during the headliner’s performance and incurs her wrath. The vindictive headliner reports Brenda to gangster Steve, who demands that she present herself to him. Of course, Steve can’t resist the beautiful and sexy Brenda as played by Bennett and instantly falls for her. In a brief amount of time, Steve proposes to her and the couple begin a happy life. But then Steve’s business activities cause some of his thug enemies to put a hit on him; shots narrowly miss him, but Steve remains cocky and unconcerned about the danger.

It is always to be considered that it is of low effective and high side effective medicine. sildenafil prescription The problem can occur due to performance anxiety, stress, guilt, depression, low self-esteem, and fear of sexual failure cause up http://cute-n-tiny.com/page/5/ cheapest generic cialis to 20% of cases. This is a look here cialis usa buy common situation for those dealing with erectile issues. With the herbal enhancement medications you can surely find them in Check Prices ordering levitra from canada cheaper prices from the generic online pharmacy with wide variety of prescription drugs. Brenda then thinks up a plan that turns the whole movie around. She figures that if the IRS gets Steve for tax evasion, he’ll do a year’s time. Jail time will help save Steve’s life, so she does her best to frame him for tax crimes. Unfortunately, Steve’s crooked lawyer Slant (Nolan) has other plans and provides the feds with a much more damaging case. The verdict stings both Brenda and Steve: 10 years in Alcatraz Prison. The despondent Brenda takes an apartment in San Francisco across the San Francisco Bay from the prison, and Slant keeps tabs on her while she waits out the painful years until Steve’s release.

The movie manages to be neither very gritty or violent, and neither Steve or Slant appear very menacing. Slant’s motivation for his double-crossing turns out to be his love for Brenda. His efforts become complicated when handsome aviation designer Tim (Pidgeon) arrives suddenly in a meet-cute at a drug store. Tim aggressively pursues Brenda, but she won’t tell him why she can’t devote herself to him. Bennett can play powerful temptresses, but her character in this film must work hard to tone down her appeal because of her devotion to poor Steve.

Thankfully, the film concentrates on Brenda’s story and doesn’t spend much time in Alcatraz Prison, except for obligatory scenes of Brenda talking to Steve with a glass window between them on visiting day. The ending gives Steve an opportunity to take a definite step in determining his own fate, but perhaps the movie wraps up too nicely for Brenda. After all her misgivings about her mistakes, it seems all too easy for her to move on with her life.

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Port of Shadows

If you follow a deserting soldier as he hitchhikes down the road to a foggy port town named Le Havre, you might expect him to lay low and attempt to stay out of trouble until he can make his nifty escape on a departing ship. However, in Marcel Carné’s “Le Quai des Brumes,” or “Port of Shadows” in English, the soldier actively looks for trouble, remains surly and uncooperative, and finds the love of his life.

Jean Gabin and Michèle Morgan are on the lookout in "Port of Shadows."

Jean Gabin and Michèle Morgan are on the lookout in “Port of Shadows.”

Carné’s 1938 French language film stars Jean Gabin as Jean, who flags down a passing truck for a ride to Le Havre. The driver notices his uniform, and attempts some small talk, but Jean barks at him and then grabs and turns the wheel to avoid hitting a dog. The two almost get into a fight, and then the dog follows Jean for the rest of the film. He’d be wise to stay in hiding until his ship departs for Venezuela, but a slimy shopkeeper named Zabel (Michel Simon) and a trio of gangsters conspire to thwart his quest for freedom and happiness.
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Jean flees to a house on the docks, where he meets a beautiful 17-year-old named Nelly, played by Michèle Morgan. She appears to be the most desired woman in town, as she’s pursued by one of the gangsters, Lucien (Pierre Brasseur), Zabel, and another man named Maurice. But Jean and Nelly instantly connect, which exposes Jean to danger. Lucien is the kind of weak and insipid character who turns out to be quite dangerous when pushed too hard. Jean pushes him more than once, and he begins to seethe at the humiliation. Zabel, on the other hand, is a conniving classical music lover who happens to be Nelly’s godfather. He’s not about to allow a rat like Lucien to gain her favor. Luckily, Nelly falls in love with Jean.

The film breaks ground in its portrayal of Jean, a man unflinching in the face of danger despite the obvious dangers lurking in a shadowy port town. As part of his “disguise,” Jean takes the identity of a dead artist, a role he must presumably fake all the way to Venezuela. But since he’s a deserter who isn’t suited for war and the army, and never reveals an aptitude for anything in this film except wanderlust, the viewer might find it hard to root for him at all. Mostly, I rooted for the opportunity for Jean and Nelly’s love to be successful, and for the couple to finally get away from Zabel and the gangsters.

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Twentieth Century

Watching the adorable Carole Lombard and the hammy John Barrymore in “Twentieth Century,” I kept a smile on my face the entire time. What’s better than a screwy comedy about the backstage shenanigans at a Broadway theater run in despotic style by Barrymore’s character with the added touch of Lombard’s perfect line readings and engaging physicality? Add the wisecracking witticisms of Roscoe Karns, and the exasperated mishaps of Walter Connolly and you get a solid and enjoyable movie. Directed by Howard Hawks, the 1934 film takes place on Broadway and a cross-country train called the Twentieth Century.

Carole Lombard and John Barrymore in "Twentieth Century."

Carole Lombard and John Barrymore in “Twentieth Century.”

The film begins at a rehearsal for an antebellum play that stars Lombard. She’s Mildred Plotka, a lingerie model discovered by Barrymore’s character (Oscar Jaffe). Karns, playing a reporter, arrives and summons Lily Garland, Jaffe’s new name for the woefully inexperienced Mildred. Jaffe arrives and choreographs each move and line by his actors like a dictator, stopping and criticizing them frequently. He even starts drawing chalk lines on the stage floor so “Lily” can hit her marks. Eventually, he dismisses the entire cast except for Lily, who breaks down and tells him she won’t take this kind of abuse from any man. At that moment, Jaffe knows she’ll be a star.

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Although Lily is soft spoken and reticent in the early part of the film, by the time she boards the Twentieth Century train she becomes a lot like Jaffe. I could see this happening since she learned the art of bombastic stardom from the hyperbolic Jaffe. It’s wonderful to see Jaffe grovel at her feet; he literally bows down to her. Although the film doesn’t delve too far into Lily’s psyche, it gives us a few reasons why she would entertain going back to New York with him. For one, she’s involved with a rich, handsome, but boring social climber who insists on travelling with her even though she practically orders him off the train.

Thanks to a funny screenplay by Ben Hecht, Preston Sturges and others, I found this film to be one of the funniest of the early sound period. It looks like it beat the censorship restrictions brought in by the Hays code, since it implies a sexual relationship between Jaffe and Lily but no marriage. I wondered why Jaffe couldn’t duplicate his magic with another young actress, but I guess there is only one Carole Lombard.

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Angélique

Since this review involves the 1964 version of “Angelique,” and not this year’s remake, I’ll use the full 1964 title, which is “Angélique, Marquise des Anges.” The title means “marquise of the angels,” although the film never fully explains the meaning in this version. The ending alludes to further adventures where she fully embraces the identity; and 4 other movies also starring the beautiful Michèle Mercier followed this film. The color film, directed by Bernard Borderie, is a co-production involving French, German and Italian studios.

Michele Mercier stars as Angelique in "Angelique, Marquise des Anges."

Michèle Mercier stars as Angélique in “Angélique, Marquise des Anges.”

In the 1650’s, Angélique begins the movie as a feisty but curious virgin who takes a liking to a peasant boy named Nicolas (Giuliano Gemma). While they flirt near a pond, Angélique’s blouse gets wet and becomes transparent. This excites Nicolas, who lunges at her. But then, a band of rebels massacres a village outside the fortress walls. The rebels attack the fortress, but get routed by a cavalry charge. Peace restored, Angélique’s father sends her off to get refinement at a fancy count’s estate, but the denizens of the count’s court only mock and abuse her. She rebels, but the Count sends her off to a convent for 5 years as punishment.

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At Jeoffrey’s estate, Angélique stumbles onto a plot to kill King Louis XIV’s brother, and takes passive yet heroic action to stop it. She doesn’t take to the Marquis right away, but he doesn’t force himself on her. She lives unhappily in luxurious surroundings until attacks upon her husband by the Church and the Kingdom force her to look at him in a completely different light. When he finally gets arrested and charged with witchcraft, Angélique pulls out every stop to get him released. This puts her in grave danger, not to mention that several men in the film try to rape her; but she narrowly misses death or imprisonment. Director Borderie balances all these episodes so that the film moves at an effective pace.

A long trial scene explains all the plot complications but reveals what a nasty court King Louis presided over. The rebels make their appearance again near the end of the film, promising new story lines for the sequel. I expect the 2013 film to leave room for sequels as well. The source books consisted of 13 volumes, which is a lot of adventures and several films for the story of Angélique.

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