Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Black Widow (2021) - 7.5/10 - This prequel takes place before Avengers: Endgame and gives Natasha Romanoff an origin story where she was part of a Russian sleeper cell in Ohio while still a child. Her return to Russia and (much) later escape are also covered. In this film, she reunites with her 'family' in trying to take out the man in charge of the Widow program and end its existence. I enjoyed the film quite a bit, especially Scarlet Johansson, Florence Pugh, and David Harbour. There were a few logical leaps perhaps, but overall I thought it was a pretty solid and entertaining film.

Making Overtures: The Story of a Community Orchestra (1984) - 8.5/10 - The film takes place in a town not too far from Toronto. An energetic conductor is working with a choir to get ready for a performance while also working with a community orchestra. He is bringing in a guest violinist to perform with the orchestra as well. Rehearsals and performances are shown and the music is well done and a lot of fun. We also get to see a small youth ensemble perform and get a few brief interviews with community members. The whole film is pretty upbeat and entertaining.

The Collector of Bedford Street (2002) - 7.5/10 - Larry Selman was a mildly mentally retarded man who lived in an apartment on Bedford Street in New York City. The only money he had came from social security and from his octogenarian uncle, but he spent quite a bit of time collecting money for worthy causes. His neighbor, Alice Elliott, decided to make this film about Larry. Larry's neighbors decided to do something about the situation and help Larry out. It was a good film and you get to know Larry quite a bit here in the film.

Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo (1985) - 8/10 - Tens of thousands of people disappeared between 1976-1983 during Argentina's Junta government. In 1977, a group of mothers desperate to get information about their missing children started gathering and marching weekly in the Plaza de Mayo, overcoming their fear of the government to try and get answers. This film interviews a number of the mothers as well as a few survivors and other family members, documenting what they faced as well as what their children probably faced in captivity. A few of the founders were disappeared themselves in 1977 in an effort to disperse the group. The political situation at the time is also discussed. The film is interesting, effective, and well done.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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I ran across a few short films from my list so I went ahead and watched them.

Tales of Meeting and Parting (1985) - 8/10 - A woman on a train relates a story told to her by a Japanese man at a train station. The man was an officer during WWII and served as an interpreter during interrogations of captured U.S. servicemen. During one such interrogation, he does a kindness for the prisoner. After the was, he is a prisoner himself and has a kindness done for him. I thought it was pretty well done and a decent short story. Apparently it was based on a true incident.

A Place in the Land (1998) - 7/10 - This film serves as a sort of biography for three men who owned or lived at the Billings Farm in Woodstock, Vermont. The film also delves into the ties each man had with conservation. The story is told mostly with narration over photographs or archival footage. The house at the Billings Farm was built in 1805 by the Charles Marsh. His son, George, grew up in the house and became a lawyer, politician, and diplomat in addition to his interests in conservation. Marsh also published a book titled Man and Nature. Frederick Billings bought the farm from Marsh's brother. Billings was a lawyer and railroad President in addition to his conservation efforts, which included planting thousands of trees and advocating for National Parks at Yosemite and Yellowstone. Billings' granddaughter married Laurance Rockefeller, a man who would become a leading conservationist in the latter half of the 20th Century. The film was interesting, though a bit superficial due to its length. There were some nice views of the Billings Farm during the film.

Number One (1976) - 8/10 - The film starts with an elementary school classroom (first grade probably) where a few kids pay attention to the elderly teacher, but many are not paying much attention. Two girls get permission to go to the bathroom and stop to check out the boys' bathroom to see what it is like before returning to class. When two boys come in to use the bathroom, the kids start to talk and eventually decide to take off their clothes to see what the opposite sex looks like. It's pretty much innocent curiosity, but the principal catches them and yells at them. The rest of the film deals with the parents of three of the kids dealing with it and then the next day in class. The kids were very good and believable here. The most awkward part was the principal and his handling of the situation. Dyan Cannon directed the film and it is a good film.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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The Prisoner of Shark Island was probably the first John Ford movie I ever saw, back in the time where AMC was basically TCM. I don't think I've watched it since (although I have a DVD of it in the Ford box set that was put out all those years ago), but I remember liking it back then, although having read about the case since then, I do think Samuel Mudd was guilty, not necessarily of being part of the full-blown conspiracy, but of (knowingly) being an accessory and of trying to obstruct the investigation.
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gunnar wrote: I haven't watched The Cisco Kid tv show, but I've read and enjoyed the comic book series from Dell that came out at the same time and the comic strip by Jose Luis Salinas that ran in the 1950s and 1960s.

I liked 42nd Street, but haven't watched the other two films that you mentioned. I've added them to my list of films to watch in the future.
Cool.

Tod Browning's West of Zanzibar is first and foremost a Lon Chaney horror show but Lionel Barrymore as Chaney's nemesis and Baxter as Chaney's doctor are equally strong. The 1928 silent was remade as an overly violent 1932 talkie with Walter Huston that isn't anywhere nearly as good even though Huston had played Chaney's role in the stage version that preceded the Chaney film.

John Ford's 1936 film, The Prisoner of Shark Island deserves to be better known than it is. Baxter is really at his best as Dr. Mudd, the physician who innocently treated Lincoln's assassin but was imprisoned on the island Dry Tortugas nicknamed Shark Island because the moat that surrounded it was infested with sharks. Gloria Stuart plays Baxter's wife and John Carradine has a standout supporting role as a sadistic prison guard.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Big Magilla wrote: I have fond memories of Duncan Rinaldo as The Cisco Kid in a TV series in the 1950s, but Warner Baxter's portrayal of him in In Old Arizona is just torturous to watch.

My favorite Baxter performances were in West of Zanzibar, 42nd Street, and The Prisoner of Shark Island, the same year as King of Burlesque and so much better.
I haven't watched The Cisco Kid tv show, but I've read and enjoyed the comic book series from Dell that came out at the same time and the comic strip by Jose Luis Salinas that ran in the 1950s and 1960s.

I liked 42nd Street, but haven't watched the other two films that you mentioned. I've added them to my list of films to watch in the future.



Regret to Inform (1998) - 7.5/10 - A woman whose husband died during the Vietnam War travels to Vietnam to visit the place where he died. Interviews with other women (both American and Vietnamese) who lost husbands or other family members are interspersed with the woman's commentary. The experiences of these women paint a picture of the war that still haunts them many years after the war ended. The tone is fairly somber, but it is a good film and shows that people on each side were deeply affected by this unfortunate war.

In the Name of the People (1985) - 8.5/10 - Four journalists snuck into El Salvador and spent 18 months with the FMLN, getting to know them as people and listening to their stories of government brutality and death squads. They grow food in one of their remote villages and also have schools set up when possible. There are children among the insurgents, some of whom have lost their parents to death squads. Dr. Charlie Clements appears here, treating injured guerrillas and traveling between camps. Clements was featured in an Oscar winning short called Witness to War the same year. There is a bit of recycled footage at the beginning and some combat footage in San Salvador toward the end of the film, but much of the film is dedicated to seeing the daily lives of the people. Martin Sheen narrates and the interviews are subtitled. This is one of the better films I've seen about the problems in Central America during the 1980s.

Sing Your Way Home (1945) - 4/10 - A conceited war correspondent named Steve Kimball is trying to get back to New York City after the war. In order to do that, he is tasked with chaperoning a musical troupe of teenagers who were trapped in Europe for years due to the war. They want to dance and sing and he wants to keep them quiet. A woman named Kay becomes attached to the group and Steve and Kay fall for each other. The songs weren't bad, but the whole premise and much of the plot is pretty ridiculous. The movie was watchable, but not very believable or good.

Navajo (1952) - 6/10 - A seven year old Navajo boy lives with his mother, sisters, and adopted grandfather. He is forced to go away to an Indian school run by white men, but rejects their ways and plans his escape. After escaping, he has to evade the men who come after to bring him back to the school. It was nominated by the Academy for cinematography and as a documentary. The cinematography is pretty good and the movie has some great scenic shots, but it certainly isn't a documentary. It's not a bad movie, though the narration could get a bit wearing at times.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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gunnar wrote:
Big Magilla wrote:
gunnar wrote:King of Burlesque (1936) - 7.5/10 - Walter Baxter stars
That was Oscar winner Warner Baxter, of course.
Whoops. Fixed, thanks.

I did like Baxter a lot more here than in In Old Arizona.
I have fond memories of Duncan Rinaldo as The Cisco Kid in a TV series in the 1950s, but Warner Baxter's portrayal of him in In Old Arizona is just torturous to watch.

My favorite Baxter performances were in West of Zanzibar, 42nd Street, and The Prisoner of Shark Island, the same year as King of Burlesque and so much better.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Black Widow (Cate Shortland, 2021) 6/10

A much belated solo film about Black Widow - it strangely took Hollywood years to cough it up and once in the can the covid pandemic delayed it further. However, now that its here the film is less Marvel and more James Bond. Is it an homage to the Bond film "Moonraker'? There is a clip from that film and the explosive ending clearly channels it. Even the megalomaniac Russian villain, Dreykov (Ray Winstone), seems ripped out of the pages of Bond. Here he is ensconsed in the mysterious Red Room from where he wills his girls (known as widows), spread around the world, to do various nefarious deeds at his bidding. The main plot is the backstory of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) - known as "Black Widow" elsewhere in the world of the Avengers - who along with her foster parents (David Harbour & Rachel Weisz) and foster sister, Yelena (Florence Pugh), grew up in Ohio. This American "family" was a Russian plant (shades of the tv series "The Americans") by Dreykov who disbands their ruse and plucks the girls away from their parents and each other. Natasha escapes his clutches, joins the Avengers and is seen here abandoned by her fellow superheroes - did not get why this happened - hooks up with her long lost sister and goes in search of her foster parents who she hopes will lead her to Dreykov and the Red Room. Black Widow was one sexy babe in all the Marvel movies but here she seems to have lost her sexiness and instead gets to be James Bond. Johansson looks kind of lost here but Pugh shines alongside her as she trades quips, knocks back vodka and proves just as much of a lethal weapon during the action sequences. A number of kick-ass action set pieces keep things moving even though overall it comes off as a rather bland Bond film. La Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine (Julia Louis Dreyfuss) makes a post credits appearance along with a glimpse of Captain America. Now that Black Widow is dead in the Marvel Universe is this film a launchpad for a spinoff film featuring Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh)?

Out of Death (Mike Burns, 2021) 2/10

The pandemic has made some filmmakers work really fast. This entire film was shot in nine days and they filmed one of the leading actor's scenes during a single day. Granted they came up with a very bland grade Z thriller at the end of it all but the sheer audacity of their speed is amazing. A hiker (Jaime King) witnesses a corrupt cop (and drug dealer) shoot in cold blood the supplier. She goes on the run after being discovered with three crooked cops after her and gets unexpected help from a retired and depressed cop (Bruce Willis) who happens to be chilling at his niece's cottage in the countryside. The only thing worth looking at in this silly predictable film is the spectacular location set around Lake Easton in Washington State Park. Willis, who was on set for only one day, looks tired and when he runs the camera cuts down to his legs - or more likely the legs of his stunt double. Even his usual smirks and quips seem forced. The leading lady gets to do all the running, shooting and stabbing but is one of those stupid people who has apparently never seen a movie where such scenes take place. The action is centered next to a huge lake surrounded by a thick forest and she has all the space in the world to get away from the killers pursuing her yet she keeps running into the bad cops again and again allowing them to rough her up. This was probably because the nine day shoot allowed the film unit to use just a small stretch of the location. The director of this dismal film was the music supervisor (he also scored this one) on a number of Willis' previous films so it looks like he helped him out by agreeing to star in his debut film. Hope Willis got a good paycheck for his one day's activity on this project.
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Big Magilla wrote:
gunnar wrote:King of Burlesque (1936) - 7.5/10 - Walter Baxter stars
That was Oscar winner Warner Baxter, of course.
Whoops. Fixed, thanks.

I did like Baxter a lot more here than in In Old Arizona.
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gunnar wrote:King of Burlesque (1936) - 7.5/10 - Walter Baxter stars
That was Oscar winner Warner Baxter, of course.
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The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935) - 5/10 - A radio station is in financial straits, but its salvation might be had by winning a contest with the aid of an invention by George Burns and Gracie Allen that can pick up any signal and broadcast it. There are a lot of musical and comedy acts shown through the magic of this device. There are also running storylines with the radio station operator and friends being kidnapped and another with George and Gracie and their antics. The Nicholas Brothers were pretty good in their part and some of the acts were mildly entertaining, but for the most part the movie is pretty lame.

Thin Ice (1937) - 7/10 - Sonja Henie stars as a hotel ski instructor at a Swiss resort who dreams of being allowed to be part of a figure skating show at the hotel as well. She falls for a man (Tyrone Power) that she meets on the ski slopes and they start to have a relationship. She doesn't know that he is really a prince who is in town to lead a conference. This was a bit of a step up from Henie's first movie and she is allowed to act a bit more. Tyrone Power is pretty good in the film and Henie isn't bad either, even if the plot is a bit thin. The figure skating shows are decent and the film is enjoyable.

All the King's Horses (1935) - 7/10 - A prince and the pauper scenario plays out here as King Rudolph (Carl Brisson) and his wife, Queen Elaine (Mary Ellis) are having problems due to his refusing to shave his beard because of appeasing his ministers and also not having enough time to spend with her. Enter actor/singer Carlo Rocco (also Carl Brisson), a look alike that changes places with the king after his wife has left him. The king then sets off to learn to live without all of the pomp and circumstance only to have the queen fall for Rocco in his guise as the king. Lots of musical interludes and mixups in a decent film.

King of Burlesque (1936) - 7.5/10 - Warner Baxter stars as Kerry Bolton, a wealthy theater producer who falls for a society lady (Mona Barrie) who has fallen on hard times financially. He also is oblivious to the feelings of his star performer Pat (Alice Faye). When Bolton marries the society lady, Pat takes a job in London, but Bolton's fortunes soon take a downward turn. I thought the movie was pretty entertaining with a few good musical numbers thrown in. The relationship between Bolton's assistant Joe (Jack Oakie) and Connie (Arline Judge) was funny throughout. We also get some entertainment from Fats Waller, Dixie Dunbar and others.

Behind the News (1940) - 6/10 - An earnest young reporter named Jeff earns a scholarship to work for a big city newspaper for six months. He is assigned to Stu, a veteran reporter who has taken to drink and is cynical about the job. Jeff is earnest and covers for Stu when a big story hits, but Jeff repays him with a mean practical joke. Jeff stumbles on to a big story, but can't get anyone to take him seriously due to the practical joke played on him. This was a decent film and I enjoyed it, even if some parts were a bit heavy handed.

Alone Yet Not Alone (2013) - 6/10 - In 1755, a tribe of Native Americans offered their services to the British, but were spurned, so they allied with the French instead. They attacked a number of settlers in the Penn's Creek Massacre, killing many adults and taking children captive. 12 year old Barbara Leininger and her 9 year old sister were captured and separated. Years later, Barbara joined her friend Marie Le Roy (a neighbor who was also captured) and two young men in escaping and trying to reach Fort Pitt and safety. The acting might have been a bit amateurish at times and some of the depictions of Native Americans may have been questionable, but overall I didn't think it was that bad. It also seemed to be fairly accurate based on the pamphlet written and published by Barbara and Marie after their escape.

The Secret Land (1948) - 6/10 - This film documents Operation Highjump, a U.S. mission to Antarctica to establish the Little America IV base and have planes scout various parts of the coast and interior for minerals and anything else of interest. Much of the film features the trip to Antarctica and problems that they encountered along the way. The film was shot by military cameramen, though some scenes were re-enacted later. It wasn't bad and there was some interesting footage, including transferring men between ships at sea using a cable. I may be getting a bit jaded about Antarctica films, though, having watched a number of them this year.

The Lovers' Wind (1978) - 9/10 - This film is a tour of the landscape of Iran, shot primarily from a helicopter. The narration is from the perspective of the wind as it travels throughout the country. In the desert, we see nomads traveling by camel, abandoned towns being reclaimed by the sand, and ancient cities being unearthed again. They give nice views of the city of Persepolis. Along the sea, we keep pace with birds in flight and observe fishermen at work. Along the plains, we see herds being gathered or allowed to water themselves. We see a hill covered in carpets so that they can dry only to see the wind send them tumbling. We follow a train through the mountains and tunnels. We also get to visit Tehran and go through the Golestan Palace. There is beautiful imagery here and the narration is poetical. I think it is an excellent film and certainly better than Scared Straight! which won the Academy Award that year. Filming was completed in 1970, but the death of the director, Albert Lamorisse (who won an Oscar for The Red Balloon) in a helicopter crash. The film was completed from his notes by his widow and son who released it in 1978.
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Broken Rainbow (1985) - 7/10 - Congress passed a law in 1974 to force the relocation of 10,000 Navajo people from land designated as part of the Hopi Nation. Supposedly the two tribes were in dispute over the land and it might lead to fighting. In reality, a coal company wanted the coal and other resources under the land and manufactured the issue to get the law passed. This film documents some of the struggle against the forced relocation and the damage it causes those involved and also delves into the history of broken promises and abuse of power by the government in Navajo affairs. The Navajo have uranium, oil, coal, and other resources on their land, but only get a very small percentage of the actual value. It's a pretty sad situation and one that is consistent with how Native American people have been treated for the past few centuries.

Resisting Enemy Interrogation (1944) - 8/10 - This training film features a bomber crew that is shot down and captured by the Germans. The Germans use a number of different methods on the individual members of the crew to gather scraps of information that they put together to identify an upcoming target. It turned out to be a pretty entertaining film. One review that I read indicated that a later documentary confirmed that the methods shown were pretty accurate.

The Titan: Story of Michelangelo (1950) - 5/10 - This documentary features sparse narration describing events in Michelangelo's life as well as some of the details in his most famous works. It spends a lot of time panning around David, the Sistine Chapel, and other of his works. I found it to be very dull.

Folies Bergère de Paris (1935) - 8/10 - Maurice Chevalier plays dual roles in this film. He plays Charlier, a stage performer and singer who does a great impersonation of Baron Cassini, a prominent local banker. Cassini (also Chevalier) is a womanizer who attends the performance one night and enjoyed it quite a bit. However, the Baron receives bad news about an investment and leaves town suddenly to try and take care of it. His partners hire Charlier to take his place at a formal gala and other engagements. Merle Oberon is excellent as Baroness Cassini. Ann Sothern plays Mimi, Charlier's girlfriend, and is okay. I thought that the movie was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the musical numbers at the beginning and end of the film as well.

Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937) - 7.5/10 - Eddie Cantor stars as Al Babson, a drifter riding the rails who is a huge fan of movie stars and collects their autographs when he can. An accident leaves him in the medical tent for 20th Century Fox where they are shooting a film. He gets hired as an extra, but overmedicates himself and wakes up to find himself in ancient Baghdad where they mistake him for Ali Baba's son. This is a fun comedy adventure with music thrown in and I enjoyed it a lot more than the other Cantor picture I've seen (Whoopee). Unfortunately, they had to throw in an unnecessary blackface appearance as well. Still, other than that it is a pretty good film. There are a lot of star cameos at the end of the picture.
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Unchained certainly has a lot of trivia attached to it. I think Dexter Gordon was actually a prisoner in Chino for a heroin conviction when he appeared in the film.

Desert Victory (1943) - 7/10 - This film examines the North Africa campaign fought by the British and their allies against Rommel and his German army. There is some captured footage included along with re-enactments and plenty of combat footage. The narration is informative, though a bit dry. It was a decent enough film for wartime, though I thought it got a bit repetitive at times.

After the Axe (1982) - 8/10 - This Canadian drama (a fictional documentary) shows what happens to an executive in a large company after he is fired. Since he had been with the company for a long time and to avoid problems, the company pays his salary for a year and also pays for relocation training to help him find a new job. The people at that company and the executives he meets later are all real, but the man and the company he worked for were fictional. I think that the movie does a good job showing what these 40-something executives might go through and how they likely need to realign their thinking to move on with their career.

The Cry of Reason - Beyers Naude: An Afrikaner Speaks Out (1988) - 7.5/10 - Beyers Naude was a white South African cleric who started speaking out against apart apartheid in the early 1960s. It caused him to separate from his church and start his own institute. He was harassed by the South African government and banned for seven years. He is interviewed here along with Desmond Tutu and many others about his work and his relationship with the black population. Archival footage is also mixed in and it all makes for a pretty good film.

Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House (1991) - 6/10 - This HBO film had the filmmakers visit Lewisburg Penitentiary in Pennsylvania where they interviewed guards, the warden, and prisoners to discover what their lives were like inside the prison. They also discussed with a few of the prisoners what led them to be in prison and what problems they currently had. I thought that the film was interesting at times, but didn't find myself fully engaged at others. Overall, it was okay.

He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' (1983) - 7.5/10 - Jacques d"Amboise was the principal dancer for the New York City Ballet for many years. He started the National Dance Institute in 1976 to bring dance into New York City schools so that students could meet once each week with professional dancers and learn modern dance. Exceptional students were invited to join his 'Swat Team' and rehearse at Lincoln Center on Saturday mornings. At the end of the year they put on a big performance to show off the various routines that they learned, woven together into a story. This was a nice film and the kids seemed to be having a great time, even though it was hard work. d'Amboise is demanding, but generally in a nice way, taking the time to work with the kids, and they speak highly of him in the film.

Let My People Go (1965) - 7.5/10 - This film looks at events that led to the founding of the State of Israel, mostly from the beginning of the 20th Century through 1949. The founding of Tel Aviv, the British Mandate, Jewish Ghettos in Poland and elsewhere, concentration camps, etc. are all covered. Immigration to Palestine was limited even after WWII ended so that many Jews were kept in camps on Cyprus if they were caught trying to enter illegally. The footage was well chosen and the narration was good, though I felt that the history was sort of superficial. There was a lot to cram into a one hour documentary.

The Anderson Platoon (1967) - 7/10 - A French film crew was embedded with an American platoon in Vietnam for six weeks. This film shows what their lives are like during that time. There is combat, but there is also time to relax, eat dinner, bathe in the river, go on leave in a big city, and interact with locals. The narration is sometimes sparse as it often lets the film speak for itself. A number of the platoon members are wounded or killed during the course of the film. I found it to be an interesting look at some of the things soldiers in Vietnam had to deal with.

Wolves and the Wolf Men (1969) - 7/10 - Wolves are shown (and studied) in the wild. Some of them are captured, equipped with radio collars, and released so that researchers can study their movements. Wolves are also raised in captivity so that researchers can become close with them and study their social behaviors. In some areas, wolves were still being hunted to extinction and populations were somewhat threatened. I thought the film did a nice job showing the wolves that were raised in captivity and how they interacted with humans and each other. Their behaviors were also explained by the narrator or the scientists involved.

The Fighting Lady (1944) - 7.5/10 - The USS Yorktown is an aircraft carrier that was commissioned in 1943. This film takes place from July 1943-June 1944 and shows it traveling through the Panama Canal, undergoing sea exercises, and battling Japanese forces in various parts of the Pacific. We get to see plenty of action using gunport cameras and activity aboard the carrier with planes landing, sometimes too damaged to land properly. We also get to see aspects of everyday life aboard ship - writing or reading letters, playing cards, getting some sun on the deck, eating meals, getting mission briefings, etc. It is in technicolor and I think that this really adds to the film. The Yorktown is now a museum ship in South Carolina and I visited it a couple of years ago. It is a big ship and it was interesting to tour it.

On the Bowery (1956) - 5/10 - Ray is new to the Bowery, a place full of people who are down and out, making very little money and often spending what they do have on alcohol. Ray is taken advantage of by one of the residents that he thinks of as a friend, though Ray doesn't realize it. When he is sober, Ray swears to stay off drink and try to better himself, but the call of drink is too much to resist. I didn't really care for this film very much. It didn't really work for me, though it seems fairly popular to others.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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One more Unchained trivia connection.

Johnny Johnston, who was fifth billed behind Hirsch, Hale, Morris, and Duncan, played the James Dunn role in the Broadway musical version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in which he and Shirley Booth in the Joan Blondell role were the top-billed stars. His short but eclectic film career ranged from Till the Clouds Roll By to Rock Around the Clock. Kathryn Grayson was the second of his five wives.
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gunnar wrote: Unchained (1955) - 7/10 - Steve Davitt is sent to an experimental prison in Chino, California where the cells aren't locked and there are no armed guards. They can also wear the clothes that they want and have visitors on Sundays. The Superintendent of the prison believes that prisoners are people and wants to treat them as such in hopes of rehabilitating them rather than punishing them. The movie is based on the non-fiction book by Kenyon Scudder and is based on his real experiences at Chino as Superintendent (aka warden). The acting of Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch as Davitt left something to be desired, but the supporting cast was mostly okay. The plot is a bit pedestrian, but I still enjoyed it.
I've never seen this, but it's got a truly wild bundle of trivia attached to it:

It stars Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, a Hall of Fame football player who played the lead in his own biopic, and made a brief stab at a fuller acting career, of which this was probably the peak.

It features one actor Oscar-nominated in 1929 (Chester Morris) and another Oscar-nominated in 1986 (Dexter Gordon!).

It also features Todd Duncan, who was Porgy in the original Broadway production of Porgy and Bess.

The great John Qualen is in it, which makes any movie memorable.

It's a TV treasure trove for baby boomers, with Barbara Hale (Della Street in the Raymond Burr Perry Mason series), Jerry Paris (Dick van Dyke's next door neighbor Jerry Halper), and Tim Considine (Disney veteran of Mickey Mouse Club's Spin and Marty and The Hardy Boys, as well as The Shaggy Dog, plus, later, My Three Sons).

ON EDIT: Add one more: actor Stafford Repp, who played Chief O'Hara on the 60s Batman series -- and, remarkably, also appeared in Orson Welles' long-delayed The Other Side of the Wind. Whew.

If that's not enough, there's Kathryn Grant, who was Bing Crosby's wife the last 20 years of his life.

And, of course, the film is the source of the Oscar-nominated Unchained Melody, now most associated with The Righteous Brothers, Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and a potting wheel. In case you wondered where that song's title came from.
Reza
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot (Gus Van Sant, 2018) 5/10

Portland Cartoonist John Callahan (Joaquin Phienix), an alcoholic, becomes a paraplegic after an accident. He is reluctantly helped through recovery with the encouragement of his girlfriend (Rooney Mara) and a sponsor (Jonah Hill). Phoenix once again loses himself into the flawed character he is playing and gives an extremely raw and riveting performance neatly balancing anger and humor. Too bad that Van Sant keeps resorting to corny sentimentality that also marred his "Good Will Hunting" and there are too many repetitious scenes set during the councelling sessions. The screenplay is based on Callahan's book about his recovery.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1943) 10/10

The title character was inspired by David Low's cartoon caricature - the pigheaded blowhard militaryman Colonel Blimp - but the inspired screenplay turns him into an original character for this epic film. The story traces the career of General Clive Candy (Roger Livesey), a bluff, middle-class British soldier from the Boer war, where he won a VC, up to 1943 when the rules of the game became less gentlemanly when it came to defeating the Nazis. Along with being a delightful satire about the British Army it also mourns the decline of a strict code of honour amongst professional soldiers. It is also about the importance of friendship - a long standing one between Blimp (Roger Livesey) and a German officer (Anton Walbrook) who first meet while fighting a duel with their relationship spanning the years 1902-1942. Since the film was shot during the height of WWII with German bombs falling on London, the screenplay caused a major crisis for the filmmakers when Churchill opposed it thinking first that the pompous Blimp was based on him and secondly being appalled at the idea of the two main characters - a Brit and a German - being close friends. The film was first banned but later released in a truncated version. Martin Scorsese restored this magnificent film to its original glory in 1983. It is also an intensely romantic film with Blimp falling in love with a British governess (Deborah Kerr) he meets in Berlin but only after she accepts a marriage proposal from his German friend. At first he is happy for them but later realises he loves her too and spends years looking for a substitute and at last finding one in a nurse who is the spitting image of the woman he loved and lost. Kerr plays this second role as well and then appears at the end in a third role as Blimp's working class driver during WWII. Powell first wanted Wendy Hiller for the part but she declined as she was pregnant and Kerr, who was Powell's lover at the time, got to magnificently play all three roles. This is also one of the most beautiful Technicolor productions - shot by the great Georges Périnal, and assisted by Jack Cardiff and Geoffrey Unsworth who would both go on to become famous cinematographers in their own right. Witty wartime propaganda film is one of many cinematic masterpieces by the director duo and is an absolute must-see.

Tampico (Lothar Mendes, 1944) 7/10

One of numerous WWII related propaganda films churned out by Hollywood during the War. Slick action-adventure story involving the Navy, spies and treacherous women. The skipper (Edward G. Robinson) of a merchant ship picks up survivors of a U-boat attack and after a brief courtship, followed by a drunken night on the town, finds himself married to one (Lynn Bari). On a later voyage he gets into an altercation with his best mate (Victor McLaglen) who is annoyed about his sudden marriage. As they resort to a fist fight their ship is hit by a torpedo and sunk. The skipper survives but his friend drowns. During the investigation of the sinking it is revealed that his wife may be a Nazi spy and could have relayed messages to the U-boat. With his marriage in ruins and shorn of his position as captain he resorts to drink and is approached by Nazi agents to join them and provide classified information about merchant ships carrying oil. Exciting thriller with tough Robinson who is memorable as always.

Hatched (Scott Jeffrey & Rebecca Matthews, 2021) 2/10

No movie with rampaging Velociraptors and a T-Rex could be all that bad but this one just about manages to be. The premise is also old hat - people trapped in a house with dinosaurs chasing them - yet the film manages a couple of jump scares. The problem is with the T-Rex which looks like its being pushed by someone and basically has one move which is to bend its neck to chomp on human prey. And this fake move is repeated ad nauseum. The cast are also of no help as none of the actors can act. A scientist has recreated dinosaurs on his remote farm and along with his wife gets eaten by them. The only survivor is their son. When the rest of the family unexpectedly visit they find themselves fighting for their lives as the three beasts go on full attack mode. Very cheesy film.

The World, the Flesh and the Devil (Ranald MacDougall, 1959) 6/10

A black mine inspector (Harry Belafonte) gets trapped in a cave-in for over a week and when he manages to escape discovers he is all alone in a post-apocalyptic world. All living creatures have perished during an atomic blast. He manages to reach New York City and starts a solitary life in an apartment when he discovers a white woman (Inger Stevens) who has also survived. When another man (Mel Ferrer) later arrives there begins a rift between the two men over the woman. Hollywood (and the United States) had three pet topics during the 1950s - fear of communism, the imminent threat of a nuclear catastrophe and the "black problem". The obsession with all three topics had major guilt at their core - guilt over the way McCarthy persecuted citizens and how people betrayed each other shattering honest livelihoods, guilt over the "Japanese solution" during WWII and of course guilt about the way white America treated their own black citizens which was a very long holdover from the days of slavery and which unfortunately has continued on to this day. Belafonte, then at the peak of his career, took on this role as a means to make a point about the racial issue in the story which also dealt with a post-nuclear scenario which would lead into the fourth American fear - the Cold War paranoia which became a major topic during the next decade. The moments in the screenplay which had the black man and white woman finding love in their loneliness was hastily discarded by the studio who got cold feet over interracial intimacy much to the anger of the film's star. He later wrote about this in his memoir - "Once again, I was confronted by the country's schizophrenia on race. On the one hand, I'd just appeared on the cover of Time magazine, accompanied by a long reverent profile inside. Yet the same sort of white decision makers couldn't abide the thought of me touching or kissing a white woman". Belafonte wanted to walk off the film but fear of being blacklisted by the studio forced him to finish the project. The film's whitewashed ending seems ridiculous and it was a huge flop. Over the years the film has developed a cult status. There are many chilling scenes of empty streets with cars parked eerily on bridges. The movie does a great job of evoking a post-nuclear New York in an almost poetic way with its scenes completely devoid of life. Pity about the silly human triangle part of the story. The postscript to Inger Stevens' life and career was also very sad. In 1961 she married a black man but hid this fact out of fear for her career. She died of acute barbiturate poisoning in 1970 and her death was ruled a suicide.

Land (Robin Wright, 2021) 4/10

A woman (Robin Wright) goes into isolation in the wilderness of Wyoming after suffering a terrible tragedy. She sets up house in a cabin in the woods and there are scenes of accute hardships during winter. A bear turns up. Nothing new in this very dreary film. Demián Bichir briefly breaks the monontony as an Indian who teaches her how to hunt and survive the elements but he is just as damaged as her. After a while even the stunning scenery begins to look dreary. This low key effort is Wright's directorial debut.

No Sudden Move (Steven Soderbergh, 2021) 8/10

Convoluted neo-noir is a delightful game of double and triple crosses between a bunch of crooks and gangsters in 1950s Detroit. A gangster (Don Cheadle), in need of cash to get out of town, is hired along with another gangster (Benicio Del Toro) to get hold of some documents. They hold an accountant's family hostage and get him to retrieve the documents from the safe of his boss which he finds is empty. He delivers fake documents to the handler who tells both gangsters to massacre the family. The two men realise they have been set up, release the family and go in search of the actual documents which they find. Once in their possession they try and figure out its actual worth by trying to sell them to assorted interested parties - a white ganglord (Ray Liotta), a black mob boss (Bill Duke) and an arrogant and bigoted automobile industry executive 'Mr Big' (Matt Damon) - while a suspicious cop (Jon Hamm) is hot on their trail. The inventive screenplay also throws into the mix an adulterous secretary who switches lovers at the drop of a hat and a ditsy wife who for the love of cold cash has the guts to calmly shoot both her husband and lover in cold blood. Beautifully shot, richly layered film impeccably creates the period flavor with every member of the ensemble cast working in tandem with director Soderbergh. This stylized caper thriller may not rank as high as some others in this genre but it has enough desperate thrills which easily make it rank close to some of the best.

Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi (Seema Pahwa, 2021) 8/10

Pahwa perfectly captures the dynamics between different members of a large family. When a patriarch (Naseeruddin Shah) dies his entire family descends on the family home in Lucknow to provide comfort to the matriarch (Supriya Pathak) and mourn his death for the obligatory 13 days. However, as at most such family gatherings dirty linen is aired, long suppressed emotions are laid bare and what was supposed to be an occasion for mourning turns into a potourri of bitter retorts, bitchy accusations and recriminations. The matriarch quietly watches as her four sons, two daughters, their respective spouses and children, her own siblings and other assorted relatives and servants bicker amongst themselves. This is award-winning character actress Pahwa's directorial debut and her dialogue and screenplay (based on her own play "Pind Daan") brilliantly captures the nuances of each family member as she explores various family issues and emotional moments while exposing the hypocricies involved in the various rituals on hand. The plot revolves around an orthodox Hindu family but the emotions and dynamics are universal, especially to the sub-continent, and is a mirror image that fits right into any religious household - Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist. A fantastic ensemble cast - Vikrant Massey, Konkona Sen Sharma, Parambrata Chatterjee, Vinay Pathak, Manoj Pahwa and Vineet Kumar - bring to vivid life the various family members. There are no villains here. The screenplay presents every character in an honest way showing them as flawed human beings stuck in fragile relationships who carry on despite life's turmoils. Memorable film is a must-see.

Strange Bargain (Will Price, 1949) 6/10

Minor noir about a suicide made to look like murder in order to benefit from an insurance policy. Bankrupt business owner plans to kill himself and offers an employee (Jeffrey Lynn) a big sum of money to dispose the gun. Unwillingly he goes ahead with the plan and after he finds his boss dead gets rid of the gun and takes the envelope of money left for him. His guilty conscience starts getting the better of him and his wife (Martha Scott) gets worried. The wily cop (Harry Morgan) on the case suspects another employee of the murder as he did not get along with the deceased and had been heard arguing with him. Lynn is good as the man stuck in an improbable situation who does not want the wrong man charged for a murder that was instead a suicide. Katherine Emery, as the dead man's social climbing wife, is a standout. One of numerous B-noirs that have fallen under the radar but need to be rediscovered.
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