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

Reza
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Lady in a Jam (Gregory La Cava, 1942) 1/10

Silly screwball has big city lady (Irene Dunne) go hunting for gold in Arizona with obvious corny scenes of the star roughing it out, getting covered in myd and pursued by her childhood friend - a singing cowboy (Ralph Bellamy). Her business manager (Eugene Pallette) gets a psychiatrist (Patrick Knowles) to go along with her incognito posing as her chauffeur as she appears to be nutty. Forced comic situations don't help matters. Probably Dunne's worst film.
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Three Hearts For Julia (Richard Thorpe, 1943) 4/10

Boring romantic comedy with both stars badly miscast. A prim violinist (Ann Southern) wants a divorce as she wants to marry a more refined person but her war correspondent husband (Melvyn Douglas) tries to disuade her. The story would have worked better if Douglas was the snob and Southern her usual zany self. Slow and predictable.
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Lover Come Back (William A. Seiter, 1946) 6/10

The male double standard of "a man will be a man but a woman should only look after her home and kids" gets an amusing spin in this romp as a glamourous Lucille Ball (dressed in epic Travis Banton) takes on and teaches her philandering journalist husband (George Brent) a lesson after he returns home after a two year assignment abroad. Ball, one of Hollywood's top comic gems, unfortunately never got the credit she deserved. Hollywood's loss was television's gain where she blossomed although every one of her big screen efforts remain memorable. The two leads get excellent snappy support from Charles Winninger, Carl Esmond, Vera Zorina, Louise Beavers, Franklin Pangborn and Raymond Walburn. Silly but great fun thanks to the delightful Ball.
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Enchantment (Irving Reis, 1948) 8/10

The flashback, an old-fashioned device once so popular in films, plays an important role in this story (based on a book by Rumer Godden) about two generations of lovers set during different time periods. You know this is going to be a lot of tosh - but in a good way - when the story is narrated by an old house on a London street. The house has been witness to various romances in the past - the love a dashing young guardsman (David Niven) has for his father's ward (Teresa Wright) who is also loved by his older brother (Phillip Friend) and an Italian suitor (Shepperd Strudwick). Their jealous older sister (Jayne Meadows) comes in between the young lovers. The story, with strong Brontë overtones, is lushly romantic as unrequited love from the past is challenged by younger members of the family (Evelyn Keyes & Farley Granger) who happen to meet years later under the same roof. The exceptional cast - Niven is very good as the young soldier in the past and the decrepit old man during the present and has great chemistry with the luminous Teresa Wright who seems to float through the film as everyone's object of desire. This was a prestigious Goldwyn production, shot by the great Gregg Toland (it was his last film) and a reminder that such romantic films were a staple in old Hollywood when films were a means of escape from the harsh realities of life and for a brief moment the audience could wallow in tears and sentiment.
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Temptation (Irving Pichel, 1946) 4/10

Overbaked melodrama with lovely but stiff Merle Oberon playing a period femme fatale trying to poison her Egyptologist husband (George Brent) while relentlessly pursuing her faithless lover (Charles Korvin). Amazing what a long and distinguished career Merle Oberon enjoyed without an iota of acting chops instead relying on her beauty, an initial hookup with producer Alexander Korda and a pretense of "good breeding" (which was later exposed). By the time she made this film she was married to Lucien Ballard who was the director of photography on the film and shoots her alluringly through shadows. Campy film with no redeeming values as the silly protagonist makes no sense.
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Murder is Easy (Claude Whatham, 1982) 5/10

A computer expert (Bill Bixby) by chance encounters a distraught old lady on a train (Helen Hayes) who is on her way to Scotland Yard convinced she knows who has killed three people in her village and a fourth who is next on the killer's list. When she is suddenly killed in a hit-and-run accident the man is convinced something is up and with the help of a troubled girl (Lesley Anne Down) tries to solve the mystery. American tv adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel has an interesting cast of suspects played by Timothy West, Olivia de Havilland and Jonathan Pryce but the story is presented in a lifeless manner totally devoid of suspense. Bixby is miscast - the original character in the novel was British and belonged to the village but because this was an American production they cast Bixby who is bland and has zero romantic chemistry with the lovely Down. The story was later adapted for tv with more zest as a Miss Marple mystery.
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The Well-Groomed Bride (Sidney Lanfield, 1946) 3/10

Silly screwball has a Navy officer (Ray Milland) and a woman (Olivia de Havilland) battle it out for the only magnum bottle of champagne available in San Francisco. He needs it to launch a navy battle ship while she needs it for her upcoming marriage to a jock (Sonny Tufts). The stars play well off each other but it's all too slight to make any impact. Milland made this right after winning an Oscar for "The Lost Weekend" while this was de Havilland's comeback after three years battling Warner Brothers in court. She would follow this turkey with her own Oscar for "To Each His Own". Skip this.
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The Man From the Alamo (Budd Boetticher, 1953) 7/10

A man (Glenn Ford) is assigned the task of leaving the Alamo at a critical time of the battle to go warn Texas families about the outcome. Not only does he discover his wife and son have been killed but he is branded a coward for leaving the Alamo just before it fell. Tough character piece about revenge and honour with Ford giving an intense performance. The film's highlight is Boetticher's exhilarating set piece of an attack on a wagon train full of women and children which Ford helps to defend. Epic "B" western, shot in widescreen by Russell Metty, is an exciting old-fashioned outdoor melodrama
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Tripoli / The First Marines (Will Price, 1950) 3/10

In 1850 the United States marines battle pirates in Tripoli - with a captain (John Payne) falling for the charms of a stunning beauty (Maureen O'Hara) who is the ward of the debonair Pasha (Phillip Reed). Noisy desert romp is an absolute bore save for the superb technicolor - the film was shot by the great James Wong Howe - which was always an asset in any film starring the magnificent Maureen O'Hara. She looks stunning dressed in assorted garish colours with her fiery red hair.
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The Final Destination (David R. Ellis, 2009) 5/10

A variation on the slasher film which basically follows other assorted similar franchises - "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Halloween", "Scream" - where the main plot involves inventive ways to kill off the young undistinguished cast of unknowns in various grusome and inventive ways. This series involves one character having a premonition of death who manages to warn and save a group of young friends (and some bystanders) only to discover that you can't cheat death. It comes with a vengeance picking off the cast one by one. Here a crash at a racing track results in horrible deaths followed by suspense in seeing the different ways death arrives. Rubbish that is strangely compelling as one waits deliriously for each death to occur with great relish. The cheesy effects here are in 3-D.
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Jinnah (Jamil Dehlavi, 1998) 9/10

Outstanding film about the life of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. The screenplay (by Akbar Ahmad) takes a unique route by showing the deceased Jinnah (Christopher Lee) being led through his life by a celestial angel (Shashi Kapoor) who gently weaves through history and offers a critique of the leader's life and events which ultimately led to the Partition of British India into two states, one of which came about through Jinnah's relentless efforts - a separate country for Muslims which was named Pakistan. Through flashbacks we see young Jinnah (Richard Lintern) - a dashing and successful lawyer - his love marriage to the Parsee beauty, Ruttie (Indira Varma), the breakdown of their relationship and her early death from cancer, his close relationship with his unmarried sister and lifelong companion, Fatima (Shireen Shah), the formation of the Muslim League after his break from the Indian National Congress, his tussles with Gandhi (Sam Dastor), Nehru (Robert Ashby) and the Mountbattens - Louis (James Fox) & Edwina (Maria Aitkin), the latter who is shown having a full fledged affair with Nehru - the caustic relationship with his only daughter, Dina (Vaneeza Ahmad) - an estrangement that began when she married a Parsee against his wishes which was ironic as her own mother belonged to that religious community. For a film that was made on a limited budget it boasts exquisite production values with the entire film shot on location in Lahore and Karachi. Lee gives a forceful and moving performance and the entire cast is exceptional. The film was very controversial with the local public up in arms over the casting of "Dracula" as the Nation's founding leader with star Christopher Lee receiving death threats. In addition there were rumours that Shashi Kapoor was playing "Archangel Gabriel" and this did not go down well with religious leaders in the country. Sadly the film was never officially released in cinemas in Pakistan until years later when it finally appeared on Dvd. An interesting companion piece to Richard Attenbrough's "Gandhi" (1982) and Gurinder Chadha's "Viceroy's House" (2017). A must-see for history buffs and an unusual take on historical events.
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Love Story (Arthur Hiller, 1970) 8/10

This movie coined the corny but classic line - "Love Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry". The screenplay is a "verbal volleyball" between a Harvard jock (Ryan O'Neal) and a Radcliffe music student (Ali MacGraw). Clichès abound - rich boy and poor girl meet, fall in love, the union is opposed by his father (Ray Milland) but celebrated by her father (John Marley). And then she falls ill. A massive hit at the boxoffice, the film's reputation hit rock bottom as the years went by. Seeing this again after 40 years the film retains its charm, is both amusing and tragic and has two good looking actors who became instant movie stars - they are both very good. The film won nominations for Best Picture, for O'Neal, MacGraw, Marley, Hiller, the screenplay by Erich Segal and Francis Lai won the Oscar for the film's now instantly recognizable score.
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Mandy (Alexander Mackendrick, 1952) 8/10

A huge hit at the boxoffice, this Ealing drama is incredibly moving if rather dated in it's views on the deaf - one of so many afflictions that were once treated with a mixture of embarrassment and disdain and considered to be a social stigma. The story revolves around a little girl, Mandy (Mandy Miller), who was born deaf and so cannot speak. Her concerned mother (Phyllis Calvert) wants to put the child in the care of an unconventional teacher (Jack Hawkins) - who is the voice of reason - while her father (Terence Morgan) wants the child be kept safe but out of sight at his parents' (Godfrey Tearle & Marjorie Fielding) posh house in London. The marriage comes under severe strain. Child-star Mandy Miller, who was not deaf, gives a remarkably nuanced performance and holds her own against the topnotch British cast - Hawkins became a huge star after the film's success. Douglas Slocombe's stark cinematography adds layers to the poignant mood of the story. The film was nominated for six Bafta awards - Best Film, Best British Film, Best Actor (Hawkins), Best Actress (Calvert), Newcomer (Miller), Newcomer (Dorothy Allison as a sympathetic teacher at the school for deaf children) and Best Screenplay. A classic tearjerker.
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Games (Curtis Harrington, 1967) 8/10

Effective suspense thriller with shades of Clouzot's "Les diaboliques" and Anthony Schaffer's play, "Sleuth" - a rich kinky couple (James Caan & Katharine Ross) enjoy playing games on each other. When a mysterious saleslady (Simone Signoret) arrives and moves into their New York townhouse the games turn deadly. Avant garde film from the 1960s hasn't aged one bit and seems very modern. The presence of the enigmatic Signoret in the film echoes back to her association with Clouzot which is probably why she was cast although the role had originally been written for Marlene Dietrich. Both Caan and Ross, at the start of their careers, make a very handsome couple. There are amusing and flamboyant cameos by both Don Stroud and Estelle Winwood. The theatrical plot twists are obvious if you are a fan of this genre but the three stars inhabit their parts so skillfully that it's great fun watching them go through their paces. Campy fun.
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Suburbicon (2017) George Clooney 1/10
Big Sonia (2017) Todd Soliday & Leah Warshawski 5/10

Repeat viewings

Death in the Garden (1956) Luis Bunuel 5/10
Revolution (1985) Hugh Hudson 7/10 (Director's cut)
The Grifters (1990) Stephen Frears 9/10
Empire State (1987) Ron Peck 6/10
The Crazies (1973) George A. Romero 6/10
Dead Heat (1988) Mark Goldblatt 6/10
The Bacchus Lady (2016) Je-yong Lee 9/10
Alice's Restaurant (1969) Arthur Penn 7/10
The Go-Between (1971) Joseph Losey 7/10
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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