Old & New

ENCORES:

Gold Diggers of 1933 Warren William, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Aline MacMahon, Ginger Rogers. Broadway babes and wealthy stage door johnnies mix it up. Joan singing "My Forgotten Man" as staged by Busby Berkeley is an iconic film number for the Great Depression era. Listen to the words and try to understand how the "forgotten men" in the movie theater felt. Fifteen years after winning WWI one fourth of the men were homeless and jobless. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024069/combined

I'll Be Seeing You (1944) Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotton, Shirley Temple, Spring Byington. Two lonely troubled souls meet on a train and end up spending the holidays in the same town. She at her aunt and uncles home and he at the YMCA, just because he has no where else to go. They both have secrets about themselves. One of my favorite films of the holiday season and I watch it nearly every year. Lovely title song was very popular in the late 1940's. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036940/combined

Frantic (1988) Harrison Ford, Betty Buckley. Doctor and wife arrive at Paris hotel and while he is showering, she answers the phone and leaves the room and goes missing. Doc tries to find someone at the hotel who saw her after she left the room, but no one remembers her at all. Police are not helpful, and hotel staff just want him to not make trouble. Even the embassy people are not helpful He has to do it all himself. Not as exciting as it could have been. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095174/combined

NEW to me:

The Littlest Rebel (1935) Shirley Temple, Bill Robinson, John Boles. Nonsense about the civil war, but Shirley and Robinson dance up a storm. The plantation way of life and how happy the slaves are is offensive and the point of view of the south in the war, make this film cringe worthy but the charm of Shirley at 7, and the tap dancing up and down the stairs, make it worth seeing. And it is one of the only films to see the storied "Bojangles." 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026641/combined

Weekend For Three (1941) Dennis O'Keefe, Jane Wyatt, Phil Reed, Edward Everett Horton, Zasu Pitts, Franklin Pangborn, Hans Conried. Story by Budd Schulberg, screenplay by Dorothy Parker, two great names in the arts, this farce should have been funnier, but turns out to be annoying with the load mouthed guest, friend of the wife pre marriage, interfering with everything for a full weekend. O'Keefe is always good as a befuddled man and the cast of great character actors provide some chuckles, but not as much as wanted. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034378/combined

A Dangerous Profession (1949) George Raft, Ella Raines, Pat O"Brien. A "who-done-it?" story about bail-bondsmen, detectives, a murder and a wife trying to get her husband out of jail. Not as exciting as most of Raft's better films and the good cast can't save it. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041278/combined

Shame (2011) Michael Fassbinder, Carey Mulligan. Sex addiction is really so boring. Guy thinks about sex, reads sex magazines, has computers full of sex sites, has anonymous sex with strangers, masturbates all day long, and a strange a perverted relationship with his younger sister. Right. And director McQueen and Fassbinder relish in showing the whole sordid mess. How can you care about such a person? I can't and don't. Pointless. 5/5 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1723811/combined

Whats Your Number (2011) Anna Faris, Chris Evans, Blythe Danner. Silly rom/com about a really dumb woman. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770703/combined