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Reviews
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours and 11 Minutes (1965)
Set against an old-time air-race, this is a charming spoof of national characteristics.
Centred around a London-to-Paris air race early in the 1900's, this is a wonderful English comedy spoofing national characteristics! You know the sort of thing, the expansive American hero, the fair-playing Englishman, the great French lover, the emotional Italian count, the enigmatic Japanese, the humourless pomp-loving German, and so on.
The casting is interesting, for this light-hearted movie's principal roles are filled by actors who are far more familiar playing the heavy: Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, James Fox, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and Gert Frobe. And make no mistake, they are superb at it!
Offending no-one of any age, this movie plays out against the back-drop of the air race, with a fantastic array of primitive aircraft. It is fun and full of life, tripping along easily and smoothly from one delightful absurdity to another. The English have made this movie, and while they have considerable fun at the expense of the Frenchman and the German, they cannot resist poking the bulk of the fun at themselves. They do so by augmenting the cast with the shifty Englishman (Terry-Thomas), the confidence man (Tony Hancock), and the foreigner-distrusting representative of the upper crust (Robert Morley).
This movie is a must see for anyone with any pretense to a sense of humour!
Shall we dansu? (1996)
Whimsical little Japanese sleeper about dance and human absurdity
This movie treats human absurdity and the love of dance with a rare lightness, elegance and whimsey. While it will inevitably be compared with Strictly Ballroom, its lightness and feel-good quality sets it apart from all pretenders.
The charming awkwardness of the protagonist Shohei Sugiyama (played by Koji Yakusho) and the alluring beauty of Mai Kishikawa (played by Tamiyo Kusikari) are enhanced by a raft of absurd and captivating secondary characters.
There are few people anywhere who will not be enthralled by this little film.
Green for Danger (1946)
Whimsical little British whodunit
Alastair Sim's portrayal of the fantastic and whimsical little Inspector Cockrill is an acting tour de force which makes this my utter favourite film whodunit, and Sim my favourite actor.
This interesting plot of murder in a post-war English hospital is filled with those wonderful British character actors whose faces you recognize even if the names you don't (for example, Trevor Howard, Sally Gray, Megs Jenkins). Shadowy hospital grounds and ivied walls complete the scene against which this delightful little story is told.