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Four Frightened People (1934)
"The Crusades" coming on DVD
This film is coming on DVD on 23 May 2006 as part of a Cecil B De Mille collection; the other film in the collection are four films are "Cleopatra", "Four Frightened People", "The Sign of the Cross" and "Union Pacific". I've only seen "The Crusades" and "Cleopatra", but these two are worth the cost of the whole bundle.
"The Crusades" with all its flaws is infinitely better than the latest film on the Crusades, "The Kingdom of Heaven". It's splendid without being over the top, the story is coherent although it's typical Hollywoodization of history, and - rarely for De Mille's films - the actors don't overplay their roles.
The Preacher's Wife (1996)
Not a bad film but ...
The reviewer Ichaerus commented that "The Preacher's Wife" was a remake after an older film. The film was, in fact, "The Bishop's Wife" [1948] starring Cary Grant (as 'Dudley'), Loretta Young (as the 'Wife') and David Niven (as 'The Bishop'). I thought the original was far better than the remake because, while Denzil Washington is a fine dramatic actor, he was miscast in a light comedy role. Even at her best - and this was far from her best - Whitney Houston isn't suited to comedy either (actually I think her roles thus far show that she isn't suited to any genre). The main actors in the original film, Cary Grant and Loretta Young, were arguably among the best comedic actors of their day, and David Niven was always reliable.