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Reviews
The Green Promise (1949)
The Green Promise Predicted Natalie Wood's Death Thirty-two Years Later
Back in the late 80's, I saw a show about the life of Natalie Wood on PBS. In it, they showed the scene where she had to cross the bridge during a terrible, hurricane-like, and apocolyptic thunderstorm at night. When Turner Classic Movies aired this last July 20, on what would have been her 73rd birthday, I finally learned that this was the movie where she developed her lifelong fear of water: a fear that took her life thirty-two years later.
In the movie, while she and her brother Phinny were at a Four H Club party at the home of the Wexfords, this terrible storm hits. Because it was too dangerous, Mr. and Mrs. Wexford allowed the children to stay there overnight. Susan Matthews (Natalie Wood's character in the movie), who wore a bunny suit to the party, tells her brother Phinny that they couldn't stay there, and that they needed to get home. She was worried about what would happen to her lambs. With the storm still raging, she leaves the Wexfords and heads for home.
When she got to the bridge, it collapsed. She fell into the raging water. She injured her left wrist, and she nearly drowned. But she made it across the bridge. Despite the storm, she finally made it home and she rescued her lambs. This scene not only traumatized her, she developed a lifelong fear of water: a fear that would take her life thirty-two years later, when she fell into the water off of Catalina Island and she drowned.
The studio should have been sued for negligence back then! I can't believe that they made this poor young girl do such a dangerous scene!
The Sound of Music (1965)
Saw This On My Eighth Birthday-Still a Classic 47 Years Later
My grandmother (God rest her soul) took me to see this movie on my eighth birthday, which was of course, in 1965; the year that it was released. Except for the thunderstorm scene, this was a great movie! The opening scene with Julie Andrews dancing through the Alps singing the title song still brings tears of joy to my eyes! They just don't make movies like this anymore. Even my grandmother loved it.
Since this was filmed over in Austria, I always wondered how they filmed those thunderstorm scenes. Did they go out in an actual thunderstorm and film this? I also read that it did rain in Austria while they were over there filming this.
I finally got the answer to that question: no. The interior shots were filmed at the 20th Century Fox studios in Hollywood. The first scene filmed was where Liesl (played by Charmian Carr) was coming in from a thunderstorm, with her dress all wet and dirty from the rain, and climbed into Maria's bedroom window. (She was outside in the gazebo with Rolf, played by Daniel Truitte, when it started to rain, and they ran into the gazebo.) Anyway, they sprayed Charmian Carr with water several times and she had to be wetted down for every take.
Sadly, they just don't make movies like this anymore. Today's films are simply filled of sex, violence, and cursing. The Sound of Music was a huge success at the box office, and is still a timeless classic! It won five Academy Awards; including the Best Picture of the Year. The songs from the film are just memorable: "My Favorite Things", "Do-Re-Mi", "Edelweiss", "Climb Every Mountain", and of course the title song. In fact, "My Favorite Things" is played on the radio at around Christmas time; especially the version done by Diana Ross and the Supremes.
It's a shame that Julie Andrews and Peggy Wood didn't win the Academy Award for their acting performances. And Christopher Plummer should have been nominated for Best Actor as well. They were just fantastic in this movie. In fact, every time I see Julie Andrews on TV, I always think to myself, "The best movie that she ever did was The Sound of Music", and believe me; it was.
Forty-seven years after it's release, The Sound of Music is still a timeless classic!
Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! (1968)
They Should Have Filmed the Rally Scenes
I used to work in Fort Washington, not too far from where these movies were filmed at. Every time I went by the St. Mary's Villa either on my way to or back home from work, I always thought to myself "That's where they filmed The Trouble With Angels." I first saw this movie when I was in school in back in '73; just five years after it was first released. But then I saw it again on TV thirteen years later (in 1986), and I just kept on watching it over and over again. I also have some of the dialogue from this movie memorized as well.
Since the story was about them going to California for a youth rally, what they should have done was this: Show them arriving at the rally and filming the rally scenes as well. Continue filming the rest of the journey to California instead of leaving them off somewhere in the desert Southwest, and then returning to St. Francis showing the nuns in their shorter habits. They made it to the rally, but they should have showed them actually being there; not just talk about it.
Also, after they left Mr. Farriday's (Robert Taylor) ranch, were they still in New Mexico when they got caught in an Indian attack that was part of a Western movie being filmed on location there, and the bus's axle broke? ) How about when they came across a detour where they wouldn't make the rally in time? Or when they stopped at a museum to pick up some Indian souvenirs? Since Sister Clarissa told the Mother Superior that the detour would take them 125 miles out of their way, were they in Arizona? Since Sister Clarissa (Mary Wickes) drove the bus, she should have taken a highway route to Chicago. Then drive out Route 66 all the way to Los Angeles, and then up the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Barbara. Instead, she took a lot of back roads; including the one what was detoured. At least they made it to the rally.
It's a shame that Haley Mills wasn't in this. If she had, how would she handle Sister George (Stella Stevens) and her liberal ideas; as well as her grumpy cousin, Marvel Ann (Barbara Hunter)? After all, her character in The Trouble With Angels, Mary Clancy, decided to stay at St. Francis and become a nun after she graduated from there.
But at least this movie was just as good as The Trouble With Angels.
The Trouble with Angels (1966)
Great Movie: Filmed Not Too Far From Where I Worked At
I just love this movie. I have it on tape and I've watched over and over numerous times! Rosalind Russell was just excellent as the Mother Superior!
I'm surprised that Hayley Mills' and June Harding's characters weren't kicked out as the Mother Superior had planned to do. Smoking in the girls' bathroom. Putting Marvel Ann's bubble bath into the nuns' sugar bowls. Plastering Marvel Ann's (Marvel Ann was Hayley Mills' character's grumpy cousin; also a student at St. Francis) face with plaster from the art room, where the nuns had to use pliers in order to take it off. Showing the other girls around the nuns' living quarters; despite being told that it was "off limits to the entire student body." Cutting swimming classes. Smoking in another building that sent the fire company rushing to the main building, where everybody was evacuated, and the Mother Superior had had it with Mary and Rachel's pranks. They should have been kicked out much sooner.
I think that they were just rebelling because they didn't want to be there in the first place. Hayley Mills' character, Mary Clancy, was an orphan. Her uncle (Marvel Ann's father) was just too busy with his own life to take care of her. And June Harding's character, Rachel Devery, missed the progressive school that she went too. She tells Mr. Petrie, the headmaster, in a note that she was "trapped in a nunnery", and that she would commit an "act of desperation" if she didn't get out of St. Francis. The Mother Superior wasn't pleased with this when Mr Petrie was in her office. She didn't even like what the progressive school. taught. No wonder Rachel's father took her out of there.
I believe that Hayley Mills' character decided to become a nun because the Mother Superior found that being a nun was better than being a fashion designer; as well as the death of Sister Ligouri; the school's math teacher and assistant to the Mother Superior.
It's a shame that Hayley Mills didn't appear in the sequel, "Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows; which was just as good. I wonder how she would have handled those girls, including Marvel Ann, when they went on a bus trip to a youth rally in California.
This movie did not make fun of the Catholic Church and nuns. Even though it was a comedy, it treated religion with respect and dignity. Sadly, too many movies and TV shows today make fun of religion; especially Christianity and Judaism.
I was only in third grade when this movie first came out. For years, I heard that this movie was filmed right here in the Philadelphia area; where I was born and raised (and I still live here today), but I wasn't so sure. I later learned that it was filmed on the grounds of the St. Mary's Villa for Children in suburban Ambler, Montgomery County. In fact, I worked not too far from where this movie was filmed in neighboring Fort Washington. The Fort Washington Fire Company supplied the fire trucks that rushed to the academy when Sister Prudence, Judith Lowry's character (she also played Mother Dexter on Phyllis) saw smoke coming from the area where Mary and Rachel were smoking. I sometimes went home that way and every time I go by there, I think to myself "This is where The Trouble With Angels" was filmed.
The Skydivers (1963)
Never Heard of this film before MST3K
I never heard of this movie before I got a Mystery Science Theater 3000 VHS tape of it. All I know about this movie is this: This married couple, Harry and Beth, run a skydiving school somewhere in the desert area of California (another source said New Mexico). Frankie, who was Harry's mechanic. got fired. Frankie got hooked up with Suzy and they poured acid into the one of the parachutes on the night of the jump; with a dance party going on. Everybody wishes the skydivers well as they go up and jump without a hitch. Then all of a sudden, Harry's parachute burns and catches fire while on the way down and it kills him. On the ground, Beth is holding a dead Harry and simply crying her eyes out.
In the meantime, Frankie and Suzy are being chased and shot at by the police as they speed along in the getaway car. With the sky threatening and a storm brewing, Frankie and Suzy get out of the car with the police still right behind them and shooting them. They run down the hill. Finally, they are shot and killed by the police. As Frankie and Suzy lay dying on the ground, it starts to thunder. When the police leave, there is thunder and rain, and Suzy and Frankie are lying dead on the ground.(You'll even see the blood come right out of a dying Suzy's eye.) At the end, Beth decides to give up the school altogether. Joe offered to stay on, but Beth said that it would bring back too many memories now that Harry is deceased.
The wisecracking commentary from Mike Nelson, Tom Servo, and Crow liven up an ordinary film.
Oh by the way, with those night scenes, they must have shot this movie during the day and they used night special effects. After all, the sun doesn't shine and the sky isn't light at night.
The Steve Wilkos Show (2007)
The Steve Wilkos Show-Standing Up for What's Right and What's Wrong
Steve Wilkos is simply standing up for what is right and what is wrong. He is using his skills as a Marine, as a Chicago police officer, and as a father to help the victims of crime and injustice, and put criminals in their places.
The reason that he doesn't allow child abusers, wife beaters, child molesters, pedophiles, deadbeat dads, or anybody else accused of a crime sit on his stage is because they didn't make their victims comfortable. Why should he make child molesters and abusers feel comfortable?
He also knocks some sense into people who are having children when they're not able to take care of them properly. This is where Steve really lets them have it! Here are some of the most memorable child abuse and molestation shows that I can remember so far.
1. A guy twisted his eight-week-old baby girl's leg because the baby wouldn't stop crying!
2. A guy who let his two kids roll around in dog waste! He then gives the kids to his sister because "he wasn't in a position to take care of them."
3. A woman, whose child was molested, had to have an appointment and be put on a waiting list to have her child examined. Steve was just furious with her. He said that if his daughter was ever molested, he would knock down the door and make them examine her.
4. A two-part episode that aired last November, where somebody put PCP (angel dust) into a baby's bottle.
5. An episode where somebody put alcohol into a baby's bottle.
6. A guy who broke his 5-month-old baby boy's arm.
7. A guy who molested his girlfriend's sister, and the girlfriend stays with him regardless. He later proposed to his girlfriend on stage and she accepted. She still loves him, not matter what, but Steve wasn't happy with it.
Lately, Steve has been copying Maury with lie detector and paternity tests. Why do they need a lie detector test to save a hopeless and failing marriage or relationship? It's not going to solve anything. The problems are still going to be there; no matter what. They both need professional counseling and Jesus Christ in their lives. Only Jesus can give them real peace and satisfaction; not some lie detector test. I can see taking a lie detector test if they were accused of a crime, but to save a failing relationship; as well prove whether or not their spouse or partner is cheating on them? Come on now; let's get real here.
Even if they fail, some of these guests will act like little crybabies and demand another lie detector test. One one show last season, this guy took a lie detector test to prove that he wasn't cheating on his girlfriend. He failed the test. He called Steve's show a fake! And he wanted a lie detector test from the police department! Steve was very upset about this! He did not appreciate his show being called a fake! Steve's show is not a fake! These are real people with real problems! And the guy who gives these lie detector tests, Dan Ribacoff, is an experienced and professional polygraph examiner!
And besides, why would he want a lie detector test from the police department? He didn't commit a crime! This is ridiculous! The police would simply laugh in his face! They don't have time to give somebody a lie detector test as proof that they did (or didn't) cheat on their spouse or partner! They have more serious problems to deal with such as a rape, arobbery, a murder, or a drug deal.
Sadly, most of these people were not brought up in a stable and Christian home. They were never told not to have sex before marriage, to pure, chaste, and virgins until the wedding night; to be faithful to one another, and that marriage is a lifelong commitment. Most of them are all living together, not as husband and wife, and they have children out of wedlock; and that's not right.
We need more people like Steve to stand up for what's right and what's wrong. But he needs to stop throwing those chairs up on the stage every time he gets angry. If it ever hit somebody, and they get seriously hurt, he could be sued big time!