Reviews

This might be the only one of the Annis and Warwick versions to show them kissing. British reserve and all that. :) I very much enjoy watching these wonderful period pieces. This has some dramatic "I don't know which character to trust" moments but I think it had too many similar escape scenes. For baddies, they were very loath to kill people. :) What this story needed was fewer instances of holding people captive or more expendable characters. :)

Agatha Christie apparently believed the conspiracy theory that was swirling about in those days that a general strike couldn't be an industrial action but instead had to be a sign of the end of the world as they knew it. There was one in 1926 in solidarity with the miners over their wages being reduced and hours lengthened, and no anarchy, no revolution ensued. In fact, the result was so poor for the miners that the unions decided political action was the way to go in the future rather than general strikes.

Brits were as terrified by the demise of Cousin Nicky and his family in 1917 as they had been during the French Revolution with the loss of the French royals. Brits of a certain class were afraid of foreigners, afraid of the great unwashed masses, afraid of traitors within their own ranks. The economy was still struggling in the Twenties, many people felt the Great War had been horribly botched, and the Liberal party ended its disastrous run in Oct. 1922 around the time Christie's book came out and the year the USSR was formed, never to return to power up to the present day. It didn't take a seer to know that starvation wages and the threat of even worse would bring on a strike. You can only push people so far. Eight years after the war when they had sacrificed so much, they expected better. Well, that's understandable.

The problem with Christie's timetable is that her book was much more 1922 than 1918. Right after the war people in Britain didn't have the heart for a mass uprising, let alone another war. They wanted some peace and quiet, and time to heal. People just wanted their lives back, damaged though they were. They were still okay with sacrifice and restrictions and the difficulty with finding a job, because that was to be expected. The story simply didn't fit the way people were thinking.

And what was that draft treaty? Did Christie even have something in mind? It's fun to think what could possibly have been so very embarrassing that it would cause the masses to rise from their beds of pain in 1918 and carry out a coup, but honestly, Christie, that's lazy writing. So...if the US comes in on the side of Britain in its darkest hour against Germany, the US gets...the first born son of every Brit? Canada? The Prince of Wales as the president's chauffeur? What is sufficiently embarrassing to cause the demise of the nation and WWII? I'm not an expert on British politics but wouldn't the party in trouble just face a no confidence vote and/or an election?

So I am taking away two points for the over-abundance of rescues and the premise behind the plot. But I still like Tommy and Tuppence. :)

Considering the fact that this is 1944 small town (not suburbia as one reviewer stated) America which was able to overlook WWII, I'd say it was a fantasy and should be treated as such. It's a what if. What if you found out when your son was grown that he had been switched at birth? What if he might be in love with his sister? Racy stuff. If this were a pre-Code movie it might have had premarital consummation and someone killing herself or himself over the shame and horror of it all. But as this was made firmly under the thumb of the censor, it's a broad comedy.

The sons look similar which makes swapping more plausible. I was glad I could see Freddie and Jimmy in early adult roles rather than as kids. And the very pretty sister could have been related to either one.

There are some nice little touches like the squeaky shoes of the Clarence Darrow-like lawyer, the authoritative woman judge with a heart of gold in a decade when drafted men left women in charge in many spheres on the home front, the elderly veteran (Spanish American War?) wearing his medals around town, the bragging useless guard, the slight attempt at quarantine for measles, the headlines about delinquent parents, the opportunity for corruption when everyone knows everyone and is related to everyone in one way or another, the reference to the territory that was Alaska where it seems they needed engineers although we aren't told for what, and the intrusive news reporters and photographers. I'm sure if I'd seen this in 1944 I would have caught more of the humor and parody.

I give it four stars for making a comedy about potential brother- sister marriage, which in any era is a bold move. I found the young people far more appealing than their elders, which was the point. As they said in Bye, Bye, Birdie, "Nothing's the matter with kids today."

There are plot holes and apparently actual holes in the film after so many years, and it's hard to overlook a missing world war, the draft, and rationing. But if you take it as the silliness it is, you might enjoy it. I did.

I have to agree with those who thought the ballad ruined the episode. It wasn't in the same mood as the theme song, which made it jarring at the start and finish. It was also jarring in the middle because it didn't fit the tone of the episode, coming out blaring in moments when the music should have been subtle, the same way a loud laugh track will make a mild comedy seem repulsively unfunny.

MASH tried a balladeer for a few episodes and while it wasn't as obtrusive as in this show, it didn't fit the series, either. Cat Ballou showed how balladeers could advance the plot successfully, but it has been very difficult for TV shows to accomplish. Ballads are best left to theme songs, good in small doses and not interfering with the rest of the show. There isn't enough time in a TV episode to have both dialog and ballads explaining the easily understood plot. It's a gimmick that hurt the show.

This takes the tired, old "corrupt town" plot and puts a slight twist on it. I'm giving all the stars for Grodin who is hilariously strange. He is an excellent actor. I love the bit of business near the end with his suit jacket. Johnson's acting suffers in comparison but I do like the small touches he adds like his idly playing with the ribbon.

The end is the best part. I liked seeing the strategy between smart adversaries. There's even a fleeting moment of, "Okay, how are they going to get out of this one."

The theme of the episode was summed up in the warning about what people will do when you destroy their gods and the statement about hero worshipping the wrong hero. It might have been a statement about the political situation of the day.

He's the kind of figure that Indy Jones might have modeled his clothing and attitude on. This Depression era movie includes all the usuals--the educated hobos who find freedom on the road, the silly cops, the spoiled upper class, the heiress who needs to be taught a lesson, the hapless wealthy father worried about financial affairs while nobody else seems to have the slightest concern, the casual approach to marriage among the elite, the wonderful clothes and cars and homes, the use and abuse of publicity, the glib conversation, the hectic pace, ...so one might expect it to be the same old same old. But it held my interest, largely because of the hero whose smile lit up the screen and the unusual aspect of creating radio playlets that featured carbon. I wanted to see how it came out.

It also shows that the word capiche was used in the 30s and came into common parlance from comic books.

Everything old is new again. How about a wedding that costs nothing because it, (very amusingly), advertises the businesses that provided the goods and services and has a paying audience? Or a painter who becomes popular with those with more money than brains because he has a reputation over a woman? Or good-looking con artists coming up with one scheme after another to make money from publicity while trying not to get arrested? It all sounds very familiar because it is entertaining and still works today to bring in the cash.

Hectic movie with many quips, turns of plot, and much running around. It's worth a look to see that the techniques used today were used in the 30s and were well-worn even back then. Visually it has interesting elements. On the whole, though, it's one of the lesser movies of the "attractive con artist" genre.

University of Buffalo is used as the example of an "urban university" which uses the entire industrial scene as a teaching aid rather than having an ivory tower mentality.

The film pushes the idea that we have to teach in high school the physics that we are now teaching in college in order to catch up with the Soviets. We have to offer high school grads both a science/math background for the space race in "the present emergency" as well as liberal and fine arts. Applied science allows work on actual problems on farm or industry. Many of the students are plant workers who commute and are often financed by their employers to attend evening sessions if that fits their shifts. The emphasis is on the diversity of the student body, all ages and backgrounds.

The university evolved from a medical college and is involved in pure research on things like the heart. 59 years before, the first organized research on cancer began at this school. If people would give up cigarettes they could afford to pay teachers a decent wage. (Whether that is a nod to the cancer research is hard to say.) Pay for teachers is lagging way behind so inflation-adjusted wages are at 1940 levels which is why it is hard to get students into that field when we need them to build up the availability of higher education. 1970 was mentioned so the film seems to be anticipating the baby boom will create a big demand. The meshing of grads and industry benefits both. College is a right not a privilege. Come preserve our nation. Come and learn.

As with most of these short subjects, this is excellent as history and a lot of it rings true today, particularly the importance of matching the needs of business with the studies of the college students.

This is the first I've seen of the series that didn't end with a hope for peace, just that there is much to be learned from the past. Perhaps that hope was dashed in one case when a reviewer turned a deaf ear to what the narrator had to say.

I always look for signs of war damage in these British travelogues because most of the American movies set in postwar Britain try to obscure it. In this one a bit of that reality creeps in with the look at York Minster, comparing it to cannon damage by Cromwell's army etc. These old buildings always look so well scrubbed today since they've had some good cleanings and the people don't have coal furnaces and trains don't run on coal. Back then, buildings and clothing got pretty grimy, both in the UK and the US.

The cottages and flowers are lovely in this short and the music with them soothing and pastoral. I wonder if the curious little daughter of the caretaker ever got to see herself in the short and if she still lives in that area today.

The lido or Super Swimming Station at Morecambe in the short was built in 1936 to outdo the one in Blackpool. It was demolished in the '70s, partly to due a persistent leak from the very start that let in sea water at high tide and leaked pool water at low tide. But it was a monster lido, and no mistake.

I couldn't tell online if the other places mentioned were markedly different today from 1950 in traffic or urban renewal projects but I'd suspect they all went through a bad patch of several decades and now people are caring a lot more about saving historic buildings and cutting down on congestion.

I'm giving this a slightly lower score than I do for most of these because it probably has less archival interest than some, although it still should be preserved for the future.

As with the prewar shows of this series, there is a part that hopes for peace and understanding among peoples. And once again what the people will get, and soon, is war.

As always, this is remarkable history and should be returned to its former pristine state. All these shorts give us insight into their radically changing world. In this particular short we not only see a world that will face bloody upheaval from 1954 to 1962 with the end of the colonial era but also technological upheaval as represented by horse drawn vehicles, bicycles, and a few cars. Under the French rule, Muslims lacked the rights of other people, especially after the revolt of 1871. They could only apply for French citizenship if they abandoned their religion and, one supposes, their way of life. This short hints at their pain.

The movie went along well enough when they weren't acting out parts that were supposed to illustrate they were still neophytes with very little talent. There were many elements of a screwball comedy but as much as I was interested in seeing the cast at this stage in their careers, this movie was so amateurishly written almost any of us could think of ways to improve it substantially. And Florence MacMichael's voice gave me a headache.

There was a bottle of medicine that figured in the plot that was supposed to be helpful for an expectant mother. It seemed to be a mystery substance known only to fictional doctors.

I'd suggest that a 1943 audience would be annoyed, even angered, that the guys weren't all in the military and the gals were totally uninterested in anything but acting. This movie would have gone over a lot better before Pearl Harbor.

I prefer Robert Benchley's writing to his movie roles but I always find him enjoyable and he worked well with Mabel Paige as the two responsible adults with all these immature young people.

If you are a very tolerant and easy-going person who laughs readily, you might enjoy this movie as a light-hearted romp. If you want to know what these people were like then, you might want to see this movie. Everybody else would be happier avoiding it.

This is one of those ponderous, self-important narrations that confuses MAN with men. Fortunately nowadays that seems to have largely died out in US documentaries although I've heard it when the narration seemed to be aping the old British style.

With the dam floods, tornadoes, hurricane, tropical storm, drought, so far this year, this short has particular resonance.

Historical perspective: radar was developed during the war. The technology of weather took a giant leap forward with that. For instance, nobody knew that the massive 1938 hurricane was on the way. Katherine Hepburn, among many others, almost didn't make it out alive. So the people, not all of them men!!, involved in meteorology were thrilled with the advances and on fire to change life as they knew it. We learn more now in grade school about the weather than most adult city slickers knew about the it in the 40s.

The short had several goals. One was to give city folk a clue that their self-absorbed perturbation about the weather wasn't the whole story. Another was to teach some basics about the weather and weather prediction past and present. And the third was to show examples of the wild swings that can occur thereby giving a reason for us to learn about the subject. I think they covered all three well in the time available. Points off for the mega snub of the ladies, when they had been working hard at all sorts of previously male-dominated jobs through the war including the weather biz.

"Art, no matter what its origin or time, is clearly a joy forever." This short shows the interest the audiences between the wars had in all things artistic, which is why studios like MGM put so many different kinds of music into movies. There was enthusiasm for gaining in sophistication and taste, whether through classes or through their own efforts. It wasn't unusual for people whose only formal instruction was in reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic, to improve their skills outside the classroom. And those who got to college were just as likely to collect Bach and Beethoven as swing 78s. European hymns existed side by side with American gospel. Simple ballads were popular and so was complex jazz. The 1939-40 public would have oohed and ahed over the light show AND been thrilled to see famous paintings.

Excellent as history and beautiful as art. Having missed the first half showing the exhibition by day I didn't have the background on the exhibition that would have made it more interesting but I can't blame this film for my not seeing part one.