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Reviews
Something Wild (1961)
Incorrect filming location
If you are going to go with the trouble of shooting in outside locations, why not give us the actual location in the story or a reasonable substitute, and don't insult the audience. The Times Square station of the New York City subway has never had an above ground station. The opening shots of the film are shot through the front window of the first car of an underground subway train, and we see the stanchions on the station to the front right. They all clearly show "Times Square". Yet in the ensuing scenes, we see the main character exiting from the station walking down steps of an above ground el station. Yet in the previous scene, Baker exits the train in the below ground IRT Times Square station.
Prior to this I had to sit though the opening notes of Mr. Copland's score, so I admit, I already had a bit of a headache, and this might have impacted my opinion of the film. The plot of this movie and Arron Copland's music leave a lot to be desired.
The four stars are for the acting in general, which was good, but especially for Jean Stapleton, a real New Yorker and a gifted and talented actress. Any of her work is well worth watching.
Naked City: A Death of Princes (1960)
Outright Callousness
This episode will be remembered for 3 things. Peter Falk's great uncredited cameo, Eli Wallach's great acting, and unfortunately for fans of Broadway, Nancy Malone's mispronunciation of Oscar Hammerstein's name. She fails not once, but twice. Because of circumstances, with all due respect to everyone involved in the egregious error, this can only be described as callousness.
The episode premiered October 1960, and Oscar passed in August 1960. In a tribute to Oscar, on the night of September 1st, 1960 the entire Times Square area was blacked out for 3 minutes. His name had to be in the news. We get a beautiful nighttime shot of the Lunt Fontanne Theatre toward the end, where the Sound of Music was playing at the time, universally recognized as one of Rogers and Hammerstein's greatest works. As a matter of fact, Ms. Malone character, Libby, is fictionalized as having a small part in this musical as a nun. What was she, Silliphant and Brahm thinking? Mr. Hammerstein was beloved worldwide, and still his. His work is legendary. There can be no excuses or equivocation. Even in a 1956 "What's my Line?" episode widely available, Mr. Hammerstein is a mystery guest, and his correct name pronunciation is widely discussed during the show. He made it clear it was not "steen" most of his life. This was not live TV, and someone should have caught this mistake. Wouldn't Libby, since she was so passionate about getting the small part, correctly pronounce the name of the person responsible for the play?
D.O.A. (1949)
This film is dead on arrival, and I don't mean the tittle!
Being a film noir lover, I was disappointed with this film.
To begin with, the story is far-fetched and very pretentious. For having been poisoned with only a few days to live, Bigelow gets around really well, in both SF and LA, trying to solve an enigma about his "luminous poisoning". The fate of the main character will be determined by a fictional toxin! Bizarre scenes follow, due to the poor screenplay and acting.
Bigelow and Paula come across as very corny, just as the repeated wolf call whistles. The sappy soundtrack theme is heard repeatedly and then yet again coming from a radio in a restaurant. Now that's corny!
The jazz band scene is the best part; the musicians are obviously talented, but ironically were not credited. Yet we get a cornball credit for Luminous Toxin which the voice-over says is a fact. It is a fiction from paranoid cold-war days. Skip this one.