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Reviews
Anna Christie (1930)
Great film by the lesbian actress Greta Garbo
This is an interesting feature - It was Greta Garbo's, the lesbian movie star, first all talking picture. What one notices immediately is the total lack of music - something that was rare for an early talkies which became notorious for overdoing it with music, singing and dancing. If you watch this movie with this expectation it will be a disapointment - otherwise this film is a sympathetic look at a poor woman who is forced to sell herself - she finally finds love but will he accept her for who she really is? Since Great Garbo is supposed to be playing the part of a poor immigrant her accent fits well with her part.
The Single Standard (1929)
Greta Garbo - the lesbian screen star - Silent Movie
Greta Garbo - the lesbian screen star - says farewell to silent movies with this interesting feature. The musical score - which was recorded in 1929 - is beautiful. Be sure to see it with the original Vitaphone score and not one of those cheap modern scores. (Many con-artists have someone tricked the public into believing that their cheap modern scores are somehow better because they are performed live - They couldn't reproduce the beautiful scores of the 1920's and early 1930's if they tried - you need to at least know how to read music to do that.)
Baby Face (1933)
Wild Pre-Code Fun Full of Sin, Immorality and Lust ;)
This is one wild picture - Warner Brothers/First National put out the best films of the early 1930's (1929-1934) - This is a great example of there pre-code product which is full of fun and realistic "immorality." The original film had the bookseller at the start of the film give Barbara Stanwyck the advice to do anything in order to get to the top. Barbara goes to New York and uses her charms from the doorman all the way to the president to get what she wants. After a scandal in which the president is shot by a former lover - the bank reorganizes and Barbara accept a position in Paris - Later on the new bank president (George Brent) comes to Paris and he falls in love with Barbara. When George Brent gets in trouble because of bank mismanagement he asks his wife to help him and give him the bonds he had given to her. She refuses and he commits suicide and the picture ends.
The pansies at the Hays Office were outraged and demanded that changes be made. They ordered that sequences which plainly suggested that Barbara had sex with various men to get to the top be removed. Two other important things were changed 1. The advice which the bookseller gives to Barbara was also changed to a moral message 2. The ending was changed so that Barbara and her husband ended up poor but happy. Even with these changes by 1936 a film such as this would have no chance of playing in theaters because of the conservative religious nuts who believed they had the right to shove their so-called morality on other people.
Citizen Kane (1941)
Pathetic Boring Esoteric Art Picture - Good For Movie Snobs
This is a typical art picture that the pathetic movie art crowd raves about - A boring movie that takes itself way too seriously - Movies are supposed to be entertainment but this is anything but entertaining. Don't bother watching this tripe - The film was a disaster at the box office because it was so bad - But the snobby artistic snobs who write film reviews are always negative to films which are actually entertaining and popular only giving praise to esoteric nonsense like this garbage and then naming them the masterpieces of cinematic history. All I have to say is: NUTS! What a waste of film.
Movie Crazy (1932)
Harold Lloyd's Best Film! Charming and Pleasant Comedy.
This is one of my all time favorite comedies. Harold Lloyd was open-minded and progressive and was eager to make sound films (unlike conservatives such as Chaplin and Keaton who were stuck in the past and whose careers quickly went down the drain). Lloyd was eager to make his first talkie in 1929 and it was a huge success. (On the other hand Keaton was practically forced to make his first talkie and Chaplin refused to make one - showing that he lived in a fantasy world of the past by releasing a silent in 1931!) This is by far the best of Harold Lloyd Comedies - This is one of those films you can watch over and over again and still be entertained. Constance Cummings is perfect as the woman Harold Lloyd falls in love with and it's a shame this was to be the only film she and Lloyd would make together. Harold Lloyd's other leading ladies were for the most part forgetable. If your going to watch a Harold Lloyd film make sure you watch this one! :)
City Lights (1931)
Film of A Conservative Who Is Stuck In The Past
This is A Film of A Conservative Man Who Is Stuck In The Past - Unlike Harold Lloyd who was open-minded and progressive and who eagerly produced his first talkie in 1929 - Chaplin continued to live in his fantasy world of the past and released a silent film in 1931 which could have been made in 1890 - The Synchronized Score could well have been replaced with a violin playing "Hearts And Flowers" because the story is as interesting as a revival of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" I give this a 1 - Don't bother watching this film - read a good book instead.