Reviews

This film is pure joy. Back in the nineteen seventies I was a projectionist for several years and I remember my mother encouraging me to watch vintage movies to find out what real acting was about.

This one was one of the earliest I saw and I totally fell in love with it.

Set in London's west end, this is the tale of an impoverished Lord played with enormous charm and wit by Michael Wilding. He and Anna Neagle, his co-star, have great chemistry together, and really all the way through you can see they were made each other. The rest of the cast are all in top form and really this is a movie not to be missed if you love romantic comedies as I do.

This is a wonderful and inspirering film. I don't think I have enjoyed a movie so much in a long time. There wasn't a single weak scene in the film. I love and admire great acting, and Gary Oldman's Winston Churchill is truly one of the great performances. To say he totally owned the part would be an understatement. I really believed he was Churchill, that's how convincing he was.

The script is fantastic and there are so many fine performances by the rest of the cast. I understand that the tube station scene was fiction, but it was so well done, that one could have imagined Churchill actually doing it. Gary Oldman most thoroughly deserved to win the Oscar for best actor. His performance is utterly unforgettable. And I can recommend this film to anybody who loves to watch great movies and fine acting.

I must admit till last night while searching through a list of movies on line. I found this one that I had not heard of before. But, with a good looking cast in it, I thought I would give it a try. And I'm so glad I did because this movie from 1933 really is something of a forgotten treasure.

John Barrymore's larger than life portrayal of the banished Archduke Rudolf from Austria, now reduced to driving a taxi, is a scintillating performance by any standards.

I have seen quite a few of Barrymore's movies now and he has never disappointed me, and this one is definitely one of his most memorable.

Diana Wynyard is radiantly beautiful as Elena Krug, Rudolf's former love who is now married to a famous psychoanalyst played by Frank Morgan. Barrymore and Wynyard have great chemistry together. But the real surprise for me was Frank Morgan giving a wonderfully deft and understated performance.

The movie takes us through a variety of emotions all of which are played out beautifully. It really is a wonderful movie, and from somebody who is very hard please when it comes to films, I highly recommend this one as a glorious piece of old fashioned movie entertainment.

As with the other reviewer here, I first saw this made for TV movie when it came out in the early eighties, and had never seen it since, till finally I found it online last night. I loved it the first time as part of the Moviola series of three made for TV movies based on the novel Moviola by Garson Kanin. But I loved it even more finally getting to see it again.

Garbo has always held a certain fascination for me, and believe me Kristina Wayborn's Garbo is a treasure to behold. Though understated, Miss Wayborn is totally luminous as Garbo, and completely owns the part. I have no idea if Garbo herself ever saw this, but I feel sure she would have been proud of the way Kristina Wayborn portrayed her.

What really surprises me is that Miss Wayborn did not herself go on to have a great career after playing such a wonderful part. I don't know, maybe she was born in the wrong era, but I can't help thinking she would have been a major star today.

The rest of the cast of The Silent Lovers are in the main, good, especially Barry Bostwick as John Gilbert, Harold Gould as L. B. Mayer, and John Rubinstein as the ill-fated boy wonder, Irving Thalberg.

If you do get to see The Silent Lovers, I doubt you will be disappointed. It's worth seeing alone for Kristina Wayborn's magnificent re-creation of Greta Garbo.

This movie is an unexpected find. After reading some of the other reviews for this, mostly negative, I wondered what I might be getting myself into in watching it. In fact it is a charming romantic comedy. Yes this kind of thing has been done many times before, but that doesn't mean it can't succeed another time. And this one does succeed.

The script is witty and light and the acting is just beautiful, especially Uma Thurman who absolutely sparkles as Emma, who thinks she knows all there is to know about romantic relationships and is about to be married to Richard, played by Colin Firth when Patrick, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan enters her life claiming that he is her husband, which leads to massive complications in Emma's life.

Thurman and Morgan have excellent chemistry and are definitely believable together. And I really loved this movie and would highly recommend it to anybody who wants to see a good old fashioned romantic comedy set in modern day.

This is a most delightful movie in every sense. And one that deserves to be known far better than it is. The story of a conscientious butler who works for the Prime Minister of his country, Hungry, but, unknown to his employer, has political aspirations of his own.

This is a wonderfully witty script that never flags. And such a fine cast. William Powell is irrepressible as ever as the caring butler who however isn't afraid to speak his mind in parliament when leading his party in opposition to his employer played by Henry Stevenson, whose wry amusement when Powell's character criticises him in front of everybody in Parliament is hilarious.

But the real revelation here is Annabella, who is simply sparkling as the Baroness, who is also the Prime Minister's daughter. Not only is she very beautiful but also a fine actress. Annabella is so vibrant and expressive in this part that she is just a joy to watch in every scene she plays, especially in those with Powell. They had great chemistry. And it would have been nice to see more of them together.

It seems like Zanuck tried to wreck Annabella's career when she became involved with Tyrone Power. What a sad mistake on Zanuck's part as one can clearly see from this movie that Annabella had a style and panache that would surely have made her a great star. This movie is excellent entertainment and well worth seeing.

This is really a superb film. I have seen quite a few silents and most of them do look rather dated now to me. But this one transcends time due to its beautiful sets, expert camera work, wonderful direction and best of all we have a truly luminous performance by Greta Garbo as the leading lady. Never have I see her looking more beautiful and appealing as in this movie.

One of the things that is missing with many actors and actresses today is their lack of ability to portray good facial expression in a scene to display emotion. It's not enough just to speak, you have to show too. Its one of the things I always look for in performance in any movie old and new.

Garbo is wonderful here at appealing to the audience with her range of expressions. Normally I would miss dialogue. But it's so well produced and finely acted that I found I hardly missed it at all. Conrad Nagel was excellent as the leading man and had great chemistry with Garbo. The rest of the cast do justice to the movie too. And all in all it's well worth seeing, especially if you want to find out why the movie going public fell in love with Greta Garbo. It's all in here.