Reviews

The year this film was made is at odds with the childlike innocence of this screwball comedy. In a few months the Japanese attack the US, shatter that innocence and make comedy less appealing. If you suspend knowledge of events then Ball of Fire is a fantastic tribute to the talent of its writer. The screenplay is written by Hollywood legend Billy Wilder who also wrote The Apartment, Double Indemnity and Some Like It Hot and is loosely based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

A singer played by Barbara Stanwyck witnesses a murder and deceives eight professors into hiding her from the police. The film uses comprehensible 1940's slang for much of the humour and explains most including an "Ameche" which I now know is a telephone.

There are great performances from Stanwyck, Dana Andrews and oddly Gary Cooper. Somebody looking for an actor to play a professor decided a 7 foot rugged cowboy was perfect for the part. They were right because he excels at quoting science, theorizing and playing the romantic lead. Credit should also be given to Dana Andrews who is very convincing as the murderous gang leader.

Elizabeth I is nearly always portrayed as stern and unemotional which is probably attributable to the early performances by Dame Flora Robson who set the Elizabeth blueprint. This performance by Bette Davis retains the blueprint but introduces a dark wit to the character. An example is when a scheming ambassador compliments her on her beautiful palace. She replies it was her fathers and that "I will tell him when I see him".

An ambitious adventurer named Walter Raleigh arrives at her court. He only wants three ships to sail and discover gold and the other treasures of the Americas. She takes an instant liking to the handsome Raleigh and the film revolves around her plotting to keep him at her side. She famously refused to marry because she believed in putting country first and here she manipulates Raleigh towards a private relationship that would not diminish her power as Queen in a man's world.

The colorful costumes look a bit party rental but there is plenty of historical accuracy apart from the myth of the "coat over the puddle". The performance from Richard Todd is good but there is little chemistry between him and his wife played by Joan Collins. She delivers her lines so hastily in a modern London accent as if she is about to get on a bus.

The Bette Davis interpretation of Elizabeth and the political machinations at her court are the focus points of the film. There are no dodgy Spanish Armadas or swashbuckling Errol Flynn types detracting from the storytelling or the excellent portrayal of Elizabeth.

This film is about two of the most miserable characters I have seen on screen for a while. Even a hungry mountain lion is repulsed at having to digest them. The film stars Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves who both give excellent performances in the films only speaking roles. Despite the initial antagonism, there is a ready chemistry between the lead characters due to their similar nature.

The discourse of witty cynicism between the lead characters reminded me of The Odd Couple and at times seemed strange in a California vineyard. However, if you don't mind two sour grapes taking up your time then I would recommend seeing the film.

This oddly titled murder mystery is about a detective who calls upon the services of a scientist to solve a murder. Eventually it is solved using the theories of French mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace hence the title.

I thought the film required too much attention to be engaging. There is far too much science fiction pretending to be realism in the film. Realism is police work, profiling and forensics not bizarre future predictions and science hypothesizes that would not spend a second in a courtroom.

This is the tale of the lonely Granny Nah who has earned the nickname Goblin Granny because she has filed 8000 housing complaints to her district office. An ambitious Civil Servant on his first day is confronted by Nah with more complaints and is forced to deal with her due to the reluctance of shell shocked colleagues. The film then proceeds for an hour as a light hearted comedy in which the Civil Servant tries to appease Nah with English lessons so that she can visit her younger brother in the US.

The final part of the film is a drama where we discover that the loneliness of Nah and the abandonment of her family is due to her being a former enslaved comfort woman. These were women forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied territories before and during World War II. The sudden change in tone due to the dark and emotive subject will leave many viewers confused but it a history lesson that should be taught and repeated when required.

This is a great movie that brings light to dark and tackles that which should never have happened. I fully recommend the film and commend both Moon-hee Na for her performance as Nah and Lee Je-hoon as the Civil Servant.

A Cry in the Dark is an account of real events at Ayers Rock when baby Azaria is taken and killed by a dingo. The parents played by Sam Neill and Meryl Streep are subjected to a vicious media coverage. Their faith in particular is scrutinised and it is wrongly suggested by them that the name "Azaria" means ritual sacrifice. Also that the reason she was killed was because they did not conform to the strict Saturday observance belief of their Seventh Day Adventist faith. The media also question the couple's portrayal of the canine dingo which is seen as a harmless, cheeky Australian treasure rather like a squirrel.

Sam Neil is a great actor and here he plays a man of firm beliefs whose confidence and eloquence disappear as the media circus engulfs him. On the stand he rambles incoherently and when the Judge asks him if he wishes to take a break it is because he knows he is suffering from a mental disorder. Meryl Streep gives a wonderful performance in a flawlessly Australian accent. Far more impressively, she enters into the soul of a woman who was rather harsh and restricted in her self-expression. At one point her Defence Lawyers beg her to be more demure but her religious beliefs mould her completely. She rightly replies "she can't cry to order or do some dumb act for the public" and this demeanour proves detrimental at trial.

The thing I noticed most about the film is the lack of reporting restrictions before and during the trial. It must have been difficult for the Jurors to consider evidence when presented with it from all corners. Most exasperating though was watching the mother try to explain matters to a bias media trying to publicly convict her. The film wonderfully portrays the lack of public sympathy given to people of faith who instead of displays of grief are calm because they believe it is the will of God. A Cry in the Dark is about the dangers of a free press who in this instance behave like savage dogs behind keyboards. They create an uninformed narrative to form public opinion that leads ordinary people along a wrong path to an unqualified judgement that benefits nobody.

The Corn Is Green is an adaptation of a 1938 play by Emlyn Williams. It is also a shameless attempt to cash in on the success of How Green Was My Valley and ought to be called "The Wheat is Golden" due to a single shot of a man cutting wheat. Welshman Rhys Williams stars in both films and here amongst the absent corn, gives another good performance. I should also mention Bette Davis is excellent in this too.

Some of the acting is unnecessarily over exaggerated particularly the femme fatale but that is true of many films of the time. If you choose not to draw comparison with more recent films it can be said that The Corn Is Green is thoughtful, entertaining and more importantly a champion of the virtues of education.

Unfaithfully Yours is a 1948 comedy starring Rex Harrison as a celebrated symphony conductor who believes his wife played by Linda Darnell is having an affair with his handsome young Secretary. During the evenings concert he carefully devises three plans to deal with the supposed betrayal. He returns to the apartment after the concert and proceeds with Plan A, but after serious ineptitude including destroying the apartment moves to Plan B. This again fails due to ineptness as does Plan C. This leaves him with no alternative than to investigate and come to his own conclusions based upon the evidence.

This comedy is much underrated and is equal to more celebrated black comedies made in the same period such as Kind Hearts and Coronets and Whiskey Galore. It has an excellent script with many razor sharp lines delivered at pace by all actors. However, the operatic music is the films strength and gives purpose to the plot. It should never be underestimated how music can influence a situation and during the concert the Conductors plans are subconsciously influenced by fast music for murder, slow soothing music for forgiveness and disorderly music for an unbalanced solution.

This was originally a successful New York stage play and stars William H. Macy and Debra Eisenstadt who give good lead performances. However, the problems for many stage plays turned into films include lack of location, actors, dialogue and contrived endings. Unfortunately Oleanna has all of these problems and a clumsy chauvinistic plot.

It portrays three meetings and conversations between two people as a series of misunderstandings. It also appears to predict the whole #me too movement and the courageous battle against sexual harassment and sexual assault but lazily infers the student is mistaken in her conversations with her college professor. He in my opinion is guilty of saying much of what he is accused. However, although easily misinterpreted he should not have said what he did in the first place.

During the conversations he is condescending and alarmingly dismissive of higher education. Throughout she takes notes and her interpretation of them leads to a formal complaint. The final scenes of the film is an improbable third meeting between the pair with an unnecessary ending to redress the films awful portrayal of the student and remove any sympathy for the college professor.

This was the first Roberto Rossellini film that I have seen and was pleasantly surprised by the portrayal of the married relationship. The two lead actors, Bergman and Sanders give wonderful performances as a troubled couple on a journey to sell an inherited house. The house itself is very impressive and overlooks romantic Italian countryside and Mount Vesuvius.

Whilst at the house they spend a short time together but often bicker and eventually they each go sight-seeing alone. This indicates the fragility of their relationship but the truth is never far behind which is their "house sell" is really a romantic holiday to try and save their marriage.

Evidently people will want to compare this with The Illusionist and The Prestige and from the opening minutes I had high hopes for this film . It immediately sets up an intriguing challenge for our cynical magician who uses simple tricks to fool his audience. Unfortunately that's not what this film does. It simply dulls viewers with predictable stereotypes and plots.

The films ending would leave a 5 year old disappointed and maybe the writer will wish he had given less of the plot away at the beginning. There's plenty of superfluous dialogue, scenes and supporting actors that add nothing to what feels like a small play that would be better performed by three actors in a village theatre.