Reviews

There have been several African-American themed narratives to come out of Hollywood. They're either "first" movies - Pride, Red Tails, or the civil rights movement as seen thru the eyes of white folk - Mississippi Burning, the Help. There are others...

42 is a cross between those two trains of thought. 42, a "negro first" and "it's messed up how we threat these coloreds..." film. At the plates Jack Robinson, first black man to play major league ball in the 20th century. In the on deck circle, the Mahatma, Branch Ricky. He represents the "thru the eyes" part of the equation.

I'm going to throw a fastball... Larry Doby, who started playing with the Cleveland Indians in August of 1947. He wasn't mentioned in this film. Why?

Pasadena, California is a high tone city where rich railroad and oil men lived. It was segregated in the 1940s and still is today in 2014. If you take this picture at its "word" California was(and is) colour blind. We know that's a lie.

Honestly, this story was told in Ken Burns' documentary Baseball. And told better.

Ken Bruns covered this material in his great documentary Baseball.

"My best memory of the cinema? The sensation given me twelve years ago by a marvelous film, L'assasinat du duc de Guise. It was a complete revelation. If only your compatriots had been able to continue producing such films they would today be the first and foremost film makers in the world." This is a quote from D.W. Griffith to Robert Florey concerning this 1908 French film produced by Film d'Art and distributed by Pathé Freres. And he wasn't the only one, Carl Dreyer was also a fan. Personally, I don't see it. To my eye it looks like the typical tableau one reeler from the era of big gestures from the actors and a stationary camera from the producers.

I thought I'd spoke on this good-bad film, but I guess it didn't take This is set during the PCP craze that rocked black neighborhoods in the mid-1970s. Then folks started freebasing and you stopped hearing about "Sherm" Alley. It became "Crack Alley." If you don't think this place existed, I can take you...

This picture is low end for sure but there is a sincerity in it's message. A decade later, Spike Lee tried to say something about the crack epidemic, but didn't fair quite as well. What was Jungle Fever about when you think about it. The social milieu of Disco Godfather is rooted in genre(the detective story.) Maybe that's why it succeeds where others failed. I don't know... there was more heart here than in many a modern black film. and the karate sequence! what the--

As an eleven year old I recognized that GBU was or is unique. However, I wasn't quite sure why. The movie certainly seemed too brawny, too epic for NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies. At the time I didn't realize this was my first exposure to the fabled Italian cinema(with the actor's lips not always in sync to the dialog!) The first chance I got I sought this out on the big screen. It doesn't take long to realize that it's a masterwork and some of the purist cinema ever produced. It's the perfect blend of widescreen mise-en-scene, sight gags and genre "revisioning." Is that even a word? Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cliff, their faces never looked so menacing and beautiful.

this is an unexpected treat especially if seen projected. one of the best combat films shot during world war two. Robert Montgomery and duke Morrison give memorable performances as PT boat captains doing battle in and around the former US colony known as the Philippine islands. rear screen projection is only reverted to, well, when there's a close shot of either the duke or bob. other than that, the boats and the camera are in the water. john ford produced this minor classic for MGM. as in all ford films there is a dance sequence. here it's shot in shadow time. very evocative. did Gregg Toland lens the picture? Donna Reed, Ward Bond Jack Holt, Cameron Mitchell and Louis Jean Heydt offer support.

I've seen this movie on the big screen in several different settings; the Strand on Market street in frisco after Cagney's death; LACMA; the old Pussycat theatre on Hollywood blvd. this Raoul Walsh gangster starring two-gun Jimmy Cagney unfolds as the title suggests - over the course of the 1920s. the support is perfect - Jeffrey Lynn as the idealist; Priscilla Lane as the ideal; Frank McHugh as the sidekick; Gladys George as the wised up dame; Humphrey Bogart, the sociopath. This film has gained some devotees, showing at museums and revival houses over the past two decades. now it's considered one the best of the Warner's cycle. with the backstage musical Footlight Parade and turn in the masterwork the Public Enemy, this is Cagney at his best.

when I was in high school, taking french, the teacher would occasionally push a tape into a slot and show a "movie." the idea was for us kids to hear the language. well, this was one of the movies. at the time, my feelings concerning "umbrellas" were... truthfully, I didn't know what to think. as a seventeen year old I don't think I would have recommended it.

channel surfing last night I came across it again on TCM. what a difference 9000 days makes. this is a very unique film. it's not a musical, even with the sung dialog, jazzy score and saturated colors. it's stylish camera work/art direction doesn't contradict the neorealism aspect either. It enhances it.

even with the "star crossed lovers" aspect, the film isn't sentimental or corny. and the socio-economic angle is also treated tastefully.

This is an ART film in the true sense of the term. and Anne Vernon. Je t'aime.

I had never seen or heard of this film until last year. WOW! this is one of the best films of the post war, the cinematography, narrative elements, the easy confident pace. and for the actors to be non professionals - in the neo-realist tradition. It's hard to believe. some of these Hollywoodland hams could learn something here. If you've seen it see it again. If you haven't rent it, buy it, download it from someplace. that is if you like your cinema pure in spirit and free of crap, sadly, most people don't. most go out of their way to tell contrived, complicated plots with no feel for characters. I kind of wish I'd gotten into the film business.

I watched this in sections the other day. me and a friend trade content, it's fun turning another person onto good work. or bad. sometimes a bad movie can be fun. I reckon this is what they'd call regional filmmaking, although you can't tell where they made this. I know they make a lot of horror films in Indiana, Kentucky, etc. this is along those lines only its a psychological thriller, without thrills or basic psychology. Here you have the classic $20,000 film - bad lighting, slipshod set decor, humdrum acting, monologues posing for dialog. but even with no money, the story should at least be snare drum tight. when you get to the end here, you're left wondering, 'what the hell was that?' I don't mind amateur films... but amateurish. I put a 3 on it trying to give the benefit of the doubt. however, a 1 or 2 rating might be more appropriate. as I say bad films can be funny too, just not for the same reasons as a actual comedy.