Reviews

I hadn't seen it since I was in college. I remembered it like a fun, absurd movie. Now in 2018 what hit me the most was the wife played by Doris Day. She is spectacular and the absurdity becomes totally real just by looking at her. James Stewart is great of course but he seems to be the foil here rather than the center that keeps us connected to that essential leap of faith. The scene in which he gives her the tranquilizers before telling her the terrible news. What Doris Day manages to do with her character is extraordinary. Brenda de Banzie is a terrific villainess and Bernard Herrmann's score another major plus. I'm sure that even my grandchildren's grandchildren will talk about The Man Who Knew Too Much and about Doris Day.

John Schlesinger made his first feature "A Kind Of Loving" with the young Alan Bates. It was an extraordinary debut. They also work together in "Far From The Madding Crowd" and in a TV adaptation of Terence Rattigan's "Separate Tables" with Julie Christie. In "An Englishman Abroad" their artistic relationship is at its peak. The idea came from the incomparable Coral Browne, a true story. They told the story to Alan Bennett and Mr Bennett came out with this piercing, funny, sad true story of a gay British spy living, or surviving his exile in Moscow, without an ounce of resentment. No, all the disappointment, every bit of regret is in Alan Bates's eyes. What a spectacular performance. This beautiful film deserves a serious revival.

I remember the stories of Paul Getty with pay phones in his house for his guests. He was always a picture boy for the horrors of money. Nobody paid any attention to the horrors not the real ones anyway, just the exterior ones of opulence, meanness and greed. Everything for and because of money, everything. The kidnapping of young J Paul Getty caught the attention of the world then, the plight of his mother is the stuff great drama is made of and here Michelle Williams does wonders with her character. She is totally true, one hundred per cent of the time, but her director doesn't know how to capture it. The film is a rambling, repetitious, undramatic product by Ridley Scott. I didn't detect any real thought behind it. Just craftsmanship and that sometimes is enough, but not this time. I suppose money was also behind this enterprise. Even the stitching of Christopher Plummer in place of Kevin Spacey has a totally commercial connotation. Mark Whalberg? I like him but everyone laughed when he appeared on the screen. So completely out of place, specially when confronted by the powerful authenticity of the wonderful Michelle Williams. All in all a dispiriting affair in more ways than one.