Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 23rd, 2004
Synopsis
René (Gorden Kaye) is the owner of a cafe in occupied France. All he wants to do is getthrough the war, and avoid making any waves, and so is very obsequious towards the Germans.Unfortunately, the French resistance wants him to hide two British airman. And every woman insight throws herself at him. And his wife is jealous. And, and. and... One complication afteranother descends upon his head.
I'll confess that I've never been a fan of Are You Being Served?, s...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 20th, 2004
Synopsis
Oh, give me a break. You want a plot synopsis for softcore 3-D porn? Fine, then. There issome incomprehensible gibberish about a crook the police are trying to nail, and the club ownercaught in the middle, who also suffers from impotence and is in love with the crook’s girl. Andthere’s a psychiatrist who keeps materializing out of thin air. There. That good enough forya? As for the sex, wake me up when it’s over.
Audio
Thin, reedy mono, but less background ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 16th, 2004
If your only contact with the original series Lost In Space is the episodes available in syndication ala the Sci-Fi channel then you really don’t know Lost In Space. The first season was a lot different than the final two. The most noticeable difference is that the first season is in black and white. The stories are much less schlock and camp. More Star Trek than SpaceBalls. The cheesy rubber monsters are there, but the characters have a harsher edge to them.
As the season progressed through 29 episodes (Can you imagine having a 29 episode season!) the tone of the later series begins to come through.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 16th, 2004
Synopsis
The film is also known as Black Lolita because it’s protagonist (Yolanda Love) isnamed Lolita, and not because she’s underage. On the contrary, this Lolita is a karate-choppinghellion, like a downscale version of Cleopatra Jones. After her uncle is murdered by the mob, ourheroine determines to take revenge. She hooks up with centerfolds Serena and Susan Ayers andpresto: a more explicit version of Charlie’s Angels. Approached in the right frame ofmind (i.e. you...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 14th, 2004
Synopsis
In the Heat of the Night (***1/2) is probably the best known film in the set. HereSidney Poitier plays Virgil Tibbs, Philadelphia homicide detective. Waylaid in a smallMississippi town, he battles racism and his own arrogance as he both clashes and cooperates withPolice Chief Rod Steiger in a murder investigation. Directed by Mr. Concerned Cinema himself,Norman Jewison, the film can hardly be taken seriously, what with all the inhabitants of Sparta,with only the par...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 3rd, 2004
Synopsis
Loretta Young plays, from all available evidence, a high-class call girl. When her son isknocked down by a truck driven by milk industry tycoon Cary Grant (hardly the “dairy farmer”the blurb says he is), Young tries to extort a huge settlement from the company. The schemebackfires, and she loses custody of her son to Grant and his wife. But Young hasn’t given upyet...
A wildly improbable melodrama, which contorts itself with all kinds of dubious pretzel logic...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 2nd, 2004
Synopsis
In 1907, Ingrid Bergman arrives at the household of Warren Baxter and Fay Wray to lookafter their four sons. The happiness of the household is disrupted by the death of Wray and astock market crash. Baxter, fallen on hard times, has to let Bergman go, but when his fortunesimprove during WWI, he sends for her once again, even though his sons are now grown up. Oneof them has married Susan Hayward (the Slut to Bergman’s Saint), who proceeds to poison theatmosphere of th...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 30th, 2003
Synopsis
The story begins in occupied Germany, immediately after the end of WWII. American WACAnn Sheridan and French officer Cary Grant are sent on a mission together. They have workedtogether before, and are extremely prickly with each other. Naturally, we know this meansthey are going to fall in love. But Grant, who has already suffered one humiliation after anotherduring the mission, has more to face, this time in the form or US Armed Forces bureaucracy: ifhe wants to tra...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 30th, 2003
Synopsis
Cary Grant plays Noah Praetorius, a doctor so deeply humane he puts us all to shame. Hugelypopular at the University where he teaches, he inspires the jealousy of the petty Hume Cronyn,who launches an investigation into his past, hoping to bring Grant down. At the same time, Grantfalls in love with a pregnant, unmarried woman. Her condition is a big deal in 1951 -- hersituation is such that early in the film she tries to kill herself.
Attempted suicide, McCar...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 28th, 2003
Casablanca. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The Big Sleep. TheMaltese Falcon. To Have and Have Not. All legendary titles, all among the very bestmovies Hollywood has ever made. Terrific adventures and mysteries, the fit together as acollection in fascinating ways, beyond simply having Bogart as the lead. To Have and HaveNot is structurally very much like a more upbeat version of Casablanca. TheMaltese Falcon is frequently held up as the first film no...
