Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 22nd, 2003
Set in the Pakistani community in London, this coming-of-age story follows Omar (Saeed Jaffrey), a young man who gets his start in business through his not-entirely-scrupulous uncle.Omar has ambitions of transforming a grotty laundrette into a first-class establishment. To this end, he enlists the aid of an old friend (and soon-to-be-lover) (Daniel Day-Lewis), much to the displeasure of the latter’s skinhead friends. Family, racism, Thatcherism, sexism, homosexuality,organized crime and laundromats might sound like a lot to pack into 98 minutes, but this wry, sly comedy does so with grace and agility.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 13th, 2003
After a disastrous voyage in which he loses his ship and all his crew, Richard Widmark journeys back from the Mediterranean to Norway (apparently swimming all the way). He say she has discovered the location of a giant bell made of solid gold (don’t ask how well something like that would ring), and along with his brother (Russ Tamblyn) steals the king’s funeral boat(along with his daughter). Off they go for many wild adventures. As you can probably guess, this is an exceedingly silly film, from its eccentric casting on down. But it is very entertaining, and doesn’t take itself seriously.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 11th, 2003
Synopsis
Topper tells the tale of Cosmo Topper (Roland Young), a repressed, middle-aged banker,and his liberating encounter with the ghosts of Cary Grant and Constance Bennett. Grant andBennett, irresponsible socialites, die in a car accident without ever having done a good deed.They must make up for this before they can move on, and their good deed is to shake upTopper’s life. This is a gentle comedy, with fabulous character work from Young (who richlydeserved his Oscar nomination)...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 11th, 2003
Melina Mercouri plays Illia, a character who makes prostitution seem like a carefree Utopia.She lives in a version of Greece where there only appear to be 5 women, and they are all ladies of the night. Into this extraordinarily male fantasy comes Jules Dassin, a deluded American idealist who wants to save Illia from herself. Naturally, he doesn’t have a hope, and Greek enthusiasm (think My Big Fat Greek Wedding on steroids) will inevitably overcome his anti-fun attitudes. Obviously, the picture has dated quite noticeably, and makes Pretty Woman look like a gritty expose.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 6th, 2003
The topic for this documentary are the Shakers, more properly the “United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing.” The Shakers weren’t around that long: they were celibate, which meant no offspring. However, as the film explores, that didn’t stop them from having a profound impact on American life (they were, for instance, feminist and anti-slavery well ahead of the game).
Audio
A mono soundtrack. Though it might have been nice to hear the Shaker songs in stereo, the sound is still very clean, and without distortion.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 6th, 2003
A history and a meditation on the American Congress, both at the institutional and at the architectural level -- there are many beautiful shots of the Capitol, and the building becomes as much a character as any of the politicians who strode the stage within its walls. A fascinating documentary, enlivened not only with Burns’ usual fine use of period paintings and photographs,but also with film clips from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Advise and Consent.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 30th, 2003
Synopsis
Until the end of World War II, US immigration laws prevented Chinese women from movingto the States. The result was an almost exclusively male, and aging, population. The lawschanged after the war, and young Ben, much to his father’s delight, returns from China with anew bride. The entire community is interested in the couple, however, and the strain this createsthreatens the marriage.
Audio
The sound is mono, surprising for a film from 1989. A dece...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 30th, 2003
Synopsis
Spencer Tracy’s home life with wife Joan Bennet and daughter Elizabeth Taylor is disruptedwhen the latter falls in love and plans to get married. After Tracy gets over his initial suspicionsabout his prospective son-in-law, his hopes for a small, intimate, inexpensive wedding collapsethe as the event, gathering a life of its own, grows more and more monstrous in size. Enough tomake the fathers of any bride break into a cold sweat, this is good fun (though Taylor’s simpering...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 28th, 2003
Synopsis
Bank teller Lee Remick returns home one night to be grabbed in her garage by a terrifying,asthmatic killer. She will do as he says, he tells her, and rob the bank, or she and her sister willdie. Remick seeks the help of the FBI, and agent Glenn Ford is soon locked in a cat-and-mousegame with the killer. Rightly seen as anticipating the films of Brian De Palma and JohnCarpenter, Experiment in Terror combines police procedural with lurking menace, andhas a sequence in ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 25th, 2003
Synopsis
Timothy Bottoms plays Hart, a first-year law student at Harvard. His existence centresaround a class taught by Kingsfield (John Houseman), a brilliant but utterly ruthless professorwho consistently humiliates his students, yet somehow acquires their unswerving loyalty. Hartalso begins an affair with a Susan (Lindsay Wagner), who turns out to be Kingsfield’s daughter.Though the film is never less than compelling, it does lack a centre. The characters are almostall cyphers or...
