West Side Story

I watched a Bell Telephone Hour special with the original Maria Carol Lawrence recently.  (I own two of her albums.  She's fabulous.)  I realized I needed to watch this movie again.  The last time I watched it I was in high school.  My acquaintance next to me mentioned how bad this movie was and I lied and said it was bad.  No.  This is one of the best musicals of all time.  There's only one song I don't care for and that's One Hand, One Heart. This musical is based on Romeo and Juliet. Two gangs fight against each other while two people Tony and Maria fall in love.  The supporting cast steal the show though.  George Chakris and Rita Moreno both won supporting actor awards.  Rita Moreno has won a Grammy, an Emmy, a Tony, and an Oscar.  What a career!  It's two hours and a half but worth every minute.

Polly of the Circus

A movie about a minister and a girl from the circus falling in love.  She is injured and he has to take care of her in his home. Only the church has problems with their romance.  Someone in imdb.com mentioned that aren't enough close ups of Mae Marsh and that's true.  She's a lovely actress.  This is ok.  I liked the Marion Davies remake as well. 

Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell

This was a 70's tv horror movie.  It's about an evil dog.  The father is the only one who doesn't come under its spell.  It destroys the neighbor and takes over the family.  The father seeks for a cure.  This is cheesy and not to be taken seriously.  It's not necessarily good but it was fun.

Scudda-Hoo Scudda-Hay

Not that good of a movie.  I was hoping that this would be a musical, something of a Summer Stock thing.  It is about farming though.  There are two half brothers and one tries to sabotage the other.  June Haver plays the love interest.  Natalie Wood plays a young tomboy.  Natalie and June are the best thing about this movie. 

Five Miles to Midnight

Anthony Perkins survives a plane crash.  The marriage to Anthony Perkins and Sophia Loren was already been destroyed before this.  Yet he wants them to collect the life insurance since it is believed he is dead.  Sophia loses it as Anthony annoys her trapped in their apartment.  They both descend into madness.  Anthony does his psycho character well.  It's too bad that he was typecast in this role as he was a good actor.  For a different range of his acting try to watch the tv special Evening Primose.

Rage in Heaven

In this psychological thriller Montgomery is a psychopath.  Ingrid marries him but finds she should have married George Sanders who she still has feelings for.  This was co written by Christopher Isherwood who wrote The Berlin Stories which Cabaret is based on.  This movie is just ok.  Ingrid Bergman looks gorgeous as usual.  For a better film with Montgomery as a psychopath watch Night must Fall. 

The Victim

Elizabeth Montgomery stars in this 70's tv movie about a murder.  Elizabeth goes to her sister's house but she's not there.  Elizabeth starts to think something happened to her sister.  She suspects Eileen Heckart, the maid and the husband her sister was about to divorce.  The ending is kind of unclear.  Montgomery gives a good performance. 

Sissi: The Fateful Years of the Empress

In this last installment of the Sissi movies, Sissi finds herself sick but she miraculously recovers.  There's not much plot in this one.  It's ok but the first movie was by far the best.  Romy Schneider is by far the best thing in this movie.  She's lovely and charming.  I'm going to look into her non-Sissy movies soon.

The Big Parade

I am so glad this got on DVD.  This is a beautiful love story around World War I.  John Gilbert has a girl back home but he falls in love with a girl from France Renee Adoree.  They have a fun scene with bubble gum.  There's more than thirty minutes of him in battle.  It was a pretty good movie. 

Hollywood Story

A producer decides to make a film about how a silent film director was killed.  He begins to research into the case and it becomes apparent that someone doesn't want him to.  Julie Adams from The Creature from the Black Lagoon stars.  She's definitely one of my favorite actresses from the 50's.  It's a neat movie. 

Phantom Lady

This is an awesome noir movie.  I was so glad to see that it got on dvd.  Ella Raines was an excellent actress of the 40's.  She was good in noir and in Tall in the Saddle she almost stole the show from John Wayne.  Ella's boss gets accused of murder.  He keeps mentioning that he was with a woman the whole night as his alibi.  People think he's lying but Ella goes undercover herself to prove her boss innocent.  This is a nice moody atmosphere.  I really need to read the book. 

The Girl he left Behind

Tab Hunter flunks college and enrolls into the army.  He doesn't have the stuff the army needs until the end. Natalie Wood plays the girl he left behind to go the army.  James Garner has a bit part and I was hoping for more.  This movie was boring.  There were better army movies in the 50's like The D.I. and The Strange One (which hasn't been put on dvd yet).  Natalie Wood was cute in it.  That was the main reason why I got it.