The Errand Boy

I got this because the jazz vocalist Pat Dahl is in it.  I own her only album.  I think she plays the girl who can sing with "Lover."  There's little plot.  It's mostly just gags done by Jerry Lewis (who also directed this.)  The one I liked the best was the one with the jelly beans.  His best so far by a long shot was The Nutty Professor.  I don't think he's as bad as people make him out to be though. 

Lilith

I watched this when I was a teenager and I loved it.  Twenty years passed and during that time I got diagnosed with OCD and bipolar and went through two breakdowns.  The whole romanticizing of mental illness in movies is unsettling to me.  I thought it was a good movie though.  It just didn't hold up to what I made of it.   Apparently, this was Jean Seberg's favorite movie of hers, although I think it's easily Breathless.  Jean Seberg plays a schizophrenic nymphomaniac.  Warren Beatty plays the therapist who falls for her.  Peter Fonda plays a man she leads on.  I'll probably read the book it's based on again.  I remember liking it. For Jean Seberg fans this is a must.

Murder!

I didn't really care for this early Alfred Hitchcock movie.  It was mediocre.  It's the standard jury movie where Herbert Marshall just has a feeling that the person didn't do it.  If you want to watch a great early Hitchcock movie watch The Lodger.  Still, it wasn't a waste.  I like Herbert Marshall and he was an excellent actor who had plenty of work in the 30's and 40's.  

Night Court

I really liked this movie.  It had a nice twist ending.  Anita Page is one of my favorite actresses from the 30's and she plays a good girl whose name's been slandered.  It's about a corrupt judge who sentences the innocent Anita Page to jail.  Her husband can't believe that she committed a crime. He goes out to investigate the case for himself.  Eventually, the judge gets what's coming to him.  Anita Page was a versatile actress but this isn't my favorite performance from her.   It was Our Dancing Daughters where she played a bad girl.  

My name is Julia Ross

My Name is Julia Ross is a short pretty effective noir from Joseph H. Lewis the guy who did Gun Crazy.  It's about a girl who is hired into a job little does she know she signed up for a nightmare.  She is held hostage in the house and told that she is someone's wife.  I applaud TCM for their Film Noir Classics collection.  They really dig up treasure that would just be left rot to otherwise. 

The Iron Horse

This was a pretty boring John Ford silent.  It's about the beginning of the railroad.  Madge Bellamy plays the love interest.  I really wish she was in the movie more because I like her.  Her storyline should have been extended.

Her Kind of Man

I found the cover art deceptive.  I thought it was going to be a comedy.  It was just a mediocre crime drama.  The best thing about it was Janis Paige who was very pretty and could handle a tune.  You can pass this one.  

The Goddess

I decided to find a genre that I haven't explored yet Chinese silents.  The actress who plays this Lingyu Ruan is very good.  In fact, I bought another of her movies.  Here she plays a prostitute who strives to provide her son with a good education.  Unfortunately, her reputation gets in the way of him getting an education.  Her pimp in this movie was very creepy. 

Girl of the Port

I got this because of Sally O'Neil who I loved in some Buster Keaton's comedies.  She plays an energetic girl here and a blonde too.  She was ok but she was more charismatic in the Keaton movies.  This movie is about a soldier with a fear of fire and him overcoming it.  It's only 65 minutes.  Basically, if you're a Sally O'Neil fan it's worth a watch. 

Lucky Me

This was one of the worst Doris Day musicals I've seen.  It's about four performers who include Nancy Walker, Phil Silvers, and Doris Day.  They are struggling to make it while doing mediocre jobs.  The good thing is this movie is that Doris Day sings a lot.  However, I cared little about the plot or the characters. Nancy Walker who was a singer and a Broadway star at the time only sang for like ten seconds.  I felt like the movie could have at least given her a song to sing.  Doris Day didn't have to hog all the room.   

Never say Goodbye

I really hated this movie.  It's about an artist (Errol Flynn) who spends his nights with his models.  Yet strangely his wife Eleanor Parker dumps him.  This guy wants it all.  He wants his perfect wife and child despite this.  I recently saw Peggy Knudsen in another movie lately and she was a pretty good villain.  This blonde should have gone places.  There was good acting but I found the main character very unlikable.

Make way for a Lady

Anne Shirley was an entertaining charming actress of the 40's who easily gave up her movie career despite being in two good movies Anne of  Green Gables and Stella Dallas.  She was nominated for Stella Dallas but I have to be honest Anne of Green Gables was the one that won me over.  (Her name of course was fake.  Having a name like the character of the book would be unreal.)  In this movie Anne Shirley tries to be a matchmaker for her dad Herbert Marshall, only it destroys the relationship that he is really having with her schoolteacher.  The movie's only around an hour.  It was cute.

The Last Woman of Shang

Linda Lin Dai is great in this as a woman putting on an act.  She pretends to be seductive to the emperor Chou who she had just married and who executed her father.  (He's a slimy guy.) However, she is really into revenge.  I saw her in Love without End and that was an entirely different role.  It's a shame that she killed herself at 30 for she was an actress with great promise.    I got this at yesasia.com.  I wish these movies were more available to the public.  Instead, I had to buy a multi-region player.  I suggest that if you want to get into Asian musicals from the 60's or the Shaw Brothers to purchase one. 

Roman Holiday

Sabrina's my favorite Audrey Hepburn movie but this is one of the best.  It's charming.  Audrey Hepburn got a major break with this playing a princess who gets a little break and hangs out with reporter Gregory Peck.  Will he do the story on her or not?  Audrey Hepburn got an academy award for this movie.  She was a stage actress before this but still, I wish Hollywood would be more daring and let unknowns get major breaks like this. Hepburn was one of the classiest actresses of her time.  

Unashamed

This was an ok precode.  Helen Twelvetrees's boyfriend gets killed by her brother.  It's up for her to decide whether she'll go against her brother in the trial or be by his side.  Twelvetrees is one of my favorites in precodes right up there with Barbara Stanwyck, Ruth Chatterton, and Loretta Young.  The whole genre was interesting but my favorite still remains Hot Saturday.  

Professional Sweetheart

Ginger Rogers plays a squeaky clean woman in her radio job.  Her contract says that she can't go to clubs which is in actuality what Ginger Rogers wants to do.  So her company sets up a wedding for her.  Only the guy she marries is really a squeaky clean person.  I liked Ginger Rogers in this and I recommend it for her fans.  However, I think that it didn't really know what it wanted to be. It kept juggling between her being a wild girl and a good woman.   

Hilda Crane

Leonard Maltin pointed out that this movie showed a liberated woman which I guess is true but I found it boring.  I thought that Jean Simmons looked frumpy in this, which isn't the case as she was a gorgeous actress.  It's about a woman who comes back to her hometown after some failed marriages.  Even the handsome Guy Madison is dull.  That was hardly the case as he was fun in movies like Bullwhip, which wasn't good but at least fun. The only interesting actor is Peggy Kundsen who I felt stole the spotlight from Jean sometimes. Pass.   

The Cockeyed Miracle

This was a cute movie.  Frank Morgan was an excellent actor.  He was most known for playing the wizard in "The Wizard of Oz" but he did other stuff as well.  A man dies but refuses to go when he sees the bad financial state that his family is in.  His father, basically his grim reaper, is not pleased to have to stay around so much.  There are some funny scenes, especially with Frank Morgan's disloyal friend.   Audrey Totter plays his daughter.  It's nice to see her in a movie that's not noir.  It shows she had more range.  

Sabrina

This is one of my favorite Audrey Hepburn movies.  She was one of a kind, a lovely woman with charm, not to mention a good actress.  In this movie, she plays a chauffeur's daughter that had a huge crush on William Holden growing up.  When she comes back from France (where she was learning how to be a cook) she's all grown up.  Holden takes notice.  Bogart wants to get her out of the family way but finds himself falling for her too.  My favorite Audrey Hepburn movie is Roman Holiday but this is a close second.  

The Adorable Cheat

This is my first introduction to the silent actress Lila Lee.  In this, she plays a woman who belongs to a wealthy family.  She takes a job but doesn't want her boss to find out that she's rich.  She wants to see if he is interested in her for herself and not just her riches.  Of course, the truth eventually comes out.  There are pretty good performances from the leads Cornelius Keefe and Lila Lee.  I'll be investigating these actors.  The movie's also pretty short.  

Rubber Tires

This is a pretty cute silent film.  It predates It happened one night as a road movie.  It also stars the silent actor Harrison Ford, not to be confused with the Star Wars actor.  Harrison Ford was actually a pretty good silent actor always playing a likable guy.  This movie also stars Bessie Love.  The family makes a trip to California with the car they just purchased.  Their father makes a trade with the car only the family finds out it's worth a heck of a lot more.  This movie is only around 70 minutes and it went by pretty quickly.

Janie/Janie gets married

These movies are pretty crappy.  I don't know why Warner Archive bothered to put them on DVD.  It's about a squeaky clean teenager who is in love with Robert Hutton, a soldier.  Then in the sequel, she marries him and has problems like jealousy. The first actress Joyce Reynolds does an ok job.  She has pep which Joan Leslie (the one who stars in the sequel as Janie) lacks.  I've never been a fan of Joan Leslie.  I've always found her bland.  Dorothy Malone is in the sequel too as a brunette and she definitely steals the show.   

King of Kings

I've been reading the New Testament lately and I liked this movie.  It puts many of the Bible stories on screen, for example, the story of Jesus and the adulteress. It doesn't bring anything new to the table but it is a nice tale going over Jesus and his miracles, plus his crucifixion.    It was silent but it had a nice pace to it.  It was a good movie to watch on Sunday.  

Woman in Hiding

This movie came from the same TCM set as Female on the Beach.  Ida Lupino is almost killed by her recent husband.  She runs away only her husband tracks her down thanks to a guy who cares about her but doesn't know any better.  That guy is played by Howard Duff and he plays a good confidante and love interest.  He eventually finds out the truth and there's a showdown.  A supporting actress Peggy Dow is particularly pretty here.  I love Ida Lupino.  She wasn't like the other 50's actresses of her time like Donna Reed.  She was neat and I believe one of the first female directors.  She didn't direct this one though.  

Arizona

This was John Wayne in the early 30's.  He didn't have much charisma yet and he later got better looking.  He also just became a better actor with time. I prefer him in his westerns.  This is a pre-code and isn't a western.  Laura La Plante (an actress I love) plays his ex-girlfriend.  Laura marries a man she doesn't care about.  She sets out to get revenge only her baby sister June Clyde has a thing with John Wayne now. June Clyde was pretty spunky in this.  I'll have to watch more movies with her.  Overall this was a nice pre-code but not one of the best.   

This Modern Age

Now, this was Joan Crawford in her lovely prime.  She plays a party girl whose mother is a kept woman.  Joan falls for a Harvard man but he becomes judgmental of her mother and Joan's lifestyle.  Pauline Frederick, who plays Joan's mother, was a successful silent actress.  She was good in "Smouldering Fires."  It's nice to see she got another break.  

Female on the Beach

This movie was a mess but it entertained me.  It didn't bore me.  It was kind of campy so it's worth a watch.  Like Flamingo Road they try to make Joan Crawford out to be a sex symbol but this was 1955 way past her prime.  That's not to say that older women can't be sex symbols like Diane Lane in Unfaithful.  It's just that it's Joan Crawford.   Joan Crawford moves into a house where a woman had a tragic fall.  She even gets into a relationship with the same man that woman had.  All of a sudden it isn't seeming like an accident.  Jan Sterling is in this and I always felt that she was an underrated actress of the 50's.  She could have been used more in this movie.  

Ring-A-Ding Rhythm

This was Richard Lester's movie before Help and A Hard Day's Night.  The one thing this movie makes clear is that England really needed The Beatles.  I got it because of Helen Shapiro who does a decent job.  She's much better at singing.  It's surprising that she is 15 in this.  She sounds and looks older.  She's one of the British girls of the '60s who sometimes gets overlooked compared to Sandie Shaw and Dusty Springfield.  There are a couple of acts that I like, people already in my music collection, like The Paris Sisters.  I liked Gene McDaniels.  I never heard of him before so it was worth a watch to discover one new artist.  Most of the bands in this movie though are mediocre jazz bands. 

Baby Face Harrington

This was just a really adorable movie.  Harrington keeps making mistakes like stealing someone's money who he thought stole from him.  (It was on the car seat the whole time.)  He keeps getting himself in similar situations. Soon the cops think he's like some horrific criminal.  Una Merkel is cute as his socialite wife.  This movie made me laugh a number of times.  

The Gilded Lily

This movie is just ok.  Claudette Colbert plays a woman who has to choose between two men: a wealthy man (Ray Milland) and a newspaper reporter played by Fred MacMurray.  When she turns down the advances of the wealthy man the reporter publishes a piece on her as the no girl.  She becomes a celebrity and a nightclub singer (although she really can't sing.)  I felt the movie would have been better avoiding the whole celebrity plot.  It was cute but all of these leads have done better movies.  

Don't Change your Husband/The Golden Chance

This double bill of DeMille movies is all right.  Actually, I preferred The Golden Chance to Don't Change your Husband.  In Don't Change your Husband Gloria dumps her husband for her lover only to discover he's also in a relationship with the maid.  The Golden Chance tells about a poor woman who takes up a seamstress job for finances since her husband's a drunk.  Naturally, he finds out about it only a rich man played by Wallace Reid has fallen in love with her.  Then there's a blackmail plot.  I wish there was more of an audience for silent films.  More would be released.

Espionage Agent

I liked Brenda Marshall in "Strange Impersonation."  I was hoping more with this movie but it was dull.  She and her husband try to find out Nazi secrets.  No one believes Brenda is a reliable source believing her to be on the Nazi side.  (McCrea even loses his job halfway through the movie because of that.)  I'm looking forward to finding out more about Brenda Marshall but this movie wasn't worth my time.

The Farmer's Daughter

This is the movie that Loretta Young got the Oscar for.  Despite that, it took forever to get on DVD.  She's a farm girl who wants to get in the medical field.  However, she works as a maid to provide for herself.  Joseph Cotten, who lives in the house, makes a living in politics and falls for Loretta.  But she finds herself getting into politics herself.  The movie was later made as a television show starring Inger Stevens, who is an actress I like.  Unfortunately, I don't see that getting released sometime in the future 

Passion Flower

Kay Francis has an affair with a working-class man.  This is despite the fact that the wife and Kay have been friends for years.  He's been financially supported by Kay for years which is one of the reasons why it happened.  He has to choose between his sweet wife and Kay.  Kay Francis is a star in this movie.  She makes you hate the character but her charisma steals the screen.  I know that Kay wasn't the best looking star around the time but she had something.  I guess that's why I've watched a lot of the Kay Francis movies on Warner Archive.  

Murder in the Big House

This movie was generic but at least it's only an hour.  A criminal was about to go to the electric chair when he was killed by lighting.  Or was he?  Reporter Van Johnson is on the case.  I have to say Van does an okay job in this which is amazing because I consider him one of the worst actors of the silver screen.  My mom didn't like him either.  

The Famous Ferguson Case

Tom Brown plays a young employee who breaks the rules of his newspaper to get the story.  He lives in a small town and is eager to finally get a good story. He betrays his staff but you can't blame him.  Joan Blondell has a small role and is as sassy as always.  She's the real reason to watch this although Brown does a good job. I loved him in Three Cornered Moon and Anne of Green Gables  He's an underrated actor.

The Belle of Broadway

I watched a bad movie recently called Notorious but Nice.  It was great watching this ok movie because I didn't like seeing Betty Compson wasted in bad material.  She is a star here.  Betty Compson was an early talkie and silent actress.  I like her.  She had something.  In here an old actress decides to revive her career through using Compson to play her old DuBarry role.  The gimmick is that old woman just got terrific plastic surgery and looks this young.  Of course, people sense that something is wrong here but the play gets major success.  Old admirers come back to haunt her especially the one who destroyed her marriage.  It is only around an hour.  I enjoyed it.  

Darr

This was an interesting early Shah Rukh Khan movie.  He plays a stalker here.  The couple in the movie was pretty boring, to be honest.  Khan really helped this movie.  His charisma was already evident even when playing a psychotic character.  Khan usually plays the likable guy so I recommend this to his fans.  It shows his range more. 

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

I haven't seen this in made than fifteen years and knew it was worth a rewatch.  This movie really has stunning sets and definitely has an atmosphere about it.  It's about a hypnotist and a sleepwalker and is easily one of the most influential silent films that were made.  The director has hardly any films available except for The Hands of Orlac which was also amazing.  It's a shame because you would think with a brilliant movie like this, companies would be willing to make his movies more available.  Sadly that is not the case.  

Maine Pyar Kiya

Whenever my sister and I watch a Salman Khan movie we always have a bet that he'll take off his shirt and he always does.  This is one of his earliest movies in the 80's.  It looks like the actress Bhagyashree didn't get the career he did although she is stunning.  Khan plays a rich boy who had to prove to Bhagyashree's father that he is worthy of providing for his daughter and not a scumbag like his dad.  It wasn't the best Indian movie I've seen but it was entertaining.  

Yan xi jiao The Three Sinners.

This was a Chinese musical done by the Shaw Brothers starring Li Hua Li.  A concubine is raped and her lover mistrusts her.  He believes the rapist and her were carrying on with an affair.  Halfway through the movie, I didn't like it.  I thought it was saying that rape is the same as an affair.  However, I was wrong. She does get her revenge in the end.  I found this strange material for a musical but I liked it nevertheless.  I got it off yesasia.com.  It seems like I'm the only one who likes these Asian musicals from the past as they are not available on amazon.com.  Not only that they are usually in different regions which is why I got an all-region player. 

The Great Gabbo

I watched this Erich von Stroheim movie and was not impressed.  At first, it began as a generic movie about a crazy ventriloquist who talks to his puppet.  I know that the plot has been done to death. (No one has done it as good as "The Twilight Zone.")  I wanted the film to continue in that direction though.  For some reason, it became an awkward musical.  I didn't care for this direction. Overall I don't recommend it.  

Au Revoir Les Enfants

I watched "Murmur of the Heart" and "Pretty Baby" when I was a teenager.  They seemed like they were made for shock value.  I guess that's why this is my favorite Louis Malle film.  It's autobiographical.  It's about a Jew hiding in a boarding school during World War II.  The bookish Jew and another boy become friends.  However, it is not meant to be.  Irene Jacob (from "Red") plays a piano teacher at the school.  I felt moved by this movie.  A lot of the time I disagree with the choices in the Criterion Collection but not this one.

Stage Mother

I just watched Maureen O'Sullivan in Hide-Out a few weeks ago.  She's hardly obscure (Maureen played Jane in the Tarzan movies) but she's my new discovery.  Maureen was just so talented and lovely.  In Stage Mother, Alice Brady plays her mother.  She tries to get her daughter a stage career and manages to destroy all of her daughter's relationships.  Frankly, the ending surprised me.  It wasn't what I expected.  It was an ok precode. 

Sailing Along

I remember around fifteen years ago I bought a cd of Jessie Matthews and didn't care for it.  Now I just love her voice and her cute movie persona.   "Sailing Along" is adorable.  The main character makes it into show business but she is still in love with the skipper's son on the ship she used to work on.  What life will she choose?  Her best movie though is "First a Girl."  It was based on the German movie "Victor and Victoria" later remade into the Julie Andrews movie.

All Through the Night

This is just ok.  Humphrey plays a gambler who finds himself in Nazi company.  Among the Nazis are Peter Lorre and Judith Anderson (who played the unstable woman from Hitchcock's Rebecca).  I was hoping for more.  I guess I should have lowered my expectations.  Bogart's image would soon be changed in Casablanca.  It's interesting to see his acting range. 

Bombshell

This was a good documentary about Hedy Lamarr.  She's never been a favorite of mine.  Sometimes her performances were bad, especially in Tortilla Flat.  Yet this movie made me respect her a lot more.  There's no doubt that she was one of the most beautiful actresses that ever graced the silver screen.  Yet that turned out to be a curse.  She actually was a smart woman.  She came up with a frequency invention that is now used in Wi-Fi.  Hedy never got recognition for this or money either.  Basically, she was ripped off.  I like how the documentary doesn't really focus on her failed love life.  That's something that way too many celebrity documentaries do.  She comes across as a dedicated mother as well.  I plan on watching Samson and Delilah soon.  

Crackerjack

I loved Lilli Palmer's performance in Beware of Pity.  She does an ok job here but it's a mediocre movie. (She got better as her career went on and so did her material.)  It's about a Robin Hood-like figure and a gang of criminals who are using his name to hide their identities.  He has to outsmart them.  His friend Lilli starts to suspect that he is the real Crackerjack.  Tom Wallis, the crackerjack, did a good job as well.  It's just not my thing. 

Strange Impersonation

I've heard of the actress Brenda Marshall and was glad to finally see one of her noirs even if it was just ok.  A scientist finds her face burned.  Her assistant in love with the same man had a part in it.  She gets plastic surgery and a new identity. Marshall resolves to get revenge on her enemies.  The whole plastic surgery thing has been done better in movies like Eyes without a Face and Dark Passage.  I recommend those a lot more.

Hide-Out

This is a cute Robert Montgomery movie.  I've seen a Tarzan movie or two with Maureen O'Sullivan but I have to admit that I'm not really familiar with her work.  She was a delight and I will watch more with her. (I also didn't know she was Mia Farrow's mother.)  Robert plays a criminal who hides out with a farming family.  It doesn't take long for the daughter of the family and Robert to fall in love.  

Ikiru

I know this is an Akira Kurosawa movie, who is a popular Japanese director still I was surprised to find that it was in the top 250 on imdb.com.  I didn't know it was that popular.  I think it's just as good as "It's a Wonderful Life" in showing the value of life.  It's about a man who has cancer and has just months to live.  He directs his attention on a playground project.  When the man dies, he leaves a lot of people including his family to wonder about his motives and whether he knew he had cancer.  It isn't suspenseful like many of Kurosawa's movies but it's a nice quiet thinker.

The Cranes are Flying

I recently saw actress Tatyana Samojlova in an ok adaptation of "Anna Karenina."  I watched "The Cranes are Flying" over ten years ago.  When my sister said she was in it I knew it needed a rewatch.  It's a beautiful movie about war.  It begins with two lovers Boris and Veronica, who have an innocent love.  He calls her squirrel. He even gives her a stuffed squirrel which she carries through wartime.  Tatyana gets so desperate during wartime that she even marries her rapist.  By the end of the movie, she's back to believing in Boris' return from the war.  This is not a happy go lucky movie but it's beautifully made and deservedly made its place in The Criterion Collection.  It's too bad that only two of Tatyana's movies are available as she's an excellent actress. 

Another Man's Poison

This was an ok Bette Davis movie.  She's having an affair with her secretary's fiance.  The husband that she hasn't seen for years shows up.  She gets rid of him but getting rid of his criminal partner is even harder.  I liked the ending.  It's a nice ironic twist.  It doesn't rate as one of Davis' best but it's fun.  

The man who cheated death

This is an ok noir where Lee J. Cobb plays a cop who covers up a murder for his girlfriend.  However, his partner sees through his lies.  It didn't change my life but it kept my attention throughout.

Carosello Napoletano

This was a pretty mediocre Italian musical from the 50's with barely any plot.  Sophia Loren had a bit part.  That's the reason why I watched it and why it is remembered today.  Pass 

Broadway Hostess

This movie isn't that great.  However, it's worth watching for the wonderful Wini Shaw who had a great voice.  Unfortunately this was her only starring vehicle.  With her other movies she was just a bit player. (I was introduced to her in Ready Willing and Able.) One person online pointed out that with more roles she could have developed more of her own singing style.  However we have to take what is shown in this movie.  The plot is small.  Wini likes her manager but he's a gambler.  The ending surprised me because I just thought that they would get together.   2.5/5