Calm Yourself

In this movie, Robert Young creates a business for getting people's dirty work done for them. It sounds like a good idea until he gets involved with a kidnapped baby.  The lovely Madge Evans co-stars.  This was just all right.  I give a 2.5 out of 5 stars.  

Port of Call

This early Ingmar Bergman movie covers topics like abortion and prostitution. It's about a suicidal girl and a boy that can't look back at her past.  Apparently, Ingmar Bergman didn't think he was any good at this time but I'm glad he stuck with it.

Band of Outsiders

This was an ok Jean Luc-Godard starring the ever beautiful Anna Karina who was his wife at the time.  They made several movies together.  Anna Karina's aunt is loaded with cash and two guys from her language class make plans for a theft.  However, things don't go as planned.  Frankly, the ending surprised me.  I didn't see it ending the way it did.  

An Autumn Afternoon

This was Yasujiro Ozu's last movie.  It has the plot of several of his movies about a widower marrying off his daughter. It was ok.  Frankly, I missed Setsuko Hara, an actress that Ozu used frequently.  I think that she would have made this movie better.  She had a nice presence about her.

Le Petit Soldat

I've been watching Jean-Luc Godard movies lately.  I didn't care for Made in U.S.A. but this one was all right.   I also watched Band of Outsiders this week too but I'm going to review that one on its own.  Anna Karina was quite the stunner.  She was Jean-Luc Godard's wife at the time and starred in many of his movies. (She was also a good singer.)  She plays a woman who has a different view of the Algerian war than the lead actor. They still manage a relationship.  This was banned at the time.  This wasn't one of Godard's best but it was all right.  

Rafter Romance

This movie is about a man and a woman who have to share an apartment together.  He gets night time and she gets day time.  Of course, they fall in love. Surprisingly though I liked its remake Living on Love more.  There were too many subplots in this one although I love Ginger Rogers.  

Stingaree

SPOILERS:

This movie disappointed me.  It's about an opera singer and her relationship with a bandit.  She starts touring and becomes a world sensation but gives it all up to be with the bandit again.  I didn't like this at all. I wanted her success.  However, Irene Dunne sounded great and she looks gorgeous.  

Anna Karenina

This was just an ok adaptation.  I thought the Greta Garbo one was better but then I wasn't wild about that one either.  The good thing about this one is that attention is paid to the Kitty and Levin relationship.  This book hasn't been done justice, to be honest.  

Fine Manners

This was an ok silent about a poor woman who falls in love with a millionaire.  He sets out to change her into a lady and then realizes that he liked the girl he started out with more.  Gloria Swanson does ok in this comedy although I think that drama was the better genre for her.  

The Picture of Dorian Gray

This was an ok adaptation of the classic Oscar Wilde novel about a man who retains his youth while Dorian's portrait reflects his monstrous soul.  I just read the novel so there were a few things that bugged me mainly the addition of Donna Reed's character.  I didn't find it necessary.  I also would have liked Lord Henry a little bit more and some additional quotes from him.  Angela Lansbury does an all right job as the rejected lover.  The painting of Dorian Gray turned evil is pretty cool though.  I think that Hollywood needs to redo this one.  It would have been awesome with Jude Law twenty years ago.  

Living on Love

Living on Love has no big stars but it's a pretty cute short one-hour comedy.  It's about an artist and a woman sharing an apartment.  He has it at night time and she has it in the daytime.  They bicker at each other all the time.  Soon enough though they fall in love.  

A man to remember

This is a remake of One Man's Journey.  I instantly forgot that movie once I watched it and prefer the remake.  I've been watching a lot of Anne Shirley movies lately.  I didn't realize how big of a star she was in the day.  This is about a doctor who gets shafted aside but he helps his town when a polio epidemic happens.  Anne Shirley plays the daughter.  Edward Ellis gives a great performance.

The History of Mr. Polly

This reminded me of Walter Mitty although I know that Mr. Wells' work came out before James Thurber's story.  There are the same themes a nagging wife and a man who is a dreamer.  The main reason why I got this was that Sally Ann Howes plays a woman that he is interested in for a minute.  She's quite charming in her brief moments.  This movie was just ok.