Anna Karenina

Leonard Maltin gave this a 4 out of 4.  I didn't think it was a masterpiece though.  I thought it was all right.  I'm reading the book which is why I'm not that thrilled at the adaptation.  There are two romances in the book.  Kitty and Levin's might be more ordinary but I've grown to love those characters.  It's too bad that every movie version of Anna Karenina just tosses them to the side.  The good thing about this movie is that Anna Karenina is well cast with Greta Garbo in the role.  She does a great job as the doomed heroine.  

Love and Learn

This was a really generic songwriter movie.  Unlike the ones like Night and Day this is about an amateur songwriting team.  The music is not as good.  Jack Carson has an all right voice but it isn't impressive.  I wish that they used Janis Paige's voice.  She was underused here.   

The Story of Mankind

This is a pretty rotten movie where Vincent Price plays the devil.  It goes over stories from the bible and history stories like Joan of Arc.  I didn't feel it was even campy.  It was just bad.

Cluny Brown

This Ernst Lubitsch picture is a cute movie about British social positions.  Cluny Brown has a zest for plumbing but works as a maid for a household.  Her eccentricities are frowned upon.  Luckily there is another soul that she can relate to Charles Boyer a man who has run away from the Nazis.  I've watched a few Lubitsch but never heard of this movie so it's a welcome addition to the Criterion Collection.  Jennifer Jones is pretty fun in this role and one wonders what would have happened if she pursued comic roles further.

The Hidden Fortress

This was one of George Lucas' inspirations for Star Wars.  I watched Star Wars the next day after this.  Yup, it is apparent.  Still, this is a great movie and I love Star Wars.  It makes me admire George Lucas even more.  The robots in Star Wars were obviously modeled after the peasants.  The Hidden Fortress is different from Kurosawa's usual work in that it is a comedy and is one of the director's favorites.   It's about two peasants and a princess that is wanted.  Soon the princess enters their life only they don't take her for a princess but rather a mute.    

Underworld

This movie helped make the gangster genre.  It may seem like it's been all done before but this was new.  It's about a gangster and his spoiled girlfriend.  A dweeb, who works for the gangster, falls for the girl and vice versa.  Then the gangster is put in jail.  I liked the dweeb and the chemistry between the girl and him.  I've always liked Josef Von Sternberg's movies so I'm glad that the Criterion Collection took the time to reissue this.  

The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe

This was a pretty dull movie about the writer Edgar Allan Poe.  It talks about his marriage and another love that didn't work out.  It briefly talks about his alcoholism.  This man wrote some pretty dark stuff.  I guarantee that he wasn't as boring as this movie makes him out to be.  This was just disappointing.  At least Linda Darnell was stunning.