How The West Was Won
BBB.5 (out of 5) Epic look at a century’s worth of American history, from settlers making their way west, through to the Civil War, the creation of the railroad and the earliest days… Continue reading
Tag Archive: Charles Lang
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A Foreign Affair
BBBB.5 (out of 5) Billy Wilder moves towards a golden age of fifties classics in his filmography with this postwar masterpiece featuring stunning cinematography and unforgettable performances. The chipper optimism that Jean Arthur always brought… Continue reading
Inside Daisy Clover
BBBB (out of 5) Natalie Wood is terrific as a teenager living on a grimy boardwalk in 1930s California with her mentally unstable, tarot-card reading mother (Ruth Gordon). When a film studio head (Christopher… Continue reading
The Mating Season
BBB.5 (out of 5) John Lund plays an ambitious worker at an Ohio industrial company who meets and marries a gorgeous socialite (Gene Tierney) after he saves her from falling down a cliff. The… Continue reading
Desert Fury
BBBB (out of 5) Problem child Lizabeth Scott comes home to her saloon-owning mother (Mary Astor) after having been thrown out of yet another boarding school. Astor has tried to raise her to be… Continue reading
The Stork Club
BB.5 (out of 5) Betty Hutton is adorable as a coat check girl at the titular nightclub, who rescues an old man (Barry Fitzgerald) from drowning thinking him a poor lost soul. What she… Continue reading
You And Me
BB (out of 5) Early Hollywood project by the recently-arrived Fritz Lang shows him off at his corniest. George Raft and Sylvia Sidney play employees at a department store whose big-hearted owner (Harry Carey) has… Continue reading
Ace In The Hole (The Big Carnival)
BBBB.5 (out of 5) A stunning piece of news media satire, told with so healthy a dollop of cynicism that it is no wonder it found itself bereft of any affection from audiences… Continue reading
It Should Happen To You
BBB.5 (out of 5) Judy Holliday reunites with Born Yesterday writer Garson Kanin and director George Cukor for another look at an adorably daffy girl who experiences an awakening. This time she’s a young… Continue reading
The Magnificent Seven
BBBB (out of 5) Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is remade for the Hollywood screen as the quintessential western, easily adapted thanks to Kurosawa’s own love of the classic American genre. Yul Brynner, Steve… Continue reading
Some Like It Hot
BBBB (out of 5) This hysterical comedy of gender-errors was recently ranked the greatest American comedy of the century by the American Film Institute. It’s a laughfest that begins when struggling musicians Jack… Continue reading
Blue Hawaii
BB.5 (out of 5) Elvis Presley gets out of the army and returns home to Honolulu, avoiding his wealthy parents in favour of basking in the sun and surf with his gorgeous, presumably native… Continue reading
We’re Not Dressing
BB.5 (out of 5) Imagine Lina Wertmuller’s Swept Away as a thirties musical-comedy and you have this embarrassingly dated but sometimes enjoyable comedy. Carole Lombard is lovely as a wealthy heiress whose expensive yacht… Continue reading
She Done Him Wrong
BBBB (out of 5) Mae West made a terrific splash into the world of cinema with her first starring role. Based on her own play Diamond Lil, it tells of a sexy saloon… Continue reading
Cactus Flower
BBB.5 (out of 5) Walter Matthau plays a successful dentist who lies to women and tells them he’s married with children in order to avoid complicated, serious relationships. His present girlfriend (Goldie Hawn in her… Continue reading
The Uninvited
BBBB (out of 5) Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey are siblings who decide to buy an abandoned mansion at the top of a hill in an English village, completely unaware of its miserable history. The… Continue reading
Phffft
BBB.5 (out of 5) Judy Holliday is a successful soap-opera writer and Jack Lemmon a high-flying lawyer who, at the beginning of this sophisticated comedy, have decided to divorce. No sooner than she returns from… Continue reading
Separate Tables
BBBB (out of 5) Enormously enjoyable ensemble drama that takes place at a sleepy seaside resort run by Wendy Hiller. The many guests of the inn interact for two hours, sometimes successfully, sometimes… Continue reading
Midnight
BBBB.5 (out of 5) There’s a reason why they call it the silver screen: the images here literally glisten as Claudette Colbert arrives in Paris in the middle of the night, finely dressed but… Continue reading
The Big Heat
BBBB (out of 5) Superb film noir that shows the genre at its most dangerous. Glenn Ford plays a relentless cop whose investigation of a suspicious suicide committed by a fellow officer takes him… Continue reading
Sex And The Single Girl
BBB (out of 5) Helen Gurley Brown’s popular novel is played for laughs in this chirpy satire that has its moments but overall has not aged well. Tony Curtis stars as a perpetual bachelor… Continue reading
The Ghost And Mrs. Muir
BBBB (out of 5) Gene Tierney decides to break free of her late husband’s dowdy family and informs her mother- and sister-in-law that, despite the difficult financial circumstances her husband’s death impressed upon her,… Continue reading
Butterflies Are Free
BBBB.5 (out of 5) Goldie Hawn is funny, tragic, serious and as endearing as she could possibly be as Jill, the wacky new girl in town who finds herself surprised when her neighbour Don… Continue reading
The Solid Gold Cadillac
BBBB (out of 5) Fans of Judy Holliday‘s excellent performance in Born Yesterday should definitely not skip their chance to see this excellent crowd pleaser. She plays a streetwise bachelorette who inherits a… Continue reading
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
BBBB (out of 5) Natalie Wood and Robert Culp play a married couple who attend a group therapy retreat session as research for one of Culp’s documentaries. They find the experience of being… Continue reading
Visions Of Light
BBBB (out of 5) Movies about movies are always entertaining, and this beautiful film about the art of cinematography is no exception. The filmmakers have interviewed a whole group of popular cinematographers from… Continue reading
Blue Skies
BBB (out of 5) Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby pair up extremely well in this beautifully colourful, enjoyable musical. Astaire is a singing star on the theatrical stage and Crosby is the crooning restaurateur who… Continue reading
Souls At Sea
BBB (out of 5) Gary Cooper sits on trial for murder after being accused of killing passengers on a now sunken ship upon which he was captain. Initially declared guilty, a top ranking member… Continue reading
Desire
BBBB (out of 5) One of Marlene Dietrich‘s best performances is in this enjoyable caper about a professional jewel thief who gets good-natured auto manufacturer Gary Cooper (one of his most charming performances also)… Continue reading
The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer
BBBB.5 (out of 5) In this breathtaking adventure, Gary Cooper stars as a British soldier (originally from Canada) stationed in India who butts heads with his new socially superior barracks mate (Franchot Tone) until… Continue reading
A Farewell To Arms
BBB.5 (out of 5) Poetic and swoony adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel. Gary Cooper plays a (very tall) American soldier who falls in love with (very short) kindly nurse Helen Hayes. The… Continue reading
Sabrina (1954)
BBBB (out of 5) Glossy, charming romantic film that is one of the hallmarks of Audrey Hepburn‘s career. She plays the title character, daughter of a chaffeur who grows up above the garage and… Continue reading
Charade
BBBBB (out of 5) My favourite Audrey Hepburn movie is this incredible murder mystery. She plays a woman who returns from vacation in Switzerland with the intention of telling her husband she wants… Continue reading
Paris When It Sizzles
BB.5 (out of 5) Silly little comedy about a blocked film writer (William Holden) whose new assistant (Audrey Hepburn) becomes his main inspiration. They constantly come up with ridiculous little plots with which… Continue reading
How To Steal A Million
BBBB.5 (out of 5) Audrey Hepburn plays the daughter to a notorious forger (Hugh Griffith) who almost has one of his copies lifted one night by a burglar (Peter O’Toole). When she finds… Continue reading
Wait Until Dark
BBBB (out of 5) Effective thriller stars Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman whose house is invaded by a burglar (Alan Arkin). At first terrified, Hepburn eventually realizes that if she kills all the… Continue reading
The Rainmaker (1956)
BBB.5 (out of 5) An unmarried daughter is such serious business that in this film it’s the cause of major drama. Katharine Hepburn is excellent as the vulnerable woman in question, whose spinster state… Continue reading
The Matchmaker (1958)
BB.5 (out of 5) If you can stand Shirley Booth, you’ll love her in this film version of Thornton Wilder’s popular play, which was also the inspiration for the musical Hello, Dolly. Booth… Continue reading
A Walk In The Spring Rain
BBB (out of 5) A sweet tale of love blossoming between two middle-agers from complete opposite sides of society. Ingrid Bergman spends a summer in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee with her law professor… Continue reading