The Lost Moment - 1947 ****

A very overlooked film barely ever mentioned in annuals nowadays.
Cummings plays a publisher desperate to get his hands on love letters written by a deceased writer. He carefully ingratiates himself into the house of the widow and her great niece, hoping to be able to  steal the letters for himself. Things aren't simple however when it turns up that the great niece Tina has a schizophrenic nature resulting in her frequently believing she is the rightful recipient of the love letters. Its a beautifully haunting movie very like 'Rebecca'.

His Private Secretary - 1933 ***

Not a bad offering from John Wayne, showing that he can actually be funny, and not just hover around on a horse in movie after movie.
The first film I have seen Evalyn Knapp in and actually she was quite good. Dick (Wayne) has to prove to his father, his friends, and his potential girlfriend Marion (Knapp) that he is more than just a playboy. His father in particular finds his behaviour disgusting and vows never to employ him again at work, or to accept any relationships that he has. Once he marries Marion, she decides to go undercover as his father's new secretary to gain his trust and win him round for his son's sake.
Quite a sweet, albeit predictable story, I liked it.

The Awful Truth - 1937 ****

Notably Cary Grant's first 'screwball' film, it's certainly a funny one and is now in the annuals of the top hundred comedies. Grant and Dunne play a soon to be divorced couple. Despite not wanting to stay together, they each go out their way to sabotage the other's new relationships leading to some hilarious moments that only Leo McCarey could envisage. Ralph Bellamy is rather good as Dunne's new love interest, but it is Grant who fills the screen with wit and charm, the only way he knows how.

The Grass is Greener - 1960 ****1/2

An amusing and typically English film. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr are the owners of a large stately home which they periodically open to visitors for extra money. One day Robert Mitchum appears and falls in love with Kerr, who reciprocates and rushes off to London with him for a few days under the pretence of visiting friends. Meanwhile, Grant (fully aware of the situation) has the pleasure of an old friend (Jean Simmons) who drinks too much, flirts too much, and is besotted with him.
It's quite farcical but very enjoyable and easy going - must watch.

Soapdish - 1991 **

For a film that had such a good cast it was surprisingly unfunny and over the top. Sally Field is the manic, obsessive star of a daytime television soap who becomes desperate after finding out that the company want to get rid of her. Robert Downey Jnr plays one of the writers, besotted with a member of the cast, and Whoopi Goldberg is Field's close friend and scriptwriter Rose.
There is obviously a reason why this isn't exactly an Oscar winner.

A New Kind of Love - 1963 *** 1/2

When mannish Joanne Woodward is contracted to go with her boss to Paris to 'lift' some new ideas for the latest fashion season in New York, she becomes enamoured with a caddish playboy (Paul Newman) who is there to get a scope for a new newspaper article. After a misunderstanding and a drastic makeover, Newman mistakes Woodward for an elegant, foreign debutante and starts to pursue her.
Beautiful shots of Paris, and you can see Paul and Joanne's genuine love for each other in the scenes they inhabit together.

My Favourite Wife - 1940 ****

An extremely funny but tender rom-com from Leo McCarey where Cary Grant marries a new wife before finding out that his old one isn't as dead as he thought. Irene Dunne has been shipwrecked on an island for seven years and finally comes home. Her happiness is blighted however when she finds out that Cary Grant has just married someone else after declaring her legally dead! Mix ups ensue for a veritable banquet of screwball comedy.

Evelyn Prentice - 1934 **

One of Powell and Loy's earliest pairings, slightly more dramatic than 'The Thin Man' and with barely any comedy.
William Powell plays a defence attorney who, though devoted to his family is rather neglectful of his wife romantically. Because of this, she embarks on an affair with a violent womaniser, ending her in court. It is then up to her husband to defend her.
A good drama, but I prefer this couple in the lighthearted movies.

Standing Room Only - 1944 ***

An enjoyable little rom-com starring the delightful Paulette Goddard who plays the quirky and ditzy Jane.
Lee Stevens takes his secretary to Washington but is annoyed when Jane cancels their hotel bookings without telling him thinking that they aren't adequate.
Finding no other rooms available in the whole city, the pair take posts as maid and butler in a house but soon find the jobs not exactly how they imagined.
A nice movie, nothing special but worth a watch all the same.

Wuthering Heights - 2009 ***

I am a huge fan of the Laurence Olivier version of this story. Therefore any tv drama of this was going to be closely compared to it. I thought this was a sumptuous drama and incredibly well done. Tom Hardy is a very versatile actor and puts his all into the role of Heathcliff who falls desperately in love with wild and carefree Cathy (played by his wife to be Charlotte Reilly). Certain parts of this were changed and I was disappointed (yet again comparing it to the 1939s version) because one of the most potent parts of the story was switched around, leaving me feeling a bit hollow. *SPOILERS* When Cathy dies in the book, Heathcliff is by her side, but in this version he is loitering outside in the garden without knowing what is going on. And also, when Heathcliff dies in the earlier film, he does so because of ill health and a broken heart, here he goes crazy and shoots himself. I can't deny that the acting was very good but for continuity and screenplay I have to side with the 1930s film.

Same Time, Next Year - 1978 ****

Surprisingly witty, tender and actually a very amusing plot, 'Same Time, Next Year' manages to glorify infidelity in a way that can't make you angry with the 2 leading stars.
Burstyn and Alda meet by chance after each having a meal alone in a lovely inn, and decide to spend the night together in Alda's holiday home. The next morning, although superficially full of regret, they both decide that they must see each other again, but not in such a regular way as a normal affair. Their rendezvous will take place at the same place and the same date each year (when Alda is away from his family in his holiday home working) and will last for one weekend only.
The basic premise of the film takes us through year after year after decade, as the couple become older, wiser, yet still totally devoted to each other. Their weekends are spent talking about their feelings, and the good and bad in their wives and husbands. It's bizarre, because you come away from the film, almost believing that they aren't doing anything wrong, when in reality they are having an affair which spans 25 years, however little time they actually spend together.
I enjoyed it, found it funny, and wasn't offended by it's carefree view of cheating (although I am usually the first to diss films where this takes place). I thought Burstyn and Alda made a terrific couple, more so because they are both so different and unlike each other.

Le Rayon Vert - 1986 ***

Eric Rohmer is a master at projecting the thoughts and feelings of characters going through different stages in their lives onto the screen. Here he does so with a gentle tenderness as we are introduced to a young woman named Delphine who has broken up with her fiance and is fed up with constantly being pitied by her friends and family. She has no one to go on holiday with after she is stood up by a friend and so bravely decides to go alone, encountering a variety of men and women along the way, all the time trying to rebuff the men's advances on her. I loved the imagery of the hot, French summer, but I found Delphine to be an infuriating wimp of a character. 

Design for Living - 1933 ***

I can't quite make out Ernst Lubitsch. He's someone that is merited highly by film critics everywhere. However, this (the second offering from him that I have seen) just didn't cut the mustard. I seem to be more disappointed than I was after the first film. Noel Coward is brilliant, witty and intelligent with his plays. I bet this was hilarious on the stage, but on screen it sadly didn't translate that well. Gary Cooper has that permanent look on his face like he has just had botox and cannot construct any meaningful facial features, and Miriam Hopkins squints constantly like there is no tomorrow. 2 penniless pals, an artist and a playwright, meet a free spirited lady named Gilda on a train to Paris, and they decide that they will all share a cramped room (very Bohemian) and that Gilda will criticise their work and push them to succeed. They enter into a gentleman's agreement whereby neither of the men has sex with her. The trouble is, Gilda is no gentleman, and if she wants sex, she will darn well have it. Daring for it's time, and has a few funny scenes, but lacking something fundamental.

Conversations with Other Women - 2005 ****

Short but effective. I love these films where you are introduced to only one or two main characters and then throughout the course of the film, you come to know their stories and their motives for their actions.
Eckhart was better than I imagined he would be, meeting Bonham Carter at a wedding (that of his sister, and her as the 7th bridesmaid). Throughout the evening they flirt, laugh, smile and reminisce about the past. Things take a drastic turn as the wedding winds down for the night, and they both must decide whether to go to bed together, or stay faithful to their respected other halves.
Very well acted. Gripping from start to finish and painfully realistic.

Dear John - 2010 *

I think I've embarrassed myself enough now by watching yet another Nicholas Sparks adaptation. I swore that I never would, because I find his writing far too sickly sweet, but I gave in for some unknown reason and watched this.
For a start, Channing Tatum is one of the most annoying actors on the face of the planet. He can't act, he can barely function, and he has about as much charm and personality as a lump of wood. Here he monotonously wanders through the film as a soldier on leave from the army who falls in love with Seyfried. But things can only get worse. Because she can't act to save her life either. So we have two 'stars' both woodenly stumbling around like they are in the dark, one with too many facial expressions (Seyfried) and another with no facial expression at all except one of a recovering drug addict (Tatum). The film is stupid, weak, and the characters hold no fascination or interest to me whatsoever. Stay away from this and from all N Spark books if you don't want to become a walking cyborg like Channing Tatum.

Le Crime De Monsieur Lange - 1936

This is an odd little film. For a start it's quite unknown. But it's also a remarkably good story and I enjoyed it. A man and a woman arrive at a cafe in France hoping to get accommodation for the night. The customers and owner recognise the man from a 'wanted for murder' poster. As they decide what should become of the man (who is asleep upstairs) the woman comes down and sis with them, telling the events leading up to that day. Renoir's good so all fine with me.

La Ronde - 1950 ****

 

Max Ophuls never ceases to surprise me. He's just amazing and each of his films is a delightful experience. 'La Ronde' takes us through the streets and romantic situations narrated by Anton Walbrook at his most suave and sophisticated. He tells us story after story, merging himself into each one (i.e. a story surrounding a private restaurant booth has Walbrook playing a waiter to the couple). He also does his fair share of attempting to sing which although very out of tune is incredibly endearing and fits with the surreal style of the movie. A lovely film. Ophuls yet again gets two thumbs up from me.

Leaving Las Vegas - 1995 *

This is described as a romantic drama on Wikipedia. It certainly isn't romantic and it's more a mental disaster movie than a drama. Nicolas Cage gives a painful performance as a drunken waste of space who decides to go to Las Vegas to drink himself to death after he loses his wife and his job. Elisabeth Shue is the prostitute he meets and falls in love with who has her own problems too. Semi - autobiographical apparently. Bit disturbing and very depressing and bleak.

The White Countess - 2005 ***

I always find it very sad to watch Natasha Richardson in anything nowadays since her tragic death in 2009. Mainly because she was such a beautiful and talented actress with a tremendously wide acting range.
Set in 1930's Shanghai, the Merchant Ivory film follows the exploits of a woman named Sofia (aka Countess Belinskya) who has found work as a dancer in a sleazy club after escaping from the Russian revolution. There she meets Fiennes, a former official who has lost both his wife and children in 2 separate terrorist bombings. The result of this has left him blind, (I actually didn't even notice until about half way into the film!) After opening a luxurious nightclub he convinces Sofia to start working for him and in her honour, names the club 'The White Countess.'
This film did drag a bit, but was beautifully done with sumptuous acting from both stars.

A Summer Place - 1959 ***

The best thing about this film was the theme tune, I think I knew that before I started watching it. The movie cannot compare to how wonderful and typically 50s the music is.

The movie has become dated, despite the fact it deals with many modern topics such as adultery and teenage pregnancy.

Sandra Dee is utterly infuriating but she isn't the worst thing about the film by far.

A couple and their daughter (Dee) go to a lovely resort on an island in Maine for the summer to spend time together and when they arrive the father bumps into the love of his life whom he left a number of years ago when last at the island. She is now also married and has a son (Richard Egan), but both of them realise they still have feelings for each other and that they are still married to their spouses purely because of convention and their children. The same time they are there, the daughter and the son of the 2 families meet and fall hopelessly in love, despite the almost tyrannical afflictions of the girl's mother, who is completely backward in her way of modern thinking, and believes her daughter is becoming some sort of harlot.

Despite being forbidden to meet or see each other the couple exchange words on the phone and letters when they are back home and plan to meet secretly whenever they can. The next big blow comes when the daughter's father and the son's mother publicly divorce their partners and get married. The 2 children are distraught and refuse to accept it despite going up to spend time with the family in their lovely new home.

The film plays out like a modern day soap opera and the acting is completely ridiculous and over the top. The characters are mostly unlikeable (except for the father of the daughter and the mother of the son) and watching Dee and Egan exchanging romantic words and acting up to their parents gets completely predictable.

This film is only popular (I'm assuming it is actually popular although I have never heard anyone mention the fineness of the film without leaping in to praise the music) because of the breaktaking theme music immortalised by Percy Faith. Nothing more.