The Awful Truth, 1937 (Grade C+)

Director Leo McCarey
Awards AFI & Time Magazine Top 100 lists, nominated for various and won one (Best Director) Academy
Cast: Cary Grant; Irene Dunne; Ralph Bellamy' Alexander D'Arch; Cecil Cunningham; Molly Lamont; Ester Dale; Joyce Compton; Robert Warwick; Mary Forbes



sez says; fun is to be had here--but not as much fun as I expected given the "this is such a great film" comments I've seen in my life --yes Grant and Dunn have chemistry --they play a couple who divorce but who really belong together.  We've seen this before: He HAS been dishonest, she hasn't but been but isn't believed when she finds herself in a suggestive situation.  There is some singing and dancing.  There are situational mishaps and misunderstandings. Maybe funniest sequence is when Dunn, pretending to be Grant's working class sister, crashes a party where Grant is being entertained by his new high-society sweetheart's family.    

If you like old movies--you will enjoy this, But the story has been done, in various versions and  lots of times -- maybe not better -- but then it isn't much of a story, even if the moral is still valid. You can't have a good relationship/marriage if you don't trust each other. On another day I might give it a higher grade, but right now if feels real C+ to me

 

The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938 (Grade C)

Director: Michael Curtiz and William Keighley
Awards --multiple Adademy Awards --top 100 in AFI Thrills Category
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Haviland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, Patic Knowles, Alan Hale, Eugene Pallette, Melville Cooper, Ian Hunter, Una O'Connor.

sez says: I was amazed how many  images that there are in this film that I remember from my childhood.  How many times could I have seen it?  But I know when I saw it way back when it was on an old B&W TV -- and this movie is a TECHNOCOLOR--with all caps COLOR-production.  They put color --as vividly as possible--everywhere they could. Including I might ask on the bad King John's vest--which seemed to have been lite with flashing colored lights! No kidding, I think they had his clothing wired up to flash!  Take a look and see what you think.
The story is too familiar to go into -- but somethings of note are: the costumes deserve an award for the most bizarre wear imaginable for living in the forest.  The sets were stupendous oversize amazement.  You could list some of the forest's trees as cast members, they were so impressive.  Olivia de Haviland was a striking beauty. And Errol Flynn really is fun to watch leaping about. And the sword fighting scenes deserve to be called classics.    Even so--classic that it is--it is also all too familiar to get a grade better than C --it is not a great film--but it is a fun film for those of us who had these images pressed into our memories at an early age.

A Tale of Two Cities, 1935 (Grade C)

Director: Jack Conway
Awards: Nominated for Academy Awards
Starring: Ronald Coleman; Elizabeth Allan; Edna May Oliver; Reginald Owen; Basil Rathbone; Blanche Yurka; Donald Wood; H B Warner; Mitchell Lewis; Tully Marshall; EE Clive; Robert Warwick; John Davidson

sez says: this is how Hollywood cuts the classics down to size.  They strip out everything but the romance and let go of what makes this a brilliant novel. But then--part of the brilliance is in the romance--and here it is in an easy to consume, whitewashed version.  Coleman and Allan are a bit too "acty" for my taste--I mean overblown, stagey--swoonishly inclined. Or maybe it is just the way the story is told. Plus, I don't remember the actual book placing so much emphasis on Christianity and Resurrection --even the musical background they were often using hymns and Christmas carol tunes .  But even with all of that I still enjoy these old movies --and the bit actors are great --as are the sets and costumes (overdone--but still fun) (Grade C)