Editorial Review

Two of the juiciest roles in the American theater fall at the feet of Spencer Tracy and Fredric March, and both men make a meal of it. Read more

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Reviews (84)

Even More Timely Today!
I have always thought Spencer Tracy was one of the best actors ever, and in this movie his relaxed, breezy courtroom style was to become an inspiration for my own courtroom 'persona'.
Inherit The Wind
A marvellous film with quality actors, Spencer Tracy & Frederick March.
Great flick, great acting, bad logic
It's heartwarming to see that this fine old chestnut can still get some religious folks really riled up. No, this "fiction" is not an accurate rendering of the real-life Scopes Monkey Trial, but it does capture the spirit of H.L. Mencken's extraordinary dispatches to the Baltimore Sun and I'd guess that was the intention. Mencken is the Hornbeck character played by Gene Kelley but many of his thoughts, and certainly his philosophy, are given to Spencer Tracy's character. That he's made out to be a mere glib and shallow cynic in this movie is more injustice than Christians have ever suffered here. Mencken was passionate about the greatness man was capable of.
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Editorial Review

George Cukor helped transform a moody Victorian stage melodrama (previously filmed in Britain in 1939) into a gothic Hollywood romantic thriller. Ingrid Bergman stars as a meek, uncertain heiress courted and married in a whirlwind romance by the debonair Charles Boyer, but when they move back into her childhood home she begins losing her grip on reality and becomes convinced that her husband is trying to drive her insane. Joseph Cotten, rather stiff and colorless next to the anguished Bergman and charming and lively Boyer, is the heroic Scotland Yard detective who becomes enamored of the skittish woman who is slowly succumbing to madness. The grand, glorious sets and elegant photography recall Hitchcock's Read more

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Reviews (38)

iNCREDIBLY STUPID FILM
This film really made me angry and pissed off I bothered watching it. The characters were cardboard and I can't believe Ingrid Bergman starred in this junk.The main character totally lost it, believing all what her husband was saying about her. She was totally unthinking in the whole episode until it was revealed that her husband was a con.

Are you "gaslighting" me? (recommended)
When Roz asks: 'Are you "gaslighting" me?' in a first-season FRASIER episode, movie buffs instantly recall the tortured Paula (Ingrid Bergman) in GASLIGHT -- a movie classic so symbolic that it is immortalized in verb form. Paula's loyalty and sanity are tested to the limit as the deceitful Gregory (Charles Boyer) convinces his wife she "has no brain at'all" just like her mother. His obsession with gems, confiscation of letters, and mysterious disappearances in the night coincide with unexplained footsteps and dimming gas lanterns. Can her would-be hero (Joseph Cotten) save Paula from a fate worse than death? The conclusion may appear spellbinding to first-time viewers but in retrospect, provides sensible vindication. Each actor plays his part well but Bergman delivers considerable emotion in her facial expressions.
"I HEAR VOICES IN THE NIGHT, BUT I AM NOT GOING MAD!"
Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman star in this dazzling mystery about two newlyweds who move into the wife's family mansion. While at the house Paula (Bergman) fears she is going mad when she begins to imagine things. Such as the lights flickering and hearing voices in the middle of the night. Joseph Cotten co stars as a man after ten years digging up a file on the murder of Alice Alquist (Who was killed in that house). While seeing Paula nearly frightened to death at a concert he knows that she is not mad, she is being driven mad. If this macabe nightmare continues Paula could be placed in an insane asylum. A macabeish film that unlock hidden secrets of the mind. Starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten and Dame May Whitty. Directed by George Cukor. 114 minutes. ... Read more

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Editorial Review

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Reviews (100)

Philadelphia
Denzel Washington is probably my favorite actor. Even in that dog of a movie called THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, he shone. Tom Hanks? Well, lemme quit hating the guy. This is a well-intentioned movie, Tom did a creditable job, and we had extreme close-ups with funny colors to camouflage the spots where he overreached. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Antonio Banderas fly in the face of his Latino studliness by playing a gay guy. A passionate one, though, since he's still a Latino, after all.
Certain times I like it, others I don't
How do you separate a socially important film from a great film? Sure this film tackled the AIDS/homosexuality issue head-on but that doesn't automatically make it a great film. I'm not knocking this film, of course not. But there's a lot of parts in it that I didn't like which maybe made it appear to be a lesser film than what it wants to be, it is or what everyone makes it out to be.
it's not about the acting...
Two of my best friends were living their last days when Philadelphia was made. One of them went to the Dr. whose office was used in the opening scenes, and was receiving an experimental drug that was the precursor to today's more successful cocktails. I watched them struggle at a time when Reagan wouldn't even say the word AIDS to the public. Bush wasn't much better. So to have a film come out that tried its best to tackle the most tragic disease in our lifetime, one that touched me personally, well, I was and am willing to forgive a couple of shortcomings. It was a monumental film for anyone struggling with AIDS, and for those who helped support them, giving us all one of the first voices that permeated the psyche of our country, beyond the boundaries of NY and SF.
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Reviews (22)

History or Hollywood?STALIN delivers an excellent balance
I agree with Leaming.Any time Hollywood depicts history, there are going to be issues of inaccuracy, artistic license, etc.In the case of the film STALIN, this is mostly due to the need to compress about thirty years into less than three hours.The portrayals of the primary characters are sometimes simplistic and inaccurate, but Bukharin and Kirov's characters (for example) are portrayed so as to accentuate the perception of Stalin as a monster (which is accurate).In other words, the truth is adapted somewhat to generate a dramatic foil.Films are never a substitute for reading the real history, but I find that they often whet an appetite when one did not previously exist.The mini-series PETER THE GREAT with Maximilian Schell in the title role is another great example of a film that generated popular interest in Tsarist Russia.SHOGUN, ROUGH RIDERS, LAST SAMURAI, GLADIATOR, GODS AND GENERALS, SHARPE'S RIFLES -- all are examples of films that prompted people to actually read history.So, take the films for what they are -- all in all, everyone who loves history should encourage this terrific trend in film-making!

nevermind the "purist" reviews - this is an excellent film
This film is historically excellent.What most reviewers seem hung up on are accents, make-up and costumes.Most comment that it is historically inaccurate but give nothing very specific.The film is a broad overview of the life of Stalin and could never include every element of his life.All the important stuff is there:the Revolution, the power struggle between Trotsky and Stalin, Stalin's rise to power, The great famines, The Great Purges, WWII, etc.The film gives great insight into Stalin and the paranoia that he experienced and how that paranoia influenced the way he ruled over the Soviet Union.Sure, many of the other characters were somewhat glossed over, but the film is essentially about Stalin and what made him tick - not about the intricate backgrounds of other revolutionaries and supporters.If you don't come away from the film thinking what a bastard Stalin was, then you simply missed the point.The way that he treated his family, friends and so called counterrevolutionaries is illustrated correctly in this film. Good Characterization of Stalin, Bad History
In the past, apologists for Stalin (including many of his victims) said that Stalin was good, but he was surrounded by bad people.This film turns this on its head saying that Stalin was bad, but he was surrounded by good people.Both of these are wrong--the leaders of the Bolshevik Revolution and the leaders of the USSR in the period following the revolution were all up to their necks in blood. Robert Duvall gives an excellent portrayal of Stalin, emphasizing that he, unlike his ranting partner in mass murder Hitler, was soft-spoken and basically uncharismatic.Duvall correctly does not use a "Russian" accented English because Stalin spoke Russian with a heavy Georgian accent.Having said this, the historical aspects of the film are very poor.First of all, Maximilian Schell's portrayal of Lenin is way off base.The Old Bolsheviks like Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin, Ordzhonikidze and Kirov are shown to be basically well-meaning people who got trapped in Stalin's web.This is untrue, they were all involved in mass terror, justifying it in the name of a "higher good".In Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Archipelago", he points out what a pathetic man Bukharin really was and how he so freely shed tears for the injustice committed to his person, and yet he had no pity on the millions of others who suffered.At the end of the film, Khruschev says that Stalin's crimes ("the millions" he liquidated) had to be accounted for, whereas,in reality,he himself took an active role in the Great Terror.Read more

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Editorial Review

Freely adapted from Robert Ludlum's 1980 bestseller, Read more

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Reviews (535)

Excellent And Suspenseful Political Thriller!
An attempted assassination has gone wrong. And somewhere floating in the Mediterranean Sea with a bullet in his back is Jason Bourne (Matt Damon). This excellent suspense thriller is highly recommended. It is intelligent and believable. No suspension-of-disbelief is needed here. This first film, starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne; a highly trained and intelligent CIA field agent with a photographic memory, proficiency in many languages, and most importantly [for his specialty] a one man killing machine. Lethal in the martial arts [hand-to-hand combat] and an expert in every sort of weapon and explosive device known: There's a problem however, he has lost his memory.
DIShonesty in advertising
I enjoyed both the book and the movie. The movie, fortunately, bears virtually no relationship in plotting to the book, as the book would be out-dated (or, use intelligence-community jargon, "overtaken by events").
A taut, suspenseful, highly enjoyable political thriller
It's not easy to make a good suspense thriller these days.Hollywood directors seem to forget this sometimes, but lots of explosions and fight scenes really aren't enough to satisfy audiences today.You've got to tell a good story and deliver some well-developed characters if you want to make a worthwhile film,
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"He wasn't a man. He was a way of life."
Made in 1948 during the golden years of film noir, "Ruthless" was another low-budget gem directed by the great Edgar G. Ulmer, famous for the cult classic "Detour". It was released by the Poverty Row studio Eagle-Lion, the same studio responsible for B film noir classics such as "He Walked by Night", "Hollow Triumph" (AKA "The Scar"), "Raw Deal", "The Spiritualist" (AKA "The Amazing Mr. X"), and "T-Men". Edgar Ulmer considered this movie as his "Citizen Kane", and Ulmer fans will surely agree that this movie was much more ambitious and had a far more impressive cast than "Detour".
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Jim Thompson Fans Should Looooove This...
...or "Whoa, Momma! Is this some perverse fun." Nice Thompson ambiance
Well, I liked it, folks. The nastiness of the original is nicely captured. I ain't gonna analyze it because analyzing is all about rationalizing what you can't deal with. Like Gummo, this is the world as others pretend not to see it. But it's in all of our heads all the time. It's just that most of us have it so deeply hidden & buried that we live for shrink & therapist. This would make a nice double bill with Woman Chaser. Long live Thompson & Willeford & David Goodis.

Brilliant Period Piece
This is not a film for everyone. It is dark, sultry, twisted and self indulgent, and that doesn't have mass appeal nowadays unless Quentin Tarantino is directing and people are shooting each other in the face. Itis, however, a terrific piece of filmmaking and as a fifties period pieceit is surpassed only by films actually made in the fifties.Read more

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Reviews (17)

"Tamed by a brunette - framed by a blonde - blamed by the cops!"
Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake team up for another steamy detective thriller set ind Hollywood.Johnny (Ladd) is just back from the war, along with his two war buddies including the hapless Buzz (William Bendix) who has a plate in his head from a combat head injury.Buzz has memory loss, a hair-trigger temper and can't stand loud music.Johnny goes home to find out his wife is a drunken tramp and isn't happy to see him.In the ugly scene that follows, Johnny threatens his wife with a gun and then stalks out.He gets a ride in the rain with Mrs. Harwood (played by Veronica Lake) who is also unhappy with her marriage.When his wife is murdered with his own weapon, Johnny wants to find out who murdered his wife.He is hampered in his investigation because he is the police's prime suspect.
First-rate Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. We need The Blue Dahlia, and especially The Glass Key, out on prime DVD releases.
"Bourbon, straight, with a bourbon chaser." That's Johnny Morrison's drink. Johnny's just been discharged from the Navy, along with two of his pals who were under his command. There's George Copeland (Hugh Beaumont), easy going and loyal, and Buzz Wancheck (William Bendix), big and burly, just as loyal to Johnny as George is, with a metal plate in his head, a variable memory and who sometimes goes into rages.
A marvelous film noir by one of the masters of the genre
Although ensconced as the second (chronologically) of the three great hardboiled detective writers in American literature, along with his predecessor Dashiell Hammett and successor Ross MacDonald, Chandler stands alone as a film noir screenwriter.His novels provided the basis for many of greatest films in the genre--MURDER MY SWEET (based on FAREWELL, MY LOVELY), THE BIG SLEEP (the screenplay of which was worked on by an even greater writer, William Faulkner), THE LADY IN THE LAKE, THE LONG GOODBYE, and the Robert Mitchum versions of FAREWELL, MY LOVELY and THE BIG SLEEP.But Chandler also wrote several masterful screenplays, either adaptations such as James M. Cain's DOUBLE INDEMNITY (perhaps THE film noir masterpiece) and Hitchcock's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN.THE BLUE DAHLIA was a completely original screenplay that Chandler wrote in the closing days of WW II.The filming was complicated by Alan Ladd's being drafted during the final days of the conflict.He knew when he was going to be inducted with the result that they had to rush the shooting even before the script was finished.In a famous incident, Chandler offered to write the screenplay drunk in order to get it completed on time, though it isn't clear that he carried out his offer.He was allowed to finish the screenplay working from home, a practice utterly without precedent at the time, when writers were expected to report to the office like any other 9 to 5 employee.(Details on the writing of the screenplay can be found in Tom Hiney's interesting biography on Chandler.)
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Editorial Review

Vacationing in northern California, Alfred Hitchcock was struck by a story in a Santa Cruz newspaper: "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes." From this peculiar incident, and his memory of a short story by Daphne du Maurier, the master of suspense created one of his strangest and most terrifying films. Read more

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Reviews (274)

Was there ever a scarier movie?
I saw this movie again a few years ago and found that I could not view the scenes of the birds attacking the house or the telephone booth.And the scene with the birds occupying just about every available space near the school yard once again gave me the heebie-jeebies!
The Birds is Still A Great Film
I've seen The Birds many times, and still love it everytime.It is probably my favorite Hitchcock film.
**THIS REVIEW IS ONLY FOR THE DVD**
GREAT GREAT GREAT EXTRAS!!
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Reviews (347)

Twin Peaks Season Two on DVD - Update
Moviehole announced that Twin Peaks Season 2 has been delayed to 2007. This all makes perfect sense, as Lynch has not even begun to do the transfers. Figure the earliest he would be able to begin would be sometime in November when INLAND EMPIRE should be distributed worldwide. Keep in mind that 20+ hours of Twin Peaks will take at least 2-3 months to do the audio and video transfers, color timing, and new 5.1 mixes, plus manufacturing times, and May 2007 sounds just about right. Hopefully Angelo will still be releasing the Season 2 Soundtrack at the end of 2006 to hold us over (yes, there will be a new Twin Peaks CD). Once again, if Paramount was smart, they would have had these episodes transferred well before the rights reverted to them in November of 2005.
WHERE IS SEASON 2 ON DVD??
Seriously.
THE BEST CHERRY PIE
I love Twin Peaks, the creepy weird town created by David Lynch and Mark Frost.WHERE IS #2? and Pilot episode releases?
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"What you need now is someone with a PhD in Roughhouse."
Three years on the heels of Stanley Donen's delightful Charade comes his do-over effort Arabesque, a romantic spy thriller set in London. The leading man is Gregory Peck, who plays American David Pollock, a visiting professor of ancient languages who is persuaded by the Arab prime minister to infiltrate the household of a Middle Eastern oil tycoon, who is suspected of nefarious doings. This soon catapults him into the Hitchcockian world of deadly secret agents, spy intrigue, frantic chases and a mysterious cryptogram. He finds himself dubiously partnered with Yasmin Azir, the enigmatic mistress of the oil tycoon, as delectably played by exotic, statuesque beauty Sophia Loren. While questioning the ever shifting allegiance of Yasmin, Pollock must fend off international spies and foil an assassination attempt.
Amusing
This film is very amusing. In fact it is one of my preferred ones.
One of Gregory Peck's best..
and yet, this SUPERB film isn't on DVD! ARGH!!!!
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Editorial Review

Oliver Parker, a stage and film actor (Read more

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Reviews (52)

Fascinatingly lurid (if a bit brief) adaptation!
Yeah... Chances are, your local theatre group isn't going to trump this anytime soon. Yes, it's a viciously truncated version Of Shakespeare's play. But hell, this is a movie, folks. I seriously doubt you've committed the first folio to memory that well. In all honesty... nothing too important is ommitted and the taut pacing/implied sensuality makes up for The Bard's missing lines. Moreover, if you're going to chop any of Shakespeare's tragedies, this would be the one to hack at; if only because Iago's real motivations are never fully revealed... He hints at jealousy and The Moor's possible adaultery with his wife, Emilia... but those are rather too minor to warrant why he does what he does (he doesn't even like his wife that much...)
Othello
Well created version of Shakespeare's work. Many scenes envoked much detestation for the villain whose treacherous plot to hurt others out of jealously and spitefullness...what a tragedy! All in all I enjoyed the movie.

A rebuttal of the New Yorker review
I'm writing this to rebut the negative review from the New Yorker magazine.
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Editorial Review

One of Alfred Hitchcock's classics, this romantic thriller features a cast to kill for: Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, and Claude Rains. Bergman plays the daughter of a disgraced father who is recruited by American agents to infiltrate a post-World War II spy ring in Brazil. Her control agent is Grant, who treats her with disdain while developing a deep romantic bond with her. Her assignment: to marry the suspected head of the ring (Rains) and get the goods on everyone involved. Danger, deceit, betrayal--and, yes, romance--all come together in a nearly perfect blend as the film builds to a terrific (and surprising) climax. Grant and Bergman rarely have been better. Read more

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Reviews (117)

Hitchcock, Grant, Bergman & Rains...perfection
This is quite simply one of the best suspense films I have ever seen.
Tremendous Romantic Thriller
It's easy to see from "Notorious" why Cary Grant's name was bandied about to play James Bond -- his stellar performance here brings to life exactly the sort of conflicted emotions that are trademarks of the hard-edged but romanticized super agent in Ian Fleming's pages.In fact, it's not too hard to imagine that the author used the characterization when dreaming up 007.As an intelligence operative seeking to thwart post-war Nazis (led by an almost sympathetic Claude Rains), he is at once ruthless and noble in his determination to use the disgraced daughter (mesmerizing Ingrid Bergman) of a treasonous American to his advantage.That they fall in love is inevitable, but Hitchcock's stylish direction and the smart screenplay by Ben Hecht allow the proper amount of angst to make "Notorious" rise above simply being a well-crafted thriller.The performances by the three leads are impeccable, multi-layered and often quite subtle, with the only real flaw in the film being a need for about 10 more minutes of story to let things boil over more (the diabolical mother of the Rains character, for instance, never exactly gets her villainous moment in the sun.)Kudos to Hitchcock and Hecht for giving the bad guys the pretense of civility rather than simply making them the cartoonish thugs of lesser films.

Don't Ever Leave Me.
Notorious is another critically acclaimed Alfred Hitchcock film. I knew the film was suppose to be good, and I can't say I was disappointed. The film's plot hooks you right from the beginning like most of Hitch's films, and keeps you entertained till the end. The characters were all likeable and interesting, but they were not Hitchcock's best. I think the only real problem the storyline had was that it seemed a little dated at times. Hitchcock's direction was amazing throughout the entire film. All of the ariel shots in Rio and Miami were beautiful. And Alicia's collapse/hallucination towards the end of the film was brilliant. Hitch definetly gave some outstanding work on his part. The film's acting was all great. Cary Grant played Devlin well, but it was probably not his best performance. While Ingrid Bergman was slightly annoying at first she quickly grew on me and pulled off Alicia very well. Rains and the rest of the supporting cast was great just as well. Overall, Notorious may not be Hitchcock at his best; but the intriguing plot, spot-on direction, and enjoyable performances will impress audiences. ... Read more

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Editorial Review

For a couple of hours in 1990, David Lynch took over the network airwaves and subtly, subversively transformed American television forever. Amazingly, the TV series that followed this rich and strange feature-length pilot became an international phenomenon as people all over the world became obsessed by one question: Who killed Laura Palmer? Read more

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Reviews (20)

This is the Best Show That has EVER been on Television.
Mindblowing...mezmerizing...incredible. This is the best show that has ever been on television.

Laura Palmer is dead . . . wrapped in plastic . . .
I am taking a trip to the Seattle area this week and decided that I wanted to have lunch at the Great Northern Hotel, owned by Benjamin Horne (est. 1927).The hotel, which offers its guests a spectacular view of Whitetail Falls, is located slightly north of Twin Peaks, just below the base of Black Lake.The Great Northern is actually the Salish Lodge, perched on a hillside just above Snoqualmie Falls.To prepare myself for the experience, and to indoctrinate my oldest daughter into yet another cult television show, we watched the first season of "Twin Peaks" together starting with the two hour pilot episode that originally aired Sunday, April 8, 1990 on ABC.Fifteen years later, this pilot episode written by Mark Frost ("Hill Street Blues") and David Lynch ("Blue Velvet") still stands up.