Category Archives: Movies & TV

40’s movies marathon – part 32

Münchhausen (1943, Germany) – Don’t let it be said that Nazi Germany couldn’t be frivolous, when Goebbels commanded them to. An immortal playboy has adventures all over Europe, some of which violate the laws of physics. Holds up well to the Hollywood swashbucklers of the time, except that it’s a bit unfocused. Ferdinand Marian, the evil Jew from Jud Süss, here plays an evil magician who loves power and wants to invade Poland. Huh. This is mostly pure fantasy, though. Watched it all.

The North Star (1943, USA) – A happy family lives in a happy Ukrainian village. It’s just like any American town, and there’s been no genocide or anything. But all is not well: the Nazis, inbetween stealing the blood of Polish children, are gathering forces near the Soviet border. Written by Lillian Hellman, a Stalin apologist, during that brief period in history when this was a big plus in Hollywood. Watched: 8 minutes.

Five Graves to Cairo (1943, USA) – The battle for Africa as a light adventure. A British soldier finds himself behind enemy lines, and pretends to be a German spy. He must discover Rommel’s secret plan for the conquest of Egypt. This is perfect. I love the opening scene: A tank is driving alone across the sand dunes, its crew lying dead against the controls. Watched it all.

Pretty much accurate, as far as we know


It’s October, and time for my favorite bittorrent search query: s01e01.

The first speck of gold – or possibly fool’s gold – to fall out of the dirt this year is Hungry Beast, on ABC in Australia.

It’s investigative journalism, satire, and half-serious opinions about half-serious issues. They try too hard to be stylish, but the first two episodes have been interesting and/or enjoyable, when it isn’t irritating and confusing.

The premise is to give 19 media newbies half an hour to “tell us something we don’t know”. The producer calls it “a show made by people who don’t watch TV for those who still do”.

The first episode jumps from interviewing the family of a soldier who has died in Afghanistan to a debate over whether pandas are an evolutionary dead end and should be allowed to go extinct. So .. that’s something you won’t see anywhere else.

They also play a wonderful practical joke on the Australian media, by tricking journalists into reporting a fake study from a fake research institute about how gullible Australians are. Here it is:

So will this work or devolve into self-parody? I hold both options open, and will keep watching to find out.

40’s movies marathon – part 31

Memphis Belle (1944, USA) – We follow a group of bombers to Germany and back again. There’s no dialogue, just a hard voice that describes the combat footage we’re seeing. It’s poetry, beautiful in a cold and intense way. Watched it all.

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943, USA) – The most extravagant war movie in the marathon yet, with an extravagant overture, extravagant fonts, and extravagant colors. It almost lasts longer than it takes to read the damn book. Everybody who sees this movie will know that they’ve taken part in a Serious Cultural Event. Watched: 14 minutes.

The Saint Meets the Tiger (1943, UK) – A man is stabbed on Simon Templar’s doorstep, making a cryptic accusation as he dies. Sheesh. Watched: 5 minutes.

Kings Row (1942, USA) – All the happy children are playing happy games in their happy little town. Watched: 9 minutes. Judging from IMDB reviews I’ve completely misunderstood this movie. Oops.

The Song of Bernadette (1943, USA) – Lourdes is full of dull, sick and serious people. They’re about to be cured of one of these. Watched: 11 minutes.

The Ape Man (1943, USA) – The sound on this VHS rip is so bad that I can’t hear a word they’re saying. It all sounds like the parents in Peanuts. But from what I can tell this is really, really bad. Watched: 5 minutes, then fast forwarded to see the ape man, of which there appears to be two: An ape, and Bela Lugosi in a gigantic beard.

40’s movies marathon – best of 1942

I’m (almost) through 1942 in the movie marathon. Here are my favourites:

Comedies that may include music

The Palm Beach Story
The Man Who Came to Dinner
To Be or Not to Be
Holiday Inn

Gangsters and/or politicians

Johnny Eager
The Glass Key

The war (I wonder how it will end)

Kampf um Norwegen
Went the Day Well
One of Our Aircraft is Missing

Serious drama (possibly containing cute rabbits)

Now, Voyager
Bambi

And now: 1943, a year of .. even more war and genocide.

40’s movies marathon – part 30

One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1942, UK) – Best war movie yet, by far. A group of English airmen crash in Holland, and are smuggled out through an underground railway. Best scene: On their way to bomb Stuttgart, the airmen casually discuss girls they used to know there. Best line, by a Dutch woman during an English air raid: “You see. That’s what you’re doing for us. Can you hear them running for shelter? Can you understand what that means to all the occupied countries? To enslaved people, having it drummed into their ears that the Germans are masters of the Earth. Seeing these masters running for shelter. Seeing them crouching under tables.” Watched it all.

Cat People (1942, USA) – Some guy meets a Serbian girl. All the animals fear her, and she tells strange tales from her home village. That’s rarely a good sign. Watched: 14 minutes, then fast forwarded to see the cat monster, a lovesick panther.

Bambi (1942, USA) – There’s not much story or dialogue here. This is a meditative movie, like an extended segment from Fantasia. It’s less sentimental than I expected. The dark parts give purpose to the cute and silly, which I think is also the philosophy of life the movie is meant to convey. Watched it all.

In Which We Serve (1942, UK) – A British ship goes down with stiff upper lips. While they’re sinking, the sailors remember their earlier lives. Watched: 17 minutes.

40’s movies marathon – part 29

The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942, USA) – Monty Woolley is America’s greatest intellectual, a friend of statesmen and actors, and a royal ass. He is forced stay for a while with a small-town family that represents everything he despises about the middle class, and he punishes them with his temper, his tyrannical demands, and his outrageous Hollywood friends. I have a suspicion there are specific people being parodied here, including, brutally, Harpo Marx. Watched it all. Wikipedia confirms it: the movie parodies Alexander Woollcott, the critic, and .. yes, Harpo Marx. They both loved it, and at one time played their own roles in the stage version. (Read about Woollcott and Harpo’s unlikely friendship in Harpo’s autobiography.)

Captains of the Clouds (1942, USA) – James Cagney flies about in Canada, transporting things in his boatplane, and he’s a real jerk about it too. Watched: 11 minutes.

Son of Fury (1942, USA) – Tyrone Power grows up with a Dickensian uncle who has stolen his inheritance. As an adult he takes his revenge. You can rarely go wrong with a good vengeance theme, but the South Sea island paradise clichés, complete with a submissive native girl, ruin the second half, and there’s too little swashbuckling to justify the title. Watched it all.

The Payoff (1942, USA) – Cheap gangster movie. But I like the idea of displaying the title and cast as a newspaper frontpage. Watched: 4 minutes.

And we just safely tuck it away in this super-sized Pandora’s Box

I am certain that when Warehouse 13 was pitched to Syfy Channel, somebody used the line: “It’s about that place where they store the ark at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Then they added: “And all the technology will be steampunk-like.”

And then there was great rejoicing at Syfy, for they had found the perfect hook for their target audience.

One of the creators of the series is Jane Espenson, of Whedonverse fame. The Whedonverse is a Kevin Bacon-like construction based on the assumption that anything one of Joss Whedon’s former writers or actors is involved in is worth watching. This is surprisingly often correct.

Warehouse 13 is harmless, not brilliant. The characters go about looking for magical Artifacts that have belonged to historical celebrities. Edgar Allan Poe’s pen, Lewis Carroll’s mirror, that sort of thing. Stupid. Charming. I like it.

I’m not very tolerant of serious television. Serious television has to be perfect. Of less serious television I ask only that it be adorable. Warehouse 13 has clunky 1930’s video cellphones. Enough said.

It’s ironic that I haven’t been able to review either of the two perfect&serious television shows I’ve watched the last year – Mad Men and Damages. I’ve tried, but I don’t know what to say. There’s nothing to add.

But I keep coming back to these dumb&fun sci-fi shows. The Middleman, Stargate: Atlantis, Doctor Who. One day I’ll go after one of the serious ones as well.

40’s movies marathon – part 28

The Palm Beach Story (1942, USA) – Claudette Colbert wants to use her good looks to charm money and other gifts out of rich men. Her husband would rather that she didn’t, so she runs away for a divorce. Contains my favourite resolution of a confused identity love farce. Watched it all. Best scene, (despite the racism):

The Black Swan (1942, USA) – No relation to Nassim Nicholas Taleb. This movie is about pirates, the amusing kind, who murder and rape like other pirates, (at least we see them walk out of a burning city carrying tied up women, so we can assume that murder came before this scene, and rape afterwards), but it’s all in good fun. They’re such charming bastards, really, and English patriots too. Watched: 13 minutes.

Tales of Manhattan (1942, USA) – Brotherhood of the traveling suit. Charles Boyer is preposterous in the first tale, and I’m not staying for the rest. Watched: 10 minutes.

The Mummy’s Tomb (1942, USA) – When did horror movies start becoming good? Even the classics are bad, and this isn’t a classic. Watched: 4 minutes.

The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942, USA) – Like I said. I can’t even be bothered to make the obligatory “the peasants, they are revolting” joke. Watched: 6 minutes.

Mrs Miniver (1942, USA) – In England in the distant and carefree year 1939, Mrs Miniver buys a hat. My mind wandered off at that point, but there may also have been a conversation with a vicar. Watched: 7 minutes.

40’s movies marathon – part 27

The Glass Key (1942, USA) – I’m not sure what’s happening here. There are various corrupt officials and/or gangsters scheming against and murdering each other. And there’s an election, and everybody is a candidate. I like it. It’s perfect. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Alan Ladd, the cool second-in-command of the relatively good guy, and a sadistic thug who keeps wanting to beat him up. Watched it all.

Jungle Book (1942, USA) – It’s brave to make the Jungle Book without the necessary special effects technology. The Korda brothers successfully portrayed fairy tale magic in The Thief of Bagdad, but their animal effects are just silly. When Shere Khan attacks Mowgli’s father, you can see that it’s just a Hobbes-like toy tiger thrown at him. Watched: 14 minutes.

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942, USA) – James Cagney is the perfect patriot. Born with a flag in his hand, he goes through life as a harmless entertainer. And then he gets to tell it all to the OMG The President! It’s interesting that the movie is faithful to Roosevelt’s paralysis: He’s portrayed sitting, not even rising to shake Cagney’s hand, even though the viewers would have thought he could walk. Watched: 25 minutes, then fast forwarded to see the patriotic musical numbers, which are sickening.

The Falcon Takes Over (1942, USA) – Cheap and ugly. Watched: 5 minutes.

The Spoilers (1942, USA) – John Wayne, Randolph Scott and Marlene Dietrich display entrepreneurial spirit in Alaska. Watched: 17 minutes.