Glory Alley (1952)iMDB Rating: 6.0 Date Released : 6 June 1952 Genre : Drama, Music Stars : Ralph Meeker, Leslie Caron, Kurt Kasznar, Gilbert Roland. In New Orleans, prizefighter Socks Barbarrosa suddenly runs out of the ring before his title bout, and swears he'll never fight again. He gives no reason for his strange actions. His girl friend Angela sticks by him, but her father, a blind man known as "The Judge" brands him a coward and refuses to let his daughter marry him. Socks joins the army, goes to Korea, and comes back a war hero. ..." /> Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
In New Orleans, prizefighter Socks Barbarrosa suddenly runs out of the ring before his title bout, and swears he'll never fight again. He gives no reason for his strange actions. His girl friend Angela sticks by him, but her father, a blind man known as "The Judge" brands him a coward and refuses to let his daughter marry him. Socks joins the army, goes to Korea, and comes back a war hero. Everybody loves him again, except for the Judge. A secret in Sock's past is revealed as the explanation for his quitting the ring, and is also the key to his redemption in the eyes of the Judge.
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Review :
We're Talking Major Train Wreck
This is one of the few movies I consider so bad they're interesting. The champion in this category is "The Guilt Of Janet Ames." "Glory Alley" is not that awful but it is a real mess. Yet, it is intriguing.
Ralph Meeker, the brilliant star of "Kiss Me Deadly" who did way too few movies, plays a boxer named Socks Barbarosa. Maybe Bill Clinton named his cat after this character.
Meeker is also very good in "Show In The Sky." He was generally underused ion movies, though.
"Glory Alley" is a kind of faux-Damon Runyon. Runyon gone South to New Orleans. We have Socks. We have a blind man called the Judge. His helper, played by Louis Armstrong, is named Shadow.
The Judge has an Italian accent; yet his daughter has a French accent. And no wonder: She is Leslie Caron. Caron and Meeker could have been a fantastic combination. She's appealing. It's hard, though, to believe that she is doing music hall numbers at a dive called Chez Bozo and her father doesn't know it. He seems to know everything else that's going on.
The movie is narrated by newspaper reporter John McIntire. It's a voice-over narration, looking back on the vents we're seeing. But this is no noir. McIntire tells us it's the most fascinating story he ever covered -- and he's never told the truth till now -- is that of Socks Barbarosa.
Well, it could have been a fascinating story. It's peopled with fine actors and a superb leading man. But it doesn't hold together. This is not to mention its preaching: Much of the dialogue, especially toward the end, sounds as if it came from a sampler on a wall. Nor what sounds like the MGM Chorale that accompanies some of Armstrong's trumpet playing and is sort of an uplifting Greek chorus.
Encore (1951)iMDB Rating: 7.1 Date Released : 1 July 1952 Genre : Comedy, Drama Stars : Nigel Patrick, Roland Culver, Alison Leggatt, Charles Victor. The film is made from three short stories by W. Somerset Maugham. The first, "The Ant and the Grasshopper" concerns the trials and tribulations a ne'er-do-well brother, Tom Ramsey, puts his prim-and-proper businessman brother, George Ramsey through. The escapades that drive George to absolute distraction eventually wins the hand of the world's third richest girl, Margaret Vyne, for shiftless Tom;..." /> Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
The film is made from three short stories by W. Somerset Maugham. The first, "The Ant and the Grasshopper" concerns the trials and tribulations a ne'er-do-well brother, Tom Ramsey, puts his prim-and-proper businessman brother, George Ramsey through. The escapades that drive George to absolute distraction eventually wins the hand of the world's third richest girl, Margaret Vyne, for shiftless Tom; "Winter Cruise" finds the crew of a cargo boat becoming unglued by the endless chatter of a spinster passenger named Miss Reid. In a desperate attempt to silence the prattling busybody, the ship's officers browbeat a French steward, Pierre into making love to her. The results provide some astounding surprises for the officers, Pierre, and, for certain, Miss Reid; In "The Gigolo and the Gigolette" segment, beautiful daredevil Stella Cotman, who entertains the jaded guests of a resort hotel by diving nightly from an eighty-foot platform into a flaming tank, is losing her nerve.
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Review :
Maughm is a Masterful Story Teller
Sumerset Maughm has always been one of my favorite novelists. He has the ability to present human struggles among all classes, especially significant because of the rigid, British class system in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when he lived and wrote. All three of the stories told in "Encore," present completely different types of people facing compelling personal problems. I disagree with some of the other respondents who claim "Encore" is a flawed film. All three of the stories in this movie are equally compelling in that they manage to capture the humanity in even the most unlikely, odd characters. The dialog is witty, the acting superb. The audience grows fond of the characters, as they develop. Maughm weaves humor, tension, romance and irony together in a masterful way to create unique worlds alive with life lessons for us all. If you have the opportunity to watch "Encore," you won't be sorry you did.
Du bist die Rose vom Wörthersee (1952)iMDB Rating: 4.7 Date Released : 5 December 1952 Genre : Comedy, Music, Romance Stars : Marte Harell, Grethe Weiser, Waltraut Haas, Hans Moser." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
Dos tipos de cuidado (1953)iMDB Rating: 7.8 Date Released : 5 November 1953 Genre : Comedy, Musical, Romance Stars : Jorge Negrete, Pedro Infante, Carmelita González, Yolanda Varela." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
'Dos Tipos de Cuidado' (Two dangerous guys) is a romantic comedy of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. With a predictable script, this movie is a delight to see due to the presence of two of the greatest singer - actors of the Mexican screen: Jorge Negrete and Pedro Infante.
The superb baritone voice of Jorge Negrete (Jorge Bueno) and the magnificent tenor voice of Pedro Infante (Pedro Malo) make this movie one of the jewels of the 'ranchero' gender.
Within a year Jorge Negrete would die of an hepatic disease in Beverly Hills and Pedro Infante would follow four years latter in the crash of a cargo airplane in Mérida that he was piloting. Probably these untimely deaths account for the popularity of this movie, the only in which these two Mexican (and Latin American) superstars would share scenes, of which the singing duel and the final fiesta scenes are monuments of great acting and superb singing.
Confidence Girl (1952)iMDB Rating: 5.9 Date Released : 1 June 1952 Genre : Crime, Drama Stars : Tom Conway, Hillary Brooke, Eddie Marr, John Gallaudet Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
Two conartists swindle a Los Angeles department store out of a mink coat, cheat a pawnbroker out of $8000 and leave the police baffled.
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Review :
A criminal with a conscience?
"Confidence Girl" is a very frustrating film. The first half is clever and exciting. Yet, inexplicably, the entire pace and style of the film chances midway through--and the quality of the production sinks.
When the film begins, a special investigator, Roger Kingsley (Tom Conway), meets with the police about a confidence woman he's been pursuing, Mary Webb (Hillary Brooke). He even gets department store managers and police to help him in his hunt for the woman. The only problem is, she is Kingsley's partner! And, for much of the film, Webb swindles people right and left while in some cases Kingsley helps her and in others he misdirects the police. This is all very clever and exciting and it hooked me.
I have no idea why, but a bit later, instead of all these many scams, Kingsley devises a very, very, very elaborate mind-reading routine starring Webb. As I said, it's elaborate and it takes so much money and so many confederates that it's utterly ridiculous. The scheme works very well--and they wait to make a big score. However, when a murder occurs in town, the cocky Kingsley insists they should incorporate this into the act. As for Webb, she goes along for a while but when she realizes she MUST act or someone else will be killed, she goes to the police.
Aside from the second half being ridiculous and fitting poorly into the first part, the film hinges on a sociopathic woman suddenly caring enough to alert the police--saving someone's life but also dooming her to prison. If this woman steals and hurts people throughout the film, who in their right mind would believe that she suddenly is bothered by her conscience?! Overall, a movie that starts very well but takes an unexpected detour to Dumb-Dumb City! Not worth your time.
Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders (1953)iMDB Rating: 5.6 Date Released : 8 July 1953 Genre : Action, Adventure, Horror Stars : William Henry, Susan Morrow, Arthur Space, Dale Van Sickel Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
A villain named Marlof attempts to set up secret missile bases inside Canada so he can launch missiles at the U.S. The Canadian Mounted Police dispatch agents to try to stop him.
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Review :
Typical Republic slam-bang serial fare.
Typical Republic serial. Two points of interest: Viewers know who the mysterious bad guy is from the very beginning, and Harry Lauter, although given fairly prominent billing, appears only in last episode. Unusually romantic score by Stan Wilson.
The Caddy (1953)iMDB Rating: 6.3 Date Released : 10 August 1953 Genre : Comedy, Musical, Sport Stars : Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Donna Reed, Barbara Bates Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
The origin of Anthony and Miller, a wildly successful comedy team, can be traced back several years to Harvey Miller's stage fright on the golf links. Although the son of a skilled golfer and an outstanding player in his one right, Miller is too nervous to golf in front of a gallery. He becomes coach and caddy for Joe Anthony, his girlfriend's brother, who must convince his fisherman father that hitting a little ball into a hole can be more lucrative than trawling the Pacific Ocean. While on the PGA tour, their natural comedic abilities are recognized by a shrewd agent who senses their talent and potential, and a new comedy team is born.
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Review :
The Caddy was another enjoyable, though uneven, Martin & Lewis film
Before I review The Caddy proper, let me just say that as a big fan of It's a Wonderful Life, I like to mention whenever players of that movie are in others I review. First, there's leading lady Donna Reed who of course was Mary Hatch there. Next, there's Argentina Brunetti-Mrs. Martini there-who's Dean Martin's mother here. Then, there's Bill Edmonds-Mr. Martini there-who's another of the Italian relatives (though I have to admit I didn't recognize him here). Finally, though I also didn't recognize her here, there's Mary Treen who even IMDb couldn't identify by role. Okay, with that out of the way, I'll just say that with Dean & Jerry playing entertainers who were once golfer and caddy, respectively, there's some hilarious scenes of Lewis wrecking havoc at a department store, of impersonating an Important Rich Man, and of disrupting some famous golfers' games. And Martin has an iconic moment when he sings a song that would be permanently identified with him: "That's Amore". And not just him but Jerry and the whole family sings along to one of the most entertaining numbers on film ever. What I didn't like was the way they have Dean treating Jerry like dirt in the middle of the movie and how dramatic that becomes at the expense of the mostly funny business that came before that. But it's worth it just to see how the whole thing ends especially when a couple of surprises happen there. Oh, and it was also hilarious whenever Jerry's boss Fred Clark-best known to me for his part in "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show"-is on screen. And the leading lady Jerry has here is played by the stunning Barbara Bates. So appealing is she here that I was stunned when I read of how tragic her life turned out. So on that note, The Caddy, despite its unevenness, gets a recommendation from me.
Before the Deluge (1954)iMDB Rating: 7.1 Date Released : 26 February 1954 Genre : Crime, Drama Stars : Antoine Balpêtré, Paul Bisciglia, Bernard Blier, Jacques Castelot." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
That was the beginning of the era when André Cayatte was championing all the good causes.Coming after "justice est faite"(about euthanasia) and "nous sommes tous des assassins" (about the death penalty,a subject which was unusual at the time),"avant le déluge" showed the youth's anguish after WW2,when they talked about a third world war in the fifties. Unable to relate to their parents,and frightened by the bleak future that was left for them ,a girl and four boys want to do what Noah did:escape to an Island in the sun on a boat.But their disposable funds are low and they get involved with robbery and murder,which leads them to their standing trial.
In fact,Cayatte put the parents in trial,and if his plea was unsubtle and devoid of nuance,it was a heartfelt account of an utterly distraught generation.
ANOTHER LOOK AT "AVANT LE DELUGE"(2006)
Given the rating on the IMDb board,and the very poor reviews it gets in French books,it' s obvious that this movie needs reassessment.
"It is a dated movie, sneer French critics,forgetting that it's its greatest quality:it is a film which was made in the early fifties and it does belong to that era.one cannot think of such a screenplay in our (troubled however) times.and nevertheless ,the movie had problems with the censorship which found it hard to believe such youngsters could turn into criminals.the movie repeats it twice "he is only 17" "he's just turned seventeen" "she's not seventeen".The movie got a PG 16 although ,except for one sequence ,it is not violent,even compared to its time's standards.
these are not natural born killers.they became murderers by chance.with a little luck,things would have worked out fine.and there are the parents....
....blame it on mama ,on papa! Cayatte holds the parents responsible for everything.Once again,it was trendy to laugh at Cayatte in those fusty Cahiers du Cinema .The parents are caricatures ,stereotypes,but the director wanted them to be so.....WW2 collaborator whose hate for Jews verges on paranoia ....liberal father whose naiveté predates May 68 and the post-81 disappointment (left/right/left/right,it is all the same)....wealthy parents whose concern is to make sure their fortune will be safe when the flood comes....over possessive mother whose son has difficulties finding his sexual identity.....and no parents at all ,as far the young Jew is concerned....
These parents are afraid...they fear that the Corean war might turn WW3.They never stop talking about this impending war.That's why their sons and daughter are beyond their command: fifteen years later,they would have gone to India ,or become hippies.In 1953,it is still the old dream of sailing away to the islands in the sun (see " Quai des Brumes " or" les Portes dela Nuit" )A critic noticed that the film the young Jew shows to his friend ,a shy boy under his mom's thumb, (one of the other boys even uses the word "minion" )features only male natives;their relationship is certainly homosexual,even if the repressed young man cannot take the plunge. This is really a lost generation,the generation who will be sacrificed in another dirty war in Algeria.The last pictures ,even if WW3 will not happen , pack a real wallop and are not telling the audience "we've had a narrow escape" but "watch out it's not over,it has just begun"
those parents are in fact no more stereotypes than Nicholas Ray's families in "rebel without a cause" .when Philippe screams "Mom ! please help me" behind her locked door ,he is not more ridiculous than Dean or Wood in the American movie.
Best scene: the killing of Daniel.Remembering what his crazy father said about the Jews ,in his black raincoat ,Jean does what the Gestapo used to do ten years before.
For this is a film noir,full of despair and pessimism;Cayatte's most complex work, admired by Bergman and Bunuel,it has worn remarkably well,just because it is a dated work:unique.
Always a Bride (1953)iMDB Rating: 6.3 Date Released : 6 June 1954 Genre : Comedy Stars : Peggy Cummins, Terence Morgan, Ronald Squire, James Hayter. Victor Hemsley and his daughter, Clare ply their trade at swanky Riviera resorts, where they pose as a married couple---hence the title---and he "disappears with all of her savings" and sympathetic money contributions pour in on her from the wealthy guests. She would prefer a more settled life and meets and falls in love with Terence Winch, an investigator for the British Treasury. He is ..." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
Victor Hemsley and his daughter, Clare ply their trade at swanky Riviera resorts, where they pose as a married couple---hence the title---and he "disappears with all of her savings" and sympathetic money contributions pour in on her from the wealthy guests. She would prefer a more settled life and meets and falls in love with Terence Winch, an investigator for the British Treasury. He is ostracized by both the guests and the management as his job is to see that none of the British citizens spends more money than permitted by the government. Clare agrees to work with her father on one last scheme in which they "sell" the hotel they're staying in in Nice. They pull it off, but are paid in counterfeit money and flee to Italy, followed closely by the police and Terence. James Hayter appears as the wealthiest man on the Riviera who is also England's best known tax dodger, while David Hurst is a petty thief who always fails and Charles Goldner is an amorous hotel manager.
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Review :
interesting biographical note on film
just thought i would add a piece of film trivia which may or may not be of interest to film buffs!. One of the stars of this film , James Hayter played a character with several children, as he happened to have 5 of his own, they were given tiny parts in one scene where "cash" Dutton is handing out ridiculously large sums of pocket money to the kids. at the end of this scene his character says " don't forget little Herbert" and passes a baby to his wife. as the youngest child at that time and only 5 months old i got my first and only chance at the limelight! i was a source of great satisfaction to my father that i earned 3 guineas! Jonathan Hayter (one of eventually eight Hayter children)
The Banos has exploded and sunk at sea, but another freighter, also called the Banos, is now loading at a South American port, under the command of a man known as 'Captain Scarface'. On shore at the Los Rios Hotel, a number of passengers are waiting to board the ship. Sam Wilton is in trouble, and needs to get back to the USA quickly. Ilse Yeager is waiting to be reunited with her father, who arrives with Mr. Kroll, an associate of Captain Scarface. A man named Clegg, who has just completed some work for the captain, also arrives and demands money from Kroll. Meanwhile, the captain is expecting Dr. Yeager, whom he plans to force into helping him on a mission of destruction.
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Review :
Great Plot, North to Panama
Hi, Everyone, Barton MacLane is always a good bad guy. He has adopted an interesting accent for this ocean journey black and white adventure. All the cast does well even though the fight scenes are somewhat slow.
The plot is probably more believable today than it was 50 years ago. Some of the stock footage of the ships is very nice.
If this were remade today with Steven Segal this would be a great action flick. I don't think it would be any better as far as the storytelling, but the special effects would be majestic. I like this version enough to watch it once a year without getting tired of it.
The Actress (1953)iMDB Rating: 6.7 Date Released : 25 September 1953 Genre : Biography, Comedy, Drama Stars : Spencer Tracy, Jean Simmons, Teresa Wright, Anthony Perkins. Former seaman Clinton Jones now works at a lowly job. His daughter Ruth wants to become an actress. Clinton gets fired and Ruth rejects the advances of Fred Whitmarsh. Her father gives her his seaman's spyglass to sell as she heads for New York City." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
Former seaman Clinton Jones now works at a lowly job. His daughter Ruth wants to become an actress. Clinton gets fired and Ruth rejects the advances of Fred Whitmarsh. Her father gives her his seaman's spyglass to sell as she heads for New York City.
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Review :
Spencer Tracy Film I Have Never Seen
Thought I had seen all of Spencer Tracy films and this is one I thought he gave an outstanding performance as a man who was a seaman and has settled down with his wife and daughter. Clinton Jones, (Spencer Tracy) settled for a very low income working at a food company in the local town and is always complaining about the cost of things and at the same time has to deal with a family cat which keeps eating the families Boston Ivy. Annie Jones, (Teresa Wright) plays the role as the wife of Clinton and she does a great job as trying to please her husband and at the same time wants to help her daughter, Ruth Gordon Jones, (Jean Simmons) to become an actress which she desperately wants to do in her life no matter what happens. Anthony Perkins, (Fred Whitmarsh) gave a great supporting role in one of his very first films in his long career of stardom. Ruth Gordon, wrote the story and screen play and she also is known for a great role she had in "Rosemary's Baby" '68. There is lots of great comedy and Spencer Tracy was outstanding.
Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952)iMDB Rating: 5.7 Date Released : 16 July 1952 Genre : Action, Sci-Fi Stars : Judd Holdren, Aline Towne, Wilson Wood, Lane Bradford Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
Security agent Larry Martin, who can fly with an experimental rocket suit, investigates clandestine visits to earth by a Martian spaceship. Meanwhile, villainous Martians conspire with a traitorous atomic scientist to blast earth out of its orbit and replace it with Mars! Can Larry and his cohort Bob Wilson stop the Martians before they complete their dastardly project? Not a zombie in sight.
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Review :
Early Sci-Fi Serial
When viewing "Zombies of the Stratosphere " out of the context of the 1950's, it can be said that the serial falls short of avg. standards, but that said, if you have a Sat. afternoon to spend with your son, and conditions warrant you from going outside, then get out the popcorn, warm up the VCR, and pop in this adventure!!! While evil Martians(Zombies) plot to knock the Earth out of its orbit, with an Atomic(Hydrogen) bomb, Larry Martin and friends , outwit and out hustle, this dedicated group of Evil Doers, with 11 Chapters of car crashing , boat chasing, robot fighting, cliff hangers, that may amuse the over 35 crowd, and could delight younger viewers, whose Fantasy of Flight, is fulfilled, from those of us that are gravity challenged !!! Even the Female leads fight , and are not intimidated by the Outer Space villains !!! While the plot is so-so , this serial is very nostalgic , of a time when the future held so much promise, and the Universe, that was so close, still held so much mystery !!! Get the COLOR version, much more depth !!! Watch the landings onto the Spaceships, by flying humans, needs a little work !!! Enjoy !!!
The Wild North (1952)iMDB Rating: 6.6 Date Released : 19 December 1952 Genre : Adventure, Western Stars : Stewart Granger, Wendell Corey, Cyd Charisse, Morgan Farley Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
Jules Vincent, a happy-go-lucky, outgoing French Canadian trapper in the wild Northwest, befriends a beautiful Native American girl, and although he makes an enemy of bully Mike Brody, he agrees to travel with him. When Brody tries to kill them, Vincent kills him in self-defense. He is pursued by a by-the-book, idealistic Constable Pedley, who believes in the mounties' credo "we always get our man." The country is rugged and fraught with dangers like white water rapids, avalanches, wolf packs and desperadoes. After capturing Vincent, the inexperienced Mountie finds he is in no shape to get back to civilization without Vincent's help. Pedley is torn between fulfilling his duty and freeing the man who has saved his life.
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Review :
The exciting adventure films of Stewart Granger were popular.
Stewart Granger made a number of very exciting outdoor adventure films. The Last Hunt, King Solomon's Mines and The Wild North all appeared when he was at the height of his popularity. The Wild North is exceptionally exciting with his canoeing down a raging river and fighting off a pack of ravenous wolves. The only small criticism would be with his rather tortured French accent. He plays the role of a French trapper pursued by the Royal Mounted Police. The movie must have been shot on location somewhere in Canada or Alaska. The scenery is very beautiful and quite harsh. I saw this film on TV and noticed it was not available in any format. I wish it was available on DVD or that someone could provide a copy in VHS. I would love to own this film.
One Way Ticket to Hell (1955)iMDB Rating: 3.7 Date Released : 7 December 1955 Genre : Crime, Drama Stars : Barbara Marks, Kurt Martell, Robert A. Sherry, Bamlet Lawrence Price Jr.. Cassandra falls in with the wrong crowd in high school. Her home life is not great, and she turns to a group of delinquent bikers to help escape. Before long she's doing drugs and failing her classes until she has no chance of getting in to college. She marries her clueless high school sweetheart Johnny, but soon grows desperate for more drugs and falls into her old habits. The police try to help..." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
Cassandra falls in with the wrong crowd in high school. Her home life is not great, and she turns to a group of delinquent bikers to help escape. Before long she's doing drugs and failing her classes until she has no chance of getting in to college. She marries her clueless high school sweetheart Johnny, but soon grows desperate for more drugs and falls into her old habits. The police try to help her out of her dilemma and take action against the increasing drug traffic, but have only mixed results in both pursuits.
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Review :
100% Entertainment!!!
Based on entertainment alone, I have to give this a 10! It was so refreshingly...different. Different than now. Like a lot! So serious...hilarious!
Target (1952)iMDB Rating: 6.3 Date Released : 20 April 1952 Genre : Action, Adventure, Western Stars : Tim Holt, Mary Jo Tarola, Walter Reed, Harry Harvey Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
In 1893, the railroad is coming to Pecos, Texas, and crooked land agent Martin Conroy has his henchmen terrorize local ranchers into selling cheap, to his own profit. Tim and Chito try to aid crusading editor Carsen by summoning famous marshal Terry Moran from El Paso. What they get is Moran's attractive daughter, also named Terry. The female marshal can shoot, but our heroes still have a big job ahead...
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Review :
On the Downgrade
Hard not to agree with the other reviewers—this is not the duo's best oater. The boys appear to be just going through the motions without the usual spark or enlivening banter. Add to that an all-too-familiar storyline, and the results are mediocre, to say the least.
I always admired Holt as maybe the only matinée hero with a sidekick bigger and handsomer than he, and no buffoon, to boot. Together, they were an appealing exception to the usual. But, by 1952, the handwriting was indeed on the wall. These matinée cheapo's were about to be absorbed into the living room's little black box. Too bad, Holt and Martin didn't work out a TV deal like, say, the Cisco Kid or Gene Autry. Anyway, about the only memorable part of this 60-minutes, is a leading lady who maybe can't decide on a stage name, but can sure shoot a gun.
The Member of the Wedding (1952)iMDB Rating: 7.2 Date Released : 14 July 2014 Genre : Drama Stars : Ethel Waters, Julie Harris, Brandon De Wilde, Arthur Franz. In a small Georgia town, twelve year old tomboy Frankie Addams feels unconnected to the world, a fact troubling to her. Her unconventional views for a twelve year old girl make her an outcast among her peers, which she in turn blames for her situation rather than anything of her own doing. Her only real friend is John Henry, her younger next door neighbor, although she doesn't see him as a friend..." /> Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
In a small Georgia town, twelve year old tomboy Frankie Addams feels unconnected to the world, a fact troubling to her. Her unconventional views for a twelve year old girl make her an outcast among her peers, which she in turn blames for her situation rather than anything of her own doing. Her only real friend is John Henry, her younger next door neighbor, although she doesn't see him as a friend since she doesn't consider him a peer. As her widowed father is all consumed with running his small business, Frankie is largely left to the care of their housekeeper, Berenice. Berenice tries to provide as much true guidance to Frankie and what Frankie considers her problems, although Berenice has her own troubles looking after her wild foster brother, Honey Camden, her only surviving family. In addition, Frankie largely sees Berenice's advice as the rantings of a large, crazy black woman. Frankie believes that she has finally found her place in life upon the return to town and announcement ...
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Review :
Nearly Perfect Depiction Of The McCullers' Classic
It's usually helpful to place things in context. Carson McCullers was born in 1917 in Columbus, Georgia, and left home during the Great Depression in 1934 at age 17 to study piano in New York, but instead was drawn into writing by several New York women university writers. This career choice soon proved fortuitous. Already famous with her "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter", McCullers wrote "The Member Of The Wedding" over five years while her nation was fully engaged with the colossally deadly Second World War in both Europe and Asia. The book was published shortly after the war in 1946 when the gifted writer was 29 and living well in post-war Paris, then being reconstructed with the help of the American Marshall Plan. ("Member" is thus a little reminiscent of "Little Women", oblivious as it was of the massively deadly Civil War in the back yard.)
"The Member Of The Wedding", like most of her best work, draws very heavily on McCullers' own childhood experiences in the poverty-ridden American Depression-era South. While the film moves the time period slightly forward, the story is about the mixed and tumultuous emotions of a self-involved young 12-year old girl ("tomboy") faced with the marriage of her older brother, a soldier. The daughter of a hard-working widowed father, she uses a black maid as her sounding board.
The book's universal appeal derives from the fact that the story is concerned with an adolescent experiencing the normal difficulty of growing up and struggling to become aware of one's self -- always a major problem for pubescent children of both genders. Since the central character here is a girl (Frankie), some critics have emphasized the importance of the sexual identity theme. In the book, Frankie, for example, wishes people could 'change back and forth from boys to girls', while her younger cousin, John Henry, wants them to be 'half boy and half girl'. The play and film reduces all this conflict to little more than mention of a cat that answers to either "Charlie" or "Charlene". This is a shame, since this psycho-social sexual identity theme has been aggressively pursued by American women over the past quarter of a century, including in public schools and education research, mainly by superimposing such a view on boys in a very wide-ranging campaign to re-engineer American males.
The racial theme is secondary in "Wedding" inasmuch as it simply reflects everyday reality in the South when McCullers (Frankie) was a young girl - almost a century ago. This movie is much more noteworthy because of the great American actresses Ethel Waters and Julie Harris (and supporting actor James Edwards), who could always be counted on for perfect performances -- including while performing on LIVE national TV broadcasts of great classics during the 1950s' "Golden Age Of Television". (It is indeed unfortunate that few of those great live TV performances, based on works by Williams, Faulkner, O. Henry, Chekov, Ibsen, etc., were preserved on permanent media. All I have now are wonderful memories of fascinating experiences that introduced me to the world of classic literature as a young teen - in my living room.)
For a much better examination of the racial theme in the American South, see "To Kill A Mockingbird", also written by a young American women writer (Harper Lee) who drew heavily on her own childhood ("tomboy") experiences during the Depression-era and pre-war South (Alabama). Many, myself included, regard her book's central character, Atticus Finch, as America's best fictional male hero. In stark contrast to today's popular view of fathers, Lee used her own widowed dad to help craft an outstanding and ageless role model, a man of true substance.
McCullers' widowed father, on the other hand, also struggling to earn a living while raising children with the help of a black maid, becomes mostly absent to her Frankie – an apparently insensitive man of no consequence. Carson McCullers married the same ex-soldier twice; he eventually committed suicide in Paris. McCullers herself suffered with alcoholism and strokes that left her left side paralyzed by age 31. She died in New York at age 50.
Interestingly, both McCullers and Lee became close friends of Truman Capote. These were two American women contemporaries - McCullers and Lee - from very similar background circumstances, who each produced great works of semi-autobiographical fiction -- of a completely different nature. Harper Lee, who never married, was awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom at the age of 81 in 2007, some say largely because of the solid character she created, not in herself, but in her dad, Atticus Finch – the Last True American Hero.
Bachelor in Paris (1952)iMDB Rating: 5.6 Date Released : 17 April 1953 Genre : Comedy Stars : Dennis Price, Anne Vernon, Mischa Auer, Hermione Baddeley." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
"Just a song of Paris, Music made for two, Brings me sweetest mem'ries, Memories of you!" The quality of the lyric of the title-song is broadly indicative of the quality of the film. That said, it is not a romance, but definitely a comedy, albeit one with a few (not very credible) romantic moments.
Matthew Ibbetson (Dennis Price) is a rather prim young man who has recently succeeded his father as head of a family firm producing patent medicines. Concerned about falling sales in France, he visits Paris and becomes enamoured of Clémentine (Anne Vernon), a cabaret singer. Shortly afterwards, she turns up in London and asks him to set her up in an apartment. Not the sort to contemplate keeping a mistress, Matthew thinks he ought to marry Clémentine, but he anticipates opposition from his overbearing mother (Hermione Baddeley). Worse still, an absurdly jealous old admirer (Mischa Auer) follows the singer from Paris, vowing melodramatically to kill his rival. Farcical incidents ensue.
"Song of Paris" falls between two stools. The farce is not sufficiently sustained to induce real hilarity, while the wit is never sharp enough for the piece to succeed as light comedy. In the last ten minutes or so, the silliness of the humour abruptly moves up a gear (and failed to carry me along with it, so the end did not come too soon). I see that Frank Muir and Denis Norden had a hand in the script. The cheerfully unsubtle tone does indeed recall 1950s radio comedy, and, for all its efforts to evoke the ambiance of 'Gay Paree,' the film is every bit as primly English as Mr Ibbetson. At first, Clémentine comes across as a good-natured courtesan, interested in the foreigner chiefly on account of his wealth. Once in London, however, she turns into a 'nice' girl who wants to get married and settle down – when the film might have been funnier had she retained more of her original character.
Dotted through the film are three or four songs. Clémentine sits at the piano, waves her hands over the keyboard, and the sound of an orchestra comes from nowhere to support her vocalising. Musical interludes of this kind seem to have been popular in the 1950s. Nowadays they seem embarrassingly phoney.
"Song of Paris" raises the occasional smile. No film can be all bad that has such standard British comic turns of the era as Kynaston Reeves as a vicar and Richard Wattis as a civil servant. Dennis Price, Hermione Baddeley, and Mischa Auer are all proficient comic actors, moreover, who do their best with the material given them - which only makes the viewer wish they'd been given something better. Ibbetson is perhaps too naïve a character to suit Price's talents; just a few years later the role would surely have gone to Ian Carmichael.
Glory Alley (1952)iMDB Rating: 6.0
