Tag Archives: 3/5

#255-Gold Diggers of 1933

Quick recap: Set during the Depression, a group of showgirls find work in a new Broadway play and new love with a mysterious benefactor.

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MRW it’s payday

Fun (?) fact: This movie is where the song ‘We’re In the Money’ comes from.

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Not even kidding, this creepy kid gave me nightmares

My thoughts: I think it’s best to start with a quotation of lyrics from one the most famous songs from this movie, so that you can better understand what I had to watch:

From ‘Pettin’ in the Park’:

Pettin’ in the park, (bad boy!) Pettin’ in the dark; (bad girl!) /First you pet a little, Let up a little, and they you get a little kiss/ Pettin’ on the sly, (oh my!) /Act a little shy: (Aw, why!)/ Struggle just a little/ Then hug a little/ And cuddle up and whisper this: /“Come on, I’ve been waiting long,/ Why don’t we get started? /Come on, maybe this is wrong, /But, gee, what of it? /We just love it.”

Yeah. And there’s a delightful scene where the girl in the show physically struggles but the guy continues to hold her tight. Then there’s a rainstorm and the girl gets soaked and has to change. She chooses to put on a metal dress to hopefully stop his advances, but nope! The creepy child from the gif above just happens to have a tin can opener which he uses to cut through the dress.

So, besides all the implied assault (and believe me, there’s A LOT), the movie just felt jumbled together. It’s supposed to be a movie about a broadway play (Fun!) and there are also crazy antics where the group of girls pretend to be gold diggers to piss off snotty rich men who hate love (fun!). But this is during the Depression after all, so the last song of the movie is about remembering our soldiers who marched off to war and who are now marching in bread lines, trying to survive (Bummer). And to be fair, there is a lot of talk about the Depression, so it wasn’t just thrown in, but there’s a ton of money thrown around in the play and instead of a song, why not use some of that money to help people rather than building a contraption that makes it rain and snow in the theater?

The love story between Polly and Brad was cute, but mostly because Dick Powell, who played Brad is quite the looker. His warbly voice kind of threw me off but I was smitten throughout most of the movie. The girls also seemed like a fun group, especially Trixie, and I think this would’ve been something I would’ve loved to watch over and over again in the 30s.

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I could do without the creepy kid though

Final review: Despite the fun I had, I’m going to go with a 3/5 because of the kid and because there were some really slow parts

Up next: Blow-Up

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#246- Foolish Wives

Quick recap: A con artist, Count Wladislaw Sergius Karamzin, seduces many people and swindles them out of a lot of money.

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Look at those ankles, though. Who could resist that??

Fun (?) fact: Director Erich von Stroheim (who also played the Count) insisted on everything on set being of the highest quality: the champagne, the caviar, the underwear. Not surprisingly, he went way over budget.

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there were also these weirdly poetic cards thrown in

My thoughts: My 1001 Movies book added Foolish Wives, based on the 85 minute version. As is my life, though, the only version I could find online was the two and half hour one. The movie was originally 6 hours so I guess it could’ve been worse. Still. I appreciate von Stroheim’s attention to detail, but this movie dragged on and on and on.

The Count had a pretty successful operation going on until he took it too far. At one point in the film, he had promised marriage to the maid and also had his scheme going on with Mrs. Hughes, the rich American wife. As if that wasn’t enough, he was probably sleeping with ‘Princess’ Olga and her ‘Cousin’, Vera. And then, for some reason, the Count also went after a guy’s intellectually disabled daughter. Now, I’m not an authority on schemes by any means, but that just seems like a lot to keep up with. I’ll give to him, though- he would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it hadn’t been for that meddling maid who burned down the castle with him inside. He lived, of course, but was disgraced when he jumped for safety without trying to save Mrs. Hughes first. That’s actually really funny, now that I think about it: this dude was sleeping with all these girls, running a counterfeit money ring and who knows what else, but it was manners, or lack thereof, that did him in.

People in 1922 went nuts over all the fancy things in the film and specifically the sets, which were built exclusively for Foolish Wives. It didn’t impress me all that much because that’s the age I live in, but I can see how exciting that would’ve been back in the day. I watched a version of the film that was very blurry so had I watched something more high quality, I would’ve appreciated it a little more. I was impressed, however, with the camera angles. I’m not going to attempt to describe them but it wasn’t just a camera set on the actors. The focus was much more advanced than I have seen in a silent film before and it kept me from going insane from the dragging plot.

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The Count looked like Macklemore in some angles, which kept me entertained more than it should’ve.

Final review: 3/5. Would I watch this again? No. But it was more interesting than I thought it would be.

Up next: Rio Bravo

 

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#238- La Notte

Quick recap: An unhappy married couple become more unhappy and less married during the course of an evening.

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It’s hard for me to believe that anyone would be unhappy while married to Marcello Mastroianni, but I may be biased

Fun (?) fact: The film is referenced during the end credits of Life of Brian – ‘If you have enjoyed this film, why not go and see La Notte?’

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If you love a movie with a ton of brooding, then this is the film for you!

My thoughts: Before starting this review, I’d just like to note that this is my 5th black and white film and I miss color so very much. I think that’s partly why this movie seems more dreary and depressing than it might actually be. Then again, it’s premise is about the end of a marriage so I don’t think I’m too far off.

The acting in La Notte was wonderful, but I already loved Marcello Mastroianni in 8 1/2 so it’s not a surprise that I would love him in this. Love is a strong word, though, to describe his character Giovanni, who was sort of a terrible person. I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to figure out who was at fault in the marriage, but it didn’t really matter because they were both equally awful. Lidia is unhappy the entire time, which is understandable considering her close friend is dying and her husband is literally having an affair in front of her. But she makes a point to look as miserable as possible, at a party no less. I get where she’s coming from, I really do, because the people at the party were all airheads, but sometimes you just have to suck it up a little or just leave because she really brought the vibe down. Giovanni, as I mentioned, had a random affair with the daughter of the guy throwing the party, which I think is just really bad manners. Have these people ever actually been out in public before?

I can’t say I was really invested in the marriage, although I generally root for things working out between people. But these two obviously needed a break. The ending, when Lidia admits to not loving Giovanni anymore is really sad, but then she reads a piece that he wrote for her many years ago and Giovanni has absolutely no recollection of writing it.If that isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is. The movie ends with him kissing her passionately while she tries to push him off of her and get away. She kind of gives up though and rolls around with him in a sand dune in the saddest sex scene I have seen in a long time.

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I guess I hope those two crazy lovebirds make it?

Final review: 3/5. This movie is apparently loved by many, but I don’t think I was in the mood to watch something so depressing

Up next: Memento

 

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#219- In the Year of the Pig

Quick recap: War is hell, you guys.

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Fun (?) fact: Nope. Sorry.

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My thoughts: the Vietnam War was bullshit. I already knew that before watching In the Year of the Pig, but the documentary helped me understand more about how we get there in the first place.

That previous line was also bullshit, I’m sorry to say. I still have no idea why the US got involved. I mean, I do at a factual level but logically, it still doesn’t make sense. This film was released in 1968 when we were right in the middle of the war and it pissed off a lot of people because it raised questions. In 2015, I wasn’t shocked by anything revealed in the interviews, but what left an impression on me was the parallel between Vietnam and Iraq War.

And now it’s time for Mary Gets On Her Soapbox:

The Iraq war is/was also bullshit. We shouldn’t have been there but we went anyway because of fear and bad intelligence. And we are about to be in another pointless battle if people continue fearing what they don’t understand.

Back to the review- The hardest part of the whole film was seeing all of the innocent people involved. It’s very easy to look at what the soldiers said about the villagers as condescending and dehumanizing, but I don’t blame them. They didn’t understand why they were there either, and having sympathy for the ‘enemy’, which they were taught was everywhere, would get someone killed. Still, this movie wasn’t afraid to show the reality of war and that our actions, no matter how we tried to justify them, had devastating consequences.

Final review: 3/5. If you love history, check it out. If you hate war, check it out.

Up next: One-Eyed Jacks, which will sadly have nothing to do with Twin Peaks.

 

 

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