Category Archives: Movie Reviews

George Sandigate: Always ruddy well rains on Sunday.

Ealing Studios made some nifty films noir before it got into the comedy business.

Rosie Sandicott (Googie Withers) is married to a family man 15 years her senior and helps take care of his three children. One day, she sees a headline stating ex-lover Tommy Swann (John McCallum), whom she broke up with many years ago, has escaped from prison.

Sure enough, he shows up asking for shelter. She is unable to refuse him. They survive a number of close calls. Finally, the escapee bolts and an exciting chase in a railroad yard concludes the movie. With Jack Warner as a police inspector.

I enjoyed the film which has some good acting and noir high-key cinematography. I feel it could have been tightened up by omitting some extraneous romances and the fates of three thieves.

Withers and McCallum met during the production. They wed and were married for the next 62 years.

BFI discussion

Somewhere in Time

Elise McKenna: There is so much to say… I cannot find the words. Except for these: ‘I love you.’

This time travel romance didn’t really grab me.

Christopher Reeve is a modern-day playwright. While he is at an old turn of the 19th century grand hotel, he becomes infatuated with a portrait of actress Jane Seymour. Infatuation becomes obsession and he struggles to find a way to go back to 1912 to reunite with her.

He succeeds but finds she is under the thumb of manager W.F. Robinson (Christopher Plummer).

This was OK and very romantic but I found the pacing slow and didn’t care much what happened to the characters.

The film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume design.

My Bodyguard

Clifford Peache: Will you be my bodyguard? I’ll pay you fifty cents every day. I’ll do your homework for you. I’m pretty smart.

The other day I revisited Tony Bill’s “My Bodyguard” (1980) which I remembered fondly from its original release. It did not disappoint.

Clifford (Chris Makepeace) is a vertically challenged kid who lives with his father (Martin Mull) and crazy grandmother (Ruth Gordon) in the ritzy hotel dad manages. From his first day of high school he and other weaker boys are bedeviled by a bunch of bullies led by Mooney (Matt Dillon).

Clifford hires a big intimidating loner named Lindermsn( Adam Baldwin) to be his bodyguard. In the process, he learns how to be a friend and stand up for himself.

I liked this in the movie theater and remembered so much about it all these years later. Dillon was so  gorgeous in this film even if he was a bad guy!  Joan Cusak made her film debut as one of the few female characters in the movie.

Missing Theme Song

What I would like is to make Hollywood movies, that is, movies as wonderful and universal, but at the same time not as hypocritical, as Hollywood. — R. W. Fassbinder

Volker Spengler gives a heartfelt performance in another beautifully made film from this exceptionally prolific director.

Spengler plays Elvira Weishaupt, a transgender woman. The former Ernst went to Casablanca for sex change surgery when his lover said he would like him better if he were a woman.

But the sex change has led to only loneliness and abuse for poor Elvira. She now has let herself go and struggles to make a connection with anyone.

I love Fassbinder and I liked this film. It moved a bit slow in comparison to my favorites of his films.

The Kids Are Alright

Pete Townshend: It’s, “You’ve got to go on, man. Otherwise, all those kids, they’ll be finished! They’ll have nothing to live for.” That’s rock-n-roll.

This documentary is composed entirely of performances on TV shows, filmed concerts, and contemporary interviews of The Who, who by this time were the oldest intact rock band other than the Rolling Stones.

It explores their career from the beginning through triumphs and rocky patches. The boys are all cheeky intelligent interviewees. I enjoyed this a lot.