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From Here to Eternity (1953)
The boldest book of our time… honestly, fearlessly on the screen!
Filmmaker(s): Fred Zinnemann
War
Romance
Drama

In 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his captain's wife and second in command are falling in love.

24 Dec

Posted at 15:09h in IMDB Comments, Threes by
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The Rule of Threes own estimation is that this is a pretty poor movie cinematically, with the exeption of the then-shocking juicy exuberance of the beach scene. But it is crackling good storytelling and that overcomes the wooden direction and uninspired acting. I’m a believer in the...


Published December 24, 2022
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The Band Wagon (1953)
Get Aboard!
Filmmaker(s): Vincente Minnelli
Music
Comedy
Romance

A Broadway artiste turns a faded film star's comeback vehicle into an artsy flop.

17 May

Posted at 11:58h in IMDB Comments, Threes by
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42nd Street in the Rain colour musical film is a strange beast. Hollywood explored many of its possibilities. And people did buy lots of tickets. But until very recently, musicals were all but dead. That’s because they were never able to create a self sustaining...


Published May 17, 2023
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Ugetsu (1953)
Filmmaker(s): Kenji Mizoguchi
Fantasy
Drama
Mystery

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.

11 Dec

Posted at 18:30h in Fours, IMDB Comments by
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Saki from the Potter's Hands my film project, I watch a lot of movies. Good and bad. Old, new; new as old, old as "timeless." Nearly all of them take from me. Making art is hard work. Bad artists make you work harder, investing perhaps everything...


Published December 11, 2024
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Duck Amuck (1953)
A Merrie Melodie ~ Cartoon ~
Filmmaker(s): Chuck Jones
Animation
Comedy

The short-tempered Daffy Duck must improvise madly as the backgrounds, his costumes, the soundtrack, even his physical form, shifts and changes at the whim of the animator.

11 Dec

Posted at 20:31h in Fours, IMDB Comments by
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A Short History of Film Folds have a small list of films I think are essential viewing. This is on it, only one of two allowed for that year. Looking at my list, there are a few animated shorts, and I think that makes sense. Animators...


Published December 11, 2024
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Ikiru (1952)
A big story of a little man which will grip your soul ...
Filmmaker(s): Akira Kurosawa
Drama

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

27 Oct

Posted at 07:42h in IMDB Comments, Threes by
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Bad Kurosawa what a curse to be a genius! Here we have a nearly perfect film, perfect in all the ordinarily engineered respects. It is rather haunting, and if you choose to watch it you will find it memorable. But Kurosawa is not merely a...


Published October 27, 2022
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Angels One Five (1952)
A Story of Some of "The Few"...
Filmmaker(s): George More O'Ferrall
Drama
War

The year is 1940 and Pilot Officer T.B. Baird arrives straight out of flight school to join a front line RAF squadron at the height of the Battle of Britain. After an unfortunate start and a drumming down from his commanding officer, Baird must balance the struggle to impress his Group Captain, regain his pride, fit in with his fellow pilots, and survive one of the most intense air battles in history.

04 Apr

Posted at 23:50h in IMDB Comments, Twos by
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Definitions watching this right after the terrorist attacks on London. Immediately, the Brits snapped back to this period, the so-called Battle of Britain where a few outnumbered airmen held off that bad guys. They’ve since forgotten that the bad guys were the Germans (not the...


Published April 4, 2023
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The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
I took you out of the gutter... I can fling you back!
Filmmaker(s): Vincente Minnelli
Drama
Romance

Told in flashback form, the film traces the rise and fall of a tough, ambitious Hollywood producer, Jonathan Shields, as seen through the eyes of various acquaintances, including a writer, James Lee Bartlow; a star, Georgia Lorrison; and a director, Fred Amiel. He is a hard-driving, ambitious man who ruthlessly uses everyone on the way to becoming one of Hollywood's top movie makers.

17 May

Posted at 11:57h in IMDB Comments, Ones by
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Just Bad are an astonishing number of movies about the movie business. many of these interest me because they use the situation as a way of engaging the audience: we are tricked into being the audience IN the film. This is a common trick,...


Published May 17, 2023
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Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
What a Glorious Feeling!
Filmmaker(s): Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen
Comedy
Romance

In 1927 Hollywood, a silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound.

11 Dec

Posted at 19:44h in Fours, IMDB Comments by
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Folded Eye Jazz is a nearly perfect film from my perspective: It feels naturally improvised. Its episodes are radically discontinuous, but feel like fluid transitions. It has some great numbers, including the incomparable Cyd Charisse. But what really puts this on my `must see' list is...


Published December 11, 2024
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Alice in Wonderland (1951)
A world of wonders in one great picture!
Filmmaker(s): Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson, Clyde Geronimi
Animation
Family
Fantasy
Adventure

On a golden afternoon, young Alice follows a White Rabbit, who disappears down a nearby rabbit hole. Quickly following him, she tumbles into the burrow - and enters the merry, topsy-turvy world of Wonderland! Memorable songs and whimsical escapades highlight Alice's journey, which culminates in a madcap encounter with the Queen of Hearts - and her army of playing cards!

30 Nov

Posted at 12:14h in IMDB Comments, Twos by
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Charlie’s Flowers spent a goodly part of my life becoming an expert in the Alice material, so have had to work to temper this comment: My initial feeling on this project is one of utter despair, as Walt and company took something that was both...


Published November 30, 2022
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The African Queen (1951)
The greatest adventure a man ever lived… with a woman!
Filmmaker(s): John Huston
Romance
Adventure

At the start of the First World War, in the middle of Africa’s nowhere, a gin soaked riverboat captain is persuaded by a strong-willed missionary to go down river and face-off a German warship.

12 Dec

Posted at 17:31h in IMDB Comments, Twos by
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Leeches Cruise played an exaggerated version of himself in “Magnolia,” following a tradition set long ago. We liked to believe that the sex sirens we saw in movies the 30’s were really that way in life and probably they were. John Wayne followed, never playing anything...


Published December 12, 2022
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