Bridge Movie Reviews

Alan Hale plays the owner of the largest movie theatre in Budapest. He persuades the head of the city's orphanage to allow one the her girls to become an usherette. Hale selects the naive, gregarious Luisa (Sullavan) - who has just crashed to the floor from a chandelier after acting out the story of THE GOOD FAIRY for the younger girls. Hale warns Luisa of the evils of men and the importance of good deeds.....A thoroughly charming excursion into a Hollywood long gone, this little movie still pleases and endears those who like whimsy. Helen Hayes starred in the Broadway version of the play. Sullavan and director William Wyler were in all actuality married when this was filmed: they bickered and clashed throughout production. Originally, the scene with Hale and Sullavan mentioned above was to imply Hale teaching Sullavan the "facts of life". Naturally, 1934 censors deemed this as gravely objectionable, so his advice to Luisa was concerned about her general unworldliness - rather than being sexually green.

Very few people know of this delightful gem from 1935, starring the sublime Margaret Sullavan in one of her very best parts. She plays Luisa, a completely unworldly orphan hired from her orphanage to work in a movie theatre as an usherette by Alan Hale. Hale is the first of a series of "good fairies" who come to Luisa and try to transform her life: the other is Herbert Marshall (as a grouchy waiter), Frank Morgan (as an amorous millionaire) and Reginald Owen (as a poor lawyer)--but all the while it's Luisa who thinks she's acting the role of Good Fairy to them. The script (Preston Sturges's re-write of a Molnar play) here is so superb (and constantly surprising) that you would have thought it was exactly tailored to the various actors' talents: none of them have ever been funnier. But even when none of them are onscreen (in the hilarious movie-within-amovie sequence) it's still funny. Sullavan took this role (she acted only infrequently onscreen, much preferring the stage) to improve her comedy skills, but she's absolutely peerless: her delight over her "genuine foxine" tippet near the movie's end, and her subsequent bickering over its beauty with Morgan, are indescribably charming.

Marvelous comedy starring the great Margaret Sullavan, who is excellent as a naive girl who goes out of the orphanage where she has lived all of her life (in Budapest), to work as an usherette in a lavish cinema owned by Mr. Schlapkohl (Alan Hale), eventually becoming "the good fairy" to an arrogant and very moralistic lawyer, expertly played by Herbert Marshall, in an un-typical role.

Frank Morgan is excellent too as the millionaire who's after Sullavan and, unknowingly, gives her the chance to be a "good fairy". Also, there's an hilarious performance by the great character actor Reginald Owen, as the waiter of a luxurious hotel, who befriends Sullavan and tries to save her from Morgan's clutches.

This is the type of movie they do not make anymore, flawless, charming, enchanting, with lovable characters, thanks to Preston Sturges' wonderful script and William Wyler's deft direction..... Morgan and Sullavan "visited" together Budapest once more, but this time as a store owner and salesgirl in that other masterpiece from 1940, Lubitsch's "The Shop Around the Corner", which also featured Jimmy Stewart.

Don't miss buying this one, because it's scarcely shown on television and has long been unavailable. The DVD is of very good quality.

This is not the best of the "Road" pictures, but it's still a lot of fun to watch the chemistry between Hope and Crosby. The plot is a bit preposterous, and just how dumb can Hope's character be to be anything but Fearless? However, the hijinks are first rate scams, and there are nice turns by Dorothy Lamour and Una Merkel. The tunes are not the best of the "Road" series, although Bing's voice always seems stronger in films than in comparably dated records. Get this one not because it's a classic (not quite), but just because it's fun.

No one dose it better then Bob Hope and Bing Crosby! I love this movie.If you like classic hollywood you will love this one.

ROAD TO ZANZIBAR has always been one of my two or three favorite Road movies, in part because it's more of a comedy and less of a musical than many entries as well as having the bonus of having that great comedienne Una Merkel along for the ride. And the great Dorothy Lamour is incredibly sexy here (wasn't she always!!)

Now for the "awful packaging" why on earth has MCA Universal Video failed to picture Ms. Lamour on the box as well as the boxes of nearly ALL of the other Road movies. She was an EQUAL star to Hope and Crosby - one of the biggest women stars of the era. She has a lot of fans even today who are probably passing on the prerecorded tapes to this series because of this slight. Wake up Universal and reissue this series picturing the third STAR of these movies on the boxes! (Ms. Lamour is pictured on the DVD box to this ROAD movie but not on several of the other films.)

Quick! Name one big star from the 1970s who wasn't in 'A Bridge Too Far.' Well.. Marlon Brando. And Gary Coleman. OK, never mind.

This a sprawling buffet of a war movie by Attenborough, and an expensive one. The battle scenes are as good as you'll find pre-Private Ryan, and there is a lot of attention to detail here. The film ambitiously attempts to portray British Field Marshall Montgomery's failed September 1944 gamble to cross the Rhine in September 1944, and make a 'rapier thrust' into Germany. (George Patton lost his gasoline, and bid to leap the West Wall, to this campaign.) The gamble failed when the airborne troops could not capture every Dutch bridge along the single road to be traveled by the British armored corps, and instead of boys and old men, they found two refitted panzer divisions ready to meet them.

The book by Cornelius Ryan was one of the best books written about a single WW2 battle. The movie tries to do justice to the book, but probably too much justice, since every general and senior officer involved in the battle seems to get a Warhol-sized moment in the sun. As a consequence, we don't get to know any of them, with the exceptions of Sean Connery (British 1st Airborne General Urquhart) and the redoubtable Anthony Hopkins (Lt. Col. Frost). The movie would have been best kept to Frost's amazing last-stand at the Arnheim bridge, holding off tanks assaults with Piat rifles and hand grenades. Instead, we get just about every angle of this campaign, including some of the German side. Some of the actors are just Wrong - two in particular, Ryan O'Neal and sorry to say, Gene Hackman as a Polish airborne general. They don't work.

The battle scenes after the 'Tora, Tora' buildup are nonstop. Unless one has read the book, they are also confusing. One of those pop up old-fashion maps from earlier war movies (or Ryan's book) would have helped. What bridge is this? And what town is that? This is a noisy film. I recall stumbling out of the theater with ringing in my ears. At least with a DVD, you can take this in small doses.

OK for teens, although the Game Boys will be out by the second hour. Liv Ullmann's in this movie, which guarantees it's OK for general audiences. Just why Liv Ullmann is in this movie is a mystery, I guess maybe so grognards had the excuse to take the significant other, and, in the words of a British general in the film, "Mightily bored they'll be."

Many have criticized Richard Attenborough's 1977 adaptation of Cornelius Ryan's novel unfairly. Certianly, the complexity of the story and the quantity of important characters doesn't allow for a deep character study such as what you would find in "Apocalypse Now." The movie however gives a complete picture of Montgomery's boggled operation from beginning to end. The characters are fleshed out enough to make them believable and to give the story substance. The movie isn't so much about the characters but about the campaign and the operation of its individual components: hence, the movie is actually quite complex but fluid in structure. The batlle scenes are good for their time, the Germans actually speak German, and the all-star case sweeps the audience away into all the triumphs and failures of Operation Market Garden. Again, with an all-star cast starring James Caan, Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Dirk Bogarde, Sean Connery, Liv Ullmann, Ryan O'Neil, Maximillian Schell, and others, how can you go wrong?

You can watch this movie a dozen times, you can read the book it was based on by Cornelius Ryan, and you will never catch everything. The men, the plan, the failures, and the causes create more details than a simple man from rural Minnesota can do it justice. I will try as best I can however to tell you why this is one of the must see movies for everyone.

Firstly, this movie is based on the book of the same name by Cornelius Ryan about the events of and leading up to Operation Market Garden in WWII. We see from the hindsight of history the greatest military blunder for the allies in WWII in the European theatre. In the end, the plan effectively murdered 80% of the British 1st division. It took away much needed supplies away from American General George Patton whose tanks were stopped from their momentum across Europe, and it killed a lot of elite paratroopers needlessly.

What makes this movie so good is that the directors did a fabulous job of bringing together all the elements of the battle into sequences that flow together well, and the directors were able to balance the hefty personalities that acted in this film. The filmmakers also did their best to find working equipment for the film, and also built fiberglass models that are unnoticeable in the viewing of the movie.

The acting is superb, and I can't do it justice, with people like Sean Connery, Gene Hackman, and Ryan O'Neil, Robert Redford, all of who appear without a sense of Prima Donna-ness, it's remarkable.

I can't say enough about the movie; it's wonderfully entertaining, as well as remarkably annoying as we see the stupidity of the politics of war. This is a movie that belongs in everyone's library.

Suspenseful and frightening. Mikey provides what a movie of this genre is expected to. An absolute 'must see' for Brian Bonsall fans. The scary nature of this particular character he portrays, does not diminish Brian Bonsall's overwhelming cuteness in the slightest. He is truly one of the most adorable 'young boy' actors of all time. I also recommend the following Brian Bonsall movies and hope that they are all available on DVD soon: 'Desperate Motive', 'Blank Check', 'Father And Scout', 'Fatherhood' and 'Lily In Winter'.

I suggesting you to make a closed-captioned for the hearig-impaired on Dvd's!

This is one of my favorite B-horror movies, and i couldn't give you a reason why really. There's just something about it that i've always liked. I've had this DVD edition for about a year now and have watched it several times. The picture and audio quality are very good. There aren't many extra features besides some cast bios and the theatrical trailer, but who cares the movie is great! Oh, and this has Ashley Lawrence from Hellraiser in it...yummy!

As a Carole Bouquet fan-atic, this film was totally satisfying. I love her signature hair, her demure French gazes. While her acting doesn't seem to ever go beyond one octave, it doesn't matter: she looks like Hermes Faubourg perfume smells....

Le Pont is set in Normandy in the 60's. The drama plays out slowly and evenly, as a woman (Bouquet) allows herself to bring drama to her life. She visits the cinema regularly, sometimes seeing a film 2 or 3 times. She finally has a chance to leave her working class housewife lifestyle behind. Putting Bouquet in this role, I found it difficult to believe that a shiveringly beautiful woman such as Bouquet could ever lead a boring existence. After all, she is THE Chanel girl.

I loved her husband's reaction to her "choice". Despite his working class ways, he has the strength and love to let her go, to realize her dream. Isn't that what true love is? To enable and empower another human being, sometimes at great cost to oneself.

Listen for the noise Depardieu's car makes when he slams the door closed: it is Ka-lassic

Much is said about the storyline, cinemaphotography, sets, score, costume design, not to mention the incredible performing trio (Bouquet, Depardieu and Berling). I shall only add that the movie is totally believable with the casting of Bouquet - how a man can fall head over heals in lust/infatuation with Bouquet at first sight...and how her husband can internalise all the hurt and anger by forgiving her outright. Carole Bouquet's definitely growing "older" gracefully, in fact, she is even more captivating and delicious than I can remember in her earlier film roles. This movie, along with "A Business Affair", showcase Bouquet's repertoire as a serious actress, not just any MTA (model-turned-actress) whose sole existence is too look beautiful, and hopefully help the box office.

This film marks -to my knowledge- Depardieu's first attempt as a director, and it is an obvious success both for the performance of actors and the sublety of the characters. To co-star in his movie, Depardieu chose Carole Bouquet,and it is perhaps because Bouquet is Depardieu's present wife that he is so successful in revealing a new aspect of her personality. Bouquet is best known in France for her past performances in Blier's Buffet Froid and Trop Belle Pour Toi, two movies in which she appeared as a beautiful, but extremely Cold and Solemn woman. On the contrary, in this movie we discover a much more light-hearted Bouquet, in fact so light-hearted that she does not seem to care about the consequences of her acts. Depardieu's performance is equally amazing : to think that this guy was a wonderful Epic Hero in Cyrano de Bergerac and that here he is equally convincing as a simple working man just tells you how BIG this actor is. As for the story I think that this film can be considered as a french ironic answer to the typically US Bridges of Madison County. Indeed in Bridges of Madison County Clint Eastwood, the travelling photographer, which primary goal is to photograph bridges, ends up seducing Meryl Streep, a housewife somewhat bored with her small-town lifestyle. Here Charles Berling is a "travelling" engineer which comes to this small town to build a bridge and seduces Carole Bouquet, a housewife equally bored with her life. But that's about all you can find in common between these films. While Streep's children discover their mother 's love affair only when she's dead, Bouquet's kid is aware of what's going on very early on, and this is just one of the reasons why the french film is much less melodramatic and much more realistic than the US one. Furthermore, while the Eastwood-Streep film was centered on the relationship between the two lovers, this one is centered on Depardieu/Bouquet, the husband & wife relationship, which allows for more complex and subtle dialogs. So if you like french movies and/or if you want to see what would have happenned between Eastwood and Streep in the real life, you should buy this movie.

I was introduce to this series by the move I Spy Retrun.

The only episode I didn't like the first time is the "A Gift from Alexander", all other three episodes is very well done.

That is why I give it 4/5.

From one of the greatest TV-series ever made, these episodes are wonderful. But...these are, without a doubt, the worst DVD transfers you will ever see. No attention was paid to the quality of the transfer - they continually go in and out of focus. I have both #13 and this one and they are both dreadful quality. I'd love to buy all of them but I won't buy another. I have a state of the art gaming computer and every DVD I own plays perfectly except for these I-Spy DVDs. Image Entertainment and Peter Rodgers Organization should be ashamed to be foisting these off on the public. Disgraceful.

If you like I Spy then get this DVD. It has the only two part episode (To Florence With Love) and a good spy episode with Bridge of Spies. The best of the lot, on this DVD, is A Gift From Alexander. It's an engaging, humorous tale with good plot and twists. In the end, Robinson and Scott get decorated by the USSR. A hoot, considering this was filmed/aired during the mid-60s. The color and quality of the episodes are good. But there are no extras that many DVDs now-a-days have. It has chapter selections that are basically the same places where the comercials would have went. Still, if you are an I Spy fan, or spy show fan, this is a good one.

The friendly Oseka Indians clash with the crooked owners of a new cannery over fish conservation and supply. The ecology goes to pot, and the Indians are left starving. The conflict escalates to violence and murder. The Bureau of Indian Affairs sends agent Roy Rogers to smooth things over and prevent the outbreak of war along the Canadian border. Filmed in Trucolor, this B Western is a quick hit of Saturday matinee excitement. Both Dale Evans and Pat Brady are absent, but we see the origin of Bullet, Roy's trusty wolf dog that followed him into the '50s TV series. Bullet plays "Wolf." Great casting. Roy rescues him as a tiny pup from a hunter's trap. Noble Johnson plays the stony-faced Indian chief. Among other roles, he played the Nubian slave in 1932's "The Mummy" and the native chief in "King Kong." Some of the stock footage of salmon swimming upstream and commercial fishing methods looks like footage from a U. S. Dept. of Conservation public service film. Roy works with the trusty men of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Nope, we didn't see Sergeant Preston, but he was probably still up north in the Yukon. The action elements of this fast moving flick are bloodless enough to qualify as "G" rated. As usual, Roy Rogers is honest and true. He shoots straight, rides fast, and punches hard. The color photography looks a little odd at times because of peculiar tints of blue and green. There are 2 or 3 songs, but we are spared from elaborate musical production numbers. Nobody made B Westerns like Republic Studios. Fun for kids of all ages. ;-)

I've seen this movie twice on cable, Stars or Encore. Maybe HBO. It's a sweet little thing about love unconditional. I like that Lou Reed has a role, Not Lou Reed. Would buy this DVD just to see him on screen (Lou Reed rocks!). The film was good, but best was it introduced me to Pandora's Box, a play and then silent film starring Louise Brooks as Lulu. The play and movie are classics; Brooksie, was a classic beauty. She embodies everything that was the Jazz Age flapper.

What is the story about? Jazz saxaphonist, Izzy, is performing with his band and is shot(whether intentionally or accidentally is not clear) by what seems like a crazed man. There is no police follow-up. Obviously this is not important to the theses in the film.
Izzy recovers though he has lost one lung and no longer has the wind power to play the sax, and has lost the use of his right hand fingers, so he cannot key the sax. Am I supposed to think he's a man without an identity? After recovering, Izzy is walking home on a dimly lighted street and comes upon a man with a bullet hole in his forehead, a leather briefcase beside him. Again no mention is ever made of this murder as far as the police are concerned. When Izzy arrives home, he empties the satchel, finds a small box, in it a stone about the size of an egg that glows in the dark. Alongside the dead man there was also a paper napkin with a phone number written on it. Next day he dials the phone number and meets Celia a would be actress waitress.
When the stone glowed, I thought, "Oh, no! Not one of these stories." But I persisted. Izzy did not know Celia or her name, so when she says, "Yes, come on over," I know I'm in a reality different from mine . In the late 20th century a single young girl is going to let an unknown male visit her alone in her aparment. Celia thinks she knows Izzy because he identified himself on the phone and she is listening to a recording of his. Nothing like honesty and trust. Well, Celia holds the glowing stone in the dark of her apartment; and then Izzy does. They are transformed into lovers at first sight. Izzy happens to know the people producing the movie LULU for which Celia is auditioning for a part which she gets because Izzy called his friends. Celia goes to Ireland where the movie is being shot; Izzy will follow in three days__which become a long time.
Stanley Mar, the murdered man, was murdered because he had the stone. Now some toughs find Izzy in his apartment and imprison him in a seemingly abandoned building where he is interrogated in hope of revealing where the stone is. He doesn't reveal it, but the interrogator(daFoe) reveals all the nasty details of Izzy's life. Izzy doesn't reveal anything about the stone because he's protecting Celia who has it in Ireland. Although Izzy hasn't given daFoe a clue, daFoe nevertheless finds Celia in Ireland.
I can't tell you the denouement, but I think it is still in the realm of a reality different from mine. I am not a romantic, so the love story didn't capture me. I'm a materialist(philosophical), so the transformative power of the stone did not capture me. Perhaps the story is about the transformative power of love, but then so is Silas Marner, and no stones, just gold. Where does Aphrodite come in? Well, LULU is a remake of G.W. Pabst's PANDORA'S BOX(1928), which is a very sexy, provocative story, and so Celia is supposed to be in the role of Lulu(Pandora), a femme fatale . And this is why the ending is ambiguous for me__again the reality of the film vs. the reality outside one's mind. This one reqires the "willing suspension of disbelief."
Five stars for the acting, etc.

How do I describe this film? Let's just say it's the end that makes this film (I believe direct to video) most interesting. I have a theory about the life we lead and about each moment of that life. What is real and what isn't? How long a moment last? What may seem a second to the ordinary person, could be a whole lifetime to someone else. Whether it's the first thought in your head or the last thought before you blink out of existence. With that said, you might think that this film explores that. Perhaps, perhaps not. It's what you think that happened. It's what you get out of this picture. This is one of those films that warrants follow on discussions after you see it. Especially for those who may go on to psychological, or better yet, philosophical endeavors. Harvey Keitel plays a man who hasn't had such a pleasant life and he gets shot one day. During his recovery, he has a change of heart. He meets Mira Sorvino. Because he thinks he has met the perfect person things start to change for him and for her. It's gets to be your basic love story. Ah, but there is a twist (or is it really a twist). That is all I am going to say about this film. Rent it, catch it on cable and enjoy this well-made film. It may be slow for some, but I think the pay off (in my opinion only) is worth it.

For those of you who insist this film used the Sopranos cast as a ploy to get people to watch it, you need to take a look at when Hellgate was actually made. While it was released much later (due to financial reasons, coupled with the fact that it was distributed in-house) the film was actually shot nearly two years earlier. This just happened to coincide with the Sopranos' popularity, but it was a mere coincidence.

Regarding the film itself, it's gritty, it's powerful, and it reminds me alot of some early Scorcese films.

It is refreshing to see that this style of filmmaking still exists in today's blockbuster shoot-em-up digital crap films.

Not knowing what to expect, I purchased this film becasue I've been a fan of Michael Rodrick's for some time now. If I thought I knew his before from his other work, or I thought that 'The Godfather' was a blood and guts movie, I was wrong. They had nothing on this film.

The acting was fantastic, from the begnning through the end of the film. Even though you knew where the film was taking you, you couldn't move.You HAD to watch.

Great great film.

Under Hellgate Bridge is a must see movie! If you like the Sopranos then this movie is right up your alley. Some of the Sopranos guys play it it including "Big Pussy" and "Uncle Junior". The movie was great, it had an excellent story, and I myself have purchased the DVD and will be watching it again and again. This movie deserves 5 Stars!!!! An A+ Movie!

For those of you who insist this film used the Sopranos cast as a ploy to get people to watch it, you need to take a look at when Hellgate was actually made. While it was released much later (due to financial reasons, coupled with the fact that it was distributed in-house) the film was actually shot nearly two years earlier. This just happened to coincide with the Sopranos' popularity, but it was a mere coincidence.

Regarding the film itself, it's gritty, it's powerful, and it reminds me alot of some early Scorcese films.

It is refreshing to see that this style of filmmaking still exists in today's blockbuster shoot-em-up digital crap films.

Not knowing what to expect, I purchased this film becasue I've been a fan of Michael Rodrick's for some time now. If I thought I knew his before from his other work, or I thought that 'The Godfather' was a blood and guts movie, I was wrong. They had nothing on this film.

The acting was fantastic, from the begnning through the end of the film. Even though you knew where the film was taking you, you couldn't move.You HAD to watch.

Great great film.

Under Hellgate Bridge is a must see movie! If you like the Sopranos then this movie is right up your alley. Some of the Sopranos guys play it it including "Big Pussy" and "Uncle Junior". The movie was great, it had an excellent story, and I myself have purchased the DVD and will be watching it again and again. This movie deserves 5 Stars!!!! An A+ Movie!