Collecting Movie Reviews

"Yojimbo" was a joy for me the first time I watched it, and it is always a joy to me no matter how many times I see it. The main character uses his use of wit and cunning as much as the sword, and plays both sides like his own puppets.

The characters and the action are what makes this film work so well for me. Kurosawa proves he can use his skill for more than just movies based around one metaphor, and creates a film that is just a joy to watch.

Some have claimed he was making fun of the vie for power between the United States and Russia during the Cold War...but who really cares? Let's just enjoy what we have.

A masterless samurai, by the name of Sanjuro, shows up one day and finds the town in the grasp of two evil clans. Both clans wish to run the town and its businesses. As you know, when a town has two bosses it has one boss too many...oh, you've seen this movie before? A Fistful of Dollars? Well, you're right. That was one of the remakes of THIS film, right down to the unhappy inn keeper, the main character scratching his chin a lot and even an exchange of a son and a mistress. Lots of sword fighting, humor and great art. While I like Eastwood, just check out my reviews of his older movies, I would have to say this is the better verison of the story. The DVD is in Japanese with optional subtitles in English, Chinese, Thai and Malay. It also has the original trailer and is shown in letterbox format, so you don't miss any of the action.
Sit down with some fried rice, a bottle of sake (don't forget to warm it) and ENJOY!

This story is set in the 1860's when the emerging middle class, aided by Western intervention, ousted the Tokugawa Dynasty that had ruled Japan since 1603. A lone ronin (masterless samurai) stumbles into a deserted dusty town, complete with a dusty street, blowing wind, with businesses on either side.

This town is divided by two warring factions, led by Seibei and Ushi-Tora. The samurai gets the story from Gonji, the tired and angry old man who runs the local inn. "One boss in a town can't be helped, but not two. ... only good for the cooper." Keep in mind that the round tubs made in this town serve as coffins. The local official in town is corrupt and does nothing to put an end to the fighting. "Now, only swords can settle things," observes Gonji wryly. The samurai decides that the town would be served best if both sides got rid of one another. To this end, he devises several stratagems to play them off against each other.

After killing some of Ushi-Tora's men in self-defense, he stays on to see which faction will bid higher for him during a truce, when an inspector comes to town. Both sides are not sure what to make of him, but they know they want his services in order to make the crushing blow that will make their side the winning one.

Indeed, the town, like a kettle, begin to go back on the boil once the inspector leaves. There are hostage-takings, reprisals, and more killings. Things escalate to the point where even the cooper is dazed, saying "when a fight gets too big, they don't bother with coffins."

There are some pretty brutal characters, such as Ino, Ushi-Tora's brother, a portly guy with thick eyebrows, and a tall hulking pituitary case who at one point wields a giant wooden maul. Then there's Unosuke, Ushi-Tora's youngest brother, who comes back with a new toy--hint, it fires bullets.

The original inspiration for this movie was Dashiel Hammett's The Glass Key, and the story of two warring factions, a lone warrior for hire, corrupt officials, and a brutal bodyguard did come through in even the movie version starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. However, Yojimbo was remade as A Fistful Of Dollars and Last Man Standing among others, but has not and seemingly, never will be topped by its imitators, so please, don't refer to this as A Fistful of Sushi. Though set in the 1860's, its similarity to a Western drama is not an unfounded observation.

Despite his well-known role as the buffoonish samurai-wannabe Kikuchiyo in The Seven Samurai, Toshiro Mifune creates another memorable character as Sanjuro, laconic, reserved, strategic in thinking, a master with a sword, but also with a kind heart. Tatsuya Nakadai plays Unosuke, and is best known for starring as the aged king in Kurosawa's Ran. Eijiro Tono also turns in a splendid performance as Gonji. This movie was followed by Sanjuro, in which Mifune reprised the title role created in Yojimbo. After The Seven Samurai, I rank this immediately afterwards.

I've been a Criterion fan for many years (I still have my Cat People laserdisc). However there are a couple of odd things about this release.
1) Still frames show a reduced resolution. I've noticed this curious effect on several Criterion titles. Is this a DVD authoring problem?
2) The title sequence on this film is overzealously window-boxed. The image is reduced by at least 40%! WHY? Then the image zooms to fill the screen. If the title sequence needed to be window-boxed shouldn't the entire film require this? Strange.
It's about time that Criterion felt the pressure to use competitive pricing. Years ago they were the "only game in town" when it came to true special editions. Such editions have now become almost common place.
Still a great film. This disc almost rounds out my Hitchcock collection.

In the days following the end of WWII, an American agent (Cary Grant) recruits a socialite (Ingrid Bergman) with a reputation as a party girl and a father recently convicted as a Nazi spy. She is to use her connections to the Nazi underground to seduce one of the leaders (Claude Rains) and obtain some vital information. Matters are complicated when the girl and the agent fall for each other yet recognize the necessity of completing their mission.

This is a fine film with many suspenseful scenes, such as the party where it becomes vital that the champagne last all night. The heart of the film is the romance and this is also its weakness. There were so many scenes of simple misunderstandings and deliberately hurtful actions meant to disguise their true feelings that the characters began to seem rather childish. Although this may have been in character for Bergman's spoiled socialite, I would have expected more from Grant's seasoned professional spy. Nevertheless, Hitchcock's direction is innovative and the cast is excellent.

Notorious is a classic romantic thriller that should not be missed by movie fans everywhere. Set after WWII, the story follows the efforts of a team of American agents trying to infiltrate a Nazi spy ring in Brazil. An American agent, T.R. Devlin, recruits the beautiful Alicia Huberman to try and rat out the spies since she was romantically linked with one of them in the past. Upon arriving, she discovers there is much more going on than what they thought. All the while, Devlin and Alicia begin to fall in love as the danger gets worse and worse. Hitchcock made a true classic with this one. A great story, excellent cast, and ground-breaking camera work all help make Notorious a can't miss film. Watching this you can also see how John Woo was influenced by this movie when he made Mission: Impossible 2. The stories are almost identical.

Notorious boasts an excellent cast full of Hollywood's big stars. Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman star as T.R. Devlin and Alicia Huberman and are great together. There is an obvious chemistry between the two of them as they realize that they have fallen in love with each other. Claude Rains is equally good as Alex Sebastian, Nazi spy and romantic link with Alicia. Even though he is the bad guy, you can't help but feel bad for him since Rains is so likable. Louis Calhern also stars as the leader of the American agents in Brazil and is very good. I won't go through all the extras on the Criterion Collection DVD, but I will say that if you like this movie then you'll love all of the included extras. For movie fans everywhere, go check out Notorious!

Rebecca is my all tiem favorite movie of all time. Thats sayying a lot because truly i have seen almost all of alfred Hitchcock's movies and I love this one everybody should watch it at least once.

What distinguishes a true thriller from its more modest counterparts is that in the former a sense of eerie menace permeates throughout. Director Alfred Hitchcock, in his debut as a Hollywood director, began the first in a long line of effective character-driven dramas in which the protagonist must struggle through a maze of conflicting levels of reported truths before hitting the one that rings true. With REBECCA, Hitchcock takes the novel by Daphne Du Maurier in which a second wife must contend with the suffocating presence of the late first wife. What stamps REBECCA as a timeless film that explores the degree to which tormented minds hold onto the past even at the cost of the loss of the present is the seamless melding of mood to plot. The dark and brooding English landscape ought to have been listed in the actors' credits, so thoroughly does it impact on the audience. The magnificent mansion of Manderly is situated on a moor that seems right out of WUTHERING HEIGHTS--no surprise there since Lawrence Olivier, who played Heathcliffe, now is Maxim de Winter, a soul who is as every bit as troubled and moody as the demented hero of Emily Bronte's novel. Maxim has recently lost his wife Rebecca to drowning, a loss that occurred before the first reel. Enter Joan Fontaine as the second Mrs. de Winter, a shy and insecure woman who is overwhelmed by the constant and heavy reminder that as far as the de Winters are concerned, she may have the name of de Winter, but not the grace to carry it. Maxim has a housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), who is exactly the menace-laden harpy that was to occupy so many of Hitchcock's future films. Mrs.Danvers is polite enough but her expressionless face and monotone voice nevertheless convey her stark disapproval of her master's new wife. Most of the first half is a character study of these three. It is almost as if Hitchcock is directing a cinematic race to see who will triumph first: Maxim, who will divest himself of the stultifying memories of his late first wife; the new Mrs. de Winter, who will settle comfortably into her new role as mistress of Manderly mansion; or the tightly-wound Mrs. Danvers, who seeks only to drive out her new mistress as a low creature unworthy to bear the name of De Winter.

Part of the joy of immersing oneself into the lives of the de Winters is to see how the supporting cast enriches the film with surprisingly effective stints that resonate even when they are off screen. George Sanders hits just the right caddish note as the former lover of the first Mrs. De Winter. Sanders has made a career of playing the erudite but roguish gentlemen who is a gentleman in verbal repartee only. Veteran character actor C. Aubrey Smith is policeman Colonel Julyan, who seeks to solve the unexplained demise of Rebecca De Winter. His presence lends the film the unmistakable aura of the dogged British cop who will follow any lead, regardless of where it may lead. It would be too simple to say that REBECCA belongs to the titular lead, Sir Lawrence Olivier, who truly is stunning as a wealthy but moody lord who has to overcome his own inner demons before he can relate to his new wife. What marks REBECCA as the masterpiece that it is is the unfolding at just the right moments of plot advances that always seem to fit seamlessly into the fabric. REBECCA was a justly honored winner for Best Picture of 1940.

this movie is a great one to watch with the family. It has a interesting plot and a twisted ending. I love it and is one of my favorites.

Take some of these reviewers with a grain of salt. You know the ones who give it 5 stars and say, "Brilliant, simply brilliant...brilliant...brilliant..."

Cinematographically speaking, the beach scene near the beginning (with the sun setting in the background) is artistically touching. The rest is shot quite well, though I don't think it has the merit to obsess over.

Bergman answers no questions in this movie. He started filming with his belief that there is no god and the entire film takes on that character and moves toward that end (Note Block's dubious feelings: "I want to tear Him from my heart!"). Fine for an atheist, but for an agnostic or someone searching for faith or a real answer (not just a reassurance mind you), this really doesn't do at all.

I find his all too easy dismissal unconvincing. He asks, "Where is the evidence?" Something that cannot be captured within the 35 mm aperture of a camera lens? Something not so obvious as simply being told? Something a bit more illusory than just reading the Bible?

The film is so grim (some have called it funny -- they have issues) one wonders if Bergman has ever seen a butterfly in flight on a sunny summer afternoon. Or if he has ever heard Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus in a cathedral (a requirement of life, no doubt). Or if he has ever attended a life-affirming concert of jazz improvisation. The answer to the question of God lies nowhere within this 35.99 dvd case. That answer doesn't cost money. It lies with your consciousness, your being, between you and the sun and the stars...

...We are the fingerprint of God.

Aside from being a profound meditation on mans place in the universe and all that, this movie is some kind of funny. No other movie has ever made such a macabre subject seem more hillarious. The scene where the troupe-director fakes his own suicide, only to climb up a tree which death soon cuts down, and others, have a sort of irony which you would be hard-pressed to find in literature, let alone movies. One of the sayings in my life that i've recited over and over again I got from The Seventh Seal: Whichever way you turn, your ass will always be behind you. The cinematography is truly lyrical, especially the opening scenes. At the end I felt a little jibbed because having seen Woody Allens parody of the Dance of Death I didn't get all the emotional power that scene had to offer. But it affected me nonetheless.
You must appreciate Bergman's courage for undertaking this project. How many other directors would have the temerity to do make a movie about the futility of life so directly and so unreservedly? Of course, if anyone else tried it it probably would have turned out indulgent and juvenille.

Being a representetive of Generation Y, the 12-20 year olds living in the aftermath of Generatin X, I can say that this film is excellent. The writing is just flawless. It flows. None of the actors struggle over forced lines, the direction is beautiful, and it really is a thinking person's film. Some people foolishly praise it for its reputation, I praise it for its content. I urge you to see this film at least eight times.

Once you have passed through, you will be stripped of all pretense. This shocking movie leaves you wondering what has just happened. That it is able to do this in Japanese is all the more amazing.

You are left looking at the shell of a destroyed society, wondering how it could have happened in the first place-and wondering if it is possible for man to learn his lessons.

In the first chapter of Burton F. Porter's excellent new book, Philosophy through Fiction and Film, he discusses the problem of obtaining reliable knowledge and he uses Akira Kurosawa's ground breaking film, Rashomon, to illustrate the difficulty of determining the truth value of what we think we see and know. Professor Porter gives us a careful summary of the film with his thoughtful comments on the challenge of knowing the absolute truth about what we experience.

When asked about what he knew for certain, Albert Einstein said that the only thing he could be certain of was the speed of light, and even that was open to question. Kurosawa and Einstein appear to be in accord and Rashomon is Kurosawa's attempt to show how difficult it is to know the truth of what actually happened, even when an event is viewed by several eyewitnesses.

Rashomon is now available on DVD, courtesy of the Criterion Collection of Films, and the black and white print we see on the screen is sharp and clear and the sound is good. This film does not translate well to the small televison screen. I sat up close to my 32" Panasonic and wished I had a larger TV so that I might be drawn in more completely as a witness to the complex and engaging story.

The movie opens at the Rashomon Gate in feudal Japan. A woodcutter and a priest are sitting patiently waiting for a rainstorm to subside. Soon another man, a commoner, joins them and the woodcutter begins to share with the two other men his confusion about the facts surrounding a recent rape and murder. We learn later that the woodcutter is an eyewitness to the crimes, but first he tells us about his experience as he watches intently an investigation/trial. A judge is listening to a bandit, a woman, and a dead samurai, whose testimony is revealed through a medium, tell the judge their version of the rape and murder.

The bandit first tells us he is reponsible for rape of the woman and the death of the samurai. Next the woman seems to indicate that she might be responsible for the death of the samurai, her husband. Then the samurai, by means of a medium, indicates that he committed suicide. Finally, the woodcutter tells us that the bandit is indeed responsible for the murder. Each of these stories is visually recreated in effective flashbacks.

Lest any viewer think this problem is factual and straight forward, all the viewer needs to do is to write out his version of the various stories and then check with what even well respected critics have to say to see that the viewer's version will differ sometimes signficantly from various professional reviews. Kurosawa demonstrates convincingly that in the telling of events each viewer is likely to put forward a version that enhances the way that viewer is perceived by others. This film is about truth and lies and the point made is that the person we are most likely to be untruthful to is ourself. If we are unable to tell the truth to ourselves, how will we be able to be honest with others?

Everthing we see and experience is filtered through the total experience of our lives. In a world filled with competing stimuli, where do we focus our attention? We miss more than we see, sometimes even things right under our very noses. Reality is fabulous, as in this Kurosawa film, but he shows us that it is also as ephemeral as the light passing through the trees in the forest creating shadows everywhere.

Rashomon was made for a Japanese audience and was very popular in Japan. In 1951 it was shown at the Venice Film Festival and won the Golden Lion Award. Since that time it has taken its place among the finest films ever made.

It is not without its flaws, chief of which, in my opinion, is the music score, particularly the adaptation of Ravel's Bolero, which distracts the viewer from the events taking place on screen. Also, at the very end of the film a baby is found at the Rashomon Gate and the woodcutter takes the baby home to add to his large family. This plot device to soften the negative impact of the film on the audience and to give hope where little has been experienced weakens the impact of all the events in the story we have just seen. For a film meant to be shown to a Japanese audience, this "Hollywood" ending seems out of place and untrue.

The greatness of the film is the story it tells and the superb perfomances of all the actors. I cannot agree with critics who feel that some of the perfomances of the actors, particularly the bandit, were "over the top." This film is a highly visual, almost a throwback to silent pictures. We learn about the characters from what we see more than from what we hear. Additionally, the superb camera work is a most important part of the story telling process.

Rashomon is a must for students of the cinema and, as was mentioned earlier in this review, for anyone interested in trying to learn the truth value of knowledge.

Rashomon is about the war. The image of a half-destroyed Japan as represented by the half-destroyed Rashomon gate appears in the opening scene. Beneath it, several people find shelter in the undestroyed portion, and as the rain forms them into a group, they seek to understand why a terrible crime has occurred. Rashomon opened to Japanese audiences in 1950, about four years after the Emperor spoke to his nation and ended the war.

Watch carefully as Kurosawa takes his audience through the process of understanding. We never get to the truth of the actual events of the murder, and that was the experience of the Japanese public regarding their country and WWII. Instead, like their truths, the truth seen by the Rashomon audience is distorted through viewpoints. The warrior class samurai-turned-bandit knows he'll be blamed, and then recounts the episode with self-aggrandizing machismo in true kamakazi fashion. The cleric did accurately recall the deceased's weaponry in type and number and didn't see the woman's face. The woman says she can't remember if she's responsible, but we all know she herself was a victim. The dead man, who speaks to us through a medium, claims responsibility for his own death, and thereby absolves the living -- almost. Later we learn that the woodcutter, the average Japanese worker, saw the whole thing and did nothing to stop it. That, as it turns out, is the most horrible crime of all.

The movie concludes at the Rashomon gate, where we are left with the guilt of the average Japanese citizen for failing to stop the warlords, and a priest. We then discover that in the half-destroyed structure, there is now someone else, an orphan. The skies clear and the woodcutter, who already has six children, insists that the priest allow him to take the baby. Charity is penitence.

Serial Experiments Lain has to be one of the most visually effective, original, and yet utterly confounding anime titles ever to be dreamed up. From the opening scene to the cliffhanger at the end of the fourth episode (all that has been released as of the time of this review), I was riveted by the simple yet fluid animation, dreamlike artwork and haunting music. However, the casual anime viewer may find this title a little on the...well...odd side.

The artwork was what first caught my eye. The character designs are fairly simple, but the work that went into making their movements and integration into the backgrounds fluid is immediately obvious. Judicious use of CG allows for some of this, while not overbearing the senses and detracting from the art itself. The backgrounds especially are striking, one moment being carefully detailed, spartan and surreal the next. Those with any memory of the 70s may find the brief dialogue screens that pop up now and then, with their kaleidoscope of rainbow colors, slightly disturbing, but the overall effect is dream-like.

This series lends whole a whole new perspective to the human condition. In a nutshell, it's a story about communication. How we are all connected to one another, yet separated at the same time, whether it's through a phone or across a computer connection. The characters, from our quiet Lain, to her computer otaku father, snotty older sister, and gossipy friends aren't very deeply explored, mainly because there is no need. They are all easily identifiable as someone you might already know, which helps the plot along even more nicely.

And what a plot it is. After watching the first four episodes, I felt like my brain had been taken out and turned around backwards before being replaced. This is definitely NOT an anime for your Dragon Ball-Ranma-Pokemon crowd. It's deep and cerebral and forces you to think about exactly what is going on at every step. Just when you think you have something of the story figured out, it'll tie another knot for you to unravel.

And pulling it all together is the music. From the hauntingly beautiful opening theme by British pop group, BOA, to the hard rock of the disco club, where all the "bad" junior high kids hang out, to the complete LACK of music or even sound in key parts, the whole experience is aural as well as visual.

Now I know you're saying, "Well darn, that was really informative, but is it good?"

Yes, yes it is! Watch it! Watch it! Watch it! Just keep in mind that this is not your daddy's anime. It's more like something you might see on Liquid Television, but infinitely cooler. And if you do watch it and figure out exactly what's going on, tell me please, I'm still puzzling it out myself! SE: Lain is an anime experience that is not to be missed by any hard-core fan of sci-fi or the surreal.

Take away one star if you don't like surrealism with your anime, but add one star if you have an M.C. Escher painting on your wall, like to watch Twilight Zone re-runs, and wear a shirt to work that just says "Be."

its pretty good if you seen it i mean it does have suicide in it but this series is good if you want some mind trip to experiance a new world

this anime is one of the most interesting animes that i have seen other than, Spirited Away, Akira, and ghost in the shell. something that you must have in your collection.

(dont be scared off by the wierd begining.)

I didn't understand it back then and I still don't understand it now it represents black people in a very negative way!!!! I enjoy most of Spike's movies but this one I really didn't all this film shows is the negative lives of black people and I don't think that this is the way that all black people live I am sure that Spike is a pround black man and that he doesn't portray all black people like this!!!! We all don't like to live this way it is up to the person to live the way that they would like to live so "So please don't believe the hype.
Last, I enjoyed School Daze but it ended very stupid and so did this movie!!!!

You just have to love the nerve, the absolute gall, the pure audacity, of the lazy worthless little goof-off delivery kid who throws a chair through the main window of his place of employment, then (after the place is destroyed by rioters) demands back-pay from the business owner. I don't know why the owner then paid it -- unless he realized he was dealing with a complete, total, utter child.

It's the hottest day of the summer and racial tensions run deep in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn, New York. This is the backdrop for Spike Lee's controversial 1989 film, "Do The Right Thing". Many critics and movie-goers were quick to blast this film for being what they perceived to be a "racist" movie. Most people who say this have probably only seen the movie once and were so quick to complain about its tension-filled ending.

"Right Thing" stars writer-director Lee as Mookie, a somewhat lazy pizza delivery boy who works at the local pizzeria run by Sal and his Italian-American sons. Through Mookie's many trips through the neighborhood, we get acquainted with some of the other "characters" such as the block's "wise man" (or "town drunk", depending on how you perceive him), "Da Mayor" (Ossie Davis). We also get introduced to the trouble-making Buggin' It Out who is intent on boycotting Sal's Famous until they "put some brothas on the wall". Then, there's Radio Raheem, whose boombox blasts Public Enemy's "Fight The Power" loudly through out the movie. He doesn't speak much as the music seems to be his outlet of expression. It also happens to get him in a lot of trouble as the movie progresses.

Lee's treatmant of certain characters in "Right Thing" is questionable at times. He seems to feel strongly that many of the white characters in this New York neighborhood would root for Boston sports teams because their top players are also white. At times, Danny Aiello's Sal seems sympathetic and kind while in the end, he is more or less portrayed as a "closet racist". This might be why some of us are so fast to make observations about the film's racial biases but I've never felt that "Do The Right Thing" has ever been about who is right and who is wrong. In the end, everyone loses out because rather than go about handling certain small problems by compromising, people choose to argue over who is "doing the right thing" and who isn't. In the end, people are hurt and killed, property is destroyed, and all that seems to remain is animosity.

While I may argue with the way that Spike wrote certain characters, this is "his" movie. Would the ending situation have been any different if he had re-wrote them? Probably not. So many of its critics fail to see the big picture with "Do The Right Thing". It isn't about whether Sal was right or whether Mookie was right or Buggin' It Out. The original problem was so small, so minor, and each of the characters allowed it to balloon into a big one. Even the less important characters contributed to the problem by instigating it further. The only character who seemed to understand what was going on was Samuel L. Jackson's almost narrator-like radio DJ, Senor Love Daddy. He understands it, he sees the tension esculating, and he is telling everyone to relax but it's too late. "And that's the triple truth, Ruth".

I am reviewing this item not for the feature (as I already reviewed this excellent film a while back), I am reviewing the Criterion Special Edition DVD, which is a two-disc set packed and
loaded with tones of special features. The first disc contains the original theatrical version which director Herk Harvey edited some sequences and scenes out. The first disc also contains a really neat look back on the film in a 1989 documentary "The Movie That Wouldn't Die". There is also a very neat extra of 45 minutes of rare outtakes seen for the first time, and accompanied by the eerie organ music of Gene Moore. Some rare songs not heard in the original movie are here for your scary enjoyment. There is also a theatrical trailer feature.
A very interesting look back on the locations for Carnival of Souls is included, and it talks about the history of the Saltair Resort, which has a very magnificent history and was used for the carnival location, this is an illustrated history.

On the second disc, there is a director's cut of the film, including some scenes not even shown on the VHS "director's cut" editions. One scene that is most notably absent from the original
is the scene where the priest talks to the church carpenter about how strange Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) is. This disc also contains a selected audio commentary by screenwriter John Clifford and the late Herk Harvey. Some excerpts of films made by the Centron Corporation. As well as an essay on the history of Centron. Some printed interviews with film illustrations are featured here as well.

This DVD-set is the best DVD-set I've ever seen. The image quality of the black and white transfer is unbelievably clear, and is the best image transfer I've ever seen. The special features are very cool, and believe it or not, the outtakes featured here are remastered in picture quality as well, along with the music score.

I was blown away with this DVD, and I'm sure you will be too. It is one of the best treatments to a cult classic every put on screen. Carnival of Souls is my favourite movie I believe, and I
am so pleased with this DVD-set I could just burst. I thank the Criterion people for making this a dream come true :)

Carnival of Souls aka "Corridors of Evil", is a crowning jewel in American Cinema. Despite the low budget and poor film quality, this 1962 masterpiece stands as a cult more than 40 years after it's release. Candice Hilligoss' fine performance will overwhelm you as she portrays a character caught in a purgatory between life and death. Her beauty alone will strike the viewer in a way few actresses can. Her physical acting, facial gestures, and line delivery will leave you wondering why this woman did not become a household name like Marilyn Monroe or Raquel Welch.

The story is as simple as it is complex. A woman is an innocent passenger in a car that gets into a drag race with some teenage thugs. The result is her car going over a bridge into a fast running, sandy river. As she crawls out of the wreckage covered in mud, the viewer thinks she has survived, but has she?

Ms. Hilligoss' character is a musician, an organist to be exact who takes a job as a church organist in Salt Lake City, Utah. As she begins her journey she is terrified of images of a phantom of sorts who seems to be seeking her out. Anyone who has driven for an average of twelve hours straight can tell you that driving can take its toll, and the mind can play tricks on a sleepy driver. However, after she checks into her room, she finds the same phantom lurking in the window, then in the hallway. Who is this creature, what does he want, where is he from?

The main point of the film is not horror, but human nature. Are we all alone in this world? Is everyone an island unto themselves. The lesson is thrown upon our character by a minister, a psychologist, and a would be male suitor. They all try to help her in their own way (except the suitor who is only interested in her for a chance to have sex). But our character waves a hand at them all, convinced that she can do it her own way. She is an independent woman who needs no man or companionship; a view that may have gone against society's thinking in 1962.

The male suitor (or 'just your normal guy' as he likes to call himself) is an obnoxious oaf to say the least. His headstrong pursuit of her is only his own selfish desire to have her. He's not an alcoholic he claims, yet he drinks at dawn. He quit college because he doesn't like to learn. This is not an ideal resume for a long term relationship for her or any other woman. When she is truly frightened by the visiting spectre, and she reaches out to him as a last resort for help, he runs. Not wanting to get involved, he was only interested in her for her body and his own sexual desire. Yet another lesson in this film for all the young ladies who care to pay attention.

As the story goes on Candace's soul seems to deteriorate. She slips in and out of reality and a strange sort of parallel world. This dimension looks the same as real life, but she cannot be seen or heard. The department store dressing room for example, shows how the lost spirit must learn that she is no longer of this world, but now belongs in the spirit world, where yet another companion awaits her.

Who is this man that haunts her in visions? We see at the end of the film that they are to be together forever. In the final seen where we see Candace's peek at her after-life. She screams in horror as the ghosts dance eternally as the haunt the carnival. She is finally captured by the ghosts and is spirited away. The police and minister are confused and baffled as her footprints and final body print leads nowhere. The minister gives a knowing look as if he has known all along, but says nothing.

The minister must have known there was something wrong with his new organist when he first met and eventually fired her. She had not the soul of a musician, she only had a knowledge for music. She was told this too by the organ builder in the beginning of the film. When she is possessed in the church and her true musician ship comes out as she plays without control, that is her true spirit, but the misinster fires her for 'blasphony'.

This film cannot be watched once and dismissed. It deserves to be watched over and over again. It is a timeless movie where something seems new every time you watch it. I applaud you 'Carnival of Souls'. One of the greatest movies ever made.

I was hesitant to purchase this film, since I have seen so many flawed, tainted versions of it and been enthralled by the content and yet disappointed by the quality of the presentation. In the end, I found myself trusting the reputation of the Criterion Collection and purchased "Carnival Of Souls", finding it to be one of the finest DVDs I have ever purchased. The price of this DVD is worthy of the film, looking spectacular, crisp, clear, and utterly haunting. I wonder now how Herk Harvey (Director) didn't end up changing the film industry by his methods of film-making. This Criterion Collection version of "Carnival Of Souls" is well worth the price. I can't wait to view it once more!

This brilliant feature film is actually a true story of 4 people getting lost and never being seen again on a school excursion to hanging rock in victoria, Australia on valentines day 1900. all 4 dissapear and are never seen again except for one who miraculousley survives yet can remeber nothing of her stay at the mountain all this is wound up with farmers finding dead people policemen searching and two young men who seem to know a bit too much.

peter weir has turned this story from Joan lindsay into a brilliant array of natural beauty of the area of mt masedon and fits the story line into it as well without the slightest hiccup. The cinematographer does a great job of keeping the face towards the camera, but the sound can be fairly dodgy in some parts.

all in all this extroadinary master piece tells the story with suspense as well as letting you view the beautiful scenes around MT MASEDON. This is suitable for the elder generation children would find it boring and too hard to understand.

I rate it 3 stars.

One of the breakthrough Australian films of the 1970s, directed by Peter Weir in his unique style. A group of schoolgirls and some of their teachers go off to the geological formation known as Hanging Rock for an innocent Valentine's Day outing in 1900. Three girls and a teacher decide to explore on their own but only one of them ever returns - and she has no recollection of what happened. Though the film is more style than substance and the mystery isn't resolved, this supernatural drama is engrossing and the eerie, dreamlike atmosphere is hard to resist.

In the past near-three decades, a great deal has been made about the mystery surrounding Peter Weir's eerie, subversive film "Picnic at Hanging Rock." The movie is about a group of girls from an Australian college that travel to a local geographical wonder, Hanging Rock, to spend the day. While there, four girls wander off, and when everything is said and done, three girls and a teacher are missing. Much like the disappearance of Anna in Antonioni's "L'Avventura," I won't be revealing much when I say that the mystery of their disappearance is never solved. The thing is, that's not the point of Weir's chilling masterpiece. "Hanging Rock" is made up of suggestions, possibilities, and longing, but no valid intuition. Anyone into psychology would have a heyday with the film. Weir's camera portrays the rocks that the girls wander into as giant, oppressive phallic objects that even seem to have faces. While the girls rest on the ground, a snake-like object crawls past them. The adventurous girls shed their stockings and shoes in an erotic moment that feels liberating and, well...DIRTY at the same time. The headmistress of the college and a student that seemed unhealthily attached to one of the missing girls seem to have their own sexual issues rising to the surface. Then again, maybe "Picnic At Hanging Rock" isn't even much about the disappearance of the girls than just about the hidden perversity that lies behind it all. That is what makes "Picnic" so incredibly horrifying and essential to any viewer at the same time. There isn't an inch of naked skin shown in the film, not one moment of sex, but the clues and suggestions that arise regarding the disappearance of the girls hint at something sadistic, something degrading, something awful. Then again, someone could watch the film and think it was a UFO, murder, or that they simply metaphysically vanished. Whatever the answer is, it's not important. Watch "Picnic at Hanging Rock" for yourself and decide YOUR theory, but don't be surprised when you realize that the WHAT is not as important as the WHAT IF..., and that the movie scares the living hell out of you.

Cleo's have come and gone. There have been many films and books depicting Cleo as she really was to great melodramatic Cleo. Three other popular Cleo's were the Claudette Colbert (1934), Vivien Leigh (1945), and Leonor Varela (1999). There were many more variations between those years.
The one Cleo that will always stand out and lets not forget Mark, is the one staring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (1963). I was old enough to enjoy it on the big screen. Rex Harrison made a good Caesar; watch him have a similar attitude in "The Honey Pot" (1967).

Enough time, thought, and money have been put into this production that I am bound to overlook a few of the most important items about this film. The movie is more than just the actors are. The characters are very well portrayed. The set and costumes are dazzling. They really showed up in the scene when Cleopatra enterd Rome. And the navel battle was spectacular.

Every one is going to have a favorite Cleo and find flaws in the others. However this Cleo will always the one others are gauged by.

If nothing else, CLEOPATRA is one of spectacularly beautiful film epics ever made. Of course, CLEOPATRA has every right to look as good as it does, since it was, at the time, the most expensive film ever made. In 1963, there was no such thing as digital effects, so CLEOPATRA was forced to recreate the ancient world the old fashioned way- on real full sized sets that were built in meticulous detail. Every dollar of the film's 42 million dollar cost is clearly up on the screen- from the incredible sets, to Cleopatra's golden barge, to the lavish costumes worn by the film's star Elizabeth Taylor, to the thousands of extras that also had to be dressed in elaborate costumes. Truly, CLEOPATRA is the kind of movie that no studio could afford to make today. Over the years, CLEOPATRA has earned a reputation of being a less than great movie; perhaps this is due to the fact that the film took a critical drubbing at the time of its release. Admittedly, the film has some problems, but I am amongst those who have come to see CLEOPATRA as one of the truly great Hollywood epics. Every time I've watched CLEOPATRA, I've come away from the movie thoroughly entertained and totally appreciative of every extravagance that the film places before its audience. CLEOPATRA also features an incredible cast of moviedom legends with Elizabeth Taylor taking center stage as Cleopatra, Rex Harrison essaying the role of Julius Caesar and Richard Burton portraying Marc Antony. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has done a truly magnificent job with their DVD release of CLEOPATRA. Framed at close to the Todd-AO aspect ratio 2.20:1, the wide screen presentation feature the anamorphic enhancement for playback on 16:9 displays. The transfer is an absolutely exquisite rendering of Leon Shamroy's breathtaking cinematography. Almost every shot in the movie is sharp, glossy and beautifully defined. This transfer truly shows off the majestic sets and superbly beautiful costumes in all their glory. Colors virtually leap off the screen, which makes me wonder if the original DeLuxe theatrical prints of CLEOPATRA looked as good as this presentation. While the flesh tones are wonderfully appealing, it is the crimson reds, golds, purples and blues that impressed me the most during the presentation. All of these vibrant hues are completely stable and are rendered without a trace of chroma noise of smearing. Blacks are flawless and the image boasts very good shadow detail and excellent depth. The film element used for the transfer is in excellent shape, with only minor flaws being visible. CLEOPATRA is spread across two dual layered DVDs, with the intermission being the logical break between the two discs. The DVD presentation is absolutely glorious and even without the third disc of supplements; recommended disc(s) to movie buffs everywhere.

I think Cleopatra is the best movie ever made, it is also the most expensive movie ever made costing twice more than Titanic in today's money, but it just didn't make it to the screen. Intended to be two movies, Caesar and Cleopatra & Antony and Cleopatra, three hours each. But partly because of the attention of the famous Taylor-Burton affair, Darryl F. Zanuck shamelessly ruined Cleopatra from its 6-hour two movies into ONE 3 hour 14 minute movie, which is the TV version, which is Horrible! But luckily, the 4-hour version, this DVD version, survived the brutal cutting of the film. This movie is the most beautiful movie I have ever seen. The sets, clothes, props, and music... they are just FLAWLESS! As many people know, Rex Harrison as Caesar and Richard Burton as Antony both got nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars, but because the movie was cut to one, they were nominated against each other in the same movie, and more importantly, their best scenes were cut because of the length, so none of them won (but they deserve to), and Roddy McDowell got nominated in the wrong section and his votes were canceled. Martin Landau was going to be nominated as Best Supporting Actor, but after the film was ruined, the Academy Awards dropped him. Elizabeth Taylor's best scenes were cut off that she was so angry she puked at the Premiere.

The Music of the film is the BEST. Till this Day, I don't know why the Oscars didn't give Cleopatra the award. Of course, Oscars didn't give Gone with the Wind, Gladiator, and lots of other film's beautiful scores the Oscar, it's weird.

How do I know about all about Cleopatra? I have ALL the books, interviews, and even the full movie shooting script of this movie, I am the biggest fan! If you have seen the movie, you'll realize that Cleopatra was usually unhappy and tense. But there is a happy side of her, for example, there was a scene where Cleopatra, Antony and her son with Caesar were in the garden, Cleopatra watching them play swords. Then Caesarian, the son, stubbed Antony with his wooden sword and Antony cried out in "pain", and Caesarian suddenly went crying, saying "don't die, don't die!" Antony suddenly comes back to life and tickles Caesarian, then drags Cleopatra into them and they were all laughing and rolling on the floor... it was so happy, and that's one of the many sides of Cleopatra that's been cut off.

In the four-hour version, we first see Cleopatra dumped out of a carpet. That was NEVER intended to be the first scene we see Cleopatra. From the script I learned that there was a whole story of Cleopatra outside Alexandria, and she and the others planned to meet Caesar and how to sneak her in. Just after they got to the Palace, some soldiers almost caught them and the maid had to lure the guards away... it was thrilling to read the pages of the script! There are sooo much to saying about what Cleopatra should have been, but sadly, no one expect FOX has the missing footage, and they are the best scenes of the movie (some scenes were so humorous that I laughed out loud!).

In the late 70's, 20th Century FOX called a recording session to record the lines of the movie so they can restore it, since the sound elements were missing. But it was called off at the last minute. But the three-and-half hours of missing film footage was NEVER lost! With today's technology, they can totally restore the film back, including the sound. They also have the missing part of the unused scores, but why doesn't FOX, after making a two hour documentary about the film, restore it? No one knows! Movies like "A Star is Born", "Lawrence of Arabia", "Sparticus", and many other classic movies has been successfully restored and loved by many. Why not Cleopatra? I am writing just to let you know the truth about the movie, and hopefully, if more people know maybe FOX will restore the film to the intended way. In a Late interview with four-time Oscar winner Joseph L Mankiewicz, the director and screenwriter of the movie, when the subject Cleopatra went up, he literately cried (on TV!). He said he wanted the film to be perfect that he bit his nails until they were bleeding that he had to wear gloves when he was writing the script... He called Cleopatra his "butchered masterpiece". But however, it's still one of the best movies out there! Totally worth buying!!

FOX: PLEASE RESTORE CLEOPATRA BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE, BEFORE THE FILM ROTS OR A STUDIO FIRE AND BURNS THEM TO DUST, LIKE FOX'S 1917 VERSION OF CLEOPATRA!