Dewey Decimal Movie Reviews

Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play major league baseball back in 1947.He does a superb articulate acting job playing himself and the adversity and struggles that he triumphed over.It's a must see moving film against bigotry and hatred!!

This movie featuring Jackie Robinson playing himself in a great role. One of my favorite films. No baseball fan should be without this movie.

Ebert was right on this one - the 7 Up series, now at 42 Up is one of the best films of all time.

Many kudos to director Michael Apted for sticking with these individuals lives and respecting their boundaries, while being able to get intimate with them.

Despite the originators Labour Party-esque intentions, Apted stuck with it and it has revealed that you can't categorize people by political prognostications.

Every person is a valuable part of the whole. They are a timeline in our times. This is done in the UK and where some now live overseas.

In an age of spin, this is the real life. This is the canon for documentaries.

It would be good if the whole series was available.

Looking forward to 49 Up!

42 Up has a sort of slow rhythm that can take a while to get into, but this isn't to say that it's boring. It's actually a fascinating few hours of videotape, and I wish more had been included. I think that most individuals watching this find themselves making comparisons between their own life and those of the people featured in the Up series, but there are also other interesting things to be found here--most notable being the brief section on perceptions and experiences of socioeconomic class in British society.

Watching this footage, I was struck by the commonalities in the way everyone seemed to approach life at different stages. By age 42, most of them seem to have become calmer and more satisfied with their lives than they once were. At ages 14 and 21, the interviewees were visibly nervous (lots of giggling, foot-tapping, and looking anywhere but the camera). At 28 and 35 a sort of false bravado about life seemed to predominate. But at 42, it's a quiet confidence that is most evident (maybe the beginning of what we call wisdom?).

It was interesting how people's general outlooks on life seemed to stay with them from childhood on. This was not always the case, but often was. People with positive attitudes tended to remain positive into middle age, while the pessimists retained their own outlooks. I found this surprising.

Another interesting thing was that many of the people in the film seemed to find that here they were, 42, and that life had happened to them. True, some had plans at 7 that they ended up following through on, but so many seemed to have fallen into lives they never particularly wished for. The best-laid plans...

I found myself identifying with the person who said he looked forward to aging. It is so interesting to watch the personal development of ourselves and others, and to revel in our growth and generally-increasing happiness. I also identified with apparently-popular Neil and his background of introversion and depression. It was good to see that he found ways to control and channel the pain he must have felt for many years into something that is giving meaning to some part of the world. Humans have the potential to be so resilient.

Though it sounds like many of those featured in this series have had a troubling time with its periodic intrusion into their lives, I think they are brave for staying with it. I am not at all sure I would be able to cope with something like this in my own life, and am certain that I would not want any of my life at 21 captured on film--it would be too painful. Someone here did mention that as a result of the series, every seven years they had to deal with painful memories all over again.

On the production side of things, I agree with another reviewer that there is too much focus here on love found, lost, and found again (with a definite assumption of heterosexuality). I would prefer to hear a little less narration (about marriages and divorces), and to hear more about people's lives as they themselves describe them. More about the first-hand experience of connecting with another person would be welcome, however. Basically - less from the narrator, more from the interviewees.

Thanks to all the film's participants for helping make possible a bird's-eye view of the course of human life and its prevailing themes.

Last week I purchased a video Roger Ebert identifies as one of the best films of all time, Michael Apted's "42 Up". And I wholeheartedly agree. This documentary, released in 2000, is one in a series of films that chronicles the lives of the same 14 people over the course of 35 years. The series' first installment was filmed in 1964. Fourteen, seven year old British children from various socioeconomic backgrounds, were interviewed about their lives, likes and dislikes, as well as their hopes and dreams for the future. Apted has tracked down each of these people every seven years, asking them the same, as well as other questions, to obtain their current status, their here-to-date accomplishments, as well as their disappointments. From each of these episodes of interviews, he has created another film, released shortly after filming, every seven years. The titles of the films denote the participant's ages; hence "7 Up", "14 Up", and so on.

The original premise of the series was to test a hypothesis based on an old Hebrew quotation, "Give me the child until the age of seven, and I will show you the man"; the point being that our ultimate status in life reflected by socioeconomic level, our values and culture, are largely determined by the family into which we are born. This question is particularly significant in class conscious Great Britain where class distinctions are particularly apparent, if not a mainstay of their culture. And, the series tends to affirm the hypothesis, as most of the film's protagonists remain in the same socioeconomic group throughout their lives.

The beauty of the film, however, is not in scientific investigation. And, one need not see the earlier films to appreciate the ones that follow. In each successive documentary, Apted includes footage from the earlier releases, as well as outtakes that had not been seen previously. Each film stands alone, on its own merit. What we experience, as viewers, is the unfolding and development of lives over time, compressed into a few minutes. We witness their challenges, their satisfactions, and their evolving expectations of themselves. Although Apted's questions are relatively innocuous, through the course of our repeatedly hearing them and their answers, we gain a relatively intimate knowledge of who these people are, and what they want. At times, the camera is unflinchingly honest. The inconsistencies obvious. And, it is also noted that Apted has clearly developed a level of intimacy with his subjects, as they often refer to him in the interviews by his first name. Keep in mind that he first met these people when they were children, and he has periodically checked in with them for nearly as long as they can remember. It is not surprising then, that each film has garnered increasing interest in Great Britain, as those following the series began to anticipate the ongoing sagas and, in some instances, had developed a genuine caring for some of films participants. One individual, Neil, whose life has taken some very difficult turns, received considerable attention. Some met the release of "42 Up" with ambivalence, as they wanted to know what had happened to Neil, but also feared the worse. I can attest to similar feelings, having previously seen the episodes of "28" and "35".

Not all of the participants have been pleased with their involvement. One even went so far as to describe the experience as a curse that comes around every seven years. Some have opted out for some of the films; a couple have withdrawn permanently.

The value of this work, however, is not derived from voyeurism, but rather, from what is stirred from within ourselves. As we watch the film and observe life's many transitions, we cannot help but to reflect on our own; to take note of where we are, where we have been, and where we have wanted to be. Although "42 Up" was to have been the last in the series, there has been ongoing speculation about a "49". Perhaps that is more telling about our own aspirations, a statement that we are not done yet with our own lives, than being motivated by our curiosity about the lives of others.

This film really shouldn't work. The story line is too far-feched, the songs too silly, the star too goregeous when supposedly a vagabond. BUT, it Does work, astoundingly, and the reason is that star, Marlene Dietrich. No other could pull this role off. She's both smolderingly sexy and maternal. Vamp, and housewife. Devoted mother, and kept woman. Pleny of contradictions here, and yet she moves through the film as the glue that holds the whole mess together. Of course, the part that this film is famous for is the "Hot Voodoo" number, where Dietrich emerges out a gorilla costume with native girls swaying in time in the background. What nerve! Nobody today would dare anything like that. Herbert Martshall is cast as the husband, and Cary Grant, in am early role, is cast as the swank lover. All it takes is a bit of suspension of disbelief, for some parts, anyway, and this is a movie to enjoy.
Actually, having just watched the film again for the first time in a while, I was struck by Dietrich's presence in the film. I've always considered Dietrich one of the most under-rated actresses of Hollywoods golden era. She seemed very involved and into her role here. Her scenes with little Dicky Moore, her son in the movie, were very touching and sincere. I'm no acting expert by any stretch, but I feel she was wonderful in this role. Perhaps it was the going against type role of mother that turned off many critics of the day. She was, after all, one of the most glamorous and seductive creatures to ever hit Hollywood, so perhaps thinking of her as a loving mother and housewife could perhaps seem to be a stretch. However, Dietrich carried off the role, and carried the movie totally without effort. Watch the film yourself, and see how under-rated this fine actress really was.

It was very early one morning, the rising September sun just begining to brightly filter through the windows, when I, not ordinarily accustomed to early rising, wrapped myself in a blanket and sat down to watch "Blonde Venus" soon followed by "Suzy" with Jean Harlow - two films as silly as anything to come out of the Hollywood dream factory. But strangely, that sleepy morning was one of the most warm and pleasurable of my life. Don't ask me just why, but then and there all the ingredients for magic simply clicked.
"Blonde Venus," like so many of Sternberg's films, has been frequently called an excercise in style over substance. I would have to disagee, though the style is of course sumptuous, I would say rather it was a triumph in substance over story, if that can be. In spite of an undeniably soap opera style plot, it can also not be denied its empathy and emotion, generated in no small part by Marlene Dietrich. It is impossible to say just how, but Dietrich in this film has done something truly unique. She has managed to be at one time smolderingly sexy, and yet tender and warm, maternally comforting. These traits should be a natural contradiction, but somehow she subtly blends them, making one seem unthinkable without the other.
It is not a great film, yet it is wonderful. Coupled remarkably well with "Suzy," "Blond Venus" gave me a light and wonderful morning of escapist magic. If you give in at the right time, I should certainly think it would do the same for you.

I like to watch the early motion pictures of the 20th century. It's a new discovery for me. Actresses like Dietrich are talented in every respect of the word. The movie was very interesting with a moving plot. I liked the way the sequences of the movie unravelled, and most of all that very sweet and charming ending. Just the way, movies in those days probably ended. I'll write more about this movie from my journal later.

beyond the mat was great. i love the parts with jake 'the snake' roberts, mankind, and terry Funk. the best part is when they take a look at ecw(the best wrestling organazation ever!)!
the rest of beyond the mat is pretty good too. so go and buy the wrestling documentary- Beyond the Mat![.]

Beyond The Mat is a great documentary about the world of professional wrestling from independent wrestling leagues and guys getting started, to the top dogs in the industry at the WWF to careers that are ending like those of Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Terry Funk.

This follows some of the most important icons in the game today and of yesterday like Mick Foley, Terry Funk, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Paul Heyman and the old ECW and several appearances by other big names and some smaller names as well.

Honestly, this is really a great documentary on the industry that is professional wrestling. It also takes a look on how people get started in the business, when people make it in the business and when it's all over. It's exciting, shocking, some what disturbing and all out very interesting. I would rcommend this to anyone wanting to learn more about the sport and of course to any wrestling fan. If you're looking for another great wrestling documentary, check out HITMAN HART which focuses on legendary wrestler Brit "The Hitman" Hart and his last few months in the WWF leading up to his final and MOST CONTRAVERSIAL match EVER! Check both of these titles out!

I remember going to the theatrefirst day to see this movie because i thought it would be a great movie. Boy was i wrong.

It was an EXCELLENT documentary. i have probably seen this movie more then any other in my collection and i must admit how hard it is too look into the lives of these men and see what they have to go through.

Whether you hate wrestling or love it this is a fascinating movie for anyone

beyond the mat was great. i love the parts with jake 'the snake' roberts, mankind, and terry Funk. the best part is when they take a look at ecw(the best wrestling organazation ever!)!
the rest of beyond the mat is pretty good too. so go and buy the wrestling documentary- Beyond the Mat![.]

Beyond The Mat is a great documentary about the world of professional wrestling from independent wrestling leagues and guys getting started, to the top dogs in the industry at the WWF to careers that are ending like those of Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Terry Funk.

This follows some of the most important icons in the game today and of yesterday like Mick Foley, Terry Funk, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Paul Heyman and the old ECW and several appearances by other big names and some smaller names as well.

Honestly, this is really a great documentary on the industry that is professional wrestling. It also takes a look on how people get started in the business, when people make it in the business and when it's all over. It's exciting, shocking, some what disturbing and all out very interesting. I would rcommend this to anyone wanting to learn more about the sport and of course to any wrestling fan. If you're looking for another great wrestling documentary, check out HITMAN HART which focuses on legendary wrestler Brit "The Hitman" Hart and his last few months in the WWF leading up to his final and MOST CONTRAVERSIAL match EVER! Check both of these titles out!

I remember going to the theatrefirst day to see this movie because i thought it would be a great movie. Boy was i wrong.

It was an EXCELLENT documentary. i have probably seen this movie more then any other in my collection and i must admit how hard it is too look into the lives of these men and see what they have to go through.

Whether you hate wrestling or love it this is a fascinating movie for anyone

I saw this movie years ago and remembered it with affection as an unfailing pick-me-up. I've just seen it for the 2nd time on telly and wrote my review. In my enthusiasm I neglected to avoid spoilers, so for those who haven't seen this screwball masterpiece, please see the movie first and then read my review! Regardless of what you may think of me, you will not be disappointed by this movie. I dare you not to be charmed.

One of Preston Sturges four or five masterpieces, and IMHO his most masterly piece. The beautiful Geraldine (Claudette Colbert) and Tom Jeffers (Joel McCrea) are your (seemingly) normal everyday working-class married couple in financial straits; Tom needs some cash to develop his invention, a suspension-airport-tennis-racket, but this being 1942 and venture capital more difficult to raise in those days, Geraldine helps her husband and does the next sensible thing, deciding to divorce Tom, marry someone rich, and then invest in Tom's project. She hies herself to Palm Beach, touted to her by a helpful cab driver as the second most popular divorce resort next to Reno, "but for my money Palm Beach is your best bet for this time of year, you got your beaches, you got your hotels." Tom for some reason disagrees with her plan, valuing their marriage over his fortune, and hies himself Palm Beach-ward to fend off his divorce-minded wife. But Gerry, who's left her husband without taking any money, sells herself to a band of gun-toting ale-drinking millionaires in exchange for a train passage, meets another multimillionaire by repeatedly grinding his pince-nez into his face with her foot (it's all right, he carries an inexhaustible supply of them) and becomes adopted by her smitten mutlimillionaire and his sister the Duchess or Princess Centimellia (oh, it's Princess, she divorced the Duke two husbands ago, or was it three?). This becomes complicated when Tom shows in Palm Beach and is taken up by the Princess in the guise of Gerry's brother, one Captain McGlue ("Captain of what? The Boy Scouts?" Tom shrieks. "And why is my name McGLUE?!") and the multimillionaire, who goes by the nickname Snooty, attempts to befriend him, all the while imprecating Gerry's dastardly soon-to-be-ex-husband.

The plot, as you can see, is another of Sturge's marvelously convoluted structures, and is rife throughout with much of his trademark one-liners ("It is the tragedy of this world that the men most in need of a beating are always enormous"; "Nothing is forever, dear. Except Roosevelt.") and dazzling design. What makes this concoction the creamiest of Sturge's crop are the wonderful performances; McCrea's stolidness doesn't trip him up as it did in the coda of "Sullivan's Travels," and actually gives his Tom Jeffers a warm growly dog quality I find endearing. Mary Astor perfects her chatterbox heiress performance in this film. Rude Vallee is a revelation as the persnickety Snooty, abandoning his teenybopper-crooner fame to play the role of a parsimonious googolplexaire falling disastrously in love.

And Claudette Colbert, wow. Barbara Stanwyck may be more sexy in "The Lady Eve," Veronica Lake more mysterious and stylish in "Sullivan's Travels," but Claudette Colbert.... wow.

That said, I took a star off because of the sequences of the drunken millionaire's gun club and the black railroad servicemen. I know that the film was made in 1942 and one should make allowances, but the scene where the millionaires are shooting randomly around the train, forcing the black bartender to dance around their bullets made me wince. It was funny, but too sadistic for our sensitivities 50 years later. This goes too for the extended scene where the only joke is that the (black) train attendant continously pronounces "yacht" as "yachit."

The film's abrupt happy ending was an out-of-left-field delight, and of course made me watch the beginning credit sequence again. I'm not altogether sure what happens there in the beginning, does anyone out there have any ideas?

THE first Hollywood auteur--i.e., writer-director--Preston Sturges here gives us one of his all-time classics that, for my money, is better than Sullivan's Travels and easily the equal of The Lady Eve. It's pretty amazing to see not one but TWO smart, sophisticated women on the make--Claudette Colbert as a wife fed up with her husband's penury, and Mary Astor as the sister of the goofy millionaire Colbert meets and is, you should pardon the expression, wooed by.

Rudy Vallee, as the mllionaire, also has his not-as-wealthy doppelganger in Joel McCrea, Colbert's somewhat bumbling designer husband who's trying to get a $99,000 project off the ground (actually, onto the ground--it's a huge, ridiculous metal-net for airplanes to land on). Just as both women have tongues sharper than stainless steel razors honed with eager whetstones, so too do both men have brains that can't quite follow the women's spitfire patter and instead of paying close attention, resort to what Sturges' men usually do--follow instead their male instincts, which means say what they gotta say and do what they gotta do.

Sturges' forte is the uncanny ability to juxtapose selfishness with so much whimsy and foible-ridden thinking it's impossible not to laugh. Women are selfish in one way, men in another. But both of them ARE selfish, and therein lies the rub (as it were)--that is, the famous battle of the sexes. Colbert (Gerry Jeffers) wants a divorce from McCrea (Tom Jeffers) because of his inability to bring in the bacon and doesn't mind it at all when millionaire Vallee (John Hackensacker--gee, I wonder where that name came from...) buys her all kinds of clothes and stuff.

Obviously one of the major inspirations for, among many others, the Coen brothers (e.g., The Hudsucker Proxy), Sturges was a genius for his time, so far ahead of anybody else it boggles the mind. Listen to Colbert deliver a jaw-dropping speech on sex--meaning, not the physical act, but the power of a woman to divert a man. The use of the word "sex" to mean that--in fact, the use of the word itself--was without question a milestone (or is that millstone) for 1942, the year of this film.

Gerry calls Tom Captain McGloo when she's introducing him to Hackensacker to assure the latter that Tom is not really her husband at all but her brother. Mr. H. introduces Tom to her sister Centimilia (Mary Astor) so the foursome--a real brother and sister, and a fake duo of the same "persuasion"--gaily tramp off together to the nearest hotel.

The amazing scene on the train with the Ale and Quail Club has be seen to be believed, again so far ahead of its time it's almsot a shock.

How to fuse satire, wit, and superior intelligence in a single film? Preston Sturges FOREVER!

Rarely have I enjoyed a screw ball comedy more than Preston Sturges's classic look at the lives of the idle rich and those that aspire to be that way in 1942's "The Palm Beach Story". Taking over the reins as both writer and director here Sturges has produced a gem which came hot on the heels of his classic "The Lady Eve" of the previous year.

This gem of a feature boasts total excellence in all areas, sparkling performances from a top notch cast, superb writing, delicious one liners delivered with relish, rapid fire direction and a beautiful overall look to the proceedings. Indeed so rapid is the pace of this film that it almost requires repeated viewings to be able to fully appreciate the genius of the comic situations and dialogue.

To describle the plotline as being involved and complex is a definite understatement. Convoluted in an endearing way is the best way to describe it. It tells the story of young married couple Tom and Geraldine "Gerry" Jefferswho are struggling financially as Tom is an inventor who has difficulty in getting his original ideas to sell. Gerry being of a harder nature is fed up with being poor and when they are in danger of being evicted from their apartment Gerry decides to do the only thing that a girl like her knows; divorce Tom and find herself a rich husband who can keep her in the style she would like to become used to, while also helping Tom to obtain the financing for his new airport project. What develops from this point onwards adds up to one crazy comic situation after another. Gerry firstly encounters the unforgettable "Wienie King" (Robert Dudley in an absolutely scene stealing performance) an elderly gentleman who is hard of hearing and who gives Gerry a stack of money to get her out of her troubles because he likes her. Gerry heads for Palm Beach as that is "the second best place to get a divorce" according to the Taxi driver! What happens along the way is what classic comedies are made of as Gerry finds herself firstly "adapted" by the crazy members of a hunting club, the Ale and Quail Club that are travelling on the same train and who in a drunken state proceed to take over the train causing complete chaos for all concerned including the terrified barman who sees his whole workplace demolished around him. To escape them Gerry then slips into the sleeping compartment area where she then encounters John D. Hackensacker 111 (Rudy Vallee in a non crooner role) who just turns out to be one of the richest men in America and predictably falls instantly for Gerry. Once in Palm Beach pursued by an angry Tom Gerry is thrown into a whirlwind of deception and comic misunderstandings as she encounters the amazingly eccentric Countess Centimillia (Mary Astor in one of her most hilarious roles ever) John's man hungry, much married sister who takes an instant shine to Tom who is introduced to her as Gerry's brother Captain McGlue!! The comic goings one between the 4 main leads are a sight to behold and eventually end up with each person pairing off with the most suitable partner, Gerry with Tom, the Countess with Tom's identical brother and John with Gerry's twin sister!! Total madness indeed but so delightfully done that it almost takes on a logic of it's own!

Rarely have the cast here been in finer form. Under Sturges's sure direction each of them are outstanding. Claudette Colbert, a favourite actress of mine has rarely been better than here and she can say more with a sideways glance or a twinkle of her eyethan most actresses could do with 5 pages of dialogue. Her Geraldine is both calculating and refreshingly practical and cool headed in the bizzare situations she finds herself. Her scenes with the Ale and Quail club members are brilliant and real rib ticklers as her normally refined way of performing is put to the test with these loud and over the top performers. Joel McCrea has never been better than in his playing here as the harried husband who goes on a mad chase to reclaim his wife. His reactions to be dubbed "Captain McGlue" are priceless and his entanglement with the man hungry Countess who quickly earmarks him as her next husband will make you laugh out loud. Mary Astor, always an interesting actress literally steals the show as the Countess with her rapid hundred words to the minute type of delivery. Some of the most hilarious lines in the film belong to her and she delivers them with relish for example in a retort to Tom about the length of all her marriages she states "nothing is forever....except Roosevelt!!" In her memoirs Astor stated how she did not enjoy working for Preston Sturges in "The Palm Beach Story" and felt she never really got her characterisation right in this film. Interesting really as I think she has never been better than here and is the comic centre of the whole crazy proceedings with her playing. Rudy Vallee as the hapless millionaire is also a revelation in his playing of the fumbling man besotted with the much more world wise Geraldine. His different style of playing contrasts beautifully with the more over the top playing of Mary Astor. His scenes on the train with Colbert are classic where she continues to break his sets of glasses as he tries to give her a boost up into the top bunk of the sleeping compartment.

"The Palm Beach Story" is what classic screwball comedy is all about.The pace of the film is like a rocket and the one liners which hold many perceptive views on the rich and on our money consious society are a clever reflection of societies values at the time. Like all Sturges vechicles under the comic nonsense there is actually alot being said that can be applied to any age or time. Enjoy "The Palm Beach Story" and definately treat yourself to repeat viewings of this 1942 masterpiece as you will, like me, find new things to admire, laugh at, and reflect on with each visit.

This video, which is based on a fictional story often portrayed as an authentic autobiography, is one more example of "playing Indian." It would be nice to see this story left in the dustbin of history where it belongs, with more genuine stories of Native Americans getting attention. Personally, I don't want my kids reading or watching a story about Native Americans written by a notorious KKK member. The appeal of the book and the video should make readers and viewers question whether they are partaking of a myth. There are several good films about Indians. This isn't one.

this movie is wonderful educating when you learn thatan
8 year old boy has to live in 1930;s living in 2 worlds
the indian and the other world people the grandparents
who taught him the old and the new way...please watch it
youwill not be dissapointed

Like another movie I recently watched and commented upon, "The Education Of Little Tree", is not a five star film, but it becomes one when its message is included. James Cromwell, Tantoo Cardinal, Joseph Ashton, Mika Boorem, and Graham Greene all give wonderful performances. Joseph and Mika are both young children, so their performances are all the more worthy of praise.

The Native Americans that are included in this film are The Cherokee People, and their story, including, "The Trail Of Tears", play a prominent role. Like other Native Americans, The Cherokee lived without destroying the land and the wildlife they coexisted with. They only used what they needed, greed did not drive them to exploit nature and destroy her, as we and our ancestors have, and continue to do.

The movie is beautifully filmed in the mountains of Tennessee, and the director took the time to capture the natural beauty that European settlers were to exploit and ruin. It's true some of this beauty still exists, but is largely because it has become national parkland, rather than having been left unmolested out of respect for its intrinsic value. Poignant moments are frequent in this film, and one is certainly when a young boy who is half Cherokee is sent off to a Dickensian nightmare of a school to be abused because of his, "Indian Blood". Upon his arrival he is stripped of his Native American name and given an, "American replacement", Joshua. It appears that biblical names were originally written for re-naming true Americans.

Graham Greene is a familiar face to many moviegoers and he is a pleasure to watch in this film. Tantoo Cardinal who plays the role of the young boy's Cherokee grandmother is also wonderful.

The movie does not resolve its tale on a completely happy note, nor one of complete despair. As it has in real life, time has shown all that was lost when Genocide was carried out against Native Americans as federal government policy. Had good judgment, and lack of stupefying greed worked to integrate the newcomers to this country with the natives that were here, I have little doubt our country would be better for it, and the facts of the country's history would not include the genocide of those people we deemed to be in our way.

Take a group of good ol boys from WW11, add a mad scientist (he must be mad wearing a yachting jacket in the Arctic); a wisecracking dame cup size D; isolate them; throw in some snappy dialogue, a rampaging blood sucking monster that doesn't mind the cold, winces a little when set alight, and is a threat to the world as we know it; and top it off with a scene stealing prop - a geiger counter with a flashing light; and you have one hell of a movie. If you willingly suspend disbelief, turn the lights off, and watch it uninterrupted, it will also give you a thrill or three.

OK! we all know the plot. We all know the Hawks-Nyby controversy.
We were all scared out of our wits when we were eight years old and saw this in neighborhood theaters (Circa 1951-1954)
Why?... It's all about that "Door" scene. When that door is opened, The Thing actually looks Ken Tobey in the face for a scant second before he swings. That's when we lost it kids! It's that eye contact we can't forget.

Has anyone ever noticed that about one or two seconds before the door is opened, a round "Soft Focus" effect covers The Thing's face? Even when the door is closed, the soldier's guns gleam in Soft Focus.

I rate this DVD 4 stars, only because there are no extras...However, the Lost scenes have been restored very nicely.

The Thing is finally complete (for now.) Perhaps in the future it will be re-issued with all the "Extras" it deserves.

Despite a no-name cast and several scenes shot in a Los Angeles meat locker, this fx-deprived film remains a science fiction classic. Modern moviemakers should take lessons from Howard Hawks in how not to lose the human element while letting your imagination take over. And though I am skeptical of the film's underlying message, at least the conflicts are plausibly posed and intelligently handled. Then too, there's the dialogue, long a Hawks trademark, that at times flows so effortlessly the rhythms approach the poetic as they underscore a free and easy banter among military professionals. Seldom has camaraderie under pressure been more persuasively portrayed, or the responsibilities of command more democratically depicted. Having seen the movie on first release, I am glad to say the highlights have lost little over the years, though I still puzzle over a super space-traveler who communicates only in grunts. And while flying saucers and nuclear-age mutants have passed into yesterday's lore, the clarity of the Lederer script and the excitement of the Hawks staging still happily endure, especially when compared with the muddled, over-fx'ed remake. All of which shows once again why more is so often less, and less is so often more. As the studio hosts at TCM like to say : this is a movie Essential.

Unlike Jeanne Crain's, Vivian Blaine's singing voice is her own and she outclasses everyone in the film. Compare her magnetism and composure to her partner, Dick Haymes, in their duet "Isn't it Kinda Fun." Real talent shines through and Vivian's delivery of a song is the only thing in this movie that doesn't seem naive, contrived, and dated. And to the reviewer who told us to "listen for Harry Morgan's voice over as the barker," look closely: that's no voice over... that young face IS the young Harry (billed as Henry Morgan).

This movie is pure delight. Yes, it has some of the corniest moments ever put on film -- but isn't that part of the charm of these old movies? The music is lovely (I just can't agree with those critics who call it weak), and even though Jeanne Crain and Dick Haymes look far too worldly and sophisticated to be smalltown Iowa farm kids, the movie has a colorful and homey feeling to it. It is about a time when people got excited about spending three days at a county fair, riding on ferris wheels and eating candy apples. Our world may be a lot more sophisticated and technologically savvy nowadays, but I can't help thinking that we've lost a lot of the fun that our grandparents had. This movie brings it back. Enjoy!

This was the first movie I ever saw, at the age of four at the Victory Theatre in Wellston, Missouri (The Victory, a new name for the Mikado, dumped when World War II broke out for obvious reasons). During "It Might As Well Be Spring" I was horribly worried Jeanne Crain was going to fall out of the windowsill of her second story bedroom window. I was so relieved when the song was over. This is a colorful, sweet film, though it does demonstrate as so often was demonstrated that only M-G-M could make M-G-M musicals. Jeanne Crain, the mother of many, always seemed to be acting with her mind on what the kids would have for dinner that evening, but she was lovely, so totally natural (my favorite Jeanne Crain film is the totally forgotten "Take Care Of My Little Girl," about college sorority life). Poor Dick Haymes is totally out of his element, though a wonderful singer. Vivian Blaine pretty much steals the show. She should have enjoyed a much bigger movie career; it's Broadway that won her heart. I love the roller coaster scenes. The coaster in the closeups is not the coaster in the far shots. The studio had a limited budget and, because of World War II, even more limited resources to build the darned sets with. "State Fair" has a lot of pasted-together elements, consequently, but if you don't look close (so much doesn't match from shot to shot and the big, overall shots of the Fair clearly are shooting a miniature that if you think too much doesn't make any sense at all) you'll feel you are at the State Fair.

The movie is enjoyable but slow moving in parts. Ingrid
Bergman and Joan Carroll stand out in their parts.

I wish that I had a nun like Sister Benedict. All of the
nuns I had in elementary school were rotten!

And for that reason is a good film. As a sequel to the
hit, " Going My Way ", this movie disappoints. Taken
solely on its own merit, it is a good and entertaining
film. This is not a movie for action buffs, or for those
with short attention spans. This is a movie for people
who enjoy classic movies with great actors, and who do
not mind a slower paced film. Just seeing the dog follow
Mr. Bogardis into church is worth the purchase price.

While I consider Bells of St. Mary's as a classic and enjoy all of the movies in which Bing Crosby stars, I feels that the story line develops a little slowly. Among those which I enjoy more are: Holiday Inn (an annual holiday season viewing) w/ Fred Estaire, Going My Way (w/ Barry Fitzgerald) and White Christmas (w/ Danny Kaye). Buy the collection, you'll enjoy them all