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Reviews
Fury (1936)
An overacted movie with a flimsy trial story-line.
The acting seemed way overdone, and the storyline did not make sense. Why were the 22 people on trial for murder, and not for mob rule--attacking the court house and setting it on fire.
How could they make a case for murder when they had no "body". Putting them on trial for attacking and desecrating a government building would make more sense. Then during the trial they should have brought up the fact that at least one person in the jail has not been found, but he's assumed to be dead. However, no burned body has been found.
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Great acting/actors, but....
...I found the acting to be somewhat "over-the-top". Also, the story could have been condensed a bit; it seems to go on too long for what was/is essentially a stage-play. The movie is over 2 hours in length.
The story is quite good (but long) at telling what life was like in the 50's, for a well-educated black family, trying to make their life better.
The Vanishing Virginian (1942)
A great movie about life in So. VA at turn of 20th century
I recently watched this movie on TCM (recorded from a few months ago). I became engrossed in the culture of Southern Virginia at turn of 20th century. This is a great movie (it does have a few foibles--such as making sure Kathryn Grayson gets to sing a lot). I have not seen many movies starring Frank Morgan, but he's great in this one (better than his performance in Wizard of Oz). So is Spring Byington--the two of them carry this story, with assistance from the rest of cast which is very good. I highly recommend this movie if you want a view into the life of an upper middle class family in this era, in Southern VA.
The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Was the Bannister actor (Sloane) really partially paralyzed?
I was impressed with the way the Bannister character walked, with the two canes, especially in the courtroom scenes. Was Sloane paralyzed, or did he take on this walking style just for this movie? I saw nothing in the bio on Sloane to indicate he was paralyzed. I just watched this on TCM...I found it to be a rather typical Wells's movie...even saw some similarities with The Third Man-the lack of clarity as to who was who, and who was guilty. But, overall I found it to be quite good. I even kinda liked Wells's accent, although I agree with others that it did not seem totally accurate. I would recommend this movie, along with the third man.