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The Body Snatcher (1945)
Superbly atmospheric, well written and directed
As has been said in previous reviews Karloff and Daniell are excellent in the central roles and the atmosphere generated on the low budget provides a perfect backdrop to a story of moral corruption. I think some other reviewers have missed the point of the subplot of the little girl, which is to provide the ambiguity of the death (or should that be sacrifice) of the street singer against this being the only way the little girl can have her progressive condition cured. Unfortunately the sequences with the girl and her mother do suffer as the performance of Russell Wade as Fettes is rather sentimental and anaemic, although this does have its advantages in portraying the character's moral weakness in falling in with McFarlane despite his reservations. The film works in that although Karloff's character (Gray)is undeniably evil, the other characters are all morally ambiguous and it would have been interesting to see whether Fettes would have carried on McFarlane's work as McFarlane carried on Knox's work before him. Definitely recommended.
Westfront 1918: Vier von der Infanterie (1930)
View it as a film in its own right
Although this covers the same broad subject matter as "All Quiet", there is a different and welcome perspective and the film making is very definitely more European in style, harder edged and more matter of fact, which I have to say I prefer. For the English speaking audience it does suffer in that it has not been cared for and restored in the same way as "All Quiet". The version I saw had some rather jarring (at least to my English ears) subtitles, which showed that the UK and the USA are indeed two countries divided by a common language. I'm not sure what German words translate as "What in tarnation". Having said that the film was powerful, innovative and quite startling in its use of sound, which we should bear in mind had only been in use for 3 years or so. If someone knows where there is a restored version for the English speaking audience (preferably on DVD) I will be first in the queue
Titanic (1997)
Three cheers for the iceberg
This may contain spoilers, although nothing I say could spoil any further this utterly shoddy and offensive piece of junk anymore than many of the comments already on this site. This films stinks from bow to stern. The banal and predictable dialogue and plot are only matched by its crass stupidity in the ludicrous national stereotyping. Jolly "Oirish" down in steerage begorrah, moustache twirling English villains and heroic Yanks (yawn). So far so predictable and in itself would make for a comedically bad film. However I found the persistent national stereotyping became more offensive as the film went on and came to head as the boat(and the film) finally sank. I'm sure I wasn't the only one hoping an albatross would drop something unpleasant on Kate Winslet as she stood on the front of the ship in that buttock clenchingly corny scene. The only thing I found moving was the bile in my stomach. Unfortunately some gullible people will take this as a historical document. It is not. Go and see "A night to Remember" instead.
The Third Man (1949)
As close to perfection as it can get
This is one of the finest pieces of cinema ever produced. I won't go into the plot. Other reviews have covered that already. If you haven't seen the film, you should have. If you have seen it, look again. I first saw this at a young age when it was just "an old film on the telly" filling in a vacant slot and it gripped me from beginning to end. Intelligent film making at its very best with great story telling, atmospheric photography and music perfectly capturing the immediate post war chaos of a shattered city with masterly direction from Carol Reed to top off Graham Greene's screenplay. All the performances are excellent, but my particular favourite is Trevor Howard as the world weary Major Calloway who steals the film even from Orson Welles. Joseph Cotten is underrated and does a tremendous job as the central glue to the plot, which is not an easy part to play. Ignore the Philistines who demand everything goes at 100mph. This takes its time and is all the better for it.
Lost Horizon (1937)
One of the all time under rated greats
A truly wonderful film. I first saw this aged about 6 or 7 in a butchered version on TV nearly 40 years ago. Even then it held me entranced. Now in its almost full version the true beauty of the piece is properly revealed. It is a perfect example of what film can be as an art form which entertains, embraces your imagination and makes you think that there could be a better world. I won't elaborate on the plot as it is well described in other comments / reviews. It should be viewed in the context of its time, after one catastrophic war and with another one already appearing imminent. Yes the plot is unrealistic, yes it is sentimental, but so what!! and to criticise it for this is entirely missing the point. I can find realism (or what philistines think passes for realism) and cynicism in a thousand other grossly inferior movies. I am a middle aged Englishman whose stiff upper lip still quivers in those last few scenes as we cheer Ronald Colman's character to his destiny. There should always be room for films such as this, and it is good to see from other comments that there will always be an audience for it.