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Reviews
My Best Girl (1927)
The end of an era
My Best Girl is Mary Pickford's last silent film...the last big go around for America's Sweetheart. In this film, she goes back to her roots...she plays someone her own age. Unlike the gothic Sparrows, or the poor low class lady in Suds, Mary comes off as striking and fills the screen with her beauty and charm. She plays a stock girl in a large department store, who falls in love with the owner's son, which at first she doesn't realize. She has to deal with her strange family, where they all look to her for leadership. The owner's son (Buddy Rogers, whom Mary later really marries) must deal with his parents and other girlfriend when he too returns her love. What's charming about this picture, is when I watched it late at night recently, is to notice how much the world has really changed since 1927. Remember when a family actually owned a department store instead of faceless boards of directors and changing CEOs? And how the cash registers rang up 5 cents for a total purchase? How the department stores has sales people every few feet to help you? How the street was filled with cars that now can only be found in museums? How innocent the dating was reflected in film...kissing was like...going all the way! It is also interesting to notice how the rich were shown on film in the 1920s. I'll bet most people in the audience could only dream of homes like those shown. And that all the actors and actresses you see are now gone, their image lives on in film..which is a moment captured in time forever.
Guimba: un tyran, une époque (1995)
A wonderful film
This film has beautiful scenery and a story of an evil ruler and his dwarf son. It is so interesting because it is not told from a Hollywood style point of view. It is hard to explain except that the dwarf son doesn't want to marry the most beautiful girl in the village...he wants to marry her mother! But she's already married. So the ruler must get rid of her husband by banishing him. Then the ruler wants to marry the daughter, that he originally wanted for his son. The husband of the woman gets an army of others to try to topple the evil tyrant. Interesting..... a great film for the production location, the manner in which the story is told, etc. (Hollywood would have jammed it with a loud booming soundtrack, and had more blood and violence.) Rent it. You won't be sorry. But you may have to watch it twice to catch everything.
Jit (1990)
A great story! Two bad the Hollywood doesn't make them like that anymore.
Jit tells the story of a young boy who seems to have fallen in love for the first time. The girl is from a richer family than he is from, so he spends an enormous amount of time and energy trying to convince both her and her father that he is worthy. She is already has a boyfriend, another man who has a shady reputation, but he has lots of money. It also goes against the stereotype most Americans have of Africa. You don't see any of Africa's wildlife...the city looks like any city in a third world country. What interesting is the influences of Britain (since Zimbabwe was once part of the British empire), and cultural influences of the U.S. world market. The star of the film happily sips a drink with a Coca-cola loga in the background for example. The film is in English. And we can't forget the music! The soundtrack is loaded with Africa's modern tunes, not tribal rants and drum beats. A great film. But it is hard to find. If you see it, grab it.
Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês (1971)
A great film if you can find it.
This movie is one of those that actually transports you into another time. It takes place during the 16th century with the age of colonization.
It is about a Frenchman who is mistaken as an enemy of the tribe that captures him. They think he's Portugese and since all white men look the same, he is their enemy until they can be convinced otherwise. The film, shot beautifuuly, follows his adventures as he lives among the tribe as one of their own, until the appointed time he is to be eaten. The film tries to show realism, therefore everyone is totally nude as they were in that era of time. Unlike most of today's blockbusters, this film has no special effects, no explosions, and it actually has some acting. Rent it if you can, but chances are it isn't at your local quickie mart.
As It Is in Life (1910)
A look on how times have changed in life and early film
What I like about this film is studying it as a time capsule of history. The story is basically of a father not able to marry another woman after his first wife's death because he can't afford to do so. He has a daughter to care for from his first marriage (when she grows up in the film she is played by Mary Pickford). So he sacrifices his happiness to raise his daughter. When she is an adult, and her father is old, she must choose to marry or stay and care for her father. She chooses to marry with some misgivings.. In the end, she brings her baby to see her father, and he finds joy in his grandchild. Imagine, in 1910, when the film was made, no one could run to the welfare office. People actually took responsibility seriously in caring for their kids and actually making huge sacrifices for their decisions in life. The father found a job, remained poor, but did the best he could. A college professor once told my history class that the baby boomers only think with "Me". Today, the father might have put the kid off on someone else, and done what they wanted to do. Look how many kids are raised without fathers today. This film is highly recommended, as a look at film study and a look at history. It is available on Griffith Biographs on Image Silent Classics laserdisc.
Prancer (1989)
My favorite holiday movie
Prancer is one of those special movies that come along every once in a great while that truly touches your heart. It doesn't rely on gimmicks or special effects, but relies on the characters themselves. Jesse, the central character in the story, finds an injured reindeer near her home, and believes it to be Prancer. And she nurses the reindeer back to health in order to deliver him back to Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. The true meaning of the movie is said by the preacher in the church during the Christmas service. Today's kids grow up so fast, and loose the child-like faith that Jesse has in a few short years. They then don't believe in anything that science doesn't prove. But Jesse, against impossible odds, sticks to her beliefs, and in the end brings back the faith of those who lost theirs long ago. Prancer is one of those holiday movies to buy for both your kids and yourself.