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  #211  
Old 14th December 2016, 09:51 PM
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Default The Music Box (1932)

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The Music Box (1932)

Tall oaks From Little acorns grow.The boys have to deliver a piano,now that should be easy?
That's the house up there right on top of the stoop.Informs Charlie Hall as the postman.Ollie then repeats this to Stan,and they both look upwards to a rather high set of steep stairs going up to a rather grand looking house.There first obstacle is a rather cute looking nanny pushing a baby buggy,the duo happily oblige and let her pass,but as Ollie helps her with the buggy the piano slides back down the hill.This obviously amuses the nanny,so Stan gives her a kick up the backside, only to be punched in the face for his trouble,Ollie then bursts into laughter and get a milk bottle smashed over his head,violent these nannies.This leads to a rather funny scene where the nanny reports the boys to the police ,Policeman: He kicked you? Nursemaid: Yes, officer, right in the middle of my daily duty. So as the boys make there way back up the stairs with the piano yet again,they are beckoned from below by the policeman,Stan is sent to investigate.Which leads to another great line from the policeman when confronted by Stan,Policeman: I don't want you. I want that other monkey. Stan then repeats this to Ollie,who then does a double take realising he is the monkey the policeman was referring to,and of course as soon as Ollie leaves the piano it comes crashing down behind them.Stan then decides to challenge the policeman's authority for some reason and accuses him,Say listen, don't you think you're bounding over your step? Which then gets him hit over the head and poked in the stomach with a truncheon.So back up the stairs they go,and this time they are confronted by Billy Gilbert as Professor Theodore von Schwarzenhoffen, M.D., A.D., D.D.S., F.L.D., F-F-F-and-F,who calls the pair a couple of numbskulls and then gets his top hat knocked off by Stan,and it sails down the hill in the wind with the professor chasing it.This time the boys manage to get the piano to the house and nearly in the gold fish pond as well,and just as they ring the doorbell,Ollie is dragged down the stairs right to the very bottom.Eventually they manage to get it to the top,this time the postman informs them that all they had to do was follow the road and it would of brought them to the very same doorstep.So in what has to be the silliest scene ever,they takes the piano back down the stairs, back on the horse and cart and re-deliver it via the road.Of course no one is at home,so obviously they decide to use a block and tackle to lift the piano into the bedroom window and down the stairs of the house.This film genuinely makes me feel tired watching how Stan and Ollie exert so much energy into delivering that damn piano,it is also frustrating seeing how many times they get to the front door for it only to roll back down again.Its a classic,and pretty much a perfect film.
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  #212  
Old 18th December 2016, 05:05 PM
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Default A New Leaf (1971)

A New Leaf (1971)

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While im perfectly aware of Walter Matthau output and his considerable diverse career,I knew absolutely nothing about Elaine May's career and her work with Mike Nichols.That was until the release of her directorial début A New Leaf a few months ago.May has directed four films that I know off ,The Heartbreak Kid, Mikey and Nicky which stars Peter Falk and John Cassavetes,Ishtar starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman and of course A New Leaf.Apart from Ishtar which I had always been lead to believe was a bit of a turkey (but like the rest I never have watched) her film career was totally unknown to me,and according to the www A New Leaf was popular with the critics and such like but bombed and the cinema,but is considered a classic along the lines of Woody Allen's Bananas and Bud Cort in Harold and Maude.Also reading some of the linear notes that came with disc,it seems to have had a very trouble production,with Mays final cut running something like 180mins and having the final cut of the film taken out of her hands by producer Robert Evans even when May tried to hide the print under her bed. So what we are left with is a severely shortened version of May's original film,but this final cut is none the worse for that as it is still a great little film and deserving of its cult status,which is more than most films that pass themselves off as a so called cult movie. Walter Matthau as Henry Graham was a wealthy and decadent playboy who has managed to squander his family's inheritance and now sees himself bankrupt and at the mercy of his creditors.While considering suicide as an option,it is then put to him by his butler Harold that he should marry a wealthy heiress,but Henry also has he idea that he could murder her and inherit all her wealth in the process,he also needs to re pay his uncle Harry the sum of $50,000.otherwise he will lose everything. Matthau is in top form as the playboy who is pretty much useless at life apart from spending money.At the start of the film you see him wandering around admiring all the the things he can no longer afford,lovingly staring at restaurants and works of art he even reaches out touches the shoulder of his butler,frightened that he will even leave him when he finds out he is broke.May's film is quirky and off beat and her portrayal of Henrietta Lowell the rich botanist Matthau marries is just as quirky as the movie and just as brilliant.
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  #213  
Old 18th December 2016, 06:05 PM
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A New Leaf (1971)



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While im perfectly aware of Walter Matthau output and his considerable diverse career,I knew absolutely nothing about Elaine May's career and her work with Mike Nichols.That was until the release of her directorial début A New Leaf a few months ago.May has directed four films that I know off ,The Heartbreak Kid, Mikey and Nicky which stars Peter Falk and John Cassavetes,Ishtar starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman and of course A New Leaf.Apart from Ishtar which I had always been lead to believe was a bit of a turkey (but like the rest I never have watched) her film career was totally unknown to me,and according to the www A New Leaf was popular with the critics and such like but bombed and the cinema,but is considered a classic along the lines of Woody Allen's Bananas and Bud Cort in Harold and Maude.Also reading some of the linear notes that came with disc,it seems to have had a very trouble production,with Mays final cut running something like 180mins and having the final cut of the film taken out of her hands by producer Robert Evans even when May tried to hide the print under her bed. So what we are left with is a severely shortened version of May's original film,but this final cut is none the worse for that as it is still a great little film and deserving of its cult status,which is more than most films that pass themselves off as a so called cult movie. Walter Matthau as Henry Graham was a wealthy and decadent playboy who has managed to squander his family's inheritance and now sees himself bankrupt and at the mercy of his creditors.While considering suicide as an option,it is then put to him by his butler Harold that he should marry a wealthy heiress,but Henry also has he idea that he could murder her and inherit all her wealth in the process,he also needs to re pay his uncle Harry the sum of $50,000.otherwise he will lose everything. Matthau is in top form as the playboy who is pretty much useless at life apart from spending money.At the start of the film you see him wandering around admiring all the the things he can no longer afford,lovingly staring at restaurants and works of art he even reaches out touches the shoulder of his butler,frightened that he will even leave him when he finds out he is broke.May's film is quirky and off beat and her portrayal of Henrietta Lowell the rich botanist Matthau marries is just as quirky as the movie and just as brilliant.

Matthau is brilliant as always, and I'm a big fan of the original Hearbreak Kid. This is a film I'd vaguely heard of but never seen before, and I'm glad I took chance on the Masters Of Cinema blu-ray. They've not steered me wrong yet with my blind buys.
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  #214  
Old 18th December 2016, 11:08 PM
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Default Mutiny on the Buses.

Mutiny on the Buses.


Stan's love life is the central focal point for this film as he tries to leave the nest and buy a house and gt married with one of the clippees,Susy (Janet Mahoney). Unfortunately for Stan his brother in law Arthur (Michael Robbins) has been made redundant,which leaves Stan the only bread winner in the family and unable to buy a flat.Stan's problems are even more compounded when the bus depot gets a new manager. Mutiny has a fairly thin plot,based mostly on the fact that Stan needs to raise some money to move out and get married,but every time he thinks he can get away something all ways goes horribly wrong and scuppers his plans on moving out. So we get a string of vignettes loosely based the fact that Stan is incompetent and Jack (Bob Grant) his conductor is even more useless,while also trying to outwit there nemesis Blakey (Stephen Lewis). Mean while back at the Butler house hold Olive (Anna Karen) has her hands full bring up little Arthur,who is constantly sitting on his potty,or in some cases his dads newly got busman's cap.Out of the three films this is the one that feels like it is just an extended episode of the television series,with one or two scenes taken directly from the television show.The main one being Olive getting jealous when Arthur starts chatting up a female conductor,and Olive getting more jealous by the minute.But the film starts to shift gear considerably in the right direction when the manager brings in a new route around the local safari,and Stan manages to blackmail the manager into giving him the job of driving to the Safari and earning more money and getting to wear a rather snazzy Roger Moore like safari uniform as the new driver for this job. It does not take much to make me smile,but nothing is guaranteed to get a grin on my face than seeing a chimpanzee trying to drive a bus,or wiggle his bottom in Stan's face.Of course it is all very childish stuff and its hard to believe that this was considered anything but low brow (nothing wrong with that) and makes your average Carry on film look like it was scripted by Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde.Still it has all the required ingredients,women in skimpy pants,monkeys and crushing a mini van.
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  #215  
Old 22nd December 2016, 09:20 PM
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Default Are you Being Served. (1977)

Are you Being Served. (1977)

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While no one in there right mind could say that that the television show Are You Being Served was the top of the crop when it came to 1970's British sitcoms,it was very popular at the time and managed to last a lot longer than most,of course by the mid 1980's it was starting look like a dinosaur which needed putting out of its misery.But Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft have written an amazing amount of British sitcoms between them and with others like Jimmy Perry,there sitcoms dominated the BBC light entertainment schedules right up until the 1990's where there type of comedy fell out of favour. Ironically there sitcoms are always being repeated over the Freeview channels like ITV3 and Drama etc so whatever the PC climate is you will still see some middle aged men looking up the skirt of some dolly bird on a sitcom somewhere near you soon. Well it was no surprise that a film version of a popular sitcom of the time was churned out hoping to cash in on its tv popularity,and while it is no classic of British cinema or any cinema come to that they writers do manage to squeeze out a little bit more from the staff of Grace Bros. Of course we start out like any episode of the series,on the floor of Gracre Bros menswear/womens wear section,just as Arthur English as Mr. Beverley Harman is hovering the knickers off of a very young looking Wendy Richard as Miss Shirley Brahms,so we are all on safe ground,of course its not until we see Mollie Sugden as Mrs. Betty Slocombe union jack knickers and got a few pussy jokes out of the way that we know we have landed on terror firmer. But wait is that John Inman as Mr. Wilberforce Clayborne Humphries with his hand down a male mannequin's y fronts,yes it is,and is that a pair of comedy wind up teeth in those pants and why is Frank Thornton as Captain Stephen Peacock pulling funny faces. Any way it turns out that the store is being closed down for renovation and al the staff are being given free holidays aboard,eh what kind of communist utopia is Harold Bennett as Young Mr. Grace running at Grace Bros.Unfortunately for the staff of menswear and women-wear they have been sent to Costa Plonka, in Spain,and just to hammer home the point we have Andrew Sachs as a Spanish Hotelier.There is of course jokes involving Germans,toilets,pants,gays,sex changes and John Inman in a frock oh and the Spanish revolution.Im afraid to say it made me laugh.
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  #216  
Old 24th December 2016, 07:23 PM
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Default Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

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Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
No real need to review this film,because if you have not seen it yet or never heard of it,your either born very recently or your not a Python fan. Its just one of the best comedies ever made,and one of the best things the Python team have ever done.Well right up until they made Life of Brian,I cannot decide which is better.But what can be said about both movie's is that Graham Chapman makes a great leading man although I could see John Cleese doing an equally good job as King Arthur. Any how if you were like me and annoyed everybody at school by quoting lines from the film,then left school and annoyed your work colleagues by shouting NI,then like me you probably have no friends.
The recent 40th Anniversary re-release of the Blu-Ray comes in a most decidedly Monty Pyhtonesque packaging,with the box itself resembling the castle and several different farm yard animals that can be catapulted over the mock castle wall with a piece of plastic that is supplied within the packaging.Many an hour has been killed with me flinging cattle over the walls while shouting Ah don' wanna talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food-trough wiper! .This maybe one of the worst bit of film merchandise ever made but its fits perfectly within the Python universe.The disc it self has some nice extras,especially the out-takes and extra footage,my favourites being a longer version of Sir Lancelot the Brave killing the wedding party with a few bits of extra gore,someone gets a sword in the mouth and a severed hand make an appearance.Also an extended scene where King Arthur and Sir Bedevere the Wise threaten an old crone with NI.Also a close-up of a cow landing on one of the servants and the Black Knight not voiced by John Cleese.Not an essential double dip but still bloody funny,and for a low budget film from 1975 it sounds and looks great on Blu disc .And if you are like me and first watched it on VHS back in the day,you will notice that the transfer has definitely improved from its video tape days,very noticeable when King Arthur goes into the forest before meeting the Black Knight there's plenty of nice detail on the screen,and also the difference in audio quality is also notable,you have never heard coconut shells as good as you will hear on this disc,its like your actually there.
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  #217  
Old 28th December 2016, 07:45 PM
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Default And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)

And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)

Made as a sort of calling card to break into the American market before the television show was picked up by PBS,it is basically a pick and mix of sketches taken from mainly the first two series of the Python's television show.Not necessarily the best it has to be said but probably some of the more visually pleasing gags and on the whole it made a good preview of what the television show had in store for those who had not seen it at the time.In fact I remember seeing this film and The Holy Grail long before I had seen the television show, the sketches are faithfully reproduced for the film albeit on a more slightly bigger budget although it still regains its televisual feel. Starting with the How Not to Be Seen sketch,a great parody of the Government information film, of course there are a few of the early classic sketches in there including Nudge Nudge and Self Defence Against Fresh Fruit and the very funny Hell's Grannies.Interestingly the Terry Gilliam animation The Cancerous Black Spot,is slightly different on the television version in that they over dub the word cancer with gangrene,probably the most ridiculous piece of censorship ever. Of course it includes one of there most famous sketches ever The Dead Parrot,and although I suspect even the most hardened Python fan is probably sick of this joke by now it still funny seeing Cleese and Palin doing the routine,with impeccable timing.This is then followed by another most famous iconic sketch The Lumberjack Song,this is then followed by my favourite part The Dirty Fork where Graham Chapman complains that he has a dirty fork to a waiter while in a restaurant,only for the response of the staff over this unbelievable mistake to get even more melodramatic as the news of this oversight reaches all the employees,and Chapman is surrounded by the dead and dieing he turns to the camera and says "Lucky that I didn't tell them about the dirty knife!",very silly. What also nice is seeing the lovely Carol Cleveland who appears a few times and most especially in Marriage Guidance Counsellor sketch,not just a beautiful lady but also very funny as well.And now is not essential Python,but its certainly important in that step the Pythons made from television to cinema,and while its only a small piece of how good the tv show was,its still a good way to spend 90 mins.
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  #218  
Old 1st January 2017, 10:05 AM
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Default BELOW ZERO 1930

Below Zero 1930
Down on there luck yet again,the duo are busking out on the cold wintry streets,with the snow and blizzards blowing around them,Stan and Ollie are playing In the good old summertime,which for some reason is not going down to well with the local residents.What they fail to realise is that they have been playing outside a Institute for the deaf and dumb for two hours,so its no wonder the passer bys have not been making donations in there little tin cup.Of course it is only when Stanley moves his accordion that Ollie sees the sign. So they decide to up sticks and move up the road a little where they will be playing under some sort of heating duct.This time a local woman asks how much they make per street,she then gives them a dollar and tells them to move down the street. They do not have much luck,Ollie gets a snowball in the face from regular Charlie Hall,a pigeon drops an egg into Stan;s collecting cup,a rather large woman shoves a snowball into Ollie's face then smashes his double bass over his head,she then grabs Stan's accordion and throws it into the road where a car runs over it.Well there luck suddenly changes when they spot a wallet on the floor full of money,this is also noticed by a passing crook who gives chase,but after running into a local cop and crashing through a window,Stan and Ollie tells the policeman about being chased,he warns them about the area and about the local pickpockets.Well the boys invite the policeman to a meal to show there gratitude.After some rather large steak and onions have been consumed by the trio,it is time to pay the bill,in one of those massive coincidences you only ever get in the movies,the boys discover it is the policeman's wallet they had found.Of course he sees the wallet and tells the restaurant manager that he will pay for his share and that Stan and Ollie will have to pay for there's.The restaurant has a reputation for sorting out people who cannot pay there bills,and so the lights go out and allot of crashing can be heard as the pair are sorted out and thrown into the street,well Ollie is,Stan gets put into a barrel of freezing cold water,(something which seems incredible cruel considering the weather). When Ollie realises Stan is missing he tries to get back into he restaurant but he then realises Stan is in the barrel,but where is the water? Stan has drank it all,and waddles into the credits.. Below Zero is a great fast paced short running at just 20 mins,so zips along at a tremendous speed. And is there a more a bizarre sight than Stan Laurel looking like he has swallowed a barrel of water,alright its just a big ball up his shirt but its still a sight to behold.And the scene where the duo are playing there instruments is quite an iconic picture.
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  #219  
Old 15th January 2017, 12:49 PM
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Default Beau Hunks (1931)

Beau Hunks (1931)

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The course of true love never runs smooth,something which Oliver Hardy is learning the hard way when he falls in love with Jean Harlow (Jeanie-Weenie ) ,unfortunately for the viewer its just a photograph that we see and not the actual Jean Harlow in the flesh.Ollie all loved up sings a slushy romantic song to a very nonplussed Stan who really does not get it. A knock at the door brings a telegram and the news is not good,Ollie has been ceremoniously dumped by Jean,totally dejected he decides to join the French Foreign Legion to help him forget about his broken heart , naturally Stan has to join up as well. Beau Hunks starts of pretty damn good,Ollie's loved up mushy love song is horrible to the ear but funny as well,and Oliver certainly puts his soul into singing it.Stan on the other hand is for some reason cutting out an advert for fertilizer while also cutting a hole in the cushion,Stan's reply to Ollie's song is a classic,without dropping a beat he asks "what are you getting so mushy about" ,with seemingly no understanding of what Ollie is going through.This is then followed by Ollie's announcement that he is going to get married,to which Stan replies "You don't believe me",a great confusion of words that only he could deliver,this then leads to another great bit of dialogue as Stan asks "who to?" Ollie replies " Why, a woman of course. Did you ever hear of anybody marrying a man? ",its some of the best dialogue they have done.It has to be said that Ollie really knows how to play the love sick chump,while Stan manages to play it the whole scene quite unaware of Ollie's feelings and is more interested in knowing what the word levity means.The first halve of the film has some of the best dialogue and misunderstandings between the duo that has been filmed,the film suffers slightly in the second halve when they join the Legion,I don't think the French Foreign Legion lends itself to well to comedy, as anyone who has seen the film Carry on Follow That Camel,will testify to.It does include the classic where the duo come back from a long march and are sitting on there bunks,Ollie starts massaging his foot only to find he was actually massaging Stan's foot instead.Still apart from some minor niggles its a great short and highly recommended.
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  #220  
Old 15th January 2017, 01:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Inspector Abberline View Post
Below Zero 1930
And is there a more a bizarre sight than Stan Laurel looking like he has swallowed a barrel of water,alright its just a big ball up his shirt but its still a sight to behold.And the scene where the duo are playing there instruments is quite an iconic picture.
When i was young i always thought scenes such as this were real.

I was watching National Lampoons Vacation at four this morning so you'll have to forgive my burblings.
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