SMH Staff
SMH Staff's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
Sydney Morning Herald
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Dark Angel (1935) |
The camerawork and direction are soothingly efficient. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Mar 10, 2023
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Flower Drum Song (1961) |
It is a conventional musical comedy, with the emphasis on comedy, and a score full of attractive melodies without distinction. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Feb 25, 2023
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Safety Last (1923) |
Seven reels of even the best farce must involve gaieties of rather thin humour, and Harold Lloyd's latest picture, Safety Last... is no exception to the rule. There also periods in it, however, when the fun is quite irresistible. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Feb 21, 2023
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Diabolique (1955) |
Clouzot, as usual, establishes a climate of evil unpleasantness right from the start, and yet it is useless to deny the peculiar fascination that this Clouzot unpleasantness exerts. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jan 26, 2023
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Frankenstein (1931) |
Splendidly directed. One could wish that an equal artistic sincerity were lavished more often on films of finer dramatic calibre. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jan 13, 2023
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) |
The result is a brilliant piece of technical ingenuity by artists who have infused then cardboard creations not only with the life itself but with wit and beauty. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Dec 20, 2022
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Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) |
The temper of the film is quite unstrained; it captures the spirit of an age of leisure. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Nov 10, 2022
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King Kong (1933) |
Artistically, King Kong is not a film of first-rate importance, but it is not likely to disappoint those who have a taste for a novel and spectacular show. Nothing quite of the same kind has been shown on the screen before. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Nov 08, 2022
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) |
Altogether, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington may be classed as one of the screen's most distinguished productions. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Nov 08, 2022
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The Shop Around the Corner (1940) |
The manner in which the pen friendship formed by James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan develops with the other aspects of the tale shows Mr. Lubitsch's adroitness in getting the most out of any story he screens, especially the comedy element. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Nov 07, 2022
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The Thief of Bagdad (1924) |
Douglas Fairbanks plays the part with genial humor and athletic skill. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Oct 21, 2022
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When Were You Born? (1938) |
Anna May Wong fits excellently into the picture... who dumbfounds the police by her striking predictions and diagnoses of character. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Oct 21, 2022
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Peter Pan (1924) |
George Ali cuts a wonderfully whimsical figure as Nana, the dog. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Oct 20, 2022
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Mr. Rock and Roll (1957) |
An interminable hit parade. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Sep 14, 2022
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How Green Was My Valley (1941) |
Because of its pictorial realism, great tenderness, dignified movement, and tremendous strength as expressed in its human drama and social conflicts, many will rank it with the best film ever presented. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jul 26, 2022
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Becky (1927) |
Not one rich person is likeable; not one poor person is repellant. Since this is very far from real life, where the varieties of character cut boldly across class divisions and set them at naught, the story has little human appeal.
- Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jun 24, 2022
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The Cradle Snatchers (1927) |
The whole production Is full of crudities and vulgarities. Even where
real humour does peep out, one has the uncomfortable feeling that the ice of propriety Is very thin, and that something questionable may develop at any moment. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jun 24, 2022
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The Last Laugh (1924) |
In spite of the technical originality that studs the works, and of the brilliance of Emil Jannings's acting, the film never carries the spectator away. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jun 24, 2022
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Buck and the Preacher (1972) |
Poitier directed the film to bring out the poignant side of a period in which freed slaves were trying to establish new frontier settlements, and has succeeded even at the expense of his own natural effervescence. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted May 27, 2022
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Rotten to the Core (1965) |
In between there are some dull spots, but Eric Sykes' flat-footed private eye is a comedy in itself. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Mar 03, 2022
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The Limbo Line (1967) |
This film has some difficulty in getting the wheels moving, but it picks up pace after a rather doubtful beginning. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Mar 03, 2022
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The Pink Jungle (1968) |
Fast comedy-adventure makes this treasure-hunt story an escapade which sustains the light touch throughout. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Mar 03, 2022
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Oliver! (1968) |
Oliver! is very much Dickens' story, but with Lionel Bart's rollicking music spread lavishly throughout, it becomes almost an opera at times. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Mar 03, 2022
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A New Leaf (1971) |
Acted and produced with an engaging light comedy touch. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Feb 09, 2022
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In the Heat of the Night (1967) |
The two best things about this film are Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier. Without them it would just be another cop drama. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Feb 01, 2022
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Porgy and Bess (1959) |
[Preminger] has achieved a production that is lovely to the ear, sumptuously sombre to the eye (in cinematographer Leon Shamroy's range of ambers and reds), and. occasionally, moving. The "occasionally" is the puzzle. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jan 19, 2022
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Nightmare Alley (1947) |
The story of a young mental-telepathist who unscrupulously sets out to achieve fame at all costs is told vividly through the performance of Tyrone Power, who shows unsuspected powers as a dramatic actor. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Dec 03, 2021
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West Side Story (1961) |
Wise takes the story out into the dirty, sun-baked streets where Robbins surpasses himself into the exploding excitement of the dances. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Dec 01, 2021
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All the King's Men (1949) |
Here is a fine, strong film, purposeful and compellingly truthful, about the career of an American political boss. It is also a film about people. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Nov 23, 2021
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The Ten Commandments (1956) |
It is all a grandly unrestrained act of regression to the infantile days of the cinema, which DeMille seems never to have outgrown. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Nov 17, 2021
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The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) |
It is a big, sprawling film which ultimately grips the whole of one's attention despite some weaknesses in the screenplay and director David Lean's handling of it. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Nov 17, 2021
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Sweet Smell of Success (1957) |
Despite some shrill overstatements that remind one that Clifford Odets had a hand in the screenplay, the film is a highly successful product of what might be called the "New York School" of filmmaking. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Nov 17, 2021
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La Strada (1954) |
Simple beauty is such a rare quality in films these days, when serious filmmakers everywhere seem to be turning to harshness and protest, that the tender humanity and compassion of this absorbing drama from Italy shine all the stronger. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Nov 17, 2021
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Marty (1955) |
[Borgnine gives] a brilliant performance, with some very clever changes of mood. His work is matched by Betsy Blair as the girl. Her eagerness and anxieties are shown most poignantly. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Oct 18, 2021
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Sunset Blvd. (1950) |
There isn't a doubt that [Swanson's] performance, pulsing with intense and often ugly emotion, is one of the half-dozen most exciting and most complete character studies of the year. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Oct 11, 2021
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Leave Her to Heaven (1945) |
The film by and large is good entertainment and its tone is fairly serious, but its colour is better than the average Hollywood abuse of pigments. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Sep 29, 2021
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The Little Fugitive (1953) |
Here's a film that's refreshingly out of the ordinary, by American standards, at any rate. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Sep 16, 2021
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The Littlest Outlaw (1955) |
This little piece of Disney juvenilia about a doomed horse and a devoted boy aims its thrills at the 7-14 age group, and hits the target with deadly Disney accuracy but... some of the older children are bound to feel that they are being unduly patronised. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Aug 23, 2021
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Black Orpheus (1959) |
A film that for ecstasy or feeling, and blaze of colour has not been matched. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jul 26, 2021
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The Maltese Falcon (1941) |
Few films have been so devoid of sentiment and so brutally realistic. For all this, and its definitely dramatic atmosphere, the production is, on the whole, disappointing, chiefly because of the obscureness of its plot. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jun 23, 2021
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The Philadelphia Story (1940) |
It is a long time since such a superb production as The Philadelphia Story has been given to the screen. [It's] brilliantly acted, produced with a rare elegance, and directed with an artistry that matches the chief characterisations. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jun 09, 2021
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North by Northwest (1959) |
Anyone with half an eye could drive a team of horses through the logical gaps in the ingenious plot. Some scenes are almost a parody of the suspense style; and there is some literal cliff-hanging. But the final result is... vividly entertaining. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jun 08, 2021
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The Last Days of Pompeii (1913) |
The scenic interest is well sustained, and the amphitheatre assembly, with the subsequent earthquake spectacle, represent a triumph in construction. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jun 04, 2021
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(undefined) |
The picture-story was splendid. It fully illustrated his escape from gaol and his highway robberies and all their desperate encounters. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Jun 03, 2021
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The Women (1939) |
The cavalcade of actresses expresses the story of casual backbiting and livid jealousy with a prodigious degree of accomplishment. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted May 24, 2021
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The Power and the Glory (1933) |
The result is a somewhat heavy, slow moving film which Is saved from dulness by the subtlety and vitality of the character drawing. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted May 13, 2021
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Modern Times (1936) |
Charlie Chaplin has not only done it again. He has done it several times better than ever before. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted May 06, 2021
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The Wizard of Oz (1939) |
It has a humour of its own, and, like a revue, it parodies everything that comes conveniently to hand. The idea of casting Billie Burke as the good fairy and Bert Lahr as the comic lion was masterly. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted May 03, 2021
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On the Waterfront (1954) |
Kazan's nervous direction... draws all characters with throbbing lifelikeness, and views them in a wintry environment that spreads its own dread into their drama. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Apr 08, 2021
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The Miracle (1912) |
Sydney spectators were treated to an entertainment differing entirely from previous film exhibitions... A clear impression of Max Reinhardt's genius of production is conveyed by the scenic and dramatic action shown in the picture. - Sydney Morning Herald
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| Posted Feb 26, 2021
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