|
|
State Fair
(1933)
|
Charles Aaronson
|
Will Rogers... imparts a considerable portion of the humor, in the familiar and popular Rogerian style.
Posted Nov 10, 2023
|
|
|
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
(1933)
|
Gus McCarthy
|
Well mounted and marked by fine individual performances on the part of Nils Asther, Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Connelly, the picture nevertheless takes a long time to tell its story.
Posted Apr 25, 2023
|
|
|
The Dark Angel
(1935)
|
E. A. Cunningham
|
The technique of production and the tempo of story narration equal the quality of the performances, and that is high, at times superbly touching.
Posted Mar 10, 2023
|
|
|
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
(1953)
|
Floyd Stone
|
Everything in the production is top drawer, scene after scene, comic or serious, all blending smoothly.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
|
|
|
Back to Bataan
(1945)
|
William R. Weaver
|
Here is presented, in fiction so much like fact that the film partakes profitably of the flavor of a documentary without sacrificing drama or suspense, the story of the Filipino guerrillas.
Posted Feb 01, 2023
|
|
|
Spirit of Youth
(1937)
|
Joseph F. Coughlin
|
When he gets into character and the ring, Joe is naturally convincing and in his own element. However, when the lines must be recited, Louis' famed dead pan expression becomes as uncomfortably heavy as some of the wooden words he must speak.
Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
Frankenstein
(1931)
|
Leo Meehan
|
As a production is certainly is an adequate screen version of a famous story... Director James Whale has missed no opportunities to make it precisely what it purports to be.
Posted Jan 18, 2023
|
|
|
The Lady Eve
(1941)
|
William R. Weaver
|
In other hands the story of The Lady Eve might have emerged in any rut of routine from the risqué to the dull. In Sturges' hands it is made to sizzle, to sparkle, sometimes to amaze, always to amuse and entertain.
Posted Dec 29, 2022
|
|
|
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937)
|
William R. Weaver
|
It is a fine artistic accomplishment and it is also a commanding demonstration of shrewd showmanship. It contains the best of all the established Disney devices for instrumenting charm, and establishes a number of new ones.
Posted Dec 20, 2022
|
|
|
Steamboat Willie
(1928)
|
T.O. Service
|
I want to thank Mr. Walter Disney for giving me a laugh, one of the best I have had in a motion picture theatre in quite some time... It is impossible to describe this riot of mirth, but it knocked me out of my seat.
Posted Nov 14, 2022
|
|
|
The Maltese Falcon
(1941)
|
George Spires
|
Here is a picture that is volatile, eruptive melodrama. In its class, in which several similar productions have proved box office attractions, it is an exceedingly good picture.
Posted Nov 11, 2022
|
|
|
Meet Me in St. Louis
(1944)
|
William R. Weaver
|
As a thing of beauty for the eye, and as a thing of lively interest for the ear when the currently popular "Trolley Song" is being performed in sparkling fashion, the film compares more than favorably with the best in its category.
Posted Nov 10, 2022
|
|
|
King Kong
(1933)
|
Leo Meehan
|
King Kong is certain to be one of the sensational pictures of the year. There has been nothing comparable with it since The Lost World and this far exceeds that classic in clever process photography and dramatic story interest.
Posted Nov 10, 2022
|
|
|
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
(1939)
|
William R. Weaver
|
This essentially plain, powerful presentation of an implicitly American story about a boy who got into Congress on a pass and stayed in to whip the gas house gang under their own rules is by any and all measures Mr. Capra's greatest picture.
Posted Nov 09, 2022
|
|
|
The Shop Around the Corner
(1940)
|
William R. Weaver
|
Stewart gives his usual smooth portrayal and Margaret Sullavan goes along with him step for step. Frank Morgan handles a fundamentally serious assignment competently and Joseph Schildkraut is adequately reprehensible as the not too villainous villain.
Posted Nov 07, 2022
|
|
|
The President's Mystery
(1936)
|
Gus McCarthy
|
The show is dramatic mystery, into which an exposition of modern economic-social-political philosophy has been woven.
Posted Oct 25, 2022
|
|
|
The Thief of Bagdad
(1924)
|
John S. Spargo
|
The direction of the picture is no less a work of art than is the magnificent staging, and in this display of directorial talent Raoul Walsh has set a mark that will stand for a long time.
Posted Oct 22, 2022
|
|
|
A Study in Scarlet
(1933)
|
EH Staff
|
An active, well paced, mystery melodrama.
Posted Oct 21, 2022
|
|
|
When Were You Born?
(1938)
|
Paul C. Mooney, Jr
|
Because of the time involved in examining he zodiacal charts the action suffers.
Posted Oct 21, 2022
|
|
|
Limehouse Blues
(1934)
|
MPH Staff
|
It has action and above all, considerable suspense.
Posted Oct 20, 2022
|
|
|
Lady From Chungking
(1942)
|
Vance King
|
Though slow paced, builds to a climax neatly.
Posted Oct 20, 2022
|
|
|
Daughter of the Dragon
(1931)
|
MPH Staff
|
[Daughter of the Dragon has] chills and thrills, and the acknowledged splendid work of Warner Oland, Anna May Wong and Sessue Hayakawa.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
|
|
|
I Walked With a Zombie
(1943)
|
Vance King
|
Its many ingredients, most of them calculated to tingle the spine, are woven by producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourner in such fashion as to make them agreeable to the fans seeking thrills.
Posted Sep 28, 2022
|
|
|
The Pearl
(1947)
|
Red Kann
|
Pedro Armendariz, whose performance as the police lieutenant in The Fugitive was memorable for its incisive callousness, plays Kino and, for a second time in a somewhat different histrionic channel, again demonstrates dramatic virility and depth.
Posted Sep 27, 2022
|
|
|
High Noon
(1952)
|
Fred Hift
|
Cooper performs magnificently and the rest of the cast also are very good in what are essentially routine roles.
Posted Sep 20, 2022
|
|
|
The Life of Emile Zola
(1937)
|
Gus McCarthy
|
"Zola" is a very different kind of biography. It is educational, but primarily it is elevating entertainment of the most desirable variety.
Posted Aug 03, 2022
|
|
|
Ten Modern Commandments
(1927)
|
T.O. Service
|
There’s lots of color to the yarn, lots of comedy, lots of action and not a little information concerning the staging of musical productions and the selection of music for the same.
Posted Jun 25, 2022
|
|
|
Children of Loneliness
(1934)
|
William R. Weaver
|
The story consists of two principal threads, tied together about as adeptly as in the B-minus product of the B-minus studios.
Posted May 18, 2022
|
|
|
You Can't Take It With You
(1938)
|
William R. Weaver
|
Most of these [scenes] are funny and some are sad, but all are intensely interesting as executed by players who etch their characterizations and a director who knows what to do with a truck- load of superfire material.
Posted Feb 08, 2022
|
|
|
The Lost Weekend
(1945)
|
Red Kann
|
The Lost Weekend has power, suspense, intelligence and a performance by Ray Milland which unquestionably will rate him serious consideration for the 1945 Academy award.
Posted Feb 01, 2022
|
|
|
The Miracle Man
(1919)
|
EH Staff
|
The best review that could be written would be but scant justice to the production. It must be seen to be appreciated.
Posted Jan 11, 2022
|
|
|
Sacred and Profane Love
(1921)
|
EH Staff
|
Sacred and Profane Love will, because of the star, retain the interest, but will not make a lasting impression.
Posted Jan 11, 2022
|
|
|
Little Iodine
(1946)
|
Thalia Bell
|
Some of the dialogue which Richard Landau's screenplay puts into the mouths of his juvenile characters is far-fetched, to say the least.
Posted Jan 10, 2022
|
|
|
The Outlaw
(1943)
|
Red Kann
|
It is full of unintentional laughs, dialogue which is frequently outlandish and appallingly bad and because it is loaded with comedy situations which might have been funny on paper, but are not on film.
Posted Dec 09, 2021
|
|
|
Nightmare Alley
(1947)
|
James D. Ivers
|
The direction, by Edmund Goulding, is taut and to the point, within the limits of the eviscerated story. Suspense is continuous, provided the interest of the audience is initially engaged.
Posted Dec 03, 2021
|
|
|
The Great Ziegfeld
(1936)
|
MPH Staff
|
In comparison, no previous music dance spectacle, no matter how elaborately produced, approaches it from a standpoint of sheer brilliance and beauty.
Posted Dec 02, 2021
|
|
|
His Girl Friday
(1940)
|
Walter Selden
|
The unfolding of the screen play is primarily by means of dialogue, but dialogue of a caliber and pace which makes it the essence of action.
Posted Oct 14, 2021
|
|
|
Sunset Boulevard
(1950)
|
James D. Ivers
|
The picture is outstanding especially for a magnificent performance by a name which once was magic on any theatre marquee. Gloria Swanson... will once again give [audiences] their money's worth.
Posted Oct 11, 2021
|
|
|
Leave Her to Heaven
(1945)
|
William R. Weaver
|
On points, it's about the most elaborately treated murder melodrama in convenient memory.
Posted Sep 29, 2021
|
|
|
The Thing
(1951)
|
Red Kann
|
Dramatically, the picture is contrived and rambling; it also takes quite a bit of footage to get to its point. Audiences will have to be in the Buck Rogers mood to accept it.
Posted Sep 21, 2021
|
|
|
George Washington Carver
(1940)
|
Joseph F. Coughlin
|
This screen biography has its place in interest as an educational piece.
Posted Jul 22, 2021
|
|
|
The Philadelphia Story
(1940)
|
Joseph F. Coughlin
|
Slick and sophisticated and with the double advantage of having as two points in the stellar triangle, Cary Grant and James Stewart.
Posted Jun 09, 2021
|
|
|
Upstairs
(1919)
|
EH Staff
|
There is nothing but comedy in the five reels, but that comedy is of the light, semi-serious variety that does not pall. Mabel Normand is well supplied with comedy bits that are distinctly "in her line" and she revels in the opportunities given her.
Posted Jun 02, 2021
|
|
|
The Way of All Flesh
(1927)
|
T.O. Service
|
I herewith make record that this picture contains the best acting I have seen in more years than I like to enumerate.
Posted May 20, 2021
|
|
|
Gold Diggers of Broadway
(1929)
|
Douglas Fox
|
Gold Diggers of Broadway has a pretty high average of entertainment.
Posted May 19, 2021
|
|
|
The Great Gatsby
(1926)
|
T.O. Service
|
I think The Great Gatsby is pretty much flop. Further, I think the director flopped it.
Posted May 19, 2021
|
|
|
Squadron Leader X
(1943)
|
Aubrey Flanagan
|
Its story is -- despite fictional errors -- a gripping one, [and] it has a fine atmosphere of suspense and misty drama, some grand characterizations, and a topline performance by an increasingly popular British star -- Eric Portman.
Posted May 14, 2021
|
|
|
The Power and the Glory
(1933)
|
Terry Ramsaye
|
So much furore and fuss has been made of the manner of the telling, in the exploitation of "narratage," that it will be possible that the excellences of the story and the performances of the players in this rather unusual production will be neglected.
Posted May 13, 2021
|
|
|
For the Freedom of the World
(1917)
|
EH Staff
|
[For the Freedom of the World is] a worthy and patriotic recruiting vehicle. It is a thoroughly ambitious and powerful theme, broadly handled.
Posted May 13, 2021
|
|
|
49-17
(1917)
|
EH Staff
|
'49-'17 is one of those productions which makes one move from one side of the seat to the other, open and close the eyes, and then finally drop off to sleep without the slightest effort.
Posted May 11, 2021
|
>