Agatha (1979)

In 1926 mystery writer Agatha Christie disappeared causing a media sensation. When she was discovered after eleven days she claimed not to remember anything of what happened. As the opening crawl says, this is a speculative story about a very real mystery.

Agatha’s (Vanessa Redgrave) marriage to husband Archie (Timothy Dalton) is falling apart and, after ditching her car, checks into a spa using her husband’s girlfriend’s last name. Fictitious reporter Wally (Dustin Hoffman) is on the case.

What follows was certainly not what actually happened. My guess is Agatha, under serious emotional distress, experienced a well deserved nervous breakdown. She pushed her troubles out of her mind, consciously or otherwise. And what better place to do this than a spa. Well, maybe not the spa in the film. That place looked dreadful.

Redgrave’s frightened and vulnerable glances contrast with the impeccably dressed and supremely confident Hoffman. Wally was initially intended to be a tall, blonde Englishman but when Hoffman became involved, he changed to, well, Dustin Hoffman. His role in the film was also greatly expanded.

I’ve been on a sizable Agatha Christie kick lately and I figured I needed to watch this before my DVR deleted it on me. Agatha was reasonably watchable, but with the potential of a mystery about a mystery writer, and two of the top acting talents of the day, this should have been better. Both actors may have been miscast but did what they could with the material. AMRU 3.

What Else I Watched, 2025Q1

I'm still evaluating if I want to do these posts, but until I decide I should just get on with it.

Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
I had heard this version was superior to the classic original, but I was surprised how much better. It is an impressively smart, well acted, and engaging film. Perhaps the best heist film I've ever seen. AMRU 4.5.

The Hangover (2009)
Still pretty funny but the humor didn’t hold up to a second viewing as well as I hoped.

Blue Velvet (1986)
I had only seen two films by David Lynch, Eraserhead and the misguided Dune. Blue Velvet was, well, weird. Lynch is among the most original filmmakers of all time. I'll pick off his filmography over time.

Double Indemnity (1944)
I’m a sucker for Billy Wilder dialog, even when it's corny to capacity. I will never tire of his top five films.

Bob le Flambeur (1956)
Slower burn than how I remember, but still fascinating. And it's good to see a classic film that isn't handcuffed to the production code. Another great heist film.

Only five non-blog films this quarter? I almost included another until I realized it fits my date restriction, just barely. See a trend yet?

Call Her Savage (1932)

Wild child Nasa (Clara Bow) leads an eventful life. So did Clara, come to think of it.

The film begins as a terrible western. A wagon train is led by a man who is spending time with his girlfriend rather than his wife and family. They are attacked by Indians and their bad luck is blamed on his wicked ways. The worst part is that his behavior will cause his young daughter to also be wicked. It’s in the bible, you can look it up.

Clara Bow became a huge star after 1927’s It and lived a wild Hollywood lifestyle. Things started to fall apart with the advent of sound cinema and the press taking a more moralistic stance on her behavior. She took some time off for a well deserved nervous breakdown and returned with Call Her Savage. It was a critical and box office success and completed her return to Hollywood royalty. She would appear in one more film before retiring.

Bow’s former lover and matinee idol Gilbert Roland appears as Moonglow, a half Indian. Thelma Todd plays Nasa’s romantic rival. Pretty, charming, and funny, she is best remembered as appearing in other people’s films, most notably the Marx Brothers. Her star was on the rise when she was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning at age 29. Ruled a suicide but was it murder?

Call Her Savage is Bow thumbing her nose at her detractors. Heralded a triumph in its day, it is merely watchable now, mostly because of its "pre-code" elements. Filmmakers initially struggled making dialog sound natural in the early talkie era, and this is on full display here. Also, Bow’s acting style was stuck in the silent era. I’m curious how she would have evolved had she stuck around another ten years. AMRU 3.

Death on the Nile (1978)

An odd collection of people embark on a luxury cruise down the Nile river. Most have an antagonistic connection to the lovely Linnet Ridgeway. I hope she enjoys the cruise.

This follow-up production to Murder on the Orient Express swaps in Peter Ustinov for Albert Finney for the role of Hercule Poirot. Finney found the makeup uncomfortable and the train too hot, so filming in Egypt was out of the question. Ustinov went on to play the role five more times, three being in TV movies.

Like Orient Express, and the Kenneth Branagh versions, we have a star studded cast. David Niven, Bette Davis, Angela Lansbury, Maggie Smith, and Olivia Hussey are traveler suspects. Mia Farrow was delightfully hysterical. Davis was quoted as saying "In the older days, they'd have built the Nile for you. Nowadays, films have become travelogues, and actors stuntmen." I can’t help but hear that in her voice.

The wife an I seem to watch a lot of crime mysteries, and recently been going through the Miss Marple’s from the 1980s, so this fit in nicely. It's interesting that Marple is turned into TV shows and Poirot into feature films. Mostly. I'll keep an eye out for the Margaret Rutherford films.

Death on the Nile is an excellent mystery with fantastic performances. It's a bit long but well worth the time. It deserves a rewatch. AMRU 4.

"What the hell is going on?
We're going through your private papers, sir, isn't that obvious?"

…And God Created Woman (1954)

Orphan Juliete (Brigitte Bardot) is a wild child, both shamed and coveted equally in her village. One admirer is an old rich guy who wants to buy a shipyard so he can build a casino. Also in the mix is handsome Antoine, who is returning to St. Tropez to run his family shipyard.

Cowritten and directed by Bardot’s then husband, Roger Vadim, the film made her an international sex symbol. It was a mixed victory for Vadim as she had an affair with her costar. Their marriage would shortly come to an end. He would direct a remake in 1988 with Rebecca De Morney, to lesser success.

Isabelle Corey, hot off her introduction in Bob le Flambeur, has a small role as Juliete’s friend. Old rich guy was played by Gurd Jurgens who at the time of filming was … forty one? Jesus!

And thus France's answer to Marilyn Monroe was unleashed on the world. Typical of non-Hollywood films, the elements mentioned above don’t play out as expected. And there are elements that will be problematic for those who forget this is 1950’s France. Take it for what it is. Brigitte Bardot is absolutely unforgettable, but unfortunately the story is. AMRU 3.

The Return of the Vampire (1943)

A scientist kills a vampire in Britain back in 1918 by stabbing it with a railroad spike, as one does. Twenty five years later Nazi bombs open his coffin, the spike is accidentally removed, and Armand Tesla (Bela Lugosi) is on the loose again. I’m starting to think that these Nazi people aren’t all that great.

This was intended to be a direct sequel to the 1941 classic but Universal threatened to sue. Bela is back as Dracula in everything but name. Same costume, same accent, same mannerisms. Fairly little of the story needed to be changed to avoid court.

This movie features perhaps the worst werewolf (Matt Willis) I’ve ever seen. In man-wolf form he is polite, articulate, and completely ineffectual. Wolfie was controlled by Tesla until 1918 when he became a kind and faithful lab assistant for twenty five years without aging a day. When Tesla returns, he goes back to being a mostly useless werewolf.

This was a hard film to find. It’s not in TCM’s regular repertoire nor could I find it streaming. It doesn’t have a great reputation but it is, mostly, Bela being Dracula, and if for nothing else was interesting for that. Turns out it was available on YouTube.

The Return of the Vampire Isn't great but it's not bad by any stretch. Coming in at a brief 69 minutes, some of the dialog seems inexplicably rushed. While it pales compared to the better in the genre, it’s fairly original and very watchable. It’s also nice to see Bela as Dracula, even if by another name. AMRU 3.

Sons of the Desert (1933)

Laurel and Hardy (Laurel and Hardy), loyal members of the fraternity Sons of the Desert, take a pledge to attend their convention in Chicago. The problem is their wives won’t let them go, so the boys hatch a plan …

Early comedy great Charley Chase has a small role. He appeared in only nineteen feature films but in over 260 comedy shorts, mostly in the silent era, before dying at age 46. He is frequently considered the forth great silent film comedians after "The Big Three", but there are a few running for that title.

This is essentially a henpecked husband story. Hardy is “King in his castle” but has to resort to trickery to get what he wants, then must face the consequences when found out. A TV staple for decades, but back in 1933 it might have held a tinge of originality. Unfortunately, we must watch it with modern eyes, and the comic potential is rather limited. And, as I have asserted before, Laurel and Hardy’s comedy didn’t stand the test of time. It’s just not funny, not to me anyhow.

I noticed something about how the boys framed their bits. It was almost always with Stan on screen left and Oliver on the right. There was only one exception, when they were trying to share a tiny bed for the night. If I watch another, I will take note. Sharing a bed was a very common gag for those two. I wonder …

I’ve given the boys another chance, and again they come up short. A victim of changing tastes, or maybe because they’ve been copied by so many over the century, but they just weren’t funny or interesting. Perhaps unfair but I call them like I sees them. AMRU 2.5.

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

While doing reconnaissance after nuclear testing in the arctic (what could go wrong?) Professor Nesbitt spots a giant prehistoric beast. Nobody believes him at first, but later we follow all the conventions of the genre.

Let’s get this out of the way. 20k fathoms is 120,000 feet, or over three times the depth of the Mariana Trench. I blame Jules Verne. But keep in mind, the beast didn’t come from the ocean. It came from the Arctic ice. Never let logic get in the way of a good movie title, I suppose. Looking at you, Valley of the Zombies.

Inspired by King Kong, it may have been a primary inspiration for Godzilla. This means that our Rhedosaurus beast is the first giant whatzis to be awakened by nuclear testing. While stop motion master Ray Harryhausen worked on Mighty Joe Young four years earlier, this would be his first time as head of the effects department, and he nailed it.

Cecil Kellaway plays the kindly old Paleontologist. That was his type. Most recently I saw him in Harvey. Lee Van Cleef and James Best make brief appearances and Merv Griffin does some voice work. I saw Van Cleef but I missed the others.

The Beast is a very by-the-numbers giant whatzis movie. It plays a little loose with the science but spins an effective yarn. But the important thing is that they didn’t fail with the monster. AMRU 3.5.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)

Loving couple Ann and David (Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery) discover that their marriage three years ago was technically invalid. Marital antics ensue.

This is the second film I’ve covered recently where Cary Grant was unavailable for the lead, the first being A Foreign Affair. Oddly I have never covered any of Montgomery’s films. None of his others are even on my radar. Perhaps the only reason why I know him is because he is Elizabeth Montgomery’s dad. He would never work with Hitch again. As for Lombard, she would do only one more film before tragically dying.

The 2005 Pitt/Jolie film was very loosely inspired by this film, but it was mostly a remake of a short lived 1996 Scott Bakula TV show, where it got the espionage/assassin angle. There is also a 2007 TV movie as well as the current Donald Glover vehicle. All of these later properties wisely focused on the action elements.

Lombard convinced Alfred Hitchcock to do this film, or maybe she didn’t. Hollywood stories are to be taken with a grain of salt. While there is humor in many of Hitch’s films, this stands as his only screwball comedy. I support his decision to avoid the genre. Few laughs, little chemistry, wonky ending. If you are looking for this kind of film, consider The Palm Beach Story, Move Over Darling, or even My Favorite Wife. It was just done better. AMRU 2.5.

The Giant Claw (1957)

A civilian electronics engineer (Jeff Morrow) is flying an Air Force jet for some reason and witnesses a giant UFO. It is soon learned that the mystery object is a giant bird, as big as a battleship. Mitch and systems analyst Madam Mathematician (Mara Corday), team up to stop it.

1957 seems to be the year of the giant thing. It saw the release of Monster from Green Hell (wasps), Beginning of the End (grasshoppers), Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Monolith Monsters (rocks), The Deadly Mantis, The Black Scorpion, The Monster that Challenged the World (prehistoric mollusks), as well as two of Bert I. Gordon’s giant man movies. This trend would luckily slow down.

Longtime friends may remember Morrow as Exeter from This Island Earth, a movie I covered … holy crap, fourteen years ago! Our pretty mathematician was quite familiar with giant things that should be small, having also appeared in Tarantula and Black Scorpion.

The Giant Claw follows the convention of the genre. Threat is discovered, after initial disbelief, authorities scramble to neutralize it. A small team is assembled (including a pretty scientist), the threat appears to be invulnerable, Deus ex machina, roll credits. The acting, science, and dialog is all pretty standard, parts of it pretty good. One thing that falls short is the creature.

Filmmakers initially intended on hiring Ray Harryhausen, but budget considerations caused them to go in a different direction. That direction led them to a ridiculous looking marionette. And while it is a shame that the effects tainted what was otherwise an equal to many in the genre, it did make the film uniquely memorable. It would have otherwise been just another competent 50’s sci-fi film, not quite as good as Them!

The Giant Claw is a very watchable flick. The contrast between the seriousness of the actors and the loony puppet is quite amusing. The dialog varies between pretty good to pretty bad. It’s established that Mitch is an electronics engineer maybe a half dozen times, and characters make the battleship comparison I don’t know how many times. AMRU 3.

Thirteen Women (1932)

A “half breed” (Myrna Loy) uses her exotic eastern powers to punish the girls who bullied her back in school.

Loy appeared in The Mask of Fu Manchu the same year, also wearing ‘asian face’. I suppose she was the go-to girl for ‘exotic other’ characters. Hey, it was the 30’s. Our protagonist is played by Irene Dunne, less foolish than the other women. Because of production code edits, thirteen minutes and two of the women landed on the cutting room floor. One whose role was greatly shortened was Peg Entwistle.

Some readers have heard the story of Peg Entwistle, the young British actress whose stardom was cut short by suicide. Days after the release of Thirteen Women, she jumped from the H sign in the Hollywood hills. There is lots of speculation why, but nothing concrete. And the Steely Dan song was likely not inspired by her story.

Thirteen Women is an interestingly weird pre-code film. Shortening to a mere 59 minutes may have had the side benefit of tightening the story and quickening the pace. A lot happens in a very short time. Still, a fully restored version would really be something, if just for the lesbian subplot. AMRU 3.

A Foreign Affair (1948)

A Senate committee travels to post-war Berlin to investigate stories of lax attitudes and inappropriate behavior by US servicemen. Among them is the young Congresswoman Frost (Jean Arthur). She sees our boys buying goods on the black market and chasing German women, but when she learns that someone has been covering for a cabaret singer (Marlene Dietrich) with a Nazi link, she is determined to uncover the truth. She enlists the help of fellow Iowan Captain Pringle (John Lund). Will love bloom?

It’s not a spoiler to reveal that it’s Cap Pringle who’s been covering for singer Von Schluetow. And Cap makes for a pretty poor romantic lead. Our introduction to him is pretty rough and it doesn’t get better. But this is Billy Wilder and he knows how to spin a tale.

Squeaky little Jean Arthur took four years off from filmmaking, and would wait another five for her last film, Shane. She was very charming as the naive and uptight Senator. She and rival Dietrich were both pushing fifty, very unusual for a film of this time. Dietrich, true to form, didn’t think much of her co-stars. She referred to Lund as a piece of petrified wood and Arthur as “that ugly, ugly woman with that terrible American twang". She never did play nice.

So, did A Foreign Affair stick the landing? More or less, I would say. From a story and dialog perspective, it’s not top Wilder. But it’s not too bad either. Good performances (particularly if you like Dietrich’s singing) and the footage of bombed out Berlin were quite striking. AMRU 3.

The Black Cat (1941)

The matriarch of a vast estate is nearing death and her greedy heirs gather to get their share, and maybe help her along. Into this our hero (Broderick Crawford) arrives with a batty antiques dealer (Hugh Herbert) in hopes of making some scratch himself.

Many of the old dark house tropes are on display, including the mysterious last will and testament, secret passages, a crypt, and creepy staff (Bela Lugosi). Creepy atmosphere, however, is undermined by the comedic tone, specifically from Herbert’s Mr Penny character. He would be the comic relief character had there been any tension to cut.

Herbert was a popular comedian of the 30’s and 40’s, and his likeness and distinct mannerisms were lifted by Warner Brothers cartoons. His distinct “hoo-hoo-hoo” was copied by Daffy Duck and inspired Curly Howard’s signature “woo-woo”. Basil Rathbone appears as one of the unpleasant heirs, as does Alan Ladd, whose career was just taking off. Some may remember today’s hero (Crawford) as the heavy in Born Yesterday.

Our hero enters the story uninvited with money as his motivator (and perhaps a little romance), is repeatedly told to leave, and somehow stays around sleuthing for clues. More than a little strange, it’s an awkward story contrivance that could have been addressed at least in part.

The Black Cat shares a title with the Poe story and little else. It’s only a fair mystery because of the precious few clues leading to the villain. Not much of a mystery, not much of a comedy, not at all horror, but somehow watchable. Consider the vastly superior Cat and the Canary instead. AMRU 3. I feel generous.

“Everything here is for the cats, which is why this place is going to the dogs.”

2024 Retrospective

I, like many old people, subscribe to cable. It's what we do. I record things, mostly from Turner Classic Movies, to watch when the mood strikes me. I don’t hoard them. I delete after viewing, but I record faster than I can watch. Much faster. This problem was occasionally “solved” when my rental DVR would crap the bed and I would have to start over. When my cable provider offered me a “cloud” DVR option, I jumped on it.

I didn’t want my year end wrap-up to be a rant, but here we are. On November 12th my cable provider sent an email exclaiming “Your Cloud DVR is getting a future-forward upgrade”. A consequence of this upgrade is that “Content recorded before August‌ 11 will be removed as part of this update”. The benefits of the upgrade, however, are that “Any content recorded after August ‌11 will remain available to you” and “we’re excited about the improvements this update will bring”, so I have that. This mass deletion was scheduled for December 11. Already angry that films were being deleted one year after record, which was not disclosed when I upgraded, I called to complain. That resulted in bupkis.

When the mass deletions did not occur, I was cautiously optimistic. But on January 8th, Cox Communications fulfilled their promise. I had binged a few films before the deadline, but ignoring the films that had already expired, I lost about forty films. Some that TCM seldom runs.

I could, in the future, prioritize films that are approaching the one year mark, and re-record when available, but the only channel I give a crap about is TCM. Paying for a full suite of channels for one doesn’t make sense. There is no streaming equivalent. There is YouTube TV, but they also expire films, sometimes faster than one year. Also their user interface is aggressively terrible.

But one thing I can count on is that this will happen again. Cox Communications hates their customers. About six or seven years ago a truck caught and yanked down overhead wires, cable and power both. Three or four houses lost service. Verizon got my neighbors back online within hours. Several calls to Cox resulted in several promises to have some out there soon. When nobody ever showed, I learned they had no record of my calls and I would be down for the weekend. One ass insisted he could send a signal to my cable box despite the cable lying in the street. At least they promised to prorate my bill for one week. They didn’t, but they promised to.

I realize nobody wants to read all this, but almost literally nobody reads the blog at all. I paired the rant down from ten paragraphs. Anyhow, my favorite movie this year was either The Last of Sheila or The Bad and the Beautiful (another reason to hate the selection of The Greatest Show). The worst was High Society, which was just dumb. Two best pictures, one silent film, one foreign language film, two musicals, three Westerns, and four Christmas films. Changes are ahead.

What Else I Watched, 2024Q4

For October I rewatched The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) then saw Little Shop of Horrors (1986) for the very first time. The Roger Corman film was adapted into an off-broadway musical In the early 80’s, then later adapted for this film and changed quite a bit along the way. I was pretty lukewarm on the first film and was again here. I didn’t love the musical remake as much as I hoped. I liked elements of it. Ellen Greene was spot on as Audrey. Rest in peace, Jonathan Haze.

I also rewatched Carnival of Souls (1962), which was fine. I gave it a four last time, and I will leave it there.

Wicked Little Letters (2023) is loosely based on a true story of a woman who was falsely accused in 1920 of mailing profanity-laden letters to a respected family in a small English village. I remember enjoying it but little else. I gave it a 7 on IMDb, so 3.5?

It’s been eight years since I watched The Bishop’s Wife (1947). I liked it fine back then, saying it was “quality holiday fare” and had “humor and heart”. On second viewing, I think I liked it even better. I’ll give it a 4 out of 5 this time around.

A Christmas Story (1983) is still charming and amusing and a must-watch Christmas movie, but I don’t know if it’s at the must-watch-every-season level. Like Carnival of Souls, a bit of the shine seems to have come off.

From Darkness to Light (2023) is a documentary about Jerry Lewis’ troubled production of The Day the Clown Cried. Long story short, the studio lost faith in the production, the producers failed to renew the rights to the story, and the existing footage was both praised and condemned by Lewis himself. The shoot was not complete, there is no final edit, no adaptation rights, and we may never see it. If Harry Shearer is to be believed, maybe that is a good thing. Fascinating watch. AMRU 4.

I first and last saw It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) fifteen years ago, when I called it a “Well made, satisfying movie”. I will revise that by saying it’s the best Christmas movie ever. Ironically, the climax was far more impactful the second time around. I will up my rating from 3.5 to 4.5, and my IMDb score to 9/10. I am looking forward to seeing it again next season.

Eight off-brand films a quarter isn't too bad, I suppose, but it was feast or famine for me. Three were in October and four in December. And truth be told, I haven't watched anything since. Happy nother year.

Penny Serenade (1941)

Julie (Irene Dunne) announces that she is leaving her husband Roger (Cary Grant) because they don’t need each other anymore. While looking through her record collection, she reminisces about their life together, the good times and the bad.

Dorothy Adams is a familiar face, memorable as Laura’s maid. Character actress Beulah Bondi also made a thirty year career playing old ladies, including It’s a Wonderful Life, which I rewatched this season. And if It’s a Wonderful Life is sappy done right, Penny Serenade is sappy done wrong. Starting in the second act the sentiment is poured on fairly thick, and it only got worse.

This was Grant’s first of two competitive Oscar nominations. He was up against Gary Cooper as Sergeant York, so he had no chance here. I never saw None But the Lonely Heart, so I don’t know what chance he had against Bing Crosby.

Penny Serenade is a tiresome watch. Grant is always entertaining, though I prefer when he doesn’t play an idiot. The story isn't very compelling, but it’s the sentimentality that ruins it for me. AMRU 2.5.