What Else I Watched, 2025Q2

Bacall on Bogart (1988)
Lauren Bacall hosts a retrospective of Humphrey Bogart from an episode of Great Performances. A fairly interesting and compassionate review of the personal and professional life of the Hollywood legend. Much of it seemed familiar. I must have seen it before at some point. 3 / 5.

Becoming Hitchcock: The Legacy of Blackmail (2024)
An interesting analysis of Blackmail, Hitchcock and Britain’s first sound film. 3 / 5.

Like Father (2018)
Bride (Kristen Bell) is ditched by the groom on her wedding day so she goes on her honeymoon cruise with her estranged father (Kelsey Grammer). Essentially a rom-com but with father and daughter. Seth Rogen has a small part and it’s directed by his wife. Good parts, meh parts, somewhat predictable and fairly forgettable. 3 / 5.

Do The Right Thing (1989)
This film would probably benefit from a full review. There’s a lot to say and I simply wouldn’t be able to do it justice after just one viewing. Suffice it to say it was what I expected and not what I expected. It is both realistic and hyperstylized. Every white kid from the ‘burbs should see it. 4.5 / 5.

The Melies Mystery (2021)
An hour long look at the professional life of early film pioneer Georges Melies, and his contributions to cinema. Definitely worth seeing. 3.5 / 5.

Hercules (1997)
Youtuber Lindsay Ellis called Hercules a hot mess. A hero’s journey without a character arc. She’s wrong. It’s a Rom-Com with action sequences, and it’s pretty good. 3.5 / 5.

The Princess Bride (1987)
Every scene sizzles, every performance is on point, and the script is pitch perfect. If you don’t like this film then we can’t be friends. 5 / 5.

My Little Chickadee (1940)

Flower Belle Lee (Mae West) is kicked out of town because she was seen cavorting with a masked bandit. On a train she pairs up with a con man (W.C. Fields) who scams his way into being named sheriff of the next town over.

West and Fields were huge stars in the 1930’s and this stands as their only collaboration. They did not get along. Credited as co-writers, she wrote her lines, he wrote his, and they didn’t speak when not filming. West, whose particular charms were greatly hampered by the enforcement of the motion picture production code, was on a decline. She would appear in only one more film before a brief revival in the 1970’s. Fields, on the other hand, was at the top of his game. However, drink was catching up with him and starred in only two more pictures before dying of a stomach hemorrhage. He was 66.

B movie veteran Dick Foran plays one of Flower Belle’s many love interests. Seventeen years her junior, he’s the good guy we expect her to land with. Also in the mix is Margaret Hamilton, the wicked witch herself. Here she plays the town busybody. The meek Donald Meek also has a small roll.

While Fields’ humor survives intact, the Hays code simply couldn’t tolerate West’s brand of innuendo. The end result is, pardon the expression, a rather flat performance. My Little Chickadee is interesting because of the leads, and not an unpleasant watch, but lacking in humor and fairly forgettable. AMRU 2.5.