Reviews (38)

Choreography of a Kiss
The newly released DVD of 20th Century Fox's production of W. Somerset Maugham's "The Razor's Edge" is a cinematic treasure. The direction by Edmond Goulding is top notch and captures the glamour and decadence of post World War I Paris in glittering perfection. Much praise must go to the art and set direction by Richard Day and Nathan Juran. Over 80 sets were constructed; some only glimpsed for a few moments evoke the period and splendor of the time and place. The production values of this picture are of the highest quality of this, Fox's "Important Picture for 1946".Goulding was famous for long takes and he is aided by the brilliant cinematographer Arthur C. Miller. The score by Alfred Newman is magnificent though surprisingly sparse for a film from the 1940's His use of source music and songs of the period help to inform the viewer of character and mood. His main theme is majestic and stirring and its reprise at the end is something near to epic played against a close-up of Tyrone Power and dissolves into the crashing waves against a tramp steamer.
Though a little too old and too handsome for the role of Larry Darell Tyrone Power, turns in a beautifully felt performance of a man in search for himself and his place in the world. A very modern and complex idea for the 1940's involving a trip to India and consultations with a guru. Gene Tierney is perfect as the woman who loves him and will stop at nothing to get him. This underrated beauty gives one of her best performances in an unsympathetic role.Anne Baxter, who won her Oscar as Sophie, is at times touching, real and yet manages to chew her share of the scenery toward the end of the picture. She is just plain fun to watch. But the picture is completely stolen by the wonderful, prissy and perfect performance of Clifton Web. His bravery as an actor in his last scene when he cries "There are going to be fireworks" is to be applauded. He perfectly captures the futile collapse of a shallow man as not many in Hollywood at that time might have dared.
There is one scene that epitomizes the skill and craft of film making in the end of the golden age and that is the chapter on the DVD entitled "Last Fling". All the powers of the actors, director, cinematographer, set designers, lighting technicians, and composer come together in this nearly silent montage and the subsequent scene at dawn in Tierney's Paris apartment. Larry's and Isabel's night on the town moves through a sumptuous Paris nightclub, to a Russian restaurant, and on to a hot jazz club where a fist fight ensues. Watch the extras in this scene. They are the stars here and each have a tale to tell in there brief moments on screen. I was reminded of Scorsese's Coconut Grove scenes in "The Aviator" by this impeccably directed montage and wondered if it had in fact influence him being the film historian he is.
But the best is yet to come, upon arriving home Isabel and Larry move through a brilliantly choreographed scene that leads up to a kiss and then a rejection. There is no dialog, only the pantomime of the actors and the accompaniment of the musical score. In this we learn all we need to of her motives and desire and his reaction and acceptance. It is very sexy and intense and the only bit of clothing that is lost is her shawl.
It is brilliant and movie storytelling at its best.
There is also a wonderful commentary by film historians Anthony Slide and Robert Brichard. Also included is a Fox Movietone News reel of other aspects relating to the film. Don't miss this wonderful classic from Fox's brilliant Studio Classics collection. They really know how to present their treasures to us as few other studios do.

Seeker, visionary.
This is my favorite movie of all time.It is intellectually, artistically, soulfully, authentic, honest, rare, uplifting, and truly divine.A masterpiece.

BRAVO!

Krystyna
Virginia Beach
www.krystynavabeach.com
www.loveabye.com
www.ceb-associates.com

The title says it all!
Just think about the title. Have you ever heard the expression "Walking the razors edge?"That is what Larry in the movie was looking for.He was looking for self-realization and god-realization.His journey began in the war.Why was he alive and others died?What was his purpose? It had to be more than this daily existance.His experiences had given him reason to ponder more than the ordinary life.He had to find the finer path to walk, that razors edge.Not quite here and not quite there. With what he learned he also was trying to help others as well. The coin with Sophies husband got him back on his feet.The invitation before the death of the Uncle. Anyway, This is one heck of a movie and I would recommend it highly.

Still moves me.
I first saw this movie in the late 80's as a late, late show.I then took 12 months of looking in every book store to find a copy of the book.I was young and lost.This movie spoke to me and told me it was alright to feel the things I felt.I have just watched it again and it still talks to me.I shared tonight's experience with my husband and close friends.They did not understand my feelings for the movie but still enjoyed it.I am now going to read the book again (I lost the book twice and had to hunt to purchase two more copies!)I am also waiting in anticipation of the DVD release.

Watch it and be moved!

Why isn't this out on DVD? (Skip the Bill Murray version!)
This 1946 version of "The Razor's Edge" is FAR superior to the 1980s Bill Murray version.Nothing against Murray, but we was WRONG in the lead.The original 1946 version was moving.It was acted brilliantly, directed with love, filmed in beautiful shades or grey, and hauntingly scored.Why isn't this out on DVD?Its a real shame that some studios keep some films hostage and won't release them on DVD.The book is literally impossible to film, yet the 1946 version makes a successful effort.Its a very moving, spiritual movie that I would reccomend to anyone.See it! ... Read more

Amazon.com

The long-awaited emergence of Nightmare Alley into the light of DVD should achieve two things: make a legendary film noir available to a new generation, and restore the horrific charge to the lately watered-down term geek, a concept that once had the power to give people very bad dreams indeed.

To his lasting credit, Tyrone Power--20th Century Fox's extraordinarily handsome but not terribly interesting star of the '30s and '40s--begged for the chance to play Stan Carlisle, the predatory charmer who snakes his way through this bracingly unwholesome story. A spieler for--and lover of--carnival mind reader Zeena (Joan Blondell), he displays uncanny skill at "reading" the susceptible rubes, including a tough sheriff who turns to jelly after Stan psychs him out. Once Stan's mastered the intricate code used in Zeena's act, he's set to dump her for the younger, sexier Molly (Coleen Gray) and go bigtime as nightclub psychic "Stanton the Great." After that, it's only a blasphemous bank shot to superstardom as a miracle worker with his own tabernacle and radio show.

Few '40s films ventured as deeply into cynicism as Nightmare Alley, or dealt so frankly with sexuality (with ripplings of polymorphous perversity yet) and power-tripping. The movie's rhythm is uncertain and Jules Furthman's screenplay telegraphs things, but the overall tone is remarkable, as are individual sequences: the freaky forced marriage of Stan and Molly in accordance with carny morality, and a creepy night scene in a park when Stanton the Great raises a ghost for a high-society client. Cinematographer Lee Garmes's chiaroscuro creates a relief map of the carnival world and what passes for life there. As for the geek... well, you'll find out what geek means. Stan does. --Richard T. Jameson ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The Greatest Film Noir You Never Saw!!
It's about time this amazing classic film is made available to the public!For years this movie has been withheld due to copyright disputes.I was fortunate enough to get an excellent VHS copy some years ago from a collector, and can attest firsthand that this movie is an absolute cinematic masterpiece.

Nightmare Alley is a twisted ride from the start in its depiction of the ugly side of carnival life. This movie is, hands down, Tyrone Power's finest hour in his acting career!He plays a heel with gritty realism as his character embarks upon his rise and fall, using everyone to further his own ambitions.His ambiguous performance leaves us sometimes sympathetic and sometimes with disgust.

And what an amazing supporting cast!!Joan Blondell plays a more evolved rendition of her 30's tough-mouthed, strong-shouldered, cynically-witted dames, and gives a very rounded performance.She has a dangerous edge despite her on-the-surface saintly devotion to her husband in the film.Joan's acting in this film is undeniably great, and worthy of recognition.

But my favorite performance in the film is that of Helen Walker, who also gives her finest and most memorable performance out of the many fine roles she's played in other significant film noirs.Her acting in the movie is wickedly fierce as she gives new meaning to the term 'femme fatale'.

Aside from the acting, the black and white cinematography is brilliant, and it has a perversely modern feel to it!And to say anything else would be to say too much! See for yourself. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT
The famous film which was produced and directed by Howard Hughes and introduced a sensational new platinum blonde siren by the name of Jean Harlow. The simple plot has two brothers leave their studies at Oxford to join the British Royal Flying Corps at the outbreak of WWI. In its day, the film garned fantastic reviews for the aerial sequences which are first rate. The air shots were considered awesome, thrilling and immensely impressive to the audiences of 1930. The acting was merely sufficient; even in pantomime, it would be hard to accept Jean Harlow as an English girl or Lyon & Hall as Oxford students. It would take Harlow more acting experience in the movies before her comedic gifts would be realised and appreciated by the public and critics alike. Critics had field day exposing the inept "acting" of Harlow in her early pictures; however beginning with RED HEADED WOMAN (1932) the critics and public alike were beginning to sit up and stare with utter amazement and delight at her metamorphasis as an actress. In the priorly named picture, the titian haired (it was dyed for her role) Harlow knocked the critics socks off with her uninhibited playing and in her next picture she would be teamed with none other than Gable. RED DUST was a sensational blockbuster in 1932.

Hell's Angels in Bi-Planes
Hell's Angels is an amazing film. It is certainly the best WWI aviation film, although Wings runs it close, and it has flying sequences that are simply staggering, because they are so obviously real. There is a wonderful sequence depicting the attack on an enormous Zeppelin which shows how the giant airship actually operated and gives a sense of its size, slowness and vulnerability. Also worthy of note is a mass dogfight involving a captured German bomber, Baron Von Richthofen's Flying Circus and what seems like most of the Royal Flying Corps. At times the sky is filled with bi-planes performing thrilling manoeuvres, but the film does not fail to show the individuals in this fight and to point out the horrific human cost of the fighting. Hell's Angels is in fact surprisingly violent, showing men consumed in flames and screaming to their deaths. Actually it is remarkably frank in a number of ways. Jean Harlow gives a star-making performance which oozes sex. She never looked better especially when uttering her famous line 'Would you be shocked if I put on something more comfortable?' Here is a woman who knows what she wants and doesn't allow conventions to get in her way. What's more the film doesn't attempt to tone-down this characterization. She frankly admits she wants nothing to do with marriage and family values and it is this frankness which must have seemed so shocking to contemporary audiences. Hell's Angels is also not afraid to show flyers full of fear and questioning the point of the war. It's most sympathetic character is a coward who just wants to live. The story is thus rather unusual, especially for a war film, for it does not contain the heroics and the heroes so familiar from the genre, but rather shows the grim determination of scared men to get the job done.

It is possible to find a few criticisms of this film. The two leading men are only adequate as actors and lack the charisma of more familiar thirties leading men. Furthermore they are not particularly convincing as Englishmen for they make little attempt to disguise their American accents. Also the German characters are a little too stereotypical and at times slightly ludicrous, especially in one scene where they show their Teutonic willingness to die for the Fatherland by jumping from a Zeppelin.

The print used for this MCA Universal video is first class. It has been restored so that it includes some tinted night and early morning scenes and includes a wonderful early Technicolor party scene. The sound is better than is often the case with early talkies; there is very little background noise, although there are some snatches of dialogue which are a little indistinct. This is a high quality video and essential viewing for fans of WWI aviation films.

Better Than Anticipated
It has been my experience that early talkies (1928-1931), with exceptions, tended to be slow and laborious in pacing. By 1932, they greatly improved in timing. With this in mind, I expected Hell's Angels (released in 1930) to be very trying, but it turned out to be a superb film about men in war. The drama between the men (Ben Lyon and James Hall) and Jean Harlow was rather lame, but the rest of the film showed a sophistication rare to 1930 films. I highly recommend this film.

A Landmark Aviation Film
I happened to catch this film for the first time on the big screen on August 6th, at the classic Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA. What an experience! Yes, the dialogue was corny and somewhat dated, although, I feel that many reviewers tend to somewhat over-exaggerate this just a bit in their assessment of the film. The eight-minute two-color sequence is worth viewing in itself (especially seeing that this is the only existing color footage of the beautiful Jean Harlow) as an early example of the evolution of technicolor. The battle sequences had the audience on the edge of their seats, and the sultry Harlow had the audience in an uproar. All in All, this film is worth owning because of it's historical significance alone, and the non-aerial scenes are quite enjoyable and breath-taking. We must remember that films, like everything else, are products of the era in which they're made, and we must keep in mind that the political correctness which saturates today's films may seem "corny" as well, some fifty-sixty years from now.

The best flying movie ever made
Hell's Angles is the best flying movie ever made says almost anyone who has ever seen it. It, like Battle of Britain, has scenes that can never be filmed again.

Unfortunately, most of the non-flying scenes are as bad as the rest is great. However, the flying sequences must be seen to be believed. The two pilots who crashed their SPAD 13s head-on in mid air were paid $1000 extra each, according to Ceiling Zero, a book by the great stunt pilot Dick Grace, one of the stunt pilots who did the deed. Another stunt man was killed in the bomber crash, as was the driver of the ammo truck. I mention this to bring out the "real effects" nature of the picture. All pilots who flew in the sequences were WWI vets recruited by Hughes.

What really makes the picture is the amazing cloud-filled battle sequences filled with actual British Sopwith Camels, SE-5As, French Nieuports, and german Fokker D-VIIs. So what that they are painted wrong and that anyone can tell that they are filmed over California. This is, was, and shall ever remain the real thing. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

This Academy Award winner for Best Picture is a sweeping soap opera about the guests at the Grand Hotel. Several plots intertwine, but mostly it's about Stars! Stars! Stars! Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, and both Barrymore brothers head up the cast. Garbo is luminous as Grusinskaya, the neurotic and famous-but-slipping dancer and, yes, she "vonts to be alone." John Barrymore is a cat burglar with blue blood and a heart of gold, and Lionel Barrymore happily caroms off him as Mr. Kringelein, a dying man who wants to live out the time he has left with the rich. Joan Crawford is perhaps the biggest surprise of the movie: as Flaemmchen, a young career girl trying to decide between secretary and tart, she is uncharacteristically funny, vivacious, and downright bubbly. Along the way we discover that money, fame, and titles don't guarantee happiness, and being a jewel thief doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. The nicest touch is the hint that other, minor plots swirl around the edges of the film, suggesting that we've only seen a small chapter of the hotel's story. Grand Hotel is a great deal of fun and an excellent chance to see some famous faces in their prime. --Ali Davis ... Read more

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Absolutely one of the most hilarious movies ever made, this classic farce featuring the outrageous genius of the Marx Brothers is a chance to see some of their best bits woven together seamlessly in a story of high society, matchmaking, and chaos. In order to bring two young lovers together, brothers Groucho, Chico, and Harpo must sabotage an opera performance even as they try to pass themselves off as stuffed shirts. Featuring the classic sequence where Groucho piles as many people as possible into a ship's stateroom, A Night at the Opera is a deliciously zany romp worth watching again and again. --Robert Lane ... Read more

Reviews (40)

The 2nd Best Marx after Duck Soup
Night at the Opera is different from their first 5 - in a nutshell, as everyone else had commented, there's no Zeppo, more music, Margaret Dumont is back, bigger role for romantic leads, and the comedy is somewhat more disciplined, i.e., the antics are perhaps less spontaneous than earlier films.

I understand criticisms leveled by those who prefer to skip the plot, musical numbers, and romantic plot development, but I wholeheartedly disagree that the movie is somehow lesser because of it, particularly the music. The brothers were an extemely musically talented trio, and throughout their lives saw themselved less as a Comedy show and more a variety show. To disregard the musical numbers as "filler" is to show a lack of appreciation for a performing art they held in very high regard.

I have always felt The Marx Bros. were more "in Character" here than in most of their other films (Duck Soup, Horse Feathers, Animal Crackers, are also good in this regard, as is Day at the races, to a lesser degree). Everything from the contract swindle ("the party of the first part...") to the organized fooling of sgt. Henderson ("now there are four beds - I know I'm crazy!") to the stateroom bit ("Is my Aunt Minnie in here?") to the methodically brilliant destruction of Il Trovatore in the finale are examples of great writing that suited the personalities of the brothers.

Duck Soup or Horse Feathers may be their funniest films, and Animal Crackers may be more memorable for it's classic scenes, but Night at the Opera in my opinion is the most well-balanced of all thier movies. I feel it's the best-written, best-produced, has the best plot, and contains BY FAR the best acting among suporting roles. If Duck Soup weren't so well-paced and funny, Night at the Opera would be my favorite.

The Marx Brothers at their very, very, best. Classic Comedy
On the one hand I want to say that I think "A Night at the Opera" is the greatest Marx Brothers comedy because their peculiar brand of lunacy works better when given a real world target such as Opera than in the fantasy land of Freedonia in "Duck Soup." On the other hand I want to say that I think "A Night at the Opera" has more funny stuff in it than "Duck Soup." I do not even want to begin to get into any consideration of what difference the retirement of Zeppo meant in all this. I just want to laugh my head off.

Groucho is Otis P. Driftwood, too busy trying to fleece Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont) to waste time running an Opera Company. Harpo is Tomasso, the much abused valet to the pompous tenor Rudolpho Lassparri (Walter Woolf King), while Chico is Fiorello, self-appointed agent for the unknown but talent young singer Ricardo Baroni (Allan Jones), who is in love with Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle). When Groucho loses his job to stuffed shirt Herman Gottlieb (Sig Ruman), it is up to the Marx Brothers to restore order and sanity to the universe.

In terms of classic comic routines "A Night at the Opera" gives you (1) the Stateroom scene with all those people (and don't forget the hardboiled eggs); (2) Groucho and Chico discussing the clauses in a contract (including the Sanity Clause); (3) Chico and Harpo working "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" into the overture of the opera (get your peanuts); (4) a dinner date between Groucho and Margaret Dumont (looking at him is the price you have to pay); and (5) Chico the Russian aviator explaining how they flew across the Atlantic Ocean in a boat (always remember to take enough gas or else you will have to turn back). There are more-you now Chico plays the piano, Harpo plays the harp, and Groucho deflates a pompous windbag at some point--but I want to talk about other things now.

I think the person who really helps sell this film is Kitty Carlisle. In every Marx brother movie there are the boys, there is Margaret Dumont as the foil, and then there are the young boy and girl who sing their way into your hearts. Carlisle and Jones (the only boy singer to appear in more than one Marx Brothers movie) are clearly the best pair to ever take on these thankless roles. The boys clearly like her and take her seriously, which she does in return, giving "A Night at the Opera" a sense of heart. This does not happen in Marx Brothers movies (compare it to the campy efforts of the young lovers in "Animal Crackers"). On top of all this, Carlisle and Jones can sing and their duet from the end of Il Travatore is much better than all the sappy songs that the lovers usually sing in these films.

"A Night at the Opera" is directed by Sam Wood (who would later spend some time directing scenes on that "Gone With the Wind" film you hear so much about). James Kevin McGuineess receives story credit but the key thing is that George S. Kaufman had a major hand in the script (until it ended up in the hands of the actors of course).

Notes: Look for the father of the Marx brothers on the pier when the ship sets sail and please remember that it Leonard's stage name is pronounced "Chick-o" not "Chico." Put an end to this Marxist reinterpretation nonsense.

The beginning of the decline
Many think this film the best or one of the best the Brothers Marx ever did. It's probably a matter of taste (well, it's certainly a matter of taste), but I think the first MGM comedy by the Marx Brothers is scattershot. Groucho, Chico and Harpo are in top form, and when they're on -- and allowed to dominate a scene -- the film is terrific. The stateroom scene is still funny after 70 years, and the finale at the opera is Marxist anarchy at its finest.

But when they're off screen (at least a third of the movie), you're left with an embarrassing melodrama I'm sure the movegoing audiences of 1935 found as sappy as I did. Bad enough the young Italian lovers sound like they're from New England section of Italy; worse are the musical interludes, which bring the film to a halt and destroy any comedic momentum the Marxes have created. A scene where Chico, Harpo and Jones show off their musical prowess goes on far too long and completely stops the film. Their earlier comedies had musical interludes, but they were woven into the films better. The opening number in Duck Soup, for example, is a lengthy set-up to the first joke; ditto the "We're Going to War" number. When the young lovers in A Night at the Opera sing "Alone," there's nothing but the youngsters staring moonily at each other. Their voices are fine, but the studios of the time were never short of movies with beautiful youngsters singing to each other. It's unnecessary here, and it reminds you the Marx Brothers aren't on screen.

"A Night at the Opera" was the Marxes' most successful comedy at the box office, and probably the most popular film they ever did. But time has been kinder to their earlier Paramount productions. Those films are stagebound, but they have a madcap energy the MGM films never recovered.

If you're a real fan of the Marx Brothers, you've probably already seen this; the rest of you should start with Duck Soup or Horse Feathers. A Night at the Opera was, unfortunately, the beginning of the end for this legendary team.

"No need of you reading that, because these are duplicates."
Many have argued that A NIGHT AT THE OPERA is the Marx Brother's finest film, pointing out that it combined the best of the Brother's comedy with the biggest and boldest in MGM production values. Personally, while I really like the film, I wouldn't quite put it in the top slot. Any of the sequences containing the Marx Brothers themselves are gold, but I find that I'm not as enamored with the romantic subplot and singing as other reviewers have been (notably Leonard Maltin in this DVD's commentary). Still, arguing about which one of the fine films is actually the best is a little pointless. This is a great movie, regardless with how it compares to the others.

The biggest thing this film has going for it (outside of the wonderful Marx Brothers themselves, of course) is the big production values that MGM splashed out on. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it's nice to have some great big sets for the Brothers to clown around in (Harpo's stunt double swinging through the rafters is great), but all things considered, I think I prefer the tongue-in-cheek send-up of the big dance numbers (as done in DUCK SOUP) to the production dances which are played straight here.

Margaret Dumont is underused, which is a shame since her dignified outrage usually accounted for big laughs. She gets a good scene at the beginning, and a handful of opportunities to look indignant later in the film, but she isn't the constant presence that she had been in other films.

Still, while I can pick out a few flaws here and there, this is overall a hilarious and fun movie. Much of what is considered classic Marx Brothers material is from this film: the too-many-people-in-the-stateroom scene, the Marxian deconstruction of a legal contract (if anyone thinks that "'The party of the first part' shall be known in this contract as 'the party of the first part'" isn't realistic, then I can show you fine print I've received from credit card companies that are even more tautological than that), and, of course, the grand finale wherein the three brothers completely destroy an opera-in-progress.

The DVD also contains an all-new documentary, which features (among other people) co-star Kitty Carlisle, who is amazingly sharp for being in her 90s, and Dom DeLuise, who talks a lot about food and appears to have been interviewed in the middle of making breakfast (no, I'm not sure why he's here). This is mostly a talking heads interview documentary and there's not a whole lot of brand new material or trivia, but it is nice to see some differing perspectives on things. The story of how Groucho got his name contradicts the anecdote given on the commentary track, and Carlisle refutes the conventional wisdom that states that Margaret Dumont didn't get any of the jokes Groucho was bouncing off her.

A short except from a 1961 broadcast of "The Hy Gardner Show" (who?) reveals Groucho recounting the story of he and his brothers stripping naked and roasting potatoes in the office of Irving Thalberg after the famed producer kept them waiting once too long. I trust you will enjoy the anecdote, because it's told a whopping three times during the course of these DVD extras. Shockingly, none of the tellings blatantly contradict each other.

Two shorts have been included as extras, though I'm not sure I understand their relevance. Robert Benchley's HOW TO SLEEP won the Academy Award in 1935 for Best Short Subject/Comedy, and it's certainly entertaining enough. As for the other short, SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE TROCADERO, well, I'm baffled. I can't make heads or tails of it. Set in a nightclub, a Hollywood talent scout is visiting this ritzy affair. Numerous song and dance people are attempting auditions, while the club's doorman is trying to impress by doing very bad celebrity impersonations (it didn't help that half the time I didn't recognize the name of the person he was impersonating or the name of the person people actually thought he was doing). Cameos by stars of the day abound by having the camera cut to different tables and a voice over shouting, "Hey, look! It's Bob Has-been!" (or whoever). It isn't helped by the fact that most of the careers of these minor celebrities ended soon after the shoot, so for me I was watching cattle call of anonymous hotshots. I couldn't figure out why these people were appearing as themselves. Was the audience supposed to believe that these people really hang out at this fictional locale? Groucho Marx (out of character and costume) has a three-second cameo where he looks as confused as I felt.

I'm wary of commentaries performed by people who weren't actually born when the film they're talking about was made, but Leonard Maltin does a fine job here. He relates a lot of anecdotes about the Marx Brothers, points out how the script is layering the subplots, and relates a lot of trivia that I had never heard before (for example, the only surviving print is actually an edited version made during WWII when all references to Italy have been removed, which explains why the film bizarrely never tells you were the first scenes are set). He even gets into the fun, shouting "What a twit!" when the evil opera singer refuses to sing on the cruise-liner for free.

Although the DVD of A NIGHT AT THE OPERA is included in "The Marx Brothers Collection" box set, it is also available for individual sale. Although I slightly prefer A DAY AT THE RACES (also out on DVD now), I couldn't recommend anyone not pick up this film. For Marx novices, there's a great movie. For Marx aficionados, there's informational material that may be enjoyed. In any event, the powers that be have given a great film an excellent treatment on the DVD format.

Tiresome
Almost everything I write about stuff for Amazon gets either ignored or negative responses. I hardly expect this to fare any better. My original intent was to buy the 7 disc set of the Marx Bros (also just released), I grew faint-hearted near the deadline and canceled it and ordered the only 3 I wanted: Opera, Races and Casablanca. I think the first 5 "lost" Marx Bros movies (I have them on DVD and treasure them, all but Duck Soup, with a screenplay by one of their song-writing teams) are (so far) their funniest. Chaos, pandemonium, idiosyncrasies, personality. Either I was despondent when I watched this flick or else the Marx Bros' antics had worn thin for me. (I remember loving all their movies 30 years ago.) I was bored, saw what was supposed to be funny and didn't think it was. There were a few witty remarks, but those came from either Kaufman or Ryskind, not the Marx Bros. And on that subject, I never (at least not before The Solid Gold Cadillac) thought I'd ever watch or read a Kaufman play and not think it was hilarious. I did not think this was hilarious. The opera they featured at the end was Verdi's Il Trovatore, I don't like that opera anyway, particularly the mezzo gypsy song, particularly all of it. I thought the whole movie was watery, thin, dull and not the best of the Marxes, and not particularly funny. I just opened Casablanca. Tomorrow morning I'll take a crack at it, though I remember much of it now. I remember (and make the connection between that movie and this) that Harpo had gone from being an innocent who chases girls to a character who gets knocked around a lot by the heavies. I don't like the change. The characters, the (well, I said it already) idiosyncrasies and personalities of the brothers just weren't there in this movie. Sigh. I have 2 more to go. ... Read more

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Anyone who thinks everyone in the 1950s held marriage sacred hasn'tseen We're Not Married, one of the more gleefully cynical snipesever aimed at that fundamental institution. Five couples discover thattheir marriages aren't legal--Ginger Rogers and Fred Allen as a bickeringpair of beloved radio personalities; Marilyn Monroe as a beauty contestantwith her oppressed house-husband, David Wayne; Eve Arden and Paul Douglasas a chatty pair who've run out of conversation; Louis Calhern as a kindlytycoon married to gold-digging Zsa Zsa Gabor; and Eddie Bracken as asoldier who's just learned his not-quite-wife Mitzi Gaynor is pregnant.Into their lives comes a letter from the government revealing the truthabout their unions, and suddenly everyone considers what their lives mightbe, if only... We're Not Married spins five variations on a theme,with smart, sly, and sardonic results. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (11)

I'm glad Marilyn is Hardly in This
I am probably one of the very few people who actually does not like Marilyn Monroe. She can not act, and thankfully she is hardly even in this movie. Fans of hers, who are more than likely only watching this movie for her appearance, might find themselves a little dissapointed. But if those (many) fans, can accept that fact, and just watch it because it is a good movie, will hopefully find themselves enjoying it. Fans of the brilliant, and beautiful Ginger Rogers will be more than pleased though, since she has a great part in this movie.

Melvin Bush (Victor Moore) has been marrying couples, before his time has actually come, as to when he has the authority to do so. The five couples later find out, through a letter, that they are not legally married. Its mixed into different sections, one for each couple, and none of the stars really get a huge amount of screen-time. The couples are played by Fred Allen and Ginger Rogers; David Wayne and Marilyn Monroe; Paul Douglas and Eve Arden; Louis Calhern and Zsa Zsa Gabor; Eddie Bracken and Mitzi Gaynor.

All of the five sections are mostly amusing. Especially Ginger Rogers and Fred Allen, playing a couple of Radio hosts, who were married really just to get the job (and now completely hate each other). The radio show is made up, almost completely, of stupid sponsors, where they have to say the most scripted, and funny things you could come across in a scene such as this. This film is worthy to watch for their scene alone.

This DVD release from 20th Century Fox, as part of the Marilyn Monroe Diamond Collection, has a brilliant transfer, and the sound is very clear, too. The fact that Marilyn Monroe is on the cover, is quite misleading, and Ginger Rogers, Fred Allen, or maybe one of the other stars, would have been more realistic to have on the cover. I can accept the fact though, that she is on the cover, because it is part of Fox's Diamond Collection series. The extras is a dissapointment. That's one thing Fox never seem to bother too much with. I wish they would, since some deleted scenes would have been good to add, which I know they could have, aswell. But overall, its a good release.

We're not Married?
Marilyn is of course the highlight of this movie as a young mother who enters a beauty pageant. I like particularly the part with Zsa Zsa Gabor and Luis Calhern. Other stars include: Ginger Rogers, David wayne, Eve Arden, Mitzi Gaynor, Fred Allen, Paul Douglas, Eddie Braken, and Victor Moore, who unknowingly marries a number of couples before his appoinment is official and the reults are hilarious.

anull & void
What a waste of a powerhouse cast! Dated, unfunny & plodding--for Monroe completists only.

Why no deleted sequence?
This is a funny movie, especially the Fred Allen and Ginger Rogers section, with a great cast but why didn't Fox include the deleted sequence with Walter Brennan and Hope Emerson as an extra? It's included on the Hidden Hollywood Fox DVD and it's been shown on AMC. It should've been included on this disc.

Marilyn Monroe and Zsa Zsa Gabor in the same film!!!
.
Basic rule of cinema #1: Never is a moment of Marilyn Monroe on film not worth seeing.

MARILYN MONROE is very charming and well worth seeing in this early film appearance in which she co-stars with an actor who appeared in several more Fox films with her, David Wayne. Marilyn appears as the winner of not one, but two different beauty contests. This of course gives reason for her to display her ample physical assets as she models the requisite swimsuits, which illustrate a large part of her allure as a pin-up queen of the early 1950's before becoming better-known for her singing and acting talents.

Although early in her career, Monroe proves that her screen-time is always mesmerizing. When she's on screen, you simply can't take your eyes off her.

This is a really entertaining episodic film, with a great ensemble cast. An episode starring Zsa Zsa Gabor is quite amusing, as is the very funny chapter starring Ginger Rogers.

Definitely worth adding the DVD version of this to your Marilyn Monroe collection! This is a funny movie! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Critic Pauline Kael called this shamelessly enjoyable, vintage Bette Davis weepie a "kitsch classic," and time hasn't diminished its ability to give the tear ducts a good flushing. Davis plays a swinging socialite, living the fast life of booze, smokes, and--with the help of Humphrey Bogart as her Irish stableman--raising thoroughbred horses. When a brain tumor starts giving her headaches and eroding her vision, she falls in love with her surgeon (George Brent), who grows more determined than ever to cure her. Davis gives one of her most vibrant performances, and her costars also include Ronald Reagan and Geraldine Fitzgerald. The film received Oscar nominations for best picture, best actress, and for Max Steiner's score. --Jim Emerson ... Read more

Reviews (38)

prognosis ..negative
Bueno..que podre decir de Dark victory...un excelente melodrama....con una actuación de Bette Davis..sorprendente...como puede decir tanto..sin pronunciar palabra alguna.. solo con su mirada....vemos a un joven Bogart...y a una Geraldine Fitzgerald..fascinante..es una pelicula que te emociona..y te toca el lado mas sensible de tu alma....y nos muestra la valentia de esta niña rica que al final de todo..aprendio a vivir

saludos

Davis Victory
This is arguably the best performance by Bette Davis captured on film. She portrays an animated, agitated, and troubled spoiled socialite who falls in love with someone who is quite the opposite. The real victory involves the budding relationship that gradually tames her.

"That's our victory, our victory over the dark."
Bette Davis is a young, rich Long Island socialite, part of the horsey crowd, who develops a brain tumor and is given 10 months to live. After an unsuccessful operation she thinks she's well, but is kept in the dark. She and her doctor (George Brent) fall in love, plan to marry, but then she stumbles upon the truth about her condition. She is furious at Brent for not telling her, then begins boozing before finally coming to her senses. She and Brent marry and move to Vermont where he can do research and she can become Mrs. Saturday Evening Post housewife. She dies, of course, and the last 15 minutes of the picture must have thoroughly flooded out the theatres with tears. Davis is in her set role here (the role she was best in): the selfish woman who is transformed into the self-sacrificing heroine, though it's really laid on thick. Ronald Reagan has a bit part as a souse, and Humphrey Bogart plays a stablehand with a terrible Irish brogue (he seems really miscast) - it's also the only movie I can remember in which Bogie plays a modern character and doesn't smoke. Also memorable in a funny way is the pointy little hat Davis wears throughout much of the picture to cover up her operation. Most of the movie is fairly obvious, and all is played for affect; but Davis gives it her nervous energy all. Worth a watch.

A Big Helping of Prognosis Negative
Dark Victory is classic Bette Davis.I can't believe this tendency to call everything dated.That's like saying "David Copperfield" is dated.A great film or any other work of art is a treasure forever.They couldn't get this right today; it's 24-karat fun.Melodramatic schmaltz is transformed into grand -- and moving-- entertainment by the divine Davis, frenetic mannerisms (note the clenching hands), flashing eyes and halting speech patterns notwithstanding.Every minute Davis is onscreen, our eyes are kept riveted to her, resulting in, as Pauline Kael aptly put it, shameless entertainment.Class, nobility and movie stars of the caliber of Davis are sadly missing from films today.

Davis plays Judith Traherne, a wealthy, fast-living Long Island socialite, and here she is young and rather attractive with chic clothes and a hairstyle that would be popular in the 1940's.When she tells best friend Ann (Geraldine Fitzgerald) that she is having headaches and vision problems, Ann whisks her away to a specialist Frederick Steel (George Brent) where it is discovered that she has a brain disorder requiring surgery.Brent is as wooden as my favorite B actor, Lon Chaney, Jr., but it doesn't matter.The movie belongs to powerhouse Davis.Witness her so full of life! so gay! so young! as she believes her operation has been a success, while best friend, doctor and the entire audience know she "doesn't stand a chance."When Davis finds out the truth and confronts Ann and Steel (now her boyfriend) in a restaurant with their duplicity by ordering a "big helping of prognosis negative," sparks fly.It's all pure, delicious fun and yes, kitsch.But grand entertainment of the first order!

Humphrey Bogart appears as an Irish stable hand with a terrible accent and Ronald Reagan has a minor role as one of Judith's "chums" or as she puts it, "the kids."Davis is in a class by herself in film history.Highly recommended!

DAVIS' MOST OVERRATED PICTURE
Bette Davis once said that her role in Dark Victory, Judith Traherne, was closer to her in personality than just about any other character she had ever played.I doubt this knowing what I have learned and read about Davis and the controlling woman she was.However, this famous film, for which she was expected to win the 1939 Best Actress Academy Award until Scarlett O'Hara came along, contains an uneven performance by Davis.In the beginning her rapid fire speech and distracting mannerisms, her constant wringing of her hands and neck, her body movements (which director William Wyler could have controlled had he directed this film)mar her performance which brings the picture down a couple of notches.The story is nothing more than mere soap, but its good soap thanks to fine production values, an intelligent script and a brilliant musical score by Max Steiner.Davis' mannerisms are considerably toned down by the end of the picture and the ending is poignantly touching.But, because of her uneven performance, I have to say that this movie, while good, is not Davis' best.The kudos here go to the production values and Geraldine Fitzgerald's performance as Ann, Davis' best friend.The DVD transfer is excellent and there is a trailer included but nothing else.The audio is fine.This picture was nominated for best picture of 1939 in a year when more quality films were released.If you want the best Bette Davis film of 1939 I suggest you try "The Old Maid" in which she gives a performance that, in my opinion, merited the Oscar nomination she received for Dark Victory."The Old Maid" also has the distinction of being the biggest box office success of any Davis picture and is often overlooked.I'm waiting for it to come out on DVD."Dark Victory" though, by its own merits is a fine film and will disappoint none of Davis' admirers. ... Read more

Reviews (32)

Wonderful performances rise above the soapiness
"Dark Victory" stars the legendary Bette Davis as wealthy socialite Judith Traherne. She leads a life of non-stop fun and partying until a life-threatening disease begins to affect her. The supporting cast includes George Brent as surgeon Frederick Steele and Humphrey Bogart as Judith's horse trainer.

The film has a "soap opera" feeling throughout, and I found some of the plot elements to be hard to believe. But aside from those flaws, this is one classic film that is still compelling and entertaining. Davis is the center of the film, and her performance is wonderful. She brings fire and strength, as well as vulnerability and serenity, to this memorable character. The supporting cast is up to the high standard set by Davis. It's particularly fun to see a young Ronald Reagan as one of Judith's party set. Unfortunately, Bogart's character seems to be neglected by the time the film is over.

The opulent set and costume design make the film a real pleasure to watch, and are superbly enhanced by the film's glorious black-and-white cinematography. Max Steiner's appropriately melodramatic musical score also fits well into the mix. If you love classic movies, I recommend this film highly.

Prognosis . . positive.
This film is one of Davis's best, and she definitely would've taken home the Oscar the year this film was made (1939) if not for Vivien Leigh coming along and spoiling things with "Gone With the Wind." Bette plays Judith Traherne (another role which originated on the stage with Tallulah Bankhead . . unfortunately there, unlike here, it was a flop), one of her strongest protagonists outside of Margo Channing in "All About Eve": a spoiled, carefree girl whose life is endangered by a brain tumor. George Brent plays the doctor who operates on her and eventually becomes her husband; he's adequate, but Davis's performance makes up for Brent's rather cardboard portrayal of the doctor (she talks at about twice the speed he does). There's also a couple early performances by Ronald Reagan (as a rich friend of Davis's) and Humphrey Bogart (as her stablehand . . he also has a tiny crush on our heroine). One of the nicest surprises about this movie is the terrific performance by Geraldine Fitzgerald, as Davis's best friend Ann . . their final scene together is just tremendous. Bigtime Davis fans (like me) may chuckle just a bit at Davis's Judith as she progresses through the "bitterness" stage of her grief (one scene in particular is when she's ordering in the restaurant: "I'd like a healthy dose of . . PROGNOSIS NEGATIVE!") An outstanding film from an actress who could do worlds better with a bad script than most actors could do with good ones.

Great Classic, Sorry DVD!
When you see grade z movies being issued with beautiful transfers and 1 to 2 extra discs of extras, you would think one of the great screen classics would receive similar respect. No way. I was appalled by the dismal, speckled, grainy pictute you receive on this lousy DVD. "Dark Victory" was among the five pictures in l939 nominated by the Academy Award as The Best. Not only was it nominated for best musical score by the great Max Steiner, but its luscious black and white photography was also up for Best of the Year. My VHS tape of this classic shows a beautiful black and white beauty. Whoever was responsible for approving this truly dismal disc of one of Hollywood's greatest classics should be fired. And oh yeah, as for great extras, you do actually get one tiny little preview. This shows you what type of respect the creators of this DVD had for this masterpiece, starring America's greatest movie actress!

Lesbian humanism
This, one of Bette's best films, was probably known in its day as a "woman's" picture...what is now known as a chick flick.

However, it is structured in such a way as to show that Bette's Judith Traherne's moral growth is one that starts as a negotiable, but real, demand to be treated as an adult by her horrible mother, and to be allowed to get personal gratification.

Of course, at the time it was made (a time to which US culture seems to be regressing) many families forced women, and some men, to forget about their own satisfaction using a moral code in which to do so was to be "selfish."

But the movie goes on to show that Judith Traherne is unavoidably compassionate towards others and makes her later altruism flow out of her struggle for personal satisfaction.

This is astonishingly intelligent for it is a dialectic. The "thesis" is the demand by Judith's mother that Bette sacrifice herself. The antithesis is the way that Bette says, up yours, Mom. The synthesis is that Bette is able to return to a new, and higher form of caring for others in the way she "adopts" a repressed and frightened girl.

Of course, crude interpretations of identity politics aren't dialectical. They consist of non-negotiable, zero-sum and winner-take-all demands for "rights" in which the losers are expected to act like losers, and not fight back...as in the case of the Born to Lose "angry white male." In particular, lesbianism becomes in the social sense a kind of Bantustan, in which the privilege to walk down the street hand-in-hand is continually under threat, because it is assumed to deny heterosexuals a right not to be offended.

The lesbianism in the film is of course quiet in its time and consists in Judith's denial that she "needs" a man (which was quite daring in its time.) Lesbian humanism is the denial that a person, usually a woman, should not have to implement power in the small and it points to the destruction it results.

The film is almost enough to make me a lesbian. Unfortunately, and as Garrison Keillor has pointed out, to be a male lesbian is nearly an oxymoron. But, in view of the hatred for women that is on-tap in our society, perhaps Keillor is wrong, and their are very few male lesbians.

"Humanism" is no longer a singular term because, of course, the immediately preceding generation confused sets of actual humans with all of humanity. Nonetheless it exists as an abstraction which is, I think, instantiated in any narrative of a struggle that is genuinely human, and made so by a dialectical refusal to stay only in personal gratification or self-sacrifice.

GREAT MOVIE GETS A DISMAL TRANSFER
Bette Davis is outstanding as Judy Traherne, a Long Island rich girl with a fatal brain tumor. For a time Judy believes that she's been cured, a myth supported by her doctor (George Brent)who is starting to fall in love with her. Cameos by Ronald Reagan and Humphrey Bogart are welcomed inclusions that enhance the film's dramatic appeal.
Unfortunately, Warner acquired this title from a tired, worn print in the MGM library. The print is full of grain, chips, scratches, inconsistant shadow and contrast delineation and digital grit. There are several occasions where the entire image within the frame wobbles up and down, due to worn out sprocket holes. The visual experience during such instances is akin to riding a canoe through choppy seas. The audio is strident and scratchy. Overall this is a disappointing visual experience and one that Warner needs to rectify soon, before we lose this great classic forever to the ravages of time. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Fascinating Story!
I was just surfing the shelves at Borders today when I stumbled over Queen Kelly on DVD! I couldn't believe it. I have just been getting interested in silent films (I'm 18) and of course I'm a Gloria Swanson fan (who isn't?), having seen her brilliant performance in Sunset Blvd. Anyway, I had always heard rumors about Queen Kelly - the incomplete, forgotten masterpiece. I had to pay a whopping [money] for this DVD, but it is definitely a piece of art and worth every penny. First of all, this film is old. You can hear it creak and moan at times and the orchestra soundtrack has not aged well - let's just say the music is annoyingly intense. But the age of the film just makes it more haunting to watch. The story takes place in the 20s, but you could almost believe it was hundreds of years ago. Now I want to concentrate on the story and the performances. Gloria Swanson's performance in Queen Kelly has to be one of her best - she was every bit as good in this film as in Sunset Blvd. We can easily see why she was such a huge silent star - her emotions and beauty carry the film just as much as the fascinating story. This was really melodrama at its best. People tend to forget, I think, that melodrama can be an art form, stressing wistful idealism and instead of cynical realism! The main event here is the story - wow! It's tragic that the film (and the story) were never finished. But who knows? It's just begging for a megabucks remake with Nicole Kidman. Now that the musicals are back, maybe silents will be next.

A Rare Classic
The great silent film QUEEN KELLY, is Swanson's most popular film, aside from SUNSET BOULEVARD.

Swanson plays Patricia Kelly, a naive and innocent convent girl, who catches the eye of a Prince (Walter Byron), when her underpants accidentally fall down. He falls in love with her, despite the fact that the demented and jealous Queen Regina (Seena Owen), is after the Prince herself.

The scene where Regina chases Kelly out of the palace, whip lashing and her feathered robe flaying, is truly memorable.

One of the most sought-after silents, this great tinted version is backed by a full orchestra soundtrack.

This film is proof that the "studio system" ruined US films
Financed by Joseph Kennedy, Stroheim was hired by his old friend Gloria Swanson, but when talkies came in and it was apparant there would never be a market for a silent Swanson vehicle, production stopped and the film was unreleased for decades. Almost completed, and later restored with stills replacing lost footage, the film has a unique power like all of Von's work. This was Von's swan-song (no pun intended.) He would never complete another film, but go on to immortality as a great actor, ignored in the U.S. but worshipped in Europe. This film is proof that there was a brief period in which American films could be held up against the films of the world as great works of sophisticated filmatic art. Von's films make even the best products of the "studio System" look like bad soap operas. It is impossible to fully appreciate Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" without seeing this film (Von referred to his performance in Wilder's film with contempt as "that butler role." The world of course knows better. As Elenor Roosevelt said, Von was the greatest director in the world. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Critic Pauline Kael called this shamelessly enjoyable, vintage Bette Davis weepie a "kitsch classic," and time hasn't diminished its ability to give the tear ducts a good flushing. Davis plays a swinging socialite, living the fast life of booze, smokes, and--with the help of Humphrey Bogart as her Irish stableman--raising thoroughbred horses. When a brain tumor starts giving her headaches and eroding her vision, she falls in love with her surgeon (George Brent), who grows more determined than ever to cure her. Davis gives one of her most vibrant performances, and her costars also include Ronald Reagan and Geraldine Fitzgerald. The film received Oscar nominations for best picture, best actress, and for Max Steiner's score. --Jim Emerson ... Read more

Reviews (32)

Wonderful performances rise above the soapiness
"Dark Victory" stars the legendary Bette Davis as wealthy socialite Judith Traherne. She leads a life of non-stop fun and partying until a life-threatening disease begins to affect her. The supporting cast includes George Brent as surgeon Frederick Steele and Humphrey Bogart as Judith's horse trainer.

The film has a "soap opera" feeling throughout, and I found some of the plot elements to be hard to believe. But aside from those flaws, this is one classic film that is still compelling and entertaining. Davis is the center of the film, and her performance is wonderful. She brings fire and strength, as well as vulnerability and serenity, to this memorable character. The supporting cast is up to the high standard set by Davis. It's particularly fun to see a young Ronald Reagan as one of Judith's party set. Unfortunately, Bogart's character seems to be neglected by the time the film is over.

The opulent set and costume design make the film a real pleasure to watch, and are superbly enhanced by the film's glorious black-and-white cinematography. Max Steiner's appropriately melodramatic musical score also fits well into the mix. If you love classic movies, I recommend this film highly.

Prognosis . . positive.
This film is one of Davis's best, and she definitely would've taken home the Oscar the year this film was made (1939) if not for Vivien Leigh coming along and spoiling things with "Gone With the Wind." Bette plays Judith Traherne (another role which originated on the stage with Tallulah Bankhead . . unfortunately there, unlike here, it was a flop), one of her strongest protagonists outside of Margo Channing in "All About Eve": a spoiled, carefree girl whose life is endangered by a brain tumor. George Brent plays the doctor who operates on her and eventually becomes her husband; he's adequate, but Davis's performance makes up for Brent's rather cardboard portrayal of the doctor (she talks at about twice the speed he does). There's also a couple early performances by Ronald Reagan (as a rich friend of Davis's) and Humphrey Bogart (as her stablehand . . he also has a tiny crush on our heroine). One of the nicest surprises about this movie is the terrific performance by Geraldine Fitzgerald, as Davis's best friend Ann . . their final scene together is just tremendous. Bigtime Davis fans (like me) may chuckle just a bit at Davis's Judith as she progresses through the "bitterness" stage of her grief (one scene in particular is when she's ordering in the restaurant: "I'd like a healthy dose of . . PROGNOSIS NEGATIVE!") An outstanding film from an actress who could do worlds better with a bad script than most actors could do with good ones.

Great Classic, Sorry DVD!
When you see grade z movies being issued with beautiful transfers and 1 to 2 extra discs of extras, you would think one of the great screen classics would receive similar respect. No way. I was appalled by the dismal, speckled, grainy pictute you receive on this lousy DVD. "Dark Victory" was among the five pictures in l939 nominated by the Academy Award as The Best. Not only was it nominated for best musical score by the great Max Steiner, but its luscious black and white photography was also up for Best of the Year. My VHS tape of this classic shows a beautiful black and white beauty. Whoever was responsible for approving this truly dismal disc of one of Hollywood's greatest classics should be fired. And oh yeah, as for great extras, you do actually get one tiny little preview. This shows you what type of respect the creators of this DVD had for this masterpiece, starring America's greatest movie actress!

Lesbian humanism
This, one of Bette's best films, was probably known in its day as a "woman's" picture...what is now known as a chick flick.

However, it is structured in such a way as to show that Bette's Judith Traherne's moral growth is one that starts as a negotiable, but real, demand to be treated as an adult by her horrible mother, and to be allowed to get personal gratification.

Of course, at the time it was made (a time to which US culture seems to be regressing) many families forced women, and some men, to forget about their own satisfaction using a moral code in which to do so was to be "selfish."

But the movie goes on to show that Judith Traherne is unavoidably compassionate towards others and makes her later altruism flow out of her struggle for personal satisfaction.

This is astonishingly intelligent for it is a dialectic. The "thesis" is the demand by Judith's mother that Bette sacrifice herself. The antithesis is the way that Bette says, up yours, Mom. The synthesis is that Bette is able to return to a new, and higher form of caring for others in the way she "adopts" a repressed and frightened girl.

Of course, crude interpretations of identity politics aren't dialectical. They consist of non-negotiable, zero-sum and winner-take-all demands for "rights" in which the losers are expected to act like losers, and not fight back...as in the case of the Born to Lose "angry white male." In particular, lesbianism becomes in the social sense a kind of Bantustan, in which the privilege to walk down the street hand-in-hand is continually under threat, because it is assumed to deny heterosexuals a right not to be offended.

The lesbianism in the film is of course quiet in its time and consists in Judith's denial that she "needs" a man (which was quite daring in its time.) Lesbian humanism is the denial that a person, usually a woman, should not have to implement power in the small and it points to the destruction it results.

The film is almost enough to make me a lesbian. Unfortunately, and as Garrison Keillor has pointed out, to be a male lesbian is nearly an oxymoron. But, in view of the hatred for women that is on-tap in our society, perhaps Keillor is wrong, and their are very few male lesbians.

"Humanism" is no longer a singular term because, of course, the immediately preceding generation confused sets of actual humans with all of humanity. Nonetheless it exists as an abstraction which is, I think, instantiated in any narrative of a struggle that is genuinely human, and made so by a dialectical refusal to stay only in personal gratification or self-sacrifice.

GREAT MOVIE GETS A DISMAL TRANSFER
Bette Davis is outstanding as Judy Traherne, a Long Island rich girl with a fatal brain tumor. For a time Judy believes that she's been cured, a myth supported by her doctor (George Brent)who is starting to fall in love with her. Cameos by Ronald Reagan and Humphrey Bogart are welcomed inclusions that enhance the film's dramatic appeal.
Unfortunately, Warner acquired this title from a tired, worn print in the MGM library. The print is full of grain, chips, scratches, inconsistant shadow and contrast delineation and digital grit. There are several occasions where the entire image within the frame wobbles up and down, due to worn out sprocket holes. The visual experience during such instances is akin to riding a canoe through choppy seas. The audio is strident and scratchy. Overall this is a disappointing visual experience and one that Warner needs to rectify soon, before we lose this great classic forever to the ravages of time. ... Read more

Amazon.com

A slow-moving but historic attempt to bolster the British War Reliefeffort in 1943, Forever and a Day is a drama about the inhabitants of amagnificent English home, beginning in the early 19th century. The story isn't much, but there's a charming spirituality about the house and what happens to those who nurture it and abuse it. It's a metaphor, of course, for England itself. Most of all, the celebrity lineup is a real treat: There are 80 stars, including Brian Aherne, Robert Cummings, Ida Lupino, Charles Laughton, Herbert Marshall, Ray Milland, Merle Oberon, Claude Rains, Victor McLaglen, Buster Keaton, C. Aubrey Smith, Elsa Lanchester, and Edmund Gwenn. Talent wasstacked up behind the camera as well: René Clair, Edmund Goulding, and Cedric Hardwicke are among the directors. --Bill Desowitz ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Amazing collection of stars in a classic epic film
Forever and a Day is a marvelous, lyrical piece of World War II propaganda that boasts one of the most amazing casts and crew ever assembled for a motion picture.

As the film begins, the Nazis are bombing London and an American visitor, Gates T. Pomfret (Kent Smith), journeys into the city searching for a house his father owns and that the current boarder, Lesley Trimble (Ruth Warrick), wishes to purchase. Gates' sarcastic attitude about the house leads Lesley to relate the history of the manse, and how both of their families have been intertwined since Admiral Trimble (C. Aubrey Smith) built it back in 1804. The house eventually fell into the hands of the Pomfrets, who later leased it out as a hotel during the First World War. Now, the building is only used as a bomb raid shelter.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Hollywood was inundated with a phalanx of British actors and directors seeking refuge from the war while continuing the careers. Forever and a Day was specifically designed as a morale booster for the folks back home as well as a bit of propaganda for American audiences. The house, of course, is a metaphor for England herself--stalwart, traditional, broken but defiant and ultimately triumphant. The film combines laughter and tears to achieve its end, and though the fadeout is bittersweet, it's still incredibly uplifting.

To create the film, one of the largest all-star casts imaginable was assembled to portray the various personalities who inhabit the house during the century and a half. Besides those mentioned above, there's also Ray Milland, Victor McLaglan, Anna Neagle, Herbert Marshall, Claude Rains, Dame May Whitty, Gene Lockhart, Anna Lee, Buster Keaton, June Duprez, Nigel Bruce, Elsa Lanchester, Donald Crisp, and many, many others. My favorites in the cast include Smith, who's alternately amusing and moving; Charles Laughton as a tippling butler; Ida Lupino and Brian Aherne as a maid and coal tender (respectively) who develop a romance during Queen Victoria's jubilee; Gladys Cooper and Roland Young as parents awaiting the return of their son from World War I; and Robert Cummings as an American doughboy and Merle Oberon as a hotel secretary who fall in love during that war.

There was an all-star line-up behind the camera as well, with such acclaimed directors as Rene Clair, Edmund Goulding, Cedric Hardwicke, Frank Lloyd, Victor Saville, Robert Stevenson, and Herbert Wilcox. The writing credits are equally diverse, including such names as C.S. Forester, James Hilton, Christopher Isherwood, Donald Ogden Stewart, and John Van Druten. I can't say who wrote or directed which episodes, because it's all been so seamlessly and exquisitely combined.

Students of history and classic film are sure to thrill to Forever and a Day; modern audiences that just like a good story well-told are bound to enjoy it as well.

The DVD is a bare-bones presentation, with just the film and chapter selections. The picture is a bit dark at times, showing its age, but the sound is marvelous.

Struggles To Maintain Your Interest
This film suffers slightly from being a product of its times. The Second World War was in full cry and to help raise morale (and money) well-meaning directors and actors got together to make 'Forever and a Day'. In fact the cast list is one of the prime reasons for buying this DVD - it's certainly why I bought it. Jessie Matthews, Elsa Lanchester, Claude Rains, Charles Laughton - even Buster Keaton - they're all here! But you can't escape the feeling that this is a 1940's 'USA for Africa'. Whilst you loved hearing Lionel Ritchie, Michael Jackson & all singing 'We are the World', it was never as good as listening to their solo work. 'Forever and a Day' just has too many actors and directors to produce a fully coherent movie. I may be mistaken, but I'm sure somebody once said of this film 'Never have so many given so much for something so dull'. That's a little harsh but for once I have to disagree with Leonard Maltin and award this only average marks. I'm still glad I have it in my film collection - if only for that great cast and it's historical interest.

One Of The Best Epical Films Yet...
The British, and some American, cast shines in thiswnderful depiction of a grand English mansion and its inhabitants for over one-hundred years. The scenes of this picture are geniusely executed and planned out to the second! The efforts of actors such as Ray Milland, C. Aubrey Smith and Claude Rains were beyond words. Anyway, to all those not familiar with "Forever and a Day," it beigns with one grand-scale English being built in 1804 during the Napoleonic Era. This film advances through all the years up to then present day World War II with humor, adventure, and historical grandeur. Even though going through rough times, the house withstands the outside threats of enemy nations until 1940. By then, the manor is bombarded by one A. Hitler and inspectors are sent to report on the tragedies. However, on the wall of the house, the portrait of C. Aubrey Smith, head master and founder of the house, remains intact and shows England's durability during its darkest hours. You can also see that in this fim, the darndest guest appearences are made by veteran actors such as Buster Keaton, Charles Laughton, etc. All the actors did this film for free and looked to help the war effort in 1943, when truly the world was involved. This film is very hard to get. However, when it first opened, I saw it in my local motion picture theatre and have yet to forget the details. They are symbolic and still stand out in my mind. The message here is simple. It just tells you to smile, for tomorrow is another day. ... Read more