Posts by Mario Gauci

12/30/11: CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY (Robert Siodmak, 1944) *** This is a strange noir, made even more so by the odd casting of the usually wholesome Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly as a barely-disguised ‘floozie’ and an inveterate gambler and...

12/28/11: THE CHRISTMAS TREE (Terence Young, 1969) **1/2 This was shown at Christmastime on local TV in the late 1980s, back when Leslie Halliwell’s conservative Film Guide was the ‘Bible’ of movie-reviewing tomes – and, since he had...

12/24/11: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (TV) (Moira Armstrong, 1977) **1/2 This was at least the 14th screen adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens tale that I have watched (the others being those made in 1935, 1938, 1951, 1962, 1964, 1969,...

12/24/11: CHRISTMAS EVE (Edwin L. Marin, 1947) **1/2 The perennial title in itself but especially the splendid cast rounded up for this Christmas movie should have earned it durability but, instead, its genuine oddity has ensured its...

12/12/11: THE CRAB WITH THE GOLDEN CLAWS (Claude Misonne, 1947) **1/2 While I had been vaguely aware of the cultish figure – introduced in comic-strip form – of Tintin, I never got around to sampling any of his ‘work’ or, for that...

12/19/11: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (Woody Allen, 2011) *** This easily constitutes Allen’s best work since MATCH POINT (2005), also signaling a welcome return to the historical/time-travel themes of ZELIG (1983) and THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO...

12/18/11: PUBLIC AFFAIRS (Robert Bresson, 1934) **1/2 This film is pretty unique in the annals of cinema history, in that the efforts by the same director that came afterwards were such polar opposites that one can barely believe his...

Quote:Originally Posted by 42nd Street Freak VERY interesting look at "Paganini" Mario! A film I know of, and have seen posters for, but have not actually watched. I knew it was another swim in the ocean of Kinski craziness...

12/13/11: MAGIC FIRE {General Release Version} (William Dieterle, 1955) **1/2 As an off-shoot of the Ken Russell tribute I just concluded, I have decided to watch a handful of films inspired by the lives of the great classical...

12/11/11: LISZTOMANIA (Ken Russell, 1975) **1/2 To begin with, 2011 marks the 200th anniversary of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt’s birth, and I had entertained the idea of watching LISZTOMANIA earlier this year for that very purpose;...