Showing posts with label Blake Edwards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blake Edwards. Show all posts

Friday, 1 December 2023

The Great Race (1965)

 

Natalie Wood (with Tony Curtis and Keenan Wynn in the background) production still from Blake Edwards’s The Great Race (1965)

Saturday, 8 January 2022

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)


 

A young New York socialite becomes interested in a young man who has moved into her apartment building, but her past threatens to get in the way. 

Not really a faithful adaptation of Truman Capote's novella, the plot is quite messy and the male lead a bland miscast; nevertheless, this movie became an instant classic thanks to a lively and witty direction and the irresistibly charming Audrey Hepburn.

On re-watching: Despite all its flaws this is a movie I come back to every soften mainly for Audrey and quite a few memorable scenes.

Halliwell*: "Impossibly cleaned up and asexual version of a light novel which tried to be the American I am a Camera (qv). Wild parties, amusing scenes and good cameos, but the pace is slow, the atmosphere is unconvincingly clean and luxurious, and the sentimentality kills it."

Maltin***1/2: "Charming film...Dated trappings don't detract from high comedy and winning romance." 



Saturday, 27 February 2021

Operation Petticoat (1959)



 

During World War II, a commander finds himself stuck with a decrepit (and pink) submarine, a con man executive officer, and a group of army nurses. 

Mildly amusing military comedy somehow easily smooths its way around having a coherent story, but prefers on presenting some singularly entertaining moments.

Halliwell*: "Flabby comedy with good moments, but not many."

Maltin***1/2: "Hilarious comedy...Some truly memorable gags; Grant and Curtis are a dynamite team in this happy film."


 

Friday, 2 August 2019

10 (1979)



A Hollywood composer goes through a mid-life crisis and becomes infatuated with a sexy, newly married woman.

From memory:  On the surface an old-fashioned sex comedy, but the jokes utterly misfire behind  misogynist premise.

Halliwell (no star): "Randy farce which struck some, but not all, audiences as the funniest thing since sliced bread."

Maltin**: "Blake Edwards' idea of a real sophisticated movie; sporadically funny but tiresome, glib, and pompous."


Saturday, 9 May 2015

Strangler of the Swamp (1946)


A number of swamp land men have died by strangulation and the inhabitants believe that an innocent man they hanged is seeking revenge on all of the male descendants of those responsible for his death.