The films reviewed here represent those I have liked or loved over the years. It is not a list of my favourite films but all the films reviewed here are worth seeing and worth seeking out. I know many of you won't agree with me on a lot of these but hopefully you will grant me, and the films that appear here, our place in the sun. Thanks for reading.
Monday, 22 July 2024
THIS EARTH IS MINE
Soap operatic romantic tosh of an unusually high order thanks mainly to the superlative direction of Henry King working, as he so often did, with sub-standard material. The setting is the California vineyards, the period Prohibition and this film, based on a novel by Alice Tisdale Hobart, is clearly a forerunner of such television series as "Dallas" and "Dynasty" with Claude Rains as the ruler of this empire, Dorothy McGuire, his ambitious daughter and Rock Hudson and Jean Simmons his grand-children who are in love with each other, (don't ask!).
It's the kind of film that attracted star players and did the business back in the late fifties with quality usually taking a backseat to quantity but King was something of a master at this sort of thing imbuing the ridiculous plot with a seriousness it didn't warrant. Rains and McGuire and, to a lesser extent, Simmons take the acting credits while Hudson just seems to be having a good time in the sure and certain knowledge he won't be winning any Oscars if he keeps making movies like this. No classic, then, but a very sturdy entertainment nevertheless.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
JUROR #2
If "Juror #2" turns out to be the last film Clint Eastwood makes, (quite possible since the man is 94 now), at least he will have...
-
Having made two films on the essence of cinema or at least on the filmmaker's craft, (her own), Joanna Hogg has now turned her attentio...
-
You know that a Lars von Trier serial killer movie is unlikely to be like anyone else's serial killer movie; that it is most likely t...
No comments:
Post a Comment