What Classics Did You See Last Week (January 11–January 17)
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unex — 2 months ago(January 18, 2026 01:03 PM)
Executive Action (1973) - A movie showing a hypothetical version of the Kennedy assassination from the point of view of the conspirators, written by Dalton Trumbo and starring Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan in his last role. It has a TV movie quality. I only recommend it if you have an interest in assassination conspiracy theories.
Feet First (1930) - A Harold Lloyd talkie. As the title might suggest it has similarities to Safety Last. This time around he is a clerk in a shoe store trying to woo a young woman. It is inferior to his silent work but it wasn't bad.
The last act is again Lloyd climbing a building but it is completely unmotivated. It happens accidentally and serves no purpose.
Doughboys (1930) - A Buster Keaton talkie. A rich guy trying to win a girl accidentally enlists in the army. We follow him from boot camp to behind the lines to the front and back, a typical World War I movie but with hijinks. Among the big three silent comedians Keaton lost the most in moving to sound. There are none of the big stunts but he brings back his old Vaudeville routine of getting tossed around a stage. -
spiderwort — 2 months ago(January 19, 2026 02:35 PM)
Haven't seen any of these, unex. I'm way behind in seeing the best of the Harold Lloyd films, coming to him very late in my long viewing life, and I need to remedy that for sure, so thanks for the reminder.
And the thought of a Buster Keaton talkie is intriguing. In the talkie realm, I remember him mostly in
Limelight
and
In the Good Old Summertime
. What a career he had in the silents though. He was a master (like Lloyd in the few films of his I've seen). And in this you are right:
There are none of the big stunts but he brings back his old Vaudeville routine of getting tossed around a stage.
Lord, there are many films and too little time. . . -
sheetsadam1 — 2 months ago(January 18, 2026 01:58 PM)
Dillinger (1945, Max Nosseck)
- A highly fictionalized, shoddily executed biopic. Lawrence Tierney - who younger audiences will probably know from Quentin Tarantino's
Reservoir Dogs - plays the title character, but he's much better elsewhere, particularly the great film noir
Born to Kill
.
5/10
Nightmare Alley (1947, Edmund Goulding) - Rewatch. I read William Lindsay Gresham's source novel this week and wanted to revisit the first film adaptation. And I must say that I liked the movie a little better before reading the novel. This one sacrifices a lot of the more interesting scenes from the novel in service to the Production Code of the era and both the plot and character traits are quite different throughout, up to and including the ending. Yet for all of that, this is a very well-made film, with Tyrone Power giving an excellent lead performance.
7.5/10
"Praise be to Allah." - President Donald J. Trump, Easter Sunday 04/05/2026
- A highly fictionalized, shoddily executed biopic. Lawrence Tierney - who younger audiences will probably know from Quentin Tarantino's
-
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spiderwort — 2 months ago(January 18, 2026 02:39 PM)
First viewings:
One Battle After Another / Paul Thomas Anderson
(2025). A washed-up revolutionary (Leonardo De Caprio) exists in a state of stoned paranoia. When his nemesis (Sean Penn) resurfaces and his daughter goes missing, he has to find her. The first 6 minutes of this film were so disgusting to me that I wanted to throw up! So I waited another day and tried again. Had to take another break, then finally forced my way through all 2 hours and 41 minutes of it, hating all of it. I do not for the life of me understand the great ratings it’s getting from all the critics or the awards it’s won. The only good thing I can say about it is that it has some outstanding performances. But it’s way too long and is another one with endless, disgusting profanity and sex scenes — lazy, lazy writing! There was a time when films with these elements would have been rated X. If only we could go back to those days. At least then I’d know what NOT to watch! And I only watched it all the way through because of the DGA awards, but sadly, out of that arduous effort, there were only a handful of scenes that moved me at all. A terrible film, in my opinion. (On MAX)
The Whole Town’s Talking / John Ford
(1935). A bookkeeper (Edward G. Robinson) learns he looks just like a gangster the police plan to shoot on sight. A John Ford comedy/drama — I didn’t know he ever made one — it was the break-out role for Jean Arthur and also offers two outstanding performances by Robinson who plays both the shy bookkeeper and the mean-spirited gangster when their lives overlap in this in the well-written and very well directed film. (There's a high quality version on Youtube)
Union Station / Rudolph Maté
(1950). The police officer (William Holden) in charge of a big city train station hunts a blind girl’s kidnappers. Great cast, including Nancy Olsen, Barry Fitzgerald, Jan Stirling, and Lyle Bettger, it’s a tense crime drama, well-directed by Maté. About Maté: he came to directing later in his career after receiving 5 Oscar nominations for his cinematography. I know him best for his remarkable work shooting Carl Dreyer’s masterpiece,
La passion de Jeanne d’Arc
(1928). He also shot Dreyer’s
Vampyr
(1932). He was a genius in that regard, in my opinion. So I recommend
Union Station
for his work with the camera and lighting as well as for all the good performances (though I do think it ends a bit abruptly).
Too Many Husbands / Wesley Ruggles
(1940). A shipwrecked man (Fred McMurray) returns from his unexpected exile to find his wife (Jean Arthur) wed to his partner (Melvyn Douglas). Sound familiar? Well, it should. It’s based upon a play by Somerset Maugham and, according to TCM, the original story was filmed in 1915 with Lillian Gish. Then this version was made by Columbia in 1940, and only couple of months after that, RKO put out another version that was more popular and is better remembered today,
My Favorite Wife
, a variation on the story with Cary Grant as the remarried spouse whose former wife Irene Dunne returns from sea. And it came back yet again as
Move Over, Darling
(1963), with Doris Day and James Garner. I was amazed to learn all of this, and, being a fan of the Grant/Dunne and Day/Garner versions, I didn’t intend to watch this one, but I started it, couldn’t stop, and ended up really enjoying it. It’s not even close to being as good as
My Favorite Wife
, but because of the wonderful cast it’s really quite entertaining, notwithstanding its lack of a real resolution. (There's a high quality version on YouTube.)
Re-watch:
O. Henry’s Full House / Henry Hathaway, Howard Hawks, Henry King, Henry Koster, Jean Negulesco
(1952). An anthology of O. Henry’s most most celebrated short stories from his New York Period (1902-1910). I love O. Henry’s short stories, and I enjoy this film, though it’s not the best film overall. But I love that John Steinbeck introduces each one in person and spends some time explaining a bit about O. Henry’s life in the process. Some episodes are better than the others, two of the best being “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Last Leaf,” but the film is worth a view because of the directors and the cast, which includes Anne Baxter, Jean Crain, Farley Granger, Charles Coburn, Jean Peters, Dale Robertston, David Wayne, Richard Widmark, and, in a brief role, Marilyn Monroe. -
sheetsadam1 — 2 months ago(January 19, 2026 03:56 AM)
But I love that John Steinbeck introduces each one in person and spends some time explaining a bit about O. Henry’s life in the process.
Definitely interested in this one! Steinbeck is among my very favorite writers.
I really enjoyed
The Whole Town's Talking
as well.
My big issue with
One Battle After Another
was that the tone seemed off. It felt like it was written as something of a dark comedy (given the cartoonish names and outlandish plot elements), but then played completely straight for the most part. It was also far too long.
"Praise be to Allah." - President Donald J. Trump, Easter Sunday 04/05/2026 -
spiderwort — 2 months ago(January 19, 2026 02:04 PM)
Steinbeck is my second favorite writer (after Willa Cather). And although it's not the best film, it's worth watching just to see him do what he does with the introductory material.
As for
One Battle After Another
, it was so hard for me to understand or appreciate anything about it, especially that it's constantly called a comedy. Nothing about it made me laugh. All it did was make me angry. -
PygmyLion — 2 months ago(January 19, 2026 03:50 AM)
Roman Holiday
1953 - Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Eddie Albert. Dir William Wyler. Princess Anne escapes from her sheltered life one night when given sleeping drugs, and winds up in the care of newspaperman Joe Bradley (Peck). She gets a chance to explore Rome as a regular person. ****
Lost Angel
1943 - Margaret O'Brien, Marsha Hunt, James Craig. O'Brien plays a 6 year old girl, Alpha, who had been brought up scientists and is quite smart but been rather sheltered, and is rather naive when she escapes to the real world. ***
The Whole Town's Talking
1935 - Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur. Dir John Ford. Robinson plays the dual role of a meek clerk and the gangster he looks like. ***
Seven Men From Now
1956 Randolph Scott, Lee Marvin, Gail Russell. Western. Ben Stride hunts down the 7 men involved in a robbery where his wife was killed. ***
Sands of Iwo Jima
1950 - John Wayne, John Agar. Marine Sgt John Stryker (Wayne) trains and then leads his men on invasions of Tarawa and Iwo Jima. ***1/2
The Cruel Sea
1953 - Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden. Life on a British convey escort ship in WWII. - ***1/2
Unknown Soldier
2017 - Ero Aho, Jussi Vatanen. Finish. A realistic rendition of Finnish machine gun company's fight against the Russians in WWII. - ***
Public Hero No 1
1935 Chester Morris, Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore. Joseph Calleia. An FBI man goes undercover to get the notorious Purple gang. *** -
sheetsadam1 — 2 months ago(January 19, 2026 03:58 AM)
Seen
Roman Holiday
,
The Whole Town's Talking
and
Seven Men from Now
, all worthwhile. I do slightly prefer a couple of Randolph Scott's other collaborations with director Budd Boetticher.
"Praise be to Allah." - President Donald J. Trump, Easter Sunday 04/05/2026 -
spiderwort — 2 months ago(January 19, 2026 02:12 PM)
Haven't seen all of these, but it looks like you had another very good week, PL. Of those I have seen, I really enjoyed
The Sands of Iwo Jima, The Whole Town's Talking
, and
Roman Holiday
, which is one of my all time favorites. And I agree with your ratings for all. -
Rufus-T — 2 months ago(January 19, 2026 07:34 PM)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035446/
My first viewing of this notable Ernst Lubitsch comedy. Just before Hitler invaded Poland. The wife of a stage actor playing hamlet having affair. Every time actor say the line "To Be or Not to Be" the lover would get up from the audience and go to see her. When Germany invaded Poland, the Shakepearean group help to catch the spy. Turned out the lover was a Poland constituent in the British Royal Air Force, who was instrumental getting to the German spy. Carole Lombard played the woman, and Jack Benny who thought was the best played the her actor husband. Really wild story, and many funny moments. Not the laugh out loud type, but witty funny that were even funnier the more you think about it. It is available on TCM app.
Chinatown (1974)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/
Any one claims that this movie has the best screenplay, I won't argue with them. Certainly this Roman Polanski classic may be the best neo-noir. For those who saw it, we know about the shocking revelation at the end. But, the movie is more than that. It transfer you to a world of mystery and suspense that anyone would want in a noir, but in color. Jack Nicholson played a private detective Gittes and was hired by a woman to look into her husband who is an water system engineer. Gittes used to be a police officer working in Chinatown. The code for the police force there was "to do as little as possible". Gittes was not like that. Gittes left the force because he got too nosy with good intention. This good intention got him into a messy conspiracy with the LA water system. Faye Dunaway played the wife of the engineer. John Huston was outstanding playing her father and as one of the most powerful men in LA. Saw it many times already and appreciate it every time, but I would be envious for those who see it for the first time with all the unexpected twists and turns. Robert Towne won Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for this.
Room Service (1938)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030696/
This time the Marx Brothers played producers of a play with Groucho as the lead producer, playing as Gordon Miller. They don't have money, they stayed at a hotel in which Gordon Miller's brother in law is the manager. They played gags in fooling the owner in not paying. Most of the movie took place in the room they stayed. The writer of the play met them in the room also. The writer was played by Frank Albertson. The role could have been played by Zeppo if he was still making movies with the brothers. You also get the very young Lucille Ball playing the secretary. There are no musical numbers in this one. Though not as good as the musical ones, I enjoyed it a lot. -
CoriSCapnSkip — 2 months ago(January 19, 2026 08:00 PM)
Them!
(1954) on January 11
The Jayhawkers!
(1959) on January 12
Invaders from Mars
(1953) on January 13
Invaders from Mars
(1986) on January 16
Trumbo
(2015) on January 17
Continued with the new series of
All Creatures Great and Small
and
The Dick Van Dyke Show