So many films about the silent era deal with stars struggling with the transition to sound so it’s refreshing The Comic takes a different path. We see Billy Bright quit the business at the dawn of sound, too stubborn to change his comedic styles. Instead we focus on Billy’s years as a star and end seeing him live long enough to regain appreciation in his old age much like Buster Keaton.
The best parts of the film are the long sections…
Every so often a film just floors you unexpectedly. Going in with almost no foreknowledge, I found myself floored by Over the Hill, a precursor to films like Way for Tomorrow and Tokyo Story that emphatically deal with the struggles of agin characters.
The key to this all is Mae Marsh’s performance who at the young age of 37 plays an old grandma for the majority of the film with such grace and believability it’s hard to believe she was only…
It's a shame this film isn't talked more about given Fredi Washington's and Bill Robinson's wonderful performances. It's really a fascinating look at race in 30s America with realistic black characters much less stereotyped than the usual mammies in most Hollywood productions of the time.
Despite the hot-button issues addressed, Dwan keeps a light touch throughout managing to add a fair share of successful comedic moments. I could have easily seen another director with this material spin out a hyper-melodramatic…
For better or worse, this TV film adaptation follows the classic novel closely, using direct quotations from the book as voiceover narration. One advantage of this approach is to differentiate itself from the classic 1930 film.
The downside is that following the book's out-of-order narrative structure and leaning on the voiceover narration, the emotional impact of many of the scenes is blunted. The movie works best when we see the action ourselves not filtered through Paul's omniscient thoughts. Remarque's words…
First time I hear Zasu Pitts sing “Your Mother”: Haha she’s off-key just the right amount
Second time: This song is the corniest thing ever
Third time: Ok we get the joke let’s move this thing along
Fourth time: IF THEY PLAY THAT STUPID SONG ONE MORE TIME I SWEAR I’LL…
Fifth time: *tears streaming down my face* I love my mom so much
Criterion definitely mislabels this as a screwball when it’s really more just a pretty straightforward comedy…
And so begins the strangest Masquerade, that a Woman ever dared! When Arthur, believing that he is marrying the Woman he Loves — weds the Woman he Hates — and the Sunlight denied his Eyes, dwells at last in his Heart.
So many implausible events happen during DeMille's lavish Fool's Paradise but they are all so entertaining that you willingly suspend all disbelief. A French dancer a WWI vet met during the war comes to a dusty Mexican border town?…
