Comedy > 1956 Comedy

You Wait Ages For a Review of a Marilyn Film...

Advantages: Unusual role for Marilyn Monroe, some great dialogue, moving
Disadvantages: Rodeo scenes, you hate Bo at first!

Bus Stop is a film from 1956 starring Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray. This film lasts 96 minutes and was Marilyn's 29th movie. She had star billing in this one and plays quite a different role from what you might expect. Cherie is rather a sad character in many ways. She has had to grow up quickly, has few friends and longs for a better life. She owns a map charting where she has come from and intends to go to Hollywood to become a star. Most of ...
...I used to watch Bus Stop a lot in the late 1980s. I went to University in 1988 and took my VCR and some of my favourite films, including this one. I used to think Don Murray was a bad actor in this, but in hindsight, I think he is actually acting very well here - it is the character that is annoying. Bo starts off as an ignorant bully, but makes a journey throughout the film. He is advised by Virgil and learns from the people he meets, especially ...

KarenUK 24.10.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Bus Stop (DVD)

You Can't Help But Love It!

Advantages: Entertaining film, great cast, gorgeous Jayne Mansfield, 1950s music
Disadvantages: None

...my new DVD arrived - The Girl Can't Help It (1956) - and I finally got to see her in a proper starring role… THE PLOT Tom Miller (Tom Ewell) is an agent down on his luck. He hangs round bars and restaurants watching the latest singers and groups, while drowning his sorrows in alcoholic drinks he can't afford. Then he is contacted by Marty 'Fatso' Murdock (Edmond O'Brien), a former gangster who enjoys reeling off the list of men killed in his house. ...
...Murdock can still threaten with the best of them and Miller knows he would be advised to do as Murdock suggests. But what does a shady character like Murdock want with Miller anyway? Well, Fatso has fallen in love with a beautiful woman, Jerri Jordan (Jayne Mansfield) but he feels he can't marry her, unless she is successful and he wants to make her into a singing sensation. Miller has the reputation for being a good agent who has had previous big ...

KarenUK 15.05.2008 · Read full review
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Review of The Girl Can't Help It (DVD)

Up Up and Away !

Advantages: Very Funny
Disadvantages: Nothing

UP IN THE WORLD. One of the funniest films he ever made. Norman is a window cleaner who has the unenviable job of cleaning hundreds of windows at a huge manor house. While he is there he makes an enemy of the estate manager who takes a grave dislike to Norman. Norman makes friends with the heir to the estate, a young lad who persuades Norman to take him to a local night club. Wherein the lad gets kidnapped and Norman gets blamed, ...
...This film really is a cracker. The trips and falls that became his trade marks are all here. He always managed to give that poor me, down trodden look to his films but then he always won out in the end. We are unfortunately treated to a song along the way but it is only the once. Had this DVD a long while and to be honest not sure if you should buy this, probably best to tape it off of the TV. DVD Features: Subtitles and chapter selection only. ...

MaldivesHoliday 10.07.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Up In The World (DVD)

A hilarious adaptation of the classic book

Advantages: A family-friendly and very funny adaptation of the classic Jerome K. Jerome story.
Disadvantages: The DVD transfer hasn't been re-mastered, so quality is occasionally low.

...with his dog. The three actors are also perfectly cast. All bumbling English upper-middle class gentlemen, their spiffy behaviour and slapstick antics are hilarious. The situations, of course, are what add to the humour. From the first attempts at erecting a tent during a thunderstorm to getting lost in Hampton Court Maze and trying to open a tin of pineapple slices without a tin-opener, the cast perfectly time their disheartenment with their predicaments. ...
...to woo three young ladies at Henley Regatta and manage to create a pile-up of dozens of speeding rowing boats! While we were watching the film in the context of knowing both the river and one of the cast members, we came away acknowledging that this was a great film. However, I'm sure that even without either of these two connections it is a film that would appeal on a Sunday afternoon. Nothing particularly outstanding about it, but certainly nothing ...

eddybennet 18.09.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Three Men In A Boat (DVD)

The wedding of the year 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'

Advantages: Fun, nice story
Disadvantages: Predictable

I first watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding a few years ago and although it hasn't become one of my favourite films, I do still watch it from time to time. The film first came out in 2002 so has been around for quite a while now. The story of the film is based around a character called Toula Portokalos (Christina Eleusiniotis). Toula is from a greek family, who take the traditions of their culture very seriously. Her family own a resteraunt called 'Dancing ...
...her thirties and yet has never really done anything with her life. She is plain and no-one really notices her as she goes around her everyday life. One day Toula decides to do something about her life and signs up to a college course. It isn't easy for her to persuade her Father Gus (Michael Constantine), but her Mother Maria (Lainie Kazan) manages to help her. Once she has started the course she starts to feel more confident in herself and decides ...

wendz86 28.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (DVD)