Comedy > 1964 Comedy

A Forgotten Gem

Advantages: Performances by all and acerbic screenplay
Disadvantages: Maybe could have made more of an entertaining premise

This is a romantic comedy starring William Holden and Audrey Hepburn. Richard Benson (Holden) is a bitter and lazy Hollywood screenwriter under pressure by movie producer Alexander Meyerheimer (Noël Coward) to finish his script entitled "The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower." He has 2 days to complete the script, which he hasn't even started. To aid the process and help hit his looming deadline Richard hires a live-in secretary, Gabrielle Simpson ...
...story and act out their love through scenes in the film. This was very clever and ahead of its time. Screenwriter George Axelrod has written a magnificent screenplay. It is full of clever swipes at the film industry and the dogma of screenwriting. The films narrative involves Benson (Holden) writing the film as he goes and on occasion changing and re-doing scenes. it can get quite complex but is great fun. As you can imagine, Holden and Hepburn are ...

Nixu1980 16.10.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Paris When It Sizzles (DVD)

Carry On Mr Williams

Advantages: Great Early carry On
Disadvantages: No extras on DVD

...considered the golden age of Carry On. This film along with Cleo,Screaming,etc is the gang at their best. This time they lampoon spy films and it is great to see Kenneth Williams given effectively the lead here. He has great support from Charles Hawtrey, Barbara Windsor ( her first Carry On ) Bernard Cribbins ( his first, and one of only three he made including Carry On Jack & Carry On Columbus. Also Jim Dale got his first outing here. The story ...
...later and not so great Carry Ons have been realeased in Special Editions with commentarys al be it on occaisions by someone quite low down in the cast list. I realise that most of the cast are no longer with us but this film does has have Dale,Cribbins,Windsor who at time of press are would be nice to hear something of what Carry Ons were like at the height of their appeal Anyway this is a cheap buy at most retailers but an average price would be ...

scampbellajc 22.11.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Carry On Spying (DVD)

Seize The (Doris) Day!

Advantages: Entertaining, fun, Doris Day .
Disadvantages: Not the greatest or deepest movie ever made !

...it is again... *sigh* SEND ME NO FLOWERS I have been a fan of Doris Day for as long as I can remember. From being about seven, Calamity Jane was one of my favourite films and I would go around singing the songs. As a teenager, I bought cassettes of her singing and later went on to watch as many of her films as I could. Now in 2005, I have just bought The Doris Day Collection on DVD, 6 discs with a film on each and thought I'd review one of these ...
...in my shelves! Send Me No Flowers was released in 1964 and was the third film to feature the pairing of Doris Day and Rock Hudson. It is a combination that works very well, as there is an obvious chemistry and rapport between the two and their timing is spot on. In this film, Doris plays Judy Kimball with Rock playing her husband George. He is a hypochondriac, their house containing huge shelves full of his pills, lotions and potions for every need. ...

KarenUK 26.04.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Send Me No Flowers (DVD)

Dr. Strangelove (Or how I learned to love the film...

Advantages: Subtle, topical even now, light hearted way of raising awareness.
Disadvantages: Black and white maybe?

I kept hearing about this film, and I thought why not give it a go. Not usually a huge fan of Black & White (I know I can’t generalise like that, they just don’t ‘attract’ me as such). Anyway I gave it a go, despite it’s age, I like old films, maybe not normally this old, which some exceptions. Anyway I was pleasantly surprised. This film isn’t a ‘comedy’ as such, it’s more of a light hearted look at a the beginning of a Nuclear war; you know, the ...
...never pull off ;) That may sound strange, and it kind of is, but it really suits the film. You can definitely see how topical it would have been back then, and it seems that some things never change as you could still almost see this happening these days, so as well as being light hearted it is definitely thought provoking. It makes you think just how much chaos and how quickly the world could potentially end if an all out nuclear war started. (Especially ...

Tsportmat 11.05.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Dr. Strangelove (Reel Collection) (DVD)

Goosey Goosey Gander

Advantages: Innocent comedy, Cary Grant
Disadvantages: Slow at times

With WWII going on around him, loner Walter Eckland is forced into becoming a Japanese plane spotter amongst the South Pacific islands in return for food and more importantly alcohol. Having begrudgingly agreed to take on the mission he finds his solitary life completely turned upside down by the arrival of a French school teacher and her class to his island after becoming stranded. ------------------------------------------ With the plethora of ...
...it is quite easy to forget the films from yester year, ones which are not known for being classics but are equally good. One of my favourites which fits into this category is "Father Goose" a film from 1964 which was sadly Cary Grant's penultimate film outing. Why I like it so much is that despite being set during WWII it is a light hearted, clean, romantic comedy with a very entertaining storyline and has an even more entertaining array of performances. ...

christianfilmcritic 18.03.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Father Goose (DVD)