Drama > 1935 Drama

Before We Had Colour TV...

Advantages: Clever dialogue, decent plot, classic Hitchcock
Disadvantages: Simply too dated for 99% of people

...films deemed too irrelevant for the common movie-goer. Alas I just can't seem to give this DVD the thumbs up. You see, the thing is -if a black and white film, handicapped with the inevitable restrictions of movie-making in yesteryears, is to be an enjoyable experience for an audience today, it must have certain qualities of timelessness to it. Casablanca, The Seventh Seal and The Lady Vanishes are adored, remastered and distributed widely today ...
...to people still. I watched The Lady Vanishes (Hitchcock's last British film before he moved to America to make such international blockbusters like Vertigo and Psycho) prior to this DVD and found that to be suspenseful enough despite it being made around the same time with this film. However I must say that The Man Who Knew Too Much proved just too boring and sketchy for me despite having such a promising plot and such a decent cast. Vintage Hitchcock ...

habitualdamnation 06.07.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of The Man Who Knew Too Much (DVD)

  39 Steps to Heaven

Advantages: The reason why everyone should watch old films!
Disadvantages: Begone from my sight if you think there is a single flaw here

...steps. In many ways The 39 Steps is a comfort film for me; one of those films you can shrug on like a warm old overcoat and luxuriate within. Perhaps this is because The 39 Steps is just such unashamed good fun and at the same time so remarkably well constructed. The 39 Steps marked the emergence of Hitchcock as a major talent, for though this came on the back of his hugely successful, for the time and certainly in Britain, The Man Who Knew Too Much, ...
...the two films and the first of his films to have that central theme that so many Hitchcock movies have: the innocent man on the run from the law, having to prove his innocence. In many ways Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps bears no relationship to John Buchan’s novel. Hitchcock took the main idea and a few key scenes and allowed his screenwriter, Charles Bennett (though Alma Reville [the future Mrs Hitchcock] and Ian Hay are also credited though the script ...

No_name 22.02.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The 39 Steps (DVD)

A mans life needs at least 1 hour of our time

Advantages: Cleverly worked out
Disadvantages: Not action packed - some might find boring

BEWARE! THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS AND PLOTLINE! THE STORY The story starts with a young man of 18 on trial in court for murder. His life is in the hands of the jury of 12 men. If he is found guilty, he will be executed. All 12 must agree on a verdict. We learn that the boy is accused of killing his father. The father hit the young boy frequently and the prosecution see this as the motive. A witness who lived opposite boy and the father ...
...knife and an old man living below said that he heard the boy shout "I'm gonna kill you" before he heard something fall to the floor above. The old man ran to his door and says that he saw the boy running away. However, the boy says that he was at the cinema during the stabbing and did not return until 3 hours later where upon he was arrested. The men go into a room to decide if the boy is guilty or not. The men decide to take a preliminary vote. ...

rufusredcoat 31.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Twelve Angry Men (DVD)

The finest show to ever grace the screens

Advantages: Everything, mostly the fab Ms Gless
Disadvantages: none at all

...most wanted thief in America. Cagney and Lacey are on the case, and soon discover he is up to his old tricks. Cagney becomes obsessed with catching him, after he challenges her, and the race is on as she tries to outwit the Grandest Thief of Them All. 10 - Recreational Use - Cagney, Lacey and Dory McKenna investigate the deaths of some senior citizens in properies owned by the same man, who it turns out is sabotaging all his buildings to raise rent. ...
...assist him with his work. Cagney disagrees with this and makes him aware of her nervousness about the use of drugs, but doesnt make an issue out of it - until the group have a social get together with Lacey and her husband Harvey at their apartment. It is later discovered that Dory used drugs at the home of the Laceys, which causes a rift between the partners - and Mary Beth offers some harsh, yet true advice to Christine about her love interest, ...

angel01laura 30.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Cagney And Lacey - Series 1 - Complete (Box Set) (DVD)

Touching but sad story set during post-WWII Germany

Advantages: Touching, Emotional, handles controversial subjects sensitively.
Disadvantages: Can be a little slow in places

...woman during post-WWII Germany, and the effect it has on him throughout his life. It is a beautifully written book which has translated well on to screen, and combined with the excellent acting from Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes and the young David Kross, The Reader is not to be missed. At the start of an illness that will see him bed ridden for many months, Michael Berg is helped home by a brusque but alluring older women names Hanna Schmitz. On ...
...he realises that it signifies the end of the affair and the loss of Hanna from his life. Moving forward, Michael is studying a law degree and when he meets Hanna again during the middle of a controversial trial, he is shocked at the nature of the discovery. During this trial, Michael uncovers a secret Hanna has been keeping her whole life and struggles to decide whether to reveal this. Choosing not to, he now must live with the consequences for ...

Bumbledot 30.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of The Reader (DVD)