Li'l Duce's Reviews Palace

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Die Another Day (2002) It has too many ups and downs (one being Berry: how somebody could have the nerve to include her in a most beautiful women crap list is beyond me: probably a relative of hers) and the idea of the invisible car (though apparently not far from reality) is not well exploited. Cleese is a wonderful substitute for Llewellyn, but why one has to put up with an ugly Moneypenny?6\10

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Dive Bomber (1941) This is worth a watching both for the unusual Flynn character, too tame for his standards, and for some spectacular scene. Along the same lines will be followed, ten years later by The Sound Barrier, not brilliant  and lively like this though. 7\10

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The Life and Times of Colonel Blimp (1943) A great movie. Can't understand all the fuss about being pro-german, while it should have been remarked that it is ferociously (though elegantly) anti-nazi. I didn't know what to expect from it and was surprised at each turn of the story, though it is far from being an experimental movie. 8\10

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A Matter of Life and Death (1946)  A great beginning (the dialogue between Niven and Hunter) but then it turns into a Heaven Can Wait weak comedy. Some of the sets of the "heaven" part are, sure, remarkable, but that doesn't help saving one from boredom. 6\10   

[Groggy]

The Life and Times of Colonel Blimp (1943) A great movie. Can't understand all the fuss about being pro-german, while it should have been remarked that it is ferociously (though elegantly) anti-nazi. I didn't know what to expect from it and was surprised at each turn of the story, though it is far from being an experimental movie. 8\10

Titoli, who replaced you with a sensible person.

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Khartoum (1966) I usually give this kind of biopics 7\10, but I give this 6\10 because from a movie in cinerama I expect more from a spectacular pov and this doesn't deliver like Zulu does. About the leads, I don't know if the choices were right.

[Groggy]

That movie wins some sort of prize for the most nonsensical narration ever recorded.

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49th Parallel (1941) Uh? Funny in the premise (Nazis in Canada) it is a chance for some of the worst performances by some english actors I do not usually put up with when they' are at their best, Olivier winning a raspberry for his french canadian trapper role. Massey: somebody here was wondering who he was when I reviewed his Lincoln flick, seems he was very active with Powell in those years, the problem being he continues playing Lincoln anyway. Still a kind of curiosity, worth watching at least once for its weirdness. 6\10

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The Battle of the River Plate (1956) I have always had a natural anthipathy for Quayle and here all the more as I think he shows all his inabilities as an actor, making some mistakes in his portrayal of a high officer. More tolerable as a NCO. Finch is superb, and we finally discover what M was doing before becoming 007's chief. Still the battle, though not a bore, is far from exciting as you never know what manoeuvres are being made. So the choice of depicting it only from the british side is can be original but in the end not interesting enough to give this more than 6\10.

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Ill Met By Moonlight (1957) I realized I had watched this movie eons ago thanks to the goat scene: I had wondered for decades what movie that could be...It fails because Powell is unable to decide between action and comedy, being very good in the first and mediocre in the second. Theodorakis's score is good. 7\10

The problem with all these war movies made by Powell is that the germans are fluent in english, speaking it even between themselves. That takes from them much credibility.

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I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) And also the viewer knows where the movie is going. A pity because though the love story is badly managed (one can't see what Hiller can find in Lovesey, or at least so much to make her abandon her wedding plans) the visuals are intersting, especially the storm at sea sequence. The highly original opening credits had made me hope for something better. 6\10

[cigar joe]

I though that chick with the dogs Pamela Brown looked pretty good 

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I though that chick with the dogs Pamela Brown looked pretty good 

Yeah, a bit on the Ella Raines line, uh? And Petula Clark is so much different from her adult self: she got better, luckily for her.

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The Glenn Miller Story (1954) Mann couldn't do anything about the script which simply sucks. Stewart gives one of his worst performances ever: I'm beginning to think that his dubbed voice did great things for his consideration this side of the Atlantic. And he and Allyson are embarrassingly old for the part in the first half. But the second half on  the movie, all based on Miller's hits, makes this a must for every jazz fan. I was actually amazed by the fact that it was in colour, cinemascope and stereo. Especially the clarity of sound is awesome when compared to other movies of the era (in facts that earned the movie an Oscar ). 4\10 for the story part, 10\10 for the music.

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The Benny Goodman Story (1956) This was written and directed by the writer of the Glenn MIller flick above but strangely the quality of sound isn't the same though very good. The story is less trivial than the former though it won't earn kudos for originality. But the fact that Donna Reed is spectacular to watch and Allen doesn't ham it like Stewart did as Miller make it a much better movie. The music is good throughout and better distributed than in Miller's movie. 8\10.