Li'l Duce's Reviews Palace

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Der Choral von Leuthen  (1933) The best of the three Otto Gebuehr-Old Fritz movies I've seen, more centered on the king's figure and without the many annoying secondary characters. The sub-plot is well integrated in the main one and leaves little room for molasses. The battle scenes are good but not as impressive as they might have been: this is mainly Gebuehr's flick. 7-8/10

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Jud S?? (1940) Much has been written about it but I think that most of it  is not well-centered. The propaganda anti-jews in the movie is all shouted but in reality the gojim characters are far from being praised and come off worse than their victims. S?? himself is far from being a completely despicable man: he gives his money away to better the condition of the Stuttgart Jews. And comes to rape the director's wife (yeah,  it is again Kristina S?derbaum, here because Dr Goebbels wanted her absolutely to play the part. Another of his crimes) after he asked her father for her hand and being denied by him with a lot of curses. But one could talk a lot about it, even considering that the first cut angered the Doktor and other scenes had to be re-shot. The fact is that Harlan is not a great director and so the movie hasn't got any memorable moment if not, in my opinion, the scene of the hanging. The movie was a great hit and it seems it was shown to the extermination squads in war zones before  they went into action. But today it is only quite boring. 4-5/10 

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Twelve Angry Men (1954) The original teleplay, apart from some less developed characters compared to the 1957 version, has got a different finale. Which I prefer, as it doesn't have the melodramatic revelation about Lee J.'s motivations. The actors are all below the ones of the movie (even the two who were in both versions, who gave better performances later) with the exception of Fell (which I prefer to Balsam)and Abel who is not as stiff as Marshall. 6/10

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Der Anst?ndige  (2014) "A documentary that uses a cache of letters, diaries and documents to reveal the life of SS-leader Heinrich Himmler." But it is quite boring and there is little footage one hasn't seen before if he's interested in nazi stuff. There is just a moment when Hitler stops a standard bearer to adjust the flag, staring impressively toward the camera. 5-6/10

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Jinnah (1998) I watched it because Lee thought it was his best ever performance, which probably it is. Usual biopic about matters I didn't know a thing about (i.e. the independence of Pakistan). I can only say it is better than Ghandi.  6-7/10

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Sapphire (1959) This mystery is just an excuse to talk about racism in England at the time and does it in a very detached way: it is like it is, no preaching. There is a very noir sequence (the attempted escape of Johnny) and the jazzy OST is annoying. 7/10

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La pupa del gangster (Gun Moll)  (1975)  Noir blends into italian comedy? I had never dared to watch this one which I thought it was just another Loren-Mastroianni flick (which it is). But reading Woolrich's  filmography in Nevins biography of the writer I found out that this was based on one of his stories which now I have to read (if I find it). I presume that the part taken from the story was the one about the collar (in fact the title of the story is "Collared": double meaning, of course) I doubt the rest was inspired by Woolrich. Anyway, the movie has got 2 or 3  jokes and the usual Julienne chase in the Milan streets. I give it 6/10 because the whole sequence about Loren going to and fro from her apartment to DI Lazzaro's is mildly funny. On youtube w. english subs.

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The Day After Tomorrow  (2004) This is good for the SFX in the first half, very impressive. The second half has got only the raid into the ship, with the wolf pack lurking there, to mention. I still don't get the merits of Spiderman as an actor: he's not good-looking, he can't act: how he got there? 6-7/10

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Four O'Clock (1958) One of the best Hitchcock's teleplays, with masterful last 5 minutes. 8/10

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Le silencieux (1973) Why did I ever miss this freaking good spy thriller with my favourite italian (or french) actor? Probably because of the italian title. This is good from start to end, no respite, though based on the usual plot of "man on the run" (this time from KGB killers). 8-9/10

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Ma Barker's Killer Brood (1960) Good c stuff with fast pace, some funny moments (especially the first part with the "education" of the children) and some good exchange though the story is completely made-up. There's also a good song. 7/10

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Meteor (1979) One of the few Connery I had missed, it could have been a 7-8 20 minutes shorter and a destruction scene more. The cataclysmic scenes, especially the last ones in NYC are well made. Funny listening to Wood (but her parents were russians) and Keith (uh?) speak russian. 6/10.

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Unbreakable (2000) Usual Willis with no action but with a fantasy side, it makes you wonder where it is leading to till the end but it is not worth the effort. 5-6/10

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No Time To Die (2021) This could have been the best of the Craig had it been shortened of at least 45,50 minutes. Sure there's the sentimental relationship and (alas!) a Bond's little daughter, but the problem are the too long dialogues which really are useless. Still there are some good action scenes like the long (23') pre-credit shot  in Matera,  the Norvegian one and the finale (but  larded with too many dialogues) with some good sets. As usual the Zimmer's OST is undistinguished and when the original Monty Norman's  theme can be heard again after being ignored in the last one(s?) I felt almost like starting breathing again. But, of course, tears may come when the Armstrong's song starts playing in the finale: reminding us how great was John Barry and how mediocre were those who came after him. (Zimmer though had the decency of quoting the song in the early part of the movie).  Another surprise was Ana de Armas: she has got the looks of a Bond girl, she's funny and compared to the rest of the female harem makes you think you're watching a Bond movie. Funny that, after more than half a century they made use of the original Fleming's idea in the novel of YOLT of the poison garden. Last good news is the demise of Woltz's Blofeld. 7-8/10

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Le sang ? la t?te (1956) This one reminded me of La femme du boulanger: again a woman married to an older man (Gabin doesn't look like the son of the man playing his father, rather like his older brother) who thinks about making money and not about her. She betrays Gabin with her old beau who is just the usual character of good for nothing and with whom she has only a short dialogue which reveals nothing about her decision to run with him (which she won't do in the end). She betrays Gabin to force him to change his ways, apparently. But her decision to leave him for the young lover seemed quite serious, she goes back home to take a suitcase (does she fill it up?) and  a pair of earrings. But she must have sent a letter to her father-in-law (explaining why it doesn't work with Gabin) at least the day before. So her character just won't gel  and in the end  it's just the usual bitter-sweet,  so french, movie story which may interest the Gabin fans and that's that. 6/10