We didn't remember anything about it. See here.
Dustin Hoffman's character is incredibly annoying. And he's something of a shit.
About families, it's spot on.
And amongst many funny things is that none of the adults have the slightest problem with the daughter's semi-pornographic films she's been making.
Neither title is any good; Rule Number 1?
Matthew Perry sorts out Harlem schoolkids.
November 2016:
My fascination with Carole Lombard continues - her face when attempting to fish, her cute scar, her graceful stoicism - in duet with Cary Grant's unhappily married neighbour. Indeed, they are matched by Kay Francis as the manipulative and utterly callous wife. Charles Coburn is the misunderstanding father, Maurice Moskowitz a useful 11th hour doctor. Peggy Ann Garner is Carole's cute daughter.
Roy Webb's music typically adept, J.Roy Hunt working in greys.
Now: Richard Sherman adapted Bessie Brewer's unremarkable novel 'Memory of Love'. Should mention Helen Vinson as the horribly flirtatious 'friend', Katharine Alexander as the sister.
Lombard's New York address is 5 West 10th Avenue - the Village - how cool.
As screen shots below testify, Cary Grant is as good as Lombard. But she's so natural...
OK, Once Upon A Honeymoon is a very interesting film, and thanks to Peter Bogdanovich for shining a light in this most interesting director who has been mentioned many times in these pages, for example for Make Way for Tomorrow and Love Affair.
This one is kind of weird, but I'd argue it still works. The director's deft touch is very much in evidence, for example in the splendidly funny and really quite erotic measuring scene, and in the playing of Grant with Ginger Rogers (complete with ridiculous accent), and the little touches of things all over the place. But this romantic comedy is supplanted on a story of the advancement of the Nazis - Rogers has married one for the money. He is Walter Slezak, who of course we knew from Lifeboat, and he's rather good again (poor guy getting typecast as the Nazi). So you also get savage moments, like the violent killings of good guys Albert Bassermann and Albert Dekker, or the awful moment that the couple are confused for Jews and about to face a terrible fate. It's slightly trippy.
And I think this conflict makes the film less successful in people's minds - it only has a 6.4 IMDB rating, for example, and Maltin only awards it **1/2, commenting 'strange but intriguing curio.. some boring stretches do it in'. The RKO story wrote it off as 'singularly tasteless... the stupidity and callousness of this very expensive undertaking'. But Time Out finds it rather more interesting, noting the Baron cutting up a cake representing Czechoslovakia, or the clock with the swastika as hands.
No - I think it's terrific throughout. And probably way ahead of its time.
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| One of those great little McCarey touches |
It was photographed by George Barnes. Written by Sheridan Gibney from McCarey's story. Both were RKO films.
A woman (Annette Bening) goes missing and her children are worried. We then cut back and forward in 'then' and 'now' titling to investigate. I think writers of this sort of multi part thing are now incapable of telling chronological stories.
A seven part series based on a novel by Liane Moriarty.
The family comprises volatile tennis star Sam Neill, kids Jake Lacy (successful banker), Conor Merrigan Turner (likes boats), Essie Randles (physiotherapist) and Alison Brie (flake). Georgia Flood is the annoying non-existent person who comes to stay. Jeanine Serralles is the detective. Many of these are Australian, where the show was filmed.
It's implausible, red herringy and not worth the time it takes.
Came from a short story by William Harrison, evolved into a satire where corporations run everything and we've returned to the blood and circus of the Roman amphitheatre (literally).
The stunt work is brilliant, overseen by Kip Gowans, and the stunt men quite rightly all receive main title credits. John Box designed the rink and it was built in the Olympic basketball stadium in Germany.
In the special feature, Tony Gibbs tells us how he put together such a mass of material, realising that they needed to actually know the rules of the game to make it work. He was phoned by Technicolor at one point to say he had over 900 cuts in one reel of film. But it's not just the action scenes you watch out for - for example, he's doing some interesting stuff at a cocktail party, and where the guests take to shooting trees. (His mate Brian Smedley-Aston is doing the multivision scenes, which may look flashy, but are a dumb idea.)
There's not much about the photography, though you can see Dougie Slocombe has some vehicle going around the rink with a camera on it, pre-Steadicam. Also some Olympic cameramen are shooting some of the action hand held. But Dougie, and Chic and assistant Robin Vidgeon, are also doing a lot of complicated zoom stuff outside of the rink also.
So it's an interesting film technically (Tony and Dougie were BAFTA nominated, Box won), well received in Europe but not so much in the US. The only joke is that the master computer which contains all knowledge has 'lost' the 13th Century! (However this sequence, the journey to Geneva and interview with Ralph Richardson, is virtually pointless.)
With James Caan, John Houseman, Maud Adams, John Beck, Moses Gunn.
The privileged future looks really dull. Costumes and music are horrible. I take it they designed that 'futuristic' (very seventies) font for the film.
