DailyView: Day 252, Movie 352

Snow day!

With bad road conditions outside, the DailyView continued on with the week of Hitchcock as I watched the 1945 film, Spellbound on YouTube. It starred Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman.

Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) was a psychoanalyst at Green Manors, a mental hospital in Vermont. At the hospital, the director was Dr. Murchison (Leo G. Carroll) who was being forced to retire after a nervous exhaustion. He was to be replaced by Dr. Anthony Edwards (Gregory Peck), a young doctor who immediately started showing some cracks.

Dr. Petersen started to have feelings for Edwards, and she figured out the shocking twist, he was not the real Dr. Edwards. He was an amnesiac who could not remember who he was or what he did. He believed that he possibly had killed the real Dr. Edwards.

Dr. Petersen was convinced that he had not killed Edwards and she pursued him to New York in an attempt to prove his innocence.

Admittedly, the perception of the female doctor is different in the 1940s than it would be today so many of the comments leaned more toward misogamy than it would today, meaning that a good chuck of this movie does not work as well today. Many of Hitchcock’s films could fall into this category of not holding up because of outdated thoughts about women. But overlooking that, Ingrid Bergman does bring a strength to a character that may not have as much on the page as one might expect. Add to that the fact that Gregory Peck showed several moments of weakness and was more of the damsel in distress than Bergman was, perhaps this is more of a step than first considered.

The film has some wonderful POV shots, in particular one at the very end that was extremely effective and, actually, a bit disturbing. Hitchcock brought some really awesome moments of imagery in a film that could have just been a typical thriller. He lined the story with a lot of psychological drama and the scene with the dream was expertly shot and was completely engaging.

I did like the resolution of this movie and I found the relationship between Peck and Bergman to be excellent. I found Peck’s freakout moments to be very scary and intense and I was not sure what it meant. Peck was vey effective.

Spellbound received several Oscar nominations and they were all very well deserved. It is a difficult movie to find, but it is a great movie to watch if you can find it.

DailyView: Day 251, Movie 351

The week of Alfred Hitchcock in the DailyView continued with the 1934 classic, The Man Who Knew Too Much. I had seen a movie with this title, directed by Hitchcock, featuring Jimmy Stewart. I had enjoyed that one quite a bit, so I did not think this would work. However, Jimmy Stewart was not listed on this film which was when I realized that the one I had seen was a remake from Hitchcock. The one I had seen was from 1956, but this one was from 1934.

I needed a film from 1934 for the DailyView so I decided to see how close this was to the Jimmy Stewart version.

The answer to that is not very close at all.

British couple Bob and Jill Lawrence (Leslie Banks and Edna Best) are in Switzerland with their daughter Betty (Nova Philbeam) vacationing. They meet a Frenchman named Louis Bernard (Pierre Fresney). Later that night, Louis and Jill are dancing and he is shot and died. Before he died, he told her about a note in his room. It was a note which warned about an international crime.

The man behind the shooting, Abbott (Peter Lorre), had Betty kidnapped and was using her to keep the Lawrences in check.

There are few similarities between the films. Both had a child kidnapping involved in the story (one a daughter, one a son), both had a scene at the Royal Albert Hall and both had dealing with an international incident. That is where it stops though.

This was a good version, but it was truly missing a star the level of Jimmy Stewart. The closest to his name was Peter Lorre, who was the antagonist in the story.

I definitely preferred the 1956 version, but I was happy to have seen the first film. It is fascinating to see how Hitchcock changed things from the first one. Plus, this is considered a classic and a huge success at the time.

DailyView: Day 250, Movie 350

Another first tonight in the DailyView as the week of Alfred Hitchcock continued. This was the first feature length silent film in the DailyView. Yes, I have done silent shorts featuring Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, but this was an hour and a half silent picture, not a 20 + minute short, and it was a new way to watch a film for me.

The Lodger told the story of a Jack the Ripper-like killer terrorizing London, killing another blonde, curly haired woman each Tuesday. Seven victims had the city scared for what was happening.

A stranger named Jonathan Drew (Ivor Novello) arrived at the Bunting lodge where Mr. Bunting (Arthur Chesney) and Mrs. Bunting (Marie Ault) live with their daughter Daisy (June Tripp). Drew looked to be very suspicious and would head out of the lodge on Tuesday nights.

Daisy’s boyfriend Joe Chandler (Malcolm Keen) was a police officer who was given the case of the Avenger, the serial killer tormenting London, killing blonde haired women and leaving a piece of paper with a triangle and the word “Avenger” on it. The newspapers jumped on the sensationalism of the stories, spreading the word of the killer.

Meanwhile, Drew and Daisy started to connect, Despite her feelings for Joe, Daisy seemed to be falling for the charms of Drew.

The music of the film was great, as it had to be. The silent movies were not actually silent. They just did not have talking from the actors or other sound effects. It did have music which helped to create the tone and the mood of the film.

Hitchcock told an interesting story, including an unexpected twist of the story. In fact, as I was watching the ending, I still felt there was more beneath the surface than what we got. Maybe I was just looking into it too much, but I do think it is there.

I really had to focus on the film because the storytelling was not just in the screens of dialogue printed on the screen. You had to watch closely because they did not write every word said. The storytelling came through images and facial expressions.

I certainly would not want to watch a lot of silent films, but this one was pretty good and it was a great example of Hitchcock’s skills. It looked like there was a remake of this movie in 1944, which I may visit before the end of the DailyView.

DailyView: Day 249, Movie 349

I love Alfred Hitchcock. One of the goals I wanted to set for the DailyView was to get around to some of the Hitchcock films that I have not seen. Unfortunately, I have not done this much. However, I have added to the list a series of films by the Master of Suspense from the late 1920s and early 1930s that I want to tackle over the next few weeks. The first one tonight happened to be conveniently on HBO Max. It was titled The 39 steps.

The 39 Steps was an organization of spies trying to smuggle vitally important information out of England. Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) found himself caught up in the plot, and accused of murdering a female counter-espionage agent by stabbing her in the back. Hannay went on the run to Scotland hoping to find someone to help and, instead, stumbling right into the door of the assassin himself, Professor Jordon (Godfrey Tearle).

He wound up with an attractive woman, Pamela (Madeleine Carroll), who unwillingly had to join him in his attempt to prove his innocence.

This is a fun, at times funny and romantic, thriller which has been dubbed a classic by many iconic filmmakers. It is a time of simpler filmmaking, where mood is created more with dialogue and the lighting than CGI. The characters bring the intensity to their performances with their reactions and their words as much as with their actions.

Robert Donat is very charming and brings an energy to the accused man. He is just trying to find a way to convince people that he was innocent, even though it seemed everyone that he tells does not believe him. There is an easy chemistry between him and Madeleine Carroll too, as they make a strong pairing.

I am looking forward to a further exploration into Hitchcock’s oeuvre.

DailyView: Day 249, Movie 348

Here is another film that has been on the list for the DailyView since the very beginning and I had not gotten around to it. It is the Vin Diesel courtroom drama, Find Me Guilty.

Jackie DiNorscio (Vin Diesel) was a low level criminal in a New Jersey crime family. After his cousin shoots him, Jackie gets arrested for dealing drugs and is sent away for 30 years. The prosecutors building a case against the whole crime family approached Jackie with a deal if he would testify for them. Jackie refused to rat on anyone in the family.

The trial began with a courtroom filled with defendants each having their own lawyers. Jackie decided that he would defend himself in the case after his previous lawyer stick it to him so badly. Jackie is supported by lawyer Ben Klandis (Peter Dinklage), though when he sees some of the behaviors of Jackie, he wondered if he had done the right thing.

Ron Silver played the judge, Sidney Finestein, who was doing his best to present the fairest trial that he could, but he was worried about how Jackie’s behaviors were going to affect a possible appeal.

If you are only used to seeing Vin Diesel saying “family” all the time in the Fast and the Furious franchise, you should give Find Me Guilty a chance because this is one of the few examples of Vin Diesel really flexing his acting muscles (this and a small role in Saving Private Ryan… and, I suppose Groot). Diesel is really good in this court room drama and he brings a lot of emotion to the part. He acts like a buffoon at times, but when the stakes are at hand, he delivered big time.

This is based on a true story, the story of the longest mafia case, going over 600 days. Director Sidney Lumet, who had other legal dramas under his belt such as 12 Angry Men and The Verdict, brings a ton of credibility to the genre and gives us a great story of family and loyalty unlike many you will see.

I will say that the film felt long and could have benefited from about 15 minutes less, but the film is hurt by the feeling of passage of time. It did not feel like it was a 600 + day trial, but the film did feel long, if that made sense.

Find Me Guilty is a solid movie that is filled with drama and funny moments. You will never believe that this is Vin Diesel either.

DailyView: Day 248, Movie 347

I was very excited about Descendants. I had not known what it was and when I looked into it, I thought the premise was cool. I’ve always liked the use of fairy tale characters like this. I loved Once Upon a Time and this sounded much like that. A high Rotten Tomatoes score helped to cement the choice.

Then I watched it.

I was really disappointed.

I was bored by it in the first 20 minutes. The music was alright. I mean, Disney knows how to add music to movies, but I felt no connection to any of the characters, the story was sadly predictable and the humor was inane.

The villain parents are so ridiculously over-the-top that it could only appeal to young, young viewers. That is the fact with this movie. It is targeted to young teens. That makes sense, of course. What did not make sense was the Rotten Tomatoes score of 90%. Upon further investigation, I see that there were only 10 reviews on the site for this film. That made more sense.

Having said that, the scene with Mal (Dove Cameron), daughter of Maleficent, and Queen Leah (Judith Maxie), mother of Sleeping Beauty, was well done. How Queen Leah reacted to the presence of Mal at this dinner party was understandable and powerful, even though unfair. That was a character development highlight for me.

The conclusion was sentimental and predictable, but it wasn’t the worst part of the film. Not quite a rave, but the coronation ceremony could have been way worse.

This could be acceptable to the lower teen set, but parents are going to have a hard time finding much to enjoy about Descendants.

DailyView: Day 248, Movie 346

Betty White passed away on New Years Eve 2021, just three weeks away from her 100th birthday, and the world felt the loss. I’m not sure there was a more beloved figure of the past 20 years than Betty White. So in honor, I wanted to watch something for the DailyView featuring Betty. However, I had seen Lake Placid and The Proposal, a few of the other films with Betty in it was real low on the Tomatometer, and the choices were limited.

That was when I found this documentary from 2018 on Netflix called Betty White: First lady of Television and it was perfect.

The doc looked back on Betty’s life from her early days, including talking about a TV show I had never heard of, called Life With Elizabeth. Of course, the doc spent more time on Mary Tyler Moore, The Golden Girls and Hot in Cleveland, which the iconic actress starred.

It talked about Betty’s love of game shows and games and how that love of games shows, in particular, Password led to her meeting and falling in love with Allen Ludden, the host of Password.

The doc talked about how Betty was able to reinvent herself, after appearances on The Roast of William Shatner and SNL into someone who was known for saying outrageous things. She became more than just another sitcom star. She became an icon.

The number of “talking heads” that they got to come on this doc and say how much they loved Betty was like a who’s who including Ryan Reynolds, Valerie Bertinelli, Tina Fey, Alex Trebek, Carl Reiner, Georgia Engel, Gavin MacLeod, Tom Sullivan and Mary Tyler Moore.

They touched on Betty’s love of animals, which could probably be an entire doc on its own. They showed a clip of Betty at a zoo hand feeding a grizzly bear that sat beside her and put its head on her shoulder. It was amazingly charming.

And that was what Betty White was, charming. She spent decades on the TV screen, entertaining us with her wit and her comedy, her musical ability and her presence. She truly was one of a kind.