Anzio - 1968

This movie is covering the unfortunate Battle of Anzio. The battle was supposed to involve landing troops on the beach and then pushing toward Rome. It had the possibility to work, but the men in charge didn't act fast enough, and the Germans were able to extend the battle for a little over 4 months.

The main character in this movie is a war correspondent. He takes a driver and explores, making it all the way into Rome. He goes back to report what he's found to the men in charge, but they don't believe it's a good idea to push forward just yet. They want to wait until they have more troops.

After that, two divisions are sent out and are obliterated. Seven men are all that's left, including the war correspondent. They find a German defensive position they want to report back about and start to head back. By the time they return, there are three left.

Ok, so the movie was pretty interesting. I'm currently reading a book where some of the men were involved with Anzio, and certain details lined up for the most part. They changed the names of most of the people who were in charge at Anzio, but I was able to line up who they were talking about. Robert Mitchum isn't one of my favorite actors, but I don't dislike him. My problem is that out of seven people, a man who doesn't carry a weapon is one that comes out alive. It's just unrealistic. Especially when there are multiple snipers picking off experienced soldiers, and he's able to bob and weave his way from ditch to ditch.

The other thing was my man Peter Falk. Columbo is probably my favorite old-time TV detective. Seeing him in this film was a surprise, and I liked his performance. Unfortunately, he wasn't one of the three to make it back. Ciao Ciao Blackbird...

I didn't dislike the film, but I've watched so many excellent war films lately that I feel this one will get lost in the mix. Also, bending the note on a timpani doesn't add tension to a scene. The music in this movie was strange, but it was the 60s, and I've noticed that's a trend with the time period. I'm going to give it a Good Movie! review, but it's not at the top of the list.

Florence Nightingale - 1985

I was scrolling through the movies getting ready to leave Tubi and came across this one. It has Timothy Dalton in it, so I was a bit surprised I hadn't heard of it before. I've seen a lot of low-budget made for TV shows, and I'm surprised this was never recommended.

So, this follows the early years of Florence Nightingale. Her formative nursing years and her time involved with the injured men in the Crimea War.

I'm not going to say too much about this. I suppose it was okay, but it was longer than it needed to be. And for someone who never married, the movie spent an awful lot of time on her relationships. I guess they wanted to make sure that middle-aged women were watching, but they could have focused on literally anything else. The other thing that bothered me was the transitions. They had these freeze frames in sepia that would "come to life." Every time I saw one I just said, "commercial break!"

This was an underwhelming portrayal of an extraordinary woman. I'm bummed about it. I was ready to enjoy a 1980s TV movie. Whether it was corny or legitimately good, I wanted to be on board. And what happened to Dr. McGregor?! Did he make it? He didn't fawn over Florence like the other men who worshipped her and had a decent character arc for the tiny amount of time he was on screen. He was just my favorite character. Anyway, it's a couple hours I'm never getting back. I guess they can't all be winners.

Giant from the Unknown - 1958

Movie night! Scrolling through the available classics, we found this little gem and put it on.

Strange killings are happening in the small town of Pine Ridge. The sheriff brings the body of a man into town, and one of the townsfolk immediately lifts the tarp to reveal the horror to the surrounding bystanders. A man emerges from the countryside with a bag of rocks. Wayne is suspected of the murder, since the sheriff really doesn't like him. A scientist and his pretty daughter come into town to try and find the Diablo Giant.

After that, lightning splits rocks and reanimates an extinct lizard. Then, it somehow wakes up the Giant, Vargas, from a centuries old coma. The question I had was, "Who was mutilating the animals and killed the one guy?" Also, he's not really from the unknown. He was part of the legend of the curse. That was one of the lines I loved. "Have you heard the legend of the curse?" or something like that. Anyway, Vargas goes on his spree of terror (the highlight of which is the lifting and spiking of one of his pursuers on the ground) until he's finally defeated by a missed swing of the axe. Then he falls over a dam, never to be seen again. Because it's some kind of bottomless lake down there...and they're not going to bother looking.

This movie was something else. The women in it were maddening. The first victim literally ran...into Vargas. Then she backed up and started screaming. Didn't even try to get away. Then the scientist's daughter fainted. Before that, she ran super slow. Then she also would stop every once in a while to make sure Vargas could keep up. That was nice of her. Everyone was a terrible shot. I'll give Vargas some slack because he's super old and throwing stones is hard. But everyone else had Star Wars Stormtrooper aim. The entire premise was weird, but we had some fun with it, so I won't give it a good movie review. I will say we enjoyed ourselves.

The Hurt Locker - 2008

I saw this movie was leaving Tubi soon, and I wanted to watch it, so I put it on. I didn't know much about it - just that it was a war movie. I didn't even know what war it covered.

The movie is set during the Iraq War. It focuses on a unit of men who risk their lives defusing bombs. At the beginning, every precaution is made, but the team leader is taken out by a remote detonation. In comes his replacement...James.

Will James is a very complex character. He takes unnecessary risks, but he gets the job done. The other members of his team are not keen on his tactics, and the friction in the team comes and goes. They have to put aside differences to work together, but they also believe James will get them killed.

Eventually, Bravo team's tour is up, and James goes home. He's trying to be happy with his son, but he can't resist the pull of defusing those bombs.

The movie is different. I have never seen anything like it. I found out it had a low budget, but I couldn't tell. And I didn't care. The story was so engrossing that I hated when I had to pause it for dinner. Jeremy Renner especially did an excellent job portraying someone who craved the adrenaline but also struggled. Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty did excellent as well.

I saw a few comments the movie isn't totally accurate, and I didn't expect it to be. It's not a documentary. I'm going to ignore that and commend the film for the acting, story, and music. I even let the credits play because I liked the music so much. It easily earns a Good Movie! review. Well done.

The Thing from Another World - 1951

I wanted to watch a monster movie, and I knew this was a classic. After I'd watched a bit of it, I remembered I'd seen it before.

A scientist in the Arctic has made the discovery of a lifetime. An alien aircraft has landed, but the military man in charge has blown it up. The military man, for some reason, is nervous about the alien body they've brought back to the camp. I don't know why he's afraid the creature will murder someone. Oh wait. The alien does want to murder people, because he needs blood to live on. I mean, he murders some dogs. So, that immediately makes me Team Kill the Alien. And so is the military man.

The scientist is Team Make More Aliens. He takes some of the spores (apparently this thing is like a regenerating vegetable?) and creates his own little veggie patch of spore babies that pulse with joy when fed plasma. He also thinks the alien will love him once he understands that the scientist is trying to help him. Of course he will.

The movie was enjoyable, and I had some fun with it. I don't think it's going to be one of my favorites, but it wasn't a waste of time. Good Movie!

Jane Eyre - 1934

When our video game crashed, my mom and I looked for something to watch. We were scrolling through the Classics genre, and Mom mentioned she hadn't seen this version of Jane Eyre. And she's apparently seen a lot of them. I was a bit skeptical. The runtime is barely over an hour. There's a lot to cover in that time.

Where do I start? I've seen three (and own two) adaptations of this book, so I'm pretty familiar with the general plot points. This movie takes a few of them and discards the rest. They take characters, mostly Rochester, and ignores their story arcs and personalities. More on that later.

With only an hour to work with, you'd think they would focus on some of the more important plot points, but nope. Instead I saw Jane on a buggy ride with a character I've never seen before and Rochester climb up a tree to rescue Adele who has her foot stuck.

While I saw a lot of the characters act differently, the biggest offender was Rochester. He is normally broody and grouchy, but in this version he is instantly cordial and stares at Jane sweetly. He adores Adele and is actually her uncle in the movie. And his hat is miraculous. No matter what the man goes through, that hat stays on!

A couple of times in the super long hour, I did laugh. Once was when Adele was skipping up and down the little sidewalk and then keels over on a little grass hill. I don't know how to describe it, but it was like the Leaning Tower of Pisa falling in slow motion. Then Adele starts wailing like she just broke her leg. No way that hurt that much. The other time was probably my favorite. Bertha's entrance was the strangest thing, and I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea. Keep in mind up to this point, there have been some screams, manic laughter, and Rochester's bed was set on fire. When Rochester and Jane are planning their wedding, Bertha glides into the room, raises an arm, and says, "my husband!" She looked real good, too.

Overall, this was so loosely based on Jane Eyre as to not really be an adaptation. Mom said she'd seen six previous versions and this was by far the worst. We'll never get that hour back. I thought The Snow Creature was going to be the worst thing I'd seen in the past 24 hours, but I was wrong. Never doubt things can get worse.

Fury - 2014

Fury is a film that was getting ready to leave Tubi, and I was interested in the premise.

A new assistant driver is added to the tank named Fury. As I've seen with war teams in other companies (including flight crews and infantry), it takes time for the new guy to prove himself. In this case, the new guy has a tougher time since he was supposed to be typing somewhere, not cooped up in a glorified tin can.

Even though the Americans are pushing toward Berlin, the German tanks are still superior. Through each conflict, it seems like the American tank company gets smaller and smaller. At the end, it's a "last stand" scenario with a single survivor.

The film was pretty gory, and it was interesting to see a few of the actors doing serious roles (Shia LeBeouf and Michael Peña). When we're talking about the story itself, I was entertained, but it's not a feel-good film, and I don't see myself watching it again. If you asked me halfway through to rank it, I would have given it a good review. The end just bugs me for some reason. I'm sitting middle of the road on this one.

The Snow Creature - 1954

I was scrolling through Tubi looking for something short and mindless to watch. I ended up with this.

A botanist and his photographer are doing research in the Himalayas (strange place to look for plants but whatever) when his guide's wife is abducted by a yeti. The guide wants to find his wife, but the botanist doesn't believe yetis exist and says no. The guide takes their bullets in the night, and the botanist is forced to admit defeat and hunt the yeti. When they eventually find him, they're able to capture him and ship him back to America - on TWA! The yeti breaks loose and creates havoc. Eventually, they track him to the "cool" part of the city - the sewers. A weird hunt ends with the yeti dying.

Ok, so this movie was so weird. First, the yeti. He looked like he was wearing a girdle. I can't really describe it any other way. And when they showed him on screen, most of the time he just stepped into the light and then back into darkness. Wow.

Next thing was the people. For example, the man who was searching for his wife. He found her necklace in the cave, but once the yeti's family was dead, the wife was  forgotten. Another thing was the "immigration process." I wasn't expecting that. A great scientific find is held up at the airport because the yeti doesn't have his papers to enter the country. And then they bring in an anthropologist to determine if he's human. The man then starts arguing about whether or not he's human, and he hasn't even seen the yeti yet.

The yeti is transported in a tiny refrigerated box with a window. He can literally only stand up in there, so that had to be uncomfortable. So, the yeti pulls a tilt and fall on the box, and it immediately pops open. Now he's loose! My immediate thought was to gather up all the women and put them in one spot. The yeti really only killed women. He did murder a native, but other than that, he just injures men. He definitely was after women. The movie never explained why.

And now the botanist. Ugh, that man. He's determined to bring the yeti back alive. Ok, I understand he wants to take the yeti back for "science," but he was just weird. Once the creature is loose, he is still determined for it to be caught alive, but when it dies, he's like "oh well." Also, he talked to his wife more than necessary. He made two phone calls in the time the creature was loose. The lieutenant, whose wife was expecting a baby, was at least focused on the task at hand. He took it serious while the botanist was laughing and smiling on the phone.

I don't know why I'm talking about this movie so much. It was just so weird. The "chase" at the end made me mad. There was no sense of where anyone was, but the most annoying thing was the light. Four men are hunting the yeti, and there's one light. And then, they split up! Two policemen are sent off on their own without a light. When one gets attacked, the other one is told to get him out of the sewer to get him help. Uhh...how?

Anyway, I spent a lot of the movie asking "why?" and noticing the reuse of climbing footage. It felt longer than 70 minutes, and that's pretty hard to do. Especially with an old monster movie. They're usually so bad they're enjoyable. Or a couple of them are actually good. This one goes into a different category. It was unfortunate.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? - 1962

I saw this movie on a couple of lists, so I wanted to check it out. I didn't know anything about it when I started, except it was about two sisters. It's based on a novel by Henry Farrell.

Baby Jane is a spoiled child star in 1917. She rules the stage and even has her own life-sized doll. Her sister, Blanche, waits in the wings and is treated like dirt. Her mother says eventually Blanche's time will come, and when that happens, she has to remember to treat Jane with more mercy than Jane has shown her.

Fast forward to adulthood, and the sisters are movie stars. Well, one of them is and the other is only getting roles because of a deal her sister made. Blanche is the more successful of the two until one night when a car accident paralyzes her. After that, Jane takes care of her sister.

Fast forward again, and the women are older now. Jane is getting crueler, and Blanche has plans to sell the house and get away. Jane is having some mental issues and wants to reignite her career. She expects everyone to know who she is, even though it's been years, and she looks nothing like the famous young woman. Blanche is in the way of Jane's plans, and nothing is going to stop Jane from getting what she wants.

I don't know how to describe my feelings on this movie. I was impressed by Bette Davis' acting. She could switch from the innocence of a child to insanity in an instant. The woman was scary. I feel like Blanche could've been a bit smarter when she was trying to get help. She threw a note out the window instead of yelling at the neighbor for help. She also didn't call the police and report her sister after working forever to get down the stairs. Instead, she calls the doctor and waits on hold just to say she's scared. Then, a mark against the doctor for being so easily put off the case two seconds after the call. And don't even get me started on when Elvira put down the hammer. I almost screamed at her. I'm a suspicious person, so I might be overthinking things.

Overall, I hate to say this is a good movie, but that's because I was so disturbed by the movie. I wanted someone to find Blanche. I wanted someone to notice Baby Jane was unhinged and do something about it. The twist at the end hit me out of nowhere, and I was slightly upset I didn't get closure on what happened after people were found. But I did discover the answer to the question "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" She lost her mind...Good Movie!

Lion of the Desert - 1981

This movie covers part of the Second Italo-Senussi War, something I'd never known anything about.

The movie begins in 1929 when Mussolini sends one of his top generals, Graziani into Libya to crush the war waged by the inhabitants who are fighting against Italian rule. The leader of this group of Bedouins is Omar Mukhtar, an elderly man (he's 73!) who inspires his countrymen to fight to the death.

Graziani fights dirty, and he doesn't hold back. Mukhtar will fight to expel the invaders to his land, but he won't murder prisoners or do more than necessary to try and push the Italians out of Libya. Mukhtar fought the Italians for 20 years. In the end, he was caught and hanged for treason. Fascist Italy had defeated the great warrior, but they never broke his spirit.

This movie was a hard watch. Especially the end. Graziani was not a sympathetic person, even though he had a measure of respect for his enemy. Watching the Italians was like watching a movie about Nazi Germany. They acted like Nazis, and that isn't surprising since they are trying to spread fascism everywhere.

I want to spend a moment on the way they portrayed the concentration camp for the Bedouins. I watched how the people were living inside there, and it disgusted me. But then I was jarred into another time as they inserted footage of the camp from above. I'm fairly certain it's actual footage. It's in black and white, and the complex spreads as far as the eye can see. From the sky. It was awful.

I almost cried at the end of this one. It's been a while since I've cried, but this was just so sad. This man fought so hard for his people, and he was defeated mostly by technology and numbers. He used his intellect for as long as he could, and it worked for so long, but eventually his luck ran out. Omar Mukhtar was hanged in front of his followers in the concentration camp on September 16, 1931. WWII was still eight years away, but I know the seeds of fascism were spread well before that. What I didn't know was that Italy was spreading them in Libya and how the people there suffered.

This movie saddened me, but I am so glad I watched it. It taught me a few things about people I'd never heard of, and if there's one thing I love, it's hearing about interesting people I've never heard of. I learned something today, and I have a saying I like to live by. I also tell it to my kids all the time (much to their dismay!). Never stop learning. Good Movie!

Napoleon (miniseries) - 2002

It was "sit-on-my-butt-and-watch-longer-movies" day. I've had this show lined up for a while, but it's literally 6 hours. Yes, I know I don't have to watch it straight, but that's the way I decided to do it.

There are four episodes, and they cover Napoleon's life as the military leader/emperor of France. I feel like I'm going to be comparing this to Waterloo a bit, because that's my most recent Napoleon exposure. They are definitely different and not meant to be covering the same thing at all.

I feel like this show was supposed to focus more on Napoleon as a person. I also got to know his marshals a bit as well. It was the first time I'd been able to distinguish those particular characters. I credit the 6-hour length for that. It gave the time needed to get to know side characters and actually care about them. I appreciated that. There was also a lot of Napoleon's love life in this show. Josephine is played by Isabella Rossellini, an actress I remembered from another miniseries: Merlin.

The thing about Napoleon is that he's considered a military genius. The way that's handled in the miniseries wasn't as engaging as I've seen elsewhere. The camera zooms in so that I had no idea where any of the troops were or what was happening. I'd say maybe it was because they had a smaller budget, but I read the miniseries had $46 million to work with. When the camera keeps the action zoomed in like that, it's hard to appreciate the overall scope of the strategy being employed.

With the action scenes the way they were, and the focus on the relationships, I'm pretty sure I was meant to connect with Napoleon on a personal level. One of the things that peaked my interest when I saw the credits was the presence of Toby Stephens and Julian Sands. They're a couple of my favorites, but they were barely in the show. I was pretty bored for the first hour, and I almost gave up. But I persevered, and I'm glad I kept going. 

My opinion is if you want to see more of the marshals and see Napoleon as a person, this might be the show for you. If you're interested in him as a leader and military strategist, I feel like Waterloo does a good job of that. Between the two, I felt like I enjoyed Waterloo more. Considering both time invested and story portrayed.

Would I watch Napoleon again? Probably not. There were times when scenes seemed to drag on, and the end was one of them. I didn't understand why so much time was spent on Napoleon dying. I feel like he would've wanted to be remembered more for his life than the way he died on St. Helena. Just my opinion. It was pretty good, but I'm stopping just short of giving it the good movie review. It was real close though.

All About Eve - 1950

Another one that needed a rewatch. It wasn't because I didn't remember it. More because I wanted to review it. There are some big names in it for sure. Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe (a small role) and Anne Baxter.

Eve is hanging outside the theater, waiting for a glimpse of her idol, Margo Channing. An introduction starts a series of events that intertwines the two women's lives. Eve portrays the picture of innocence and humility, but something lies beneath the surface that no one will spot until it's too late.

This is one of those times where it seems like no good deed goes unpunished. Margo takes in Eve thinking she's a poor widow just looking for a break. Instead, once Margo catches on to Eve's little manipulations, everyone thinks Margo is persecuting the young woman and overreacting. 

I still enjoyed this movie. The villainous Addison (George Sanders) was the kind of antihero I could cheer for. Sometimes. Well, just at the end really. Even though Eve ran over these people's lives, they didn't end up alone and miserable. They discovered what was important in life and clung to it. Good Movie!

Battle of the Coral Sea - 1959

I was told about this movie and that it was leaving Tubi soon, so I made it a priority to get it watched.

The title gives you some clue. During WWII, the Battle of the Coral Sea was a major battle. It was up there in importance with Midway, but I don't think it gets the same attention. In this movie, the commander of a submarine is given the task to infiltrate the Japanese fleet and find out what they are planning. They end up being spotted and forced to surrender.

I found this movie to be pretty interesting. While a lot of it took place in the POW camp, it was a decent balance. I also liked the end. It used actual footage from the battle, so that was neat. The acting was good, but the women were unnecessary. I suppose at the time, they needed to be in there to get people in the seats, but the story would have been fine without them.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. It wasn't too long, and it was just fun to watch. Good Movie!

The Great Silence - 1968

When I started this movie, it was another of those times when I was scratching my head and asking why it was on my watchlist. After it ended and I did a bit of digging, I think it's because it wasn't released in the U.S. until 2001. I vaguely remember reading an article about a "banned" movie. Maybe this was it. It's originally in Italian, so it was dubbed into English. It was obvious, but that was the least of my worries.

Anyway, this is a depressing western. A mute man, called Silence, is going around the Utah territory and picking fights with bounty killers. Those are men who go around and make murder their job. They are awful, and just like killing people. I don't even think it's about the money.

It all comes to a head in Snow Hill. A man there pays for people to get killed, and he's also responsible for Silence being mute. One particular bounty killer is not playing his game and refuses to draw on him. The bounty killer decides to gather his friends and murder a bunch of bounties and Silence as well. The sheriff tries to intervene, but a well-timed poo on the killer's part dooms the sheriff.

I gave up and started playing a game on my phone about halfway through. I wasn't feeling it. I hated the way the cameraman decided he needed to get sooo close to the gross man who was eating chicken. And the noises he made? Yuck. And I felt more sympathy for the horses than anyone in the film. Well, maybe I felt bad for that mother, but that's it. The end was strange and utterly depressing. All the "good" people are dead, and the bounty killers make plans to divide up the bodies for the money. Wohoo?

Pass. This was definitely not a movie for me.

Lured - 1947

This was on my list to watch again so I could remember what happened in it. It stars a number of familiar faces, including Lucille Ball and Alan Napier.

When Sandra's friend goes missing, it's believed that she's become one of the victims of the "poet killer." Sandra goes to Scotland Yard to offer her help. She wants to find her friend. What she ends up doing is offering to be bait for the killer.

What happens next is she answers a number of personal ads, trying to figure out which gentleman is the killer. A certain man starts to pursue Sandra, and she falls for his charms. At their engagement party, Sandra discovers a photograph of her friend and a bracelet. Her secret of working with the police comes out, and her fiancé is arrested.

The evidence is convincing, and there is a lot of it. Too much for normal sleuths to not be a tad suspicious. I mean, the killer has been extremely careful so far, and now he's a buffoon? I think not. I had it figured out before the party, but that's beside the point (and no, it wasn't because I'd seen it before). I think it took way too long to catch the killer, but the end was dramatic. My favorite character had to be H. R. Barrett, the secret detective that's supposed to keep track of Sandra. George Zucco is mainly known for the villains he plays, but he was charming and loveable in this movie.

Overall, this was a pretty entertaining movie. As long as I didn't think too hard about how strange everyone was acting with a serial killer on the loose, it's good enough for a Good Movie! review.

Waterloo - 1970

After watching War and Peace yesterday, I was in the mood to watch another epic. It even has the same director! Sergei Bondarchuk. This one isn't quite as long, clocking in at just a little over 2 hours.

Waterloo is famous as the downfall of Napoleon. This movie shows the epic battle of wills and wits between Napoleon and Wellington. The battle is a huge chunk of the movie, and it's engaging to watch. It's another masterpiece with a large number of horses and over 15,000 extras.

Not surprisingly, I loved this movie. I saw a number of familiar faces, the most obvious being Christopher Plummer. The acting was really good, and I really appreciated the performance of Rod Steiger as Napoleon. I don't know how accurate it was to Napoleon's actual personality, but I bought it.

It's not a feel good movie. There aren't a ton of characters (soldiers) that make it out alive, so rooting for anyone other than Napoleon and Wellington to live is risky. I know there are also some historical inaccuracies listed, but the ones I read were not super egregious and didn't bother me.

The only thing that bothered me a lot in both these movies was the horses. I'm pretty sure a lot of horses were hurt/killed, but I'm going to pretend they're all fine. I may be closer to 50 than 40, but sometimes I fall into "ignorance is bliss." And I'll stay there where animals are concerned.

Pushing that aside and pretending it doesn't exist, I'm going back to loving the movie. I liked getting inside the minds of the two great men and seeing what they were thinking. Add to that a great score, and this movie easily earns a Good Movie! review.

War and Peace (1966-67 film series)

I spent a lot of my day watching this epic series. I'd heard it used a lot of extras, and I wasn't disappointed. I'm not going to try and explain the entire plot of this 7-hour series. I'll just say I tried to read the book and didn't make it.

Once I finished it, I wanted to take some time to reflect on what I'd watched. I didn't look up any of the information I was itching to find out or try to find out anything about the production of the film. It was rough. I was so curious!

There are three main characters in this series: Andrei, Natasha and Pierre. The fourth part revolved around the year 1812. Out of these three, Andrei was my favorite. So the end was ruined for me. I found Natasha to be a flighty, spoiled brat. Pierre was so downtrodden for most of the film, it was hard to like him.

When I read the book, I had issues with the characters, but my main problem was the descriptions of war. Watching this was 100% different. I was mesmerized watching these battle scenes. They used so many people and horses, it was crazy. It was the first time I'd considered what happened when the cavalry falls. I watched a herd of saddled horses running around the battlefield. From what I read, there were 12,000 men and hundreds of horses in the scene. I read around 900. I just can't put into words how mesmerizing it was to watch.

When I was watching the characters, other than Natasha, it was interesting to see how they helped to bring the bigger picture together. I'm not going to say this was a series about Russia, nor was it about the individual. I think it had deeper themes that I'm not going to go into here. The other thing to be aware of is this is in Russian. The version I watched had subtitles for the Russian, but when people spoke French, most of the time there weren't subtitles. It was slightly disappointing.

There are a few drawn-out scenes and some strange music/sound choices, but they aren't that distracting. Would I watch this again? Yes, I believe I would. Maybe not all in one day, but I didn't feel like I spent all day on it. I'd like to find a different version and hope for some better subtitles. Good Series!

Three Came Home - 1950

I watched this movie almost immediately after finishing the book. The movie is based on the autobiographical account of Agnes Newton Keith and her novel by the same name. My review of the book can be seen here.

This is the story of a woman's quest to survive and keep her child alive in a Japanese POW camp during WWII. The book was written in 1947, and the movie was made in 1950, not too far removed from the war. I think that affected some of the choices made for what to include/cut. The best way I can think of to describe the difference between the book and movie is the movie is the animal with the fangs removed. 

Agnes endures separation from her husband, illness and pain to survive the war. When they're taken to the camp, the Japanese tell them the war will last at least ten more years. It's crushing, and they don't stop telling it to the prisoners.

If I hadn't read the book first, I would still have a few issues with the movie. Usually, I can focus on liking the book more mostly because of spot the difference. With this movie, there are issues that stand on their own. The main one that sticks out is the progression of the prisoners (or lack thereof). These women spent three years in the camp, but they're clean, wearing clean clothes and have meat on their bones. It was so unrealistic, and I was just bothered by it. And the ending was so sappy, I almost laughed out loud. There's no hope and then...over the horizon! It's HARRY!!! At least they gave him an injury. And everyone being reunited with their loved one at the woman's camp...super unrealistic (and that one I can back up with the book where some of the women wrote and told Agnes their husbands had been beheaded). Mostly is was just the cleanliness that I know didn't exist in POW camps.

I'm not saying this is a bad movie. I just feel like it didn't go deep enough into what it was trying to portray. It stayed on the surface of the issue. Again, I feel like the time it was made had something to do with that, but it loses some of the impact it could have had otherwise. The acting was good, especially the child who played George. I like Claudette Colbert, and I feel like she did a good job. I just wish there was more nuance and depth to the characters.

Stella Dallas - 1937

I have no idea what this was doing on my watchlist. After seeing it, I am still at a loss to determine why it was on there. It's based on a 1923 novel by Olive Higgins Prouty. I have no interest in reading it.

Stella manipulates her way into the life of Stephen, which she believes will improve her social standing. It does, but she also ends up with a child to take care of. Stella acts like a toddler and accuses her husband of treating her poorly.

They end up living separate lives, and Stella has their child, Laurel, most of the time. When Stephen reconnects with an old flame, the claws come out. Stella is determined to show who holds all the cards by showing Laurel the kind of luxurious life she's experiencing with her father. Unfortunately, Stella sticks out like a clown at a business meeting. Laurel is embarrassed, and they head home.

Stella is suddenly willing to sacrifice her feelings for Laurel. She plans for Laurel to live with her father and his new wife. When Laurel refuses, Stella puts on an act to push her away. Laurel lives with her father, gets her society husband, and Stella walks away in the rain with a smile on her face.

Ok, so I wish I knew how this ended up on my list, because it was pretty bad. I don't know if I was supposed to be rooting for Stella, but she was acting like a child for most of the movie. Even at the end, she was irritating. I think the only person I felt sorry for was Stephen, but he married her. I have no idea how long they were dating before they married, but it obviously wasn't long enough for him to figure out she was using him to climb the social ladder. And maybe Laurel a bit. She was forced to act like a parent to Stella for a lot of her childhood. Overall, it was a confusing movie, and it's an hour and 45 minutes I won't get back. Pass.

Father Goose - 1964

I needed to watch something light-hearted, and I knew this was a great movie. I remember it from my childhood, and my dad would have it on.

Cary Grant is Walter, a filthy beast who is tricked into being a coastal watcher during WWII. It's only supposed to be until a replacement can be found, but when he goes to pick up the man, he comes back with a woman and seven children.

After that, Walter gets kicked out of his home, and they steal his whiskey and clothes. He's contrary for a lot of the time, but eventually, the group forms a cute family dynamic. One day, a Japanese plane spots them, and time has run out for them to leave the island.

I really like this movie. It's over two hours, but it doesn't feel like it. The time flies, and the humor is fun. It easily earns a Great Movie! review, and I'm sure to watch it again in the future!

The Phantom Creeps - 1949

This is an edited version of the 1936 serial of the same name. It is cut down to an hour and 18 minutes.

Bela Lugosi plays Dr. Zorka. He's got a new element that gives him the power to do various things. Apparently, he has an invisibility belt (called a 'devisualizer'), a Z-ray, he can perform painless surgery, and he has a huge robot. People familiar with Rob Zombie will recognize it from the music video for "Dragula,"

I'm a bit glad I watched the shortened version, because I don't think I would've made it through the longer serial. Zorka blamed the people who "betrayed" him for the death of his wife when he was the one who put a disc in her purse while she was on a plane. And he put the spider thing on there too. When the disc and the spider come together...poof!

On top of that, the robot was NOT used enough. I saw him attempt murder once, and then he just kind of threatened people a bit. Then he walked outside and blew up. Sigh...

I don't know why Zorka trusted his sidekick. The man tried to betray him more than once, but Zorka was happy to exert power over him. And the woman. A lot of her scenes must have been cut, because at the end they talked about giving her a medal. The only thing I'd seen her do was hide in a plane and drive a car. And after she drives through an explosion, the guy compliments her and immediately takes over the driving. "Good job! Now scoot over!"

Anyway, I wasn't a huge fan of this one. I didn't understand why the invisible man had a weird ghost shadow, and it wasn't as exciting without the cliffhangers sprinkled throughout the story. I'm not sure I would've liked the serial better, but as it stands, I'll pass on this one.