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The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Rating

Director

Victor Fleming

Screenplay

Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf (Book: L. Frank Baum)

Length

1h 42m

Starring

Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charley Grapewin, Pat Walshe, Clara Blandick

MPAA Rating

G (formerly: Passed (National Board of Review))

Basic Plot

We’re off to see the Wizard wonderful Wizard of Oz. Somewhere Over the Rainbow skies are blue. The tale of a young girl, Dorothy, upset by the evil Miss Gulch and trapped in her bedroom during a tornado in Kansas, her house is lifted from its foundation and whisked away to a mystical land over the rainbow. Her landing kills the Wicked Witch of the East and the ruby slippers the witch wears become the property of Dorothy. But her evil sister Wicked Witch of the West wants the slippers, but Dorothy can’t give them to her. For Dorothy to get home she must find the travel down the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City a capital-of-sorts of the land of Oz. There, she must convince the Wizard to send her home. Along the way she meets the Scarecrow Tin Woodsman and the Cowardly Lion who all join her to speak to the wizard to get home, a brain, a heart and courage.

Review

The Wizard of Oz is a classic film starring Judy Garland whose legend lives on. The songs are all familiar to each of us. The words have become a part of our psyche. This children’s film captures the hearts of millions, both child and adult and is something that everyone can share, no matter what our ages. The film is bookended in Black-and-White with a brilliant interior of Color. The Cinematography in both is astonishing and the editing of transitions is perfectly delightful. The characters and performances never disappoint and Margaret Hamilton has created the most recognizable figure in American cinema history. With some great sets designed for the film by the unerring Cedric Gibbons Wizard of Oz is the pennacle of the Chhildren’s film. Even as an adult viewing the film, it still delights.

Review Written

September 14, 2021

Fantasia (1940)

Rating

Director

James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe, Norman Ferguson, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield

Screenplay

Multiple

Length

2h 05m

Starring

Deems Taylor, Leopold Stokowski, Julietta Novis

MPAA Rating

Approved (PCA #5920)

Basic Plot

A set of short story arcs drawn to existing or previously written music. Some to tell a story, some to be visual, some to invoke an image in the mind.

Review

A masterpiece by any standard, Fantasia has to be one of the most technical achievements of our century, while expounding on Snow White, which had its moments of unlinked dialogue and drawing, Fantasia corrected that and took it farther, generating some of the most easily recognizable scenes as well as evoking some deep passion within its run. With only one slow segment, Fantasia is easily a masterpiece and will remain such for a very long time.

Review Written

June 9, 2007

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Rating

Director

Milos Forman

Screenplay

Bo Goldman, Lawrence Hauben (Novel: Ken Kesey)

Length

2h 13m

Starring

Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield, Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco, Dean R. Brooks, Alonzo Brown, Scatman Crothers, Mwako Cumbuka, Danny DeVito, Chistopher Lloyd, Brad Dourif

MPAA Rating

R

Basic Plot

Milos Forman brings us a look at a mental institution and its denizens.

Review

Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher turn in bravura performances as a self-sentenced mental inmate and the nurse who must combat the inmate’s rebelious attitudes led by Nicholson. The film oozes drama and is a classic fromt he word go.

Review Written

December 8, 2006

Rebecca (1940)

Rating

Director

Alfred Hitchcock

Screenplay

Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison (Novel: by Daphne Du Maurier)

Length

2h 10m

Starring

Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson, Nigel Bruce, Reginald Denny, C. Aubrey Smith, Gladys Cooper, Florence Bates

MPAA Rating

Approved (Certificate #5969)

Basic Plot

A shy ladies companion is staying in Monte Carlo with her stuffy employer when she meets the wealthy Maxim de Winter. Max is still troubled by the death of his wife, Rebecca, in a boating accident the year before. She and Max fall in love, get married and return to Mandalay, his large country estate in Cornwall. The second Mrs. de Winter meets the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers and discovers that Rebecca still has a strange hold on everyone at Mandalay.

Review

A wonderful film from the master himself, Rebecca is easily a masterpiece. Bringing together some terrific actors, especially Miss Judith Anderson who is delightfully evil as Mrs. Danvers. The films is both well written, directed and acted, but George Barnes’ cinematography is dark and disturbing and several scenes are classic cinema at its very best.

Review Written

October 17, 2006

Patton (1970)

Rating

Director

Franklin J. Schaffner

Screenplay

Francis Ford Coppola, Edmund H. North (Book Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by Ladislas Farago, Book A Soldier’s Story by Omar N. Bradley)

Length

2h 50m

Starring

George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Stephen Young, Michael Strong, Carey Loftin, Albert Dumortier, Frank Latimore, Morgan Paull, Karl Michael Vogler

MPAA Rating

M

Basic Plot

The story of General George S. Patton, Jr. during World War II. His battlefield genius garners him fear and respect from the Germans, and resentment and misunderstanding from the Allies. A military historian and poet, he believes he was a warrior in many past lives, and that he is destined for something great during this life, but his stubbornness and controversial methods nearly prevent the fulfillment of that destiny.

Review

George C. Scott gives a great performance as patton and the visual splendor of the film highlight this sometimes boring look at a historical figure. Deserving the Oscar for his role, George C. Scott declined the award and created a large controversy. Goldie Hawn’s look of anguish as she opened the envelope to reveal the name stemmed from massive amounts of press that Scott would spend the night at home watching football.

Review Written

November 28, 2006