e_hoffman Reviews

The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)

Possibly the best version...

[9/10 · 9 January 2009]

The 1939 version of THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK was one of my first costume swashbucklers. I was lucky enough to see it at a screening at school and loved every minute, whether it was the swordplay, the action or even the chilling moments that featured Louis Hayward as either the evil...and most definitely unbalanced...King Louis XIV or his twin brother Philippe, trapped in that nightmarish iron mask.

But more importantly, it gave me a group of unusual heroes in D'Artagnon and the Musketeers in an era when most youngsters' heroes were cowboys riding the TV range. A wonderful group with Warren William holding every scene he is in as the aging but still courageous and adventure-loving D'Artagnon. It wasn't until a few years later that I saw Errol Flynn's ROBIN HOOD and recognized Alan Hale as my first movie Porthos.

It's sad that James Whale directed movies no more after this one, but what he left us is one of the best of the classic costume adventures that is still a joy to watch and a wonderful journey to the legend of the men whose battle cry was "One For All! And All For One!" Catch it when it is repeated on TCM and, for a couple of hours, be a kid again!

Heaven Only Knows (1947)

An excellent, sometimes touching, mixture of western and fantasy

[10/10 · 25 November 2008]

I have been going through the comments by others on this film and am very happy to see such high praise for what is almost a forgotten fantasy that one could see very often in the 50s and 60s on television. I remember it under its reissue title, MONTANA MIKE (why that was decided on...unless the syndicators felt the original title didn't have enough "punch"...is still a mystery to me) and would watch it fairly often. Something about it touched me...and I'm not religious. I guess it was because what would normally be an unwieldy combination of western with fantasy (especially a slightly religious fantasy at that)seemed to click together just right. When there was a need for action it was there. I still remember thrilling to the scene where the Pair O'Dice saloon was set ablaze and Donlevy's character rushed in to save the youngster.

Like the others here, I have watched for it to resurface and hoped to find a video release of it, but to no avail except for a tape a few years back which was about 3rd generation and had glitches, such as periodic flutters. But I still enjoyed it, caught up in the performances (with top marks going to Robert Cummings' 'Michael', Brian Donlevy's "'Duke' Byron" and to Gerald Mohr's Devil. I was also impressed by veteran comedian/actor Edgar Kennedy getting a chance to show his talents in a role that was a rare venture into drama with comedic overturns. The moment when he passes on was one of those that brought tears to me. The film's ending with Cumming's angel taking the terminally boy with him in the 'night coach' usually had the tear ducts going...and, while I am not religious, stirred a little hope in me that such a thing was possible...the star streaking through the cosmic sky...

It's a shame that the film is not available for reasons shrouded in mystery...it was released by United Artists but I suspect whoever has the rights to it doesn't care to see it available again. The worst scenario is that whatever good print that had survived is now deteriorated and lost.

I'm following up the suggestion by one of the commentors about checking in with TCM and requesting it. Heard 40 or more had done so. Maybe we have a fighting chance yet.

Thanks for the use of the hall.

Portrait of Jennie (1948)

PORTRAIT OF JENNIE -- beauty, fantasy and tears

[8/10 · 7 August 2008]

This is my first comment for this site, so be gentle. The history of PORTRAIT OF JENNIE is fairly well known...a love letter from producer David O. Selznick to Jennifer Jones...and it shows by giving her, in my opinion, one of the best showcases for her talents at that time. I have read the pros and cons about this film, but each time I watch it, which isn't often, being the romantic that I am, I can sense it in the way she was treated in the film.

Why don't I watch it that often? Because it touches me in personal ways in terms of the loneliness of the two main characters, the yearning to find someone and not be alone. But most importantly, the music score arranged by the great Dmitri Tiomkin from the works of Claude Debussy. I am sorry that nobody has ever issued a track LP or CD of Tiomkin's score. To me it is a beautiful, sometimes haunting arrangement, with the theme used for Jennie touching me...I believe it is called THE GIRL WITH THE FLAXEN HAIR...I could be wrong. At points it became painful for me to watch as the film touches certain personal pains (the loneliness part particularly, more so since I lost my parents recently after caring for them and have no family to speak of). When the final scene occurs, showing the portrait itself in the museum in full color and Tiomkin's music plays over it, I am in tears. It sounds stupid, doesn't it...

The film itself is not the perfect movie that Selznick had wanted but the flaws are minor to the final result. It is a film not just for those with a romantic streak still in them, but also for the lonely, maybe giving them a message of hope.

I am glad that, unlike many classic films, this one has been preserved and is available on video. Well, that's my rambling on the subject. It may not be film criticism but its how I feel about PORTRAIT OF JENNIE.