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Reviews
What Love Is (2007)
Look at it as a play and it's great
This so well written that everyone is down on it because most movies are written by a whole group of non-writers. I think Callahan's big mistake is wrting this for the screen, where it can't be appreciated. He should be writing for the stage, this screenplay is as good as anything Mamet, McNally or Lanford Wilson writes. As a film it is static with it's one set, but it is great theater. I would love to see this performed on a stage where it would be appreciated.
As for the actors, all gave a believable performance, except the gay character which was more caricature than real person. And that pole dance fantasy which just didn't fit the rest of the film.
A Little Night Music (1977)
Some credits are eliminated
One very odd thing I found with this DVD release. Both Roger Corman and New World Pictures are taken off the credits. They are listed as producers on both the Soundtrack Album and the original VHS release, as they were on the films main titles in the theater. Yet looking up Roger Corman, New World and this film here on IMDp there is no mention of them. On another note the quality on this DVD is extremely poor and the many cut scenes are not added as an extra feature. What a disappointment, after waiting 20 years for this release! I still find this obviously flawed film, charming. Try as they might to avoid it, a glimmer of the stage shows magic still shines through.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1973)
Almost like ti
This TV production did not have songs cut from Oliver, The score was to be an original by Oliver's composer Lionel Bart. Uncredited composers were brought in to "doctor" Bart's awful score. Certainly that horrid graveyard number with Jekyll playing a gravestone shaped like a piano has to be the worst moment in the film. On the other hand some of it is so unintentionally funny you end up enjoying it anyway. Kirk Douglas' performance is pretty good, his singing isn't. Still compared to the David Hasselhoff video of the Broadway musical this could be called a masterpiece. Maybe Jekyll and Hyde shouldn't be musicalized, or at least should be given to more talented creators.
It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman! (1975)
Not as bad as people are led to believe
The Broadway production was named in the Broadway ten best list for that year. You've got Possibilities was recorded by Jane Morgan, Edie Gourme and Streisand. The staging was by the legendary director Hal Prince. The writers of the book enentually used some of their often humorous story as part of the screenplay that they eventually wrote for the Christopher Reeve film.
The TV production was unfortunate in being broadcast out of prime time, and it did look cheap. Best line ... when Perry White receives a news article from a reporter and says "Rosebud..a sled!!!! no one will believe that!". Was anyone paying attention? Why do people on this board keep saying there was no Perry White? Even the Broadway production had a Perry White, played byEric Mason. It was Hal Prince the director who replaced the character of Jimmy Olsen with a more mature pragnmatic character named Jim Morgan. This vharcter was cut from the TV production. Benton and Newman's main plot line and tongue in cheek humor are maintained in the Salkind film. The biggest objection to the Broadway show was it looked too much like Bye Bye Birdie, and the villains parts were bigger than Superman's or Lois Lane's.
The War Between Men and Women (1972)
Forgotten gem
This movie is based on Thurber's book and his life, it's funny but very touching, like James Thurber himself. Of course Thurber's absurdest humor is not everyone's cup of tea, and much of this movie was over the audiences head. As usual the almost forgotten Barbra Harris is perfect, funny pretty and just a bit mad. When this movie came out there was a TV show on at the same time based on the same work. It was called "My World & Welcome to It" Lisa Gerritsen played the daughter in both . What seems to annoy many people who see this movie is the use of Thurbers cartoons. And I admit it took me a while to finally get the humor in his cartoon strips. so, although this may only be a film for Thurber fans , it is an excellent one.
House of D (2004)
Factual Illogical
This film could be great. The cast is flawless, if only Duchovny had set it against an fictional prison in a fictional neighborhood. But he chose the Jefferson market Library as the focal point, during the later years of it's being a women's house of detention. The film takes place in 1973 , but the actual prison was deserted in the late 1950's till 1961. In 61 plans to make it a Library began, and it opened as a library in 1967. So setting the story in 1973 was totally inaccurate , since it had not been a prison for almost 20 years by that time.Details like this always ruin a film for me. If you don't know the history, it is still a very good film.