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Reviews
Burke & Hare (1972)
Confused style and mediocre direction
Briefly, this is not a patch on the Boris Karloff version.
The introductory 70s music/soundtrack is pathetic and cheesy.
Some elements are macabre (no surprise there), but, gratingly,
these are mixed with some feeble quasi-comic elements and some cheap 'Confessions of a Window Cleaner' style sex scenes with prostitutes.
This could have been 6.5 for a decent remake. Harry Andrews plays Dr. Knox and rises above the material and script. Derren Nesbitt Gestapo Officer in Where Eagles Dare) and Glynn Edwards (Dave from Minder) are also above average.
Overall disappointing. Feel free to watch it as a curio, but make sure you have something else to do at the same time such as ironing, mending something or reading a newspaper.
Appointment in Berlin (1943)
An Entertaining Diversion
An entertaining diversion, certainly during Covid-19 lockdown.
George Sanders is the primary talent, though Gale Sondergaard makes a very good fist of limited screen time.
Rattling good yarn. Don't expect much from the action sequences or special effects, but fills 90-minutes very ably and entertainingly.
The Enemy General (1960)
Humdrum; not a waste of time to watch but certainly not worth re-watching
Eugene Archer's review in the New York Times of 1960 described the plot as 'far-fetched' - an uncontestable claim.
However, he also believes that Strangely, Van Dreelen 'easily out-acts' the other members of the cast. This is more contestable as Van Dreelen seems to follow the Roger Moore school of eyebrow-acting - his left eyebrow is in constant action.
Van Johnson - always a 'B' actor, B-- here, compared with 'The Last Blitzkrieg' where he was more B+.
Having watched a lot of film noir material and Nazi-themed films during the long Covid-19 period 2020-1, this was not exactly scraping the bottom of the barrel (viz. George Montgomery in 'Bomb at 10.10' (1967), but one to be wary of.
Bomba u 10 i 10 (1967)
Very poor B- film - not worth persevering with
Poor B- film with George Montgomery.
His preceding film in 1966 was 'Hallucination Nation' - the title alone gives you some of the quality pf Mr Montgomery's work in this period.
The cinematography is amateurish and the dubbing (of both voices and sounds) grates.
The acting is way below par.
I (semi-)viewed this film on a March Saturday afternoon during Covid lockdown in 2021. I part-read a weekend newspaper and part-surfed the internet so that the whole enterprise would not be a complete waste of time. The first 5 minutes was a harbinger of the experience to come.
Please avoid - even if you wish to sate your sense of curiosity.
The Three Musketeers (2011)
Passable, diverting entertainent for a February Saturday afternoon.
The title above says it all.
I only recognised three actors - Matthew Macfadyen (Athos), Christoph Waltz (Cardinal Richelieu), Logan Lergen (Dartagnan) and the execrable James Corden.
The other two actors playing the other two musketeers have not crossed my radar.
Macfadyan seemed to be phoning in his performance, Waltz was perfect for the scheming Richelieu and Lergan was fine (excellent in 'Fury').
The most grating performance was Corden. After his one-note first comedic scene, the other scenes featuring him seemed forced and superfluous.
The Golden Girls: Empty Nests (1987)
Agree with the first review: trite, artificial and laboured
I'm a big fan and I loved this series when I was in my 20s. Watching series 2 for the first time, but this last one really jarred. Characters completely introduced out of the blue. Paul Dooley makes a bit of a go of his character, but Rita Moreno was bland. Before I googled this episode I was wondering if it could be some forced attempt to introduce a new show on the back of the popularity of The Golden Girls - and I was right. I found it frustrating to watch, and a little cynical of the production company to try this kind of approach. Apparently the show was drastically reworked, with different main characters and it lasted 5-6 years. They must have done something pretty radical, as this episode dies on its feet.