MrsMurgatroyd Reviews

DragonHeart (1996)

It's a Fantasy folks.

[28 September 2008]

The music is beautiful and fits the film beautifully. The actors are excellent. Dennis Quaid is right for the part. Pete Postlewaite has gone on to many better parts. But for the time it was made and the fact that they tried to do the story sincerely with just enough action to keep us happy.

I appreciate the movie especially with Sean Connery as the dragon. It is a show with gore but not enough to make it unpleasant to watch.

I loved the message of redemption for the dragon and for Dennis Quaid as the hero. We have to remember that it is a fantasy folks. It is not supposed to be believable.

I saw it first in 1997 and again today Sept.29,2008 on TV. It transferred very well to the small screen. Very good watchable movie.

Hitler's Children (1943)

The way we saw Germany in 1943

[8/10 · 21 April 2006]

I saw this as a young girl in 1943. It was in the middle of WW2 and the end of the war was not clear cut as it might seem now. People were getting tired of rationing certain foods and gasoline and the restrictions of war time precautions on the East Coast.

Looking back I see now that this type of propaganda was necessary in the view of the Movie crowd. Many young men were being killed and taken prisoner in France and Germany and Italy. I think people needed to be reminded that the war was necessary because of the aggression forced upon the United States people.

I suppose not too many of us are alive now to remember those days so it is easy to put the movie down as exaggerated propaganda. And it was but I see it as one of those things that one would expect during a war.

Truthfully I saw the movie as being very real at the time and I loved Bonita Granville and Tim Holt as the stars. I see it now as part of a pattern of keeping the ordinary people stirred up against our enemies. So be it. How will todays movies be interpreted in 60 years?

It's just interesting to have lived through 5 wars and be able to look at things more objectively.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

One of the Best Movies Ever

[10/10 · 11 April 2006]

Dark and depressing but Tom Courtenay is so outstanding in this movie. He should have become much more famous and acclaimed then he did.

The movie holds your interest every minute although in Black and White. The photography, music and actors are all perfect for their roles. I saw it when it came out and a few years ago late at night on an old movie channel. If interested try searching on TCM and find out if they have it. Or even NetFlix. I taped it but the tape is shot and not really watchable. Courtenay by the way is a very respected actor and perhaps he didn't choose to go the way of stardom..

A tribute to the human spirit, maybe. A tribute to pure stubborn refusal to submit to the norm, maybe. Reminds me now of what our prisoners in foreign countries must go through daily.