Midgegirl Reviews

Under Suspicion (1991)

Laura San Giacomo- hmmm

[7/10 · 10 June 2021]

I was pleased to see Laura San Giacomo's name come up in the opening credits as I thought she was one of the best things in Pretty Woman and Sex Lies & Videotape, but here she just didn't seem right. She was neither believable as a femme fatale nor as a vulnerable victim, and I could never quite work out if it was her fault or the script's, which was pretty ropey in some places. Not that she was helped by the clumsy, unnecessary sex scenes- it's pretty hard to make plot lines sound credible mid-hump. However- she looked absolutely gorgeous in all the New Look outfits: very Audrey Hepburn.

I did like the ending though- and it didn't come as big a surprise to me as it did to other reviewers here- the whole film had a Jagged Edge feel to it, plus it answered my 2 main questions throughout the film: 1) why would detective who knew he was a suspect put himself in the dodgy position of being caught shagging the beneficiary of a will, and 2) why did he go back to her all lovey-dovey straight after telling Frank he was convinced she was the killer? At the time I thought it was poor plotting/characterisation, but then I gradually cottoned on to it being a deliberate ploy. Poor Angeline eh.

My only eyeroll was the opening shower scene; strange how we got to see Maggie O'Neill full frontal naked but never Liam Neeson- it's almost as if he had more say in the matter.

Best acting of all was Kenneth Cranham as Frank- he can always make cliched lines seem fresh and believable..

Murder, They Hope: Dales of the Unexpected (2021) Season 1, Episode 3

Much better than the first 2 eps

[9/10 · 23 May 2021]

This episode was everything I'd been hoping the series would be, but didn't manage in episodes 1&2: laugh-out-loud visual and verbal gags, genuine suspense moments, a great turn from the villain, and good use of cameo appearances. And the running joke about giant costumes really did get funnier as it went along.

I'm glad I didn't give up after being disappointed by the first two.

Dreamboat (1952)

Too young

[7/10 · 31 March 2021]

I loved this film, but I couldn't stop thinking what a shame it was that they hadn't got an actress the correct age for Rogers' role.

Women in Hollywood were damned either way: if they did play their age, they'd get "Oohh, hasn't she aged!" comments, which in turn fuelled writers creating very few middle-aged leading roles for them, or they'd get typecast in cameo role mothers/grannies etc and never get a leading role again; or if they did play the ageist game they became obsessed with either trying too hard to appear youthful, or just hid themselves away to protect their image/avoid the crap. And then writers made fun of them for it in films like Sunset Boulevard/Baby Jane/All About Eve etc. Strange how those writers never made fun of themselves for doing such a poor job of their craft that led to these women behaving like that. And some those writers were women themselves! But they too knew they had to play the game, or they'd be out of a job; and so it continued.

Even Marlene Dietrich turned down the role, despite being 12 years younger than Clifton Webb who clearly had no such qualms about playing a man in his 60s.

I can well imagine that many actresses then in their late 50s/early 60s would have felt it was somehow undignified, or illusion-shattering to play their age- which just goes to show how much they internalised all the ageist, sexist nonsense, even though it was to their detriment. Meanwhile 1950s Cooper, Tracy, Gable, Bogart etc all looked older than their years, and it never hurt their careers one jot.

Sure- Ginger Rogers is brilliant in the role. But so would have been plenty of other big name "faded" actresses who would have been the correct age for the role.

It's better now, but not by much.

Hand in Hand (1961)

Now showing on Talking Pictures channel (2021)

[8/10 · 2 March 2021]

I see that lots of other reviews say that this film is impossible to see now, but I'm currently watching it on UK's Talking Pictures channel, which means it will no doubt be shown again several times over the coming months. Hope that helps fans who'd love to see it again. And those who've yet to get the chance.

Flight of the Doves (1971)

Wot Scouse accents?

[4/10 · 23 June 2019]

Everone else has covered the good, the bad and the charming about this film, but I felt compelled to add Willie Rushton's awful so-called Scouse accent to the mix. I spent the first 15 minutes assuming it was a shockingly bad Brummie accent, so I was a tad surprised to learn they were allegedly in Liverpool. He was clearly trying to be topical by modelling it on one or more of The Beatles, and got the part because he was a big name in comedy circles at the time, but that didn't stop me wincing painfully every time he opened his mouth. Did people learn nothing from Dick Van Dyke?

The Old Dark House (1963)

Enjoyable, but there are better horror spoofs out there.

[5/10 · 12 July 2018]

I know that "comparisons are odious" but I spent the whole of this film thinking, "I'd love to see Carry On Screaming again". It's pleasant enough fun, and Robert Morley, Joyce Grenfell & Fenella Fielding go a long way towards making it more fun and memorable than it deserves to be. But for me, it suffers from having a lead (Tom Poston) who just reminded me how of good Bob Hope was in The Cat & the Canary, or Harry H Corbett/Jim Dale were in Carry on Screaming. But the twist on the killer's identity was a nice surprise, and the happy/not happy ending raised a ghoulish smile as well. All in all, the film has a great 60s kitsch comedy horror vibe, but now I'm just itching to re-watch Carry On Screaming, if only to see Fenella Fielding turning up the vamp-setting to 11.

The Lady Vanishes (1979)

A decent remake

[6/10 · 24 June 2018]

On a wet, dreary Sunday I watched both versions of this film more or less back to back, fully expecting to prefer the earlier Hitchcock version (I'm a Hitch fan) yet I was pretty surprised to find it wasn't that straightforward.

Yes- the earlier version is in many ways more economical in its story telling, rapidly showing the mittelEuropean setting plus avalanche and thus getting straight to the business of the problems at the hotel within 3 minutes (including opening titles) rather than the picturesque but drawn-out opening of the 1979 version. And the editing is often more stylish in its inter-cutting of images of train tracks, wheels and whistles into subtle plot points.

But such things aside, for me the modern version has an improvement on the original because it uses real history. It's set one year after the original film (1938) and so uses WWII reasons for the plot. The original film was made and set in 1938 and uses preWWI reasons and a fictitious country, highlighting just how separated from real events that movie was. Obviously the writers weren't to know everything in Europe was about to go up in flames, but hindsight inevitably dates the quaint portrayal of incendiary events.

I found Cybill Shepherd's character gratingly brattish, and nowhere near as charming as Carole Lombard that she was allegedly trying to emulate, but that was as nothing to how annoyingly entitled and arrogant most of the characters were in the 1938 version. Hitchcock may well have been satirising how awful the English are abroad, but he also filled his movie with patronising stereotypes of "funny foreigners" who were treated with varying degrees of disdain by all, even Miss Froy. Charters & Caldicott's treatment of the maid who had to give up her room to them was plain obnoxious.

There was a good deal of believable warmth and chemistry between Lansbury and Shepherd that was lacking imo between Whitty & Lockwood. And for me, Arthur Lowe can get more dry comedy out of one line, or even one look, than several scenes with Basil Radford.

"Mrs Todhunter's" motivation for saying she saw Miss Froy is more slickly conveyed in the earlier version, but Herbert Lom's doctor is a more fully realised character in the later one so it came as a better twist for me when we find out what he's really up to.

For me, Iris & Gilbert gradually bonding over lunch and in the luggage carriage was more endearing than Robert's leering appreciation of Amanda's bra-less figure in a slinky dress, regardless of how alluring she looked in it. And the reason for the nun to switch sides is better hinted at in the 1938 version (because she's English) whereas the 1979 version unnecessarily complicates things by making her married to the doctor who in turn is the aristocratic lady's nephew- all for no story-telling gain.

Hitchcock also wrings far more tension out of the drugged drinks than happens in the remake, as well as more daft comedy out of the inept fight in the luggage car. However, I did enjoy Amanda & Robert's madcap reactions when they thought they'd been poisoned. Gould is naturally funny; Shepherd occasionally so.

The shootout is much better acted out in the 1979 version, but changing the male lead's profession from musician to photographer meant that Miss Froy pulling him away from the life-or-death shooting match in order to teach him a vitally important piece of music -instead of teaching just Amanda- didn't make sense; better to have left him being a music specialist and thus having a good reason for pulling him away from a vital shootout. Nor does the modern version even attempt to explain why this tune is important anyway (daft though it is).

Both films are the same length to within a minute, but the more efficient story-telling in the older version left enough time to include the story line of the officer who boards the train at the shootout, and he adds even greater tension in the final act. What also adds to the final 3 minutes of the original, is delaying the clinch between the two leads until then, rather than Shepherd & Gould making it clear that they're a couple far earlier.

I loved the musical score of the remake- it really added to the lush feel, along with the gorgeous location shots- and ironically, it reminded me in places of the score to one of Hitchcock's other movies- Marnie.

So in summary: 1979 photography/scenery >1938

1979 music >1938

Angela Lansbury >May Whitty

Arthur Lowe >Basil Radford

1979 characters far less obnoxious with foreigners than 1938

1979 political backdrop >1938

But

1938 editing & tight story-telling >1979

Margaret Lockwood >Cybill Shepherd

1938 Plotting & motivation >1979

1938 mystery & suspense >1979

All in all, I think I *just* prefer the original, mostly because Margaret Lockwood is so winningly gorgeous in it, but there is plenty to recommend the newer version, and it was by no means a pointless remake.

Frasier: The Two Mrs. Cranes (1996) Season 4, Episode 1

The accent!!

[7/10 · 3 April 2018]

I get it- Americans don't care about non-American accents: it's an American show for American people. But given that so many of their top sitcoms get syndicated and shown around the world, do they not have enough professional pride in their work to make sure that they get the details right? Millions watch Frasier in the UK, NZ, Australia and various other countries and they can spot an awful English accent- and Clive's is so awful it's like nails down a chalk board. It's so bad that every time he spoke I couldn't concentrate on the rest of what was going on and it stopped me from enjoying the rest of what should have been a great episode. Surely by the 4th series the show had enough money and clout to be able to get an actor who was either English or could do a decent English accent? I know Americans can't hear it, but surely Jane Leeves or John Mahoney told someone?

Don't Americans also experience excruciating embarrassment when someone does an appalling American accent? It's actually worse than Dick Van Dykes- at least his didn't go from London to Australia via vague parts of northern England. It makes the current crop of accent-savvy British & Australian actors stealing roles from American actors seem much more acceptable. Revenge!!

Tales of the Unexpected: Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1983) Season 6, Episode 7

Biggest twist of the series

[7/10 · 29 June 2017]

Given that the point of the series was to give the viewer a surprise ending, this episode definitely fulfilled the brief. I always try to guess the twist in any given episode, and more often than not I'm right, and when I'm wrong, I'm usually close- but with this one, I genuinely didn't see it coming and found it both pretty heart-breaking and a neat exploration of the nature of memory, the stories we tell ourselves, romanticism and how some of us change.

There is some foreshadowing of the way in which people can put a romantic gloss on an encounter (or just plain misread it) when we hear the irritating Marjorie telling onlookers what a wonderful time she'd been having with the American; a few scenes later and we discover that Doris is now a miserable cynic: or maybe she was a miserable cynic back in 1942 as well, but Gerry Armstrong was just too romantic or deluded to see it, as was Marjorie. Indeed, does Gerry tell people his wife is a wonderfully kind and romantic soul in the same way that Marjorie seems to embellish her tales about unwanted admirers?

There again, as others have said, maybe the writer was simply saying that the romantic dreams of wartime romances often fade and turn sour over time, thereby turning viewer expectations on their head and giving them a very downbeat ending after watching a seemingly very romantic tale.

All in all, a very thought-provoking end to the tale, and far better than all my initial mad predictions about Carol being his granddaughter or a ghost. Which is why I am not a writer!

Duck Patrol (1998)

A gentle chuckle with some pleasant views

[6/10 · 28 April 2017]

It's maybe not surprising this only lasted one series, but it still has things going for it. Richard Wilson more or less reprises his Victor Meldrew and steals every scene he's in with his immaculate comic timing and trademark delivery. The scenery is gorgeous, set on a stretch of the Thames between Sunbury Lock and Hampton Sailing Club, although the name Ravensbeck and the number of northern accents seems to hint it's trying to set itself somewhere less London-centric - in a mythical middle England where the sun always shines, the only traffic is of the boating variety, and the only commerce is to be found in quaint little pubs that aren't mobbed as soon as the weather's fine.

Sue Johnston's character brings a certain Darling Buds of May warmth to the roster of characters, and the brusque but non-HR way in which Samantha Beckinsale's character deals with the casual and specific sexism on the job is rather different from the way it would be handled now.

David Tennant is pretty wasted in the sort of "Ballykissangel hapless male hero in unrequited love with the feisty young colleague" role, and doesn't really get to show the flair he shows in so much other fare, but it's still interesting watching him and Jason Watkins try their best with a fairly thin script.

It's nice not to have a laughter track, but the producers have over- compensated for this with heavy-handed jaunty incidental music, as if they couldn't quite handle the silence. And although having gentle stories where not much happens was never a problem for Last of the Summer Wine, here it's hampered by the stories often having very weak endings. And the Sarge character played by Geoffrey Hutchings was a mistake. He's a Col. Henry Blake type character- nominally in charge but actually always off fishing. But he's far too much of a fool to be tolerated, either by his colleagues or the viewer; no matter how much of a backwater this place is supposed to be (and no pun intended)- such an incompetent would never have lasted such a length of time in this day & age.

But such gripes aside, I enjoyed stumbling across it on Youtube- and watching the likes of Josie Lawrence and Celia Imrie doing their cameos. It was pretty star-studded for only 7 episodes.

Shaun the Sheep (2007–2020)

Wasted on kids!

[9/10 · 11 April 2016]

I came across Shaun The Sheep by accident, putting it on for the kids after finding it on Amazon Prime. At first it was just on in the background for me, and then bit by bit I found myself watching each episode more and more carefully, guffawing with laughter at humour that went right over the kids' heads. In fact there's so much to see in each 7 minute episode that I'm actually glad they're not longer, since I'd get detail overload and they'd become the thief of time.

I agree with the other crit that said they preferred these to Wallace & Gromit- there's an even greater economy and precision in the story- telling of each little episode to that which you see in the half hour features.

They remind me so much of the Buster Keaton silent comedies as well- pure physical comedy and visual wit. And having no dialogue makes you watch them even closer; take your eye off the screen for even 10 seconds and you miss vital plot development! And the recurring joke that Bitzer the human-like dog reverts to being 100% dog as soon as someone throws a stick for him never fails to make me laugh.

I cannot recommend the series highly enough. Sheer artistry.

Love Soup (2005–2008)

A younger, more romantic, One Foot In The Grave

[9/10 · 29 September 2005]

I had looked forward to this based on loving both One Foot In The Grave and Tamsin Greig in Black Books, and I wasn't disappointed. The two main characters are, in many ways, younger, softer versions of Victor Meldrew and they suffer all the petty indignities that modern life can throw at us such as, and this had me laughing from the opening minutes until a good five minutes into the first episode, plastic ring-pulls on milk cartons which don't work. Cut to the next shot of Alice with a bandaged finger and you have the style of the programme right there- don't show the moment of agony, just let the audience work it out. The main actors are great but what I really enjoyed was how good the incidental characters were; the nurse with her low-key words of wisdom on finding a mate and marrying them was beautifully understated, and the estate-agent's comment that the living-room "is...15'3" because there are no other distinguishing features is just so subtle and so perfect: just like the rest of the show.