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Reviews
Enola Holmes (2020)
Just one problem
Settle down, people. It's only a movie.
It's not a Sherlock Holmes movie, and it isn't meant to be. Neither was "Seven Percent Solution" or the Downey movies. Many reviewers can't get past that, and a lot of them simply don't like women.
I've not read the books, but I enjoyed the movie; I hope there will be more. The actors, the settings, the story are fine. The only thing that is not resolved for me was that Eudoria was a a terrorist in the making.
The Interrupted Journey (1949)
Stand by your man
It struck me that this was a case of life imitating art. Just as Valerie Hobson tries to support her husband in the movie, she would later support her real husband John Profumo when he was involved in a scandal.
The story goes up and down emotionally; I thought we'd reached a happy ending but there was a lot more story left. It's noir, lots of shadows, and a good story, though like most reviewers I was disappointed in the end.
I enjoyed Tom Walls, whom I had only seen in comedies before.
Behind the Rising Sun (1943)
Ahead of its time
I wasn't expecting much from a Tom Nea movie, but this was an instructive bit of propaganda. dougdoepke in his review here makes some excellent points. The Japanese people are portrayed as being the victims of rigid class system. In this film it is the Japanese who are the racists. Aside from that, I enjoyed seeing Gloria Holden and Don Douglas, who died too young....Some of the air raid footage looked as if it was recycled from "Bombadier."
Paris Calling (1941)
Wasted talent
There are many familiar faces here. Gino Coraddo once again plays a waiter. Eduardo Ciannelli gets to play a good guy for a change. Elisabeth Bergner in the lead is devoid of any personality. On the other hand, Gale Sondergaard is wasted; she has almost nothing to do. It would have been interesting if their parts had been swapped. Basil Rathbone is fine, but Randolph Scott is a bit too--and too constantly--flippant as an American pilot. Some of the scenes are a bit jumpy, whether due to bad direction and/or bad editing.
The Sting (1973)
Great writing, but not original
This is one of the best put together movies I have seen. However the Oscar winning script didn't have an original ending. In "The Lives of Harry Lime" radio series, in the episode "Horseplay" from 1951. Harry and his accomplices con a sucker into placing a huge bet on a race, but he buys a ticket to win, though Harry told him to "place" it on a horse. Radio programs in that period ripped off or recycled stories from other programs in that period, so this may not have been the first time this con was used.