steiner-sam

It's a frivolous comedy about Broadway set from 1926 to 1934 in New York City, Chicago, and the Twentieth Century train that ran between the two cities. Broadway producer Oscar "O. J." Jaffe (John Barrymore) is flamboyant and overbearing. His assistants include long-suffering financial adviser Oliver Webb (Walter Connolly), tipsy Owen O'Malley (Roscoe Karns), and officious, soon-to-be-fired Max Jacobs (Charles Levison). Against all advice, Oscar puts inexperienced former lingerie model, Mildred Plotka (Carole Lombard), into a leading role under the name Lily Garland. Mildred/Lily is an enormous success for three years, but finally leaves the overbearing Oscar for Hollywood and a movie career. Oscar then has a series of failed productions and needs to sneak out of Chicago four years later. He leaves on the train with his cronies, and lo and behold, now successful film actress Lily Garland ends up on the same train with her boyfriend, George (Ralph Forbes). An escaped inmate from a mental health facility, Mathew J. Clark (Etienne Girardot), adds to the fun.

"Twentieth Century" is not slapstick, but the acting is very broad and over-the-top, especially by Barrymore and Lombard. Etienne Girardot also adds a quality performance. The rest of the supporting cast is competent. The humor is dated, but Lombard does give as much as she takes. The pokes at religion in the movie's latter section may reflect the pre-Code nature of the movie. This is a fun movie, albeit unsophisticated.

It's a noir crime drama set in New York City over 24 or 48 hours in 1947. Jeffrey Andrews (Chester Morris) is the alcoholic writer of unsuccessful literary novels, who is forced to live in a ramshackle basement apartment. Under the influence, he goes to his publisher, Henry Small (William Forrest), to ask for some more money. After talking up the blonde secretary, Evelyn Green (Constance Dowling), he bursts into a meeting between Small and wealthy mystery writer, Lloyd Harrison (Steven Geray). Andrews tells the men a classic mystery plot of a murder in a room locked from the inside. That night, Andrews ends up in a bar with the secretary and tells her the plot, but gets so drunk that he can no longer remember the solution. He goes back to confront Small. Police Lt. Applegate (James Bell) later arrests Andrews for murdering Small, whose body was found in Small's office, which had been locked from the inside. Who committed the murder, and how did they pull it off? Another murder also takes place before all is resolved.

"Blind Spot" is another low-budget B-movie with limited sets and characters. The locked-room device has appeared in other films, so if you know it, there is no surprise. The script is wonky, with close relationships building off of a couple of hours of relationships. Some relationships are not explained (Lt. Applegate and Lloyd Harrison know each other). There are numerous awkward scene transitions. Eddie Muller of Noir Alley likes the movie enough to feature it, but it really is not that well done. Chester Morris does the best of the actors, giving his character a personality. The rest are wanting.

It's a historical drama about William Shakespeare's (Paul Mescal) marriage to Agnes Hathaway (Faith Delaney/Jessie Buckley), set from the 1580s to the very early 1600s in Shottery and Stratford-on-Avon in England. First, we meet Agnes as a young woman with a close association with nature. She has a full brother, Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn), and a shrewish stepmother. William, who lives nearby, is an imaginative but undisciplined Latin tutor. He comes upon Agnes in the forest and is immediately smitten. When she becomes pregnant, they marry, against the wishes of her family. Will's mother, Mary (Emily Watson), is supportive, but his father, John (David Wilmot), is not. William and Agnus end up with three children: Susanna (Bodhi Rae Brethnach), and the twins, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe) and Judith (Olivia Lynes). William eventually goes to London for work, which he finds in the theater, but the rest of the family stays in Shottery.

The film follows the often-absent William's off-screen successes, but focuses on Agnes and the children, including the death of Hamnet from the pestilence in 1596, while William is away. This stresses the marriage, but inspires William to write a play that Agnus comes to watch without his knowledge.

"Hamnet" is all fanciful fiction, but I loved it. Jessie Buckley deserves an Oscar for the range and power she displays as essentially a single mom raising three children. Jacobi Jupe is magnificent as the 11-year-old Hamnet. Chloé Zhao's direction and imagination are wonderful. I believed the family's life in Shottery. Paul Mescal is excellent, but he really is in Buckley's shadow. I was apprehensive about Agnes when she attended the Hamlet play with her brother, but her face is a marvel. That's down to Buckley and Zhao.

The Roger Ebert reviewer gives "Hamnet" only 2 1/2 stars out of four. It's much better than that.