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Mini Movie Reviews: There's No Business Like...

Today's theme is showbusiness featuring films by Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, Nicholas Ray, Sidney Lumet, Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen.

In a Lonely Place (1950)
This starts off like your typical noir. There's a down on his luck schmuck who meets a dame who ends up dead and the down on his luck schmuck is set to take the rap for it. But the murder mystery takes a backseat to the troubled relationship of volatile screenwriter Dix (Humphrey Bogart at his Bogiest) and struggling actress Laurel (Gloria Grahame). They've both been chewed out by the film industry, but find a lifeline in each other that just might help them survive in a town full of sharks. This is a bitter (and unfortunately timeless) fable about how Hollywood will force people to endure the most toxic of relationships for the sake of their careers and the all important picture. Nothing represents this better than Dix's desperate agent Mel (Art Smith), who will put up with being smacked around by his client because “business ain't so good”. Close to being five star, but I felt the ending was too forgiving of Dix's violent nature and too judgemental of Laurel's desire to leave him because of it.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
A famous comedy director (Joel McCrea) dresses up as a hobo and sets off on a quest across American to learn what it really means to know hardship so he can make a profound film about it (with a little sex in it). Right behind him is a bus full of studio staff to make sure he doesn't get into any serious trouble. Not long after setting out he encounters a struggling actress (Veronica Lake, typically stunning even as a hobo) who decides to tag along on his journey. Preston Sturges' classic comedy is a feisty send up of Hollywood ego as well as a strong statement on the power of cinema to unite and bring joy to all in even the most desperate of times.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Network (1976)
After learning he is due to be fired because of low ratings, newscaster Howard Beale (Peter Finch) announces live on air that he plans to kill himself during his final show. Ratings skyrocket and scheming programming chief Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) ruthlessly sets out to exploit this new media sensation, turning a news show into extravagant entertainment, despite Beale's obvious mental instability. For Christensen and her fellow executives, nothing is more important than getting high ratings and serving corporate interests, unless you want to suffer a truly Biblical telling off from Ned Beatty. Directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Paddy Chayefsky, this is unquestionably the most acidic film ever made about the television industry as well as a terrifying portent of what it would eventually become.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Joe Gillis (William Holden) is a struggling screenwriter who falls into a torrid relationship with delusional former silent film star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) when she hires him to polish the script for her big comeback return film. You don't get many films as bitter and cynical as Billy Wilder's gothic Hollywood noir, the standout film in a career filled with standout films. Swanson, herself a silent star whose career had declined during the sound era, is unforgettable as the deluded Miss Havisham of Tinseltown, a resentful ghost haunting her decaying mansion, a monument to all her past glories. Holden is just as good as the hack writer who lets himself get swallowed up by her twisted fantasy until it's impossible for him to get out again.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Silent film stars Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are two of Hollywood's biggest names, but their careers hits a snag when the public becomes obsessed with them there newfangled talkin' pictures. With the help of his best friend Cosmo (Donald O'Connor) and new love Kathy (Debbie Reynolds), Don works to salvage his latest film by turning it into a musical, despite Lina persistent meddling. Directed by Kelly and Stanley Donen, this is the joyful, all singing, all dancing, technicolour flip side to Sunset Boulevard's cold dark heart. Kelly performing the title song in a downpour was enough to make this the great musical of all time. All the other classic sequences are just a really nice bonus.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011 More Mark Greig

3 comments:

  1. It's interesting that both Sunset Boulevard and Singin' in the Rain hinge on an actress who couldn't make the transition from silent pictures to talkies. In fact, one could theorize that Norma and Lina are the same person, just separated by two decades of dissipation.

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  2. Network is one of the greatest films ever made, and should be required viewing, eapecially in this age in which everything it presents has more or less come true. People would probably wonder what the big deal is, unfortunately. Beatrice Straight won a well-deserved Oscar for her brilliant but brief appearance and one of the great performances of all time.

    About Singing in the Rain nothing can be said that hasn’t already. It is simply fabulous. Sadly, 19-year-old Debbie Reynolds was not treated well by Gene Kelly, who was apparently quite an arsehole (this seems so often to be the case even today, and must have been far worse back then). Still, I can’t help but love the film.

    The others I have never seen, and will definitely add them to my list!

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  3. Singin' in the Rain ranks as one of my top five ever. I have seen it over and over again, but never tire of it. The title sequence, "Make "Em Laugh" and "Moses" are worth the price of admission alone.

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