THE MALTESE FALCON (Dir: Roy Del Ruth, 1931) Movie Number 5; The Original Version Of Dashiell Hammetts

THE MALTESE FALCON (Dir: Roy Del Ruth, 1931) Movie number 5; the original version of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, which I guess makes it the grandaddy of film noir. Lacking both the charismatic presence of Humphrey Bogart and the sheer style of the 1941 version, it is still entertaining enough and being made pre Hays Code means it’s a little bit saucier than the remake! 100+ movie reviews now available on my blog jinglebonesmovietime.blogspot.com

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (Dir: Leo McCarey, 1957). Soon to be wed playboy Cary Grant and in-a-relationship Deborah Kerr engage in a chaste shipboard romance in movie number 10: An Affair to Remember. After some smart comedic attempts to avoid the attention of the fellow passengers, the couple arrange to rendezvous atop the Empire State Building six months later to circumstantiate their affair. Tragedy, however, intervenes before the lovers can reunite (hankies at the ready ladies). I am fully aware that this movie is considered a romantic classic and is loved by many (most famously Sleepless in Seattle director and co-writer Nora Ephron) but I, alas, am not among them. Yes, Milton Krasner’s Deluxe Color CinemaScope photography is beautiful. Yes, the leads are very attractive, although Grant at 53 was getting a bit long in the tooth to play these playboy types. But the addition of the toothsome children’s choir, some laboured shipboard farce and the manipulative sentimentality of the second half just doesn’t do it for me. It is certainly worth a watch for its leading players and some genuinely smart dialogue from McCarey and cohorts. If you like this sort of thing you may well love this glossy and glitzy cinematic equivalent of pink champagne. I personally would rather stick with Ephron’s superior rom com tribute Sleepless in Seattle. 100+ movie reviews now available on my blog jinglebonesmovietime.blogspot.com

THE WILD (Dir: Steve ‘Spaz’ Williams, 2006).

With animation farmed out to Toronto based CORE Feature Animation, The Wild is a Disney animation in name only.

The movie follows Sampson the lion as he breaks out of Central Park Zoo and heads to the wild in pursuit of his estranged son. He is joined on his quest by animal pals including a giraffe, a snake and inexplicably, an English koala. Cue some lessons in the value of friendship, of being true to oneself and some eventual father / cub bonding via lots of unsubtle humour.

The Wild was originally released within months of rival studio DreamWorks’ similarly themed Madagascar and as such feels incredibly derivative of the earlier movie. In truth, The Wild had been in production for much longer, dating back to the mid 1990s when production was delayed due to similarities with The Lion King.

With it’s theme of a lion father / son relationship, a gazelle stampede and a wildebeest song and dance number reminiscent of The Lion King’s ‘Be Prepared’, The Wild has a distinct air of over familiarity. In its favour the film does have a couple of genuinely impressive moments including the Lion King-esq ‘Really Nice Day’ musical number and a sequence where the animals take a nighttime ride through New York City in a dump truck. This scene is a rare welcome moment of calm in an otherwise frantic, noisy film.

While The Wild could not escape the shadow of the far more successful Madagascar, it is a visually more impressive feature. However, of the two, I think Madagascar is, ultimately, a lot more fun.

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ON DANGEROUS GROUND (Dir: Nicholas Ray, 1951).

A stellar cast including Robert Ryan, Ida Lupino and Ward Bond feature in Nicholas Ray’s tough and surprisingly violent film noir-ish thriller.

On Dangerous Ground is kind of a movie of two halves. The first sees sadistic cop Ryan clash with the lowlife of New York’s mean streets. However, after one display of brutality too many he is sent out of town to a rural, snow-covered isolated small town to track down the killer of a young girl, having to deal with the girl’s vengeful father and the killer’s blind sister.

The beautiful, contrasty monochrome photography in the second half is a definite plus, and the relationship that develops between Ryan and Lupino is unexpectedly tender.

A fairly overlooked title among Ray’s work, On Dangerous Ground is an enjoyably gritty hardboiled 50’s crime flick.

100+ movie reviews now available on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.

MARY POPPINS RETURNS (Dir: Rob Marshall, 2018). New Year’s resolution is going well. Second movie of the year Mary Poppins Returns. The second best Mary Poppins movie I have seen. (Third best if you include Saving Mr Banks.) 
100+ movie reviews now available on my blog jinglebonesmovietime.blogspot.com

SUSPICION (Dir: Alfred Hitchcock, 1941). 
Cary Grant is a decidedly dodgy geezer and Joan Fontaine his timid bride who suspects him of murder in movie number 11: Suspicion. Let’s be honest; this is not quite top drawer Hitchcock. It is, however, very, very good. Lacking much of the gallows humour and nail-biting set pieces which characterise Hitchcock’s later work, this is still a thoroughly entertaining romantic melodrama-cum-thriller. Some slightly artificial Hollywood sets stand in for the English countryside, but otherwise the whole thing is beautifully shot and expertly played by a stellar cast, especially Nigel Bruce as Grant’s bumbling, naive business partner. Highlights include a grizzly conversation about autopsy over a chicken dinner, a t
ense game of ‘Anagrams’ and the single most suspenseful glass of milk in movie history! Great stuff! 100+ movie reviews now available on my blog jinglebonesmovietime.blogspot.com