Slob with a blog. Vicariously join me on my movie viewing adventures! Visit my blog here: http://jinglebonesmovietime.blogspot.com
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BIRDS OF PREY Aka THE PERFECT ALIBI (Dir: Basil Dean, 1930).
BIRDS OF PREY aka THE PERFECT ALIBI (Dir: Basil Dean, 1930).
Birds of Prey, released in the US as The Perfect Alibi, is an early British talkie co-scripted by director / producer Dean and A A Milne.
Based upon Milne’s play The Fourth Wall, this creaky thriller has little of the whimsical charm of Winnie the Pooh. Rather the story concerns the murder investigation, by Frank Lawton and Dorothy Byrd, of their uncle and guardian C Aubrey Smith.
In effect, Birds of Prey is a murder mystery in which the audience know the identity of the murder. As such, its mild thrills are to be gleaned from how and when the killers will be caught. The whole affair is rather jolly and somewhat predictable. However, Nigel Bruce, in a supporting role here as a blustering major, is always entertaining and keep an eye out for an uncredited appearance by future British film legend Jack Hawkins.
100+ movie reviews now available on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.
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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.
KING OF THIEVES (Dir: James Marsh, 2018) My quest to watch as many movies as I can in 2019 continues with movie King of Thieves. Based on the true story of the Hatton Garden safe burglary of 2015, King of Thieves is something of a sweary throwback to the British crime caper films of yore. The Italian Job’s Michael Caine stars as criminal mastermind Brian Reader and, as his criminal cohorts, is supported by a top notch cast including Ray Winstone, Jim Broadbent and various other Harry Potter cast members. The real-life crime was as audacious as its perpetrators were ultimately careless and is neatly told here against the London locations on which it took place. While King of Thieves won’t change cinema history it is stylish, old-fashion (in a good way), frequently humorous and well worth a watch! 100+ movie reviews now available on my blog jinglebonesmovietime.blogspot.com
