Once Upon a Time in the West

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The so-called spaghetti Western achieved its apotheosis in Sergio Leone's magnificently mythic (and utterly outlandish) Once upon a Time in the West. After a series of international hits starring Clint Eastwood (from A Fistful of Dollars to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly), Leone outdid himself with this spectacular, larger-than-life, horse-operatic epic about how the West was won. (And make no mistake: this is the wide, wide West, folks--so the widescreen/letterboxed version is strongly recommended.) The unholy trinity of Italian cinema--Leone, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Dario Argento--concocted the story about a woman (Claudia Cardinale) hanging onto her land in hopes that the transcontinental railroad would reach her before a steely-eyed, black-hearted killer (Fonda) does. (The film's advertising slogan was: "There were three men in her life. One to take her ... one to love her ... and one to kill her.") Meanwhile, Leone shoots his stars' faces as if they were expansive Western landscapes, and their towering bodies as if they were looming rock formations in John Ford's Monument Valley. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews:

Sergio Leone's Greatest Western.......2007-09-05

What else can be said about Once Upon A Time In the West? Sergio Leone released his greatest western with this movie. It's a fun from the opening credits to the end credits. A wonderful movie at that.

Finally, on this Two Disc collection we get a commentary track, three featurettes, they can be split. And the movie looks absolutely gorgeous.

It's a definite must have.

My other favorites from him (Once Upon a Time in America (Two-Disc Special Edition) and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Extended Cut (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)) are also must haves.

The greatest cowboy "art film" ever made. I cried........2007-09-05

I'm not a big fan of western movies...... but this is nothing short of an "art film" masterpiece that has no equal. Morricone's music actually brings tears to my eyes. It is arguably Leone's masterwork. Georgous scenery and incredibly beautiful cinematogophy. This film is a stunning work of beauty and art. I still can't watch it without a tear welling up. Yes, it's terribly slow moving compared to today's "I want explosions, fireballs and laser beams every five seconds" type of films. If you want that kind of film, stick your head inside a strobe light for two hours. "Once Unon a Time" is still the greatest piece of cowboy western cinema ever made.

One of the Best Westerns Ever Made........2007-09-02

Cast, story, locations, can't ask for anything more! Had one problem with my DVD package in that the spoken dialogue was at one sound level but ALL music performed was WAY louder. I had to ride the volume control to watch this great movie, and that is not right. I can't understand how/why they could have screwed things up so much with the audio and still released it for sale. Too bad that they are not forced to have recalls for product problems that are this bad. Do I have the only DVD set with this problem?

pants.......2007-08-25

this version is missing the qoute "why would you wear suspendoers and frank shoot's him. Paramont should be ashamed.

The definitive Western film.......2007-08-23

Together with "Once upon a Time in America" this is to be considered the best tribute Sergio Leone could pay to the United States in its growth to become the power it is now by means of a film. I always loved western films (since black and white, I'm 61).I think that our Italian Director gave a deep psychological view of all the characters and I put at the top of the list a very bad Henry Fonda - especially thinking that he seldom played negative roles (Grape of Wrath, perheaps).
The music of Ennio Morricone is something sublime and I really don't understand why he never won an Oscar in his outstanding career as a composer.
As for the book prefaces it is highly recommended to view in anticipation the DVD with Documentary and Interviews.
Fulvio Arman, Italy

Average customer rating:

liberace--
"I Heart Huckabees" a generation earlier
sublime antics
Dark humor at its best - rbatin
Masterpiece of Satire

The Loved One
Starring: Robert Morse , Jonathan Winters , Anjanette Comer , Dana Andrews , and Milton Berle
Director: Tony Richardson
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000ERVK4O
Release Date: 2006-06-20

Product Description

The funeral business gets a giant raspberry in this wickedly wacky, resplendently ridiculous farce based on Evelyn Waugh's macabre comic masterpiece and directed with inspired verve by Tony Richardson (Tom Jones). But the American way of death isn't the film's only target: sex, greed, religion and mother love are also in the crosshairs of its satirical shots. Robert Morse plays a bemused would-be poet who gets entangled with an unctuous cemetery entrepreneur (Jonathan Winters), a mom-obsessed mortician (Rod Steiger) and other bizarre characters played by such adept farceurs as John Gielgud, Robert Morley, Tab Hunter, Milton Berle, James Coburn and Liberace. If The Loved One doesn't make you laugh, call the undertaker!
Running Time: 121 min.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

In olden days, as Cole Porter famously observed, a mere glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking. So it's heartening to report that this 1965 black comedy still delivers on its billing as "the motion picture with something to offend everyone." Tony Richardson, fresh off the liberating Tom Jones, brings Evelyn Waugh's self-described "little nightmare" to the screen with all its sacrilegious shocks (and then some!) intact, courtesy of screenwriters Terry Southern (Dr. Strangelove) and Christopher Isherwood. Robert Morse stars as Dennis Barlow, an Englishman abroad and a fish out of water in Southern California. Stumbling across the Hollywood landscape like a cross between Candide and Jerry Lewis. Barlow gets a unique perspective of the American experience when he finds employment at the Happier Hunting Ground, a ramshackle pet cemetery, and the flipside of the fabulously vulgar Whispering Glades. In a virtuoso dual role, Jonathan Winters costars as glad-handing Happier Hunting Grounds proprietor Harry, whose brother, Whispering Glades' Blessed Reverend, has some out-of-this-world plans for the "Loved Ones." The mad, mad, mad mad cast also includes John Gielgud as Dennis's ill-fated expatriate uncle, an artist unceremoniously booted from the movie studio where he has worked for 31 years; Anjanette Comer as Aimee, a Whispering Glades cosmetician torn between Dennis and embalmer Mr. Joyboy (an unforgettable Rod Steiger), who registers his broken heart on the faces of his corpses; a teenage Paul Williams as a science prodigy; Liberace as a funeral salesman peddling eternal flames both "perpetual or standard"; Milton Berle and Margaret Leighton as "a typical well-adjusted American couple" whose deceased dog puts a crimp in their dinner plans; and even Jamie Farr, seen fleetingly as a waiter. The Loved One anticipates the "New Hollywood" with its naturalistic cinematography by Haskell Wexler (Medium Cool) and "anything goes" sensibility (the dinner scene with Joyboy and his obese mother would not be out of place in a John Waters movie). By turns creepy and grotesquely funny, The Loved One will bury you. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews:

liberace--.......2007-08-22

as a coffin salesman? miss thanatogenous, mr. joyboy and the blessed reverend. america just as lsd was taking hold. screenplay by terry southern and christopher isherwood (???)! paul williams as a proto-nerd ( what iD's john carmack was probably like as a kid..)funny, disturbing and right on target.

"I Heart Huckabees" a generation earlier.......2007-07-12

Anyone that got a big kick out of "I Heart Huckabees" should view "The Loved One", a black comedy from 1965 about Hollywood, American and English manners, family relatioships, love, undertakers and the funeral business, materialism circa 1965, memories and the relative value of cynicism in filmmaking. Taken from Evelyn Waugh's novel, Terry Southern's and Christopher Isherwood's script is often hilarious and other times awkward. Southern was scriptwriter for "Dr. Strangelove" and this film has some of its affectations. Haskell Wexler's cinematography adds another dimension to this film.

The film features some of the best comic talent of the 1960s including Robert Morse, Jonathan Winters and Milton Berle. John Gielgud, Liberace, Dana Andrews, Robert Morely, James Coburn and Rod Steiger also play roles in the black comedy. Winters plays a dual role as a pair of brothers -- one rich, powerful and conniving; the other simple and dimwitted -- and Steiger's "Mr. Joyboy" character, an embalmer at the undertaker's place, is probably unforgettable. It is unlike anything I've ever seen from this actor!

The plot is pretty simple and merely an entree to the cynical action. Morse wins air fare to the U.S.A., comes to visit Uncle Gielgud, gets a tacky job in a workout club, the uncle dies, and the story takes off as Morse encounters otherwordly characters including Mr. Joyboy and the love of his life at the cemetary, Whispering Glades, where uncle is to be buried beneath Homer's statue. The burial sets the scene where the film really takes off and everyone finds something that offends them.

Film enthusiasts should pay special attention to Wexler's cinematography; you may have seen his award-winning work in "Medium Cool", "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff", "In the Heat of the Night" or "Bound for Glory". His more natural, less staged view of the action, often from odd angles for 1965, produces a multilayered view that adds dimension to the ridiculousness of every situation.

Of films in recent years, "I Heart Huckabees" comes closest to the cynical, wacky views presented in "The Loved One" evben though its storyline held together less well than this one. If you saw "Huckabees" and want to know how similar material was handled in an earlier era wehre profanity, nudity and adject violence were not the norm, rent, borrow or buy "The Loved One".

sublime antics.......2007-06-28

all sorts of tongue & cheek delights. satire, slapstick, grotesque, all I could ever want in a comedy. Little outdated though.

Dark humor at its best - rbatin.......2007-05-12

This DVD is not for everyone, but funny if you can get into it. Robert Morse
does his usual fine job in this role. Mr. Joyboy's mother has some of the darkest yet funniest scenes in the movie. If you like your humor with a sick twist, you will like this DVD.

Masterpiece of Satire.......2007-04-28

Humor, unlike tragedy, is a very individual affair. Hamlet lasts whether played as period piece or with costumes closer to modern. The Shakespearean comedies frequently require editing for performance plus modern costume. Humor is fleeting and often linked to time and place.

This film will last well for those who found it the perfect send-up of America in the 1960s, through a British eye. The funeral industry is only centerpiece to a number of satiric targets including the idolization of the American "mom," space race mania, filling the south California mudhills with homes, pet cemetaries, romance-advice columns, movie cowboys, and much else. Some of this was new then; some of it we are now used to, some is less prominent today. I still think this is simply one of the funniest movies ever made. Others will not get it, for whatever reason. Cultural referrents change very fast, and in our time faster than ever.

What cannot be diminished are a baker's dozen of comic actors at very top form -- Jonathon Winters, for one, was never better; Rod Steiger's Dr. Joyboy is simply inspired. Young Robert Morse's performance grows on me with every viewing as the befuddled young British transplant to southern California and his strange epic effort to simply bury the dead. This black and white film is also well edited and superbly paced.

Average customer rating:

Didn't Live Up to Expectations
Boot Hill
Eastern Western
Highly Disappointed
This Spaghetti Needs Pepto Bismol

Boot Hill
Starring: Terence Hill , Woody Strode , Bud Spencer , Eduardo Ciannelli , and Glauco Onorato
Director: Giuseppe Colizzi
Manufacturer: Direct Source Label
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00005Y80H
Release Date: 2001-01-30

Customer Reviews:

Didn't Live Up to Expectations.......2007-02-26

I should have recognized that given the age of this film that the DVD print would be of such low quality

Boot Hill.......2007-02-08

The picture quality sub VHS standard. I'm a fan of Terence Hill films but this was by far the worst I've seen. I would not recommend this to anyone.

Eastern Western.......2007-01-10

Entertaining, low buget western. Plot a little hard to follow. Not exactly Terence Hill's best movie. Watch it.

Highly Disappointed.......2005-12-16

I have yet to actually watch more than the first 10 mins. The quality is so bad I refused to go any further. For the life of me I can see how any Studio worth its salt could release anything so poor; where has "Pride In Your Work" gone. I could hardly make out the actors in this movie.
I skipped forward by chapters just to see if some change had taken place, but to my dismay there was none. I am not one of those critics always writing bad reviews, in fact this is probably my second ever. I just had to warn other buyers so they don't get shafted like I did.
In all fairness the movie itself may actually be great but for me what is the use if its un-watchable. Its almost like a bad bootleg movie (I refuse to watch those too). I am sure they could have spent some more time and money to remaster it and get all the graininess out and bring clarity to this film.
All in all this is just my opinion and I hope it helps someone save their money, however if you don't mind the picture quality get it because I love the Trinity Saga.

This Spaghetti Needs Pepto Bismol.......2005-11-05

Don't expect a comedy in the vein of TRINITY or THEY CALL ME TRINITY. If you do, you are in for a fall. Both of those were silly but redeemed themselves by being entertaining. This one has no such pretensions. It is merely boring.

The story concerns a corrupt mining company out to cheat the local town's folk out of their claims. They do this through intimidation and violence. When a couple of friends get hold of a claim, they put together a plan to secure that claim and those of the rest of the town from the bad guys. To do this, they enlist the aide of a traveling circus to serve as a distraction. They yell, they fight, they wrestle, they shoot and then they do it some more. Its not very exciting cinema.

This production is made worse by the DVD. I suspect that the original film was a rather low budget affair. The DVD, however, is of such low quality that who could really tell? The edges are clipped off, the transfer is grainy and the effect is of someone holding a hidden handycam in a theater trying to bootleg it. IT was not worth the effort.

Spaghetti westerns can be fun. This one, however, needs the Pepto Bismol right from the beginning to drive off the heartburn.

Average customer rating:

Guadalcanal Diary
For its time, actually pretty accurate
Terse and violent, close in atmosphere and technique to "Wake Island".
Propaganda film
Really authentic dramaziation of the pacific war

Guadalcanal Diary
Starring: Preston Foster , Lloyd Nolan , William Bendix , Richard Conte , and Anthony Quinn
Director: Lewis Seiler
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
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ASIN: B00005PJ8K
Release Date: 2002-05-21

Amazon.com

This is a far cry from The Thin Red Line, but it's engaging and efficient World War II propaganda about the opening of the South Pacific campaign that would ultimately turn the tide of the war. Anxious and unsuspecting Marines land on the Solomon Islands and quickly learn how to engage the Japanese in foxhole warfare. It's full of archetypal characters (tough sergeant Lloyd Nolan, Brooklyn cabby William Bendix, lusty Mexican Anthony Quinn, and gravel-mouthed Lionel Stander) and well-staged battle scenes. There's even a battle-weary narration to provide authenticity and historical perspective. All around, a good grunt film. --Bill Desowitz

Description

One of the greatest war movies of all time, combining action-packed, high-caliber battle sequences with quintessential foxhole-buddy camaraderie. Released in 1943, its authenticity and power remain undiminished.

The story follows one squad of Marines through the bloody assaults on the Solomon Islands during the opening stages of the war in the South Pacific. There's the tough sergeant (Lloyd Nolan), a cab driver from Brooklyn (William Bendix), a Mexican (Anthony Quinn) and a chaplain (Preston Foster). A battle-weary narrator reads from a diary, commenting on the typical grunt's everyday life, and death. Battles and dates of engagement are named, putting the explosive action into a solid historical context.

Based on Richard Tregaski's best-selling book, the script is by renowned screenwriter Lamar Trotti, who also wrote the screenplay for the wartime classic "To the Shore of Tripoli."

Customer Reviews:

Guadalcanal Diary.......2007-03-09

This firm was advertized on Amazon as being in "color." A black and white version was delivered to me, even though I had inquired of Amazon if the film was actually "color" and Amazon had assured me that it was definitely color. I knew the film was originally in black and white, but was swayed to buy the film in the belief, as marketed, that it had been colorized, which is what I was looking for.

For its time, actually pretty accurate.......2007-01-05

Like most war movies created in the early 40s, their one main purpose was to inspire Americans to buy more war bonds. Therefore, stories of valor, likable characters (many of whom get killed), fluff dialogue, and innaccurate retelling of battles were the mainstay of the films. "Guadalcanal Diary," however, was different than most. Rather than the glorification of battle and the 'good guys always winning with no problem,' there is a good deal of hardship here. Impressively, the movie portrays some of the angst and helplessness of the nighttime navel shelling that both sides participated in.

Also, there is a part early on that tells the true story of one detachment's fate on the far side of the island when they run into a Japanese force. Only one soldier survived to tell the tale. His account is very accurately portrayed. Of course, perhaps the US War Department was more interested in showing the grittier side of the war in order to promote those war bonds. Guadalcanal certainly provided enough true life grit for several movies.

It is definitely a condensed version of the events that took place on that island, but overall it is a well-acted and fascinating movie. For historical accuracy, it stands fairly well the test of time, although it is not as concerned with facts as with emotions. Still, there is great acting and good special effects (again, for the time) and fans of the era and of World War II history should enjoy this period piece regardless of the subtle marketing throughout.

Terse and violent, close in atmosphere and technique to "Wake Island"........2007-01-02

Guadalcanal is the second largest island (after Bougainville) of the Solomons and largest of the Solomon Islands Protectorate southwest Pacific...

During World War II it was the scene of bitter land and sea fighting between U. S. and Japanese forces...

On August 1942, the U.S. Marines, in the Allies' first major offensive in the Pacific, seized a Japanese airfield, Henderson Field, on the island...

On November, in a naval engagement, the Allies prevented the Japanese from landing reinforcements... By February 1943 the Japanese, badly outnumbered, were forced to evacuate Guadalcanal and by the end of the year they were on the defensive in their last stronghold in the Solomons, Bougainville Island...

"Guadalcanal Diary" is based on the best-selling book by war correspondent Richard Tregaskis... It follows the career of a platoon of Marines from Pre-landing shipboard briefings through two months slow murderous fighting in the taking of the South Sea jungles...

The film gives a realistic view of the hardships of war, and has its moments... Perhaps the most touching scene is at the climax when the tired veterans watch the fresh, green troops marching past them... The feeling is one of a continuous hard effort... The impudent newcomers have yet to face the revolting horrors that an American soldier is subjected to... Certainly, they will fight as well as those before them, however, we cannot but help feeling sad for those who will never return...

The film reveals the hard life in camps, shelters, patrols, hospitals, beaches and jungles in absolute reality... It is terse, violent, close in atmosphere and technique to "Wake Island" (1942).

Propaganda film.......2006-11-04

This film is about WW II, and one of the key, islands we took from the Japanese. I find it very, well acted (in a hammy, sort of way).

Really authentic dramaziation of the pacific war.......2006-07-05

The only thing that prevented me from giving this movie a 5 star
was the occasional schmalsty, goffy comments made in jest during
the film. But I beleive this was common in pictures made during
the war in the 40's.

Average customer rating:

The original Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Truly a classic movie
TERRIFIC FILM THAT HOLDS EVERYBODYS' INTEREST & INCLUDES SOME SURPRISES!
Good Deeds
Mr. Deeds

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Starring: Gary Cooper , Jean Arthur , George Bancroft , Lionel Stander , and Douglass Dumbrille
Director: Frank Capra
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
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ASIN: B000031EGT
Release Date: 2000-02-01

Amazon.com

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is Frank Capra's classic screwball comedy about a village innocent who inherits $20 million, only to discover it's more trouble than it's worth. The screwball in question is Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper), a small-town greeting-card poet and tuba player transplanted to the big city to administer his newly inherited wealth, where fast-pattering, wised-up cynics, sneering society denizens, and corrupt lawyers lord it over the ingenuous and straightforward. Deeds's idiosyncrasies are amply magnified in the tabloids by journalist "Babe" Bennett (Jean Arthur), dating Deeds as a cover, only to discover she's the sap when she falls irresistibly for him. But the damage has been done, when Babe's column is used by a pack of corrupt lawyers, Cedar, Cedar, Cedar & Budington, to prove Deeds mentally unfit. The miracle of this unforgettable comedy is how it embraces dark material, calling into question some common assumptions about capitalism while maintaining an approachable atmosphere of light comedy, and deceptively so. You'll be so pixilated by its charm, you won't rest until you've doodled your way to a rhyme for "Budington." --Jim Gay

Customer Reviews:

The original Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.......2007-06-20

Quintessential Capra charmer is one of Cooper's most appealing comic forays, as his plain-talking homespun reflection of rural America out-foxes all those smug and greedy city-slickers. Arthur is also terrific as Babe Bennett, the hard-nosed lady journalist who first ridicules, then falls for Longfellow, much to her own surprise. One of the screen's authentic classics, this is pixilated comedy at its very best. Beware the Adam Sandler remake.

Truly a classic movie.......2007-01-11

A must see movie for those that like the classics. Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur are outstanding. People are not taught morals like this everyday anymore.

TERRIFIC FILM THAT HOLDS EVERYBODYS' INTEREST & INCLUDES SOME SURPRISES!.......2006-08-30

IN A NUTSHELL: A 1936 ROMANTIC COMEDY THAT IS STILL RELEVANT
TODAY

Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur are incredibly effective and believable as quite an odd couple in this serio-comic treatment of idealism versus cynicism in the form of the small town iconoclast versus the big city. Together, the pair are the embodiment of the Capra depiction of the grand virtues of the simple country folk pitted against the unnatural and decadent evils of the modern city.

However, in this story, like most of Capra's there is a way out for all of us in this film, and a way for us individually to empathize with the characters and the plight of society as a whole as it staggered through the 'Great Depression'.

MR. DEEDS & THE GREAT DEPRESSION:

Just when one might be thinking okay, I have been watching this film for an hour and I know how it is going to turn out, Mr. Deeds takes a hard turn to the LEFT! In this seemingly extraneous subplot, lies the true meaning of this film, as we discover that Mr. Deeds is much more than just another 'boy meets girl' film with a few bumps thrown in on the way to the altar. That's because Deeds is a better man than that and can't be so easily defeated. Of course, this is a parody of 1936 society which had been in a real depression for 7 years already.

Yes, Mr. Deeds does draw a great deal of empathy from modern viewers as he plays the knight in shining armor from a by-gone era, looking for his damsel in distress in New York City. Rather than just brooding over it, Longfellow Deeds does something drastic about, drastic enough for his sanity to come into question. In this questioning of Deeds' sanity, Babe Bennett [Jean Arthur] is given the opportunity, which see puts to good use, to earn back Longfellow Deeds' trust and so illustrate that perhaps none of us is beyond redemption. Now isn't that a promising idea?

--*THE PRINCIPAL CAST

Gary Cooper - Longfellow Deeds
Jean Arthur - Babe Bennett
George Bancroft - MacWade
Lionel Stander - Cornelius Cobb
Douglas Dumbrille - John Cedar
Raymond Walburn - Walter
H.B. Warner - Judge Walker

--*MAJOR AWARDS

Best Actor (nom) Gary Cooper 1936 Academy
Best Director (win) Frank Capra 1936 Academy
Best Picture (nom) 1936 Academy
Best Screenplay (nom) Robert Riskin 1936 Academy
Best Sound (nom) John P. Livadary 1936 Academy
10 Best Films (win) 1936 Film Daily
Best Picture (win) 1936 National Board of Review
Best Picture (win) 1936 New York Film Critics Circle
10 Best Films (win) 1936 New York Times

BOTTOM LINE: WE NEED MR. DEEDS ON DVD!

Great surprisingly modern 1936 serio-romantic comedy that boasts a wonderful cast under the brillant oscar winning direction of Frank Capra. In the end, this is a story of hope for all of us just as in 'Lost Horizon'.

Good Deeds.......2006-06-23

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is the story of Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper), a man who inherits a fortune from his dead uncle. When he arrives in New York, he begins to reform though the people there expect him to follow their orders blindly. He falls in love with a reporter disguised as a damsel in distress (Jean Arthur) who uses him for a story. Deeds does many great things, but the people who want to use him deem him crazy in order to usurp his power.

Cooper is wonderful in these wide-eyed innocent types of roles. He is tall and wears his strength well, which makes his sweetness all the more appealing. It is hard not to fall in love with his character and to wish that there really were people like him in the world.

This film was re-made starring Adam Sandler and called Mr. Deeds. That version is actually very good and puts some modern comedy into an already great story. It also stays true to this film featuring much of the same plot and names. Sandler does a great job at mimicking Cooper's innocence and honesty, though the original should not be forgotten.

Mr. Deeds.......2005-10-09

Gary Cooper plays Longfellow Deeds, the greeting card poet from Mandrake Falls, Vermont, who inherits 20 million dollars from his uncle, comes to NYC, and becomes the laughingstock of the big city. When he decides to give all the money away to out-of-work farmers (it's Depression time, remember), he is declared insane by lawyers who want some of the pie for themselves, citing his tuba playing, walking in the rain, chasing fire engines, etc. as examples.

Jean Arthur is the newspaper woman who uses him at first to make a bigger sap out of him to sell papers, but soon she finds herself in love with him and decides to help him out. The movie ends with a famous courtroom scene where Cooper refuses to defend himself until it's almost too late - but of course Arthur comes to his rescue and Coop turns the tables.

Like most Capra pictures it goes on too long, and in this one we really feel it. The Capra "corn" is piled on thick, with such scenes as the one at Grant's Tomb almost obligatory in a Capra picture. Cooper and Arthur perform wonderfully, though, and the supporting cast is at its best, too.

Strange note (to me, anyway): Where here Deeds says nothing in his defense at the end, Jimmy Stewart in the similarly sounding MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, also by Capra (1939), goes on talking for 24 hours in his filibuster on the floor of Congress. From one extreme to the other!

Average customer rating:

artifice and honesty, combined into a seamless whole
GOOD ACTORS...SAD STORY
what a waste
Repellant Characters and too Long By Far
The gloomiest musical in some time...

New York, New York
Starring: Liza Minnelli , Robert De Niro , Lionel Stander , Barry Primus , and Mary Kay Place
Director: Martin Scorsese
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
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ASIN: B00062IVKI
Release Date: 2005-02-08

Amazon.com

Martin Scorsese took a daring turn from the mean streets that made his reputation in the early '70s with New York, New York, his homage to the big-band era. And what an homage it is: the dazzling production design by Boris Leven continues to impress over the film's nearly three-hour length. And there's no denying the anthemic appeal of Kander and Ebb's title song, belted with winning bravado by costar Liza Minnelli in a showstopping finale. But as valiantly as Minnelli and Robert De Niro try, they can't elevate the shaky plot beyond its two-dimensional construct. It purports to be a Star Is Born-like tragedy of colliding careers, but too often it feels like inadvertently eavesdropping on a marriage counselor's most truculent clients. (There are times you want someone--anyone--to slap Minnelli upside the head with a copy of Women Who Love Too Much.) For diehard Minnelli (or Scorsese) fans only. --Anne Hurley

Description

Acclaimed director Martin Scorsese teams with Academy AwardÂ(r) winners* Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro in this splashy, flashy musical spectacle celebrating the glorious days of the Big Band Era in the Big Apple! Jimmy is a joint-jumpin saxophonist on his way to stardom. Francine is a wannabe starlet who dreams of singing in the spotlight. When they meet, sparks flyand when he plays and she sings, they set New York on fire! It's the beginning of a stormy relationship, asthe two struggle to balance their passions for music and each other under the pressures of big-timeshow biz. *Minnelli: Actress, Cabaret (1972); De Niro: Actor, Raging Bull (1980), Supporting Actor, The Godfather Part II (1974)

Customer Reviews:

artifice and honesty, combined into a seamless whole.......2007-09-09

In Martin Scorsese's much-maligned NEW YORK, NEW YORK, the hollow artifice of the 1940s Technicolor musical clashes with the brutal honesty of human emotion, in a story about a doomed relationship between two individuals whose mutual love for music draws them together and pulls them apart.

In post-war New York, brash saxophonist Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) meets young singer Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli), and together they join forces to create a new jazz and big-band sound. In typical "Star is Born" fashion, Francine is signed to a major record label and later becomes a Hollywood movie star; Jimmy's callous attitude to her wanting to start a family becomes the key for their break-up. The tempestuous love affair of Francine and Jimmy is the backbone of NEW YORK, NEW YORK, almost two different movies rolled into one: affectionate tribute to the classic Hollywood musical, and dramatic backstage romance. That duality is the reason why NEW YORK, NEW YORK stands up well to repeat screenings; Scorsese's masterful touch is all over this masterpiece, which is only now beginning to be recognized as a classic of it's time.

While the story may seem to be channeling "A Star is Born" (which starrred Minnelli's mother Judy Garland as an unknown who outgrows her husband's moviestar success); the characters of Francine and Jimmy, and their violent relationship, share a closer kinship to the Doris Day/James Cagney musical drama "Love Me or Leave Me"; Day's abusive 1941 marriage to jazz musician Al Jordan was also paralleled.

Visually, the movie is a rare treat; Laszlo Kovacs' cinematography and the art direction of Boris Leven is flawless. In one memorable scene, Jimmy and Francine wander into a yellowed barren wood that looks like something from the opening titles of "Doctor Zhivago". Veteran M-G-M hair stylist Sydney Guilaroff took care of Ms Minnelli's many elaborate, period-perfect hair creations (and in another lovely twist, Minnelli got to use her mother Judy Garland's original M-G-M dressing room while making this movie).

NEW YORK, NEW YORK used many original songs of the period for it's soundtrack ("You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me", "You Are My Lucky Star", "The Man I Love", "Just You, Just Me"). Especially-written for the movie by her longtime collaborators John Kander and Freb Ebb were several new songs which became staples of Liza Minnelli's repertoire ("But the World Goes 'Round", "Happy Endings", and "New York, New York"). The extensive production number for "Happy Endings" was modeled after the "Born in a Trunk" sequence from Judy Garland's "A Star is Born".

Robert De Niro's saxophone solos were dubbed by Georgie Auld (De Niro does a very convincing job of handling the instrument). The supporting cast includes Mary Kay Place, Larry Kert, Lionel Stander and Barry Primus.

I can't recommend this movie highly enough. NEW YORK, NEW YORK, initially dismissed by audiences and critics upon it's release in 1977, is now slowly being discovered as a masterpiece for the ages, and I for one am thrilled.

GOOD ACTORS...SAD STORY.......2007-08-27

I ENJOYED THE FIRST PART OF THE STORY, BUT IT BECAME MOROSE AND DOWNRIGHT DEPRESSING TOWARD THE END. OVERALL, IT WAS ABOUT AS ENTERTAINING AS A TRIP TO THE DENTIST.

MINNELLI AND DE NIRO WERE GOOD ACTORS, BUT THE STORY WAS SAD.

what a waste.......2007-03-09

i have to say that the singings, the songs and everything related to music in the film are great. but other than those parts, the screenplay had focused too much on the domestic violence, the abuse, the manipulation, the jealousy, mainly on the dark side of a stormy romance. it downgraded this suppose-to-be great movie. the character that de niro played portrayed a person who got the talent but also a born psycho, a maniac, a run-away, totally lost controlled crazy man. the storyline about him was overly done and overly exaggerated to the extreme, making the whole movie so repellent, repulsive through out the whole movie. de niro also failed to give us a new dimension of his performance but used his usual and comfortable acting abilities originated from 'the taxi driver' that was absolutely inappropriate in this different genre movie. what he gave us was nothing but a degenerated 'taxi driver' & 'raging bull' in a pitch dark broadway musical romance. the only difference was 'are you talking to me?' to force his wife to 'look at me!'
liza minnelli played an amazing role in this movie. every song she sang was great and heart wrenching. i couldn't help but reminding myself during watching this movie that how similar the storylines of the 'dreamgirls' was to 'new york, new york'. similar manipulating, abusive men and husbands, only that guy in the 'dreamgirls' was much kinder and gentler than the guy in 'new york, new york'. but the screenwriters and the director had put too much torturing violence in 'new york, new york' that almost killed the good part of this movie. furthermore, this movie was overly dragged too long, especially on the part of the couple's stormy relationship. what the character that de niro played didn't belong to broadway but a asylum. you just can't let the audience to appreciate the better part with the dominante worse part of this movie. it's a shame that the director and the screenplay writers of this film both failed to realize.

Repellant Characters and too Long By Far.......2007-03-03

Scorcese completely ruins the mood of his own lovefest for the big band era. The opening scene where De Niro imposes his interest on a disinterested Liza is actually pretty funny. He's at his most gum-chewing obnoxious pushiness and she seems more amused and exhasperated then threatened. Then he continues to pursue her and the fun leaves the movie. De Niro is a classic abusive stalker control freak sociopath. Liza seems to be in a different movie altogether as she obviously isn't buying the manure Scorcese and De Niro are selling. She seems more confused and amused most of the time. As if she's thinking, "these guys can't be serious" every time De Niro threatens her or acts out. At least Raging Bull and Taxi Driver were honest depictions of the corrosive effects of the fear and hatred some men feel towards women, particularly women with brains, opinions and ambitions of their own. New York, New York wants to have its cake and eat it too.

The gloomiest musical in some time..........2007-01-10

In "New York, New York, director Martin Scorcese recalled the Big Band era of the forties in a musical drama concerning the romance and shaky marriage of a musician (Robert De Niro) and a band singer (Liza Minnelli).

Much of the forties ambiance is accurately re-created, and Minnelli gives vibrant readings of some good songs, especially the title song, but De Niro's character is so harsh and unpleasant and his squabbles with Minnelli so long and depressing that the film is easily the gloomiest musical in some time...

"The Buddy Holly Story" (1977), dealing with the rock star who died in a plane crash in 1959, just as his fame had peaked, was much less pretentious and much better...

Average customer rating:

Second class entertainment at its best!
First Rate Thriller
One of the better 70's era disaster films

The Cassandra Crossing
Starring: Sophia Loren , Richard Harris , Martin Sheen , O.J. Simpson , and Lionel Stander
Director: George P. Cosmatos
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000639F0
Release Date: 2002-04-23

Product Description

Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, Martin Sheen, O.J. Simpson, Lee Strasberg, Ingrid Thulin and John Phillip Law star in this terrifying odyssey of a plague-infested train, speeding across Europe to the Cassandra Crossing and death.

When a plague-infested terrorist, fleeing from the police, exposes the 1,000 riders of the Geneva to Stockholm Express, Colonel MacKenzie (Lancaster) is called in to handle the situation. He locates a doctor aboard the train, Jonathan Chamberlain (Harris) who, with his wife (Loren), finds the fugitive. They attempt to transfer him to a hovering helicopter, but fail, and the terrorist dies. To prevent the spread of the plague. Colonel MacKenzie directs the train to the Cassandra Crossing where it will plunge to oblivion, killing all aboard. At Nuremberg, the train is pumped with oxygen and the stricken passengers begin to recover. Dr. Chamberlain argues that they be spared, but Colonel MacKenzie refuses, and as the train rushes toward the collapsing Cassandra Crossing bridge. Chamberlain struggles to disconnect the cars and save the passengers from their appointment with doom.

System Requirements:

Running Time 132 Min

Format: DVD MOVIE

Customer Reviews:

Second class entertainment at its best!.......2006-09-10

Sometimes you want nothing more than to turn your brain off and settle down to a slice of Europudding. Lew Grade and Carlo Ponti's Anglo-Italian co-production The Cassandra Crossing is a perfect example. Full of fattening but empty calories and boasting an Irish, Italian, American, German and anybody else who wasn't busy that month cast of fading stars, a Greek director and shot in Switzerland and France with the profits from The Muppet Show, it's a prime example of that much maligned genre, the conspiracy-disease-disaster-train-action-thriller. Richard Harris and the co-producer's missus Sophia Loren take the leads as the glamorous twice-divorced couple - he conveniently a doctor, she a pulp novelist - who find themselves on the same train as Martin Sheen's drug smuggling toyboy gigolo mountain climber (seen in one surreal moment standing on his head on a bed wearing only Y-fronts while Ava Gardner applauds), O.J. Simpson's gun-toting not-really-a-priest (and yes, he does go down), Lee Strasberg's concentration camp survivor muttering "I can't go back to Poland" (some of my relatives feel the same, Lee), Lionel Stander's loveable conductor (yes, he's called Max and he looks after them), the then-Mrs Harris, Ann Turkel as a free-spirited hippie chick who can't sing (or do much about her boyfriend's premature ejaculation problem either for that matter), and, critically, Lou Castel's sweaty Swedish terrorist (described in one memorable exchange as a "sweaty pervert"). The reason he's sweating is he's got a nasty strain of Pneumonic Plague that the Americans were planning on destroying (honest) in Geneva before he and his ill-fated pal tried to blow up the lab.

While Ingrid Thulin's humanitarian doctor tries to find a way of saving the passengers and Burt Lancaster's American general tries to find a more permanent containment solution involving a rickety bridge en route to a disused WW2 Polish `isolation' camp ("It's a Warsaw Pact country but we can't do anything about that") in one of those flashing light control rooms with minimalist glass maps (you can just imagine them exchanging anecdotes about the days when they were working with Visconti inbetween takes), it's up to Richard Harris to save the day. Boy, are those passengers in trouble - he's such a responsible doctor that when he sees a sweaty Castel panting and heaving over a bowl of rice pudding he doesn't even tell the nun sitting opposite him in the dining car that she might want to try the trifle instead, so we know that a lot of the passengers aren't going to make it. Oh, did I mention the `cute' little girl? Alida Valli's governess? John Phillip Law's `sinister' military aide?

There's an enjoyably overwrought Jerry Goldsmith score (the only one to include an entire cue used in a previous score, in this case a reorchestrated version of 'Night Attack' from Islands in the Stream), some better than expected production values and worse than expected back-projection and one real howler of a continuity goof as the locomotive changes type two-thirds through the film. But most of all, it's just demented enough in its straight-faced way to be great fun if you're in the right mood. Director George Pan Cosmatos may have been a hack, but he was a very proficient one, as an extremely well executed and impressively edited opening raid on the World Health Organisation - sorry, International Health Organization's headquarters demonstrates. It also has some genuinely impressive camerawork (including a couple of shots I still can't work out how they got) and what is easily the best transfer of a sick Basset hound from a moving train to a helicopter before the train hits a tunnel action setpiece in screen history. Now THAT'S entertainment!

First Rate Thriller.......2006-04-29

What distinguishes "The Cassandra Crossing" from latter day thrillers is that it emphasizes story and characterization over pyrotechnics. The film moves along crisply with enough twists to keep you on the edge of your seat. The imperiled passengers are full-bodied characters whose fate you actually care about. There were many disaster films from the seventies that were more concerned about body counts(i.e. which celebrity would bite the dust) that they bordered on exploitation. "Cassandra Crossing" elevates the genre and makes a case for it's respectability.

One of the better 70's era disaster films.......2002-06-17

One of the better films amoung the 1970's disaster movie genre; centering around a European train infected with a contagious virus. Interesting film to compare to more recent fare such as Outbreak.

Amoung the "all-star" cast few actually qualilfy, with only Richard Harris and Sophie Loren adding genunie star power; while Burt Lanchaster basically just phones in his performance. Also seeing O.J. Simpson as an INTERPOL officer gunning down terrorists in a priest uniform is more then jarring. The direction is taut and the Jerry Goldsmith score is strong as always. Despite its cheesy moments (the hippies singing in the train car) its a good watch.

The DVD itself is nice deal for [$], although Artisian's presentation doesn't rank as high as some of its other older catalog film. Sadly its presented in fullscreen which is a major mark against it and there isn't even a trailer to accompany it. Oddly enough it sports motion menus which surprised me. The transfer isn't anywhere near reference quality but its watchable with a few spots where the film goes soft. The mono soundtrack isn't strong at all and the dreaded mono hiss is audible if you're using your sorround system.

Amazon.com

Preston Sturges has his great run in 1940-44, with a series of comedy masterpieces unparalleled in Hollywood film. 1948's Unfaithfully Yours proves that he still had the touch, if only he could have found a supportive studio for his genius. (It would've helped if Unfaithfully Yours had been a hit, which it was not.) Sir Alfred De Carter (Rex Harrison) is a witty, vain orchestra conductor, a celebrated man married to a beautiful woman (Linda Darnell). He becomes convinced of her infidelity, and while he is on the podium during a concert, he fantasizes three homicidal revenge fantasies--all set to the classics.

The conductor looks suspiciously like a self-portrait by Sturges, and the delicious dialogue comes pouring out of Rex Harrison like pearls from a goblet. The film's main disappointment is that it doesn't feature the teeming stock company of character actors that crowd Sturges's earlier pictures (although Rudy Vallee, Lionel Stander, and Edgar Kennedy come through nicely). The film, while morbid, is often laugh-out-loud funny, but it also has something sneakily brilliant to say about the gulf between art and life: how the exquisite timing and perfect mechanics of Sir Alfred's imagination come a-cropper when he actually tries to enact his fantasies. Unfaithfully Yours was remade in a not-bad version with Dudley Moore in 1984, but this one's the keeper. Too bad it couldn't save Sturges--this is the last worthy film in a too-brief career. --Robert Horton

Description

In this pitch-black comedy from legendary writer-director Preston Sturges, Rex Harrison stars as Sir Alfred De Carter, a world-famous symphony conductor consumed with the suspicion that his wife is having an affair. During a concert, the jealous De Carter entertains elaborate visions of vengeance, set to three separate orchestral works. But when he attempts to put his murderous fantasies into action, nothing works out quite as planned. A brilliantly performed mixture of razor-sharp dialogue and uproarious slapstick, Unfaithfully Yours is a true classic from a grand master of screen comedy.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant film with worthless commentary from alleged "experts".......2007-08-04

If there were a way to strip this disc of its atrociously pompous and utterly worthless commentary track, I would do so without hesitation. Three supposed "scholars" mumble on at excessive length, similar to people in a movie house who carry on aimless conversations to the annoyance of other patrons. An even bigger disappointment are the seemingly stream-of-conscious ramblings by Monty Pyton's Terry Jones, which make very little sense and add nothing to the enhancement of the film. The only worthwhile extras are the reminiscences of Preston Sturges' widow, the very charming Sandy Sturges, and an absolutely brilliant booklet essay by Jonathan Lethem (why on earth didn't Criterion permit him to do the audio commentary?). The film itself of course is marvellous, and among a sterling cast Edgar Kennedy (Sweeney the Private Eye) deserved a posthumous Best Supporting Actor nomination, but 1948 was not the era to acknowledge a masterful screen performance from a veteran comic of the old-time slapstick school. For Edgar Kennedy alone, UNFAITHFULLY YOURS is worth revisiting many times over, but avoid the "bonus material" at all costs.

The Last Sturges Classic.......2007-07-19

This film marked the beginning of the end for writer/director Preston Sturges. Subsequent to this his troubles with studios would limit his productivity; all that followed on film is the hit-or-miss "Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend" and the dismaying "Diary of Major Thompson." His real swan song of brilliance was this black comedy about a conductor who imagines several ways of `disposing,' shall we say, of his wife. Each scenario is deftly blended with a piece of classical music, and the film builds to a frenetic and frenzied comic pitch by the end. Sturges made better use of Rudy Vallee's comic talents than any other director, and Rex Harrison was always a master of the light comic touch. The extras on this disc are minimal (former Python Terry Jones offers an amusing introduction to the film), but the print--as always with Criterion--is pristine. Definitely worth picking up (and certainly far preferable to the disastrous 1984 remake with Dudley Moore; yikes).

An arid technical exercise and not nearly as funny as it thinks it is.......2006-08-31

Despite liking a couple of his movies, I've never been a fan of Preston Sturges, and a second viewing of Unfaithfully Yours did nothing to change that. With rare exceptions like Frasier or Comme une Image, most supposedly `sophisticated' comedies are usually either too clever by half or not half as clever as they think they are: this definitely falls into the latter category. It may be slightly more articulate, but it still comes down to pratfalls and clichés clumsily dispensed (not to mention an incredibly one-dimensional role for Linda Darnell as the wife whose sole reason for existence seems to be to worship her husband). Unfortunately it soon becomes apparent that despite his confidence in the early part of the film, Rex Harrison is entirely wrong for the part: aside from being so incredibly unsympathetic that he simply alienates you for most of the film, he has absolutely no facility for physical comedy, which renders what could and should have been a great comic setpiece where he accidentally trashes his hotel room far more thoroughly than any rock star ever could even dream of rather tedious and protracted. (Alfred Newman's surprisingly crudely over the top slide-whistle and horn 'comic' underscoring all but stones the scene to death, a surprising lapse of judgment from a great composer in a film revolving around classical music.) In the hands of an actor with a modicum of physical comedy timing it could have been gold, but instead it's almost reduced to a technical exercise.

But the same could be said for much of the film. The idea of having the execution and resolution of Harrison's fantasies dictated by the pace of the music he conducts (Rossini for murder, Wagner for mournful forgiveness, Tchaikovsky for suicide) is inspired, but it results in scenes that feel forced, as if at the mercy of a galley slave master's drumbeat. That the scenes themselves are so predictable doesn't help, as goodwill and admiration gradually gives way to boredom in the second half.

There are, however, two saving graces. One is the scene in private detective Edgar Kennedy's office, where Harrison is furious to discover that the man he has come to castigate is a knowledgeable fan with his own tale of loss. The scene is crudely performed and reads better than it plays, but there's heart and humanity there that's lacking in too much of the rest of the film. But the film's genuine standout moment is the orchestra rehearsal, one of the best pieces of filmed musical performance in the movies, not only showing how the music is constructed but showing the life, character and human soul behind it. The loss of those qualities in the rest of the movie is all the more keenly felt in an increasingly arid and overplayed technical exercise.

A classic that ranks among the greatest of black comedies.......2006-07-03

It is easy to understand why they changed everything but the bare premise of this movie for the 1984 remake. After all, the 1948 original staggered beneath the weight of massive burdens. Its star performer not only consented but actually seemed to delight in delivering precisely articulated dialogue in long blocks, one after another--and all at crackling pace, too. Worse, Preston Sturges' clever, witty script plainly assumed that his audience possessed both general knowledge and willingness to pay attention for whole minutes at a time. Worst, Sturges' plot satirized both movie stereotypes and audience expectations.

Those 1948 audiences, for good and sufficient reasons of their own, did not turn out in droves nor did they shell out much money to see "Unfaithfully Yours." The 1984 production team did their very best to avoid that dismal fate by jettisoning Sturges' near-perfect script, ruthlessly dumbing everything down and shrinking the film to fit the talents of twinkly little Dudley Moore.

(Rex Harrison to Dudley Moore, what a falling off was there!)

Harrison plays British conductor, Sir Alfred de Carter, whom the script clearly expects the audience to identify with the real conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham. The initial satirical thrust at audience expectations is that de Carter turns out to be a super-egotistical prima donna rather than the smooth, lovable and--yes!--twinkly Sir Thomas. By a series of satisfactorily ridiculous plot developments, Sir Alfred becomes convinced that his beautiful and much younger wife is having an affair with his assistant.

Sir Alfred has a high comedy encounter with a detective played by Edgar Kennedy, one of the finest second bananas in movie history. The detective does his level best to convince the wronged husband to ignore or forgive his wife's little failings, lest he lose far more than he can ever hope to gain from shallow, trifling revenge. In the course of the scene it becomes clear that the detective had not taken his own advice in the past and now bitterly regrets it. This is a wonderful scene, and probably Kennedy's last hurrah on the screen, for he died shortly thereafter--a perfect mixture of hilarity and wistfulness.

The egotist brushes aside the warnings of the detective and transforms himself into Othello's younger brother. Before, he had been over-generous and almost too-eloquent for belief with his loving words; now, he sneers and derides. If he does not quite get around to demanding that his bewildered wife hand over a handkerchief, it is only because time is short and he has a concert to conduct.

The performance begins with an overture by Rossini. The up-tempo music puts the conductor into a manic mood and his mind turns to a plot in which he murders his wife and casts damning suspicion on his rival. The elaborate machinations of the murder scheme satirize whole flocks of creakily overblown films from "The Bat" to "Philo Vance and the Kennel Murders." The second selection is the music of the pilgrims from Wagner's Tannhaeuser--a downer after Rossini. The conductor's imagination shifts from murderous revenge to world-weary forgiveness as it satirizes the emetic nobility of films such as the often-remade "Four Feathers." Finally, a Tschaikovsky piece moves Sir Alfred's thoughts to grim competitiveness. He will challenge his younger rival to a game of Russian roulette with his wife as a reluctant witness--think of about half the films made by John Barrymore or Doug Fairbanks, Jr.

After the concert, the conductor rushes off to his home to prepare for his elaborate murder scheme, only to come hilariously crashing against the harsh reality of ruthlessly hostile mechanisms, cheerily incomprehensible operating instructions and painfully fragile chairs.

In the end, the conductor's wife offers an explanation that allows him to dismiss all his suspicions and return to his original state of (illusionary?) wedded bliss.

With brilliant performances, crackling dialogue, smart plotting and fine physical gags, "Unfaithfully Yours" ranks with "The Ladykillers," "Kind Hearts and Coronets" and "Monsieur Verdoux," the best of black comedies.

Five stars.

IDLE SPECULATIONS: Good as it is--and it is very good--"Unfaithfully Yours" might have been better still.

Rex Harrison, however brilliant he may be in the dialogue scenes, is not by any stretch of the imagination a physical comedian. Even though screen credit is given to a conducting coach, Harrison is painfully stiff as a conductor and as often as not behind the beat of the music he is supposed to be conducting. And the physical comedy sequence is weakened by the obvious substitution of a stunt double from time to time--not to mention the obvious fact that Harrison's record player is far funnier than he is. In 1948 there was an actor of the right age, one who who could have gotten away with the conductor's dialogue and would unquestinably have been side-splittingly funny while conducting or going two falls out of three with the demon record player--Charlie Chaplin. Now THAT would have been something to see!

Then there is the script. The film ends on a subtly false note. As "Unfaithfuly Yours" stands now, Linda Darnell's innocent wife neatly explains away every suspicion; she leaves not only her own virtue unblemished but also that of her unpleasant younger sister who throughout the film had been positioned as the eventual fall girl. At the very end of the film, the fully reconciled conductor and wife turn away to depart for a happy evening on the town.

I think that the studio or even Sturges, himself, cut a final scene to conform to the nervous dictates of the Film Code. I think that as the happy couple and their friends leave the hotel, they were intended to pass by Edgar Kennedy, the detective who had striven so hard to preserve the de Carter marriage. I think that Darnell and Kennedy were intended to make eye contact in shared acknowledgment that the pack of lies they had concocted to reassure Sir Alfred had worked. Then, at last, the conductor's straying wife would indeed have been Unfaithfully His.

'Fantasia' à la Hitchcock.......2006-05-19

Preston Sturges just might be the greatest writer/director ever to have worked in Hollywood. Of his great comedies, any one may be said to be his finest: the moving humor of Sullivan's Travels, the censor-defying scandal-causing hilarity of The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, the high sophistication of The Lady Eve, the sarcastic finger pointing satire of Hail the Conquering Hero, or even the beautiful trifling bauble that is Christmas in July.

But my vote goes