Ava Gardner

 

The Movies I Watched in November

The Amazing Mr. X 1948  6 

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud 1958  7

 Bigger Than Life 1956  7

 

Carne 1991  7

 

The Current War 2017  6

D.O.A. 1949  7

Day of the Outlaw 1959  7

 

Deux de la Vague 2010  7

Exhibit A 2019  5

The French Dispatch 2021  6 

The Guilty 2021  7

 Hanyo 2010  7

 He Walked by Night 1948  7

 

I Wake Up Screaming 1941  7

 The Invisible Man 2020  7

 

Jack the Ripper 2016  5 

The Killers 1946  8

 

Leave Her to Heaven 1945  7 

 

A Letter to Three Wives 1949  6

Love & Friendship 2016  7  

Maid 2021  8

Meet Me in St. Louis 1944  8

Der Nachtmahr 2015  7

 Passing 2021  7

 

Play it Again, Sam 1972  6

Rear Window 1954  8 

Top Hat 1935  6

Tormented 1960  5

Ava Gardner

 

Ava Gardner

Ava Gardner

Earthquake (1974)

Various stories of various people as an earthquake of un-imaginable magnitude hits Los Angeles.

Risible and bad disaster movie, the advertised "Sensurround" sound probably installed to drown out the ridiculous 'special effects'.

On renewed viewing: pretty bad, trashy entertainment.

Halliwell*: "Dreary drama with very variable special effects, gimmicked up by Sensurround. A box-office bonanza."

Maltin BOMB: "...hackneyed disaster epic..."

Ava Gardner

ph: Paul Hesse

The Movies I Watched in July

Berlin '36 2009  7

 
Bunch of Kunst 2017  7

 
Captain America: The First Avenger 2011 6
Dark Water 2002 6
Detonator 1993  5
Divergent 2014 6
Emma 1996  6
Farewell, Friend 1968 6
Fifty Dead Men Walking 2008 6
Fireflies in the Garden 2008 7

 
Half Light 2006 6
Ju-on: The Grudge 2002 6
Kick-Ass 2 2013 5
M 1931  10

 
Mega Cyclone 2012  3
Noroi: The Curse 2005 6
O.J.: Made in America 2016  8

 
Persona 1966 10

 
Rise of the Planet of the Apes 2011 7

 
Shame 1968 8

 
Shutter 2004 6
The Babadook 2014 6
The Beguiled 1971 6
Pirate Radio 2009 6
The Face of an Angel 2014 5
The Founder 2016 7

 
The Killers 1946 7

 
The Visit 2015  7

 
The Void 2016 6
Wiener-Dog 2016  7

 
Winchester '73 1950 7

The Killers (1946)

Hit men kill an unresisting victim, and an investigator uncovers his past involvement with beautiful, deadly woman.

Film noir classic with extraordinary b/w photography and excellent performances, Ava Gardner, however, is not quite convincing as femme fatale; the plot is more an imagination about Ernest Hemingways story than an adaptation.

On renewed viewing: Hemingway's famous short story is merely the trigger for an intriguing, complex Noir crime story, arguably one of genre's best; both Lancaster as the 'innocent' cuckold and Gardner as the inscrutable femme fatale set standards with their performances.

Halliwell***: "Elaborate tale of cross and double-cross, stunningly executed."

Maltin****: "Compelling crime drama...Film provides fireworks, early success of Lancaster (in film debut) and Gardner."

Ava Gardner

Ava Gardner

ph: Gene Lester

Ava Gardner

On the Beach (1959)

The residents of Australia after a global nuclear war must come to terms with the fact that all life will be destroyed in a matter of months.

Overlong and talkative waste of accumulated talent;  you wouldn't notive it's the end of the world, if they weren't constantly talking about it.

Halliwell **: "Gloomy prophecy which works well in spasms but is generally too content to chat rather than imagine. A solid prestige job nevertheless."

Maltin ****: "Good performances by all, including Astaire in his first dramatic role."

Mogambo (1953)

A man running a big game trapping company in Kenya is unexpectedly confronted by two female visitors for one of whom he must decide.

The big stars hardly can rescue this lacklustre remake of the much more sexually charged original Red Dust (1932).

The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)

A writer reflects on his life as he lies dying from an infection while on safari in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Elegant, but hopelessly outdated adaptaion of an Ernest Hemingway story.