Gentleman's Agreement review!

Perhaps there was just enough We Can Do It! idealism left over from WWII that Gentleman's Agreement finally got made into a blockbuster film. The best selling book had bounced around Hollywood for some time before Darryl Zanuck and Fox decided to buck the safe studio system to film this expose' of Antisemitism in polite New York society. Interesting to note that while many of the grand old studios were actually run and owned by Jewish immigrants, none of them wanted to break with the patriotic, anti-Communism sentiment of the nation in the post war years. It was dangerous anyway to make a film so critical of American society with HUAC hearings just around the corner to nab any suspicious commie types, not to mention whether anyone would actually pay money to see it.

Make the film Zanuck did and brought in first time director Elia Kazan who was on the verge of a memorable career along with worthies Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and a personal favorite, John Garfield. The film is also in gloriously dark black and white to illustrate the shades of gray that Phil (Peck) finds as a magazine writer posing as a Jewish person to write an expose' on Antisemitism. He encounters differing levels of prejudice and outright bigotry among people in his building and among his co-workers. Even Kathy (McGuire), the liberal socialite that Phil falls in love with asks him to back off, fearing the retaliation of her social set and neighborhood. We, along with Phil, witness the more blatant bigotry of name calling and bullying, along with the more subtler kinds of exclusion such as a nearby hotel that quietly finds no vacancies for potential Jewish visitors.

While it is hard for the modern viewer to connect with these instances of bigotry and segregation against Jews in the late forties, perhaps we should substitute African Americans, Latino Americans, Asians or Gays within the category of the person different from us. Kazan's film can be as relevant to us today as we encounter the glass ceilings that are placed in the way of Americans based on race, religion, economic background or sexual preference. While at times Gentleman's Agreement can be a bit heavy handed and over dramatic in its presentation of social injustice, its message is still all too relevant and compelling for us today.

TH Reviews rating of Gentleman's Agreement: 4.5 stars out of 5!

Dead Snow Review!

Once you get about five minutes into the Norwegian Slasher/Zombie Flick, Dead Snow, you realize you have already seen five other Slasher/Zombie Flicks. This is not such a bad thing because Dead Snow culls from just about all of the best parts of the Horror films it plays tribute to. As the college age, basically good looking, sexy students trudge up a snowy hill to a remote cabin for a Spring break holiday (already sound familiar?), the geeky film buff among them starts a conversation about all the horror films that start out with the basic premise that they find themselves in...among the films are Friday the 13th and Evil Dead 1&2. And you can find very intentional traces of all those films within Dead Snow...particularly Evil Dead. What you end up with is a very gory, pretty darn scary, and awful dang hilarious Zombie Flick.

As the good looking young people pair off gradually to do what good looking young people like do with one another, namely party, they discover from an old hiker wandering by that the area they are enjoying played host to a bunch of evil Nazis who had occupied Norway during the last few years of WWII. Driven up into the mountains by the furious populace that they were basically raping, killing, and robbing, the Nazis are never heard from again. After the old hiker leaves, the kids begin to hear from the Nazis big time....this time in flesh eatin', super strong, super fast Zombie mode! The kids arm themselves with axes, chain saws, and even mount a WWII era machine gun to a snowmobile to combat the Nazi Zombie scourge.

A fun game to play while watching this film might be Spot All The Horror Film In-Jokes, because bits and pieces of many slasher and zombie horror films pop out at different times. The one liners and visual gags reminded me fondly of the second Evil Dead film with people cutting off limbs that have been zombie-bit and body parts of evil zombies flying everywhere. Dead Snow with all it's funny moments still takes time to scare the pants off you and inspire some lights being turned on and the scenery actually steals the show....breathtaking mountain and forest scenes that looked as if they were filmed on location in Norway. It would be a skier's paradise if it were not for all the Nazi Zombies out for lunch all the time.

Let the normal viewer beware and gore hounds take notice....Dead Snow is bloody gore piled upon bloody gore with particular attention given to the large intestines. But all of this simply serves the absurdity of it all. While not particularly original, Dead Snow still has a lot of fun with all the stuff it rips off!

TH Reviews rating of Dead Snow: 3.5 stars out of 5 stars!

The African Queen movie review!

If you have ever loved mid-life romances in film, like The Bridges of Madison County, you might have to thank a film like The African Queen, John Huston's wonderful adaptation of C.S. Forester's classic novel. Two of Hollywood's finest and most legendary stars, Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, are teamed up for the first.... and alas, the last time of their careers, and it is a shining moment for the fans of either of these great actors.

The African Queen begins with Rose, played by Hepburn and her brother, played chillingly by Robert Morley, as Methodist missionaries serving a native village in East Africa dominated by the Germans at the beginning of the First World War. While conditions are grim, the two seem to have found their place in life until the German army shows up to forcibly enlist the villagers and burn the village. Robert Morley makes a quick but memorable exit as he proceeds to have a nervous breakdown and dies. Virginal and innocent Hepburn is left to face the unknown dangers of the dark continent.

At this time, Bogart appears, a broken down riverboat captain with an even more broken down riverboat named The African Queen. He is named Charley and is the lifeline for Rose and her brother to the outside world. Now he represents her only hope of escape....and also revenge against the German Army. Charley tells her that the British would have a much easier time of invading East Africa if the Battleship Steamer Louisa in Lake Tanganyika at the mouth of the river could be removed. Charley reluctantly agrees to Rose's plan of shooting the rapids of the river, avoiding a German fort on the same river, and arming The African Queen with homemade torpedoes to destroy the German Steamer.

As they travel down river and face ever more serious peril, these two strong minded people begin to develop first respect for one another and then a very unlikely romance begins to spring up. No less a barrier than class distinctions is overcome, she an English blue-blood missionary and he a Canadian of a disreputable background and of course their differing moralistic outlooks. Perhaps the nadir of their relationship, if not the most hilarious is when Rose dumps Charley's supply of Gin overboard after the drunken captain refuses to go through with their plan. This is also a watershed moment of their relationship as Charley begins to realize his need for her acceptance and Rose understanding the depth of his courage and integrity.

And soon, these two lovable losers begin to find love for one another...almost desperately as each intuitively realizes this is their last shot at love. A sweet September-September romance blossoms between them that is bewitching and compelling to watch, particularly Rose who is discovering a sense of her own sexual awareness and desire. Hepburn is magnificent at this with her longing, yet trembling glances at Bogart. For Bogart's part, he too is never better....breaking out of his cool, world weary mercenary, to deliver a character who is unsure of himself, lonely, and perhaps questioning the choices he has made. Each of these flawed people cling to each other in desperation and become greater human beings for the experience.

Huston is at the apex and maturity of his direction, wringing the most grand performances from his actors and from the rich, colorful cinematography of filming on location. While on location, the entire cast and crew struggled mightily with conditions on the river, sickness, and encounters with dangerous wild life to produce a grand yet intimate epic of adventure and romance. Who says forty or fifty something folks can't be sexy....Hepburn and Bogart are almost magically sexy here!

TH Reviews rating: 5 stars out of 5...highly recommended!