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One More River (1934)
One More River
"Claire" (Diana Winyard) is married to aspiring politician "Sir Gerald" (Colin Clive) but he's a bit of a brute. It's an incident with a riding crop that finally sends his wife on a cruise where she encounters "Croom" (Frank Lawton). Unfortunately, her husband cannot be seen to not have his wife at his side and so when she flatly refuses a reconciliation, he sets in motion a public divorce that will call the integrity of not just her, but of her new companion into question. Of course, though still entirely platonic, we know that the relationship between the two has burgeoned somewhat - but this isn't really a film about a romance. It's a rather sad indictment of a judicial system that still looked upon a woman as the property of her husband. Not in a feudal sense, but that she might accuse such a prominent and respectable man of ill-treating her was a charge that was always going to fall on deaf ears. It's the ensuing court hearing that brings this to life a bit, with some sparky sparring from lawyers "Brough" (Lionel Atwill), "Forsythe" (Alan Mowbray) and the inquisitive judge (Gilbert Emery) quite cleverly showcasing the one-sidedness of the whole affair. The film also befits from a great cast of supporting favourites who feature sparingly but add depth to a story of state-supported prejudice that Winyard holds together quite well.
Jiu Long cheng zhai · Wei cheng (2024)
Twilight or the Warriors: Walled In
I didn't make it to Hong Kong til 1994 so this famous Kowloon walled city had already gone but it's legend hadn't. It was the equivalent of a large block of properties, within properties - a mass of alleys, corridors and tunnels in which the law was enforced in a very different way from the outside. This story starts with a battle that sees control pass from "Jim" to "Cyclone" (Louis Koo). There's now a truce of sorts that exists between the bosses and the outside world, but that's about to be thrown into turmoil by the arrival of "Lok" (Raymond Lam). He works hard to get an official ID card but is fleeced by "Mr. Big" (Sammo Hung) and escapes with a bag of his cocaine into the walled city. That's where he encounters it's ruler and his sidekick "Shin" (Terrence Lau) and where his willingness to work and his fortitude ingratiates him with the boss. On the outside, "Cyclone" has a business relationship with "Chau" (Richie Jen) who has really only one purpose left in life. That's to avenge the murder of his family by the now dead "Jim". The focus of his revenge is that man's own son - but nobody nows what happened to him. Well, swiftly you can add two and two and get "Lok". Loyalties are now tested, friendships challenged and forged whilst the fragile peace is soon in tatters. With battle lines drawn and ambitions clear, it's all out war and the action mounts up. This is a sold end-to-end martial arts film with plenty of nimble and lithe combat; acrobatics and bodies that must be made of skin-clad tungsten steel. It's got a little bit of mysticism and embodies human nature, whether benign or not, quite entertainingly and by not just throwing itself about, but by at least trying to create and develop the characters. The denouement takes it's time and does become a bit repetitive, but as a quickly paced drama it really does fly by for two hours. Honour amongst thieves - but always sleep with your back to the wall.
Motståndaren (2023)
Opponent
"Iman" (Payman Maadi) and his family are living in a Swedish hostel awaiting a decision on their refugee application. Wife "Maryam" (Marall Nasiri) is expecting a baby which is quite a surprise given the two aren't exactly loved-up! Their initial application has been rejected so they must appeal. He comes across as a decent, hard working man and before he took a job delivering pizzas in all weathers, he was a part of the Iranian wrestling team at the Rio Olympiad. He reckons that if he joins a local team, it might earn them some extra brownie points with the immigration authorities. She's less than impressed with this decision, and as he plays more of a part with the team and befriends "Thomas" (Björn Elgerd) we begin to piece together a jigsaw that explains a bit of their hasty flight from home, their strained marriage and the current conflict that neither he nor she can see an easy way out of. On some levels, this works quite well - but there are just too many plot holes and the story evolves in all too bitty a fashion. It doesn't address the elephant in the room directly, but leaves us to make our own assumptions before it ends unsatisfactorily and incompletely. It has a point to make, it just doesn't really make it very forcefully or memorably. It does make you realise just how physical wrestling is, though, but otherwise rather disappoints.
Hit Man (2023)
Hit Man
At this rate, Glen Powell is going to be able to pay Tom Cruise back for his flying lessons pretty swiftly! Here, he's a rather geeky teacher (Gary) who teaches philosophy at a college whilst occasionally helping out the cops with some criminal profiling. When one of their investigators "Jasper" (Austin Amelio) goes a bit too far and gets suspended, Gary gets drafted in last minute and proves quite effective at getting folks who want to bump of their nearest and dearest for $5,000 to admit their cunning plans to a well wired-up con. The more of these cases he does, the better he gets; the more fun he has dressing up and adept he becomes at assuming a range of identities. It's "Maddy" (Adria Arjona) who sets the cat amongst the pigeons when she asks him to get shot of her thuggish husband "Ray" (Evan Holtzman). He takes a shine to her and talks her out of her criminal ploy. Quickly the two are seeing each other - which is manna from heaven for the deposed "Jasper". When her husband is found dead, he thinks he knows exactly who did what and how best to exact his revenge... It's quite an entertaining romantic thriller this, providing Powell with an opportunity to charm his way through an almost two hours of cinema that is light and fluffy, completely preposterous yet based on a true character. Arjona looks like she is having a good time here, too - and the last twenty minutes are quite fun. No, it won't trouble a BAFTA jury I suspect - but it's quite enjoyable summertime fayre.
Come and Get It (1936)
Come and Get It
"Barney Glasgow" (Edward Arnold) is a backwater logger in Wisconsin who hits on an idea that could make him a fortune - he proposes this to his boss who accepts; but whose daughter goes with the package! He leaves his first love - saloon singer "Lotta" and his career goes from strength to strength. Twenty years later, he discovers that his love had a daughter (Frances Farmer) and he quickly becomes infatuated with her; much to the chagrin of his own son "Richard" (Joel McCrea) who is, himself, keen on the girl and of his more generously concerned daughter "Evvie" (Andrea Leeds). This is a rather straightforward story, but the characters are both strong and engaging; (Oscar winning) Walter Brennan as his long-time friend "Swanny" is also a crucial ingredient as the story deals with this mid-life crisis in a delicate, at times funny, but always sincere fashion. Howard Hawks and William Wyler share the directing credits on this - I've no idea why - but their two minds have managed to create something just a bit different here; and if you get the chance to catch up with it, you ought to.
Tulsa (1949)
Tulsa
This has a slightly incongruous conservation slant to it as it follows the battle between the oil drillers and the local, largely indigenous, Oklahoman farmers. Now forgetting the terrible song at the start from "Pinky" (Chill Wills) - who provides us with the optimistic narration; we are introduced to the honorable "Cherokee" (Susan Hayward) who is after compensation when her father is killed by flying debris from an oil derrick owned by "Tanner" (Lloyd Gough). Nothing doing says he, but when she comes into some oil leases that she can ill afford to exploit, he has enough of a fair-mined (and venal) spirit about him to lend her the cash. The remainder of this drama is all quite predicable, and though Hayward does enough as the woman conflicted by both the ecology of what they are doing and also with would be husband "Brad" (Robert Preston) versus the admiring local lad with a conscience "Jim" (Pedro Armendáriz), the rest of the cast just go through the motions. There are some decent visual effects towards the end as things hot up and there is an underlying message of reconciling progress with nature that shows even in 1949 people were thinking about balance. It's watchable enough.
Sting (2024)
Sting
Nope, it's not very original - but it does have "Granny Helga" (Noni Hazlehurst)! It's the worst snow storm in ages and she summons poor old bug-hunter "Frank" (Jermaine Fowler) to investigate some noises coming from within her apartment walls. He turns up, despite the sub-zero temperatures, and pretty soon appears to be part of the problem! What's going on? Well we skip back a few days and discover that a meteor storm has deposited a small spider into the care of "Charlotte" (Alyla Browne). She shoves it in a jar and rather ruthlessly feeds it live insects - that's her first mistake. It gets a taste for things, it's also quite adept at unscrewing the jar lid from the inside, too. The more it eats, the more it grows, the more it grows, the bigger the snack it needs! Nobody is safe as her family - mum (Penelope Mitchell), new husband "Ethan" (Ryan Corr) and baby "Liam" might soon be on the lunch menu too! Meantime, the entertainingly amnesiac grandparent sails through the whole thing completely oblivious. Or is she, really? Nothing about the acting nor the writing stand out here and the usual dysfunctional familial dynamic does nothing for the story either. As to the visual effects, the budget - or the imagination - clearly wasn't there to make much of these and our critter barely features as we develop and pad out the thinnest of stories. It's perfectly watchable but it will be fine to wait to watch on television.
Interpol (1957)
Pickup Alley
This has got quite a field of recognisable talent, but the story is a bit thin. "Frank McNally" (Trevor Howard) is a ruthless drug dealer who makes a bit of a mockery of the efforts of Interpol to track him down. It's only when he kills the sister of US agent "Sturgis" (Victor Mature) that he finds a foe worthy of him. This fellow is much more determined, and quickly alights on the mule of the operation "Gina" (Anita Ekberg) trailing her all around Europe before finally honing in on his prey as he plots an huge job in New York. The format of the storyline takes a bit of a travelogue style and though that does give it some pace, it means we spend way too much time on planes, at airports and touring the sites rather than developing any characters of even a substantial plot. Neither Mature nor Howard really engage, Ekberg has practically no dialogue until the very end and the best effort comes from grifter Bonar Colleano's ("Amalio") who seems way more adept at tracking "McNally" than his policeman buddy. The ending is weak - it's more of a testament to the effectiveness of global policing and communications that it is to a thriller, and I felt the whole thing just lacked oomph.
Tiger Orange (2014)
Tiger Orange
Two brothers - both gay - grow up in a single parent household with their father. One - "Todd" (Frankie Valenti) moves away to live his gay life in the open. When their father dies, he returns to find his more reserved, stay-at-home brother "Chet" (Mark Strano) running their family hardware store. The film depicts their relationship - both current, and through flashbacks of their childhood, and endeavours to investigate what fuels their love/hate situation. Nothing at all new here, the performances are OK - the usual character stereotypes - and the ending is pretty much as expected. The production standards are quite high, and their is some interesting comment on attitudes and assumptions - but they might have been more interesting had this been set in the middle of Iowa rather than the far more liberally minded California. Gregory Marcel provides some welcome eye-candy, but otherwise this is all forgettable family reconciliation stuff with a gay theme.
Underground (1995)
Underground
Though this is a bit hit and miss, and I do wonder just how many editions of the BBC's "'Allo 'Allo" director Emir Kustrica had watched, this is still quite an entertaining look at the evolution of Yugoslavia from it's wartime Chetnik phase through until the dismantling of the country following the death of Tito. It's split into three distinct parts, and the start reminded me a little of the beginning of "Hannibal Brooks" (1969) with a zoo getting bombed and keeper "Ivan" (Slavko Stimac) rescuing one of his charges - a chimp this time, not an elephant. What now ensues follows how he, his brother "Marko" (Pedrag Manojlovic) and his best pal "Blacky" (Lazar Ristovski) as they try to keep their families safe during the Naxi onslaught whilst, at the same time, making a few extra dinars dealing on the black market. Only "Marko" gets to go above ground, the others remain below for their own safety - but as the war concludes, the former doesn't enlighten the latter - and so like a bunch of unaware moles, they continue to manufacture their munitions oblivious of the changes up top that see their new focus being anti-Communist activities as the regime of Josef Tito becomes firmly entrenched. The final phase deals with a sort of messy reconciliation of the first two parts as well as addressing the more raw issues faced as their country disintegrates into an abyss of civil war with profiteering and treachery rife, they lose touch and chaos reigns - despite the presence of the light blue berets of the UN troops. It's quite a long old watch, this, and there are times when you could easily take a razor blade to it, but the characterisations are quite enjoyably zany and entertaining whilst leaving enough substance to their principled behaviour in defence of their country and their communities to provoke some thought, too. The comedy isn't really sophisticated, it's actually pretty slap-stick for the most part (there's a scene at the end with a burning electric wheelchair that does rather sum the whole thing up), but that humour is used to quite potent effect pointing out just how traumatic it was for anyone growing up in this part of the Balkans in the last half of the 20th century, and at how stoically and energetically many took up that challenge. I can't say that any of the acting particularly stood out (except maybe the monkey having great fun inside a fully armoured tank), it's more of an ensemble effort that mixes farce with history quite engagingly.
The Flame (1947)
The Flame
This is told by way of the reading of a letter that explains the story of how "George" (John Carroll) has frittered away his family inheritance and is now dependent on his half-brother "Barry" (Robert Paige) - a situation which he bitterly resents. A solution to his predicament presents itself when he suggests that his girlfriend "Carlotta" (Vera Ralston) take up the position of nurse to the ailing "Barry". Their plan is quite simple, really. She befriends him, gets him to fall in love with her and then they marry. Once married, "Barry" will meet his end and she will be free to marry "George" and inherit the family fortune. It's not so much a flame this as a flicker. It's pretty obvious what's going to happen, and but for a few scenes with the scheming "Ernie" (Broderick Crawford) and Henry Travers as the well meaning "Dr. Mitchell" this story proves to not quite have the courage of it's convictions. It's all just a little too formulaic in the end. Blanche Yurka does her best impersonation of Queen Mary as his aunt "Blanche" - no fool, herself and Hattie McDaniel livens things up, sparingly, too - but sadly this all just goes the way of the damp squib after a promising start.
Sotterranea (1973)
Sotteranea
This could be allegorical about almost anything buried in the imagination of man. With a lively and evolving soundtrack, we see people assembled in a well lit building above ground before descending to the depths of the metro where the trains speed along. People are like ants milling around, packed in, being ferried about. Their facial, almost alien, expressions basically and fluidly defined with as pallid a complexion as milk. It's very randomness is what makes it interesting. Shapes are distinguishable but the motions seem to defy logic, gravity - you name it. Ever tried smoking a cigarette whilst doing a cartwheel in a two piece suit? It's ten minutes of eccentricity, very slightly sexually charged, that I thought might inspire us to look about us more.
Lucky Jordan (1942)
Lucky Jordan
I never really rated Alan Ladd but he's quite decent in this wartime thriller. He's the gangster "Lucky" who finds himself drafted! Despite the best efforts of his lawyer "Higgins" (Lloyd Corrigan) to get him off, he is duly posted - and promptly absconds. Not before, though, he encounters "Jill" (Helen Walker) who disapproves heartily of his unpatriotic attitude. She ends up his hostage and the briefcase she was carrying becomes the hottest property in town. We discover it contains some top secret army designs and that there's a group of Nazi fifth columnist's out to retrieve it. Now "Lucky" has to make some tough choices (and a fairly impassioned speech at the end) before their secrets fall into enemy hands. The drama itself is quite well put together and decently paced. There's a solid, if unremarkable, effort from Walker and a few scene stealing quips from Mabel Paige's rather astute "Annie" - the sharpest, shrewdest and wittiest of the bunch. It's all fairly standard fayre, but is an easy watch as it sows the seeds for US involvement in WWII.
The Saint's Vacation (1941)
The Saint's Vacation
Hugh Sinclair does a workmanlike job here as the enigmatic "Simon Templar" who just wants to take a peaceful holiday. There's not much chance, though, when he becomes embroiled with a mysterious plot to obtain a rather plain looking musical box. When he discovers that it's none other than his arch-foe "Hauser" (Cecil Parker) who wants the thing, his interest is piqued. What's so special about it? With the help of his stalwart "Monty" (Arthur Macrae) they are soon on it's trail - despite the frequently irritating interventions of pushy journalist "Mary" (Sally Gray). It's that latter effort that spoiled this for me. Her character is so annoying that I'd cheerfully have thrown her over-board. If you are eagle-eyed you might spot Felix Aylmer here, and there's a decent enough dynamic between Parker and Sinclair when the drama is left to them on screen going through the predicable but watchable motions. Sadly though, there's just too much of Gray as it develops, and I lost interest.
The Legend of John Henry (1974)
The Legend of John Henry
There is something almost Discobolus-like about the animated depiction of the eponymous gent who was no stranger to hard labour. It's the expansive railroad building programme that provides his work, regardless of the natural obstacles that stood in their way - and that includes a mountain! He determines to finish a tunnel, but when progress is a little slow the bosses bring in a steam-powered drill. The race is on - can his brute strength work more quickly that this machine? I thought there was something of the "Jesus Christ Superstar" to the descriptively written musical accompaniment from Roberta Flack here. The whole story is sung, with tenderness and determination, telling a story that symbolises quite powerfully the efforts and dangers of those who help America grow. The style of almost painted animation shows the muscles flex and you can almost see the beads of sweat too as his man perseveres. Original and well worth ten minutes.
Pulcinella (1973)
Pulcinella
Poor "Pulcinella" just wants to be left to sleep, but his wife has other plans. He is turfed outside for his ablutions and taking a leak against a rather grand statue, finds himself pursued by the soldiers guarding it. He makes it home, just, climbs up onto the roof and resumes his slumbers, he hopes, in peace. Sadly, though, as Rossini's lively version of the story accompanies his dreams, he experiences a series of adventures that never see him escape from the soldiers or his wife. Nightmarish or what? I liked the abstract nature of the animation sequences and I also enjoyed the mischief in the characterisation of the man as he encounters just about everything - delivered ballet style - whilst simply trying to get some kip. He might be the laziest man in the village, but I did empathise and I also quite enjoyed this quirky and vivid ten minutes of quickly paced fun.
The Creation of Woman (1961)
The Creation of Woman
Whilst certainly not demonstrating the most politically correct nor scientific of rationale, this is still quite a stylishly depicted dance through the Hindu mythology of the Creation. God creates animals, plants and man - then realises that he has little left from which to create woman. Inspired, he combines some of the most delicate and beautiful elements together and so allows man to have a companion. After a week, though, he returns to God begging for her to be taken back. She never shuts up! God agrees to take her back, but soon man pines for her and requests her back. Again God agrees, but when man reaches the end of his tether once more and wants shot of her, God tells them to stop whinging and get on with it! Though it's a little on the slow side, there is some fine and intricate dancing here and the costumier has excelled at dressing these dancers beautifully. Worth a watch, I'd say.
A Sport Is Born (1960)
A Sport is Born
This was part of Paramount Studio's "Sport's Illustrated" series and combines some documentary style footage with a series of airborne and ground angles to show us these parachutists jumping from heights in excess of 2,500 ft over Massachusetts sand - after they have been schooled for three hours on the health and safety elements - especially learning how to land! Though the narration does try it's best, the gentle gliding of these chutes as they come into land doesn't really convey very much of the exhilaration of the free-fall stages of their jumps. Even the helmet camera and their baton swap doesn't really give us much of an impression of the speed of their fall - even when they start above 7,000 ft. The slightly jovial score doesn't really help either. It's worth a watch, but a touch underwhelming.
Giuseppina (1960)
Giuseppina
This is quite a quirky documentary, produced by BP, that follows a morning in the life of the eponymous girl who is a bit bored, so watches the customers come and go through her dad's petrol station because he won't take her to the nearby fair! He tries to convince her of just how much fun she can have staying put - but she's unconvinced and for the first five minutes, so was I! The the oil tanker delivers - but he only stays for a few moments to top up his coffee... More birdsong the a hunter on his bike, a couple of Vespa-riding clergymen. Finally, a swanky big saloon car. Dad can't find the petrol cap but at east she gets her photo taken (about two thousand times!) and he gets a big cigar. Then some unlucky newlyweds arrive, all suited, booted, oily and sweaty, but with a puncture on their tiny little car - dad gets to fix that and she gets to replace the bride's long gone corsage. Fun day, eh? Wait, there's even more excitement as one of those Morris Travellers - remember with the wooden framed rears, well it's got engine trouble so the (British) owners must stop and have some civilised afternoon tea whilst they wait for a new spark plug to be fitted. They don't even ask her to join them though, miserable gits... Eventually a sleek Mercedes convertible arrives and it's guitar playing passenger gives her a chance for a quick dance before lunch. The snag with this is that except for the few seconds of liveliness in her day, this is as dull to watch as it is to live through and the pace really doesn't have much gas either. Quite what or who BP made this for is anyone's guess, but it does have a charm to it as we watch the quiet life of a rural community where roads were still shared by donkeys and dreycarts, bikes and classic looking sardine tins with wheels and 500cc engines.
Beyond Silence (1960)
Beyond Silence
Four hundred international students attend this unique college. At the time, it was the only one in the world exclusively for the deaf. Gallaudet College uses lip and sign language techniques to first prepare their students for advanced learning then to offer a standard curriculum for BA and BSc degrees. It has an hearing and speech centre where each person is encouraged to try to enunciate the simplest of sounds so that they may eventually try to formulate their own words but it's no mean task. Otherwise, things are kept as regular as possible with studying, recreation and examinations just as taxing as for anyone else! It's not just education in a traditional sense that's offered, but also some training to try and better prepare them for the employment world when they leave. The teaching is patient and the teachers dedicated to trying to improve, whilst also ensuring that there isn't such a thing as failure for these kids either. The narration is all a bit dry, but there's some mischief in the soundtrack as the students remember that they are young too!
La coquille et le clergyman (1928)
The Seashell and the Clergyman
Germaine Dulac has created a monster here... Not in any kaiju sense, but by taking a surreal swipe at just about every element of the masculine-driven, religiously flawed environment of the world in the 1920s. The eponymous priest - Alex Allin harbours none too subtle desires about the mistress of "le général" (Lucien Bataille) - the beautiful Genica Athanasiou, and the next half hour illustrates some of the complex ramifications of this infatuation. Now I have watched this many times, each time thinking as I get older, that the penny may drop and that I shall discover a deeper meaning... Each time, I thoroughly enjoy the intimate, creative imagery and the truly characterful performances, but am still really none the wiser. I think that's what is enthralling about this short enigma of a feature. It stimulates questions, but doesn't answer any of them... Clearly, the director has an agenda, and a political point to make - but we are left to imagine a healthy amount of what this might be about. Is it erotic? Is it about frustration, excess...? I still don't really know....
L'Eden et après (1970)
Eden and After
Yikes, talk about self-indulgent. It does start off quite frighteningly as a girl is ambushed in an office by a group of colleagues and stripped on what looks like a sacrificial table! Then we discover that it's nothing more than a bunch of bored and wired students who have nothing better to do than play their own version of psycho-cleudo. Then they encounter the enigmatic "Duchemin" (Pierre Zimmer) who regales them with stories of his time in North Africa and of a special powder that could change their lives for ever. Gullible as they are, off we head to some beautifully pristine Tunisian seaside adobe homes where the rest of this plays out. Surreal is putting the rest of this mildly, so don't be looking for anything akin to a traditional plot as the group start to hallucinate and partake in some real Marquis de Sade kind of stuff. Perhaps it's meant to be erotic - but nudity in itself (almost exclusively female) is not necessarily sexy nor provocative. For the last half hour or so, you could easily be forgiven for thinking you're watching a "Playboy" shoot. To be fair, the randomness and unpredictability does work at times and the whole thing keeps you on your toes for a while, but as it gets towards what passes for a conclusion, I felt that perhaps I'd have volunteered for one of the venomous little scorpions that may (or, of course, may not) have featured earlier. It's far too long, far too slow and no attempt is made to develop any form of characterisation amongst these pretty introspective young folks who are easy pickings for their new mentor. It's was showcased at the abandoned 1970 Berlinale and though I am glad I watched it, I shall never bother watching it again.
The Square (2017)
The Square
I maybe just wasn't in the right mood for this, but after about half an hour I really didn't much care what happened to "Christian" (Claes Bang), or pretty much anyone else. He runs one of those galleries that puts a glass of water on a dusty shelf and calls it art. You know, emperor's new clothes kind of stuff. His latest "exhibition" is designed to remind the public of their responsibilities to each other but his focus is diverted when he is the victim of a pickpocket. No phone. No wallet. He devises an unique way to get them back by putting a note through all of his neighbours' letter boxes delivering an accusatory ultimatum. Curiously enough, that's not the only stupid idea he has as this rather plodding drama meanders it's way from one bad decision to another for 2½ hours. It reaches it's most bizarrely surreal when the entertainment - "Oleg" (Terry Notary) - at a very fancy fund-raising dinner goes quite spectacularly wrong, but there are plenty other daft scenarios as he tries to sort out a marketing campaign, manage a curiously sterile relationship with "Anne" (a dreadfully wooden Elizabeth Moss) and deal with an increasingly exasperating kid (Elijandro Edouard) who seems to think his own family think he nicked the stuff! To be fair to Bang, he does manage to imbue quite a decent degree of insufferable arrogance as his pompous character finds all of his comfort blankets taken away and himself exposed to a society that couldn't care less, indeed is even openly critical, of his obvious double standards. I did like the premiss, but auteur Ruben Östlund indulges himself too completely for me, and I was frankly bored by the end. Maybe a tightening edit could help refocus the humour and the moral of the story? Sorry - not for me.
Goliath II (1960)
Goliath II
The big "Goliath" can only thinly disguise his disappointment when his son is born and is barely knee high to a grasshopper. Luckily, little "Goliath" is the apple of his mother's eye, and she has faith in him! That faith is well tested, though, as the scrawny looking tiger "Raja" eyes himself a little snack! This titchy elephant is quite literally bite size, and almost every other hungry critter in the forest has an eye on him too! When the little one gets lost, mum goes mad but the others sense dinner... Everyone knows that the one thing a pachyderm is scared of is a mouse - and when one terrifies the bejesus out of his giant family, it's only little Goliath who stays to face the dangers - and an acrobatic combat ensues. It's not really very original, this - with shades of "Jungle Book" meets "Winnie the Pooh" and "Dumbo" threading through it, it has a certain familiarity. It's got a friendly enough narration from the instantly recognisable tones of Sterling Holloway and the score is very typically George Bruns so it's easy to watch, just probably as easy to forget, too. (PS - I don't think there's a film called "Goliath I")
O místo na slunci (1959)
A Place in the Sun
It's a sunny day on the beach when two egg-characters mime their way onto the sunniest hotspot. Neither are really up for sharing, and playfully at first they begin to bicker about who gets the warmth. Then it's pretty much open warfare. One is expelled and finds solace in the sea but they both continue their squabble with neither realising it's dark and they are both now a bit chilly. Their conflict now gives way to the need to warm up and maybe they should shake hands rather than their teeth? It's quite an enjoyably quirky animation this with an excitable score to complement the message that we might all be better together?