LinOnnLine Reviews

Having Wonderful Crime (1945)

Carole Landis is a Forties Hottie

[10/10 · 17 January 2002]

This film offers a wonderful glimpse into the glamour of one underrated actress, Carole Landis. Her unmatched beauty and compelling charm leap off the screen in "Having a Wonderful Crime."

The 1940s were one of the most important decades in American fashion. How generous of the director, Eddie Sutherland, to display Landis in sensational haute couture outfits throughout this enchanting 70 minutes. Ignore the silly plot, pay no attention to the slapstick sight gags, just absorb the leading lady's tailored suits with their squared shoulders, fitted jackets, mid-calf flounce skirts, all ending in seamed nylon stockings with toeless high heels. Savor her wide-brimmed hats and her varied Forties hairstyles, from pageboy to pinned up pompadour rolls. This film should have a place in syllabi at the Fashion Institute of Technology to inspire young designer hopefuls.

Lovely newlywed, Helene Justus, dons sophisticated outfits that enchant us with the distinctive fashion influences of that decade. I love her incredible chevron striped suit that emphasizes her full-bosomed, hourglass figure and her wedding night dressing-gown with gently squared shoulders, videographed to give us a long side view of her tiny waist. To my eye, her waist size rivals the legendary 18-inch waist of Vivien Leigh as Scarlet O'Hara.

I put "Having a Wonderful Crime" into a sieve, and allowed the banality to run out down the drain so that just the good parts remain ... the beauty, the fashion, and the fun. We get some juicy peaks at upscale lifestyles of 1945. As the newlyweds, Mr. and Mrs. Justus, and pals enter a hotel, Landis' character says, "Darling, shouldn't you register us now?" The man of the couple is central in the relationship and the 'take charge' guy. It would have been unheard of for the young wife to register the couple at the front desk. In another scene, our heroine says, "My skirt's too tight . . ." An obvious playful invitation for viewers to focus in on Carole Landis' amazing curves.

This actress possessed stunning natural beauty AND could also act. Her comedic talent is noteworthy. The strength of this movie is not in the plot, not the direction, not even in the acting. It is in experiencing Carole Landis, a real "hottie" of the Forties.

It is impossible for me to view "Having a Wonderful Crime" and not think about the fact that Carole Landis committed suicide at the tender age of 29, just 3 years after the release of this film. This raving beauty, with even features punctuated by a pouty red mouth, should have been a major star. She just didn't get the breaks.

If you enjoy retro fashion, if you love the Forties, if you appreciate the splendor of human beauty ... see "Having a Wonderful Crime."

Polish Wedding (1998)

Flat-Chested Darling Oozes Sensuality

[9 March 2001]

A brilliant film! Catch it if you can.

The countless subtle details are what makes this movie so outstanding. Sexuality is integral to every scene; every moment of each character's life, as each one lives life to the maximum. Religiosity is a central secondary theme as sacred icons hang on humble walls calling our attention as they did in "The Godfather" when the solemn liturgical mass was shockingly intertwined with blood-thirsty killing sprees.

Don't look for any Pamela Anderson diva here. Our darling pubescent victim is a flat-chested angel with long blonde hair, tresses freshly sprung from hot rollers. Her underdeveloped chest is an aspect I find most wonderful about this film. It is a feature that makes the plot real and believable, and I enthusiastically applaud the director's rejection of the Playboy Bunny stereotype.

Lifelong sexuality between husband and wife is a powerful echo througout the movie. At one point, the daughter scolds her father with: "You wait for her like a dog." He responds, in a voice full of wisdom beyone his character's range, "Don't we all wait like dogs?"

We know why this dutiful, hard-working, baker puts up with the heartache heaped upon him by his wife. He tells us why. His answer when his wife asks why he was afraid to marry her when they were wild young kids is: "I was scared of Life. . . especially the Life that was spilling out of you!" This is a thread that uplifted me as I left the movie theatre. Love, no matter how flawed, will survive.

The husband watches as his wife leaves in the evening to meet her lover; she is always dressed in a uniform reminiscent of the Daughters of the American Revolution. This visual symbol of her infidelity becomes comical. We watch as the secret lovers embrace, but we know that she is viscerally committed to her husband and will end up with him. We know this because the wife tells us in a number of scenes that Family, or rather Procreation, is her fundamental priority. When describing her family to her lover, she announces triumphantly: "I MADE them." Her adult offspring are fully aware of their mother's throbbing sexuality, and yet they all seem to forgive it.

The genetic continuity of life looms large as another theme; for example, the very last words spoken are by the daughter holding her new infant up and saying, "That's your Grandma; isn't she beautiful?"

Florid sex.. . passionate interludes, however reckless. . . loss of virginity.. patience when an adored one goes astray.. . balancing the dichotomy of religion and passion.. . "Polish Wedding" floods light on all these impossible metaphors in a most luminous way.

Mumford (1999)

Do not go to this movie if you are looking for belly laughs.

[29 September 1999]

Do not go to this movie if you are looking for belly laughs. Do not go to this movie if you are in dire need of comic relief. DO go to this movie if you are interested in the human condition and in diverse ways of looking at life.

I left the film thinking it was not very memorable . . . really quite silly in many respects. But now, days later, I find I am haunted by bits and pieces that creep back into my psyche.

A few of these bits are: 1. A psychiatrist is really not able to change much. People's problems are too deep. 2. Major depression or crisis occurs when two divergent, conflicting thoughts meet head-on . . . the old approach/avoidance syndrome revisited. 3. Love concurs all.

Go see it and see what you think.

Notting Hill (1999)

Subtle, embedded messages emerge to create positive view of people with disabilities.

[18 July 1999]

Notting Hill, this totally implausible, happily improbable, feel good flick, does more to influence positive attitudes about people with disabilities than any all day sensitivity training seminar could ever hope to accomplish.

As significant as the two leading characters is the ever-present, fanciful circle of friends. Wouldn't we all love to have a close group of intimate chums like these! The collection of assorted characters includes Bella, a woman who uses a wheelchair, a sleek Quickie Ultralight at that. I love the easy nonchalance of her introduction to the viewer. She is merely one of many diverse folks in the day-to-day life of William Thacker, the film's protagonist.

In one after-dinner scene, the group sits around a big, friendly, worn farmhouse table, consuming way too much wine and sharing what stinks about their life. Bella reveals that she and her husband discovered they cannot have children. I like that she also dares make a complaint about "sitting in this damn chair". She is being honest; she is not burdening herself with feelings that she should sugar-coat her life for others. Nor does she feel compelled to be upbeat and cheerful no matter the cost to her own integrity.

This character lives a typical, dare I say "normal" life. She is married, throws parties, gets drunk on occasion, and interacts with the able bodied world around her . . . all with unaffected naturalness. I like the message this sends to the viewing public: people with disabilities are a whole lot like people without disabilities.

In a scene when Anna Scott and William Thacker leave the birthday party celebration, the very first words out of Anna's mouth are, "Why is Bella in a wheelchair?" This is precisely, to the letter, as it would be in real life. When folks come in contact with a person with an obvious disability, they understandably want to know what happened.

Bella's husband tenderly lifts her out of her wheelchair to carry her up the staircase to bed. My thermometer was on . .. testing for feelings of excessive sympathy or sorrow in myself or in the audience. There were none. There was only empathy, warmth, and tenderness, much of what one would feel watching any loving couple where the man lifted the woman over a doorstep, for instance, into their first home. Kudos to the director and the actors for not playing the pity card here. Thankfully no soaring violins tugged at our tear ducts.

As the culminating scene of the movie approaches, the group of friends all impulsively jump into a small European car to race off. There was Bella left waving goodbye from her Quickie. No, wait a minute. This was not to be. They wanted Bella with them; she belonged with them on this mission. There were no complicated maneuvers of how will we squeeze her into the car, what will we do with the wheelchair, no exasperation from the characters. They just did it. They made it happen. Before we knew it, Bella was sitting in the front seat; a few others had rearranged their positions and crammed into the back seat, and off they all went charging away full speed ahead.

In a final scene, the friends are attempting to 'crash a private party' so to speak, and having trouble getting past the hotel management. In a boldly triumphant move, Bella comes wheeling authoritatively toward the hotel bureaucrat, confidently announcing in a power voice: "He is with ME. I am so-and-so from such-and-such journal writing an article on how your hotel treats people with disabilities."

Swoosh! All doors opened to the group! Bella saved the day in her quick-witted plot to get past the hotel magistrate. Aside from the glee I felt at her being the savior of the day, I also applaud the embedded message: Disability rights are expected; don't tread on disability civil rights; disability access is what's happenin' in the Nineties.

This film has broad cross-class mass appeal, from the teenybopper to Joe Six Pack to the intellectual, and therefore has the power to impact the sensibilities of millions of viewers. I applaud Notting Hill for its contribution toward influencing positive attitudes toward people with disabilities.