johnniedoo Reviews

Miss Marple: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1992 TV Movie)

Liberal uses of period cars

[10/10 · 8 August 2018]

Hard to pin down the year of this episode from autos. Many anachronistic models spanning more than one decade-more like 2decades. Did not spoil the episode for me as they were great to see and so many super clean, no dust or rain spots. I loved them all. 2018 now so all were vintage today.

Circus Boy (1956–1958)

Old Kid's TV on Retro Current TV Channels

[10 January 2015]

I watch certain OTA and others that cable picks up for one reason: to be able to re watch old television shows-in this case Kid's TV I grew up in the late 40s and 50s with this stuff and it provides a nostalgic hour or 2 whether it is COZI, ANT, METV or which ever one is available. Must be quite popular since I have watched the field grow over the last 4 or more years and am grateful for it. I prefer the stations which limit their format to 50s-60s and early 70s shows and forget about after 1980 as they are covered elsewhere . There is room and market for each target segment,looks like. But that is me. By 1970 i was way past kid show interest. But there were some adult shows with a 70-76start which i associate with 'youth' . Howdy Doody was a real kid favorite in 1952 as i recall. Capt Video or other shows with cardboard sets that shook and toppled sometimes. But, so did late night(prime time) detective shows from 1950-53. top ..that is what early , live mostly, TV was all about. Certainly not up to CSI: any city for special effects graphics and audio. a different entity entirely. But just having a television in the neighborhood or local grill was a big deal. Circus Boy is a refined ,well honed kid's show by early TV standards.

Officer O'Brien (1930)

Worst Movie I Ever saw, but a keeper....

[5/10 · 11 November 2014]

I just watched this PQ and sound was not so good but not unexpected for the age. I didn't take it for much of a comedy though did laugh out loud a few times.I like the director's other offerings over the many years of his career. Not this one. I like Hoppy Boyd so prejudiced in his favor. I do not go for the inability of some of the early attempts made by silent stars to recite lines.Most females considered acting with dialogue was a tremolo-quiver to indicate every emotion but a laugh, which also quivers. I did not see any real beauty of execution in this one. Lines seemed coached for every other word sometimes. Lots of the trouble was just newness of milieu-but there were far better films from that year and better execution ,pauses to send in lines or whatever. It is a film I watched start to finish and do not advise against it, just not the best of the year but an interesting historical piece showing all the obstacles that were overcome with in a couple of years. ground breakers , pioneers etc should be watches just is lousy.I would have liked it more as a silent. maybe it was released soundless in some theaters? Nearly forgot-Movie about an upwardly mobile cop who gets his jewel thief pop out of prison on parole without dad's knowledge- a serious cop hater somehow never knew his son became a cop while in the joint. twists and turns gives the movie some distinction but , still...

Duffy's Tavern (1945)

Duffy's Tavern impressions

[7/10 · 6 June 2014]

To me, this is a classic movie for the end of war era. The first few reviewers cited the cavalcade type ones already. They need to be viewed and reviewed in the context of the time or the viewer misses the point. It is appropriate to note this, possibly, for people who do not realize there had been an all out world war for the past 4 to 6 yrs, depending on where one lived. mysterymoviegoer hit the nail on the head as far as I am concerned. I like to see the kinds of humor, the environments and attitudes that the movie portrays- not to mention the parade of stars and luminaries from the time. I did not see Maltin's review, gave up on it as a resource many yrs ago and hadn't even considered the intern angle. Nice to see another person take the time to record a most appropriate comment on this special kind of movie theme from a special time in history.

On Probation (1935)

On Probation

[5/10 · 29 March 2012]

The movie is a re release from2009 by Alpha video. It is not is good shape noisy is only a part of the problem. The film was chopped up and put back together with out much concern over the years, so what is left had some sizable gaps plus it appears to have been cut for television as well. It was work to watch this one but i am glad it was saved and worth the effort for Monty Blue fans. This was never any 9star movie even when first released but is a b movie or 2nd feature which would be better if cleaned up. I got this movie commercially and not sure if there are better copies available , however, i am not able to provide any review here unless i submit at least ten lines of copy. The movie is about a crooked lawyer, which is not really addressed at first, who somehow or other is able to become a guardian for a cute young blonde girl who got picked up for some pickpocketing arrest , as a minor and orphan. The crooked lawyer(Monte Blue) is not married and had some reputation issues at the time of the court hearing. If you can swallow this, the rest of the movie should flow along. next scent is the girl coming back from finishing school 6yrs later. There are large unexplained jumps in the story, as it was probably released, Other jumps may be cut, not sure. As i mentioned, it may be worth the time, particularly if a good copy exists.

Dr. Renault's Secret (1942)

Discovered Dr Renault's Secret

[9/10 · 18 June 2011]

This is a real sleeper, particularly for fans of old "B" mysteries. It is classed as horror genre by most reviews i saw but it is in the same mode as Charlie Chans or Mr Moto's , which is no great surprise since it was produced by Sol Wertzel and directed by Harry Lachman who did some Chan's and a Moto or 2. I got the restored disc through netflx and was totally surprised by the quality of the picture and didn't expect it to be so well done, as far as production values to. It seemed to be much less horror and more mystery as they kept the 'secret' back for much of the movie.(even though it was no great surprise). It was a very familiar cast with another great performance in yet another odd character role for J.C. Naish and G.Zucco as the Dark Dr Renault supporting each other's roles well. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes b&W movies from the 30s-40s from serials to Horror/Mystery genres. Cant really go wrong with this long lost or recently rehabbed movie.

Convicts at Large (1938)

Comic Drama and a Happy Home

[7/10 · 14 April 2011]

I thought this was a particularly good example of the low budget , feel good , depression type second feature. Need to take a lot of things for granted but before television and radio already had the imaginations working much better than we do now. If the movie had been restored and not as noisy or blocky (with all my digital helpers engaged) it would have been better. What could be better than the Happy Home concept? In a time where half the work force had been out of work and dispossession was a matter of course in many areas. There was drama, comedy, mystery, money falling out of the sky and into the laps of the needy, now, how much else can be packed into a short trip to the movie house? Unsuspecting guy having a load of goodies fall into his grasp. Meet a good looking woman looking for a change too. Never know what to expect in this one . Just as i had given it up as predictable old saws , they threw a curve and made it a bit more complex and interesting.

Hog Island (2006)

Hog Island or What it is Worth

[4/10 · 13 January 2011]

I did not like the movie and had to suffer through the whole movie before I could decide how to rate it. I would have liked to award 10stars based on the efforts they made with such a low budget. It is a very fine job for $30,000 and these days low budget movies should be encouraged but just because i like the idea, still, the star rating is for entertainment value not for intentions. The acting was just fine, that they got no money for it, or deferred , shows how much can be done on hope of a pay off if it is successful. More movies should do this. However well they performed and seemed to fight with the bad audio and disjointed editing and confusing message(s), if there were more than one.I was most frustrated by having to crank the volume and adjust just to hear what often turned out to be meaningless. It just needed more work in continuity, editing-post production tasks- to make it really viable as a whole effort. It just didn't make all the connections. good scenery, some good shots but lost in confusion. other shots of a guy urinating and flushing had no apparent value yet survived the cutting room. if there were some abstract water connections , it was not enhanced by watching and hearing a urine stream. I nearly stopped right there. 4 or 5 stars is generous to a good attempt but ,still, lousy movie experience. I did watch it to the end and still have that conclusion...fine acting by novice amateurish group of young people that was not helped by shoddy post production efforts and bad audio- music, songs, continuity.

Innocent Lies (1995)

A Seductive Picture

[4/10 · 10 October 2010]

The cinematography of this film was brilliant, choice of location plus the genius of the camera work kept me enthralled with a shallow and convoluted plot that took red herring to waters it had never been to before. The little hamlet and eccentric interiors made an impossible film watchable, enjoyable even. The premise of the plot was the suicide or murder concept of the hero regarding the best friend and introduced in the first scenes. The rest of the movie was interwoven and seemingly totally disconnected scenes of incest or gratuitous pants dropping or bums in the buff. There were some of the scenes that served no purpose other than to expose an actor's body to the camera or tight shots of Adrian Dunbar's nose. It was as if the editors tossed the dailies up in the air and pasted them together quickly based on aesthetics rather than plot advancement. I think there was a plot at one time in the manuscript but it was discarded and the film became a series of patchwork scenes lacking cohesion. I was glad it was over though it was not easy to tell when that was going to happen because it could have been anywhere along the line. It was not a great film, a dozen yrs old and so aggravating it inspired me to take more time on it and write a 'review' on a pretty bad movie.

Irish Luck (1939)

Good Quality DVD for Series Starter

[7/10 · 9 October 2009]

It is interesting to read comments by people reviewing a flik from 70yrs ago but bringing 21st Cent eyes. I liked the movie for its good combination of plot, set and dialog. I have seen many Frankie Darro shorts and some are better some are worse but all are just short movies to fill in with the feature and he is the oldest or longest lasting youth going other than the East Siders maybe. The classic use of stage Irish and realizing that the Irish were just making it off the bottom of the social ladder prior to WWll gives an insight most people have forgotten since all changed after the war. No more Irish need not apply for jobs or housing. Some of the unintended consequences of these old slices of life from the small studios like PRC are what i find so enjoyable about this type of film. I have seen a few of the other 6 movies in the series and the plot line is familiar though I think the mystery part in this one is best, for what it is. The rest is straight formula but good performances by the whole cast of journeyman actors many of whom are in multiple movies together. Great cohesion good entertainment, short as it is.

The Savage Wild (1970)

Men and Wolves in the Wild

[4/10 · 9 April 2007]

I gave it 4 stars just for being there to do it. It came on TV and I decided to give it a try. It is no more or less that what it purports to be. A few men, small family get 3 wild wolves to observe in the wilderness. They get together to build a cabin and pen for the wolves. I am not sure what kind of experiment it is, not scholarly for sure. It appears he, Gordon, set up his own model and guidelines but there it is. An essentially dialog-less script voice over and sounds that may or may not be real-time. It might be good for a young family to see how adventurous folk might take on a task like this in 1970. It appears that they spend 4 seasons up there, the whole family starts off in the first summer there and Gordon, from Jackson Hole to begin with, expresses a desire not to be there at all right from the start. The initial trepidation does not bode well for the movie from the perspective of a viewer. It is slow, ponderous and boring akin to travel log and, quite honestly,having seen it on TV, I looked forward to some commercials. but in deference to the film, it would be for a young audience accompanied by parents for the wild side of life in nature. I know it is not available at my local movie outlets and I live in a city with access to all chains in eastern US. It is essentially moot since I believe the only way to catch this is the way I just have: serendipitous intervention.