Reviews (13)

One Of My Favorite Movies
This movie is where I first saw Greg Peck, who is always a treat to watch. It is an adaptation of A.J. Cronin's book of the same name. I've read all of Cronin's books and they are a delight, so that is an additional reason for appreciating this film. It is a story about a priest who is a missionary to China and most of the action takes place in (a movie back lot that is supposed to be) China. Excellent characters; both good and bad people. The only flaw might be that the priest played by Peck seems almost too good to be true. But then again, I've known such men. If you like swordplay, guns, and things blowing up, this isn't your film (though it has some of those things). But if you like a good story, lovingly told, you'll like this film.

The Keys of the Kingdom
This is an excellent old movie showing how a Catholic Priest (Gregory Peck) overcomes adversity while trying to establish a Christian mission deep in China. When first arriving, he refuses to use rice to "buy" converts as the previous mission director had, and as a result has no "converts"----only one true believer who comes to offer to be his helper. They pray constantly for God to show a way, and eventually God does answer that prayer and reveals to Peck another way to win converts and save souls----a way of truth and integrity and compassion. This is NOT some dry, stale, boring story----the movie is filled with gun battles, war, the burning of the village, and a lost love, as China is caught up in the policital upheavel of the early 20th century. The best part is the end....one last battle back in the States....and the fruit of all his years in China is revealed.

"how the days tumbled into my lap"
Based on the best-selling novel by A.J. Cronin, who also had a part in writing the script, this is a quiet, inspiring film that follows the long life of Father Francis Chisholm, who was not talented or clever in the traditional sense, but who lead a courageous and adventurous life and touched so many people with his great love, generosity and faith.
It starts with him as a child in Scotland, and when he becomes a priest, he is sent to China as a missionary, where he endures a multitude of challenges and successes.
It is told in the form of a narrative, as Cedric Hardwicke, playing Monsignor Sleeth, reads through Father Chisholm's journal.

This was Gregory Peck's second starring role (the first being "Days of Glory", which was not well received) and it earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination; he is wonderful in the part, and other great performances come from Thomas Mitchell as Dr. Willie Tullock, Rose Stradner as Sister Maria-Veronica, Benson Fong as Joseph, and Roddy McDowall as the young Francis.
Sensitive direction by John Stahl and music by Alfred Newman complete this film, which is satisfying viewing, and a must for Peck fans.
being 60 years old, the quality of the film shows a little age, but does not take away from the beauty of it. Total running time is 137 minutes.

What really counts!
Since Vatican 2 there has been more dialogue between Roman Catholics and Protestant Evangelicals. This movie should be shown before each discussion. It transcends doctrinal battles, not discounting them, but simply realizing that God saves people in both camps. In this religious strife humility and tolerance are best reflective of the New Testament call for agape love among all. Let God judge and punish, but let His people be kind even on doctrinal differences. The truth exchanged between the Presbyterian doctor and the Roman priest is worth the price of the movie. Psalm 130 is quoted by Father Chisholm at the death of his atheist friend Willie Tulloch despite the religious disgust of the Mother Superior. The contrast between Mealey, the proud bishop and Chisholm the humble priest is dramatically, but not unkindly presented. The cause of Christ would be greatly helped if His followers would show a tad more humility and let He Himself punish the heretics.
I strongly recommend the movie as a spur to buy the book by A.J. Cronin which will, I believe, be profitably read once a year.

Inspirational Film and Performance by Gregory Peck
This is a film perfectly scripted and directed for and delivered by Gregory Peck. This simple yet powerful story is so bright in its message of hope and honesty through good deeds of the human spirit. Gregory Peck the man seems so dedicated to his craft as an actor by putting his talents to such a sincere role as demonstrated in this film that one must take the time and give thanks that such a man as Peck ever walked this earth. This film is among Peck's finest as he demonstrates such dignity of this simple yet kind man. ... Read more

Description

This critically acclaimed film from "The Wonderful World Of Disney" features an all-star cast and is highlighted by a special introduction by President Clinton and Disney CEO Michael Eisner. The year is 1960. The place, New Orleans, Louisiana. When six-year-old Ruby (Chaz Monet) scores well on her local scholastic tests, she is chosen to be the first African-American student to integrate the local elementary school. Escorted to school by federal marshals, she is exposed to the ugliness of racism for the first time. Guided by the love of her family, the support of a white teacher (Penelope Ann Miller, CARLITO'S WAY), and a psychologist (Kevin Pollak, A FEW GOOD MEN), Ruby ultimately becomes an inspiration to all whose lives she touches. Also starring Lela Rochon (WAITING TO EXHALE) and Michael Beach (SOUL FOOD), RUBY BRIDGES is a film the entire family should watch together. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Heartwrentching and Wonderful!
I am a 7th grader from California and my History teacher showed this video in class. I found it to be one of the best videos I have ever watched. It taught me so much and that day I went home and did more research about Ruby Bridges. A few weeks later I decided to do my History Field Day progect on her since the topic was 'New Fronties.' I also bought the movie with my own money and showed it to my brother, who was for some reason kind of prejudice, and since then he has never said one word about not liking a black person. This movie taught me so much and even my parents ask to watch it over and over again. It is heartwrenching every time I watch it and it showed my brother what hard times black people went through and that they do have feelings also. This movie is OUTSTANDING and I recommend it to anyone!

#1 Emotional Film of the year!
This powerful movie is a playback on the intagrating process back in the 60's. With great emotional strenght you will cry your way through seeing the love and hatred of the south in the 60's. This is a wonderful movie and I recomend it to all people!

INCREDIBLE MOVIE
Ruby Bridges is the first movie I've ever wanted to see over and over again. The first time I watched it was in 5th grade. When I saw it, I was really inspired. It shows us all Black women, men, girls and boys can make a difference in this world and do not be afraid of it.

Use this film to teach
Have your students read Ruby's book and then show this film. It illustrates not only the stuggle of integration in personal terms, but other topics related to history and government as well. The supremacy of federal over state laws, the political and social climate of the times. My students had trouble believing this story really happened the way it did, that is untill they pulled up the actual photos on the internet. I cannot recomend this one highly enough.

A good buy for any teacher
I am a first grade teacher and have used this video for a unit on Ruby Bridges in first and second grade. The students have responded very well to it, and it has created for some unbelievable conversation that you'd never expect from this age level. I usually break the viewing up into a few different days, because it is a lengthy film, but it has been one of my favorite videos to show each year. This is a must have for any teacher because it illustrates what courage and strength can accomplish, even at a young age. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Reviewer from Michigan
I excercise five times a week with one of Leslie's videos plus once a week weight training class. I'm in my late forties and have dropped cholesterol and blood pressure with this program. This workout is quite easy if you can do Leslie's other tapes. I like the fact that she is alone and doesn't talk to people excercising with her. She demonstrates the moves well. The Challenge with the stretchie band is also easy to follow and does not prove difficult. I'm not sore the day or two after either. One segment explains the moves. The two excercise segments takes about 20 min. each. Frankly, I'd like to see more Walk Away the Pounds with more weights and stretchie-band routines and let others lead the Pilates. Leslie has found her niche with the walking videos and should stay with that. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Francis Ford Coppola took some of the deep background from the life of Mafia chief Vito Corleone--the patriarch of Mario Puzo's bestselling novel The Godfather--and built around it a stunning sequel to his Oscar-winning, 1972 hit film. Robert De Niro plays Vito as a young Sicilian immigrant in turn-of-the-century New York City's Little Italy. Coppola weaves in and out of the story of Vito's transformation into a powerful crime figure, contrasting that evolution against efforts by son Michael Corleone to spread the family's business into pre-Castro Cuba. As memorable as the first film is, The Godfather II is an amazingly intricate, symmetrical tragedy that touches upon several chapters of 20th-century history and makes a strong case that our destinies are written long before we're born. This was De Niro's first introduction to a lot of filmgoers, and he makes an enormous impression. But even with him and a number of truly brilliant actors (including maestro Lee Strasberg), this is ultimately Pacino's film and a masterful performance. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (82)

I know it was you Fredo
Director Francis Ford Coppola does the impossible with this film. He creates an original piece better than its wonderful predecessor! After the phenomenal success of the GODFATHER, Coppola didn't have the studio watching every move he made like a hawk, and the results are a better, more diverse film. He lifted a concept he was saving for another movie, one where a father's story and his son's story are intermingled, comparing them both at the same age. Robert DeNiro won an Oscar for his mostly silent portrayal of the soft-spoken Italian, Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando in the first film. This was the first time in history that two people were both given an Oscar for portraying the same character. Running parallel with Vito's story is the continuing saga of Michael Corleone, Al Pacino returning to play the crime boss. His Michael has grown into a man bent on his own fate, battling hubris like a Shakespeare character. The production design and music are once again wonderful, Vito's past is a gorgeous pastiche of immigrants at the turn of the previous century, while Michael now rules an empire that extended into the sleazy world of gambling. Coppola uses some of the same tricks as the first film (If it ain't broke...). The result is a three-hour plus tragedy that is sure to make a hit with you. The first 2 films together make for interesting viewing. On occasion, they have even been needlessly presented chronologically. Followed by an unfortunate third film.

The apex of American film making
To call The Godfather 2 a sequal would be a travesty and an unfair conclusion on what a stunning achievement the film was. Not only is it the greatest sequal of all time (the only one to receive the best film oscar, at the expense of the brilliant Chinatown) but perhaps the greatest movie of all time.

It's an even more towering achievement than it's predecessor with Coppola now telling in parallel the rise of Vito Corleone from a seemingly harmless kid fleeing Sicily at the turn of the century to a fully fledged Mafia Don(now De Niro)in his twenties, contrasted with his son Michael carrying on the Sicilian legacy in 1950s New York.

The intricacy of the flashback sequences is suitably stunning as is the flawless design of both time periods, especially that of 1910s New York. The costume design and focus on detail are simply immaculate with De Niro delivering an electrifying portrayal of the young Vito(speaking Italian for much of his part) as he becomes a player with a gun wrapped under a towel and hoarsely imitates Brando at one stage "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."

Both won Oscars for their portrayal of Vito but i believe it is De Niro who excels more, not relying on the heavy makeup Brando was employed with for the first film but again proving his versatility of being a method actor and a natural gift of playing gangsters. However, it is often argued that Panino tops De Niro's peformance. He delivers a masterfully cold and distant performance as Michael, carrying on the family business after his father's death (much to his brother Fredo's disapproval).

He moves scrupulously and speaks with rivetting conviction as he attempts to protect his family from the corruption and threat of the era. While being corrupt himself, Michael is also a caring family figure, doing all he can to end this power struggle for the sake of protecting his children. At one stage his wife Kay Adams(Diane Keaton) threatens to take his children away from him but Pacino makes his feelings clear "You know that could never be possible. You know i would do anything in my power to stop that from happening."

The supporting cast are also great, with maestro Lee Strasberg, Robert Duvall also picking up Oscar nominations. At 3 hours and 20 minutes the movie doesn't seem overlong at all. It's an emotional powerful study in family loyalty, betrayal, corruption and greed and the apex of American filmaking. Movies don't come more accomplished or perfect than The Godfather 2. An oustanding piece of showmanship and one of the most important forms of art in any medium.

Even better than the first!
I watched this version first and I've always liked this movie more than the first because it ties up loose ends and it gives you a better understanding of who the family is, where they came from, the origin of the Corleone name (The family name is Andolini, the town he comes from is Corleone.), etc. I wished Richard Castellano was in this one (He wouldn't because of a contract dispute.). His replacements were classic. Michael V. Gazzo & Lee Strasberg give outstanding performances in their roles. This is an epic tale never to be forgotten.

A VERY AMAZING SEQUEL TO A VERY AMAZING MOVIE
THE STORY CONTINUES AS MICHAEL CORLEONE [AL PACINO] CONTINUES HIS DECEASED FATHER'S BUSINESS. THIS SEQUEL SUCCEEDS IN BEING WHAT MANY OTHER SEQUELS COULD NEVER BE, A GOOD MOVIE, MATTER OF FACT, AN OUTSTANDING MOVIE. ALONG WITH ITS PREDECESSOR, THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME. THIS SEQUEL IS VERY AMAZING, AND I RECCOMEND ALL GANGSTER MOVIE BUFFS GET THIS AND ITS PREDECESSOR ON TAPE OR DVD AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. LIKE THE 1ST MOVIE, THIS WON SEVERAL OSCARS, INCLUDING BEST PICTURE.

great character study, great acting
I love this movie even more than Part I, because I love the way you can see Michael's character disintegrating over the course of the story. You watch him strip away all human connections in order to protect the "family." He finally asks his mother "Can you lose your family?" She doesn't understand the question, but of course Michael has lost his family, as well as his own soul. The paradox in this--killing your family in order to protect the "family"--is wonderful.
As in Part I, Diane Keaton is kind of a weak link--just not a credible Mafia wife. De Niro gives one of the greatest performances ever--channeling Brando. I also love the young versions of Don Corleone's sidekicks when they first go into business doing things like stealing rugs. And Robert Duvall has had to work very hard ever since to equal this performance.
The only disappointment is that we don't get to see Sonny (James Caan), since he was killed in Part I. His role was so wonderful that it's a pity Coppola couldn't work him into the flashbacks of Part II, except in the brief final scene. ... Read more

Amazon.com

From 1973 to 1985, a generation of kids watching Saturday morning television learned the function of conjunctions and the preamble to the U.S. Constitution with the help of an animated series called Schoolhouse Rock!The brainchild of executives at McCaffrey and McCall Advertising, the three-minute segments combined whimsical cartoons with catchy music (rock was only one of the styles) to help kids learn seemingly dry topics as easily as they could learn popular songs. Multiplication Rock tackles the multiplication tables, covering numbers 0 through 12 (but not 1 or 10), and chances are few people who grew up watching can multiply by 3 or 5 without hearing the familiar voice of composer-singer Bob Dorough. Other underlying talent included jazz drummer Grady Tate ("I Got Six," "Naughty Number Nine") and jazz pianist Blossom Dearie ("Figure Eight"), who contributed vocals. (Subsequent installments would feature many other jazz musicians and songs written by jazz pianist-composer Dave Frishberg and future Broadway composer Lynn Ahrens, who at the time was a fledgling secretary for McCaffrey and McCall.) Years later, the series was considered so hip that now-grown-up rock stars rerecorded the songs, and Multiplication Rock includes a music video of "Electricity, Electricity" by Goodness.--David Horiuchi ... Read more

Reviews (17)

A Schoolhouse Rock Testimonial
When I was in third grade I never could get my times tables down pat- the sevens and twelves proved especially tricky. So my mom checked out this video from the library, and that changed immediately. I could rattle off my multiplication tables as fast as everybody else after watching this only a few times. Amazing! That same year I got put in advanced math. Coincidence? I think not! All the songs were just so catchy. I loved it when I saw the NIKE commercial playing "Three is the Magic Number", that's one of my favorites. Anyways, parents, this is a great buy for your kids and I doubt that you'll get tired of the tunes.

One of the best instructional videos in the world!!!
I remember watching this on television when I was a child and learning my multiplication tables. When I found it was available publically, I immediately purchased it for my son who is now 11. He remembers his the same way I remembered mine -- by singing the songs!!! I would recommend all of the Schoolhouse Rock videos for anyone who has children, because it's never to early to learn. By the way, the only way I can remember the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States is to sing the song from America Rock!

This has 2 much excitement
you tired of learning multipliplacation by talking and no videos?Well,those days are over because of Schoolhouse Rock!-Multiplication Rock (1973).This is more fun then just having to talk about multiplication and not understanding it.It has songs,too.

EXCELLENT
EXCELLENT TAPE. REALLY HELPED MY NIECE WITH HER MULTIPLICATION. EXCELLENT TAPE.

Schoolhouse Rocks!
I am a teacher of 13 years. Many people know that there are 5 specific learning styles and these tapes address many of these styles through innovation and repetition! Catchy songs have seen many of my classes singing to themselves and gaining confidence on tests and test scores! I cannot speak any higher of the series! GET IT!!! ... Read more

Amazon.com

James Stewart reunites with his Harvey director, Henry Koster, in this 1962 comedy, which is charming enough even though it doesn't seem quite up to the level of talent involved. (The screenwriter is the legendary Nunnally Johnson--writer and director of The Three Faces of Eve, among many other titles--and the music is by Henry Mancini.) But it is pleasant, summery entertainment with Stewart and his screen wife, Maureen O'Hara, taking their urban family to a crumbling, seaside house for a vacation. The film was calculated to pull in older fans with Stewart as well as draw in a younger crowd that would enjoy the fairly extensive beach scenes with pop-star Fabian. Stewart is deft with the easy jokes about bad plumbing and such, and golden in several nice moments where he gets to play an attentive dad to his kids. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Very funny movie.
This is an enjoyable movie, with some very funny scenes and lines. One of my favorite lines takes place in the scene when Jimmy Stewart's shy daughter is at a dance, being the wallflower, and none of the boys ask her to dance. He asks Fabian to ask his daughter to dance (for a $5.00 fee). While they are dancing, Maureen O'Hara (his wife in the movie) asks "How did you find that boy?" and Jimmy Stewart answers "I yelled out 'Joe' to a group of boys. There is always at least one Joe in a group!"

Very Funny!
Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation and Harvey are two of the funniest Jimmy Stewart movies. Vacation is especially fun because of the relationship between Maureen O'Hara and Jimmy. You will not be disappointed with this movie.

cute movie!!!
My wife loves the scene in this movie when Lauri Peters and Fabian sing "cream puff,shortcake" at the pizza place.Lauri is so cute trying to hide her braces.

Wonderful Jimmy Stewart at his comedic best!
I am still amazed at the number of people who haven't seen this movie! Mr. Stewart even narrates, here and there, throughout the story, this wonderful tale of his summer vacation with his family at a rented beach house, along with the family maid. There is a running gag throughout the picture about the plumbing and the maid misunderstands the English language, and Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs try very hard to understand their adorable teen-age daughter (Lauri Peters) who falls in love with an adorable boy (played by none other than Fabian!), who shows up at the local dance and then there's a son who prefers to watch westerns on TV all day and night. There's a sexpot neighbor that lives in a nearby beach house who attempts to read War and Peace, and later the Hobb's daughters show up with the misbehaving grandchildren and want nothing to do with "Boompa", otherwise known as Mr.Hobbs! Don't miss the scene when Jimmy Stewart bird-watches with his son-in-in-law's boss and learns "the proper walk". The chemistry between Maureen O'Hara and James Stewart is so wonderful, it's no wonder they were so successful in several films together! She is so convincing as the jealous wife, especially when Jimmy innocently tries to help his son-in-law's boss's wife (Marie Wilson) while she is in the shower and runs into trouble........don't miss it, you'll laugh all the way through this marvelous movie. Let's hope Twentieth Century Fox soon gives us a widescreen DVD version with extras, like an interview with Maureen O'Hara & Lauri Peters!

Very cute family movie
You can enjoy this with the kids and everyone. Good clean funny entertainment, that will make you laugh and remember a more innocent time. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Part mystery, part wartime polemic, Lifeboat finds director Alfred Hitchcock tackling a cinematic challenge that foreshadows the self-imposed handicaps of Rope and Rear Window. As with those subsequent features, Hitchcock confines his action and characters to a single set, in this instance the lone surviving lifeboat from an Allied freighter sunk by a German U-boat in the North Atlantic. A less confident, ingenious filmmaker might have opened up John Steinbeck's dialogue-driven character study beyond the battered boat and its cargo of survivors, but Hitchcock instead revels in his predicament to exploit the enforced intimacy between his characters.

Indeed, we never actually see the doomed freighter--the smoking ship's funnel beneath the credits simply sinks beneath the waves, and we're plunged into the escalating tensions between those who gradually find their way to the boat, a band of eight English and American passengers and crew, plus a German sailor (Walter Slezak) rescued from the U-boat, itself destroyed by the freighter's deck gun. Heading the cast and inevitably commanding their and our attention is the cello-voiced Tallulah Bankhead as Connie Porter, a cynical, sophisticated writer whose priorities seem to be hanging onto her mink and keeping her lipstick fresh. Gradually, the others find Porter and her lifeboat, forming a temporary community that inevitably suggests a careful cross section of archetypes, from wealthy industrialist (Henry Hull) to ship's boiler men (John Hodiak and William Bendix).

Hitchcock juggles the interpersonal skirmishes between the boat's occupants with the mystery of their German prisoner, which itself becomes a meditation on the fine line between nationalism and morality, a line that Slezak walks delicately until his identity is resolved. Visually, Hitchcock transforms his back-lot set and its rear-projected cloudbanks into a desolate stretch of ocean, while capturing the horror of an amputation through an economical set of images culminating in an empty boot. --Sam Sutherland ... Read more

Reviews (22)

A Forgotten Film From The Master Of Suspense
Lifeboat where do i begin? well for starters i guess it would have to be that this is one of my all time favorite Films from Alfred Hitchcock. But to most people they have never heard of Lifeboat. Yeah it was one of his early works but one of his best. Most people when they think of Hitchcock they think of Psycho ans The Birds and Vertigo. But this is better than the birds. It has a human story and ever increasing the tension. In a by gone era of hollywood when movies were grand in spectical not budget.

Lifeboat is about a freighter that is heading to New York. But is sunk by a German U-boat and in the opening scenes there is Tallulah Bankhead in a lifeboat all by herself with all of her belongings. Then one by one they pick up more survivors the tension increasing when they pick up a crewman of the U-boat. Only Hitchcock would make his backlot movie with fake clouds seem so real and make a the ocean look vast and barren. He also manages to elict good performances from Bankhead,Walter Slezak, Canada Lee and others.

I would highly reccomend that you check out this film from the master of suspense. this is not to be missed of put of. It is very suspensful i mean would you come to expect less from Hitchcock.

SEE THIS MOVIE I BEG YOU.

Lesser Known Hitchcock
Lifeboat isn't as famous as some of Hitchcock's other films, but it deserves to be seen today. It's a chance to see Tallulah Bankhead, who if anything, had a very interesting screen presence. She was an original. It's also a chance to see a very human portrayal of an African American character (Canada Lee) at a time when Hollywood rarely did that. There is also a lot of commentary about the Germans and the war, which given the time when this film was made (during the war), makes it all the more fascinating. The performances are good (including a very young Hume Cronyn), and Hitchcock manages to keep the action moving despite having so limited a space in which to do so. If you like Alfred Hitchcock, this is one you should see.

BANKHEAD -- HITCHCOCK
Tallulah Bankhead was one of the 20th century's best actresses, taking over from Ethel Barrymore as the Toast of Broadway and the London stage. She made few films, and this is her best role. (For a very long time the joke was that Bankhead's stage roles were taken over by and became film hits for Bette Davis. Certainly that's true with Hellman's THE LITTLE FOXES.) Here, one has the opportunity to observe how an actress of supreme talent, handles a role in which everything is shown; in which practically nothing can be hidden. Every would-be actress ought to study not only what she does, but more importantly, what she doesn't do, for as a stage acress par excellence all through her younger years, some movie people thought her too big for the screen. Probably she wasn't, but simply needed a good director. Here, she got the best in the business, and the results show.

Hitchcock was fascinated with women, with actresses, and particularly beautiful ones. And, if Connie's beauty here, is not young, and fresh, it is nevertheless, compelling. She is like a thoroughbred mare among mules and cab nags in an auction pen of chance. She stands out because of her breeding. She has lines. Her costume? A white silk blouse, good nylons, a full-length mink coat, and a diamond bracelet. And, of course, that wonderful mane of hair.

If you study Hitchcock, it would make a wonderful double bill to see LIFEBOAT and STAGE FRIGHT close together. Here, he studies Bankhead; in STAGEFRIGHT he studies Dietrich; two fair-haired actresses of wildly differing personal style, but of exceptional power and interest. And, what they have in common and what both display in these two films, is their unusual, and unusually expressive voices. Bankhead was a famous radio actress for many years, as well as a stage star. Dietrich too was a radio actress, and all her life was a singer and recording artist. The trick in working with an artist with an exceptional voice, is to carefully trim and arrange the dialogue in such a way as best to show off the voice's characteristics.

Admirers of Lesbian Chic might want to imagine what Ann Sheridan, or Barbara Stanwick, Rosalind Russell, Ruth Hussey or Lizabeth Scott or any one of a number of others might have done with this "Contralto" role: You know, the wise-cracking, hard boiled newspaper dame. The role is a Type, very popular during the 30's, and with a lesser actress and a lesser director, we might have gotten a good movie out of the material, but not a black-and-white masterpiece, like this one. After all, what if CASABLANCA had been cast with Ronald Raegan and Heddy Lamarr?

You can watch this movie over and over. A director's tour de force, the trick, I think, is to watch for Hitchcock's cutting sequences; the way he manipulated the editing around the actors' speeches within the episodes. Extremely clever. So good, the seams are nearly invisible.

Its a great propaganda movie, but of an unusual kind; far subtler than most. Its a great Camp, or G/L movie, but again, far subtler than most. Its a great Murder movie too, etc., etc...

Great.
'Lifeboat' is a great film by the late Alfred Hitchcock. He is really truly a master of filmmaking and very few directors could make such a fantastic story from such a limited setting. Not many people know of the film, but one should definately check it out.

Hitchcock in a Tank?
A very nice ensemble cast delivers the claustrophobia in this
"Lifeboat"

Heather Angel and Henry Hull always seem to be least recognized in this drama although thw whole cast is seemless .

Bill Bendix could walways play comedy or drama with equal terms.
I think a Dick Cavett story on Bankhead and Chico Marx may be in order. " Chico said " I want to ... You" and Bankhead , always the wit said " and so you shall young man" !

Slezak on the other hand was always an actor who used his rubber face to great effect. Watch out for waves and few script flaws but stay dry ! ... Read more

Description

In this enchanting film adaptation of J.K. Rowling's delightful bestseller, Harry Potter learns on his 11th birthday that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards and posseses magical powers of his own. At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry embarks on the adventure of a lifetime. He learns the high-flying sport Quidditch and plays a thrilling game with living chess pieces on his way to face a Dark Wizard bent on destroying him. For the most extraordinary adventure, see you on Platform 9 3/4! ... Read more

Reviews (1789)

Video Excellentus!
In 2001, two fall blockbusters involving witchcraft and wizards reached the theatres. Unfortunately, I don't have a wand with which to say "Review autoscriptus!" or some snowy owls on one-day delivery standby so I have to do this with my fingers (sigh) and create words of wonder on the movie I liked better.

While I haven't read J.K. Rowling's books, it must have been chock full of detail I don't know of the movie:book accuracy ratio, but for director Chris Columbus to fit it in two and-a-half hours, it must have been a book spectacularis.

Witches and wizards were persecuted throughout the ages, regarded as threats more than freaks as Harry's aunt did her sister, and more often than not, burned at the stake. With Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the song remains the same, only this time, his uncle, aunt, and obnoxious cousin treat him contemptuously, as if he's an unwanted burden. Who knows how his life would have been without the flurry of invitations to Hogwarts School courtesy of one-day owl delivery? Fortunately, giant Rubeas Hagrid comes crashing to the rescue. The real adventure begins from there.

Daniel Radcliffe gives a performance competentus and credibilis as the totally likeable title character. Of the troika of main characters, he's the most human. However, Emma Watson as the resourceful and well-read Hermione Granger steals the show wands aloft. Despite being snooty and knowing who she is, she proves herself to be a cut above others in classes (see her frantically waving on Professor Snape to call on her, and her proficient wand handling). She does have feelings, though, as she angrily stomps past through Weasley, who fed up with her conceit, was verbally cutting her down a peg to Harry, finishing with "No wonder she doesn't have any friends." If Hermione's character leads more children to flip pages instead of flipping bad guys on their PS2's or X-Box's, so much the better. Rupert Grint, as Ron Weasley, makes a good foil for both his counterparts, being a fellow explorer and Christmas holiday companion with Harry or someone for Hermione to impart knowledge.

The other performer to whom this show belongs to is veteran actor Robbie Coltrane as the friendly giant gameskeeper Rubeas Hagrid. After Krull, Nuns On The Run, two James Bond movies, and From Hell among others, he has finally become a recognizable face on American shores. American audiences should have warmed up to this talented performer earlier, and that's something I should've said.

As for other veteran actors, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, and Zoe Wanamaker do wonders as the professors of Hogwarts, but Alan Rickman turns in a solid performance as the sinister Professor Snape, who doesn't seem to like Harry all that much.

People, (or should that be muggles?) this is one movie specialus. The special effects, while spectacular, do not detract from the character development or dialogue, like certain films I'm not going to name. They merely support the magic whether it's the entrance to the square or the action scenes, such as the Quidditch match.

Well, review terminatus, and see you at the theatres for the Chamber of Secrets

I didn't want it to end!
Though by no means the only example of the subject, Joanne Rowling's imaginative book about an eleven year old boy discovering his new-found talent for magic, reintroduced the age-old genre of the fairy story to modern children. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" benefits enormously from modern CGI effects to bring to life a film which will entertain everyone. The basic story concerns an orphaned boy living with his appalling cousins who are determined that he should not find out that he was actually born a wizard. Through outside help from the magical community, he finds himself enrolled at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the fun starts.

Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane and Alan Rickman help to back up the principal child stars and give this film some real presence. Daniel Radcliffe is rather flat as Harry Potter and Emma Watson, as the precocious Hermione Granger, is excessively theatrical and both are shaded by Rupert Grint who is excellent in the role of their cynical friend, Ron Weazley. No doubt all the child actors will improve with time, given that they stay with the series. At the moment they are still finding their feet.

There are plenty of special effects to amaze and amuse and I can't imagine how such a film could have been made without them. The cinematography by John Seale, ACS, is excellent and the whole film has a very pleasing look. The two-disc DVD set has many extras, some of which seem to require an intimate knowledge of magic to access.

On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and I wait with baited breath for the sequels. It is not a five star film; I did not expect it to be, but it certainly rates considerable merit. I have yet to figure out why WB chose to release it as anything other than "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", since that is both the title of the original book and the title of the film in any other market than the US. Apart from a few little blemishes, an excellent movie. Kids will give it five stars; parents will enjoy it, too. Thoroughly recommended.

"A rather BIG surprise"
When Harry Potter came to the big screen, I did NOT go to see it. I was of firm standing that it was kidd stuff. Then, a few weeks ago, the people on abc2 news had it on as a "movie event". I figured since it was free, why not watch it? Needless to say, I was realllyyy surprised. I sat, spellbound through ALL commercial breaks, so I would'ent miss any of the story. I've never read a single book in the series, so I can say with out them, this movie still can stand on it's own. P.S. John Williams' score is amazeing!!!! P.S.S. Still, I will say that "The Lord of the Rings" are much better movies, and if you LIKE Harry Potter, You'll LOVE them.

The Best Movie of 2001
Harry Potter is a great movie that the whole family can sit down and enjoy. And the Harry Potter series has a big future. This is the first one in the series that introduced the school of withcraft and wizardry that Harry Potter would be going to. It's called Hogwartz. It introduces many characters such as Harry himself, Ron Weasley who becomes Harry's friend, Hermione Granger who also becomes Harry's friend, Draco Malfoy who is Harry's enemy, Albus Dumbledore who is the headmaster of Hogwartz and many more. Get your kids, get this movie and watch it. Trust me your going to love it. It's great fun really. Then when your done this one go to the store and get Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and then see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in theatres.
10/10
Rated PG for Some Scary Moments and Mild Language.

helloo! its the best!
harry potter is the BEST series in the world and kj rowling is sooo talented!!! there's a reason why harry potter's so popular! get THEM ALL ... Read more

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When a shark accidentally clobbers himself, a small fish named Oscar (voiced by Will Smith, I, Robot) just happens to be around, prompting everyone to believe that he killed the shark himself. This lie soon makes Oscar a celebrity, worshipped by the general mass of fish, wooed by a glittering golddigger (Angelina Jolie, Girl, Interrupted), missed by his best friend (Renee Zellweger, Cold Mountain)--and hunted by the godfather of great whites (Robert De Niro, Goodfellas). Can a vegetarian shark named Lenny (Jack Black, School of Rock) get Oscar out of this mess? The formulaic story of Shark Tale never reaches the giddy heights of Pixar's output (Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Toy Story) or the freewheeling comedy of Shrek, but it's capably told and impeccably animated--the sheer technical skill is stunning. Kids won't get the mobster jokes or the other pop-culture references, but they'll enjoy it nonetheless. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (145)

Rotten fish........
Now a days, when you see a computer animated film (especially from Dreamworks), you expect it to please not only the kiddies, but the adults as well. You assume there will be humorous references that some children won't be able to catch, but that the grown-ups will understand and find entertaining as well.

You count on a little something in there for everybody (i.e. Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Shrek, Toy Story).

More importantly, you hope the movie will strike the funny bone of both generations so that the film can be appreciated and enjoyed by both genres.

Shark Tale has very little of this, and what it does manage to muster up, is surprisingly unfunny. In fact, Shark Tale is a pretty horrible film altogether. Not all the star power in the world could make this film less than the dreadful bore that it is.

These fish live in a very adult-like society (think of New York underwater), but there is just no good adult humor in this film!!

Maybe kids will like it. But this is not an enjoyable film for us grown-ups. In fact, this movie is so bad, I won't bother to review its lousy story any further. There are plenty of other reviews that do that.

Be warned:

This fish STINKS......badly

The best thing for this reviewer about Shark Tale was the fact that I rented it and didn't buy it. Returning a movie never felt so good!

the commercials seem great, but the movie is boring
this seems like a good movie when you see the commercials. the animation is great, but this is definitley not Dreamworks Animation's greatest film. the movie is very boring.

Great animation and voice talents, but weak plot
Oscar (Will Smith) is in the wrong place at the right time when great white shark Frankie accidentally runs into an anchor and dies.Oscar, a very small fish and with a lowly job as a tongue scrubber, takes the credit for Frankie's demise and becomes famous as The Shark Killer.

Only Frankie's brother, vegetarian great white Lenny (Jack Black) knows the truth behind Frankie's accidental death, but has enough problems of his own trying to please his `Godfather' type father, Skyes (Robert De Niro).

When Oscar was a nobody, he could always count on best friend Angie (Renee Zellweger) to help him.Angie even gave Oscar her grandmother's pearl to help him out of his debts, but when he becomes famous he is sought after by gold-digger temptress Lola (Angelina Jolie).Oscar cannot hold onto his lies forever, and eventually must find out that friends can't be bought with fame and money.

`Shark Tale' barely deserves four stars, earning that simply on the beauty of the animation and the plethora of screen talents gathered together for the voices.The plot was rather weak, and at times even boring.While some of the jokes were funny, most were pretty lame, and the subversive advertising got to me in a negative way.Still, it's a pretty movie, and one that your kids will probably like better than you do.Enjoy!

Funny, but I'm not a very big Zellweger fan
This was pretty funny up until a few days ago, especially considering I use to be huge fan of Renee Zellweger, but that all changed, (I may not be a fan but congratulations Renee if you ever read this, tell your new love that the Make A Wish girl says hey).Anyway, like I said, the story's alright, I lovedthe storyline.My favorite part was actually when the shark was killed.In real life I can't imagine any person's last word being "Moron!!"so I pretty much cracked up at that.Overall, it was funny, but I only gave it 4 stars because of the recent Renee Zellweger thing.

Funny
A funny movie kind of like finding nemo.Good and funny.I didnt get to see in the movie.But i bought the dvd and well worth it. Renée Zellweger and Angelina Jolie are hot. ... Read more

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A visit to a dinosaur dig turns exciting when the Magic School Bus becomes a time machine that takes Ms. Frizzle's class back 67 million years, to the time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. There, they must put aside their prejudices and preconceptions about dinosaurs, as they investigate which are dangerous carnivores, and which are herbivores. By noting their observations in their science journals, the class classifies dinosaurs according to their diets. An encounter with a T-rex concludes the journey. They realize that dinosaurs come in all shapes and sizes, and use the scientific methods of recording data and hypothesizing to reach their conclusions. They also discover how scientists today use evidence such as teeth to tell which dinosaurs ate what. A female paleontologist answers their questions at the end, explaining which part of the journey was fact, and which was speculation. Kids will learn how scientists work, as they enjoy this exciting adventure in time travel. --Elisabeth Keating ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Arnold to the rescue
Miss Frizzle and the kids visit a dinosaur dig and when the kids start making comments about all dinosaurs being meat eaters and terrifying it's time for another field trip. The Magic School Bus takes them back in to time to the late Cretaceous period along with a fossilized dinosaur egg. There they find out that there were both plant and meat eaters and that some dinosaurs were good parents.

Arnold, who if you've seen some of the other videos is generally frightened of Miss Frizzle and her field trips, rises to the occasion in more ways than one when his class is threatened by a Tyranasaurus Rex.

My kids love this video.

Good dinosaur movie. Great female characters too!
This is a great video. It shows many dinosaurs, and my daughter (2 yrs old) loved the dinosaur egg! (she call this the egg movie). It is also informative. What I like the most is that the paleontologist, whom the class meets at an escavation site, is a woman with a sense of humor and great enthusism for her search. It is a realistic and great female role model, not the fake token woman scientist in science fiction movies.

Good Dino Movie
My daughter can not get enough of this movie. It is informative in a fun way. It shows dinos in a realistic light. If your kids like dinos, this is a good movie for them. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Relatively Early, Excellent John Ford Movie
Relatively early, I say, because I think Ford really hit his stride in the 1940s once he started his John Wayne cavalry pictures.

"Drums Along the Mohawk" is a wonderful treatment of an era curiously left alone by most American movie studios, the Revolutionary War. Henry Fonda is a farmer on the Mohawk River in upstate NY, who brings home a "city" bride, Claudette Colbert. Much of the early part of the film is her adaptation to this backwoods life, so different from her father's home. Colbert's character is emblematic of the original settlers of the American continent, who left familiar ways behind them and set off into an adventure undreamed of. Bit by bit, her citified ways have to be jettisoned if she is to be a good wife to her honest and plain-speaking husband. Gradually their smaller domestic drama is engulfed in community concerns as the Revolutionary War whips up the warpath of the Indians surrounding the colonists, and they must fight for their very existence as that new concept, Americans.

There are some really pricless episodes in "Drums Along the Mohawk", such as when Fonda holds his newborn baby for the first time, Colbert goes into hysterics at her first encounter with an Indian, Edna May Oliver confronts Indian braves invading the sanctity of her home, and someone has to get word out of the beseiged fort to the soldiers for relief.

You'll be very glad to see "Drums Along the Mohawk", I assure you.

A Revolutionary War classic
Drums Along the Mohawk is a very good movie about a period in American history that not many movies have been made about. Set during the Revolutionary War, the story is about two newlyweds and their new life in the Mohawk Valley. The couple is trying to establish themselves with a home and farm of their own, but are interrupted when the British and the Mohawk Indian tribe begin to raid all along the valley. The settlers must deal with the raiding Indians while also trying to survive. There is plenty here for fans of Henry Fonda also. The action scenes are excellent, especially the attack on the fort. However, it is also very effective when the characters talk about a battle and how horrible it was rather than the viewer actually seeing it. An enjoyable film that is still very good!

Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert play Gil and Lana Martin, the newlywed couple struggling to survive. Both are very good and believable as husband and wife. This was a good period for Fonda when he made The Grapes of Wrath around this time. There is an excellent supporting cast, most notably Ward Bond as Adam, Gil's friend and neighbor, Edna Mae Oliver as the widow Mrs. McLenard, who puts up Gil and Lana when their house is destroyed. She has some incredibly funny scenes especially when some marauding Indians invade her house, but she refuses to leave even as they drag her out on her bed. This is an excellent movie with a great cast and excellent story. Do not miss this Revolutionary War classic!

Still the best movie about the American Revolution ever made
There are relatively few movies about the American Revolution. I think this is due to the fact that the American side lost most of the battles of that war. The battle at Saratoga, the surprise attack at Trenton, and the siege of Yorktown are part of the short list of American victories, and except for the occasion television movie or mini-series, they are rarely touched upon. Consequently, "Drums Along the Mohawk" remains the best of American movie about the revolution even though it was made before World War I and even though the redcoats are not really involved in the fight.

"Drums Along the Mohawk" does not start off as a movie about the American Revolution. Instead it begins as a movie about settling the frontier, which, at that point, was upstate New York. The focus is on a pioneer couple, newlyweds, Gilbert (Henry Fonda) and Magdalena (Claudette Colbert), called Lana. Martin is a farmer who brings his bride to the Mohawk Valley where their home is burned out by Indians allied with the British. The couple are taken in by neighbors after that happens and Martin joins the militia, but the settlers are going to need more men than that to fight the Indians and save the fort from attack.

Based on a novel by Walter D. Edmonds the screenplay for "Drums Along the Mohawk" is by Sonya Levien and Lamar Trotti, although William Faulkner worked on it without receiving credit as well. Edmonds' history novels were all set in upstate New York and "Drums Along the Mohawk" is about the warfare between the settlers and the Six Nations of the Iroquois allied with the British. The Battle of Oriskany in 1777, fought in a forest, was a American victory although their commander General Nicholas Herkimer (Ralph Imhof) died of his wounds in one of the moving scenes of the film.

This was the third film that John Ford made in 1939, following "Stagecoach" with John Wayne and "Young Mr. Lincoln" with Fonda; his next film would be "The Grapes of Wrath." Colbert and Fonda are the stars, but they are upstaged by several members of the supporting case, such as Edna May Oliver as Mrs. McKlennar and Arthur Shields as the Reverend Rosenkrantz. The old lady has such an iron will that she can make Indians take her bed out, with her in it, while they are burning down her home, and the reverend has a memorable scene in which he eases the suffering of a tortured settler. Fonda is young and earnest, while Colbert comes to terms with what it means to be living on the American frontier in troubled times.

More than anything else "Drums Along the Mohwawk" is about people coming to the realization that they are Americans, an interpretation more than amply justified by the film's final scene. These are not the Sons of Liberty living in Boston and dealing with the King's troops and all those burdensome taxes. These are small families living out on the frontier for whom the idea of the United States of America was as odd as a flag with thirteen red and white stripes with a circle of white stars on a blue field. Perhaps it is because it takes place off the main stage that "Drums Along the Mohawk" manages to hit the right notes.

five star films
Put it out on DVD and I will definitely buy it! How much longer do we have to wait to see some of Miss Colbert's other great work, especially those wonderful comedies like The Egg and I and No Time For Love, made available and on DVD?

Lavish colour production from Hollywood's Golden Age
"Drums Along the Mohawk" was one of many lavish classic productions released in 1939 and marked the first real venture by Director John Ford into classic movie status. This production is lavish in all departments from the lush colour photography which even in 1939 was still only employed on a handful of productions, to the beautiful on location photography utilised throughout the story, to the many exciting action filled sequences employed around which the storyline is structured.

"Drums Along the Mohawk" tells the rather simple story of Mohawk Valley farmer Gilbert Martin who courts and marries refined city bred Lana Magdalena (Claudette Colbert)and brings her back to the valley to begin a new life as a farmer's wife in the untamed American wilderness. What ensures is a story of hardship in the face of the unpredictable environment, attacks from Indians, the revolutinary war, and in carving out a new world and new way of life. Much of the story focuses on Claudette's characters efforts to adjust to this strange and foreign new environment and to make a home for her new husband and she succeeds admirably in the task. It has often been stated by critics that Claudette was far more suited to sophisticated urban comedies and always looked far too modern a screen personality to fit into period productions. While she certainly had no peer in that area she is highly effective in historical roles as witnessed by her great work in "Cleopatra" and "The Sign of the Cross". In "Mohawk" she displays all the fear and uncertainity of moving to a new land and leaving behind her all that is familiar. While her makeup and pristine outfits throughout tells us this is indeed a Hollywood production I believe it is one of her more appealing performances combining equal measures of doubt about what she has done moving to the wilderness, to a longing to build a happy life with her husband. Henry Fonda an actor who I normally find fairly bland and unexciting on screen performs very well in this production playing the role of Gilbert who works like ten men to clear his property, often under very trying circumstances, and set up a workable farm with which to support his family.

Claudette Colbert by 1939 was at the peak of her popularity and success and that same year turned out what I feel was her greatest film performance in the classic "Midnight". At the time of release of this film Henry Fonda was also enjoying a triumph in "Jesse James" with Tyrone Power so it was easy to see why this film was also a great success upon release. As with most Epic productions of this type the supporting cast adds greatly to the overraul impact of a film and "Drums Along the Mohawk" had two of the best in Edna May Oliver and John Carradine. Oliver a superb character actress had the important role of Mrs. McKlennar and the character embodies all the standard qualities that she always brought to her film roles, a no nonsense flinty character with a deep down heart of Gold. Her big scene where her home is invaded by rampaging Indians is a delight to witness as she almost bosses them out of destroying her home! John Carradine a regular performer in these Fox productions is also effective in the devious role of Caldwell who is out to further his own ends no matter what it takes.

The beautifully staged action sequences of this film are terrific and really add to the excitement of the piece. The attack on the fort and the destruction of the farmers properties are two of the highlights and are staged to the maximum effect that only John Ford could bring to such things.

Overraul "Drums Along the Mohawk" is an engrossing piece of cinema both from its more personal representations of settlers moving into a hostile land and making a new life, to the standard excitement of the action western type of film complete with Indians, besieged forts and spectacular scenery. In all these respects "Drums Along the Mohawk will not fail to both impress and entertain. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Another Fun-filled Ride on the Schoolbus!
Ms. Frizzle takes the class on yet another extraordinary field trip! A photographer is coming to take a picture of the class and their garden for the cover of a magazine! However, Phoebe needs a plant for the class garden. Ms. Frizzle takes the class to her old school on a ladybug schoolbus ride! There they tour every major part of her flower and watch a seed being made. But will the class make it on time? Will Ms. Frizzle find love? This video was enjoyed by my students as a suplement to our plant and seed unit! This is one that kids will enjoy watching several times. ... Read more

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Rodgers and Hammerstein made BIG musicals--sweeping song and dance numbers, elaboratestagings, sweet heroines, and love struck but confused heroes. Flower DrumSong has all these elements, so why is it so little known? Perhaps becauseit had the misfortune to be released the same year (1961) as West SideStory, or maybe because at 133 minutes it's overlong, or did the audiencehave trouble accepting an all-Asian cast in an Asian-themed musical? Whateverthe reasons, it's time to recognize Flower Drum Song for the gem itis.

Picture bride Mei Li (Miyoshi Umeki) and her father arrive in San Francisco,having smuggled themselves into the country so Mei Li can marry nightclub ownerSammy Fong (whose mother arranged the whole deal). Mei Li is fascinated by thecity and immediately charms its denizens with a delicate rendition of "OneHundred Million Miracles." Fong (Jack Soo), who is having an affair with hisstar singer, the sexy and scheming Linda Low (Nancy Kwan), pawns Mei Li off onthe Wang family, whose eldest son, Ta (James Shigeta), needs a wife (at leastthat's what his father has decided). Old Chinese culture and new American idealsclash at every turn, with the elders struggling to understand their Americanizedchildren and the children struggling to accept and honor their heritage. Thoughthe movie is dated in some respects, the theme of assimilation vs. separationholds up remarkably well and rings true. "The Other Generation" beautifullyillustrates the generation gap.

As this is a romantic musical, you know from the beginning which couples willend up together. The most famous song is "I Enjoy Being a Girl," sung by LindaLow as she dresses to seduce Wang Ta. Though too many triangulations andmisunderstandings prolong the inevitable conclusion, Flower Drum Song isa very enjoyable and often funny ride. --Dana Van Nest ... Read more

Reviews (31)

An Ahead-Of-Its-Time Musical
Based on the novel by C.Y.Lee,it is probably the most ambitious of all R and H shows,and did have one of the shortest Broadway runs (600 performances,which is roughly a year)

People tend to class their shows as follows-

The Hits-South Pacific,Sound Of Music,Carousel,Oklahoma!,and The King And I.

The Flops-Allegro,Me And Juliet.

The In Betweens-Cinderella and Flower Drum Song.

Nancy Kwan is great as Linda Low,although she was used as the 'marquee name' to draw the crowds.Broadway's Pat Suzuki would have made a bigger splash in the film.

The charming Miyoshi Umeki is charming in her Broadway role,and Juanita Hall also scores big in the film.

R and H really had their opus with the lilting and sad ballad,'Love Look Away'. It should be counted as one of the best,if not THE best,songs they wrote.

An uneven mixture redeemed by Umeki and some great songs
This may be the most frustrating of all the Rodgers and Hammerstein's adaptations because its the most uneven. On Broadway, FLOWER DRUM SONG was anchored very firmly by twin star performances by Miyoshi Umeki as Mei-Li and Pat Suzuki as Linda Low. The film version wisely retained Umeki (and even allowed her more lines--and to sing almost the entirety of her great first song, "A Hundfred Million Miracles" by herself), but cast as Linda Nancy Kwan, who is paradisiacally beautifully and a fine dancer but who just does not have Suzuki's sock-it-to-me charisma. Nor did the singer who dubs Kwan: as a result, some of the more mediocre songs that Suzuki hit out of the ballpark on Broadway (like "Grant Avenue") just don't make it here.

While it was extremely rare for a Hollywood film with not only a plotline concerning Asian-American themes but also mostly Asian-American actors, the director, Henry Koster, seems to have approached San Francisco's Chinatown as if it were a magical mythic kingdom like Munchkinland, and a little of this goes a long way. (You feel sorry for the actors forced to say things like "See ya Pop--don't take any wooden chopsticks!") On the other hand, the strength of many of the performances carry the day, and the score has some exceptionally beautiful songs, particularly the famous "Love, Look Away," lipsynced here by Reiko Sato (very fine in a difficult role) for Marilyn Horne's voice.

Sharing the thoughts of many others
I cannot believe this is not on DVD yet. There is a song by Kwan that is presented in widescreen on the VHS, but the scene of the boy dancing in the baseball uniform is pan and scan. Horrible to take away the scenery and perspective.
PLEASE MAKE A WIDESCREEN DVD!!
I consider this movie to be one of the top three musicals in my heart.

I was nine when I first saw this movie in Boston with my
mother. She always picked the really good movies. This was when the movie theatres were elaborate and there were matrons in the ladies rooms. And the theatre carpet didn't smell like feet. I fell in love with James Sigata and I thought Nancy Kwan was the most beautiful woman. When I got home I got my little paper fan and pretended I was Nancy singing "I enjoy being a girl" to my mirror. I'm glad that I bought the CD and I hope they put this movie on DVD or reissue it on VHS. I'd love to have it. And a little trivia-Miyoshi Umeki was Mrs. Livingston on the TV series The Courtship of Eddie's Father.

Without widescreen it's a disappointment!
Producer Ross Hunter lavished some pretty expensive-looking production values and some very capable talent on this film and, as was almost de rigueur back then, mounted it in Panavision and, of course, color. Let's have a DVD with the original ratio preserved, please! Hermes Pan's dance numbers especially (one of this enjoyable film's chief assets) cannot be fully appreciated unless they're seen on the widescreen (or its video equivalent). A panned-and-scanned VHS tape just doesn't do justice to a film which was a fine example of Hollywood professionals working their magic. I saw it first-run, way back when, and despite some reservations, thought it was pretty slick entertainment and would add a properly presented DVD version to my library without any hesitation. ... Read more

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The Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) adventure after Raiders of the Lost Ark is more violent than its predecessor, but also looser, more imaginative, and finally more satisfying. Still organized like a series of connected cliffhangers, the story (set 10 years before Raiders) involves Indy's attempted rescue of stolen children from a pagan cult. Director Steven Spielberg draws upon sundry cinematic influences, particularly Gunga Din, for an air of classic adventure, though one can also find traces of John Wayne movies in Jones's relationship with a woman (Kate Capshaw) who's come along for the bumpy ride. The film's opening bit, in which the antidote to a poison Jones has swallowed keeps bouncing around a nightclub just out of his reach, is a blast. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (126)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
The second installment in the Indiana Jones, set 2 years before Raiders, finds Indy going after the Shonkara stones and trying to rescue children enslaved by the Thagee Cult. He is joined by young Short Round (Key He Quan) and nighclub vocalist Willie Scott, played very well by Kate Capshaw, the current Mrs.Spielberg. While Karen Allen's Marion Ravenwood was a two-fisted hellraiser, Scott is a pampered indoor brat, and in turn is brilliant, plus her character is quite funny also, as is Short Round. Amrish Puri is a chilling as the villainous cult leader.

Though Temple of Doom lacks Sallah, Marcus Brody, and the Nazis, it is an improvement over Raiders in more than a few ways. To start, Ford is even better as Indy for his character is tested more. Douglas Slocombe's photography is more effective, and John Williams' music score is even more diverse and genius. Temple of Doom is also more creative, emotionally effective, and imaginative. However, it lacks the spectacle of the first film and is far more controversial and violent.This is the movie that created the PG-13 rating.

Dennis Muren's stunning Oscar-winning visual effects match Richard Edlund's effects in Raiders, yet they are not as awe-inspiring or important to the story. Elliot Scott's production design is terrific, and the cult sequences are very intense. The stunts top the ones in Raiders and are really good. The most memorable sequences have to be the mine car chase, the creature feature dinner, the Shanghai nightclub opening, the duel at the cult platform, and the rope bridge finale, incredible. Though Temple of Doom isn't as good as Raiders or Last Crusade it is highly recommended and is one of the best adventure films ever made.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Political Correctness
As stated many times, the second film of the Indiana Jones trilogy is (by far) the darkest of the series. While Raiders was an extremely fun viewing of Dr. Jones having a fistfight with the entire German army, and Last Crusade was a lighthearted quasi-Parsifal with Sean Connery, Temple of Doom is a tense, truly disturbing (at times) adventure that takes place in an underground pit just a few feet above hell. And it's my favorite of the Indy movies.

Harrison Ford is brilliant in the role that he was born to play. Although the character of Indy is shrouded in macho trappings, this IS set in the thirties. So, I don't find the supposed "sexism" to be all that off-putting. Ford's considerable acting skills are greatly tested by Temple. There's a scene where Indy is being tortured by members of the evil Thuggee cult, and the viewer is absolutely disturbed by the scene. A lesser actor would have made this an exercise of pure camp.

Kate Capshaw is, quite frankly, a little annoying as Willie Scott. I don't think it's necessarily Capshaw's fault; her character could have been played by Audrey Hepburn and still would have been irritating. Willie, as remarked by some reviewers, screams her head off during most of the movie. Eventually, you kind of hope the bugs or the lava will finish her off. Still, some scenes with the character work. The opening sequence and Willie's behavior at the palace are charming.

Ke Huy Quan is pretty good as Short Round, Indy's temporary sidekick. Again, it's the character that is a bit distracting, not the actor. Ke Huy Quan is delightful in the poker scene with Indy in the jungle and is much more of a help than Willie could ever be, but some of the scenes of Short Round kicking the poop out of the cult members are a little laughable.

Amrish Puri is wonderful as the awfully evil Mola Ram. This guy makes Belloq look like Maurice Chevalier with such an intensely evil leer and rather septic heart operation procedures. Roshan Seth is also brilliant as the devious prime minister. Both of these fine actors are also in the wonderful movie "Gandhi."

Philip Stone's character is something of a Col. Blimp, yet a very well acted Col. Blimp. I'm sure he probably listens to Elgar while sipping his tea in his bath. The rest of the supporting cast are also excellent: Lao Che and the Indian holy men are very enjoyable, if a bit one-dimensional.

The accusations of the film being racist are, in my opinion, a little silly. Yes, Hinduism is much more tolerant of a religion than Christianity could ever hope to be. As far as I know, there wasn't ever a Kali cult that performed human sacrifices, and it can be easily and convincingly argued that British rule in India was mostly malign. However, stating that all of the Indians in the film are portrayed as weak or devious is like stating that all the Germans in the other two films are portayed as cruel and militaristic. I can understand a person's sensitivity to such things, but since it's an Indy movie, naturally Indy is going to be portrayed as the wonderful savior while everyone else is reduced to being either dependent on him or actively trying to dispatch him. In my opinion, problems do arise when people (typically Americans) see movies like this and take them as real history. For instance, many Americans who have seen Braveheart now consider themselves experts on Scottish history. Occasionally, when I eat Indian food (which is delicious), I hear some bozo talking about eating monkey's brains, as was also stated by another reviewer. I can understand a person of Indian heritage being very irritated by such behavior, but I don't think it's entirely fair to blame the filmmakers for the behavior of some of the more stupid people who watch their movies. Hopefully, in the next Indiana Jones film, Indy will take on the scariest religious cult yet: America's religious Right. I can think of a certain self-righteous someone who could use a few good punches.

To me, this is the best of the series
The opening is my favorite in all movies. My next favorite is the opening for Men In Black. I became a fan of Kate Capshaw when I saw her in this movie. She shows three times the personality of the female leads in Raiders of the Lost Arch and The Last Crusade. She made the movie a standout to me. I enjoy Short Round too. I believe that there is plenty of character development in this movie, and character development in a movie is extremely to me. I honestly don't understand some other reviewer's complaints.

Too Dark,Too Violent,and Too Pointless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By far,The temple of Doom is the weakest in the trilogy of Indiana Jones.It focuses too much on action that there is hardly any room for character development or,more importanly,plot.Overall,watch it if you liked yhe first film.Otherwise,skip it and watch the third film instead. Note:there are two things to note: one,this film is set before Raiders of the Lost Ark,making this a prequel and two:if you have children younger than thirteen,DON'T let them watch this one.This has very graphic violence.The PG rating is a joke!!!!!!!!

Not nearly as good as 'Raiders' or 'Last Crusade'
Watch this movie if you want to pass an afternoon with a bland movie. Kate Capshaw is a great actress but her character was very annoying. Karen Black's strong female lead in 'Raiders' is by far the better of the female leads from the trilogy. ... Read more