Reviews (5)

All for one, one for all
Gary Cooper playing Lieut. MacGregor is his strong, stoic self in the 1935 British colonial adventure set in India, "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer". The free spirited MacGregor is too random and impulsive for his straight laced, principled commanding officer Colonel "Ramrod" Stone played authoritatively by Sir Guy Standing. Cooper is compelled to nursemaid Col. Stone's son, a junior officer new to the regiment and fresh out of military school, played by the baby faced Richard Cromwell. The cocky smart aleck Franchot Tone playing Lieut. Forsythe aids Cooper and completes the trio around which the plot is based.

The Lancers are guarding the northern frontier of India and have been menaced by Oxford educated Afghan prince Mohammed Khan. Khan, leader of a large band of rebellious zealots has designs on capturing a huge supply of ammunition meant for the British.
He kidnaps the younger Lt. Stone to force his fathers hand. Cooper and Tone obviously go to his rescue against orders.

"Lives" is a noteworthy B&W period piece from the 30's but is slightly inferior in its scope and magnitude to both Gunga Din and The Four Feathers, which were both unquestioned cinema classics

41st Bengal Lancers, Form Sections Right, Walk March!
A classic 1930s B/W epic of the British empire in India. Sure you have some old fashioned colonial overtones here, but the movie itself is one of the best of its kind. Good character development, solid action, and fine sets. This film provides a really good look at pre-WW2 cavalry life. In fact many british cavalry regiments did not mechanize until 1939! So this film shows a lot of accuaracy in its period details of regimental life. The standard plot is here that we have seen before, distant outpost on the frontiers of Afghanistan, rumbling tribes, conspiracy, and betrayal. All quite well done. Even the usual heroics at the end are believeable and leave one moved with emotion. This film shows that Afghanistan has always been a problem locale. The British knew how to deal with it then. Can the US learn how today?

Classic B&W adventure film
Cary Cooper does a restrained slow burn as an independently-minded but highly capable colonial soldier, stationed in the remote, volatile edges of the far-flung and perpetually shaky British empire. The locale is the rugged, untameable mountain terrain of Kashmir and Afghanistan, where local warlords and would-be kings wreck havoc with the disciplined, top-heavy imperial armies. Sound familiar? Yeah, I thought it might. Anyway, this is a thoroughly enjoyable, good old-fashioned, black-and-white adventure flick, which includes a few interesting character studies inside the barracks walls. Franchot Tone is particularly appealing as the tart-tounged newcomer who antagonizes Cooper, but inevitably becomes his best friend and comrade in arms. Recommended!

a definite classic
I first saw this film as a boy, and it immediately struck me; then I remembered it for years as one of the best films I had ever seen in terms of plot, characters, exoticism, and historic appeal. Twenty five years later I was able to purchase a copy - and saw the magic working all over again, this time with my children. It is a story of friendship, courage, cowardice and redemption. Lieutenants Stone and Forsythe are assigned to the 41st Lancers in Bengal. The tribes under Mohammed Khan are on the verge of rebellion. A Russian spy tries to promote her country's interests in the region. Then Lieutenant Stone is captured and Mc Gregor -played by Gary Cooper, superb as usual- and Forsyth try to find him and defuse the crisis ... One scene of torture (Mohammed Khan inserts burning sticks under the nails of his prisoners one after the other) makes the film unsuitable for younger children -with a traditional education I suppose- as nightmares are likely to follow. Recommended age bracket 10-15 - and older of course ! The film (1935) is of course in black and white - good for your children's artistic education and never a hindrance to their pleasure. What makes the film a classic is that it embodies the spirit of 19th century colonization- the British are of course right, Mohammed Khan is of course cruel and wily. The film can therefore -with older children ?- be used to start a discussion on historical perspective and the use of national and cultural stereotypes. But above all, this is a well-played, attractive, breathtaking film with a superbly moving finale - and good action scenes without the special effects you would expect from much, much later years which too often prove disturbing for children.

Best of Victoriana Action/Adventure
The best of the lot (IMHO much better than Gunga Din). Great action scene, and a pretty good story line. None of the philosophical insight of the original novel, but hey, who watches this stuff for inner wisdom anyway? Watch out for a uncredited appearance of Myrna Loy as a native Pathan Temptress (do I get extra points since this is not in IMDB?) ... Read more

Reviews (9)

VILLON A'LA COLMAN.
Vagabond - roustabout Francois Villon lived in Paris of the 15th century, during the reign of Louis XI. Villon was arrested in a tavern brawl in which the Grand Constable of France was wounded. The perversely sly king was taken with Villon's speech and manner and made him into the Grand Constable for a week............John Barrymore starred in the 1927 silent version entitled THE BELOVED ROGUE; in 1930, Rudolph Friml scored the Broadway musical THE VAGABOND KING which starred Dennis King. In this Paramount film from 1938, Colman is on view in one of his more charming and carefree incarnations as the reckless poet given to romantic flights of fancy & the daring adventurer who's resourceful in a crisis. With elegant grace, he woos his lady fair, played by Frances Dee, and with a slyness spritually saturnine as Rathbone's own, he fences with the crafty king, knowing full well his very existence is on the line. Only Colman, with his eloquent speaking voice, could recite poetry as beautifully: "If I were king - the stars should be pearls upon a string"...... Although the sets, crowd scenes and Preston Sturge's script failed to completely disguise the creaky stage orgins of the piece, it's a beautiful production nevertheless.

A TOUR DE FORCE...
The velvet voiced Ronald Colman triumphs in the role of Francois Villon, a roguish poet who verbally duels with the canny and crafty King Louis XI of France, played with artistic abandon by Basil Rathbone in an Oscar nominated performance for Best Supporting Actor.

A series of circumstances finds Villon made Chief Constable of France by the King's decree. He is given a week to save the City of Paris from the Burgundians, who remain encamped on the outskirts of the city, waiting to move in and depose the King. The people of Paris are on the verge of revolt due to some serious food shortages and draconian punishments meeted out in the name of the King's justice. It looks like the beginning of the end for the King.

Villon, however, manages to change the people's sentiment. He uses his power to open the King's food storerooms to the people. He tempers justice with mercy, and he proves his loyalty to the king. He also wins the love of a beautiful princess, charmingly played by the lovely Frances Dee. In the end, he rallies the people of France in the name of the King and the Burgundians are defeated. This film, however, is not an action film. What is notable is the incisive and delightful repartee exchanged between Villon and the King. The dialogue flows fast and furious and is earmarked by a rapier like wit. Clever and sophisticated, it is an unusual costume drama fueled by an outstanding screenplay by the legendary Preston Sturgess.

Romald Colman fans will ejoy this film, as will those who enjoy historical dramas and period pieces.

One of Ronald Coleman's very best costume dramas
Ronald Coleman plays the 15th-century French poet and vagabond Francois Villon, who is arrested after a tavern brawl in which the Grand Constable of France is wounded. King Louis XI, a barely recognizable Basil Rathbone, makes Villon replace the Constable for a week, after which he will be hanged. But Villon is the perfect advisor on how to govern and when the citizens of Paris are on the verge of revolt against the King, it is Villon who rallies them to defeat the invading Burgundians. The King, as smart as he is crafty, pardons Villon, who gets to live happily ever after with Katherine de Vaucelles (Frances Dee), the lovely young lady of the court who has caught his eye. Coleman, of course, is perfectly suited to the role of Villon, able to make the lines seem like poetry: "If I were king, the stars should be your pearls upon a string" (Wait, that rhymes; it IS poetry!). But equally impressive is Rathbone, who makes the most of a rare opportunity to act, showing that his monarch is more than a bad guy with a crown. It is just marvelous to listen to the verbal duels between Villon and the King as this argue about how to govern France. However this film, directed by Frank Lloyd, is also nice to look at, with grand crowd scenes and action pieces. This 1938 film features a script by Preston Sturges, based on the play by Justin Huntly. I know it is heresy, but I like "If I Were King" better than "The Prisoner of Zenda."

If I Were King, one of Ronald Coleman's best
"If I Were King" is set in fragmented France without a Charlamagne to meld the country together. Remeniscent of ancient Greece' citystates, Paris has its own king. The movie is based upon true events. Ronald Coleman is a rascal of sharp wit and tongue who is confronted by a seemingly impossible challenge issued by the King of Paris, Basil Rathbone, with his life as wager. In short, Ronald Coleman is a renegade who is forced to summon his wherewithall where his mouth and pen had previously been.

In my opinion, "If I Were King" is a *must have* for the library of fellow classic buffs. Ronald Coleman was a rare actor who's transition from silent films so enriched the industry. His starring role in "The Light That Failed," from the novel by Rudyard Kipling, was perhaps his finest and a personal favorite.

Comedy Masterpiece!
This film is very near the top of my best comedies of the 20th century. Why? It's a great story of a rogue who accidentally catches and kills a high ranking traitor to the King of France. Because he boasted that he would be a better king then the one who was standing incognito in the room with him, The King makes him governor of all France as a combined punishment and reward. Preston Sturges' colorful commentary is delivered by one of the finest and funniest casts ever assembled. Basil Rathbone was nominated for an Oscar for his ingenious portrayal of the wily and eccentric King Louis XI. As the King enters the torture chamber to force a confession from a traitor's messenger he comments: "What an odd smell in here...as if someone had burnt the Roast!" The line is funny on paper but when Rathbone delivers it in a high nasal and rolls the 'r' in 'roast' almost beyond reason, it's hilarious. Ronald Colman has the lion's share of funny lines, poems and quips. His sensitive reading of the romantic moments make his unexpected jokes all the more delightful. Convinced that he is being removed from the dungeon to be hanged, he makes up a little poem for the bar wench who loves him so she won't cry: "Here goes Francois, child of France, to swing into his final dance, his neck at last will have the chance....to weigh the tonnage of his pants!" A dark statement to be sure but delivered with such wide-eyed innocence as to be intoxicatingly funny. Every supporting actor is funny and engaging and the script is endlessly entertaining. This movie has just been made available to the public (I had to tape it from late night cable TV). I watch it at least once a year. Now it's available to us all. If you love classic comedy, you will treasure "If I Were King." ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Cross-dresser with attitude
Miss Phoebe Titus (Jean Arthur) is a cross-dresser with big ambitions. She wants nothing less than the greatest ranch in Arizona. To raise the money she goes into business, first selling pies to the riff-raff of Old Tucson, then competing for army freight contracts. Of course, her trail is not a smooth one, or there wouldn't be a movie, in this case an extravaganza directed by Wesley Ruggles (of CIMMARRON fame). Shot on location in the Tucson Basin, local color is provided by lots of cacti and a cast of thousands who wander pointlessly, but colorfully across scenes clad as Mexicans, Indians, cow pokes, or ladies of the night.

Although neither the Civil War, nor corrupt Apache chiefs can frustrate our heroine for long, the usual coven of stock Western villians create some tension and move the plot forward. An unconvincing love interest is provided by a man on the move (the young William Holden) who joins the Union Army as an apparent device for varying his wardrobe. He turns up just when most needed to rescue Miss Phoebe from her own stupidity, releasing her from one of the flick's two bondage scenes.

The history lessons inserted into the film fall flat, and the chronology is confused. However, things liven up in the second half with the obligatory Indian raids, a spectacular cattle stampede, and, of course, a wedding (the latter borrowed from THE VIRGINIAN). It may sound like I hate ARIZONA, but, in fact, it's truly a classic Western and, unusual for its time, one with a woman as the action lead.

I like this film!
Jean Arthur is terrific in "Arizona" as a strong-willed woman who holds her own out west. She gets her man (Holden) without sacrificing her freedom and dreams. I suppose one should call the whole thing unconventional. After all, it's a western whose lead character and overriding focus is the heroine (who is also unconventional). So few westerns retain my interest because of the lack of interesting roles for women. Thelength of the film, a common complaint, didn't bother me, I felt the film showed the "complete world," of Arthur's character's life in Arizona while never becoming one of those overblown epics in which the characters get lost for all the action. All in all, I think this film deserves more respect and attention than it gets.

Hellcat Jean Arthur wears a dress to catch William Holden
In the 1941 western "Arizona," Jean Arthur stars as Phoebe Titus, a frontier hellcat who has gotten the better of every man in Tuscon, circa 1860. Then William Holden shows up as Peter Muncie from Missouri, on his way to California. Phoebe is so smitten with the young lad that she actually takes to wearing dresses, but he wants to get to California. Just to make things worse, local bad guys Jefferson Carteret (Warren William) and Lazarus Ward (Porter Hall) are after her business, stealing her money and having Indians attack her wagon trains. Fortunately, in the best scene in the picture, Peter gets a herd of cattle to stop the attacking Indians, and then the happy couple proceeds to get themselves hitched. Over two hours long, "Arizona" is one of the slowest paced westerns you will ever see. Producer/Director Wesley Ruggles spent a reported $2 million making "Arizona," and apparently could not bear to cut anything of the film he shot. This was Holden's first western, in a part originally intended for Gary Cooper. His performance is okay and he certainly holds his own with Arthur, who was ten years older, and still seems a bit too wholesome to be a frontier heroine. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Who told you I was paranoid??
A delicious horror psychodrama, about a splintered aristocratic family with more than a few hidden secrets. A young Oliver Reed is wonderfully way over the top as a possessive, demented, violent older brother who struggles to control the rest of the family. Nicely directed, and well shot (with a heavy debt to Hitchcock)... Good fun, although the ending is lamentably rushed.

Simon is crazy, but he's still interesting.
This story revolves around a young girl who may be crazy and her alchoholic brother. Their parents died years ago in a plane crash and their older brother Tony is believed to have committed suicide when he was a child. Then a man shows up claiming to be Tony because he says he faked his suicide and ran away. His sister believes him, but everyone else has their doubts. Then it looks like someone is trying to commit murder and no one is certain who is sane and who is not. I had always heard this film was just average, but I think it is above average. There are some suspenseful moments here and there, good photography and the cast is overall solid. Oliver Reed is actually exceptional in his role, probably his best performance with Hammer. The film could have been improved by not playing their hand so soon, in that they revealed too much too soon. The film would have benefitted by being patient and building a mysterious mood for most of the film, instead we see one mysterious scene followed directly by a scene that reveals what is going on. Not perfect, but fairly interesting to watch late at night. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Boris Karloff at his best.
This is the kind of film no one has made in many years -- a horror film that is not only stylish and high-class, but even charming. It barely qualifies as horror, but it is a grim period melodrama (early 19th century, to be precise) with Boris Karloff as twin brothers, the good Anton and the evil Gregor. After Gregor murders Anton, he masquerades as Anton, which means Karloff is actually playing a THIRD role ("Gregor as Anton"), and is more subtle and effective than he was in the earlier scenes. The sequences in which two Karloffs are on screen simultaneously are technically very smooth, and the under-appreciated Roy William Neill does his usual good job of directing. The payoff, in which the ancient family prophecy is fulfilled, is ingenious and thrilling.

Karloff shines in duo role.
Karloff once again shows us what an incredible actor he was in playing both brothers in this classic. Well thought out story and good supporting cast make this one a classic. Rivals Universal's monster movies of the same era.

Karloff pulls it off!
The two main characters in this movie are twin brothers, both played by Boris Karloff. One is pure evil, the other is unbelievably kind. Only an actor of high talent could give credibility to either of these two extremes - Karloff plays both of them perfectly! I would've never thought Karloff had such range, having only seen him in "monster" movies like THE MUMMY and FRANKENSTEIN. He does it with what appears to be no effort at all. It's an interesting tale - though it does get a little bogged down in some spots. The special effects are also first-rate, considering the year in which it was filmed. Sit back and enjoy a real master at work!

Melodrama
This is not your usual Universal monster scare. Columbia got Karloff 4 years after Frankenstein and made this weak melodrama. No scares here. Karloff play twin brothers, one under a curse to kill his brother, the other the evil twin out to do him in before he gets it. 3 stars just because it's Karloff, but definitely no scares. More like a 1930's soap.

Melodrama
Made 4 years after Frankenstein, Columbia got a hold of Karloff and made this un-scary, unemotional melodrama. Not the Universal type Karloff fare we've grown to love. It's definitely Karloff, playing dual roles as good and evil brothers, but don't expect a Universal monster/horror gender film. No chills here. 3 Stars for Karloff. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Wagon Train, Indians, Randolf Scott
Great wagon train epic. Randolph Scott gets great support from many fine actors including sidekicks Raymond Hatton and Olin Howland. Fantastic theme song that will stick in your mind for days. A woman hating scout (Scott) and his two sidekicks lead a wagon train of easterners into Indian country. Major action scenes, pictures of the majestic wagons, romance, and Monte Blue as a half-breed villain you'll not soon forget. This is one you'll watch again and again.

Wagon Wheels - A Great Western from 1934
A well made film from 1934, this movie has everything a good western should have: a good guy wearing the white hat and a bad guy wearing the black, chivalry, campfire songs, humor, and a great cowboys v. indians shootout. This movie was ahead of it's time in 1934, and a pioneer to great westerns and action films that followed. This is a classic that was influential and should not be forgotten. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

MORE BARK THAN BITE!
No Vampire though: - Just the standard insane doctor running the prison with lots of inmates just awaitin' to be experimented upon. Well beneath the dignity of the great Sir Donald Wolfit as the maddie - nasty moments int he lab and with the guard dogs .........

A guilty treasure....

Fun movie to watch with a fine cast
The film was produced to be a horror film and that's exactly what the moviegoers got. It is a vary atmospheric and colorful film set in Transilvainia of the mid 1800s. The cast does a fine job. There are some genuinely scary moments in this classic. They don't make movies like this any more. They've taken the fun out of it. The film was not given the credit that it deserved when it was first released. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Wagon Train, Indians, Randolf Scott
Great wagon train epic. Randolph Scott gets great support from many fine actors including sidekicks Raymond Hatton and Olin Howland. Fantastic theme song that will stick in your mind for days. A woman hating scout (Scott) and his two sidekicks lead a wagon train of easterners into Indian country. Major action scenes, pictures of the majestic wagons, romance, and Monte Blue as a half-breed villain you'll not soon forget. This is one you'll watch again and again.

Wagon Wheels - A Great Western from 1934
A well made film from 1934, this movie has everything a good western should have: a good guy wearing the white hat and a bad guy wearing the black, chivalry, campfire songs, humor, and a great cowboys v. indians shootout. This movie was ahead of it's time in 1934, and a pioneer to great westerns and action films that followed. This is a classic that was influential and should not be forgotten. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Wagon Train, Indians, Randolf Scott
Great wagon train epic. Randolph Scott gets great support from many fine actors including sidekicks Raymond Hatton and Olin Howland. Fantastic theme song that will stick in your mind for days. A woman hating scout (Scott) and his two sidekicks lead a wagon train of easterners into Indian country. Major action scenes, pictures of the majestic wagons, romance, and Monte Blue as a half-breed villain you'll not soon forget. This is one you'll watch again and again.

Wagon Wheels - A Great Western from 1934
A well made film from 1934, this movie has everything a good western should have: a good guy wearing the white hat and a bad guy wearing the black, chivalry, campfire songs, humor, and a great cowboys v. indians shootout. This movie was ahead of it's time in 1934, and a pioneer to great westerns and action films that followed. This is a classic that was influential and should not be forgotten. ... Read more