Film review: HOUSEBOAT (Melville Shavelson, 1958)

This review is my entry to Phyllis Loves Classic Movies’s fabulous Cary Grant blogathon, where every entry is a celebration of the man’s varied and illustrious CV. Head on over there to read about all the films he’s been in!

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Tom Winston (Grant), a recently widowed father of three young kids, and Cinzia Zaccardi (Sophia Loren), the aristocratic daughter of an Italian count who plays childminder to the kids, find unlikely love (and a whole lot of miscommunication) in Melville Shavelson’s gentle 50s comedy.

On to the Next One.

Catwoman (Pitof, 2004)
Halle Berry plays Patient Philips, a mild-mannered artist who, after stumbling upon the secret that a popular anti-aging cream is toxic, is killed by some henchmen, only to come back to life thanks to a cat, Midnight. In doing so, she has also inherited super-human powers from the cat, such as agility, eyesight, etc, and whilst she uses most of these new powers for the greater good, there are times when it overtakes her and turns her into someone she doesn't quite recognise. In retrospect, every bit as silly and bad as the critics slated Catwoman to be, but still rather good fun in short bursts (Benjamin Bratt is and always has been, lush) if you don't take it seriously enough.



People Will Talk (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1951)
One of Mankiewicz's most underrated films, People Will Talk centres around Cary Grant's well-liked Dr. Praetorius and two strands in his life, firstly, that of him falling in love with one of his patients Deborah (Jeanne Crain), who tries to top herself when she finds out she's pregnant out of wedlock (this was the 50s, after all), and the second of his affiliation with his elderly friend Mr Shunderson. The performances here are uniformly excellent, particularly from the two romantic leads, who have a very passionate (despite no real action) scene when he visits her house. There are engaging subplots and one-liners aplenty, and the usage of Brahms was excellent, rendering the film an extremely enjoyable comedy of manners.



The Da Vinci Code (Ron Howard, 2006)

Complete and utter nonsense, and at 140 minutes running time, the nonsense outstayed its welcome by a good hour. That said, I did enjoy Ian McKellan's kooky performance as Leigh Teabing, and was indulged by some of the touristy shots of Paris and London. Hans Zimmer's score was the stuff of musical dreams and it suited the tone of the film perfectly, and I've always liked the source material (frivolous as it was), so there was an element of adventure that appealed to me. That said, there were far too many gaping flaws for me to ignore. Firstly, the all-round quality of the acting. Tom Hanks does nothing other than half-gurn, half-groan his way through the film, Audrey Tautou (someone who I ordinarily adore) looks awkward and Alfred Molina, Jean Reno and especially Paul Bettany as Silas are borderline laughable. And then there's the direction from Ron Howard, which just doesn't fit. Bah.

Two Girls and a Sailor (Richard Thorpe, 1944)
I enjoyed the dancing, but I tired of playing guess who with the romantic plot. Choc a bloc full of talented performers, the film ended up somewhat less than the sum of its parts.

There's your swagger.

I watch films sometimes.

I had a huge movie binge this weekend! This is what I saw:

- The Sea Inside (Alejandro Amenábar, 2004)

A moving and well made story of the life of Ramon Sanpedro, a quadriplegic who is appealing for euthanasia, which is against Spanish laws. The film shows all the people in his life – from those that live with him (his elder brother, his sister-in-law, his nephew and his dad), to the two women who love him, Julia, a lawyer who herself is suffering from an illness, and Rosa, a single mum who firsts visits him out of curiosity (played willingly by Volver’s Lola Duenas). 

I found The Sea Inside sad and intelligent (it doesn’t take sides), though a tad overlong and after a while I got bored of the flashbacks/dream sequences of Ramon diving into the sea. That said, it’s worth watching purely for Javier Bardem’s subtle and affecting performance. This is the guy that killed all them people in NCFOM, everyone!!

- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Richard Brooks, 1958)

One of my favourite films of all time, about unfulfilled wife Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor, in sizzling form), whose handsome but indifferent and alcoholic husband Brick (Paul Newman, nearing Brando levels of hotness) not only doesn’t care about who’ll get his dad’s large inheritance, but also, won’t have sex with her. 

Tennessee Williams hated this version of his play due to the toned down references to homosexuality and Skipper’s suicide, but to be honest, they don’t have to spell it out for us to work it out. I saw this with my brother yesterday, which possibly detracted from the power somewhat as he could only see the funny side in it all (such as when Brick was chasing Maggie around the room with his crutch), but it still remains a highly enjoyable melodrama with one of the best ensembles I’ve seen.

- The Girl on the Bridge (Patrice Leconte, 1999)

Another one of my favourites, though on a rewatch, I feel that my ranking it 43rd was a little high. I think it would be just outside my 100 now. It still remains a highly entertaining and witty experience, but I don’t know, I guess I just don’t like it as much a second time round. It’s about Gabor, a knife-thrower, who stops Adèle, a suicidal and confused young woman (who quite frankly, is a bit of a whore) from jumping off a bridge. Together, they form a double act in circuses, and their luck thrives everywhere. The entire film is really charming and quirky, not dissimilar to the oddness of Amelie, and the knife-throwing scenes are exhilarating to watch. Vanessa Paradis and Daniel Auteuil have such incredible chemistry that you wonder why Adèle would ever run off with another man. (Answer: 'cos she's easy.)

- The Spirit of the Beehive (Víctor Erice, 1973)

OK, this is another film that was one of my all-time favourites, an

d my adoration for it has lessened slightly. I think I should only watch films once. Anyway, I think the second time round watching this, I just wasn’t as beguiled by the minutiae as I was the first time, and found some of the wordless scenes, frankly, a little dull. But I’m still as effusive, if not more so, in my praise for little Ana Torrent’s performance, which is probably one of my favourite from a young actress, nay, an actress, in cinema. Honestly, those eyes!! She was just beyond sweet, and every time she asked a naïve question, or gave that wide-eyed look, I just wanted to give her a massive hug. A performance, along with Jennifer Garner’s in Juno, to make me want to go and become a mother.

- Kinky Boots (Julian Jarrold, 2005)

A winningly unassuming Britcom about mild-mannered Charlie Price who inherits his father’s ailing shoe company. Needing a bright idea to stop his company being walked over by repo men, he’s inspired by London transvestite Lola to start a niche market making boots for men. Mainly thanks to Chiwetel Ejiofor’s by turns charismatic but profound performance as Lola, and Simon, respectively, and Joel Edgerton’s bumbling nice guy, this film really works. Kinky Boots does what it says on the tin: make you laugh (Nick Frost is hilarious and the line about Ukrainian peasants had me giggling for half a minute), entertain you (the drag act scenes are oddly interesting), and generally give you a good time for 100 minutes. Just like the boots Lola wore before Charlie designed better ones.

- His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)

I said, goddamn. They talk quite quickly in this film, don’t they? Wow. And, after me going off three films slightly after watching them again, His Girl Friday only went higher in my estimations. 

The frenzied humour, the mile-a-minute speed of talking, and Rosalind Russell does wonders on the girl power front as highly capable and Godlessly reporter who was always too good to be just married off and become a housewife are just some of the things to love about Howard Hawk’s screwball and massively funny comedy.

So that was me! Seen any good movies recently?

Go Hitchcock, it's your birthday, we're gonna party like it's your birthday.

So he is dead, but I just can't resist dedicating another post to my favourite director of all time. This is, after all, a man, so important, that he got an entire google logo dedicated to him:


My top 5 Alfred Hitchcock films:
01. Rear Window
02. Rebecca
03. Rope
04. Vertigo
05. Dial M for Murder

Best 5 Hitchcock films:
01. Vertigo
02. Rear Window
03. Psycho
04. North by Northwest
05. The Lady Vanishes

Favourite Hitchcock leading man/character? James Stewart, particularly as LB Jeffries in Rear Window. In the movie, he's a world-class action photographer with a broken leg, suffering the heat of the hottest time of the year, so hot that his neighbours keep their blinds and shades up day. He's been in his apartment for six weeks and has one more to go before the cast is removed. Utterly bored with everything, he looks through his telescope at his neighbours, which ranges from the pitch-perfect vibratto of the one-time opera singer practicing on the third floor; the trills of a flautist; and maybe even a murder...

Favourite Hitchcock blonde: Of all time, It’s a tie for me between Ingrid Bergman (Spellbound, Notorious, Under Capricorn) and Grace Kelly (Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief), but I’d definitely give Joan Fontaine a mention, simply for giving one of the best female performances of all time, in Rebecca.
















favourite Hitchcock cameo: In Marnie where he enters from the left of the hotel corridor after Tippi Hedren passes by.

Some of Hitchcock’s best scenes:

88. His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940).