JACK'S BACK and this time it's personal
DATE AND STATUS: Thursday, September 7th, 2012, and regarding movies, I'm a dithyramb!
September 7th, WAIT, if September means “seven” why is it the ninth month?
We take the predictability of the calendar for granted. But we may have felt differently if we were living under the rule of Julius Caesar.
Talk about a shift in the weather, YIKES! It feels so chilly, (that's because it is chilly,) and all those dark clouds heed my sunny, bright, personality, what a shame!
Okay, so the good doctor removed most of my fifty-plus stitches/staples. I gotta tell you, during the painful procedure, I was a plucky little soldier, and stopped myself from screaming obscenities at Mac.
I still have some of the stitches; Mac, the most excellent and thorough doctor feels the remaining staples should not be removed at this point; they haven't healed to a strong enough point, and he doesn't want the wound/injury to re-open. Fine by me.
I hope that it won't be much longer that I can get back on Cruella, rowing! Can you believe that I miss exercising? I'm the epitome of a non-athlete who hates to sweat!
Are you back into the scheme of work yet? Sorry, I shouldn't be rubbing your faces in it, but when one is retired, he/she tends to think of days gone by.
Days gone by, yesterday, I went back and looked at all of my posts that I have created since I started blogging.
My writing has greatly improved, although my thought process still tends to be peripatetic, quite random, and then there are those bloody prepositions. Don't get me going about them, they're my nemesis, or seem to be.
I am always trying to improve my writing style, vocabulary, and, grammar. I suppose it just takes a little more reading on the subject, and of course, time. Lots of studying, and lots of time will always improve one's knowledge of a subject.
"Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." (unknown source.) Exactly!
I am also trying to use more of Blogspot's features to enhance my posts, although enhancing the appearance of a post is a lot more easier than uploading videos from you-tube. The instructions seem so easy, but I still can't do it! I try and try, and fail and fail.
On the one post where I did succeed in including a video, ("Strangers on a Train",) I wrote down all the steps of creating that post, and have tried to match them to my new posts, but, still I fail, fail, fail!
I was thinking, which is always a little dangerous for me, perhaps there might be someone out there, reading my posts, who can help me in this endeavour, is there, and will you? If so, get in touch with me by email, or here, whatever you want.
With reference to film, I really am the personification of a dithyramb! I'm so enthusiastic, and excited about movies, even that one of today "Adam Had Four Sons" yup people, it's time to get out the popcorn, we are going to the movies, well, movie.
"Adam Had Four Sons" is a good quality Hollywood film of drama and romance, starring that talented esteemed actress, Ingrid Bergman, in the leading, and only significant role.
Warner Baxter, (whose name sounds similarly-studio-like) also, lends a hand, while classy Susan Hayward, one of my all-time favourite actresses, veers into unexpectedly, and totally, tawdry territory! (My alliterations have also improved!)
September 7th, WAIT, if September means “seven” why is it the ninth month?
We take the predictability of the calendar for granted. But we may have felt differently if we were living under the rule of Julius Caesar.
Talk about a shift in the weather, YIKES! It feels so chilly, (that's because it is chilly,) and all those dark clouds heed my sunny, bright, personality, what a shame!
Okay, so the good doctor removed most of my fifty-plus stitches/staples. I gotta tell you, during the painful procedure, I was a plucky little soldier, and stopped myself from screaming obscenities at Mac.
I still have some of the stitches; Mac, the most excellent and thorough doctor feels the remaining staples should not be removed at this point; they haven't healed to a strong enough point, and he doesn't want the wound/injury to re-open. Fine by me.
I hope that it won't be much longer that I can get back on Cruella, rowing! Can you believe that I miss exercising? I'm the epitome of a non-athlete who hates to sweat!
Are you back into the scheme of work yet? Sorry, I shouldn't be rubbing your faces in it, but when one is retired, he/she tends to think of days gone by.
Days gone by, yesterday, I went back and looked at all of my posts that I have created since I started blogging.
My writing has greatly improved, although my thought process still tends to be peripatetic, quite random, and then there are those bloody prepositions. Don't get me going about them, they're my nemesis, or seem to be.
I am always trying to improve my writing style, vocabulary, and, grammar. I suppose it just takes a little more reading on the subject, and of course, time. Lots of studying, and lots of time will always improve one's knowledge of a subject.
"Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." (unknown source.) Exactly!
I am also trying to use more of Blogspot's features to enhance my posts, although enhancing the appearance of a post is a lot more easier than uploading videos from you-tube. The instructions seem so easy, but I still can't do it! I try and try, and fail and fail.
On the one post where I did succeed in including a video, ("Strangers on a Train",) I wrote down all the steps of creating that post, and have tried to match them to my new posts, but, still I fail, fail, fail!
I was thinking, which is always a little dangerous for me, perhaps there might be someone out there, reading my posts, who can help me in this endeavour, is there, and will you? If so, get in touch with me by email, or here, whatever you want.
With reference to film, I really am the personification of a dithyramb! I'm so enthusiastic, and excited about movies, even that one of today "Adam Had Four Sons" yup people, it's time to get out the popcorn, we are going to the movies, well, movie.
"Adam Had Four Sons" is a good quality Hollywood film of drama and romance, starring that talented esteemed actress, Ingrid Bergman, in the leading, and only significant role.
Warner Baxter, (whose name sounds similarly-studio-like) also, lends a hand, while classy Susan Hayward, one of my all-time favourite actresses, veers into unexpectedly, and totally, tawdry territory! (My alliterations have also improved!)
Warner Baxter portrays a wealthy, easy-going father of a family of four boys who is doubly struck with tragedy when his wife dies, he goes out of business, after the stock market crash, and is ultimately forced to give up his estate.
A recently arrived governess, Emilie (played by Bergman,) works to keep the family together. But with the loss of Adam's fortune, the boys are off to a boarding school, luckily financed by a wealthy cousin, and Emilie must return to France, until Adam (played by Baxter) can afford to repurchase the family estate, and recall Emilie to look after it.
Years later, Adam's financial situation improves, and everything is getting back to the former status; Adam invites Emilie back to the estate, partly because he is comfortable with her presence, and partly because he wants a replacement for his wife, but just as she is settling in, the Great War comes, and the four boys, now grown up, enlist in the army.
Hard times are soon to follow, again, when one of the son returns home married,to a self-serving-conniving-jezebel, named Hester, whose motivations are muddy (at best,) and who wants to rule the roost, among other things.
Hester schemes to rid the house of Emilie, while she seduces another son, Jack, when her husband is at war. Emilie discovers the affair, but to preserve Adam's happiness, and the brother's reputation, she keeps quiet and pretends to Adam that she was the one involved with Jack. The movie is beginning to essentially sound like the television series "Dallas," isn't it!
Ultimately, all is discovered, and Hester receives her comeuppance. Emilie and Adam become engaged and all ends happily.
"Adam Had Four Sons" proves to be surprisingly enjoyable fare, primarily because the film often veers into unexpected, totally, tawdry territory. There are many, MANY unforeseen plot developments, and this is one of the film's strengths. I love being surprised in films, and guess movie endings far too often.
It's not exactly the most memorable classic film, but it's certainly one of the more entertaining, and reminds, this critic, of films from the forties which were cranked out by the studios every month!
"Adam Had Four Sons" is heavily charged with sentiment. It lays stress on the simple virtues, and wrings the tender heart. It is comfortably set on bygone days for nostalgic effect.
The film is a trashy guilty pleasure, typically melodramatic, designed solely to entertain, high art this is not, and though the film doesn't exactly contain any great shakes, in terms of acting or directing, the high sleaze quotient ensures that "Adam Had Four Sons" remains engrossing enough to warrant a recommendation.
"Adam Had Four Sons" contains a number of genuinely compelling characters, starting with Adam himself. Played by Baxter, Adam is more than a stereotypically stiff patriarch; it's clear that he loves his sons, and even when he suspects one of them of having an affair with Emilie, he is outwardly accepting of their relationship.
Ingrid Bergman is just as effective as Emilie, her angelic nature, reminiscent of her Joan-of-Arc portrayal, is a nice counterpart to Susan Hayward's nasty Hester.
"Adam Had Four Sons" is good quality Hollywood entertainment concerning a family that is able to persevere, despite a few tragic setbacks, and one vicious hussy (think Joan Crawford,) who is attempting to disrupt what dignity the, mainly-all-male-family, has left.
"Adam Had Four Sons" is a little bit earnest but it has all the attributes of the kind of craftsmanship and skilled balance of story and content that we don't see much of today.Hard times are soon to follow, again, when one of the son returns home married,to a self-serving-conniving-jezebel, named Hester, whose motivations are muddy (at best,) and who wants to rule the roost, among other things.
Hester schemes to rid the house of Emilie, while she seduces another son, Jack, when her husband is at war. Emilie discovers the affair, but to preserve Adam's happiness, and the brother's reputation, she keeps quiet and pretends to Adam that she was the one involved with Jack. The movie is beginning to essentially sound like the television series "Dallas," isn't it!
Ultimately, all is discovered, and Hester receives her comeuppance. Emilie and Adam become engaged and all ends happily.
"Adam Had Four Sons" proves to be surprisingly enjoyable fare, primarily because the film often veers into unexpected, totally, tawdry territory. There are many, MANY unforeseen plot developments, and this is one of the film's strengths. I love being surprised in films, and guess movie endings far too often.
It's not exactly the most memorable classic film, but it's certainly one of the more entertaining, and reminds, this critic, of films from the forties which were cranked out by the studios every month!
"Adam Had Four Sons" is heavily charged with sentiment. It lays stress on the simple virtues, and wrings the tender heart. It is comfortably set on bygone days for nostalgic effect.
The film is a trashy guilty pleasure, typically melodramatic, designed solely to entertain, high art this is not, and though the film doesn't exactly contain any great shakes, in terms of acting or directing, the high sleaze quotient ensures that "Adam Had Four Sons" remains engrossing enough to warrant a recommendation.
"Adam Had Four Sons" contains a number of genuinely compelling characters, starting with Adam himself. Played by Baxter, Adam is more than a stereotypically stiff patriarch; it's clear that he loves his sons, and even when he suspects one of them of having an affair with Emilie, he is outwardly accepting of their relationship.
Ingrid Bergman is just as effective as Emilie, her angelic nature, reminiscent of her Joan-of-Arc portrayal, is a nice counterpart to Susan Hayward's nasty Hester.
"Adam Had Four Sons" is good quality Hollywood entertainment concerning a family that is able to persevere, despite a few tragic setbacks, and one vicious hussy (think Joan Crawford,) who is attempting to disrupt what dignity the, mainly-all-male-family, has left.
Miss Bergman, as the governess, does manage in a restrained and understanding performance to convey the devotion of a woman for the boys whom she helps to man's estate and from her alone does one catch a sincere emotional response.
But Warner Baxter plays the father in a routine, surface way; none of the several young actors who play the boys stand out above the rest, and the norm lacks distinction, indeed; and Susan Hayward so coyly overacts the romantically unlicensed mischief-maker that often she is plain ridiculous. Too bad, I'm a huge Susan Hayward film, but this film does not do her credit.
On the whole, "Adam Had Four Sons" is an antique tear-jerker, one of those dramas all dressed up in old clothes which never gets anywhere.
UPCOMING MOVIES FOR REVIEW:
"Elmer Gantry." Both Burt Lancaster and Shirley Jones received academy award nominations for their work here. I want to see if they deserved them, you know how the Academy can be.
"Blow Dry." For no other reason that when I saw the title of this movie in the television guide, it intrigued me.
"Thief." This film stars James Caan and is reported to be one of Mr. Caan's personal favourites. Well, now it is time for us to decide if we want this movie to make our favourites list.
"An American in Paris." I love musicals, and this one gets great reviews from practically everyone, we'll see what I think very soon.
"The Maltese Falcon." I've avoided seeing Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre in this story of murder and intrigue for far too long, (I'm supposed to be a film buff!) Please note, that the time for me to see this movie has been changed to November to coincide with my salute to Mr. Humphrey Bogart.
"Zorba The Greek." This film stars Anthony Quinn as an amoral Greek peasant who teaches a British student the meaning of life. I want to see if the movie can teach me anything.
"The Dark Knight." I thought I should view a relatively-recent film. As a child of ten, I loved "Batman," and this film offers, Heath Ledger, who won an academy award, posthumously, as the joker. I'm really looking forward to this one!
FILMS COMING SOON: Exodus, The Sand Pebbles, Giant, Big Night, The slut at four o'clock, can't wait to see all of them!!!!
Didn't see this one either but good write up
ReplyDeleteGlad you got most of your stitches out
Love Gloria
Not a abulous movie but certainly a good one. Bergman is her usual excellent self, and as you said Haywad overacts at times and the rest provide creditable performanc3es in the main. It's easy to get sucked in to the movie's mushiness but I had no regrets and make no apologies. I enjoyed this sentimental romp and would watch it again.
ReplyDeleteYour assessment corresponds with mine for the most pat, vut I must say you appraise it with much more wit and style than I am capable of and fo that I am grateful You deserve to have a bigger readership - stick with it, I'm sure the readers will be along din due course.