1943
Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
I have been in the biggest movie slump of my life these past few weeks. I have watching a bunch of critically acclaimed bores (Last Tango in Paris, Zero for Kelvin) but nothing topped what I subjected my sister and I to the last week. The first movie on the list alphabetically is the film 1900 so I put it on my Netflix list without checking it out too much and brought it to a movie night with my sister. What I didn't realize was that it was around five and half hours long, boring, upsetting, and overall just the worse. Whoops.
Anyway, this was a refreshing change. This film is follows the life of General Clive Wynne-Candy throughout various wars from the early 1900s to "present day" (1943). Wynne-Candy is considered one of the most lovable movie characters of all time and it is not hard to see why. He is the quintessential British man: blustering, mustache-sporting, charming, and polite. When I saw that the next film on the list was a war film from 1943, I figured it would be mindless propaganda along the lines of Yankee Doodle Dandy. It wasn't pushing a message; it was just having some fun!
The acting is great, the color doesn't look gaudy, and the film has great pacing. My one complaint would be that two and half hours long for a comedic movie is too long. Still, well made and fun.
RATING: ****-
Interesting Facts:
Winston Churchill reportedly detested the film and wanted it banned.
Churchill got Laurence Olivier to give up the lead role because of the way it portrayed British patriots.
Duel scene:
Ah, this is a great one. Happy you liked it. I liked it for the same reasons plus the excellent actors it gives us. Livessey has a voice that is honey to my ear and Kerr was refreshing and young, not dowdy like in An Affair to Remember.
ReplyDeleteShe was rather dowdy in that. I really didn't like An Affair to Remember.
DeleteI just watched this recently...I really enjoyed it. At first I thought it wasn't going to be for me. 1 hour in and I was engrossed. I liked the length because it let you spend so much time getting to know him and watching him grow older and see these different periods of his life. I thought it was a really special film..a nice surprise. Also they did a brilliant job on the ageing side of things, very believable.
ReplyDeleteYeah you don't really hear a lot of people talk about this one but it was really good!
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