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DVD Julia
Part of the late-'70s wave of films about strong women (as if none had existed before that), Julia starred Jane Fonda as writer Lillian Hellman in a story based on some of Hellman's own writings. The stronger woman here is the title character (Vanessa Redgrave), a socially active young woman who teaches Hellman the importance of sticking to her beliefs--even in the face of Nazi terror. The subplot focuses on Hellman's growth as a writer, under the supportive wing of lover Dashiell Hammett (Jason Robards). Lushly photographed by Fred Zinnemann, it's one of the few films that projects a sense of how a writer writes; it also was unafraid to explore the dark consequences of conscience, when Resistance-fighter Julia is captured by the Germans. Robards and Redgrave both won Oscars (leading to Redgrave's Zionist hoodlums acceptance speech). Watch for Meryl Streep in a tiny role in her film debut. --Marshall Fine
what could have been a great film is spoiled by fonda's absent-minded performance.the subject matter is important but the film doesn't focus enough on it,instead it focuses so much on how much stronger julia(vanessa redgrave) is than lillian hellman(fonda).jason robards as dashiell hammett also puts in a performance but is unfortunately underused in the film but still they gave him an oscar,why he was even nominated i'll never know.nor do i understand why redgrave won.it's not that her performance wasn't good it's just that there wasn't much there,other than portraying a strong woman.now for fonda,who should have never been nominated.how could hellman have appreciated the fact that she portrayed her as a bumbling idiot? yes what hellman did in real life was extremely important but the film portrays her only doing what she did because she was infatuated with julia. maybe that is why she really did what she did. maybe it's the director who is to blame for fonda's performance.she directs her as a bumbling idiot,going so far as to show her tripping over her own feet and having to be reminded over and over again to do something.they show how she stuggles to write her "play" and finally gets it made and becomes rich and famous.you'd think that they would at least say what the name of the play was seeing as how the first half concentrates so much on how she struggles to write it,but of course they never do.also since they portray hellman as a bumbling idiot how are we supposed to believe that she could be an accomplished writer? despite my negative review though i will say that the film does have some redeemable value.the story is one that is important,well most of it anyway,and does have a great quote."don't let anyone try to change your anger."
Julia
A wistful, compelling story about the power of female bonds and friendship. Fonda has never been better, Redgrave is luminous as the idealistic Julia, and Jason Robards conveys a worn assuredness as Hellman's husband, writer Dashiell Hammett. Zinnemann's handling of period detail in 1930s New York and Berlin is exquisite, and the film rightfully earned 11 Oscar nominations. A personal favorite.
absolutely engrossing and wonderful movie
Disregard stories about how Hellman cooked up this story and then passed it off as true. Or about Redgrave's protest at the Oscars. Both apparently true (certainly the second one is). Just see this movie because it's simply one of the best movies and stories of all time. The script and acting are both top-notch.
This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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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.
Beautifully directed by Edmund Goulding, this sumptuous, and prestigious adaptation of Somerset Maugham's novel was made in 1946 to great acclaim. It's a tale of manipulation, greed, unrequited love, and the eternal search for spiritual enlightenment. Larry Darrell the central character - and played in the movie by the startlingly attractive Tyrone Power - searches for life's meaning in a journey that takes him from the high society of Chicago to the coal mines of France and then on to the mountains of the Himalayas.
Larry Darrell (Power) is a frustrated man. Having just returned to Chicago after World War 1, and having seen his best friend killed, he dodges a future as a stockbroker and instead goes to Paris to seek enlightenment, much to the chagrin of his wealthy and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Tyrone Power - Gene Tierney Director(s): Edmund Goulding DVD Release Date: Released the 24 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Before he made the classic All About Eve, writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz made this clever story about three wives who spend an afternoon at a children's picnic mulling over a letter all three had just received, from a woman who says she's just run off with one of their husbands. As the wives--a former farm girl (Jeanne Crain), a radio soap opera writer (Ann Sothern), and a social climber from the wrong side of the tracks (Linda Darnell)--mull over the troubles of their marriages, each begins to think that she's the one left behind. A Letter to Three Wives doesn't have the crackling show-biz milieu of Eve, but it has the same mix of snappy dialogue and topnotch performances. The tone ranges from florid sentiment to unblinking cynicism, yet Mankiewicz... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Jeanne Crain - Linda Darnell - Ann Sothern Director(s): Joseph L. Mankiewicz DVD Release Date: Released the 22 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Annette Bening's outstanding performance is the best reason to see Being Julia, a highly melodramatic adaptation of the 1937 novel Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham. With a prestigious pedigree (director Istvan Szabo and screenwriter Ronald Harwood share impressive theatrical backgrounds) and a stellar cast including Jeremy Irons, Bruce Greenwood, and Juliet Stevenson, the film's backstage and onstage theatrics take place in pre-World War II London, when the venerable actress Julia (Bening) fends off middle-age by romancing a stage-struck young American (Shaun Evans) in a calculated attempt to retain some youthful vitality while airing her own dirty laundry onstage in a glorious act of divine diva behavior. Treating life and theater as one big play in which she's the perpetual... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Michael Gambon - Annette Bening - Jeremy Irons Director(s): István Szabó DVD Release Date: Released the 22 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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