Witness for the Prosecution<\/i> (1957), from a story by Agatha Christie, is of course clever; though the byplay of the convalescent barrister and his nurse is a bit tiresome.<\/p>\n
South Pacific<\/i> (1958). I thought I’d enjoy it more. The plot is a bare sketch of a frame on which to hang the songs, which are stale. (Has time treated Michener’s book any better?) Notable use of color filters for effect, sometimes bizarre; the one point where I find it really successful is where reality crashes into a daydream and the filter suddenly goes away.<\/p>\n
Vertigo<\/i> (1958) lives up to its reputation.<\/p>\n
Bell, Book and Candle<\/i> (1958) is amiable fluff.<\/p>\n
The Horse’s Mouth<\/i> (1958) featured Alec Guinness (age 43, playing sixty-some) as an obnoxious painter. Rather predictable.<\/p>\n
Peter Gunn<\/i> (1958), a tv series about a private eye, remembered mainly for Mancini’s theme. Out of curiosity I put it on my Netflix list. The first disc holds eight half-hour episodes; I watched one and that was enough: nothing I haven’t seen a thousand times. My housemate watched one more episode, and then we packed it up to return.<\/p>\n
Gigi<\/i> (1958), a musical with Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan and Maurice Chevalier: disappointingly thin. — I wonder how many movies have three French leads (or two and a half: Caron’s mother was American) speaking only English.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Witness for the Prosecution (1957), from a story by Agatha Christie, is of course clever; though the byplay of the convalescent barrister and his nurse is a bit tiresome. South Pacific (1958). I thought I’d enjoy it more. The plot … Continue reading