Grand Hotel (1932) * * *

(opening lines)
Dr. Otternschlag: Grand Hotel. People come and go. Nothing ever happens.

Lewis Stone's totally unaware opening statement turns out to be ironic during the few days in which the story unfolds, because everything seems to be happening at the hotel, from romance to robbery to an accidental death.

The flimsy plot concerns a group of characters staying at the posh Grand Hotel in Berlin. Initially we hear their stories by phone calls. There is the lonely Russian ballerina Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo), who is at the end of her rope emotionally, on the verge of a nervous breakdown and seeing the end of her career approaching. The suave Baron Feliz von Geigern (John Barrymore) is not quite what he seems. He intends to steal an expensive set of pearls belonging to Grusinskaya and enters her suite while she is gone. Although he is not a thief at heart, the people he owes money have threatened his life, making it imperative that he steal the jewels.

After he finds the pearls, he is unable to get out of the ballerina's suite before she returns and so hides behind a curtain. When she enters, her depression overcomes her and she decides to end her life. He reveals himself, and explains his presence to stop her suicide attempt by telling her how he worships and loves her. He remains in her room all night and they fall in love, which starts a love triangle with stenographer Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford) which comes to an abrupt end in an interesting plot twist. This part of the plot was very controversial in 1932 since the sexual act was implied, and the scene was almost edited out by censors.

Grusinskaya: I want to be alone. I think I have never been so tired in my life. Who are you?
Baron von Geigern: Someone who could love you, that's all. Someone who's forgotten everything else but you.
Grusinskaya: You could love me?
Baron von Geigern: I've never seen anything in my life as beautiful as you are.
Grusinskaya: Can you imagine a hundred girls in the ballet school, each thinking she would become the most famous dancer in all the world? I was ambitious then. We were drilled like little soldiers. No rest, no stopping. I was little, slim, but hard as a diamond. Then I became famous and--But why am I telling you all this? Last night, I didn't know you at all. Who are you, really?
Baron von Geigern: What?
Grusinskaya: I don't even know your name.
Baron von Geigern: (laughs) I am Felix Benvenuto Freihern von Geigern. My mother called me "Flix".
Grusinskaya: No! Flix! Oh, that's sweet. And how do you live? And what kind of a person are you?
Baron Felix von Geigern: I'm a prodigal son, the black sheep of a white flock. I shall die on the gallows.

Baron von Geigern: (looking down from the sixth-floor balcony over the front desk) You know, I've often wondered what'd happen to that old porter if somebody jumped on him from here.
Flaemmchen: I'm sure I don't know. Why don't you try it and find out?

Otto Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore) is a terminally ill bookkeeper dying from an unspecified disease, though he does not appear to be ill. He decides to spend his savings on a few days of luxury in the hotel. Barrymore takes Kringelein from a sad, tentative man to a more adventurous character who shows unexpected courage. Even though he knows that death awaits him, another twist of fate gives Kringelein a new zest for life. By coincidence, the boorish owner of the factory he works in, General Director Preysing (Wallace Beery) is also in the hotel, to try to clinch a deal to save his business.

The interaction between Preysing and Klingelein is an interesting one as Preysing finds that money cannot buy everything. Preysing is the only lead actor with a German accent, and the bullying and ruthless industrialist employs sluttish stenographer Flaemmchen on whom he has designs. She will do almost anything to get ahead and is torn by Preysing's offer of advancement in exchange for her being "nice to him" and her love for Baron Geigern. Her fate, as the others, changes dramatically while a guest at the Grand Hotel. It is interesting to see a youthful Joan Crawford play such a subdued and rather passive character. Senf the porter (Jean Hersholt) worries about his pregnant wife, and world-weary Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone), with one side of his face disfigured in the Great War, waits in the lobby for messages. Other minor characters come and go.

Preysing: I don't know much about women. I've been married for 28 years, you know.
Flaemmchen: (to Preysing after he asks her to call him by his first name) You know I always say that nothing should be left hanging over. And names are like that. Suppose I met you next year and said, "How do you do Mr. Preysing?" And you said, "That's the young lady who was my secretary in Manchester." That's all quite propper. But supposing I saw you and yelled "Hi baby. Remember Manchester." (he laughs) Yeah, and you were with your wife. How would you like that?

Otto Kringelein: Mr. Preysing, I am not taking orders from you here.
Preysing: What is this insolence? Please go away.
Otto Kringelein: You think you have free license to be insulting? Believe me, you have not. You think you're superior, but you're quite an ordinary man. Even if you did marry money, and people like me have got to slave for you for 320 marks a month!
Preysing: Will you go away, please! You are annoying!
Flaemmchen: Mr. Preysing, please!
Otto Kringelein: You don't like to see me enjoying myself. When a man's working himself to death, that's what he's paid for. You don't care if a man can live on his wages or not.
Preysing: You have a very regular scale of wages, and there's the sick fund for you.
Otto Kringelein: (sarcastically) Oh, what a scale, and what a fund. When I was sick for four weeks, you wrote me a letter, telling me I'd be discharged if I was sick any longer. Did you write me that letter, or did you not?
Preysing: I have no idea of the letters that I write, Mr. Kringelein. I know that you're here in the Grand Hotel, living like a lord. You are probably an embezzler.
Otto Kringelein: An embezzler?
Preysing: Yes, an embezzler!
Otto Kringelein: You will take that back, right here in the presence of this young lady! Who do you think you're talking to? You think I'm dirt? Well, if I'm dirt, you're a lot dirtier, Mr. Industrial Magnate Preysing!
Preysing: You're discharged! Get out!
Flaemmchen: You can't do that to him...
Preysing: Oh, I don't know the man. I don't know what he wants. I never saw him before.
Otto Kringelein: I know you! I've kept your books for you and I know all about you! If one of your employees was half as stupid in a small way as you are in a big way...
Preysing: (lunges for Kringelein) What do you mean? (He tries to strangle him. When several people break them up, he finally lets go.) You're discharged! You're discharged, you hear?
Otto Kringelein: Wait! You can't discharge me. I am my own master for the first time in my life. You can't discharge me. I'm sick. I'm going to die, you understand? I'm going to die, and nobody can do anything to me anymore. Nothing can happen to me anymore. Before I can be discharged, I'll be dead! (laughs)

(last lines)
Dr. Otternschlag: Grand Hotel. People come and go. Nothing ever happens.

GRAND HOTEL is a 1932 MGM Pre-Code art deco movie produced soon after the end of the silent film era. It is the prototype for the all-star ensemble film and an excellent example of the rich and glamorous escapist entertainment produced during the Depression. It was one of the first Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movies to feature an all-star cast, and is essentially a star vehicle. It's plot exists merely as a device to get star faces on the screen, particularly that of Greta Garbo. The studio put the finest and most popular talent at its disposal into this movie with spectacular results. They flaunt MGM’s famous motto "More Stars Than There Are in Heaven." This Academy Award winner for Best Picture is a sweeping soap opera about the guests at the Grand Hotel. Several plots intertwine, but mostly it's about movie stars. Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, and both Barrymore brothers head up the cast. Garbo is luminous as Grusinskaya, the neurotic and famous-but-slipping dancer who "vonts to be alone." John Barrymore is a cat burglar with blue blood and a heart of gold, and Lionel Barrymore happily caroms off him as Mr. Kringelein, a dying man who wants to live out the time he has left with the rich. This multi-faceted film has suspense, murder, a love triangle, tragedy and comedy.

Joan Crawford is perhaps the biggest surprise of the movie. As Flaemmchen, a young career girl trying to decide between secretary and tart, she is uncharacteristically funny, vivacious, and downright bubbly. Along the way we discover that money, fame, and titles don't guarantee happiness, and being a jewel thief doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. The nicest touch is the hint that other, minor plots swirl around the edges of the film, suggesting that we've only seen a small chapter of the hotel's story. GRAND HOTEL is a great deal of fun and an excellent chance to see some famous faces in their prime. Interaction of the characters forms the meat of the story. The plot device of the film bringing together several unrelated characters into one setting was popular and effective enough that it was re-used in other films and became known as "the Grand Hotel formula". This "all-star" scenario was perhaps most successfully replicated the following year in MGM's own DINNER AT EIGHT (1933).

The cast also includes: Robert McWade (Meierheim), Purnell Pratt (Zinnowitz), Ferdinand Gottschalk (Pimenov), Rafaela Ottiano (Suzette), Morgan Wallace (Chauffeur), Tully Marshall (Gerstenkorn), Frank Conroy (Rohna), Murray Kinnell (Schweimann), Edwin Maxwell (Dr. Waitz), Joan Barclay (Young Girl in Lobby), Max Barwyn (Hotel Guest / Gambler), Mary Carlisle (Mrs. Hoffman - Young Honeymooner), John Davidson (Hotel Manager), Herbert Evans (Clerk), Edmund Goulding (Cameo Appearance), Sherry Hall (Hotel Guest), Allen Jenkins (Hotel meat packer), Robert Lees (Bellboy), Eric Mayne (Gambler), Philo McCullough (Hotel Guest / Gambler), Sam McDaniel (Bartender), Greta Meyer (Housekeeper in Room 174), Sarah Padden (Chambermaid in Room 174), Lee Phelps (Hotel Guest), Bodil Rosing (Nurse helping old lady into elevator), Dick Rush (Gendarme), Rolfe Sedan (Hotel Guest in Bar), Leo White (Hotel Porter), and Florence Wix (Hotel Guest). William Axt and Charles Maxwell are the uncredited composers of the absent incidental music. Béla Balázs and William A. Drake wrote the screenplay based on Drake's stage play derived from Vicki Baum's novel and play "Menschen im Hotel". Edmund Goulding directed.

The art deco sets by Cedric Gibbons are quite impressive, and give the feel of a 1932 modern hotel with opulence and luxury. GRAND HOTEL was very well shot by William Daniels, with some luminous photography. The film was a smash hit with a budget of $700,000, and it grossed $1,235,000 (USA) with a further $1,359,000 elsewhere in the world. Later on the rentals of the VHS release totaled $2,594,000, giving a total gross of $5,118,000. With inflation considered, by 2008 the movie had grossed $79,948,689.

The film came from the original Austrian novel "Menschen im Hotel" (People in a Hotel), by Vicki Baum. First published in 1929, a play followed. MGM purchased the US rights to the play and had it adapted by William A. Drake and Béla Balázs. The setting of the Grand Hotel is in Berlin however. It was produced by Irving Thalberg and Paul Bern at MGM (both uncredited in the film), and directed by Edmund Goulding. It is the only film to have won the Academy Award for Best Picture without obtaining nominations in any other categories. The award was presented to Irving Thalberg, with no mention of Paul Bern. In addition, Garbo's line "I want to be alone" was voted # 30 in the list of the American Film Iinstitute's "100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes".

"Grand Hotel. Always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens." So says Dr. Otternschlag at the beginning and end of the film. In the original novel, this translates as, "There is a strange thing with guests in this hotel. No-one goes out the door in the same way that they came in." The film was remade as WEEK-END AT THE WALDORF (1945) starring Ginger Rogers, and HOTEL BERLIN (1945) starring Faye Emerson.

Time has taken its toll on the concept and lavish treatment of this rather stiff relic. It's a little faded and dated now, but the magic is still there in this first of the portmanteau movies, although it drags slightly in the middle. Similar to DRACULA (1931), there is almost an absence of incidental music, except for the opening and ending of the film. Let's hope Philip Glass isn't commissioned to write a mediocre music score to "fix" this "deficiency". However, The uncredited music score has a little bit of music. There are several Strauss waltzes and one of the themes from Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto, the latter used as a theme for the ballerina. The existence of an American bar and jazz lounge in the hotel is an excuse to include some jazz music in the background.

On DVD the film is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. Opening titles are window boxed so that the full aspect ratio of 1.37:1 is displayed. The transfer is reasonably sharp and shadow detail is pretty good. Contrast appears natural and you can see the luminousness of the original nitrate film to an extent. Blacks are not especially dark. The major problem with this transfer is the level of grain apparent. At times it is very distracting, much like the Universal DVD release of FRANKENSTEIN (1931), filmed the previous year. The print used for the transfer was in reasonable condition, but has not been fully restored for this release. There are flecks and some slight scratches, dirt and dust apparent throughout.

There are two consecutive frames with half the image missing at 55:27. The first frame has the bottom half of the frame totally black, the next frame has the top half blacked out. From 73:00 for about a minute, every other frame seems to be vertically stretched slightly, resulting in a shaky effect. There are also a couple of frames missing at 89:41. There are no noticeable film to video artefacts. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. There is some occasional distortion of the sound, which is undoubtedly in the source material. Being a single channel mono track, there is no surround encoding present. Hiss is present but is not intrusive. The film is presented on an RSDL-formatted disc with the layer change occurring during a fade to black between scenes at 43:36. Subtitles are available in 10 languages. The English subtitles are quite easy to see, being white with black borders, and appear to translate the dialogue accurately.

Themes from the film are played for this static menu. The menu is in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced, which is an odd choice for a 1.33:1 transfer. A short documentary on the background of the film is one of the extras. It was made for this DVD by the Turner group, who own the MGM film library as well the Warners back catalogue, and features brief interviews with Sydney Guilaroff and Maureen O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan talks about Garbo and refers to their one scene together, so she is obviously not talking about GRAND HOTEL. The documentary is interesting enough to watch once, though the pronunciation of narrator Tom Kane is a little annoying. This documentary also asserts that Vicki Baum based the work on her experience as a maid in two Berlin hotels. In fact, she took a job for six weeks in a single hotel in order to research the background for the novel.

"The Hollywood Premiere" (9:22) is a priceless if not very entertaining publicity short of the guests arriving at the premiere of the film at Sid Grauman's Chinese Theatre in 1932. This was obviously an early simulcast with radio, and takes the format of celebrities arriving at a hotel desk outside the theatre and signing in. It's merely an excuse for a parade of stars. Apart from some of the actors from the film, there are appearances from numerous stars of the time: Edward G. Robinson, Lew Ayres, Lola Lane, Clark Gable, Norma Shearer, Edmund Lowe, Ben Lyon, Bebe Daniels, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (then Mr. Joan Crawford) and Robert Montgomery, among many others. Louis B. Mayer gives a short speech. Strangely, this short is window-boxed and presented in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1. The window boxing is quite significant, and you can use the zoom function on your TV without losing any picture information.

"Nothing Ever Happens" (18:42) is a short musical comedy parody of GRAND HOTEL, complete with songs and a chorus of dancing girls. This was made by the Vitaphone company, a subsidiary of Warners, in 1932. It's quite dull but appropriate as an extra for this DVD, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with optional subtitles. "Just A Word Of Warning" (1:11) is a short advertising trailer specifically for Grauman's Chinese Theatre, warning customers that the run is about to end: "Get your premium evening tickets for $1.50." The trailer is in good condition and is window-boxed just like the Hollywood Premiere short. The Theatrical Trailer (2:19) is a trailer for a later reissue of GRAND HOTEL, and is in reasonable condition, presented in 1.33:1.

In 2007 GRAND HOTEL was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

A Hard Day's Night (1964) * * *

The film has no real plot, but follows the adventures of The Beatles on a fictional day in the life of the band, as John, Paul, George and Ringo take a trip from Liverpool by train to London to appear on a TV show. After escaping a horde of hysterical fans, they board the train, try to relax, then various interruptions test their patience, causing George to go to the goods van for some peace and quiet. They are burdened by Paul's trouble-making grandfather John McCartney (Wilfred Brambell), reporters, police, studio moguls, and screaming teenage girls. The movie pits their youthful exuberance against authority figures who constantly look down on them as the Beatles remain laid back. They respond with dry British one-liners and shift easily into melodic musical interludes, such as "All My Lovin'", and "I Wanna Be Your Man." When they finally get away from all the pressures, they find an empty field and romp to the tune of "Can’t Buy Me Love" in a sequence that has influenced thousands of music videos. Nearly every modern music video, perhaps the very concept of the music video, owes some credit to this movie.

George: That's not your grandfather.
Paul: It is, you know.
George: But I've seen your grandfather. He lives in your house.
Paul: Oh, that's my other grandfather, but he's my grandfather, as well.
John: How do you reckon that one out?
Paul: Well, everyone's entitled to two, aren't they?
Grandfather: Hullo.
John: He can talk then, can he?
Paul: 'Course he can talk. He's a human being, isn't he?
Ringo: Well if he's your grandfather, who knows! Ha ha ha!

(the Beatles are listening to the radio)
Man on Train: And we'll have that thing off as well, thank you.
Ringo: But...
Man on Train: An elementary knowledge of the Railway Acts would tell you that I'm perfectly within my rights.
Paul: Yeah, but we want to hear it, and there's more of us than you. We're a community, like, a majority vote. Up the workers and all that stuff!
Man on Train: Then I suggest you take that damned thing to the corridor or some other part of the train where you obviously belong.
John: Give us a kiss.
Man on train: Don't take that tone with me, young man. I fought the war for your sort.
Ringo: I bet you're sorry you won.
Man On Train: I shall call the guard!
Paul: Ah, but what? They don't take kindly to insults, you know.

On arrival in London, they are driven to a hotel where they feel trapped. After a night out during which McCartney's grandfather causes minor trouble at a casino, the group is taken to the theater where their performance is to be filmed. The preparations are lengthy so Starr decides to spend some time alone reading a book. McCartney's grandfather, a "villain, a real mixer", convinces him that he should be outside experiencing life instead of reading books, so Starr goes off by himself. He tries to have a quiet drink in a pub, walks alongside a canal, rides a bicycle along a railway station platform, and befriends young boy Charlie (David Janson). Meanwhile, the rest of the band frantically and unsuccessfully attempt to find Starr. Finally, he returns and the concert goes ahead as planned.

Norm: Now look, I've had a marvelous idea. Just for once, let's all try to behave like ordinary, respectable citizens. Let's not cause any trouble, pull any strokes, or do anything I'm gonna be sorry for. Especially tomorrow at that television theater, because... (looks at John, who is holding up a bottle to his nose) Are you listening to me, Lennon?
John: You're a swine. Isn't he, George?
George: Yeah, a swine.
Norm: Thanks.
Norm: Now you've got about an hour, but don't leave the theater. Where are you going, John?
John: (with a dancing girl) She's gonna show me her stamp collection.
Paul: (also with a girl) So's mine.
Norm: John, I'm talking to you. This final run-through is important, understand? Important!

The Fab Four comment cheekily on their own fame. In one of the funniest scenes of the film, a fan runs into John backstage. "I know who you are!" she proclaims excitedly. "I'm not. No," he answers, saying his face isn't quite right. The fan eventually agrees, saying, "You look nothing like him." When Starr is asked if he's a Mod or a Rocker, he replies "I'm a mocker." "Has success changed your life?" another asks George. "Yes," he answers truthfully, with nothing more to add. When a reporter asks George, “What do you call your haircut?”, he replies, “Arthur." The frequent reference to McCartney's grandfather as a "clean old man" contrasts with the British TV sitcom "Steptoe and Son" description of Wilfrid Brambell's character, Albert Steptoe, as a "dirty old man".

Reporter: How did you find America?
John: Turned left at Greenland.
Reporter: Has success changed your life?
George: Yes.
Reporter: Are you a mod or a rocker?
Ringo: Um, no. I'm a mocker.
Reporter: Do you think these haircuts have come to stay?
Ringo: Well, this one has. You know, it's stuck on good and proper now.
Reporter: What would you call that hairstyle you're wearing?
George: Arthur.
Reporter: What do you call that collar?
Ringo: A collar.
Reporter: Do you often see your father?
Paul: No, actually, we're just good friends.

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT captures the beginning of Beatlemania in a way that is subtle and intelligent. A smooth amalgamation of Richard Lester's intricate direction, Alun Owen's hysterical screenplay, and the natural charms of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT is a film of its time and perfectly timeless. Lester also makes it into a commentary on the interactions of spectacle and perspective in an age when television and movie cameras were becoming the primary windows to the world.

Using abrupt changes in camera angles, shots of the Beatles on television monitors and in mirrors, and as much footage of the fans screaming as of the band performing, Lester not only captures the early Beatles in a profoundly pleasurable way, but also turns the very process of viewing around on itself. The girls appear repeatedly with tears streaming and vocal chords straining. The group's longevity is entirely based on creative musicians, songwriters, and performers. Unfortunately, after only a very short time in the limelight, the band decided in 1966 to never again play a live performance. So, aside from being an innovative and funny film, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT contains some of the best concert footage of the young Beatles in action.

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT is a comedy, not a documentary, but it was made in the style of a mock documentary. The characters the Beatles play are themselves, and the success that they both enjoy and flee from is quite real. Their cheeky, clever personalities shine through the stage lighting and camera flashes. The comedy is equally cutting edge, with Owen's magnificently droll and cunning script, somewhere between Shakespeare and Monty Python. Paul's grandfather, whom the boys always leave behind because he's "too old," is the catalyst for many jokes. After many decades, the movie has not dated and has a sense of immediacy and exhilaration that makes it hard to not get caught up in the excitement of the moment.

The cast also includes: Norman Rossington (Norm), John Junkin (Shake), Victor Spinetti (Richard - TV Director), Anna Quayle (Millie), Deryck Guyler (Police Inspector), Richard Vernon (Man on Train), Edward Malin (Hotel Waiter), Robin Ray (TV Floor Manager), Lionel Blair (TV Choreographer), Alison Seebohm (Dolly - Simon's Secretary), Isla Blair (Shakespearean Actress), Bridget Armstrong (Lead Makeup Woman), Roger Avon, John Bluthal (Car Thief), Pattie Boyd (Jean - Schoolgirl on Train), Andrea Brett, Terry Brooks (Urchin), Anne Clune, Phil Collins (seated fan with necktie), Brian Epstein, Rosemarie Frankland (Brunette Showgirl), Kenneth Haigh (Simon Marshall), Julian Holloway (Adrian, Simon's Assistant), Terry Hooper (Casino Croupier), Ric Hutton, Clare Kelly (Barmaid), Lavinia Lang, David Langton (Actor), Linda Lewis (Audience Member), Jeremy Lloyd (Tall Dancer at the Disco), Jane Lumb, Dougie Millings (Tailor), Peter Newton, Derek Nimmo (Leslie Jackson - Magician), Margaret Nolan (Grandfather's Girl at Casino), Gordon Rollings (Man with Sandwich in Pub), Edina Ronay (girl at Disco), Sally Sheridan, Geraldine Sherman (Girl Outside Secondhand Shop), Marianne Stone (Society Reporter), Michael Trubshawe Casino Manager), Hedger Wallace, Carol White, Susan Whitman (Susan), and Tina Williams (Tina). Alun Owen wrote the screenplay and Richard Lester directed.

During the worldwide phenomenon of Beatlemania in 1964, United Artists wanted to market a movie with The Beatles before their vogue was over. Working with a tight $500,000 budget, director Richard Lester turned out A HARD DAY'S NIGHT in a mere 6 1/2 weeks. The movie was in the theaters three months after shooting commenced. Using a variety of techniques cribbed from Hollywood slapstick comedies, the French "new wave" movement, and his own experiences as a TV-commercial director, Lester fashioned an exhilarating study of a "typical" 36 hours in the lives of the Fab Four. Onto a plot about getting to an important TV appearance on time are hung a series of instant-reaction gags, character vignettes, and musical setpieces. Much of the humor arises from Paul McCartney's efforts to keep his grandfather John, a "clean old man," from getting into mischief. Also good for several laughs is Ringo Starr, whose mistimed declaration of independence lands him in jail. We are also treated to a war of nerves between the unflappable John Lennon and uptight TV director Richard (Victor Spinelli), who worries that if the Beatles do not show up at broadcast time, he'll be demoted to "News In Welsh." George Harrison shines in a sequence in which he is mistaken for an auditionee by producer Simon Marshall (Kenneth Haigh) of a superficially trendy, teen-oriented TV weekly.

Simon Marshall: We'd like you to give us your opinion on some clothes for teenagers.
George: Oh, by all means. I'd be quite prepared for that eventuality.
Simon Marshall: Well, not your real opinion, obviously. It'll be written out for you. Can you read?
George: Of course.
Simon Marshall: I mean lines, ducky, can you handle lines?
George: Well, I'll have a bash.
Simon Marshall: Good. Get him whatever it is they drink, uh, coke-a-rama? (gives George some shirts) Now you'll like these. You'll really "dig" them. They're "fab," and all the other pimply hyperboles...
George: I wouldn't be seen dead in them. They're dead grotty.
Simon Marshall: Grotty?
George: Yeah, grotesque.
Simon Marshall: Make a note of that word and give it to Susan. It's quite touching, really. Here's this kid, giving me his utterly valueless opinion, when I know for a fact that within a month, he'll be suffering from a violent inferiority complex and loss of status because he isn't wearing one of these nasty things. Of course they're grotty, you wretched nit, that's why they were designed! But that's what you'll want.
George: No, I won't.
Simon Marshall: You can be replaced, chickie baby.
George: I don't care.

The Songs Performed:

* "A Hard Day's Night"
* "I Should Have Known Better"
* "I Wanna Be Your Man"
* "Don't Bother Me" (George Harrison)
* "All My Loving"
* "If I Fell"
* "Can't Buy Me Love"
* "And I Love Her"
* "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You"
* "Tell Me Why"
* "She Loves You"

The screenplay was written by Alun Owen, who was chosen because the Beatles were familiar with his 1959 TV play "No Trams to Lime Street", and he had shown an aptitude for Liverpudlian dialogue. McCartney commented, "Alun hung around with us and was careful to try and put words in our mouths that he might've heard us speak, so I thought he did a very good script." Owen spent several days with the group, who told him their lives were like "a room and a car and a room and a car and a room and car." The character of Paul's grandfather refers to this in the dialogue. Owen wrote the script from the viewpoint that the Beatles had become prisoners of their own fame, and their schedule of performances and studio work had become punishing.

The movie's strange title originated from something said by Ringo Starr, who described it this way in an interview with disc jockey Dave Hull in 1964: "We went to do a job, and we'd worked all day and we happened to work all night. I came up still thinking it was day I suppose, and I said, 'It's been a hard day...' and I looked around and saw it was dark so I said, '...night!' So we came to 'A Hard Day's Night.'" According to Lennon in a 1980 interview with Playboy magazine: "I was going home in the car and Dick Lester suggested the title, 'Hard Day's Night' from something Ringo had said. I had used it in "In His Own Write", but it was an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo. You know, one of those malapropisms. A Ringo-ism, where he said it not to be funny... just said it. So Dick Lester said, 'We are going to use that title.'" In a 1994 interview for "The Beatles Anthology", however, McCartney disagreed with Lennon's recollections, recalling that it was the Beatles, and not Lester, who had come up with the idea of using Starr's verbal misstep: "The title was Ringo's. We'd almost finished making the film, and this fun bit arrived that we'd not known about before, which was naming the film. So we were sitting around at Twickenham studios having a little brain-storming session... and we said, 'Well, there was something Ringo said the other day.' Ringo would do these little malapropisms, he would say things slightly wrong, like people do, but his were always wonderful, very lyrical... they were sort of magic even though he was just getting it wrong. And he said after a concert, 'Phew, it's been a hard day's night.'" Yet another version of events appeared in 1996. Producer Walter Shenson said that Lennon had described to him some of Starr's funnier gaffes, including "a hard day's night", whereupon Shenson immediately decided that that was going to be the title of the film.

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT was originally released by United Artists and in 1979 rights to the film were transferred to its producer, Walter Shenson, who in 1982 granted rights to Universal Pictures for a cinematic reissue. Universal added a prologue consisting of a montage of photographic stills from the film shoot edited to a soundtrack of the song "I'll Cry Instead", a recording once considered for the film and included on the US soundtrack album but eventually not used. In 1984, MPI Home Video, under license from Shenson, first released A HARD DAY'S NIGHT on home video in the VHS, Betamax and Laserdisc formats, which all included the prologue.

In 2000, Miramax Films reissued the film in theaters in the United States and then as a collector's edition DVD two years later, as well as its final issue in the VHS format. The film had been transferred from the restored 35 mm negative and presented in 1.66:1 Widescreen. The prologue that Universal added in 1982 is absent on Miramax releases. In addition to the original film, the DVD edition contained a bonus disc with over 7 hours of additional material including interviews with cast and crew members and Beatles associates. The DVD was produced by Beatles historian and producer Martin Lewis, a longtime friend of Shenson. More than just a fully enhanced digital version of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, it features extensive interviews with practically anyone still living who worked on the movie, from child actor David Janson to United Artists studio executive David Picker. More than two hours of material provide a fascinating perspective on the making of the movie.

The new Miramax DVD has a digitally remastered disc which provides a flawless picture--it is crisp and has a full range of black and white tones. The film’s original mono soundtrack has been digitally restored for this disc and is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The dialogue, which comes through on the center channel of a surround sound system, is crisp and clear. The songs have been remixed for surround and the result isn’t an improvement. Many of the songs have too much echo from the rear speakers. In the band’s concert at the end of the film, it sounds as if the disc is trying to duplicate the acoustics of a concert hall, but the effect is distracting.

A documentary about the making of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, "Things They Said Today", is one of the best extras in this set. It has interviews with director Richard Lester, George Martin, and many others connected with the movie. It gives some interesting background about the development of the film as well as many inside stories. The DVD-ROM features on Disc One include a "screenplay viewer", which plays the movie on the left side of the screen while showing the screenplay on the right side. The DVD-ROM has a website archive which can be viewed without going online. The archive also has the complete screenplay along with hundreds of behind-the-scene photos, news articles, posters and other promotional materials. Another feature of the DVD-ROM is a link to a DVD destination website, which has more photos and publicity materials. It includes audio roundtable discussions by the cast and crew, who share memories of working on the film. There are also links to a few of the thousands of Beatles websites.

Disc Two has more interviews with people who worked on the film, from Lester and Martin to the hair stylist, even the actress whose scene ended up on the cutting room floor. One segment, "Memories of Wilfrid Brambell", explains why everyone in the movie keeps remarking on his character’s cleanliness, a joke lost on American audiences. Unfortunately, most of these segments don’t really shed any new light on the movie or the band. Although not all outtakes are worth viewing, some of them might have merited inclusion on the disc. For instance, the documentary on Disc One mentions a song that was filmed for the final concert and cut from the movie. Also missing are theatrical trailers, which have become a standard feature on many DVDs. The film itself makes this DVD worth watching. Although it was a mistake to remix the sound, it doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. The DVD has an impressive number of extra features, but what was left out will leave hardcore fans wanting more.

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT was successful both financially and critically. It was rated by Time magazine as one of the all-time great 100 films. Film critic Leslie Halliwell described it as a "comic fantasia with music; an enormous commercial success with the director trying every cinematic gag in the book" and awarded it a full four stars (he rarely gave films even one star). The movie is credited with having influenced 1960s spy films, THE MONKEES' television show and pop music videos.

A Boy and His Dog (1975) * * ¾

Set in the year 2024 in post-apocalyptic Phoenix, Arizona, 18 year old Vic (Don Johnson) and his telepathic "rover" dog Blood (voiced by Tim McIntyre) are happy scavengers in the desolate wilderness ravaged by World War Four, where survivors must battle for food, shelter, and sexual companionship in the desert-like wasteland. Canned goods are used as currency and entertainment usually consists of old porn reels. Vic fights and steals for food, and in return Blood uses his special sense of smell to help the gun-toting Vic locate females to rape. The disdainful and mocking Blood is more intelligent than Vic, often impatient with his immature behavior and lack of interest in his attempts to educate the boy, but he nonetheless loves Vic and sticks with him to help him survive.

Blood refers to Vic as "Albert" as a "term of endearment", but constantly makes criticisms about his stupidity, lack of perspective, and the search for "female companionship" by his oversexed master. The dog knows history, and reminds Vic that there were two nuclear wars, and there was once a "normal" world. Blood wants to go "over the hill" to see if there's a less hostile place to live, but Vic says their situation is as good as it gets, and there is no "over the hill." Then Vic is distracted by the beautiful Quilla June Holmes (Suzanne Benton). She wants him to join her in an underground utopia of survivors, a new Topeka. The main problem is no dogs are allowed.

Vic: We coulda used her three more times!
Blood: Ah, war is hell.

Blood: A cautious young fellow named Lodge
Had seatbelts installed in his Dodge.
When his date was strapped in
He committed a sin
Without even leaving the garage. That's clever, isn't it?

Civilization has gone into the "downunder", a bizarre subsurface setting with artificial sunlight, hydroponic bays, biospheres, living forests, country fairs, ice cream, and prizes for the best canned goods. One such underground city, referred to as Topeka after the ruins of the city it lies beneath, is a mixture of 1950s rural innocence and Brave New World dystopia. Doctor Moore (Alvy Moore), Mez Smith (Helene Winston), and Lou Craddock (Jason Robards) maintain a strictly-enforced Topeka where everyone must dress and behave as if living in a pre-industrial middle America. Girls wear schoolmarm clothing and curtsey. Underground living has resulted in a pallor necessitating heavy makeup. Many wear whiteface clown-like paint.

Topeka solves its need for reproduction by forcibly extracting fluids from sperm donors with machines and artificial insemination, yet the subterranean city with its limited population is still running low on viable donors. Anybody who refuses to comply, or shows any disregard to the ruling "committee" whatsoever, is sent off to "the farm", and is never seen again. Even when someone becomes no longer useful to the society, they are sent there. "Heart attacks" and "farming accidents" are given as reasons for the unexplained disappearances. However, the inhabitants of the underground city are so brainwashed that they do not realize or protest.

Quilla June Holmes, the scheming and seductive daughter of one of Topeka's committee leaders, Lou Craddock, is sent by her father to the surface to bait Vic into much needed "service", but Vic thinks he will be impregnating the women of Topeka the conventional way. Blood takes an immediate disliking to Quilla, sensing something is wrong and warns Vic, who will not listen. After saving Quilla's life from a band of raiders and then some mutants referred to as "screamers", Vic then spends an amorous night with her. In the morning she knocks Vic unconscious and flees. However, she had told Vic about where she lives, and also deliberately left an access card to the vault door so that he could follow her down there.

Vic is completely taken by the idea of women and sex and leaves his dog, despite Blood's pleading, and pursues the young lady into the downunder. He soon learns the harsh reality of the authoritarian committee and of its need for his semen, and he is strapped to a table and a machine used for this purpose. Vic is immobilized and his genitals attached to the equivalent of an electronic milking machine. In short succession the lucky brides are wed to him, presented with a bottle of special sauce, and sent on their way. Vic is told that, when his sperm has impregnated 35 women, he will be sent to "the farm", as they will no longer have any use for him. He is policed by a robotic keeper named Michael (Hal Baylor) seemingly borrowed from WESTWORLD (1973).

Lou Craddock: Lack of respect, wrong attitude, failure to obey authority.

Quilla June, along with a few other rebellious teenagers, have other plans for Vic. They free him from captivity and beg him to kill the committee members and their android enforcer Michael, leaving Quilla June in power. Vic, however, has interest in neither politics nor in remaining underground. Nevertheless, before Vic can shoot Lou Craddock, the other rebellious teenagers are captured by Micheal and have their skulls crushed by his bare hands. Vic manages to disable Michael with a barrage of bullets. Still, knowing that her plan is foiled, and her co-conspirators dead, and also after overhearing her own father ordering her execution, Quilla decides Vic is her only chance and decides to escape to the surface with him. She tells Vic that she loves him, although this is clearly a lie to save her own skin.

Vic: (to sentry) If my gun picks up one rust spot you're gonna wake up with a crowd around 'ya.

Vic and Quilla discover when emerging to the surface that Blood is starving as he was not able to find food without Vic. Blood is elderly and near death, with a broken leg from an earlier fight with a raider's dog. Vic faces a difficult situation, and in a twist ending, it is implied he kills his new love and cooks her to save Blood, as a bonfire is shown barbecuing food. This is not explicitly stated, though. Quilla simply disappears from the short remainder of the story. If you listen carefully it's obvious, and this dialogue suggests her fate: Blood says, "Well, I'd certainly say she had marvelous judgment, Albert, if not particularly good taste." They both laugh at this remark and the film ends with credits and the song "A Boy and his Dog" sung by Tim McIntire. Vic has learned that nothing is more important to a boy than his dog.

In 1982 a one minute prologue was added to this 87 minute offbeat science fiction satire.

Faithfully adapted from the 1969 novella by Harlan Ellison, this post-apocalyptic black comedy and cult favorite has a great reputation as a low-budget classic. It's a boy-dog relationship unlike any other. In one scene Vic makes love while Blood waits, passing the time by ruminating about the Latin derivation of the word "copulate". The first half of the picture is a series of savage skirmishes between Vic and various competitors in the wasteland. They avoid the "screamers", unseen ominous blue-glowing monsters that are presumably some kind of post-nuclear mutation. The main conflict comes into play when a girl enters the picture and causes Vic to risk his partnership with Blood to chase her into a legendary underground world of luxury. The underworld turns out to be a trap, with an authoritarian troika called "the committee" ruling a waning paradise with draconian laws.

The picture appeals to audiences and critics who are excited to find an imaginative film with actual ideas at its center. Production is slight but effective. The Mojave Desert locations are dressed mostly with random junk and a few props. The underground society is achieved with night exteriors in ordinary, sterile-looking modern buildings. After Vic's initial entrance through some industrial settings, it's interesting how quickly we accept, without mattes or other effects, a perpetually dark underworld with green grass and trees. The costuming underground gets a little severe, but the dozen farm girls all dressed in wedding gowns, make for a strangely disturbing image. The no-nonsense casting includes Charles McGraw as the preacher in the underground world. A BOY AND HIS DOG is a good example of a quality picture from actors with ambition, and is regarded as a science-fiction classic. Its popularity is due to its likable characters who, despite their constant bickering and individual quirks, are redeemed by their friendship and sarcastically humorous approach to survival. The film was also distributed after the initial run under the names PSYCHO BOY AND HIS KILLER DOG, MAD DON, and APOCALYPSE: 2004, among other titles.

The performances in A BOY AND HIS DOG are top-notch. Don Johnson convincingly portrays Vic as a filthy scavenger who, in spite of his dire situation, still manages to remain a decent human being at the core. Tim McIntire's vocal characterization of Blood embodies Ellison's original concept of a mutant pooch with a caustic ego that is balanced with just the right amount of humanity, and this portrayal is enhanced further by the outstanding on-screen performance of Tiger, the dog that played the family pet on TV's THE BRADY BUNCH. In his supporting role as the governor of a subterranean dystopia, Jason Robards is delightfully smarmy. And when beautiful Susanne Benton bares her ample "talents" on the screen, it's a lot of fun to watch.

The cast also includes: Tiger the dog (Blood), Charles McGraw (Preacher), Ron Feinberg (Fellini), Michael Rupert (Gery), Don Carter (Ken), Michael Hershman (Richard), and L.Q. Jones (actor in porno film). Tim McIntire composed the original music. L.Q. Jones and Wayne Cruseturner wrote the screenplay from Harlan Ellison's novella. L.Q. Jones directed.

Several DVD editions of A BOY AND HIS DOG have been available over the years, and all have delivered good letterbox widescreen digital transfers. The current offering from First Run Features is an anamorphic widescreen version, and it also contains an interesting feature commentary and the old extras, which include a pair of trailers. It's the same unspectacular presentation, a clean print letterboxed to 2:35 but given an encoding that today could easily be improved upon. The menus have been changed, but it's basically the same package. The original Techniscope images are easy to read in dark scenes, but show a lot of grain and digital texturing overall. Color could be greatly improved as well. With technology, 35 mm prints can look better than the originals. L.Q. Jones, cameraman John Morrill, and critic Charles Champlin provide a lively commentary that has to be listened to carefully. The talkative Jones fills in the kind of details that will make the movie interesting for those who have seen it too many times. He tends to exaggerate. The menu graphics are the same from the older disc, but First Run has remade nice covers, using the original poster art on the back and the more familiar "happy face" nuclear mushroom cloud on the cover.

"A Boy and His Dog" won the Nebula Award for Best Novella when released in 1969. Both the novella and the film adaptation have the same alternate timeline setting. President John F. Kennedy survived the assassination attempt on his life in 1963, and under his continued terms of office and that of the other Kennedys, the advancement of technology was concentrated on, and billions of dollars were poured into it instead of the space race. Technology flourished in the 1960s far faster than it did in our timeline, and within a few years even surpassed the point at which we are at now. But there are some differences between the book and the film:

* In the novella, nuclear fallout had created horrific genetic mutations. One such group is referred to as "burnpit screamers" because of the noise they make. The screamers are widely feared by the survivors of the nuclear holocaust, and references are occasionally made to them in the novella. Screamers feature in the film, although only in one scene, and are not actually seen, but only their screams are heard, and their green bio-luminescence seen through a wall.

* In the novella, Blood is a mixed-breed dog, half German Shepherd and half Puli, genetically altered with enhanced dolphin spinal fluid injected in him. In the film, this was not mentioned, except for a brief bit of dialogue explaining that Blood was the "result of an experiment". In the film, Blood was portrayed by Tiger from TV's THE BRADY BUNCH, also a mongrel who was a cross between a Bearded Collie and West Highland White Terrier.

* In the novella, the survivors of the nuclear holocaust are predominantly male, and women are rare. The women who do remain are treated like chattel and often abused and raped. However, Ellison did not go into detail regarding this, as he has stated he hates sexism and misogyny. The film expanded on these themes and actually showed it, and allegedly Ellison wasn't happy with this.

Rumors have circulated over the years regarding a movie sequel, but it has never materialized. On the film's DVD audio commentary, L.Q. Jones states that he had started to write a script sequel to the film that would have picked up right where the first film ended and featured a female warrior named Spike, and we would have seen this world through the eyes of a female instead of a male. According to "Cult Movies 2", Jones had a sequel planned called "A Girl And Her Dog", but the plan was scrapped when Tiger died. In a December 2003 interview, Jones claimed that he is approached by a different group wanting to make a sequel approximately every 30 days, but funding is always an issue.

A BOY AND HIS DOG regularly shows up on most lists of the Top 10 Science Fiction Films Of All Time. This film won the 1975 Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation, and is often cited as an inspiration for George Miller's MAD MAX (1979), which influenced a whole genre of movies. The two movies have a very similar style, although Miller said he had not seen Jones' film until after he had completed his own. That is very unlikely, especially considering that his sequel THE ROAD RUNNER (1981) has a prominent dog in it named "Dog". The British comic "Tank Girl" and the 1995 film adaptation may have taken inspiration from the film. It is virtually the same post-apocalyptic plot with a female punk protagonist instead of a male.

Singin' in the Rain (1952) * * *

Part of the opening credits feature the three stars from the film, briefly singing the title song with black umbrellas and yellow raincoats.

(first lines)
Dora Bailey: (broadcasting on radio) This is Dora Bailey, ladies and gentlemen, talking to you from the front of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. What a night, ladies and gentlemen, what a night! Every star in Hollywood's heaven is here to make Monumental Pictures' premiere of "The Royal Rascal" the outstanding event of 1927! Everyone is breathlessly awaiting the arrival of Lina Lamont and Don Lockwood!

Set in 1927 Hollywood, Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) is a popular silent film star who began as a singer, dancer, and stunt man. He is a dashing, smug, and romantic swashbuckling matinee idol. Don barely tolerates his glamorous blonde but shallow leading lady, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), who claims to love him, as the publicity links them romantically. During the screening of "The Royal Rascal", one of the young flappers in the audience comments to her girlfriend about the sophisticated screen image that Lina's beauty projects: "She's so refined. I think I'll kill myself." Studio boss R. F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell) congratulates Lina for her smash-hit performance.

Simpson: Lina, you were gorgeous.
Cosmo: Yeah, Lina, you looked pretty good for a girl.
Lina: F' heaven's sake, what's the big idea? Can't a girl get a word in edge-wise? After all, they're my public too!

Lina: Donny, how can you let him talk to me like that, your fiansee?"
Don Lockwood: Now Lina, you've been reading those fan magazines again. Now look Lina, you shouldn't believe all that banana oil that Dora Bailey and the columnists dish out. Now try to get this straight. There is nothing between us. There has never been anything between us. Just air.

Don Lockwood: What's the matter with that girl? Can't she take a gentle hint?
Cosmo: Well, haven't you heard? She's irresistible. She told me so herself.

One day, to escape from overenthusiastic fans, Don jumps into a passing car driven by Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds). She drops him off, but not before claiming to be a stage actress and sneering at his undignified accomplishments. Later, at a party, the head of Don's studio, R.F. Simpson, shows a short demonstration of a talking picture, but his guests are not very impressed. Don runs into Kathy again at the party, after she jumps out of a cake. To his amusement and her embarrassment, he discovers that Kathy is only a chorus girl, part of the entertainment. Furious, she throws a cake at him, only to hit Lina right in the face. After weeks of searching for her, Don makes up with Kathy after she is found in another Monumental Pictures production, and they begin to fall in love.

Don Lockwood: Kathy, all the stories about Lina and me are sheer publicity.
Kathy: Oh? It certainly seems more than that. From all those columns in the newspapers and articles in the fan magazines...
Don Lockwood: You read the fan magazines?
Kathy: I pick them up at the beauty parlor or the dentist's office, just like anybody.
Don Lockwood: Really?
Kathy: Well... I buy four or five a month.
Don Lockwood: Four or five...
Kathy: But anyway, to get back to the point, you and Miss Lamont do achieve a certain intimacy in all your pictures...
Don Lockwood: Did you say all our pictures?
Kathy: I guess if I think about it I've seen eight or nine of them.
Don Lockwood: You know I remember someone saying, "If you've seen one you've seen 'em all."

After a rival studio releases its first talking picture, "The Jazz Singer", and it proves to be a smash hit, Simpson decides he has no choice but to convert the new Lockwood and Lamont film, "The Dueling Cavalier", into a talkie. The production has many difficulties that reportedly did take place during the early days of talking pictures, by far the worst is Lina's comically grating high-pitched voice. A test screening is a disaster largely because of her shrill, screechy New York accent. She asks: "What's wrong with the way I talk? What's the big idea? Am I dumb or somethin'?" And in one scene Don repeats his own line "I love you" to Lina over and over, to the audience's laughter.

Phoebe Dinsmore: (giving Lina diction lessons) Repeat after me: Tah, Tey, Tee, Toe, Too.
Lina Lamont: Tah, Tey, Tye, Tow, Tyo.
Phoebe Dinsmore: No, no, no Miss Lamont, Round tones, round tones. Now, let me hear you read your line.
Lina Lamont: And I cayn't stand'im.
Phoebe Dinsmore: And I can't stand him.
Lina Lamont: And I cayn't stand'im.
Phoebe Dinsmore: Can't.
Lina Lamont: Cayn't.
Phoebe Dinsmore: Caaaan't
Lina Lamont: Cayyyyn't

Don's best friend, Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor), comes up with the idea to dub Lina's voice with Kathy's and they persuade Simpson to turn "The Dueling Cavalier" into a musical titled "The Dancing Cavalier". At the end of production, Lina finds out that Kathy is dubbing her voice. She is furious and does everything possible to sabotage the romance between Don and Kathy. Lina becomes even angrier when she discovers that Simpson intends to give Kathy a screen credit and a big publicity buildup. Lina, having consulted lawyers, blackmails Simpson into backing down.

Cosmo Brown: Why bother to shoot this film? Why not release the old one under a new title? You've seen one, you've seen them all.
Don Lockwood: Hey, what'd you say that for?
Cosmo Brown: What's the matter?
Don Lockwood: That's what that Kathy Selden said to me that night.
Cosmo Brown: That's three weeks ago, you still thinking about that?
Don Lockwood: I can't get her out of my mind.
Cosmo Brown: How could you--she's the first dame who hasn't fallen for your line since you were four.

The premiere of "The Dancing Cavalier" is a tremendous success. When the audience clamors for Lina to sing live, Don, Cosmo, and Simpson improvise and get Lina to lip-synch while Kathy sings into a second microphone while hidden behind the stage's curtain. Later, while Lina is lip-synching, Don, Cosmo and Simpson open the stage curtain behind her, revealing the deception. Lina then flees in embarrassment. When Kathy tries to run away as well, Don stops her and introduces the audience to "the real star of the film", creating the film's expected happy resolution.

(last lines)
Don Lockwood: Ladies and gentlemen, stop that girl, that girl running up the aisle. Stop her! That's the girl whose voice you heard and loved tonight. She's the real star of the picture. Kathy Selden!
(theater audience applauds and cheers)
Don Lockwood: Kathy...
(Don and Kathy sing "You Are My Lucky Star")

SINGIN' IN THE RAIN is a musical that even people who hate musicals love. Whether or not you consider it the best musical ever created by Hollywood is a matter of personal preference. But no matter where you personally rank it, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN is certainly one of the best, a film that simply gains in critical and popular stature with every passing year, a national and world treasure of cinematic art. It's a high-energy, witty, and sparkling movie laced with period songs by Arthur Freed, a film that many regard as the single finest musical to emerge from Hollywood. The plot was derived from ONCE IN A LIFETIME (1932), a hilarious adaptation of the Moss Hart-George S. Kaufman 1930 play set during the time of panic surrounding Hollywood's transition to talkies.

In many respects it is a throwback to the early musicals of the era it satirizes, for many of its musical numbers have absolutely nothing to do with the story it tells. But unlike such early musicals the storyline is exceptionally strong, and since the film is about the creation of an early "all talking, all dancing, all singing" movie in which such musical numbers were typical, they have here a certain validity that could not otherwise be achieved. The cast is absolutely flawless, and Kelly, Reynolds, O'Connor, and Hagen give the finest performances of their careers. Musical numbers are brilliantly performed, each the definition of perfection. The art designs are meticulous, beautiful, and recreate the late-silent and early-sound era of Hollywood with considerable charm. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN has an energy and vitality that is timeless.

This musical was originally conceived by MGM producer Arthur Freed as a vehicle for his catalog of songs written with Nacio Herb Brown for previous MGM musical films of the 1929-39 period. Screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green contributed lyrics to one new song. Except for two songs, all have lyrics by Freed and music by Brown. The films listed below mark the first time each song was presented on screen.

* "Fit as a Fiddle (And Ready for Love)", from COLLEGE COACH (1933), with music by Al Hoffman and Al Goodhart.
* "Temptation" (instrumental only), from GOING HOLLYWOOD (1933)
* "All I Do Is Dream of You", from SADIE McKEE (1934)
* "Singin' in the Rain", from HOLLYWOOD REVIEW OF 1929 (1929)
* "Make 'Em Laugh", considered an original song, but a near-plagiarism of Cole Porter's "Be a Clown", used in another Freed musical, THE PIRATE (1948). In the lead in to the song, Cosmo sarcastically references the tragic line "ridi pagliaccio" ("Laugh, clown") from the opera "Pagliacci".
* "Beautiful Girl Montage" comprising "I Got a Feelin' You're Foolin'" from BROADWAY MELODY OF 1936 (1935), "The Wedding of the Painted Doll" from THE BROADWAY MELODY (1929), and "Should I?" from LORD BYRON OF BROADWAY (1930)
* "Beautiful Girl", from GOING HOLLYWOOD (1933) and from STAGE MOTHER (1933)
* "You Were Meant for Me", from THE BROADWAY MELODY (1929)
* "You Are My Lucky Star", from BROADWAY MELODY OF 1936 (1935)
* "Moses Supposes" (music by Roger Edens, lyrics by Comden and Green)
* "Good Morning", from BABES IN ARMS (1939)
* "Would You?", from SAN FRANCISCO (1936)
* "Broadway Melody Ballet" composed of "The Broadway Melody" from THE BROADWAY MELODY (1929) and "Broadway Rhythm" from BROADWAY MELODY OF 1936 (1935) with music by Nacio Herb Brown and Lennie Hayton.

SINGIN' IN THE RAIN was co-directed by Stanley Donen and dancer choreographer Gene Kelly, and is a charming, up-beat, graceful and enjoyable experience with great songs, lots of flashbacks, and wonderful dances, including the spectacular Broadway Melody Ballet with Cyd Charisse. This is another example of the "integrated musical" in which the characters express their emotions. Song and dance replace the dialogue, usually during moments of high spirits or passionate romance. Over half of the film is composed of musical numbers.

The cast also includes: Cyd Charisse (Dancer), Douglas Fowley (Roscoe Dexter), Rita Moreno (Zelda Zanders), Dawn Addams (Teresa), Kathleen Freeman (Phoebe Dinsmore), Madge Blake (Dora Bailery), John Albright, Betty Allen, Sue Allen, Marie Ardell, Bette Arlen, Jimmy Bates, Marcella Becker, Margaret Bert, David Blair, Madge Blake (Dora Bailey), Gail Bonney, Gwen Carter, Bill Chatham, Mae Clarke, Lyle Clark, Harry Cody, Chick Collins, Pat Conway, Jeanne Coyne, Fred Datig Jr., Bert Davidson, Robert Dayo, Patricia Denise, Kay Deslys, Gloria DeWerd, John Dodsworth, King Donovan, Michael Dugan, Phil Dunham, Helen Eby-Rock, Marietta Elliott, Richard Emory (Phil - Villain in Barroom Brawl), Betty Erbes, Charles Evans, Tommy Farrell (Sid Phillips), Don Fields, Ernie Flatt, Bess Flowers, Robert Fortier, Dan Foster, Robert Foulk (Matt - Policeman), Kathleen Freeman, Lance Fuller, Jeanne Gail, Glen Gallagher, Jon Gardner, Diane Garrett, Jack George, Shirley Glickman, Inez Gorman, A. Cameron Grant, Beatrice Gray, Marion Gray, William Hamel, Betty Hannon, Timmy Hawkins, Dean Henson, Jean Heremans, Stuart Holmes (J. Cumberland Spendrill III), Joyce Horne, Don Hulbert, Frank Hyers, Pat Jackson, Ivor James, Morgan Jones, David Kasday, Jan Kayne, Jimmy Kelly, Kenner G. Kemp, Mike Lally, Judy Landon (Olga Mara), Joi Lansing, Janet Lavis, Virginia Lee, William F. Leicester, Peggy Leon, Diki Lerner, Bill Lewin (Bert), Sylvia Lewis, John Logan, and many others. The original musical score was composed by Lennie Hayton. Adolph Green and Betty Comden wrote the story and screenplay. Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly directed.

This MGM picture is the American musical that consistently ranks among the 10 best movies ever made. It's not only a great song-and-dance piece starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and a sprightly Debbie Reynolds, it's also an affectionately funny insider spoof about the film industry's uneasy transition from silent pictures to talkies. Surprisingly, this great film shot for a cost of $2.5 million was basically ignored by film critics when released and treated with indifference by the public, with a box-office of $7.7 million worldwide. It received only two Academy Award nominations: Best Supporting Actress (Jean Hagen), and Best Musical Score (Lennie Hayton) but didn't win any awards.

According to the audio commentary on the 2002 Special Edition DVD, the original negative was destroyed in a fire, but despite this, the film has been digitally restored for its DVD release. The new digital transfer is stunning for both video and audio. Many reviewers have complained about the commentary track and it is the low-point of this edition. The second disc is a goldmine. First, there is the excellent PBS documentary on the Arthur Freed Unit, "Musicals Glorious Musicals". This is an often revealing 90-minute film about the musical films Freed produced. It includes plenty of great excerpts, too. There is a new documentary, "What A Glorious Feeling," on the making of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. Watching both these documentaries, you don't need the commentary track because most of it was lifted from these documentaries. In addition, this supplementary disc includes the songs used in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN as they first appeared in their original films and later films that used the songs again. And there is another whole section of audio excerpts from the recording sessions. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN was not shot in widescreen, but in the only format used for studio pictures before the end of 1953, the "Academy" or "Standard" aspect ratio. It was designed to be shown in 1.37:1, which is about the same as most TV screens.

The movie is frequently described as one of the best musicals ever made, topping the American Film Institute's 100 Years of Musicals list, and ranking fifth in its updated list of the greatest American films in 2007. In 1989 SINGIN' IN THE RAIN was also deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Jaws (1975) * * *

(first lines)
Tom Cassidy: What's your name again?
Christine Watkins: Chrissie.
Tom Cassidy: Where are we going?
Christine Watkins: Swimming

At a late night beach party on Amity Island in New England, Christine Watkins (Susan Backlinie) decides to go skinny dipping. She strips on the beach and dives into the water, where she is suddenly jerked around and then pulled under by an unseen force. The next morning, Amity's new police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) is notified that Christine is missing. Brody and his deputy Len Hendricks (Jeffrey Kramer) find her mutilated remains washed up on the shore. The medical examiner informs Brody that the victim's death was due to a shark attack. Brody heads out to close the beaches, but is intercepted and overruled by the town mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton), who fears that reports of a shark attack will ruin the summer tourist season which is the town's major source of income. The medical examiner says he was wrong about a shark attack and tells Brody that it was a boating accident. Brody reluctantly goes along with this.

Mayor Vaughn: Fellows, let's be reasonable, huh? This is not the time or the place to perform some kind of a half-assed autopsy on a fish... And I'm not going to stand here and see that thing cut open and see that little Kintner boy spill out all over the dock. Martin, it's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, "Huh? What?" You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July.

A short time later, a young boy named Alex Kintner (Jeffrey Voorhees) is attacked and killed by a shark while swimming off a crowded beach. Mrs. Kintner (Lee Fierro) places a $3,000 bounty on the animal, sparking an amateur shark hunting frenzy and attracting the attention of local professional shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw). He interrupts a town meeting to offer his services, and his demand for $10,000 is taken "under advisement". Brought in by Brody, expert marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) conducts an autopsy on Chrissie's remains and concludes she was killed by a "rogue" Great White shark.

Mrs. Kintner: Chief Brody?
Brody: Yes? (Mrs. Kintner slaps Brody and sobs)
Mrs. Kintner: I just found out, that a girl got killed here last week, and you knew it! You knew there was a shark out there! You knew it was dangerous! But you let people go swimming anyway? You knew all those things! But still my boy is dead now. And there's nothing you can do about it. My boy is dead. I wanted you to know that. (she walks away)
Mayor Vaughn: I'm sorry, Martin. She's wrong.
Brody: No, she's not.

Mayor Vaughn: (to reporter) I'm pleased and happy to repeat the news that we have, in fact, caught and killed a large predator that supposedly injured some bathers. But, as you see, it's a beautiful day, the beaches are open and people are having a wonderful time. Amity, as you know, means "friendship".

Soon after a large tiger shark is caught by a group of novice fishermen, leading the town to believe the problem is solved, but an unconvinced Hooper asks to examine the contents of the shark's stomach. Because Vaughn refuses to make the "operation" public, Brody and Hooper return after dark and learn that the dead shark does not contain human remains, just fish, a car license plate, and garbage. Scouting aboard Hooper's state-of-the-art boat, they come across the half-sunken wreckage of local fisherman Ben Gardner's (Craig Kingsbury) boat. Hooper dons a wetsuit and discovers Gardner's severed head and a huge shark tooth. Mayor Vaughn still refuses to close the beach. On the Fourth of July the beaches are covered in tourists. While a prank triggers a false alarm and draws off the authorities' attention, the real shark enters an estuary, kills a man, and nearly takes the life of Brody's oldest son Michael (Chris Rebello). Brody forces a stunned Vaughn to hire Quint. Brody and Hooper join the hunter on his boat, the Orca, and the trio set out to kill the man-eater.

Hooper: Ah. Just like I thought... He came up with the Gulf Stream--from southern waters. (he pulls a Louisiana license plate from the shark. Brody examines it)
Brody: He didn't eat a car, did he?
Hooper: Naw, a tiger shark's like a garbage can, it'll eat anything. Someone probably threw that in a river.

At sea Brody is given the task of laying a chum line, while Quint uses a large fishing pole to try to snag the shark. The first results are inconclusive and Quint and Hooper grow increasingly agitated with one another. As Brody continues his task, the enormous shark suddenly looms up behind the boat. A horrified Brody announces its presence: "You're gonna need a bigger boat!" Quint and Hooper watch the great white shark circle the Orca and estimate that it weighs 3 tons and is 25 feet long. Quint harpoons the shark with a line attached to a flotation barrel, designed to prevent the shark from being able to submerge as well as to track it on the surface. But the shark pulls the barrel under and disappears.

Night falls without another sighting, so the men retire to the boat's cabin, where Quint and Hooper compare their various scars and Quint tells of his experience with sharks as a survivor of the World War II sinking of the USS Indianapolis. The shark reappears while the men sing, damages the boat's hull, and slips away before the men can harm it. In the morning, while the men repair the engine, the barrel suddenly reappears at the stern. Quint destroys the radio to prevent Brody from calling the Coast Guard for help. The shark attacks again, and after a long hard chase, Quint harpoons it to another barrel. The men tie the barrels to the stern, but the shark drags the boat backwards, forcing water onto the deck and into the engine, flooding it. Quint harpoons it again, attaching three barrels in all to the shark, while the animal continues to tow them. Quint is about to cut the ropes with his machete when the cleats are pulled off the stern. The shark continues to attack the boat and Quint heads towards shore with the shark in pursuit, hoping to draw the animal into shallow waters, where it will be beached and drowned. In his obsession to kill the shark, Quint overtaxes his damaged engine, causing it to seize.

Hooper: Boys, oh boys... I think he's come back for his noon feeding.

With the Orca immobilized, the trio try a desperate approach. Hooper dons his scuba gear and enters the ocean inside a shark proof cage, intending to stab the shark in the mouth with a hypodermic spear filled with strychnine nitrate. The shark instead destroys the cage, causing Hooper to lose the spear and flee to the seabed.

Quint: (seeing Hooper's equipment) What are you? Some kind of half-assed astronaut?
(examining the shark cage) Jesus H Christ, when I was a boy, every little squirt wanted to be a harpooner or a sword fisherman. What d'ya have there--a portable shower or a monkey cage?
Hooper: Anti-Shark cage.
Quint: Anti-shark cage. You go inside the cage? (Hooper nods) Cage goes in the water, you go in the water. Shark's in the water. Our shark. Hooper, what exactly can you do with these things of yours?
Hooper: Well, I think I can pump 20 cc's of strictnine nitrate into him, if I can get close enough.
Quint: Can you get this little needle through his skin?
Hooper: No, I can't do that. But if I can get him close enough to this cage, I think that I can get him in the mouth or the eye...
Brody: That shark will rip that cage to pieces!
Hooper: You got any better suggestions?

As Quint and Brody raise the remnants of the cage, the shark throws itself onto the boat, causing the boat to begin sinking. Quint slides down towards the shark, slashing at it in vain with his machete before being pulled under and devoured. Brody retreats to the boat's cabin, which is now partly submerged, and throws a pressurized air tank into the shark's mouth when it rams its way inside. Brody equips himself with an M1 Garand rifle and climbs the mast of the rapidly listing vessel. After temporarily driving the shark off with a harpoon, Brody begins shooting at the air tank still wedged in the shark's mouth. He finally scores a hit, exploding the tank and blasting the shark's head to pieces. As the shark's carcass drifts toward the seabed, Brody reunites with Hooper. They cobble together a raft out of debris from the Orca and paddle back to Amity Island.

Brody: Smile you son of a bitch. (he shoots at the air tank, Jaws blows up, and Brody laughs maniacally)

(last lines)
Brody: What day is this?
Hooper: It's Wednesday... eh, it's Tuesday, I think.
Brody: Think the tide's with us?
Hooper: Keep kicking.
Brody: I used to hate the water...
Hooper: I can't imagine why.

Steven Spielberg's breakout film JAWS is widely regarded as the film that began the "summer movie blockbuster era", and is one of the first "high concept" films. With horror, thrills, suspense, and special effects, it's basically a frightening bubblegum potboiler. Not excessively violent or gruesome like traditional horror films, JAWS nonetheless manages to create an icy frost in every viewer's veins. Based on the true story of a Great White shark which terrorized the shores of New Jersey in the summer of 1916, JAWS is an ingenious adaptation of Peter Benchley's 1974 best-selling novel inspired by the incident. With brilliant direction and state-of-the-art special effects, it's an edge-of-your-seat thriller filled with suspense. Sharp editing ensures that not a single scene is wasted, and each builds on that which came before. Overlapping dialogue is completely realistic, and it's a remarkable movie with a perfect pace that simply refuses to slacken.

If ever there was justification for being terrified of sticking a toe in the ocean, it's JAWS. Steven Spielberg's horror masterpiece--arguably the director's finest movie--set the benchmark for summertime blockbusters and few have been able to match its sheer ability to grip an audience. JAWS eventually grossed more than $470 million worldwide, $1.9 billion in 2008 dollars, and was the highest grossing box office film until STAR WARS (1977) debuted two years later. These two films mark the beginning of the new business model in American filmmaking.

The cast also includes: Lorraine Gary (Ellen Brody), Carl Gottlieb (Ben Meadows), Jonathan Filley (Tom Cassidy), Ted Grossman (Estuary Victim), Jay Mello (Sean Brody), Dr. Robert Nevin (Medical Examiner), Peter Benchley (TV Interviewer), Chris Anastasio, John Bahr, Allison Caine, Robert Carroll, Edward Chalmers Jr., Robert Chambers, Denise Cheshire, Fritzi Jane Courtney, Cyprian R. Dube, Paul Goulart, Mike Haydn, Duncan Inches, Belle McDonald, Donald Poole, Peggy Scott, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Wilde, and Dick Young. John Williams composed the original music. The screenplay was written by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb with some dialogue from Howard Sackler, John Milius, and Robert Shaw--based on Peter Benchley's novel. Steven Spielberg directed.

Three mechanical sharks were made for the production: a full model for underwater shots, one that turned from left to right, with the left side completely exposed to the internal machinery, and a similar right to left model, with the right side exposed. Location shooting occurred on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, chosen because the ocean had a sandy bottom which helped the mechanical sharks to operate smoothly and still provide a realistic location. The three mechanical sharks frequently malfunctioned, due to the hydraulic innards being corroded by salt water. They were collectively nicknamed "Bruce" by the production team after Spielberg's lawyer. Disgruntled crew members gave the film the nickname "Flaws".

The DVD looks great, and extras include a "making of" documentary, deleted scenes and outtakes, over 700 photos, a "Get Out of the Water" trivia game, screen savers, trailers, animated menus, and production notes. One of the deleted scenes hints at the romantic subplot that the final version of the film omitted, and one of them features a battle among humans on the water to get the shark and the reward money.

JAWS won Oscars for Film Editing, Music (Original Score) and Sound. John Williams's score was ranked at # 6 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years of Film Scores. The main "shark" theme is an eerie and haunting simple alternating pattern of two notes, E and F, a classic piece of suspense music synonymous with approaching danger. In 2001 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

The film was followed by three sequels, none with the participation of Steven Spielberg or Peter Benchley: JAWS 2 (1978), JAWS 3-D (1983) and JAWS: THE REVENGE (1987). A video game titled "Jaws Unleashed" was produced in 2006. All sequels failed to match the success of the original. In fact, their combined domestic grosses barely cover half of the original's.

JAWS 2 (1978) has a similar storyline. Four years have passed since the events of the first film. During a diving expedition to the wreckage of the Orca, a shark attacks the divers. Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) becomes convinced that another Great White is lurking in the waters around Amity when he discovers a camera from the doomed diving expedition, a beached whale, and the remains of a woman. He orders Deputy Jeff Hendricks (Jeffrey Kramer) to investigate and recover the underwater camera from the missing divers. Meanwhile, the shark attacks a water skier named Terri (Christine Freeman) and drags her into the water. Terri tries to pull herself up but fails and gets eaten. The driver of the speedboat defends herself by first throwing a gasoline tank at the shark and then igniting the fuel with a flare gun. The shark begins to burn, as does the inside of the boat and the driver. Then the fire ignites the actual gas tank and the speedboat explodes.

A woman who lives on the beach sees the explosion and reports it to the authorities. The shark manages to escape, but is severely scarred. Brody becomes suspicious after no remains of the water skier or the driver are found in the wreck. Meanwhile, Deputy Hendricks searches for the remains of the victims, accidentally hooking an underwater power line. In an attempt to get rid of what he thinks is the shark, he is fired from his job as police chief. His two sons sneak off with some friends to go sailing--unaware of the shark that is lurking in the water beneath them, just waiting to strike. The plot is similar to that of a slasher film, in which the main antagonist stalks and kills teenagers one by one. In the end the shark gets electrocuted and is killed. Brody paddles a raft over to the wreckage of a sailboat and helps Jackie Peters (Donna Wilkes) and Sean Brody (Marc Gilpin) get into the raft. He then paddles them back towards the others at Cable Junction to await rescue.

JAWS 2 became the highest-grossing sequel in history at the time of its release and remained in the all-time Top 25 for more than two decades. The film's tagline, "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...", became one of the most famous in movie history and has been parodied and homaged several times. Although there are two further films in the series, JAWS 2 is generally regarded as the best of the sequels. However, it is repetitive and unsatisfactory, just made to cash in on the success of JAWS.

The film was released on DVD in 2001. Many reviewers praised it for the quantity of special features, with DVD Authority asserting that it had "more than a lot of titles labeled as 'Special Edition' discs". It includes a 45 minute documentary produced by Laurent Bouzereau, who is responsible for many of the documentaries about Universal films. Actor Keith Gordon reminisces in a short feature, and Szwarc explains the phonetic problems with its French title, "Les Dents de la mer 2". The disc also contains a variety of deleted scenes. One such scene shows the selectmen voting to fire Brody. The Mayor (Murray Hamilton) is the only person to vote to save him. Also included is footage of the shark attacking the coast guard pilot underwater after his helicopter had capsized. The scene was cut because of the struggle with the ratings board to acquire a PG certificate. Although the audio was presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, a reviewer for Film Freak Central comments that "Williams' score often sounds deceptively stereophonic". The BBC, though, suggest that the mix "really demands the added bass that a 5.1 effort could have lent it".

JAWS 3-D (1983) (aka JAWS 3) is a horror–thriller film directed by Joe Alves and starring Dennis Quaid. It is the second sequel to Steven Spielberg's 1975 classic JAWS. At SeaWorld, a new water park with underwater tunnels and lagoons, a baby Great White shark infiltrates the barrier, attacking and killing water skiers and park employees. Once the baby shark is captured, it becomes apparent that it was the mother, a much larger shark, which was the real killer.

The oldest son from the first two Jaws films, Michael Brody (Dennis Quaid) now works as the chief engineer of SeaWorld in Florida. Michael lives with his girlfriend Katherine Morgan (Bess Armstrong), who is senior biologist at the park. Katherine and her assistants wonder why the dolphins are so afraid of leaving their pen. Shelby Overman (Harry Grant), one of the mechanics, dives into the water to repair the gates. He is attacked by a shark and killed, leaving only a severed arm. The baby Great White is captured and nursed to partial health and it is exhibited as the first Great White in captivity. However, it soon dies, and the film goes on and on. In the end Michael kills the villainous Great White shark with a grenade.

This film is notable for making use of 3-D film during the revived interest in the technology in the 1980s, among other horror films such as FRIDAY THE 13th Part III (1982) and AMITYVILLE 3-D (1983). Cinema audiences could wear disposable cardboard polarized glasses to create the illusion of a three dimensional film for some scences. Several shots and sequences were designed to utilise the effect, such as the shark's destruction. Since the 3-D is ineffective in home viewing, the alternative title JAWS III is used for television broadcasts and DVD releases. JAWS 3-D is unexciting, boring, noisy, and strangely unrelated to JAWS and JAWS 2. But the 3-D effects are excellent.

JAWS: THE REVENGE (1987) (aka JAWS 4) is a horror–thriller film directed by Joseph Sargent. It is the third and final sequel to Steven Spielberg's classic JAWS. This movie is a mediocre superfluous retread of the others. It proves that each sequel is progressively worse--and it is the worst! The film focuses on Ellen Brody's (Lorraine Gary) convictions that a shark is stalking her family, and the story returns to the Brody family in Amity Island. Martin Brody had died of a heart attack, although his widow, Ellen Brody claims that "it was the fear of the shark that killed him." She discusses with her youngest son Sean (Mitchell Anderson) and his fiance Tiffany (Mary Smith) arrangements for the Christmas season. Now working as a police deputy in Amity, Sean is dispatched to clear a log from a buoy. As he does so, he is attacked by a shark and his arm is torn off. When the shark comes again, he is killed as his screams are drowned out by the carol singers on the island.

Ellen is convinced that the shark had deliberately targeted Sean due to some evil curse, and visits her eldest son Michael (Lance Guest) in the Bahamas. Michael now works as a marine biologist. Fearing he will be attacked next by the shark, Ellen hopes to convince him to take up a new job on dry land. She meets Hoagie (Michael Caine), and they begin dating. Michael's wife Carla (Karen Young) is an artist and one day during her art exhibit, Ellen's granddaughter Thea (Judith Barsi) asks if she can go out on a banana boat with her friend Margaret and her mother (Diane Hetfield). The shark attacks the boat with Thea on it. The shark ends up devouring Margaret's mother in the process with blood flying everywhere, leaving Thea unharmed but in a state of shock. Ellen becomes convinced that the shark has tracked her family to the Bahamas. She takes a boat out to sea on her own, intent on confronting and killing the shark to break the curse, or sacrificing herself hoping the shark will leave her family alone.

Hoagie flies Michael and his friend Jake (Mario Van Peebles) out to sea so that they can find Ellen quickly. He lands the plane on the sea, but the shark sinks it. Looking out for the shark while using a device that emits electromagnetic impulses to drive the shark mad, Jake moves to the end of the prow. The shark unexpectedly leaps from the surface of the water to grab Jake, biting into him and dragging him beneath the surface in a gory fashion. The device causes the shark to repeatedly leap out of the water and Ellen steers the boat directly for the shark, impaling it on the broken bowsprit, which puts presure on the device and causes it to explode. After killing the shark, they find Jake mauled but alive. Near the end of the film, Ellen is relieved that the curse of the shark is no longer on her family. The film ends too abruptly as Hoagie flies Ellen back to Amity Island.

No reference is made to the character development or events depicted in JAWS 3-D. In its predecessor, Michael is an engineer for SeaWorld, whereas here he is a marine research scientist. Sean is not associated with the police force in JAWS 3-D, and there is no mention of their partners. Even one of the Universal Studios press releases for JAWS: THE REVENGE omits JAWS 3-D by referring to JAWS: THE REVENGE as the "third film of the remarkable Jaws trilogy."

JAWS: THE REVENGE was filmed on location in New England and in the Caribbean, and completed on the Universal lot. Like the first two films of the series, Martha's Vineyard was the location of the fictional Amity Island for the opening scenes of the film. Although financially successful, the film received a poor critical reception, and earned the lowest amount of money from the franchise. It is considered by film critics to be one of the worst movies ever made.

Sunset Boulevard (1950) * * *

(first lines)
Joe Gillis: Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. It's about 5 0'clock in the morning. That's the homicide squad, complete with detectives and newspaper men.

SUNSET BOULEVARD starts with its end, as we see a murdered corpse floating face down in a swimming pool at a Hollywood mansion. A narrator explains that the dead man was an unsuccessful screenwriter. The film fades into a flashback as the narrator takes us back to the beginning to find out what happened. We meet struggling hack screenwriter Joseph C. "Joe" Gillis (William Holden), who needs $300 to keep his car, so he hits his contacts to scrape up some work. He heads to Paramount to meet a producer named Sheldrake (Fred Clarke) where he pitches a baseball script he has written, "Bases Loaded". That fails because story consultant Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson) dislikes his plot, dismissing it as mediocre work. Rejected, Gillis leaves and then manages to locate his agent, who's playing golf in Bel-Air and will not help Gillis with a personal loan. That and other attempts also flop, so Joe is just about ready to head back to Ohio and his old newspaper job.

Returning to Hollywood along Sunset Boulevard, Gillis is spotted by two auto repossession men and a chase ensues. Earlier, he had claimed the car was on loan to a friend. When a tire blows on Gillis' car during the pursuit, he swerves into a driveway of an old mansion in order to escape the repo men and discovers that he has entered the grounds of what he assumes is a deserted building. Hiding his car in the dilapidated garage, he is startled when a woman's voice from an upstairs veranda of the mansion summons him to come into the house. He meets faded silent film star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) and her butler Max Von Mayerling (Erich von Stroheim). They live in this lavish abode and plan to bury a former resident, a chimp. Norma thinks Joe is there as the monkey's undertaker.

Norma Desmond: I'd like the coffin to be white, and I want it specially lined with satin. White... or pink. Maybe red! Bright flaming red! Let's make it gay!
Joe Gillis: I'm not an executive, just a writer.
Norma Desmond: You are... writing words, words, more words! Well, you'll make a rope of words and strangle this business! But there'll be a microphone there to catch the last gurgles, and Technicolor to photograph the red, swollen tongues!

When she learns he is a screenwriter, the pair chat, and we find that Norma wrote a screenplay based on the Salome story intended for her "return". Norma hates the term “comeback”. Joe reads the terrible text and pretends interest in it to gain a job as its editor. Eventually, this leads him to move in, and he quickly turns into Norma’s boy toy. The demented old movie queen lives in the past and Joe becomes her literary and romantic gigolo.

Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.
Norma Desmond: I am big. It's the pictures that got small. They took the idols and smashed them, the Fairbankses, the Gilberts, the Valentinos! And who've we got now? Some nobodies!
Joe Gillis: I didn't know you were planning a comeback.
Norma Desmond: I hate that word. It's a return, a return to the millions of people who have never forgiven me for deserting the screen.
Max Von Mayerling: She was the greatest of them all. You wouldn't know, you're too young. In one week she received 17,000 fan letters. Men bribed her hairdresser to get a lock of her hair. There was a maharajah who came all the way from India to beg one of her silk stockings. Later he strangled himself with it!
Norma Desmond: We didn't need dialogue. We had faces! You're a writer, you said.
Joe Gillis: Why?
Norma Desmond: Are you or aren't you?
Joe Gillis: That's what it says on my Guild card.
Norma Desmond: And you have written pictures, haven't you?
Joe Gillis: I sure have. Want a list of my credits?
Norma Desmond: I want to ask you something. Come in here.
Joe Gillis: Last one I wrote was about Okies in the Dust Bowl. You'd never know because when it reached the screen, the whole thing played on a torpedo boat.

Working out of Desmond's house, Gillis is soon financially dependent on Norma, who lavishes attention on him and buys him expensive clothing. While he occasionally shows discomfort, he makes no effort to change his situation. When he questions Max about why there are no locks in the house, he is told Norma suffers from occasional "melancholy" and has taken attempts on her life before, so he has taken precautions to ensure her safety. Gillis is then prepared for a New Year's Eve party at the house. He soon realizes that no other guests will be attending, and is horrified when Norma reveals that she is in love with him.

Rejecting her attempt at seduction, he hitches a ride to his friend Artie Green (Jack Webb), where he again meets Betty Schaefer. Although she’s dating Artie, some romantic sparks fly between Betty and Joe. A party is underway, and Betty tells him that despite the rejection in Sheldrake's office regarding "Bases Loaded", she has read some of Gillis' other submissions and one in particular shows promise. Inspired to continue his writing, Gillis phones the Desmond house to say he will be moving out, but Max tells him Norma has attempted suicide. He rushes back to the mansion, where he comforts her and stays. This puts him back into his old submissive position. Betty tries to get in touch with him to work on one of his story ideas, but he remains isolated in the mansion with Norma. Eventually, Joe does connect with Betty again, which complicates matters even more.

Joe Gillis: Audiences don't know somebody sits down and writes a picture. They think the actors make it up as they go along.
Norma Desmond: Don't be silly. (she hands Joe a present) Here, I was going to give it to you at midnight.
Joe Gillis: Norma, I can't take it, you've bought me enough.
Norma Desmond: Shut up, I'm rich! I'm richer than all this new Hollywood trash! I've got a million dollars.
Joe Gillis: Keep it.
Norma Desmond: Own three blocks downtown, I've got oil in Bakersfield, pumping, pumping, pumping! What's it for but to buy us anything we want!
Joe Gillis: Cut out that "us" business!
Norma Desmond: What's the matter with you?
Joe Gillis: What right do you have to take me for granted?
Norma Desmond: What right? Do you want me to tell you?
Joe Gillis: Has it ever occurred to you that I may have a life of my own? That there may be some girl I'm crazy about?
Norma Desmond: Who? Some car hop, or dress extra?
Joe Gillis: What I'm trying to say is that I'm all wrong for you. You want a Valentino, somebody with polo ponies, a big shot!
Norma Desmond: What you're trying to say is that you don't want me to love you. Say it. Say it! (slaps his face and threatens suicide again)
Joe Gillis: Oh, wake up, Norma, you'd be killing yourself to an empty house. The audience left twenty years ago.

Norma continues preparing for her movie "return". When she considers her "Salome" screenplay to be complete, the plot thickens when Max delivers the script to Paramount, and they need to deal with its reception. She receives telephone calls from Cecil B. DeMille's office at the studio and assumes he is interested in filming the project. Norma travels to the studio and meets with him. Gillis and the butler learn the studio only wants to hire her vintage Isotta-Fraschini car for use in a film and has no interest in her script. The two of them keep this from her. By now, Max has revealed he was the first of her three husbands, and is a former film director who had discovered her.

(Norma Desmond has come to see Cecil B. DeMille)
First assistant director: I can tell her you're all tied up in the projection room. I can give her the brush.
Cecil B. DeMille: Thirty million fans have given her the brush. Isn't that enough?
First assistant director: She must be a million years old.
Cecil B. DeMille: I hate to think where that puts me. I could be her father.
First assistant director: I understand she was a terror to work with.
Cecil B. DeMille: Only toward the end. You know, a dozen press agents working overtime can do terrible things to the human spirit.

Meanwhile, Joe has secretly begun meeting with Betty to work on a screenplay together, and they fall in love. When Norma discovers this, she phones Betty and insinuates what sort of man Joe really is. Joe returns to the house in time to hear what Norma has said and takes the phone from her. He tells Betty to come to the house, where he explains his side of the situation before turning Betty away. Misunderstanding his actions, Norma is grateful to Joe, but he brushes her aside and begins packing to leave. Norma threatens to shoot herself but he does not take her seriously. As he walks away, she follows and shoots him three times before he falls into the pool and dies.

Joe Gillis: (narrating) Well, this is where you came in, back at that pool again, the one I always wanted. It's dawn now and they must have photographed me a thousand times. Then they got a couple of pruning hooks from the garden and fished me out... ever so gently. Funny, how gentle people get with you once you're dead.

Having explained the corpse in the pool, the film returns to the present, where Norma, seated before a mirror in her bedroom, appears to be lost in a fantasy. The house has been flooded with reporters and curious passersby. News cameras arrive to film her and she thinks she is on the set of her new film. Norma slowly descends her grand staircase and makes a speech declaring her happiness at making a new film. It culminates in the film's most famous line: "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." She reaches for the camera, the screen fades to white and the narrator concludes that Norma's dream of performing for the cameras has in an unexpected way come true for her.

(last lines: to newsreel camera)
Norma Desmond: And I promise you I'll never desert you again because after "Salome" we'll make another picture and another picture. You see, this is my life! It always will be! Nothing else! Just us, the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark!... All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.

Director Billy Wilder's noir-comic classic about death and decay in Hollywood remains as powerful as ever in its ability to provoke shock, laughter, and astonishment. This lively, creepy, and cynically compelling film is one of those great movies that has become a part of popular culture. It may not be as obsessed with the topic as THE BIG PICTURE (1989), but it delves into that subject in a vicious way. It doesn't treat Hollywood with kid gloves. Instead, it launches into a bitterly comedic exposé, and it doesn’t succeed just because it bites the hand that feeds it. From it's bold introduction to its unforgettable ending, SUNSET BOULEVARD is a well-crafted masterpiece. The structure is classic and the execution is flawless.

The movie features a confrontation between styles. Holden’s naturalistic approach is butted up against Swanson’s lavishly theatrical tendencies, and the results are surprisingly well integrated. Dialogue alternates between hard-hitting and florid. Most of it doesn't seem like speech you’d hear in real life. Swanson made Norma a force of nature. If nothing else, she offered some of the most fascinating line deliveries in history, with pronunciations like “sit dowwwwnnn” and “gay-rage”. Swanson has always come across as an unappealing pretentious snob in real life and in her movies, so she is perfect for the role of Norma Desmond.

Surprisingly cynical and blunt given its era, the movie shredded the movie industry and also offered a deep and vigorous character drama. The best work created by a legendary director, SUNSET BOULEVARD deserves its status as a classic. William Holden's dead-pan narration as a hack screenwriter of B-movies is as sad and funny as it ever was. This scathing portrait of Hollywood shows how it discards people when they are no longer useful. The casting of the film is inspired, as if the parts were written specifically for them. However, SUNSET BOULEVARD was actually written for Mae West, who rejected the role of Norma Desmond because her art requires her to play a beautiful young woman in her 20's. At age 83 she played a woman in her 20's in SEXTETTE (1978). Mary Pickford also rejected the role because she was afraid it would destroy her wholesome image. The street after which the film is named has been associated with Hollywood film production since 1911 when the town's first film studio opened on Sunset Boulevard. And this movie features an impressive parade of movie star cameos that creates a realistic Hollywood setting.

The cast also includes: Lloyd Gough (Morino), Franklyn Farnum (animal undertaker), Larry J. Blake (First Finance Man), Charles Dayton (Second Finance Man), Cecil B. DeMille (Himself), Hedda Hopper (Herself), Buster Keaton (Himself), Anna Q. Nilsson (Herself), H.B. Warner (Himself), Ray Evans (Himself), Jay Livingston (Himself), Fred Aldrich, Joel Allen, Gertrude Astor, Ken Christy, Ruth Clifford, John Cortay, Archie R. Dalzell, Eddie Dew, Peter Drynan, Julia Faye, Al Ferguson, Gerry Ganzer, Kenneth Gibson, Joe Gray , Sanford E. Greenwald, Creighton Hale, Chuck Hamilton, James Hawley, Len Hendry, E. Mason Hopper, Stan Johnson, Tiny Jones, Howard Joslin, Arthur Lane, Perc Launders, Gertrude Messinger, Harold Miller, John "Skins" Miller, Ralph Montgomery, Bert Moorhouse, Jay Morley, Bernice Mosk, Howard Negley, Ottola Nesmith, Eva Novak, Frank O'Connor, Robert Emmett O'Connor, Jack Perrin, Virginia L. Randolph, Bill Sheehan, Sidney Skolsky , Emmett Smith, Roy Thompson, Archie Twitchell, Yvette Vickers, Edward Wahrman, and Henry Wilcoxon. Franz Waxman composed the original music score. Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, and D.M. Marshman Jr. wrote the screenplay. Billy Wilder directed.

The DVD offers good picture quality with decent audio and a fairly positive roster of supplements. It's case indicates that the film is presented in "full screen" format, which is somewhat misleading. It gives the false impression that the film has been "formatted" to fit a standard television. While the image does fit the screen without black bars on the top and bottom, the original aspect ratio of the film has been preserved. That is because it is not a widescreen film. SUNSET BOULEVARD was not shot in widescreen, but in the only format used for studio pictures before the end of 1953--now known as the "Academy" or "Standard" aspect ratio. It was designed to be shown in 1.37:1, which is just about the ratio of most TV screens. The movie looks gorgeous. The black and white picture is rich and crisp, the sound is re-mastered and the story is as compelling as ever.

On this single-sided, double-layered DVD, several extras are included. Some are standard like the inclusion of the film's theatrical trailer, English subtitles and a French language track. Another is a map of actual locations used in the film. For example, the exterior of Norma Desmond's home was not located on the 10000 block of Sunset Boulevard as depicted in the film, it was located on Wilshire Boulevard near the corner of Irving Blvd. Ed Sikov's scene-by-scene commentary on the film is very good. He provides many insights into the making of the film and the presentation is generally well-organized and carefully thought out, but a bit dry.

The documentary on the disc does a good job of demonstrating just how unique the tone of this story is, how it perfectly navigates between funny and sad. Not everyone in Hollywood saw the funny side when it was released, and it lost to ALL ABOUT EVE (1950) at that year's Oscars. Besides the documentary, you can read two screenplay drafts of an excised opening sequence, explore 1950's Hollywood with an interactive map and watch the film with audio commentary by a critic and historian. The special features add to the richness of the film. You may already know that Eric von Stroheim directed Gloria Swanson in silent films. But did you know that the drugstore where all the screenwriters hang out in the movie is the drug store where F. Scott Fitzgerald had a heart attack in 1940? This extra is rich with Hollywood history.

Though not immaculate, the movie has relatively few source flaws. There is some light grain on occasion, a few print defects, a smattering of specks, hairs and marks as well as sporadic blotchiness. Overall it's a fine transfer. The monaural soundtrack of Sunset Boulevard also is acceptable. Speech is reasonably accurate and distinct, although lines sound a little flat at times. Music comes across as fairly bright and lively, but with a limited dynamic range. Effects also display generally accurate tones but lack very clear highs or tight lows. Some bass response sounds a bit boomy and heavy. There is some light background hum and a little noise, but the audio is decent although not spectacular. The synopsis on the back of the DVD reveals some important "spoiler" information that doesn’t come out until the third act.

Praised by many critics when first released, SUNSET BOULEVARD was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won three. It is widely accepted as a classic, often cited as one of the most noteworthy films of American cinema. In 1998 it was ranked # 12 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 best American films of the 20th century, however dropping to # 16 on the 10th Anniversary edition published in 2007. The movie's line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." was voted as the # 6 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007. Deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the U.S. Library of Congress in 1989, SUNSET BOULEVARD was included in the first group of films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.