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Reviews
That Midnight Kiss (1949)
Gem of a film! Great cast, great singing
A young Mario Lanza. A young Kathryn Grayson. Ethel Barrymore. Keenan Wynn. Jules Munshin hamming it up as only he can.
Plotwise, the movie is very thin: Grandmother finances an opera company so her young granddaughter can sing. Except, she doesn't want to sing with the old, fat tenor with the ego-- she wants to sing with the young, gifted truck driver she discovers. Then there's a love triangle, in which of course everything goes wrong because nobody communicates.
But the singing is so wonderful, and so are Jose Iturbi's piano skills. We are treated to plenty of both throughout the movie. This film is a gem.
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
Worth seeing only because of one five-minute clip
Considering the roster of stars, this movie was a real disappointment to me. The plot was predictable and stretched belief, and the "home sweet home" moral just wasn't satisfying.
The only thing that made "Mr. Blandings" worth seeing was a short segment near the beginning, a brilliant satirical comment on life in the Big Apple. The voice-over describes the idylls of New York City, while the images flashed onto the screen say exactly the opposite. E.g. a diner full of loudmouths, and one snapshot of the most crowded beach I have ever seen! It's very funny. Rent the movie and watch through that segment; then turn it off. You won't have missed anything.
Meet the Parents (2000)
Stupid movie
This was a truly stupid movie. Predictable, stale, overdone gags one after another. The only redeeming point in "Meet The Parents" was towards the end, a brief parody of the frustrations involved in buying an airline ticket.