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Reviews
The Reluctant Saint (1962)
Expect The Best And You Won't Be Disappointed!
I saw this movie as a child and I loved it. I saw it recently and loved it even more. Although it does not tell the whole story of the saint and his sufferings, mysticism, and triumph, it does convey the truth of his simplicity, humility, and other virtues.
Filmed in Italy, it conveys to me - an Italian-American, a sense of the familiar and realism, with Maximillian Schell as the hapless Joseph Desa who becomes Saint Joseph of Cupertino. Schell's gentle character contrast greatly with the villainous Nazi defense attorney he portrayed in Judgment At Nuremberg. The direction, writing, et cetera are all excellent as are the supporting cast members which include Ricardo Montalban as his nemesis Don Raspi, Lea Padovani as his exasperated mother, Harold Goldblatt as her brother and Joseph's uncle - Abbot Giovani, and Akim Tamiroff as the bishop who sees the true piety and wisdom in Joseph.
After struggling in school, Joseph "graduates" and becomes a common laborer, where he gets into constant trouble. His mother tells him: "Expect the worst and you won't be disappointed." Indeed poor Joseph has nothing but problems but bears them all patiently, not defending himself and not ratting on those who get him into trouble like Gobbo the hunchback of the monastery. On the way back from the funeral for her husband the mother tells Joseph about his father, "He was an easy man to love, but not an easy man to live with." I wonder how many women feel that way about their husbands.
When three novices - including Joseph are sent to beg in town, two return with their donkeys and baskets full. Joseph on the other hand comes back void of all alms and the donkey, having been attacked by thieves. Don Raspi tells Abbot Giovani, "Our friars have been begging in that town almost without incident for over three hundred years! Joseph is a magnet for trouble!" The Abbot defends his nephew by replying: "You know there are places in that town the devil himself will not go!" These are not exact quotes but they give the reader an idea of the conflict between the hapless Joseph, Don Raspi, and the loving uncle.
The new bishop meets Joseph in the stables - who learns he has saved not only two lambs which were late in birth, but the ailing ewe as well. After talking with Joseph through the night, the bishop is convinced of the humble friar's piety and wisdom, and orders him to be tutored for the priesthood - much to the chagrin of Don Raspi and others. By coincidence or God's holy will - Joseph not only passes the tests for the subdiaconate but the priesthood as well. It is thereafter the movie shows some of Joseph's mystical qualities like levitation - for which he is said to be possessed by the devil. Don Raspi performs an exorcism, but by a miracle becomes convinced of the sanctity of Joseph.
This movie should be watched by the young and old, Catholic and non Catholic alike. It is pure pious entertainment! So expect the best and you won't be disappointed.
A Wish for Wings That Work (1991)
Trashy Cartoon
I agree with Berkely Breathed. This cartoon stinks! It is nothing more than a child's cartoon version of "It's A Wonderful Life."
In this cartoon, Opus bemoans the lack of wings that work, conveniently right around Christmas, just to make a nice little fairy tale for children, rather than show Breathed's humor. On his way to deliver presents, Santa loses his reindeer and ends up in a lake - not frozen over although it is surrounded by snow, and the Bloom County characters. Opus swims (like a human and not a penguin) to rescue Santa and save Christmas. Thus Opus learns a valuable lesson about accepting what he is, rather than aspiring to something he can't be. For his reward, all the ducks lift up Opus and take him for a flight. Yay!
Children will get it. So will adults but it is a sanitized version of the comic strip Bloom County.
The clip from the original Lost Horizon movie is a sacrilege! The producer could have chosen some other plane crash movie for Opus's dream. The cartoon lacks the biting satire and sarcasm of Bloom County. This movie proves the rule that comics rarely translate well in theater. I hated it so much I no longer like Berkely Breathed or his inane comic strip.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
Shakespeare Collides With Ziegfeld - Garbadge
This movie is a chopped up version of Shakespeare's play with hammy actors, terrible direction, unneeded special effects, and overbearing song and dance numbers belonging to vaudeville or Ziegfeld's follies. I absolutely hated it! Mickey Rooney is an annoying little imp as Puck, making one want to reach out, give the boy a slap, and say, "Enough with the stupid laughter!" James Cagney for all his talents, seems an absurd clod, racing through his lines like one on cocaine. Joe E. Brown looks like a sappy dolt who has no idea who is or what he's doing. Small wonder this movie failed! Some of adult and children actors playing fairies are so scantily clad that I imagine the Catholic Church and other churches had fits at its release! The other fairies appear grotesque like monsters out of Dante's Inferno. Thank God Warner Brothers never again tried to produce another Shakespeare play!
Fate Is the Hunter (1964)
Fate Is The Hunter - Overview
This is a suspense thriller somewhere between Gann's The High and the Mighty and a Twilight Zone episode where a jet plane gets lost in time. For the record, it is one blown engine and a suspect second engine and not the landing gear that is the problem with the plane crashing, as stated by another review.
Most of the plot is already explained in previous reviews. Many people believe the crash was caused by the pilot, who some suspect was drunk at the time. Of course a blood alcohol test on the body would have proved otherwise. However I suppose they did not do much forensics when the movie was made. The movie opens with one plane crashing and closes with a second nearly having the same crash.
After much investigation of his friend's character, Sam Mc Bane is confident the pilot of the ill fated craft - Jack Savage was not drinking. Rather, he suggest that a system of unrelated circumstances caused the disaster. He calls this fate, echoing the sentiments of the friends of Jack Savage. However, in order to put the investigation to rest, Mc Bane decides to fly another plane and duplicate the flight down to the last detail. This is where the suspense builds as the second plane is going down, just like the first and everyone is trying to figure out why. In both planes, radio contact is lost and people can only watch in horror expecting the second plane to crash. Of the first plane, the culprits turn out to be gulls causing the first engine to fail, the second suspect engine falsely signaling a failure, and a pier on the beach which should have been demolished earlier. By the way, the second engine was always good. A spilled cup of coffee on one of the counsels caused the false alarm and the loss of radio contact. This is learned on the second plane, which had turned off the first engine and witnessed the false alarm as signaling the failure of the second. The second plane starts both engines and pulls out of its dive mere seconds before crashing. It returns safely to the airport using a flashing light to signal for a landing.
Having watched "Seconds From Disaster" on National Geographic, it does seem logical that any number of things happening at the same time can and do cause planes, trains, and cars to crash.