These are Resurfaced short or quickie reviews written in 2002 or earlier. For more information, please visit this link: Resurfaced Reviews.

Gaslight (1944)

Rating

Director

George Cukor

Screenplay

John Van Druten, Walter Reisch, John L. Balderston (Play: Patrick Hamilton)

Length

1h 54m

Starring

Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotton, Dame May Whitty, Angela Lansbury, Barbara Everest, Emil Rameau, Edmund Breon, Halliwell Hobbes

MPAA Rating

PG (formerly: Passed (National Board of Review))

Basic Plot

Young Paula Alquist marries the charming Gregory Anton. An elderly aunt of Paula’s was murdered a few years ago in her home at Tresvenor Square. Paula inherited the apartment which the newlyweds make their home. Slowly but methodically Gregory convinces Paula that she always forgets things, is nervous and unwell. He also makes sure that she does not get out much and only has minimal contact with other people. Their neighbour is an elderly lady, Miss Thwaites, who starts to wonder why Paula stays at home when she looks perfectly healthy. A young man, Brian Cameron, who knew Paula many years ago, makes contact with her. He notices that there is something strange with the gaslights in the apartment.

Review

One of the best films ever made, Gaslight is a cinematic masterpiece that focuses on Charles Boyer’s psychological torment of Ingrid Bergman. This thriller is one of the finest crafted films that I have seen and puts most of the films released today to shame. It treats the thought of psychological tampering with delicasy, but never lets up, it allows the viewer to feel the torment along with the masterful Ingrid Bergman. Charles Boyer is perfectly sinister and Angela Lansbury in her film debut is delightful and convincing. Add into that mix a lucious set, a hilariously nosey neighbor, Dame May Whitty, and cinematography that leaves you in complete awe and you have Gaslight.

Review Written

September 20, 2021

Citizen Kane (1941)

Rating

Director

Orson Welles

Screenplay

Orson Welles, Herman J. Mankiewicz

Length

1h 59m

Starring

Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Everett Sloane, William Alland, Paul Stewart, George Coulouris, Fortunio Bonanova, Gus Schilling, Philip Van Zandt, Georgia Backus, Harry Shannon, Sonny Bupp, Buddy Swan, Orson Welles

MPAA Rating

PG

Basic Plot

“Rosebud” The dying words of a filthy rich newspaper magnate. Who is this Rosebud and why did she mean so much to him. Jedediah Leland must track down this Rosebud in order to appease everyone’s curiosity about this mysterious woman.

Review

In one of the most amazing films ever made, Orson Welles captures media frenzy, ambition, political-sized intrigue and a young child’s unhappy beginnings into a masterwork of film. With brilliant and unparalelled cinematography, Welles glides us easily from frame to frame on the search for Rosebud. Anyone who has not seen the film and doesn’t know who Rosebud is film’s ending is very surprising and almost satyrical. Great performances from the entire cast is capped by the guiding hand of Orson Welles, whose classic film will live on for all eternity as one of the greatest in history.

Review Written

July 7, 2007

Titanic (1997)

Rating

Director

James Cameron

Screenplay

James Cameron

Length

3h 14m

Starring

Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bill Paxton, Bernard Hill, David Warner, Victor Garber, Jonathan Hyde

MPAA Rating

PG-13 (For disaster related peril and violence, nudity, sensuality and brief language)

Basic Plot

In 1912 largest ocean liner ever made sank into the watery depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Taking with it over 1,000 souls, rich AND poor. It’s now 85 years later and a money-hungry diver searches the reckage for a diamond that, quite simply, would but the Hope Diamond to shame. Finding a safe, that presumably held this relic of the Louis XVI eray find only a well-preserved case with a drawing of a nude woman, posing with the Diamond around her neck. Miles away, by TV, a 101-year-old survivor sees the picture and swears that it is she. Arriving on the ship above the ‘ghost ship,’ Miss Rose Dawson tells the story of the maiden and final voyage of the RMS Titanic.

Review

Intercutting between real-life footage of the Titanic, on the bottom of the Atlantic and a sumptuous remake of the 1912 ocean liner, James Cameron, has written and directed an incredible love story with the Titanic as its backdrop. Excellently acted by DiCaprio, Winslet, Stuart, Bates and Garber, James Cameron brings the lavishly expensive grave to life. A wonderful recreation and a technical marvel ship, built only 100 feet shorter than the original Titanic is so believable and pain-stakingly redone, that it is easy to suspend belief and take yourself back to a time long since gone. DiCaprio plays a young, 3rd-class artist who, after winning the tickets aboard the ship in a poker game, saves the life of a depressed 1st-class woman, Rose DeWitt Bukater. Unfortunately, Rose is engaged to a tyrannical socialite played well by Billy Zane. Her mother has forced her into this arrangement because they are penniless. Surely to win the Oscars for Art Direction/Set Decoration, Costume Design and possibly even Visual Effects, Titanic is easily the best picture of the year.

Awards Prospects

It’s the film to beat this year. With dozens of critics backing it, racking up nominations for other awards, Titanic seems to be the picture with the most. Its best chances are in Picture, Director, and a host of Tech nominations and likely wins.

Review Written

January 10, 2007

The Godfather (1972)

Rating

Director

Francis Ford Coppola

Screenplay

Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola (Novel: Mario Puzo)

Length

2h 55m

Starring

Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, Al Lettieri, Diane Keaton, Abe Vigoda, Talia Shire, Gianni Russo, John Cazale, Alex Rocco

MPAA Rating

R

Basic Plot

A glossy-yet-gritty look at the Mafia and how it works.

Review

Marlon Brando gives one of the finest performances in film history in this mob film based on the novel by Mario Puzo. The Godfather is easily one of the greatest films ever made, it has a flawless cast and a realism that only the ’70s could bring.

Review Written

November 28, 2006

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Rating

Director

Victor Fleming

Screenplay

Sidney Howard (Novel: Margaret Mitchell)

Length

3h 58m

Starring

Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O’Neil, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Rutherford, George Reeves, Fred Crane, Hattie McDaniels, Oscar Polk, Butterfly McQueen

MPAA Rating

Approved (PCA #5729)

Basic Plot

The South. The Civil War. Tara. Scarlett. The story is familiar. The faces are unforgettable. Love. War. Passion. Destruction. Gone With the Wind.

Review

The cinematography is absolutely wonderful performances are priceless. Gone With the Wind has grown to become a classic in the hearts of millions, whether they saw it in the theater in its original release or on video for the first time during its 50th Anniversary, almost everyone can agree that Gone With the Wind is one of the greatest cinema masterpieces of all times. The Music is as unforgettable as Vivien Leigh’s brilliant performance as Scarlett O’Hara. Clark Gable is the only majorly stiff character, but not stiff enough to drag the film down. Butterfly McQueen is hilariously naive and Hattie McDaniel’s Mammy is one of the best and motherly performances in screen history. The look of the entire film makes you FEEL like you are in Tara and the South during the horrendous Civil War. You feel pleasure and pain along with our heroine Scarlett, all masterfully orchestrated by director Victor Fleming and Producer David O. Selznick.

Review Written

October 13, 2006