motogrrl Reviews

The Man on the Eiffel Tower (1949)

Not for the acrophobic!

[7/10 · 8 August 2000]

A very, um, stimulating finale on the Eiffel Tower, reminiscent of the climax of Saboteur. The most amazing thing to me is that they certainly used the real Eiffel Tower for some of the shots, meaning really amazing and heart-stopping stuntwork. Watching Radek cross one of the cross-beams, with the city of Paris evident below and no visible means of rescue should he misstep! Yowza.

Laughton is charming and perfect as Maigret, definitely the strongest performance of the lot; makes me wish he'd made more Maigret films. Tone is wooden and not at all believable; Meredith not fully fleshed-out as a character (surprise, surprise, since he was doing dual duty as director).

The Scarlet Letter (1995)

Snipe about accuracy if you like, Oldman is brilliant

[7/10 · 23 February 1999]

I read the book in high school. I hated it. I only gave the movie a chance because of the casting of Gary Oldman. I was not disappointed.

Oldman is the most underrated actor working in movies today, and the intensity of his performance here makes this film worthwhile. Don't watch the movie for its faithfulness to Hawthorne, watch it for the brilliance of Gary Oldman.