This movie was shown recently at the Freer Gallery in Washington, DC. The other two reviewers summed things up nicely. At the Freer there was actually a live band performing! I had certain misgivings, after hearing some unfortunate new music for some silents on TCM, but I was really impressed by this group, the Devil Music Ensemble. Their music fit the movie perfectly. Another endearing quality of this film is the bizarre English titles. At this showing the beginning and end of the titles were chopped off, which made it even more challenging to try to figure out what in the world they were trying to say, an added element of adventure! I'll insert the comment from the Freer's announcement - Made at the height of the martial arts craze in 1920s Shanghai, this lively tale about the rise of a female warrior features the genre's then-characteristic blend of pulp and mystical derring-do. A rampaging army raids a village, kidnaps a young woman, and causes the death of her grandmother. At the general's lair, the captive maiden faces imminent rape, but she is suddenly rescued by the mysterious Daoist hermit White Monkey. Three years later, Yun Mei ("Yun Ko" in the English intertitles) reemerges as a full-fledged warrior, ready to avenge her grandmother's death by deploying the magic powers she learned from White Monkey. While sprinkled with anachronisms and prurient incongruities, the film is a robust telling of a young woman's transformation from abject victim to resolute warrior. Adapted from notes by Cheng-sim Lim
Reviews
7 Reviews
The Outfit
(1973)
Library of Congress craziness!
11 July 2008
I just saw this film at the Library of Congress as part of a 2 film Timothy Carey festival, you might say. Sometimes they get a little weird at the Library. Anyway, I thought the movie was very good. Some others have mentioned the similarity to Point Blank. I am surprised that no one has pointed out the likeness to Charley Varrick. Both stories revolve around the effects of unintentionally robbing a mob-controlled bank. Of course in Charley Varrick it's the mob trying to get it's money back. Also, Joe Don Baker - not quite the psycho he played in the other film, but when he punched out that receptionist he certainly reminded me of his Molly character. Both fine movies, I think. Got my doubts about Poor White Trash tonight, but. . .
Maria do Mar
(1930)
Life in a small Portuguese fishing village
6 June 2007
I saw this movie recently at the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, as part of their series of Portuguese films. The print they showed didn't have an orchestral score, music was provided by an actual real-live pianist! The film provides an interesting view of the at-times harsh life in a Portuguese fishing village in the '30s. With a nice, not-too-dopey love story, of course. However, the thing that struck me most - why are all the men wearing mis-matched plaid clothes? Was that the fashion at that time? Had a ship from Scotland wrecked nearby and it's cargo of plaid woolens washed ashore? Anybody know about Portuguese fashions at that time?
Flight Nurse
(1953)
better than that old New York Times review!
15 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Since there is only one comment about this move, I am posting this review from the NY Times from 1954!
It sounds pretty awful, but the Library of Congress is showing it tomorrow for free, and there is a Thai restaurant down the street with free chicken wings, so . . . might see it!
Well, I did see it, and it's not that bad! True, there is a lot of annoyingly mushy romantic stuff, but the film also shows the important and dangerous services this outfit performed. Also, she dumped the guy and stayed on as a flight nurse!
N.Y. TIMES REVIEW 'Flight Nurse' Has Debut at Palace Print Save O. A. G. Published: January 30, 1954
The resolute humanity of military flight nurses and the courage of the Air Force personnel, whose job it is to transport the war wounded and injured in defenseless helicopters and planes to medical stations, are deserving of a better tribute than they receive in Republic's "Flight Nurse," which opened at the Palace yesterday.
In this vapid maundering in the love life of a flight nurse in Korea we see Joan Leslie carry on a catch-as-catch-can romance with a helicopter pilot, Arthur Franz, while Forrest Tucker, an aerial ambulance driver, contends for her affections. Using every cinematic cliché in a script by Alan LeMay that included rhymed streams of consciousness, Allan Dwan, the director, chose to depict truly heroic actions with mediocrity.
Mr. Dwan's concept of a flight nurse is typified in a close-up of Miss Leslie sweetly contemplating the sky while a funereal voice chants her medical credo.
"Flight Nurse," is concocted so that the dominant theme of Grade A, irradiated love obscures the war with its attendant medical devotion and dedication to the relief of suffering.
The film is revealed for what it is when spliced-in authentic footage is occasionally shown. The supporting cast of Jeff Donnell, Ben Cooper and James Holden is adequate, acting as it was directed.
A bill of eight acts of vaudeville accompanies the film.
It sounds pretty awful, but the Library of Congress is showing it tomorrow for free, and there is a Thai restaurant down the street with free chicken wings, so . . . might see it!
Well, I did see it, and it's not that bad! True, there is a lot of annoyingly mushy romantic stuff, but the film also shows the important and dangerous services this outfit performed. Also, she dumped the guy and stayed on as a flight nurse!
N.Y. TIMES REVIEW 'Flight Nurse' Has Debut at Palace Print Save O. A. G. Published: January 30, 1954
The resolute humanity of military flight nurses and the courage of the Air Force personnel, whose job it is to transport the war wounded and injured in defenseless helicopters and planes to medical stations, are deserving of a better tribute than they receive in Republic's "Flight Nurse," which opened at the Palace yesterday.
In this vapid maundering in the love life of a flight nurse in Korea we see Joan Leslie carry on a catch-as-catch-can romance with a helicopter pilot, Arthur Franz, while Forrest Tucker, an aerial ambulance driver, contends for her affections. Using every cinematic cliché in a script by Alan LeMay that included rhymed streams of consciousness, Allan Dwan, the director, chose to depict truly heroic actions with mediocrity.
Mr. Dwan's concept of a flight nurse is typified in a close-up of Miss Leslie sweetly contemplating the sky while a funereal voice chants her medical credo.
"Flight Nurse," is concocted so that the dominant theme of Grade A, irradiated love obscures the war with its attendant medical devotion and dedication to the relief of suffering.
The film is revealed for what it is when spliced-in authentic footage is occasionally shown. The supporting cast of Jeff Donnell, Ben Cooper and James Holden is adequate, acting as it was directed.
A bill of eight acts of vaudeville accompanies the film.
Ladies Courageous
(1944)
Hollywood's idea of what women can do for the war
12 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I almost saw this movie at The Library of Congress last week, but...
However, I did somehow stumble on this review from Time Magazine from 1944! Since there are no other comments, I thought I would add it here, sort of a public service, or something! My rating may be a bit generous.
The New Pictures Monday, Apr. 03, 1944 Four Jills in a Jeep (20th Century-Fox) and Ladies Courageous (Universal) are Hollywood's idea of what women can do for the war and painful examples of what Hollywood, under the pressure of patriotism, can do to women. In the first, Hollywood vigorously shakes its own hand for letting some actresses go to shake a leg on the world battlefronts. In the second, Loretta Young, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Diana Barrymore pilot planes around the U.S. The Jeep bounces Carole Landis, Kay Francis, Martha Raye and Mitzi Mayfair through a catch-as-catch-can cineversion of Miss Landis' book (and Satevepost articles) of the same title, reporting their experiences as USO entertainers. In the book, only Miss Landis got married. In the picture, Martha Raye, the feminists' Joe E. Brown, practically ingests the comic sergeant (Phil Silvers) who chauffeurs their jeep. Mitzi Mayfair snuggles up to a uniformed ex-vaudeville partner (Dick Haymes, who is Fox's threat to Frank Sinatra, and sings like melting vanilla ice cream). Kay Francis plays handles with an English Army doctor who utters the stunning gallantry : "If I'd held this hand ten years ago I might have a full house now." Miss Francis just laughs. In Britain and Africa, the cinemactresses clearly enjoyed themselves, worked hard, and brought some pleasure to places where it was needed. But not much of the reworking of their travelogue is fun to see or hear. Ladies Courageous comes in on a shattered wing and an unanswered prayer, noses over, and spills out a motley set of WAFS (see cut, p. 94) who later become WASPS. This whole covey of highly burnished cinemactresses looks more like Wam-pas cuties than like aeronauts. Judging by their actions, they cannot be trusted to pilot a perambulator, much less a B17. Miss Barrymore philanders with another WAF's husband; his wife remorsefully crashes her plane. Miss Fitzgerald, a neurotic, embarrasses her sister, Director Young, by making a hot landing (for publicity purposes). But she compensates for that by all but killing herself and another WAF in two other planes. Loretta Young comforts her warmly: "You tried!"
One wag emerged from the preview with a theme song for the girls: The men will forgive us (The ones that outlive us) No matter how often we fail. Who cares what trees-in The plane falls that she's-in. She's got a sting in her tail.
However, I did somehow stumble on this review from Time Magazine from 1944! Since there are no other comments, I thought I would add it here, sort of a public service, or something! My rating may be a bit generous.
The New Pictures Monday, Apr. 03, 1944 Four Jills in a Jeep (20th Century-Fox) and Ladies Courageous (Universal) are Hollywood's idea of what women can do for the war and painful examples of what Hollywood, under the pressure of patriotism, can do to women. In the first, Hollywood vigorously shakes its own hand for letting some actresses go to shake a leg on the world battlefronts. In the second, Loretta Young, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Diana Barrymore pilot planes around the U.S. The Jeep bounces Carole Landis, Kay Francis, Martha Raye and Mitzi Mayfair through a catch-as-catch-can cineversion of Miss Landis' book (and Satevepost articles) of the same title, reporting their experiences as USO entertainers. In the book, only Miss Landis got married. In the picture, Martha Raye, the feminists' Joe E. Brown, practically ingests the comic sergeant (Phil Silvers) who chauffeurs their jeep. Mitzi Mayfair snuggles up to a uniformed ex-vaudeville partner (Dick Haymes, who is Fox's threat to Frank Sinatra, and sings like melting vanilla ice cream). Kay Francis plays handles with an English Army doctor who utters the stunning gallantry : "If I'd held this hand ten years ago I might have a full house now." Miss Francis just laughs. In Britain and Africa, the cinemactresses clearly enjoyed themselves, worked hard, and brought some pleasure to places where it was needed. But not much of the reworking of their travelogue is fun to see or hear. Ladies Courageous comes in on a shattered wing and an unanswered prayer, noses over, and spills out a motley set of WAFS (see cut, p. 94) who later become WASPS. This whole covey of highly burnished cinemactresses looks more like Wam-pas cuties than like aeronauts. Judging by their actions, they cannot be trusted to pilot a perambulator, much less a B17. Miss Barrymore philanders with another WAF's husband; his wife remorsefully crashes her plane. Miss Fitzgerald, a neurotic, embarrasses her sister, Director Young, by making a hot landing (for publicity purposes). But she compensates for that by all but killing herself and another WAF in two other planes. Loretta Young comforts her warmly: "You tried!"
One wag emerged from the preview with a theme song for the girls: The men will forgive us (The ones that outlive us) No matter how often we fail. Who cares what trees-in The plane falls that she's-in. She's got a sting in her tail.
Wuthering Heights
(1988)
A Japanese interpretation of "Wuthering Heights"
6 October 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Just saw this incredible film at the Library of Congress. Since there are no comments, I thought I would post this interpretation by MAKI OKUMURA - I don't know who he is either -
Japanese filmmaker Yoshishige Yoshida, in his film Arashi-ga-Oka, interprets Wuthering Heights in a medieval Japanese folklore context. A fearful stranger, Onimaru (Heathcliff), tries to intrude into the central community with a tabooed and profane woman, Kinu (Catherine). Influenced by George Bataille's argument that the sacred and the profane are ultimately never in contradiction, Yoshida allows Kinu and Onimaru to consummate and sublimate their union through their marginality and profaneness. At the end of the film, they are expelled by the legitimate second generation and annihilate themselves. The social harmony, that the intruder disturbed, is restored. However, in spite of this seemingly clear ending, doubts remain over the legitimacy of the second Catherine, with the suspicion that she might be the daughter of Onimaru (Heathcliff). In addition to providing a distinctive version of an English classic, Yoshida affirms the multiplicity of meanings and the open-endedness of Emily Bront¸'s singular drama.
Japanese filmmaker Yoshishige Yoshida, in his film Arashi-ga-Oka, interprets Wuthering Heights in a medieval Japanese folklore context. A fearful stranger, Onimaru (Heathcliff), tries to intrude into the central community with a tabooed and profane woman, Kinu (Catherine). Influenced by George Bataille's argument that the sacred and the profane are ultimately never in contradiction, Yoshida allows Kinu and Onimaru to consummate and sublimate their union through their marginality and profaneness. At the end of the film, they are expelled by the legitimate second generation and annihilate themselves. The social harmony, that the intruder disturbed, is restored. However, in spite of this seemingly clear ending, doubts remain over the legitimacy of the second Catherine, with the suspicion that she might be the daughter of Onimaru (Heathcliff). In addition to providing a distinctive version of an English classic, Yoshida affirms the multiplicity of meanings and the open-endedness of Emily Bront¸'s singular drama.
The best Luxembourgian film I've seen!
4 November 2003
OK, it's the only one I've seen. But it was a touching coming-of-ageish type story. Guess I was in a sentimental mood when I saw it at the European Union Film Festival at the Kennedy Center. Go see it if you can find it!
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