I really don't understand why so many people are so turned off by this film! Granted, it is a more of a series of character and behavior study sketches, than a fully developed story, but not by much, the story that is here is compelling. The outstanding performances more than make up for any short comings in the story as a whole. I just don't see how people were so bored with the film - I found it engrossing. Perhaps people often don't know what do do with a film that tells its story more through events, human interaction and behavior, than through conventional narrative. This is more a in the mold of a small wonderfully effective film like "Dinner Rush" than the conventional Hollywood script. Or, you could even look at it like "Broadway Danny Rose with Prescription Drugs and Opium"! It works on that level as well. But it definitely is worth a look though! And the performances are stellar!
Reviews
4 Reviews
Terrible Joe Moran
(1984 TV Movie)
Film was much better with original Cagney voice.
4 January 2009
I worked at the post-production house in new york city when this film was shot and edited. We saw the dailies of it as it was being shot and also worked on it while it was being edited. The entire film was completed with Cagney's actual (heavily stroke inflected) speaking voice. It was decided by the producers to replace the entire Cagney dialogue with Rich Little's impersonation. I can attest to the fact that the original film, with Cagney's own voice, was an excellent and powerful little film, that I would have given a rating of 10 stars to. Unfortunately, the really bad decision to dub Cagney's voice with this awful impersonation (which sounded like the voice in the old "Vlassic Pickles" TV commercials) pretty much ruined what would have been a memorable movie. I wish to this day I had somehow been able to obtain a copy of the original version! Still worth seeing as it is Cagney's last film, and Carney and Barkin are excellent. Basically though, another instance of too many producer-cooks ruining the stew.
An absolute charmer!
8 February 2006
This has got to be one of my top twenty favorite films. Not dissimilar in spirit to 1983's "Local Hero", or John Sayles' "The Secret of Roan Inish" (1994), at the end of this film I am about ready to pack my bags and move to this lovely place! I was formerly not a big Hugh Grant fan, but this film (as well as one or two others) really changed my mind about him. He and Tara Fitzgerald are terrific together, Ms. Fitzgerald owns every scene in which she appears, and Kenneth Griffith as the Reverend Jones, should have won an Oscar for this roll! Oddly enough, Griffith can be briefly seen also playing a Welsh priest(and choirmaster) all the way back in 1959 in "Tiger Bay" with John and Hayley Mills. Pure joy from start to finish!
Black Dragons
(1942)
Look passed the obvious!
8 November 2004
Okay, okay - This is certainly one of the cheesier Monogram efforts. But aside from the obvious "Lets just write it as as we go" problems with the story and plot, there are several tantalizing, and perplexing aspects of this film, particularly to the viewer who doesn't necessarily look at film like this merely for a superficial rating of "good" to "lousy" (because, on that basis, lets face it, most of them are "lousy").
A reviewer above here suggested that the WWII facts might have been grafted on later to follow headlines. I would be VERY interested to know if that is, in fact the case or not, or whether a low budget, Monogram picture of the early forties actually predicted an air attack by the Japanese! I don't see a release date for this film, but it is listed as 1942, and the Pearl Harbor attack was December 7th of that year. Did they really edit this thing up AFTER the attack and still manage to bring it out in 1942 (odds of at least less than one in twelve), or did they happen to hit it (almost) right with the headline "Japan Bombs Honolulu"? Hmmm. Also, I love the way the "Industrialists" talk about all the damage their respective companies can do in the upcoming push towards world domination (with hookers on their knees!). I have to admit it kinda made me imagine a Karl Rove/Dick Cheney lobbyist smoker. All right - I take it back - but it IS interesting to see how popular notions of subversive elements in positions of power have oddly stayed the same after all these years. Anyway, an intriguing film with an absurd plot - but definitely worth seeing.
A reviewer above here suggested that the WWII facts might have been grafted on later to follow headlines. I would be VERY interested to know if that is, in fact the case or not, or whether a low budget, Monogram picture of the early forties actually predicted an air attack by the Japanese! I don't see a release date for this film, but it is listed as 1942, and the Pearl Harbor attack was December 7th of that year. Did they really edit this thing up AFTER the attack and still manage to bring it out in 1942 (odds of at least less than one in twelve), or did they happen to hit it (almost) right with the headline "Japan Bombs Honolulu"? Hmmm. Also, I love the way the "Industrialists" talk about all the damage their respective companies can do in the upcoming push towards world domination (with hookers on their knees!). I have to admit it kinda made me imagine a Karl Rove/Dick Cheney lobbyist smoker. All right - I take it back - but it IS interesting to see how popular notions of subversive elements in positions of power have oddly stayed the same after all these years. Anyway, an intriguing film with an absurd plot - but definitely worth seeing.
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