The Movie Journal

An American in Paris (1951) The 1950’s is known for the bright, colorful MGM musicals that would light up the screen and the faces of the audience. The most well-known is 1952’s Singin in the Rain . But a year earlier, there was a movie that started it all. That movie was An American in Paris . I consider this movie to be one of the most overrated Best Picture winners ever. In its own right, the film is fun and has some great musical numbers. The story, however, is flimsy at best. Is it truly better than A Place in the Sun or A Streetcar Named Desire ? The production design of the film is beyond a 10/10. Vincente Minnelli and his crew took extra care making the film look authentic as possible. The use of Technicolor also gave the film an incredible, dazzling look that I am sure blown away any audience member from that time period. Along with the look of the film, the film itself reach its height during the final 18 minutes- a rich, well-choreographed ballet sequence tha...

Wuthering Heights (1939) If you are aware of the film industry, you might know 1939 is one of the greatest years for movies ever made. You have the giant, still popular classics such as Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz . There is also a smaller, but still just as powerful movie lurking under their wings and that particular film is Wuthering Heights . If the name sounds familiar, perhaps take a trip back to your English high-school class and you may recall that you had to read the very complex Emily Bronte novel of the same name. William Wyler directed an adaptation of that classic story and to extremely good results. The book was so deep and complex that the author, Bronte had to create two volumes. The first volume consisted of the relationship between the two characters Heathcliff and Catherine. The second volume focuses on a dark, angry Heathcliff with Catherine’s daughter. Wyler omitted the second volume from the film which meant he had to change or delete so...

Giant (1956) I am a sucker for long, sprawling epics about history or social issues. Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, and Doctor Zhivago are films I could watch on repeat. Now we can add 1956’s Giant to the list. It’s one of the only films to tell the story about Texas and how the state transitioned from the old-fashioned cattle/cowboy era to the modern oil industry. I adored every minute of this three-hour and twenty-one minute feature. Yes, it’s long but it is a film that has big, ambitious ideas and characters you’ll come to know and fall in love with…..just as I did. The film is based off an Edna Ferber novel. If you are familiar with her work, you’ll know that her books capture social injustice issues such as racism. In her book this movie was adapted from, she gave us big ideas to think about along the lines of racism and women’s rights. From the 1920’s to 1940’s, the Mexican Americans on the ranches were treated with contempt and just a tad better than slaves. Also, ...

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) People who know me well know that I am fascinated with history. I always had a thing about pirates, European nations battling over the seas, and just how hard seamanship was back in the 18 th -19 th centuries. Because I am well-versed on the history, I am very familiar with the mutiny that this 1935 film, Mutiny on the Bounty is based upon. As a history major, I was appalled by the historical inaccuracies especially those concerning Captain Bligh. As a film fan, I found the movie to be an action-packed, rousing adventure about overcoming a tyrannical sea captain. In addition to this film, the mutiny inspired two other major films; 1962’s Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlon Brando and 1984’s The Bounty starring Mel Gibson (which I shall review sometime in the near future). These films deliver a more sympathetic view of Captain Bligh and tend to be more historically accurate. This particular film, directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Charles...

Frankenstein (1931) 1931’s Frankenstein is considered to be the godfather of horror films. It went on to influence an enormous truckload of horror films. Outside of 1931’s Dracula , this film is the beginning of the Universal classic horror films that we have all come to know and love. If you compare it to today’s horror films, it’s dated and not all the scary. But to the audiences of 1931, they were very scared. In fact, the movie began with an introduction that warned audiences of what is to come. Something that you’ll never see with any film really. In the end, this is a short, simple film about a man trying to play God which resulted in dire consequences. I said the film wasn’t all that scary to modern times, but it really is easy to see the influence this film had. Frankenstein’s monster is the traditional look that we all think of when we think about this story, and it’s a terrifying look. Unlike Mary Shelley’s important novel, the monster isn’t really depicted as...

The Jazz Singer (1927) Let’s say that you strike a conversation with a movie buff and you wanted to know a basic history of film. You ask that person, “Say, would you happen to know the first talkie film?” The movie buff would respond, “Yes, that movie would be 1927’s The Jazz Singer . Indeed, the movie buff would be correct in a sense. It is very important to note that the movie is NOT the first sound film, but the first film to use actual dialogue. Audiences in 1927 were shocked by the revelation of consistent sound/talking/music. In retrospect, this film would kill off silent film and change the course of Hollywood as we know it today. Sound pictures would take the center stage less than a year later. The movie uses sound, but still acts like a silent film. Much of the dialogue is composed using title cards, which was popular during the era of silent film. But when Al Jolson’s voice appeared, that is when the magic begins. Using my eyes of the 21 st century, the sou...

My Fair Lady (1964) 1964’s My Fair Lady is one joyful musical and that may be too negative of a description. It certainly deserves all the accolades it received in 1964-1965 and even today. It’s a magical, romantic movie about how opposites attract. It’s very weird to call this movie a romance because of the actions that take place in the film. There are no kisses, no wooing, none of that fancy stuff…..but undeniably, love is in the air. The songs are enchanting and the performances from Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn are nothing short of fantastic. Sure, modernists may raise some issues about Harrison’s treatment of Hepburn’s character, but this is how it was back during these times. Even so, there are some creative lines of dialogue that makes Harrison’s character a bit more sympathetic. Many of you may not know this, but this film has some Greek story behind these words and songs. Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe adapted this story from the 1912 film, Pygmalion. T...

A Place in the Sun (1951) 1951’s A Place in the Sun is an extremely well-made movie both emotionally and technically. It’s your quintessential American movie that you often see from the 1950’s. The movie is based off the famous Theodore Dreiser tragedy, “An American Tragedy” which itself is based on true events. That book is well-known for its social commentary and director George Stevens does the best he can to bring the commentary from page to screen. He is mostly successful, but Stevens was very ambitious when it came to this movie. Sadly, Paramount scaled his ambitions with a strict budget. He was still able to deliver an entertaining movie about forbidden love and class struggles. From what I gather, the making of this movie could have been its own movie. Twenty years prior, a version of Dreiser’s novel was filmed and was a disaster for Paramount, so the studio had Stevens on a tight leash. The three main stars are Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelley Wi...