The Patsy (1928) - a Silent Film Review

In 'The Patsy' of 1928, the awkward Pat falls in love with the boyfriend of her sister Grace, who is the favorite of their mother. Grace is all that Pat is not, she can get any man she wants and always gets what she wants. If Grace's friend Pat does not even notices, she decides she needs to develop more personality. If she wants to practice some things she has read in books, her family thinks she has gone craz

I have to say that this is the funniest movie I've seen in a long time. Marion Davies, who plays Pat, is a born comedy actress. Anyone who claims that women are not funny will, after seeing this movie, change their mind. The highlight of the film is her imitation of Mae Murray, Lillian Gish and Pola Negri. Veriety wrote on April 25, 1928, that the audience spontaneously applauded when she made her Gish imitation. I must honestly admit that, after seeing this, I can never look at Lillian Gish in the same way, so striking and funny is this imitation.

But not only Marion Davies' performances are great, the whole cast is performing well. Mother Marie Dressler, who had a dip in her career, is great as shrew. With this film she made a successful comeback. Dad Dell Henderson also plays his role as a timid husband exelent. And Jane Winton, who plays Grace sister, is more than just a good looking face.

This film stood the test of time because it's not just slapstick, the dialogues are also very witty. This is because it is originally a play. To finish this piece, I want to praise Marion Davies again, because she's not only funny in this movie, Davies can also play very modest. As a result, you are really feeling for Pat's she’s disappointed.

In short, I think this is a brilliant movie.

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Miss Marple - a Film Review

Agatha Christie's murder mysteries are legendary. Miss Marple and Poirot are two of her most popular creations. Over the many decades, Christie has sold more books than many other writers. Since the beginning of the film, popular books have been turned into films. I do not know exactly what was the first movie version of a successful selling book, but I can remember a film of Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' that was made in 1903. The first movie of a popular detective I know of is the short movie "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" created in 1905. It is therefore amazing that it was only in 1961 that the first Miss Marple film, with the somewhat eccentric Margaret Rutherford in the title role, was made. Three other Miss Marple movies followed with Rutherford. It's hard to understand for some people, but in most cases it's necessary to change the story to make a good movie of a book. The reason for this is that a story must be told in a lim

Arsenic and old Lace (1944 and 1969) - a Film Review

Critic Mortimer Brewster finds out on his wedding day that his beloved aunts have killed a number of older men and that madness runs in his family. This is a film based on a play by Joseph Kesselring, and is filmed twice. The first movie that was made of it was shown into cinemas in 1944. This film was directed by Frank Capra with Cary Grant, Prescilla Lane, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre in the lead. In 1969 a remake was made for television with Bob Crane, Sue Lyon, Helen Hayes and Lillian Gish in the lead. I will discuss both in this review. When Capra began recording in 1941, the play is a big hit on Broadway. To not interfere with the success of the play, Warner Bros., with the producers of the play, decided that the movie will not be featured in the cinema before it ran out on Broadway. Thus it came to pass that the first performance, for the troops overseas, was shown in 1943. The following year the film was screened in the cinemas. The film i

Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie - a Film Review

Scene from 'Un meurtre en sommeil' In 2009, the French decided to make their own adaptations of Agatha Christie's detective stories. They do this (the series continues and the filming for the new season is to be broadcast in 2018 is being filmed as I write this) entirely in their own way. Poirot and Miss Marple have been replaced by the comic police duo Larosère and Lampion. This is not the only thing they have changed in the stories. They have changed almost everything to Christie's classics except the basics of the stories. In some episodes it was difficult for me to see which Agatha Christie story they used. Antoine Duléry in 'Je ne suis pas coupable' They also made the stories more modern. For example, inspector Lampion is gay and in one story he has to dress himself as a woman to catch the killer. Normally, I do not like this kind of dressing up because it often results in a cheap kind of humour and I just find this embarrassing. But that is

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