Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Movie Night at the Library - A Handful of Classic Movies


Lured (1947)
Starring: Lucille Ball, George Sanders, Charles Coburn, and Boris Karloff

Premise:  Lucille Ball is an American dancer in London who gets involved in a murder investigation and ends up helping Scotland Yard.

My Thoughts:  The movie itself was fine.  The plot was fairly predictable and the acting was enjoyable.  It was entertaining but not one I'll really remember or rewatch.  What was interesting was seeing Lucille Ball as a kind of vixen starlet type character instead of the comic roles she's most famous for.  She's beautiful and a good actress but knowing what she can do with comedy and her crazy flexible expressions it kind of seems like a waste to see her in a more traditional role knowing what she can do.  If you see this come up it's worth watching but not worth going out of your way.

Brigadoon (1954)
Starring: Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, and Cyd Charisse

My Thoughts:  This was another one that was fine.  The plot was a bit weak but the dancing was lovely and the singing was gorgeous.  Really the ability to watch these three stars in the same movie was amazing and Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse dancing together is always worth watching.  As well I love Van Johnson's more practical sarcastic character.  I'm glad I watched it but probably won't take the time to watch it again.  If you like musicals and dancing than keep an eye out for this otherwise I think you could skip it without missing much.






The Iron Petticoat (1956) 
Starring:  Katharine Hepburn and Bob Hope

My Thoughts:  This was a lot of fun!  Katharine Hepburn was the perfect Russian pilot and Bob Hope's somewhat silly antics were a perfect pairing.  There's a few different things going on here.  You have the Russian/American conflict as well as Hepburn's own internal conflict about wanting to be the tough pilot and wanting to be pretty and loved.  This had lots of fun little comedic moments and I imagine that it's one of those that you could rewatch and find a different little moment or joke every time.  There's a lot of physical comedy and it can all be a bit over the top but with these two together it totally worked.  I'm not usually a Bob Hope fan but I think this film played to his strengths while keeping him a bit in line.  And seriously I just love Katharine Hepburn.

What have you been watching?

8 comments:

  1. Very true - not much of a plot on Brigadoon,(lol) but I've seen it about 8 or 9 times because I adore Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly. I love the 50's eras because of the clothing, vivid colors and furniture, and this gave me lots to enjoy. Thanks for these oldies! Hugs...RO

    ReplyDelete
  2. Movie night sounds like fun, and the old movies, some of which I have never seen, would add to the fun. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those are some oldies! After reading The Moroccan girl I set off to get espionage movies from the library. Just watched Three Days of the Condor with Robert Redford and now have The Messenger with Gene Hackman. Very old movies.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't think I've seen Lured, and I like that because I love finding about about old movies I can watch which will be new to me. Plus, I love Lucille Ball! Thanks for the heads up. 🙌🙌🙌

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lucille Ball as a vixen character does seem like it would be interesting to see, but sounds like that one's not really noteworthy other than that. The Iron Petticoat though- now THAT sounds fun!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Fun! I love how (I think) you're watching this with your son and your grandparents during spring break. Do you know of any musicals besides Singing in the Rain? I love those.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This sounds like a lot of fun. I've watched Brigadoon but remember it more from high school plays.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm curious to see Lucille Ball in a series role. I've watched Brigadoon more than once. I'll watch anything with Hope or Hepburn so I'll have to look that one up.

    ReplyDelete