DVD Collectors Online

The Whole Town's Talking, a review by Antares

The Whole Town's Talking (1935) 3.5/5 - I caught this on TCM last night after about 25 years since I first watched it. It was fun to see Edward G. Robinson spoofing his tough guy, gangster persona. But the real surprise here is that it was directed by John Ford, a director you don't think of off hand when it comes to comedy. Ford does a great job at keeping the pace moving along and never once does it lag or falter in its delivery of laughs. Jean Arthur plays the wise cracking love interest Miss Clark so well, it probably got her the part of Babe Bennett in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town the following year. The story centers itself on a mousy accountant named Arthur Ferguson Jones (Edward G. Robinson) who's a dead ringer for one of the country's most feared outlaws, Killer Mannion. Mannion has just escaped from state prison and is heading for the big city to rub out a stoolie who was responsible for sending him up the river. The cops are frantically searching for him and mistakenly arrest Jones and Miss Clark, who they think is the gunman's moll. This leads to my favorite scene in the film as Jones tries to explain the mix up and Miss Clark is in a separate room being interrogated by over zealous boob detectives. They grill her as to recent heists all around the country and in deadpan seriousness, replies that it was Mannion. My description doesn't do justice as to how well and how funny this scene plays out, as Jean Arthur's delivery of that one word answer is absolutely priceless, especially when almost every crime of the previous five years is mentioned. If you ever get a chance to see this film, make time for it. I'm not as big a fan as most people are for John Ford films, but this one is definitely a forgotten gem.

(From Antares' Short Summations on March 16th, 2012)

The Preacher's Wife, a review by Rich

8/12

preacher's wife



In this updating of 1947's "The Bishop's Wife," a Baptist preacher unknowingly pays too much attention to his congregation, and not enough to his dedicated wife and son. Enter Dudley, a flirtatious, sharp-dressed angel, to help the couple build a new church and, not incidentally, reignite their marriage. Academy Award Nominations: Best Original Musical or Comedy Score.

A total blind buy but bought for the cast list, it was surprisingly good and a perfect uplifting xmas story. My preconception was that it would be about an illicit affair, and it was headed that way at the beginning, but with a very well-written and thoughtful twist everything turns out fine.
Brilliantly produced parody on all things spiritual and with a genuinely meaningful moral undercurrent, it is definately a keeper. 




(From 25 Days of Christmas on December 9th, 2008)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

(1989/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia VIZ Media (United States) Length: 450 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

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Plot:
It's not easy being teenaged martial artist Ranma Saotome, but it's even worse when your martial-artist father Genma takes you from home at an early age to go on a decade-long training mission. He doesn't speak a word of Chinese, and yet he insists upon bringing you to the cursed training ground known as Jusenkyo, where falling into one of the many springs there turns you into whoever - or whatever - drowned there last. And then, the two of you have this little accident.

From now on, a splash of cold water will turn your father into a giant panda, while you, well, you turn into a re-haired (and problematically well-built) female version of yourself. Hoy water will reverse the effect, but only until the next time. What's a half-guy, half-girl to do?



1.01 Here's Ranma
Writer: Rumiko Takahashi (Original Material By), Yoshio Urasawa (Screenwriter)
Director: Tsutomu Shibayama
Cast: English Voice Cast), Sarah Strange (Ranma Saotome (boy-type) (voice)), Brigetta Dau (Ranma Saotome (girl-type) (voice)), David Kaye (Soun Tendo (voice)), Robert O. Smith (Genma Saotome (voice)), Ian James Corlett (Dr. Tofu Ono/Jusenkyo Guide (voice)), Ted Cole (Tatewaki Kuno (voice)), Miriam Sirois (Akane Tendo (voice)), Willow Johnson (Kasumi Tendo (voice)), Angela Costain (Nabiki Tendo (voice)), Japanese Voice Cast), Kappei Yamaguchi (Ranma Saotome (boy-type) (voice)), Megumi Hayashibara (Ranma Saotome (girl-type) (voice)), Noriko Hidaka (Akane Tendo (voice)), Minami Takayama (Nabiki Tendo (voice)), Kikuko Inoue (Kasumi Tendo (voice)), Kenichi Ogata (Genma Saotome (voice)), Ryunosuke Obayashi (Soun Tendo (voice)), Hirotaka Suzuoki (Tatewaki Kuno (voice)), Yuji Mitsuya (Dr. Tofu Ono (voice)), Koichi Yamadera (Jusenkyo Guide (voice))

This is a good first episode. So far I only have seen the first season of this series, even though I also own the second one. It is a fun series, but I never had the urge to continue. I own and have read the complete manga though (all 38 volumes). I had bought them cheap on eBay a few years ago. I had enjoyed reading it.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 24th, 2012)