DVD Collectors Online

The Cranes are Flying, a review by Antares

The Cranes are Flying (1957) 4.5/5 - Who would have thought such an emotionally deep film could be made in Cold War Communist Russia in 1957. I was completely blown away not only by the amazing cinematography in this film, but by the intensely emotional performance of Tatyana Samojlova. She runs the gamut from wide eyed youthful exuberance to anguish, despair and sorrow over the course of this film, and she's a complete revelation. The story itself, does dip into overt melodrama a few times, but it never overwhelms the viewer to the point of becoming a borscht soap opera. It also has the trappings of Soviet propaganda throughout, but once again, never really overdoes it. Getting back to the wonderful cinematography of Sergei Urusevsky, I found myself many times during this film, repeating scenes, trying to figure out how he was able to get the shot so perfectly. All the reviews I have read tend to talk about the bus and tank scene with Veronica or the stairwell scene when Veronica returns home after the bombing. Both are truly amazing scenes of ingenious design, but for me, the best moment in this film, is when Boris has been shot and he looks up at the trees and they start to spin, and superimposed upon those trees is an earlier scene when he climbs the spiral staircase to catch Veronica before she enters her apartment. The sight of the trees and Boris on the stairs, revolving in perfect unison was just too beautiful to behold. It's been a long time since I've watched a film that was this good and completely had me enthralled. I'm shamed to say that I purchased this on DVD five years ago, and it sat on my unwatched pile. I'm now glad I decided to partake in this Retro marathon, because I'm exorcising a few of my DVD demons.

(From Antares' Short Summations on March 30th, 2012)

He Was a Quiet Man, a review by Rich

11/11

He was a quiet man





It's a shame that such a potentially great film falls foul by twisting it into a love story. Slater is excellent in the lead role (why does he normally appear in such crap straight to DVD films???), and the cast in general turn out top performances. However it strays so far from any realism, and the humour too often misses the mark, to make this a film worth recommending.
It could have been so much better!!
 

(From November Alphabet Marathon - Discussion/Review Thread on November 12th, 2008)

Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon, a review by Tom

20. War Zone (2000-05-09)
Writer: Garry Campbell (Writer)
Director: David Straiton
Cast: David Boreanaz (Angel), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce), Michele Kelly (Alonna), Maurice Compte (Chain), Mick Murray (Knox), Joe Basile (Lenny Edwards), David Herman (David Nabbit), J. August Richards (Charles Gunn), Sean Parhrm (Bobby), Sven Holmberg (Ty), Rebecca Klingler (Madame Dorion), Kimberly James (Lina), Ricky Luna (James)

An episode I never really enjoyed that much. I always thought that Gunn is a boring character. And I don't know why they had to bring a character "from the street" into the mix.

Rating:

(From Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon on July 19th, 2009)