DVD Collectors Online

Flesh and the Devil, a review by Antares

Flesh and the Devil (1926) 4.5/5 - One gaping hole in my film watching is most definitely Silent film dramas. I've seen plenty of silent comedy, but due to lack of material available or time constraints, I've never been able to really sink my teeth into what is my favorite time frame in Hollywood history. A few years back, I got the TCM collection The Garbo Silents Collection and it has been gathering dust ever since. But I'm in the midst of watching Kevin Brownlow & David Gill's mammoth documentary on the silent era, Hollywood, and decided to shake the dust off some of my silent film DVDs and this was first on the list. I've only seen Greta Garbo in one of her sound films, Grand Hotel, and glimpses of a few others such as Ninotchka and Queen Christina. Aside from being a radiantly beautiful woman, I find the performances I've watched either overly melodramatic or somewhat wooden and her voice to be a bit too deep and masculine to fit her image. I've never been able to understand why she survived the transition to sound, when so many other gifted, beautiful actors and actresses were left behind. I really wanted to watch this mainly because it starred John Gilbert, one of the most tragic figures in Hollywood history. And just as I expected, he was magnificent in the role of the love struck Prussian aristocrat who almost forsakes a life long friendship for the love of a woman who's not worth his efforts. After finishing the film, I started to ponder if Gilbert was the first actor to have true screen presence, because every moment he is on screen, he dominates. I couldn't think of one actor before him, where the camera just made them come alive so much. When the film was finished, I cursed Louis B. Mayer for what he did to his career. I've listened to a few of Gilbert's sound films and there was absolutely nothing wrong with his voice. I really hope Mayer is rotting in Hell for not only what he did to Gilbert, but to Judy Garland and Buster Keaton also. That being said, if you're into silent films, you need to definitely check this one out.

(From Antares' Short Summations on April 27th, 2012)

Destry, a review by Antares

Destry (1954) 66/100 - Had I never saw the original made in 1939, I would have liked this and rated it better than I have. But you can't get the original out of your head. Audie Murphy knew he wasn't a great actor, and to ask him to play a role made famous by James Stewart was probably more daring and difficult for him, than his machine gun action in Holtzwihr which won him his Congressional Medal of Honor in 1945. So because it's pretty much a scene by scene remake of the original, by the same director, one can only compare performances. So, to start, Murphy doesn't do that bad of a job as Tom Destry. Like I mentioned earlier, if I had watched this first, I would have been impressed by how much he had grown as an actor in just six years. Brain Donlevy > Lyle Bettger, Bettger plays his usual slick, but in the end cowardly bad guy and he never comes across as anything but weak. Marlene Dietrich = Mari Blanchard, Dietrich is the better actress and her fight scene and final kiss scene with Destry are the highlights of the original. Blanchard gets kudos from me as a better singer and after reading about her struggles in her youth with polio, for being able to dance that well, having been afflicted and recovering on her own from that paralyzing disease. Charles Winninger > Thomas Mitchell, usually I really like Mitchell, but I've seen this kind of performance from him in the past, and it seemed old and stale. Samuel S. Hinds > Edgar Buchanan, I'm sorry, but Buchanan will always be Uncle Joe from Petticoat Junction, and Uncle Joe was an annoying character that I just can't get out of my mind when I see him in something other than the TV show. Mischa Auer >>> Wallace Ford, this was a no-brainer. Auer was the funniest part of the original and changing his character to a doctor, who is incredibly hen pecked just falls flat. Finally, the songs in the original fit the western town setting much better than the songs here. At times, I thought they would have been better suited for 50's burlesque house.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on July 11th, 2020)

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

09. The Wish (1998-12-08)
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Marti Noxon (Writer)
Director: David Greenwalt
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Seth Green (Oz), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), Mark Metcalf (The Master), Emma Caulfield (Anya/Anyanka), Larry Bagby III (Larry), Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall), Danny Strong (Jonathan), Nicole Bilderback (Cordette #1), Nathan Anderson (John Lee), Mariah O'Brien (Nancy), Gary Imhoff (Teacher), Robert Covarrubias (Caretaker)

I love alternate reality stories just as much as time-travel stories.
Cordelia wishes from Anya (in her first appearance on the series), that Buffy never came to Sunnydale. The result: Vampire Willow and Vampire Xander. And the Master is still alive and ruling over Sunnydale. A fun What-If episode, which resulted in the even better Doppelgangland episode (which will follow later in this marathon).

Rating:

(From Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon on March 3rd, 2009)