Barefoot In the Park (1967)

Directed by: Gene Saks
Written by: Neil Simon
Starring: Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, Charles Boyer, Mildred Natwick, Herb Edelman

Robert Redford plays Paul Bratter, a conservative young lawyer, just married to a vivacious young woman, Corrie, played by Jane Fonda. Their highly passionate relationship descends into comical discord in a five-flight New York City walk-up apartment.

The only reason to check out this horribly dated comedy are the performances by Charles Boyer and Mildred Natwick, who play the eccentric upstairs neighbor and Corrie's uptight mother, respectively. Whenever they are on screen the movie comes alive with a comic energy that is absent in the rest of the film.

Redford and Fonda are alright but forgettable, and like most of the Neil Simon movie adaptations, the dialogue is corny and dated. In their day, Simon's plays must have been great on stage, but every film adaptation has the same kind of inoffensive and milquetoast humor that only Park Avenue types still find funny. After a while it just gets boring. Boyer and Natwick manage to make it work, but Fonda and Redford just sound like actors reciting dialogue from a play.

Final Verdict: See It for Charles Boyer and Mildred Natwick

The Window (1949)

Directed by: Ted Tetzlaff
Written by: Cornell Woolrich; Mel Dinelli
Starring: Bobby Driscoll, Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart, Ruth Roman

Now here is a great little film! I've been wanting to watch this for a couple years now, but since it is unavailable on DVD or VHS, it was impossible. Thank goodness for Turner Class Movies!

The story is simple. A little boy has a bad habit of making up wild stories to impress his friends and family. When he's sleeping out on his fire escape one sweltering summer night, he witnesses his upstairs neighbors murder a man. When he tells his mother and father, not surprisingly, they think he's making it all up or that he's had a bad dream. When the killers upstairs get wind that the little boy knows about their crime, the decide to kill him. So it's up to the boy to prove he's not lying and evade the killers.

'The Window' has many things in common with the much better known 'Rear Window.' For one thing, they're both based off of short stories written by Cornell Woolrich. Themes of voyeurism, murder, urban paranoia, and being trapped and defenseless dominate both films. 'Rear Window' is clearly the better film all around, but 'The Window' deserves to be released on DVD so it can be rediscovered and celebrated for the tight, compelling, suspenseful noir classic that it is.



Final Verdict: See It

Hester Street (1975)

Directed by: Joan Micklin Silver
Written by: Abraham Cahan; Joan Micklin Silver
Starring: Carol Kane, Steven Keats, Mel Howard, Paul Freedman, Doris Roberts, Lauren Frost

I didn't expect this film to be very exciting, and it wasn't. But it was however a thoughtful, low-key story of a husband and wife dealing with their differences in regards to century old traditions.

Carol Kane plays Gitl, a turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrant arriving from Eastern Europe to live with her husband in America. When she arrives in New York City she is surprised at how traditions held dear back home are thought of as 'uncivilized' here.

For example: Her husband has shaved his beard, and the women no longer wear kerchiefs or wigs to cover their natural hair. This unnerves her and as the film progresses Gitl and her husband grow apart. Even after Gitl is given a 'makeover' by Mrs. Kavarsky (the great Doris Roberts) she knows that it's too late. Her husband is in love with another woman and wants a divorce.



The pace in this movie is very slow, and the black and white cinematography is all but stagnant. But any other artistic approach to this story wouldn't ring true. The world back then for a Jewish immigrant was very slow paced. There wasn't alot of color in their lives. And for women, sitting around their tiny apartments was all most would do.

Carol Kane was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in this, but lost (deservedly) to Louise Fletcher for 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.' Kane would go on to star in the 1979 cult horror film 'When A Stranger Calls' and then transition into comedy roles that relied on her infectious goofiness. It was really interesting to see Kane play such a low-key, subdued character here, so different from the roles she's more famous for in shows like 'Taxi' or films like 'The Princess Bride' and 'Scrooged.'



Final Verdict: See It

Ladies In Retirement (1941)

Directed by: Charles Vidor
Written by: Reginald Denham
Starring: Ida Lupino, Louis Hayward, Evelyn Keyes, Elsa Lanchester, Edith Barrett, Isobel Elsom

This fog-shrouded Victorian era film stars Ida Lupino as Ellen Creed, the housekeeper to Leonora Fiske, a retired actress in a remote country house. One day she receives a distressing letter from London. Her two eccentric step-sisters, Emily (Lanchester) and Louisa (Barrett) are about to be evicted from their lodgings. Ellen convinces Leonora to let her step sisters stay with her. She agrees, but only for a short time.

When the dark, serious Emily and the flighty, nervous Louisa arrive they do nothing but unnerve Leonora. They're not only eccentric, they're absolutely certifiable. Ellen keeps the fact that the sisters will be committed to an insane asylum if they do not remain under Ellen's care a secret. When Leonora demands that the sisters leave the house, along with Ellen, Ellen must resort to desperate measures to assure that her family stick together. And the desperate measure? Murder.

Throw in Louis Hayward as Albert, a handsome, untrustworthy vagabond, Evelyn Keyes as Leonora's suspicious maid, and two intrusive nuns, and Ellen's problems have only just begun.

This film was clearly adapted from a play. It all takes place in and around Leonora's country house. But the staginess never gets in the way of the witty script and the great performances from Lupino and Hayward. But it's the always wonderful Elsa Lanchester who steals the show.

So if you're in the mood for fun fog shrouded suspense, watch 'Ladies In Retirement.'



Final Verdict: See It