Reviews by Citizen Caine

The Third Man's Carol Reed is at the helm for this Britsh WWII propaganda film. As it was filmed during the war, most of the Nazi's are played by Brits which is at times hilarious (even Hitler has a trace of an English accent!), but often confusing. Rex Harrison is a British spy and the beautiful Margaret Lockwood is the daughter of a Czech scientist, trying to escape the Nazi's and reach Switzerland under various disguises. However, the real enjoyment in this film comes from the pairing of Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne as two bumbling Englishmen, caught on the train to Munich. In one hilarious, quintessentially British scene, the two men argue with the Nazis about giving up their seats, when the Nazis have reserved them. The rather flustered pair start reading the declaration from His Majesty the King, from inside their passports. Brilliant. Another great moment occurs when Harrison pops open a bottle of champagne and proclaims "England expects that ever secret-servicemen will do his duty", only to find that the bubbly is flat. It's these small moments that make the film very entertaining. The exciting climax of the film rivals a similar scene from Where Eagles Dare in terms of sheer genius.
Top stuff.

4/5

Another excellent film, with Hitchcock even introducing it. Henry Fonda is superb in this true story about Manny Balestrero, an innocent family-man with debt problems, who is falsely arrested for robbery and assault. The absorbing story aside, Vera Miles is outstanding as Balestrero's wife - and the first scene that she appears to be unwell in is genuinely chilling - aided by Bernard Herrmann's score. Anthony Quale is decent too as the lawyer assigned to help the couple.

5/5

From the clichéd portrayl of Franco Nero's gunman, I wasn't really sure what to expect as the outcome of this film - a twist, yes, but not a satisfying one. There's a good score from Ennio Morricone - but it is far from his great works such as Once Upon A Time In The West or The Untouchables. Overall then, the film tries too hard to be 'cool' and in the spirit of the old-style westerns of Sergio Leone. It fails. It may only be a short film but, unfortunately, it's not a very good one.

2/5

One of my favourites. Roger Moore is superb as Harold Pelham, a young businessman with a wife and kids, who, after a mysterious car crash, is claimed to have been seen on numerous occasions, even though Pelham knows he hasn't been there. How can a man be in two places at once? Hildegarde Neil is Pelham's wife, who accuses him of seeing other women and gambling on a regular basis. The film is creepy throughout, with a fantastically atmospheric use of music and lighting. The climax is utterly brilliant too, as Pelham, on the border of insanity, discovers... you'll have to see the film.
Moore's best performance in an excellent film.

5/5

Ridiculous, clichéd and predictable entry into The Man From U.N.C.L.E series. The plot is all over the place so I won't even bother trying to explain. The usual two leads (Vaughn and McCallum) are great alongside Telly Savalas and Curt Jurgens giving hammy performances to say the least. Jill Ireland is attractive but nothing more. The wonderful Terry Thomas is unfortunately unnecessary. It also clear to see that the film is heavily influenced by 1965's 'You Only Live Twice', with the gyrocopters and all.
The film is also notably more violent and it feels out of place. We are even cheated out of finding out how Solo and Kuryakin escape out of some of their scraps as the film cuts to the next scene (!). Its all good fun, swinging sixties London and all, but it's not a patch on 1966's One Spy Too Many . The best bit about the film? Irene Tsu. And she's absolutely gorgeous.

Fun but heavily flawed.

2/5

Dull thriller with the ever brilliant Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier, who, against his nature, gives a rather uninspired performance as a British Admiral (think of a grumpier version of James Bond's M).Susan George co-stars and is generally ok along with Robert Powell, who annoyed me for the most part. The plot is intelligent but uninteresting. I've seen the story in many spy films before. There are moments of tension but on the whole this is a sub-standard espionage thriller. Although it was directed by Terence Young and included Charles Gray, Vladek Sheybal and Anthony Dawson from the Bond films. I wanted to like it but couldn't really enjoy it.

2/5

Leslie Howard directs, produces and stars as R. J. Mitchell, the inventor of the most influencial piece of engineering, during World War II - the Spitfire! David Niven co-stars as test pilot, Geoffrey Crisp, who undertakes a series of races against German, Italian and American planes, competing for the Schneider Trophy. As the Nazi forces become a larger threat, Mitchell, Crisp and Henry Royce (played by the wonderful George Skillan), work together to design the ultimate fighter plane. Niven is as naturally brilliant as ever, but it's Howard's film through and through.
An often wonderful film overall, with some exciting sequences - I think I may even prefer this to The Dam Busters. It's also notable that Leslie Howard was shot down for real, just after the film was made, during what may have been a top secret mission. A true hero on and off screen, it seems.

4/5

Decent British Hitchcock film with a cast that was almosy completely new to me (Nova Pilbeam and Derrick De Marney). Great atmosphere and tension, its the plot that lets the film down - a clone of the vastly superior, The 39 Steps. Still, there is a spectacular scene in a mineshaft and quite possibly the first use of the phrase "Step on it!". Entertaining.

3/5

Excellent film with Montgomery Clift giving a very good performance as a priest in Québec who, due to his religion, cannot tell anybody about the murder he hears about during a confession. The standout scene involves the priests' lover, Anne Baxter, recollecting the moments they spent together during and after the second world war. The use of locations in this film are particularly stunning up until the tense climax.
Great film.

4/5

Great film that unfortunately starts rather slowly but it soon picks up and I was utterly absorbed in the story. Stellar cast including Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding, Richard Todd, Alastair Sim and Sybil Thorndike (who is terrific), along with Joyce Grenfell in a small part. But this is really Jane Wyman's film and she's absolutely lovely. Best scene? For me it's got to be the romance between Wyman and Wilding in the taxi. But the final scenes with Wyman and Todd are also superb. The opening shot of London's St Paul's Cathedral is also stunning. Its refreshing to see a Hitchcock murder mystery that's completely different from his usual formula.
Excellent film - would be 5 stars if it wasn't for the slow start. Although I'll probably change my mind sometime.

4/5