Amazon.co.uk Review
Hollywood's legendary "woman's director", George Cukor (The Women, The Philadelphia Story), transformed Audrey Hepburn into street-urchin-turned-proper-lady Eliza Doolittle in this film version of the Lerner and Loewe musical. Based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, My Fair Lady stars Rex Harrison as linguist Henry Higgins (Harrison also played the role, opposite Julie Andrews, on stage), who draws Eliza into a social experiment that works almost too well. The letterbox edition of this film on video certainly pays tribute to the pageantry of Cukor's set, but it also underscores a certain visual stiffness that can slow viewer enthusiasm just a tad. But it's really star wattage that keeps My Fair Lady exciting--that and such great songs as "On the Street Where You Live" and "I Could Have Danced All Night". Actor Jeremy Brett, who gained a huge following later in life portraying Sherlock Holmes, is quite electric as Eliza's determined suitor. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews:
TOP DRAWER MUSICAL.......2007-10-26
Grab your pearly duds and adopt a London accent.
What a great film this is, great soundtrack and choreography. You feel a nice warm glow throughout and even the most Bolshy musical hater must be impressed.
Nice One Audrey
On the street where you live.......2006-11-24
Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) who specializes in the English language makes a bet with Colonel Hugh Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White) that he can take someone who speaks with a lower-class language and by correcting the speech can pass off as upper-class or royalty. Overhearing this bet is a flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn); she wants to work a flower stand. But they will not take her unless she can speak more "genteel". Professor Higgins takes up the challenge.
Will he succeed?
What does her father (Stanley Holloway) thing finding that she moved in whit the two professors and did not want any clothes?
This is a musical version of the movie Pygmalion (1938), based on a play by George Bernard Shaw.
As people find that music and movies bring memories of the time in which they heard or viewed it. His movie has a meaning to me as I too was in love and found my self singing "On the street where you live." One of the strengths of the movie is that many of the songs instead of being classical and just stuffed into at odd times actually are songs that you would initiate in your life and they did so in the lives of the characters in the movie.
No me gusta..........2006-09-06
To be fair I don't generally like musicals. I got this because I love Audrey Hepburn, and found myself diappointed. The songs were all right, but unnecessary. Though Hepburn was charming as usual, the rest of the movie fell short. It was misogynistic, classist, too long, and lacking romance or any sort of human connection. I'm not sure how it stood the test of time.
Fantabulous.......2006-02-16
A splendid film, ever seen by this generation. It is worth a million tons of appraisal.
My Fair lady.......2003-10-25
I am no movie buff. This film however must surely be one of the greatest films of the 20th Century. The sustained witty, melodic sumptuousness of the production, the visual delight of the DVD play and the engaging beauty of Audrey Hepburn are simply stunning and the film can be watched with renewed pleasure time after time. You will not buy a better DVD
Amazon.co.uk Review
On its theatrical release Thirteen Days was pummelled by American critics for taking liberties with the facts of the Cuban missile crisis and smothering its compelling drama with phoney Boston accents by its primary stars. But anyone who enjoys taut, intelligent political thrillers will find little to complain about here. Co-star and co-producer Kevin Costner drew criticism for fictionally enhancing the White House role of presidential aide Kenneth O'Donnell, but while Costner's Boston accent may be grating, his fine performance as O'Donnell offers expert witness to the crisis, its nerve-wracking escalation and the efforts of John F Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood) and Robert F Kennedy (Steven Culp) to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Russia. While Soviet missiles approach operational status in Cuba, director Roger Donaldson (who directed Costner in No Way Out) cuts to exciting US Navy flights over the missile site, ramping up the tension that history itself provided. Donaldson's occasional use of black and white is self-consciously distracting, and he's further guilty of allowing a shrillness (along with repetitive, ominous shots of nuclear explosions) to invade the urgency of David Self's screenplay. Still, as Hollywood history lessons go, Thirteen Days is riveting stuff. You may find yourself wondering what might happen if reality presented a repeat scenario under less intelligent leadership.--Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Customer Reviews:
high tension.......2007-05-29
Nothing to add to what's already been said here by clearly knowledgeable reviewers except to say that there's a superb wealth of excellent extras including extremely erudite mini biogs of a range of key political and administrative figures who appear in the film, history behind the Cuban Missile Crisis, very impressive deleted scenes (best I've seen, presumably cut because of time constraints rather than quality issues), turning the story into the film plus the usual commentaries (which latter my player won't read properly, grr...)
A tremendous package for enthusiasts of united states political history and maybe essential viewing for the current administration who appear lacking in the subtle intellectual analysis surely necessary to resolve international crises as effectively as possible
A Few Good Men.......2006-12-29
A reviewer wrote a little further down that Costners character never existed- I assure you he did, just like everyone else in this story. Thats what makes this film good- I have read much concerning the Cuban Missile Crisis- and all the major characters from that time are included. Pretty much everyone is accuratly portrayed (even if you hate JFK, you have to admit he was quite the hero here) so it is useful as a history lesson.
Surprisingly good and surprisingly timely.......2006-08-27
Sometimes Kevin Costner just can't be told. On Tin Cup he couldn't be told that a scene of him beating a security guard to a bloody pulp because he forgot his ID card wasn't going to endear him to the audience in a romcom (I never saw the finished film, but I believe the preview audiences succeeded in getting that scene cut). In The Postman he couldn't be told that ending a film with a statue of him being unveiled was really not a good idea. At all. And in Thirteen Days he couldn't be told that adopting a Boston accent was not a good idea when it makes him sound just like Elmer Fudd. For the first quarter of an hour you're just waiting for him to say "Be wewwy, wewwy qwuiet. I'm hunting Wussian Miss-eyells." So it's a testament to the strength of the film that it survives that hurdle and emerges as a gripping thriller even though we all know the ending.
Although Costner gets top billing, the film really belongs to Bruce Greenwood and Steven Culp as JFK and Bobby Kennedy, avoiding impersonation (and the accent) to give quite superb performances. While the film is occasionally guilty of overglamorizing the dynamic duo, it's surprising to see just how little control they were able to exercise over the Chiefs of Staff who seemed hell-bent on escalating the Cuban Missile Crisis into a full-scale invasion. Considering the final result, it seems particularly timely now to see a drama about a US President desperate to avoid a pointless war over weapons of mass destruction that he knew did exist at a time when we have a US President who was desperate to start a pointless war over weapons that he knew didn't exist: for all the corruption, spin and dilettantism of the Kennedy administration, this was one of those fortuitous examples of the right leader at the right time.
The film certainly manages to pull off the rare achievement of instilling a real sense of pride not in action but in diplomacy, with most of the drama taking place in conference rooms (although there are a couple of genuinely exciting pieces of filmmaking in the spy flights over Cuba). Indeed, perhaps the most genuinely stirring moment is Adlai Stevenson calling the Russian ambassador's bluff at the UN, the sort of thing which doesn't exactly pull in the kids at the multiplex. This doesn't always pay dividends, however. The biggest problem is that it loses tension by being so confined to the political and military players: there's no sense of the very real fear that spread throughout the world that this really was IT and that the mushroom clouds would start sprouting any minute. As a result the movie does begin to lose its grip towards the end, and doesn't entirely dodge mawkishness. The sporadic early shifts from color to black and white are a real failure, too. With the archive footage in color, there simply seems no reason for them, and they seem to have been thrown in arbitrarily purely to give it an imagined cutting edge. Still, they're fairly minor flaws in an impressive thriller.
The extras package is truly excellent, especially the 50-minute historical documentary and video portraits of the real key players. Well worth picking up.
Nuclear Missile Crisis.......2006-08-23
Forget the multitude of indiscretions that JFK may have committed in his sadly short life and watch this film.
It tells the story of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
It isn't 100% accurate. Kevin Costners character never existed, although it may be mixture of a number of actual real-life people. However what it shows, with some great performances, is how close to a Nuclear catastrophy we came in 1962. I was only one at the time, so have no personal recollection of the events, but if this film is 50% true then we should all be grateful that JFK was in power and not Bush.
JFK was a mostly lone voice in a government full of hawks who were advising him to go for an all out nuclear first strike. JFK went behind their backs and did a deal with the Russians.
Of course if you believe that all out nuclear war is a sensible option then you will hate this film. For the rest of us though, this very well made film shows how great a politician Kennedy really was.
A tribute to a great man.......2006-05-05
Unlike many of those who have already praised this film, I was alive at the time of the Cuban crisis in 1962, albeit only 8 years old. I was simply terrified; I think that we all were, but it was one of those things that was so scary that we never really spoke about how scared we all were. My dad was teaching in a Bristol secondary modern school at the time and says that the children came to school in fear of their lives. I still find it hard to think how close we all came to the brink.
I think that this is a marvellous film, based as it is on the White House tapes made by Kennedy of key meetings. I think that Costner's role as Ken O'Donnell is very skilful. He hardly appears in the tapes and this is why his role is so skilful - acting almost as a chorus character in a Shakespear play. Someone - not a historical character - needed to represent the common person.
The film led me to the book of the tapes, and those led me to a renewed respect for the greatness of John F. Kennedy, despite all his human flaws. Just imagine if current incumbents had been in the White House at the time! Would that all films were this good. Thank you Kevin - I didn't even notice the accent!
Customer Reviews:
Drive-in Heaven.......2007-11-02
Ever wanted to be a character in Grease or Happy Days? Ever wished you could go to a drive-in movie like in the opening titles of The Flintstones but were prevented from doing so by not growing up in the fifties in some American backwater? Yearn no more! Buy this collection, set up the DVD player in the garden on a balmy summer's night and you're away...
These films are fantastic, in every sense of the word. They're not GREAT films, but their evocation of time and place is unsurpassed. Some have been remade but never bettered (The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers), some have been sung about in the Rocky Horror (Picture) Show (Tarantuala, It Came from Outer Space)...and the fifties wouldn't have been the fifties without The Creature from the Black Lagoon!
Pop that corn, make yourself an ice cream soda, sit back and enjoy...
Amazon.co.uk Review
Transplanted from England to the not-so-mean streets of Chicago, the screen adaptation of Nick Hornby's cult-classic novel High Fidelity emerges unscathed from its Americanisation, idiosyncrasies intact, thanks to John Cusack's inimitable charm and a nimble, nifty screenplay (co-written by Cusack). Early-thirtysomething Rob Gordon (Cusack) is a slacker who owns a vintage record shop, a massive collection of LPs, and innumerable top-five lists in his head. At the opening of the film, Rob recounts directly to the audience his all-time top-five breakups-- which doesn't include his recent falling out with his girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle), who has just moved out of their apartment. Thunderstruck and obsessed with Laura's desertion (but loath to admit it), Rob begins a quest to confront the women who instigated the aforementioned top-five breakups to find out just what he did wrong.
Low on plot and high on self-discovery, High Fidelity takes a good 30 minutes or so to find its groove (not unlike Cusack's Grosse Pointe Blank), but once it does, it settles into it comfortably and builds a surprisingly touching momentum. Rob is basically a grown-up version of Cusack's character in Say Anything (who was told "Don't be a guy--be a man!"), and if you like Cusack's brand of smart-alecky romanticism, you'll automatically be won over (if you can handle Cusack's almost non-stop talking to the camera). Still, it's hard not to be moved by Rob's plight. At the beginning of the film he and his coworkers at the record store (played hilariously by Jack Black and Todd Louiso) seem like overgrown boys in their secret clubhouse; by the end, they've grown up considerably, with a clear-eyed view of life. Ably directed by Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons), High Fidelity features a notable supporting cast of the women in Rob's life, including the striking, Danish-born Hjejle, Lisa Bonet as a sultry singer/songwriter, and the triumphant triumvirate of Lili Taylor, Joelle Carter, and Catherine Zeta Jones as Rob's ex-girlfriends. With brief cameos by Tim Robbins as Laura's new, New Age boyfriend and Bruce Springsteen as himself. --Mark Englehart, Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk Review
Hollywood's legendary "woman's director," George Cukor (The Women, The Philadelphia Story), transformed Audrey Hepburn into street-urchin-turned-proper-lady Eliza Doolittle in this film version of the Lerner and Loewe musical. Based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, My Fair Lady stars Rex Harrison as linguist Henry Higgins (Harrison also played the role, opposite Julie Andrews, on stage), who draws Eliza into a social experiment that works almost too well.
Star wattage keeps this film exciting, that and such great songs as "On the Street Where You Live" and "I Could Have Danced All Night." Actor Jeremy Brett, who gained a huge following later in life portraying Sherlock Holmes, is quite electric as Eliza's determined suitor. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant!!.......2007-09-10
Ive never seen this before but heard some of the songs, I think it was really good musical.
What more can you say apart from its one people should watch
Utterly delightful !!!
One of the greatest films ever made - fullstop.......2007-08-17
Ok, I'll carry on. If you try hard you can pick some faults with this / the musical version of Pygmalion in the ending (a bit naff in the film, though a good moment for the actors) and yes the whole plot is slightly far fetched. Now go back in time to when George Bernard Shaw wrote the play, and he too had various endings in mind; on its opening night people wanted to cancel it for profanity (the horse race scene). Even so it is a magnificent story of class divide, pretension and London poverty whisked with a liberal dose of chirpy, cockney spirit polished up a treat in the film.
The sets are wonderful, Audrey Hepburn is divine (ok it was Julie Andrews on Broadway who wanted the part, and Audrey didn't do the singing), the costumes are lavish, the music full bodied.
I don't particularly like Rex Harrison, though he is good for this role, Wilfred Hyde White is good and we have a huge performance in Alfred Dolittle.
If you've never seen it and like a bit of musical then the price makes this a no-brainer, if you have seen it you must know how good this is - go on get a copy!
Luverley with the Hepburn vocals.......2007-07-29
Like other people, I saw this film on broadcast tv with a not so brilliant copy, and on VHS. Although this has been 'restored', I feel the people involved nodded off during the process. There are literally hundreds of damaged frames left in, some very bad. There's nothing left in that could not have been repaired. Having said that, the film is as enjoyable as ever, and if you don't like musicals, (I do not) zap the songs. The film works as well without them, but listening to Audrey Hepburns' own vocals reveals to me that they should NOT have dubbed the film. As a musician I can hear that the vocal isn't perfect, but she's a poor flower girl. In Hollywood today, it probably would not happen, but in the 1960's that is what happened to many actors. Hepburns' accent isn't half bad, let us not forget she was not an American doing a Dick Van Dyke! Almost all of the actors give great performances, spot the one dodgy accent if you can.(It's none of the main players)
The musical comedy interesting to watch, listen and laugh.......2007-07-24
Well, I am happy I bought this musical from Amazon.co.uk.
It is one of my favourite ones.
"My fair lady" is interesting to watch and laugh many times because of funny events, also think about the nature of bachelor's days and changes...
The music is great fun to listen to and sing from time to time on the sunny side of the street...
I feel very alone in this view.........2007-06-13
While I think as a whole the cast acted well, and sang well, the story was uninspiring and dull. The characters were unlikable and, while I'm glad I gave it a shot, I'd never watch it again if I has a choice.
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining Shmultz.......2008-01-27
Garland has a pretty nasty voice by any measure, and the songs themselves set a high standard in banalty.
The awful sweetness of this DVD would make a hardened sailor wretch, but the thing trots along briskly enoough, for which it merits 2, not 1 stars.
There was a time..........2007-07-15
Yes, Virginia. There was a time when Hollywood used saturated color and made movies with upbeat themes and charismatic actors. But even by the standards of those bygone days, MEET ME IN ST LOUIS was a remarkable achievement.
It was based on a series of stories by Sally Benson (called "Tootie" when she was growing up) which were based on the author's life in St. Louis around the turn of that century. To their credit, the producers and studio kept the gentle plot of family life rather than add more dramatic oomph. But they did add songs - and - ooomph - what songs! Even resurrecting "Skip to My Lou" in swing time.
Judy Garland is the most famous name of the cast. But, look closely at the rest and you'll be looking at some of the best studio actors of the time. 7-year-old Margaret O'Brien, who plays Tootie, ranks on my personal list of favorite actresses of all time. This is probably her best role. Mary Astor as the mother was a leading actress for years. Leon Ames was a reliable father-type for years. Harry Davenport was the grandfather I wished I had. And Marjorie Main... well!...
Let's add this up: A simple drama set a century ago - tuneful songs - a terrific cast - packaged together with rich visuals, sets and costumes by Vincente Minelli and team.
Speaking of packages, this DVD includes an insightful "making of" featurette and a soundie (an old music video) of the movie's songwriters performing "Skip to My Lou" in the same style that would be used in the movie.
What's that? Alright, Virginia. From now on, I'll call you "Tootie".
judy at her BEST.......2007-07-09
Meet Me In St. Louis is one of those MGM movies when everything is perfect, firstly the songs come at the right time!, and with Frances Gumm (Judy Garland) starring and her husband to be directing Vincente Minnelli, you cant go wrong.
This was One of Garland's most successful films and one of her favourites for MGM, in which she introduced three brillient songs: "The Trolley Song", "The Boy Next Door", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".
It tells the story of four sisters living in St. Louis at the time of the Louisiana World's Fair in 1904. One of the sisters being Margaret O'Brien.
its a wonderful movie and one my favourites out of all the MGM musicals. And one of my favourite songs done also by Judy Garland " the trolley song". Sometimes I always thought that MGM didnt use her voice, Judy Garland always had a 40's kick butt voices, she was excellent at up beat songs, hence the trolley song being one of my fav's. Thanks Judy.
Meet me at the Fair..........2007-03-29
One of the legendary musicals from the Arthur Freed Unit and another of the dazzling technicolour film's that Judy made is 'Meet Me In St. Louis'.
The plot is sometimes a little weak, but nothing below great, and the songs are fantastic with some of Garland's classics like "The Trolley Song" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".
The acting is great, with Margeret O'brien upstaging everyone as mischevious Tootie and Tom Drake as the boy next door that Judy adores.
Garland never looked more radient and recklessly happy as she did in this 1944 classic, a definitive musical picture that even the deaf should enjoy!
A must buy!
Superb film.......2006-01-21
One of the greatest films ever made. I have watched it dozens of times and still enjoy it. Judy Garland lives forever via this movie.
Amazon.co.uk Review
The brilliant writer-director Mike Leigh (Topsy-Turvy, Secrets and Lies, Naked) has crafted an utterly compelling movie about one of the most controversial of topics. An irrepressibly hopeful housecleaner in 1950s London named Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton, Antonia and Jane, Shakespeare in Love) mothers everyone around her, from her own family to helpless shut-ins and lonely men living in tiny, isolated apartments. None of these people know that Vera also helps young women get rid of unwanted pregnancies, until the police appear and tear her world apart. Vera Drake isn't just an inspired character portrait; through simple and straightforward scenes, the movie weaves a quiet but mesmerizing portrait of how people--both wealthy and poor--cope with adversity. Though wrenching, Vera Drake has too much life to be depressing. Leigh is deservedly famous for his work with actors; every character brims with truth and Staunton's performance deserves every award it could possibly win. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
Vera Drake.......2007-12-29
Sublime is probably my nearest adjective. I'm not a film buff, but I do know the casting couldn't be bettered, the acting is world class and the Director deserves every credit the industry awards.
If you don't understand this one, you don't understand film.
A powerful performance by Imelda Staunton.......2007-11-04
In 1950 London, Vera Drake is a middle-aged, working-class woman who cleans the homes of the wealthy, takes care of her family, looks after her infirm mother...she's a woman who cares for people and seems able to work hard and stay cheerful. She also peforms abortions on young women who "have gotten in trouble." Abortion was illegal then in Britain, and a woman's choice was to bear the child, have an abortion safely and expensively by doctors secretly servicing a well-off clientel, or to take her chances with people who quite likely would use hooks and metal hangers. Vera uses lye soap, disenfectant and water. The women she helps are almost always poor with no one to help, no resources to call on, and whose lives would be devastated without Vera Drake. She's been doing so for years and her family doesn't suspect. She doesn't charge a dime. Her concern is for these young women who have few choices left to them. But one abortion goes wrong. She's caught, and her life and her family start to come apart.
This is a powerful film with an absolutely gripping performance by Imelda Staunton. The film is less about what she does than about who she is and why she does what she does. Staunton is on screen most of the time. She's amazing.
Just about as amazing are the performances of everyone else in the cast. I recognized only three names. Where Britain comes up with actors who are so completely real in their parts is one of the wonders of the world. The actors who play Drake's family, her daughter's fiance, and her brother-in-law and his wife bring so much depth to their roles they just about match Staunton.
The three actors I recognized are Jim Broadbent who briefly appears at the end as the judge hearing Drake's case; Alan Corduner who has a small role as a psychiatrist; and Ruth Sheen who sets up the appointments for Drake. Sheen plays the character as utterly unlikeable, and is such a change from her role sometime ago as the lonely and sympathetic Nurse Carr in the Bramwell series. All three have appeared in Leigh movies before, and Broadbent was Gilbert to Corduner's Sullivan in Leigh's wonderful movie, Topsy Turvy.
This is a terrific movie, a bit long, but you'll enjoy it if you appreciate great acting.
British cinema at its best.......2007-01-28
A truely superb piece of film making. Fabulous casting, intense screenplay and thought provoking subject matter. Highly recommended.
Gritty British Realism.......2006-10-07
Mike Leigh is known for his unglamorous, peeling paint, coffee-stained films. Normally they are set in the present day. I was surprised and interested to find him tackling and pulling off a period piece. I found the film to be thought-provoking and it sparked various discussions with my partner about gender inequalities, class inequalities and the ludicrous injustice of the British "Justice" system.
This is not a feel-good Saturday-night-bottle-of-wine-and-nibbles film. Never-the-less I'm glad I watched it and will probably do so again.
Thought provoking.......2006-09-12
Although I wouldn't class this film as "entertainment", I was deeply moved by the superior acting and sensitivity with which the subject matter was handled.
Amazon.co.uk Review
An early entry in the 1950s cycle of creature-feature pictures, Them! is the one about hordes of ants mutated to a giant size by the first A-bomb test. An exciting, persuasive exercise in paranoid science fiction, it exhibits an interesting tension between cautious warning about irresponsible tampering with the atom and a Cold War vision of the authorities taking on extraordinary powers to combat a threat to the country.
It begins as an eerie desert mystery, with New Mexico cop James Whitmore investigating disappearances and deaths: a mobile-home and a general store are crushed as if tanks have rolled over them, a shopkeeper is found dead of a huge injection of formic acid, quantities of sugar have been stolen (the film's sole straight-faced joke) and a catatonic little girl is shocked into shrieking "them, them!". FBI agent James Arness takes charge and a plaster-cast of a strange imprint summons a father and daughter investigative team from the Department of Agriculture, cherubic Edmond Gwenn and smart-suited Joan Taylor. Law-enforcement, military and scientific experts deduce the nature of the problem and take swift, decisive action to counteract the danger. Director Gordon Douglas stages several great monster-suspense scenes: a first encounter in a sandstorm, a venture into a poisoned nest, a glimpse of horror at sea, and a finale in the Los Angeles storm drains.
On the DVD: Them! has the wonderful scarlet-lettered, shrieking title on an otherwise sharp-looking black and white print. An amusing newspaper-style menu uses original artwork from the lurid poster to showcase some interesting snippets of test or outtake footage of the big puppet ants in action, and there's a wonderfully overblown terror-trailer.--Kim Newman
Customer Reviews:
We're gonna need more Orkin men.......2007-11-25
As a kid, I thought it was entertaining to squirt ants with my water gun and see if they could get away without drowning. I'm not proud of that fact, but I daresay I'm not the only dumb kid who ever tortured ants for fun. You can't tell me you've never kicked over an anthill before. For centuries, ants have also paid the price for the "crimes" committed by their nastier cousins (bees, wasps, etc.) because they are the perfect scapegoats - you can find them anywhere, and they're oh so harmless (well, except for the likes of fire ants and soldier ants). Just think about how many ants you've unknowingly squashed under your shoes over the years. Even those who "wouldn't hurt a fly" have probably sent countless ants to that big ant hill in the sky. If I were an ant, I would hunger for revenge on all the ruthless humans. Here they are, mind bogglingly more powerful than the mightiest of their tormentors (no human can lift something twenty times his own body weight), veterans of interspecies warfare, more organized than even the mightiest of human armies, and yet they can do nothing but wish they were large enough to really teach humans a lesson. Ironically, human beings actually grant them their wish in this seminal science fiction/horror classic.
Nothing much happens out in the New Mexico desert - until now. It's a big mystery at first, as Sgt. Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) and his partner pick up a shell-shocked young girl wandering aimlessly in the desert, then discover an abandoned car trailer down the road that has been ripped apart pretty good. The only clues - a bloody shirt, a mysterious print in the sand, and some scattered sugar cubes. The situation gets curiouser and curiouser when they check in at Gramps' store and find it all smashed up, just like the trailer. Neither the cops nor FBI Agent Robert Graham (James Arness) can make heads or tails of it all. They are still grasping at straws when Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn) and his daughter Pat (Joan Weldon) from the Department of Agriculture arrive in town. Their suspicions are soon confirmed - it's an ant problem. A really, really big ant problem. A really, really big problem with really, really big ants. Nine years after the atomic tests in that area of the desert, the radiation has caused the most unnatural of genetic mutations. The brass wants to find and bomb the nest, but the good doctor points out the futility of such an act. It's not just a matter of killing the gigantic ants - they have to make sure no queens have escaped to parts unknown. If that has indeed happened, a whole army of Orkin men couldn't save mankind.
The idea of giant ants terrorizing the countryside sounds pretty hokey, but Them! is fantastically successful at presenting the story in a serious, plausible manner. The question of whether or not to inform the public is given due consideration, for example, and the giant ants themselves are pretty impressive, especially for 1954. I doubt they would scare even the youngest of kids in our day and time, but they are not ludicrously constructed, ridiculous looking "monsters" (OK, I'll admit those giant pipe cleaner antennae are borderline adorable) or the product of superimposed images of ants run amuck. You also don't get too many shots of them along the way, and this helps the film generate an impressive amount of suspense early on. Throw in some pretty good acting (Edmund Gwenn and James Whitmore are especially good, while James Arness' voice alone lends a serious air to every scene) and a minimum of nuclear bomb moralizing, and you've got yourself one of the best classic monster movies ever made.
Possibly the best 50's Sci-Fi movie EVER..........2007-10-16
Well, this is up there with the lot... Forbidden Planet, Creature From The Black Lagoon, Thing From Another World... All of them...
Giant mutated ants battle humans in the American desert in possibly the most atmospheric B&W Sci-Fi movie ever made. A classic of the genre, this move paces itself brilliantly and the tension generated as you wait for the arrival of the ants on screen is palpable.
If you're a fan of the genre, you no doubt own it or have seen it, for those who haven't, order it, get the duvet down from upstairs, open a bottle of wine and press play about 10pm...
Enjoy...
"Spit's all that's holding me together right now, too!".......2007-02-10
I first saw this movie when I was very young and the images stayed with me for a long time, especially the atmospheric and climatic assault on the Los Angeles storm drains sequence. Years later, I happened to see it again and it was this viewing that established Them! firmly in my list of all time favourite movies.
So, what's so special about this movie? - I hear you ask. Well, you often hear the term 'classic' being applied to movies of this era and, quite often, they simply don't deserve it. Them! is one of the few movies that qualifies to be called a classic and rightly so. Quite simply, it's one of the best creature movies of the 1950's.
Its basic plot is very simple. Strange things are happening in the desert of New Mexico - a child is found wandering in shock and a general store is ransacked, its owner pumped full of enough formic acid to kill 20 men. Police Sgt Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) and FBI agent Robert Graham (James Arness) are assigned to investigate. But they are at a loss to explain what's going on until the arrival of Dr Medford (Edmund Gwenn) and his daughter Pat (Joan Weldon). What they discover has far reaching consequences. Atomic bomb testing has created a colony of giant mutated ants. And if the queen ant mates and hatches her eggs it could be the end of civilization as we know it!
For a movie made in the 1950's, the effects are surprisingly good. Of course, the focus is on the giant ants and, while today's audiences would probably find them laughable, if you stop to think about it, they really are remarkably effective for the age - I've seen worse giant crawlie effects in far younger movies. And the sound effect for the giant ants - a sort of chirrupy-whistling - is suitably creepy and instantly memorable.
For me, the best scene in the whole movie is the heroes' descent into the ants' nest. Atmospherically lit, with rolling mist (cyanide gas!) and dead ants everywhere, this is the definitive stand out scene. It's also the one that inspired the quote at the head of this review. In fact, speaking of quotes, check out the interplay between the four main characters. The dialogue and action flows so freely that, on occasion, it almost feels as though the actors were ad-libbing! It makes for an interesting and unique viewing experience!
So, in short, Them! is a landmark movie that should form part of any discerning viewers' DVD collection. Boasting Academy Award nominated special effects and a competent and likable cast, this movie spawned a generation of films about mutated gigantic creatures. Few have equalled the artistry of Them! If you don't believe me then give it a go - you won't be disappointed!
A movie worth the ant-icipation........2005-07-28
The formula is Big Bugs, Flame throwers and screaming women. The formula is Big Bugs, Flame throwers and screaming women. What happened as an aftereffect of the first atomic bombs? For one thing you get taller-ants.
I do not want to go too much into detail or it will ruin the surprises. How ever it starts with a local police plain finding a little girl wandering around in the desert. On investigation the police on the ground find a travel trailer with its side "...not caved in but caved out." No money is missing and someone tipped over the sugar bowl.
You will find many popular actors from the 60's in this movie:
Fess Parker is a pilot.
William Schallert "Colossus - The Forbid Project" gets to be the Ambulance Attendant.
Leonard Nimoy is the Telex operator. If this keeps up, he may find himself on a starship, where he can deal with ant-imatter.
James Arness only wants to help Joan Weldon out of a plane and into the ant-ichamber.
I watched this several times with my wife. The ants make a noise similar to a loose fan belt. So every time we pass a car with a loose fan belt she says, "Get the other antenna."
This movie also makes a good background movie. Don't wait for this to go on clear-ants.
Finally available!.......2003-09-06
I grew up in the States watching a Saturday show called 'Creature Double Feature'. My Dad and I would crash in front of the TV for 3-4 hours watching the films he grew up on. I saw everything from 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' and 'Earth vs. the Flying Saucers' to 'The Brain that Wouldn't Die' and 'The Day of the Triffids'. But, by far, the most memorable of any film I saw was 'Them!'.
From the eerie shrieking sounds near a destroyed desert shop (reminiscent of the 'Day of the Triffids', hear 'em before you see 'em), to a small young girl screaming in her hospital bed (Kaiser Sosae!), to the Los Angeles sewer system, this movie stayed with me for for 20+ years.
Yeah, the creatures are a bit static, but they look great and the buildup of suspense (for its time) is fantastic. I remember in specific a woman who gets off her bus on a fog drenched night, hears the eerie noise and know she's being stalked by something, inspiring her to run screaming. Reminds me in a sense of 'Alien' - you know its there, its hungry and its faster than you are.
If you're a true fan of classic sci-fi, you can't afford not to own this film.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic string-vested and purple-wigged wonderfulness!.......2008-02-11
This is just great. No, really. If you love a bit of classy t.v. history, this is well worth every penny. My only winge is that the packaging is cardboard...I expect packaging that is likely to still be with me in ten years time. This still gets 5 stars, as I'm reviewing the DVD, not the box it comes in.
The effects are very good (especially when one considers the shoddy effects the BBC were producing in Dr. Who at the time) and although the fashions are laughable (and clearly reflect the premise that everyone in the 60's and 70's thought future clothes would all be silver, with pointy breasts) they fit the show well (but not all the actors!)
Especially worth watching with a can of beer is the episode 'Mindbender', which was not shown in some of the more stuffy regional television centres in England as it was thought to be a reference to L.S.D. Granted, it is a bit whizzy and whacky, but in those days pop records would be banned if they had the word 'bed' in them. Due to this fact, this dvd comes with a 12 certificate. The idea of an 11 year old in 2002 being disturbed by ufo volume 5 to 8 is so laughable, I cherish it for days when I'm feeling a bit low. I seem to have strayed from my original point somewhat. Sorry. Ufo...a must have for the lover of fab t.v., even if it has purple wigs and string vests.
If I could give it 10 stars I would..........2007-11-10
This brought back so many memories, Gery Anderson was so far ahead in the genre of Tv and film Sci - Fi,that people who may laugh today at it should remember there was nothing like this at all before Star Wars and the rest.This was the pathfinder and today the remastered collection shows how well it stands the test of time.Being eight and allowed to watch this was a major treat at the time and I just loved the purple wigs on the Moonbase. Being able to get the whole set at a bargin price is even better news..Thanks Amazon.....
The BEST Gerry Anderson One Of All continued?.......2007-08-20
This is the second and final set of episodes of this wonderful series, beautifully mastered for DVD.
The episodes that followed "Sub-Smash" in production order were even more adventurous than the earlier batch and it was a tragic shame that after episode 26, no more were made. I may be in the minority, but I find "Space 1999" very inferior and dated, despite the magnificent sets used...
This series raised many unanswered questions, leaving it to the viewer to complete the picture. I'm not sure this kind of story telling could be done today, as everything would have to be spoon fed to the masses out there, who don't seem to want to *think* that much, possibly because life is intense enough, without a Sci-Fi/Fantasy series making it worse...
I strongly urge anyone to buy these two sets of UFO and somehow hope that the ideas could be resurrected carefully in the future, as Battlestar Galactica seems to have done, keeping the premise simple and telling a really good yarn.
A Real Gem.......2006-05-01
It's great to see what some of the fellow British reviewers have said about this show. UFO, in my opinion, does rank as the best British sci-fi televsion series to date. These later episodes do tend to differ greatly from the earlier ones with slightly more plot and action pieces which of course is great. The earlier episodes, which are of just as higher standard, tend to be a little more character driven so it's great to see that the series overall demonstrates a nice blend of action and character driven storylines. The imagination here is also stunning. Much has been written about the purple wigs and who cares why they have them; they look awesome as do the girls that wear them but that's another story! The design work on the show including it's vehicles and special effects is also of the same high standard including SID, the talking satellite with a cool, polished voice.
In reading some of the american reviews I was stunned to see some people attacking this show for it so so-called 'low budget special effects' or 'Thunderbirds-style special effects'. The show was indeed produced by the very same team that produced Thunderbirds and the effects are stunning. Even when Thunderbirds and Stingray were made in the mid 60's let alone UFO, the effects the shows demonstrated were way ahead of their time, especially considering they were often made on a low budget and for television.
One other factor I must agree on is the standard of re-mastering. All 26 episodes in both box sets are stunning both on the visuals and the audio and are a real credit to the team at Carlton Visual Entertainment.
To finish with, I highly recommend this set. Its great television on most fronts and is a worthy rival to some of the best of Star Trek.
Anderson's best........2005-09-25
Flimsy cardboard packaging aside (you would expect more for the price) this is an excellent release with a lot of care and attention taken in restoring the episodes.
It looks great and the menu's are superbly designed.
There could have been more extra features, but the series itself is enough to justify the purchase of this box set.
Amazon.co.uk Review
A sleek George Clooney and a seductive Catherine Zeta-Jones square off magnificently in the divorce comedy Intolerable Cruelty. The plot is simple: lawyer supreme Miles Massey (Clooney) skilfully outmanoeuvres gold-digger Marylin Rexroth (Zeta-Jones) when she divorces her wealthy husband--and she sets out to get revenge. But this movie comes from the creative minds of the Coen Brothers (Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou?), and so Intolerable Cruelty includes a Scottish wedding chapel in Vegas, an asthmatic hit man, fluffy-dog-stroking European nobility, and a legendarily unbreakable pre-nuptial agreement. Still, it's pretty restrained for the Coens; smooth and consistent, it never stumbles as disappointingly as their movies can, but also never quite hits the operatic pitch of their best work. It's still damn funny, though, with top-notch performances from the leads as well as Geoffrey Rush, Cedric the Entertainer and Billy Bob Thornton. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
Top Billing but Average Film.......2007-05-23
Top divorce attorney, Miles Massey (George Clooney) seems to have it all. Serial gold-digger, Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones) seems to want it all.
When Miles falls for Marilyn, the duo enter a battle of deceit and cunning, each trying to out do the other; and it escalates to a underhanded battle of the sexes.
Surprisingly Jones and Clooney do capture some on-screen chemistry and they have a witty enough script to keep the movie amusing, but there is nothing really special here, just some mild and inoffensive entertainment.
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