Pride and Prejudice

It’s hard to believe, but not only have I never read the book, I have somehow managed to not see any of the dozen versions of this classical warhorse … except the 2004 Bollywood musical adaptation, Bride and Prejudice. I didn’t even know the plot. So I’m not competent to judge the film’s accuracy, which I’m told was a little ... Read more »

Pride and Prejudice

For some reason we had a Jane Austen week recently, without really planning it. We saw The Jane Austen Book Club, which we liked, and Austenland, which we didn’t. Then this shows up on TCM, and somehow I’d never seen any of the approximately forty versions and variations of the book that have been made over the years. This is one of the ... Read more »

The Pride of the Yankees

When you watch a movie from the ‘30s and ‘40s it’s useful to remind yourself that they were made from a different sensibility. Some are timeless, will probably be watched and understood and cherished in 100 years, like Casablanca. Others, like most of the films of Frank Capra, already look pretty corny in some ways. I still love them, but there are some things ... Read more »

Prime

He (Brian Greenberg) is 27 years old … okay, 23, really. She (Uma Thurman) is also 27 … no, actually, more like 30. Though if you want to know the truth, she is 37. She is seeing a psychiatrist (Meryl Streep) to get her through a recent divorce. His Jewish mother is a psychiatrist. Oops! Meryl learns her son is dating her shiksa client, and must deal with the ... Read more »

Primer

I loved this little science fiction movie. Not because it’s perfect. It isn’t; by the end I could hardly follow it. But, oddly enough, that was part of its charm. It took a common SF idea and followed it to its logical conclusion, which was chaos.

You need to understand a few things before you’ll understand just why and how much I admired this film.

It was made for $7000. ... Read more »

The Prince and the Pauper

What the U.S. distributor thought was wrong with Mark Twain’s original title I can’t imagine, unless they thought it sounded like a children’s film. But they changed it. It was not very successful in either incarnation.

I’ve been reading a Hollywood memoir by the screenwriter, George MacDonald Fraser, who scripted two of my Top 25 films: The Three/Four ... Read more »

The Prince and the Showgirl

I wanted to see this one because it’s the basis of another movie, My Week With Marilyn. I thought it would be good to see this one before, rather than after. It seems to be a case of more interesting things happening behind the scenes than in the movie, because it’s not all that great. The performances by both Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe are quite good, ... Read more »

The Princess Bride

As far as it would be possible to make a great movie out of William Goldman’s book, this one succeeds. Since the screenplay was written by Goldman himself, I doubt it could have been made any better. But it would be totally impossible to put the entire richness of it on the screen. For one thing, how in the world would you deal with the brilliant conceit of framing the story as one that ... Read more »

The Princess Diaries

We had just heard an interview with Anne Hathaway by Terry Gross on “Fresh Air,” and she sounded interesting. Now, of course, she’s a big star with important parts. She’s good at both comedy and drama. But what was she like in her first starring role? The answer is, very good, in very lightweight material. The movie starts off with some promise, but soon bogs down in an off-the-shelf plot. ... Read more »