The Toast of New Orleans (1950)

I recently watched this second film of Mario Lanza's, and when I say 'watched,' I mean that rather literally, as I didn't actually get to hear much of the movie beyond the singing. This is the problem when there's a four-year-old around and I wanted to watch it with my sister, and we fit it in... but the volume on the dvd seemed very quiet and was overridden by household and playing child noises. And, I admit, it was easy enough to follow without the dialogue, and it wasn't good enough to re-watch on my own with the volume at a proper level.

That's not to say it wasn't enjoyable along the same lines as That Midnight Kiss. In fact, it really does play exactly like they said "Wow, we got a hit on our hands, let's repeat the formula!" which I believe is what had really happened. This go-around shifts setting, and adds David Niven (who's rather delightful as the bemused opera director), but is otherwise very similar, right down to an inexplicable twenty-second (literally) happy wrap-up that comes out of nowhere. Lots of singing, quite a bit of dancing (Rita Moreno co-stars), and lots of light, romantic entertainment.

Highlights for me were Lanza singing the Flower Song from Carmen and the finale of the movie, which was a performance of the love duet at the end of the first act of Butterfly. He makes a perfect Pinkerton, both in looks and voice. In this movie, Mario Lanza reminded my sister and me of a cross between Desi Arnaz and William Shatner. With a really good voice.

We also had great fun waiting to see what dress Kathryn Grayson would be wearing next. These barely begin to capture the gowns and dresses she wore in this movie!

(my personal favorite was this green velvet gown.)

Another movie I'm glad I saw, but wouldn't need to own.

The DVD also included an hour biography on Mario Lanza, which we watched at a different time, and were actually able to hear. What a sad, short life he had! It made me very sad to watch this man of incredible talent and see how the world he inhabited, and his own tremendous insecurities, brought him down. How after he was planted in Hollywood, he did want to go sing on stage, but was scared to, particularly as he was compared so often to Caruso -- how would anyone ever measure up to those expectations? His weight was a constant issue. As they said, he sang better when he was heavy, but he filmed better when he was thin, so he would go on these horrible diets and lose 60 lbs. in a couple months, really unhealthy. And there was alcohol, a whole lot of it. He died at just 38 years old; his wife died a mere 5 months later. So sad.

There were quite a few clips from his later movies, were he was more serious and actually go to act, and I really want to see those now. And boy, when he sings opera straight, wow. He really did have an amazing voice. These stills were in the biography and I really liked them.

(Mario and Tyrone! Love this shot, particularly as Tyrone is still my Hollywood wish-he-was-an-opera-tenor Hollywood star.)

(Mario and his wife - so cute)

(Mario and his wife again... love them reading Hemingway, even if it is a publicity shot)

(This shot is so beautifully framed, and so sad. Seems to capture how trapped he was.)

I also really like this one quote. He was talking about that moment when he would go on stage:

"I feel that it's such an exciting thing. It's a thing that brings so much beauty, to those who, at the moment, love what they're experiencing. And in it's way, isn't it true that it's beautiful, that moment of excitement?"

This expresses something that I find lacking a lot today, an appreciation of beauty. A need and a love of beautiful things/moments/etc. I recently tried to explain why I would cry at beautiful things -- such as an especially pretty moment in an opera, or a sunset, or a gorgeous view. The person I was speaking with just looked at me blankly. But beautiful things did not move them, did not matter to them, in a way they matter to me. I listen to this quote from Mario Lanza and it just resonates.

The Lamp Still Burns (1943)

I quite liked this little drama, about a female and successful architect who drops everything to become a nurse during WWII. Rosamund John is very likeable as the protagonist, Hilary Clarke. When she decides she wants to help people as a nurse instead, she commits fully with passion and perseverance. I can't help but admire someone willing to give up everything for the hardships and privations nurses-in-training had to go through.

Stewart Granger seems ridiculously young in this movie, and while his is definitely a supporting role, it's still a critical one. His character, Laurence Rains, works with Hilary in the beginning of the film when she's still in her architect capacity, and he's quite taken with her, even though he's engaged to another woman. He next encounters her when there's an accident at his plant, and then things go terribly wrong and he and his fiancee both get caught in an explosion at his plant and end up in the hospital Hilary is training at, under her care. The rest of the story deals with how the love triangle intersects with Hilary's commitment to the nursing profession.

I did not know how harsh and strict the conditions for nurses in England at this time was. The sheer amount restrictions and rules are astounding. Definitely not something I could have done, which just made me admire Hilary even more. I love strong, passionate female characters. She is faced with some horrible decisions that no one should have to make. I quite liked the other nurses as well, and the various patients all had personalities. It's a movie I will definitely watch again at some point.

It's funny. I watch plenty of movie violence and it doesn't bother me, but one long scene in this movie, a surgery -- which shows ZERO gore or blood -- got to me. It was more the sounds and concept of what was going on that wigged me out. I'm sure the fact that it was Laurence Rains on the operating table was a big part of it. Since this wasn't a Hollywood movie and happy endings are not remotely guaranteed in British movies, I had no idea if he'd make it, and worrying over his character was freaking me out. I think that was one of the strong points of this movie: I cared a very great deal about all the characters. The movie made their fates matter to me, and I love that about the film. (And did he make it, you ask? Well, you'll just have to watch the movie!)

Salome (1953)

I admit it: I'm a sucker for Biblical epics. Good or bad, overblown or great, melodramatic or understated or just perfect... I tend to enjoy them all. I love the vivid colors, the sumptuous costumes, the setting, the hair styles. Salome was more enjoyable than I expected. Hard to go wrong with the cast: Charles Laughton, Judith Anderson, Stewart Granger, and Rita Hayworth in the lead roles. But the script surprised me with some really good dialogue. That's not to say it didn't have its over-the-top factor (John the Baptist... I'm looking at you and your wild eyes!), but that's also part of the fun of Biblical epics.

(Charles Laughton makes a most excellent Herod. I also really love this shot of him.)

(Judith Anderson is perfect as the cold, desperate, scheming Herodias)

I wasn't quite sure how Stewart Granger would fit in when I started watching, but they worked him in all right, and he had plenty of screen time in his Roman outfits to keep me happy. And really, they certainly paired Granger up with some of the most lovely women in Hollywood! What a handsome couple he and Rita make!

Spoilers follow...

The plot surprised me a bit. I guess I've gotten used to Rita playing the femme fatale types, and Salome and her dance of the seven veils for the head of John the Baptist just all fit together nicely with that image... only they changed that. In this version, she dances to save him! Knock me over with a feather, what?? That was unexpected. I was also expecting her to somehow get Stewart Granger's character killed... she's good at that, and he's good at picking the wrong women and getting killed because of it... nope. They both seem to live happily ever after, and together, no less! The entire ending rather shocked me. Not that I object to happy endings, quite the contrary, it just didn't fit with the story of Salome I was expecting. I mean, who thinks "good girl" when they think of Salome?

(Good Salome?)

(no, this is more like it!)

Granger's character was also a good guy, though that I was expecting. His Roman Commander Claudius has secretly converted to Christianity, so he helps slaves, John the Baptist, and whoever else he can, getting himself kicked out of the Roman army when he openly admits it to his boss (Pontius Pilate, played with strength and unexpected compassion -- at least when around Granger -- by Basil Sydney, who I last saw playing Captain Smollett in the 1950 version of Treasure Island, really like him!). That was one of the small things that bugged me though. Claudius is ordered to take ship for Rome, and he promptly goes AWOL instead, returning to Galilee. And nothing comes from this open defiance of his orders. It's only his friendship with Pilate that prevented him from being executed for treason in the first place, and no one follows to arrest him or anything?? And he's still looking awfully Roman in the last shot of the film, no hiding out by blending in with the natives. Too bad. I'd kind of like to see a few consequences from his desertion. But, of course, I daydream. This movie is not called "Claudius," it's called "Salome."

All in all, it was a diverting couple of hours, and definitely better than quite a few other movies in this genre, and it fits the season. I think I automatically start looking for these types of movies come Easter, as television stations used to run the gamut of Biblical epics this time of year.

(Okay, I also admit that when Stewart Granger looks this good, I wasn't paying much attention to anyone else in the movie...)

Sparks Fly Upward, by Stewart Granger

I'm not much of a biography reader, but after reading this interview on TCM MovieMorlocks blog, I knew I wanted to read this book. This quote from Stewart Granger in particular just really spoke to me:

"Even the happy periods are unhappy to write about because you say to yourself, 'Why the hell didn't I know I was happy then?'"

And I LOVED this book. Really loved it. He may have described writing the book as torture, but he has a very easy writing style to read, and his way of describing things is often very funny. I laughed out loud. A lot.

The only problem with this book is that it ends. And he leaves off his story in 1960, right after he made North to Alaska. Perhaps there was going to be a second book, but alas, it was never written. Too bad, as I was so not ready to leave his world and would happily have read about the next set of years.

He has many adventures, but I think what I loved most about him is how normal he was, and how much about him I could relate to, such as our shared problem of a nervous stomach, and how many things scared him. I think I might even have loved his stories about non-Hollywood stuff more than the movie-related stories. Such as his early life, and buying a ranch in New Mexico, then Arizona, and the trials and tribulation of learning to raise cattle. I commented in my last post on how happy his character was in North to Alaska. Boy, that couldn't have been farther from his real mood at the time that movie was filmed (going through divorce from Jean Simmons), which only makes me appreciate that exuberant performance even more.

He had great stories about the crazy filming of King Solomon's Mines. About exploding planes and grabbing a cobra for a shot... only to find out its fangs were not taped back like they were supposed to be. Yikes! I was very impressed with how Jean Simmons took Howard Hughes to court -- and won! Some of the sad parts of his story broke my heart. Life is not always kind to any of us, that's for sure.

I actually don't have the book in front of me right now (I forced it, er... lent it... to my sister, after I loved it so much and I really wanted someone else to read it... even if she has no clue who Stewart Granger is, LOL!), so I can't quote some of my favorite sections right now. But there were a lot. From memory, I think my absolute favorite bit was when he first arrived in Hollywood and Cary Grant took him to the Farmers Market. This was after the war, but food had still been heavily rationed in England, and Stewart Granger just flipped out over all the food on display for sale at the Farmers Market. He bought all this stuff he couldn't possibly eat all of, just because he could and he'd gone without for so long, with a bemused Cary Grant looking on wondering what the heck. I also loved a bit about him commenting on the static electricity and getting painfully shocked by anything metal. I forget that it's not this dry elsewhere in the world, and that that might actually be a new experience for someone, not something you live with.

Anyway, I'd rank this as the most enjoyable autobiography (or biography) I've read, and it really made me like him even more as a person than just the handsome, swashbuckling actor from the movies. Highly recommended for anyone interested in either Stewart Granger or old Hollywood.

North to Alaska (1960)

North to Alaska is not exactly a good movie, but it's quite fun if you just go with the flow. I've seen this one a few times over the years, but recently watched it again, as I'm still catching Stewart Granger films. I've gotten kind of used to Granger being broody and darker, so his sheer good-naturedness and happy exuberance in this movie made me grin. He's so very cheerful. Reminded me of Van Heflin's hilarious line in Three Musketeers to Gene Kelly: "Will you stop looking happy?" But it all works well in this movie.

This movie's about two gold miners who strike it rich in Alaska. With wealth in his pocket, George (Granger) is ready to marry his long-pined-for fiancee. He sends Sam (John Wayne) to bring her from Seattle. Only she got tired of waiting and is already married. Sam gets a hair-brained idea to bring another French lady (Capucine) up to Alaska... only he doesn't exactly explain the situation to her, so she's in love with Sam before they reach Alaska. Throw in the gold strike, claim jumpers, and quite a few brawls to the romance, and you've got the plot to North to Alaska.

Most of my favorite parts of this movie are any time Ernie Kovacs is around. I grew up on re-runs of the Ernie Kovacs Show. We watched his show as often as we could. He was truly a brilliant and gifted comedian, and his show had some absolutely priceless skits on it. We always loved when he set weird stuff to music, like the pencil sharpener whistling "Sentimental Journey," and what we used to call "the spaghetti eating music." And there's Percy Dovetonsils and his awful poetry. And of course, the Nairobi Trio skits were always family favorites, and my sister even dressed up as one of the Nairobi Trio for Halloween one year. Given that I'm not much of a comedy person, Ernie Kovacs was definitely special and a very important figure in my childhood.

I love him as Frankie Canon in this movie. His constant scheming to make it rich just cracks me up. He watches for any opportunity he can turn to his advantage without having to do any work. He does that smiling "I'm your best friend, really!" routine, while lying and cheating and manipulating anything and everyone he can get away with. I love when Clancy the dog thwarts one of his early attempts. And, of course, I love when he finally gets caught as his final scheme goes awry and he finally gets his comeuppance. It's all very satisfying.

John Wayne and Stewart Granger are great as the gold-mining partners. I love their relationship, and the two actors play well off each other. I think John Wayne is underrated in the comedy department. Capucine is lovely as the love interest. When Granger sets out to drive Wayne's character jealous and prove he loves Capucine's character, Michelle, I just grin and grin. Fabian... well. He's young, rather cute, and annoying as all get out. He's my least favorite part of this movie, but at least he annoys the other characters just as much, so I can live with it.

The other thing I enjoy about this movie is the scenery. It's filmed partly at Hot Creek, near Mammoth California, a place I've been visiting since I was a little kid. You used to be able to cross the bridge they built for the movie, but it is finally gone and has not been replaced. Hot Creek is one of those places that has a jillion signs saying essentially, "Don't swim here, scalding water," and people still go in the water... and still get burnt or worse every year. Idiots. But it's beautiful there, and I love seeing it in the movie.

(me, at Hot Creek a couple years ago)

Some Like it Hot on the big screen!

Well, I've seen my first George Raft film on the big screen! (Why yes, I do watch this movie for George Raft first, those other guys second...LOL!). I discovered a new theater in my area, the Fox Theater in Redlands, which has Classic Movie Tuesdays. Last night's movie was Some Like it Hot.

Talk about a fun movie to see with a small crowd of enthusiastic film lovers! There was much delighted laughter all the way through. The theater really is more of an event center, with a dance floor, tables, etc. They set up seating in the middle for the film viewing. The print was clean, the sound good, though a little loud for me. I will definitely be going back to see more movies here. Their film selection is quite varied, so it will be interesting to see what April's schedule holds!

All in all, a great time at a nice venue. But any chance to see classic movies big screen without driving all the way to Hollywood is grand by me!

Blog award!

Irene, from And then they start to sparkle, and Patti, from They don't make 'em like they used, to has generously awarded me the 7x7 link award. Thank you both! It's an honor. This award has the following rules which, as usual, I'm going to break. I've never been comfortable passing things on, and most of the people who I would award have already received this!

1. Tell everyone something no one else knows about.

2. Link to one of my posts that I personally think best fits the following categories: Most Beautiful Piece, Most Helpful Piece, Most Popular Piece, Most Controversial Piece, Most Surprisingly Successful Piece, Most Underrated Piece, and Most Pride-worthy Piece.

3.Pass this award on to seven other bloggers.

So, 1, something no one else knows about... um. How about... I have an alarm-clock phobia. I loathe, despite, and hate alarm clocks. My first alarm clock was in the 7th grade, and it was one of those old-fashioned, loud buzzy-clangy-sounding ones. It was so painful to be jarred awake by that cursed thing that it scarred me for life. I have never used an alarm clock since, unless I must get up at some unreasonable hour of the morning to go catch an airplane or something. And when I am forced to use one (I use the alarm on my cell phone nowadays as I don't even own an alarm clock), I will wake up just about every hour all night long in anticipation of it. I will usually be awake a full half hour before it actually goes off, unable to go back to sleep for fear it might actually awaken me. So yeah, I get very little sleep if I have to set an alarm. I have also never used a snooze button on an alarm clock in my life. I set the alarm for when I need to get up, and I get up. Period. There's no going back to sleep with the possibility of it actually going off looming in my head. And yes, I've tried music ones, etc. It doesn't matter whether it's loud and strident, my favorite music, radio, or the softest buzz (my favorite "alarm clock" was a pager (remember those?) set on vibrate on top of my dresser), I will wake up before it goes off every time. I should add, I have no trouble waking up on time. Maybe it's just years of habit, but the lighting, the cats' activities, etc. all trigger when it's time to get up on any normal day.

2.

Most Beautiful Piece -- Writing-wise? Hah! So how about this one?

Most Helpful Piece -- Well, if a movie review helped someone either find a new movie they liked, or helped them avoid something bad, then there's something helpful here, but as they're all about the same style... I can't really say I've ever been very helpful! So I'd say simply consolidating a list of which movies I've reviewed onto one page (thanks to Patti) is probably more helpful than any single post.

Most Popular Piece -- Thanks again to Patti pointing out we do have Stats in blogger, I found the most popular post here by a landslide is this one on movie animals.

Most Controversial Piece -- I don't think I've written any! Although, anytime anyone criticizes something popular, there will be dissenting views. That's a good thing. I was thinking perhaps when I criticized the new Star Trek movie, or Hemingway... but when I just checked those posts, there wasn't much dissent. Hm. Even when I said I didn't like some major famous classic movies I didn't really catch much flak. So, I guess I'm really not controversial.

Most Surprisingly Successful Piece -- I guess the same one that's the most popular. Who knew how much people wanted to see pics of movie horses?? Maybe I should post some more? LOL!

Most Underrated Piece -- No idea. I have many many posts with no comments, but as I don't think the posts were anything special, I can't say any were underrated.

Most Pride-worthy Piece -- As my posts are simply representative of my passions, and not indicative of cool knowledge or anything more interesting than my own humble opinions... none. Although I've noticed that the posts I have the most excitement for when I'm composing them are usually the ones with no comments. What I love just isn't what everyone else loves. LOL! The writing I'm most proud of is my fiction, not my blog posts.

Thanks again for the award! Sorry this acceptance is so belated.

Things that make me happy

Huzzah! At long last, the wonderful score to Island at the Top of the World has been released by Intrada! Thank you!! I've literally been waiting my whole life for this one to come out. When I was young, I'd recorded the beautiful main title by holding a tape recorder up to the television when the movie was aired. I think I finally wore that tape out. My, but this is so much better! This is a gorgeous, pristine copy of the score, with lovely packaging, and, needless-to-say, it's been playing on the stereo non-stop since I received my copy.

This soundtrack is my favorite Maurice Jarre film score of all time.

Grrr

So, what's up with the inability to have post comments emailed to you on blogger anymore?? The radio button to select the email option is gone on everyone's comment forms, and and I get zero email notifications except on my own blog. This vexes me greatly, as now, the only way to see if there's a response to my comment is to go remember where I commented the next day, and go back and manually check. I don't have time for that! I barely have time to post/read around here anyway. Email notifications were lovely and necessary and kept everything neat and tidy and timely.

This is annoying me greatly. Anyone have a suggestion or solution? Thanks!

The Assassination Bureau (1969)

Well! It looks like Netflix got a bunch of replacement DVDs in finally. All of a sudden, stuff that’s been in my “unavailable” section for months and months is back and ready to ship! I was expecting the next Mario Lanza movie yesterday, but this one came instead. That’s okay, I’m always ready for an Oliver Reed movie.

I'd guess you'd call this one a black comedy, and I would almost dismiss it… except one can never dismiss Oliver Reed, (nor Diana Rigg, his lovely co-star), and the film went all awesomely cool in the ending.

The movie is set in the early 1900s, and the plot involves Diana Rigg as a feminist journalist who uncovers the titular Assassination Bureau. To destroy it, she commissions a hit – on the head of the group, Ivan (pronounced the Russian way, thank goodness) Dragomiloff, played by Oliver Reed. And he accepts and turns into a challenge to his group. What follows is a romp across Europe as he evades his corrupt fellow board members and takes them out before they can get him. Diana Rigg follows him and gets sucked into it, of course. It’s more complicated than that, with Ivan upset that the Assassination Bureau, originally created to rid the world of truly evil people, has become nothing more than a hitman squad that takes money for their work and ignores the rest. Then, there’s the true villain of the piece, played by Telly Savalas, who takes over the Assassination Bureau when Reed goes on the run. Savalas intends to use the group start a war in Europe, and Reed becomes the good guy. Curt Jergens co-stars as one of the bad guys. Interestingly, this movie was based on an unfinished story by Jack London!

Anyway, mildly entertaining with some quite amusing almost-cartoon-like parts (not a bad thing at all) – mostly because Reed and Rigg are so very good at their acting jobs they make anything do they do enjoyable. And the ending! The ending made me sit up and grin. Minor spoilers ahead...

All the heads of state in Europe are meeting at one castle, and Telly's character intends to wipe them all out. How? By dropping a bomb from a zeppelin! Now, really, if you want to make a movie better, throw in a blimp. Blimps are awesome. Then let Oliver Reed loose on it. With a sword. Trying to stop the bad guys and their nefarious plan. And let him sword fight with the bad guys on the skinny little walkways inside. Oh yeah, I’m all over that. I don’t care how corny the special effects are. Oliver Reed, sword fight, a blimp... those three in the same sentence make me one very very happy girl.

So yeah, enjoyed it quite a bit in the long run! I only wish Diana Rigg had more of a part to play in the ending, though at the same time, the role she did have made sense. I just wanted more. I loved a section in the middle where she hears a persistent ticking in her hotel room and suspects a bomb is planted somewhere.

That Midnight Kiss (1949)

I grew up on Mario Lanza records (my dad loved listening to him), but strangely, I've never seen any movies with him. Well, after catching this clip of him singing one of the greatest and most exciting tenor arias of all time, I wanted to see more. You see, very few tenors can actually sing this aria well, and to my great surprise, Mario Lanza is one of them. (This is a short version of the aria, cutting out the best part of it, but what is there is fun.) When Lanza sings straight, he really is good. When he starts scooping up to his notes and getting schmaltzy, well, it's harder for me to listen to.



So, on to That Midnight Kiss, which was Lanza's screen debut. It's light-weight, cheesy but sweet, fluff. It made me smile; it made me roll my eyes. Lanza co-stars with Kathryn Grayson, whose soprano voice is a bit of an acquired taste, and a bit ear-piercing on those super high notes they insist she hit. Plot was slight, but that was just fine. It didn't need plot. Lanza plays a truck-driving opera singer who is overheard by Grayson and given a chance to replace a famous (but obnoxious) tenor in their new opera house. There's minor romantic complications that inexplicably get resolved simply by seeing each other again. Very Hollywood. I have no idea what the title has to do with the movie. And, they spend the whole opera rehearsing Lucia Di Lammermoor only to perform something else (non-operatic) in the finale. Um, okay then. Glad you guys worked so hard on that duet!

Ignoring all that, what made this one fun was the cast. Jose Iturbi (as himself) gets the funniest parts, as does Keenan Wynn and Jules Munshin. Ethel Barrymore is under-used, but always a presence in any movie she's in. The two leads are fine, with Lanza earnest and likeable in his screen debut. There's a few opera arias sung for me to enjoy.

So, not one I'd want to own, but I'm definitely glad I saw it.

The Big Bang (2011)

I can't say I'd recommend this film to anyone who usually follows me here -- it's a hard R film with lots of bad language, nudity, sex, etc. -- but this neo-noir film amuses me greatly, so I'll review it here anyway. I caught it on Netflix's streaming video a few months back, loved it so much, I immediately bought a copy of the DVD the very next day. I watched the DVD yesterday evening for my second viewing.

When I saw it the first time, the first thing that I loved was the fact that the film had opening credits! Full-on opening credits. Woo! Then the film begins, and I thought I was watching a re-make of Murder, My Sweet. The hero, a private detective named Ned Cruz (played superbly by Antonio Banderas), blinded, is sitting in an interrogation room with three cops. He's concerned about a woman, but none of the cops will tell him if she's okay until he tells them what happened to get him in this mess. The movie is mostly told in flashback, with Cruz narrating his story. The case Cruz was working on was locating a missing stripper for a giant of a man just released from prison. Things rapidly get complicated (as they do in Murder, My Sweet), this time with Russian mobsters, diamonds, and most uniquely -- with a reclusive billionaire who's built himself his own private particle accelerator under a town in New Mexico. Seriously. It's awesome.


This movie takes the classic old school detective movie formula and mixes it up with a bunch of physics! And it does it with a lot love and respect for old noir films from all involved, with the end result: a movie that satisfied my love of old movies with some new, interesting twists. Sure, I absolutely could have done without the language and graphic images, but I liked the rest enough to really enjoy it anyway. The first time I saw it, I wasn't expecting the physics angle, and the more references that kept popping up (a warehouse called Schrodingers, Planck's Constant Cafe, etc,), the wider I kept grinning. I used to work in the Physics & Astronomy dept at college, so this stuff is familiar and right up my alley.

So what do I love about this movie?

Well, first off, the cast. Two of my favorite modern actors star in this: Antonio Banderas and Thomas Kretschmann. They're why I watched the film in the first place, and both were great. Kretschmann, Delroy Lindo, and William Fichtner play the three cops, and they're all perfect, all distinct characters. Sam Elliott plays the crazy, obsessed billionaire, Sienna Guillory is the missing lady, and Robert Maillet plays Banderas's 7-foot-tall client. Everyone of them, and the other actors I didn't mention, fit their roles very nicely.

Second -- I really really love the way this movie is filmed. It uses color, smoke, and geometric shapes the way a b&w noir film would have. It's lovely, surreal, and since so many modern films seem to be flat and monochrome, the vivid colors here are a breath of beautiful, fresh air. I love that in the interrogation room, the colors are black, grey, or white (clothes/walls/etc.), where the flashbacks are all colors: vivid yellows, reds, blues, purples. It's a striking contrast that subtly feeds the narrative. The camera angles, the juxtaposition of circles and squares and triangles in just about every shot, the set decorations... all give this the feel of a noir film. Cruz's detective office has the classic neon sign outside flashing red letters. Love it! The houses at the end of the film seem almost like a bit of an homage to the beach house in Kiss Me Deadly.


Third -- I love that Ned Cruz is a true good guy, in the old sense. He's honest, he does his job well (even when he doesn't like what he's doing), he's smart, and he figures things out. He does his best to protect his client and make things come out right. His detective character was quite refreshing.

Fourth -- the plot gets more and more entertaining as it goes along, as the missing person's case intertwines with the billionaire's design to be the first to see the God particle. The wild finale was crazy and wonderful and just exactly right for what came before. (There is an epilogue that feels a bit tacked on, though. I kind of wish it ended before that, after this last hilarious line of Banderas's.)

Anyway, the dialogue is sharp and quite a few of the lines made me laugh out loud. I read some reviews and some people had trouble catching all the dialogue, and yes, Banderas's accent seems a bit thicker than normal, but I didn't have any trouble understanding him. Kretschmann is German, so this is a movie filled with lots of lovely accents. One of my favorite lines is from Banderas to Kretschmann: "We're just two migrant workers in the land of opportunity." LOL. My other favorite line (from Krestchmann) makes little sense out of context, but it makes me laugh and grin just thinking about it: "See, I like my aftershave, and I like the color of my shoes..." and I can't quote the rest because it might be a bit of a spoiler.

And I also love the Burma Shave signs.