When I was a kid, I didn't like Rising Damp. People talked too much, usually over my head. I preferred sitcoms where silly stuff happened, like Terry and June. Of course if you look at T&J now, it's cringingly bad. Whereas watching the movie version of Rising Damp, I was pleasantly surprised at the standard of comic dialogue. We're not talking Oscar Wilde but it's a cut above the norm. Anyway it's quite clear that kids know nothing.
As a…
How do you ensure that the only characters in a crucial scene in the restaurant car are English? Set it at teatime.
Such perfection. So much my cup of tea.
As much as I love Fay Wray and her legendary lungs of scream, this is Glenda Farrell's picture. She's fabulous as the hard-bitten, wisecrackin' reporter and has literally all the best lines - "You can go to some nice, warm place - and I don't mean California!"; "I've been in love so many times, my heart's calloused"; "You raise the kids, I'll raise the roof. I'd rather die of an arthritic heart from shaking cocktails and daiquiris than expire in…
To some dear readers there may be an element of sacrilege in the following query, but what makes this a Howard Hawks film? This is a Billy Wilder film. The story originated with him and the script (from him and Charles Brackett) is filled with obvious Wilderisms, toying with the English language and sexual mores in his uniquely mischievous Viennese fashion. As one of the exchanges between professor and gangster goes:
'You don't mind if we talk, do you?'
'Just…
Fint watched and rated Cry, the Beloved Country on Tuesday Jan 21, 2025
Fint liked tony’s review of Rising Damp
Fint liked Richmond Hill’s review of Rising Damp
Fint reviewed and rated Rising Damp on Tuesday Jan 21, 2025
Fint liked Terry Stewart’s review of The 5th Day of Peace
