Reviews

It's unusual in that the story is about espionage and counter espionage (and perhaps counter counter espionage) among the Germans during World War I, at a time before America entered the war.

Myrna Loy plays a German spy, sent by her spy boss (Lionel Atwill) to find out whether the head of the Turkish forces (very well played by C. Henry Gordon) is a double agent, spying for the British. The Dardanelles are involved, and military secrets. Myrna's life and mission are complicated by the fact that George Brent, an American studying medicine in Germany, is accidentally arrested in a dentist's office, during the ambush of Leo G. Carroll, who is also a double agent. Rudolph Amendt (who would play the mad doctor in She Demons nearly 25 years later) has a small role.

There are nuns in this movie, and a convent, at the opening and closing. Myrna, having outed Mata Hari as a double agent, herself falls in love, jeopardizing her work. There is some very clever dialogue in this film, as well as a little bit of well placed humor, and a great scene in which C. Henry Gordon writes secrets in invisible ink on Myrna Loy's naked back.

Writer-director Zeina Durra creates quite a character in Asya, (played fantastically by Élodie Bouchez). Asya is a Middle Eastern conceptual artist living in post 9/11 New York. When her ex, and first love, goes missing, she thinks the CIA may have put him on a rendition plane. Perhaps Asya is under surveillance. Don't worry, this is not a political thriller, even though serious subjects play in the background. The mood has a delightful lightness, and is very funny. We get to visit underground nightclubs, experimental theaters, and avant-garde art galleries as Asya and her boyfriend try to unravel the mystery. Whit Stillman of Metropolitan fame makes the most of a wordless cameo.

It starts in a choppy, aggressive, rather goofy style, and then removes its brittle shell to reveal something far more deep and emotional underneath. This extremely long (165 minutes) and astoundingly expensive ($130 million) film found few takers in 2008, but if you get past those early passages (which do contain a very misguided brief moment of kangaroo poaching), you end up with something that feels floridly rich, like a Golden Age Hollywood melodrama.

The episodic story finds Nicole Kidman as an English woman who comes to Australia in 1939 on reports that her estranged husband, who lives there, has been stepping out on her. She arrives to find out that he has been murdered, and that she now owns his ramshackle property much coveted by her husband's powerful killer. Needing someone to tend the property, she reluctantly turns to a man she can't stand (Hugh Jackman), and she also temporarily takes in a half-Aboriginal boy left with no guardian after his grandfather was falsely imprisoned.

Of course, as time passes, opposites attract and Kidman and Jackman, both widowed, fall for each other. But their happiness is not only threatened by the aforementioned villain but also because of the trevails of WWII.... If you are looking for something subtle, look elsewhere. But the film is visually stunning, rather endearing, and emotionally satisfying. I enjoyed it a lot more than some much more praised titles of the era.

This too stars Frank Sinatra as a Miami detective trying to solve a twisting, turning murder case that begins when he discovers a nude corpse of a woman with cement shoes while scuba diving one day, and ends up encompassing several more murders, including one that is falsely pinned on him.

Sinatra seems slightly distracted in scenes in this film, as sometimes he seems invested in his world-weary role and sometimes he doesn't. Raquel Welsh is pretty good as one of the suspects, Lainie Kazan does well in a one scene part early on, while Bonanza's Dan Blocker, playing a heavy, cannot escape his claim to fame as the famous TV theme song plays in one scene in which he appears.

There is some good, hard-boiled noir style dialogue toward the end, but at other times, the film isn't very involving, and frankly given how shady many of the characters are, black and white would have fit this film better than bright color. But, then again, this was in changing times (several scenes and images in this film would not have passed muster even two years earlier), so probably they would not have tried it in black and white.

. I had actually thought this was going to be a series, but it ended up being a 2-hour movie.

The story was that very good-kids discover a ghost in the attic of their new home, the Father & older son exploit the haunting, the younger son tries to help the ghost & the Mom is terrified, avoiding the ghost at all costs. That's about it.

Well this movie is full of the usual tropes found in any movie of this genre, but the special effects of the ghost and the guy who plays the ghost (David Harbour) are outstanding. The younger son is a typical withdrawn teenager in a new school and he quickly pairs up with the adorable but wacky girl next door. The mystery of the ghost's story is easy to figure out & wraps up nicely in 127 min.

Kids, teens are definitely the target audience here, since so much of the story is completely implausible-and I don't mean the "ghost" part but the real-life part. For example, when the cop's car gets wrecked during a chase scene & he stands in the middle of the road shaking his fist as the kids get away. Sorry, there's no way police would simply give up without pursuing 2 teens on the run!

One aspect that rang so true was how fast social media stories spread & how info is distorted & editorialized by idiots.

Overall it was fun & cute, all actors were excellent (although the adult women were EMACIATED & skeletal) the sets were great and the lighting, photography & editing top notch.

This was written & directed by Christopher Landon, Michael Landon's son. He seems to be interested in the paranormal genre and this one has the gentle feel of Touched By An Angel moreso than haunting/horror.

Stanley Donen directed many wonderful films from 1949 through the 1960s. But his career became very scattershot after the production code fell, and his big screen career came to a lamentable end with Blame It on Rio (1984). Although he later directed a nice little TV movie for ABC in 1999

The film is billed as a comedy, but its grim. Michael Caine stars as a man in the midst of a midlife crisis who, perhaps under the spell of a trip to sultry Rio, embarks on a brief affair with the nymphet daughter (Michelle Johnson) of his best friend (Joseph Bologna). The actors look embarrassed and stricken (this extends to Valerie Harper and Demi Moore as well), the script isn't funny (no laughs in this film, only one gag that produced a tiny smirk), the photography is flat, and the end result is very dour and unappealing.

But the worst mistake of all in the film is including a luscious black-and-white clip of the wing walking "Rio by the Sea-o" production number from 1933's Flying Down to Rio. The brief scene shows the studio system at its height, with true wonder and fascination. It leaves one lamenting the film around the clip all the more.

...and they rarely destruct on screen quite as badly as 1941. This was Steven Spielberg's Edsel, from a script by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and it is remarkable that it didn't kill off their careers right then and there. (For Speilberg, it was sandwiched between two praised hits: Close Encounters and Raiders).

The story is of a slapstick war comedy imagining what chaos would have erupted if the Japanese had tried to attack LA after Pearl Harbor and how the Americans would have fought back. The problem is that every single character in the film, American and Japanese alike, is depicted as a total and complete idiot. (No wonder why so many people were offended in 1979, as WWII is still preserved in amber as the bravest moment in American history) It's kind of like watching the biggest, longest, noisiest Three Stooges routine around. These characters bear no resemblance to any recognizable human behavior. The actors are helpless, and I am not going to list their names here because to do so would feel like blackmail at best, revealing a war crime at worst. And the film they appear in is the most cluttered and incoherent major studio production made prior to the Summer "blockbuster" dingalings that Hollywood foisted on unsuspecting audiences beginning in the late 90s.

The film actually begins with a hilarious gag, and the opening scenes show a bit of a spark, but by the time it moves into nighttime and the main attack begins, it becomes a miserable wall of screaming and noise (even the credits feature most of the cast screaming). What little can be said for this is that it is well-photographed and has some handsome sets, but that is little to go on.

I'm reminded that Zemeckis and Gale had scripted another noisy comedy the year before, I Wanna Hold Your Hand (many of its cast members have roles in this as well). That film actually was extremely funny and focused; perhaps if they had been in charge of directing this on a smaller budget, it might have worked. But on a mega-budget, with Spielberg, it is muddled, heavy, loud, inept, and virtually unwatchable. The notorious and underrated Ishtar was a far better film than this one. 1941 is a dead zone.

A man in a wheelchair, his widowed daughter-in-law, her mother and a cab driver find a dead body in the swimming pool. Complications of a missing murder weapon, evidence of a second weapon and a sleazy high-priced lawyer arise quickly.

The mediocre production values, plethora of B-List supporting cast and squishy ending testify that this was made-for-television. It has a very good plot despite that, and the mystery is on a par with a theatrical release.

I like Jim Hutton very much. That is what enticed me to watch this movie. He is here not quite as refined and at ease as he was when he appeared as: Ellery Queen but he is still quite fun.

I found Vic Tayback surprisingly good as a low-rent private detective. It was on a par with his role in: The Cheap Detective (1978).

I am sorry to say that the rest of the cast was quite disappointing. I expected much more from: Leslie Nielsen, Edward Asner and Nita Talbot but it was obvious that their hearts and minds were not in their role. They were all quite low-grade even for television.

I will split my rating to say that the story/plot/mystery are: 6.8/10 but the production values and most of the performances are: 3.2/10

This movie is available for viewing for free on the streaming channel: "The Film Detective". I do not know what sign-up or commercials that channel uses. I watched it on: Amazon Prime Video. The print was not very good.

This is a short, rapidly edited sequences of people interacting, often wordlessly, with some dialogue, and some music. There's no comedy that I saw, although this is classified as a comedy. Downey features his family (Elsie, Allyson, and Robert Jr.), as well as some actor friends like Dan Hedaya and Seymour Cassel. I found this excruciating. It also looks and sounds worse than the films he made in the 60s.

I watched it because it was released as part of a box set of Robert Downey Sr.'s films, Up All Night with Robert Downey Sr., part of their Eclipse series. I recognize that most of the Eclipse series sets are only going to have a niche fanbase, and I can safely say after watching all 5 of the films in this set that I'm not part of that group. Many, if not most, of the films in these sets are obscurities and curiosities, because if they weren't, then they would likely have gotten a full Criterion disc release of their own.

Wally has started seeing Julie Foster, a pretty girl at his high school. Her father teaches English at Mayfield High School, but he's not Wally's teacher - until the semester ends and the teachers and home rooms all change. Suddenly Wally finds himself in Mr. Foster's class. Lumpy, and in particular Eddie, are giving Wally "the business", saying he knew all along that Mr. Foster was going to be his English teacher when the semester changed, and that he started dating Julie to ensure that he'd get an A in that class. Wally talks to Mr. Foster about this and is told that he will get the grade he deserves, regardless.

Then Ward and June pressure him to see less of Julie Foster because they think he is too young to see so much of the same girl. But Wally expresses this opinion in the worst possible way and now he is on the outs with Julie. Will this impact his grade? Watch and find out.

In the middle of the episode, at some point Wally and Eddie are double dating. Wally is taking Julie, and Eddie is taking the daughter of the owner of a big construction company, saying that he is going out with this girl mainly to make connections with her father, who he thinks can help him later in life. In the 80s sequel show, "The New Leave it to Beaver", Eddie owns his own construction company. I wonder if there is an unmentioned connection there, or if it is just a writing coincidence.

... and that motherhood was pretty much foisted on all women whether they were suited for it or not, as this episode illustrates.

Ward and June are going out on a Saturday, leaving Wally and Beaver at home. They are plenty old enough to take care of themselves at this point. Then along comes Mrs. Murdock from across the street. She has to pick her husband up at the airport and practically flings her small son Chucky at Wally, gives him some money, and tells Wally to buy Chucky some shoes. Wally and Beaver never consented to anything, and yet here they are saddled with this kid.

Along comes Eddie Haskell who wants Wally to come ice skating with him and two other girls. Beaver volunteers to run the errand in Wally's place, and he does a good job, but things run amok when Beaver turns his head for one second at the store and Chuckie hides because Chuckie is a brat who wants what he wants when he wants it. What Chuckie wants at this instance in time is to wander and explore the department store alone. This kid is on his way to becoming Eddie Haskell at best and Norman Bates of Psycho at worst.

Everybody blows up at Wally for giving the Beaver this task, but Beaver didn't make any mistake that Wally wouldn't have made. The fault lies with the mother for being such an emotional mess, for making Chuckie the nightmare that he is at this point, and presuming it's somebody else's problem to buy her child clothes. It's rather insinuated that Mrs. Murdock is a mess of a parent, but still the show puts too much blame on Wally and by extension, Beaver.

At the end, Beaver asks a question that I'm surprised no adult would answer - "Does a lion, roaming in the jungle, have a conscience?" Of course he doesn't. Only humans have a conscience. It's what separates us from the animals who act purely on instinct. Why wouldn't the writers just let this be said?

It revels in bad taste, in its story of completely amoral car dealers. But it is amusing and zany in its own particlar way.

The story starts with two car lots across a busy road from each other, owned by two long feuding twin brothers (Jack Warden). The more polished one belongs to the nastier sibling, whereas the ramshackle one is owned by the kinder one with a weak heart. When the kinder brother dies 20 minutes in, the one lot is taken over by top salesman Kurt Russell who will employ any number of dirty tricks (including commercials with frontal nudity and strong language) to drum up business. The film is outrageous, but it is put over by a game cast and a script that knows to keep popping from one incident to the next without lingering too long on things.

... complete with perfectly styled platinum hair and penciled-in eyebrows. She's lusted after by a wide assortment of men, including Confederate veteran Charles Farrell, gambler Ralph Bellamy (replete in full Snidely Whiplash regalia), and sweaty Irving Pichel. Eugene Pallette is also on hand to provide blustery comic relief and self-deprecating fat jokes.

Director Raoul Walsh frames the film as being viewed through an old photo album, and the opening is a doozy, with each actor shown as a "page" in the album with their name at the bottom, and they each deliver a line or two about their character along with their character's name. It's very awkward, yet memorable. Many scenes also segue via a "page turning" wipe/transition. There's also some nice location shots of the giant sequoias. Otherwise this is a bunch of overheated hooey.

...and Jane Fonda starring in her film debut. This was directed by Josh Logan and very well I may add-the entire production is top notch. Perkins is lanky, adorable and comes across as a typical but naive young adult. Fonda is just gorgeous due to both youth and flattering photography, and we get to see her wearing more conservative 60's fashion as a college co-ed.

Where this movie fails horribly is the silly plot line (get ready) Fonda's character majors in Home Economics and is only attending college to "find a husband" - cue my surprised Pikachu face. She sets her sights on Perkins, the star basketball player who is bribed to "throw" the big game. Of course, everything ties up neatly in the end and if you just roll with the silly plot line, it's a fairly enjoyable little romp, not unlike some of the silly Doris Day/Rock Hudson type of films of the era.

This movie featured several familiar talented supporting actors such as Elizabeth Patterson, Jaws Mayor Murray Hamilton as the coach, and an unrecognizable Tom Laughlin as a fellow student.

But the standout for me was Ray Walston, whom I never cared for on MY FAVORITE MARTIAN. It was great to see him in a "normal" role and as a first year prof with goatee and glasses, just stood out as the best supporting actor in the film. The character's wife was played by Anne Jackson who, along with Ralston, was an Actor Studio member. She was beautiful and did the most she could with a small part.

Beaver is selling raffle tickets for the local hospital and gets a free ticket for every ten tickets that he sells. He ultimately ends up with ten raffle tickets. He's hoping to win the grand prize of a trip to Hawaii, but Eddie Haskell decides to burst his bubble. Eddie tells Beaver that even if he wins that prize that it will be his father saying Aloha, not Beaver, and that parents can take things away from children and there is nothing that they can do about it.

Later Ward is repairing a lamp - no doubt from June once again unplugging a device by it's cord rather than the plug - when Beaver quizzes him about the subject. Beaver asks Ward if he discovered a diamond mine in South America, would Ward take it away from him. Ward answers that of course he would not, while really not paying attention as he is in full battle with the lamp. This eases Beaver's mind on the subject.

Then Beaver wins the raffle - not first prize but the 3500 dollar sport's car. At first the whole family is thrilled. But then Ward and June have time to think and realize it is entirely impractical to keep this car. They decide to sell it and put the 3500 dollars in Beaver's college fund. When Ward tells Beaver, all he can hear is that Eddie Haskell's cynical take on the situation was correct and that his dad had lied to him when he asked about the diamond mine. And from the look on Wally's face he has similar feelings. How will this all work out? Watch and find out.

Ward might have had better luck winning the Beaver over with his decision if he had given more thought to the diamond mine question when he was repairing the lamp. It was a good lesson in taking time to answer your kids' questions completely and thoughtfully, because a seemingly ridiculous question about a diamond mine might have a real life equivalent that will need to be dealt with.

Wally, Tooey, and Lumpy are sitting together in the cafeteria looking at the new girl in school - Gloria. After her friend leaves, Wally goes over to her table to talk to her. The conversation goes pretty well until Gloria mentions offhand that she just now noticed that Wally has a pug nose.

Wally goes home that night and looks the word up in a dictionary and is horrified to think that he has a nose like a pig! So he orders a contraption that you wear at night that is supposed to give you a Roman nose. When Ward finds this and gets it out of Beaver as to what it is for, he seeks a tactful way to advise Wally about his unwarranted self consciousness.

Wally talking to girls is endearing stuff. When he talks to Gloria for the first time he awkwardly starts out the conversation discussing salt - like that's why he came over in the first place. In another episode where Eddie Haskell thinks he's going steady, Wally starts his conversation with this girl he's never met with a story about how somebody on the varsity basketball team got sick in the locker room. Wally could hardly get away with this approach if his nose was a thing of horror to behold.

... that being how Eddie Haskell was written in this show versus the original Leave It To Beaver (LITB).

In this episode Eddie is depressed, wondering what exactly the meaning of his life is. He decides, out of the blue, that his purpose is to become a Country and Western star. Notice that he doesn't decide to become a country and western singer or performer - he jumps straight to wanting to be a star and nothing less will do.

I know that Eddie Haskell mainly existed in this show, and in the original for that matter, to be a contrast to the wholesome aboveboard Cleavers. But at least in the original LITB Eddie was fleshed out. If you watch enough episodes of that old series you'll see that although Eddie does some pointlessly cruel things, he does not do them to be pointlessly cruel. He's deeply insecure and needs an audience, and when he does have one he's a wise guy, often overstepping boundaries. He has many vulnerable moments, and even does a few generous things because he is capable of empathy on occasion.

In the New LITB show, Eddie is practically a cartoon character. He says horrible things to his wife and sons. He sends his youngest son to military boarding school and treats his wife like a servant. He does things without any perceivable motivation other than trying to grab a few laughs for the show, and this episode is exhibit A.

The only reason I didn't score this episode lower than 5 was that Ken Osmond showed an unexpected talent for singing and dancing here. I always admired Ken Osmond's portrayal of Eddie Haskell, so this review was hard to write.

... in other words, those are some friends Beaver has!

In season four Whity dares Beaver to find out if there is actual soup in a billboard soup bowl. In this episode, Larry Mondello makes up a tale about a spanking machine in Mrs. Rayburn's office closet that is used on the eighth graders. Larry and Beaver were cleaning the blackboards for the teacher, and then Larry leaves for the evening. Beaver cannot resist going into Mrs. Rayburn's office to look for that spanking machine. But while he is there the janitor locks Mrs. Rayburn's office door, accidentally locking Beaver inside. Beaver has to trip the fire alarm in the principal's office to be freed from his dilemma.

At home, Ward is stern with Beaver, talking about how he was in a place where he shouldn't be, costing the fire department time and money and in general being a "conspicuous" little boy. Wally has to explain to the beaver what that word means. The next day, Beaver again gets himself into an embarrassing dilemma, but this time he is afraid to ask somebody to get his father to help fearing he will again be condemned as conspicuous.

Ward blames himself for making Beaver feel like he could not come to him when he was in trouble, but what about Beaver's friends? Time and again they seem OK with setting Beaver up for trouble if they think they may profit by it or, as in this case, just get a laugh.

Wally has a prescient moment in this week's episode when he asks his dad if they should sue the city over Beaver's second embarrassing incident. In the 80s TV show "The New Leave It To Beaver", Wally is an attorney.

Wally is tapped to speak at career day at his daughter's school and strikes out, with the dad who is an exterminator winning the day. Meanwhile, when Beaver is too busy nailing down a big Japanese client to work on a Trail Blazers scouting project with his youngest son, Oliver (John Snee) settles for the unlikely help of Eddie Haskell for a fee. The theme seems to be that, well intentioned as they may be, fathers do mess up from time to time.

There's also a recurring statement about one of the kids in Trail Blazers having an electrical engineer for a father and is therefore expected to build the most amazing project out of the household objects provided. I'm an electrical engineer. If you need someone to perform an inverse Fourier transform I'm your person. But electrical engineers in general do not go around building interesting useful things out of tin cans and we probably cannot repair your sprinkler system.

Eddie's slipshod work on a Gypsy's driveway causes her to curse him with a Gypsy curse. She will only take it back if Eddie agrees to fix the driveway. Of course he won't. He laughs off the curse at first but then his TV breaks and, as the power of suggestion begins to do its work, Eddie really begins to believe he is cursed as most of the things that happen are caused by him overthinking matters.

Wally agrees to act as Eddie's attorney to try and work out an agreement between Eddie and the Gypsy woman, but now that she can see that Eddie is scared she asks for redoing the work correctly AND 1200 dollars in damages. The Gypsy suggests a seance to ask the spirits what to do, and Eddie considers that ridiculous, but Wally says he thinks it will be a good idea. What does he mean by that? Watch and find out, although I will say that Wally is displaying a bit of the old Eddie Haskell sneakiness in what he has planned.

This episode makes reference to the original LITB episode "Voodoo Curse" where Eddie has a psychosomatic illness caused by him believing in the validity of the Voodoo curse Beaver has put on him.

I was expecting more from this episode, primarily because Voodoo Curse was such a great episode of the original LITB. This episode falls a little flat.

... as well as his first collaboration with Claudette Colbert. MacMurray plays reporter Peter Dawes who has been thoroughly "friend-zoned" by Marilyn David (Colbert) a stenographer. Every Thursday night, the two friends meet on a secluded bench in Manhattan. They eat popcorn, tell each other about their life, and "watch the world go by." It's obvious that Peter has a crush on Marilyn, but she's set on his being her good friend.

Later, she meets Charles Gray (Ray Milland), a young man with whom Marilyn is instantly smitten. One day, Charles announces that he is going to England for business and will return. Marilyn is sad, but understanding. Later, Peter learns that Charles was hiding a secret and he's actually part of the British aristocracy. He and his father (C Aubrey Smith) were traveling in New York City incognito. Marilyn also learns that Charles was actually engaged, when she was led to believe that they would be married. Marilyn ends up giving Charles the heave ho.

All while this is going on, Peter is in the background looking out for his friend, Marilyn. He learns about Charles' deception and later does not care for how he treats his friend. Peter uses his position at the newspaper to plant some stories about Marilyn, whom he nicknames the "No Girl," and how she dumped Charles. The publicity blows up and turns Marilyn into an overnight celebrity. Her celebrity grows to the point that she's even headlining a nightclub act even though she cannot sing or dance.

This was a really sweet movie. I loved the rapport between Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert's characters. I didn't expect the twist with Milland's character and I always love to be surprised by a movie. The ending of the film came as no surprise, but it honestly was the only ending this film could have. I highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a sweet romantic comedy.

The students of Mayfield High School draw names of students at Riverside High School to take to a dance that's all part of a social experiment by one of the teachers. Eddie comes to Wally and says he wants to switch dates, because the girl Wally is taking is somebody he knows and thus wants to take. Wally is suspicious given Eddie's sneaky past, but when Eddie shows Wally a picture from the Riverdale High School yearbook of the girl Wally would be taking if he and Eddie switched dates, he admits she's pretty and agrees. Wally arranges to meet the girl he is taking - Eddie's original date - at the soda shop so they can get acquainted prior to the dance, and she is not only pretty but seems pretty nice. And then she gets up to leave - she's four inches taller than Wally! He's been had by the antics of Eddie Haskell.

Wally talks to his dad about this and says he wants to back out of the dance because he will get nonstop ribbing from the guys if he shows up with this girl who towers over him. Ward gives him some advice but says, at Wally's age, he is not going to tell him he must go on the date, that he must use his own best judgment. So Wally decides to go through with it and tries combing out his hair "tall" and wearing lifts. How will this all work out? Watch and find out, although I did think the resolution not very realistic.

If you notice Eddie and Lumpy having closely cropped hair and Lumpy looking like he lost weight, Ken Osmond and Frank Bank were both in the reserves at this time as they were both over 18, and serving in that capacity meant they didn't have to take their chances with the draft, although the Vietnam War wouldn't really rev up for another four years.

This is one time where it looks like Wally really is going to give Eddie a badly deserved punch in the nose when June walks in and Eddie manages to get away. In the 1983 movie "Still The Beaver", Wally finally does give Eddie one punch and Eddie mentions it was the only time in thirty years that he hit him. From what I've seen of the series, that seems to be correct, although Eddie rightfully got close to being "clobbered" by Wally several times.

Tom Conway, with his smooth, urbane air, plays Mark, a hotshot defense lawyer, whose busy schedule leaves little time for his wife, played by the lovely Audrey Long. Tired of waiting hours for him to show up for dinner, and other forms of benign neglect, the wife pursues a platonic relationship with Tony, an artist. Confrontations lead to someone getting killed, and Mark finds himself defending Tony against murder charges. Corrupt officials also figure into the mix. The court room proceedings have a nice blend of drama and humor. Plus, there's the always amusing Edward Brophy. At 65 minutes long, this movie is hard not to like.

... while also bringing home an important lesson about family and true friendship.

Wally's daughter Kelly gets into a spat of sorts with a girl reminiscent of the LITB character Judy Hensler in that she is very stuck up and sure of herself. The girl has the recent subject of crazed buying - a Mulberry Bush doll. Kelly tells the girl that she has one too, which is a lie. The other girl then says that she should bring the doll in on Monday to prove that she owns said doll. It's Friday, and thus Kelly has three days to get this doll that is currently sold out everywhere.

Kelly tells her dad about her dilemma, who, along with Beaver, go to great lengths and pay four times suggested price to get one. But then during the weekend Kelly has her doll outside playing with it and loses it. Now what? Watch and find out.

This show is making sport of a craze that occurred in 1983 when the Cabbage Patch Kids brand of dolls became so popular at Christmas that year that parents and grandparents were mobbing the stores for them and fights were breaking out over getting the last one. About 15 years before online shopping became a thing, the only way to buy something in most cases was to show up in person and run from store to store looking for it.

Alan, Richard, Whity, and Beaver each buy a sweatshirt with a hideous monster emblazoned upon it. They make a pact to all wear their sweatshirts to school the following day. Of course parents are what happen while you are making plans. Each set of parents refuses to let their son go to school with such an outfit on. Beaver, however, decides to be too clever for his own good. He goes upstairs and changes, as instructed by his parents, but has the sweatshirt on underneath. After leaving for school, he ducks into the garage and takes off his outer shirt and goes to school in the goofy sweatshirt.

He arrives at school a couple of minutes late, so his entrance into the classroom is all the more dramatic and comical. Especially when he sees his three amigos are suitably attired. So it's off to the principal's office for him, with his parents getting a phone call. Complications ensue.

Most of the LITB episodes translate pretty well because they hit upon the basic unchanging issues of children and parenting. But this one is rather stuck in its time period, like the ones that refer to the value of formal dancing school early in the series. During Ward's lecture to Beaver over what happened he says "Either a thing is right or it's wrong." But that hardly applies to clothing, since fashions change drastically over time. In 1862, every single girl in Beaver's school would have been arrested for showing their ankles!