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raykirk
Reviews
The Girl Can't Help It (1956)
Musical rip-off of Born Yesterday
I can't believe that in the 34 prior comments, nobody mentioned that this film is a blatant rip-off of Born Yesterday. A man is hired to bring an ostensibly dumb blonde up to the requirements of a gangster. Hired gun and blonde fall in love and live happily ever after. Gangster is left in the lurch. But Born Yesterday was an intelligent treatment whereas this is just so much fluff. Technicolor transfer to DVD is deplorable. Natalie Kalmus would be rolling over in her grave. Check out the paperboy. Recognize him? But, it's historically interesting to see the roots of Rock 'n Roll. Also interesting is Ewell's introduction to CinemaScope, a new format at the time.
Ten 'til Noon (2006)
Highly recommended. Entertaining and well-crafted.
A very innovative treatment in the Film Noir genre. Be warned that there are scenes of explicit sex, graphic violence, homosexuality and homophobia. Something to offend just about everyone. Of course, so does the wildly successful Borat! That said, this film is very well executed at all levels. The screenplay is very tight, with no holes in the logic. The direction is very even and consistent. The suspense builds in a well controlled manner with numerous twists that can be very difficult to manage effectively. The story has humor as well as intrigue and is quite captivating. The plot is somewhat reminiscent of Roshomon (Kurosawa), or it's American remake The Outrage. A story told from various points of view. But in this case, the emphasis is not on the differences in the points of view, but the actual events as they happen in real-time. Acting is quite good, sometimes excellent. Score is very innovative and appropriate to the events on the screen. All in all, the production values of this film are absolutely top-notch and equal to, or even superior to major studio offerings. And, the film begs the viewer to see it a second time in order to appreciate what is being told but not understood the first time. Highly recommended.