Reviews

"Magnolia Blossom" was published as a short story in the March 1926 issue of "The Royal Magazine". As others have noted, in 1926 Agatha Christie's marriage was falling apart. As I experienced the teleplay, John Bryden Rodgers did an okay, if too superficial and overly melodramatic, dramatization of the story. The original is well worth reading on its own (while avoiding any "modern reworking", at least until after reading the original).

The original story is subtler than the teleplay in suggesting the motivations of Theo, including her increasing realization of her role as perceived by Richard, by Vincent, and most importantly by herself. The story has, for me, a clearer explanation than the teleplay's of the title. The teleplay does have somewhat more gunplay than does the story. Also, an intriguing difference between the story and the teleplay is the name of Richard's firm. In the teleplay it is "Imperial and Overseas Trust". In the story it is "Hobson, Jekyll and Lucas". I wonder who made the choice to doctor the firm's name. And "Lucas" is for someone better read than I to explain, by George.

This 10-1/2 minute film gives us a peppy taste of swing in the summer of 1939. 26 year old Mel Allen is the emcee. With the 26 June release date of this film, he apparently did this just before he became the home-games announcer for the Senators and Yankees. Leslie Lieber looks like he's still in high school, and his penny whistle seems to have been recorded just a tad shrilly at times. Or maybe the audio track is unrestored. Most everything does sound fine.

All of the performers are talented. The one who has kept me watching and listening to this is Nan Wynn. Yes, Rita Hayworth's voice double and one of the sarong wearers in "Pardon My Sarong". Here, though, her full-length dress covers her from neck to ankles. As compensation, her voice still caresses the listeners. She does her best to ignore whoever (likely not Harlan Ellison) tagged her as the "molten mama with the lava larynx". Nan sings two songs, "They Say" and "Tea for Two".

Mel introduces "They Say" with "And now, you know, all true swing has what's known as a light and a polite side...they say." Nan does attempt a slower version than the previous year's #1 recording by Helen Forrest and Artie Shaw. Nan's version may work for those in the mood, possibly not including narcoleptics. Nan moves her arms like she wishes she had long sleeves while posing for her wax sculpture. For the last number, "Tea for Two" for everyone including Leslie and his perky penny whistle, Nan shows why she was a popular singer.

"Tea for Two" is pure swing for the last 3:05 and, not surprisingly, is viewable separately as its own video. Mel introduces it in "On the Air" as "And now for the killer -- Leith Stevens and the boys get the old chops to beatin' with 'Tea for Two'!" Nan joins in after about a minute of everyone swinging (I love the saxophone player's restrained swing) and jauntily sings the chorus to us. When she admits that "Weeeee will raise a family..." she gets a mischievous gleam in her eyes as she glances offstage. As "On the Air" reaches its end it finishes with cameos of the featured performers. Nan, you look radiant. Definitely you for me.

I confess: I also watched this episode to see what 12 year old Jill Oppenheim looks likes. More about her later. But this episode is also worth watching for its provocative script, which surprised me because this is a show aimed at children. It's difficult to watch the opening's "Reach for Nabisco" commercial without wanting to eat a box of cookies, RIGHT NOW. I'M HUNGRY! Coincidentally this is copyright MCMLII by Derby Foods, Inc.

21 year old Penny is seriously feisty and extremely cute, doing her part to stick up for women's equality with men. You can judge for yourself. I wouldn't go as far as reviewer tforbes-2 in calling the story line prehistoric. Sky does make a good point when he tells Penny that the armed kidnappers are dangerous, and notes that Penny will be safer back home. Ultimately, Penny does play a major part.

What about 12 year old, seemingly prepubescent, Jill? In her 7th TV appearance per IMDb, she appears in the first scene with Steven Geray as her father, both of them being refugees from an unnamed, evidently totalitarian, country. Jill is enthusiastic and lasts almost half of the first scene before her foreign accent begins to slide into and go out of Los Angeles English throughout the rest of the episode.

About halfway through the episode, while Prof. Gluckmann is being held captive (while Heinrich Mahler waits until dark before flying his henchmen, Gluckmann, and himself back to their native land), Mahler raises a provocative issue. Who is a traitor? Gluckmann did betray his country by defecting to the USA. As Gluckmann and Mahler argue the issue, Mahler notes, "The professor is hardly in a position to call another man a traitor when he is one himself."

Will Sky and Clipper arrive in time? What will Jim, Penny, and Gretchen do in the meantime? How talented are Mahler's henchmen? You will have to watch and see for yourself. You might also wonder, as I did, what kinds of shirts Clipper keeps in his closet. And reach, partner, reach for Nabisco.

One of the sweeter cruises of the Pacific Princess, featuring 4 long-married passengers -- Cyd Charisse was in the 31st year of her 60 year marriage to Tony Martin, Craig Stevens was in the 35th year of his 48 year marriage to Alexis Smith, and Stiller and Meara were in the 24th year of their 60 year marriage. It was also refreshing that no one was in a heart-rending crisis from any absurd misunderstanding, though there had been deviltry in the past for one of the cruisers.

Charo, the odd one out, did give a superb impression of being 38 instead of 28. (Unlike the previous week, Julie didn't accurately mention that she is only 25. And looks it.) Charo's brain-dead manglings of common (and outdated) English expressions get tiresome really quickly. For whatever reason, though, she did sing "The Love Boat" theme without any discernible error. What happened to the producers' sense of humor? And why didn't she also sing any of her recent disco hits?

Charo's best scene could be when she takes over from Julie for calling bingo numbers. She finishes her stint with, "Julie, would you believe? The man who won, he come from Mexico too!" No, I don't believe, with Charo's Spanish accent, that she "also" comes from Mexico -- including the way that she pronounces "N 50". Even though this originally aired on May 5, there is no 5 de mayo celebration? Perhaps because that holiday didn't become really popular until the 1980's?

I enjoyed the clever payoff to a delayed romance at the end. And if you like Charo, IMDb lists 8 more cruises with her. I'm still in season 2, but I'd watch an episode if she and Isaac in their prime (whatever that may be) could have a wild fling.

This episode aired on 1 January 1972, when Mary Tyler Moore remains 4 years older than Mary Richards. Hey, Mary, I'd be happy to date 34 year old women like you. And also 32 year old Valerie Harper. Even both of you at the same time. Anyway, as much fun as these episodes are, watching them long after they were first aired can sometimes be cringe-inducing.

One evening Mary and Rhoda go to a "Women For Better Government" meeting. It turns out that, in the meeting's auditorium, there is only one man among the woman -- one of the governor's assistants, who Mary and Rhoda had never met before. After the meeting, when Mary and Rhoda are back in Mary's apartment, the guy phones Mary. How did he get Mary's number? Mary's babbled explanation: "He got my license plate number as we were driving away. And then he stopped a highway patrolman and had him call in and get my name, address, and phone number." All those of you who were women in 1972, what would you have thought of a stranger getting your name, address, and phone number that way?

Maybe it was innocent enough in 1972, even though Mary Richards is less than anonymous as a TV station's Associate Producer, with her name likely appearing in the closing credits of some programs. 17-1/2 years later, in the real world, on July 18, 1989, actress Rebecca Schaeffer was shot and killed. Per Wikipedia's Rebecca Schaeffer page, which goes into a little more detail than IMDb's biography of her, her killer had paid a detective agency $250 to find Schaeffer's home address in California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records.

So the governor's assistant couldn't be bothered to ask the head of the WFBG to contact Mary, who could then have gotten Mary's permission to give out her contact info. If you're thinking it's A Man's World, the episode's end has a funny bit which could change your opinion, perhaps for the better.

Frank Gabrielson's teleplay and Robert Stevens's direction contribute to a nicely presented adaptation of Gertrude Atherton's 1933 short story "The Foghorn". Whoever also contributed the nifty fog effects -- set decorator James S. Redd? -- added to the feeling of uneasiness. Barbara Bel Geddes seemed to me to be a tad too calm and rational, but overall the cast does a good job. Bartlett Robinson still has a twinkle in his eye as the dryasdust fiancé, exclaiming "On our honeymoon we'll visit every single one of the stock exchanges in Europe!" Not to worry, though, our Barbara (like Lorelei Lee) shows that it is still easy to fall in love with a rich man.

Gertrude Atherton's short story is online, if not in your local library, and is well worth reading for its fever-dream passages contrasted with the descriptions of the intoxicating atmosphere of the San Francisco Bay Area and its fog, prose that Frank Gabrielson did not include. For example, "The band of pulsing light on the eastern side of the Bay: music made visible...stars as yellow and bright above, defying the thin silver of the hebetic moon...lights twinkling on Sausalito opposite, standing out boldly from the black mass of Tamalpais high-flung above." Those who have discovered what "hebetic" means appreciate Atherton's use of that word. One difference worth noting between Atherton and Gabrielson (and the restrictions of 1958 television?) is that the short story has, at least for me, a more unsettling -- if not cringe-inducing -- ending. Your mileage may vary. Happy sails to you.

If you like the main players in this picture -- Gaynor, Farrell, Dunn, and Rogers -- then you will enjoy this modest picture. Otherwise it could be around 2-1/2 stars out of 4 stars. It looks economically made and, per IMDb's Release Dates, Fox released it only 3 weeks after Stand Up and Cheer! But could it have been filmed first? Shirley Temple is very recognizable in the film, for all of the 3/4 of a second that she is on camera, without even a chance to speak. If Stand Up and Cheer! gave to her her breakthrough role, then why was she all but cut from Change of Heart? Another missed opportunity was Mischa Auer's who has maybe 5 seconds and 1 line. Symptoms of what encouraged Fox to merge the next year with Twentieth Century Pictures?

As other reviewers have mentioned, this is still a heartwarming film. Besides the lovey-doveyness of Gaynor and Farrell, Rogers is also fun. She seemingly tries to vamp any guy who comes her way. Dunn's performance reminded me of Johnny Nolan 11 years later in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and here he is even more optimistic, even though they all start out in low rent accommodations.

One of my favorite scenes is the 2+ minutes with Gaynor and Farrell on the boat to Coney Island. Not so much for what they talk about as for the background music. The scene starts out showing couples dancing, and the music that the band plays for the 2+ minutes is "Broadway's Gone Hill-Billy" (AKA ...Hillbilly; 1934 recordings used both spellings). Yes, the same song featured in Stand Up and Cheer! Fox, like the other studios, evidently liked to promote its music library. Hillbillyness has nothing to do with either Gaynor or Farrell (neither one particularly sprightly in this scene), and the dancers also appear oblivious to the unsung lyrics, but the tune is still guaranteed to get you out onto the dance floor. Yet another of the enjoyable scenes in Change of Heart.

What do you think of in the 19th century when you see "Custer"? Boston? Thomas? Libbie? Or, how many viewers don't first think of "George Armstrong"? Maybe the episode title "Custer" was just a convenient reminder about the story for the radio producers. But with the title "Custer" on IMDb and on the DVD, the story did little to spark my curiosity, because I guessed very early on -- surprise? -- where Joe Trimble was headed. Also Major Banker mentioning the 7th Cavalry halfway through the episode killed even more suspense. Why not instead have an episode title like "When Grant was President" or "A Date in June" or "Money? What Money?". "Rhymes with Bluster"? Title guy, I'm ready to take over.

As dougdoepke mentioned, the episode would have at least started out better without "Say it ain't so" Joe trying to break open the metal box. (And also without the too much information in the episode's synopsis.) Only the TV audience saw the prologue, not the Marshal or the jury. No wonder how the jury voted. The radio version of 3 years earlier (November 21, 1953) starts out with Matt and Chester meeting Joe and the horses, so there is more ambiguity about what, actually, Joe did if more than just round up the stray horses.

Joe was right, technically, that the evidence against him was just circumstantial and not enough to convict him. But he was also lucky in having the the US Marshal find him before someone else would would have enjoyed lynching him for horse rustling. And why would you give your real name to the Marshal? Especially considering your past offense. All in all, Brian G. Hutton looked well cast as the smug bumbler.

Among the foibles of the Dodge residents that make these stories entertaining for me is how the residents go through the same-old-same-old every day. Near the beginning of the episode, after Doc finishes his perfunctory autopsy of the late Harp Sawyer, Doc is all too willing verify that it was a "suicide". However, Matt then asks, "Does he have any bruises on his head?" Doc responds, "Well I didn't look for bruises." Oops.

They soon conclude that it would have been less than likely for Harp to knock himself out before hanging itself. Soon after, Harp's widow, after the unexpected end to their 35 year marriage, tells Matt and Chester, "I'd swear he wasn't a man to kill himself." So how did he end up dangling? The radio show version of 2 years earlier (March 25, 1956) at least gives Harp a plausible motive for kicking the chair away. Okay, but what does Doc do when Matt is not around? I'm now wondering how many murderers went free because Doc didn't recognize that their victims were actually murdered. Oh well, don't flash your money around I think is still good advice.

A typically entertaining, if thin, story, with the personalities of Doc, Chester, and Kitty amusingly whiling away a few minutes. However, the episode could have over in 15 minutes if only Matt had been more forthcoming. Seems like grizzled rancher Shell Tucker don't have no truck with doctors, who Shell has considered to be butchers ever since one of them tried to treat Shell's ma, who died "because of a doctor cutting on her". Why did we hear about this from Shell?

Previously, after Shell's wife somehow accidentally swallowed one of the nails that she was holding in her mouth while fixing the chicken house (we never heard if she finished with the nailing), she didn't seek medical treatment for a couple of days until the growing pain and infection became unbearable. Conveniently, her husband was away, so couldn't prevent her from getting help from Doc. In desperation, she finally asked her son to fetch him. Doc tried his best to save her but had arrived too late.

Were the wife and son still justified in sending for Doc? You can watch and decide for yourself. However, Matt tells Shell only part of the preceding summary. Why only part? Hearing only part of what happened, Shell swore vengeance on Doc, which led to the last 15 minutes of the episode, with its "cast" and all. The last 15 minutes did include the amusing dinner scene with Kitty and Matt that jamdifo mentioned -- When you're dining in Dodge, it may be best not to order the steak.

Granada Television made a solid 1987 TV movie of Conan Doyle's justly popular adventure novel, of 4 men who believed that they were in the right place at the right time. I very much enjoyed this version, including the back-story during the last part. As other reviewers have noted, Granada did not include all of Holmes's habits, the descriptions of some foreigners, and the romance between Dr Watson and Mary.

What surprised me though, because Granada's script took many sentences verbatim from the 1890 novel, were the many errors in the subtitles in the US 2003 DVD version. The actors did enunciate clearly for me, so I wonder if a machine -- or someone ignorant of various English phrases -- actually compiled the subtitles. For example the subtitles have "my besetting thing" for the actual "my besetting sin". Also: "inaudible" for "Mind there, mind there, for he bites something wicious." "Awe the energetic Jones the ubiquitous reporter" for "Ah, the energetic Jones and the ubiquitous reporter". "3 bob and a tenner" for "3 bob and a tanner". "If our man had an easy task just as ours ought to be." for "If ever a man had an easy task, this of ours ought to be." "2 stout men" for "2 staunch men". "Cease you." for "Heave to!" "you'll be court marshaled" for "you'll be court-martialed". "a nice cushy villa" for "a nice cushy billet". "I had a pretty nasty face in myself" for "I've had a pretty nasty facer myself." "pilgrims from Malay bound for Gito" for "pilgrims from Malay bound for Jiddah". And many more.

Not to worry, though. If you're hard of hearing or a non-native speaker, the novel is of course readily available online. And, as both Shakespeare and Doyle noted, "The game is afoot."

Well, 5+ years since this was broadcast on Halloween 2006 and I finally saw it. It's great to see Olivia back with SVU after Mariska became a mother. While Olivia was undercover she got to trade quips with the likes of Charles Martin Smith (looking more mature, if not with classier wheels, since his night as Toad 33 years previously) and Vincent Spano ('Sheik' 23 years previously). And I especially enjoyed, for a welcome change, an upbeat ending to an SVU episode. That, thankfully, was not a spoiler for me. What did have me puzzled, however, was an activity of one of this episode's victims, who was abducted at age 10 and held captive until age 17 before managing to escape, in part because this victim drove a car. How and when did the victim learn to drive? Olivia says to the victim, "Well, he conditioned you to never leave that room." The victim's room for 7 years did include games and a television. Well, I guess that if someone watches enough television...

3-1/2 years later, now that I have finally seen it, I agree with the other reviewers that this is an excellent episode. Also, after reading these user reviews, I watched "The X-Files" episode "Paper Hearts" on amazon.com. Unlike foxsong, I saw and heard only general similarities between "Paper Hearts" and "Endgame". Both episodes, I think, are more similar to Ted Bundy than to each other. L&O CI does have a habit this 6th season of helping itself to whatever was recently in the news. For example, a notorious model dies? Three months later her story is in the episode "Bombshell".

Although I don't (yet) know what else, other than male serial-killers of females, is the inspiration for "Endgame" and "Paper Hearts", I recommend that you watch each and decide for yourself. Each features an excellent, and chilling, portrayal of a serial killer. In "Paper Hearts" it's Tom Noonan as John Lee Roche. Kathryn Erbe and Gillian Anderson (in X-Files) have less flamboyant, and also important, roles portraying more-normal people. But Vincent D'Onofrio and Rita Moreno make a powerhouse team.