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miketritico
Reviews
Chloe, Love Is Calling You (1934)
Movie has value from historical perspective
I agree that the plot and presentation are flawed, however, there is value in seeing how some people perceived certain social situations during an earlier era in our history. Not all people at that time, of course, saw things the same way, nor would they have made the movie in the way that it was done, but I appreciate all the old films because each gives us a short look at things through other eyes.
As for the complaint that the NAACP would not like the film, I am not sure about that. Maybe they would see some value in the enhanced exposure of certain attitudes, maybe not.
Having grown up in Louisiana, I do think that the voodoo scenes were overdone and the man wrestling with an already dead alligator was pretty hokey, but I was pleased to see some clear water for a change. (I suspect that scene may have been filmed in Florida because by the 1930's we had pretty much ruined our bayous already.)
Mike
The Naked Kiss (1964)
Ahead of its time
This movie covered topics not usually mentioned in movies in 1964: prostitution, pedophilia, and abortion. It even covered (allegorically) a lesbian oral rape (suffered in the film by the great actress Virginia Gray.)
Although awkward in most of its scenes, that can be overlooked since there was a need to bring to the surface for public discussion the problems that were contained within the script, including sterility as a consequence of venereal disease, and the angst suffered by aging call girls.
I would like to see this movie remade, following, as closely as possible, the original script. There could be a greater development of the concept mentioned by the call girl, the "naked kiss" as a sign of perversion. The connection between her explanation of that term and the scene in which it occurred was far enough apart in the movie that I almost missed it, but maybe that is what the director wanted, sort of a delayed shock effect.