Film Reviews by MR

I rented this to see Peter Ustinov as Nero, and he was amusingly crazed, petulant, cowardly and stupid. Every scene in the film is far too long drawn out. The whole classical setting is unconvincing, but so it is in all these old epics, and Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr are just stars doing their thing. Leo Genn is rather impressive as a cynic, cleverly controlling Nero.

BUT the non-CGI crowd scenes are phenomenal - the arena, the burning of Rome. It would be overwhelming to see this as it should be seen, in the cinema.

There are lots of detailed reviews of this on the imdb site if you want some long serious analysis. One of the problems for me is the age of the actors, who are supposed to be school children, but look in their late 20's at least. It is not very realistically acted. The relationship between the two 'enfants' is constantly antagonistic, but they seem to need each other. The involvement of two other characters leads to disaster, caused by the female lead's lying, and her manipulation of everyone else. There are a few lovely Cocteau-ish dream sequences, and it's worth seeing for them and for the lead actress, who is very impressive.

I must have missed this on TV. Very well made, as the detective untangles the stories behind all the people involved. Bit too much about the detective's personal life, who, as always, has emotional problems. Super quality actors - Phil Davies, David Bamber, Sylvia Sims, Dougie Henshall, Paul McGann and all the others too. The extra feature about how they filmed the collision was absolutely fascinating, I watched it several times and still can't comprehend how it gets put together by the editing into something so convincing.

Interesting film, worth your time for the actor who portrays Orson Welles, and for the scenes of rehearsal of the play Julius Caesar, which are brilliant. Thought Zac Ephron and Claire Danes were rather uninteresting actors.

Basically seems to have been made to show Bogart being controlling and violent, which he does terrifically, his eyes are specially lit a couple of times to show how frightening they are. The plot is thin, he is a violent controlling man accused of the murder of a girl; didn't do it; falls in love, then overdoes his threatening behaviour with the woman he is in love with, who wisely gets away from him. Would have made much more sense, as someone points out, if he really was a murderer. It's all wrapped up in a police investigation, and all the acting is good.

Fascinating, complex and worth watching regularly. Visually absolutely stunning. Up there with Cocteau's 'La Belle et la Bete' as one of the most enchanting films ever made.

The black and white photography in this is gorgeous, the whole thing looks amazingly defined. One moment reminded me of 'Night of the Hunter'. Billy Bob Thornton is stunning as the still, taciturn, doomed character, and all the other actors are wonderfully cast and perfect in their parts. Really enjoyed it.

Somehow this film does not hit the spot. Jim Broadbent is excellent, but the whole thing just does not engage you for some reason. Some of the direction is too tricksy, and the dialogue is hard to catch. It all seems to be rushed through. Worth a look for the amusing court scene.

The copy I received was good quality. The story is simple and totally depressing. Acting and atmosphere great.

Totally agree with the long review near-by. There seem to be three intentions to the film - 1 - show Jane Russell off as much as possible (in gorgeous dresses), 2- show Robert Mitchum being Robert Mitchum off as much as possible, he does look delicious, there's a touch of pointless sadism in the beating up he gets, and 3 - confuse things by letting Vincent Price take over the film as an silly Shakespearian ham actor who shows unexpected heroism. If you like him which I do, he is terrific. The gangsters are hopeless, although Raymond Burr glowers a lot. Wierd.

A charming film, very sensitively acted. After watching it, it is well worth viewing the two lots of 'extras' - interviews with many of the people involved in the making of the film, who are full of fascinating information, and which will definitely enhance your appreciation. How handsome is Vittorio de Sica, and how beautiful is the art and costume design.

Tried to give this two and a half stars but there don't seem to be halves. The film is pretty lame, with some poor acting and some over-acting. It is simply a showcase for Jean Louis Barrault to play the two different characters. He is interesting, if you just like to watch this actor, but although the bad character is supposedly a 'demon', there is little horror or tension generated in the film about the degenerate things that he gets up to, it is more hinted at genteely.

Terrific, I have only just seen this for the first time. Such uncomfortable atmospheres created, wonderful subtle acting by everybody, the world of the house all seemed so plausible. Anthony Hopkins amazing as someone who is hopelessly repressed.

I rented this to see Maggie Smith's section, and she is indeed wonderful, but the rest of it is all very wordy and boring. I couldn't get interested in the farcical scenes, stagey acting and endless wordy chat between the other characters.

Halliwell calls this film 'ponderous', which I think is unfair, I thought it sustained the excitement all through. It is basically just suspense for 2 hours plus, as we wonder whether the police will figure out where the criminals are, and wait to see if one of the family or the criminals will do anything rash.

The two leads are very good, especially perhaps Fredric March, who was a great actor. Highly recommended for a high quality,entertaining film.