you're a swell dish. I think I'm going to go for you

Average rating: 5.25. Crabby reviews can be a joy to write!

No Highway in the Sky (1951) - "Theodore Honey (James Stewart) is a mathematician charged with discovering what caused the crash of a 'Reindeer' airliner. As he travels to investigate, he realizes en route that he's flying on the very same type of airplane. Convinced it will suffer a similar accident, he deliberately sabotages it once it lands, and soon finds himself defending his sanity in an English courtroom. Fortunately, a sympathetic actress (Marlene Dietrich) and a stewardess (Glynis Johns) come to his defense."
length: 1 hour, 38 minutes

source: I borrowed the DVD from my parents' collection
I watched it because: I don't recall having seen any Marlene Dietrich movies before
IMDB: 7.1/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: N/A% Audience: 68%
my IMDB: 3/10

notable quote: "If you believe something is right, you have to do something if you want to live with yourself. If you don't, you'll have to pay for it sooner or later."

MPAA rating: Approved

directed by: Henry Koster

my notes: Oooh, a relatively unknown Jimmy Stewart movie, with Marlene Dietrich to boot. This should be good, right?

    Wrong. Stewart plays an annoying, faltering, stereotypical bungling professor, which is so terribly much like the bumbling, stuttering Harvey in Harvey (1950, reviewed here), and the maladroit and stammering Shepherd in Bell, Book and Candle (1958, reviewed here). He doesn't appear remotely plausible as a scientist, far less so as a father, and not at all as a romantic love interest for both Dietrich and Glynis Johns—each of whom was terrific but wasted in a poorly written, limited role. It's also, at heart, just a dumb, unbelievable, overtly propagandistic idea for a movie.

overall: not  recommended

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari {Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari} (1920) - "At a carnival in Germany, Francis (Friedrich Feher) and his friend Alan (Rudolf Lettinger) encounter the crazed Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss). The men see Caligari showing off his somnambulist, Cesare (Conrad Veidt), a hypnotized man who the doctor claims can see into the future. Shockingly, Cesare then predicts Alan's death, and by morning his chilling prophecy has come true—making Cesare the prime suspect. However, is Cesare guilty, or is the doctor controlling him?"

length: 1 hour, 17 minutes

source: I borrowed the DVD through the public library
I watched it because: it was discussed in a book that I'm reading, and caught my attention
IMDB: 8.0/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 96% Audience: 89%
my IMDB: 7/10

notable quote: "I must know everything. I must penetrate the heart of his secret! I must become Caligari!" [from intertitles]

MPAA rating: NR

directed by: Robert Wiene

my notes: really, really creepy. It's not black and white, but rather moodily colored, scene by scene, each frame of film painted in an overlay shade to match the main character or location in that scene. The police station, and each person in it, is yellow. The girl's room, and the girl herself, is pink. 

    It's not an intricate story; it relies on mood, expression, and music to convey the majority of emotion. 

    Is it worth seeing? Definitely. Is it believable that modern horror films exist because of this one, creating the genre? Absolutely. Is it tense and even frightening? Yup.

overall:  recommended

Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985) - "In the third of the 'Mad Max' movies, Max (Mel Gibson) drifts into an evil town ruled by Turner. There he becomes a gladiator and gets dumped in the desert where he is rescued by a band of feral orphans who have been looking for help for years. When several of them take his appearance as a sign and go off into the desert, he follows them back to the town."
length: 1 hour, 47 minutes

source: I borrowed the DVD from my parents' collection
I watched it because: I've seen the first 2 recently (reviewed here and here), and wanted to get the whole series under my belt
IMDB: 6.2/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 81% Audience: 49%
my IMDB: 5/10

notable quote: "Listen, all! This is the truth of it. Fighting leads to killing, and killing gets to warring. And that was damn near the death of us all. Look at us now! Busted up, and everyone talking about hard rain! But we've learned, by the dust of them all... Bartertown learned. Now, when men get to fighting, it happens here! And it finishes here! Two men enter; one man leaves."

MPAA rating: PG-13

directed by: George Miller, George Ogilvie

my notes: worth watching for Gibson's (long) hair alone, this movie takes the crazy violence of the first film and the wacky Australian music video of the second film and combines them with vicious farm animals, several little people, a heap of grubby children, and a monkey servant.

overall: marginally recommended

The Public Enemy (1931) - "Two young Chicago hoodlums, Tom Powers (James Cagney) and Matt Doyle (Eddie Woods), rise up from their poverty-stricken slum life to become petty thieves, bootleggers and cold-blooded killers. But with street notoriety and newfound wealth, the duo feels the heat from the cops and rival gangsters both. Despite his ruthless criminal reputation, Tom tries to remain connected to his family, however, gang warfare and the need for revenge eventually pull him away."
length: 1 hour, 23 minutes

source: I borrowed through the public library
I watched it because: I wanted to see "a Jean Harlow movie" ...
IMDB: 7.6/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 100% Audience: 85%
AFI:  100 Years … 100 Heroes and Villains (2003) Villain #42

    10 Top 10 (2008) Gangster #8

my IMDB: 6/10

notable quote: "You are different, very different. And I've discovered it isn't only a difference in manner and outward appearances. It's a difference in basic character. The men I know—and I've known dozens of them—oh, they're so nice, so polished, so considerate. Most women like that type. I guess they're afraid of the other kind. I thought I was too, but you're so strong. You don't give, you take. Oh, I could love you to death."

MPAA rating: Passed

directed by: William A. Wellman

my notes: I loathe James Cagney. He was either a very good actor, convincingly transforming himself into reprehensible characters, or he was actually (at least in part) that man. 

    Edward Woods was remarkable as sidekick Matt Doyle. I also liked Donald Cook as Mike Powers. The ladies—Harlow, Joan Blondell, and Mae Clarke—were wasted in tiny and stereotyped roles. The story is entertaining, the directing heavy-handed, the score reasonably good, and the sets and props quite basic.

Academy Award nominee: Best Writing, Original Story—John Bright, Kubec Glasmon
overall: reluctantly recommended

 

[the title quotation is from The Public Enemy]