AUGUST 2022 ROUND-UP

AUGUST 2022 ROUND-UP

• 1.9.22

TOTAL FILMS SEEN IN AUGUST: 5 

(see the film posters at the bottom of the post, arranged in watching order) 

NEW-TO-ME: 5 

REWATCHES: 0 

SEEN ON THE BIG SCREEN: 0 

MOST WATCHED ACTOR: George Brent (3 in total)

George Brent

We're almost heading for autumn in a couple of weeks, but fortunately summer in Valencia is not over yet. It's still very warm and September and October are known to have summery temperatures. Let's hope DANA (high altitude depression, often leading to the Gota Fría) will not cause too many intense storms and heavy rainfall in autumn.

Our younger sister and family came to visit us in August and we have a visit planned to The Netherlands in a week's time. We will spend 10 days with the family (haven't been home since February), so I'm very excited to see my parents again.

I didn't think I would be blogging again so soon, as I still haven't bought a new chromebook, but I can use my sister's laptop whenever my tablet is frustrating me. It was going to look like I wouldn't even reach 5 classic films this month, but on the last two days of August I caught up with four classic films.

Three of the five films watched in August have George Brent in the cast, which makes him my Most Watched Actor of the Month. Although he's not the world's greatest actor (at times his acting is downright bad), I simply love him. He has a lot of charm and looks really good in his younger years, withoút the moustache. I've seen a lot of his films, 49 as we speak, also due to the fact that he was in a lot of films with Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck, and they belong to my fave actresses (Barbara is easily my most favourite).

George Brent in Racket Busters 

I also watched a couple of K-dramas, but not as many as I would have liked to see. I finished Pride and Prejudice (21 episodes) which I started at the end of July, and though it's not top-tier K-drama, it was enjoyable. I also watched Train (12 episodes), Happiness (12 episodes), Would You Like a Cup of Coffee? (12 episodes of approx. 30 minutes), Mad for Each Other (13 episodes of approx. 30 min.) and Memories of the Alhambra (16 episodes). Of these shows I loved Mad for Each Other best, and Train is also a very compelling watch. I started Be Melodramatic at the end of August, and though it was a bit boring at first, I'm slowly getting into it. Will definitely finish it in September. I have so many great shows on my watchlist already, and with still more new shows being aired, it's going to be a continuous struggle of time management and trying to find a way to combine it with watching classic films. It's a matter of priority, I know, but I want to see K-dramas ánd classic films both. It's just when I start a K-drama, I want to finish it and binge-watch the whole thing. So I'm warning you ... don't even start watching K-dramas unless you're prepared for the addiction and sleepless nights. 

Regarding classic films ... I didn't see a classic film on the big screen this month, nor were there any rewatches, and I didn't watch a silent film either. 

My highest rated films are Night Editor and International Lady. 

My lowest rated film is Racket Busters.

The screen couple I enjoyed most this month is George Brent and Basil Rathbone. I love them together in International Lady.

Breaking the 5 watched films down in decades:

1900s - 0

1910s - 0

1920s - 0

1930s - 2

1940s - 2

1950s - 1

1960s - 0

NOW LET'S MOVE ON TO THE FILMS!

(read notes with caution as they might contain spoilers; with ratings going from ½ to ★★★★★ and watched date)

I read about Luise Rainer on some blog and realised I had never seen her in a film before, so decided to watch Frank Borzage's BIG CITY (MGM, 1937), starring Spencer Tracy (I love both Borzage and Tracy). Well, I like Rainer (portrayed with Tracy) but I didn't think her performance stood out nor was her beauty special. This drama about a cab war wasn't special or exciting either. I did like the playfulness between the leads and they have decent chemistry. But this film lacks Borzage's magical touch and I was never emotionally involved with the characters. ★★½ / 22.08.2022

NIGHT EDITOR (Columbia, 1946) had been sitting on my noir watchlist for some time now. I had no idea what the story was about but I like William Gargan. It's a solid and enjoyable noir with Janis Carter (pictured with Gargan) playing the femme fatale and being good at it. I love the familiar noir trope with the protagonist Gargan making bad decisions and digging a deeper hole for himself by the minute. Fortunately there is an uplifting ending, a rather unexpected one, and I liked it. Henry Levin directed. ★★★ / 30.08.2022

Chose RACKET BUSTERS (Warner Bros, 1938), directed by Lloyd Bacon, for young and handsome George Brent without a moustache, but it's not one of his better films, as I already had expected judging by the ratings and reviews online. It also has Humphrey Bogart (pictured with Brent, among others) taking first-billing, though his part is much smaller than Brent's, and he plays a tough racketeer. I watched this with my sister via Chromecast on our big TV-screen, but wasn't paying full attention. In fact, it was a bit boring — that much I could tell — but Brent looks really good in that leather jacket. Gloria Dickson plays Brent's wife and has a rather thankless role. Too bad, because she's a really good actress and had she been given more to do, she could have livened up the production a bit. Support by Allen Jenkins and Walter Abel. ★★ / 30.08.2022

All three stars for INTERNATIONAL LADY (United Artists/Edward Small Productions, 1941) go to George Brent as an FBI agent and Basil Rathbone as a Scotland Yard man (pictured together). I love their bromance and lively banter. Who would have known they make such a nice pair and play so well off each other? Both men have a lot of charm and flair to boot and their breezy interactions with witty dialogue are very enjoyable. This could have been the start of a great series with them solving mysteries. But as it is, the spy case itself is not too exciting and leading lady Ilona Massey doesn't hold much appeal, so when our male couple didn't share the screen, there wasn't much to enjoy. And I didn't care about the romance between Brent and Massey at all. Yet Brent and Rathbone together are a lot of fun! Gene Lockhart and George Zucco lend support and Tim Whelan directed. ★★★ / 30.08.2022

Watched FBI GIRL (Lippert Pictures, 1951) for George Brent, its short runtime and it being a noir. Well, it's nothing special. It's a procedural film, a bit on the dry side, where Brent has to share the spotlight with top-billed Cesar Romero (both playing G-men, in charge of the investigation), but the real scene stealers are Audrey Totter (portrayed with Romero and Brent) — in a likeable role and looking good — and Raymond Burr as the villain. The film's finale with the chase sequence is filled with action and rather good. Tom Drake plays Totter's love interest and William Berke directed. ★★½ / 31.08.2022

So ... that's another round-up! I still don't know whether I'll be here next month, or whether I'll do a two-months round-up. It also depends on how many classic movies I'm going to watch. The intention is there, because I have so many films on my watchlist! Let's wait and see. Till next time!