Le Notti Bianche

 

This was a pretty good Visconti movie starring Marcello Mastroianni and Maria Schell. I watched Gervaise lately. This was based on a Dostoyevsky story. Schell plays a woman who can't get over her lover who she hasn't seen in a year. Meanwhile Marcello and her fall in love. However, can she really leave the past behind her.  I wish that Maria Schell's movies were more available. Perhaps these were the best movies of her career?

Gervaise

 

Maria Schell was such a star in this. She gave one exceptional performance in this. She plays a poor woman who runs a laundry. However, her husband is a drunk. Life seems good when a good man comes into her life but she messes this up too. Eventually, Gervaise ends up a drunk. Life has just beaten her down. I see that Maria's brother Maximilian Schell made a documentary about her. I need to watch it along with the few movies of Maria Schell that have been released. 

The Poor Little Rich Girl

 I really love Mary Pickford. She was known as America's sweetheart at the time. Unlike many actresses that have that title today, she truly deserved it. Mary Pickford was a treasure, a talented actress with much charisma. I've been watching her movies on youtube. Nothing much happens in this one though. She has a bunch of temper tantrums and becomes sick in the end. I can't say this is her best work. It's recommended though if you are a fan. 

The Hoodlum

 This was an ok Mary Pickford movie. It's not near her best. The story shows Mary Pickford going from riches to rags. She comes to live with her father instead of her rich grandfather. However, she finds out that her father became poor. Eventually, she adjusts to the lifestyle and makes friends. The movie ends up with her breaking into her grandfather's house to find some papers to clear her boyfriend's name. Yet things end happily ever after. 

Twin Sisters

 

I watched this dvd of two early Chinese movies. I didn't care much for Street Angel but I did like Twin Sisters. (It could be because I am a twin.) In Twin Sisters, a servant gets treated poorly by a rich snob. Once they learn that they are sisters everything changes for the servant and her mother. It was predictable but all right. I would like to learn more about Chinese cinema as I admit I don't know much about the subject. 

The Bad Sister

 This movie wasn't that great but it's worth watching because it was Bette Davis' film debut. She looks plainer than usual in this movie. Bette's character is dull so her potential isn't really shown in this movie. She would show otherwise in movies like "Of Human Bondage." The main star is Sidney Fox a small town girl who falls for a con artist played by Humphrey Bogart. Bogart usually played these types. He wasn't really allowed to show his full range until "Casablanca" and then everyone realized what a brilliant actor he was. This was just ok. 

Dangerous

Bette Davis won the academy award for this and I don't know why. She was good in it but there's nothing exceptional about the movie. I thought it was a filler. It's about a washed-up actress and Franchot Tone sets to make her successful again. However, Bette Davis has a way of destroying the men along her path including her husband. Franchot Tone has a good relationship with Margaret Lindsay but he lets himself go. I thought the ending was a cop-out and it didn't fit what we already have watched of Bette Davis' character. I'm on a Bette Davis kick so I will be rating more movies soon.