Friday, June 01, 2007
BLARNEY
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was John Ford's
A plethora of Irish stereotype which is not a bad thing at all. In its place.
And I guess this is the place for it.
John Wayne and Maureen O'hara try to get married the old fashioned way even if Wayne is an American who doesn't 'get it'.
They are supported by Barry Fitzgerald—inventor of the Hollywood-Irish brogue—Victor McLaglen, Ward Bond and Mildred Natwick.
There is some ferocious sexisim here which would never get on the script today.
It is explained by 'tradition'. OK.
If you can get through that, it is a fine film to watch and mostly enjoyable.
I saw it when I was a kid and loved it. I was looking forward to seeing it again. 55 years later?
Two things. The now non-PC stuff and the color, which won an Oscar and probably landed this on the Best list, is a mess on this disc. It is not bad bad but annoying just the same. Mushy looking Technicolor.
I am comparing this to the flawless 3-strip restoration we saw the other day with The Red Shoes.
So, it is a 4 out of Netflix5 for the movie that I saw when I was a kid and a 3 for this one.
Labels: best films
