Friday, May 28, 2010
HOGWASH
with Lawrence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. Also, a boatload of familiar British character actors as well as Judith Anderson as the dour dykish house keeper and the professional weasel George Sanders type cast as the cad and something else I won't tell because it spoils.
Sanders is interesting. He actually comes across as a retro-pouf but was often cast as a het-cad. Funny cross wiring here. I always loved to see him in any role. I wonder why.
The spooky stuff here is all about Fontaine, the second wife, coming in behind Rebecca, the first and dead wife and finding weird happenings, not the least of which is the nervousness of her new husband about anything Rebecca.
This is the kind of thing that passed as literature (Daphne Du Muarier) and Hitchcock made a pass at it with Darryl Zanuck riding his shoulders and doing the final edit.
It is very soapy and long by half an hour.
Twisty at the end.
I didn't like it very much really.
I admit that I ran ahead rather than face the tortuous moments of Ms. Fontaine in the new household getting hazed and run around by staff and friends.
I will give it a 2 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
