Midnight Oil:Movies and More

"Witness for the Prosecution" (1957IMDb) Billy Wilder's classic court room drama features Tyrone Power as the accused, Leonard Vole, and Marlene Dietrich as his wife. Charles Laughton is at the top of his form as defense lawyer Sir Wilfred Robarts. You never can tell with a wily old fellow like Sir Robarts up to his old tricks in the court room. Not to be missed in this production is the irrepressible Mrs. Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester. Lanchester plays the rather shrill Nurse Plimsoll to the hilt, running after Sir Wilfred with her sharp hypodermic syringe and a wit too dull to perceive crafty old coot’s concealed flask of brandy. Thoroughly entertaining fare derived from a successful Agatha Christie play.

Catch the TVO preview of the movie “Witness for the Prosecution”.

Also presented on on SNAM on the same evening highlighting legal wrangling were films previously featured on Midnight Oil, "The Ox-Bow Incident" (1943)and "Compulsion"(1959).

<<Back to Midnight Oil main journal

>>On to "Who's Directing Your Life?"

A must see is this short video scene of the irritating Miss Plimsoll plying her trade with the irascible Sir Wilfred.

Catch the original movie trailer for "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957) here.

“Dear Frankie” (2004) IMDb is a real gem starring Jack McElhone as a young deaf boy and Emily Mortimer as his mom. Gerard Butler is the stranger who is brought into the picture in order to play the role of Frankie’s “dad” for a day. Things have a way of getting kind of complicated when the adults involved find they have to bend over backwards in order to maintain the charade for Frankie’s benefit. It’s a lovely tale told with much care and compassion for the plight of the single mom who tries to do her best with a very difficult dilemma.

TVO producer, Thom Ernst talks on his blog about how this unusual and charming film came to be screened on SNAM.

See the TVO interview related to "Dear Frankie", in which the issue of telling lies in order to protect children is examined.

Real Life: Shannon deals with her fatherless childhood and leaves an abusive relationship.

<<Back to Midnight Oil main journal

>>On to "Who's Directing Your Life?"

"Operation Crossbow (1965)" -INDb combines a good spy story and WWII military history with a pinch of the human interest angle thrown in for good measure. George Peppard is the British spy masquerading as a Dutch engineer in the pay of the Germans to help create the dreaded V2 rocket bombs (no explanation of his American accent). Sophia Loren makes a cameo appearance as the Italian wife of the Dutch engineer trying to escape the Nazi occupation with her (trilingual ?) children. It's all very confusing. You have to keep an eye on those German subtitles. Sophia is evidently there to prop up the galmour factor. If you like rockets a lot, wartime intrigue or Sophia Loren, this film may have some points of interest for you.

This movie was recently screened with two other wartime movies on TVO. See reviews for “The Man Who Never Was” 1956 and “Went the Day Well?” 1942 in the Midnight Oil video trailer section.

<<Back to Midnight Oil main journal

>>On to "Who's Directing Your Life?"

See director, Michael Anderson interviewed in the video trailer of "Operation Crossbow" from TVO.

Catch the opening scenes video trailer of “Operation Crossbow” 1965

David Lynch gives us “The Straight Story” (1999) IMDb starring Richard Farnsworth and Sissy Spacek. If you don’t mind the lawn tractor pace of the rhythm of this movie, it’s a wonderful ride. There’s lots to see about life when you’re obliged to stop and look from atop Alvin Straight’s John Deere lawnmower. Alvin gains perspective about his past and wisdom along the way as he engages in an amazing personal journey in order visit his estranged brother. Sissy Spacek also turns in a great performance as Alvin’s troubled daughter with a speech impediment. I’ve seen it twice now on SNAM. I wouldn’t mind going for a third time around. Sometimes I just need to slow down. (Don’t we all!)

<<Back to Midnight Oil main journal

>>On to "Who's Directing Your Life?"

Catch the video trailer for "The Straight Story" (1999) here.

Paul Newman is “Nobody’s Fool” (1994) IMDb . Robert Benton’s delicately drawn portrait of aging also stars Jessica Tandy, Melanie Griffith and Bruce Willis. Newman plays Sully, a rascally character living in small town America who decides that it’s never too late after all to join the human race. Sully’s worked hard all his life to avoid facing up to inevitable realities. We’d all like to  believe that people can get better and not just “older”, in spite of all the examples we see to the contrary. Newman is such a wonderful actor and Benton is such a masterful storyteller in this  film that we’ll just have to become believers.

See the “Never Too Late” video interview preview for Nobody’s Fool from SNAM here.

Read Thom Ernst’s blog entry on the ageless Paul Newman .

Don't miss the entire TVO SNAM interviews for the "Never Too Late" episode. Includes a discussion of  "Nobody's Fool" and "The Late Show" in the discussion of Hollywood films and the subject of aging.

<<Back to Midnight Oil main journal 

>>On to "Who's Directing Your Life?" 

Catch the video trailer for Nobody’s Fool here.