Midnight Oil:Movies and More

“The More the Merrier”(1943) IMDb starring Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea and Charles Coburn is indeed a merry little tale set in war-time Washington. A severe housing shortage in the city serves as the pretext for throwing together the unlikely trio. The well put together Miss Constance Milligan finds herself discombobulated by her two new housemates in more ways than one. Chaos ensues that ends with a complete reconfiguration of living arrangements and relationship status. As they say, “All’s well that ends well.” The mores of the times on display in this romantic comedy might be considered quaint these days. However, once you are ready to entertain the pretense of the whole scenario, there really are some funny bits to be enjoyed.

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Catch a video excerpt of the "front steps" scene from "The More the Merrier" (1943)  

This Christmas on TVO's SNAM, Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan whip up some silly and frothy holiday fare that's just right for those of us who are in the mood for some seasonal schmaltz.

It’s really easy at Christmas time to enter into some kind of a weird headspace that’s chock-full of ooey gooey sentimentality and high calorie nostalgia. We should all know better by now than to indulge, but for some reason, because it’s the holiday season, we just let ourselves go and run hog wild with the schmaltz and the schlock.

For me, a movie like "Christmas in Connecticut" fits in there somewhere in that weird headspace.

Read the rest of the Hunky Dunky Holiday archived entry for the review of "Christmas in Connecticut" on the Midnight Oil journal.

See also the Barbara Stanwyck classic "The Lady Eve" on the Midnight Oil Video Journal.

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Catch the TVO video preview for "Christmas in Connecticut".

"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).

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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.

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“Soylent Green” (1973) IMDb with Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson turns out to be a surprisingly effective film for a sci-fi flick. I’ve watched it a couple of times now on TVO. Quite unexpectedly, I've been moved by its stark vision of future humanity. I don’t know exactly what it is about this film that gets me, because there is lots that is unremarkable about it by today’s audience standards. Maybe it’s the “scoops” scene, or “the furniture” or the Beethoven playing over top of Edward G. Robinson’s compelling death scene. What should be written of as just kind of corny somehow gets beyond the limitations of, well, the film’s limitations, and becomes kind of haunting. It’s worth a peek in my estimation.

This film was recently screened with Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” found in the Midnight Oil video trailer archives.

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Catch the video trailer for "Soylent Green" (1973) here.