Wes Anderson‘s comedic The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) is about grudge holding and forgiveness (in a family) and burn-out following worldly success. It’s a pretty good movie except it is finally too sanguine and unrealistic. Moonrise Kingdom is unrealistic too, but we readily accept that its oddball settings bear little resemblance to the world we live in. In my view, Anderson is a minor artist, but admittedly TRT is enjoyable for its cleverness.

Wes Anderson‘s comedic The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) is about grudge holding and forgiveness (in a family) and burn-out following worldly success. It’s a pretty good movie except it is finally too sanguine and unrealistic. Moonrise Kingdom is unrealistic too, but we readily accept that its oddball settings bear little resemblance to the world we live in. In my view, Anderson is a minor artist, but admittedly TRT is enjoyable for its cleverness.

Merrily they live in the 1938 Merrily We Live, directed by Norman Z. McLeod. The members of the rich family in this screwball comedy do what they darn well please and never genuinely suffer for it. That is, they don’t until at first Constance Bennett‘s Jerry is denied the love of a handsome man believed to be a tramp (Brian Aherne)! How topsy turvy things become.

Reportedly the picture is a lot like My Man Godfrey, a work I have not seen in full. Although this may be to its disadvantage (derivativeness?), Merrily is wholly amusing and boasts a fun cast. Such actors as Clarence Kolb (the family patriarch) and Alan Mowbray (the butler) are talented farceurs. The women are delightful. Still, the film is not very good at leading us to see what its raison d’etre is.

Available on Tubi.

Merrily they live in the 1938 Merrily We Live, directed by Norman Z. McLeod. The members of the rich family in this screwball comedy do what they darn well please and never genuinely suffer for it. That is, they don’t until at first Constance Bennett‘s Jerry is denied the love of a handsome man believed to be a tramp (Brian Aherne)! How topsy turvy things become.

Reportedly the picture is a lot like My Man Godfrey, a work I have not seen in full. Although this may be to its disadvantage (derivativeness?), Merrily is wholly amusing and boasts a fun cast. Such actors as Clarence Kolb (the family patriarch) and Alan Mowbray (the butler) are talented farceurs. The women are delightful. Still, the film is not very good at leading us to see what its raison d’etre is.

Available on Tubi.

Since the flick Sunset Pass (1946) is based on a Zane Grey novel, can it be regarded as a good Western? Yes.

I’m not quite sure why the movie’s hero, Rocky the cowboy detective, and his sidekick fail to protect from thieves a load of bank cash on a train, but they do. Acted by James Warren (not much of a Western lead), Rocky’s not a loser, however, and is determined to get the cash back. Along the way he romantically falls for the sister (Nan Leslie) of one of the thieves, Ash (Robert Clarke), a comparatively decent guy. In fact two of the thieves, both cold, try to pin a murder on Ash, now on Rocky’s side.

Seen by me on Tubi, the movie is only 59 minutes long, and though surely a low-budget product, it is without a cheap or crude look. With action scenes which were state-of-the-art for 1946, it is acceptably directed by one William Berke. Also, Jane Greer is on hand with her lovable good looks, and both she and Harry Woods, as the criminal Cinnabar, give agreeable performances.