Loving You (Elvis Presley)

(Amazon UK link)

While we did, of course, know of Elvis Presley as a famous American singer, I don’t think I had realised that he was also quite a talented actor. I probably wouldn’t have come across the film ‘Loving You’, had it not been offered as a freebie in a UK newspaper many years ago. A relative acquired it, and passed it on to us. It’s taken us more than a decade to get around to watching it, but we finally did so yesterday evening.

The film was made in 1957, when Elvis would have been in his early twenties. He stars in this film as Deke Rivers, a young man who was orphaned young and grew up in a children’s home. He’s finally managed to secure a job in a delivery company, and wants to keep it. He’s somewhat shy, but is persuaded to sing in a small country show, and it’s clear that he has a lot of talent.  

Glenda (Lizabeth Scott) is the other main character: she’s an attractive but tough-minded woman who works as a press agent for a politician. When she hears Deke singing, she decides to work for her ex-husband Tex (Wendell Corey) who runs a band, if he will include Deke as an extra member.

Inevitably there are a lot of Elvis songs in this film, but it’s not a typical musical as the songs only happen when the band are on stage. Nobody breaks into song and dance at other times. Well, other than when Deke is persuaded to sing in a restaurant. There’s a low-key love interest, as the girl singer in the band becomes close to Deke, and there’s also a lot of romantic tension between Glenda and Tex.

But there’s a great deal more than that. Glenda is quite manipulative, often at the expense of Deke’s happiness; she persuades people to behave in specific ways so as to gather extra publicity. And she pretends to be a lot more interested in him as a man than she really is. 

Deke is a well-rounded character - we were very impressed with Elvis Presley’s acting - whom we could quite believe in. He’s in a world he knows little about, surrounded by people who insist they have his best interests at heart. He is lonely, longing for a real friend, and isn’t entirely sure who to trust. Nor does he know whether he wants stardom, when he was happy being a small part of a band. 

I understand that the storyline somewhat mirrored Elvis’s own journey into becoming a musical legend, although he was not an orphan, and was close to his parents as a young adult. But he was, apparently, quite shy as a teenager; perhaps that’s why his character seems so authentic. 

There are some deeper themes touched upon lightly, which I thought were well handled in this film. In particular, a passionate plea is made for understanding by the older generation who considered rock and roll to be disgraceful, with a well-crafted argument that is quite persuasive. 

There’s a bit of violence in the film, involving some fist fights as well as some general public rioting; but nothing gory. There are some quite passionate kisses too, and implications about nights spent together, but nothing explicit is shown. There’s some minor bad language, but nothing too shocking.  This is probably why it’s rated U although the storyline wouldn’t be of the slightest interest to children. 

Neither of us is a huge fan of Elvis music, though we don't dislike it. From the perspective of 2024 it feels nostalgically old-fashioned and quite tame by contrast with some of today’s trends in music. We were surprised at how much we liked this film. 

Recommended. 

You can find more information about this film, and see a brief trailer, here at the IMDb site: Loving You.

Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews

Dad's Army Series 1 and 2

(Amazon UK link)

As an older child and teenager I regularly watched ‘Dad’s Army’ on television. My father loved this series, and while I didn’t understand all of what was going on, there was sufficient to make me laugh now and again. Gradually the main characters began to feel familiar, and as a young adult I sometimes watched repeats on TV. So when the opportunity arose to buy some of the DVDs, many years ago, I went ahead and acquired some of them. 

They sat on our shelves for a long time, but finally, over the past couple of months, we have watched the DVD set entitled, slightly mystifyingly, ‘The Complete first series plus the ‘lost’ episodes of Series Two’. I know that three of the six Series Two episodes are missing, unlikely ever to be recovered. But the three which are in this set are surely the ‘found’ ones, rather than being lost. 

In any case, it’s probably forty years since I saw any of these, which are in black-and-white; from Series 3 onwards, they were filmed in colour. I did recall some of the first episode, when the platoon is formed, headed by Mr Mainwaring the bank manager (pronounced 'Mannering'). But it’s possible I was remembering the full-length feature film that was made later, as a lot of it seemed quite new to me. It’s possible that I had never seen these early episodes - or not for nearly sixty years.

The whole series is set in the second World War, when men unable to join up in the army formed their own defence groups locally. Some them start with real film from the era, cleverly edited with some of the characters from the series. The first ‘Dad’s Army’ episode was broadcast in 1968, and shows the first gathering of the unlikely troops. 

Captain Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe) is suitably pompous; his second-in-command, Sergeant Wilson (John le Mesurier) much more relaxed, unwilling to shout or give orders. Lance Corporal Jones (Clive Dunn) is the local butcher, and possibly the most enthusiastic of the new recruits. He fought in a previous war and considers himself an expert. 

Other characters who recur in the series are Private Wilson (James Beck) who works in the black market and tries to make money any way he can; Private Fraser (John Laurie) who is fiercely Scottish and works as an undertaker; Private Godfrey (Arnold Ridley) who is a retired tailor; Private Pike (Ian Lavender) who is 17 and works as a bank clerk. Pike’s mother regularly appears, worried about her son’s health; she is a widow, and it’s quickly clear that Sgt Wilson is romantically involved with her. 

The first few episodes include attempts to get hold of weapons and uniform. A few items are issued, and they try to commandeer items from local people or organisations, usually with amusing results. There are episodes where the platoon learn new skills, or go out on watch, usually at night. Inevitably things go wrong, or misunderstandings arise.

There are just six episodes in Series One, and three remaining from Series Two. The characters are established right from the start, and these early episodes form the basis of the future series, although each one is complete in itself.

‘Dad’s Army’ often appears quite basic, television-wise. Backgrounds are sometimes artificial, and props are not always realistic. But it doesn’t matter. This is classic material, well-choreographed humour, and a stalwart of British television. 

The whole series is a caricature of the reality of the 1940s Home Guard, and it was probably so popular in the 1960s because people watching could remember the war years clearly. Yet somehow there’s still an appeal, even to people considerably younger than we are. It's possibly worth seeing for the social history aspect, even if the real Home Guard were rather better organised and less prone to error. 

Definitely recommended if you don’t mind the very British ridiculousness of some of the situations.  There’s even an ‘extra’ feature on this DVD set, explaining the circumstances of the losing of Series Two, and the finding of three of the episodes. 

Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Jane Powell)

(Amazon UK link)

In our gradual quest to watch the DVDs we were given by an elderly friend who was downsizing, we decided on ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’ last night. I knew of the film - one of my brothers would watch it whenever it was on television, when I was in my teens. But it didn’t appeal to me then, and I had not come across it until our recent acquisition.

I had little idea what it was about, although the title rather sums it up. Adam (Howard Keel) is the first of the main characters whom we meet in this film. He’s walking through a ‘Wild West’ town in Oregon, doing some trading in stores, and also - as he tells everyone - in search of a wife. He and his brothers are farmers who live in the mountains, and they never meet women. The story is set in the 1850s. 

The reason Adam wants a wife is extremely sexist - his male-only household needs someone who can cook, and clean, and create some semblance of order. It doesn’t sound at all appealing. He breaks into song as he wanders through the town, criticising the local girls for being the wrong size or shape. Then he spots Milly (Jane Powell) who works for an inn. He sees her serving delicious food, dealing with dozens of men at the same time, and also chopping wood. She seems ideal, and fortunately she likes the idea of getting married to this handsome stranger, and leaving her life of drudgery.

Adam does not mention his brothers, so it’s quite a rude awakening when she meets them. There are some amusing (albeit somewhat gross) scenes as she discovers exactly what she has let herself in for. This causes some inevitable stress with Adam too… 

So Milly sets to work, not just to clean the place and provide some nutritious food, but to reform Adam’s brothers. She teaches them about ‘courting’, and tells them to avoid fighting if they want to attract young women. She also supposedly teaches them some basic dance steps; they learn remarkably rapidly. It’s clear that the actors playing the brothers are talented dancers. There are some excellent dance/gymnastic scenes which I very much appreciated. 

There’s singing, too; this is, after all, a musical. It’s not over-done, but every so often someone breaks into song, usually as part of the story. It’s not the kind of musical where the story stops as random people appear to sing and dance, for no apparent reason. The songs in this film don’t go on too long and on the whole I thought they added to the story. 

The acting is slightly overdone, as was typical for films of this era, but that wasn’t a problem, as far as we were concerned. ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’ was made in 1954, so I was quite surprised that it’s in colour. Some of the backgrounds look a bit artificial, but they didn’t detract from the story. 

If the film weren’t so well-made, and basically light-hearted, some sections would be quite shocking. Not just because of the way Milly is expected to work every minute of her day to look after seven men, but because of the way the other six ‘brides’ are acquired… to say more would be to give too much of a spoiler. 

Other than Adam and Millie it wasn't particularly easy to recall who was whom out of either the brothers or their potential brides; even less so with the many townsfolk who were involved. The only brother who stood out was the youngest, Gideon (Russ Tamblyn). The others looked - and behaved - rather too similarly. 

A bonus which we were not expecting was an ‘extra’ feature on our DVD: a short documentary about the making of the film. It has interviews and snippets filmed in the 1990s with several of the cast and crew. Apparently the production costs were slashed in half, although the amount spent still sounded huge for a film made eighty years ago. 

Nobody expected this film to be a success, but it was very much so. Still popular in the 1970s when my brother watched it; still popular in the 1990s when the bonus material was made. The DVD has been remastered and the quality seemed pretty good. We enjoyed the film and are happy to add it to our collection.

Recommended. 

You can read more about this film on the IMDb site: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. 

Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews

Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker)

(Amazon UK link)

After the end of Doctor Who series 13 (‘The Flux’) there were three special episodes featuring Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. I knew that in the final one, ‘The Power of the Doctor’ she would end up regenerating into the 14th Doctor. 

The identity of the 14th Doctor was a well-kept secret before the episode was broadcast in October 2022 as part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations; I knew who was going to be, of course, and was looking forward to seeing him. 

‘The Power of the Doctor’ is longer than usual - almost an hour and a half, the length of a typical film. So it’s not surprising that it was not included in the previous pair of specials, ‘Eve of the Daleks and Legend of the Sea Devils’, which were broadcast earlier that year.

The opening is fast-paced and dramatic. There’s a call for help from a space train, which is being invaded by Cybermen. The Doctor and her companions, Yas (Mandip Gill) and Dan (John Bishop) arrive and undertake a risky rescue, one which leaves Dan a bit disturbed as he’s nearly killed. 

Meanwhile a dalek appears in a hologram, claiming to be disillusioned with the daleks and offering to provide the Doctor with some information that will enable her to destroy the daleks forever. She is naturally suspicious but the dalek appears to be genuine.

At the same time as all this, Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), director of UNIT, puts out an emergency call for help. Several seismologists have disappeared, and some famous paintings around the world have been defaced, showing the face of Rasputin.  Except that it isn’t Rasputin…

With such a powerful and dramatic episode, it’s not surprising that the Doctor’s long-term antagonist The Master appears - Sacha Dhawan does this part very well, turning on the charm when he needs to, but with eyes that betray his real intent. He has a crazy ‘plan’ to destroy earth… and appears to be descending into some form of madness. 

The plot is complex and I’m not sure I grasped more than the basic outline, but it’s extremely well done. I wasn’t sure about a female Doctor when she first appeared, but Jodie Whittaker has proved exceptionally good in the role. I’m already looking forward to re-watching her episodes in future, when we re-watch the entire set (the ‘recent’ ones, that is, from 2005 onwards). 

There are lots of bonuses in this episode, including the return of two of the Doctor’s former companions, although I didn’t recall any of them: I didn’t watch the series at all in the 1980s. There are also images of some of the earlier Doctors in a cleverly done scene; I recognised a couple of them and worked out later who the others were. 

The ending is moving, with some personal conversations that run quite deep. I thought it very well done. We were glad to see that there were two ‘extras’ on the DVD, which we watched afterwards. These discussed some of the making of the episode, and also showed some real friendships that had developed over the course of the previous few years. It’s the end of an era for the main characters, but they clearly had a wonderful time making the show. 

By itself this episode would probably be even more confusing than it was to me anyway. But as part of the ongoing series, this is well worth watching and I would recommend it highly. 

You can read more about this episode, and other reviews of 'The Power of the Doctor' here.

 

  Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews

His Girl Friday (Rosalind Russell)

(Amazon UK link)

We decided to watch another of the classic (‘old’) films on DVD that we were given by a friend who was downsizing. We didn’t want to see anything too long, and preferably not a musical, so we opted for ‘His Girl Friday’, which is just over an hour and a half long. 

This film was made in 1940, so unsurprisingly it’s in black and white. That’s not a problem; after the first minute or two I barely noticed. The setting is a newsroom, basically in two different places, and the characters are almost all reporters. The star, to my mind, is Rosalind Russell who plays Hildy Johnson. Hildy has been away from the office for a few months, but is returning to have a word with her former boss Walter Burns (Cary Grant) who also happens to be her ex-husband.

Hildy, who arrives with her new fiancé Bruce (Ralph Bellamy), wants to let Walter know that she’s getting married in Albany the following day, and that she won’t be returning to work. She says she’s met someone who will treat her like a woman, and offer romance rather than being caught up in work all the time. Ralph is an insurance salesman who’s not such a strong character as Hildy, but clearly loves her. 

Cary Grant is supposedly the star of this film, but the character he plays is narcissistic, immoral and pushy. It was hard to find anything likeable about him. It’s obvious from the start that he is going to do anything possible to stop Hildy from travelling to Albany and marrying Bruce. This appears to be a case of sour grapes rather than because he still loves her. 

The scenes in the newsroom were so fast - often with people talking over each other - that it was impossible to work out much of what was being said. That was after I had got used to the accents, which were quite strong and difficult, at first, to understand. It didn’t seem to matter much; I got the general gist. 

Walter becomes more and more unscrupulous as the film progresses. He pushes Hildy into interviewing a man sentenced to hanging, he deals in counterfeit banknotes and he employs a pickpocket. Indeed, he and his cronies show the news media as a horrendously corrupt and unpleasant place to work. They’re not the only corrupt people, though - the story went from bad to worse, it seemed, with people obstructing the police, pretending that an official document had not arrived, and forcibly removing a woman who was asking too many questions.

I gather this film was adapted from a play, and suspect it worked rather better on stage, although I have little interest in this genre of farce with increasingly unrealistic situations. My husband, who has worked in media, thought that the newsrooms portrayed bore little resemblance to reality. And we were both disappointed at the ending of the film. To say what happened would be a spoiler; suffice it to say that we lost respect for Hildy’s character, which was really the only one that held the film together.

It’s not the worst film; we kept watching, and could see how some viewers might find some of the scenes amusing. But Walter is so smarmy and dislikeable that it was hard to find anything to smile about. There are a lot of minor characters, but they all seem alike, smoking heavily and insulting each other without any depth of personality emerging. 

So it’s not one we plan to see again, nor one I would recommend. 

The film was originally rated U, but recently re-rated PG. This is probably because of some mild violence and threats, and perhaps the significant amount of smoking. I don't recall any bad language and there weren't any scenes of intimacy. But the subject matter isn't suitable for children, and is unlikely to be of interest to today's children or teens.

However, it’s a highly rated film that was very popular when it first came out, and still has a loyal following. So if you’re a fan of Cary Grant, or if you like this genre of 1940s immoral buffoonery with people in suits, then you may well enjoy it. You can find more information, and other opinions about 'His Girl Friday' here on the IMDB site.

  Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews

Eve of the Daleks and Legend of the Sea Devils (Jodie Whittaker)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s quite complicated acquiring a complete set of DVDs of Doctor Who. The main series episodes are on the relevant series DVDs, but there are often ‘specials’ or other episodes that are produced separately. And since we don’t see them when they’re shown on TV, I have to rely on online information to tell me the order, and my Amazon wishlist to add in the ones I need. 

I knew we would finish the six-episode ‘Flux’, series 13 in April, and that there had been some specials with the fourteenth Doctor broadcast in 2023. But I hadn’t realised there were also three other specials featuring the 13th doctor, Jodie Whittaker, prior to that. I added them to my wishlist, and was given them for my recent birthday. So over the last couple of weekends we watched the first of these DVDs, which features the first two 2022 episodes, ‘Eve of the Daleks’ and ‘Legend of the Sea Devils’. 

The first of these episodes was apparently broadcast on New Year’s Eve as a  ‘special’, and is suitably light-hearted despite having those most frightening of aliens, the daleks. It’s rather confusing at first: the opening sequence sees a woman (Aisling Bea) working on her own in a storage facility. She is visited by a man (Adjani Salmon) who apparently only visits on New Year’s Eve, and who deposits some rather strange things - in this case, a monopoly set. 

We then see the Doctor arriving with Yas (Mandip Gill) and Dan (John Bishop)… only to have everyone ‘exterminated’ by the daleks. Rather a surprising start to an episode which, as we soon discover, is in a bizarre time loop. It’s cleverly done, and after the first confusion of wondering what was going on, it turns out to be quite an enjoyable episode with, as ever, last-minute escape for all concerned. Since there are only five people (in addition to the daleks) there is, inevitably, some human interest and emotional interactions between some of them.

The second episode is about creatures called sea devils, which I didn’t recall at all but apparently they were part of one of the very early Doctor Who series with Jon Pertwee. They should have been scary but I thought they looked oddly appealing despite their violent nature. I’m not sure I entirely understood all the storyline, which involves a pirate ship, the search for some treasure, and the threat of switching the earth’s axes, but it was very well done. I had to turn away from some rapid sword fights which had too much fast action for me, but, again, there are some good interludes of conversation. 

This DVD had three ‘extras’, one about the dalek episode, and two about the sea devils episode. We always find it interesting watching these background features, which show some of the filming and how it all worked. The sea devils episode had, apparently, the biggest and most complex set anyone could remember for Doctor Who. We learned about how the different characters were engaged in the sword fighting - not an easy thing to pick up - and also where stunt people were used in a few places.

These two episodes were considered part of Series 13 and made excellent extra viewing. We know, of course, that Jodie Whittaker’s time as the Doctor is coming to an end, and that the next DVD will have her regenerating at the end - and since the fourteenth Doctor is going to be the same as my favourite tenth Doctor, I’m looking forward to that, and then seeing the 2023 specials. 

It seems a tad extravagant to have to have two extra DVDs for these three 2022 specials, rather than their being part of the Series 13 box set. But I was very pleased to be given these, which are well worth seeing. Jodie Whittaker is an excellent Doctor, albeit sometimes speaking so fast that I can barely catch what she says. Her portrayal is full of energy and ideas, and has certainly dispelled the myth that the Doctor should always be male. 

  Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews

Mary Poppins Returns (Emily Blunt)

(Amazon UK link)

When the film ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ was released a few years ago, I didn’t think I would want to see it. But after re-watching the original 1964 ‘Mary Poppins’ a few months ago, and reading some reviews, I decided to put this sequel on my wishlist. I was given it for my birthday, and we watched it last night.

I knew that the story was about the next generation of the Banks family: mainly Michael Banks, who was a child in the original film, and his children. I also knew that Mary Poppins was played by someone different - obviously Julie Andrews was too old to be in the role again but I wasn’t at all sure how anyone else could take it on. 

Emily Blunt, however, succeeds. She doesn’t look like Julie Andrews - even her hair is a different colour - but her costume, her way of relating and even her speech patterns are the same. It didn’t take me long to adjust to her in the role - which she does excellently, dancing and singing as well as playing the strict nanny. She doesn’t have quite the voice that Julie Andrews did, but it’s still very pleasant.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is also extremely good in his role as Jack, the young man who rides a bicycle around and does any odd job that needs doing. Jack mentions that he was a young lad when Michael and his sister Jane were young, and that he worked with Bert, the equivalent in the first film. 

The three children (Pixie Davies, Nathaniel Saleh and Joel Dawson) are confident, believable and at times amusing. Julie Waters is perfect for the role of Ellen.  Ben Whishaw is the grown-up Michael Banks, father of the children, and we quickly learn that his wife Kate died a year earlier. No details are given, but he’s still grieving. He’s also struggling financially, and has failed to keep up payments on a loan. His sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) doesn’t live with him but is often at the family house to help out. 

The underlying story is about the potential loss of the family home. There’s much that mirrors the original film, including several visits to the bank. Colin Firth is the apparently genial manager; indeed, the minor characters are something of an all-star cast. We loved seeing Meryl Streep as Mary Poppins’ eccentric cousin, and Angela Lansbury as the balloon lady at the end. It was also amazing watching Dick van Dyke in a cameo role towards the end. He was 93, apparently, but still full of life.

Like the original, some of the song sequences felt a tad over-long to me, but perhaps that was deliberate. There are a couple of lengthy fantasy scenes which work well with animated sequences interacting with the real characters. I don’t suppose PJ Travers would have liked them, but she’s no longer around. And the animations emphasised the nature of the surreal parts of the story that were more for children.  

I thought some of the songs were good, again reminiscent of the originals, but different. We didn’t think they were quite as catchy as, for instance, ‘A Spoonful of Sugar’, or ‘Let’s Go Fly a Kite’, but then we’ve only heard them once. Perhaps, if we hear them again a few times, they will start to feel just as memorable.

Overall we thought this was a very enjoyable and well-made film, one that adults can appreciate as much as children, if they don’t mind some silliness and animation. The rating is U in the UK, PG in the more cautious United States, possibly because there are some mildly perilous scenes towards the end (there was one scene where I had to look away as I am somewhat phobic about heights).  But there's really nothing inappropriate for young children. 

Definitely recommended if you like the original ‘Mary Poppins’. 

Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews