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Reviews
What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)
Feel good
Based on a nearly unreadable novel, I AM THINKING OF MY DARLING, "What's so Bad About Feeling Good?" is both a time-capsule of a movie (most movies that were up-to-date and cutting edge at their time are) and a timeless lesson to artists everywhere.
A smuggled toucan finds a loft full of miserable artists. The bird carries a rare virus that makes people feel good. Beatniks may seem old-fashioned but fill in the blanks for any artistic group.
I've been an artist all my life and in my 20s I wallowed in misery and gloom . . . For no apparent reason. I wasn't getting what I wanted out of life but that was immaturity. Once one shakes that off one can confront life with a fresh, new attitude. It's a lesson all self- and world-loathing artists ought to learn: what is so bad about feeling good?
George Peppard plays a societal dropout living in this weird commune who catches the disease and becomes happy, and sees delight in little, normal things in life. Mary Tyler Moore, his main squeeze, is immune; but when others around her are happy and kind and courteous she is, too.
Another good lesson: happiness and kindness, too, are contagious. Try the experimemt yourself and see. And the government does its best to fight the pandemic (and kill all this nasty joy). A lesson there, too.
In the end, while everyone goes back into old grooves, the happy drop outs drop in again. It's almost a story of my life. I've never stopped being an artist but I moved from wallowing in self-pity, loathing and unhappiness to finding joy in little things in life and happiness. It may have a definite 1960s setting but the lessons of this (sometimes rather silly) movie are as solid as ever. Maybe more so today than ever.
The Missing Postman (1997)
For James Bolam fans
James Bolam (looking very old) is a postman who loves his job, being forced into early retirement at fifty-two. His wife (Alison Steadman) doesn't pay him that much attention. His already-retired friend (Stephen Moore) extols the joys of wandering around with a metal detector and working at a hamburger joint to help make ends meet on a pension.
On his last day, Bolam's postman takes off (with his uniform, and some mail) attracting the attention of the police and, finally, his wife. He also meets up with peculiar people. He also sees the joys and so forth that mail may actually bring (all I ever get is bills). But what will happen when the cops catch up with him?
A curious piece, indeed. I still don't know what to make of it.
Never Say Goodbye (1946)
Who can dislike Flynn
Errol Flynn plays a Gil Evgren sort of cheesecake artist in a complicated post-marriage relationship with his ex-wife (Eleanor Parker). And their 7-year-old daughter wants her folks back together.
Best known for his swashbuckling, Flynn could do roles in modern dress and fill out a 1930s, 1940s suit as well as any Cary Grant.
And who can resist Flynn, whatever he's wearing? He's such a marvelous, casual actor, totally at home in front of a camera.
With S. Z. Sakall and Hattie McDaniel. That's a plus, right there.
The girl is amazing but her inability to pronounce the letter "r" is annoying.
Interestingly, the little girl often refers to Flynn as "Robin Hood."
Under Milk Wood (1971)
I throttle your parakeet
Dylan Thomas was a poet drunk on words and when "Under Milk Wood" begins it's hard to follow. All you hear is Richard Burton's amazing narration, sounding like he knows what he's talking about.
Slowly, one's mind adjusts to the language, as the nearly-all star cast joins in. Whether you enjoy the movie depends on how much you love words and how well your mind can piece together a narrative that can, at best, be called choppy. A movie presenting images of a poem that presents individual portraits of individual members of a community, will of necessity be oddly episodic.
Standouts include Peter O'Toole as blind Captain Cat (has he ever handed in a less-than-good performance?) and Victor Spinetti (like Burton and Thomas, a Welshman). Glynis Johns also seems to "get it." And Burton himself, who is superb.
On the other hand, Elizabeth Taylor seems to be in because she was 1) famous, and 2) married to Burton. And if (like most of us) you're not Welsh, some of the accents are difficult.
David Jason tries being funny and occasionally succeeds.
But be warned, it's less a movie than some amazing voices reciting Thomas' beautiful but at times difficult language. My title is an example, if an amusing one. It's English, but as few people have ever heard it. It proves English can be a beautiful language, indeed.
George & Leo: The Cameo Episode (1997)
The ultimate G&L
Nearly (but not all) the regular cast of "The Bob Newhart Show" and "Newhart" make mostlt-brief cameo appearances on this episode. Apparently several cast members of "Taxi" also appeared, but I never watched that show. Neither Christopher Lloyd and the Supervisor on that show appear and they're the only ones I'd know, because they later broke out to stardom.
Unfortunately, seeing Bill Daily, Tom Poston, Julia Duffy, Peter Scolari and the rest of the talent Bob Newhart used to command only plays up the shortcomings of "George and Leo." In fact, after this episode, they might as well have shut "George and Leo" down.
George & Leo (1997)
Last and least of Bob Newhat's starring series (or is it serieses?)
"The Bob Newhart Show" was hilarious. "Newhart" was not only hilarious but legendary. "Bob" was hilarious but short-lived. "George and Leo," where Bob Newhat was joined by another proven sitcom star, was not hilarious.
Bob Newhart started out as a stand-up comic. A very different sort of comic from any other: In his best routines he was on a telephone, basically being the straight man where the comic lines were in the listeners' heads. It's sort of like Abbot and Costello's "Who's on first," where the straight man (Abbot) has all the laugh lines.
The genius of Bob Newhart's shows was that, while Newhart was a funny guy, like another low-key comic, Jack Benny, he surrounded himself with very funny characters and he didn't care who got the laughs, so long as people in offices would say, "Did you catch that latest show with Bob Newhart?" When "Newhart" was on as soon as it signed off a friend and I would race each other to the phone to see who'd ring the other first, to discuss it.
The first season of "Newhart" was pretty dire but with a little tweaking it lasted nine years. "Bob" his the ground running breathlessly but lasted little more than one season.
The first problem with "G&L" is that the subsidiary characters aren't there. Then there's Bob and Judd. Bob is the same Bob he's always been, which is good as he plays a bookstore owner (in retrospect it seems a natural setting). Judd is funny in his manipulative, fast-talking, conman way asca stranger who muscles his way onto Bob Newhart's life with surprises like little bombs going off one by one. But the chemistry isn't there. It's like they're playing two different sitcoms. While "G&L" is often compared to "The Odd Couple," the odd couple played in the same show and its stars had chemistry and the ability to put over lines that weren't always funny. The best of its humor rose from character, not funny lines.
Don't get me wrong: Newhart's presence, which was on TV basically all my life, is comforting. And he's too exacting a comic not to make sure he has some fine laughs. But if "G&L" had starred anyone else, with the same scripts, I wouldn't have watched it. Usually, I say Newhart's shows, even when they tank or take time to settle on, we're good ideas. I can't say that this time.
Bob: Mad Dog Returns (1992)
Kick off for a funny but different sort of Newhart
Bob McKay (Bob Newhart) is an artist who long ago created a defunct comic book called "Mad Dog." The comic book is revived so Bob quits his job at the greeting card company to draw the new comic.
Like "The Bob Newhart Show," "Bob" takes place in two venues: at work (with a very odd group of people indeed), and at home, with a grown daughter (Cynthia Stevenson).
The initial episode covers all this.
Bob Newhart had two successful sitcoms but while it was funny, "Bob" never caught fire. Lots of reasons are given (such as, it was too dark and edgy for the typical Bob Newhart fan). My favorite is, after "Twin Peaks," which ended not long before, the title "Bob" might've carried too much baggage.
Anyway, if you can find the show, check it out. But start with this first episode.
Bob: The Phantom of AmCanTranConComCo (1993)
My favorite episode
Trisha (Cynthia Stevenson) goes on a wild rebound after breaking up with her weird boyfriend Matthew. In her uncertain state, she agrees to a date with the never seen boss of AmCanTranConComCo., Mister Ter Horst.
While it doesn't have the best climax (that belongs to the one where she's jumping rope) both Stevenson and Bob Newhart have lots of funny bits. And while most of the funny stuff is frontloaded, the "date" at the restaurant is a classic sequence.
Newhart never before fell into the trap of having kids of his sitcoms but a deadpan grown daughter was a good idea. Unfortunately, Stevenson is a scene-stealer and too often Bob Newhart is relegated to support. Fortunately, they work together here in perfect harmony.
Bob: The Lost Episode (1992)
Jump for joy over Cynthia Stevenson
While this episode is not, IMHO, the funniest overall, it does have the best ending. But you have to keep an eye peeled to get the final joke.
Bob and Harlan have an argument over the original "Mad Dog" that's finally settled by a rabid (pun intended) "Mad Dog" fan, who knows far more trivia about the character than the author himself. As a writer, I have to say: no surprise there.
In other news, Trisha (Cynthia Stevenson) tries to get backers for a "Jump for Joy" to earn a nice chunk of change for a children's hospital.
Despite a bizarre performance by bizarre guest star Bud Cort, this episode has to be awarded to Stevenson, who is at her brightest.
Bob: Terminate Her (1992)
Bob Bewhart doing what he does better than anyone: waffling
Trisha (Cynthia Stevenson) is job-seeking yet again. Her father, Bob McKay (Bob Newhart) asks her to try out for an opening at the comic book company as a colorist.
Harlan, finding out Bob wants to hire his daughter, gives him a speech on nepotism. Besides, he's already hired his girlfriend, Shayla.
But when it becomes clear Shayla can't follow the most basic rules, Harlan and Bob have difficulty actually firing her. Are they stuck with her incompetence forever?
The actress playing Shayla has adopted a most peculiar and annoying accent. Later, she'll become a semi-regular.
Stevenson is, as always, perfectly wonderful.
Bob: Mad Dog on 34th Street (1992)
Great guest star
Learning "Mad Dog," the new superhero created by Bob McKay (Bob Newhart), will be a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, the whole gang goes to New York to see it in person.
Unfortunately, when the float flies away, a chase ensues.
The cab driver hired by Bob and Harlan is played by comedian Stephen Wright.
Don't remember Wright? You thought Bob Newhart was low-key! Wright, telling his jokes barely louder than a mumble, could be hilarious. And he's funny here, as well.
If you don't know Wright, look some of his stuff up on the Internet and see what we used to laugh at in the early 1990s.
Fantasy Island: Roller Derby Dolls/Thanks a Million (1982)
One Bizarre Episode. No, Two
A "sports fan" (Vic Tayback) wants to manage a real sports team (thinking baseball, football, basketball, hockey, etc.), and Roarke puts him in charge of a ladies' roller derby team, about which he knows nothing!
In the other story, three contestants (including Janet Leigh and James Noble) will win a million dollars from a rich "benefactor," depending on who does the best good deed. But does he have an ulterior motive?
Yes. Oddly, the "benefactor" wants to prove everyone is rotten where money is concerned. Ricardo Montalban, allegedly a devout Carholic, should accept Original Sin and the need for individual Salvation. Perhaps he was contractually obligated to take the opposite view, or perhaps he doesn't understand his faith.
Anyway, who will win the money, since many of the "good deeds" include violence?
Bob (1992)
Third time wasn't a charm
The first season of "Newhart" sucked eggs. The only really funny episodes were a couple with Larry, Darryl and Darryl and one with a visit by Stephanie. Fortunately, CBS showed its faith in Bob Newhart and gave his 1980s show a slightly retooled 2nd season, with more visits from Larry and the Darryls and making Stephanie a regular. The third season moved the brothers three next door and added Peter Scolari, and "Newhart" proved a classic.
"Bob," Bob Newhart's 1990s show, had a solid premise: milquetoast greeting-card artist has an early comic book of his revived, but rather than a cuddly, old school superhero comic book it's dark and edgy. Bob is surrounded by strange comic book people including an A-personality partner. He also has a home life (harkening back to the double setting of "The Bob Newhart Show.") Only, this time he has a daughter (one of the biggest laughs I ever got from a TV show between the end of "Newhart" and the start of "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" was an episode where his daughter got a hot date . . . By phone. It might not be an odd occurrence today, but back then it was downrighr bizarre).
The daughter is played byCynthia Syevenson, a real, deadpan plus to the show. She's great.
Again, CBS showed their faith in cash cow Bob Newhart and they let the show run a full season. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, "Bob" never got traction.
"Bob" was retooled for a second season, and, unlike "Newhart," which started out limping and got better and better for nine seasons, "Bob" in its second season got worse. Rather than tweaking the show until it was as fine-tuned as a racing engine, the entire office side of the show was thrown out and changed. When the revamped "Bob" didn't catch fire, it went where the bad shows go.
I liked "Bob" and, seeing what happened with "Newhart," I was willing to give it time to find its sea legs. But I'm not a network exec.
For a different sort of Newhart vibe, the first season of "Bob" is worth a peek, if you can find it.
North and South, Book II (1986)
Don't get all your history from TV
This is a review of Book 2. For my review of the overall series, see Book 1.
For "North and South, Book 2," based on a novel by flashy, trashy author John Jakes, most of the old characters from Book 1 are back. Except Billy Hazard, this time around, is portrayed by former Hardy Boy Parker Stevenson, which is a step up.
The southern accents in this "Gone With the Wind" knock off are just as phony this time around, (who was the dialogue coach, William T. Sherman?) but it has two advantages over GWTW: 1) I was bored silly by GWTW yet found N&S compelling as I wallowed in its southern gothic soap operatic nonsense (the Yankee family isn't nearly so fascinating); and, 2) while GWTW had a Civil War setting it had a notable dearth of battle scenes.
North and South, Book 2, has battle scenes. Oh, they're not humongous, but they beat a competing Civil War series of the era, "The Blue and the Gray." "The Blue and the Gray" had a hallowed, even sainted, Civil War scholar on board (at least, for the sake of the credits) but not, apparently, much of a budget. "North and South" looks better by the ton, though some of the dialogue is strained and any technical advisors are here not to get things right but to have someone to point fingers at when they get things wrong.
The real people are played, for the most part, by stars. Hal Holbrook and Lloyd Bridges are impressive as presidents Lincoln and Davis, respectively. Particularly Bridges, as he resists the temptation to play Davis as a fool, which even many southers see him as. William Schallert is a far better Robert E. Lee than the mess they had in "Gettysburg." Grant is portrayed by the invariably reliable Anthony Zerbe, who looks better bearded.
Of the rest, standouts include Lesley-Anne Down (why do the English do more accurate southern accents than Americans?) and "Remington Steele" exile James Read as George Hazard. Philip Casanov does his best but, as someone who spent nearly all his 63 years in GA, I cringe whenever he opens his mouth. Wherever he bought his accent, he got cheated. This time around manipulative Isabel is Mary Crosby. Jonathan Frakes makes his mark as her weak-willed husband. The two loveliest actresses in the 1980s were both named Morgan, and "North and South" scored Morgan Fairchild (and how I wish her part were longer!) as a pistol-totin' southern belle. Oh, and Lee Horsley has perfected his transformation into the new James Garner playing this show's version of Rhett Butler and his scenes with Down are the best in the series.
Unfortunately, James Stewart, arguably America's greatest film actor, while a welcome presence lending this show (as Robert Mitchum did in Book 1) a certain gravitas, is showing his age. Too bad.
As a susceptible history grad student in my 20s I was enthralled when this series was first broadcast. How does it stand up after 40 years? Pretty well, since "North and South" relies on its soap operaish element of behind-the-battle lines escapades than strict history (some tactical ideas suggested in "Gettysburg," for instance, were outdated; "North and South" avoids that trap by giving us just enough strategy, painted in broad strokes, so we're not lost). And one minor story line is ripped right out of WAR AND PEACE. Well, why not throw in the kitchen sink?
Occasionally, "North and South" can be rather silly. In the "South" sections it's never chilly below the Mason Dixon line. Everyone who matters down south are rich planters, they upper few percent who actually owned slaves (though they give reasons why those who don't or never own slaves and maybe never so much as saw one risked their lives for their invaded homeland; the rest of the population, including my ancestors, all my ancestors, are trash). "The Blue and the Gray" had a free man of color running his own business, something impossible in the "North and South" universe.
It's not really history, which i've spent the last four decades reading; it's "Dallas" or "Dynasty" with battlefields taking the place of the board rooms. But it's all good fun--with the possibility of being shot.
Fantasy Island: Daddy's Little Girl/The Whistle (1982)
Worth Seeing for the Cast
Wow, what a cast! Longtime movie supporting player John Carradine. Alan Hale ("Gilligan's Island.") Hal Smith (Otis from "The Andy Griffith Show"). Alvy Moore (Mr. Kimble on "Green Acres," whom I nominate as one of the funniest TV sitcom characters ever). Movie dancer Gene Nelson. Ann Turkel. Carolyn Jones ("The Addams Family"). William Windom (a favorite of mine since I saw him in a one-man show on James Thurber in an intimate theater in the 1970s). Genie Francis. It's a treasure trove for people who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s.
The only problem is, no one has that much to do.
Sometimes "Fantasy Island" episodes seem stretched out to fill 49 minutes. Here we have two episodes that could become 90-minute "Movies of the Week." A wealth of potentialities, considering the talent involved.
In one episode, a young girl (Francis) about to be married is on a quest for her birth father (which involves Hale, Nelson, Jones and Windom). In the other, an Archaeologist looking for the find of the century winds up in a spooky ghost town full of odd characters (this one involves Smith, Moore, the great Carradine, and Ann Turkel, who was, to me, always spooky enough without special lighting or makeup).
Unfortunately, the ghost-town story brings in its characters like a police line-up, and the amazing cast in the Francis episode fare little better (but a little better).
This should have been an extra-long "FI" or a two-parter (which they didn't do much in them there days). Other reviewers have commented on the cheap special effects, but this is a TV budget, not George Lucas.
But just to see all these (then) easily-recognizable actors clumping around together is special.
Oh, well. Whittier summed it up best: "For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: it might have been!"
Fantasy Island: Eternal Flame/A Date with Burt (1983)
Middling but not terrible episode
A woman (Sandra Dee) wants to meet a James Bond type actor (Ron Ely) with mixed results.
A couple want to find a fountain of eternal youth and get bogged down in an ancient society whose queen (Stella Stevens) loves him and hates her.
Alex Cord is back again in the ancient-society tale, where, of course, everyone speaks English (you know they're an ancient culture as their English is more pristine; in the movie and on TV languages degenerate over time rather than improve; considering Shakespeare and others of his ilk, maybe they're right).
Rather than a good story and a bad story they're about equal, with good points and boring patches.
Fantasy Island: Delphine/The Unkillable (1981)
The Carl Ballantine Show
You can always tell an old Vaudevillian. They put a little something special into their performances. This time around, it's Carl Ballentine (McHale's Navy), a washing up magician whose real magic belonged to his lovely assistant (Ann Jillian). As, coincidentally, she's Roarke's goddaughter who has come to be married on Fantasy Island, Ricardo Montalban is heavily involved in this episode.
In the other tale, Annette Funicello and Randoloh Mantooth (Emergency) are looking for a monster who is neither human nor animal (actually, the real monster is her ex-beau, Alex Cord). Anyway, it's one of those 'be careful what you wish for' fables.
Also with Doris Roberts (Remington Steele). And an incredibly annoying Vic Tayback.
Sometimes, you can't ask if "Fantasy Island" stories are good or bad but, like people, you have to accept them for what they are. Both episodes here have good points.
Fantasy Island: Romance Times Three/Night of the Tormented Soul (1981)
3-0
Fantasy Island usually has a funny story and a serious/frightening story. One or the other is usually weak, but that's a sensi le way to do it:
get rid of the forgettable story by twinning it with one folks actually want to follow. This time both are winners. How did that happen?
Georgia Engel plays a switchboard lady (sort of like "The Bells are Ringing"; the writers are banking on the hope we don't remember that and we probably don't). She has a thing for three guys and wants to meet them face-to-face. Unfortunately, she wants them to see her as they want to see her (of all the dumb ideas) until they get to know her. And she forgets she doesn't really know them, either.
The other story has lovely Diane Kay and some blond guy wondering what happened to a deceased "uncle" and they wind up in a haunted house with Eleanor Donahue ("Father Knows Best," "The Andy Griffith Show") overacting her brains out. Richard Snderson also appears, but has little to do.
It takes a lot for me to laugh out loud but Tattoo had a (no pun intended) short segment that broke through my jaded exterior. Curiously, that makes it three winners for me.
Fantasy Island: The Devil and Mandy Breem/Instant Millionaire (1980)
The devil, you say
Two interesting episodes. In the "comic" vein Arte Johnson wants a million dollars (in 1980 money) and gets it when a briefcase full of money flies through a window and bursts open at his feet.
The complication: it's was stolen by a gang (headed by Ross Martin) and they want it back.
In the more serious episode Roddy McDowall is a delightful devil whom Roarke battles over the soul of a young woman (Carol Lynley, queen of the pout). The trouble is, her husband is played by Adam West and as a fan of the old "Batman" series I can't hear his voice without laughing.
But McDowall was always one of my favorite actors. I try to catch everything he does. He's very good.
Fantasy Island: The Lady and the Longhorn/Vampire (1978)
The score is one and one
"Fantasy Island" usually had a comic episode and a serious episode.
In the comic episode this time around, Eva Gabor is a cosmetics queen out to marry for money to keep control of her company. Her choice of the men Roarke presents is played by the hilarious Jack Elam. It's predictable, but good fun. Just wait until he picks up a guitar.
In the "serious" episode Robert Reed plays a method actor whose next role is a vampire. But in his preparation for the role, does he cross the line into being an actual bloodsucking? Reed was actually quite a good actor before his time as old man Brady. Here, he's strangely dull. You can tell he's struggling with himself because of his constipated expression.
The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer (1977)
A Stellar Cast Keeps This From Looking Lije an Amateur Production
Suppose Custer survived his Last Stand? Other reviewers summed up Custer's post-war career but to make a long story short, the man made no friends in the Grant administration. So, looking for scapegoats after the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and hoping to bury a political enemy (an idea ripped right out of modern headlines), President Grant and other military men upon whose toes Custer has tread cook up a trial for Custer for disobeying orders.
As I mentioned in the title, the cast is top drawer. Unfortunately, some have little to do. Blythe Danner, one of the better actresses of those days who could pass for a lady, until the end is reduced to looking noble. She does it well, but I feel sorry for her.
Good actors with lots to do include Ken Howard, who soars above the material; and Brian Keith, who appears almost embarrassed by his bad wig and his limp (Keith would outshine most all comers ten years later in the starry miniseries "Centennial.")
Smaller roles are filled with the likes of William Daniels, Anthony Zerbe and J. D. Cannon. Susan Sullivan was never more alluring.
The biggest disaster was James Olsen's Custer. Even just sitting at the defendants' table, he ought to exude some of the famous Custer charisma that inspired men (above their duty) to follow him to their deaths. He doesn't.
Overall, this videotaped presentation looks quickly made and under rehearsed. The direction of the camera work is occasionally sloppy. Parts of it look like amateur theater that might've been staged in a high school lunch room. That the fine actors weren't buried altogether proves how well-chosen they were.
The Assassination Bureau (1969)
"Can't You Talk Anything But Shop?"
The turn of the twentieth century. An aspiring journalist (the practically perfect Diana Rigg) hires the Assassination Bureau, Ldt., to kill its own chairman (Oliver Reed). Reed decides to use this as a chance to clear dead wood from his Bureau of directors who once murdered with ideals but who are now rich and flabby. The other chairmen are portrayed by a variety of international guest stars, all of whom get a chance to shine as the assassination job has become a duel between Reed and the other directors.
The journalist follows Reed all over Europe to report on the goings-on, backed by the newspaper owner (Telly Savales). Is he doing it out of the goodness of his heart or does he have an ulterior motive? What do you think?
The movie starts with a montage of assassinations (like that other, contemporary, dark comedy, "The Wrong Box.")
The first thirty minutes are a delight. The various locations (Paris, Switzerland, Vienna, Venice) are each given their own ambiance and are all clearly studio set.
However, the delight begins fading through the episodes until the sojourn in Venice. While one of the most cleverly plotted episodes and not without good, dark humor, it seems to go on forever.
But whether the episodes are fun or tiresome, Rigg is there with us to help us through. I'm an "Avengers" fan but Rigg has rarely acted so well (she never misses a note) and, arguably, was never lovelier.
Reed is also wonderful. The two play well together. It's too bad they didn't do more together.
There's even an infectious, cheery, late-1860s theme song by the Mike Sammes Singers.
Mostly-fun nonsense.
The Prisoner of Zenda, Inc. (1996)
A classic early yarn of identity theft updated for young people. Well, of 1996.
It looks like a silly idea at first glance. At second glance, too. Take a well-known classic and cut it down for young people. In this case it's 1894's THE PRISONER OF ZENDA by Anthony Hope. And coming out in 1996, it's the only centennial tale of that yarn available.
ZENDA has been made into two classic moves that are virtually identical, the best starring Ronald Colman. If you don't like to read, that version does an excellent job of bringing the classic story to life.
But more of the 1996 version. Rather than a Prince going through a coronation as king (something late Victorian England was looking forward to and which we know from our own lifetimes) it's about a young man about to take over his father's corporation, conveniently called "ZENDA, INC."
The bad guy is his uncle Michael (William Shatner) who kidnaps him and holds him prisoner. Some of the young heir's handlers and advisors (including Don Davis from "Twin Peaks" playing a variation of Hope's Colonel Sapt, Colonel Zapf) run in a lookalike ringer to hold the fort until the real youth can be rescued from his wicked uncle's hands. But several complications entice the young phony into staying in his new role and leaving as soon as possible.
THE PRISONER OF ZENDA is one of my favorite novels and I approached this version with trepidation. Is it good? Well, that depends on what you expect from it.
However, when I was a kid I read "Classics Illustrated" comic books, with genuine versions of classical books reduced for kidos. And I was a big fan of "Wishbone" which ran at the same time this movie was made. Of course, "Wishbone" had an that almost preternaturally intelligence Jack Russell terrier. No one in this movie is that cute.
Whatever exposes young people to classical literature stories is A-OK with me. You never know what might encourage (or trick) them into reading, and reading something worthwhile.
As an adult when this movie first appeared I may not have been in sync with the young characters, but I appreciated what the filmmakers were trying to do. Okay, they were attempting to make a payday out of a story in public domain, but let's give them credit and say they were introducing young viewers to a classic novel.
Though one reviewer ahead of me called it "a super old movie." Ouch. And here I am, Methusaleh, recommending Ronald Colman. Even Wishbone will be ancient history to people today and that's a shame. I don't remember precisely, but Wishbone may not even have had a cell phone.
Flower Drum Song (1961)
Slight R&H Musical
A Chinese immigrant falls for a young man who is in love with a showgirl. With other complications.
A slight Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on a slighter novel, "Flower Drum Song" has some wonderful songs ("A Hundred Million Miracles," "I Enjoy Being a Girl," "Chop Suey," "Don't Marry Me") and others that are forgettable. My parents had a Broadway album of this show and I used to listen to "Chop Suey" again and again.
Hollywood never cared much about discerning distinctions between Asian peoples, so lots of the "Chinese" descended characters are played by actors of Japanese descent.
However, the cast is excellent. James Shigeta is the handsome young man all the females fall for. He later became a pretty darn good actor but was usually wasted, by Hollywood, in "drug lord" type roles when he should have been playing Shakespeare. Then there's Jack Soo, who became a star in the 1970s on "Barney Miller." Prolific James Hong (a treasure in 1979's "The In-laws" and other films) has an unfortunately small part.
Also on hand are Nancy Kwan, Benson Fong and the legendary Victor Sen Yung.
Apparently the movie was largely rewritten from Broadway. I missed it on Broadway, not being born yet, but the story in the movie is sluggish. Only the question of which of the many females who want him James Shigeta's character will end up with has any interest.
The story isn't much to write home and the dance numbers (by Fred Astaire's old collaborator Hermes Pan) aren't exciting. But nothing by Rodgers and Hammerstein is without some buried treasures.
The Paper Chase (1978)
They're the best and the brightest, and they know it.
Several young Law School hopefuls are confronted with the hard-nosed Professor Kingsfield (John Houseman, who is superb). In the course of the series some will make it through while others will fall to the wayside. Who will survive the course?
I watched this series when I was in high school. It ended shortly before I began my own college career. I thought it was the greatest thing on TV. I was sorry to see it go. That was then.
Following college, for various reasons I fell into a Law School at a major university and spent many years rattling around in there. Rubbing shoulders daily with real law students and genuine Kingsfields sort of soured me on the fictional versions and though I only saw the run it had on CBS I'll never watch the rest of it. I can't stand those people. My attitude has become like the character at the end of the movie version (no spoilers).
I haven't seen "The Paper Chase" since the late 1970s but as I recall the production was wonderful. I suppose it still stands up to lots of the rubbish on TV today, as it did to the rubbish back then.
So, if you want to see a show all about the most intellectual scion of the social and monetary elites, AND WHO KNOW IT, this is the show for you.
If, on the other hand, you want to see a show about real people you can identify with, watch something else. Anything else. From "The Love Boat" to "The Walking Dead." Stay away from this elitist-knucklehead drama.