Let's try something fairly straightforward to get this blog back on track. What were my favorite movies that I watched in August that were new to me?
Of the 21 new watches, 6 made the finals, with at least 4 stars in my Letterboxd rating. In the order I watched them:
- Craig's Wife (1936)
- It Should Happen To You (1954)
- In the Heat of the Night (1967)
- Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
- Gold Rush Maisie (1940)
- Woman in Hiding (1949)
The bottom of these is It Should Happen to You, which was fabulous for 80% of the film. Alas, it suffers from a very weak denouement, with Judy Holliday's character suddenly throwing away her ambition and uniqueness to fall into a routine romantic ending.
Moving up, next is Craig's Wife, starring Rosalind Russell and directed by Dorothy Arzner. This is an excellent film, but does have some relatively small flaws, including a slow opening and a heavy-handed message.
Sherlock, Jr and In the Heat of the Night are next. Both are great watches, albeit extremely different from each other. Neither film entirely suits my tastes, which may explain why I do not rate them even higher.
Woman in Hiding is my second favorite new watch of last month. It is a suspenseful, engaging thriller from the opening. And it has the wonderful Ida Lupino in the lead role, which is another huge plus for me.
Finally, my absolute favorite new watch in August was the third film in the Maisie series Gold Rush Maisie. I had watched the first two Maisie movies back-to-back well over a year ago. The original, Maisie, was fabulous. The second, Congo Maisie, was entertaining, but didn't inspire me to move on to the others. That was a mistake, as the third film is the best yet and hooked me on Ann Sothern's "Maisie" character and how good-hearted and empathetic she is---a super-hero without super-powers. It was heart-breaking to see her drive off alone at the end of the movie, leaving her new friends, setting off on her next adventure.
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