jjodo32

The Susan Orleans book "The Orchid Thief" that gave rise to this film was boring and plotless. To make a decent movie out of it was well nigh impossible, a labor of Hercules at the very least. The film is built around a character played by Cage and not in the book, a screenwriter who is a boring nerd looking for a peg upon which to hang a screenplay. The ensuing action is totally absurd and unworthy of the talents of Streep and Cooper. Pass on this one.

I was only able to see this WW1 film once on TV and hope to be able to see it again before it and I pass into the great beyond. I found it to be one of the most moving films I've ever seen, particularly the ending where the dead melt into the ground to the haunting Jerome Kern song "They Didn't Believe Me." The idea of WW1 as a sort of amusement park a la Coney Island allows for some stirring & funny scenes such as the gung-ho arrival of the untried American forces to the tune of "Over There." Everybody, demand that this great film be released on VHS or DVD!

This film has an outstanding cast but can't decide if it's a comedy or a drama. A principled businessman, Spencer Tracy, is lured into running for the Republican primary by a scheming newspaper heiress played by a very cool & beautiful Angela Lansbury. Along the way he loses his principles, who wouldn't, in spite of the best efforts of his estranged wife, Kate Hepburn. Van Johnson & Adolph Menjou are wonderful supporting players. But I was put off by the preachiness of Tracy's dialog -- talk is cheap -- and the feel-good, true-blue happy ending. We had to wait until the 1950s for some realism to work it's way into American films.