rube2424

I watched this film for two reasons. The first was Ruth Etting. A favorite of mine since I heard her great Columbia LP at a faculty member's home at college. Disappointing here as she sings one awful song and a bit of a reprise and then goodbye. Bummer. The other reason was to see Douglas Fowley a good friend of my Dad's when they were young men. (I think Fowley was at my folk's wedding in 1933 a year before this film. Seeing him as a young man before he adopted his trademark pencil mustache made me see my Dad at that age. Otherwise, Gloria Stuart was lovely, Ethel Waters was fine singing a dull song and it was Alex Woollcott who surprised me. Who knew he was so soft spoken? I always thought of him bellowing as did Monty Wooley in The Man Who Came to Dinner. On the other hand, Edmund Lowe was repulsive as the fast talking con man. Yuch. Watching this once will be quite enough.

PRIEST is very much a post apocalypse version of THE SEARCHERS with some NOSFERATU and any Lee Van Cleef spaghetti western thrown in for good measure. The visuals are stunning, the creatures well crafted, and the pace brisk. What more can one expect from a film of this sort? The acting is good with Paul Bettany is stolid as the title character, Maggi Q expressionless but sexy all the same, Cam Gagandet having a blast as a young Clint Eastwood clone and Christopher Plummer as the misguided head of the church.

PRIEST was an enjoyable evening at the films. No Oscars for sure, but I do hope this is the start of a franchise with all the main actors back aboard for the ride. All in all, great fun.