|
| • Advanced Search • Help |
Night and Day | Year: 1946 Classification: Drama Directed: - Michael Curtiz Actors/Actresses: - Cary Grant - Alexis Smith A Classic! Our family is a big fan of musicals and old movie classics and "Night and Day" fits into both categories perfectly! We rented this movie a few days ago and fell in love with it immediately. The story of Cole Porter, portrayed by Cary Grant, is such a neat one, showing the sacrifices he made, and the difficulties of becoming a composer. I give this a 5 star rating. I think that young and old alike will fall for this movie right away. MARY MARTIN SAVES THE DAY! Story of the adult life of Cole Porter, through his accident on a horse and recouperation. Regarding him and his spouse, what were these two people really like, and their marriage? We'll never know from this movie, which portrays them in a one-dimensional, saccharin mode. Grant tries to rise above the script and almost does. Alexis Smith simply sinks. The film's saving grace is the fabulous music. The production numbers are more than gratifying, Ginny Simms and Jane Wyman being the main performers. But remember Mary Martin, the gem of our American theatre? She steals the whole film with only scene wherein she belts out "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" to remind us how thrilling and awesome her talent really was. Worth the film just to see this! Night and Day on DVD Others have addressed the travesty this movie makes of Cole Porter's life, so I will not rehash. Historically, both Linda and Cole were supposed to have been quite pleased with the flic, which, given the times, probably was the only public reaction they could have had (I'd hope they laughed histerically in private). On the plus side, we have Alexis Smith as beautiful and elegant as she always was, but younger (presumably Linda Lee Porter suggested her for the role); Jane Wyman vital and sparkling, as far removed from Douglas Sirk as one can imagine; Mary Martin innocently raunchy; Eve Arden putting on a French accent, straight-faced; and about the most gosh-awful-kitschiest rendition of Begin the Beguine I have ever seen, on or off film. Not campy but garish, it becomes fascinatingly repellent .... definitely worth seeing. It is the movie's "Big Number" .... seriously tasteless and ill-conceived, following relatively close on the heels -so to speak- of an acknowledged masterpiece: Begin the Beguine, the "Big Number" in "Broadway Melody of 1940," danced by Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire.(Available in a pristine transfer to DVD). What is absolutely shameful is the minimal care evidenced in the movie's transfer to DVD. Scratches and dirt are easily discernible...... worst: whole sections go by in thoroughly faded technicolor, yet there are isolated spots when one is reminded how glorious the process could be. It doesn't appear WB went to a negative but rather picked from various prints in varying degrees of deterioration. I can think of many movies deserving full-fledged restoration before Night and Day, <BR>but, c'mon...... surely Warner can do better than this. WB partially redeems itself by including a musical short featuring a singing Desi Arnaz and His Band, and a truly charmless, through-composed oddity called "Musical Movieland." Nonetheless, on the balance, if it came to a choice, I would have opted for a better transfer. Buy Night And Day at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Night And Day Search with the Priority Search Engine on Night And Day This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
|
