Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

I liked Peter Lorre in this movie, but I agree that The Man Who Knew Too Much is a rare example of when the remake is better than the original.

Director: Richard Thorpe
Writers: Emlyn Williams (stage play), John Van Druten (screen play)
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Robert Montgomery, Dame May Whitty
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

About: On an isolated estate, deep in the woods, a rich older lady (Dame May Whitty) lives with her niece (Rosalind Russell) and maid...when she hires a charming man (Robert Montgomery) to be her personal assistant, the niece becomes suspicions that he was involved in the murder of a missing woman.

Based on the successful psychological thriller stage play by Emlyn Williams. The movie was a critical success, being named film of the year by the National Board of Review...and yet was a box office flop as it failed to capture the imagination of the Depression era audiences.


In an interview with Elizabeth Montgomery (TV's Bewitched), she said of her father, that Night Must Fall was his most haunting performance. I liked Robert Montgomery in this too.

I found the movie quite interesting, it's set up like a play, with most of the action taking place in a few rooms inside the old estate house. This allows the character's time to develop their personalities and deliver some darker and poetic monologues.

I liked Rosalind Russell in this, and here she's dead serious and perhaps a little morbid too, which is a different role for her than we're use to seeing. Dame May Whitty, is grand as the powerful and demanding old woman who's confined to a wheel chair...but falls under for the nefarious charms of her new helper.

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Contratiempo (original title)
Director: Oriol Paulo
Writer: Oriol Paulo
Cast: Mario Casas, Ana Wagener, José Coronado
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Language: Spanish

The Invisible Guest is a smart film that pulled me in right away and kept me interested for the most part. I went into this film completely blind and that's the way I think it's best watched. Why? It's first and foremost a crime mystery-thriller, and the enjoyment is trying to figure out who done it!

Right at the start of the film we get the murder of the girl in the photo, and that's too bad because she was really pretty. But don't worry as most of the story is told through flashbacks and we get to see her live again!

I liked the story premise of a retired jury lawyer expert, grilling the murder suspect who's under house arrest for a murder and has only hours to tell his story before he's arrested. That gave the film a sense of urgency that was ramped up by the ticking stop watch....damn good idea!...At the start of the film it seems like a clear cut case, and that he's guilty as hell. Or is he?

That's the beauty of the film, it has lots of twisting and turning plot developments as the suspect tells and retells his strange story. At the 18 minute mark I thought I knew who did it and how the movie would end...or so I thought!....Wow, was I wrong! and this movie really challenges you to pay attention to the details and figure out the puzzle. For people who love a who-done-it murder mystery, you'll be in nirvana.

Oh, I loved the opening title credits too....Yeah-yeah I know who cares about the credits? I do! Both the way the letters appeared and disappeared on the screen and the score, really set the tone for the movie and put me in the right frame of mind.

The film was beautiful shot and edited and avoided some of the usual overly-fancy camera work that has become du jour in the last few years.

Kudos to the casting department. These actors fit their roles like a glove, they seemed like real people and not actors. Perhaps the best casting was the older man who's the father of the missing kid.

If there was one thing I would change about this film is that towards the ending they included so many twist and turns, and so fast, that I got lost in what was happening and so the ending didn't have the emotional impact for me that it should have.

It took me a long time to see Barton Fink (so my first viewing was relatively recent).
I have to agree with your entire review, CR.

I was familiar with the title long before I ever saw the movie due to a scene in a Simpson's cartoon:


I remember knowing enough about the film and its writers to get the joke - it wasn't the kind of R-rated movie the boys were expecting!

Come to think of it, Barton Fink is a wonderfully strange mix: it feels a bit like the Twilight Zone, a William S. Burroughs novel, a David Lynch movie and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (only in the respect that they both had the setting of 1940's Hollywood!)

I liked it way back when you wrote it, and I still like it. Great review, brother! Such a cool movie. Hope you're having some tasty pizza tonight, bud!

I need to see Loverboy again. It's been decades. (eek!)

But I do remember it having something about it that was fun and warranted a rewatch. There was a scene where Dempsey was on a bed and started wildly wiggling his head back and forth. My friend almost choked on laughter. It was bad. I thought I may have to call an ambulance. Since then, I've always remembered it vaguely as being a scene that needed me to see it alone to judge for myself whether or not I'd need an ambulance, myself.

It did have a Naked Lunch feel to it, especially with the dripping walls. I wouldn't have thought of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but I can see that...I think...but wait! was there a voluptuous babe with a Veronica Lake hairdo?

hmm I don't remember that scene, did you see the uncut Brazilian edition?

no such thing of course, but one can wish!

The only thing in common was the time period and location - 1940's Hollywood.

I kind of loved that Roger Rabbit used that setting (as opposed to a more modern one) as it was the heyday of the cartoon era and Hollywood both, and treated the toons almost as if they were Hollywood stars. If they ever made a sequel to Roger Rabbit, I could see the character of Jack Lipnick (played by Michael Lerner) having a major part! That would be a kick as I thought Lipnick (and his toadie "Lou Breeze" played by Jon Polito) were two of the most entertaining characters in Barton Fink!

I need to see Loverboy!

Watched "Guest" last night. It is an engaging film, well photographed and edited as you pointed out. I especially enjoyed the music score by Fernando Velazques, which was very reminiscent of the great Bernard Herrmann's music.

The film was a throw back to the convoluted plot lines of some of the 1990s/early 2000s mysteries. Like you, in the latter part of the picture, the machine-gunning of alternative plot scenarios was dizzying to me. I soon gave up and waited for the ending.

Although the movie was a nice watch, the unsatisfying feeling it gave me was due to the fact that the dead boy's parents could not have in their wildest dreams constructed the complex strategic plot that would ultimately snare the killer. And the old latex mask ruse has been a little overdone. But it's a movie, right?..

~Doc

I'm glad You like Barton Fink. I agree, that cinematopgraphy was brilliant here.John Turturro is such a underrating actor.
Great rev, as usual

Glad you liked Loverboy but I thought you might like it more. I find it very charming for a comedy with a plot like that. Perhaps it’s dated a bit.

I liked it fine, I just didn't love it. Probably like a lot of comedies, it would get better and better with repeat viewings. I have a theory that with comedies knowing what to expect, allows a person to find the more subtle humor that otherwise they might miss on a first watch. At least I think that's how my brain works

I was glad to watch it, seeing all those stars, like Carrie Fisher was a great treat. Oh and the Tiki Joe's restaurant, very cool, what a neat place to film in. I looked that up and it's a real place in California and it's called Don the Beachcombers.

CR, you liked "Loverboy" with Patrick Demsey but have you seen "Can't Buy Me Love" with him?

I haven't seen it, I don't think I've ever heard of it. But I just looked it up and it looks like a fun 80s teen movie, so what the hey, I'll watch it Thanks MG

No problem. Its a teen comedy from our era.. I hope you enjoy it!

I don't watch many films with him. Probably only "Can't Buy Me Love" and "Sweet Home Alabama", which I saw both in the cinema.

I'd been wanting to watch this for a long time...It's an interesting film, and not at all what I expected. I've never seen Peter Lorre look so young, or so creepy! He's an under-sung actor and I've enjoyed him in everything I've seen him in. I kind of thought he would have more screen time, but when the camera was focused on him...he truly fit the role.

When watching older films like this, I like to image what audiences back in the day would have thought of the movie...I bet it gave them nightmares!

I love that photo I used. Take a close look at it and you can see the artistry that went into just that one camera shot. Fritz Lang was the master of German Expressionism and it's easy to see where American Film Noir got it's first starts. See how the child killer has his back to us and we can only see his face in the reflection, that's genius. Then look what's in the shop...mask, another symbol for this movie, and check out the angle of those mask...they're all aligned to look down at the little girl, like they are watching her. The entire movie has choice scenes like this one.

The ending really surprised me, not so much what happened in the story, but for the way it was done, very different. I won't say more as I'm curious if anyone else thought the same as I did.

I didn't love this movie, though I did enjoy it...for me it's strength is it's place in cinema history.

It's been years since I saw M, but I recall Lorre's great performance, his break out role. Reportedly Lorre had been known for his comedy roles prior to this film. His comedy and timing really shows in his great work in such films as Arsenic and Old Lace. He's one of those actors who the viewer's eyes always follow on screen.

~Doc

That photo is from my favorite scene, and there's a lot of great scenes. I enjoyed this...I like war film, I don't like war, but I do like war films, or in this case prisoner of war films, because it fills that need to know. I like to know things, and even though this is a drama, it is a window back to 1937, a time right before WWII. And very interestingly, this is a pacifist war film, there's no scenes of shows combat at all and war itself is not herofied.


I was very intrigued how this French film, showed the German officer as chivalrous. I liked those scenes too. It's almost like the director and script writer deeply regretted past hostiles with Germany and sought to make a film that showed that men on both sides of the conflict were indeed brothers under their different uniforms.

I was equally impressed with the breathtaking on location cinematography. Which is so much more inspiring, than cheap studio sets. Loved the Bavarian farm house that the widow lived in. What a view she had of the sweeping country side.

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