"The book is a film that takes place in the mind of the reader." ~ Paulo Coelho
Showing posts with label George Sanders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label George Sanders. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Book vs. Movie Review: The Jungle Book

Hello Everybody!
Today 50 years ago the Disney movie The Jungle Book came out! (Not the 2016 version, the 1967 cartoon!) Because of that I will do a review of both the book and the movie!

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless it says so. 

The Jungle Book - by Rudyard Kipling
"We be of one blood, ye and I."
A man cub is found in the jungle, and the animals decide to take care of him instead of eating it. Mowgli and his friends come upon many, many adventures in the jungle of India.
"What is has been. What will be is no more than a forgotten year striking backwards."
Genre: Adventure.
Characters: 8, there are quite a few good ones!
My favorite: Bagerra, Kaa.
"The English, they had been told, were a perfectly mad people, who would not let honest farmers kill witches in peace."
Words: 8, Very good! But, there are a few places were there is name calling.
"Last year's nuts are this year's black earth."
Storyline: 5, there is death, gruesome things, people mentioned as being nude, smoking, and blood.
"My heart is heavy with the things that I do not understand."
Good For: Animal lovers, People who feel they are different.
Overall Score: 7!
"He turned on his heel and walked away with the Lone Wolf, and as he looked up at the stars he felt happy."

VS.

The Jungle Book (1967):
Based on the book by Rudyard Kipling:
"Many strange legends are told about the jungles of India..."
Being abandoned in the forest, Mowgli grows up with the animals, learning the animal ways. All is well until Shere Khan comes, and wants Mowgli to be no more.
Length: 78 minutes.
Genre: Adventure
Costumes: 6, nothing great, and Mowgli doesn't wear much. But, I do like this:
Script: 8,
"Don't spend your time lookin' around for something that can't be found."
Crew:
Directed by: Wolfgang Reitherman
Produced by: Walt Disney
Screenplay by:
Larry Clemmons
Ralph Wright
Ken Anderson
Vance Gerry
Floyd Norman
Bill Peet
Starring:
Bruce Reitherman as Mowgli.
Phil Harris as Baloo.
Sterling Holloway as Kaa.
George Sanders as Shere Khan.
Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera/Narrator.
Louis Prima as King Louie.
J. Pat O'Malley as Colonel Hathi/Buzzie the Vulture.
Verna Felton as Winifred.
Clint Howard as Junior.
Chad Stuart as Flaps the Vulture.
Lord Tim Hudson as Dizzie the Vulture.
John Abbott as Akela the Indian wolf.
Ben Wright as Rama the Father Wolf.
This really is a 5-star cast!
But, wow, the characters are quite mixed up. The thing with Walt Disney films, is that they are so great you love them, all the characters are classics. Even though Baloo should be like Bagheera, and Bagheera should be like Baloo, and Kaa is a good guy.
Music: 10! Who doesn't love "The Bare Necessities"!? And, "I want to be like you"?!
Music by:
George Bruns
Terry Gilkyson
Richard M. Sherman
Robert B. Sherman
Quotes: 9, So, my favorite quote is so long that I am just going to put a video of it:
Notes: This has some recycled scenes from Winnie the Pooh!
Storyline: 5, the storyline has nothing bad in it, it just is really not a lot like the book. But as I said, you can't say anything bad about it because it is a classic!
Good For: Anybody who feels different, Anybody who has to do a hard thing.
Overall Score: 7!

It's a tie!

I read The Jungle Book, for Heidi's Adventure of Reading Challenge! Go check it out! One done so far on my list! I have read others, but I haven't gotten to review them yet!

Thanks for reading!

MovieCritic

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Movie Review: The Son of Monte Cristo (1940)

Hello Everybody!

"My friend here with introduce me."

We are taking a break from the watch-along as I am here to participate in Fritzi at Movie Silently's Swashathon! A blogathon of swashbuckling adventure! I love swashbucklers so as soon as I saw this I knew I had to participate!

When you look at me, or even if you know me, you think, "MC, the mystery girl. The girl who does not like romances." I am the person who goes around saying that I don't like romances!  But, I have this secret hidden romantic side.
How did I figure this out? Well, I like to figure out what my top five favorite movies and books are, in case anyone ever asks me. When I ask my sisters what their top five favorite movies are, they say, "I don't know, I never think about it." I think about it all the time!
Then I realized (okay, my mom sort of pointed it out) that my top five favorite movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
STAR WARS: A New Hope (1977)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
The Son of Monte Cristo (1940)
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Are all romances, or at least the tiniest bit, or they have sequels that are romances. I know, crazy.
Then I started thinking about my top five favorite fictional books. Two of those are romances.
So, I guess I like romances, especially swashbuckling romances, but let's get this straight, I only like really good romances.
Anyway, enough of all that nonsense. I am here to review a movie! (One of my top five!)

The Son of Monte Cristo (1940):
The unofficial sequel to The Count of Monte Cristo, based on the book by Jules Lermina:
"It has to work!"
The Grand Duchess Zona is a prisoner in her own castle. General Gurko Lannen has taken over and has all the guards under his command, and he wants Zona to marry him! Zona needs help. She goes out for a ride but plans to go further, until her coach gets upset! Just then, the Count of Monte Cristo's son, Edmond, rides by. He gives her his help, while falling in love with her. When things go wrong, Edmond joins the Torch, a rebel newspaper trying to help get Lichtenburg back into Zona's hands. Edmond will pretend he is helping Gurko Lanen, while he is actually helping Zona. Will it work?
"I'm beginning to wonder which me is me!"
As it happens: "My father was the best swordsman in France!"
Genre: Action, Adventure, Swashbuckler, Romance.
Costumes: 9, lovely!
My favorite:
Script: 9, only one or two bad words.
"You ruffian! ....My lamb!"
Crew:
Directed by: Rowland V. Lee
Produced by: Edward Small
Written by: George Bruce
Starring:
Louis Hayward as Edmond Dantès, Jr. "That young man makes a career of making people in trouble more in trouble."
Joan Bennett as Grand Duchess Zona.
George Sanders as General Gurko Lanen. "It is a pity that such a career as yours has to end."
Florence Bates as Countess Mathilde. "I'll take care of that!"
Lionel Royce as Col. Zimmerman
Montagu Love as Baron Von Neuhoff
Ian Wolfe as Conrad Stadt
Music: 10!
Music by: Edward Ward
Quotes: 9,
"The horses are not the best."
"Can they walk?"
"Why yes!"
"That's all that matters."
"But, it's dark!"
"You don't say!"
Storyline: 8, there is some fighting, smoking, death, and kissing, but I love the storyline! My sister claims it is a "cheesy" movie, but it most certainly is not!
"There are some things even the rope cannot strangle."
Good For: Romantics, People who like swashbucklers!
You can't really see it that well, but they are having some action with swords here! This is a swashbuckler, there is a lot of duels!
Overall Score: 9!

Please watch this movie! It is a great one!

Also, be sure to go check out all the fun at Movies Silently!
For these few days I made a header with the classic quote from this movie:

It looks more like a pirate theme than I expected, but it is okay.
Thanks for reading!

MovieCritic
"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, where you stop your story." -Orson Welles