Holiday viewing

[Paul MacLean]

The Blue Carbuncle (1984) - Jeremy Brett
The Blue Carbuncle (1968) - Peter Cushing

The Granada production is routinely watched in our house at Christmas time and, in common with most of this Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series, is a superior entertainment, well adapted and performed (unless you happen to not like Brett's version of the character). The amount of dialog lifted straight from Conan Doyle was always a boon to these series.

The BBC production starring Peter Cushing is much less interesting. Most of the acting seems to be of the "hit your mark and say your lines" variety. The script is very workman-like and of course the production values are low-budget. I haven't seen the other surviving BBC episodes in some years so I don't recall if this Blue Carbuncle is typical of their series, but worth trotting out every few years...

I was not even aware of the Peter Cushing Blue Carbuncle! I have always been a fan of the Brett series though -- particularly this episode. I also always liked how Patrick Gowers integrated traditional carols into his score (with a more-than-usual cleverness).

[esteban miranda]

It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947) 3/5

My final viewing for the season, this vaguely Capra-esque effort puts a kindly tramp in the seasonally vacant mansion of a rich man and from there he collects a few down-and-out ex-soldiers trying to find work. Perhaps a bit long-winded but Gale Storm is a real cutey so no complaints.

[Monterey Jack]

Internet people seem to write it off these days, but that's just internet people.

From Blu-Ray.com just now:

A Good Day to Die Hard was an absolute mess, worse than even the shameless clone of Die Hard 2.

[AndyDursin]

Moviefan2k4 is not allowed here