Why Classic Movies are AWESOME!

Classic movies interest me because I like how they acted back then. I like their mannerisms, how they dressed, how they talked, and the expressions they used. For example, "Oh, a wise guy, huh?" It made me wonder if they really said that in real life, or did they just use it in the movies. They didn't use a whole lot of special effects, they mostly relied on acting. In The Hunch Back of the Notre Dame (1939), the actor, Charles Laughton, had an excellent speaking voice, but he didn't use it much in the movie. He wanted to be known for his acting and not just for his speaking.

Another good movie that didn't use a whole lot of special effects but was a great film was The Haunting (1963). The movie didn't show ghosts, but you knew they were there. It was obvious there was a haunting because of all the noises, the camera angles, and the acting. There were other versions of The Haunting but they weren't as good as the original. Mostly, because they valued special effects over acting. In the original you imagined and wondered what the ghosts would look like and that's why it did so good. And that's why I love Tuner Classic Movies.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

THE TROUBLE HARRY


We’ve all heard about murders being committed whether it’s drowning, shooting, or stabbing someone. Either way it’s all very gruesome and disturbing, but what would make it even more disturbing would be the thought that you might be the murderer.

One morning in a small quiet town somewhere in New England a retired sea captain is out in the woods hunting rabbits. He fires two shots but all he manages to hit is an old rusted can and a sign where the bullet went through it. On his way back home the captain makes a shocking discovery, he finds a dead man lying on the ground with a fresh cut on the man’s fore head. The captain was frightened because he believed that maybe one of the two shots he fired must’ve killed him.

The captain checks the body for any identification and finds that the dead man’s name is Harry Worp. Harry Worp wasn’t from there, but he came there to get his wife back. His wife was Jennifer Roger’s and she despised Harry. She only married him because he was the brother of her first late husband and she wanted her unborn child to have a father. But after seeing what Harry was really like she decided to run away and change her name. Harry manages to find her but when he comes to the front door Jennifer hits him over the head with a milk bottle. As she put it, she says she hit him silly and that he went away in a stumble and that he was saying that he’d find his wife.   The next day (the same day the captain finds Harry) Arnie, who is Jennifer’s little boy, finds Harry too and goes home to get his mother. Unlike the captain, Jennifer was rather pleased with how she found Harry.

  After Harry got hit in the head by that milk bottle he ran into Miss Gravely who was doing an early morning hike. He swore at her and insisted that she was his wife.  He grabbed her and she fought back. During the struggle one of her hiking shoes came off, she grabbed it and used the heel of the shoe and struck him on the head with it. And after she ran into the captain and saw that he believed he killed Harry, she felt a little relieved thinking that she wouldn’t be the one to blame. But she also felt guilty that someone else would take the rap for something she might have done. And if the three of them didn’t have enough problems already, when they try to burry Harry they get stuck in a situation where they keep digging him back up again.

This was directed by the terrifyingly genius Alfred Hitchcock and this film is known as a black comedy which I believe is also a good way to describes Hitchcock’s sense of humor. This film was based on the novel “The Trouble with Harry,” written by Jack Trevor Story. The movie was released in 1955 starring Shirley MacLaine, John Forsythe, and Jerry Mathers as Arnie, who will later on be known as the iconic Beaver from televisions “Leave it to Beaver.” So after reading this which one of the three do you believe killed Harry?

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