Best movie of this year hands down!

Pretty Good

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Some neat twists and turns in this story make it an enjoyable couple of hours, particularly when Edie (Bette Davis) gets what's coming to her - even if she was convicted of the wrong murder! That was one of the ironic things about this picture; as the viewer one likes to see things wrapped up in a nice, neat little package, but if that doesn't work out, well at least justice was served in a roundabout fashion.This film reminded me of a couple others, the first being Bette Davis's own "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" which also featured a pair of sisters in a dysfunctional relationship. The other was "Sunset Boulevard", in the respect that the butler Henry (Cyril Delevanti) here remained loyal to the phony Margaret DeLorca (also Davis) in somewhat the same manner Erich von Stroheim's character traded his loyalty for individuality while maintaining a façade for Gloria Swanson's Norma Desmond. Granted, that situation was a bit different, but you get my drift.And then there was Duke. Right off the bat I had a pretty good idea Duke would know the score with Edie masquerading as her sister. For a minute, I thought Edie might have given herself away when Sergeant Hobbson (Karl Malden) first came calling, and I was surprised he was never let in on Edie's little secret, although he came pretty close. Good detective work though, getting the goods on Tony Collins (Peter Lawford) and figuring out the old arsenic gambit. Come to think of it, if you wanted to make the case for Edie getting away with a second murder, she had a pretty competent accomplice.If you can overlook some of the pitfalls in the story and just take it as it plays out, it's a pretty good one. I got a kick out of the opening scene when a sign for Rosedale Cemetery comes into view stating 'Graves, Niches, Cremations and Undertaking - All in One Place'. I thought about that for a while before asking myself, where else would they be?

Dead Ringer (1964)From that crazy, Gothic, overblown, fabulous last decade of Bette Davis's career, another wild one. And we get not one, but two Davis characters, twins, and the scenes where they are both shown (seamlessly) it's a kind of Bette Davis gluttony. Luckily, she's a great actress, and she pulls makes the melodrama burn. The movie makes no secret of being over the top, the plot outrageous and engaging enough to pull along all the other unlikely and exaggerated scenes.The weakest link here is possibly the direction, under actor Paul Henreid's hand (most famous as the second male lead in Casablanca). As amazing as the plot is by nature (filled with double-crossing treachery and murder), it actually drags a little at times. But not for long. The cinematography is really amazing (the great Ernst Haller at work--he did so many truly stellar movies it's breathtaking), amazing enough to study, the camera arcing around a stairway, or playing with the light turning on and off. The music is an odd mix--the harpsichord jingles are both perfect in setting a creepy mood and tacky for seeming to cheapen the drama--and it's classical conductor Andre Previn (Mia Farrow's onetime-husband) in charge. But counteracting this is some great funky early sixties organ jazz in a few scenes (the two performers are uncredited), what you might expect from a Sam Fuller movie.As awesome as this movie seems as a bit of delicious excess, something to roar about, eyes glued to the visuals, it's also a little awkward, just a shade. Like Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, The Nanny, and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, it's in the pantheon of cult Bette Davis movies, an early 1960s attempt to keep both her career and the old-fashioned Hollywood drama alive. It manages to do both.

This is movie of a type they don't make any more- regrettably. It goes way beyond melodrama and has a plot with twists and turns that is way beyond most movies nowadays. The script is clever as opposed to contrived and keeps the tension up right up till the end. Undeniably this movie is a star vehicle for Bette Davis who carries off the dual roles of two sisters with amazing ease and aplomb. The supporting actors - Karl Malden & Peter Lawford are similarly excellent. Made at a time when special effects were still pretty rudimentary- it is all the more "clever" for the seamless way in which some scenes are covered. Fans of other Davis's films of the 60's that reached into the bizarre, horror genres - this one stands with the best of them. I highly recommend it.

If you buy Bette Davis as a bar owner in love with Karl Malden, then you might find this claptrap enjoyable. Otherwise, be warned, this is really a very un-stylish camp horror film clearly made to cash in on Davis' post Baby Jane rebirth.Davis plays twins (one is rich, one is the aforementioned bar owner). One of them kills the other and takes her place. The dead sister's sleazy gigolo boyfriend (the ideally cast Peter Lawford) suspects something right away and sees dollar signs. In addition to Lawford, the supporting cast includes Jean Hagen and a kooky Estelle Winwood. Davis is Davis, Malden is stern and capable. The movie, however is sunk by the dull direction of actor Paul Henreid.