The Lady Vanishes

A DVD review from The MovieSnob.

The Lady Vanishes (B).  An unexpected gift of a couple of free hours fell into my lap, so I went to my DVD collection and grabbed the first one I saw that would fit the time I had—this 1938 classic directed by Alfred Hitchcock.  It is an enjoyable romance-comedy-thriller that reminded me of The 39 Steps (not that I remember that film very well).  Anyhoo, the lovely Margaret Lockwood (Night Train to Munich) plays Iris, a young British woman who has been enjoying herself with some friends in some fictional central European country. Alas, now she is returning to England to marry some dull aristocrat. But before she boards the train, she befriends a pleasant older British lady who is making the same trip, and shortly after the train gets underway—the older lady disappears!  Making matters worse, most of the people on the train deny that they ever even saw the lady!  Is Iris losing her marbles?  Will the charming rogue that Iris met the night before the train ride began (Michael Redgrave, Mourning Becomes Electra) come to her aid?  Tune in and find out!  I watched the Criterion Collection version of the movie, which is top notch.  It comes with a separate commentary track by some critic, and a second DVD packed with extras, but I didn’t have time to indulge in any of that except for a little of the commentary track, which was pretty interesting.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The Movie Snob checks in with a DVD review.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets  (C-).  Despite being a big Lord of the Rings fan, I have never gotten into Harry Potter.  I never read the books, and I saw a random sampling of maybe three of the movies back in the day.  But my daughter is getting old enough for at least the first couple of movies, so I recently watched this one for the first time.  It’s a meandering slog of a movie (2 hours and 41 minutes) with only a couple of highlights—namely a creepy encounter with a horde of giant spiders, and a climactic battle with a monster at the end.  Otherwise, it’s mostly sleuthing by the trio of Harry (Daniel Radcliffe, What If), Ron (Rupert Grint, Cherrybomb), and Hermione (Emma Watson, Noah) as they try to figure out who or what is stalking the halls of Hogwarts and turning students (and one cat) to stone. Because a whole faculty of fully fledged wizards and witches can’t figure it out, apparently. Kenneth Branagh (Dunkirk) pops up and seems to really enjoy himself as a purported wizarding wunderkind who makes the ladies swoon.

Something Wholesale (book review)

A new review from the desk of The Movie Snob.

Something Wholesale: My Life and Times in the Rag Trade, by Eric Newby (first published in 1962). This is an entertaining little memoir by the British fellow who wrote about his experience as an escaped POW in WWII Italy in Love and War in the Apennines.  After WWII, he returns to England, leaves the armed forces, and goes to work in the family business, which is wholesaling women’s clothing. He is not exactly a natural fit, to say the least, and I laughed out at some of his misadventures and clever turns of phrase. His account of a miserable overnight train ride in a non-sleeping car reminded me of some of my own experiences traveling around Europe on a Eurail pass back in the 80s.

Monster High 2

The Movie Snob suffers through a new made-for-streaming movie.

Monster High 2  (D).  After a mediocre opener, the Monsters High franchise is back with an even more lackluster sequel!  So, Hogwarts-clone Monster High has become more accepting of monsters that are a little different, like ones that have a human parent and ones that want to practice witchcraft.  Our half-human, half-werewolf heroine Clawdeen (Miia Harris, Monster High: The Movie) is even running for student council president.  Enlightened!  But then a mysterious attack by witches threatens to unravel the students’ tolerance for difference, and Clawdeen’s pal Draculaura (Nayah Damasen, Monster High: The Movie) goes on a daring diplomatic mission to see if an enduring truce can be struck between monsters and witches.  Is treachery afoot?  Are there lame song-and-dance numbers?  Will there be a Monster High 3?  Yes, yes, and I fear the answer is yes . . . .