Dark Passage (1947)

 “I'm hiding.”

“From what?”

“My wife, my friends, my family, everybody.”

“Come on now, it can't be as bad as all that.”

“Well, I tell you what you do. You go up there and spend seven years with my wife, and then if you're still in your right mind, come back down here and tell me about it.”

            No actor ever wants to hide their face. They act so people can see their face and gain attention. As an audience we go to theaters to specific faces. When that specific face we went to the theaters to see is not on screen we may not pay attention or we may feel the film lacks in those scenes. In the 1947 film Dark Passage one of Hollywood’s leading actors, Humphrey Bogart, was cast as the lead in a story where his face is not shown for over an hour. The lead actor’s face not being shown for that long was never even heard of or done before and is not done so much even to this day.

            Vincent Parry (Bogart) has escaped from jail. From first person perspective and a voice over we hear his inner monologue and what he says to other people he encounters. He hitches a ride with someone who asks him too many questions. A radio announcement comes on warning people about Vincent’s escape and his description. The guy pulls over and before he can do anything Vincent punches him out, takes him out of the car and takes his clothes. Another pulls over to the side of the road. A young woman comes out of the car and she wants to help Vincent get away from the cops and back into San Francisco.

            They get into San Francisco past the police. The young woman who has helped Vincent is Irene Jansen. He finds she is helping him because her father was in a similar situation where he was convicted of killing his wife but he was not the real killer. Irene believes that Vincent is innocent that someone set him up for the murder of his wife and wants to help prove his innocence. Irene goes out leaving Vincent alone. A woman comes the door and incessantly knocks. Vincent recognizes the voice and makes her suspicious when he tells her to go away.

            When Irene comes home he tells her he cannot stay with her especially after the visitor who happened to be Madge Rapf (Agnes Moorhead) the woman who accused Vincent of killing his wife. Irene knows who Madge is and purposely came to know her. Vincent has to leave and stay with a friend of his. On the way to his friend’s place in a cab the driver figures out who he is and tells Vincent that he knows a surgeon who specializes in plastic surgery. When the surgery is over Vincent goes back to his friend’s house only to find he has been murdered. He goes back to Irene’s apartment and writes down what has happened and that he needs to stay with her until the bandages can come off.

            A few days later Irene takes the bandages off of Vincent’s face. Now that his face has changed and no one would recognize him Irene feels they can finally be together but Vincent still feels he has to go away so he will not be caught. Irene figures out he is going to South America and she wants to go with him. He tells her she cannot follow him no matter how much she wants to. Sitting in a diner, Vincent asks questions about past events at a race track. A man comes over to Vincent and asks questions. The man is a detective when Vincent realizes this he runs away. He manages to get away and find a room to stay in. Somehow the guy who had picked him up on the road after he escaped tracks Vincent down to the room. The guy tries to blackmail him and get money out of Irene. Vincent gets the best of the guy on the road once again. They get into a fight and in self defense Vincent pushes the guy off a cliff into the ocean. Before the guy falls to his death reveals in so many ways who really murdered Vincent’s wife and friend.

            Vincent goes to see Madge Rapf. Since his face has changed she does not recognize him right away. He tells her who he is and that he knows she is the murderer. She lets him know that she killed his wife because she loved him and the only way they could be together was if the wife was out of the way. When he did not love her back she blamed the murder on him. In one last push to torture Vincent, Madge jumps out the window to her death to make it look like he killed her.

            Vincent makes it out of North America to a place he wrote for Irene to meet him. Irene meets him at a hotel night club and they dance.

            Dark Passage I have had for years on DVD and watched when I first bought it. At the time I first watched the film I do not think I was running this blog so now I am reviewing it. Plus, I am currently enrolled in TCM’s free online program Into the Darkness: Investigating Film Noir and Dark Passage was one of the films sent out to break down the opening. They send out some questions to create discussion and the one I really liked was do you think if the first person point of view added to the tension of the opening scene. I absolutely think it does because you are looking at the world from the person’s point of view and you are hearing his thoughts and his anxieties and you see the other characters the way the person sees them. I think it the first person point of view was really genius it works very well for the story. Humphrey Bogart was a good choice for the character because he always played a tough guy and to hear this tough guy sound anxious created great tension. Dark Passage is a good film. It is worth watching as an atypical Film Noir and as a Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall film. 

Young Man With a Horn (1950)

“Crazy young man with a horn.”

            This post today is in honor of Lauren Bacall who passed away yesterday. She was one of the last remaining Old Hollywood stars left alive. I unfortunately cannot remember the first film I saw Bacall in but I remember I liked her immediately. I liked her voice, her poise, her walk, and her beauty but most of all I loved her attitude. It is that attitude, that confidence she put into her character that makes Bacall one of my favorite Old Hollywood actresses. Of the films I have seen her in I have admired and have yet to see her give a bad performance. In honor of her passing I have decided to watch Young Man with a Horn, a film of Lauren Bacall’s I have not seen.

            Being passionate about things in life is what makes us unique. We light up when we get the chance to discuss the things that make our hearts skip a beat and our minds race. Our passions give us purpose to move through life. If you have not guessed movies are biggest passion along with certain TV shows. All day long my mind is filled with my favorite movies and TV shows as I work my boring job of shelving and organizing library books. As soon as I come home from work I put a movie on or I obsess over them and TV shows on Tumblr for hours. I have been told by numerous people that they enjoy hearing me talk about movies because I become so animated and open up. I cannot picture what my life would be like without movies and my favorite TV shows. I can tell you that it would be less complicated and I would get real life things done more but movies are my passion they are my life.

            In the 1947 film Young Man with a Horn, the character of Rick Martin (Kirk Douglas) is a trumpet player. It is the only thing in his life he has ever cared about. When he was younger his parents died and he went to live with his older sister. Rick did not like school and would skip out. One day he was walking by a church when he heard people singing. He went and he watched the piano play. Since that day he would go to the church and teach himself the piano. One day his sister told him he better either go back to school or get a job. Rick got himself a job at a bowling alley that was right across from a nightclub. He heard the sound of a trumpet playing from the club. He would then head over and watch the trumpet player as he would play with the rest of the band.

            The trumpet player, Art Hazzard, took notice of Rick watching him and invited him into the club. After this faithful meeting, Art taught Rick how to play the trumpet and even bought him his own.

            There is nothing Rick loves more than playing his trumpet and he is really good at it. He gets a job playing with an orchestra at a dance hall. There Rick meets the piano Smokie (Hoagy Carmichael). He and Smokie hit it off well when they have a little jam session. Rick tries to play the trumpet the way he wants and not how the bandleader wants him but the bandleader yells at him to follow what everyone else wants to hear. Rick becomes close with the singer Jo Jordan (Doris Day). He wants to go out with her but she tells him that he is married to his trumpet she could never compete. The bandleader one daysteps out and gives control over to Smokie. Rick convinces Smokie to let them and a few other band members to have a jam session. The crowd likes it and the bandleader does not. Rick leaves the orchestra and Smokie goes with him.

            Rick and Smokie are not too successful traveling around playing wherever they can find jobs. At one place Rick gets insulted and humiliated and after Smokie decides to head back home to his family. Rick heads to New York City. In the city he finds Jo has become a successful nightclub singer and goes to see her. She tells him that Art is not doing too well but he is still playing in a club. Rick and Jo go to the club. Art has Rick come on stage to play something. The whole place likes him.

            Soon Rick becomes successful working with the orchestra. He also works at another club where Art works since Art is not doing too well. For one of the shows Jo brings her friend Amy (Lauren Bacall) around. Amy is a strange person from the get go. Her conversation style and attitude are bit odd. But that does not deter Rick from liking her. They begin to date and he stays with her even though she is a strange and cold person. Rick begins not to show up at one of the clubs anymore and everyone is worried. Jo comes by his apartment as he is packing everything up. She went there to warn Rick about Amy about how strange and messed up she is. Unfortunately it is too late, Rick and Amy got married.

            Married life does not work out the way either one of them wanted. Amy becomes a bit jealous of Rick and how he has something to be passionate about. She has lived her life going from one thing to the next and never finishing what she had started. Amy decides to go back to school to make something of herself. That does not go very well and she flunks. Rick cannot take Amy anymore with her mixed messages and her crazy emotions and spontaneous actions. She drives him to drink. Art comes to speak to him one day at one of the clubs. Rick just brushes him off and gets mad. While walking home after speaking to Rick, Art becomes disorientated and gets hit by a car. He does not make and his death blows up Rick’s world.

            Between Amy being all over the place and Art dead the world becomes too much for Rick. He drinks too much and drops out of sight for some time. He drinks to the point where he wanders around aimlessly and becomes sick.

            With all classic films this one also ends on a happy note. Rick, with help from Smokie and Jo, gets back on track and comes to love playing the trumpet again.

            Young Man with a Horn was not the best Lauren Bacall film I could have chosen to watch. It was alright and Bacall’s character is very odd and cold. You really do not like her at all from the moment she comes on screen to her last scene. I hate how it had to be a female that brings Rick to his lowest point and that Bacall had to be that woman. For what she was given to play Bacall did a very good job. It was definitely a different role than I am used to seeing her in. The rest of the cast was very good as well. Doris Day usually gets on my nerves but I actually liked her a lot in this. Kirk Douglas does not really do anything for me. He was not bad at all but he was not great. He felt very mismatched with Bacall and even Day. Young Man with a Horn was interesting because the main character had a tremendous amount of passion that eventually became one of his downfalls. Some people kept telling Rick to get another hobby or playing the trumpet will bring him down. I can only hope my other hobbies such as trolling Tumblr for hours on end, listening to music, or reading a books counters for me be obsessing over movies and TV shows. Other than the cast Young Man with a Horn is not really worth watching. 

How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)

“All my life ever since I was a little girl I've always had the same dream. To marry a zillionaire.”

            I think it is every girls dream to marry a millionaire. Well in today’s world a millionaire ten times over. Good lord what I would NOT do with a few million at my disposal! First thing I would pay off my student loans and get my Masters in Art History and get a degree Anthropology and photography (two of the most random things right?). Then I would buy myself an awesome car… wait why would I buy a car when I can just have someone drive me around all the time? My dream is to have an apartment on Fifth Ave in New York City right across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art so I can go there whenever I feel like it. Oh and pay to get into the most awesome events that go on in NYC. 

            But then there is another side to all this as there always is. In the 1953 film How to Marry a Millionaire three women are on the prowl for rich men who will take care of them and buy them all the diamonds and mink coats they could ever want. They meet these rich men and begin to find that they are not the types of men they could ever be happy with.

            Model Schatze Page (Lauren Bacall) buys a fully furnished penthouse apartment. The man who owns the apartment is on the run for tax reasons. She looks like she can afford the penthouse without a problem as she hands the realtor two thousand dollars for the first two months of rent. As soon as the realtor leaves she calls over her friend Pola (Marilyn Monroe). Pola gets off the elevator and cannot see a thing she is no nearsighted. As soon as she puts on her glasses and looks at the apartment she loves it. Pola tells Schatze she knows another woman nicknamed Loco (Betty Grable) who wants to go in on the penthouse too. Loco comes over with groceries only the groceries are being carried by a man named Tom. When Tom walks into the penthouse and sees Schatze he immediately falls in love with her.

            Over hotdogs and champagne on the balcony the three women talk over their strategies to snag a millionaire. The whole reason Schatze rented the penthouse was so they could entertain rich men. Schatze firmly tell Pola and Loco not to fall in love with common men with no money they will only have their heartbroken like she did.

            They find out that there is to be a meeting at a hotel where a lot of rich oilmen will in attendance. Each woman snags a man. Pola and Loco are clearly not too happy on their dates but they bear it because the men have so much money. Pola’s guy has an eye patch and acts really weird. Loco’s guy is just crazy and talks about how he cannot stand his family especially his wife. Schatze is the only lucky one out of the three. She meets a nice older man named J.D. Hanley (wonderfully, fantastically played by William Powell). They get along perfectly. That night Schatze dreams of all the diamonds she can buy and Pola dreams of going to some far off country in the Middle East where a king just gives her handfuls of diamonds and jewelry. Loco hysterically dreams of food.

            Meanwhile, the audience finds out that Tom is a very rich man with a building named after him. He keeps calling Schatze to give him a chance to go out with her but she just thinks he is a gas jockey and will not give him the time of day. He never tells her about his money. But when J.D. goes back to Texas Schatze breaks down and goes out with Tom and they become very close.

            As Schatze goes through her thing with Tom and J.D., the other two women come to realizations. Loco is on vacation up in main the guy she met at the conference. He is a bore and a moron and she has no fun with him. While the guy is laid up with the measles Loco goes out with a local man named Eben (Rory Calhoun). He is handsome, young and charming. She has mixed feelings about him at first and it is not until after she leaves that she realizes she loves Eben. Pola was supposed to get on a plane down to Atlantic City to see her man but she was stubbornly not wearing her glasses and got on the wrong plane. On the plane she happens to meet the owner of the penthouse Freddie Denmark. Freddie wears glasses and tells Pola there is not shame to wearing glasses that she actually looks nice in them.

            J.D. comes back and asks Schatze to marry him. She does love J.D. but she is having second thoughts. Schatze has such a great time with Tom. On the day of her wedding to J.D. Tom comes to the penthouse. They have a talk and realize they should be together. Besides all this drama Pola comes back married Freddie and Loco has come back married to Eben. All three of them turn out not marrying for money… well except Schatze who does not find out that Tom has money until they are out at a burger joint for dinner and they see Tom pull out a wad of thousand dollar bills. At this site Schatze, Pola, Loco all faint off their chairs.

            I remember I started watching this film with my roommate who is a legitimate Marilyn Monroe fan (I say legit and mean it she really does like Marilyn and does not treat her like an icon she has become) put this on one day. I was curious to see it because Lauren Bacall is in it. I cannot remember why I did not sit through the whole film but what I saw I really liked and asked for it on DVD for Christmas. I think I got the DVD two years ago and have now just finally sat through the whole thing. I am glad I sat through it now because I really liked everyone in it and I was able to appreciate Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe and of course William Powell.

            Lauren Bacall was great as the head of the group. She looks natural in the role of the leader and the determined woman who really wants to marry a millionaire. I am always surprised whenever I see Marilyn Monroe in a film and her acting is fantastic. She did not annoy me one but she was so adorable and really funny. Betty Grable I have never seen in a film before this and I am so looking forward to finding more of her films. She was hilarious I loved how her character was always eating or thinking of food because that is exactly what I do. William Powell I love and adore to no end. I could not stop thinking about how handsome he was. Powell was sixty by this time and looked more handsome than ever. He looked especially amazing in color. He played such a sweet character, gentlemanly character. Powell played this type of character countless times in his career but he was so great in those roles that they never get boring to see him play. The entire cast had such great chemistry you can believe them all being friends. 

            How to Marry a Millionaire is a fun film to watch. The story is cute and there are some excellent funny moments and some lines that are just too good to give away. How Marry a Millionaire is a great film to watch when you need something light and funny to cheer your day up.

 

To Have and Have Not (1944)

“You know Steve, you're not very hard to figure, only at times. Sometimes I know exactly what you're going to say. Most of the time. The other times... the other times, you're just a stinker.” 

            To Have and Have Not is not a very well known classic unless you happen to be a fan of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. They are the only reasons I ever heard of the film and even own it (I own all Bogart and Bacall’s films together). There is probably a reason why To Have and Have Not is often overlooked as a very good top notch classic film… it is pretty much Casablanca set in French Martinique instead of French Morocco. Instead of Ingrid Bergman as the leading lady it’s Lauren Bacall. Humphrey Bogart is Rick Blaine with a name change and a gruffer look.

            Bogart is an American boat owner named Harry Morgan who lives in Martinique during World War II. The island is full of political tensions between the pro-Vichy supporters and the Free French supporters. Harry has no sympathies he just cares about himself and making money taking people fishing. He has a friend named Eddie (Walter Brennan) who is a drunkard but a very sweet man who would do anything for Harry.

            At his hotel the owner Frenchy (as Harry calls him) comes to Harry asking him to help bring an important Free French leader to the island. I swear if Harry said “I stick my neck out for nobody” it would have been perfect. At times that line seems almost to be on the tip of his tongue. Harry does not want to get in trouble and, after all, he is an American he has no reason to be helping the French.  That same night he meets a beautiful young American girl named Marie Browning (Bacall) who he quickly nicknames Slim and she for some reason nicknames him Steve.

            So as in Casablanca Bogart’s character winds up helping out the Free French and risks his life in the process. The police are on his back in this one too watching his every move. The ending is different though this time Bogart gets the girl and they live happily ever after.

            Humphrey Bogart is an actor I like but at the same time I can take him or leave him. He played a great tough good guy. To me Bogart is one of the least romantic leading men in classic Hollywood and he always seemed to play the same kinds of characters over and over again and here he literally does play the same character for a second time. There was one scene where Harry was asked what his nationality was and again it was almost like you wanted him to answer "I'm a drunkard." 

            This film truly belongs to Lauren Bacall. This was Bacall’s film debut and she was a knock out. I personally think that her character has one of the greatest introductions ever. When we first see her she is walking out of the door to her room as if she was just a minor character. The camera is on her for two seconds as she opens the door as Harry is walking into his and that is it for a few minutes until she comes back. I do not know why I like this entrance I guess because I see it as the director fooling the audience in some way. Anyway, Bacall completely dominates the film whenever she is in a scene because she was gorgeous and had such a presence. My favorite scene is the one where she says her most famous line: “You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow.” That line is to die it is so genius especially for its time. Not only is the line genius it is made by the way Bacall speaks it and how she looks at Bogart when she says and Bogart’s reaction when she walks out of the room.

            To Have and Have Not is a good film that was excellently directed by the brilliant Howard Hawks. The film’s only flaw is that it is way too similar to Casablanca which makes viewers compare the two and leaves the plot a bit boring at some moments. With a great cast directed by a great director To Have and Have Not deserves to be given a chance. 

Designing Woman (1957)

“Liquor, I've found, makes me very smart sometimes.” 

I did not know what I was getting into when I watched Designing Woman with Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall. Before I watched the film I did not even know what the plot was about, I figured it had to involve something with designing fashion and that the leads had to overcome their differences for them to love each other. All I really knew for sure was that I had to see it for Peck and Bacall since I love them both.

            The film is told as a flashback by several of the characters. Mike Hagen (Peck) and Marilla Brown (Bacall) meet while they are both working/vacationing in California. They met the night before after a big boxing match. Mike has no idea what he did that night all he knows is that he met a woman and that he has a screaming hangover. When he goes outside by the pool he sees the woman he had met. They sit down and she fills in his gaps of the night before: they had met and he was so drunk that he needed help writing an article for the newspaper he works so she helped him and he wanted to pay her seven hundred dollars. Mike still does want to pay her but she does not accept. After that day they spend all their spare time together and they decide to marry.

            Like all fairy tale times and stories the honeymoon does not last long after they return home. Mike wants them to live in his bachelor apartment but it is very small and very very messy. In that mess Marilla happens to find a torn up picture of a very pretty woman. She tells Mike that he can spend the night at her place and when he sees her place he cannot believe how big it is, he can clearly see that Marilla is very successful with her fashion designing. He has been hoping to show her the city and introduce her to people but then her friends spring a surprise for her and he sees that she already knows a lot of people. As the weeks roll on they come to find their lifestyles clash tremendously especially when Mike’s poker night is on the same night that Marilla has all outlandish theater friends over. The night does not go over well at all.

            To make matter incredibly worse between the new couple Mike’s ex-girlfriend and the one in the torn up picture is in the play Marilla is making the costumes for. For a while Marilla has her suspicions about this actress named Lori Shannon she feels she has seen the actress around before but cannot place her. Then one day at rehearsals Marilla finally puts two and two together and leaves right away. The day before Mike had lied about not knowing Lori and now she is ready to lay into her husband pretty thick. But before things are said and blow up Mike has to head out of town for a few weeks for his paper. He has been writing how racketeering in boxing and one of the heads of the racketeers is after him over his stories. This situation cannot have come at a worse time for him because now Marilla thinks he is off to stay with Lori.

            Things get crazy and out of hand but in the end Mike and Marilla are still together and love each other very much.

            Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall were fabulous. All I had seen Peck in up to this point was dramas I loved seeing him all flustered and silly. Mike never seemed like he was very comfortable with Marilla or being taken out of his element and Peck played that wonderfully he looked as if he really was uncomfortable around Bacall and out of his element. Lauren Bacall was fantastic with her comedy. She was so deadpan and spot on in some scenes you cannot help but fall to pieces laughing. Sometimes she was a little too much but mostly she was enjoyable. I loved all her clothes she looked great in all her outfits. These two actors were really night and day when it came to their styles of acting but they worked incredibly well together. Their parts were originally intended for Grace Kelly and James Stewart but Grace Kelly backed out once she became engaged to Prince Rainier. I could not in a million years see those two pulling this film off like Bacall and Peck did. Kelly was too stiff with her acting and Stewart would have just been terrible he would have played the character too dumb. Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall just went full force into their characters with excellence.

            My favorite parts of the film are when Mike goes out with Lori to tell her he’s married and when Mike takes Marilla to a boxing match and when he goes to one of her fashion shows. The scene when Mike goes out with Lori was hysterical. They go out to this Italian place that they always go to and he gets a plate of ravioli. Upon hearing his news Lori calmly almost out of nowhere tips the plate of ravioli onto Mike’s lap. He does not freak out he just as calmly takes what she gave him. She looks as if nothing ever happened (it is hard to explain the funniness of the scene unless you see it; it is so deadpan and wonderful). The two other scenes just show how different Mike and Marilla are: Marilla freaks out at the sight of so much blood she screams and runs out of the match and Mike feels like he has walked into hell when he sees the models modeling clothing and so many women gawking at the clothes.

            I loved how the story was told through flashbacks and narration. The movie Down to You was made in the same way and I love that movie whenever I watch it I think that way of telling the story is brilliant. Maybe the writers for Down to You got the idea from Designing Woman? I think the narration added to the chaos of the characters and the silliness of the story.

            Designing Woman was a very fun and amusing romantic comedy. As I was watching this it made me wish that more comedies were made like this where the main characters are real people with a real problem. The whole situation was not blown completely out of proportion to the point where it was unbearable to watch Lauren Bacall, Gregory Peck, and the entire cast played everything perfectly. I had a fun time watching Designing Woman and seeing just how versatile Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall were with their acting. I especially enjoyed seeing them in color. 

Murder on the Orient Express

“The murderer is with us now!”

            Murder on the Orient Express is one of the quintessential mystery stories ever written… of course it is the story was written by the great mystery writer of all time Agatha Christie. Christie excellently takes her main mystery and motive from the Lindberg Baby kidnapping and weaves the sad story into the lives of her characters. The story takes place on board the famous Orient Express traveling from Turkey (on the European side) to London. Famous detective Hercule Poirot is traveling back to Belgium on the train on the insistence of his friend Mr. Bianchi. One night the train gets caught behind a large pile of snow on the tracks. The next morning the body of a passenger named Ratchett is found in his room dead from multiple stab wounds. There seems to be no motive behind the killing. No one on the train knows each other… or do they? What possible motive would strangers have for killing this man?

            Such a great plot for a murder mystery book which was made into an even better murder mystery movie. No writer in Hollywood today could come up with a better story for a movie. From the moment the train pulls out of the station you get this great thrill of excitement as if you were on the train traveling across 1930s Europe yourself.

            Another great thrill is watching the amazing cast. This is like a movie dream team. The reason I bought this movie was for Ingrid Bergman around the time I started to become interested in classic film. This was actually my first Lauren Bacall movie I had never seen her in anything before although I knew who she was. Seeing a young Michael York aka “Basil Expedition” from Austin Powers was a bit strange at first but now I can only picture him as the Hungarian Count Andrenyi. Anthony Perkins plays McQueen who is oddly in a way a less psychotic more neurotic version of Norman Bates. Sean Connery was the biggest name at the time and the lure to get the other big names signed on for the movie. He plays Colonel Arbuthnot a former Colonel for the Scots Army. Vanessa Redgrave is the beautiful Miss. Debenham in love with Arbuthnot. And let’s not forget Albert Finney who brings great life to the main character Hercule Poirot.



            Everyone in the cast brought great life to their characters. I read the book after having watched the movie and the whole time I was thinking about the actors in their parts and all of them fit so well. Reading the book you can just imagine Albert Finney as Poirot with his slicked hair and funny voice. Ingrid Bergman and Lauren Bacall were hysterical in their roles they make this movie so enjoyable to me. Bergman plays the timid Swedish missionary Greta. She has some of the funniest lines in the movie, they’re not supposed to be funny but the way she says them with her real Swedish accent have me laughing before she even starts talking. Bergman won an Academy Award (and the only Award of several the movie was up for) for this part and she deserved it. Her facial expressions are almost like an instinct or real like she was not acting at all. Lauren Bacall is the obnoxious American Mrs. Hubbard who constantly talks and very loudly. Even in her fifties Bacall was still a beautiful lady (even now currently in her eighties) with a great bite. She was perfect for the role of Mrs. Hubbard. I find it rather a great coincidence that both Bergman and Bacall made their greatest films in Hollywood’s Golden Age with Humphrey Bogart.

            Murder on the Orient Express is a movie I can watch over and over again and never be tired of. It is one of the movies that was made and put together so wonderfully. Watching Murder on the Orient Express always makes me wish movies like this could be made today one that had some of the top best actors and actresses of today with a story that is as great as they are. The movie remains very faithful to the book and is the only film adaptation of her books which Agatha Christie was liked very much.