Lands Long Lost: Film 10
"Why didn't you tell me about that gun you had stashed in your camera case?"
"I was keeping it in case we got into a jam."
Heads and tails better than the first one (you don't need to see it). This one has some decent, if silly, dino action and some questionable samurai(?) villains. It's fun enough.
Lands Long Lost: Film 9
"Is plesiosaurus a common dish in the British Navy, Mr. Olson?"
Way too much of this is about taking and retaking a Nazi submarine... Dinos appear at the end, and that is way too late. By then, I just didn't care.
How is this not mentioned in the same breath as Vertigo and Suspicion? It is the predessessor of both works, and it surpasses the latter. Rebecca brings Gothic romance to the screen with all the grandeur, mystery, and melodrama of the genre. A lesser actor would have made Olivier's character unlikable. Joan Fontaine brings both shy vulnerability and haunted seriousness in a role that could easily be stupid or weak. Judith Anderson delivers pure insanity. Definitely one of Hitchcock's best.
"My name will mean nothing to you."
Whereas The Umbrellas of Cherbourg really seemed like no one was responsible for the heartache, it really feels like this film's characters just make really terrible, selfish decisions. It makes for decent drama, but mostly deserved tragedy. It also seems more contrived than many of Demy's earlier works. Poor Violette, though.
