Elsie Ames Movies
- 1974
- R
John Cassavetes' harrowing masterpiece charts the emotional meltdown of a suburban housewife and its effects on her blue-collar Italian family. Gena Rowlands stars as Mabel Longhetti, a mother of three whose husband Nick (Peter Falk) works as a construction worker; a mismatched couple like so many others in Cassavetes films, the Longhettis seem to be complete opposites: she's impetuous, extroverted, and fragile, while he's controlling, distant, and hard-bitten. Their differences underscore a series of domestic dramas, culminating in a nervous breakdown that sends Mabel to a psychiatric hospital for six months, only to return to a home environment on even thinner ice than before. The improvisational style central to Cassavetes' vision is at its most acute throughout A Woman Under the Influence. Like its title heroine, the film threatens to veer out of control at any time, its shape and scope defined not by narrative but by the emotional upheaval at its center. Embracing the full spectrum of the Longhettis' relationship, from seismic bursts of high drama to small, even trivial moments of domestic tedium, its long scenes relentlessly probe every nook and cranny of the family's life, drawing out each moment for maximum emotional impact; the film is by turns beautiful and ugly, illuminating and frustrating, and it features a performance by Rowlands as heartwrenching and unforgettable as any ever committed to celluloid. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, (more)
- 1971
Can a straight-laced woman find happiness with a scruffy hippie who has a bad habit of getting beaten up? Minnie Moore (Gena Rowlands) was a prom queen in high school but has become disillusioned with life now that she is a divorcée who has just turned 40. Her marriage ended badly, and her current relationship with her boyfriend Jim (John Cassavetes), who is inconveniently married to another woman, is hardly going any better. Jim treats Minnie with little respect, but she tries to calmly soldier on with her work as a curator at a museum. When Jim's wife threatens to commit suicide if he doesn't break off his affair with Minnie, he agrees to stop seeing her. He goes to museum where Minnie works, bringing along his two children to serve as witnesses, and he tells her that they're through. Emotionally shattered by this experience, Minnie blankly and uncomprehendingly accepts a blind date with a loud-mouthed boor named Zelmo Swift (Val Avery), who proposes marriage only an hour after they've met. Angered by her lack of enthusiasm for this proposal, Zelmo angrily follows Minnie to a nearby parking lot, where the attendant, Seymour Moskowitz (Seymour Cassel), comes to her rescue, though he hardly emerges victorious in battle. Shaggy-haired and steadfastly bohemian Seymour has just arrived in Los Angeles from New York City looking to make some changes, and after a few minutes with Minnie, he's convinced that he's met the love of his life. Minnie isn't buying it, but she eventually agrees to go out on a date with him, and before long, these two polar opposites find that they're attracted to each other after all. A typically low-budget labor of love from writer/director/actor John Cassavetes, Minnie and Moskowitz features John's wife Gena Rowlands as Minnie, his mother Katherine Cassavetes as Seymour's mom, his brother-in-law David Rowlands as a minister, and several of his children in a party sequence; John's friend and frequent collaborator Timothy Carey also appears in a small role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel, (more)
- 1953
This highly fanciful but immensely entertaining biopic stars Tony Curtis as legendary magician/escape-artist Harry Houdini. Janet Leigh, Mrs. Tony Curtis at the time, co-stars as Houdini's wife Bess, while Angela Clarke is seen as Houdini's mother. The film follows Houdini's progress from sideshow entertainer to high-priced prestidigitator, and also touches upon his fascination with the occult--and his efforts to expose phony mediums. Philip Yordan's script (based on a book by Harold Kellock) suggests that virtually every portentous occasion in Houdini's life occurred on Halloween day, including his death from peritonitis in 1926. The facts of Houdini's life seldom get in the way of Yordan's story; while general audiences won't spot too many discrepancies, professional magicians tend to howl with laughter at some of the film's intentional boners. Example: In real life, Houdini's appendix was fatally ruptured by a punch to the stomach; in the film, he injures himself by accidentally bumping into one of his props, the sword-studded "Temple of Benares" trick--which hadn't yet been invented in 1926! Still, it's fun to watch Tony Curtis wriggle his way out of some of Houdini's most baffling escape routines (both Curtis and Janet Leigh were carefully instructed on the set by professional magicians, who swore the stars to secrecy concerning the tricks of the trade). For a more accurate slant on Houdini's life, see the 1976 TV movie The Great Houdinis, starring Paul Michael Glaser and Sally Struthers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, (more)
- 1941
Buster Keaton reworked material from his 1932 MGM feature The Passionate Plumber for this two-reeler, the last in his series for Columbia. He plays a plumber who finds a wealthy heiress (Elsie Ames) hiding in a water heater. She's taken refuge to evade an amorous Frenchman (Eddie Laughton) who wants to marry her for her money, and whose kisses make her resistance wither. When her suitor discovers Keaton working on the shower in her bathroom, he challenges the interloper to a duel. Their battle of honor ends ignominiously, however, when a hunter's shotgun volleys scare off the combatants. The heiress proclaims Keaton her savior and learns to her delight that his kisses are even more potent than the Frenchman's! ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buster Keaton
- 1941
When millionaire Peter Hedley Lamar Jr. (Buster Keaton) is smitten by the loveliness of an Army nurse (Dorothy Appleby), he decides to enlist because the woman will pay attention only to soldiers. Once in the service, however, he spends most of his time cleaning spittoons and fending off the advances of another, more predatory nurse (Elsie Ames) -- although the two do engage in a show-stopping song-and-dance routine. He eventually manages to get himself sufficiently injured to be put in the hospital near his beloved and, despite the further efforts of the rival nurse, he is able to rescue his girl from a lunatic and win her affection. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buster Keaton
- 1940
The inventive magician Professor Mordini (Lynton Brent) hires Buster Keaton and his wife (Elsie Ames) as caretakers for his contraption-filled home. He warns them to make sure that his disgruntled former assistant doesn't get in and steal his ideas while he's away. After being scared silly by numerous spooky goings on (including an inebriated penguin on roller skates!), the Keatons are confronted by Mordini's ex-assistant (Bruce Bennett) as well as by a spiritualist (Dorothy Appleby) and her husband (Don Beddoe). The assistant uses the house's creepy resources to send both married couples running for the hills in terror. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buster Keaton
- 1940
Buster Keaton is sadly miscast in this two-reel comedy about the capture of a jewel thief. Mainly nonstop slapstick, the short left no room for Keaton to even begin to develop his character. The Taming of the Snood marked the Keaton series debut of Elsie Ames, an eccentric dancer whom Columbia was grooming for comedy stardom. The attempt proved singularly unsuccessful. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buster Keaton
- 1940
Buster Keaton invents a novel solution to paying alimony in this Columbia two-reeler: He decides to let his obnoxious ex-wife (Elsie Ames) -- and her even more obnoxious boyfriend (Matt McHugh) -- move in with him and his second wife (Dorothy Appleby). The results are utter chaos, from the massive trunks the duo bring into his apartment to a four-way bedtime that results in a near fire and the couples throwing many buckets of water getting onto each other. Keaton eventually solves his woes with another bright idea: If his ex and her chum get married, he won't have to pay alimony anymore. Thanks to Mrs. Keaton's gun, the wedding is quickly performed. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buster Keaton
