Victoria Gabrielle Platt Movies
A French music lover befriends a once-great American jazz artist and attempts to save him from self-destruction in this moody drama. Saxophonist Dexter Gordon portrays Dale Turner, a fictional musician inspired by a number of famed jazz figures, including Bud Powell and Lester Young. Largely forgotten in his home country, Turner has moved to Paris in search of a more appreciative audience. He finds it in the form of Francis Borler (Francois Cluzet), a bebop aficionado who befriends the expatriate player. Borler soon becomes familiar with Turner's darker side, including his struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction, and depression. Fearing for the musician's life, the fan becomes his caretaker, an arrangement that leads to a brief improvement in Turner's health and fortunes but places great emotional strain upon them both. Director Bertrand Tavernier pays great attention to the visual and aural details of the jazz world, with outstanding musical supervision provided by Herbie Hancock. 'Round Midnight's greatest asset, however, is Gordon's Academy Award-nominated performance, informed by his own life experiences. His naturally fascinating presence combines with the film's obvious love of the music and its milieu to provide what many have hailed as one of the more authentic and affectionate presentations of the jazz world on the silver screen. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dexter Gordon, François Cluzet, (more)
- 1928
Technically, Mother Machree was director John Ford's first sound film -- even though the sound was limited to a Fox Movietone musical score and sound-effects track. The story begins in a tiny Irish village at the turn of the century. Having lost her husband to a lightning storm, Ellen McHugh (Belle Bennett) vows to take her son Brian (Phillipe de Lacey) away from Ireland and bring him up in America. Upon her arrival in the States, Ellen is unable to secure a job, forcing her to accept employment as a fabricated "freak" with the carnival side show managed by rowdy Terrence O'Dowd (Victor McLaglen) Her meager earnings are hardly enough to finance her son's education, so Ellen tearfully allows the wealthy principal of the school to legally adopt her boy. As the years pass, Brian grows into manhood believing that his mother is dead. Now a lawyer (and now played by Neil Hamilton), Brian is unaware that his mother is working as a housekeeper in a ritzy 5th Avenue household. He falls in love with Rachel Van Studdiford (Eulalie Jensen), the girl whom Ellen has raised from infancy. Upon being introduced to Ellen's beloved "nanny," Brian is at last reunited with his mother -- just seconds before he is called away to serve in WWI. Unfortunately, Mother Machree, along with most of John Ford's silent films, apparently no longer exists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Belle Bennett, Philippe DeLacy, (more)
- 1927
Although the silent W.C. Fields vehicle Two Flaming Youths no longer exists, a surviving script (titled Side Show) offers a tantalizing peek at this long-lost effort. Fields is cast as Gabby Gilfoil, owner of "Gilfoil's Nonpareil Circus," a dog-and-pony operation that must forever stay one step ahead of sheriffs and creditors. Fleeing across the border to Arkosa county, Gabby and his entourage stop over at the Mansion House, a near-bankrupt hotel run by Madge Marlarkey (Cissie Fitzgerald). To avoid paying his bill, Gabby pays court to Madge, only to find a formidable rival in Sheriff Ben Holden (Chester Conklin). Meanwhile, Gabby's daughter Mary (Mary Brian) is romanced by Holden's young cousin Tony (Jack Luden). Mary decides to settle down in Arkosa with Tony, prompting Gabby to pop the question to Madge -- but she has announced that she will marry the man who is able to pay her mortgage. Gabby and Holden spend the rest of the picture trying to raise the necessary funds to wed Madge, an effort complicated when Gabby is mistaken for a desperate criminal. A collection of themes and comic notions that would later be refined in such Fields talkies as The Old Fashioned Way and You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, Two Flaming Youths would be worth seeing again if only to watch the glittering parade of "guest stars," all of them vaudeville, Broadway and Hollywood headliners: Clark and McCullough, Moran and Mack, Kolb and Dill, Savoy and Brennan, Benny and McNulty, Phil Baker and Sid Silvers, Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton, Jack Pearl and Ben Bard, and The Duncan Sisters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- W.C. Fields, Chester Conklin, (more)
