The Comic Critic Reviews "Gentleman's Agreement"

I had a much easier time watching Gentleman’s Agreement when I was the same age as the boy in the movie. What I heard in the film were social instructions. They weren’t new. They were reaffirming what my parents taught me. But it was the first time I was seeing insidious examples of bigotry as well as obvious ones. The scenes I watched of Gregory Peck explaining the world and how his son should behave struck a strong chord in me. I remember thinking, “He explained that just right.” I found my recent viewing of Gentleman’s Agreement more difficult to watch. The viewpoint I’m associating with now is that of the adults, how the characters were reacting, their experience of recognizing their own actions, their casual privilege. And while I don’t recall seeing any obvious ethnic characters or extras, I can understand why: Gentleman’s Agreement focused on anti-Semitism to reveal the mindset behind bigotry. It’s just how I saw it as a kid, as an instruction manual to recognize and react with true, brave humanity. I found Gentleman’s Agreement difficult to watch now because you can easily replace Jew with Muslim to see the battlefield of bigotry is still here so many decades later. Exchange the word Jew with Muslim, Hispanic, Black or any other They instead of We.  It’s terrifying and saddening, and it makes Gentleman’s Agreement as relevant today as in 1947.

Winner of three Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

The Comic Critic Reviews "Spellbound"

I’ve always loved watching Spellbound. The chemistry between Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck has us rooting for both of them as they fall in love. The fatherly figure who looks like a clone of Albert Einstein provides the perfect oiling of comic relief to keep the gears’ entertainment turning smoothly. The dream sequence has Salvador Dali’s fingerprints all over it. Spellbound was very well received. Of its six Oscar nominations, it won for Best Music. This might be in part because Spellbound was the first movie to make use of the Theremin. The haunting quality of the instrument was the perfect overtone for a suspense thriller involving psychoanalysis. Spellbound was beat out for Best Picture by Going My Way which won seven of the ten Oscars for which it was nominated. I mention that because so many things get lost if you don’t mention them, like twenty minutes. That’s how long the footage for the dream sequence was before David Selznick edited it down to two. We’ll never know what that amazing footage, collaboration between Hitchcock and Dali, might have looked like; it’s lost to the cutting room. But the two minutes that are in Spellbound held riveting imagery that I’ve never forgotten.

The Comic Critic's Movie Review of "Captain Horatio Hornblower"

I guess every generation has their slew of popular writers. When I was in high school, it was Stephen King. My niece was reading J.K. Rowling before I got to her. When I was a kid, I was a voracious reader and didn’t limit myself to the popular writers of the time. I actively sought advice from librarians and other reading enthusiasts as to what I should read next. And I would go through phases of reading writers of a genre or an era. One month, my attention would be consumed by Victorian authors like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne and H.G. Wells; the next month, I would be devouring the Noir fiction of Raymond Chandler. During one of those phases, I was consumed by anything nautical. I chewed up Robert Lewis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island,” and Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe.” And it is only natural that when I talk about how much I loved these books that I was directed to C.S. Forrester. Movies were made of all of these writers’ creations. And while I love the movies, I encourage those who’ve seen them to give the books a try. C.S. Forrester is an overlooked treasure just waiting to be rediscovered. Go ahead and watch Captain Horatio Hornblower and then pick up the book and give it a browse. I bet you will find yourself reading the entire series. You might even give some of his other books, like “The African Queen,” a try.