Arsenic and Old Lace - Criterion Collection (Blu-ray) by Stuart Galbraith IV (Too) loosely adapted from the 1941 hit play by Joseph Kesserling, Frank Capra's movie version of Arsenic and Old Lace, filmed later in 1941 but contractually not released until September 1944, is fondly regarded by critics and audiences. It even ranked #30 on the American Film Institute's list of "100 Years...100 Laughs," but the movie is almost a complete bust. Frenetic instead of funny, it offers a small handful of amusing performances, but Cary Grant is downright awful in the lead, and the adaptation is wrongheaded in myriad ways, at times perversely so. Its mostly positive reputation seems to at least partly stem from the reputations of Capra, the cast, and the fact that Kesserling's play is still among the most popular among community theater groups and high schools, and probably therefore more frequently seen by audiences normally averse to old black-and-white Hollywood movies. ...Read the entire review »

The Sporting Club (Blu-ray) by Ian Jane The Movie:Based on the novel by novel by Thomas McGuane, 1971's The Sporting Club, directed by Larry Peerce, explores the idea of The Centennial Club, a hunting lodge located in the Midwest populated by wealthy elitist type W.A.S.P.s (white, Anglo-Saxon, protestants). Early in the movie, we learn that the club is celebrating its one hundredth year of existence, quite the milestone, and many of its members are celebrating by drinking heavily and generally enjoying some mild debauchery.Vernur Stanton (Robert Fields), one of the younger members of the club and a spoiled rich kid who has never had to work a day in his life, decide he wants to make a statement about the club's place in society and the separation of wealth between the haves and the have nots. To do this, he fires the groundskeeper and replaces him with a pot smoking, lower class man named Earl Olive (Ja...Read the entire review »