In This Our Life (1942) or, Sisterhood Be Damned!

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Serene and lovely, a classical poster for John Huston and Raoul Walsh's In This Our Life

With outspoken and devil-may-care attitude Virginian Stanley ruins her sister's coming marriage by eloping with her man to be. But that life doesn't last.

In This Our Life is written by Howard Koch (The 13th Letter (1951)), adapting the same-titled 1941 novel by Ellen Glasgow (Virginia (1913)), and directed by Missourian master filmmaker John Huston (The Maltese Falcon (1941)), whose 2nd film it was, with uncredited co-direction from great New-Yorker filmmaker Raoul Walsh (The Regeneration (1915)).

A gloriously directed melodrama with pristine images (remastered to crisp perfection, cinematography by Ernest Haller (The 3rd Voice (1960))), and Bette Davis (All About Eve (1950)) in a performance of unbridled recklessness, which still today stands as utterly relevant as a portrayal of that type of person who only take themselves into consideration and always disregard those who might get in their way.

Olivia de Havilland (Gone with the Wind (1939)) is fine as the 'good sister', and so are the male actors, and the film is also esteemed by a race angle to its story, since Stanley is also willing to destroy her black help's life in order to be free.

 

Related posts:

John Huston: Chinatown (1974) - Roman Polanski's masterpiece (actor)
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) or, The Final Ape! (actor)
Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time (co-director)

The African Queen (1951) - Classic romance bravura de Huston/Bogart/Hepburn 

Top 10: Best heist movies 
The Asphalt Jungle (1950) - The twentyfour carat noir caper thriller
Top 10: The best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

High Sierra (1941) - Bogart steals the silver screen (writer)

Raoul Walsh: Top 10: Best heist movies 

High Sierra (1941) - Bogart steals the silver screen

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 713k $

Box office: 2.7 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 3.78 times its cost)

[In This Our Life premiered 7 May (New York) and runs 97 minutes. Warner Bros. paid 40k $ for the film rights to Glasgow's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, and Koch toned down the risqué topical material (incest and racism) to suit the censorship. Shooting took place from October - December 1941 in California. Davis fought costume, hair, make-up and other involved departments during production and disliked the script, later declaring herself "disgusted" by the outcome, which she deemed  "phony film". De Havilland reportedly carried on an affair with Huston during shooting. It is the 3rd of 6 that the female co-stars appeared in together. America's entrance in WWII, due to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7 1941, pulled Huston away from filming at the behest of the US Department of War, and Walsh was put in charge of direction at the late stage, seemingly finishing the film for his 20 years younger colleague. The Office of Censorship 'disapproved' the film for foreign distribution due to its truthful depiction of racial discrimination (the black character's legal testimony is deemed ineffectual simply due to his race), but the film was somehow released abroad nevertheless: It grossed 1.6 mil. $ (59.3 % of the total gross) in North America. It won 3 National Board of Review awards. Huston returned with Winning Your Wings (1942, short) and theatrically with Across the Pacific (1942); Walsh with Desperate Journey (1942). Davis returned in Now, Voyager (1942); and De Havilland in Thank You Lucky Stars (1943). 5.4k+ IMDb users have given In This Our Life a 7.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of In This Our Life?

In Her Shoes (2005) - Stars delight in Hanson's terrific romantic dramedy

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A girly shoe closet-set image of co-stars Toni Collette and Cameron Diaz as recognizably opposite sisters makes up this poster for Curtis Hanson's In Her Shoes

When two adult sisters for a short time live together again in the older sister's apartment, it leads to a painful rift between them, whereupon the destitute younger sister seeks out their alienated grandmother.

 

In Her Shoes is written by Susannah Grant (Pocahontas (1995)), adapting the same-titled 2002 novel by Jennifer Weiner (Best Friends Forever (2009)), and directed by great Nevadan filmmaker Curtis Hanson (Sweet Kill (1972)).

Many make harder judgments on In Her Shoes, which cling ungratefully to what the film really is, and I find that these detractors should re-watch it. Because, God, there is a lot to love in this film!

Cameron Diaz (Annie (2014)) and Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense (1999)) are both fantastic, moving and empathic. In fact, this may be Diaz's best dramatic performance. Shirley MacLaine (Irma la Douce (1963)) is also fine in the more downplayed part of the grandmother who has become wise with age. Hanson applies the perfect insightfully humanistic direction to the fine story about family break-up, sisterhood and forgiveness. He consequently goes for the drama here but still also manages to create funny situations regularly.

Also delightful in small parts are here Richard Burgi (Rush Hour (2016, TV-series)), Mark Feuerstein (Coyote (2021, TV-series)), Jerry Adler (The Good Fight (2017-18)), Honey Bun the dog and some old geezers. The age span between the characters may be a bit off, but In Her Shoes is a wonderful film.

 

Related post:

 

Curtis Hanson: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) or, The Nanny Terror! 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 35 mil. $

Box office: 83.6 mil. $

= Minor flop (returned 2.38 times its cost)

[In Her Shoes premiered 14 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 130 minutes. Diaz was paid 15 mil. $ for her performance in the film. Shooting took place from May 2004 - ? in Florida, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and holdover hit Flightplan, to a 10 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5), grossing 32.8 mil. $ (39.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7.7 mil. $ (9.2 %) and Germany with 7 mil. $ (8.4 %). The film was nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Hanson returned with Lucky You (2007). Diaz returned in The Holiday (2006); Collette in Little Miss Sunshine (2006); and MacLaine in Rumor Has It... (2005). In Her Shoes is certified fresh at 74 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of In Her Shoes?

Practical Magic (1998) or, Witch Sister Trouble

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The two female stars send catty eyes from this playful poster for Griffin Dunne's Practical Magic

Two sisters who are (naturally) diametric opposites return as adults to their witch aunts, when the one sister's happiness has suddenly ended, and the other sister has fallen in love with a dubious Bulgarian.

 

Practical Magic is written by Adam Brooks (Beloved (1998)), Akiva Goldsman (Winter's Tale (2014)) and Robin Swicord (Matilda (1996)), adapting Alice Hoffman's (Second Nature (1994)) same-titled 1995 novel, and directed by Griffin Dunne (Addicted to Love (1997)).

It is a strange film to look back on, and in today's Hollywood environment also incredible as a strong constellation of almost only female stars in a film without a strong pre-existing IP, made on a gigantic budget. Sandra Bullock (Speed (1994)) impresses, mostly, however, by making such an outlandish universe as this concrete and seemingly believe in it. As a viewer I didn't buy a second of it, but Practical Magic has a certain bizarre attraction in its changes from horror to humor to romance, changes that it performs without much success.

The witches are good women, whose power is embraced by their surrounding society here in a film with high production values that best case don't help it, and worst case ruined it.

 

Related posts:

Griffin Dunne: 2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Fierce People (2005) - Wittenborn and Dunne's savagely under-appreciated coming-of-age gem
An American Werewolf in London (1981) - Landis' great, funny, scary werewolf favorite (actor) 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 75 mil. $

Box office: 68.3 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.91 times its cost)

[Practical Magic was released 16 October (North America, India) and runs 104 minutes. Nicole Kidman (Dogville (2003)) was paid 6 mil. $ for her performance in the film. Shooting took place from February - May 1998 in Washington State and in California. The film opened #1 to a 13.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#3), grossing 46.7 mil. $ (68.4 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Dunne returned with Lisa Picard Is Famous (2000). Bullock returned in Welcome to Hollywood (1998); Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Practical Magic is rotten at 23 % with a 4.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Practical Magic?

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) or, Manhattan Struggles and Wonders

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Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey and Dianne Wiest look very fashionable and lovely on this poster for Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, which calls to mind a beauty magazine cover

Hannah is the center of her extended family and the coordinator for her parents and two sisters: One of them is a recovered alcoholic, who ventures on an affair with Hannah's husband; the other is a flighty creative with poor self-confidence.

 

Hannah and Her Sisters is written and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker Woody Allen (What's Up, Tiger Lilly? (1966)), whose 15th feature it is.

Allen hits the bull's eye with this moving romance dramedy, served with intertitles that give the entire ordered story a vivid, intelligent distance. The film has strong characters and amazing performances: Mia Farrow (Guns at Batasi (1964)) towers with assuredness and irony in what is likely a role that she later looked back upon with some anguish, (as her partner at the time, Allen used their personal life in the script and would later leave her for Farrow's Korean-adopted daughter.) Also fantastic in Hannah and Her Sisters are Barbara Hershey (Frogs for Snakes (1998)), Michael Caine (The Quiet American (2002)), Dianne Wiest (Rabbit Hole (2010)); Max von Sydow (Judge Dredd (1995)) is grand - and Allen himself, of course.

How does the film transcend many of Allen's other great films? In a classical way, you may say, through a simple case of raised stakes: There's really something at stake in the several strong scenes here. Allen shows great curiosity, interest in and knowledge of life, religion and first and foremost love, - the capricious and the flighty kind in particular, - while he himself is divinely funny yet again.

 

Related posts:
 
Woody Allen: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess

Café Society (2016) - The greatest living American filmmaker hands us another splendid gem

Irrational Man (2015) - Allen's pleasant morality tale divertisement

2014 in films - according to Film Excess

Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Blue Jasmine (2013) - Allen presenets Blanchett, a woman under the influence

Fading Gigolo (2013) - Turturro's pleasant turn as a high-end NY prostitute  (as actor)

To Rome with Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date  

2011 in films - according to Film Excess

Midnight in Paris (2011) - Allen's zany (and a little depressing) crowd-pleaser  

Cassandra's Dream (2007) - Allen's well-laid but inconsequentiel English cul-de-sac  

Match Point (2005) - Allen takes London with pensive thriller hit 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy 

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) - Allen's hypnotic, noirish shenanigans 
Celebrity (1998) or, Stars in New York
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) - Sin and guilt up for laughs and rumination in unspectacular Allen work 
Broadyway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart   

Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship with Alvie Singer   

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972) - Allen's curious sex comedy is a riot
Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs   
Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time (as actor)   

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 6.4 mil. $

Box office: 40 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain, but at least a huge hit (returned 6.25 times its cost domestically alone) and more likely a mega-hit (projected return of at least 8.59 times its cost)

[Hannah and Her Sisters premiered 25 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 106 minutes. Inspirations for the film include Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander (1982) and Luchino Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers (1960) as well as Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina (1878). Farrow criticized the script to Allen, calling it "self-indulgent and dissolute" and felt that it "was wordy but it said nothing". Shooting took place from October 1984 - ? in Italy, New York and California, including in Los Angeles. Many of Hannah's scenes were shot in Farrow's actual New York apartment. Farrow later elaborated on her and her mother's reaction to Allen's script; he "had taken the ordinary stuff of our lives and lifted it into art. We were honored and outraged." The film opened #10 to a 1.2 mil. $ first weekend in 54 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #5, behind new releases Pretty in Pink and House and holdover hits Down and Out in Beverly Hills and The Color Purple, and in 761 theaters (different weekends), grossing 35.3 mil. $ on its original release in North America, which was boosted with a re-release the following year by impressive 4.6 mil. $. Regrettably the foreign numbers are not made public. A very conservative world gross of 55 mil. $ (the real number may well be 65 mil. $ or beyond) would result in a return ratio of at least 8.59 and elevate the film's status to that of a mega-hit. It was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning 3: For Best Supporting Actor (Caine), Supporting Actress (Wiest) and Original Screenplay. It lost Best Art Direction/Set Decoration to A Room with a View, Director to Oliver Stone for Platoon, Editing to Platoon, which also took Best Picture. It also won 2/8 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for a César award, won 1/2 David di Donatello awards, 1/5 Golden Globe nominations, 3 National Board of Review awards and many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/ 4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Allen returned with Radio Days (1987). Farrow returned in Radio Days; Hershey in Hoosiers (1986); and Wiest in Radio Days. Hannah and Her Sisters is certified fresh at 91 % with an 8.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Hannah and Her Sisters?

Ginger Snaps (2000) or, Howl of the Emo Sisters

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Gothic and bloody indications mixed with mysterious teen sexuality howl from this poster for John Fawcett's Ginger Snaps

When one of two very emo teenage sisters are bitten by a werewolf, it gets her to run amuck in monstrous, adolescent sex!

Ginger Snaps is written by Karen Walton (Deep in the City (1999-00)), with great Canadian co-writer/director John Fawcett (The Boys Club (1996)) contributing story elements.
Here is a highly surprising and edgy horror; most of its shots are deliberately shot askew (cinematography by Thom Best (A Good Meal (2016)).)
The film is ripe with strange or unusual things, and, yes, it is also scary! Mimi Rogers' (Cleaners (2014, TV-series)) deeply humorous performance as the sisters' mother also deserves highlighting.

Watch a 2-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 4.5 mil. $
Box office: Reportedly 572k $
= Box office disaster (returned 0.12 times its cost)
[Ginger Snaps premiered 1 August (München Fantasy Filmfest, Germany) and runs 108 minutes. 15 companies collaborated to make the film. Shooting took place from October - December 1999 in Ontario, including Toronto. The film won an award at the Toronto International Film Festival and made 425k C$, making it the 5th highest-grossing Canadian film to come out for nearly a year. It made just 2k$ in the US, from two film festivals. But the film became a 'cult favorite' on DVD, though with sales undisclosed. This led to the sequel, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004), which had an even smaller theatrical gross, and another direct-to-video sequel, Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004, video). Fawcett returned with 8 TV credits before his next theatrical outing The Dark (2005). Emily Perkins (Repeaters (2010)) returned in Christy: Return to Cutter Gap (2000, TV movie), Christy: Choices of the Heart (2001, miniseries) and theatrically in Prozac Nation (2001); Katharine Isabelle (The Arrangement (2017-18)) in The Fearing Mind (2000, TV-series)), The Immortal (2001, TV-series) and theatrically in Josie and the Pussycats (2001); Kris Lemche (Haven (2013-15)) in Saint Jude (2000); and Rogers in 8 TV and short projects prior to her theatrical return in Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003). Ginger Snaps is certified fresh at 89 % with a 7.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ginger Snaps?

Frozen (2013) - Lee, Buck et al. triumph with fabulous Disney adventure favorite

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+ Best Family Movie of the Year + Best Mega-hit Movie of the Year + Best Musical of the Year + Most Profitable Movie of the Year: 362.32 mil. $ range

An uninformative but beautiful and anticipation-building ice crystal-centered poster for Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee's Frozen

Two beautiful princess sisters in the high north are alienated, because the one of them, Elsa, has to protect the world from her curse, freezing capabilities.

Frozen is written by great debuting Rhode Islander co-writer/director Jennifer Lee (Wreck-It Ralph (2012, screenwriter)), with co-director Chris Buck (Tarzan (1999)) and Shane Morris (The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (2007, TV movie)) supplying story elements, based on fairytale The Snow Queen (1845) by Hans Christian Andersen (The Little Mermaid (1837)).
It is a fabulously good-looking, hyper-detailed, delightfully colorful adventure with fantastical songs, - mega-hit Let It Go is only the biggest and most well-known of them. It is also funny and has enchanting romance and feeling. Frozen is near-perfect Disney-type movie magic.

Related posts:

 

2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI] 

Jennifer Lee: Wreck-It Ralph (2012) - Original story gets lost in benign but overly flashy animation (co-writer)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 150 mil. $
Box office: 1,280.8 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 8.53 times its cost)
[Frozen premiered 10 November (New York International Children's Film Festival) and runs 102 minutes. Development began in the late 1990s, with Megan Mullally first attached as Elsa. Several Norwegian landmarks are shown in the film, and Norway is the biggest inspiration for its look. The film opened #22 to a 243k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it widened the following week to #2 and 93.5 mil. $ from 3,742 theaters, behind The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, subsequently spending another 13 weeks in the top 5, 2 of which were at #1, grossing 400.7 mil. $ (31.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 249 mil. $ (19.4 %) and South Korea with 76.6 mil. $ (6 %). It became the highest-grossing animation and musical of all time until The Lion King (2019). Bloomberg Business calculated the film's total cost (including production, marketing and distribution expenses) at 323-350 mil. $; Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's profits at over 400 mil. $. The film won 2 Oscars: Best Animation and Best Song (Let It Go). It also won 1/2 Golden Globe nominations, 2/3 BAFTA noms, 2/3 Grammy noms and many other honors. According to Excipio, a copyrights infringement-tracking site, the film was the 2nd most illegally downloaded of 2014, behind The Wolf of Wall Street, with almost 30 mil. downloads. The home video release still broke records: becoming the fastest-selling digital release at the time in North America, where it also sold enormous 18 mil.units, including 7.5 mil. blu-rays, accruing more than 308 mil. $ domestically alone. The success was such that a global merchandise shortage ran through most of 2014: Disney sold more than 3 mil. Frozen costumes in North America alone; more than 8 mil. Frozen books were sold by August 2014. The filmmakers and cast returned for smash hit sequel Frozen II (2019). Lee and Buck returned with Frozen Fever (2015, short) before their theatrical return Frozen II (2019). Kristen Bell (Zootopia (2016)) returned in Parks and Recreation (2013-14)) and theatrically in Veronica Mars (2014); Jonathan Groff (Looking (2016, TV movie)) in 2 shorts and a TV movie before his theatrical return in American Sniper (2014); Idina Menzel (Rent (2005)) in 10 TV, short and video game credits before her theatrical return in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). Frozen is certified fresh at 90 % with a 7.69/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Frozen?

Life During Wartime (2009) - Too little is really going on in Solondz's guilt-themed Happiness sequel

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An adolescent boy with a white tulip against a cloudy sky makes up this strikingly drawn poster for Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime

A history of 3 sisters: One is a successful, conceited writer; the other a confused vegetarian, whose partners off themselves; and the last is a doped mother of three, whose ex-husband is a convicted pedophile.

Life During Wartime is the 6th feature from great New Jerseyite writer/director Todd Solondz (Fear, Anxiety and Depression (1989)). It is another film from him about the forbidden lust, the consequences of it and of guilt.
Guilt, guilt, guilt.
Despite good actors and few, piercing scenes, often of situations that in some way seem 'wrong', Life During Wartime is about fleetingly little, and mostly it's about excessively neurotic Jews with money. Mostly despicable people, objectively seen, (watch the film for yourself, if you don't believe me.) This is one in Solondz's output that you can calmly skip over: Instead watch his much better Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995), Happiness (1998), Storytelling (2001) and Wiener-Dog (2016).

Related post:

Todd Solondz: Wiener-Dog (2016) - Solondz's incisive and funny dog saga dramedy

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 4.5 mil. $
Box office: 791k $
= Box office disaster (returned 0.17 times the cost)
[Life During Wartime premiered 3 September (Venice Film Festival, Italy) and runs 97 minutes. It is a loose sequel to Solondz's Happiness (1998) with new actors playing the recurring characters. Shooting took place in Puerto Rico and elsewhere from October 2008 - ?. The film opened #43 to a 30k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it spread to 20 cinemas but never attained a higher placement, grossing 281k $ (35.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 194k $ (24.5 %) and France with 159k $ (20.1 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, equal to the rating in this review. The film was nominated for 2 Independent Spirit awards and won 1/3 nominations at the Venice Film Festival (for its screenplay). Solondz returned with Dark Horse (2011). Shirley Henderson (Tale of Tales/Il Racconto dei Racconti (2015)) returned in Meek's Cutoff (2010); Allison Janney (I, Tonya (2017)) in 6 non-theatrical performances before The Help (2011); and Ally Sheedy (Just a Dream (2002)) in Citizen Jane (2009, TV movie) and theatrically in Welcome to the Rileys (2010). Life During Wartime is fresh at 68 % with a 6.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Life During Wartime?