The Matchmaker

The Matchmaker
1958

Starring:
Shirley Booth as Dolly 'Gallagher' Levi
Anthony Perkins as Cornelius Hackl
Shirley MacLaine as Irene Molloy
Paul Ford as Horace Vandergelder

Lesser Roles:
Robert Morse as Barnaby Tucker
Perry Wilson as Minnie Fay

Length: 100 minutes

This movie takes place in Yonkers, NY and New York City, NY in 1884. Dolly Levi, an older widow, has decided to play matchmaker for an older man --Horace Vandergelder. Who just so happens to be rich. She finagles a way to get him into New York to meet two girls: Irene Molloy, a milliner and the lovely Ernestina Simple.
Before leaving, Mr. Vandergelder promotes his clerk, Cornelius, to the position of Head Clerk, which has the same perks as clerk. After Mr. Vandergelder leaves with Dolly, Cornelius and Barnaby, the other clerk, decide to have a 'day on the town' and just do whatever they please. But you have to have a good reason for closing the store. How do you do that? exploding cans of tomato sauce works.
The boys take off for New York City, spending their last dimes on the fare to get there. While sitting and talking about what to do next, Cornelius decides that they shouldn't leave until they've 'had a good meal, been in danger, almost been arrested and kissed a girl.' So what do they do? Go into a millinery shop in search of a girl or two.
Much more happens here, of course, including several near run-ins with Mr. Vandergelder.
I'm not sure where to end this short teaser, because I'd much rather tell you all about it than let you find out what happens, so I'll finish up right here.

I loved this movie. It's a romantic comedy, yet perfectly clean, and not really mushy like many other romances. I highly recommend watching it sometime, even if you're not a big fan of romances. It would be a good addition to your old movie library.

TCM: The Matchmaker is not on the play list, and not for sale.
Netflix: Available HERE.
Ebay: for sale in Laserdisc form HERE for the next eleven hours at $40.00, on DVD right HERE for $40.00 for the next day and a half. The next one is on VHS for $16.99 through December 17th. Lastly, there is another DVD for sale for only $25.00 until November 26th.
Amazon: 9 used from $2.79 to $19.95 and 6 collectible copies ranging in price from $14.95 to $59.99.

Enjoy!
~Kiwifruit

Boy of the Streets

Boy of the Streets
1938


Starring:
Jackie Cooper as Chuck Brennan
Maureen O'Connor as Norah
Kathleen Burke as Julie Stone
Bill Elliot as Dr. Allan


Lesser Roles:
Marjorie Main (Mrs. Mary Brennan)
Guy Usher (Fog Horn Brennan, aka 'Foggy')
Robert Emmett O'Connor (Police Officer Rourke)




Boy of the Streets takes place in the slums in New York (?) around 1938, when it was made.
Norah's mother is ill, and is sent away by the very nice Dr. Allan to recover in the country. Teenage Nora is afraid the child services will find her living alone and send her away from the place she has lived her whole life. Chuck (methinks he likes her ;-) tries to help her find a job, singing at a local cafe. She secures the job, but after the first song, the child protection services discover that she lied about her age and decide to send in an Investigator in the morning to talk to her parents and possibly take her away. But alas, Norah's father died years ago, and her mother's in the country!
In the mean time, Chuck finds that his father is not employed, like he said he was, and so falls in with bad company.
And now I'll leave it as a cliff hanger, as I always do. =D

I enjoyed this movie, except I thought the ending was rather...interesting. You had rising action, a great climax, and then I thought it fell rather flat at the end. But don't take my word for it. Go out and watch it! I think y'all'll like it.

This movie is available on tcm.com for $9.99 (link) or Ebay (link) for between $6.38 and $7.14. Netflix also has this movie.

Happy movie watching, peoples!

~Kiwifruit

Tomorrow We Live

Tomorrow We Live
1942

Starring:
Ricardo Cortez as The Ghost and Alexander Caesar Martin
Jean Parker as Julie Bronson

Lesser Roles:
Emmet Lynn (William 'Pop' Bronson)
William Marshall (Lt. Bob Lord)
Rose Anne Stevens (Melba)


At the beginning of this suspenseful romance, Julie Bronson, a college graduate, and her father, William Bronson, are arguing over the presence of 'The Ghost', a gangster who is renting some of Mr. Bronson's storage sheds for the purpose of storing stolen tires. Julie believes that The Ghost is no good and will only bring trouble.
Bent on the purpose of telling The Ghost what she thinks of him, Julie heads over to The Dunes, a dinner/dance club run by The Ghost. But she is warned beforehand by the hired help, who says that The Ghost is woman-crazy and it's a pretty stupid idea to go over there, as Julie is a beautiful girl.
Trouble ensues when Julie refuses to be kissed by him.
Later in the movie, Julie's old boyfriend, Bob, whom she hasn't seen in quite a while, re-appears in her life. Much happens between her, Bob, and The Ghost, but I won't tell you all of it. What would be the fun in that?

This movie is fairly well-done. I think it was a low-budget film (of course, it did come out during World War 2), as the film quality is really poor, but if you can ignore very dark outdoor scenes and blindingly bright faces when they're facing the sun, it's good. I watched it on good ol' TCM this morning. TCM is planning to play it again on December 5th at 8:15 am/7:15 central (? They didn't specify on the website whether the time listed was eastern, as it usually is, or central.)

You can buy it on DVD on tcm.com using this link for $8.99, but I'd like to warn you about the cover: it is rather indecent and I'm not sure why they chose that pic for it. There isn't anything like it in the movie! Or it's available in DVD form on Ebay for anything from $1.55 to $7.23.
This can be found on Netflix, also, if you use that service.

Happy movie watching!
~Kiwifruit