簡介:Steve and Susan Ireland are about to celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary by re-enacting their first date. When Susan's meddling mother interrupts and injures herself. Steve is left to take care of her and when he meets an old flame in the elevator--Susan's mother takes the opportunity to break-up their marriage. She convinces Susan that Steve is cheating on her-Susan files for divorce. Steve has one solution to save his marriage...Pretend he is insane. Written by Kelly
簡介:哈里斯(邁克爾·雷德格瑞夫 Michael Redgrave 飾)是一位教授古典文學的教師,他溫文爾雅極具氣質,一生都勤勤懇懇地工作做人。然而,某一日,他竟然遭到了解雇,美其名曰“提前退休”,而他的學生們竟然完全不以為意。與此同時,哈里斯亦發現,自己畢生研究的古典文學,如今毫無價值,而自己則變成了一個無人問津的老古董。 糟糕的不僅僅是這些,哈里斯本以為自己和妻子米莉(簡·肯特 Jean Kent 飾)之間的感情十分要好,然而,實際上,米莉早就和一名化學老師暗度陳倉許久,對于這一切,哈里斯竟然一無所知。人至暮年,哈里斯逐漸失去了對于生活的信心和希望,就在這時,他曾經的一名學生送給了他一本勃朗寧翻譯的《阿伽門農》,正是這本書幫助哈里斯找回了勇氣和自我。
簡介:莫里斯(詹姆斯·梅森 James Mason 飾)是一個名不見經傳的小小裁縫,經濟非常的拮據,在外債臺高筑。一次偶然中,莫里斯被錯認成為了一名出身高貴的公爵,被邀請參加了一場只有當地名流才能夠參加的酒會。在酒會上,莫里斯溫文爾雅的談吐和謙卑的態度獲得了所有人的喜歡,沒有人懷疑,眼前這個舉止高雅的年輕人,他的真實身份是一個窮光蛋。 只有家里的小女兒珍妮特(艾娃·加德納 Ava Gardner 飾)對莫里斯始終抱有著懷疑,她想方設法的想要戳穿莫里斯的假面,哪知道,在此過程中,珍妮特被莫里斯的坦率和真誠深深的吸引了,墜入了情網之中。
簡介:Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality” – Emily Dickinson If Death took a holiday, the guns would go silent in Iraq, the slaughter on our nation’s highways would cease, and the news media would be compelled to cover positive events in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Unfortunately, Death has not had a vacation in recorded history, but Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 fantasy, Death Takes a Holiday, allows us to consider the possibility. Co-written by Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman and based on the play La Morte in Vacanza by Alberto Casella, Death Takes a Holiday stars Frederic March as the Grim Reaper who takes on human form in an attempt to discover why men fear him so much. Why he has waited 5,000 years to satisfy this curiosity is not explained. [Spoiler] After a brief tryout as a shadowy figure who scares the daylights out of those that cross his path, Death shows up at, of all places, an upscale party at an Italian villa, posing as the mysterious Prince Sirki. Only one person knows who he really is, the host Duke Lambert (Guy Standing), and he is sworn to secrecy. Sirki proceeds to fascinate the guests. Given to bursts of wit and poetry, he can just as quickly turn sullen and threatening, and some soon find out that it is better not to look too deeply into his eyes. During the three days in which the Prince is at the villa, however, people all over the world miraculously escape death and potential suicides are doomed to frustration. To see what’s behind all the conversation about love, the suave but na?ve Prince Sirki falls for the irresistible Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the daughter of one of Duke’s friends. Grazia knows who Death is but does not fear him, much to the chagrin of her fiancé, Corrado (Kent Taylor) who has developed a strong disdain for Prince Charming. More sinister than Brad Pitt in the 1998 remake Meet Joe Black, March turns in a very convincing performance as the creepy yet strangely appealing guest. Although the ending is melodramatic, the emotions are very real and the suggestion that Death may in reality be a friend disguised as a foe is quite touching. (Howard Schumann, talkingpix.co.uk) In this wearisome and predictable plot line, Death falls in love and bores us to death talking about it. (Dennis Schwartz, homepages.sover.net) I've heard DRACULA was advertised with the tag line The Weirdest Love Story ever told! (this is probably a paraphrase), but at heart, I've never felt that you could honestly call that movie a love story. The tag line would be much more appropriate for this one, since it ultimately boils down to what amounts to a love story. This movie is very good indeed, particularly if you consider that it is built around a concept that could have easily been handled in a cute or facile manner. Instead, it is handled as seriously as possible, with some real thought put into how death would try to come to terms with a life and an outlook that was to that point totally unfamiliar to him; much of the credit does go to Fredric March in the title role. It's quite scary when it needs to be, particularly during the first twenty minutes. From then on, it deals with its themes with subtlety, a quiet wit, an enduring sadness, and an everpresent tension on how Death might react if crossed. It's not perfect; some of the dialogue is self-conscious and artificial, as if the writers knew they were dealing with weighty issues and were trying to be profound. But I am certainly glad they didn't try to turn it into a musical comedy of sorts. (Dave Sindelar, scifilm.org) See also the remake Death Takes A Holiday (1971)