Double duty

It seems that blogger lost yesterdays post so two reviews today.

The Day Will Dawn (1942)

Also known as “The Avengers” in the US this British war time propaganda piece stars Ralph Richardson and Deborah Kerr. A young British reporter is sent to Norway on the eve of the German invasion of Norway.

Given that this was made in Britain during the war it is obviously a propaganda piece and a call to arms for both the British and the peoples of occupied Europe it is still a decent film. While not exactly an action filled piece the political nature of the film is not over bearing enough to stifle the plot completely. Where the film is weak is that it does not delve particularly deeply into the dilemmas facing an occupied people or the harsh realities that face those that do collaborate for whatever reason. Considering when the film was made and the shortages that the film makers must have faced the production values are actually pretty good in the action sequences it does depict.

3/5 an average war time piece.

China Moon (1994)

Ed Harris, Madeleine Stowe and Benicio del Toro star in this neo-noir offering from John Bailey. A policeman falls in love with a married woman who is abused by her husband.

There are two main problems with this film, the first is that it takes too long to get going as nearly the entire first half of the film is taken up introducing the characters and setting up the scenario. The second problem is that the plot is completely derivative, there are no shocks or surprises along the way because this film has been made so many times before with only slightly different details. With such a good cast you would expect decent performances but there is nothing here to help the film rise above it's unoriginal plot and weak writing.

2/5 you have seen this film done much better before.