Skip to main content

Letterboxd Review: Chain Lightning - 1950

Story - Former World War II flying ace Matt Brennan takes a position as a test pilot for a commercial aircraft corporation and bumps into his old girlfriend, Jo Holloway, who now works as a receptionist for the company.
Cast - Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker, Raymond Massey, Richard Whorf
Crew - Stuart Heisler (Director), Liam O'Brien (Writer), Lester Cole (Writer), Vincent B. Evans (Writer)
Runtime - 94 minutes
         

“There I was up 60,000 feet… And it was the quickest way to get down to you.”

I had no faith in this movie, but I remember hearing about it somewhere so I got it. Damn, what a nice romantic movie with elements of “science fiction”? It’s hard to say.

It is a 1950s movie so it is made in the same vein as movies that try to present fantastical technological achievements, and while this is not very wild or out there (supersonic planes exist now) you can feel the awe people at the time had for these new advancements.

Humphrey Bogart's acting is stellar, just like in anything he is, and while this is post Casablanca he doesn’t show signs of aging!

Warner Archive Blu-ray release.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

300 - Review

            "A new age has begun, an age of freedom. And all will know that 300 Spartans gave their last breath to defend it."           ​It is hard to describe a movie from the past two decades that has had as much impact on young men as 300 . Even when we compare it to films like Fight Club , Drive , or John Wick , 300 seems to speak in a way that almost any man is captured by its aesthetics and mythology. To dismiss a movie, especially one with such magnitude and power as "popcorn entertainment," is at best, ignorant, and at worst, a facilitator of its message and, in the case of this film, its cryptofascist message. Let us be clear for a second: movies, like any other art form, are not created in a vacuum by soulless and thoughtless people. The zeitgeist, culture, time period, and events all affect the media we consume, produce, create, and enjoy. German cinema from the 1930s and 40s served as a way to understand the Führer pro...

Review: Resan (The Journey) - 1987

  Story  -   Petter Watkins' global look at the impact of military use of nuclear technology and people's perception of it, as well as a meditation on the inherent bias of the media, and documentaries themselves. Cast  -  Peter Watkins Crew  -  Peter Watkins (Director) Runtime   - 873  minutes           "I think to remove the veil of ignorance from the world is the most direct way at least to achieve enlightenment." Sometimes it is incredibly difficult to sit and watch a long movie, after all, the way of life in the XXI century has been accelerating to the point that 90-minute movies are consumed in 20 different parts on a tiny screen while commuting to work. This is a world that 15 years ago I would have never imagined. I believe on this occasion, watching a movie divided into 19 different sections has helped me to appreciate and embrace what it is trying to say on a different level. It is hard for someone in 2024 to...

Pale Rider - Review

             "There's plain few problems that can't be solved with a little sweat and hard work."           Western is a genre as old as cinema itself, and it has in it everything that America represents or did at one point. However, as much as it is an American genre, it does lack one of the key aspects of its culture: religion. I am not talking about the imagery of Christ or the occasional encounters with preachers and churches, but rather the hope and sense of community that people found in their faith. I have read many reviews about this film and comparisons with Shane (1953) are all too common, especially on Letterboxd, and while I have yet to see the movie, I can see its influence, especially in the way it tries to portray heroism and doing the right thing for others. Pale Rider is a product of a dying genre, one that started to become smaller and more emotional. Long are the days of Native American fights with the Coloni...