Kona

A fascinating autobiography, 21 May 2013

Gene Tierney's memoir is an absolutely riveting book, detailing personal and public highs and lows, and I found it impossible to put down.

The beautiful star of, "Laura," "Leave Her to Heaven," and "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir," grew up in affluence, became an actress in her teens, married twice, suffered great tragedy as a mother, and spent years fighting debilitating mental illness.

There is a lot of information about her famous movies and equally-famous lovers. The treatments she endured in sanitariums erased much of her memory, hence, the book is co-authored by a ghost writer. Still, it's a fast-paced, well-written story that her fans will surely enjoy.

Silly and freaky, 19 May 2013

There's big trouble at a southern Army base: The colonel (Marlon Brando) is a closeted wacko married to a beautiful but cruel woman (Elizabeth Taylor); she's having an affair with his best friend (Brian Keith) while a mysterious, horse-loving, enlisted man is a freaky prowler.

This story of endless domestic turmoil is in the style of Tennessee Williams' work, but the script is confusing, shallow, and pointless with no likable characters to root for. Taylor's shrill, girlish voice is grating as is Brando's drawl which is so bad I needed subtitles. Brian Keith and Julie Harris, as his wife, are good but he's dull and she's spaced-out and dependent on a weird houseboy. The movie was… Read more

Wonderful movie, 12 May 2013

Young Pip has a hard life: His parents have died, he lives with his shrewish sister, and he's destined to be a lowly blacksmith. Fate smiles on him, however, when a mysterious old lady pays him to play at her estate. It's there he meets the love of his life, the beautiful, but heartless, Estella.

This is a great Dickens story, full of emotional ups and downs, following Pip from childhood to adulthood. Tony Wager is endearing as the sweet younger Pip and John Mills is equally sympathetic as adult Pip. Teenaged Jean Simmons is remarkably lovely as the bred-to-be-cruel Estella.

The 1946 David Lean movie has many twists and turns and a warm, satisfying ending… Read more