Music Review: Pop Legends Live: Herman Hermits starring Peter Noone (2005)

I really enjoyed Herman's Hermits growing up, and I still enjoy their music.  This DVD presentation which appeared on PBS has a short anthology of some of their work.  "Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good" is an up beat song to get your blood flowing.  They started with this, and then sang a cover "Wonderful World."  "Listen People" has a mellow, longing feel to it.  When Peter Noone sings, "Listen people to what I say
I say everybody's got to have their day' he is expressing the belief that everyone will have good days, and bad.   One of my most favorite Herman's Hermits song is "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter"  I just love the sound, with the British accent.  Noone made a point of this, teasing the rough R sound of the Cleveland audience as they sang with him.  "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" sounds like a party or drinking song.  This DVD special was topped off with "There's a Kind of Hush."  This is a mellow love song.  This song was later covered by "The Carpenters>"
So listen very carefully.
Closer now and you will see what I mean.
It isn't a dream.
The only sound that you will hear
Is when I whisper in your ear
I love you forever and ever.

Movie Review: ***^Funny Face

Funny Face is a very entertaining movie.  It stars Audrey Hepburn as Jo and Fred Astaire as Dick a photographer.  It also has Kay Thompson as Maggie, a fashion magazine editor.  These three characters do very well together.  The editor has her eccentricities with  lipstick, and a grating voice, but by the end of  grows on you.  The model, who really doesn't want to be  a model, but wants to go to Paris to meet her hero of philosopher of empathic thinking.  And the photographer, who is all business, but is able to keep the model going and performing.  Over time, Jo falls in love with Dick.  Dick finally realizes he returns this love when Jo spends too much time with our philosopher friend.  Dick gives upon everything and is headed back to New York.

The music is by George and Ira Gershwin.  However the music is mostly forgetable.  What is not forgetable is the dance, by both Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn.  Also what is fantastic is the modeling by Audrey Hepburn.  She was a model before becoming a movie star

Musical Movie Review: ***Huckleberry Finn (1974)

This is a musical telling of Huckleberry Finn.  This is very true to the story of Huckleberry Finn, but the music is really not that impressive.  There is a very low bass on the song "Huckleberry Finn" and Jim sings about freedom.  This story made the point that Jim (Paul Winfield) had a wife and a newborn child.  Huck (Jeff East) had been taken in by a couple old women.  So when Huck's father comes asking for $1000 Jim knew the only thing they owned to raise that kind of money was himself.  So he took off, with the hope of earning his freedom and getting enough money to buy the rest of his family, so they could stay together.  They were headed to Cairo, Illinois.
When I was young I didn't understand why.  In fact it seems the were headed to New Orleans.  In both cases it would be because this was during the war, and he was trying to meet the Union army, where the union had already proclaimed that slaves of the states in rebellion were free.
As for Huckleberry's part, he was taken by his father, and locked in his cabin.  He managed to escape, and was also headed down river.  Jim fashions a raft, and together the head down river.  They have many adventures, mostly with Jim staying with the raft, while Huck goes to explore.  Huckleberry ends up in the middle of a feud, and barely escapes with his life.  He and Jim meet a couple con men (Harvey Korman and David Wayne), and Huckleberry and Jim barely escape with their lives when the pretend to put on a show, but then make off with the ticket sales with no show.  Huckleberry then ends up with another family.  The con men pretend to be long lost relatives of a deceased person, and want to claim the inheritance.  Huck swindles them, and puts the money in the casket.  In the meantime the rightful relatives show up, and things are bad for the con men and Huck says where the money is.
However when he returns to the raft, Jim is gone.  The con men turned him into the slave hunters, and he is headed back to slavery, instead of to Cairo.  Huck manages to set him free, and they run away chased by the coon dogs and men.  Huck trades him shirts, agreeing to go back to his life with the old women, while Jim escapes.  The movie ends with Jim getting away while Huck watches.
I liked the way this movie presented the desire to be free, and the sacrifice for freedom and family.  It was also very true to the book.  The music was forgettable.

Music Review: ****Sunset Boulevard

One of the most beautiful things I have ever heard is Glen Close singing "With One Look."  At times I have found myself playing this track over and over.  This one song is beautiful:

With one look I can break your heart.
With one look I play every part
I can make your sad heart sing
With one look you'll know all you need to know.

With one smile I'm the girl next door
Or the love you've hungered for
When I speak it's with my soul
I can play any role...

It is just beautiful, and sticks with you.  Andrew Lloyd Webber with Don Black and Christopher Hampton have hit a cord that resonates over time.

With this one song this CD is worth it.  The rest is just ancillary.

Movie Review: ***^Conagher (1991)

This is a made for TV movie based on a Louis L'Amour novel.  This film centers around two people, a widowed frontier woman (Katharine Rice) with two children, who lives on the edge of society, in Indian territory.  This lead to a confrontation.  At first, her home is used as a stage station, until the station moves.  Conagher (Sam Elliott) is the other character.  He is an honest cow hand, but faces many cattle rustlers and other outlaws who want to get ahead off of the efforts of someone else.  His loyalty to his boss leads to several interesting situations.  They are both lonely.  The widow writes poetry, and places them on sage brush to ride the wind.  She has to talk to someone.  They both live in separate worlds, and the question is if they will ever get together; will the even survive? 

Book Reviews: **The Prophet of Yonwood

The Prophet of Yonwood. This book was published in 2006 and is a prequel to the City of Ember.  I elt cheated by this book.  The characters were more card board cut outs rather than real characters.  The prophet does see a vision of the future, but she is ill.  Because of this, a neighbor takes upon herself to interpret the prophet for everyone.  In this interpretation she manipulates in the name of God and religion.  Nicky, who later in life writes a journal which Doon and Lena find, is a mindless follower of the neighbor lady, at least at first.  She divulges peoples life events, not knowing what is bad or good.  These things are used against her friend Grover.  This story did not seem real, but seemed more a platform for the author to spout against people of faith.

Book Reviews: ****The People of Sparks

This book was published in 2004 by Yearling Books.  It was written in 2004 by Jeanne DuPrau.  It is the second of the Ember series.  For reviews of the book/movie see below
http://billywardlefamily.blogspot.com/2012/12/movie-review-city-of-ember.html
http://billywardlefamily.blogspot.com/2012/12/book-review-house-of-ember.html
After the main characters escape Ember, they are followed by over 500 others who make it out of the city.  Many others do not make it out, drowning in the river or being crushed in the crowd.  This included the mayor.  Now Doon and Lena are faced with the task of finding a way to sustain a group of 500 people, who have no experience in surviving on the surface of Earth.  They have been living underground for over 200 years.  After walking some distance, they come upon the City of Sparks.  This city includes survivors of three plagues and three wars.   They are fewer in number than the residents of Ember.  However they have food, and knowledge, and agree to allow the residents to stay six months, hoping but not really having faith, that b then thy will be able to support themselves.  Animosity exists between the two groups, and reaches a head as each side blames the other for some offense or another.   The City of Sparks decides on a day for the People of Ember to leave.  However, when the City of Sparks uses their weapon it starts a fire and the city is is peril.  I like this book for the tension between the groups, and the resolution of that tension.  It also talks about keeping your eyes open, to see the opportunities that might present themselves