Word: laughton
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Canterville Ghost (M.G.M.) is a tub of ectoplasm (Charles Laughton) whose cowardice, in a bygone century, caused his brave old father to wall him up in the family castle. The unhappy ghost was doomed to walk the night until some male Canterville should give a good account of himself in battle. But throughout Britain's embattled history, Cantervilles left only a trail of white feathers...
Fantasy, like realism, pays off only when it is created with fingers instead of thumbs. The best of this film is Laughton's broad hamming of the hammy ghost and some friendly moments between Miss O'Brien and Mr. Young. But not all the comedy is ghostly. One of the picture's funniest scenes shows G.I.s, abashed by M.G.M.'s conception of aristocratic England, trying to be graceful with their teacups...
This Land Is Mine (RKO-Radio), Hollywood's 19th film about Nazi-occupied countries, is also one of the more ambitious. It has the added attractions of Charles Laughton, who is an actor's actor, and Maureen O'Hara's cameo beauty...
Hamlet-like, mother-bound Albert Lory (Charles Laughton) is a provincial schoolmaster in a conquered country. He is in capable of declaring his love for his young fellow teacher Louise Martin (Maureen O'Hara) and of standing openly with his friends against the Nazi conquerors. But the betrayal and killing of people he loves goads Lory into taking arms against the sea of troubles. He commits a blind, almost reflex act of near murder, which is forestalled only by the suicide of his intended victim. On trial for the murder he did not commit, the morally outraged schoolmaster speaks...
...Baur, 62, famed French character actor; in Paris. Fisherman, soap salesman, fruit vendor, teacher, he took a face as mobile as a surrealist potato on to the stage in the late 1800s, was a bright star in the theater for more than 30 years, the French cinema's Laughton-Jannings for the past twelve...