Word: melodrama
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...World War II. The film features a model family in which the father, mother and son make their respective contributions to the war effort. Director William Wyler simultaneously develops two themes: the devastation of the war and the reluctance of the British to forgo their everyday lives. The engrossing melodrama brings home the message of the effects of the war on the homefront...
...spying. In Berlin. During World War II. Maybe she is a bit too spunky for her own good. But not for the good of SHINING THROUGH. She's a terrific character, and it's a terrific idea to project her anachronistically back into the kind of improbable melodrama that made home-front life during the war so entertaining. Indeed, Linda borrows some of her best espionage tricks from the Hollywood thrillers to which she's addicted. At a certain point, writer- director David Seltzer, finding himself with too many obligations to an overcomplicated plot, forgets to keep up Linda...
...Black, the writer-director of Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! tosses his usual salad of mad love, acrobatic sex and cross-dressing, and garnishes it with a chorus line in a women's prison. High Heels careers like a runaway circus train over the rickety trestle of melodrama. Between giggles at the absurdity of it all, you're welcome to shudder...
Unfortunately, Seltzer proceeds to destroy the credibility he has so carefully worked to establish. Sappy lines seem allowable--they are reminders of the melodrama of old war films, which were replete with sentimentality. However, a drastic shoot-'em-up scene and a ridiculously inappropriate ending just don't fit. They are inexplicable and unacceptable...
Shining Through is a solid attempt to recapture the nostalgia of the war years in a romantic melodrama full of adventure and intrigue. But in the ending, the valiant effort fails...