Word: unctuous
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...State Department was obviously suffering from a Mrs. Grundy complex, afraid to mention or to face the facts of diplomatic life, hopeful that an unctuous phrase would serve as a substitute for making sense...
Sacha Guitry, unctuous, prolific Parisian Noel Coward, jailed for suspected collaboration, was given his "provisional freedom." Reason: lack of evidence. In jail, 59-year-old, bon vivant Guitry held a daily salon, accepted flowers, pillows, black-market chocolate, U.S. cigarets from admirers. Upon his release, he entered a clinic to calm his nerves, rebuild his appetite. Said a sour acquaintance: "There's nothing wrong with dear Sacha that flattery won't cure...
...delectable bears, San Diego's level is well indicated by the bitter moment in which Millionaire Hall informs Miss Allbritton that of her father's raft the only part which survived testing was the chewing-gum with which she had patched it; or Eric Blore's unctuous self-introduction to his new employer: "You may call me Nelson." To which Mr. Horton earnestly replies, in the line-of-the-month...
...from the Levant, through the Balkans, to Paris, met many interesting people in the course of his researches. In Geneva there was cold, gracious Grodek (Victor Francen), who described himself as "an employer of spy labor." He was writing a biography of St. Francis. In Athens there was bulbous, unctuous Mr. Peters (Sydney Greenstreet). Mr. Peters was also in Belgrade and Paris. And everywhere there were whispers of a cryptic organization called the Eurasian Credit Trust, whose headman turned up for a climax of blackmail and gunfire, with Mr. Peters gasping his life out on a mess of thousand-franc...
Among the film's serious faults are the commentators' voices-too often as soapy and unctuous as the average in such assignments. There is a good deal of unfortunate, hackneyed talk about someone called John Q. Public. And in a closing shot of the two halves of the world, the Eastern Hemisphere (described as "slave") is shown being totally eclipsed by the Western Hemisphere ("free"). This appalling boner is strongly counteracted by the film as a whole, but could be seriously misleading...