20.000 Years in Sing Sing

20.000 vuotta Sing Singissä / 20.000 år i Sing Sing. US 1932. PC: Warner Bros. D: Michael Curtiz. Based on the book by the warden Lewis E. Lawes. AD: Anton Grot. Starring Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Arthur Byron, Louis Calhern. 78 min. Print: LoC. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 2, 4 July 2008. - Based on the true stories of the great prison reformer. Curtiz is getting to find his true groove in this grim story of the hard-boiled criminal (Spencer Tracy) and his experience of the "honour system". Semi-documentary scenes add to the authenticity.

The Last Hurrah

Viimeinen koetus / Det sista försöket. US (c) 1958 Columbia. P+D: John Ford. SC: Frank Nugent - based on the novel by Edwin O'Connor (1956). DP: Charles Lawton. Starring Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Dianne Foster, Pat O'Brien, Basil Rathbone, Donald Crisp, James Gleason, John Carradine, Willis Bouchey, Ricardo Cortez, Anna Lee, Jane Darwell. 121 min. Vintage print with Finnish / Swedish subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 1 June 2008. - Good definition of light in this daringly darkly photographed film. Works fine in the Academy ratio. - I watched a portion only of this moving farewell film about the elderly Boston politician. It portrays American political life with a special blend of satire and tenderness.