Welcome To Sarajevo

100645 / 16 / GB / 1997 / Winterbottom, Michael / drama
Welcome To Sarajevo / Tervetuloa Sarajevoon. © Channel Four Films; Miramax Films. P: Graham Broadbent, Damian Jones. D: Michael Winterbottom. SC: Franc Cottrell Boyce - based on the book Natasha’s Story by Michael Nicholson. DP: Daf Hobson. M: Adrian Johnston. CAST: Stephan Dillane (Henderson), Woody Harrelson (Flynn), Marisa Tomei (Nina), Kerry Fox (Jane Carson), Emira Nusevic (Emira). 101’. Scope. In English and Bosnian. MPAA R = 17. BBFC: 15. Sweden: 15. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Janne Staffans. DIST: Buena Vista International Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Monday 9 March 1998. *** Sarajevo 1992 has been announced by the UN ”the 14th most dangerous place on Earth”. ITN reporter Henderson finds an orphanage near the front lines and decides to adopt Emira, one of the children. This is a stark drama about journalists keen on hot coverage while people are bleeding under their very eyes. It is also about the possibilities of true commitment.

The Front Page (1931)

Lewis Milestone: The Front Page (US 1931). Pat O'Brien as Hildy Johnson.

072986 / G / US / 1931 / Milestone, Lewis / drama / comedy

Etusivu uusiksi / Det stora reportaget. PC: The Caddo Company. P: Howard Hughes. D: Lewis Milestone. SC: Bartlett Cormack – based on the play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. CAST: Adolphe Menjou (Walter Burns), Pat O’Brien (Hildy Johnson), Mary Brian (Peggy Grant), Mae Clarke (Molly Malloy), Edward Everett Horton (Roy Bensinger), Slim Summerville (Irving Pincus). B&w Early Sound 1,2. 101’ /25 fps/ PAL = 105’ /24 fps/. This film was never released in Finnish cinemas nor on video. Yleisradio TV2 transmitted it in 1996 and again 11 January 1998. Transmission’s 16 mm start material had awful definition and poor sound, and the early sound aperture was uglily cropped. Viewed in Helsinki on VHS, Monday 12 January 1998. *** Because of the miserable TV print it was impossible to enjoy the film. But it is evident that this is a superbly acted version of the tough, almost horrifying, Hecht / MacArthur play. This Pre-Code version is probably the toughest of the four films based on the play, and in many ways more daring than the 1940 remake His Girl Friday. It was not such a big step for Hawks to turn Hildy into a woman. Not that Pat O’Brien is at all feminine, but in this version, too, it is obvious that the true love story is between Walter Burns and Hildy Johnson.