Film Reviews by Jed

In a world where all the intimacies of life are refused

by the mullah censors, the only space still free to sing

out loud or even (shock! Horror!) let a woman's hair fly

(just a little) free - is the motor car. Your own private world.

This film in a most subtle way lets you understand what

living like that means with true freedom expressed by one

of the most wonderful small boy actors (Ryan Sariak)

I think I have ever seen.

Freedom is a small boy flying out of a car's sunshine roof . . .

Is it a rule of the Universe that a good film will automatically produce

a series of weak remakes ? Here we have echoes of that great original film

(Even distant echoes of that great musical under-water theme) but

writers desperate to extend the property borrow from Red October

(surrendering their U-Boat to the Americans) and lose a lot of the

power of both the book (Great in Translation) and the original movie

in trying to "open up" an under-sea story. I went back to my copy of

the original - and Yes! it really does hold up as well as I remembered.

Presented as part of the Laurel and Hardy Series these two films are the sad ending of that famous partnership

with Oliver Hardy trying to make it on his own. No Hal Roach to steer them right,

Watching these films left me feeling sad.

Jed Falby