Cinematic Distractions...

[dulcedemon]

Morocco (1930):
This little gem was released the same year as The Blue Angel. This is the one with the tailor-made-for-her tuxedo, which Marlene Dietrich wears during a scene in which she flirtatiously kisses another woman on the mouth. Were it not for this movie, I'd be able to say that there is nothing on this list worth watching twice. The beauty of pre-code films is how their very existence refutes the claims conservatives make about how things used to be in terms of morality, sexuality, and human behavior.
A cabaret performer by the name of Amy Jolly (Marlene Dietrich) falls for a handsome but promiscuous legionnaire (Gary Cooper) while simultaneously being courted by a deliriously wealthy older man (Adolphe Menjou). Of Gary Cooper movies I've seen, this is my new favorite. It's probably my favorite for Marlene Dietrich as well. I think her singing is atrocious. That is to say, her singing is iconic but not because it's good. I only like it when she sings Falling in Love Again, but that song is in Blue Angel.
Her acting is why I liked this one so much. Her sense of timing of both her lines and long deliberate pauses is perfect here. The best example of what I mean is her premiere performance at the nightclub. When she first comes out on stage, the orchestra plays her cue to sing, but she does nothing but wait and watch the unruly booing and jeering mob before her. She does it with such panache and confidence that she owns the room, and her facial expressions are priceless.
I found Adolphe Menjou enchanting. Even though I knew how it was destined to turn out, it was hard not to root for him. I've seen him only in a few other things like Gold Diggers of 1935. This is a much bigger and better role. Francis McDonald has a minor but memorable role as Sergeant.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Season 01: Disc 01 (2012):
This series was recommended to me by someone on Twitter. It's cute and sassy. Maybe a tad too girly for my taste, but this is only the first disc, so I'll give it a chance.
I had hoped for a smart, racy, flapper-styled, female Sherlock Holmes, but this is much more Dashiell Hammett than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which is okay as I also like The Thin Man. I love the fashions and decor of the era depicted. I'm looking forward to the next the disc.

Dark Horse (2016):
Heartwarming and inspiring as long as you don't think too hard about the well-being of the horse. It's really great that these average folks from a depressed coal town could pull off what they did the way they did. They were absolutely brilliant. That they didn't just buy a thoroughbred but set out to breed and train a horse from nothing was truly astounding. That aside, I felt for the poor horse. Horse racing is grueling. I thought it was bad enough in America, but over in the UK, they throw in jumping. It was enough to make me cry.

Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy: El Amor Brujo (1986):
I went into this knowing nothing but the plot synopsis and that it involved flamenco dancing. I thought I was getting a movie musical, but this is a dance troupe performance with cinematic elements. I got a kick out of the hairstyles and fashions, especially those worn by the men. Although this came out in 1986, its style is the tail end of the 1970s.
It's a love story, and a ghost story. It starts out with an arranged marriage of a couple whose fathers promised them to each other when they were children. The bride immediately becomes the unwitting focus of two love triangles. She doesn't know that her groom has been cheating on her with the village bicycle. She is also unaware that another man is madly in love with her and has been since they were young.
Another unintentionally funny aspect is age. It begins with them as children maybe 10-12 years old. Then it advances to their wedding day, and suddenly, everyone is 35-50 years old. Long engagement, I guess.
I can't speak as to the quality of the dancing. My understanding of flamenco dancing comes from comedy skits performed by white people, old cartoons, and travel shows.

The Sinful Dwarf AKA: The Abducted Bride AKA: Dværgen (1973):
Obviously, there is ableism in this one. This is one of the dregs left over in queue from the early years of doing this movie list, which I think goes back to 2007 or so on various websites. I make no apology for it. There has been no loss of quality. I'm not taking a step down into sleaze. In the beginning, it was solid sleaze. Occasionally, I'd even throw in a hardcore porn movie. Eventually, the sleaze available from movie rental service ran out. We had seen it all or at least the majority of it. If anything, this entry is a tribute to those lists of yore.
Yikes! What a dogshit tribute it is! I kept burying this one in queue because of the ableism. I'm not sure how many years it languished there. At one point, I removed it, only to put it back later.
A pair of broke newlyweds rent a room in a boarding house run by a washed-up old cabaret performer and her son --the titular misbehaving little person. Running a low rent boarding house doesn't quite pay the bills. Some sinister side business is afoot, namely, drug smuggling and prostitution.
Mom and son are partners in crime with a local toy shop owner known only as "Santa Claus". They help Santa deliver the special mechanical toys he makes in his workshop. As a bonus, they get free Christmas snow, which they use to keep their involuntary brothel workers working. That's the racket they have going when Brad and Janet show up on their doorstep looking for a room. Sorry, not Brad and Janet, Mary and Peter. I couldn't get over their resemblance to Brad and Janet from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. There is also some similarity to House of 1,000 Corpses. Mom's creepy cabaret performances for an audience of her soused sister and the occasional customer traipsing through on their way to the secret brothel being the main one.
Arguably, this movie has few if any redeeming qualities. It could have done with some editing, any editing at all in the first hour. Perhaps they thought lingering over Olaf's (Torben Bille) long, slow, labored, walking with a cane from room to room would build suspense. Buckets, bushels, and bales of ableism. In the last half hour, they start doing jump cuts. Welcome to the lowest of low quality. I saved the worst for last.