Reel to Reel:

Sabrina

Sabrina, a 1954 Billy Wilder film, is as tightly constructed, funny and engaging as any good romance. What elevates it above this level is its gifted and star-studded cast. Sabrina proves itself just another jewel in William Holden's cap of acting talent. Here he fits perfectly into the role of a spoiled, dashing, rich heir to a plastics corporation. His brother (Humphrey Bogart) is the more interesting sibling, combining a clever wit held back only by a self-punishing impulse to work hard and keep long hours as the chairman of the company. Enter Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn), daughter of Fairchild, the family chauffeur. Sho captures the hearts of both brothers and provides a strong temptation for the blue-suited Bogart.

Wilder's film definitely has its bizarre moments which reveal its unsteady identity. In other words, it doesn't quite know what it wants to be, whether a slapstick comedy, classic romance or comment on the modern industrial age.

(1954, 113 minutes, dir. Billy Wilder)

Mrs. Miniver

Despite being one of the few legendary films in history, Mrs. Miniver has not, unfortunately, lasted. Briefly, this 1942 William Wyler film follows the daily events in the life of the Minivers and their small suburb outside of London. Soon, even the harmony of the village is interrupted by German bomb, and the rest of the movie details the war's effects on Mrs. Miniver (Greer Garson) and her family.

It is not difficult to imagine that Wyler himself divided the movie into two parts--pre-war and World War. Contrast is his chief tool and he wrings as much life from it as he can. Unfortunately, the pre-war scenes are too saccharine to be taken seriously, and the war-on-the-home-front scenes are too melodramatic to affect. Perhaps unwittingly, Wyler does paint am interesting picture of suburban England, with its flower shows, comfortable houses and local royalty. Dame May Whitty steals the show as a grumpy countess with a passion for home-grown flowers.

(1942, 135 minutes, dir. William Wyler)

A Taxing Woman

Juzo Itami's film is light and fast-paced. It tells the story of a female Japanese tax auditor/collector, whose job is to sniff out the clever schemes to avoid paying Japan's high taxrate. Nobuko Miyatomo is a spunky investigator who doesn't shy away from her task which often pits her against swarms of male mobsters.

There's little that's profound here, but A Taxing Woman will, from the start, pick you up and zoom you through to the end.

(1987, 127 minutes, dir. Juzo Itami)