Shining Through
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Movie Reviews of Shining Through
Movie Review: THIS IS A CLASSIC - A WAR TIME ROMANCE!
Summary: 5 Stars
The movie begins with Mrs. Ed Leland being interviewed by the BBC for their series of war stories.
Being a half Jewish girl, half Irish & half German, she, Linda Voss wants desperately to save her cousins in Germany, especially Sophia who plays the flute.
Her life changes when she happens to stumble into a secretary's job for a lawyer, Ed Leland. Because of her love for war movies, she pegs Leland as a spy. He is very private, stoic and withdrawn.
In proving an interpretor as being a possible double-spy she becomes privy to some of the inner goings on of Ed's office.
She does finally cause him to smile and they do fall for each other and become lovers. Their relationship suffers a seperation after Pearl Harbor and Ed disappears for several months.
During the War she is relagated to the secretarial pool in the basement where she is always searching some word of Ed. He never contacts her.
She spends some time at the USO and in walks Ed Leland with a brunette on his arm. He doesn't see Linda until he starts dancing and then all hell breaks out emotionally. She begs him to tell her how to quit loving him.
Watch it to find out how she convinces the powers that be to send her to Germany as a spy. Boy does she goof up.
There she meets up with Sunshine, Margrete Von Eberstein and Horst Drescher.
Drescher sets Linda up [in hiring her to cook]to meet Franz-Otto Dietrich and his two children. Linda then disappears from all aquaintances [and scares the crap out of Ed] as she takes over the job of nanny to the high ranked German.
Even Margrete does not know where she is. Linda pursues her quest for her cousins. And tells Margrete and Ed [when he shows up undercover]that she has located her cousins.
During a bombing raid she has Dietrich's children with her as she locates the address of her cousins [only to find them gone] and learns of a hidden room in Dietrich's basement.
She has film and Ed is waiting to help her make an escape from war torn Germany. You have to see her flight and Ed's daring rescue of her and the other twists and actions to fully enjoy this love story.
Do not pass it up - see for yourself just how good it really is.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED --M This is truly an 8 star movie despite the bare -----
Movie Review: One of my all-time favorites, at last on DVD in widescreen
Summary: 5 Stars
This has always been one of my favorite films. Apparently it's supposed to be a guilty pleasure. I can't imagine why though. It's not a deep or socially important work of art, but it doesn't pretend to be. It's just a glorious, old-fashioned piece of entertainment, gorgeously shot on location in Germany, with one of the best scores the late Michael Kamen ever wrote.
Alright, so Melanie Griffith convinces Michael Douglas to send her as a spy into Nazi Germany because of her phenomenal streudel baking skills. It's that kind of movie. Either you let yourself be swept away by the storytelling, or it's just not for you.
The big news, however, is that this great movie is finally on DVD in the US. And it's in widescreen, a vital piece of information that was left off the listing here. I was really afraid I'd walk into Tower today and see a Pan and Scan atrocity and have to leave it there unbought. Worry not, the film is presented here as it was in theaters in 1992.
The makers of this DVD have also kindly left the original burned-in subtitles for the sequences in German, instead of replacing them with those ugly player generated ones you see so often. I always liked the font the filmmakers chose, so this was a pleasant surprise.
It would have been nice to have a director's commentary, or some of the approximately half an hour that was removed from the version that was shot. However for under $10 what we get (two trailers) is fine.
It took long enough, with the US just about the last country on earth to get "Shining Through" on DVD, but it's here at last, and looking as good as I could have possibly have hoped.
Movie Review: Spy & Love Story
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of my favorite DVDs. It's set between the USA and Nazi-Germany about 1945. Melanie Griffin and Michael Douglas are the primary actors, of course, with great supporting actors/actresses. Melanie is half Jewish, living in Queens, in search of a job. While looking for a secretary job, she gets the not-good-enough treatment because she's not from Vassar. Things change quickly, when they hear her speaking German to a cleaning lady. Just so happens that the head honcho (Michael) needs an interpreter secretary cause he can't speak German. Turns out old Michael is a secret spy for the USA and makes trips back and forth to Germany and needs letters translated and such.
When one of the other spies gets whacked by the Nazis, Melanie decides she wants to go into the spy thing for the US, so she can check out her Jewish relatives, last seen in Berlin, and maybe get them to safety in the US, somehow. She manages to even mix in with the German elite. Liam Neeson is also great as a high-ranking German officer. And John Gielgud is a spy too. As always, he is outstanding in everything.
There are great plots, characters, twists and turns, and lots of suspense. It's a spy thing, run-and-hide from the Nazi's (who are snoopy little suckers), get the secrets, and get out alive type movie. It's also a love story, cause Melanie falls in love with old Michael along the way and he acts like the coldest mackarel in town. Of course, if I tell you any more, I'll have to shoot you, cause it's a SPY movie. (DUH!)
I've watched this movie a bah-zillion times. It is really great.
Movie Review: A Return to Classic Filmmaking
Summary: 5 Stars
I am so pleased this title is finally getting a DVD release - and at only $10! Shining Through is based on the novel by Susan Issacs and is a melodrama at it's core - but a damn fine one. Lost among the hoopla over the "other" Michael Douglas film that year ("Basic Instinct") Shining Through never got the cred it deserved as a film made in the classic Hollywood style.
The plot is relatively simple, for a film about espoinage : Melanie Griffith, a Jewish secretary, is hired by Michael Douglas for normal secretarial work, and eventually learns that her boss moonlights as a ranking member of the US military. Through a series of cleverly timed events, she is drawn into the world of intelligence and becomes a Nazi Germany spy herself.
All of the actors were at their prime when making this film - Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson join the picture part way through and do an excellent job, as do the leads. Although at it's core it's really a love story, there is enough action and tension to entertain anyone who can suspend the disbelief that Melanie Griffith could become an international spy.
If I make it sound like "Alias", it's not - it's just a wonderfully crafted film that is a worthy addition to any collection, especially anyone who is a fan of classic Hollywood melodramas. Shining Through has never gotten it's due credit - I hope that a wider audience finds it on this excellently priced DVD!
Movie Review: Great cast and an excellent romantic thriller!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was on the edge of my seat during this movie. There were so many different turns, between the romance and the WWII espionage aspect of the movie. Subtle humor and wonderful performances.
Melanie Griffith plays Linda, a young woman born to immigrants: a Jewish, German father and an Irish mother. She has been raised to speak both German and English. Her ability to speak German with fluency allows her to become a secretary for Ed Leland (Michael Douglas), a spy. Her sharp eye for details frustrates Ed to no end as she points out that she would make a better spy than he does. Stubborn to a fault, she convinces Ed to allow her into Germany so that she can spy on high-ranking Nazi officials ... undercover as a German domestic. Through a series of turns, she is fired from one job but is quickly re-hired by another Nazi officer (Liam Neeson), who trusts her as a nanny to watch his children. Linda struggles to maintain her cover and to try to save her cousins -- Jews who are struggling to hide in Berlin. Linda is tutored in espionage by the legendary agent Sunflower (John Gielgud), a German spying for the Americans.
Michael Douglas and Melanie Griffith have great chemistry in this movie. Melanie Griffith speaks German with such a convincing accent she is to be commended. Liam Neeson and John Gielgud add to the film nicely. All in all, a good WWII/spy movie with the right amount of romance and adventure.