The Moon-Spinners
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Movie Reviews of The Moon-Spinners
Movie Review: Family Classic
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a wonderful family friendly adventure flick. You can't go wrong with Haley Mills.Movie Review: The Moon Spinners
Summary: 4 Stars
Fun Hayley Mills movie. She gets her first kiss on screen.Movie Review: "I always fancied myself in pink!"
Summary: 3 Stars
It will tell you something about "The Moon-Spinners" when you hear the line above spoken by the HERO halfway through the film. This 1962 Haley Mills vehicle is glacier-paced, indifferently acted, and overlong. I loved it as a kid, and I like it now.
Based on the (far-superior) Mary Stewart novel of the same name, the story of a girl's wild adventure in Greece was retooled for the talents of Mills, who spends the film sporting the most unflattering pants in screen history. Mills is Nikky, a young Londoner on vacation with her aunt, who stumbles onto a missing jewels mystery and falls in love with a cute but potentially shady young man named Mark. As played by Peter McEnery, Mark spends the film pretending to care about the plot and barely disguising his hatred for Mills. They have an odd negative chemistry, culminating in a scene toward the end of the film when McEnery goes to kiss Mills and ends up sort of biting her in the neck. She also slaps him at one point, and he looks like he would give his salary to slap her back.
The cinematography is nothing to write home about, especially when you consider the story takes place in one of the world's most beautiful countries. If you want great entertainment read the book. If you want goofiness galore and enjoy making fun of bad movies a la Mystery Science Theater rent this film. And if you love Mills or cheesy old Disney films I suppose you could buy it, after you've bought her A-list films like "Summer Magic" and "In Search of the Castaways". I did.
Grade: B-/C+
(I, by the way, share everybody's anger over the Disney Corporation's disdain for us, the consumer. Maybe Steve Jobs will straighten them out.)
Movie Review: "No jolts, no surprises, no crisis arises...
Summary: 3 Stars
...it's all very nice but not very good..." The irrepressible Hayley Mills we fell in love with in "Pollyanna" and "The Parent Trap" doesn't fare so well in this misguided suspense drama. Teenage Nikky Ferris (Mills) and her musicologist aunt (Joan Greenwood) are visiting Crete to collect folk songs. They stay at the Moon-Spinners Inn, owned by the very sinister Stratos (Eli Wallach) and his meek sister (Irene Papas). There, Nikky meets fellow Brit Mark Camford, who is both charming and mysterious, and likes to roam the coastline alone at night. As the plot thickens, Nikky learns the connection between Mark and Stratos and finds her life is in danger.
This poorly-written story never builds up any intensity because the audience isn't let in on the secret until half way through the film. Up until then, the characters meander endlessly and aimlessly around the island; people are shot and kidnapped, but since we don't know why, we don't care. There are no real thrills, the outcome is never in question, and the trumped-up romance is awkward. The idea of giving Hayley a more grown-up role falls flat, as the victim of teenage complexion and extra pounds still looks like a hyper-active youngster, way too young for her leading man. Wallach and Greenwood overact shamelessly while Papas is wasted with just a few lines. The island photography is lovely, but many outdoor scenes are obviously filmed in a studio. Hayley's many fans may enjoy this film, but I was disappointed.
Movie Review: Too Disney-fied
Summary: 3 Stars
Disney mutilates a great story by Mary Stewart. Will we ever learn?
Nikky Ferris (a rather pudgy and blotchy Hayley Mills) is on holiday with her aunt Frances (Joan Greenwood). They find themselves unwanted by the local hotel owner (the famous Greek actor Irene Papas) and her abrasive brother (Eli Wallach). Little do they suspect that they will be involve in a nefarious international plot; One in which you cannot tell the good guys from the bad until it is too late.
On the plus is a lot of good scenery. And how they could pay Irene Papas "Electra" (1962) to be in this movie one can only guess.
The real problem with this film is that Disney got a hold of it and turned a mystery into a farce. Nikky spills the beans more than once and is bratty when called upon to be decisive. She is naïve and quite bratty for her age. The other characters are quite sophomoric most of the time. Too many times, we must suspend any logic in figuring out where the runners are hiding and how the hunters no right where to get them. The story has a swift and inconsistent sort of ending.
Electra Starring: Irene Papas
Chalk Garden Starring: Deborah Kerr, Hayley Mills