Tag: movie reviews to learn plotting

Movie Review for Writers:

This movie, The Little Foxes, was in black and white, and although some black and white films are poor quality, this movie, at least on Amazon Prime had particular clarity.  The house furnishings and fashions were wonderful and Bette Davis was at her most beautiful and her best acting

QUICK SYNOPSIS:

Regina Hubbard Giddens, a proverbial gold digger in the early 20th century, marries and uses her husband in her various schemes of greed.

She is separated from her husband, who is ill and away somewhere getting treatment.
She is horrible to her daughter as the daughter is nothing but an anchor in her wedding-for-fortune.

Her brother Oscar did the same thing, married a woman with family money,
and treats her worse than the family dog.

Another brother is unmarried and he seems to have money of his own and they want to get in on a cotton mill deal with another outside party, but Regina wants in and promises her husband will come through with his side of the money.

The plot thickens when her husband decides not to go in on the deal, and Regina and her brothers show their true ruthless scheming selves.

The plan backfires but Regina takes it even further . . . don't want to spoil the end.

ELEMENTS OF INTEREST TO WRITERS:

• The movie opens showing the beautiful oak trees and Spanish moss as the Regina Hubbard Gibbons is a southern Aristocrat.  They present great scenery for a writer wanting to describe the southern area of the country.
• The house and fashions are very much southern, aristocratic, and gorgeous.  Again, there are lots of "sets" that the writer can use as a backdrop for any scene in a southern or gothic story.
• Watching Bette David act during the scene where she refuses to help her husband when he is trying to climb the stairs is diabolical and this too could be helpful in showing how mean and cruel the human heart can be.
• The daughter of the main character, Regina, comes of age as a subplot and the innocent dating scenes are very sweet and give insight into the difference in mores in the early 20th century.
• There was enough life going on in this film to also give anyone doing a historical fiction novel some ideas of the dating habits, and how the aristocrats interacted with their servants/slaves in those days.

Movie Review for Writers:

I'm beginning to watch movies from the perspective of learning more about writing; specifically about how to add information into the background of scenes and also about plotting.

I watched Enchantment, starring David Niven and Teresa Wright and a few others looked familiar.

QUICK SYNOPSIS:  The story opens focusing on an estate house that seems almost haunted, like the walls have lots of stories to tell.  The movies moves from present time, World War II London with a grand-niece Grizel Dane needs to stay with her grand-uncle, Rollo Dane, who is old, heartsick and not interested.

The story moves from modern day and goes back in time and tells the story of Nolo's family, his widowed father, his older sister Selina who was the only lady of the house, and a ward who the father brings home to live with them.  The ward's name is Lark and the story goes back and forth touching on childhood scenes, back into present time, back into when Rollo was just enlisted in the service, and you see he falls in love with Lark.  So does the other brother, Pelham, and another Italian guy from the neighborhood.

What is interesting is to watch how the house itself becomes the vehicle that is used to go from one time frame into another.  The script takes you into every scene so you can tell which time frame you are in and what is going on in the scene, so there is never any confusion.  I got a lot out of watching this, the blending in and out of the scenes.

The modern day story is about this grand niece, who has a simiar story where she falls in love but wants to be practical about things and thinks she shouldn't marry.  Uncle Rollo gets his strength back to warn her not to let love get away like he did.

ELEMENTS OF INTEREST TO WRITERS:

• The movie moved from time frames (Pre WWII and into WWII) seamlessly by using the house and each of the rooms as the backdrops.
• The actors grew up by using events of their lives to indicate childhood, friendship, the courting years, and falling in love
• The movie was very good is showing various scenes of "meanness" in developing the wicked step-sister who winds up ruining everyone's lives.
• The set is a beautiful Victorian home (at least I think it's Victorian) and if you wanted to describe a room from that era, this movie would give you some really great ideas for describing rooms and backdrops.