Duel in the Sun (1946, 5.5). Some good scenes, but mostly overblown and sometimes ludicrous romance with Jennifer Jones playing a half-Indian (!) third cousin coming between good brother Joseph Cotten and and evil brother Gregory Peck (!). Despite her Oscar nomination, Jones is awful. Lillian Gish got her only Oscar nomination for this, but she was better elsewhere.

This is famous as one of the films David Selznick did to promote his mistress (Jones not Gish) and interfered so much that he pretty much ruined the film, although it still was successful financially. I knew I was in trouble when the disk opened with a 10-minute instrumental prelude (which I guess meant no cartoon), and the film proper opened with a pretentious narration. The nickname "Lust in the Dust," is apt. I'd rather watch "The Outlaw," which is at least fun.

Match Point is my third or fourth favorite Woody. Scarlett Johansson always gets my attention, and here she is a vamp turned hellcat. Bewitching performance, great range.

Match Point is good, but Allen as far as I know has mever acknowledged the fact that it's practically a total remake of A Place in the Sun, with Scarlett Johansson standing in for Shelley Winters.......

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (9 of 10) Fine film about the Irish rebellion of the early 1920s that led to the creation of the Irish Free State, and how that wasn't enough for part of the IRA. Cillian Murphy is excellent in the lead. Any caveats have to do with lack of development of most characters, but that's made up by the storytelling and cinematography. The Black and Tans come off so badly you start feeling sorry for the British, until you meet the Green and Tans.

The Magic Flute, 1975, Swedish. (7.5 of 10.) Docked a bit because I don't like the cuts to the audience (especially the extreme closeups of Bergman's daughter's face, which got to be creepy after a while) and it takes a while to get going, but it gets rapidly better, and, of course, it has a nice soundtrack. Haken Hagegard is a great Papageno (not in feathers, which is fine by me), but it's got a nice cast. Elisabeth Erikson is a lovely Papagena (also not in feathers), and Papageno and Papagena's scenes together are delightful. Irma Irrila beautifully sings her duet with Josef Köstlinger. Why isn't this duet better known? Irrila and Hagegard also have a wonderful duet earlier on love when Papageno first meets Pamina, I half-wished he were her love interest until Papagena appears.

This was first shown in Swedish TV but was also was released in theaters and shown at Cannes. Although there are scenes that indicate this is partly a stage production, there are also obvious location shots, and lots of closeups, not to mention a scene where Pamina comes alive in a picture in a locket.

I'm now looking for a decent version of Don Giovanni.

Duel in the Sand is for me the definition of mediocre.