A New Leaf [VHS]
![A New Leaf [VHS]](/images/A-New-Leaf-VHS-6300216217-L.jpg)
|
List Price: Category: VHS Video See more movie releases |
|---|
![Buy A New Leaf [VHS] at Amazon.com](/images/buy.gif)
(Click here)
Buy this VHS video movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
VHS Movie Reviews of A New Leaf [VHS]
Movie Review: She's unscrewing my Montrazini
Summary: 5 Stars
That Elaine May has directed herself in a film only once bids fair to become one of the mythic disappointments of film history, like the hostile neglect visited upon so much of Orson Welles' work, like the fact that "Night of the Hunter" was Charles Laughton's only film as a director, like Oliver Stone having access to film-making equipment.
The version here is not the film that May made. She attempted to no avail to have her name removed from it when the studio hijacked her 3-hour edit and decided that the cut we now have is the one that's good for us. Heresy though it may be to say so, if this version is butchery, the original must have been...the best movie ever made.
Henry Graham (Walter Matthau) is a suddenly penniless bon vivant who realizes he can perpetuate his extravagant lifestyle only by marrying, then killing, a rich woman. He sets his sights on Henrietta Lowell (Elaine May), a shy, painfully awkward, stupendously naive heiress and botanist who appears never to have enjoyed the romantic attentions of a man. This seeming pushover will prove to be, in a manner of speaking, an immovable object.
Henrietta Lowell is a comic character with no awareness that she is a comic character. From the moment she first appears onscreen (at which point Henry makes brilliantly cynical use of her klutziness to demonstrate what a terribly gallant fellow he is, instantly cementing poor Henrietta's devotion) until the final frames, she thinks she's living in a love story, a fairy tale, not a black comedy. Her innocence, which seems so to endanger her, will actually be her salvation. And Henry's too.
May's remarkably well-polished script builds from the ground up a world, its denizens, and the humor inherent in both. For instance: The improbably frequent, seemingly endless repetition of the phrase "Carbon on the valves" is just plain funny but also sketches, first, Henry's chronic negligence and then, when the lament is repeated by a fellow playboy, a whole subculture of "Henrys". Or: Henry's snobbish reference to Mouton Rothschild (the '55 is CLEARLY superior to the '53) prompts Henrietta to offer, ever so helpfully, that with Mogen David "every year is good". Very funny, but also nuanced; the exchange speaks volumes about each. Dodi Heinrich, the odd little flower girl at the wedding, is pure visual one-liner, but to Henry is a terrifying doppelganger of Henrietta come to torment the hysterical groom.
At the end, the viewer is just as startled as Henry to hear a contrite Henrietta say, "Henry...I know...that this isn't exactly what you planned...But would you mind doing it...very much?"
Maybe... just maybe... (writer Elaine May finally, teasingly suggests), Henrietta isn't as myopic as she seems. Having suddenly excavated this curious notion, May just as quickly buries it.
Movie Review: Testimonial-Favorite comedy, a MUST buy!
Summary: 5 Stars
We always get together for extended family reunions at All the big holidays. This movie is ALWAYS seen immediately,(and at least twice) we, all 35 of us, age 8-80, LOVE this movie. It is a timeless classic that all will enjoy. You will adore this movie and it is worth the price, buy two or three and give them away as gifts. Just bought my very own copy... The lines are classic and acting wonderful. There are no scenes inappropriate for children and yet this is a movie that is an adult favorite in all of OUR families homes. This is easily one of my(age 49) and my children's(age 13-20) favorite movies...!Movie Review: This old movie is lots of fun
Summary: 4 Stars
Elaine May is a triple threat as writer, director, and co-star of this wonderfully humorous movie. Walter Matthau is perfectly cast as a playboy who does not know the value of a dollar and who can't believe that he has run through his inheritance. (The scene where a banker tries to explain to him that you can't write a check if you have no money in the bank is hilarious.) Matthau's butler suggests to him that if he intends to continue with his present life style, he must marry a wealthy woman. He manages to find such a woman, played by May, but she is so awkward that he is always having to pick her up off the floor or clean food off from her. How he turns over a new leaf after marrying her is the stuff of great comedy and great pathos. If you're looking for a wonderful, humorous old movie, this one is highly recommended.Movie Review: Great Film
Summary: 5 Stars
Why isn't this available on DVD? You don't often find a movie that's both funny and quirky, yet, at the same time, strangely comforting - something you can watch over and over. The humor is gentle enough not to offend, but never boring. Despite the issues Elaine May had with the editing of the movie, it's exceptionally well paced. If I had to compare it to something, I would say it's in the vein of the books of P. G. Wodehouse, or more recently, Sherban Young.Movie Review: The best American film comedy of the last 50 years.
Summary: 5 Stars
Much ink has recently been spilt in boosting the so called top ten films of the 20th Century, yet again we have been told by the critics that Citizen Kane is the best film ever and that the loss of the Magnificent Ambersons was the greatest act of film butchery. Be this as it may, I have chosen to recommend a film called 'A New Leaf' which is not only much funnier than Citizen Kane but also has had the dubious honour of being cut by the same scissors as the Magnificent Ambersons whilst still surviving in the hearts of those who have been fortunate enough to see it. Please if any movie mogul types are reading put this film out on DVD with its cuts restored - if you act fast you might even manage to get a commentary out of the director and co-star before she drops dead.