PVC The Goldfinch
Today's Bill Collins midday movie is proudly brought to you by
Chandlers.
Good afternoon to you. This is the kind of movie that once again makes me say something that a very
famous critic said about the Ray Milan thriller The Big Clock years ago. I wish I could enjoy half as
much the film as I'm supposed to like as much as I enjoy Hotel Berlin. Hmm, that's the way I feel
about it. I love the film from the first shots of the hotel. We go inside and all the things that go
on, the intrigue and so forth, with a fascinating group of players under the direction of Peter
Godfrey. Let me tell you, this film was going to production at Warner Brothers when the war was
nearly over. They rushed to get it through so it would be on the screens before the war was finished in
Europe. Fay Emerson, fascinating actress, Kurt Kruger, who was always playing Nazis, good and bad,
during World War II. Very good-looking man, stayed looking like that for years. Peter Lorry, who's
kind of the conscience of the film, his words are very potent and full of disillusionment, and Helmut
Dantien, interesting face, later went into film production. And Helmut Dantien gets involved with
Andrea King and I wouldn't trust her as far as I could throw her in this film. And as you're being
overwhelmed by the visuals which are great in black and white and the music of Franz Waxman,
which he wrote in 20 days, please have some time to take note of Alan Hale, fabulous actor,
George Calouris as Joachim Helm and Raymond Massey as Arnim von Danwitz. There's a name to
build a dream on, so many good moments in Hotel Berlin and written in such a way that if you like
to think about it you might get quite a few little messages coming through. That's if you have time
to think about messages because the film's so darn entertaining. It is Vicki Borm's equivalent
to her original great classic Grand Hotel, only this time it's Berlin and the war's nearly over
and there's something rotten in the state of Europe. I think you'll find Hotel Berlin most compelling.
Today's Bill Collins midday movie was proudly brought to you by Chantlers.
Well I certainly hope you enjoyed Hotel Berlin, what a fascinating story. Have you ever read any
of the novels by Vicki Baum? B-A-U-M. Let me show you the poster again of Hotel Berlin. Just take
a look at the poster and you'll probably find her name on the poster. Vicki Baum, one of her most
famous books of course. There it is, Vicki Baum on the right hand side of the poster. Remember that
name, try and get hold of some of her books. Grand Hotel of course is fantastic but almost any of
her novels are fascinating to read and of course Hotel Berlin or Berlin Hotel as it's been called
is one of the most fascinating of all. Tomorrow's movie of course is Tower of London with Vincent
Price and Michael Pate and we'll be back in just a moment to tell you why tomorrow afternoon will
be particularly interesting. Well now I said I want to talk to you about something interesting
and Bay Books have just published in Australia a very interesting book called Recipes for Life.
It's subtitled Low Sodium Low Sugar Low Cholesterol by Evelyn Jean Lawton and I'm pleased to say that
tomorrow afternoon following Tower of London I'm going to be talking to Evelyn Jean Lawton.
The Hissler book, I think it's got a beautiful cover, I'll open it right out for you so you can
see how it looks when you get the double spread. That looks fabulous and one of the advantages of
this book, it's so easy, you know you've had some cookbooks and you open them up and the pages are
all like that, well this one opens very easily and stays open. Now what appeals to me particularly
about Jean's book is that subtitle because like a lot of people I too have had problems with
overweight and I think the cholesterol thing is really important for us to think about.
So tomorrow after the Tower of London I'm going to having a little chat with Evelyn Jean Lawton
about her book Recipes for Life and why that book is important to you, to me, to all of us who want
to eat in a healthy fashion and stay healthy. Also as promised I will be showing you some
wonderful pictures from this great issue of Life magazine, The Stars Celebrate Hollywood beginning
with the fabulous cover. So please enjoy tomorrow afternoon beginning with Tower of London with
Vincent Price and Michael Page. Good afternoon everyone and thanks for being with me today.
I look forward to your company tomorrow once again at the same time.