MAKSQUIBS CINEMATHEQUE: LADY GODIVA OF COVENTRY (1955)

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Tuesday, May 8, 2018

LADY GODIVA OF COVENTRY (1955)

The title grabs interest, but little else does in this shoddy period piece about that infamous nude horseback ride. (Side-saddle, of course.) Done on the cheap @ Universal by Abbott & Costello specialist Arthur Lubin, the 11th century Saxon/Norman rivalry story is larded with comedy & romance (with bits ‘borrowed’ from THE QUIET MAN/’52) to plump up a rowdy chapter in fake British history with saucy Lady-to-be Maureen O’Hara & thick, manly Lord George Nader. (He must have altered the spelling from 'Nadir.') Victor McLaglen’s around as comic squire, fortifying THE QUIET MAN connection, but mostly to make like The Three Stooges with a pair of dim-witted helpmates. For pageantry, you’ve seen better at High School assemblies. For action, High School parking lots. The DVD shows in standard full-frame (1:1.37), but was likely cropped to something like 1:2 for theatrical showings. Feel free to zoom in to approximate. Better yet, try the EJECT button on your remote.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: For an Olde England period romp made around the same time with unexpectedly luxe production values & plenty o’ fun, try THE COURT JESTER/’55 or PRINCE VALIANT/’54.

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A last thought before we go.

Well, enough from me. But before we sign off, here's a great quote from Emile Zola's L'OEUVRE (THE MASTERPIECE), which is about painting rather than the yet to be invented medium of film, but which points a fine critical eye toward the whole idea of art criticism. It's a good, if chilly, thought to keep in mind, especially when you surf the net.

"Has it ever struck you that posterity may not be the fair, impartial judge we like to think it is?

"Suppose the artist's paradise turned out to be as nonexistent as the Catholics, and future generations prove just as misguided as the present one and persisted in liking pretty pretty dabbling better than honest to goodness painting. There are some accepted masterpieces for which I myself wouldn't give a twopenny damn.

"Classical training has given us a wrong view of everything and forces us to acclaim as geniuses a lot of fellows who are no more than well-balanced, facile painters, while what we might really prefer is the work of more emancipated but less even artists known only to an initiated few. Immortality at present depends entirely on the average, middle-class mind and is reserved only for the names that have been most forcibly impressed upon us while we were still unable to defend ourselves...

"Perhaps that's the sort of thing that's best left unsaid. It's certainly the sort of thing that gives me the shudders!"- Emile Zola

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Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

LADY GODIVA OF COVENTRY (1955)

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A last thought before we go.

DROP ME A LINE