Movie: Sound of Music: the Musical

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5

Genre: Life, classic

Series or set: Musical

Primary actors: Carrie Underwood, Stephen Moyer

Length: Approximately three hours

Based on: The classic movie with Julie Andrews – but I think this is the Broadway version?

Time period: 1930s

Rating: TV-PG

Year it came out: 2013

My overall opinion: I did quite enjoy this movie! I went in not being quite sure what I should be expecting, but it was a good way to spend my three hours! I watched the TV musical, but it’s coming to DVD at some point. Carrie Underwood was a lovely (though young) Maria, and her singing voice! Oh I loved it. She did a good job with the songs, though I think that no one can ever beat Julie Andrews. The head nun was a black woman, which is entirely inaccurate for the time in history, and for the movie in general – it threw me off. However, she could sing and very well! The kids were all cute and lovable and could sing. All in all? I did enjoy seeing this, and I am not opposed to watching it again someday, even though I didn’t love it.

Where Treasure Hides

Author: Johnnie Alexander Donley

Genre: Suspense, adventure

Series: I hear that Johnnie is working on the sequel…

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9

Type: Historical fiction

Number of pages: I read it as a PDF.

Time period: 1930s, 1940s, World War II

My overall opinion: Wow. Was I ever impressed! See, I requested this book from the author without a lot of research about it first. I knew I loved the cover, and the story sounded interesting enough. So I didn’t realize it was a digital book until Johnnie wrote back asking what kind of file I wanted to read it from. My hopes for it immediately dropped, I admit. My automatic reaction to a digital book is that they’re just digital for a reason…hate to say it, but they’ve usually got inferior writing. However! That was most decidedly not the case here. This book deserves to be in a physical paperback form! The cover and the story are both worth it. It’s set, as you saw, in World War II. Fascinating era. I read it mostly in the evening, and was so excited to come back to it every night. It’s an unforgettable story! Absolutely packed with intrigue and excitement – trust me, you won’t be able to stop if you’re trying to limit yourself. It’s not overly romantic, but enough to keep you reading. If you can get this one, or see a giveaway for it, definitely do. It’s a page turner…in a digital way. Thrilling, intense, heart-warming – all in one book. I highly recommend it especially for anyone who likes historical fiction!

**The author sent me a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I have reviewed it honestly. I wasn’t required to post a positive review, and all opinions are my own.**

Yellow Packard

Author: Ace Collins

Genre: Life, adventure, family, mystery

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 318

Time period: 1930s, 1940s

My overall opinion: Wow, what an interesting adventure/mystery! The book opens with a death, closes with a solution, and incorporates numerous stories and adventures inbetween. It was packed with surprises. I was always interested by it, but at the same time, I was able to put it down. The last quarter was extra riveting and will definitely keep you (as the reader) reading! My only problems were a few things that struck me personally as strange…the word “teen” used in 1937 (although it wasn’t invented until 1941 – pet peeve [see page 25]) and a two-day baby smiling (rather improbable [page 54]). However, the whole book was seamlessly written despite all the stories in it, and I think it will be enjoyed by male and female readers alike. 

**I reviewed this book for the author and publisher. However, I was not obligated to post a positive review, nor was I recompensed in any other way.**

The Christmas Pony

 

Author: Melody Carlson

Genre: Life, family

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 169

Time period: 1930’s

My overall opinion: It’s an enjoyable book that I guarantee will put YOU in the Christmas spirit! I know I was all ready for Christmas once I finished it. :) I really enjoyed Melody Carlson’s descriptions of winter…well, not really descriptions. But when I reached the end of the book, I realized that all through it, I had “heard” the snow crunching, felt the cold air, and smelled the Christmas baking…even though I hadn’t really thought about it. This is a sweet and touching story, full of well-drawn characters. The main character, a young girl, was easy to love, and the other characters were bright and real to me. It’s a quick and easy read – took me probably a little over an hour. A good story that I recommend for any age – might even be fun for the whole family to read!

Available Sept 2012  at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

**I was sent a free copy of this book by the publishers in return for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own. I was not recompensed in any other way for this review. **

Movie: Blockheads

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9

Genre: Comedy

Primary actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy

Length: About an hour

Time period: 1930’s or so

Year it came out:

My overall opinion: Another great Laurel and Hardy. :)

Movie: Flying Deuces

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5

Genre: Comedy

Primary actors: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

Length: About an hour

Time period: 1930’s

Year it came out: 1939

My overall opinion: I love Laurel and Hardy’s, and this one not least of all. They’re hilarious!

 

Movie: Raiders of the Lost Ark

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5

Genre: Adventure

Series or set: Indiana Jones in general

Primary actors: Harrison Ford

Length: About two hours

Time period: 1930’s

Year it came out: 1981

My overall opinion: While Indiana Jones wasn’t quite good enough to create a new obsession for me (probably a good thing…?), I did enjoy the movie. The creepy-crawlies were very creepy-crawly (do not watch if you have a strong phobia of snakes or spiders). The action was good, if a bit violent on occasion, and it was pretty fun. Looking forward to seeing more of these!

The Nazi bad guy was a very bad guy...and looked it.

Movie: The Sting

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8

Genre: Adventure

Primary actors: Paul Newman, Robert Redford

Length: Just over two hours

Time period: 1930’s

Year it came out: 1973

My overall opinion: Oh wow. What WAS my overall opinion? I guess I’ll start with stuff to avoid…there is some semi-extreme immodesty, and swear words are interspersed throughout. So please keep this in mind before saying that I wholly recommend it!!!! The storyline is confusing. Sort of. Thankfully, I had two parents who made it their full-time job for the evening to explain it as we watched, with the naturally desired result that I “got it” in the end. However, be warned, unless your parents do the same, you probably won’t be all clear until you’ve seen it a few times. It’s set in Depression era America, and includes gangsters. Just about everyone in the movie is a gangster. Some of it is laugh-out-loud funny. The whole shebang is that there are good gangsters and bad gangsters. They’re all moderately bad, but some are worse. Yeah, a little confusing. But hey, I still found it a fun movie! You definitely won’t expect the ending.

Witness: Voices from the Holocaust

Author: compiled by Joshua M. Greene and Shiva Kumar

Genre: World War II

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5

Type: Non-fiction

Number of pages: 269

Time period: World War II, 1930’s, 1940’s

My overall opinion: Wow. This book was incredibly moving. So back in the 1980’s or so, a bunch of video testimonies were taken of Holocaust survivors telling their experiences from before the war, in the ghettos, in concentration camps, and after the war. Also American soldiers who were POW’s in Germany, a Hitler Youth member, a priest, and resistance fighters.  The authors of this book transcribed those videos. It’s heart-wrenching. Sad. Moving. Amazing. There’s not just heroes here...some really weren’t heroic, just survived. Very eye-opening, especially if you haven’t read much WWII stuff before. Definitely something you’ll learn from.  Heavy material, but important to know about.

Say to This Mountain

Author: Bodie Thoene

Genre: Historical fiction, adventure, life

Series: The Shiloh Legacy

Number in series: 3rd

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 447

Time period: 1920’s, 1930’s

Main characters: A lot. David (yes, as a child, from Zion Chronicles), Max Meyer, Trudy, Birch, Jefferson, Ellis, Becky

Exciting events: The beginning of the Great Depression

My overall opinion: Bodie Thoene is amazing. This book was good!

Under a Desert Sky

Author: DiAnn Mills

Genre: Romance, adventure, a touch of mystery :)

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9.5

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 320

Time period: 1930's

Main characters: Eva, Tahoma

Exciting events: A killer stalking Eva! Murders, escapes, chases, and much more!

Passage from book: Poisonous snakes come in all shapes and sizes. The one towering above me stood over six feet tall and wore a gray, three-piece suit. He straddled the bullet-ridden body of my grandfather and blew out a contemptuous sigh before bending to reach inside the dead man's suit-coat for his wallet. The killer's right, black polished shoe touched my knee where I'd dropped to help Grandfather. The shoe was neatly tied, the knot and bow perfect. Blood coated the killer's hand, and he wiped it on the ground as though murder were part of every day life. READ MORE HERE!!!

My overall opinion: I enjoyed this one a lot! It was definitely an excellent read. :) An exciting adventure, a sweet romance, a terrible murderer...all the right components. And just for the record...I had a suspicion about who the murderer was from the start. :) Not that anyone will believe me, but hey, I did. :) Read the book to find out just who it was!

**I was provided with a review copy of the book by the author. The opinions I have expressed here are my own. I was not required to post a positive review.**

Movie: King's Speech

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5

Main characters: King George VI, Lionel Logue

Genre: Sort of a documentary.

Primary actors: Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Geoffery Rush, Helena Bonham-Carter

Length: Almost two hours

Based on: King George VI's speech problem

Time period: 1920's and 30's

Quote(s): Definitely some good ones. :)

Year it came out: 2010

My overall opinion: I enjoyed it! I should mention that this movie is rated R for language. However, this language is in two short clips (amounting to around 30 seconds all together). The sound can be totally turned down for this. Mom watched it with me, and took care of that, and I missed it all! Otherwise, it's pretty much totally clean. Great movie, and I recommend it.

Al Capone Does My Shirts

Author: Gennifer Choldenko

Genre: Growing up

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 7

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 225

Time period: 1930's

Main characters: A boy (can't recall his name), a girl (can't recall her name) and another girl

Exciting events: Living right up there by the Alcatraz prison out by California!

My overall opinion: It was okay.

Movie: The King's Speech

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9
Main characters: Prince Albert "Bertie" (Later to be King George VI), Elizabeth, Lionel Logue, David (Later to be Edward VIII)
Genre: Drama
Recognizable actors: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Gambon, Jennifer Ehle, Derek Jacobi
Length: 118 minutes
Based on: Real Life story on Prince Albert/George VI's stammer
Time period: 1930's, 1940's
Year it came out: 2010
Story: Prince Albert (or Bertie) has struggled his whole life with a stammer. His wife, Elizabeth, finds out about speech therapist Lionel Logue and Bertie starts to go to him.  Rated R
My overall opinion: Love this movie! Colin Firth's Best Actor Oscar is well deserved for his role as King George VI! There is some talk about a scandal and some swearing, but The King's Speech was very well acted and a great movie!
There may be some concern about the R rating, so I'll explain that now. It's rated R for language: one of the exercises Lionel has Bertie do to relieve stress is to use swears to relieve stress because when Bertie is angry, he stammers less; so Bertie unleashes a whole string of big swears that aren't aimed at anyone to relieve stress. The scene is fairly easy to see coming (the line "Do you know any swears?" makes it easy to spot). There is also another scene right before a big speech where there are a couple more swears dropped. Mainly, there are two scenes where the big swears are concentrated: the rest of the movie doesn't have too many swears in it.

Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth (Future Queen Mum)

Elizabeth, Bertie, and Lionel during a speech exercise

Lionel, Myrtle Logue (Lionel's wife), and Bertie. Jennifer Ehle, known for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (1995), plays Myrtle and is in this picture with P&P co-star Colin Firth.

A table that I made for my review at Elegance of Fashion. The King's Speech did a really great job at making their actors look like their real life counterparts.

I've also reviewed this at Elegance of Fashion: Link!

Movie: Busy Bodies

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9

Main characters: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy

Genre: Comedy, totally.

Series or set: It's on a DVD titled Laurel and Hardy that includes four other shorts by them.

Primary actors: Stan Laurel,  Oliver Hardy :)

Length: About 20 minutes.

Time period: 1930's

Exciting events: It's packed with hilarious exciting events.

Year it came out: 1933

My overall opinion: It's one of my favorite Laurel and Hardy films and I highly recommend it!

Movie: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 7.5

Main characters: Mr. Smith, Clarissa

Genre: Ummm...life

Primary actors: Jean Arthur, James Stewart

Length: Slightly over 2 hours

Time period: 1930's

Exciting events: Amazingly long speech, rush to get newspapers out,  bad guys

Year it came out: 1939

My overall opinion: A good movie! It's not a kids movie (they wouldn't find it interesting) but it is interesting! A unique and unfortunately fairly accurate look at politics through the eyes of a young senator.

Nothing Daunted

The Story of Isobel Kuhn

Author: Gloria Repp

Genre: Missions

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 7.5

Type: Non-fiction

Number of pages: 166

Time period: 1930's

Main characters: Isobel, John

Exciting events: Many!

My overall opinion: A good missionary story. Isobel Kuhn was a missionary to the Lisu people of China. Recommended read!

Movie: The Music Box

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9.5

Main characters: Laurel, Hardy

Genre: Comedy

Series or set: Well, it's sort of in a series of short movies. But it's not a series, more a set.

Primary actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy

Length: 30 minutes

Time period: 1930's

Exciting events: Several, to say the least.

Quote(s): Walk around? Me? Professor Theodore Von Schwarzenhoffer? M.D., A.D., D.D.S., F.L.D., F.F.F. und F. should walk around? Get that thing out of the way! Go on, out of the way!

Year it came out: 1932

My overall opinion: Many people think this is Laurel and Hardy's best film. I've gotta admit, it's definitely on of the best ones! It is absolutely hilarious and even the youngest person will be able to see the humor! It's almost painful to watch. Hightly recommended!

Movie: Billy the Kid Returns

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5

Main characters: Roy Rogers

Genre: Western

Series or set: It's on my DVD of "Roy Rogers: 5 Episodes"

Primary actors: Roy Rogers

Length: Little over an hour.

Time period: 1930's

Exciting events: Chases, fights, etc.

Year it came out: 1938

My overall opinion: A good one! Again, some unique fun twists. :)