RADIO DAYS (1987)

RADIO DAYS doesn't have a straight-forward story, instead it's a collection of anecdotes, urban legends and memories told by a fictional narrator (Allen) fondly remembering the innocent days of his youth growing up in the late 30's/early 40's Rockaway Beach, NY.  Not all of the stories have to do with Rockaway Beach, but most of them do have something to do with radio whether it's the radio performers themselves, something playing over a radio or an actual physical radio itself.  Another focal point is the narrator's family.  It's a big family and they all live in the same house.  I especially liked his mother (Julie Kavner), his father (Michael Tucker) and his lovelorn aunt, played wonderfully by Dianne Wiest.

From beginning to end RADIO DAYS is a delight.  The stories come and go in a leisurely manner and none of them overstay their welcome.  In fact, a lot of them could have been longer.  My favorites were: everything with Mia Forrow (of course), the one where his uncle goes to confront their Communist neighbor (Larry David) and ends up renouncing God, the baseball player that keeps getting injured and the one where the narrator sees his teacher naked.  We also get to hear Diane Keaton sing, which is always a joy.

How much you like RADIO DAYS will depend on how much you enjoy nostalgic stories, but for me I thought it was great.  Would make an interesting double-feature with Fellini's AMARCORD.  Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, the 30's/40's soundtrack is magnificent!

MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY (1993)

I love this film.

Larry and Carol Lipton (Allen and Keaton) meet the older couple, Paul and Lilian House, who live in the next door apartment. It's an exciting evening spent discussing such subjects as stamp collecting, health issues and twin cemetery plots. The next night Larry and Carol walk out into the hallway to find the paramedics toting Lilian out on a stretcher covered by a sheet. Dead of an heart attack.

Carol is saddened by Lilian's passing even though she didn't really know her...but there's something just not right. Carol is suspicious by Paul's lack of mourning. A few day's after Lilian's death, Carol and Larry run into Paul on the street and he seems almost cheerful. This rubs Carol the wrong way and despite Larry's "forbidding" her to investigate she does it anyway and eventually gets him in on the case too.

If, like me, you're a huge fan of both Woody Allen and the witty and playful banter between Nick and Nora Charles in THE THIN MAN films then you'll be in movie heaven with MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY. There's nothing fancy going on, it's just a fun, breezy film that is a delight from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

One thing that I like to do whenever I watch MMM is to imagine that Alvy Singer and Annie from ANNIE HALL got back together, married and this is them 16 years later!  It's like ANNIE HALL 2 that way!

Camera crew visible in broken mirror.

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