THE RAZOR'S EDGE (1946)

Young Tyrone Power is given grief by his wealthy girlfriend Gene Tierney, because she wants him to quit "loafing" and get a high-powered job and acquire a lot of money that she can be proud of.  He loves her, but a brush with death on the final day of WWI left him filled with questions about the purpose of life.  He moves to Paris to find himself.  During this same time a friend, Anne Baxter, gets married to a simple man, they have a child and are quite happy together.  I'm not going to get all into the rest of the story, you can do that yourself, but I liked THE RAZOR'S EDGE.  It's a pretty slow starter, but it's redeemed by a very good second half.

The reason I watched THE RAZOR'S EDGE was, as you don't remember, I was curious about how Anne Baxter won over Teresa Wright from THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES for Best Supporting Actress...and I'm still curious.  Anne Baxter's performance was very good, but not near as perfect as Teresa Wright's.

8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION (2010)

Simply-made, but effective documentary about the Mormon Church's deep involvement into the controversial Proposition 8 which was a California state constitutional amendment in the 2008 elections that provides that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."  The fact that a religious business, whoops, I mean, church would pour tens of millions of dollars into a hate bill isn't surprising, but what I did find truly shocking was the accusation that the Church tortures gay and/or suspected gay Mormon's with A CLOCKWORK ORANGE-style aversion therapy where they bind the victim to a chair, strap electroshock electrodes to various body parts (including the junk yard) and then shock the fuck out of them while forcing them to watch gay porn.  And in some cases frontal lobotomizes are performed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That's some Tennessee Williams' kind of shit right there.

As far as a documentary go, 8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION is an interesting watch and a good springboard into doing some more research on your own.  Besides the torture stuff I was really interested in the portion that talked about how the LDS Church would delve into how much a member family's income is versus their tithing record, then go to their house and tell them how much you should be able to the Prop 8 fund!  Wow.  If that is true, then holy shit.

SHADOW OF THE LAW (1930)

In yet another lesson to mind your own business: William Powell lives in an apartment and he hears his downstairs neighbor's boyfriend beating the crap out of her.  Like a moron he goes to investigate, but when he opens his front door the woman comes barreling down the stairs and right into his open door with the boyfriend right on her tail.  A fight breaks out and in the confusion the boyfriend falls out the window to his death.  The chick splits and the coppers arrest Powell for murder!  Without any witnesses to prove his innocence Powell is convicted and sentenced to life in prison.  Three years later Powell stages a daring escape and now he must prove his innocence before the law catch up to him.

At only 69 minutes, SHADOW OF THE LAW doesn't mess around.  The pace is quick, the acting is pretty good and that scene with the machinery!  Holy shit!  I actually said "Holy shit!" out loud.  But just because I enjoyed it doesn't mean that you should watch it.  I'm a professional and I have a much higher tolerance to movie induced pain and boredom than you do.  Average humans would probably be bored to tears by SOTL, but I liked it and enjoyed seeing Powell one the run 11 years before he was on the run in the comedic LOVE CRAZY.

Worth watching for Powell fans.