Unique Story
I realize that this entry may appear at first misplaced here in such extraordinary company and that few of you would have heard of the name. But consider this unique story. Hilde Kruger was a stunning, quintessential German beauty who quickly captured the interest of industry and government leaders of the time. While very young (early twenties) and inexperienced, she was propelled to big roles on the silver screen in mid 1930's as well as to being a poster girl and patriotic role model for the youth. She quickly matured her acting in several later pictures, before the war began. Her glamorous life and career took an enormous turn from there on as she more or less willingly (and sadly, in my view) found herself in the arms of a Mexican government figure and was taken to Mexico. Some say she sacrificed it all to lobby for her German government there, same say that's unfounded and that she was just young and idealistic. She appeared in a few more movies there in the 40's, then she was harassed by the "allies", then she all withdrew and eventually made it back to her home country for the later years of her life. Early burning star, in and out with the tumultuous times.
Ralph B. 9/25

No young man could resist her image on the screen, and I sure was one of them, but later on some of that charm dissipated for me, or it even turned borderline vulgar. Of influence was also my learning about the acts she subjected herself too in order to get her early roles, at the hands of Hollywood executives, and knowing who those are horrified me. But I much felt for Marilyn again, with deep sadness this time, when more recently reading of her exploitation and murder by the Kennedy brothers - yes, those guys who have buildings and airports and boulevards named after them - in the "Bombshell..." 2021 book by detective Mike Rothmiller. Marilyn Monroe, consumed and disposed of in her prime, remains immortal as the definition of a sex symbol.
Antony S. 2/24

Best Bond
Perhaps I'm being nostalgic but I recall Roger Moore's Bond movies as the best ones ever. Technological advances did give them an edge over the series with Sean Connery (whom I admire, too), but I feel that is foremost about Moore's impersonation of the 007. Classy, manly, handsome (yes, I admit it!), subtle, and with a sense of humor, he was the high mark of the Saxon Englishman - a type nearly extinct now. Treat yourself with another round of Octopussies!
Linda N. 5/24

Intelligence, idealism, integrity
During a recent trip to N. Europe I happened to watch this biographical TV documentary about Leni Riefenstahl. I was surprised they showed it, despite the usual slant and slander they (must) apply to everything of the era, although the documentary makers clearly paid their high regards to Leni's fantastic legacy. This most gifted woman expressed so well the essential traits of her people: idealism, rationality, integrity, kindness, competence. Her innovative techniques pushed the boundaries of filmmaking, her courage and vision brought her to participate at the top in the most daring national movement of all times, her own starlight shined on the silver screen. Under immense pressure, she never reneged on her pre-war life. I recall a scene in the documentary where she had been invited to an interview on French TV, which she declined. The French host - in typical French-Jewish, arrogant and self-proclaimed clever fashion - still holds the show and points to the empty chair of his guest to lecture us how Mrs. Riefenstahl asked that they don't talk about Jews if he wanted her to come, which thing, you see, he wouldn't allow. Wow. Fast forward to the sublime end scene where the maker of "The Blue Light", possibly in her late 90's, keeps looking up, glimpsing the sun.
Lange T. 9/25

Ridley Scott is a most accomplished filmmaker and there's no more telling needed of his mastering of the visual entertainment on the screen - settings, effects, scenes composition. Watching the latest Gladiator, an attempt that I could only make for the first 30 minutes of the film, prompted me to write this extended review which, admittedly, could apply to many others in the industry.

Somewhere along the way, Mr. Scott's aspirations began to gravitate toward another position, one too often seen in the circles, a position of ideological self-gratification and infatuation with his role of influencer of the masses. Mr. Scott wants the gullible souls out there to see him as a good man by all the DEI standards du jour. Like any mortal, and in great secrecy (and equally so denied) he wants to pave his way to that eternal afterlife of recognition of the supposedly good things you did in your earthy life, according to a certain narrative. Nothing wrong with that, except for when you do it at the terminal expense of nearly a billion people - an entire race - in which case, by an arguably more objective morality, the one of nature, you would end up in an opposite such afterlife.

Mr. Scott will tell you to just vanish into that "melting pot", literally, and to go have interracial sex in the most offensive possible way, African on Germanic blondes; in fact he would jeopardize an entire, expensive production (Prometeus) to tell you that. He will tell you how morally compromised the Templar knights were compared to their Arab opponents (Kingdom of Heaven). He will make up history to tell you that Sub-Saharan Africans have made it out in masses and were a large presence in the Roman Empire (Gladiator). He will even cast them with rapper dreadlocks in his contempt for your intelligence. He will shift mountains to show you his higher grounds, with blatant disregard for your ancestors who lived there, fought the battles, built those civilizations, a disregard for lives in the past, present, and future - if any.

From his influential position, this activism is not only irresponsible, it is destructive toward the race on earth who, perhaps in less than perfect ways, civilized the planet. It goes against life and alongside those "melting pot" sloganeers, who actually stay out of the pot and also happen to be the industry's financiers. Again, this applies to many, and I like a lot about Ridley Scott, but I can only suggest that Raye-Shows removes the name from the ratings or flags it appropriately.
Antony S. 1/25