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Reviews
Road to Singapore (1940)
When innuendo was enough...
First in what would become a series of movies called "Road to..." (in order)Singapore, Zanzibar, Morrocco, Utopia, Rio, Bali, Hong Kong this film sets the tone and standard for the rest of the films. The plot is always the same: Bob Hope and Bing Crosby play two guys who, by the end of the first scene, need to get out of town in a hurry. They always end up in some hot climate to justify the skimpy clothes worn by the leading lady, Dorothy Lamore. The chemistry and acting styles of Hope and Crosby are the real stars of the picture, but their goofing would be pointless if it weren't for the "gorgeous and sensible girl" archetype always deftly portrayed by Dorothy Lamore. This film was released in 1940. America was not in World War II until the following year (after being attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii - for those of you still in school.) In 1940, while the British governed Singapore, they were attacked by the Japanese. But in this film, "Singapore" is merely the "exotic locale, very far away where no one will find us." No realistic portrayal of Singapore is needed or intended. In fact, you'd swear the character actors are doing Spanish accents, African accents...anything that sounds exotic. Some of the jokes might get by viewers trained on less-subtle material, but it's all very tame by today's standards, especially. But back then, innuendo was enough when you had a beautiful lady in a sarong.
Frozen Angels (2005)
A Turn-of-the-Millennium Snapshot of Alternative Reproduction
"Frozen Angels" is a Millennium-era snapshot of surrogacy and the ethics of eugenics. The film's noir-ish, Blade-Runner ethos and often-annoying score, disqualify it as a feel-good puff-piece on surrogacy and its surrounding issues. There are, though, a few moments of comic relief offered by the radio talk-show host who is somewhat the protagonist of the film who, in addition to his talk-show duties, apparently runs a clinic that offers eggs and legal help to would-be parents. The film is rich territory, however, in terms of being a record of contemporary views of well-intentioned people in the new industry of producing babies. From the bioethics of selecting the sex of your child, to the out-and-out design of a child, to the implications of people from third-world countries choosing blonde-haired, blue-eyed children {a preference I cannot fathom} because they feel it will offer their children advantages, the film presents more than enough material for any medical ethics convention. In one scene, an ordinary-looking blonde girl ( who is told by her handlers she is "pretty") is discussing her (paid, of course) egg "donation" to a couple. The girl is asked if she minds if the couple is two lesbians. The girl controls her shock for the camera and says it's something she never-ever considered {that is, "thought about in advance."} Who's shocked; raise your hand... All of this information is presented without overt narrative, but I won't say that the makers don't lean their message in a "cautionary" direction. Are certain things ethical and other things not, when it comes to 'alternative reproduction' (my term, not the movie's)? Is "the natural order of things" obsolete? How Big-Brother does this all sound when you hear people talk about humans as products? And most importantly, what are the unintended consequences of this whole "industry" as those in the process call it. This viewer's conclusion: having an IQ of 180 clearly offers little or no advantage.