Poseidon (2006)

 

Poseidon - 2006

Coming up next is 2006's "Poseidon", a remake of 1972's "The Poseidon Adventure", where we find a group of survivors of a horrific cruise gone wrong try and escape the sinking liner.

The film's cast includes Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Jacinda Barrett, Richard Dreyfuss, Emmy Rossum, Mia Maestro, Mike Vogel, Kevin Dillon, Freddy Rodriguez, Jimmy Bennett, Stacy Ferguson, and Andre Braugher.

The beautiful ship Poseidon is making a New Year's cruise across the Atlantic.  It's New Year's Eve aboard the luxury liner, and the celebrations are in high gear.

Among the guests on board we have Dylan Johns, a professional gambler, who was a former Navy submariner.

Former New York City firefighter and mayor Robert Ramsey is also traveling on board, along with his daughter Jennifer and her boyfriend Christian.  Robert is reluctant to see that Jennifer is grown up and fully capable of making her own decisions.

Successful businessman Richard Nelson is going through a breakup, and he is contemplating ending it all and jumping overboard.

Maggie James is a single mom traveling with her son Conor.  Maggie catches the eye of our gambler Dylan Johns, who finds himself mesmerized by her.

And we also have a stowaway on board named Elena, who is aided and abetted by a member of the crew.

The New Year's celebrations are in full swing, and everybody on board the ship seems to be enjoying themselves immensely.

While the merrymakers play, they are unaware of a rogue wave that is headed straight for the ship.

The waves pummels into the ship, knocking it on its side and ultimately upside down.  The devastation is massive.  The entire ship's bridge is incapacitated.  People are swept overboard, and explosions rock the ship.  Inside the ballroom and in other places on the ship, the survivors panic and scurry in all directions.

Our former Navy submariner Dylan leads a small group of survivors who refuse to wait in the ballroom.  They travel through the wreckage in an aim to get out of the sinking liner through its bottom.

It's a good thing they leave the ballroom when they do.  Soon the windows cave under the immense pressure of the water, and everyone inside the ballroom is killed.

As the survivors listen to the screams of those who are dying, they must now pull together and trust one another if they are to survive.  Will they make it out before the ship descends into the dark and murky ocean depths?

Cast rundown:

   Josh Lucas................................Dylan Johns

   Kurt Russell...............................Robert Ramsey

   Jacinda Barrett..........................Maggie James

   Richard Dreyfuss........................Richard Nelson

   Emmy Rossum...........................Jennifer Ramsey

   Mia Maestro...............................Elena Morales

   Mike Vogel.................................Christian

   Kevin Dillon................................Lucky Larry

   Freddy Rodriguez........................Marco Valentin

   Jimmy Bennett...........................Conor James

   Stacy Ferguson...........................Gloria

   Andre Braugher...........................Captain Bradford

And that's it for Poseidon.  For whatever reason, I totally enjoy this movie.  I'm sure I saw it at least four times when it came out in theaters.  This film has the distinction of holding a Guinness Book of Record for the most detailed CG model in a film.  The ship was modeled on the Queen Mary 2, and it featured 181,579 individual objects, including 382 cabins, 876 portholes, 73 towels, and 681 deck chairs, all of which were computer generated.  It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

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The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)

 

The Smiling Lieutenant - 1931

Our next film is 1931's "The Smiling Lieutenant", in which we find a dashing lieutenant in the Imperial Guards Regiment smiling at a princess.  The princess takes offense and the lieutenant is summoned to give an answer for his behavior.  Will he charm the princess or lose his head?

The film's cast includes Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins, Charles Ruggles, George Barbier, Cornelius MacSunday, and Elizabeth Patterson.

Our film begins in Vienna, specifically at the apartment of ladies' man, Lt. Niki von Preyn.  His apartment seems to be one revolving door of ladies, one after the other.

Niki is invited by a friend to check out an all girl orchestra.  The friend is particularly interested in the leader of the orchestra, Franzi.  Niki also finds himself interested in her.

After the concert, Niki offers to walk with Franzi, and she accepts.  The two fall hopelessly in love.

They even play duets together at Niki's apartment.  When it's time for Franzi to go, the two can barely stand to be parted.

The two even breakfast together.  "You put glamour in the grapefruit.  You put passion in the prunes," sings Niki.  "Breakfast time, this must be love!" the two exclaim.

On a visit to Vienna to visit their cousin the Emperor, King Adolf of Flausenthurm arrives with his very sheltered and unworldly daughter, Princess Anna.  When their carriage passes, Niki's regiment is on duty and must give a salute.

Standing on opposite sides of the street during the carriage procession, Niki and Franzi smile and blow kisses at each other.

Niki winks at Franzi at the precise moment the royal carriage passes.  The Princess witnesses the wink and smile and is horrified, thinking that the glance was intended for her.  And Niki is pretty uncomfortable himself when he sees his breach of etiquette.

It turns out to be pretty scandalous, and Niki's job and reputation are at stake.  The story makes the papers, and Niki is horribly embarrassed.

Niki succeeds in charming Princess Anna's ladies-in-waiting.  And he even charms the Princess herself.  In an effort to save his job, he tells her that he winked at her because he thought she was beautiful.  Princess Anna arranges it so that Niki is made her adjutant while she is in Austria so he can always be in attendance on her.

Eventually, she decides that Niki is the one for her, and she begs her father for permission to marry him.  Niki is, of course, completely unaware of the Princess's designs on him.

He's summoned to the palace, where he is informed that he and Princess Anna are engaged.  He even gets the blessing of Emperor Franz Josef.  This whirlwind of activity renders Niki speechless.  He's really given no choice in the matter at all.

After receiving his blessing, the Emperor escorts Niki to meet his future bride.

Realizing that she must now leave Niki's life forever, Franzi sadly packs her things and disappears, leaving behind a very sad Niki.

At the wedding in Flausenthurm, Princess Anna is ecstatic.  Niki, however, is deeply unhappy.  He doesn't love Anna and can think only of Franzi.

On their wedding night, the bridal room is carefully made up to cater to the couple's comfort.  However, Niki has no intention of spending the night with his new wife.  He bids her goodnight and hastens to his own quarters.  Princess Anna collapses on the bed in tears.

One day, Franzi and her orchestra come to play a concert in Flausenthurm.  Niki discovers that she's in the country and has her brought to him, so they can pick up where they left off.  They are overjoyed to see one another.

Princess Anna finds out about Franzi and angrily confronts her at the palace.  Franzi ends up feeling sorry for her and decides to give the Princess some pointers on how to attract her husband.  "Jazz up your lingerie just like a melody," sings Franzi to the Princess.

Franzi presides over a makeover that completely transforms Princess Anna.  When her work is done, Franzi bids farewell to a grateful Anna and leaves the Palace and Niki's life forever.

When Niki gets a load of his "new" wife, he can hardly believe it.  She's a chic-looking, chain-smoking woman of the new age.

She even plays hard to get.  And when he does get her, we can see that Niki isn't letting go any time soon.

Cast rundown:

   Maurice Chevalier..............................Lt. Niki von Preyn

   Claudette Colbert..............................Franzi

   Miriam Hopkins.................................Princess Anna

   Charles Ruggles................................Max

   George Barbier..................................King Adolf XV

   Cornelius MacSunday.........................Emperor Franz Josef

   Elizabeth Patterson............................Baroness von Schwedel

And that's it for The Smiling Lieutenant.  This was Paramount's biggest hit of 1931, and advanced ticket sales for this film sold out almost immediately.  This was a Pre-Code film, meaning it wasn't subject to censorship.  As a result, some of the film is a bit risque, but very entertaining.

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