THE PHANTOM OF HOLLYWOOD (1974)

Originally broadcast on CBS on Feb. 12, 1974, THE PHANTOM OF HOLLYWOOD is a largely forgettable film except for the better-than-the-story-deserves cast and the fact that the majority of the movie was filmed on MGM's legendary backlot (Lot 2 to be exact) right before it was sold and razed!

Mirroring real life events (MGM was in dire financial trouble back in the 1970's), a once legendary movie studio is in dire financial trouble and must sell off some of their backlot to stay afloat.  Trouble comes when a mysterious masked "phantom", who lives on the backlot, catches wind of this news and starts killing everybody.  He even kidnaps a studio exec's daughter.  In order to flush him out of hiding, the studio starts bulldozing everything.

Medium pace, interesting cast (John Ireland, Peter Lawford, Jackie Coogan, Broderick Crawford, Peter Haskell, Jack Cassidy), average acting (John Ireland is the best of the lot), various film clips from stuff like GRAND HOTEL, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935) and DINNER AT EIGHT, dumb as hell ending.  

As a classic Hollywood fan, THE PHANTOM OF HOLLYWOOD was bittersweet because it really was neat seeing all of those cool old Hollywood sets, but then seeing them destroyed kinda hurt.  Still, I'm glad I watched it.

The building facade in the above and below pictures appears to be the same, but yet nothing else matches.

EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN (1994)

Widowed master chef, Mr. Chu, lives at home with his three unwed daughters.  The youngest is a teenager who works as a cashier for Wendy's Hamburgers, the middle one is an executive for an airline and the oldest is a high school teacher.

As the film starts, we see Mr. Chu preparing an extravagant, mouth-watering feast for himself and his three children.  He does this each Sunday.  There's food enough to feed 12 people, but yet his daughters hardly even touch anything.  They barely even talk either.  The festive-looking dinner table is at a contrast to the quiet mood...each of the four main characters are lost in their own private worlds.  They've all come to a crossroads in their lives and, thanks to the brilliantly constructed script by James Schamus, Ang Lee and Hui-Ling Wang, we soon learn all about Mr. Chu, his three daughters and the various people in their lives.

EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN is a wonderful film.  It's been probably a decade since I last saw it, but watching it again for this review was a real treat because it was just as touching and human as I remember it to be.  Perfect script, subtle cinematography that kinda creeps up on you at just how beautiful it really is, great acting.

If you've never seen EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN, then you should do yourself a favor and check it out.  Highly recommended.