Saint Frances (2019)

Saint Frances: Directed by Alex Thompson. With Kelly O’Sullivan, Ramona Edith Williams, Charin Alvarez, Lily Mojekwu. After an accidental pregnancy turned abortion, a deadbeat nanny finds an unlikely friendship with the six-year old she’s charged with protecting.

“When Abbott and Costello were good, there was no one to touch them. Here they were at maybe their best, working with a great script and their best-by-a-mile concept. I prefer u0026quot;Time Of Their Livesu0026quot; as a film, but this is their finest hour or so as comedians.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs someone who grew up watching Au0026amp;C Sundays at 11:30 AM in the NY area back when Cheech and Chong were the comedy team of the moment, itu0026#39;s great to revisit this one and see how well it all stands up. Itu0026#39;s also nice to think, with all the personal sadness and cinematic dreck he was forced to go through, that Bela Lugosi managed to bat 1.000 in playing his greatest role, as he only played the Count in two film classics, this and u0026quot;Dracula.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePlaying the monsters straight probably was the best idea the filmmakers had, but thereu0026#39;s other good stuff here. These guys were not resting on their laurels. The scenes with Chaney, the final chase, the dames (two for Lou, none for Bud), the music, all of it well-thought-out and very effective. Would the film have been better with Karloff than Strange as the Monster? Probably not, as the Monster is the least interesting character of the monster trio by necessity of plot (heu0026#39;s weak and needs to be continuously charged up by Drac, necessitating the immediate operation on Lou.) Karloff would have detracted from Lugosiu0026#39;s role more than adding anything of his own. Besides, Strange is very good.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eToo bad Vincent Price couldnu0026#39;t make it when Bud and Lou went up against the Invisible Man for real two years later.”