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Afula Express (1997)
Neither Funny nor Poignant
Perhaps it's my American perspective, but I didn't like anything about this film. In order to characterize a film as a comedy-drama it has to be funny. I don't think there was a solid laugh in the entire film.
As to the romance, audiences generally root for a likable couple that they want to see get together. Both characters were horrible. David, unemployed and not anxious to change that status, verbally abuses Batya, calling her dingbat and bitch repeatedly. Batya is not much better. They argue constantly and neither character was exactly a great wit! Even so, as a drama this can all still be salvaged if the characters change during the course of the movie. They don't. David gets successful by pure chance and by clinging to the coattails of a friend.
Batya leaves him (the only smart thing she did in the whole film) and returns to her home town.
Somehow they decide to get married in the end. Here's wishing they don't have any kids!
The Fallen Idol (1948)
Classic Greene
This film has almost been forgotten and isn't available on DVD. It was produced the year before the same principals (Graham Greene and Carol Reed) made The Third Man and delves into some classic Greene themes.
The POV is told almost completely through the eyes of a boy who wants to protect his beloved friend and butler Baines. In the process, he almost ensures that Baines will be charged with murder.
It's wonderfully staged so that the boy gets to witness all kinds of adult stuff, but doesn't completely understand what he's seen.
Ralph Richardson is great as Baines and there is genuine suspense in whether the boy will tell the truth or lie and whether either will help his friend.