Shining Through (1992)
Michael Douglas, Melanie Griffith, Liam Neeson
In 1940, New York, secretary Linda Voss suspects her boss is a spy. When America enters WWII, and his key operative in Berlin is killed, Linda convinces her boss to let her go undercover. From secretary to secret agent, Linda is dropped behind enemy lines. Her mission: penetrate the household of a h... (read more) In 1940, New York, secretary Linda Voss suspects her boss is a spy. When America enters WWII, and his key operative in Berlin is killed, Linda convinces her boss to let her go undercover. From secretary to secret agent, Linda is dropped behind enemy lines. Her mission: penetrate the household of a high-ranking enemy official and get out of Germany alive.
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R
Directed by:
David Seltzer
Release Date: Jan 31, 1992
DVD Release Date: Jan 11, 2005
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Despite Melanie Griffith being cast in a role well beyond her limited abilities, this movie is well worth a watch.
Shining Through is a 1992 romantic thriller with a WWII espionage edge that attracts our ceaseless interest in that time in history. It tries even harder nevertheless to appeal to an even wider audience by adopting the tone and style of Mervyn LeRoy ... (read more) Shining Through is a 1992 romantic thriller with a WWII espionage edge that attracts our ceaseless interest in that time in history. It tries even harder nevertheless to appeal to an even wider audience by adopting the tone and style of Mervyn LeRoy movies, that swift, superficially efficient gib shot festival approach and capricious indulgence in the flashback and dream sequence formats. Indeed, the movie is told in flashbacks, to no necessary end, with an aged, awkwardly demure Melanie Griffith recalling her story for a BBC interviewer. This would have worked better if Griffith had found a way to add mileage on her speaking voice, which stays in her common asthmatic, good-little-girl pattern. It was said in this film's era of release that with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Hollywood would have to double back to the Nazi generation for their villains. Thankfully, they cooked up some smarter Nazis for subsequent films. Maybe Susan Isaacs' initial material stands a better chance of preventing certain elements from straying too far into the clouds.
But since it is what it is, we have Michael Douglas, playing a Colonel in the OSS, covering as a lawyer. Purposeful, sophisticated. Melanie Griffith's character reacts to him as if he is humorless. Nonetheless, quiet or loud, he always seems powerful and determined. And Griffith, all things considered, empowers her character with a noble bearing.
The subject matter offers a great mine of fascination, intensity and entertainment, not to mention suspense. The Resistance during WWII had a profound effect on its partisans. There are many films, before this one and after, that more portray the sensory, tangled reality of the experience and less trivialize it in romanticized escapism. Nonetheless, can one fault a film for having been entertained by it?
Not so sure I liked this movie. Mainly because I cant believe the easiness with which the spies got in and out of Germany and Melanie Griffith's voice simply sounding not smart enough. Silly thing but her voice was a total turn off for my appreciat... (read more) Not so sure I liked this movie. Mainly because I cant believe the easiness with which the spies got in and out of Germany and Melanie Griffith's voice simply sounding not smart enough. Silly thing but her voice was a total turn off for my appreciation of her character.
Michael Douglas? exuding sexuality as always! Yummy!
This film had potential with a good idea. Melanie Griffith and Michael Douglas had zero chemistry in the film. I think they could have chosen someone else for Griffith's role. The film was just ok but it could have been much better. Overall, its noth... (read more) This film had potential with a good idea. Melanie Griffith and Michael Douglas had zero chemistry in the film. I think they could have chosen someone else for Griffith's role. The film was just ok but it could have been much better. Overall, its nothing that I will ever watch again.
This is probably underrated because - it is a wartime chick flick---an odd category.
Linda Voss, streetwise daughter of a Jewish German immigrant father, talks her Harvard educated boss (played by Michael Douglas) into letting her spy for him in ... (read more) This is probably underrated because - it is a wartime chick flick---an odd category.
Linda Voss, streetwise daughter of a Jewish German immigrant father, talks her Harvard educated boss (played by Michael Douglas) into letting her spy for him in Nazi Germany.
Melanie Griffith (as Linda Voss) has a frail appearance and delicate voice which deceives lots of people into thinking she has no guts...
But she secures a chance to spy for the Allies, and even secures a job as governess into the home of Liam Neeson, who plays a widowed version of real life Werner Von Braun (the V2 rocket designer).
She uses escape and evasion techniques from actual "wartime romance" movies our moms & grandmas watched...(Griffith's Linda Voss secretary becomes spy character could be the fictional MOM of the secretary seeking success movie "Working Girl" which she made a few years earlier.
Even my "too cool" 10 year old son stopped to watch some of this movie (tho it was after the unnecessary bedroom scene was shown). Otherwise, it's a good film.
Melanie, I don't know whether you were off your tree again when you made this insult to the intelligence, but come on! Here is a film in which scene after scene is so implausible that the movie would be over in 10 minutes if everyone in it weren't an... (read more) Melanie, I don't know whether you were off your tree again when you made this insult to the intelligence, but come on! Here is a film in which scene after scene is so implausible that the movie would be over in 10 minutes if everyone in it weren't an idiot. "Shining Through" fails as an espionage thriller and a romance, with zero chemistry between Douglas and Griffith.
IT IS THE BEST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN....DEFINETLY MY FAVOURITE...every time I watch it,I feel like I've found the meaning of life...
Me gusta bastante... y serÃa más si fuera otra protagonista. ¿Alguien puede creer que Melanie Griffith es inteligente como Linda Voss? Con esa voz apestosa y lo mal que actúa le baja el nivel a la pelÃcula, que con otra actriz más talentosa ser... (read more) Me gusta bastante... y serÃa más si fuera otra protagonista. ¿Alguien puede creer que Melanie Griffith es inteligente como Linda Voss? Con esa voz apestosa y lo mal que actúa le baja el nivel a la pelÃcula, que con otra actriz más talentosa serÃa un clásico.
I have always loved this movie and it kind of makes me mad to think how perfect it would have been had anyone other than Melanie Griffith been cast in the lead. She's a disaster....still, old-timey war stuff gets me every time.
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