Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

[Reza]

The Kiss Before the Mirror (James Whale, 1933) 8/10

Striking psychological pre-code melodrama (based on an Austrian play) involves adultry, obsession, deceit and murder and is one of the director's many forgotten non-horror films. A glamourous married woman (Gloria Stuart) in a tryst with her lover (Melvyn Douglas) is shot dead by her angry husband (Paul Lukas) who then turns himself in to the police. In court he is defended by his best friend (Frank Morgan) who suspects his own wife (Nancy Carroll) of having an affair and contemplates murder. Morgan, totally devoid of his usual blithering mannerisms, is superb as the crafty lawyer who sees his court case beginning to mimic his own life causing him to become unhinged. Nancy Carroll, one of the great (but forgotten) stars from the early sound period and usually seen in comic roles, is sexy as his wife giving a strong dramatic performance. Stylishly directed film is superbly shot by the great Karl Freund with mirrors used as a metaphor for being two-faced - both women have scenes set before mirrors as they make themselves up for their lovers and when their husbands try to kiss them they are pushed away in anger. Not withstanding the misogynist screenplay this film needs to be rediscovered.

[Reza]

The Chinese Bungalow (George King, 1940) 6/10

Suspension of disbelief allows us to enjoy a lot of stuff that comes out of Hollywood like the movies based on the Marvel comics. However, it's not only funny but takes time to be convinced by European actor, Paul Lukas, play a Chinese in this B-movie. It also doesn't help that Lukas speaks his lines with a strong Hungarian accent. However, a few minutes into the film one just assumes his character is an Oriental. A pretty British singer (Kay Walsh) is charmed by a rich Chinese banker (Paul Lukas), gets married to him and moves with him to his estate deep in the jungles of Malay. The solitary life bores her as her husband is away on business for long periods so the lonely woman has an affair with a neighbour. All hell breaks loose when the husband finds out and he plots to kill his wife and her lover. Atmospheric film has a hokey plot but the two stars play well together and it was a good idea not to fiddle with Lukas' eyes to make him look Oriental which was something very common in Hollywood films with prominent white actors playing characters from the far east.

[Reza]

Final Assignment (Paul Almond, 1980) 5/10

Potboiler thriller has an interesting cast. A Canadian reporter (Geneviève Bujold), in the Soviet Union for an assignment covering the Prime Minister, gets involved in a plot involving kids being given steroids as an experiment. So defying all odds she decides to get involved in espionage by smuggling a video tape holding evidence along with the ailing granddaughter of a scientist (Colleen Dewhurst). Along the way she also manages to have a fling with the liaison officer (Michael York with a lazy Russian accent) assigned to her by the government and is helped by a fur merchant (Burgess Meredith) in evading the KGB. Absurd and unbelievable premise has the plucky Bujold acting like a female James Bond. Troubled production was filmed entirely in Quebec which substituted for Moscow.

[Precious Doll]

I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians (2018) Radu Jude 8/10
American Animals (2018) Bart Layton 4/10
My Brilliant Life (2014) Je-yong Lee 6/10
Beautiful Boy (2018) Felix van Groningen 3/10
The Happy Prince (2018) Rupert Everett 7/10
Promise at Dawn (2017) Eric Barbier 4/10
Absolution (1978) Anthony Page 7/10
The Silence (1998) Mohsen Makhmalbaf 6/10
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) Bryan Singer 5/10
Born of Fire (1987) Jamil Dehiavi 4/10
Prevenge (2017) Alice Lowe 4/10
Cold Water (1994) Olivier Assayas 6/10
Leto (2018) Kirill Serebrennikov 6/10

[Precious Doll]

Based on a True Story (2017) Roman Polanski 7/10
First Man (2018) Damien Chazelle 4/10
Ladies in Black (2018) Bruce Beresford 7/10
Shadow (2018) Zhang Yimou 5/10
The House with a Clock in its Walls (2018) Eli Roth 6/10
The Rider (2018) Chloe Zhao 5/10
The Waldheim Waltz (2018) Ruth Beckermann 8/10
Sobibor (2018) Konstantin Khabenskiy 7/10
Where Hands Touch (2018) Amma Asante 1/10
The Rape of Recy Taylor (2017) Nancy Buirski 6/10
This Is Our Land (2017) Lucas Belvaux 7/10
Operation Red Sea (2018) Dante Lam 4/10
The Family (2018) Gustavo Rondon Cordova 5/10
Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc (2017) Bruno Dumont 6/10

[Precious Doll]

I'm going to rewatch it soon. I first saw it on cable TV in the late 1990s and loved it. I have the Warner Archives DVD. Hoping they will re-issue it soon in glorious Blu Ray.

[Big Magilla]

Sadly, it's not a very good movie - it's more deadly dull than campy as that IMDb. description might suggest.

Based on a novel by William Gibson (The Miracle Worker), most of the cast were replacements for bigger names who passed on it - Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, Grace Kelly and James Dean instead of Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall, Gloria Grahame and John Kerr. Marjorie Rambeau was also supposed to be in it, probably in the role that went to Mabel Albertson. Only Charles Boyer and Lillian Gish seem to have been originally sought after.

Gish, Kerr and Susan Strasberg were considered the most exciting names associated with it at the time.

This was Gish's first film since 1948's Portrait of Jennie and her first for MGM since 1928's The Wind, although The Night of the Hunter which was made later actually opened first.

This was the film debut of both Kerr and Strasberg. Kerr was a third generation star who had just come off Broadway's Tea and Sympathy where he was replaced by Anthony Perkins and Strasberg was the daughter of Actors Studio guru Lee Strasberg who had just opened in the title role in Broadway's The Diary of Anne Frank and would soon be seen on screen in Picnic.

[dws1982]

For those in the United States, it's available to rent on Amazon as well. I guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

[Reza]

I think it may be time to re-visit The Cobweb. I barely recall the film and you guys make it sound quite fascinating.

[The Original BJ]

Since this has turned into the when-did-you-first-see-The-Cobweb thread...

I saw it in a film school class, and it was quite the kick to watch something that insane in a context where much of what we watched were official classics of cinema.

I can clearly remember running into my professor before class the next week and having him ask me what I thought of the movie, and I just gave him a deer-in-the-headlights look.

[Okri]

It's on iTunes.

I know cause I totally rented it. Sounds... unique.

[Mister Tee]

Speaking of The Cobweb anyone who hasn't seen it should really track it down. It remains one of the most bizarre films every made by a major studio and with an all-star cast to die for. Someone at MGM must have had a bad cold when they green-lit it and I'm eternally grateful to them for the crazy loopy joyride that emerged.

Here is the synopsis of sorts from imdb. The film has to be seen to be believed:

At an exclusive psychiatric clinic, the doctors and staff are about as crazy as the patients. The clinic head, Dr. Stewart McIver, thinks that it would be good therapy for his patients to design and make new drapes for the library. Mrs. Karen McIver, who is neglected by her hardworking husband (and a bit unbalanced herself), wants to make her mark on the clinic, so she orders new drapes. Miss Inch, the business manager, who has been with the clinic longer than anyone, sees this as an intrusion into her territory, and she too orders drapes. All this puts everyone in a dither, as they fight over drapes and clinic politics.

I watched the movie for the first time in the past year, and, yes, this is a hilariously accurate plot description.

Whatever you can say about contemporary Hollywood, I think it's safe to say "A bunch of people in a loony bin go to war over new drapes" wouldn't get past the pitch meeting.

[Precious Doll]

That must be some cold. Minnelli never made a film called The Web, but he did, of course, make The Cobweb the following year.

The irony is that Cukor making his first widescreen film proved an early master of the process that Minnelli would soon be considered the greatest master of. Both made all types of films. Minnelli's 1954 release was also his first widescreen film, albeit a somewhat disappointing one given the cheesy studio backdrop he was forced to work in on Brigadoon, the first of the Lerner-Loewe musicals to be filmed. Minnelli would later win his only Oscar for directing the original Lerner & Loewe musical, Gigi and Cukor would later win his only Oscar for directing Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady so confusing the two is understandable, especially when one has a bad cold!

Yes, I did mean The Cobweb. Must say that I have been making a fast recovery from the wretched cold.

Speaking of The Cobweb anyone who hasn't seen it should really track it down. It remains one of the most bizarre films every made by a major studio and with an all-star cast to die for. Someone at MGM must have had a bad cold when they green-lit it and I'm eternally grateful to them for the crazy loopy joyride that emerged.

Here is the synopsis of sorts from imdb. The film has to be seen to be believed:

At an exclusive psychiatric clinic, the doctors and staff are about as crazy as the patients. The clinic head, Dr. Stewart McIver, thinks that it would be good therapy for his patients to design and make new drapes for the library. Mrs. Karen McIver, who is neglected by her hardworking husband (and a bit unbalanced herself), wants to make her mark on the clinic, so she orders new drapes. Miss Inch, the business manager, who has been with the clinic longer than anyone, sees this as an intrusion into her territory, and she too orders drapes. All this puts everyone in a dither, as they fight over drapes and clinic politics.

[Big Magilla]

It was Cukor, as of course you know.

Golly, that was foolish of me given that Cukor & Minnelli are worlds apart as directors and during that period Minnelli was making a whole lot of luridly entertaining films with The Web probably being the pinnacle and in which A Star is Born does not fit into.

My only excuse apart from the close relationship between Garland & Minnelli was what I wrote was very late last night having taken an obscene dose of sleeping pills as I'm battling a bad cold. Thankfully I've made a speedy recovery and am currently enjoyed a couple of gin & tonics which I find as one of the best treatments for a cold.

That must be some cold. Minnelli never made a film called The Web, but he did, of course, make The Cobweb the following year.

The irony is that Cukor making his first widescreen film proved an early master of the process that Minnelli would soon be considered the greatest master of. Both made all types of films. Minnelli's 1954 release was also his first widescreen film, albeit a somewhat disappointing one given the cheesy studio backdrop he was forced to work in on Brigadoon, the first of the Lerner-Loewe musicals to be filmed. Minnelli would later win his only Oscar for directing the original Lerner & Loewe musical, Gigi and Cukor would later win his only Oscar for directing Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady so confusing the two is understandable, especially when one has a bad cold!

[Reza]

Fazil (Howard Hawks, 1928) 7/10

Miscegenation gets a workout in this exotic love story between Arab royalty (Charles Farrell) and a lovely french girl (Greta Nissen). The Prince, on a visit to Venice, lays eyes on the girl and is instantly smitten. Charmed by his exotic looks and attention she gets married to him. To her horror she finds out that back in Arabia she has to toe the line, is treated like his possession and has to compete with his harem of women. With American censors always in a tizzy over couplings between different races it is but obvious how the outcome of the relationship is going to be. The film soars in the sequence set in Venice as their tender love story plays out on huge sets with Nissen a charming presence as the lady with a strong mind of her own. The scenes set in Arabia are laughably bad with the screenplay going into overdrive trying to show the racist mentality of the Arabs with little attention to any proper homework on part of the studio - old Hollywood always got it wrong showing a Muslim praying which here consists of the person repeatedly bowing down. And harems in the Middle East never had women dressed in skimpy outfits although Hollywood liked showing a lot of skin. Farrell is stiff throughout playing what is basically a clone of Valentino's "Sheik". Hawks superbly handles the romantic aspect of the plot and the film's production values are impeccable throughout with outstanding sets and costumes. Interesting silent film (with a song thrown into the mix) is a relic from Hollywood's golden era but holds interest throughout.