Murder in Three Acts (Gary Nelson, 1986) 4/10
Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov), saves the day yet again when he solves three murders in this tv adaptation of the 1934 mystery novel "Three Act Tragedy". The series of tv films Ustinov appeared in as Poirot are unfortunately not set during the 1930s and 1940s, thus losing a lot in atmosphere. The original novel's London setting is transplanted in this adaptation from London to Acapulco during the 1980s where Poirot finds himself on holiday courtesy of Captain Hastings who also forces him to attend a party at the lavish holiday home of a famous retired Hollywood actor (Tony Curtis). From the assortment of guests at the party an innocuous clergyman chokes to death after drinking a cocktail although Poirot does not suspect it is murder. Both he and the actor fly back to Los Angeles. In their absence the same guests attend another party at the Acapulco house where the actor's friend, a doctor, dies a similar death after having a drink. This time its proved he died of poisoning. Both Poirot and the actor fly back to the scene of the crime where the detective gets busy using his little grey cells to ferret out the murderer from the guest list. Could it be the young woman (Emma Samms) who has a crush on the aging actor? Or maybe her mother (Marian Mercer)? Other suspects include the actor's assistant (Lisa Eichhorn), his former lover and co-star - a great Broadway star (Diana Muldaur), a writer, the housekeeper and a gigolo. The set formula involves Poirot gathering everyone around him and exposing the murderer. Curtis, looking ridiculous dressed in a combination of shorts and knee-high socks, is the most famous actor in the cast while the rest of the actors come from the world of stage and television. Rather tepid film where even Ustinov, his french accent hilariously shaky, looking ill at ease.
Valley of the Kings (Robert Pirosh, 1954) 6/10
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have said that the character of Indiana Jones was rooted in the adventure films and serials of the 1930s which they watched as kids. Checking out the plot of this MGM adventure film it seems they took large chunks of this plot as the basis of their film "Raiders of the Lost Ark". In Egypt an American archaeologist (Robert Taylor) runs into the daughter (Eleanor Parker) of his mentor who persuades him to go in search of the tomb of the Pharoah who ruled Egypt during the time of the Prophet Joseph. Accompanying them is her husband (Carlos Thompson) a European of questionable loyalty. The characters have a startling similarity to Indiana Jones, Marion Ravenwood and Belloq along with a plot which also uses elements of the Old Testament (the Ark of the Covenant) as in Lawrence Kasdan's screenplay of "Raiders" as conceived by the story by Lucas and Phillip Kauffman. The plot here, set in 1900, has the trio trekking across the Sinai desert all the way to the Valley of the Kings in search of a tomb and its treasures. One of those early rare films that was actually shot on location in Egypt with the cast filming in and around the pyramids at Giza, at the base of Mount Sinai (which Moses climbed and where he received the 10 Commandments from God), the Karnak temple of Amun in Luxor and the Temple of Ramses II in Abu Simbel which here is seen in its original location where it was constructed 4,500 years ago. This famous temple complex was relocated in its entirety in 1968 on to an artificial hill to avoid it being submerged when the Aswan dam was constructed and the entire area was flooded when it became a lake. Here we get to see a fight sequence right on top of the giant statue of Ramses II between Taylor and Thompson without the use of back projection which was very common then in films made on soundstages in Hollywood. The film was shot two years after the revolution that brought Gamal Abdel Nasser as President and during his tenure no foreign film crew was allowed to shoot so freely among the monuments in Egypt. So this was one of the rare films that managed it before the ban. Like the Spielberg film this too has many action sequences - horse chases, a camel stampede, a severe dust storm in the desert through which both Taylor and Parker battle for survival, sword fights and an encounter with a deadly scorpion. A rough-mannered Taylor and a tough but elegant Parker, then in the midst of an offscreen affair, create sparks tossing off quips and battling the elements and the bad guys. Old fashioned but enjoyable.
La fièvre monte à El Pao / Fever Mounts at El Pao (Luis Buñuel, 1959) 8/10
Overheated drama set on a steamy penal Caribbean island ruled by a despotic Governor. His bored lascivious wife (María Félix) is involved in numerous affairs rousing her husband's wrath. After he is assassinated she starts an affair with her husband's protégé (Gérard Philipe) who is appointed as the security officer of the local prison. The new ruthless Governor (Jean Servais) also lusts after the woman and after she rebuffs his advances he tries to put the blame of her husband's murder on her lover. He blackmails her into having sex with him and his attempts to rape her is foiled when she ends up raping him instead. Félix, with blazing eyes, looks out for any opportunity to consolidate the position of her idealistic lover even if it means stripping and going to bed with a man she detests. The two stars seem mismatched - Philipe is slight, sensitive and very slim while Félix is big built and like a wild animal full of fire - yet they manage to create sparks on screen. This was Philipe's last film as he died of cancer during the shoot and Buñuel had to use a body double during some scenes. The film has strong elements of noir - Félix is most certainly a stunning femme fatale - although within the confines of a political melodrama. The dazzling long tracking shots are by Buñuel regular Gabriel Figueroa.
Ludo (Anurag Basu, 2020) 8/10
Anurag Basu takes on the concept of Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" and comes up with four completely wacked out stories with hilariously wacked out characters that converge at the end. The innovative screenplay juggles a myriad of desperate characters going through intense moments in their lives. At the center of it all is a vicious gangster (Pankaj Tripathi) whose actions are a catalyst for the calamaties in the lives of a number of unconnected people. The gangster's protégé (Abhishek Bachchan), just out of jail, discovers his boss framed him and his ex-wife's current husband is being held hostage. Pining for his daughter he comes across a small girl (Inayat Verma) who has run away from her parents and who goads him into a plan that involves kidnapping and a hefty ransom which he hopes to use to free the hostage. A couple (Aditya Roy Kapoor & Sanya Malhotra) who had sex during a drunken tryst in a hotel discover that their love making has gone viral on social media so need the gangster's help to fix the situation before the woman's upcoming marriage to a rich conservative man. A salesman (Rohit Saraf) and a nurse (Pearle Maanay) find themselves in an ambulance with a suitcase full of counterfeit money and the wounded gangster who they toss into a river after which they go on the run. A male nautanki dancer (Rajkumar Rao), still madly in love with his now-married childhood friend (Fatima Sana Shaikh), finds himself trying to help her husband who has been arrested for two murders. This involves a nutty blackmail plan that ends up in a shootout with two dead cops in a hotel room. The engaging plot twists laced with black humour make this film an enjoyable rollercoaster ride. The actors are all very good - especially Bachchan as the sad father who finds meaning in his life through his encounter with the small girl - but the film is stolen by the hilarious Pankaj Tripathi as the villain who is unaware how much damage he has wreaked all around. And he gets to mouth the very funny line "when luck suck everyone fuck". Quirky fun.
La diosa arrodillada / The Kneeling Goddess (Roberto Gaveldón, 1947) 6/10
The smouldering and statuesque Mexican div,a María Félix, had a reputation for being a man-eater onscreen and the quintessential femme fatale to rival any from Hollywood during the 1940s. The film sets its tone from the get-go, a mix of film noir and grand opera, as two lovers cannot bear to be parted yet have brief moments only to consummate their passion. He (Arturo de Córdova) is a rich businessman with an invalid wife (Rosario Granados) and she (María Félix) is a model who poses nude for an artist. The presence of her nude sculpture raises suspicion in the wife who then dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances. The situation in this dream-like film keeps changing as flashbacks reveal events of the plot to which we have not been privvy. Despondent about his wife's death he follows his mistress to a seedy club in Panama where she is part of a dance act with a former lover (Fortunio Bonanova) which culminates in a moment where he is making wild passionate love to her when suddenly he starts strangling her. Did he poison his wife or did she die of a heart condition? Will he be acquited after being arrested and what will the autopsy on his wife reveal? The screenplay, with its confusing red herrings, is just a melodramatic excuse to show Félix at the top of her sexual game and she comes up spades during each of the scenes where she reacts to de Cordova's love making sessions. A twist ending leaves a bitersweet taste.
Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964) 6/10
After the incredible high of "From Russia With Love" this film almost seems like a let down with its total lack of suspense. It has a number of small memorable moments - the DB5 makes its first appearance, the brief encounter with Shirley Eaton and the famous gold paint sequence, the Andermatt sequence with Tania Mallett and the asexual encounters with Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) - although truth be told Blackman lacks chemistry with Connery and her iconic status as a Bond girl is strictly due to the sexual nature of her first name than for any sex appeal which was the forté of all the Bond girls. I've never really enjoyed this film. The locations - Miami & Kentucky - very bland, and both the villains - Goldfinger (Gert Frobe) & Oddjob (Harold Sakata) lack menace. In short the plot is a total bore. Connery is cool throughout and Shirley Bassey's iconic title song is still exciting to hear.
Le Dernier Métro / The Last Metro (François Truffaut, 1980) 8/10
Evocative film brings back sharp memories of Hollywood films about WWII shot on studio sound stages. Truffaut's film is set during the German occupation of Paris and the screenplay revolves around actors rehearsing a play. An actor (Gérard Depardieu), who secretly works for the Resistance, is cast as the leading man in a new play being put up at a famous theatre. His leading lady (Catherine Deneuve) is not only the owner of the theatre but also the star actress. Her husband (Heinz Bennent), the theatre's director and a German jew, has escaped Nazi Germany and is now secretly hiding in the basement of the theatre from where he gives notes on the production to his wife who is the only person who knows he is there. The colourful characters surrounding the two actors are a gay director (Jean Poiret), the young ingénue (Sabine Haudpin) who will do anything to get a part in the play, the stage manager (Maurice Risch), the costume designer (Andrea Férréol) who is a lesbian and a powerful and extremely nasty critic (John-Louis Richard) who is pro-Nazi. Truffaut's film not only deals with anti-semitism but is also a plea for tolerance as we witness the romantic intrigues, suspenseful moments with the Gestapo (one of the officers is played by future star Richard Bohringer) and a burgeoning love triangle between the actress and the two men - her leading man on stage and her husband residing below the stage. Depardieu is a strong presence. He maintains his familiar gangly appearance but also manages to bring a touch of suavity to the part. Bennent is strong and courageous. The enigmatic Deneuve is blonde, icy and stunningly beautiful and it isn't until the very end that we discover which man she really loves. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in the foreign film category and went on to win 10 Cesar awards - for best film, best actor (Depardieu), best actress (Deneuve), best director (Truffaut), screenplay, the stunning cinematography (Néstor Almendros), the memorable score (Georges Delerue), production design, editing and sound. Both Bennent and Férréol were nominated for their supporting performances. Endearing and uplifting nostalgic film shuns politics and simply entertains.
Il magnifico cornuto / The Magnificent Cuckold (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1964) 9/10
If you cheat on your wife what are the chances that she too is cheating on you? Pietrangeli's amusing farce poses that question and is a typical sex comedy from the 1960s. The question becomes very relevant if your wife is the stunningly beautiful Claudia Cardinale during that period in Italian cinema history. A hat tycoon (Ugo Tognazzi) is the proud husband of his gregarious and very luscious wife (Claudia Cardinale). When he is seduced by a friend's equally nubile wife (Michèle Girardon) and he meets her for occasional trysts, guilt gets the better of him and he starts imagining his wife is two timing him as well - there is a fantastic sequence where Cardinale does a sensual striptease with just a black feathered boa covering her naked body. Paranoia takes over as he starts visualizing her having affairs, starts stalking her and talking to her while she sleeps hoping she will let the cat out of the bag. Tognazzi is very funny as the mentally harried husband and has great chemistry with Cardinale who is presented like a goddess dressed in lovely outfits (by Nina Ricci) dazzling everyone around her with her charming smile and smoky voice. There are amusing supporting turns by Bernard Blier as a cuckold friend and Salvo Randone as an employee. The great Gian Maria Volontè makes a cameo appearance. The amazing black and white cinematography is by Armando Nannunzi which, along with Armando Trovajoli's snappy jazz influenced score, helps create the perfect atmosphere for the shenanigans on screen. Great fun.
La vita davanti a sé / The Life Ahead (Edoardo Ponti, 2020) 7/10
Romain Gary's novel "La vie devant soi" deals with several themes including the effects of the Holocaust, prostitution, immigration, euthanasia and especially aging. It was first adapted for the screen in 1977 as "Madame Rosa" with the great Simone Signoret as the aging prostitute. This second screen adaptation is a gift by director Edoardo Ponti for his mother, screen legend Sophia Loren. Now 86 she effortlessly sinks into the role and elevates what is essentially a sentimental and somewhat hoary plot. She is matched every step of the way by the child actor Ibrahaim Gueye, who plays the delinquent Muslim orphan from Senegal whom she is forced to take in. A holocaust survivor who became a prostitute on the streets of Paris now lives a retired life looking after assorted abandoned children of prostitutes. The initial clash between both - he is sullen, angry, scared and deals in drugs on the side, while she is feisty and a no-nonsense old broad - predictably turns to understanding followed by love. The old woman who lives in an apartment has created a hideout in the basement where she goes to reflect on her life and memories of her jewish heritage. As dementia begins to set in the boy promises not to let her die in a hospital. Loren is very moving in a performance that could very well have been in a film by Vittorio De Sica. It's fitting that the star here is directed by her own son as she returns to the screen with nary a false note. She is still regal and full of fire. Maudlin material is given that special oomph by her star presence.
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La prima notte di quiete / Indian Summer (Valerio Zurlini, 1972) 7/10
Downbeat story about a gifted but restless young man (Alain Delon) who takes up a casual teaching job and lives with a depressed woman (Lea Massari in an intense performance). To while away his time he befriends a group of local men who indulge in drinking, gambling, womanizing, fast cars and taking recreational drugs. They are a real estate agent (Renato Salvatore), a gay pharmacist (Giancarlo Giannini) who falls in love with him and a crooked businessman (Adalberto Maria Merli) with whose young girlfriend (Sonia Petrovna) - a prostitute - he falls in love with. A ravaged Alida Valli appears as the young woman's mother who encouraged her daughter to become a child prostitute. Her brief scene verbally assaulting Delon is one of the film's highlights. The story veers off into melodrama leading up to an even more depressing finale than what has come before. Delon is very good, dressed in an overcoat with a cigarette dangling perpetually from his mouth, as the poet-like tortured man who cannot live up to the high standards demanded by his rich family. Shot by Dario De Palma on location in Rimini on the Adriatic coast - a city bathed in hues of misty grey and blue complimenting the mood of the protagonist.
Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012) 10/10
The film opens with a nail-biting pre-credit chase sequence set in Turkey (on the streets and rooftops of Istanbul) as the steely-eyed Bond (Daniel Craig) and a kick-ass Miss Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) go after a killer. On the orders of "M" (Judi Dench) Moneypenny takes a shot at the killer, fighting with Bond on top of a moving train, and hits Bond instead who falls down into a river just as Adele starts singing her Oscar-winning theme song over the credits. A remarkable high watermark for the series the film has a number of surprises in store for fans. The screenplay puts "M" front and center for the first time in the series right up there next to Bond. In a delightful departure Miss Moneypenny is now black and very much part of the action, "Q" (Ben Whishaw) is a droll nerdy whippersnapper who turns out to be incredibly savvy and smart. While "M" has her job on the line with a political overseer (Ralph Fiennes) breathing down her neck, Bond faces the gay supervillain cyber wacko, Silva (Javier Bardem in a Princess Di wig), as they indulge in a campy pre-coital tête-à-tête. The film's exotic locations shift from Turkey to London to Shanghai to Macau and ends up in Scotland where a back story to Bond's childhood introduces us to the gruff caretaker (Albert Finney) of his ancestral home, "Skyfall", where the final tragic confrontation with Silva takes place. Stunningly shot by Roger Deakins, this dark film moves at a breakneck pace - along the way we also get to revisit the Aston Martin DB5 and a Bond babe (Bérénice Marlohe), with whom Bond is surprisingly quite chaste - but its his Freudian relationship with "M" that is the heart and soul of this very moving film. In addition to the Oscar winning title song the film also won for its sound editing and was nominated for Thomas Newman's score, the cinematography and the sound design.
Un flic / A Cop (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1072) 5/10
This was Melville's last film but its no classic. It was his third collaboration with Alain Delon who this time around plays a cop. There are two well directed robbery sequences - the film opens with a tense wordless bank robbery as a crook (Richard Crenna) and his three cronies rob a remote seaside bank. They manage to pull it off but one robber gets shot. Later the crook robs a suitcase full of heroin after being lowered from a helicopter onto a moving train. In pursuit is a relentless cop (Alain Delon) who not only suspects him but also shares the crook's mistress (Catherine Deneuve) who on some afternoons shacks up with him. Moody film has the director's usual touches - brooding characters often staring into space or working silently with the camera focused on them in closeup. Slow film with Delon looking uneasy throughout and Deneuve merely around as decoration in an underwritten role. Pity the film doesn't come up to the standard of the director's other classics and he had to end his career with just a whimper. Stick instead to the director's other two films with Delon.
Downbeat story about a gifted but restless young man (Alain Delon) who takes up a casual teaching job and lives with a depressed woman (Lea Massari in an intense performance). To while away his time he befriends a group of local men who indulge in drinking, gambling, womanizing, fast cars and taking recreational drugs. They are a real estate agent (Renato Salvatore), a gay pharmacist (Giancarlo Giannini) who falls in love with him and a crooked businessman (Adalberto Maria Merli) with whose young girlfriend (Sonia Petrovna) - a prostitute - he falls in love with. A ravaged Alida Valli appears as the young woman's mother who encouraged her daughter to become a child prostitute. Her brief scene verbally assaulting Delon is one of the film's highlights. The story veers off into melodrama leading up to an even more depressing finale than what has come before. Delon is very good, dressed in an overcoat with a cigarette dangling perpetually from his mouth, as the poet-like tortured man who cannot live up to the high standards demanded by his rich family. Shot by Dario De Palma on location in Rimini on the Adriatic coast - a city bathed in hues of misty grey and blue complimenting the mood of the protagonist.
Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012) 10/10
The film opens with a nail-biting pre-credit chase sequence set in Turkey (on the streets and rooftops of Istanbul) as the steely-eyed Bond (Daniel Craig) and a kick-ass Miss Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) go after a killer. On the orders of "M" (Judi Dench) Moneypenny takes a shot at the killer, fighting with Bond on top of a moving train, and hits Bond instead who falls down into a river just as Adele starts singing her Oscar-winning theme song over the credits. A remarkable high watermark for the series the film has a number of surprises in store for fans. The screenplay puts "M" front and center for the first time in the series right up there next to Bond. In a delightful departure Miss Moneypenny is now black and very much part of the action, "Q" (Ben Whishaw) is a droll nerdy whippersnapper who turns out to be incredibly savvy and smart. While "M" has her job on the line with a political overseer (Ralph Fiennes) breathing down her neck, Bond faces the gay supervillain cyber wacko, Silva (Javier Bardem in a Princess Di wig), as they indulge in a campy pre-coital tête-à-tête. The film's exotic locations shift from Turkey to London to Shanghai to Macau and ends up in Scotland where a back story to Bond's childhood introduces us to the gruff caretaker (Albert Finney) of his ancestral home, "Skyfall", where the final tragic confrontation with Silva takes place. Stunningly shot by Roger Deakins, this dark film moves at a breakneck pace - along the way we also get to revisit the Aston Martin DB5 and a Bond babe (Bérénice Marlohe), with whom Bond is surprisingly quite chaste - but its his Freudian relationship with "M" that is the heart and soul of this very moving film. In addition to the Oscar winning title song the film also won for its sound editing and was nominated for Thomas Newman's score, the cinematography and the sound design.
Un flic / A Cop (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1072) 5/10
This was Melville's last film but its no classic. It was his third collaboration with Alain Delon who this time around plays a cop. There are two well directed robbery sequences - the film opens with a tense wordless bank robbery as a crook (Richard Crenna) and his three cronies rob a remote seaside bank. They manage to pull it off but one robber gets shot. Later the crook robs a suitcase full of heroin after being lowered from a helicopter onto a moving train. In pursuit is a relentless cop (Alain Delon) who not only suspects him but also shares the crook's mistress (Catherine Deneuve) who on some afternoons shacks up with him. Moody film has the director's usual touches - brooding characters often staring into space or working silently with the camera focused on them in closeup. Slow film with Delon looking uneasy throughout and Deneuve merely around as decoration in an underwritten role. Pity the film doesn't come up to the standard of the director's other classics and he had to end his career with just a whimper. Stick instead to the director's other two films with Delon.
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Pour la peau d'un flic / For the Skin of a Cop (Alain Delon 1981) 3/10
Slow, boring excessively talky thriller was Delon's directorial debut. A former cop turned detective (Alain Deon) is approached by an old woman to search for her blind daughter who has disappeared. As the investigation carries on the cop keeps either running into corpses or he ends up shooting assorted hoods who are chasing him. Helping him are his adoring secretary (Anne Parillaud in one of her early film roles) and another retired cop (Michel Auclair). Halfway through the plot begins to meander, get complicated and with no conclusion in sight one begins to lose interest. It all ends with yet more shootouts with Delon getting an amusing comeuppance. Neil Diamond gets to sing on the soundtrack while Delon has Parillaud (they were an offscreen couple at the time) perform three gratuitous nude scenes which, although pleasing to the eye, have no relevance to the plot. Delon dedicted the film to Jean-Pierre Melville who directed him in Le Samouraï (1967), Le Circle Rouge (1970) and Un Flic (1972).
Le battant / The Fighter (Alain Delon, 1983) 6/10
Hardboiled thriller is overlong but moves at a fast pace. Delon directs for the second time and again casts his lady love Anne Parillaud and in true sexist fashion has her parade in the nude while he keeps himself discreetly draped. A thief returns after spending 8 years in prison for murder and theft. While he was framed for the murder he did steal a cache of diamonds. The minute he is out he is relentlessly pursued by the cops and his old cronies, led by an oily café owner (François Périer), who all want the stolen diamonds. His wife and his old partner are shot dead but he smartly stays one step ahead of them all dodging bullets as assorted hoods drop dead around him while he shoots a few in cold blood as well. He also gets to satisfy two sexually insatiable women who crawl into his bed - a young ex-con (Anne Parilaud) and a middle-aged tramp (Andréa Ferréol), both of whom cannot be trusted. Delon's film is a throwback to the crime films of Henri Verneuil, Rene Clément and Jean-Pierre Melville but comes up short. What we have instead is a fairly atmospheric film with an energetic if rather wooden Delon getting by on sheer star power.
L'amour d'une femme / L'amore di una donna / The Love of a Woman (Jean Grémillon, 1953) 9/10
Poignant drama about the plight of modern working women in 1950s France raising questions about the dilemma of choosing between a job and marriage. A young female physician (Micheline Presle) arrives on a bleak island off the coast of Brittany. She is immediately faced with opposition by the conservative locals who feel only a male doctor should be allowed to work. The only person to champion her is a spinster teacher (Gaby Morlay) on the verge of retirement. When she saves the life of a young child she starts to earn the respect of the villagers. A visiting Italian engineer (Massimo Girotti) starts courting her and when he proposes marriage she accepts not only because she loves him but is also scared of leading life alone as a spinster. However, when he asks her to choose between marriage and her job she has second thoughts. Strikingly shot film brings out the beauty of the desolate island landscape. The desolate surroundings are also a metaphor for the empty life in store for the woman if she makes the wrong choice. This was Grémillon’s last film, much ahead of its time, allowing the woman to take a decision not many women were willing to risk back then. The luminous Presle and the dark brooding Girotti make an intensely romantic pair with both actors giving understated performances which help to balance out a story often verging dangerously on melodrama.
Witness (Peter Weir, 1985) 9/10
Riveting thriller is set within the Amish community - a child (Lukas Haas) traveling with his mother (Kelly McGillis) witnesses the murder of a cop (Viggo Mortensen in his film debut) in the restroom of a Philadelphia train station. The man he identifies is a crooked cop (Danny Glover) so the detective in charge of the case goes undercover hiding out within the Amish community. The screenplay also sensitively handles the growing attraction between the detective and the Amish woman - the impromptu dance between the two to the song "Wonderful World" as they are bathed by the lights of his car is a memorable screen moment. The set up of the plot is old hat but the story's originality lies in the detailed look at a community which is in sharp contrast to the modern world - the Oscar winning screenplay touches on the theme of pacifism versus violence. Superbly acted film - this is one of two great performances by Ford - also has a luminous performance by Kelly McGillis. Along with winning two Oscars - for the screenplay and editing - the film was also nominated for Best Picture, Ford as lead actor, Weir for his direction, for John Seale's cinematography, the score by Maurice Jarre and the film's production design. The similarities between the Amish and traditional Muslims is quite startling.
Against the Sun (Brian Peter Falk, 2014) 6/10
January 1942: the three man-crew - the pilot, the bombardier and the radioman - of a torpedo bomber take to a raft when their plane goes down in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Survivalist story goes through the tropes - cramped quarters, no water or food, accute sunburn, a devastating electric storm causing high waves, desperate attempts to fish, shooting a bird, danger from sharks - and manages to work as the three men gradually start to lose all grip with reality and begin to turn on each other. The superb camerawork is dazzling as the inventive shots keep the film from getting monotonous. Ignore the CGI shark which they catch and disembowel for food but even that scene makes for a shocking and effective moment. The story is based on Robert Trumbull’s “The Raft,” a 1942 account of a harrowing 34-day ordeal at sea.
A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971) 10/10
Kubrick's treatise on rape and violence, dramatically scored to the music of Rossini and to Beethoven's Symphony # 9 in D Minor, is an audacious satire about human deviance, stark brutality, juvenile delinquency, youth gangs and social conditioning. This black comedy, set in a dystopian near-future Britain, is about Alex (Malcolm McDowell), an anti-social but charismatic delinquent, who leads his gang of thugs on a merry-go-round of rape and theft. Drugged out on a liquid drink they break into the home of a writer, beat him to a pulp as Alex rapes his wife while singing "Singin' in the Rain". After an altercation with his gang he breaks into the house of a wealthy lady and bludgeons her to death with a phallic sculpture. Caught he is sentenced to a prison term where he agrees to an experimental therapy that will not cause revulsion in him at the sight of violence and sex but also have a far reaching effect on him and the people he tormented. Based on the novel by Anthony Burgess (and adapted for the screen by Kubrick), the film is extremely disturbing, thought provoking and with a nasty bent of humour. The film was critically acclaimed upon release, rated X for its scenes of explicit sex and violence, and was banned for decades in some countries. It was later withdrawn from cinemas in Britain after copycat murders took place hinting at the film. The film was nominated for 4 Oscars - Best Picture, for Kubrick's direction and screenplay and for editing. Sadly McDowell's towering performance, full of malevolent glee, was not nominated. Also memorable are John Alcott's superbly lit cinematography and Milena Canonero's costume designs for McDowell and his thugs. Highly inflential film still remains a roller coaster ride of terror. A must-see.
Slow, boring excessively talky thriller was Delon's directorial debut. A former cop turned detective (Alain Deon) is approached by an old woman to search for her blind daughter who has disappeared. As the investigation carries on the cop keeps either running into corpses or he ends up shooting assorted hoods who are chasing him. Helping him are his adoring secretary (Anne Parillaud in one of her early film roles) and another retired cop (Michel Auclair). Halfway through the plot begins to meander, get complicated and with no conclusion in sight one begins to lose interest. It all ends with yet more shootouts with Delon getting an amusing comeuppance. Neil Diamond gets to sing on the soundtrack while Delon has Parillaud (they were an offscreen couple at the time) perform three gratuitous nude scenes which, although pleasing to the eye, have no relevance to the plot. Delon dedicted the film to Jean-Pierre Melville who directed him in Le Samouraï (1967), Le Circle Rouge (1970) and Un Flic (1972).
Le battant / The Fighter (Alain Delon, 1983) 6/10
Hardboiled thriller is overlong but moves at a fast pace. Delon directs for the second time and again casts his lady love Anne Parillaud and in true sexist fashion has her parade in the nude while he keeps himself discreetly draped. A thief returns after spending 8 years in prison for murder and theft. While he was framed for the murder he did steal a cache of diamonds. The minute he is out he is relentlessly pursued by the cops and his old cronies, led by an oily café owner (François Périer), who all want the stolen diamonds. His wife and his old partner are shot dead but he smartly stays one step ahead of them all dodging bullets as assorted hoods drop dead around him while he shoots a few in cold blood as well. He also gets to satisfy two sexually insatiable women who crawl into his bed - a young ex-con (Anne Parilaud) and a middle-aged tramp (Andréa Ferréol), both of whom cannot be trusted. Delon's film is a throwback to the crime films of Henri Verneuil, Rene Clément and Jean-Pierre Melville but comes up short. What we have instead is a fairly atmospheric film with an energetic if rather wooden Delon getting by on sheer star power.
L'amour d'une femme / L'amore di una donna / The Love of a Woman (Jean Grémillon, 1953) 9/10
Poignant drama about the plight of modern working women in 1950s France raising questions about the dilemma of choosing between a job and marriage. A young female physician (Micheline Presle) arrives on a bleak island off the coast of Brittany. She is immediately faced with opposition by the conservative locals who feel only a male doctor should be allowed to work. The only person to champion her is a spinster teacher (Gaby Morlay) on the verge of retirement. When she saves the life of a young child she starts to earn the respect of the villagers. A visiting Italian engineer (Massimo Girotti) starts courting her and when he proposes marriage she accepts not only because she loves him but is also scared of leading life alone as a spinster. However, when he asks her to choose between marriage and her job she has second thoughts. Strikingly shot film brings out the beauty of the desolate island landscape. The desolate surroundings are also a metaphor for the empty life in store for the woman if she makes the wrong choice. This was Grémillon’s last film, much ahead of its time, allowing the woman to take a decision not many women were willing to risk back then. The luminous Presle and the dark brooding Girotti make an intensely romantic pair with both actors giving understated performances which help to balance out a story often verging dangerously on melodrama.
Witness (Peter Weir, 1985) 9/10
Riveting thriller is set within the Amish community - a child (Lukas Haas) traveling with his mother (Kelly McGillis) witnesses the murder of a cop (Viggo Mortensen in his film debut) in the restroom of a Philadelphia train station. The man he identifies is a crooked cop (Danny Glover) so the detective in charge of the case goes undercover hiding out within the Amish community. The screenplay also sensitively handles the growing attraction between the detective and the Amish woman - the impromptu dance between the two to the song "Wonderful World" as they are bathed by the lights of his car is a memorable screen moment. The set up of the plot is old hat but the story's originality lies in the detailed look at a community which is in sharp contrast to the modern world - the Oscar winning screenplay touches on the theme of pacifism versus violence. Superbly acted film - this is one of two great performances by Ford - also has a luminous performance by Kelly McGillis. Along with winning two Oscars - for the screenplay and editing - the film was also nominated for Best Picture, Ford as lead actor, Weir for his direction, for John Seale's cinematography, the score by Maurice Jarre and the film's production design. The similarities between the Amish and traditional Muslims is quite startling.
Against the Sun (Brian Peter Falk, 2014) 6/10
January 1942: the three man-crew - the pilot, the bombardier and the radioman - of a torpedo bomber take to a raft when their plane goes down in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Survivalist story goes through the tropes - cramped quarters, no water or food, accute sunburn, a devastating electric storm causing high waves, desperate attempts to fish, shooting a bird, danger from sharks - and manages to work as the three men gradually start to lose all grip with reality and begin to turn on each other. The superb camerawork is dazzling as the inventive shots keep the film from getting monotonous. Ignore the CGI shark which they catch and disembowel for food but even that scene makes for a shocking and effective moment. The story is based on Robert Trumbull’s “The Raft,” a 1942 account of a harrowing 34-day ordeal at sea.
A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971) 10/10
Kubrick's treatise on rape and violence, dramatically scored to the music of Rossini and to Beethoven's Symphony # 9 in D Minor, is an audacious satire about human deviance, stark brutality, juvenile delinquency, youth gangs and social conditioning. This black comedy, set in a dystopian near-future Britain, is about Alex (Malcolm McDowell), an anti-social but charismatic delinquent, who leads his gang of thugs on a merry-go-round of rape and theft. Drugged out on a liquid drink they break into the home of a writer, beat him to a pulp as Alex rapes his wife while singing "Singin' in the Rain". After an altercation with his gang he breaks into the house of a wealthy lady and bludgeons her to death with a phallic sculpture. Caught he is sentenced to a prison term where he agrees to an experimental therapy that will not cause revulsion in him at the sight of violence and sex but also have a far reaching effect on him and the people he tormented. Based on the novel by Anthony Burgess (and adapted for the screen by Kubrick), the film is extremely disturbing, thought provoking and with a nasty bent of humour. The film was critically acclaimed upon release, rated X for its scenes of explicit sex and violence, and was banned for decades in some countries. It was later withdrawn from cinemas in Britain after copycat murders took place hinting at the film. The film was nominated for 4 Oscars - Best Picture, for Kubrick's direction and screenplay and for editing. Sadly McDowell's towering performance, full of malevolent glee, was not nominated. Also memorable are John Alcott's superbly lit cinematography and Milena Canonero's costume designs for McDowell and his thugs. Highly inflential film still remains a roller coaster ride of terror. A must-see.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Sissi - Die junge Kaiserin / Sissi - The Young Empress (Ernst Marischka, 1956) 7/10
Second part in the simplistic and overly romanticised trilogy based on the life of Elisabeth of Austria (Romy Schneider). Now married to Emperor Franz Josef (Karlheinz Böhm), Sissy trys to adjust to life as an Empress but finds it a daunting experience. Her husband is always busy at work while her mother-in-law, the Archduchess Sophie (Vilma Degischer), finds constant fault in her. Matters come to a head when the old woman takes Sissi's new-born daughter and decides to rear the child herself claiming the mother is too young to do so herself. Sissi retaliates, packs her bags and goes back home to her parents (Gustav Knuth & Magda Schneider). The Emperor arrives to take her back by way of a delayed honeymoon high up in the Tyrol mountains. The whole tone of the film is sacchrine sweet but lovely Schneider, the magnificent ballroom-waltz sequence, the technicolor cinematography and the location filming makes it a delightful ride. This episode touches on the country's politics with Sissi embracing the Hungarians who all fall in love with her as both Franz and Sissi are crowned as Emperor and Empress of Hungary. Uplifting film with sumptuous visuals.
Le vieux fusil / The Old Gun (Robert Enrico, 1975) 5/10
During the War a peaceful French surgeon (Philippe Noiret), working in a provincial hospital, relocates his wife (Romy Schneider) and daughter to his ancestral home in his village to keep them safe from the occupying Germans. The house is like an old castle-like fortification with a moat. A week later he pays them a surprise visit only to find them dead - the daughter shot and his wife burnt to a char with a flamethrower - and a group of Nazis still camped inside the house. The trauma turns him into a vigilante and after destroying the bridge, the only entrance into the castle, he starts picking off the soldiers one by one with a shotgun. The film was highly acclaimed in France winning three Cesar awards - for Best Film, Philippe Noiret for Best Actor and for the music score - but viewed today gives off a rather stale whiff of all the Sylvester Stallone vigilante B-movies. Schneider appears throughout in flashbacks which explain how the couple met and spent a happy married life together. Slow film is further hampered by the flashbacks which keep breaking the tension as Noiret stalks his prey.
Made in Heaven (Nitya Mehra, Zoya Akhtar, Prashant Nair & Alankrita Shrivastava, 2019) 7/10
Amusing series, created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, as an antidote to the gauche weddings prevalent in our society. Each episode of the series depicts the planning of a wedding and the complications involved with flaws and warts galore. Social issues are frankly discussed - issues relating to dowry, extramarital affairs, domestic violence, article 377, along with many funny cultural idiosyncracies of the rich, the nouveau riche and the poor. The plots are centered around two wedding planners who are partners in a company called "Made in Heaven". Tara Khanna (Sohbita Dhulipala) is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks married into an A-list family with a husband (Jim Sarbh) who is two-timing her with her best friend (Kalki Koechlin). Karan Mehra (Arjun Mathur) is a closeted homosexual with a number of financial and sexual related problems. Together they manage and try to plan assorted farcical weddings. Their personal issues are carried through from one episode to another while each episode depicts the wedding they are working on. This is the first Indian series to treat sex openly and in a very frank and realistic manner. The plots in the series have a strong familiarity which is easily relatable.
Le professionnel (Georges Lautner, 1981) 8/10
Slick spy thriller has delighful Belmondo as a James Bond-like secret agent - a mix of Sean Connery & Roger Moore - taking revenge on his superiors who sold him to an African Country after his assignment of assassinating the dictator was called off at the last minute. After enduring two years of torture in a prison he escapes, returns to Paris and calmly informs his former bosses that he will carry out that same assignment on the dicator who is arriving in Paris on a State visit. The chase is on with a relentless cop (Robert Hossein) in pursuit as the agent pays clandestine visits to his mentor, wife and mistress. A big boxoffice success, the film has the added bonus of a classic score by Ennio Morricone with its instantly recognizable musical theme, "Chi Mai", a memorable car chase sequence through familiar Paris streets and Henri Decaë's crisp cinematography. This is one of Belmondo's best performances and despite the somewhat dated aspects of the story it is an exciting film.
Deux hommes dans la ville / Two Men in Town (José Giovanni, 1973) 7/10
A critique of french prisons and in particular a plea against the death penalty. The director, José Giovanni, had spent years in prison as a condemned prisoner who later got a pardon and started writing novels, followed by screenplays and directing films. The theme of the film, based on his own life "adventures", was extremely close to his heart and formed the basis for all his stories and films. A former bank robber and safe cracker (Alain Delon) is released from prison after a ten-year stint. He is mentored by an old social worker (Jean Gabin), moves back in with his wife (Mimsy Farmer) and tries to earn an honest living. However, he is relentlessly pursued by a cop (Michel Bouquet) from his past who believes the former convict will slip and resort to his old ways. Also not helping matters is his former partner in crime (Victor Lanoux) who keeps tempting him towards another "job". Tragic french crime drama, with many similarities to "Les Miserables", deals with the injustices of the law with the good guys seemingly even worse than the bad. Gerard Depardieu, in one of his early film appearances, plays a cocky young hood.
Un papillon sur l'épaule / Butterfly on the Shoulder (Jacques Deray, 1978) 7/10
A man finds himself in a Kafkaesque nightmare when he checks into a hotel in Barcelona and a series of mysterious events take place making him question his sanity. Hearing a noise in the room next door he finds a corpse, is hit on the head, wakes up to find himself in a sanitarium being looked after by a doctor (Jean Bouise). He runs into a seemingly nutty patient who talks to an invisible butterfly on his shoulder. After two days he is released and returns to the hotel to find another corpse in a room. He is chased by a group of men, is rescued by a mysterious woman (Claudine Auger) who may or may not be part of the group after him. They all want a briefcase which happens to be in the possession of the wife of the first murdered man. When she is murdered he goes to the police who don't believe him, his wife (Nicole Garcia) is kidnapped and the missing briefcase is demanded in exchange for her. After handing it over there is a shootout where a number of people chasing him are shot dead. Strange surreal thriller keeps the suspense going till the shocking final moment. The screenplay throughout keeps the audience in the same space as the bewildered Ventura who finds himself being chased by gun-toting hoodlums who not only talk to him in riddles but have some shadowy figure pulling their strings as well. Tense unsettling mystery.
Second part in the simplistic and overly romanticised trilogy based on the life of Elisabeth of Austria (Romy Schneider). Now married to Emperor Franz Josef (Karlheinz Böhm), Sissy trys to adjust to life as an Empress but finds it a daunting experience. Her husband is always busy at work while her mother-in-law, the Archduchess Sophie (Vilma Degischer), finds constant fault in her. Matters come to a head when the old woman takes Sissi's new-born daughter and decides to rear the child herself claiming the mother is too young to do so herself. Sissi retaliates, packs her bags and goes back home to her parents (Gustav Knuth & Magda Schneider). The Emperor arrives to take her back by way of a delayed honeymoon high up in the Tyrol mountains. The whole tone of the film is sacchrine sweet but lovely Schneider, the magnificent ballroom-waltz sequence, the technicolor cinematography and the location filming makes it a delightful ride. This episode touches on the country's politics with Sissi embracing the Hungarians who all fall in love with her as both Franz and Sissi are crowned as Emperor and Empress of Hungary. Uplifting film with sumptuous visuals.
Le vieux fusil / The Old Gun (Robert Enrico, 1975) 5/10
During the War a peaceful French surgeon (Philippe Noiret), working in a provincial hospital, relocates his wife (Romy Schneider) and daughter to his ancestral home in his village to keep them safe from the occupying Germans. The house is like an old castle-like fortification with a moat. A week later he pays them a surprise visit only to find them dead - the daughter shot and his wife burnt to a char with a flamethrower - and a group of Nazis still camped inside the house. The trauma turns him into a vigilante and after destroying the bridge, the only entrance into the castle, he starts picking off the soldiers one by one with a shotgun. The film was highly acclaimed in France winning three Cesar awards - for Best Film, Philippe Noiret for Best Actor and for the music score - but viewed today gives off a rather stale whiff of all the Sylvester Stallone vigilante B-movies. Schneider appears throughout in flashbacks which explain how the couple met and spent a happy married life together. Slow film is further hampered by the flashbacks which keep breaking the tension as Noiret stalks his prey.
Made in Heaven (Nitya Mehra, Zoya Akhtar, Prashant Nair & Alankrita Shrivastava, 2019) 7/10
Amusing series, created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, as an antidote to the gauche weddings prevalent in our society. Each episode of the series depicts the planning of a wedding and the complications involved with flaws and warts galore. Social issues are frankly discussed - issues relating to dowry, extramarital affairs, domestic violence, article 377, along with many funny cultural idiosyncracies of the rich, the nouveau riche and the poor. The plots are centered around two wedding planners who are partners in a company called "Made in Heaven". Tara Khanna (Sohbita Dhulipala) is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks married into an A-list family with a husband (Jim Sarbh) who is two-timing her with her best friend (Kalki Koechlin). Karan Mehra (Arjun Mathur) is a closeted homosexual with a number of financial and sexual related problems. Together they manage and try to plan assorted farcical weddings. Their personal issues are carried through from one episode to another while each episode depicts the wedding they are working on. This is the first Indian series to treat sex openly and in a very frank and realistic manner. The plots in the series have a strong familiarity which is easily relatable.
Le professionnel (Georges Lautner, 1981) 8/10
Slick spy thriller has delighful Belmondo as a James Bond-like secret agent - a mix of Sean Connery & Roger Moore - taking revenge on his superiors who sold him to an African Country after his assignment of assassinating the dictator was called off at the last minute. After enduring two years of torture in a prison he escapes, returns to Paris and calmly informs his former bosses that he will carry out that same assignment on the dicator who is arriving in Paris on a State visit. The chase is on with a relentless cop (Robert Hossein) in pursuit as the agent pays clandestine visits to his mentor, wife and mistress. A big boxoffice success, the film has the added bonus of a classic score by Ennio Morricone with its instantly recognizable musical theme, "Chi Mai", a memorable car chase sequence through familiar Paris streets and Henri Decaë's crisp cinematography. This is one of Belmondo's best performances and despite the somewhat dated aspects of the story it is an exciting film.
Deux hommes dans la ville / Two Men in Town (José Giovanni, 1973) 7/10
A critique of french prisons and in particular a plea against the death penalty. The director, José Giovanni, had spent years in prison as a condemned prisoner who later got a pardon and started writing novels, followed by screenplays and directing films. The theme of the film, based on his own life "adventures", was extremely close to his heart and formed the basis for all his stories and films. A former bank robber and safe cracker (Alain Delon) is released from prison after a ten-year stint. He is mentored by an old social worker (Jean Gabin), moves back in with his wife (Mimsy Farmer) and tries to earn an honest living. However, he is relentlessly pursued by a cop (Michel Bouquet) from his past who believes the former convict will slip and resort to his old ways. Also not helping matters is his former partner in crime (Victor Lanoux) who keeps tempting him towards another "job". Tragic french crime drama, with many similarities to "Les Miserables", deals with the injustices of the law with the good guys seemingly even worse than the bad. Gerard Depardieu, in one of his early film appearances, plays a cocky young hood.
Un papillon sur l'épaule / Butterfly on the Shoulder (Jacques Deray, 1978) 7/10
A man finds himself in a Kafkaesque nightmare when he checks into a hotel in Barcelona and a series of mysterious events take place making him question his sanity. Hearing a noise in the room next door he finds a corpse, is hit on the head, wakes up to find himself in a sanitarium being looked after by a doctor (Jean Bouise). He runs into a seemingly nutty patient who talks to an invisible butterfly on his shoulder. After two days he is released and returns to the hotel to find another corpse in a room. He is chased by a group of men, is rescued by a mysterious woman (Claudine Auger) who may or may not be part of the group after him. They all want a briefcase which happens to be in the possession of the wife of the first murdered man. When she is murdered he goes to the police who don't believe him, his wife (Nicole Garcia) is kidnapped and the missing briefcase is demanded in exchange for her. After handing it over there is a shootout where a number of people chasing him are shot dead. Strange surreal thriller keeps the suspense going till the shocking final moment. The screenplay throughout keeps the audience in the same space as the bewildered Ventura who finds himself being chased by gun-toting hoodlums who not only talk to him in riddles but have some shadowy figure pulling their strings as well. Tense unsettling mystery.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
La horse (Pierre Granier-Deferre, 1970) 7/10
An elderly cattle farmer (Jean Gabin) rules his family and lands with an iron hand. Discovering a cache of heroin on his land he rightfully deduces that his young grandson visiting home on leave has a hand in it. He destroys the powder, hides the young man and waits for trouble to arrive. It comes in the form of barn burning, killed cattle and the rape of his grand daughter at the hands of the gangsters to whom the cache belonged. Old fashioned thriller has Gabin getting his family members to retaliate with as much violence and force. The star, then aged 66, had lost none of his power, giving a riveting performance of quiet menace with very few words of dialogue. Yet Gabin makes an enormous impact with his actions resulting in many crowd pleasing moments.
Grace and Glorie (Arthur Allan Seidelman, 1998) 6/10
Years ago Gena Rowlands starred in a tv film with screen legend Bette Davis and now Diane Lane gets to do the same. A hospice worker (Diane Lane) spends time with a terminally ill patient (Gena Rowlands) on the old woman's farm. Both women have suffered the loss of their children and help each other overcome life's woes - the younger woman learns to live again while the older lonely woman dies having made a friend. Sentimental story allows the great Rowlands to shine yet again.
Film d'amore e d'anarchia, ovvero 'stamattina alle 10 in via dei Fiori nella nota casa di tolleranza...' / Love and Anarchy (Lina Wertmuller, 1973) 9/10
Wertmuller's delightful romp is a wicked look at prostitutes and their bawdy lives inside a whorehouse in Rome. At the center is the main plot about an over-zealous but naive anarchist (Giancarlo Giannini), a country bumpkin, preparing to assassinate Benito Mussolini after his close friend was killed by fascists trying to do the same. His political contact in Rome is a prostitute (Mariangela Melato) in a popular brothel who also has a cross to bear with Il Duce. They become casual lovers but he falls in love with another prostitute (Lina Polito). Their selfish love for him results in a tragic self sacrifice. Wertmuller and her cinematographer, Giuseppe Rotunno, use the bare outline of the plot and give it an ironic gravitas with sweepingly shot scenes set in the countryside and of the squares and monuments in the streets of Rome. The hilarious screenplay is littered with colourful dialogue which all the actors, playing the grotesque bordello inmates, spout with glee. The actors are all superb - Gianinni, who was then on a roll in a series of films for Wertmuller, is painfully tongue tied and gauche as the naive farmer who's eyes keep widening with shock and surprise during his encounters with the women of the whorehouse until the moment leading up to the final act of violence that he is forced to bear through a sense of naive romanticism. Melato is a revelation as the foul-mouthed gregarious whore sporting a platinum blonde Jean Harlow hairdo. Her ampe-up performance is the heart and soul of the film perfectly complimenting Giannini's hangdog vibe. Gianinni won a well deserved Best Actor prize at the Cannes film festival.
Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto / Swept Away... by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August (Lina Wertmuller, 1974) 6/10
Black comedy or a misogynistic nightmare? Wertmuller returns to her two favourite topics - sex and politics - in this tale about class warfare. A rich capitalist bitch (Mariangelo Melato), on a yachting holiday with friends in the Mediterranean, unexpectedly finds herself in troubled waters. Her constant complaints and insults infuriate an underclass deckhand (Giancarlo Gainnini) who is one of the crew members hired to serve the guests. Through a twist of fate both find themselves first stranded on the open sea in a dinghy followed by getting shipwrecked on a small deserted island. Sick of listening to her incessant rants about the virtues of her class he refuses to help her and takes delight in eating and drinking in front of her without offering her any. She abuses him and he gives as good as he gets. He wants her to be his slave, slaps her around and humiliates her by getting her to wash his underwear. He attempts to rape her but decides against it and instead waits for her to come to him begging for sex. And she does with both fornicating like wild animals on the sand dunes. After he has willed her into total submission she starts enjoying the role reversal and never wants to leave the island. Overlong film quickly becomes tiresome, repetitious and unbelievable. Wild-eyed Giannini is great fun to watch as he lets loose all his years of frustration forcing patriarchal tribal rules onto the captive Melato. This is another subject that would never see the light of day in Hollywood especially during these ultra-sensitive times - a remake was attempted with Madonna but which flopped. Italy has always been way ahead of the times often coming up with outrageous topics - political correctness be damned.
55 Days at Peking (Nicholas Ray, Guy Green & Andrew Marton, 1963) 6/10
One now knows enough vicious truths about the "delights" of colonialism to understand that the "white" man was never ever oppressed. It was always the "black", "brown" or "yellow" men, historically always portrayed as villains, who were actually the oppressed. Hollywood brings to the screen the 1900 Boxer Rebellion - an anti-imperialist, anti-foreign, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901. Widespread famine and starvation allowed foreign encroachment in mainland China, achieved systematically over time through Christian missionaries, with 13 of China's 18 provinces forced into territorial concessions by the colonial powers. Samuel Bronston's epic film was shot under a lot of confusion - a script that was changed as they went along, stars behaving badly on set - Ava Gardner misbehaved by constantly throwing tantrums and was drunk and kept forgetting her lines so in order to get rid of her quickly the scriptwriter wrote her out of the film by killing her character off. The irony of it is that viewed today Ava Gardner is the most memorable part of this epic film while most of the other stars appear wooden as they go through the action scenes in a bored manner. There is also the hilarity of seeing distinguished caucasion actors - Flora Robson (memorable as the haughty Empress), Leo Genn, Robert Helpmann - playing chinese characters. Chinese frustration comes to a boil when the Dowager Empress (Flora Robson) along with her trusted statesman, Prince Tuan (Robert Helpmann), secretly encourage the boxers - a secret society of rebels numbering in the thousands - to attack the foreign missions who are beseiged inside their compounds. The foreigners held out for 55 days after which help appeared from abroad to curb the rebellion. Caught in the ensuing fray are the British Ambassador (a droll but very bored David Niven) and his wife (Elizabeth Sellars), an American (lockjawed Charlton Heston) leading the marine brigade, his Sergeant (John Ireland), a priest (Harry Andrews), an Austrian doctor (Paul Lukas) and a Russian Baroness (Ava Gardner) whose husband committed suicide after he discovered her affair with a Chinese General (Leo Genn) who is the most trusted man and former lover of the Dowager Empress. Gargantuan production with China and its Forbidden City created in the outskirts of Madrid via outstanding sets, an Oscar nominated score (and song) by Dimitri Tiomkin, elaborate costumes and stunning cinematography by Jack Hildyard all of which try to disguise the shortcomings in the screenplay. The second half of the film covers the intense battle scenes interspersed with a clumsy romance between Heston and Gardner - he wanted Jeanne Moreau as his co-star but Gardner was thrust on him by producer Bronston. The battle incidently was purely fought by the foreigners to protect their own interests in expoliting China of which here even America is no better than the other greedy nations. Nicholas Ray suffered a heart attack and was replaced as director. It's the sort of film that is no longer made by Hollywood - such lavish productions brought the studios down to their knees during the 1960s ushering in a new form of cinema. However, one cannot deny the grandeur and pure spectacle of such productions along with a glimpse at stars the likes of which no longer exist on screen today. The film may have failed at the boxoffice but it remains interesting throughout and never boring.
An elderly cattle farmer (Jean Gabin) rules his family and lands with an iron hand. Discovering a cache of heroin on his land he rightfully deduces that his young grandson visiting home on leave has a hand in it. He destroys the powder, hides the young man and waits for trouble to arrive. It comes in the form of barn burning, killed cattle and the rape of his grand daughter at the hands of the gangsters to whom the cache belonged. Old fashioned thriller has Gabin getting his family members to retaliate with as much violence and force. The star, then aged 66, had lost none of his power, giving a riveting performance of quiet menace with very few words of dialogue. Yet Gabin makes an enormous impact with his actions resulting in many crowd pleasing moments.
Grace and Glorie (Arthur Allan Seidelman, 1998) 6/10
Years ago Gena Rowlands starred in a tv film with screen legend Bette Davis and now Diane Lane gets to do the same. A hospice worker (Diane Lane) spends time with a terminally ill patient (Gena Rowlands) on the old woman's farm. Both women have suffered the loss of their children and help each other overcome life's woes - the younger woman learns to live again while the older lonely woman dies having made a friend. Sentimental story allows the great Rowlands to shine yet again.
Film d'amore e d'anarchia, ovvero 'stamattina alle 10 in via dei Fiori nella nota casa di tolleranza...' / Love and Anarchy (Lina Wertmuller, 1973) 9/10
Wertmuller's delightful romp is a wicked look at prostitutes and their bawdy lives inside a whorehouse in Rome. At the center is the main plot about an over-zealous but naive anarchist (Giancarlo Giannini), a country bumpkin, preparing to assassinate Benito Mussolini after his close friend was killed by fascists trying to do the same. His political contact in Rome is a prostitute (Mariangela Melato) in a popular brothel who also has a cross to bear with Il Duce. They become casual lovers but he falls in love with another prostitute (Lina Polito). Their selfish love for him results in a tragic self sacrifice. Wertmuller and her cinematographer, Giuseppe Rotunno, use the bare outline of the plot and give it an ironic gravitas with sweepingly shot scenes set in the countryside and of the squares and monuments in the streets of Rome. The hilarious screenplay is littered with colourful dialogue which all the actors, playing the grotesque bordello inmates, spout with glee. The actors are all superb - Gianinni, who was then on a roll in a series of films for Wertmuller, is painfully tongue tied and gauche as the naive farmer who's eyes keep widening with shock and surprise during his encounters with the women of the whorehouse until the moment leading up to the final act of violence that he is forced to bear through a sense of naive romanticism. Melato is a revelation as the foul-mouthed gregarious whore sporting a platinum blonde Jean Harlow hairdo. Her ampe-up performance is the heart and soul of the film perfectly complimenting Giannini's hangdog vibe. Gianinni won a well deserved Best Actor prize at the Cannes film festival.
Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto / Swept Away... by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August (Lina Wertmuller, 1974) 6/10
Black comedy or a misogynistic nightmare? Wertmuller returns to her two favourite topics - sex and politics - in this tale about class warfare. A rich capitalist bitch (Mariangelo Melato), on a yachting holiday with friends in the Mediterranean, unexpectedly finds herself in troubled waters. Her constant complaints and insults infuriate an underclass deckhand (Giancarlo Gainnini) who is one of the crew members hired to serve the guests. Through a twist of fate both find themselves first stranded on the open sea in a dinghy followed by getting shipwrecked on a small deserted island. Sick of listening to her incessant rants about the virtues of her class he refuses to help her and takes delight in eating and drinking in front of her without offering her any. She abuses him and he gives as good as he gets. He wants her to be his slave, slaps her around and humiliates her by getting her to wash his underwear. He attempts to rape her but decides against it and instead waits for her to come to him begging for sex. And she does with both fornicating like wild animals on the sand dunes. After he has willed her into total submission she starts enjoying the role reversal and never wants to leave the island. Overlong film quickly becomes tiresome, repetitious and unbelievable. Wild-eyed Giannini is great fun to watch as he lets loose all his years of frustration forcing patriarchal tribal rules onto the captive Melato. This is another subject that would never see the light of day in Hollywood especially during these ultra-sensitive times - a remake was attempted with Madonna but which flopped. Italy has always been way ahead of the times often coming up with outrageous topics - political correctness be damned.
55 Days at Peking (Nicholas Ray, Guy Green & Andrew Marton, 1963) 6/10
One now knows enough vicious truths about the "delights" of colonialism to understand that the "white" man was never ever oppressed. It was always the "black", "brown" or "yellow" men, historically always portrayed as villains, who were actually the oppressed. Hollywood brings to the screen the 1900 Boxer Rebellion - an anti-imperialist, anti-foreign, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901. Widespread famine and starvation allowed foreign encroachment in mainland China, achieved systematically over time through Christian missionaries, with 13 of China's 18 provinces forced into territorial concessions by the colonial powers. Samuel Bronston's epic film was shot under a lot of confusion - a script that was changed as they went along, stars behaving badly on set - Ava Gardner misbehaved by constantly throwing tantrums and was drunk and kept forgetting her lines so in order to get rid of her quickly the scriptwriter wrote her out of the film by killing her character off. The irony of it is that viewed today Ava Gardner is the most memorable part of this epic film while most of the other stars appear wooden as they go through the action scenes in a bored manner. There is also the hilarity of seeing distinguished caucasion actors - Flora Robson (memorable as the haughty Empress), Leo Genn, Robert Helpmann - playing chinese characters. Chinese frustration comes to a boil when the Dowager Empress (Flora Robson) along with her trusted statesman, Prince Tuan (Robert Helpmann), secretly encourage the boxers - a secret society of rebels numbering in the thousands - to attack the foreign missions who are beseiged inside their compounds. The foreigners held out for 55 days after which help appeared from abroad to curb the rebellion. Caught in the ensuing fray are the British Ambassador (a droll but very bored David Niven) and his wife (Elizabeth Sellars), an American (lockjawed Charlton Heston) leading the marine brigade, his Sergeant (John Ireland), a priest (Harry Andrews), an Austrian doctor (Paul Lukas) and a Russian Baroness (Ava Gardner) whose husband committed suicide after he discovered her affair with a Chinese General (Leo Genn) who is the most trusted man and former lover of the Dowager Empress. Gargantuan production with China and its Forbidden City created in the outskirts of Madrid via outstanding sets, an Oscar nominated score (and song) by Dimitri Tiomkin, elaborate costumes and stunning cinematography by Jack Hildyard all of which try to disguise the shortcomings in the screenplay. The second half of the film covers the intense battle scenes interspersed with a clumsy romance between Heston and Gardner - he wanted Jeanne Moreau as his co-star but Gardner was thrust on him by producer Bronston. The battle incidently was purely fought by the foreigners to protect their own interests in expoliting China of which here even America is no better than the other greedy nations. Nicholas Ray suffered a heart attack and was replaced as director. It's the sort of film that is no longer made by Hollywood - such lavish productions brought the studios down to their knees during the 1960s ushering in a new form of cinema. However, one cannot deny the grandeur and pure spectacle of such productions along with a glimpse at stars the likes of which no longer exist on screen today. The film may have failed at the boxoffice but it remains interesting throughout and never boring.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Back When We Were Grownups (Ron Underwood, 2004) 4/10
A widow's (Blythe Danner) busy life revolves around her quirky family - her daughter (Ione Skye), three step-daughters, their husbands, grandchildren, a 99-year old eccentric uncle (Jack Palance), her brother-in-law and confidante (Peter Riegert), her childhood sweetheart (Peter Fonda), her Mom (Nina Foch) and her late husband's first wife (Faye Dunaway). No real plot, but just a series of vignettes with Danner wondering what has become of her life which she has spent running around for other people while totally neglecting herself. Typical Hallmark television film, sometimes syrupy and sometimes teary, is held together by the likeable central performance by Danner who was nominated for an Emmy award. Instantly forgettable film.
Lola (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1981) 10/10
The film is partially inspired by Josef von Sternberg's "The Blue Angel" and is the second of Fassbinder's trilogy of historical satires dealing with democracy and the free enterprise system in post-WWII Germany. It is shot using a palette of primary colours heavily influenced by the technicolor films of Hollywood during the 1950s and in particular the melodramas of directors Vincente Minnelli and Douglas Sirk. Lola (Barbara Sukowa), a prostitute and singer, is the mistress of a corrupt building contractor (Mario Adorf), and also the mother of his illegitimate child. She works in the brothel owned by him and entertains the town's mayor and other crooked officials. Her desire to rise above her "station" and become one of "them" - the town's elite - sets her plan in motion when she hears that an idealistic building commissioner (Armin Mueller-Stahl) has been newly appointed. She seduces him (dressed in virginal white) without divulging her true identity. Smitten by her he proposes but she eventually breaks off their engagement telling him to leave town because his honesty does not gell with the rest of the town citizens. When his assistant informs him that the contractor is behind all the corruption and also exposes Lola's actual profession the devastated man comes down hard against all the politicians. However, when he is offered to take Lola and do what he wants with her he arrives drunk at the brothel and hires her for the night. She realises he is deeply in love with her and she accepts his proposal of marriage. The ironic ending is in contrast to the von Sternberg film which had the old man destroyed by his love for the prostitute. Fassbinder exposes Germany's political corruption during the 1950s and has his protagonist make a deal with the contractor. He gets his whore in exchange for turning a blind eye towards the corruption. And she gets "respectability" through marriage even though she continues being the contractor's most "expensive mistress". Everybody in the end gets what they want. Both Sukowa and Muller-Stahl are superb and the director's regular group of actors - Karin Baal, Ivan Desny, Elisabeth Volkmann, Rosel Zech, Matthias Fuchs, Günther Kaufmann - all appear in small but vivid parts. This is one of Fassbinder's best films - a sumptuous, cynical historical satire that celebrates corruption and infidelity.
Operazione paura / Kill, Baby...Kill! (Mario Bava, 1966) 9/10
Bava takes what are typical gothic elements of the horror genre and uses an atmosphere of dread to create a chilling film. A small run down village lives in fear of the ghost of a small girl. Legend has it that when a young girl, killed years before by drunks, shows herself to someone that person dies an agonizing death. A coroner (Giacomo Rossi Stuart) is summoned when the body of a girl is found impaled to death. Scoffing at the legend but amazed to find the villagers so scared - a young girl has seen the ghost and the local witch (Fabienne Dali) "treats" her in order to save her - he tries to solve the mystery with help from a medical student (Erika Blanc). Low budget film had a troubled production history but despite that Bava's lush production design - the crumbling village buildings, misty cobbled streets, tall spiral staircases and mansions with large halls and eerie decor - and Antonio Rinaldi's hallucinogenic cinematography, which periodically zooms into intense closeups, give it a feeling of an acid trip very much in keeping with the mood prevalent during the swinging sixties. The film with its iconic image of the little ghost girl in a white lace dress bouncing a white ball influenced a spate of film directors from Fellini to Scorsese to Lynch. The film never lets up creating a mysterious aura from start to finish.
Venom (Piers Haggard, 1981) 6/10
An interesting cast have a go with a deadly black mamba on the loose just as a kidnapping plot is underway. An international criminal (Klaus Kinski) plots with his girlfriend (Susan George) to kidnap the asthmatic grandson of a great African hunter (Sterling Hayden). The plan goes awry when the child gets delivered a poisonous black mamba instead of the harmless pet snake he had ordered. Matters come to a head when the chauffeur (Oliver Reed), also a member of the gang, shoots a cop and the entire police force lays siege to the house from outside. Negotiations for a safe escape are turned down by the head cop (Nicol Williamson) and a toxicologist (Sarah Miles) is called in to warn everyone inside the house about the snake. As with most such films the behind the scenes infighting between cast members - both Kinski and Reed were daggers drawn throughout the shoot - is just as interesting as the on-screen drama with the snake. The camera slithers around taking on the view point of the snake as it starts biting the cast members one by one allowing the actors to go all out in their death throes, writhing in agony as their bodies contort in grotesque ways. Despite every cliché in the book the film still manages to deliver as it goes way over the top - with some of the actors hamming it up to high heaven - making it a fun film to sit through. It is strictly a B-film with stars no longer in vogue but who gamely give the stale material a stab. However, the best performance is given by the nasty snake as it bares its dripping fangs and lunges at whichever cast member it can reach.
A widow's (Blythe Danner) busy life revolves around her quirky family - her daughter (Ione Skye), three step-daughters, their husbands, grandchildren, a 99-year old eccentric uncle (Jack Palance), her brother-in-law and confidante (Peter Riegert), her childhood sweetheart (Peter Fonda), her Mom (Nina Foch) and her late husband's first wife (Faye Dunaway). No real plot, but just a series of vignettes with Danner wondering what has become of her life which she has spent running around for other people while totally neglecting herself. Typical Hallmark television film, sometimes syrupy and sometimes teary, is held together by the likeable central performance by Danner who was nominated for an Emmy award. Instantly forgettable film.
Lola (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1981) 10/10
The film is partially inspired by Josef von Sternberg's "The Blue Angel" and is the second of Fassbinder's trilogy of historical satires dealing with democracy and the free enterprise system in post-WWII Germany. It is shot using a palette of primary colours heavily influenced by the technicolor films of Hollywood during the 1950s and in particular the melodramas of directors Vincente Minnelli and Douglas Sirk. Lola (Barbara Sukowa), a prostitute and singer, is the mistress of a corrupt building contractor (Mario Adorf), and also the mother of his illegitimate child. She works in the brothel owned by him and entertains the town's mayor and other crooked officials. Her desire to rise above her "station" and become one of "them" - the town's elite - sets her plan in motion when she hears that an idealistic building commissioner (Armin Mueller-Stahl) has been newly appointed. She seduces him (dressed in virginal white) without divulging her true identity. Smitten by her he proposes but she eventually breaks off their engagement telling him to leave town because his honesty does not gell with the rest of the town citizens. When his assistant informs him that the contractor is behind all the corruption and also exposes Lola's actual profession the devastated man comes down hard against all the politicians. However, when he is offered to take Lola and do what he wants with her he arrives drunk at the brothel and hires her for the night. She realises he is deeply in love with her and she accepts his proposal of marriage. The ironic ending is in contrast to the von Sternberg film which had the old man destroyed by his love for the prostitute. Fassbinder exposes Germany's political corruption during the 1950s and has his protagonist make a deal with the contractor. He gets his whore in exchange for turning a blind eye towards the corruption. And she gets "respectability" through marriage even though she continues being the contractor's most "expensive mistress". Everybody in the end gets what they want. Both Sukowa and Muller-Stahl are superb and the director's regular group of actors - Karin Baal, Ivan Desny, Elisabeth Volkmann, Rosel Zech, Matthias Fuchs, Günther Kaufmann - all appear in small but vivid parts. This is one of Fassbinder's best films - a sumptuous, cynical historical satire that celebrates corruption and infidelity.
Operazione paura / Kill, Baby...Kill! (Mario Bava, 1966) 9/10
Bava takes what are typical gothic elements of the horror genre and uses an atmosphere of dread to create a chilling film. A small run down village lives in fear of the ghost of a small girl. Legend has it that when a young girl, killed years before by drunks, shows herself to someone that person dies an agonizing death. A coroner (Giacomo Rossi Stuart) is summoned when the body of a girl is found impaled to death. Scoffing at the legend but amazed to find the villagers so scared - a young girl has seen the ghost and the local witch (Fabienne Dali) "treats" her in order to save her - he tries to solve the mystery with help from a medical student (Erika Blanc). Low budget film had a troubled production history but despite that Bava's lush production design - the crumbling village buildings, misty cobbled streets, tall spiral staircases and mansions with large halls and eerie decor - and Antonio Rinaldi's hallucinogenic cinematography, which periodically zooms into intense closeups, give it a feeling of an acid trip very much in keeping with the mood prevalent during the swinging sixties. The film with its iconic image of the little ghost girl in a white lace dress bouncing a white ball influenced a spate of film directors from Fellini to Scorsese to Lynch. The film never lets up creating a mysterious aura from start to finish.
Venom (Piers Haggard, 1981) 6/10
An interesting cast have a go with a deadly black mamba on the loose just as a kidnapping plot is underway. An international criminal (Klaus Kinski) plots with his girlfriend (Susan George) to kidnap the asthmatic grandson of a great African hunter (Sterling Hayden). The plan goes awry when the child gets delivered a poisonous black mamba instead of the harmless pet snake he had ordered. Matters come to a head when the chauffeur (Oliver Reed), also a member of the gang, shoots a cop and the entire police force lays siege to the house from outside. Negotiations for a safe escape are turned down by the head cop (Nicol Williamson) and a toxicologist (Sarah Miles) is called in to warn everyone inside the house about the snake. As with most such films the behind the scenes infighting between cast members - both Kinski and Reed were daggers drawn throughout the shoot - is just as interesting as the on-screen drama with the snake. The camera slithers around taking on the view point of the snake as it starts biting the cast members one by one allowing the actors to go all out in their death throes, writhing in agony as their bodies contort in grotesque ways. Despite every cliché in the book the film still manages to deliver as it goes way over the top - with some of the actors hamming it up to high heaven - making it a fun film to sit through. It is strictly a B-film with stars no longer in vogue but who gamely give the stale material a stab. However, the best performance is given by the nasty snake as it bares its dripping fangs and lunges at whichever cast member it can reach.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
In Harm's Way (Otto Preminger, 1965) 8/10
Old fashioned film was the last all-star WWII epic shot in black and white by a major studio. Panned by critics when it first came out the film actually works despite its soap opera trappings with a number of exciting action sequences scattered throughout. The film follows the lives of a group of Naval officers and their wives and girlfriends stationed in Hawaii - the film begins with the attack on Pearl Harbor - and across the Pacific islands as the Japanese offensives increase. The screenplay ensures a relatively unromantic and realistic view of the American Navy and desists from presenting events with a patriotic fervour usually always present in all the war films made during the 1940s which reeked of propaganda. Leading the main plot is John Wayne as a disgraced Captain who later becomes an Admiral given a diificult assignment. We follow his relationships with a fellow officer (Kirk Douglas) - a psychological mess after his trampy wife (Barbara Bouchet) is killed with her lover during the attack on Pearl Harbor, his prickly relationship with his estranged son (Brandon de Wilde) who is in love with a young nurse (Jill Haworth). She is the roommate of a doctor (Patricia Neal) with whom the Admiral falls in love - a striking mature romance with Neal giving a superb performance (she won a Bafta award) as the world weary but optimistic nurse who thaws rigid Wayne. Tom Tryon and Paula Prentiss play another couple going through war traumas while senior officers on the periphery are played by Burgess Meredith, Dana Andrews, Franchot Tone and Henry Fonda as Admiral Nimitz who figures during the pitched sea battle at the end when many of the cast members either die or are wounded. Adding to the drama is an unfortunate rape, a suicide and the perpetrator making "amends" during a suicide mission. Shot in stunning wide screen - Loyal Griggs was nominated for an Academy Award - with a rousing score by Jerry Goldsmith, the film is great entertainment with the use of excellent special effects during the battle sequences.
Es geschah am hellichten Tag / It Happened in Broad Daylight (Ladislao Vajda, 1958) 8/10
Riveting police pocedural with a retired Inspector (Heinz Rühmann) doggedly trying to find a serial killer who has been murdering little girls by slashing them with a razor. The case comes to light when a derelect peddler (Michel Simon) discovers the body of a girl in the woods and reports it to the police. The old man is relentlessly interrogated, is incarcerated in prison and accused for the crime despite protesting his innocence. When he hangs himself in despair the former Inspector continues to investigate using another child as a bait to capture the actual murderer (Gert Fröbe). Chilling cat-and-mouse thriller with noir overtones manages an atmosphere of dread without showing any violence on the screen. It was after watching this film that the producers cast Gert Fröbe as "Goldfinger". Sean Penn remade the film years later as "The Pledge".
The Mist (Frank Darabont, 2007) 8/10
Unsettling horror film about a group of people - Thomas Jane is the dad with a young son, Marcia Gay Harden is the Bible-spouting fanatic who thinks she is a direct link to God, Frances Sternhagen a feisty old lady, Laurie Holden a pretty young lady, Toby Jones an unexpected hotshot with a gun, Andre Braugher an unbeliever and a number of other small-town folk - trapped in a supermarket trying to ward off strange deadly creatures that come out of a mist that has enveloped the area. Superbly directed film never lets up leading upto the horrific "Twillight Zone"-inspired ending. B-movie, based on the novel by Stephen King, harks back to all the monster movies from the 1950s but with a lethal sting up its sleeve. The creatures are an amalgam of something out of the pages of Jules Verne with a strong mix of the creature from "Alien" and assorted other monster movies. The screenplay also explores the power dynamics between people and how when cornered their minds can twist away from being civilized into creatures not far off from savage beasts. Twisted and shocking film is one of the best in the horror genre.
The Jigsaw Man (Terence Young, 1983) 1/10
Troubled production became a silly spy thriller about a defected MI6 Director (Michael Caine) no longer of use to the Russians who gets a face lift and sent back to England by the KGB to retreive a hidden list of spies. Once back home he contacts his daughter (Susan George) and plays a cat-and-mouse game with his former colleague (Laurence Olivier) and his cronies (Robert Powell & Charles Gray). Dull film has the somewhat pleasure of seeing both Olivier and Caine reuinited after "Sleuth" but both actors phone in their performances looking bored throughout.
Blind (Michael Mailer, 2007) 5/10
I thought this was going to be a thriller about a psychotic man chasing a blind woman but as the film began I realized that I was thinking of the thriller elements from the stars' previous movie together "The Juror". They appeared in that film when both were big stars at the top of their game with very bright futures ahead of then. But careers have a habit of taking strange twists. The intense Alec Baldwin went downhill only to put on weight and become an even bigger star but as a comedian on a sitcom on television. Demi Moore, after a stint as the highest paid female star in Hollywood while married to Bruce Willis, ended up divorced and in the gutter thanks to a drug problem. After years away she is gradually emerging on the screen again with a somewhat restructured face which is now a norm with almost all Hollywood divas. A Manhattan socialite (Demi Moore) finds herself in trouble with the law when her high flying financial wheeler-dealer husband (Dylan McDermott) ends up in jail awaiting trial for something nefarious in his business dealings. The judge sentences her to do 100 hours of community service which leads her to an irascible blind writer and University professor (Alec Baldwin) for whom she has to read his students' assignments. Their relationship gets off to a bad start which gradually thaws as she reads out loud, they take walks together, go out for dinner and inevitably fall in love. The film takes on a european flavour - two middle-aged people coming together and finding love. His wife died in the car crash which blinded him while she is basically married to a self centered asshole with a vicious temper. Manhattan takes on the romantic colour of Paris, a city which both talk about a lot. Unfortunately the film's pace is slow, the relationship not very convincing and the husband's end of the story has the psychotic thriller aspect to it which does not comfortably gel with the rest of the mood in the film. Robert Redford sings "Bird in a Cage" over the closing credits.
A Suitable Boy (Mira Nair, 2020) 7/10
Vikram Seth's sprawling epic novel has been brought to the television screen as a 6-part miniseries by Mira Nair. The book is one of the longest English language novels published in a single volume and the tv adaptation probably doesn't do it justice in just 6 episodes. The story is a fascinating look at a newly post-independence, post-partition India as the story, set in 1951, follows the lives of four families, and in particular the two main protagonists around whom the two main plots revolve. Lata (Tanya Maniktala) is a 19-year old college student, whose domineering mother is on the lookout for a suitable boy for her to marry. She starts out dead against the institution of marriage but soon finds herself being pursued by three suitors - Kabir (Danish Razvi) is a Muslim student at her university who is obsessed by her. Amit (Mikhail Sen) is an acclaimed poet and author, educated in England, who is her Bengali sister-in-law's brother. And Haresh (Namit Das) is a simple but enterprising and determined shoe manufacturer. Lata's story revolves around the choice she is forced to make between her suitors. The second main plot revolves around Maan (Ishaan Khatter), the highly romantic, feckless son of a State Minister who has to suddenly grow up after his life takes strange twists and turns. He falls passionately in love with an older courtesan and musician, Saeeda Bai (Tabu), who reciprocates his feelings but realises that their affair is doomed. Both Tabu and Ishaan Khatter bring a deep sense of erotic longing to their scenes which are depicted in a sexually frank manner. And in doing so easily lift the film up by a notch or two. The melodramatic story encompasses everything from family intrigues, politics of the nation, extra marital affairs, incest, homosexual longing, mob riots involving Hindus and Muslims and attempted murder. Mira Nair deftly handles all the interconnecting story lines keeping a sharp eye on the smallest details involving the eye-popping production values that bring a bygone era to life. Every character, no matter how briefly shown, is instantly relatable, and one immediately gets a sense of their life arc - Shahana Goswami as the slutty but gregarious Bengali sister-in-law, Randeep Hooda as her slick lover, Manoj Pawhwa as a fat and sleazy Nawab who is a regular client of the courtesan, Ranvir Shorey as an opportunistic backstabbing servant and Vijay Varma as a disgruntled villager. The film has been criticised for not doing justice to the book but then not many adaptations measure up to the original. Not having read the book was probably a plus point for me as I found the story throroughly engrossing, although I felt it could have been far better sketched out with a couple more episodes. The most jarring aspect of the production for me was the dialogue spoken almost entirely in english. The story would have been more visually alive and authentic if the entire dialogue had been spoken instead in Hindi and Urdu with a smattering of english as it happens in reality in India.
The Golden Hawk (Sidney Salkow, 1952) 4/10
Old fashioned swashbuckler, based on a bestseller by Frank Yerby, has wooden Sterling Hayden as a french sea captain clashing with a female pirate (Rhonda Fleming) as they take on the Governor of Cartagena (John Sutton). The Franco-English-Spanish War of the 17th century is the backdrop for this adventure film involving sea battles, gold bullion, a kidnapped heiress (Helena Carter) and the hangman's noose. Totally unspectacular despite a couple of well staged action sequences. It merely apes far better films from the genre. The colour cinematography is stunning to look at as is the lovely Rhonda Fleming in a feisty role.
Fear in the Night (Jimmy Sangster, 1972) 4/10
Psychological horror film from Hammer Film productions uses female hysteria as its central motif - a common theme found in many British films of the 1970s. A mentally-fragile young woman (Judy Geeson), recently married, is attacked by a person with a prosthetic hand but nobody believes her. Joining her husband (Ralph Bates), who works at a secluded boarding school, she is again attacked from behind and faints. The next day she takes a tour of the empty school and meets the headmaster (Peter Cushing) who unbeknownst to her has a prosthetic hand. Later she meets his standoffish wife (Joan Collins) who nearly shoots her on their sprawling property claiming she was aiming at a rabbit. That night the mysterious attacker breaks into her house but before she is attacked she manages to shoot him with a shotgun and runs into the school. It is the headmaster and he chases after her and finds her cowering inside a room. She shoots him a second time and faints. The following day her husband discovers her in a catatonic state with no sign of the headmaster. The derivative plot with its glaringly obvious conclusion uses prowling camera movements and sound effects to create an eerie atmosphere. The cast is game - sinister Cushing, bitchy Collins and highstrung Geeson - but the plot is just too old hat to be effective.
Six Minutes to Midnight (Andy Goddard, 2020) 3/10
During the summer of 1939 a teacher at an exclusive girl's finishing school on the southern coast of England is found washed up on the beach. The 20 students at the school are the daughters of high ranking Nazi officials sent to learn english and to become ambassadors of a new socialist world order. The school is run by a kind but naive headmistress (Judi Dench) with the help of her German assistant (Carla Juri). Matters come to a head when a newly hired teacher (Eddie Izzard), who is actually a British agent, falls foul of an informant at the school and goes on the run chased by a cop (James D'Arcy) who may or may not be a german spy and helped by a passing bus driver (Jim Broadbent). Lifeless thriller is supposedly based on a true story but fails to generate suspense. A good cast is wasted - Dench throughout looks like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, Izzard looks weird without his female attire and Jim Broadbent looks confused like someone who has wandered on to the wrong film set. The only memorable part of this lousy film is the location - the film was shot on the stunning coast of Wales with gigantic cliffs, the beach and the countryside playing a part during the drama.
The Blackwater Lightship (John Erman, 2004) 6/10
A young man, dying of A.I.D.S., is cared for by his grandmother (Angela Lansbury), mother (Dianne Wiest) and sister (Gina McKee) at the old lady's cottage by the sea. While he is going through the last days' agony of his illness, his mother and sister thrash out long simmering resentments against each other. The drama is played out in the beautiful surroundings of County Wicklow in Ireland with the entire cast adopting an Irish brogue. One of numerous television films that came in the wake of the A.I.D.S. epidemic, this one takes a teary but heartwarming route and deals with acceptance and reconciliation. Lansbury steals every scene with her hammy performance and was nominated for an Emmy award.
Old fashioned film was the last all-star WWII epic shot in black and white by a major studio. Panned by critics when it first came out the film actually works despite its soap opera trappings with a number of exciting action sequences scattered throughout. The film follows the lives of a group of Naval officers and their wives and girlfriends stationed in Hawaii - the film begins with the attack on Pearl Harbor - and across the Pacific islands as the Japanese offensives increase. The screenplay ensures a relatively unromantic and realistic view of the American Navy and desists from presenting events with a patriotic fervour usually always present in all the war films made during the 1940s which reeked of propaganda. Leading the main plot is John Wayne as a disgraced Captain who later becomes an Admiral given a diificult assignment. We follow his relationships with a fellow officer (Kirk Douglas) - a psychological mess after his trampy wife (Barbara Bouchet) is killed with her lover during the attack on Pearl Harbor, his prickly relationship with his estranged son (Brandon de Wilde) who is in love with a young nurse (Jill Haworth). She is the roommate of a doctor (Patricia Neal) with whom the Admiral falls in love - a striking mature romance with Neal giving a superb performance (she won a Bafta award) as the world weary but optimistic nurse who thaws rigid Wayne. Tom Tryon and Paula Prentiss play another couple going through war traumas while senior officers on the periphery are played by Burgess Meredith, Dana Andrews, Franchot Tone and Henry Fonda as Admiral Nimitz who figures during the pitched sea battle at the end when many of the cast members either die or are wounded. Adding to the drama is an unfortunate rape, a suicide and the perpetrator making "amends" during a suicide mission. Shot in stunning wide screen - Loyal Griggs was nominated for an Academy Award - with a rousing score by Jerry Goldsmith, the film is great entertainment with the use of excellent special effects during the battle sequences.
Es geschah am hellichten Tag / It Happened in Broad Daylight (Ladislao Vajda, 1958) 8/10
Riveting police pocedural with a retired Inspector (Heinz Rühmann) doggedly trying to find a serial killer who has been murdering little girls by slashing them with a razor. The case comes to light when a derelect peddler (Michel Simon) discovers the body of a girl in the woods and reports it to the police. The old man is relentlessly interrogated, is incarcerated in prison and accused for the crime despite protesting his innocence. When he hangs himself in despair the former Inspector continues to investigate using another child as a bait to capture the actual murderer (Gert Fröbe). Chilling cat-and-mouse thriller with noir overtones manages an atmosphere of dread without showing any violence on the screen. It was after watching this film that the producers cast Gert Fröbe as "Goldfinger". Sean Penn remade the film years later as "The Pledge".
The Mist (Frank Darabont, 2007) 8/10
Unsettling horror film about a group of people - Thomas Jane is the dad with a young son, Marcia Gay Harden is the Bible-spouting fanatic who thinks she is a direct link to God, Frances Sternhagen a feisty old lady, Laurie Holden a pretty young lady, Toby Jones an unexpected hotshot with a gun, Andre Braugher an unbeliever and a number of other small-town folk - trapped in a supermarket trying to ward off strange deadly creatures that come out of a mist that has enveloped the area. Superbly directed film never lets up leading upto the horrific "Twillight Zone"-inspired ending. B-movie, based on the novel by Stephen King, harks back to all the monster movies from the 1950s but with a lethal sting up its sleeve. The creatures are an amalgam of something out of the pages of Jules Verne with a strong mix of the creature from "Alien" and assorted other monster movies. The screenplay also explores the power dynamics between people and how when cornered their minds can twist away from being civilized into creatures not far off from savage beasts. Twisted and shocking film is one of the best in the horror genre.
The Jigsaw Man (Terence Young, 1983) 1/10
Troubled production became a silly spy thriller about a defected MI6 Director (Michael Caine) no longer of use to the Russians who gets a face lift and sent back to England by the KGB to retreive a hidden list of spies. Once back home he contacts his daughter (Susan George) and plays a cat-and-mouse game with his former colleague (Laurence Olivier) and his cronies (Robert Powell & Charles Gray). Dull film has the somewhat pleasure of seeing both Olivier and Caine reuinited after "Sleuth" but both actors phone in their performances looking bored throughout.
Blind (Michael Mailer, 2007) 5/10
I thought this was going to be a thriller about a psychotic man chasing a blind woman but as the film began I realized that I was thinking of the thriller elements from the stars' previous movie together "The Juror". They appeared in that film when both were big stars at the top of their game with very bright futures ahead of then. But careers have a habit of taking strange twists. The intense Alec Baldwin went downhill only to put on weight and become an even bigger star but as a comedian on a sitcom on television. Demi Moore, after a stint as the highest paid female star in Hollywood while married to Bruce Willis, ended up divorced and in the gutter thanks to a drug problem. After years away she is gradually emerging on the screen again with a somewhat restructured face which is now a norm with almost all Hollywood divas. A Manhattan socialite (Demi Moore) finds herself in trouble with the law when her high flying financial wheeler-dealer husband (Dylan McDermott) ends up in jail awaiting trial for something nefarious in his business dealings. The judge sentences her to do 100 hours of community service which leads her to an irascible blind writer and University professor (Alec Baldwin) for whom she has to read his students' assignments. Their relationship gets off to a bad start which gradually thaws as she reads out loud, they take walks together, go out for dinner and inevitably fall in love. The film takes on a european flavour - two middle-aged people coming together and finding love. His wife died in the car crash which blinded him while she is basically married to a self centered asshole with a vicious temper. Manhattan takes on the romantic colour of Paris, a city which both talk about a lot. Unfortunately the film's pace is slow, the relationship not very convincing and the husband's end of the story has the psychotic thriller aspect to it which does not comfortably gel with the rest of the mood in the film. Robert Redford sings "Bird in a Cage" over the closing credits.
A Suitable Boy (Mira Nair, 2020) 7/10
Vikram Seth's sprawling epic novel has been brought to the television screen as a 6-part miniseries by Mira Nair. The book is one of the longest English language novels published in a single volume and the tv adaptation probably doesn't do it justice in just 6 episodes. The story is a fascinating look at a newly post-independence, post-partition India as the story, set in 1951, follows the lives of four families, and in particular the two main protagonists around whom the two main plots revolve. Lata (Tanya Maniktala) is a 19-year old college student, whose domineering mother is on the lookout for a suitable boy for her to marry. She starts out dead against the institution of marriage but soon finds herself being pursued by three suitors - Kabir (Danish Razvi) is a Muslim student at her university who is obsessed by her. Amit (Mikhail Sen) is an acclaimed poet and author, educated in England, who is her Bengali sister-in-law's brother. And Haresh (Namit Das) is a simple but enterprising and determined shoe manufacturer. Lata's story revolves around the choice she is forced to make between her suitors. The second main plot revolves around Maan (Ishaan Khatter), the highly romantic, feckless son of a State Minister who has to suddenly grow up after his life takes strange twists and turns. He falls passionately in love with an older courtesan and musician, Saeeda Bai (Tabu), who reciprocates his feelings but realises that their affair is doomed. Both Tabu and Ishaan Khatter bring a deep sense of erotic longing to their scenes which are depicted in a sexually frank manner. And in doing so easily lift the film up by a notch or two. The melodramatic story encompasses everything from family intrigues, politics of the nation, extra marital affairs, incest, homosexual longing, mob riots involving Hindus and Muslims and attempted murder. Mira Nair deftly handles all the interconnecting story lines keeping a sharp eye on the smallest details involving the eye-popping production values that bring a bygone era to life. Every character, no matter how briefly shown, is instantly relatable, and one immediately gets a sense of their life arc - Shahana Goswami as the slutty but gregarious Bengali sister-in-law, Randeep Hooda as her slick lover, Manoj Pawhwa as a fat and sleazy Nawab who is a regular client of the courtesan, Ranvir Shorey as an opportunistic backstabbing servant and Vijay Varma as a disgruntled villager. The film has been criticised for not doing justice to the book but then not many adaptations measure up to the original. Not having read the book was probably a plus point for me as I found the story throroughly engrossing, although I felt it could have been far better sketched out with a couple more episodes. The most jarring aspect of the production for me was the dialogue spoken almost entirely in english. The story would have been more visually alive and authentic if the entire dialogue had been spoken instead in Hindi and Urdu with a smattering of english as it happens in reality in India.
The Golden Hawk (Sidney Salkow, 1952) 4/10
Old fashioned swashbuckler, based on a bestseller by Frank Yerby, has wooden Sterling Hayden as a french sea captain clashing with a female pirate (Rhonda Fleming) as they take on the Governor of Cartagena (John Sutton). The Franco-English-Spanish War of the 17th century is the backdrop for this adventure film involving sea battles, gold bullion, a kidnapped heiress (Helena Carter) and the hangman's noose. Totally unspectacular despite a couple of well staged action sequences. It merely apes far better films from the genre. The colour cinematography is stunning to look at as is the lovely Rhonda Fleming in a feisty role.
Fear in the Night (Jimmy Sangster, 1972) 4/10
Psychological horror film from Hammer Film productions uses female hysteria as its central motif - a common theme found in many British films of the 1970s. A mentally-fragile young woman (Judy Geeson), recently married, is attacked by a person with a prosthetic hand but nobody believes her. Joining her husband (Ralph Bates), who works at a secluded boarding school, she is again attacked from behind and faints. The next day she takes a tour of the empty school and meets the headmaster (Peter Cushing) who unbeknownst to her has a prosthetic hand. Later she meets his standoffish wife (Joan Collins) who nearly shoots her on their sprawling property claiming she was aiming at a rabbit. That night the mysterious attacker breaks into her house but before she is attacked she manages to shoot him with a shotgun and runs into the school. It is the headmaster and he chases after her and finds her cowering inside a room. She shoots him a second time and faints. The following day her husband discovers her in a catatonic state with no sign of the headmaster. The derivative plot with its glaringly obvious conclusion uses prowling camera movements and sound effects to create an eerie atmosphere. The cast is game - sinister Cushing, bitchy Collins and highstrung Geeson - but the plot is just too old hat to be effective.
Six Minutes to Midnight (Andy Goddard, 2020) 3/10
During the summer of 1939 a teacher at an exclusive girl's finishing school on the southern coast of England is found washed up on the beach. The 20 students at the school are the daughters of high ranking Nazi officials sent to learn english and to become ambassadors of a new socialist world order. The school is run by a kind but naive headmistress (Judi Dench) with the help of her German assistant (Carla Juri). Matters come to a head when a newly hired teacher (Eddie Izzard), who is actually a British agent, falls foul of an informant at the school and goes on the run chased by a cop (James D'Arcy) who may or may not be a german spy and helped by a passing bus driver (Jim Broadbent). Lifeless thriller is supposedly based on a true story but fails to generate suspense. A good cast is wasted - Dench throughout looks like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, Izzard looks weird without his female attire and Jim Broadbent looks confused like someone who has wandered on to the wrong film set. The only memorable part of this lousy film is the location - the film was shot on the stunning coast of Wales with gigantic cliffs, the beach and the countryside playing a part during the drama.
The Blackwater Lightship (John Erman, 2004) 6/10
A young man, dying of A.I.D.S., is cared for by his grandmother (Angela Lansbury), mother (Dianne Wiest) and sister (Gina McKee) at the old lady's cottage by the sea. While he is going through the last days' agony of his illness, his mother and sister thrash out long simmering resentments against each other. The drama is played out in the beautiful surroundings of County Wicklow in Ireland with the entire cast adopting an Irish brogue. One of numerous television films that came in the wake of the A.I.D.S. epidemic, this one takes a teary but heartwarming route and deals with acceptance and reconciliation. Lansbury steals every scene with her hammy performance and was nominated for an Emmy award.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Dreading the remake of Rebecca, though I will watch it at some point, maybe even today.
It was one of my favorite novels when I was ten, along with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Hitchcock's film was a masterpiece even it was more Selznick than Hitchcock. While it is rare for any remake of a highly lauded film to approach the greatness of the original, it is folly to even try to remake a Hitchcock film. He is one of the few classic directors, maybe the only one now, whose films are still seen and loved by new audiences on a regular basis.
It was one of my favorite novels when I was ten, along with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Hitchcock's film was a masterpiece even it was more Selznick than Hitchcock. While it is rare for any remake of a highly lauded film to approach the greatness of the original, it is folly to even try to remake a Hitchcock film. He is one of the few classic directors, maybe the only one now, whose films are still seen and loved by new audiences on a regular basis.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Rebecca (Ben Wheatley, 2020) 5/10
I've been waiting in dread ever since it was announced that my favourite Hitchcock film was getting another big screen remake. It's always rather unfair to any remake to be compared to the original but inevitably one ends up doing just that. The original in this case is a much loved classic and a masterpiece to boot. I never understand why Hollywood churns out remakes. An answer always given is that it is to reintroduce a classic to younger generations. But damnit the original is not dead and buried. It is still very much around and should instead be revived for today's youth. No doubt this retread is handsomely produced. The vintage stately homes used as the backdrop for Daphne du Maurier's "Manderley" are spectacular as are the location shots of the Devon countryside, cliffs and coastline. And Armie Hammer looks dashing in his striking yellow suit but does he have to wear it three days running? No gentleman would repeat an outfit as glaringly bright as that. The screenplay pretty much follows the book (and the 1940 film version) but differs slightly at the end when it veers off hilariously into "Nancy Drew" territory and then caps that moment with a ridiculously melodramatic finale. The film also lacks the spooky atmosphere and suspense of the Hitchcock version. A shy young girl (Lily James), companion to a rich and vulgar American (Ann Dowd), meets the enigmatic widower Max de Winter (Armie Hammer) in Monte Carlo. After a whirlwind courtship he marries her and takes her back to his family estate, Manderley, in Cornwall. She immediately finds herself in over her head in her new surroundings. Adding to her woes is the intimidating housekeeper, Mrs Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas), who never lets a moment go by singing the praises of Rebecca, the first lady of the house, who died under mysterious circumstances. The entire cast compares unfavourably to the actors in the older version - Laurence Olivier as brooding Max de Winter, Joan Fontaine as the frightened new bride, the great Judith Anderson as Mrs Danvers, the hilariously vulgar Florence Bates and Gladys Cooper, Nigel Bruce and George Sanders. Hammer comes off much better than James who cannot shake off her modern sensibility in a story set during the 1930s. Scott Thomas has been directed to emulate Judith Anderson - they probably didn't want to veer too far off with this famous character. She captures the deadpan stillness but fails to get across the lesbian undertones that Judith Anderson brought to the part. The sad thing about such remakes is that it draws today's audiences even further away from the old classic version. Its playing on Netflix so millions will get to watch it yet many will never even know that there is a better version out there. Now that is something truly sad to contemplate.
Bloodline (Terence Young, 1979) 3/10
An amateurish screenplay based on the bestselling potboiler by Sidney Sheldon makes for an incredibly lousy film. The surprise is seeing Audrey Hepburn making her screen comeback in a part turned down by Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Jacqueline Bisset. The 23-year old heroine of the novel is played by 50-year old Hepburn so Sheldon had to do a hasty rewrite to accomodate the star. Her presence in the project attracted a long list of famous actors who play the assorted characters with shocking ineptitude. The owner of a pharmacutical empire is murdered and his daughter (Audrey Hepburn) inherits his seat on the Board. The other board members want the company to go public but like her late father she refuses. Her cash hungry relatives on the board are a sorry bunch - an elderly British cousin (James Mason) whose gambling wife (Michelle Phillips) has put him in debt, a greek cousin (Irene Papas) is married to a lecherous Italian (Omar Sharif) who is being blackmailed by his mistress (Claudia Mori), a German cousin (Romy Schneider) is married to a frenchman (Maurice Ronet) who has stolen her jewels and invested in a failed venture. All are desperate for money and one of them is a murderer with the suspects also including her father's trusted aide (Ben Gazzara) and secretary (Beatrice Straight). Shot in exotic locations in Sardinia, Munich, Paris, New York and Sicily, the plot keeps getting more and more ridiculous as attempts are made on Hepburn's life while an inspector (Gert Fröbe) tries to figure out the identity of the murderer. Trashy film has a memorable score by Ennio Morricone and lush cinematography by Freddie Young. The supporting cast seem to be around strictly for their paychecks and don't even bother to try and inject some life into their underwritten roles. Sloppy film throws in a lot of kinky sex, constant bickering, badly staged action sequences and even a serial killer who acts in snuff films. Only Hepburn, dressed in chic outfits, manages to rise above the mess she is surrounded by and gives a convincing performance.
I've been waiting in dread ever since it was announced that my favourite Hitchcock film was getting another big screen remake. It's always rather unfair to any remake to be compared to the original but inevitably one ends up doing just that. The original in this case is a much loved classic and a masterpiece to boot. I never understand why Hollywood churns out remakes. An answer always given is that it is to reintroduce a classic to younger generations. But damnit the original is not dead and buried. It is still very much around and should instead be revived for today's youth. No doubt this retread is handsomely produced. The vintage stately homes used as the backdrop for Daphne du Maurier's "Manderley" are spectacular as are the location shots of the Devon countryside, cliffs and coastline. And Armie Hammer looks dashing in his striking yellow suit but does he have to wear it three days running? No gentleman would repeat an outfit as glaringly bright as that. The screenplay pretty much follows the book (and the 1940 film version) but differs slightly at the end when it veers off hilariously into "Nancy Drew" territory and then caps that moment with a ridiculously melodramatic finale. The film also lacks the spooky atmosphere and suspense of the Hitchcock version. A shy young girl (Lily James), companion to a rich and vulgar American (Ann Dowd), meets the enigmatic widower Max de Winter (Armie Hammer) in Monte Carlo. After a whirlwind courtship he marries her and takes her back to his family estate, Manderley, in Cornwall. She immediately finds herself in over her head in her new surroundings. Adding to her woes is the intimidating housekeeper, Mrs Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas), who never lets a moment go by singing the praises of Rebecca, the first lady of the house, who died under mysterious circumstances. The entire cast compares unfavourably to the actors in the older version - Laurence Olivier as brooding Max de Winter, Joan Fontaine as the frightened new bride, the great Judith Anderson as Mrs Danvers, the hilariously vulgar Florence Bates and Gladys Cooper, Nigel Bruce and George Sanders. Hammer comes off much better than James who cannot shake off her modern sensibility in a story set during the 1930s. Scott Thomas has been directed to emulate Judith Anderson - they probably didn't want to veer too far off with this famous character. She captures the deadpan stillness but fails to get across the lesbian undertones that Judith Anderson brought to the part. The sad thing about such remakes is that it draws today's audiences even further away from the old classic version. Its playing on Netflix so millions will get to watch it yet many will never even know that there is a better version out there. Now that is something truly sad to contemplate.
Bloodline (Terence Young, 1979) 3/10
An amateurish screenplay based on the bestselling potboiler by Sidney Sheldon makes for an incredibly lousy film. The surprise is seeing Audrey Hepburn making her screen comeback in a part turned down by Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Jacqueline Bisset. The 23-year old heroine of the novel is played by 50-year old Hepburn so Sheldon had to do a hasty rewrite to accomodate the star. Her presence in the project attracted a long list of famous actors who play the assorted characters with shocking ineptitude. The owner of a pharmacutical empire is murdered and his daughter (Audrey Hepburn) inherits his seat on the Board. The other board members want the company to go public but like her late father she refuses. Her cash hungry relatives on the board are a sorry bunch - an elderly British cousin (James Mason) whose gambling wife (Michelle Phillips) has put him in debt, a greek cousin (Irene Papas) is married to a lecherous Italian (Omar Sharif) who is being blackmailed by his mistress (Claudia Mori), a German cousin (Romy Schneider) is married to a frenchman (Maurice Ronet) who has stolen her jewels and invested in a failed venture. All are desperate for money and one of them is a murderer with the suspects also including her father's trusted aide (Ben Gazzara) and secretary (Beatrice Straight). Shot in exotic locations in Sardinia, Munich, Paris, New York and Sicily, the plot keeps getting more and more ridiculous as attempts are made on Hepburn's life while an inspector (Gert Fröbe) tries to figure out the identity of the murderer. Trashy film has a memorable score by Ennio Morricone and lush cinematography by Freddie Young. The supporting cast seem to be around strictly for their paychecks and don't even bother to try and inject some life into their underwritten roles. Sloppy film throws in a lot of kinky sex, constant bickering, badly staged action sequences and even a serial killer who acts in snuff films. Only Hepburn, dressed in chic outfits, manages to rise above the mess she is surrounded by and gives a convincing performance.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Silent Cries / Guests of the Emperor (Anthony Page, 1993) 4/10
The fall of Singapore in 1942 with the Japanese marching in and hauling up women and children. A subject done to death by Hollywood but given yet another spin as we watch the Japanese inflict atrocities on a bunch of imprisoned women. Suffering appropriately are Gena Rowlands, Annabeth Gish, Chloë Webb, Cherie Lunghi, Gail Strickland, Phyllis Logan and Judy Parfitt. Dull film that has nothing new to say about the subject in terms of story or presentation.
In nome della legge / In the Name of the Law (Pietro Germi, 1949) 9/10
A young judge (Massimo Girotti) is transferred to a small Sicilian village and comes up against local opposition from the simple villagers, a corrupt mine owner and the local mafia boss (Charles Vanel). Stark drama, shot in the southern Sicilian town of Sciacca, is a fascinating look at the workings of the mafia who prefer to follow their own rules providing brutal justice at odds with the law. Girotti is a strong presence as the lawman who decides to stand up to all that oppose him. Both Mario Monicelli and Federico Fellini were part of the team of writers on the riveting screenplay.
Across the Bridge (Ken Annakin, 1957) 6/10
Steiger twitches method acting style as a German financier on the run from the law. After embezzling from his own company in London he takes a train ride from New York to Mexico to escape the FBI and Scotland Yard. Enroute he takes on the identity of a lookalike passenger by drugging him, taking his Mexican passport and tossing him off the train. Not only does the man survive but he is also a wanted murderer with a price on his head. Once inside Mexico his troubles are far from over as the local police want money and a British cop (Bernard Lee) is waiting to capture him as soon as he walks back across the international bridge into America. His only loyal friend is a dog who stays by his side as everyone turns against him. Steiger has a field day with the part taking his character's arc from being arrogantly sadistic at the start to the ironic end where he has been reduced by circumstances to being a pathetic groveller. It takes the love of a dog to finally show his human side which lay buried within his relentlessly despicable exterior.
Nachts wenn der Teufel kam / The Devil Strikes at Night (Robert Siodmak, 1957) 8/10
During the waning years of the War a serial killer - Bruno Lüdke - is strangling women with brutal force. He has a mild intellectual disability and is also a petty thief. A decorated soldier (Claus Holm), wounded in the war, is assigned to investigate the latest murder of a barmaid. A Nazi soldier, her drunken boyfriend, is arrested at the scene of the crime although the detective thinks he is innocent. Siodmak's film uses this backdrop to explore instead the politics prevalent amongst the German people during the Third Reich during the years when Germany started taking a beating at the hands of the Allied troops. Even high ranking officials are seen mouthing propaganda in a wishy washy cynical way. When the actual murderer (Mario Adorf) confesses to the crime, the Nazi commander (Hannes Messemer) immediately orders a cover up and instead blames the crimes on the caught scapegoat because according to the Führer no pure-blood German could be mentally challenged or be capable of mass murder. Ironic conclusion considering the genocide that was going on all around. The detective is ordered to the Russian front while the Gestapo awaits his friend (Annemarie Düringer) who knows the truth as well. Siodmak, after a long stint in Hollywood, returns to german cinema with this memorable film which was nominated for an Academy Award in the foreign film category.
Rifkin's Festival (Woody Allen, 2020) 6/10
One has to credit Woody for being resilient in still coming up with his yearly film output despite the almost total ban on him now courtesy of the judgemental population in the United States. Since 1992, when his troubles with Mia Farrow began, he has directed a total of 28 films many of them netting him and his cast Oscar nominations with even a personal win for his screenplay back in 2011. For the last two years or so he suddenly become persona non grata with a number of stupid actors moaning that they regret having worked in his films. Have they been deaf, dumb and blind since 1992? Were they unaware of his situation when they accepted roles in his films and spent months on set with him? Hypocricy beyond belief. With no financing available to him in the United States he has sought to shoot his films abroad with european financing. The San Sebastian film festival in Spain is the backdrop to his latest film and Wallace Shawn gets to play the familiar middle-aged neurotic character made famous by Woody himself in his earlier films. This frustrated novelist is the husband of a movie publicist (Gina Gershon), both in town to attend the festival, and whom he suspects of being sexually involved with a pretentious young director (Louis Garrel) she is representing. Stressed out, jealous and a hypochondriac, he imagines a heart problem and looks in on a doctor (Elena Anaya) who he later discovers is stuck in a lousy relationship with a hot-headed artist (Sergi López). In his confused state of mind he quickly becomes infatuated with her. He is also having weird dreams at night - shot by Vittorio Storaro in black and white - which allows Allen to parody Fellini, Bunuel, Welles, Truffaut and Bergman in witty small episodes. Amusing little film may not be amongst his best but the director manages funny moments throughout. Shawn and particularly Gershon are very good as the mismatched couple. My only regret with the film is that Allen does not shoot more of the city or the Spanish countryside, concentrating instead mostly in and around the Hotel Maria Cristina and La Concha bay which can be glimpsed from the hotel terraces. Woody should write his next film for Diane Keaton who was not only his first muse but the one actor with whom he had the best rapport on screen. Although this is the first time ever there is no announcement of Allen's next project. In the past whenever his latest film started screening his next screenplay would already be going through the casting stage. It would be sad if there were no more films by this great director.
Ten Little Indians (Alan Birkinshaw, 1989) 5/10
Ten people are invited to an African safari and one by one they start dying. Agatha Christie's old chestnut gets yet another retread although this time the story is not based on her 1939 book "And Then There Were None" but instead on her 1943 play which was originally titled and performed in the UK as "Ten Little Niggers" but later changed out of racial sensitivity to "Ten Little Indians". This hilariously shoddy film was produced by Harry Alan Towers who also made the 1965 and 1974 film versions of this murder-thriller, setting each in an exotic location with an all-star cast. This time he seems to have stumbled getting his cast as the lead is played by Frank Stallone - Sly's brother. Hamming it up are character actors Herbert Lom, Donald Pleasence, Moira Lister and Brenda Vaccaro playing the various victims. Usually the story is set inside a mansion with shadowy corridors and creepy basements allowing for a modicum of suspense as the characters move about before being found dead. Here the outdoor location - shot in South Africa - is a series of tents in the outback with the characters parked next to each other. So when the murders occur its quite ludicrous to imagine that the characters would not know what is going on. The film's ending does not follow the book's famous ending choosing to go by the one in the play. Despite the film's shoddy production values the story remains fool proof in terms of its basic plotline so it is still an enjoyable watch with a certain curiosity value.
Garde à Vue (Claude Miller, 1981) 8/10
Riveting police procedural that maintains a slow pace, is extremely talky but makes great use of the claustrophobic setting inside a police precinct. The entire film is mostly shot in two rooms but the wonderful group of actors and the constantly moving camerawork by Bruno Nuytten help keep the film engrossing. A wealthy and influential attorney (Michel Serrault) is brought in for questioning for the rape and murder of two small girls. He is held in custody and relentlessly interrogated by two inspectors - one calm and polite (a memorable Lino Ventura) and the other (Guy Marchand) who beats up the suspect, who continues to insist on his innocence. As the night wears on his alibi is shaken by the arrival of his beautiful but vengeful wife (Romy Schneider) who provides damning evidence against him. Extremely let down by his wife and the evidence against him he confesses to the rapes and murders. However, there is a last minute twist in the plot which takes everyone by surprise. The film won well deserved Cesar awards for its screenplay and editing. Both Serrault and Marchand also won awards for their exceptional performances.
La passante du Sans-Souci / The Passerby (Jacques Ruffio, 1982) 6/10
The sublime Romy Schneider plays two roles in her last film shot while she was undergoing great trauma in her personal life which led to accute depression and an alcohol problem. The production shut down when she broke her leg and then had to have kidney surgery. Her 14-year old son died after impaling himself on a fence. It was only after Simone Signoret's insistence that she returned to finish this suspended production. She completed the film but died of a heart attack a week after the film's premiere. A prominent member of a humanitarian organization, a jew and a pacifist (Michel Piccoli), shoots in cold blood a South American diplomat much to the surprise and horror of his beloved wife (Romy Schneider). During the trial that ensues the truth is revealed. In flashbacks we get to see his childhood during the war. The Nazis kill his father and break his leg. He is given shelter by an anti-fascist (Helmut Griem) and his wife (Romy Schneider) who look after the child with a lot of love. Realizing that his days are numbered he manages to send his wife and the boy to Paris. He is arrested and sent to a camp while his wife desperately waits for his return. To make ends meet she works as a cabaret singer in a sleazy club and sleeps with a Nazi to try and get information about her husband. When the husband is released and brought back the Nazi has both husband and wife murdered. The young boy thus loses his "parents" a second time but will get his revenge in the future. Melodramatic story is erratic with a bittersweet and ironic twist at the end. Schneider gives a beautifully nuanced performance and was posthumously awarded a Cesar award nomination. There is also a memorable cameo by the great Maria Schell as another victim of the Nazi menace.
The fall of Singapore in 1942 with the Japanese marching in and hauling up women and children. A subject done to death by Hollywood but given yet another spin as we watch the Japanese inflict atrocities on a bunch of imprisoned women. Suffering appropriately are Gena Rowlands, Annabeth Gish, Chloë Webb, Cherie Lunghi, Gail Strickland, Phyllis Logan and Judy Parfitt. Dull film that has nothing new to say about the subject in terms of story or presentation.
In nome della legge / In the Name of the Law (Pietro Germi, 1949) 9/10
A young judge (Massimo Girotti) is transferred to a small Sicilian village and comes up against local opposition from the simple villagers, a corrupt mine owner and the local mafia boss (Charles Vanel). Stark drama, shot in the southern Sicilian town of Sciacca, is a fascinating look at the workings of the mafia who prefer to follow their own rules providing brutal justice at odds with the law. Girotti is a strong presence as the lawman who decides to stand up to all that oppose him. Both Mario Monicelli and Federico Fellini were part of the team of writers on the riveting screenplay.
Across the Bridge (Ken Annakin, 1957) 6/10
Steiger twitches method acting style as a German financier on the run from the law. After embezzling from his own company in London he takes a train ride from New York to Mexico to escape the FBI and Scotland Yard. Enroute he takes on the identity of a lookalike passenger by drugging him, taking his Mexican passport and tossing him off the train. Not only does the man survive but he is also a wanted murderer with a price on his head. Once inside Mexico his troubles are far from over as the local police want money and a British cop (Bernard Lee) is waiting to capture him as soon as he walks back across the international bridge into America. His only loyal friend is a dog who stays by his side as everyone turns against him. Steiger has a field day with the part taking his character's arc from being arrogantly sadistic at the start to the ironic end where he has been reduced by circumstances to being a pathetic groveller. It takes the love of a dog to finally show his human side which lay buried within his relentlessly despicable exterior.
Nachts wenn der Teufel kam / The Devil Strikes at Night (Robert Siodmak, 1957) 8/10
During the waning years of the War a serial killer - Bruno Lüdke - is strangling women with brutal force. He has a mild intellectual disability and is also a petty thief. A decorated soldier (Claus Holm), wounded in the war, is assigned to investigate the latest murder of a barmaid. A Nazi soldier, her drunken boyfriend, is arrested at the scene of the crime although the detective thinks he is innocent. Siodmak's film uses this backdrop to explore instead the politics prevalent amongst the German people during the Third Reich during the years when Germany started taking a beating at the hands of the Allied troops. Even high ranking officials are seen mouthing propaganda in a wishy washy cynical way. When the actual murderer (Mario Adorf) confesses to the crime, the Nazi commander (Hannes Messemer) immediately orders a cover up and instead blames the crimes on the caught scapegoat because according to the Führer no pure-blood German could be mentally challenged or be capable of mass murder. Ironic conclusion considering the genocide that was going on all around. The detective is ordered to the Russian front while the Gestapo awaits his friend (Annemarie Düringer) who knows the truth as well. Siodmak, after a long stint in Hollywood, returns to german cinema with this memorable film which was nominated for an Academy Award in the foreign film category.
Rifkin's Festival (Woody Allen, 2020) 6/10
One has to credit Woody for being resilient in still coming up with his yearly film output despite the almost total ban on him now courtesy of the judgemental population in the United States. Since 1992, when his troubles with Mia Farrow began, he has directed a total of 28 films many of them netting him and his cast Oscar nominations with even a personal win for his screenplay back in 2011. For the last two years or so he suddenly become persona non grata with a number of stupid actors moaning that they regret having worked in his films. Have they been deaf, dumb and blind since 1992? Were they unaware of his situation when they accepted roles in his films and spent months on set with him? Hypocricy beyond belief. With no financing available to him in the United States he has sought to shoot his films abroad with european financing. The San Sebastian film festival in Spain is the backdrop to his latest film and Wallace Shawn gets to play the familiar middle-aged neurotic character made famous by Woody himself in his earlier films. This frustrated novelist is the husband of a movie publicist (Gina Gershon), both in town to attend the festival, and whom he suspects of being sexually involved with a pretentious young director (Louis Garrel) she is representing. Stressed out, jealous and a hypochondriac, he imagines a heart problem and looks in on a doctor (Elena Anaya) who he later discovers is stuck in a lousy relationship with a hot-headed artist (Sergi López). In his confused state of mind he quickly becomes infatuated with her. He is also having weird dreams at night - shot by Vittorio Storaro in black and white - which allows Allen to parody Fellini, Bunuel, Welles, Truffaut and Bergman in witty small episodes. Amusing little film may not be amongst his best but the director manages funny moments throughout. Shawn and particularly Gershon are very good as the mismatched couple. My only regret with the film is that Allen does not shoot more of the city or the Spanish countryside, concentrating instead mostly in and around the Hotel Maria Cristina and La Concha bay which can be glimpsed from the hotel terraces. Woody should write his next film for Diane Keaton who was not only his first muse but the one actor with whom he had the best rapport on screen. Although this is the first time ever there is no announcement of Allen's next project. In the past whenever his latest film started screening his next screenplay would already be going through the casting stage. It would be sad if there were no more films by this great director.
Ten Little Indians (Alan Birkinshaw, 1989) 5/10
Ten people are invited to an African safari and one by one they start dying. Agatha Christie's old chestnut gets yet another retread although this time the story is not based on her 1939 book "And Then There Were None" but instead on her 1943 play which was originally titled and performed in the UK as "Ten Little Niggers" but later changed out of racial sensitivity to "Ten Little Indians". This hilariously shoddy film was produced by Harry Alan Towers who also made the 1965 and 1974 film versions of this murder-thriller, setting each in an exotic location with an all-star cast. This time he seems to have stumbled getting his cast as the lead is played by Frank Stallone - Sly's brother. Hamming it up are character actors Herbert Lom, Donald Pleasence, Moira Lister and Brenda Vaccaro playing the various victims. Usually the story is set inside a mansion with shadowy corridors and creepy basements allowing for a modicum of suspense as the characters move about before being found dead. Here the outdoor location - shot in South Africa - is a series of tents in the outback with the characters parked next to each other. So when the murders occur its quite ludicrous to imagine that the characters would not know what is going on. The film's ending does not follow the book's famous ending choosing to go by the one in the play. Despite the film's shoddy production values the story remains fool proof in terms of its basic plotline so it is still an enjoyable watch with a certain curiosity value.
Garde à Vue (Claude Miller, 1981) 8/10
Riveting police procedural that maintains a slow pace, is extremely talky but makes great use of the claustrophobic setting inside a police precinct. The entire film is mostly shot in two rooms but the wonderful group of actors and the constantly moving camerawork by Bruno Nuytten help keep the film engrossing. A wealthy and influential attorney (Michel Serrault) is brought in for questioning for the rape and murder of two small girls. He is held in custody and relentlessly interrogated by two inspectors - one calm and polite (a memorable Lino Ventura) and the other (Guy Marchand) who beats up the suspect, who continues to insist on his innocence. As the night wears on his alibi is shaken by the arrival of his beautiful but vengeful wife (Romy Schneider) who provides damning evidence against him. Extremely let down by his wife and the evidence against him he confesses to the rapes and murders. However, there is a last minute twist in the plot which takes everyone by surprise. The film won well deserved Cesar awards for its screenplay and editing. Both Serrault and Marchand also won awards for their exceptional performances.
La passante du Sans-Souci / The Passerby (Jacques Ruffio, 1982) 6/10
The sublime Romy Schneider plays two roles in her last film shot while she was undergoing great trauma in her personal life which led to accute depression and an alcohol problem. The production shut down when she broke her leg and then had to have kidney surgery. Her 14-year old son died after impaling himself on a fence. It was only after Simone Signoret's insistence that she returned to finish this suspended production. She completed the film but died of a heart attack a week after the film's premiere. A prominent member of a humanitarian organization, a jew and a pacifist (Michel Piccoli), shoots in cold blood a South American diplomat much to the surprise and horror of his beloved wife (Romy Schneider). During the trial that ensues the truth is revealed. In flashbacks we get to see his childhood during the war. The Nazis kill his father and break his leg. He is given shelter by an anti-fascist (Helmut Griem) and his wife (Romy Schneider) who look after the child with a lot of love. Realizing that his days are numbered he manages to send his wife and the boy to Paris. He is arrested and sent to a camp while his wife desperately waits for his return. To make ends meet she works as a cabaret singer in a sleazy club and sleeps with a Nazi to try and get information about her husband. When the husband is released and brought back the Nazi has both husband and wife murdered. The young boy thus loses his "parents" a second time but will get his revenge in the future. Melodramatic story is erratic with a bittersweet and ironic twist at the end. Schneider gives a beautifully nuanced performance and was posthumously awarded a Cesar award nomination. There is also a memorable cameo by the great Maria Schell as another victim of the Nazi menace.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Roma città libera / Rome Free City (Marcello Pagliero, 1946) 6/10
In Rome three strangers come together by chance during the bleak post-War days of Italy. A man (Andrea Checchi), jilted by a woman who has run off with all his money, is about to commit suicide when he is saved by a cat burglar (Nando Bruno) who enters his apartment by chance. They both realize they have a lot in common, become friends and decide to go to a bar for a drink. The man's next door neighbour is a lonely poverty stricken woman (Valentina Cortese) who types throughout the night to make a living. Fed up with her life she decides to sell herself on the street like her roommate to make money. When the police make a sudden raid and haul up all the prostitutes she makes a run for it and is saved by the two men outside a bar who tell the police she is with them. The three spend the rest of the night traveling through the city meeting an assortment of people - a thief who is carrying a stolen pearl necklace which keeps changing hands, and a well-dressed amnesiac gentleman (Vittorio De Sica) who may or may not be someone important. The cat burglar is the most positive of the three willing to help everyone. Their journey through the night together gives them all hope. Downbeat film is no classic but along with being an excellent character study also has a strong pedigree - a good score by Nino Rota, atmospheric cinematography by Aldo Tonti who captures Rome during a rainy night and Cesare Zavattini is one of the numerous writers who worked on the screenplay. The film is another example of Italian neorealism cinema. Well acted by the three leads and the charming De Sica in a cameo appearance.
It's My Turn (Claudia Weill, 1980) 3/10
This was the third in an unoffocial trilogy - "An Unmarried Woman" & "Starting Over" came before - about a smart, independent but conflicted woman in love. And is played by Jill Clayburgh, one of the quintessential leading ladies of the seventies who unfortunately quickly fell off the Hollywood ladder. A glamourous math professor (Jill Clayburgh), in a stilted relationship with a building developer (Charles Grodin), meets a retired baseball player (Michael Douglas) and is willing to change her job and shift to New York for him. He is the son of the woman her widowed dad wants to marry. Unfortunately the two otherwise very appealing stars lack chemistry as lovers - in fact Douglas surprisingly always lacked charisma during that period - while the slow, very talky and boring screenplay just drones on and on. The highlight of the film comes during the end credits over which Diana Ross croons the hit title song.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin, 2020) 8/10
The "circus" came to town, presided over by the sadistically clownish Judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella) representing the US federal government, and set the stage to deliberately malign seven anti-Vietnam War and countercultural protestors
who were said to have been the cause of riots during the the occasion of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. The defendents charged with conspiring together and inciting violence by crossing state lines were - Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen), Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch), Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), John Froines (Danny Flaherty), and Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins). The eighth man indicted was Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), co-founder of the Black Panther movement, who had no legal representation and despite protests ended by bound, gagged and chained to his seat in court. Leading the prosecution team was Richard Shultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and for the defence stood William Kunstler (Mark Rylance) and Leonard Weinglass (Ben Shenkman). The trial, replete with hilarious (and sad) courtroom antics, was a travesty as "justice" was repeatedly proved to be a fallacy of epic proportion with the court (and government) standing firm on their pro-Vietnam War stance. Eventually many of the decicions were overturned and sentences reduced. Sorkin presents the trial, intercut with flashbacks to the night of the protests and riot, almost like the insanity of an actual war with over-the-top theatrics. Gripping film is fascinating from the historical perspective and moreso due to its relevance now, at a time when the US in engulfed in debates over authoritarianism surrounded by crazy radicalism. Well acted film (both Sacha Boren Cohen and Frank Langella standout in their epic buffoonery) has strangely dank cinematography by Phedon Papamichael which makes it hard to focus clearly on the actors during the trial scenes.
In Rome three strangers come together by chance during the bleak post-War days of Italy. A man (Andrea Checchi), jilted by a woman who has run off with all his money, is about to commit suicide when he is saved by a cat burglar (Nando Bruno) who enters his apartment by chance. They both realize they have a lot in common, become friends and decide to go to a bar for a drink. The man's next door neighbour is a lonely poverty stricken woman (Valentina Cortese) who types throughout the night to make a living. Fed up with her life she decides to sell herself on the street like her roommate to make money. When the police make a sudden raid and haul up all the prostitutes she makes a run for it and is saved by the two men outside a bar who tell the police she is with them. The three spend the rest of the night traveling through the city meeting an assortment of people - a thief who is carrying a stolen pearl necklace which keeps changing hands, and a well-dressed amnesiac gentleman (Vittorio De Sica) who may or may not be someone important. The cat burglar is the most positive of the three willing to help everyone. Their journey through the night together gives them all hope. Downbeat film is no classic but along with being an excellent character study also has a strong pedigree - a good score by Nino Rota, atmospheric cinematography by Aldo Tonti who captures Rome during a rainy night and Cesare Zavattini is one of the numerous writers who worked on the screenplay. The film is another example of Italian neorealism cinema. Well acted by the three leads and the charming De Sica in a cameo appearance.
It's My Turn (Claudia Weill, 1980) 3/10
This was the third in an unoffocial trilogy - "An Unmarried Woman" & "Starting Over" came before - about a smart, independent but conflicted woman in love. And is played by Jill Clayburgh, one of the quintessential leading ladies of the seventies who unfortunately quickly fell off the Hollywood ladder. A glamourous math professor (Jill Clayburgh), in a stilted relationship with a building developer (Charles Grodin), meets a retired baseball player (Michael Douglas) and is willing to change her job and shift to New York for him. He is the son of the woman her widowed dad wants to marry. Unfortunately the two otherwise very appealing stars lack chemistry as lovers - in fact Douglas surprisingly always lacked charisma during that period - while the slow, very talky and boring screenplay just drones on and on. The highlight of the film comes during the end credits over which Diana Ross croons the hit title song.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin, 2020) 8/10
The "circus" came to town, presided over by the sadistically clownish Judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella) representing the US federal government, and set the stage to deliberately malign seven anti-Vietnam War and countercultural protestors
who were said to have been the cause of riots during the the occasion of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. The defendents charged with conspiring together and inciting violence by crossing state lines were - Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen), Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch), Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), John Froines (Danny Flaherty), and Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins). The eighth man indicted was Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), co-founder of the Black Panther movement, who had no legal representation and despite protests ended by bound, gagged and chained to his seat in court. Leading the prosecution team was Richard Shultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and for the defence stood William Kunstler (Mark Rylance) and Leonard Weinglass (Ben Shenkman). The trial, replete with hilarious (and sad) courtroom antics, was a travesty as "justice" was repeatedly proved to be a fallacy of epic proportion with the court (and government) standing firm on their pro-Vietnam War stance. Eventually many of the decicions were overturned and sentences reduced. Sorkin presents the trial, intercut with flashbacks to the night of the protests and riot, almost like the insanity of an actual war with over-the-top theatrics. Gripping film is fascinating from the historical perspective and moreso due to its relevance now, at a time when the US in engulfed in debates over authoritarianism surrounded by crazy radicalism. Well acted film (both Sacha Boren Cohen and Frank Langella standout in their epic buffoonery) has strangely dank cinematography by Phedon Papamichael which makes it hard to focus clearly on the actors during the trial scenes.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
No one dare plot against your country. Sadly the plot is against your African-American population and from within the country which needs to be resolved.Sonic Youth wrote:What about The Plot Against America?Reza wrote:It Happened Here (Kevin Brownlow & Andrew Mollo, 1965) 10/10
Now this is a film that could never be made during today's politically correct climate
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Sonic Youth
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
What about The Plot Against America?Reza wrote:It Happened Here (Kevin Brownlow & Andrew Mollo, 1965) 10/10
Now this is a film that could never be made during today's politically correct climate
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Win Butler
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
It Happened Here (Kevin Brownlow & Andrew Mollo, 1965) 10/10
Now this is a film that could never be made during today's politically correct climate as the screenplay goes into vicious directions about the "jewish problem" as dicated by the fascists. It is 1944 and Britain has lost the war and under German occupation. The country has been converted into a fascist state. Some Britons collaborate while others resist. Amongst the collaborators are many who don't believe in the cause but are forced to join up in order to survive and earn a living. The story follows a trained nurse from the Midlands who is evacuated to London along with most civilians. She joins a pro-Nazi civilian organization known as Immediate Action (one character refers to it as sounding like an advertisement for a laxative), which she does even though she is avowedly non-political. However, once in the job, she is faced with horrifying complicity in a number of disturbing acts being conducted by the organization like forced euthanasia on humans considered to be "useless" to the State. One of the very early films in the alternate history genre was the brainchild of the then 19-year old Kevin Brownlow and it took 8 years for the film to be completed. Fascinating amateur film is full of disturbing images, a scene where a group of people are casually seen discussing a lecture on the "repugnant" Jews vs. the "superior" Aryans, and a propaganda newsreel is shown in the old style and tone blaming the rubble of the Blitz on a Jewish and Bolshevist conspiracy. The film poses the question “How is it possible to fight fascism when the only means to do so are to use its own methods against it?”. The resistance movement is seen as being just as bad as the Nazis, which is a darkly contrary outlook to the prevailing attitude that saw World War II and the continental resistance as a just cause combating a profound evil. The film was completed with the help of Stanley Kubrick who donated film stock and Tony Richardson who helped to distribute it. An important film that needs to be seen more widely.
No Way to Treat a Lady (Jack Smight, 1968) 6/10
Amusing black comedy about a cat-and-mouse game between a serial strangler (Rod Steiger) and a police detective (George Segal). The killer has a mother fixation and uses an assortment of disguises to entrap elderly matrons who he sweet talks followed by strangling them. He leaves a lipstick mark in the shape of lips on their foreheads. After the first murder he begins to contact the detective on a regular basis boasting and divulging details about his latest kill. The exasperated cop, with an overbearing jewish mom (a funny Eileen Heckart), starts dating a witness (Lee Remick) who glimpsed the killer. Steiger is creepy and his usual hammy self as the psychotic. Remick has a hilarious scene with Heckart as she tries to win over the old lady. Segal gives the film's best performance as the frustrated but dogged cop, a gentle lover to Remick and an irritated but accepting son to Heckart.
Gente di rispetto / The Flower in His Mouth (Luigi Zampa, 1975) 8/10
More than the mystery at the center of the film is the fascinating Southern Sicilian city of Ragusa where the events play out. I liked how Zampa uses this small city, built on a wide limestone hill between two deep valleys, as the actors walk through the narrow alleys around the baroque buildings and we get to see the sweeping views of public parks with churches, fountains and piazzas. A school teacher (Jennifer O'Neill) arrives to take up a position in a small school. She is harrassed by a man on the bus and later in a crowded piazza which she ignores. The following day the man is found seated in the town square, shot dead with a flower in his mouth. The townfolk think she had a hand in the execution. Also adding to the mystery is her rich landlord (James Mason), once owner of the town and still privy to most of its secrets, who allows her to stay in one of his apartments free of rent. Sympathetic to her situation is a colleague (Franco Nero) at the school who soon becomes her lover but wants to keep the relationship a secret. When a second man is found killed - he also offended her - the townfolk begin to think she has some mysterious power which she then uses to her advantage by getting the local government officials to pass rules in favour of education breaking old traditions that still prevail. The mystery turns out to be rather underwhelming but the film's almost dream-like quality and the stunning beauty of both O'Neill and the city makes it worth a watch.
Now this is a film that could never be made during today's politically correct climate as the screenplay goes into vicious directions about the "jewish problem" as dicated by the fascists. It is 1944 and Britain has lost the war and under German occupation. The country has been converted into a fascist state. Some Britons collaborate while others resist. Amongst the collaborators are many who don't believe in the cause but are forced to join up in order to survive and earn a living. The story follows a trained nurse from the Midlands who is evacuated to London along with most civilians. She joins a pro-Nazi civilian organization known as Immediate Action (one character refers to it as sounding like an advertisement for a laxative), which she does even though she is avowedly non-political. However, once in the job, she is faced with horrifying complicity in a number of disturbing acts being conducted by the organization like forced euthanasia on humans considered to be "useless" to the State. One of the very early films in the alternate history genre was the brainchild of the then 19-year old Kevin Brownlow and it took 8 years for the film to be completed. Fascinating amateur film is full of disturbing images, a scene where a group of people are casually seen discussing a lecture on the "repugnant" Jews vs. the "superior" Aryans, and a propaganda newsreel is shown in the old style and tone blaming the rubble of the Blitz on a Jewish and Bolshevist conspiracy. The film poses the question “How is it possible to fight fascism when the only means to do so are to use its own methods against it?”. The resistance movement is seen as being just as bad as the Nazis, which is a darkly contrary outlook to the prevailing attitude that saw World War II and the continental resistance as a just cause combating a profound evil. The film was completed with the help of Stanley Kubrick who donated film stock and Tony Richardson who helped to distribute it. An important film that needs to be seen more widely.
No Way to Treat a Lady (Jack Smight, 1968) 6/10
Amusing black comedy about a cat-and-mouse game between a serial strangler (Rod Steiger) and a police detective (George Segal). The killer has a mother fixation and uses an assortment of disguises to entrap elderly matrons who he sweet talks followed by strangling them. He leaves a lipstick mark in the shape of lips on their foreheads. After the first murder he begins to contact the detective on a regular basis boasting and divulging details about his latest kill. The exasperated cop, with an overbearing jewish mom (a funny Eileen Heckart), starts dating a witness (Lee Remick) who glimpsed the killer. Steiger is creepy and his usual hammy self as the psychotic. Remick has a hilarious scene with Heckart as she tries to win over the old lady. Segal gives the film's best performance as the frustrated but dogged cop, a gentle lover to Remick and an irritated but accepting son to Heckart.
Gente di rispetto / The Flower in His Mouth (Luigi Zampa, 1975) 8/10
More than the mystery at the center of the film is the fascinating Southern Sicilian city of Ragusa where the events play out. I liked how Zampa uses this small city, built on a wide limestone hill between two deep valleys, as the actors walk through the narrow alleys around the baroque buildings and we get to see the sweeping views of public parks with churches, fountains and piazzas. A school teacher (Jennifer O'Neill) arrives to take up a position in a small school. She is harrassed by a man on the bus and later in a crowded piazza which she ignores. The following day the man is found seated in the town square, shot dead with a flower in his mouth. The townfolk think she had a hand in the execution. Also adding to the mystery is her rich landlord (James Mason), once owner of the town and still privy to most of its secrets, who allows her to stay in one of his apartments free of rent. Sympathetic to her situation is a colleague (Franco Nero) at the school who soon becomes her lover but wants to keep the relationship a secret. When a second man is found killed - he also offended her - the townfolk begin to think she has some mysterious power which she then uses to her advantage by getting the local government officials to pass rules in favour of education breaking old traditions that still prevail. The mystery turns out to be rather underwhelming but the film's almost dream-like quality and the stunning beauty of both O'Neill and the city makes it worth a watch.
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Precious Doll
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Beast from Haunted Cave (1959) Monte Hellman 4/10
A Sun (2019) Mong-Hong Chung 4/10
McLaren (2017) Roger Donaldson 2/10
On the Rocks (2020) Sofia Coppola 4/10
Story of Judas (2015) Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche 4/10
Saladin (1963) Youssef Chahine 4/10
Hammamet (2020) Gianni Ameilo 5/10
Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (2019) Barbara Paz 4/10
Two Monks (1934) Juan Bustillo Oro 5/10
Stage Mother (2020) Thom Fitzgerald 1/10
First Cow (2020) Kelly Reichardt 7/10
Waiting for the Barbarians (2019) Ciro Guerra 1/10
Made in Hong Kong (1997) Fruit Chan 7/10
A Decent Man (2016) Emmanuel Finkel 5/10
Repeating viewings
Mädchen in Uniform (1931) Leotine Sagan 7/10
Pixote (1981) Hector Babenco 9/10
A Sun (2019) Mong-Hong Chung 4/10
McLaren (2017) Roger Donaldson 2/10
On the Rocks (2020) Sofia Coppola 4/10
Story of Judas (2015) Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche 4/10
Saladin (1963) Youssef Chahine 4/10
Hammamet (2020) Gianni Ameilo 5/10
Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (2019) Barbara Paz 4/10
Two Monks (1934) Juan Bustillo Oro 5/10
Stage Mother (2020) Thom Fitzgerald 1/10
First Cow (2020) Kelly Reichardt 7/10
Waiting for the Barbarians (2019) Ciro Guerra 1/10
Made in Hong Kong (1997) Fruit Chan 7/10
A Decent Man (2016) Emmanuel Finkel 5/10
Repeating viewings
Mädchen in Uniform (1931) Leotine Sagan 7/10
Pixote (1981) Hector Babenco 9/10
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)