Track the Films You Watch (2008) (1 Viewer)

[Joe Karlosi]

Not that I'm saying it's important or anything, but for what it's worth, it was Ringo who was blowing the smoke.

 

[PatW]

12 Angry Men (1957) :star: :star: :star: :star: 1/2

No location shooting here, no special effects, just a room with a table and chairs as 12 men deliberate life or death for a young boy who is accused of murdering his father.

Not much plot here and what we have is character driven. Each character is distinctive and well drawn. Henry Fonda is outstanding as the lone dissenter who through the course of the movie, through reasonable logic, manages to sway others to his side. Lee J. Cobb is also outstanding as the bully of the group, the one person who's mind is made up no matter the evidence set before him. Then you have the wise old man and the immigrant who side with Fonda's character fairly early. All the parts are superbly acted. This is an aspect of the trial process that is rarely seen and it's fascinating.


The Secret Garden (1949) :star: :star: :star: 1/2

Frances Hodgson Burnett's childrens book come to life in this fine adaptation of a classic.
Though this isn't my favourite adaptation, that being the 1993 version, this is still a fine movie. I was prepared to dislike Margaret O'Brien and Dean Stockwell is their respective parts but they did settle down and became quite tolerable. The sets were wonderful here especially the creepy old English mansion and that wonderful garden. I preferred it over the '93 version. I think the fact that the blooming garden was in colour while the rest of the film black and white was startling and only served to enhance the splendour of the garden. Nice touch by the art director. I don't know how close either film is to the book but this is a fine movie for children and adults alike.

 

[42nd Street Freak]

"Rambo III" -

Easily the weakest and most ridiculous of the 'Rambo' series (and in fact the one that really shows how serious and well done #4 is) and one that is now fatally flawed by the about turn that history took as far as the Mujahideen goes, where the Soviet fighting resistance fighters seen here mutated into the truly vile and murderous Taliban in the power vacuum that followed the Soviet defeat.
Ironic to now see the fictional Afghan women rescued from a Soviet run prison in "Rambo III" only to have their real life versions end up in the Taliban run prisons their own homes became.

As such the speeches made by these noble fellows in the film now grate indeed, although amusement of a bitter kind is had from the conversation between the American Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna back again for the last time in slightly less fun and cheesy form) and the Russian baddie where Trautman says that the Russian should have studied the history of Afghanistan and known that the Afghan's never surrender against invaders etc etc....OUCH.
Now it is the general Afghan people fighting alongside British and American forces to try and rid Afghanistan of the same Mujahideen/Taliban fighters seen as the heroes in "Rambo III"!

The action is good though and you can see how much the budget has gone up from the previous film.
But the structure of the film is a mess (why have a long failed rescue mission sequence then almost instantly follow this up with a second rescue mission that is basically the same plan only this time it works?) and the comic strip absurdity is overpowering.
A sign of the good and the bad is perfectly shown in two bits of dialogue.
We have a great moment of perfectly judged hyperbole like this;
Russian - "One man against a hundred commandos! Who do they think this man is, God"?
Trautman - "Oh no. God would show mercy".
BRILLIANT! A spontaneous whoop of laughter escaped my lips!

But then we have groan-worthy garbage like this;
Russian (into radio) - "Who is this"!?
Rambo - "Your worst nightmare".
Oh please! Spare me!

So we have some good action and a nice big budget spent on it, some class horsemanship by Stallone, and the odd groovy line of dialogue.
But we also have a major drop in IQ all around, some 'ready for the video game' crap dialogue, a laughable Rambo hairstyle, a messy and repetitive structure, far too much absurdity in general and a (now, at least) fatally flawed political set-up.

All of which means we should give even more thanks to "Rambo 4" for seeing that Rambo the character, as well as the series in general, regained that grooviness, seriousness and (dare I say it) dignity that made the first 2 films so successful.

 

[Tarkin The Ewok]

I found the other two Limited Edition DVDs at the used store last week, so I was finally able to complete my SW DVD collection (until the inevitable next release).

3/1: Star Wars (1977) :star::star::star::star::star: out of :star::star::star::star::star:
3/2: Return of the Jedi (1983) :star::star::star::star::star: out of :star::star::star::star::star:

It was great fun watching these with the original dialogue and music in widescreen. These two movies are awesome, and there's a four-part thread on this board that explains why.

 

[Mario Gauci]

03/03/08: THE CRUSADES (Cecil B. De Mille, 1935) :star::star::star:1/2

To begin with, being a fan of the epic genre, I had always wanted to check this one out and, in fact, was very pleased when Universal released it as part of their 5-Disc Cecil B. De Mille collection; however, since I already owned both THE SIGN OF THE CROSS (1932) and CLEOPATRA (1934) via TCM showings, I kept postponing the purchase of this set – until I acquired the lot through a friend of my father’s! Having been duly impressed with those two De Mille spectaculars, I had intended to watch this immediately (I got the film around the middle of last year) but for various reasons – I even had to exclude it from my Christmas viewing – I could only get to it now that Easter is approaching!

Incidentally, the 5th of March happened to mark the centenary from the birth of actor Rex Harrison, who had starred as Saladin (the villainous ‘infidel’ of THE CRUSADES) in KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS (1954), which I recorded off Italian TV (even if I had already watched it and in spite of its poor reputation) expressly for the purpose of accompanying my viewing of De Mille’s film! Anyway, THE CRUSADES is another notable achievement (from the days prior to the epic heyday of the 1950s and 1960s) which goes to prove – yet again – that De Mille was perhaps cinema’s greatest purveyor of hokum disguised as inspirational art for the masses (even if this particular example, reportedly, flopped at the box-office).

The central relationship between gorgeous Loretta Young (such strong female presences abound in the director’s work) and De Mille regular Henry Wilcoxon (an unusually handsome, and Godless, Richard the Lionheart – amusingly referred to by Saladin as “The Lion King”!) goes through some interesting, yet oddly believable, tangents during the course of the film. Starting off in antagonistic vein more typical of then-current screwball comedies (he even prefers carousing with his men to their wedding ceremony, where his place is eventually taken by the royal sword!), it develops into one that borders on amour fou – which could jeopardize the outcome of the whole crusade (it’s actually comparable to the bond-to-the-death between Roman centurion Fredric March and Christian slave Elissa Landi in the earlier THE SIGN OF THE CROSS)! The excellent supporting cast includes, among others, Ian Keith (as Saladin), Joseph Schildkarut (typically sneaky as one of the Christian rulers), C. Henry Gordon (as the French King, whose sister Katharine De Mille – the director’s adopted daughter – Richard has deliberately spurned), Alan Hale (as Richard’s minstrel/sidekick, a Little John type that would soon become his trademark), C. Aubrey Smith (as the old hermit who is challenged by the overly confident Saladin at the beginning of the picture to rally the Christian countries in a crusade against his forces and, later, made hostage and chained to a cross to bar passage to the advancing army, he asks Richard to proceed with the attack regardless!) and Mischa Auer (in an early role as a monk).

While the script obviously eschews the Robin Hood legend that has become associated with Richard and the Crusades (the Douglas Fairbanks version of 1922 about that popular outlaw figure, in fact, spends more time with him as a knight than the proverbial ‘Merrie Man’!), subtlety is still the last thing one would hope to find in a De Mille pageant. In fact, Young’s abduction by the Muslims (with her dressed as a sentry in a suicidal bid to end the discord between the various royals!) is pretty contrived; similarly, the fact that Young is contended in the terms laid down by Saladin for the truce with the Christian world is pure Hollywood. With this in mind, the dialogue (co-written by Dudley Nichols) is consciously stilted throughout – albeit featuring such good lines as Saladin’s defiant claim to the monarchs gathered in their tent, “There is room enough in Asia to bury all of you!”

Made after the dreaded (and stifling) Hays Code came into force, it’s not as bloodthirsty as the afore-mentioned THE SIGN OF THE CROSS – even so, the battle scenes are quite realistic (with the clanging of heavy steel being heard as the opposing armies clash in a confusion of warriors and horses) and may well have influenced Sergei Eisenstein’s ALEXANDER NEVSKY (1938). There is one evident display of viciousness here on an isolated member of Schildkraut’s treacherous army as a clutch of Muslim riders (appearing on the scene to rescue the cornered Wilcoxon at the instigation of Saladin himself, in the hope of thus winning Young’s love) fall on him en masse with their spears. Boasting superlative photography (Victor Milner’s work in this capacity presented the film with its sole Oscar nomination) and massive crowd scenes, the film survives as tremendous entertainment even after all these years. Incidentally, it seemed common practice in spectacles of the era to provide villains of the Muslim persuasion – as can be gathered from the likes of ABDUL THE DAMNED (1935; a British production I first watched over Christmas), THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER (1935), THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (1936) and GUNGA DIN (1939).


03/04/08: KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS (David Butler, 1954) :star::star:1/2

Based on Sir Walter Scott’s “The Talisman” (which I own in a comic-strip version!), this was made in the wake of IVANHOE (1952) – adapted from another classic by the same author; however, given that that film was made by journeyman Richard Thorpe (followed, with leading man Robert Taylor in tow, by two other popular MGM adventures – KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE [1953] and QUENTIN DURWARD [1955]), Warners somewhat incongruously assigned musical comedy expert Butler to this one!

While clearly inferior to those three films, KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS isn’t nearly as bad as its reputation would suggest (though it must be said that most spectacles from this era, disregarded by the majority of critics when new, stand up surprisingly well today as entertainment!). Even so, there’s some definite campiness to the film – notably when Rex Harrison as Saladin lullabies George Sanders, playing the wounded King Richard (the score by reliable Max Steiner being noteworthy apart from this)…and, in any case, the whole emerges to be even more fanciful than Cecil B. De Mille’s THE CRUSADES (1935; which preceded this viewing), what with the Muslim leader insinuating himself into the enemy camp, providing a cure for the King, and even aiding him in routing the traitors (genre staple Robert Douglas and Michael Pate) among his own ranks!!

One similarity to the earlier epic is the fact that Saladin falls for a Christian woman – though, in this case, it’s Richard’s cousin (Virginia Mayo) as opposed to his wife (who gets very limited screen time here) – but ultimately relinquishes the heroine to her lover (a fiery Scots knight played by a young, blonde yet surprisingly effective Laurence Harvey). Incidentally, Sanders – while older than Henry Wilcoxon’s incarnation of Richard in THE CRUSADES – is no less gruff and headstrong and, in fact, spends more time fighting Harvey (including a jousting duel) than Harrison!!


03/04/08: WAR GODS OF BABYLON (Silvio Amadio, 1962) :star::star:

Dreary peplum with a second-rate cast and crew; as often happened in this genre, an American actor (in this case, Howard Duff) was recruited for the lead – with the only notable in the Italian ranks being Arnoldo Foa` (appearaing here as a holy man). Amadio is perhaps best-known for the sexy giallo AMUCK! (1972); incidentally, the scenes requiring special effects were handled by the versatile if erratic Antonio Margheriti – this one is climaxed, as were a few other entries in the genre, by a natural disaster (with the prototype being THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII: by the way, I should be watching the 1926 and 1959 versions of that popular and oft-filmed tale during the month-long Epic/Historical films schedule). The typically sturdy score, then, is the work of two distinguished composers – Carlo Savina and Angelo Francesco Lavagnino.

The excuse for a plot that would lead to that reasonably-staged final spectacle – the city of Niniveh, having shunned the gods, is destroyed in a flood – sees a couple of royal brothers (the elder, a stoic but ill-at-ease Duff, rules Niniveh itself while his bland sibling is assigned the province of the once-mighty Babylon) falling over a young girl, the sole survivor of a decimated people from the mountains who arrives at Niniveh in the company of prophet-like Foa`. Besides, an ambitious Babylonian general deliberately creates discord among the two cities for his own personal gain – though he’s eventually routed by another officer loyal to the young king (slain by the general and making it look like it was Duff’s handiwork!). Incidentally, having these Biblical cities for backdrops, necessitates that characters get saddled with such unpronounceable names as Sardanapalus and Zoroaster! For the record, the English translation of the film’s original title is THE SEVEN FLAMES OF ASSUR – the latter being the God worshipped throughout the Assyrian Empire, and the former a reference to a rite relating to the one-week period of preparation which a new ruler has to undergo prior to his official appointment (which is then followed by three days of festivities wherein, among other things, a lion hunt is organized).


03/05/08: MASSACRE IN THE BLACK FOREST (Ferdinando Baldi and, uncredited, Rudolf Nussgruberg, 1967) :star::star:1/2

This middling peplum is one of a myriad genre efforts which American actor Cameron Mitchell appeared in throughout the 1960s. As was the custom, the Italian names in the credits were Anglicized for the foreign market – sometimes comically so with, for instance, Lucky Stetson as cinematographer (even the director became Ferdy Baldwin)! Incidentally, the film is a German-Italian co-production – and the cast, apart from the obligatory American star, includes performers from both these countries (with a Rutger Hauer lookalike for the German villain, an allegedly legendary historical character, Antonella Lualdi – from Vittorio Cottafavi’s splendid THE 100 HORSEMEN [1964] – as his lover and, again, a German actress providing Mitchell’s tentative romantic interest).

The plot – to say nothing of the wintry settings – recalls THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964), one of Hollywood’s finest spectacles from this era; the result is equally glum and, similarly, features an ominous score atypical of the genre. The film, then, is highlighted by two spectacular (if uninspired) battle sequences – the first depicting the titular ambush by the Barbarians, and the other being the Romans’ elaborate retaliation.


03/05/08: THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII (Carmine Gallone and Amleto Palermi, 1926) [Edited U.S. Version] :star::star:

To begin with, my acquisition – and current viewing – of this one came purely by accident: the film was paired with the later 1959 version on a budget DVD (though actually advertised as being the even earlier rendition from 1913!); as for my watching it, I didn’t consciously include the film at this juncture in my Epics challenge because of the similar WAR GODS OF BABYLON (1962) from the previous day – but, simply, because I was pressed for time (more on this later). To get back to the confusion over which ‘primitive’ version was included on the DVD, in all fairness, one would be excused in thinking this emanated from the 1910s rather than the last days of the Silent era [sic], considering the exaggerated acting style – which had been all but surpassed by this time – on display. This, however, is just as easily negated by the brief and pointless instances of nudity in the film – not to mention the presence of German actor Bernhard Goetzke, best-known for playing Death in Fritz Lang’s DESTINY (1921). In hindsight, I must admit that my exposure to early Italian cinema has been too scarce to pass objective judgment upon it!

Even so, my low rating of the film has more to do with the fact that it’s a heavily-condensed version (lasting a measly 57 minutes) of the original, listed on the IMDB as having a hefty 147-minute running-time (presumably, at Silent-film speed)!; besides, the intertitles have been eliminated in favor of a droning narration in English (the epic film, then, seems to have made the U.S. rounds in this ungainly form). For this reason, it races through an elaborate plot featuring innumerable characters; what remains leans, predictably, towards melodrama: Boy loves Girl, Girl is under the spell of Magician, Boy also loved by Blind Waif and another woman (whose rejection leads her to consort with Magician in order to mix a love potion), a pagan Temple-boy sees the error of his ways and converts to Christianity, Magician kills the latter and is blackmailed by a greedy but unwise eye-witness, Boy (mystified by the drug) finds himself accused of the young priest’s murder and is sentenced to fight for his life in the arena, Blind Waif (who’s prone to atrocious singing and harp-playing!) finally sacrifices herself so as not to stand in the path of True Love, etc.

All of which, of course, leads to the volcanic eruption that’s the true raison d’etre of the popular tale – a spectacle which redeems this version to some extent. By the way, Victor Varconi – who plays the part of the hero – subsequently had a long career in Hollywood as a character actor; as for director Gallone, he too kept on working steadily for many years afterwards (I have his CARMEN DI TRASTEVERE [1962] in my “To Watch” list recorded off late-night Italian TV, a modernization of another much-filmed source – Prosper Merimee`’s “Carmen”, which also inspired the famous Georges Bizet opera).

 

[george kaplan]

Little Big Man

Dustin Hoffman's character moves from life situation to life situation with such little emotion or gravity, that it's very hard to take it seriously. And for the most part, each scenario is played for laughs, though in a very understated way. And the problem with that is that, while there are occasional funny parts, they're pretty few are far between.

Then we get one truly moving part which touches both us and the Hoffman character, but it's pretty much followed up with his 'vengeance' played for laughs. Of course drama and comedy can be effectively merged (Billy Wilder was a master of this), but in this case, the transitions are clumsily done, and it just doesn't work.

In the end, not bad, but weaker than it should have been.

Mission Impossible 2

Rewatched this for the first time in a number of years. Probably wouldn't stand up too much to a careful analysis, but as a roller coaster action flick, it's very enjoyable.

 

[PatW]

Finding Neverland (2004) :star: :star: :star: :star: 1/2

Johnny Depp is amazing as J. M. Barrie the creator of Peter Pan. Barrie based his work on a family he met while in the park. He ends up having a close relationship with the widowed mother and her four boys. He relates to them by weaving a magical world that culminates in the creation of Pan. Everything about this movie is wonderful from the story, the acting to the sets. I don't know how much of this is based on fact and I'm sure very little, but it's still a wonderful fantasy. Suitable for all members of the family, this movie charms you and doesn't let go.


Emma (1996) :star: :star: :star: 1/2

My least favourite of Jane Austen's books and my least favourite film adaptation of the four movies I've seen. Still it's a good movie that is adequately acted with amazing costumes, sets and cinematography. The characters weren't as intriguing as in her other stories and most of them were rather bland. One question though. What's up with McGregor's hair?


Beowulf and Grendel (2005) :star: :star: :star: :star:

This film surprised me. I was prepared to dislike it as much as I dislike 300 but found myself enjoying the movie. It reminds me alot of that other sword saga 13th Warrior, another movie that I found myself enjoying. I thought Gerald Butler gave an amazing performance here and seems suited to this kind of role. I found his Scottish accent too thick at times and hard to understand but that's true for some of his other movies. Beowulf and Grendel is based on the old English epic poem Beowulf and I'm sure some English lit. buffs will take issue with how this story was presented on the big screen, but it still makes for a fascinating movie. It will be interesting to compare this with the other recent movie, Beowulf. There were a couple of things I didn't like. I didn't care for Sarah Polley's performance. She might be a competent actress but here she was bland with very little emotional range. I also didn't like the use of some of the modern speech, eg. prick etc... It seemed out of place here. An interesting story with great location shots, costumes, cinematography and a great soundtrack.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Thanks Joe re: Beatles mix up. They still look the same to me in those early years.

BTW for you and Mario:

I'm not sure if you remember a guy named Linn Haynes from the board we use to post on but he got killed in a car wreck on Feb. 28.

 

[Mario Gauci]

03/06/08: BLUEBEARD (Edward Dmytryk and Luciano Sacripanti, 1972) :star::star:1/2

In the past, I’d watched three other versions (four, if one includes Charles Chaplin’s variation MONSIEUR VERDOUX [1947]) about the famous fictional serial killer Landru – the 1944 Edgar G. Ulmer/John Carradine and 1963 Claude Chabrol/Charles Denner BLUEBEARD and the W. Lee Wilder/George Sanders BLUEBEARD’S TEN HONEYMOONS from 1960.

Actually, this one is best approached as “Euro-Cult” (what with its flashes of nudity from a bevy of international beauties) rather than a historical piece – BLUEBEARD, incidentally, was a production of the Salkinds, soon to enjoy critical success with Richard Lester’s “Three Musketeers” films and, eventually, the money would come pouring in with the “Superman” franchise. Besides, the tone is unsurprisingly one of black comedy – with the titular ladies’ man revealed as an impotent who’s forced to kill a succession of spouses so as to keep this embarrassing fact a secret! Incidentally, it also transpires that events as depicted on-screen may well be fabricated since the real reason for the killings only emerges towards the end: “Bluebeard” – a WWI air ace – recounts his romantic misadventures to his latest conquest, a young American showgirl, after she’s cajoled by her husband towards the discovery of a secret passage leading to the vault wherein all the bodies of his former wives lie frozen!

The treatment is somewhat heavy-handed (with obvious predatory symbols, for instance): its connotations to Nazism, too, prove unnecessary – and, consequently, Bluebeard’s demise/come-uppance seems fateful when it should have been slyly ironic. All of which results in an uneven film with a tendency towards camp – though undeniably abetted by the overall handsome look (“Euro-Cult” regular Gabor Pogany is the cinematographer) and a typically imposing score by Ennio Morricone; incidentally, I had used portions of a funereal motif from the soundtrack of this film for my final short during the NYFA course I took in Hollywood a couple of years back! Individual contributions by the star cast, then, are also variable: to begin with, Richard Burton’s thespian skills were often misused during this particular period – lending his services to interesting but often ill-advised ventures (three more of which I watched only recently, namely DOCTOR FAUSTUS [1967], CANDY [1968] and THE ASSASSINATION OF TROTSKY [1972]); in this case, he sports a silly colored beard (the script having interpreted the title all-too-literally, but which might actually be an indication that it shouldn’t be taken seriously) and looks alternately bored and exasperated throughout!

The ladies are all easy on the eyes but also surprisingly willing, with Joey Heatherton as the stunning current bride getting the lion’s share of the running-time. The others – in order of appearance – are Karin Schubert (when Burton’s deficiency, excused at first by a period of convalescence ostensibly suffering from a war wound, can no longer be concealed, she threatens to expose him to public ridicule and this triggers off his homicidal ‘urge’!); Virna Lisi (enjoying herself as she drives Burton to distraction with her incessant singing of corny love songs!); Nathalie Delon (a model whose inexperience in love leads her to take lessons from prostitute Sybil Danning, but the two become instant lovers!); Raquel Welch (a nymphomaniac who attempts to stifle the habit by, ahem, donning it i.e. she becomes a nun!); Marilu` Tolo (again, fun as an outspoken feminist – who even kicks Burton where it hurts! – but who also turns out to be a closet masochist); and Agostina Belli (as an outwardly-innocent but actually spoilt child-bride).

Going back to that “Euro Cult” comment, BLUEBEARD may have been influenced by the giallo work of Mario Bava – with its set of glamorous female victims (as in BLOOD AND BLACK LACE [1964]) and the novel methods of assassination (in the wake of A BAY OF BLOOD [1971]). Still, amid its forced Hitchcock references (the embalmed mother from PSYCHO [1960] and the falcon attack a` la THE BIRDS [1963]), it appears that Burton & Co. were consciously emulating the previous year’s success THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (1971) – a low-budgeted but stylish vehicle for horror icon Vincent Price. Of course, one can’t forget to mention the film’s affinity with the classic Ealing black comedy KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949) in its nonchalant, inevitably comical attitude to murder.

 

[george kaplan]

Back to School

Not the best movie with Rodney Dangerfield (that would be Caddyshack), but the best in which he's the lead. All humor is subjective, but I find this film to be quite funny.

 

[Michael Elliott]

03/05/08

Redskin (1929) :star::star::star: Victor Schertzinger

Historically important film from Paramount was the studios last silent film but it was also their first attempt at Technicolor. The majority of the film is in Technicolor but there are a few sequences, which are in B&W and this was done after the film's backers realized that it was costing too much to shoot in color so they immediately switched over to B&W. It's also worth noting that the film was originally shown in a 70mm process known as Magnascope but that version is now lost and all that survives is the 35mm version.

Richard Dix plays Wing Foot, a Navajo Indian who is forced as a child to attend a white man's school where he is constantly harassed due to this race. It's at this school where he meets the eventual love of his life, Corn Blossom (Julie Carter), a Pueblo Indian. After the harassment gets to be too much, Wing Foot returns home to see that his people have now turned their backs on him, calling him a Redskin because he's not one of theirs anymore. Even worse is that his love for Corn Blossom is causing problems in her tribe because the Navajo and Pueblo tribes hate one another. As you can tell, race is a very big factor in this film, which I think bites off a little bit more than it can chew. There are a lot of difficult questions asked and the film offers up some unique thoughts but the really bad ending comes out of no where and happens much to fast for all these questions to really be answered. The film runs 82-minutes but I think it needed to be at least twenty-minutes longer just to try and tie up some of the loose ends. Even with that said, this is a very solid little picture that manages to be funny at times but for the most part things are handled very seriously. Dix turns in a wonderful performance as the man caught between two races and another battle with another tribe. This is the first time I've seen him in a silent picture and he actually comes off very good. Carter is decent in her role but not up to Dix's league. I've read that Louise Brooks shot three weeks of footage before being fired and going to Germany so it's a shame she wasn't able to finish the film. There's some very nice cinematography and there's even some nice suspense during the ending even though it's pretty stupid and far fetched. The Technicolor process on this film looked incredible and really seemed a lot better than some of the early Technicolor films that would come out in the early 1930s. While this is a historically important film, it isn't as great as I was hoping for but there's still plenty to enjoy here.

Bud's Recruit (1918) :star::star: King Vidor

Historically interesting WW1 short is the earliest surviving film from legendary director King Video. Also worth noting is that this film was made through Judge Willie Brown, a former justice of the Utah juvenile court and later founder of Boys Cities, which would house troubled kids. That was long before the more famous Boys Town but Boys Cities would eventually run out of money and be closed and Brown would eventually be murdered by a mistress in 1931. This short tells the story of a young kid too young to enlist and his coward older brother who will stop at nothing to dodge the draft. The younger brother sets up his own recruits and does his own training hoping that somehow he can join the war. This comedy has one big downfall and it's the fact that it's just not very funny. On the technical side of things this is an extremely well made film and you can see the talent of young Video seven years before his biggest film, The Big Parade. The cast includes kids from Boys Cities, which was interesting to see. The story has its heart in the right place but it just never really works and I feel this probably would have been better handled as a drama.

Wicked Women (1977) :star::star: Jess Franco

The police break into an apartment where they find a dead couple who appear to have been murdered. Upstairs is another woman (Lina Romay), naked and unable to talk from shock. the woman is sent to a mental hospital for women where a doctor (Michael Maien) and his assistant (Nanda Van Bergen) try to make her speak and tell them where the diamonds the dead couple were smuggling are hidden. Oh yeah, there's also a maniac dressed in black running through the hospital killing the women. This Franco outing got off to a pretty good start but things start to go downhill around the thirty-minute mark and for the most part everything that happens afterwards is pretty slow and dull. The film only runs 76-minutes but it feels much longer. Romay turns in a pretty good performance playing the silent character, which she is very good at doing in most films. The supporting cast is pretty good with Monica Swinn also having a small role. There's some nice visuals in the film and the music score also manages to be quite good. The film takes place in a women's hospital so you can expect several lesbian scenes including the highlight of the movie when five women make love to Romay when she first comes to the hospital.

03/06/08

Virginian, The (1914) :star::star: Cecil B. DeMille

Dustin Farnum plays a cowboy from Virginia who goes out West with his best friend but a woman (Winifred Kingston) comes between them. To make things even worst, the best friend gets caught up with some castle thieves at the same time the Virginian is hired to bring the gang down. This was DeMille's second feature coming after the same year's The Squaw Man, which he would go onto remake twice. This is certainly a step down from his previous film but there's still some mild entertainment to be had here. The young DeMille hadn't came down with any of his trademark style at this point in his career but he does a good job handling the story and keeping it moving. The film runs a short 53-minutes and that time goes by real fast without any down time. The cast is pretty good and that includes leading man Farnum who was also in the director's first film. There really isn't too much action until the end but there's still some fine humor to keep the film moving.

How They Rob Men in Chicago (1900) :star::star::star: Wallace McCutcheon

Biograph film was made for their Mutoscope machines but eventually played in theaters after becoming a favorite of movie crowds. The film tells pretty much what the title says as we see a man get robbed and eventually a cop shows up. This is a pretty interesting short that takes place in front of a single cardboard set and lasts just 25-seconds. That's just long enough because the film plays two jokes, which I won't reveal, yet both are very funny with the final joke being downright hysterical. I've watched somewhere near a thousand of these early films the past several years and this one here is one of the gems of this era.

Black Hand, The (1906) :star::star::star:1/2 Walter McCutcheon, Jr.

This Biograph short is credited as being the first gangster picture ever made and it was a big hit back in the day because it was filmed just a few days after the real event took place. Two gangsters blackmail a rich butcher threatening to kidnap his daughter if he doesn't pay them one thousand dollars. The butcher refuses and soon his daughter is kidnapped so it's up to NYC's finest to try and find her. I had heard a lot of good things about this film and I was expecting all the hype to leave me disappointed but that wasn't the case as this is one of the best Biograph films I've seen that wasn't directed by D.W. Griffith. The ending when the police come to rescue the girl contains some nice suspense and the robbery of the butcher store was also very well done. The story is quite strong and apparently stayed close to the real case, which was an interesting one. Fans of the gangster genre will certainly want to check this one out.

From the Submerged (1912) :star::star::star: Theodore Wharton

A homeless man (E.H. Calvert) is about to kill himself when a young woman (Ruth Stonehouse) tells him that God hasn't forgotten about him. The man then goes to a food line where he gets word that his father is dying and wants to see him and this changes his fate as well as the woman who saved him. This is a pretty sweet short that manages to be quite uplifting in its simple story. I'm sure this film hit home very hard back when it was released but its message stil holds strong in today's time. The performances from the two leads are very good and the direction is quite strong throughout. Some might say the ending is forced but I thought it was quite touching and believable.

Usurer's Grip, The (1912) :star::star::star: Bannister Merwin

Edison short tells the danger of going to a loan shark. A poor couple (Walter Edwin, Gertrude McCoy) is at the end of the line because their young daughter is ill and dying so they go to a loan shark (Charles Ogle) but this ends up hurting them even more. This short plays out like a lot of the films D.W. Griffith was making at the time as it is very sympathetic to the poor while coming down hard on those who take advantage of them. This movie certainly comes off quite melodramatic at times but the story is still very good. What really sets this short apart is the terrific acting from the three leads. Edwin is terrific as the father but it's Ogle who really steals the film as the loan shark. Most will remember Ogle from playing the monster in Edison's 1910 version of Frankenstein but he is quite a figure here. I was also taken by his physical nature, which is a lot different than what we saw two years earlier in Frankenstein.

Hope, a Red Cross Seal Story (1912) :star::star:1/2 No Director Credited

At this time this Edison short was made, Tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in America and this film serves as a warning as well as giving hope that the disease doesn't have to mean death. An elderly man refuses to donate money to a Tuberculosis fund but soon his daughter (Gertrude McCoy) comes down with the disease. This film certainly comes off too dramatic today but at the time of release this was certainly serious stuff. McCoy is very good in her role as is Charles Ogle in his small role. The direction is also quite nice and handles the story well. The film tries to give hope to those with the disease and this also comes off quite well but even with all that said, the film just doesn't come off as powerful as I'm sure it once did.

03/07/08

Cost of Carelessness, The (1913) :star::star:1/2 No Director Credited

Universal made this film with the co-production of The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company and it's an early safety film warning kids not to play in the streets or jumping on trolley cars. The second part of the fifteen-minute short talks to adults about bad driving and other dangerous habits. As with the legendary traffic safety films of the 1950s, this one here is pretty simple in its message but it doesn't come off quite as campy as some of the later films. I was shocked to see how graphic some of the violence was including one scene where a kid gets ran over by a trolley. You pretty much see his entire body get crushed yet you won't believe the outcome. The film starts to get tiresome towards the end but if you're a fan of this type of movie then this one here is worth checking out.

Lights and Shadows in a City of a Million (1920) :star::star: No Director Credited

Ford Motor Company produced this short, which was shown in Detroit theaters prior to feature films. The movie talks about the poor and crippled people in the city that need help from those with money. We see how you can cook them food, donate money and do other jobs to make the poor's life a lot easier to live. This short certainly has its heart in the right place but it comes off pretty badly due to the lack of direction and some campy performances. While watching this seven-minute short I kept asking myself how much Ford was doing to help these people instead of just asking others to help.

 

[PatW]

The Right Stuff (1983) :star: :star: :star: :star:

Based on the Thomas Wolfe book, this chronicles the beginnings of the space race from the test pilots at Andrews Airforce Base to the Mercury 7 astronaunts.

Though well acted there is something about this movie that bothers me and that is the treatment of poor Gus Grissom. I'm sure Philip Kaufman was just following the book but to treat an American hero like that is just reprehensible. I don't know the truth of the blown hatch, but any person who is willing to serve their country whether fighting in a war, being a test pilot or hurtling up in space is a true hero in my eyes. Grissom did all these things and more. Unfair treatment of a dead hero. The acting stand-out here for me was Sam Shepard who's quiet dignity captured the essence of the hero. As a matter of fact, all the actors were great in their parts from the tortured Fred Ward to the cheekiness of Dennis Quaid. Even Chuck Yeager had a cameo as a bartender. The author's feelings about these characters were quite apparent for eg. Grissom as a low-life, Glenn as a prig and Lyndon Johnson as the circus ringmaster. There are good and bad parts of each person and this film probably tries to take a balanced view except for Grissom, but sometimes in a movie like this, the good is what we want to see. Still a very well-done movie that I don't seem to get tired of watching.


Khartoum (1966) :star: :star: :star: :star:

Chuck Heston surprised me. Though I've enjoyed alot of his movies, I've never considered him a good actor but merely competent. He was quite good here as General 'Chinese' Gordon who refused to leave Khartoum even in the face of an impending attack from the Mahdi and his followers.
Heston would have done well to have left off the British accent. Some American's do accents quite well and other don't. (remember Costner)
Laurence Olivier almost unreconizable as the mahdi is superb here. He can express so much just by the sheer tone of his voice. Unfortunately his scenes were all too brief. This is a good looking production with some great battle scenes. The guys were quite happy.


A Man for all Seasons (1966) :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

I don't think there's a single misstep here. Everything is brilliantly brought to life from the acting to the cinematography. What a virtuoso performance from Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More a man who wouldn't back down from his principles even if it meant his life. My hat goes off to Robert Bolt for writing such a masterpiece.

 

[george kaplan]

King Rat

Based on the Clavell novel, this movie is pretty faithful to the book, which makes it a pretty good movie, but (and this may not be a fair comparison - but there it is), it can't really compare with the book.

Still, for distilling some of that into a two-hour movie, pretty good, but not great.

 

[PatW]

Slither (2006) :star: :star: 1/2

What a visual showpiece! What an acting triumph! What a comic masterpiece! What a piece of shit! Actually this isn't a good movie but it's the best time I've had in a long time. Very high up on the ick factor but the comedy makes up for it plus the best timed one-liners ever.

 

[Adam_S]

The Killing - 9 of 10

Great heist movie with a wonderfully funny and sly script and a killer ending. Everyone is excellent and the photography is phenomenal, from following the horses around the track to the rapid tracking shots through apartments, simply superb. The look is outstanding.

 

[Adam_S]

Pat, A Man for All Seasons actually gets better each time around too. I merely enjoyed it the first time or two I saw it, but recently it's become one of my all time favorites.

 

[42nd Street Freak]

"The Killing" is one of the few Kubrick films I actually like. A great heist movie.


"Captivity" -
Not as bad as its reputation. Nothing groundbreaking bit solid enough and nasty enough when it needs to be (thank Christ for re-shoots).

But the complex editing and production problems show in a huge plot hole (Who is shooting the 'flashback' film? Surely another person must be there. OH! They are! But they aren't filming it either! DOH!) and the really confused 'dog' set-up.

Amazing what massive cock-ups get past all these highly paid people who make and release films!!

 

[Mario Gauci]

03/08/08: FAMILY THEATER: HILL NUMBER ONE (TV) (Arthur Pierson, 1951) :star::star:1/2

This is one of four relatively short films made by powerful American religious groups that were packaged together in a 3-Disc 10-movie budget collection entitled ”Bible Time Favorites” – the remaining titles being popular Hollywood or peplum efforts on a religious theme which have fallen into the public domain. Anyway, this one is perhaps the most successful because it treats the subject in an original, albeit unsurprisingly reverent, manner – the titular ‘outpost’ being Golgotha (the place of Christ’s crucifixion) and which is recounted on Easter Sunday by a padre to a squad of battle-weary G.I.s; in flashback, we see the events immediately following Jesus’ death – which, again, strikes a point in its favor since these haven’t been depicted all that often on-screen. The cast is an eclectic mix of character actors: Roddy MacDowall appears as a soldier in the ‘modern’ story, while Ruth Hussey, Joan Leslie, Gene Lockhart, Regis Toomey and Leif Erickson, among others, all interpret characters from the Bible – the latter, especially, making for a fine Pontius Pilate; however, most interestingly, this marks the debut of none other than James Dean – who already compels attention with his quietly sensitive portrayal of John, the youngest of Christ’s apostles. Unfortunately, the film ends on the wrong foot with a cloying plea from a doddering priest for families to recite the rosary daily!


03/08/08: FAMILY THEATER: I BEHELD HIS GLORY (TV) (John T. Coyle, 1953) :star::star:

This pretty much presents the same familiar story as HILL NUMBER ONE (1951), though shot in color – so, in fact, does the following film THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION (1958) – but it’s told from the viewpoint of a Roman officer (George Macready). Curiously enough, Macready is actually not actively involved in any of the events on the way to Calvary and he catches the Christianity bug from his various conversations with the doubting Apostle Thomas! As if that wasn’t enough of a handicap to one’s involvement into the whole affair, the treatment is pretty stolid overall and easily emerges as the least rewarding of the four modest films made by various evangelical groups about Christ’s Passion that I watched in quick succession.


03/08/08: THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION (Harold D. Schuster, 1958) :star::star:1/2

This takes yet another viewpoint – with the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion being recounted to a Christian novice by Simon Peter (Richard Kiley) at the time of his own execution. An interesting idea here is that the Jewish High Priests – who also hate the Romans – decide to give Christ over to their enemies (with the aid of the equally misguided Judas) not because he has put himself up as God but, rather, due to the fact that they’re disappointed by his preaching Peace And Love as opposed to brandishing a sword in order to vanquish the oppressors from their land! Here, of course, we also get to see a good deal of Christ himself – interacting with Simon Peter, Judas and the rest of the Apostles, and also a bit of the trial before Pilate when Peter denies knowledge of him in the palace courtyard. Before reverting to Peter’s own fate, we’re also treated to the re-affirmation of faith by the famously doubting Thomas as well as the remaining Apostles’ new-found courage to go out into the streets and preach The Gospel after Pentecost.


03/08/08: THE GREAT COMMANDMENT (Irving Pichel, 1939) :star::star:1/2

The oldest, yet longest, of the four religious films commissioned by various Christian groups that I watched (I opted not to go through too much ‘straight’ stuff while waiting for the result of the General Elections over here!) actually had the backing of one of the Hollywood majors – Twentieth Century Fox. The familiar events of The Passion are played out as a backdrop to the main narrative – that involving a couple of zealot brothers who clash over their mission (the impulsive younger sibling wants to act now while the more practical older one, played by John Beal, wants to wait for the arrival of The Messiah); the latter also falls out with his father because he has in mind for him to become a scholar while marrying off Beal’s sweetheart to his brother! Eventually, he sets out to find Jesus and offer him his sword of allegiance – but he slowly comes to understand his message of Peace and Love. Also involved is a Roman officer, well played by Albert Dekker: as it turns out, Beal’s brother winds up dead after an attempt on Dekker’s life (who is crippling the Jews with taxes, gathered by the “snivelling” and typically slimy Ian Wolfe); however, Beal – inspired by his new faith – takes care of the wounded Dekker who, noticing the Jews’ confusion and anger at Beal for his conduct, decides to lock him up. During his tenure in jail, it transpires that Christ was tried, convicted and crucified; still baffled by Beal’s behavior, Dekker asks him to explain – the catch is that the person who ‘converted’ Beal towards helping even his enemies turns out to be the very same one in whose side Dekker had just driven the proverbial spear!

 

[Michael Elliott]

03/08/08

Seytan (Turkish Exorcist) (1974) :star::star:1/2 Metin Erksan

Turkish version of The Exorcist, which borrows nearly every scene from the classic movie and it also lifts the famous music score. This is the third or fourth Turkish film I've watched and this one took me by surprise because it actually tries to be a serious film and not just some sort of rip off or spoof. As you'd expect, a young girl gets possessed by Satan so her mother (Meral Taygun) gets help from a writer (Cihan Unal) who wrote a book on possession. As I said, I was really surprised that the film actually tried being a scary horror film and I was also shocked that for the most part it worked. There are some silly moments but overall this was pretty effective and gets the job done a lot better than many of the Italian rip offs out there. The opening sequences of the mother searching the attic and hearing various noises up there worked very well as did the final exorcism scene. I was also impressed by the performances especially Taygun as the mother. There are a few hysterical moments due to the lower budget and some of the possession scenes come off funny but I've found this to be the case in the majority of these films and that includes The Exorcist. The direction is a tad bit all over the place but for the most part it is good, although the zoom function is used way too many times and most of the time it's used very badly. Again, this film is far from a masterpiece but there's enough good stuff here to make it worth watching.

I'll also comment on the "official" DVD of this. I guess you'd call this an official bootleg since Warner would never let this film out there since it ripped their film off and used the same music score. I guess whoever was doing the subtitles just wrote them down on the paper and the makers of the DVD just copied them over without reading what they were working on. There are several times where the guy's notes are put in the subtitles and this leads to some very funny stuff. At one point there's talk of a letter opener and the subtitles include "what's a letter opener". Another funny moment is when the text contains a question mark with an added note to "search Google". When the film is over a "The End" credit pops up and the notes include "finally".

Kansas Saloon Smashers (1901) :star::star::star: George Fleming & Edwin S. Porter

This Edison short features Carrie A. Nation, a female rights person who made a name for herself by going around to various saloon's and smashing up the bottles. She also wasn't afraid to throw a few punches at the men if she needed to. This short runs just over a minute and takes place at a saloon where Nation goes into destroy things. There's nothing overly special about this short but it does have a certain charm to it and the entertainment value is certainly high considering the film only lasts for a minute. The cinematography by co-director Porter is also very nice.

Why Mr. Nation Wants a Divorce (1901) :star::star::star: George Fleming & Edwin S. Porter

This Edison short is a spoof of their Kansas Saloon Smashers, which was released the same year. While Mrs. Nation is out busting up saloons, her husband is at home watching the kids, which leads him to do something the wife wouldn't approve of. Having watched this after the original film makes it a lot more funny and the big twist at the end was expected but it was still funny. I'm sure some might be offended at the idea of a "woman's place is in the house" but then again, this is 1901 we're talking about. Co-director Porter once again doubles and does the cinematography as well.

Trial Marriages (1907) :star::star::star::star: Francis J. Marion

Excellent Biograph short has a man reading an article by a female writer talking about the advantages of trial marriages and he sees it as nothing but a joke so he decides to try it out. During his little trial run he ends up with a crying woman, a jealous woman, a tired woman and eventually a woman with seven kids. This is without question the greatest comedy I've seen from this era of filmmaking. The story is just downright hysterical and at times I had tears running down my face from laughing so hard. The jealous woman is probably the funniest episode as she has a breakdown when she catches the man talking to the female servant. The film runs just over 12-minutes and there are very few seconds where something funny isn't happening. This is certainly one of the greatest comedies out there. G.W. Bitzer did the cinematography.

Manhattan Trade School for Girls (1911) :star::star: No Director Credited

This short starts out by telling us that NYC sees 20,000 girls each year drop out of school and begin work in factories that will never pay them anything. The Manhattan Trade School for Girls was an organization that would take these girls in and teach them various trades to where they could make real money on a real profession. This short isn't very well made as the direction is quite poor and his ability to tell a story is very shallow. I'm sure there's an interesting story to be told here but the director really can't get too much out of anything he's doing. The cinematography is also rather weak but it was nice seeing the various trades being taught back in the day.

Strong Arm Squad of the Future, The (1912) :star::star::star: No Director Credited

Very strange short from Mutual Film Corp. was made to show women that they should want to vote and that they should want to vote for other women. What's strange about this animated short is that it was apparently made for women yet I'm sure a lot of those watching it would find it rather offensive since all of the women are made to look very ugly and come off as wannabe men. The women are either obese, ugly, have vampire teeth or are as hairy as men. I'm not sure what this short was going for but it comes off very strange today. The DVD notes claim this was meant for women but it plays out like something guys, back in the day, would use to say women shouldn't have a place in the work force.

Lively Affair, A (1912) :star::star:1/2 No Director Credited

A very early short from Warner Bros. shows a group of women as they try to become more independent and not just be looked at as the lesser sex. The women make their husbands clean the house and watch the kids as they gather for a night of poker playing but two of the women get into a fight. The police are eventually called and the women are thrown in jail where the husbands try to prove a point that they are women and not men. This film was clearly written and directed by men as it's clear this movie is making fun of women wanting equal rights. For the most part the film comes off charming and the ending is rather funny, although I'm sure women at the time weren't laughing.

Suffragette in Spite of Himself, A (1912) :star::star::star: Bannister Merwin

Edison short was made in England to show that countries support of women's rights. The film centers an an elderly man who refuses to accept that women are equal. One day he goes out for a walk and two kids put a sign on his back where it appears he is saying women should have the right to vote. This gets him into some hot water with various men he runs across including the police. This is a pretty funny short that manages several laughs throughout its short 7-minute running time. The scene with the two kids is very good but the highlight is when the old man runs into some women who thinks he is supporting them. It's funny to see how far certain countries have come.

On to Washington (1913) :star::star:1/2 No Director Credited

On March 3rd, 1913, the day before President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration, the Women Suffrage Procession marched on Washington to gain attention for their cause. This early film from Universal runs just 80-seconds but I always enjoy these small films for a chance to see cities the way they really were back in the day.

Courage of the Commonplace, The (1913) :star::star: Rollin S. Sturgeon

Vitagraph short about a farmer's daughter who works her butt off and never really gets anything out of it. She dreams of one day going to college and finally gets her shot but something bad happens on the farm, which might cause her to stay home. This is a well meaning short but it's also very slow and rather boring. The ending was certainly the highlight.

Crime of Carelessness, The (1913) :star::star: Harold M. Shaw

Edison short about a happy couple about to be married but the guy's carelessness at their workplace leads to tragedy. This film was inspired by the 1911 event where a factory caught fire and 146 workers were killed. With that in mind, this short was meant to show safety issues and on that level it works but the story of the couple is so over dramatic that it's hard sitting through the 14-minute running time. Barry O'Moore and Mabel Trunnell play the couple and neither are too impressive in their roles.

 

[george kaplan]

I don't put The Killing up with Dr. Strangelove or 2001, but I do think it's a great film, and one of his best.