Track the Films You Watch (2006) - Page 20

george kaplan · 03-05-2006, 12:25 AM

All the President's Men

The only thing I've never understood about this whole thing is how Woodward and Bernstein avoided either a bullet in the head, or a bomb in the car.

There is a lot I'd love to say about how this film relates to current events, but then we'd be moving from history into politics, which we can't do here.

Mario Gauci · 03-05-2006, 05:53 AM

Quote (originally posted by Brook K):

"RE: Bresson

My feelings for "A Man Escaped" are similar to those for "Pickpocket". Interesting films...I see why Bresson is so highly thought of. The "model" style of acting is just tough to attune to because it is so different and foreign to what I'm used to. There's an energy missing from the films. They are also more character study-directed and I find that combination less remarkable than more story-driven/human nature/human truths films like "L'Argent" or "Diary of a Country Priest".

"Mouchette" and "Trial of Joan of Arc" are the remaining well-known Bresson works I have to see.

One other thing to note is that I have only seen Bresson movies one time each unless you count the commentaries on Diary and L'Argent as a 2nd viewing."

I'd say that THE TRIAL OF JOAN OF ARC (1962) and MOUCHETTE (1967) are minor Bressons - although noted film critic David Thomson happens to think the latter is, together with BALTHAZAR (1966), Bresson's greatest film. As for TRIAL, it's the only Bresson film which has disappointed me...and I've watched all of them except for A GENTLE CREATURE (1969). Maybe it's because I had watched 5 films previously dealing with Joan Of Arc - although there are still 2 more I'd love to catch up with: Cecil B. DeMille's JOAN THE WOMAN (1916) and Roberto Rossellini's JOAN AT THE STAKE (1954)! - or maybe because Bresson's film was too slight at just 65 minutes; suffice it to say that it wasn't a patch on Carl Theodor Dreyer's THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (1928) which, as I've often said, is my candidate for the all-time greatest Silent film.

Even so, I still intend to purchase Artificial Eye's R2 SE DVD edition of Bresson's Joan Of Arc film and anyone wishing to watch it should tune in next Friday night on TCM at 02:00 EST

!

Quote (originally posted by Michael Elliott):

"Un Chien Andalou (1929)

Perhaps it was due to myself being sick and rather lightheaded but this short film from artist Salvador Dali and director Luis Bunuel really worked for me. We've got seventeen minutes worth of various strange images that come together to tell a pretty weird story. The various images scene include a woman being ran over by a car, underarm hair appearing in a guy's mouth, ants coming out of someone's hand and the most brutal image being a man cutting through a woman's eyeball with a razor. A very strange but interesting film to say the least."

Man, if only any of the 5 shorts I shot in Hollywood three months ago were as good and as wacky as this one

! A superlative directorial debut by anyone's standards, there are those who still think that Bunuel never managed to top this and his subsequent feature, L' AGE D' OR (1930). Although Bunuel claimed that the "story" came from a daily discussion of the previous night's dreams with his co-conspirator Salvador Dali, there are enough bona-fide Freudian references to suggest that it was less improvisational than he would have us believe

; as a matter of fact, I even purchased a copy of Freud's fascinating but heavy-going tome, 'The Interpretation Of Dreams', after reading about its influence on the Surrealist Movement and Bunuel's career in particular. It should also be noted that it is Bunuel himself who, at the start of the film, sharpens the razor and nonchalantly proceeds to slit the woman's eyeball (or rather a dead cow's

); Dali also appears in the film as one of the priests being dragged by the young man (played by the ill-fated Pierre Batcheff).

Even though I already own the splendid R2 BFI edition of UN CHIEN ANDALOU (which was coupled with L' AGE D' OR and the 2000 feature-length documentary, A PROPOSITO DE BUNUEL), I will also eventually get the R1 edition, if only for the different supplements and the involvement of Bunuel's own son, film director Juan Luis.

Quote (originally posted by Michael Elliott):

"Phantom of Liberty, The (1974)

While I haven't seen enough of Luis Bunuel's films to make a full judgment I will certainly say this is the best I've seen from him so far. Various characters are introduced as we go on a journey that shows us one small story after another, all of them related only in small ways. While I preferred the first half of the film a bit more there's no denying what a strange and twisted little film this was. I loved the humor scattered throughout the film from the opening scenes with the statue hitting a man on the head up to all the stuff inside the hotel room. The hotel segment was my personal favorite but the one with the missing little girl was great as well. Bunuel does a masterful job at creating the surreal feel of a dream. Nothing in this film makes any sense but hey, that's just like a dream."

Being basically a non-narrative film full of gags which one might or might not appreciate (and after your recent negative experiences with Godard), I didn't really know how you'd take this one, Mike...therefore, saying that it's the best Bunuel film you've watched thus far pleases me no end

!

As I've often said, this film was my own introduction to Bunuel's world - although when I watched it back then, in 1992 on Italian TV, I missed out on a few minutes from the first episode - and to this day, it's still one of my favorite Bunuels; I even "lifted" the casual-mowing-down-of-innocent-bystanders-by-a-sniper incident for my own first screenplay, whose title itself is a combined homage to L' AGE D' OR and THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY

!

Incidentally, tonight I should be adding another Bunuel title to my collection since an Italian TV channel is showing the original Spanish-language version of one of his Mexican melodramas, SUSANA (1951); unfortunately, my TV set just went bust yesterday morning and I'll be forced to wait a few days before watching it

!

Quote (originally posted by Michael Elliott):

"Attack of the Robots (1966)

Spanish sci-fi/spoof about a mad scientist who creates some robots to kill off those with Type-O blood. Like many early films from director Jess Franco, this one here is technically well made but, as with the others, it offers nothing original and in the end it comes off rather slow and boring. We've seen this type of film so many times that this one here really doesn't have a single thing going for it."

I know that you're not that keen on Jess Franco's early black-and-white films, Mike, but I tend to like this one more than you do

...as can be gleaned from this joint-effort review (with my twin brother, Roderick) of it:

http://www.latarnia.com/attackrobots.html

Quote (originally posted by Michael Elliott):

"Living Dead Girl, The (1982)

French horror film from director Jean Rollin, which mixes tons of sex and nudity with plenty of the red stuff. After some toxic waste falls on her grave, a young woman returns with a hunger for blood. This is probably the best place for a newbie to Rollin to start as this perfectly captures the atmosphere of his best movies but also throws in plenty of over the top gore scenes, which will probably make a casual viewer sick. As with other Rollin films, there's plenty of beautiful women getting naked but the film does move at a snail's pace, which will probably put some to sleep."

I've often wondered what you thought of Jean Rollin's films, Mike; I've only watched 4 myself so far and I'd say that ROSE OF IRON (1973) was the best of the bunch; still, I was quite pleased with THE LIVING DEAD GIRL when I watched it as a DVD rental a couple of months ago while in Hollywood. While I agree that Rollin went overboard in the gore department in this one, the dreamily erotic atmosphere one associates with his work is still palpable and, even though she doesn't have the lead role, Marina Pierro (the late great Walerian Borowczyk's latter-day muse) is seen at her loveliest and, therefore, reason enough for me to boost its rating up a notch (***)

!

Actually, the reason I decided to seek out more Rollin titles was because I learned that Limited Edition 3-Disc Sets of his work are being released in France and, while I wouldn't want to miss out on them, I didn't want to take the plunge blindly either

. However, though I'd like to add to my DVD collection three Rollins which have already been accorded this lavish treatment - REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE (1971; sight unseen), LIPS OF BLOOD (1975) and THE LIVING DEAD GIRL - their heavily inflated price tag (around $50!) has so far kept this prospect at bay

!

Quote (originally posted by Michael Elliott):

"In Cold Blood (1967)

Film based on the book by Truman Capote about two cons (Robert Blake & Scott Wilson) who murder a family of four thinking that there's money in their house. I've had this DVD since the day it came out but figured today was the perfect day to see it since it made a good double feature with Capote. Richard Brooks direction and screenplay does a very good job at showing the police tracking down the two killers but things go a bit overboard when the script tries to 'explain' murderers. The narration in the final twenty minutes wasn't needed either. Up till that point this is a very good thriller with a wonderful atmosphere and some very good performances, especially Blake. It's worth noting that there's a character in the film that's supposed to be Capote but he's certainly not anything like we seen in the 2005 film. This film was controversial when released due to the strong profanity and other issues but I guess the studio didn't want to push things by showing Capote the way he really was since in this film he's shown as a tough guy."

I've only watched this remarkable film once several years ago in a pan-and-scan version on Cable TV and I was disappointed that Columbia's DVD was a bare-bones affair - especially in view of the Robert Blake trials and the release of CAPOTE (2005) - but, given Columbia's recent discontinuation of several intriguing catalog titles (more on that later), I don't know if I should jump on it presently before it unceremoniously disappears

.

There hasn't been any mention of this on HTF but, for some reason, Sony has taken a boatload of titles on DVD out of circulation. Take a look at the full list here:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showpos...&postcount=280

In view of this, I was "forced" to place another order which includes Ben Hecht's ANGELS OVER BROADWAY (1940), the Boris Karloff vehicle THE DEVIL COMMANDS (1941), Otto Preminger's BONJOUR TRISTESSE (1958), LORD JIM (1965), THE SWIMMER (1968) and the occult chiller THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN (1971) - most of which I'd never watched before. I wanted to add a couple more - namely Blake Edwards' EXPERIMENT IN TERROR (1962) and Robert Altman's CALIFORNIA SPLIT (1974) - but, unfortunately, I couldn't find any of them currently 'in stock' at any online DVD retailer

. I also ordered the R2 edition of Arthur Penn's THE CHASE (1966) and will eventually order the upcoming R2 DVD edition of the Hammer thriller DIE! DIE! MY DARLING! (1965) as well when its price goes down.

I'm sure that, if Joe Karlosi's reading this, he's very happy that I finally broke down and purchased THE DEVIL COMMANDS after years of friendly persuasion (amidst bitching on my part about the truly bare-bones and expensive nature of that Columbia disc)...but he'll be positively ecstatic when I tell him that my frustration at not finding the above-mentioned Columbia titles led me to bag two other Karloff pictures in the bargain: THE MAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND (1936) and THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES (1940)

!!

Mario Gauci · 03-05-2006, 07:29 AM

03/04/06: GOLDEN SALAMANDER (Ronald Neame, 1950) **1/2

Watchable British thriller about gun-running in Post-WWII Tunisia with faint echoes of THE MALTESE FALCON (1941; except that the title artifact bears little relation to the main plot!), TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944) and THE THIRD MAN (1949; not least the presence of two of its cast members

), but is perhaps too low-key to be really memorable. Nonetheless, the film has a remarkable cast (Trevor Howard, Anouk Aimee`, Herbert Lom, Walter Rilla, Miles Malleson, Jacques Sernas, Wilfrid Hyde-White) and nice, noir-ish atmosphere going for it - and is short enough (87 minutes, though some sources give this as 96!) to keep tedium at bay...which could result from its lack of incident (apart from a couple of confrontation scenes and a climactic fistfight between Howard and Lom) or the incongruous pairing of its two leads.

03/04/06: LE GUERRIERE DAL SENO NUDO (Terence Young, 1974) *1/2

A sexually-liberated (if not terribly explicit) peplum which inconceivably attracted an assortment of talent - director Young, cinematographer Aldo Tonti, production designer Mario Garbuglia, composer Riz Ortolani - but the result is jaw-droppingly awful, so much so that I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard (for all the wrong reasons) during a film! The warriors of the title are man-hating (i.e. lesbian

) Amazonian women who must go through the 'humiliation' of mating once a year with strong men (settling on a garrison of the Greek army, despite their well-known reputation as homosexuals

) in order to bear females to continue their line!

It's well and good that the film doesn't take itself too seriously - as can be witnessed from the self-deprecating text which opens and closes the picture - but that doesn't excuse the sheer insanity of some of its concepts: the Amazonians being able to avoid an ambush or detect an intruder in their camp because one of them is allergic to males and has a sneezing fit whenever she senses their presence; the mating is preceded by a ritual of anti-male chanting that is supposed to 'insulate' the women in the call of their duty, thus making submission (even if temporary) to the opposite sex tolerable. Also worth mentioning are the Olympian challenges between the two armies (which the men invariably lose?!), not one but two all-nude wrestling matches - no doubt inspired by the notorious male equivalent which forms the centerpiece of Ken Russell's WOMEN IN LOVE (1969) - between the current Amazonian Queen and her jealous and scheming rival (belatedly revealed as her own sibling, but which doesn't prevent them from subsequently becoming lovers!!), the stupid mugging of a love-struck servant girl who drinks an aphrodisiac prepared for the Queen by the conspirators...not forgetting the ludicrous art direction (everything in the Amazonian court, including the Queen's throne and scepter, seems to be made in the shape of an axe for no apparent reason!), the incongruous costumes (from the much later Roman Empire era), or the battle scenes in which the fighting Amazonians are barely-concealed stuntmen in drag!!

Apparently, LE GUERRIERE DAL SENO NUDO (which literally translates to THE BARE-BREASTED WARRIORS

but was known internationally as THE AMAZONS) was a rival production with the equally irresistible-sounding LE AMAZZONI - DONNE D' AMORE E DI GUERRA aka BATTLE OF THE AMAZONS (1973), directed by Al Bradley...er...Alfonso Brescia!

Jim_K · 03-05-2006, 07:30 AM

Update part III

First time viewings in Bold

Spaceways (1953)
British Sci-fi flick has a group of scientists developing a rocket to retrieve a satellite. Hammer Horror maestro Terrence Fisher seems a bit out of sorts working with the Sci-Fi genre.

Executive Suite (1954)
Robert Wise drama features a good cast but is ultimately wasted on a mundane story about corporate shenanigans.

I Want To Live (1958)
True life prison drama about Barbara Graham who was sentenced to the gas chamber for murder.

Exodus (1960)
Bloated and partly dull historical epic about the founding of the modern state of Israel.

This Sporting Life (1963)
Bleak drama stars Richard Harris as a poor British miner turned Rugby star.

The Best Man (1964)
Political drama stars Henry Fonda and a Richard Nixon-like Cliff Robertson as presidential candidates.

What’s New Pussycat (1965)
Peter O’Toole plays the king of all womanizers in this badly dated swingin’ 60’s comedy. Would you like to shag now or shag later? Yeaah Baby.

Atragon (1963)
Toho fantasy has the lost civilization of Mu attacking the world. The only thing that can stop ‘em is a prototype submarine that can fly and drill through solid earth and a renegade WWII Japanese Captain. Worth checking out if you’re a fan of the classic Godzilla films.

Dagora the Space Monster (1964)
An odd genre mix, monster/gangster film from Toho has giant translucent jellyfish-type space monsters hovering in the stratosphere. Seems the creatures have an appetite for carbon which gets in the way of a gang of diamond thieves.

Michael Elliott · 03-05-2006, 11:53 AM

Mario, I might end up buying THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY at some point if I can find a R2 version. Again, I'm not too keen on Criterion or their prices. I just don't think a studio should charge more because of their name.

And I don't want to hear how expensive or rare these titles are because smaller companies who are seller smaller units are doing just as much without charging $40. I know, I'm cheap.

As for Rollin, the gore goes over the top in most of his films. I read your original review where you said it seemed to be for gorehounds, which is true but if it wasn't for them both Rollin and Franco would be forgotten. These two names haven't taken off like Argento or Bava and the foreign community hasn't picked up on them either. I'd stay away from those R2 boxes since these are going to be released in America at a cheaper price. LIPS OF BLOOD would probably be his best film, although I still need to see THE RAPE OF A VAMPIRE and THE GRAPES OF DEATH, which should be in later in the week. Most of the R1 discs can be had very cheaply in various boxsets released by Image and ZOMBIE LAKE can be had for around $6.

With Franco, give me the lesbians, bad camera shots and Romay.

I prefer his early films over the recent One Shot Productions but that's not saying too much.

As for Columbia, can't stand them either. I don't buy many of their titles due to price but if they start re-releasing them in boxes, then I'll buy. I did that with the Cary Grant Collection.

However, Digital Eyes is having a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale on MGM titles, which I had to break down and buy 24 films from. I finally finished off my Woody Allen collection except for ZELIG and SHADOWS AND FOG, two films I really don't need. The sale also came at a good time since my father's birthday is later in the month.

I also went ahead and bought Columbia's Buster Keaton Collection even though I heard the films were pretty poor.

Jim_K · 03-05-2006, 12:17 PM

update part IV

First time viewings in Bold

Oliver (1968)
Musical adaptation of the famous Dickens tale. Again like Polanski’s recent film I prefer Lean’s ’48 version by far.

Anne of a Thousand Days (1969)
Top notch historical drama about the short lived marriage between Anne Boleyn (Genevieve Bujold) and Henry the VIII (Richard Burton). Add this to my never ending must-buy if it ever gets released on DVD list.

The Strangers Gundown (1969)
Crude Spaghetti western has a man returned from the grave to seek revenge. The story is very similar to and predates Eastwood’s superior High Plains Drifter, which only proves that some concepts can be improved upon.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Upgraded to the new 2-disc DVD set.

One of Al Pacino’s most memorable performances.

21 Hours at Munich(1976)
Fascinating account of the terrorist act at the 1972 Olympics. William Holden is as usual, very good however spaghetti western stalwart Franco Nero was surprisingly excellent as the leader of the terrorists.

Proof (1991)
Strange little dark comedy about a distrustful blind man (Hugo Weaving) who befriends a dishwasher (Russell Crowe).

Forgotten Silver (1995)
Peter Jackson’s mockumentary about a fictitious “lost” filmmaker. I’ll spare you the endless comparisons to other “like” movies.

Mario Gauci · 03-05-2006, 01:37 PM

Quotes (originally posted by Michael Elliott):

"Mario, I might end up buying THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY at some point if I can find a R2 version. Again, I'm not too keen on Criterion or their prices. I just don't think a studio should charge more because of their name. And I don't want to hear how expensive or rare these titles are because smaller companies who are seller smaller units are doing just as much without charging $40. I know, I'm cheap."

I'll be e-mailing you with regards to this title.

"As for Rollin, the gore goes over the top in most of his films. I read your original review where you said it seemed to be for gorehounds, which is true but if it wasn't for them both Rollin and Franco would be forgotten. These two names haven't taken off like Argento or Bava and the foreign community hasn't picked up on them either. I'd stay away from those R2 boxes since these are going to be released in America at a cheaper price. LIPS OF BLOOD would probably be his best film, although I still need to see THE RAPE OF A VAMPIRE and THE GRAPES OF DEATH, which should be in later in the week. Most of the R1 discs can be had very cheaply in various boxsets released by Image and ZOMBIE LAKE can be had for around $6."

I don't recall posting anything about Rollin on HTF before?! Still, I do hope you're right about his films getting re-released as "Special Editions" on R1 at a more affordable price - as I'd surely pick up a few in that case...

"As for Columbia, can't stand them either. I don't buy many of their titles due to price but if they start re-releasing them in boxes, then I'll buy. I did that with the Cary Grant Collection."

Thanks to your mentioning Digital Eyes, I managed to bag the elusive last 2 Columbia titles I had wanted, namely EXPERIMENT IN TERROR (1962) and CALIFORNIA SPLIT (1974)

!

"However, Digital Eyes is having a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale on MGM titles, which I had to break down and buy 24 films from. I finally finished off my Woody Allen collection except for ZELIG and SHADOWS AND FOG, two films I really don't need. The sale also came at a good time since my father's birthday is later in the month."

I purchased 6 MGM titles myself just now, thus getting 2 of them free

!

"I also went ahead and bought Columbia's Buster Keaton Collection even though I heard the films were pretty poor."

I'm not sure whether I'll purchase the set myself but this week I did receive the 2-Disc R2 Set of Keaton's masterpiece, THE GENERAL (1927) - which, among other extras, includes THE RAILRODDER (1965) and its "Making Of" companion piece BUSTER KEATON RIDES AGAIN (1965)

! A newly-released 3-Disc Set comprising Keaton's THREE AGES (1923), COLLEGE (1927) and STEAMBOAT BILL JR. (1928) seems to be similarly comprehensive; while it's incredibly tiresome to have to buy superior editions of stuff I already own, I'm not complaining that much since it concerns our beloved Buster...especially when considering that I already have both the Image and Warner DVDs of most of Chaplin's films (whom, as you know, I'm not that crazy about

)!