Track the Films You Watch (2006) - Page 48

Tarkin The Ewok · 08-28-2006, 02:54 PM

8/27: Sgt. Bilko

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This is one of my favorite comedies of all time. Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd, and all of the other actors turn in fine performances. The humor varies from sight gags to witty dialogue, and the misdirection used by Bilko is similar to the better episodes of I Dream of Jeannie. The plotting in the movie is masterful. The dominoes are all set up throughout the film, sometimes very subtly, and it all comes together at the end for a terrific conclusion.

Ted Lee · 08-28-2006, 06:49 PM

title: monty python: the meaning of life
rating: b
comments: some of the skits were uneven, but overall a pretty funny and enjoyable time. impressive that it still holds water after all this time.

george kaplan · 08-28-2006, 08:02 PM

Jurassic Park

I've been debating whether or not to let my son watch this. He loves dinosaurs, and there's nothing gorier in Jurassic Park than what they show on Dinosaur Planet (a tv show on the Discovery channel that he watches). It's conceptually 'scarier', but he handles that stuff well. My only real concern is the language. I have a pretty solid rule against letting him watch anything with language worse than hell or damn. This only has a couple, but it still gave me pause.

Anyway, I did let him watch it (and cringed at the word shit, which I'm pretty sure he didn't pay any attention to), and he loved it. He said the only part that was at all scary was the Samuel Jackson's bloody arm.

I'm now trying to remember how much cursing there was in Lost World.

george kaplan · 08-28-2006, 11:10 PM

Island of Lost Souls

Laughton is good, but this movie just drags, and is certainly not up to the top-notch horror films of the 30s. I think there was a leading man, but he was so bland, I'm not sure if he was doing an Invisible Man impersonation, or was just a figment of my imagination.

Joe Karlosi · 08-29-2006, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by george kaplan

Island of Lost Souls

Laughton is good, but this movie just drags, and is certainly not up to the top-notch horror films of the 30s. I think there was a leading man, but he was so bland, I'm not sure if he was doing an Invisible Man impersonation, or was just a figment of my imagination.

"Certainly" not up to the top-notch horror films of the 30s? It's certainly considered a classic and one of the best, though you may not agree with it...

Mario Gauci · 08-29-2006, 03:24 PM

08/25/06: MACHINE GUN McCAIN (Giuliano Montaldo, 1968) ***

This is a stylish, complex and exciting gangster melodrama (which Leonard Maltin in “Movies & Video Guide” calls “junk” and awards a mere **!) bolstered by an infectious Ennio Morricone score (especially the title ballad). Amazingly, it was shown on Italian TV at the time of the Cannes Film Festival as part of a series of past nominees; unfortunately, however, the print was of the choppy 94-minute U.S. version (bearing the Columbia logo upfront) and panned-and-scanned to boot (making the Techniscope compositions pretty claustrophobic)!! I’ve been unable to determine the film’s original length, but I’ve seen running-times as long as 119 minutes!

The film is well-served by a great cast: an intense and fearless John Cassavetes as the title character, a delectable Britt Ekland as a girl he meets and marries on being sprung from jail (who becomes an accomplice in his criminal schemes without batting an eyelid, at least in this version!), Peter Falk as a bad-tempered small-time hood whose ambitions see him clash with his ruthless superiors, Florinda Bolkan as his even more avaricious wife, Gabriele Ferzetti as the crossed Don who goes to teach Falk a lesson (and who seems to be having an affair with Bolkan!), Luigi Pistilli (rather under-used as Falk’s right-hand man), Salvo Randone (as the No. 1 Mafia Boss who keeps track of the situation from his New York office), Tony Kendall (as the hitman dispatched to eliminate both Falk and Cassavetes) and “Special Guest Star” Gena Rowlands (as McCain’s tough old flame – together they were a legendary criminal double-act, and the real-life couple demonstrate undeniable chemistry in their one scene together! – who, still having feelings for him, aids in his escape from the Mob and suffers the consequences for her actions). It’s an interesting mix of ‘styles’: the Italians give it authenticity, the women a touch of class and the two male stars (who, regrettably, don’t share any screen-time but were eventually re-teamed in a gangland milieu in MIKEY AND NICKY [1976] – which I recently watched – and where they were practically inseparable!) an aura of intelligence. Some sources credit The Doors’ frontman Jim Morrison in the role of a lackey, but it certainly didn’t seem like him to me!

The best sequence is the ingenious heist from a Las Vegas casino (indeed, the glitzy and often sleazy locations are a definite asset) and, in the cynical fashion of cinema in the late 60s, the films ends – rather abruptly – with a downbeat ‘curtain’. Montaldo didn’t make that many films but from the three I’ve watched – the others being the enjoyable light-hearted caper GRAND SLAM (1967) and the excellent IL GIOCATTOLO (1979), a Death Wish-type drama with a remarkable leading performance from Nino Manfredi – he certainly knew his business.

08/26/06: THUNDER ROCK (Roy Boulting, 1942) ***1/2

I had always wanted to watch this in view of its fantasy elements; I knew of the bare-bones R2 DVD but, considering the variable quality of prints available for old (and rare) British films, I was on the fence about purchasing it – the favorable DVD Beaver review, then, proved the deciding factor.

Given the little information there is about the film, I didn’t quite know what to expect: as it turned out, the propagandist elements are as much to the fore but it’s really the various human dramas contained within that are its most compelling aspect. Michael Redgrave (in one of his best roles) is the lone lighthouse keeper who was once a spokesman against the onslaught of Fascism (shown in a sequence of montages that clearly bear the influence of CITIZEN KANE [1941]), who has retired from the world when his warnings were dismissed. He’s able to withstand his remote existence by imagining how the passengers of a ship who drowned 90 years earlier near the titular location lived!; these events are then enacted for us and, with the help of ship’s captain Finlay Currie ‘acting’ as mediator, he’s able to communicate with them!!

This concept was not only very original but also rather cerebral (especially for the time) and is certainly its most intriguing trait; interestingly, all the passengers, like Redgrave himself, seem to be escaping from the intolerance of their own era! The life-stories of the individual passengers (though, for obvious reasons of time constraint, the writers opted to focus on only three) are all somewhat melodramatic but the one involving progressive doctor Frederick Valk and Lili Palmer (who even has feelings for Redgrave, i.e. he imagines she has!) is the most engaging.

The plot and setting allowed the director and cameraman (Max Greene, who later shot Jules Dassin’s British-made noir NIGHT AND THE CITY [1950]) to experiment with light and shadow which, along with the literary dialogue (it was adapted from a play by Robert Ardrey that was intended to urge America into World War II, which had already happened by the time the film came out!) and the marvelous ensemble acting, emerges as one of the film’s most impressive qualities. As a matter of fact, the cast was made up of established, upcoming and (to me) unfamiliar names but, apart from the ones already mentioned, James Mason’s all-too brief appearance as Redgrave’s sparring pal – who has no qualms about doing his thing for the war effort – is especially notable.

The climax, too, is terrific: first, we have the ‘ghosts’ realizing what has really happened to them (shades of “Outward Bound” but also looking forward to THE SIXTH SENSE [1999]) and, then, their refusal to ‘leave’ unless Redgrave goes back to civilization and do his duty (his being dominated by entities he’s supposed to be controlling himself, interestingly enough, foreshadows his unforgettable turn as the Ventriloquist in the celebrated horror compendium DEAD OF NIGHT [1945] – which, incidentally, also featured Valk as a doomed doctor!).

The Boulting Brothers – John produced the film while his twin brother Roy directed it, but they often exchanged roles! – always liked to tackle topical subjects and, though they later concentrated on satires, their sober earlier efforts were no less effective as clearly demonstrated by this neglected gem but also the noir about the British underworld BRIGHTON ROCK (1947) and the semi-documentary anti-Nuclear tale SEVEN DAYS TO NOON (1950).

08/27/06: SONS AND LOVERS (Jack Cardiff, 1960) ***1/2

This exquisite adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s novel is famed cinematographer Jack Cardiff’s most accomplished film as a director; in fact, he was nominated and indeed won several major Best Direction awards (including the Golden Globe). Sadly, none of his other directorial efforts were anywhere near as rewarding although I’d still like to watch at least 2 of them – the epic THE LONG SHIPS (1963) and the horror film THE MUTATIONS (1974; a SE DVD of which has been released under the title THE FREAKMAKER).

Amazingly, this was a Hollywood production (made by 20th Century Fox) and, as such, leading man Dean Stockwell (who was probably never better) was imposed on Cardiff by producer Jerry Wald – though he seems to have been pleased with his performance. The acting of the Oscar-nominated Trevor Howard (as Stockwell’s boorish and drunkard coal-miner father) and Mary Ure (as the married but separated young suffragette with whom Stockwell has an affair), as well as Wendy Hiller (as his strong but possessive mother), is irreproachable. The supporting cast includes Ernest Thesiger (in one of his last films) and Donald Pleasence, with both unfortunately having limited screen-time.

Freddie Francis’ luminous black-and-white cinematography earned the film its only Oscar; interestingly, Francis also followed in Cardiff’s footsteps and became a film director himself (with similarly erratic results, ironically enough). Mario Nascimbene’s lovely music score and the film’s vivid recreation of an era (in authentic locations, no less) add immeasurably to its lasting impression.

The coal-mine setting recalls earlier films like Carol Reed’s THE STARS LOOK DOWN (1939) and John Ford’s HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941), with which it can be favorably compared. Still, for all its quaint Englishness and the inherent sentimentality of its narrative, the film is a remarkably adult and frank depiction of sexual and artistic awakening vis-à-vis repressed Edwardian society and, together with Ken Russell’s equally celebrated adaptation of WOMEN IN LOVE (1969), remains undoubtedly the finest screen rendition of D. H. Lawrence’s work.

It’s a shame, therefore, that this is as yet unavailable on R1 DVD but the R2 edition I own is a more than adequate substitute, with a very nice-looking print of the main feature, surprisingly strong audio and, apart from the basic supplements of the original theatrical trailer and a stills gallery, features a wonderful interview with Cardiff about the making of SONS AND LOVERS (interspersed with relevant clips from the film itself) which clocks in at around half-an-hour.

george kaplan · 08-29-2006, 04:12 PM

An Eastern Westerner

I bought the Harold Lloyd Collection vol. 1, for the sole purpose of getting the fantastic Safety Last!, and am just now getting around to checking out the other films on it. First up is this 3 reeler (I guess it's closer to a 2 1/2 reeler), that's got some good stuntwork as usual, but isn't anything particularly special or memorable.

george kaplan · 08-29-2006, 10:52 PM

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Not all remakes are a bad idea. This is much better, IMO, than the original, which isn't the Lubitsch film of the same name, but a film called Here Comes Mr. Jordan.

I stopped paying attention to the NFL when the (superbowl-less) Rams left L.A., but at least in this film, we have the L.A. Rams winning the Super Bowl, which will have to do until the stupid NFL gets a team back into a major market (off-topic, but how the hell could the NFL have left L.A. teamless for so long?!?). Hopefully a real L.A. team will exist again soon, and win the Super Bowl for real.

SteveGon · 08-30-2006, 07:45 AM

Mario, glad you enjoyed Thunder Rock.

Sons and Lovers sounds good - I'll have to check it out.

Quote:

...which Leonard Maltin in “Movies & Video Guide” calls “junk” and awards a mere **!

He also gave i am sam ***1/2!