Track the Films You Watch (2010) - Page 34

10/12/10: ILLUSION TRAVELS BY STREETCAR (Luis Bunuel, 1954)

On first viewing – again, as part of that 2007 Bunuel/NFT retrospective – I had found this to be an enjoyable but rather insubstantial comedy; on this revisit, my opinion has not changed about this minor work from the celebrated Spanish director. Indeed, I was surprised to learn (from the opening credits) that Bunuel was not even involved in the screenwriting process of this one – although, I do not think it is a coincidence that the film’s comic highlight is a wonderful “Garden of Eden” pageant sequence early on (in which the three protagonists playing God, Adam and a swim-suited Eve, are tormented by a heavily-horned Lucifer wearing a shirt sporting the word “serpent”!).    

The film is fairly similar to Bunuel’s earlier (and superior) Mexican ‘road movie’ ASCENT TO HEAVEN aka MEXICAN BUS RIDE (1952) in that it is set, for the most part, on a means of public transportation. Besides, its plotline of an ancient vehicle being taken for one last ride before ending up in a scrapheap also harks back to such classic comedies as Harold Lloyd’s SPEEDY (1928) and Ealing’s practically contemporaneous THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT (1953). Incidentally, Bunuel’s cinematic idol Fritz Lang, made his own railroad movie that same year: the noir-ish melodrama HUMAN DESIRE (which I own but have yet to watch) – itself a remake of Jean Renoir’s LA BETE HUMAINE (1938).

As usual with Bunuel’s films from this period, it starts with a faux-documentary narration and, in this case, amusingly concludes on a “this was just one of a thousand stories” line a` la Jules Dassin’s seminal noir THE NAKED CITY (1948). The director’s depiction of the downtrodden Mexican villagers’ everyday life (culminating in a riot when the smuggling of corn as fertilizer is accidentally discovered by one of the bumbling protagonists) brought on comparisons with Italy’s then-current Neo-realist movement – something which Bunuel readily denied. Indeed, while the story could well have been inspired by a similarly liberating ride through the streets of Paris made by the Surrealist movement in 1931, the truth is that the film was commissioned by a nascent Mexican public transport company to counter the bad press caused by an accident they had had the previous year!

Two regular actors from Bunuel’s work in Mexico – the lovely Lilia Prado and the amiably rotund Fernando “Mantequilla” Soto (as a streetcar conductor named Tarrajas) – also appear here, alongside Carlos Navarro (as Prado’s streetcar mechanic boyfriend) and Agustín Isunza (as Papa Pinillos, a nosy ex-railroad employee). The perennially frustrated attempts of the two company employees to take back the streetcar they stole before its absence is discovered is paralleled by Papa Pinillos’ constantly dismissed claims of this very theft to his pompous former employers.

Among the commuters who inadvertently get to make use of the runaway streetcar (the film’s alternate title)  are: a schoolmistress with her classroom of unruly children who are, eventually, stranded on a film set (an orphan in their midst is told that the long-legged starlet being made-up is his long-lost mother!); two elderly ladies carrying a statue of Jesus Christ in Ecce Homo guise; a couple of ‘penniless’ politicians; a clueless American tourist who mistakes the protagonists’ reluctance to accept fare – which would have aggravated their misdemeanor – as “Communist” behavior (possibly, former party member Bunuel’s barbed comment on the “Red Scare” then currently scourging through Hollywood); and, most memorably, slaughterhouse workers carrying their slabs of meat along as ‘luggage’! I cannot forget to mention that, very early on in the film, there is also a throwaway laugh-out-loud moment when a billboard reads: “Well…so what?”

P.S. Surprisingly enough, the film played without a glitch on my Philips DVD player which, usually, has a lot of trouble dealing with DivX files!

10/14/10: WUTHERING HEIGHTS (Luis Bunuel, 1954)

Emily Bronte’s immortal gothic romance has always had a place in my home: an illustrated comic-book abridgment for children that, unwisely, my Dad once took to school with him met with the misplaced ire of his Headmaster, tearing it in half and claiming that reading comics was a waste of time! – my Dad diligently taped the thing back together again and still owns that sutured copy to this very day; thanks to recurring screenings on a now-defunct Sicilian TV channel, the classic 1939 film version (to the undersigned, still multi-Oscar-winning director William Wyler’s finest achievement) was one of the very first examples that got me acquainted with ‘the golden age of Hollywood’; and I even had to study the original text when sitting for my English “A” level exams!

According to the IMDb, there are in all 35 adaptations of WUTHERING HEIGHTS for film or TV and another one should be hitting theaters next year! Apart from the aforementioned Wyler, at least three other notable film-makers tried their hands at transposing Bronte’s tale of doomed love onto the screen: Luis Bunuel (in Mexico in 1954), Robert Fuest (in England in 1970, which I should be watching presently) and Jacques Rivette (in France in 1985). Although it might seem surprising that an iconoclast like Bunuel came to be involved in making a film out of such a popular ‘women’s  novel’, it becomes possible once one realizes how much its all-enveloping theme of l’amour fou made it a favorite of the Surrealist movement.      

Indeed, Bunuel had already adapted it into a screenplay back in 1931 but only after his career was getting back on its feet, trudging in the generic Mexican film industry, was he able to obtain the necessary finance to shoot it. Not that he did not have to make compromises in realizing his long-gestating vision: in fact, Bunuel was displeased with his two leads (who were unceremoniously foisted upon him by his producer when a proposed musical comedy project fell through!). Revisiting the film again after three years, while I concede that they did not exactly rise up to the demands of their roles, they were adequate enough under the circumstances – with Irasema Dilian making for a compulsively impulsive Catalina and Jorge Mistral (the spitting image of Victor Mature!) a feral Alejandro forever smashing through windows. Perhaps as a consequence of this, the film takes care to give ample screen-time to the other characters apart from the central couple; in fact, the cast is rounded up by Bunuel regulars Ernesto Alonso (as Catalina’s fey butterfly-collecting husband Eduardo) and Lilia Prado (as Alejandro’s long-suffering wife Isabel), as well as Luis Aceva Castaneda (as Catalina’s brutish brother Ricardo). The latter, perennially drunk and penniless, treats his own son as badly as he had treated Alejandro as a kid, or as Alejandro does now to his own wife. Besides, in true Bunuel style, Ricardo’s two-faced servant (played by Francisco Reiguera, the Don Quixote of Orson Welles’ infamously aborted venture!) is heard constantly reciting passages from the Holy Bible!

To counter any shortcomings in the acting department, Bunuel turns the film into one of his most visually striking works – never more so than in the literally explosive graveyard finale (an invention of the film-makers, by the way) that is the literal embodiment of the Surrealist ethos of sex and death: Alejandro, sobbing inconsolably on his beloved’s tomb, imagines the gun-toting silhouette of  Ricardo to be a wedding-dress-clad Catalina beckoning him and proceeds to get half his face blown off by the vengeful foster-brother!  It is such a powerful image that it has haunted me ever since I first saw it projected at the National Film Theatre in London in January 2007 – following that which remains the most memorable theatrical screening I have ever attended, where a double dose of UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1929) and L’AGE D’OR (1930) left the 700-strong audience literally stunned in their seats for minutes on end…long after the lights came on again and almost until WUTHERING HEIGHTS itself was about to start!

Bunuel’s adaptation, retitled “Depths of Passion”, is effectively transposed to Mexico and opens on a shot of buzzards lying in wait upon barren trees. The narrative also starts half-way through Bronte’s novel – with Alejandro returning as a wealthy man and the entire depiction of his mistreatment as a child at the hands of Ricardo discarded. The recurring Wagner music, previously used in L’AGE D’OR, was intended only for the finale but, absenting himself to Cannes during post-production, the director was shocked to discover that the composer had utilized it all through the film! Unlike a Bunuel scholar like Francisco Aranda – who, in 1975, wrote that “it is a masterwork from start to finish” – I do not consider WUTHERING HEIGHTS to be as successful an adaptation of a famous literary piece as ROBINSON CRUSOE (1952; the other Children’s Classic Bunuel filmed in Mexico) but I can hardly disagree that it is “a film that is entirely worthy of its director” as film critic Claude Beylie opined. Indeed, the incestuous, irrational ‘from-beyond-the-grave’ love of Alejandro and Catalina links this film with the Julien Bertheau segment in the much later Bunuel classic THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY (1974). It is no wonder, then, that the director considered Henry Hathaway’s similarly ethereal romance PETER IBBETSON (1935) as being “one of the ten best films ever made”!

Despite the popularity of the source novel and the legendary reputation of its director, this Mexican version of WUTHERING HEIGHTS is largely unknown today. It was shown only once in the distant past in my neck of the woods but, lately, it has become a staple of Saturday nights on one particular Italian TV channel. Incidentally, I had previously acquired a copy of it where the English subtitles refused to work but, thankfully, that was eventually replaced!

Ahhhhh.....We certainly disagree on "Dracula (Horror of)" and "The Mummy's Shroud".

I could go into my many reasons for disliking (while certainly acknowledging it's historically massive importance) "Dracula" as both it's own film as an adaptation of the novel... but I won't.

I've done it far too many times.  

VERY happy to be in the minority with my views on this one.

But yes Cushing is grand.

I think you sold "Shroud" short though. Especially in your remarks about Michael Ripper.

I shall drastically edit my own review;

“The Mummy’s Shroud” starts off deceptively poor in many ways.

The needlessly long (7 minutes!) pre-credits flashback sequence gives us far too much unnecessary background story and sports Egyptian sets that can certainly be described as fun if not remotely convincing. 
Add in the fact that most of the Egyptians are played by podgy white guys with 'instant tan' smeared on and things do not look good.

The look of the Mummy itself is also poor and is let down by the fitted-suit looking bandages and extremely obvious eyeholes in them through which can be seen the rather too well preserved eyes of stuntman Eddie Powell.

But when the expedition return out of the desert the movie suddenly erupts with engaging character moments and interaction , some (I stress, some) excellent performances and some very well crafted horror moments.

The violence and bloodshed may be pretty restrained here but there is a palpable air of merciless brutality that surrounds from the Mummy and its attacks and the first murder in particular is very well done and delivers a real punch.
Another thudding (literally) death scene is when the Mummy casually hurls a poor soul through a window to smash onto the concrete below, a scene that delivers a rare splash of crimson to the proceedings.

But it is really the characters and the actors performances that make “The Mummy’s Shroud” ultimately such a success.
Michael Ripper is given a far bigger role than normal here and he does an exceptional job.
He has some marvellous scenes and delivers moments of real pathos where you can truly feel his self-loathing at his own cowardess thanks to Ripper’s astute line delivery and subtle facial movements.

John Phillips delivers a suitably blustering, bullying performance Andre Morell is underused here but adds a seriousness to the film that is sometimes missing in some of the more tongue in cheek performances and only Maggie Kimberly (who was basically given no dialogue in “Witchfinder General” for a reason) really lets the side down. Luckily she is not given that much to do.

The occasional moments of theatrical camp ensure the film remains very entertaining between the genuine scares far more than most 'Hammer' films around this period (like the dull as dishwater between the fangs "Dracula: Prince of Darkness"), but at the same time it means the first half of the film is not quite as dark as it perhaps should have been.

But it is all the many rich and interesting characters which make "The Mummy's Shroud" so damn watchable even when it moves away from it’s horror elements. 
And Director John Gillling certainly brings energy to the Mummy’s violent assaults.

So despite the less than impressive looking Mummy and the dubious Egyptian make-up and sets, the effective horror sequences, the mainly fine acting and interesting characters ensure that "The Mummy's Shroud" is one of 'Hammer's' most satisfying, multi-layered and entertaining films. 
Nice gutsy finale too. 

"One-Eyed Monster" - 

Silly, crude and extremely crass this low budget parody/homage horror film is also a whole lot of fun.
Ron Jeremy gets zapped by an Alien force (while making a porn film in a snow bound cabin) resulting in his famous appendage detaching itself and going on a kill crazy, impregnating, frenzy.

It tends to be very tame with the nudity (in a film about a porn film crew getting attacked by a killer cock that's a surprise indeed) and a bit too tame in the gore department but the whole basic idea is crude and grotesque enough (and some of the dialogue is extremely explicit as well) that the film manages to be suitably disgusting in general while we wait to catch the odd gory aftermath, or killer cock itself, shots to arrive.

The acting is surprisingly strong from everyone and as always Ron Jeremy is an extremely likeable and enjoyable presence for the short time he's on camera. 
Hats off too for the legendary Charles Napier who has loads of fun as a 'Quint' parody character who, just like Robert Shaw in "Jaws", has a wonderfully OTT wartime horror story to tell about his own killer cock experience in Vietnam.

The very occasional rubber cock FX are dopey but fun and come into their own during the outrageous 'vaginal muscles power' finale that leads to an obvious (indeed signposted early on) end credit's twist that rounds the whole silly endeavour off perfectly.

Sit back, unplug brain, crack open a cold one and just enjoy "One-Eyed Monster" for the silly, crass, gross fun it is.


"Walled In" - 

An unsettling opening scene (the drowning of a terrified young girl in wet cement) does not translate into anything powerful or unsettling in the rest of the film. This is dull, illogical and old hat.
Jump scares, scary noises, scary shadows etc etc is the be all and end all of the horror here and it would be old hat in a 50's movie.

Things pick up a bit at the end, but then the plot also shows all those holes in it to a greater degree and all in all "Walled In" is not worth anyone's time.


"Last Train to Gun Hill" - .5

The mighty Kirk Douglas is a Sheriff in search of justice when he finds out the man who raped and killed his wife was the Son of an old friend, Anthony Quinn.

Some nice performances (if rather old school melodramatic) and some well staged action/suspense scenes but the finale is overly melodramatic an obvious and the 'dying words' set-up now looks achingly cheesy.
But the cast and some of the set-pieces make this worth a look.


"North by Northwest" - 

A stunning new blu ray transfer brings this icon to new life (it is darker than SD DVD releases with some very deep blacks and more shadowed details, but supposedly this is how it should look due to it not being overly brightened for SD clarity) with pin sharp details and even some impressive depth of field in wider shots containing numerous actors, like in the auction house sequence.

Cary Grant is of course brilliant as the confused and harassed Ad-Executive mistaken for a U.S. spy, by a Commie spy played to suave perfection by the mighty James Mason, and just drips old school Hollywood glamour, sex-appeal and true movie star charisma.
Eva Marie Saint is the typical Hitchcock blonde and looks great and handles the scenes of sophisticated sexuality with Grant perfectly.

Some of the dialogue is amazing during these aforementioned scenes between her and Grant, but some is now just too cornball cheesy for sure, but overall their back and forth playful flirting on the train (that does indeed drip with sly, sophisticated, sexual explicitness without it ever being remotely explicit) adds some classic Hollywood romantic charm to the suspense and comedy.
And said comedic highlights have to be the brilliant scenes of a drunken Grant phoning his Mother at the courthouse, their brief investigation partnership and the excellent auction house/picked up by the cops scenes.

But there are so many other moments to savour here. The initial meeting between Grant and Mason (with a cat like Martin Landau purring away in the background) is magnificent, as is a later scene of Mason and Landau and a certain gun and the ever welcome Leo G Carrol plays benevolent, but utterly ruthless, charm like no other and his airport scene with Grant is another one-on-one acting highlight.

Suspense highlights are everywhere of course and all the famous moments hold up and even though most of them embrace utterly illogical set-ups and reasoning they all work on a comic strip, boys own, adventure level (the famous crop dusting plane/chase sequence is a perfect example of this mixture of tight suspense crafting within a preposterous initial set-up) and when combined with the great old school acting chops and charisma of the main cast and the enjoyable comedic touches some of the more drippy, corny, romantic moments can be forgiven.

Classic for a reason, and the new blu ray means this is now a classic that has had all of it's undying classic elements brought to 21st century visual life.


"Ever Again" - .5

No messing documentary on the shocking rise of Anti-Semitism around the Western world.
It does suffer from it's avoidance of some of the many repulsively sexist, homophobic and all round radical thought connected to radical Judaism and a rather blanket 'there's nothing wrong with Israel' stance (there are a number of things to criticise actually) and that tends to get in the way of the far more important message...that of the rampant, unknown since WWII, hatred showed towards perfectly peaceful Jews all around Europe simply for being Jews.

The main focus is the growing danger from 'radical' Islam which by far (except in Germany itself where it is mostly from Far Right/Nazi groups) is the main source of the growing attacks on Jews. 
The stories of Jews (who have never blown anyone up in buses, trains, planes or nightclubs) in Europe and the UK who have been attacked and abused with complete and utter freedom for their attackers to do so is scary indeed.

Anyone with a brain and eyes can see the marriage of the far left and extreme Islam but I was surprised by the information here about just how closely Neo-Nazis themselves are aligning themselves with Islamists.
I certainly had no idea that the infamous Finsbury Mosque in London held the conversion ceremony's of numerous Neo-Nazi's when they converted to Islam.

The Nazi's themselves (in their various new forms) are shown to be frighteningly more powerful and numerous now than they have been for many years in Germany and some of the concert footage of Neo-Nazi groups singing about 'thrusting their blades into Jewish flesh' and 'greasing the guillotine blade with Jew fat' are unsettling indeed.

Overall then some of the Hitler/Nazi/Holocaust/WW2 comparisons with today gets a bit too much screen time and a rather too blinkered approach to Israel mars things a bit, but wade through some of that and you have a refreshingly frank and blunt look (something never allowed in almost all Western media) at the, unprecedented in my lifetime, anti-Semitism rapidly growing and spreading in what are supposed enlightened, modern, Western societies.

10/15/10: ASCENT TO HEAVEN (Luis Bunuel, 1952)     

This is a slight but highly enjoyable Bunuel film that makes for a fine companion piece to the later ILLUSION TRAVELS BY STREETCAR (1954) – with which it shares its leading lady (Lilia Prado) and its folksy ‘road movie’ theme While the IMDb gives its running time as being 85 minutes, the copy I acquired runs for just 74 (as does the R2 Yume DVD and the NFT print I caught back in January 2007); even so, the film somehow manages to lose steam in its latter stages and proceeds to end rather lamely!

Having said that, there is still much to savor here: Prado burns up the screen as a bombshell nymph who, sporting the skimpiest of outfits, teases the life out of the just-married protagonist (Esteban Marquez) and is herself pursued by a deluded politician (Manuel Donde`). Another performer that stands out is Luis Aceves Castaneda (who would go on to play Ricardo two years later in Bunuel’s powerful version of WUTHERING HEIGHTS) as the laid-back bus conductor; in fact, both he and Donde` were singled out for recognition at that year’s Ariel awards (as were the film itself, its original story and Bunuel for his direction)! Incredibly enough, such a seemingly simple storyline necessitated the collaboration of five writers(!) including poet Manuel Altolaguirre, an old acquaintance of Bunuel’s from his student days, and on whose real-life experiences the film was based. Amusingly enough, the editor on this one, Rafael Portillo, would go on to direct all three “Aztec Mummy” movies!

ASCENT TO HEAVEN (equally well-known under the more prosaic title MEXICAN BUS RIDE) also competed at that year’s Cannes Film Festival (where it surprisingly won the “Avant-Garde” award!) against such worthier contenders as Orson Welles’ OTHELLO (the eventual co-winner, with Renato Castellani’s TWO PENNYWORTH OF HOPE, of the Grand Prize), Vincente Minnelli’s AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951), William Wyler’s DETECTIVE STORY (1951), Christian-Jaque’s FANFAN LA TULIPE, Vittorio De Sica’s UMBERTO D, Elia Kazan’s VIVA ZAPATA! and three more movies which still lie in my dreaded unwatched pile: Andre` Cayatte’s WE ARE ALL MURDERERS, Alberto Lattuada’s THE OVERCOAT and Gian Carlo Menotti’s THE MEDIUM (1951)!

Eventful bus rides have long been a tradition in Cinema and the vintage British examples FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH (1933) and THE RUNAWAY BUS (1954) are two more I own but, alas, have yet to check out. In his treatment of this theme, Bunuel includes some pertinent parallel occurrences: a boy’s childbirth and a little girl’s funeral; a mother’s birthday celebration (complete with musical interlude) and another one’s lonely death; the missed meeting between Marquez and his mother is made up for in the way he, ironically, adopts treachery – by imprinting his mother’s fingerprints on the unsigned legal document after her demise – to ensure that her deathbed wishes are observed!

Indeed, the protagonist’s constantly thwarted attempts of reaching a notary in time for his moribund mother to put her will on paper – interrupting his own wedding so that he and his nephew will not be cheated out of their rightful inheritance by his two greedy brothers – looks forward not only to ILLUSION TRAVELS BY STREETCAR itself but also to Bunuel’s much later Oscar-winning masterpiece THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (1972). Similarly, Prado’s initially unsuccessful attempts to seduce Marquez recall Fernando Rey’s unenviable situation in THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE (1977). Besides, the influx of American tourists into this Mexican everyday scenario predates similar occurrences in both ILLUSION and THE CRIMINAL LIFE OF ARCHIBALDO DE LA CRUZ (1955). Bunuel’s indictment of progress is also amusingly brought out here in a sequence where the bus, stuck in the mud-banks of a stream, is eventually pulled out of its predicament by two oxen guided by a little girl (rather than a nearby tractor which is equally ineffective in these aquatic surroundings – despite having its driver held at gunpoint by the irritable politician)!  

The deceptively spiritual title – not only is the island setting of San Jeronimito without a church (so that marrying couples need to sail to a neighboring island to consecrate their union) but it specifically refers to a particularly dangerous local mountain pass – could also be referring to the impending death of Marquez’s mother; the fate that, according to a drunken Castaneda, awaits his saintly mother for bearing such a godless son; or even a metaphorical allusion to Marquez’s ecstasy at the consummation of his lust for Prado (while stranded between two ledges on that very titular spot, no less)! His long-repressed desires had already been externalized in an extraordinary dream sequence where he imagines the bus as, first a field (where his dalliance is disturbed by a horde of stray sheep!) and then a stream (where his wife turns into his lover) and, finally, his mother is propped atop a pillar – 13 years before Bunuel’s own SIMON OF THE DESERT! – peeling an apple (like the one that he and Prado had shared moments before) whose skin forms itself into a veritable umbilical cord all the way into her son’s mouth! And what should Prado ask him when he wakes up from this reverie if not “Where you thinking of me?” – anticipating the famous opening dream sequence and its aftermath of Bunuel’s biggest box office hit BELLE DE JOUR (1967)! Incidentally, another subtly surreal touch is having the bus and another vehicle face each other on a narrow mountain pass where neither of them can possibly reverse to let the other one through...and yet, inexplicably and off-screen, the situation has been resolved by the next shot! 

As can be seen from the above, ASCENT TO HEAVEN is no mere populist picaresque comedy; however, I would still single it out as perhaps the ideal ‘minor’ Bunuel Mexican film to start out with for newcomers and it is unsurprising that the Spanish director himself is said to have been very fond of it.

10/15/10: A WOMAN WITHOUT LOVE (Luis Bunuel, 1952)

This wholly typical Mexican melodrama is a modernization of Guy de Maupassant’s “Pierre and Jean” which had already been filmed, straightforwardly, by Andre` Cayatte in 1943. Tellingly, Luis Bunuel dismisses it as his worst film in his celebrated memoirs, “My Last Breath”; although I disagree with him myself and nominate his musical comedy GRAN CASINO (1947) for that dubious honor, it is hard to argue that it is the least Bunuelian (and, reportedly, the most Mexican) of all his films! Strangely – for a Bunuel film of this period – it is also technically flawless, with high production values, notable sets and lush cinematography; in fact, I would go on to say that A WOMAN WITHOUT LOVE is never dull and most lesser directors would be proud to call this film their best work!

Although we have here yet another improbable happy ending here (relatively speaking), it has none of the underlying parodic intent of SUSANA (1951) and is meant to be taken at face value. What is ironic, on the other hand, is the fate that befalls the titular character: a beautiful young woman, married to a much older man, falls in love with a handsome engineer but, for the love of her son and ailing husband, selflessly sacrifices her own happiness – only to be branded a wanton woman by her contemptuous older son (through whose absence as a kid she had met her lover in the first place) when it becomes clear that his younger brother was the fruit of that illicit affair! Given that the older son’s relationship with his stern father was hardly a friendly one anyhow, what irks him is not his younger brother’s new-found inheritance (which the latter is more than willing to share) or that he had also stolen his girlfriend/colleague – but the knowledge that his mother had been sexually active with another man during wedlock! Thus, he turns into an embittered misogynist taking out his ire on his sister-in-law, another lustful colleague he used to pursue in happier times and, especially, his brokenhearted mother. Besides, it is significant that while the mother’s lover had been an industrious engineer, her elderly husband was a tightfisted antiquarian; even so, it is the former who dies young while the latter (forever on the brink of collapsing from a heart attack) survives him by many years – until dying, of all days, after one final confrontation with the older son (and one drink too many) at the wedding reception of his other son and, it should be noted, before ever finding out about his wife’s infidelity!

One of the unheralded pleasures of watching these modest movies from Bunuel’s Mexican period back-to-back is recognizing the actors from one film to the next; therefore we have here Rosario Granados (as the mother; she was also in 1949’s THE GREAT MADCAP), Tito Junco (as the engineer; he would later appear in both DEATH IN THE GARDEN [1956] and THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL [1962]), Julio Villareal (as the husband; he was also in GRAN CASINO), Joaquin Cordero (playing the older son; he was later to star in 1955’s THE RIVER AND DEATH) and Javier Loya` (in the role of the younger son; he was not only in the director’s earlier DAUGHTER OF DECEIT [1951], but would go on to appear in THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL).

Although A WOMAN WITHOUT LOVE has, somewhat surprisingly, been given a R1 DVD release, I opted to acquire the film through alternative channels – a decision I now rather regret since my copy was intermittently plagued with instances of garbled sound! By the way, I do not know if it was intentional or not but, when Jeanne Bunuel (the Spanish film-maker’s French widow) issued her own autobiography which, reportedly, was occasionally unflattering to her husband, she chose to give it a similar title to the film under review i.e. “Memoirs Of A Woman Without A Piano”!

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? - Since Artists and Models is far and away the best Dean & Jerry movie, I've been wanting to check out more by Frank Tashlin. This one doesn't hit quite the same manic peaks, but it's a fun and smart satire of 50's corporate ambition, celebrity obsession, advertising, and artificiality in general. Jayne Mansfield makes a pretty good ersatz Marilyn, Tony Randall is a natural in his role, and it's great to see Joan Blondell still hanging in there. There's a lot of double-entendre, amusing wordplay, and some clever fourth-wall breaking, especially the witty opening. Some of the gags fall flat, though, and there are a couple of moments where the actors seem to be awkwardly pausing for laughs. Rating: 8


The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail - Although there's little greatness in this film, it does look forward to future great Kurosawa works. The basic premise -- an effort to smuggle a person of nobility under disguise through enemy territory -- is the same as Hidden Fortress, including the comic relief. And some of the trudging through the woods cinematography brings to mind Rashomon. You could even say the fact there are seven in the party (not including the porter) links it to Seven Samurai, though that's a bigger stretch. There's a lot that doesn't work here... the sets are very cheap (perhaps crippled by a wartime budget), the comic character played by Kenichi Enomoto is very broad, and the last quarter of the brief film is devoted to an odd anti-climax. Still, it manages to be pretty entertaining, particularly during the confrontation with the border guards which makes up the core of the film. Slight but fun, with some nice touches, including the unusual use of song. Rating: 7


Union Station - This unassuming little kidnapping thriller doesn't seem like much at first, but develops into a tight, tense film noir. There's a thick level of brutality here, including a blind girl getting slapped around and what is likely the only instance of someone getting killed by a bull stampede in a noir. The climax involves a beautifully photographed and perfectly crafted chase, and there's a lot of other great scenes (although some of the connecting tissue isn't that hot). Nice performances from Bill Holden, Nancy Olson, Barry Fitzgerald, Lyle Bettger, Jan Sterling and the rest. The Holden/Olson relationship could've developed more naturally, but it works well enough. Just an all-around solid good time for a noir fan, and in my opinion much better than Maté's other film from the same year, D.O.A. Rating: 8


Boats Out of Watermelon Rinds - One of those movies where I can't remember why I wanted to see it. But I've never seen any Turkish films besides those by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, so why not? It's the tale of young boys who yearn to open a movie theater in their tiny, impoverished village, and try to earn money working crap jobs in a nearby town. A very engaging look at class differences, impossible dreams, and a deep love of cinema. The overall tone is similar to Cinema Paradiso but less cloying and more inventive. Recep's attempted courtship of an older town girl is quite touching without getting too cheap or sentimental. Director Ahmet Ulucay, in his feature debut, exploits the subjectivity of the camera in several unusual and intriguing ways... the effect is occasionally indulgent, but mostly charming. The actors are very good, with the exception of their simple-minded friend "Crazy Omer" who becomes a bit annoying and seems to overplay his role a bit. He's the low point in otherwise delightful and interesting picture. Rating: 8


Grace of My Heart - I've always been curious about this movie... it looked enjoyable, but not good enough to prioritize. At last I gave it a look. It turns out I wasn't missing much. The film plays out like a by-the-numbers biopic, except about a fictional person. Except not really, because Edna is so clearly based on Carole King that you wonder why Allison Anders didn't just make a movie about King. Of course, then they wouldn't have been able to squeeze in Matt Dillon as the ersatz Brian Wilson character. And the way Anders shoehorns in various "looking through the prism of the era" moments to briefly comment on social issues (race, lesbianism, abortion) is painfully transparent. It's just not very impressive filmmaking on any level, and most of the characters are poorly written, and poorly performed. Illeana Douglas is the saving grace (har de har har) and she has a captivating screen presence that makes the movie watchable even when it's being ridiculous. The other bonus is the choice soundtrack. I was already familiar with the brilliant Costello/Bacharach collaboration "God Give Me Strength", and while it serves as the high point, there are still a lot of other great tunes. Particularly during the first half, which gave me a hankering for some Brill Building classics. But here's a sidenote that was just fucking weird: when you see the back of Edna's breakthrough album... all the titles are Nick Drake songs. What the hey? I even turned on the commentary for an explanation, but there was none forthcoming. Anyway, bottom line: has some redeeming qualities but I wouldn't really recommend it. Rating: 6


The Belly of an Architect (rewatch) - After having seen the light with A Zed and Two Noughts, I've been wanting to revisit other Greenaway films that didn't click with me the last time. I still think this one isn't among his best, but it's far better than I gave it credit for. Even Chloe Webb's performance isn't as dreadful as I once thought (still miscast, though). The worst you can say about it is that it isn't nearly as dense as Greenaway's finest work, and seems rather one-note throughout much of it. But there are intriguing elements, particularly in the repeated references to the compartmentalization of the body. And Dennehy is quite good. Sacha Vierny's photography is glorious as always, again highlighting Greenaway's love of symmetry and voluminous detail. Although I miss the usual Michael Nyman score, Wim Mertens does a fine job as a substitute. I also picked up on another common Greenaway trope that I hadn't noticed before: secrets and conspiracies. They also play a large role in Zed, Cook, Drowning, and Nightwatching, and probably others I'm forgetting. Rating: 7


Elevator to the Gallows (rewatch) - After a trying week, I needed something I didn't have to think about much. And this is a film that can be enjoyed on multiple levels. As a story, it's a near-perfect noir premise, a cleverly-scripted crime drama where fate constantly works again the protagonists (in a wonderful touch, the cruel twist of irony is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it little moment). Or you can just let yourself be swept away by the glorious aesthetics: the cool Miles Davis score, the captivating face of Jeanne Moreau, the Paris scenery, the striking Henri Decae photography. But there's other stuff lurking beneath the surface... the political commentary on Algeria (which I must admit was largely lost on me, but I picked up a few nuances) and the way the younger couple serves as something like alternate-universe surrogates for Moreau and Ronet. I wasn't sure if I should buy this, but now I'm so glad I did. It's not an earth-shattering film, but it is beautifully put together and very engaging. Rating: 9  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Elliott 

Nowhere Boy (2009)

 

  I'm sure most Lennon fans are going to know the story about his mother and if they're not overly familiar with it then I'm sure they would have at least heard the song Mother.  There's a tribute at the end of the film where the song is played and I must admit that I found it rather heartbreaking and even though I've heard the song dozens of times it just felt so different here.

Interesting review. I haven't seen this yet myself, but I intend to. I forgot if you've ever heard all of John's PLASTIC ONO BAND album (the one with MOTHER on it)? It's got some amazing songs on it and this is the main album where Lennon unleashed all of his pain.

I'd also recommend the video release/documentary on the making of this album.  

Since Mummy's Shroud is routinely talked of as the worst Hammer horror I was expecting it to be awful but it really was not that bad.  Its problem is that it's just a little boring, the backstory is unnecessarily complicated and the mummy makeup is terrible.  Excellent characters and acting but a little lifeless.  It certainly does not deserve the BOMB rating Maltin gives it I would rate it .  The one Hammer horror I do not like is "The Witches" ("Devil's Own") which I know is popular.  I just find the whole plot extremely unlikely, the film badly paced in the second half and the climax ridiculous.

Agree that Horror of Dracula is overrated.  The two immediate sequels (Brides and DPoD) and maybe even Taste the Blood of Dracula are better.

Hi Mike,

Your Hammer reviews ought to have made me miss skipping the Halloween Challenge this year...but, judging by the way you're bashing (most of) them, I don't think you're succeeding:)! I'd love to see you tackle Joseph Losey's THESE ARE THE DAMNED (1963) someday which, scene-by-scene, is arguably the best film Hammer ever turned out.

By the way, I too watched NOWHERE BOY earlier this year but, while liking it, I wouldn't give it as high a rating as you did - in contrast to the Hammer horrors above which - except for HORROR OF DRACULA (1958), of course - would all be rated an extra half-a-star in my book:)!   

10/17/10: DAUGHTER OF DECEIT (Luis Bunuel, 1951)

Although this might be a minor genre movie from Luis Bunuel’s Mexican period and, in fact, I had rated it half-a-star less upon first viewing three years ago at London’s NFT retrospective, I found myself repeatedly laughing so hard this time around that I decided to boost my opinion of it from an “above-average” to a “good” one. But that is Bunuel for you and, actually, one of the main reasons why he is my all-time favorite film-maker bar none – because, no matter how serious the themes he is rigorously treating in any particular work (poverty, adultery, prostitution, etc.), he never sentimentalizes them and takes care to entertain and enlighten his audience at one and the same time.  

The storyline is pretty simple: a small-time businessman with perennially misfiring schemes dodges the constant nagging of his wife through his frequent traveling; however, when one night his train is delayed on account of a landslide, he returns home to find the latter in the arms of his best friend. In the ensuing fracas, so as not to take it away from her, she tells him that he is not the father of their child – which leads the enraged man to vindictively dump the baby onto the doorstep of the town drunk! Cut to twenty years later (via the ingeniously economical transition of opening and closing a cupboard) and the girl – who has blossomed into a good-looking woman – seeks to escape the beatings of her foster parent and, inadvertently causing a traffic accident during one of her flights from home, proceeds to fall for her handsome ‘road victim’ (played by Ruben Rojo, in a similar role to the one he had had in Bunuel’s 1949 comedy THE GREAT MADCAP). Her stepsister is a feisty girl with a mind to becoming first an actress and then a chanteuse in a cabaret; this desire eventually brings her into the businessman’s locale (amusingly named “L’Infierno”) – cue a non-gratuitous musical number which not only brings the two siblings together again but also paves the way for the proverbial happy ending in store for everybody (once all the considerable and long-standing misunderstandings have been sorted out) as father and daughter are finally reunited once again. Indeed, in this movie, it is the home environment which breeds distress and pain while, contrary to the norm, it is within the confines of a nightclub that moral wrongs are righted.

What promises to be simply a routine and bland melodrama for women is transformed by Bunuel’s deftness for comedy in a well-crafted, very entertaining and unpretentious little movie. Portraying the father as a larger-than-life figure the likes of which Anthony Quinn would virtually make a career out of in a few years, Fernando Soler – already twice a star for Bunuel in THE GREAT MADCAP and SUSANA (1951) – becomes a veritable nihilist with the passage of time, forever losing his temper with everybody at the slightest provocation To counter this boorish character, Bunuel gives a free hand to his two bumbling (but occasionally ingenious) henchmen perfectly essayed by Fernando “Mantequilla” Soto (who later co-starred in Bunuel’s picaresque 1954 film, ILLUSION TRAVELS BY STREETCAR) and Nacho Contla (as a character named Jonron, a broken English rendition of his favorite catchphrase, “Home Run”!).  While these two start out as antagonists – the former a bouncer/croupier and the latter a gun-toting, shamelessly cheating gambler – in a hilariously ineffective confrontation early on in the film, they eventually become buddies when hired (and, subsequently, slave-driven) by their anguished employer Soler to seek out his missing daughter. Before long, however, they start devising cleverly funny schemes with which to deceive their boss into believing that they had been “running across half of Mexico” in hot pursuit of their quarry...when actually they had been eating and drinking their time away!

Having said that, the dramatic stages of the movie – a couple breaking up and the father unknowingly humiliating his daughter when they meet again many years later – reminded me of two Josef von Sternberg movies – respectively BLONDE VENUS (1932) and THE SHANGHAI GESTURE (1941); the gambling subtext here is also another connection to the latter. Even if Bunuel never really enjoyed the same reputation as a visual stylist like that Austrian émigré, I must say that I was impressed (and surprised) by how exceedingly well lit this film was. Speaking of Austrian auteurs, the fact that Bunuel had already been involved in adapting the same source novel “Don Quintin The Bitter” for the screen back in his native Spain in 1935 (there was even a 1925 Silent) and only got to make his own version long afterwards (shot in just 20 days and released on my own mother’s sixth birthday!) equates it with a similar occurrence in his own cinematic idol’s career i.e Fritz Lang’s epic Indian diptych of 1958-59, which had already been filmed as THE INDIAN TOMB in 1921 (by Joe May), and further remade by other hands in the interim (in 1938)! Actually, the new title DAUGHTER OF DECEIT is a misnomer since the wife swears the girl is Soler’s anyway; in fact, it would have done better to keep the original one since Don Quintin is clearly the protagonist of the piece.

10/18/10: THE GREAT MADCAP (Luis Bunuel, 1949)  

The first film I caught (on the very same night of my arrival in London) from the Luis Bunuel retrospective – held in January 2007 at the National Film Theatre – was this modest but pleasant character comedy, his second film in Mexico and his (official) fifth overall. The humorous opening shot – of a burly man looking for his itching foot among a pile of limbs belonging to a bunch of closely confined sleeping jailbirds – is a memorable one and immediately plunges you into the hedonistic life of the protagonist. Fernando Soler – later also the star of Bunuel’s SUSANA and DAIGHTER OF DECEIT (both 1951) – is a wealthy patriarch in constant alcoholic reverie: a state which his loafing, leeching relatives (daughter, son, an older brother and his wife) have no qualms with since it allows them to effortlessly cajole him on a daily basis into financing their every whim. However, the man’s younger psychiatrist brother and his attorney decide to drastically put a stop to this shameful lifestyle that is speedily sending the man’s business affairs careening towards bankruptcy. To this end, they devise a shrewd charade which, however, works only too well for all concerned…

As a matter of fact, while the original intention was to scare Soler into sobriety by making him believe that his relatives had been driven into abject poverty by his reckless ways (a realization which almost costs the man his life!), subsequently he decides to keep up (or rather down) the appearances so that he teaches them all a lesson in recognizing the worth of having a useful occupation in life. Therefore, the son (reduced to polishing shoes) is gleefully announcing his intention to enroll at the University by the end of the film; the cantankerous older brother – after much grumbling and role-playing – not only takes a real liking to his new job as a carpenter but even goes so far as to ask that his brother finance a furniture factory for him; and his hypochondriac, pill-popping wife becomes a proper cook…besides washing tonnes of dirty laundry! On the other hand, the lovely daughter (played by a blonde Rosario Granados, later of 1952’s A WOMAN WITHOUT LOVE), who was always the most decent of the lot to begin with, falls for her handsome ‘traveling salesman’ of a new neighbor (Ruben Rojo, who was also in DAUGHTER OF DECEIT). But even this one bright spot in their miserable lives is fraught with bumpy rides as her former intended (played by Bunuel’s frequent screenwriting collaborator on his Mexican films, Luis Alcoriza), seemingly distraught by their unfortunate predicament, comes to reclaim her. But saner minds prevail at the climactic wedding which is, first disturbed by the still hopeful salesman plying his trade on the loudspeaker of his van parked right outside the church and, finally, by the father’s outburst inside at the mother-in-law’s whiskers (an amusing running gag)!!

While the director’s previous movie, GRAN CASINO (1947), was a largely impersonal (and highly atypical) work within the Musical genre, Bunuel still inserted some unheralded and jarringly surreal elements into the mix which did not go do well with audiences and prompted another two year hiatus for him (who was already coming from fifteen years of fruitless exile)! Consequently, in the film under review, he readily submitted to the conventions of Mexican comedy and to the specific expectations of Soler’s considerable fan base. Even so, it still emerges as a recognizably Bunuelian effort: the finale, in particular, with the aforementioned church disturbances, the fleeing bride – chronologically, the film falls approximately in between the Oscar-winning Hollywood classics IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) and THE GRADUATE (1967) – and, in its very last shot of Soler’s family walking triumphantly hand-in-hand with their back to the camera, it clear prefigures the virtually identical one that closes Bunuel’s own Oscar-winning chef d’oeuvre  THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (1972). Having said that. Bunuel’s recurring stylistic staples of foot fetishism and dream states had already been touched upon much earlier:  respectively, in the very opening shot and Soler’s incredulous awakening into his new impoverished existence; indeed, the latter might well be the most sympathetic bourgeois character the director ever depicted. Ultimately, it seems that we owe Bunuel’s increasingly burgeoning career and the future cinematic milestones it spawned to the box office success of THE GREAT MADCAP – which might explain the film’s availability on DVD in the U.K.  

My 'Hammer' Top 10 would be very different from most people's.

"Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell" - The finest film they ever did.  A perfect mix of the gothic, the classy and 'modern' exploitation.

"Twins of Evil"

"Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde"

"The Vampire Lovers"

"Hands of the Ripper"

"Satanic Rites of Dracula" (yes..you read that right)

"Captain Kronos"

"Vampire Circus"

"Quartermass and the Pit"

"Curse of Frankenstein" (jostles this position with "Dracula has Risen from the Grave")

As a horror fan, I like the Hammer movies a lot.  With their color, energy and Gothic atmosphere they offer something unique in the genre, but I stop at outright love for their films.  I think the problem is that the films are too stylized and that they seem closer to a fantasy movie than a horror movie.  I much prefer the Universal cycle of the 30s, the Lewton films of the 40s, even some of the monster movies of the 50s.  Each of these cycles produced its masterpieces.  Which of the Hammer color horror movies is considerd an unimpeachable classic?  Maybe only Horror of Dracula which (like Universal's Dracula) is overrated because it was such a trailblazer.

My Top 10:

Quatermass and the Pit - a sci-fi and horror classic

Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter - I wish they had made more of this series

Frankenstein Must be Destroyed - Fisher and Cushing get nasty

These are the Damned - the most unHammer-like Hammer film

Nightmare  - this movie creeps me out

Vampire Circus - weird

Brides of Dracula - Hammer's best early film

Scream of Fear - Jimmy Sangster's script actually feels fresh and organic for once

Curse of Frankenstein

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (maybe Abominable Snowman)

See, my list incldues hardly any of the entries from Hammer's bread and butter "classic" series.  I have seen most of the Hammer horrors up to 1970 but I would really like to see more of Hammer's 1970s output as what I have seen is pretty good.  I particularly want to see Hands of the Ripper, and Demons of the Mind.  Can't agree on Satanic Rites - I've seen it twice and while I applaud Hammer for trying something different with the character, it really doesn't work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Elliott 

 But, I will agree with the ol' Maltin guide this one time when it comes to these titles. 

 

Outside HORROR and CURSE none of the Hammer's are really critic proof and none of them are looked at as anything other than blah horror movies

The Maltin Guide also gives a solid three stars to SCARS OF DRACULA (1970), which most people feel is one of Hammer's all-time worst, or at least one of the worst in the Dracula series. I happen to think it's underrated and I give it three stars myself, but I'm just saying that the Maltin Guide doesn't really stay consistent.

I know you don't like BRIDES OF DRACULA, but I feel it's one of Hammer's all-time best. Most Hammer fans do.

Here's my TOP HAMMER'S (In No Order):

The Curse of Frankenstein

Revenge of Frankenstein

Brides of Dracula

Horror of Dracula

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed

Twins of Evil

The Mummy

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave

The Evil of Frankenstein

Cash On Demand

The Devil Rides Out

Scream of Fear

Shocked to see the (imho) pretty awful "Evil of Frankenstein" in there.

"Devil Rides Out" is good...but It's SOOOO damaged by the truly farcical visual effects during what is meant to be the balls to the wall finale.

Like "Curse", like "Revenge".

"Brides" is average, bit dull, fare.

Don't like "Horror of.." much.

ADORE "Twins of Evil".

"The Mummy" is good when it is, rather dull when it's not.

I like "...Risen from Grave" quite a lot.

"Cash on Demand" I like, but think it's far too slight an enterprise at the of the day.

"Scream of Fear" I never really liked (though Lee does for some unknown reason), again a bit dull.

"..Must be Destroyed" is on my re-watch list, as I can't really remember it.  Maybe it will move "Curse" out of the Top 10, as that's an unsure title for me.

Hmmm..............So we only have 2 films in our mutual lists.  Shows how much opinions on 'Hammer' vary.

Good stuff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 42nd Street Freak 

Shocked to see the (imho) pretty awful "Evil of Frankenstein" in there.

 

Not as shocked as I was to see you call FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL "the finest film they ever did"!

(I do enjoy FATMFH, but I wouldn't go that far).

I think FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED is one of Hammer's absolute best.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Karlosi 

 

Not as shocked as I was to see you call FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL "the finest film they ever did"!

 

(I do enjoy FATMFH, but I wouldn't go that far).

Come now.

The Victorian asylum is a stunning setting, it has striking cinematography  (the lightning illuminated scene of the monster digging up the graves, as the terrified asylum director looks on, is quite simply the most gothic horror sequence 'Hammer' ever did), expert direction by Fisher, a fine support cast, a great looking monster, some fine gore and a truly, truly superlative/multi-layered performance by Cushing.

This is 'Hammer' at it's best; Stylish, full blooded, slightly camp, technically brilliant and drenched in a classic gothic atmosphere. 
IMHO British horror does not come much better than this.

Put with "The Wicker Man", "Blood on Satan's Claw", "Witchfinder General" and "Twins of Evil" (or perhaps "The Medusa Touch")  to get perhaps the best 5 British horror films ever made.  

It's okay, that's all. I do like the setting -- and also the monster -- but it's not the finest thing they ever did, IMO. I'd be curious if you ran this by the CHFB Hammer Folder to see what they think.

Fisher's never been an exceptional director to me, but I think FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED is his best.

Yeah..."FATMFH" is poorly treated on DVD.  The UK DVD (like the American DVD) decided to use the heavily cut 'R' print, instead of the only slightly cut UK print.

The nice German DVD thankfully used the UK print though (artery teeth-clamp/eyeball scenes intact) so it is only missing a few frames form the Director's demise and a quick cut on the monster's demise.

Sadly a fullt uncut print seems not to exist as far as I know.  But the UK version is close enough, you would not know if you did not know about the little trims.

I have "The Women Eater" on a DVD-R on the 'to watch' pile (it popped up on an obscure UK digital channel along with another rarity "Legend of the Witches"), I had never even heard of it until then.

I'll have to check it out for 'halloween'...tight sweater scene sounds intriguing! 

"Take and Easy Ride" - .5

Full review/stills

http://www.beardyfreak.com/rvride.php

STOP!
Beware the perils of letting your darling Daughter’s hitch-hike.
Beware the risks of picking up nubile young thumb wagglers.

And to make sure you are aware this short film will school you in the multitude of dangers and corruptions that can befall anyone involved in that dangerous game of Russian Roulette known as hitchhiking…

Originally conceived as a public information film for British TV, Director Kenneth Rowles added some extra scenes of sex, violence and nudity for a cinema release.

Some politely earnest narration leads us into some genuine, grabbed on the fly, street interviews, but they are also interspersed with a fake interview with a European woman named Suzanne who goes on to tell us about her own bizarre hitch-hiking experience.

We also follow three other stories that all share a common link…Short skirts, tight tops, not many bras.
One tale is about a couple of bad girls who steal, cheat and pot smoke their way around the roads of Britain.
And the other two both feature a separate pair of girls all thumbing their way to a music festival.

Suzanne’s tale has her picked up by a posh couple in a Rolls Royce who proceed to waylay her with a spot of whining and dining until it’s too late to do anything but stay over at their house.
Sure enough, this couple are a pair of predatory swingers!

This tale is the one that offers up the real nudity in the movie and it’s of the full frontal, delightfully hairy, sort that arrives in the form of Suzanne stripping off for a bath.
This very welcome 70's bush is then multiplied by the equally hairy arrival of the kinky wife as things move to the bedroom where the husband (in less than sexy big pants) is waiting with a bottle of champagne and a camera.
Much nipple biting, tongue wrestling and (as strong as they dared) crotch shots follow. 
The most unexpectedly explicit bit of nudity though arrives in the form of the hubby's, shot from the rear, dangling balls flopping down on Suzanne's lusty thatch.

The two tales of the hitch-hiking pairs go off in different directions as one set of girls has a smooth journey to the festival while the other pair end up in the car of a porn mag perusing sleazebag who proceeds to attack them.

This assault on the two girls is suitably sleazy with some brief topless nudity, violently ripped off clothes, much screaming and gratuitous panty/crotch shots. 
And although rather tame looking today, moments like the one where the attacker thrusts his black gloved hand down the front of one of the girl’s knickers, and roughly gropes her, are still pretty unpleasant stuff.

It's not all one-sided warnings though. 
The thieving/dope smoking hitchhikers turn out to be the threat to whichever, admittedly horny, motorist who picks them up as they are not afraid to pull a knife and use it, thus the perils of hitch-hiking are now fully explored from both angles.

There is certainly something intriguing about “Take an Easy Ride” and the grimy look, retro documentary footage and overall styling just drip classic era, British movie sleaze, goodness.
It’s very slight though both in content and running time and the mix of serious message and out and out sleaze ‘n’ cheese means the film can’t be taken seriously if we are being honest.

But it is entertaining, it is interesting and it does contain a few good doses of wonderfully grimy 70’s titillation and exploitation to enjoy for fans of 70’s Exploitation in general and British Sexploitation in particular.

"This Gun for Hire" - 

Alan Ladd hits the screen running as a delightfully ruthless assassin.

 

Within the first 10 minutes Ladd's unstable hitman has ripped a woman's dress and given her a slap (for picking on his kitten!) point blank shot a man dead, shot a female witness to death through a door and threatened to carve off the flab from a fat guy!

 

Things do settle down to a more common 40's aesthetic with the introduction of Veronica Lake as the girlfriend of the Cop hunting Ladd who also gets mixed up in Ladd's revenge after he is paid off in stolen money.

Ladd still has a no-nonsense attitude (indeed at one point he is seriously thinking of shooting Lake in the back before being interrupted!) but the conventional softening of such a controversially murderous character does occur sadly as more traditional melodrama steps in and Ladd softens towards    .

 

But there are still some very dark parts of Ladd's character and he shows he has not been completely house trained (despite now doing the right thing in the last part of the film) and is still willing to shoot whoever else needs shooting.  And he is given some nobility at the end, despite remaining a stone killer up to the credits.

 

40's movie attitudes and standards may take the edge of this at times, but "This Gun for Hire" is solid noir/crime fare and is moved that bit higher up the league by the superbly ruthless moments given to Ladd's character and his fine performance.

 

 

"REC" - 

 

Bags of screaming, moist, raging fun as the residents of a block of flats succumb to raving zomibism.

 

Lean and mean and packed with violent, shrieking death this popular Spanish horror film lives up to its reputation and even manages (just) to get away with the whole 'carrying a camera around with you' set-up thanks to some clever plotting later on to make the camera invaluable for a light source.

 

Lots of grue and some genuinely effective jump scares are the order of the day (a fall scene is particularly good) and the creepy resident of a locked apartment during the finale is a grotesquely creepy image indeed.

 

Well worth checking out and I'm checking out "REC 2" next.

I don't have a very big list that i have watched in the last year. I have watched some movies and the list is

Inception

Prince Of Persia

Avatar

Salt

Knight and Day

The last Airbander and

Resident Evil

OOOO! 
42nd Street Freak gets all sleazy once more!


"Diversions" ("Sex Express")

Full review/stills
http://www.beardyfreak.com/rvdiversions.php


A handcuffed woman (Heather Deeley) and Police escort board a train, during a prisoner transfer, and as the journey begins the woman starts to create sexual fantasies involving her travelling companions…..


Perhaps one of the most notorious British sex films ever made (and also rarity at the time as most UK sex films were out and out comedies or generally light-hearted romps) “Diversions” was released in a drastically cut down ‘soft’ version to UK cinemas (as “Sex Express”) but survived in a much stronger, hardcore, version for screening overseas.
And in its hardcore incarnation there are certainly parts of this film that deserve their infamous reputation even today.

Things don’t get off to a bad start with a fantasy about Deeley being wooed by a young man whilst hiding in a farmer‘s barn.
“Did you know that apples have buttocks? Oh yes they do…beautiful buttocks” intones our young stud while holding aloft said fruit.
Unable to take the erotic power of such fruity words anymore, the woman comes down from the hay loft declaring angrily “Look at me, I’m a woman not a bloody apple. Caress my breasts they’re real”!

Obvious hardcore inserts now come into play, but the hardcore sex is shot in some anonymous room with black walls and on some kind of bed…despite the sex supposedly taking place in a barn next to some apple trays!


The second (and most infamous) vignette’s hardcore is far more successful.
Deeley is making love to a man on a couch but we suddenly leave this sex scene to show the woman caught up in some unidentified war zone where she is gang raped by a group of soldiers.
As we leave this footage we suddenly see the woman produce a dagger and bloodily stab her lover to death before smearing his spilt blood over her breasts and masturbating with the handle of the dagger!
Things proceed to get even more crazed when she proceeds to slice off the dead man’s penis and suck it!

“Diversions” has now become kin to those earlier, tough and often brutal , U.S. hardcore movies like “Hardgore” or “Forced Entry” and it’s a truly bizarre thing to experience in an English sex film for sure.
This shockingly extreme and audacious tale ends with an off-the-wall twist that just adds to the spaced out derangement of the whole thing.


Next up we return to normality with Deeley as a new flat owner who finds out the flat was once run by a hooker named ‘Miss Whiplash’.
Anger turns to lust though when one hopeful ‘n’ hunky punter turns up at the flat and Deeley decides to go along with the misunderstanding.
Sadly, coming after the shocking last vignette, this sequence seems particularly weak and rather drab.


Our next fantasy is back on track though as now we enter, yet again, more controversial and violent territory.
Completely removed from the ‘soft’ domestic version of the movie this next vignette enters (sort of) the world of 'Naziploitation' as Deeley now imagines herself at the mercy of three Nazi-style guards, two male and one female.

Deeley is slapped around a bit and forced to perform fellatio on a (rather long and silly looking) gun barrel, she is then tied up, spread legged, and slowly stripped and fondled by the woman soldier.
And Horror fans will be suddenly thrust out of the film by a very recognisable tune suddenly playing…Yep, it’s one of the ’De Wolfe Music Ltd’ tracks used as library music in Romero’s“Dawn of the Dead” about a year later!

This remains soft core until the hardcore sex finally appears in the form of a lesbian sequence that turns into a three-way when one of the male guards joins in to produce a pretty hot sequence.


Next we go back into a more conventional set-up as Deeley poses in front of an old tripod camera she has just bought.
Things go all supernatural as Deeley dreams that the camera is haunted by a vintage randy ghost.
A threesome sequence ensures, shot lightly sped up with comedy banjo/ragtime music playing over it and ends on an obvious little twist.


The train’s arrival at its destination snaps us back to reality as a nice little trick on the audience is unveiled just before the end credits.
But by this time the film has started to outstay its welcome and to be honest you could have lost the ‘Barn’ section (and perhaps the ‘Miss Whiplash’ fantasy too) to tighten the film up.
The star of the show is most certainly Heather Deeley who gives the film her all and looks great.

For what it is (plot wise this is just a ho hum porno flick at the end of the day) “Diversions”certainly goes to some unusual places for a British 70’s sex film and the genuinely shocking and gorgeously twisted ‘castration’ segment makes an average porno flick become a must see for those interested in the history of British adult/Sexploitation cinema.