The Great March HTF Historical Drama/Epic Challenge (1 Viewer)

[PatW]

Pride and Prejudice (2005) :star: :star: :star: :star: 1/2

I do not seem to get tired watching this one. A sumptious adaptation of my favourite Jane Austen novel. Keira Knightley is wonderful in the role of Lizzie. Lizzie is my favourite Jane Austin character, at once strong and fiesty with a sharp biting tongue for those she feels wronged herself and her family. She is very much a modern woman and seems out of place in this world. Matthew Macfayden is adequate in the part of Mr. Darcy.
I don't get some of the criticism laid at his feet. Of course, there's the inevitable comparison to Colin Firth but he stands his own. Beautifully photographed and edited. The sets and locations in and around England were just breath-taking. I thought Sense and Sensibility was great but this one outshines it. Joe Wright is the director who brought this beloved novel to life on the big screen and he does a admirable job especially finding out that this was his first feature. You can't do justice to a detailed novel in a two hour movie. This movie tries and does suceed.

 

[Ruz-El]

I snuck in two that I think count. I'm not sure since I'm trying to finish up the "Ford At Fox" set, so feel free to tell me to exclude them.

03/01 - WEE WILLIE WINKLE 3.5/5 - A rather charming film and quite unexpected. Not a musical comedy, it manages to work as both a Shirley Temple feature and a decent enough drama mostly played straight. Fun little adventure.

03/02 - YOUNG MR. LINCOLN 4/5 - Fonda is brilliant as Lincoln. This one starts out as a great bio picture, then half way turns into a court room thriller. Not a bad thing at all in this case and makes for a greatly entertaining film that humanizes Americas greatest president.

My tally is here:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...ml#post3330552

 

[Mario Gauci]

03/01/08: SIR ARNE'S TREASURE (Mauritz Stiller, 1919) :star::star::star:1/2

As far as I can tell, this is the first Swedish Silent that I’ve watched (I’d previously been intrigued by a solitary still – actually used for the DVD sleeve itself – found in “The Movie”, a British periodical from the early 1980s); I’ve seen a handful of early efforts from neighboring Denmark – and the aesthetic starkness in the predominant style of both countries is pretty similar. It’s also the first from Swedish master Stiller (I also own his two other well-known titles, EROTIKON [1920] and THE SAGA OF GOSTA BERLING [1924], that were released on DVD from Kino – and I may very well include the latter in my current Epic/Historical films schedule); incidentally, I’ve only checked out – and was duly impressed by – two American-made pictures from Victor Sjostrom, the other great director to emanate from this country during the Silent era.

SIR ARNE’S TREASURE is best described as a historical melodrama – since the elements typically expected of an epic only really come into play in the scenes involving a fire early on and a sword-fight towards the end. However, one shouldn’t overlook the vast and forbidding icy landscape which not only serves as an extremely realistic backdrop to the narrative – incidentally, the quality of the cinematography throughout likens the film to an uninterrupted series of medieval tableaux – but is very much another character in it, since the villains’ flight (the perpetrators of a massacre in a household, from which they also abscond with the titular fortune) is prohibited because the sea has frozen over! Notable scenes here include: a cart-wheeling horse falling head-first through cracked ice; the youngest of the thieves having ghostly visions of one of his murdered victims (as it happens, he later falls for the girl’s sister…and she with him, which leads to the latter being torn whether to give her lover away or run off with him to Scotland!); the leading man ultimately using the heroine as a human shield against the oncoming soldiers; the closing procession over the ice by the townsfolk to reclaim the girl’s dead body (justly considered one of the visual highlights in all of Silent cinema).

The plot also effectively incorporates the element of premonition – such as when the fish-hawker’s usually docile canine companion senses impending doom and starts to howl, Sir Arne’s wife literally hearing from miles away the preparations for the subsequent assault on her abode, the ship captain’s tale of a previous case of poetic justice similarly brought on by severe weather conditions, and the heroine being led by her dead sister to the villains’ whereabouts in a dream. The print I watched featured nice use of blue (for outdoor night-time scenes) and red (the afore-mentioned blaze) tinting; the newly-composed accompanying score is appropriately sweeping, albeit making use of mostly modern instruments. The main extras on the Kino DVD involve noted film historian Peter Cowie, who supplies an informative background to early Swedish cinema (where he also discusses the seminal contribution of authoress Selma Lagerlof – who was behind the source novel of both this and THE SAGA OF GOSTA BERLING) and, in a separate featurette, focuses exclusively on the film at hand.


03/01/08: TWO NIGHTS WITH CLEOPATRA (Mario Mattoli, 1953) :star::star:

This one can’t seem to make up its mind whether to be a vehicle for Italian comic Alberto Sordi or a peplum spoof, perhaps the first in the genre; I tend to find Sordi’s brand of humor in this early stage overbearing – as for the latter, CARRY ON CLEO (1964; which I watched in January) is far superior!

Lovely Sophia Loren (not yet the international star, she featured in a famous bare-breasted black-and-white publicity still for this very film!) has a dual role as the conniving Cleopatra and a lookalike slave, who is made to pass for her when she absents herself to visit Marc Anthony (played by [/i]peplum[/i] regular Ettore Manni). Sordi is an Egyptian merchant who contrives to (literally) win a place as a personal guardian to the Queen of the Nile: the trouble is that she’s in the habit of taking these as lovers and then have them killed!; the title, then, refers to Sordi’s having trysts with both of Loren’s characters (comforting the despairing slave while aggravating the no-nonsense ruler!). By the way, “Euro-Cult” stalwart Paul Muller is Cleopatra’s villainous adviser.

For the record, director Mattoli helmed several Toto` vehicles around this same time; besides, the script was co-written by Ettore Scola (later a top director in his own right) – while Giuseppe Colizzi, a future Spaghetti Western specialist, served here as production manager. Incidentally, I had resisted renting this on DVD in a dubbed version…but, when it eventually turned up on Italian TV, the battered print used featured a number of jump cuts – so that the film ended up being even shorter than its already modest 78 minutes!


03/01/08: NERO'S MISTRESS (Steno, 1956) :star::star:1/2

As was the case with TWO NIGHTS WITH CLEOPATRA (1953), this Alberto Sordi vehicle lampoons the then-affluent peplum genre; helmed by another comedy specialist, it’s a superior effort – with the star’s particular brand of fooling (a mix of pompousness and naïveté) somewhat better suited this time around to the requirements of his role, that of notorious music-loving and mad Roman Emperor Nero.

Besides, the film has an eclectic – and rather surprising – mix of talents, on both sides of the camera: in fact, it co-stars Vittorio De Sica (a great director but also a wonderful actor) as Seneca, Gloria Swanson (her renowned comeback in SUNSET BOULEVARD [1950], alas, didn’t lead to much) as Agrippina – Nero’s fearsome and domineering mother, Brigitte Bardot (on the verge of becoming an international sex symbol) as a rather ordinary-looking Poppea, and even future Hammer leading lady Barbara Shelley – though not in a prominent role, presumably, as one of the innumerable maidens at Nero’s palace; and, then, there’s horrormeisters Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci – here in the capacity of cinematographer and assistant director respectively!

The film manages to be quite engaging and stylish (no wonder, given Bava’s involvement)…even if it was rather a chore to watch, since the Italian TV channel which showed it has been suffering from a horrendous reception for some time! The simple plot involves Agrippina’s unannounced arrival at Nero’s resting quarters to verify rumors of his liaison with Poppea; Seneca, Nero’s adviser, is assigned by the Emperor the task of stalling her at every turn…even if he has to marry her to do so! Of course, Nero is eager to flaunt his alleged musical genius and the bevy of associates and conspirators enclosed within the palace boldly hisses or meekly applauds his would-be compositions; at the end, distressed by rejection (especially by those closest to him) leads him to set the empire’s capital on fire…


03/02/08: ROMAN SCANDALS '73 (Mario Sequi, 1972):star::star:

The original Italian title of this film is a rude pun on Franco Zeffirelli's BROTHER SUN, SISTER MOON (1972) i.e. BROTHER MAN, SISTER WHORE and, in essence, it's one of an extensive series of medieval sex romps made in the wake of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s THE DECAMERON (1971; which I own on VHS but have actually yet to watch!); to be honest, though it’s certainly nothing special, I had expected it to be even worse…

Of course, the themes of religious oppression and sexual repression go hand in hand in this type of film: hence, we have the male and female occupants/managers of a forcibly closed brothel entering conveniently adjoining monasteries; then, we meet a young girl who’s being prepared by her authoritarian father for a marriage-of-convenience – so, to sidestep her obligations, she too joins a nunnery. The monks habitually roam the city streets for charity: noting the girl, one of them immediately falls in love – while his colleagues think nothing of getting it on with her lusty and still-attractive mother behind her grouchy husband’s back!; as it happens, the girl isn’t even his daughter – but rather the fruit of a clandestine affair with the abbot!

To keep his parishioners’ hopes up in such poverty-stricken and plague-ridden times, the abbot holds frequent processions parading the statue of the local patron saint around the city; as it turns out, the ‘monk’ in love with the girl is the spitting image of the saint and so the abbot – with the help of the people from the brothel – is able to contrive a miracle, wherein the saint takes human form and speaks to the congregation! The gullible girl herself falls for this ruse, and willingly gives herself to him when he attempts to make a pass at her! Eventually, the company marry the prospective husband off to an ugly nun sporting whiskers (her face conveniently hidden under a veil all through the ceremony) and make off to another town – with, of course, the lovely young girl as a new recruit…

While it doesn’t have distinguished (or even all that familiar) credits, the film does feature a nice score (plus a couple of songs), slangy (and often rude) dialogue and, naturally, quite a bit of nudity (if nothing particularly explicit).

 

[Malcolm R]

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY :star::star::star:1/2
Clint Eastwood in what is widely considered a classic by Sergio Leone. It's certainly a beautiful looking film, though I felt the plot wandered a bit and Leone certainly likes to take his time in moving the film along. I was also becoming a bit irritated by Ennio Morricone's iconic theme music that seemed repeated endlessly. Heresey, perhaps, to many film buffs out there, but that was my first-time viewing experience...very good, but not great. But maybe it's a film that needs repeat viewings to be fully appreciated. I'll certainly watch again someday.

 

[Lew Crippen]

It was such a great party. Then he had to go and ruin it.

Says the gambler about the actor in the closing lines of The Lower Depths/Donzoko (new) referring to the suicide of one of the characters. Pretty strong stuff, and even more so in Akira Kurosawa’s comedic treatment of Maxim Gorky’s masterpiece, The Lower Depths. Relatively unknown in the West (and not often revived in Japan), the movie is every bit the equal of some of his more well known works such as The Seven Samurai.

Kurosawa moves Gorky’s setting to 19th century Japan (Edo), but remains faithful to the play, often using whole pages of the original dialogue. The acting is absolutely spot-on, with no weak links, the cinematography, lighting and framing tell as much or more of the story as does the script and overall the feel of a stage play is retained, right down to the very limited set (only two: and interior and an exterior).

For those who are not familiar with the play, I’ll not rehash the plot, but rather urge you to put this masterpiece on your list. And if you get the Criterion DVD set, you can also watch Jean Renior’s adaptation.

 

[PatW]

Becoming Jane (2007) :star: :star: 1/2

I was so looking foward to seeing this movie and what a disappointment.
The acting for the most part was good, the film itself gorgeous to look at but I found myself nodding off in a couple of place. A snail moves faster than this film. The story itself had promise but I imagine the Jane Austen devotees will be up in arms about the historical inaccuracies. What could have been a promising movie turned out to be something incredibly dull and lifeless.


Aviator (2004) :star: :star: :star: :star:

Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film covers the early life of famed eccentric entrepeuneur, his loves, his movies and his inventions up to the first flight of the Spruce Goose.

This is a well-acted movie and of special note was the performance of Cate Blanchard as Katharine Hepburn. She had all her mannerisms and quirks down pat. I dare say, Kate would approve. Another outstanding performance was Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes. I always shrugged him off as the pretty boy from Titanic but in this role he shines and seems to come into his own. Previously you saw gleamings of greatness from him in What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Basketball Diaries. Superbly directed but somehow there seems to be something missing and I can't explain what. The first part of the movie flowed well and was intriguing especially the relationship with Kate Hepburn. The second part of the movie seemed disjointed and not as interesting. This movie stopped short of being a masterpiece but still an interesting bio-pic from a master director.

 

[Malcolm R]

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (2002) :star::star::star::star:

Wonderful Dickens adaptation with an all-star cast including Christopher Plummer, Jamie Bell, Anne Hathaway, Nathan Lane, Timothy Spall, Charlie Hunnam David Bradley, and Jim Broadbent. Bell's performance as Smike is especially amazing and emotional. Bell is definitely one of the great young actors of the present. Hunnam plays the title role, young Nicholas, who must overcome the tragedy of his father's death saving his mother and sister from the opportunistic exploitation of his heartless rich uncle, Ralph (Plummer).

 

[PatW]

Amazing movie. I also gave it 4 stars. Jamie Bell's performance was at the heart of this story. Your review has made me want to watch it again. I'll have to dust it off and watch it before the challenge is over.

 

[PatW]

Goya's Ghosts :star: :star: :star:

Interesting movie but not without its faults. As the title will have you believe, this is not about Goya but rather about the torture and imprisonment of an innocent young girl by the Spanish inquistion. We have the inquistion, Spanish rule, invasion by Napolean's soldiers, the installation of his brother as king, the arrest of the priests and monks involved in the inquistion and the invasion by the British army, all witnessed by the painter Goya.

Natalie Portman was superb as the wrongly inprisoned Ines and her daughter Alicia. Her insanity after her 15 yr. incarcineration and her desperate search for her daughter was heartbreaking and very well acted.
Javier Bardem was once again magnificient in the role of Brother Lorenzo. I admire Stellan Skarsgard but I felt he was miscast as Goya. Surprisingly enough the King of Spain was protrayed by Randy Quaid and he did a fine job with the small role. The costumes and sets were all well done and true to the era. Directed by Milos Forman, this movie wasn't nearly as entertaining as his other historical film the irreverant Amadeus but still worthwhile watching.


Captain Kidd (1945) :star: :star: :star:

Worthwhile only for the superb performance of Charles Laughton as the pirate Captain Kidd. I don't care for Randolph Scott and his role here hasn't changed my mind. This picture is all Laughton and he plays the part with campy zeal. I wish there had been a bit more story and excitment here.

 

[SteveGon]

Regeneration aka Behind the Lines (1997)

Viewed 3/5/2008 (first viewing)

Somber WWI drama set in a Scottish asylum for shellshocked and psychologically-damaged soldiers. Among the patients are real life poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, the former unjustly railroaded due to his opinions of how the war was being handled. Treating them is English psychiatrist Dr. William Rivers, a man tottering on the brink himself. Excellent (if a bit cold) examination of the damage war can do to one's psyche, with superior performances (including Jonathan Pryce as Rivers). Based on the novel by Pat Barker, this fine film seems to have been largely overlooked.

:star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Malcolm R]

That's why these challenges are great. I've had the film on my shelf for years, but hadn't got around to watching it yet. Thanks to the challenge, I've now discovered a new gem in my collection.

 

[Mario Gauci]

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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


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

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

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


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

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

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


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

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

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

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

 

[SteveGon]

Sharpe's Rifles (1993)

Viewed 3/6/2008 (first viewing)

First in the series of Sharpe films, this one has newly-promoted career soldier Richard Sharpe leading a company of ragtag sharpshooters through Spain where they must avoid Napolean's soldiers and safeguard Spanish rebels. Can Sharpe gain the respect of his men, who would much rather be led by an officer of "privilege" as opposed to one promoted from the ranks? And what secret are the Spanish hiding from them? Exciting and engaging, Sean Bean is perfect in the lead.

:star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[PatW]

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

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


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

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


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

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

 

[JohnRice]

Pat, I'm glad to see you liked Finding Neverland. I have often seen it unfairly belittled.


6) The Golden Bowl (2000) - :star::star::star:
Deliberate, oddly surreal melodrama from Merchant/Ivory based on the Henry James novel. I've never been a fan of James' work and the truth is, I had never even heard of this film, or the novel. I am kind of at a loss on what to say. I think it is fairly certain that whatever point there is to this story, I completely missed it. Possibly because I kept dozing off after a while. Tony Pierce-Roberts created some nice visuals though. The end of the film received a big "WTF" from me...

And what's the deal with Kate Beckinsale? Has she had work done or what? She doesn't even look like the same person.

 

[Adam_S]

Nicholas Nickleby is indeed an overlooked gem. wonderful movie.

Does the decalogue count? I'm about to finish it this weekend.

 

[JohnRice]

I don't see why The Dekalog wouldn't count as one nearly 8 hour epic. Kind of a stretch, but why not?

 

[JohnRice]

The Restoration Mini-marathon (part 1)

I meant to include 3 movies in this, but Restoration didn't arrive today, as it was supposed to. Maybe I'll get it in this weekend.

7) Stage Beauty (2004) - :star::star::star:1/2
Richard Eyre's farce revolves around King Charles' II decision to allow women to perform on sanctioned stages shortly after his restoration to the crown.

"Whenever we're about to do something truly awful
we always say the French have been doing it for years"

Billy Crudup and Claire Danes are interesting choices to play the main characters, since they are (in my opinion) distinctly "modern" actors, but it plays well into the generally light nature of the film. For the most part, almost the entire movie is a set-up for the (nearly) final scene between Danes and Crudup, as Othello and Desdemona. Rupert Everett is just hilarious and absurdly silly as the King, and who on earth is Zoe Tapper?!? Man oh man is that is one juicy little bit.

8)The Libertine (2004) - :star::star::star::star:
I probably like this movie more than it deserves. It is probably the filthiest movie I have ever seen. Not so much from the language and behavior, but the grime everything is covered in. Depp plays John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester, a "writer" to go down in history with The Marquis de Sade. This makes an outstanding double feature with Stage Beauty since they are radically different presentations of the same time. Plus, Samantha Morton. 'nuff said.

 

[Mario Gauci]

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

[SteveGon]

Angels and Insects (1995)

Viewed 3/7/2008

Multi-layered drama set in 1860s England. An impoverished biologist is hired by a wealthy aristocrat to
arrange his vast collection of biological specimens. While staying at the man's estate the biologist falls
for his eldest daughter, an odd beauty with a terrible secret. Based on the novel Morpho Eugenia by A.S.
Byatt, this is a fascinating exploration of Victorian mores, natural history and the vagaries of the human heart.

:star: :star: :star: 1/2 out of :star: :star: :star: :star: