Fleapit of the Mind

EDGAR WALLACE SERIES (1960 - 1965)

2012-01-22T15:29:00.000-08:00

THE EDGAR WALLACE SERIES of B-movies were another product of Merton Park Studios and

like the previous series, THE SCALES OF JUSTICE, it was produced by Jack Greenwood. Back in the early 1980's I interviewed Jack Greenwood for an article I hoped to send the The Edgar Wallace society. I told Greenwood that my absolute favourite of the series was THE MALPAS MYSTERY directed by Sidney Hayers. Greenwood informed me that this particular film was the only one of the more than forty films in the series (counting ACT OF MURDER which was not really an entry in the series) that he had not produced! This didn't exactly get the interview off to a good start so although he answered most of my questions he wasn't exactly forthcoming and the article was not a success and was never submitted.

The series was very watchable and the rotating bust of writer Edgar Wallace and the theme music "Man of Mystery" (made into a hit by The Shadows) were always welcome extras at the cinema. Unlike the earlier Merton Park series which had been 30 minutes running time the Wallace series ran for about an hour. The strength of the series was that they had good stories - robbery stories like SOLO FOR SPARROW to locked room murder mysteries like THE CLUE OF THE NEW PIN (one of the best) and my own favourite, the aforementioned THE MALPAS MYSTERY which had something of the flavour of the German Wallace "Krimi" films being made simultaneously in West Germany. Casts included all the usual British B movie suspects like Jack Watling, Geoffrey Keen, Michael Coles, Allan Cuthbetson and Michael Gough (who did three films) and among the supporting actors one can spot young Michael Caine as an Irish crook in SOLO FOR SPARROW.

SCOTLAND YARD SERIES (1953 - 1961)

2012-01-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

Exploring British supporting films of the 1950's and 1960's might not reveal much art but it can be fun. The series of 30 minute mysteries made at Merton Park were as much a part of my childhood cinema going as were the Edgar Wallace series (see previous post) of my late teenage years. The series consisted of thirty-nine films, each introduced and narrated by crime novelist and criminologist Edgar Lustgarten. Lustgarten (left) is perhaps best remembered today for being the direct inspiration for the "criminologist" narrator of THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW. The series is of particular interest for some of the location shots taken in and around 1950's London.

SCOTLAND YARD was also the training ground for Ken Hughes who would go on to direct some interesting crime B movies (JOE MACBETH, THE LONG HAUL etc) and the much admired THE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE before graduating to much bigger fare with CROMWELL and CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG. Hughes directed the first half dozen or so of the series and two of my particular favourites. I have a mildly personal interest in THE BLAZING CARAVAN(1953) as the plot (at least the murder method itself) is obviously inspired by the murderer Arthur Rouse. My mother always swore that she had met Rouse just prior to the murder he committed and that he was her husband's cousin - despite much research I can find nothing to corroborate her claims. Better is THE DARK STAIRWAY (1954) which is virtually a mini film noir, full of shadows and other noir trappings which enliven this little murder tale set in the murky underworld of London's Soho alleys and drinking clubs.

When the series ended the format had been so successful that it was revived as THE SCALES OF JUSTICE which ran for thirteen episodes with Lustgarten again as the on screen narrator of stories inspired by murder trials. In 1971 Lustgarten was found dead from a heart attack in Marylebone Library, London. Some time earlier his mistress had been found dead in a bath in his flat, apparently a suicide.

ACT OF MURDER (1964)

2012-01-22T11:57:00.000-08:00

Alan Bridges was a rather good British Television director in the 60's who went on to make a few cinema movies of varying quality. ACT OF MURDER was his first feature and received excellent reviews at the time of its release despite being a low-budget supporting feature. Often listed as one of Jack Greenwood's Edgar Wallace series made at Merton Park studios (and sold to American television as THE EDGAR WALLACE MYSTERY THEATRE) the film was not actually part of that series (hence the completely different titles sans the revolving bust of Wallace so well remembered by cinemagoers of the 60's). What could have been a puzzling little mystery is rather ruined by a script which gives the game away far to early. It is however easy to see why this litte programmer caught the eye of a few critics. Bridges strives to make something of the film with some interesting compositions and directorial flourishes not usually seen in British B-movies of the time. The very bleak ending is very unexpected. ACT OF MURDER is, despite its faults, a fitting companion to Bridges other interesting B-movie, the sci-fi INVASION. Rating **

IL VANGELO SECONDO MATTEO/The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)

2012-01-22T05:53:00.000-08:00

Pier Paolo Pasolini's film has an awesome reputation as the best film based on the story of Jesus.
When I say that, for me, the film is problematic, I have no wish to take anything away from the director's achievement because I think this is a very heartfelt film. As a Christian myself I am aware that both believers and non-believers have many differing views of what Christ was like
and the fact that Pasolini's view doesn't happen to correspond with mine (although it comes closer than some) does not worry me in the slightest. There is a tendency in some to believe that the dirtier and grittier you depict something the nearer it becomes to reality. Unfortunately, in his depiction of First century Israel Pasolini is probably further away from reality than any Hollywood epic. In this film everybody seems to be scrabbling among the ruins and even Herod's Temple is a ruin when it was actually a building of great splendour still under construction in Jesus's time. It is all very well for Pasolini to base his film strictly on St. Matthew's Gospel but the film gives no sense of the Jewish backround either of the subject or of that particular Gospel (the most Jewish of the four). If a sense of realism was Pasolini's aim I feel that the casting of non-professionals works against this intent. Rossellini, Visconti and the other Italian neo-realists used non-professionals in their films for a purpose when depicting contemporary subjects and it worked in giving a sense of documentary realism. All Pasolini achieves (for me at least) is a lot of Italian peasants with bad teeth standing around in rags looking awkward. Like most biblical films Pasolini stumble on the depiction of the Resurrection - although one can hardly blame any director for that - and he veers sharply away from his avowed source. But there were things in the film I liked such as the early scenes with the young Virgin Mary (much more successful than the later scenes with Mama Pasolini as the aged Mary) and Joseph but they are few. As I have said, I don't doubt for a second Pasolini's sincerity
only his methods. It remains, however, a film that should be seen. Rating ***

THE FILMS OF OLIVER REED

2012-01-15T13:24:00.000-08:00

Here is an unashamed plug for a book written by two good friends of mine. I'll be honest and say that I have not read the book yet but having heard something of the background to the writing I am sure that this is going to be an interesting and informative read. Oliver Reed was a fine actor and also, sadly, one of the great tragedies of the British film industry and a book of this sort is long overdue. I am proud to say that I contributed a brief second -hand memoir related to me by my old friend, former Hammer publicist Brian Doyle who sadly died just before the authors could contact him. The book is currently available through Amazon and other sources.

THE WAY (2009)

2011-12-17T05:07:00.000-08:00

If you had told me at the beginning of the year that one of my favourite movies seen during 2011 would be directed by Emilio Estevez I'd probably collapsed laughing. No disrespect to Emilio, it just seemed there were likely to be better candidates. But THE WAY has insinuated itself into that select band of films that become personal favourites for reasons beyond their merits as cinema. Emilio's real life dad plays a respectable and rather dull dentist who has issues with his more adventurous son's lifestyle. The son (played by Emilio) heads for Europe and sets out to walk the pilgrimage route - El Camino - to Santiago in Spain. On his first day he is killed in a freak storm. Dad goes to Europe to bring the body home but makes a spot decision to do the pilgrimage carrying his son's ashes. On the surface that is about it but this is a film that goes far beneath the surface. Along the route he meets and reluctantly travels with three other other pilgrims - a Canadian, an Irishman and a Dutchman. All believe they have rather superficial reasons for making the 800 km journey , but on a pilgrimage (and I speak from experience) you often find that your head ends up in a completely unexpected place. THE WAY is not a religious film, certainly not a Christian film in any accepted denominational way and it isn't even particularly spiritual in any obvious soul searching way. Yet, in being about the experience of simply being human it manages to be both religious and spiritual without ever resorting to sanctimonious preaching. At the same time the film is very moving and very funny. Rating *****

HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (2009)

2011-12-06T09:49:00.000-08:00

Opinions on this low budget horror film seem to be sharply divided between those who think it is an incompetent mess and those who hail director Ti Hardin as a genius. I fall into neither camp. I've been a horror film fan for about fifty years now and one thing I've learned is that amongst horror film fans - and here I mean those who watch very little else - a little talent goes a long way. So, what have we got here? Well, there is a virtually non-existant plot with very little in the way of development and an ending which seemed to me to be confused, derivative, predictable and dramatically unsatisfying. Having said all that HOUSE OF THE DEVIL has a lot going for it. For a start it is very well acted by the entire cast. We could expect no less of Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov who are old hands at being slightly disturbing or disturbed but it is up to Jocelin Donahue to carry the film virtually single handed while nothing seems to be happening to move the plot along and it is to her credit that I never felt the slightest bit bored. This, of course, is also points to director Hardin who cleverly disguises the fact that he has nothing much in the way of a script - although, even there the dialogue scenes are pretty good. Yes, I kind of liked it and liked it enough to want to check out Hardin's THE INN KEEPERS. If you check HOUSE OF THE DEVIL don't expect too much and you might be pleasantly surprised - at least for 9o minutes. Rating **

KEN RUSSELL 1927 - 2011

2011-11-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

To be honest Ken Russell was not one of my favourite directors. I felt, along with many (including, it seems, Martin Scorsese) that his best work was done during his years at the BBC and films like THE DEBUSSEY FILM, DANTE'S INFERNO and DELIUS linger in the mind's eye. This is not to say that his later film work was not without interest and moments approaching greatness - even if they never actually achieved it. There is no denying his talent but for me it lacked discipline. RIP.

THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (1965)

2011-11-27T14:29:00.000-08:00

Directed by George Stevens (with a little help from David Lean and Jean Negulesco), this film is often maligned as being elephantine in production and derided for some of its casting. The first charge is totally unfair although the MTV generation will undoubtably find it strains their attention span at 199 minutes. The casting, it is true, does raise the odd eyebrow and the occasional smile : Pat Boone as an angel and the infamous scenes involving John Wayne as the centurion at the crucifixion telling us that "Truly this is the son of Gad!". Of course, the film has also been criticised as being too pious. But this wasn't made for unbelievers. As far as the production goes the film shuns any attempt at historical realism in favour of a very attractive pictorial stylisation. Religious paintings of the past often eschewed realism and one of the strengths of Steven's film is that scene after scene has the quality of a beautiful religious tableaux or icon. Despite the smiles resulting from the aforementioned casting the film has some wonderful performances - Donald Pleasence as the Devil, Claude Rains as a rather reptilian Herod the Great, Victor Buono as a cynical member of the Sanhedrin and Sydney Poitier as Simon of Cyrene among them. The disciples are a rather bland lot despite the presence of John Considine and David Macallum. Max Von Sydow as Jesus is more problematical. The mighty Swede is among the finest actors in films and there can be little doubt that in a more naturalistic production he would have been among the greatest film Christs of all time but while there is absolutely nothing wrong with his performance within the context of the film, he is - with his designer stubble beard - the Jesus of a great painting (the film is framed by shots of Sydow in a painting) rather than a great film. Despite the feeling I was walking through an art gallery rather than sitting watching a film I found much of the film very beautiful and very moving and I think Stevens only just misses greatness. Rating ****

VIGO : PASSION FOR LIFE (1998)

2011-11-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

There are films you like, there are films you love, and on rare occasions you see a film that is a revelation. That is how I felt when I first saw Jean Vigo's 1934 film L'ATALANTE. That film genuinely expanded the possiblities of what the cinema could achieve as art. It has inspired many film makers, among them Julien Temple. VIGO : PASSION FOR LIFE is Temple's tribute to Vigo. There is good news and bad. Did I like it? Yes. Does it really succeed? Sadly, not.

Why did I like it then? Well, I enjoyed it on the level of any biopic about somebody I admire; even more so because it sticks pretty much to the facts - and it's certainly more entertaining than the Johnny Cash biopic, I WALK THE LINE. So where does it go wrong? The film is constructed with cliched scene after cliched scene - it is film making by the numbers and while it does inform you about Jean Vigo's short life (he died of tuberculosis aged just 29) it coveys little of what made him such an important figure in cinema. Temple took on a daunting task and more power to him for making the film but if you want to understand Vigo's passion for film as well as his passion for life perhaps it should be compulsory to watch his films before watching Temple's - not a daunting task as it is possible to watch his entire output in about three hours.

I watched VIGO : PASSION FOR LIFE with a friend who is a professional film maker and has actually worked with Julien Temple and who was, incidentally, the person who first screened L'ATALANTE for me. He absolutely hated the film and at one point was going to text Temple and ask him what went wrong! While I took on board my friend's criticisms as being in many ways justified, I remain entertained and in many instances genuinely moved by it. Rating ***

YESTERDAY'S WINE - A NEW VINTAGE

2011-10-21T14:37:00.000-07:00

My apologies to anybody who followed my blog YESTERDAY'S WINE for its sudden and unannounced disappearance. If you still with to follow the inane ramblings of Weaverman on topics other than films you will find that YESTERDAY'S WINE is continuing under another name at THE STRANGEST OF PLACES. Talking of names - I'm appearing there under my own moniker (how exciting, I hear you shouting!).

VALERIE A TYDEN DIVU/Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)

2011-10-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

All that glitters is not gold. VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS is very beautiful to look at - quite exquisite. Based on a famous Czech novel the film is loved by many (seemingly more in the West than in its homeland) and was well received by the critics. Author Angela Carter supposedly loved it so much that it inspired her short story collection THE BLOODY CHAMBER and the film she subsequently wrote, THE COMPANY OF WOLVES which has similar thematic similarities and which in my opinion is vastly superior. So why did I not enjoy the film? It's got a vampire from the Max Schreck school, its got great photography, goods sets, a nice score....but director Jaromil Jires seems incapable of telling a coherent story. Or is he simply unwilling to - being content to hide behind the hoary old "surrealist" label. I've nothing against surreal dream sequences and I quite enjoy films (particularly horror films) that, often because of low budgets or sheer incompetence, become surreal but this feature length (mercifully only 73 mins) dream by a girl experiencing her first menstrual cycle gets pretty tedious if you try to follow the story. What makes it even more frustrating is that there is a good story in there somewhere and if it had been told coherently it could have been a classic. Actress Jaroslava Schallerrova who plays Valerie is drop dead beautiful but as she was only thirteen when she made the film I won't say more. Rating **

RAY HARRYHAUSEN : THE EARLY COLLECTION (2006)

2011-09-30T08:55:00.000-07:00

In the late 30's three young men became lifelong friends in Los Angeles. They were future writer Ray Bradbury, collector, writer and future literary agent Forrest J. Ackerman and the young Ray Harryhausen. The three had in common a love of fantasy, science fiction, the great fantasy films - particularly the 1933 KING KONG. What was so important about that friendship was that in the years that followed these three young men dreamed wonderful dreams that few had dreamed before and whatsmore they shared these dreams with the generations that came after them. Bradbury was the man who wrote THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, THE ILLUSTRATED MAN and FAHRENHEIT 451 and brought poetry to science fiction. Forry Ackerman inspired a generation of fans with his magazines FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND, SPACEMEN and MONSTER WORLD, instilling in kids like me a love of the fantastic cinema. It is hard to think of anybody who grew up in the Sixties and Seventies who are making horror or sci-fi (an abbreviation invented by ackerman) films today who do not regard themselves a "Children of Ackerman". Ray Harryhausen put his dreams on film with a whole series of monster, sci-fi and fantasy films such as THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS and CLASH OF THE TITANS in which his magic brought to life aliens, mythological monsters, Greek Gods in thrilling ways. I consider myself lucky to have seen most of these films when they were first released. In 1962 I went to work at Columbia Pictures London office and it was not long after I encountered Ray himself in one of the corridors. I, naturally took the opportunity to exchange a few words with my hero - all too briefly the moment was over. Ten years later I was asked if I could suggest a subject to interview for the French magazine L'ECRAN FANTASTIQUE and I suggested Ray would be a good subject. I rang Ray and, despite a busy schedule he was kind enough to agree. Ray suggested his London home as the venue. Need I say that it was a mind-boggling experience! After all those years of watching his wonderful films I was spending the day sitting in Ray Harryhausen's lounge with GWANGI (a tyrannosaurus if you need to ask) on the rug between us, talking about Ray's films. I count Ray Harryhausen an one of the nicest people I've ever met. To show the measure of the man, when I sent Ray the transcript of the interview he felt that his answers to my questions had not been complete or interesting enough so, although he was preparing his latest SINBAD film, he took the time to retype all his answers and elaborate on them. L'ECRAN FANTASTIQUE published the interview without paying me for it so I felt fully justified in passing it on for publication to the American fanzine publisher Gary Svehla and later in England to THE HORROR ELITE fanzine.

This wonderful 2 Disc DVD brings together Ray's early stop-motion MOTHER GOOSE STORIES, his more ambitious FAIRY TALE series (incuding an abandoned TORTOISE AND THE HARE recently completed by two of Ray's admirers). There is much, much more like animated army training films, tests and drawings for projects like MUNCHAUSEN, FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, THE ELEMENTALS and EVOLUTION, even a couple of advertising films.

Disc 2 contains masses of interesting stuff including a reunion between Ray, Ackerman and Bradbury, tributes from other film makers and even a piece on Ray's wonderful bronze statues which include a twice lifesize depiction of explorer David Livingstone (his wife Diane's great grandfather) being attacked by a lion which now stands at the Livingstone museum near Edinburgh and several interviews and trailers. This is an important release and a wonderful one which is a fitting tribute to a great film-maker and a very nice guy. Rating *****

STRANGE AEONS : THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP (2004)

2011-09-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

A very low budget yet worthy H.P.Lovecraft adaption that manages to keep the main elements of the original intact. When this started I really didn't expect much but was pleasantly surprised and it was obvious that the makers had their heart in the project and respect for the source material. Besides the feature the disc includes a German short called MARIA'S HUBRIS which seems to be another adaption of the same story distilled down to fifteen minutes. There's also an excellent puppet film based on HPL's FROM BEYOND and a funny Lovecraft inspired cartoon called DON'T FEED THE BOOK. Add to this a couple of trailers and an interview with John Carpenter and you've got a nice DVD from The Lovecraft Film Festival crew. Rating ***

THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)

2011-09-24T14:36:00.001-07:00

Seeing NOBODY'S FOOL, AMERICAN SPLENDOUR and THE BIG LEBOWSKI so closely together is an interesting experience as all three centre around rather different "outsiders" from society. The Coen's THE BIG LEBOWSKI is for me the weakest of the three for many reasons. I came to the film with little knowledge of it - none of the story it tells - and only a slight awareness of the cult that surrounds it and its central character "the dude" played by Jeff Bridges. I've enjoyed several films by the Coen Brothers, most recently their version of TRUE GRIT, although I've been rather surprised at most of adulation heaped upon them by their fans. For me THE BIG LEBOWSKI is yet another case of the slight of hand that passes for originality in Hollywood today. There is a lot to enjoy in the film but it contains absolutely nothing in terms of originality (unlike AMERICAN SPLENDOUR) and comes over as contrived in the extreme. The plot is an amalgamation of film noir/private eye cliches - smart mouthed loner hired by millionaire to investigate a kidnapping that may or may not be genuine, the sexy blonde by the pool, the femme fatale, the beatings by hired thugs working for a local crime kingpin - the over used plot element of the detective character (a role fulfilled here by "the dude") being followed by a mysterious figure who turns out to be another Private Eye is rolled out yet again. Okay, okay, it may be a homage to Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald but these days "homage" tends to mean laziness. If you are going to take the classic PI plot and stand it on its head you need to look to films like Frear's GUMSHOE or Altman's THE LONG GOODBYE to see what can be achieved. To fill the film with entertaining (and they are entertaining to be sure) eccentric characters is simply not enough. Having said that the film has some very funny moments and while I never warmed to any of the characters they are, without exception, superbly played by Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Sam Elliott. Rating ***

NOBODY'S FOOL (1994)

2011-09-16T02:24:00.000-07:00

Robert Benton's NOBODY'S FOOL is the sort of movie that improves with age. By that I do not mean the age of the film but rather that of the viewer (Bergman's WILD STRAWBERRIES is one of several other examples). It's not a flashy film, it doesn't blow its trumpet loud and it seems to meander a bit but within this unassuming framework it says an awful lot about how we live our lives, how we atone for our sins, about friendships, relationships, memories etc, etc. This is not to say that somebody of, say, thirty, could not appreciate NOBODY'S FOOL both for its technical and acting qualities (and both are considerable) as well as what it is saying, but I assure you that the film will look even better when the viewer is sixty-five. There'a a lot of talent at work here but the film is Newman's from start to finish and what might at first seem like a rather cliched character provides some of the finest acting moments of his career. The final shot in the movie is sheer brilliance and for me it will always be the closing scene of Newman's career - all that came after, good as it may have been, was a curtain call. Well done. ****

RIGHTEOUS KILL (2007)

2011-09-12T00:56:00.001-07:00

RIGHTEOUS KILL is what passes for competent mainstream entertainment these days - I was just musing on that and mentally comparing it with another film I recently felt suffered from a similar delusion, BLACK SWAN, when I discovered (with an ironic laugh, I assure you) that Jon Avnet - the director of RIGHTEOUS KILL - was also the producer of BLACK SWAN. The films both take a plot idea - a very cliched one - and then develop it into a script without worrying too much about a plot. The film starts with one of the two stars (De Niro and Pacino) confessing to a series of vigilante murders. Then we flashback to find that the two central characters are the cops investigating the murders. Everything points to one of the cops being the killer - everybody except his buddy thinks he is the killer. So, call me dumb if you want, but given film cliches and given the two stars on board and being 100% certain that the guy we see confessing isn't going to be the culprit I was sure who the killer would be....and this is meant to be a mystery? If it ain't Pacino its going to be De Niro - or vice versa. I'm a huge Pacino fan and I certainly like De Niro despite his long string of poor film choices but this second outing together (if we discount the second GODFATHER movie) is not worthy of either star. Of the two De Niro comes off best here and poor Al seems to be having another bad hair day. The plot might have worked thirty or forty years ago but today a mystery plot that reveals the answer to the mystery in the first scene just won't do. Rating **

LE DEUXIEME SOUFFLE/The Second Wind (2007)

2011-09-10T03:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a real surprise, a remake of a classic Jean-Pierre Melville gangster film that can stand honourable comparison with the original. The French have always shown a flair for this type of film and there are many fine examples of what might be termed Gallic noir - and Jean-Pierre Melville was indisputably its greatest exponent. Melville made his version of LE DEUXIEME SOUFFLE in 1966. Based on the novel "Un Reglement de comples" by Jose Giovanni, it starred the great Lino Ventura and was released in England as THE SECOND BREATH. I have a real soft spot for the film as not only was it the first Melville film I saw I also worked on the English publicity for it. Alain Corneau's version goes back to the original novel rather than Melville's script but both films are faithful to their source material so are very similar. Corneau has resisted any temptation to update the story and it remains firmly set in the 1960's with Denis Auteuil an excellent choice to replace Ventura as the ageing gangster Gu Minda who breaks out of jail to find that the criminal underworld has changed and there is no honour among thieves of the new generation. Auteuil (who impresses me more with every film I see) perfectly captures the growing realisation of Minda that the rules by which he lived no longer apply. The supporting cast are uniformly excellent : Monica Bellucci goes blonde to play Minda's girlfriend Manouche and ex-footballer Eric Cantona is impressive as the loyal Alban. Michel Blanc and Jacques Dutronic also contribute excellent performances. THE SECOND WIND proves that the French have not forgotten how to make classic gangster films. I still have a preference for the b/w original but this is very good indeed. Rating ****

THE CROOKED CIRCLE (1932)

2011-09-08T01:33:00.000-07:00

Director H.Bruce Humberstone had a respectable career working with the likes of Boris Karloff, Danny Kaye and Glenn Miller. My favourite among his films is the film noir I WAKE UP SCREAMING with Laird Cregar. Thanks to friend Cerpts I welcome the chance to see this early example of his work. It certainly has a busy plot with masked criminals, amateur sleuths, an old dark house, a sinister swami, skeletons and trap doors etc. I share with Cerpts a fascination for the "Old Dark House" genre and while some examples can be a bit on the slow side THE CROOKED CIRCLE could never be accused of that. It fairly bubbles along with never a dull patch - in fact one gets the feeling that the film has too much plot for its running time. The films biggest stars are actually regulated to supporting roles as comedy relief but as they are wisecracking James Gleason ("It's Moider!") and Zasu Pitts the fun never sinks to the irritating level seen in so many films. Interesting to see Ben Lyon as the hero because although he famously appeared in Howard Hughes' HELL'S ANGELS he is best known to my generation in England as the star of the long running BBC radio show of the 50's, LIFE WITH THE LYONS - his voice alone conjures up part of my childhood. Rating ***

THE MAD GHOUL (1943)

2011-09-06T23:51:00.000-07:00

Turhan Bey gets top billing here although his role is definitely that of a support to the other stars of this minor Universal horror film. The real star of the piece is George Zucco who must have been the real reason people paid to see the film (although I'm sure the title was the film's main box-office draw in 1943). What a trooper Zucco was! Not only did he never turn in a bad performance he often seems to have a twinkle in his eye indicating that he found his on screen villany both enjoyable and amusing. Whether this was really the case I have no idea but it comes over that was and has kept him a popular figure among horror fans. Here Zucco is pretty restrained as the doctor engaged in outre experiments but his performance is just as entertaining as ever. Evelyn Ankers is always a welcome addition to these old thrillers and although he is a little on the bland side David Bruce adequate as the unlucky title character. Both Robert Armstrong and Milburn Stone have amusing supporting roles and look out for Charles McGraw in one of his earliest appearances. James Hogan's direction is pretty much by the numbers and the film moves as slowly and as predictably as the script dictates. If, like me, you are a dedicated fan of Universal horrors or Hollywood B-movies in general then you'll probably overlook the slow patches and relish the cast. Rating ***

FRONTIER MARSHAL (1939)

2011-09-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

This is the second film to be based on Stuart N. Lake's biography of Wyatt Earp, an earlier version having appeared in 1934. The film plays fast and loose with historical fact with Earp played by Randolph Scott as an ex-army scout who arrives in Tombstone without any sign of his famous brothers and single handedly goes to the O.K. Corral for a rather anti-climatic shootout with the bad guys (led by Joe Sawyer as Curly Bill Brocious in the complete absence of the Clantons and McLaurys). The film, directed by Allan Dwan, is a perfectly servicable Western, the main interest of which is in the performances. Randolph Scott plays Wyatt Earp as if he was Randolph Scott and there are nice performances from Nancy and English actress Binnie Barnes (whom I met in London in the early 60s). Oddly, the film gives Earp no romantic involvement - leaving that department solely to Cesar Romero. It is Romero who gives the best performance as Doc Holliday (here called Halliday and being shot down before the O.K.Corral). In a supporting role is Ward Bond who had appeared in the 1934 verion and who would go on to play Virgil Earp in John Ford's 1946 version, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE. Rating ***

BLACK SWAN (2010)

2011-08-03T23:30:00.000-07:00

Sadly, this is what passes for art in Hollywood today. The film totally lacks originality the plot is cobbled together from movie cliches as old as...well, at least as old as THE RED SHOES, a far superior film, from where most of the key plot elements are taken. It is slick, looks good and, to be fair, is quite entertaining in the same way that MOMMIE DEAREST was entertaining or Glenn Close in FATAL ATTRACTION was entertaining. O.K. so we have THE RED SHOES rip off with Vincent Cassel as a sneering dance master who likes to talk dirty as a substitute for Anton Walbrook. There are (what we now call) "references" to many other popular films including Coppola's DRACULA and in the film's most alarmingly silly and hilariously awful scene to AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (Aronofsky is quoted as saying he thinks of the film as a werewolf movie without a werewolf). Natalie Portman's much praised performance is o.k. inasmuch as she does what the scrip asks well enough and she handles the dancing scenes very well but it reminded my of two other performances (both of which I admire) : Meryl Streep in THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN and Jack Nicholson in THE SHINING - both of which telegraphed the fact that their characters are mentally unstable (wheras in the source novels had a much subtler revelations) and that is what is the flaw at the heart of BLACK SWAN - it is obvious from the opening scene that poor Natalie's terrors are a product of her own mind and however awful they get they are not real. The much discussed lesbian oral sex scene is purely exploitive soft porn. Yes, I was entertained for the running time on a silly level (just as I was entertained by SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY) but for goodness sake let's not confuse either with great film-making. Franco's film had the advantage that while lacking the technical quality of BLACK SWAN it also lacks its pretention. Rating ***

SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY (1971)

2011-07-28T13:41:00.001-07:00

SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY is an interesting piece of Euro Trash directed by Jesus Franco (who else?). It is interesting because although while watching the film (mercifully short at 74 mins) and realising it's not very good there are enough interesting points to keep you watching. Two of the points of interest belong to the beautiful Soledad Miranda. Miss Miranda is credited as Susana Korda and several other members of the cast and crew are working under pseudonyms - presumably to protect the guilty. The plot is a variation on THE BRIDE WORE BLACK or even DR.PHIBES with Miranda bumping off the medical board that caused the death of her husband by driving him to suicide. Notable among the victims are dear old Howard Vernon, an expert at this kind of stuff, who actually gets his kit off for a full frontal nude masochistic sex scene that will make it difficult to watch THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF again - this sort of thing never happened when he worked for Fritz Lang. Even more bizarre is another victim played by none other than Jesus Franco himself. Like poor old Howard, Franco gets his dick cut off. If you look quickly there is also an appearance by EL VAMPIRO himself - German Robles! If you are into Euro Trash you're probably salivating by now but there is also a totally inappropriate pop score which has nothing to do with the action, female nudity and girl on girl action. Rating ***

" I am Jesus Franco, I directed this movie, you can't cut my willy off!"

THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN (1935)

2011-07-17T07:45:00.001-07:00

MMarlene Dietrich named this as her personal favourite among her films and it is easy to see why, although for me it falls just short of SHANGHAI EXPRESS and THE SCARLET EMPRESS. There have been at least eight or nine versions of this story - one starring Bardot and a much more diistinguished version by Luis Bunuel - his last film. Of these three the Dietrich version directed by her Svengali, Josef Von Sternberg is my favourite. The central character, the beutiful Conchita, is a tiotal bitch and surprisingly (for Thirties Hollywood) the film does not try to palm the audience off with any redeeming features as she puts poor old Lionel Atwill (in one of his finest performances) through hell. Sternberg's direction is exquisite and as in all his films it is obvious he never knew the meaning of the word excess when it came to set decoration. Cesar Romero and Edward Everett Horton are fine in support roles. I look forward to MOROCCO.

PARIS BLUES (1961)

2011-07-14T00:16:00.000-07:00

Despite excellent films like HOMBRE and HUD, Martin Ritt is a director who is rarely mentioned by film fans today. He seems to have passed from the collective consciousness and been relegated to being a footnote in the career of Paul Newman. To be honest, PARIS BLUES is, despite many positive qualities, not one of his best films. While being perfectly acceptable in technical terms it betrays its age in many ways, admittedly this is not necessarily a minus point. The film begins with a pan across the rooftops of Paris and then dissolves into what is obviously a series of model buildings before descending into a studio created Parisian street. Now I'm not particularly against this as I'm fond of model work and well done studio sets but in this case it goes somewhat against the tone of the film and one has to ask, given that much of the film was filmed on location in Paris, why? Perhaps they couldn't find a street that looked atmospheric enough. The first view of the interior of the jazz club is wonderful parade of cliche characters - hipsters in shades, a fat lady with her toyboy, real gone kids, intellectual types, beatniks and even a very coy suggestion of homosexuality. The acting by the four principals is, as you would expect, excellent and they almost overcome the difficulties of the script. Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as the two ex-pat American jazz musicians come off best. Newman is cynical, moody and magnificent. He looks incredible - cool, confident and every inch a super star. What a great actor the man was - the camera loved him and he dominates the screen whenever he appears. Poitier, no less charismatic and talented, has to overcome the script's insistence that he is shown to be hip by having to end every sentence with the word "Man". The real life Mr.Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Diahann Carroll are fine although I never quite believed how easily the self-confessed lover of small-town USA life falls into bed with Newman's character on her first night in Paris. Carroll's character is forever reminding poor Sidney of his racial responsibilites and how he should return home to the fight for the cause. This, unfortunately, gives the film a rather dated "preachy" feel. Being about jazz musicians the subject of drugs has to turn up but here it is confined to the secondary character of the "gypsy" guitarist played by Serge Reggiani (the "introducing Serge Reggiani" betrays the Hollywood imperialism by casually wiping out the distinguished European career of this fine actor). Musically the film is treat from the musical score by Duke Ellington to the on screen apopearances by Louis Armstrong. Despite some rather jarring elements I enjoyed the film and, let's face it, the chance to see Satchmo jamming with Newman, Poitier and Reggiani is a hard one to resist. Rating ***

THE GOLD RUSH (1925)

2011-07-01T00:13:00.000-07:00

I'm very much a born again Charles Chaplin fan. Years ago I lost interest in his silent comedies although I retained an admiration for some of his talkies like MONSIEUR VERDOUX and LIMELIGHT. A television documentary a couple of years back sent me back to his silent features such as CITY LIGHTS. As a kid I went to see THE GOLD RUSH several times at the old Electric Palace, Highgate. I loved it although as this was during the 1950's it must have been the version re-released by Chaplin the early Forties with with narration and dialogue spoken by Charlie himself rather than the original 1925 version which has a different and far more satisfying ending - which I'd nominate as one of the greatest romantic moments in cinema history. Today, I find the sound re-issue extremely irritating but luckily the DVD I viewed has both versions. THE GOLD RUSH in its original 1925 version is, undoubtably, a great American movies. Chaplin keeps the pathos in check with a touch of cynicism, provides some iconic comedy sequences and some extremely clever in-camera special effects. Chaplin had to refilm many scenes after getting the original female lead pregnant and she was replaced by the luminously beautiful Georgia Hale with whom he also had a romantic involvement - watch that final scene in the original verson! As with Bogart and Bacall in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, it's all there on the screen. Rating *****

SAMURAI PRINCESS (2009)

2011-06-23T02:08:00.001-07:00

An appealing idea but an absolutely appaling movie. The plot which seems to be a meld of Samurai action and something to do with androids is incoherent and seemingly made up on the spot. The film also features an incredible amount of gore (and I mean GORE) which might appeal to some. Rating : a very generous *

DER TIGER VON ESCHNAPUR/DER INDISCHE GRABMAL (1959)

2011-06-11T00:40:00.000-07:00

Fritz Lang had originally been set to direct these stories written by his wife Thea Von Harbou very early in his career but the project was effectively stolen from his by his producer Joe May. By the time it was remade in 1938 Lang was already in Hollywood. In the late Fifties he was lured back to Germany to finally tackle the project himself. A huge production, THE TIGER OF ESCHNAPUR and its companion film THE INDIAN TOMB is essentially a load of old nonsense about plots and counter plots in a Maharajah's palace and a love triangle featuring a prince, a beautiful dancing girl and a German architect. The plot is silly beyond belief with a man wrestling a stuffed tiger, Indian gods, evil priests, murder, tiger hunts, elephants, torture, chases, caves etc. It is also wonderfully entertaining because Lang is intelligent enough to treat his comic book material seriously and straight-faced without pretension and, more importantly, without condescension. Blessed with beautiful Hollywood star Debra Paget, Lang makes good use of her and the actress certainly works for her money. The two dance routines are tremendous with the one in THE INDIAN TOMB featuring a near naked Miss Paget in a way that I doubt would have been allowed in her native American productions at the time. Hero work is adequately handled by Paul Hubschmid. Now restored and released on DVD with some nice extras and a 40 page booklet, the films together offer three and a half hours of great, if undemanding, entertainment. A must for Lang fans. Rating ****

Debra shakes her booty

BERLIN EXPRESS (1948)

2011-06-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

Shown as part of BBC's Robert Ryan season of RKO thrillers, this film directed by French born Jacques Tourneur has so many points of interest that it is almost impossible for it not to be entertaining. Part train set mystery (a sub-genre I have a weakness for) and part thriller as a group of foreign nationals (America, British, French and Russian - representing the various power zones of Berlin) band together to track down a peace loving professor who has been kidnapped by the Nazi underground. Essentially a post war (but pre-cold war) propaganda piece complete with philosophising voice over. but it works thanks to Tourneur's fast paced direction (from story by Curt Siodmak) and some atmospheric Film noir style photography by Lucian Ballard. The excellent cast includes Robert Ryan, Merle Oberon, Paul Lukas, Robert Coote, Charles McGraw and Fritz Kortner. Filmed on location in post-war Germany it never quite adds up to the sum of its parts but is never less than entertaining. Rating ***

VINCENT PRICE CENTENNIAL

2011-05-27T01:43:00.000-07:00

As a long time film fan I've been thrilled to meet quite a few stars - Ginger Rogers, Tony Curtis, Harold Lloyd, Christopher Lee among them - but none could equal the thrill of meeting and, to an extent, getting to know Vincent Price. I first met Vincent when he was in England filming WITCHFINDER GENERAL. Thankfully, the meeting was easy to arrange as another friend, the late Michael Reeves, was directing the film. After that my girlfriend at the time and myself became regular guests on the sets of THE OBLONG BOX, SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN, CRY OF THE BANSHEE, MADHOUSE, THE ABOMINABLE DR.PHIBES and its sequel and THEATRE OF BLOOD. Vincent, as much as his work would allow, was an attentive host - always ready to chat and reminisce about his career, art or cooking. There were even more special times such as the car journey we shared with him from Harrow to London with Vincent in his full Tudor costume from CRY OF THE BANSHEE or the time he invited us, plus my mother and aunt, backstage during the stage production of ARDELE in London. He was a charming, generous, witty, lovely man. Vincent Price is also being celebrated over at the LAND OF CERPTS AND HONEY and its sister blog BATHED IN THE LIGHT OF ANDROMEDA. Click here to join the party.

GREAT DAY IN THE MORNING (1956)

2011-05-24T06:07:00.001-07:00

Jacques Tourneur's films are nearly always worth a look. I say nearly always because you'd be hard pushed to make a case for CITY UNDER THE SEA (War Gods of the Deep) which was a sad end to a pretty illustrious career. Luckily GREAT DAY IN THE MORNING is one of the interesting ones. A technicolor Western which has a decent script and because of this its characters have some depth. The cast is very good with Robert Stack doing well as the morally ambiguous hero and there is a nice portrait of villainy from Raymond Burr as the Elephant obsessed "Jumbo" - knowing Burr's constant weight problems I'm not sure that his physical size in this film was achieved by padding. The women who compete for Stack's attentions are good girl Rhonda Fleming and bad girl Ruth Roman. Stack can't make up his mind for most of the film and when he finally does it is too late because Ruth has paid the price for being a tart with a heart of gold in 1950's Hollywood. Set just before the American Civil War the plot concerns Southern sympathisers trying to smuggle gold down to Dixie for the coming war. The Union supporters (led by Burr who has his own agenda) are depicted very unsympathetically thanks mainly to the presence of the great Leo Gordon who almost before the opening credits are over is spitting out venom. Rating ***

BLACK SHEEP (2007)

2011-05-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

Wonderfully straight-faced horror comedy in the tradition of SHAUN OF THE DEAD. This time around it is genetically modified killer sheep rampaging across the New Zealand countryside. In camera effects rather than CGI, a funny script, good cast and bucket loads of gore. Mint sauce and sheep farting jokes abound - what's not to like? There is even man on sheep and ram on man sex, but who are we to criticise Kiwi culture?

SARABAND FOR DEAD LOVERS (1948)

2011-05-12T06:06:00.000-07:00

Flora Robson and Stewart Granger

Highly romanticised version of the scandal that surrounded the ancestors of our present Royal Family. The film tells the story of the affair between Sophie (Joan Greenwood), wife of the future George I and the dashing Philip von Konigsmark (Stewart Granger) who are presented here a star-crossed lovers and more sympathetic than they probably deserve - but, as I said in my RED BARON review, historical accuracy does not necessarily make for an entertaining film - although I understand that the film gets the political side of things fairly accurate. I find it interesting that mystery of sorts surrounds the deaths of the central characters of this and the two previous films reviewed here - Stavisky, Richtofen and Kongismark - the later officially went missing although it is generally assumed (certainly by this film) that he was murdered. Turning to the film rather than history, this Ealing Studios film is very impressive with a fine literate script and superb colour photography by Douglas Slocombe. Direction is by Basil Dearden (born about a mile from where I sit writing this) and besides the two lead players the court intrigues are wonderfully played out by Flora Robson, Peter Bull, Francoise Rosay, Michael Gough and Anthony Quayle. Eagle eyed fans will also spot Miles Malleson, Guy Rolfe and Anthony Steel. They won't however spot Christopher Lee whose performance was removed from the completed film. Rating ****

THE RED BARON (2006)

2011-05-10T01:02:00.000-07:00

I am rather fond of Roger Corman's VON RICHTOFEN AND BROWN (aka THE RED BARON) but I think that this German film (made entirely in English) has the edge on it. A critical and box-office disaster, it has been pointed out that the film is far from historically accurate in its retelling of the story of WWI's greatest air ace, Manfred Von Richtofen - The Red Baron. It is my view that when you are making a fiction film about a character who has become almost a semi-mythological figure one should follow John Ford's dictum from THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE that "When the legend becomes fact - print the legend." This does not mean a complete perversion of fact - just an acknowledgement of the legend. I thought this film handled fact and fiction rather well and it certainly contains some pretty hair-raising flying sequences. The film struggles a bit trying to give Richtofen a romance with a pretty nurse and a meeting with Roy Brown (the Canadian pilot who was officially credited with downing the German ace, although it is now generally believed he wasn't responsible) in No Man's Land. As, I said above, I enjoyed the film - probably as much as Corman's version and for similar reasons. Rating: ***

STAVISKY (1974)

2011-05-08T00:35:00.000-07:00

STAVISKY is at the same time one of Alain Resnais's most audience friendly films and one of his most puzzling. On the surface it is a straight forward picture of Sergei Alexandre Stavisky, the charismatic Russian born swindler and con-man (played superbly by the equally charismatic Jean-Paul Belmondo) whose dirty dealings in the early Thirties nearly brought down the French coalition goverment - to the point of bringing France to the edge of civil war. The film shows us nothing of these tumultuous events - concentrating on the man himself while offering no real moral judgement on his lifestyle. Typically, Resnais shows us many sides of Stavisky's personality. He maybe on the edge of madness, maybe schizophrenic; he is a devoted husband with a stunningly beautiful wife yet happily sleeps with a woman in order to buy her jewellry at a cut-down price. For much of the film he seems rather like one of those gentleman crooks that were so popular in Thirties crime fiction. Investigated by the police and the secret service, Stavisky's financial empire begins to crumble - he is pursued by the corrupt forces that have allowed him to operate because his financial scams have supported them. When his friend, Baron Raoul, happily talks of having delibedrately squandered the ill-gotten fortune he inherited, Stavisky comments "I have to invent the money I squander!" Baron Raoul is, along with Stavisky's wife, the only one to remain loyal to him as all those he trusted desert or betray him. Raoul (probably a fictional character) is wonderfully played by Charles Boyer in one of his last performances. He is charmed by Stavisky and even when the truth is revealed that his friend is not French and is Jewish (he is like many European aristocrats casually anti-semitic) he stands by him - for Resnais not character is one sided. Stavisky's story is shadowed by events in the lives of two other Jewish immigrants - Leon Trotsky and a young German actress. The style of the film is typically elliptical with flashbacks and forwards and ending with a question that a lot of people have been asking about a more recent death - was Stavisky executed by the police who went to arrest him? The "official verdict" was suicide. Perhaps the line of dialogue that best sums up Stavisky the man and STAVISKY the film is "To truly understand him you must dream about him and dream his dreams." Very Resnais. Rating ****

HANGMEN ALSO DIE (1943)

2011-04-30T13:17:00.001-07:00

Made the same year as Douglas Sirk's HITLER'S MADMAN which was based on the same events, Fritz Lang's HANGMEN ALSO DIE is one of the great director's most undervalued films. The film may be a blatant piece of wartime propoganda but this drama of paranoia, nazis and betrayal harkens back to the director's DR.MABUSE films. Brian Donlevy plays the assassin of Reichsprotekor Heydrich who escapes detection by accidently implicating the family of a famous professor. Hostages are taken, tortured and exccuted and the professor's daughter, at first willing to betray Donlevy is slowly convinced to help the resistance by turning the tables on an informer. The film depicts dramatically the decisions people had to make in such circumstances very convincingly. The use of studio exteriors, stark (typically Langian) shadows - particularly in the interrogation scenes at Gestapo headquarters - gives the film a strong expressionistic feel. Performances are strong with Donlevy, Anna Lee, Walter Brennan, Dennis O'keefe and Alexander Granach all turning in excellent work. Eagle eyed viewers will spot the great Dwight Frye in an uncredited performance as a hostage. Co-wriien by Berthold Brecht. Rating ****

MANSION OF MADNESS/Dr.Tarr's Torture Chamber (1973)

2011-04-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

Like his later film ALUCARDA, Moctezuma's adaption of Edgar Allan Poe's The System of Dr.Tarr and Prof.Fether has to be experienced rather than described to appreciate the sheer lunancy. A journalist travels to a remote region of France to do a story on a Lunatic Asylum unaware that the inmates have taken over the establishment. There's a bit of horror, a bit of nudity, and a lot of absurdity - indeed, as with ALUCARDA, the theatre (or in this case the Cinema) of the Absurd is a pretty accurate description. The cast is just about adequate but the film benefits from a very atmospheric location and a genuinely bizarre atmosphere. I'm not sure if Moctezuma is a good director of not - but while watching the film such names as Peter Brook, Luis Bunuel and Ken Russell keep coming to mind. This might not indicate that he is good but it certainly makes him interesting. Warning: The DVD in circulation is very poor quality, too dark and out of focus. Rating ***

THE RUSSIAN ARK (2002)

2011-04-22T02:15:00.000-07:00

Alexander Sokurov's THE RUSSIAN ARK is a remarkable film for many reasons, not the least of which because it is almost impossible to catagorize. Is it a documentary? Is it history? Is it science-fiction? It is certainly an almost unique cinematic experience. It has at it's core a situation rather than a story. Two men, one never seen, the other a 19th Century French aristocrat/diplomat find themselves, mysteriously, entering The Hermitage Museum in St.Petersburg. To their surprise they can both speak Russian. They are not sure what century they are in - historical figures such as Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Czars Alexander and Nicholas, real people, tourists all seem to be there. Together the two men wander through over thirty rooms of the former Winter Palace discussing art, arguing, being harassed by staff. To say more would be unfair for this film is really to be experienced rather than talked about. Technically the film is quite mind-boggling. It is done in a single 99 minute take - perhaps not so difficult in these days of digital technology but when/if you see the film you will realise that the logistical difficulties are stunning - everything we see is achieved in real time without second takes (and we are talking about a cast of over 2000!). We, the viewer - maybe we are the unseen man because we see through his eyes - are taken on a journey through this magnificent historical building (for this is not a set), a journey that in its own way is just as magical as Lewis Carroll's Adventures of Alice in Wonderland (and full of equally eccentic encounters) - of which the film strongly reminds me. I read that, perhaps, it is a film that should only be watched once but I know that it will haunt me for a long time and equally I know that I will take that journey again many times. I won't name the lead actor because although it is one of the most remarkable performances I have ever seen it would spoil the illusion - for me he was a real person and I look forward to meeting him again. A masterpiece. Rating *****

Bravo, Michael.......

2011-04-19T01:16:00.000-07:00

Frankenstein, The True Story

Michael Sarrazin, who died this week, was an extremely likeable and competent actor. I honestly cannot think of a bad performance in those films of his that I have seen. I narrowly missed the chance of meeting him after a visit to the set of FRANKENSTEIN, THE TRUE STORY failed to happen. Michael was, of course, a memorable "creation" in this adaption by Christopher Isherwood. However, my reason for writing more than I usually do about the death of film personalities is to mention one of Sarrazin's oddest credits - for a film in which he never appeared in person. The film was John Huston's Western THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN. In the film the Judge's daughter has an aviator boyfriend. He never appears in the film and is only seen in a photograph. It is a photograph of Michael Sarrazin. He is credited on the film with something like "with the participation of...." I assumed on first viewing that the scenes featuring this character had been cut out but I later read that his presence in the photograph was due entirely to Sarrazin's real-life relationship with Jaqueline Bisset, the actress playing the Judge's daughter.

GAMLET/Hamlet (1964)

2011-04-18T14:03:00.000-07:00

More Russian cinema, this time from the Soviet period. One of the great pleasures of being a film fan is showing friends the films you admire and vice versa. Being a bit of a Shakespeare fan I'd always wanted to see this film - remembering the very positive reviews it got back in the 6o's. Last week an old friend with a special interest in Eastern European finally got around to showing it to me. After only a few minutes I knew I was watching the finest bit of filmed Shakespeare I'd ever seen and not long after that I knew I was watching a truly great movie, full stop. It's a traditional production with amazing sets, superb acting from the entire cast. Stunning photography and a powerful score - the latter from Dmitri Shostakivich no less.A Warning though - the English subtitle vary ftom accurate for the famous speeces (To be or not to be,,,) to the wildly eccentric so it really helps if you know the plot. Rating *****

MONGOL :THE RISE TO POWER OF GENGHIS KHAN (2007)

2011-04-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

I seem to be on a bit of a Russian kick at the moment. This epic retelling of the rise of Temujdin is very entertaining without ever really reaching the heights it seems to be aiming for. If you've seen either the John Wayne epic or the dreadful version starring Omar Sharif you'll recognise all the main characters and the basic plot - Temujdin, Jamuga, Bortai etc but this films easily makes more believable watching with oriental actors. It's weakness for me is that despite some nicely staged battle scenes the film often resorts to telling you what Temujdin did rather than telling you how. How does he escape his wooden yoke?, how does he escape from the ice? and how does he raise his army? But that said it is an interesting film, spectacularly shot, well acted and enjoyable. Rating ***

TOP TEN MUSICALS

2011-04-09T23:51:00.000-07:00

Cabaret

I've not reviewed many musicals on the blog. This does not mean I don't enjoy them. A good musical can be an uplifting piece of entertainment and can be enjoyed for many reasons. I am fond of both GREASE and the more recent MAMMA MIA not because they are particularly great pieces of filmmaking but simply because they were particular favourites of my late partner and gave her so much pleasure during the latter stages of her illness when she found concentration difficult. A friend of mine has just started his first blog, called LIFE IS A CABARET which will feature his views on musicals - both film and stage. In honour of his new blog I am listing here my first attempt to list my ten favourite musicals. I doubt if it is a definitive list as I struggled with not including such films as Stanley Donen and George Abbott's PAJAMA GAME and Alan Parker's EVITA and the omission of anything starring Doris Day, but I decided to go for just ten titles - although, perhaps, their will be more to said on the subject in the future. So, for now, in alphabetical order, ten musicals that I count among my very favourites.

1. THE BAND WAGON (1953)

2. CABARET (1972)

3. CHICAGO (2002)

4. 42nd STREET (1934)

5. HELLO DOLLY (1969

6. THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975)

7. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1954)

8. A STAR IS BORN (1954)

9. TOP HAT (1935)

10 THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)

42nd Street

JE T'AIME MOI NON PLUS/I Love you I don't (1976)

2011-04-08T02:34:00.000-07:00

One of my quirkier lusts over the years has been Jane Birkin but for some reason I never thought to check out any of the films she has made in France, contenting myself with her CDs and occasional picture searches on Google. A flash of inspiration caused me to add a few of her titles to my rental list and the first to arrive was this film which, literally, turns out to be a real pain in the arse. Jane plays a girl working in a roadside cafe. Known as "Johnny" because of her androgenous looks. She develops a crush on a local refuse collector (Joe Dallesandro) who it turns out is gay. Joe finds himself attracted to Jane but can't get it up with a woman. They solve this by having anal sex - prolonged scenes of Jane screaming in pain! Really, Serge, once was enough! Joe's boyfriend gets jealous and tries to kill Jane after he himself has been turned down for casual sex by a man with a huge penis (a young Gerard Depardieu no less). Joe realises how much his boyfriend loves him and they bugger off into the sunset leaving Jane naked, rejected and half suffocated. As you can see from the plot the film doesn't contain a lot of laughs, even the awfulness of it all doesn't really lend itself to unintentional humour. Acting is competent but Gainbourg's direction is pretty dreadful and one wonders just why such a depressing piece was chosen as his directorial debut - one for the psychiatrists no doubt. If sodomy in a garbage truck turns you on them maybe this is the film for you...if not I'd give it a wide berth. Incidentally this is the film which featured Gainsbourg/Birkin's hit "J'taime" but it is only heard on the soundtrack as an instrumental. Rating *

THE SHANGHAI GESTURE (1941)

2011-04-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

Josef Von Sternberg's THE SHANGHAI GESTURE is a film full of surprises. The first one is that his muse, Marlene Dietrich, is not in it. Una Munson is a more than adequate substitute - probably bringing a much needed harder edge of the character of Mother Gin Sling. Another surprise comes from the very beautiful Gene Tierney as the rich girl who becomes addicted to gambling and drink. Victor Mature plays the sleepy eyed Doctor Omar and Walter Huston plays the rich businessman who once slit the soles of his Chinese mistresses feet and had pebbles sown in to stop her running away. The film is set in a gambling casino in Shanghai. In the original play the setting is a brothel run my Mother Goddam, Poppy (the character played by Tierney) is addicted to drugs and Mature's seductive Omar is a procurer of new girls fo the brothel (in the film represented by "hostess" Dixie "You can call me what you want as long as you give me something with a cherry in it" Pomeroy played by Phyllis Brooks and the only sympathetic character in the film)). The casino is a wonderful creation which, as was pointed out in an excellent review on NOIR OF THE WEEK resembles the rings of Dante's Hell. I really don't want to give any plot away here because none of the characters are what they seem and the film rips away their secrets until the stunning ending that still has the power to be shocking seventy years after the film was made. Good as everybody in the film is (and there are a host of wonderful character actors in support roles) it is Munson who stays in the memory - in one scene she says she was a Manchu, bet her dad's name was Fu! Truly memorable. Rating ****

THE TOWN (2010)

2011-04-05T01:48:00.000-07:00

Almost without a hiccup, Ben Affleck completes his impressive transition from actor to actor/director with this first class crime drama inspired by the odd fact (you missed this one Stephen Fry) that the town of Charleston in Massachusetts has produced more bank and armoured car robbers than anywhere else in the world, the profession often being passed down from father to son. It's a tough, gritty and violent film that rarely puts a foot wrong - although I found the sentimental coda at the end a bit out of step with what had gone before. Performances are solid but I'd be amiss if I didn't mention the late Pete Postlethwaite as the very frightening Irish godfather. Rating ****

JANE EYRE (1943)

2011-03-24T17:11:00.001-07:00

English director Robert Stevenson's career divides neatly into three periods. The first making feature films in both England and America after which he spent almost ten years working in television before settling down as Walt Disney's in-house director responsible for such mega hits as MARY POPPINS and BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS. He was never a great stylist but he had what Disney wanted - the ability to get the job done and do it efficiently. JANE EYRE is probably the best film from the first phase of his career. Watching it with hindsight it is hard not to believe that Orson Welles who plays Edward Rochester didn't influence the style of the film but that tends to be said about any good film Welles lends his talent to even when there is little evidence to support it. The film is dark and moody and very gothic which, of course, applies to the novel as well and Janes journey to Thornfield might just as well be to Castle Dracula or, at least to Baskerville Hall. Joan Fontaine must have had a strong sense of deja vu having not long before starred in Hitchcock's REBECCA from Daphne DuMaurier's novel which was heavily influenced by Bronte. Visually the film is a treat and besides Fontaine and Welles there are fine performances by Agnes Moorhead, John Sutton and particularly by the great Henry Daniell. Of course, special mention must be made of the uncredited performance by the very young Elizabeth Taylor and Janes doomed school friend - ironically I watched the film on the day she died before having heard the sad news. There have been several good versions of JANE EYRE (and another on the way) but this remains my favourite. Rating ****

ELIZABETH TAYLOR R.I.P.

2011-03-23T09:34:00.000-07:00

FRANKENSTEIN'S WEDDING (2011)

2011-03-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

To be honest I'm not sure if this is the right place to be reviewing this. Does it qualify as a film? Does it qualify as a television movie? What was it? Well, you get an audience of 12,000 people to turn up (free tickets) dressed as wedding guests at the magnificent ruins of Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds, Yorkshire and then you stage a live production of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein complete with musical numbers and then you transmit it live on BBC3. Nah, it couldn't work - but against all odds it did. The plot remains faithful to the original novel - with a few justified twists. Frankenstein's dad is a nouveau rich, gruff, Yorkshire business man (Mark Williams) who is laying on a big society wedding for his scientist son Victor (Andrew Gower) and his bride (the lovely and talented Lacey Turner- a million miles from EASTENDERS) not knowing that Victor has a dark secret. With some atmospheric filmed flashbacks the production is both imaginative and enthralling. The only fault I could find is the inclusion of some truly mundane, unimaginative and indifferently performed musical numbers that really were not needed. I've saved the best for last and that is the ever excellent David Harewood as the Monster - both sympathetc and threatening at the same time. Now if only the National Theatre can be persuaded to release a DVD of it's FRANKENSTEIN with Benedict Cumberbatch - it's been recorded so why no DVD?

Kirkstall Abbey

FAREWELL TO MICHAEL GOUGH........

2011-03-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

Michael Gough 1916 - 2011 R.I.P.

L'ATALANTE (1934)

2011-03-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

Jean Vigo was 29 when he made L'ATALANTE and dying of tuberculosis. His total output consists of a surreal documentary, A PROPOS DE NICE, about the town of Nice, a short film about a French swimming champion, a medium length feature about school kids, ZERO DE CONDUIT. All his films have a veneer of reality but Vigo had the eye of a poet and he was able to dig beneath the surface to discover the surrealism inherent in everyday life. In L'ATALANTE Vigo retains his eye for surrealistic imagery but the real power of this beautiful film comes from what today we have come to call "magical realism. A young barge captain marries an inexperienced village girl and almost as soon as the wedding ceremony is over the couple set off on his barge towards Paris. Although the newly weds are obviously in love the girl is not prepared for her husband's initially rough ways and the harsh realities of life on a working barge. As the barge moves slowly up the river, through fog, the bleak industrial landscape the film becomes as much a journey through the couples developing relationship as a realistic voyage (it is not to far fetched to compare the symbolism of the journey with that used by Conrad in his far bleaker Heart of Darkness). The girl dreams of Paris and fashions and romance (personified by the lively seductive tinker) but reality proves darker. Vigo never lets the symbolism overpower the human story of people learning to live together and his characters are fully developed with all the failings and idiosyncrasies of real people. The couple are beautifully played and Michel Simon gives in Pere Jules one of the most memorable screen performances of all time - and it isn't just comedy relief as some have suggested. A wonderful film. How sad that all Vigo's films now fit on to one DVD.....but at least we have them.

You lucky Americans......

2011-03-13T07:18:00.000-07:00

A while back I was bemoaning that Rex Ingram's THE MAGICIAN is not available on DVD. Well, it is now. Warners is releasing it, along with other silent treasures, through the online Warners Shop (click here for link) which is great news - unless you are English! They only ship to America.

Paul Wegener as Oliver Haddo, the Aleister Crowley inspired villain of Rex Ingram's film version of W.Somerset Maugham's novelette THE MAGICIAN.

Harold Lloyd 1893 - 1971)

2011-03-11T01:54:00.001-08:00

My introduction to the works of Harold Lloyd came with a showing of his film SAFETY LAST at the Holloway School Film Society. The image of Lloyd suspended from the clock is surely one of the iconic images of film comedy. When I saw that film, circa 1960, I had no idea that little more than two years later I would shake hands with Harold Lloyd himself. Lloyd, being a better business man than many of the silent clowns had held on to the copyright of his films. In 1962 he was instrumental in putting together a compilation of clips from many of his films entitled HAROLD LLOYD'S WORLD OF COMEDY. Lloyd came to London for the launch of the film and visited the Columbia Pictures offices in Wardour Street, London. On a previous visit Harold had made the acquaintance of Bill Atherton, an elderly ex-music hall comedian who was working in Columbia's mailroom. I was sitting talking to Bill when Harold Lloyd came in to say hello. Bill kindly introduced me to the silent star and we shook hands. I wish I could say it was more than that but that was about it - a quick handshake - but dammit it was Harold Lloyd and I met him.

And if you are thinking that I've posted this on the wrong blog, you are wrong. Oddly I do not own any of Lloyd's films so he doesn't qualify for THE WEAVERMAN ARCHIVES. I hope to rectify that soon.

END CREDITS.

2011-03-06T01:06:00.000-08:00

Well, my list of film masterpieces is complete. Twenty-Five films which are, for me, about as good as it gets. The only limitation I felt while making my choices was, having allowed myself only one film per director, was which film to choose as many of the named directors have more than one masterpiece under their belt. Take, for instance, Powell and Pressburger's THE RED SHOES ? What made me pick it over the duo's THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP given that the latter is my favourite of their films. The truth is, I don't know, but I felt it best to go with a gut feeling on the day. Another day, another list. I'm happier with my choices than some seem to be but I think some have totally missed the point of the list. Director John Landis said in an interview that he had an appreciation of high art and low art - he could enjoy both Buster Keaton and Chaplin and still laugh his socks off at The Three Stooges and I think that is the correct attitude. Films can be enjoyed in many ways. My way may not be another person's. My blog is only intended to register my reaction to a movie and hopefully point out things I find interesting in those films. My purely personal view is that there is a natural order to things and some things are genuinely more valuable that others (but as John Landis said that does not mean that the lower orders cannot be entertaining) and the twenty-five films I have picked are, for me, extremely valuable. Feel free to disagree or send me your lists!

THE FILMS

1. VAMPYR (Carl Dreyer 1931)
2. LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS (Marcel Carne 1945)
3. L'ATALANTE (Jean Vigo 1934)
4. THE RED SHOES (The Archers 1948)
5. NATTVARDSGASTERNA (Ingmar Bergman 1963)
6. L'ECLISSE (Michelangelo Antonioni 1962)
7. LE GRANDE ILLUSION (Jean Renoir 1937)
8. THE GODFATHER (Frances Coppola 1972)
9. IKIRU (Akira Kurosawa 1952)
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (John Ford 1939)
11. CITIZEN KANE (Orson Welles 1941)
12. VERTIGO (Alfred Hitchcock 1958)
13. METROPOLIS (Fritz Lang 1926)
14. LA BELLE ET LA BETE (Jean Cocteau 1946)
15. TOKYO MONOGATARI (Ozu 1953)
16. WINGS OF DESIRE (Wim Wenders 1987)
17. THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (Peter Bogdanovich 1971)
18. NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Charles Laughton 1957)
19. LE SALAIRE DE LA PEUR (Henri-Georges Clouzot 1953)
20. CITY LIGHT (Charles Chaplin 1931)
21. PINNOCHIO (Walt Disney 1940)
22. HIS GIRL FRIDAY (Howard Hawks 1940)
23. THE WIZARD OF OZ (Mervyn LeRoy 1939)
24. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (Stanley Donen 1952)
25. A STAR IS BORN (George Cukor 1954)

TERMINATION CLAUSE

2011-02-26T02:08:00.000-08:00

Not had a a chance to watch anything very interesting recently and little time for blogging other than to update the "Masterpiece" series of stills each day. I have however had some more interesting reactions to my list of choices. One friend, who works in the film industry finds the list "surprisingly unadventurous" and thinks I should have gone for more off the wall choices, while a younger follower of the blog feels totally mystified by a list of films that he feels no connection with. To the later I can only say "seek them out" but the former criticism is more difficult. One of the films my friend suggested as an oddball choice was THE TERMINATOR, the suggestion being it is technically darn near perfect. Now, I love THE TERMINATOR and my friend is certainly in a position to judge its technical merits. No doubt it qualifies as a "great" film but there is, to my mind, a big gap between "great" and "masterpiece" and a big gap between a film that is entertaining bubble gum for the eyes and something that tries to look a bit deeper into the human condition. I'm sure that might sound a bit pretentious to some but if it does so be it, I'll have to live with that. Looking at the films I've chosen so far I think one of the linking elements of the movies is a sense of poetry and I'm aware that for the most part it is a rather sad, dark poetry. As I write this I am at no 18 of 25 and each day the choice becomes harder - mainly because for this list (there may be more in the future) I have limited myself to one film per director. Finally for now - I will return to the subject when the list is complete - I'd like to say a special thanks to Fiona who has suggested some interesting "Ten Favourite" lists for the future which includes the intriguing "Ten Favourite films that made me cry" and "Ten Favourite films that are undervalued" and David who made some very good suggestions for "tweeking" the look of the blog slightly, a couple of which I will incorporate in the future.

A word from our editor.........

2011-02-15T05:34:00.000-08:00

If you are a regular visitor to FLEAPIT OF THE MIND, you will notice that today it looks a little different. FLEAPIT was my first born and still the blog I am most proud of. My blog YESTERDAY'S WINE is a rambling affair about almost anything not covered by FLEAPIT and WEAVERMAN ARCHIVES is really just an annex for listing films I own. But FLEAPIT itself is special to me but its been around for a few years now without ever changing its format. The old adage that "if ain't broke don't mend it" is a true one so the changes that you will see to the template are minimal and really not more than a refreshing of the old elements. I hope you like the slightly new look.

FILM MASTERPIECES - WHO SAYS SO?

2011-02-13T10:46:00.000-08:00

Now that my series of still and trailers from film masterpieces is well under way I thought it might be a good time to have a word about the thoughts behind this new feature. One of my regular correspondents wrote and actually challenged - in a good natured way - my choices, saying they were "predictable" and "unimaginative". Well, what can I say to that except I plead guilty on both counts. The films I have picked are films that I consider the greatest achievements of the cinema, true works of art in every respect. I'm not picking films that I think are Good or even films I think are Great - I'm picking twenty-five films which are to me the creme de la creme of films. Now in answer to my friend's challenge I will say that to a film fan of my generation there will not be too many surprises in my choices. It really doesn't need me to point to these films as Masterpieces because time and the opinions of many fans, critics and film-makers have recognised them as such. I am sure that everybody's list would be different and that is fine. Nobody's evaluation of the worth of a film is the final one and everybody has the right to make their own list. But it is worth remembering that when polls of the greatest films of all time are held there is probably a very good reason why CITIZEN KANE usually comes somewhere near the top. I do not consider myself to be a critic, I am at best a reviewer, an enthusiast, a fan. I enjoy exploring all types of films from the sort of films I've picked for this list down to the modest b-movies, exploitation films. I like talking about films, I listen to what other people say and the films they think are worth seeing. One of the films on my list, Jean Vigo's L'ATALANTE, I only saw for the first time about two weeks ago - a film director friend sat me down and showed it to me - I will forever be grateful as I would probably never have gotten around to it on my own. Likewise a review of the Russian film THE CRANES ARE FLYING on the excellent website FILMS DESERVING OF GREATER RECOGNITION has made me eager to see that film because of the enthusiasm of the person writing about it. I know there are people out there who only really care about the latest blockbuster that Hollywood throws at them and that is fine - they probably have no interest in exploring the classics of the past. That is up to them - but for me I want to enjoy both.

HOUSE OF MYSTERY (1934)

2011-02-11T15:31:00.000-08:00

Director William Nigh is better known for his MR.WONG films with Boris Karloff but here he turns his hand to a creaking Old Dark House mystery. I admit I'm a sucker for this sub-genre of the horror movies and can't resist them even if many turn out to be plain dull. Luckily this one is fairly entertaining even if not a prime example of cinematic art. The cast were all unknown to me with the exception of George "Gabby" Hayes but they equit themselves well enough in a plot that involves the god Kali, a Hindu curse, an ape, sliding panels etc. Fans of this sort of thing will have no difficulty sorting out the murderer or spotting elements from Edgar Allan Poe and THE MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM. I thought the script contained a few good jokes and I actually liked the three comedy relief cops. Rating ***

View the whole film at THE INTERNET ARCHIVE.

CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA (1954)

2011-02-11T12:33:00.000-08:00

Thoroughly routine Western with the always watchable Barbara Stanwyck and a rather wooden Ronald Reagan. Babs arrives at the head of a herd of cattle in Montana, does some nude bathing, gets spied on by indians, meets Ronnie and sees her father gunned down during a stampede - and thats all in the first fifteen minutes. The indians are very post BROKEN ARROW but evil white men are giving them guns and whisky. Any interest there is is with the supporting cast which includes Chubby Johnson, Jack Elam, Gene Evans, Anthony Caruso and Myron Healey. The theme music that runs throughout the movie (credited to Louis Forbes) is very reminiscent of the song by Nelson Riddle and John Gabriel sung over the credits of Howard Hawks' 1967 EL DORADO. Director Allan Dwan directed his first film in 1911 and was one of the most prolific of all Hollywood directors. Rating **

A STAR IS BORN (1937)

2011-02-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

After my rave for the 1954 George Cukor version I thought it only fair to take a look again at the 1937 William Wellman original (unless one counts the 1932 Cukor WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD?), especially as I'd never seen it in colour - and that is Technicolor not colourisation. A warning here, though - the Delta DVD release is pretty dreadful with a noisy soundtrack and for some reason Delta have decided for no discernible reason to have the film in two halves on a single disc! I enjoyed the film very much but good as it is I still think the remake is better. Not that Wellman's film can really be faulted on any level - Janet Gaynor, Frederic March, Adolph Menjou and Andy Devine are all excellent in the roles later played by Garland, Mason, Bickford and Noonan. I can't say I'm inspired to dash out and buy the Barbra Streisand version again and neither am I particularly excited by the thought of the promised Beyonce remake even if Clint Eastwood is rumoured to be attached as director. I suppose one pays your money and makes your choice. Rating ****

THE RETURN OF THE WHISTLER (1948)

2011-02-09T01:22:00.001-08:00

Last film in Columbia's Whistler series and the only one without Richard Dix. Based on a story by Cornell Woolrich this is a neat little mystery that wastes not a minute of its 62 minutes. Michael Duane's fiancee (Lenore Aubert) goes missing on their proposed wedding night and he sets out to find her with the help of a private eye. But all is not what it seems and the story twists and turns to its climax. An entertaining hour. Rating ***

See the whole film on THE INTERNET ARCHIVE.

BEFORE I HANG (1940)

2011-02-07T02:15:00.000-08:00

For me this is a really under-rated B-Movie. Karloff's films for Columbia in the later Thirties are often dismissed as below par efforts and while I think this justifiably describes THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU, I certainly couldn't say the same about the excellent BLACK ROOM or the genuinely bizarre THE DEVIL COMMANDS both of which were efficently directed by Roy William Neill and Edward Dmytryk respectively. Watching BEFORE I HANG for the first time in many years made we realise that while the material may not be the strongest it does feature an excellent performance by Karloff as the kindly professor turned homicidal strangler by his experiments. But the real star of the movie for me is cinematographer Benjamin Kline. The film is beautifully shot. Nick Grinde's direction is first class and certainly belies his reputation. This is a neat little effort. Rating ***

BEHEMOTH THE SEA MONSTER/The Giant Behemoth (1959)

2011-02-05T08:38:00.000-08:00

A windy Saturday afternoon, the shopping done, I raid my DVD collection and come up with this 1950's monster pic. Despite the presence of Willis O'Brien on the credits this certainly isn't KING KONG. But it is undemanding fun. The monster looks a bit tatty but I particularly liked the many shots of panic stricken extras running through the streets of a part of London that seems to consist of buildings due for demolition. My disk has an awful commentary by two minor American FX guys who spend the whole time bitching about the short comings of the movie and its script - but they've obviously done no research beyond their own little specialist area and have nothing to say about the cast which includes Andre Morell, Gene Evans, John Turner, Maurice Kaufman and Jack MacGowran (they seem to be totally unaware of who he is). How much did they get paid? The word Tossers comes to mind. Rating **

LA CASA NEL TEMPO/House of Clocks (1989)

2011-02-03T12:48:00.001-08:00

I admit that I'm not much of a Lucio Fulci fan. I've always felt that he had a poor grasp of story. This film was made for Italian Cable Television but still manages to include a fair amount of Fulci's signature gore. Three young wasters break into a secluded mansion and are responsible for the deaths of three of the inhabitants - an old couple and their handy-man. As the victims have already been revealed as murders themselves we don't have to waste too much sympathy on them. The owner of the house collects clocks and when he is killed the clocks all stop and then start to run backwards - a signal that all kinds of weird and bloody stuff is going to happen to the three young intruders. Despite seeing the double twist at the climax coming very early into the film I was quite surprised to find myself enjoying the creepy proceedings. Based, it seems on a novel, it is stronger on narrative that most Fulci films I'm and it seemed rather closer to the world of Mario Bava than his other films. Rating ***

CARLTON-BROWNE OF THE F.O./The Man in the Cocked Hat (1959)

2011-02-03T01:08:00.000-08:00

My visits to the White Bus Company in Southend are becoming addictive. The enthusiasm of the organisers is quite infectious and their ability to come up with what seems to be random gems from the backlog of British cinema is wonderful. Last night was a good example. The programme started with an episode of the 1950's BBC documentary series WAR IN THE AIR with fascinating footage of World War Two aerial warfare with, in this epsode, emphasis on the daylight/nighttime bombing raids by the RAF and USAF. This was followed by Lindsay Andersons very first film - a documentary about conveyor belts - called MEET THE PIONEERS which may have some historical significance in the director's career but which propelled the audience into a vortex of near terminal boredom. Promises of more Anderson documentaries in the future were not appreciated. The main feature was a Boulting Brother's comedy which, perhaps not as highly regarded as some of their Ian Carmichael classics was nonetheless a wonderfully uncomplicated and very funny slice of British comedy featuring a cast of great British character actors who I'd have been prepared to watch reading extracts from the London Telephone Directory let alone in this satire on the English diplomatic service. Just look at the names involved : Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Thorley Walters, Miles Malleson, John Le Mesurier, Kynaston Reeves , Ronald Adams, Raymond Huntley, Nicholas Parsons, Irene Handl, Harry Locke, Sam Kydd and Basil Dignam. Add to this the lovely Luciana Paoluzzi and Ian Bannen as the heirs to the throne of the fictional island of Galardia. I was particularly pleased to see in the supporting cast the actor John Van Eyssen - more famous as Jonathan Harker in Terence Fisher's DRACULA (1958) - who was a production executive in my days at Columbia Pictures. The film was greatly appreciated by the audience (certainly as an antidote to the Lindsay Anderson film) and recieved an ovation. Rating ***

Courtesy of The Whie Bus Company.

TOTALLY FUTILE WASTE OF TIME.......

2011-02-01T06:41:00.000-08:00

Over in the madhouse known as THE LAND OF CERPTS AND HONEY friend Cerpts obviously has nothing more productive to do with him time than make silly lists. Well, come to think of it, neither have I - so I'm going to rise to the bait and echo his list of favourite films by various film directors. Like him I emphasise favourite above "best". I have also followed, more or less, his list of directors, although I have omitted some and added only a couple. The deleted names are of directors I really don't have a favourite film by or who I have no experience of. Poor Von Stroheim (above) is obviously about to phone and complain about not being on either list.

Robert Aldrich : ATTACK!
Woody Allen : ANNIE HALL
Robert Altman : PRARIE HOME COMPANION
Michelangelo Antonioni : L'ECLISSE
Dario Argento : DEEP RED
Mario Bava : LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO
Jacques Becker : TOUCHEZ PAS LE GRISBI
Ingmar Bergman : WINTER LIGHT
Budd Boetticher : TALL T
Peter Bogdanovich : THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
Mel Brooks : YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
Luis Bunel : VIRIDIANA
Tim Burton : ED WOOD
Frank Capra : IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Marcel Carne : LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS
John Carpenter : ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13
John Cassavetes : SHADOWS
Claude Chabrol : LA FEMME INFIDELE
Charles Chaplin : MONSIEUR VERDOUX
Georges Clouzot : WAGES OF FEAR
George Cukor : A STAR IS BORN
John Ford : MY DARLING CLEMENTINE
Milos Forman : AMADEUS
Georges Franju : EYES WITHOUT A FACE
John Frankenheimer : THE TRAIN
Samuel Fuller : PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET
Robert Hamer : KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS
Howard Hawks : RIO BRAVO
Werner Herzog : AGUIRRE WRATH OF GOD
Alfred Hitchcock : VERTIGO
John Huston : THE MALTESE FALCON
Elia Kazan : ON THE WATERFRONT
Stanley Kubrick : THE KILLING
Akira Kurosawa : IKIRU
Fritz Lang : METROPOLIS
David Lean : LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
Sergio Leone : ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA
Joseph H.Lewis : GUN CRAZY
Sidney Lumet : SERPICO
Alexander MacKendrick : SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
Rouben Mamoulian : DR>JEKYLL AND MR.HYDE
Joseph L.Mankiewicz : ALL ABOUT EVE
Anthony Mann : THE FAR COUNTRY
Michael Mann : LAST OF THE MOHICANS
Jean=Pierre Melville : LE SAMOURAI
Vincente Minnelli : THE PIRATE
Robert Mulligan : TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Max Ophuls : LA RONDE
Ozu : TOKYO STORY
Sam Peckinpah : PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID
Michael Powell : THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CO> BLIMP
Otto Preminger : LAURA
Sam Raimi : THE QUICK AND THE DEAD
Nicholas Ray : JOHNNY GUITAR
Michael Reeves : WITCHFINDER GENERAL
Alain Resnais : LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD
Roberto Rossellini : LITTLE FLOWERS OF ST.FRANCIS
Martin Scorsese : MEAN STREETS
Ridley Scott : BLADE RUNNER
M.Night Shyamalan : UNBREAKABLE
Don Siegel : CHARLEY VARRICK
Douglas Sirk : WRITTEN ON THE WIND
Stephen Spielberg : CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
Robert Siodmak : THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE
Preston Sturges : SULLIVANS TRAVELS
John Sturges : THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Quentin Tarantino : KILL BILL
Jacques Tourneur : NIGHT OF THE DEMON
Francois Truffaut : DAY FOR NIGHT
Luchino Visconti : IL GATTOPARDO
Josef von Sternberg : SHANGHAI EXPRESS
Jean Vigo L'ATALANTE
Raoul Walsh : THE ROARING TWENTIES
Orson Welles : A TOUCH OF EVIL
William Wellman : PUBLIC ENEMY
Wim Wenders : THE AMERICAN FRIEND
James Whale : BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
Billy Wilder : SUNSET BOULEVARD
William Wyler : THE LITTLE FOXES
Fred Zinnemann : HIGH NOON

A STAR IS BORN (1954)

2011-01-31T15:08:00.000-08:00

George Cukor's remake of William Wellman's A STAR IS BORN which, in turn was inspired by Cukor's own WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD. No disrespect to Wellman (his film is excellent) but this is one of those rare occasions when the remake is better than the original. I must have first seen the film when I was eight or nine years old and I have seen it three or four times since. Several years ago Warner's undertook a restoration of the film - finding footage that had been cut over the years, even replacing missing scenes with stills where the soundtrack still existed and restoring two important musical numbers and this is the print in circulation now. Having heard that the story is to get yet another remake (there having been one in the 70's directed by Barbra Streisand) this time probably to be helmed by Clint Eastwood, I decided to dig out my copy (unseen since I bought it). The story of singer Esther Blodgett's rise to fame as the career of her actor husband, Norman Maine, begins to wane still packs a powerful emotional punch thanks to the performances of Judy Garland and James Mason (both giving career bests in my opinion) and the support of Charles Bickford, Jack Carson and Tom Noonan. As for George Cukor's direction - well, what can you say about Cukor? There are good films and there are great films - and there are some film masterpieces. I'm sure many would disagree with me and they are more than entitled to their opinion but I think that George Cukor's A STAR IS BORN with its script by Moss Hart and songs by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin is one of the true masterpieces of the American cinema...and I do not say that lightly. Rating *****

SOBACHYE SERDTSE/Heart of a Dog (1988)

2011-01-29T13:59:00.000-08:00

Based on a satirical novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, this Russian television film deserves a wider audience. How to explain it? Well, to say that it is a bizarre variation on the Frankenstein theme hardly begins to do it justice. The film begins with a narration by a stray dog living on the streets of Moscow in the post revolutionary Russia of 1924. Scavenging for food, the dog is befriended by a kindly old professor who takes him back to his apartment/surgery where he feeds him and tends his wounds. The dog feels he has fallen on good times at last and is thrilled when he is given a collar. One day the corpse of a freshly murdered man is bought to the surgery and the doctor and his assistant chloroform the dog and insert the dead man's pituitary gland into the dog's brain and attach the man's testicles to the pooch. Slowly the dog begins to transform into an ape like creature and eventually into a man (albeit a rather Mr.Hyde type specimen) with a passion for playing the balalaika and chasing cats. He becomes a scientific sensation but his bad manners and habits make him unpopular with his creators. He embraces the revolution and is befriended by the local Bolsheviks who put him in charge of pest control - where he happily spends his days strangling stray cats. This takes us about two thirds of the way through the film and it is really unfair to give away more. While the film is very, very funny and takes satirical swipes at everything in site it gives a real feeling of what life in post revolutionary Russia must have been like (much fun is had at the expense of the Bolshevik housing committee who are determined to take of the professor's large flat) and this element caused the original novel to be banned for many years - like most of Bulgarkov's work - only being published the year before the film was made. That it was made under the Soviet reign shows that the revolution had found its sense of humour. That the dog/man is the "new soviet man" is pretty obvious but this in no way lessens both the political message of the movie or, indeed, the fun that can be had watching it. It hits all targets. Technical credits are superb (knowing nothing about the film when I saw it I was convinced for a few minutes that I was watching a 1920's Russian film). All the acting is outstanding with veteran Evgeni Eustigneev very funny as the kindly professor at odds with the revolution and Vladimir Tololonnikov (his first film) brilliant as the dog man (both actors are shown above). The dog himself is excellent and dog lovers everywhere will love the ending. Rating *****

Courtesy of the Polish Film Collective of South Tottenham.

LES NOCES ROUGES/Wedding in Blood (1973)

2011-01-24T15:06:00.000-08:00

Even as an avowed Chabrol fan I found this an odd one. The story and setting are vintage Chabrol - sex, murder and betrayal among the bourgeoisie of rural France. My problem was with the depiction of the affair between the two leads. The performances seem far to broad to me, to the extent that their frantic embrasses and groping seemed almost comical. Indeed, for a short while, I began to suspect that Chabrol was making a black comedy. I am loathe to blame the performers (Michel Piccoli and Stephane Audran are fine actors) so I must assume that Chabrol told them to play it that way. Maybe he saw their romance as slightly amusing. But it is Chabrol and even his lesser films (although many don't share my reservations and regard the film very highly) are of interest. The murderers are amateurish and only initially get away with it because of political pressure before fate takes a hand. The characters are too self absorbed to be too sympathetic. Maybe I was missing the point. Rating ***

THE BLUE GARDENIA (1953)

2011-01-22T08:23:00.000-08:00

THE BLUE GARDENIA is a very minor film in the Fritz Lang canon and except for a couple of scenes has little of the visual flair of the director's other films. Based on a novel by Vera Caspary of LAURA fame, the film is really neither noir or mystery - although to be fair to the film the twist ending is fairly signalled early in the story and is not just the tacked on "convenient" revelation it might seem at first. Lang completists like myself will want to see it anyway and its stars - Ann Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Southern and Raymond Burr - are watchable. Rating ***

THE ENGLISHMAN WHO WENT UP A HILL BUT CAME DOWN A MOUNTAIN (1995)

2011-01-20T05:37:00.000-08:00

There is a pleasant sub-genre of British comedy cinema where eccentric country folk get the better of their big city cousins. Some of the resulting films have become minor classic as in the case of such titles as WHISKEY GALORE and THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT. These clashes between seemingly naive yokels and the more sophisticated urban dwelling authority figures are usually extoll the virtues of the rural communities. It might be worth noting that the corresponding American clashes between city folks and country folk would seem to be films like DELIVERANCE and TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE which should tell us something. Sam Peckinpah's STRAW DOGS is an attempt to transpose the American mind-set to England - not that we Brits should feel complacent as THE WICKER MAN takes things to their extreme. Christopher Monger's film, set in rural Wales in 1917 belongs to the comfortably eccentric rather than the dangerously weird. Two cartographers travel to deepest Wales to measure hills for goverment survey maps. Their decision that a hill previously regarded as a mountain by the local villagers is in fact twenty feet short of the official designated height for mountains. The locals decide to add the required footage to the hill. It's all quite slight but highly entertaining in a gentle sort of way with likeable lead performance by Hugh Grant (doing what Hugh Grant does) and excellent support from Colm Meaney, Tara FitzGerald, Ian McNiece and Kenneth Griffith. Rating ***

COURTESY OF THE WHITE BUS COMPANY.

TARKAN VIKING KANI/Tarkan vs.the Vikings (1971)

2011-01-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

It may be unintentionally funny, badly acted and badly directed but this Turkish adventure which pits brawny hero Tarkan and his brave dog Kurt against vikings and Chinese in his quest to rescue the daughter of Attila the Hun to the background of a ripped off musical score (notably Morricone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST and Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra") is continuously entertaining. There is a quite wonderfully unconvincing rubber octopus, female viking warriors with a taste for pink and other pastel colors, historically inaccurate viking slave galleys, a giant, enthusiastic fight scenes, an orgy and some nudity. Great fun if you're in the mood. Kantal Tibet and Eva Bender are stars but the dog out acts them. There are even a couple of visual references to Kirk Douglas in THE VIKINGS. Rating ***

THE SMALL WORLD OF SAMMY LEE (1963)

2011-01-17T04:21:00.000-08:00

Anthony Newley with Alfred Burke

Despite having directed both CROMWELL and CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, Ken Hughes (1922-2001) seems to be a forgotten figure in the history of the British Film industry. His TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE with Peter Finch is one of his best films but a lot of entertainment can be had by seeking out some of the inventive B-Movies he made back in the fifties such as JOE MACBETH (a gangster version of Shakespeare with Paul Douglas and Sid James) and noir like THE HOUSE ACROSS THE LAKE with Alex Nichol. Often working with B-list American stars, Hughes had the knack of making his minuscule budgets look bigger than they were and perhaps more importantly he knew how to keep his stories (he wrote many of his films) moving.THE SMALL WORLD OF SAMMY LEE, based on his own TV play - a one hander from 1958 that also starred Anthony Newley - comes from his transition period into bigger budgets sparked by the success of the OSCAR WILDE movie. The story is so simple that it is almost a cliche. Sammy is a comedian in a Soho strip joint who looses money to a local gangster in a fixed poker game and is given a set time to raise the money. The original play (remade twice for European television) was simply Sammy and a telephone but for the film Hughes has wisely opened out the action as Sammy criss crosses the streets of Soho desperately trying to save himself a beating. The film was released in 1963, a year after I started work in Soho, and Hughes makes wonderful use of actual locations such as Wardour Street, Old Compton Street, Lisle Street and Berwick Market. This shots are superbly merged with studio work at Shepperton - so much so that it is hard to tell the studio exteriors from tnhe real thing. I knew these streets well for seven years and found, for the most part, that the film was a pretty accurate depiction of Soho and its people. Newley is excellent and the supporting cast is one to relish with such reliable performers as Julia Foster, Wilfred Brambell, Roy Kinnear, Alfred Burke, Kenneth J.Warren, Robert Stephens, Miriam Karlin and Warren Mitchell. Rating ****

ZINDA LAASH/The Living Corpse/Dracula in Pakistan (1967)

2011-01-14T12:48:00.000-08:00

I have many versions of the DRACULA saga in my collection but this one (provided by my fairy godson) takes the biscuit. Although the film's protagonist is a scientist whose experiments with the elixir of life turn him into a vampire the film is based on Bram Stoker's novel, or, rather more pointedly on Hammer's classic 1958 DRACULA the structure of which it follows remarkably closely. Having said that it in no way resembles its illustrious inspiration. It is perhaps unfair to laugh at films from an alien culture but laugh I did - almost continuously - when I wasn't sitting in stunned silence during the many totally gratuitous musical numbers (yes, musical numbers!) that have so connection with the story. The film has a contemporary setting and the evil scientist lives in a modern flat although immediately on becoming a vampire he develops a taste for wearing cloaks and living in a castle (or the Pakistani equivalent) - and kidnapping the film's Mina substitute in his Ford Zephyr! Technical credits are competent although the acting is very...er...Asian, especially from the women. The star, credited as Rehan, is as good as, if not better, than some of the other low-budget vampires I've seen. Special mention must be made of the bizarre soundtrack - opening credits play against Granada while various suspense scenes unroll to the unlikely accompaniment of La Cucharacha and El Rancho Grande while on occasions dramatic moments are enhanced by James Bernard's original DRACULA score! If you can imagine Terence Fisher's DRACULA remade by The Kumars at No.42 you'll get the picture. Rating *** for curiosity value.

THE NAUGHTY STAIR

2011-01-12T08:56:00.000-08:00

The Lovely Bones

Six film of recent vintage that I saw for the first time last year which were, to say the least, a disappointment to me. They range from the just plain awful to the misconcieved, the totally unecessary, and those that suffered from the sin of pretentiousness - to which individual films I attach these various labels I will leave it up to you to guess. In alphabetical order :

THE BOX (2009) Richard Kelly

THE FALL (2006) Tarsem Singh

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009) Quentin Tarantino

THE LOVELY BONES (2010) Peter Jackson

SERAPHIM FALLS (2006) David Von Ancken

SHERLOCK HOLMES (2009) Guy Ritchie

3.1o TO YUMA (2007) James Mangold

THE MAZE (1953)

2011-01-10T11:14:00.001-08:00

Based on a novel by Maurice Sandoz, whose only other film adaption was the Tod Slaughter starrer THE CURSE OF THE WRAYDONS, William Cameron Menzies THE MAZE has the reputation of being a bit "silly" based on its denouement but to be honest I did not find this to be the case. Rather I found this to be a rather stylish little horror movie with a rich gothic atmosphere and a good plot (admittedly one that has been used with variations since JANE EYRE and probably earlier) and a competent cast led by Richard Carlson and English actress Veronica Hurst. There is also some excellent support from Michael Pate who even manages to make climbing stairs sinister. But if there is a real "star" of THE MAZE it is director William Cameron Menzies who brings the film an inventive visual style enhanced by his own impressive production design. Filmed in 3D. Rating ***

HOT FUZZ (2007)

2011-01-10T05:19:00.001-08:00

Perhaps seeing HOT FUZZ for the first time so soon after re-watching the same team's SHAUN OF THE DEAD was a mistake. SHAUN seemed to me an example of a film that knew exactly where it was going and what it wanted to do. It set its parameters stayed within them. Having a bigger budget and a starry cast to play with seems to me the reason why FUZZ ultimately falls flat - showing every sign that it really doesn't know where it is going. Don't get me wrong, for two thirds of its running time (which is a tad overlong) it is a very funny comedy but once it goes into spoof action film the whole structure just collapses into a shapeless mess. A real shame because there is an awful lot of great talent involved (thankfully the cast is not wasted). I'm probably in a minority as I know the film has many admirers. Rating ***

ERIC AND ERNIE (2010)

2011-01-09T12:03:00.001-08:00

Morecambe and Wise weren't just a comedy team, they were an integral part of British popular culture. This BBC film drama traces their rise from child performers in the pre-War years, through their near disastrous television debut series to their return to the variety circuits and the rebuilding of their reputations. To say that his film is good is not to do it justice. It was as near perfect as a television film can be. Based on an idea by comedienne and actress Victoria Wood (who also co-produced and played Eric's mother) the film is written by Peter Bowker and directed by Jonny Campbell. The hardest task, of course, was to convince the viewer that they were watching Eric and Ernie but this was achieved spectacularly by the performances of Daniel Rigby and Bryan Dick who not only looked spookily like the comedians but captured the voices and gestures - every little nuance in fact - of the team. Victoria Wood was as excellent as we have come to expect as Eric's pushy mum and there has been a justified heap of praise for comedian Vic Reeves as his dad. Like the previous TV drama THE ROAD TO CORONATION STREET this is a valuable exploration of a much loved British entertainment phenomenon. Rating *****

THE BRIDE OF FILMS OF THE YEAR

2011-01-06T03:48:00.000-08:00

Les Vampires (1915)

This is a list of films of older vintage that I have saw for the first time last year - those I thought were outstanding and those I waited a long time to see.

In Order of release :

LES VAMPIRES (1915) Louis Feuillade

MANIAC (1934) Dwain Esper

THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES (1940) Joe May

OSSESSIONE (1943) Roberto Rossellini

LA RONDE (1950) Max Ophuls

THE GOLDEN COACH (1952) Rene Clair

UGETSU MONOGATARI (1953) Kenji Mizoguchi

THERESE RAQUIN (1953) Abel Gance

L'AIR DE PARIS (1954) Abel Gance

L'GRANDE MANOUVERES (1955) Rene Clair

HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (1959) Alain Resnais

LA CEREMONIE (1995) Claude ChabroL

AU COEUR DU MENSONGE (1999) Claude Chabrol

FILMS OF THE YEAR

2011-01-05T07:54:00.000-08:00

This year I am dividing my favourite films of last year into three parts and three entries. As I no longer go to the cinema I am, as last year, picking films that are new to me rather than ones released in the last twelve months, although I have made an attempt at modernity by limiting my favourites of the year to films released since 2000. Yes, I am dragging myself into the 21st Century. A Further list will appear soon of older films I've particularly enjoyed during 2010 and that will be followed by a list of Rotten Tomatoes. So, here we go.....

My favourite film of the year just about made to the list as I caught it on its television transmission not long before Christmas (and promptly ordered the DVD from Amazon). I thought it was exciting, thrilling, funny, horrifying and beautifully acted - everything a film should be. It also happens to be the first film I have seen from South Korea. My film of the year is :

CHUGYEOGJA (The Chaser) 2008. Directed by Hong-jin Na. Starring Yun-seok Kim.

My Twelve runners up are :

APOCALYPTO (2006) Mel Gibson
BOYS FROM COUNTY (2003) John Irvin
DOUBT (2008) John Patrick Shanley
GOYA’S GHOSTS (2006) Milos Forman
I’M NOT THERE (2007) Todd Haynes
OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL (2009) Julien Temple
ME AND ORSON WELLES (2008) Richard Linklater
PERFUME : THE STORY OF A MURDERER (2006) Tom Tykwer
PRARIE HOME COMPANION (2006) Robert Altman
THE WOLFMAN (2010) Joe Johnston
THE WRESTLER (2008) Darren Aronofsky
YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH (2007) Francis Ford Coppola

STIRRED BUT NOT SHAKEN......

2010-12-16T05:58:00.000-08:00

I stopped being a Bond fan around about the time of THUNDERBALL. Since then I've caught them if they come my way but don't seek them out. But I appreciate that there are lots of people out there that love them. Today I received a nice e-mail from the BBC telling me about some sort of Bondage Festival (sorry, couldn't resist the old joke) that they are having. I usually resist e-mails from any individuals or organisations wanting me to advertise on their behalf or help them raise money to finance some dodgy film production but this one was very polite and it seems to me it might actually interest any Bond fans reading this blog, so click here http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/james_bond to find out what it's all about.

THE 39 STEPS (1935)

2010-12-15T15:29:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I had a whole evening of watching vintage Hitchcock films on DVD. I viewed THE THIRTY NINE STEPS, THE LADY VANISHES and SABOTAGE. The films - particularly the first two - hold up very well although to be fair virtually any Hitchcock film can be safely revisited without fear of boredom. It is difficult to choose a favourite out of STEPS or LADY as both are excellent entertainments packed with both adventure and humour (a recent re-reading of the original 1915 STEPS novel by John Buchan convinced me that the plot devised for the Hitchcock film is vastly more exciting than the original story which, for me is the weakest of the four novels featuring Richard Hannay). A chance meeting with an old friend from the 70's alerted me to the fact that a group of film enthusiasts known as the White Bus Company were screening Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS in darkest Westcliff. Seeing the film again on a big (or biggish) screen with an appreciative audience was a real treat. The White Bus crowd are a friendly bunch who love movies, preserve them and screen them. As for the film itself, it easily stands up to many viewings and hardly needs to be discussed here except it deserves its reputation as one of the truly great British films and the performances by the entire cast are excellent with only superlatives being good enough for the stars - Robert Donat and Madeline Carroll. Rating *****

AUS DEM LEBEN DER MARIONETTEN/ From the Life of the Marionettes (1980)

2010-12-04T03:48:00.000-08:00

Made during Ingmar Bergman's exile in Germany this is one of the dour Swede's bleakest works. The optimism that shone even in the darkest films of his early period and the obvious human concern for the troubled characters of the middle period has now disappeared. This is a cold and detached examination of a troubled soul. The film starts with a colour sequence in which the main character (brilliantly played by Robert Atzorn) murders and sodomizes a prostitute in a Munich peepshow. You know any film that starts like that is not going to be a lot of laughs! Bergman's films have often been concerned with psychological violence but his German films (this and THE SERPENT'S EGG) are the culmination of an increasing tendency for this to spill over into a physical manifestation which when it happens is disturbing in the extreme. Christine Buchegger (above with Atzorn in a fantasy sequence) is superb as the wife and Walter Schmidinger is outstanding as their gay friend (?). While watching the film I decided that I really didn't like it much but the next morning I find that it's images and themes are still with me. This is Bergman at the true Heart of Darkness. The mysterious title is a quote from PINOCCHIO.Rating ****

THE INVASION (2007)

2010-12-01T06:51:00.000-08:00

Jack Finney's novel The Body Snatchers is really bucking the odds. This is the fourth film version and so far each one has something to recommend it. There was Donald Siegel's classic 1956 version and Philip Kaufman's rather good remake and then what was probably the least interesting - Abel Ferrera's THE BODY SNATCHERS (although by no means a dud) - and now it is the turn of Oliver Hirschbiegel, director of DOWNFALL. Despite what seems to have been a very troubled production which involved extra scenes being directed by James McTeague (and written by the Warchowski Brothers no less) the film is not a complete disaster. This version is set in Washington D.C. and stars Nicole Kidman (looking very beautiful but oh so thin) as a psychiatrist (in Washington it must be difficult to sort strange behaviour there!) and rather that the giant pods of the book we now have a virus pandemic - although sleep is still the catalyst. Kidman is excellent and there is a fine supporting cast including a nice bit from Veronica Cartwright who was also in the Kaufman version (no Kevin McCarthy this time). I did get the impression that they didn't really know how to end the film and it all seems a bit rushed with an unconvincing domestic epilogue. But by far the worst thing about the film is the bland performance by Daniel Craig whom I found totally unconvincing as Kidman's doctor boyfriend. Entertaining. Rating **

ZHAN YEN TAN/Beach of the War Gods (1973)

2010-11-23T04:02:00.000-08:00

I first saw this in London's Casino cinema in Old Compton Street. It was cut and badly dubbed but it made me a fan of it's star and director Yu Wang (credited variously as Wang Yu or Jimmy Wang Yu) who, according to some sources, had initiated Hong Kong's Kung Fu film industry with his film CHINESE BOXER which paved the way for Bruce Lee. But for me the best Yu Wang films are the wuxia - the sword and spear fighting films of which BEACH OF THE WAR GODS is an excellent example. It is quite an ambitious film which takes its inspiration from Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI and, at least in its opening sequences, from Clint Eastwood. Like many Chinese films it is violently ant-Japanese. Back in the 80's both this film and Yu Wang's ONE ARMED BOXER were issued by Rank on widescreen uncut VHS tapes but neither has been easily available for years. The copy to hand, which I picked up from a seller on Amazon, is widescreen, uncut and subtitled (if somewhat eccentrically) and is released by Fortune Star and is a welcome addition to my collection. Rating ****

IN MEMORIAM

2010-11-22T22:03:00.000-08:00

BORIS KARLOFF

23 NOVEMBER 1887 - 2 FEBRUARY 1969

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009)

2010-11-17T16:02:00.000-08:00

Quentin Tarantino. I liked RESERVOIR DOGS, PULP FICTION and JACKIE BROWN when Tarantino seemed to have real control of his material. I even enjoyed KILL BILL 1 & 2 because it was a genuine homage to a genre that Tarantino loves and understands - it was a knowing conversation with others who enjoy the films it was referencing. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS is my least favourite QT film. This is not to say its badly made - individual scenes are very well directed - especially some of the Hitchcockian stuff towards the end - but the problem is that none of it holds together. There are two films here and the fight against one another ultimately beat each other to death. The first is a crude DIRTY DOZEN parody with Brad Pitt leading a group of scalp hunting Jewish soldiers behind enemy lines to kill and demoralize the Nazis. Where Robert Aldrich (for all the questional tone of his film) built his story slowly QT leaps from recruiting talk to action without taking a breath. The characters are shallow comic book cut outs badly drawn and in Brad Pitt's case ludicrously over acted. Yes, I know it is fantasy comic book stuff and perhaps it wouldn't matter too much if the other story, which is padded out by these scenes, isn't a rather tight little Hitchcock thriller involving the manageress of a Paris cinema's plot to wipe out the German high command (including Hitler himself who seems to have wandered in from THE PRODUCERS). Linking the two is Christopher Waltz as an SS officer giving a performance that quite probably dererved the Oscar it earned him. So its very much up and down. A parody, a straight thriller, a comedy, a homage (the film's opening scene seems to be parodying THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY unless I'm mistaken) and ending up as a bit of a shapeless mess. There are lots of references to pre-war German and wartime French cinema (Clouzot's LE CORBEAU is showing at the cinema) and Emil Jannings turns up briefly as a character. A final rather sad observation is the glee with which American soldiers are shown graphically scalping and beating nazis to death with baseball bats. This has little to do with jews taking revenge and is rather Americans acting like nazis (without any of the irony inherent in Aldrich's DOZEN). Modern parallels spring to mind but I doubt if Tarantino intended that. He just enjoyed it. Rating **

HELL, HEAVEN OR HOBOKEN ?........You're kidding me!

2010-11-17T06:20:00.000-08:00

When Cerpts told me that the 1958 British war film I WAS MONTY'S DOUBLE was listed on IMDb as HELL, HEAVEN OR HOBOKEN I thought he was either joking or inhaling illegal substances. But sure enough it is listed as the film's American title. A mistake surely...but the title also appears on websites for ROTTEN TOMATOES and TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES. Can any body explain the title to me?

FILMS THAT SHOUL BE ON DVD No.2

2010-11-16T07:30:00.001-08:00

It is a real mystery why this gem of a gangster film is not available on DVD. It was around on VHS for ages and given the popularity of gangster and mafia movies in the wake of Coppola's THE GODFATHER, not to mention the reputation of Rod Steiger as an actor this would seem a prime choice for DVD release. Director Richard Wilson, a long time associate of Orson Welles made only ten films as a director. Although I've seen the film many times I've never owned a copy - I did record it to VHS the last time it was shown on television but never kept the tape because the print shown was incomplete, missing the first meeting between Steiger and the character played by Fay Spain. Richard Wilson also directed another excellent gangster movie called PAY OR DIE starring Ernest Borgnine which although released in America on DVD by Warners is now a deleted title.

FILMS THAT SHOULD BE ON DVD No.1

2010-11-11T00:52:00.000-08:00

THE MAGICIAN (1926) directed by Rex Ingram (not to be confused with the geni from THIEF OF BAGDAD) and based on a novel by W.Somerset Maugham. The film stars German actor Paul Wegener as Oliver Haddo, a magician inspired by Aleister Crowley. Read about the film in an excellent article from Films in Review by clicking here. For fans of silent cinema, horror films or just simply films this would seem to be a perfect choice for DVD release by Criterion or Masters of Cinema.

THE TRAGEDY OF RICHARD III (1983)

2010-11-03T00:25:00.000-07:00

RICHARD III is my favourite Shakespeare play but it is rare that we get to see the full text - least of all on film or TV versions. The BBC's version for their COMPLETE DRAMATIC WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE is as near complete as I've ever seen. I've seen many actors play the hunchback king - Olivier, Ian McKellan, Paul Daneman, Anthony Sher, Ian Holm among them (not to mention non-Shakespearean portrayals by Basil Rathbone, Vincent Price and even Oliver Reed) and I rate Ron Cook's portrayal as among the best. My initial reaction to his opening "Now is the winter of our discontent...." speech was disappointment but this was because the shadow of Olivier's wonderful pantomime demon king in the 1955 hangs heavy over the role.The speech itself is an actor's declaration of how he is playing the king and by the end of the scene Cook had completely won me over. The direction is deceptively simple but totally suited to the drama which is played out against a very effective set made from old timber and discarded wooden doors. Costumes are traditional and highly inventive and the supporting cast is superlative with some interesting familiar faces including Zoe Wanamaker, Annette Crosbie, Patsy Kensit, Tenniel Evans and Bernard Hill. It is common in Shakespeare to see actors play more than one role in a production but here I felt it could be quite confusing to anybody coming to the play for the first time - Bernard Hill plays First Murderer and at least three minor roles - at one time appearing on both sides of the warring factions in successive scenes. If I had to single out one performance for unexpected brilliance it is Julia Foster as mad Queen Margaret and the final scene of the production with her, wild eyed and wilder haired, cackling madly on a huge pile of corpses is truly disturbing. Also, a special word of praise for the fight arranger because the final scene as Tudor's men close in for the kill looks truly dangerous. Rating ****

PSYCHOVILLE HALLOWEEN (2010)

2010-11-02T16:46:00.000-07:00

With Mark Gatiss off conquering the world it has been left to those other two gentlemen of the League and masters of the grotesque, Steve Pemberton ans Reece Shearsmith to provide some superior Halloween spookiness. Just as the LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN Christmas special took characters from the hit series and used them for an Amicus style portmanteau horror spoof so the weirdos from the series PSYCHOVILLE all turn up in this - again Amicus style - quartet of tricks and treats. Spoof it maybe but it works very well as a horror film as Pemberton and Shearsmith know exactly what buttons to press from the big scares down to little touches of revulsion such as the severed tongue still attached to a postage stamp or the sucking sound of Dawn French using a breast pump....although the clown who finds himself being given a blowjob by a Satanic goat takes some beating. Framing story of the exploration of a deserted and reputedly haunted Psychiatric hospital works well with a great performance by Eileen Atkins as the matron. Wonderfully mean spirited and nasty fun. Rating ****

KINGS OF THE SUN (1963)

2010-10-31T01:02:00.001-07:00

Some might call KINGS OF THE SUN a guilty pleasure but why should we feel guilty about innocent pleasure. Reading the IMDb discussion boards there seem to be a lot of people who feel the same about this movie as I do. Many years ago when George Chakiris visited by hometown I asked him about the film and he said that it was great fun to make. And that, I think, sums the movie up. So what have we got? Well, for a start the film is about Mayans which means the characters get to wear flower pots on their heads or more spectacular headgear that looks like it had been liberated from the wardrobe of Carmen Miranda. The Mayans are forced to flee their homeland in the Yucatan Peninsula because they are being attacked by Leo Gordon (and in movies being attacked by Leo is a serious matter). They end up somewhere in Texas where they come into contact with Native Americans led by a Russian from Vladivostok who bears a remarkable resemblance to the King of Siam. The plot is pretty silly but like many silly things it is great fun. One of the real pleasures is watching the actors for a variety of reasons. Brad Dexter copes bravely trying not to look silly with a flowerpot on his head while Richard Basehart manfully deals with the ridiculous wig he has to wear before giving up and committing suicide. Then there is the strange case of Shirley Ann Field. She was probably a very nice girl but I never really saw any sign of acting ability - her lines here and in all her films being spoken in a droning monotone that destroys any dramatic value they may have had. She is, to say the least, a very unconvincing Mayan (and to stand out on that account in this film is something of an achievement). And then there is Yul Brynner - sinuous, charismatic, panther-like and the epitome of a star. When Brynner is on screen nobody else stands a chance. Enjoy. Rating ***

MA BARKER'S KILLER BROOD (1960)

2010-10-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

Aaahh! Some trash at last! Made ten years before Roger Corman pervy version starring Shelley Winters, this is an another inaccurate (although slightly less so than Corman's) retelling of the story of Ma Barker and her boys. It is generally accepted now that the legend of the gun-toting old lady beloved by Hollywood was created by the FBI when they discovered the dead body of the old girl when they shot it out with her son Arthur. But the old John Ford dictum "When the legend becomes fact print the legend" holds true and rather that showing Ma cleaning their shirts and cooking their grits we again have Ma as the machine gun brandishing brains behind the Barker gang. Laurene Tuttle plays the part well, encouraging he boys to steal, kidnap and murder. The real-life brains of the gang seems to have been Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, played here by Paul Dubov - having his second stab at the character after having played him five years earlier for the same director in the GANG BUSTERS series. The film is no masterpiece but it has a nice low-budget 1950's feel to it which gives it a nice seedy atmosphere. Inaccurately, John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Machine Gun Kelly all turn up - the first two as actual members of Ma's gang! Rating **

THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (2010)

2010-10-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

With this television film adaption of the novel by H.G.Wells, on which he is executive producer, scriptwriter and star, Mark Gatiss continues his plan to dominate the BBC airwaves. With the serialisation of his novel The Devil in Amber (read by Gatiss himself) on Radio 7 and his recent SHERLOCK series plus his A HISTORY OF HORROR and now THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON it is getting difficult to turn on the television or radio without tripping over him. But given his track record so far I'd give him the whole BBC to play with if he wanted it. Gatiss takes the moon landing of 1969 as his jumping off (or back) point for a pretty faithful adaption of the Wells novel and while and space adventure set in Edwardian times is bound to be a WALLACE AND GROMIT, or Steam Punk as they call it now,but that only adds to the charm. Gatiss makes a wonderfully eccentric Professor Cavor and Rory Kinnear is his slightly nervous companion Bedford. The special effects are adequate in a nice pre-CGI way and the ant-like Selenites are decidedly creepy with the Grand Lunarite looking like something from the mind of H.P.Lovecraft. Great fun. Rating ***

ON THE BEAT (1962)

2010-10-17T12:03:00.001-07:00

Increasingly in recent years, old English films in black and white have become like comfort food for me. It is the simple pleasure of nostalgia - of seeing the world I grew up in. ON THE BEAT was released in 1962, the year that I left school and started work. By that time I felt I had outgrown the comedies of Norman Wisdom which I had enjoyed as a child. Norman's recent death spurred me to see at least one of his films again and by sheer luck it turned out to be ON THE BEAT which was transmitted as a tribute to Sir Norman. And what a tribute! Norman's style of clowning has gone out of fashion with the public and was never really in fashion with the highbrow critics but I suspect that now he has gone his comedy legacy will be re-evaluated and rehabilitated much as Benny Hill's has been. Of the films of Norman's that I have seen ON THE BEAT is easily the best and any doubt that he was one of the greatest British clowns must vanish after seeing it. The film is genuinely funny, highly inventive and a perfect showcase for Norman's many talents (as a physical clown he is in the first order) and as a plus the film features a dazzling array of great British character actors - I can't remember when I've seen Raymond Huntley having so much fun and to see David Lodge trying to teach Norman to do a mincing walk is a sheer joy. The long chase scene involving a veritable army of police constables is equal to anything done by The Keystone Kops. It's a police comedy with Norman in a dual role as police wannabe and an Italian gangster and for once his "little chap" pathos which somewhat marred his films is played down to an acceptable level and he doesn't get to sing (thankfully, in my opinion). It's a classic. Rating ****

View the entire film by clicking this link : Norman Wisdom in ON THE BEAT

THE KILLER INSIDE ME (2010)

2010-10-16T00:52:00.000-07:00

I watch movies for many reasons. This one is the total opposite of the Norman Wisdom film reviewed elsewhere. I am quite happy to be just entertained and I like movies that make think about issues, but perhaps the films I enjoy most are those where I have to mentally engage with the film-maker. I really don't mind not having thinks spelled out for me, I don't need every single point of a film being explained to me. I appreciate that there are writers and directors out there who don't underestimate their target audience and trust them to meet the material to meet half way. Of course, sometimes I'm dumb and miss a lot of points (as I did with Chabrol's MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT) but on those occasions I'm usually aware that I've missed something and am prepared to put a little more effort into my viewing. THE KILLER INSIDE ME certainly demands effort on many levels. Controversially it contains a couple of scenes of violence against women which some may feel go too far in the way they are shown but I think that is separate discussion. The film is about madness - about a mad killer who happens to be a deputy sheriff in West Texas (the film is based on a novel by Jim Thompson which is set in the 1950's) and the film itself makes no moral judgements but rather simply observes Lou Ford (a brilliantly chilling performance by Casey Affleck) as he spirals out of control. Watching the movie it is difficult to decide how much of what we see is real and how much is in Ford's mind - certainly the ending will provoke endless discussion. It's a complex film which demands an effort on the part of the viewer. Of course, I'm sure, some will take everything simply at face value and that also is a valid way to see it - but I'm pretty sure it results in a less rich experience. Not for the squeamish. Rating ****

Note : The story was previously filmed under the same title by Burt Kennedy and starring Stacy Keach in the 1970's.

"Karloff was a pussycat" says Gloria Stuart.

2010-10-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

Any programme devoted to the history of horror films is welcome and when that programme is written and directed by bonafide horror film fan Mark Gatiss (as part of his current bid for world domination) then it is doubly welcome. In his new three part series, not surprisingly called A HISTORY OF HORROR, Gatiss provides us with a basic guide through the popular horror film. In no way do I use the word "basic" to deride the show for it is in all ways excellent. For those who know little of the genre it will provide a good grounding and while long-time horror fans like myself and Cerpts probably won't learn much that is new the show does show us a whole coffin load of wonders such as Lon Chaney's original makeup kit, a tour of Universal's Frankenstein village and the opera house set of the first PHANTOM - not to mention Sarah Karloff's wonderful bathroom! The clips are well chosen as are the interviewees such as Gloria Stuart (possibly one of her final interviews) and a British actress who toured in a stage production of DRACULA with Lugosi in the Fifties.John Carpenter tells us that he thinks Val Lewton is "way over-rated" (although Gatiss obviously doesn't agree) and Donny Dunegan contributes memories of working with Karloff and Lugosi on SON OF FRANKENSTEIN. I'm looking forward to the next two episodes and a DVD release. A real winner.

MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT/Night Cap (1999)

2010-10-10T00:39:00.000-07:00

The recent death of Claude Chabrol has reawakened my interest in this director. I've been a fan for many years but his death made me realise that recently I've somewhat taken his talent for granted. Often it is useful to go back and reassess films that we saw many years ago. We, hopefully, mature, understand the language of films a little better, have different values and a better appreciation of the subtleties of human behaviour which enable us to see things in films that we missed on a first viewing. A recent re-viewing of Chabrol's LE BOUCHER on television made me feel it was a greater film than I had originally thought. I was surprised to see how much of Chabrol's ouvre is now available on DVD (although sadly there is no sign of his "Tiger" euro-spy films - reportedly not good but high on my list of films I want to see) and I've recently gone through Lovefilm's catalogue clicking the "rent" button on a host of Chabrol titles. First to arrive is MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT and it is a perfect example of Chabrol's talent. It is a deceptively simple film, so deceptive that as it ended I was quite taken back - thinking that I'd missed something. I went back to the beginning and watched it again and it all fell into place and Chabrol's seemingly abrupt ending made perfect sense. The making of documentary included as an extra is particularly revealing (confirming my own interpretations) and providing a very welcome chance to watch Chabrol at work and talking about the film. Chabrol describes the film as a detective story but at first it seems we have no detective. Of course we, the audience are the detective, provided with clues to a crime we don't know about and another that has not yet happened. We have a suspect whose guilt is revealed to us simply be her behaviour rather than seeing any crime commited. Wonderfully subtle performance by Isabel Huppert who like Stephane Audran before her seems perfectly in tune with the director. Look out for the cushion cover. Rating ****

Roy Ward Baker's A NIGHT TO REMEMBER (1958)

2010-10-08T11:31:00.000-07:00

INCENSE OF THE DAMNED/ Bloodsuckers (1970)

2010-10-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

Based on an interesting novel called Doctors Wear Scarlet by Simon Raven this is a real treat for the connoisseur of bad movies. Director Robert Hartford Davis claimed that the film was never finished and had his name removed from the credits and its easy to see why. It was made in 1970 but not released until six years later. The story starts with an echo of Hammer's THE DEVIL RIDES OUT with a group of friends meeting to discuss rescuing Patrick Mower from bad company. They set off for Greece where they find him under the influence of a beautiful vampire. Rescue follows but back in England all is not well. The editing is slack, the script is banal and even the trailer which is included as an extra is better than the film it is advertising. So why in the demented fleapit I call a brain did I enjoy this film so much? Well it has a cast to relish with Peter Cushing, Patrick Macnee, Patrick Mower. See Patrick Mower spank a donkey, see Imogen Hassell as a mini-skirted vampire, see David Lodge as greek cop, see the best man on a donkey chasing a vampire on a donkey chase ever filmed and see giant rocks bounce of Patrick Mower's head, see Madeline Hinde's as Cushing's daughter struggle to react convincingly to anything that is said to her (at one point she even fails to leave a room convincingly), watch Johnny Sekka trying to dance and see Mower and Hassell indulging in some serious tongue fencing - but best of all see Edward Woodward's cameo as a vampire expert which is very funny (and Woodward knows it!) The DVD contains a deleted scene as an extra - a 7 minute drug fuelled orgy which looks like it was imported from a Jesus Franco film. Rating ** but fun.