THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN (1935)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

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.