Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

[Reza]

The Furies (Anthony Mann, 1950) 8/10

Flamboyant Freudian-Camp Western which for the most part plays like Grand Opera. A tyrannical cattle rancher (Walter Huston in his last role) comes into conflict with his beloved daughter (Barbara Stanwyck) when he hangs her childhood friend (Gilbert Roland) and brings home a proposed "bride" (Judith Anderson) to their ranch called "The Furies". Hell hath no fury as Miss Stanwyck scorned. With a little help from a prospective lover (Wendel Corey), who spurned her, she seeks revenge on her father and wants control of the ranch. The film's highlights: Victor Milner's moody cinematography, Stanwyck attacking Anderson with a pair of scissors and Corey beating up Stanwyck. The second half of the film - short on action and long on talk - tends to drag but the memorable dialogue takes this easily into classic territory. The start of Anthony Mann's road to success in a genre that would bring out his best qualities as a director.

[Reza]

My Sin (George Abbott, 1931) 7/10

Trite melodrama - drunk and down and out lawyer (Fredric March) in Panama defends a notorious nightclub hostess (Tallulah Bankhead) on a murder charge and gets her acquitted. Years later in New York, after turning her life around, she is engaged to be married but her past creeps back on her. Typical plot churned out by the studios with almost every top actress - Shearer, Crawford, Davis, Stanwyck, Hopkins - playing this character at least once in their career. Here Bankhead makes the most of it using her naturally gregarious personality to rise above the stale material. March was always very stiff during these early years but his stage training and good looks got him leads opposite most of the top female stars and he makes an able attempt here easing into the role gradually. Drivel made palatable by the great Tallulah Bankhead.

[Reza]

A Certain Smile (Jean Negulesco, 1958) 7/10

Rome and Paris got quite a workout in Hollywood films of the 1950s via lushly romantic films that brought Europe back on the map as a destination after the bleak war torn years of the previous decade. Also working overtime during the decade was Rossano Brazzi - perfect tan, perfect shiny teeth, suave, sophisticated, a charming lilting Italian accent - as he romanced an assortment of Hollywood leading ladies in Rome, Paris and Madrid. Here the concept gets a tad creepy as he kisses his nephew's (Bradford Dillman in his film debut) very young girlfriend (newcomer Christine Carere) and draws the confused Sorbonne student into a dream of a romantic assignation on the Riviera - an illusion that comes crashing down when the old roué decides to habitually retreat back to his chic wife (Joan Fontaine) back in Paris. Glossy but trite romantic melodrama has all the perfect clichés in place - walks along the Seine, sunrise over the Eiffel Tower, bohemian bars in basements and Johnny Mathis singing the hit title tune (nominated for an Academy Award) in a nightclub. Françoise Sagan's slightly risqué novel gets a sanitized adaptation courtesy of prudish censorship of the time. Watch this one for the glorious sights and to see Joan Fontaine run circles around the young insipid heroine despite her limited screentime.

Trivia: Despite Brazzi's screen reputation as a romantic roué he was in fact devoted offscreen to his Italian wife who was far from glamorous and was in fact - to put it in real terms - quite fat as in the sterotypical Italian wife.

[Reza]

The Big Combo (Joseph H. Lewis, 1955) 10/10

Dynamic noir which revolves around a cat and mouse game between a tough cop (Cornel Wilde) out to get a vicious smooth-talking Mob boss (a spectacular Richard Conte making full use of his clipped dialogue delivery) as they move gingerly around each while bodies drop all around them. All the noir elements are present - tough dialogue (courtesy of Phillip Yordan), the blonde moll (Jean Wallace), the sap (Brian Donlevy), the dim assassins (Lee Van Cleef & Earl Holliman playing obvious gay lovers) and remarkable cinematography by the great John Alcott whose camera lens evokes images of Edward Hopper paintings with shadow and light creating mood as solitary characters are framed against bleak architecture making them stand out in their despair or loneliness. The grim finale evokes "Casablanca" as the two protagonists face off each other in a dance of death. Astonishingly the film was not a success but remains one of the classic Hollywood crime thrillers.

[Reza]

House of Strangers (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1949) 9/10

Almost noir-like family melodrama with hate as the common denominator running through the members. A self-made owner of a bank (Edward G. Robinson speaking in an Italian accent with a lot of the language thrown in as well, recieved the best actor prize at Cannes) in Little Italy lords over his four sons giving three (Luther Alder, Efrem Zimbalist Jr, Paul Valentine) a hard time while the fourth (Richard Conte), an attorney, remains his favorite. When the bank is shut down by the government for illegal practices the favorite son goes to jail for his father while he in turn is swept aside by the three angry sons. The crackling screenplay allows Mankiewicz to explore the darkness via his favorite form, the flashback. The superb camerawork (by Milton Krasner), all dark shadows and sillohettes, snaking through the large mansion as it frames the major characters coiled to their teeth in verbal confrontation. There are terrific performances by the entire cast - Robinson gets a grand introduction via Conte as he recalls his father while glancing at his portrait high up on the mansion wall with a Rossini aria playing in the background as the camera moves up a grand stairway - with Adler as the quietly seething eldest son, Conte as the flamboyant and sophisticated son, Susan Hayward as Conte's fiery girlfriend defiantly trading barbs with him all come off best. The plot has strong Shakespearean undertones with "The Merchant of Venice" and especially "King Lear" coming strongly to mind. This is one of Mankiewicz's most overlooked films completely overshadowed by his two Oscar winning classics. A must-see.

[Reza]

Five Finger Exercise (Daniel Mann, 1962) 5/10

The title refers to the significance of five fingers operating in co-ordination to create harmonious music, as in a piano study for beginners. Peter Schaffer's (who died a few days ago) hit West End & Broadway play is brought to the screen with a big dull thud with it's locale changed from Cornwall to sunny California and censorship of the time merely hinting at the repressed homosexuality and incest. The plot revolves around the reunion of a disfunctional family at their summer cottage by the sea - pretentious matriarch (Rosalind Russell) at loggerheads with her middle class, self made furniture making husband (Jack Hawkins), fawning in predator fashion over her confused college going son (Richard Beymer) and jolly little daughter (Annette Gorman). Into the stormy situation comes the fifth character - a young german music tutor (Maximillian Schell) escaping from his brutal Nazi father in search of a loving family and who is the catalyst bringing the family's hidden neuroses out into the open. For the matriarch he is a long suppressed sexual awakening and his continental background an appeal to her pretentiousness. To the father he is an irritation. To the son he is a friend until he catches him getting cozy with his mother. To the young daughter he is her first attraction until his over helpful way embarrases her in front of her friends. They soon all want him to leave which brings about an event which causes the family to pause and take stock of their situation. Producer Frederick Brisson who had a huge success with the play bought the film rights to "present" his wife Rosalind Russell as star of the film. Unfortunately she plays to the gallery in an overly affected manner as a cross between Auntie Mame and Mama Rose. She throws the whole film off balance with the rest of the cast not helping as they all seem scared acting opposite such a hurricane. The play is opened up to include scenes on the huge cottage lawns and on the beach which are a welcome relief from the stifling air of neuroses in the air. An unfortunate misfire.

[Reza]

Town on Trial (John Guillermin, 1957) 8/10

A voluptuous party girl is found strangled on the grounds of a country club and the brusque Scotland Yard inspector (John Mills) zeroes in on four suspects - the club's secretary who is a blackmailer (Derek Farr), an introverted young man (Alec McCowen) who was in love with the murdered woman and jealous of her lovers, the town's old doctor (Charles Coburn) who conceals the fact that the dead woman was pregnant and the town's rich mayor (Geoffrey Kean). The detective alienates the whole town during the investigation exposing the hypocrisies of the middle class inhabitants. A second murder results in an exciting nailbiting climax on top of a church steeple with the inspector and the murderer hanging on for dear life. Well-made crime melodrama with Mills giving a strong performance - although his romantic track with the doctor's niece (Barbara Bates) is pretty forced. The highlight of the film is Elizabeth Seal's erotic mambo dance during a party sequence. It doesn't pay to be voluptuous in crime movies because you invariably end up dead for your "sins"

[Reza]

Curtain Up (Ralph Smart, 1952) 6/10

A stage director (Robert Morley) clashes with the author (Margaret Rutherford) of a play during rehearsals at a small repertory company. Frantic farce that in truth is quite slight but it's always amusing to see both leads trying to out mug each other on screen.

[Reza]

Blind Date / Chance Meeting (Joseph Losey, 1959) 8/10

Mystery-Thriller with a flashback structure as a working class painter (Hardy Kruger) is questioned by the police (Stanley Baker) after he is found in a seedy little apartment with the body of a woman (Micheline Presle) lying strangled in a room upstairs. Intelligent screenplay touches on 1950s British attitudes towards class, sex and politics as the murder scandal involves a cover-up with the police being pressurized to pin the murder on the sap found at the murder scene. Presle is memorable as the mature and amorous upper class matron giving a performance oozing with sexuality.

[Reza]

All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk, 1955) 10/10

A middle class woman (Jane Wyman) incredulously observes how her life is boxed in for her by society, friends (Agnes Moorehead, Conrad Nagel) and her grown-up children (William Reynolds, Gloria Talbot) because of her status as a widow. When she embarks on an affair with her much younger bohemian gardener (Rock Hudson) the scandal threatens to uproot her life. Sirk's masterpiece may be, under the surface, a glossy tearjerker but is in fact a scathing attack on everything the American Dream holds dear as he bit by bit exposes it's hypocrisy. Gorgeously shot film - in expressionistic colour with Russell Metty's camera framing characters symbolizing their despair - is one of Hollywood's most memorable romantic films helped in great part by Frank Skinner's swooning score. Both Wyman and Hudson are at the top of their game milking their mesmerizing screen chemistry for all it's worth. A must-see.

[Reza]

Not As a Stranger (Stanley Kramer, 1955) 7/10

Stanley Kramer's directorial debut is a soap opera set amongst the medical profession and based on a bestselling novel with miscast stars playing young interns. Robert Mitchum is the self righteous dirt poor "boy" from the wrong side of the tracks - he has an alcoholic dad (Lon Chaney Jr) whom he hates - who gets married to a plain nurse (Olivia de Havilland) so she can finance him through medical school. He has a fling along the way with squinty-eyed Gloria Grahame of bee-stung lips fame before getting a rude awakening. His best pal - flippant Frank Sinatra - is swept aside as is Lee Marvin (all three are absurdly too old to be playing intern intern) - but it's all very watchable and the film moves fairly swiftly despite being of inordinate length. The two veterans in the cast - Broderick Crawford as a Jewish professor of medicine and Charles Bickford as a no-nonsense doctor in a small town - come off best. Superbly shot by Franz Planer, this is like a sexually calmer version of Peyton Place as the quietly overwrought characters go through life facing money, career and love problems. Not bad but instantly forgettable.

[Reza]

Magnificent Obsession (Douglas Sirk, 1954) 10/10

Sirk's first masterpiece in a series of grand operatic melodramas which he made during the 1950s. He took an old chestnut from the 1930s (starring Irene Dunne & Robert Taylor) and transformed the material (based on a bestseller) into something chic and meaningful while maintaining the melodrama at fever pitch. He is helped by two superb performances with actors who played their parts as if the word cliché was not invented. The plot is beyond ridiculous with one tragedy following another and when it seems nothing else can go wrong we get yet another emotional scene on a hospital bed. It seems Hollywood took its cue from Bollywood, milking each tragedy for all its worth and coming up with the necessary happy ending. A reckless playboy (Rock Hudson) indirectly causes the death of a much loved doctor. While trying to make amends with his widow (Jane Wyman) he inadvertently causes her to have an accident which makes her blind. Racked by guilt he woos her without her knowledge he is the man who has caused her so much grief. Wyman is superb as the mature woman who discovers love all over again while Hudson compliments her with his first serious role which overnight made him into a romantic matinée idol. The leads are well supported by Barbara Rush as Wyman's stepdaughter and Agnes Moorehead as her confidante and friend. Sirk's imaginative widescreen camerawork and use of stunning colour transforms this prepostrous melodrama into something quite magical. A must-see.

[CalWilliam]

''Daniel'', directed by Sidney Lumet (1983)

Based on E.L. Doctorow's masterful novel ''The Book of Daniel'', which was a staggering fictional account on Rosenberg's case. For me, one of Lumet's very best films and a great adaptation by Doctorow himself. Great cast with two wonderful performances by Timothy Hutton (right after winning for Ordinary People) and Ed Asner. Has anyone seen it? How this turned out to be such a flop? Lumet himself considered it one of his finest pieces of work, and believe me, it does make justice to its astonishing source material. A forgotten gem.

[Precious Doll]

Journey to the Shore (2015) Kiyoshi Kurosawa 7/10
Ten Years (2015) Various 6/10
Saint Amour (2016) Benoit Delephine & Gustave Kervern 7/10
Cosmos (2015) Andrzej Zulawski 5/10
Letters from War (2016) Ivo Ferreira 7/10
Anguish (2015) Sonny Mallhi 2/10
From Afar (2015) Lorenzo Vigas 7/10
The Childhood of a Leader (2016) Brady Corbet 8/10
Fukushima, Mon Amour (2016) Doris Dorris 5/10
Personal Shopper (2016) Olivier Assayas 8/10
Miles Ahead (2016) Don Cheadle 4/10
Stuff and Dough (2001) Cristi Puiu 6/10
Paterson (2016) Jim Jarmusch 9/10
Apprentice (2016) Jungfeng Boo 5/10
Mr. Pig (2016) Diego Luna 4/10
Being 17 (2016) Andre Techine 8/10
Stateless Things (2012) Kyung-mook Im 4/10
Under the Shadow (2016) Babak Anvari 6/10
The Handmaiden (2016) Chan-wook Park 7/10
Kate Plays Christine (2016) Robert Greene 4/10
Alice in Earnestland (2015) Gooc-jin Ahn 8/10

[ksrymy]

Silver Lode (Allan Dwan, 1954) 7/10

On the fourth of July, a respected citizen in a western town has his wedding interrupted by four men who arrest him for the murder of the leader's brother. McCarthyism hits the Old West again! "Silver Lode," despite its uninspired name, is actually fairly solid. John Payne is still a lug who isn't a good actor, and Lizabeth Scott is still sexy as the Cara Delevingne of the Golden Age. Dan Duryea, one of the best menacing character actors, is really good as the on-edge antagonist.

The film also looks gaudy in the best way. The town is decorated in Americana and red, white, and blues and stars and stripes. It's so obviously American, and even moreso with its messages, and, yet, for whatever reason, it feels totally in place.

I think the film hits the anti-McCarthyist notes better than its father, "High Noon," did. While "High Noon" is certainly good, it didn't quite have the balls to name its villain "McCarty" and get in-your-face about how terrible the Wisconsin Senator and his message was. "Silver Lode" digs deep and hits hard in this realm.

With better performances, this could be the classic is so wants to be. Instead, I'll settle for this and laud it as a neat, underseen film for anyone looking for a western outside of the mainstream.

Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954) 6/10

A valet's daughter, hopelessly in love with her father's employer's playboy son, goes to Paris to become cultured and comes back to find herself courted by the son must to the disruption of the family's plans. "Sabrina" might be the most cynical romantic comedy I've ever seen. There's suicide and massive manipulation. This should really be one of the very best films of its genre, but it's stopped by its own ambition.

I like the fact that Bogart's Linus is trying to lure Sabrina away from his brother for the sake of the family business. It creates a very real, interesting dynamic. One certainly better than the trite "our social classes can never be together" tripe. But Bogie looks tired and seems completely disinterested in the picture. He's what really holds the film back. William Holden is solid in a role he could sleepwalk through. Audrey Hepburn, sadly, doesn't get much to do other than go, "Oh!" and be sweet. It's basically the same exact character she played in "Roman Holiday." Hepburn was always better with her claws out.

I don't think "Sabrina" has much to say on love either. The obvious, sudden turnaround Linus experiences feels so forced.

To be honest, I think I may slightly prefer the Harrison Ford/Julia Ormond/Greg Kinnear remake with that incredible John Williams score.

The Far Country (Anthony Mann, 1954) 6/10

Two men looking to make money off the gold rush go far west and one becomes the object of desire for two women. The weakest of Anthony Mann and Jimmy Stewart's collaborations doesn't really offer too terribly much. Stewart seems bored with being in Mann's films. And, more than his other work with the director, I feel like I've seen him give this performance before.

The rest of the cast, though, is actually fairly solid. Walter Brennan is excellent as always in his 250th grizzled prospector role. Brennan made a career out of this character, and he plays it better than anyone else ever did. Corinne Calvet is really interesting in a sweet, tender role you typically don't get in westerns without being super damsel-in-distressy about it all. The best part, easily, is Ruth Roman who gives a tough, smart performance in a woman who could probably chew Stewart up behind the scenes if the camera ever really got there.

But "The Far Country" even feels like Mann's superior works. It's not shot as beautifully, acted as brilliantly, and edited as furiously. It feels super tame, and, for that, it suffers. It's still a good movie, but, with the Mann/Stewart duo, you expect it to be much better.

The High and the Mighty (William A. Wellman, 1954) 3/10

A veteran pilot must act quickly when an engine blows over the Pacific at the point of no return. What a quaint, hokey, little movie. "The High and the Mighty" fails to grasp a real sense of melodrama and just throws any and every typical line at us to see what sticks. It's all so bloated and stagey. How a disaster film feels confined and stagey, I'll never know because this is the only one of its ilk that I've seen that feels this way.

As for the cast and characters, there isn't much to gawk at. John Wayne plays Pilot John Wayne as he grapples with a vague, lame, clichéd past and has to overcome it. Claire Trevor is alright with her hysterics and love. Robert Stack is only interesting because it's obvious what he took from here and infused it into his "Airplane!" character. The only character with any kind of development, movement, or, really, any drama at all that doesn't revolve around crashing, is Jan Sterling's aging beauty queen. She got the Oscar nod and won the Globe probably just for the makeup removal scene because that kind of thing was super "brave" back then. Sterling's pretty alright though, for the most part. Her performance and the excellent visual effects were the reason I kept watching the film.

But it's a pretty bad film. It predates the '70s disaster craze by 16 years and feels every bit as dated. With no real direction that it wants to go, "The High and the Mighty" barely takes off.

Animal Farm (Joy Batchelor & John Halas, 1954) 3/10

After a violent barnyard revolution, a farm's pigs slowly try to gain control of the place for themselves. "Animal Farm" is a story that doesn't lend itself to film very well. In fact, an allegory so deep and smart would be nearly impossible to translate to film. And this adaptation isn't too good, sadly.

The animation is a bit primitive for its era and doesn't really match with the tone established by the creators. It's not cutesy enough to create an ironic air about it, and it isn't gritty enough to really get as dark as Orwell did in the novella.

Maybe the biggest atrocity is that the CIA or the FBI or HUAC or who-the-hell-ever blatantly changed the ending. That final quote from Orwell, “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which," is absolutely perfect. But we're given this abomination which I won't spoil because it has to be seen to be believed.

I really wanted this film to be good. It deserves to be good. But even the voice work isn't that impressive. It's a literary adaptation better forgotten.

Them! (Gordon Douglas, 1954) 7/10

Several years after the first A-bomb tests in New Mexico, residents suddenly find themselves face-to-face with giant, mutated ants. An American "Godzilla," "Them!" is a lot of fun and even more fun with that absolutely bonkers poster art.

One of the biggest successes of this film is that it takes the Lewton approach to horror. We get a lot of tense buildup before we see the first ant(s). We get that rightfully-memorable screaming little girl, who gives us our beautiful title, and a really solid score by Bronislau Kaper. I was also pretty impressed with how gruesome the film was. The ants toss around human ribcages and other corpse paraphernalia like it's nobody's business. It's obvious now that the censors were lightening up.

And while "Godzilla" is more subtle in its message about the upcoming power of the Nuclear Age, "Them!" is far more plainspoken. It basically ends with the main scientist telling us, "Hey, now that we have these bombs, who knows what more could happen?" Luckily, they didn't follow up with a series of awful sequels like the studios would love to do today.

"Them!" largely succeeds on the above-mentioned aspects and because it's played straight. The cast is mostly good with James Whitmore doing his solid, usual journeyman work.

The Caine Mutiny (Edward Dmytryk, 1954) 5/10

After a new captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardizes the ship, the reluctant first officer relieves him of command and faces court martial for mutiny. Based on Herman Wouk's best-selling, award-winning novel, "The Caine Mutiny" suffers from sheer boredom. It's never truly exciting. And there's plenty of juicy material here to be exploited.

Humphrey Bogart is pretty hammy as our deranged naval captain and seems like he's trying to play another Dixon Steele but he ends up playing more of a cartoonish villain. He latches on really hard to the bug eyes here. But an off performance from Bogie is no big thing when you have possibly the most uncharismatic leading performance ever in a film in Robert Francis' insipid performance. And his chemistry with May Wynn is dreadful. Every second of the movie dedicated to their story dragged on and on. Fred MacMurray's stoic performance and Van Johnson's work were the only real shining spots in the cast. José Ferrer largely does nothing, but his end speech is actually really well done. I'm surprised he didn't get an Oscar nod for that over Tom Tully. Not necessarily because he was good, but Oscar loves honoring random things like that.

"The Caine Mutiny" is far from good. To be fair, it's never outright bad though. It's just incredibly uninspired and seems to be riding on the coattails of the book's popularity. I'm glad to see Dmytryk back in the limelight again, but I wish it were with a better film.

Dial M for Murder (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) 6/10

After finding out his wife has had an affair, a man blackmails a small-time criminal into murdering his wife. "Dial M for Murder" is mid-tier Hitchcock - maybe even lower tier - but that's a testament to his body of work. The film is largely stagey in a way that "Rope" wasn't. The film settles in one room and it feels rather stuffy quickly. It doesn't feel as claustrophobic or intense as "Rope" either. But, to be fair, the attempted murder scene is as excellent as you'd hope with furious, passionate editing, murky lighting, and great shot choice.

As for the cast, Ray Milland, our lead, is mostly dull and never feels quite convincing as a devious, murderous husband. He feels a bit awkward around much better, natural actors. Robert Cummings doesn't do much either. Grace Kelly is a small bright spot though, in some scenes, she comes off as melodramatic which is exactly what Hitchcock was not going for. No, the only cast member who really gets things done is John Williams who won a Tony Award for playing Inspector Hubbard in the stage production of this story. Williams plays this cunning, astute inspector with enough seriousness to make the film realistic and enough verve and quirk to make the character memorable and interesting. It's a fabulous performance.

Had the camera moved a little more and the film taken place in a larger room, maybe, "Dial M for Murder" would be a lot better. No matter the fact, though, it's still a good movie; it just feels disappointing because you feel like every Hitchcock film has the potential to be a masterpiece in the making.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Stanley Donen, 1954) 5/10

After the eldest of seven brothers brings home a wife, he inspires the other six to, more or less, kidnap six wives of their own after seeing the benefits of having a woman around. The film is just as sexist as that description. "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" is a confusing film. I want to like it for the Michael Kidd choreography (that barn-raising scene is a marvel) and the earworms ("Bless Your Beautiful Hide" has been in my head for the last day), but it's such a rapey, Stockholm-Syndrome-y film that it's hard to actually like it.

I know it's based on the rape of the Sabine women, and "rape" means abduction in the Latin "raptio," but so much can be inferred and implied. The kidnapping of the six wives is a little tough to sit through. It feels really, really wrong. This is very much a product of its time. "Kiss Me Kate" is much better, but maybe that's just because "The Taming of the Shrew" is both wonderfully feminist and uproariously funny.

But, like I said with the dancing and the songs, it's moderately enjoyable at times. The barn-raising scene is one of the best numbers I've seen in classic Hollywood musicals. And the ensuing fight is excellent even if, by that point in the film, the constant fistfights feel overdone.

Jane Powell is nice and interesting. She's probably the best part of the cast. I always want to like Howard Keel, but, with that deep, operatic voice, he always feels like he's in a completely different production. Some songs, like "Bless Your Beautiful Hide," really work, but then there are songs where the vibrato and basso reach a peak, and it feels super unwieldy.

Before writing this, I expected to give this a lesser score, but its good balances out its bad (mostly). It's not a film I'll rush to again, but, maybe in 15 years after I forget it, I'll rewatch it out of curiosity.

La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954) 10/10

A woman sells her daughter for 10,000 lire to a traveling strongman whose assistant, the woman's other daughter, died under his watch. I've been waiting to see this one for quite a while, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. Fellini certainly has a love for entertainment and especially so in his early years. "La Strada" is an excellent achievement in emotion and a showcase in acting. Anthony Quinn, as Zampanò, the strongman, gives a performance I never quite expected from him. The closest thing I'd seen him do to this was his brief part in "The Ox-Bow Incident," but, even then, it's quite different from the brusqueness and subdued rage with which he fuels Zampanò. And, his rival, a highwire clown played by Richard Basehart, is another nice piece of work. Basehart's aloof, light-hearted clown gives the film some much-needed heart. Not that we don't get heart in the form of Giulietta Masina's Gelsomina but more about her later. Basehart gives us a reason to find hope in Fellini's elaborately constructed world without hope.

But Masina is the radiant jewel in the film's glowing crown. She's the ruby, the sapphire, the opal. Masina's performance is a very fine one with a stellar combination of naïveté and heartache. Any naïve lead slowly wizens up, and, while Gelsomina, in fact, does that, it's a unique kind of transformation. She never loses her sense of identity in this shift which is rare. Film has made us so used to Sweet to Slutty Sandy transitions that something like this is a rara avis.

With an excellent script and superb direction by Fellini, "La Strada" rightfully proves itself to be an influential film. It's the first masterpiece by one of our most storied, legendary directors.

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (Kenneth Anger, 1954) 10/10

Partiers in a fancy masquerade where guests dressed as mythological deities slowly wind their ways into participating in a decadent occult ritual grounded heavily in Thelema. I managed to see the 1966 version of Kenneth Anger's masterpiece, and it was one of the most enjoyable first-time viewing experiences I've had in recent memory. "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome" takes its name from "Kubla Kahn," its philosophy from Aleister Crowley, and its style from Anger himself.

Watching this, you have to think David Lynch really admired Anger because there are a lot of style elements similar between the two directors. The color palette is astounding and majorly enjoyable. And who needs double exposure when you have sextuple exposure? Anger's experimental techniques mixed with the orgiastic, decadent material is perfect. You don't really need to know what's happening to enjoy what's transpiring onscreen. It absolutely floored me.

While I was proud to see the film because I'm ashamed on having seen so little Anger, I was also proud to finally put a face (sort of) to a name with Anaïs Nin. She's the queen of crossword puzzles because of all those useful letters. Now I just need to read her works.

"Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome" is like nothing I've ever seen, and I'll be damned if I see anything else quite like it in the future.

Salt of the Earth (Herbert J. Biberman, 1954) 6/10

A group of Mexican miners and their wives strike against the Anglo superiors for health and wage concerns. For a film so important in terms of film history, the blacklist especially, you'd think it were a little bit better than it is. To be fair, being blacklisted, they probably didn't quite have all the luxuries they were used to and/or needed, but that's not the point. "Salt of the Earth" is pretty solid. It's shot really nicely and, by the end, I felt I needed to take a shower after being with these sweaty, angry workers. It presents a good case as to why we should side with them without getting super didactic and preachy which I totally expected would happen.

Rosaura Revueltas, as our lead, is a great find and surprise on my behalf. Her performance is really well done despite a few scenes of choppy, unexpectedly off acting. The rest of the cast isn't quite as good as her. If this were a strong ensemble, we'd be looking at a potential classic. Revueltas' scenes with her husband are nice, but it's her scenes with her fellow women that really drive the film. Their jail scene(s) are too good.

From a historical standpoint, I'm glad this film exists. It's a reminder of the times and unwavering defiance of McCarthyism. But, aside from Revueltas, it leaves a bit to be desired.

Robinson Crusoe (Luis Buñuel, 1954) 5/10

A mariner becomes stranded on a remote island near the Americas and tries to survive for nearly 30 years. I think the most disappointing thing about "Robinson Crusoe" is that visionary director Luis Buñuel was castrated by the studios into making this safe, friendly, honestly boring adaptation of the work. I hear it's the most faithful and best adaptation, but, to me, that only tells me about the other works. Buñuel doesn't get to insert his masterful social criticisms or surrealist tones which could've made this film so good. What hurts even more is that there are several hallucinations or dream sequences which you know Buñuel wanted to improve. They're super straightforward and don't come off too well. They seem like something out of a community Shakespeare production.

As for the Oscar-nominated Dan O'Herilhy, I'm not sure why he was nominated. It had to have been for his voiceover because he doesn't do a whole lot of deserving physical acting.

This is a huge case of "woulda-coulda-shoulda been." I wish we could see what Buñuel could've done if he had all the creative control. But what remains is a tepid adventure film that fails to really live up to its first ten minutes.

The Barefoot Contessa (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1954) 5/10

A has-been director helps launch the career of a beautiful Spanish dancer as a favor for a wealthy, egotistical producer. "The Barefoot Contessa" is a shallow vehicle made solely to see Ava Gardner be sexy. And as sexy as she is, the film isn't helped much by it. The all-too-brief life of María Vargas is never really made whole. We witness her through the eyes of three different men - her director, her publicist, and her royal husband - but it's a real shame that we never get Vargas' perspective save for a few small bits. She's an interesting character in a Hollywood kind of way.

The problem is that "The Barefoot Contessa" is where Joseph L. Mankiewicz starts to become a peddler of purple prose. His dialogue is so ornate that it feels forced. It's like Mankiewicz wants us to think more about how great he is than anything else. And the suffering writer-director protagonist doesn't make it any less obvious. At least Humphrey Bogart is pretty alright as that character. I've never seen him at such ease and relaxation. Gardner looks good but, as usual, gives a shallow performance. Oscar winner Edmond O'Brien had to have won for the big, flashy, purple speeches and the fact that he was a beloved character actor. His oily publicist chews all the scenery.

What's more, the tragic ending, since this is basically a Greek tragedy, packs no punch. It's a real shame. And the small scenes that follow after the murder and before the funeral feel really awkward. The whole script is awkward.

"The Barefoot Contessa" thinks too highly of itself because of the man behind it. They should've given this to someone like Jean Negulesco, and we could've had something boiling.

Godzilla (Ishirô Honda, 1954) 7/10

After several ships explode near Odo Island, a scientist finds a beast mutated from years of nuclear exposure is coming to wreck not only Tokyo but the world. Toho's original film bearing the name of the 164-foot tall lizard is solid not only as a kaiju and disaster film but, obviously, as a warning of the nuclear age. And while it's a bit didactic and direct in its anti-nuclear message, it feels justified.

I think the one thing that keeps this from being great is the cast. Apart from the always-pitch-perfect Takashi Shimura, the rest of the cast feels a bit amateur and in a different film. Shimura's impassioned, fearful speeches are well-delivered, and the rest of the cast plays exactly how you'd expect the cast of an earthbound meteor film to react.

As for the effects, I'm going to disagree with the people who say this feels dated. I don't see a man in a lizard suit stomping around on miniatures at all. It all looks crisp, nice, and neat.

"Godzilla," or "Gojira" if that's your crusade to fight, is well-done. I don't expect the series to get any better from here on out, but it'll make for a highly-enjoyable marathon someday. The film is thrilling and touching where it needs to be.

Black Widow (Nunnally Johnson, 1954) 6/10

A naïve, young writer finds her way into an elite Broadway social circle only to end up dead with a happily-married producer framed for it all. Oh, what this film could have been! "Black Widow" has a really great story behind it. It's a typical color noir and has the fangs to show for it, but its cast is so entirely confusing.

Other than the gorgeous colors and sets and shots, Van Heflin is probably the one really good thing about the film. He plays hardboiled as we've seen him do before, but he plays off his castmates really well. The problem lies in the women. Gene Tierney's mostly alright in her few scenes, but I'm talking about Peggy Ann Garner and Ginger Rogers. Garner is really, really good in her first few scenes. She comes across as naïve and coy really well. Her lines are solid and she delivers them solidly. And then, after we learn about what she's really like, it turns for the worse. Garner seems clumsy as a devious woman. It counteracts all the good work she'd built up at the opening party. And Ginger Rogers is an odd case. She looks nothing like herself as a bitchy stage actress. Rogers obviously has fun in the role, but she eats the scenery, chews it up, spits it out, and then rotates between beaming and glowering for the camera. Rogers' best work comes at film's end during the Agatha Christie-esque, all-suspects-in-one-room interrogation/resolution scene. And the central mystery isn't difficult to figure out at all which is disappointing.

But, despite my displeasure with these ladies, the film is actually good. The rich, delicate sets are a pleasure and the lines are really well-written. It's just a case of two separate wheels not following the axle.

The Naked Jungle (Byron Haskin, 1954) 4/10

The owner of a South American cocoa plantation and his new wife have their lives threatened by a 2-mile-wide, 20-mile-long column of ants. "The Naked Jungle" is pretty preposterous, but, in many moments, it glides by on unintentional camp. The ants themselves look alright, and Eleanor Parker manages to outact the set pieces which is something the rest of the cast lacks. Charlton Heston is as wooden as ever. It's hard to sympathize with him, especially when Eleanor Parker makes it so easy to sympathize with her. She's the one thing that's really credible about the film.

I don't really have much else to say. The film spends an hour on a tepid pseudo-arranged marriage plot that doesn't really captivate us or go anywhere. There are points where you root for the ants (pardon me, the MARABUNTA!!!!! as you hear a hundred times). Maybe this film would be better if "Them!" didn't do it better. But the preposterousness of the film itself is enough of a detractor. "The Naked Jungle" is a mess and not a fun one. If it took itself much more seriously, as a prestige picture, the camp would be gone and so would the (little) joy in seeing it.

Track of the Cat (William A. Wellman, 1954) 8/10

The torrid dynamics of a family occur against the backdrop of the first big snowstorm of winter and an enormous panther killing everything it can get its claws on. On my journey through the films of 1954, "Track of the Cat" has to be the biggest, unplanned surprise so far. It's a film I stumbled upon based on a small recommendation, and it's a total delight. Chalk this up to the smaller, forgotten westerns that are always left out of canonical lists.

To be fair, this is more a psychological, family drama more than it is a western. But those extra layers make for an excellent bit of context and subtext. Robert Mitchum is solid as the brutish eldest brother whose bright red coat among the drab setting isn't an obvious metaphor or anything. And that's actually something that really impressed me. For a CinemaScope, boastful presentation, it's surprisingly refined and neutral in its palette. The entire inside of the house is black, grey, and white.

But back to the cast, Tab Hunter is okay as the youngest brother whose sweetheart attitude and engagement make things interesting when the film threatens to get a little overwrought. But there's a lot happening so that doesn't occur often. The best parts of the film involves its women. Teresa Wright, as a spinstery older sister, gives a solid performance though her hand-wringing and other mannerisms get a little annoying. The best part of the cast, though, is Beulah Bondi as the bigoted, zealotous mother. Bondi is so good as playing sweet, sad (grand)motherly roles that this came as a big surprise to me. This is the polar opposite of who she played in "Of Human Hearts." Bondi's anger and motivations come to light in explosive ways. There's never a second when she's on-screen that doesn't feel dull.

And, in addition to this, the film's cinematography is simply awesome. There are some cuts to ominous mountains frequently (a little too frequently, but that's not the photographer's fault) and some gorgeous shots of the snowbound house and surrounding wildnerness that are quite breathtaking. It's marvelous work from William H. Clothier.

All of this coupled with Walter Van Tillburg Clark's biting screenplay under the direction of former "Ox-Bow Incident" director and collaborator William A. Wellman makes "Track of the Cat" a classic. It's a smart, intense film and one I won't soon forget.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Richard Fleischer, 1954) 6/10

A ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings encounters a tyrannical captain in a technologically-advanced submarine. Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" is an interesting film. James Mason is solid as the nefarious Captain Nemo. He was made for these kinds of roles. That demure, creeping voice does the trick alone. Peter Lorre also comes along and makes things a better with his ever-eerie presence. They're the two most interesting characters on this journey.

The film also looks really good. The effects hold up well in this age of CGI. The ship attack sequences, any underwater shot, and that squid scene all look marvelous. Practical effects were starting to really come into their own around this time. Also, the inside of the Nautilus looks super cool. It's sleek and chic and kitschily futuristic.

I wish Kirk Douglas weren't in this movie though. His presence is really awkward and makes for an unwieldy film. He looks goofy in his red-and-white striped shirt, he looks goofy singing with a seal whenever the film doesn't know where to go next, and he looks goofy delivering his lines trying his best to imitate Burt Lancaster's smile. He throws the film way off-kilter.

So the film is a good one. It has the feel of those classic adventure films people talk about when they specifically say "classic adventure films." It's nice, witty in spots, and genuinely exciting.

REWATCH: Carmen Jones (Otto Preminger, 1954) 6/10

A woman working in a parachute factory during WWII romances a soldier leading to tragic consequences when a sergeant becomes involved. This is my second trip through Otto Preminger's Bizet remake, and I like it a bit more this time. Dorothy Dandridge is radiant, sassy, and entrancing as the title character. It's not a particularly great performance, but I'll be damned if I wasn't captivated. Harry Belafonte is alright. He doesn't get to do much more than look longingly at Dandridge and brood. But the real crime is that Dandridge and especially Belafonte both had their voices dubbed. I know it was the fit with the Bizet music and, therefore, the more operatic style, but that's the main problem: the opera doesn't fit with the contemporary feel of the film. I really wish this were jazz-based because it would've worked so much better. The film looks nice as well. Particularly, Dandridge's wardrobe is a sight to behold. Oh, and one more thing: Pearl Bailey is a ton of fun in this. Her role feels similar to Queen Latifah's Oscar-nominated role in "Chicago." She has a ton of fun supporting the lead and steals most scenes she's in.

And maybe it's just because "Stella" from the following year is a better version of "Carmen," but I really think this should be better. "Carmen Jones" deserves to be a great film. And for being the first black actress nominated for a Lead Actress Oscar, this is a good example. And while the film is a bit racist, especially in Hammerstein's "de" and "dere" lyrics, it's not nearly as offensive as other products of this time. "Carmen Jones" is good fun.

Fear (Roberto Rossellini, 1954) 5/10

A married woman is blackmailed by her lover's jealous ex-girlfriend and becomes driven to a potentially deadly scheme. "Fear" is disappointing. Considering Rossellini/Bergman is usually enough to make a solid film, it's odd that "Fear" doesn't work. I attribute this mostly to the supporting cast. Ingrid Bergman herself is as reliable as usual, but everyone else seems to be either hamming it way up or acting like they took from luudes before the shoot. They dismantle much of the hard work Bergman has been building.

The tension doesn't quite work either because the stakes don't feel too real. Rossellini veers into melodrama at points here, and he should really stick to (neo)realism. The script feels all kinds of Lifetime-y. And the children, the children!, they could and should have been removed from the film. They're tiny little devices used to artificially make the stakes higher.

"Fear" is a swing and a dispiriting miss. It has many of the necessary tools to be good, but those tools aren't quite exploited well enough.