The Black Rose (Henry Hathaway, 1950) 6/10
Historical fiction set in thirteenth century England during the reign of the Norman King Edward (Michael Rennie). A disinherited young Saxon - an Oxford undergraduate (Tyrone Power) - decides to leave England to seek his fortune in the Far East as he is disillusioned by Normans ruling over his country. Accompanying him is a friend (Jack Hawkins) and they hook up with the caravan belonging to a general (Orson Welles) of Kublai Khan. After assorted adventures in Cathay, the Saxon returns home. Boy's own adventure with the star far too old to pass off as an undergraduate. Welles (made up to look oriental) steals the show with his distinct voice and witty performance. Handsome production (lovely colour cinematography by Jack Hildyard and Oscar nominated costumes) that loses steam half way through. And Cécil Aubrey has to be the most annoying leading lady ever.
Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Mackenna's Gold (J. Lee Thompson, 1969) 7/10
A film that was massacred by critics when it first came out remains a guilty pleasure and an exciting adventure film. An Apache legend about a hidden canyon, with immense gold deposits, leads a disparate group of people to seek it out. Marshall Mackenna (Gregory Peck) gets his hands on a map descibing the exact location from a dying Indian (Eduardo Ciannelli). Thinking it's just a myth he destroys it. Soon he finds himself kidnapped by a Mexican bandit (Omar Sharif having a ball as the perpetually grinning villain) and his troop - a fellow bandit (Keenan Wynn), an Apache warrior (Ted Cassidy) and a sexy Apache woman (a sexy and vicious Julie Newmarr) who was once involved with the Marshall. Also held hostage is another woman (Camila Sparv) - allowing for a catfight between both women. Along for the ride are a bunch of "good citizens" who are just as dirty, scheming and ambitious in their lust for gold and played by character actors - Burgess Meredith, Raymond Massey, Lee J. Cobb, Anthony Quayle, Eli Wallach and a blind Edward G. Robinson who, as a young boy, had seen the canyon of gold but was blinded by the Apaches - all of whom get viciously killed along the way. Rounding out this group is a treacherous cavalry soldier (Telly Savalas). The film charts their journey across Monument Valley with a stopover at a water hole (allowing Sharif and Newmarr to swim in the nude) and discovering the route into the canyon. The exciting conclusion has the group fighting for their lives as treachery takes over, various cast members end up dead, the Apaches give chase and a massive earthquake collapses the canyon. The film has spectacular shots of the valley, some uneven process shots, cheesy effects but still manages to maintain suspense throughout with some spectacular set pieces along the way.
A film that was massacred by critics when it first came out remains a guilty pleasure and an exciting adventure film. An Apache legend about a hidden canyon, with immense gold deposits, leads a disparate group of people to seek it out. Marshall Mackenna (Gregory Peck) gets his hands on a map descibing the exact location from a dying Indian (Eduardo Ciannelli). Thinking it's just a myth he destroys it. Soon he finds himself kidnapped by a Mexican bandit (Omar Sharif having a ball as the perpetually grinning villain) and his troop - a fellow bandit (Keenan Wynn), an Apache warrior (Ted Cassidy) and a sexy Apache woman (a sexy and vicious Julie Newmarr) who was once involved with the Marshall. Also held hostage is another woman (Camila Sparv) - allowing for a catfight between both women. Along for the ride are a bunch of "good citizens" who are just as dirty, scheming and ambitious in their lust for gold and played by character actors - Burgess Meredith, Raymond Massey, Lee J. Cobb, Anthony Quayle, Eli Wallach and a blind Edward G. Robinson who, as a young boy, had seen the canyon of gold but was blinded by the Apaches - all of whom get viciously killed along the way. Rounding out this group is a treacherous cavalry soldier (Telly Savalas). The film charts their journey across Monument Valley with a stopover at a water hole (allowing Sharif and Newmarr to swim in the nude) and discovering the route into the canyon. The exciting conclusion has the group fighting for their lives as treachery takes over, various cast members end up dead, the Apaches give chase and a massive earthquake collapses the canyon. The film has spectacular shots of the valley, some uneven process shots, cheesy effects but still manages to maintain suspense throughout with some spectacular set pieces along the way.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Live and Let Die (Guy Hamilton, 1973) 8/10
Roger Moore's first outing as Bond and he and his quizzically raised eyebrow are actually very good and the film holds up pretty well after all these years. The fantastic supporting cast playing memorable characters help a great deal. And the film is a lesson for Hollywood today in how to cast a group of black actors in a major "white" franchise and give all of them well written and very distinct roles - Yaphet Kotto (Dr Kananga / Mr Big), Geoffrey Holder (Baron Samedi), Gloria Hendry (Mrs Bond aka Rosie Carver), Julius Harris (Tee Hee), Earl Jolly Brown (Whisper), Roy Stewart (Quarrel) & Brenda Arnau (who sings a very funky version of the title song in a nightclub sequence). Bond goes after Mr Big who is a heroin magnate who depends on and is helped by his psychic tarot card reader Solitaire (Jane Seymour in her film debut and with her voice dubbed) who is a virgin. Naturally Bond deflowers her and she loses her fortune telling powers. New York (Harlem), New Orleans and Jamaica (called San Monique in the film) are the exotic locations with action set pieces involving alligators, a speed boat chase, a snake and a whole lotta voodoo. Clifton James makes his first appearance as the hick Sheriff Pepper and Madeline Smith plays the lady whose dress zipper is unfastened by Bond via a magnet in his Rolex. Great fun.
Trivia: Both Diana Ross and Catherine Deneuve were considered for the part of Solitaire.
Roger Moore's first outing as Bond and he and his quizzically raised eyebrow are actually very good and the film holds up pretty well after all these years. The fantastic supporting cast playing memorable characters help a great deal. And the film is a lesson for Hollywood today in how to cast a group of black actors in a major "white" franchise and give all of them well written and very distinct roles - Yaphet Kotto (Dr Kananga / Mr Big), Geoffrey Holder (Baron Samedi), Gloria Hendry (Mrs Bond aka Rosie Carver), Julius Harris (Tee Hee), Earl Jolly Brown (Whisper), Roy Stewart (Quarrel) & Brenda Arnau (who sings a very funky version of the title song in a nightclub sequence). Bond goes after Mr Big who is a heroin magnate who depends on and is helped by his psychic tarot card reader Solitaire (Jane Seymour in her film debut and with her voice dubbed) who is a virgin. Naturally Bond deflowers her and she loses her fortune telling powers. New York (Harlem), New Orleans and Jamaica (called San Monique in the film) are the exotic locations with action set pieces involving alligators, a speed boat chase, a snake and a whole lotta voodoo. Clifton James makes his first appearance as the hick Sheriff Pepper and Madeline Smith plays the lady whose dress zipper is unfastened by Bond via a magnet in his Rolex. Great fun.
Trivia: Both Diana Ross and Catherine Deneuve were considered for the part of Solitaire.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (Douglas Mackinnon, 2016) 9/10
Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dr. Watson (Martin Freeman) return to the very distant past - the era of the books - to solve the mystery of a corpse who returns from the dead to commit a murder. And Moriarty seems to have returned from the dead as well. Quirky, witty and pretty ingenious with the duo having great fun doing what they do.
Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dr. Watson (Martin Freeman) return to the very distant past - the era of the books - to solve the mystery of a corpse who returns from the dead to commit a murder. And Moriarty seems to have returned from the dead as well. Quirky, witty and pretty ingenious with the duo having great fun doing what they do.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Rabbit's Moon (Kenneth Anger, 1950) 7/10
Pierrot, Columbine, and Harlequin all encounter one another in a forest at night. Kenneth Anger is an interesting director. Knowing nothing about this, walking in, I was expecting more mustard on more genitals, but this is crazy different than "Scorpio Rising."
I'd never have thought Anger would use traditional French and Italian comedic tropes and characters to craft a film. It's an interesting attempt at something or other, but the filmmaking is mostly superb. Anger's use of doo-wop and shading makes "Rabbit's Moon" an ethereal, fever dream of a film. I see tinges of Kinugasa and Deren in this movie, and that's an excellent thing. This surreal style transposed onto such traditional characters, while obvious in its making, works very well. Anger's gorgeous work with lighting and editing enlivens the film.
The film tries its best to operate as a comedic dramatic romantic something-or-other film, and I think its ambition here is the one thing that keeps it from being great; however, it's easy to get lost in the lovelight of the moon, Anger's moon especially, so it's not a giant oversight. It's still a gorgeous, beautiful meditation on love's constant evolution and paradoxical stagnation.
Rocketship X-M (Kurt Neumann, 1950) 3/10
After miscalculating and passing the moon, a group of brave astronauts take on Mars. Yes, that's the actual plot. It's pretty embarrassing. "Rocketship X-M" sounds like a bad radio station on Sirius, and I'm sure that hypothetical station hosted by Geddy Lee or David Gilmour would be more tolerable than this movie.
Firstly, the movie is rampantly sexist in the work way. The movie has the balls to give the one female character a PhD in chemistry but is basically confined to a scientific kitchen making test tube sandwiches for the male astronauts. And, even sadder, is that she'd probably have been the film's most interesting character were it not for this. And it's not like she'd have much competition among the cast as the male actors are all stoicism, no romanticism even though the film romanticizes everything.
Secondly, the effects are mostly good, but they're hardly put to any good use. The film's low budget allows for a couple good spacewalking scenes, but "Destination Moon" did everything better this year.
In fact, "Destination Moon" is twice the movie "Rocketship X-M" is in almost every way. "X-M" is lazy and expected its then-modern audience to be too dumb to realize aiming for the moon and landing on Mars is implausible. Sure was great that they had all that extra fuel!
Throughout most of this boring movie, I was hoping Lloyd Bridges would turn into his character from "Airplane!," but such is life. "Rocketship X-M" is a dud.
The Men (Fred Zinnemann, 1950) 4/10
A paraplegic veteran tries to mentally overcome his paralysis to start life anew. This movie is a pretty big disappointment. If it should be seen, it should be viewed for Marlon Brando's debut performance which is great in the physical department and hilarious in the actual acting department. Brando gives his character an ever-constipated resting face which makes him not only unflattering to look at but unlikable. The physical scenes in the gym are probably the most impressive scenes Brando did in the film. But he embraces the ham at the direction of Zinnemann no doubt.
And I'm shocked that Fred Zinnemann made a dud directly after the one-two punch of "The Search" and "Act of Violence." You think he'd be able to channel the wartime feel of the former film and incorporate that film's sense of hope into this, but it's strangely devoid of it instead lending its hand to melodramatic triteness and vapidities that riddle the script. It's chock full of bad lines.
The film does, however, deserve praise for bringing paralysis to the public's attention even if the medicine behind it all is really annoying after a while. I think just about every able-bodied character in the film says some derivation of, "It's all in your mind! You can totally walk again! They can fix you!" Even poor Teresa Wright gets some of these lines, and they come out poorly. Her performance is actually very good up until her "I'm sorry but I don't know why" scene with Brando. Then, the film's love for soap comes bubbling out in the least flattering of ways.
"The Men" is not a good film. It doesn't quite grasp how to treat its hot-button subject and we're not given the means with which to appreciate what it has to say. We know paralysis is bad and veterans are good going in, and we don't leave knowing much else. It's a muted attempt to make something important that comes off more as condescending and stale.
REWATCH: La Ronde (Max Ophüls, 1950) 10/10
A prostitute sleeps with a soldier who sleeps with a chambermaid who sleeps with her employer's son who sleeps with a married woman who sleeps with her husband who sleeps with a young woman who sleeps with a poet who sleeps with an actress who sleeps with a count who sleeps with the prostitute; thus the carousel of love and life continues to make its rounds. Another repeat viewing, another masterpiece confirmed. Max Ophüls most darkly joyous, intricate, and second-greatest film gets to talk about sex, money, love, death, politics, and every other taboo dinner table subject. And it does all this with little embellishment and all fun.
Anton Walbrook's raconteur is the real star of the film. His weary-eyed, slow-paced narrator is the string that connects this cobweb of relationships. His sharp witticisms and poetic line readings are perfectly delivered by Walbrook who seems tailor-made for the role.
And this might be the best ensemble in film history. Walbrook, Simone Signoret, Simone Simon, Daniel Gélin, Danielle Darrieux, Odette Joyeux, Jean-Louis Barrault, Isa Miranda, and Gérard Philipe is as amazing a cast as you can ever find. It's a who's-who of stars abroad and they all play their characters with careful convictions while being very mindful of their characters' motivations. No two characters are alike which is the only way a story like this can be pulled off. As for the ensemble's best performances, sans Walbrook, Signoret and Darrieux do the best work, using their sex appeal and expressive faces to seduce their lovers and us.
And, as for the censored love scene: still one of the funniest, wittiest throwaway pieces of film in history.
"La Ronde" continues to be a truly astounding film. The last time I saw this, I watched it in concurrence with "Le Plaisir," "Lola Montès," and "Madame de...," and I'm flooded with reminders of how amazing that stretch of work is. Ophüls is a master, and this is undeniable proof.
No Way Out (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950) 7/10
A black, inner-city doctor suspects one of a pair of injured, racist, criminal brothers has a brain tumor and uses a spinal tap to test; when the patient dies during the process, the living brother cries foul as everyone races against the clock to prove the innocence or guilt of the doctor. This is another film from which I benefitted by not knowing much going in. All I knew was that Linda Darnell and Richard Widmark were in it, so I basically expected Widmark to slap her around and be a nincompoop.
But, damn, this tackles racism in a way that "Pinky," "Intruder in the Dust," and all the other "racism is bad" movies from the year before did not. The N-word is used to great effect here with every use really stabbing deep. And Sidney Poitier's Luther is a great character - one of noir's very best and most complex. And Poitier's performance matches it well. I realized I haven't seen many films featuring him, so I'm very much looking forward to his work. But Poitier plays Luther with determination and assurance to give us a great performance of a man long put-upon by racism who has to rise from a place of scared complacency to brave heroism. It's a performance I like a lot.
Widmark is mostly good too with a one-note "You're black and I do not like you!" role, but, alongside Poitier, Linda Darnell does some pretty good work. I have come to dislike Darnell for her stankface performances, but, here, Mankiewicz does some good work with her that wasn't there in "A Letter to Three Wives." Darnell's dark, conflicted woman is an interesting character for this genre because she isn't functioning simply at the behest of a man. She gets her own story arc and it's the film's meatiest segment. We get ethics and family dilemmas as its twistiest and best.
"No Way Out" is a tempestuous film noir with ideas on race and family that rarely permeate the dermis of most films of its ilk.
Treasure Island (Byron Haskin, 1950) 4/10
A young boy in possession of a treasure map and some companions race others to a buried motherlode. Disney's first feature-length live-action film is a flop. Where I liked Bobby Driscoll in "The Window," I hate him here. His Jim is unbearable. Driscoll's insistence on playing Jim as anything but adventurous is tiresome and tedious.
If anyone gets lauded in the cast, it's Robert Newton who plays a deliciously hammy Long John Silver. It's not a great performance, per se, but it's one of the more intriguing, fun things about a pretty bloodless film.
And, apart from the costumes, everything looks so artificial to the point where I'm surprised I didn't see price tags still hanging off the props. And I'm not sure I'd be surprised if they did because I'd want to quickly return them too for how cheap they look.
Disney's first feature-length, live-action film is a mess. It pales in comparison to the Wallace Beery vehicle from years ago. It's a cheap imitation of one of literature's most noteworthy adventure yarns. It's a California roll instead of the ahi steak it could be.
"Treasure Island" is not good. It's a misstep for Disney who don't look confident enough to step into this realm yet. This plus "Cinderella" might be the worst year Disney ever had.
REWATCH: Rashômon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950) 10/10
A bandit, a samurai, and his wife all tell their version of events in which the bandit rapes the woman and kills the samurai. This is just as fresh and incredible as I remembered. Akira Kurosawa's first masterpiece is one with an incredible, if now commonplace, setup that I think no one has imitated perfectly. The script remains brisk even though we're getting, essentially, the same story five times in a row with a bit of philosophy thrown in the margins.
Toshiro Mifune's explosive bandit is the heart of the film and a really despicable character. Everything from his over-the-top laughing and facial expressions to his self-righteous attitude is wonderful. It's the best role from an actor with a résumé to boot.
Machiko Kyo is also very good as the woman at the center of the debacle. Kyo plays up the femininity of her character to her advantage because, with a more independent woman, this story wouldn't work as well. Or at least someone trying to play up her femininity to pander to the jury. Kyo's soft, sensual charms are on full display when she isn't breaking hearts by crying.
The film's dazzling technical display is one for the ages with superior editing, shot selection, lighting, and costumes. Also, the sound work during the séance/possession scene is really top-notch and unlike anything I've seen in movies up until this point in time.
"Rashomon" is a excellent meditation on presumption, the truth, life, death, and faith. It's a film whose only fault is it's, quite literally, "Faith in humanity: restored!" ending. It's a masterpiece for the ages.
Scandal (Akira Kurosawa, 1950) 5/10
An artist helps out a young, famous classical singer only for the press to start circulating unfounded rumors of a love story surrounding them as revenge for not giving an interview. Kurosawa's worst movie outside of the "Sanshiro Sugata" films is muted and unenthused with itself. Kurosawa doesn't seem to really be interested in the plight of these characters. We don't leave the film with anything other than "the paparazzi are bad" on ours minds as we probably already knew.
Toshiro Mifune's mild-mannered performance fails to excite, and Shirley Yamaguchi does a pretty alright job with her role as Whitney Houston in "The Bodyguard." But neither of them inspire anything in the viewer, and they don't have any tangible chemistry. Even Takashi Shimura, in what should have been a devastating role, doesn't do very much here. It's a standard old, regretful man role.
"Scandal" doesn't have much going for it. It's the most by-the-books film by Kurosawa that I've seen. It feels like anyone could have made it. None of an impressive cast of stars does anything worthwhile, and we suffer through the picture waiting for something interesting to happen and it mostly never does.
REWATCH: Stars in My Crown (Jacques Tourneur, 1950) 8/10
A young pastor, new in town, raises his family and the village in which he just arrived. "Stars in My Crown" is "How Green Was My Valley" for people who didn't like "How Green Was My Valley." It's a film heavy on faith and morals that doesn't drift into excessive preaching.
It's one of the most interesting films in director Jacques Tourneur's oeuvre. For a director who tended to drift toward the dark side of humanity, he sure made a light, inspiring film out of "Stars in My Crown." And Joel McCrea, another actor who usually lent himself to apathy and angst, is surprisingly good as our galvanizing hero. And the supporting cast is also excellent with Juano Hernández doing excellent work as always and little Dean Stockwell giving the film's best performance. Stockwell's coming-of-age character is his best work as a child actor and certainly his most natural. Under Tourneur's excellent direction, Stockwell manages to steal the picture for the most part.
The film's a gorgeous one too with the sets and locations creating a town that really feels genuinely lived-in and alive. Alan Hale, James Mitchell, Lewis Stone, and others all act as a living set more than a supporting cast at times and make this a very cozy and, at times, tense films where the stakes are laid out bare.
My second viewing of "Stars in My Crown" is not tainted by drippy sugar or a stoic sense of disapproval. It's still the great film I thought it to be, and I'm glad to have revisited it. It's a kind movie. It's the movie equivalent of your favorite grandfather.
Cyrano de Bergerac (Michael Gordon, 1950) 6/10
The classic tale of the swordsman-poet who woos his cousin vicariously through a dashing young soldier with whom she is far more infatuated. I love "Cyrano;" it's one of my favorite plays. So I really have no reason to have not seen this yet (well, I saw it in middle school, but, really, does that even count once you become a cinephile?).
There's one big, damned shame about this movie and it's that the supporting cast is unbelievably dreadful. José Ferrer has to carry this dead weight all by himself, and, for the most part, he actually does very well. It's hard to play Cyrano on screen because he's such a flamboyant, theatrical character that coming off as stagey is bound to be a problem. And, while there are definitely some stagey parts, Ferrer dominates with film with an incredible performance. There's no doubt why he won the Oscar: he recreated a Tony-winning performance, it screams, "ACTING!," and he was seen as the most due of the candidates. So even though the Academy should have awarded William Holden, Ferrer's win isn't incredibly offensive. His nose jokes monologue is well-done and hilarious.
As for the technicals, the sets all feel really amateurish and stagey. It feels like the camera was moving around a set more than anything else. It never seems to break free of the strict confines of the stage. But, despite this unnecessary agoraphobia, the film's costumes and the prosthetic nose are both realistic and well-crafted.
So, in all, José Ferrer takes this film for himself which lugging around a dismal cast. Mala Powers' terrible performance will make you wonder why Cyrano even loves Roxane. But, alas, we get Ferrer to glue it all together. A fantastic performance in one of the biggest vehicles an accomplished actor can get.
REWATCH: Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950) 10/10
A small-time, opportunistic crook tries to become a major player as a wrestling promoter after a series of circumstances fall his way. I got the Criterion BluRay copy of this film a few months ago, and I've been eager to break it out. And this is still one of the very greatest of all films noir. Richard Widmark's performance is the best of his career as an angry, eager, money-hungry shark. His scenes during the climactic wrestling match are harrowing. His screams and pupils are piercing. He so perfectly captures desperation. And Stanislaus Zbyszko, as the veteran wrestler at the core of the film, is heartbreaking as a manipulated mad old dog on the last legs of glory. He's a hulking mass of sadness and hope. It's a deeply-realized, autobiographical performance for Zbyszko that hits home easily. But my favorite performance comes not from a sad Gene Tierney but a fierce Googie Withers whose few scenes are unbelievably good. She gets her own small arc and carries it with grace and emotion. Withers plays put-upon and betrayed like no other. It's a masterful turn.
The script is excellent. It's full of noirish angst and brooding but with a sense of urgency and heart that most films in this genre are missing. The extended chase at film's end, and that scene with Widmark around a dilapidated corner and a flashlight barely missing him around a corner, is astounding. It shows Jules Dassin's awareness with space and light. The cinematography is a marvel. Dassin's tight control with this intense, heart-pounding movie is unreal. It's his very best movie.
"Night and the City" is a masterpiece in style and tone. It's an incredible movie in a genre I absolutely adore.
The Breaking Point (Michael Curtiz, 1950) 7/10
A down-on-his-luck fisherman hires contracts his boat out to criminals. Both times I've seen it, I've never really liked "To Have and Have Not." And, each time, I've wondered how something adapted from Hemingway could be so terrible. His dialogue and style usually translate to film well. I know the Hawks film is only a loose adaptation of the Hemingway novel of the same name, but I never knew how loose until I realized how close and excellent "The Breaking Point" is instead.
Michael Curtiz' excellent seaside and domestic drama is a buffet of morality and love. I think the singlemost impressive thing about the movie is the main couple played by John Garfield and Phyllis Thatxter. I have never seen a married couple in film from this era that was so realistic. Their love is strong, but they are not overdramatic at every little hitch in their lives. There seems to be a genuine concern on Thaxter's part for Garfield's actions, and this may be why Thaxter's performance is so brilliant. She shines in this cold, dark picture even brighter than Patricia Neal who is playing a supertrollop. Thaxter's warmth, concern, and affection are the driving force of "The Breaking Point" and make the film so much more affecting than "To Have and Have Not." John Garfield is good opposite her but comes nowhere close to Thaxter's brilliance.
The film's non-domestic sequences are mostly uninteresting unless they involve Neal but we get to the last climactic shootout on the boat which is a clinic in shot selection, editing, and lighting. It's a truly intense bit of filmmaking which will shock you.
"The Breaking Point" isn't quite good enough to be a great film, but it's leagues better than it's loosely-based predecessor. Phyllis Thaxter is guaranteed to be the big takeaway from the film.
September Affair (William Dieterle, 1950) 4/10
Two lovers take advantage of being reported dead on a plane they were never on. And we're back to Dieterle and Cotten being turgid and bad. This is so much more "Love Letters" than "Portrait of Jennie," and I mean that in the worst, most derogatory way possible.
"September Affair" is a predictable mess with Joan Fontaine looking her most haggard and careless and Cotten looking bored out of his mind. Somehow, despite this, they are actually decent on screen together at times. But anything they accomplish is quickly peeled away by "I love you"s and "Never leave me"s and other tripe of the genre. To be honest, when they say, "Let's live for today" all melodramatically, I just think of the song of the same name by The Grass Roots which actually made the film better.
This movie makes me question everything about Dieterle. He has made masterpieces like "The Last Flight" and "Portrait of Jennie," so why are there so many bad movies in his filmography? Is it a case like that of Jean Negulesco where the studios just hand him bad films or what? Dieterle was talented but never talented enough to rise above the ham-fisted screenplays given to him so frequently.
"September Affair" is made almost palatable by its leads even if they're in pretty dumpy form.
Armored Car Robbery (Richard Fleischer, 1950) 6/10
A tough L.A. cop goes in pursuit of a band of armored car robbers when their heist goes awry. This B-noir is surprisingly good despite its uninspired title. The movie has some of the most impressive film editing I've seen in a movie from this era with the heist and chases focusing just long enough at the subject on hand before cutting or smashing to a new angle or perspective on it all. It's probably the best heist scene I've seen in film chronologically up until "Rififi."
The film also reminded me how underrated William Talman was. It took me a minute to recognize where I'd seen him from and then got 'nam flashbacks to Ida Lupino's "The Hitch-hiker." Talman is not quite as crazed here, but there's still that look in his eyes that is unsettling to the core. He's the shining part of a dull cast. His turn isn't disimilar to that of Richard Widmark's in "Kiss of Death."
But as the dividends are further divided and the money parts ways with those who think they deserve it, the plot doesn't quite pick up like it should. The stakes are laid bare, but they're never capitalized upon fully. The film's pacing issues in the second act are a huge setback too. But "Armored Car Robbery" is still a fun watch. It's like a sandwich with really good bread and nothing special inside.
Deadpool (Tim Miller, 2016) 9/10
A former special ops soldier develops healing powers and a blinding hatred and sense of vengeance for the man who subjected him to rogue treatment. It's cliché to say, but this is the comic book movie I have been waiting for my whole life. "Deadpool" is a huge parody of the genre with in-jokes for miles and non-stop jokes reminiscent of Brooks and the Zuckers.
Is the humor a bit pedantic and childish? Absolutely. But Deadpool isn't a mature, respectable hero. He isn't even a hero. He's called "the merc with a mouth" for a reason. The movie is foul, violent, and graphic and all the better for these things.
And Deadpool is such a fun character. It's good to see him in his own vehicle. Props to Ryan Reynolds for doing everything in his power to bring this riot to the screen. And Reynolds has never been better. In fact, he isn't as charismatic as a damp dishcloth here. His comedic timing is impeccable, and his knowledge of the character helps craft Marvel's greatest screen creation. Reynolds is a total blast.
As for the rest of the cast, Morena Baccarin is alright and British rapper Ed Skrein does what's expected. The rest of the cast is mostly unexciting even with Negasonic Teenage Warhead and a clunky Colossus. It's this supporting cast that keeps the film from being the masterpiece it should be. Yes, masterpiece. The best supporting player is T. J. Miller whose specialized brand of deadpan comedy is used well even if his glasses steal most of his scenes.
The editing is in turbo mode here with it being an A.D.D. kid's dream, but it's all for the better. The effects looks a little tired at times though. But, visually, it's something crazy to behold. The opening credits with "Angel of the Morning" are astounding.
I'm no comic book fanboy by any means (I usually look down on these people who blindly give 10/10 ratings to most superhero films), but this is an incredible movie. I haven't had this much fun at the movies in years. Maybe even a decade. This was more fun than "Star Wars."
The Flowers of St. Francis (Roberto Rossellini, 1950) 5/10
St. Francis of Assisi sends his followers across the land to spread his and the Lord's word. Roberto Rossellini's vignette style and I have gelled up until now. "The Flowers of St. Francis" is too fragmented for its own good. It's separated into too many chapters, and these chapters are too short to mean anything. It aims for something like Aesop's fables, but even those are meatier than this film. This film, along with "Stromboli," make 1950 a tough year for Rossellini and me.
As for the cast, the neorealism doesn't work because most of the cast seems dull-eyed and unsure of what they're doing. They don't seem very passionate except for a few scenes where everything comes out as way over the top. Only Aldo Fabrizi, the one professional actor, gives a perform worth a crumb.
The film has all the technical marks of neorealism with its beautiful editing and stark photography but that's about it. "The Flowers of St. Francis" is mostly disappointing. It should be far better than it really is. The Catholic Church sees something in this film that I sure don't. There's no way this is one of the greatest films ever made.
Annie Get Your Gun (George Sidney, 1950) 8/10
A poor woman with incredible sharpshooting skills romances a fellow sharpshooter and travels the country and then the world with a company specializing in wild west shows. Oh, man, this delighted me to pieces. This is one of the great Hollywood musicals. Yes, there is the argument that the movie says the way to get a guy is by accepting his childish demands, but it does it moreso by way of Katherina's monologue at the end of "The Taming of the Shrew" than it does in a misogynistic way.
Betty Hutton is wonderful as Annie Oakley. Her early scenes had me worrying. Dressed in all-brown garb and a dirty face with her goofy, grotesque expressions had me thinking this was going to do down the pipes quickly, but, once she joins the troupe, the movie really picks up. Hutton's work in the last two-third of the film is a powerhouse performance with some incredible dance numbers. And this is the first time I've been thankful for George Sidney who can't direct actors worth a damn but can shoot a hell of a number. Sidney's direction of most of the numbers and the scene showcasing Annie's new trick is superb. I just wish there were a bit less mugging. Everyone stares right into the camera and refuses to break eye contact for several numbers. It's a bit awkward.
The film's Technicolor is far form wasted with exuberant colors and wonderful sets pieces. It's a joyous celebration of the colors of the past.
But "Annie Get Your Gun" is wonderful. It showcases some of the best elements that have made the Hollywood musical famous. A complete delight.
Hail, Caesar! (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, 2016) 6/10
A fixer for a '50s Hollywood movie studio must figure out what happened and how to resolve it when one of their biggest stars is kidnapped. The Coens' most recent film is all about faith, where to find it, and when to fall back on it. And yet it's hard to find this message because it's enwrapped in a toned-down prestige picture about a prestige picture.
First off, Josh Brolin proves, yet again, that he's one of the best and most underused actors we have today. His role is pretty easy - he broods, frowns, and gets frustrated with his hectic life - but he manages to make it all good. Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand pop up in tiny roles that make the best of their comedic talents, but Brolin, Swinton, and McDormand aren't the best things about the film because Alden Ehrenreich's star was just born as a dimwitted singing cowboy. His comedic timing is perfect (the "Merrily We Dance" sequence with Ralph Fiennes is the stuff of legends) and he's incredibly charming. Ehrenreich was my big takeaway from this film.
These good performances along with Roger Deakins' marvelous cinematography and the gorgeous yet tacky sets make for a really good film unlike anything I've seen from these guys before. It's like "The Man Who Wasn't There" met up with the faith of "A Serious Man."
But there's a lot here that keeps the film from being great. First off, the ensemble outside of Brolin/Ehrenreich/Swinton/McDormand is poor. George Clooney is basically slumming it here. He has one really good scene, where he discusses communist politics with Brolin's character, an the rest is him playing an off-screen womanizer and typical dumb movie star. He does fine in the role, but I feel the role could've been far funnier with someone else, someone trying. Channing Tatum must've begged his way into this movie like he did "The Hateful Eight" because his performance is pretty disappointing. Even the homoerotic dance number fails to truly excite. It goes through all the motions of your classic screen musicals but doesn't do anything funny or exciting until the near end as his character is leaving the bar. However, I do recognize that this, along with the Busby Berkeley-inspired swimming scenes, show the Coens have an affinity for this era of filmmaking.
And speaking of the swimming, Scarlett Johansson's role, and what amounts to Jonah Hill's cameo, is incredibly disappointing and entirely inconsequential. I talked to some friends after seeing this and, after deliberating, there's really no point for this subplot other than "Oh, gee, Eddie has ANOTHER thing to fix! Oh, dear!" Johansson's accent is both sultry and out-of-touch. If anything, this further proved that trailermakers are deceptive. Johansson, Hill, and Tatum combined have maybe 15 minutes of total screen time. But you'd expect them to be huge stars. I'd rather them not have been in it at all.
The film's vignette style both hurts and helps it. I think it makes the film's tonal inequalities a bit more excusable, but, really, how can a movie told in vignette, super-subplot style not carry similar themes, styles, and tones throughout? Rossellini did it no problem, but the Coens are no Rossellini. But I digress.
"Hail, Caesar!" should've been a cinematic love note for the ages, but it comes away as a minor film from some major directors and writers. I was looking forward to the Coens redeeming themselves after writing the turgid "Bridge of Spies" script, but, for now, they're on a cold streak with me.
Phoenix (Christian Petzold, 2014) 7/10
A concentration camp survivor, unrecognizable after facial reconstruction surgery, searches war-torn Berlin for her husband who may have betrayed her to the Nazis. This was excellent. Concentration camps movies have become so commonplace that it's really hard to make a good one in this age, but Christian Petzold has created "Phoenix," a gift to a world and viewers in need of solace.
"Phoenix" is an angry movie. It seethes and seethes and boils and toils its way to the finish line. The phrase "slow burn" has frequently been used to describe this film, but I don't think that's accurate. The film is engrossing for its whole runtime. From the unbandaging to the reflection in the shards to the nightclub scenes to the final song, "Phoenix" is captivating. It's kept constantly entertaining due to its two female performances. Nina Hoss is very, very good. Her control over her face, knowing her character's complicated facial history, is very nice and controlled. Hoss also never launches into hysterics, credit to Petzold and Harun Farocki for making a nice, tight, gripping script, which is admirable.
But I think the film's best performance comes from Nina Kunzendorf as Hoss's confidante. Her small movements and expert line delivery is reminiscent of an Ozu film. All through the first act, her performance is magic. There's no much sympathy and empathy with slight shreds of bitterness tinged throughout. Kunzendorf's performance is brilliant.
What keeps the film from being a masterpiece is Ronald Zehrfeld's performance and something I'll spoil in a minute. Zehrfeld leaves a lot to be desired. If there's any role in the film that needs a big, loud, yelling speech, it's Zehrfeld's. But it's hard to see this guy as a villain when he's more mild-mannered than most every character in the movie.
The other thing is Kunzendorf's character Lene's suicide. Suicide is such a cheap thing in movies and literature. It's rarely used effectively, and this is one of those cases. Lene's suicide is more selfish than anything else and doesn't seem to come organically at all. It's almost out of the blue. It's a desperate attempt at drama that luckily doesn't derail the film.
But I think "Phoenix" is really good. Petzold crafts a modern-day "Vertigo" (without the perfection) and makes an ultimately soapy tale something extraordinary.
Father of the Bride (Vincente Minnelli, 1950) 6/10
A proud father recounts the major stresses that started when his daughter announced her engagement. Vincente Minnelli's direction is odd here. He seems to be more focused on the sets than anything else, and the sets don't pop quite as much as they do in most of his other films. I don't think the cinematography was sharp and focused enough to really bring it out. But it's a domestic comedy-drama, so that's not what the film's really trying to focus on.
But, in the background of Minnelli focusing on the background, there are some good performances at the center of this film. Spencer Tracy channels every father's woes as he worries about finance after finance after finance. Tracy's haggard looks and exhausted line readings are excellent. He's very funny throughout. His rants about his future son-in-law before we really meet him are gold. Joan Bennett is also good in a role that shrinks and shrinks the farther we go on. Bennett is always reliably good, so to see her here feels like slumming a bit. Her character is mostly there to balance out Tracy's anger and stress.
If anything, I'm mostly mad that the role of Kay, the bride, is super underwritten. It gives a normally brilliant Elizabeth Taylor no agency to shine. Her role is "Daddy, I love him, and you can't stop me!" for 90 minutes. There's no range. We're given scenes that are supposed to be sad or shocking, but they largely are amiss because of the script's lack of interest in care. This is a very male film.
And this script is wildly uneven. There are only definite highs and definite lows. For every Lynchian, Dalíesque dream sequences, there's a ten-minute gap of uninteresting attempts at developing character in a role not played by Tracy. And these gaps almost never have music which makes for an awkward, stagey bit of filmmaking.
But I really like "Father of the Bride" mostly for Tracy. It's a good performance by one of Hollywood's best and that makes a pretty standard Hollywood romcom something a little more than mediocre.
The Flame and the Arrow (Jacques Tourneur, 1950) 5/10
A Robin-Hood-like figure and his compatriots use Roman ruins in Lombardy to plan and carry out attacks on the conquering Hessian forces. I'm not quite sure what to make of "The Flame and the Arrow." I see a really good film at play that isn't executed quite as it should be. And this surprised me because Jacques Tourneur, like Michael Curtiz, is excellent in most every genre.
This is by no means a bad movie. "The Flame and the Arrow" doesn't want to talk about anything larger than loyalty and uprising, so it mostly adds in a goofy love story that feels more than shoehorned in. This would've made a fine film without the addition of Virginia Mayo who feels really out of place. Burt Lancaster, whom I usually like, smiles that famous smile a ton, but it isn't charming here. It's more annoying than anything else. Lancaster's performance is wooden and hollow reminding us that stoicism is hard to portray well.
The technical aspects of the film are excellent from the sets to the beautiful score by Max Steiner. The Technicolor is used to maximum capacity with every frame showing off some bright color or other. I think what shocked me most was how professionally-done and crisp and modern the title card looked, to be honest.
But this movie falls into most clichés in its writing and plotting. It's a movie I have seen many times before. It has the deformed best friend, the beautiful maiden, the fearless leader, and a simp of a villain. It's trite and typical. But it's not bad, and I'm not mad that I took the time to see it.
So Long at the Fair (Antony Darnborough, Terence Fisher, 1950) 5/10
A young woman at the 1896 World's Fair in Paris wakes up to find her brother, who slept in a separate hotel room, missing. Terence Fisher's "The Brother Vanishes" lacks the excitement that makes the Hitchcock picture with Dame May Whitty and Michael Redgrave so great, but it does give us Dirk Bogarde who is quite good in a small role. Bogarde's charm drips into our laps and leaves the film with him as the one memorable thing.
I do think the film's effects are quite good - there's a balloon explosion worth note. But that and the hotel sets and Bogarde are probably the best things about the film. It's not bad. It's harmless, really. But Jean Simmons is really annoying as the uptight, "I know you're lying" sister with three facial expressions. The mystery isn't particularly interesting and it's pretty easy to figure out. So most of the film isn't successful.
But despite its simplicity, "So Long at the Fair" is alright. The supporting cast of shady characters and Dirk Bogarde hold the film up firmly on their shoulders and make for a more interesting parlor drama than mystery.
Last Holiday (Henry Cass, 1950) 7/10
An agricultural machinery salesman spends what he has left at a seaside resort after he discovers he hasn't long to live. "Last Holiday" hits every note you'd expect it to. It's a pretty standard "one week to live" film that has a love interest and a supportive, wise cast of characters.
But what those typical moves don't have that this one has is Alec Guinness whose excellent performance is the whole reason to watch the film. Guinness always excelled at playing genteel, timid Englishmen under heaps of internal stress. And this is one of the Brit's best performances. Guinness' George Bird is an instantly-lovable, easy-with-which-to-sympathize-with character. We're sad to see him go by the end even though things, naturally, don't go as he planned. Guinness' performance cements the film's bittersweet attitude in the best way.
Beatrice Campbell, Wilfrid Hyde-White, and Kay Walsh make for an excellent supporting cast of characters that always seem to know what to say to Bird at the right time. It's definitely cheesy but always touching.
"Last Holiday" is very good. Without that incredible Guinness performance, I'd doubt its ability to be good. But, for now, let's not forget that performance. An unforgettable, tender, affecting performance.
King Solomon's Mines (Compton Bennett, Andrew Martin) 2/10
Adventurer Allan Quatermain and a few colleagues travel deep into uncharted Africa to locate an explorer who went missing looking for the fabled diamonds of King Solomon's Mines. Oh, God, this movie. This movie is a mess. Calling it a mess is too nice. It's a trainwreck. And even that is too nice.
Putting Deborah Kerr in such a slight, awful role is insulting. Even her great talents can't make the role work. Her character is supposed to come off as an independent, strong, capable woman (despite her constant pratfalls) and, yet, her entire role is having her reliant on the whereabouts of an unseen male. I'm shocked they didn't take the angle of having her and Quatermain get together immediately after seeing her husband's remains. I wouldn't put the film above that. And Stewart Granger's performance as Quatermain is hilariously bad. It's like Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones but without all the swagger and wit.
In fact, the whole film is basically an Indiana Jones movie but without any of the incredible action scenes. And without all the witticisms and drama. It's more of a fictional, terrible travelogue if anything. The scenes with the native Africans are pretty offensive but not as offensive as they are terrible. This movie is drier than the Kalahari. "King Solomon's Mines" only boasts some nice visual effects. If the film didn't have that, it would be one of the worst movies I've ever seen.
An adventure film can't work without thrills or adventure. Throwing unlikable characters in Africa isn't enough. But the writers sure think so. I think H. Rider Haggard would've cringed if he saw this. Everything that was great about "She" is what is sorely lacking in "King Solomon's Mines." This is one of the very worst Best Picture nominees.
Champagne for Caesar (Richard Whorf, 1950) 7/10
An unemployed know-it-all is spurned for a job by a soap magnate and decides to bankrupt him by going on the quiz show he sponsors. As a huge trivia aficionado, this movie was made for me. "Champagne for Caesar" is a total riot. I never knew Ronald Colman had such comedic range even if he's playing within his usual genteel range. Colman's insistence and deadpan manner are perfect as a foil to the high-strung mollycoddle played by an excellent Vincent Price. Their battles, and that first scene in Price's office, are always entertaining.
And it's really interesting to see a film like this made before the whole Herb Stempel scandal. The film talks about, in a different manner albeit, the rigging of these quiz shows which proved to be a widespread ordeal.
I think what keeps the film from being great is the, as you probably guessed, shoe-horned love story. The writers decide Celeste Holm needs to be introduced as if Colman's character needs more complications. And Hollywood always gets flak for pairing old men with young women, but there's a nearly thirty-year old age difference between Colman and Holm. It would be less creepy if their chemistry were better. Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt had almost the same age gap, but they were good together. Colman and Holm are not. And the scenes away from the drama of the show, these love scenes, really throw the film out of its clever groove.
Alas, "Champagne for Caesar" is really good. It's a film tailor-made for me, more or less subject-wise. Colman and Price are almost unfairly fun. It's an excellent comedy.
Harriet Craig (Vincent Sherman, 1950) 5/10
A conniving social climber's materialism proves to be her undoing as she treats her servants and relatives like animals and lies to her husband about her ability to have children. If I had to choose any director to remake the Dorothy Arzner and Roz Russell collaboration of this movie from 1936, I'd have chosen Vincent Sherman. So why didn't this film play out like it should have/I imagined?
I think Wendell Corey might be most to blame as his performance is really lackluster. Playing a wronged husband is pretty easy to do in a film like this, but Corey seems to be unaware that Harriet is doing anything wrong to him at all. And Joan Crawford is good as always in a role that makes the most of her natural talents but doesn't ever truly emphasize them. It's a sleepwalker of a role.
Also, even though both this and Arzner's "Craig's Wife" are about even, between Russell and Crawford, Russell really, really comes out on top. Crawford always played a grand bitch, but I guess she'd played them for so long that not trying a bit harder hurt her here.
So "Harriet Craig" is mediocre at best. Crawford keeps it afloat as only she can, but she can't elevate it to a truly good level.
The File on Thelma Jordon (Robert Siodmak, 1950) 4/10
A woman seduces an assistant district attorney and brings him into a tangled web of theft, murder, and deception. Robert Siodmak is one of the most capable directors in the genre of film noir, but you'd never guess that by how many mediocre films he directed. It just goes to show how prolific his filmography is.
But, as for "The File on Thelma Jordon," it's mostly held back by Wendell Corey's tame, disappointing performance. In his opening scenes, he plays drunk awfully. It further proves the old adage that playing drunk is the most difficult task an actor can be assigned. It comes off rather comedically in the worst way, seeing as this newfound relationship is supposed to be tense and uneasy.
As for Barbara Stanwyck, it's a really unexciting, typical role that doesn't give her the agency all her best performances gave her. And it's not that the role is underwritten, though the lines most certainly are, but it's that she sounds preposterous giving some of her lines. And for her character's arc, with the shooting of her aunt coming into try and save the day, it doesn't quite work.
"The File on Thelma Jordon" is not a good movie. It's a victim of trying to shove too much in too little a space. It aims for "Double Indemnity" and fails to grasp it.
Pierrot, Columbine, and Harlequin all encounter one another in a forest at night. Kenneth Anger is an interesting director. Knowing nothing about this, walking in, I was expecting more mustard on more genitals, but this is crazy different than "Scorpio Rising."
I'd never have thought Anger would use traditional French and Italian comedic tropes and characters to craft a film. It's an interesting attempt at something or other, but the filmmaking is mostly superb. Anger's use of doo-wop and shading makes "Rabbit's Moon" an ethereal, fever dream of a film. I see tinges of Kinugasa and Deren in this movie, and that's an excellent thing. This surreal style transposed onto such traditional characters, while obvious in its making, works very well. Anger's gorgeous work with lighting and editing enlivens the film.
The film tries its best to operate as a comedic dramatic romantic something-or-other film, and I think its ambition here is the one thing that keeps it from being great; however, it's easy to get lost in the lovelight of the moon, Anger's moon especially, so it's not a giant oversight. It's still a gorgeous, beautiful meditation on love's constant evolution and paradoxical stagnation.
Rocketship X-M (Kurt Neumann, 1950) 3/10
After miscalculating and passing the moon, a group of brave astronauts take on Mars. Yes, that's the actual plot. It's pretty embarrassing. "Rocketship X-M" sounds like a bad radio station on Sirius, and I'm sure that hypothetical station hosted by Geddy Lee or David Gilmour would be more tolerable than this movie.
Firstly, the movie is rampantly sexist in the work way. The movie has the balls to give the one female character a PhD in chemistry but is basically confined to a scientific kitchen making test tube sandwiches for the male astronauts. And, even sadder, is that she'd probably have been the film's most interesting character were it not for this. And it's not like she'd have much competition among the cast as the male actors are all stoicism, no romanticism even though the film romanticizes everything.
Secondly, the effects are mostly good, but they're hardly put to any good use. The film's low budget allows for a couple good spacewalking scenes, but "Destination Moon" did everything better this year.
In fact, "Destination Moon" is twice the movie "Rocketship X-M" is in almost every way. "X-M" is lazy and expected its then-modern audience to be too dumb to realize aiming for the moon and landing on Mars is implausible. Sure was great that they had all that extra fuel!
Throughout most of this boring movie, I was hoping Lloyd Bridges would turn into his character from "Airplane!," but such is life. "Rocketship X-M" is a dud.
The Men (Fred Zinnemann, 1950) 4/10
A paraplegic veteran tries to mentally overcome his paralysis to start life anew. This movie is a pretty big disappointment. If it should be seen, it should be viewed for Marlon Brando's debut performance which is great in the physical department and hilarious in the actual acting department. Brando gives his character an ever-constipated resting face which makes him not only unflattering to look at but unlikable. The physical scenes in the gym are probably the most impressive scenes Brando did in the film. But he embraces the ham at the direction of Zinnemann no doubt.
And I'm shocked that Fred Zinnemann made a dud directly after the one-two punch of "The Search" and "Act of Violence." You think he'd be able to channel the wartime feel of the former film and incorporate that film's sense of hope into this, but it's strangely devoid of it instead lending its hand to melodramatic triteness and vapidities that riddle the script. It's chock full of bad lines.
The film does, however, deserve praise for bringing paralysis to the public's attention even if the medicine behind it all is really annoying after a while. I think just about every able-bodied character in the film says some derivation of, "It's all in your mind! You can totally walk again! They can fix you!" Even poor Teresa Wright gets some of these lines, and they come out poorly. Her performance is actually very good up until her "I'm sorry but I don't know why" scene with Brando. Then, the film's love for soap comes bubbling out in the least flattering of ways.
"The Men" is not a good film. It doesn't quite grasp how to treat its hot-button subject and we're not given the means with which to appreciate what it has to say. We know paralysis is bad and veterans are good going in, and we don't leave knowing much else. It's a muted attempt to make something important that comes off more as condescending and stale.
REWATCH: La Ronde (Max Ophüls, 1950) 10/10
A prostitute sleeps with a soldier who sleeps with a chambermaid who sleeps with her employer's son who sleeps with a married woman who sleeps with her husband who sleeps with a young woman who sleeps with a poet who sleeps with an actress who sleeps with a count who sleeps with the prostitute; thus the carousel of love and life continues to make its rounds. Another repeat viewing, another masterpiece confirmed. Max Ophüls most darkly joyous, intricate, and second-greatest film gets to talk about sex, money, love, death, politics, and every other taboo dinner table subject. And it does all this with little embellishment and all fun.
Anton Walbrook's raconteur is the real star of the film. His weary-eyed, slow-paced narrator is the string that connects this cobweb of relationships. His sharp witticisms and poetic line readings are perfectly delivered by Walbrook who seems tailor-made for the role.
And this might be the best ensemble in film history. Walbrook, Simone Signoret, Simone Simon, Daniel Gélin, Danielle Darrieux, Odette Joyeux, Jean-Louis Barrault, Isa Miranda, and Gérard Philipe is as amazing a cast as you can ever find. It's a who's-who of stars abroad and they all play their characters with careful convictions while being very mindful of their characters' motivations. No two characters are alike which is the only way a story like this can be pulled off. As for the ensemble's best performances, sans Walbrook, Signoret and Darrieux do the best work, using their sex appeal and expressive faces to seduce their lovers and us.
And, as for the censored love scene: still one of the funniest, wittiest throwaway pieces of film in history.
"La Ronde" continues to be a truly astounding film. The last time I saw this, I watched it in concurrence with "Le Plaisir," "Lola Montès," and "Madame de...," and I'm flooded with reminders of how amazing that stretch of work is. Ophüls is a master, and this is undeniable proof.
No Way Out (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950) 7/10
A black, inner-city doctor suspects one of a pair of injured, racist, criminal brothers has a brain tumor and uses a spinal tap to test; when the patient dies during the process, the living brother cries foul as everyone races against the clock to prove the innocence or guilt of the doctor. This is another film from which I benefitted by not knowing much going in. All I knew was that Linda Darnell and Richard Widmark were in it, so I basically expected Widmark to slap her around and be a nincompoop.
But, damn, this tackles racism in a way that "Pinky," "Intruder in the Dust," and all the other "racism is bad" movies from the year before did not. The N-word is used to great effect here with every use really stabbing deep. And Sidney Poitier's Luther is a great character - one of noir's very best and most complex. And Poitier's performance matches it well. I realized I haven't seen many films featuring him, so I'm very much looking forward to his work. But Poitier plays Luther with determination and assurance to give us a great performance of a man long put-upon by racism who has to rise from a place of scared complacency to brave heroism. It's a performance I like a lot.
Widmark is mostly good too with a one-note "You're black and I do not like you!" role, but, alongside Poitier, Linda Darnell does some pretty good work. I have come to dislike Darnell for her stankface performances, but, here, Mankiewicz does some good work with her that wasn't there in "A Letter to Three Wives." Darnell's dark, conflicted woman is an interesting character for this genre because she isn't functioning simply at the behest of a man. She gets her own story arc and it's the film's meatiest segment. We get ethics and family dilemmas as its twistiest and best.
"No Way Out" is a tempestuous film noir with ideas on race and family that rarely permeate the dermis of most films of its ilk.
Treasure Island (Byron Haskin, 1950) 4/10
A young boy in possession of a treasure map and some companions race others to a buried motherlode. Disney's first feature-length live-action film is a flop. Where I liked Bobby Driscoll in "The Window," I hate him here. His Jim is unbearable. Driscoll's insistence on playing Jim as anything but adventurous is tiresome and tedious.
If anyone gets lauded in the cast, it's Robert Newton who plays a deliciously hammy Long John Silver. It's not a great performance, per se, but it's one of the more intriguing, fun things about a pretty bloodless film.
And, apart from the costumes, everything looks so artificial to the point where I'm surprised I didn't see price tags still hanging off the props. And I'm not sure I'd be surprised if they did because I'd want to quickly return them too for how cheap they look.
Disney's first feature-length, live-action film is a mess. It pales in comparison to the Wallace Beery vehicle from years ago. It's a cheap imitation of one of literature's most noteworthy adventure yarns. It's a California roll instead of the ahi steak it could be.
"Treasure Island" is not good. It's a misstep for Disney who don't look confident enough to step into this realm yet. This plus "Cinderella" might be the worst year Disney ever had.
REWATCH: Rashômon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950) 10/10
A bandit, a samurai, and his wife all tell their version of events in which the bandit rapes the woman and kills the samurai. This is just as fresh and incredible as I remembered. Akira Kurosawa's first masterpiece is one with an incredible, if now commonplace, setup that I think no one has imitated perfectly. The script remains brisk even though we're getting, essentially, the same story five times in a row with a bit of philosophy thrown in the margins.
Toshiro Mifune's explosive bandit is the heart of the film and a really despicable character. Everything from his over-the-top laughing and facial expressions to his self-righteous attitude is wonderful. It's the best role from an actor with a résumé to boot.
Machiko Kyo is also very good as the woman at the center of the debacle. Kyo plays up the femininity of her character to her advantage because, with a more independent woman, this story wouldn't work as well. Or at least someone trying to play up her femininity to pander to the jury. Kyo's soft, sensual charms are on full display when she isn't breaking hearts by crying.
The film's dazzling technical display is one for the ages with superior editing, shot selection, lighting, and costumes. Also, the sound work during the séance/possession scene is really top-notch and unlike anything I've seen in movies up until this point in time.
"Rashomon" is a excellent meditation on presumption, the truth, life, death, and faith. It's a film whose only fault is it's, quite literally, "Faith in humanity: restored!" ending. It's a masterpiece for the ages.
Scandal (Akira Kurosawa, 1950) 5/10
An artist helps out a young, famous classical singer only for the press to start circulating unfounded rumors of a love story surrounding them as revenge for not giving an interview. Kurosawa's worst movie outside of the "Sanshiro Sugata" films is muted and unenthused with itself. Kurosawa doesn't seem to really be interested in the plight of these characters. We don't leave the film with anything other than "the paparazzi are bad" on ours minds as we probably already knew.
Toshiro Mifune's mild-mannered performance fails to excite, and Shirley Yamaguchi does a pretty alright job with her role as Whitney Houston in "The Bodyguard." But neither of them inspire anything in the viewer, and they don't have any tangible chemistry. Even Takashi Shimura, in what should have been a devastating role, doesn't do very much here. It's a standard old, regretful man role.
"Scandal" doesn't have much going for it. It's the most by-the-books film by Kurosawa that I've seen. It feels like anyone could have made it. None of an impressive cast of stars does anything worthwhile, and we suffer through the picture waiting for something interesting to happen and it mostly never does.
REWATCH: Stars in My Crown (Jacques Tourneur, 1950) 8/10
A young pastor, new in town, raises his family and the village in which he just arrived. "Stars in My Crown" is "How Green Was My Valley" for people who didn't like "How Green Was My Valley." It's a film heavy on faith and morals that doesn't drift into excessive preaching.
It's one of the most interesting films in director Jacques Tourneur's oeuvre. For a director who tended to drift toward the dark side of humanity, he sure made a light, inspiring film out of "Stars in My Crown." And Joel McCrea, another actor who usually lent himself to apathy and angst, is surprisingly good as our galvanizing hero. And the supporting cast is also excellent with Juano Hernández doing excellent work as always and little Dean Stockwell giving the film's best performance. Stockwell's coming-of-age character is his best work as a child actor and certainly his most natural. Under Tourneur's excellent direction, Stockwell manages to steal the picture for the most part.
The film's a gorgeous one too with the sets and locations creating a town that really feels genuinely lived-in and alive. Alan Hale, James Mitchell, Lewis Stone, and others all act as a living set more than a supporting cast at times and make this a very cozy and, at times, tense films where the stakes are laid out bare.
My second viewing of "Stars in My Crown" is not tainted by drippy sugar or a stoic sense of disapproval. It's still the great film I thought it to be, and I'm glad to have revisited it. It's a kind movie. It's the movie equivalent of your favorite grandfather.
Cyrano de Bergerac (Michael Gordon, 1950) 6/10
The classic tale of the swordsman-poet who woos his cousin vicariously through a dashing young soldier with whom she is far more infatuated. I love "Cyrano;" it's one of my favorite plays. So I really have no reason to have not seen this yet (well, I saw it in middle school, but, really, does that even count once you become a cinephile?).
There's one big, damned shame about this movie and it's that the supporting cast is unbelievably dreadful. José Ferrer has to carry this dead weight all by himself, and, for the most part, he actually does very well. It's hard to play Cyrano on screen because he's such a flamboyant, theatrical character that coming off as stagey is bound to be a problem. And, while there are definitely some stagey parts, Ferrer dominates with film with an incredible performance. There's no doubt why he won the Oscar: he recreated a Tony-winning performance, it screams, "ACTING!," and he was seen as the most due of the candidates. So even though the Academy should have awarded William Holden, Ferrer's win isn't incredibly offensive. His nose jokes monologue is well-done and hilarious.
As for the technicals, the sets all feel really amateurish and stagey. It feels like the camera was moving around a set more than anything else. It never seems to break free of the strict confines of the stage. But, despite this unnecessary agoraphobia, the film's costumes and the prosthetic nose are both realistic and well-crafted.
So, in all, José Ferrer takes this film for himself which lugging around a dismal cast. Mala Powers' terrible performance will make you wonder why Cyrano even loves Roxane. But, alas, we get Ferrer to glue it all together. A fantastic performance in one of the biggest vehicles an accomplished actor can get.
REWATCH: Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950) 10/10
A small-time, opportunistic crook tries to become a major player as a wrestling promoter after a series of circumstances fall his way. I got the Criterion BluRay copy of this film a few months ago, and I've been eager to break it out. And this is still one of the very greatest of all films noir. Richard Widmark's performance is the best of his career as an angry, eager, money-hungry shark. His scenes during the climactic wrestling match are harrowing. His screams and pupils are piercing. He so perfectly captures desperation. And Stanislaus Zbyszko, as the veteran wrestler at the core of the film, is heartbreaking as a manipulated mad old dog on the last legs of glory. He's a hulking mass of sadness and hope. It's a deeply-realized, autobiographical performance for Zbyszko that hits home easily. But my favorite performance comes not from a sad Gene Tierney but a fierce Googie Withers whose few scenes are unbelievably good. She gets her own small arc and carries it with grace and emotion. Withers plays put-upon and betrayed like no other. It's a masterful turn.
The script is excellent. It's full of noirish angst and brooding but with a sense of urgency and heart that most films in this genre are missing. The extended chase at film's end, and that scene with Widmark around a dilapidated corner and a flashlight barely missing him around a corner, is astounding. It shows Jules Dassin's awareness with space and light. The cinematography is a marvel. Dassin's tight control with this intense, heart-pounding movie is unreal. It's his very best movie.
"Night and the City" is a masterpiece in style and tone. It's an incredible movie in a genre I absolutely adore.
The Breaking Point (Michael Curtiz, 1950) 7/10
A down-on-his-luck fisherman hires contracts his boat out to criminals. Both times I've seen it, I've never really liked "To Have and Have Not." And, each time, I've wondered how something adapted from Hemingway could be so terrible. His dialogue and style usually translate to film well. I know the Hawks film is only a loose adaptation of the Hemingway novel of the same name, but I never knew how loose until I realized how close and excellent "The Breaking Point" is instead.
Michael Curtiz' excellent seaside and domestic drama is a buffet of morality and love. I think the singlemost impressive thing about the movie is the main couple played by John Garfield and Phyllis Thatxter. I have never seen a married couple in film from this era that was so realistic. Their love is strong, but they are not overdramatic at every little hitch in their lives. There seems to be a genuine concern on Thaxter's part for Garfield's actions, and this may be why Thaxter's performance is so brilliant. She shines in this cold, dark picture even brighter than Patricia Neal who is playing a supertrollop. Thaxter's warmth, concern, and affection are the driving force of "The Breaking Point" and make the film so much more affecting than "To Have and Have Not." John Garfield is good opposite her but comes nowhere close to Thaxter's brilliance.
The film's non-domestic sequences are mostly uninteresting unless they involve Neal but we get to the last climactic shootout on the boat which is a clinic in shot selection, editing, and lighting. It's a truly intense bit of filmmaking which will shock you.
"The Breaking Point" isn't quite good enough to be a great film, but it's leagues better than it's loosely-based predecessor. Phyllis Thaxter is guaranteed to be the big takeaway from the film.
September Affair (William Dieterle, 1950) 4/10
Two lovers take advantage of being reported dead on a plane they were never on. And we're back to Dieterle and Cotten being turgid and bad. This is so much more "Love Letters" than "Portrait of Jennie," and I mean that in the worst, most derogatory way possible.
"September Affair" is a predictable mess with Joan Fontaine looking her most haggard and careless and Cotten looking bored out of his mind. Somehow, despite this, they are actually decent on screen together at times. But anything they accomplish is quickly peeled away by "I love you"s and "Never leave me"s and other tripe of the genre. To be honest, when they say, "Let's live for today" all melodramatically, I just think of the song of the same name by The Grass Roots which actually made the film better.
This movie makes me question everything about Dieterle. He has made masterpieces like "The Last Flight" and "Portrait of Jennie," so why are there so many bad movies in his filmography? Is it a case like that of Jean Negulesco where the studios just hand him bad films or what? Dieterle was talented but never talented enough to rise above the ham-fisted screenplays given to him so frequently.
"September Affair" is made almost palatable by its leads even if they're in pretty dumpy form.
Armored Car Robbery (Richard Fleischer, 1950) 6/10
A tough L.A. cop goes in pursuit of a band of armored car robbers when their heist goes awry. This B-noir is surprisingly good despite its uninspired title. The movie has some of the most impressive film editing I've seen in a movie from this era with the heist and chases focusing just long enough at the subject on hand before cutting or smashing to a new angle or perspective on it all. It's probably the best heist scene I've seen in film chronologically up until "Rififi."
The film also reminded me how underrated William Talman was. It took me a minute to recognize where I'd seen him from and then got 'nam flashbacks to Ida Lupino's "The Hitch-hiker." Talman is not quite as crazed here, but there's still that look in his eyes that is unsettling to the core. He's the shining part of a dull cast. His turn isn't disimilar to that of Richard Widmark's in "Kiss of Death."
But as the dividends are further divided and the money parts ways with those who think they deserve it, the plot doesn't quite pick up like it should. The stakes are laid bare, but they're never capitalized upon fully. The film's pacing issues in the second act are a huge setback too. But "Armored Car Robbery" is still a fun watch. It's like a sandwich with really good bread and nothing special inside.
Deadpool (Tim Miller, 2016) 9/10
A former special ops soldier develops healing powers and a blinding hatred and sense of vengeance for the man who subjected him to rogue treatment. It's cliché to say, but this is the comic book movie I have been waiting for my whole life. "Deadpool" is a huge parody of the genre with in-jokes for miles and non-stop jokes reminiscent of Brooks and the Zuckers.
Is the humor a bit pedantic and childish? Absolutely. But Deadpool isn't a mature, respectable hero. He isn't even a hero. He's called "the merc with a mouth" for a reason. The movie is foul, violent, and graphic and all the better for these things.
And Deadpool is such a fun character. It's good to see him in his own vehicle. Props to Ryan Reynolds for doing everything in his power to bring this riot to the screen. And Reynolds has never been better. In fact, he isn't as charismatic as a damp dishcloth here. His comedic timing is impeccable, and his knowledge of the character helps craft Marvel's greatest screen creation. Reynolds is a total blast.
As for the rest of the cast, Morena Baccarin is alright and British rapper Ed Skrein does what's expected. The rest of the cast is mostly unexciting even with Negasonic Teenage Warhead and a clunky Colossus. It's this supporting cast that keeps the film from being the masterpiece it should be. Yes, masterpiece. The best supporting player is T. J. Miller whose specialized brand of deadpan comedy is used well even if his glasses steal most of his scenes.
The editing is in turbo mode here with it being an A.D.D. kid's dream, but it's all for the better. The effects looks a little tired at times though. But, visually, it's something crazy to behold. The opening credits with "Angel of the Morning" are astounding.
I'm no comic book fanboy by any means (I usually look down on these people who blindly give 10/10 ratings to most superhero films), but this is an incredible movie. I haven't had this much fun at the movies in years. Maybe even a decade. This was more fun than "Star Wars."
The Flowers of St. Francis (Roberto Rossellini, 1950) 5/10
St. Francis of Assisi sends his followers across the land to spread his and the Lord's word. Roberto Rossellini's vignette style and I have gelled up until now. "The Flowers of St. Francis" is too fragmented for its own good. It's separated into too many chapters, and these chapters are too short to mean anything. It aims for something like Aesop's fables, but even those are meatier than this film. This film, along with "Stromboli," make 1950 a tough year for Rossellini and me.
As for the cast, the neorealism doesn't work because most of the cast seems dull-eyed and unsure of what they're doing. They don't seem very passionate except for a few scenes where everything comes out as way over the top. Only Aldo Fabrizi, the one professional actor, gives a perform worth a crumb.
The film has all the technical marks of neorealism with its beautiful editing and stark photography but that's about it. "The Flowers of St. Francis" is mostly disappointing. It should be far better than it really is. The Catholic Church sees something in this film that I sure don't. There's no way this is one of the greatest films ever made.
Annie Get Your Gun (George Sidney, 1950) 8/10
A poor woman with incredible sharpshooting skills romances a fellow sharpshooter and travels the country and then the world with a company specializing in wild west shows. Oh, man, this delighted me to pieces. This is one of the great Hollywood musicals. Yes, there is the argument that the movie says the way to get a guy is by accepting his childish demands, but it does it moreso by way of Katherina's monologue at the end of "The Taming of the Shrew" than it does in a misogynistic way.
Betty Hutton is wonderful as Annie Oakley. Her early scenes had me worrying. Dressed in all-brown garb and a dirty face with her goofy, grotesque expressions had me thinking this was going to do down the pipes quickly, but, once she joins the troupe, the movie really picks up. Hutton's work in the last two-third of the film is a powerhouse performance with some incredible dance numbers. And this is the first time I've been thankful for George Sidney who can't direct actors worth a damn but can shoot a hell of a number. Sidney's direction of most of the numbers and the scene showcasing Annie's new trick is superb. I just wish there were a bit less mugging. Everyone stares right into the camera and refuses to break eye contact for several numbers. It's a bit awkward.
The film's Technicolor is far form wasted with exuberant colors and wonderful sets pieces. It's a joyous celebration of the colors of the past.
But "Annie Get Your Gun" is wonderful. It showcases some of the best elements that have made the Hollywood musical famous. A complete delight.
Hail, Caesar! (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, 2016) 6/10
A fixer for a '50s Hollywood movie studio must figure out what happened and how to resolve it when one of their biggest stars is kidnapped. The Coens' most recent film is all about faith, where to find it, and when to fall back on it. And yet it's hard to find this message because it's enwrapped in a toned-down prestige picture about a prestige picture.
First off, Josh Brolin proves, yet again, that he's one of the best and most underused actors we have today. His role is pretty easy - he broods, frowns, and gets frustrated with his hectic life - but he manages to make it all good. Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand pop up in tiny roles that make the best of their comedic talents, but Brolin, Swinton, and McDormand aren't the best things about the film because Alden Ehrenreich's star was just born as a dimwitted singing cowboy. His comedic timing is perfect (the "Merrily We Dance" sequence with Ralph Fiennes is the stuff of legends) and he's incredibly charming. Ehrenreich was my big takeaway from this film.
These good performances along with Roger Deakins' marvelous cinematography and the gorgeous yet tacky sets make for a really good film unlike anything I've seen from these guys before. It's like "The Man Who Wasn't There" met up with the faith of "A Serious Man."
But there's a lot here that keeps the film from being great. First off, the ensemble outside of Brolin/Ehrenreich/Swinton/McDormand is poor. George Clooney is basically slumming it here. He has one really good scene, where he discusses communist politics with Brolin's character, an the rest is him playing an off-screen womanizer and typical dumb movie star. He does fine in the role, but I feel the role could've been far funnier with someone else, someone trying. Channing Tatum must've begged his way into this movie like he did "The Hateful Eight" because his performance is pretty disappointing. Even the homoerotic dance number fails to truly excite. It goes through all the motions of your classic screen musicals but doesn't do anything funny or exciting until the near end as his character is leaving the bar. However, I do recognize that this, along with the Busby Berkeley-inspired swimming scenes, show the Coens have an affinity for this era of filmmaking.
And speaking of the swimming, Scarlett Johansson's role, and what amounts to Jonah Hill's cameo, is incredibly disappointing and entirely inconsequential. I talked to some friends after seeing this and, after deliberating, there's really no point for this subplot other than "Oh, gee, Eddie has ANOTHER thing to fix! Oh, dear!" Johansson's accent is both sultry and out-of-touch. If anything, this further proved that trailermakers are deceptive. Johansson, Hill, and Tatum combined have maybe 15 minutes of total screen time. But you'd expect them to be huge stars. I'd rather them not have been in it at all.
The film's vignette style both hurts and helps it. I think it makes the film's tonal inequalities a bit more excusable, but, really, how can a movie told in vignette, super-subplot style not carry similar themes, styles, and tones throughout? Rossellini did it no problem, but the Coens are no Rossellini. But I digress.
"Hail, Caesar!" should've been a cinematic love note for the ages, but it comes away as a minor film from some major directors and writers. I was looking forward to the Coens redeeming themselves after writing the turgid "Bridge of Spies" script, but, for now, they're on a cold streak with me.
Phoenix (Christian Petzold, 2014) 7/10
A concentration camp survivor, unrecognizable after facial reconstruction surgery, searches war-torn Berlin for her husband who may have betrayed her to the Nazis. This was excellent. Concentration camps movies have become so commonplace that it's really hard to make a good one in this age, but Christian Petzold has created "Phoenix," a gift to a world and viewers in need of solace.
"Phoenix" is an angry movie. It seethes and seethes and boils and toils its way to the finish line. The phrase "slow burn" has frequently been used to describe this film, but I don't think that's accurate. The film is engrossing for its whole runtime. From the unbandaging to the reflection in the shards to the nightclub scenes to the final song, "Phoenix" is captivating. It's kept constantly entertaining due to its two female performances. Nina Hoss is very, very good. Her control over her face, knowing her character's complicated facial history, is very nice and controlled. Hoss also never launches into hysterics, credit to Petzold and Harun Farocki for making a nice, tight, gripping script, which is admirable.
But I think the film's best performance comes from Nina Kunzendorf as Hoss's confidante. Her small movements and expert line delivery is reminiscent of an Ozu film. All through the first act, her performance is magic. There's no much sympathy and empathy with slight shreds of bitterness tinged throughout. Kunzendorf's performance is brilliant.
What keeps the film from being a masterpiece is Ronald Zehrfeld's performance and something I'll spoil in a minute. Zehrfeld leaves a lot to be desired. If there's any role in the film that needs a big, loud, yelling speech, it's Zehrfeld's. But it's hard to see this guy as a villain when he's more mild-mannered than most every character in the movie.
The other thing is Kunzendorf's character Lene's suicide. Suicide is such a cheap thing in movies and literature. It's rarely used effectively, and this is one of those cases. Lene's suicide is more selfish than anything else and doesn't seem to come organically at all. It's almost out of the blue. It's a desperate attempt at drama that luckily doesn't derail the film.
But I think "Phoenix" is really good. Petzold crafts a modern-day "Vertigo" (without the perfection) and makes an ultimately soapy tale something extraordinary.
Father of the Bride (Vincente Minnelli, 1950) 6/10
A proud father recounts the major stresses that started when his daughter announced her engagement. Vincente Minnelli's direction is odd here. He seems to be more focused on the sets than anything else, and the sets don't pop quite as much as they do in most of his other films. I don't think the cinematography was sharp and focused enough to really bring it out. But it's a domestic comedy-drama, so that's not what the film's really trying to focus on.
But, in the background of Minnelli focusing on the background, there are some good performances at the center of this film. Spencer Tracy channels every father's woes as he worries about finance after finance after finance. Tracy's haggard looks and exhausted line readings are excellent. He's very funny throughout. His rants about his future son-in-law before we really meet him are gold. Joan Bennett is also good in a role that shrinks and shrinks the farther we go on. Bennett is always reliably good, so to see her here feels like slumming a bit. Her character is mostly there to balance out Tracy's anger and stress.
If anything, I'm mostly mad that the role of Kay, the bride, is super underwritten. It gives a normally brilliant Elizabeth Taylor no agency to shine. Her role is "Daddy, I love him, and you can't stop me!" for 90 minutes. There's no range. We're given scenes that are supposed to be sad or shocking, but they largely are amiss because of the script's lack of interest in care. This is a very male film.
And this script is wildly uneven. There are only definite highs and definite lows. For every Lynchian, Dalíesque dream sequences, there's a ten-minute gap of uninteresting attempts at developing character in a role not played by Tracy. And these gaps almost never have music which makes for an awkward, stagey bit of filmmaking.
But I really like "Father of the Bride" mostly for Tracy. It's a good performance by one of Hollywood's best and that makes a pretty standard Hollywood romcom something a little more than mediocre.
The Flame and the Arrow (Jacques Tourneur, 1950) 5/10
A Robin-Hood-like figure and his compatriots use Roman ruins in Lombardy to plan and carry out attacks on the conquering Hessian forces. I'm not quite sure what to make of "The Flame and the Arrow." I see a really good film at play that isn't executed quite as it should be. And this surprised me because Jacques Tourneur, like Michael Curtiz, is excellent in most every genre.
This is by no means a bad movie. "The Flame and the Arrow" doesn't want to talk about anything larger than loyalty and uprising, so it mostly adds in a goofy love story that feels more than shoehorned in. This would've made a fine film without the addition of Virginia Mayo who feels really out of place. Burt Lancaster, whom I usually like, smiles that famous smile a ton, but it isn't charming here. It's more annoying than anything else. Lancaster's performance is wooden and hollow reminding us that stoicism is hard to portray well.
The technical aspects of the film are excellent from the sets to the beautiful score by Max Steiner. The Technicolor is used to maximum capacity with every frame showing off some bright color or other. I think what shocked me most was how professionally-done and crisp and modern the title card looked, to be honest.
But this movie falls into most clichés in its writing and plotting. It's a movie I have seen many times before. It has the deformed best friend, the beautiful maiden, the fearless leader, and a simp of a villain. It's trite and typical. But it's not bad, and I'm not mad that I took the time to see it.
So Long at the Fair (Antony Darnborough, Terence Fisher, 1950) 5/10
A young woman at the 1896 World's Fair in Paris wakes up to find her brother, who slept in a separate hotel room, missing. Terence Fisher's "The Brother Vanishes" lacks the excitement that makes the Hitchcock picture with Dame May Whitty and Michael Redgrave so great, but it does give us Dirk Bogarde who is quite good in a small role. Bogarde's charm drips into our laps and leaves the film with him as the one memorable thing.
I do think the film's effects are quite good - there's a balloon explosion worth note. But that and the hotel sets and Bogarde are probably the best things about the film. It's not bad. It's harmless, really. But Jean Simmons is really annoying as the uptight, "I know you're lying" sister with three facial expressions. The mystery isn't particularly interesting and it's pretty easy to figure out. So most of the film isn't successful.
But despite its simplicity, "So Long at the Fair" is alright. The supporting cast of shady characters and Dirk Bogarde hold the film up firmly on their shoulders and make for a more interesting parlor drama than mystery.
Last Holiday (Henry Cass, 1950) 7/10
An agricultural machinery salesman spends what he has left at a seaside resort after he discovers he hasn't long to live. "Last Holiday" hits every note you'd expect it to. It's a pretty standard "one week to live" film that has a love interest and a supportive, wise cast of characters.
But what those typical moves don't have that this one has is Alec Guinness whose excellent performance is the whole reason to watch the film. Guinness always excelled at playing genteel, timid Englishmen under heaps of internal stress. And this is one of the Brit's best performances. Guinness' George Bird is an instantly-lovable, easy-with-which-to-sympathize-with character. We're sad to see him go by the end even though things, naturally, don't go as he planned. Guinness' performance cements the film's bittersweet attitude in the best way.
Beatrice Campbell, Wilfrid Hyde-White, and Kay Walsh make for an excellent supporting cast of characters that always seem to know what to say to Bird at the right time. It's definitely cheesy but always touching.
"Last Holiday" is very good. Without that incredible Guinness performance, I'd doubt its ability to be good. But, for now, let's not forget that performance. An unforgettable, tender, affecting performance.
King Solomon's Mines (Compton Bennett, Andrew Martin) 2/10
Adventurer Allan Quatermain and a few colleagues travel deep into uncharted Africa to locate an explorer who went missing looking for the fabled diamonds of King Solomon's Mines. Oh, God, this movie. This movie is a mess. Calling it a mess is too nice. It's a trainwreck. And even that is too nice.
Putting Deborah Kerr in such a slight, awful role is insulting. Even her great talents can't make the role work. Her character is supposed to come off as an independent, strong, capable woman (despite her constant pratfalls) and, yet, her entire role is having her reliant on the whereabouts of an unseen male. I'm shocked they didn't take the angle of having her and Quatermain get together immediately after seeing her husband's remains. I wouldn't put the film above that. And Stewart Granger's performance as Quatermain is hilariously bad. It's like Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones but without all the swagger and wit.
In fact, the whole film is basically an Indiana Jones movie but without any of the incredible action scenes. And without all the witticisms and drama. It's more of a fictional, terrible travelogue if anything. The scenes with the native Africans are pretty offensive but not as offensive as they are terrible. This movie is drier than the Kalahari. "King Solomon's Mines" only boasts some nice visual effects. If the film didn't have that, it would be one of the worst movies I've ever seen.
An adventure film can't work without thrills or adventure. Throwing unlikable characters in Africa isn't enough. But the writers sure think so. I think H. Rider Haggard would've cringed if he saw this. Everything that was great about "She" is what is sorely lacking in "King Solomon's Mines." This is one of the very worst Best Picture nominees.
Champagne for Caesar (Richard Whorf, 1950) 7/10
An unemployed know-it-all is spurned for a job by a soap magnate and decides to bankrupt him by going on the quiz show he sponsors. As a huge trivia aficionado, this movie was made for me. "Champagne for Caesar" is a total riot. I never knew Ronald Colman had such comedic range even if he's playing within his usual genteel range. Colman's insistence and deadpan manner are perfect as a foil to the high-strung mollycoddle played by an excellent Vincent Price. Their battles, and that first scene in Price's office, are always entertaining.
And it's really interesting to see a film like this made before the whole Herb Stempel scandal. The film talks about, in a different manner albeit, the rigging of these quiz shows which proved to be a widespread ordeal.
I think what keeps the film from being great is the, as you probably guessed, shoe-horned love story. The writers decide Celeste Holm needs to be introduced as if Colman's character needs more complications. And Hollywood always gets flak for pairing old men with young women, but there's a nearly thirty-year old age difference between Colman and Holm. It would be less creepy if their chemistry were better. Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt had almost the same age gap, but they were good together. Colman and Holm are not. And the scenes away from the drama of the show, these love scenes, really throw the film out of its clever groove.
Alas, "Champagne for Caesar" is really good. It's a film tailor-made for me, more or less subject-wise. Colman and Price are almost unfairly fun. It's an excellent comedy.
Harriet Craig (Vincent Sherman, 1950) 5/10
A conniving social climber's materialism proves to be her undoing as she treats her servants and relatives like animals and lies to her husband about her ability to have children. If I had to choose any director to remake the Dorothy Arzner and Roz Russell collaboration of this movie from 1936, I'd have chosen Vincent Sherman. So why didn't this film play out like it should have/I imagined?
I think Wendell Corey might be most to blame as his performance is really lackluster. Playing a wronged husband is pretty easy to do in a film like this, but Corey seems to be unaware that Harriet is doing anything wrong to him at all. And Joan Crawford is good as always in a role that makes the most of her natural talents but doesn't ever truly emphasize them. It's a sleepwalker of a role.
Also, even though both this and Arzner's "Craig's Wife" are about even, between Russell and Crawford, Russell really, really comes out on top. Crawford always played a grand bitch, but I guess she'd played them for so long that not trying a bit harder hurt her here.
So "Harriet Craig" is mediocre at best. Crawford keeps it afloat as only she can, but she can't elevate it to a truly good level.
The File on Thelma Jordon (Robert Siodmak, 1950) 4/10
A woman seduces an assistant district attorney and brings him into a tangled web of theft, murder, and deception. Robert Siodmak is one of the most capable directors in the genre of film noir, but you'd never guess that by how many mediocre films he directed. It just goes to show how prolific his filmography is.
But, as for "The File on Thelma Jordon," it's mostly held back by Wendell Corey's tame, disappointing performance. In his opening scenes, he plays drunk awfully. It further proves the old adage that playing drunk is the most difficult task an actor can be assigned. It comes off rather comedically in the worst way, seeing as this newfound relationship is supposed to be tense and uneasy.
As for Barbara Stanwyck, it's a really unexciting, typical role that doesn't give her the agency all her best performances gave her. And it's not that the role is underwritten, though the lines most certainly are, but it's that she sounds preposterous giving some of her lines. And for her character's arc, with the shooting of her aunt coming into try and save the day, it doesn't quite work.
"The File on Thelma Jordon" is not a good movie. It's a victim of trying to shove too much in too little a space. It aims for "Double Indemnity" and fails to grasp it.
"Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Furies (Anthony Mann, 1950) 7/10
A ranchwoman seeks revenge against her father after he plans to remarry a woman she does not like and, later, hangs her lover. "The Furies" gnashes its teeth and goes in for the kill almost right away. It rears its head and bites with the fiercest Freudian aspects I've seen this side of the '50s. Stanwyck's Electra complex is on sharp display here as the hair on the back of her neck is raised the whole film through. Anthony Mann plays up this relationship with expert emotion and blindingly smart rage and the snappy dialogue from Niven Busch and Charles Schnee is stellar. Stanwyck infues Vance Jeffords with more attitude and anger than any other character I've seen her play. She does it well, but I'd be hesitant to call it one of her best performances as, at times, her line readings come off as disingenuous and forced. It's like she's reading off cue cards when she stares pensively into the distance. Wendell Corey is charged with the same mugging, and he's usually fairly reliable.
But Walter Huston, on the other hand, creates a beautiful monstrosity out of T. C. Jeffords. Jeffords is the byproduct of Huston's Mr. Scratch from "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and Howard from "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." There's a wiliness to his character that you'd never expect from the man who played "Dodsworth." But even better than Huston is Judith Anderson in her select scenes as the object of Stanwyck's hatred. Anderson plays pleasant, dour, and hateful all so well in such a short span. And the memorable scene with Stanwyck and Anderson ending with a shot of a pair of scissors is chilling and completely out-of-left-field.
There's beautiful photography to behold here (there's a nighttime scene that is exquisitely shot). It has all the shadowy characteristics of a Mann film. It is lucky to have the director's fingerprints all over it. "The Furies" is very good, a by-and-large success with a seething sense of entitlement and subversive rage that the film hammers until the baseboard breaks.
Les Enfants Terribles (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1950) 7/10
After her brother is injured in a snowball accident, he and his sister seclude themselves and have an odd relationship until the brother becomes instantly attracted to an odd woman his sister brings home one day. This movie reeks of Jean Cocteau. It has his literary sensibilities and filmmaking style, so Jean-Pierre Melville deserves credit for being able to imitate Cocteau's style while making the film also feel like wholly his own. And, even with a film with poetic dialogue from Cocteau and impeccable direction from Melville, somehow Nicole Stéphane walks away from the film with the biggest accomplishment.
Stéphane's role is not an easy one to play well. An incestuous sister managing to keep the cracks from showing and barely able to thread herself together is a role that lends itself to serious melodrama if in incapable, dangerous hands. Stéphane's brilliant hair-wringing, bleary-eyed performance is a masterstroke of brilliance. She reads her lines with intense loathing and an awkward cadence that would make an Asperger's child cringe. This performance is amazing.
But I'd hesitate to call the film great by any means. While we have great direction, great dialogue, and a great leading performance, the other two performances in the film attempt to outweigh all this excellence. The performances of the actor and actress who played Paul and Agathe are more wooden than the floors on which they're standing. All the light that Stéphane fills the room with is nearly stamped out by these two. They can't seem to play off her, and she carries the correct tone of the film throughout.
The final shot is incredible. The whole film is incredible, really. Henri Decaë is one of the all-time great cinematographers, and this is an easy selection to showcase why. He frames Elisabeth's madness well and plays with depth in many creative ways.
"Les Enfants Terribles" is very, very good. I'd say it doesn't quite reach what most of Melville or Cocteau's other works have reached, but it's a unique, crazy film worth watching and reawatching.
The Patent Leather Kid (Alferd Santell, 1927) 5/10
A boxer who scoffs at fighting outside of the ring is drafted into the First World War and must deal with disfigurement and pain after severely injuring himself performing a heroic act. Oscar completists have it bad because we have to sit through films like this one. Not that this one is necessarily bad, it's just incredibly dull. The war scenes are shot really well and have the excitement of a film like "Wings" on a much smaller scale.
It's when the film gets domestic that it becomes riddled with problems. First off, Richard Barthelmess has never been a great actor save for his performance in "The Last Flight." Barthelmess chooses to play our hero as a stoic, angled, jaw-heavy icon. He becomes larger than life and you can't play a role that way when it calls for you to become a shrinking violet and an insecure one at that. His postwar scenes are sloppy and drag on for ages. Actually, the whole third act drags and drags. And Molly O'Day is an odd choice to play Barthelmess' opposite because she seems entirely uninterested in him when we're supposed to believe something exists there.
I think "The Patent Leather Kid" could have succeeded in the hands of someone like William A. Wellman or especially Frank Borzage. But Alfred Santell just doesn't cut it and we're left with a mostly unexciting, tepid war film.
REWATCH: All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950) 10/10
A conniving ingenue worms her way into the inner circle of an acclaimed veteran actress, her director boyfriend, and a playwright to try and get to the top. I hadn't seen this movie in maybe eight or nine years, so I completely forgot how incredible this was. Joseph L. Mankiewicz' script is rife with acerbic wit and spitfire dialogue with enough quotable one-liners and silent moments to last in case of nuclear fallout.
Of course, Bette Davis owns the film and struts Margo through the events like a peacock. Davis' Margo is one of the screen's very best performances. How anyone could have wanted Claudette Colbert over her, as originally planned, is far beyond me. Davis' dull-eyed charm and nasty speeches are iconic. George Sanders is also beyond reproach as Addison DeWitt. The vitriolic cad of a theatre critic is the veteran character actor's best work. Some have dismissed it as dull or repetitive of all his other roles, but I think DeWitt gets all the great lines and airs that lack in most other roles Sanders gets to play. It's a role tailor-made for his sensibilities and strengths. And Celeste Holm, as Margo's confidante, is also magnificent as the one person with a real sense of nervousness and morals. Her scene with Davis in the fresh-out-of-gas car is great and her late scenes with Sanders and Anne Baxter are incredible. I think it's Holm's very best work. As for the other two Oscar nominees, Baxter and Thelma Ritter, I'm not as warm to their performances as many others are. I know a man who thinks Ritter deserved the Oscar for this film, but she's such an inconsequential, unnecessary character. I think the film could function perfectly well without her character. And it's just Ritter doing her usual "sassy maid" stint that she does much better in films like "Rear Window." And Baxter is pretty good up until the scene where DeWitt exposes Eve as Gertrude Slojinski; then, Baxter breaks into terrible histrionics that not even an actress would do to get attention. She blows her big scene, and it's a bit overwhelming. The other two men, Hugh Marlowe and Gary Merrill, are serviceable in roles that don't call for much.
The costumes and people are all gorgeous, and this movie is in a pantheon of it's own. "All About Eve" is a stunning masterwork in every sense of the word.
REWATCH: Los Olvidados (Luis Buñuel, 1950) 10/10
A young idealistic boys morals slowly become corrupted when he gets involved in juvenile delinquency and crime. Upon a second viewing, this movie is still an absolute masterpiece in style and tone. Save for a killer dream sequence, the movie abandons all surrealistic tones and adapts more of a neo-neorealism feel. Buñuel's direction is stunning and powerful. The film is a straight shot to the gut.
This is the kind of film people need to see today. With the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer, this film is still ever so sadly relevant. Films don't get much more timeless than this one. And that's also thanks to the central performances which are sympathetic, empathetic, and also infuriating. Estela Inda's performance as Pedro's neglectful mother is painful to watch but masterful in what it accomplishes. Despite out hatred for her, the final scene with her is heartrending. Miguel Inclán is also moving as the blind Don Carmelo. As for the two young boys, Roberto Cobo, as the vile, disgusting El Jaibo, is a hell of a villain to have for a movie like this. There are no redeeming qualities, but his slow suckering of our main, beloved little Pedro, played by Alfonso Mejía, is thrilling to watch. The cast is unforgettable.
A film not shy of the brutality of the real world, "Los Olvidados" is a searing exposé on the conditions of poverty and a well-crafted moral tale. This is a movie a Spanish Rohmer might have made. I consider this Buñuel's masterpiece though many would disagree. There's so much ambition and emotion packed within this rather short film that it's hard to walk away uncaringly.
Where Danger Lives (John Farrow, 1950) 3/10
A doctor falls in love with a disturbed young woman, becomes involved in the death of her husband, and attempts to flee with her to Mexico. This is a perfect example of the kind of lazy, stupid film noir that I really dislike. Most every film noir has a femme fatale, and it's very obvious that she's going to end up screwing our hero over, but the writers usually make the ride there fun. Here, it's incredibly apparent from the get-go. So much so that it's any wonder why our hero, played by an uninspired Robert Mitchum would ever even bother with falling for such an obviously terrible person. And, on a shallow note, it's not like Faith Domergue is really attractive enough to warrant a nonsensical, totally-physical obsession. It's like Domergue isn't even trying to be a sexpot. She's one of the worst femmes fatale I've seen in the genre. And poor Claude Rains has to be stuck in this picture. He tries his best, but his role is thankless and written poorly.
Films noir are always puzzles, and puzzles are fun to figure out even though you see the end product on the cover of the box. The genre is all about the journey, and "Where Danger Lives" doesn't give us much of a journey. It's more of a failed melodrama than a film noir, actually. It's a big red mark on everyone involved's filmography. It's a dull, bloodless movie that fails to excite, arouse, thrill, or elicit any kind of emotion.
Winchester '73 (Anthony Mann, 1950) 7/10
A man on the trail of an outlaw manages to beat him in a contest for a one-in-a-thousand Winchester 1873 rifle which the outlaw then steals sparking a chase across the west. Or: "Anthony Mann Tries to Tell the Entire History of the West in 90 Minutes!" I do think the film is a bit too ambitious for its own good because the constant sidetracking and vignette style doesn't work too well. I think the story is best when it sticks to McAdam, played by a determined Jimmy Stewart, and Dutch. The gun battle is a really good bit of filmmaking; I think it's some of the best Mann has ever done. But when the rifle is taken and ends up in the hands of Native Americans and military men and a bunch of others, it strays from its initial tale and veers into cockamamie territory. Even a barrel-chested, face-painted (brownface AND war paint because we're so lucky) Rock Hudson can't make the story with the indigenous Americans interesting. I also think Shelley Winters is largely wasted, but most of the women in Anthony Mann films seem to be. Stewart mostly slums it in an easy role that's more of a symbol for righteousness than an actual human being.
On a technical level, this film is impeccable. The editing, shot selection, and intensity of the accuracy battle between McAdam and Dutch is spectacular. It showcases all the film's strengths in one concise, interesting scene whereas these strengths seem more dispersed and all over in the later parts of the series. It's like they gathered them all up and only occasionally doled them out where they thought they should go. So while "Winchester '73" is a very pretty movie, I wish we'd gotten stronger performances to round everything out because this could be a stellar western. It would be more interesting had the gun stayed in Dodge City the whole time instead of traversing the plains.
REWATCH: Devil's Doorway (Anthony Mann, 1950) 7/10
A Native American Civil War hero comes back to his hometown greeted with everything but a hero's welcome. A second viewing of "Devil's Doorway" was apparently seen under a keen eye this time because I do like it a bit less than before. I do think this is the one Robert Taylor performance I like. Taylor was always so dreadfully bloodless and, here, under the direction of Anthony Mann, Taylor gets to really make a memorable character out of Lance Poole. The biggest flaw in Poole isn't in regards to his sterling character but the brownface he's portrayed in. It looks gaudy and outright stupid at times. But apart from that, Taylor plays Poole with fierce conviction and determination. He's very much a typical heroic archetype, but the film and its story steer clear of all the typical clichés.
In terms of the rest of the cast, though, Paula Raymond, Marshall Thompson, James Mitchell, Edgar Buchanan, and everyone else really don't do much well. It's your standard low-budget ensemble set of performances. With a more solid cast and someone like, say, Gail Russell as the female lead, the movie would have worked a lot better.
As for the film's technical aspects, it's expertly edited and shot nicely. The sound is great during the gunfights and everything seems to be working well enough. The final battle in the cabin is a clinic in filmmaking. It's a great example of Anthony Mann at his best.
"Devil's Doorway" is a very good film with many of the right pieces in play but nothing fitting in quite as effortlessly as we would like.
REWATCH: The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston, 1950) 6/10
A recently paroled criminal mastermind creates a crew of veterans burglars to pull off a huge jewel heist with the funds of a crooked lawyer. Another viewing affirms by opinions that this highly-lauded film noir by John Huston still belongs nowhere near a list of the best in the genre. The women in this movie, especially Marilyn Monroe, are really poorly written and basically useless other than simple plot devices - and not in a way to where their use will destroy them and cause disastrous consequences.
The performances that actually amount to something are the ones by an Oscar-nominated Sam Jaffe and a shouldabeen-nominated Louis Calhern. Jaffe's mastermind is a shrinking, charismatic, ingratiating role played with mysterious charm and underlying sinister cynicism. And while Jaffe is good, Calhern is great. In what may be his very best role, Calhern's sharky, nervous lawyer is so much different than most similar roles I've seen. Calhern trades in fumbling fingers and nervous tapping for looks of heartburn and eyes afraid to move for fear they may give him away. And, yet, Calhern's character has a strong repose to him that is admirable and scary. Calhern plays this role with an unforeseen brilliance. Calhern's performance is the shining accomplishment of the film.
The film's heist scene is strong if a bit underwhelming as compared to the wealth of heist scenes we get around this time. But the rest of the film never reaches that level of excitement unless Calhern is on-screen. This is one of Huston's weaker movies though still good as best.
REWATCH: Where the Sidewalk Ends (Otto Preminger, 1950) 6/10
A tough NYC tec notorious for being too rough with suspects accidentally kills a man and plants evidence to clear himself, but the evidence he plants ends up putting the girl he love's father under suspicion. I remember thinking that this movie was fairly mediocre when I first saw it, and I think it's a step up from that actually. Dana Andrews is good as always. He always embodied a necessary sense of self-loathing in his hard-boiled characters that seemed to ring false in many others in similar roles like Victor Mature. Andrews captures desperation and juggles his character's skewed morals well.
Gene Tierney, on the other hand, is very bad. It was this point in her life where Tierney hit a decline and started having issues with depression and concentration, which later prompted her to drop out of "Mogambo" a few years later. This problem is sadly evident here as Tierney seems dazed and in another world entirely. And her role is one of the more interesting female roles in a film noir. And she's perfectly cast too, so it's a real shame what happened to Tierney happened because this could've been such an excellent performance.
Otto Preminger uses his noir-keen brain to make a decent film out of "Where the Sidewalk Ends." It's a good movie with some major problems in the acting department that keep it from achieving anything truly memorable.
Wagon Master (John Ford, 1950) 6/10
Two drifters guide a Mormon wagon train to the San Juan Valley and must persevere through Native Americans, the rugged geography, and moral challenges along on the way. This Is John Ford Lite Lite. "Wagon Master" has the potential to be fairly interesting, but it's mostly a disjointed, episodic series of vignettes that never really manages to be as interesting as it should.
Getting to see Ben Johnson in a leading role, and seeing him, naturally, do it well, is a treat. Johnson embodies the mythos of the rugged American individualist and manages to really captivate in a film that seems, at times, like it is actively trying to bore us. And this is strange because Ford is usually so good with human drama. And with a cast like Jane Darwell; Harry Carey, Jr.; Ford favorite Joanne Dru, James Arness, Ward Bond, Charles Kemper, and Alan Mowbray, this shouldn't be a problem. But Ford doesn't seem to have the cast under control as, for one example, Jane Darwell is funny wherever she shouldn't be and serious where she should be busting guts. And I can tell this is supposed to have a lot of humor in it, but it doesn't come off well at all.
And this movie is missing a lot of the gorgeous cinematography, editing, and music that underlie every Ford film. This ranks right up with "Fort Apache" as one of Ford's least interesting films. It's one of those frustrating pictures where almost all the pieces are in place, especially in the cast, and nothing comes of it. "Wagon Master" is still good because of Johnson and Ward Bond's usual excellence, but it fails to join the ranks of Ford's better movies.
REWATCH: Caged (John Cromwell, 1950) 7/10
A frightened, teenage convict, an accessory to armed robbery, slowly becomes an embittered, tough jailbird. The main reason I was excited to see this again was because I remember absolutely loving Hope Emerson as the stern, hulking prison matron. Emerson is not only perfectly cast physically speaking, but her demeanor and straight-spined posture is scary - it's unnatural. Emerson's prison matron has to be the basis for all the tough women-in-prison power roles to come. Her performance is still the best thing about the film.
I'm not big on Eleanor Parker here though. She's ten years older than her role. When she says she's 19 in the beginning, I actually laughed out loud. Parker is a talented actress, but not even she can pull this role off, physically. In terms of her acting, she's fairly overdramatic. If this were a thriller in the vein of grand guignol, her performance would be perfect. But Parker's performance mostly falls flat during the first two acts. Once Marie becomes a hardened, savvy jailbird, Parker's performance is must more grounded, much better. Her best work comes after the scene where Emerson's matron finds the puppy.
Also wonderful is Agnes Moorehead in an exasperated role that seems to have really influenced Figueroa and Caputo in "Orange Is the New Black." And the rest of the cast of wonderful women are great. They all do their best Wallace Beerys and Jane Darwells which makes for a surprisingly funny and tough-as-nails film.
"Caged" is way better than it should be. I think it could even be great in the right hands (like a William A. Wellman). But John Cromwell does a competent enough job directing and makes a good film out of some really unsuspecting, surprising material.
Harvey (Henry Koster, 1950) 7/10
A woman tries to get her brother institutionalized when he seems convinced that he's become friends with a six-foot-something tall invisible rabbit. If there's anything that makes this movie work, it's actually the ho-hum, aw-shucks, gee-whillikers attitude I normally dislike in James Stewart's comedic performances. Stewart's performance is almost borderline "Rain Man" but it never fully crosses into that dangerous territory. The movie places a lot of belief in the unknown, family relations, and acceptance - Stewart's naïve performance really captures it well.
The film's most acclaimed work was my least favorite aspect though. Josephine Hull's work borders on the Rabelaisian at times. And the film talks about sex, gender, and everything else so awkwardly when it does briefly come up. But Hull is overwrought and annoying. And she's not supposed to be portrayed as annoying - we're supposed to be empathetic for her situation while laughing at how she's handling it. Veta Louise is an interesting character, but I don't think she's as fully explored as she should be here. I'd have loved a more dynamic May-Whitty type - somebody a bit more haughty and a lot less frenetic.
I think the film is at its strongest during the frantic antics at the asylum (especially with Charles Drake and Cecil Kellaway as the doctors). That's where ideas, like our patients, get to run free. It's when the script is in full gear and at its, pound-for-pound, funniest.
I like "Harvey." I would prefer a more controlled person in the Veta role, but it's not horrendous enough to derail the whole film. I can see why this is a beloved classic.
REWATCH: Panic in the Streets (Elia Kazan, 1950) 7/10
An illegal immigrant is killed after winning too much in a card game only for his corpse to test positive for the pneumonic plague; the police try to hunt down the killers who may have contracted the disease and spread it further. "Panic in the Streets" is one of the most original entries in the genre of film noir. It's an elevated police noir imbued with science and a sense of urgency that's sorely missing in a genre that loves a slow burn. Richard Widmark is reliable as always though he always seemed a bit tight and mechanical when he wasn't playing a sketchy character. He leads a cast that leaves something to be desired. The only other noteworthy performance is a small, early role for Jack Palance whose harsh, angular face is glorious with cinematography from Joseph MacDonald whose on-location photography of a wonderfully diseased, seedy New Orleans is the icing on a very moody cake.
I was also surprised to remember that Elia Kazan directed this film. He's usually such an invisible director who focuses more on the cast than anything else. Kazan seems to be more visually-focused here, and that is a warm welcome (especially after films like "Gentleman's Agreement" and "Pinky"). The camera crawls along like a spider watching the prey at the center of the film desperately try to untangle itself from pandemic catastrophe. "Panic in the Streets" is, again, an excellent, original film noir. I think it's just shy of being great because of the largely uninteresting supporting cast, but it's a film I'll gladly visit again and again.
Summer Stock (Charles Walters, 1950) 3/10
An engaged woman lets a troupe of actors stay at her farm in exchange for their doing chores only to fall in love with the engaged leading man of the group. Oh, man. "Summer Stock" is a mess and not a glorious mess. It's a messy mess. The songs are really dull and don't carry the film along at all. They're all there because they can be. "Let's make it about actors so we can have them do numbers whenever they want" seems to be the mantra behind this script. Only Judy Garland's iconic "Get Happy" and the surprisingly charming "Dig-Dig-Dig-Dig for Your Dinner" are worth watching.
And it doesn't help that Garland is laughably bad here. She tries to play this independent, strong-willed woman the same way she played Dorothy. The farm setting must've gotten to her (or maybe it was the drug abuse...) because it's really unbecoming. And Gene Kelly is largely wasted. He's brought in mainly to do some numbers. His chemistry with Garland is terrible. It lacks everything that made "The Pirate" work so well (which is probably Vincente Minnelli). And the final song, completely unrelated to everything else in the film, is basically about the apocalypse. And that's what we're left thinking about.
"Summer Stock" is pretty bad. The only part of the cast I liked was Phil Silvers who is always a welcome relief. That, coupled with those two good song-and-dance numbers, is about all the film has to offer. This is a perfect example of a lazy MGM musical that the studio so loved making.
Broken Arrow (Delmer Daves, 1950) 6/10
A scout is sent out to stem war between the Apaches and the whites, but, after saving a young, injured Apache boy, learns that the indigenous tribes only kill to protect themselves or to retaliate for atrocities committed upon them. This surprisingly progressive (well, except for, you know, the brownface) western feature from Delmer Daves mostly suffers from a listless, bloodless performance from Jimmy Stewart. Stewart makes a concerned face through most of the picture and spells out for us why racism is bad. Granted, racism was still a national pastime at this point in our nation's history, so those speeches probably needed to be said; however, it doesn't hold up well now and comes off as patronizing and archaic.
Jeff Chandler is pretty good despite the whitewashing of Cochise which isn't well done at all by the makeup team. He looks caked in bronzer, and, whenever a shot is close up, he was probably instructed not to move to A) look stoic and wise and B) so the makeup wouldn't crack. But Chandler's cadences and speeches are well-done. I just wish the role weren't so laughable upon sight.
The Technicolor is mostly wasted with only the last battle among the tall, beautiful landscapes really embracing it all. But, in that scene, the editing, cinematography, and other technicals all come together to make for a really good hunting sequence. I just wish the rest of the film were as good.
But "Broken Arrow" is good nonetheless. I don't think it deserves to be called a classic at all, but most Delmer Daves films don't (with the exception of "Dark Passage").
REWATCH: Stage Fright (Alfred Hitchcock, 1950) 5/10
A struggling actress tries to prove her friend's innocence when he's accused of murdering a stage queen's husband. I think my friend Dan put it best when he said, "If anyone else had directed [Stage Fright], the film would be seen as a triumph." I both agree and disagree with this statement. I do think that it is one of Hitchcock's more disappointing pictures. The film fails to ever rouse or arouse as most of his films do. The scintillation is in the void even if Richard Todd is a hell of a charmer.
I think this exsanguination is a result of a really stiff Jane Wyman who never seems very comfortable in the role. And even with this stiffness, the whole "fake twins" storyline and criss-crossing comes across as obnoxious really quickly because it rapidly starts becoming more "The Comedy of Errors" than it does "Hamlet." And the film needs to aim for "Hamlet" if it wants to be taken seriously. So this results in a tonal cacophony. And Wyman across from Michael Wilding creates in one of Hitchcock's most boring couples. Two dullards like this deserve to fall in love.
And there's one thing I'm really torn on. I can't decide whether I think Marlene Dietrich is good in this. So pardon me while I talk it out here. Dietrich is an excellent choice to play a dark, mysterious grand dame of the theatre. Dietrich brings her own wonderful persona to the screen but not to lampoon it. I wish the film's risks in humor paid off more because seeing Dietrich so after herself in that tone would be amazing. But then there's the performance itself which is overdramatic. And not overdramatic in a "she's a diva" type of way - overdramatic in a "this is hammy" kind of way. And all this talk about a bloody dress is so cliché and blatantly symbolic. It's like the writers were patting themselves on the back.
"Stage Fright" is very much minor Hitchcock. I've seen it a couple times now and it's still nothing good. It's a harmless piece of filmmaking, but it deserves to be better - especially looking at who's behind the camera.
REWATCH: Cinderella (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1950) 4/10
When Cinderella's cruel stepmother stymies her from going to the ball, a few valiant mice, a fairy godmother, and other woodland critters come together to get her to the prince on time. This is why I shouldn't go back and watch these childhood classics. "Cinderella" is a really annoying film.
First off, look at the timing. The first fifty minutes is all an extended episode of "Tom & Jerry," except, here, the mice are really grating. Their half-English, half-gibberish language is reminiscent of the Minion language, and it is awful. Jacques and Gus-Gus are helpless and foolish and not cute. The humor is all clichéd and doesn't translate well. I honestly was rooting for Lucifer this time around because he's a lot funnier and a lot cuter. Maybe that or I just like scowls.
Secondly, again with the timing, the entire meat of the story (the ball, the frantic ride home, and the shoe fitting) all takes place in a 15-minute window. So we get almost an hour of Cinderella's suffering and cat-and-mouse chases and dress-making and floor-scrubbing and bibbidi-bobbidi-boos for an ending that could only be more tacked on if the prince walked into the Tremaine house, saw Cinderella, said, "You'd make a good princess," and then married her there. It's wildly uneven.
At least the animation looks nice and the original songs for the movie are memorable and beautiful. "So This Is Love" is gorgeous and deserves to be more remembered than "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes."
Disney's "Cinderella" might be the worst of all the Disney Princess movies. It is a lazy film that would rather focus on the sidekicks than the actual story at hand. Jacques and Gus-Gus are basically dual Urkels.
Variety Lights (Federico Fellini, Alberto Lattuada, 1950) 8/10
A young aspiring performer joins a group of third-rate vaudevillians which causes jealousy among the troupe's core members. Federico Fellini's directorial debut is a great film. While I think it seems like more of a dry run for his future films, that should only be a testament to how good his later films are. Fellini was always in love with the performing arts, and that love is evident here as the film is swaddled with Fellini's love and careful attention. Peppino de Filippo and Carla del Poggio are both very good as our ringmaster and ingenue. Their relationship comes about very naturally and, once you see that damning final scene, it makes even more sense than when we saw it organically develop. John Kitzmiller is also a nice surprise in his few scenes. It's a shame he never got more work in the U.S. because he was a really wonderful actor.
The real performer worth watching is, as you could probably guess, Giulietta Masina. As the spurned party in the central love triangle, Masina doesn't play into hysterics and, instead, chooses to take a more browbeaten and internal path. And when she comes alive (and does she ever!), Masina already shows signs in her early career of just how diverse and incredible she would be in her later films.
The makeup, sets, and costumes are just as great as you'd expect for a film centered around vaudevillians. This is a great movie. I wasn't sure what to expect out of Fellini's debut, but I should have probably expected something like this. It's adorable and shifty-eyed. Many reviewers are comparing this to "The White Sheik," saying the later feature is better, so I'm eager to dive into that in the coming months. "Variety Lights" is a spectacle that mightn't have been able to be made well save for its marvelous director.
Rio Grande (John Ford, 1950) 7/10
A lieutenant colonel in the cavalry is 18 men to fight off the Apaches when he was supposed to get 180; further complications arise when the lieutenant colonel's son, whom he hasn't seen in fifteen years, appears as part of the regiment. John Ford's "Rio Grande" is the film that solidifies the Cavalry Trilogy as something worth watching. "Fort Apache," being sort of a bust, followed by "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" means we're either getting two okay pieces of bread with delicious meat or, for what it's worth, a really good open-faced sandwich, and I'm glad we got the latter.
John Ford gives Wayne a bit more to do as an actor, as happened after he saw "Red River," so Wayne gets to have a bit more fun than usual in what is one of his more alright roles. It's hardly impressive, but I've seen Wayne do way worse so I'll take this performance as it is. I think the most pleasant surprise was Victor McLaglen, whom I usually find abrasive and annoying from the 1940s on. McLaglen's Quincannon is one of the film's biggest triumphs. He puts that brusque Irish charm to good use and really steals the film in any scene he's in. It's one of his very best performances and, dare I say, on par or better than his work again with Ford in "The Quiet Man."
I do think Claude Jarman, Jr.'s doe-eyed, "I'm a big boy!" performance is a bit off-putting and Maureen O'Hara rings false in nearly every scene she's in, but their scenes are mostly forgettable as the following scenes usually end up being action-packed. And the action sequences are directed with Ford's ubiquitous eye for motion. There's a racing scene where the cavalrymen are standing on two horses each, and it's engrossing in a way most action scenes from this time aren't. That scene and the Apache scenes are really fresh for the time and even so by today's standards.
"Rio Grande" doesn't quite reach the tier of Great Ford™, but that's already a crowded group. Wayne and McLaglen make for a fun, tense, and almost Freudian western. A good end to Ford's trilogy.
Young Man with a Horn (Michael Curtiz, 1950) 9/10
An aimless youth becomes a star trumpeter under the guidance of a legend only to become disillusioned and angry at the world in the process. This was probably the most unexpected surprise I've had in a long time filming. I'd seen a few friends recommend this to me citing that Doris Day was good and Hoagy Carmichael was also a lot of fun.
So I went in expecting some light-hearted musical about a trumpeter in love, and that was wonderfully shattered when I realized quickly that this was going to be a great attempt at capturing the jazz lifestyle. Michael Curtiz brings his knowledge of the depths of human emotion and how to make the most of out of them on-screen. Curtiz definitely plays the film as a big emotional crescendo. Kirk Douglas gives one of his very best performances as our title young man. His obvious, famous temper off-screen obvious seeped into this role because Douglas looks completely natural and believable during his meltdowns and plays his straight scenes with tremendous skill as well. Doris Day is good in one of her quieter roles, and Hoagy Carmichael is really, really good as Douglas' confidante. I think the best supporting performance belongs to Juano Hernández whose fictional trumpet legend is reminiscent of so many jazz titans. He's in maybe four or five scenes at most, but he leaves an indelible, shining mark on an otherwise angry picture.
If there's one thing I think keeps this from being a masterpiece: Lauren Bacall. I see many people citing her as excellent in a performance they never saw coming. What I didn't see coming was such a bawdy, hammy performance. Bacall was always reliable as a temptress seductress. So here, when she's playing a lesbian, she seems way out of touch with this usual sexiness and talent. And when she has to play drunk, the scenes really fall apart.
But then we get into the technical aspects. The editing here really reminded me of the quickfire, jazzy, dizzying editing of "Whiplash." The cinematography is abound with smoky lights and shadows tightly closing in on our protagonist who seemingly invites them in. And the film's sound work is spectacular.
"Young Man with a Horn" is not only a great early attempt to really portray the jazz scene, it's also a great love letter to Bix Beiderbecke and a smart, savvy film overall. This is a discovery I'm so very happy to have made.
Union Station (Rudolph Maté, 1950) 5/10
The police, train station security, and a witness try to piece together a crime and retrieve a rich man's blind daughter. Rudolph Maté sadly doesn't bring his expert cinematographic eye to "Union Station." He tries a more typical approach and focuses on the actors, and that both pays off and misses the mark.
I'd say the film's biggest success is that the chemistry between Nancy Olson and William Holden carries over from "Sunset Boulevard" to here. Their performances are a bit more sluggish and less demanding, but they do their best with underwritten roles. The film, as a whole, is very underwritten though. It's never sure if it wants to focus on action or dialogue, and so stretches of the film can get a little frustrating. Barry Fitzgerald is also as bland as always.
I do say that the setting is really interesting though. Sticking mostly in and around the train station makes this more of a closed-off, claustrophobic film. And that's necessary, especially with the final chase which is highly reminiscent of "The Third Man."
But without strong performances by Holden or Olson, this film isn't too strong. It's a perfectly harmless, fine movie, but it's not mentioned in canon or subcanon film noir for a reason.
No Man of Her Own (Mitchell Leisen, 1950) 7/10
A penniless woman assumes the identity of a similar-looking woman after a train crash so she can raise her son in a well-to-do household. Nobody does melodrama quite like Barbara Stanwyck. She always had such an intelligent sense of where her characters were and how to play any given scene to the director's liking. And even when directors like Mitchell Leisen get a little over-the-top, Stanwyck finds just the right note to hit to make all the hamminess taste good.
And I can't think of a film that better showcases this talent than "No Man of Her Own." The story is a bit preposterous and lends itself to "One Life to Live" or "The Bold and the Beautiful," but it works and it works well. Stanwyck's woman is ensnared by lies, a man from the past, love, and a house; all the stakes are laid out plainly before us, and watching events unravel is a whirlwind of emotion in both good and bad ways.
On the poorer end of the spectrum, John Lund is such a drag. I'm not sure how he kept getting these roles because he's not particularly handsome either. Either way, Lund likes to suck the fun out of the air like a Hoover.
However, the film is unexpectedly stolen by Jane Cowl who plays the mother-in-law of the woman Stanwyck is pretending to be. Cowl's warmth and acceptance and niceties are affecting and well-played especially in a film so dark and brooding. Another thing worth mentioning is that Cowl's character is never played for laughs which is usually a huge pratfall this genre falls into. I'm glad it avoided going there entirely.
"No Man of Her Own" is good quality soap. Might it have been great under Douglas Sirk? Most films probably would be, but, as for now, we're stuck with Leisen's overdirection but some excellent female performances.
American Guerrilla in the Philippines (Fritz Lang, 1950) 3/10
An American squadron stranded in the Philippines forms a guerrilla squad to fend off the Japanese forces. Well, what more can you expect from a Tyrone Power-led war film? It's bland, it's dry, and it's utterly unexciting.
And who's that behind the camera? It's Fritz freaking Lang. How the hell he ever got mixed up in this movie I'll never know, but, right now, I'm confident in saying it's his very worst movie. It's like Lang wasn't trying to make it any good. It doesn't have any visual flourishes or elan to it. If anything, the visual effects are pretty good, but that's the only Lang trademark you can find in this film. It seems more the product of a Stuart Heisler or a late Lewis Milestone than a visionary like Lang. Maybe he wanted some time off film noir, but this certainly wasn't the way to go. The script is terrible, the acting is poor, the sets look fake, and the most everything in between feels disingenuous and disconnected.
There isn't a whole lot to say about "American Guerrilla in the Philippines" other than it's the worst film in the filmography of one of the best directors.
REWATCH: Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis, 1950) 10/10
A man with a gun fixation meets a carnival shooter and commits a series of increasingly daring robberies with her. One of the very best films noir brings us its most deranged femme fatale. Annie Laurie Starr is a complete psychopath and her unwillingness to settle for anything other than everything coupled with her being an adrenaline junkie makes her quite literally the most dangerous woman in the genre's history (though Jean Gillie's character in "Decoy" would probably fight tooth-and-nail for that honor). And Starr is played brilliantly by Peggy Cummins whose nostrils flare with greedy delight in some great low angles by director Joseph H. Lewis. Cummins embodies the female form of what I imagine an energy drink is like.
And Lewis' direction is superb. This is a perfect example of a B-movie being elevated to masterpiece-level high art by the right director at the helm. Lewis gets fantastic performances out of Cummins and also John Dall who is a rather unreliable actor (how one can be good under Lewis and bad under Hitchcock is beyond me). Lewis has a discerning, perceptive eye for both the action sequences and scenes of intense passion that populate the picture. It's a smart examination of a scary relationship between two people with an ultimately destructive fascination. I'm sure people could find a way for it to fit their appropriate political agendas today, but I'm not too terribly focused on that at the moment.
"Gun Crazy" is a definitely masterpiece. It's a one-of-a-kind film that manages to embrace its sleaze with its art. It's a less-sexual "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!." One of the ten best films noir, as far as I'm concerned.
Destination Moon (Irving Pichel, 1950) 7/10
A group of men make the first trip to the moon in the not-so-distant future. "Destination Moon" is going to be better than you expect it to be unless you're expecting a masterpiece. This is probably the smartest piece of science fiction I've seen since "Metropolis" which came out, what, 23 years before this one? "Destination Moon" actually tackles ethics and questions in a realistic, smart light. It's hard to watch this and not realize the influence (even if it be subconscious) it has had on things like "The Martian" and "Gravity" and "Apollo 13."
The Oscar-winning visual effects are really good with a nice mixture of matte paintings and smart sets bound to expert camera work. And this is one of Irving Pichel's better film. It has all the adventurousness of "She" while not quite being as good, though they're almost neck-and-neck as the director's best.
I think the reason the film is as successful and realistic as it is is the technical advisor on the set: Robert A. Heinlein. Again, the film's realism is what keeps it so much better than most in this genre until the time. And even if the film is a little condescending in explaining all the science to us, it's simply a product of its time where this was all new and awesome for the public.
The cast is mostly good even if there's no real standout performances. They read their lines with conviction and wit. The human drama in the last twenty minutes is incredible.
"Destination Moon" is good. It's very good. It's the diving board for an entire genre.
REWATCH: D.O.A. (Rudolph Maté, 1950) 10/10
A notary on vacation discovers he's been poisoned and uses his last days to discover who did it and how it happened. Upon this second viewing, I'm still willing to call this a masterpiece. I see a lot of people calling it way over-the-top and melodramatic, but: A) I think they're forgetting what genre this is, and B) they're wrong. "D.O.A." lives on heightened emotion and extended real-time sequences. Yes, Edmond O'Brien is frantic, but would you not be frantic and crazed if you knew you were murdered? I think it's a really lazy criticism of an excellent movie.
Granted, the script does have some pretty unintentionally bad lines ("I'd like to report a murder." "Who was murdered?" "I WAS!"), but Rudolph Maté and O'Brien are able to sell it well. And this is one of O'Brien's very best roles. He looks gross and exhausted by film's end. It's a very quick sort of evolution - the kind most movies don't allow. And, for that, "D.O.A." is very unique. I can't think of any film noir where the personal stakes are higher.
The expert filmmaking that stuck out to me this time, that I somehow forgot from the previous viewing: the relationship between O'Brien and Pamela Britton is really heartbreaking. It's rare to ever find a film noir with a truly passionate, loving relationship, especially a marriage, so to see two people so madly in love with no destructive nature in either of them is refreshing. It's some of the best character development in a naturally nihilistic genre that doesn't lend itself to much character change except by way of mutually-assured or self-destruction.
"D.O.A."'s expert editing, sense of urgency, and acting takes a B-feature and crafts it into a masterpiece. Rudolph Maté's former cinematographer is still evident in the film even if it isn't quite as flashy as his European work. But this is one of the best in a genre filled with crazy good films and filmmaking.
REWATCH: Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950) 10/10
A moody poet becomes the object of Death's desire after a young, rival poet is killed. Another repeat viewing, another masterpiece. 1950 has been an incredible year to visit. I'd wager that 1950 might be cinema's greatest ever year though 1959 and 1955 and 1948 are right up there. And, as it should come to no one's surprise, Jean Cocteau's "Orpheus" is the most poetic film of the year. Cocteau is great at incorporating the best aspects of the French poetic realism movement even after most of his colleagues had moved on. But Cocteau's direction and vogue are never out of style. He's as inventive and creative here as he was in "The Blood of a Poet" just under two decade earlier. His use of mirrors and visual trickery is tops. And that's necessary in an Orpheus tale. And even if this isn't my favorite Orpheus movie (looking at you Marcel Camus...), that doesn't take away from this towering achievement at all.
Jean Marais was always an expert brooder, and even if that's what he spends most of his time doing here, he's doing it well. The real acting accolades should be bestowed on Maria Casarès whose unique rendition of Death is probably my favorite in screen history. There's a quiet sadness and piercing menace to her throughout. Her last scene, before leaving with her guards, is astounding and heartstopping. She's sexy and scary and so, so talented.
I love "Orpheus." This viewing reminds me that I need to purchase the whole trilogy. This is as much a work of art as a film can get. A brilliantly realized and conceptualized masterpiece.
REWATCH: In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950) 9/10
A down-on-his-luck screenwriter, while adapting a trashy novel, becomes the prime suspect after the murder of a hat-check girl brings up his inability to suppress his violent tendencies. Nicholas Ray's twisted film noir is certainly his greatest work in the genre, and it's probably a career-best performance from Humphrey Bogart as well who never gave a more complex performance. While his "Casablanca" work is legendary, I feel this is more of a stretch, more of an actual performance instead of relying on what Bogie is best known for doing. He cashes in brooding and angry smoking for subdued maniacal rage. It actually combines the self-loathing of Rick Blaine with the paranoia and dreadful anger of Fred Dobbs. Bogart's work is amazing.
One thing I don't quite get, though, is Gloria Grahame's performance. Everyone is abuzz about how excellent she is, but I honestly think Martha Stewart's Mildred is far more interesting in a much shorter space too. While Stewart's delightful effervescence creates the perfect murder victim in this shadowy film, Grahame's looks of terror don't translate well. She looks far more contemplative than scared, and the script and her lines tell us she's frightened of the way Dix is acting. It's the one thing that really keeps this film from being a masterpiece.
But the film's love of the dark and unabashed love for veins bulging out of Bogart's sweaty temples makes for a wonderful film. It fails to fully embrace the excitement that makes "Johnny Guitar" so good, but not many films ever do that.
Beauty and the Devil (René Clair, 1950) 6/10
When professor Faust laments knowing nothing of nature after fifty years of alchemy, his old, devilish acquaintance Mephistopheles grants him life but is displeased to find Faust has become bored of science and has, instead, moved onto women. René Clair is an interesting director because he's a great example of "When you're hot, you're hot." His later films are pretty tepid, and his early films, like "Le million," are on par with the best films France has to offer. But "The Beauty of the Devil"/"Beauty and the Devil" falls into the no-man's-land of being good but not great - an experience I've yet to have with Clair.
On the good side, there's the ever-reliable Michel Simon whose double role as the aging Faust and bearded Mephistopheles is a grand work in duality. He gives some of the same tics and cues to both characters which says a lot more about Faust's true nature than most Faustian tales do. Thankfully, he's a total boor as Mephistopheles and a total bore as Faust. He makes these characters totally distinct and he and Clair never take the easy way in comparing the two. Simon's work is hilarity come-to-life.
But Simon's about as good as it gets, apart from some gorgeous sets, because Gerard Philipe, as young Mephistopheles/sexy Faust, is pretty terrible. His dry, relying-on-looks acting comes across as very false. And even though his character is turning into a bit of a narcissist, neither the narcissism feels authentic nor does the hollowness of his character. This is the typical performance we get when a hunky star, who usually does romantic comedies, does his first "serious" movie. And, unfortunately, he doesn't get the McConaissance some men do.
But Clair's movie is good. It's a pleasant surprise in a waning career and filmography that shortly ended not too long after this movie was made.
The West Point Story (Roy Del Ruth, 1950) 7/10
Aided by his fiancée and a friend, a temperamental Broadway director helps the West Point cadets put on their annual show. After renewing my hate for "Yankee Doodle Dandy," I was really hesitant to step into this film, but it is everything that everyone else sees in that treacly, awful Curtiz film. And this success came out of the ever-boring Roy Del Ruth.
The cast is excellent, first and foremost. Virginia Mayo is excellent as a woman waiting for Cagney's cold feet to warm up, and Doris Day is good even though the film clearly states her character is only brought in to do a few musical numbers. Gordon MacRae and Gene Nelson also do well in support, but it's the star Jimmy Cagney who runs this vehicle. Cagney's testy temperament is really, really funny. It reminded me a lot of Jack Buchanan's brilliant work in "The Band Wagon." His little meltdowns are comedic brilliance. He's so smart in these moments which causes these spats to make us only like him more. And his dancing is as amazing as ever. Cagney IS the film.
The song score is also really good and catchy. I've had the songs in my head for the past few days now. "By the Kissing Rock" is wonderful. Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn's songs make the film bubbly and sweet. The film is a dry prosecco.
"The West Point Story" is very good. With a bit more spectacle and on-location shooting, I'd say it could be great. But I'm happy with this result and happy to finally see why Cagney is praised as a song-and-dance man.
Kon-Tiki (Thor Heyerdahl, 1950) 7/10
This documentary follows Thor Heyerdahl's Pacific exploration about the titular raft. This is what authentic adventure looks like. There's no Hollywoodization or screen magic to make this compelling, and the film becomes wonderful and hooks us in immediately. You can tell it's a pretty unprofessionally-made film, but that's the whole charm of the film. And even with this level of amateurism, the movie captures some beautiful, brilliant shots. It captures the paradoxical claustrophobia of being on the open seas very well.
One thing I'm grateful for is the narration which, unlike most docs of the time, never grows grating or monotonous. It maintains the vitality the film builds on so well and keeps things strolling along nicely.
I think the film does drag in the very beginning and at the tail end, but, for the most part, I think it's a very good movie that should definitely be seen to appreciate the evolution of the documentary.
A ranchwoman seeks revenge against her father after he plans to remarry a woman she does not like and, later, hangs her lover. "The Furies" gnashes its teeth and goes in for the kill almost right away. It rears its head and bites with the fiercest Freudian aspects I've seen this side of the '50s. Stanwyck's Electra complex is on sharp display here as the hair on the back of her neck is raised the whole film through. Anthony Mann plays up this relationship with expert emotion and blindingly smart rage and the snappy dialogue from Niven Busch and Charles Schnee is stellar. Stanwyck infues Vance Jeffords with more attitude and anger than any other character I've seen her play. She does it well, but I'd be hesitant to call it one of her best performances as, at times, her line readings come off as disingenuous and forced. It's like she's reading off cue cards when she stares pensively into the distance. Wendell Corey is charged with the same mugging, and he's usually fairly reliable.
But Walter Huston, on the other hand, creates a beautiful monstrosity out of T. C. Jeffords. Jeffords is the byproduct of Huston's Mr. Scratch from "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and Howard from "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." There's a wiliness to his character that you'd never expect from the man who played "Dodsworth." But even better than Huston is Judith Anderson in her select scenes as the object of Stanwyck's hatred. Anderson plays pleasant, dour, and hateful all so well in such a short span. And the memorable scene with Stanwyck and Anderson ending with a shot of a pair of scissors is chilling and completely out-of-left-field.
There's beautiful photography to behold here (there's a nighttime scene that is exquisitely shot). It has all the shadowy characteristics of a Mann film. It is lucky to have the director's fingerprints all over it. "The Furies" is very good, a by-and-large success with a seething sense of entitlement and subversive rage that the film hammers until the baseboard breaks.
Les Enfants Terribles (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1950) 7/10
After her brother is injured in a snowball accident, he and his sister seclude themselves and have an odd relationship until the brother becomes instantly attracted to an odd woman his sister brings home one day. This movie reeks of Jean Cocteau. It has his literary sensibilities and filmmaking style, so Jean-Pierre Melville deserves credit for being able to imitate Cocteau's style while making the film also feel like wholly his own. And, even with a film with poetic dialogue from Cocteau and impeccable direction from Melville, somehow Nicole Stéphane walks away from the film with the biggest accomplishment.
Stéphane's role is not an easy one to play well. An incestuous sister managing to keep the cracks from showing and barely able to thread herself together is a role that lends itself to serious melodrama if in incapable, dangerous hands. Stéphane's brilliant hair-wringing, bleary-eyed performance is a masterstroke of brilliance. She reads her lines with intense loathing and an awkward cadence that would make an Asperger's child cringe. This performance is amazing.
But I'd hesitate to call the film great by any means. While we have great direction, great dialogue, and a great leading performance, the other two performances in the film attempt to outweigh all this excellence. The performances of the actor and actress who played Paul and Agathe are more wooden than the floors on which they're standing. All the light that Stéphane fills the room with is nearly stamped out by these two. They can't seem to play off her, and she carries the correct tone of the film throughout.
The final shot is incredible. The whole film is incredible, really. Henri Decaë is one of the all-time great cinematographers, and this is an easy selection to showcase why. He frames Elisabeth's madness well and plays with depth in many creative ways.
"Les Enfants Terribles" is very, very good. I'd say it doesn't quite reach what most of Melville or Cocteau's other works have reached, but it's a unique, crazy film worth watching and reawatching.
The Patent Leather Kid (Alferd Santell, 1927) 5/10
A boxer who scoffs at fighting outside of the ring is drafted into the First World War and must deal with disfigurement and pain after severely injuring himself performing a heroic act. Oscar completists have it bad because we have to sit through films like this one. Not that this one is necessarily bad, it's just incredibly dull. The war scenes are shot really well and have the excitement of a film like "Wings" on a much smaller scale.
It's when the film gets domestic that it becomes riddled with problems. First off, Richard Barthelmess has never been a great actor save for his performance in "The Last Flight." Barthelmess chooses to play our hero as a stoic, angled, jaw-heavy icon. He becomes larger than life and you can't play a role that way when it calls for you to become a shrinking violet and an insecure one at that. His postwar scenes are sloppy and drag on for ages. Actually, the whole third act drags and drags. And Molly O'Day is an odd choice to play Barthelmess' opposite because she seems entirely uninterested in him when we're supposed to believe something exists there.
I think "The Patent Leather Kid" could have succeeded in the hands of someone like William A. Wellman or especially Frank Borzage. But Alfred Santell just doesn't cut it and we're left with a mostly unexciting, tepid war film.
REWATCH: All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950) 10/10
A conniving ingenue worms her way into the inner circle of an acclaimed veteran actress, her director boyfriend, and a playwright to try and get to the top. I hadn't seen this movie in maybe eight or nine years, so I completely forgot how incredible this was. Joseph L. Mankiewicz' script is rife with acerbic wit and spitfire dialogue with enough quotable one-liners and silent moments to last in case of nuclear fallout.
Of course, Bette Davis owns the film and struts Margo through the events like a peacock. Davis' Margo is one of the screen's very best performances. How anyone could have wanted Claudette Colbert over her, as originally planned, is far beyond me. Davis' dull-eyed charm and nasty speeches are iconic. George Sanders is also beyond reproach as Addison DeWitt. The vitriolic cad of a theatre critic is the veteran character actor's best work. Some have dismissed it as dull or repetitive of all his other roles, but I think DeWitt gets all the great lines and airs that lack in most other roles Sanders gets to play. It's a role tailor-made for his sensibilities and strengths. And Celeste Holm, as Margo's confidante, is also magnificent as the one person with a real sense of nervousness and morals. Her scene with Davis in the fresh-out-of-gas car is great and her late scenes with Sanders and Anne Baxter are incredible. I think it's Holm's very best work. As for the other two Oscar nominees, Baxter and Thelma Ritter, I'm not as warm to their performances as many others are. I know a man who thinks Ritter deserved the Oscar for this film, but she's such an inconsequential, unnecessary character. I think the film could function perfectly well without her character. And it's just Ritter doing her usual "sassy maid" stint that she does much better in films like "Rear Window." And Baxter is pretty good up until the scene where DeWitt exposes Eve as Gertrude Slojinski; then, Baxter breaks into terrible histrionics that not even an actress would do to get attention. She blows her big scene, and it's a bit overwhelming. The other two men, Hugh Marlowe and Gary Merrill, are serviceable in roles that don't call for much.
The costumes and people are all gorgeous, and this movie is in a pantheon of it's own. "All About Eve" is a stunning masterwork in every sense of the word.
REWATCH: Los Olvidados (Luis Buñuel, 1950) 10/10
A young idealistic boys morals slowly become corrupted when he gets involved in juvenile delinquency and crime. Upon a second viewing, this movie is still an absolute masterpiece in style and tone. Save for a killer dream sequence, the movie abandons all surrealistic tones and adapts more of a neo-neorealism feel. Buñuel's direction is stunning and powerful. The film is a straight shot to the gut.
This is the kind of film people need to see today. With the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer, this film is still ever so sadly relevant. Films don't get much more timeless than this one. And that's also thanks to the central performances which are sympathetic, empathetic, and also infuriating. Estela Inda's performance as Pedro's neglectful mother is painful to watch but masterful in what it accomplishes. Despite out hatred for her, the final scene with her is heartrending. Miguel Inclán is also moving as the blind Don Carmelo. As for the two young boys, Roberto Cobo, as the vile, disgusting El Jaibo, is a hell of a villain to have for a movie like this. There are no redeeming qualities, but his slow suckering of our main, beloved little Pedro, played by Alfonso Mejía, is thrilling to watch. The cast is unforgettable.
A film not shy of the brutality of the real world, "Los Olvidados" is a searing exposé on the conditions of poverty and a well-crafted moral tale. This is a movie a Spanish Rohmer might have made. I consider this Buñuel's masterpiece though many would disagree. There's so much ambition and emotion packed within this rather short film that it's hard to walk away uncaringly.
Where Danger Lives (John Farrow, 1950) 3/10
A doctor falls in love with a disturbed young woman, becomes involved in the death of her husband, and attempts to flee with her to Mexico. This is a perfect example of the kind of lazy, stupid film noir that I really dislike. Most every film noir has a femme fatale, and it's very obvious that she's going to end up screwing our hero over, but the writers usually make the ride there fun. Here, it's incredibly apparent from the get-go. So much so that it's any wonder why our hero, played by an uninspired Robert Mitchum would ever even bother with falling for such an obviously terrible person. And, on a shallow note, it's not like Faith Domergue is really attractive enough to warrant a nonsensical, totally-physical obsession. It's like Domergue isn't even trying to be a sexpot. She's one of the worst femmes fatale I've seen in the genre. And poor Claude Rains has to be stuck in this picture. He tries his best, but his role is thankless and written poorly.
Films noir are always puzzles, and puzzles are fun to figure out even though you see the end product on the cover of the box. The genre is all about the journey, and "Where Danger Lives" doesn't give us much of a journey. It's more of a failed melodrama than a film noir, actually. It's a big red mark on everyone involved's filmography. It's a dull, bloodless movie that fails to excite, arouse, thrill, or elicit any kind of emotion.
Winchester '73 (Anthony Mann, 1950) 7/10
A man on the trail of an outlaw manages to beat him in a contest for a one-in-a-thousand Winchester 1873 rifle which the outlaw then steals sparking a chase across the west. Or: "Anthony Mann Tries to Tell the Entire History of the West in 90 Minutes!" I do think the film is a bit too ambitious for its own good because the constant sidetracking and vignette style doesn't work too well. I think the story is best when it sticks to McAdam, played by a determined Jimmy Stewart, and Dutch. The gun battle is a really good bit of filmmaking; I think it's some of the best Mann has ever done. But when the rifle is taken and ends up in the hands of Native Americans and military men and a bunch of others, it strays from its initial tale and veers into cockamamie territory. Even a barrel-chested, face-painted (brownface AND war paint because we're so lucky) Rock Hudson can't make the story with the indigenous Americans interesting. I also think Shelley Winters is largely wasted, but most of the women in Anthony Mann films seem to be. Stewart mostly slums it in an easy role that's more of a symbol for righteousness than an actual human being.
On a technical level, this film is impeccable. The editing, shot selection, and intensity of the accuracy battle between McAdam and Dutch is spectacular. It showcases all the film's strengths in one concise, interesting scene whereas these strengths seem more dispersed and all over in the later parts of the series. It's like they gathered them all up and only occasionally doled them out where they thought they should go. So while "Winchester '73" is a very pretty movie, I wish we'd gotten stronger performances to round everything out because this could be a stellar western. It would be more interesting had the gun stayed in Dodge City the whole time instead of traversing the plains.
REWATCH: Devil's Doorway (Anthony Mann, 1950) 7/10
A Native American Civil War hero comes back to his hometown greeted with everything but a hero's welcome. A second viewing of "Devil's Doorway" was apparently seen under a keen eye this time because I do like it a bit less than before. I do think this is the one Robert Taylor performance I like. Taylor was always so dreadfully bloodless and, here, under the direction of Anthony Mann, Taylor gets to really make a memorable character out of Lance Poole. The biggest flaw in Poole isn't in regards to his sterling character but the brownface he's portrayed in. It looks gaudy and outright stupid at times. But apart from that, Taylor plays Poole with fierce conviction and determination. He's very much a typical heroic archetype, but the film and its story steer clear of all the typical clichés.
In terms of the rest of the cast, though, Paula Raymond, Marshall Thompson, James Mitchell, Edgar Buchanan, and everyone else really don't do much well. It's your standard low-budget ensemble set of performances. With a more solid cast and someone like, say, Gail Russell as the female lead, the movie would have worked a lot better.
As for the film's technical aspects, it's expertly edited and shot nicely. The sound is great during the gunfights and everything seems to be working well enough. The final battle in the cabin is a clinic in filmmaking. It's a great example of Anthony Mann at his best.
"Devil's Doorway" is a very good film with many of the right pieces in play but nothing fitting in quite as effortlessly as we would like.
REWATCH: The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston, 1950) 6/10
A recently paroled criminal mastermind creates a crew of veterans burglars to pull off a huge jewel heist with the funds of a crooked lawyer. Another viewing affirms by opinions that this highly-lauded film noir by John Huston still belongs nowhere near a list of the best in the genre. The women in this movie, especially Marilyn Monroe, are really poorly written and basically useless other than simple plot devices - and not in a way to where their use will destroy them and cause disastrous consequences.
The performances that actually amount to something are the ones by an Oscar-nominated Sam Jaffe and a shouldabeen-nominated Louis Calhern. Jaffe's mastermind is a shrinking, charismatic, ingratiating role played with mysterious charm and underlying sinister cynicism. And while Jaffe is good, Calhern is great. In what may be his very best role, Calhern's sharky, nervous lawyer is so much different than most similar roles I've seen. Calhern trades in fumbling fingers and nervous tapping for looks of heartburn and eyes afraid to move for fear they may give him away. And, yet, Calhern's character has a strong repose to him that is admirable and scary. Calhern plays this role with an unforeseen brilliance. Calhern's performance is the shining accomplishment of the film.
The film's heist scene is strong if a bit underwhelming as compared to the wealth of heist scenes we get around this time. But the rest of the film never reaches that level of excitement unless Calhern is on-screen. This is one of Huston's weaker movies though still good as best.
REWATCH: Where the Sidewalk Ends (Otto Preminger, 1950) 6/10
A tough NYC tec notorious for being too rough with suspects accidentally kills a man and plants evidence to clear himself, but the evidence he plants ends up putting the girl he love's father under suspicion. I remember thinking that this movie was fairly mediocre when I first saw it, and I think it's a step up from that actually. Dana Andrews is good as always. He always embodied a necessary sense of self-loathing in his hard-boiled characters that seemed to ring false in many others in similar roles like Victor Mature. Andrews captures desperation and juggles his character's skewed morals well.
Gene Tierney, on the other hand, is very bad. It was this point in her life where Tierney hit a decline and started having issues with depression and concentration, which later prompted her to drop out of "Mogambo" a few years later. This problem is sadly evident here as Tierney seems dazed and in another world entirely. And her role is one of the more interesting female roles in a film noir. And she's perfectly cast too, so it's a real shame what happened to Tierney happened because this could've been such an excellent performance.
Otto Preminger uses his noir-keen brain to make a decent film out of "Where the Sidewalk Ends." It's a good movie with some major problems in the acting department that keep it from achieving anything truly memorable.
Wagon Master (John Ford, 1950) 6/10
Two drifters guide a Mormon wagon train to the San Juan Valley and must persevere through Native Americans, the rugged geography, and moral challenges along on the way. This Is John Ford Lite Lite. "Wagon Master" has the potential to be fairly interesting, but it's mostly a disjointed, episodic series of vignettes that never really manages to be as interesting as it should.
Getting to see Ben Johnson in a leading role, and seeing him, naturally, do it well, is a treat. Johnson embodies the mythos of the rugged American individualist and manages to really captivate in a film that seems, at times, like it is actively trying to bore us. And this is strange because Ford is usually so good with human drama. And with a cast like Jane Darwell; Harry Carey, Jr.; Ford favorite Joanne Dru, James Arness, Ward Bond, Charles Kemper, and Alan Mowbray, this shouldn't be a problem. But Ford doesn't seem to have the cast under control as, for one example, Jane Darwell is funny wherever she shouldn't be and serious where she should be busting guts. And I can tell this is supposed to have a lot of humor in it, but it doesn't come off well at all.
And this movie is missing a lot of the gorgeous cinematography, editing, and music that underlie every Ford film. This ranks right up with "Fort Apache" as one of Ford's least interesting films. It's one of those frustrating pictures where almost all the pieces are in place, especially in the cast, and nothing comes of it. "Wagon Master" is still good because of Johnson and Ward Bond's usual excellence, but it fails to join the ranks of Ford's better movies.
REWATCH: Caged (John Cromwell, 1950) 7/10
A frightened, teenage convict, an accessory to armed robbery, slowly becomes an embittered, tough jailbird. The main reason I was excited to see this again was because I remember absolutely loving Hope Emerson as the stern, hulking prison matron. Emerson is not only perfectly cast physically speaking, but her demeanor and straight-spined posture is scary - it's unnatural. Emerson's prison matron has to be the basis for all the tough women-in-prison power roles to come. Her performance is still the best thing about the film.
I'm not big on Eleanor Parker here though. She's ten years older than her role. When she says she's 19 in the beginning, I actually laughed out loud. Parker is a talented actress, but not even she can pull this role off, physically. In terms of her acting, she's fairly overdramatic. If this were a thriller in the vein of grand guignol, her performance would be perfect. But Parker's performance mostly falls flat during the first two acts. Once Marie becomes a hardened, savvy jailbird, Parker's performance is must more grounded, much better. Her best work comes after the scene where Emerson's matron finds the puppy.
Also wonderful is Agnes Moorehead in an exasperated role that seems to have really influenced Figueroa and Caputo in "Orange Is the New Black." And the rest of the cast of wonderful women are great. They all do their best Wallace Beerys and Jane Darwells which makes for a surprisingly funny and tough-as-nails film.
"Caged" is way better than it should be. I think it could even be great in the right hands (like a William A. Wellman). But John Cromwell does a competent enough job directing and makes a good film out of some really unsuspecting, surprising material.
Harvey (Henry Koster, 1950) 7/10
A woman tries to get her brother institutionalized when he seems convinced that he's become friends with a six-foot-something tall invisible rabbit. If there's anything that makes this movie work, it's actually the ho-hum, aw-shucks, gee-whillikers attitude I normally dislike in James Stewart's comedic performances. Stewart's performance is almost borderline "Rain Man" but it never fully crosses into that dangerous territory. The movie places a lot of belief in the unknown, family relations, and acceptance - Stewart's naïve performance really captures it well.
The film's most acclaimed work was my least favorite aspect though. Josephine Hull's work borders on the Rabelaisian at times. And the film talks about sex, gender, and everything else so awkwardly when it does briefly come up. But Hull is overwrought and annoying. And she's not supposed to be portrayed as annoying - we're supposed to be empathetic for her situation while laughing at how she's handling it. Veta Louise is an interesting character, but I don't think she's as fully explored as she should be here. I'd have loved a more dynamic May-Whitty type - somebody a bit more haughty and a lot less frenetic.
I think the film is at its strongest during the frantic antics at the asylum (especially with Charles Drake and Cecil Kellaway as the doctors). That's where ideas, like our patients, get to run free. It's when the script is in full gear and at its, pound-for-pound, funniest.
I like "Harvey." I would prefer a more controlled person in the Veta role, but it's not horrendous enough to derail the whole film. I can see why this is a beloved classic.
REWATCH: Panic in the Streets (Elia Kazan, 1950) 7/10
An illegal immigrant is killed after winning too much in a card game only for his corpse to test positive for the pneumonic plague; the police try to hunt down the killers who may have contracted the disease and spread it further. "Panic in the Streets" is one of the most original entries in the genre of film noir. It's an elevated police noir imbued with science and a sense of urgency that's sorely missing in a genre that loves a slow burn. Richard Widmark is reliable as always though he always seemed a bit tight and mechanical when he wasn't playing a sketchy character. He leads a cast that leaves something to be desired. The only other noteworthy performance is a small, early role for Jack Palance whose harsh, angular face is glorious with cinematography from Joseph MacDonald whose on-location photography of a wonderfully diseased, seedy New Orleans is the icing on a very moody cake.
I was also surprised to remember that Elia Kazan directed this film. He's usually such an invisible director who focuses more on the cast than anything else. Kazan seems to be more visually-focused here, and that is a warm welcome (especially after films like "Gentleman's Agreement" and "Pinky"). The camera crawls along like a spider watching the prey at the center of the film desperately try to untangle itself from pandemic catastrophe. "Panic in the Streets" is, again, an excellent, original film noir. I think it's just shy of being great because of the largely uninteresting supporting cast, but it's a film I'll gladly visit again and again.
Summer Stock (Charles Walters, 1950) 3/10
An engaged woman lets a troupe of actors stay at her farm in exchange for their doing chores only to fall in love with the engaged leading man of the group. Oh, man. "Summer Stock" is a mess and not a glorious mess. It's a messy mess. The songs are really dull and don't carry the film along at all. They're all there because they can be. "Let's make it about actors so we can have them do numbers whenever they want" seems to be the mantra behind this script. Only Judy Garland's iconic "Get Happy" and the surprisingly charming "Dig-Dig-Dig-Dig for Your Dinner" are worth watching.
And it doesn't help that Garland is laughably bad here. She tries to play this independent, strong-willed woman the same way she played Dorothy. The farm setting must've gotten to her (or maybe it was the drug abuse...) because it's really unbecoming. And Gene Kelly is largely wasted. He's brought in mainly to do some numbers. His chemistry with Garland is terrible. It lacks everything that made "The Pirate" work so well (which is probably Vincente Minnelli). And the final song, completely unrelated to everything else in the film, is basically about the apocalypse. And that's what we're left thinking about.
"Summer Stock" is pretty bad. The only part of the cast I liked was Phil Silvers who is always a welcome relief. That, coupled with those two good song-and-dance numbers, is about all the film has to offer. This is a perfect example of a lazy MGM musical that the studio so loved making.
Broken Arrow (Delmer Daves, 1950) 6/10
A scout is sent out to stem war between the Apaches and the whites, but, after saving a young, injured Apache boy, learns that the indigenous tribes only kill to protect themselves or to retaliate for atrocities committed upon them. This surprisingly progressive (well, except for, you know, the brownface) western feature from Delmer Daves mostly suffers from a listless, bloodless performance from Jimmy Stewart. Stewart makes a concerned face through most of the picture and spells out for us why racism is bad. Granted, racism was still a national pastime at this point in our nation's history, so those speeches probably needed to be said; however, it doesn't hold up well now and comes off as patronizing and archaic.
Jeff Chandler is pretty good despite the whitewashing of Cochise which isn't well done at all by the makeup team. He looks caked in bronzer, and, whenever a shot is close up, he was probably instructed not to move to A) look stoic and wise and B) so the makeup wouldn't crack. But Chandler's cadences and speeches are well-done. I just wish the role weren't so laughable upon sight.
The Technicolor is mostly wasted with only the last battle among the tall, beautiful landscapes really embracing it all. But, in that scene, the editing, cinematography, and other technicals all come together to make for a really good hunting sequence. I just wish the rest of the film were as good.
But "Broken Arrow" is good nonetheless. I don't think it deserves to be called a classic at all, but most Delmer Daves films don't (with the exception of "Dark Passage").
REWATCH: Stage Fright (Alfred Hitchcock, 1950) 5/10
A struggling actress tries to prove her friend's innocence when he's accused of murdering a stage queen's husband. I think my friend Dan put it best when he said, "If anyone else had directed [Stage Fright], the film would be seen as a triumph." I both agree and disagree with this statement. I do think that it is one of Hitchcock's more disappointing pictures. The film fails to ever rouse or arouse as most of his films do. The scintillation is in the void even if Richard Todd is a hell of a charmer.
I think this exsanguination is a result of a really stiff Jane Wyman who never seems very comfortable in the role. And even with this stiffness, the whole "fake twins" storyline and criss-crossing comes across as obnoxious really quickly because it rapidly starts becoming more "The Comedy of Errors" than it does "Hamlet." And the film needs to aim for "Hamlet" if it wants to be taken seriously. So this results in a tonal cacophony. And Wyman across from Michael Wilding creates in one of Hitchcock's most boring couples. Two dullards like this deserve to fall in love.
And there's one thing I'm really torn on. I can't decide whether I think Marlene Dietrich is good in this. So pardon me while I talk it out here. Dietrich is an excellent choice to play a dark, mysterious grand dame of the theatre. Dietrich brings her own wonderful persona to the screen but not to lampoon it. I wish the film's risks in humor paid off more because seeing Dietrich so after herself in that tone would be amazing. But then there's the performance itself which is overdramatic. And not overdramatic in a "she's a diva" type of way - overdramatic in a "this is hammy" kind of way. And all this talk about a bloody dress is so cliché and blatantly symbolic. It's like the writers were patting themselves on the back.
"Stage Fright" is very much minor Hitchcock. I've seen it a couple times now and it's still nothing good. It's a harmless piece of filmmaking, but it deserves to be better - especially looking at who's behind the camera.
REWATCH: Cinderella (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1950) 4/10
When Cinderella's cruel stepmother stymies her from going to the ball, a few valiant mice, a fairy godmother, and other woodland critters come together to get her to the prince on time. This is why I shouldn't go back and watch these childhood classics. "Cinderella" is a really annoying film.
First off, look at the timing. The first fifty minutes is all an extended episode of "Tom & Jerry," except, here, the mice are really grating. Their half-English, half-gibberish language is reminiscent of the Minion language, and it is awful. Jacques and Gus-Gus are helpless and foolish and not cute. The humor is all clichéd and doesn't translate well. I honestly was rooting for Lucifer this time around because he's a lot funnier and a lot cuter. Maybe that or I just like scowls.
Secondly, again with the timing, the entire meat of the story (the ball, the frantic ride home, and the shoe fitting) all takes place in a 15-minute window. So we get almost an hour of Cinderella's suffering and cat-and-mouse chases and dress-making and floor-scrubbing and bibbidi-bobbidi-boos for an ending that could only be more tacked on if the prince walked into the Tremaine house, saw Cinderella, said, "You'd make a good princess," and then married her there. It's wildly uneven.
At least the animation looks nice and the original songs for the movie are memorable and beautiful. "So This Is Love" is gorgeous and deserves to be more remembered than "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes."
Disney's "Cinderella" might be the worst of all the Disney Princess movies. It is a lazy film that would rather focus on the sidekicks than the actual story at hand. Jacques and Gus-Gus are basically dual Urkels.
Variety Lights (Federico Fellini, Alberto Lattuada, 1950) 8/10
A young aspiring performer joins a group of third-rate vaudevillians which causes jealousy among the troupe's core members. Federico Fellini's directorial debut is a great film. While I think it seems like more of a dry run for his future films, that should only be a testament to how good his later films are. Fellini was always in love with the performing arts, and that love is evident here as the film is swaddled with Fellini's love and careful attention. Peppino de Filippo and Carla del Poggio are both very good as our ringmaster and ingenue. Their relationship comes about very naturally and, once you see that damning final scene, it makes even more sense than when we saw it organically develop. John Kitzmiller is also a nice surprise in his few scenes. It's a shame he never got more work in the U.S. because he was a really wonderful actor.
The real performer worth watching is, as you could probably guess, Giulietta Masina. As the spurned party in the central love triangle, Masina doesn't play into hysterics and, instead, chooses to take a more browbeaten and internal path. And when she comes alive (and does she ever!), Masina already shows signs in her early career of just how diverse and incredible she would be in her later films.
The makeup, sets, and costumes are just as great as you'd expect for a film centered around vaudevillians. This is a great movie. I wasn't sure what to expect out of Fellini's debut, but I should have probably expected something like this. It's adorable and shifty-eyed. Many reviewers are comparing this to "The White Sheik," saying the later feature is better, so I'm eager to dive into that in the coming months. "Variety Lights" is a spectacle that mightn't have been able to be made well save for its marvelous director.
Rio Grande (John Ford, 1950) 7/10
A lieutenant colonel in the cavalry is 18 men to fight off the Apaches when he was supposed to get 180; further complications arise when the lieutenant colonel's son, whom he hasn't seen in fifteen years, appears as part of the regiment. John Ford's "Rio Grande" is the film that solidifies the Cavalry Trilogy as something worth watching. "Fort Apache," being sort of a bust, followed by "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" means we're either getting two okay pieces of bread with delicious meat or, for what it's worth, a really good open-faced sandwich, and I'm glad we got the latter.
John Ford gives Wayne a bit more to do as an actor, as happened after he saw "Red River," so Wayne gets to have a bit more fun than usual in what is one of his more alright roles. It's hardly impressive, but I've seen Wayne do way worse so I'll take this performance as it is. I think the most pleasant surprise was Victor McLaglen, whom I usually find abrasive and annoying from the 1940s on. McLaglen's Quincannon is one of the film's biggest triumphs. He puts that brusque Irish charm to good use and really steals the film in any scene he's in. It's one of his very best performances and, dare I say, on par or better than his work again with Ford in "The Quiet Man."
I do think Claude Jarman, Jr.'s doe-eyed, "I'm a big boy!" performance is a bit off-putting and Maureen O'Hara rings false in nearly every scene she's in, but their scenes are mostly forgettable as the following scenes usually end up being action-packed. And the action sequences are directed with Ford's ubiquitous eye for motion. There's a racing scene where the cavalrymen are standing on two horses each, and it's engrossing in a way most action scenes from this time aren't. That scene and the Apache scenes are really fresh for the time and even so by today's standards.
"Rio Grande" doesn't quite reach the tier of Great Ford™, but that's already a crowded group. Wayne and McLaglen make for a fun, tense, and almost Freudian western. A good end to Ford's trilogy.
Young Man with a Horn (Michael Curtiz, 1950) 9/10
An aimless youth becomes a star trumpeter under the guidance of a legend only to become disillusioned and angry at the world in the process. This was probably the most unexpected surprise I've had in a long time filming. I'd seen a few friends recommend this to me citing that Doris Day was good and Hoagy Carmichael was also a lot of fun.
So I went in expecting some light-hearted musical about a trumpeter in love, and that was wonderfully shattered when I realized quickly that this was going to be a great attempt at capturing the jazz lifestyle. Michael Curtiz brings his knowledge of the depths of human emotion and how to make the most of out of them on-screen. Curtiz definitely plays the film as a big emotional crescendo. Kirk Douglas gives one of his very best performances as our title young man. His obvious, famous temper off-screen obvious seeped into this role because Douglas looks completely natural and believable during his meltdowns and plays his straight scenes with tremendous skill as well. Doris Day is good in one of her quieter roles, and Hoagy Carmichael is really, really good as Douglas' confidante. I think the best supporting performance belongs to Juano Hernández whose fictional trumpet legend is reminiscent of so many jazz titans. He's in maybe four or five scenes at most, but he leaves an indelible, shining mark on an otherwise angry picture.
If there's one thing I think keeps this from being a masterpiece: Lauren Bacall. I see many people citing her as excellent in a performance they never saw coming. What I didn't see coming was such a bawdy, hammy performance. Bacall was always reliable as a temptress seductress. So here, when she's playing a lesbian, she seems way out of touch with this usual sexiness and talent. And when she has to play drunk, the scenes really fall apart.
But then we get into the technical aspects. The editing here really reminded me of the quickfire, jazzy, dizzying editing of "Whiplash." The cinematography is abound with smoky lights and shadows tightly closing in on our protagonist who seemingly invites them in. And the film's sound work is spectacular.
"Young Man with a Horn" is not only a great early attempt to really portray the jazz scene, it's also a great love letter to Bix Beiderbecke and a smart, savvy film overall. This is a discovery I'm so very happy to have made.
Union Station (Rudolph Maté, 1950) 5/10
The police, train station security, and a witness try to piece together a crime and retrieve a rich man's blind daughter. Rudolph Maté sadly doesn't bring his expert cinematographic eye to "Union Station." He tries a more typical approach and focuses on the actors, and that both pays off and misses the mark.
I'd say the film's biggest success is that the chemistry between Nancy Olson and William Holden carries over from "Sunset Boulevard" to here. Their performances are a bit more sluggish and less demanding, but they do their best with underwritten roles. The film, as a whole, is very underwritten though. It's never sure if it wants to focus on action or dialogue, and so stretches of the film can get a little frustrating. Barry Fitzgerald is also as bland as always.
I do say that the setting is really interesting though. Sticking mostly in and around the train station makes this more of a closed-off, claustrophobic film. And that's necessary, especially with the final chase which is highly reminiscent of "The Third Man."
But without strong performances by Holden or Olson, this film isn't too strong. It's a perfectly harmless, fine movie, but it's not mentioned in canon or subcanon film noir for a reason.
No Man of Her Own (Mitchell Leisen, 1950) 7/10
A penniless woman assumes the identity of a similar-looking woman after a train crash so she can raise her son in a well-to-do household. Nobody does melodrama quite like Barbara Stanwyck. She always had such an intelligent sense of where her characters were and how to play any given scene to the director's liking. And even when directors like Mitchell Leisen get a little over-the-top, Stanwyck finds just the right note to hit to make all the hamminess taste good.
And I can't think of a film that better showcases this talent than "No Man of Her Own." The story is a bit preposterous and lends itself to "One Life to Live" or "The Bold and the Beautiful," but it works and it works well. Stanwyck's woman is ensnared by lies, a man from the past, love, and a house; all the stakes are laid out plainly before us, and watching events unravel is a whirlwind of emotion in both good and bad ways.
On the poorer end of the spectrum, John Lund is such a drag. I'm not sure how he kept getting these roles because he's not particularly handsome either. Either way, Lund likes to suck the fun out of the air like a Hoover.
However, the film is unexpectedly stolen by Jane Cowl who plays the mother-in-law of the woman Stanwyck is pretending to be. Cowl's warmth and acceptance and niceties are affecting and well-played especially in a film so dark and brooding. Another thing worth mentioning is that Cowl's character is never played for laughs which is usually a huge pratfall this genre falls into. I'm glad it avoided going there entirely.
"No Man of Her Own" is good quality soap. Might it have been great under Douglas Sirk? Most films probably would be, but, as for now, we're stuck with Leisen's overdirection but some excellent female performances.
American Guerrilla in the Philippines (Fritz Lang, 1950) 3/10
An American squadron stranded in the Philippines forms a guerrilla squad to fend off the Japanese forces. Well, what more can you expect from a Tyrone Power-led war film? It's bland, it's dry, and it's utterly unexciting.
And who's that behind the camera? It's Fritz freaking Lang. How the hell he ever got mixed up in this movie I'll never know, but, right now, I'm confident in saying it's his very worst movie. It's like Lang wasn't trying to make it any good. It doesn't have any visual flourishes or elan to it. If anything, the visual effects are pretty good, but that's the only Lang trademark you can find in this film. It seems more the product of a Stuart Heisler or a late Lewis Milestone than a visionary like Lang. Maybe he wanted some time off film noir, but this certainly wasn't the way to go. The script is terrible, the acting is poor, the sets look fake, and the most everything in between feels disingenuous and disconnected.
There isn't a whole lot to say about "American Guerrilla in the Philippines" other than it's the worst film in the filmography of one of the best directors.
REWATCH: Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis, 1950) 10/10
A man with a gun fixation meets a carnival shooter and commits a series of increasingly daring robberies with her. One of the very best films noir brings us its most deranged femme fatale. Annie Laurie Starr is a complete psychopath and her unwillingness to settle for anything other than everything coupled with her being an adrenaline junkie makes her quite literally the most dangerous woman in the genre's history (though Jean Gillie's character in "Decoy" would probably fight tooth-and-nail for that honor). And Starr is played brilliantly by Peggy Cummins whose nostrils flare with greedy delight in some great low angles by director Joseph H. Lewis. Cummins embodies the female form of what I imagine an energy drink is like.
And Lewis' direction is superb. This is a perfect example of a B-movie being elevated to masterpiece-level high art by the right director at the helm. Lewis gets fantastic performances out of Cummins and also John Dall who is a rather unreliable actor (how one can be good under Lewis and bad under Hitchcock is beyond me). Lewis has a discerning, perceptive eye for both the action sequences and scenes of intense passion that populate the picture. It's a smart examination of a scary relationship between two people with an ultimately destructive fascination. I'm sure people could find a way for it to fit their appropriate political agendas today, but I'm not too terribly focused on that at the moment.
"Gun Crazy" is a definitely masterpiece. It's a one-of-a-kind film that manages to embrace its sleaze with its art. It's a less-sexual "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!." One of the ten best films noir, as far as I'm concerned.
Destination Moon (Irving Pichel, 1950) 7/10
A group of men make the first trip to the moon in the not-so-distant future. "Destination Moon" is going to be better than you expect it to be unless you're expecting a masterpiece. This is probably the smartest piece of science fiction I've seen since "Metropolis" which came out, what, 23 years before this one? "Destination Moon" actually tackles ethics and questions in a realistic, smart light. It's hard to watch this and not realize the influence (even if it be subconscious) it has had on things like "The Martian" and "Gravity" and "Apollo 13."
The Oscar-winning visual effects are really good with a nice mixture of matte paintings and smart sets bound to expert camera work. And this is one of Irving Pichel's better film. It has all the adventurousness of "She" while not quite being as good, though they're almost neck-and-neck as the director's best.
I think the reason the film is as successful and realistic as it is is the technical advisor on the set: Robert A. Heinlein. Again, the film's realism is what keeps it so much better than most in this genre until the time. And even if the film is a little condescending in explaining all the science to us, it's simply a product of its time where this was all new and awesome for the public.
The cast is mostly good even if there's no real standout performances. They read their lines with conviction and wit. The human drama in the last twenty minutes is incredible.
"Destination Moon" is good. It's very good. It's the diving board for an entire genre.
REWATCH: D.O.A. (Rudolph Maté, 1950) 10/10
A notary on vacation discovers he's been poisoned and uses his last days to discover who did it and how it happened. Upon this second viewing, I'm still willing to call this a masterpiece. I see a lot of people calling it way over-the-top and melodramatic, but: A) I think they're forgetting what genre this is, and B) they're wrong. "D.O.A." lives on heightened emotion and extended real-time sequences. Yes, Edmond O'Brien is frantic, but would you not be frantic and crazed if you knew you were murdered? I think it's a really lazy criticism of an excellent movie.
Granted, the script does have some pretty unintentionally bad lines ("I'd like to report a murder." "Who was murdered?" "I WAS!"), but Rudolph Maté and O'Brien are able to sell it well. And this is one of O'Brien's very best roles. He looks gross and exhausted by film's end. It's a very quick sort of evolution - the kind most movies don't allow. And, for that, "D.O.A." is very unique. I can't think of any film noir where the personal stakes are higher.
The expert filmmaking that stuck out to me this time, that I somehow forgot from the previous viewing: the relationship between O'Brien and Pamela Britton is really heartbreaking. It's rare to ever find a film noir with a truly passionate, loving relationship, especially a marriage, so to see two people so madly in love with no destructive nature in either of them is refreshing. It's some of the best character development in a naturally nihilistic genre that doesn't lend itself to much character change except by way of mutually-assured or self-destruction.
"D.O.A."'s expert editing, sense of urgency, and acting takes a B-feature and crafts it into a masterpiece. Rudolph Maté's former cinematographer is still evident in the film even if it isn't quite as flashy as his European work. But this is one of the best in a genre filled with crazy good films and filmmaking.
REWATCH: Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950) 10/10
A moody poet becomes the object of Death's desire after a young, rival poet is killed. Another repeat viewing, another masterpiece. 1950 has been an incredible year to visit. I'd wager that 1950 might be cinema's greatest ever year though 1959 and 1955 and 1948 are right up there. And, as it should come to no one's surprise, Jean Cocteau's "Orpheus" is the most poetic film of the year. Cocteau is great at incorporating the best aspects of the French poetic realism movement even after most of his colleagues had moved on. But Cocteau's direction and vogue are never out of style. He's as inventive and creative here as he was in "The Blood of a Poet" just under two decade earlier. His use of mirrors and visual trickery is tops. And that's necessary in an Orpheus tale. And even if this isn't my favorite Orpheus movie (looking at you Marcel Camus...), that doesn't take away from this towering achievement at all.
Jean Marais was always an expert brooder, and even if that's what he spends most of his time doing here, he's doing it well. The real acting accolades should be bestowed on Maria Casarès whose unique rendition of Death is probably my favorite in screen history. There's a quiet sadness and piercing menace to her throughout. Her last scene, before leaving with her guards, is astounding and heartstopping. She's sexy and scary and so, so talented.
I love "Orpheus." This viewing reminds me that I need to purchase the whole trilogy. This is as much a work of art as a film can get. A brilliantly realized and conceptualized masterpiece.
REWATCH: In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950) 9/10
A down-on-his-luck screenwriter, while adapting a trashy novel, becomes the prime suspect after the murder of a hat-check girl brings up his inability to suppress his violent tendencies. Nicholas Ray's twisted film noir is certainly his greatest work in the genre, and it's probably a career-best performance from Humphrey Bogart as well who never gave a more complex performance. While his "Casablanca" work is legendary, I feel this is more of a stretch, more of an actual performance instead of relying on what Bogie is best known for doing. He cashes in brooding and angry smoking for subdued maniacal rage. It actually combines the self-loathing of Rick Blaine with the paranoia and dreadful anger of Fred Dobbs. Bogart's work is amazing.
One thing I don't quite get, though, is Gloria Grahame's performance. Everyone is abuzz about how excellent she is, but I honestly think Martha Stewart's Mildred is far more interesting in a much shorter space too. While Stewart's delightful effervescence creates the perfect murder victim in this shadowy film, Grahame's looks of terror don't translate well. She looks far more contemplative than scared, and the script and her lines tell us she's frightened of the way Dix is acting. It's the one thing that really keeps this film from being a masterpiece.
But the film's love of the dark and unabashed love for veins bulging out of Bogart's sweaty temples makes for a wonderful film. It fails to fully embrace the excitement that makes "Johnny Guitar" so good, but not many films ever do that.
Beauty and the Devil (René Clair, 1950) 6/10
When professor Faust laments knowing nothing of nature after fifty years of alchemy, his old, devilish acquaintance Mephistopheles grants him life but is displeased to find Faust has become bored of science and has, instead, moved onto women. René Clair is an interesting director because he's a great example of "When you're hot, you're hot." His later films are pretty tepid, and his early films, like "Le million," are on par with the best films France has to offer. But "The Beauty of the Devil"/"Beauty and the Devil" falls into the no-man's-land of being good but not great - an experience I've yet to have with Clair.
On the good side, there's the ever-reliable Michel Simon whose double role as the aging Faust and bearded Mephistopheles is a grand work in duality. He gives some of the same tics and cues to both characters which says a lot more about Faust's true nature than most Faustian tales do. Thankfully, he's a total boor as Mephistopheles and a total bore as Faust. He makes these characters totally distinct and he and Clair never take the easy way in comparing the two. Simon's work is hilarity come-to-life.
But Simon's about as good as it gets, apart from some gorgeous sets, because Gerard Philipe, as young Mephistopheles/sexy Faust, is pretty terrible. His dry, relying-on-looks acting comes across as very false. And even though his character is turning into a bit of a narcissist, neither the narcissism feels authentic nor does the hollowness of his character. This is the typical performance we get when a hunky star, who usually does romantic comedies, does his first "serious" movie. And, unfortunately, he doesn't get the McConaissance some men do.
But Clair's movie is good. It's a pleasant surprise in a waning career and filmography that shortly ended not too long after this movie was made.
The West Point Story (Roy Del Ruth, 1950) 7/10
Aided by his fiancée and a friend, a temperamental Broadway director helps the West Point cadets put on their annual show. After renewing my hate for "Yankee Doodle Dandy," I was really hesitant to step into this film, but it is everything that everyone else sees in that treacly, awful Curtiz film. And this success came out of the ever-boring Roy Del Ruth.
The cast is excellent, first and foremost. Virginia Mayo is excellent as a woman waiting for Cagney's cold feet to warm up, and Doris Day is good even though the film clearly states her character is only brought in to do a few musical numbers. Gordon MacRae and Gene Nelson also do well in support, but it's the star Jimmy Cagney who runs this vehicle. Cagney's testy temperament is really, really funny. It reminded me a lot of Jack Buchanan's brilliant work in "The Band Wagon." His little meltdowns are comedic brilliance. He's so smart in these moments which causes these spats to make us only like him more. And his dancing is as amazing as ever. Cagney IS the film.
The song score is also really good and catchy. I've had the songs in my head for the past few days now. "By the Kissing Rock" is wonderful. Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn's songs make the film bubbly and sweet. The film is a dry prosecco.
"The West Point Story" is very good. With a bit more spectacle and on-location shooting, I'd say it could be great. But I'm happy with this result and happy to finally see why Cagney is praised as a song-and-dance man.
Kon-Tiki (Thor Heyerdahl, 1950) 7/10
This documentary follows Thor Heyerdahl's Pacific exploration about the titular raft. This is what authentic adventure looks like. There's no Hollywoodization or screen magic to make this compelling, and the film becomes wonderful and hooks us in immediately. You can tell it's a pretty unprofessionally-made film, but that's the whole charm of the film. And even with this level of amateurism, the movie captures some beautiful, brilliant shots. It captures the paradoxical claustrophobia of being on the open seas very well.
One thing I'm grateful for is the narration which, unlike most docs of the time, never grows grating or monotonous. It maintains the vitality the film builds on so well and keeps things strolling along nicely.
I think the film does drag in the very beginning and at the tail end, but, for the most part, I think it's a very good movie that should definitely be seen to appreciate the evolution of the documentary.
"Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Nora Prentiss (Vincent Sherman, 1947) 6/10
Straightlaced married doctor (Kent Smith), stuck in a dull marriage, gets infatuated with a hardboiled nightclub singer (Ann Sheridan) and soon falls in love. When he can't decide how to break the news to his wife an opportunity arises for him to fake his own death which leads to complications resulting in an ironic ending. A noir wannabee which has Jimmy Wong Howe's expressionistic cinematography but there is no femme fatale in sight. Instead Ann Sheridan plays a tough but decent broad and she is memorable as always. Kent Smith has such a weak personality as an actor that having him as the lead throws the film off balance. One doesn't really care what happens to him.
Straightlaced married doctor (Kent Smith), stuck in a dull marriage, gets infatuated with a hardboiled nightclub singer (Ann Sheridan) and soon falls in love. When he can't decide how to break the news to his wife an opportunity arises for him to fake his own death which leads to complications resulting in an ironic ending. A noir wannabee which has Jimmy Wong Howe's expressionistic cinematography but there is no femme fatale in sight. Instead Ann Sheridan plays a tough but decent broad and she is memorable as always. Kent Smith has such a weak personality as an actor that having him as the lead throws the film off balance. One doesn't really care what happens to him.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Man on the Eiffel Tower (Burgess Meredith, 1949) 5/10
A dandy (Robert Hutton) living off his wealthy aunt needs his inheritance money to divorce his wife (Patricia Roc) so he can marry his mistress (Jean Wallace). So he hires a poor student (Franchot Tone) to murder his aunt. A petty thief (Burgess Meredith) stumbles across the bodies of the aunt and maid and the murderer steps on the thief's glasses and later helps him back home. Police Inspector Maigret (Charles Laughton) arrests the thief who pleads innocence. A cat and mouse game ensues between the killer and the police through the streets and roofs of Paris finally culminating on top of the Eiffel Tower. A sloppy production although the cast keeps it moving along with Laughton, as usual, memorable.
A dandy (Robert Hutton) living off his wealthy aunt needs his inheritance money to divorce his wife (Patricia Roc) so he can marry his mistress (Jean Wallace). So he hires a poor student (Franchot Tone) to murder his aunt. A petty thief (Burgess Meredith) stumbles across the bodies of the aunt and maid and the murderer steps on the thief's glasses and later helps him back home. Police Inspector Maigret (Charles Laughton) arrests the thief who pleads innocence. A cat and mouse game ensues between the killer and the police through the streets and roofs of Paris finally culminating on top of the Eiffel Tower. A sloppy production although the cast keeps it moving along with Laughton, as usual, memorable.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Criminal Activities (Jack Earle Hayley, 2015) 4/10
A Quentin Tarantino-Guy Ritchie clone with a script that uses the "F" word ad nauseum. Four men get into trouble with a mobster (John Travolta) after they can't pay back the money they borrowed. Film tries to be hip but it's all quite boring with Travolta having fun playing a nasty character.
A Quentin Tarantino-Guy Ritchie clone with a script that uses the "F" word ad nauseum. Four men get into trouble with a mobster (John Travolta) after they can't pay back the money they borrowed. Film tries to be hip but it's all quite boring with Travolta having fun playing a nasty character.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Deadpool (Tim Miller, 2016) 8/10
An offshoot of the X-Men franchise this superhero movie barely has a plot but instead has plenty of attitude. Our hero is like Bugs Bunny on speed with a foul mouth working overtime with hilariously rude jabs at everyone around him. Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), a former Special Forces officer, meets a hooker (Morena Baccarin) in a bar and they fall in love only to discover he has terminal cancer. A doctor mentions a special cure which results in a badly disfigured face ("I look like a testicle with teeth", he quips) but with extra powers of healing. Once he dons the red suit and mask he becomes Deadpool out to get the evil doctor who made him into a freak. Along the way he has to rescue his girlfriend who has been kidnapped and gets help from two unusual cohorts - Megasonic Teenage Warhead who resembles Sinead O'Connor and the CGI metallic giant called Colossus. Some of the funniest scenes involve his blind housekeeper (Lesley Uggams) with whom he trades quips. Flying through the air, brandishing swords and guns, maiming and killing bad guys while passing quips of the sexual kind Deadpool is a new kind of hero. The script is replete with inside jokes about Marvel and pop culture which come at you with furious speed. The character often breaks the fourth wall which adds to the hilarity making him seem like a stand up comedian - jokes about defecation and masturbation - although he never stops moving. A film that is awfully juvenile but also very effective and great fun.
An offshoot of the X-Men franchise this superhero movie barely has a plot but instead has plenty of attitude. Our hero is like Bugs Bunny on speed with a foul mouth working overtime with hilariously rude jabs at everyone around him. Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), a former Special Forces officer, meets a hooker (Morena Baccarin) in a bar and they fall in love only to discover he has terminal cancer. A doctor mentions a special cure which results in a badly disfigured face ("I look like a testicle with teeth", he quips) but with extra powers of healing. Once he dons the red suit and mask he becomes Deadpool out to get the evil doctor who made him into a freak. Along the way he has to rescue his girlfriend who has been kidnapped and gets help from two unusual cohorts - Megasonic Teenage Warhead who resembles Sinead O'Connor and the CGI metallic giant called Colossus. Some of the funniest scenes involve his blind housekeeper (Lesley Uggams) with whom he trades quips. Flying through the air, brandishing swords and guns, maiming and killing bad guys while passing quips of the sexual kind Deadpool is a new kind of hero. The script is replete with inside jokes about Marvel and pop culture which come at you with furious speed. The character often breaks the fourth wall which adds to the hilarity making him seem like a stand up comedian - jokes about defecation and masturbation - although he never stops moving. A film that is awfully juvenile but also very effective and great fun.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Green Inferno (2014) Eli Roth 6/10
Chemsex (2015) William Faiman & Max Goarty 5/10
A Connecticut Yankee (1931) David Butler 6/10
Tin Pan Alley (1940) Walter Lang 7/10
The Fear of 13 (2015) David Sington 4/10
Deadpool (2016) Tim Miller 5/10
The Hunting Ground (2015) Kirby Dick 5/10
Chi-Raq (2015) Spike Lee 5/10
Larry Kramer in Love and Anger (2015) Jean Carlomusto 6/10
Stonewall (2015) Roland Emmerich 5/10
General Spanky (1936) Gordon Douglas & Fred C. Newmeyer 4/10
Chemsex (2015) William Faiman & Max Goarty 5/10
A Connecticut Yankee (1931) David Butler 6/10
Tin Pan Alley (1940) Walter Lang 7/10
The Fear of 13 (2015) David Sington 4/10
Deadpool (2016) Tim Miller 5/10
The Hunting Ground (2015) Kirby Dick 5/10
Chi-Raq (2015) Spike Lee 5/10
Larry Kramer in Love and Anger (2015) Jean Carlomusto 6/10
Stonewall (2015) Roland Emmerich 5/10
General Spanky (1936) Gordon Douglas & Fred C. Newmeyer 4/10
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Macbeth (Justin Kerzal, 2015) 8/10
The stark images of the Scottish countryside give this film an almost mythic quality. Macbeth (Michael Fassbender), a brave Scottish general, receives a prophecy (by the 3 witches) that he will soon wear the crown and become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Lady Macbeth (Marion Cotillard), he murders King Duncan (David Thewlis) and takes the throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia and goes on a murderous spree killing all who he thinks might come in his way including his close friend Banquo (Paddy Considine). Lady Macbeth, grieving over her dead child (the film opens with the pagan burial of the couple's infant), channels her grief first into grim rage which eventually turns to acute guilt as she confesses to their crimes while sleep walking. From barren countryside to bloody battlefields (where the ground and sky turn blood red) to the sequence inside a church (where Macbeth is crowned) the film is a stunning series of images. The two stars have great chemistry. Fassbender brings his magnificent physical presence to the role at times tender but mostly ferociously intense like a wild animal. Cotillard uses her expressive eyes to convey a multitude of emotions while maintaining a strong sexual magnetism in her body language. The graphic makeup design adds just the right touch to all the madness on display. This is Shakespeare's vision of hell.
The stark images of the Scottish countryside give this film an almost mythic quality. Macbeth (Michael Fassbender), a brave Scottish general, receives a prophecy (by the 3 witches) that he will soon wear the crown and become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Lady Macbeth (Marion Cotillard), he murders King Duncan (David Thewlis) and takes the throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia and goes on a murderous spree killing all who he thinks might come in his way including his close friend Banquo (Paddy Considine). Lady Macbeth, grieving over her dead child (the film opens with the pagan burial of the couple's infant), channels her grief first into grim rage which eventually turns to acute guilt as she confesses to their crimes while sleep walking. From barren countryside to bloody battlefields (where the ground and sky turn blood red) to the sequence inside a church (where Macbeth is crowned) the film is a stunning series of images. The two stars have great chemistry. Fassbender brings his magnificent physical presence to the role at times tender but mostly ferociously intense like a wild animal. Cotillard uses her expressive eyes to convey a multitude of emotions while maintaining a strong sexual magnetism in her body language. The graphic makeup design adds just the right touch to all the madness on display. This is Shakespeare's vision of hell.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Gift (Joel Edgerton, 2015) 7/10
A young couple (Jason Bateman & Rebecca Hall) move to the suburbs and run into an old high school mate of the husband who brings them gifts and tries to ingratiate himself into their lives. Matters take a turn for the worst when old secrets from the past are revealed putting their lives into a tailspin. Creepy little thriller with shades of "Fatal Attraction" hinging on the familiar proverb of "what goes around comes around". Solidly directed psychological thriller which keeps up the suspense right till the end.
A young couple (Jason Bateman & Rebecca Hall) move to the suburbs and run into an old high school mate of the husband who brings them gifts and tries to ingratiate himself into their lives. Matters take a turn for the worst when old secrets from the past are revealed putting their lives into a tailspin. Creepy little thriller with shades of "Fatal Attraction" hinging on the familiar proverb of "what goes around comes around". Solidly directed psychological thriller which keeps up the suspense right till the end.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Queen of the Desert (Werner Herzog, 2015) 5/10
Dull movie about a fascinating woman - Gertrude Bell (Nicole Kidman) who was an English writer, traveller, spy and archaeologist who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her knowledge and contacts, built up through extensive travels in Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia. Along with T. E. Lawrence (Robert Pattinson), Bell helped establish the Hashemite dynasties in what is today Jordan as well as in Iraq. Her supposed love affairs are briefly touched upon - with a diplomat in Iran (James Franco) which ends badly and later with a married British officer (Damian Lewis) which remains unconsumated. The film tries to ape David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" but is presented in a plodding by-the-numbers manner. Kidman sails through the film with a deadpan expression on her face.
Dull movie about a fascinating woman - Gertrude Bell (Nicole Kidman) who was an English writer, traveller, spy and archaeologist who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her knowledge and contacts, built up through extensive travels in Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia. Along with T. E. Lawrence (Robert Pattinson), Bell helped establish the Hashemite dynasties in what is today Jordan as well as in Iraq. Her supposed love affairs are briefly touched upon - with a diplomat in Iran (James Franco) which ends badly and later with a married British officer (Damian Lewis) which remains unconsumated. The film tries to ape David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" but is presented in a plodding by-the-numbers manner. Kidman sails through the film with a deadpan expression on her face.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Secret in Their Eyes (Billy Ray, 2015) 6/10
Hollywood remake of the 2009 Oscar winning Argentinien film, "El secreto de sus ojos", gets a slight sex change and the introduction of an interracial relationship which, in typical wimpy manner, only shows the actors holding hands. Chilly police procedural set in two different time periods, 13 years apart, distinguishable only by the black/salt n pepper beard of leading man Chiwetel Ejiofor as the story goes back and forth in time. He is part of a FBI terrorist investigation cell checking on a mosque in L.A. for a possible threat. Since its post 9/11 the hysteria is at fever pitch. A girl's body is found raped and murdered and turns out to be the daughter of a fellow officer (Julia Roberts). Ejiofor, who has a crush on the recently appointed assistant D.A. (Nicole Kidman), interrogates with her a possible teen suspect. However, the young Arab cannot be touched because he is a mole for the police inside the mosque and the investigation is stalled by the D.A. (Alfred Molina). Years later the case is re-opened by the new D.A. (Kidman) on fresh evidence on the whereabouts of the original suspect which leads to a shocking twist ending. Smartly acted by Ejiofor and particularly by Roberts as the tough officer who is distraught to discover the body of her dead daughter. The obvious stunt casting of Roberts (the character was male in the original) does not hurt the film. She gives a harrowing performance, looking pinched and old completely devoid of any glamour. Kidman appears uneasy and stiff and has no chemistry with Ejiofor (the most they can muster up is to hold hands although I believe the film was heavily cut to bring down its rating so its quite possible some sexual scenes between the two were deleted). The director handles the thriller aspects fairly well but falls short with the constant flashbacks and flashforwards which makes it difficult to follow what's going on.
Hollywood remake of the 2009 Oscar winning Argentinien film, "El secreto de sus ojos", gets a slight sex change and the introduction of an interracial relationship which, in typical wimpy manner, only shows the actors holding hands. Chilly police procedural set in two different time periods, 13 years apart, distinguishable only by the black/salt n pepper beard of leading man Chiwetel Ejiofor as the story goes back and forth in time. He is part of a FBI terrorist investigation cell checking on a mosque in L.A. for a possible threat. Since its post 9/11 the hysteria is at fever pitch. A girl's body is found raped and murdered and turns out to be the daughter of a fellow officer (Julia Roberts). Ejiofor, who has a crush on the recently appointed assistant D.A. (Nicole Kidman), interrogates with her a possible teen suspect. However, the young Arab cannot be touched because he is a mole for the police inside the mosque and the investigation is stalled by the D.A. (Alfred Molina). Years later the case is re-opened by the new D.A. (Kidman) on fresh evidence on the whereabouts of the original suspect which leads to a shocking twist ending. Smartly acted by Ejiofor and particularly by Roberts as the tough officer who is distraught to discover the body of her dead daughter. The obvious stunt casting of Roberts (the character was male in the original) does not hurt the film. She gives a harrowing performance, looking pinched and old completely devoid of any glamour. Kidman appears uneasy and stiff and has no chemistry with Ejiofor (the most they can muster up is to hold hands although I believe the film was heavily cut to bring down its rating so its quite possible some sexual scenes between the two were deleted). The director handles the thriller aspects fairly well but falls short with the constant flashbacks and flashforwards which makes it difficult to follow what's going on.