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

[Precious Doll]

Toni Erdmann (2016) Maren Ade 9/10
Solace (2015) Afonso Poyart 6/10
Jane Got a Gun (2016) Gavin O'Connor 1/10
The Lure (2015) Agniesz Kasmoczynska 4/10
Look Who's Back (2015) David Wnendt 6/10
Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley (2008) Niall MacCormick 7/10
Hungarians (1978) Zoltan Fabri 4/10
Court (2014) Chaitanya Tamhane 6/10

Repeat viewings

The Club (2015) Pablo Larrain 9/10
One Angels Have Wings (1939) Howard Hawks 5/10

[Reza]

Le Plaisir (Max Ophüls, 1952) 8/10

Three stories (by Guy de Maupassant) about the quirks of human nature, about man's vanity and about pleasure being an important part of life. The seemingly ordinary plots are enhanced through the magic of Ophül's lightness of touch, his fluid use of the long take with the camera creeping up and down huge staircases and mansions and in and around the characters as if lightly eavesdropping in on conversations. The first story concerns an old man who wishes to continue living the life of a young man, the second takes in a group of whores visiting the countryside and the third is a dark tale about unrequited love and regret. The film's sumptuous production values along with an outstanding cast of great french stars - Madeleine Renaud, Jean Gabin, Claude Dauphin, Gaby Morlay, Danielle Darrieux, Daniel Gelin, Simone Simon, Pierre Brasseur - enhance the rather conventional stories.

[Reza]

Slightly Scarlet (Allan Dwan, 1956) 7/10

Tawdry noir shot in vibrant colour - with red as the chief motif along with blues, greens and whites. Dwan cast two redheads to go with his colour scheme in this low-rent tale of a tussle between two men trying to out do each other for the position of head of the local mob. A wheeler-dealer (John Payne) gets involved in crooked politics trying to oust his boss (Ted de Corsia), get close to the local police chief and help elect a new mayor by siding up to his fiancé (Rhonda Fleming). Falling in love with her was not part of his plan while the girl's kleptomaniac sister (Arlene Dahl) adds further turmoil to everyone involved. Based on a story by James M. Cain the plot has some terrific noir elements - almost all the men are nasty double crossers, the kleptomaniac stands in for the sad and pathetic moll and it's fatalistic ending - coupled with superb sets and the garish colour which makes it an unusual if not quite perfect noir.

[Reza]

Bend of the River (Anthony Mann, 1952) 7/10

This is an extravagant colour travelogue of the state of Oregon (shot in wonderful wide screen by William Daniels) with a few action set pieces in between. A former outlaw (James Stewart) heads the trail to Oregon leading a bunch of settlers to this promised Eden. Along the way he saves an outlaw (Arthur Kennedy) from a hanging, gets into skirmishes with Indians and crooked townfolk, finds romance (Julia Adams), forges a new friendship with a gambler (Rock Hudson) and faces betrayal. Colorful adventure is a bit slow going but has star Stewart in psychologically-trigger-happy-and-waiting-to-explode mode throughout. Arthur Kennedy as the smiling villain walks off with the film. Fine second collaboration between the star and director - it's no classic but serves the genre well.

[Reza]

Winchester '73 (Anthony Mann, 1950) 10/10

James Stewart's first collaboration with director Anthony Mann which revived the star's waning career as they both went on to work on a series of groundbreaking psychological Westerns during the 1950s in which Stewart played characters of intense disposition while taking the genre into a realm never seen before. This is the story of "the gun that won the West" as it changes hands coming full circle (shades of Ophül's later "La Ronde") while running parallel to the story of a brutally neurotic man of the West (James Stewart) seeking revenge on the cold hearted killer (Stephen McNally) who shot his father in the back. Stewart wins the prized rifle in a contest run by Wyatt Earp (Will Geer), seized by McNally, then by a gunrunner (John McIntire), a Sioux chief (Rock Hudson standing tall in war paint), a reformed outlaw (Charles Drake) and an unreformed one (Dan Duryea at his sleaziest best) and finally ending back with McNally. John Ford is evoked via the entrance of feisty Shelley Winters â la Stagecoach. The final bitter Oedipal confrontation is amongst tall cacti and jagged rocks as bullets ricochet and in classic fashion the best man wins. A classic Western in the old tradition with a vicious streak running throughout.

[Reza]

At Gunpoint! (Alfred L. Werker, 1955) 7/10

A sort of clone to "High Noon" is sort of easy on the eyes. A mild mannered shopkeeper (Fred MacMurray) with a lovely wife (Dorothy Malone) and cute kid (Tommy Rettig) shoots an escaping bank robber from a great distance and becomes a hero. The problems begin when the dead man's brother and his gang want vengeance and target the "hero". With the exception of the local doctor (Walter Brennan) the whole town shuns him leading upto a climax which is the opposite to the one in "High Noon". The genre is served well here although it's no classic.

[Reza]

The Rocking Horse Winner (Anthony Pélissier, 1949) 10/10

Extremely harrowing and eerie film (based on a short story by D.H.Lawrence) brilliantly maintains a sense of dread throughout via superb direction and dazzling camerawork by Desmond Dickenson. A lonely child (John Howard Davies) rides a rocking horse in a wild frenzy to get tips on the winning horse at the races. He does it to help his foolish and reckless parents who are in debt - a father (Hugh Sinclair) who gambles and a selfish social climbing mother (Valerie Hobson) who lives far beyond her means. Suspenseful, disturbing and ultimately heartbreaking film is superbly acted by the three leads along with John Mills as the family's gentle retainer who befriends and partners the child in the money-making scheme and Ronald Squire as the shrewd Uncle who also latches onto the scheme. A horrifying exposé about the empty pleasures of materialism.

[Reza]

Escape to Burma (Allan Dwan, 1955) 7/10

The funny thing here is that nobody escapes to or from Burma. Exotic adventure in the same vein as the previous year's "Elephant Walk" - set in Ceylon and "The Naked Jungle" - set in South America - all three films revolve around massive plantations in the jungle and all feature feisty but lonely women overcoming danger. A fugitive (Robert Ryan) arrives at the jungle residence of a British expatriate (Barbara Stanwyck) and before you can blink your eyes she is smitten by him and falling into his arms. When a cop (David Farrar) follows to arrest him she goes all out to help him prove his innocence. There are stolen rubies, tigers, panthers, elephants, cobras, a supporting cast playing the local population speaking either in pidgin English or with American accents and there is a lot of traipsing through fake jungle foliage as the three either pursue each other or them being chased by the local ruler's men. It's all nonsense - strictly "B" movie fare - but maintains interest throughout as the three leads carry off this corny material with aplomb. Stanwyck made many "B" films during the 1950s and each remains fascinating due to her presence which here runs on the incredible sexual chemistry between her and Robert Ryan. The film's extravagant colour, sets and lighting (shot by the great John Alton, a noir specialist) all recall the extravagant films of Douglas Sirk. This film is no classic but it happily proves that Hollywood could take an audience onto an exotic journey and despite the often trite material could easily hold their attention.

[Reza]

The Secret Fury (Mel Ferrer, 1950) 6/10

Overwrought melodrama with slight shadings of noir. A couple (Claudette Colbert & Robert Ryan), about to get married, is stopped at the altar by a man announcing that she was married before. She keeps insisting it isn't true but evidence keeps piling up to the contrary and she almost descends into madness before an absurd ending explains it all. Interesting to see the great Jane Cowl in one of her rare screen appearances along with Vivian Vance in one of her first.

[Reza]

The Furies (Anthony Mann, 1950) 8/10

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

[Reza]

My Sin (George Abbott, 1931) 7/10

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

[Reza]

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

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

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

[Reza]

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

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

[Reza]

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

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

[Reza]

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

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