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Made for Each Other (1939)
Lombard & Stewart is enough.
I empathised with this movie towards the end as my wife and I experienced a similar situation in the early part of our marriage with a baby. I'll say no more on that subject to avoid a spoiler.
Most of the drama in this rom/com can be recognised by married couples who marry young as doubt abd uncertainty and financial worries beset the young couple. Mother-in-law problems are also recognisable, at least they were to me. Well written and acted by Carole Lombard and James Stewart, it zips along, ably supported by Charles Coburn as Stewart's boss, the head of a firm of lawyers. Only in the last act does it slow to melodrama as a potential tragedy overwhelms the script. Perhaps a shade too dark considering the lighter side of the opening and middle. I haven't seen many of Lombard's movies, as opposed to Stewart, but as her name is first on the billing, it shows what a major star she was in the 1930's and a tragic loss to cinema when she died only three years after this movie, in a horrific plane crash.
This movie, although not the best of it's kind is still a class act, illustrating the tremendous skill and talent of early film makers. It's now 85 years old and my wife and I were hooked, just as if it had been made today. Wonderful stuff.
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Perhaps the best car movie I've seen yet.
I'm not really that interested in cars generally, nor movies about them. Fine, if there is an exciting chase scene like in Bullet, the Steve McQueen cop picture, but that was as much down to the actor making it work rather than the vehicle. Les Man's '66 is something else though. James Mangold the director of the really exciting remake of 3.10 To Yuma, takes that ending with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, running for the 3.10 train away from the guys trying to shoot them, and uses that same explosion of speed and tension, to transfer it to the race track.
This is the true story, albeit probably dressed up for dramatic effects, of the Le Mans 24 hour race in 1966, where Ford cars have challenged Ferrari with their recently developed new sports model. With Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby, a retired race winner, now making cars of his own and suffering health problems, and an outstanding driver called Ken Miles played by Christian Bale, this movie, with it's excellent supporting actors, really brings all the excitement and tension of the race track to life. This really happened, and for once, sitting in the audience, I could feel it.
I did not know the story, although I would have been 21 at the time, but it was not my thing back then.
Superb film making and it deservedly won two Oscars, but I leave you with one thought, just what more can you ask of Christian Bale, the true chameleon of present day cinema, before the Academy honour him with that Best Actor award? He wasn't even nominated and I'm disappointed with that.
The Last Letter from Your Lover (2021)
Disjointed love story
I only enjoyed perhaps less than half of this movie, the less than half with Felicity Jones. The bulk of the story, apparently taken from a book I haven't read, concerns a meeting between a married woman, Shailene Woodley and a man, Callum Turner. There lies the problem for me as I failed to feel any chemistry between the actors, the sophisticated Woodley and the macho Turner. Their story is a Mills & Boon style romance, where a young love blossoms, goes wrong and we are left wondering if it will rekindle 50 years later. I don't want to spoil the outcome but I'm afraid the writing and acting is very banal.
The movie only sprang to life for me when Felicity Jones, as a journalist piecing together some of the couple's original letters, meets another chap working in the same building, and together bond in their own relationship. Even that coupling seemed strained as Felicity Jones is 14 years older than the young actor I discovered on checking their ages. Nevertheless, there is chemistry I thought between these two at least.
I've loved Felicity Jones since first seeing her in Chalet Girl years ago and she can do no wrong for me but I was disappointed she is only in the smaller part of the movie.
OK if you like soppy love stories but none of it rang true for me.
Douglas Is Cancelled (2024)
Karen Gillan deserves a BAFTA.
Watch all four episodes to fully appreciate the stellar acting here of Karen Gillan as the joint anchor of a TV show with Hugh Bonneville. All the cast are excellent, especially Ben Miles as the sleazy producer who interviews Madeleine (Gillan) in his hotel bedroom, but in the end Karen just floored me with her screen presence. I've been watching her in the Jumanji movies for two or three years, plus a few other films and I'd picked this Scottish actress as one of the ones to watch, but this performance is beyond what I had anticipated from her.
We don't know for sure until the very end, just what her motives are for behaving as she does, but when it comes, it's a real humdinger.
Funny to begin with and lots of rapid fire quips until it starts to turn sinister. Alex Kingston provides ample support to Hugh as his wife, who doesn't quite trust him.
One of the more compelling TV drama series I've seen recently, really excellent, down not only to the actors but also the writing. Recommended.
The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
Some history learnt.
I've heard of the story of Anne Frank all my life (I was born the year the war ended, just after luckily) but never really looked into it beyond knowing she hid in a secret room and wrote a diary while she was hiding.
George Stevens the director, who I best know for Shane and Giant, does a good job of conveying the claustrophobic atmosphere of being locked away for two years with the added terror of being discovered by the Nazis.
Joseph Schildkraut plays the father Otto Frank who hides his Jewish family away for fear of being transported to concentration camps during the second World War. Millie Perkins plays Anne, his 13 year old daughter who is the main subject of the movie. Filmed in wide screen black & white, I found the two tone very effective as it created a more bleak atmosphere. It boasts an Oscar winning performance by the great Shelley Winters as one of their friend's wives, for best supporting actress. The other actors I know are Ed Wynn (father of Keenan Wynn), Richard Beymer (West Side Story) and Diane Baker as Anne's sister.
It is a bit long but some of the cinematography is brilliant as you might expect from Stevens directing so it doesn't lag much. Millie Perkins had never acted before and was clearly far older than Anne but she is quite beautiful and does a creditable acting job for an amateur, being strong in mind and having definite screen presence. I've since read a basic account of this incident and it seems Stevens has stuck fairly close to what happened, down to the presence of a cat in the attic. Good movie.
Shame (2011)
I could see where this was going.
Without giving any spoilers, although I couldn't detect what the point of Shame was in the early acts, I eventually guessed how it would end and I was right.
The acting is good all round with the exception of the actor playing Brandon's (Fassbender) boss who was way over the top and totally obnoxious.
The direction by Steve McQueen (not the famous actor) is adequate and holds the attention about half the time but falters when it dwells too long on some scenes.
Not a lot happens, to be honest, so don't expect a detailed plot. Brandon is a detached sex addict, masterbating when he has a night where he fails to either pick up a girl in a bar or hire a prostitute. His sister Sissy (Mulligan) lives with him but she's stifling his privacy which makes him annoyed. He just wants to be left alone to indulge his fantasies. He goes out with his horrible married boss, looking in clubs for available women to screw. This felt forced to me as their success rate is far too high. I'm doubtful of these guys having the hit rate that they do without paying a prostitute. Anyway, it still leaves Brandon in a state of dissatisfaction and most of the time he's morose and treats his sister like muck. In fact, in spite of his attraction to curvy women he actually has a low opinion of them as you can tell by the way he treats them, just like a piece of meat.
He possibly suffers with a form of depression later on and this perhaps leads to the shame he experiences although a man this detached may not even feel that.
Watchable for the two leads, I particularly love seeing Carey Mulligan in anything, so give it a go if you are broad minded where soft porn is concerned.
Dune: Part One (2021)
I fell asleep twice.
How did Dune part 1 rake in over 400m dollars? I saw the Kyle McLachlan version only a few years ago and was bored stiff but was tempted in by the hype on the new one that said it was so much better. It was not.
Two and a half hours of Timothee Chalomet gazing into space and Rebecca Fergusson gazing at Tim. Occasionally Tim gazes at Zendaya when she pops up mysteriously. If there is a story to this it is as mysterious as Zendaya's occasional appearances. Admittedly I find her quite beautiful to gaze at myself.
An array of well known stars also pop up to gaze at briefly, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellen Skarsgard, Jason Mamoa, Javier Bardem etc but they add little to what appears to be some sort of war about 'spice' they can't live without and a giant worm that burrows under the desert sand. There is hardly any dialogue to fill the viewer in on what is happening, not that much is. There is one amateur looking knife fight at the end that has no tension and I couldn't care less who won by this stage. A huge disappointment.
The Northman (2022)
Another take on the Prince of Denmark.
I recently watched The Prince Of Denmark aka Royal Deceit starring Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren and Christian Bale. The Northman is the same story and fares no better. 4 stars for both movies although I thought that Christian Bale was a far more cinematic hero than Alexander Skarsgard, who frankly isn't very likeable in The Northman. These movies are based on an ancient Scandinavian tale that also inspired Shakespeare's plot for Hamlet, no less.
On the positive side, Nicole Kidman is splendidly evil as the hero's deranged mother and the charismatic Anya Taylor-Joy is gorgeously sexy as usual. I love her deep voice which constantly surprises me and is very effective for strong parts. So many actresses trying to play tough, fail because they have light voices.
The Northman, aside from that, is long, very dark and with diologue that's unclear from the leading actor. It's very violent in places but there's nothing much original in what we see so it suffers from lack of tension.
Although it's not a great movie, I'd recommend the Christian Bale performance in Royal Deceit over this.
Amsterdam (2022)
Underrated comedy/drama
I must be one of the few who thought Amsterdam is a great movie. I was hooked from the beginning and never lost interest. The story, which I can see is similar in tone to what's happening in Britain in 2024, carries an important message. Don't let the selfish elite grind down the poorer section of society or hoodwink us into believing their way is the right way.
A plot is hatched to replace Roosevelt, the democratically elected leader of the United States by a group of the elite who want to take over the world.
Three friends try to combat this through a comical series of incidents, although some dramatic scenes are necessary too. Beautifully constructed in my view, with outstanding 1930's costumes and scenery, splendid cinematography and stellar acting. The cast reminded me of those movies when I was a kid, like Around The World in 80 Days when another A list actor would appear every 15 minutes. The cast led by Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington are the three friends who try to stop the plot. They are joined by Robert De Niro, Remi Malik, Anya Taylor-Joy, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Andrea Riseborough, Matthias Schonearts, Timothy Olyphant, Chris Rock and Taylor Swift who turns in a decent acting performance. I can't say I'm a fan of her music but as an actress she could do well.
The only actor who I thought didn't fare well was John David Washington who seemed to lack chemistry with the others. I think he should have swapped places with Chris Rock who would have given the part a lighter touch.
Christian Bale gives another in depth character acting performance. Every quirky turn or thrust of his head is fascinating to watch. It's a shame this movie bombed at the box office as I thoroughly enjoyed it, found it easy enough to follow and could hear all the dialogue for a change and Margot Robbie is so beautiful to look at she is the ultimate glamorous movie star of the moment, today's Grace Kelly or Marilyn Monroe.
Prince of Jutland (1994)
Amateurish sword and sandal adventure.
I am actually reading Shakespeare's plays at the moment but haven't got to Hamlet yet to compare this story which I understand is Shakespeare's source material. An old Danish fable about a Prince who should inherit his father's crown but is thwarted by his uncle who murders the king first.
Christian Bale, in an early role when he was 19 or 20 plays the Prince. Helen Mirren his mother, Gabriel Byrne the uncle. Many other familiar faces are in lesser roles, notably, Brian Cox, Andy Serkis, Mark Williams, Kate Beckinsale etc.
I quite enjoyed it in a bad Hammer Horror sort of way. By that I mean it is colourful, obviously low budget, gratuitous scenes of naked girls, lots of stabbings and burning buildings.
The downside is the poor cinematography which looks like the scenes, having been set are just filmed without any thought to camera angles or originality. It's all rather wooden, the direction, the script, the sets, the acting for the most part and the general feel overall of the movie.
There are flashes of charisma from Christian Bale, indicating the future superstar status he would achieve with Batman. Helen Mirren helps to save the acting but their lines are so amateurish, all the actors struggle.
It's a bit of fun and the girls are pretty and that's about it.
The Lobster (2015)
Pretentious failure for me.
For a movie to be a hit with me, I need to understand it on first viewing without having to look up an explanation on Wikipedia. The Lobster failed completely as I had no idea what was happening. Colin Farrell who plays David, is in a hotel where he is told he has to find a mate in a specified number of days or be turned into an animal of his choice and he chooses a lobster because it can live to a hundred. This make sense on any level?
I realise it's science fiction but I'm grasping for a reason here. Olivia Colman appears as the hotel manager and my enthusiasm picks up as she is always great to watch but it still doesn't make any sense to me. Various other star actors appear, Ben Whishaw, John C. Reilly, Jessica Barden, Lea Seydeaux, and finally Rachel Weisz who Farrell is teamed with as a partner. All these actors have roles to play like limping man, lisping man, blind lady etc. How did they get these top actors to sign up to this is baffling. The Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos somehow managed to make this on a budget of $4 M which is even more weird and it made a good profit, even weirder to me.
It is promoted as a comedy. How?
The acting is dreadful, no emotion like an amateur play. Maybe it was meant to have hidden meanings but unless the director can convey that to the audience, I can't see how that is successful. Most strange to me is the high score this movie received.
I watched another movie recently set in the future with a fantasy structure, 'Fingernails', also by a Greek director, Christos Nikou which I found far superior, even with it's story flaws. At least the acting was outstanding compared to 'The Lobster'.
Two hours wasted and disappointed after hearing about the rave reviews.
Maestro (2023)
Strangely omits West Side Story
I wanted to see Maestro because of the publicity, Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan and West Side Story. Watched on Netflix.
It starts with a heavily, well made up Bradley as Leonard Berstein and his charismatic wife, played by Carey Mulligan. Both stars act superbly throughout and there is no fault to be found in either. Their love story is touching and heartfelt but Lenny, as he's called by everyone, is bi-sexual. I'm not invested in all these sexual variations and obsessions that seem to grip so many people now in the arts so I found that a distraction from what I expected. I would have been more interested in his partnership with Stephen Sondheim and their collaboration on West Side Story. There is quite a lot of his creativity on screen and examples of classical music but I suspect these scenes do not mean much to the viewing public.
We have his early triumphs, Lenny's instant attraction to long haired young proteges of the male species, his ongoing love affair with his wife, his devotion to her as she becomes ill, his extravagant arm waving when he's conducting, his chain smoking.
But didn't he compose a little ditty most of us know as West Side Story?
Hardly a sign of it here other than a few bars I recognised from the Jets scene in that other movie in 1960 and this is the major flaw in Bradley's movie (He also directs). Surely he could have squeezed some copyright to give us a few bars of Tonight or Maria? And I didn't spot Sondheim anywhere. Very odd omissions for a bio on Lenny I thought.
An extra word for Carey Mulligan who moved me almost to tears here, she's so invested in the part. Beautifully played with all the nuance we've come to expect from this wonderful actress, how they didn't bestow her with an Oscar is beyond me. Bradley is good but maybe too much like an impersonation but still impressive. Loved the nose.
Godless (2017)
A flawed but hugely entertaining western series.
It takes a stretch of the imagination to believe that a town full of widows could defend itself against a ruthless gang of killers in the way that they do in Godless but I parked my disbelief because it's so entertaining.
200 of their menfolk have been killed in a mine disaster when it collapsed and so the women have to carry on best they can.
The gang leader, an outstanding Jeff Daniels (I've never said that before) recruits boys and trains them up to increase the size of his gang. One of the boys named Roy Goode (Jack O'Connell) develops into a loner anyway and being tough as hell and a fast gun to boot, decides he wants to be independent. He turns against the gang after a particularly nasty incident in a town named Creed where all of the inhabitants are slaughtered by the gang.
Roy Goode moves on and turns up at a ranch owned by Michelle Dockery, believe it or not, Lady Mary in Downton Abbey, and they hit it off and he agrees to stay awhile and break some wild horses for her. She has an elderly Indian woman and boy living with her too.
In the town, we get to know some of the women, notably Merritt Wever giving a strong performance and the few men left, who include the sheriff, Scoot McNairy and a sharp shooting kid, Thomas Brodie-Sangster. I liked all the actors straight off so I was in, and I completely disagree with some critics here about the ending which I thought was really spectacular, even if unrealistic somewhat. It sure beat Game Of Thrones for me. Beautiful scenery with sweeping panoramic shots and hints of The Searchers with it's through the door shots to the outside. You can just picture John Wayne standing there instead of Michelle.
A very satisfying 7 hours for me. I wouldn't mind a follow up but it's been 7 years now so I guess that's not to be.
Henry V (1989)
Splendidly accessible Shakespeare play.
Having just finished reading Henry V, I watched Kenneth Branagh's film version with some trepidation as Shakespeare can be so impenetrable on the screen. Quite the opposite here as Branagh directs and acts with a stirring interpretation that had me glued throughout.
Everything, the amazing cast, the atmosphere of 15th century England, the costumes, the choreography of Agincourt, the photography, all just stunning. It's sad that this outstanding, thrilling movie wasn't seen by more people at the time as I think it lost money, barely clearing it's budget.
Kenneth Branagh delivered a magnificent performance as the King and drew other stunning performances as director, from actors like Ian Holm, Paul Schofield, Derek Jacobi, Emma Thompson, Brian Blessed, Richard Briars, Judi Dench and Michael Williams. There's an impressive 14 year old Christian Bale added in to watch out for too.
A glorious adaption of a wordy play that cuts out the verbosity to a great extent and concentrates on the action. Shakespeare as it should be depicted on the big screen in my view and I loved it.
I saw Olivier's version years ago but didn't understand it back then so I decided to buy a recent copy of the complete works of the Bard's and try to just read through it in spite of the difficulties of the English language at that time but found that I could still get the gist of the stories by doing it that way. This enabled me to follow this magnificent film of Branagh's much more easily and was so rewarding.
Victoria the Great (1937)
A stirring celebration of Empire.
Not a film for Republicans, Victoria The Great, with a miscast Anna Neagle (far too attractive) and Anton Walbrook as Prince Albert, certainly bangs the gong for Britain's achievements in the nineteenth century.
Herbert Wilcox who was Anna's husband and directed all of her films, sends up the flags for Great Britain here, illustrating the long reign of the Queen, her early ascendancy to the throne at 18, her romance and love for Prince Albert, the tragedy of his passing and her subsequent stoicism coping with his death.
It shows how she had a stubborn streak early on and her no nonsense approach to most things. She was reluctant at first for Albert to help her in public duties but he is depicted here as becoming bored with sitting around doing nothing and she finally relents and lets him start to do things to help.
Acting is fine and in spite of being far too good looking to play the Queen, Anna Neagle holds her own and is really convincing to the end. Anton Wallbrook makes a fine Albert with many ageing character actors like H B Warner and Felix Aylmer playing leading politicians of the time. Really quite enjoyable and being dated it adds a sense of the period which is sometimes hard to achieve with more modern films. If you like films about the royal family and the old Empire, this may be for you.
Baby Reindeer (2024)
Over indulgence in minority issues.
Baby Reindeer starts promisingly enough with compelling performances by the two leads. Richard Gadd, who I thought had similar characteristics in his acting and presentation with the brilliant Mackenzie Crook of Detectorists fame, really holds the attention throughout. His own self identifying story about when he was stalked by a struck-off barister is quite harrowing. I can only sympathise with the unwanted attention from what is a clear nutter. The amazing performance from this actress is superb and frightening as she forces herself into his life with a forocious intensity.
The downer for me is when he gets involved with a transgender person. Not for me is this a subject that would ever appeal. He however falls for this person and they then become a target for the stalker too.
I suppose this subject matter depends on your taste in drama but I can only recommend the splendid acting of Gadd and his stalker.
Barnacle Bill (1957)
Only mildly amusing Ealing swansong.
Barnacle Bill is a shadow of former Ealing comedies I'm sad to say. Alec Guinness seemed to have lost his light touch that he had seven years previously in The Card, which I quote by comparison as I only watched that two weeks ago. Maybe it's because this final Ealing comedy was made after Sir Alec's mesmerising Oscar winner, The Bridge On The River Kwai, and I thought his performance as Bill had elements of his stern Kwai character. It could have done with his lighter touch when he was younger.
There are some funny moments, some of the best are the opening scenes of his ancestors which kick start the film. There's a good scene with a hard to recognise at first, Warren Mitchell as an escapologist on stage. Other good supports are Victor Madden, Percy Herbert, Sam Kydd and Donald Churchill, the actor/writer who gives a great turn as a rock and roll piano thumper. Jackie Collins can be seen as a sexy teenager in a rebellious teen gang.
There's Maurice Denham, Harry Locke, Alan Cuthbertson and various other fifties stalwarts for older viewers of British movies. All reliable faces, but I still felt this story creaked a bit. Maybe that's why It was the last of the Ealings.
Cyrano (2021)
Sad, enchanting musical with sumptuous sets.
Cyrano took me completely by surprise, I found it so enchanting and memorable. I only watched it to see Haley Bennett and Peter Dinklage as I've been a fan of both for some years, so I guess that was a good start. What I didn't know was that they could both sing, and they have pleasant sounding voices. What really makes a singer for me is the heart and soul they can impart when they interpret a song and they excel here. The songs are attractive and only having heard them once, I'll keep the recording to watch again.
Joe Wright directs with an eye that can create some scenes like a 18th century painting by a master. Sumptuous settings on a grand scale with stark battle scenes in contrast, this is is a feast for the eyes and to some extent, the ears if you like the songs, which I confess i do. Maybe not Les Miserable but still very acceptable.
Peter Dinklage spreads his range here, expanding on his Game Of Thrones wiley manipulator, to show us a softer side, full of romantic fervour and showing his caring side.
The story has been well told many times, of the unattractive scholar who lends his poetic skill to his love rival. Cyrano loves Roxanne but knows she would never be attracted to him but when he discovers she loves another, he's willing to write love letters on his behalf, which both shows his compassion for the lovers and at the same time allows him to express his love and get it out of his system.
I was quite moved by Cyrano but had watched it in two or three hits so I will watch it again in it's entirety and hopefully enjoy it more.
Monica Dolan, Glen Hansard, Ben Mendelsohn and Anjana Vason (so good in Wicked Little Letters) provide support.
Wicked Little Letters (2023)
Funny, sweary drama/comedy
Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) is a repressed spinster, living with her mum and dad (Timothy Spall and Gemma Jones) in a terraced house in Littlehampton. The time is 1920's Britain soon after the first world war. For working class people these are tough times and many are living hand to mouth like Edith's fiery Irish neighbour Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley).
Someone is sending appalling letters through the post to residents, filled with foul language that would make many at the time blush. Edith's father is convinced that Rose, next door, is the culprit and goes to the local police station to report her and she gets arrested, all based on the fact that she shouts and swears a lot and spends time in the pub. Rose lives with her little girl and boyfriend (Alisha Weir & Malachi Kirby) and going to jail for a length of time just brings more hardship on the family, which is hard enough already.
Unbeknown to Rose she has someone looking out for her in the shape of policewoman Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) who has grave doubts about Rose's guilt and sets out to prove her innocence, although her male superior rejects her attempts and puts her down because women are of lower rank at this time in the century.
Thea Sharrock the director has a real eye for making this hugely entertaining comedy/drama just zip along and rarely does it flag.
There is an initial mystery around who is sending the letters but this does become apparent eventually to the viewer.
80% of the language spoken in the film was culled from the actual letters in this real life crime mystery so be prepared for some ripe swear words spoken by the two stars, Colman and Buckley.
The acting is faultless and there is a splendid array of British character actors on hand to give support including Hugh Skinner as a local constable, Eileen Atkins, Joanna Scanlan, Lolly Adefope and Jason Watkins.
The real joy is watching Olivia Colman's facial expressions, her scenes with the great Timothy Spall, which are quite telling and her interactions with the electric performance of Jessie Buckley who I think really steals the acting honours here.
The Souvenir (2019)
Avoid and don't believe the critic reviews.
The Souvenir is a film akin to watching paint dry but that's almost an insult to paint. Director Joanna Hogg has no clue about trying to entertain her audience.
I have no wish to disparage the leading actress, Honor Swinton Byrne, but being Tilda Swinton's daughter is not a good enough reason to cast her as a leading lady in my humble estimation. I only watched this borefest because I knew Tom Burke from his excellent series Strike on TV but he just looks like he wonders why he agreed to be cast in this.
Basically, nothing happens. She's a film school student, not that we see any of her work, and he's a chain smoking drug addict. They all live in a middle upper class world of pretentiousness that revolves around things like her parents being so bored with life, they sit around the dinner table deciding what to do with their futures, like whether the mother for example, played by Tilda Swinton, should take up a new adult learning course and the father, to give up farming and take a course in history. Like we can all just do that or that we as the audience would care.
The camera barely moves at times and at one point an explosion occurs but all that happens is that our heroine glances out of her bedroom window. And that's it, no follow up.
Tedious in the extreme and the critic's reviews fooled me into watching. Beware as I was relieved when it ended.
The Cabinet of Caligari (1962)
Film noir curiosity with Glynis Johns
Black & white thriller with a nod to the Classic German Expressionist silent from the 1920's. Jane has a tyre blow out and walks to a very big mansion with electronic gates where she is let in by a mysterious bearded man who can only be described as creepy.
For me, Glynis Johns, who passed away in January 2024 at the age of 100, was one of the most appealing British actresses of the 20th century. With her ultra pretty face, slim figure and soft husky voice, she could charm the birds off the trees as I believe she did in Mary Poppins. Here, playing Jane, she is held captive by the mysterious Caligari played by Robinson Crusoe actor Dan O'Herlihy. Various other characters seem to be held under Caligari's control also and Jane has her time cut out trying to persuade them to help her escape from the mansion. I quickly worked out one of the twists revealed at the end but the big one completely eluded me until it almost ended. I try not to reveal spoilers so I'll leave any plot secrets alone. Filmed in black and white much in a film noir style, this is really worth seeing for the splendid performance by Glynis Johns.
A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
Another previously unseen title I was too young to see.
As I was only 10 when A Kiss Before Dying came out in 1956, it was really a pleasure to see it crop up on my TV last week. I imagine in England in 1956 it would almost certainly have been X rated so unavailable to me, but I remember the title vividly. I love catching up with these previously unseen gems.
Some reviews here seem to come from people who see it from a modern perspective, even calling it a B feature, which is incorrect. This would never have been shown as a supporting film in it's time, I feel sure of that.
Filmed in glorious colour and cinemascope, Robert Wagner, a sort of Leonardo De Caprio of the fifties, plays a psychopathic social climber, intent on seducing two sisters, in order to gain access to their father's mining empire. The first sister to fall under his spell is played by Joanne Woodward in a very early film role when she clearly still lacked the extraordinary talent that she would quickly develop soon after.
Virginia Leith plays the second sister who also falls but is finally persuaded that Wagner is evil when she is introduced to Jeffrey Hunter, who works out what Wagner has been up to. George McCready plays the girl's father and the owner of the business Wagner is after. Mary Astor is Wagner's mother.
I was hooked from the start, although filmed in bright colour and having a real fifties American college school feel to it, some of the music is really suspenseful and increases the tension which may have been lacking otherwise.
I was surprised by how effective Robert Wagner was in this role, where he actually out acts Joanne Woodward, no easy feat. I was also even shocked by a couple of brutal scenes, not common in fifties movies.
If you enjoy mid century American movies, this is as good as many, perhaps not up to Hitchcock standards but still a cracking 90 minutes of good drama.
Hondo (1953)
Spectacular Wayne western.
I've seen over 70 John Wayne movies since the 1950's and re-watched Hondo as I couldn't remember much about it. I was pleasantly surprised, maybe because I have a much larger screen now and I found the whole show to be on a much grander scale than I remembered.
Hondo Lane walks into Geraldine Page's frontier woman's life and her cabin, where she lives with her six year old boy Lee Aaker. She's married to a thug, Leo Gordon, who we don't see until a bit later and who eventually does meet up with Wayne to his disadvantage. This is Apache territory and run by Vittorio (Michael Pate) who takes a liking to the young boy and admires his courage when his band surround Page's cabin.
John Farrow directs although I understand John Ford stepped in to direct the later scenes of action, which i was unaware of until after I had watched it. I didn't find that intrusive unlike Glenn Ford's Cimmeron which started well with Anthony Mann directing but was ruined when he quit half way through.
Beautiful, rugged desert and mountain scenery throughout, this is a really spectacularly shot western with fine acting performances, supported by some of Wayne's best pals, Ward Bond, Paul Fix and James Arness. Recommended.
Jet Pilot (1957)
More of a rom/com than expected.
I have to say from the start that I still have a soft spot for Janet Leigh because, being introduced to movies as a small boy in the early 1950's with pictures like Houdini, The Black Shield Of Falworth, Safari and the like, Janet has stuck in my mind ever since as the glamorous, beautiful leading lady that she was. A fine actress, much better than most of her generation, she exuded warmth with a stunning face and figure only matched by actresses like Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner.
Here, Janet is co-starred with the mighty John Wayne and together they bounce of one another literally, in a fun, very silly story about a Russian jet pilot (Leigh) going off course and landing in the States, only to be interrogated by Wayne, an army general.
This picture was famously a Howard Hughes project that he continuously shelved, being shot in 1950 when Janet was 23 and Wayne 43, but not released until 1957. The jets, although very well photographed do look a little old, even to my untrained eye. These aerial scenes actually look pretty good and help boost my rating. It's the script though that is ropey. Janet is supposed to be a Russian but makes no attempt to disguise her natural American voice and Wayne just looks bemused throughout the entire film. They do have great chemistry though, which works so well here. At times I thought Wayne looked genuinely quite taken with his young co-star. My overall impression is that it's just a rom/com and full of fun so best leave it at that. Nicely entertaining.
Napoleon (2023)
Disappointing epic.
The battle scenes are the best thing about Ridley Scott's Napoleon. They are truncated though and suddenly cut back to domestic scenes when least expected. I really did not want to see two scenes of soft porn where he has his way with Josephine.
Joaquin Phoenix, doing his worst Marlon Brando, just didn't cut it for me as the great French emperor. Napoleon must have been a hugely charismatic personality to rally the support that he did after the French Revolution, a scene that starts this epic with the demise of Marie Antoinette on the guillotine. Rod Steiger was so much more convincing in Waterloo, the movie with Christopher Plummer as Wellington. Here Wellington is portrayed by the versatile Rupert Everett, which did rather surprise me as I didn't know he had it in him and he's actually quite good, better than Phoenix. I didn't know the actress playing Josephine but she's good too, although I couldn't see any chemistry with Napoleon.
There are some top notch supporting actors like Ben Miles, Ian McNeice and Julien Rhind-Tutt
but we blink abd they are gone, rather wasted.
I finished reading War and Peace by Tolstoy recently and it's impossible really to cover this story in two and a half hours in a film so it explains why it fails.
Miscasting of Phoenix as Napoleon is the main problem though. He doesn't have the voice or bearing of one so powerful. He just looks lost half the time, particularly in battle scenes as he looks like he'd be eaten alive in that crush of violent men, some no doubt much larger and stronger. He has one look throughout, and that's dour. Certainly not a man to inspire millions to war.
I liked the battle scenes, effective and bloody but too short for such a huge campaign. There is no timing sense to these huge battles which are rushed over like we are in a hurry to get to the bonking scenes, which seem gratuitous at best.
A wasted opportunity.