CRY OF THE CITY (1948)
d: Robert Siodmak
CAST: Victor Mature; Richard Conte
> hard-nosed, hard-hitting, hard-boiled, and hardly original, but the recipe still cooks; Siodmak is showing off here, turning lead into gold: the guy was a brilliant film-maker; the undisputed master of noir, lifting 'B' grade into 'A'; Victor Mature is all thick-lipped and heavy-lidded, a good-hearted gecko with a big nose (reminds me of Kerry Packer); strong supporting turns from Fred Clark, Shelley Winters and formidable Hope Emerson; Richard Conte is the usual no-good guy with a wonderful mother; some shots are sheer visual poetry; Movie Jukebox bound
LORENZO'S OIL (1992)
d: George Miller
CAST: Susan Sarandon; Nick Nolte; Peter Ustinov
> it's for films like this that terms such as "uplifting" and "life-affirming" should be reserved; first time I saw this (20+ years ago), I thought it was just harrowing - it is, of course, but also so much more; told in a series of chronological slices, the story ropes you in with its bouts of frustration and strength; Susan is stunning as Mum, and while Nick has attacks of the OTT's (too Giuseppe; too method), it's not injurious; cry, cry, cry and feel okay about it, because it's a true story; P.S. George Miller: you're getting on, mate - enough with the Mad Max stuff
Award-Worthy Performance
Susan Sarandon
TOPAZE (1933)
d: Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast
CAST: John Barrymore; Myrna Loy
> utterly charming and quaint little movie about an honest schoolteacher who goes out into the world and discovers that ethics are overrated; once you get accustomed to its meandering old-time pace, it is a wryly amusing entertainment; Barrymore has restrained his tendency to ham it up (he was usually better onscreen in comedic roles) and its final "the moral of this story is" is nicely done
Award-Worthy Performance
John Barrymore
CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED (1964)
d: Anton M. Leader
CAST: Ian Hendry; Alan Badel; Patrick Wymark
> not Village of the Damned II; another film based on the same idea; the weird kids have gone multicultural; builds on the Sixties paranoia about the end of the world as they knew it; very effective little thriller which is done extremely well on what was obviously a tight British budget; interestingly, these kids are more like real children which, when the punchline is revealed, makes sense; exciting, thematically apt ending
HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948)
d: Alfred Werker; Anthony Mann
CAST: Richard Basehart and some other guys
> starts off like an episode of Dragnet; have there ever been so many emotionless cops in one movie?; taut crime thriller which operates like a Crime & Investigation Channel documentary; the cinematography is all chequerboard contrasts / slats of light / splotches of dark / sharp geometric shapes; exciting finale in the stormwater drains; shame that characterization was deemed to be of secondary importance to visual style; who the hell was Alfred Werker?
THE STREET WITH NO NAME (1948)
d: William Keighley
CAST: Richard Widmark; Mark Stevens; Lloyd Nolan
> police-procedural / docu-drama that sprints along through the grit; virtually no characterization (apart from baddie Richard Widmark - love the hypochondria and the nasal spray) and it's not missed; while there's an acknowledgement of police corruption, I could've done without the FBI-are-all-nice-guys propaganda; still, a well-told crime tale with a couple of sudden displays of brutality which jump out at you (as they should)
SLAP SHOT (1977)
d: George Roy Hill
CAST: Paul Newman; Strother Martin; Michael Ontkean
> makes the same point as Rollerball, but with a sense of humour, in a Three Stooges meet Randy Newman kinda way; Paul Newman plays a meathead to perfection in his best comedic role (the actor seldom found all-out comedy to be his thing); anything which pokes fun at blokey blokes and violence in sport immediately has my respect; actually laughed out loud a couple of times; after a while the relentless bloodletting becomes a little repetitious - the point gets made...and made...and made...
Award-Worthy Performance
Paul Newman
PITFALL (1948)
d: Andre De Toth
CAST: Dick Powell; Lizabeth Scott; Jane Wyatt; Raymond Burr
> how did Hollywood keep churning out these good little potboilers and when exactly did they forget how to?; Powell is in serious Dick mode as bored hubbie who has a fling with Lizabeth; Raymond is all beefy menace; the whole thing burbles along with guns playing their usual role; the sanctity of the WASP family is preserved, but just barely; love the blunt telling-off at the end by the investigating cop; Lizabeth Scott was an interesting actress who deserved better than what she got from producers, directors, other actors, critics, reporters, fans, homophobes
THE LOOKOUT (2007)
d: Scott Frank
CAST: Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Jeff Daniels; Matthew Goode
> yet another US film where guns cause the problem and guns fix the problem; putting that aside, Joseph does a great job playing a young guy with brain damage caused by a car accident (he was driving & friends died); the outcome and its location is inevitable but still nicely done; opening scene is unfortunately the most striking in the whole film and does linger, reducing what comes after
Award-Worthy Performance
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
FORT APACHE (1948)
d: John Ford
CAST: John Wayne; Henry Fonda; Shirley Temple; John Agar
> never been overly taken with Ford's post-WWII Westerns (much prefer '39 & '40 non-Westerns Young Mr Lincoln, The Long Voyage Home, The Grapes of Wrath); usually found the sentimental inserts, the anthemic soundtrack and the broad fight 'n' drink humour to be turn-offs - and these are my criticisms of Fort Apache; still, the film has virtues: gorgeous Ansel Adams style landscapes & Henry Fonda's foolish-but-noble Colonel & the positive depiction of the native Americans; Victor McLaglen's Irish impersonation has always given me a pain, but at least this time round he gets to call Ward Bond "darling"
Award-Worthy Performance
Henry Fonda
BERLIN EXPRESS (1948)
d: Jacques Tourneur
CAST: Robert Ryan; Paul Lukas; Merle Oberon
> good little actioner; part spy thriller, part post-war Germany travelogue (with annoying but necessary voiceover), part Cold-War-to-come history lesson; the male cast members are effective, but Merle draws her usual blank; action sequences are well-directed and the tours through the ruins of Berlin and Frankfurt are fascinating; scenes aboard the train (constant movement; confined spaces) zip things along as usual
Worst Movie-Viewing Experiences 30/08/15 - 13/09/15
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (1966)
d: Richard Lester
CAST: Zero Mostel; Phil Silvers; Buster Keaton; Michael Crawford
> I kept waiting for the funny thing to happen and it finally did after about 80 minutes: Buster Keaton walked into a tree; to be fair, the chariots-chase was also pretty amusing; frantic & manic style is Goon Show + Carry On and soon becomes a major irritation; I've never been much of a musical-theatre guy, although some of the wordplay in these tuneless songs is admirably clever; how did Michael Crawford ever become a star?
THE KNACK...AND HOW TO GET IT (1965)
d: Richard Lester
CAST: Rita Tushingham; Michael Crawford
> how Sixties can you get?; it was only the previous year that Lester made A Hard Day's Night and somehow he thought that the occasional surreal / far-out stuff the Beatles did in that could be stretched out and called a style; the story of this ends up being the least important part of the film - gags, gags, gags of all types (slapstick, visual, social satire, sex of course) are the thing; a couple are funny, a number are offensive (rape jokes, anyone?) and many fall flat because the Sixties are very over; how did Michael Crawford ever become a star?
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