AN ACT OF MURDER (1948)
d: Michael Gordon
CAST: Fredric March; Florence Eldridge; Edmond O'Brien; Geraldine Brooks
> the title promises a crime thriller, but that's not what you get; this is an unexpected story of love being truly tested, with not one but two twists in the telling which you won't see coming (well...I didn't anyway); the wife of a long-serving judge is diagnosed with a terminal illness and he wrestles with both euthanasia and double suicide as an appropriate response; Fred gives a mighty performance as the cruelly-torn husband and is ably supported by all around him; this could have so easily deteriorated into soppy soap-opera but, apart from the unfortunate big moral speech at the end, successfully avoids it; genuinely moving
Award-Worthy Performance
Fredric March
ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS (1940)
d: John Cromwell
CAST: Raymond Massey; Ruth Gordon; Gene Lockhart
> I love American history: both the (often brutal) documentary examinations and the emotional mythologies like this movie; covers the same time-frame as 1939's Young Mr Lincoln by John Ford (one of my fave films of all time) but carries on right up to the election win; genuinely strong script supplies us with some excellent scenes and good one-liners (and occasional melodramatic touches) and these carry the film up; Raymond is fine (but not great...too vocally mannered at times) as Honest Abe; biggest weakness is the acting of the supporting cast, which ranges from merely adequate to downright dreadful; however, this remains an interesting bio of one of the world's truly great men
SNOWDEN (2016)
d: Oliver Stone
CAST: Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Shailene Woodley; Melissa Leo; Rhys Ifans; Tom Wilkinson
> very straightforward (read: non-hysterical / non-muck-raking / a little bland) run-through of the Edward Snowden affair which has only ever marginally interested me (what? you didn't already know that the U.S. spies on EVERYBODY...including itself??); I kept recalling last year's similarly-themed Eye in the Sky and this movie falls way short in comparison - no tension & no suspense, even when it wouldn't have been dramatic license to inject some (Ed must've been scared shitless but that doesn't really come across); still, it is informative, well-presented and competently performed by all; the story of a brave and principled nerd who now lives under Vladimir Putin's control...how can that be better?
LAXDALE HALL aka SCOTCH ON THE ROCKS (1953)
d: John Eldridge
CAST: A whole bunch of British actors with familiar faces & unfamiliar names
> for me, these 1950's British village comedies are akin to comfort food: don't do you much good, but they are warming and enjoyable; usual themes: common folk Vs bureaucrats & village = good, city = bad & progress is actually a step back & everyone needs to know and accept their position in the class structure; story is about Scottish highlanders who refuse to pay their taxes until London politicians fix one local road and one jetty; characters are either simple & cunning or pompous & redemption-bound; love the amateur production of Macbeth on the moors in the most driving of rain!; the makers of 1983's Local Hero and the producers of TV's Hamish Macbeth must have watched this movie many, many times
ADDRESS UNKNOWN (1944)
d: William Cameron Menzies
CAST: Paul Lukas; Peter van Eyck; Carl Esmond
> goodhearted German-American art dealer moves himself and his family back to pre-WWII Berlin...and is corrupted into becoming a good little Nazi; morality tale with a surprise sting at the end, engagingly told; Paul is effective as a weak, watery man who is seduced by the organised power of the National Socialist Party and turns into something wholly despicable; film looks great with shadows & criss-cross lines; a little hysterical and cartoonish in its depiction of the bad guys (they are, of course, very very bad), but its intended point is entertainingly-made; the inevitable comeuppance the pathetic bastard faces is both sad and more than a little icky; love the Picasso joke!
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC (2016)
d: Matt Ross
CAST: Viggo Mortensen; Frank Langella; George MacKay; Steve Zahn
> a refreshingly-different topic: survivalist / alternate lifestyle family (Dad & 6 kids) is determined to be apart from society but is forced by tragic circumstances to fit back in; confronting opening scene is as tough as it gets; avoids feelgood schmaltz and becomes more emotionally-affecting because of it; kids are great (they feel like siblings) and Viggo is terrific as a father who simply wants to bring up smarter, stronger kids; some draggy spots once they leave their wilderness home; a couple of ethical issues emerge (teaching kids how to steal?? & little kids with really big knives??); flirts with being thought-provoking; dumb title
Award-Worthy Performance
Viggo Mostensen
MANPOWER (1941)
d: Raoul Walsh
CAST: George Raft; Marlene Dietrich; Edward G. Robinson; Alan Hale; Frank McHugh
> pretty standard Warner Bros action movie of the era...which still means it's wonderful in parts; this time the two male protagonists are power company linesmen (rather than truckies / fishermen / pilots etc); the blend isn't as homogenised as usual: the blokey "laughing-in-the-face-of-death" is overdone and the humour is too slapstick too often; the charismatic performances of Eddie G and Marlene really show up George's wooden style; strong supporting cast includes Ward Bond and Eve Arden (yay!); amusing scene in a diner is unfortunately cut short by yet another tedious punch-up; truly exciting climax on top of a pylon during a downpour; doncha love how, when it rains in these old movies, it really RAINS!
SUNSET SONG (2015)
d: Terence Davies
CAST: Agyness Deyn; Peter Mullan; Kevin Guthrie
> a British pastoral movie set in Scotland (y'know...green rolling hills & horse 'n' carts & bagpipes a'pipin' & wee stone cottages etc); I was worried it was going to go the Thomas Hardy route and make us care about people who are destined to meet with some cosmic tragedy...but it was only ol' WWI making a surprise intrusion (and I say surprise because I thought the film was set earlier than that); usual period-theme of the brutality of men vs the strength of women; gorgeous to look at which is a given in these kind of movies; bit draggy in spots and some of the dialogue is difficult to comprehend (accent / vocabulary); the recruited husband returns home an angry, vicious bastard...and he's only been to training!!
SLEEP, MY LOVE (1948)
d: Douglas Sirk
CAST: Claudette Colbert; Robert Cummings; Don Ameche
> it's that old husband-tries-to-drive-his-wife-insane plotline again; good beginning (wife wakes up on train with a gun in her bag and doesn't know how she got there) & good ending (shoot-out, of course, with deaths, of course); shame about the stuff in between though; Claudette was always ordinary in heavy dramas like this (her metier was light comedy); biggest flaw is the dual casting of Robert (good guy) and Don (bad guy), neither of whom could ever inject much excitement or passion or interest in anything they did: they're a double dud which sinks the film's obvious suspense-potential; character performances which flit around in the background are a compensation
THE COMPANY OF WOLVES (1984)
d: Neil Jordan
CAST: Sarah Patterson; Angela Lansbury; David Warner; Stephen Rea
> really just three episodes of Faerie Tale Theatre, with no humour but a lot more sex and violence; the film wants to have an elseworld feel about it, but comes across as set-bound & faked-up, which is not at all the same thing; the werewolf transformations are usually the highlight of these kind of movies, but these are more like extreme costume changes (the wolf is under the skin, you see); most horrifying moment is when Angela Lansbury actually says "piss in a pot"; and she overdoes the crotchetty old granny routine; Sarah has an ethereal quality which is perfect for her Red Riding Hood / Snow White role; some of it is more imagery (it's all a teenage girl's dream, you see) than narrative sense
STAY TUNED (1992)
d: Peter Hyams
CAST: John Ritter; Pam Dawber; Jeffrey Jones; Eugene Levy
> a pretty stupid movie which wants to be a satire about American TV culture (therefore, the English-speaking world's) but its clunky style lacks wit; middle-class couple literally get sucked into TV programs by the Devil and they have 24 hours to survive and be redeemed; Tim Burton was the original choice of director and would've had a greater chance of making it work (a Beetlejuice feel maybe); the Joe Dante segment in 1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie covers similar ground and is vastly superior; the humour is based solely on the evil re-versioning of well-known TV shows and movies (My Three Sons = My Three Sons of Bitches & Driving Miss Daisy = Driving Over Miss Daisy...like that...); if that lights your wick...
BEYOND THE FOREST (1949)
d: King Vidor
CAST: Bette Davis; Joseph Cotten; David Brian; Ruth Roman
> without a doubt, the absolute worst Bette performance because it dumps on what came before ("nobody's as good as Bette when she's bad!" the poster-promo says); but you can't lay this abomination only at her feet...ahem..."This is the story of evil. Evil is headstrong - is puffed up. For our soul's sake, it is salutary for us to view it in all its naked ugliness once in a while. Thus may we know how those who deliver themselves over to it, end up like the Scorpion, in a mad fury stinging themselves to eternal death."; it is so awful that nerds have tried to make it one of those stupid "so bad it's good" movies; hey...crap is crap
P.S. Chicago, Chicago, that toddlin' town...what the hell is "toddlin"?
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