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Top 25 English Language Films
(In order as of September 2007)
1. The 3rd Man (49)
2. Chinatown (74)
3. On the Waterfront (54)
4. Lawrence of Arabia (62)
5. Dr. Strangelove (63)
6. Rear Window (54)
7. Tabu (31)
8. Out of the Past (47)
9. Gunga Din (39)
10. My Darling Clementine (47)
11. King Kong (31)
12. Paths of Glory (57)
13. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (71)
14. Ace in the Hole (50)
15. Brief Encounter (45)
16. Treasure of the Sierra Madre (49)
17. The Maltese Falcon (39)
18. Midnight Cowboy (69)
19. Black Narcissus (49)
20. Double Indemnity (46)
21. Viva Zapata (52)
22. The Long Goodbye (73)
23. Shadow of a Doubt (43)
24. Fargo (96)
25. Sunset Boulevard (50)
Top 25 Foreign Language Films
(In Order)
1. The Conformist (70)
2. Rules of the Game (37)
3. The Bicycle Thief (49)
4. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (72)
5. Children of Paradise (45)
6. L'Atalante (31)
7. 8 1/2 (63)
8. Boudu Saved From Drowning (31)
9. M (31)
10. Nazarin (59)
11. Closely Watched Trains (67)
12. Viridiana (61)
13. Divorce Italian Style(61)
14. The Tin Drum (79)
15. Miracle in Milan (50)
16. The Sound of Trumpets (61)
17. La Dolce Vita (60)
18. Wings of Desire (87)
19. Au hasard Balthazar (67)
20. The Battle of Algiers (67)
21. I Am Cuba (64)
22. Stroszek (77)
23. Belle de Jour (67)
24. Umberto D(55)
25. La Chienne (31)
Top 10 Silent
(In Order)
1. City Lights (31)
2. Faust (26)
3. Sunrise (27
4. Broken Blossoms (19)
5. The Navigator (24)
6. The General (27)
7. Modern Times (35)
8. Metropolis (28)
9. The Man with a Movie Camera (29)
10. Nosferatu (22)
Top 25 Directors
(In Order)
1. Jean Renoir
2. Luis Bunuel
3. Federico Fellini
4. FW Murnau
5. David Lean
6. Vittorio DeSica
7. Charlie Chaplin
8. Stanley Kubrick
9. Billy Wilder
10. Werner Herzog
11. Alfred Hitchcock
12. Orson Welles
13. Preston Sturges
14. Marcel Carne
15. Elia Kazan
16. Robert Altman
17. Buster Keaton
18. Francois Truffaut
19. Ken Russell
20. Roman Polanski
21. Woody Allen
22. Martin Scorcese
23. John Ford
24. Fritz Lang
25. Joel Coen
Actors (in order)
1. Marlon Brando
2. James Mason
3. Marcello Mastroianni
4. Ronald Colman
5. James Cagney
6. Michel Simon
7. Peter O'Toole
8. Humprey Bogart
9. Charles Laughton
10. Burt Lancaster
Actresses (in order)*
1. Barbara Stanwyck
2. Maggie Smith
3. Bette Davis
4. Isabel Huppert
5. Glenda Jackson
6. Julie Christie
7. Wendy Hiller
8. Agnes Moorehead
9. Rosalind Russell
10. Ellen Burstyn
* This ain't no beauty contest which explains the abscence of Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner.
Silent Actors (in order)
1. Charlie Chaplin
2. Buster Keaton
3. Lillian Gish
4. Lon Chaney
5. Douglas Fairbanks
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Lists
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IMDb Poll ( non-sanctioned) From Sirens to Matriarchs : The long distance career run and rank of pre-code actresses.
Reason for arriving at these five choices.
Garbo and Shearer were as big but ended their careers before WW ll ended. Loy had a long career but not that much above the title. Colbert moved away from film to television and back to the theatre in the early 50s leaving these grande dames as the last one's standing.
Given the power of the studios and the attitude towards women in their times we shall never see the likes of these legendary actresses who had a much harder road to travel but ultimately did it their way.
Ranked in order as voted on by board members.
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Reviews
Bruce Springsteen's Letter to You (2020)
Return to Sender
Bruce Springsteen's long running working class hero cosplay takes a break from the stage to work on some new music in this documentary featuring his multi decade band E Street. A morose journey with some driving tunes it allows Bruce to go on and on about his blue collar struggle writing tunes and performing that made him the Elvis of his day before 25. Throughout it all he has maintained a day laborer persona both on and off stage that belies his multi-millionaire existence in favor of a hardscrabble struggling factory worker with a battered pick-up worried about keeping his job at the factory. In reality he hob nobs with royalty and presidents and these days seems tone deaf to the worries of the characters he's been playing most of his career on and off stage.
As a doc itself on a rock band it is dull with Springsteen in complete control and E Street adding little to the mix, wife Patty looking like she might go Yoko to liven things up for a second with nothing coming of it. Unlike other rock docs, however, it lacks the mercurial (Hendrix, Moon, Richard) figure with Bruce's pose for this show bathed in blue reflection and lensed in dark shadow to emphasize the depth of his passionate pronouncements in subdued tone. Not too bathetic.
Springsteen has earned his right to be called the greatest rocker of his generation, but this lifelong pose truly reaffirms the adage, "just shut up and sing."
Mikey and Nicky (1976)
Fine performances in fine mess.
This literal dark night of the soul story makes for a long one in Mikey and Nicky, a grating drama that fails to accelerate over the course of its exhausting running time.
A paranoid (or is he?) Nicky (John Cassavetes) reaches out to his lifetime friend, Mikey (Peter Falk), in desperate need of help. Nicky is certain he's crossed a mob figure and is a marked man. Mikey who he has had differences in the past comes to his aid and they spend the night in greasy spoons, graveyards and public transit rehashing ad nauseum. Meanwhile a frustrated hit man (Ned Beatty) slowly pursues.
Mikey and Nicky is a disheveled mess from the outset in spite of an excellent performance from Falk and a good one from Cassavetes who wears thin with his self pitying desperation in moments. Erratically directed by Elaine May she seems to adopt the Cassavetes improvisational style and allow the boys to improvise creating one overlong, choppy scene after the next.
No surprise May did not direct for another decade in which she would eclipse this haphazard mess with the execrable Ishtar. Needless to say with that kind of resume, she would never direct again after it.
Working Girls (1931)
Working Girls doesn't
The hayseed sisters Thorpe, June (Judy Wood) and Mae (Doroty Hall) blow into the big city with hopes and aspirations for a decent paying job and perhaps, future husband. Staying at a boarding house for women the girls find employment (during the Depression) at lightning speed along with some intense male interest from Buddy Rogers, Paul Lukas and Stu Erwin.
Directed by Hollywood's only female director at the time, Dorothy Arzner, Working Girls is a light comedy chick flick that offers moderate return. The leading ladies simply lack the comedy chops and sass in which the contemporary comedy team Zazu Pitts and Thelma Todd would shine. There's plenty of sapphic inference while the male lovers border on heels and lechers, Arzner and scriptwriter Zoe Atkins keep matters light and comic but not interesting enough to hold one's attention for long. Working Girls deserves a pink slip.
Bad Timing (1980)
Bad Timing is all poor timing.
Art Garfunkel's leading man career comes to a crashing halt in Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession. The once promising singer turned actor of Catch 22 and Carnal Knowledge simply is given too much to do in Bad Timing, with his, painfully off.
Shrink Alex Linden meets Milena Flaherty (Theresa Russell) in Vienna where they commence a torrid affair with plenty of highs and lows. He's mainly composed and aloof while she is operatic and suicidal. After another attempt she's rushed in a coma to a hospital where she fights for her life. A naturally inquisitive investigator (Harvey Keitel) then attempts to piece together what may be more than a suicide attempt. As she fights for her life, the detective lays the third degree on Linden.
Russell's ranting is abrasive and annoying and Keitel is dreadfully miscast but it is Garfunkel's semi-comatose, condescending fatigued performance of Linden that spells lights out for the film. Director Nicholas Roeg attempts to give the pic energy and life through slashing cross cutting as he did so well in Don't Look Now, but it's more razzle dazzle than informing and it confuses rather than infuse or rescue Art from his artless, torpid performance.
Wolfs (2024)
Someone alert Madame Tussaud
Two (Brad Pitt, George Clooney) under the radar fixers, who like to work alone, end up getting the same assignment to carry out. It naturally chafes between the two and the story becomes one about two grumpy old men trying to be slicker than the other at their advanced age.
Hollywood contempt for its audience comes in many forms with its ivory tower pronouncements from cardboard characters in films that have no basis in reality. The belief in the public's gullibility often does work out in their favor but in Wolfs we have two elderly 60 plus waxworks "hunks" from the 90s once again gracing the screen like it was...well, the 90s all over again. It's a sorry state we are in these days watching these retirement age hipsters regurgitate stale cool long since converted to hot air as it blows throughout the film.
Clooney and Pitt do excellent imitations of themselves as 40 year olds but much of that can be applied to plastic surgery and that neither actor ever really stretched beyond handsome and dull.
A meretricious cash grab featuring burned out megastars providing a flicker of hope "we can go home again" like our ageless heroes.
Sadie McKee (1934)
Crawford in her prime.
This Joan Crawford tearjerker shows her at her peak at MGM and she displays why as she takes on more than one challenge dealing with difficult men in this tastefully directed work by Clarence Brown.
Cook's daughter, Sadie McKee (Crawford) on impulse runs off to the big city with her boyfriend, Ray (Gene Raymond) who desserts her for a singer (Esther Ralston). A cynical Sadie then hooks up with a millionaire alcoholic (Edward Arnold) and marries him. The ex remains in the background though while child hood friend played by Franchot Tone shows interest.
Crawford has her hands full with a variety of men from the outset and she juggles them with aplomb like only a major star of Crawford's status could. Flatteringly lensed by Oliver Marsh capturing both her beauty and tears as she opens the floodgates more than once. The supporting cast is excellent with Arnold turning in one of his best performances over a lengthy career.
But make no doubt about it, this is a Joan Crawford vehicle with her at the wheel from start to finish.
What Price Hollywood? (1932)
Star is Born prototype, unsurpassed in many ways.
"What Price Hollywood" is a pre-code work that launched a quartet of A Star is Born remakes. Along with being the archetype, it features a superb plunge into self-destruction performance from actor/director Lowell Sherman in this dark look at the "Dream Factory."
Max Carey (Sherman) is a distinguished director with a drinking problem that is wearing thin on his producer (Gregory Ratoff). Waitress, Mary Evans (Constance Bennet) manages to get a walk on part in his latest pic and fails. Determined to get another shot, she does and "a star is born." Casey on the other hand spirals downward while Evans doing her best to help remains loyal.
Biting the hand that feeds him, this early George Cukor takes a dark look at the film business and the false promise of it and those wanting in, right down to the flower seller claiming she could be the next Marie Dressler. Constance Bennett is uneven in the lead while Ratoff as a producer plays a valuable role of bringing energy to scenes as an excitable producer, but it remains Sherman's film.
Cukor's pacing is excellent as the film moves along at a steady pace that reaches its climax in a powerfully shot and edited tragic moment. And while Bennett's mercurial rise may be far fetched, Sherman's descent remains brutally honest. As good as any of the "Stars" and demanding less of our time.
Don't Look Now (1973)
Masterfully done horror.
Distinguished cinematographer Nicholas Roeg directs a precise and tasteful work of horror in Don't Look Now. Ideally set in Venice, Roeg does a superb job of exploiting he cities unique nuances that he uses to maximum effect.
In an horrific opening scene John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura (Julie Christie) Baxter's daughter loses her life brutally. Haunted by the loss John takes work in Venice to restore a church in disrepair. The couple encounter sisters, one, blind and psychic who claims their daughter is fine in another world. Laura is thrilled, John skeptical, that they may be con artists. Meanwhile a serial killer runs loose among the canals.
This brilliantly photographed and edited suspense thriller is filled with surprises and purposely distracting incidentals with nearly all characters circumspect through glance alone. Left vulnerable by the opening jolt of the first scene the viewer remains uneasy throughout and Roeg reinforces the uneasiness that grips us as we weave through the silent city with John.
Both Sutherland and Christie are excellent as they contend with their grief attempting to move forward as a couple while surrounded by mystery and a bevy of nebulous characters.
One well crafted horror that works on all levels.
Blood and Wine (1996)
Brood and Whine
Alex Gates (Jack Nicholson) is a wine dealer under the gun. The business is going belly-up, his marriage is a mess and he's having an affair with an employee (Jennifer Lopez) in a mansion he along with an unctuous Michael Caine want to steal a million dollar necklace from.
Director Bob Raphaelson and Nicholson are a long way both in time and touch from Five Easy Pieces, they're outstanding 1969 collaboration of family discord. Dealing with more difficult homelife here with higher stakes, Raphaelson's direction is sluggish, Jack looking simply exhausted. The rest of the cast follows suit with a shrill Judy Davis, Stephen Dorff as a sullen poser and a moody Jennifer Lopez incapable of stretching. Michael Caine's out of type safecracker is an abomination as he abandons his well honed skills to play it as a snarling out of control loose cannon.
Raphaelson pads his film with a few violent encounters while an obnoxious music score doing its level best to try and pump suspense and threat into the story wastes its time in this sloppy heist, warped family hybrid.
Christmas in July (1940)
Few presents to be found in "Christmas."
Jimmy McDonald (Dick Powell) is a work a day office employee with big dreams as he pins his hopes on a slogan contest for Maxford Coffee. Co-workers get wind of it and plot a prank to get him to believe he's the winner. He then immediately begins to blow the winnings on extravagances from girlfriend (Ellen Drew) to neighbors before things begin to uncoil.
This was writer director Preston Sturgis's second effort after the surprising success of The Great McGinty and perhaps the drabbest of the fine romantic screwball comedies that Sturgis dominated Hollywood with in the first half of the 1940s. Powell comes across as an overoptimistic buffoon, still in his lightweight Depression musical period while Drew fails to register at all, overwhelmed in moments by a fur coat (worn in July?) and lack of range.
Sturgis gets some comic digs in about modern society, especially in a scene where they purchase a divan while his stock characters (Pangborn, Demarest and special mention to Raymond Walburn as a befuddled executive) deliver but the story overall lacks legs to maintain the ruse relying too much on righteous indignation to carry this wild pitch screwball.
And Then There Were None (1945)
"None" is fun.
Agatha Christie's oft filmed mystery novel (around a dozen) is perhaps its best and most popular rendition in this 1945 version directed by Rene Clair. A more fun whodunnit than serious it moves along at a garrulous pace as the bodies pile up and the suspects list narrows.
A group of strangers among each other respond by various persuasion to an invite to come to an island mansion. The host is unseen but a recording he leaves to play reveals all of the guests to have dark pasts which they have escaped and he means to rectify. One by one they begin to expire.
Clair assembles a heavy hitting supporting cast led by Walter Huston and Barry Fitzgerald, all on point like the game of Clue suspects, defined perfectly by C. Aubrey Smith, born to play Col. Mustard. A homicidally enjoyable parlor game of a film.
Theodora Goes Wild (1936)
Dunne delivers in solid screwball.
Irene Dunne shines in this benign screwball taking pot shots at small town hypocrisy in Theodora goes Wild. Directed by Richard Boselawski and smoothly photographed by Joseph Walker it holds its own with the work of Preston Sturgis.
The morally upright town of Lynnfield, CT. Is up in arms over the serialization of a scandalous novel in the local newspaper. What the town does not know is that one of its own, Theodora Lynn (Irene Dunne) is the author in desperate need of remaining anonymous. When an irresponsible illustrator and suitor (Melvyn Douglas) threatens to out her, chaos ensues in Lynnfield.
Dunne handles her role with aplomb, first as victim then as victimizer putting the annoying Douglas in his place. A supporting cast featuring Thomas Mitchell as a harried newspaper editor, Thurston Hall, Spring Byington, Margaret McQuade and especially Elisabeth Risdon as a stoic aunt all contribute in this solid lighthearted comedy with bite.
Born to Win (1971)
A Czech in New York
After directing one of the finer works of the Czech New Wave, Intimate Lighting, Ivan Passer bolted from the Soviet Bloc and headed to the states where 6 years later he directed his first film since Intimate, Born to Win. A hackneyed mess it is everything the former was not.
Jay (George Segal) and Billy Dynamite (Jay Fletcher) are a couple of bungling Times Square junky con artists always chasing a fix. They resort ineptly to crime to feed their habit while some dirty cops hassle them. They further complicate matters and seal their fate by burning a pimp with power (Hector Elizondo). Jay wants to bust out of the town and begin anew but cornered by both cops and criminals and dependence he's in deep denial.
Passer's direction is pure tourist with stereotypical characterizations and banal dialogue that looks improvised in moments. Segal's smug and whiny Jay is completely unsympathetic , unconvincing and uneven from the outset. Paula Prentiss and Karen Black as previous and present Jay love interests stumble through their roles while co junkie played by Jay Fletcher seems left to wing it on his own. One of the sloppier NYC cops and criminal films, trendy (The French Connection, Serpico, etc. ) during the early 70s.
Notorious (1946)
Dream Factory Limousine
Featuring mega movie stars (Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman) in their prime being directed by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock Notorious is Hollywood film making clicking on all cylinders. Made a year after the war ended it is a timely work of suspense and intrigue with Grant and Bergman in a lot of passionate clinching while trying to uncover a plot involving uranium against some neo Nazis who have yet to concede.
Hitchcock's direction is flawless, his camerawork ( DP Ted Tetzlaf) a graceful tableaux of clue revealing and tension building within lush sets. Stylish throughout in design and fashion, back projection fails to live up to the quality of the rest of the film.
Grant and Bergman display movie star chemistry at its best between each other; two titans in close-up, easy on the eyes whether arguing or passionately embracing. It is high wattage movie star power displayed at its most graceful.
Claude Rains is outstanding as the nemisis, garnering both disdain and pity regarding his treatment and feeling towards Bergman. His mother played by Madame Konstantin is also coldy impressive, the scene between her and her son realizing he's been betrayed equal to any in the film.
Arguably Hitchcock's most flawless work and as fine an example of Hollywood studio film making at its apogee in the 40s.
The Awful Truth (1937)
Major stars, minor screwball.
Irene Dunne and Cary Grant team up in this 30s screwball about a less than honest couple headed for divorce. Well paced out of the box it eventually loses steam and slows to a crawl as it wanders towards the finish.
Lucy and Jerry Warriner are a high profile couple who give each other a lot of space. Both take advantage of it but missteps soon have them heading for divorce court. They soon find new partners but cross paths over visitation rights regarding Mr Smith, (Asta) a dog. Much as they would like to move on they cannot quit each other.
Dunne and Grant make for wonderful chemistry with each other whether bickering or making up but Leo McCarey's direction is lethargic, supporting players too rote with exception of Ralph Bellamy's hayseed suitor to Dunne as a bewildered lug. It slows down in the second half and never recovers, even though the charm of Grant and Dunne never flickers.
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
Bad Hair Day
In 1949, Santa Rosa, barber Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) leads a drab existence with a wife (Francis McDormand) who is sleeping with her boss (James Gandolfini). He feels trapped and yearns for a chance to break free when a con man customer (Jon Polito) claims that the wave of the future is "dry cleaning." In order to secure the cash for the start-up he plans to blackmail his wife's boss and paramour. In no time matters go off the rail.
As central character and narrator Thornton is all monotone and stare. Listening to his dense summation between long blank gazing and banal small talk, his character is more annoying than interesting, his dimwitted take on matters.
The Brothers Coen as usual load their story up with quirky sober and offbeat characters with touches of comic irony but the script tends to grasp at times with the auteurs heavily invested having Roger Deakins exquisite B&W make up for Thornton's chain smoking, wet blanket performance with some stellar compositions in this ultimately lifeless paen to noir; dressed to the nines but with nowhere to go.
Bulldog Drummond (1929)
Bulldog's bite, slight.
At the Senior Conservative Club, Captain Drummond (Ronald Colman) finds himself overwhelmed with boredom. "Too rich to work, to smart to play...too much;" on a lark places a classified seeking adventure and in returns receives a bale of requests. He chooses one of a desperate woman ( Joan Bennett) attempting to get a wealthy, aging relative out of the clutches of a gang running a nursing home ruse to attain his fortune.
Sound film was still in its infancy with the making of Drummond and it is clumsily recorded here, though it does not interfere with the mellifluous voice of Colman. But along with the rest of the cast the dialogue and performances are stilted and either over the top (Claude Allister) or heavy handed (Lilyan Tashman, Montagu Love).
Drably directed by short director, F. Richard Jones, he does have two top DPs (George Barnes, Greg Toland) to lens matters and they supply some fine night shots and occasional striking compositions but not enough to save this early talkie's growing pains.
Summer of Sam (1999)
Of Bow Wow and Bowery Boys
In 1977 the Bronx was burning. Heat wave, power outages, rioting, looting, kind of like today but without the morally hypocritical veneer. The Bronx Bombers, New York Yankees were in the midst of winning their first world series in decades but there was also "killer on the road," David Berkowitz aka "the Son of Sam" terrorizing the city shooting New Yorkers. A city on edge, paranoia and fear gripped communities and turned neighbors into enemies.
Directed by Spike Lee, "Summer of Sam is a disheveled mess from the get go as he spends little time on the homicidal maniac in his dumpy apartment having fits over a snarling mutt demanding he whack folks. Instead we are given a neighborhood of Bowery Boy Leo Gorceys making smart talk and accusations. Convoluted and overlong with stereotypical characterizations, Lee offers some decent set pieces but with little to do with the advancing of the story with John Leguizamo, Adrian Brody and Mira Sorvino looking clueless and lost most of the film, spelled occasionally by Sam in his hovel acting out. Summer of Sam is a real dog.
Charlie Chan in Paris (1935)
Bland Chan
Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) makes his way to Paris not as a tourist but on a case regarding bank fraud in the City of Lights. Featuring number one son Keye Luke for the first time, it is a lesser effort than other Oland Chan's with few surprises and a meandering pace.
Charlie is beckoned to Paris to look into some bank fraud regarding bonds. It turns into a double murder mystery when the informer and then another suspect are offed. With No. 1 son in tow, he sets about unraveling the case around the bonds and the murders.
While rife with unctuous suspects "Paris" plods most of the way, especially in the suspenseful climactic moments. There's an impressive Apache dance key scene moment but the film fails to utilize the city itself further distancing its charm with abrasive Minor Watson as a French detective. A less than average Chan.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Card Game
Korea 1952. An American patrol is captured and brainwashed by Russian and Chinese communists in an elaborate and convoluted attempt to install a commie puppet in the White House. Returning home as heroes, one (Laurence Harvey) is awarded the Medal of Honor. Conveniently he happens to be the son of a conniving major player in the plot (Angela Lansbury) finding himself plagued with doubt. Others (Frank Sinatra) voice their concern when they begin to have flashbacks.
Made during the cold war and just before the assassination of JFK, The Manchurian Candidate met a lot of controversy in its day that only added to the well metered suspense provided here by director John Frankenheimer and editor Ferris Webster.
Harvey is miscast as the dislikable sergeant, yet registers emotionally. Sinatra doesn't quite stretch enough while Janet Leigh handles her role solidly. James Gregory is comically buffoonish as the step dad VP candidate but Angela Lansbury walks away with the film as the ambitous mom. Cold as ice she delivers a stunning monologue towards the close that is one hard lesson in realpolitik.
There are moments of incredulity such as the relationship between Sinatra and Leigh developing at warp speed along with a nod to the trailer with a totally superfluous kung fu battle between Frank and Henry Silva. These are minor complaints however to a somewhat surreal, a touch darkly comic film with an intriguing opening at a ladies' garden club and pulse pounding finish at a Madison sq. Garden convention.
The Plot Against Harry (1971)
Hapless Harry
Numbers runner Harry Plotnick (Martin Priest) finishes up a long prison bid and returns to a neighborhood he does not recognize. Before going to the slammer he had a smooth running operation but upon release problems arise from the outset with his body guard showing up late because he had to pick up his shirts. As he reviews the take in the back of his limo things get even grimmer. He's being replaced in his territory by some young Turks. His attempt to reacquaint with the family is also faced with hurdles, given his past. He then attempts to get accepted into the community by going legit with his brother in law.
Martin Priest plays Harry with perfect hang dog demeanor of a man down on his luck as he mostly shrugs at his predicaments more than be outraged. His world is caving in around him as he glumly struggles with being out of circulation for many years.
Directed by Indy filmmaker Michael Roemer with the same grasp of the New York Jewish community he displayed in his masterwork "Nothing but a Man" dealing with Blacks in the South he quickly establishes the leads background with a sharply edited opening montage. Made up mostly of a non-professional cast who all fit their roles to the hilt it is more of a somber comedy than drama with hapless Harry as a sad clown, the supporting characters (especially Ben Lang and Henry Nemo) comic witnesses to his folly. An excellent independent work by a one underrated filmmaker.
Senso (1954)
Senslow
A Venetian noblewoman (Alida Valli) falls big time for an occupying Austrian officer (Farley Granger) in 1866 Italy. The Italians want the Austrians out so they can claim independence and Contessa Supieri passions are with the cause and her cousin when she meets the lothario officer and finds herself irresistibly drawn to him. Quite the seducer, he displays some earnest affection for her, but his real passion is for her money to live a lushly depraved existence with other women as well. Eventually fed up with his lies and betrayal her "woman scorned" act kicks in.
Senso opens at La Fenice Opera House in Venice and for the duration of the film remains in operatic mode with its characters and pace. Directed by Luchino Visconti Senso is filled with visually stunning moments (opera house, battle scenes, Venice itself) and elaborate costume it moves at a snails pace with the countess in deep denial, the smarmy officer barely hiding his contempt while exploiting her.
Valli (The Third Man) once again falls for the bad boy with an intense passion and a willingness to degrade herself for him. Granger is miscast with a face too pretty and youthful for such a cynical character.
Senso is a visual feast, but without operatic accompaniment, a touch too tone deaf for cinematic pacing.
The Honey Pot (1967)
Not very Sweet
Fabulously wealthy and flamboyant womanizer Cecil Fox (Rex Harrison) is dying in Venice. The sentimental conniver requests to see his three previous wives Susan Hayward, Capucine, Edie Adams) before shuffling off the mortal coil and to sweeten matters claims he will give his fortune to one of the greedy hypocrites that he feels loved him the most. It turns into a murder mystery however when one of the ladies suddenly expires.
Directed by Joe Mankiewicz, one of the finest writer/directors of his time (All about Eve, A Letter to Three Wives, Letter from an Unknown Woman) Mankiewicz seemed well past his prime getting stilted performances featuring four Oscar winning actors giving abrasive, smug or just plain drab performances in this elaborate, but poorly paced con game murder mystery, perhaps too verbose for its own good. While Mankiewicz still had one fine picture left in him, Sleuth, it was clear in the Honeypot he was not in tune with the times, probably still suffering PTSD after directing his last film 4 years earlier. The disaster Cleopatra.
La ronde (1950)
The Circle Game
Adapted from Arthur Schnlitzers fin de siècle play Reign and set in Vienna, Max Ophuls La ronde connects by character a series of stories featuring a solid spectrum of society that runs from prostitute to count and everyone in between saying one thing and doing another. Hypocrisy after all is a lynch pin of society.
Seduction and deception run rampant through each segment, some with romantically tragic consequence but done with mild malice as Ophuls whimsically with his signature tracking moves us through elegant set design with a sumptuously costumed cast featuring an active narrator (Anton Walbrook) injecting himself into each segment with wry action.
Ophuls opens with Walbrook in an uncut 7 minute prologue then seamlessly weaves his story from one situation to the next as one character from the previous changes course with another who follows suit into the next.
Smoothly and elegantly constructed by Ophuls mastery of film language, he gets wonderful performances from nearly a dozen lead characters (especially the ladies) in various states of desire and deception. A subtly scandalous and amoral piece of story telling (must have given the censors headaches) with adults behaving like adults as they go round and round in this circle game.
Barbary Coast (1935)
Rico does Frisco
Edward G Robinson takes his Little Caesar act to the coast and the eighteenth century to the gold rush era in Barberry Coast. With its visually impressive (Ray June) fog lit opening of 49ers arriving by ship it slowly sinks into a raucous but romantic run of the mill less then believable love triangle between Miriam Hopkina, Edward G. Robinson and Joel McCrae. Directed with a heavy hand by Howard Hawks it maintains a caricature feel most of the way.
Mary Rutledge (Hopkins) has to fend for herself after arriving in San Francisco and finding out her fiancé is dead. She takes a job at the Bella Donna where she is pursued by owner, Robinson, a major corrupt power in the city. She meets and falls for McCrea however while vigilantes begin to form to overthrow Robinson.
Hawks direction is lifeless and it reflects in the whiny performance from Hopkins, the miscast Robinson and all too gullible McCrea. Hawk's shootouts are sloppy, his comedy relief grossly overplayed by Walter Brennan and his climax lackluster. I would suggest it is not a good idea to lay anchor on Barbary Coast.