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Dark Passage (1947)
Not Farfetched, Just Impossible
Humphrey Bogart escapes from San Quentin, having been unjustly convicted of the murder of his wife. He's immediately picked up by a beautiful, well-to-do landscape painter, Lauren Bacall, who brings him to her apartment. This begins a series of astonishing coincidences, increasingly improbable as we proceed. A story like this was only possible at a time when pulp magazines had an endless appetite for new copy and a talented, industrious author, like David Goodis, could make a good living, just pounding the typewriter keys. Writer/director Delmer Daves adds the gimmick of telling the tale from the POV of the main character, so we don't actually see Bogart until the last third of the movie, following Robert Montgomery's method for "Lady In the Lake," released seven months earlier. Throw in a few oddball visual effects and that's enough to convince some that this picture is "artistic."
Red Dust (1932)
Platinum Blonde Bombshell (Pre-Code)
This adaptation of the 1928 play by Wilson Collison has tough Clark Gable running a rubber plantation in Indochina, when a wisecracking working-class girl of easy virtue (Jean Harlow) shows up. She is soon followed by a naive young engineer (Gene Raymond) and his devoted, sedate wife (Mary Astor). Having had some fun with Harlow, Gable's gaze turns to Astor, a bigger challenge. This same movie was remade as "Mogambo" (1953), set in Africa, with an older Gable and Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly as the two women and John Ford directing. But the concise 83 minute picture was bloviated to 115 minutes, with a story too thin to sustain the big picture status. Although the color cinematography was fine, the earlier black & white version seemed more dramatic and the women more glamorous, especially contrasted with homely, funny Willie Fung.
A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
Too Many Plot Problems Spoil the Broth
In the genre of "A Place In the Sun" (1951), this time the pretty girl (Joanne Woodward) is both the daughter of the formidable wealthy man (George Macready) and also the pregnant problem for the young striver (Robert Wagner). HIs behavior towards her is puzzling, considering his motive, thus depicting him as a mere psychopath and making this a B, rather than an A picture. But his second chance (Virginia Leith) is made more suspenseful. The performances are fine as is the staging by director Gerd Oswald and DP Lucien Ballard. It's the fabulous (and very prosperous) Fifties, so why doesn't he just get a job?
Lonely Are the Brave (1962)
Theme As Character
John W. "Jack" Burns (Kirk Douglas) is a 19th century man living in the 20th century. He states his occupation as "cowhand," but we never see him at work, any more than we see homeless derelicts working. He's often referred to as "cowboy," who is attached to his horse, "Whiskey," which he addresses as "baby" or "girl." He lives alone in the wilderness, along with his rifle, saddle and bedroll. He has the mid-19th century Marxist/anarchist objection to private property (Proudhon: "Property is theft!") and policing and abhors the loss of open terrain. Surely, it's a unique idea for a movie, but the suspension of disbelief required from the audience is a hefty price of admission and continuity errors don't help. Screenwriter Trumbo has been studying his W. R. Burnett, who handled the mountain escape more succinctly and plausibly in "High Sierra" (1940) and "I Died A Thousand Times" (1955). As actors sometimes do, Douglas fell in love with his character and declared this his favorite movie, overlooking five very much better ones that he helped produce.
The Death Kiss (1932)
Misleading Poster and Ad Campaign
After "Dracula" (1931), Bela Lugosi, Edward Van Sloan, and David Manners were brought back for another spooky show. This time, it was an imaginative murder mystery. While shooting a picture called "The Death Kiss" on a studio sound stage, the main character, Miles Brent, is shot and the actor playing the part, Edmund Burns, is dead as well. Whodunit? Luckily, we have a screenwriter available (Manners) to steer the inept police in the right direction. Much fun is made of the Jewish studio boss, Leon A. Grossmith (Alexander Carr), who immediately cries, "Oy!" and complains about how much money is lost by killing the lead actor. Including the startling opening which upsets our expectations, the plot is convoluted and it's a mediocre precursor to "Get Shorty" (1995). Color is used intermittently and cleverly.
The Killers (1946)
Hem's Favorite Film Adaptation
Inspired by Ernest Hemingway's 1927 short story about "the Swede," an ex-prize fighter, indifferent about his upcoming murder, this film was the first for soon-to-be star Burt Lancaster and marked the transition from uncredited bits to stardom for Ava Gardner. The first ten minutes follows the story faithfully, then veers into a lengthy, exposition-laden backstory involving cops and crooks. Edmond O'Brien, who was to star in a much better how-he-was-murdered story, "D. O. A." (1949), plays an insurance investigator seeking the money taken in a "caper." Of course, the Swede, like many gloomy men, was undone by a "dame," but the underlying defeatism still is not satisfactorily explained. Surely, getting out of bed to avoid being killed is not too big of a bother.
Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Schönheit (1938)
Joy, Joy and More Joy
This is the second half of Leni Riefenstahl's coverage of the 1936 Olympics, beginning with young men running through the woods, then bathing together. Again, we are treated to unusual camera angles and an opportunity to see that which the seated spectators could not. It covers gymnastics, boat, horse and bicycle racing, fencing, pistols, boxing, football, field hockey, rowing, diving, pentathlon, decathlon (starring Glenn Morris, a future "Tarzan") and, of course, the joy of fans cheering on their heroes. A forerunner of the "politics of joy" movement in the USA nearly a century later, there was clearly much joy during the Great Depression in Germany. Well, maybe not for everyone....
Olympia 1. Teil - Fest der Völker (1938)
"Joyfully, the champions will win...."
In case you missed the 1936 Olympic Games, here it is, beautifully photographed, edited, and scored. Director Leni Riefenstahl composes her shots artfully and makes judicious use of close-ups and slow motion. She places the event in historical perspective and offers it straight, no chaser. A lesser film might have been burdened with too much narration, but this one is plainspoken and summarizes the discus, shotput, sprints, marathons, high jumps and pole vaults succinctly. It probably inspired many young people to try athletics and filmmakers to present sports to a wide audience. Public joy, made much of today, got a big boost in Germany, 1936.
Conclave (2024)
The Fallible Electing the Infallible
This riveting, suspenseful story chronicles a conclave of the College of Cardinals, convening to name a new pope. The major candidates represent different philosophical viewpoints and are clearly drawn, with an excellent cast led by Ralph Fiennes. Veteran director Edward Berger does a good job, but, at times, the music is a bit raucous, the sound effects a bit loud, the camera a bit too busy, and the plot stretched a bit too much. Still, in the age of Marvel Studios, we've come to expect some bang for our buck and this movie is like a bestselling book that you can't put down, so don't tell anyone the surprise ending. Believe it or not.
The Shout (1978)
The Consequences of Empire
Near an insane asylum in the genteel. English countryside, a mystic (Alan Bates), who claims to have spent 18 years wandering in the Australian outback, where he learned a shout that can kill, invites himself to lunch in the home of an eccentric local musician (John Hurt) and his wife (Susannah York). Once inside, his assertion continues to the point where he replaces the husband, with some barely audible mumbling. A series of odd, albeit sometimes pretty pictures, is a poor substitute for a plausible plot, except when York, an excellent actress, graces the screen with her justifiably uninhibited nude scenes.
The Thing from Another World (1951)
Brilliant
Freed of the burden of his ideological imperatives, Howard Hawks crafted a sci-fi feature that focuses skillfully on mood and atmosphere. Some scientists and military personnel on a base in Alaska--at 60 below zero, it's a place where people do not belong--are visited by an alien being that also does not belong. Ken Tobey does a fine job as the take-charge leader and the Hawks discovery, Margaret Sheridan, is natural, comfortable and charming as his love interest. And no doubt, it's Ben Hecht--who crafted the great Grant/Bergman love talk in "Notorious" (1946)--writing the flirtatious dialogue, which includes a playful bondage scene. The howling wind and Dimitri Tiomkin's fine score are chilling. The sense of realism, offered by actors talking over each other as they would in life, enhances the suspense. Linwood Dunn's Special Effects are excellent and James Arness established himself in the title role: unforgettable.
The Human Factor (1979)
Graham Greene Channels Tolstoy, Again
The theme of mere mortals buffeted about by the hurricanes of history is a familiar one to admirers of "War and Peace." Greene went down this road before in 1949, with his brilliant and very clever screenplay for "The Third Man." In that project, the characters were involving and sympathetic; this time, they seem undeveloped, nearly affectless at times and apolitical, so their fate barely concerns us. The portrait of the upper echelons of MI6 seems realistic enough, but what that man and that woman see in each other is unclear. The cast is strong and it's pleasing to see a great actor like Nicol Williamson in a job, but we'll have to see "Hamlet" (1969) to see why. If Otto Preminger had not seen much better pictures, like Martin Ritt's "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold," (1965)--notice the contrasting striptease scenes---and John Huston's "The Kremlin Letter" (1970), I doubt that he would have tackled this tepid project at all.
Crime Wave (1953)
Brilliant
In this noir film, there's no shortage of tough guys: Ted de Corsia, Charles Bronson, Tim Carey, Sterling Hayden and, against type, song-and-dance man Gene Nelson as an ex-con, who can't shake a past full of cops and crooks, despite having the ideal, supportive wife, lovely Phyllis Kirk. Even a real life tough guy appears as a thug: Ned Young, blacklisted for invoking the Fifth in front of HUAC, but sticking around long enough to earn a screenwriting Oscar. Dub Taylor is fine as the friendly gas station attendant, which qualifies him for the same job in "I Died A Thousand Times," two years later. Great one-eyed director Andre De Toth, like John Ford and Raoul Walsh, always has the camera in the right place and there are no dead spots in Crane Wilbur's brisk 73 minute script. Kudos to DP Bert Glennon too.
Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)
The Madness of Many More Than Two
The pressure ($$$) on Todd Phillips and Scott Silver after "Joker" (2019) must have been intense to "just do it again." It's in the nature of capitalism that if you're not growing, you're shrinking. But the reason for the success of the first film seems to have escaped the notice of Joaquin Phoenix, Phillips, Silver and Warner Brothers. Arthur Fleck was presented as a sort of Everyman: he was concerned about his mental and physical health and that of his aging mother, liked TV and thought of his favorite TV host as a friend, found affirmation in the arms of another lonely person, the single mother who lived down the hall, was a victim of street crime, struggled with the pigeon-holing tendencies of bureaucracy, sought to please his employer and get along with co-workers, needed money and strove to improve his job skills, wished to reconcile with his estranged father, and tried to protect a woman being bullied in a subway car. In short, he was like us. Until he blew his stack! Understandable. (Seemingly prescient, it was followed by mass rioting and general arson in Minneapolis, Seattle, etc.) This sequel is entirely different: it's about a singer/dancer, networking with another singer/dancer (Lady Gaga). That's not us; we don't do that. What the quartet above seems to have missed is that the suburban matrons flocking to Broadway shows were not the audience that made "Joker" boffo. The new film is as divorced from reality as the previous film was rooted in it. Kudos to Oscar winner Hildur Guanadottir for trying to hold it together with her music, but it's to no avail.
Joker (2019)
Masterpiece
This is the "Citizen Kane" (1941) of the 21st Century. Like "Citizen Kane," it is a mocking perversion of America's treasured Horatio Alger myth. A feckless woman seeks to place her young son in the care of a man of wealth and power, in the hope that his guidance will help the boy to realize fully his potential. And, like "Citizen Kane," the child turns out very differently from what Mother hoped for and expected. Still, the son wields enormous, nearly iconic, influence. Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is a sort of Everyman, conceived in Paradise but living in poverty and obscurity. It is easy for us to empathize with both his resentments and his aspirations, as he pursues them. Like "Citizen Kane," the technical aspects of the film are brilliant, receiving 11 Oscar Nominations, with wins for Best Actor and Music. This international hit grossed over a billion dollars and may be seen repeatedly with admiration for its artistic brilliance.
Queimada (1969)
The Dark Side of Colonialism
In 1844, Marlon Brando is commissioned to report to Quiemada, a Portuguese island colony (after Spain, with more movie theatres, objected to it being a Spanish colony) in order to provoke a slave uprising for the benefit of the Antilles Royal Sugar Company. As he explains it to the local growers, a slave, being owned, is more burden than asset if illness, injury, or old age renders the slave unproductive. A "wage-slave," as Marx called them, are better than actual slaves, since they can be dismissed. Brando trains Evaristo Marquez (an amateur actor chosen by director Pontecorvo instead of the recommendation of Sidney Poitier) to lead the revolt, but must return a decade later when matters have gotten out of hand. Brando considered this his best work as an actor. The title sequence is inventive. Ennio Morricone's score is excellent. The horrors of slavery are vividly portrayed.
Reagan (2024)
History Through Rose-Tinted Glasses
This 141 minute infomercial is mainly for Reagan fans. It traces his life story from his early radio career to his Hollywood McCarthyite attacks, to his first failed marriage, to battling the unions, campaigning for "Bang-Bang" Barry Goldwater, sneering at the anti-Vietnam War student protesters as California Governor, to trying to unseat Gerald Ford, and to bamboozling Gorbachev into thinking the Cold War could end. Dennis Quaid and Penelope Ann Miller are convincing as the POTUS and FLOTUS, but, weirdly, the story is told by ex-KGB agent Jon Voight to a younger man, who exhibits no interest in the subject except to listen politely, presumably the audience's role as well. Apparently, the KGB knew early on that Reagan would be the St. George destined to slay the Communist dragon, a laughable contention. Omitted entirely is the "amiable dolt" as Clark Clifford knew him and the VP, ex-CIA Director GHW Bush. A narrower focus, say 1980-1988, might have been wiser.
The Best Man (1964)
Masterpiece
As the scion of a political family, Gore Vidal had an early insider's view of the people who make up the government. After rising to prominence as a novelist and screenplay doctor, he was well positioned to write this script, using a brokered national convention as a metaphor for the nature of American elective government. Suspenseful, involving and meticulously structured, it's a riveting 102 minutes to a shock ending. His archetypes make for clear conflict: idealistic, well-educated intellectual Secretary of State Henry Fonda (Adlai Stevenson?) and young, ruthlessly ambitious Cliff Robertson (JF and/or RF Kennedy?) vie for the favor of lame duck POTUS Lee Tracy (Truman? Eisenhower?). Director Franklin Schaffner and DP Haskell Wexler do an exemplary job of staging intimate dramatic scenes, while depicting the convention itself through a documentary lens. (One delicious tidbit has Fonda practicing his smiles in front of a mirror, which also sets up the ending.) The supporting cast is superb and the ending seems truthful, despite the absence of a VP in the story. This is the best film about American politics that I've seen, a view inside the sausage factory for Americans and the billions abroad who must live with the consequences of Washington DC's decisions.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Brilliant
In the depths of the Great Depression, this drama told the story of a good man turned into a skulking, furtive animal by being valued only for his labor. "Working all the live long day," sing the slaves as they wield their pickaxes in unison. After being decorated in WW I for his bravery in combat, Paul Muni, in a magnificent performance, returns home to his mother and minister brother. The suffrage of women short circuited the socialist movement of Eugene Debs and, with support from the church, encouraged men to be grateful for the jobs they were offered. But Muni represents a proletarian upheaval. He wants more; he wants better. He wants to realize his potential as a human being. Does he want too much? Or will the system prevail?
City Hall (1996)
Sentimentality For Sentimentality's Sake
It took four screenwriters to baste this turkey, but the guests fled to McDonald's for hamburgers. It's no accident that one of the main characters sings duets with his favorite waiter when served in his favorite restaurant. What's more artificial than a musical? Perhaps Mike Todd is to be blamed for this: cast enough name actors and you have a show. But usually, the simplest conflicts are the most involving. This movie is about fake feelings and false reactions. This is what happens in Hollywood when a bunch of people try to figure out how to conjure up a million dollars. There's money to burn, but thanks to moviegoers, there'll be no sequel.
Lee (2023)
Brooding About the Past
All writing is autobiographical. What drives Lee Miller (Kate Winslet), a WW II writer/photographer? Is the horror within or without? She rages, she weeps, she types, she smokes, she drinks, she curses, she bares her breasts. When she interrupts an American soldier's rape of a young woman, she menaces him with a knife, then hands it to the woman: "Next time, cut it off!" Her photographs of a liberated concentration camp will haunt her--and us. But, ultimately, the script is as undramatic as a photograph, despite a brief conflict with her publisher. Writers do this: they cull their past experience with devotion, then report to their readers. The largely monochromatic color photography is as somber as a cemetery. But drama requires action more than spectacle.
The Red Badge of Courage (1951)
Brilliant
By 1951, John Huston had become adept at bringing novels to the screen, but this film presented an extraordinary challenge. How could the transformation of a coward into a hero be explained as well as depicted? Audie Murphy, the most decorated American soldier in WW II, was the ironic choice to flee battle before he leads. His psychology was demystified, in part, with the assistance of a Narrator (James Whitmore). The tragedy of the Civil War is depicted vividly: the image of the bearer of the stars and stripes overtaking the bearer of the stars and bars is an image that describes the history of our united nation. Sadly, too many have forgotten the words of Pres. Lincoln, "With malice toward none; with charity toward all..." This movie is a strong corrective.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Masterpiece
The contest between greed and community, the major theme of the 1930s, was always brilliantly conveyed by John Huston, who articulated it in his first masterpiece, "The Maltese Falcon" (1941). He resumed this preoccupation once WW II was out of the way. After adapting perfectly Dashiell Hammett's great novel, B. Traven's great novel was next. Huston excelled at depicting the inevitable sadness of life with humor and wit. He was proud of directing his father , Walter Huston, to his first Oscar for acting after three fruitless nominations. And he continued his splendid collaboration with Humphrey Bogart, who was to Huston what John Wayne was to John Ford. The casting and performances are superb, with music and photography to match. Other themes involve respect for native Americans, the natural world, and the elderly before these concerns were fashionable. The plot is riveting and meticulously structured.
The Brave One (1956)
Ole!
The King Brothers commissioned this screenplay from blacklisted Dalton Trumbo and, in 1957, it earned an Oscar for Best Story. A claim that the story, "Emilio and Bull" by Paul Rader, submitted to the Kings in 1951, was the basis for the script was settled out of court. Perhaps, inspiration was provided by Albert Lamorisse's magnificent French short "White Mane" (1953), another story of a small boy, who develops a rapport with a big animal, that adults also claim for commercial purposes. But this Technicolor, Cinemascope feature film, set in Mexico, with a score by Victor Young, received much more attention and praise. It is a pleasure to visit Mexico City in 1956, to see the handsome old cars and enter the ring with the bullfighters. Director Irving Rapper gets good performances from all, including the bull and Trumbo handles the rising suspense masterfully.
La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928)
Masterpiece
"We had faces," says Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard" (1950). No better example of what she meant by demeaning the writer's dialogue compared to the actor's performance exists than this classic, much of it in extreme close-up. Falconetti's performance is unexcelled in film history, and the support, even in the smallest roles, is worthy of her. Carl Th. Dreyer's staging for the camera expanded the language of cinema. This film, along with George Bernard Shaw's play, "Saint Joan," is a uniquely vivid account of the contest between the desire for life versus the necessity of virtue.