What classics did you see last week ? (1 Mar - 7 Mar 2020)

hitchcockthelegend

Obsession (The Hidden Room) / Edward Dmytryk. Truly an undiscovered gem. Dmytryk was in England a fairly short time before returning to America to testify before HUAC. His U.S. co-star in “Obsession,” Phil Brown had also taken refuge in the U.K. from blacklisting but remained for a couple more decades before returning to his home country in the 1990s. He lived to be almost 90. His most famous movie role was as Luke Skywalker’s Uncle Owen in “Star Wars” (1977). After his return to America, he was often seen at autograph shows.

Brown in Obession


Uncle Owen


Gun Crazy. Love your characterization of this fun couple as The Real Sex Pistols. The shooting contest where Laurie and Bart match up pushes the limits of the Production Code as sexual sparks fly. The two fall into a Mad Love that leads to Laurie goading Bart into a series of armed robberies in order to make the money she wants. Right from the opening titles – that play out over a pouring rain at night – we are in a definite noir universe. My review back when also emphasized the continuous take bank robbery. One of the great ones.

Drive. This is one film where I take issue with an almost universal critical and financially successful movie. I just didn’t like a moment of it. The main problem for me is the blank-faced flat-voiced Ryan Gosling. I have seen him in quite a lot of other movies (that I watched for reasons not connected with Gosling) and the only one, strangely, in which I enjoyed him was “The Nice Guys.” He was surprisingly good in comedy. Maybe he has been missing his real calling. Another trope I am tired of is the comedy actor given a criminal role. I liked Alan King in “Casino,” for example but never thought Albert Brooks was anything but a gimmick.

The Salvation. This is an interesting way to make a movie: set in the American west by a Danish film company and director, actors from all over the world, and location filming in South Africa. What they have come up with is a violent revenge thriller set on the American prairie in 1871. Even though the level of violence could not have been shown during Hollywood’s period of great westerns, “The Salvation,” which I like very much, is still in the American revenge western tradition. This film is ideal for those of us who think that the time between Hollywood westerns takes way too long.