What classics did you see last week? (5 July to 11th July)
Jul 11, 2020 22:06:42 GMT
spiderwort, teleadm, and 7 more like this
Post by mikef6 on Jul 11, 2020 22:06:42 GMT
Ascenseur Pour L’Échafaud (Elevator To The Gallows) / Louis Malle (1958). What a great film this is! You know it is going to be good when it opens on an extreme close-up of Jeanne Moreau’s face and she is saying, “I love you.” Malle tells a crime story with noir implications, yet looks forward to the New Wave with plenty of outdoor, location shooting and a fine jazz score that was partially improvised by Miles Davis. I am not a big jazz fan, but I never found Davis’ trumpeting to be intrusive and it always fit what was happening on screen. Moreau and her lover (Maurice Ronet who, two years later, would play the victim whose identity was taken by Tom Ripley in “Plein Soleil”) conspire to murder her arms dealing husband and make it look like suicide. But right after the killing things start to go wrong. Ronet gets stuck between floors in the elevator while leaving the murder site, a young couple steals his car and goes on a crime spree using Ronet’s gun, and Moreau believes that he has wimped out and dumped her. The plot takes a thousand twists, we get a nice view of night time Paris in crisp black and white, and a look at an early French motel. “A motel! I’ve read about these!” exclaims the young female car thief. I really shouldn’t tell you any more about this film except that you will love it, too.
The stolen car is a 1953 Lambretta Triporteur 125 FD
Sneakers / Phil Alden Robinson (1992). Security expert Martin Bishop (Robert Redford) has a secret past. He has been wanted for the last 20 years by the Feds for his ‘60s activism. He gets busted by the NSA but they promise him a wipe of his record if he helps them out with a caper. Of course, double and triple crosses ensue. The fun in this picture is Bishop’s team of misfits and nerds and their interaction with on another. There’s Mother (Dan Aykroyd), Crease (Sidney Poitier) a former CIA agent, Carl (River Phoenix), Whistler (David Strathairn) blind but with powerful use of touch and hearing, Liz (Mary McDonnell), Bishops former squeeze and a reluctant addition to the team. The McGuffin is a “black box” that can crack any code or hack any encrypted website. The early ‘90s computers with their dial-up modems are a fun nostalgic trip into the not-so-distant past. Poitier and Ben Kingsley (who turns up as the chief antagonist) are, of course, powerhouse actors and screen attention grabbers. They add a lot to the film. It is a kind of wistful sadness to see River Phoenix who only had about a year to live. He gets the movie’s best line. When the NSA, showing up armed at Bishop’s office, wants to know what reward the team wants (Bishop wants cash, Crease a European vacation for himself and his wife), Phoenix only says, “If the young lady with the Uzi is single, I would like her phone number.”
Beyond The Sea / Kevin Spacey (2004). This stylish production manages to hide, or at least liven up, the usual bio-pic tropes. It is styled as a fantasy. The aging – perhaps already deceased – performer Bobby Darin (Kevin Spacey) looks back on his life and narrates for us. The conceit is that the older Darin (Spacey was about 20 years older than Darin was when he died) has stepped back into his own story accounting for an older actor in the role. Kate Bosworth plays the love of Darin’s life, actress Sandra Dee, and is very good. John Goodman is his manager and Bob Hoskins is his brother-in-law and loyal aide. Spacey, as well as directing and starring, does all his own singing so at times, at certain moments, I caught a whiff of a vanity project, but, on the whole, his performance is sincere. Bobby Darin had rheumatic fever as a child which left him with a weak heart (a doctor predicted he would not see 15 years). But he survived on medication and the occasional backstage oxygen during singing gigs. “Beyond The Sea” received mixed, tending negative, reviews upon first release but there is plenty to enjoy here, including quite a lot of music. Darin and Dee’s son Dodd Mitchell Cassotto (Darin’s birth name) wrote a book about his parents and was a consultant on the movie. Bobbie Darin died during heart surgery at age 37.
Bobby Darin smashes up his 1961 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible with a golf club on Oscar night
The Adventures Of Pericles (Pericles, Prince Of Tyre) / Barry Avrich (2016). Stratford Festival (Canada). Pericles has long been on the fringes of the Shakespeare repertory, mainly because Heminges and Condell left it out of their Shakespeare Complete Plays tribute volume now known as the First Folio (1723). The reasons are unknown. A possibility is that it is probable that another author is responsible for the first half. The likely candidate is John Fletcher who eventually replaced our Will as in-house playwright for the King’s Men. I believe it because in both of the productions of Pericles I have seen, the quality of writing in the second half (where the action takes place 20 years after the first section) is so obviously superior with many powerful scenes and confrontations. The Stratford Festival gives a good accounting of the play and makes a case for it being performed more often and rated higher than it usually is.
FILM NOIR TELEVISION: Three Examples Of The Venerable Half-Hour Detective Series
M Squad. Season 1, Episode 4 “Pete Loves Mary” Directed by Bernard Girard. October 11, 1957. Half-hour Dragnet-style police procedural with Lee Marvin as detective Frank Ballinger with the elite Chicago Police department, M Squad. When convicted killer Pete Wikowlski (Mike Connors) breaks prison and starts to leave dead bodies in his wake, Ballinger checks in on Wikowlski’s mother. She considers her son Pete to be dead but says her other son, Steve (Bobby Driscoll) is a good boy. Ballinger, though, suspects (correctly) that Pete has been in touch with Steve. Ballinger is determined not only to capture Pete but to save Steve from his brother’s influence. Like Dragnet, Lee Marvin narrates throughout, filling in narrative gaps so the story can fit a 25-minute format. Mike Connors later had his own detective series, “Mannix,” 8 seasons from 1967 to 1975. Bobby Driscoll is one of the most famous tragic stories about the rise and fall of movie stars. He was 20 years old in this episode, growing out of some wonderful years as a popular and critically acclaimed child star. Within a couple of years his life took a steep downward turn from which he never recovered. He was homeless and initially unidentified when his body was found in an abandoned NYC building in 1968. Sometimes Real Life can be more noir-ish than the movies.
Johnny Staccato. Ep. 25 “The Mask Of Jason” Directed by Paul Henried. March 3, 1960. Only one season of 27 episodes. Critics compared it unfavorable to “Peter Gunn.” Johnny (John Cassavetes) was a former jazz pianist turned P.I. He worked out of a club owned by Waldo (Eduardo Ciannelli). Waldo asks Johnny to take a job as bodyguard to a potential beauty and talent contest winner, Bonnie Howard (Mary Tyler Moore). She is being stalked by a man with a badly scarred face. What follows is a Spoiler but maybe a spoiler that will make you want to see this episode. It turns out that the scarred man is a gentle soul injured in a fire. Bonnie was his wife who left him because of his looks, divorced him by mail, and changed her name. All he wants is to talk to her once to convince her to come back to him. But she is exceedingly cruel and pulls a gun threatening to kill him. Here we get some serious noir lighting to make her face look evil. I don’t think she had another opportunity to show a dark side until her Oscar nominated performance in “Ordinary People” (1980). For more Mary Tyler Moore early TV, see Richard Diamond, just below.
Richard Diamond, Private Detective. S.1 Ep. 1 “The Mickey Farmer Case” Directed by Roy Del Ruth. July 1, 1957. Richard Diamond had been a popular radio program with the lead voiced by Dick Powell. When Diamond came to TV, Powell recommended the younger David Janssen for the role. This half-hour mystery ran for 4 seasons. Each of the seasons after the first, set in a night time New York City with wet streets, saw a format change, e.g. the second season, under the influence of “77 Sunset Strip,” finds Diamond in sunny southern California and driving a convertible with a car phone. The next two seasons also saw changes in location and cast.
In this premiere episode, a wounded fugitive, the title Mickey Farmer, with a hostage demands to talk to Richard Diamond. Farmer wants Diamond to protect his innocent girlfriend from his former partner who was a double-crosser.
Now, let’s venture into myth busting territory and the old trivia chestnut about how the woman at Diamond’s telephone service, Sam, whose face is never seen, was Mary Tyler Moore. Well, the Real Deal is that Sam did not arrive on the show until the last two seasons and MTM only played her for 12 of Season 3’s 34 episodes.
The stolen car is a 1953 Lambretta Triporteur 125 FD
Sneakers / Phil Alden Robinson (1992). Security expert Martin Bishop (Robert Redford) has a secret past. He has been wanted for the last 20 years by the Feds for his ‘60s activism. He gets busted by the NSA but they promise him a wipe of his record if he helps them out with a caper. Of course, double and triple crosses ensue. The fun in this picture is Bishop’s team of misfits and nerds and their interaction with on another. There’s Mother (Dan Aykroyd), Crease (Sidney Poitier) a former CIA agent, Carl (River Phoenix), Whistler (David Strathairn) blind but with powerful use of touch and hearing, Liz (Mary McDonnell), Bishops former squeeze and a reluctant addition to the team. The McGuffin is a “black box” that can crack any code or hack any encrypted website. The early ‘90s computers with their dial-up modems are a fun nostalgic trip into the not-so-distant past. Poitier and Ben Kingsley (who turns up as the chief antagonist) are, of course, powerhouse actors and screen attention grabbers. They add a lot to the film. It is a kind of wistful sadness to see River Phoenix who only had about a year to live. He gets the movie’s best line. When the NSA, showing up armed at Bishop’s office, wants to know what reward the team wants (Bishop wants cash, Crease a European vacation for himself and his wife), Phoenix only says, “If the young lady with the Uzi is single, I would like her phone number.”
Beyond The Sea / Kevin Spacey (2004). This stylish production manages to hide, or at least liven up, the usual bio-pic tropes. It is styled as a fantasy. The aging – perhaps already deceased – performer Bobby Darin (Kevin Spacey) looks back on his life and narrates for us. The conceit is that the older Darin (Spacey was about 20 years older than Darin was when he died) has stepped back into his own story accounting for an older actor in the role. Kate Bosworth plays the love of Darin’s life, actress Sandra Dee, and is very good. John Goodman is his manager and Bob Hoskins is his brother-in-law and loyal aide. Spacey, as well as directing and starring, does all his own singing so at times, at certain moments, I caught a whiff of a vanity project, but, on the whole, his performance is sincere. Bobby Darin had rheumatic fever as a child which left him with a weak heart (a doctor predicted he would not see 15 years). But he survived on medication and the occasional backstage oxygen during singing gigs. “Beyond The Sea” received mixed, tending negative, reviews upon first release but there is plenty to enjoy here, including quite a lot of music. Darin and Dee’s son Dodd Mitchell Cassotto (Darin’s birth name) wrote a book about his parents and was a consultant on the movie. Bobbie Darin died during heart surgery at age 37.
Bobby Darin smashes up his 1961 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible with a golf club on Oscar night
The Adventures Of Pericles (Pericles, Prince Of Tyre) / Barry Avrich (2016). Stratford Festival (Canada). Pericles has long been on the fringes of the Shakespeare repertory, mainly because Heminges and Condell left it out of their Shakespeare Complete Plays tribute volume now known as the First Folio (1723). The reasons are unknown. A possibility is that it is probable that another author is responsible for the first half. The likely candidate is John Fletcher who eventually replaced our Will as in-house playwright for the King’s Men. I believe it because in both of the productions of Pericles I have seen, the quality of writing in the second half (where the action takes place 20 years after the first section) is so obviously superior with many powerful scenes and confrontations. The Stratford Festival gives a good accounting of the play and makes a case for it being performed more often and rated higher than it usually is.
FILM NOIR TELEVISION: Three Examples Of The Venerable Half-Hour Detective Series
M Squad. Season 1, Episode 4 “Pete Loves Mary” Directed by Bernard Girard. October 11, 1957. Half-hour Dragnet-style police procedural with Lee Marvin as detective Frank Ballinger with the elite Chicago Police department, M Squad. When convicted killer Pete Wikowlski (Mike Connors) breaks prison and starts to leave dead bodies in his wake, Ballinger checks in on Wikowlski’s mother. She considers her son Pete to be dead but says her other son, Steve (Bobby Driscoll) is a good boy. Ballinger, though, suspects (correctly) that Pete has been in touch with Steve. Ballinger is determined not only to capture Pete but to save Steve from his brother’s influence. Like Dragnet, Lee Marvin narrates throughout, filling in narrative gaps so the story can fit a 25-minute format. Mike Connors later had his own detective series, “Mannix,” 8 seasons from 1967 to 1975. Bobby Driscoll is one of the most famous tragic stories about the rise and fall of movie stars. He was 20 years old in this episode, growing out of some wonderful years as a popular and critically acclaimed child star. Within a couple of years his life took a steep downward turn from which he never recovered. He was homeless and initially unidentified when his body was found in an abandoned NYC building in 1968. Sometimes Real Life can be more noir-ish than the movies.
Johnny Staccato. Ep. 25 “The Mask Of Jason” Directed by Paul Henried. March 3, 1960. Only one season of 27 episodes. Critics compared it unfavorable to “Peter Gunn.” Johnny (John Cassavetes) was a former jazz pianist turned P.I. He worked out of a club owned by Waldo (Eduardo Ciannelli). Waldo asks Johnny to take a job as bodyguard to a potential beauty and talent contest winner, Bonnie Howard (Mary Tyler Moore). She is being stalked by a man with a badly scarred face. What follows is a Spoiler but maybe a spoiler that will make you want to see this episode. It turns out that the scarred man is a gentle soul injured in a fire. Bonnie was his wife who left him because of his looks, divorced him by mail, and changed her name. All he wants is to talk to her once to convince her to come back to him. But she is exceedingly cruel and pulls a gun threatening to kill him. Here we get some serious noir lighting to make her face look evil. I don’t think she had another opportunity to show a dark side until her Oscar nominated performance in “Ordinary People” (1980). For more Mary Tyler Moore early TV, see Richard Diamond, just below.
Richard Diamond, Private Detective. S.1 Ep. 1 “The Mickey Farmer Case” Directed by Roy Del Ruth. July 1, 1957. Richard Diamond had been a popular radio program with the lead voiced by Dick Powell. When Diamond came to TV, Powell recommended the younger David Janssen for the role. This half-hour mystery ran for 4 seasons. Each of the seasons after the first, set in a night time New York City with wet streets, saw a format change, e.g. the second season, under the influence of “77 Sunset Strip,” finds Diamond in sunny southern California and driving a convertible with a car phone. The next two seasons also saw changes in location and cast.
In this premiere episode, a wounded fugitive, the title Mickey Farmer, with a hostage demands to talk to Richard Diamond. Farmer wants Diamond to protect his innocent girlfriend from his former partner who was a double-crosser.
Now, let’s venture into myth busting territory and the old trivia chestnut about how the woman at Diamond’s telephone service, Sam, whose face is never seen, was Mary Tyler Moore. Well, the Real Deal is that Sam did not arrive on the show until the last two seasons and MTM only played her for 12 of Season 3’s 34 episodes.