What classics did you see last week, July 4 to July 10?
Jul 11, 2021 1:19:07 GMT
teleadm, wmcclain, and 5 more like this
Post by mikef6 on Jul 11, 2021 1:19:07 GMT
Walk A Crooked Mile / Gordon Douglas (1948). A docu-drama following the pattern of “The House On 92nd Street” (1945), a procedural following U.S. Intelligence Agents tracking down Nazi spies. By 1948, we have the FBI tracking down Commie Spies working for our wartime ally Russia. Dennis O’Keefe is Agent O’Hara who teams up with Scotland Yard inspector Scotty Grayson (Louis Hayward) to head the team trying to discover how a valuable defense formula is being smuggled piecemeal out of a very tight security area. We get to see much of the latest crime fighting technology that the Bureau can use: wire recorders, phone tap expertise, the latest in surveillance, one-way mirrors, and how the laboratory can uncover so much that spies want to keep hidden. The story, though, turns out to be more twisty and complicated than at first expected and the partners have to backtrack and change their minds a couple of times. One thing I really like is when a movie will give a minor character a good scene, a few seconds to shine. The uncredited actress Tamara Shayne gets about a 20-second close-up and speech that was so strong I had to say, “Wow” when it was finished. It is great that the writer and director gave this fine actress that brief moment. All-in-all, a pretty decent little thriller. Seen as part of TCM’s Noir Alley series hosted by the Czar of Noir, the Docent of Darkness Eddie Muller
The Devil’s Disciple / Guy Hamilton (1959). Laurence Olivier is very much at home speaking the wry lines penned by G.B. Shaw and playing a man who is very much playing an ironic role in his life. This was the movie Olivier made immediately prior to “The Entertainer.” “The Devil’s Disciple,” with mostly English actors, was shot by Burt Lancaster’s production company. He brought old friend Kirk Douglas into the project with him. The female lead was given to British actress Janette Scott, as in “I really got hot when I saw Janette Scott / Fight a Triffid that spits poison and kills.” TDD takes place during the American Revolution as British troops invade and try to put down the rebels. General John “Gentlemanly Johnny” Burgoyne (“I am Gentlemanly Johnny,” he identifies himself to Kirk. “My more intimate friends call me General Burgoyne.”) is planning to join his command with General Howe at Albany and crush the Americans. Along the way, he stops to blithely hang a few villagers as a terror tactic. This raises the ire of a local minister (Lancaster), his wife (Scott) and rouses to action the prodigal son (Douglas) of the man who had been executed in the opening scene. Much of the dialog from Shaw’s three act play has been rearranged to make a movie instead of a stage play and to introduce Burgoyne at the very start instead of holding his appearance to the last act as Shaw did. The film makers also introduce a comic battle where the minister learns his “true profession” as a militiaman when he turns out to be practically invincible, fighting a squad of soldiers, shrugging off blows to the face and back and withstanding an explosion. All of this flows quite nicely without showing seams but one never forgets that Shaw’s wit and dramatic sense is ever the driving force. Acting is exemplary all around, even though the British press reviews often favored Olivier at the expense of the two American stars. The Daily Herald sniffed, “He wins the fight for supremacy (over Douglas and Lancaster) while barely stretching his talents to a tenth of their capacity.” Jeez, are they still angry over losing the Colonies?
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The Steel Helmet / Samuel Fuller (1951). One of Fuller’s best. The Korean War, underway as the film was shot and released, ruffled some feathers (didn’t bother Sam Fuller) because its purpose was to show the “organized chaos” (Fuller’s term) of war. Also, a captured North Korean office tries to ferment resentment in two soldiers (one black, one of Japanese ancestry) by pointing out how their freedoms were being restricted in the U.S. He says to the Medic, Cpl. Thomson (James Edwards): “You have to sit in the back of the bus, don’t you?” Thomson replies, “A hundred years ago I couldn’t even ride the bus. Maybe in another hundred, I can sit in the middle.” (Rosa Parks was only 4 years in the future.) This sort of talk made HUAC members unhappy. A lot of film noir techniques are used by Fuller to give the war a claustrophobic feel and a sense of doom and fate just waiting. The outdoor scenes in a wood are often filled with a dense fog. Even in the sunshine, disaster could strike at any moment. When they arrive at an abandoned Buddhist Temple to set up a listening post, they get ready for an inevitable attack. Gene Evens plays grizzled Sgt. Zack, a WWII combat vet. William Chun is a South Korean boy who is dubbed Short Round by Sgt. Zack. (If that sounds familiar, Spielberg borrowed the name for Indi's young sidekick in "Temple Of Doom"). Also in the excellent cast are Steve Brody and Richard Loo. This is among my Best Of 1951 choices.
Titanic / Jean Negulesco (1953). No, the other one. The black and white one. But, just like the James Cameron epic, it is split into good and bad halves – ironically the opposite halves. The 1997 blockbuster is usually criticized for its poorly developed drama leading up to the sinking of the ship. This is where the older film excels. It presents a compelling family drama that is lead by a fine performance by Clifton Webb as a self-centered, famous actor who is pursuing his wife (Barbara Stanwyck) who has left him and is taking their two children back to America. “Are you going to live in Mac-a-knack?” sneers Webb. “Any place can sound ridiculous coming from your mouth,” Stanwyck shoots back. Complications ensue, leading Webb to reject his adoring son. Then…the ship hits that infamous iceberg. In contrast to the thrills and suspense that James Cameron provides, the sinking sequence in the former is very lame. No explanation is given as to why there are two few lifeboats, the boats are filled in an orderly fashion, there is no panic, and even people from steerage are loaded, and just as the ship disappears under the surface the film ends, sparing us the turmoil of the drowning and freezing people in the water. Really, the only reason not to turn it off as the iceberg looms is to see Webb’s great, final moments.
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The Devil’s Disciple / Guy Hamilton (1959). Laurence Olivier is very much at home speaking the wry lines penned by G.B. Shaw and playing a man who is very much playing an ironic role in his life. This was the movie Olivier made immediately prior to “The Entertainer.” “The Devil’s Disciple,” with mostly English actors, was shot by Burt Lancaster’s production company. He brought old friend Kirk Douglas into the project with him. The female lead was given to British actress Janette Scott, as in “I really got hot when I saw Janette Scott / Fight a Triffid that spits poison and kills.” TDD takes place during the American Revolution as British troops invade and try to put down the rebels. General John “Gentlemanly Johnny” Burgoyne (“I am Gentlemanly Johnny,” he identifies himself to Kirk. “My more intimate friends call me General Burgoyne.”) is planning to join his command with General Howe at Albany and crush the Americans. Along the way, he stops to blithely hang a few villagers as a terror tactic. This raises the ire of a local minister (Lancaster), his wife (Scott) and rouses to action the prodigal son (Douglas) of the man who had been executed in the opening scene. Much of the dialog from Shaw’s three act play has been rearranged to make a movie instead of a stage play and to introduce Burgoyne at the very start instead of holding his appearance to the last act as Shaw did. The film makers also introduce a comic battle where the minister learns his “true profession” as a militiaman when he turns out to be practically invincible, fighting a squad of soldiers, shrugging off blows to the face and back and withstanding an explosion. All of this flows quite nicely without showing seams but one never forgets that Shaw’s wit and dramatic sense is ever the driving force. Acting is exemplary all around, even though the British press reviews often favored Olivier at the expense of the two American stars. The Daily Herald sniffed, “He wins the fight for supremacy (over Douglas and Lancaster) while barely stretching his talents to a tenth of their capacity.” Jeez, are they still angry over losing the Colonies?
The Steel Helmet / Samuel Fuller (1951). One of Fuller’s best. The Korean War, underway as the film was shot and released, ruffled some feathers (didn’t bother Sam Fuller) because its purpose was to show the “organized chaos” (Fuller’s term) of war. Also, a captured North Korean office tries to ferment resentment in two soldiers (one black, one of Japanese ancestry) by pointing out how their freedoms were being restricted in the U.S. He says to the Medic, Cpl. Thomson (James Edwards): “You have to sit in the back of the bus, don’t you?” Thomson replies, “A hundred years ago I couldn’t even ride the bus. Maybe in another hundred, I can sit in the middle.” (Rosa Parks was only 4 years in the future.) This sort of talk made HUAC members unhappy. A lot of film noir techniques are used by Fuller to give the war a claustrophobic feel and a sense of doom and fate just waiting. The outdoor scenes in a wood are often filled with a dense fog. Even in the sunshine, disaster could strike at any moment. When they arrive at an abandoned Buddhist Temple to set up a listening post, they get ready for an inevitable attack. Gene Evens plays grizzled Sgt. Zack, a WWII combat vet. William Chun is a South Korean boy who is dubbed Short Round by Sgt. Zack. (If that sounds familiar, Spielberg borrowed the name for Indi's young sidekick in "Temple Of Doom"). Also in the excellent cast are Steve Brody and Richard Loo. This is among my Best Of 1951 choices.
Titanic / Jean Negulesco (1953). No, the other one. The black and white one. But, just like the James Cameron epic, it is split into good and bad halves – ironically the opposite halves. The 1997 blockbuster is usually criticized for its poorly developed drama leading up to the sinking of the ship. This is where the older film excels. It presents a compelling family drama that is lead by a fine performance by Clifton Webb as a self-centered, famous actor who is pursuing his wife (Barbara Stanwyck) who has left him and is taking their two children back to America. “Are you going to live in Mac-a-knack?” sneers Webb. “Any place can sound ridiculous coming from your mouth,” Stanwyck shoots back. Complications ensue, leading Webb to reject his adoring son. Then…the ship hits that infamous iceberg. In contrast to the thrills and suspense that James Cameron provides, the sinking sequence in the former is very lame. No explanation is given as to why there are two few lifeboats, the boats are filled in an orderly fashion, there is no panic, and even people from steerage are loaded, and just as the ship disappears under the surface the film ends, sparing us the turmoil of the drowning and freezing people in the water. Really, the only reason not to turn it off as the iceberg looms is to see Webb’s great, final moments.