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Post by hi224 on Mar 18, 2019 19:05:52 GMT
Hi all,with having found the 3 films I've seen be him to be outstanding,I was trying to decide what I should next watch from the Melville set. After seeing hitchcockthelegend mention it,I went for Le Doulos (1963). Note:I've avoided any big spoilers.   “One has to choose. Die…or lie?” Le Doulos.10 Shuffling round quietly as his hands become covered in blood,Jean-Paul Belmondo gives a spectacular performance as Noir loner Silien. Holding to his heart a samurai loyalty to Maurice, Belmondo pulls Silien’s clipped dialogue towards his sunken eyes, with Belmondo keeping his face hollow and eyes low as he crawls at the dirt of the underworld to get his friend freed. Locked away unaware of Silien’s moves, Serge Reggiani gives a a great, brittle turn as Faugel, whose time spent behind bars and backstabbing has Reggiani feed into this Noir loner a mistrusting abrasiveness, which creates cracks when rubbed against Silien’s sincere belief to get Faugel free. Later calling this “My first real policier”, writer/directing auteur Jean-Pierre Melville’s adaptation of Pierre Lesou’s novel brilliantly continues an expansion on Melville’s recurring themes of an impossibility to remove doubts over mistrust and deceit from the bonds between friends and lovers. Sending Silien out on the streets as a lone Film Noir samurai,Melville brilliantly has Faugel’s opening diamond heist reverberate to the bitter end, as a paranoia over who informed of the theft pulls Faugel, Silien and the rest of the underworld into an unwavering mindset of retribution for the sparkling diamonds. Reuniting with Two Men in Manhattan (1959) cinematographer Nicolas Hayer, Melville picks up a doulos (a type of hat) and pulls out a mesmerising Film Noir atmosphere of ultra-stylised shadows running across every murky side street Melville tracks down, and in startlingly bare close-ups looks into the soulless gaze Silien commits each killing with. Clouding trust in deep black and white, Melville splinters the violence with expertly handled lone drips of blood running down the coats of loners across the screen and covering the doulos. JPM ranking: 1:Le Silence de la Mer 2: Le Doulos 3: When You Read This Letter. 4:Army of Shadows. were did you get that boxset?.
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Mar 18, 2019 21:33:40 GMT
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Mar 19, 2019 2:29:47 GMT
Hi all,over the New Year holiday season,I got very lucky online in filling almost all the gaps in the handful of Robert Hossein titles I was after. Having found the first Hossein/ Michèle Morgan team-up The Wretches (1960) to be superb and having enjoyed reading hitchcockthelegend write-up on the weekly thread,I opened my eyes to their second team-up. Marked Eyes (1964) 7 “Even policemen can be courteous.”  Reuniting after the New Wave-styled The Wretches (1960),co-writer/(with Claude Desailly/Andre Tabet and Georges Tabet) director/actor Robert Hossein and Michele Morgan give eye-catching turns as Florence and Franz,with Morgan cleverly using Florence’s estranged state in the town to make her a detached Femme Fatale, who even when rolling down hills with a lover keeps her guard up over suspicions of mind-games being played. Fitting into the woodland backdrop with a fresh face appearance, Robert Hossein gives a performance with real warmth as Franz,who Hossein has keep striking the ambiguity note, as Franz’s sincerity comes off as just a bit off to Florence. Along with reuniting with Morgan, Robert is joined by his composing dad Andre, who types up an excellent rumbling blues score which heighten the cracks of paranoia in Florence’s mind.Appearing to have been filmed in the real Austrian woodlands, Hossien & cinematographer Jean Boffety craft a chilly mysterious atmosphere in circling wide-shots across the isolated location. Cutting open the movie with an obscured eyeful of a murder, Hossien sharply pins the Noir visuals to a carefully designed sound mix, where the tapping of a mysterious type writer stylishly matches up to the splintered sightings of the writer/killer,and the looming panning shots down corridors following Florence sinking into doubt. Building up suspense superbly in a silent set-piece of Florence attempting to locate the typing noise, the writers spill ink on the anticipation,by going for the easy option of “borrowing” from Henri-Georges Clouzot, which dents the light Film Noir unease that the title had been building up over Florence’s increasing mistrust of the locals over marked eyes. |
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Mar 20, 2019 3:07:52 GMT
Hi all,after 1964 Marked Eyes,I decided to go back to dig into 1932 films waiting to be viewed.  Stupéfiants (1932) 6 “It sure is nice to see Europe again, when you’ve spent 20 years planting coffee in the tropics.” Filmed simultaneously with the German film Der Weisse Daemon and joined by co-director Roger Le Bon, director Kurt Gerron, (who turned down offers from Peter Lorre and Josef von Sternberg’s agent for Hollywood projects, and was murdered with his wife Olga by the Nazis in Auschwitz in 1944) does very well in bringing out stylishly flourishes under the tight production schedule, with the excellent extended opening tracking shots on a cruise ship establishing the heroic hero status of Henri,and over saturated lights making Liliane look like she is wasting herself away. Joined by writer Georges Neveux in adapting their German script, the screenplay by Neveux/ Philipp Lothar Mayring & Fritz Zeckendorf (who IMDb do not list as having been killed by the Nazis in 1943 in Auschwitz-Birkenau) is a fine mix of Melodrama and Thriller, as Liliane’s descent into drug addition brings the drama as Henri tries to free her from it, whilst the hands of “bossu” (and his ingenious use of blanc vinyl to record faked messages) push Liliane deeper into the abyss. Caught between bossu and Henri, sweet Daniele Parola gives a very good performance as Liliane,whose singing ambitions Parola has get chipped away by the drugs. Sliding Parola deeper into her addiction, Peter Lorre gives a wonderfully slippery turn as bossu, whose calm, matter of fact manner is used by Lorre as a veil for ruthlessness that leaves Liliane dying for a hit. |
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Mar 21, 2019 4:03:07 GMT
Hi all,I today watched one of two films Renoir made in '32.  Night at the Crossroads (1932) 8 “I tried to give the feeling of mud sticking to your feet,and of fog obscuring your sight.” Blamed on either a missing reel or (as the author claims) the breakdown of the directors first marriage and heavy drinking causing the film maker to skip shooting scenes,the visible gaps remarkably work to the advantage of writer/directing auteur Jean Renoir goal with the production,which Renoir said was that: “I tried to give the feeling of mud sticking to your feet,and of fog obscuring your sight.” Riding in to puncture the activities of a gang of thieves, Renoir,his soon to be ex-wife/editor Marguerite Renoir and future director Jacques Becker working as a assistant director and production manager,draw up an eerie misty atmosphere from the town being covered in layers of deep fog,which in stylish panning shots following Maigret reveal an inability to gain a clear sight at the inner workings of the gang. Sticking mud on the feet of the viewer, Renoir also displays a sharp artistic eye in using objects on the set, (such as wheels and ropes) to obscure the full faces of the suspects,and make their lies stick to Maigret. Getting the first ever adaptation rights to a Georges Simenon novel after driving to Simenon’s boathouse and making him a offer on the spot,Renoir signals a continuation of his Film Noir theme,of Maigret being unable to fit into the town of foggy morals he is surrounded by. Left with rough odds and ends sticking out, the missing scenes give Maigret’s investigation to arrest the thieves an intriguing missing puzzle mood,where each attempt Maigret to put a gang profile together never quite fits. Offered the role by his brother,Pierre Renoir gives an excellent performance as Maigret, thanks to Renoir giving Maigret a subtle inquisitiveness over digging into secrets of the gang during a night at the crossroads. |
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Mar 24, 2019 2:28:41 GMT
Hi all,with having found Flight Into Darkness (1935) and his US Noir Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) to be very good,I looked at Anatole Litvak's credits,and found I had one of his 3 (!) 1932 films:  Lilac (1932) 9 “The creeping glove!” Opening and closing with the same long panning shot of soldiers marching pass as boys play soldiers/ cops and robbers, co-writer/(with Dorothy Farnum and Serge Veber) directing auteur Anatole Litvak & cinematographer Curt Courant bring the tale full circle with Litvak’s continuing motif of crossing the Melodrama and Film Noir. Tracking down the seedy corridors of Lilac’s workplace, Litvak holds Lilac up as a shining light In a building darkened by murky cops and robbers, as beautifully held soft close-ups lock eyes on Lilac’s love, and circling wide-shots in the buildings during mass sing-songs touch on rare moments of true companionship in the place. Pulling the opening shot down to a dead body, Litvak superbly seeps in the Film Noir doubt Lilac has over who she can trust, in striking side angle shots uncovering what is out of Lilac’s vision, leading to an astonishingly highly-stylised set-piece of Lilac running away from monstrous faces covering the screen driving her to madness. While the limited settings do signal the Charles-Henry Hirsch and Tristan Bernard’s stage origins, Farnum, Veber and Litvak’s adaptation wonderfully breaks the stage down in the interplay between the Melodrama of Lucot keeping his cover round the falling in love Lilac,with the forensic Film Noir investigative work Lilac is doing with his fellow officers to solve the murder and check to see if Lilac herself lines up to clues of the identity of the killer. Working as a temptation to Lilac and a determined cop, Andre Luguet gives a terrific performance as Lucot, who is given a sweet reserved nature when Lilac, that Luguet twists into a quick-witted spring the moment a clue pops up. Shining in the middle of the dirt surrounding her, Marcelle Romeo (who tragically died in 1932 from a suicide age 29) gives a mesmerising performance as Lilac, thanks to Romeo capturing in her expressive face the wave of love running across Lilac’s lips for Lucot, with a bubbling doubt over Lucot’s honesty to her over his real job. |
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Mar 24, 2019 23:43:08 GMT
Hi all,today I dug into a few discs I had picked up on eBay ages ago,and dug up a Delon Thriller: “It doesn't matter if a gentlemen was born poor or born rich,they swoop down on him and cry for vengeance.”  Boomerang (1976) 6 Putting the opening credits against what turns out to be the final freeze frame, co-writer/(with Alain Delon and Monica Venturini ) directing auteur Jose Giovanni & cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn also bookend the title with dips into the Italian Crime genre, via the opening drug-fuelled murder of a cop being shot in a stylishly hazy first person view, and a closing high-speed break out ending on a slow-motion splint across the border. In the middle of these bookends, Giovanni continues the clinical dissection motif which covers his entire work, with tightly held two-shots unmasking the regret Eddy has for being behind bars, and Jacques regret for having to go back to the old ways. Holding back from gangster thrills, the writers instead drill into the tensely coiled drama of Jacques attempt to hold onto the new life he is trying to create, as a tug of war unfolds between the press uncovering his pass thanks to son Eddy’s crime,and Jacques proving to himself that he is not the gangster of old. Looking at the choices placed in front of him,Alain Delon gives an icy turn as Jacques,with Delon digging into Jacques attempt to do things by the book,until his old life boomerangs. |
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Mar 26, 2019 1:37:12 GMT
Hi all,taking a look round online to see if there were any "hidden gems" of French cinema from 1932 I may have missed,I stumbled on a version of Fantômas. Fantômas (1932) 8  Housed the same year as James Whale’s The Old Dark House, co-writer/(with Anne Mauclair) director Pal Fejos & cinematographer J. Peverell Marley key the opening 30 minutes as a chilly Old Dark House mystery, spanning expressionism-style high walls slotted round the house, and a excellent sound design filling the rooms with the noise of a rustling wind as Fantomas creeps round the abode. Stepping out of the house, Fejos pays ingenious tribute to the serial origins of the character, as Fantomas uses a recording a of what sounds like a Silent movie score to drown out the screams from his attempt at murder, and choppy, fast edits with sped-up film giving the fight scenes a delightfully pulp edge. Keeping Fantomas until the very end, Fejos and Mauclair’s spin on Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain’s creation with talks in the Old Dark House making the mysterious Fantomas sound mythical, leading to a frantic chase after Inspector Juve learns of a murder victim in the house,and tries to catch the Fantomas. |
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Mar 27, 2019 0:02:08 GMT
Hi all,having seen La tête d'un homme (1933) in November,I opened up the Criterion Eclipse Series 44: Julien Duvivier in the Thirties again:   “A family, is a group of people forced to live together under one roof,and who can’t stand each other.” Poil de carotte (1932) 10 Not given their full remastering treatment, Criterion present a transfer that has noticeable spots of dirt, but also has a clean soundtrack and well-paced English subtitles. Whilst Henri Graziani would attempt to clean the tale up with an ill-judged chocolate wrapper appearance for the 1973 remake (also reviewed), writer/directing auteur Julien Duvivier is joined by regular collaborator cinematographer Armand Thirard in continuing to expand Duvivier’s recurring motif of exploring the darkest corners of humanity. Keeping the camera at Francois’s height, Duvivier stylishly covers “Carrot Top’s” surroundings in soot blocking any shards of light from entering the household, and looking upwards to Francois’s mum as a almost demonic being. Tugged and shoved around by everyone, Duvivier peels into Francois’s psychological state with magnificent overlaps, double-exposures and dissolves drawing the inner conversations Francois is having with himself and the goblins that haunt him to a physical form, leading to a chilling set-piece, where Francois hangs on the edge and looks down into Duvivier’s pit. Growing this adaptation of Jules Renard’s novel, the screenplay by Duvivier brilliantly makes Francois’s life a living hell.kicked from constant bullying from his siblings, to his mother making it clear that he is a unwanted child, by dressing him in shredded rags and having Francois clean up everyone else’s mess. Attempting to hold the flicker of light from his dad, Duvivier makes this hold one which is not held with ease, by the abrasive, distant relationship the parents have causing Francois’s dad to lose touch with him. Murdered by the Nazis at just 23 years old in 1943 with 14 fellow French Resistance fighters, Robert Lynen gives an incredibly mature debut performance as Francois, whose pain and loss of optimism is captured by Lynen in subtly drained facial expressions. Whilst playing a different tune to the rest of the cast, Catherine Fonteney gives a deliriously theatrical performance which turns Francois’s mum into a hissing beast. Later being tortured to death by the Gestapo in 1943, Harry Baur’s performance as Francois’s dad is one filled with an incredible warmth that brings light to Francois. |
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Mar 30, 2019 2:53:18 GMT
Hi all,having seen his first mission earlier this month,I decided to catch another OSS 117 flick. OSS 117: Mission for a Killer (1965) 5  For the first hour co-writer/(with Pierre Foucaud and Jean Halain) director Andre Hunebelle’s adaptation of Pierre Foucaud’s novel is spent in a wandering state, where instead of gradually increasing the stakes, Agent OSS 117 is left to aimlessly travel round with little feeling of increased pressure from boo-hiss Euro Spy baddies.Going down to the jungle for the final, the writers switch from Euro Spy to a more Adventure flavour, with excitement fired up in the Amazon jungle over an uprising on by the locals on the baddies using a plant from the region to create a drug which will let them take over the world. Whilst the Jungle action does get lively, the writers oddly continue making OSS 117 and Sulza feel like side characters,due to it being the locals and the baddies who pull the mission along. Mostly filmed in Rio and backed by Michel Magne’s sweet hula hula score, director Hunebelle & cinematographer Marcel Grignon visual bring out the Euro Spy style missing in the script,in lush wide-shots giving Rio a globe-trotting espionage adventure sizzle, with the lair of the baddie surrounded by the jungle giving the flick a pulpy vibrancy. Burning up anyone who takes him on, Hunebelle makes the wonderful fight scene the centre-piece, thanks to the hand to hand combat moves being slickly shot, and left-field weapons coming out of nowhere,including a stand out fight OSS 117 has against a henchmen welding a flame-thrower. Cast after the director ran into him in a Bangkok hotel (!),Frederick Stafford (joined by the alluring glamour of Mylene Demongeot as Sulza) gives a very good debut performance as OSS 117, thanks to Stafford match the Euro Spy cool under danger style with a rough and tumble edge in the action scenes,as OSS 117 takes on a mission for a killer. |
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Mar 31, 2019 2:59:38 GMT
Hi all,having read up on various sites that Jess Franco had been wrongly credited for this film,I decided to watch the flick and then investigate! La maison des filles perdues (1974) 6  "The House of Lost Dolls." Whilst Jess Franco was not involved in the film,(despite online listings,Franco is not listed in the on-screen credits) the screenplay by co-writer/(with Marius Lesoeur-whose use of the alias A.L. Mariaux is what caused the mix-up,due to Franco using a similar alias) director Pierre Chevalier wears similar psychotronic clothes to Jess, thanks to a long flashback unveiling the women being shipped out as WIP-style sex slaves to a house in the wilderness. Mashing footage shot with “borrowed” footage from Agente Sigma 3 - Missione Goldwather (1967) and backed by a lounge Jazz score from Jess Franco’s regular composer Daniel White, director Chevalier & cinematographer Gerard Brisseau whip up lashings of sleaze from the fittie “Lost Dolls” being used by clients, and hilariously badly staged fight scenes where punches hit thin air,in the house of lost dolls. |
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Mar 31, 2019 3:47:15 GMT
Hi all,recently watching Night at the Crossroads,I decided to catch Renoir's other 1932 work. :Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932) 9. “Expectation is an indispensable seasoning for the dreariness of useful chores.”  Following Boudu to his drowning attempt, co-writer (with Albert Valentin)/directing auteur Jean Renoir pre-dates the French New Wave by decades with long, documentary-style tracking shots of Boudu walking down streets clearly filled with real people (some of whom even look the camera.) Welcoming Boudu into the family home, Renoir uses the clash of class between Boudu and the Lestingois’s to give the farce sight-gags an anarchic atmosphere from Boudu wheeling out to each corner of the house and doing inappropriate jokes. Rubbing up against Boudu, Renoir stylishly gazes into the Lestingois’s lives with elegant long-shots gazing out of windows to conversations taking place in other rooms,and for the final, Renoir swims towards poetic stylisation which in crawling panning shots sends Boudu sailing as a free spirit. Adapting Rene Fauchois’s play, (who at first wanted to disown it,but later approved of the final result) Renoir greets Boudu with a merry satirical bite,from the bourgeoisie Lestingois family attempting to get Boudu to conform to their rules of the game over the image he should present to the outside world. Saving him from drowning, Renoir wonderfully grates down on the Lestingois’s warmth towards Boudu, until the mere mention of him makes them twitch with memories of his unkempt attitude. Living a long time in a kind of bohemian house in Noisy-le-Grand, near Paris, Michel Simon gives an astonishing turn as Boudu, whose humour Simon keeps as free-flowing by pushing Boudu’s eccentrics right up against the screen,as Boudu finds himself saved from drowning. |
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Apr 1, 2019 1:49:22 GMT
Hi all,having found his 1943 films The Devil's Hand and Valley of Hell to both be magnificent, I decided to watch a lesser-known Maurice Tourneur film.  Fun at the Barricades (1932) 7 “Soldiers are in his blood,like women can be under your skin.” Going down to the barracks with a sweeping opening shot over the town, director Maurice Tourneur (with editing by his son Jacques!) holds down his styling flourishes in remaking his own 1913 film, to crisply march this mad-cap coarse Comedy,with Tourneur finely dashing between mid and wide-shots to sling the latest escapade of the soldiers, and capture the look of shock from the commanding officers. Based on Georges Courteline and Edouard Nores’s play,the adaptation by Georges Dolley stays firmly on the grounds of the stage origins, with the activities being confined to the barricades, but makes up for it with a broad sense of humour in the course slap-sick from the soldiers sneaking banned items in, to slippery one-liners over fears that an unexpected inspection from a general goes awry. Stealing every scene he is in, Raimu gives a hilarious, puffed-up, self-important performance as Hurluret, who cracks as others have fun at the barricades. |
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Apr 2, 2019 2:17:20 GMT
Hi all,looking at the 1932 French films waiting to be viewed,I decided to give a shot to one which has no IMDb review. He (1932)/Le rosier de Madame Husson 7 (No IMDb reviews for it!)  “Cinema is the school of vice.” In adapting Guy de Maupassant’s novel, the screenplay by “ Russell M. Spalding” (who with no other credits is likely an alias) twists the classic into a US Pre-Code-inspired tale, (it later got put out in a dubbed,cut down version in the US)with Isidore pure innocence unleashing playfully comedic double entendres and sly asides over who will take his virginity. His first film since 1922, director Dominique Bernard-Deschamps & cinematographer Nicolas Farkas put one foot in the “talkie” and the other kept in the “Silent”, as the quick-fired dialogue is paired with stylish Silent passages, (backed by Michel Michelet’s delicate score) of Isidore edging towards losing his innocence. The model of virtue in the town, Françoise Rosay gives a shining, witty turn as Husson, whilst Fernandel convincingly holds on Isidore’s face a total lack of self-awareness over what he encounters. |
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Apr 3, 2019 3:25:50 GMT
Hi all,with having caught two of the other films in the series,I decided to play a third OSS.  OSS 117: Mission to Tokyo (1966) 7 “I never trust a woman with a beauty spot on her right hip.” Bringing in Terence Young (and an uncredited Claude Sautet) to join the returning duo of Pierre Foucaud and Marcel Mithois in adapting Jean Bruce,the new writers give the franchise a sparkling Euro Spy makeover. Keeping OSS’s mission straight-lined, the writers tune in an exciting fish out of water espionage tale, with OSS being unable to fully trust the Japanese secret service,and running into 007-style henchmen trying to put 0SS on the end of their swords. Mostly filmed in Tokyo and new to the series, director Michel Boisrond & returning cinematographer Marcel Grignon join in giving a new found energy for the franchise, with the bright lights and night clubs of Japan giving it a Euro Spy sheen,along with panning shots catching sight-gags of OSS being spied on. Karate-chopping him into action,Boisrond gives the action set-pieces a wonderfully over the top quality, from the gigantic henchmen knocking down walls to OSS hanging a baddie with a phone wire. Joining a returning Frederick Stafford as OSS, Marina Vlady gives the series a touch of Euro spy glamour as icy Wilson,who leads OSS with a Tokyo drifter. |
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Apr 3, 2019 20:13:36 GMT
Thérèse Raquin (1953) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0046429/reference
Thérèse is no Tease.
Thérèse Raquin (AKA: The Adultress) is directed by Marcel Carné and Carné co-adapts the screenplay with Charles Spaak from the Émile Zola novel. It stars Simone Signoret, Raf Vallone, Jacques Duby, Maria Pia Casilio and Roland Lesaffre. Music is by Maurice Thiriet and cinematography by Roger Hubert.
Carné reworks Zola's novel to be set in post-war Lyon and slips into a film noir gear. Plot essentially finds Signoret as Raquin, a severely repressed woman stuck in a marriage to her wimpy weasel of a cousin, not only that but she also has to share a home with his domineering mother. Then one day the strapping Laurent LeClaire (Vallone) enters her life, sparking a fiery affair, but as plans for the future are plotted, a turn of events drastically changes everything.
The characterisations are strongly performed, the five principals (Lesaffre arrives late in the play as a key character) giving performances that really draw you into their respective worlds, for better or worse as regards the human condition. Carné skillfully blends the beautiful side of Lyon, such as the quaint cobbled streets and the River Rhone, with a dull bleakness that fogs Thérèse, a woman who has forgotten how to smile, sexual fulfilment a non entity. Hubert also brings his photographic skills to the show, providing some blisteringly gorgeous night shots that offer hope for the new found lovers. But there is a sign post up ahead and it says that the next stop is noirville, and after having spent half the film building his characters, Carné dashes hope and replaces it with misery. Fate plays a big part in the crux aspects of the film, a film noir staple of course, right up to the clinical finale that comes with a thunderous fait accompli.
It's a bit draggy in parts as the director is at pains to show the humdrum side of life, but the change of gear at the mid-point - and the brilliant last quarter, make this a worthy addition for collectors of Frenchie noir. 8/10
    
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Post by Aj_June on Apr 3, 2019 21:41:34 GMT
Thérèse Raquin (1953) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0046429/reference
Thérèse is no Tease.
Thérèse Raquin (AKA: The Adultress) is directed by Marcel Carné and Carné co-adapts the screenplay with Charles Spaak from the Émile Zola novel. It stars Simone Signoret, Raf Vallone, Jacques Duby, Maria Pia Casilio and Roland Lesaffre. Music is by Maurice Thiriet and cinematography by Roger Hubert.
Spike, loved this film. And whenever I hear its name the first person that comes to my mind is Simone Signoret. Think she should be considered one of the greatest actresses ever across the film industries. She has that dominating screen presence. Also, I should mention Carne. first watched Port of Shadows (1938) and was immediately impressed. Then after seeing Les Enfants du Paradis (1945) and falling in love with Arletty, I knew I recognised Carne as among the greatest ones. Thérèse Raquin (1953) only just topped him in my mind.
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Apr 4, 2019 3:02:42 GMT
Hi all,I was originally planning to watch Marc Allégret's Fanny (1932), but with Eng Subs playing up I went for the back-up.  La femme nue (1932) 7 “It’s a pity that a man keeps developing,but the quality of his love remains lower.” Caught in the middle of their whirlwind romance, director Jean-Paul Paulin & cinematographer Leonce-Henri Burel film round the boulevards and create a Mardi Gras atmosphere of swinging camera moves grooving to the dance moves of the half-naked men and women, whilst circling the growing romance between the couple. Although the stage roots are later aired in the limited number of sets, Paulin casts a graceful Melodrama mood from pristine close-ups on Lolette’s heart breaking. Despite the leaps made in how fast Pierre’s love disintegrates,Leopold Marchand’s adaptation of Henry Bataille’s holds the drastic changes together by wrapping them all round Lolette, in her loved-up stating making the lightly comedic dialogue flow, and then cracking the Melodrama as Pierre paints over their romance. Giddy at their first encounter, “Florelle” gives an outstanding,expressive turn as Lolette,whose drop into misery Florelle makes extremely brittle with pained expressions on her face and closed-up body language, towards the painter of the naked woman. |
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Apr 4, 2019 3:11:03 GMT
Hi all,with having found the 3 films I've seen be him to be outstanding,I was trying to decide what I should next watch from the Melville set. After seeing hitchcockthelegend mention it,I went for Le Doulos (1963). JPM ranking: 1:Le Silence de la Mer 2: Le Doulos 3: When You Read This Letter. 4:Army of Shadows. Hi Dylan. I am glad that you enjoyed Le Doulos . The French definitely knew how to make stylish gangster movies. I had read somewhere that the French crime genre of the late 50s and early 60s was inspired by Hollywood crime movies of 40s and early 50s. But I believe the setting in French Culture made things different and it never felt like watching Hollywood movies. Of the 4 movies that you have listed I have not seen When You Read This Letter. Could you tell me a bit about that? What sort of movie it is and how strongly would you recommend?
Hi AJ,I'm sorry about being so late with the reply. Letter is probably the biggest departure JPM made,with it being a Melodrama,which I've read is inspired by Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) (I've not seen the film.) Whilst the genre is different, JPM brings the same level of care he gives to his other works,with Letters (my first JPM viewing) having a excellent depth of field and memorable turns from Philippe Lemaire and Juliette Gréco.
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Apr 8, 2019 3:09:54 GMT
Hi all,I was surprised to recently learn about a Western from France in 1932!  "I'd like to be hung listening to music. A little tune, if you don't mind." The Wandering Beast (1932) 6 Set in Alaska, director Marco de Gastyne wraps the Western in a rustic, grizzly atmosphere of warmly lit pubs where bar room brawls break out, and it is surrounded by never ending snow. Taking Hurricane and Flossie across the snowy wilderness, Gasyne elegantly glides with them in wide panning shots following them into the deserted wasteland. Not credited anywhere online, but thankfully listed in the opening credits, the screenplay by Gastyne sends Hurricane into the pub with a gust of pessimism over seeing Flossie , and facing rough encounters with the locals. Bringing them together, Gastyne’s moves away from the Western into misplaced Melodrama,with the ending being an abrupt jump into the future. Finding that the woman of his dreams did not wait for his return from the Gold Rush, Maurice Maillot gives a terrific turn,as the worn-down,but far from out loner outlaw Hurricane. In her last role, the cute Choura Milena gives an alluring performance as Flossie, who is kept by Milena as a mirage towards the wandering beast. |
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