What classics did you see last week, Feb 26 to Mar 4?

First time viewings:

What They Had (2018):
A woman (Hilary Swank) returns to Chicago to visit her dad and mom, who’s now suffering from Alzheimer’s. Written and directed by Elizabeth Chomko in a stunning debut, with superb performances by all the cast in very difficult roles. A deeply moving film that’s brutally honest and a bit haunting. I look forward to seeing more Chomko films. Highly recommended.



Storm Boy (2019):
When a successful retired businessman (Geoffrey Rush) starts to see images from his past that he can't explain, he's forced to remember his childhood and how, as a boy, he rescued and raised an extraordinary orphaned pelican. A beautiful, deeply moving film that unites the natural world with humans in a profoundly meaningful way. The second version of the Colin Thiele novel. I look forward to seeing the first version next. Highly recommended.



Happy - Go - Lucky (2008):
A look at the life of a cheery, colorful, North London schoolteacher whose optimism tends to exasperate those around her. An excellent Mike Leigh film with a wonderful performance by Sally Hawkins in her first starring role. Highly recommended.



Was never able to get through this one before, but finally did it. Better toward the end; not great, but mildly entertaining overall — a little too stage bound for my taste. One of Powell’s Oscar nominated roles. Recommended for the story and the cast.



Re-watches:

The Mad Miss Manton (1938):
A delightful screwball comedy mystery; the first pairing of Stanwyck and Fonda. Definitely worth a view for fans of the cast.



Maisie (1939):
My favorite Maisie film. Ann Sothern shines in it and gets great support from Robert Young, Ruth Hussey, and Ian Hunter. A must-see for fans of the Maisie series.

The Painted Desert / Howard Higgin (1931). Two men heading west – Cash Holbrook (William Farnum) and Jeff Cameron (J. Ferrell MacDonald) find an abandoned baby boy. They fight over who will raise him. Holbrook leaves with the infant. Jump forward a few decades where the boy, Bill (William Boyd, four years before donning the persona of Hopalong Cassidy), is grown. Now a mining engineer, he has discovered a payload on Cameron’s property. Holbrook kicks him out for suggesting a partnership with his old rival. When Bill meets Cameron’s daughter Mary Ellen (Helen Twelvetrees), they fall in love. Also desiring Mary Ellen is the sulking ranch hand Rance Brett (Clark Gable). Gable is so young here I only recognized him by his voice, the public’s first chance to hear him speak as “The Painted Desert” was his talkie debut.
    It all seems like an explosive situation but except for some actual explosions late in the picture, there is not much action. The reason for this is that about 8-minutes of action footage was cut to provide scenes for the 1938 remake called just “Painted Desert” – no definite article.  It starred George O’Brien and Laraine Day. Our 1931 film has undergone some restoration but for some unexplained reason, the missing footage has never been restored even though it is readily available in the newer movie.
    “The Painted Desert” is an early sound feature. but it seems crudely made compared to some other great pictures from that year. Still, there are some pleasures to be had, especially in the second half.






Les Rivières Pourpres (The Crimson Rivers) / Mathieu Kassovitz (2000). Pierre Niemans (Jean Reno), a legend in French police work but now so burnt out he can barely speak, is sent to a remote rural area to investigate a particularly brutal and unusual murder. In a nearby small town, Max Kerkerian (Vincent Cassell), has been assigned as police chief in a nearby small town in this out-of-the-way area. He is looking into the desecration of a grave. Max eventually meets up with Niemans when their cases overlap. They are led to a very unusual university where the students are all offspring of professors and former professors. They are being vigorously trained both academically and physically. Niemans is helped by the only rebellious student, Fanny Ferreira (Nadia Farès) a mountain climbing expert. The two detectives uncover a deadly conspiracy that has been decades in the making, putting their own lives at risk. The mystery is a good one. At the end, when the killer appears in the distance, out of focus, and approaching the detectives, I seriously hadn’t the faintest idea who it might be. There are cameo appearances by veteran actors Jean-Pierre Cassell (Vincent’s dad) and Dominique Sanda.





Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood / Kenneth Bowser (2003). The most entertaining movie history documentary you will ever see with almost all footage being Talking Heads, interspersed with the occasional film clip. This is an oral history of the ending of the Hollywood studio system and the beginning of New Hollywood from the late 1960s through the 1970s. I think it would be even better if you lived those years. It is based on a book of the same title by Peter Biskind and covers basically the same ground as one of my favorite books “Pictures At A Revolution” by Mark Harris and another doc from the same year from a book with a corresponding title: “A Decade Under The Influence.” I recommend both movies and both books.
    “Easy Riders…” suggests three stages in American film during these years. First, following on the end of the Production Code, was the Counterculture Era (Bonnie and Clyde, Easy Rider, Roger Corman) and the growth of the youth market. This is followed, in the first half of the ‘70s by the Movie Brats-Film School crowd (Scorsese, Coppola, Bogdanovich) who cemented the idea in American film of the director as the “author” of the movie. Last is what this account calls the Big Budget B-Movie era (Jaws, Towering Inferno, Superman, Alien) which has set the template for the Hollywood money machine to this very day – and all of this done through the haze of pot, cocaine, and harder drugs. This is essential movie history.





Midsomer Murders
“Death By Persuasion” Season 19, Episode 5 (August 20, 2017)

Secrets Of The Dead
“Viking Warrior Queen” Season 18 Episode 4 (July 7, 2020)

NOVA
“Cat Tales” Season 47, Episode 3 (February 19, 2020)

Star Trek: Deep Space 9
“The Forsaken” Season 1, Episode 16 (May 23, 1993)
“Dramatis Personae” Season 1, Episode 17 (May 30, 1993)
“Duet” Season 1, Episode 18 (June 13, 1993)
“In the Hands of the Prophets” Season 1, Episode 19 (June 20, 1993)
----Season 1 Completed

Star Trek: Voyager
“Cathexis” Season 1, Episode 12 (May 1, 1995)
“Faces” Season 1, Episode 13 (May 8, 1995)
“Jetrel” Season 1, Episode 14 (May 15, 1995)
“Learning Curve” Season 1, Episode 15 (May 22, 1995)
----Season One Completed

Agatha Christie’s Poirot
“The Third Floor Flat” Season 1, Episode 5 (February 5, 1989)
“Triangle At Rhodes” Season 1, Episode 6 (February 12, 1989)
“Problem At Sea” Season 1, Episode 7 (February 19, 1989)

Secrets Of Britain
“Secrets Of Underground London” Season 1, Episode 2 (of 6) (May 21, 2014)