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Tanganyika (1954)
It's not female. It's German.
The title reflects the German territory of the African plains, on the other side of Nairobi where Ruth Roman wants to get to with her niece and nephew after her brother is killed by natives. She is escorted by hunter Van Heflin who is also escorting the wounded Howard Duff, recovering from being attacked by natives under orders of an unseen white man who has been stirring them up. The journey is fraught with danger, from alligators swarming the river they have to cross, a stalking leopard and warriors hiding amongst the brush. There are also some cute monkeys (one stealing Roman's corset) and the kid's cute donkeys, one spooked by the presence of the leopard which nearly takes down one of the native servants who works with Heflin.
The open plains are majestic and beautiful, even when dangerous and filled with threats around every corner. This Universal adventure is the perfect weekend afternoon popcorn film, with Heflin hard and cynical, but gaining a soft spot for Roman and the children. For me, I began to wonder about Duff's character. Could he possibly be the villainous white man Heflin wants to see face justice? Even the way the camera lingers on him reflects that possibility as he's not seemingly a threat to any romantic possibilities that Roman and Heflin have. The kids are fortunately underplayed and not in your face cute, as the African plains are no place for such a nuisance. That changes however with the presence of the native children in the tribal village, but somehow they don't seem out of place. A lot of fun.
Target Zero (1955)
A rattling tank is no way to cross an empty battlefield.
Even in black and white, the great mountainous outdoors of Korea looks beautiful, but mine traps play disaster for biologist Peggie Castle and her companion, killed when their car skids down a steep ravine. An American tank (filled with British soldiers) happens to come along, and that's the last polite behavior that Castle will see after they spot several Asian soldiers staring at them. Out of nowhere comes Richard Conte and his mixed race group of mainly Americans with a few Koreans, among his group a very young Charles Bronson and Chuck Conners. Right away, the Yanks and Brits are at each other's throats, and Castle must play peacemaker as they make their way across the plains carrying one of Conte's men in a stretcher.
This B action war film from Warner Brothers is decent but cheap, rather derivative and filled with some crude cliched characters. It's obvious that the writers were pushing Conte and Castle for a romantic pairing, but the more interesting elements of the film surrounds the group's efforts to survive. The noisy tank makes Chitty Chitty Bang Bang sound silent, not a subtle way to get through a war zone without attracting attention. Of course, Castle never has a smidgen of dirt on her face and her hair is consistently perfect. One particularly violent scene involving a captured Korean getting his hands on a knife results in a horrific death scene involving the tank.
This briefly covers two cases of prejudice where one of the British soldiers discusses his hatred towards Americans (based on an experience his sister had during World War II) and a native American soldier making his own claim about how the tribes are going to rise up and send all the white people back into the sea, smirking as if it was a joke, but never confirming that. Conte is a rather coldly emotional person who only on occasion shows a glimpse of humanity which gets reactions from those around him as their situation seems more hopeless. It's these elements that makes this more than just your typical B war drama, adding psychological elements into it that gives the viewer pause to contemplate.
Target Unknown (1951)
The Third Reich has a Third Ear.
The American Air Force in England is warned about the art of espionage which can be achieved in many ways, and when American pilots are captured by the Germans and housed in luxury, they are greatly manipulated in order to obtain information. Gaining the confidence of individual pilots in order to discover the purpose of a serious mission, the Germans piece everything together cleverly, but are still missing key elements to figure it all out. Funny moments have a few Americans catching onto the game being played with them and tossing in ridiculous references to comic strips and other cultural doubletalk.
A good cast and script makes this quite believable, and coming out years after the war ended seems like a simple lesson in what certain agencies were up to, but this was also the height of the cold war and a conflict in Korea. The conversations between the Germans and Americans are often written like a verbal chess match, and at times like tennis or ping pong. As the Americans, Mark Stevens and Alex Nicol are funny and outspoken, and as the Germans, Robert Douglas and Gig Young, sly and manipulative, both sides frequently coming to terms with what the other is up to, alternately amused and irritated by it.
The second half of the film has the escaped Americans being protected by members of the resistance who are friendly with the Nazis on the surface, but secretly out to sabotage their efforts to win the war. This brings a pretty French farmgirl into the film to help Americans Stevens and Nicol. The varying plot twists will keep the viewer on their toes with excitement as all this unfolds. A decent Universal B picture that cleverly supplies wit along with the patriotic warnings of "Keep your mouth shut or else" theme of the story. Even a flirtatious nurse and a French chanteuse can be using you for their own sinister purpose.
The Tanks Are Coming (1951)
Lots of danger on the road to the Siegfried Line.
All the archetypes are there in this exciting but formula World War II action film. The lieutenant who leads with heart, the replacement sergeant (coming in after his predecessor is killed), the good German who is fighting for his adopted country against whom he feels is now the enemy, the tank driver with a drinking problem, the jokester and the tough guy. You've met all these kinds before regardless of where they fall in this story, and yet it's an irresistible story because its so patriotic, and every man in one way or another has their story to tell and their own enthusiasm of why they fight. The focus is on the determination of a tank battalion to get to the border where they know there will be a large German presence to deal with.
I like the way the mature soldiers look over the others, particularly lieutenant Philip Carey and the tough-talking Harry Bellaver, and the scene where a private visits a general and is gently put at east. "Generals have bossses and can be fired", he is told, and obviously this general isn't a MacArthur or Patton, ironically turning out to be Eisenhower. Steve Cochran is the tough sergeant whom Carey is at odds with. As this was made when the war was still relatively fresh on the public's mind (and during the Korean crisis), it was certainly timely and important, even though Warner Brothers had probably a dozen war movies released each year. Lots of good action and well written conversations, indicating that there were wars among those on the same side that had to be resolved before the real battle began.
10 Rillington Place (1971)
This isn't just an apartment building. It's a pressure cooker.
You'll not soon forget Richard Attenborough in this, especially the opening scene where he drugs, rapes, strangles and buries a young woman in the garden in the back. Soon renting her apartment to young John Hurt and Judy Geeson, his lascivious eyes are all over Geeson who to his displeasure turns out to be carrying another baby. Attenborough offers to perform an illegal abortion as Hurt and Geeson (who are already having problems to her grasping friend who insists on staying over in the crowded flat) can't afford another child on Hurt's salary.
It's very disturbing watching Attenborough looking maniachal in a mirror as he fingers the tube he intends to use to knock Geeson out and his frustration of not being allowed to proceed with the fetus termination privately when men arrive to do work on the property, and then the arrival of Isobel Black, Geeson's protective friend. He is creepy enough physically so added personal ticks to his personality adds to his repulsiveness, and only a naive couple like Hurt and Geeson could be fooled into thinking he's normal. A breathy voice adds to the eerie feeling that something isn't quite right, especially in the way he recites his dialog.
Hurt is a dark character as well, but that's mainly out of frustration due to his situation, but it was his decision to take the apartment so rashly without considering other options. A violent fight erupts when Hurt arrives home late after work and finds .... in his place in bed which disturbs the whole neighborhood thanks to the screaming and baby crying. Even the baby can see by looking at Attenborough that he's a mug short of warm ale. What was disturbing about this movie isn't just the subject matter but by the all too embarrasingly realistic dialog that comes from the situation and the tragic twist from Attenborough's actions. It's best to know going in what a disturbing psychological thriller this is, not exactly a film to praise, but like a bad car accident, unable to turn away from. Turns out that this was based on a real murder case which adds to the horror feel of the killings.
Le locataire (1976)
A fine line between horror and mystery.
A collection of Oscar winners joins Roman Polanski and Isabelle Adjani in this Polanski film, a thrilling companion piece to his horror masterpiece "Rosemary's Baby" and his modern film noir classic, "Chinatown", with the cinematic technical genius of his 1971 "MacBeth". Polanski rents an apartment in Paris from Melvyn Douglas (with Shelley Winters the caretaker, and Lila Kedrova and Jo Van Fleet as tenants thrust into all the intrigue), discovering that the previous tenant, a young woman, threw herself out of the window. Out of curiosity, Polanski goes to visit her and meets the mysterious Adjani who claims to be a close friend. A weird series of situations has Polanski accused of making all sorts of racket in his apartment, but weird visits and other strange occurrences (including a full tooth found inside a hole in the wall) disturb his efforts to live there quietly.
This is slow but haunting, presented in a way that makes the film truly bizarre at times, reminding me of the 1978 horror classic " ", along with "The Sentinel" and lesser quality TV movies, many of which featured Winters. The screenplay cleverly keeps the viewer at bay from figuring everything out, and even when all these star cameos come together in one scene, the mystery is all the more compelling and baffling. The set direction of the building with its huge circular staircase (which suddenly seems to break off into two directions) is gloriously macabre, and at times, the film becomes very funny, especially when Polanski is trying desperately to keep his paper bag filled with debris from spilling all over the carpeting while being lectured by Douglas. This is the type of film where the viewer is best knowing little about it as possible as the joy and thrills of it come from all the details that slowly emerge from a delightfully deranged mind.
Taxi Driver (1976)
A Walking Timebomb.
Probably the most notable New York nutjob since Ratso Rizzo in "Midnight Cowboy", Robert DeNiro's Travis Bickle has had enough of what he considers walking Manhattan sewage, describing them as he drives through one of the most sordid parts of the city in the mid 1970's. A Vietnam vet who hasn't done well since returning to civilized society, Bickle views the city as something that needs to be flushed, and after a disappointing conclusion to dating the beautiful Cybil Shepherd (playing a well put together campaign manager for a fictional 1976 presidential candidate), begins to really loose it. You can see his disgust with certain sectors of society, his cab attacked by Harlem hoods, his experience with an insane man planning on killing his white wife and her black lover, and seeing pre-teen prostitute Jodie Foster being abused by her pimp.
When Bickle gets the presidential candidate (Leonard Harris) as a customer, he has his chance to explain things about America that upsets him, you can see how he is played by the senator to cop a vote even though his guard and assistant obviously think that Bickle is dangerously unhinged. Bickle gets a gun and begins his exercising, target shooting and meditating, and the audience anxiously watches in waiting of his deranged behavior turning to something horrendous. DeNiro's "You talking to me?" speech has the most interesting on-screen audience, and you know there's no turning back for his sanity. Even "American Bandstand" and "The Young and the Restless" (during its early days) become subjects of his hatred of society as his rage increases, taking out a convenience store robber as if he was killing a mosquito.
The dialog is definitely quite blue, attacking every group possible through Bickle's hatred towards everyone. When Foster, seen early on briefly with pimp Harvey Keitel (featuring long hair and a Spanish accent), gets her big moment on screen, you see a star in the making, even though she'd already been around (working with director Martin Scorsese two years before in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore"), and you see a vulnerable side of Bickle who has seemed like a complete monster up to this point. This is a very hard film to watch because of the very disturbing and depressing subject matter, but important in advancing more serious topics being covered as the 70's rolled on. Peter Boyle, Albert Brooks and Victor Argo are seen in smaller roles, but it's DeNiro and Foster in her supporting part who have entered screen immortality as their characters really come to life.
Test Pilot (1938)
The king and queen of Hollywood, and the emperor of screen acting.
Don't underestimate farm girls from Kansas. Just because this is a man's picture doesn't mean that Myrna Loy, recently crowned queen of Hollywood opposite co-star Clark Gable's king, is taking a back seat story wise. MGM wisely put her on equal footing with Gable and Spencer Tracy (on the verge of winning his second consecutive Oscar) in this big budget Victor Fleming action film, and it's just like she's one of the boys.
Of course, not all Kansas farm girls look like they just stepped out of Elizabeth Arden, but in Loy's case, MGM made sure that this one had access as she lived just outside of Wichita. Pilot Gable has flight problems and lands in Loy's family's field. After some delightful quibbling, Gable gets Loy to allow him to use her phone, and pretty soon, they're attending a local baseball game, making fun of an MGM film playing at the local Bijou, and going on a joyride in his fixed plane. Tracy arrives, and the romance gains a third wheel even though her car has four as well as his plane.
Don't expect a John Steinbeck or Uncle Henry/Auntie Em dustbowl like Kansas farm. This one is elegant, designed with style as only MGM could do. The film is quite elegant and action packed as Loy falls in love with Gable against her will even though she's engaged. But not for long. The flying sequences are quite good, the dialog crisp and funny, and Lionel Barrymore his usual cantankerous funny self as Gable and Tracy's boss, with some good character performances by the likes of Gloria Holden (as the widow of Louis Jean Heydt) and Marjorie Main. Easy to see why this was a smash hit. It's irresistible!
Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939)
Little Miss Matchmaker strikes a match and nearly starts a fire.
It's been three years since Deanna Durbin and sisters Helen Parrish and Nan Grey conspired together to get their parents (Charles Winninger and Nella Walker) back together, and now that they're a big happy family, there's lots more interfering for Durbin as the baby to do. Sister Gray is engaged to William Lundigan, and Parrish (who replaced Barbara Read) is revealed to be in love with him too, so Durbin decides that she needs to get involved, and brings Robert Cummings from her music class over to test the tones of romance...and the family piano.
Three years have been kinder to Durbin's singing voice which is a lot more tolerable to listen to now. Still, she's rather shrill when singing the classics, so the pop tunes come out better. Fortunately like "Three Smart Girls", those musical moments are few and far between, so the focus is on the screwball comedy rather than the music, although Cummings as a pianist does add some instrumentals into the music program. Durbin's character hasn't really grown up though so her motives make her more of a pesky annoyance (spilling the beans about the engagement at a huge family party without getting permission to do so), and she seldom gets called out for doing so.
This was the second of three films about the Craig family, with "Hers to Hold" following four years later but without the older sisters. That one went for topical issues (women's place in holding the home front down during war time by war work), while this is definitely of the inconsequential, light-hearted kind, watchable but forgettable, and very frivolous. When Durbin does get into trouble, she's somehow rewarded for it, and that makes the character of Penny rather annoying in hindsight.
Three Smart Girls (1936)
Take out the songs and you've got a delightful screwball comedy. Keep them in, and you have a headache.
Comparisons to "The Parent Trap" are going to be obvious for Deanna Durbin's feature length film debut, having co-starred with Judy Garland in "Every Sunday", a one reeler short at MGM. They dropped Deanna, but Universal quickly picked her up, and for the next 12 years had their own little singing Miss Fix-It, charming in personality and very funny, but an acquired taste for her often shrill voice while tossing out a tune. For me, she was better later on focusing on more modern songs rather than the classics. Her early films are definitely of their time, with Durbin older than Shirley Temple (then at the height of her popularity), yet playing the same type of character, taking care of everybody's problems while getting into constant trouble while doing so.
She's one of three daughters of the divorced Charles Winninger and Nella Walker, and they haven't seen dad in a decade. Now he's engaged to social climbing Binnie Barnes, who like Joanna Barnes in "The Parent Trap" has a bubble headed gold digging mother, Alice Brady. The girls (Durbin, Barbara Read and Nan Grey) and their nanny (Lucille Watson) fly to New York from Switzerland (on Watson's savings!) to surprise Winninger, make an instant poor impression on Barnes who pulls her claws out to deal with these three little troublemakers whom she believes she can quickly destroy. The young John Dusty King, falling for sister Nan Grey, joins forces with the three to end this travesty of an engagement, also involving a wacky Hungarian count, Mischa Auer.
Fortunately the songs are few and far between (and fast-forwardable), so most of the film is the main plot. In spite of how predictable it all is, the situations are wacky, and the film beautifully put together. I may not care for her singing, but Durbin is a talented comic, much more believable than Temple as an actress, less cloying, and very smart. Brady's wacky "woo hoo!" style dizzy matron is a scene stealer, even though her character is frequently one dimensional, and Barnes makes a delightful cat.
Ray Milland has another supporting role as a handsome suitor who stands in for Auer when he's too drunk to do his job. As usual, Winninger is a delight, and Watson gets some very funny lines. Maybe not another "My Man Godfrey" (Universal's big hit screwball comedy of the year), but quite fun. The script tosses in a nod to their big sci-fi film of the year ("The Invisible Ray") with a quip towards Barnes about how ray guns can rid the world of pests in seconds. Toss in Ernest Cossart and Franklin Pangborn for more character actor fun.
Top Hat (1935)
Top notch, high hat and terrific tie and tails.
One of four Astaire and Rogers musicals that is shear perfection ("The Gay Divorce", "Swing Time" and "Follow the Fleet" being the other three), this is movie magic that can't be pulled out of a hat easily. A perfect cast, a marvelous song score, beautiful art direction, an a screenplay that couldn't possibly be improved on, this stands the test of time as a nearly 90 year old timeless classic. Fred is an American dancer in London for a musical show produced by Edward Everett Horton, and by chance meets Ginger in the most humorous of ways: His out of the blue dance in Hoton's hotel suite wakes up the sleeping Rogers who is bemused in spite of it all, enjoys without admitting it his pursuit of her (as a handsome cab driver), and consumates it with a beautiful song and dance in the rain.
"Never again will I allow women to wear my dresses!" exclaims Rogers' designer, Erik Rhodes, playing with humorous drollness a very protective Italian accented fool after she refuses his protection from Astaire, that is before she finds out that he's already married which is of course a misunderstanding. Eric Blore adds British drollness as Horton's valet, and Helen Broderick some great old American wise-cracking wisdom as Horton's wife and Rogers' delightfully no-nonsense aunt. Nobody can be accused of stealing the scenery from each other. They're all guilty of a group theft of walking off with the film, and it's obvious they are having a grand old time together with the knowledge that they are creating a piece of artwork that even back then everybody knew would stand the test of time.
Musically, you can't go wrong with any song written by Irving Berlin, and after dancing to Cole Porter songs the previous year in "The Gay Divorcee", Fred and Ginger do the impossible: they surpass the excellence of what they'd already done. Starting with "No Strings" in Horton's hotel room, the simply staged
"Isn't it a Lovely Day to Be Caught in the Rain?" and continuing with "Putting on My Top Hat", followed by Ginger's "The Piccolino" and the magical "Cheek to Cheek" duet, everything here is jaw droppingly superior to whatever else was being done in movie musicals in 1935, and that includes Fred and Ginger's other film, "Roberta", and Eleanor Powell over at MGM in "Broadway Melody of 1936".
Take a look at the magnificent art direction, absolutely gorgeous art decco and outdoing itself with every scene change. Everything is placed just perfectly, and even an ugly lamp among such finery seems perfectly beautiful. Even the feathers that fly off of Ginger's dress in "Cheek to Cheek" seem to land with grace. The orchestrations of that number are some of the best, subtle one minute, then crashing with a joyous thump out of the blue that makes for a perfect mood jump. Along with "Swing Time", this would later be tried out on the stage, but no matter the talent of all involved, nothing can top Fred and Ginger here, and those misconceived attempts are nowhere as flawless and timeless as this very original work of brilliance.
The Vagabond Lover (1929)
Grand theft acting.
Every little movement has a meaning all its own, and Marie Dressler obviously knew that, doing every little trick she knew to walk off with every scene she's in. Making her talkie debut (a year before nearly stealing "Anna Christie" from Garbo and winning the Oscar for taking on Wallace Beery in "Min and Bill"), Dressler fusses with every prop she can lay her hands on, from the pearls she can't find to her own shrugging shoulders. Her character may be an annoying uppity society matron with featherweight brains, but the actress uses much intelligence in knowing exactly what she was doing so the viewer never takes their eyes off of her.
Band leader and megaphone style 20's heartthrob crooner Rudy Vallee may have been the reason audiences flocked to see it, but Dressler got the notices. Vallee isn't a bad actor, and is quite photogenic and charismatic, but the vehicle itself is creaky and silly. A down on their luck band breaks into the rented home of a fraudulent agent in an effort to be heard, and discover that he's gone, tired of interruptions and scared of being found out. Dressler calls the police, certain that they are breaking in, and after sour faced police officer forces them to play, Dressler asks Vallee and his boys to perform at one of her musical gatherings. Vallee uses his lothario moves on Dressler's sweet niece, Sally Blane.
Outside of the poor song sound recording, you may find some amusement in the antics of these silly characters, and indeed, this is much better than I remembered from seeing it years ago on early cable TV. It's certainly not groundbreaking in any way, but goes by relatively fast. Vallee is obviously just playing a variation of himself, and Blane is a run of the mill romantic heroine, rather generic, but Dressler is having a ball playing a character she knows all too well and enjoys making look even more foolish. She's a best supporting actress contender for the then non-existent category at the fairly new Oscars, even though the film itself can be a bit of a chore for modern audiences studying depression era culture, even though its far less creaky than many other films made in 1929.
Tanned Legs (1929)
Beware of the Lyons King and her den.
Everyone's acting like June is busting out all over in this musical comedy set at a summer resort where the adults are acting like children, and the children are acting like army sergeants in keeping their parents behavior in line. For June Clyde, watching her parents engage in some harmless philandering is a real embarrasment, and for boyfriend Arthur Lake (involved with another blondie while future on-screen wife Penny Singleton was a brunette), getting her to have some fun is taking some work. The enormous Alert Gran and Nella Walker as Clyde's parents chew the scenery as if it was lobster inside the claw, and Dorothy Revier as the predatory Mrs. Lyons-King is like an aging silent movie vamp who hasn't allowed her age to stop her from being a man-eating predator.
While the comic duet of the second leads "You're Responsible" isn't exactly the greatest song, it is notable for one element. Featured player Ann Pennington has a young Liza Minnelli element of her looks, which Liza would possess in the period musicals and comedies she did in the 1970's. But some of the musical numbers don't come off very well, basically just a bunch of organized noise and danced by some chorus girls who should have spent more time practicing and less time at the breakfast cart. They look much better when they're dressed up for dinner and dancing cheek to cheek over doing calisthenics on the floor.
I can just imagine audiences breaking into hysterics when Arthur Lake began singing, many of his lyrics unintelligible, his singing key closer to skeleton than an A or B flat. Clyde, with an off key Helen Kane like squeak, isn't much better. Their duet is absolutely painful. Fortunately, the pace is fast with the camera work pretty decent for such an early talkie. It's just a shame that with those qualities that the direction would be so poor and the acting all over the place. Even the good sets and period costumes can't help this one. No wonder movie musicals went out of fad so quickly after the fad started.
Their Own Desire (1929)
That last moment when you walk into a room happy and leave completely disillusioned.
This early talkie is quite the surprise, not for its typical society story of flaming youth, the smart set and the trauma that infidelity and divorce can bring, but for the technical achievements it has considering how early in the sound era it came. A polo game opens the film rather impressively, with the flashy Norma Shearer making her entrance, vowing to beat the pants off her own father, Lewis Stone. She'll want to do more than that when she walks into a room and finds him kissing an old family friend (Helene Millard), the affair apparently having gone on for more than a year which lead her mother (Belle Bennett) to attempt suicide.
No sooner has she gotten over the shock of that, she's back in her own pool of flaming youth friends, showing off her diving skills on the shores of Lake Michigan at a flashy resort. Instantly entranced by the dark haired beauty, shameless Robert Montgomery dives in fully clothed after her and meets her as she rises to the surfae with a kiss. Then, he introduces himself, and she responds as any young woman would to a stranger kissing her with a laugh. They're soon attached, but she's got mom to look after. A twist of fate has them tied together, but should the sins of the parents be held against the children?
At just over an hour long, this is quite an enjoyable early MGM talkie drama with light comedy making some of the creaks and soundtrack noise more tolerable. The cast is able to move around a bit more which are like filmed stage plays with non-moving camera and pauses in dialog. Just a decade later, Shearer would play a character in her mother's shoes, but here, she is much more multi-dimensional than her Mary Haines character in "The Women" seemed, going from happiness to sadness to anger easily thanks to a better than average script and good direction. Stone, who would seem like a big block of wood in many of his films, is surprisingly lively in this, and Montgomery in an early film effortlessly goes from clowinng lothario to serious lover with convincing reality. The finale however is ridiculously stupid, removing any brains that the two young leads had earlier on. A nice surprise, however, from a year when it was difficult to judge films fairly simply based on technical aspects.
Titanic (1996)
Hideously awful.
HEven with an A+ cast, this film has a C- script. On one side of the ship according to 1996/97 movie making and theater going, there was a star-crossed romance, the other side a Broadway musical, and somewhere in the middle, a paint by numbers creation where the audience is informed through the most derivative of dialog who is who, their sordid secrets, and their reasons for wanting to be on the ship of dreams that ultimately was a ship of fools, at least according to the trite creations of this particular group of writer's minds.
Somehow, there are parallel between this TV movie (released the year before the 85th anniversary of the disaster) and the James Cameron epic, with a down on his luck poor kid gaining passasge (in this case, stealing the ticket of a drunken old man he meets right before sailing), the young woman and her one dimensionally snooty grandmother (Eva Marie Saint, in a variation of France Fisher's female heavy), as well as a mentally troubled nanny working for the neurotic Harley Jane Kozak, the troubled romance of Peter Gallagher and Catherine Zeta Jones and some cartoonish variations of real life passengers Molly Brown and John Jacob Astor.
Only George C. Scott's Captain Smith seems to have been written with some dignity, and that's the whole trouble. This was obviously rushed out to step on the toes of the bigger epic still in production, with little care taken to a script and characterization, far too many for this lengthy TV film. Of course there has to be a villain, and rather than the Billy Zane/David Warner pairing, it's Tim Curry as a crooked crew member who is secretly a jewel thief. He uses knowledge of 's theft of the passenger ticket to rope hm into his crimes. This is the same type of character that Curry had played in many other films, and like everyone else seems embarrassed by the trashy dialog he's forced to spout.
It doesn't take long while watching this to see the compost hidden among the glittering jewels and gowns and opulent sets put together for this. Of course. More than two hours of character background is presented before the film finally gets to the disaster, and the desire to see certain characters not come out begins to dominate. That's not a fun way to spend a lengthy evening. They could have easily cut out the nightmare plagued nanny at least to save on time and all the mess surrounding her, but then you'd still have buttinsky grandma and the crooked Curry to have to put up with.
Tess (1979)
Her destiny wasn't what she wanted.
Some secrets aren't meant to be revealed as evidenced by the letter that Natassia Kinski left for Peter Firth which he never found. She blames her sins for the taking of her child, the result of one event of passion with a nobleman (Leigh Lawson) who shared the same grand old family name, one that his father bought, not born with. Thanks to Tess's father, she was sent to live with these supposedly distant relatives and discovered the truth rather shockingly, then disappearing and dealing with the tragedy of the loss of her child.
Falling in love with Firth, she turns down his proposal, afraid of these secrets, but he has a few of his own. When they reveal their secrets to each other verbally, not through the pen, it's hard at first to imagine a time when such things would be considered scandalous, but this was when the church ruled as much as kings and lords, and it was more than just a pope or Holy Roman Emperor. Tess is doomed to suffer as a result of the time she lived, even though she's by far the most deserving of happiness.
This is the type of old fashioned saga that plays out slowly but is still engrossing and touching, simply because Tess is such a ladylike, gentle, angelic young woman, and Kinski truly brings her to life. She seems far too high born to be the daughter of the working class lout, so this becomes a story of how honesty can sometimes turn on the person of virtuous thought and concern for the truth. While a lengthy film with some scenes that seem to just extend it unnecessarily, I saw it as a very detailed view of how certain people could suffer for varying reasons, like a huge novel where little was cut and even the smallest details became important.
Texasville (1990)
There's less promiscuity on daytime TV than in this town of Jesus lovers and sinners.
It's been 32 years since Duane and Jacy (Jeff Bridges and Cybil Shepherd) were together in high school. She's gone off to Europe and has returned to town now that her parents are dead. He's married to the wise-cracking Annie Potts, a real designing woman who has a Greek chorus type quip for all the shenanigans going on in the town of Texasville, now celebrating a big anniversary and much more sinful than I remember from the 1971 movie "The Last Picture Show". Like "The Two Jakes", this was an anticipated follow-up to the original, but for director Peter Bogdanavich, a real let-down.
Now rich and running his own business, Bridges is a grandfather, yet still turns the heads of all the big haired, bigger breasted bored housewives, possibly grandmothers themselves, and checking out his tight backside every time he walks by. Women literally pull him into their cars from the drivers seat window. By chance he runs into Shepherd, still beautiful but more of a wildcat than ever. Potts, curious what will happen, seems to be setting up a big test for her husband.
Beau Bridges and Timothy Bottoms are also back as Duane's friends, as are Cloris Leachman (now his secretary) and Eileen Brennan, confined to crutches due to her real life accident after being hit by a car. They don't have a lot of purpose to the story. In fact, there are way too many characters popping in and out, including a tobacco spitting old man who spits so hard that he falls out of his car. A radio station announcer, after discussing the 1984 presidential election, mentions that it's 100 and no sign of rain. Pretty depressing living here.
Some classics welcome sequels, but this one didn't. It seems like the high school reunion someone goes to and wishes the next day that they had skipped. Bridges manages to be completely charming and likeable even though he's a complete rascal, but why wouldn't he be with every menopausal woman in town lusting over him. Shepherd pretty much walks through her assignment. The best performance comes from Potts who wasn't a part of the original. The best single shot comes from a drive through what remains of the depressed town, a shot of the now completely dilapidated movie theater, a unique metaphor connecting the two films.
Two for the Seesaw (1962)
It's not where he starts. It's where he'll finish.
It certainly is ironic that one of Shirley MacLaine's most popular stage song and dance numbers in her show is the song from the musical version of this William Inge play, which MacLaine did not appear in. That honor went to Michelle Lee as Gittel Mosca, the bohemian dancer who hangs out with other beatniks and artist types, dizzy but not dumb, and one of MacLaines most memorable screen performances. The part had been originated on stage by her future "Turning Point" co-star Anne Bancroft who was busy making the film version of her other big Broadway hit, "The Miracle Worker", for which she won the Oscar. Certainly worthy of a nomination, MacLaine was overlooked in a very strong year for women, otherwise she might have gotten the call or visit from Joan Crawford.
Taking on the role of the very depressed down on his luck soon to be divorced, unemployed Jerry Ryan (originated on stage by the much older Henry Fonda), Robert Mitchum is great playing against type. After all, who would beleve that Mitchum (who made screen horror immortality in the same year's "Cape Fear") could be so unsure of himself, lonely and feeling isolated, literally walking like the living dead all over Manhattan throughout the film's opening. Like his big Oscar winning hit from the year before, "West Side Story", director Robert Wise opens the film with a montage of isolated city streets, showing downtown before the World Trade Centers were built as a helicopter shoots over the Brookyn and Manhattan bridges.
Even with two of the hottest stars of the early 60's in the lead roles (surrounded by a wonderful supporting cast of zany New York theater actors), this allows the audience to sink into its story because in one of the rare times on screen, these actors sink into their roles. MacLaine of course gets the flashier role ("Who can I count on more than me?"), but Mitchum is very strong too as he comes back to life thanks to the wonderful woman he meets by chance. This shows the isolation of living in a big metropolis, apparently strong people hiding behind their desire not to be hurt yet showing vulbnerability out of the blue, a very beautiful detail that makes these two and those around them much more human. I wanted to find a time machine while watching this and go back 60 plus years. Just for one day. A true work of slice of urban life art.
Two for the Road (1967)
There's a fork in this road....and a knife.
Beautiful scenery barely makes up for the fact that the leading characters played by Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney are the most mismatched, unlikeable pair in film history, not really compatable at all, arguing for the near two hours of the running time of this Stanley Donen "romantic" comedy. Finney is at least consistently obnoxious, a complete misogynist who shouldn't be near any woman in a romantic situation, while Hepburn is inconsistently written sometimes whiny and never in command of any situation, even when she's griping about it.
Even when they declare their love, you have to wonder what kind of toxic love can keep these people together, traveling all over and barely civil. The film is edited in a weird flashback manner that starts with them riding down a church road, seeing the bride and groom ready to leave on their honeymoon, and noticing how horribly unhappy they look. A depressing start certainly, and followed by sequences that go back and forth in time, showing finally half an hour into it how they met, and their dangerously combative interactions that prove their instability as anyone sane would have left the other flat.
Playing Finney's former girlfriend is Eleanor Bron, speaking much like Joanna Barnes did as Gloria Upson did in "Auntie Mame", funny without knowing she's funny, and married to the square William Daniels. They have one of the brattiest bad seed daughters ever on screen, an absolute horror, and painful to watch. This seems to be trying too hard to show the realities of relationships at their worst, and it is often eye rolling and jaw dropping amazing in its unlikeability. I found this to be one of the most disappointing star vehicles I'd seen in a long time, even though I had only heard good things about it. Make the European road travel a nice visual, and Henry Mancini's score. Other than that, C-.
That Good Night (2017)
An obstinate old dog needs to learn new tricks.
You can't always love who gave you hirth, or whom you sired through a moment of passion, and for world famous screenwriter John Hurt, dealing with his estranged illegitimate son means confronting a lot of hidden anger on both sides. He's been diagnosed with a heart condition, and living in the most beautiful of settings with his much younger nurse wife (Sofia Helin) has to deal with all those things dead on. When son Michael (Max Brown) shows up for a planned visit with his quite independent girlfriend (Erin Richards) an unplanned guest, the arguments are immediate thanks to Hurt's subtle insults and girlfriend Cassie's retorts to Hurt's rudeness.
In spite of the character of Raymond's obvious deliberate rudness, the charm of John Hurt makes his insensitivities much more tolerable because as an old fool, he is who he is, and he ain't gonna change. Well, maybe not a lot. This mainly four character drama has the feel of a stage play, with a fifth character (Charles Dance) coming in as sort of a mystical man of mystery, confronting Hurt over his mortality, his sudden presence out of nowhere a bit suspect. Even in sitting in a tropical setting outdoors makes the conversation a bit macabre, especially concerning Hurt's obsessions with cultural perfection through the arts.
I like Dance's response to Hurt's question about the afterlife, responding with his belief, "I know that I do not know", one of the best acknowledgments of ignorance ever revealed on screen. Watching the elderly Hurt play this very complicated character who is beckoning for death to take him even if he doesn't say so brings back so many memories of his incredible career, from Emperor Caligula and Quentin Crisp to John Merrick, the elephant man, and many other delightful eccentrics. His line readings are impeccably poetic, and that makes him much easier to like than his character would like to be liked. The greatest gift possible for such an egotist does manage to give him true atonement. This is a thoughtful character study that doesn't show man at his best, but that's still compelling drama.
A Minor Miracle (1985)
The Facts of Life, for Boys.
While not exactly original, this is a sweet film about a group of boys at a Catholic orphanage who team together to get soccer legend Pele to visit their ailing chaplain, a beloved priest played by none other than the legendary director John Huston. Apparently, he once taught Pele and when one of the boys slips Huston's photo to Pele, you instantly see a flash of recognition in his eyes. Like "Sister Act II: Back in the Habit", the orphanage is in danger of foreclosure. Here due to the manipulation of one of the board members, in cahoots with a San Diego developer who has other ideas for the property that aren't very charitable.
I didn't recognize any of the young actors playing the orphans, but they do creditable jobs opposite the legendary Huston who is kind hearted and takes no nonsense. The way he responds to two idiotic reporters out to get a story on the retiring Pele is very funny, especially after they comment on how they didn't think that orphans existed any more and how one of them had just interviewed a group of monks. I don't think a lot of money was spent on this as it looks cheaply photographed, but the script is sincere and the direction workmanship like in getting all the t's crossed, i's dotted and all the pieces fitting perfectly together. Pele provides a good hearted performance as himself, showing that heroes out on the field can be even bigger heroes behind the scenes.
Malice in Wonderland (1985)
Interesting to see who gets the sympathy in this Hollywood saga.
Two powerhouse actresses face off as two powerhouse Hollywood figures of the past, and it's ironic that one of the legends playing one of the Hollywood gossip queens once butted heads with her own character. While there are certain physical characteristics, income in between Elizabeth Taylor and Louella Parsons, it's obvious who is more attractive as Parsons always looked matronly while even here Taylor is glamorous and fully made up to look like a sexy siren.
As for Jane Alexander as Hedda Hopper, she looks exactly like her and it is almost frightening. For the first quarter of the film Hedda is actually quite a vulnerable woman reluctant to become a gossip columnist until she realizes that's going to be her only way into the business and have some power. Louella and Hedda start off as friends, but when Hedda begins to gain power, Louella gains fear that she could be a facing a real challenge.
Alexander is her character. Liz is Liz speaking in Louella tones, almost with venom, obviously from personal experience. Richard Dysart joins Jack Kruschen, Harold Gould, Howard da Silva and Martin Balsam in portraying Louis B. Mayer who has scenes playing polo with other studio moguls, probably the only time that they were seen fictionally on-screen together. Joyce Van Patten as a national radio station owner is quite powerful.
Other Hollywood figures are played by the western known actors which works for their time on-screen, although the fictional actress sending Hedda skunk was actually Joan Bennett. It's funny to hear Taylor talking about Joan Crawford adopting a baby girl named Christina just a few years after "Mommie Dearest". A lot of the incidents portrayed are based on real situations and in the case of Joseph Cotten and Deanna Durbin, documented. The story is pretty incomplete however but is a fascinating look at two of the rare women during the golden age of Hollywood who held a lot of power and how they used it. It's a shame that they got the year wrong, utilizing 1944 for their lunch reunion when it was actually 1948.
Muppet Treasure Island (1996)
Better in select moments than over all.
Certainly colorful and silly and action act. This is perfect for children who are not familiar with the original tale, filmed already many times, most memorable in 1934 and later by Disney himself. This takes a while to get going, and that happens when Long John Silver (played by Tim Curry) comes in, and then it comes alive. But after "A Muppet Christmas Carol", it's pretty much a letdown.
For one thing, the musical numbers are pretty lame, and some of the character development of the muppet characters are genuinely weak. The big shipboard/tropical island number ("Cabin Fever") is genuinely lame, a truly fast forwardable segment, truly embarrassing even for the non-human participants. Kevin Bishop is good however as Jim Hawkins and has great chemistry with Curry who had he been asked would have made a perfect Captain Jack Sparrow.
The script really isn't very funny and the attempt to be irreverent with cultural references falls flat. Miss Piggy really is a scene stealing hog here, and that's not in a good way. The shrill love duet with Kermit (sung while they're both upside down) is another excruciatingly painful moment. At least the supporting muppets have some very funny moments, and it's them (along with Curry, Bishop and Jennifer Saunders in the opening 20 minutes) who save this from being fried legs and bacon bits from the overrated lead muppet lovers.
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Welcome to the world where humans and muppets co-exist.
The Muppet creative team under the watchful eye of Disney does a sensational job with the umpteenth version of the Dickens tale where the not so Scrooge looking Michael Caine takes on the bah humbugging. Caine of course gives it his all, but I never believed him as the mean-spirited miser. He just has way too many charms and gentilities that Scrooge shouldn't. Even others who didn't accentuate his cruelty excessively (like George C. Scott) still made you feel the character inside everything they did.
This has the benefit of putting the muppet characters in the roles that are perfect for them, and it's like Jim Henson and the others were reading the viewer's mind. Who better for Bob Cratchit than Kermit? As Mrs. Cratchit, Miss Piggy is just as you expect her to be, but lookalike daughters come off more like Cinderella's step-sisters. Tiny Tim is of course a little frog, but that makes me wonder how a frog and pig couple could have frog and pig children. But that's a muppet nightmare for their Freudian parody to figure out.
For the most part, the songs are pretty good, and in fact a few are downright outstanding. I've certainly seen worse versions of the story and I've seen probably a dozen feature films, not to mention altered versions for the stage and television, changing time periods and gender and nationalities. The ghost of Christmas past sequence ends abruptly (feeling incomplete), but the other ghostly segments are just fine. Statler and Waldorf as Marley and Marley, the best muppet casting ever.
The Monster Squad (1987)
Who you going to call? Monster busters!
At least Frankie is friendly, even if the dreck Drac is a pain in the neck, the mummy bandaid breath and the creature in the lagoon short a few gills. Then there's the hairy experience with Mr. Wolfie, going fang to fang with the undead count. Their biggest enemies (outside of Van Helsing and a misunderstood neighbor) are a bunch of kids, mostly pretty likeable, well all except the cloying little girl.
The kids are led by Andre Gower, head of the monster club that is set in the most eerie looking treehouse ever, a sensational set piece. Ashley Bank really tests the patience of the viewer as his five year old sister who doesn't believe that older brothers and their friends should have their private clubs, interfering to the point of annoyance. But she is the one who initially befriends Frankenstein's monster, so you're supposed to like her. Sorry, I didn't.
Much better in the cast are Jack Gwillim as Van Helsing and Leonardo Cimino as the older German neighbor whom all the kids fear simply because they don't understand him. He's been around monsters before, but not of the supernatural kind. Unfortunately, Duncan Regehr is pretty weak as Dracula, barely passable even as just a Halloween costume. Chris Sarandon scored better in "Fright Night". At least this didn't get a bunch of unnecessary sequels. Perfectly fine as just a one off and worthy of its cult following.