Geum.ru

Gsc films e-m the Eagle

Вид материалаДокументы

Содержание


It Came From Beneath the Sea
It Came From Outer Space
It Happened One Night
Italian Fascism in Colour
Italian for Beginners
L’ivresse du pouvoir
Подобный материал:
1   ...   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   ...   33

Iris 2001 Richard Eyre (Britain) 2.5 Somewhat ponderous treatment of Iris Murdoch’s decline at the hands of Alzheimer’s. Cuts back and forth between present (rapid and tragic decline as she (Judy Dench) is deprived of her reason and use of language) and past (when young husband meets fast living, elusive Iris (Kate Winslet) in young days in college). We don’t learn much about Iris as a novelist or artist. Focuses on her illness, and on the tragedy of her husband (Jim Broadbent), who was brought out of shy isolation by the young Iris, and then remained hopelessly fond of her and devoted until she died; this despite that he never got to possess and penetrate the inner artist Iris, the depths of her soul, but only her exterior self, sane while it lasted. He is lonely and brave man. Movie is good, a little too clever (cutting back and forth between two time periods); perhaps we miss seeing the middle when husband was devoted before she began to lose her mind.


The Iron Mask 1929 Alan Dwan 3.0 Nigel De Brulier glowering and weighty as Cardinal Richelieu whose first commitment is “to conserve the state”; Douglas Fairbanks as d’Artagnan – swashbuckling, strutting, always moving rapidly and running, possessed with momentum, leaping acrobatically over balustrades and onto his horse, smashing in doors with his feet and yet charming, usually smiling, a little pudgy compared to ‘Zorro’ (1920), with his three fellow musketeers, gay and insouciant, ready to fight sword duel at the slightest provocation, constantly at play, non-stop high jinks; the four sleep in the same bed; Fairbanks’ trademark stance – his feet apart, back and head arched backward, laughing merrily. Famous story about the fictitious twin brother of Louis XIV – he is substituted for the real king to benefit the villainous courtier, de Rochefort. Filmed expensively with large crowds of extras, sumptuous costumes, and large, decorative and accurate historical sets exterior and interior; even the ceremonial bows seem graceful and historically accurate. Black and white film shot on different color film stock for different situations – blue for night, green for day outside, brown for inside, etc. A second twin son is born to Louis XIII, and since he threatens the stability of the French crown, Richelieu has him spirited away and a lady-in-waiting, Constance sent to a convent in Mantes. In rushing to rescue his beloved Constance (how does he know her?), Fairbanks finds her murdered by the villainous Milady de Winter (Dorothy Revier). When Richelieu dies, he places the four-year-old prince in the care of d’Artagnan after forbidding him ever to see his three buddies again. 20 years later, the villain De Rochefort hatches a conspiracy to replace the real Louis XIV (good man under Fairbanks’ care) with his ill-tempered twin brother. To keep the real king from being discovered, the conspirators clap an iron mask on him in a dramatic nighttime scene in a dungeon. Massive swordplay as the four rescue the masked king from a castle; Porthos and Aramis sacrifice their lives to ensure the escape of the others – “for the glory of France”. After saving the king and the Queen Mother, d’Artagnan also dies from a knife in his back; he then rejoins his spirit companions in the sky, they laugh gaily at the spectacle before them, and then set off to greater adventures. Still an insouciant swashbuckler, but Fairbanks this time plays an older hero, and his death signals the end of the era.


Isle of the Dead 1945 Mark Robson (Val Lewton) 2.5 Boris Karloff as fanatical, although surprisingly dignified and serene general in the Greek army fighting in 1912 – bushy eyebrows and curly hair; Marc Cramer as callow, friendly American reporter who seems to be a friend of Karloff; Jason Robards Sr. as the company’s host on the island – through terrible acting he prays to classical Greek gods; Alan Napier as distinguished British diplomat who dies early in the film; Ellen Drew as western-looking Greek young woman dressed in peasant garb; Katherine Emery as Napier’s wife who is deathly afraid of premature burial; Helen Thimig as local woman who speaks constantly of peasant superstitions; Ernst Deutsch as all-business military doctor who looks and speaks like a Nazi officer (but known for his role as the baron in ‘The Third Man’). Rather slow-moving and rather confusing Lewton entry. The implacable Karloff and his sunny sidekick Cramer take a trip to a small island where the general’s wife is buried (the island is obviously suggested by Böcklin’s famous painting; Lewton establishes his learned credentials also by several references to classical mythology); there they encounter the rest of the cast, most of whom are killed off by the end of the film, leaving only Cramer, Drew and Robards to face the new day. Part of the intrigue is built around whether Karloff is a good or bad man: it is early established that he can be cruel and unforgiving (he forces a senior officer under his command to commit suicide), but throughout the film he claims to be protecting the rest of the characters from the septicemic plague that is roaming the island and is responsible for the deaths of some of the characters. Lurking in the background is the suspicion that the deaths are not caused by the plague but by evil spirits of Greek superstition called ‘vorvolaka’: Thimig broaches the subject, but an obviously unhinged Karloff soon is convinced, as he unreasonably pursues Drew (always in those clean pseudo-peasant outfits) as a sorcerer. Perhaps the most tense aspect of the story is Emery’s conviction that she will suffer premature burial (nod to Poe), and it actually happens to her; she breaks out of the coffin and appears to stalk the island as a spirit, but it turns out that she is really just in a trance, and in guilt for having stabbed Karloff in the back as he was trying (apparently) to murder Drew (don’t ask to explain) she jumps off a wall into the sea like Tosca. Striking that so little tension is built despite several promising issues – the plague, premature burial, evil spirits – but the screenplay has little coherence. The sets on the mysterious isle call attention to themselves by their artificiality. Dialogue is often clunky: Cramer to friend Karloff, “If you do anything to threaten me or Thea, I will forget that we have been friends!” Perhaps the least of the Lewton films, although there are some effectively scary scenes toward the end..


It 1927 Clarence Badger 4.0 Clara Bow, Antonio Moreno, William Austin, Gary Cooper! Famous silent movie about shop girl Betty who sets her aim to get the young and charming owner of the department store. She takes initiative, is the aggressor, more or less throughout, and finally bags her man. Bow is schemer – uses all means to bamboozle and rope in the boss. Very flirtatious and vivacious; when she has no dress to wear to a fancy club, she and her friend cut up her work dress to create a sexy gown; bubbling over with energy, and even plays a miniature banjo when on the cruise! Smiles, cocks her head, jumps for joy, throws her hands in the air, smiles her broad, infectious smile that one cannot resist. Although she is flirtatious, Betty is a good girl who is insulted when guy tries to kiss her on the first date; she is quite calculating – she wants her man and will result to most any stratagem to get him to marry her. The boss’ fiancé, a wealthy, up-tight socialite who speaks with an English accent and even uses French, does not have “It” and is no match for Betty. Betty is a good person, and helps out her friend who is living with her baby but with no husband; when her rival falls into the water, Clara jumps in and rescues her. All ends well with marriage in the works. Ambiance is the wealth of the boss and his comic relief sidekick, Monty, contrasted with poverty (Clara’s real background); but social mobility as the simple (but pretty) shop girl, being more genuine and of more spontaneous heart than the wealthy, marries into great wealth. “It” (from the ugly Elinor Glin) is sex appeal, the ability to project personality and attract the opposite sex without being self-conscious; spontaneously. Basically same as sex attraction. Shows the popular basis of American movies, who appeal to common folk with harmless romantic comedy about a pretty, smart girl who makes out like a bandit!


It Came From Beneath the Sea 1954 Robert Gordon 3.0 Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue. Pretty good 50s sci-fi epic; black and white; pretty good budget. Rather realistic, documentary-style thriller. ‘Safe’ genre since we have feeling from beginning that main characters are not in danger and things will turn out for the best. Ray Harryhausen’s wonderful special effects of huge octopus attacking and damaging Golden Gate Bridge and Ferry Building and Tower in San Francisco. Theme is again consequences of atomic age, with hydrogen bomb making huge deep sea octopus in need of new prey; hence going after humans. Good script with initial efforts to identify the threat of the unseen monster. Very public style thriller with many pictures of people running, navy warships and planning rooms in action, sights of San Francisco, etc. Double plot line: identify and defeat the terrible monster; the romantic triangle with Faith, Kenneth and another scientist. FD presented as sultry, sexy female scientist, who although she is a new woman with courage and professional ambitions, is also weak in moments of crisis and interested as much as ever in finding a good man and getting married (she was a protégé of Howard Hughes).


It Came From Outer Space 1953 Jack Arnold, Universal 3.5 Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, Charles Drake as the Sheriff. Originally in 3-D. First-class 50s sci-fi about aliens that crash by mistake in the Arizona desert (another Southwest venue) and have to repair their ship; meanwhile they hold off suspicious humans; luckily they have the support of Richard Carlson (amateur astronomer and writer who lives in a middle class home in the desert and has a beautiful girlfriend), who even dukes it out with the sheriff and dynamites the entrance to the aliens’ hide-out to keep them from being caught. Good near-A movie. Barbara Rush very classically beautiful as 50s girlfriend of Carlson; she is a bit of a scaredy cat, but she has good sense and is courageous. Carlson is the believer who is ignored and reviled by the military, police and the press; in last part of film he has to hold off the humans, who according to him “destroy anything you don’t understand!” Aliens are ugly with a single bug eye, but they are definitely high-tech (they have worked 1000 years to build their space travel ship), and they have the power to transform selves into human appearance (while not harming the originals), except that they speak and move robotically, thus giving themselves away; they tell Carlson that the two races will meet, but at another time. Plot always keeps you guessing – what are they up to? Are they really benign creatures and just want humans “to give us time?” They say “we have souls and minds and are good,” and “we understand war.” Then we wonder if they are lying, and the suspense builds as to whether they will be able to escape in time. The basic issue is trust: you have to take a risk for good and understanding. In final big scene inside the mineshaft, both Carlson and the creatures decide to trust one another – they release the real humans, and Carlson is able to show the sheriff that they mean no harm. Followed by a spectacular take-off – obviously the repair was successful. Carlson’s final pronouncement: “They are gone now. It wasn’t the right time for us to meet. There will be other nights, other stars, for us to watch. They will be back.”


It Happened One Night 1934 Frank Capra (5 AA) 4.0 Clark Gable looking young, fit and well-dressed as hard-drinking, seemingly cynical reporter who just lost his job again; Claubert Colbert cute, adorable, stylishly dressed and well coiffed as spoiled rich man’s daughter defying her father about marrying her aviator; Walter Connolly as Colbert’s gruff father, who sends police and private detectives looking for her, but then turns out to be a sweet power puff of a guy; Roscoe Karns as obnoxious though harmless bus passenger that hits on Colbert; Jameson Thomas as stuffed shirt would-be husband of Colbert, who comes to his second religious wedding in an auto gyro (winged helicopter). Famous, delightful, though a bit long, romantic comedy that has Gable and Colbert in the usual antagonistic relationship on the bus from Miami to New York; there is no slow thawing out, but a continuation of the friction followed by a sudden breakup of the ice when the father, who can’t stand the aviator, finally persuades his daughter to abandon her proposed (re) marriage to Thomas and to elope with Gable. Narrative is linear and episodic: basically a road movie with a lot of incidents: to keep it respectable Gable pouts up “the wall of Jericho” in the motel room by hanging a blanket on a string stretched between the twin beds; Karns makes himself a pest to Colbert and threatens to turn her into the police, but Gable scares him off by pretending he is a gangster; in the motel room Gable takes off his shirt (and so impresses America that the sale of undershirts reportedly plummeted), whereas Colbert refuses to Capra to disrobe and she just hangs her under things on top of the blanket; the hitchhiking scene where Gable is bragging about his expertise, but when he fails repeatedly to stop a car, Colbert stops the first one she tries on a dime by showing her leg (risqué!). Some of the episodes are not so special – e.g., the happy Americans in the bus singing ‘The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze’. The final scene of the film is delightful: the couple, now married, is in a motel room in Michigan; the down home Americana couple outside are charmed by them and wondering what they wanted with a toy trumpet; a cut inside the room shows the blanket falling to the floor; return to outside, where we here the ceremonial blast of the trumpet, and then the lights in the windows go out; credits roll. Film has many Capra characteristics: the people that Gable and Colbert meet on the road are delightfully fresh and good-hearted; even the crooks and the fools are basically harmless; for a long time the rich in the guise of Colbert’s family are seen as authoritarian, spoiled, and snobbish (Colbert’s initial accent is pretentious East Coast-pseudo English); but the picture is softened when Connolly thaws and works to save his daughter from the aviator, and Gable’s boss, who has been ranting about him for hours, relents and implicitly agrees to give him his job back at the paper. Film has a lot of momentum despite its thin plot and episodic structure. We root for the couple to overcome their differences and get together, and just when we think it is not going to work, Capra activates his deus ex machina and they live happily ever after. Contrary to received opinion, it is not the first romantic comedy (there were many silent predecessors). A wonderful marriage of script, direction, and two charming actors.


Italian Fascism in Colour 2005 2.5 Informative two-part British television program on the evolution of Italian Fascism with of course emphasis on Mussolini. Includes color newsreel footage along with a fair number of reenacted scenes, particularly in the beginning of the program; the documentary is narrated with significant interviews with a half dozen British and American academics. In the beginning it emphasizes the impact of World War I on Italian society and politics and stresses the cult of violence within the new Fascist Party, particularly from the firebrand Roberto Farinacci, who was a lot more radical than Mussolini. Mussolini came to power gradually – from his constitutional appointment as prime minister in 1922 until the establishment of a dictatorship in 1926 after the murders of several prominent opposition politicians like Mateotti. The program returns time and again to the fate of the small Jewish community under Fascism: many of them were Fascists in the beginning (since they were middle class and frightened of Communism, and Fascism was not a racist ideology) and applauded Mussolini, but things got progressively worse for them from the mid-1930s, when Mussolini fell under the domination of Hitler; the film ends with a reenacted scene in which a wealthy Jewish family from Milan are murdered by the Gestapo in 1943. Mussolini was initially quite popular with his cult of efficiency and his extensive public works programs, and he even got kudos for his repression of opposition in Libya, his conquest of Ethiopia, and his successful military operations in Spain. But as soon as he fell under Hitler’s spell, the magic was dispelled. The program quotes extensively from son-in-law Ciano’s diary, who served as foreign minister until he was sacked in 1943. Mussolini’s involvement in military hostilities in World War II was disastrous without exception: the Germans had to rescue the Italian fiasco in Greece; the Italian army made no progress against the French in 1940; the Italian contingent in Russia was utterly destroyed by the Russians; and the Italian army in North Africa and Sicily made a specialty of surrendering to the Allies with little resistance. Mussolini ended his career in ignominy: deposed by his own party, rescued by the Germans and set up as a puppet leader, forced by Hitler to execute his own son-in-law (filmed in color!), then captured by partisans, summarily executed, and strung up by his heels in a Milan square. Mussolini comes across as a charismatic and sometimes popular leader, who however set off on the impossible task of making Italy a great military power (recreate the glory of Rome); hence his utter reliance on Hitler and his ignominious failure.


Italian for Beginners Denmark 2000 Lone Sherfig 2.5 First romantic comedy made according to the realist-like Dogma 95 film technique (handheld camera, videotape, available lighting, no soundtrack, no studio shooting, etc.). Mostly light, amusing romantic comedy that pairs up the six characters and eventually brings them together in romantic bliss once they land on a class trip in Venice. Individuals are oppressed by Danish society and especially their elders who expect a lot from them and ridicule their interests. Everyone looking for romance, and they finally get it! Theme much the same as ‘Room with a View,’ down to the use of Puccini once the crew arrives in Italy. Comedy mixed with Bergmanesque drama – pastor isn’t sure of his faith, hairdresser has to deal with painful death of her mother, hotel receptionist is impotent (temporarily, of course). Enjoyment of film is undermined somewhat by oppressive, TV-like film techniques.


L’ivresse du pouvoir 2006 Claude Chabrol 2.5 Isabelle Huppert as chain-smoking, cool, obsessive, rather heartless investigating magistrate; François Berléand as Michel Humeau, a corrupt businessman pursued by Huppert – he is in ill health and has to be hospitalized; Robin Renucci as her unstable, long-suffering husband; Thomas Chabrol (Claude’s son) as Huppert’s much loved layabout nephew who would rather invent crossword puzzles than follow a profession; Patrick Bruel as Sibaud, one of her good-looking opponents; Philippe Duclos as suspect that Huppert plays cat and mouse with. Another disappointing late Chabrol. The film’s style is dry, emotionally removed from what the characters are experiencing – fairly short scenes that seem to close prematurely with a sudden fade-out, long stretches with no musical score followed by an attack from the discordant (intentional?) music of Mathieu Chabrol, generally reserved, sometimes dead-pan delivery of lines. The most rewarding element in the film is the character projected by Huppert – she is fanatic, driven to achieve her end (which she proclaims to be justice, although one wonders how much is her need to win and dominate), ruthlessly hounding her suspects that she continually calls back to her office and even has them imprisoned, revealing to Berléand’s wife that her husband has been leading a double life, very curt, even insulting, with her husband whom she relegates to low priority in her life, perhaps carrying a resentment against men in general. The investigation into the corrupt dealings of businessmen and politicians (a famous affair of the 90s) is often confusing and elliptical; it is often difficult to keep their identities straight. It is apparent that Huppert is up against a coterie of powerful males who invoke all the tricks to keep her from pushing too hard – charming her by flirting with her and inviting her to lunch, sending thugs (unidentified) to run her off the road and deface her office with obscenities (“Die, bitch!”), putting pressure on the chief judge to have her transferred to a new office and paired with another judge; neither of the latter expedients works, since Huppert’s determination ignores the change of venue, and the new partner ends teaming with Huppert to try to thwart all the alpha males. The opposition finally bears fruit when the head judge takes Huppert off the case; and since Huppert’s husband (whom she left several weeks before) is in serious condition in the hospital after a suicide attempt, the film ends on a low note of perhaps defeat, or at least let-down. Rather unsatisfactory melodrama-thriller with a soupçon of feminism; the best moments are Huppert playing cat and mouse with her victims.


Jagged Edge 1985 Richard Marquand (wr. Joe Esterhas) 3.0 Svelte and handsome Jeff Bridges as newspaper editor suspected of killing his wealthy wife; Glenn Close as corporate lawyer who reluctantly agrees to defend Bridges; Peter Coyote as unscrupulous D.A. with political ambitions; Robert Loggia as rather foul-mouthed though loyal investigator working for Close. Shocking, hard-hitting, often profane thriller and courtroom drama that has the audience guessing whether Bridges killed his wife or whether the D.A. is trying to put him away to enhance his reputation. Set in posh San Francisco setting with views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the ornate City Hall (are there really courtrooms in City Hall?), ravishing views of homes perched overlooking the coast. Characters are reasonably well drawn: Coyote is sleazily ambitious; Close doesn’t really want to do criminal defense since she has a guilty conscience about a man she put away several years ago with repressed evidence; Bridges is an indecipherable mask, sometimes looking calculating, sometimes seeming friendly and sincere. The essence of the film is the twisty plot. With the help of very helpful anonymous notes Close works indefatigably to undermine the prosecution’s weak case and the D.A. keeps adducing surprise witnesses at the last minute – shades of Perry Mason. The situation is complicated by Close falling in love with her client and (improbably!) having an affair with him before and during the trial! It turns out of course that there is a devilishly clever pattern behind it all: Bridges did murder his own wife; he had previously terrorized a woman in Santa Cruz with much the same m.o. to frame a tennis pro and he had been the one sending the anonymous notes to Close. We are not sure of Bridges’ guilt until the last scene in which a hooded man with a knife appears in Close’s apartment and prepares to butcher her; but she is ready, shoots him to death, and then a shocked Loggia unmasks him. Many improbabilities in the plot: Have sex with your own client? Bridges really capable of butchering the woman he appears to love? The D.A’s case always so weak? But still a nice twisty, nasty thriller that keeps one’s attention.