WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[MichiganJ]

the only Chabrol film I had seen before this was "A Story of Women" from the late '80s, and that one hadn't really impressed me. Now I'll be on the lookout for more of his work.

I'd also recommend La femme infidéle (1969) among many others.

I recently watched DeMille's Cleopatra and was happy to see that it is as subtle and nuanced as his other epics. Colbert is superb, completely overshadowing everyone else on the screen. I wonder, though, if perhaps during the production if she was ever just a tad bit chilly.

[feaito]

Watched the very enlightening documentary "The Brothers Warner" (2008). I didn't know how awfully Jack Warner had behaved towards his family and the move he made to gain control of the study. Did not like either the story involving Sam Warner's daughter with Lina Basquette. A mother should never give up her son or daughter, period. Very well and lovingly done documentary.

Also indulged in watching Emmerich's "2012". I knew it wasn't good, but since I like reading about End-of the-World stories, Conspiracy Theories and Mayan prophecies....Good CGI, but one of the most cliché ridden, implausible films I've ever seen. One must watch it with one's mind in blank. I laughed at the implausibilty of many parts of the story, especially Cusack and his family running away constantly "just in time".

[feaito]

Today I watched "Ulysses" (1954) an Italian film directed by Mario Camerini starring Kirk Douglas in the title role, beautiful Silvana Mangano as Penelope, Anthony Quinn as Antinoo (one of Penelope's suitors), lovely Rossana Podestà as Nausicaa (later to star in the flop "Helen of Troy" ) and the young Franco Interlenghi as Ulysses' son.

I had wanted to see this film for many years since I used to be a sucker for Biblical spectacles and films set in Ancient Greece and Rome. I think it hadn't been released to DVD before. The quality of the print of the Lionsgate DVD is far from perfect, but is watchable. The dubbing in English of the actors obviously speaking in Italian annoyed me at the beginning, but afterwards I forgot about it, although I did notice that in Kirk Douglas alternately spoke in Italian and English (odd). Mr. Quinn only spoke in English as far as I noticed and the rest of the cast only in Italian.

The film is the ideal matinée entertainment and more amusing than other overblown spectacles like "Solomon and Sheba" (1959) for instance and this in mainly thanks to Kirk Douglas' immense charisma in his portrayal of the dashing, proud and bold Greek hero. Mangano is great as his ever devoted Penelope and as the alluring Circe and Anthony Quinn is fine as Ulysses' rival for Mangano's love.

On the afternoon I watched the very interesting, bizarre, surrealistic and offbeat "Alice in Wonderland" (1933) which features a host of Paramount actors from that Era (from Gary Cooper to Cary Grant, W.C. Fields, Dick Arlen et al). I liked Charlotte Henry as Alice and the film succeeds incredibly in its fantastic sets and mise-en-scene. A discovery.

[MichiganJ]

Changing pace from some of the international fare I've been sampling lately, I watched the terrific collection of exploitation trailers, 42nd Street Forever Vol. 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. I used to love trailers, and to some extent still do (at least at the theater), but since every DVD includes so many, and the Internet is filled with them, trailers are no longer anything special and are often an annoyance.

Not these, though. Most of the included trailers are from films that likely will see no DVD release (perhaps not such a bad thing), and they are nominally grouped in genres which include: martial arts, crime, blaxploitation, sci-fi, horror, sword & sorcery and some horrible-looking children films (including a holiday story featuring a talking Christmas tree!) Interspersed throughout, too, are some wonderful refreshment stand commercials, and I'm not talking about a walking popcorn box singing "let's all go to the lobby", either.

While you can easily sample just a few trailers at a time, the collection is as addictive as an open bag of Kettle lightly salted potato chips (or maybe the honey dijon), and you swear you'll only watch just one more. I didn't have the willpower and after the nearly 50 or so trailers, I actually wanted more.

Few highlights:
The collection opens with a PSA about the MPAA rating system (delivered by a tennis playing, Planet of the Apes era, Charlton Heston)
Mission Thunderbolt; Redneck County; Machine Gun McCain; Norman, Is That You? (Redd Foxx can be unfunny!); Chatterbox (you'll need to check IMDB about this one, but ooo-boy, what we're they thinking?), and my favorite: James Tont Operazione U.N.O., which is an unabashed, probably scene-for-scene rip-off of Goldfinger in Italian! They even steal the theme song! Brilliant!

[Ann Harding]

I did notice that in Kirk Douglas alternately spoke in Italian and English (odd). Mr. Quinn only spoke in English as far as I noticed and the rest of the cast only in Italian.

It probably means that the film has been released in two different versions: Italian and American. If the editing on the Italian one is longer, the DVD doesn't contain a 'full English track' and you get the Italian dubbing instead. (This is something I have noticed on French dubbing of American pictures: some sequences are sometimes missing in the French version, so the language reverts to English.)

[Ann Harding]

I discovered a really interesting Duvivier picture recently called Au Royaume des Cieux (In the Kingdom of Heaven, 1949) with Suzanne Cloutier and Serge Reggiani. The story takes place in a reformatory for young girls where Maria (S. Cloutier) arrives one morning. The place is run with an iron fist by the nasty and vicious Miss Chambas (Suzy Prim). The girls stage a hunger strike to protest against her methods. Meanwhile Maria hopes that her lover Pierre (S. Reggiani) will manage to reach her and help her to escape from this ordeal... This picture is not only a terrible indictment of the reformatory system but also a love story going beyond time and places like in Seventh Heaven. Suzy Prim slightly overplays her nasty spinterish part, but -God!- it's very effective. Canadian Suzanne Cloutier -who was later on Welles' Desdemona- is the perfect ethereal heroine and as such is mistreated by a jealous Suzy Prim. The film ends on some kind of 'miracle' happening on Christmas Eve after all the girls have been praying for Maria. Overall a very impressive picture, very well directed and acted.

[feaito]

Thanks for the feedback Re. "Ulysses" Christine. I wonder if this film has been released on DVD in Italy.

By the way, the Duvivier film sounds great!

[MikeBSG]

I just watched "Tunes of Glory," and I really enjoyed it. Alec Guinness was spellbinding. I have never seen him in such a role, as a tough, mean soldier. John Mills was terrific as his antagonist, and the film held me from the first. The whole cast was right on the money. This is a film that should be better known.

[Ann Harding]

Yesterday I saw an Italian melodrama called Schiava del Peccato (Slave of Sin, 1954, R. Matarazzo) with Silvana Pampanini, Franco Fabrizi and Marcello Mastroianni. This tearjerker follows the destiny of Mara (S. Pampanini) who fell into prostitution after being abandonned by her lover, a boy from a rich family (M. Mastroianni). Years later, she works as a nightclub hostess with Carlo as her pimp (F. Fabrizi). Her life takes a new turn when during a travel by train, she is caught in a train disaster. She rescues a small baby girl from the wreckage. Determined to become respectable, she leaves her past life behind her to be able to adopt the child... This is pure melodrama territory with the poor girl abandoned by a rich boy and the struggle of Mara trying desperately to escape a tainted past which always catches up with her. Men consider her a bad woman whatever her efforts to escape her condition. It shows an Italian society where your social origin will keep up with you forever. Marcello Mastroianni plays only a small part as Mara's 1st lover. He embodies the prejudice of that society. Silvana Pampanini is very good in the lead and it's a very efficient tearjerker. Matarazzo was a popular craftsman in the 50s and directed many melodramas. Overall, it's a pretty good melodrama in the same vein as some 30s Stahl pictures.

[MikeBSG]

yesterday, I watched "Deliverance," which I had never seen before.

Very good. It is a very strong, very powerful movie. Incredible how Boorman can make that and also "Hope and Glory," which is terrific as well.

"Deliverance" doesn't really seem to belong to any genre, but as I watched it, I kept thinking of Anthony Mann's westerns, particularly "Bend of the River" and "The Naked Spur." The scene in which Voigt kills the guy with the rifle now reminds me of the confrontation between Jimmy Stewart and Arthur Kennedy near the end of "Man from Laramie." (Just in the way the two characters are posed.)

Also, it struck me how much the horror genre owes "Deliverance." "The Texas Chainsaw massacre," "The Hills Have Eyes" and "The Blair witch Project" are all indebted, in varying degrees, to Boorman's film.

[feaito]

Hi Mike, This is indeed one powerful, thrilling, frightening, chilling, suspenseful and very well done fillm. When I saw it I was on the verge of my seat for almost all its length. A tough story, a masterful film. BTW, my favorite Boorman film is "Excalibur" (1981).

[MikeBSG]

I like "Excalibur" as well. when it was shown to my daughter's high school class earlier this year, it was "censored" by starting the movie about 10 minutes in.

I also like the boorman film "where the Heart is," which came out around 1990 and is about a family of eccentrics trying to save their house from the wrecking ball. Really, Boorman has made a very diverse lot of films. He seemed to be typed as a science fiction/fantasy guy up until "Excalibur," but then he seems to have moved toward realism.

I've never seen "Zardoz."

[MikeBSG]

This afternoon I watched "the Big Knife."

I had mixed emotions about this. On the one hand, Ida Lupino was terrific, Rod Steiger was terrifying, and Wendell Corey gave what is perhaps his best performance.

On the other hand, the score was absolutely wretched. Way too obvious, underlining and emphasizing everything so the viewer didn't have to think. Also, Jack Palance didn't seem right. This was a movie that cried out for a Montgomery Clift in the lead. I couldn't buy Palance as a matinee idol.

[feaito]

Mike,

I haven't seen any other Boorman film, but I'd like to, because the two films of his I've seen are true masterpieces. I read that he's finished filming a movie based upon Marguerite Yourcenar's "Memoirs of Hadrian". I read the novel and I am very interested to see his film adaptation.

Talking about Rome, I saw Alejandro Amenábar's "Agora" (2009) which tells the story of Philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, as played by Rachel Weisz, who impressed me favorably with her skilled performance. The story is very entertaining and sad, and it's the first time I've seen Christians depicted as intolerant, bigotred villains in a film set in the times of the Ancient Roman Empire. Interesting and very well set.

[Ann Harding]

I have been watching The Great Waltz (1938), a Julien Duvivier picture about Johann Strauss's life. Fernand Gravey (btw the credits called him Gravet as they were scared that Americans might mistake his name for gravy! ) as Johann Strauss is very good: assured, polished performance with an impeccable English accent. Alas, I can't say that much about Miliza Korjus. This Polish soprano sing the blandest colorotura I have ever heard in my life: she sounds like a mechanical bird and the 'embellishments' on Strauss' music are just a pure disaster. Dimitri Tiomkin was hired to re-orchestrate Strauss' music....OMG.....! It's just terrible. Die Fledermaus ends up being mixed up with a zest of waltz and some horrible English lyrics. I cannot believe they could treat Strauss's music so badly. It's light music alright. BUT, it needs to be treated with the same respect as Beethoven or Mozart. As for the script, it's pure tosh with Luise Rainer playing a long 'emotional' scene to recover her husband who has gone astray in Miliza's arms. If you want my opinion, this heavy layer of treacle is really boring. I far perfer the lighthearted Waltzes from Vienna (1934) made by Hitchcock. It's simpler and has more charm.