Movie Reviews 581 – The Dam Busters (1954)

There are a lot of facets that I consider when determining what makes a good film. One must start with a great story and a script to match. These are closely followed by the casting to consider, the setting and cinematography and finally, the linchpin directorial duties that pull everything together. Those are the universal factors that everyone can agree on with varying degrees of importance for what constitutes a good movie . And yet sometimes there are surprising unconventional factors that, often irrelevant, also have a huge impact on making a film exceptional. In the case of The Dam Busters it’s the science and engineering.

Based on true events, the appropriately titled film depicts the effort by British forces to target specific German dams that are critical to the Nazi military infrastructure during World War II. When all conventional methods of attack either prove ineffective or have specific deterrent fortifications in place, the Brits are stymied and nearly give up the notion.

But one scientist (Michael Redgrave) persists in his calculations and experiments and, convinced that his radical approach can achieve the destruction of the dams, proposes his plan to the brass who initially prove to be a bigger challenge than the science behind his idea. 

His idea is to load a particularly large round projectile, loaded with explosives of course, on a plane and have it come in extremely low, practically skimming the water reservoir, and then at a precise distance and height, release the ‘bomb’ which then hops across the water (like a skipping stone) until it meets the top of the dam and detonate.

The film is a fascinating dramatization of Operation Chastise which successfully accomplished the mission objectives in 1943. While the film does get into the characters to a degree, it is mostly about the trials and tribulations of getting the idea to work and how other technical aspects were handled. The film does not downplay the human element as many airmen died in the overall mission, however it is with some irony that the greatest emotion is elicited by the death of a dog (even more unfortunate to have ‘the N word’ as his name).

Coming late to the title, I’ve watched this film twice already this past year and will probably find myself watching it again in time. Cinephiles will enjoy a few very young actors with bit parts that will later go on to great acclaim, but I won’t mention them here as spotting them is part of the fun. My only beef with viewing my Anchor Bay DVD is that it is completely devoid of any features other than Chapter selection. I would have loved to have more background on the filming of this gem.

Movie Reviews 580 – The Anniversary (1968)

What’s better than a Bette Davis movie? A Hammer studios Bette Davis movie. And what can be better than a Hammer studios Bette Davis movie? Bette Davis starring in a Hammer film in which she wears a stylish eye patch!

Bette Davis’ cinematic career spanned nearly six decades but like a few of her contemporaries she went from an A list star to a B movie artist as ageism set in and juicy roles vanished. However unlike most of those who followed that begrudging path, she made the most of it and revitalized her career. When forced to participate in the secondary circuit she made sure she was the focal point by laying it on as thick as she could, get even garnering a well deserved Oscar nomination in [What Ever Happened to Baby Jane] playing a has-been child star who has delusions that she can still elicit adoration from fans playing the same act she did as a juvenile.

As both a Bette Davis fan and a Hammer fan I’ve known about The Anniversary for a long time but only now had the chance to watch it. Not a horror film from The Studio that Dripped Blood, this was a later Hammer film that nonetheless skirted societal norms but without resorting to monsters (although it can be said that Davis plays an entirely different type of monster here.) While it was nothing close to what I expected  – and I’m never sure what to expect when Davis is around – it exceeded my unexpected expectations.

The opening credits begin with the age-old Anniversary Song (“Oh how we danced, on the night we were wed …”) but there is no wedded bliss in this story of a stern matriarch widow celebrating her anniversary and basically tormenting her three sons in her annual family tradition. The heiress who now runs her former husband’s home construction company scoffs at,

enslaves, and mocks every move of her sons, their wives and children. Although seemingly living in some sort of fantasy Eden, her tongue is as sharp as her wit and she is always one step ahead of everyone’s moves to get the better of her. When faced with the rare unexpected maneuver, she immediately turns a disadvantage into her advantage at the drop of a pin by upping the ante.

The latest family gathering brings about particular cruel indignities as the youngest son invites his yet to be announced fiancé to the proceedings and another announces that he has made plans to not only leave mother, but leave the country and go to Canada (God love him). As the barbs fly and the infighting plays out like a game of chess, each son thinking they have made their winning moves, the affairs for the evening are interrupted when the one docile and obedient son indulges in his own personal proclivities that brings the police on his heels.

Scribed and produced by Jimmy Sangster and directed by Roy Ward Baker, both revered Hammer alumna, I consider the film an oddity among its already freakish brethren. Davis is simply marvelous as she prances like a tigress ready to pounce, garbed in gaudy gowns with multiple matching eyepatches, spouting lines like “Your BO offends me.” or a symbolically apropos “An eye for an eye” retort.

There are many other examples of tales featuring dysfunctional families, knee deep in lies and secrets, but this one takes the anniversary cake, albeit one bitter morsel at a time.

Movie Reviews 579 – La La Land (2016)

I must begin by explaining that most of this review of La La Land was written months ago (basically the week following my last review, the first week in December of last year). Since then I’ve been in a La La Land of my own with family obligations taking up most of my weekends which are my prime writing periods. While the scheduling challenges remain, I’m making a concerted effort to get back to writing my reviews. I can’t guarantee a return to my weekly reviews, but I will do the best I can.

Being a bona fide cinephile you would have thought that it would not have taken me this long to watch La La Land, a musical that is a love letter to Hollywood itself and one that won the academy award for Best Picture, even if that win was retracted a scant a few minutes later in that infamous Oscar blunder. While I myself was well aware, I suspect that prior to watching the movie a fair number of folks did not even know that La La Land is an epithet for Los Angeles and in particular Hollywood, its illustrious movie making district.

I knew I was in for something special upon being presented with one of the most elaborate, open air, song and dance routines that takes place on one of Los Angeles’ despised, stand-still traffic jammed highway overpasses as the opening sequence to the film. This was but the first salve of daring moves in film, making the worst the city has to offer laid bare but made beautiful at the same time.

Emma Stone plays the cliché wannabe starlet Mia (this time earning a true best actor Oscar for the performance) scurrying from one hopeful audition to another while working in a studio coffee shop during the day. Her first encounter with Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a jazz musician that hopes to someday own and operate a ‘pure’ jazz nightclub of his own, was a cold shoulder rebuff as she tried to complement his music. But the two cross paths again and awkwardly fall for one another as they each pursue their dreams while eking out a meagre living as proverbial ‘starving artists’.

But this is anything but a typical starry eyed starlet tale and in true La La Land fashion sacrifices are made on the way to the top and both succeed in achieving their goals. I was at first slightly annoyed at the trajectory of the plot as it did not seem to conform to the rules of such stories but when the chips have all landed and the fate of Mia and Sebastian are made clear I realized that it was indeed a fitting realistic La La Land story and was all the better for it.

Not to slight Moonlight, the eventual best film Oscar winner that year (which I confess I have yet to watch), but I found this film so refreshing and vibrant that I wish it had won instead. The film is a love letter to Hollywood as well as a throwback to musicals of yesteryear. The ending was not one I expected but what happens is typical of what transpires in Hollywood itself, if not the movies that are made there.

Movie Reviews 578 – Night of the Demon (1957)

It’s unfortunate that most people will dismiss Night of the Demon as some cheap 50s B-grade film when reading the title or seeing the demonic beast adorning the movie poster. On the surface the film, which also goes by the alternate title Curse of the Demon, fits that notion to a degree. But there are a number of things that separate this film from the multitude of shall we say cheesier, 50s monster craze movies.

If anything, this is more a film about witchcraft than a movie about a particular demon, and in fact the titular creature only appears for a few brief moments at the beginning and end of the film. So why is the film so highly regarded in horror circles, a judgment that is supported by respectable IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes ratings (7.8 and 100% respectively at the time of this writing)?

Undeniably, a lot of the success comes at the hands of director Jacques Tourneur where his contributions of such films as Cat People, The Leopard Man and I Walked With a Zombie (all of which I chronicled in my review of  The Val Lewton Collection) were all impressive early career genre films. But here Tourneur brought his significant Film Noir acumen to this production, going so far as to acquiring Noir staple Dana Andrews as the star for the film.

After arriving in England for a psychology conference in which one professor Harrington was set to expose his colleague Dr. Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) as a satanic cult leader, Dr. John Holden (Andrews) learns that the accusing professor has suddenly died under mysterious circumstances. Ever the skeptic, Holden refuses to believe paranormal powers are at play while many others lean towards the possibility. As luck would have it Holden not only bumps into Karswell at a library but is invited to his home to view some of his very rare literature. Joining them are Harrington’s niece Joanna (Peggy Cummins) who is adamant that Karswell is not only everything her uncle claimed to be, but also responsible for his murder. The proceedings take an ominous turn when Karswell predicts that Holden will die in three days.

The film does dip into witchcraft staples like seances, runes, and sudden virulent weather changes, but aside from one shabby, obviously fake cheetah fight sequence the special effects are superb and ahead of their time. But it’s Tourneur’s gift behind the lens with spectacular perspective cinematography that make the film a standout. Despite there being no suspense as to whether Karswell is really a satanist, the film moves along with interesting characters and events that build to a suspenseful tête-à-tête.

Be forewarned that there are sequels (Night of the Demons 2, Night of the Demons 3) that have nothing to do with this one.

Movie Reviews 577 – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)

People often associate actors with either the first movies they’ve seen them in or some of their more acclaimed contemporary roles. Sadly, that means that for many great and long established actor’s, their finest performances may go unnoticed because people don’t tend to bother seeking out ‘old’ movies even after hearing that those earlier achievements are universally acclaimed and lauded.

Does everyone realize that Sir Alec Guiness’ best performances like those in The Bridge on the River Kwai or Our Man in Havana were far superior to his Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars? Do audiences know that Michael Caine was a huge star and even a sex symbol of the 60’s long before he played Batman’s Butler Alfred Pennyworth in Chistopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy? Ironically the same could be said for successor Micheal Gough for the very same role in the Burton/Schumacher Batman series burying a legacy of 200 other films. The problem becomes more prevalent with big budget, multi-film franchises that fill their rosters with huge stars of yesteryear, a seemingly humble gesture that recognizes and rewards their careers but has the unintended effect of eclipsing those prior achievements.

The Harry Potter series of films ranks as a notorious culprit in this career cancel culture whose victims include Alan Rickman and Robbie Coltrane. But the most egregious Potter infraction was the casting of Dame Maggie Smith which brings me to The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, an altogether ironic titled classic film in that the whole point revolves about people being in the ‘prime’ of their life, or at least believing so, which could just as easily apply to their acting careers

As a revered teacher at an all-girls school Jean Brodie (Smith) appears to have control over her students, her life and even the headmistress of the institution. While rambling on about the finer arts, politics, fashion, etiquette and love affairs to her dedicated students she courts her fellow music professor (Gordon Jackson) while coyly spurning the advances of the married art teacher (Robert Stephens). As she boasts supposed superior knowledge in all matters she manipulates others like puppets on a string, especially a particular small group of girls who are devoted to her.

But Brodie’s nearsighted political views go as far as glamorizing the growing rise in European fascism which results in dire consequences for one of her students, a fact that Brodie ignorantly rejects. As the girls mature one particular student, Sandy (Pamela Sargent) becomes wise to Brodie’s ways and her rebellious acts not only shock Brodie but expose her for the delusional fraud that she is as her manipulative ways catches up to her in every regard.

Smith’s breakout performance which earned her an Oscar is just one example of performances that seem to have fallen by the wayside for audiences only aware of her most recent endeavours. This is a shame as it is those earlier performances, but Smith and all her ‘seasoned’ brethren that not only deserve a viewing but eclipse their late career resurgences. 

I learned long ago that many a cinematic jem are the films that feature elders cast in contemporary films. These late career casting choices are the rewards for long established bodies of work. Work that captures them in their true ‘prime’ as exemplified by the prime of Dame Maggie Smith.

Movie Reviews 576 – Rabid Dogs (1974)

The history of the film Rabid Dogs (original Italian title: Cani Arrabbiati) is as convoluted as it gets. Directed by the legendary Mario Bava, it was one of his few films that strayed from his classic array of Gialli horror endeavors and earlier ‘Sword and Sandal’ mythological epics, and it was supposed to be his foray into pure thriller films. Instead, the film languished in a bureaucratic legal quagmire for close to three decades after the original producer went bankrupt in the midst of shooting. It remained abandoned until Lea Lander, one of the stars of the film was instrumental in acquiring the rights and the available footage along with a few extra shots was pieced together into a cohesive film. The deal that eventually resulted in the original being made available for distribution.

The convoluted post production history led to various edits of the film along with an assortment of titles (and associated English title variants) that include Ore 9 Semaforo (9 A.M. – Red Light), Semaforo rosso (Red Traffic Light), Kidnapped and finally the original Cani Arrabbiati (Rabid Dogs). My copy, one of Anchor Bay’s Cult Classic series of DVDs, featured the title Kidnapped but when I saw that it also had the earlier Rabid Dogs version I decided to watch that first. 

As can be discerned from some of the aforementioned titles, the main plot involves a kidnapping drama, in this case victims being amassed when a payday heist goes wrong. The thieves are led by mastermind “Doc” (Maurice Poli) who has to keep his two wild accomplices “32” Trentadue (Luigi Montefiori) and “Blade” (Aldo Caponi) in check after their getaway driver is shot. Making a run for a nearby mall they first take Maria (Lander) hostage, but only after killing her companion in a fit of panic when confronted by approaching cops. Escaping into a car that is now known to the chasing police they decide to swap it for another by hijacking one in which a man (Riccardo Cucciolla) is bringing a young, blanket wrapped boy to hospital. Having gotten rid of the lawmen on their tail the men ride out with their hostages into the countryside, evading searches and checkpoints as they figure out what to do next in a bid for liberty and to enjoy the spoils of their caper.

Bava does not lose his penchant for blood as there is enough of the red stuff here to remind viewers of the director’s horror heritage, but he proves to be just as adept with nerve wracking thrills and suspense. The added angst of a child in peril to the fleeing, uncaring bandits and their hostages makes for a formidable film, but the surprise ending is the biggest shocker of all.

I was glad that my Anchor Bay DVD special features included an informative documentary to explain most of the convoluted history of the film. While Bava himself is not one of the commentators, Mario’s son and assistant director Lamberto Bava (who also produced segments for the Kidnapped version) is accompanied by Lander and producer Alfredo Leone. Ironically, Leone lost the opportunity to produce the film the first time around but was then the producer to Kidnapped.  Interestingly Leone initially wanted Ernest Borgnine or Martin Balsam to play the doctor, and even Al Letieri (Sollozzo in The Godfather) was initially cast for the role before dropping out. As many versions as there are, I would have loved to have seen those alternate actors as well.

I know there was a 2015 remake, a Canadian one to boot, but I have not seen it and really don’t know anything about it. The Canadian factor has me intrigued though, so hopefully I’ll track it down someday.

Movie Reviews 575 – The Great Escape (1963)

While not the greatest movie of all time, the inclusion of the word Great in the title of The Great Escape is highly apropos. The film is a dramatization of an allied POW camp during World War II and aside from one glaring liberty with the established facts, it is fairly historically accurate in many, but not all respects. But while the facts are interesting and entertaining in and of themselves (for those who find history interesting at least) the real entertainment of the film is how it manages to capture the ups and downs of the prisoners both as the go through their daily routines and how the ‘great’ escape (along with a few other, smaller ones) is first planned then executed.

Featuring an all star cast that includes Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, Donald Pleasance, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn (to name a few) the package of fictionalized and embellished characters depict the euphoric highs and deadly lows of their internment and escape. Somehow the film manages to have just the right touch of fun to go along with the drama elicited from the very same characters.

As the story goes, the Nazis were determined to put a stop to the more successful and persistent prison escapees that were constantly being rounded up and decided that putting them all together in one especially fortified POW camp would make it easier to keep an eye on them. But once unified the men immediately set about not only escaping, but daringly doing it en-masse with multiple tunnels being built and hoping to liberate 250 men in one grand breakout.

The film is noted for a particular scene in which American prisoner McQueen has a spectacular motorcycle chase the culminates in heroic, barbed wire fence jumps but there are many more just as memorable performances including some from lesser known actors such as Angus Lennie as a perpetual runaway and also a very young David McCallum who passed away only last month. (The fact that there were no Americans at the prison camp from which the actual events took place is the one big Hollywood indulgence with true events).

While my 2006 MGM was pretty sparse of Special Features it did include a nice 24 minute documentary on the making of the film which did give a little background on how director John Sturges was finally able to film the project after many years of it being rejected by studios. Aside from cast selection, last minute script changes and a slew of other facts and anecdotes it also includes the high level of detail that was put into building a close replica of the original Stalag Luft III.

While I can’t even say that this is my favorite WWII POW film (a distinction that could just as easily be given to Stalag 17 or Bridge on the River Kwai), it is a ‘great’ film regardless.

Movie Reviews 574 – Prince of Darkness (1987)

It’s pretty tough to go wrong when viewing an 80s horror movie directed by John Carpenter and also starring Donald Pleasence and from what I remember watching Prince of Darkness in the VHS tape rental days, I quite enjoyed it. I thought it would be a good idea to revisit it now after all these years and give it another viewing but I was a bit surprised that it wasn’t quite as I remembered it.

The answer to the question as to whether it is a good movie is not straightforward. I was going to say “It is, and it isn’t” but the more accurate answer is “It was, and it isn’t”. That is to say that  this film hasn’t aged well and what was fairly entertaining at the time is now pretty hard to swallow today from a dialogue point of view, and is not as innovative from other aspects as well. I recall enjoying this movie for a number of good reasons as I will reiterate below, but watching it now there are a number of problems that can make viewing a grating experience.

The story begins with the death of an elderly priest, a member of a secret brotherhood, clutching a key box. Upon the priest’s death the contents of a monastery basement opened by the key reveals a labyrinth of corridors, rooms and an old, long forgotten cathedral. Within the cathedral we find a green glowing neon swirling mixture in a glass container. The dead priest’s successor (Pleasence) is entrusted to ascertain the nature of the contents and to do that he elicits the help of an academic physicist (Victor Wong) who himself recruits some of his university students to help.

As suggested by the title, after studying the contents and further researching ancient archives they all come to the realization that what they have is Satan himself, slowly gaining powers as it absorbs nutrients (bodies!) and begins to assert control over people. With portents that the end of the world is at hand the researchers are surprised that they are not alone. After discovering that they are sharing a common dream amongst themselves they ascertain that the dream is a message from people in the future trying to both warn humanity and perhaps stop the threat.

The biggest issue with the film are the piles of religious and biblical jargon that would make Moses blush which is then further exacerbated by the even worse technobabble and doubletalk that would make a physicist split their atoms. For some reason this seemed acceptable, to myself at least, the first time around, but now it’s just inexcusable, useless banter that takes away from the proceedings. Another huge problem with the film, albeit a common one in horror, is people doing dumb things that make little or no sense to the situation at hand. There were times that I actually wondered if scenes were dropped (unlikely as I was watching the DVD) as that may provide the only reasonable explanation.

But I mentioned there was some good and that comes at the hands of seeing Donald Pleasance. Unfortunately his role, while pivotal, is largely buried under the academics brought along to do and all analysis. It is they that take up the bulk of the film, undergrads that tick off a checklist of stereotypes including a burgeoning love affair that is an entire side plot. Some of this is to be expected from an 80s film when these character tropes were just emerging. On a positive note most of the special effects and gore still hold up, even when it is evidently a simple camera trick.

While I can’t honestly recommend this one, at least it’s one of Carpenter’s films featuring his own pulsating music score. As a bonus, see if you can spot rocker Alice Cooper among the throngs of hobo’s that become transfixed and under Satan’s spell. One last thing that really ages the film. Remember how people from ‘the future’ were sending messages to the past? Yeah, well that ‘future’ was 1999. Ouch!

Movie Reviews 573 – Harold and Maude (1971)

Harold (Bud Cort), a neglected socially isolated young man, has a fascination with death. On the one hand he torments his obscenely rich and overbearing mum by feigning gruesome suicides to the point that she no longer blinks an eye. On the other hand the only joy he can muster is by attending funerals of complete strangers and when he manages to effectively shock computer dating prospects his mother persists in arranging for him. Other than that he leads a sad, lonely life in his own sheltered world.

His realm finally begins to expand when he is persistently coaxed by octogenarian Maude (Ruth Gordon), a fellow funeral crasher with an unmatched zest for life. Her eccentric free spirit knows no bounds as she disavows such pestering things like driving regulations, preferring to simply borrow whichever parked vehicle she finds handy, police motorcycles included. Together the two embark on a journey of discovery for Harold and one last hurrah for Maude.

Harold and Maude is one of the sleeper classics of the 70s that seems to have shamefully faded over the years. Aside from the cross generation gap being melded between the two, the message of being able to take on a whole new viewpoint of the world around us as taught from a devil-may-care rebel was a relatively novel concept.

While we empathize with Harold, it is Maude that steals the show, Gordon at her sweet old lady best fresh off her Oscar for a literally devilishly different elderly matron in Rosemary’s Baby. The comedy is thick with such antics as Harold converting one expensive sports car after another into hearse variants, while Ruth is immersed in all manner of life, love and the arts, resting only to initiate harrowing car traffic havoc at every opportunity. 

Comedy aside, there are a number of surprises here that end up pulling at our heartstrings when we learn of Ruth’s untold past and more importantly her future as she dispenses bits of wisdom and life lessons to Harold. More than an anti-establishment movie, it is also an anti-war film although that aspect is dealt with from both a comedic view and with subtle clues.

Make sure you lock your cars for a sense of security before you watch the film and be sure to also enjoy the great Cat Stevens music.

Farewell, My Lovely – Raymond Chandler (1943)

After reading The Lady in the Lake I looked forward to reading more Philip Marlowe novels by Raymond Chandler and so I reached into my read pile for Farewell, My Lovely, a story that as far as I knew was not filmed. (More on that later).

The novel isn’t so much as a mystery as it is a tangle of interwoven characters that are uncovered after the theft of a valuable necklace and a murder. But even the primary murder ends up being totally ignored for a secondary murder that becomes integral to the plot. (Sadly, this distinction is made on the basis of race.) The second big piece of the puzzle is finding out what happened to a long lost former club singer and dancer.

The ransom of the highly prized necklace is entrusted to an acquaintance of the owner and he enlists the help of Marlowe for the payoff. This leads to Marlowe being conked only to find his client dead and the money gone upon awakening. With the police conducting their own investigation (including himself as a suspect) Marlowe follows the trail to the owner, a socialite married to a wealthy man well beyond her years. This leads to an ‘intervention’ by a crooked ‘psychic’ who has Marlowe brought to a shady doctor that has him drugged for days. As all this is transpiring. a hulking recently released con (on a deadly spree of his own) has Marlowe trying to locate his long lost love, the aforementioned club dancer. Inevitably, the two cases merge into one convoluted mystery that also involves crooked cops and a mobster running gambling ships offshore.

I have to admit that this one took me ages to read and one of the reasons was losing interest at various points. There was just enough interest to keep me going with periods in which I would put the book down for days until I could muster enough interest to continue.  However in the end when things finally get untangled and the true series of events are uncovered, it was quite satisfying.

A work of it’s time, there is the use of the N word and even more derogatory slang of that nature, but what bothered me most was Chandler’s incessant use of “Okey” rather than “Okay” by all characters, something I learned was a particular habit of Chandler and was not in fact a common alternative even back then.

As I dug into the history of the novel I discovered that it was indeed filmed as Murder, My Sweet and that I even already had it buried in my extensive DVD collection. Upon watching the film there were many elements changed and even a significant character being entirely different from that in the book. I won’t get into the changes as describing them would reveal a bit too much.

Do I recommend the read? Only for those that can stand a mystery that very slowly advances with a storyline that has a lot of seemingly uninteresting twists and turns until the final reveal. So not exactly a pins-and-needles mystery.