They Died with Their Boots On (1941)

A fiction very loosely based on the life of General Custer. First West Point, then the Civil War, then the Indian War and his defeat at Little Bighorn.

The West Point section has some interest and is entertaining; the rest of the film didn't really work for me as it seemed to be just a series of concoctions with the purpose of hiding the (for Hollywood standards) ugly truth.

Rating: 41

True Grit (2010)

A fourteen-year-old girl hires a bounty hunter to capture her father's murderer.

The Coens have by now proven that they can do any kind of picture. I wouldn't know the purpose of that, but I guess it would be for them to say, if it would be for anybody. Anyway there is nothing to drive a narrative like a good hunt. If there are killings in it (and you can bet there will be, in this kind of cinema) so much the better. Is there any evidence that there has ever been, in the whole history of the U.S.A., any real-life case of adults (let alone a child of 14) going to such trouble to bring "closure" (they like this word) to their lives? What does this all mean? Fiction here does not enact reality. Do they hope that reality will enact fiction? Or does this bring a higher sense of moral to the nation?

Rating: 65

L'amour à mort (1984)

English title: Love Unto Death.

A man is given as dead and resurrects after his girlfriend summons him back.

A film in two parts; they don't have much in common except the characters, apparently, and the death-related theme. It feels like an essay, or like a melodrama which was stripped of emotional excess. The film is thematically similar to La chambre verte (both had Jean Gruault as screenwriter), and to Portrait of Jennie.

Rating: 51

Victim (1961)

A respected lawyer gets involved in a blackmail case on account of his homosexual past.

This appears to be a much respected movie, a sort of heroic manifesto against the British anti-sodomy law, which, the lady in TV informs us after the movie, lasted another 6 years counting from the film's release (and this hardly speaks for the film's efficacy). Some viewers admit it is "dated", an obvious fact, but what few will admit is that it is outright absurd, and would be ignored if it weren't for its worthy cause. The premise is absurd (a blackmailer targeting the poorer end of a relationship, and the latter going to extremes to oblige him because of his devotion to a man with whom he hardly had anything going, and about whom he (absurdly) kept a news clips album); the investigation carried out by the lawyer is also absurd. Not to mention a fact which is rather common in "groundbreaking" films, namely that they are not all that groundbreaking and contain a lot of hypocrisy in the depiction of characters, especially in this case the protagonist (a struggling ex-homosexual who is moved by his would-be lover's quite implausible suicide).

Rating: 32

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

An inventor buys an old car and fixes it, at the request of his two children. The rich daughter of a sweets maker is the romantic interest. They all go on an imagined journey in which the jalopy acquires new powers, such as flying and floating, and is coveted by an evil monarch.

Musical fantasy with excellent cast and excellent production design, but still a bit insipid on the whole. Certain narrative ruses are worth mentioning. One, the inventor is at a carnival and takes part in a music and dance number. This could be taken as following the specific conventions of musicals in which actors sing and dance even though their characters are not necessarily singers or dancers; here, however, we have a musical number which is part of the realistic context (a carnival), and furthermore the inventor uses the money received for his performance to buy the title car. Two, the core of the film's action is actually a story told by the inventor; the fantastic elements are present in this story-within-a-story only.

Rating: 50

The Hindenburg (1975)

The famous disaster of the Hindenburg zeppelin in 1937 is fictionally explained. The film consists of this and also the several characters who are more or less suspect.

Extremely baloney, extremely well-made fictionalization of a true incident. Entertaining yet childish.

Rating: 51

Crioulo Doido (1971)

The economic ascension of a black man in Brazil. The story begins in 1964, when he is a modest tailor. He marries a white woman. He later abandons the tailor profession and becomes a rancher.

Extremely low-budget comedy with a very personal style. Upon first viewing it strikes me as uneven; it is clear however that the director shows talent, which he would confirm in later films.

Rating: 50

The Landlord (1970)

A rich 29-year-old man who still lives with his parents buys a tenement house and starts interacting with his tenants.

Mildly amusing comedy which displays excellent technique. The a priori satirical framework consists of depicting the rich as prejudiced and insensitive and the poor as warm-hearted and rude. It is not a coincidence that the only two exceptions are the central romantic couple. A depiction of the fascination that the poor exert upon the rich, and thus the specular image of Brideshead Revisited.

Rating: 54

Brideshead Revisited (2008)

Charles Ryder is a freshman at Oxford. He makes friends with the aristocratic Sebastian Flyte, who invites him to his family's estate, called Brideshead. There he meets Sebastian's sister, towards whom he feels attracted. The Flytes are very Catholic. Sebastian has a crush on Charles, and is an alcoholic.

Having seen the miniseries, I have to confess that this film, although lacking the leisurely pace, is in certain crucial aspects an improvement over the miniseries. In particular, here, Sebastian is a more understandable character; in the miniseries I couldn't make sense of his actions and feelings (perhaps this is my fault...). In a smaller degree, I'd say the same about Charles. And the film version makes it easier to understand all the characters' behavioral dynamics. The central theme is the fascination that the rich exert upon the poor. There is also the motif of upper-class 20th century Catholicism.

Rating: 56

The Devil at 4 O'Clock (1961)

A plane stops at a Pacific island to drop a priest. It also carries three convicts in it, who must therefore stay overnight on the island. They are recruited next morning by the old priest (who is being replaced by the newcoming one) to work on a lepers clinic. Everything goes fine (well, not really) until the local volcano starts erupting.

Religious propaganda which is anachronistic even for the time of its release. Despite its ideological content, the film is watchable, and may be read as an allegory for sexual repression (the scene where the old priest nearly chokes a convict to death may be said to anticipate the eruption). The film is also an early example of the trend which postulates that new terms revoke the negative connotations of old ones (here, Hansen's disease replacing leprosy), an aspect which is perhaps metaphorically represented in the new priest replacing the old one.

Rating: 39

Any Which Way You Can (1980)

A professional fist fighter wants to retire, changes his mind after an irrefusable offer, is convinced by his close friends to change his mind again, but the fight promoters are gangsters who won't accept his backing down. He makes friends with his rival.

I found this sequel (to a film I remember nothing of) tedious from start to finish. I think the film is ultimately about itself, and film producers' incapacity of refraining to make an extra buck with a sequel that adds nothing to the original and will mostly hurt their artistic integrity (or what there is of it). Only this is not how it is shown in its fictional construction; in it greed is given a make-over to look as guts.

Rating: 11

Haunted Honeymoon (1986)

A man who is suffering from attacks of fear travels to a gothic mansion belonging to his aunt. He, his fiancee, and several of his relatives gather there for the weekend.

I detested this when I first saw it (and probably fell asleep at the cinema). It didn't improve much on second viewing. It is just an uninspired comedy which, while not unpleasant, lacks in cleverness. Christopher Mulrooney has the name of Walter Goodman of The New York Times wrong.

Rating: 34 (up from 15)

The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)

Father O'Malley is appointed director of a boarding school. His ideas sometimes clash with those of the Mother Superior (is that how they call her?). The great concern of the latter is the impending threat of losing the building to a businessman.

Whereas Going My Way could be dismissed as a religious propaganda film, The Bells of St. Mary's may be similarly dismissed, and preferrably avoided, as a sequel to a religious propaganda film. The ultimate calling of every sequel is to indulge in absurdity; while it is true that a few of them fail to heed that calling, this film heeds it enthusiastically.

Rating: 25