La bandera (1935)

Second viewing; first seen on July 21, 1994.

U.S. title: Escape from Yesterday.
Literal translation (from the Spanish): The Flag.

A French man commits a crime while in Barcelona, and, fearing arrest, joins the Spanish Foreign Legion. He is sent to North Africa, where he is supposed to defend the Spanish colonies from riots and other disturbances.

Interesting colonial adventure on the theme of friendship forged in war. The performances are good, the film is entertaining. Several people in the User Review section on IMDB noticed the implausibility of buiding a fort far from the water well, when the rational thing to do would be to build the fort around the well.

Rating: 51 (up from 43)

55 Days at Peking (1963)

Second viewing; first seen on March 30, 1990.

In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, Western citizens in China are constantly under threat, and the lack of troops and ammunitions make the situation even more ominous. An American major, working under the leadership of the English representative, tries to defend the Foreign Legations as best he can, while an attack is being prepared by the Boxers, with the half-disguised support of the Chinese Empress. In the midst of all this, the American major also gets romantically involved with a Russian baroness.

Entertaining and at times quite spectacular, this historical drama suffers somewhat due to an ill-advised sub-plot involving Russians. Perhaps it is a bit ironic that this film came out in a year when American involvement in Vietnam was rapidly escalating. The politics shown in the movie, although tackling several issues that are usual in Western affairs in foreign countries, is quite bland if compared to post-Vietnam films, either Vietnam-related or not. An excellent introduction to the origins of the situations described in the movie is provided by IMDB user trpdean in the User Reviews section (there is no way to link directly to his review, apparently).

Seen in pan-and-scan.

Rating: 51 (up from 37)

L'argent de poche (1976)

Second viewing; first seen on April 5, 1994.

U.S. title: Small Change.
Literal translation (and U.K. title): Pocket Money.

Several boys (and an infant), their occupations, interests, interactions among themselves, with girls and with adults; also how their parents and teachers treat them, think about them, educate them. A sort of axis for the narrative is a boy whose father is confined to a wheelchair; this boy has a crush on his friend's mother, and befriends a mysterious colleague who lives in a shabby house and seems to be neglected (or worse) at home.

A cleanness of thought pervades every frame of this film; it has been called 'didactic' and I confess this word has crossed my mind. But it somehow transcends that because of its commitment to frankness. In a nutshell, this is a no-nonsense approach to childhood, a period of life with its specificities, yet without any holiness about it. The sequence at the movie house with the two boys and two girls is possibly worth of special mention for being absolutely brilliant. Although there isn't exactly a plotline, the series of episodes are intelligently woven into a complete narrative. This film's reception has a interest in its own right. It's amazing (well, not really) how old cliches like 'poetic' (with the meaning of 'lyrical') and 'magical' have again been used; what is really amazing is how the filmmaker has somehow predicted this and scoffed at it in advance, in a scene where a parent or grandparent (not sure which) confesses she does not particularly like children and looks after hers because of a sense of duty alone. Nothing could be more un-poetic. On a more controversial note, there is that final speech by the teacher, calling for direct action in a world of rotten politics. Well, think what you will about this, what matters here is that this is exactly how most schoolteachers think. Vincent Canby's review for the New York Times is intelligent, and uses the word 'poetically' in a way some other famous critics do not seem capable of.

Rating: 72 (up from 70)

Castle on the Hudson (1940)

A hoodlum who took part in an arm robbery is sentenced to prison in Sing Sing, in New York State. He is used to having his way in every situation, but the warden is a tough guy.

An entertaining movie, well acted, and with a plot that's good to laugh at. It seems to be set in an alternate universe where ruthless criminals regenerate all of a sudden and can be relied upon to keep their "word of honor". This seems to be the same universe where most Brazilian legislators and court officials live.

Rating: 51

In Love and War (1996)

A nurse and her patient fall in love in Italy during World War One.

Very bland love story. It is not so hard to watch, but has nothing really distinguished that would earn it a place in one's memory. The story and characters are similar to those in A Farewell to Arms (1957) and Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962), but I remember having liked those films better.

Rating: 31

The Group (1966)

It follows the life of eight American college women friends, after they graduate in 1933. They are: the aristocratic lesbian (who assembled the group in college and moves to Europe after graduation); the introverted one, who has a tendency to take pity on people, her men included; the bitchy one who works for a publisher; the artistic type who marries a scumbag and is forced to work at a department store; the "sexless" one who cannot decide on an occupation; the politically liberal who marries a reactionary and keeps having babies; the sexually liberal who gets hurt and marries money; and another one who is a bit of an enigma and frankly seems totally superfluous to the film.

It took an extraordinary amount of energy for me to get into this film, and once I got that going, it was only modestly rewarding. I have to be frank about these women: their lives are not that interesting, especially as told in such a hurried, superficial fashion as it is done here. It seems to me that there is a certain misconception about it because this is not exactly a film about women; men make for a lot of the proceedings, and are just as interesting characters (often more so) as the female portion. Taken in isolation, there are several interesting situations or sequences in the film (the satire of psychoanalysis and marxism that is Polly's lover, for instance, is a highlight) and also many witty, and even laugh-out-loud funny lines of dialogue. The sum total of these parts, however, is a bit of a let-down. What interested me most was the opportunity to better understand some subtleties of the liberal mind, and the definitely feminine character that defines it. This is best seen in the 'Priss' character, a fragile woman who lives a contradiction and describes her husband's family resentfully as "all republicans" (he defines liberalism in a slightly crude but essentially correct way as concerning oneself with "the bread line"). This is not to say that women cannot be conservative, and we have good examples all over the world; perhaps we could say that women are just more easily led, more gullible than men.

Rating: 55

McLintock! (1963)

A big rancher faces a series of concomitant problems: his wife, from whom he was separated, comes to visit him about divorce and the custody of their daughter; there is a Comanche riot concerning the trial of some chiefs (he sides with the Comanche); the government has granted tracts of land to farmers in the neighboring area, who may have a negative political influence in the region, and also may have been misled by (in his opinion) economically unrealistic assumptions; and some other minor ones.

Western which constitutes a sort of overview of conservative tenets. Energetic handling of women, mistrust of government, sensible and fair economic principles, and some other minor ones, are themes which get woven into the comical plot. The film is well directed and mildly enjoyable, but somehow films with a clear political affiliation do not seem to be able to achieve great art. Perhaps this can only be done by transcending the division of the political spectrum into Left and Right. Anyway, my understanding of such matters is, at best, a work in progress.

Rating: 55

Le streghe (1967)

English title: The Witches.

Second viewing; previously seen on August 19, 1997.

Five segments, all with a thirty-five-ish woman as a protagonist. (1) A movie star makes an unexpected appearance at a party; (2) a woman in a car in a hurry is stopped due to a traffic accident on her way; (3) a widower and his son go on a quest to find a woman who would be their respective new wife and stepmother; (4) a woman who has been seduced and abandoned tells her father about what happened; (5) an executive's wife nags her tired husband about his lack of vitality and romanticism.

(2) and (4) are just short jokes, respectively superb and mildly funny. (1), (3) and (5) are longer, and provide each an angle of the woman's situation in modern, i.e. 60's society. (1) is very specific to show business, and pretty awesomely written and directed. (3) is extraordinary in its surreal slapstick, but its 6 final minutes are very hard to make sense of, unless one ventures into the realm of allegorical interpretation, in which case the "moral" is a statement about its female protagonist and exploited women in general. (5) is an amusing analysis of the dilemmas of the modern couple in a capitalist environment, with the woman still in a pre-feminist mindframe and wondering about "the emancipation of women". The film's idea of showcasing the lead actress's versatility is a success. Judging from the number and contents of the external reviews in the IMDB, this film was poorly received. Critic Dale Thomajan, on the other hand, placed it among his top tens for 1969, this being the reason I have decided to re-watch it once the opportunity came up.

Rating: 72 (up from 69)

13 Ghosts (1960)

Second viewing; previous viewing is dated November 6, 2013.

My blog notes for my previous viewing are:

[begin quote]
Family inherits a house that is supposed to be haunted.
The plot line (which I did not reveal in its details in my synopsis) has some
ingenuity to it, but the film is quite dull (especially during the apparitions).

Rating: 32
[end quote]

I must have been in a sour mood then. Anyway, the plot is really well built and ingenious, and the film is well-made and entertaining.

Rating: 50

Sahara (1943)

Second viewing; first seen on May 23, 1998.

The ultimate source of this movie is the novel Patrol, by Philip MacDonald, first published in 1927. IMDB makes a mistake when it credits MacDonald for a "story based on an incident in the Soviet Photoplay The Thirteen". That movie was released in 1937 and was probably based on MacDonald's novel or one of its previous film versions. I am grateful for commenter Diosprometheus for first pointing out some of these facts on the aforementioned Soviet film's IMDB page.

During World War 2, a group of allied soldiers in Africa receives orders to retreat to the South. They pick up a few others along the way and decide to look for water. They eventually find it next to a small building, and, while stationed there, come up with a heroic plan.

Entertaining war adventure, with blatantly stereotypical characterizations and juvenile plot. The cinematography is excellent, and was probably the main reason for my deciding to view it a second time, now in a better copy.

Rating: 57 (down from 66)

Il sole anche di notte (1990)

Second viewing; first saw it on May 9, 1992.

English title: Night Sun.
English translation of the Italian title: The Sun, Even at Night.
Alternate English title: The Sun Also Shines at Night.

Based on the short story Father Sergius, by Leo Tolstoy, written between 1889 and 1891, revised in 1898, and published for the first time in 1911 (according to the Italian Wikipedia entry Padre Sergij; the Father Sergius article on the English Wikipedia gives different dates).

The main character is an 18th-century military man from the lower nobility who, after an amorous misadventure, becomes a religious man. Struggling with his proud temperament, he goes in a quest for ultimate truth, while reluctantly interacting with the superstitious peasantry who regards him as a saint.

This is a personal favorite of mine, for somewhat idiosyncratic reasons. While I admit that it seems to occasionally yield to a certain lethargic sentimentality, especially through the use of the musical score, there is a possibility that it hit a soft spot in me for this reason also. Both Sands and Kinski are exceptionally good-looking in this, in an expressive way that certainly favors the movie; as a matter of fact, the film seems perfectly cast in its entirety. Mainly, I liked the way it focused on an individual soul, without losing track of the bigger picture of the collective aspects of religion and social class.

Rating: 86 (down from 87)

The Parent Trap (1961)

Based on the novel Das doppelte Lottchen (tr. The Double Lottie), by Erich Kästner, first published in 1949.

Two twin adolescent sisters separated at birth (or as very young infants -- I am not sure which) meet by chance at summer camp; one had been living with their father and the other with their mother, and were unaware of each other. They hatch a plan to reunite their parents.

Apparently this was a unanimity, although I found no major critics reviewing it; I guess it is one of those films about which it is enough that you come up with the stronger version of the comment "It's only a movie", that being of course "It's only a kid's movie". By reading the summary of the novel at Wikipedia, we find some differences in plot between it and this film, the most striking as far as I'm concerned being that in the novel the two twins show considerable differences in temperament. This does not occur in the movie (even though TV Guide seems to think otherwise), and several viewers on IMDB even complained the twins were too indistinguishable. As a matter of fact, they should be, since they are genetically identical. If you are scientifically interested in the subject, I recommend this New York Times piece. This is a kid's movie with a vengeance: they successfully overrule the adults' decisions, completely changing their lives. In a way, it is also a women's movie, because women's wishes prevail over men's (even though one of them is defeated in the process). Men here just do not have a say, they are puppets of their surrounding females, either in the grownup or infantile forms. Perhaps all this should be traced to the literary author. He was a pacifist, and pacifism is the most childish of all schools of thought; it is also one of the most feminine, but of course women's minds are closer to children's (they should be too, otherwise how could they raise the little ones?). And childish doctrines have a way of contradicting themselves when put in practice. Here, for example, the pacification process occurs in two stages. The first one has the twins evolving from a warlike attitude to a reconciliation borne out of the awareness of their kinship. The second one is the parents' reuniting; this is where the contradiction sets in, since it requires a war (on the father's younger fiancee) to achieve. Perhaps the novelist (and, who knows, even the screenwriter) had a political allegory in mind, with, say, the U.S.A. at one side, the U.R.S.S. at the other, and Nazi Germany as the evil in-between.

Rating: 43

Deceived (1991)

A woman suspects her husband is a criminal who might be using a fake identity.

The plot of this one has more holes than a Swiss cheese; I will not expound them here but one may find at least some of them listed at one or more entries at the IMDB discussion board. The film has some degree of watchability on account of the situations and images it presents, but, as I implied, there should be a sensible plotline connecting those situations and images. I must confess, however, to having greatly enjoyed one particular sequence: the heroine needs to recover a necklace that is being held by a child and the child's father tries to convince his daughter to hand it over using modern persuasion techniques.

Rating: 30

Gambit (1966)

*SPOILERS BELOW*

Second viewing; first seen on September 26, 1992.

It is about the complex operation to steal an ancient sculpture from the house of a rich man living in an Arab country. The essential instrument used is a woman who looks like the face in the sculpture and also like the owner's dead wife.

An intelligent film, in a genre which produced many intelligent films at that particular period. There is hardly a boring moment in it. This kind of film is generally called "empty fun", but of course there is no such thing. Notice how the theme of original versus copy is beautifully developed in a dual fashion, regarding the artwork and also in the living realm (multiple women with the same characteristics). The notion of the inferiority of the copy dates back to Plato, who said that our material world is only an inferior copy of an ideal one; furthermore, he stated that Art is an inferior copy of the material world. The film works as an illustration of the first part of this thesis by a comparison between the ideal job and the real one.

Rating: 65 (down from 66)

The Frisco Kid (1979)

In 1850, a newly-graduated Polish rabbi is sent to San Francisco to start his activities and to get married with an American woman. On the way he is robbed, and goes through various adventures, being befriended by a bank robber in the process.

In a way, this is an interesting film. It is dubious whether anyone has cared to analyze its meaning. Most comments I have read are either mindlessly admiring or dismissive in a somewhat puzzled way, and taken together they suggest a generalized lack of comprehension. It is only fair to admit its discourse is a bit disguised through some allegorical devices, although it employs direct concepts too; either way a little attention leaves no doubt about the point being made. The best guide is possibly the Goofs section at IMDB. To begin with, I do not think this has anything to do with the 19th-century American West. This is made obvious by the simplistic kids-friendly style, and even more so by the outrageous disregard with history shown in the reference to "Poland" and "Czechoslovakia" in a story set in 1850 (if this is not a dead giveaway, I do not know what could be). The aggressive errors regarding Jewish Law are also more than a bit intriguing in a movie that is supposed to provide a glimpse into precisely that kind of culture. With all that in mind, and a consideration of the events in the movie, one is tempted to surmise that the film is a comment on the Jewish situation along the ages, dating back to Joseph and the Pharaoh, but especially as of the 20th century. The weak Jew is seen as unfit to survive on his own in a hostile environment, and somehow receives the "muscle" he needs from a gentile man. What does the gentile man receives in exchange? He gets to have a "best friend", who nevertheless places the Sabbath observance and the saving of his Torah roll above the needs of his gentile "friend". The Jew eventually expresses remorse over his behavior, but one might add to his considerations that the Torah is not only a piece of paper, it is a symbol of the cohesion of the Jewish people. Although apparently the film's point has remained obscure to all, it is made in such a coherent, repetitive and didactic manner over nearly two hours of movie that it becomes pretty tiresome, and definitely not a rewarding experience. If one is interested in related matters, one may try the 2009 Israeli documentary Defamation, which I reviewed here.

Rating: 38

The Nude Bomb (1980)

Second viewing; previously viewed probably between 1980 and 1981 (certainly no later than 1986).

An evil organization named KAOS has come up with a bomb which destroys only clothes' fabric. It demands a bulky sum of money to refrain from using it. American intelligence organization PITS sends a team led by agent Maxwell Smart to foil KAOS' plans.

Parody of secret agent films derived from the TV show Get Smart. It is reasonably inventive and entertaining, with some funny concepts and jokes.

Rating: 50 (up from 24)

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Second viewing; the first one was between October and December of 1986.

The lives of three sisters in a period of two years. Hannah is married to Elliott, who desires Hannah's sister Lee, who in turn is married to a misanthropic painter. The third sister is Holly, a former drug addict who tries different lines of work without success. Hannah's former husband (boyfriend, according to Wikipedia) is a hypochondriac TV writer who goes through an existential crisis.

The utter strangeness of the behavior displayed in this film, allied to the dispersion of the plot, and general banality of it all, allow for only one avenue of interpretation: it is a parody of soap operas, done via, among other techniques, an extreme dramatic acceleration, and a display by its characters of an absurdly phony attitude regarding culture. Unlike the average parody, there is no affection whatsoever toward its target; and soaps being after all at the bottom of the cultural food chain (so to speak), seeing a parade of its worst vices in such a dry manner makes for a rather dire spectacle. And thus, also unlike the average parody, laughter is next to impossible in it, with one possible exception at the end, when the revelation of a miraculous occurrence comes as a sort of punchline. Upon my first viewing, I had a totally different take on this movie, more akin to Roger Ebert's, for example. At any rate, all aspects of reality must be dealt with, and Hannah and Her Sisters, though not perhaps a pleasant way to spend near two hours (unless one is seriously deluded, like I think I once was), accomplishes its mission in dealing with at least one of those aspects, namely, low forms of fiction.

Rating: 50 (down from 75)

The Idle Class (1921)

Second viewing; first seen between 1983 and 1986.

A tramp sneaks into a private resort, first to use its golf course, and later crashing a costume party. He brings a lot of confusion in both instances.

A fine silent comedy, which always strikes me for the extreme precision of its mise-en-scène. Film theorist Rudolf Arnheim, in his book Film as Art, exemplifies some of his lessons with two of this film's most remarkable sequences. In the citation on page 51, in which he does not name the film he is talking about, only saying it is "one of [Chaplin's] shorter films", he describes a sequence where the millionaire is first seen from behind, and "his shoulders are heaving". In the citation on page 78, in which he (or the translator) gives the name of the film as Smart People, he describes a sequence where the millionaire is at first shown "in a top hat and and tails; but only the upper part of his body is shown".

Rating: 68 (unchanged)

The Scalphunters (1968)

A fur trapper is robbed of all his furs by a group of Kiowa, receiving a slave in exchange for them. He then tries to get his furs back, going through some unexpected incidents in the process.

Fairly intelligent western with a comical vein to it. IMDB points out that all the weapons used in the film were not used until after the Civil War, a detail which rules out strict realism. But there is enough verisimilitude to the proceedings.

Rating: 61

Marusa no onna (1987)

Second viewing; first was on October 29, 1988.

English title: A Taxing Woman

The film follows the activities of a woman as an employee of the Japanese Internal Revenue Service (I here employ the American name of that Government branch, not knowing how they call it in Japan). The plot's main focus is on a tax evader who owns a motel chain.

Entertaining in a lightly humorous way, this film fullfills its job of giving a picture of tax evasion and tax inspection in Japan at the time. It is probably universal and timeless in its assessment of the psychology of tax evasion; incidentally, if it is so pervasive in a society as cohesive as Japan, can you imagine the situation in a country less so? The performances are good, a special honorable mention going to Tsutomu Yamazaki as the motel chain mogul.

Rating: 57 (up from 45)

L'école de la chair (1998)

English title: The School of Flesh.

Based on the novel by Yukio Mishima, first published in 1963.

A middle-class, middle-aged woman has an affair with a young working-class man.

Love story with a mildly satirical -- and mildly interesting -- view of the modern French bourgeoisie. I confess to having yielded to hilarity at some passages, and not on account of any satire.

Rating: 40

Lawman (1971)

A headstrong sheriff arrives at a town determined to arrest a rancher and his cowhands who in a drunken frenzy caused the accidental death of a man. Although the probability of conviction is small, and the rancher is willing to comply, his workers are not. The townsfolk side with the workers, due in part to the fact that the rancher is the town's prime economic driver.

Fine western, well directed. It deals with the transition from lawlessness to civilization, which, as seen here, was not made without pain and a little brutality. Few people seem to have understood this film, but that is understandable. The corrosion of educated people's brains by liberalism causes such comprehension impairments. And of course the film has nothing to do with liberalism, in fact it analyzes a previous stage of civilization where more basic social functions like law and order are at stake. But of course what moves the semi-intellectual type who calls himself a liberal is never anything as complex as a political or social theory, but rather feelings like 'compassion', 'humanity', etc. That is why liberals often inadvertently side with Big Money, which is probably what happened with many spectators of this film, and is happening all over the civilized world in present times.

Rating: 66

Showdown (1973)

Two childhood friends have taken opposite paths in life. One has become a wanderer, and the other has become a sheriff. Now a train robbery has happened, with the participation of the former, and the sheriff must choose between his work and his old friendship.

Passable western, made in the calm style that was becoming fashionable in that period, as an influence of TV. Martin's performance stands out somewhat amid other fine ones. Although some people have described this as a pleasant waste of time, I would slightly disagree. Westerns, even less than brilliant ones, tend to illuminate important aspects of life, in a stylized manner.

Rating: 50

Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1986)

Based on the novel Allan Quatermain, by H. Rider Haggard, first published in 1887.

The titular character, an explorer, receives an unexpected visitor who comes from a remote region of Africa where reportedly a community of white people is living in isolation. Apparently this is also where Quatermain's long-lost brother may be, so he decides to assemble an expedition in search of the place; the fact that the city is all made of gold causes some excitement among some, for better or worse.

A poor screenplay is the great limiting factor here. A terrible performance by Robert Donner is also a nuisance. This is the second and last film made with the Quatermain character by the same team with the apparent intention of cashing in on the more famous series with an archaeologist named Jones as the protagonist. The Quatermain films, while worse than the Jones films, had the advantage of being relatively free of "politically correct" concerns. Here, among other things, there is a city peopled by members of the white race, a plot detail which was taken from the 19th-century novel it is based on, and which, in 1986, was already a bit of a no-no and would probably have been avoided by a movie more in the mainstream than this one.

Rating: 30

Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss (1982)

Third viewing; first: August 30, 1987; second: November 26, 2004.

English distribution title: Veronika Voss.
Aproximate translation of the German title: The Longing of Veronika Voss.

In 1955, a sports journalist meets a woman in a park. She is Veronika Voss, a former movie star who is now reduced to drug addiction and dreams of her brief past fame. She and the journalist engage in a relationship during which he uncovers an odious criminal racket.

This is very dark in atmosphere and theme, and attractive enough. The marvelous performances by Rosel Zech and Annemarie Düringer are what mainly gives it distinction. The film's style is semi-parodic melodrama, and could never be mistaken with an earnest specimen of the genre; self-consciousness and self-reference are all-important features here, as testifies the film-within-the film sequence in the beginning, in which, as in a game of mirrors, Veronika watches the prophetic film version of her life. Motion pictures and their power to anaesthesize human pain are a hidden counter-theme.

Rating: 66 (unchanged)

Mister 880 (1950)

A counterfeiter acting in New York City eludes the American Secret Service for years, so they send for an outsider to help catch him. The criminal, who makes only one-dollar bills, and only enough of them to provide him with a bare living, is an elderly man who is loved by all.

This is an entertaining film, which gets one thinking afterwards. The film shows how the law may be unfair if applied too severely, and how crime is not always evil; however, it never explicitly makes the complementary point, that is, how great evil comes from the powers that be. Thus, it is very ironic that the United Nations features in it, and the unification of Europe is discussed in one sequence. In fact, it must have been the hand of providence, even though it took half a century or so for the implications to become fully clear. For, what harm does a petty counterfeiter pose to the U.S.A. next to what Immigration and the Euro have done (and continue to do) to the economy of Europe? At any rate, this is a well-made film, which, as I said, never fails to engage one's attention.

Rating: 60