Only the Valiant (1951)

A New Mexico region is constantly attacked by the Apache. In a confrontation the Apache leader is captured, but that further provokes their anger, and a Fort is expected to be attacked any minute. Reinforcements are sent for, but in the meantime there must be a way to delay the Apache attack. An officer rounds up a group of misfit soldiers, all of whom but one hate him, and sets up a suicidal watch at the passage.

Entertaining Western, well written, well shot, well directed, well edited and well acted. The script is geared more towards suspense and drama than realism of any kind, and is structured as a classical whodunit, with the difference that in this case it is really a wholldoit.

Rating: 58

Week-End in Havana (1941)

A woman is on a cruise to the Caribbean and her ship gets stuck in a coral reef in Florida. The travel company wants her to sign a waiver saying she will not sue them. She refuses. The company offers her a trip by air to Havana in exchange for her signature. She says she will sign only if she enjoys the trip. A company agent follows her with the mission of seeing that she has a good time. In Havana she gets involved with a Latin lover.

Banal comedy with somewhat extravagant musical numbers. On account of the decent production values, and the fast succession of events, the film is relatively painless to watch. But there is very little to see here, except for two or three brief moments of mild hilarity.

Rating: 31

Le bonheur (1965)

English title: Happiness

François and Thérèse are married and have two lovely children. They are a happy young couple. He works as a carpenter under his uncle. When François meets Émilie at the post office where she works, they feel a mutual attraction and start having an affair.

This film feels quite absurd. Some of it is a very realistic depiction of a working class ambiance. In other parts, characters behave is a way which is very implausible and incompatible with the social surroundings so meticulously built up for them. The film's title makes it clear that it wants to discuss an abstract concept. For that, it would have been more suited to have this story set in an intellectual milieu. It would have been a different movie, to be sure, and probably a more successful one.

Rating: 34

The Fighting Kentuckian (1949)

In 1818, a member of the Kentucky militiamen, named John Breen, returning home from the War of 1812 between the U.S.A. and England, falls in love with a young woman, named Fleurette, from a community of French exiles who were former members of Napoleon's army. He decides to stay at that city and court her. There are multiple problems he must face, though. Fleurette is engaged, against her will, to be married to a local boss. To complicate things, there is a plot to swindle the French landowners out of their land.

As many commenters have pointed out, this is a heavily plotted film, with many side characters. As the film is not long, there is no time to develop and explain the many details of the plot. Also, as IMDB commenter JamesHitchcock has remarked, there are many historical inaccuracies:

*begin quote*
 One of Willie's most prized possessions is a top hat which he says has been in his family for three generations. As top hats had only been invented some 20 years before the date when this film is set this seems unlikely. When playing chess with Breen, Willie takes three of his opponent's pieces in one move- something legal in draughts, but not in chess. In the final battle the French charge into battle on horseback with all guns blazing. This might have been possible in a Western set some sixty or seventy years later, but not in one set in 1818. The early nineteenth century cavalryman fought with sword and lance- before the invention of the revolver and repeating rifle single-shot firearms would have been little use to him. Little attention has been paid to period accuracy as far as costumes are concerned; some of Fleurette's dresses recall the Civil War era, some fifty years after the date of this film.
*end quote*

I am not sure whether it stems from the abovementioned problems, but the film just doesn't generate enough empathy or excitement. It goes by indifferently and I do not recommend it except for die-hard fans of the two stars who play, respectively, the leading part and his sidekick.

Rating: 35

That Darn Cat! (1965)

Two men rob a bank, kidnap the bank teller and hole up in an apartment. A cat belonging to a teenage girl who lives in that area barges into the hoodlums' lair and is used by their hostage to send a signal to the outside world. The cat's owner contacts the FBI who sends one of their agents to monitor the cat for a possible lead; he works at first with a team of agents and later alone.

Entertaining comedy which makes fun of criminal investigations, and also of several other things, which are embodied by the plethora of characters which inhabit the movie: a mother-fixated young man; her girlfriend whose main concern seems to be his carpooling services; an air-headed surfer teenager who is dating the female protagonist; an old busybody; her husband who is annoyed by her meddlesomeness; and two cold-hearted but, luckily for their victims, not very competent thieves. The script is ably structured and sufficiently funny within the constraints generally imposed in the 60s on mainstream movies intended for younger audiences.

Rating: 58

Overland Stage Raiders (1938)

Gold which is transported by bus from a mining town is recurrently being robbed. Three friends join a plane pilot and start an air transport company. The robbers try to make their business fail.

Mediocre Western with a fast pace and short length.

Rating: 32

Yours, Mine and Ours (1968)

Second viewing; previously viewed on January 13, 1995 (I missed the beginning of the film on that occasion).

A widower with eight children meets a widow with ten. They decide to get married.

This is loosely based on a real-life story, but it's so predictable and tame, not to mention psychologically primitive, that I think a documentary would have been more exciting. Anyway, it is well directed and the two main actors are quite charismatic, which means it can be withstood in a relatively painless way.

Rating: 32 (up from 25)

Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Third viewing; previously viewed on October-November, 1984 and on April 24, 2014.

Story of some New York gangsters from childhood into old age who ride the Prohibition wave and then take separate ways.

Here's my April 24, 2014 review, as published on this blog:

* begin quote*
Based on the novel The Hoods, by Herschel Goldberg (as Harry Grey), first
published in 1952.

The story of four friends growing up in New York City during the 1920s, then
becoming gangsters during Prohibition. Another section set in the 1960s is
interspersed with the earlier time frame.

An imperfect film, but a strong one. The tone is clearly pulpish, and very
Italian in style. Maybe it has to do with a taste for the grotesque, which seems
to be alien to Anglo-Saxon sensibilities. It is hard for me to make a strictly
rational sense of the movie in all its details. I think the basic point is how
when you are a child there is a purity of emotion that gets screwed in a
thousand ways as you grow old. A psychoanalytical interpretation wouldn't be too
off, 'Max' perhaps being a pure Id version of 'Noodles', a la Jekyll and Hyde. I
misinterpreted the ending on both viewings, and even the IMDb FAQ gets it wrong,
in my opinion (the 'contract on Noodles' hypothesis seems very far-fetched).
After I read a statement from a Leone interview I think I got it right (it is
supposed to be a murder, not a suicide). But this is not clear on the screen, so
I suppose anyone may think what he pleases.
*end quote*

I don't know what I meant by 'imperfect'. I guess I simply wouldn't put it on these terms nowadays. I would also replace pulpish with juvenile. Leone was incapable of an adult sensibility, and acknowledged that at one occasion. Some people compare this with The Godfather and I think the films bear comparison, but there is a difference, which to some may appear subtle: The Godfather glamourized crime, whereas Once Upon a Time in America sentimentalizes it. I don't have much to say about it without further thought (which probably will not happen), but a curious angle is the leitmotif of faking death. As children, it was done as a prank, and in adulthood it gets done for real, so to speak. Another recurring motif is a motor vehicle on the street as a means of concealing something on the other side. First, there is Max on his moving carriage which conceals a petty theft and near the end there is the garbage truck which conceals the fate of the same Max.

Rating: 71 (unchanged)