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

Old Yeller (1957)

In the aftermath of the American Civil War, a rancher struggles to support his wife and two sons. While he is away on a cattle deal, the ranch is visited by a stray yellow (or "yeller") dog. The younger son adopts it and soon it becomes very attached to the family.

A simple story, and yet it feels true-to-life in its evocation of the rural milieu. Not much to say here, except to express my dismay at so much nonsense that has been written about this film. Perhaps urban folks just don't connect (but then I'm urban too, so go figure). One of the things that puzzled me most was a recurring condemnation of the younger boy as an "insufferable" character, this leading, somehow, to a condemnation of the film.

Rating: 51

The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)

Four brothers who were leading separate lives return to their hometown to attend their mother's funeral. They find that their old ranch is no longer theirs, and start investigating possible foul play.

Western which is long in length but short in plausibility (see the New York Times review by Howard Thompson; also the Goofs section on IMDB, under Continuity). The basic point of the film is to get the brothers to finally act as such, no matter how ad hoc the odds they face are. Anyway, it is a watchable film, with a reasonably interesting premise and a reasonably coherent plot.

Watched it in pan-and-scan.

Rating: 46

Secret Beyond the Door... (1947)

Second viewing; first: August 19,1994.

A woman marries and notices some strange quirks of her new husband; also, some rumors about his first wife's death make her even more suspicious.

The copy I saw was one which opens with the Republic Pictures logo. At 1 hour 19 minutes into the film, after the line:
(Mark) "Exhibit A. What can I answer when I'm asked if the murder was premeditated?",
it cuts to:
(Maid) "Oh, Mr Mark, you didn't answer."
In between them, the footage containing the following lines, which I got from a subtitles file available on the Web, was cut:
*begin quote*
01:19:59,098 -- 01:20:02,467
Premeditated? I planned it all my life.
01:20:03,311 -- 01:20:07,889
The record shows that you met your wife only this spring in Mexico.
01:20:08,149 -- 01:20:13,689
Yes. I loved her very much and, somehow...
01:20:14,864 -- 01:20:18,862
I felt as though I had been searching for her all my life.
01:20:19,160 -- 01:20:21,651
- To kill her!
- No, I...
01:20:22,080 -- 01:20:24,286
That... came later.
01:20:25,041 -- 01:20:28,873
There is a rumour that you also killed your first wife, Eleanor.
01:20:31,131 -- 01:20:36,291
No. I blamed myself - that's why I built the room.
01:20:37,470 -- 01:20:43,425
She died because I didn't love her - and maybe, unconsciously,
01:20:43,643 -- 01:20:50,476
I wanted her to die, but no man is responsible for his unconscious thoughts.
01:20:51,651 -- 01:20:54,985
If you aren't responsible for your thoughts, who is?
01:20:55,530 -- 01:21:00,489
A man thinks according to the life he's led. All my life I was dominated by women.
01:21:00,786 -- 01:21:05,946
As a child, by my mother. When she left me - when she died -
01:21:06,375 -- 01:21:08,996
by Caroline and by Eleanor...
01:21:09,378 -- 01:21:11,620
I never lived a life of my own
01:21:12,548 -- 01:21:17,755
and I may have thought of... but you can't try a man for his thoughts!
01:21:18,095 -- 01:21:20,052
- But for the consequences of his thoughts.
01:21:20,973 -- 01:21:23,179
I didn't kill Eleanor.
01:21:23,434 -- 01:21:26,269
But you did kill your wife, Celia.
01:21:31,984 -- 01:21:33,395
I tried not to kill!
01:21:44,038 -- 01:21:50,290
The first time, in Mexico, I ran away from her. The impulse to kill faded.
01:21:50,545 -- 01:21:55,456
I thought I'd dreamed it. Then, when she met me at the station
01:21:55,758 -- 01:22:01,678
at Levender Falls, I felt a deep, gentle kind of love.
01:22:02,932 -- 01:22:08,093
Until... I don't know what it was...
01:22:08,355 -- 01:22:11,973
it swept over me like a haze... she became someone else,
01:22:12,317 -- 01:22:14,025
someone I had to kill.
01:22:15,821 -- 01:22:18,775
I fought it down, over and over again.
01:22:20,242 -- 01:22:24,192
There are dark forces in this world. We're, all of us, children of Cain,
01:22:24,329 -- 01:22:26,571
we've - all of us - once thought of murder.
01:22:29,126 -- 01:22:34,998
I can't help myself. I love her but, so help me God,
01:22:35,340 -- 01:22:38,792
if Celia were here, I'd still have to kill her.
*end quote*

God help us with watching old movies on cable... Anyway, I later watched the missing footage on YouTube. The above sequence features Mark on an imaginary trial where he is the defendant being questioned by a prosecutor who is his double. Now regarding the film: it has some striking imagery, and a nightmarish atmosphere, which sort of make up for the somewhat absurd plot. In the right mood, one could enjoy its extravagant notions (in part derived from Bluebeard), I think (I did, to some extent).

Rating: 51 (down from 57)

The Adventures of Gerard (1970)

Based on the short story collection The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard, by Arthur Conan Doyle, first published in 1896.

Set in Spain during the Napoleonic wars, a series of comical adventures involving a vain and not very bright Hussar of the French army. He is assigned with delivering a message to a French officer who is trying to capture a castle, and gets involved with a beautiful Spanish woman.

Farcical comedy. Wikipedia, talking about the literary source, describes the movie well:

"Conan Doyle, in making his hero a vain, and often rather uncomprehending, Frenchman, was able to satirise both the stereotypical English view of the French and – by presenting them from Gerard's baffled point of view – English manners and attitudes."

Too bad it does not work so well in the movie. The humor comes off awkward and unfunny, even though the main actor does what he can to lend some dignity to it.

Rating: 40

La belle et la bête (1946)

ATTENTION! Mean spoiler below!

Second viewing (1st on April 12, 1992).

English title: Beauty and the Beast

Based on the short story by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont (1st pub. 1756), in turn an adaptation of a longer narrative work by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (1st pub. 1740), which in turn was based on a traditional fairy tale.

I must be excused, yet again, for not being able of new insights about this film. Most has already been said, and often brilliantly so. Let me just say that it is a felicitous work, in which nothing seems to go wrong, and some things go very right. There is one thing, however, that bothers, or rather, intrigues me, and that is the ending. I did not read many reviews, therefore I do not know whether anyone had the same reaction as I did. Most of what I did read tended to emphasize the allegorical aspect of the story and thus of the ending. I in turn, while agreeing with this interpretation, cannot avoid looking also to the straight facts that happen, namely that Avenant is killed and robbed of his appearance, a fact that does not make the Beast a model of virtue; the fact that Beauty is OK with this is a bit shocking, and does not make her a paragon of morality either. I guess, as they say, and I have quoted just the other day, all is fair in love and war.

Rating: 73 (up from 70)

Love Before Breakfast (1936)

A woman is in a relationship with an executive, and is coveted by a capitalist; the latter buys the company at which the former works, and assigns him a position in another country.

Minor comedy, which tackles some interesting aspects of the female psyche. In this instance, it is implicitly argued that women resent being the weaker party in a relationship, and therefore crave at the very least the illusion of power. At one point she says that "this isn’t going to be any Taming of the Shrew", yet the film is an update of sorts of that story. The last scene is funny, perhaps enough so to justify a viewing of the film, which is short by our present standards.

Rating: 33

The Absent-Minded Professor (1961)

A college professor is working on a research at his laboratory and forgets about his wedding, which causes his fiancee to break up with him. Nevertheless, his research has not been in vain: he comes up with a revolutionary material which bounces with ever-increasing amplitude.

While the bulk of this film did not really please me a great deal, I found the first act, which one could make to end right after the discovery of flubber on the "morning after" at the lab, very good. The remainder of the movie does not add anything that one cannot see coming, and is at times rather dull. The two complementary thematic threads (considering the film in its entirety) seem to be (1) the revelation of the power of the fiancee's feelings, and (2) the demonstration of the old adage that says all is fair in love and war. Reasoning in evolutionary terms, it may strike one as advantageous that some women are clueless when it comes to science, but tend to show sympathy towards the underdog scientist: the odds are he will become a millionaire. The character who wants to close the college to open a supermarket is an illustration of the old tale about the chicken with golden eggs.

Rating: 51

In Search of the Castaways (1962)

Based on the novel Les enfants du capitaine Grant, by Jules Verne, first published serially between 1865 and 1867.

Captain Grant goes missing at sea, leaving two children in England. An elderly man (IMDB: "a scientist") contacts them saying he has found a message in a bottle with their father's whereabouts, only in a truncated text. With the help of a rich man (IMDB: "a shipping company owner") and his son, they all go on an expedition in search of the missing captain.

This is a fairly absorbing and inventive film, which favors childishness in the form of cartoon-like action sequences, caricature, and songs. Perhaps it would not be too unreasonable to see this as one more instance on the theme of Fatherhood, a recurring one in Western literature and movies until not so long ago.

I may have seen a cut version. The film starts already showing the French guy and the two kids trying to break in at the ship owner's party; an IMDB user says there is a version which includes initial scenes where the scientist finds the bottle and contacts the children.

Rating: 50

Margie (1946)

HUGE spoilers below; if you mind it, go away.

Second viewing; first: September 23, 1990.

The life of an adolescent girl living in a small town in 1928 America. She has a crush on her French teacher and her "bloomers" keep falling.

Very funny, and occasionally lyrical, chronicle of adolescence. Reviewer Andrew Prasagam provides the names of the three short stories on which it was based in his excellent review. The author is My Sister Eileen's sister, whose husband gets credit in the movie as well. Screenwriting was assigned to a then-famous playwright who, in the Internet Movie Database staff's words, was "best known as the creator of the archetypal American teen, Corliss Archer, introduced in his 1943 Broadway play Kiss and Tell" (this probably qualified him for this job better than anyone else). The movie's central motif of underwear trouble is obviously charged with psychoanalytic symbolism. Critic Dale Thomajan, in a very good review named "The Best High School Movie", printed in Film Comment in July 1992 (and excerpted from his book "From Cyd Charisse to Psycho"), which I accessed at a University computer (from a database named ProQuest, it seems), after describing how Margie's teacher retrieves and later returns Margie's fallen underwear, observes: "This, by the way, is all more innocent than it sounds, though perhaps less innocent than it was intended to be." He is right, of course, and I would add that this sentence is perfect to define the film as a whole. The central theme of the movie is the concept of "father figure". Here we have a girl who does not have a mother (and not once seems to miss one), and whose father is not much of a father figure (although she of course craves for as much of him as she can get). Her grandmother, who raised Margie practically on her own, is as masculine a figure as one can expect from a woman; she is, in the words of a character, "outspoken", was a suffragette, and wants Margie to be president of the U.S.A. So Margie is stuck with a feminine man and a masculine woman, neither of whom can provide her with the father figure she needs. Enter her French teacher. Of course, the script makes it clear he is "only a few years older than her", but there is no mistake about his fatherly attitude towards her. The eventual outcome is only logical. I think that if this film seems mildly disturbing today it is because it is hard for us living in our present-day society to believe that once there was one in which the level of trust was so high. This trust had solid foundations which made sure that things would never go outside acceptable standards of behavior. And in 1946, it is plausible that things seemed pretty unchanged in that regard, and yet they were on the brink of falling apart. Of course, in other respects, 1928 was also on the brink of falling apart, as the film ironically implies by making one of the debaters reference American prosperity in an all too confident tone. The film has numerous anthological one-liners, some of which Mr. Thomajan cites in his review. He refrains from printing his favorite one, out of consideration for future viewers. Having forewarned readers on top of this post, I will have no such qualms. Here's Mr. Thomajan favorite spoken line (preceded by some earlier ones on which it depends for context):

(Margie dances with her French teacher)
Girl: Look, Marybelle. Margie is doing all right!
Marybelle: Oh, he's just taking pity on her.
Girl: Wish he'd take pity on me.
(Johnny takes Margie from her French teacher, and starts dancing with her)
Girl (to Marybelle): Isn't that nice? Now Johnny is taking pity on her too.

Mr. Thomajan also expresses his puzzlement at this film's "relative lack of reputation". I think all films dealing with adolescence are viewed as minor. The reasons are not that hard to fathom, though.

Rating: 76 (up from 69)

Paths of Glory (1957)

Second viewing (first: February 21, 1991).

Based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb, first published in 1935.

During World War One, an unfeasible operation ordered by power-greedy generals ends in failure, and to save face a few soldiers are sentenced to death as an example for the others.

Splendid military drama, of topical relevance in this centennial year of the beginning of the First World War. There is a surplus of critical opinion about this movie, which makes my contribution really unnecessary. Perhaps the most interesting analysis is contained in this sentence from Christopher Mulrooney's brief review: "The point, which rather escaped young Truffaut the critic, is that cowardice and contempt and cant sort well together indeed and make a blinding apparatus that is only with difficulty seen through, especially under wartime conditions." Col. Dax stands out as the moral axis of the movie; you can't really argue for or against his plausibility as a character: he serves a dramatic purpose, and that is all. Should the film have Col. Dax accept the promotion in the end, the "blinding apparatus" would have been perfect. But the box office would suffer, perhaps.

Rating: 87 (up from 74)

4 for Texas (1963)

A man who is a sort of protection racketeer in Galveston, Texas, is carrying a bag full of money in a stagecoach, which is chased by bandits and eventually toppled. Another passenger, a gunman, steals the money. The robbed man tries to recover it, but the robber deposits it in a bank and uses it to renovate a riverboat in order to make it into a casino in partnership with a beautiful blonde.

I really cannot vouch for the accuracy of the above synopsis, as the film does not make clarity one of its priorities, and internet accounts vary. At any rate, this is definitely not a good film, although on a scene-by-scene basis it does have a certain amount of entertainment value. The most curious thing about it is the absolutely negative depiction of a banker, and by extension of banking in general, coming from a director (and co-writer) who had relatives in that business, who disinherited him on account of his dropping out of college to pursue his cinematic career.

Rating: 35

Touch of Evil (1958)

Third viewing (first: May 01, 1991; second: May 20, 1996).
First viewing of the restored version.

The murder of a wealthy man and his mistress near the American-Mexican border puts a veteran policeman with little regard for proper incriminating procedure in conflict with a Mexican policeman who happens to be in the neighborhood on his honeymoon.

A superb film, which perhaps, in some indirect manner, is of some topical relevance in view of the present situation at the U.S.A.-Mexico border. Unfortunately for this blog, much has been written about Touch of Evil, ruling out any possibility for a relevant contribution from me. I will only note two things of mostly subjective nature. One: perhaps on account of this being my third viewing (although I could remember very little of it from my previous ones), or as a result of the restauration improvements, in my experience the plot was not hard to follow, nor in any way deliberately confusing. Two: although it is for the most part well filmed, I did get a little (just a little) sick of the tilted-up shots, at some point along the movie. I will leave it at that, and direct you to two pieces of criticism which I liked (not that I have read many others). One is Ebert's intelligent and informative review. The other is anonymous and was written for TV Guide. Although it contains some minor inaccuracies, no other review (Ebert's included) I came across gives as good an idea of what the movie is really like.

Rating: 91 (unchanged)

No Time for Love (1943)

A woman photographer working for a magazine takes an assignment to record the work on a subway tunnel under construction. She gets acquainted with one of the workers and establishes a love-hate relationship with the guy.

Basically a piece of fluff, but boy is it well-made. Everything is impressive in this production, from the polished dialogue to the spectacular studio-made sequences in the underground tunnel. The plot is dismally implausible, what with the blue-collar male protagonist revealing himself as an accomplished engineer. To be fair, it has a healthy take on the psychology of the sexes, something which has become virtually extinct in recent times.

Rating: 38

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)

Second viewing; I first saw it in 1982 or 1983.

A weekend in the country with three couples, at the house of one of them, in the first or second decade of the 20th century. Andrew, the host, is a financial advisor with a passion for mechanical inventions, who is going through a crisis in his marriage to Adrian. One of the guests is her cousin Leopold, an elderly professor about to get married to a much younger woman, Andrew's former flame Ariel. Andrew's best friend Maxwell, a doctor and a womanizer, comes with Dulcy, a nurse of liberal mores.

Evenly good comedy, which however failed to impress me as much as it did on my first viewing. There isn't anything in particular which I feel deserves to be criticized, I just feel its achievements are of a more modest dimension than I earlier thought. One thing that I might criticize is the excess of dialogue, although I am not sure this is the film's main problem. Also problematic could be the quality of some of the dialogue, which is wit for wit's sake. Maybe the plot's somewhat derivative nature is also a down side. Anyway, while I am trying hard to justify my somewhat diminished enthusiasm, I do not want to obscure the fact that I like the film, which is consistently intelligent and funny, and well acted too. The theme is the finding of love, and the complementary roles of opportunity and individual receptiveness to it, or something like that.

Rating: 68 (down from 73)

Hôtel du Nord (1938)

Based on the novel by Eugène Dabit, first published in 1929.

Two sweethearts without money make a suicide pact. They check in at the titular hotel, where they intend to go through with it. In the dining room the guests are celebrating the first communion of a policeman's daughter. Several characters are introduced; prominent amongst them are a prostitute and her lover; comic relief is provided by a cuckold and his wife. During the night, a shot is heard: it is the suicide couple's plan being put into action. The prostitute's lover rushes to the young sweethearts's room, and breaks in...

This drama is not without interest, mainly for unfolding a possible outcome of a failed suicide pact, which it does with a reasonable amount of intelligence. The way the scope of the film is enlarged to bring in an assortment of characters of variable relevance to the main plot is also intelligently done. But this is not a film which made my heart beat faster; its essential artificiality is seldom dispelled, even when minor characters turn it into a slice-of-life display. The author of the source novel was a short-lived socialist who probably intended to bring into focus some of the working-class and lumpenproletariat's problems and idiosyncrasies. His novel came out the same year of Baum's Grand Hotel, which I imagine is the rich people's counterpart of it.

If you can guess which of the above was in this movie, you win a kiss (from your girlfriend).

Rating: 54

The Delinquents (1957)

A couple of teenage sweethearts get involved with a teenage gang.

Youth drama, very low-budget yet reasonably well-made. It's watchable yet hard to take too seriously. And I have a very bad reaction when I hear the kind of preaching that begins and ends the picture.

Rating: 33

No Way Out (1950)

A black doctor works on two brothers who were injured after an attempted robbery of a gas station, and one of them dies shortly after receiving an injection applied by him. The surviving brother blames the doctor for it.

Interesting, yet endlessly talky, drama. It exemplifies an argument constantly raised by opponents of multiracial societies, that they corrode interpersonal trust. Whether this is a plausible argument or not is another matter, that I will not address here. As for the film, it is quite watchable, despite its already mentioned verbosity. Behind the obvious patient-mistrusts-doctor thematic axis, there is a parallel one, older doctor-mistrusts-younger doctor, which requires a little analysis to disclose, and which I have picked up from reading Christopher Mulrooney's observations. I will quote him in extenso, since it is short:
*quote* The theme is a variant continuing House of Strangers. The young Negro physician is almost a resident, he faces gross opposition.
This is the middle term, the summation is All About Eve.
Latter-day critics describe it as a film noir and disparage its deficiencies in that regard. *unquote*
I couldn't make any connnection to House of Strangers, because I barely remember it. As for All About Eve, after reading Mulrooney's notes I did see a connection, although I am not sure whether it has anything to do with what he talks about. All About Eve is about a renowned actress and an aspiring actress, No Way Out is about a renowned physician and an aspiring physician. In the former film, the younger is a threat to the older, and ends up usurping her place, so to speak. It is not inconceivable that a threat of this kind could be in place between the two doctors of No Way Out. In All About Eve, the older actress is unsuspecting, if I recall correctly (it's been a while since I've seen it). In No Way Out, the explicit occurrences signal a similar lack of suspicion. However, if you are into digging into the subterranean minds of movies (like I did in my previous blog entry), you might smell something funny. For instance, what if the hateful patient is just a projection of some part of the older doctor's mind? In Freudian jargon, he would be his Id. After all, it is conceivable that the older doctor is an ordinary human being who has fears and feels threatened (instead of the saint he outwardly appears to be). His fears might, for all we know, concern the younger doctor's excessive competence.

Rating: 51

Branded (1950)

Second viewing; the first one was on January 6, 2005.

According to IMDB, this film is based on the novel Montana Rides!, by Max Brand (as Evan Evans), first published in 1933. According to Wikipedia, it was based on Montana Rides Again, by the same author, first published in 1934.

A young man known as Choya, approached by an outlaw, agrees to his proposition to impersonate the son of a wealthy farmer, who disappeared when he was a child. The plan is to steal the farmer's fortune, I think, although the exact way they were going to do that is unclear to me right now. A mark is tattooed on Choya's shoulder, identical to the disappeared son's birthmark.

The nominal plot is juvenile-minded, mainly relying on a main character who just does not act like an ordinary person, but rather takes heroic decisions. This may become annoying for an unimaginative viewer (and I like to consider myself one, by temperament and even conviction) who will see in it just the piling up of wishful thinking and ad hoc solutions (in my first viewing I did precisely that). This film, however, makes it easy, even for me, to misread (in the Bloomian sense) the whole thing as an incest fantasy. More than one person have. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times, whom I would not consider an imaginative viewer (but I may not know him well enough), has this revealing passage in his review: "But it seems that his [Choya's] purpose is confounded when the rancher's beautiful daughter throws her brand upon his heart, making brotherly deportment toward her clearly impossible." Notice two things: one, instead of "brotherly", an unimaginative viewer would have said "deceitful" or even "criminal"; two, he, perhaps out of wit, sheds some metaphorical light on the movie's title (nobody else I read has). Crowther still didn't like the film, though. Now consider Christopher Mulrooney's take: "Now, it should be clear that Keith and Calleia play the same role, and there is only one son, real or contrived, who has a mark on him." He has gone further than I could, adding a whole structure to the hallucination (note: Keith plays the villain who proposes the scheme to Choya, and Calleia plays a Mexican who has adopted the real son). More recent cinema has played upon these notions in an explicit manner: Performance (1970) has two characters who merge, or exchange places, in a very ambiguous manner. In The Other (1972) there are two characters who are actually one. In Lost Highway (1997) one character is morphed into someone else. In Fight Club (1999) it is the same scheme of The Other, basically.

Rating: 45 (up from 27)

Young Billy Young (1969)

Based (loosely, it seems) on the novel Who Rides with Wyatt, by Heck Allen (as Will Henry), first published in 1955.

The film starts out with a Mexican militia riding on a train, under the command of a Mexican general. They stop at a village where they execute some men who were being held prisoner at the local church. Two young men, Billy and Jesse, board the train unnoticed and hide in the horse car. After the train leaves, the youngsters invade one of the cars and shoot everyone there, including the general. They flee, riding on two horses they steal, and are chased by the general's soldiers. Billy falls from his horse and is abandoned by Jesse, yet manages to elude his chasers. He finds a jackass and mounts it; he soon comes across a man named Kane, who is camping by a river and advises Billy not to wade in it. This advice goes unheeded by Billy and he gets sucked up in quicksand. He makes it out of the river, but the donkey is gone. Kane refuses to take him and thus he has to walk to the nearest town. To make a long story short, Kane accepts a job as tax collector and deputy sheriff (?) of a town named Lordsburg, taking Billy with him. Kane's motivation for taking the job is to get revenge on Boone, the town's boss, for a past offense. And that's all I can tell you about this film's plot.

This is a melodrama, yet it is not played out with the intensity that has become usually associated with that kind of fictional narrative. On the contrary, the pace is laidback and the characters' interactions approach as much as possible the coolness we tend to associate with real life. As the New York Times reviewer (Howard Thompson) points out, this is closer to TV aesthetics than cinema. As a result, there is an odd mismatch of subject and tone, but this kind of mismatch was increasingly becoming a deliberate choice by filmmakers, in the late 60s onto the 70s, and further on up to some point of exhaustion. The theme of the movie, hiding in plain sight so to speak, is fatherhood, with Billy filling in for Kane's lost son, and Kane filling in for Billy's (presumed) absent father (Jesse and Boone are their mirror image), and all this, of course, as a metaphor for the law coming to a lawless place.

Rating: 50

Fantasia (1940)

Second viewing; the first one happened on an unremembered date before 1987.

This one needs no introduction, I think. It is comprised by several numbers combining music and animation.

A superior product, made by conscientious artists. The film does not seek unity in tone, it is rather content to be a collection, and actually there is change in tone precisely to prevent a sensation of dullness which might arise from the rather long overall length. I only regret the reported modification of a scene for the 1969 re-release, because, it seems, it featured a black centaurette performing a servile function (she rolls out a carpet for Bacchus); this scene did not reappear in the original form in any later re-release. This is where it becomes clear that cinema will never have the same status of the other arts: I cannot see this happening to a novel or a painting (well, who can tell what awaits us in days to come?). In Stalin's Soviet Union, they changed the past to suit the official version of history, and apparently in capitalist countries this gets done without the need of a central authority. The system self-regulates. I read three reviews (New York Times, Washington Post and Roger Ebert) and found them all interesting and well-written. I direct you to the page at IMDB where these and other external reviews are linked to.

Rating: 73 (down from 88)

Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection (1990)

The U.S.A. makes repeated attempts to capture a Latin American drug lord. They eventually raid the guy's fortified headquarters.

Routine action movie. As ediaz8 in IMDB observed in the site's discussion board, the "mole" inside the American team is never revealed, probably because the writer just forgot about him, or because he implicitly admitted that plot is not that important in a movie like this. Another IMDB user (mill722002) pointed out the similarity between this movie and the 1989 Bond movie Licence to Kill. The New York Times review may give a better idea of the movie than I can.

Rating: 30

The Delta Force (1986)

Terrorists hijack a plane and then move some of the passengers to a hiding place. An American elite military team is sent to address the situation.

Another disappointing film from the Cannon Group, which specialized in low-brow action movies in the 1980s. The only action film I liked from them, if I remember correctly, was Missing in Action 2: The Beginning, which departed somewhat from that company's extremely standardized style. There is not a lot I can think of saying about The Delta Force that the anonymous review in TV Guide has not covered, so I direct you to it.

Review: 36

Man of Aran (1934)

From Wikipedia:
*quote*
Man of Aran is a 1934 British fictional documentary (ethnofiction) film directed by Robert J. Flaherty about life on the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland. It portrays characters living in premodern conditions, documenting their daily routines such as fishing off high cliffs, farming potatoes where there is little soil, and hunting for huge basking sharks to get liver oil for lamps. Some situations are fabricated, such as one scene in which the shark fishermen are almost lost at sea in a sudden gale. Additionally, the family members shown are not actually related, having been chosen from among the islanders for their photogenic qualities.
George Stoney's 1978 documentary How the Myth was Made, which is included in the special features of the DVD, relates that the Aran Islanders had not hunted sharks in this way for over fifty years at the time the film was made. Man of Aran is Flaherty's re-creation of culture on the edges of modern society, even though much of the primitive life depicted had been left behind by the 1930s.(...)
*end quote*

From IMDB:
*quote*
The islanders hunt a basking shark for its oil, but they hadn't done so in generations. The filmmakers had to bring an Inuit hunter to show them how to do it as their ancestors might have.
*end quote*

I liked the film. In addition to being enjoyable, it made me think. For starters, what is it that makes this kind of film (I am also thinking of Nanook of the North) aesthetically pleasing? I think it is because there is a nice balance of people and nature. Another question (which perhaps loses some of its appeal after  one reads the above information about all that is false in the movie) is, how do these people stand life in such conditions, and moreover seem happy? Well, never underestimate natural selection. I think they are genetically adapted to this kind of life. Anyway, I am not exactly happy in the environment I live in, so who knows if I too am genetically more adapted to live in a rougher one?

It is strange that Flaherty is credited on IMDB and Wikipedia as its sole writer. The credits that are shown at the beginning of the film credit John Goldman as editor (for which those two sites also give him credit) and scenarist (which is an old word for screenwriter).

Rating: 54

The Toy (1982)

A writer in desperate need of money ends up accepting a job as a rich kid's toy.

A borderline watchable film where the humor seldom works. The inspiration for the storyline may have come from a passage in Machado de Assis' Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (also known as Epitaph of a Small Winner) where young Bras plays horseriding with his slave. In that case, this remake brings it closer to Machado's original idea (in the French movie the titular character is white). The message seems to be that money really buys what you need. In this case, the kid needed a lesson and he sure learned it. Same thing may or may not have happened to American politician Eric Cantor and his backers (except in his case he was more like the toy).

Rating: 31

A erva do rato (2008)

English title: The Herb of the Rat.

A man of eccentric personality marries a widow. She accepts her strange wifely duties with resignation, until an intruder in the household comes along to disturb the routine.

Rather than an adaptation, this is more like a psychoanalysis of Machado de Assis fiction, working from two short stories (The Secret Cause and A Skeleton) of his. I cannot say the result is exciting, although intriguing it is, if you have a certain amount of literary inclination and have read the stories.

Rating: 33

Spartacus (1960)

Second viewing; the first one happened between 1983 and 1986.

Highly fictionalized version of the slave revolt which occurred in Rome in the first century B.C.E. In this version it all starts as an unplanned riot at a gladiator school, and from there expands into a massive rebellion which eventually is crushed by the Roman army.

Quite entertaining epic, both for its spectacular aspect (it is very well filmed throughout) and for its ludicrously idealized depiction of a social conflict. I always like to have a few laughs at the lies Hollywood tells, and afterwards compare them to an account of the historical events in which they were based.

Rating: 54 (down from 58)

Beloved Infidel (1959)

The love affair between a novelist working as a screenwriter and a gossip columnist, in thirties Hollywood.

Stupendously well made (a given, since it is a Hollywood 50s 'A' production), except I was unable to enjoy the widescreen (watched it in pan-and-scan). The great artist who is constrained to work for a medium that is not his, under the orders of philistines, and forgets his calling, and is forgotten by most everyone, and to top it all is fired, and then attempts a comeback, only to see his new literary output rejected, seems to be struggling against the world, a world in which he seems to be just an alien. And yet no one could have been less alien to America than him, or so he was always led to believe. The crux of the movie is his relationship with this woman who seems to be his best friend, yet stands for that same philistinism that is completely alien (and hostile) to him. This is not fully fleshed out in the movie, a superficial love story, and thus a reflection of its own theme.

Rating: 51

Terror by Night (1946)

Sherlock Holmes is hired to escort an elderly lady and her son on a train to Scotland, because they are carrying a diamond with them.

The plot is mediocre, but the film is one of the funnier ones in the series. Try not to laugh, for instance, at the dialogue at the luncheon car, which is transcribed on IMDB (it's the one about curry, but they're all good on that page). And there is more, for instance how Holmes keeps pushing Watson into investigating on his own, with interesting results.

Rating: 53

56 Up (2012)

The Up series, latest installment. As it was inevitably going to happen, Michael the Interviewer drops the R word on Tony Walker. Well, as I have suspected from day one, and hinted at in my previous reviews, Michael the Interviewer is what some people affectionately call a libtard. Or a progtard. He even accuses (laugh out loud) Tony of doing in Spain what immigrants are doing in England. This is just too much, don't you think? Tony, the smartest guy in this series by a country mile, responds to that in an admirably cool manner, but let's get things straight in a way he was perhaps too polite, or too cautious, to do. Tony is not leeching on the Spanish welfare system; on the contrary, he is contributing to the Spanish economy by going there and spending. This was point one. Point two, he is culturally close to Spaniards. They are all European, for Christ's sake. But I think I might be wrong about one thing, and here is a theory which I have been dwelling on for some time now. It may be the case that some people are not really libprogtards in their hearts (basically perhaps because that would be impossible for such intelligent, successful persons). Perhaps they have devised a tactic and a strategy. Perhaps they are not allowed to say some things that go against the Politically Correct rules of modern society. And, just perhaps, they know it when they encounter someone who is more outspoken than they are. So, those phony libtards trick those more outspoken persons into saying those things that they themselves are not allowed, or do not have the guts to say. Well, that is my theory anyway (another theory is that it is always safer to bet on stupidity than on strategy). Concerning Bruce, another participant in this series, there is a noteworthy bit. Bruce is the pro-immigrant Christian-Socialist guy who taught immigrants in the past and later in life switched to a posh Catholic school. He now makes his children go to a Christian (Quaker, I think) school to learn some basics of Moral Values or something to that effect. His wife points out that what she wants to have instilled in her children is the "ethos of tolerance and understanding". Well, I am not a Christian, or any other religious denomination for that matter, so I am unable to give the correct Christian stance on these matters (supposing there can be one). What I can say based only on observation and common sense is: hers is the most traveled road among intellectuals and semi-intellectuals, and there is a nice big hole at the end of that road. But I am sure she is not interested or even listening.

So, I am through with this series for a while (until around 2020, I suppose). What it has taught me is very simple: what we are is all in our biology. Mostly genes, of course, but also how the pregnancy develops, and how the birth process is carried out. So, you really are what you were when you were seven, and even earlier than seven actually, perhaps even as a newborn.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Second viewing; the first one was on December 26, 1993.

Minutes before a Thanksgiving parade, a man offers to replace a drunken Santa and is such a success that Macy's decides to hire him for the entire Christmas season. His supervisor becomes a little worried when she realizes that the old man really believes he is Santa Claus, but then it is too late to fire him because he has operated a small revolution in the store.

This film has a promising premise which gets somewhat sidetracked by some misguided notions. Not all is lost, though. The bit about the company psychiatrist is full of insight about real psychiatrists and psychoanalysts, even if there is an ostensive cop-out by implying that the only problem is that he practiced without a license (but we know better...). Another bit of satire that is spot-on is the one about the judge that must do all he can to get reelected (and does!). As for the rest of the movie, apart from the occasional witty one-liner or situation, the best I can say is that it is not dull. I totally hated this movie when I first saw it, basically because I found it dishonest. I still do, mostly, but I must concede, as I have just done, that it has a few good points.

Rating: 34 (up from 0)

O dragão da maldade contra o santo guerreiro (1969)

Second viewing; the first one was between 1983 and 1986.

International title: Antonio das Mortes.
Suggested translation of the original title: The Dragon of Cruelty vs. the Warrior Saint.

In the poor countryside of Northeastern Brazil, a gang of outlaws appears, disturbing a long period of peace for the region's rich landowner, a blind old man. The bandits, which form a community acting under the leadership of one man, are inspired by a young woman who is deemed as holy. The landowner hires a killer with a big reputation stemming from his past killings of the same sort of bandits who then ravaged that countryside. A subplot has the local sheriff having an affair with the landowner's young and beautiful wife.

Here is another film which I didn't like on my first viewing; at that time, I was watching too many movies, and enjoying too little of them. Now I aim for quality viewing, both in what I view, and in how I view it. Anyway, this film, a sequel to Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol, has some things going for it. It has a respectable plot, to begin with. The leading performance is quite on the mark, very effective. The dialogue is functional and intelligent, refraining from verbiage. Visually, it has some interesting finds. The bad side is that the film has too much dead time, in the form of useless sequences or overextended ones.

Rating: 51 (up from 25)

Terra em transe (1967)

Second viewing; the first one occurred between 1983 and 1986.

English titles: Entranced Earth; Anguished Land; Land Entranced; Land in Anguish.
Suggested translation of title: Land in Crisis

The film is the story of Paulo, a poet and journalist who gets involved in party politics, told in a flashback during what seems to be his final moments, following a prologue in which he urges governor Vieira to oppose a coup that has been staged by senator Diaz.

This is interesting as a somewhat crude dramatization of Latin America's politics in the 1960s. Basically, the crisis evoked by the title was caused by the difficulty of overcoming the archaic structures of exploitation of Latin America, which thrived on a largely illiterate people who was an easy prey to the interests of local landowners, foreign capitalists, and an instrumental mass media. Paulo initially, in a learning period, allies himself to a reactionary politician, then, achieving a more developed political understanding, switches to a more popularly connected one, but gets frustrated when the latter reveals to be utterly compromised. He goes through a period of conformism and debauchery, and eventually comes to the realization that he must somehow choose the side he perceives as the lesser evil. That would be Vieira who is perhaps perceived to have nationalist leanings. The film is mostly made of recitations in an operatic style, eschewing realism altogether. Some of the text has a juvenile flavor to it, veering occasionally to borderline nonsense, particularly in the ramblings of the poet character. The film is visually somewhat dull, being composed of mostly close ups, with occasional ensemble shots with camera angles and movement designed to give a sense of urgency and impending doom.

Rating: 61 (down from 64)

49 Up (2005)

Proceeding with the Up series, we get some juicy bits about the death of the East End, and how some of the English are seeking the East End away from the East End (in some cases, even away from England); also, we get to see how teaching immigrants wore away an English teacher the same way water wears away a stone (by dripping on it, not by smashing it). At any rate, this was another lovely installment, and now there is only one to go for me to catch up (and then, hopefully, many more will come). Now I give the academically minded of you the link to an article which may have something to do with this TV series' concerns. Perhaps a few in my legion of readers will remember my comments on the previous installment about the wrong interpretation given to a St. Francis Xavier saying; well, after reading the first paragraph of the abovementioned article it becomes obvious that its author got it wrong too, and in exactly the same way as the Up series did. I was ready to suppose that the outvoted old meaning had to go (that is how democracies work), but then, from the second paragraph onwards, as the real subject of the article is exposed, a non-sequitur occurs: the subject of the research is close in meaning to the Catholic saint's old saying (it's a sort of modern-day, non-religious version of it). My conclusion is that the author seems to believe the two meanings are the same.

Pittsburgh (1942)

In the 1920s, two ambitous coalminers become businessmen and are in love with the same woman. One of them is ruthless whereas the other is socially conscious; their differences eventually separate them.

This one didn't go down well with me, for reasons that are not exactly clear. Perhaps it was the inconsistency of the 'Josie Winters' character, who is made to look upper class in the beginning and then is shown to be just disguising as such, although she does have upper class manners and dress throughout the movie. Or, perhaps, I was bothered by the contrivances imposed by the war effort. Or maybe it was an unconscious deja vu feeling caused by the fact that the plot is similar to Boom Town (1940) (I didn't actually remember it, but was made aware of that fact by TV Guide and also by an IMDB user who identifies himself as Ted-C and complains that no professional reviewer noticed it, well the one on TV Guide did, though I do not know the review's date).

Rating: 31

Life During Wartime (2009)

Several characters and their personal dramas. A woman who works as a counsellor to ex-convicts is herself married to one; he is having trouble straightening out his life and they decide to spend some time apart from each other. A convicted child rapist is released from prison and decides to pay a visit to his sons. His wife has moved with them to a different city and is now starting a relationship with another man.

I thought the individual scenes were well handled, and the performances were faultless. However, the tone is weirdly inconsistent, the satirical sarcasm expressed by the dialogue completely clashing with the lyricism evoked by some visual or musical set-ups. Ultimately, though, that is not what kills the movie, even though some of the satire is a bit sophomoric. The bottom line is that there is just not enough substance here to make a good film; at best it would do as a sitcom pilot.

Rating: 33

The Family Jewels (1965)

Second viewing at least; earlier viewing or viewings occurred prior to 1987.

A motherless nine-year-old girl loses her father and must choose the one among her screwy uncles who will be her guardian. She also has a criminal uncle who some think dead, and who has an eye on the girl's inherited fortune. Throughout this process she is taken care of by her long-time chauffeur and bodyguard.

The best films are those who have very serious themes, but have the elegance to keep that seriousness almost invisible, all the while entertaining us with its art. The Family Jewels certainly qualifies in that category. Children who are heirs to a huge amount of money is a very serious issue a sad case of which has been an item in Brazilian criminal news these days. A more central thematic aspect concerns the ability to choose one's parents. I doubt there are many people to whom this thought has not come over the course of their lives: are these two people (or, in some cases, one) the most qualified ones to bring me up? Are they even compatible with me on any level? This film intelligently avoids a too direct confrontation of this question (the parents are dead), and instead focus on the next stage of choosing the replacement. But, as I said earlier, all this becomes nearly invisible as the film entertains us with the leading actor's multiple impersonations. No doubt these impersonations are the film's raison d'être, although there are two good sequences with the chauffeur (the heist at the beginning; the gas station), a character which involves no make-up. As some critics have (too harshly) pointed out, not all the humor is top quality. I think there are more hits than misses, though.

Rating: 57 (unchanged)

I'm No Angel (1933)

Second viewing; the previous one was on December 5, 1992.

A circus performer gets involved with several men, until she finally falls in love with one of them. When she announces that she will quit the circus to get married, the circus owner is not happy.

Considerably different in style from She Done Him Wrong, released in the same year, this is the less appreciated of the two, and I too felt the same way when I watched them for the first time, many years ago. I am still willing to give that other movie my preference, but I like this one a lot better now. One of the reasons that probably affected its reputation is that it is the less acid of the two, and the one with more emphasis on character interplay. Not that it is a masterpiece of drama or anything close to that, but, as a light sexual comedy, it is not bad.

Rating: 51 (up from 34)

Le dernier métro (1980)

Second viewing; previously seen on January 10, 1988.

English title: The Last Metro.

In Paris under the Occupation, a play is being produced. The former director is Jewish and reportedly has escaped the country; in fact, he is hiding in the theater premises. His wife runs the production now, and secretly meets with him at night. His instructions regarding the staging of the play are faithfully followed, and he is able to hear the rehearsals from his hiding place. A French Nazi critic smells something funny, but despite him the production continues. They hire a new male lead whose previous experience was in the Grand Guignol; he is secretly helping the Resistance. Several petty dramas among the cast and staff are shown.

I do not have much to say about this film. I hated it on first viewing, but cannot understand the exact reasons for that early disliking. I still think the dialogue is very cliché-ridden, and the situations are at times less interesting or convincing than I would expect, but overall the film is not bad, and gives a reasonably honest and entertaining depiction of the artistic environment during World War II.

Rating: 50 (up from 29)

L'effrontée (1985)

English titles: Charlotte and Lulu; Impudent Girl; The Hussy.

Based on the novel The Member of the Wedding, by Carson McCullers, first published in 1946 (no credit is given).

Charlotte is a 13-year-old girl living with her father and her older brother in a lower middle-class neighborhood in a small French town. She lost her mother at birth, and has no interest in socializing with her school mates. Her closest friends are the house maid and a younger girl who has an unspecified chronic illness and sleeps over at her house once in a while. She meets a pianist child prodigy and develops a sort of adoration towards her. She meets a sailor on shore leave and they start a romantic relationship of sorts, although her ignorance in such matters is a problem.

Mildly interesting adaptation of the abovementioned novel, but why no credit? One person on IMDB said that only the French can make such "honest" depictions of adolescence, which Americans could never... Thus, you see that not giving credit doesn't mean just stealing one specific work, it's greater than that, it is stealing another country's cultural status. The ironic citation of The Exorcist is an intelligent touch though (troubled teenage girls as possessed beings).

Rating: 50

She Done Him Wrong (1933)

Second viewing; the previous one was on December 12, 1992.

The misadventures of a femme fatale. She is a singer in a club, and its owner's mistress. She has a soft spot for diamonds. All the guys fall for her, except the new head of the charity mission next door to the club. Her former lover is now in jail, and wouldn't like to know that she hasn't been faithful. Her present lover is also up to some criminal activities.

Early talkie, famous for the leading character's sex-charged one-liners. Although entertaining, it is somewhat harmed by the leading actress's obvious physical inadequacy for the role (she is too old, overweight, and, putting it mildly, not exceptionally pretty), which she partially makes up for with her comedic skills. It is based on a play, but the director does a good job at inserting cinematic elements, especially the street scenes at the beginning of the movie.

Rating: 52 (down from 55)

Shan zha shu zhi lian (2010)

English title: Under the Hawthorn Tree

In 1970, in China, under Mao, a teenage girl is sent to the country for "reeducation". She meets a slightly older boy who is working as a land prospector in the nearby area. They fall in love, but must keep it secret on account of her young age and of political factors involving her family and, as a consequence, herself.

Well-made tear-jerker. I was reluctant to use this denominator on account of its possible negative connotation, so let me clarify that, in addition to its already mentioned competent craftsmanship, this film has an overall un-melodramatic, and even un-romantic style, provided one refers to the traditional, 19th-century meaning of romanticism. It is a celebration of pure love, in terms that would be understandable to anyone at any time in history, provided the sociopolitical background could be explained to them. Concerning that background, the film is frank and realistic, and this aspect is likely to interest politically-minded viewers, but that is not its dramatic center. All that being said, it is probably not a great film, for reasons that are hard to state in a positive way. And it is not likely to put one in a cheerful mood either, so the old advice for using one's own discretion is still the best one.

Rating: 58

Bedazzled (1967)

Second viewing, first with the original audio. Previously seen on September 21, 2001.

A humble cook at a fast-food joint is highly dissatisfied with his life, in particular with his inability to attract the attention of a fellow worker. After a desperate act, he is approached by a guy who claims to be the devil.

Comical version of the Faustian legend which is based on the relatively simple idea of the difficulty of translating our desires into precise words. It would be so obviously easier for him to simply state his wish as "I want to be happy", and yet... But the film is much more than the demonstration of a thesis, it is a visual and verbal feast of sophistication and vulgarity, and funny in either mode. An example of genius: the idea of having an effeminate man to be the incarnation of Envy. I reckon not everyone will appreciate this kind of thing (among others), which may explain why this is another of those rare cases in which I bestow a film a better rating than the average IMDB voter.

Watched in pan-and-scan.

Rating: 72 (up from 70)

The Wedding March (1928)

Second viewing; first viewed between 1983 and 1986.

An impoverished aristocrat falls in love with a workig-class girl. His family arranges for him a more lucrative association.

Subtlety is not this filmmaker's forte. A lot of shots are repeated a number of times, inducing a somewhat hypnotic effect on the viewer. There is much talk of evil producers who wouldn't give the director free rein (and a blank check), but the fact is that by casting himself, a middle-aged and not so handsome man, as the romantic lead, he did more harm to his film than any producer could. All that being said, the film is not bad. It has striking imagery, and some stimulating moral realism (try not to laugh at the cruel joke the protagonist makes about the limping woman). Maybe it's the effect of the cold I'm with, but I found the plot to be anagrammatically related to Machado de Assis' Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (also published as Epitaph of a Small Winner).

Rating: 62 (unchanged)

42: Forty Two Up (1998)

Alternate title (IMDb title): 42 Up

Sixth installment in the series which interviews a set of United Kingdom people every seven years.

A single sequence makes this worth viewing. Michael asks Tony whether he feels the East End has changed much, Tony answers affirmatively, saying it has become "cosmopolitan" and adds "For me, it's rather sad", and we are shown a glimpse of an East End street with the people in it, and there is no telling whether this is London or, say, Cairo. If you asked my opinion, I would say this is really rather sad, and not only for Tony; I am not even British and it is sad for me too. Apart from a few misguided souls who, at various stages of their education, received a toxic mixture of Christianism and Marxism (one such specimen may be seen right here in the Up series), and think this is all very good and well, I would be ready to bet that the majority of the English people had no desire to see their country flooded with hordes of immigrants. And yet, this came to pass in a so-called democracy. The million-dollar question is: how come? Also, how well does this speak for democracy?

It's about time I'd point out a serious mistake made by this series. Its quotation "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man" is interpreted in a completely wrong way by the filmmakers (and also by at least one of the interviewees, but that was in an earlier installment). From the Breaking Spells site, one reads:

"That was the Jesuit motto, alleged to be attributed to Francis Xavier, the co-founder of the Jesuit Order. The implication is that the best opportunity to indoctrinate a person in a lifetime of belief and devotion to religious dogma is when they are young."

The meaning ascribed to it by the people who made this series is that one's personality is already fully formed by the age of seven.

Of course the latter interpretation is one of the points of interest of the show, whereas the former isn't. Or is it?

The Way We Were (1973)

Second viewing; previously viewed somewhere between 1983 and 1986.

A leftist, working-class college girl falls in love with a colleague from the economic elite, in the 1930s. After graduation, they go to Hollywood, where he finds a job as a screenwriter. Their romance has its ups and downs, which are modulated simultaneously by their different temperaments and by the historic events which shake the US and the world.

It was hard for me to simply bypass this movie, despite all the objections I had to it. Its very shortcomings are somewhat compelling to the student of the discourse and filmmaking practices of Hollywood. According to Wikipedia, the interference of the director over the screenplay caused severe production problems, and affected the film negatively. This is ironic because it is almost exactly what happens to the male protagonist during his stay in Hollywood. The film makes a big fuss about it, but the whole thing is just unconvincing: a screenwriter knows from the get-go that he will have no power over the final product, unless of course he is also the producer. Concerning The Way We Were, I doubt that those alleged problems, which I vaguely surmised to be insufficiently developed plot points or somewhat inconsistent characters, were what really bothered me about the movie. And, to be honest, I think that, strictly as a metteur en scène, the director did a great job. The real problem for me, which I strongly suspect would still be a problem had it followed the original script faithfully, is that the film is clearly biased toward leftist values. At one specific scene at least, this becomes so blatantly obvious as to be involuntarily comical, namely, when Hubbell and J.J. are on a boat relaxing and discussing their failed marriages, and J.J. states that in his case it was not a great loss, but in Hubbell's, his ex-wife, well, that was a loss to be really regretted. Are they kidding? So, gorgeous upper-class women with a college education are not attractive as a rule, unlike, say, perhaps equally literate yet insufferably self-righteous commie loudmouthed egomaniacs? Well, I can see their point. And the film has a devious way of pretending it shows us both sides of an issue when in fact it does not. For instance, in an argument about whether or not one should testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, the two parties disagree on several points but agree that the Committee is a violation of the First Amendment (the one regarding Free Speech), which I think is a bit of a stretch and an oversimplification of the whole issue. Anyway, I do not live in the U.S.A., and have more pressing concerns in my own country, so I prefer not to delve further into such discussions and just say that I enjoyed this film and its endearing romantic story, and hope the Katies of this world are still alive and well and very active in the defense of LBGTQ, Immigration 'Reform', the end of White Privilege, and whatever else their present concerns are.

Rating: 59 (down from 63)

The Island at the Top of the World (1974)

Based on the novel The Lost Ones, by Donald Gordon Payne (as Ian Cameron), first published in 1961.

A wealthy man summons a renowned archaeologist to accompany him in an expedition to the Arctic in search of the former's son, who went missing while looking for a legendary place where it was said that whales gathered to die.

Unremarkable and derivative adventure for children, which I nevertheless had to see on account of some thematic elements which I found interesting. It is from the same author of The Children (also published pseudonymously, as James Vance Marshall), later renamed Walkabout to cash in on its movie adaptation. Based on these two films, it appears that he has a consistent interest in primitive cultures, and their contrast with civilized ones (these are the thematic elements which drew me to this movie, by the way).

Rating: 34

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Second viewing at least, the previous one having occurred earlier than 1987, on a forgotten date.

In 1927, a duo of film stars have a huge fan base and a for-the-press-only romance. The coming of sound upsets the way movies were made and also the status of established silent stars. The male star in question meets a struggling actress and singer who has a much better voice than his female co-star.

This is a succession of wonderful musical numbers, and also a good comedy on the advent of sound cinema. To be fair and honest, there is not a tight thematic unity among all parts of the movie. There is just no correlation between, for example, the Charisse number and the outward plot. Therefore, you have to accept that you are watching a somewhat fragmentary work of art. By the way, this also happens in The Band Wagon, which is even more fragmentary. Singin' in the Rain is a good case against the frequent label of escapism applied to Hollywood musicals. It paints no rosy picture of reality. To begin with, even though it ends in a positive way, it has no classical happy ending. Its romantic climax occurs at midmovie, and, more important, the ending is consistent with a zero-sum game worldview: one person's gain is necessarily another's loss. Hagen's character, the big loser here, has few really hateable characteristics, especially when one considers that in real life Reynolds herself had at least some of her songs dubbed by a professional singer. Another aspect which is a mild downer for me is that O'Connor plays a character which is a bit like himself in real life: the guy struggled all his life to have the recognition he deserved. And the irony of ironies is that some years later he would star in a biopic about the most tragic casualty of the advent of sound. Come to think of it, I wonder if the Make 'Em Laugh number is not some sort of conscience appeasement on the part of the filmmakers.

Rating: 88 (down from 95)

The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

Second viewing, sort of; my first viewing, on June 3, 1997, missed the beginning of the movie, if I recall it correctly.

In 1943, Hitler has the idea of kidnapping Churchill. His officers are initially pessimistic about the viability of such a project, but a favorable set of circumstances presents itself, and they decide to do it.

World War II has become a mythology, one which of course has everything to do with who won it, and I honestly cannot be sure I have ever seen anything which could be called a realistic depiction of it. This film appeared at a time when Nazis no longer had to be portrayed as supernatural devils. It is an entertaining fiction, with lots of action. It has some humor too, but that aspect didn't always work for me. I saw the shorter TV version, which leaves much to be desired in terms of plot comprehensibility and proper development.

Saw it in pan-and-scan.

Rating: 50 (I didn't rate it exactly the previous time I saw it, only gave it a coarser rating between 10 and 30).