English titles: Marie-October; Secret Meeting
The former members of a Resistance organization reunite 15 years after a meeting of theirs was raided by the Gestapo and their leader was killed. It has surfaced that they had been denounced by one of their own. The purpose of the meeting is to find and punish the culprit.
Whodunit without much cinematic or even literary value, but which entertains mildly.
Rating: 38
Based on the play by William Shakespeare, probably written c. 1592-1594.
In 15th-century England, Richard covets the throne, which is currently occupied by his brother Edward. He will do anything to get it.
This is a free adaptation of the play where some characters (e.g. Margaret) are absent, scenes are shortened, and their order altered. The major merit of the play is its verbal brilliance, which is considerably diminished in the film because many dialogue exchanges were cut. There would be justification for those alterations if it were a trade off between verbal and cinematic elements, but to my assessment the film does not offer much in the way of visual creativity.
Rating: 48
English title: The Crucible
Fictionalization of the Salem witch trials in the 17th century. One of the film's central plot drivers is the case of a woman who covets a married man and tries to frame his wife as a witch. It all begins by the initiative of the local pastor, but things acquire a new dimension when the deputy governor arrives and takes matters into his own hands.
If viewed as an attempt to depict and explain the real events on which it is based, this should not be taken seriously. Both the author of the source play and the screenwriter were more interested in lending the proceedings a leftwing bias. The extensive fictionalization which was undertaken in the script is effective dramatically, but departs considerably from the historical events. Aside from that, there is an obvious (but seldom acknowledged) problem when reading this as an allegory of mccarthyism: communism is a real thing, whereas witchcraft is not.
Rating: 52
A baby photographer takes a detective job of rescuing the uncle of a young woman. She gives him a map to hide. She is staying at a mansion whose owner tells the detective that his client suffers from schizophrenia.
Parody of detective movies. It has some funny one-liners and a few comic visual sequences. The plot does not make any sense (if the uncle is with the good guys, how does a photo revealing him to be an impostor help prove the protagonist's innocence?), which is supposed to be funny too, but frankly isn't very. Overall it's watchable, but far from brilliant.
Rating: 47
(87 minutes version)
An elderly woman meets a professional killer and asks him to kill her. She soon finds other people interested in the same kind of service.
This film apparently couldn't make up its mind on whether it's a reflection on euthanasia or just a madcap black comedy. I'm afraid it isn't very good as either, but it's eventful enough that it rarely becomes truly annoying. It is reported that a better version than the one I have seen exists, and that it was put together by the film's screenwriter. The notion of a suicide club is not an original one; Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a book comprised of three short stories around that same idea ("The Suicide Club", 1878).
Rating: 34
A bandit hijacks a train in Mexico with American and Mexican passengers. He says he is going to kill all passengers if his brother, who is in a cell waiting for his death sentence to be carried out, is not freed. Two mercenaries are hired to rescue the passengers.
This is a television movie which spun off a television series named Bearcats!. It is well made on a passably well written script. Overall, it is slightly entertaining but not very memorable. One performance should be singled out for its excellence: Lamas as the leader of the bandits.
Rating: 38
Englisht titles: The Road to Shame; Women Disappear
A jealous boyfriend follows his girlfriend one night and uncovers a ring of women traffickers.
Quite implausible crime thriller. Those who mind vulgarity should steer clear of it. Others will probably find it moderately entertaining.
Rating: 37
Biography with fictional touches of a priest who set up a town for abandoned boys. He has a liberal way of running the place. The endless financial problems never discourage him. A particularly problematic teenager becomes a kind of a test for his motto that there is no such thing as a bad boy.
The kind of edifying story which Hollywood made very entertaining as well. I am not sure one could really make a reliable assessment about Boys Town from the film. The principle seems OK; I guess the details should be sought in other venues.
Rating: 53
Millionaire keeps his mistress in a corporate apartment; a man who is trying to do business with him is directed to the apartment by the company's secretary. Trouble ensues, later compounded by a visit from the millionaire's wife.
The script, based on a play, is a routine adultery comedy. It is nevertheless well filmed and flows nicely enough overall.
Rating: 45
Based on the novel by Lew Wallace, first published in 1880.
(spoilers) Judah lives in Judea around the first century of the Common Era. As a child he used to be friends with Messala, a Roman. The latter becomes a Roman officer. An accident during a parade causes Judah, his mother and his sister to be wrongly accused of a crime, and they are arrested by orders from Messala. Judah gets a life sentence and is sent to the galleys. When his ship is attacked by pirates, he saves the Roman admiral's life, and the latter adopts him as a son. Judah becomes a renowned athlete. A chariot race is his chance to avenge himself on Messala. His mother and sister have contracted leprosy in prison. Jesus cures them. Judah converts to Christianity.
The plot is mostly garbage, but the visuals are sumptuous, and the overall experience of watching the film is less painful than it perhaps should be on a purely intellectual level.
A side note: the Wikipedia page for the source novel contains an error. I detected it because it is in contradiction with another passage from the same page, and, upon reading chapter 14 in Book 5, I confirmed that it is indeed wrong, whereas the other passage is correct. The error is in the following sentence:
"Messala deliberately scrapes his chariot wheel against Judah's and Messala's chariot breaks apart, causing him to be trampled by other racers' horses."
It should instead be:
"Judah deliberately scrapes his chariot wheel against Messala's and Messala's chariot breaks apart, causing him to be trampled by other racers' horses."
This movie is faithful to the novel in this respect, except that in the novel Messala's provocation consisted in whipping Judah's horses once (if I remember correctly) and in the film Messala whips Judah, repeatedly.
Rating: 44
Rafael, a coalminer, has a beautiful voice and sings during his working hours, much to the delight of his fellow miners. He has an invalid wife to which he is devoted and with whom he has children. One day the new owner of the mine drops by and, upon hearing Rafael, invites him to sing in Madrid. Rafael accepts. In Madrid he meets a beautiful singer who wants them to tour Europe together.
This is a vehicle for a Spanish singer who sang in a high-pitched voice and was very popular in Spain at the time. Apart from his singing qualities, the film is typical of 1950s Spanish cinema in ideology: contented workers and benevolent capitalists getting along just fine, family values above everything else, simplistic solutions for complex problems, etc, etc.
Rating: 18
Based on the real life events which culminated in the murder of an archbishop in El Salvador in 1980. The government neglected the miserable condition in which many lived, and there was a guerilla movement which aimed at deposing it. Some members of the Church took the side of the poor, which was seen -- in some cases correctly -- as taking the side of the guerilla. Romero was reputed as a socially conservative bishop but he moderated his views after the murder of priests and the occupation of churches.
Well-made political drama. What is missing in the film, apart from some excitement, is an answer to the question: why do countries like El Salvador are permitted to exist? But perhaps the answer is in the film after all, when we see Romero send a letter to the U.S. asking them to stop sending arms to El Salvador. So, I gather that El Salvador's purpose is (or was at the time, anyway) to enrich American arms makers. If self-determination of the peoples entail what we see in this movie, or what we are seeing now in, say, Brazil, it's not really something of great value.
Rating: 45
Someone called Rod Crawford has provided an excellent plot summary for this film at the IMDB.com site:
"After the Treasure Island adventure, Long John Silver turns up on a British Caribbean island, where he hears that rival pirate Mendoza has taken the ship carrying the governor's daughter...and his young friend Jim Hawkins. Naturally, there's more to his rescue plan than meets the eye; he hopes to get a new ship and go back for more treasure..."—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
This is an unnecessary and mediocre sequel to a good film. It isn't particularly well plotted, and there are not many sequences which are really entertaining (the chase after Hawkins by Hands near the end is admittedly well done and exciting; I don't recall others, to be frank). Newton is the main attraction here, with his vigorous (though a little monotonic) performance.
Rating: 34
Second viewing, probably; probable previous viewing was in the 1970s or in the 1980s before the end of 1986.
Based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in serial form in 1881 and 1882.
A boy comes into possession of a treasure map, and a man from his town assembles an expedition to a small island to search for it. Unfortunately, the ship's crew is comprised of pirates, brought by the cook, who is their chief.
This is a very well-made film where every detail seems to have been thought and taken care of. The story needs no introduction, as it has become hugely popular. Although everything about it screams perfection, I was left wondering why they didn't simplify the dialogue's wording just a little bit. Are children, or even adults, today or in 1950, supposed to understand phrases like "...and a boatswain what pipes man-o'-war fashions."? Or know that "fo'c'sle" is a contraction of "forecastle", which designates "the forward part of a ship below the deck, traditionally used as the crew's living quarters"? Well, perhaps they are. By almost every objective standard, this is a superior film to the 1934 black-and-white version, but why did I enjoy that earlier version more? Perhaps I didn't focus on those silly details when I watched it? Anyway I am left with more doubts than certainties regarding those questions. The story being told here, though wrapped in a children's tale format, allows for some deeper reading. Stevenson was obsessed with the problem of good and evil and the mutual conflict between those opposite poles, sometimes expressed by a "double" (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) or two opposing brothers (The Master of Ballantrae). Here he has concocted this ship allegory where evil enters unsuspected and plots to take over. The treasure hunt is an allegory for life itself, and how in every person's "ship" there enter evil elements which try to interfere with the success of our "trip". And there is the character of Long John Silver, who embodies the good-evil duality in a more nuanced way than Jekyll/Hyde or the Durie brothers: he can neither be categorized as pure evil nor as pure good. He may have been corrupted by an evil environment, but that did not destroy the spark of goodness that lived inside him.
Rating: 65 (up from 56)
Based on the opera by Giacomo Puccini, with libreto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, which had its premiere in 1904. The origin of the story is given by Wikipedia as:
"It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther Long, which in turn was based on stories told to Long by his sister Jennie Correll and on the semi-autobiographical 1887 French novel Madame Chrysanthème by Pierre Loti.[1][2][3] Long's version was dramatized by David Belasco as the one-act play Madame Butterfly: A Tragedy of Japan, which, after premiering in New York in 1900, moved to London, where Puccini saw it in the summer of that year."
(spoilers) An American Naval officer in Japan takes a Japanese geisha ("Butterfly") as his wife. Shortly after their wedding, he leaves Japan and his wife. She refuses to divorce him, hoping he will return to live with her and their son, born after he was gone. Three years later, he returns with a new wife from America. Butterfly commits suicide.
This is a TV production with the actors playing their roles in realistic settings and dubbing their pre-recorded singing. Musically, it is excellent in all aspects; the libretto is quite moving, though I do not like the opera format very much. As a visual spectacle, it has some nice indoor sets and a superb acting performance by the leading actress.
(I will not rate this, as I don't rate operas, though perhaps I could in this instance because it is not simply a filmed stage production.)
A hypochondriac takes a trip to a South American island where he intends to relax his nerves. His nurse is in love with him, but he can't take his mind from his imaginary afflictions and his countless pills. Unbeknownst to them, a revolution is being hatched at that island. His rest cure turns into a kind of shock therapy.
This is an endlessly inventive and consistently entertaining succession of gags. Bananas (1971) possibly had it as an inspiration for its premise.
Rating: 75
Based on the narrative Le morte d'Arthur (tr. The Death of Arthur), by Thomas Malory, completed aroud 1470.
Around the 6th century, England has many local lords who battle each other. Arthur believes he is destined to unite England under his rule. His half-sister Morgan and her lover Modred are contenders for the throne. The knight Lancelot joins Arthur in his battle for the throne. Arthur and his supporters are victorious and peace is achieved. Modred and Morgan are pardoned, against Lancelot's advice. Lancelot is in love with Arthur's wife Guinevere and is loved back; Morgan and Modred plot to compromise them, aiming to sow the seeds of discord within the kingdom. There is also a wise old advisor to the king named Merlin. Finally, there are other knights (who sit around the titular table), amongst which one (Gareth) who is a troubador and another (Percival) who is a religious loon and wants to recover the chalice from which Jesus drank in the Last Supper and which collected his blood at the cross.
This is a quite well produced film, but also quite boring. There is little action and it is not very exciting. Most of the plot revolves around the platonic relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere, and the Holy Grail stuff is an add-on that does not make much sense in the context of the narrative.
Rating: 42
Based on the novel by Walter Scott, first published in 1819.
In 12th-century England, a Saxon knight (Wilfrid) wants to restore King Richard, with whom Wilfrid had been to the Crusades, to the throne, which is now vacant, the ruler being Richard's brother John. Richard is considered dead by most in England, but Wilfrid locates him in an castle where he is being kept as a hostage by the Austrian ruler, the ransom payment having been denied by his brother. Wilfrid goes to the Jews for money and must fight many Norman knights in order to restore Richard's rule and save a fair Jewess from death (though his real love goes to his father's stepdaughter).
Basically bogus historically, but fairly entertaining as a narrative and spectacle, this is a film about which much could be written as analysis of its concepts and narrative devices, and of its historical distortions. For now, suffice it to say that it is visually pleasing and has enough internal coherence for fictional purposes.
Rating: 52
(spoilers) A group of circus artists enlist in the military parachutist team, and must go through training in the hands of a sadistic sergeant. The sergeant has his eyes on the girlfriend of one of the cadets. The latter goes to jail after a fist fight with the sergeant. Another cadet kidnaps the colonel's dog so as to pose as its rescuer and ask as reward the freeing of his comrade. The kidnapping is riddled with misfortunes, such as when the dog (inside a bag) gets trapped inside a meat freezer after they took hiding in there.
Extremely low-budget comedy which, much like the other films by this writer/director, manages to come up with something mildly entertaining despite the paucity of resources at his disposal. Unfortunately, I am not much of a fan of the leading comic actor, who was also a circus clown just like the character he plays.
Rating: 34
English titles: Blood for a Silver Dollar; One Silver Dollar
Faithful translation of the Italian title: A Punctured Dollar
A man and his brother separate after the end of the American Civil War. One of them heads for a town named Yellowstone; his brother also heads for that town later. Yellowstone is riddled with corruption; there they see their fates decided in a violent and tragic manner.
As most Italian Westerns, it has a plot with many ridiculous turns and childish notions, and owes more to fairy tales than to anything related to the real American West. That being said, it has above-average production values and entertainment value compared to other films in its genre.
Rating: 44
U.S. title: Femmes Fatales
Paul and Albert leave their wives and vow to live without women henceforth. Their wives protest and demand their return. It turns out that men from all over are doing the same. Women will not take it sitting down.
This is a essentially a one-joke movie. Though it is never realistic in the full sense of the word, the first half has some amount of narrative logic; after that it escalates into fully oneiric territory. The Wikipedia article has totally misunderstood it by claiming "it satirises [...] the rise of feminism in France". The film is not about feminism at all. It's simply an absurdist take on the battle of the sexes, the first half being a male version of Thelma & Louise. The brotherhood-of-men themes it explores have been explored earlier, albeit in a different manner, in Wake in Fright (which I reviewed yesterday), and perhaps tangentially in Home Movies a few years later.
Rating: 45
English titles: The Troops in New York; The Gendarme in New York
The policemen from The Troops of St. Tropez are chosen to represent France in an international event to be held in New York. The police sergeant's daughter stows away in their ship. In New York, he keeps seeing her and everyone including himsel thinks he is going crazy.
This is a mostly mediocre comedy whose sole reason to exist was to cash in on the success of a previous film, but to be honest it has such a frantic pace and such beautiful cinematography over a variety of interesting locales that watching it is less of a pain than perhaps it should be. One sequence parodying West Side Story is mildly funny though.
Rating: 34
Initially released in the U.S. as: Outback
A school teacher at a minuscule village in Australia is leaving for the Christmas holidays, which he intends to spend in Sydney. He spends the night in a small town where he loses all his money through gambling and is thus prevented from traveling further to his destination. At that small town he gets involved with a bunch of heavy drinkers who enjoy hunting kangaroo.
This is not a bad film, and actually makes for a quite exciting watch; truth be told, it is comprised mostly of recurring cinematic tropes, many of which are commonly associated with small towns: the lonely, sex-starved woman (cf. The Last Picture Show), the disgraced educated man who lives in a sort of forced exile (cf. The Drunken Angel, Apocalypse Now), male bonding which conceals whatever degrees of homosexuality, Veneer Theory (cf. Deliverance, Straw Dogs, Apocalypse Now), places one cannot leave (cf. The Exterminating Angel, Groundhog Day), compulsive gambling (cf. The Gambler, the Dostoevsky miniseries), and possibly others. As critic Gillian Hanson, cited by Wikipedia, said, the main character's behavior is poorly explained, and I would add that it appears as if he is little more than a vehicle which the film uses in its goal to depict Australian small-town life.
Rating: 64
"World-wide (English title) (informal English title): Farewell, Philippine" (IMDB)
A guy meets two girls. He dates both, together initially and later separately. He decides to take a vacation in Corsica before he is called up to fight in Algeria. The two girls appear there later, looking for him.
Love triangles are a fertile premise for fictional stories. The threesome is just a variation on this premise which became popular with the sexual liberation of the sixties (another French film, this time featuring a guy and two girls, came out a few days after this one, and is considerably more famous). Philippine (by the way, this is not the name of a character) is not a bad film, and has deservedly been praised for the extremely natural performances given by its actors, many of whom had little-to-no prior experience or subsequent career. There is not much in the way of a plot, and I guess most of the enjoyment is derived from seeing these people act naturally doing the things young people usually do (though I wouldn't vouch for the believability of these two young female characters, but what do I know about life, right?). I guess this is the kind of film the director character in Day for Night, which I have reviewed a few days ago, predicted as the future of cinema: no studio, no stars.
Rating: 57
It's Tuesday the 13th, a date which Spaniards think brings bad luck. A couple is about to be married but the groom delays himself because there's a fire in his building. He borrows the firemen's truck to get to the church, and is arrested after the wedding, along with an older man who has gotten married at the same time and church. Both men are released the next day, and both couples head to Portugal for the honeymoon. The first guy has a "twin cousin" who plays hockey in Portugal. Lots of trouble ensue.
Perhaps I'm not in such a good mood today, or perhaps this is actually an annoying comedy. The kind of humor it displays is vulgar and the plot is wholly uninspired. There are some nice shots of Lisbon and the seaside, and the dames are pretty, but I wonder whether that justified watching it.
Rating: 24
An accountant is fed up with his mediocre life. He receives a sum of money from a rich uncle and decides to go on a trip through Europe and Asia with his wife. He gets seasick on the ship and stays in his room. His wife befriends a man and the two become romantically attracted. A few days later, her husband gets well and this time he is the one who has an extramarital affair -- with a woman who calls herself "the Princess".
Charming comedy-adventure-drama, magnificently well filmed. This is a talking picture which has many sequences made in a silent picture style. Although it is in essence just a comedy of marriage triumphant over various outside disturbances, it is done in a very artistic manner and is fully entertaining all the way through. For a detailed analysis of this film, you might want to read what Christopher Mulrooney wrote.
Rating: 75
Second viewing; previously viewed between 1983 and 1986
U.S. title: Day for Night
The shooting of a motion picture. The young male star is emotionally immature, his girlfriend the script-girl does not really want to commit to a serious relationship, the female young star has had an earlier nervous breakdown, the older female star is an alcoholic who cannot remember her lines, the director is overstressed about not meeting the deadline, and so on.
I enjoyed this film slightly more than the first time, but still think it's overrated. There's not much to say about it, it's a series of banal incidents, some entertaining, some not so much, some which ring true, some which do not, though all arguably very well filmed. The director character ponders that the kind of film he is shooting, with stars and studios, had its days counted, but he was apparently wrong.
Rating: 43 (up from 33)
A hairdresser salon stands next door to a grocery store and the two respective owners are constantly getting into conflict. The salon's owner has a son and the store's owner has a daughter; son and daughter are in love with each other.
This is a superior slapstick comedy, with some unusual elements such as a stop-motion animation sequence and a surreal lightning chase in the final section. The title probably refers to the protagonist's hair-growing procedure, though that slang expression normally designates a psychiatrist.
Rating: 53
A young woman is kept shut in her house by a quack physician. The title character has different therapeutic opinions; he is also enamored with the patient and thinks she has no health problem. A conflict between the two physicians arises.
Entertaining comedy which has a very good first half and a not so good second one. The film's plot is obviously dated, as Medicine is more regulated today, and quacks, though still around, are more easily detected. But the film can be enjoyed regardless of that, though a little less once Dr. Jack's bizarre impersonation is put in action as a means to unmask the phony doctor.
Rating: 56
Previously, I had seen this film in its near entirety (missed the end), though in a dubbed copy, in February 11, 2001.
Stalin is a young revolutionary. After Lenin's death, he takes his place. He is paranoid and orders the execution of most of his former revolutionary pals. His wife is disappointed in him and turns to hating him. Then comes World War II. Stalin kills some more people, then gets old and dies.
This "docudrama" avoids the usual boredom associated with this kind of production by having an archvillain as protagonist. Nothing especially interesting happens in it, but we somehow are drawn by the parade of atrocities. Much has been said about the location shooting in the Kremlin and elsewhere in Russia, but to be frank the production values are the usual in TV productions, that is, not very impressive. Historical events are just glossed over and shown as montages of old documentaries and fictional productions. Some liberties were taken in regard with real events. Yakov's youth love was in reality the daughter of an Orthodox priest, but in the film she was Jewish. Maybe the screenwriter -- who is Jewish, like the producer and the director -- wished to stress Stalin's anti-semitism, but that is forcing the hand a little, even though the producer has said "he fought his own prejudices to present a balanced portrait of the red dictator". Anti-semitism would play a bigger role in the end of the Stalinist era, with the so-called Doctors' Plot affair, about which the film says nothing. Now for other curious details. At a certain point in the movie, Nadezhda's mother warns her daughter about Stalin: "I know Georgian men. But you?" That is curious, because the historical character was also of partial Georgian ancestry, which, if she really said that, would make her a self-loather of sorts. By the way, the real Nadezhda was not exactly a beauty (to be polite), in stark contrast with the actress they chose to play her. In addition to that, she is portrayed as a very politically concerned person who argued with Stalin about his policies and killed herself presumably because of them. This is obviously one of the usual fictional liberties they take about women who must appear independent and righteous. As Wikipedia itself admits, there is hardly any evidence for that; it is much more likely she killed herself because Stalin had lovers, or mistreated her somehow. About the main actor's make-up, I prefer not to say anything. In fact, I regret bringing that to my memory.
Rating: 45 (down from 57)
A young aspiring actress is excessively clumsy. She wants her uncle to sponsor a new TV show where she would have a part. Her friends set up a scheme where one of them, a clown, will pose as a TV executive.
There's not much of a plot in this musical comedy, and not many laughs either. The director had talent, and could work with very little and still produce something of interest, but this was early in his filmography and the material was extremely poor. The best moment, I suppose, is the musical number "Conceição" with the singer who made that song famous. But for those who have some historical curiosity, it is also interesting to see Brazilian actors, some well known to this date and others virtually forgotten today. Like Procopinho, whose real name was Francisco Ferreira but tried to ride on his brother's fame by borrowing his name. Or Madame Lou, a French-born choreographer and actress whose real name was Hélène Youkhnovsky (née Pierrot). Among others.
Rating: 22
Movie fragment (apparently no copy of the entire movie survives). A man and a woman who are engaged to be married split over a disagreement and after some time reencounter one another, thanks to a broken doll.
As has been pointed out, this film's plot relies on a huge coincidence. That notwithstanding, it's well done and well acted, and not unpleasant. The ending is missing, though it is already fully implied by the extant footage of the preceding sections. The plot description which we read on IMDB has an absurd detail: according to it, the two sweethearts meet again after three years, which is blatantly incorrect, since the child actress is the same before and after their reunion; furthermore, it doesn't take three years to settle an inheritance issue. The leading actor is very good. Incidentally, his real life daughter who appears in the surviving footage is certainly Helene; since her older sister Dolores is also said to be in the movie, one infers that she is in the lost ending section, which thus must take place three years later.
This movie may be watched free of charge on the web; the intertitles are in Dutch, but Google Translate does a good enough job of conveying their meaning:
U.S. title upon its initial release: Utopia
Second viewing; first viewing of the restored version; the shorter version was viewed on November 24, 1990
Stan inherits an island in the South Seas; he and Ollie sail there on a yacht which was part of the inheritance. They bring along a man whom no country would accept, and who works in the boat as a cook, and another man who stows away after failing to enter France. They are caught in a storm and end up at a newly emerged island (not sure it's an atoll though), where they decide to stay. Later, a woman who has broken up with her fiancé arrives on the island.
I hated this film on my first viewing; I was curious to check on the longer version, and see whether my initial appraisal would hold. It didn't, as a matter of fact: the film is not as bad as I had perceived it, though I would not call it good. As a political fable, it is very elementary. The gags are nothing new for anyone who has watched this duo's earlier movies. A few moments are funny, such as the distribution of roles in the inaugurated country. Overall, it does entertain painlessly.
Rating: 40 (up from 20)
Several people in a train are heading towards a small town. An easily frightened man ('Inocêncio') and his comrade are looking for a quiet place where the former can soothe his nerves; a man whose uncle died is going to take possession of the pharmacy he inherited; a theatrical troupe is going to perform there. It so happens that the train suffers a raid by bandits who want to steal some explosives. They, however, flee the instant they see Inocêncio, who is a lookalike of a notorious gunfighter. Inocêncio's comrade convinces him to go along with the error, and thus Inocêncio is put in charge of defending the town from the bandits.
Modest Brazilian comedy (with two musical numbers and a dance one) who bears some mild similarities to The Paleface and Son of Paleface. It's not really funny, but may be watched easily if one is not in a demanding mood. Most internet sites give some erroneous information about it, citing two actresses in the role of character 'Pequenina', one of whom is not even in the movie.
Rating: 34
Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott (first published in 1868-1869).
The film depicts the lives of four sisters during the American Civil War. They try to support their mother while their father is away fighting. Tomboyish Jo looks after a sour aunt and wants to be a writer; Meg, the eldest, looks after children; Beth loves music and is the saintly type; Amy loves to draw. They befriend a young neighbor who lives with his father.
This is the second time I watch a movie adaptation of this novel (which I didn't read), the previous one having been of the 1994 version. I couldn't say which version I prefer, because, although I liked the other version, I watched it so long ago (in 2000) that I don't know whether I would have the same opinion today. Basically, and I am thinking of this 1933 version, this is a story that could be thought of in dual terms: either as a war drama about self-sacrifice and social cohesion, or as the intimate drama of a sexual invert who has not many choices in a conservative environment. The film acquits itself reasonably well in both counts, but, to be frank, the narrative did not exactly turn me on. Visually, though, I found it quite pleasing, with interesting long shot compositions, some with very deep focus. A curious essay about the novel's authoress may be of interest to some:
"Little Women" author Louisa May Alcott was a transgender man - LGBTQ Nation
Rating: 51
"World-wide (English title) (informal literal title): City Life Is Not for Me" (IMDB)
An elderly man who lives in a small town decides to go live with his son in the big city. His uncouth ways annoy his son's wife and amuses his son's daughter. His son is a workaholic, and this causes some problems in his marriage; the maid is also having troubles of her own. The newcomer tries to fix all those problems.
Entertaining, though extremely predictable, comedy with a terrific central performance. The film's ideology is mildly conservative, quite in line with Spain in the 1960s.
Rating: 44
Claude's father is a furrier and wants his son to follow in his footsteps, but Claude wants to be an actor. Claude fails miserably at that, but he still wants to be in the movie business.
A poorly thought out movie, it seems. The finer parts of the movie are character-driven; too bad, instead of sticking to being merely a family chronicle, it tries to be "creative" and becomes an annoying mess.
Rating: 40
"World-wide (English title) (literal title): Radio Stories" (IMDB)
(mild spoilers) The narrative intersperses some internal problems at a radio station with three episodes involving radio contests. Episode one is about a contest for the first person who gets to the station dressed as an eskimo; an inventor needs the money for his research; Episode two is about a man who is robbing his landlord's house; he answers the phone and the call is about a prize for simply presenting oneself at the radio station, the only problem being that the prize is meant for the owner of the house. Episode three is about a schoolteacher who is pressured to take part in a quiz in order to raise money for taking a child with a rare disease abroad for a surgery.
This episodic comedy has an ingenious well-rounded script and was competently filmed; it also has a couple of agreeable musical numbers. Episode (1) has some intense pathos mixed with mild grotesquerie; episode (2) explores some philosophical issues, and has possibly inspired an episode in the movie Radio Days; episode (3) wraps it up with a sentimental note.
Rating: 56
Filmed opera. German production.
The music was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the libretto was written by Lorenzo da Ponte; the opera was originally named Il dissoluto punito, ossia il Don Giovanni (The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni), and premiered in 1787; it was based on a Spanish play traditionally attributed to Tirso de Molina named El burlador de Sevilla, y convidado de piedra or, in another version, Tan largo me lo fiais; the first version of it is estimated to have been written between 1612 and 1625.
After an unsuccessful rape attempt against Donna Anna, Don Giovanni kills his victim's father ('the Commendatore') in self-defense. Donna Anna's fiancé Don Ottavio promises her to avenge her father's death and her own rape attempt. Don Giovanni later meets Donna Elvira, a woman with whom he had a relationship and who hates him for leaving her. Next Don Giovanni runs into a marriage procession and feels attracted towards the bride Zerlina. He schemes to separate her from the procession and from the bridegroom. Once he is alone with her, she responds to his courtship. (The rest of the entourage was sent to Don Giovanni's castle where he promised them a big party.) Unfortunately for Don Giovanni's plans, however, Donna Elvira approaches and starts badmouthing Don Giovanni in front of Zerlina, causing her to change her mind. After a series of further adventures and misadventures, Don Giovanni meets his doom in the hands of... the statue of the Commendatore!
This is the second adaptation of this opera that I have seen, the previous one being that famous 1979 cinematic adaptation filmed in realistic sets. To be frank, I didn't remember a thing about it (I saw it more than 35 years ago!). As usual, I don't have many reliable opinions about the singing; for me they were all good. As for the music, I must have said it before: I am not a great enjoyer of Mozart, finding his music merely agreeable. The plot has above average entertainment value as operas go, but, really, I don't understand how this could have once become such a popular and prestigious form of art.
(I don't rate operas numerically.)
In a small neighborhood in Spain live several interacting people: Carmen and her brother Antonio, a bird breeder; Pepe, a middle-aged bon-vivant; Lola, his young girlfriend; Coralito, a former star who teaches singing to Lola; Miguel, who wants to marry Carmen but is rejected by her; ZacarÃas, who also wants to marry Carmen; and another dweller who is a sort of master of ceremonies and organizer. Carmen's nephew leaves an infant girl for her to bring up; Carmen gets attached to the child. When their landlord says they must buy the place or leave, they decide to raise the money by turning the central patio into a stage and luring tourists into coming there to watch the little girl (now a little older) perform.
Musical comedy with some famous Spanish musical stars. It is not exactly remarkable, but has some agreeable moments of comedy or music.
Rating: 34
A simpleton from a small town wins the sports lottery, and travels to Madrid to collect his prize, getting into all kinds of trouble. He becomes famous and is besieged by everyone with money requests, business propositions, marriage impositions, erotic entrapments, etc. A woman from his home town gives him the Madrid address of her daughter who is supposed to be working as a typist and living in a boarding house; the reality is different.
Vulgar comedy which has many dumb moments (e.g. when people's rhetorical images materialize before the protagonist's eyes), but which achieves, through brute force so to speak, some genuine comicity in its latter section. As is common in many films, including Hollywood ones, the plot resolves into a highly implausible romantic ending, but on second thought who am I to judge?
Rating: 36
Title of the Italian version: Il maestro...
U.S. title: The Teacher and the Miracle
A small town middle-aged teacher moves to a big city with his only son, whom he has been raising alone since his wife died. An accident throws him into a depression bout and then a strange kid enters his life.
Arguably, this is a reasonable movie up until its central dramatic event. After that, it moves into the territory of simple-minded religious-ploitation. I guess one could pin the blame on the kind of mentality which thrived in Spain during the 1950s (and for that matter much of the 20th century). What carries the film and somehow raises it above the level of a mere ideological prop for the backward political Spanish regime of that era is the solid performance by its leading actor, who by the way was Italian. Being a Spanish-Italian co-production, this film has two versions which differ somewhat, though I'm not sure either one I watched was in its integral form (the two versions have missing bits in different points, and thus allow one who watches both to have a sense of what the complete movie may have been).
Rating: 37
English title: The Long Teeth
The film narrates the trajectory of an ambitious jounalist from a small town, from his professional beginnings until he becomes editor-in-chief. The conflict between his professional life and his marriage is expounded.
This is a very honest and realistic drama, though not an extremely engaging one. Perhaps the political intrigues which are an important part of the plot will be better understood by reading the novel (which I haven't). But it's an interesting movie all the same, with fine actors and an interesting subject matter.
Rating: 51
A man from a lower social class but endowed with extraordinary savvy is approached by a crooked businessman with a work proposition: the businessman wants the poor man to help him win the sports lottery.
This film starts out watchable and after about 15 minutes becomes a mess which barely makes sense. They really did not put much effort into conceiving it, though the cast is stellar (within the Brazilian universe, that is) and the musical score is enjoyable.
Rating: 4
A man dies in the presence of his mistress, who then concocts a plan to find out who was responsible for his having distanced himself from her in his final days. She summons the deceased man's two brothers and his father to his house on the pretense that he is gravely ill. Once they are all together (plus one of the brothers' wife and daughter and a later uninvited arrival), she puts her plan into action.
Stuffy and slightly absurd drama which is a variation on The Cat and the Canary (of which I know only the premise); it does a fine job of showing why Spanish cinema was then held in such low esteem by critics everywhere.
Rating: 18
"World-wide (English title) (festival title) Return to Life" (imdb.com)
Five segments comprise this film: (1) a woman is released from a concentration camp, and is in a state of catatonic apathy; her family members are concerned about getting her signature on an inheritance paper; (2) a barman working on a hotel has to attend to requests from guests who happen to be female army personnel; (3) a curmudgeonly ex-soldier shelters a fugitive German, unaware that he is a former torturer; (4) upon his return, a former prisoner of war finds that his girl is gone with another man and his apartment is occupied by former resistance members; (5) a returning soldier must face the rejection of his fellow villagers towards his new German wife.
I didn't really find these postwar stories very satisfactory, save one (number 4). That exception is the only story which deals exclusively with issues firmly rooted in real situations faced by people returning from World War II. The others derive their mild appeal from their dramatic constructions and the ability of the actors and the directors; they are part of the myth-building around that war, but not, I assume, of the widely experienced situations which it brought about.
Rating: 40
"Also Known As (AKA)
(...)
Pretty But Wicked"
(IMDB.com)
Edgard, a poor office worker, is approached by a superior with the proposition of marrying the company owner's daughter, who, according to him, has been raped. Edgard has qualms of conscience about accepting the proposition; they are compounded by the fact that he has a crush on his neighbor, a poor teacher in a school for young kids.
This is the second adaptation I have watched of the same play. The other one is more recent (of 1981), but I saw it a long time ago, at the time of its cinematic release. If memory serves me, this older one is the better -- though by far also the lesser known -- one. It's a simple production, obviously operating on a shoestring budget, but the actors give very serviceable performances, and the text seems to have been understood in its totality, or almost so. It's possibly not the best play by Rodrigues (I haven't read or seen them all), but it's possibly the funniest among the ones I know. In a sense, it's more at home as cinema than as a stage play, because of all the car rides and similar scenes which become so more natural when staged in a realistic way. The film adds at least one original touch -- the references to Crime and Punishment's protagonist -- but mostly it's a faithful adaptation. The play's author was a self-styled reactionary who, perhaps involuntarily, exposed the ridiculous face of reactionary ideologies. That may be observed in this film, which, though ostensibly reactionary in ideology, provides an examination of the deleterious effect of the economic power wielded by the bourgeois class.
Rating: 51
Film consisting of five segments: (1) A man and a woman set up a date in an apartment; the man is concerned about keeping it secret; once they are in the apartment, numerous obstacles to the accomplishment of the sexual act happen; (2) A man has an unrequited love with a prostitute, and keeps on trying to win her affections; (3) the president of a big company takes a day off to indulge in a pleasure afternoon: he is buying a pornographic film and plans to watch it at his house with some guests; (4) in a small town, a yearly event is taking place; is consists of pitting one of its inhabitants against another from a neighboring town and watching who can outperform the other in the number of sexual acts; (5) the devoted wife of a rich landowner suspects her husband is having an affair.
These short comedies are not exactly funny, and at their worst (number four, "The Tournament") may get annoying due to the repetitive nature of its humor. The most interesting one is possibly number three ("The Little Film"), in which a film within the film is shown and explores the effect of expectation in the fruition of films. The first one ("The Apartment") is uneven, but perhaps the most visually elaborate of the lot. Number two, "The Quarter" -- literally "The Mouth", but really a slang term referring to the prostitution quarter -- is mildly interesting as a psychological study in masochism. The fifth and final one ("The Suspicion") is shorter and tries to provide an ending with a bang, but is very dated and will fail to shock present-day audiences.
Rating: 35
"World-wide (English title): Big Sentiments Make for Good Sports" (IMDB.com)
(spoilers!) A few days in the life of two middle-class families who live next door to each other in an apartment building. Irascible curmudgeon Georges' mother has died in a car crash. Authoritarian music-lover Claude's daughter is getting married. Funeral and wedding will happen on the same day. Other characters include Georges' brother Stéphane, who develops a crush on the marrying neighbor, and Claude's cousin Alphonse, a prankster. Claude doesn't own a telephone, so he borrows Georges' whenever he needs to use one, and also for his daughter's incoming calls. Georges likes to lie about his social status (e.g. while both are at the barbershop he tells Claude he has bought a boat). Claude listens to classical music in his cellar. Both families' boys disappear one afternoon and are found (by Claude) leaving a vacant lot in a state of intoxication from smoke and alcohol. On the way to the funeral, Stéphane gets lost in the Paris traffic for a while. One of Claude's wedding guest families arrives after it is over. The master of ceremonies at the wedding dinner is a weird type who goes into a tantrum with his clients for "not letting him do his job"; he imposes some infantile games on them. The deceased woman's sister is an extremely obnoxious woman who drives Georges into a fit of fury at the table and is thrown out of the house with her son and daughter. On her way out she demands a ring which she says she had lent her sister; Georges ignores her (he had already removed it from her sister's finger). There is also a busybody female who lives on the same floor as them and likes to stand in the hallway and berate them. And a wheelchair-bound man who is always trying to use the elevator, and irritates everyone.
Entertaining comedy which mines everyday disasters and people's pettinessess and quirks for comicity. It's very well made, and the cast -- especially the two leads -- is in great form. A film like this, which looks for a new gag at every scene, is bound to misfire occasionally, but overall it works well and is certainly an interesting watch.
Rating: 56
Latest installment of the series which follow a bunch of people starting when they were seven, every seven years. This installment has the flavor of an ending, featuring a recapitulation of former installments for each interviewee; since the director died two years after its release, perhaps he had some doubts about his remaining time to live. I enjoyed watching it; there is not much to be said about it that has not been said by others, or by myself on previous installments. Without any implied demerit to any participant, there is a sense that some were more interesting to watch than others. In my opinion, the most interesting ones -- in completely opposite ways -- are Tony and Neil. Coincidence or not, in this installment the filmmaker has chosen to put them as first and last interviewee, respectively. The links to my reviews of former installments are given below:
Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: Seven Up! (1964) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)
Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: 7 Plus Seven (1970) (TV) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)
Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: 21 (1977) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)
Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: 28 Up (1984) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)
Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: 35 Up (1991) (TV) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)
Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: 49 Up (2005) (TV) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)
Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: 56 Up (2012) (TV) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)
Second viewing; previously viewed between 1983 and 1986.
The Americans are concerned that the Soviets are sending a man to the moon, and revive a previously discontinued program which consisted in sending a shelter capsule prior to sending a capsule with a single astronaut in it. Said astronaut woud then stay in the shelter until a rescue team could be sent.
Science-fiction which goes for realistic drama instead of sensation. The problem is that the drama isn't all that interesting. There is little in the way of special effects. Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of it is how it adopts a balanced view of patriotism, neither iconoclastic nor gung-ho. That was somewhat at odds with the turn of the ideological tide in the sixties towards the left, which during the 70s reached full deconstruction mode of all things that bore any relation to old notions of nationalistic pride; there was a reversion of this in the 80s. From the 90s onwards, with the end of the Cold War, new ways of collective thinking were needed.
Rating: 42 (up from 27)
English titles: Aragonese Nobility; Rustic Chivalry
Based on the play (1929) by JoaquÃn Dicenta (hijo), which in turn was based on the homonymous 1925 film he wrote; there was another previous cinematic version released in 1935.
A woman has a relationship with a servant of his father; she keeps it a secret because her father would not approve of their marriage; he would rather she married a rich landowner who courts her.
Musical drama. This is a well made but unexciting story set in a time where a woman's chastity was deemed important, and choosing her husband was the pinnacle in female emancipation.
Rating: 43
Candelaria marries a ship captain and he sets sail to Havana right after the wedding. Some months later, she receives news of his death. Another ship captain, a don juan type, starts courting her.
Musical comedy with passable musical numbers and bland yet tolerable plot and dialogue.
Rating: 37
The life of Pedro I of Brazil from his youth to his abdication from the emperor's throne. His affair with Domitila is given much screen time.
Historical drama. I don't know the facts well, so I can't judge its historical accuracy. Dramatically, it's a very unsophisticated product, yet effective at reaching an undemanding audience. The production values are at times inadequately low. The acting is passable, but Menezes is somewhat above the rest. Despite the film's limitations, it manages to convey the problems of liberalism, which, depending on one's own ideological inclinations, may be seen as unfortunate setbacks on the path of progress or as evidence of liberalism's intrinsic flaws.
Rating: 34
English title: In a Glass Cage
(mild spoiler) An ex-Nazi doctor survives in an iron lung after a botched suicide attempt. He lives in a house with his wife and young daughter. A young man applies for the job of nursing him; he has a past connection with his patient which has affected his psyche in terrible ways.
Incompetent psychological horror with some shockingly disgusting scenes and which completely fails to ring minimally true or engaging. The characters don't just seem deranged but mildly retarded. I guess the intention was to show that victims of abuse sometimes turn into abusers themselves, but having a plausible overall premise does not excuse one from translating it into a script which makes sense dramatically.
Rating: 18
Paul, a teenage genius who has built a robotic companion for himself, moves with his mother to a new neighborhood. He befriends fellow teenagers Tom and Samantha, who lives with her abusive father. When Samantha dies, Paul uses his electronic savviness in a risky experiment.
Uneven sci-fi horror which is fairly watchable for the first half of its length, and then devolves into gratuitous shock sequences and an uninspired ending. The plot is basically a variation on Frankenstein.
Rating: 39
Cláudia, a circus artist, meets Geraldo, a rich guy. The two get married and go to live in Geraldo's parents' house. Geraldo is away frequently on trips and Cláudia does not get along with his snobbish parents.
Drama with a few musical interludes. Its central theme of class conflict was present in Chofer de praça, a previous film of its co-director and star. This one, however, is considerably worse: it's dreadfully directed and the script is very poor and full of holes; especially toward the end it becomes so absurd that it attains a kind of surreal quality.
Rating: 18
(mild spoilers) A nightclub owner establishes that his younger daughters, who already have a suitor each, cannot get married before their elder sister -- who does not have a suitor and does not seem anxious to pick the first one who comes along -- does. He devises a trick to speed the process which consists in writing anonymous love letters and addressing them to the elder daughter. When a suitor comes along, she will be led to believe he was the one writing the letters, and thus presumably fall in love with him. A fortuitous incident has a dancer who had unsuccessfully sought employment at his nightclub deliver one of the letters, and thus be mistaken as the real author.
This musical comedy is partly a remake of an Argentinian movie (Los martes, orquÃdeas), and partly an adaptation of Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew. It's visually in very good taste, and as a narrative works fairly well. Like its primary source, it's set in Argentina, which explains the slightly more socially conservative premise of the plot, as compared to films set in the U.S. or Europe.
Rating: 51
(spoilers) Juan goes to war and, when he returns, he finds his fiancée Mariana married to his uncle Justino. She fails to get pregnant, and Justino engages the help of TÃa Larga, the village witch. TÃa Larga deceives Justino by having Juan impregnate Mariana, but the adulterous woman fears that the child will resemble Juan, and, with Juan, go to the witch with a new commission: to murder Justino.
Comedy with musical interludes which are said to emulate the style of a zarzuela. It's uninpired as a comedy and also musically.
Rating: 34
English-language title: Mambru Went to War
After the Spanish Civil War, a man who fought for the Republicans is afraid of retaliations by the winning party and hides in his house's basement. His wife is the only one who knows he is hiding; everyone else thinks he is dead. When Franco dies, she reveals the truth to the other family members living in the house. But the old man's adaptation to outside life will not be easy.
Social satire which tries to depict Spanish middle-class as hypocritical and money-obsessed, regardless of one's nominal stance as pro or against Franco. The plot and characters do not stray much from clichés, but the actors are good, and the film is watchable.
Rating: 40
An undercover agent traveling on a freighter ship investigates a Japanese plot that could provoke the U.S. into entering World War II.
Espionage thriller with a mediocre plot yet mildly entertaining; it is historically curious for being based on a literary source which more or less "predicted" the attack on Pearl Harbor, a few months before it took place. Since the movie was made after the real-life attack, they changed the target of the fictitious attack attempt to Panama. For some reason, they chose a title which makes no sense at all: in the movie version they never get to the Pacific Ocean.
Rating: 44
A series of grisly murders baffles the police. An aging detective police Lieutenant investigates. Supernatural forces seem to be at play here.
There is some artfulness in the mise-en-scène of a few sequences, and the imagery throughout is appropriately ghastly. The idea of merging supernatural horror with the theme of serial killing is almost a natural one, but I am not aware of it having previously or subsequently been done. There is a lot of yelling in this film, and that is not a good thing. Also, a lot of the film is just static talk between the policeman and the suspect in a psychiatric prison cell. Well, I guess adding the ups and subtracting the downs the sum total is: watchable.
Rating: 40
U.S. title: Flamenco
Documentary about the titular Spanish style of music and dance, also featuring some other Spanish dances. It gets a little boring after a certain amount of viewing time (which will probably vary from one person to another), but the singing and dancing are undeniably beautiful.
Second viewing; previously viewed on January 4, 1989
A ship bound for Africa is docked at an Italian town while it waits for an engine part to be replaced. Among its passengers is an American adventurer who works for a group of crooks who plan to get rich exploring uranium. The American and his wife befriend an English couple who are taking possession of a coffee estate which they have inherited. The English guy's wife starts an affair with the American; she has a tendency to lie about her husband, which leads to a series of misunderstandings. A further series of mishaps happen later.
This is a much improved print compared to the one I watched previously (restored too). That being said, and having now a knowledge of the entertaining source novel, my admiration for this movie faded somewhat. The plot and the dialogue are interesting, but they do not feel as lively and authentic as in the novel; by the way, most, if not all, the critics, for some mysterious reason, state without the shadow of a doubt that all the best lines of dialogue, some of which are really splendid, come from the first credited screenwriter. To be fair, a funny exchange about the wrecked car, and in fact that whole sequence, were created for the movie. Ditto the unfunny allusions to Hitler and Mussolini. Nearly all of the other dialogue came from the source novel and were thus written by its author, Claud Cockburn. And for all we know Cockburn may have written the previously mentioned ones as well, since he also contributed with the script in a direct manner and did not receive credit for it. The casting for this film was brilliantly done, but in my opinion the two leading actresses would have been more convincing if they had switched roles.
Rating: 60 (down from 73)
Present-day Mafia in Newark is the subject of this TV series. I am just logging here the completion of my viewing of it, without much to say about it. It's a quality show, well done in all departments (just one actor I didn't like, who had been a musician prior to the show, and perhaps should stick to that career). One detail that perhaps has not been given due attention to is that, despite the suggestion (through its psychoanalyst characters) that the main character is a sociopath, he did not raise his children to be like him. I see him more like someone who was born into something and did not have much of a choice regarding his life path. And the suggestion that a psychotherapist who treats criminals is a criminal herself is more than a little problematic, and ultimately would imply that shows like The Sopranos or films like The Godfather should also be viewed as criminal activities, because criminals watch them and interact psychologically with them. I think that the acritical presentation of such theories by the show was a mistake.
A scout for the American army becomes a successful buffalo hunter for profit. The Native Americans are harmed by the ensuing disappearance of the buffalo, and wage war against the Whites. The titular character decisively helps the Whites win. He later moves East and becomes a star in a carnival act called "The Wild West".
Hypocritical Western in which the hero is actually the villain. It's amazing how they come up with the most sanctimonious speeches for him and yet everything he does contradicts what he says. Well, anyway, it has lots of well filmed action, and lovely cinematography. I guess viewers with a certain dose of cynicism (who hasn't it?) might enjoy it moderately.
Rating: 41
Second viewing; previously viewed on March 12, 1992
Egyptian queen takes Roman general Julius Caesar as lover; after he dies she replaces him with another Roman general.
Impressive historical drama, which makes use of modern concepts such as "romantic" (actually its roots go back to the Middle Ages, I think) love and psychoanalysis -- and a bit of modern dance too -- to weave its tale of love and politics. The result is not bad, though at times it becomes a little too melodramatic, like when Anthony abandons his fleet during a battle to follow Cleopatra, and then develops a guilt complex. The version I watched this time is certainly longer (4h06) than that of my earlier viewing; for a theatrical viewing that would be impossibly long, even with the intermission, but on streaming one can pause and resume at will. Also, I had possibly seen it in a Portuguese-dubbed version, whereas this time I saw it with the original audio. Too bad they cropped the frame to fit into a 16:9 TV.
Rating: 62 (up from 49)
Opera performance. Music by Francesco Cilea; libretto by Arturo Colautti based on the 1849 play Adrienne Lecouvreur by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé. First performed in 1902.
The plot is inspired by the rumors surrounding the death of a real actress (same name as the source play's protagonist's). It's one of the bizarrest operas I've seen, though I confessedly haven't seen that many. I kept expecting the appearance of one Miss Duclos which never happened. The third act is comprised mostly of a ballet and a recitation of a scene from a play. The protagonist dies from smelling or kissing a poisoned flower (it must have been a very potent poison). The singing here sounded stupendous, though I am not really the most qualified person to give such assessments. The sets, too, were stunningly beautiful.
I don't give ratings to this kind of spectacle.
U.S. title: Gregorio and His Angel
The janitor in an orphanage is fired because of his alcoholism. A mysterious little girl follows him around, helping him earn money and urging him to stop drinking.
Morality tale with Catholic themes. It's quite boring from start to finish, despite the main actor's fine performance.
The year of release is an estimate. IMDB says 1970, Mexican sources say 1966; there is a DVD release, and a few other sources, that say 1968. The actor who plays "Don Ramón" in the TV show El chavo del ocho (1973-1980) plays a small part here, as one of the baddies; he looks much younger here than in the show, which is another factor against the 1970 date, I think.
Rating: 28
U.S. title: King of Hearts
A British soldier is sent on a mission to defuse a time bomb left by the Germans that will blow a small French town up. By a turn of events, the internees at a local madhouse escape.
This is a film which should be watched exclusively for its elegant mise-en-scène, costumes, witty dialogue, and assorted fragmentary creativity. A few critics were quick to point out the flaws in the film's message, but audiences at large were not so picky and bought it hook, line and sinker, making the film a huge, albeit delayed, international success. There is a very explicit scene in the movie: the "general" is in bed with a prostitute, and imagines his ideal world as one of constant war. So, I don't see how a world ruled by these mad characters would be a peaceful one. It may be that the screenwriter yielded to the temptation to please the viewing crowds and ended up by romanticizing madness in a flagrant contradiction to himself. For that purpose, he also had to make the regular military into buffoons. To sum it up, it's an interesting -- occasionally brilliant -- movie whose central idea shouldn't be taken seriously.
Rating: 59
TV movie. U.S. titles: Tales from the Zoo; The Greenhouse
Paris, near the end of World War II. The head of the Botanical Gardens has a son who deals in the black market and gets along fine with the Germans (or so he thinks). The son is captured, along with a few other random people, and shot in reprisal for the killing of a German officer by the Resistance. He leaves a daughter which he was raising alone (the mother is an actress). The child is taken in custody by her grandfather the botanist, who doesn't tell her that her father died; instead, he lies that the latter is a Resistance captain and is in hiding.
Dramatic comedy with a historical setting. The plot is quite childish, and not necessarily because it has a child as one of the protagonists. All the same, it is well structured and eventful enough that it doesn't become annoying. Overall, a competently done but ultimately silly movie which vaguely reminds one of Jorge Luis Borges's story Theme of the Traitor and the Hero (1944), and, from another angle, the movie Life Is Beautiful (1997).
Rating: 46
First shown under the TV program Live from the Metropolitan Opera.
Filmed opera performance. Music by Giuseppe Verdi and libretto by Antonio Somma. First performance of this opera was in 1859. It was based on the libretto by Eugène Scribe for the opera Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué.
Set in colonial era U.S., this has the Boston governor and his secretary's wife falling in love with each other. The secretary finds out about it and joins the revolutionaries in revenge.
I can't find much to say about this opera, none of whose tunes I recognized. The plot is pretty banal, and the proceedings are somewhat enlivened by a bizarre page character played by a woman (though the character is male). The singers are very good, but I always appraise them so, because my ears are not of a refined connoisseur kind.
No rating is given, because I only give them for movies (with rare exceptions).
A notary is poisoned and has at most a few days to live. He sets out to find his killer, whose motive is connected to a bill of sale for a stolen uranium bar.
This remake of D.O.A. (1950) has no screenwriting credits, except for the original source. I frankly find the premise quite odd -- since when do burglars get their transactions notarized? Anyway, aside from this, the film is watchable though not noteworthy in any way.
Rating: 38
A man falls unconscious in the street and they detect an abnormally high amount of radioactivitiy in his body. After some investigation, it is found that foreign agents are building an atomic bomb and intend to blow Los Angeles up.
Low budget thriller. It's quite decently written and filmed, and succeeds in entertaining despite some minor implausibilities.
Rating: 51
English title: The Reprieve
A woman tries to get away from her violent husband, with help from the latter's brother, for whom she develops feelings.
Melodrama. While not especially remarkable, it's not totally devoid of interest either. As a depiction of the atmosphere of a small town and of male oppression (a theme which is still relevant in some parts of the world) it's passable; at some point it becomes a prison movie, and moderately entertaining at that. Another plus is the good performance by the actor who plays the villain.
Rating: 38
Filmed performance of the opera by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. It is based on a character from novels by medieval writer Wolfram von Eschenbach.
After a boy disappears, his sister is accused of having murdered him. The king establishes that there must be a trial by combat between the accuser and anyone who will step forward to defend the woman accused. An unknown stranger volunteers.
This is a rather fatiguing three-hours-and-a-half viewing experience, and I must avow to having failed to see much sense in the premise. I think it's rather absurd that knights in charge of guarding the holy grail should be allowed to get married in foreign lands but not be allowed to reveal their names and identity. Anyway, I guess this is all about the singers, and the plot is left for intellectuals to invent the silliest explanations they can come up with. And the singers here have performed magnificently, or so my untrained ears have decreed. As for the music, I am equally unskilled to emit an opinion: I was bored most of the time, and when some recognizable tune came in (which here happened only in the third act) I felt slightly entertained.
(Unrated, as this is not a standard movie.)
Alternate title: Vértigo en Manhattan
U.S. title: Jet Lag
A woman living in Barcelona travels to New York with the intention of seeking out a former boyfriend; he is now in a new relationship and does not want to see her.
This is one of those films where the protagonist's mental state is revealed gradually, and we only get the full picture of her condition by the end of the movie. It's not a very interesting movie, but it's fairly well done and not exactly painful to watch.
Rating: 40
An American casino owner in Cuba is hired by counter-revolutionaries to transport some gold which they stole from the Treasury. He plans to get rid of his employers and steal the gold for himself. To achieve that goal, he concocts a plan involving a sea monster.
Comic adventure with horror elements. Its funniest thing is probably the humorous voice-over narration. Overall a slightly amusing film, very cheaply made. There is a version made for TV which has three additional sequences which were apparently made after the film had been completed; they are slightly amusing in themselves.
Rating: 36
The planet suffers a sudden temporary shortage of oxygen which kills most people. Three Americans (a dishonest businessman, his wife, and his lawyer) are scuba diving in Puerto Rico during the incident and survive. They now must plan for their livelihood and living arrangements.
This cheap love triangle drama with a "science"-fiction premise does not have much to offer in terms of excitement or ideas, but flows passably well through dialogue and some scenic location sequences. The shorter version in color is the real thing; the black and white version has two additional sequences which do not really add much and were apparently shot later, given that the actress has a different appearance (she seems to have dyed her hair or something).
Rating: 34
A young jobless man wanders from place to place in New York City. He visits his girlfriend, then his mother who is in a psychiatric institution, then goes to a movie theater but just stays in the lobby, then steals a car and sells it, then boards a ship to Paris.
This movie's protagonist is often explaining himself. He is also very implausible as a character, because among other things his source of livelihood is not very clear. He is not rich, as may be inferred by his opportunistic car theft. Yet, he doesn't seem to be a habitual criminal, because that would somehow make him less of a "permanent vacationer"; after all, crime is a profession too. The musical score is well done, but not much else in this movie is. I wish I could say better things about it, but unfortunately cannot.
Rating: 28
Based on the 1978-1979 TV show of the same title.
Human-created cyborgs lead a devastating attack on humans, killing most of them; the few survivors escape on spaceships in search of a new planet. But the cyborgs have the ability to mimic the human appearance and have infiltrated the crew of the escaping fleet.
I didn't like this show much, and am not watching the remainder of it. While its subject matter (AI takeover) is interesting, the dramatics here is far less interesting. If I had to point out a positive aspect of it, however, I'd say that the producers did succeed in gathering an attractive collection of female characters, spanning all profiles (sexy femme fatale, rebellious tomboy, tender-hearted with a dangerous psychological ambivalence, middle-aged sage, middle-aged slut).
Fourth viewing, probably; previously viewed on December 11, 2014; once or twice between 1983 and 1986 (if once, then there may have been another viewing on an earlier date).
A movie producer-director takes his cast and crew on a sea voyage to an uncharted island where he intends to shoot a picture featuring a gigantic ape. They end up not making that film, but instead bring the ape to America. The ape can't resist a blonde, and that spells his downfall.
This film has been a recurrent source of entertainment for me, but his charms have faded somewhat along the years. It's a triumph of technique, and its simple plot has some grandiose connotations, but coolly considered it's basically just an exceptionally well made adventure movie for kids (maybe I'm getting old?). To be fair, it is also a self-referential story about the disadvantages of location shooting: the film within the film, as planned, is roughly the same storywise as the film we watch, but completely antagonic as a filmmaking procedure. Thus, King Kong extracts its poesy from the human need for adventure and realism, but expresses this poesy by resorting to artifice and deceit. That's sort of fascinating in itself.
Here's my earlier review from 2014.
Rating: 59 (down from 69)
A black man kills another in a fight and is sentenced to a labor camp. He escapes and boards a ship, taking refuge in a small island. After some time in the island, he overthrows the local ruler and takes his place. After some more time the people get tired of his tyranny and prepare to overthrow him in turn. He flees the palace, intending to leave the country. He must cross a dense forest in his way to the port.
This cinematic adaptation of a one-act play considerably expands it. I didn't like the play much (based on a reading), but I found the movie reasonably enjoyable and mostly well done. I can't find much to say about it, though, as its characters and situations are built in a quite straightforward and explicit manner.
Rating: 51
Third viewing; previously viewed on December 15, 1990 and May 9, 2013.
George is on the brink of suicide and is helped by an angel who gives him a new perspective on his life. The core of his problems is the greed of a banker who wants to take over George's small town.
This fantastic drama is generally viewed as a sentimental parable about self-sacrifice and the value of the individual, but there is another side to it which is equally important and perhaps more interesting, namely the dramatization of the perennial debate between free-marketeers and keynesians (or to a certain extent socialists). This aspect of the movie hasn't aged much, and one can see this issue being still being debated on books and on the opinion pages of newspapers. There is one detail, however, which somewhat obfuscates that economics issue: the State is complete absent from the movie's dramatic equation; that places all the burden on private actors. At no point in the movie its protagonist, or anyone else, considers running for office or otherwise engaging State institutions. While this allows for the specific dramatics here to develop, it's also the source of its more implausible elements. Further considerations about this movie may be read on my 2013 review. Perhaps I should add that the notion that bankers are lonely and frustrated creatures is another deeply flawed notion which has no counterpart in the real world.
Rating: 63 (unchanged)
People start hearing someone on the radio claiming he's God. He delivers edifying speeches, always at the same hour, during one week. No one seems to be able to identify who is speaking and how he managed to transmit his voice on the radio. The plot centers on a suburban family (father, mother, son) expecting a second child. Familial conflicts and work frustration occupy the mind of the father.
This film may look as the most preposterous piece of silliness ever to fill a screen, but at least it shows some degree of self-consciousness when it has one character remark: "People silly enough to believe in God are silly enough to believe God's talking on the radio". But, just like the voice on the radio, this character comes and goes without explanation; I mean, officially he is still there, has the same name, and the same job as boss in the factory; but his ideas vanish late in the movie and he is suddenly a gentle person who's best friends with the protagonist's son and provides a refuge for the boy when he is disgusted with his father; also, he now replies a "God bless you" in kind. I'd say a film is problematic -- or I am -- when the two characters I find most interesting are the supposed villains, namely, the protagonist's old friend he meets in a bar and a woman in that bar. Paradoxically enough, it is an easy-to-watch movie which may be watched with an eye for involuntary comedy.
Rating: 38
Second viewing; previously viewed (probably in a dubbed copy) between 1983 and 1986.
A newspaper columnist writes a suicide note which she attributes to a character she makes up and publishes it as if it were real. Thousands are moved by it and the newspaper's new owner convinces her to go on with the lie, even hiring a real person to pass off as the note's author. This John Doe becomes the object of a national following. People believe the things he says, though he only reads out loud what the columnist wrote for him; furthermore, the newspaper's owner has his own personal political goals in mind.
This is tremendously confusing from an ideological standpoint, which makes for a somewhat frustrating yet curiously fascinating viewing experience. Is this an anarchist manifesto? At some point it looks like the "movement" is making government superfluous. On the other hand, the "people" don't seem to have much craving for autonomy, and their cohesion disappears when their leader is revealed to be not exactly what he said he was. Also, there is a sinister streak here that seems to demonize an attempt to build a third party with some relevance in the United States. The funder of the movement, an oil magnate, is revealed to have fascist tendencies. But did he have to be that way? Why couldn't he be a normal guy with legitimate political aspirations? Is it the fact that he was a liar what makes him bad? But the "good" guys were liars too, and the film gives them a chance to come clean and redeem themselves. Why doesn't the magnate have the same chance in the script? On the other hand, I don't deny that this film is really entertaing, perhaps even in a kind of oneirical manner.
Rating: 63 (down from 67)
English title: Journey to an Unknown World
Maneco, an adventurer, takes his nephews to visit the boys' grandfather. Upon arriving at their destination they find no trace of him and spot a flying saucer with two extraterrestrial beings who tell them that the old man was kidnapped by a robot from their planet. The robot is trying to locate a flower which it has the mission to destroy. Said flower has the power to liberate the alien people from the dominion of intelligent machines. Maneco and the children go into the jungle in search of the missing grandfather and the flower.
Kiddie adventure which alternates live action with animation. It was filmed in location in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. There's little to remark about it except that it's one of the earliest films to tackle the theme of AI takeover. That aside, it's a poor production with little artistic merit. It spawned a TV series and three cinematic sequels, which leads me to believe that it must have done relatively well at the box office.
Rating: 28
Inspired by the play Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, which premiered in 1913.
A prostitute is invited by a writer to take part in a contest which awards every year a woman considered remarkable for her sexual skill. She takes lessons from the writer in the love-making art as a preparation for her challenge.
This pornographic comedy is mostly a failure; it has a very low erotic charge, and as a comedy it is poor, even cringeworthy occasionally; a few witty dialogue lines and above average production values make it somewhat less unbearable than the usual product in this line.
Rating: 30
An American diplomat returning home on a ship finds the woman with whom he had spent an evening while in Hong Kong hiding in his apartment. She is a stowaway and wants to emigrate to America.
Romantic comedy in a style which is close to those screwball comedies of the 1930s -- not surprising, since the screenplay was written around that time. It's an agreeable film which flows nicely and even warrants some laughter, in spite of a few dissonant chords -- e.g. the valet's "wedding night" which tries to be funny but fails. When you think about it, this is a kind of Madame Butterfly without the racial issue, and thus minus the tragic element.
Rating: 58
Filmed performance of the opera Le nozze di Figaro, music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, composed in 1786, based on the play La folle journée, ou le mariage de Figaro, by Pierre Beaumarchais, written in 1784. This performance occurred in November, 2018, in London, and was made available to stream in January, 2019. Since August, 2020 it is freely accessible.
The barber to a rich gentleman wants to marry one of his employer's house staff. Said gentleman wants to have the privilege of being the first to sleep with the bride. They devise a scheme to foil the (not so) gentleman's plans.
This is probably one of the most famous operas of all times, and I must confess to not having had such a great time with it. It simply was not intellectually stimulating to me, alas, what with all that plot full of coincidences and hackneyed devices. The music is considered great, but, again, I must confess that Mozart belongs to a period of relative musical simplicity which, while superficially agreeable, is not wholly satisfactory to me. The sets and costumes are gorgeous, and the staging was faithful to the original intent of the composer and writer, and to the period in which it is set. I wouldn't have it any other way. The singers were OK to my untrained ears.
Not rated, since this is not exactly a standard movie.
Third viewing; previously viewed on: January 24, 1990; June 18, 1996.
A tailor finds a letter in a customer's jacket addressed to a woman who is giving a ball. He decides to attend the ball impersonating said customer. The tailor's former assistant, by a coincidence, happens to be at the premises.
Passable short comedy which has some inventive moments and also some formulaic slapstick bits. Curiously, this is not exactly a satire of rich people. It's more like a conflict between the petty bourgeoisie and the lumpenproletariat, here personified respectively by a tailor and a guy who was fired by him for being completely incompetent. Due to it happening in a party of rich people, they get some collateral damage from the abovementioned conflict, which somehow adds to the comicity. A funny review of it can be read here.
Rating: 47 (unchanged)
Second viewing; previously viewed on March 3, 2006.
(*spoilers*) Several people are in a park during an afternoon: a womanizing husband, his wife, their adult daughter, a pretty pickpocket lady, a tramp, a policeman, two idlers. The tramp gets into trouble with all the males in that cohort; he then escorts the womanizer's wife and daughter to their home, and is invited to enter. When the husband and one of the park idlers arrive there, the tramp tries to fool them by disguising himself as a woman.
While not exactly original, this short comedy is somewhat better than my excessively harsh previous review (linked above) assessed it to be. The park segment, while somewhat cliché, has its funny moments; the second part is just standard slapstick, though the main actor in drag is remarkable at his performance -- quite refined and miles away from crude caricature.
Rating: 46 (up from 34)
Third viewing; previously viewed on January 28, 2006 and January 20, 2007.
A homeless man employs himself as a sparring assistant to a boxer. Armed with a horseshoe in his glove, he knocks the boxer out and, viewed then as a promising fighter, accepts to challenge the world champion.
Somewhat below average comic short which lacks really inspired ideas but is reasonably well done. As I remarked in my first review (link above), it's mostly aimed at kids.
Rating: 44 (down from 62)
English titles: Tokyo Drifter; The Man from Tokyo
A former gang member goes straight after his boss disbands their gang. He not only refuses a job with a rival gang but keeps getting in the way of their evil plans. After a while, he decides to leave Tokyo so as to stop causing trouble for himself and others, but his enemies send a hitman after him.
Both the Italians and the Japanese were heavily influenced by American culture (by a strange coincidence, both were in the losing side in World War 2), and their cultural industries are not all that dissimilar in that respect, except that Japan seemed to prefer the urban criminal genre, and Italy had a taste for Westerns. While very sloppily edited, and perhaps even occasionally sloppily filmed, and as a consequence excrutiatingly hard to make sense of at some points, this film shows a flair for uncanny imagery, and I guess that makes it watchable despite its flaws.
Rating: 35
Third viewing; previously viewed on May 29, 1996 and January 6, 2006.
A bum walks into a bar and tells his story: he was once a painter who fell in love with a woman and she traded him for a man whose portrait he was painting.
This is a (purportedly) comic adaptation of a (then) famous poem. The main actor enlivens the piece, and that's the film's main attraction. But the film has some intelligent ideas, like making the man who stole the protagonist's loved one fat and middle-aged (and rich) instead of handsome and young. That, and the encounter in the park, are what one could call the reality touch.
Rating: 56 (down from 63)
