Change Your Image
robert-temple
Reviews
Dream Scenario (2023)
The man of their dreams
This is an amusing and ingenious story about a man who begins appearing in the dreams of other people, and eventually of huge numbers of the public. He is a retiring personality who is a professor at a fictitious American university called "Osler". The character is played by Nicholas Cage in a role calculated to show him at his least glamorous, which proves to us that Cage is certainly not vain. The character is a grumpy, shy, somewhat gormless fellow who says he wants to write a book but cannot start doing so. From being a complete nobody, Cage is catapulted into fame. Agents want him to appear on television and sell Sprite, people who normally would never notice him suddenly want to meet him, and he cannot cope with all the attention. His wife loves this at first. But then things begin to change. From being a passive observer in other people's dreams, Cage begins to take an active and often violent role in them. The public adulation begins to change to 'cancellation' and his wife's attitude becomes less than enthusiastic. Cage protests loudly that he should not be blamed for carrying out acts in other people's dreams with which he had no real connection, such as attacking the dreamers. But image triumphs over substance, and we soon realize that this film is really a profound satire on Cancel Culture. Cage becomes a victim of baseless assertions and nobody cares that the criticisms of him are pure fiction. He is considered guilty not only without proof but when any logical or sensible person would have to admit that proof was impossible because he had done nothing wrong at all. Sprite decides that a man who is guilty of crimes which he did not commit is not the ideal salesman for their product. And the satire rolls out the full panoply of deranged mob injustice against a harmless man. Nick Cage is a highly intelligent guy, as I discovered the one time I met him, and he must have taken a decision to do this bold satire as a way of countering the madness of 'cancellation'. He also produced the film, which reinforces this view. Everyone should see this, but don't blame Nick!
The Case Against Brooklyn (1958)
An exposé of massive corruption in Brooklyn in the fifties
This B picture was the second film directed by Paul Wendkos, who went on to direct 116 films, many of them controversial like this one. It is based on real information about Brooklyn corruption as reported in an article in TRUE Magazine, which was popular at that time. The film is well made and gritty, in the mould of the police procedural films of that era. At that time betting on horse races was illegal, and took place illegally in numerous secret "horse rooms", as they were called, scattered across Brooklyn. Naturally, these were all controlled by an organisation of gangsters, and we are told in the film that they made one million dollars profit a week. In order to pull this off, huge payoffs were necessary to senior police officers. The film is about the struggle to investigate and expose these violent criminals, and close down the rackets. Various people get killed along the way. The story focuses on two rookie cops who are sent undercover to investigate. Things get very rough. Will Justice win? And can the corruption within the ranks of the police and other officials be stopped?
The Brasher Doubloon (1947)
An excellent Raymond Chandler film
This is one of the best examples of Raymond Chandler material on the screen. For those who don't know Chandler's novels, I should explain that this story is adapted from his novel THE HIGH WINDOW. The high window is the key to the whole story, but in both the film and the book, the explanation of the high window's importance is only revealed at the end. The Brasher Doubloon itself is a rare American gold coin of 1787, one of the most prized of all rare coins. Its value is stated in the film to be $10,000, and that was in the 1940s, when Philip Marlowe worked for only $25 a day. It was decided to call the film THE BRASHER DOUBLOON, and after the film came out, Chandler's novel was reissued with that title as well. So we are not talking about two novels, only one novel with two titles. I confess to being a passionate admirer of Chandler's novels and stories. There is no substitute for actually reading them, but at least in this case, a compressed and simplified screen version also has a lot to offer. The film is especially remarkable for the extraordinary performance of Nancy Guild as the female lead. She was really "something special" but her career misfired in unfortunate ways and she appeared in few films, and those were not up to her standard at all. What a waste of a very rare talent! Her personal life seems to have been turbulent, as she was married and divorced three times. In the film she plays the strange young woman named Merle Davis. Philip Marlowe is played very well by George Montgomery, and he falls for Merle, whose elderly employer has hired him to investigate a bizarre case of a stolen coin. This film is directed brilliantly by John Brahm, and he and his cinematographer Lloyd Ahern Sr. Created many spectacularly framed shots. The film has tremendous dynamism as a result of this. We also get glimpses of a few locations. We don't see the Belfont Building but we do see Florence Apartments. And the interior of the Murdoch mansion is splendidly period and bizarre. So this is a film with high production values and not a B picture. The film also has outstanding performances by numerous character actors: Alfred Linder as Eddie Prue, Jack Overman as the apartment manager, and Houseley Stevenson as the coin dealer Elisha Morningstar are especially brilliant. The novel had a very complex plot, and this had to be simplified a great deal in order to fit into one hour and 12 minutes on the screen. As a result, the second detective George Anson only turns up in one scene, and then he is dead. But he serves the purpose of moving the story forward because Marlowe discovers the baggage check in his pocket without which the story could not progress. And the story in the film refocuses the action by highlighting a romance between Marlowe and Merle. It is probable that various scenes were cut from the film, since there are hints of some missing action. And an absolutely central theme in the novel is totally missing: the fact that there are duplicates of the Brasher Doubloon in the original story, and the fascinating manner in which they were faked by a dental technician using his skill in preparing gold fillings. In the novel much of the perplexity of the plot arises from the fact that no one knows which doubloons are real and which are not, and who has which ones. Those complications have all been eliminated from the film plot. Despite the compression and the refocusing, the film works very well as it is. To do the whole story would require today a mini-series. (And that's not a bad idea!) Another good touch to the film is the constant presence of strong winds, which add to the tension. And some clever lines and conversational exchanges have been added at script level in addition to those already in the novel. In other words, though the original work has been in a sense mangled, it has been well and respectfully mangled. And that is something that did not happen very often in Hollywood.
Nightfall (1956)
Where's the money?
This is a superior film noir directed by Jacques Tourneur, who is famous for CAT PEOPLE (see my review) and OUT OF THE PAST (see my review). His has expertly directed this film as well, and the cinematography by Burnett Guffey is expressive and moody. The film also has a crisp and clever script by Stirling Silliphant, from a novel by David Goodis. At one point Silliphant has given Anne Bancroft, who plays the female lead, a spectacularly clever line just before she kisses the hero, but I won't spoil anyone's fun by quoting it. The lead is ably played by husky-voiced Aldo Ray. James Gregory is excellent as an insurance detective. But the scariest and perhaps the best performance in the film is by Rudy Bond as a psychopath named "Red". His partner in crime is played by Brain Keith, with a calm and subtle menace. They are all good, and so is the film. There is plenty of tension, not least towards the end where two people are threatened with the most horrible fate, and as to whether they are saved or not I dare not say.
Eileen (2023)
Horrible film, magnificent actress
This is a disgusting film about twisted people doing twisted things, and only worth watching to see the outstanding performance by the brilliant 23 year-old actress Thomasin McKenzie. She is able to enter into a character so completely that she really becomes the person. She is a New Zealander by origin, from an acting family. She has already appeared in 34 films and we can expect her to become one of the world's leading cinema actresses. Anne Hathaway plays the other leading role and does an excellent job of it. But it is McKenzie who shines. As for the film itself, why make such a negative thing? I suppose because the producer is also the author of the screenplay and of the novel upon which it was based. Her name is Ottessa Moshfegh, and she has set this story in her home turf of Massachusetts. I think she needs to take a year off for rest and relaxation.
Affair in Trinidad (1952)
Rita Hayworth shines
This thriller film set on the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean is really primarily a vehicle for the amazing Rita Hayworth. She began her career as a dancer, and in this film she is required to sing and dance not just once but twice, evidently trying to squeeze as much out of her in that way as possible. She plays a nightclub singer. Rita was certainly what is known as a "dazzler". In between being dazzled by Rita, we are also treated to a film noir plot, with sturdy Glenn Ford as the leading man. Rita's husband has been murdered and no one knows who dunnit. Just as this is going round in circles, her husband's brother whom she has never met flies in to see his brother, not knowing he is dead. The visiting brother is Glenn Ford. Big surprises all round, including to the police, who are trying to figure out who killed the husband while publicly announcing his death as a suicide to mask their investigation. Ford shows Rita a letter he recently received from her husband asking him to come because he has found a job for him. The letter is dated June 22. But this turns out to be the day he died. And there is a strange monogram at the head of the letter. The police think they know who the killer is and they ask Rita to help investigate, but insist she cannot tell anyone. Ford falls for her pretty fast (not difficult!) but is suspicious of the strange people she insists on seeing and she cannot explain. There is plenty of danger, some more murder, lots of complexities, and the film is "a good watch".
Hollywood Story (1951)
A superb insider's Hollywood mystery
This is a very superior B picture indeed. It is atmospherically directed by William Castle. But I suspect the extreme authenticity of this film owes a lot to co-scripter writer Fred Kohner, who was a serious intellectual of extremely wide experience, as witness his fascinating novel KIKI OF MONTPARNASSE (1967) which describes in detail his youth in Paris and his involvement with the famous Kiki. Kohner was also the brother of Paul Kohner, the famous Hollywood agent, who knew everything about everybody in Hollywood and represented half of them. Fred Kohner is chiefly remembered today as the author of all the Gidget films, about a girl surfer, which originated as an amusing diversion but took off and made him rich. But that is not the best way to remember Fred Kohner, who was far deeper than that. Various old-timers appear in the film, such as an appearance by Francis X. Bushman as 'himself'. Bushman appeared in at least 231 films during his career, which commenced in the year 1911. Joel McCrea also appears in the film as 'himself'. In addition to all this authenticity there are many great shots of L. A. and Hollywood as they were in 1950. So this film is definitely exceptional. The lead role is played by Richard Conte, a tight-lipped and serious guy who is just right for this part. The story is most intriguing and handled well. Conte, who has been making films in New York, comes to Hollywood to make a film and for the purpose acquires an abandoned film studio where a notorious murder of a film tycoon had taken place twenty years earlier. The murdered man's bungalow is untouched and still has its original furnishings and signed pictures by old stars on the walls. Conte adopts this as his office. He becomes obsessed with the unsolved cold case murder of the earlier man, drops his other film idea, and decides to make a film about the murder. He personally does intensive research into the case. He goes to the newspaper archives and reads all the old press reports, contacts the police about their old file, and tracks down everyone he can find who knew the murdered man. Many creepy crawlies come out from under the rocks, and soon someone tries to shoot him to stop his reopening of the investigation. Then he gets a shock when he discovers that his own bullying business partner, played by the loud Fred Clark, casually admits that he had been the business advisor to the murdered man, which he had 'accidentally' forgotten to mention earlier. The plot thickens and thickens and thickens. Henry Hull plays a down and out screenwriter who had known the murdered man and is hired by Conte to write the script, for authenticity's sake. And plenty of authenticity starts 'coming out', that's for sure, and people start getting killed. There is great acting support from Jim Backus, and Julie Adams graces the screen with her lovely presence and falls for Conte, though her background is a bit suspicious. In fact, nearly everybody is suspicious. Who really committed the original murder and who is committing the new ones?
Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948)
Edward G. Robinson haunted by psychic visions
This is a first rate supernatural mystery film, guaranteed the status of a classic by featuring one of Edward G. Robinson's finest performances. He plays a man who had a career as a stage mind reader, mostly relying upon trickery. But he begins to have real glimpses of the future, primarily of disasters, and he becomes terrified of this unwanted 'gift'. This character is modelled on the mysterious stage mind reader and genuine psychic, Frederick Marion (real name Josef Kraus, born in Prague in 1892). I know about him because my friend and mentor when I was young, Arthur M. Young, knew Marion intimately, and often told me about him. Marion published an autobiography, IN MY MIND'S EYE, in 1949, which makes for fascinating reading. This film is based upon a novel (written under a pseudonym) by the amazingly talented mystery writer Cornell Woolrich, who must have derived the idea for his main character from Marion, who was famous in the 1930s and 1940s, though forgotten today. In fact, it is not improbable that Woolrich knew Marion personally. Robinson is so convincing when he is struck suddenly by a vision of the future, which he dreads. Few people know that Robinson did not know a word of English until he was ten years old, when he was put on a steamship to New York to fend for himself. (He came from Bucharest.) He doubtless knew a thing of two about night horrors and fears. 'Eddie' Robinson, as he was affectionately called by all, was an intellectual whose favourite reading between scenes when filming was grammars of foreign languages, of which he had an entire personal library. I have been fortunate to meet his sister and his granddaughter, and to know something about him. As for the female lead of this film, she is Gail Russell, she of the velvet doe's eyes. By this stage in her life she was already beginning to show some signs of the drink that would eventually kill her at the early age of 36. The film is directed by the talented John Farrow, whose feel for atmosphere was notorious, and whose skill at making scenes work was superb. (He was the father of the actress Mia Farrow.) The 'thousand eyes' of the title are the stars in the night sky. This film is a highly superior classic of the noir genre, though focusing on the eerie and the occult rather than the usual gangsters, nightclubs and 'broads'. It is true that psychics are often exhausted and haunted by their psychic abilities, and they often suffer terribly. I have know several who did so. Many of them view their 'gift' as a curse and a burden. This is a central theme of the drama of this film as the story unfolds, aided by numerous necessary flashbacks which reveal secrets and surprises aplenty.
The Blue Dahlia (1946)
Original screenplay by Raymond Chandler
Those of us who are passionate admirers of Raymond Chandler's novels and stories naturally have an interest in this film for which he wrote an original screenplay. However, the film does not measure up to one's hopes. The leading man, Alan Ladd, is wooden and unresponsive, as if he were half dead. George Marshall did not direct the film in a manner which was lively or inspiring. As for Alan Ladd, in other films he did have an infectious grin. But in this film he only briefly grins three times. (I counted them.) Marshall should have realised that Ladd needed to be given some medication to wake him up. He was cast opposite Veronica Lake because they were both almost the same size. She at least made considerable efforts to show that she was living and breathing, though she got no feedback from Ladd. One curious result of the Ladd and Lake casting is that Howard da Silva (the lover of Ladd's wife) comes across as a tall person. Da Silva was not particularly tall, as I know because I met him long ago. He only appears tall in the film because Ladd and Lake were tiny people. (Many will know that Ladd sometimes had to stand on a box or platform in his scenes with other leading ladies.) The performances in this film which stand out are from the supporting rather than from the leading cast. The outstanding performance comes from William Bendix. He is utterly and terrifyingly convincing as someone suffering not just from wartime shell shock but, as a result of the brain operation which he has had and the metal plate in his skull, from actual brain damage. Despite the intensity of his performance, he manages never to go over the top, and always remains all too believable. Another excellent performance comes from Doris Dowling, as Ladd's unfaithful and frankly horrible and vicious wife. She is so good at making us hate her that it is a wonder she was not attacked after each scene by the crew. Will Wright, as "Dad" Newell, a corrupt "peeper", is his marvellously droll and laid back self. Actors like that make a film believable. There are many instances of terrific dialogue and good lines in Chandler's script. The plot is good but it is not brought out satisfactorily by the direction or camera work or by the uninspired leads. Those of us who so admire Raymond Chandler should not delude ourselves that this is a marvellous film. It just isn't. The fact is that it was ruined by mediocrity of production. But it is not terrible, it is watchable by those who have patience, and it is in the film noir canon. This was the only original screenplay by Chandler which was actually produced, though he contributed to others. Chandler was far too subtle and profound for Hollywood, and all the best things about his work tended to evanesce and float skywards under the heat of the arc lights. Chandler was a real talent, whereas so many of his interpreters were not.
The Return of the Whistler (1948)
A mysterious disapppearance
This is the eighth and final Whistler film. It was made without Richard Dix in the lead, as he was too ill and died the following year. This time the lead is Michael Duane. D. Ross Lederman directed this one. The leading lady who plays a young French woman is Lenore Aubert, a stage name for Eleonore Leisner, who was Slovenian. She is very effective. Possibly in order to try to make up for the absence of the usual leading man, the producers chose a superior mystery writer, Cornell Woolrich. The story really is very good indeed. The film begins with a night of a torrential downpour. A young couple are driving through the rain, Duane and Aubert. They pull up in front of one of those private homes of a Justice of the Peace which has a neon sign saying "Marriages Performed". They have made an appointment to be married. But the Justice has been kept away by the storm and will not return until morning. So the couple drive into a nearby town and manage with difficulty to find a room for the night in a small hotel, but because they admit they are not yet married, Duane is told he cannot stay overnight with the lady, so he leaves her there and goes to get their car fixed and stay overnight in it. He returns the next morning, the sun shining brightly, and with an expectant smile on his face goes to the room where his bride to be will be waiting. But she has disappeared and the room is being decorated by a grumpy workman. Duane is told that Aubert left half an hour after he did the night before. He knows that is impossible, but can prove nothing. The police do not believe him and refuse to help. How is he going to find her? What can he do? The situation is desperate in the extreme. And that is merely the beginning of the mystery. This is a really, really good one. A magnificent way to close the series.
The Thirteenth Hour (1947)
Intrigue and complications, the last film of Richard Dix
This is the seventh Whistler film and the last one to star Richard Dix. (There would be one more Whistler film the next year with another lead actor: THE RETURN OF THE WHISTLER, see my review). This film as directed by William Clemens, who had directed several of the Falcon films, a Philo Vance film, and several of the original Nancy Drew films with Bonita Granville. This time Dix plays a trucker who has worked hard to start up his own trucking business but made enemies amongst the established truckers, some of whom are dangerous. Dix is involved with a woman named Eileen who owns a truck stop café, played by Karen Morley. She has an engaging teenage son played by Mark Dennis who has a considerable role in the film. (He was 14 at this time and had appeared in one film the year before; he is very good.) A lot of this film was shot at night on dark roads and it thus has considerable atmosphere. The story is not particularly odd or unusual, and it does not take place in a city like most Whistler films. Basically, this is a drama about setups, murders, betrayals, greed, and innocent victims. Dix is an innocent victim. There is no explanation within the film of the title, as there is no "thirteenth hour" in the story. So someone just thought up a catchy title. The story gets very tense and involved, as Dix is accused of murder after murder, none of which he has committed. And there is an interesting twist of a clue which seems to indicate that the murderer was missing a finger on his left hand. But to say more would be to say too much. This is a good noir. And it is sad to take one's leave of the amazing Richard Dix, who in seven Whistler films played characters so far apart it is astonishing that he could so easily do so. He was a most engaging and fascinating actor. He suffered a heart attack during the filming and died in 1949 of his heart condition. This was his last film appearance. He was only 56 years old, and his early death was a great loss to the screen.
The Secret of the Whistler (1946)
He married money
This is the sixth of the Whistler films. Once again Richard Dix stars, this time as an impecunious artist who has married a very rich woman. The versatility of Dix really is astonishing. He changes like a chameleon from picture to picture. This film is not directed by William Castle like the others, but by George Sherman. It has a completely different feel about it. It is not so quirky and mysterious, but is more of a glamorous melodrama. The budget seems to have been a bit higher, and the film is more of an ordinary murder mystery. The film opens well with a woman going to a monument maker and commissioning a very expensive gravestone for herself. ($5000, a lot of money then.) She is Dix's wife. She has a severe heart condition and believes she has only months to live. Dix is a dutiful husband towards his wife, seriously concerned for her health, until he falls into the clutches of a scheming young femme fatale played by Leslie Brooks. This curvaceous blonde artist's model sees dollar signs and goes for Dix bigtime. He naturally becomes infatuated and says when he is free (i.e., when his wife has died) he wants to marry her. But then along comes a clever doctor with a new treatment which restores the wife to health very suddenly. She overhears Dix and the blonde talking and realizes the situation, so phones her lawyer to arrange to change her will so that he inherits nothing whenever she does die, and to commence divorce proceedings immediately. However, this is a film noir, so she dies during the night. So what has happened? "The Whistler knows."
Mysterious Intruder (1946)
Elora Lund, where are you?
This is the fifth of the Whistler films, and the first one not to have "whistler" in the title. As usual, it stars Richard Dix. In this film he plays a private detective. The similarity to Raymond Chandler's Marlowe stories is enhanced by the appearance in this film of Mike Mazurki (1907-1990), who became famous two years previously for playing Moose Malloy in MURDER, MY SWEET (1944, a film adaptation of Chandler's novel FAREWELL, MY LOVELY), where he hires Philip Marlowe to find his girlfriend Velma. Anyone who has seen that film can never forget Mike Mazurki. Here he plays a similar character named Harry Pontos, also a tall and ominous criminal. But in this film, Mazurki does not last long, so we might almost call his appearance a cameo, although he in fact is the "mysterious intruder" in the story. This film starts out with an old man named Edward Stillwell walking along the city street at night on his way to see Don Gale, a detective (Dix). Stillwell wants Dix to find a 21 year old girl named Elora Lund whom he has not seen since she was 14. He won't say why. The girl had been orphaned at 14 and fled to avoid being seized by social workers and confined to an orphanage. Stillwell has no idea where she is and only has a hundred dollars to pay Dix because he is a very poor pawn broker and music store owner living in a poor neighbourhood. Dix is exasperated at this, but takes on the case anyway since Stillwell assures him that if he can only find the girl, she will pay him a substantial fee herself. Stillwell had known the girl and her parents well because they "lived in the neighbourhood". The mother before her death had left numerous belongings with him in pawn, and this appears to have some connection with why he is desperate to find the girl. The story is very mysterious and ingenious in its plot twists. Numerous unexpected surprises lie in store, and several people will get killed in the search for the missing girl.
Voice of the Whistler (1945)
A lonely lighthouse by the sea
This is the fourth Whistler film. Once again Richard Dix is the star and he plays a completely different character from the three preceding ones. His versatility is simply amazing. This time he is a very wealthy industrialist named John Sinclair who has no family, has never married, and also has no friends. He has been ruthless in the pursuit of financial success but as a result suffers from burnout. His doctor tells him he must take a long break, as his exhaustion attacks could become fatal. And that is where the story really begins. He meets a smiling and friendly nurse played by Lynn Merrick, who undergoes an extreme personality change when she realizes that Dix, going under a pseudonym as John Carter, is really the rich and famous John Sinclair. She becomes consumed by uncontrollable greed. Dix asks her to marry him and she unceremoniously dumps her fiancée, a handsome young doctor plated by James Cardwell. Then events very rapidly become noirish. The couple are living in a converted lighthouse on a desolate bit of coast and have no visitors. Merrick is going to pieces but Dix is falling in love with her. Then Cardwell suddenly turns up and the three of them spend days or weeks together, especially in the 'solarium' at the top of the lighthouse gazing out at the sea. There are lots of shots of them climbing up and down the spiral stairway inside the structure, of which Merrick cheerfully says 'It's good exercise.' Things get so tense one expects Barbara Stanwyck to turn up with Fred MacMurray. Well, at this point one draws a discreet veil over where this is all going, leaving the pleasure of discovery of the subsequent events to the viewers. One remark about Merrick. She was born in Texas as Marilyn Llewelling. That is an unusual American distortion of the well known Welsh surname of Llewellyn. And a real Welshman, Rhys Williams, appears in the supporting cast. I wonder what he thought of Llewellyn becoming Llewelling.
The Power of the Whistler (1945)
She meets a polite stranger with no memory
This is the third Whistler film. The fascinating actress Janis Carter has a lead role in this one. She had a small role as a girl reporter in THE MARK OF THE WHISTLER, but this time she has equal importance to the main star, Richard Dix. The film starts with Richard Dix stepping off a pavement onto a street and getting knocked over by an oncoming car. Although he is not physically injured, he has hit his head and lost his memory. He does not even know who he is or where he was going. He goes into a restaurant and bar to have a drink and try and collect himself. Janis is meanwhile with her sister and her sister's boyfriend at a table playing with cards. Just for fun she decides to tell someone's fortune from the cards and looks around for someone appropriate. She sees Dix sitting at the bar and decides to tell his fortune, though he is unaware of it. She pulls out an ace of spades and a two of clubs, which together she says mean 'death within 24 hours'. She is horrified, shuffles the cards carefully, and tries again. This time the same two cards appear. She is so worried that she goes over to Dix, whom she does not know, and asks if she can help him somehow. He admits that he cannot remember his name or what he was supposed to be doing. She says let's go through what's in your pockets and see if there is anything to identify you. And the story goes on. She accompanies him to some addresses and no one can identify him. She begins a bit of detective work on her own, and so does he. As they continue this investigation over many hours they begin to fall for each other. He has such a kind and thoughtful manner and she says he is so handsome. This all becomes a Big Adventure, with all kinds of surprises. I cannot reveal much more without giving away some of the secrets of the plot. But will Dix really die within 24 hours? Will he ever remember who he is? And is he really the big softie that Janis thinks he is? Only The Whistler knows.
The Mark of the Whistler (1944)
An ingeniously plotted and very tense tale
This is the second of the Whistler films, having two titles: THE MARK OF THE WHISTLER and THE MARKED MAN. It has a superb plot written by the famous mystery writer Cornell Woolrich. And Richard Dix, who plays the lead, intensifies the suspense by his brilliant portrayal of a man who impersonates another man of the same name in order to access a dormant account at a bank. He only discovers that the dormant account exists by randomly picking up a newspaper in which an ad has been placed for claimants to dormant accounts to come forward. His name is Lee Nugent, and so is the man whose money was left to him in trust by his mother many years ago and never claimed. Dix does research and, reassured that laying claim is probably safe, approaches the bank with a loan from a pawn broker to pay for a new suit (as Dix is penniless). But nothing in a film noir is ever simple, which is, one might say, the same as with Life. There are unknown factors in the background, and some begin to stir. Will the bank hand over the money? Will Dix get away with it? How much money is there, anyway, since the bank won't say. Events get more and more tense. This is a really excellent suspense film.
Mean Girls (2024)
A feral subculture
MEAN GIRLS exists and has existed in so many forms. It is onstage in London at the moment. It was a novel, then on the stage, then filmed twenty years ago, then a series. Those girls just never get tired of being mean. Americans since the sixties have always been obsessed about high school films, and this is one. But it is not the high school that is so interesting, it is the feral subculture of the girls as they fight and claw their way up and down the social hierarchy of who is Queen Bee, who are the 'ins' and who are the 'outs'. In this version, Angourie Rice is an excellent choice as Cady Heron the innocent normal girl who enters the tiger's lair at a New Jersey high school. Queen Bee at that point is the snooty Regina George, played by Renée Rapp. Both of them are brilliant in their roles. And the supporting cast is also superb. Tina Fey who wrote this was schooled in that centre of all humour, the Second City group in Chicago. Second City are fabulous. You can't do better than that for comedy. My favourite film about girls is CLUELESS (1995), a classic for all time (see my review). But MEAN GIRLS is good, very good.
And Now Tomorrow (1944)
Magnificent performance by Loretta Young, script by Raymond Chandler
This powerful romantic drama, wonderfully directed by Irving Pichel, pulls at many heartstrings. The film could have failed and been considered too saccharine and melodramatic if not for the authenticity and conviction of Loretta Young, in an Oscar-worthy performance. And having Raymond Chandler and Fred Partos as the scriptwriters helped a great deal. At many points Chandler toughened up the dialogue to avoid its being too melodramatic. One typical Chandler moment near the beginning of the film is when Alan Ladd sits at a counter and orders: 'Coffee, hot and strong and made this year.' The film is based upon a novel by Rachel Field. Four years earlier another of her novels had been filmed as ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO (1940), and became a huge hit for Bette Davis. The story here is about a rich and spoiled young woman who develops a serious case of meningitis which leaves her completely deaf. She is in love with Barry Sullivan and they were just about to be married. The wedding is postponed indefinitely and when she recovers enough to speak she tells Sullivan that she does not want him to marry a deaf woman 'and have me reading your lips for the rest of your life'. So he reluctantly agrees to wait in the hope that she can be cured. Meanwhile the family doctor, admirably played by Cecil Kellaway, summons to the Pennsylvania town where this all take place a young doctor who had grown up in the shanty town of that same town but is now a brilliant success in medicine at Pittsburgh. He is played by Alan Ladd. It so happens that Ladd has been working for a long time on a serum treatment for deafness. So Kellaway persuades Ladd to try to help Loretta. They do not get on well at first but the treatment lasts five months, and they get to know each other better as a result. Many Raymond Chandler fans do not like this film because they think it is the wrong genre for their hero, and no matter how intently they watch, there is not a crime or a detective to be seen anywhere. I admire Chandler immensely and I am glad to see him being versatile and operating in a crime-free zone. In my opinion, his wonderful novels are full of profound and moving pathos and are highly emotional if you look beneath the wisecracks. Chandler was a sad and melancholy man, and this romantic film full of tragedy suited him very well. He was a real 'softie' and his hard-boiled detective fiction does not always conceal that. For instance, the terribly sad ending of THE LONG GOODBYE (the novel) is enough to make a strong man cry. There is much drama in this film which I shall leave unreported because it is best not to know too much before watching it. But Loretta Young is so touching and so genuine that we cannot but feel her every little emotion, and admire her bravery and strength of character.
The Whistler (1944)
Atmospheric and effective
This is the first of the 'Whistler series'. And it is moody and powerful, with excellent acting from Richard Dix and J. Carrol Naish. Naish is one of the best murderers I have seen in ages. Not that I hang out with them, of course, but there are plenty on screen and in various governments around the world, so that one is familiar with the type. Naish perfected the art of understated creepiness. And when he gets all excited because he thinks he has discovered 'a new technique in the art of murder', we believe him. The story is one of a man (Dix) who pays to have himself bumped off (by Naish) but then changes his mind. The budget for this film must have been very near zero, as the sets are so scanty as to constitute classic minimalism. But strangely, that just makes the film more effective. The lighting, the non-sets, the direction, all contribute to our accepting the down-and-out scenes, such as the flop house full of snoring drunks, and the docks. This makes good watching, 60 minutes of suspense. An excellent start. As for the Whistler himself, who roams the night seeing secret things that are going on, well, this is just an appetiser, as there are plenty more whistling sessions to come.
La passion de Dodin Bouffant (2023)
A work of art, both cinematically and gastronomically
It is rare that one sees a film with the same sense of awe and pleasure as one experiences looking at a great painting in a museum where one can linger and examine the brush-strokes without people in the way. This film by the French/Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung is such a film. It is a 'must' for anyone of gastronomical inclinations, anyone training to be a chef, any true 'foodies', and experts on traditional French cooking. But it is also a film with stories, with happiness and with sadness. The film is set in the 1890s or first years of the 20th century, in provincial France. It seems to have been filmed entirely on location and the interiors take place in a traditional manor house. There is no electricity, and light is all from sunlight, candles, and oil lamps. There are no phones or other interruptions to the tranquillity of the setting. The cinematography is exceptional, with rich natural colour and ingenious camerawork (congratulations to the camera operator!) There is no sense of the existence of the outside world, and no one travels outside the bubble of their existence. The house is that of a famous gourmet, Monsieur Dodin, played quietly and magnetically by Benoît Magimel. For twenty years his cook Eugénie has lived with him and together they have created some of the greatest dishes of France on a daily basis, and invented several classic dishes as well. She is played by Juliette Binoche as a quiet, understated, and proud woman. Magimel has been in love with her and asking her to marry him for all that time, but she refuses to marry, even though they are lovers, because she prefers things the way they are. She does not really want to become a wife. She and Magimel have in a sense grown together into one person, and can communicate perfectly well in silence with an occasional glance or remark, or even a sound of approval or disapproval over a dish. Sometimes 'Mmmmm' is enough to convey paragraphs' worth of meaning. They discover a very young girl named Pauline who is a born gastronomic genius, and she enters their circle. She is played to perfection by Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire, who is also naturally able to communicate by silence and with her eyes. Everything about this slow and dreamy film is magical. But best of all is the endless demonstrations of preparations of complex dishes. And when making a pot au feu, for instance, Magimel does not extract separate garlic cloves, but cuts the garlic boldly in half and places those carefully with cut-side up down into the pot. Magimel has a circle of five friends who are also gastronomes, and they frequently come for special dinners. They exchange stories about food. One refers to an incident which took place in 1364 with Pope Urban V at Avignon. To the group, this might as well have been yesterday, because as gastronomy is eternal, food and wine tales are also ageless. At one point Magimel and Binoche drink a bottle of 1839 champagne; it had been shipwrecked and lay at the bottom of the sea for 50 years, but when recovered in 1887, Magimel had bought three bottles of it at auction. They drink the most splendid wines every day, and at one point Magimel is drinking Chambolle-Musigny and says it is his favourite burgundy. As for whites, there is for instance the best of the Puligny-Montrachets. (A bottle of the 2021 is for sale on the internet at the moment for £747.60 in case you are interested.) There is an amazing scene where the men are together and eating ortolans, with napkins entirely covering their heads. Ortolans are small rare birds, said to be the finest of all game birds. When President Pompidou lay dying he had his last meal, at his special request, of ortolans. I have never eaten one and don't feel comfortable about eating rare creatures. Ormeaux yes, ortolans no, because they now farm ormeaux on the coast of Britanny, so that is OK then. In Magimel's kitchen all the pans are copper, and there is even a special copper 'turbot pan' shaped like a turbot, and large enough to hold one. We see the turbot dish being prepared. The stove is a large black aga. The kitchen is large and there are plenty of surfaces. The garden supplies endless vegetables. The film is amongst other things a continuous stream of demonstrated recipes, showing every aspect of the chopping and preparation of every ingredient. We see it all so clearly that if we had the ingredients and time and patience we could recreate some of them just from what we have seen and heard in the film. At one point we see every stage of the preparation of a Baked Alaska; the subtitles say 'Baked Alaska' but in the French dialogue they do not say Alaska, they say 'Norwegian'. (Alaska means nothing to the French even now.) The home made ice cream is made in a sunken area full of chopped ice. We are treated to the information that the vol-au-vent was discovered by accident. The group then decides that the story may be apocryphal, but that they don't care because they love any story about food whether it is true or false. All of these people are able to concentrate so profoundly upon food and cooking because there are no distractions, life is quiet, and nothing need interrupt the preparation of even the most complicated dish. It does not matter if a dish takes hours to prepare, as the dish is more important than time. This film is a food-lover's dream. I have not discussed the personal dramas that take place because it is difficult to do so without spoilers. What a triumph and work of art this film is! It can teach you to savour food, love cooking, and above all, eating.
Le caporal épinglé (1962)
Jean Renoir's last film
This was a very fine swan song for Jean Renoir's directorial career. It is both serious and humorous at the same time. The film contains a great deal of original news footage relating to the Second World War and the Occupation of Paris, much or all of which seems not to have been made public elsewhere. In order to blend in seamlessly with the news footage, Renoir chose to make the film itself in black and white. The original title of the film is LE CAPORAL ÉPINGLÉ, and the English title is a translation of that. Young and little known at the time, Jean-Pierre Cassel was cast as the corporal, and that worked perfectly. The story starts with the surrender of the French to the Nazis, and we see the surrender documents being signed in the very same railway carriage which was used for the Germans to sign their surrender at the end of World War I. Then we see the Nazis marching into Paris and from an oncoming sea of German soldiers Renoir cuts to an oncoming sea of bedraggled French soldiers. Despite the fact that France has surrendered, the French soldiers are being imprisoned in camps and treated as prisoners of war. The story starts there. Cassell becomes a serial escaper, escaping over and over again in ingenious ways, but is always recaptured. It is funny but also tragic, because all the imprisoned French are wasting away with insufficient food and brutal punishments. The film is historically informative and has particular value for that. But the human relationships and interactions are fascinating and the film is absorbing and enjoyable. The daring and imagination shown in the escape attempts is often astonishing. The story is based upon a novel by Jacques Perret, and that in turn was based upon real people and events. Certainly this film fills in a gap in our knowledge of the French experience of defeat. And Renoir has made a testament to human resilience and ingenuity.
Poor Things (2023)
A terrible film, perverted, dismal, and wicked as well
This is an example of exactly the sort of film which should never be made. To start with the most obvious, the film is so over-saturated with weird obsessive sexuality that I would classify it as pornography. Little if any of the countless sexual episodes can be justified as "necessary to the story". But they do seem to be necessary to the twisted psyches of the people who made the film. Who is the pervert? The director? The writers? The producers? Somebody certainly is. Or all of the above? But there are other serious things which are objectionable about this film, which go far beyond the subject of sexuality. One could consider the film as a kind of transhumanist fantasy, thrilling to those people who think having people made of pieces of flesh sewn together in the manner of the Frankenstein Monster is perfectly acceptable. And as we know, it is the dream of transhumanists that we will all one day be combinations of human and machine, with the emphasis on the machine aspect. In other words, the offensive "humanity" of humans must be eradicated at all costs, and people reduced to the level of robots. The Frankenstein Monster-style character played by William Dafoe is put forward as a perfectly normal fabricant. As for the main character Bella Baxter, played with such brilliance by Emma Stone, we are meant to accept her too as "normal'. She was "made" by the mad scientist Dafoe from the body of a woman who drowned herself while pregnant, with the brain of the foetus implanted in her instead of the adult woman's destroyed brain. So she is a child-woman. But "that's OK, nothing to be seen here, move on. Everything is perfectly normal and under control." Yes, control is the key. Whoever wants the public to swallow and respect such garbage would like to see a public consisting also of fabricants. And as for the brilliant art direction and special effects, which are gaspable, they purvey a nightmare world of semi-darkness, of lurid colours and fantasies: in other words, a purely A. I. world. Everything about and in this horrible film is entirely fabricated, and one wonders about the people who made it. From which sinister lab did they emerge?
Thunder on the Hill (1951)
Released as THUNDER ON THE HILL, superb early Douglas Sirk
This film is based on a play, entitled BONAVENTURE, the title of which refers to the lead character, the nun named Sister Mary Bonaventure. But the film was released in 1951 as THUNDER ON THE HILL and has been released on DVD and Blu-Ray recently under that title as well. The story is highly dramatic, indeed can properly be described as a melodrama, and is powerfully directed by Douglas Sirk. It is set in the county of Norfolk, 8 miles from the city Norwich. Enormous floods have made the land impassable, so that some travellers cannot reach Norwich and they take refuge in a large convent, where they are welcomed by the sisters, who feed and shelter them. Amongst those taking refuge there are a policeman and a woman prisoner, as well as her female guard. We learn that she is on her way to Norwich to be executed for murder, and is due to be hung by the neck on a gallows the very next morning. But she will be late for her own execution, because there is no way to get to Norwich, and the phone lines are down so that a police boat cannot be summoned either. This sets the scene for a high intensity situation. A very saintly young nun feels instinctively when she meet the supposed murderess that she is really innocent. The nun is played by Claudette Colbert, and the condemned girl by Ann Blyth. The cinematography is terrific, evoking moods and atmospheres with every shot, and is by William H. Daniels. The combination of his camera work, Sirk's direction, and standout performances by the actors (Gladys Cooper play the Mother superior) make the drama immensely powerful. This is a major early work by Douglas Sirk. And it focuses intently on questions of guilt and innocence, and highly emotional scenes with a great deal of tension, as the confrontations play out one after the other, things are revealed, and there are surprises in store.
Outside the Law (1956)
Entertaining fifties B thriller
The noirish theme of the returning G. I. is perpetuated in this film made as late as 1956, more than a decade after most had returned from the War. In this case, Ray Danton plays an Army Staff Sergeant who has been called back from Europe to help the U. S. Treasury crack a counterfeiting case which has been plaguing them for 15 years. Danton had been permitted to join the Army as a condition of his parole, having been imprisoned for a minor offence when younger. He has done well in the army, been promoted, won a medal, was wounded, the whole lot. He is now offered the chance to have his "slate wiped clean" for his earlier crime by cooperating in solving the case. The head of the enquiry team in Washington is his own father! They are severely estranged and tensions run high between them. The reason why Danton is considered important is that he knew a member of the counterfeiting gang who was recently murdered. He is asked to call on that man's widow (played by Leigh Snowden) and see if he can glean any information on the gang. It turns out that Snowden had only known her husband for three months before he left for Europe and is ignorant of his criminal activities. But she is jealously watched by another member of the gang. Things get violent very fast. Will our hero survive? Will he fall in love with the pretty widow? Can the villains be traced? And can the case be solved? The film is competently done and all is eventually revealed.
The Bridge (1991)
A masterpiece of cinematic art
This film disappeared soon after its release and I can hardly believe that it is only now, 33 years later, that I have been able to see it again on a private DVD. It is a genuine masterpiece of British cinema. It has atmosphere reminiscent of PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK and the emotional intensity of BRIEF ENCOUNTER, with which it shares the theme of an overwhelming love which is suppressed and rendered impossible by circumstances. The film is set on the Suffolk coast in the 19th century and concerns the Victorian painter Phillip Wilson Steer, who spends the summer there. Steer is perfectly cast and played by David O'Hara, who beautifully underplays every scene, thus contributing to the film's amazing subtlety. But the outstanding performance is by the female lead, Saskia Reeves. It may well be the best thing she has ever done. She displayed at this early stage in her career that she knows how to act and convey overwhelming emotion without saying a word, one of the most difficult tasks in the acting profession. She was at this age hauntingly beautiful. As someone who is only five foot four inches tall, one never knows this from the way the film is shot, though I believe it was a handicap in her career. Some of Britain's best supporting actors appear in the film as well: Joss Ackland, Rosemary Harris, Anthony Higgins, and Geraldine James. As the desolate Mrs. Todd, whose husband and son are drowned at sea in a storm, Geraldine James is magnificent in her grief and her poverty, upheld by a pride of the sort one finds in Greek tragedy. This incredible film was directed by Syd Macartney, whom I knew fairly well in the early 1990s. He is from Northern Ireland and immensely talented and so effortlessly amiable. The failure of anyone to take any notice of this film upon its release was a terrible disappointment to him. There is no question that he was and is one of the most talented directors England has seen in decades. The artistry and genius he shows in every scene of this film has, in effect, been lost to creative cinema. He was one of the most noted directors of television commercials, for which he had his own company. And he has directed countless television dramas over the years. But he should have been the next David Lean. He was catastrophically under-appreciated and should have won many Oscars and gone on to make so many inspiring famous films. Syd has more talent and inspiration than any ten other directors put together. But we live in a world where the best are often not seen for what they really are, and where mediocrity is prized above all else. This film is so powerful and tragic. If only everyone could see it. Apparently it has never been available on DVD commercially. What a terrible loss to British culture and to British cinema!