Movie reivew - "Dangerous When Wet" (1953) ***

Fun Esther Williams movie which has an enjoyable family feel - she's part of a super athletic family who decide to swum the English Channel. Fernando Lamas is the lecherous Frenchman she meets when he's yachting in the channel - he goes the grope but it's tempered because they married in real life and Lamas looks like he can swim.

William Demarest is dad, Jack Carson is Williams' manager and Charles Walters directs with a nice light touch. There's not much conflict except swimming the Channel - I like that Williams did this and Lamas supported her (the writer was a woman, Dorothy Kingsley).

Williams has a friend who is played by Denise Darcel another non-discovery of Dore Schary's. It feels as though it was written for Debbie Reynolds - and it was! There's not too much Jack Carson (a little of him goes a long way for me). The mood is bright and cheery. Tom and Jerry do a number with Esther.

Movie review - "The World of Henry Orient" (1964) ***

Sweet, charming film about two 14 year old girls on the loose in New York City, having adventures, telling white lies that get mistaken for the truth and (one of them) obsessing over a pianist based on Oscar Levant (Peter Sellers).

Sellers is great fun as is Paula Prentiss as the married woman he keeps trying to shag but gets interrupted. These two are great together - but then Prentiss was one of the best comics of the 60s.

The real stars are the girls, who bond instantly with their fantasy worlds, and broken homes - the movie is very moving on the topic of divorce.

New York looks lovely. So clean. And the adults, while bossy, at least care. Well, everyone except Angela Lansbury who is a slightly too convenient villain with nice Tom Bosley as dad... but he did ignore his child too. Having said that the depiction of Lansbury's adultery is well done, and the scene where Bosley bonds with his daughter is lovely.

I can see why the film wasn't a big hit - it is slow in paces and doesn't have a strong narrative drive. It feels long.

There are some racist-ish jokes which haven't worn well - the girls joking about being ravished by the Chinese and what not. But it's a movie made with affection and care.

Movie review - "The Operation" (1973) *

George Lazenby usually makes it sound like he went from James Bond to Hong Kong, but he made a few films in between - an Italian flick called Who Saw Her Die? and this British TV movie, a Play for Today. I assumed this would be studio bound and cheap but it looks great - location filming, on film. I liked Roy Battersby's direction.

But it's a dumb story. So dumb. Dramatically bad. Maybe there's depth I'm not aware of. I don't think so. It's got early 70s in Britain smugness against captalism but makes it's own argument so badly.

The plot should be simple but is needlessly confusing. George Lazenby is a property developer who wants to knock down a building but there's a tenant who won't leave. He seduces the man's wife... but... he seems to like her, I think. The tenant won't leave because he's "built it up himself" even though he took over from his father and Lazenby offered him a lease in the new building. And when Lazenby seduces the wife it's no shock because the grocer hosts key parties.

Lazenby has this former best friend who is on the dole for five years who he gives a job to... um... be nice to the wife, even though he's hooked up with the wife (we don't see it, it happens off screen), and the wife and the friend hang out and get into bed together platonically and she has plastic surgery and.... I think at the end that's Lazenby dressed up in a uniform to have some bondage with the wife and they get shot by the husband.

It's weird. Lazenby answers the door to his friend and goes sorry I'm having a bath, hops in the bath and gets out again. Maybe it's art. I think it's just inept.

It's great to see Lazenby as a developer - he's got swagger and I buy him in the part (they cover his accent by saying he went away to school in Australia and worked as a car salesman). I wish he'd been able to play just a good old ruthless tycoon but they but away to this boring friend who wasn't really a friend and hasn't worked for five years so who cares about his crisis of conscience. Who cares about the grocer. I mean, the building has to be knocked down doesnt it? Why is that bad? What am I missing?

There is novelty seeing Lazenby in the lead in a drama and a British TV movie of the early 70s with a councillor getting a blow job, and a party which ends in a key party, and some bondage. The 70s were wild.

Movie review - "Body Double" (1984) *** (warning: spoilers)

I remember really liking the screenplay but the film isn't as much fun. Some things which read fine on the page seem silly on screen - like Craig Wasson's tracking of a girl, when he's like literally one step behind, or the girl dancing in her underwear at home, or the make up of the "Indian".

It's a film of two halves - the first is a Vertigo rip off with Wasson perving on the girl next door who is meant to be Melanie Griffith impersonating a girl but really seems to be not Melanie Griffith and she dances at home in such an outlandish way. There's lots of Wasson following the girl around then they make up then it climaxes with this horrid drill murder - a death that is affecting because the girl knows the killer is there, she escapes, and cries out, and almost gets away, then is drilled to death... it's very unsettling and unpleasant and drawn out.

Then the second half it's more a wacky screwball comedy with Wasson investigating, going undercover in the porn industry, having sex with Melanie Griffith (lots of fun) who's a porn star, appearing in a Frankie Goes to Hollywood clip. Griffith's life is threatened but that feels more fun and games, and Wasson's life is saved by a dog.

Wasson isn't much of a lead, Griffith is fun (she should have played the lead), there's a lot of boobs (Griffith, Barbara Crampton, that girl at the end in the shower who really gets lingered over).

Movie review - "The Foreigner" (2003) **

One of the first Seagal films that went straight to video and still earned a lot of money, determining the shape of his career for the next decade. He's a courier who gets involved in shenanigans around a package. There's some cultured evil British accents, a black actor being nasty, a damsel who has quite a big part (Anna Louise Plowman).

Some potentially interesting subplots are not developed - Seagal being haunted by the death of his father, and having a brother, and looking after a kid. Sometimes he is clearly doubled, and he is too tubby for some of the fight scenes.

It was shot in Poland which is surely prettier than as depicted here. Kate Fischer apparently has a small role but I must have blinked and missed her.

Movie review - "Dancers in the Dark" (1932) **

There's some pre Code fun to be had in the reputation of Miriam Hopkins' character in this film - she was a girl who got around including a romance with Jack Oakie and George Raft, but now she's in love with this wet musician, William Collier Jr.

It's not much of a movie - its kind of a musical with the action stopping for numbers (it's set around a night club, Hopkins sings, the other girl sings, Oakie is a bandleader). You might like it if you're into Hopkins who does try and her fans will be interested in her singing. Raft is good value - he was growing in confidence by this stage. Oakie sexually molests Hopkins but he's not a bad guy apparently. Raft keeps things lively, Collier is wet.

Movie review - "All of Me" (1934) ** (warning: spoilers)

An odd film. The story of two romances - college lecturer Frederic March whose girlfriend Miriam Hopkins doesn't want to get married, and crim George Raft and his girl Helen Mack. The love of Mack and Raft makes Hopkins decide to marry Raft.

Why did Paramount make this? I read a contemporary review which wondered if the reels were out of order. And it feels like it. You didn't need the March/Hopkins stuff - really the meat is in the Raft/Mack romance, the love of a woman for a convict who loves her but can't help being bad.

It's actually one of Raft's best performances - he seems natural, intense - the director was James Flood, who I'd never heard of. Mack is effective too and Hopkins has some fine moments - she can't sustain her Miriam Hopkins erratic-ness but sometimes hits the nail on the head. I'm not a March fan - he does his ham intensity well enough. There are some interesting dimly lit scenes which feel emotionally strong.

But it's a silly story.

Movie review - "The Gentlemen" (2020) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would - I have an instinctive wariness of Guy Ritchie, but there's plenty of movie stars, story, great actors, funky music, and twists, and Ritchie still has verve behind the camera. The dialogue is enjoyable to listen to and most of all Hugh Grant is having the time of his life as a gay gossipy investigator who narrates the tale - his good mood was presumably helped by the fact most of his scenes are shot in one location. Jeremy Strong and Eddie Marsden were also excellent and there was decent work from the others.

Gripe time: there's an unpleasant strand of white supremacy through the film, with its white establishment figures banding together to keep out the Jews and Chinese who are disloyal and push heroin, sympathetic depiction of aristocracy, and depiction of Irish and blacks being useful if they are hired hands. I really didn't like the attempted rape scene it wasn't necessary.

Some character aspects could have been more thoroughly explored-  why was Colin Farrell so obliging? I mean to do one nice thing sure but he kept coming back to get the heroes out of trouble. Why was Charlie H so loyal to his boss? Isn't the Russian mafia dude still going to want to come after them at the end? Did Matthew McC get the money?

I did like the nods to The Long Good Friday.

Movie review - "My Wicked Wicked Ways" (1985) **

No one has much good to say about this TV movie but I have an affection for it in part because it's a genre that isn't made any more - the dopey network TV biopic. Duncan Regehr is up against it to play Errol Flynn but he does okay - no one has really nailed that role, except maybe Peter O'Toole in My Favourite Year and Jude Law's cameo in The Aviator.

A lot of it is made up, sometimes outrageously - Koets is turned into an Irish adventurer - and plenty of scenes stink. It seems to have been envisioned as a mini series then shoved together. It assumes Flynn was innocent of the rape charges and seems to lack focus - there's plots about Flynn wanting more money, and wanting to Act Seriously.

But you know I did enjoy the character spotting - "oh that's Raoul Walsh.. that's John Barrymore... that's Olivia de Havilland." I liked how the piece focused on Flynn's relationship with a few people giving it some weight - Lily Damita (Barbara Hershey doing the best she can), stuntman Bill Mead, Olivia de Havilland, Jack Warner, Koets, John Barrymore.

And once you get it's heavily fictionalised I appreciate the bits they did try to get right - he did clash with Michael Curtiz, Warner did secretly like him, he did go to Spain in the Civil War, he and Damita did fight, he did sleep around, Walsh did dig up Barrymore's corpse for a joke (ok that was more an urban legend I feel but everyone says it).

I think once Flynn fans get over the fact this isn't very good they will enjoy it. I mean, at least they tried and it is about Flynn.

Book review - "Start to Finish: Woody Allen and the Art of Moviemaking" by Eric Lax

Do we really want movie making advice from late period Woody Allen? His films are so flabby and hit or miss these days. Still, Lax wrote some excellent books on Allen so I thought I'd give this a go. There are boring slabs but it was worth it.

Lax follows Allen while he made An Irrational Man a not particularly highly regarded Allen film but not a shocker (Allen says Curse of the Jade Scorpion is his worst... he may be right).  He follows Allen through the process of writing, casting, prepping, shooting, editing and post production of this movie in sometimes exhaustive detail. Only a real fan will enjoy the stuff about him getting the right shade of colour or sound or cuts or on a set. He's a compulsive worker who has some good people on his movies - his work ethic is to be admired.

By Lax lets him off the hook in key areas - the fact Allen's scripts are finished too soon, his unwillingness to write with a collaborator (which he's done before), his seeming inability to make a film where a young hot thing doesn't want a middle aged man, the clunky dialogue.

There's also this really uncomfortable chapter in the middle where he addresses the Woody sex stuff - Lax basically accuses Dylan Farrow of making it all up having been trained by Mia, and quotes Soo Yi and Moses in support. He makes some valid sounding arguments in Allen's defence and then goes and writes vague things like "Allen has spent millions of dollars trying to be in contact with Dylan". Ah, it's so sordid and every account I've read of this someone seems to have an axe to grind and no one ever footnotes their pieces.

There is interesting stuff - Allen talks of his admiration for European directors, Bob Hope and films like Shane, and chats about the DOP (Gordon Willis used to make him go over every scene every night and now he gets on the floor and wings it - that's a key reason why his later movies are so flabby). He clearly lives in a world where no one truly challenges him - he has employees whose opinions he respects, that's a different thing. The book ends with him getting that dream deal from Amazon and he whines about it. Seriously. But still, he's out there, plugging away.

Book review - "Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators " by Ronan Farrow (2019)

First some sniping - Farrow is a little annoying at times, and it feels mean when he makes digs at Jackie (there's no need for it). But it's an engrossing book, a story of his attempt to run a story about Harvey Weinstein at NBC which wound up at the New Yorker.  The book by those Times reporters is more no frills journalism - Farrow is more a media celebrity, with his famous relatives, and being staked out. This one feels more high drama with Black Cube stalking him and what not.

The corporate cover stuff up is all too easy to believe. This is full of colourful characters like Tom Brokaw and Matt Lauer - and Harvey Weinstein as ever makes a compelling antagonist. He put in so much effort into committing these crimes then covering it up - it's exhausting.

Movie review - "Laughing Anne" (1953) ** (warning: spoilers)

Margaret Lockwood signed with Herbert Wilcox in a multi picture deal attempting to revive her career. The films weren't popular, particularly this one which is a South Seas tale of all things, though with minimal location work although it is in colour.

It was a co production with Republic so there are two American "stars" - Forrest Tucker and Wendell Corey. Corey is a captain who hooks up with lounge singer Margaret Lockwood - in a French accent channelling Marlene Dietrich or Yvonne de Carlo. She flashes back to her romance with Forest Tucker, who got his hands chopped off because he wouldn't throw a fight.

The film really needed to star someone like de Carlo or Maureen O'Hara and Jeff Chandler. The basic story isn't bad - from a story by Joseph Conrad - but its sluggish. Corey and Tucker are second tier, and Lockwood looks uncomfortable. I mean she throws herself into it with the accent and singing but it's unconvincing.

Wilcox's direction is lethargic and the story is depressing - Tucker gets his hands cut off and is a loser, Lockwood winds up dead, Corey's wife leaves him.

Movie review - "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (1979) **1/2

For me this was always in the shadow of Battlestar Galactica but it has its pleasures. It's a more full on, nutty show, with superb guest stars that were frequently given insufficient screen time, outlandish art direction and bonkers plots that frequently felt like cobbled together from various other projects and episodes. It feels very late 70s - the costumes have a Studio 54 aesthetic.

Ep 1 and 2 - The pilot - a very solid origin story helps this immensely, as does the generous production budget and they cast the key actors well. Any trauma Buck might have felt at missing so much time is minimised (as was the decimation of the human race in Battlestar). The villains are tremendous fun - Pamela Hensley, Henry Silva and Duke Butler as Tigerman. The action scenes aren't done that well.

Ep 3 & 4 - Planet of the Slave Girls - a great trashy title and heaps of different storylines, none of which is exploited in the way they should have been. David Groh is Buck's frizzy haired rival and former love of Wilma - not enough is made of this. Neither is enough made of Roddy McDowall's weak local ruler, though he is great fun - so is Jack Palance as a despotic ruler. Brianne Leary is a slave girl with the hots for McDowall's son. Buster Crabbe pops up as a veteran pilot - I wish he'd been used more too. Lots of story - a native uprising against a despot leader, a weak Sultan type, a plan to weaken all the pilots.

Ep 5 - Las Vegas in Space - another notable guest star wasted, in this case Cesar Romero as an intriguing dodgy figure who doesn't go on a mission he prompts, to rescue a girl. She's played by Ana Alicia who is very good. Universal TV stalwart Pamela Susan Shoop plays a hooker in all but name, Buck Rogers has a reflective moment at the casino about his old life which is moving and the ever reliable Richard Lynch is a good villain. The episode is still odd though because Juanin Clay plays a character clearly meant to be Wilma - the girl Buck goes on the mission with. They cover it with some topping and tailing with Erin Gray as Wilma but it still feels odd.

Ep 6 and 7 - The Plot to Kill a City - Buck pretends to be an assassin in another episode with an overdose of plotlines insufficiently developed. There's so much story - Frank Gorshin is the head of a group of terrorists, Markie Post from Nightcourt is an ex of the assassin, John Quade has telekenetic powers, Nancy deCarl is striking as a female terrorist, James Sloyan is great fun as a shifty type,Victor Argo is a tough guy. There's this black guy and a crippled guy and.. oh there's a lot going on but it still feels unsatisfactory because they skim it. But it's got to be said it does feel like a comic.

Ep  8 - Return of the 69th - Buck makes a touching plea against ageism in this tale where our heros have to use a bunch of old pilots to fight a baddie.  Peter Graves is the main pilot - it's a shame Buster Crabbe couldn't have hold off until this episode to be used; maybe they thought he wasn't up to it. Woody Strode is there too as a pilot but the best parts go to Elizabeth Allen (who was vaguely familiar... she held her own against John Wayne in Donovan's Reef) and Robert Quarry as the villains The girl who plays the slave girl is undercast.

Ep 9 - Unchained Woman - Jamie Lee Curtis plays a prisoner rescued by Buck, an idea which sounds like a lot of fun, but as I'm coming to see was all too typical of this show they don't have any fun with the concept. She needed to bounce off Buck in some way - be up town, a snob, a thief, something... but she's just straight, and Curtis is, like so many guest stars on this show, wasted. This show had a lot of good ideas but didn't know how to best execute them.

Ep 10 - Planet of the Amazon Women - this starts off fun, with Buck trapped into a man hungry planet, but it isn't developed well and is thrown by a subplot involving a rival planet.  They don't go for it - this show really should have had more of women finding Buck irresistible, they could have made it work, I mean that was the set up of the pilot. You needed Wilma in there getting annoyed, and more fun with the concept. Jay Robinson is good value as a treacherous man - it's entertaining to see Anne Jeffreys too as the head of the planet.

Ep 11 - Cosmix Whiz Kid - the storylines on this show were so nutty that it made perfect sense that Gary Coleman is a genius... they didn't need to make it so he was cryogenically frozen from Buck's time. That's a whole separate concept that isn't used... they waste it on this episode. Coleman is entertaining - some people feel he was out of place but I feel it fits in as much as any one else. The big debit is Coleman has hardly any scenes with Buck or Tweetie, who would be his natural co stars, and hangs out with Ein Grey while Buck runs around with Coleman's dull bodyguard. Why not give this actor something to play? Ray Walston lives up his scenes as a baddy - I do love how this series had a healthy respect for older stars.

Ep 12 - Escape from Wedded Bliss - Pamela Hensley makes a welcome return as the Buck-hungry Princess Ardala. Hensley was the best thing about this show - strutting around in  a series of spectacular outfits, playing everything with just the right amount of tongue in cheek. But the script doesn't do the idea or her justice - and neither does Gil Gerard who seems bored (he was frustrated with the direction of the show, and is low energy). It's obvious what should be done - you have Aradala wanting Buck just as his romance with Wilma is about to take off, and the humans push him into it and it should all be silly fun: a bucks party, hens night (Wilma as Bridesmaid), someone who wants Ardala all that... but there's hardly any Wilma and no Wilma-Aradala clash. It's so frustrating. This does get some points for a roller skating disco number.

Ep 13 - Cruise Ship to the Stars - an episode best remembered for Dorothy Stratten playing a starlet in a space bikini - while she's very attractive she doesn't quite suit it in the way, say Pamela Hensley did. Stratten was a sweet, girl next door type rather than a space bikini wearer. Her role is surprisingly small - a bigger part is some other blonde, Kimberley Beck (Stratten could've played the part but Beck is quite good) who is gaslit and shares a split personality with Aussie Trisha Noble, who is excellent. There's not enough Wilma, though she does go undercover with a hilarious perm. Twiki scores with another robot. There's more disco.

Ep 14 - Space Vampire - a more serious story and it results in a terrific episode with Buck and Wilma on board a ship where some Mysterious Things Are Happening. Elma Gray was - disastrously for the show - sidelined for most of the second half of season one, due apparently to Gerard's insecurity, but she has a good chance here, being possessed, and makes the most of it. Christopher Stone adds some class to the support.

Ep 15 - Happy Birthday, Buck - a mess of an episode, which, like so many of these episodes, has a decent premise that is poorly executed. There's all these shenanigans with Wilma wanting to cheer up a morose Buck who is feeling lonely, intercut with a plot to assassinate Tim O'Connor (given something to do at last apart from issue orders). Then there's another plot with Buck escorting Morgan Brittany. This series muffed the Buck-Wilma thing so bad... it would've been so easy to do

Ep 16 - A Blast for Buck - a clip show, and an entertaining one since the series' production values were high and guest stars so interesting.

E 17 - Aradala Returns - the show had one of the best villains with Princess Ardala but failed to come up with decent eps. Like Escape from Wedded Bliss the set up is fantastic - Ardala clones Buck - but they don't use Wilma nearly enough, can't make up their mind how Buck thinks about Ardala, and the whole ep lacks energy.

Ep 18 - Twiki is Missing - John Ryan has the time of his life as a hammy villain. Twiki being kidnapped is a decent idea and this episode is solid. Wilma is wasted, once more.

Ep 19 - Olympiad - campy fun with a futuristic Olympiad and Buck getting involved in a romance between two athletes from different cultures. Really Buck should have had the romance. He looks bored mostly, except in a few scenes where he seemed lecherous. Not enough Wilma. Dennis Haysbert is in this.

Ep 20 - A Dream of Jennifer - Universal must have liked Anne Lockhart as a love interest in sci fi, she was Captain Sheba in Battlestar Galactica and pops up as the double of Buck Rogers' long last love here. It's a decent episode, accessing Buck's past, and has some brilliantly entertaining villains done up like Masque of the Red Death - one played by Mary Woronov. Actually come to think of it the "long lost love" thing is another indication the writers of this might have seen the Corman Poe movies. Gerard looks bored - he began this series as one of his strengths then brought it down.

Ep 21 - Space Rockers - high camp as Buck gets involved in a rock band who are causing riots. That's a bit wowser-ish! Jerry Orbach is in this looking about as comfortable in sci fi garb as you would expect.

Ep 22 - Buck's Duel to the Death - Buck winds up in a fight with William Smith, who is perfect for this sort of thing. No Wilma along on the mission - that's what helped wreck this series.

Ep 23 and 24 - Flight of the War Witch - Aradala is back which is always fun but never as fun as you think because they never had the fun with her they did in the pilot. I did like her shifting allegiances. Julie Newmar is in it but underplays which seems pointless. Vera Miles pops up as does Sam Jaffe and once again Wilma is wasted.

Movie review - "Man's Favorite Sport?" (1964) ***

A maligned entry in the career of Howard Hawks but it's bright and colourful with a sense of relaxed camraderie that is winning. Paula Prentiss has this friend (Maria Perschy). who goes along who probably isn't really needed script wise but jokes around and is fun. They probably should have given Hudson a similar friend instead of that random boss figure.

There's some dated jokes about a local who pretends to be a Native American, bright colour, Prentiss is a delight, Hudson is amiable even though his role was clearly meant for Cary Grant and he plays it like Cary Grant (the slow burn, being pursued by a woman). Charlene Holt - like Perschy, a Hawks discovery - is Hudson's fiancee who is never much of a threat.

The whole film has a nice vibe to it.

Movie review - "St Valentine's Day Massacre" (1967) **1/2 (re-watching)

Roger Corman didn't have much luck with the bid studios - he was too independent. He was fired of Time for a Killing but completed this one although didn't like the experience - too much money not enough control.

Still he would have had fun being able to pay his crew and shooting on the backlot. The impressive  sets are an attraction of the movie - it has a strong cast and plenty of pace. Lots of loud gunfire - blood in the mouths at the end.

I wasn't wild about the script. Howard Browne takes a very documentary approach - there's lots of voice over which is sometimes effective especially when reporting on what happened to the character "eg he died two years later". It was hard for me to follow who was who.

Part of the problem dramatically is neither of the two antagonists - Bugs Moran and Al Capone - were at the massacre. They get all this screen time. There are no central relationships to hang on to just a lot of people yelling.

Ralph Meeker is okay as Moran - the heart throb of Picnic on stage had very much filled out by now and was chubby. Jason Robards is fine as Capone but Corman was right to want Orson Welles in this part. People like Bruce Dern, Dick Miller, Jack Nicholson and Barbara Mouris pop up in the support cast, which is fun. George Segal is effective as a good - he gets some decent scenes, albeit mostly yelling at fifty worders or the blonde. I think the movie would have been more effective focusing on the gunmen and victims with Capone and Moran as cameos.

Movie review - "Scorpio" (1973) ** (warning spoilers)

This film is silly. At its core it is simple - a veteran assassin is chased after by the CIA who send the assassin's protege after him. Burt Lancaster is ideal as the veteran - sad eyed, old but still athletic.

But too many moments feel like "ooh let's have a twist" or "let's have a cool action bit" or "let's do a cute bit". Lancaster's wife is shot, and Delon's girlfriend is a double agent, and Delon likes cats.

There's no momentum - they keep having action sequences then Delon goes back to the office and reporting to John Colicos. Delon seems silly working for the CIA - he has trouble with English, he feels ill at ease.

There is plenty of action and bang bang but what should be a simple story is made pointlessly confusing... you don't care or feel anything. At least I didn't. The locations help and the quality of the cast is strong - it also includes people like Jame Sikking and Paul Scofield, whose scenes with Lancaster are the best thing about the movie which should have been about their relationship.

Movie review - "Concorde - Airport 79" (1979) *

The fascinating thing about this movie is not that's bad, but all the different ways it manages to be bad. Whether it's George Kennedy going "they don't call this the cockpit for nothing" or constantly talking about his dead wife or his awkward banter with fellow pilot Alain Delon... actually make that everything Kennedy does... or Delon struggling with hi English and lack of chemistry with Kennedy or his poorly devised love subplot with Sylvia Kristel, or an assassin turning up at Susan Blakely's house or Blakely crawling on the roof escaping said assassin.. or the subplot where Blakely uncovers an arms racket run by boyfriend Robert Wagner who arranges for a missile to try to shoot down the Concorde, or Jimie Walker playing on a saxophone, or Martha Raye getting drenched in the toilet or... or...

The least silly thing about it is the romance between Jon Davidson and a Russian gymnast and that's still pretty silly. There are some scenes where the Concorde does a 360 with everyone wailing which are dumb too. Other highlights include Charo and her dog and Eddie Albert being an idiot in the cockpit waitinf for a subplot and... it's all pretty bad.

Structurally the film has a major problem in that the film consists of two flights - the Concorde takes off, is attacked by a missile, but manages to land safelty. Then it takes off again, a bomb goes off, and manages to land safely.

I should say that the moments where the bottom of the plane falls out and passengers can look through to the ground are well done. And I liked Delon having to land the plan on the snow at a ski field he was familiar with. Ed Begley Jr helps clear the ski field. Eric Roth wrote this. The ending feels very abrupt - a bit more of a denouement would've been nice.

Book review - MacLean#8 - "Golden Rendezvous" by Alistair MacLean (warning: spoilers)

I didn't think much of the film but the book is pretty good - well the first few pages were wobbly but then once the action started it didn't let up with the pursuer discovering a dead body, then another dead body then another, and figuring out stuff that's going on and taking action but still being behind... then the ship is hijacked.

In top MacLean style there's plenty of passages where the hero describes himself as being in pain and how ruthless and smart his enemies are, and excellently described fight scenes. The baddies do let the hero live when surely they would suspect him more.

A girl is allowed along on this one - the daughter of the owner of the ship who proves brave as well as beautiful and badgers the hero into marriage. There's also a doctor, the gruff captain and a ruthless baddy and his son... plus an atomic bomb. Lots of clambering around ships and people being thrown off the edge.  The baddies do have quite a convoluted plan but they are effective enemies - smart leader, forty men.

I like the ending where they were hanging around waiting for the baddies to blow up in an atomic bomb. I also like how Carter, the hero, maintained an element of mystery. The ship stuff all feels real - MacLean loved his boats.

This should have made a better movie than it did.

Movie review - "Aladdin" (2019) **1/2

Another live action remake which the public loved. It's heavy and bloated with some underwhelming actors but benefits from the strong original story, and good performances from Will Smith and Naomi Scott (Jasmine). There are bright colours and it's weird to see the Genie in a romance. It doesn't feel very Guy Ritchie.

Movie review - "Joy House" (1964) ***

Not highly acclaimed critically and probably could have been done in colour but I liked it. It was an MGM shot in French in France with French stars but also two American stars. 

Alain Delon is perfectly cast as the lover of a gangster's wife who just escapes said gangster's hoons and winds up seeking refuge in the house of wealthy Lola Albright and her niece Jane Fonda. Albright has a lover shoved in the attic years before Parasite.

Fonda is seriously hot in this movie - she's beautifully shot and is alive and full of energy. The role might have been more effective if played by someone more plain - who would want control over Delon. I mean seriously how hard is it for Fonda to trap Delon?

Delon was peak pretty at this stage too which suits the role and Lola Albright isn't too shabby either. They have some hot sex. Gangsters come after her.

They could have done more with the cuckolded gangster and the lover in the attic but it was sexy and atmospheric, beautifully shot, with a Lalo Schifrin score. It got hostile views I don't know why.

Movie review - "Pierrot Le Fou" (1965) ***

Jean Luc Godard is reunited with Jean Paul Belmondo who plays a man who runs off with Ana Karina and they are chased by some gangster types.

Interesting credits, lush score, talk of Johnny Guitar, Sam Fuller makes a cameo to talk about cinema ("A film is like a battle ground - love, hate, action, violence, death. In one word - emotion"), satire of commercialism (ditzes talking about hair and Alfa Romeos), a beautiful love object to rejuvenate a married man, women singing randomly, dance numbers, splatterings of violence, kabuki theatre, yellow face, torture, death.

It is bright and colourful and Karina is charming - Godard clearly adores her. Belmondo is miscast to play a married office worker but he's always entertaining to see - Godard used stars well however Marxist he was. I enjoyed the playfulness of this time. It's a young man having fun.

Movie review - "The Leopard" (1963) ***1/2

I always wondered about the high reputation of this film - a really rich family realises the world is passing on... Is that the stuff of grand cinema? It's epic and stately and deals with the passing of time. It was like The Magnificent Ambersons I guess. You can feel its influence on The Godfather films with its rich tapestry of period detail, family scenes, country rituals.

It's extremely well made - you can feel the love and care and detail. The acting is beautiful - it took a while for me to get used to Burt Lancaster being dubbed but he has the gravitas the part needs, he has weight and can act... at the end his face is very moving.

I'm just not sure I cared. Lancaster inherited his position. People get where they are because of nature and God as opposed to what they actually do. I guess Alain Delon and Terence Hill at least fight in the army.

Claudia Cardinale is stunningly beautiful as the daughter of the nouve riche though Visconti packs the film with more beautiful young men - Alain Delon, Terence Hill and that random relative who gets all these close ups.

It's stately and beautiful and all that. I absolutely recognise its quality -the big screen, the period recreation, the battles, the ball. I'm just not sure it was for me.

Movie review - "Is There Anybody There?" (1976) **1/2 (re-watching) (warning: spoilers)

I went easier on this the second time I viewed in part because it was so much better than the later collaborations between Bruce Wishart and Robert Bruning especially things like Demolition.

This is a perfectly decent psycho thriller with Tina Grenville getting out of the nuthouse unaware that husband George Lazenby is banging sister Wendy Hughes and there's two shifty characters hanging around, Patrick Ward and Chantal Contouri. There's also some best friends who turn out to be red herrings.

The twists develop nicely - Hughes is the one who is gaslit, Grenville is fine, Lazenby is killed by Hughes, Grenville is on with Ward... I would have liked a bigger role for Lazenby and also Charles Tingwell who pops up.

Movie review - "Airplane!" (1980) *****

Saw this so many times as a kid I can practically recite the whole thing (though I did get some jokes to the second mixed up). Random thoughts:
* Robert Hays and Julie Hegarty both superb and both should have had bigger careers
* Leslie Nielsen would be the best out of all the veterans - they're all great, mind, but his timing is tighter, his delivery stronger
* Steven Stucker is brilliant
* Lorna Patterson's part is bigger than I remembered and she's lovely
* the actual drama of the storyline is solid - Arthur Hailey should get more credit
* Peter Graves goes there - molestation humour still hits home
* Elmer Bernstein's music is perfect
* Jonathan Banks is in this!
* Kareem Abdul Jabar is hilarious
I don't know what else to say. It is so funny, so fast, so entertaining.

Movie review - "The Monkey's Uncle" (1965) **

The Misadventures of Merlin Jones was such an unexpected hit Disney quickly rushed out a sequel which turned out to be the last film for the studio from Tommy Kirk... not so surprising considering he was busted for drugs but more surprisingly it was the last one from Annette Funicello, who didn't get busted for anything, I think it was more she had kids, and Disney wanted to move on.

There's three main storylines - it feels like episodes of a 30 minute show looped together: Merlin adopts a monkey which causes chaos, Merlin helps football players study with his crazy study technique so they can play the big game, Merlin develops a flying device so a rich old dude will give money to the college.

The money stuff is solid as are the flying scenes - though too much time is spent on a football player going to fly. Mark Goddard from Lost in Space is a football player who seems keen on Annette - they would have been better off developing that love triangle, and also one with the girl who baby sits Merlin. I don't know why.

Annette looks lovely and sings the catchy title song with the Beach Boys but really doesn't have anything to do - she could have been cut out of the movie. I wish they'd used her more - she's charming. Tommy Kirk handles with light comedy well - it's such a shame he didn't go on to The Love Bug and what not. Leon Ames offers support.

It has nice colour and kids may like it.

Movie review - "The Sicilian Clan" (1969) ***

A French crime film aimed at the big time by featuring not one not two but three big stars associated with that genre: Jean Gabin, Alain Delon and Lino Ventura.

It's a film of set pieces - Delon escapes from prison with the help of the mafia, Delon escapes from the cops from a hooker's bedroom (topless moment - there's a bit of nudity in this movie), Delon watches Irina Demick bathe nude on the beach (a hot scene - they go for it), a hijacking of a plane, the final confrontation with a dame and a bag of cash.

It's not really an epic - it could have been an epic but doesn't explore the relationships between the characters to any great degree. Gabin has all these sons who are just ciphers, and their wives are just wives except Demick who is an outside (French in a Sicilian family). There's no real relationship between Gabin and Delon - some father-son stuff (like Gabin preferred Delon to Demick's whimpy husband or something) would have worked wonders.

The actors mostly stand around and look cool. Since they are cool that's actually fine for the most part. Ventura doesn't get to do much except glower and slap around some crims. He has a scene with Delon's sister that I thought was going to lead to romance - it should have, would have given him more to do.

It's an enjoyable programmer - I liked its style and what not - but there's not a lot of meat on the bones.

Movie review - "The Death Train" (1978) *

One of the Gemini Productions TV movies made by producer Robert Bruning. They were mostly genre pieces - on paper this is one such entry, the tale of an investigator looking into series of mysterious deaths in a small town - but this one plays it for laughs. Hugh Keays Byrne gives a broad performance as the investigator, with his pencil moustache and bumbling ways. He has what I think is meant to be a screwball comedy relationship with this random girl (Ingrid Mason, good value) who lives in the town and seems to spend most of her time following him around in a car.

The townsfolk include Oz TV regulars like Brian Wenzel and Max Meldrum. I did laugh at Ken Goodlet's cop who was happy for Keays Byrne to investigate so long as he didn't do any work.

But the film didn't work for me. It's harder to pull of these spoof versions of these tales - when they work they're great fun, but the mystery on this wasn't that good and the comedy wasn't that great either. I'm not sure the writer and director were really on the A team - and Grundys didn't aim for quality as a general rule. Maybe Tony Morphett could have pulled it off. After a while this was just annoying - it was smart arse and not that smart.

Movie review - "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier" (1955) **1/2

Cobbled together from three episodes of a TV series but it was shot in beautiful colour and the budget was decent so there are solid production values. It has problems of the cobbled together feature - part one and part two both feature Davy in a duel with someone (an Indian, and a shifty white). But it does feel like it has some sort of cohesiveness because it goes (a) initial Indian fighting in the War of 1812 (b) politician (c) Alamo.

This series and film inspired countless baby boomer brats to put on coonskin caps and go "bang bang bang take that Injun". The film feels into unhelpful myths such as the importance of mowing down troublesome Indians and Mexicans, albeit in the Congress episode Crockett is keen is speechify for the poor honest folk against rich land owners, says we should abide by our treaties, and he sticks up for Indians against some nasty whites (this was stock stuff in 50s Westerns). Slavery is ignored. Crockett's "common sense" yokel ramblings in congress or wherever it was is given due reference. Crockett's wife dies and kids go off to be raised by neighbours but that's taken care of in one scene where someone reads a letter to him.

The film does work on its own terms - its well executed, Fess Parker is an ideal Crockett, ditto Buddy Ebsen as his sidekick. There's cameos from Andrew Jackson, Travis, Jim Bowie, etc. It does look a little cheap during the Alamo battle but when you think about it the Alamo wasn't that big. It pumps along, and is ideal fodder for kids.

Book review - Smith #7 - "The Sunbird" by Wilbur Smith (1972) (warning: spoilers)

A turning point in Smith's career because he stopped writing with one eye on the movies and went full blown novel. It remains one of his most artistically bold works - it consists of two parts, the first is an archeological dig where some whites discover a lost white city, the second where we flash back in time to the destruction of that city.

It seems to be very well researched and is full of technical jargon about digs and ancient civilisations, which felt real to me. Smith felt awkward maybe writing a section about an archeological dig so part one keeps being livened up with action sequences - terrorists/black freedom fighters hijack and plane, there's an attack from a Kalahari bushman, the terrorists raid local villages (raping and killing the bushmen women which felt really bleak). I kept waiting for the terrorist leader (a former associate of the archaeologist hero) to come back but he doesn't - this felt vaguely unsatisfying.

Part two is like being in a Cecil B De Mille epic with this white kingdom - but it's a horrible kingdom, based on slavery and horrid mines. I get the feeling this is Smith working through his feelings about apartheid South Africa - he can see it's horrible, but he feels obliged to stick with it, and defend it against marauding blacks who are savage and worse. He is empathetic to the blacks (his depictions of slavery and the conditions of mines are harrowing to read) but he doesn't seem to support any sort of mutual solution. The section has power because the entire kingdom is wiped out (military I didn't quite buy it - such things happen but generally there needs to be a plague as well).

Like a lot of Smith novels there are two protagonists - a buccaneering rich alpha and a more sensitive beta, though the betas in both sections of the book are pretty super heroic (the part two beta is a hunchback but also super religious, super smart, a super top fighter). At times I laughed in part one at the archeologist going off to fight terrorists then going back to the dig and it was like the violent scenes never happened.  Also like a lot of Smith works there's a tough ruthless antagonist who is not British South African - in this case a black Commie in part one and a black leader in Part Two. The part one girl is a little scamp who comes between two friends; in part two she's a vestal virgin type.

I like the boldness, the passion, the research, the fact Smith is prepared to go for it (hero seeing his love kill herself) and is so into it.

Movie review - "The George Raft Story" (1961) **

Allied Artists had a hit with Al Capone and ushered in a bunch of gangster flicks including this biopic of the gangster's pal, George Raft. Raft had one of the most fascinating careers of any actor but lawsuits are lawsuits hence this fictionalised version.

Ray Danton should have become a bigger star - handsome, deep voice, can act, can even dance a little. He moves like a dancer so he's not bad casting for Raft. Maybe he lacked a certain warmth. There's a lively collection of support players including Frank Gorshin, Julie London and none other than Jayne Mansfield who plays a Hollywood starlet. She's in a swimsuit in one scene and looks a little heavy as well as being top heavy but it's fun to see her.

Sometimes the film stumbles upon elements of the real Raft - his financial irresponsibility, his tendency to confuse the parts he played with himself, his desire to do more dancing films and less gangster parts, his friendship with Benny Siegel, his tendency to punch people out (including producers on set), his trouble with the IRS, his tendency to be alone. I thought it was cute when he goes to see Al Capone (Neville Brand) after making Scarface to find Capone likes the movie, and hangs out with Texas Guinan, and I didn't mind gangsters firing a machine gun at him.

Other items seem more random. Inserting a night club comedy act from these two comics plus a long song from Julie London (were Allied pushing these talents?). Domestic scenes with his loving mama and disapproving father (which seem like a sketch to send up this sort of biopic "how can I tell my friends what I'm doing).

There's a director on Scarface who I assume is meant to be Howard Hawks. I'm not sure who Mansfield was meant to play - maybe Betty Grable. There's no Carole Lombard or anyone like that - only the gangsters get named. Actually no that's not true - Billy Wilder is mentioned at the end but not seen.

It's not successful as a movie - you can't feel any point to it, there's no theme other than maybe Raft has trouble letting anyone in to love him and is a bit of a sook. I kept expecting that nice cigarette girl to re appear but it doesn't happen. Still as a Raft fan I got a lot out of it - I thought Danton did a decent version of Raft, and I was constantly going "oh that's true... that's not... that's really not... that's true..." so it passed the time entertainingly.

Book review - "Both of Us: My Life with Farrah" by Ryan O'Neal (2012)

I'm not sure how candid this memoir is - O'Neal comes across as a self centered idiot so I'm inclined to believe it. It details his relationship with Farrah Fawcett, which began when both had bloom as Hollywood stars - he pinched her off Lee Majors, saw his star go into decline and hers dip but then rise as a star of TV movies. We hear about his troubled relationships with Tatum and Griffin (Griffin is responsible for the death of Coppola's son, winds up in prison, both of them have drug problems) and the increasing problems with Redmond. Farrah sounds like a hippy earth mother until  middle age hits. Both go off with other people then wind up with each other. Both get cancer - hers is fatal but he survives, to see their son wind up a crime happy basket case.

It's a fascinating car crash - O'Neal is smart enough to recognise how he's slipping, curses missing out on The Champ, The Bodyguard and First Blood. He doesn't talk about Bogdanovich at all, denies many claims made against him by his kids. He seems to spend a lot of time with his children but three troubled kids out of four is not a good ratio. Something wrong is going on.

O'Neal defends Farrah's weird appearance on Letterman and claims him hitting on Tatum O'Neal at the funeral was a joke. Maybe. At one point O'Neal wonders if he should even write the book, such is his pain that gets dredged up. Possibly he needed the money. I think it was more the attention. They are both so self centered.

We don't get many insights into the making of the films which is a shame I would have liked to have read it. O'Neal quotes from his journal - he should give some thought to publishing that journal.

Movie review - "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (1954) ***1/2

It looks wonderful - those rich blue sea colours, and the marvellous creation of the Nautilis. James Mason is a superb Nemo, driven and tormented, intelligent and empathetic - he sets new standards for this sort of thing. Kirk Douglas is perfectly cast as the swaggering, obnoxious, gropy Ned, Peter Lorre is always great fun, and Paul Lukas is dull but you need his character.

The film could have done with a subplot and/or a fleshed out member of Nemo's crew  - they're all like robots. It needed say a daughter/niece of Nemo to romance Douglas or something. It feels a little long.

But gorgeous photography, an exciting fight with a squid, a genuine sense of adventure... great fun.

"I'll Get You For This" (1951) **

One of the last films George Raft made as a star and it's quite good - the star is ideally cast and its all crisply made, with a British crew and support cast and some Italian location shooting. The photography is lovely and director Joseph Newman does a solid job. The kid in it is the one from The Bicycle Thief.

The second half is less effective because it takes place out in the Italian countryside. Colleen Gray is alright as the girl - Gray was most effective as young quivering things, not so much here. There's a decent support cast of people like Walter Rilla and Peter Bull.

The scenery might have been more effective in colour, though I really wanted the whole thing set in a cigarette drenched nightclub. Raft dances the tango with Grey which is fun even is Raft was looking a little creaky.

This film is no classic or even a minor classic but its unpretentious black and white programmer fun.

Movie review - "Stolen Harmony" (1936) **

George Raft as an ex con who... plays the saxophone and can dance and joins a big band. Most of this is a musical... indeed more like a vaudeville show with lots of numbers performed by the band, led by Ben Bernie - not very well remembered now but a big name at the time. He's comfortable in front of the camera.

Raft has a romance and in the third act the gangsters come back into his life. The film awkwardly combines musical numbers and gangsters - act two is almost like a filmed concert, with lots of Ben Bernie and his band, and Raft doing a dance number on stage. Act three the gangsters come back - including Lloyd Nolan. The film is almost shot differently with different light focus and a very violent car chase and shoot out at the end. I wonder if this was added via reshoots. I could be wrong.

Someone called Grace Bradley is the female lead. Nolan is excellent. Raft is okay. It's not bad, not awful - lacks a little vim and vigour.

Movie review - "Every Night at Eight" (1935) **1/2

A version of the sort of movie that 20th Century Fox would specialise in - three girls trying to make it as singers, and one of them falls for a suave band leader. Alice Faye, who was in a few of such films for Fox, is in this - it was made for Paramount, who put George Raft in the part that John Payne would often play at Fox.

Raft doesn't appear for a while - the first bit is about the girls: Faye, Patsy Kelly and Frances Langford. This section feels like the adaptation of a radio show with plenty of acts and lots of songs. (The tunes include "I'm in the Mood for Love".)

The cast are having fun - the girls are spirited and cheerful and Raft is animated. Raoul Walsh directed and does a typically strong job - he was better known for his action films but his musicals had pep. There's nothing remotely original about it and Raft really should have wound up with Faye but it's fun to see and I'm surprised Paramount didn't remake it in the 50s for TV.

Movie review - "The Newman Shame" (1978) *1/2

George Lazenby only made a few movies in Australia - I'm surprised he didn't make more especially in the 10BA era but there you go. This gives him a decent role as an ex cop investigating the suicide of a banker friend. Because the friend calls up his wife before he suicides saying "I'm being blackmailed" it's not much of a mystery to investigate.

Lazenby pokes around the porn industry of Perth which as depicted here is quite lively and ruthless, enticing elderly bankers to toga clad orgies where they are drugged. Diane Craig is Lazenby's girlfriend who goes undercover as a porn actor/masseuse - this being a TV movie she doesn't go all the way through with it.

Joan Bruce as the widow probably has more screen time than her character deserves  - she sits around and reacts and is gossiped to by Judy Nunn, which is entertaining, but really she should have been doing some more investigating. I guess they figured she was too old - why not make her younger and have her do it, and combine her character with Craig/

The film has a weird rhythm - investigate some of the case, stop for a chat by the pool, investigate again, chat again. It's a silly movie with convoluted plotting of the kind you come to expect from Bruce Wishart scripts but has enough nuttiness to keep you watching - me anyway: Ken Goodlet in a toga, Alan Cassell being a cop, Lazenby getting in fights, Diane Craig in a swim suit.

Movie review - "The Scarface Mob" (1962) ***

A two part episode for Westinghouse Desliu Playhouse this cost a lot and was cut together to make a feature film. It is very handsome for a 50s TV production - Desi Arnaz deficit financed to give it extra production value - there's plenty of extras, and shoot outs.

You've got crisp black and white photography, Phil Karlson's decent direction, Walter Winchell's staccato delivery narrating it, a striking sense of cynicism (it's constantly reinforced how apathetic the public are).

I was struck at the story similarities to the 1987 film version - Ness and Capone barely meet, Ness has a polite nice love interest (Pat Crowley), Ness has an ethnic sidekick cop whose death is the end of act two, the opening bit is a raid ruined by corruption, a slimy official tries to bribe Ness in his office.

It's not as good as the later film - less poetic and moving - but it works on its own terms. Most of the Untouchables are indistinguishable except for Wynn with his vaguely comic accent. It has the pleasures of late 50s gangster tales - well done studio settings, tough actors spitting out dialogue, violence, character actors playing weasel informants and strippers.

Movie review - "Plunge Into Darkness" (1978) **

One of the better of Robert Bruning's Gemini Productions TV movies, in part because it has a decent twist - a married couple head out to the bush at the same time two brothers have escaped prison and are milling about; the couple come across a dead body and a teenage boy and we assume it was the convicts but actually it was the boy.

Bruce Bennett and Olivia Hammett are the couple and John Jarratt and Tom Richards play the convicts so the acting is decent. The wind swept desolate scrublands are an effective setting. Bennett imagining himself running in competition back in the day is a little silly and was probably cribbed from Marathon Man. Peter Maxwell's direction is decent and there is some strong suspense as we figure out the kid is nuts.

Movie review - "No Room to Run" (1977) **

The first in a series of TV movies made as co productions between the ABC and America's Transatlantic Enterprises. They would feature American stars and directors, and usually American writers. At least the stories made allowances for the Americans to be here.

This one is a thriller which is... Hitchcock-ian I guess, with Richard Benjamin as the innocent hero who is in Sydney to do some PR for an orchestra and winds up accused of murder of which he is... innocent I guess only he did shoot someone (a flunky... Grant Page is another flunky). The only person who helps him is a fellow American who is living in Australia, Paula Prentiss.

Writing that out, the film sounds fun - I mean two superb light comedians trying to be Cary Grant an Eva Marie Saint... sure! But Hitchcock films are harder to make than they seem and this isn't very good. It's confusing, and the tone is heavy as opposed to light. There's some car chases around Circular Quay, and betrayal. The film seems uncertain of its tone - the bones are light hearted Hitchcock but it seems infused with 70s seriousness. And it's about corporate espionage which never seems to work on screen. Apparently the script was rewritten a fair bit and you can tell.

Barry Sullivan is heavy handed as Benjamin's boss but Noel Ferrier and Ray Barrett offer fine support. Benjamin and Prentiss play the roles straight which is annoying - I mean, if you've got those two, why not let them do their thing? Maybe they didn't want to. Occasionally like when Prentiss wears a florally dress at the end and acts a bit silly you go "oh that's what this film should have been" but not nearly enough.

Movie review - "Yours for the Asking" (1936) **1/2

George Raft is unexpectedly cheerful and animated in this surprisingly bright comedy directed by Alexander Hall. Raft could be hit or miss and this is comedy but he seems to  be having a good time. It's not a bad idea for a movie -Raft is running a casino and goes into partnership with socialite Dolores Costello, who owns a mansion but has no money. His cronies worries he's going soft and will be hurt by Costello so they hire conwoman Ida Lupino to pretend to be a lady of society to seduce and dump raft.

Costello - Mrs John Barrymore for a time - is very pretty and sweet but Lupino steals the show, having enormous fun as a conwoman. She was very young when she made this but Lupino always seems older than her years so this doesn't have the ick factor.

The film could have used some villains in the third act and isn't exactly hilarious - more unexpectedly entertaining. I'm surprised Paramount never remade this with Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra or someone.

Movie review - "Paradise" (1975) *

Robert Bruning was an actor and producer whose Gemini Productions had made some TV series, drama and variety. He wanted to get into TV movies like Aaron Spelling so tried this - although I think this was also meant to be a pilot, about a private eye on the Gold Coast.

He later called it "terrible" and he was right. There's location work on film, including stuff on the Gold Coast, but the interiors are done on video tape. It looks cheap and its convoluted - I had trouble telling male characters apart (they had similar haircuts) and also the female characters.

Lots of weirdness, as you would commonly find in films written for Bruning by Bruce Wishart - rifle wielding bikers driving over sand dunes, epigrammatic dialogue, confusing plotting. Sheila Helpmann hangs around in a bar spouting lines, Eric Oldfield turns up with the same unisex haircut all the other men have, Tina Glenville (Mrs Bruning at the time) is the femme fetale. None of it looks very much like Surfers Paradise, even the scenes actually shot there - it just feels like a generic Grundys beach. A hard slog, though of definite historical interest.

Movie review - "The Black Hole" (1979) ** (warning: spoilers)

I remember as a kid seeing this cassette at the video store and thinking "amazing - Disney plus sci fi." But it underwhelmed then and underwhelms now - its remarkable Disney greenlit something with such a bodgy script but then it was when the studio was under Ron Miller, the well meaning incompetent.

In hindsight you wonder why they didn't just remake 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea in space - they would've had the rights to the script, Maximilian Schell is clearly channeling Nemo. But this film doesn't learn from the lessons of that one - that plunged the viewer into the action, had clearly defined characters, milked the excitement.

This one  has a little bit of action at the start and some at the end but far too much is people standing around talking. Now standing around talking can work if the characters and conflicts are interesting but not here - while Leagues had a nice tight trio stuck, allowing character development and interaction with Nemo, this one has far too many: Yvette Mimieux, Ernest Borgnine, Anthony Perkins, Joseph Bottoms, and Robert Forster. All good actors (though Mimieux can look bored in certain roles and does here) but only Perkins has much to play (a man attracted to Schell's ideas); Mimieux should have been given more to do (the daughter of a man on Schell's trip... she should have been Schell's daughter) and the characters of Borgnine, Forster and Bottoms could be merged into on.

The director is dull - little tension, excitement. The effects are stunning as is the music and the ending of the movie is remarkable. As a child I did find it sad when a robot died and that death still moved me.

Movie review - "Cover Girls" (1977) **

A dim knock off of Charlies Angels that didn't make it past pilot - this time its two girls instead of three and they're models; one of them is black, which gives it some difference. They have a male boss who we see and are helped out by a male agent - Don Johnson in a Zapata moustache.

The plot has them chase after an embezzler, Vince Edwards - so this show has decent star power. The girls are Cornelia Sharpe (who wised up and married Martin Bergman) and Jayne Kennedy - they do look stunning and are dressed nicely but aren't given enough action/smart stuff to do. I liked how they clearly had active sex lives - though it's made clear black Kennedy sleeps with black football players (no miscegenation yet).

There's a decent car chase and some helicopters at the end but its silly and not in a fun way - it doesn't quite work. George Lazenby is the villain - he gets some flowery dialogue and handles it well; it's a decently written role and he makes an impact and you wonder why he didn't have a bigger career in Hollywood with those looks and that voice.

Movie review - "Knives Out" (2019) ***1/2

I get why Rian Johnson is so beloved by film buffs - his films are full of references to other movies and they tend to have a clearly understood theme which is spelt out; they are also generally entertaining to watch and he seems like a lovely guy.

This is a homage to Agatha Christie murder mysteries - but also Hitchcock and Anthony Schaeffer and that whole genre, complete with an all star cast, an old dark house, a will reading, a corpse. It's a bit over long and wobbly in places -I keep wishing Johnson would use a co writer - and could have used more spooky stuff like the body in the cellar, but is smart and I'm delighted a non comic book movie did so well at the box office.

There's lots of close ups of Ana de Armas' face reacting to things -Johnson really loves putting her center of the frame - she is the leading person more so than Daniel Craig, who has a high old time with his Mississippi  accent as the detective.

Excellent support from Don Johnson (having a career renaissance with this and Watchmen),  Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Plummer, Chris Evans... actually everyone is good.

Movie review - "Shock Corridor" (1963) ****

Fuller at his lurid best - independent finance, a journalist protagonist, a storyline that enables him to tackle all sorts of issues: Peter Breck goes undercover as a patient at a lunatic asylum to investigate a murder... a fantastic set up. Among the patients he meets are a southerner who is convinced he's a Confederate general, a black who is anti integration and a nuclear scientist.

Breck gets attacked by nymphos in the female ward (my favourite Fuller moment it has to be seen to be believed) and is befriended by a chubby opera singing patient; there's a strip tease number, dream sequences in colur and Breck is committed by faking incestuous lust for his "sister". The murder mystery gets lost at times but it's full blown and lots of fun - perhaps Fuller's best film?

James Garner top ten (films only)

1) The Great Escape (1963) - easy choice perhaps the best POW movie ever made, a marvellous combination of humour, action, suspense and tragedy - Garner has a lovely bromance (or is it more David Del Valle?) with Donald Pleasance

2) The Americanization of Emily (1964) - Paddy Chayefsky is one of the greatest screenwriters of all time and if you like Network and the Hospital and haven't seen this I urge you to - it was the first of many times where Julie Andrews played a sexually voracious woman but was still Julie Andrews - the character Tom Cruise plays in "The Edge of Tomorrow" (a movie I really liked) is ripped off from this but no one seemed to comment when that movie all the time

3) 36 Hours (1964) - terrific twisty thriller with Australia's own Rod Taylor whose career had a lot of parallels with Garner even if Rod never became quite as big a star (Rod was considered to play Bret Maverick but the role went to Jim Kelly)

4) Grand Prix (1966) - its hard to make films about competitive car racing interesting because there's a lot of driving around in circles but this looks stunning

5) Support Your Local Sheriff (1969) - really lovely comedy Western, one of the best in that genre - there's an Aussie connection too in that Garner's character is constantly on his way to Australia (I wish someone had done a sequel where Garner's character goes to Australia)

6) Skin Game (1971) - years before Django Unchained Garner made this comedy about a conman who sells a black man in the south during slavery, takes the money, helps him escape, then repeats - the main issue with it is that the stakes for the black man (Lou Gossett) are so much higher than for Garner but it has some good moments

7) The Fan (1981) - Garner was married to the same woman for something like 50 years but in the late 70s they were separated for 18 months during which time he went a bit wild... did cocaine with John Belushi, went on tour with Waylon Jennings and had an affair with Lauren Bacall which meant he would up supporting her in this camp classic recently released on DVD with a commentary from David Del Valle (there you go David, two plugs in the one post) (warning: it is not a good movie but it is great fun to watch with the commentary)

8) Victor Victoria (1982) - Blake Edwards made a mess of his wife's career with Darling Lili, but redeemed himself with this musical comedy which is the best of Julie Andrews' post 60s films

9) Murphy's Romance (1985) - sweet understated film with some very good writing

10) Maverick (1994) - ambling over long comedy from a period when Hollywood seemed to make such things all the time, it gets by on the charm of its three stars, especially Garner

Random trivia - in Garner's memoirs he admits to smoking marijuana regularly for over fifty years, and to punching out Glenn A Larson and Tony Franciosa - so there you go...

Book review - "The Candlemass Road" by George MacDonald Fraser

A different sort of book from Fraser - only short, almost a novella, with dense writing, very much in the style of the time, I assume. There's a long afterword where he explains his historical sources and I'll take his word for it.

Historical or not it's still influenced by other novels/films - you can imagine Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward playing the leads. It's a simple story, almost a Western - on the rough northern English frontier and beautiful English lady, who has inherited property, finds her tenants subject to blackmail demands, and hires a "broken man", Waitabout... who while broken can speak Latin, is handsome and super tough, to fight them. He ends up wiping them out, in an exciting sequence - which threatens to cause a border war.

What interested Fraser, apart from the period, was the subject of law and order and civilisation... what people are forced to do in an untenable situation. Its tough and moving (and there's a chance Waitabout could  survive... isn't there?)

Although its only 150 or something pages it took me a while to read because the language was dense but it was worth it. The fight sequence was so well done I wish they'd been another.

Movie review - "The Night Nurse" (1978) ** (warning: spoilers)

One of several TV movies Robert Bruning produced for his Gemini Productions. This isn't particularly well directed or even written but it has its moments and has a decent story and cast - Kate Fitzpatrick is a night nurse who goes to work for a retired opera singer who has a possessive sister. The film might've been better had we found out down the track the sister has killed someone but we find out in the opening few minutes - that's TV movies for you.

There's a good ending with Gary Day winding up dead and the discovery of a skeleton in the attic. The piece could have done with more atmosphere and spookiness. Fitzpatrick isn't exactly believable as a night nurse but it is fun to see her and she has that marvellous speaking voice; it's also great to see an Aussie movie which has two elderly female protagonists. This is as close as we get to Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? I suppose.

Book review - "The Garner Files" by James Garner

I'm still not sure how I feel about James Garner. A TV giant absolutely - I was never a fan of Maverick or The Rockford Files but I recognise his skill in them and his status as a TV star... also in a series of high quality TV movies in the late 80s. His track record is a movie star is patchier - I agree with the critic who once said he seemed to make movies he was in seem like TV shows, but he appeared in a decent number of classics: The Great Escape, The Americanisation of Emily, Support Your Local Sherriff.

There's lots about him to admire - a marriage of over forty years (albeit with some separations - I did hear he had a fling with Lauren Bacall hence his appearance in The Fan) to a woman who had a daughter with polio to another man when they met, a strong work ethic, a respect for the script (he doesn't like going off book), a willingness to sue Warners over their harsh contracts and also Universal after ripping him off, a strong civil rights record (including taking part in the March on Washington).

He has a prickly side, a temper - he admits to punching out Tony Franciosca (on the set of A Man Could Get Killed), Glenn A Larson and someone who heckled him at golf. He can be pompous and up his own arse, and takes these swipes at Rog Huggins (was it Garner and not Huggins who added the humour in Maverick - really?)

In this books he also skims over stuff which would have been worth talking about in greater detail (or at least I would've liked to hear about it more) - doing cocaine with John Belushi, a fifty year marijuana habit (his life long smoking led to heart surgery). Instead we get long-winded chapters on his interest in golf, football and racing cars. I did like his chapter on how he approached acting. I would've liked to have heard more about his films and TV shows but appreciate the chapter at the back of the book where he goes through all of them.

Garner had a rough upbringing - his mother died when he was young (a botched abortion), he was passed around to various relatives, dad drank and one of his new wives was physically abusive, it was the depression. After school he bummed around from job to job and saw active service in Korea (proper service to - he took part in battles, shot at people, was injured - this is a good section of the book).

He was lucky, too - blessed with beauty (he earned some money modelling), and a childhood friend was Paul Gregory who he bumped in to and suggested Garner try acting. Gregory promptly put him in a stage production of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial which went to Broadway - Garner's role was only small but he was in a hit and got to watch Hank Fonda and Lloyd Nolan act. He learned lessons well and was signed to Warner Bros who eventually put him in Maverick.

The book has a few digs and claps for Steve McQueen (a neighbour in the Hollywood Hills for a time), a strong dislike of Charles Bronson and Charlton Heston. There's a dull chapter where Garner's family and friends talk about how great he is. I have a lot of respect for Garner but after this, I get the feeling that I don't like him. I'm sure he wouldn't care a toss!

Movie review - "White Dog" (1982) *** (warning: spoilers)

Sam Fuller received an unexpected 11th hour offer to make a studio picture when Paramount came a calling - they were looking to rush some films into production before a writers strike and  Fuller had come champions among the baby boomers on staff.

It's an interesting story, like most Fuller movies are, with a terrific central idea - a dog knocked over by Kristy McNichol saves her from rape and then is revealed to be a white dog, i.e. a dog trained to attack black people. Despite this idea the film struggled with accusations of racism, which would've confused Fuller who had a long distinguished record of tackling race head on.

McNichol is a little flat compared to other Fuller protagonists - maybe because she wasn't a stripper, journalist or soldier... she's an actor, and Fuller presumably knew a lot of them, but she's passive. I guess that's the role. Paul Winfield is excellent as the dog trainer determined to de-racist-ise the dog... even though it kills a fellow black (a moving scene because the poor guy did deserve it, he was simply walking in the wrong place at the wrong time).

The character played by Jameson Parker, McNichol's boyfriend, is pointless - I kept expecting him to be killed but he sort of appears and leaves, never to return. The character of the person who owned the dog is under-utilised - he appears in one scene, it's a good one (a "kindly" old man with his two little granddaughters, a great creepy touch) but I wanted more - that should've been the third act.

 You can feel the handcuffs on Fuller slightly and it needs another act but it remains a compelling work. Burl Ives offers support.

Movie review - "Verboten" (1959) **

No one's favourite Sam Fuller film, at least not to my knowledge - with baby boomer film critics you never know. It's they who elevated Fuller to demi-God status, attracted to his colourful personality and background, his excellent copy, the clear evidence of authorship in his movies.

This has James Best, Roscoe from The Dukes of Hazard, as an American soldier who marries a German girl after World War Two and gets involved in fighting Nazis who want Hitler to come back. There's lots of speeches about how bad the Nazis were and how Germany is trying to get back on track.

I mean it's of interest - its striking to see a relatively old film take on the Concentration Camps and the Holocaust head on, and also depict the Nuremberg trials (albeit via press footage - this is a low budget movie). The acting is variable and the low budget hurts this one. It also feels a little bit untrue - were the werwolves that active after World War Two? That much of a threat? They always felt like an idea that was given more prominence than they deserved due to the efforts of writers of paperback thrillers.

Book review - "Homework: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years" by Julie Andrews (2019)

No one denies Andrews' status as a Hollywood icon but what should be a fascinating book - a look at the peak of her Hollywood career, from Mary Poppins through to That's Life! - is a hard slog. It covers what should be interesting stuff - the making of Darling Lili, for instance - and manages to make it dull.

I think it was the logistics. There's so much logistics - all her kids, and step kids, and ex, and family, and Blake Edwards' family - and dealing with homes in Switzerland, and Malibu and going on tour. She didn't make that many movies in the 70s but she seems to be always on the move, making TV specials or following Blake Edwards around or performing in concerts. She's forever worried about the kids education or what the kids are up to. It's a wearying book to read.

Andrews doesn't seem like the brightest tool in the shed though her heart is in the right place (she did a lot of charity work for Vietnamese/Cambodian orphans). She seems a fairly uncomplicated person - I could be wrong about this, but her world view seems narrow: she's spent most of her life working and performing and when she made enough to not work as hard she got drawn into this life of domestic minutae.

The book is invaluable however as a portrait of Blake Edwards - charming, charismatic, talented, self centered, selfish, adulterous (it's implied... Andrews only talks of a flirtation with Peter Sellers' wife but then admits Edwards wrote all those scripts about middle aged men tempted into adulterly), manipulative, controlling, drug addicted, boozy, manic depressive. He has a gall bladder attack than turns out to be nothing when Andrews' mother is dying meaning Andrews couldn't be with her - that sort of thing.

Andrews has done a lot of psycho analysis (she meets Edwards by sharing the same analyst) but it doesn't seem to have given her a lot of particular insight - I get the impression she just liked talking about herself (I could be wrong). She talks about her shrink giving her geography lessons and what not to make up for her lack of education - that's a tutor's job! Julie the guy was ripping you off. But then I think Andrews was one of those performers who are susceptible to people pushing her around - which is why she lasted so long with Blake Edwards.

Andrews encounters with famous people are remarkably un-notable - James Garner was nice, Omar Sharif was nice, Paul Newman was nice, Chris Plummer was nice. Rex Harrison was impatient - that's about as juicy as this gets. The one surprise was that she was good mates with Carol Burnett - they should have made a movie together.

Worth readings if you are an Andrews fanatic and/or interested in Blake Edwards.

Aside: I always figured Andrews sabotaged her career in the late 60s with her choices (Star, Darling Lili)... but when you think about it what other musicals could she have been in? Camelot I guess but... Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? Bedknobs and Broomsticks? She would have been tricky to cast in the 70s.

Book review - MacLean #14 - "Puppet on a Chain" by Alistair MacLean (warning: spoilers)

This didn't make a particularly memorable movie and it's not that good a novel - better than the movie, but I wouldn't rank it among the top tier MacLean. It has more of a female presence but before Gloria Steinem calls up with an award, the characters aren't exactly complex - a drugged out daughter of a cop, the hero cop's two hot assistants (the main reason there's two is so one can die and the other can be his reward), another druggie girl.

The atmosphere of Amsterdam is well conveyed and the action scenes are well done - there's the inevitable Maclean climbing sequence. I wasn't as wild about the poking-around-places sequences which made up the bulk of the first half.

The hero survives an awful lot of being conked on the head and captured - I was unsure how exactly he got out of two tight spots. There's some quite shocking violence - one women winds up hooked on a chain another is stabbed together by a bunch of maddies with pitchforks (this is vaguely Wicker Man territory). Last third is the best.  Some decent twists with the reveal of who the baddies are, which I enjoyed even though I'd seen the film.

Movie review - "Park Row" (1952) ***

One of the reasons people love Sam Fuller is once he finally established himself in Hollywood with The Steel Helmet he went and made this uncommercial tale, dedicated to American journalism. I watched it and thought, a story about wisecracking reporters in 1880s New York, thats the sort of thing Daryl F Zanuck would want to make as a musical for Betty Grable - and apparently he offered to fiance it if Fuller turned it into one.

And you know something? I think it still would've worked - Fuller still could have hit his story points. Instead he self financed, went with United Artists - he managed to get enough of a budget for a small street set, meaning a lot of cramped scenes and close ups and no stars (Gene Evans is the lead)

It's tight and fast and full of speeches and has such love for journalism it's endearing. The low budget does hurt this one though because Evans and his reporters can't go out and about that much reporting (too expensive). It also loses points for not being in color (I know why I'm allowed to wish it was in colour) and for having a finale where his rival publisher, a woman, gives him the win by giving up her paper.

It is well acted and entertaining.