Book review - "Out of Sight" by Elmore Leonard (warning: spoilers)

 Such a good book. Tight. Funny. Fast. Might be a bit confusing if I hadn't seen the film. Faithful adaptation - I was surprised how much dialogue was taken directly. The one big change of the film was making it non linear and actually meeting the mogul character - he's only referred to. Oh and the ending -here Buddy dies and it's more down beat. But a lot of fun, great characters and twists.

Movie review - "Cry for Happy" (1961) **

 Films set in Japan were all the rage in the late 1950s but this was one at the tale end of the cycle - I think it flopped. Glenn Ford is once again an American serviceman abroad, this time working for the navy. He and some other sailors including Glenn Ford get billetted at a geisha house.

The girls, Miko Taka and Miyoshi Umeki, were both in Sayonara. James Shigeta and Chet Douglas are other sailors.

There's a really unfunny extended bit in the middle where everyone watches a film with Japanese actors in a Western. Actually a lot of this is unfunny. It reaches for charm and doesn't get there. O'Connor's role is relatively small... I felt this would be better as a straight out buddy comedy.

Apparently Bobby Darin was up for a role in this but couldn't make it work schedule wise. O'Connor's part? Douglas's?

This is one of those films where the elements are there - the concept, stars, director all seem appropriate - but it just doesn't work. Maybe it's the lack of a core romance for Ford. Maybe it was too early to have really racy fun with the subject matter. Or they were too worried about offending people. Or something. It doesn't work.

Location filming is pleasant. And it was good to see actual Japanese actors given decent parts.

Book review - "Unsinkable" by Debbie Reynolds

Reynolds' second memoir. Covers her dud third marriage, adventures with Carrie, later films like Mother, construction of her hotel and casino. A lot of the financial misadventures make grim reading. I kept thinking "just invest in basic real estate and shares, Debbie. Stop trying to make a museum and hotels!"

It also goes film by film through her career with various anecdotes so the films get plenty of attention. Great anecdotes: Marjorie Main carried around an urn of her dead husband's ashes to talk to him; on Give a Girl a Break Stanley Donen had a man crush on Bob Fosse and a big fight with Gower Champion; she was taken off The Actress (they should've used her); Bundle of Joy was hard to film due to Eddie Fisher's insecurity making him cranky and Norman Taurog's memory loss; on Tammy Leslie Nielsen was a method diva and Walter Brennan full of tricks to steal scenes (like always turn your face three quarters in a two hander to get more exposure; Tony Randall (The Mating Game) had an enormous member; Richard Brooks bullied slapped Reynolds making The Catered Affair (which she otherwise liked... I think Brooks was a real bully); Glenn Ford actively chased Reynolds around a room (they became friends but Debbie... that's attempted assault); the budget of Molly Brown was cut during filming to pay for Zhivago but intense rehearsal meant they saved a dance number; Tony Curtis spread an Eddie Fisher rumour that Reynolds was a lesbian and lousy lay (and she's defensive about her love making abilities); the one time she was tempted to bang a co star was Maurice Ronet on How Sweet It Is; James Garner brought a vibrator as a joke into a bed scene with Reynolds; as an uncredited producer on Whatever Happened to Helen she was going to sack Shelley Winters for lack of professionalism and replace her with Geraldine Page but decided it would cost too much; Dennis Weaver is a great kisser up there with Frank Sinatra; Sean Patrick Flannery refused to rehearse.

Fun book.

Movie review - "I Love Melvin" (1953) **1/2

 MGM musicals went into a decline after Louis B Mayer left. This reunited two stars of Singing in the Rain Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor - the age gap is only seven years which is small by Hollywood standards.

The songs and stars are great as are the dances. It's all done with MGM gloss and skill - they had so many good people under contract it was hard for them to make a bad musical.  On one level.

This has a dopey book. A really bad book. And that matters. Reynolds is a small town gal dreaming of stardom (cue fantasy sequences which I believe are generally a bad idea unless completely fantastical) who is loved by photographer assistant Donald O'Connor. She insists he get her on the cover of a magazine or she'll marry someone else which isn't very nice although Reynolds gives a charming performance. It's based on contrived misunderstandings and greed. It's a shame because the musical numbers are so good and the stars so strong.

Robert Taylor makes a cameo. Richard Anderson plays a fake love interest to O'Connor's love interest as he would do in The Buster Keaton Story.

Movie review - "The Buster Keaton Story" (1957) **1/2

 The film that marked the end of Donald O'Connor's time as a movie star... he'd just been in Anything Goes then he did this, billed above the title, and it flopped and it was... over. No films for a few years, and they didn't do much.

He's really good. He's always good. Does the comedy, the drama (Keaton's alcoholism). He's not exactly Mr Stoneface but that's hard to do. He was ideal because he grew up in vaudeville and was an alcoholic too.

Maybe the story was too hard. The fictionalisation of this is annoying. It gives Keaton one wife, a made up script supervisor. Ann Blyth was in musicals with O'Connor back in the day but here she's just bland pretty doll and too sensible. We never feel that she and O'Connor would be together or why (she seems very uncomfortable taking part in the slapstick at the end) - which is a big deal since that's the one relationship the film invests time in. Biopics only work really when they focus on a relationship. 

They do little with Keaton's parents There's the one studio guy, Larry Keating, one flunkie, Richard Anderson (as a rival for Blyth). Rhonda Fleming pops up as a silent film star Keaton falls for. Peter Lorre has a random small role as a director and Cecil B De Mille appears as himself.

It never feels real. There's no consistent theme.

I enjoyed O'Connor's dramatic acting and there's nice bits like Keaton doing business for the baseball kids. I do like that they had a go at it - I mean it's interesting and is a good chance for O'Connor. Sidney Sheldon directed - maybe he was the wrong guy. Maybe it just should've focused on the early days of vaudeville made it happy go lucky. The true story actually has a great five act structure (early days, struggle, fame, decline and booze, third wife) but that was probably too hard legally.

Look, this film did buy Keaton a house.

Movie review - "Call Me Madam" (1953) ****

 Not regarded as one of the great Hollywood musicals but I really liked it. Ethel Merman blasting her way through a perfect vehicle for her, an ambassador to a small European country. Actually everyone is well cast - Donald O'Connor is charming as her press attache (they have a lovely relationship), Billy de Wolfe fun as the snobby ambassador staff, George Sanders has fun singing as the guy who Merman falls in love with, Vera Ellen's limitations as an actor are protected by putting on the accent and she has some wonderful dances. It's full of colour and fun and is just good natured delight.  Walter Lang deserves more credit.

Movie review - "Anything Goes" (1956) ***

 Donald O'Connor was meant to team with Bing Crosby in White Christmas but fell ill - the two men got their chance together with this, which isn't that well remembered. I mostly recall just hearing it used a different plot to the 1936 version.

Maybe the two female leads let it down - Jeanmarie is a dancing legend, but doesn't exactly pop on screen. Mitzi Gaynor is bright and professional but lacks a little X factor.

The number between Crosby and O'Connor at the beginning feels very influenced by Singing in the Rain.  So too does a big ballet Jeanmarie does to a backdrop of a town, and a cheer up number O'Connor does to some kids.

There are some terrific numbers and songs - everyone can sing and dance (maybe Bing can't dance). Robert Lewis, more of a Broadway guy, does a decent job of directing.

The book is dim - misunderstandings about women being offered the lead in a play - but it is bright and sparky and I enjoyed it.

Movie review - "Marie of the Isles" (1959) **

A biopic of someone called Marie Bonnard du Parquet, a wife of the governor of Martinique who I assume is more famous in France. She's played by Belinda Lee, who often played real life figures in her European movies, often notorious sex pots.

Here Marie is a serving maid who meets a handsome lout (Alain Saury) but can't marry him because she's trailer trash and he's off to run Martinique. She marries a rich baddy who doesn't consumate marriage while Suary gets involved with a chubby pirate.

I was looking forward to this as I like a pirate film but there's not enough Lee or swashbuckling. It's mostly the chubby pirate and other character actors and the budget isn't that big. It perks up towards the end. I was a little disappointed. Maybe it was more due to my expectations.

It was directed by Georges Combret.

Movie review - "Sing 2" (2021) ***

 Like an old school musical - a rickety book (about putting on a show in a Las Vegas type city) - but packed full of songs and charm. Looks great on the big screen with all that colour and detail. I liked the mother pig with all her piglets getting a big chance. A lot of the voices felt familiar - well, they were played by stars. Chelsea Peretti is the talent scout, Bono is the lion singer, Spike Jonze is the assistant. When you see Wes Anderson did the voices you realise a lot of the cool kids are here. It was fun.

Movie review - "Blood Feud" (1961) (aka Il Sicario) **1/2

Italian film directed by  Damiano Damiani (who later did Amityville 2) which I only watched because Belinda Lee has a support role. It's about an industrialist (Sergio Fantoni) who owes a lot of money who decides to hire Alberto Lupo to kill his creditor. Belinda Lee is his wife - quite dowdy in comparison to her normal European roles. When Lupo slaps her around she goes silent, takes her coat and the kids and leaves. Later they get back together.

Lee gets a few other chances to act here - a break down, yelling at her husband. So too Sylva Koscina who plays Fantoni's girl.

Cesare Zavattini was one of the writers.  This doesn't play out the way I thought it would. I figured Lupo would kill relatively early then there would be twists and turns. But actually it's mostly Lupo angsting.

Nice to see Lee in a film which actually tries to be good. Doesn't quite get there, but it's interesting.

Movie review - "The Pathfinder" (1952) **1/2

 Cheerful Sam Katzman Western set during the French Indian Wars based on James Fenimore Cooper's prequel to The Last of the Mohicans. George Montgomery plays the Hawkeye role, Jay Silverheels is Chicganook. Uncas is a baby, and Helena Carter is the girl they escort across the forest.

There's not much escorting - the last act is mostly indoors. Carter is helping Montgomery spy for the French. There's a bit of bickering before they fall in love. Carter has a decent subplot - a guy she was engaged to has become a drunken bum married to an Indian. The French officer develops a crush on Carter and Montgomery which is cute.Carter has more to do in this than in most of her films and was only seven years younger than her co-star which is pretty good for Carter.

Unpretentious programmer fun.This was the last film of Carter's I had to see so it's nice that it's ticked off the list.

Movie review - "Curtain Call at Cactus Creek" (1950) ***

 Fun musical Western which is kind of a spoof of The Westerner with Walter Brennan again as an outlaw (I guess he was a judge in the other one) with a crush on an entertainer. That's a great idea for a musical although they don't really do enough with the Lily Langtry figure - played here, very fun, by Eve Arden. Vincent Price is entertaining as  a hammy actor touring the West with Arden, Gale Storm and backstage guy Donald O'Connor.

it's a vehicle for O'Connor who is winning. Charles Lamont directs well, it is lively and in colour.  I wish more had been done with Price and Gale Storm but the relationship between Brennan and O'Connor is very sweet.

O'Connor does a final act in blackface, which is unfortunate.

Movie review - "I Married a Woman" (1958) *

 This was one of the two films Diana Dors made for RKO in the US. It was also one of two starring vehicles for George Gobel, who I have not seen in anything before this - he had a weekly comedy show. From what I gather Gobel became famous playing a lonesome type. Here he's married to Diana Dors playing an advertising executive.

The plot is sitcom - Gobel has to come up with an ad campaign. He neglects his wife... Dors. Seriously?

How are they married? Why would he neglect her? Why would we be supposed to care?

It ambles along. Gobel has a lethargic screen presence. Dors, typically, gives her all. She looks terrific, has strong comic timing. But she's just so miscast and the vehicle so bad. It needed to be in colour.

John Wayne appears in a gag cameo, as a character in a movie appearing opposite Angie Dickinson. That's funny - as is his reprise at the end.

The incompetence of this movie made me angry. Its dopiness. The fact it took a sitcom plot and padded it out to feature length. Its miscast stars. The lack of colour or point. The waste of support characters like Adolphe Menjou and Jesse Royce Landis.

Movie review - "What's Cookin'?" (1942) **1/2

 The low budget Universal musicals of the 1940s didn't get much TV play in Australia when I was growing up. A shame since they're a lot of fun. Low budget yes but it was Universal, so production values are high.

This was Donald O'Connor's first film under contract to Universal. There's a bunch of teens in it - including Peggy Ryan - but O'Connor is the one who has individuality. Gloria Jean is pretty as a rich girl who sings. The Andrews Sisters are in it.

Not a lot of story - basically put on a show - but done with energy and verve.

Movie review - "Mister Big" (1943) **1/2

 Donald O'Connor was promoted to being above the line star for this musical set at a drama school. Florence Bates as a stuff rich girl who wants her niece Gloria Jean to star in Antigone, leading to some funny gags. Robert Paige rocks up to play a composer - his part isn't very good; he has a love interest. Peggy Ryan is very funny as a gal with a yen for O'Connor - actually a lot of girls seem to be into him. The Jiving Jacks and Jills dance.

O'Connor and Jean go the full pash at the end. There's wall to wall music and not much time on story. The kids do a number in black and white minstrel make up. Then some black singers turn up - kids, the Ink Spots.

There's a lot of talent here.

Movie review - "There's No Business Like Show Business" (1954) **1/2

 Not really a good movie but it's packed with legends: Ethel Merman, singing the title tune, and Marilyn Monroe, and now time has passed you could include Dan Dailey, Mitzi Gaynor, Donald O'Connor, and Johnnie Ray. There's Irving Berlin songs, Marilyn Monroe singing 'Heatwave" in a skimpy outfit, a love of old performers, a wonky story, but hey... they don't make 'em like this any more.

Movie review - "Barb and Star go to Vista del Mar" (2021) ***1/2

 Really fun nutty buddy comedy which goes all over the place - imaginary spirit animals, spy movies, murderers, sex, musical n umber. Jamie Dornan steps into the Jon Hamm role with aplomb. Very strong cast.

Movie review - "Wraith of God" (2021) **1/2

 Had no idea what to expect going in, except Jason Statham kicked arse. The action scenes are well done, I enjoyed the jumping around in time. It's very blokey and masculine. Very strong cast - Scott Eastwood gets to show a bit more flair. A lot of characters, most of whom wind up dead - I mean the toll is really high. A solid film though.

Movie review - "The Suicide Squad" (2021) **

 This sounded like a great idea - get James Gunn to have a crack. Margot Robbie is terrific once more. Actually all the actors are good except John Cena, who struggles with the comedy.

But this has a black heart. There's a whole segment where the Squad go and shoot all these people - sometime electrocute them, cut their heads, etc... then, hahahahaha, it turns out they're friendly revolutionaries, hahahahah.

And there's a sequence where they discover all these people who've been tortured and mutated over 30 years. Is that fun?

And the team operate with an incredible lack of professionalism - going to a bar and boozing on.

Then we're meant to care when the characters are given backstory involving their parnts?

The film must break some kind of record for killing off NS guards. After a while I started to feel sorry for her.

Daniela Melchior is fun as the sleepy rat girl. The shark is entertaining (Stallone did the voice).

It's just a mean spirited film. I also think Americans don't go for films where their government is really really bad.

Movie review - "Godzilla vs Kong" (2021) **1/2

 Excellent effects and action sequences. Great fights. I enjoyed Hollow Earth. And the little girl who did sign language with Kong, that was cute.

Too much of that podcaster and the two teens - they could've cut that out of the film. Actually they could've cut most of the human stuff out.

Alexander Skarsgard is... I don't know, there. Rebecca Hall is professional. Eiza Gonzales comes on looking spectacular and you want her to kick arse but she does barely anything. Ditto Shun Orguri. Demian Bichir is a stock villain. The Kiwi kid was cute.

Not a turkey, some good moments, you just wish it was better.

Movie review - "In the Heights" (2021) **1/2

 Some glorious sequences - bright colours, dancing, imaginatively staged - and a talented cast but at 144 mins it's a a hard slog and they didn't get the love story right. Both of them lack drama and conflict. I constantly felt like this would play better on stage.

Maybe it lacked star power too. Everyone was very capable but it lacked X factor. IMHO anyway. I wanted to love it.

Book review - “I’ll Be Your Huckleberry” by Val Kilmer

One minute Kilmer was everywhere, then he wasn’t. He became famous very quick... I was aware of him from the get go because he was the lead in the classic Top Secret, barely out of Julliard (which he calls THE Julliard in the book, too many times). There was Real Genius then a showy role in Top Gun, which made him a kind-of star. I actually don’t think he was ever a proper star - he was a character actor who had leading man looks, so Hollywood thought he was a star. But for a time his luck was very good: showy cameos in True Romance, showy actor-y roles in The Doors, showy character parts in Heat and Tombstone, a lead in Batman Forever. Then in the late 90s things wobbled with a series of, if not flops, then underwhelming works: The Saint, The Ghost and the Darkness, The Island of Dr Moreau, At First Sight.

To be honest I thought Kilmer would come back more than he did... every now and then it seemed he was “back”: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Spartan. He never quite did, either in a box office hit or a critical darling... his luck didn’t hold. He got chubby of course and never lost the weight... that beautiful young man thing left him, which doesn’t help.

Tales of his temperament flew thick and fast around the 90s but haven’t seemed to have dogged him in the last twenty years. I know lots of Aussies who tell stories of his time on Moreau and Red Planet (the latter not mentioned here). They would also be surprised to hear of his claim to not have been into drugs.

It’s an interesting read. Very art-y and full of talk of love. He writes with great affection for the women in his life, listing their famous names: Cher, Joanne Whaley, Darryl Hannah, Cindy Crawford, Mare Winningham, Ellen Barkin... Then adds he hasn’t had a girlfriend in more than fifteen years. You feel sorry for him at times. The career feels unfulfilled. But he's done some incredible things.

Movie review - "Jack" (1996) **

 The Rainmaker was one Coppola example of 90s Hollywood studio cinema - Grisham, stars, languid pace, lawyers, etc. So too was Jack - high concept, Robin Williams, schmaltz.

It's hard going. Coppola cares about the material and it's made with care but the whole film feels... off. Too slow. Miscast (eg Diane Lane as Jack's mum... I like Lane she just feels wrong. Ditto Brian Kerwin as dad). Maybe Robin Williams is too old and sad for the piece to be funny. I actually think Coppola was just the wrong director.

Or not. I dunno. This film evokes strange feelings. I didn't enjoy it. Williams plays a 40 year old ten year old.  He's not even handsome and fit at his peak - he's already in decline. Tom Hanks in Big was in his prime.

Bill Cosby is fine but his presence kills fun. Actually all the acting is good - the kids and so on. Jennifer Lopez is good. Williams is solid.

It's just a bit sad and depressing. The kids are mean but then like Jack because he's good at bastkeball. But hanging with ten year old boys is rarely fun on screen - farts, vomit, burps, porn mags, etc. It's all true it's just not a very engaging age (while being a teenager is more interesting). 

The one fun bit was when Fran Drescher hits on him. That's fun. And Michael McKean at a bar. The rest is so serious. Maybe, I don't know, if there had been some subplot where Williams helped his parents find love, make his mother a single mum and help her life. or help Lopez get a promotion. Improve people's lives. I know these are very Hollywood notes but it needed something.

Play review - "Vieux Carre" by Tennessee Williams (1977)

 Not a masterpiece but no disaster. The main flaw for me was that so much of the ground was well travelled - a memory play of the past narrated by a writer, a boarding house run by a crazy old day, the bisexual stud with a sado masochistic relationship with a dying woman, the Williams surrogate, a sick old painter.

There's some developments - more swearing (the f**k word), more obviously gay (the painter seduces the writer). The girl Jane and the stud Tye seem like a young Stella and Stanley complete with marital rape.

It's a lot of short scenes, it doesn't really build or even interconnect - Jane and Tye barely have anything to do with the Writer for instance. It doesn't build to anything, there's no melodramatic secret or reveal, say. But the writing is strong. It has some effective scenes such as the gay seduction and Miss Nightingale and the writer.

Movie review - "Tonight for Sure" (1962) *

 Before Coppola worked for Roger Corman he did some nudie cuties. This is about two men who meet and travel through Sunset Strip. There's lots of gryating women. Jack Hill worked on this as did Coppola's dad Carmine. It's dull. The photography isn't as good as say Russ Meyers. There's some quirky bits. You'd be hard pressed to know it was Coppola. Not really a porno more a "nudie".

Movie review - "The Rainmaker" (1997) **1/2

 Francis Coppola tries John Grisham. It's not one of Grisham's big thriller pieces more a series of different plots centered around a young poor lawyer (Matt Damon in an early leading role). He romances a sweet little domestic violence victim (Clare Danes, being regularly thumped by Andrew Shue), goes to work for an ambulance chaser (Mickey Rourke) teams up with another ambulance chaser (Danny de Vito). lives with a little old lady (Teresa Wright) who has shonky rellies, and a family with a son who has leukemia (Mary Kay Place).

There's a lot of poor white trash: wife beaters, ruthless ambulance chasers, eccentric old ladies, sexy but noble alcoholic turncoat witness (Virgina Madsen). There's also rich white trash: insurance company lawyers, the insurance company (Roy Schneider). Plus noble white trash: kid with terminal illness, domestic violence victim. And a noble black judge (Danny Glover)

It has a sleepy, ambling pace - it takes 50 minutes for de Vito and Damon to set up their own business, which is really where it could've started. I think this is why it wasn't a big hit.

Terrific photography, great acting. Everyone is on form. It's another Australian film from Coppola - well acted meandering. The violent bits perk up. This was okay, just long.

Book review - "Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins" by Amanda Vaill

 Very good book. Exhaustively researched. About an important person. Decent gossip (flings with Montgomery Clift). Some anti-communist naming names. The trickiness of putting on Broadway shows.

But it's about a dancer/choreographer and I kept wanting to see it. I don't know how you can get past that. I think she wrote as good a book as you could.

Book review - "Genghis Khan" by Frank McLynn

 McLynn's done a very good job - it feels like exhaustive research, he keeps it readable, I can't see how this would be better. Genghis was a genius and a genuinely self made man. But he killed and killed and conquered and conquered and there was no point. Millions died because he wanted to expand then constructed a society dependent on war. They would routinely wipe out towns, chopping up pregnant women. And it got wearying. Reading this I thought "I bet the author will say oh everyone did this back then" and he did and that made me more depressed. Look, I get it, the book is just a downer to read.

Movie review - "Rumble Fish" (1983) ***1/2

 The public weren't ready to embrace this at the time but looking back it's become a Coppola fan favourite. The artiness of a treatment I think annoyed many back then but now is exciting and fresh - the Stuart Copeland score, the back and white photography, arty camera angles.

Matt Dillon is effective as Rusty James the young, thick wanna be gangster. Mickey Rourke is electric as his elder brother Motorcycle Boy. Coppola stepped up another notch when working with a writer he respected - Puzo, Milius - and that's the case with SE Hinton.

Dillon's fellow gang members include Vincent Spano (nerd who never seems to do as much as you think), Chris Penn and Nicolas Cage. Diane Lane is his gal, Sofia Coppola her sister. William Smith a cop who hassles them, Tom Waits runs a pool hall, Dennis Hopper is the dad, Larry Fishburne is a townsperson.

The last third of this didn't quite work for me - instead of building it seemed to dissipate and Rourke's death seemed throw away. But it was always interesting, strong acting, stimulating.

Movie review - "The Island of Dr Moreau" (1996) **1/2

 A film whose fame has lingered when other better, more popular movies are forgotten.  But then there was only one Marlon Brando, one John Frankenheimer and one Val Kilmer. The head is David Thewlis who, er, lacks a little charisma... he took over from Rob Morrow, who I'm not sure would've saved things. I actually think the casting of Thewlis played  a big part in this not being a hit - he's just this skinny everyman.

Brando is interesting - big, hammy, Brando-y, loads of fun. Kilmer is entertaining too as his weird sidekick, whic his actually a showier role than the lead. Kilmer's weirdness is appropriate as is Brando's - I like how Kilmer imitated Brando. And I liked Fairuza Balk too.

The film's main problem for me was the script didn't seem to make sense in the last third (didn't Thewlis want to escape?) and Thewlis isn't very compelling. The film loses life when Brando dies (only one hour in) and then Kilmer not long after. And it's a downer Balk was killed. They should've kept these characters alive at least until the very end.

But it looks gorgeous, the basic story still holds, there's atmosphere and weirdness, Brando, Kilmer and Balk are spot on.

Play review - "Night of the Iguana" by Tennessee Williams (1961)

 Williams' last Broadway hit, I think... a fun look at various types hanging around a small hotel in a Mexican coastal town. There's the earthy Maxine who shags her beach boys and has just lost her husband but isn't too sad about it; Shannon, a defrocked priest on the verge of a nervous breakdown (a fantastic part, one of Williams' best male roles... Richard Burton was made to play this); Hannah, a spinster artist with her granddad who may be Shannon's one true love.

Williams doesn't seem that interested in the character of Charlotte, the 16 year old Shannon has banged, or her guardian Judith - these feel like they need a subplot. I enjoyed the Nazis and the colour. Oh and Hannah's story involving a horny middle aged Australian salesman in Singapore.

It doesn't build to a big melodramatic finale but it does have those interesting characters, a great sense of time and place.

I read a very good edition which included essays on the play, including one by Williams who explained his inspiration (a 1940 holiday where he befriended another writer) and the original story story (no Maxine or Shannon in it, but Hannah and "two writers").

Novel review - "The Roman Spring of Miss Stone" by Tennessee Williams

 Williams, sorry, Miss Stone, enjoyed a lot of success in the theatre but never knew true passion until she roots a hooker in Rome. Ah, Tennessee. Some lovely prose, but a lot of it is in dialogue - one senses Williams wanted to write it as that. It's a novella actually. Interesting to read but not a lot of story. He would tell this story a few times - middle aged woman gets rooted by young hot stud, etc.

Movie review - "Twixt" (2011) ***

 Films don't get more obscure that Coppola's 21st century output but I've got to say I quite enjoyed this shaggy dog tale with its odd bits and pieces. It's got tubby Val Kilmer as a writer described as a second-tier Steven King and the story feels like a King short story... he arrives in a small town, his career on a downward slide, and comes across a local legend about killer kids that he decides to turn into a book.

Bruce Dern is the local sheriff, Elle Fanning is  girl who appears in his dreams, Ben Chaplin is Edgar Allan poe who also appears in dreams, Joanne Walley appears as Kilmer's wife via skype, Alden Ehrenreich (those 70s directors love him) is a local goth.

I enjoyed the atmosphere the spookiness. It got a little odd in the last act, a bit silly... but Coppola is more lively with violence, I'm realsing and it was fun,

Movie review - "Tucker: The Man and His Dream" (1988) **1/2

 I remember hearing about this film when it came out and wanting Coppola to have a hit but also not being excited by the idea: an engineer who wants to make a car and does and then goes bankrupt. That's fun because...?

Look, I get it. The 30s Capra-esque style. The rat-tat dialogue, Jeff Bridges channelling James Stewart, the courtroom finale. I love that George Lucas backed it. It's just... I don't know, I didn't care. I would've cared if it was actually about Coppola making movies instead of it being subtext. It's meant to be him - this big time family man who is always optimistic, trying

There's a strong cast - Martin Landau as a financier, Christian Slater as Tucker Jnr. Joan Allen is The Wife. Elias Koteas as a designer. Frederick Forrest as another engineer. Dean Stockwell as Howard Hughes.

I just didn't care. Maybe because it was about cars. Or maybe 1930s style films belong in that decade. There was an authenticity with those faces which doesn't convey. They were contemporary films- this is looking back. Maybe it doesn't work for me.

Script review - "Being the Ricardos" by Aaron Sorkin

 Bright, fun, Some great moments. The flashback scenes carried more weight because more was at stake - their whole careers as opposed to a temporary blip while famous. Didn't quite hit the heights for me but always enjoyable.

Script review - "The Cutting Edge" by Tony Gilroy

 Simple, well done sports movie romance. It was a solid high concept - high class posh gal and working class ice hockey player team to be figure skaters. They have the "thing" they do, a triple, like in Trapeze, a Russian coach, a driven father. There's some homophobia from the hero which hasn't aged well but the conflict is solid and it just works.

Movie review - "Gardens of Stone" (1987) **

 For a filmmaker associated with operatic action films, Francis Ford Coppola made a lot of slow moving, well acted dramas which sort of amble along. This is one. It's about the guard unit of the army, the ones who do the funerals at Arlington. Sergeant James Caan wants to train troops for Vietnam, DB Sweeney is a young soldier who wants to transfer to Vietnam.

The cast is great. There's Mary Stuart Masterson as the girl Sweeney marries, Masterson's parents IRL Pete and Carlin Glynn as her on screen parents, James Earl Jones is one of this earliest "black military man" roles, fellow Some Kind of Wonderful alumni Elias Koteas as a clerk, Dean Stockwell as an officer, Angelica Huston as Caan's new girlfriend, Larry Fishburne as a sergeant, Lonette McKee as Mrs Jones, Sam Bottoms as a soldie.

Caan is particularly excellent. Sweeney is fine - there was a ten year period where Hollywood tried him as a leading man in films and then TV but it didn't work out apart from some minor hits (The Cutting Edge, Fire in the Sky)... Fishburne should probably have played this role.

There's some 80s boomer dialogue about Vietnam ("we'll never win"). Actually come to think of it a lot of the dialogue felt off.

The music drones and feels odd. It's dull. I didn't care about Sweeney's romance with Masteron. I think Sweeney just should've played Caan's actual son instead of Sweeney having an unseen dad and Caan an unseen son.

The turmoil Coppola went through on this film - losing his own son - is a compelling story, more moving that what is on screen. I found the movie dull.

Movie review - "One from the Heart" (1982) **

 Coppola certainly swings for the fences... there's nothing quite like this quasi-musical-drama set in Las Vegas about a couple who break up. It's got this kitchen sink story, about working class protagonist - mechanic Frederick Forrest and travel agent Teri Garr who dreams of another life... done with a theatrical flourish, a la Bill Inge or Tennessee W... and there's unrealistic sets, and bright neon, and overlays, and long trackng shots.  It probably should

There's a lot of Teri Garry walking around taking her top off, getting out of the shower, being carted through a lobby in her underpants (I think Coppola had a thing for Shiska goddesses, eg Shirley Knight, Elizabeth Hartman). She's warm and great as always, while Forrest isn't that engaging - gives a good performance I'm talking in terms of personality.

This film should've been done on a super low budget for the BBC or PBS or something but Coppola sunk millions into it. It looks amazing, is interesting, Garr is lovely. The songs that spell out the subtext are a little annoying.

Garr hooks up with Raul Julia, which I can see. Forrest gets Natassa Kinski, which I can't quite see,

Forrest's character is horrible. He takes Garr's plane ticket money to buy a house without her permission, gets jealous and possessive when she leaves, kidnaps her from the bed of Raul Julia when she's in just underwear. I think this factor more than anything is why this film flopped. He's awful, you want her to leave, she does leave, he kidnaps her, she leaves again, he chases her to the airport and threatens a counter server... then she comes back at the end? F off.

Movie review - "You're a Big Boy Now" (1966) **1/2

 Francis Ford Coppola got a lot of breaks early on in his carer... he was young when he signed a deal with Seven Arts who let him right and direct this swinging sixties comedy with Peter Kastner, an actor who I recognise from nothing, starring as a young man who moves to New York City. Dad is Rip Torn and mum is Geraldine Page. Kastner has a crush on Elizabeth Hartman not noticing Karen Black. Julie Harris is a landlady.

To be honest a lot of this was annoying - quirk like black men playing bagpipers, visits to Times Square, witty banter, wacky support characters (albino hypnotherapist), manic pixie dream girl (Hartman), a dwarf, chapter headings.

There's clips from Dementia 13 and The Pit and the Pendulum which is cute. Like The Rain People this felt like an Australian movie at times - Kastner can't get it up for Hartman. But it's also American with its possessive mother (Page) and dad.

It was hard to care. Kastner had people who loved him, dad who supported him, mum who was possessive yes but he had his own pace, he could've scored Hartman if he could've satisfied her, Karen Black there was to pick up the pieces. 

I can see why people like this. And there were things I enjoyed like Hartman. But not for me.

Movie review - "The Rain People" (1969) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Coppola indie film, which sort of ambles along but is full of intelligence, warmth, skill... Shirley Knight is a housewife who flips out and takes off.

The role is a gift for Knight who come to think of it got a lot of good parts in the sixties. A really top actor might've made this sing - Diane Keaton? Knight is absolutely fine - she just doesn't exceed what's on paper if you know what I mean. Coppola wrote the film for her apparently... I think he was a little love struck (the blonde shiska goddess factor, no doubt... blondes pop up all the time in early Coppola films.)

James Caan does in his part. A mentally challenged footballer is normally the cue for "retard acting" but Caan does is subtly, just playing someone a bit slow. It's superb work.  Also good is Robert Duvall as the cop.

The plot has Knight pick up Caan, then they drive for a bit, visit an ex of Caan's. Then Knight gets him a job at a chicken farm. She's pulled over by cop Duvall. Knight is hot for Duvall. They go to bed but he's stalker-y, creepy and she says no and he says yes and Caan tries to stop it and Duvall's little daughter shoots Caan dead. This felt like an Australian film. A good one though.

1984 interview with Shirley Ann Richards

 Link is here. Another one is https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20080721102440/http://www.nfsa.gov.au/the_collection/collection_spotlights/shirley_ann_richards.html

Among the bits in the interview

- during making Tall Timbers Richards sang a song "tosti's (?) goodbye" on a train (she was studying singing) which apparently was bad luck and horrified the theatrical types in the cast (Richards didn't know at the time) - also Frank Leighton was appearing in The Student Prince with Glady Moncrieff - he was so run down he got boils on his neck which had to be camoflaged - Richards called him a "very precise" actor

- she was very close to Frank Harvey - he would run her lines - when she went away to US he wrote her a letter of advice about professionalism and life in general - she said she would pass on the advice to her sons - she still had the letter - said Frank wrote "I am writing to you as though you are another daughter" (he had a daughter, Helen)

- Ken Hall could be a bit aloof directing but he was busy

- she enjoyed the romanticism of Lovers and Luggers, and dressing as a boy

- adored Harvey Adams who would bring crabs and shrimps for lunch - "most charming"

- Ken G Hall used lots of rehearsal - everyone had excellent raaport, she never worked anywhere else where it was the same crew day in day out

- got along Lloyd Hughes... remembers making Lovers and Luggers nearly asphxiated on a lugger because of smoke

- George Yates v protective of Richards - when she was bullied by an actress Yates sabotaged a door for Richards

- says cast of It Isn't Done were "marvellously kind" to her and helped her enormously

- Campbell Copelin was "very much in love" with Elaine Hamill during the making of the film - they went to England together (a few weeks apart)

- she didn't have a good rapport with Bert Bailey who was a bit distant - this was in contrast to her work with other actors at Cinesound like Cecil Kellaway, they'd discuss the scene - she didn't have any sort of chat about the scene with Bailey, suggests maybe it was because he was shy, or had played the role for so many years, doesn't know if he'd do it with other actors - it was her only experience as an actor where she didn't have any sort of rapport with a co star - didn't get to know him even professionally

- Ken Hall sent a film with Richards when she went to America... this went missing so she had nothing to show when over there - they had to get film on her while over there - she got lucky though with the film The Woman in the House - no one else suitable for MGM, she got the part, that was seen, she was put under contract

- found MGM very big - she was used to same faces and same actors - but got used to it - you could do tests as well - she did one with Philip Dorn

- her husband didn't care for movies as much as the stage - he could do everything for himself on stage... different with film - he gave away showbusiness, he was a scientist

There's a very good look at Richards' life here.

Play review - "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams (1945)

 I think I studied this at my school. Not sure Williams is the best thing to teach boys at all-boys private school it trains them women are dreamers, nutters and horny. It's a beautiful play. Memory play - very theatrical with its narration and slides and so on. Better seen than read maybe? All three of the family are dreamers - Tom constantly goes to "the movies" (is he having gay sex?), Laura has her glass menagerie and cripple-dom, Amanda has her memories - as if Blanche got married to a straight man, but a bounder who left her. The Gentleman called is a little like Mitch - basically a normal mediocrity who stumbles upon this odd family. Doesn't have the power of Streetcar but doesn't have the sex or violence -except for the smashing of the menagerie.

Play review - "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard

 Re-read it for fun. Gorgeous. Don't get the maths or garden stuff. I mean I get its story function. But beautiful. Heartbreaking ending. Most fun character is Barnard - I sense Stoppard developed so much affection for him he still gave the dude a little triumph (two Byron reviews, etc).