Movie review - "White Death" (1936) **

 Odd movie. Zane Grey vanity project about his visit to Australia with Grey playing Grey. Frank Harvey cobbled together a plot about it involving a search for a shark that killed the wife of some old weirdo on an island; the old weirdo has a hot daughter who romances some young kids ; an anti-animal cruelty person bumbles around.

It's creaky but there are benefits - location filming, the kids are young but look fit and charming, the fact it stars Grey as himself (he looks like someone playing himself), the shots of boats and fishing, the presence of Aboriginal Australians and Islanders.

The comic relief Alfred Firth subplot is very unfunny.

Movie review - "Captain Thunderbolt" (1953) ***

 Short  version of the feature but it holds - decently directed by Cecil Holmes, full of action and pace, well thought out by Creswick Jenkinson. 

The main debit is the lack of characterisation - the bushrangers are tough that's about it, and the romances are perfunctory. This no doubt would have been addressed in the longer version. The black face is unfortunate.

Grant Taylor is very good as the tough bushranger - this was just before he switched to character acting. Charles Tingwell is his BFF. The most screentime goes to the cop chasing them, played by Harp McGuire. The satire of the rich is fun and the anti immigrant rhetoric they spout very striking for the time.

It hypes history but tries to incorporate a lot of it - there is an Aboriginal woman (just Tingwell's girl not Thunderbolt's), there were rumours he survived, he did have an accomplice, etc.

Michael Mann Top Ten

 1) Heat (1995) - easy choice

2) Last of the Mohicans (1992) - gets overlooked now but I always loved it

3) The Jericho Mile (1979) - superb TV movie

4) Manhunter (1986) - I used to read this script every year

5) Tokyo Vice pilot (2022) - so gripping that you don't know for a while not much is happening

6) Thief (1981) - not quite get there but still pretty good

7) Crime Story (1988) - the boldness of the storytelling impressed the hell out of me

8) Blackhat (2015) - I recognise this isn't a very good film but something about it compels me to keep watching

9) Public Enemies (2009) - kind of forgotten now, I remember liking it

10) Collateral (2004) - an excellent script and it was entertaining

Movie review - "Barbie" (2023) ****

 Moves like a dream for the first two thirds. Can't quite dramatise its plot and issues for the last third - when it needed to build up to a big song, or dance or something it was a lot of talk. And they struggled to use the Will Ferrell subplot. But it has integrity, the politics are complex, the imagination off the charts. Great that it's such a theatrical experience too.

Movie review - "Initiation" (1988) **

 Odd. Thought it was going to be a horror film with an Aboriginal slant. There's a bit of mysticism. But it's not. It's a survival in the bush story. Only that doesn't happen until the last half hour. It's set in the South Australian outback but the bush is shot in the Blue Mountains which is slightly confusing.

Rodney Harvey is fine as an American teen who goes to Australia to met his dad, Bruno Lawrence, who doesn't seem to like him and deals with gangsters (sells marijuana). That's one of the several subplots. Miranda Otto is Lawrence's cute step daughter (introduced doing awkward aerobics) who Harvey is keen on - that's another subplot that doesn't really go anywhere. Anne Marie Winchester is wasted as Lawrence's parter and Otto's daughter. Tony Barry is a farmer. There's a local sleeze who eyes Otto and Harvey beats him up but that plot doesn't go anywhere either.

It's not a bad film it's been made with care, it just doesn't seem to know how to pitch itself. The plane crash survival stuff doesn't happen for too late. If they'd bought that up the front I think this would have played better. And maybe if Otto and Winchester were in the plane crash.

Some money's been spent on the soundtrack - there's Icehouse and Hunters and Collectors. A decent rousing instrumental track at the end. Oz movies website sais with some care and attention this could have been a decent teen action show. That's what it should've been. But commit. Show mum dying. Have him discover romance, proper romance. Beat a bully only set up the bully, play out the story. Make it logical where he gets his bush survival skills. There's ideas here but the film doesn't execute them.

Movie review - "Mary Poppins" (1964) ***

 Catchy tunes. Beautifully cast star. Dick Van Dyke gives it all. Not a lot of story but it touches on important themes. Garish backlot. Great stomping and dancing. Goes a long time. Defies criticism really.

Movie review - "Newsies: The Broadway Musical" (2017) ***1/2

Haven't seen the original film but this was a lot of fun. The score is so-so but the story is solid, and there's terrific dance numbers with the news boys leaping and stomping around plus decent ballads, a funny doubting song for the heroine, and rousing moments. Poverty and the working class are effective in musicals I guess.  It's fun.

Movie review - "The Restless and the Damned" (1959) ** aka The Dispossessed

 Why did Lee Robinson make this? I think he was dazzled by working with a top French producer and Hollywood "names" like Edmond O'Brien and Richard Basehart.

Lee Robinson directed efforts could be sluggish but they had simple stories and great outdoors scenes. This was shot in Tahiti but the island doesn't look particularly pretty. There's too much indoors.

And its a boringly complicated story. Basically Andrea Parisy is married to Basehart and is hungry for money. She's not that compelling, not flatteringly shot. Basehart is bland. O'Brien is just sleazy. It's all in third gear.

Lee Robinson was so smart with his first three features but he lost it for the last two co productions. Why no part for Chips Rafferty? Why not just have a film about people trying to kill goodies in Tahiti?

Book review - "Queen of Technicolor: Maria Montez in Hollywood" by Tom Zimmerman

 Maria gets a book she deserved - one that takes her seriously, goes in depth to her life, times and films. Debunks a lot of myths (Canary Islands, Dominican diplomat) and clarifies: she was the daughter of a well off Dominican planter, married some dude at twenty and was with him for a bit, dumped him, went to New York to be discovered, was, signed to Universal. Things I thought were false were true (eg fiancee who died flying a plane).

Montez worked hard and was lucky - in that Universal put her in a sarogn, yes, but also that a classy producer Walter Wagner could arrange for colour, and she clicked with Sabu and Jon Hall. Without Hall she struggled: Tangier, Pirates of Monterey. Yvonne de Carlo took her place though also Montez simply moved countries.

The films are affectionately treated. The photo sessions get very thorough treatment. Maybe there's one too many sentences describing them. But they were important, I guess.

Montez comes across as a likeable figure. Driven, smart, a bit eccentric. It wasn't worth her fighting with Universal but I don't think that her going along with Frontier Gal helped. If she'd been more co operative I think she would've gone out of fashion - I can't see her kicking on like de Carlo or Maureen O'Hara. 

She had a close family, married well. It was a good life. Still had money. Had some flops but she would've kept employed. She died tragically young (heart attack in bath) but it would've been quick and painless.

Zimmerman did a very good job.

Book review - "Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film" by Ruth Barton

 Not bad. Covers the whole life. Maybe a bit thin on the films. But in Barton's defence Lamarr's life and career was so magnificently improbable it would take a longer book to do justice - Jewish, marriage to rich man, film career, nudity, escapes with jewels, meets Louis B Mayer, signed to MGM, stardom, exotic love life, invents wi-fi on the side, struggles post war as many of her kind did, blew a lot of money but bounced back via lawsuits. Lamarr is an enaging person to spend time with in the book.

Movie review - "Wham!" (2023) ***1/2

 Fun look back at the famous band benefiting from terrific home movie footage and much  contemporary footage. Back up singers clearly important. Human League vibe. Hilarious dancing. Good looks and high spirits important with George michael's genius as the X factor. Doesn't mention legal hassles between the first two albums.  Llindsay Anderson directed the China footage.

Movie review - "Elemental" (2023) **1/2

 Much to admire. The animation is excellent, particularly on the big screen, some lovely gags and moments, I enjoyed the world of the different elements, fire vs water vs earth vs air.

It doesn't quite work. It's not really a film for kids its an intercultural romance - which I know so was Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast but they had songs and a more propulsive story, with villains and ticking clocks. This is more Guess Who's Coming to Dinner with clunky artificial story drivers like shutting down the store, and fixing the dam It needed more of a coathanger, like solving a mystery, searching for someone, or even just beating a villain.

Also it makes remarkable mistakes in identifying the audience with the lead. Good Disney/Pixar gives us time with the lead - why not show her as a baby in Fireland, with the parents as they leave for the new country, a decent time on the boat (a great moment in the film but far too brief), experience time with her as she experiences prejudice and sees what a great set of parents she has. This is all shown in flashback. The old, very effective mantra of taking time has been thrown out the window.

Not a mystery why people didn't go for it.

Peter Reynolds in Australia

 Piece here

Ron Randell in Australia