The Great Unmade Robert Aldrich Romantic Comedy

Radio review - Ford Theatre - "The Late Christopher Bean" (1947) ** (warning: spoilers)

2012-01-30T12:36:00.000-08:00

Sidney Howard originally wrote this dull satire about a lodger who dies then becomes famous as a painter and the household where he lived squabble over his now-valuable paintings. The only one who likes them for art is the household maid, of whom he did a portrait and who loved him - her nasty treatment at the hands of the head of the house (bullying rather than violent) gives this some kick, but it's all rather mild, with an unconvincing deux ex machina of the maid turning out to be married to the painter. This was recently revived on Broadway but I can't see a hell of a lot of point to it.

Movie review - "The Trials of Oscar Wilde" (1960) ****

2012-01-30T03:39:00.001-08:00

The movie whose financial failure helped kill Warwick Productions, but it's easily the best thing they ever did - the same goes for writer-director Ken Hughes and many of the cast and crew, except for maybe Peter Finch, although it ranks up there. It's marvellously handled, told with tact and sensitivity - nothing is laid on with a trowel, but it's clear that Wilde is having an affair with Bosie, it torments his wife and enrages Bosie's father; it's also clear Robbie Ross is gay too although at one stage he says "these allegations against you aren't true are they?"

Finch was a notorious womanising boozer and he doesn't come across as "soft" as say Stephen Fry but he's got the sensitivity, ego, sympathy, and intelligence - as well as the infatuation for Bosie (John Fraser, very well cast as a beautiful spoilt brat), his dogged determination to stand up for something he believes is right even though it's idiotic. (Then again, Liberace sued for defamation and won.)

The support cast is superb. James Mason is terrifying as the imposing Carson (the legendary QC who also inspired the hero in The Winslow Boy and led the Ulster Union movement); Lionel Jefferies, who normally played comic characters, is scary as the mad Queensbury. Ken Adams' art direction is a delight - theatre foyers, plush living rooms, Queensbury's cold and huge mansion, the courtrooms.

Main gripe: the second half of the film goes on too long. We get all three trials and repetitive scenes of Queensbury tormenting Wilde and Wilde feeling low. It doesn't help I guess that Wilde is so passive. The tragedy of the last act is well conveyed with poor old Oscar getting out of prison and heading off to Paris. An excellent film, a shining example of the subject matter you can tackle within a G rating.

Radio review - Suspense - "Consequence" (1946) ****

2012-01-29T14:22:00.000-08:00

James Stewart in a darker role than he usually played in screen, at least at that stage in his career: he's a harassed doctor, unhappily married to a shrewish wife and in love with a nurse, who gets a chance at happiness when people think he has died in an accident. He takes off with his girlfriend and changes identity, starts off a new life - only his ex wife tracks him down. He tries to kill his ex but his new one ends up dying instead. So he kills himself. Full on! Fantastic episode.

Radio review - Lux - "Stratton Story" (1950) ***

2012-01-29T14:16:00.000-08:00

Hollywood's favourite tormented all-American and perfect wife, James Stewart and June Allyson, are ideally cast as a farmer turned ball player who loses a leg and his understanding better half. Okay it's schmaltzy but the guy did lose a leg (even if it was because he shot himself in a hunting accident) and came back. Stewart has a superb radio voice and Allyson offers strong support. This film would have meant a lot to injured veterans especially after World War Two.

Movie review - Doctor#5 - "Doctor in Distress" (1963) **

2012-01-29T02:56:00.000-08:00

Dirk Bogarde's career had thrived since he left the Doctor series but I guess we all need to renovate our houses - and he may have been nervous with the increasingly "arty" direction his career was going in - so he was enticed back to the popular series. His confidence and control is apparent in his performance as Simon Sparrow - no longer a callow youth, he's a successful doctor and respected colleague (and friend) of Sir Lancelot Spratt (James Robertson Justice). This entirely changes the tone from the previous films, which were based on Sparrow being green and uncertain.

He's still single though - in this one he purses Samantha Eggar, one the prettiest characters in the series. Act two consist of Spratt falling in love with a physio and going to a fat farm on Sparrow's advice. (This is Justice's film as much as Bogarde's.) Eggar goes overseas and Bogarde flirts with a new girl, a French piece rather like Jean Seberg in Breathless. This happens rather quickly so when Eggar returns it's hardly like a great romance. Also it feels shallow at the end that Justice doesn't get the girl, but Huston does.

The support cast includes Leo McKern as a Hollywood producer (a patient of Sparrow's), Donald Huston returning as a Welshman from the first movie (though he has hardly any scenes with Bogarde), Bill Kerr as a drunken Aussie sailor (who Spratt calls "a disgrace to the Empire"). Some funny bits but it lacks the soul of previous films - there is a serious bit with a girl having an operation, but no one really grows or makes friends, or forms a relationship, like the earlier ones in the series.

Radio review - Suspense - "Mission Completed" (1949) **** (warning: spoilers)

2012-01-28T15:18:00.000-08:00

James Stewart is superb as the nervy, hysterical paralysed war veteran who can only blink after being tormented in a Japanese POW camp - then becomes convinced the florist is his former guard. He starts to recover his facilities enough to move around and make phone calls (which makes this less horrifying although I suppose it was necessary to push the story along) and tries to kill him. But it's all the work of his shrink - that's right, years before Shutter Island. I would have preferred it if he'd killed the guy but there you go. Very strong ep though.

Movie review - "Robbery Under Arms" (1957) **

2012-01-28T03:38:00.001-08:00

Ken G Hall wanted to make a film out of this novel for two decades, and although I've never read a script it surely must have been more entertaining than this lethargic version, with director Jack Lee obsessed with long shots and leaden pacing. Roland Lewis and David McCallum are very brylcream as the two brothers who go visit their dodgy dad and find themselves on a run with some stolen cattle and Captain Starlight (Peter Finch). They say goodbye after the run, meet two sisters - a slut (Maureen Swanson, very sexy) and a sweet one (Jill Ireland) - then eventually meet up with Starlight again, rob a coach, say goodbye to Starlight again, then meet up with him again on the Gold Fields (irritatingly coincidentally), join him again, then say goodbye again.

It sounds repetitive and feels like it. There's no real theme or story uniting it all - the boys are tempted to crime pretty easily and keep falling back into it (not that they commit much - a cattle drive and a robbery is about all). There's no interesting mystery or enigma to Starlight - he just sort of pops up and doesn't seem too sympathetic even if he doesn't kill anyone. All the cool things he does in the book (dance with a girl at a wedding despite being surrounded by enemies, play cards cooly under pressure, honouring an agreement with the Knightleys) are cut out except for the bit where he impersonates a gent from England. There's no real relationship between him and the boys - indeed the only real character flair is their dad who bitterly whinges about him being transported to Australia for pinching a rabbit. The mother goes tsk tsk, as does the sister, Swanson flairs up, Ireland and McCallum are dopey idiots... the character of the good neighbour, who is the Path Not Taken, is sketchily defined as everything else.

The script makes a number of bad decisions like killing off Lewis, then having a ten minute shoot out sequence with Starlight and their dad, who we've hardly followed, and his men, who we hardly know, then crossing back to McCallum. It cuts out exciting bits from the book, like the two homestead sieges, the horse race, the wedding , the rivalry with the evil Dan Moran, the race by Mrs Keighly.

There are some striking visual images (all those long shots), and having the final shoot out in long shot (again!) is at least different, even if it just serves to make us more emotionally distant from the characters. And the bank robbery sequence was quite suspenseful, with that little kid dragging his stick along the wall, and ended with surprising violence. A real dull mess.

Radio review - Ford Theatre - "Storm in a Teacup" (1947) **

2012-01-27T14:45:00.001-08:00

A German play turned into a Scottish one turned into an English film here adapted for American radio - relocated to small town US. A reporter exposes a small town mayor for being mean, despite being in love with the mayor's daughter. It's sweet with some obvious over-the-top satire.

Movie review - "Three Men in a Boat" (1957) **1/2

2012-01-27T04:37:00.000-08:00

Romulus Films' attempt to make a success in the vein of those Rank comedies of the 1950s - you expect to see Dirk Bogarde, Donald Sinden and Kenneth Moore plus Kay Kendall and Dinah Sheridan. Instead we have Laurence Harvey, Jimmy Edwards and Donald Tomlinson as the three friends who decide to take a two week holiday to get away from it all by boating down the river - The Hangover, ye olde English style. One of the characters refers to it being the twentieth century but it feels like the 1880s - characters with boaters and striped jackets. The women they run into include Shirley Eaton, Lisa Gastoni and Jill Ireland who are very pretty and full of spirits. There are also some inevitable stuffy old men and women.

The book on which this is based is apparently a classic. The plot is a series of episodes: falling in the river, flirting with girls, getting lost in a maze, going skinny dipping and scandalising some biddies, taking part in a cricket match and wrecking it, crashing a party, etc.

Jimmy Edwards' moustache got on my nerves and he felt too old; Tomlinson is good value as the married man who does some outrageous flirting; Harvey didn't feel right - Kenneth More or Dirk Bogarde would have been much better. And too often the piece feels forced and contrived when it should be effortless. Still, it is what is.

Movie review - "The Shiralee" (1957) ***1/2

2012-01-27T03:58:00.000-08:00

Half a classic, with two superb lead performances by Peter Finch as the swagman and Dana Wilson as her daughter. Finch claimed this role was one of his favourites and from what I know of the man it's not surprising - a drifter, nomad, womaniser, hating responsibility, distrustful of women, comfortable among male company, a hard worker, easy to make friends, easier to leave them, capable of great charm, proud. Wilson is adorable - whether determinedly running to catch up with her father and refusing to let him go, laughing delightedly in a rain storm, or telling Finch she wants to stay with him. These two have wonderful chemistry.

The film is pretty good too for the most part - it starts off very well, with Finch interrupting his wife and her lover, him smacking the lover around and taking his kid out of spite. While Elizabeth Sellars plays the wife as a shrew, and it's clear she doesn't care that much for Buster (well she does but more for her lover), her arguments all seem valid - Finch's character is a lousy selfish husband. He does come in for a lot of criticism and is shown to be a real bastard - bailing on his old lover, trying to leave his kid several times, unable to hold down a job, etc. He sort of learns responsibly and the film tries to give a happy ending with the hint of reconciliation with an old flame... but how long does anyone think that will last?

It's surprising how sexually frank this is: Finch's wife is having a long term affair, Finch took the virginity of Rosemary Harris and she had a baby who died, Finch has casual sex with a shop girl (who dreams of escaping her small town life to go to Wagga Wagga). For me the film started to slow down when Finch went to stay with Tessie O'Shea and Sid James - too much forced charm with these two, especially O'Shea (lots of "loveable" jokes about her weight); Sellars comes back for the kid and Finch insists on keeping her... then abandons her; Finch gets beaten up in Sydney with flashing neon lights; we don't see Dana Wilson get run over.

Still, it's very worth seeing and the good outweighs the bad. Some sad moments too such as Niall MacGuiniss mourning his wife and wasting his life, and Finch walking down a country down and rock music can be heard- he's becoming a man out of time already. Some of the support performances are good, including several Aussies living in London - Charles Tingwell (who gives Finch a lift), Lloyd Berrell (who fights him), Ed Devereaux (who gives him another lift) and Frank Leighton (old friend of Harris').

Movie review - "Transformers" (2007) **1/2

2012-01-27T03:48:00.000-08:00

The idea of combining Michael Bay and toys sounded immensely unappealing but to many people's surprise this turned out to be bright blockbuster excitement, and made tonnes of money. It's a very good, commercial story: a seventeen year old high school boy with a crush on the hot girl discovers that is new car is a good transformer and He Is The Only One Who Can Save The World Because He Owns The Special Thing. To add some extra appeal there's Megan Fox as an alien (okay that's mean - as an improbably gorgeous creature who is meant to be the same age as Shia Le Bouf), Josh Duhmanel for some male handsomeness, Rachel Taylor to play a girl with a brain (a hacker who disappears from the story), Anthony Anderson for black comic relief, John Turturro and Jon Voight for acting fred. Bay's hyperactive directing style gets irritating at times, though it does suit the action involving the fast moving creatures, and there is a sense of fun. Some solid scenes too like the tape player turning into a creature on board Air Force One, and Anderson's rants as a hacker. It felt as though it went on too long and got dumber and more like a video game but it's fine.

Movie review - "Arthur" (2011) **

2012-01-26T12:51:00.000-08:00

They tried and I can't understand the rationale behind every decision but it doesn't work - Russell Brand's drinking is darker and less charming than Dudley Moores (there are an awful lot of scenes of him running around in his underwear as if to establish his sex symbol status), Helen Mirren's casting as the butler doesn't feel right, the relationship with Arthur's real mother is undeveloped, Greta Gerwig's mumble core charm feels all wrong, Hollywood screenwriters really should try to come up with someone having a dream other than wanting to write, Jennifer Garner tries gamely but is miscast, it lacks charm, and Brand's character is a genuine dope not really deserving of all this money. The film probably would have been better being more specifically tailored to Brand. There are some funny lines.

Radio review - Ford Theatre - "A Star is Born" (1947) ***1/2

2012-01-26T12:35:00.000-08:00

Okay sure so Vicky sleeps her way to the top essentially and Norman is a self pitying drunk who ruins her Oscar acceptance, but it still works because the publicist is mean, Vicky sticks at Norman even when he goes off the rails, and Norman kills himself (even though when you think about it that could be seen as a last gasp attention seeking measure). Bitter sweet melodrama which absolutely works - based on the 1937 film.

Book review - "Flashman" by George MacDonald Fraser

2012-01-25T18:22:00.001-08:00

The first entry in this series remains a lively, energetic piece of work full of hilarious lines and acid satire - it's hard to believe the author who turned into such a Blimp in the last decade of his life could be so vicious and satirical about the British Empire, the incompetence of the way it was run and fought for, the imperial types that abounded. Pretty much everyone is sent up mercilessly (and no doubt accurately): Elphinstone (the head of the army in Afghanistan), General Cotton, Lady Sale, General Sale, Lord Cardigan, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, the Scots, army officers, Sekundar Burnes, McNaughten, etc. The only people who don't get a hiding really are the Duke of Wellington and Colin McKenzie.

It's brilliantly lively and inventive - Flashman's escapes from Gul Shah are thrilling, the disintegration and collapse of the British army is scary and harrowing, it's clever how he gets out of the duel (there is a lot of genuine wit). There are some nasty bits - Flashman hits one woman and rapes another, which is a bit full on, even if she does try to lop his bit off later (rape was very popular in racy fiction, esp films, in the late 60s). It has a bittersweet finale with Flashman earning fame and thanks but realising his wife is probably unfaithful. There were better entries in the series but this was a great start.

Radio review - TGA - "An Ideal Husband" (1952) ***1/2

2012-01-25T18:17:00.000-08:00

Rex Harrison is the perfect Oscar Wilde hero - haughty, superior, witty, attractive, looks as though has never worked a day in his life - and his then-wife Lili Palmer is ideal casting too as the femme fetale. This play always struggles to make the married couple interesting - the priggish MP who was corrupt in a former life and his stuck up wife - even though their fate are the stakes. I guess they learn their lesson about judging people (although the MP is still reluctant to give his consent to marriage at the end because he thinks his friend has been rooting around) - but they're not as funny as the others. Still it's a bright version of an old favourite.

Movie review - Doctor#4 - "Doctor in Love" (1960) **

2012-01-25T01:02:00.000-08:00

Dirk Bogarde refused to return for the fourth doctor film as he was sick of the role so Rank replaced him with another handsome lout, Michael Craig. Craig was a very fine actor, and good looking, but he never became a star and you can sort of tell here - he simply doesn't have Bogarde's charisma. There was always something compulsively watchable about Bogarde - the hidden joke and smirk he seemed to be smiling, the air of soulfulness, etc. - which Craig doesn't have. Also Bogarde's Sparrow never seemed that interested in woman, giving him a ambiguous, romantic and/or flustered air as he admired from afar or ran away from those who pursued him - Craig's doctor here is very interested in women, which as written makes him come across as sleazy at times.

The script is episodic as usual, following Doctor at Large more than the first two: first episode has the doctor sick, then he works in various jobs, having adventures, often involving amorous patients and wacky other doctors - being a testing dummy for the common cold, running a small town general practice, meeting a female doctor, having a serious medical plot. The finale involves Craig operating on Sir Lancelot Spratt, which gives this film a strong finale.

Craig's doctor has the obligatory skirt-chasing friend, but the best performance comes from Virginia Maskell as a fellow female doctor - she's really lovely, a good match. Sex is on the brain even more here: there's a few burlesque dancer characters, a visit to a burlesque club, a 28 year old man who has to be taught about sex, Craig bursts into Maskell's bedroom several times. It probably goes on too long - I think they shouldn't have had Craig and Maskell get engaged then break up and get together, it felt too much - and Craig isn't as good as Bogarde, but it's still enjoyably colourful Rank comedy stuff.

Movie review - "The Edge of the World" (1937) ***1/2

2012-01-24T23:07:00.001-08:00

Michael Powell had made a number of movies before this (many of which are now considered lost) but this was first "real movie". It remains a remarkable piece of work, with stunning location work on the Scottish islands. This is memorable not only for its visuals - crashing waves, craggy cliffs (that look like gnarled old faces), wind swept rocks, grizzled old faces of the locals (e.g. the old granny) - but the depiction of life on the island - dependence on fishing, Church sermons, what people wear, their "parliament", the formality of a funeral, the competitions of running up to the top of the cliffs, deciding to abandon their beloved dogs because they cost too much.

The central story is based on a good dramatic situation - one son (Eric Berry) wants to leave the island, his sister's (Ruth Manson's) boyfriend (Nial Macginiss) doesn't, they have a race, the departing son dies in an accident, the boyfriend has to leave, the girl is pregnant, the boyfriend takes ages to find out about it because he's been kicked off the island.

Eric Berry seems far too modern to play one of the islanders and Manson is blah but Macginiss is excellent, all sensitive torment, and John Laurie is superb as Berry's father, wedded to the old ways - but willing to accept his out-of-wedlock daughter having a baby. Powell is in it too - at the beginning as a tourist who visits the island. It's a bit creaky here and there the music sometimes is over the top but it has genuine magic about it.

Radio review -Ford Theatre - "Father Dear Father" (1947) **

2012-01-24T14:39:00.000-08:00

Ford try to "give back" by having an original radio play rather than borrow from the movies - there were plenty of original radio plays at the time but I think most of them were 30 minutes. This is a dull story about a sort of pompous city type (Ed Jerome channelling Clifton Webb) who moves to a small town and causes trouble for his ex wife and daughter. That's about it. Lacks jokes and charm.

Movie review - Doctor#3 - "Doctor at Large" (1957) ***

2012-01-24T02:28:00.000-08:00

Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) heads out into the world - it starts with him working at a hospital, and I thought the whole movie was going to be set there, but when he loses out on a job about a third of the way through he heads out into the world: a locum in a country town, a rich person's practice in Harley St, way out in the sticks. Several actors from the first film reappear: James Robertson Justice (who doesn't seem to recognise Sparrow), Geoffrey Keen, Donald Sinden (fellow doctor), Muriel Pavlow (love interest in first who disappeared in second and reappears here as platonic friend turned love interest - although Bogarde holds her hand a lot).

The first third features a very pretty Shirley Eaton as a nurse keen on getting a doctor husband and Sparrow seems interested in her, making him more heterosexual than the previous two films. Later on he even kisses a seductive patient - although there aren't any real romantic scenes with Pavlow. At the end he just announces he's going to marry her without even asking.

The fact the story goes all over the shop means this lacks a unifying theme of the first one (the second didn't have one but it was set on the one ship). Also the camaraderie between Sinden, Pavlow and Bogarde isn't as strong as the one between the four friends in the first. Still, it has a cheery good nature, Bogarde's character really grows and matures in this one (there's really nowhere else for his character to go after he stands up to James Robertson Justice at the end) there's lots of chat about the National Health Service. Pleasant enough.

Radio review - Ford Theatre - "Ah, Wilderness" (1947) ***

2012-01-23T15:01:00.000-08:00

Accomplished version of Eugene O'Neill's autobiographical comedy, without too much false sentimentality or aw-shuckness that can be done with this. It's picnic day on the fourth of July, a young man is in love but tempted by a cigarette smoking slut, there is some nice serious stuff when a woman talks about being in love with an alcoholic, no one can talk about sex properly.

Movie review - "They're a Weird Mob" (1966) ***1/2

2012-01-23T02:22:00.001-08:00

Charming fish out of water comedy which will mean a lot to Australians and maybe Italians but probably not a lot to anyone else. Walter Chiari is very winning as the Italian migrant who moves to Australia to work for a magazine but finds it's been wound up so he has to go to work as a labourer. He wants to get married and when an Italian girl he's got his eye on turns up engaged he goes for hoity-toity Clare Dunne.

It's fascinating for the look at Australians: pushy, loud, very fond of a beer (keen to shout but quick to take offence if you don't join in), basically friendly, nosy (they listen in on his phone conversation but help translate), willing to forget the war (Slim de Grey was a POW of the Germans after Greece and picked up some Italian), lifeguards who can be snappy, up for a boisterous wrestle after work, quick to defend their mate against thoughtless racism of a brickie. The most racist intolerant person in the film is a drunk on the ferry who people laugh at. Chiari isn't Mr PC himself - he tells off Claire Dunne for being too manly and never having arrived late for a business appointment because she had to go to a beauty appointment (which she then does).

It's also great for the glimpses of Sydney at the time: the loud newspaper sellers, packed male-only pubs, smoko, St George football jerseys, boozing hard after work, Bondi Beach, the red brick houses, night time parties by the harbour, boozy BBQs, dishing trips. There's an appearance by a Chinese man and a reference to aboriginal people - Chiari points at an old aboriginal painting where he wants to build his house. Sydney rarely looked more gorgeous. It's basically a tolerant society, if male dominated, where you can make friends easily and quickly save up money to buy a house overlooking the harbour, where men are most comfortable drinking beer rather than scones but they pay due reference to women.

Some odd visual flourishes such as a long digging montage, including shot of Chiari through de Grey's legs and cut to a hammer and sickle lying down (what was this there for? I think for Powell to show everyone he was still Michael Powell); a second digging montage; a long scene of Chiari sitting around without a top as it rains; a rescue by life savers at the beach where we hear the breathing. Indeed, there's not a lot of story here - it would have been a better movie with more conflict (I kept expecting Chiari's cousin to turn up or Chips Rafferty to be nastier but it never happened).

The big subplot is a rom com between Chiari and leggy, beautiful Claire Dunne - even if she isn't as hot as the Italian chick he meets on the ferry. This is charming. Very good cast - Chiari is ideal with his puppy dog eyes (people keep referring to the fact he's bigger than a typical Italian); there's a very likeable group of friends in Ed Devereaux, Slim de Grey and John Meillion; Chips Rafferty an imposing potential father in law (his part should have been bigger); Jeanne Dryan is sweet as a young Aussie bride.

Movie review - "The Box" (1975) **1/2

2012-01-23T01:25:00.000-08:00

They don't make 'em like this any more - a fascinating reminder of the sort of TV that was served up to Aussies: high spirited, influenced by British sex humour, plenty of boobs, little erotica, camp humour, over the top plotting, played with gusto. It's a big screen adaptation of the TV series made to compete with Number 96 and was never as popular although it had it's fans. In these days heart throbs were people like George Mallaby and there were lots of old characters and TV stations were run by people with knighthoods and had tea ladies.

Judy Nunn became a name as a vicious bisexual reporter but she's quite tame here, and doesn't sleep with that many people (she's wasted really); Ken James is fun as a dopey leading man, presumably based on one of the Crawfords stars; Lois Ramsey is a bossy tea lady (whatever happened to tea ladies? Actually I know - costs - it's a shame that's all); Paul Karo is a flamboyantly gay producer - over the top but sympathetic. A plot involves one character pretending to be gay but actually he's straight. Most of the stories are silly farce type ones - but there's one played totally straight, with married Belinda Giblin being tormented over her love for Mallaby (they have a stylised love sequence which is hilarious). There's also a young Cornelia Francis (looking like the old Cornelia Francis) as an efficiency expert (Nunn's former lover although they don't really get it on); a young Tracey Mann; Graham Kennedy playing himself in quite big role.

You don't have to follow the series to get what's going on and I'm assuming it's a decent recreation of the show. Looks a lot more professional than the Number 96 movie but not as much delirious fun.

Movie review - Doctor#2 - "Doctor at Sea" (1955) ***

2012-01-22T23:40:00.000-08:00

Breezy, 50s British fun - in colour, full of high spirits, an accomplished cast well led by Dirk Bogarde. It cleverly rehashes events of the first film by redoing them at see - like the university in Doctor in the House the ship here is like school, with stern-and-bluff-but-ultimately-loveable teachers (James Robertson Justice playing a different character but really the same type of role, Geoffrey Keen) overseeing good natured escapades from the junior officers, including Bogarde and some other young blades (a lecherous red head, a jolly good old chap with grey hair), and some wacky antics from the lower classes. There are drunken binges which result in a night in the clink, a sports game, attractive starlets, and a medical climax where Bogarde earns the ship's respect by removing an appendix.

Bogarde spends the majority of the film avoiding women - he runs away to sea to avoid the attentions of his boss' daughter, flees from a sexy nightclub singer in a South American port, and even shies away from a very cute, pre-fame Bridget Bardot. Later on he's meant to fall in love with her and only manages a half-convincing job - neither really seem into each other in that final railing-at-sunset scene and seem to find it very easy to say goodbye. (They are thrown together at the end again but more out of luck than anything else).

Some funny scenes, like Bogarde fending off the angry father of a drunk girl by diagnosing an illness, and Justice being pursued by the ditzy daughter of the ocean liner - and a touching one where the forelock tugging lower orders give Bogarde a gift. Bardot is fetching, and even wears a swimsuit in one scene, Justice is in great form, Bogarde handsome, Kenneth More is missed. A sweet relic of a bygone era.

Book review - "Jack Hill: The Exploitation and Blaxploitation Master, Film by Film" by Calum Waddell

2012-01-22T13:50:00.000-08:00

One of the great mysteries in 70s cinema - why did the directing jobs dry up so much for Jack Hill, despite an incredible run of successes at the box office: The Big Doll House, The Big Bird Cage, Coffy, Foxy Brown, and The Swinging Cheerleaders. Okay, sure, Switchblade Sisters didn't do as well as everyone hoped (despite being a terrific movie), but I'm still thrown as to why Hill only directed one more film.

That question is only half answered here. Hill seems to have had his chances: he almost got a film up under James Aubrey at MGM (which seems a natural fit) but claims his agent stuffed the negotiation; he wrote several scripts in the late 70s which were made - but shot in Canada so he couldn't direct them (I was unaware of this stage in his career - they include Death Ship, Sky Riders and City on Fire); he got up a film in the 80s with Roger Corman but had a bad fight with Corman over money so didn't make any more movies for him. Still, you would've thought someone with such a strong track record of making low budget popular films that launched stars (well, one - Pam Grier) and helped establish genres (female blaxploitation, women in prison, cheerleaders) would never have been out of work, especially in the video era.

Maybe Hill didn't want it bad enough - he admits to not being super ambitious or career minded, he never had the self promotion capabilities of say Peter Bogdanovich. I also got the impression here he could be prickly - he takes a big swipe at Stephanie Rothman for the stuff she shot on Blood Bath (Waddell joins in on this, which I thought was unfair), calls Bogdanovich "a jerk" for not inviting him to a screening of The Last Picture Show, suggests Coppola (who came up at the same time as Hill) used his short film as inspiration for Apocalypse Now, mocks John Milius (whose Dillinger was made at the same time as Coffy and was meant to be a big hit but disappointed, apparently). Maybe he just worked so much with not enough money on films with too much hassle he lost puff.

There are some great stories here: making those dodgy films with Boris Karloff in Mexico (Karloff was disappointed Targets didn't do that well and was angry at Corman for being ripped off apparently), trying to stop Ich, Ein Groupie from being a soft core porn in Germany, the partying antics of Roberta Collins, his vision for Switchblade Sisters, the disaster of Sorceress (including a big fight with Corman whose penny pinching ways are not charming as described in this book).

Still this book feels vaguely disappointing. Too much time is taken up with recaps of plots and Waddell's analysis of the film; he gets really hung up on some of their non-PC aspects, particularly gay jokes. I take his point about the rape jokes/scenes which always mar my enjoyment of Hill's movie but the gay comments are justified by the script (e.g. Pam Gier talking about lesbianism as being a "disease" in The Big Doll House it's clear to me in the film she doesn't mean what she's staying). I guess this is all personal, it depends on what offends you, but Waddell goes on about it so much at times I wondered why he bothered writing a book about Hill. The films are fun - at least to their fans - and this doesn't come across.

Radio review - Ford Theatre - "The Front Page" (1949) ***1/2

2012-01-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

It's always a pleasure to renew acquaintance with this play, surely the only recognised classic which has been nonetheless overshadowed by a movie remake. I'm always surprised how late Walter Burns takes to make an appearance - although when he does he makes up for it (played here by Everett Sloane). Hildy Johnson doesn't seem to be that good a reporter, but he blusters well and the support cast remains magnificent: the hapless killer Earl, Molly the "waitress" who throws herself out the window (but survives apparently - as what? a cripple?), the corrupt politicians and sheriff. Everyone is either crazy, corrupt, greedy, selfish, stupid or a combination of the above. In other words they are human, which is why this ages so well.

Documentary review - "The Making of 'They're a Weird Mob'" (1966) ***

2012-01-22T13:36:00.000-08:00

Invaluable making of doco about one of the rare local film successes during the 1960s, produced and directed by none other than David Hill and presented by Ed Devereaux. Some fascinating stuff (for fans of Michael Powell and/or Aussie cinema, anyway): Powell arriving in Australia and some behind the scenes stuff involving talking with John McCallum and Lee Robinson; Devereaux commenting on Powell's prickly temper and us seeing him give Devereaux a bit of a serve; an oh-so-young-looking John Meillion making Powell laugh with his good nature; test shoots with Jeanie Drynan; footage with Clare Dunne in the surf; description of Walter Chiari which keeps emphasising his sport achievements (Hill knows how to make him palatable to Aussies at the time); Chips Rafferty talking about his hopes for the Aussie film industry; a party at the end with Rafferty reciting poetry, and everyone on the dance floor, including various hot women, John O'Grady, Devereaux and Powell.

Movie review - "The Iron Lady" (2012) **1/2

2012-01-22T02:50:00.000-08:00

Much to admire in this biopic - Meryl Streep's superb performance, getting all the incantations and inflections right, some stunningly good make up (they start off with this right away - I was apprehensive but what is normally bad is very well done), the sets and costumes, a strong cast of excellent actors. But the filmmakers seem more interested in Thatcher's Alzheimer's and old age banter with Dennis than politics - about a third of the film is devoted to her imaginary talks with Jim Broadbent, which hits the same beat over and over again. I don't mind five minutes or so but it goes for over half an hour.

This has the table of contents of a good movie - glimpses at Maggie's preference for Mark over Carol, we hear about how her being a woman was an advantage as well as a debit, shots of her listening to her father speak, her attitudes on the Poll tax, a snap shot of her relationship with Airey Neave, a brief moment showing her opposition to conciliatory conservatism - but little of this is dramatised. What we mostly get are montages, lots of scenes of extras banging on her car, or being the only woman. No real insight. Jim Broadbent's Denis Thatcher is just loveable cuddly and supportive - no moments of his own political views or why he loved Maggie or thoughts on their kids or the state of the nation. (This could have been a moving love story - it has the ending for one, but not the middle). There's no sense how she controlled her Parliament, or the country, or got legislation through. We have two IRA bombs (Brighton and one that killed Airey Neave) but no talk about her attitude towards Ireland.

Bob Ellis was right: it's a musical without music, all set ups for songs and theatrical devices (talking to dead people, monologues). Wonderful performance and make up, and at least it has a different sort of take on the material even if it is an undramatic one.

Movie review - "Age of Consent" (1969) ***

2012-01-21T22:56:00.001-08:00

Michael Powell's final full length feature film as director isn't one of his highly regarded, and even those associated with it complained often about compromises forced upon it (James Mason in an Australian accent, the opening music), but it has charm, and after an uncertain beginning, gets into it's groove.

I can see the appeal of this work for James Mason - you get to play a famous, handsome successful artist, who decides to return home (an island paradise), and be fawned over by several groupies, have sex with some and be "re-invigorated" by an underage muse (none other than Helen Mirren). It's less typical of Michael Powell's work, although it did give him a chance to play with colour, ruminate on art and work with Mason.

It's quite a racy film - easily Powell's most explicitly sexy one. Mason is in bed with a topless Clarissa Kaye (who he later married) and when they have sex Powell cuts to the bed shaking and squeaking; Mirren is forever running around without a bra and is often naked - twice at Mason's request (once swimming, the other posing in the water with a spear).

This doesn't have the best reputation and is certainly full of flaws - the music on the copy I saw was atrocious, there's some over acting from the elder character actors, it took a while to get used to Mason's accent. But it has life and warmth and I enjoyed it. It doesn't have a strong story - Mason lives on an island, gets Mirren to pose, an old mate turns up and pinches some money off him, Mirren's drunken aunt falls off a cliff, Mason finishes his pictures, gets his money back, then he and Mirren get together. The last bit doesn't feel too convincing - neither express that much interest in each other during the movie, Mirren seems mostly attracted to his out of town glamour (and fear of being left) and Mason to her body and availability.

But you know something? I didn't mind, especially as it went along. It reminded me of a TV show like Sea Change - handsome leads, pretty views, lots of wacky locals and a comic dog. The locations are beautiful - Australia looks so gorgeous in it's late 60s films, with that sparse city and super blue ocean and deserted beaches. Mason and Mirren are charismatic, there's a support cast including a young Harold Hopkins plus views of Brisbane, and it's all easy going, laid-back and Queensland-ish.

Movie review - "The Shadow of the Cat" (1961) **

2012-01-21T22:22:00.000-08:00

Officially a Hammer movie although it was really made by independent producers under their umbrella - still, it features some names who would become familiar to the company down the track, such as John Gilling and Barbara Shelley. This doesn't have enough story for a feature - an old woman is killed by her servant, and her maid and husband are in on it. This is watched by the cat. Then we get the credits and two newcomers arrive, Shelley and Conrad Phillips. And the cat gets revenge. Yep, that's right, the cat gets revenge, knocking off the baddies one by one - forcing them into quicksand, giving them heart attacks, etc.

Revealing not only the killer but his conspirators at the beginning robs the film of any mystery - all you've got is building paranoia, and "will the others find out in time" - which, since they're not really in danger, isn't much. Shelley is pretty, there are some neat bits of the wind blowing around a mostly-deserted mansion, Andre Morrell is in the cast... but this sort of story struggles to last out an ep of a TV show, let alone a feature (even though the running time isn't much over 70 minutes it still felt dragged out).

Radio review - Ford Theatre - "A Farewell to Arms" (1949) **1/2

2012-01-21T18:37:00.000-08:00

Fletcher Markle steps out from behind the glass to co-star opposite Helen Hayes in this version of the Hemingway classic. He doesn't do a bad job and Hayes keeps her whimpering and simpering in check. Still, Hemingway dialogue always sounds odder than it reads and that doesn't change here. Solid story (two people who don't really want to fall in love fall genuinely in love) with repetitions (Lt Henry keeps getting injured) - but this version lacks the desperation, romance, passion and urgency which the tale needs.

Movie review - "The Elusive Pimpernel" (1950) ***1/2

2012-01-21T00:34:00.000-08:00

I was always surprised to read about what a disaster this movie was - it seemed to have an incredible amount of ingredients: David Niven, Powell and Pressburger, Korda and Goldwyn, the Scarlet Pimpernel, colour, location shooting, terrific support cast. And while it's no masterpiece, it's actually pretty fun. The story is strong as ever, it looks amazing (a feast for the eyes), it has a playful good nature that is infectious. I don't necessarily think it would have worked as a musical (as originally envisioned) but it's a great shame Americans didn't get to see the film for so long, and that it's been out of circulation for so long.

David Niven isn't as believable playing a fop as Leslie Howard was, but he tries, and he's superb as "straight", brave Pimpernel - smart, tough, wryly humorous, skillful at disguise, etc. Margaret Leighton felt a little old and cold for the part of his wife (I always think this role needs to be played by someone very passionate) but she is a good actor and is more of an "equal" to Niven. Very strong support cast including Cyril Cusack (scary and different as an all-white-makeup Chevalier), Jack Hawkins (not quite well cast as George IV but I got used to him), always-reliable Robert Coote, a very old John Longden and a very young Patrick Macnee.

There are bizarre scenes like the one in the steam bath where Niven recites the famous poem - leaping about in a loin cloth with jump cuts, Hawkins dancing (these two are where it felt like a musical), Cusack sneezing and seeing fireworks. It's got that touch of magic for which Powell and Pressburger were known and the film should be more widely distributed.

Movie review - "Madonna of the Seven Moons" (1944) ***

2012-01-19T22:43:00.000-08:00

Utterly bizarre concoction that has to be seen to be believed: in 1919 Italy, young Phyllis Calvert is raped by a gypsy, so she goes to a convent, only to be kicked out to marry a nice man. They have a daughter who gets sent away to England to be educated - when she comes back she's played by Pat Roc and has a taste for wearing shorts, shocking her mother who's a bit of a recluse. And that's in the first five minutes or so!

It gets more way out - Calvert faints a lot, Roc wonders what's wrong and gets engaged to a skinny, camp looking Britisher (Alan Haines - I know there was a war on but couldn't they get someone more virile than this guy?). It turns out that at certain times Calvert changes identity, runs off to the hills and lives as a mistress to a jewel thief (Stewart Granger). Just like The Wicked Lady really only she doesn't know she does it - this is a Gainsborough melodrama movie.

This really should have taken place in the 19th century - it's weird to think that it's set in around 1937 Italy. Everyone acts very British - check out pukka John Stuart as wine merchant "Guiseppie". Stewart Granger doesn't appear until 45 minutes in and it's a relief to see an actor who looks vaguely tough. This movie is remarkable for the number of wet men - Haines, Stuart, plus Peter Grenville (gigolo) and Peter Murray Hill (artist friend of Kent's). I'm surprised they didn't have someone virile who was also in love with Calvert - maybe they just couldn't find someone. Indeed the guts of the plot is odd - you'd think it would be about Calvert's husband tracking her down but that job is done by a group of people - Kent, Grenville, Haines, Hill and his wife Dulcie Grey. So it's kind of an ensemble piece without any lead - I think they would have been better having some dashing actor play Calvert's husband, a genuine sexual threat.

Quite racy - Granger and Calvert have a post coital scene in bed, she lying on top of him while he smokes a cigarette - then he spins on top of her. Granger also sings a song on a lute or something. The story calms down after a while and turns more into a conventional "where has Calvert gone" story - then perks up with delirious finale that invokes Glenville slipping Kent a roofie and trying to rape her during carnival, then Calvert coming along and stabbing Glenville, then him stabbing her, and her dying just as she recognises her daughter, but then recovering enough to go home, and dying in bed, and a priest reading last rites, and Granger about to kill her husband until he hears that he's her husband and deciding not to do it - and endings with a shot of a cross on Calvert's chest. The plot is as insane as her character.

Calvert's part was probably better played by Margaret Lockwood, but I admit it's fun seeing Calvert in such a way out role, smoking cigarettes and wearing gypsy garb. Some garish decor, including a carnival scene, and Jean Kent acting up a storm as the horny girl who wants Granger. The nicest people are British raised (Kent) or British (her fiancee, and two artist friends), or seem very British (Calvert's husband) - the Italian characters are gigolos (Glenville) sluts (Kent) or hot blooded thieves (Granger). Incredible, mad fun.

Radio review - Ford Theatre - "It's a Gift" (1948) **

2012-01-19T22:13:00.000-08:00

I thought this was going to be an adaptation of the 19134 WC Fields movie but instead it's an original for Ford about a war veteran who realises he can make people do whatever he wants when he gets dizzy. The possibilities in this premise are immense - the writer limits them to the hero getting people to buy a project and later helping get someone elected. Ultimately the satire is mild and none of it's particularly believable - there's a love interest, and a corrupt tycoon out of Capra, and few decent jokes.

Script review - "Manhunter" by Michael Mann

2012-01-19T03:47:00.000-08:00

I find myself reading this script every year or so - the idea of a detective who can think like a serial killer was new then, it makes a terrific character, his dilemmas are strong. So many wonderful bits: all the detail, the way the cops deal with Graham, the opening scene where we plunge straight into it, the structure where we meet the blind girl in the last third. There's just something about it. It's spooky too - I always get haunted by visions of the serial killer breaking it. Great writing from Mann.

Movie review - "Expresso Bongo" (1959) ***

2012-01-19T03:10:00.001-08:00

Another interesting Val Guest movie, whose reputation should be stronger than it is in film studies (although it is growing, helped by the fact he lived so long) - full of typical energy and atmosphere, with plenty of humour. He doesn't quite help escape the stage origins (this was a feature of Yesterday's Enemy as well) - people stand around talking as if they're in a musical, the scenes sometimes feel like "book" scenes, there are conscious "numbers". But there's still much to admire.

I was particularly struck by the sexiness of this - everyone is clearly having pre-marital sex, whether it's Laurence Harvey and his stripper girlfriend (Sylvia Syms!), or Cliff Richard and Yolande Donlan; Syms and her strippers wear revealing outfits (only something over their nipples). It's also mercenary and quite cold - Harvey rips off Richard by demanding 50% of income, Donlan helps Richard but only so she can sleep with him and use him for her career, Richard dumps Donlan for his career. The nicest person is Syms but even she wants Harvey to promote her singing career.

Richard isn't bad - he starts off awkward but gets better, especially in his scenes with Donlan. His performance feels very Elvis orientated - there's some snarls, hip swivelling and even talking. Come to think of it, the story isn't unlike many plots of early Elvis films - discovery in an out of a way place, a rise to fame, romance with an elder woman, an older manager who is influential (only here these forces are more benign). He is surrounded by solid support: Donlan, Meier Tzelniker, etc. Harvey is vivacious, probably understood the character of a shonk very well, and tries out a wacky Jewish South African-ish accent. It's a shame it isn't in colour but the black and white does help with the dingy, sweaty Soho atmosphere with its coffee shops and back alleys.

Radio review - Best Plays - "John Loves Mary" (1953) **1/2

2012-01-18T12:41:00.000-08:00

Norman Krasna's incredibly popular play given an average production - in truth, this is a hard play to do well because it's so light, it needs really top playing and energy. Also there's no laugh track - a studio audience would have really helped. Nina Foch overacts in the female lead (which she played on stage), Van Johnson is alright. It's okay, and you can't really say the play deserves better, but it's not sensational.

Script review - "Young Adult" by Diablo Cody

2012-01-18T04:02:00.000-08:00

Like Juno, Cody takes a very familiar, simple story - woman comes back to town to win back an ex - and handles it with freshness and verge. The look at small town life is more cynical and jaundiced here - her ex is happy, chubby, a father and bland, the locals have low horizons, there is a lot of smugness. And the lead is a mess - near alcoholic, bitchy, selfish, egotistical. It works, though, especially the stuff with her old chubby former school mate with a horrific injury (really horrific - he has trouble masturbating) and his sister. It's going to be interesting to see how the public take to this.

Script review - "Up in the Air"

2012-01-18T03:58:00.000-08:00

Smart, stylish, sceptical, cynical, with a heart - Jason Reitman is proving himself the true heir to Billy Wilder. This is two films - the minor one of a business sacking people (really the George Clooney job could have been anything that involved travel, but it does have terrific thematic echoes), and the major one of Clooney's company learning to connect. Some of the bantering dialogue involving the Clooney and his love interest (e.g. sizes of miles, crashing the party) and protege/threat (e.g. talking about ideal match) is of Golden Years of Hollywood (the good stuff) quality. It has heart and point and only goes Hollywood in one bit - when Clooney runs away from the speech at the end. At least he doesn't quit his job.

Script review - "The Untouchables" by David Mamet

2012-01-18T03:52:00.001-08:00

Mamet should do more action films - his dialogue and strength with men suit the genre and the TV show gave him a rich world to play with: Chicago, Depression, gangsters, Capone, Irish cops. Bold, flamboyant - I'm glad Mamet didn't direct it. The great speeches are all here, the characterisation of Malone and Capone is memorable on the page; there isn't much any writer could do with Ness but Mamet does the best he can. There's an action scene in a race track at the script which didn't make the final cut.

Movie review - "Hell Drivers" (1957) ***

2012-01-18T03:28:00.000-08:00

Taut, highly enjoyable British B about truckers in the vein of They Drive By Night - it has an American energy and feel, perhaps due to co-writer and director Cy Enfield. It's perhaps been overpraised in recent years but is still fun. Stanley Baker became a confirmed leading man with his Bogie-type portrayal of a man just out of prison who gets a job as a truck driver. The company he works for seem interested in driving as fast as possible at incredibly fast speeds than delivering safely and is dominated by Patrick McGoohan. Baker is befriended by nice Italian Herbert Lom (once again playing an "ethnic" but this time he's actually sympathetic here - indeed, the most in the film) - Baker repays him by stealing his girlfriend, and then Lom drives a truck intended for Baker with dodgy brakes.

Some odd scripting decisions - having one scene where Baker goes home to see his mother and brother (David McCallum) but no other one (we never see them again); Baker realises the truck has been fixed but doesn't tell anyone; we don't find out about the fact McGoohan is ripping off the company unit the movie is almost over (maybe this wouldn't have mattered had Baker been investigating some sort of movie but it's just a realisation at the end - so the story doesn't really have narrative advice).

Sensational cast: in addition to Baker, McCallum, Lom and McGoohan there's also a young Sean Connery and Sid James, plus Peggy Cummins.

Radio review - Ford Theatre - Ep#35 - "Laura" (1948) ***12

2012-01-18T03:10:00.000-08:00

This adaptation lacks star power but remains a gripping story, with it's beefy detective hero who falls in love with a murder victim then finds out she's alive; the beautiful, stylish Laura who is a sucker for the meataxe (the actor who plays Shelby here sounds more rugged which suits the writing); the brilliant, obsessed Waldo full of accurate observations but unable to control his impulses. You give the detective and Laura's marriage about six months, with a year of reunion sex and break ups.

Book review - "The Hammer Vault" by Marcus Hearn

2012-01-16T22:28:00.000-08:00

Another typically excellent Hammer book from Hearn, with plenty of glossy photos and pictures, including of old call sheets, etc. This one gives key prominence to non horror films such as Yesterday's Enemy which is a nice change and I think puts things in more perspective - although it doesn't really deal heavily with the very early Hammers, which I understand. Most of the information will be familiar to the regular fan (including Hearn's opinions e.g. bagging The Terror of the Tongs) but this is still worth buying if you're into Hammer. Oh, it is quite large and hefty.

Radio review - TGA - "Alice Adams" (1948) **

2012-01-16T14:33:00.000-08:00

Katherine Hepburn's performance in the 1935 film was full of ticks and breathlessness so it's appropriate in a way to find Judy Garland cast in this radio version. But after an erratic start she eventually calms down and does fine work. I still didn't like this - too awkward and painful, the family life is so devastatingly portrayed (frustrated, nagging mum and pathetic father). It keeps the unconvincing happy ending of the film and Anne Schoemaker as her social climbing (with reason - her husband is useless) mother. Thomas Mitchell plays dad. The dinner party scene is greatly reduced.

Movie review - "Hell is a City" (1960) **1/2

2012-01-16T03:32:00.000-08:00

Stanley Baker's glowering intensity which made him so suitable paying villainous roles also meant he could segue into playing intense anti-heroes, which he did roughly from Hell Drivers onwards. This was one of several films he played around the turn of the decade where he played (you guessed it) intense police officers. Here he's a driven copper in Manchester, worrying about a man he put away years ago having escaped and investigating a robbery which resulted in murder - turns out said murder was commitment by the escapee in question.

There are some dreadful "acting" scenes involving Baker and his wife who constantly complains "why are you never home" (she's got a point, if he's not at work he goes to the pub), he won't let get a job, suggests she go have a child if she wants to feel useful, flirts with a barmaid - it's hideous. At the end the barmaid says she wants kids and Baker looks all interested - so does he want to have kids and his wife doesn't, is that it? Columbia requested the wife scenes were cut out for running time and they were right.

The police stuff is much better - it feels authentic, as the best Val Guest films, and location shooting in and around Manchester helps a lot. The robbery sequence is well done, as is the subsequent murder and escape, and I enjoyed the investigation and interrogation. Aussie viewers will be especially interested by the illegal game of English two-up on the Manchester moors. Check out the finale for the difference between British and Hollywood films - Baker is fighting with the baddie (John Crawford) on the roof top, Crawford is about to fall off, Baker pulls him to safety, Crawford knocks him out then two other cops come in (and not the star) to save the star.

Tough and interesting gritty crime drama - has since been superseded by television but still enjoyable.

Radio review - Ford Theatre -"The Horn Blows at Midnight" (1948) **

2012-01-15T14:24:00.000-08:00

Jack Benny famously made fun of this movie all the time - it's not that bad, but it is whimsy, which is hard to defend when the knives are out. The premise is apocalyptic - God (Claude Rains!) decides after WW2 that the world has had enough chances and decides to destroy it! So he sends down an incompetent angel (Jack Benny) to blow the trumpet of judgement day or whatever it is. He runs into a few people, doesn't really form any emotional connection with any of them, until the end when a little concentration camp survivor talks him into talking God into it. I thought there were supposed to be other angels down on earth but they're not in this production. (NB I just looked it up - apparently the script was heavily reworked for this production.) Mercedes McCambridge and Hans Conreid lend support. Fletcher Markle, series producer, makes a crack to Benny at the end about how he didn't want to go see the film "because he doesn't like being in empty spaces" - which is a bit mean. Why did he decide to adapt it then? Benny is good as always.

Movie review – “The Yangtse Incident" (1957) ***

2012-01-15T07:01:00.000-08:00

Michael Anderson and Richard Todd attempted to repeat the success of The Dam Busters with another real-life war story, only this time the war wasn't really a war, more a skirmish: China 1949 when a British ship was fired on by the commies then attempted to break out. It's a marvellous tale, a real old-fashioned British Empire naval story. Too old fashioned for the public as it turned out - they didn't really go for the movie. Maybe they were turned off by the oddness of the situation (e.g. what were the British doing there anyway?), British audiences prefer their villains to be Germans rather than oriental commies (esp with such a variety of nationalities playing them - including Akim Tamiroff in make up). Also the final break for freedom isn't as exciting as the dam busters raid - I'm sure it was terrifying in real life but here it's basically just a boat going along a river, with a few people taking pot shots. It only takes up the last bit of the film too.

Most of the action consists of the initial attack and the political manoeuvring leading up to the break out. This feels realistic and is engrossing (Eric Ambler wrote the script): Todd's character wasn't the first captain, he was flown out after the captain was killed; sailors flee for the bank or toil underneath; local officers make demands on the British, who try to get negotiations without losing face. And the novelty of the setting gave it points for me. It's all done in a very no-nonsense British style. Knowing how much the Poms love cats I was surprised Simon the cat, who famously was on board the ship killing rats and getting wounded, didn't get a bigger role. Maybe it was too hard.

Producer by Herbert Wilcox and Anna Neagle.

Movie review – “Voodoo Man” (1944) **

2012-01-15T01:57:00.000-08:00

It sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun: Bela Lugosi, Gorge Zucco and John Carradine in the cast, with Zucco and Carradine playing gas attendants who capture women for Lugosi to perform voodoo experiments on in order to give energy to dead wife. And the voodoo setting at the end brings back happy memories of The Black Cat. But the handling by William Beaudine is very slack and too much of this is dumb: the hero is a screenwriter investigating the story to help him write a movie (you know, like real life), the missing woman should have been the screenwriter's fiancee not her girlfriend, the playing of the non famous support cast bad. A real shame. Worth watching if you like the three leads though.

Movie review – “One Million BC” (1940) **1/2

2012-01-15T01:48:00.000-08:00

Legendary prehistoric epic, much teased even when released but very influential, and footage from the movie turned up in numerous science fiction/fantasy epics over the next few decades. It also helped launch the careers of Victor Mature, Lon Chaney Jnr and Carole Landis, and ended that of DW Griffith.

The film begins in the modern day, with some hikers (all wearing leaderhousen!) taking refuge in a cave. Some old boffin is working there, and he gives them a lecture (no kidding they sit down as he talks and everything) about what happened here in ancient times. We flash back to the old world where Victor Mature and Lon Chaney Jnr are members of the same tribe. The rest of the movie is basically a silent film as Chaney kicks out Mature and he forms a relationship with Carole Landis. A lot of running around and women in fur bikinis and cavemen learning how to share and dinosaurs attacking whenever the action gets slow - kids would have loved it. It's done with tremendous gusto and conviction.

Script review – “Dreamcatcher” by William Goldman and Lawrence Kasdan

2012-01-15T01:38:00.000-08:00

Part of Steven King's success lies in the fact he is willing to confront our deepest fears - and also his work is so emotional and the characters reach such catharsis. In this film best friends die trying to save each other, people are on the verge of killing themselves, the stakes are large. This film version was written by two of the best in the world, and I admit I haven't seen the film yet, but on paper it just doesn't work - it's solidly structured, easy to follow and all that, but too much of it is silly: the shit weasel, the memory warehouse comes across as weird, and the telepathic conversation is strange. These would work in novels but not a book.

Radio review – Suspense – “Backseat Driver” (1949) ***

2012-01-15T01:34:00.000-08:00

Fibber McGee and Molly were apparently a pair of American comics - I've never seen them in anything but they work well in this suspensor about a couple driving home who hear on the radio about a murderer being on the loose and realise he's sitting in their backseat. Some decent twists and it's well pulled off.

Radio review – Suspense – “The Barking Death” (1954) **1/2

2012-01-15T01:28:00.000-08:00

Doctor William Powell chases after a rabid infested dog - matters are complicated by the fact the dog is let out during a robbery. You wish the dog would go on more of a rampage - the ending is a damp squid (we found the dog and the kid didn't have rabies), but it's not bad. Rabies is a pretty good Macguffin.

Radio review – Suspense – “Zero Hour” (1958) ***1/2

2012-01-15T01:25:00.000-08:00

Not the airplane movie but a Ray Bradbury story about little kids who predict an alien invasion. Terrifically scary and exciting. Very strong script.

Movie review – “Single White Female” (1992) ***

2012-01-15T01:12:00.000-08:00

A lot of better movies are less well remembered, but when why shouldn’t this? It absolutely succeeds in what it sets out to do: a reasonably budgeted thriller with some good shocks (death of a dog), a few memorable sequences (waking up to a blow job, death by stiletto), star making turns (Bridget Fonda became a name for a few years), small cast, striking fashions (the red haired bob), showy psycho part, creepy atmosphere (the block of flats is a terrific location - deserves co-star billing). Well acted. You could do a gay reading of this - the All About Eve influence, the blow jobs, working in fashion, sex clubs... the one decent bloke in it is gay. Why doesn't Don Roos remake it? Very much of the early 90s (all that hair) but that's unavoidable. So much better than The Roommate it's not funny.

Radio review – Ford Theatre – Ep#1 “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” (1949) ***1/2

2012-01-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

The first edition of this show has Henry Ford himself speaking. The story is a lot of fun - the simple yet shrewd Yankee helping King Arthur defeat the baddies and get the girl and introduce democracy. The story is updated to have the technology include aeroplanes. No big star, they keep the satire of medieval life (e.g. chivalry) and it ages very well.

Radio review – Ford Theatre - Ep#16 “Girl Crazy” (1949) ****

2012-01-14T19:33:00.000-08:00

Joyous version of the classic Gershwin musical, featuring great songs like "Embraceable You", "But Not for Me" and "I Got Rhythm". The plot has something to do with a New York playboy heading out west to redeem himself and clashing with the locals - it's not much of a book but it's fun and you have a good time. It's great when these old radio drama shows did musicals, they're an often invaluable record of old shows and good fun too.

Movie review – “Written on the Wind” (1957) ***1/2

2012-01-14T19:26:00.000-08:00

Enjoyable 50s melodrama, Douglas Sirk at his peak, with a solid story - not too complex in terms of plot, but rich in character. When I first saw this years ago I remember being impressed by the work of Dorothy Malone and Robert Stack, but on reviewing both are over the top - Malone indicates all over the place, chews the scenery and camps it up (check out the end where she's stroking the model oil rig); Stack tries within his limitations but still remains stiff and awkward. Both are out-acted by Rock Hudson and Lauren Bacall, giving sensitive, intelligent performances; Hudson is a revelation here - it's not surprising to see people give the reading that he is in love with Stack rather than Bacall, but regardless his emotional pain and longing is very well conveyed and effective.

Bright colours, plenty of subtext, and you can interpret the film a lot of different ways, which helps explain why it's been popular with film scholars as well as regular fans. I always remember the scene at the end where Malone accuses Hudson of murder and all the journos get up, jump over their seats and try to go for their phones - for some reason this visual image has always stuck with me.

Movie review – “The Shanghai Gesture” (1941) *** (warning: spoilers)

2012-01-14T19:17:00.000-08:00

Junky fun from Joseph von Sternberg who showed his ability to make female stars look stunning wasn’t limited to Marlene Dietrich: Gene Tierney was never more sexy, particularly when she goes off the rails and looks stressed and trashed. It’s not much of a story - Tierney visits an opium den for fun, gets hooked on gambling and ruins her life. She eventually finds out she's of mixed race which is I guess why she has to die. For some reason Walter Huston is cast as a British diplomatic - he's good as always, but I wonder why they couldn't get one of the million or so British character stars hanging around Hollywood at the time. Tierney is stunning, Victor Mature is effective as basically a treacherous gigolo (a role which suits his self-love looks and which he should have played more; however his role is surprisingly small) and Ona Munson strong as Madame Gin Sling. You wish it had been made pre-Code, and the part of the American show girl (Phyllis Brooks) feels tacked on, but there is enough decadence and exotic atmosphere to pass the time.

Movie review – “Friends with Benefits” (2011) **1/2

2012-01-14T18:59:00.000-08:00

These sort of movies always cheat because you know they’re going to get together at the end – heck these two are basically together at the beginning, spending all their spare time together, going on dates-in-all-but-name, not really seeing anyone else. Mila Kunis does see that doctor for a bit (played by that actor who always turns up in romantic comedies), it doesn't turn out well, Justin Timberlake doesn't seem to care that much. That's about the extent of exploring the "issues" of a commitment-less relationship. Director (and co-writer) Will Gluck seems more interesting on exploring the fact that his characters are in a romantic comedy (just as he was self referential about making a teen film in Easy A) - there are jokes about the expectations created by Katherine Heigl movies, they watch a mock rom com (with Jason Segel and Rashida Jones), etc - but even this is kind of cheating, and pointless. On the other hand, Gluck's direction has plenty of imagination and verve, the film has energy, the two leads work well (I do think Justin Timberlake is more of a character actor than a star). It's just the script isn't the best, with it's stock situations (New York, publishing) pumped up with modern tech references (bible apps, Wii), father with dramatically convenient Alzheimers, no really decent support roles (there are two "best friends" during an opening monologues by the two stars who never say anything and are hardly seen again, and Jenna Elfman is wasted).

Radio review - Ford Theatre - Ep#29 "The Silver Cord" (1948) **

2012-01-14T17:14:00.000-08:00

Mother love melodrama, done reasonably well. Maybe there's not enough story for an hour - mother is protective of both her sons, both who are in relationships - one of the girls tries to kill herself, the other one dumps her husband but the husband rallies. Strong characterisation, it's got a universal theme. Just needed more plot. No famous people in cast.

Movie review - "Yesterday's Enemy" (1959) **1/2

2012-01-14T04:18:00.000-08:00

Remarkably bleak war film from Hammer, which they made as a less racist companion piece to The Camp of Blood Island. Typical of Val Guest movies it starts with a bang - a bunch of British soldiers in World War Two Burma are fleeing from the Japs in a swamp (I was never sure whether this was during the British retreat or advance), stumble upon a village occupied by enemy soldiers, and capture it. Then it starts to slow down and the stage origins of the story become increasingly apparent. I've got no idea how accurate this is but a lot of it didn't ring true - would chaplains and war correspondents really argue with a captain about strategy? I get that they are opposed to shooting prisoners - but would they dispute him with the men around? Would they talk about it so much?

Anyway, the soldiers discover an important map which they need back at HQ - Stanley Baker (very good) sends back his trusted sergeant (Gordon Jackson, solid as always) to get it... but Jackson is captured and killed. Only Baker doesn't know it. So the last half hour Baker thinks he's done his job but he hasn't - he and his men are captured, then they are all killed! Full on!

This wasn't always satisfying but it's consistently interesting, and it goes there: Baker does have innocent villagers shot to get a spy to talk, he shoots the spy, his men are all captured and killed, he is killed (although he does earn the respect of the cultured English speaking Japanese officer who tells Baker's bullet-riddled corpse "that's what I should have done"). There's also a very ironic ending with a speech from a British general praising the bravery of his men playing over the corpses over the men and a cut to the Kohima memorial quote.

Strong cast including Guy Rolfe, Bryan Forbes, Leo McKern (playing another journalist) and Percy Herbert. This and Never Take Candy from a Stranger really mean Hammer's dramatic output need re-considering.

Book review – “Nicholas Ray The Glorious Failure of an American Director” by Patrick McGilligan

2012-01-13T16:40:00.000-08:00

I admit to being a little surprised to hear that McGilligan picked Ray as a topic – but when you think about it, why not? He still has a strong cult and his life was fascinating. At one stage the French new wave critics ranked him with Welles and Hawks – now I doubt he’d be as highly regarded, although Rebel Without a Cause remains a classic. He was Mr Cult film for a long time: They Live By Night, On Dangerous Ground, Johnny Guitar, In a Lonely Place, Bigger Than Life.

Ray’s great gift seems to have been getting along with powerful people – straight out of college he went to work at a sort of architectural commune with Frank Lloyd Wright, he had associations with Thorton Wilder and Woody Guthrie (doing folk music on radio, which was news to me), Joe Losey, Elia Kazan (his most crucial relationship – he brought Ray to Hollywood) and John Houseman. Later on he prolonged his career by impressing James Dean, Howard Hughes, Lew Wasserman and Sam Bronston. Bisexual, he chalked up an impressive list of conquests – Natalie Wood (when she was a very adult 16 – this is hot reading), Shelley Winters, Marilyn Monroe, Edie Wasserman, Gavin Lambert.

Did any directors throw away their life and career as much as Ray? He got chance after chance, constantly setting up in new countries and studios but burning bridges. After wrecking his reputation in Hollywood studios he found refuge with independents, then with Sam Bronston – but kept stuffing it each time.

Radio – Suspense – Dutch Schultz (1953) ***

2012-01-13T16:38:00.000-08:00

Broderick Crawford is good value playing the famous gangster killed because he wanted to bump off the DA – Thomas Dewey's name isn’t mentioned here.

Movie review – “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (1921) **1/2

2012-01-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

Rudolph Valentino may have been a joke even in his own life time but he was a genuine star, as shown by this film, which launched him – charismatic, good looking, moves like a panther, skilled dancer. The role is made for him too – dashing Franco-Argentine gaucho slash womanising playboy who dances the tango in Buenos Aries dives and is adored by his strict grandfather. His family is half German and half French and they go to their respective countries before the war. Rudy is a painted in Paris - doing portraits of women who are actually topless which is full on as well as dancing. He falls in love with a married woman but is about to leave with her when war stars. The woman decides to stay with her now blond husband, Rudy joins the French army and is killed as he spots his cousin in a trench. Melodramatic, spectacular stuff - too much time devoted to Rudy's uninteresting father. There's a Rasputin type figure who sees the four horses. Why the hell did MGM think Glenn Ford was suitable to play Rudy's role in the remake?

Movie review – “A Kiss Before Dying” (1956) ***

2012-01-13T16:31:00.000-08:00

Ira Levin’s novel was always going to be tricky to adapt because you couldn’t do the great twist of finding out the murderer and boyfriend are the same person – but they did try to be faithful, and the biggest change (removing one of the daughters) I think works as otherwise it would have been repetitive. They come up with a good substitute – have Robert Wagner kill off another boyfriend of his dead ex during act two. Wagner gives one of his best performances here – his looks were a little too pointy or something to be effective as a hero (says I anyway) but they suit villainy and he’s very effective. The female leads aren’t much – even Joanne Woodward over-emotes in 50s style – but there is novelty in seeing Jeffrey Hunter play a glasses wearing intellectual. It’s a shame the climax takes place in the desert as opposed to a factory like the book.

Movie review – “Inception” (2010) ***1/2

2012-01-13T16:28:00.000-08:00

I didn’t understand 50% of what was going on but at its heart this is a simple heist movie so you can basically follow it and there is good emotion with Leo di Caprio and his dead wife, and Cillian Murphy and his estranged father. Superb cast – Ellen Page gives heart (the most normal person in the film) and intelligence, I bought Joseph Gordon Lewitt as di Caprio’s offside, Tom Hardy is perfect as the tough expert (he’s going to be a big star if he wants), Michael Caine is always pleasant, etc. I really loved the ending, with the music and Michael Caine waiting for Leo at the end - it gives you this feeling of warmth and reassurance.