Movie review - "Babylon" (2022) ***

 Not hard in a way to see why it wasn't a hit - it's long, there's no real access point character (the lead, Diego Calva, should be this but he never seems to genuinely love Margot Robbie), there's things you could cut out, it is indulgent, things like elephant poo and Phoebe Tonkin peeing on a guy won't go down well...

But it is a valentine to cinema, Jean Smart's lovely speech to Pitt, very well acted, gorgeous to look at, lovely montage at the end, fantastic turns from Spike Jonze as the Curtiz like director, the first AD, the Dorothy Arzner type, the thumping music score.

Sometimes you feel a co writer would've helped - why make Li Jun Li a cabaret artist and title writer? - but it is definitely bold and interesting.

Movie review - "Wings" (1927) ****

The first winner for the Best Picture Oscar holds up really well today - it's hard to imagine them ever doing more exciting yet realistic World War One dog fight footage, since this had the benefit of plenty of war veterans on the crew and cast, 1927 OH & S and a big budget. It's very well directed by William Wellman full of tracking shots and interesting quirks, with a feeling of authenticity: the camaraderie amongst soldiers, the delights of leave, the drudgery of service, the randomness of death.

This was pre-Code and is surprisingly explicit - we see men shot and blood dribble from their mouth, Clara Bow shows some side boob and a bare back, backs are broken, two lesbians have a drink together at the Follies Berges, naked dudes get checked out for medical, tanks run over soldiers.

Richard Arlen and Buddy Rogers are perfectly serviceable as the lead duo, two guys in love with the same girl (the wet Jobyna Ralston, in a very small role, and very uninteresting) - Rogers seems like a nice guy and Arlen was a pilot meaning he could take part in the flying sequences (I remember his head of hair being swept back by wind all the time).

However we see the real meaning of charisma when both are a scene with Gary Cooper - it's just one scene, Cooper goes off to die in an accident straight away, but you can tell that Cooper's just plain got magnetism whereas the others don't (and I don't think I'm being wise in hindsight here because I couldn't stand Cooper... besides, the fate of each actor's careers back me up).

Also providing star quality is Clara Bow, who's very good, full of life and spirit as the girl in love with Rogers - she never had a rep as a great actor, dear Clara, but watch how she conveys every emotion with her face... at every moment you know exactly what she's thinking. And I totally believed her as the sort of girl who would enlist as an ambulance driver, even if she does seem a little old in her girl next door outfits (she seems younger in her sexy Parisian number), and it felt like a cop out she resigned before the end of the war (there was no real reason for this story wise, either).

Good, solid story with a great melodramatic finale - Rogers chasing after Arlen thinking he's a German. At times the two lead actors did get a little lost in the story underneath their goggles.

Book review - "Running Wild" by David Stenn

Excellent biography of Clara Bow, who typified the 20s more than any other star, with her gum chewing and lively personality. Few movie stars seem to have been more likeable - crews loved her, she had a natural gift for the screen, she backed her family even though they ripped her off. 

Few had a tougher upbringing - her mum went mad and tried to kill her, she was born into extreme poverty, people were constantly mean, her studio exploited her. Mind you, she still got to make a lot of money, have a great time and sleep with heaps of famous, good looking men (Gary Cooper, Victor Fleming, Rex Bell, etc). She married a really nice guy who seems perfect for her - but mental illness made life with him impossible. No happy endings. 

Stenn partly rehabilitates the reputation of Bow's secretary who sued her - but the secretary still comes across as a bitch. Superbly researched and written - very moving.

Book review – “Victor Fleming” by Michael Sragow

Fleming had a minor cult reputation for a while there as a director without a major cult reputation despite a resume that included making Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind during the one year. That looks likely to end with the publication of this well-written by overlong tome from film critic Sragow.

Fleming deserved a bio but I don’t know if he warranted as many pages as he gets here, particularly as Sragow goes on some long tangents (eg background to the actor Lee Bowman who became an unpopular in-law to Fleming… so?). It doesn’t help that at times Fleming becomes a bit boring as the focus of a biography – he’s the sort of character who is more interesting as a support actor: tough, no-nonsense, smart, adored by women, two fisted, etc. 

There were some flaws – country club anti-Semitism, casual sadism, infidelity, what was probably a drinking problem, vicious anti-Communism… attitudes he had in common with many self-made WASPs of his time. Fleming’s career also ended interestingly – a mid-life crisis (which turned out to be a near-end-of-life crisis) which saw him come under thrall of Ingrid Bergman, make one of his few flops in Joan of Arc, and die of a heart attack.

Sragow doesn’t hide Fleming’s flaws, but I think he does over-defend them. Sometimes this leads him to make silly claims – like calling some anti-Commie comments he made the equivalent of John Ford’s defence of Joe Mankiewicz during at the ADG during the McCarthy era. 

And he quotes too many people saying "Fleming was great"; at times the book reads like “How cool was my friend Fleming – he was so popular and had sex with all these hot women, he was so cool.”

It’s well researched, very well researched, and Sragow has great skill as a writer. It’s just too long and a bit too worshipful.