Movie review - "The Tarnished Angels" (1957) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Has a big rep and it's a well made film. I wasn't as wild about it. Story isn't strong - Rock Hudson tries as a boozing journo impressed by some fliers after World War One. He has strong chemistry with Dorothy Malone (who's very good) the wife of flier Robert Stack. They have a kid. Stack dies, kid bawls which is traumatic.

Beautifully shot. Interesting. Just a little underwhelming. Malone gives best performance. Stack is stiff. Hudson tries but isn't up to his role. 

Movie review - "Convicted" (1950) ***

 Solid melodrama which benefits from its well-honed story, already filmed twice before. Broderick Crawford and Glenn Ford are ideally cast as a DA/warden who takes an interest in prisoner Glenn Ford.

Crawford plays a real bleeding heart - giving Ford arguments to get out of trouble, criticising Ford's lawyer, lets Ford drive his daughter around, goes above and beyond helping Ford get parole..

The relationship between Dorothy Malone and Ford is quite well done mostly because of the stars. I wish it had an extra beat/complication.

Well handled from director Henry Levin. Beautifully shot. John Ireland turned down a role in this - foolish. His sexiness and threat would've worked well, better than the old character actors. 

Still, enjoyable prison picture. 

Movie review - "Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff" (1979) **

 Remarkable movie. Written by Polly Platt from a William Inge novel. Directed by Marvin Chomsky, and it has a 70s telemovie feel. Stars Anne Heywood and produced by Raymond Stross, the husband and wife team.

Heywood tries her best as usual, and isn't quite up to it, as usual. She goes for it though - naked, raped, consensual, coervice, forced oral sex... all on a black man whose body is festishised. 

There's a PhD in this movie.  It doesn't quite work. Needs better handling. But certainly lots of chew on.

Dorothy Malone has a small part. 

Movie review - "Beach Party" (1963) ***1/2 (re-watching)

 Kind of taken for granted but all the stuff is there -  the bright tone, the meta nature (Dorothy Malone telling Bob Cummings "AIP will buy the film rights", Vincent Price's cameo), the various subplots (Cummings studying kids, Frankie and Annette making each other jealous, bikers as a threat), colourful characters (Lembeck and his bikers, Morey Amsterdam's cafe owner, Jody McCrea's dumb friend, Eva Six's blonde bombshell, Dorothy Malone's sexy older woman, Cummings' anthropologist, Candy Johnson's dancing, John Ashleyh's more cynical friend). 

The tunes are very good - "Beach Party Tonight", "Don't Stop Now", "Surfin".

There is variety in the female roles - Funicello is a good girl, but there's also a man hungry Rhoda (who can't understand why Annette doesn't want to have sex with Frankie), the shimmying Candy Johnson, Eva Six, Dorothy Malone.

The musical numbers are done with tremendous verve.

Cummings was 53 (32 years older than Annette) but still looked good at the time - that would change within a year or so eg The Carpetbaggers.

Analysing John Ashley's role in this film - it's clear he's a kind of alpha in the group, suggesting Frankie dump Annette and also being the one not Frankie who entices Cummings on to a surf board (maybe this was to protect Frankie? Or Avalon may not have been available.)

The action screeches to a halt when Annette sings her ballad 'Treat Her Nicely'. But I liked how she was so protective of Cummings. (Also there's a moment where her character seems willing to sleep with Cummings, which is interesting. As is the implication that Frankie has slept with Eva). Because Funicello's character wants to be married an acts old she kind of matches with youthful (ish)Cummings.

Dorothy Malone doesn't have much to do but I liked her and she's sweet shimmying along to 'Tell It to the Moon'.

Movie review - "Pushover" (1954) **1/2

 I thought this film was about cuddly Fred MacMurray being taken in by slinky dame Kim Novak but actually it's about stud muffin cop MacMurray seducing gangster moll Novak to try and find if her boyfriend robbed a bank. That's a strong idea as is the fact Novak may be playing him. She became a star with this and while her lack of ability is clear she also has charisma and is well protected by director Robert Quine.

There's a dull subplot about MacMurray's fellow cop Phil Carey romancing Dorothy Malone - one of these should've been shonky. I like the subplot about the drunken cop who has morals and EG Marshall is superb as the head cop.

Surprisingly little of Novak on screen - she's a lot at the beginning not so much later on. Lovely black and white photography.

The film is decent. Lacks another plot. Like Double Indemnity had the daughter and her boyfriend - something like that. The gangster boyfriend maybe vanishes too early - they could've used him more. Or made Dorothy Malone bad, like I suggested.

Movie review - Corman#1 - "Five Guns West" (1955) ** (re-watching - warning: spoilers)

Corman's third film as producer but first as director and his first in colour. It shows his ambition - the colour, the two well known names (John Lund, Dorothy Malone) in the lead - help mask the low budget, as does a terrific central idea which is inherently low budget... five convicts are recruited to help the Confederates rob some gold.

It's kind of hard to go for the Confederates - are we meant to feel good Lund gets the gold in the end?

I've never liked Lund and he seems bored here - his reign as a leading man didn't last long, and no wonder. The rest of the cast is very good - I'm surprised Dorothy Malone made this at a time when she was making Battle Cry and Young at Heart but maybe it was the only thing going, and she brings it; Touch Connors is excellent as are Jonathan Haze and Bob Campbell who wrote the script. Actually all the acting is solid outside Lund, and even he's competent, just dull.

It's stagnant - a lot of hanging around. The opening narration promises a cross section of characters but it doesn't happen - Campbell's writing wasn't up to his ideas. Too much is stock - Malone is feisty, her uncle is a drunk, Lund is solid, some of the crew are rape-y.

It's a fantastic set up you wish they'd done more with it. But they don't.

Still, a very promising beginning - even if Corman (and AIP) quickly turfed the Western for sci fi.

Doris Day - Top Eleven Abusive Spouse Roles

In preparing my earlier Doris list I was struck by the number of films that showed her being in abusive relationships: (warning - some SPOILERS for old Doris Day films)
1) Young Man with a Horn (1950) - Doris plays a singer who falls for a self centered musician (Kirk Douglas) who leaves her for a lesbian who is experimenting with being straight (Lauren Bacall) then takes Day back when he's broke and drunk
2) Tea for Two (1950) - Doris plays a socialite whose freeloading producer boyfriend (Billy de Wolfe) is cheating on her while using her money to produce a show
3) Storm Warning (1951) - Doris is a pregnant newly wed whose husband is an alcoholic and member of the KKK who tries to rape Doris' sister, and winds up being responsible for her death
4) The Winning Team (1952) - Doris plays the wife of some famous baseball player (Ronald Reagan) who got PTSD and a drinking problem in WW1
5) Young at Heart (1954) - Doris elopes with a depressed man (Frank Sinatra) who tries to kill himself to "set her free"
6) Love Me or Leave Me (1955) - Doris plays a singer who marries and abusive, violent gangster (Jimmy Cagney) out of gratitude for what he did for her career
7) The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) - Doris plays a woman who had to give up a successful singing career to marry James Stewart
8) Julie (1956) - Doris is a stewardess whose husband (Louis Jourdan) tries to kill her
9) Midnight Lace (1960) - Doris' husband tries to drive her insane and then kill her
10) Send Me No Flowers (1964) - Rock Hudson doesn't tell wife Doris he thinks he is dying
11) Ballad of Josie (1967) - Doris has an abusive husband who she accidentally kills

Movie review - "The Last Sunset" (1961) ** (warning: spoilers)

Weird. So weird. I mean, it starts off okay - you've got Kirk Douglas as a cowboy meeting up with old flame Dorothy Malone who's married to Joseph Cotten. And then Rock Hudson turns up to arrest Douglas for murder but he can't do it because he's in the wrong jurisdiction. That's fine. And Hudson and Douglas wind up on a cattle drive together and they're harassed by Neville Brand and his gang. That's good, solid, if formulaic stuff. They spice it up by having Rock Hudson fall for Malone, and Cotten be a coward in the civil war.

Its the subplot of this that'll get you. Malone and Cotten's daughter Carol Lynley has a crush on Douglas, which is good dramatically, even if at 15 it's a bit too young. But instead of a love triangle between mother and daughter, which would've been ideal, Malone falls for Hudson. Lynley falls for Douglas. There's a reveal that Douglas is her father... then if I'm not mistaken HE GOES AND SLEEPS WITH HER. I mean we don't see them kiss but they sort of embrace then cut to them lying on a hay bale together looking tired and happy - that's sex in 1961 Hollywood. He finds out she's his daughter and goes and sleeps with her!!!!

Hudson is affable, Malone good. Douglas recites some poetry and acts up a storm. I wish Cotten had had more to do - they get rid of his character far too earlier. He would've been a useful threat - they should've kept him alive until the end.

Carol Lynley isn't up to the demands of her role. She's adequate - but it needed someone better. Sandra Dee, who was offered it, would've been better - though I think the best choice would have been Tuesday Weld, who apparently was going to do it.

Neville Brand and Jack Elam and their young sidekick look like they're going to do something interesting, but don't really.  

It's a really muddled film. Aldrich disliked it. I'm surprised the incest of this isn't better known.

Book review - Marlowe #1 - "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler (1939) (re-reading)

Full of so much divine writing - the dialogue and the descriptions, not to mention vivid characters:Marlowe of course, the PI almost masochistic in his determination to do the right thing; Vivian, sexy, smart and harsh; Carmen, psychotic and constantly nude; General Sternwood, dying in his chair with that great intro scene (we want to see him again but when you see him again it's not worth it and you go 'there was no point to that we may as well have just had him in one scene'); the principled-or-is-he gangster Eddie Mars; the not-very-smart blackmailer Joe Brody; Geiger, the bisexual blackmailer; Carol, his violent, swear-happy lover (who doesn't appear in many adaptations); Agnes, the luckless woman; Mrs Eddie Mars, the lover of Reagan, caught up in a vicious crew; Regan, the soldier of fortune described but never met; Owen Taylor, the chauffeur whose murdered famously Chandler didn't know; the super killer Canino (a worthy threat)/

Some of the plotting is bodgy - Chandler really should have made it clear who killed Owen, and also the character of Harold Young, Agnes' feller, felt added on. And there was no resolution with the Eddie Mars character.

There's an unpleasant strand of homophobia, which one guesses was typical of the period. But great atmosphere and characterisation, even if you do get the feel Chandler is making it up as he goes along.

Dorothy Malone RIP - And a Top Ten

1) The Big Sleep (1946) - Malone is only in this for two scenes but does them with Humphrey Bogart and is sensational (aspiring actresses could do worse than to study these scenes of how to make a big impact in a short space of time).

2)The Fast and the Furious (1955) - not the Vin Diesel classic but a 1955 car chase flick which was the first feature Roger Corman ever produced - Malone is v likekable (Malone also appeared in Corman's directorial debut, Five Guns West).

3) Battle Cry (1955) - a melodrama about WW2 based on a best seller which New Zealand audiences will especially find interesting (part of the film is set there) - Malone has a surprisingly sexually frank fling with a young soldier played by Tab Hunter.

4) Sincerely Yours (1955) - Liberace's attempt at big screen stardom with Malone as his love interest (in the space of three years Malone steamed up the screen opposite Liberace, Tab Hunter and Rock Hudson...) - a fairly terrible movie but fascinating to see Liberace act in a melodrama (he took the blame for this film's failure but the script was as much at fault).

5) Artists and Models (1955) - for me the best Martin and Lewis film a really terrific fun comedy with Malone well matched with Martin and Shirley MacLaine perfect for Lewis.

6) Written on the Wind (1956) - Malone won the Oscar for this but I rewatched it recently and felt her performance did not hold up that well - check out her stroking the oil rig at the end (the same team then made The Tarnished Angels)

7) Too Much Too Soon (1958) - Malone mostly played "the girl" in films but her Oscar saw her get a real chance here, as Diana Barrymore, in what I feel is a pretty decent film - stolen by Errol Flynn as John Barrymore.

8) The Last Voyage (1960) - Malone's role isn't much (something you could say about a lot of her career) but they actually sunk a real ship for this film which is cool.

9) Fate is the Hunter (1964) - a Rod Taylor film where Malone has a one scene unbilled cameo - for years I thought it was a mirage but then later on confirmed it that yes it was her - this is a pretty good movie.

10) Beach Party (1963) - most film fans remember Frankie and Annette and forget or don't realise Robert Cummings and Dorothy Malone had quite big parts in this film, the first in the series.
Oh and she's in Basic Instinct (1992) too

Book review - "Roger Corman: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series)" by Constantine Nasr (2011)

Very good collection of interviews with the great Corman. I particularly enjoyed the earlier ones he did before he'd ossified into this great figure - making movies in his prime. Lots of stuff I didn't know, like his dissatisfaction with John Ireland's direction on Fast and the Furious and disliking working with Edward Small on Tower of London.

The book became less effective as it went on and could have done with an edit to remove repetition - we get too many of the same stories, esp about the 60s (Poe, unhappiness with AIP etc). I would've liked more about the less known Corman stuff i.e. post New World. In fairness, maybe Corman is happier to talk about the 50s through to early 80s than after that. Still a worthy addition to Cormon-ology.

Movie review - "Golden Rendezvous" (1977) **

One of several 1970s action movies aimed at an international audience, many of which, curiously, starred Richard Harris (The Wild Geese, Orca, The Ravagers, The Cassandra Crossing). This had the benefit of of an Alistair MacLean novel as source material and an inherently exciting set up - to wit, it's about the hijacking of an ocean liner.

There are some very good actors on display - not just Harris but people like Burgess Meredith, John Vernon, David Janssen, John Carradine, Dorothy Malone and Gordon Jackson. Ann Turkel has come in for a lot of criticism for her bad acting but she is stunningly gorgeous, and I was willing to go with her. The filmmakers try to compensate for her acting by getting her to change outfits a few times and to play love scenes opposite Harris, her real life husband at the time.

The film is hurt by some inept handling - shoddy camerawork, awful music, sparse production values. Films where terrorists take over pleasure cruises don't have the best track record (eg Speed 2, Assault on a Queen - yes there was Under Siege but it mostly look place on a military craft). There are logic problems, the story is needlessly confusing, the baddies are very naive about Harris, the romance between Harris and Turkel is oddly developed, David Janssen is wasted.

But you know it has action, and the story moves, and I liked this as it went along. You probably could remake this.

Book review - "Hawks on Hawks" ed Joseph McBride

Do people still care about Howard Hawks any more? Once upon a time he was right up there on the auteur tree, along with John Ford and Hitchcock. He never quite enjoyed the high brow acclaim of either of those but was always respected - his films perhaps enjoyed more for sheer enjoyment's sake.

This is a highly entertaining collection of interviews with the great man where he reminisces about the films and espouses his philosophy. Some of it feels like typical exaggeration - everything was his idea, he takes credit for a lot of the writing, stock Hollywood stuff - but other feels fresh and true: the importance of getting bad scenes over and done with quickly, how to cast someone interesting and different, freshness in writing, the necessary of a good story.

He slags off Rio Lobo and Jennifer O'Neill (says she got too big for her boots), has some interesting things to say about discovering Lauren Bacall, chats a lot about the movie he hoped to make in the 70s with Starsky and Hutch, wonders (as everyone does) why Paul Prentiss didn't become a big star, doesn't mention The Thing, is candid-ish about his less successful pics (The Land of the Pharoahs, Redline 5000), loves Wayne, Grant, Cagney and Bogart. It's a shame Hawks never wrote a memoir but this is great to have anyway - we're lucky to have it.

Movie review - "Sincerely Yours" (1955) **

We can't blame Warner Bros for trying to turn Liberace into a film star - he was one of the most famous people in the country in the mid 50s, enormously popular - and maybe he could have carried the right sort of movie (interesting challenge to set aspiring screenwriters - construct a successful Liberace vehicle) but although he tries, really tries, he's allowed to flounder here. Hopelessly miscast in a romantic melodrama, he's given way too much dialogue and a silly story. Sonja Henie was never given so much to say.

They throw in Liberace bits - opening with a concert where he plays "Chopsticks" for a kid in the audience, some banter with little old ladies at a nightclub, and plenty of piano playing - which works well enough (I liked the bit in the night club where the audience yell out "hey"). But when he's talking about wanting to play Carnegie Hall, or romancing Dorothy Malone.... I'm sorry. But no.

Like I say they tried - there's William Demarest doing crusty support act (he and Arthur O'Connell had this gig sewn up), Malone trying to act as though she's into him, glossy photography. And Liberace goes for it. And you know something? In some scenes he's not too bad - he can emote, and does the angsty stuff pretty well; he even pulled off a thinking about suicide scene. He's not good in romance but he's not a trainwreck as a dramatic actor. And the piano playing is excellent.

There is some terrible dialogue and dodgy script moments. The bones of the story are alright - pianist loses hearing, can lip read and sets about helping people with their problems. But its poorly executed - it takes too long for him to lose hearing, and far far too long for him to start helping people. And the people he helps aren't very sympathetic - a crippled boy who whines at God for not making him better, a woman whose daughter is embarrassed by her (Liberace gives her a make over... why should we care about this woman impressing her horrible daughter?) and girlfriend Dorothy Malone falling in love with a serviceman who doesn't come across much straighter than Liberace. The romance with Joanne Dru is poorly handled - basically thrown in at the end.

Could Liberace have carried a lead? Maybe say in a madcap comedy where he's a jewel thief, but not in something straight and serious. Still, this isn't that bad and Liberace isn't the worst thing about it.

Movie review - "Pillars of the Sky" (1955) ** (warning: spoilers)

Apparently at one stage John Ford was going to direct this, and you can definitely see Fordian themes: it looks at a cavalry regiment, there's Ward Bond in the cast (as a preacher), the Indians' troubles are sympathetically depicted (you have a mixture of them - old die hards and uncle Toms) yet they are also clearly a scary threat, the cavalry is led by a pompous officer, there's comic Irish soldiers (Lee Marvin!). It doesn't take much to picture John Wayne in the lead either - instead we have Jeff Chandler, who actually isn't too bad (he was a much more relaxed actor by now) even if he is no Duke.

The film also explores religion in a way few Hollywood westerns did: Bond is converting the Indians to Christians (not that it helps turn them into peace loving people); Chandler was brought up with the Bible and although he's gone off it since when Bond goes "I'd love you to take over my work one day" you can guess that (a) Bond's going to die and (b) Chandler will take over; the human drama is about Chandler being in love with a married woman (sexy Dorothy Malone) and Bond tsk tsks over this and eventually Malone goes back to her husband (because you know adultery is the most evil thing in the world); Bond sacrifices his life at the end in a Christ like gesture. It's got to be one of the most Catholic westerns I've never seen. (It also gets novelty points for being set in Oregon.)

It badly lacks Ford touches in the direction however; the acting is mostly uninspired, the action not particularly interesting (when the cavalry are in grave danger you never feel it), the love story feels poorly done, the Christian propaganda is irritating, Lee Marvin's death scene goes on forever, Chandler's drinking feels like an after thought character note. 

Not a run of the mill Western by any means, though.

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

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 re-viewing 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 – “Scared Stiff” (1953) **1/2

Most movie comedians wind up in a haunted house sooner or later, and this was Martin and Lewis’ turn, a remake of The Ghost Breakers. Only it doesn’t quite work: Martin and Lewis weren’t that great at being scared. Martin was too smooth and confident, Lewis too anarchic and dumb – they wrecked havoc, rather than knocked knees.

 

They’re not helped by having an inadequate support cast – Lizabeth Scott looks too old and disinterested in men to be Martin’s love interest, and too tough to play the part of a scaredy-cat (the ever-sexy Dorothy Malone, who pops up at the beginning as a gangster’s girlfriend, would have been a far better choice); there’s no decent heavies either (unforgivable from a studio film even though Hal Wallis ran an independent outfit at Paramount). Carmen Miranda looks very old in her final film appearance (she died of a heart attack a few years after this was made) – although it does give Jerry an opportunity to imitate her in a night club act. 

 

That’s another thing, the film is full of Martin and Lewis doing nightclub acts sort of plunked into the action (Norman Lear, one of their TV writers, is credited as working on the script). The majority of running time takes place on a boat rather than at the haunted house. There are some laughs, though – the two leads have plenty of energy and I enjoyed the spookiness at the end.

Book review – “The Fast and the Furious: History of AIP” by Mark McGee

Highly entertaining and informative look at the famous movie company, written with passion and insight from McGee. Sometimes he assumes knowledge on the part of the reader which the reader mightn’t have – for instance, starting with a “controversial” quote from Charles B. Griffith that Arkoff was nicer than Nicholson – only strong AIP buffs would have known that Nicholson had the more ethical reputation. But it’s a lot of fun, and and a great read – I wish the book was twice as long. In particular, I wish there was more on AIP in the 70s, and more talk about other key executives (there is some on Louis Heyward, who ran AIP England in the late 60s, but not enough; there is nothing on Larry Gordon, who was in charge in the early 70s).

I’m griping. Among the many positives are it well evokes all the colourful characters who worked there: Sidney Pink with his dodgy Danish films, sfx master (kind of) Bert I Gordon, hack Edward Cahn, film buff Alex Gordon, the under-appreciated Herman Cohen. Of course there’s Roger Corman, the man who really got AIP going, and helped them kick up a notch (although he had nothing to do with their breakthrough film, I Was a Teenage Werewolf - that was Cohen).

The AIP history breaks neatly into several categories.

(1) Early days – starting out as ARC, forming the relationship with Roger Corman, finding it’s feet (a lot of Westerns were made). 

(2) The late 50s double bill glory days – they had their big smash in Werewolf, and created a series of double bills still beloved by buffs, especially the JD and sci-fi films. 

(3) Stepping up in the early 60s. AIP cleaned house in the late 50s and decided to step up with the Poe pictures. This kicked off a big cycle for them, as did the Beach Party movies – they also became skilled at exporting from overseas, particularly Italy. 

(4) Late 60s – increasing respectability, with more and more films made in England and Europe. There was a second Poe cycle, Louis Heyward became more involved, Nicholson lost equal footing in the company after his divorce, Roger Corman’s films were more popular although he was becoming increasingly annoyed with the company. This period ended with AIP going public. 

(5) The 70s - Corman left to set up New World, becoming AIP’s most effective competition, then so did Nicholson to work at Fox (he died soon after), but AIP still went quite strongly, enjoying success with blaxploitation, car movies, thrillers. That decade saw them having their biggest flops (The Wild Party, A Matter of Time, Meteor) and their biggest hits (The Amityville Horror, Love at First Bite, Dressed to Kill, Walking Tall). Then Arkoff made the mistake of selling the company to Filmways - he soon quit and AIP was wound up.

Lots of great anecdotes - Sidney Pink making a film with everyone speaking in Danish, the cheap methods of the early days. (McGee includes the story of making The Intruder - was this an AIP film?) My favourite involved making a horror film in Spain, being worried about censors so they tell the local censors they'll made Abe Lincoln in Illinois and having an actor dress as Abe Lincoln hang around the set!

Movie review – “The Big Sleep” (1946) ****

They don’t make ‘em like this any more – and they didn’t often make ‘em this good back then: Bogart, Bacall, Hawks, Chandler, Faulkner, Brackett, Furthmann… Martha Vickers is stunningly good as the trampy daughter of the old colonel; Bogart is brilliant. I loved Dorothy Malone in her little scene too – the definitive sexy girl with glasses who works in a second hand book store (who gets turned on by Bogart’s brains – notice how she’s not really interested in him until he reveals he knows a lot about books). Hawks was so good at those sort of great scenes – indeed The Big Sleep is a collection of terrific scenes more than anything else: Bogart meeting Vickers; Bogart and the Colonel in the greenhouse; Bogart and Malone; Bogart camping it up in a bookstore; Bogart and Bacall having fun on the phone; “It wasn’t intentional” “Try it some time”.

The scenes are less good in the middle, which is why the film drags a little around there. Indeed, I was surprised how slow it got; I think the memory of those opening scenes is what carries it through - the structure certainly isn’t as sound as a, say, Chinatown. I’ve seen this a few times and can never follow the plot; also I get the whole Eddie-Mars-running-a-nightclub-and-having-an-ex-wife thing mixed up with the Howard da Silva character in The Blue Dahlia. But it really picks up in the last half hour with the introduction of Elisha Cook Jnr (he has a great death scene – there you go with the scene thing again). And it’s got a fantastic finale. (NB This factor is why you have to be careful remaking films like this – they depend so much on casting and scenes rather than a strong story).

The Bogart-Bacall combination is strong, if not as magical as in To Have and Have Not – although that is a bit unfair because in that one they were falling in love (just like Hepburn and Tracy had never-to-be-repeated oomph in Woman of the Year). But all the performances are excellent – not just the leads, but the supporting characters: and this is from a cast which doesn’t feature big names. Just look at the actors who play Eddie Mars, Bernie the cop, the dodgy girl in the book store… they’re all really good. Such was the skill of Hawks.

There are lots of scenes of women finding Bogart attractive – Vickers, Bacall, Malone, a woman in a library, a female cab driver, a waitress, cigarette girl. Hawks says this was him making fun of the genre, but there doesn’t seem too much winking at the audience. I think they simply wanted to show him being a stud. There is lot of sex here – not just the Vickers character, the dialogue between Bogart and Bacall is dripping with innuendo. It’s also violent – Bogart kicks a henchman in the face, gets knocked out several times, and flings the baddie out of a room to his death.

Book review – “The Big Sleep” by Raymond Chandler

This new Penguin paperback series is great – only ten bucks, and the books aren’t heavy. (Physically, that is). Chandler writes so beautifully his words are a joy to read. I don’t read that much crime stuff and found the plot a little tricky to follow, maybe because I forgot who was who, but having seen the movies helped. And it does sort of sag around the three-thirds mark after Marlowe solves one crime, but then goes “but I wasn’t going to give up until I solved this other crime”. It was tricky to get the momentum going again.

But I guess the delight of Chandler is more the wonderful language, characters, atmosphere and dialogue – thumb sucking Carmel, hopeless Joe Brody, the withered General Sternwood, tortured Marlowe. Marlowe is quite homophobic (all pansies are physically weak) and smacks around women. I was surprised how he seems to walk everywhere – maybe that’s what keeps him fit despite all that drinking he does. Wonderful corrupt atmosphere – rainy nights, seedy bars, gay antique dealers, corrupt cops, cynicism to burn. Very satisfying ending which tied everything together better than I remembered.