Movie review - "Head" (1968) ***

 The Monkees trashed their career with this nutty movie. It's imaginative, far out, clever, fun. It spends a lot of time spoofing old movies - Arabian nights, Westerns, war films - throws in some anti-Vietnam stuff. I think even if it hadn't made a point of toying with the Monkee image it wouldn't have made money - too plot less (even Hard Day's Night had more unity). Also a downer ending with the Monkees trying to escape and being recaptured. Maybe if it had some out earlier - by the late 60s the tide was going out on bands appearing in films (eg Good Times). Maybe if it had nudity.

Great songs. Genuinely good soundtrack. Endearingly odd cast, including Annette Funicello (who has two scenes I think), Victor Mature (the Monkees are dandruff in his head), Frank Zappa, Sonnie Liston. I don't love it the way other people do but it's totally worth watching.

Overview of Ken Hughes

Ken Hughes was one of those directors I used to dismiss on the basis of a traumatic childhood experience. One day in high school, a history teacher locked us inside the assembly hall and forced us to watch the 1970 epic Cromwell, a sluggardly dull trudge through the English Civil War. Hughes’ name was plastered all over it, as writer and director, and it scarred me from visiting his filmography for many years.

It was unfair, I know, but these things happen. Later on I heard he made one masterpiece, The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960), which I did see - and was brilliant. So I had a second look at Cromwell, was bored again, and ran away once more.

What prompted a more serious dive into the Hughes oeuvre was my interest in Diana Dors. (https://www.filmink.com.au/a-tale-of-two-blondes-diana-dors-and-belinda-lee/) Hughes directed Ms Dors in The Long Haul (1957), a great little unpretentious B-movie about truckers co-starring Victor Mature. I was surprised to see the name of the auteur of Cromwell on it, and decided to revisit his filmography, only properly this time.  I was surprised to find a filmmaker whose output was consistently interesting and entertaining, and deserved more critical attention than it has received.

Hughes was born in Liverpool in 1922. He began working at the BBC as a technician when he was only sixteen, then during the war moved into making documentaries, short features, and training films for the Ministry of Defence. After the war he directed documentaries for the BBC.

The British film industry had a thriving “B” picture scene in the 1950s, helped by quota protections which incentified thrifty producers to make short features that played the lower half of double bills. A new organisation that specialised in this field was Anglo-Amalgamated, run by the team of Stuart Levy and Nat Cohen. Cohen is one of those moguls who should be better known - a shrewd gambler who would later control EMI Films and help finance debut features from directors as varied as John Schlesinger, Ken Loach, John Boorman and Alan Parker... and Ken Hughes. Anglo-Amalgamated wanted to make a crime drama called Wide Boy (1952), based on a radio and TV play by Australian Rex Rienits about a low-class chiseller who gets in over his head when he attempts blackmail. Hughes was given the job of directing and did it excellently - it’s stripped back, atmospheric entertainment, without an ounce of fat on it. Check out this opening sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k8ESUCgmjE

Anglo-Amalgamated put Hughes to work writing and directing 30 minute films for release in cinema, such as The Missing Man (1953), The Candlelight Murder (1953), The Drayton Case (1953), The Dark Stairway (1954), The Blazing Caravan (1954), The Murder Anonymous (1955), Passenger to Tokyo (1954), The Strange Case of Blondie (1954), Night Plane to Amsterdam (1955). These essentially feel like self-contained episodes of an anthology TV series; I’ve only seen a few but they hold up well - Australia’s own Vincent Ball pops up in some, like The Drayton Case here
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2goxdb

Hughes’ second feature was Black 13 (1954) which he wrote and directed for low budget producer Roger Proudlock. The star was Peter Reynolds, a highly entertaining actor who specialised in cads, and who later emigrated to Australia where he died in a fire.

Hughes then wrote and directed The House Across the Lake (1954) based on Hughes’ own novel. This was made for Hammer Films, before that studio specialised in horror, and featured many aspects of British B movies from the 1950s: a short running time, film noir-ish plot, and imported B-list American stars, in this case Alex Nicol and Hilary Brook. It’s quite a fun movie, reminiscent of The Postman Always Rings Twice; one is inclined to wonder if Nicol’s character, a writer under the pump and distracted by lust, was a Hughes self-portrait.

Here’s a trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmhJJn0LIPA

Anglo-Amalgamated hired Hughes to make The Brain Machine (1955) with Elizabeth Allen and Maxwell Reed, a decent little thriller that feels like it wants to be sci fi but isn’t. Like most of his early features, it’s an easy watch if you’re in the right mood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o2kJ8Vdmdc

Hughes wrote and directed two more features for Anglo, both with B-list stars from Hollywood, both worth watching: The Little Red Monkey (1955) with Richard Conte, based on a TV serial, and Confession (1955) with Sydney son-of-Charlie Chaplin. He also helped write The Flying Eye (1955) for the Children’s Film Foundation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb9BBVS4hOw

Hughes’ thrift and versatility impressed Tony Owen, aka Mr Donna Reed, who had set up a filmmaking operation in England, Todon. Todon had a lot of success making genre pieces aimed at the international market; indeed, Owen’s impact on the British scene is under-rated because he rarely took screen credit - it was easier to get British subsidies with a local producer’s name on it. Owen hired Hughes to write Portrait of Alison (1955), a lively Laura (1944)-style murder mystery starring Howard Hughes favourite Terry Moore and Canadian-living-in Britain Robert Beatty; Guy Green did the actual directing.  Also for Owen, Hughes wrote and directed Timeslip (1955), a slightly sci-fi tale based on a TV serial, starring two Americans, Gene Nelson and another Howard Hughes fave, Faith Domergue. Both were distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUKLDiI_zak

The first really stand-out movie of Hughes’ career was Joe MacBeth (1955) a modernised re-telling of Macbeth set among American gangsters of the 1930s, shot in England. It was produced by American Mike Frankovich from a script by another American, Philip Yordan (with a little help from Shakespeare). “It was one of the few scripts I picked up in my life that didn't require a great deal of work,” said Hughes. The movie is gloriously fun. Everyone is in strong form: Paul Douglas, Ruth Roman, Sid James, Bonar Colleano (an American who worked extensively in British films prior to his death in a car crash). It was distributed by Columbia; Frankovich became head of that company’s British operations, and they would finance Hughes’ next few films.

First of these was Wicked as They Come (1956), which Hughes wrote and directed for producers Frankovich and Setton. It starred Arlene Dahl as a woman who claws her way from poverty to the top; it’s revealed at the end she was motivated by having been sexually assault when younger (there was a feminist-ish strand through some of Hughes’ work: for instance in The Brain Machine a person refers to Elizabeth Allen’s character as “ma’am” and she asks to be called “doctor”.) Dahl later sued Columbia over the movie claiming its poster art was misleadingly sexy.  The film would have been better off following the lead of the poster art rather than the script: at heart this should have been a campy Joan Crawford vehicle but it’s far too reticent and dull. I watched this after Joe MacBeth put me on a high over Hughes’ abilities - Wicked as They Come sent me back down to earth. I’m sure the film has its fans. Dahl lost her case, incidentally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7E9WNUWJLU

Hughes worked on two more Max Setton films for Columbia. He wrote the excellent script for Town on Trial (1957), directed by John Guillermin, where detective John Mills investigates the murder of a sexy piece of tail in a small town (men driven by lust was a recurring theme of Hughes movies). He also wrote and directed The Long Haul (1957) which I mentioned at the top of this piece, a movie that has been overshadowed in the cinema of British truck driving stories by Hell Drivers (1957) but which is enormously entertaining, with Diana Dors and Victor Mature giving excellent performances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1-1SZN3yVg

Maxwell Setton left Columbia to help establish Bryanston Films with Michael Balcon, leaving Hughes needing a new patron. For British TV he wrote episodes of Solo for Canary (1958) and had a huge personal success with a one-man TV play he wrote and directed, Sammy (1958); this was a 40-minute story about a low-level Soho operator (played Anthony Newley) who can’t pay his gambling debts. Reviews were excellent and Hughes’ script was adapted countless times in other countries for TV, notably in the US as Eddie (1959) starring Mickey Rooney.

Hughes’ work had impressed producers Irwin Allen and Albert Broccoli, owners of Warwick Films,  which, like Todon, was an operation aimed at making international-orientated genre pieces in England “for a price”. Hughes worked on the script for Warwick’s High Flight (1957) a Top Gun-esque tale, complete with cocky pilots and homoeroticism starring Ray Milland, that was directed by John Gilling.

Warwick liked it enough to hire Hughes to direct two films for the company. Oddly, these were different to the bulk of their usual output, being non-action films, and not featuring a Hollywood star. Instead, both featured Anthony Newley: Jazz Boat (1960) (based on another story by Rex Rienits) and In the Nick (1960).  Jazz Boat starts out as a crime drama then weirdly turns into a musical (complete with dance numbers) then back into a crime drama again. In the Nick is a comedy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV0basjmZns

Neither film is particularly remembered today but Warwick also financed Hughes’ one undeniable classic. This was The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) with Australia’s own Peter Finch in the title role. It’s a stunningly good account of the legendary playwright, with beautiful art direction from Ken Adams and a superb line-up of actors doing sterling work. Finch was rarely better; the entire subject is treated with taste and discretion.

The film was highly acclaimed by critics but not popular at the box office, in part because of the appearance at the same time as a rival project on the same topic, Oscar Wilde (1960) starring Robert Morley. The movie’s financial failure contributed to the dissolution of Warwick; Broccoli and Allen split up, Broccoli went on to make the James Bond films, while Allen spent the rest of his career trying to catch up to his former partner (and came close, incidentally, with a series of hit movies based on the Matt Helm stories).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQWf3VyLu9Y&list=PL0gml3Zg1wRlNV2NvOUtIq2sS01wBoh9y&index=39&t=0s

Hughes had wanted to follow Oscar Wilde with a biopic about Oliver Cromwell but was unable to raise the finance. Instead he wrote and directed The Small World of Sammy Lee (1963),  a feature-length adaptation of his TV play Sammy, with Anthony Newley reprising his small screen performance. The film was a co-production between Bryanston Films and Seven Arts, an American company headed by Ray Stark which had set up operations in England. The film contains much to admire, including superb photography and acting (Aussies Ken Wayne and Kenneth Warren have support roles), and a glimpse of Soho of the time. It is repetitive (Sammy tries to get money, almost gets it, doesn’t) and how much you like it will very much depend on your opinion of Anthony Newley. The movie has become something of a cult item in recent years but was a commercial failure on release and contributed to the collapse of Bryanston Films.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmJ7LrgcKpk

Hughes moved back to television, directing episodes of the TV series Espionage (1964) and writing episodes of An Enemy of the State (1965). He returned to features when Henry Hathaway walked off the set of Of Human Bondage (1964) which the latter was directing in Ireland with Laurence Harvey and Kim Novak. The film was made by Seven Arts and Ray Stark offered Hughes the job of taking over; Hughes also rewrote Bryan Forbes’ script, based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham. The resulting film is interesting, and contains one of Harvey’s best performances, but isn’t that good. Novak’s performance doesn’t help and, more seriously, Hughes doesn’t get - or didn’t have time to capture - the essential DNA of the story. It is interesting to compare it with other versions of the novel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmthl1hAdFA

Seven Arts still liked Hughes and helped finance a comedy he wanted to write and direct, Drop Dead Darling (1965), starring Tony Curtis as a Bluebeard type who kills women he marries. It’s a frantic farce that does cartwheels for a laugh with beautiful locations and contains some excellent support performances, including Zsa Zsa Gabor. Curtis claimed in his memoirs he did the film because he liked Hughes’ “excellent script” but felt the final movie did not add up to the sum of his parts.  He was spot on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um5J9x-R89c

The movie was presumably why producer Charles Feldman hired Hughes to direct a section of the James Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967) - reportedly the Berlin stuff with Joanna Pettet. Other directors credited included John Huston, Val Guest, Robert Parrish and Joseph McGrath. I’m not sure comedy was Hughes’ strength.

I think this is Hughes’ stuff here, but don’t quote me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_8o4BbDqkg

Hughes’ next movie also had a Bond connection, or rather, several: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), was based on a novel by Ian Fleming, produced by Albert Broccoli, written by Roald Dahl (who had scripted You Only Live Twice), designed by Ken Adam, and featured a number of Bond actors (Desmond Llewellyn, Gert Frobe). Hughes directed and rewrote Roald Dahl’s script. It’s a gorgeous looking movie with divine sets, a fabulous cast and cheerful songs; it’s also, like so many late 60s musicals, far too long and would have been better at a tight 90 minutes.

Chitty Chitty cost so much it actually lost a lot of money on first release - it helped convince Broccoli not to make anything other than Bond movies - but it was popular and has become a family viewing perennial.

“The film made a lot of money, but that doesn’t really make me feel any better about it,” said Hughes later. “On the other hand, I’ve made pictures that got awards at Berlin and places, and didn’t make any money, and that doesn’t make me feel any better either”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTTzcXSLjhI

The film was well regarded enough to enable Hughes to raise finance for his dream project, an epic biopic of Oliver Cromwell called Cromwell (1970). It was produced by Albert Broccoli’s old partner, Irwin Allen.

I’ve been mean about this film and will be again, but it does have some good things about it: Alec Guinness is superb as Charles I, and the production design is amazing. But it’s dull. So dull. Every time Richard Harris walks on screen he looks as though he’s about to give a speech and he does. Admittedly I don’t enjoy English Civil War tales unless they involve witch burnings or focus around Charles II in exile. But if you are a history teacher who couldn’t be bothered talking to class for two hours, Cromwell could solve your issues that day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7QHFm2AeMo

Up until making this film, Hughes was riding high. He earned £44,177 in 1968 and £47,960 in 1969, the year he sold his company, Ken Hughes Productions, to Constellation Investments for  £300,000. It was one of those tricky financial arrangements filmmakers sometimes enter into to help with their tax situation; Hughes was to regret it.

Cromwell was popular at the British box office failed to recoup its huge cost. Around this time the American majors pulled out of filmmaking in Britain, and Hughes, after steady work for almost two decades, found himself floundering a little, earning no money in 1970.

In hindsight, he probably should have fled to Hollywood, like so many of his contemporaries (John Gilling, Michael Winner) or gone into horror, sex comedies or big screen adaptations of TV shows (the most profitable genres in 70s British cinema). Instead he stayed in London where he wrote for television (Menace, Colditz, Fall of Eagles, Dial M for Murder, Oil Strike North). He eventually got two feature gigs as writer-director: The Internecine Project (1974), a thriller for British Lion starring James Coburn and Lee Grant, and Alfie Darling (1975), a sequel to the comedy-drama Alfie (1966), financed by his old patron Nat Cohen (now head of EMI). Internecine has a decent central idea - James Coburn is up for a job so decides to kill off four people who know about his shady past - but feels in badly need of some extra twists/complications. And Alfie Darling suffers very, very, very badly in comparison to the original, which turned Michael Caine into a star (you may feel differently if you like Alan Price, who steps into Caine’s shoes).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vhl7orjm20

Both films flopped. In 1975 Hughes declared bankruptcy, claiming his personal inability to curb expenses, two divorces, taxes and the collapse of the film industry.

Hughes decided to move to the US. He got the gig making one of the most bizarre movies of all time, something even weirder than Casino Royale: Sextette (1978), starring Mae West. Irving Rapper had originally meant to direct before Hughes stepped in just before shooting began. The resulting film is absurd but almost compulsive in its randomness, whether it’s Timothy Dalton singing “Love will Keep Us Together” to Mae West, or George Hamilton playing a gangster, or Ringo Starr putting on a weird European accent to play a director, or Tony Curtis as a Russian, or Dom De Luise as a manager flunky, or West talking to George Raft in an elevator, or Keith Moon and Van McCoy and Alice Cooper AND Walter Pidgeon or... Oh, anyway, see it if you want.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as6Iv5R1G0M

Hughes’ last film as director was a slasher flick, Night School (1981), the movie debut of Rachel Ward. It’s quite a stylish piece of entertainment, made with professionalism and skill rather than ludicrous excess, which means it isn’t as fun as others in this genre. Ward has X factor from the get-go and takes part in a Psycho (1960) shower scene homage; it has a feminist moments and there’s also not one but two sexually predatory academics.  For me, it was Hughes’ most enjoyable film since Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fuMpdXBVZA

And then the credits stopped. I don’t know what happened. Night School was well done. The producer of that film speaks well of Hughes in interviews. He was heading towards sixty years of age so there was ageism, but he could write as well as direct and was used to low budgets... Maybe there were other issues (if anyone knows, please feel free to tell me). He died of complications from Alzheimer’s Disease in 2001.

So how good a filmmaker was Ken Hughes? For me - and this is purely, utterly subjective - he was very “ups and downs” kind of guy with a solid over-all average: the maker of a genuine classic (Trials of Oscar Wilde), a handful of terrific movies (Long Haul, Joe MacBeth, Wide Boy) and some films that have splendid things in them (Small World of Sammy Lee, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and yes Casino Royale). He also made movies that were dull (Cromwell), dire (Alfie Darling), disappointing (Timeslip) and in one case beyond belief (Sextette). He clearly worked best when attached to a feisty little production company with strong Hollywood links (Anglo Amalgamated, Tony Owen, Warwick, Seven Arts).

I also wonder if maybe Ken Hughes rated his own writing too highly. He clearly had abilities as a writer - some of his scripts were fabulous. But it is hard to keep a high level of quality if you write and direct all the time and Hughes was also prone to rewrite, even on screenplays by skilled colleagues (Roald Dahl on Chitty Chitty, Bryan Forbes on Of Human Bondage). In hindsight maybe Hughes would have been better off working more with a trusted collaborator than being a one man band. I completely admit It’s hard to make these sort of judgements without reading/comparing original drafts and the rewrites, but it’s just a sense I get.

Still he should be better known. I wonder why he isn’t. Check out Joe MacBeth if you haven’t.

Movie review - "Firepower" (1979) **

 Lew Grade's idea of a commercial movie - old stars, exotic locations, explosions. James Coburn is actually quite good as a macho hitman type asked by the FBI to go after a crook. It's great to see him in a part with "balls" again.

Sophia Loren's role feels shoe-horned in. She's a woman avenging the death of her husband. It didn't need to be shoe-horned in... they have Vincent Gardenia hire Eli Wallach hire James Coburn who hires OJ Simpson... just have Loren hire Coburn and Simpson.

The plot should be simple but is needlessly complicated. It's about getting a Bad Guy. There's a few twists. Coburn has a twin - why not use that more? Why not give Loren more to do?

She and Coburn hop on and off boats a lot. Simpson is quite a good action hero. The locations are nice but not that nice. Too many of the actors are old - there aren't even young henchmen.

I liked seeing Victor Mature at the end in a scene that could have been cut out - why not have him as the big baddie though?

Michael Winner didn't do a very good job as a director. He was a better producer than director and by now he was assembling ingredients more than producing a film.

Movie review - "The Long Haul" (1957) *** (re-watching)

 Surprisingly down beat trucker noir with strong performances from two underrated actors, Victor Mature and Diana Dors. He's a Yank in England with a nagging wife and dull kid who falls for slinky dame Dors - and she genuinely falls for him.

This was Dors' first movie post-Hollywood - she's as strong as ever, sexy, empathetic, lonely. She suits the low-rent world.

Mature's craggy, tired eyes suit the part too. He seems like a beaten-down trucker. Their attraction is believable. The part of the wife is thankless - she's such a shrew. They could've done more work on that. Strong other actors and some decent truck action.

Movie review - "Won Ton Ton the Dog That Saved Hollywood" (1976) *

Michael Winner wasn't known for being the king of comedy, though he did make The Jokers. Winner blamed Bruce Dern for a lot of the film's failure - he's not Mr Laughs either. He's definitely not up to Madeleine Kahn who is lots of fun - also spot on is Teri Garr who I wish had a bigger part.

On one hand I enjoyed the old person cameos but it did make the film feel old. Cameos are fun but everyone was elderly. It made the whole movie smell old time-y.

Winner keeps everything at a fast pace but there's an air of desperation about it. The movie has no heart. The Jokers had heart because it was about brothers and a world that Winner knew about. He's removed from 1920s Los Angeles. There's no warmth.

The film should have focused on the dog and its relationship with Kahn, but everything feels surface. Kahn is fun but looking at it, she's too broad. She plays it like a support part. Teri Garr would have been better in her role with Kahn in support. Or have Kahn play Dern's role. There were some female directors. But that was probably too much for the filmmakers. Maybe Michael Crawford would have worked in Dern's role.

I laughed at some bits like the dog trying to hang himself. But this felt too much like a movie where they went for laughs without thinking of the point - and the laughs aren't of sufficient quality. They're not Mel Brooks.

There's a good movie to be made in the story of Rin Tin Tin. But the satire is too broad. The filmmakers get bored with the dog and keep changing focus - Rob Liebman takes over the movie at one stage playing a Valentino type. Mad cap in the worst way.

Still, I've seen it now, at least.

Book review - "Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B De Mille" (2010) by Scott Eyman

Scott Eyman's written a bunch of fantastic books but it's hard to see how he can top this one, an exhaustive and brilliant account of the life of one of the most famous directors of all time.

De Mille wasn't just a director, he was a celebrity (hosting his own radio show), and he was a genre. He was also hated by baby boomer film critics who dominated film criticism from the late 60s onwards and ensured his reputation went into eclipse while those of Hawks, Hitchcock, Nicholas Ray, etc shot up. This was in part because De Mille died in 1959 so wasn't around to do self promoting interviews to the boomers in the 60s like the others. But also because he was a right winger.

I started to re-appreciate the director after reading George MacDonald Fraser write about him so well in Hollywood History of the World. (Eyman quotes Fraser here). And rewatching his films you see there's lots more to De Mille than was commonly accepted in film buff circles.

His shoddy treatment by cineastes made me angry because reading this De Mille was such an influential figure in Hollywood - he helped create the place, shooting The Squaw Man, was clearly a gun director in his prime and artistically bold, especially in the 1920s (I've never seen these films but have read this from numerous sources). He enjoyed great success but had a dip in the late 20s and early 30s, before backing himself and recovering with The Sign of the Cross. Thereafter he became more a brand name and producer than top flight director, but the films are consistently strong. He was famous for spectacle but always understood the human story needed to be paramount.

Eyman points out that the main reason his reputation suffered was his anti-communism, particularly the famous DGA fight where he tried to kick out Joseph Mankiewicz. This story has been inflated - Eyman pulls it back into focus.

De Mille was a flawed man certainly - bit of a hypocrite, a bit rabid during the Cold War, while personally generous he loved to keep his income tax rates down. He was very nineteenth century - he had several long running mistresses but never left his wife, he was influenced by the theatre of David Belasco. He was skilled with publicity, story, acting and producing - he learnt his trade on the theatre circuit. He was a paterfamilias - running his movie company like an actor manager.

Eyman had access to De Mille's papers and there is superb insight into the man - notably his relationships with his brother William (smarter but less skilled) and mother (pushy and a spendthrift), his mistresses, his wife (Eyman's account of De Mille's final moments, holding his wife's hand - she had Alzheimer's and couldn't remember him - is very moving), his son in law Tony Quinn, his niece Agnes, his staff.

The book is excellent. It's thorough, well written, has true epic sweep but doesn't get lost. It's funny too - especially with De Mille's exasperation with Victor Mature on Samson and Delilah. It's surprising - Paulette Goddard kept trying to be cast in his films.

A fantastic book.

Movie review - "Easy Living" (1949) **1/2

An odd one in the Victor Mature filmography - until you consider that in the late 40s he was developing a nice little reputation as an actor (My Darling Clementine, Kiss of Death) and this project was greenlit by Dore Schary at RKO (though it wasn't made til Howard Hughes til over).

It's got Schary worthiness, being a look at the life of a football player (Mature). He's a star but he lives beyond this means

The screenwriter, Charles Schnee, has actually done a good job (Schary liked Schnee, promoted him to producer at MGM) - characters are well sketched, have depth, and sympathy. There's a big fat strand of sexism through the film (a key plot point involves Mature being overlooked for a coaching position because his wife isn't "reliable) but even Scott is allowed to have her moment in the sun - she points out their life has traditionally been about worshipping Mature, she wants a career.

Some subplots feel hampered by censorship - a model who slept around kills herself, a woman tells Scott she wants to seduce Mature then kind of vanishes, Ball and Mature really should sleep together, it's unsure if Scott sleeps with her client. Because much of it is adult and frank and well done - Jacques Tourneur was a good director.

Lloyd Nolan is effective as a coach. Lizabeth Scott feels vaguely miscast but gives a good performance - you could say the same for Lucille Ball. Mature isn't quite believable as a footballer but is at least a physical type. Sonny Tufts was a real surprise - he's very relaxed and strong as Mature's friend. There's a black player on the team, Jim Backus turns up as a doctor.

There's a scene where Mature and Scott go to a nightclub and hear a person sing a torch song called "Easy Living"which feels tacked on.

It's a really odd sort of movie - bits of it are very good I found it engrossing. It doesn't quite pull it off, you can see why it lost money, and there's a terrible finale when Mature slaps Scott twice and "forgives" her (for the crime of having ambition). But treats the trevails of footballers sensitively and it's no joke.

Movie review - "Veils of Bagdad" (1953) **

One of a series of Easterns that Universal made in the early 1950s. The best remembered ones starred Rock Hudson or Tony Curtis; this one has Victor Mature, who I am a bit of a fan of, but he doesn't have the energy or humour of the younger Curtis and Hudson. It isn't as though Mature is miscast (for a Universal Studios version of Bagdad, that is) - he plays a soldier who has been around a bit, seen something of life. But he's not as committed as in other movies.

Maybe it didn't help his female co star is Mari Blanchard - who is beautiful and all that, but lacks something, a spark or individuality. Maureen O'Hara was meant to co star and I wish she'd done so - either her or Yvonne de Carlo.

George Sherman's direction is lethargic. Overly moody - not very fun. Lots of close ups. I can't put my finger on it but this film missed for me. See The Prince Who Was a Thief instead.

The support cast is strong - villains include Guy Rolfe and Leon Askin, Nick Cravat, James Arness and Glenn Strange and Robert Blake have support roles.

Movie review - "The Sharkfighters" (1956) **

In the mid 1950s a film about the development of shark repellent no doubt sounded exciting, but now we know it isn't particularly useful there's something hollow about it. The treatment here doesn't conquer those problems - it's about the US army working on shark repellent. Victor Mature doesn't like sharks. A Cuban kid dies. Then the repellent works. The end.

The best thing about it is location filming in Cuba. I also liked the final shark attack where two sharks swim around Mature's body double. And the cast isn't bad - there's Mature, and also a young James Olson (not bald but looking one step away), and the striking Karen Steele as Mature's wife.

But it's a dud story. There's no ticking clock, no villain, no enemy spy. The shark attacks are staged. The human relationships are dull. Why have Mature and Steele married? Why not have them fall in love? Why not give Steele something more to do than run around in a bikini and handle exposition?

Maybe there's simply no good film to be made out of shark repellent . But it could have been better than this.

Movie review - "Red Skies of Montana" (1952) ***

Didn't know much about this film other than it was meant to star Victor Mature but they pulled the plug during filming then re-did it with Richard Widmark. The story suits Fox's template of the time - there's a solid star part for a middle aged guy, a thankless role for a woman (who could be cut out of the whole film), a crusty support, and a good role for a male ingenue.

Richard Boone plays crusty, and Jeff Hunter is the ingenue - a fire fighter who comes to believe Widmark is responsible for this father's death. What helps this piece is that Widmark himself is unsure of this - he was knocked out during a fire. It adds suspense (even if we're sure Widmark didn't do it we don't know what happened), and gives Widmark a decent role to play.

Colour photography helps, as does location shooting and the fact it's an unsual world - that of parachuting fire fighters (the smoke jumpers who were the characters in that film arc on Entourage).

It's a solid script and director Joseph Newman does a polished job. They really should have done something for the female lead - made her the daughter of the dead guy or something.

Charles Bronson has a very small role.

How I Would Fix the 1954 film "The Egyptian"

I'm talking the 1954 20th Century Fox film, which I think would have troubles even if Marlon Brando had starred in it. (He didn't make Desiree a classic).

Firstly I think films in Ancient Egypt struggle if they don't feature mummies. They happened simply too long enough. Cleopatra was late Ancient Egypt and is around the time of early Christianity - just before it. Early Christianity is familiar from the Bible. Before that it's hard to get resonance for audiences today - unless, say, it's about the human race struggling for survival against dinosaurs.

But it was based on a best seller, so let's assume that's non negotiable. Anyway there's no reason a film in Ancient Egypt couldn't work.

Here are the main things I feel could have changed:

* The relationship between Edmund Purdom and Victor Mature (I'm just going to use actor's names) should've been stronger.  I would've made them brothers if possible. (Mature's dad could've been the guy who adopted Purdom). Or at least really established the link.

* I would've combined the Bella Darvi and Gene Tierney role.  Darvi's role I got... she was a vixen who while being upfront made Purdom go ga-ga. But Tierney felt like she repeated her part -another femme fetale. Have Darvi/Tierney as the great love of Purdom's life. The woman he can't resist. So at the end when she offers him the throne it's even harder to resist.

* Purdom needed to be more selfless - tending the poor and what not. It's kind of there, but I think they should've simplified his goal... "everyone is entitled to a doctor" or something. The stuff about worshipping the one god felt so vague. I think the theme of this was ambitious, but overly ambitious. Maybe "there is one god" would have worked but Michael Wilding craps on so much.

* They needed to do more with Purdom's son. This is partly Purdom's fault but the guy looks as though he could barely care about his son's existence. I feel Purdom should've been driven more by wanting to help his son - make the world a better place, etc. And have him meet his son at the end instead of never having tracked him down. That's just slack.

* Michael Wilding shouldn't have been such a crap Pharaoh. He' so weak. There's no reason you can't believe in one god and be nice and also defend your country against the Hittites. It's stupid.

Still a gorgeous looking film and not without interest.

Movie review - "The Housekeeper's Daughter" (1939) **

One of a series of films Hal Roach made for United Artists. I've a soft spot for these independent outfits who made decently budgeted stuff in the Golden Years of Hollywood - Edward Small and so on - and have a fondness for Roach's Captain Fury.

But this was a hard slog. I only got through it for completion's sake. I mean it's not terrible - it's in focus, everyone's competent, all that. There's just no point to it.

It has a promising set up - gangsters moll Joan Bennett goes home to the house where she grew up, mother was a housekeeper. She falls in love with the son of the house, John Hubbard.

Then it all goes wonky - they remove the parents who own the house for far too long. The story goes off on all these detours -  a creepy little guy (George Stone, giving a good performance) accidentally kills a show girl (Lilian Bond) leading to journalists investigate; there's two of them (one played by Adolphe Menjou the other by William Gardan) and then Hubbard decides he wants to be a journalist, and he becomes famous... and all this action drifts to Hubbard and Menjou and basically Bennett could be cut out of the whole film. It feels all wonky.

Victor Mature plays Bennett's gangster boyfriend but his part is too small. Marc Lawrence is in it too. The character of Bennett's mother is thrown away - she's just kind of there.

Everyone's trying - there's rapid patter. It's trying to be a wacky screwball comedy. But it's a dull mess.

Movie review - "Untamed" (1955) **

Fairly terrible CinemaScope set in South Africa, which no one seems to remember with much fondness. The South African scenery is pretty, it's fun to see how Susan Hayward went on location and not Tyrone Power, and it's interesting to observe the treatment Fox gave South African history - it's about the Great Trek, with Tyrone Power as a passionate Boer, and Hayward as the Irish lass who loves him, and the Zulus attacking like Indians. It's packed full of Western tropes: there's a wagon train (which was a real thing its got to be said), pioneers, natives who are vicious and loyal, outlaws, shoot outs, and lots of American actors.

But it doesn't work dramatically. The ingredients are there - pioneers in a strange land, action, a feisty heroine, dashing hero, treacherous man who loves the hero, a tree falls on someone resulting in a leg amputation, gossipy maids. But it doesn't come together.

Hayward doesn't seem particularly engaged in what's going on - thought I'm not a major fan (admirers of her may enjoy this more). The film never seems certain how Bad to make her character. She chases after Power a lot but what drives her really? Power? Hunger? Wealth? There are allusions to Scarlett O'Hara but O'Hara's dramatic line was clean and clear - get Ashley, survive and thrive. O'Hara was put through the ringer and she got through it through determination and cunning. Hayward isn't really - there's a potato famine handled mostly off screen via exposition, a bit of animal shoot outs, some rain... there's no passion. No danger. She becomes rich in five seconds by getting a diamond - then loses it all somehow. (I wasn't sure how).

And no spark with Power. His character seems clear enough - a Dutch patriot. Okay sure Power never seems remotely Dutch but there were worst miscastings around this time and Power was a big star. More problematic is it's clear he only cares about his country and not about Hayward. He bangs her in Ireland but then takes off. She turns up in South Africa, he bangs her again then takes off again. He arrives in Cape Town where she's rich and connected which makes her like her... he bangs her again but won't commit. He finds out she's got his kid and gets possessive about the kid but not her. He takes off again, then is involved in a final shoot out. He's meant to give up fighting for Hayward at the end but we never believe it not for a second -he's clearly not into her. Which may be true to character but makes a very unsatisfying movie. Rhett wanted Scarlett.

(NB I had the same problem with another Fox epic, Forever Amber).

All my sympathy went to Richard Egan, the nominal villain, playing a character who loves Hayward, who works for her despite her loving Power, who loses a leg in a storm and becomes an outlaw. (To be fair he's not very nice to the adoring native girl who loves him, Rita Moreno). Really Power should've played Egan's part which should've been the hero - make the Power character this selfish prat who treats Hayward badly and at the end she goes for the guy who's loved her all along.

Egan isn't bad in a role turned down by Victor Mature - he looks like a man of action. Agnes Moorehead livens up her scenes. No one else gets much of a look in.

Movie review - "Million Dollar Mermaid" (1953) ***1/2

Esther Williams is entirely appropriate casting to play Annette Kellerman, little remembered today but in her day a big swimming star.

Australian audiences will get a kick out of this - Kellerman was an Aussie, the early scenes are set in Australia, there's Aussie references through the script (Kellerman makes Australian stew which is like Irish stew "only the beef's down under"; Victor Mature has a boxing kangaroo). It's not that Australian, it has to be admitted... it's really more MGM land than anything else... but something is better than nothing.

It's handsome to look at, and there's some impressive musical numbers. There's some sure fire moments like dad Walter Pigdeon being concerned about his daughter's polio stricken legs and her going off swimming anyway, and Kellerman/Williams being arrested for wearing a one piece. Film buffs will enjoy the appearance of Rin Tin Tin (a character in the film), the making of Neptune's Daughter.

Esther Williams gives her normal Esther Williams performance - but she's pretty and game as usual, and very likeable. Victor Mature is ideal as her love interest - I understand very different from the real guy, but he suits the part as written (a lively showman with a heart of gold). Walter Pidgeon is also well cast as her father. David Brian has a thankless role as the false love interest, who provides the threat in the last act. Jesse White is fun as Mature's sidekick.

It's a solid, entertaining film with extra appeal to Australian viewers. It gets dull in the last act but it's one of Esther Williams' best movies.

Movie review - "The Big Circus" (1959) *** (warning: spoilers)

I didn't know what to expect from this late 50s Irwin Allen circus flick - the quality of his work varies so widely, from the good fun of Towering Inferno and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea to the incompetence of The Swarm and The Story of Mankind. But this is a lively, colourful, unpretentious movie which I enjoyed.

It benefits from Charles Bennett having worked on the script - Bennett could always be relied upon to deliver something with a decent story structure and this does: Victor Mature's circus is in financial trouble, so the banks send in an accountant (Red Buttons) and a PR person (Rhonda Fleming). Someone in the show is causing trouble and trying to kill people. That's decent conflict and mystery right there. Thrown in mysterious acrobat Gilbert Roland and Mature's sister Kathryn Crosby who falls for Buttons, plus Vincent Price as the MC and Peter Lorre as a clown.

I wish more had been done with Price - he's really just a red herring and that's it. The denouement involving David Nelson is strangely unexciting. And the film seems unable to make up its mind if Mature or Roland is the hero. I think Mature should have come to the rescue at the end. And when all's said and done this isn't a very good circus - acrobats are always falling from the wire, lions keep escaping, etc.

But its colourful. Circus tales have the advantage of instant production value - there's lions, and acrobats, and clowns and big tops.  The stars are second tier but they are pros and help tell who is who. And there is irresistible romance in the journey of Buttons' character - a numbers man who falls for the circus and becomes a clown. Who doesn't like a character like that?

Book review - "Just Tell Me When You Want Me to Cry" by Richard Fleischer

This isn't one of the famous director memoirs - at least, not that I'm aware - and it sat on my bookshelf for a long time unread, but it was good. Very self effacing for a work from a director - it doesn't talk about his life and times and career so much as encounters with crazy characters. They are certainly memorable: Howard Hughes at RKO making him shoot additional footage for His Kind of Woman; dealing with Orson Welles on Compulsion; Kirk Douglas on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Vikings; Rex Harrison on Dr Doolittle (making them hire Sidney Poitier, then quitting, then being replaced by Christopher Plummer and coming back again); Charles Bronson on Mr Majestyk; Daryl F Zanuck in thrall to Juliete Greco; ducking work with John Wayne on North to Alaska; Laurence Oliver on The Jazz Singer.

There's more affectionate reminiscences: working with the team of Stanley Kramer and Carl Foreman; the hard-living polio-afflicted screenwriter Earl Felton (who I'd never heard of before); Gilbert Roland on Bandido; his early mentor, RKO hard man Sig Rogell.

It's all great fun. I wished that there were more on other films Fleischer made - there's nothing on Che! or See No Evil or Amityville 3-D or lots of other movies. But what's here is good.

My Victor Mature Top Ten

1) I Wake up Screaming - a very good murder mystery
2) My Darling Clementine - a genuine classic with Mature very good
3)  Kiss of Death - possibly Mature's best performance
4) Violent Saturday - more of an ensemble piece than a Mature vehicle, this is a decent thriller
5) Demetrius and the Gladiators - enjoyable Ancient World pulp, much more fun than The Robe
6) Chief Crazy Horse - Mature surprisingly effective in the title role
7) Samson and Delilah - Cecil B de Mille spectacle, a lot of crap and good moments
8) Zarak Khan - fun British Empire pulp, the best of Mature's Warwick films
9) Cry of the City - more effective noir from Mature
10) Moss Rose - this film lost a bomb but I found it an enjoyable period noir from Mature's best era (the late 40s)

Special points to One Million BC for it's sheer oddness.

Movie review - "Gambling House" (1951) **

One of a handful of films Victor Mature made at RKO under the Howard Hughes regime, this had what passed for the A list at RKO at the time - director Ted Tetzlaff, co stars Terry Moore and William Bendix.

It's the sort of story you could imagine RKO easily making with Robert Mitchum: a gambler (Mature) in debt is offered cash if he'll take the wrap for a murder committed by a dodgy crime boss (Bendix). But things are complicated when the government threaten the Italian-born Mature with deportation.

That's not a bad set up for a film - it does feel like the set up for two different movies but I went with it. But the film never gets in it's stride. I wanted it to be good - decent players, stylish black and white photography - but the filmmakers never seem clear on what sort of movie they're making. Is it noir? Is it romance? Is it drama?

It starts off as a tough crime drama but then detours into this sort of pro America thing with Mature discovering an appreciation for America and romancing a cute little immigration officer (Terry Moore, who is miscast). I got completely confused as to the status of the crime Mature was meant to be covering up and his relationship with Bendix and Bendix's involvement. I get that there were some immigrants he wanted to help, so seem kind of rushed in, but we don't get to know them well - so Mature's sacrifice at the end seems weak.

I got the feeling this film started as one thing but then got pulled in all sort of directions. A gambler taking the rap for something he didn't do in exchange for cash... that's a clean set up for a film. Then they threw in him being deported.

Then they had a gambler discover patriotism because Mr Lucky had been such a hit for the studio (and the Cold War was on and Hughes wanted to show how patriotic RKO was). Then they threw in some romance with a girl who dated Howard Hughes in real life. Then they had a scene with Bendix backstage in a show so they could put in some show girls for Hughes. Then they throw in Mature using his money to ensure some nice migrants stay. (Is this film saying that bribery works in America? For some reason these immigrants need $50,000 to stay - that's a lot - it sounds like a bribe.) Then they have an open ending where someone who isn't Mature kills Bendix, and Mature walks off into the night. Is he going to be with Moore? Is he going to give up gambling? Is he going to be arrested?

It's a mess. It feels like a movie that was reshot and rewritten and it's a shame because it starts so well and the photography is so good. Mature does his best as does Bendix. Moore is way too young and child-like and doesn't strike sparks with Mature.

Movie review - "Captain Caution" (1940) ***

Hollywood doesn't make many films about the War of 1812, for a number of reasons: it's not very well known, sensitivity towards the British market, the fact that the Americans lost (or at the least tied). Their Navy had some exceptional victories though, which inspired Kenneth Roberts to make it the focus of a best selling novel, which was filmed by Hal Roach in 1940.

Roach is best remembered for his comedies but around this time he was turning out some interesting non-comedy features: One Million Years BC, Of Mice and Men, Captain Fury. The latter was, like this, an action tale - only with the twist that it was set in colonial Australia. This is a swashbuckler with the twist of the War of 1812 so I wonder if that was a conscious decision on Roach's part when taking on the majors - to make genre pictures with odd backgrounds

This features Roach's discovery, Victor Mature, in his third film. He's the co lead along with Louise Platt, best known as the pregnant wife in Stagecoach. She's the daughter of a ship's captain (Robert Batty) who is horny for first mate (Victor Mature) but he's reluctant to marry. They are returning from the Far East, not knowing the two countries are at war, when the English attack, killing dad. She vows vengeance and takes over the ship.

This is a fascinating movie. It's a pretty good story, with a great star role for Platt - but she's not up to it. She's dull and uninspiring. Once of the best female parts in a swashbuckler, ever and it's wasted. To think of all the female stars at the time who could've played it! Even Roach contractee Carole Landis would've been better. Maybe Claire Trevor? (I'm trying to think of realistic names here).

(I should add the film isn't exactly a feminist treatise - Platt is hoodwinked by Cabot and spends the second half of the film being a passive victim; at the end she doesn't join in on the big fight, she just watches.)

The guys are better. Bruce Cabot is charismatic as the slaver who works for Platt. (This American character, a Benedict Arnold type, is far more of a villain than the British.) Mature was too odd looking at this stage of his career  - it was before he grew into his looks - but at least is virile; he doesn't do that much in the first half except express caution. He and Platt don't have great charisma.

Alan Ladd pops up in a small but showy role as an American sailor captured by the British; it's actually one of Ladd's best pre-stardom parts, with his blonde hair sticking up, skin covered in dirt and a bad case of PTSD and hatred for his captors.

There is decent action with two big ship battles (at the beginning and the end) and an enjoyable uprising from prisoners - the filmmakers had clearly seen Captain Blood. Some awkward amateurish moments but this was an entertaining film, a solid swashbuckler - just like Captain Fury was, come to think of it.

Movie review - "Tank Force" (1958) *** (aka "No Time to Die") (warning: spoilers)

I get the feeling the gang at Warwick Films had this rewritten after watching Bridge on the River Kwai because it has several similar elements - English soldiers in a POW camp during World War Two (only here in North Africa), a stiff upper lip English officer (Leo Genn) clashing with an American soldier (Victor Mature), talk about the Geneva convention and escape committees. There's also a dash of Rogue Male too with the reveal that Mature had a Jewish wife who wound up at Belsen, and who tried to kill Goebbels so the Nazis are after him.

I've got to say though I quite liked this film - it's a solid war adventure tale that moves at a decent pace. Writer-director Terence Young served in the desert during the war and clearly responds to the material - there's swirling desert sands, well choreographed action. The script was co written with Richard Maibaum, so it makes sense, has decent characters and structure.

The acting is decent: the five escaping POWs are Mature, Genn, Anthony Newley (far less annoying here than he usually was in Warwick films), Bonar Colleono (in one of his best films, as "the Pole", clearly suffering PTSD and keen to kill Germans) and South African Sean Kelly who plays an Aussie.

The presence of Aussie characters in this is fun - Kelly has a smaller role compared to the others but is a brave decent bloke and when he dies they play 'Waltzing Matilda' on the soundtrack. There's also references to other Aussie soldiers in the camp.

There are also some Italian girls - Luciana Paluzzi, who later worked for Terence Young in Thunderball, as a beautiful girl who (shock) dies. Actually the death toll is high for this film, which makes it effective. There's a very very sympathetic German officer (Nazis come off better than the Italians - did Warwick's films do better in that market?), George Colouris as an unsympathetic German, an Englishman in brown face as a sheikh (but at least the film acknowledges there were Arabs in the desert during the North African campaign).

My expectations of this film were low but I really liked it.