Radio review – Lux – “The Letter” (1944) ***1/2

A good critic succeeds in making you look at a work in an entirely different way and Danny Peary was (is) an excellent critic. His review of The Letter made me appreciate the film from a fresh perspective – while Bette Davis has the flashier part as the seemingly-repressed-but-actually-a-steaming-mass-of-sexual-inferno-so-much-so-she-is-driven-to-murder planter’s wife, the lead is actually the lawyer character, played in the film by James Stephenson and here by Vincent Price. He’s a seemingly decent, principled old stick whose fascination with Davis means he ends up suppressing evidence. Herbert Marshall is the husband – he was always good playing cuckolds, was Marshall, even if his interpretation of the role is different from the original story (a dumb man of his hands – Marshall’s ignorance of his wife’s true nature stems more from being an upper class twit, whereas in the story it was because he didn’t really understand women or people).
A worthy adaptation of a strong story; a little sad because James Stephenson had died in the interim between the production of the film and this.

Script review – “Mallrats” by Kevin Smith

Smith’s follow up to Clerks had a commercially underwhelming reception – and Smith made play out of bagging the film himself – but is actually pretty fun, and has since earned itself a cult. It’s fascinating in the context of his progression as a writer – Clerks was a series of comic encounters, basically, but grounded in reality, Smith’s unique point of view, and genuine sentiment. Mallrats sees him use many of the same elements in a slightly bigger canvas.

 

Once again there are two friends, one abrasive, the other sweet; the sweet one is having troubles with his love life, and has an ex who cheated on him a lot but who thinks about him fondly; Jay and Silent Bob are on hang to wreck havoc. But Smith digs in deeper with his writing – the abrasive friend is given a girlfriend, there is more of an overall, if silly plot (i.e. sabotage the dating game), the subplots pull together for a climax, it has more heart.

 

The women characters aren’t that strong, Brandi especially – they do get some potent dialogue but it’s in relation to the guys. Also I think he makes a mistake by having a number of scenes where characters talk at cross purposes. (This is something he wouldn’t do again). There are abundant pop culture references: Star Wars, X Men, Jaws, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Superman, Stan Lee (the first of what would become many Smith star cameos), etc. Terrific dialogue. Not an entirely realised work but by no means a stinker.

Movie review – “Cry of the City” (1948) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

Victor Mature made a number of quality film noirs in his career, of which this is one. He actually doesn’t really have the lead role – that part is played by Richard Conte, as a crook with honor, who has been injured in a robbery. Mature is a cop, a childhood friend who chases him down. The casting of Mature and Conte (both actors are good, they could have easily) swapped roles allows the ethnic/immigrant quality of the story and location to come to the fore; there are also some excellent support performances, including Shelley Winters (as a – surprise – girl from the wrong side of the tracks), Fred Clarke (in a non-comic role for a change, and very good) and especially Hope Emerson who plays the creepy nurse. You won't forget the scene where Emerson gives Conte a back rub then puts her hands around his throat - it's great. Robert Siodmak’s direction is excellent – crisp, atmospheric, controlled. Striking ending where Mature shoots Conte in the back - no kidding, he plugs him, and isn't punished for it.

Movie review – “Kramer vs Kramer” (1979) ***1/2

This film has received much criticism for it’s perceived bias towards male fathers, but seeing it years on – and admitting that I am a man – it seems fair. Dustin Hoffman was clearly a neglectful husband and father, that’s made clear from the get-go – and Meryl Streep is evidently depressed. I understand mothers taking off but taking off and not seeing their child for over a year when they are young – that is big time. So it would be a mistake to regard her as a “typical unmarried mother”. (The Jane Alexander character would be closer to that.)

A story treated with sensitivity and intelligence, plus some excellent acting. It’s not a good-looking film – everyone seems to wear grey or beige suits (were there really so many late middle aged men working in advertising in New York in the late 70s), and it’s shot like a TV show. Howard Duff impresses as Hoffman’s lawyer (he looks like a boozer, with a terrific speaking voice) and the guy who plays Streep’s lawyer went on to play a defendant lawyer on Law and Order. Jo Beth Williams livens things up with some nudity (I remember this gag from the Mad magazine spoof).

Movie review – “Black Gold” (2011) **1/2

My first Nigerian film – the best bits about it is the Nigerian stuff, a melodrama about the battle of a woman from a poor village who is educated in the US courtesy of an oil company scholarship, then comes home to fight against said oil company. It touches on some real, important issues – the difficulty of keeping the peace in a volatile region, third world exploitation, the side-lining of women, etc. The oil company reps aren’t all evil and the locals aren’t all little innocents. Some of the acting is a bit OTT but I went with it all. Unfortunately the movie is bookended with this subplot set in America involving some Nigerian terrorists taking some oil execs hostage – actors in this sequence include Vivica Fox, Michael Madsen, Tom Sizemore, Larry off Magnum PI and Eric Roberts. (There’s also Billy Zane cut into the Nigerian sequences). Talk about straight to DVD. Best performance comes from Mbong Amata. Best feature is the Nigerian location footage.

Movie review – “Moss Rose” (1947) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

Peggy Cummins is best remembered today for two films, one which she made and one she didn’t – Gun Crazy and Forever Amber. Daryl Zanuck brought her out from England to play the lead in the latter, which was a 20th Century Fox superproduction, then ended up sacking her during filming (Linda Darnell took over). He didn’t throw her on the scrap heap though, using her in some other films, including this.

Based on this, it’s not so hard to see why she got the chop from Amber. She’s pretty and spirited but has this really annoying sing-song voice. Once I got used to it, I started really enjoying this film. It’s a period thriller, with Cummins investigating the death of her flat mate. She thinks mysterious Victor Mature might be involved – but ends up blackmailing him so she can learn how to be a lady. (The first half of this is set in fog-drenched London, the second in a country estate.) Maybe that’s a bit of a stretch but you know I kind of buy it, maybe because Cummins’ character clearly isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.

The casting really helps maintain suspense. Cummins is believable stupid. Mature isn’t very English (they cover by saying he grew up in America) but has an ambiguous element to his persona which is useful in hinting that he could be a killer; ditto Vincent Price, playing a police officer and Patricia Medina as Mature’s fiancée. And Ethel Barrymore is very cuddly and warm as Mature's mother - who turns out to be the killer! I was genuinely surprised by this. Barrymore does some superb crazy lady acting at the end, she’s really good. A hidden gem.

Movie review – “Safari (1956) **

The Mau Mau uprising inspired three films during the mid 50s, of which this is the worst. The others – Simba and Something of Value – at least made some attempt to put their stories within a political context. In this one the Mau Mau are basically just like a troublesome tribe of Indians, charging with cries at white people in fixed positions who mow them down; there’s even a climactic sequence where the cavalry come to the rescue.

 

At first I was willing to give this film a go. It was shot in technicolour and partly on location in Africa; Victor Mature plays the lead, and while it’s easy to mock Mature, he’s believable as a hunter, does good torment acting and has comfortable by-play with Janet Leigh (come to think of it, Mature almost always worked well with his female co-stars). But the story soon becomes far too convoluted: Mature’s son and housekeeper are killed by a Mau Mau attack, including his houseboy (Earle Cameron). Why did they bother attacking the house? Why have a mass attack? Why not kill them in their sleep? I mean it’s a good sequence, with this kid and spinster lady blasting away with their guns before being hacked down, it just doesn’t have logic.

 

So Mature has his hunting licence taken away from him by the local authorities, fearing he’ll want to get revenge. Then he gets an offer to lead a hunting safari which he takes because it’ll enable him to go into Mau Mau country. He then spends the rest of his time going after a lion, romancing Janet Leigh (the girl on the safari), saving Leigh, shooting at Mau Mau. It’s really all over the place.

 

Leigh is very sexy. She plays a former chorus girl who is mistress to Roland Culver, a ruthless English noble who is more interested in shooting a lion than anything else (these Warwick Productions usually favoured the American lead over the British.) John Justin has an interesting character as Culver’s emasculated, bitter Man Friday, but not enough is used of this - you keep expecting it to flower into a proper subplot but none comes. Instead we just get Mau Mau turning up at convenient times, conveniently involving the guy who killed Mature's son. It's a really poor script, despite being credited to Anthony Veillier. The black Kenyans with speaking roles are either treacherous, murderous thugs or happy smiling fools. 

 

The action sequences aren't even that good, and the real life footage of elephants being shot are liable to offend rather than inspire. A real disappointment.