Movie review – “Dangerous Mission” (1953) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

A bit of script doctoring could have made this into a really enjoyable little thriller. As it is there are some pleasures, notably a fine cast and colour photography, plus it’s setting in a National Park. (For some reason I always enjoyed thrillers set in National Parks, with their isolation, mountains, rangers and wood-panelled cabins, eg High Sierra, North by North West. They always look like such fun.)

 

It’s got a familiar sort of set up executed unusually. A waitress sees a a gangster shoot someone; he’s worried she’ll will turn evidence at his trial, so he sends someone to kill her. Only thing is, we don’t know who the girl is until 40 minutes in or so – cute souvenir shop girl (Piper Laurie) or love-sick Indian (Betta St John) who has a father wanted for murder. And we don’t know who the killer is until 30 minutes – mysterious Victor Mature or photographer Vincent Price. Well, who do you think it’s going to be?

 

Suspense that might have worked on the page is undone by casting – they could have used this to their advantage, making Mature is baddie and Price the goodie, but it was not to be. Also it’s going to be obvious that Laurie is the witness – but the last act consists of Price (cops closing in) trying to escape the National Park, so he gets St John (who doesn’t know he’s bad) to show him the way out… So Mature and Laurie go after him. Laurie, witness of a crime, chases after the assassin sent to kill her! It would have made sense if St John had been the actual witness, and Laurie had only been pretending to be one to protect her. As it is, it’s extremely foolhardy (both of her and Mature to allow it to happen).

 

It’s also frustrating that there are two big action set pieces during the middle – an avalanche and a forest fire – but they’re not really integrated into the story. They just sort of happen and don’t impact on any of the subsequent action. Why not, say, have this mean everyone was cut off, or cause the reveal of someone’s identity? And how about putting some effort into seeing Victor Mature and Piper Laurie actually fall in love?

 

It’s a shame because when this is good, it’s good. There’s a great moment where a fat jovial tourist reveals himself to be one of the mob to Price. The action sequences are quite well staged, the scenery and photography are pleasant, the acting is accomplished (Laurie isn’t as pretty as she is in her Universal films – this was made by RKO, one of their last movies – but is engaging, William Bendix plays a ranger). 

 

There’s a scene where the resort holds a country and western dance, leading to some very silly outfits.

Movie review – “The Landlady’s Pet” (1914) **

Charlie Chaplin as the Tramp – he’s the pet of his landlady which results in some not really very funny hijinks to do with jealousy and misunderstanding. The Tramp wasn’t often a figure of someone else’s lust so it has novelty but it’s too formless and unstructured.

Movie review – “The Skin I Live In” (2011) ***

Imagine if Pedro Almodavar did a Bela Lugosi Monogram film and you’ll have some idea of what this is like: a mad scientist living in a castle performing weird arse experiments on nubile young things, driven by a lust for revenge. It’s outlandish but it is all worked through logically enough. The main jolt is that the film breaks into two – we don’t really understand what motivates the doctor until the second half, when a new lot of action kicks in. Antonio Banderas makes a good reasonably-seeming lunatic. Lots of Almodavar touches: bright colours, sex perversion, full on melodrama.

Movie review – “Dead Awake” (2011) ** (warning: spoilers)

A very good cast (Nick Stahl, Rose McGowan, Amy Smart) and a decent idea – what would happen if you faked your funeral – and story but it doesn’t quite work. I get they’re going for a Sixth Sense type thing – shocks mixed in with gloomy atmosphere and heavy emotion – but it doesn’t really make sense. Would someone really be torn with guilt for ten years, breaking up with the love of his life and become totally anti-social, because he let his parents get a cab rather than pick them up at the airport? I get you might feel a bit bad – but put your life on hold for ten years? What's Stahl's relation to those Scottish people? What happened to the plot about all their school mates happening to die -that's a great angle, not followed up. Is it set in Stahl's hometown? If it is then surely more people would know his history. The film also could have done with some more shocks/terror.

There are plenty of good ideas in here, and a great little thriller bursting to get out, but it doesn't happen. Stahl's creepy looks work in this role, but I thought a better performance was given by Amy Smart, who is very warm and winning. I like Rose McGowan too. There's some over-acting by the support cast.

Short review – “Cruel, Cruel Love” (1914) **

Mediocre early-period Chaplin with Charlie not playing the tramp – rather he’s a normal young chap engaged to a girl who gets jealous when she thinks he’s hugging the maid. There’s some fantasy sequences – he imagines being attacked by the devil – and a bit of slapstick at the end but it’s a minor work.

Movie review – “Rabbit Proof Fence” (2002) ***

When directors left Australia saying “yes I just want to work on some big films then I’ll come back and make passion projects” it became fashionable to go “yeah, whatever” but Phil Noyce definitely did. At the height of his Hollywood career, he elected to come home and return to the world of social issues with which he’d started his career. And what’s more the result was a big local hit, the most popular film in which aboriginals had leading roles (as supposed to sidekicks, like Crocodile Dundee).

A moving story on a worthy subject – three girls who, after being torn away from their mother to go live on a mission, escape and try to rejoin her. (The scene of them being taken away is the best in the film, full of power and emotion). The adventures are unavoidably episodic, but there is enough variation: meeting the housekeeper (Deb Mailman) who is basically a sex slave, the guy who betrays them, etc. The script has Neville (Ken Branagh) espouse his point of view, but Branagh’s performance teeters over into caricature land. Fine acting, especially from the young girls, and good Peter Gabriel score.

Movie review – “And Then There Were None” (1945) ***1/2

I’ve read the book and the play of this, both by Agatha Christie, and they’re quite gloomy works – a bunch of killers on an island being knocked off one by one. But in the hands of Rene Clair this is a light, bright tale, with plenty of comedy. The death toll is still really high, and it remains creepy, especially towards the end when there’s only a few people on the island. Sometimes I wondered if it was too light for the material – I mean, people are dying – opportunities for suspense and terror were missed. But still this is pretty good. It helps having a strong cast, including Barry Fitzgerald, Judith Anderson, Walter Huston, C Aubrey Smith and Louis Hayward. June Duprez is a bit of a wet blanket in the main female role. Good adaptation by Dudley Nichols.