Movie review - "Moulin Rouge" (1952) ***

 Bright, colourful, interesting. Gets points for Jose Ferrer's casting. Not a conventional lead - I think this honesty sold it, along with the dancing, music, prositutes, drinking and sex. Being set in France gave it the right amount of distance for English speaking audiences - they could enjoy it at arms' length.

Zsa Zsa Gabor is great fun. A dollop of lightness. Excellent stunt casting.

I really liked the first half. The second half was more of a slog - the second girl was dull and the script became repetitive.

Love how Jose Ferrer was made insecure by the handsomeness of Peter Cushing!

Movie review - "After the Ball" (1957) **

 Biopic about Vesta Tilley who I've never heard of and starring Pat Kirkwood who I've never heard of but both were big deals in England. It's very stock biopic, with bald exposition and musical numbers.  Tilley's life lacked drama - a lot of shows, a bit of World War One drama. She retires.

Romulus wanted to made it because it was a vehicle for Kirkwood and also Laurence Harvey who seems hamstrung in a hamstrung part as the husband/manager. No death, no reversal, no illness (they pump up an allergic reaction).

Some colour and. songs. Peter Rogers produced and it feels thrifty.  I mean it's period, and in colour but there's a lot of tight shots.

Movie review - "See How They Run" (2022) ***

 Charming mystery about a murder backstage as they are going to make a film of The Mousetrap. Lots for buffs such as characters including John Woolf, Agatha Christie, Sheila Sims and Richard Attenborough. 

I'm not a huge Sam Rockwell fan but Soraise Ronan is delightful and Adrien Brophy is having fun.

Movie review - "I am a Camera" (1955) **

The story has been so overshadwed by Cabaret but before then it was a hit straight play by John Van Druten. This was adapted by Romulus, a British outfit who aimed to do good work with an international focus.

Julie Harris is Sally. The film feels like a stage play with Harris hanging around Laurence Harvey's apartment with Anton Diffring and Shelley Winters. I missed the cabaret - there was more things happening there. Ron Randell adds a dash of energy as Harris' rich man but the running time is mostly Harris and Harvey.

Look, I mean, it's good this exists, I guess. They tried to make a good movie. Or at least capture some of the play - as much as they could. They had to straighten it up. I guess it's handy for posterity that Julie Harris' performance is perserved. It left me a little cold but maybe she was better live. I liked Laurence Harvey's work - he's a believable writer.

I didn't really care about any of the people or their relationships. The basic story is so clear - a gay writer and his crazy ditzy female bestie. This version was wonky. Why were they friends, what was the appeal, etc. The Breakfast at Tiffany's movie probably had the right idea just making it a flat out straight romance, with him being in love with her. At least there was a strong emotional connection. Here they try to hang on to the play and it's just unsatisfying.

Maybe it could have worked with more chemistry between Harvey and Harris. Actually that's the key - to show these two are friends. Doesn't work. It's weird - both aren't bad, quite good, they just don't mesh.

Movie review - "King Rat" (1965) **1/2

 I get why they hired Bryan Forbes to make it - he was "hot" at the time. Clavell's novel had sold well. POW films had worked eg The Great Escape.

The novel from memory was a good read. This is done with intelligence and taste. It's just a bit... I don't know, lifeless. Obsessed with being tasteful or something.

The novel had a specific theme - how the king survived. Survivalism. The friendship between Marlowe and the King. 

That's sort of here. But one senses Forbes is more interested in incidentals. Sweat. Actors being skinny. Actors acting. Emoting. Signficance.

The actors are fine - George Segal (a showy, key part for him), James Fox, Tom Courtenay, John Mills. Reg Lye is on hand to play an Aussie. There's some Americans in it too but I wasn't as familiar with them. 

It's a long movie. It's done with class. I can see why no one went to see it though. As David Shipman wrote, you can tell the movie really wants an Oscar.

Movie review - "Of Human Bondage" (1964) **

Relaxed censorship was reason enough to have a pass at this - a kitchen sink realism type tale was fine. And some of this was effective - the Dublin locations, stylish photography, Laurence Harvey gives one of his best performances (he holds himself in check).

But I think they picked the wrong original director, Henry Hathaway, and the wrong replacement, Ken Hughes. Neither had much luck with women stars and/or tales of romantic obsession. I guess Hathaway had Niagara but that had a murder. Hughes had Oscar Wilde but that had a trial.

And they had Kim Novak, who is clearly trying but isn't up to it. She's too old and just feels wrong for the role.

The DNA of this piece is the relationship between her and Harvey - he gets obsessed, she doesn't feel the same way but she's honest about it.

Strong support cast, including Roger Livesey (looking old but the voice is unmistakeable), a sweet Nanette Newman (whose husband Bryan Forbes wrote the script and was meant to have played a role but I can't see him in it), Robert Morley.

Not a disaster, not a terrible movie, just one that doesn't get the core of the story. As a result it ambles and drags without heart.

Movie review - "Storm Over the Nile" (1955) *** (re-viewing)

 Decent remake of The Four Feathers (1939) where the cast is actually better but they don't get a chance to do anything more since it's basically a shot for shot remake.

Anthony Steel is fine in John Clements' part. It's only when you see two actors play this part did it sink in - this isn't much of a role. Hardly any time is spent exploring the cowardice option - he's a coward for about two scenes. Then when he's heroic he is mostly in blackface.

Mary Ure, a beautiful and talented actor, is wasted in a nothing part. Laurence Harvey isn't as good as Ralph Richardson - Harvey was really only good as swines, and the character here is too noble, too stuffy; you can see him trying to act, holding it in. James Robertson Justice isn't as good as C Aubrey Smith but it's fun to see him. Geoffrey Keen is fine as are Ronald Lewis and Ian Carmichael but only Keen has much to do. (They should have killed off Lewis or Carmichael).

It's fun to see Christopher Lee pop up as an Arab. The photography and location work remains impressive. It's a satisfying story. Cheeky of Korda to try a second bite of the apple but it worked - this was a hit.

Movie review - "Cosh Boy" (1953) ***

 Decent melodrama - always something happening. This film inspired a moral panic - it tells the story of a young Jimmy Cagney style teen who beats up ladies. They were called cosh boys because they used coshes.

The lead is James Kenney who I'm surprised didn't become more of a name - maybe the market for teen gangsters was small.

Snotty Brit critics whined about Joan Collins not being right as a lower class girl but she's lovely and effective - I believed her as a naive thing in over her head, the hot girl in a poor area.

Solid acting across the cast from the teens to the adults. The exception is pompous wooden American Robert Ayers as the boyfriend of Kenney's mum who comes in and smacks the kid around - the finale is the cops giving him time to give the kid a thrashing. Because that's what was wrong, see.

Directed by Lewis Gilbert who does an accomplished job. It has life and energy.

Movie review - "The Good Die Young" (1954) ***

 A half success. An excellent cast - characters rarely cross which would have meant that clever scheduling would have kept the budget down.

It's about four men who decide to pull a heist. Everyone has an interesting story, though the impact is lessened by the fact that for all four of them it's a woman's fault... Stanley Baker is a boxer who gets injured but his drag of a wife gives their savings to her useless brother. Richard Basehart wants to move to America with wife Joan Collins but her bitch of a mother Freda Jackson does a fake suicide. John Ireland is a soldier whose bitch of a wife Gloria Grahame is cheating on him with her co star (she's an actor). Laurence Harvey is a ne'er do well rich kid whose wife (Margaret Leighton) won't bail him out.

The only one of these who is "bad" is Harvey - who is completely utterly bad. It's a very showy role. Harvey gets a great introduction, and looks fun with his bouffant hair. Sometimes he's effective - other times he seems amateurish. It's a bit all over the shop. I did love seeing him and Robert Morley as his dad and cuddly Morley telling Harvey how much he hates him. And it's fascinating to see Harvey married on screen to real life wife Margaret Leighton, skiving off her - which is what he did in real life.

Stanley Baker is excellent as an anti-hero. I get the feeling that Romulus (who made this) were more American minded saw him play a more sympathetic role.

 I liked John Ireland too though Gloria Grahame felt wasted - her one good moment was seeming to be turned on when he announced he had a plan, but then Ireland throws her in a bath. 

Basehart is dull. I had trouble remembering who he was when I saw him on screen. Collins does well in a not much role but Jackson is great campy fun.

The big fault of the movie - the heist isn't suggested until 1 hour 10 minutes in. And there's only 20 minutes to go. They should have known each other from the outset, been old army pals (they're all veterans - the movie is pleasingly cynical on the troubles of veterans). Harvey could have suggested the heist early - they all go "no no no" and then change their minds. They decide to do it too quickly and too late.

The other problem is that more needed to be done with the women.

The ending - criminal walking to a plane on the tarmac - feels influenced by The Asphalt Jungle.

Movie review - "The Whole Truth" (1958) *** (warning: spoilers)

One of a few films that pulled the air out of the tires of Stewart Granger's film career post MGM. You can see why he made it though - it was from Romulus, and was directed by John Guillermin, the budget afforded an American co star (Donna Reed) it was based on a popular play.

Many critics said this was similar to Dial M for Murder and I can see why - it was based on a TV play which became a stage play, has a few twists and turns.

It's not as skilled though director John Guillermin does a good job. It starts brilliantly with  George Sanders meeting Stewart Granger at a party saying he's a detective and Granger's ex mistress has been murdered. Granger freaks and goes to retrieve some things of his at the mistress's house. Granger then sees the mistress is alive and freaks out. He takes her home. She's murdered. He's a suspect. Sanders appears and says he's no detective, he's her husband... and says Granger did it. Evidence points to Granger. Sanders admits he did it... but wants Granger to swing for it.

Up to this point I was going "wow" but couldn't see where else they could go with it. And they don't really go anywhere. Granger gets arrested, his dull wife Donna Reed steps in to find evidence to rescue him.

I mean it was fine, just not up to the first half. It's in black and white which means the south of France setting really isn't exploited. Jonathan Latimer wrote the script which has some good lines and situations - it's briskly done. Just not up to the quality of the first half.

It is interesting to see Granger in a role of a man under pressure. He normally played flat out villains or heroes. Sanders is great fun as always. Reed is pretty but bland. 

The girl who plays the mistress is awful, a caricature of a sexy European dame.

Book review - "Reach for the Top: The Turbulent Life of Laurence Harvey" by Anne Sinai

I first became familiar with Laurence Harvey via David Shipman's entry on him in the book The Great Movie Stars. Shipman really tore into him, slagging his acting, quoting people who worked with him and hated him, saying he was a male prostitute.

I get Harvey was annoying. He was relentlessly pushy and ambitious. He spruiked himself mercilessly. He was arrogant and could deliver terrible performances. He never really had a strong box office appeal. He could be bitchy and really cruel. He was chronically unfaithful to people. He spent money like it was going out of fashion. He was a wanker. He hit Hermoine Baddley. He cheated on his partners.

And yet... and yet...

He worked really hard. He constantly went back to the stage even when it cost him film money. He always tried different things - producing, directing. He pushed. He experimented. Some of his performances on film were superb - not just Room at the Top but also The Alamo. (Around the same time he'd be so terrible in Expresso Bongo and The Long and the Short and The Tall.)

Yes he did hook up with women and men who were older and richer than he and could've helped his career - but he seemed to genuinely like them. I think he was attracted to maturity and success. People didn't have to help him as much as he did. He was handsome; he must've been good company when in the right mood.

He had a fascinating life and career. Born in Lithuania, he moved to South Africa as a young boy and grew up in Jo'burg. He didn't like it much and entered the army as soon as he could and entertained the troops - alongside Sid James, who hated him. Then it was off to RADA, which he left soon for Manchester Rep. He was tall, good looking and studied hard, as well as being ambitious - he was working reasonably steadily almost straight away, although as someone who spent money as soon as he earned it he was always whingeing about his lack of progress. What really got things going for him was James Woolf of Romulus - he fell in love with Harvey and thought he was going to be a big star.

Harvey achieved acclaim at Stratford Upon Avon. He was noticed for films like Cairo Road and also Romeo and Juliet; he was in a terrible Hollywood film, King Richard and the Crusades but redeemed himself in Romulus films like I Am Camera and The Silent Enemy. He was also in Storm Over the Nile. He was terrible in Three Men on a Boat but Room at the Top made him an international name.

The films that followed were varied but often interesting - The Alamo, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. He directed on stage and film (The Ceremony) and made a lot of money out of Darling. His star faded in the late 60s and he died relatively young.

The book is well done though frustratingly lacking in footnotes. It feels as though it had a lot of co operation from his family.

A really interesting actor.

Script review - "The African Queen" by John Huston, James Agee and John Collier (1951)

The movie is beloved because of it's stars but the basic story is so strong I get the feeling it would have worked with a bunch of other people in the role - Greer Garson, say, or Errol Flynn.

It's a very good script. The concept is so simple and strong its surprising it took so long for this to get made... a mismatched couple travel downstream together in a boat to blow up a German cruiser. The structure is highly effective: introduce Rose, introduce Charlie, awkward dinner and news of war, the Germans attack, Charlie returns and takes Rose, she gets the idea of what to do, he goes along with it but then gets drunk (paying off the essential conflict between the two characters sooner rather than later), she pours out his gin and gives him the silent treatment until he relents, they go down rapids and pass by a German fort, have sex, get stuck in the mud.

It's all logical and well thought out. There are two deux ex machinas towards the end - they get out of mud by a convenient rain (after Rose prays) and the boat at the end being sunk by the wreck of the Queen. But it's a marvellous ending with the two of them getting married. Great fun and one of the best star vehicles of all time.

(I should add though the film features a lot of non-very-casual racism of the period. The non white African inhabitants are completely depersonalised, referred to as "blacks", "natives" and that's about it.)

Movie review - "The Iron Petticoat" (1956) **

This must have seemed promising at the time - Ralph Thomas coming off Doctor in the House, Ben Hecht writing the script specifically for Katherine Hepburn, a plot well used in Ninotchka and Comrade X, Hepburn as a Russian during the Cold War. Then Bob Hope was cast. Thomas, producer Betty Box and Hepburn have all gone on the record about Hope promising to play the role as written, then having it rewritten for himself, and generally being a pain.

Sometimes stars you don't think of as teams end up working really well together eg James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich in Destry Rides Again. Sometimes they don't - Hope and Hepburn are a case in point. Hope wasn't wrong to want to change the film to suit him, but the changes are only piece-meal - there's still enough of the original in there, with his character as a Cary Grant smooth talking officer type. They would've been better off having Hope play his usual coward type.

Hepburn's performance is awful. Maybe Hope threw her off but I found it over the top and hammy and not at all funny. She's far worse than Hope. There's also a general feeling of lameness about the whole enterprise - no one seems sure of what they're going - and there's no chemistry between Hope and Hepburn. Noelle Middleton feels like a wasted opportunity as Hope's love interest.

There are one or two bright moments. I liked Hope trying to convince the Russians that Hepburn is not a traitor, Hope conning some Russian guards, and James Robertson Justice and Robert Helpmann are effective Russians.

Movie review - "Room at the Top" (1959) ****

Marvellous film which was a bit hit but then became unfashionable to admire compared to later British kitchen sink movies - not as arty or something. It was a ridiculous thing to happen because this is a superb movie, very well directed, scripted, and acted.

Laurence Harvey gives his best performance as Joe Lampton, who is always described as ruthless - he certainly wants to get ahead, and why not? What's wrong with that - he's an accountant for the council at a low level, smart and capable... why shouldn't he better himself? His bosses like him - what right do they have to warn him off seeing rich Heather Sears? (To be fair the film doesn't criticise this, I'm taking task with the critics who simplify it).

Lampton is very sympathetic here - yes he chases after Heather Sears, but because she's good looking and likes a challenge, he isn't necessarily interested in her dad's money (just her position). He's good in bed - Sears obviously likes the first time they have sex (this is startlingly frank), and Simone Signoret likes him too. He works hard, makes friends easily, is nice to his parents who he doesn't disown. He's certainly more likeable that Sears' smug boyfriend, always going on about his war service, or Signoret's faithless, cruel husband. Yes, he's sexist but Signoret calls him on it. Yes, he drops Signoret but only after her husband points out he will fight it all the way - and he marries Sears but only after refusing a bribe from her father and finding out that Sears got pregnant. He sells out by not going off with Signoret regardless (who is broke up with then asked back) but even at the time knows it's the wrong decision and it clearly destroys him.

The film tackles class head on - Lampton goes on about it a lot, as do other characters, in a way that seems real. It also embraces sex - Lampton is a sexual beast, there are post-coital scenes with Signoret and Sears, he has sex with another woman in an alley. Signoret is superb, all melancholic sexiness and warmth. (I wonder if James Woolf, Laurence Harvey's sponsor and occasional lover in real life, related to this part - all the references to her being older and past it but the only person who loved him.) Sears isn't as good but is effective as a pretty, spoilt thing who nonetheless has some spirit.

A few things clunk - it's a drag to see Lampton beaten up by toughs as a sort of punishment for his behaviour (this sort of scene is always in movies about lotharios - it was even in Shame), it was funny to see him start social climbing by participating in amateur theatrics, some of the supporting performances of upper class types seem over the top. But it remains a gripping, strong drama.

Movie review - "Storm Over the Nile" (1955) ***

You wonder why the Kordas bothered making it, especially since they used the same script as the 1939 film, which was shot in colour, as well as much new footage. Was it a desire to employ some actors? Make some easy money? It must have been to do it in Cinemascope.

It still works - it's a good story of high adventure with a background in cowardice (although that isn't really explored apart from the opening sequence of little Harry Faversham being scared). Anthony Steel steps in for John Clements and does about as little with the role as Clements did, but he's handsome and dashing and not that irritating (he's a bit more expressive than Clements). Laurence Harvey replaces Ralph Richardson as the soldier who goes blind in the desert, the part that gets the bulk of the sympathy (giving up the woman he loves when he realises that Harry is still alive and a hero) - he's not as good an actor but he does try. And the part doesn't require that much acting - mostly being blind, and noble about love.

Mary Ure is pretty enough but bland, James Robertson Justice is an excellent substitute for C Aubrey Smith, Geoffrey Keen offers good support, and there's some familiar names in the support cast: Ronald Lewis and Ian Carmichael as the other two friends (neither of whom have a character really) and Christopher Lee as an Arab.

Movie review - "Three Men in a Boat" (1957) **1/2

Romulus Films' attempt to make a success in the vein of those Rank comedies of the 1950s - you expect to see Dirk Bogarde, Donald Sinden and Kenneth Moore plus Kay Kendall and Dinah Sheridan. Instead we have Laurence Harvey, Jimmy Edwards and Donald Tomlinson as the three friends who decide to take a two week holiday to get away from it all by boating down the river - The Hangover, ye olde English style. One of the characters refers to it being the twentieth century but it feels like the 1880s - characters with boaters and striped jackets. The women they run into include Shirley Eaton, Lisa Gastoni and Jill Ireland who are very pretty and full of spirits. There are also some inevitable stuffy old men and women.

The book on which this is based is apparently a classic. The plot is a series of episodes: falling in the river, flirting with girls, getting lost in a maze, going skinny dipping and scandalising some biddies, taking part in a cricket match and wrecking it, crashing a party, etc.

Jimmy Edwards' moustache got on my nerves and he felt too old; Tomlinson is good value as the married man who does some outrageous flirting; Harvey didn't feel right - Kenneth More or Dirk Bogarde would have been much better. And too often the piece feels forced and contrived when it should be effortless. Still, it is what is.

Radio review – LT – “The African Queen” (1952) ***

Greer Garson is dreadful stepping in for Kate Hepburn. She acts the part in haughty Acting style – she’s like a pretentious amateur theatre grand dame, rather than a spinster who’s spent years in the Congo. Fortunately Bogart is on hand to reprise his screen role and the basic story is still very strong. I enjoyed it; also I do admit that Garson had a few good moments, mostly when she forgot to act and just relaxed a bit. A copy of the script is here.

Movie review - "Beat the Devil" (1954) ***1/2

Its easy to see why this wasn't a box office success - for all the surface similarities to The Maltese Falcon it lacks that film's narrative drive, there is no real coat hanger pushing things along (e.g. in Falcon it was Bogie investigating a crime), you want to find Bogie the hero but you're not sure if he is, the ending is too abrupt, etc; but on the other hand its easy to see why this is a cult favourite - the cast is delightful, the dialogue witty and weird, and the whole thing has an off-kilter quality, where you genuinely don't know what's going to happen next, probably because the filmmakers didn't either (the film I guess its closest to it His Kind of Woman).

Bogie was really showing his age by this stage, especially when sucking on a smoke, but is still good value - ditto Peter Lorre, Robert Morley and the other rogues, plus - a big surprise for me - Jennifer Jones as a compulsive liar. I was never a big Jones fan but she's great fun here.

The film also has a pleasing cynical tone and total irreverence for marriage vows - Bogie's married to Gina Lollobrigida (who doesn't actually have that much to do) but he gets involves with Jones why she chases Jones' husband.

With all the grotesques and flashy dialogue I got the feeling it was reminiscent of an Orson Welles film.