One of the remakes Larry Buchan did for AIP for television. This one redoes the Roger Corman apocalyptic flick The Day the World Ended; it wasn’t much of an original movie (a bunch of different characters squabbling inside a house while mutants roam outside) but it’s better than this. There’s no washed up B lister to headline this cast – no John Ashley, Tommy Kirk or John Agar. There is Quinn O’Hara who played a sexy dish in The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini – and actually she gives the best performance as a skanky former stripper turned gangster’s moll.
There’s a couple of dodgy gangsters, a mutant, a father who seems very keen to have his daughter start breeding (she’s waiting for her boyfriend to come back but he’s a mutant). Buchanan throws in a bit of religion. Some of the make up is okay for a low budgeter and there are one or two effective sequences of characters walking around the forest at night – Buchanan was actually good at these, using silence and shadows. But then he snaps out of it with some crummy talking scenes. So-so acting, an enjoyable scene with O’Hara and the other girl wearing bikinis in the pool (just because its post apocalypse doesn’t mean you can’t catch some rays), and an abrupt ending.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Movie review – “Not of this Earth” (1957) ***
This and Attack of the Crab Monsters were the two big hits of Roger Corman’s early career – both were based on smart scripts by Charles Griffith. This one was co-written by Mark Hanna, who worked on a number of films with Griffith before going their separate ways.
Corman was starting to get into his stride about this time – moving the camera about a bit, the story is better. Look at how he cheaply gets some extra movement by panning across paintings during the opening credits. His handling is a lot more sure than in Crab Monsters - maybe because most of it takes place in a house or around LA as opposed to on an island.
The plot concerns an alien who needs blood to survive. He hires a nurse (Beverly Garland) to help him with transfusions. Like Crab Monsters the exposition is complicated, but basically the alien is on a mission from his home planet to find food.
Garland delivers a typically fine performance; there’s a sexy scene where Garland is putting on stockings and talking to a sleazy man over a partition. Dick Miller’s small bit as a door-to-door vacuum salesman who winds up a meal is an early indication of the black humour which would come to full flourish in Bucket of Blood and Little Shop of Horrors. It’s actually a comic bit that jars with what’s proceeded. Actually, come to think of it, maybe it doesn't - there's a fridge full of blood and an intergalactic phone. Maybe it was all meant to be a spoof.
Movie review – “Sweeney Todd” (1936) **1/2
An enormously fun horror movie, perhaps the best remembered film from Tod Slaughter, a lip smacking star of stage and screen who was renowned for playing leads in villainous melodramas. This goes for a little over an hour, so it fairly spanks along; the famous story is packed in quite well and Slaughter is great in the lead role as a the villainous barber. There are some bland juveniles but you do need them to highlight the unscrupulousness around them and they’re not as irritating as the little kid (it’s a shame he doesn’t get his throat cut).
Slaughter’s performance ages well – of course it’s hammy but it’s ham with integrity. And who wants to see a realistic performance of Sweeney Todd? The trick barber’s chair always makes me laugh. There’s an attack on an African village, a young woman who dresses as a boy, and a flat climax. The best sections of this are the middle bit.
Slaughter’s performance ages well – of course it’s hammy but it’s ham with integrity. And who wants to see a realistic performance of Sweeney Todd? The trick barber’s chair always makes me laugh. There’s an attack on an African village, a young woman who dresses as a boy, and a flat climax. The best sections of this are the middle bit.
Movie review – “The Big Sleep” (1946) ****
They don’t make ‘em like this any more – and they didn’t often make ‘em this good back then: Bogart, Bacall, Hawks, Chandler, Faulkner, Brackett, Furthmann… Martha Vickers is stunningly good as the trampy daughter of the old colonel; Bogart is brilliant. I loved Dorothy Malone in her little scene too – the definitive sexy girl with glasses who works in a second hand book store (who gets turned on by Bogart’s brains – notice how she’s not really interested in him until he reveals he knows a lot about books). Hawks was so good at those sort of great scenes – indeed The Big Sleep is a collection of terrific scenes more than anything else: Bogart meeting Vickers; Bogart and the Colonel in the greenhouse; Bogart and Malone; Bogart camping it up in a bookstore; Bogart and Bacall having fun on the phone; “It wasn’t intentional” “Try it some time”.
The scenes are less good in the middle, which is why the film drags a little around there. Indeed, I was surprised how slow it got; I think the memory of those opening scenes is what carries it through - the structure certainly isn’t as sound as a, say, Chinatown. I’ve seen this a few times and can never follow the plot; also I get the whole Eddie-Mars-running-a-nightclub-and-having-an-ex-wife thing mixed up with the Howard da Silva character in The Blue Dahlia. But it really picks up in the last half hour with the introduction of Elisha Cook Jnr (he has a great death scene – there you go with the scene thing again). And it’s got a fantastic finale. (NB This factor is why you have to be careful remaking films like this – they depend so much on casting and scenes rather than a strong story).
The Bogart-Bacall combination is strong, if not as magical as in To Have and Have Not – although that is a bit unfair because in that one they were falling in love (just like Hepburn and Tracy had never-to-be-repeated oomph in Woman of the Year). But all the performances are excellent – not just the leads, but the supporting characters: and this is from a cast which doesn’t feature big names. Just look at the actors who play Eddie Mars, Bernie the cop, the dodgy girl in the book store… they’re all really good. Such was the skill of Hawks.
There are lots of scenes of women finding Bogart attractive – Vickers, Bacall, Malone, a woman in a library, a female cab driver, a waitress, cigarette girl. Hawks says this was him making fun of the genre, but there doesn’t seem too much winking at the audience. I think they simply wanted to show him being a stud. There is lot of sex here – not just the Vickers character, the dialogue between Bogart and Bacall is dripping with innuendo. It’s also violent – Bogart kicks a henchman in the face, gets knocked out several times, and flings the baddie out of a room to his death.
The scenes are less good in the middle, which is why the film drags a little around there. Indeed, I was surprised how slow it got; I think the memory of those opening scenes is what carries it through - the structure certainly isn’t as sound as a, say, Chinatown. I’ve seen this a few times and can never follow the plot; also I get the whole Eddie-Mars-running-a-nightclub-and-having-an-ex-wife thing mixed up with the Howard da Silva character in The Blue Dahlia. But it really picks up in the last half hour with the introduction of Elisha Cook Jnr (he has a great death scene – there you go with the scene thing again). And it’s got a fantastic finale. (NB This factor is why you have to be careful remaking films like this – they depend so much on casting and scenes rather than a strong story).
The Bogart-Bacall combination is strong, if not as magical as in To Have and Have Not – although that is a bit unfair because in that one they were falling in love (just like Hepburn and Tracy had never-to-be-repeated oomph in Woman of the Year). But all the performances are excellent – not just the leads, but the supporting characters: and this is from a cast which doesn’t feature big names. Just look at the actors who play Eddie Mars, Bernie the cop, the dodgy girl in the book store… they’re all really good. Such was the skill of Hawks.
There are lots of scenes of women finding Bogart attractive – Vickers, Bacall, Malone, a woman in a library, a female cab driver, a waitress, cigarette girl. Hawks says this was him making fun of the genre, but there doesn’t seem too much winking at the audience. I think they simply wanted to show him being a stud. There is lot of sex here – not just the Vickers character, the dialogue between Bogart and Bacall is dripping with innuendo. It’s also violent – Bogart kicks a henchman in the face, gets knocked out several times, and flings the baddie out of a room to his death.
Radio review – MT #14 - “Hell on Ice” (1938) ****
Arctic stories adapt really well to radio, because you don’t have to worry about the budget, howling wind sounds terrifying and journal diaries work well on air. This is a terrific Mercury Production, one of their best, based on the disastrous 19th century expedition which involved a US ship getting stuck in the ice up Siberia way. They wound up in three life boats – one was wiped out but two made it to land; but the two landed separately and the inhabitants of one were almost entirely wiped out. Had never heard of the incident – we have enough drama in the Southern Hemisphere I guess to worry about antics up north. Good acting – Orson doesn’t have a showy a part as before (he’s the lead but it’s more of an ensemble piece).
Movie review – “The Black Shield of Falworth” (1954) **1/2
Enjoyable, colourful swashbuckler utterly lacking in pretension. How could it be pretentious, really, with Tony Curtis as an English peasant during the reign of Henry IV who perhaps has famous ancestry; he and his sister go to stay with a noble house where Curtis is to train. Sure, Curtis had a 50s haircut and that Bronx accent, but he moves with an athlete’s grace and he’s likeable; his character has a few surly bitter moments, which fits in with his 50s juvenile delinquent persona. Janet Leigh adds prettiness and spirit as his love interest and Barbara Rush is also good looking as his sister (heroes in swashbuckler films rarely seem to have sisters, so that gives it novelty). The support cast has some class, including Dan O’Herlihy, Herbert Marshall and David Farrar.
The first two thirds of the movie is like a basic training army movie – Curtis learns knight stuff, romances Leigh, has a gruff sergeant with a heart of gold, wonders why the local lord ignores him. Then the last third they pull out all this plot and have a villain and it all turns out to be a scheme by Marshall – it might have been better to introduce it earlier. Also they don’t use the character of the sister at all – you keep expecting her to be killed or turn evil but nope she just hangs out with Leigh and has a romance with some bland male second lead.
The first two thirds of the movie is like a basic training army movie – Curtis learns knight stuff, romances Leigh, has a gruff sergeant with a heart of gold, wonders why the local lord ignores him. Then the last third they pull out all this plot and have a villain and it all turns out to be a scheme by Marshall – it might have been better to introduce it earlier. Also they don’t use the character of the sister at all – you keep expecting her to be killed or turn evil but nope she just hangs out with Leigh and has a romance with some bland male second lead.
Book review – “Little Caesar” by Allan Ginsberg
Edward G Robinson is one of those movie stars who will probably only have one biography written about them, so it’s lucky this is a pretty good one. His story should stand as an inspiration for short, ethnic, pudgy ugly actors – he started at a young age and took a while for his career to get going, but he worked hard and was versatile with plenty of energy, and soon he was in demand on stage. A couple of decent parts saw him become a Broadway star and he was heavily in demand by the studios even before Little Caesar.
In hindsight it’s not hard to see why – most oohing and aahing about stars concerns how good looking they are, but there’s always room for a “character actor” star, especially one who can convey gravitas eg Morgan Freeman, Wallace Beery, Judi Dench. You can cast them as gangsters, cops, royalty, etc – people for the spunk rats to bounce off. Little Caesar then gave Robinson the role of a lifetime – literally, he could sponge off that image for the rest of his life. Being intelligent and ambitions he didn’t want to; like most Warners stars he hankered after better roles and fought the front office to get them; sometimes he succeeded too (a cop in Confessions of a Nazi Spy, a nebbish in The Whole Town’s Talking, a scientist in Dr Ehlrich’s Magic Bullet).
Robinson suffered greatly during the blacklist. I was unaware of how much stick he came in for – I figured because he wasn’t officially put on the list or put in gaol it wasn’t too bad. Well, I was wrong – he was frequently bagged in the columns and dragged in front of HUAC several times. This despite never actually being a member of the Communist Party (he was a do-gooder and a soft touch). In that horrible way of the time to get out of it he had to go through this medieval-like purging ceremony, admitting he had been duped. He even named a few names. (I’m convinced HUAC went after him especially hard because they wanted to nab a famous actor on top of all these writers and directors they had; along with John Garfield he would have been the biggest star tarnished by McCarthyism).
Robinson’s career suffered a decade dip accordingly. His tenure as a top rank star probably would have faded anyway – he was lucky to have it as long as he did – but he missed out on a decade’s worth of juicy roles. Robinson’s ability and castability meant he got good parts up until the end of his life, apart from the greylist period. However, even during that he made some decent Bs (Hell on Frisco Bay, Illegal), and found Broadway stardom again in Chayefksy’s Middle of the Night.
Robinson seems to have been an admirable person in many ways: good causes, artistic (great painting collection), a gentleman, intelligent. But he doesn’t seem to have been a particularly good father – Edward G Robinson Jnr was a boozer from the age of 12, constantly getting in fights and trouble, having a lousy acting career. His first marriage was also unhappy – she sounds like a bit of a bitch but also every time she had a nervous breakdown and wanted to get a divorce Robinson would send her to a clinic to get “fixed”… until he had a full on affair and wanted to dump her for his new wife. So that sounds a bit creepy. Maybe Robinson spent too much time thinking about his paintings, work and political causes and worry about his family. (The book is a bit hazy on this, apart from pointing out he picked up the tab for his useless son throughout his life.)
If Robinson had a stressful late 40s/50s, he had a very pleasant last decade or so in his life. He remarried happily, was in steady work, developed a love for travel, got involved in civil rights again, had some great roles (including The Cincinnati Kid). This is a good bio, a worthy treatment of an interesting star, being well researched and particularly strong on blacklisting.
In hindsight it’s not hard to see why – most oohing and aahing about stars concerns how good looking they are, but there’s always room for a “character actor” star, especially one who can convey gravitas eg Morgan Freeman, Wallace Beery, Judi Dench. You can cast them as gangsters, cops, royalty, etc – people for the spunk rats to bounce off. Little Caesar then gave Robinson the role of a lifetime – literally, he could sponge off that image for the rest of his life. Being intelligent and ambitions he didn’t want to; like most Warners stars he hankered after better roles and fought the front office to get them; sometimes he succeeded too (a cop in Confessions of a Nazi Spy, a nebbish in The Whole Town’s Talking, a scientist in Dr Ehlrich’s Magic Bullet).
Robinson suffered greatly during the blacklist. I was unaware of how much stick he came in for – I figured because he wasn’t officially put on the list or put in gaol it wasn’t too bad. Well, I was wrong – he was frequently bagged in the columns and dragged in front of HUAC several times. This despite never actually being a member of the Communist Party (he was a do-gooder and a soft touch). In that horrible way of the time to get out of it he had to go through this medieval-like purging ceremony, admitting he had been duped. He even named a few names. (I’m convinced HUAC went after him especially hard because they wanted to nab a famous actor on top of all these writers and directors they had; along with John Garfield he would have been the biggest star tarnished by McCarthyism).
Robinson’s career suffered a decade dip accordingly. His tenure as a top rank star probably would have faded anyway – he was lucky to have it as long as he did – but he missed out on a decade’s worth of juicy roles. Robinson’s ability and castability meant he got good parts up until the end of his life, apart from the greylist period. However, even during that he made some decent Bs (Hell on Frisco Bay, Illegal), and found Broadway stardom again in Chayefksy’s Middle of the Night.
Robinson seems to have been an admirable person in many ways: good causes, artistic (great painting collection), a gentleman, intelligent. But he doesn’t seem to have been a particularly good father – Edward G Robinson Jnr was a boozer from the age of 12, constantly getting in fights and trouble, having a lousy acting career. His first marriage was also unhappy – she sounds like a bit of a bitch but also every time she had a nervous breakdown and wanted to get a divorce Robinson would send her to a clinic to get “fixed”… until he had a full on affair and wanted to dump her for his new wife. So that sounds a bit creepy. Maybe Robinson spent too much time thinking about his paintings, work and political causes and worry about his family. (The book is a bit hazy on this, apart from pointing out he picked up the tab for his useless son throughout his life.)
If Robinson had a stressful late 40s/50s, he had a very pleasant last decade or so in his life. He remarried happily, was in steady work, developed a love for travel, got involved in civil rights again, had some great roles (including The Cincinnati Kid). This is a good bio, a worthy treatment of an interesting star, being well researched and particularly strong on blacklisting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)