Entertaining early noir, which helped establish the American reputation of director Richard Siomak. Alan Curtis, who you may recall as the valet in the love triangle from Buck Privates, is an unhappily married man who hooks up with a lonely woman one night; they spend the evening together - chasteley, this was 1944, they go see a band and hang out at a bar - then he goes home and discovers his wife has been murdered. It's only then we meet the real hero of the film - Ella Raines, Curtis' secretary, who loves him... and is determined to prove his innocence.
Raines is an interesting actor - she never became a star, she's very beautiful and a likeable performer (even if her face seems more suited to the femme fetale); she's got a great role to play here, plucky and brave (an early feminist in a way, even if she is trying to help her boss)... I love the sequence where she dresses as a tramp to interrogate drummer Elisa Cook Jnr (complete with intense, sexual-innuendo-laden drumming sequence).
Franchot Tone adds some needed gravitas as Curtis' friend and Thomas Gomez is excellent as an investigating cop. The script and story has a fair few logic holes but it's got terrific atmosphere and is visually impressive and it's not hard to see why it has a cult.
Sunday, December 08, 2013
Movie review - "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" (1948) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)
Part of the late 40s fortune teller phase which also included Nightmare Alley, this features Edward G Robinson as a fortune teller who starts as a shonk then realises he has a genuine gift. He has a strong control over heiress Gail Russell, whose death Robinson predicts.
I'm not a big fan of true psychic movies because it always feels like it's cheating; that's how it is here as well - Robinson predicts the future, it comes true but in a slightly different way. There are some effective moments but I couldn't helping thinking "lazy scriptwriting" a lot.
Robinson is in good form as the psychic - he plays it in his customary no-nonsense manner, which helps make the part less airy-fairy. Gail Russell adds some solid "tragic ethereal victim" aura (in part because of her own real life fate) as the heiress who seems to be doomed. John Lund is wet and useless as always as Russell's love. William Demarest provides some tough talking sass as a DA and there's a surprise ending (if overloaded by exposition) where the cops shoot Robinson dead while trying to save Russell's life and the cops don't get punished for it.
John Farrow and his editors have jazzed it up by going non linear - we start with Russell about to kill herself then flashback - and it has the pleasures of films from this time (crisp black and white photography, expert character actors) but I found this disappointing.
I'm not a big fan of true psychic movies because it always feels like it's cheating; that's how it is here as well - Robinson predicts the future, it comes true but in a slightly different way. There are some effective moments but I couldn't helping thinking "lazy scriptwriting" a lot.
Robinson is in good form as the psychic - he plays it in his customary no-nonsense manner, which helps make the part less airy-fairy. Gail Russell adds some solid "tragic ethereal victim" aura (in part because of her own real life fate) as the heiress who seems to be doomed. John Lund is wet and useless as always as Russell's love. William Demarest provides some tough talking sass as a DA and there's a surprise ending (if overloaded by exposition) where the cops shoot Robinson dead while trying to save Russell's life and the cops don't get punished for it.
John Farrow and his editors have jazzed it up by going non linear - we start with Russell about to kill herself then flashback - and it has the pleasures of films from this time (crisp black and white photography, expert character actors) but I found this disappointing.
Saturday, December 07, 2013
Movie review - "Black Angel" (1946) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)
A not particularly well known film noir although it has some distinction - the last movie of Roy William Neill, a leading role for Dan Duryea, a cast also including Peter Lorre and Broderick Crawford. The set up is intriguing... a woman is killed and her lover arrested for the crime; the lover's wife then teams up with the dead woman's husband to find out whodunnit.
I think the movie makers were hoping for another Laura - there's a bitchy columnist who knew the dead woman - but June Vincent isn't very inspiring in the lead and lacks chemistry in the lead. Peter Lorre is always good value, with his cigarette flopping out of his mouth and looking shady; Crawford seems too young, Duryea really is a supporting actor rather than a lead. There's some over acting support cast and some tripping drinking montages, and a not entirely satisfactory plot. Best thing about it is the end with Duryea realising that (spoilers) he did it. It's a good twist but that's all really - the rest of the movie isn't as good as you'd hope it would be.
I think the movie makers were hoping for another Laura - there's a bitchy columnist who knew the dead woman - but June Vincent isn't very inspiring in the lead and lacks chemistry in the lead. Peter Lorre is always good value, with his cigarette flopping out of his mouth and looking shady; Crawford seems too young, Duryea really is a supporting actor rather than a lead. There's some over acting support cast and some tripping drinking montages, and a not entirely satisfactory plot. Best thing about it is the end with Duryea realising that (spoilers) he did it. It's a good twist but that's all really - the rest of the movie isn't as good as you'd hope it would be.
Wednesday, December 04, 2013
TV review - "The Newsroom Season 2" (2013) ***
Aaron Sorkin announced he was determined to fix up the problems of season one with season two but really he hasn't. There's a long running serial arc (which isn't too bad - a false story, well plotted and climaxed) but Jeff Daniels remains self-righteous, the setting remains nothing like a newsroom, the songs (i.e. monologues) remain entertaining, the sight of two English accented people in the newsroom is still distracting, the good Republicans remain Uncle Toms, Olivia Munn remains outstanding, her romance with Thomas Sadoski remains unsatisfactory.
Thankfully they jettison Jim's annoying relationship with Alison Pill (who is a shrill idiot who begged to go to Africa even though she was warned it'd be dangerous then carries on like a drama queen when something bad happens... although I did find that sequence exciting), and give him a fun romance with Meryl Streep's daughter. Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer have zero chemistry and their romantic arc is very unsatisfactory.
Some great moments and it's fun to take a trip down memory lane of 2011 and 2012. I don't think this show can get any better but its pleasing to watch.
Thankfully they jettison Jim's annoying relationship with Alison Pill (who is a shrill idiot who begged to go to Africa even though she was warned it'd be dangerous then carries on like a drama queen when something bad happens... although I did find that sequence exciting), and give him a fun romance with Meryl Streep's daughter. Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer have zero chemistry and their romantic arc is very unsatisfactory.
Some great moments and it's fun to take a trip down memory lane of 2011 and 2012. I don't think this show can get any better but its pleasing to watch.
Monday, December 02, 2013
Movie review - "Hotel Berlin" (1945) ****
One of the reasons I love old Hollywood is the studios will throw in curve balls like this - a re-do of Grand Hotel only told from the POV of the Germans in a Berlin Hotel towards the end of the war - shot at the time it was happening.
Plenty of enjoyable subplots: an arrogant German general (Raymond Massey) involved in the assassination of Hitler is told to kill himself, a smart Nazi (Henry Daniell) plans fleeing to America, a self-loathing scientist (Peter Lorre) awaits German defeat, a prostitute (Faye Emersen) realises her old Jewish love is still alive, a member of the German underground (Helmut Dantine) tries to find allies and escape the SS (George Colouris), an old Nazi (Alan Hale) is in trouble for embezzlement, a little old Jewish lady (Helen Thimig) tries to escape detection, an actress and general's mistress (Andrea King) tries to secure her own escape.
It doesn't have the star power of Grant Hotel but there are some very accomplished actors here - Daniell, Lorre, Massey and Colouris are in particular wonderful. Emersen and King aren't in their league but they're brilliant roles. Dantine struggles as a leading man - he normally played baddies, this was a chance to be a hero (albeit a ruthless one), but he's very stiff. There's an incredible finale where Dantine shoots King, who has betrayed him, and Daniell heads off to America to try and keep the Nazi flame alive.
On a historical level it's fascinating to see a war time Hollywood film consisting almost entirely of German characters - and most of them are sympathetic. (There's an awful lot of people working for the German resistance here and the leader of the underground we see at the end is almost Christ-like.) It's also tough and humanistic and I just really liked this movie.
Plenty of enjoyable subplots: an arrogant German general (Raymond Massey) involved in the assassination of Hitler is told to kill himself, a smart Nazi (Henry Daniell) plans fleeing to America, a self-loathing scientist (Peter Lorre) awaits German defeat, a prostitute (Faye Emersen) realises her old Jewish love is still alive, a member of the German underground (Helmut Dantine) tries to find allies and escape the SS (George Colouris), an old Nazi (Alan Hale) is in trouble for embezzlement, a little old Jewish lady (Helen Thimig) tries to escape detection, an actress and general's mistress (Andrea King) tries to secure her own escape.
It doesn't have the star power of Grant Hotel but there are some very accomplished actors here - Daniell, Lorre, Massey and Colouris are in particular wonderful. Emersen and King aren't in their league but they're brilliant roles. Dantine struggles as a leading man - he normally played baddies, this was a chance to be a hero (albeit a ruthless one), but he's very stiff. There's an incredible finale where Dantine shoots King, who has betrayed him, and Daniell heads off to America to try and keep the Nazi flame alive.
On a historical level it's fascinating to see a war time Hollywood film consisting almost entirely of German characters - and most of them are sympathetic. (There's an awful lot of people working for the German resistance here and the leader of the underground we see at the end is almost Christ-like.) It's also tough and humanistic and I just really liked this movie.
Movie review - "Behind the Candelabra" (2013) *****
A nice reminder that Hollywood hasn't forgotten to make entertaining dramas with movie stars and a decent director - although it was HBO, and not a studio, which funded this. It's a brighter version of Sunset Boulevard if you can imagine such a thing.
Michael Douglas is superb as Liberace, camp as a row of tents, brilliant on the keys, world weary, touching, smart, wryly funny... by no means a monster, but a man of immense talent struggling against a prejudicial society (one that discriminates against gays and the bald), capable of great kindness but corrupted by his power.
Matt Damon is equally good in a less showy role - a young, not particularly smart, earnest young man, who thinks he goes into this eyes wide open but ultimately can't handle it. There are also superb turns from Rob Lowe (his best movie performance yet... magnificent make up), Dan Aykroyd, Debbie Reynolds (nearly unrecognisable as Liberace's mother... she has a great scene involving a poker machine), and Scott Bakula.
Director Steven Soderbergh's fondness for soft lighting is perfectly at home in the world of Vegas tack. Excellent script from Richard La Gravenese, full of funny lines and human touches. My only real gripe was that it went on too long.
Michael Douglas is superb as Liberace, camp as a row of tents, brilliant on the keys, world weary, touching, smart, wryly funny... by no means a monster, but a man of immense talent struggling against a prejudicial society (one that discriminates against gays and the bald), capable of great kindness but corrupted by his power.
Matt Damon is equally good in a less showy role - a young, not particularly smart, earnest young man, who thinks he goes into this eyes wide open but ultimately can't handle it. There are also superb turns from Rob Lowe (his best movie performance yet... magnificent make up), Dan Aykroyd, Debbie Reynolds (nearly unrecognisable as Liberace's mother... she has a great scene involving a poker machine), and Scott Bakula.
Director Steven Soderbergh's fondness for soft lighting is perfectly at home in the world of Vegas tack. Excellent script from Richard La Gravenese, full of funny lines and human touches. My only real gripe was that it went on too long.
Play review - "Playing Rock Hudson" (performance 1 Dec 2013)
Not entirely successful look at the life - in particular love life - of the famous Hollywood movie star. It's sort of about "who was the real Rock Hudson" but mostly a recreation of the legal battle one of his last lovers had against Hudson's estate - he claimed that Rock Hudson never told him he had AIDS and should have. More focus and less actors reciting research may have made the piece more satisfactory, although there is interest in seeing actors depict Hudson and his various lovers, George Nader, Henry Wilson, Elizabeth Taylor, etc.
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