Odd sort of book - it was turned into the movie Sink the Bismarck and reads like a screen treatment for a film, describing the story and full of dialogue between characters, only there's no obvious hero. There are various officers, and politicians (Winston makes an appearance), and captains of ships, and Ministry officials - but no Kenneth More character.
Its very brisk and easy to read. I really liked how they gave a bit of backstory to some people on the Hood before killing them - I remember Forester did this in Brown on Resolution, giving a German sailor a bit of backstory about his wife, for a paragraph or two, before killing them.
The basic story is strong - ship escapes, has battle, takes out Hood, almost gets to France, is stopped by a plane with one torpedo, the Brits almost sink one of their own ships, then the Brits hammer the Bismarck. It's a bit odd but I read it super quick.
Wednesday, November 07, 2018
Movie review - "Shanghai Cobra" (1945) **1/2
Maybe two and a half stars is a bit much but after the first couple of Charlie Chan Monogram Pictures the extra energy provided by director Phil Karlson came as a relief. I'm trying not to be too wise after the event, knowing Karlson went on to a very fine directorial career, but he's clearly putting in more effort than Phil Rosen - the camera actually moves around in a few scenes, there's some decent atmosphere with the murder via cobra.
The mystery is once again solid - I think George Callahan, whose name appears on a lot of these, was a decent writer. Sidney Toler tries to be animated in a few scenes but still isn't much chop. There's comic relief once more from Mantan Moreland and Benson Fong (as Tommy Chan).
Movie review - "The Survivor" (1981) ** (warning: spoiler)
A really frustrating film because it showed so much promise - this could've been really good. Producer Tony Ginnane later said he regretted not showing more gore, going instead for a more cerebral approach. There's no reason that couldn't have worked - had he gotten a decent director. David Hemmings was very mediocre, and the botched job done by him and the screenwriter (though in fairness the latter's work could have been rewritten) stands as a rebuke to the idea Australia doesn't/didn't have enough local talent. It's very poorly written, full of logic holes, and shoddily directed, missing opportunities for suspense wholesale.
Robert Powell really should be an everyman type hero but he looks so weird and ethereal - this worked in Harlequin but not really here. There's no one for the audience to hang on to because Jenny Agutter is weird too - she's a psychic. The film needed an ordinary audience surrogate. They could've dropped the psychic stuff altogether for Agutter. Or used Angela Punch Macgregor more.
Peter Sumner has quite a big role - maybe the film could've used him more. Argh, I don't know, it's so frustrating. I wish Everett de Roche had done a pass at the script. Or Tony Morphett. Someone who got logic. And I wish a decent director had filmed it - Richard Franklin, say. Or Simon Wincer. What a waste.
Robert Powell really should be an everyman type hero but he looks so weird and ethereal - this worked in Harlequin but not really here. There's no one for the audience to hang on to because Jenny Agutter is weird too - she's a psychic. The film needed an ordinary audience surrogate. They could've dropped the psychic stuff altogether for Agutter. Or used Angela Punch Macgregor more.
Peter Sumner has quite a big role - maybe the film could've used him more. Argh, I don't know, it's so frustrating. I wish Everett de Roche had done a pass at the script. Or Tony Morphett. Someone who got logic. And I wish a decent director had filmed it - Richard Franklin, say. Or Simon Wincer. What a waste.
Sunday, November 04, 2018
Movie review - "They'll Love Me When I'm Dead" (2018) *****
Superb documentary - everything you need about The Other Side of the Wind and more. It's less innovative than that film but more emotionally affective, as the material is better - the highs and lows of Welles' last years, his difficulties raising money for projects, his relationship with Bogdanovich (who was his student, then outstripped him, then fell back in the pack - and Welles hurt Bogdanovich mocking Cybill Shepherd and making jokes about At Long Last Love with Burt Reynolds on a talk show), his relationship with Gary Graver (who was so devoted, hoped that Wells would turn his career around and it didn't).
Fantastic footage including outtakes starring Rich Little, behind the scenes stuff, Welles doing a Q and A before the film about the film, the porn clip from 3AM which Welles edited for Graver. No Oja Kodar but it doesn't matter.
A truly fantastic doco.
Fantastic footage including outtakes starring Rich Little, behind the scenes stuff, Welles doing a Q and A before the film about the film, the porn clip from 3AM which Welles edited for Graver. No Oja Kodar but it doesn't matter.
A truly fantastic doco.
Movie review - "Forever England" (1935) **1/2
The first screen version of C.S. Forster's excellent novel is a little creaky. More faithful than Sailor to the King it nonetheless doesn't quite capture the book's magic. The opening sequence is there, slightly hampered by Betty Balfour's slightly manic performance as mother and Barry MacKay's wet work as the sailor (the character is a lightweight in the book but does he have to be wet?).
John Mills is fine as Brown - he's got an everyman quality that the role requires - and Jimmy Lyndon ideal as Ginger.
The film is less harsh than the book - MacKay not as motivated by ambition, Brown's heroism is recognised at the end instead of being destined to be not known.
Surprisingly the attack only takes up 25 minutes of screen time - it doesn't get going til 45 minutes in. I think Walter Forde wasn't a great visual director. Imagine if someone like Hitchcock or Michael Powell had done it. The film never really makes it clear what Brown is doing, or how he got to hang out, and misses some key action stuff like Brown shifting his position overnight, and the German strategy.
Instead the running time is padded out with shots of training for sailors and footage of British ships (this had official naval co operation), a boxing game with some Germans.
I did always remember one things about this movie - the fact the officers of each ship know and tell the enemy there was nothing they could have done in the battle because the ships were bigger, i.e the German tells Brown that there was nothing they could have done because the German had the bigger ship and at the end the Britisher tells the German there was nothing he could have done because he had the bigger ship. Such matter of fact honesty is rare in American war films.
John Mills is fine as Brown - he's got an everyman quality that the role requires - and Jimmy Lyndon ideal as Ginger.
The film is less harsh than the book - MacKay not as motivated by ambition, Brown's heroism is recognised at the end instead of being destined to be not known.
Surprisingly the attack only takes up 25 minutes of screen time - it doesn't get going til 45 minutes in. I think Walter Forde wasn't a great visual director. Imagine if someone like Hitchcock or Michael Powell had done it. The film never really makes it clear what Brown is doing, or how he got to hang out, and misses some key action stuff like Brown shifting his position overnight, and the German strategy.
Instead the running time is padded out with shots of training for sailors and footage of British ships (this had official naval co operation), a boxing game with some Germans.
I did always remember one things about this movie - the fact the officers of each ship know and tell the enemy there was nothing they could have done in the battle because the ships were bigger, i.e the German tells Brown that there was nothing they could have done because the German had the bigger ship and at the end the Britisher tells the German there was nothing he could have done because he had the bigger ship. Such matter of fact honesty is rare in American war films.
Book review - "Brown on Resolution" by CS Forster (1929)
A delightful surprise - I was curious to read this because I enjoyed Sailor of the King, based on it. It has a reputation of a stiff upper lip tale which I guess it is - but it's extremely well written, with evocative descriptions and fast pace, anchored with research. It's also surprisingly racy, downbeat and cynical - Brown's mother meets a sailor while on holiday and decides to spend five hot days in bed with him. The sailor is dim but a good military guy with excellent prospects - when he sinks the ship at the end he's mostly glad because it improves his chance of a post career cushy job and fame. The mother decides to raise the kid on her own, is devoted to him, has a financial knock back but hangs in there, forces him into the navy, and dies very young of cancer - in part because, Forster makes clear, she was too proud to seek treatment early.
Brown is a very average sort of guy - amiable, obedient to his mother. He's a good sailor with solid prospects, keen for the promotional opportunities that war gives him. When he sneaks away to Absolution Island he could just hide out but he decides to do his duty even though he knows it'll probably mean death. He does it, and dies - again, mostly due to bad luck, from a bullet by a slacker German disobeying orders (I love this touch). If the Germans had gotten away half an hour earlier they would've been okay. And the kicker is, no one will know about Brown's heroism - the Germans knew but they are all killed in the ensuing attack. It's really great stuff.
The action sequences on Resolution are superb - the escape (relatively easy because the Germans don't really care), slipping into the water, climbing through the bushes. Forster is very good making a far fetched scenario realistic - he goes to great pains describing the German's slackness initially, the fact Brown is helped by the rough vegetation on the island which makes it hard to get through and provides excellent hiding places for Brown. The sequences are logically worked out - he escapes, finds a good spot, starts shooting the next morning, manages to fight off an initial boarding party due to his location, then changes locations over night and fights again, succeeds in taking out over 30 Germans.
You do get the sense it should be a short story - the stuff about the mother having an affair does feel a bit padded out. It's not as though Forster adds much character to Brown - for instance, he has a mate Ginger who survives the attack but with half his face blown off... Forster goes "oh they were friends for two years" but that's it. Still, a fantastic adventure book.
Brown is a very average sort of guy - amiable, obedient to his mother. He's a good sailor with solid prospects, keen for the promotional opportunities that war gives him. When he sneaks away to Absolution Island he could just hide out but he decides to do his duty even though he knows it'll probably mean death. He does it, and dies - again, mostly due to bad luck, from a bullet by a slacker German disobeying orders (I love this touch). If the Germans had gotten away half an hour earlier they would've been okay. And the kicker is, no one will know about Brown's heroism - the Germans knew but they are all killed in the ensuing attack. It's really great stuff.
The action sequences on Resolution are superb - the escape (relatively easy because the Germans don't really care), slipping into the water, climbing through the bushes. Forster is very good making a far fetched scenario realistic - he goes to great pains describing the German's slackness initially, the fact Brown is helped by the rough vegetation on the island which makes it hard to get through and provides excellent hiding places for Brown. The sequences are logically worked out - he escapes, finds a good spot, starts shooting the next morning, manages to fight off an initial boarding party due to his location, then changes locations over night and fights again, succeeds in taking out over 30 Germans.
You do get the sense it should be a short story - the stuff about the mother having an affair does feel a bit padded out. It's not as though Forster adds much character to Brown - for instance, he has a mate Ginger who survives the attack but with half his face blown off... Forster goes "oh they were friends for two years" but that's it. Still, a fantastic adventure book.
Book review - Moto#2 - "Thank You Mr Moto" by John P Marquand (1936)
A very solid Moto - some say its the best in the series in part because of some evocative writing describing Peking in the mid 30s. This is very good, and there's some very well done action scenes too - you wish there was more of these instead of the more philosophical chat stuff. (This seems to happen with thriller writers - they're good at action but can't resist characters waffling on.)
The hero is a new American, a guy living in Peking, who gets caught up in a racket of selling Chinese artefacts, run by a British major who is killed. Structurally it follows the first book in the series - American caught up in conspiracy, mystery girl, an early murder, Mr Moto popping in an out, support cast of orientals. The lead character is less interesting here because he starts out good and is always basically good. Moto is more sympathetic, working for the dove faction in Japanese politics, against an agent who works for the hawk faction. Still a good book.
The hero is a new American, a guy living in Peking, who gets caught up in a racket of selling Chinese artefacts, run by a British major who is killed. Structurally it follows the first book in the series - American caught up in conspiracy, mystery girl, an early murder, Mr Moto popping in an out, support cast of orientals. The lead character is less interesting here because he starts out good and is always basically good. Moto is more sympathetic, working for the dove faction in Japanese politics, against an agent who works for the hawk faction. Still a good book.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)