Movie review - "Seven Miles from Alcatraz" (1942) **

 Movie has an exciting set up - two crooks escape from Alcatraz and take over a household - loses some energy when they take over the house.

James Craig, who became MGM's back up Clark Gable, has a kind of muffled speaking voice, isn't quite right... I guess he's okay. I liked Bonita Granville.

The film needed people within the group to turn traitor -Craig's mate, say, or someone at the house. There's too many characters. 

This was fine. Not an undiscovered jewel but servicable.

William Dozier’s Slate at RKO

Re-read Richard Jewell’s excellent history(s) of RKO which includes an account of William Dozier’s short reign - the last time RKO really had bite.

Fascinating to look back at the slate... because of many of the choices were understandable.

There were colour remakes of earlier RKO hits:
- Back from Eternity (1956)
- The Brave One (1956)
- Bundle of Joy (1956)
- Stage Struck (1957)
- The Girl Most Likely (1958)

Star vehicles with old RKO names
- The First Travelling Sales Lady (1956) - with Ginger Rogers
- Death of a Scoundrel with George Sanders (1956)
- Public Pigeon No 1 with Red Skelton

Attempts to Launch New Stars
- The Unholy Wife (1957) with Diana Dors
- I Married this woman (1957) - with Dors and George Gobel

Two Fritz Lang noirs
- While the City Sleeps (1956)
- Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)

War movies
- The Naked and the Dead (1958)

Westerns
- Tension at Table Rock (1956)
- Run of the Arrow (1956)

Adaptatios of TV plays
- The Young Stranger 
 
Arthur Lubin films

-Travelling Saleslady
- Escapeade in Japan 

But the films didn't work. I don't think any of them did.

Movie review - "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" (1992) ***

 Better than I thought in part because while it remakes the first film in terms of structure it has enough points of difference: New York rather than the suburbs, a hotel rather than the house, a bird lady rather than old man (this story felt as though it lacked a beat - her being reunited with someone).

Creepy Trump is in it alas but I liked Eddie Bracken, Pesci and Stern and Culkin was such an amazing star.

Val Lewton Top Seven

 

Just finished watching Val Lewton’ ouevre - he made too few films to do a top ten so I’ll put forward a top seven.

1. Cat People (1942) - a film that created its own genre in a way, suggested horror on a low budget, with lashings of literature, a remarkable combination of talent (not just Newton but his whole team) at just the right studio, some dodgy actors mixed in with some that are perfect (eg Tom Conway), beautifully shot. These sort of movies are hard to do (eg the remake). A lot of people like Curse of the Cat People, which is an interesting film, though not for me.

2. I Walked with a Zombie (1942) - Jane Eyre in the West Indies, extremely effective, wonderful use of mood. When people talk Val Lawton horror they really mean this and Cat People.

3. The Seventh Victim (1944) - Satanists in New York City, handled brilliantly, with a career defining performance from Jean Brooks, and Tom Conway also terrific. May have done better commercially with a junkier title? I know The Leopard Man and The Ghost Ship have their fans, but I don’t count them as good as the others.

4. Isle of the Dead (1945) - my favourite Lewton movie title and setting (the Balkan War of 1912!), it shows Lewton learned from his mistakes making Mademoiselle Fifi (1944) (differentiate your characters more, if making a heavily European film have an American character to help American audiences)... great atmosphere, a brilliant Karloff showcase (as all his Lewton films were).

5. The Body Snatcher (1945) - more conventional in some ways than other Lewton horrors but splendidly done, a real actors showcase for Karloff and Henry Daniels, a lovely part for Bela Lugosi (it’s a shame Lewton didn’t use Lugosi on Isle of the Dead and Bedlam as well... may have helped him commercially)

6. Bedlam (1946) - it lost money, in part because it cost a lot, and doesn’t seem as beloved as the others but I think it’s fabulous - smart, literate, twisty, thrilling, Lewton’s most progressive work (thank you writer Ardel Wray), visually sumptuous, Karloff was never better. Goldfinger (1963) rips this off. I cannot believe RKO would not finance Lewton’s Blackbeard project starring Karloff, it would’ve been amazing.

7. Apache Drums (1951) - I’ve seen all the non horror films Lewton produced: Youth Runs Wild, Mademoiselle Fifi, My Own True Love, Please Believe Me and this. I know Lewton fans get defensive, and yes, the were cut, but most of them are not very good. I think the cuts may have made them worse but all had inherent problems: Youth Runs Wild didn’t have enough youth running wild, Fifi (though very interesting) had a wonky story and really needed a bigger budget, and My Own True Love and Please Believe Me demonstrate a spectacular inability to understand their genres, melodrama and rom com respectively (Common problem in the bad Lewton films - too many characters you can’t tell apart). Apache Drums is a solid B western, a siege story with an excellent climax that includes people singing ‘Me n of Harlech’ which the Apaches attach - Zulu ripped off this film.

Movie review - "Avalanche Express" (1979)**

 Remembered if at all for being the film which killed off both Mark Robson and Robert Shaw. It's an old school spies on a train film, with an all star cast for TV sales. So there's Lee Marvin and Linda Evans and Mike Connors and Joe Namath.

Gene Corman and Monte Helman were called in to finish the movie and wound up doing more than they probably had to.  The opening scene where Shaw and Max Schell are speaking in dubbed Russian while their lips are clearly moving in English. That was a post production decision. Why make that decision? Ah, I wasn't there... maybe they had reason to. But why get rid of Shaw's voice for the whole film?

Why have Max Schell in such a bad disguise? Why have so many characters in the film? It'd be better if Marvin was up against It. He doesn't do that much. They should've killed off more people - Linda Evans (who does barely nothing, just sitting and chatting), Mike Connors, Joe Namath. They throw in Horsct Bucholz for good measure. Why not have one of our leads as traitors? Or two?

They needed to have this take place over a shorter period of time and have better reasons for not getting off the train. 

There is plenty of action. But it's both complicated and dumb. 

I really wanted to enjoy this - spies on a train. Terrific. But it's too loud, too many stars, too dubbed, and too silly.

Movie review - "Bedlam" (1946) ****1/2 (re-watching)

 A terrific film. Clever, handsome, beautifully shot, well researched. A career highlight performance from Boris Karloff as a Uriah Heep type figure. Shocking finale where he's bricked up - the hero and heroine let it go through. I'm not a massive Anna Lee fan but it's a gift part - beautiful, brave, spirited, driving the action. The hero kind of saves her but she does most of the work. He's interesting too - a Quaker.

Maybe would've done better with a murder or two extra. Bela Lugosi as a patient would have worked wonders. They could've told the exact same story just with extra violence/threat. 

Literate. Goldfinger ripped off the scene. I think the best Val Lewton maybe?

Podcast review - "The Secret history of Hollywood: Shadows"

 Entertaining look at the life and times of Val Lewton. Excellent narration. A lot of made up dialogue. Some of it doesn't seem real and Lewton comes across as a bit of a whiner and a victim but I really enjoyed it.