Set during the second Punic War (218-202 B.C.), a young child named Cabiria (Carolina Catena) is separated from her parents after the eruption of Mt. Etna. They assume she is dead but she has been kidnapped by pirates who sell her to a high priest (Dante Testa) in Carthage. Loosely based on two novels SALAMMBO by Gustav Flaubert and CARTHAGE IN FLAMES by Emilio Salgari and directed by Giovanni Pastrone. Visually, it's a spectacular epic. The sets alone are jaw dropping. The film was highly influential to film makers like D.W. Griffith (his INTOLERANCE) and Fritz Lang (his METROPOLIS). Pastrone's camera movements are highly fluid and lack the stagnation that sometimes plagued silent cinema. On the downside, the acting is crude with lots of indicating (heads tossed back, arms raised and pointed). Worst of all, the transfer I saw had a hideous tinkling solo piano as its score. An epic like this needs a full orchestral score and the jangling ivories were a sad representation of what is on the screen. Worth seeing for its historical importance in cinema. With Umberto Mozzato, Bartolomeo Pagano, Italia Almirante Manzini and Lidia Quaranta as the adult Cabiria.
Set in post war Japan, a rookie detective (Toshiro Mifune) has his gun stolen from his pocket. His frantic attempts to track down the thief lead him to an illegal weapons market in the Tokyo underworld. When the gun is identified as the firearm used in a shooting, he is overwhelmed with guilt and remorse and more determined than ever to find the killer. Directed by Akira Kurosawa (SEVEN SAMURAI). A crime thriller that would more aptly be described as a police procedural today. Kurosawa isn't known for "thrillers" but he brings an intensity and a modicum of excitement in this cinematic pursuit that explores the frame of mind of post WWII Japan. The performances by Toshiro Mifune (looking impossibly handsome) and Takashi Shimura as his mentor are excellent and their relationship is as important to the film's success as its thriller aspects. With Keiko Awaji, Isao Kimura and Eiko Miyoshi.
Set in a small rural mountain town in Tennessee, a fortyish married sheriff (Gregory Peck) falls in love with the young daughter (Tuesday Weld) of a moonshiner (Ralph Meeker). It's a relationship that will lead to betrayal, violence and death. Based on the novel AN EXILE by Madison Jones and directed by John Frankenheimer (GRAND PRIX). It's an awkward film, something is askew but what? Tuesday Weld is fine but as much as I love Gregory Peck, passion was never his forte. His character is obsessed with this Lolita like country hillbilly but we never really sense it. Only once have I seen Peck show genuine passion onscreen and that was in DUEL IN THE SUN (he was actually sexy!) some 24 years earlier. As if sensing this, Frankenheimer keeps the love scenes down to a minimum. I felt a bit sorry for Estelle Parsons playing Peck's wife. She's obviously trying hard but her character is underwritten leaving her with not much to play with. The score consists of songs by Johnny Cash and that's what they sound like. They add nothing to the texture or emotion of the film. With Charles Durning (just awful) overdoing the red neck bit and Lonny Chapman.
Set in mid 19th century France, a diplomat (Tyrone Power) and a beautiful countess are in love. But when he is assigned to a diplomatic post in Egypt, she refuses his marriage proposal when he asks her to accompany him. Heartbroken, he goes to Egypt where he dreams of building a canal that would connect the Mediterranean and Red seas. Directed by Allan Dwan (SLIGHTLY SCARLET). This is a highly fictionalized version of the French diplomat Ferdinand De Lesseps' supervision of building the Suez canal during a 10 year period. The building of a canal isn't a particular interesting subject for an epic film so the film makers invented a romance with royalty and added a spectacular tornado sequence to hold audiences' interest. It's fairly preposterous but if you can get past the historical inaccuracies, it's a modest if generic entertainment. Loretta Young was a major star at this time but it's essentially a supporting role with Annabella (later to become Mrs. Tyrone Power) sharing romantic duties. With Joseph Schildkraut, Sidney Blackmer, Sig Rumann, Nigel Bruce, Leon Ames and George Zucco.
Set in colonial South Africa, a safari guide (Cornel Wilde) leads an arrogant client (Gert Van Den Bergh) and his troop into the African veldt to hunt elephants for their ivory. However, when the client insults a group of natives, they are taken prisoner and while the client is killed, the guide escapes with a small contingent of natives in pursuit. Directed by actor turned director Cornel Wilde (BEACH RED). Made for very little money and filmed in South Africa, the movie's screenplay received an Oscar nomination although dialogue is minimal and much of the natives' dialogue not in English (the film doesn't provide subtitles). Loosely based on the American explorer John Colter, who was stripped and chased by the Blackfeet tribe in Montana. The movie is much admired for its stripped down minimalist (reputedly the script was under ten pages) approach to its "man against nature" adventure film. There's much killing in the movie which is a turn off: man killing man, man killing animals, animals killing animals and the graphic images almost seem exploitative after awhile. The film's wide screen cinematography (Panavision) by H.A.R. Thomson (NO BLADE OF GRASS) is impressive. With Ken Gampu and Bella Randels.
A star struck yokel (Red Skelton) arrives in Hollywood with the ambition of being a movie actor. He's naive so a struggling actress (Virginia O'Brien) takes him under her wing to show him the ropes. Based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly (which was based on the book by Harry Leon Wilson) and directed by choreographer turned director Robert Alton (PAGAN LOVE SONG). This is the second film version of the book and play, it was filmed in 1932 under the title MAKE ME A STAR. I found this one more affable than the 1932 movie because Skelton, like him or not, has more presence than the bland Stuart Erwin in the first version. Skelton can be irritating but he's rather subdued (for him) here since he's not supposed to know he's funny and I enjoyed the serious scenes much more than the comedic ones. Virginia O'Brien's down to earth warmth was most welcome. Audiences didn't find it funny either and the movie tanked. With Gloria Grahame, Leon Ames, Alan Mowbray, Hugo Haas and Jim Davis.
Set in 18th century Peru, five people crossing an old rope bridge over a mountain gorge plunge to their death when the bridge collapses. A sea captain (Theodore Bikel) who knew the five people reflects on the lives of these five victims and wonders if there is a reason why these particular people died. Fate? Accident? Or God's plan. Based on the novel by Thornton Wilder (OUR TOWN) and directed by Robert Mulligan (SUMMER OF 42). At approximately a 90 minute running time, this is a condensed version of Wilder's novel and is missing much of the book's nuance. It's well done but perhaps most importantly, it's got some terrific performances. Notably, Judith Anderson as the lonely Marquesa who pines for the daughter (Rita Gam) in Spain and a rare filmed performance by the legendary stage actress Eva Le Gallienne as the Abbess of a convent. Previously filmed in 1944 and again in 2004. With Viveca Lindfors, Steven Hill, Hume Cronyn, Kurt Kasznar, Peter Cookson, William Marshall and Sandra Whiteside.
Set in Mumbai, two Malayali nurses room together. The older one (Kani Kusruti) has been abandoned by her husband when he went to Germany to work. The younger one (Divya Prabha) is a free spirit not bound by the restricted traditions of her culture. Written and directed by Payal Kapadia (A NIGHT OF KNOWING). Winner of the Grand Prix at last year's Cannes film festival. This is the kind of movie that sneaks up on you. It's disorienting at first, especially if you're not familiar with the Malayali people but it doesn't take long for it to cast its spell on you and you're hooked. One can't help but empathize with its three protagonists (Chhaya Kadam as a hospital cook is the third character). These women from small villages who leave for Mumbai (India's most populous city) for a "better" life but find themselves struggling anonymities in a large metropolis. It's both a wistful film and a determined one as film maker Kapadia fights for these women's significance. With Hridhu Haroon and Azees Nedumangad.
Set in pre Civil War Louisiana, a capricious coquette (Luise Rainer) marries a respected lawyer (Melvyn Douglas) at the urging of her sister (Barbara O'Neil), even though the sister is in love with him herself. Based on the play FROUFROU by Ludovic Halevy and Henri Meihac and directed by Richard Thorpe (IVANHOE). The first actor to win two Oscars (and back to back too), Rainer would seem to have a major film career ahead of her. But her star light quickly dimmed and her film career was pretty much over by 1940. I'm not all that familiar with her post Oscar career but if this tearjerker is any indication then I can see why her career stumbled. It's CAMILLE (as soon as Rainer coughs, you know she's done for) set in the deep South. The kind of fake Hollywood south where all the slaves are happy even though their owners threaten to sell them if they misbehave. Rainer is miscast as a Southern belle (they explain her accent by having her educated in France) but Bette Davis couldn't save this dud though she might have made it more fun. To the film's credit, it makes a point about men marrying women for their flighty charms but blame them when they don't mature into proper wives and mothers. With Robert Young, H.B. Warner, Alma Kruger and Theresa Harris.
Set in 1864, a renegade adventurer (William Holden) finds himself caught in the middle of the Civil War. With no loyalties to either side, he is on his way to deliver cattle to the Union army but is captured by a Confederate Colonel (Richard Widmark) who forcibly persuades him to deliver the cattle to the Confederate army. Directed by Edward Dmytryk (CROSSFIRE). Based on an actual incident referred to as the Beefsteak Raid of 1864. The film attempts to be even to both sides, the Union and the Confederacy but I detected a slight tip of the hat to the Confederacy. The movie's message that war is Hell and there are no winners is lost somewhere amid its inability to focus and the movie ends up as a slightly above average western that could have been stronger. With Janice Rule, Patrick O'Neal, Victoria Shaw, Arthur Franz and Richard Rust.
A middle aged American (recent) widower (Marlon Brando) owns a small hotel in Paris. At an apartment he's considering renting, he meets a young girl (Maria Schneider) and they begin an anonymous sexual relationship as he insists they don't reveal anything personal about themselves. Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci (THE CONFORMIST). When it opened in both Europe and the U.S., the film caused a major controversy. In Italy, director Bertolucci was put on trial for obscenity and received a four month suspended sentence while the Italian supreme court ordered all copies of the film destroyed. In both the U.S. and Europe, the film was attacked as pornography masquerading as art. Much later, Schneider claimed she was psychologically abused by having to perform an anal rape scene. All that aside, the film is an undisputed masterpiece. It was Brando's last genuinely great performance. He seemed to lose all interest in acting after that. As for Maria Schneider, I have mixed emotions. I found her performance quite amateurish but in certain scenes, that amateurishness is very effective. The score by Gato Barbieri is spectacular. A raw powerhouse punch of a film! With Jean Pierre Leaud, Massimo Girotti, Catherine Allegret and Maria Michi.
Set in 1882 San Francisco, the Dirtwater Fox (George Segal) is a slick gambler who wants to hold on to the $40,000 he's stolen from a gang of outlaws. The Duchess (Goldie Hawn) is a scheming hooker who wants to become a "real lady". But once they team up, they begin to realize what they really want is each other. Directed by Melvin Frank (A TOUCH OF CLASS). Perhaps it looked good on paper but the resultant movie is a misfire. Star power can go only so far in a mediocre movie and the film defeats both Segal and Hawn, normally excellent comedy actors. In fact, I've never seen George Segal so unappealing. Hawn works overtime trying but she really has only one good scene where she teaches a group of Mormon children a rather risque song. It's only fitfully amusing and I suspect the screenwriters were hoping to make a comedy western along the lines of BLAZING SADDLES but it's no where near as audacious. The film stops cold a couple of times: a Jewish wedding sequence that goes nowhere and a ride along the river accompanied by a Bobby Vinton song called Lemon Drops, Lollipops And Sunbeams that seems influenced by the Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head sequence in BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID. With Richard Farnsworth, Conrad Janis, Pat Ast and Thayer David.
