Portrait Of Jennie (1948)

A struggling painter (Joseph Cotten) meets a precocious child (Jennifer Jones) in the park and becomes inspired to paint her. Curiously, each time he meets her, whether it's weeks or months, she becomes noticeably older by several years. This sort of loopy mystical fantasy material practically begs to be laughed at yet somehow as nonsensical as the whole thing is, it holds your interest and you don't laugh. Which doesn't mean it's any good, just that its film makers (producer David O. Selznick, director William Dieterle) are skilled enough to make us take the whole enterprise as seriously as intended (more or less). The film's prologue sets us up with with psychobabble about infinity and truth and quotes from Euripides and Keats before plunging into the other worldly romance. Surprisingly, Jones is relatively convincing in each aspect of her aging though Cotten appears as dour in the romantic sequences as he was at the film's beginning. Curiously, for the film's big finish, a raging storm, the film goes from B&W to green then red tints. Dimitri Tiomkin adapts the music of Claude Debussy for his score while Bernard Herrmann wrote the melody for Jones's haunting song. Based on the novel by Robert Nathan. With Ethel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, David Wayne, Anne Francis, Nancy Olson, Florence Bates, Albert Sharpe and Cecil Kellaway.

Fire Maidens From Outer Space (1956)

Scientists discover a 13th moon belonging to the planet Jupiter which appears to have the same atmospheric qualities as Earth. An expedition is sent (utilizing only 3 days travel time!) to explore the moon. Imagine their surprise when they find the moon populated by sexy babes! One of the most notorious (infamous?) examples of bad sci-fi films, the ineptitude on every level earns it a special place in the Bad Movies Hall Of Fame. It's just not the shoddy special effects (a cardboard spaceship placed in front of a starry backdrop), everything screams out, "What were they thinking?". The "fire maidens" entertain their Earthly guests by dancing to Stranger In Paradise and later have two more dance numbers (maybe it should have been called DANCE MAIDENS FROM OUTER SPACE), the "monster" runs around with a rubber mask so ridiculous that in one scene one of the actors can barely keep a straight face. When one of the crew throws a grenade at the "monster", he seems to forget that the heroine is right beside him (she survives with nary a hair out of place). And why does the moon look suspiciously like the English countryside? If you've an affection for bad movies, this is for you. Directed by Cy Roth. With Anthony Dexter, Susan Shaw, Paul Carpenter and Jacqueline Curtis.

Snowpiercer (2013)

An experiment to halt global warming goes terribly wrong and instead a new Ice Age overtakes the planet freezing all life. The only survivors inhabit a massive train that circles the globe with its own sustained ecosystem. The downside is that the train has a rigid class structure with the suppressed "rabble" at the tail of the train and the oppressive privileged classes at the front of the train. A huge hit last year in his native South Korea, director Bong Joon-Ho's (MOTHER, THE HOST) latest film took awhile to reach the U.S. due to a power struggle with its U.S. distributor, Harvey Weinstein who wanted to cut some 20 minutes out of the film. Bong Joon-Ho won the battle and the director's cut is being released here. One needn't know it's based on a graphic novel (LE TRANSPERCENEIGE) going in as it becomes obvious early on as much as recognizing a film is based on a stage play. It's cleverly constructed and maximized for high octane action and set pieces. I enjoyed it and was entertained but its pretensions began to weigh it down after awhile, it's about as profound as LOGAN'S RUN! It doesn't help that the film has a cipher by the name of Chris Evans as its hero and I began to wonder if the world would be better off with a dolt like him running things. Fortunately the rest of the cast is more interesting especially Tilda Swinton in a juicy over the top performance as one of the oppressors. Marco Beltrami's score is so low keyed as to be non existent though he composed a corker of an end title. With Ed Harris, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer, Kang Ho Song, Jamie Bell, Ah Sung Ko, Alison Pill and Vlad Ivanov.

Du Skal Aere Din Hustru (aka Master Of The House) (1925)

A chauvinist husband (Johannes Meyer) is verbally and emotionally abusive to his wife (Astrid Holm). She leaves him but this causes a nervous breakdown and she is sent to recuperate at a country sanitarium. Meanwhile, the husband's old nanny (Mathilde Nielsen) decides to teach him a lesson. Directed by the great Carl Theodor Dreyer, this rather plodding lesson on how to treat our wives better makes for a rather arduous viewing. While I gather that this film is much admired in his own country, I can understand why its reputation outside Denmark is not as stellar. I'm hard put to connect this ho-hum dramedy to the genius who would shortly give us masterpieces like THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC or VAMPYR. While its intentions are honorable, Dreyer spends too much time on the rather mundane domestic scenes. We get how hard the life of a housewife is, we understand that the husband must go through this domestic ritual in order to appreciate his wife but there is a difference between showing us monotony and being monotonous. That being said, the film features a nice performance by Nielsen as spirited nanny turned feminist avenger. The transfer I saw had a dreadful tinkling piano score that I replaced with two scores, one by Alexandre Desplat and a second one by Ray Cook. With Clara Schonfeld and Karin Nellemose.

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)

An upper middle class Southern California couple, a documentary film maker (Robert Culp) and his wife (Natalie Wood), return from a retreat focusing on personal growth determined to engage in open and honest communication. Their best friends, an attorney (Elliott Gould) and his uptight wife (Dyan Cannon), have problems dealing with their friends' new Laissez-faire attitude. The directorial film debut of Paul Mazursky (who passed away last week), this is one of the funniest satirical comedies of the 1960s. Unlike some other popular films of the era (think EASY RIDER), B&C&T&A remains relevant. Whether it's the Esalen movement of the 1960s, Scientology, new age gurus like Deepak Chopra of good ole' Dr. Phil; we're still looking for the big fix, that someone or that philosophy that will serve as a life preserver in a topsy turvy world. We're bound to be disillusioned but that doesn't stop us from looking. But I digress. Why so many of sixties comedies don't play well today is that they resemble the sitcoms that we grew up with and have moved away from. B&C&T&A, on the other hand, presages the the looser improvisatory style of shows like SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. Wood (looking drop dead gorgeous) and Culp are fine but it's Gould and especially Cannon (whose laugh is a gift from God) that take over the film. The once much despised Fellini-esque ending, at the time considered a "cop out", today is a thing of beauty. With Lee Bergere, Lynn Borden and Donald F. Muhich.

The Fast And The Furious (1955)

A man (John Ireland) falsely accused of murder breaks out of jail and kidnaps a beautiful woman (Dorothy Malone) driving a Jaguar. He then plots to enter her car in an international auto race from Southern California to Mexico in order to escape undetected. Though it shares its title with the Vin Diesel/Paul Walker franchise of the same name, the resemblance ends there. This early Roger Corman (he produced and co-wrote it) "B" effort is a quickie (shot in ten days) and it looks it. The film benefits from being shot in real locations and not a studio though the close ups of the actors "driving" are clearly in front of a rear projection screen. But the actual racing sequences are done very well and appear to be from an actual race rather than stunt drivers which lends an authenticity to the film. The film's narrative is yet another in a long line of riffs on Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS, that of a falsely accused innocent forcing a lovely woman into fleeing with him against her will and, of course, romance develops. Malone and Ireland make for an attractive couple and Ireland does double duty here. In addition to being the movie's leading man, he also co-directed the film along with Edward Sampson. With Iris Adrian doing her usual brassy number, this time as a waitress.

The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

In 1943, the Nazis hatch a plot to kidnap Winston Churchill and bring him to Germany. To this end, the task is assigned to a German Colonel (Robert Duvall), who recruits an Irishman (Donald Sutherland) who is a member of the IRA and a German paratrooper (Michael Caine) to execute the plan and they are smuggled into England along with a small contingent of men. Based on the best selling novel by Jack Higgins, the movie manages to whip up an amazing amount of suspense considering we already know the story's outcome ... the mission was a failure since Churchill was never kidnapped. The suspense comes from the interaction of the Germans (posing as free Polish army) with the Brits in the small coastal village and how close their plan will come to fruition as well as how they will be caught. The director John Sturges (whose final film this was) worked in the genre before with his THE GREAT ESCAPE and brings his assured hand to the project though he can't save the film's final half hour, the film runs well over the two hour mark. The film loses steam and becomes a rather conventional WWII actioner. But until it goes flat, it's an engrossing solid piece of action cinema. Lalo Schifrin does a nice job of scoring. With Donald Pleasence, Treat Williams, Jenny Agutter, Anthony Quayle, Judy Geeson, Sven Bertil Taube, John Standing and two notable performances but for two different reasons: Jean Marsh as a Nazi mole in the film's best performance and in the film's worst performance, Larry Hagman as an inept American Colonel whose cartoonish caricature is out of step with the naturalistic performances of the rest of the cast.

Song Of The Thin Man (1947)

At a charity event aboard a gambling ship, a band leader (Phillip Reed) is shot to death. When the new bridegroom (Bruce Cowling) of a family friend (Jayne Meadows) is accused of the murder, detective Nick Charles (William Powell) investigates the killing. The last entry of THE THIN MAN series, this is a rather lackluster effort. Naturally, the pleasure of seeing Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles again goes a long way in making this a highly watchable brew but one can't help but be disappointed that the film lacks the sparkle of (most of) the previous entries in the franchise. The abundant murder suspects aren't an interesting lot and frankly, neither is the mundane murder. The less said about the PERRY MASON finale (the accused stands up and readily confesses) the better. I don't mean to be too hard on it because, as I said, it's rather enjoyable. Directed by Edward Buzzell (NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER). Among the murder suspects: Gloria Grahame, Keenan Wynn, Marie Windsor, Leon Ames, Patricia Morison, Don Taylor, Ralph Morgan, William Hudson and with Dean Stockwell as young Nick Jr., Warner Anderson, Connie Gilchrist and Bess Flowers who actually has a few lines here as Meadows' mother.

Le Clan Des Siciliens (aka The Sicilian Clan) (1969)

A minor Sicilian Mafia head (Jean Gabin) operates a legitimate business as a cover for his illegal activities. He helps spring a ruthless cop killer (Alain Delon) from prison because he is needed in order to rob a diamond collection worth millions. But the head of the clan finds the young man reckless and hard to control. I love a good heist thriller and this French gem courtesy of Henri Verneuil is first rate. From the detailed plotting of the heist to the various subplots involving the police detective (Lino Ventura) stalking the cop killer (when he announces at the beginning of the film that he's stopped smoking, you know he'll start again before the film ends) and an affair between the killer and one of the clan wives (Irina Demick), Verneuil's film is as precise as a tightly wound watch. Gabin is such an iconic presence that he doesn't need to do much more than just be. But being the actor that he is, he gives an expert performance showing us both the patriarch who loves his family and the cold blooded head of a clan that does what he must do. Henri Decae's exact wide screen lensing and Ennio Morricone's pulsating underscore both contribute to the film's success. With Sydney Chaplin, Amedeo Nazzari and Danielle Volle.

Night, Mother (1986)

A woman (Sissy Spacek) who's had an unhappy life lives with her mother (Anne Bancroft) who she takes care of. One night, she calmly organizes her mother's things like which medicine to take and when, folds the laundry, fills the candy dishes with her mother's favorite candies, writes down all the important phone numbers etc. and then tells her mother she's committing suicide. Based on Marsha Norman's (who also did the screenplay) 1983 Pulitzer Prize winning play, this is an unsentimental look at someone in such emotional pain that there are no other options for her and her determined choice to get off the merry go round of her empty life. Only Louis Malle's powerful LE FEU FOLLET exceeds it in its observation of a suicidal personality. Mercifully, Norman and the director Tom Moore (who also directed the play) don't attempt to dilute its strength by opening it up to make it more cinematic. Like WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, it all takes place in one night in one set, a house. The parts are equal and both actresses are excellent with Spacek edging a bit past the sometimes actress-y Bancroft with a heartbreaking performance. Spacek shows us every detail of this woman's tormented soul. It's one of her very best performances. The last 20 minutes or so will likely have you in tears but they're not manipulative tears, they come by honestly. Yeah, I guess you could call it a downer but I'd prefer to call it real. David Shire's score may be brief (there's probably less than 10 minutes in the whole film) but what's there is choice.

Fire Over England (1937)

In 1588, relations between England and Spain are strained. As Spain prepares for an attack against England by building a fleet of warships known as the Spanish Armada, Queen Elizabeth I (Flora Robson) sends an undercover spy (Laurence Olivier) to Spain to ferret out their plans for an attack on England. With war clouds hovering over Europe in the mid 1930s, FIRE OVER ENGLAND comes across as a pre-WWII propaganda film with the Spanish standing in for the looming Nazi threat. It's too darn serious to be called a swashbuckler though the film attempts to dress up its message with romance, swordplay and battles amid the patriotic pleas. Olivier seems a bit uncomfortable in a part that Errol Flynn could play with ease but then again until WUTHERING HEIGHTS, his screen performances tended to be on the stiff side. The young Vivien Leigh (looking drop dead gorgeous) doesn't have much to do other than pout but Robson makes for a feisty Elizabeth, a role she would play three years later in THE SEA HAWK, a film with a similar narrative. Directed by William K. Howard. With Raymond Massey as King Philip II of Spain, James Mason, Robert Newton, Leslie Banks, Tamara Desni and Norma Varden who has the film's best line ("A Spanish lady may retire, but she never goes to bed!").

Witness For The Prosecution (1982)

Just released from the hospital after suffering a heart attack, a famed barrister (Ralph Richardson) is advised by his doctors to not take on any strenuous cases. But when a young man (Beau Bridges) is accused of murdering an older woman (Patricia Leslie), he is sufficiently intrigued by the case to take it on. The Agatha Christie short story WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION was published in 1925 in Great Britain and 1948 in the U.S. and adapted by her into the hit play in 1953 (in which Christie changed the ending). The 1957 film version of that play directed by Billy Wilder was both a critically admired film and a box office hit. I'll say right up front that although I'm a huge Christie fan, I've never cared for the 1957 film. Principally because of its two leads, Tyrone Power and especially Marlene Dietrich whose limitations as an actress curtails much of the film's "surprise". Here, with the marvelous Diana Rigg in the role, we get a real actress in the part and the difference is amazing. It's still a rather stage bound talky courtroom thriller (though more faithful to the Christie play than Wilder's film) but there's no way of getting around that without diluting the mystery. Deborah Kerr is always a welcome presence but she's rather wasted here in a minor role as Richardson's nurse. Directed by Alan Gibson (A WOMAN CALLED GOLDA). With Wendy Hiller, Donald Pleasence and Michael Gough.