Duffy (1968)

A retired master thief (James Coburn) agrees to help a group of rich and spoiled amateurs steal 2 million dollars from a tycoon's (James Mason) ships. The group includes the tycoon's two sons (James Fox, John Alderton) and a playgirl (Susannah York). Oh, those swinging 60s! This film is a perfect candidate for a time capsule of the era. Words and phrases like "groovy", "it's a happening", "soul brother" etc. leave no doubt what era it was filmed in and if it didn't, the film's chintzy 1960s swinging score does. As directed by Robert Parrish (1967's CASINO ROYALE), nostalgia is about all the picture has going for it. For a heist movie, it's humdrum and incoherent. Donald Cammell (PERFORMANCE) had a hand in the script which might explain the lack of coherency. On the plus side, there's Otto Heller's lush lensing of the Spanish locations (standing in for Tangiers) and Philip Harrison's art direction: Coburn's porno chic pad is a hoot! There's also a marvelous "twist" ending that I didn't see coming but oh what tedium you have to put up with to get there! With Marne Maitland and Guy Deghy.

Stories Of Lost Souls (2005)

Six unconnected short films by six different directors filmed at different periods (1999-2002) and in three different countries (Australia, England and the U.S.) collected under the title STORIES OF LOST SOULS: an alcoholic (James Gandolfini) wakes up to not only find his wife and kids are gone but so is all the furniture, a man (Paul Bettany) bets his sports car against a bottle of champagne, a group of people (Hugh Jackman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Gambon, Andy Serkis, Joanna Lumley) wait in line for tickets to a play, a 32 year old man (Stephen Mangan) hits on a girl (Keira Knightley) at a party not realizing she's 15 years old, a soldier (Billy Boyd) in outer space must contend with loneliness, a woman (Cate Blanchett) undergoes a breakdown while cooking dinner. Like all portmanteau films, the episodes vary in quality but none of them are especially good. Gandolfini and Blanchett get to give flashy performances but it's the near silent performance of Boyd as the sniper in space that stood out the most, perhaps because it was the most subtle. 

Hedda Gabler (1962)

Returning from her honeymoon, the wife (Ingrid Bergman) of an academic (Michael Redgrave) displays signs of dissatisfaction with her marriage and her state in life in general. Based on the classic 1891 play by Henrik Ibsen, the role of Hedda Gabler is one of the greatest parts for an actress in the theater. It ranks right up there with Blanche DuBois and Lady MacBeth and many great actresses have taken on the role from Eleonora Duse and Alla Nazimova to Maggie Smith and Glenda Jackson. Here, Ingrid Bergman takes on the part. Hedda is a tricky part to play as we're never sure why she behaves the way she does, what makes her tick. One can surmise that in pre-feminist times, she's frustrated playing the wife and sees her best days behind her as she settles into the dull routine of a professor's spouse. Bergman is wonderful here as she paces around the room like a wound up cat, snapping at her husband or hissing at an old school chum (Ursula Jeans). This is a woman for whom control is everything and when it is finally wrested from her, it's disastrous. Directed by Alex Segal. With Ralph Richardson and Trevor Howard.

Jackie (2016)

In 1963 shortly after the assassination of her husband (Caspar Phillipson), Jacqueline Kennedy (Natalie Portman) gives an interview to a reporter (Billy Crudup) for LIFE magazine reflecting on the death of her husband, his legacy, her legacy while we look at the period between the assassination and his funeral and her state of mind. Directed by Pablo Larrain, a Chilean director making his English language debut. It's difficult to assess this as cinema, as a film because it is so dominated by a single performance that defines the film and puts everything else in her shadow. The buzz on Portman's performance was very good but I was not prepared for the sheer brilliance of it. When playing real people who are known to the public, it can be a trap to do an imitation of the person rather than inhabiting them. Portman inhabits Jackie Kennedy. How accurate is the film? I don't know, I don't go to the movies for history lessons (and I hope no one else does either). It's clear that the film took artistic license. For example, one of the highlights of the film is a distraught Jackie listening to the cast album of CAMELOT while trying on different dresses and jewelry and wandering around an empty White House when obviously it would be filled with staffers and secret service during that period. Mica Levi's underscore is the best film score I've heard all year. With Peter Sarsgaard as Robert Kennedy, Greta Gerwig, John Hurt, Richard E. Grant, Max Casella, John Carroll Lynch and Beth Grant as Lyndon and Ladybird Johnson.

The Swiss Conspiracy (1976)

After several clients of a Swiss bank have their accounts compromised and are blackmailed, the bank's head (Ray Milland) hires an American (David Janssen, looking very weary) who once worked for the U.S. Treasury but now residing in Switzerland to investigate. Directed by Jack Arnold (CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON). In spite of the handsome Swiss locations (primarily Zurich), this theatrical feature film plays out like a TV movie or an episode of THE MAN FROM UNCLE. When the mystery is finally resolved, it's pretty lame but predictable. Its improbable plot is overly complicated and its public shoot outs and car chases seem out of place in Switzerland. New York or L.A., yes but Switzerland? With Elke Sommer, Senta Berger, John Saxon, John Ireland and Anton Diffring.

A Touch Of Class (1973)

A chance meeting between a married American (George Segal) living in London and a British divorcee (Glenda Jackson) begins as an affair but becomes complicated when love enters the picture. Directed by Melvin Frank (THE COURT JESTER), this pedestrian "adult" romcom is probably most remembered today for Glenda Jackson's inexplicable Oscar win for best actress. Oh, it's sophisticated and fairly intelligent but it's also contrived. Naturally, Segal is given a nagging wife (Hildegard Neil) so the adultery can seem more sympathetic and while we see Jackson with her two children at the beginning, we never see them for the rest of the movie so we're not reminded that she's a mother although I couldn't help but think of the enormous babysitting tab she was running up while she sets up housekeeping and cooks Coq Au Vin suppers for her lover. Segal is an old hand at this type of thing but while Jackson proved she could do comedy with her hilarious cameo in THE BOY FRIEND, here she's rather brittle. Deadpan deliveries are one thing but some of her line readings are downright flat. With Paul Sorvino and K. Callan.  

Island Of Lost Souls (1932)

On his way to meet his fiancee (Leila Hyams), a man (Richard Arlen) finds himself stranded on a remote island after his ship is sunk. To his horror, he discovers that the doctor (Charles Laughton) who rules over the island with an iron fist is conducting ghastly experiments! Based on the 1896 novel by H.G. Wells and directed by Erle C. Kenton. Welles' novel has been remade officially twice, in the 70s with Burt Lancaster and the 90s with Marlon Brando. Unofficially, it's been ripped off many times. This pre-code version remains the most effective. Like Browning's FREAKS, it's an unsettling and disturbing piece of horror film making. Kudos must also go to Karl Struss's (Murnau's SUNRISE) expressionistic cinematography and the marvelous art direction by Hans Dreier. The acting is rather crude but Laughton brings a quiet malevolence to his delusional Dr. Moreau. This is the movie that coined the phrase, "The natives are restless tonight." With Kathleen Burke, Arthur Hohl and Bela Lugosi as the mutant Sayer Of The Law. 

Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo (aka The Good, The Bad And The Ugly) (1966)

During the Civil War between the states, three gunslingers known as the good (Clint Eastwood), the bad (Lee Van Cleef) and the ugly (Eli Wallach) work at odds with each other, sometimes in an uneasy alliance as they look for a graveyard where $200,000 in Confederate gold is hidden. Sergio Leone's epic western (3 hours long) wasn't embraced by mainstream critics when first released. The casualness of the violence and brutality was considered "vulgar" but audiences flocked to it and it paved the way for Peckinpah's WILD BUNCH. Today, the critical consensus is that it is one of the screen's great westerns. Of course, I've seen the film before but this time around I really appreciated Leone's use of the wide screen format (in collaboration with his cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli) which is stunning. Every frame a master composition that could hang on a museum wall. Leone's visuals are the thing here and very often there are long stretches of silence but the narrative continues, dialog isn't missed. Ennio Morricone's score is one of the best film scores ever written and it becomes as important a character as the three leads. The "ecstasy of gold" sequence which runs about 6 minutes with no dialog, just Morricone's score accompanying Wallach's search for the grave is justifiably famous. Speaking of Wallach, his performance is terrific and he really should have been nominated for an Oscar (movies like this weren't considered Oscar material) and he would be today! With Luigi Pistilli and Chelo Alonso.

The Holcroft Covenant (1985)

40 years after the end of WWII, the son (Michael Caine) of a high ranking Nazi General (Alexander Kerst) is made aware of a covenant signed by his father and two of his comrades before they died in a murder/suicide pact. The covenant makes an incredible amount of money (in the billions) available to be used to make reparations for their crimes. But the son's mother (Lilli Palmer) distrusts the document and urges her son to have nothing to do with it. Based on the novel by Robert Ludlum (the Bourne franchise) and directed by John Frankenheimer, this is another of those "Nazis reaching from beyond the grave" scenarios, perhaps the most famous of these being THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL. While its plot is not as ludicrous as BRAZIL, it's still pretty far fetched. It's tricky to make something like this believable and at one time, Frankenheimer would have seemed the man to do it. In the 1960s, he did two of the best conspiracy thrillers, MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and SEVEN DAYS IN MAY. But by the 1980s, he'd pretty much lost his way and his output was pretty mediocre. It doesn't help that the audience is always one step ahead of Caine's character who seems pretty gullible. With the exception of Lilli Palmer, the acting ranges from indifferent (Anthony Andrews) to downright enervated (Victoria Tennant). With Mario Adorf, Michael Lonsdale and Shane Rimmer.

Les Amants De Verona (aka The Lovers Of Verona) (1949)

Set in Venice and Verona, a glassblower (Serge Reggiani) and the daughter (Anouk Aimee) of a corrupt ex-fascist magistrate (Louis Salou) are given jobs as stand ins for the two lead actors in a movie being made of Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET. They fall in love and their romance parallels the story of Romeo and Juliet. Directed by Andre Cayatte who co-wrote the screenplay with Jacques Prevert. Shakespeare's romantic tragedy of star crossed lovers has been filmed many times, both in faithful retellings (like Zeffirelli's 1968 film) or re-imagined versions (like WEST SIDE STORY). This graceful and lush version shot in shimmering B&W by Henri Alekan (Cocteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) is one of the better ones. Reggiani and Aimee are not only appealing but so beautiful that one begins to pray that Cayatte and Prevert have rewritten Shakespeare. Cayatte keeps the romanticism on full throttle without going overboard and the supporting characters provide enough acidity that it never becomes mush. A lovely film. With Martine Carol, Pierre Brasseur, Marcel Dalio and Marianne Oswald.

Fallen Angel (1945)

A drifter (Dana Andrews) arrives in a small California coastal town and immediately gets the hots for a sexy but cold hearted waitress (Linda Darnell at her sluttiest). He concocts a plan to marry a well off spinster (Alice Faye), get her money, dump her and marry the waitress. But when murder enters the picture, he's the prime suspect! Based on the novel by Marty Holland and directed by Otto Preminger. This B&W noir may not have the reputation of his LAURA but it's still pretty good. This was when Preminger still made tight economical features before the bloat set in during the late 1950s. Unfortunately when Darnell leaves the picture, some of the film's juice goes with her. Faye's angelic understanding doormat is no substitute for Darnell's sultry femme fatale. Though it's well done, as a whodunit it's on the weaker side as the element of surprise is missing for it's not too difficult to guess the murderer. The moody cinematography is by Joseph LaShelle (THE APARTMENT) and the underscore by David Raksin (LAURA) gives the film a needed lift. Faye left the movies after this film and wouldn't make another movie for 17 years. With Charles Bickford, Anne Revere, Percy Kilbride and Bruce Cabot.

Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951)

Scotland Yard asks retired Army officer Bulldog Drummond (Walter Pidgeon) for his help in going undercover and infiltrating a gang of thieves working for a criminal mastermind who they suspect has military experience. He agrees but is less than thrilled about being saddled with a female partner (Margaret Leighton). Directed by Victor Saville (GREEN DOLPHIN STREET), Pidgeon steps into the shoes of several actors (Ronald Colman, Ray Milland) who had played Bulldog Drummond before him. At age 53, Pidgeon was getting a bit long in the tooth for action films like these and it's obvious in the fight scenes that it's a stunt double. Still, as a British programmer, it moves along nicely if predictably and Leighton has probably never been sexier in an early example of a policewoman figuring prominently in the plot when it was still considered a male profession. The B&W cinematography is by Freddie Young (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA). With David Tomlinson, Bernard Lee, Peggy Evans, Laurence Naismith and in a minor role, Richard Johnson who would go on to play Drummond in DEADLIER THAN THE MALE (1968).