Guys And Dolls (1955)

In order to raise $1,000 dollars to secure a spot for a high stakes crap game, a gambler (Frank Sinatra) bets another gambler (Marlon Brando) $1,000 that he can't get a mission worker (Jean Simmons) to fly off with him to Havana for the night. Based on the hit 1950 Broadway musical (by way of two Damon Runyon short stories) and written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (ALL ABOUT EVE). Reaction to this film version is mixed. Some say it doesn't capture the quirkiness and charm of the Broadway show while others just adore it. I'm terribly fond of it myself. Mankiewicz wisely keeps it stage bound and shot entirely on a sound stage with a stylized look to it. The Runyonesque world of Broadway gamblers and their dolls wouldn't set right in a more "realistic" mode. The Frank Loesser songs are terrific with every song hitting it out of the park and Michael Kidd's ebullient choreography only adding to the sparkle. For non singers, Brando and Simmons do very well, Sinatra is a marvelous Nathan Detroit and perhaps best of all, Vivian Blaine gets to recreate her original Broadway role. With Stubby Kaye, Robert Keith, Regis Toomey, Veda Ann Borg and Kathryn Givney. 

La Minute De Verite (1952)

On the eve of his anniversary, a doctor (Jean Gabin) is called away on an emergency when a man (Daniel Gelin) attempts suicide. It is then he discovers that the suicide victim is his wife's (Michele Morgan) lover. As the man hovers between life and death in the hospital, the doctor confronts his wife and through a long night and flashbacks, we learn of the complex infidelity. Directed by Jean Delannoy, this is in many ways an unsettling film. One's loyalties shift to each of the three protagonists and back again. One can't condemn the adulterous wife and she is a sympathetic character, the cuckold husband is no saint but in some ways ..... he is but in some ways, he's a cold monster. The lover is by turns irritating and heartbreaking. Delannoy's eye on infidelity isn't black and white and when the film ends, we're still conflicted. The film reunites the two icons of French cinema (Gabin and Morgan) 14 years later from PORT OF SHADOWS and how vastly different their roles from the Marcel Carne classic. With Lia De Leo and Simone Paris.  

Action In The North Atlantic (1943)

Set during WWII, a Merchant Marine (Humphrey Bogart) survives a German U boat attack and 11 days of being adrift on a raft along with other crew members including the Captain (Raymond Massey). Back home after a quick wedding to a singer (Julie Bishop), he's back on the high seas as part of a convoy carrying supplies to Russia. Directed by Lloyd Bacon (42ND STREET), the film opens with a spectacular nearly 20 minute sequence of the torpedoing of a ship and the subsequent evacuation attempt. After such a killer opening, where can the film go? The answer is ... it doesn't. The film reverts to the usual WWII propaganda action movie. While I appreciate why these films were made and their support of the war effort and our troops, as cinema, they are tedious. The film run 7 minutes past the two hour mark and if the jingoism had been minimized, it could have come in under two hours. The underscore by Adolph Deutsch (THE APARTMENT) is surprisingly good. With a young Ruth Gordon as Massey's wife and very little to do. Also with Dane Clark, Alan Hale, Sam Levene, Peter Whitney, Iris Adrian and Dick Hogan.

Journey To The Seventh Planet (1962)

It's the year 2001 and the planet is governed by the United Nations who send an international team of scientists to explore the planet Uranus. What they discover is a charming Danish village populated by sexy women. But there's a devious motive behind it all. Co-written, produced and directed by Sidney Pink so we know where to lay the blame! While there's actually a halfway decent concept behind all this, its execution is silly and badly acted. It plays like an extended episode of THE OUTER LIMITS (though I daresay the acting would be better) which would have done the work in a shorter time. The film was shot in Denmark for under a $100,000 with John Agar (dreadful as usual) imported from the U.S. for box office.  The special effects are poor and it's not even bad enough to qualify as "camp". There's even a cheesy love song called JOURNEY TO THE SEVENTH PLANET that plays over the end credits ("somewhere on the seventh planet, out in space, you and I will find a magic place"). With Greta Thyssen, Carl Ottosen, Peter Monch, Ove Sprogoe and Ann Smyrner.

Gran Bollito (aka Black Journal) (1977)

In 1938 pre-war Italy, a wife and mother (Shelley Winters) who is so obsessive of her only son (Antonio Marsina) that she makes a pact with Death to offer human sacrifices to keep him safe. Directed by Mauro Bolognini (IL BELL'ANTONIO), the film is inspired by Leonarda Cianciulli, an Italian serial killer known as the "Soap Maker Of Correggio". While the film can be looked at as a Grand Guignol piece of horror, it's clear that's not what Bolognini is principally interested in. The fact that it's set in pre-WWII Italy as war looms and fascism rises and that death on a grander scale than one serial killer's crimes is on the horizon hovers over the narrative. Winters is excellent here in one of her very best performances. However, the film is in Italian and she's dubbed, so it helps that her shrill voice isn't in evidence. Curiously, the female victims of Winters' meat cleaver are all played by men including Max Von Sydow. At first I thought they were transvestites until the dialog made it clear they were actually women. Again, Bolognini making a point? With Rita Tushingham, Adriana Asti, Laura Antonelli, Alberto Lionello, Renato Pozzetto and Milena Vukotic.

No Sad Songs For Me (1950)

A wife (Margaret Sullavan) learns she has terminal cancer with a diagnosis of ten months to live. She keeps the news from her husband (Wendell Corey) and daughter (Natalie Wood) as she comes to terms with her own mortality and securing a future for them without her. When her husband has a flirtation with a co-worker (Viveca Lindfors), instead putting an end to it, she sees that this might actually be a positive thing. Based on the novel by Ruth Southard and directed by Rudolph Mate (WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE). While the plot sounds like a typical tearjerker, it's surprisingly unsentimental and this is mostly due to Sullavan's (in her last film role) performance which is without self pity and based on a more reflective attitude. She doesn't even get a death scene, she dies off screen. Neither does the film condemn her husband's affair, it's all surprisingly so "adult". The lovely Oscar nominated score is by George Duning. With John McIntire, Jeanette Nolan, Ann Doran and Myron Healey.

The Little Mermaid (1961)

A young mermaid (Shirley Temple) rescues a Prince (Donald Harron, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING) from drowning. She falls hopelessly in love with him and makes a deal with the evil merwitch (Nina Foch) to give her legs so she can live on land and be near her Prince. But she only has 100 days to make him marry her or she will die. Based on the beloved 1837 fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen and directed by Roger Kay. Perhaps its most famous incarnation is the 1989 animated Walt Disney musical. However although it ends differently from the Disney film neither version stays true to the spiritual nature of Andersen's original ending. The acting is rather stiff and Temple's talent as a child actress didn't transition well to her adult years. Only Nina Foch and Ray Walston (as a sting ray) who get to overdo the evil get an opportunity to move beyond the drab if sincere acting of the other players. There's a lovely underscore by Walter Scharf. With Cathleen Nesbitt, Torin Thatcher, Nancy Kulp, Francine York and J. Pat O'Malley.  

The Opposite Of Sex (1998)

A 16 year old (Christina Ricci) runs away from her white trash mother in Louisiana to her gay half brother (Martin Donovan) in Indiana. Once there, she proceeds to wreak havoc with everyone's life. Written and directed by Don Roos, this is a deliciously wicked black comedy. One of the things that's so good about it is how it toys with our expectations, sometimes going along with it, sometimes turning it on its ear. Ricci's toxic teenage bitch should appall us but she's the most alive and interesting character in the film, so much so that you can't dislike her. The only other character remotely as interesting is Lisa Kudrow (with crack comic timing) as an angry spinster but at least she has common sense. The men are either weak (Martin Donovan), stupid (Ivan Sergei) or malicious (Johnny Galecki). They are also all gay with the only sensible male being Lyle Lovett as a sheriff and, of course, he's straight. Make of that what you will. That aside, this is a jewel of a sardonic entertainment. With William Lee Scott and Colin Ferguson.     

Obsessions (aka Bezeten - Het Gat In De Muur) (1969)

When a painting falls off the wall in his apartment, a medical student (Dieter Geissler) discovers a small hole in the wall. Peeking through it into his neighbor's apartment, he witnesses what appears to be a sex  and torture crime. But instead of calling the police, he finds himself pulled into the sordidness of it all. Directed by Pim De La Parra, this exploitation film doesn't make a lick of sense. People behave in illogical ways and there are an abundance of loopholes that are frustrating. For an exploitation film, it has some talented people behind the camera. A young Martin Scorsese gets credit as one of the three screenwriters, the film editor is Henri Rust who edited CHILDREN OF PARADISE and WAGES OF FEAR and the underscore is by the great Bernard Herrmann. Herrmann's score infuses the film with a needed sense of dread and mystery. The film's gory finale is telegraphed and I looked away just in time. The acting is stiff and that may be because English is not the native language for the majority of the cast. It's a Dutch film in the English language. Only Alexandra Stewart (DAY FOR NIGHT) as Geissler's girlfriend manages to give something resembling a performance. With Tom Van Beek, Donald Jones, Elisabeth Versluys and Marijke Boonstra. 

I Love Trouble (1994)

After a train derails in Chicago, two rival reporters (Julia Roberts, Nick Nolte) from two different Chicago newspapers discover that the train derailment may not have been an accident but intentional. As each works on the story, they put their heads together in the hope of solving the mystery but how much can they really trust each other? Written by Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer and directed by Shyer (BABY BOOM), this is a rather sloppily written romcom thriller. Shyer's talent seems to lie in domestic comedies like the 1991 FATHER OF THE BRIDE remake or the charming BABY BOOM but he has no talent for the thriller aspect of the story which is pretty flabby. More importantly, Roberts and Nolte have zero chemistry (reputedly they couldn't stand each other) and Nolte is all wrong for something like this which requires a certain leading man charm and charm is the last thing Nolte has. They say all directors have one Hitchcock movie in them but as Shyer clearly proves, that's not always so. There appears to have been some last minute tinkering as Elmer Bernstein's score was replaced by David Newman and Marsha Mason and Olympia Dukakis are in it so briefly, they're not mentioned in the opening credits. With Robert Loggia, Saul Rubinek, Eugene Levy, James Rebhorn, Charles Martin Smith and Lisa Lu.

Behave Yourself (1951)

A young married man (Farley Granger) is followed home by a friendly Welsh Terrier that his wife (Shelley Winters) mistakes for an anniversary present. Little do they know that the dog is part of a lethal smuggling ring and soon the bodies start piling up! Co-written and directed by George Beck, this fluffy farce may be silly at times but I found it rather charming and there's a terrific cast of familiar character actors doing what they do best. Shelley Winters and Farley Granger are hardly the first names one thinks of when it comes to farce but Granger makes for an amusing straight man and Winters does an amusing lightweight version of the later shrews that would mark her later career. It's a piffle really and not a laugh out loud comedy (though I did laugh out loud twice) but the kind of comedy where there's a constant grin on your face. The wonderful supporting cast includes Elisha Cook Jr., Lon Chaney Jr., William Demarest, Sheldon Leonard, Allen Jenkins, Glenn Anders (LADY FROM SHANGHAI), Marvin Kaplan, Francis L. Sullivan, Margalo Gillmore and Archie stealing scenes as the dog.

The Cherry Orchard (1981)

In early 20th century Russia, an impoverished aristocrat (Judi Dench) and her entourage return from Paris to her family estate shortly before it is set to be auctioned off to pay the mortgage. Based on the 1904 play by Anton Chekhov and directed by Richard Eyre. Of all Chekhov's major works, I find this one the most difficult to enjoy. It's beautifully written for sure but there's such a despair in watching the effete aristocracy flounder because of its own ineptitude and inability or unwillingness to adapt themselves to the new world. One shouldn't feel such sadness for an outdated class system especially one that exploited the lower classes (the serfs were emancipated in 1861) I suppose nor is there much sympathy for the new bourgeois embracing materialism. The acting is very good for the most part though Bill Paterson's Scottish accent as Lopakhin seems out place when everyone is playing Russian and using standard English. With Anna Massey, Timothy Spall, Anton Lesser and Harriet Walter.