Monthly Archives: January 2016

A Lesson in Love (“En lektion i kärlek”)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Written by Ingmar Bergman
1954/Sweden
Svensk Filmindustri
First viewing/Hulu

“Like some wines our love could neither mature nor travel.”― Graham Greene, The Comedians

This Bergman comedy is an entertaining warm-up to Smiles of a Summer Night.

Much of the film takes place in flashbacks.  David Erneman (Gunnar Björnstrand) is a gynecologist.  The story begins with his farewell to the mistress he has been seeing for the last year.  We then get a bit of their history via flashback.

Next David takes the train to Copenhagen on which he “happens” to share a compartment with Marianne (Eva Dahlbeck) his wife.  He is trying to win her back following her discovery of his affair.  We flashback to their first confession of love, a happy birthday celebration with her father, and Marianne’s discovery of the infidelity.  With Harriet Andersson as the couple’s teenage daughter.

I could watch the two principals in anything I think.  They both have the perfect light touch for comedy and deliver Bergman’s dialogue very well.  I would describe the film as slight but charming.  Just what the doctor ordered on some days.

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Gog
Directed by Herbert L. Strock
Written by Tom Taggart and Richard G. Taylor; story by Ivan Tors
1954/USA
Ivan Tors Productions
First viewing/Amazon Prime

 ‘The Three Laws of Robotics: 1: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm;
2: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law;
3: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.” ― Isaac Asimov, I, Robot [/box]

An OK science fiction film in which the robots have not read the rule book.

The setting is a top-secret laboratory buried deep beneath the desert floor.  One of the lab’s main missions is to put a space-station up, after which for some reason mankind will not have to worry about nuclear weapons.  The story begins in a lab doing a monkey experiment on cryogenics in hopes that it can be use on humans during long space voyages.  Unseen hands disrupt the experiment and the scientists.

This signals the arrival of Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan), a security expert.  Joanna Merritt (Constance Dowling), secretly his main squeeze shows him around the various labs where we explore the 1954 vision of high tech.  Equipment and robots continue to run amok.  With Herbert Marshall (!) as the head of the lab.

This one started out stronger than it ended.  I thought the stuff in the cyrogenics lab was the best part.  The film makers obviously were trying to make a good move and it’s really not too bad if you don’t mind a little cheese.

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Twenty-Four Eyes (Nijûshi no hitomi)
Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita
Written by Keisuke Kinoshita from a novel by Sakae Tsuboi
1954/Japn
Shôchiku Eiga
First viewing/Hulu

[box] A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. ~Henry Brooks Adams[/box]

In one of Japan’s most beloved films, Kinoshita traces Japanese history for the previous two decades through the life of a school teacher.

The story begins in 1934 as Sensei Oishi (Hideko Takamine) takes her first assignment as a first grade teacher  on a rural island.  The school is some distance from her home so she rides her bicycle to get there.  The villagers are aghast at both the bike and the teacher’s Western clothes.  It is clear that she is talented, though, and her students love her.  One day, she falls and injures her ankle due to a prank they pull.  She can no longer go to school so her little pupils make a long journey on foot to visit her.  She intercepts them half way and treats the whole class to lunch.  This breaks the ice with the parents who learn to appreciate her as well.  But she is soon transferred to a middle school close to her home on the main island and must say goodbye to her students.

She meets up with them four years later in middle school.  By this time the Great Depression is on and her students and their families struggle to get by.  Some of the students are forced to drop out.  The compassionate teacher feels each loss deeply and stays in touch with the drop-outs.

As Japan begins the war in Manchuria it becomes very unsafe for teachers to speak their real feelings.  The boys are starting to dream of being soldiers, which our teacher discourages.  She is counseled against this and quits her job, starting a sweet shop.  By this time she has a husband and three children.  Her husband eventually goes to war.  We follow her loss and hardship during the war and the lean post-war years.  With Chishû Ryû as another teacher.

This is a beautiful film.  I especially enjoyed the rural scenery.  The leading lady does a good job in role in which she ages considerably.  The children are adorable. There are buckets of tears shed but somehow it’s not too melodramatic.  The score is very nice as well. Recommended.

Suddenly
Directed by Lewis Allen
Written by Richard Sales
1954/USA
Libra Productions Inc.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Ellen Benson: Don’t you have any feelings?

John Baron: No, they were taken outta me by experts.[/box]

How can something be a film noir if it takes place in broad daylight?  This is more a cross between a thriller and an apologetic for the National Rifle Association.  Frank Sinatra keeps it interesting though.

The setting is Suddenly, a small town in the USA where everybody knows everybody else. The sheriff, Tod Shaw (Sterling Hayden), is sweet on a war widow, Ellen Benson.  She is still grieving her dead husband and isn’t having any.  The widow’s son “Pidge” is longing for a cap pistol but his mother refuses to let him have toy guns or watch war movies.  The sheriff thinks the boy should learn that guns are not so bad and buys it for him.

The sheriff gets a cable saying that a train carrying the President of the United States will make an unscheduled stop in the town and be driven to a nearby lodge.  He mobilizes the state police.  Shortly thereafter, a group of Secret Service agents arrive.  They are going to check every building on the President’s route.  The widow’s home is on a hill overlooking the train station and must be checked as well.  It turns out that her father (James Gleason) is an ex-Secret Service agent.

Before they can do this, three men arrive at the Benson home, claiming to be FBI agents. They are doing pretty well  until the sheriff and one of the Secret Service men arrive.  After they shoot the agent dead and wound the sheriff, they admit to being there to assassinate the President.  The leader of the paid assassins is John Baron (Frank Sinatra) who says he got his taste for killing in the war and was awarded with the Silver Star.  As time goes on, it becomes clear that he was eventually discharged from the service on a Section 8 for mental problems.  What is the plucky band of hostages to do?  You can be sure that somewhere along the way everyone will learn the value of firearms.

Do not be fooled by any lists claiming that this is a film noir.  It actually has the feel of a 50’s or 60’s TV drama.  It gets fairly patriotic in addition to the not-so-subtle firearms message.  But Sinatra is pretty good in a role way outside his comfort zone and it keeps moving at a good pace.  On balance, I liked it.

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