Stolen Desire (Nusumareta yokujô) Directed by Shohei Imamura Written by Toshiro Suzuki from a novel by Toko Kon 1958/Japan Nikkatsu
First viewing/Hulu
[box] “There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart’s desire. The other is to gain it.” ― George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman[/box]
This ribald comedy about theater folk is a departure from classic Japanese film.
The story concerns a down-and-out theater troupe in Osaka that combines a strip-show with Kabuki-light plays. The management can no longer pay the actors but they stick with their show out of love for the bright lights. The owners decide to take the show to the countryside to see if a new audience will change their fortunes.
One of the actors is university-educated but also in love with the theater. In love with him are another actor’s wife and her sister. Which will he end up with?
The story here is very slight but first-time director Imamura compensates with some innovative staging. I kept wondering if he drew some of his inspiration from Fellini’s Variety Lights.
Teacher’s Pet Directed by George Seaton Written by Fay and Michael Kanin 1958/USA Perlsea Company
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] Erica Stone: As my father used to say, a reporter has to do a lot of sweating before he earns the right to perspire.[/box]
The best post-War performance I have yet seen from Clark Gable enlivens this entertaining rom-com.
Jim Gannon (Gable) is a hard-bitten, prickly city editor who came up in the school of hard knocks. Erica Stone (Doris Day) invites him to speak to the students in her journalism course and he writes her a nasty letter in response. The newspaper owner forces him to apologize and he is mistaken for a student. He gives her a hard time in this role as well but comes to respect her … and more. So he adopts an assumed name and enrolls in the class. Naturally, he is a prodigy at writing news articles and she wants to mentor him personally.
He can’t get to first base with Erica though because she spends all her free time with Dr. Hugo Pine (Gig Young), a psychologist. Pine also speaks seven languages, writes prolifically and, in short, is the kind of guy a kind of guy like Jim loves to hate. Jim plots Pine’s downfall and many misunderstandings ensue en route to the happy ending.
I was kind of expecting a smarmy 50’s-style “sex comedy” but ended up liking this a lot. I thought Gable would look tired and totally age inappropriate but he made it work. His performance brought to mind some of his light-heartedness in It Happened One Night. Day is always good. Recommended if you are looking for something frothy.
Teacher’s Pet was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Gig Young) and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen.
The Cry Baby Killer Directed by Jus Addiss Written by Leo Gordon and Melvin Levy 1958/USA Allied Artists Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental
My motto is: more good times. — Jack Nicholson
Mostly for those completists who want to see Jack Nicholson’s film debut.
Nicholson plays high-schooler Jimmy Wallace. As the film begins he is beaten up by a gang of his ex-girlfriend Carol’s boyfriend’s henchmen. Jimmy heads to the malt shop to confront Carol. There is another slugfest during which Jimmy picks up a gun dropped by one of the thugs and accidentally shoots a couple of people. Convinced he has killed them, he takes hostages including a mother and baby. Much drama ensues.
In Corman’s introduction to the film on the DVD, he says that he spotted Nicholson during an acting class he was taking. He offered the actor the job as he was the best in his class. Corman certainly could recognize (cheap) talent when he saw it, giving many famous actors and directors their first breaks. Nicholson is 100% Nicholson from the get go. The film is kind of all over the place and mediocre.
Macabre Directed by William Castle Written by Robb White from a novel by Anthony Boucher 1958/USA William Castle Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] Narrator: Ladies and gentlemen – for the next hour and fifteen minutes, you will be shown things so terrifying that the management of this theatre is deeply concerned for your welfare. Therefore, we request that each of you assume the responsibility of taking care of your neighbor. If anyone near you becomes uncontrollably frightened, will you please notify the management so that medical attention can be rushed to their aid? [/box]
Castle’s underwriters weren’t losing much sleep over the risk anyone would die of fright.
Dr. Rodney Barrett is a hard-working physician. A widower, he is raising his young daughter Marge with the help of a nurse (Ellen Corby). Barrett’s wife Alice died giving birth to Marge. Police Chief Jim Tyloe (Jim Backus) blames Barrett for Alice’s death. Now her blind sister Nancy has died and Tyloe suspects Barrett once again. Both were daughters of the wealthiest man in town.
As the film begins, the undertaker reports the theft of a child’s coffin from his mortuary. Later that day, Barrett’s loyal nurse Polly gets a call from a man who says he has buried Polly but Barrett still has four or five hours to find her alive. The rest of the film is devoted to Barrett and Polly’s desperate search for the girl.
Despite a couple of mild jump cuts this movie is structured far more like a mystery than a horror film. It’s not bad or good enough to be very entertaining but it’s short enough to be tolerable. This is primarily notable for being the first of producer/director Castle’s many “gimmick” films. The audience was insured against death by fright by Lloyd’s of London. There was an exclusion for preexisting conditions and suicide.
The Music Room (Jalsaghar) Directed by Satyajit Ray Written by Satyajit Ray and Santi P. Chouhury from a story by Tarashankar Banerjee 1958/India Arora
First viewing/Hulu Plus
#350 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” ― Bob Marley[/box]
A gorgeous film about the disintegration of an aesthete.
Huzur Biswambhar Roy (Chhabi Biswas) is the last in a long line of zamindars (landlords). He has a host of devoted servants fulfilling his every need. People refer to him as “king”. Roy’s greatest pleasure is to host lavish recitals in his music room.
But Roy has fallen on hard times. He has spent his last dime and is rapidly plundering his wife’s jewels. Still, he insists on carrying on as previously hosting an extremely expensive party for his son’s coming of age to the great dismay of his wife. He is above seeking funds from his moneylender neighbor Mahim, a nouveau riche man who doesn’t even have a music room.
Mahim is determined to outdo Roy and invites him to the inauguration of his own music room. Roy is not to be outdone and spends even more money on a recital of his own on the very same night. Tragedy strikes and Roy becomes a recluse for several years as he loses lands, servants and more. But Mahim continues to prosper, setting up the sad conclusion.
This film is breathtakingly shot. It also features a lot of outstanding Indian classical music. Biswas manages to make his character both heartbreaking and deeply aggravating at the same time. Recommended.
During the filming in Spain of the Biblical epic Solomon and Sheba, one of the scenes was a strenuous, swashbuckling swordfight between 44 year-old actor Tyrone Power and co-star George Sanders . Power suffered a fatal heart attack and died on the way to the hospital.
Producer Michael Todd (the third husband of Elizabeth Taylor) and co-developer of the Todd A-O sound system, was killed in a plane crash near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Taylor went on to ‘steal’ married actor Eddie Fisher (Todd’s best friend) away from Debbie Reynolds.
A small-time gangster named Johnny Stompanato, Lana Turner’s lover, was fatally stabbed with a butcher knife by Turner’s 14 year-old daughter, Cheryl Crane during an incident of abuse in their home in Beverly Hills. During the inquest (filmed for TV), Turner nearly collapsed on the stand during dramatic testimony. The killing was declared a justifiable homicide of self-defense by the coroner’s jury.
21 year-old Jack Nicholson made his screen debut in producer Roger Corman’s low-budget juvenile delinquent drama The Cry Baby Killer.
Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army. 14-year-old Bobby Fischer won the United States Chess Championship. Pizza Hut was founded. President Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act into law. U.S. Marines were ordered into Lebanon at the request of President Chamoun. The first U.S. earth satellite went into orbit.
A Death in the Family by James Agee won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Look Homeward, Angel by Ketti Frings won for Drama. “Volare” by Domenico Modugno spent ten weeks atop the Billboard charts. Charles de Gaulle was Time Magazine’s Man of the Year.
The European Economic Community (Common Market) became effective. Egypt and Syria merged into United Arab Republic. Khrushchev became premier of Soviet Union. Gen. Charles de Gaulle became French premier, remaining in power until 1969. Rebel troops under Che Guevara invaded Santa Clara, Cuba. Cuban President Fulgencio Batista resigned two days later. Godtfred Kirk Christiansen filed a patent for the iconic plastic Lego brick.
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I have previously reviewed , , and on this site. The films I will select from are here.
Old Yeller Directed by Robert Stevenson Written by Fred Gipson and William Tunberg from Gipson’s book 1957/USA Walt Disney Productions
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Katie Coates: If that don’t beat all. I never saw such a dog.
Travis Coates: And you won’t never see another one like him.[/box]
This childhood favorite held up very well.
The Coates family lives on a farm on the Texas frontier. As the story begins, Pa Coates (Fess Parker) goes off to sell some cattle and earn the first cash money the family will have seen since the Civil War. Wife Katie (Dorothy McGuire) and two sons Travis (Tommy Kirk), around 12, and Arliss, maybe five, will be left alone for at least three months. Travis is to be the man of the family. He asks for a horse as a reward but his father tells him what he needs is a good dog.
Soon enough, a big yellow dog shows up. He gets on Travis’s bad side initially but Arliss adores and he is soon adopted. The dog proves to be the best friend the family ever had, helping them out of one scrape after another. With Chuck Conners as the stray’s owner.
I read the book as a child, before I ever saw the movie, and the ending made me cry and cry. The movie is both moving and exciting and the performances are all first-rate. The stand-out, of course, is the multi-talented canine. It’s a coming of age story as well as a dog movie. Recommended.
Love in the Afternoon Directed by Billy Wilder Written by Bill Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond 1957/USA Billy Wilder Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] Frank Flannagan: I think people should always behave as though they were between planes.[/box]
When the “May” in a May-December romance is Audrey Hepburn and Billy Wilder is at the helm, a movie is bound to have its charms.
The city is Paris, where Private Detective Claude Chavasse (Maurice Chevalier) does a booming business ferreting out infidelity. He tries to keep his sordid cases away from his daughter, Ariane (Hepburn), but she is fascinated. Chavasse’s latest case involves a dalliance between Frank Flannigan (Gary Cooper), a notorious womanizing millionaire, and a married woman. Ariane sees Flannigan’s picture and is smitten. Then she overhears the woman’s husband plotting to kill him and decides to come to his rescue.
Ariane interrupts the tryst and poses as the woman in question while the real thing escapes. Flannigan begins to romance the cello student. She defends herself by regaling him with tales of her other lovers, all borrowed from her father’s files.
Hepburn is as beautiful and charming as ever in this. The script is witty and the whole thing goes down easily. Coop just looks very tired to me unfortunately. It probably would have worked better with Cary Grant or William Holden.
The D.I. Directed by Jack Webb Written by James Lee Barrett 1957/USA Mark VII Ltd
First viewing/YouTube rental
[box] TSgt Moore: [shouting] If your brains were made of dynamite you couldn’t blow your nose![/box]
Who knew boot camp could be so much fun? For the witnesses that is …
Gunnery Sgt. Jim Moore (Jack Webb) is a tough-as-nails Marine Drill Instructor whose job is to change boys to men. He does this with rigid discipline and intimidation. Privately, he smiles at the hapless recruits. All except one of them, Private Owens. Owens has potential but constantly screws up and malingers, hoping to get discharged. Moore refuses to give up or let up on him. Moore’s superior is sick of hearing about the private’s latest misconduct and threatens to discharge him if he is not whipped into shape in three days.
In the meantime, Moore, whose life has been the Marines, starts a relationship with a lady who doesn’t put up with much guff herself.
This movie is really more or less a series of episodes and a chance to bask in Webb’s fantastic performance and the rapid-fire one-liners. I don’t think of myself as enjoying watching people browbeat each other but I was smiling the entire time. Totally enjoyable and recommended.
I’ve been a classic movie fan for many years. My original mission was to see as many movies as I could get my hands on for every year from 1929 to 1970. I have completed that mission.
I then carried on with my chronological journey and and stopped midway through 1978. You can find my reviews of 1934-1978 films and “Top 10” lists for the 1929-1936 and 1944-77 films I saw here. For the past several months I have circled back to view the pre-Code films that were never reviewed here.
I’m a retired Foreign Service Officer living in Indio, California. When I’m not watching movies, I’m probably traveling, watching birds, knitting, or reading.
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