Jazz on a Summer’s Day Directed by Bert Stern and Aram Avakian Written by Albert D’Annibale and Arnold Perl 1959/USA Galaxy Productions/Raven Films
First viewing/Netflix rental
Never play anything the same way twice. — Louis Armstrong
I was in heaven during this, the granddaddy of all the great rock concert documentaries.
The film is set in Newport, Rhode Island on the weekend of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival and Americas Cup trials. Performers are too numerous to mention but include Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, Anita O’Day, Gerry Mulligan, Dinah Washington, Chico Hamilton, George Shearing, Thelonious Monk and Chuck Berry.
This is more than a straight-forward video of a concert. We feel that we are really there on a sunny Saturday afternoon and evening. While we listen, we see the rapt or distracted concert goers, the sea and the sailboats, and the parties on the margins. The musicians are all in their prime and are photographed tellingly. I’m a huge Dinah Washington fan and she was probably my favorite closely followed Mahalia Jackson. Chuck Berry kind of sticks out like a sore thumb among the jazz performers but made me feel like dancing with his “Sweet Little Sixteen”. Highly recommended to all music lovers.
Shadows Directed by John Cassavettes Written by John Cassavettes 1959/USA Lion International First viewing/FilmStruck
#363 of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die
[box] Tony: I need the key for 042!
David: You can’t get it, Elaine’s not in.
Rupert: Where is she?
David: She’s dealing with the raccoons, man.[/box]
John Cassavettes keeps it real in his debut film. His later films would be more polished but the emotions remain just as raw.
The film focuses on twenty-something siblings, two brothers and a sister, who are struggling to find their way in life. The two brothers are jazz musicians and their little sister seems to be at loose ends. We concentrate on a few days of their lives in New York City. These are filled with parties and fights, some verbal and some physical.
The film was based on an actor’s workshop improvisation in which a white swinger seduces the sister only to discover that she is both black and a virgin. For me, the highlights of the film were the seduction scene, the minutes after consummation of the conquest, and the sister’s date with a black man thereafter. All seemed as messy as real life and as moving.
This shows what can happen when a filmmaker ditches both the Hayes Code and Hollywood conventions. The improvisational nature of the film was part of its charm and freshness but also means some of the acting seems a bit stilted and forced as the actors search for words. Later films would refine the improvisational technique and employ more experienced actors. Recommended.
Marie-Octobre Directed by Julien Duvivier Written by Henri Jeanson, Julien Duvivier and Jacques Robert from Robert’s novel 1959/France Abbey Films/Doxa Films/Orex Films/Societe Francaise du Theatre et Cinema
First viewing/YouTube
[box] “Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance must not be put out.” -Charles de Gaulle[/box]
Some of France’s most recognizable actors of the era bring class but not enough oomph to this stage-bound drawing room mystery.
Members of a French Resistance cell hold a reunion 15 years after VE Day. Marie-Octobre (Danielle Darrieux), the lone woman in the group, has discovered that one of their number had ratted out their leader before he was shot and killed by the Gestapo. She and a trusted friend have orchestrated the dinner to ferret out the culprit.
The evening consists of a tangled web of questions, accusations, confessions and lies. Then the group must struggle over what penalty the guilty party deserves.
What could have been a suspenseful story of courage and betrayal is reduced to a lot of talk, talk, talk. Duvivier keeps his camera moving within the confines of the salon and the actors keep the conversation lively but this could have been a much better film with a few selected flashbacks.
The Head Directed by Victor Trivas Written by Victor Trivas 1959/West Germany Rapid Film
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Dr. Brandt, alias Dr. Ood: Yes, I’m sick. Yes, I’m sick, and you’re the only one who knows it, but I don’t care. You belong to me and me alone. Professor Hartmann experimented on my brain. The results were fantastic. It made a genius of me. Hear me, a genius! [He clutches the window in a parody of the crucifixion.] But these spells are the debt I paid. The price of my genius was madness. My whole being became sick. The moon, and the wind, and that confounded dog![/box]
This film represents the absolute nadir in the career of the great French actor, Michel Simon.
Dr. Ood is mad, completely mad. He learns that Prof. Dr. Abel (Simon) has succeeded in keeping a dog’s head alive after its death. Abel hires Ood as an assistant because of his interest in organ transplants. Abel is dying of heart failure and needs Ood to perform a heart transplant.
Ood double-crosses Abel by ditching his body and preserving his head. Ood’s next project is to attempt to graft the head of a saintly but hunch-backed nurse onto the body of stripper.
This is kind of a combo of the ever popular head-in-a-box genre with shades of Frankenstein. The version I watched was dubbed and was very bad. I don’t think the dubbing had anything to do with it. On the other hand, it does have its cheesy charms.
From the IMDb trivia: Michel Simon, a major star in France at the time, had used some tainted makeup on a previous film that had resulted in his body and face becoming temporarily partially paralyzed. Since that time he had been unable to find work and took a role in this low-budget German horror film because he needed the money and only his head would be shown, and he didn’t think a film of this caliber, which could adversely affect his career, would be seen on the rest of the continent. Unfortunately he was wrong, and the film was in fact a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
Jungle Cat Directed by James Algar Written by James Algar 1959/USA Walt Disney Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] “The smallest feline is a masterpiece.” ― Leonardo da Vinci[/box]
This Disney True-Life Adventure focuses on a family of jaguars living in the Amazon. Mama is spotted and Papa is a black panther. Their two cubs are similarly colored. Between many great scenes of jaguars hunting and playing, we get lots of monkeys and birds. The jaguars also engage in combat with an anaconda and a crocodile.
The movie is all I have come to expect from Disney’s 1950’s nature documentaries. The sequences are well edited to create little comedies and dramas. It all may not be strictly scientific but it is entertaining.
… And the Wild, Wild Women (Nella città l’inferno) Directed by Renato Castellani Written by Suso Cecchi d’Amico from a novel by Isa Mari 1959/Italy/France Riama Film/Rizzoli Film/Francinex
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] “Be thine own palace, or the world’s thy jail.” ― John Donne, The Poems of John Donne[/box]
Dubbing does not do this movie any favors.
The film is set in a contemporary women’s prison in Rome. Egle (Anna Magnani) is a bold, brassy career convict. She takes timid newcomer Lina (Giulietta Masina) under her wing. Lina has been brought low by a bastard whom she still loves. Most of the film is an episodic slice of life. Another plot line involves an inmate who falls in love with a man she glimpses on the street.
It turns out there are a number of Italian films of this era on Amazon Instant in versions that have been dubbed into English. I always find dubbing to be a major distraction. I think that Magnani may have dubbed her own voice. One can sense that this is a great, flamboyant performance. (She received many awards at film festivals). The rest of the actresses, including Masina, were pretty clearly dubbed by voice actresses. Someday, I’d like to see the original version.
Shake Hands with the Devil Directed by Michael Anderson Written by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts; adapted by Marian Spitzer from a novel by Rearden Conner 1959/Ireland/USA Pennebaker Productions/Troy Films
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] “The Irish people will only be free, when they own everything from the plough to the stars” – James Connolly[/box]
James Cagney was born to play a ruthless Irish nationalist.
It is 1921, Dublin as the Irish Republican Army battles the Black and Tans. Kerry O’Shea (Don Murray) is an Irish-American medical student who studies under surgeon Dr. Sean Lenihan (Cagney). He resists urging to get involved in the IRA. When a friend is shot by the Black and Tans, he discovers Lenihan is actually as interested in killing as in saving lives. He is a ruthless Commandant in the IRA.
The violence continues and Kerry is eventually moved to become a fighter. As time goes on, Lenihan’s tactics begin to disgust him. Conflict deepens when Lenihan kidnaps the beautiful daughter of an English politician (Dana Wynter) and holds her hostage for the release of an aristocratic IRA sympathizer. With Michael Redgrave as the IRA “General”, Glynnis Johns as a sympathizer bar maid, and Richard Harris as a thug.
Cagney is great but I thought the movie was just OK. Despite the great cast, it never really caught fire for me.
The Young Philadelphians Directed by Vincent Sherman Written by James Gunn from a novel by Richard Powell 1959/USA Warner Bros.
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] Anthony Judson Lawrence: I just learned the rules of the game.[/box]
Peyton Place meets courtroom drama. The standout is Robert Vaughn as a man brought low by the expectations of Main Line Philadelphia society.
Kate Judson is a working-class girl who is loved by honest Mike Flanagan, (Brian Keith) an Irish emigre who has started up his own construction company. Kate is lifted above her station however by the desire of a local lion to have her son produce an heir. Thus, Kate has a society wedding to William Lawrence III. On the wedding night William discloses his terrible secret. He “cannot love any one”. Kate runs to Mike for comfort. She returns to her mother’s home to learn that William has been killed in a car accident.
Kate’s night of consolation with Mike left her pregnant. She remains determined that the baby will bear the Lawrence name despite the offer of a large cash payout. The Lawrences accept defeat but cut Kate off without a dime.
Kate’s son Anthony Judson Lawrence grows up to be Paul Newman. Tony is a smart, driven student who works summers for the Flanagan construction company. His goal is to become a lawyer. While working on the construction job, he meets Joan Dickinson (Barbara Rush), who is from the Main Line and whose father is a partner in a prestigious law firm. The two fall in love. Tony’s roommate Chet Gywnne (Robert Vaughn) advises him to marry Joan as quickly as possible to avoid having the romance and marriage squelched by the powers that be like his was.
Joan and Tony prepare to elope. In the nick of time, Joan’s father appears with an offer Tony cannot refuse if he will only “wait until June.” Tony waits but Joan does not and goes on to marry a young millionaire. Embittered and cynical, Tony becomes obsessed with getting ahead by any means necessary. He is very successful in getting what he wants and becomes a famous tax attorney.
When his friend Chet is accused of murdering his Main Line guardian, loyalty compels Tony to defend him despite the formidable Main Line forces lined up against him. With Alexis Smith as Ralph Bellamy’s young frustrated wife and Billie Burke as a wealthy client.
This picture didn’t capture me until the concluding trial sequence in which Newman had a chance to display his fire and charisma. Up to then, I found the story pretty trite.
The Young Philadelphians was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Vaughn); Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White.
Libel Directed by Anthony Asquith Written by Anatole de Grunwald and Karl Tunberg from a play by Edward Wooll 1959/UK/USA De Grunwald Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
“Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,/ Is the immediate jewel of their souls:/ Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;/ ’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;/ But he that filches from me my good name/ Robs me of that which not enriches him, / And makes me poor indeed.” ― William Shakespeare, Othello
Add a title like Libel to names like Anthony Asquith, Olivia de Havilland and Dirk Bogarde and I am intrigued. Unfortunately, the implausible plot of this amnesia-flick-meets- courtroom-drama undid much of that good will by its end.
Sir Mark Loddon (Bogarde) came back from the war a changed man. His time as a POW and traumatic escape has left him without memory of key events and has turned his hair prematurely grey. His patient loving wife Margaret (De Havilland) soothes his nerves following his numerous nightmares.
Sir Mark and Lady Loddon live in one of those British stately homes that is open to the public for tours. Mark’s fellow prisoner Jeffrey Buckingham happens to see a TV program on the house. He becomes obsessed with exposing Sir Mark as an impostor and takes his case to a tabloid newspaper with little love for the aristocrat.
It turns out that Sir Mark also shared quarters at POW camp with an actor called Frank Welney (also Bogarde) who bore him an uncanny resemblance. Buckingham’s contention is that Sir Mark died during the escape, probably at Welney’s hands, and that Welney used the information gained during their confinement to marry Sir Mark’s fiancee and steal his title.
Sir Mark brings an action for libel and about half of the film is taken up with the trial. Things start looking might bad for our protagonist. With Robert Morely as Sir Mark’s attorney and Wilfred Hyde-White as the lawyer for the newspaper.
I was looking forward to this one and felt let down. All the acting is fine but the plot really is so contrived that my eyes started hurting from all the rolling they were doing. I think it might have been a mistake to have Bogarde play both parts. De Havilland is kind of wasted in a part that consists mostly in a lot of hand-wringing. You can’t win them all.
Farewell to Spring (Sekishunchô) Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita Written by Keisuke Kinoshita 1959/Japan Shochiku Eiga
First viewing/FilmStruck
[box] “The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” ― Bob Marley[/box]
Kinoshita has a flare for melodrama. This is less melodramatic than just plain sad.
Five school friends reunite in their home town. All have changed. One was crippled in an accident. Two are involved in a love triangle. Another has become a very shady character. One of the boys has an uncle that is dying of lung disease and a broken heart. Their memories of being “White Tigers” together cannot overcome reality.
I associate Kinoshita with buckets of tears from both sexes. In this case, the protagonists are almost entirely dry-eyed. Their dilemmas seem all too real. There is a glimmer of hope at the end for at least some of the boys. As a film, it’s just OK – a little slow for me.
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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