Monthly Archives: November 2016

The Human Condition II: The Road to Eternity (Ningen no joken)
Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Written by Zenzo Matsuyama and Masaki Kobayashi from a novel by Junpei Gomikawa
1959/Japan
Shochiku Eiga
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Kaji: I refuse to die.[/box]

Kobayashi’s pacifist hero finds that the real enemy in WWII is the Japanese army.

This takes up where Part I left off, with Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai) drafted into the army as a raw recruit.  Despite his pacifism, he attempts to make the best of a bad situation.  He is actually the best shot of all the recruits and a natural leader.  However, he is a suspected as a Red, due to his kind treatment of the Chinese prisoners in Part I.  The first half of the movie is devoted to the basic training of the men.  All missteps are disciplined by savage blows to the face and head.  In fact, any man senior to any other man seems to be able to strike his junior at will.  Kaji comes in for a lot of this treatment.

Finally, Kaji’s unit is called up to defend the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in the closing days of WWII.  They are hopelessly outnumbered and out-equipped.  Kaji attempts to hold on to return to his beloved Michiko.

In Part II of The Human Condition, Kobayashi continues to explore the brutality of war on an epic scale.  These films have portrayed the Japanese military in a worse light than any of the most propagandistic American war films I have seen.  The filmmaking continues to be masterful no matter how hard the subject matter is to take.  Part III was not released until 1961 and I will review it with that year’s films.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpr_75YYX1o

Trailer

A Dog of Flanders
Directed by James B. Clark
Written by Ted Sherdeman from a story by Ouida
1959/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] “Happiness is a warm puppy.” ― Charles M. Schulz[/box]

This looks to have been made to capitalize on the success of Old Yeller and stars the same dog-actor.  It’s not quite as heart-warming as that film but comes close.

The story takes place in 1900 Belgium.  Nello Daas (David Ladd) is being raised by his grandfafther, Jehan.  They earn their meager bread by delivering milk.  One day Nello finds a sick, abused dog he names Patrasche (Spike).  The grandfather very reluctantly takes the animal in as this will mean sharing their scarce food with the animal.  It takes time for the boy to earn the trust of the dog but once he does they are fast friends.  The dog seems anxious to work pulling the milk cart.

Nello’s dream is to be a great painter – a dream which Jehan discourages, preferring to put the boy to work as an apprentice.  But the boy comes upon a painter in Antwerp (Theodore Bikel) who eventually recognizes his talent.  Much tragedy and love follow.

Couldn’t find a still of the dog in color!

Although I was not familiar with this tale, it appears it is a classic that has been filmed several times.  I am a sucker for dog movies and this is a good one.  David Ladd is only adequate but the supporting cast is excellent.  Needless to say, Spike is the greatest!

Some stills, etc. set to music from the film

Les Cousins
Directed by Claude Chabrol
Written by Claude Chabrol and Paul Gegauff
1959/France
Ajym Films/Societe Francaise du Cinema pour la Jeunesse
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] La femme de ménage: Good Lord, look at this! Were you fighting?

Paul Thomas: This is Babylon, madam.[/box]

Two adjectives for this film are “disturbing” and “unrelenting”.  It might also be some kind of masterpiece.

Charles (Gerard Blain) is a serious law student from the provinces who lives to please his mother. Paul (Jean-Claude Brialy) is a law student and lives to please himself.  Paul is also rich and lives it up in a grand Paris apartment.  He invites Charles to live with him.  Charles finds that non-stop partying in the flat is not compatible with the non-stop studying he finds it necessary to do.

Another distraction soon appears in the shape of Florence, a city girl.  It is love at first sight  for Charles.  Florence will have to reform her wild ways to reciprocate but seems willing to try. Paul thinks the affair won’t work for either party and intervenes.  A love triangle and bad luck ensues.

As near as I can figure the message of this movie is “Life is unfair and there is nothing anybody can do about it”.  At least that’s what it had me believing by the end. Chabrol watches dry-eyed as the debauched city cousin destroys the happiness of his naive and earnest country kin.  This makes for a story and film I cannot love.

I admired it immensely however.  The psychology rings true.  Some of the shots are breathtaking.  The acting and score are fantastic.  This got under my skin and will remain in my memory longer than many more feel-good films have.  If you can get beyond a bleak story (with dashes of black humor) and some really unlikeable characters, I would go for it.

Trailer

The Atomic Submarine
Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennett
Written by Orville H. Hampton
1959/USA
Gorham Productions
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Voice of Spaceman: At last Commander, we meet as your people say… face to face![/box]

An uninspired alien meets an uninspired script.  Meh.

It is 1968.  Ships and submarines have been disappearing above the Arctic Circle.  The USS Tiger Shark is sent to investigate, and if possible destroy the culprit, with two scientists on board.  The crew discovers that not all flying saucers come from outer space.

The film capitalized on the launch of the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine.  The DVD commentary is much more interesting than the movie.

Trailer

Tiger Bay
Directed by J. Lee Thompson
Written by John Hawkesworth and Shelley Smith from a short story by Noel Calef
1959/UK
The Rank Organization/Independent Artists
First viewing/FilmStruck

[box] Mrs. Phillips: It’ll be all right, he says. A fat lot of good the police are. We’ve got one in the house and a murder’s done right under his nose and now here’s a child whose got hold of a gun and they don’t even know where she is![/box]

Hayley Mills’s film debut is a taut,  suspenseful thriller.

The setting is Cardiff, Wales.  Korchinsky (Horst Buchholz), a sailor, collects his paycheck and sets off to his girlfriend’s flat, planning to ask her to marry him.  Simultaneously, we are introduced to twelve-year-old Gillie (Mills), a London transplant.  The neighborhood kids won’t let her play with them because she doesn’t have a cap pistol.  The small cap “bomb” she owns doesn’t cut it.  She heads home to the flat she shares with the aunt whose prime goal seems to be to keep her out from underfoot.

Gillie guides Korchinsky to the building where both her family and the girlfriend now lives. They hit it off splendidly.  Soon after, Gillie overhears shouting in Polish in the girlfriend’s apartment and starts peeking through the keyhole.  Finally she sees Korchinsky kill his lover, who left him for another man.  She hides while he flees and sees him hide the murder weapon.  She picks it up with ideas of becoming a big wheel with the kids.

A police investigation begins.  This is the kind of neighborhood where distrust runs high and people are not inclined to cooperate, whether they have anything to hide or not.  Gillie outright lies, at first because she does not want to relinquish her prize.  Later, after Korchinsky finds her and tucks her firmly under his wing, their friendship becomes the prime motivator.  With John Mills as the inspector.

I really liked this one.  This film depends upon the difference between a child’s perspective and reality and works quite well.  The specter of an innocent youngster with a loaded gun alone guaranteed this would be a nail-biter for me.  The ramifications of Gillie’s lies as the film progresses add to the potential consequences and the suspense.  Hayley Mills inherited her father’s talent and made for a convincing tomboy heroine.  Recommended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPoK4SWff4I

Clip with Hayley Mills commentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU8GTKQFBAA

Trailer

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (Ningen no jôken)
Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Written by Zenzo Matsuyama and Masaki Kobayashi from a novel by Jumpei Gomikawa
1959/Japan
Ninjin Club/Shochiku Eiga
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental[box] Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. King James Bible, John 15:13[/box]

Director Kobayashi proves that the hell of war is not confined to combat.

This is the first part of a nine-hour three-part film dealing with the wartime career of Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai), a pacifist and humanist.  Kaji has written a paper on how to increase production in Manchuria.  He has been dreading the draft, both because of his principles and his love for Michiko.  Instead, he is given an assignment to the labor department of a Manchurian mine that comes with a draft exemption.  He and Michiko marry and depart for the dreary, isolated mine site.

The mine is run by the Japanese using what is essentially Chinese forced labor.  Kaji’s thesis is that productivity can be increased and absenteeism decreased by treating the workers better.  His boss allows him to try this experiment and Kaji earns the intense hatred of the Japanese mine foremen.

Kaji’s life takes a turn for the worse when the military delivers 600 POWs and he is put in charge of them.  These arrive in half-dead in freight cars.  The military’s number one demand is that not one be allowed to escape.  Otherwise, the men are entirely expendable.

He continues his quest to treat the prisoners as human beings.  The prisoners take advantage of this by continually escaping through the connivance of some greedy Japanese and a trusted Chinese assistant.  Kaji will be lucky to escape the situation with his life.

The Human Condition I is a beautifully shot and entirely grim movie.  The inherent contradiction in attempting to be humane while participating fully  in a system of forced labor is acknowledged and explored.  It’s a fine film but not one that I will revisit anytime soon.  Part II will be coming up when I have the strength for three more hours of suffering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpkKFLC2zvA

Trailer

The Mouse That Roared
Directed by Jack Arnold
Written by Roger MacDougall and Stanley Mann from a novel by Leonard Wibberly
1959/UK
Columbia Pictures Corporation/Highroad Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Tulley Bascombe: Well, Your Grace, we’re home. Actually, there’s been a slight change of plan. I know it will come as a surprise, a pleasant one, I hope, but we sort of won.[/box]

Monty Python came from a rich tradition, including this Cold War satire which also features Peter Sellers in a treble role.

The Duchy of Grand Fenwick is the smallest and only English-speaking country in Europe. Practically its sole source of income is exports of Fenwick Pinot to the U.S.  A U.S. winery comes up with a competing Enwick Pinot and the duchy is on the verge of bankruptcy.  Its Prime Minister (Sellers) comes up with the idea of declaring war on the U.S., losing, and benefiting from reconstruction aid.  This is enthusiastically supported by the Grand Duchess (Sellers) and the Loyal Opposition (Leo McKern).

Head Field Marshall and Forester Tully Bascombe (Sellers) puts together a landing force of about 20 men, all garbed in the traditional medieval Fenwickian armor and equipped with long bows.  As fate would have it, New York City is virtually shut down for an air raid drill when the army arrives.  One thing leads to another and Bascombe and company end up capturing the latest in nuclear weapons, the Q bomb, from its inventor and his comely daughter (Jean Seberg).

The Mouse That Roared is not quite as funny as the plot makes it sound but there are definitely laughs to be had here.  Sellers is very good in this lead up to his similar turn in Dr. Strangelove.

Trailer