Monthly Archives: November 2017

In 1963:

Cleopatra, the most expensive film ever made to date, opened. It was one of the biggest flops in film history (cost-overruns made the $2 million budget become $44 million). The off-screen extra-marital affair conducted between stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) was beneficial for the film’s bottom line.  Nevertheless, it took many years for the film to recoup its enormous costs.

Ampex began to offer its first consumer version of a videotape recorder, sold through the Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalogue for $30,000.  The first theater originally designed as a multiplex opened – it was called Parkway Twin (for its two screens).

Sex symbol Jayne Mansfield appeared naked (breasts and buttocks) in the unrated sex farce Promises! Promises, making her the first mainstream actress to appear nude in an American feature sound film. (The honor would have been held by Marilyn Monroe in Something’s Gotta Give (1962), but she died during production.)  The provocative film was heavily publicized in Playboy‘s June 1963 issue, with pictures to prove it. That led to the magazine’s publisher Hugh Hefner being charged with obscenity (and later acquitted) — the only time in his life.

Actor/director Dick Powell died at the age of 58 in Los Angeles, CA — much too soon.

The biggest and saddest news of the year was the assassination of President John  F. Kennedy Dallas, Texas on November 22. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president later that day.  Shooter Lee Harvey Oswald was murdered by Jack Ruby two days later. The FBI and the Warren Commission officially concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin, but various groups contradicted the findings of the Warren Report and believed that Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy. After Kennedy’s death, Congress enacted many of his proposals, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In Civil Rights, the year began with Alabama governor George Wallace declaring “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation for ever.”  On April 3, African Americans in Birmingham, Ala., began daily nonviolent demonstrations and sit-ins . Over 400 protestors were arrested, including Dr. Martin Luther King.  On August 28, King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. In September, Ku Klux Klan members bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.

“Sugar Shack” by Jimmy Gilmore and the Fireballs was the #1 song on Billboard‘s 1963 Year-End Chart of Pop Singles.  The Reivers by William Faulkner won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.  Martin Luther King was Time Magazine’s Man of the Year.

The Beatles’  first full-length album “Please Please Me” was released in March.  It topped the charts in the United Kingdom for thirty weeks until replaced by another Beatles album, “With The Beatles.”  The band’s massive success in the USA would wait until 1964.

The Soviet Union launched the Vostok 6 spacecraft, carrying Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.  UK War Minister John Profumo resigned after admitting he lied about his relationship with Christine Keeler.  Call girl Keeler was simultaneously involved with a Soviet Navy officer and a drug dealer.

***************************

I have 139 films on my list for 1963, though I doubt that I will watch all of them.  It can be found here.

1963 Oscar Winners

1963 Nominees for Major Oscars

The Trial of Joan of Arc (Procès de Jeanne d’Arc)
Directed by Robert Bresson
Written by Robert Bresson from the transcript of the trial
1962/France
Agnes Delahaie Productions
First viewing/FilmStruck

[box] Jeanne d’Arc: My voices were from God. All I did, I did at God’s command. My voices did not lie. My visions were from God.[/box]

As with many of Bresson’s films, this is slow going but beautiful.

Most of the dialogue was taken from the actual transcript of Joan’s trial.  The English are, naturally, cast in a very bad light and possibly Bresson wrote the behind the scenes parts. The story concludes with Joan’s martyrdom at the stake.

Bresson directs in his usual “non-acting” style which is always distancing for me. Thankfully, the images were enough to keep me engaged.  I had never noticed before but, at least in this one, Bresson focuses a lot of his attention on feet, cutting off the heads and torsos of his actors while they are in motion.  His camera is much more lively than his actors or plot.

Hell Is for Heroes

Directed by Don Siegel
Written by Robert Pirosh and Richard Carr
1962/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Pvt. John Reese: The outfit I came from was a real dilly. There was a general, a major, two captains, two lieutenants, and me. There’s a squad for you, buddy-o.

Platoon Sgt. Bill Pike: Sounds like a court martial board.[/box]

Steve McQueen is the ultimate bad boy soldier in this low-budget combat drama.

Everybody in a platoon situated on the Siegfried Line believes their squad will be sent home shortly.  Instead Sgt. Pike (Fess Parker) announces they are going back into battle. Before they do, they are joined by the surly Pvt. Reese (McQueen).  On the front, six of the men learn they will stay behind to divert the enemy while the bulk of the force is sent elsewhere.  This is truly hell.  Reese only makes it more hellish by trying to wage one-man warfare.  With Charles Coburn, Bobbie Darin, and Bob Newhart as other GIs.

[box] IMDb trivia: At one point, a columnist was visiting the set, and he mentioned to another observer that Steve McQueen seemed to be his own worst enemy. Co-star Bobby Darin overheard the comment and quickly replied, ‘Not while I’m around’.”[/box]

Don Siegel certainly knew how to direct action and the combat scenes here are solid despite some financial limitations.  The GIs conform to stereotypes that were born 20 years before but it’s kind of fun to see a cast that would carry us through the next 10-20 years do its stuff.  I particularly liked Newhart, though admittedly his routine does not fit in with the tone of the film as a whole.

The Dungeon of Harrow
Directed by Pat Boyette
Written by Pat Boyette and Henry Garcia
1962/USA
Herts-Lion International Corp.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Cassandra: You’re quite safe now. You’re in the castle of Count Lorente De Sade.[/box]

Writer/director Pat Boyette gives Ed Wood a run for his money in the bad movie department.

As the film begins, the dying Aaron Fallon bemoans the end of his line.  We segue into flashback.  Fallon and the captain are the only survivors of a shipwreck (which seems to have been staged in a bathtub).  They wash up on the island of the evil Count de Sade.  His companions all seem to be slaves with no hesitation to carry out his maniacal orders.  We eventually learn that there is a deadly secret locked up in the Count’s basement.

This movie is really terrible in all its aspects. The acting may be the worst part.  Some of the actors seem to have learned their lines phonetically.  The poor print and sound on the DVD I received did not help, though I strongly suspect that the quality may just reflect the original.  Is this bad enough to be enjoyable?  Just barely.

Clip – even the credits are terrible!

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Directed by Vincente Minnelli
Written by Robert Ardrey and John Gay from a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibañez
1962/USA/Mexico
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Moctezuma Films/Olallo Rubio
First viewing/YouTube rental

“Poor Humanity, crazed with fear, was fleeing in all directions on hearing the thundering pace of the Plague, War, Hunger and Death.” ― Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

This movie is just too darned long … and miscast.

I’m not familiar with the source novel or the 1921 original.  The film updates the story from WWI to WWII and presumably changes the plot in other ways as well.

The story begins in 1938.  Anyway, Grandpa Julio Madariaga (Lee J. Cobb) is a life-loving Argentine and the patriarch of a large family.  One of his daughters married Frenchman Marcelo Desnoyers (Charles Boyer) and bore playboy Julio (Glenn Ford) and idealist Chi Chi (Yvette Mimeaux).  The other daughter married German Karl von Hartrott (Paul Lukas) who bore Heinrich (Karl Böhm), an early Nazi supporter.  The Desnoyers end up moving back to Paris while the Hartrotts relocate to Germany.  It doesn’t take a genius to see where this is going.

Upon arrival in Pairs, Julio takes up a paintbrush but actually spends most of his time in the high life.  That is until he begins a tempestuous love affair with Marguerite Lanier (Ingrid Thulin), who is married to idealistic newspaper publisher Etienne Laurier (Paul Heinreid).  After France is invaded, Etienne is conveniently taken out of the picture by his activities for the French Resistance.  He is eventually imprisoned and released home.  Marguerite calls it quits and Julio is moved to join the Resistance himself.  And so on …

This movie is almost three hours long.  It could have been cut to two hours without sacrificing much but likely still would have been dull.  It was a major flop at the box office.

For me, one of the main problems was Glenn Ford.  The hero of the silent version was Rudolph Valentino.  By this point in his career, Ford was much too stodgy to play a dashing and romantic leading man.  I read that the director was keen on Alain Delon who would have been perfect in the part but was vetoed by the producers.

Trailer

Il Sorpasso  
Directed by Dino Risi
Written by Dino Risi, Ettore Scola, and Ruggero Maccarri
1962/Italy
Incei Film/Sancro Film/Fair Film
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Bruno Cortona: Put this one on. Its Modugno. Poetry doesn’t do much for me. I like music. This song’s really great. Mystical. Really gets you thinking. Ah, music. I really like Modugno. This song really drives me crazy. It seems so simple, but it’s got everything – – loneliness, inability to communicate, and that stuff that’s all the rage now – – alienation, like in Antonioni’s films. Did you see “L’eclisse”?

Roberto Mariani: Yes

Bruno Cortona: I fell asleep. Had a nice nap. Great director, Antonioni. I saw him in his Flaminia Zagato once. I couldn’t stop gawking.[/box]

This is sort of a road movie in which a free-spirited Roman braggart drives a shy law student around the city and its environs.  Your opinion of the film will likely depend on your opinion of the braggart.  I couldn’t stand him.

The story begin when Bruno Cortona (Vittorio Gassman) talks his way into the apartment of law student Roberto Mariani to make a phone call.  It is a major holiday and the streets of Rome are deserted.  Bruno is not able to reach the people he was supposed to catch up with so he suggests that Roberto accompany him.  Roberto had set aside the time for studying but allows himself to be persuaded.  At first the idea is that the two will share a meal.  But once Bruno has Roberto in his clutches he decides that he must stay for the whole adventure.

Bruno is one of the least considerate most irresponsible drivers in movies.  He delights in driving at high speeds and feels compelled to pass anyone in front of him.  He also enjoys making insulting remarks and chatting up women.  Slowly Robert comes to admire Bruno’s life style and begins to loosen up a little himself.

I think the filmmakers mean us to believe Bruno has an admirable spontaneity and freedom that Roberto if not ourselves should immulate.  I disliked him thoroughly.  The ending of this film comes out of nowhere. It didn’t make me like the movie any more than I had but it made sense.

Opening Credits

All Night Long
Directed by Basil Dearden
Written by Nel King and Paul Jarrico
1962/UK
The Rank Organization
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Johnnie Cousin: Me? Oh, I belong to that new minority group: white American jazz musicians. They’re going to hold a mass meeting in a phone booth. [laughs][/box]

Here’s a decent version of Othello with a modern twist.

The setting is the first anniversary celebration of the marriage of black jazz band leader Aurelius Rex and white singer Delia Lane.  Delia retired from singing when she married Rex.  Drummer Johnnie Cousin (Patrick McGoohan) is jealous of Rex and wants to start his own band.  He can get backing but only with the promise that Delia will return to sing with his band.  He doesn’t let his financier know that he has not been able make a deal with Delia though.

So Johnnie plots to break up her marriage by making Rex jealous of Delia’s relationship with Cass Michaels.  He resorts to some pretty underhanded means of doing this.  With Richard Attenborough as a wealthy fan and jazz greats Dave Brubeck and Charles Mingus in Rex’s band.

This was good if not great.  McGoohan makes an evil Iago and does well with an American accent.  Nice music throughout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoqZK-UzlpU

Trailer

Being Two Isn’t Easy (Watashi wa nisai)
Directed by Kon Ichikawa
Written by Natto Wada from a novel by Michio Matsuda
1962/Japan
Daiei Studios
First viewing/FilmStruck

[box] The fundamental job of a toddler is to rule the universe. Lawrence Kutner [/box]

This is a totally charming movie for baby lovers everywhere.

The film looks at the development of a baby boy named Taro from birth to his second birthday, with emphasis on his second year of life.  We hear Taro’s perspective but also see through the eyes of his parents and eventually his grandmother.  It’s mostly every day stuff with a couple of crises thrown in for dramatic effect.

You really wouldn’t expect this from Ichikawa whose previous films included The Burmese Harp and Fires on the Plain.  The director showed he also had mastered gentle comedy.  I was completely won over.  Recommended.