Merrill’s Marauders Directed by Samuel Fuller Written by Samuel Fuller and Milton Sperling 1962/USA Warner Bros./United States Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Bannister: Do you know what I’m going to do after the war? I’m going to get married and have six kids. Then I’m going to line them up and tell them what Burma was like. And if they don’t cry, I’ll beat the hell out of them.[/box]
This may be one of Sam Fuller’s least Fuller-esque pictures.
This is based on the true story of an infantry unit that battled the Japanese in Burma. Brig. Gen. Frank D. Merrill (Jeff Chandler) is given one impossible task after another. All the grunts want to do is go home. By the end, all they want is something to eat.
This is OK but is basically combat and explosions, only sporadically interrupted by story and dialogue.
Merrill’s Maraudes was Chandler’s last film. He died at age 42 of blood poisoning shortly after production ended.
L’Eclisse Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni Written by Michelangelo Antonioni and Tonino Guerra 1962/Italy/France Cineriz/Interopa Film/Paris Film
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] Piero: I feel like I’m in a foreign country.
Vittoria: Funny. That’s how I feel around you.[/box]
In which the “modern” dilemma seems to be an inability to articulate one’s reasons.
The setting is Rome. As the story begins, Vittoria (Monica Vitti) is attempting to break up with her fiance Ricardo. The scene is absolutely packed with pregnant pauses as Vittoria is determined to leave but cannot explain the necessity for doing so. She only knows it is over. She goes to the stock market to announce her decision to her mother, an investor, but mom is caught up in the frenzied buying and selling and Vittoria sadly cannot get through to her. Here we briefly meet Piero (Alain Delon), the mother’s broker, who is also totally obsessed with the game. Vittoria later fails to get any comfort from her girlfriends.
At lose ends, Vittoria allows Piero to pursue her. Brief surrender to a love affair with the materialist can hardly satisfy her restlessness.
Using mostly non-verbal cues Antonioni perfectly captures the disgust and confusion of a chic young woman. The process is interesting and beautiful but the film left me with an empty feeling and I doubt I will be watching it again.
The Trial Directed by Orson Welles Written by Orson Welles; adapted by Pierre Cholot from the novel by Franz Kafka 1962/France/West Germany/Italy Paris-Europa Productions/Hisa-Film/Finaciaria Cinematografica Italia
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Hastler: Do you think you can persuade the court that you’re not responsible by reason of lunacy?
Joseph K.: I think that’s what the court wants me to believe. Yes, that’s the conspiracy: to persuade us all that the whole world is crazy, formless, meaningless, absurd. That’s the dirty game. So I’ve lost my case. What of it? You, you’re losing too. It’s all lost, lost. So what? Does that sentence the entire universe to lunacy?[/box]
How did I wait so long to see one of Orson Welles’ best movies and one of Anthony Perkins’ great performances?
The “plot” takes the shape and logic of a nightmare. As the movie begins, detectives burst into Joseph K’s (Perkins) room and arrest him. They refuse to reveal the charges. K spends the rest of the film trying to discover what he is supposedly guilty of and to defend himself against a fathomless system seemingly bent on convicting – perhaps killing – him.
Along the way K. encounters a number of women, many of whom seem ready to bed him, but none of whom offer any comfort. The first of these is K’s boarding house neighbor played by Jeanne Moreau. Eventually K. finds himself a defense attorney named Hastler (Welles). But his advocate seems to be as out to get him as his prosecutors.
This is a gorgeous film and Perkins is brilliant in it. I think Welles captures Kafka’s story as well as anyone could have. It is both a condemnation of the legal system and a despairing reflection on man’s life here below. Recommended.
Mutiny on the Bounty Directed by Lewis Milestone Written by Charles Lederer from the novel by Charles Norhoff and James Norman Hall 1962/USA Arcola Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Fletcher Christian: [to Captain Bligh] You remarkable pig. You can thank whatever pig god you pray to that you haven’t turned me into a murderer.[/box]
Give me the Clark Gable-Charles Laughton version any day.
The story should be familiar to most of my readers. The HMS Bounty sets sail for Tahiti to collect breadfruit plants for cultivation as a food staple in the Caribbean colonies under the sadistic Captain Bligh (Trevor Howard). His second in command is the (in this version) effete Mr. Fletcher Christian (Marlon Brando). At first, Christian turns a blind eye to the Bligh’s cruel treatment and brutal punishment of the crew.
After a horrible voyage, including near sinking when Bligh tries to round Cape Horn, officers and crew spend an idyllic couple of months in Tahiti while collecting breadfruit plants. Christian has a love affair with the daughter of the chief.
On the return voyage, Bligh decides to ration water to the breadfruit rather than the men and the crew is moved to mutiny. Christian finally is spurred to action. He spares Bligh, who vows vengeance as he departs with some loyal crew on a long boat. The rest of the film covers the mutineers’ careers as international fugitives from justice. With Richard Harris as the most vocal of the mutineers.
This movie is over three hours long and I watched it in two parts over consecutive days. It dragged badly for me. I though it could have been improved by losing over half an hour of its running time. The second problem for me was Marlon Brando’s performance. Christian is supposed to be the hero and Brando’s prissy take on his character made him quite unappealing. Give me back my Clark Gable! Trevor Howard is very good and even less likeable than Charles Laughton in the same role.
Mutiny on the Bounty was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Picture; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Film Editing; Best Effects, Special Effects; Best Music, Original Song (“Love Song from Mutiny on the Bounty” (Follow Me)); and Best Music, Score – Substantially Original.
Pressure Point Directed by Hubert Cornfield Written by Hubert Cornfield and S. Lee Pogostin from a short story by Robert M. Lindner 1962/USA Stanley Kramer Productions
First viewing/Amazon Prime
[box] Doctor: For although psychopaths are a small minority, it seems significant that whenever organized and militant hate exist a psychopath is the leader, and if, for instance, one hundred disgruntled and frustrated individuals fall in line behind one psychopath then, in essence, we are concerned with the actions of one hundred and one psychopaths.[/box]
I don’t know what is more heavy-handed in this movie, the race relations part or the Freudian psychology part.
The story is framed by a conversation between a grey-haired prison head of psychiatry, known only in the movie as “Doctor” (Sidney Portier) and a young psychiatrist played by Peter Falk. The young psychiatrist wants to quit treating a severely racist black inmate. The Doctor talks him out of this by relating the story of his treatment of a severely racist white inmate, known in the movie only as “Patient” (Bobby Darin), twenty years before.
The rest of the story explores the relationship between the Doctor and Patient, with copious flashbacks via hypnosis sequences and otherwise of the Patient’s sad childhood and psychopathic youth and adulthood. These include the Patient’s ardent support of the German-American Bund, a pre-war White Supremacist organization. There are plenty of racist tirades as well.
Stanley Kramer was a vocal supporter of many liberal causes, all of which I endorse. However, I have found that he usually drives his points home with the subtlety of a jackhammer. This movie was no exception. In fact, it was the most irritating of those I have seen to date. I seem to disagree with the raters on IMDb on this so your mileage may vary.
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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