The Courtship of Eddie’s Father
Directed by Vincente Minnelli
Written by John Gay based on a novel by Mark Toby
1963/USA
Euterpe/Venice Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Mrs. Livingston: Why, there’s women who would marry you this very minute for the equipment you have in this apartment.[/box]

Decent people treat each other decently in this charming romantic comedy.  I loved it.

Tom Corbett (Glenn Ford) and his son Eddie (Ronny Howard) are just returning to work and school following the death of their wife and mother.  Both are still pretty shell-shocked.   But gradually Eddie starts thinking about potential step-mothers and Tom is ready to begin dating.

Unfortunately, Tom and Eddie have very different ideas about suitable marriage material. Eddie loves next-door-neighbor Elizabeth (Shirley Jones) while Tom’s heart has been claimed by career-girl socialite Rita (Dina Merrill).  With Stella Stevens as a ditzy red-head and Jerry Van Dyke as a horny radio host.

Unlike so many 1963 movies, this one is full of heart.  I call it a romantic comedy but more than that it is about the relationship between the man and his son.  Ron Howard is pitch-perfect as the precocious yet lovable boy.  I don’t think the movie could have been made without him.  All the ladies are divine.  I didn’t know Stevens was such a good comedienne.  Recommended.

The DVD contains an excellent commentary by Jones, Merrill and Stevens.

The Day Mars Invaded Earth 
Directed by Maury Dexter
Written by Harry Spalding
!963/USA
Associated Producers
First viewing/YouTube

[box] Dr. David Fielding: It’s not every day we make a successful landing on Mars.[/box]

This was a solid little sci-fi story but the execution could have been improved.

Dr. David Fielding is the heart of the U.S. Mars program.  It has managed to land a probe on the planet, which transmitted for only six minutes.  Amid his busy day, Spencer begins to feel and act peculiar.  He goes to California for the weekend to reunite with his wife, who is becoming estranged from him, and two children.  Things are tense at first but soon the whole family must pull together to combat similar strange attacks and eventually sightings of doppelgängers.

It’s a nifty plot, a bit reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode, and the acting is pretty good. The ending is quite satisfying.  On the other hand, the whole thing is subject to a shaking, swaying camera.  I’m sure that at least some of this was meant to indicate the presence of aliens or something but it was very off-putting as was the jerky editing.  It was nice to see Marie Windsor – still Queen of the Bs in 1963!

Trailer – spoilers

Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! (Kutabare akutô-domo – Tantei jimusho 23)
Directed by Seijun Suzuki
Written by Iwao Yamakazi from a book by Haruhiko Oyabu
1963/Japan
Nikkatsu
First viewing/Amazon Instant

“Why make a movie about something one understands completely? I make movies about things I do not understand, but wish to.” – Seijun Suzuki

Director Seijun Suzuki’s gonzo style of filmmaking is really beginning to grow on me.

In this one, private detective Hideo Tajima (Jo Shishido) volunteers to infiltrate a gang of black marketeers.  He must be constantly on his guard as the gang boss suspects a spy.  Tajima will need all his wits and gun power to bring the gang to justice.

How could I pass up a movie with a title like this one? Shishido, who had plastic surgery to give himself chipmunk cheeks (!), is weird and super-cool at the same time.  He also proves himself to be a fair singer and dancer in one scene where he joins an ex-girlfriend’s nightclub act to avoid detection.  The whole thing is accompanied by an infectious jazz score.  The violence felt less real to me than in previous outings and I really enjoyed the film.

Clip

Diary of a Madman
Directed by Reginald Le Borg
Written by Robert E. Kent from a story by Guy de Mauspassant
1963/USA
Robert E. Kent Productions
First viewing/YouTube

[box] Title Card: “… the vulture has eaten the pigeon; the wolf has eaten the lamb; the lion has devoured the sharp-tongued buffalo; man has killed the lion with an arrow, with spear, with gun-powder; but the *”Horla”* will make of man what man has made of the horse and of the ox; His chattel, His slave, and His food, but the mere power of His will. Woe to us!”… Guy de Maupassant[/box]

This film with its invisible Horla definitely does not live up to the hype on the poster.

Magistrate Simon Cordier (Vincent Price) is well-known for his compassion and fairness.  Unfortunately, he rejects the pleas of a prisoner, who happens to be possessed by a murderous Horla, to escape the guillotine.  The Horla leaves the prisoner’s corpse for the magistrate’s body.  The magistrate is left to be his unwilling but helpless instrument of death.

Price is always good but this horror films suffers from a distinct lack of scares.  If you were to look at it as a psychological study, which I did not, it would probably fare better.

Love with the Proper Stranger
Directed by Robert Mulligan
Written by Arnold Schulman
1963/USA
Pakula/Mulligan; Boardwalk Productions; Rona
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Rocky Papasano: [about family] That’s what makes it rough – when they love you.[/box]

Could super-cool Steve McQueen be tender?  Why, yes he could!

Angie (Natalie Wood) is a salesclerk at Macy’s.  She is from a very traditional Italian family but is a bit rebellious.  A couple of months back, she had a brief fling with musician Rocky (McQueen) after a dance as an “experiment”.  The experiment left her pregnant and she now approaches Rocky asking him to find her a doctor to abort the child.  He does but neither can go through with it.

After a bit of persuasion from Angie’s brother, Rocky says he will marry Angie.  She isn’t interested in spending the rest of her life with an unwilling partner.  The outcome is inevitable.

I really liked this one.  It’s an off-beat romance for the era and the writing and acting are strong.  Wood is feisty and fiery in her role and I have never seen McQueen quite like this.  Recommended if the plot appeals.

Love with the Proper Stranger was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actress; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen; Best Art Direction – Set Decoration, Black-and-White; and Best Costume Design – Black-and-White.

Heavens Above!
Directed by John and Ray Boulting
Written by Frank Harvey and John Boulting
1963/UK
British Lion Film Corporation/Romulus Films/Charter Film Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] The Reverend John Smallwood: This town is full of people who *call* themselves Christians. But from what I’ve seen of it, I wouldn’t mind taking a bet there aren’t enough *real* Christians about to feed one decent lion.[/box]

This send-up of religion and modernity is black enough to satisfy fans of Luis Buñuel.

The setting is a one industry country town in England.  It’s source of prosperity is an over-the-counter medicine called Tranquilax – a three-in-one nostrum that acts as a sedative, pep pill and laxative.  The living of the Church of England vicarage has become vacant. The Bishop recommends a man named Smallwood.  Unfortunately, while he is away on vacation his staff appoints the wrong man.  At the time, this Smallwood (Peter Sellers) is chaplain of a prison where he is famous for being too chummy with the prisoners.

When he arrives, Smallwood scandalizes the upper crust by choosing a black assistant, taking in a family of welfare fraudsters, and by his pointed attacks on the general morals of his new parish.  Things change when he manages to convert the head of the Tranquilax family and she starts giving away her wealth to the “needy”.  Eventually, though, all Smallwood’s good intentions backfire.

Peter Sellers is excellent in an almost straight dramatic role.  Although the film is a black comedy, it succeeds on Sellers’ slightly daft sincerity.  This was a little too mean-spirited to captivate me but it is quite well-made.

Clip – the reverend arrives

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Ieri oggi domani)
Directed by Vittorio de Sica
Written by Eduardo De Felippo, Cesare Zavattini, et al
1963/Italy/France
Compagnia Cinematografica Champion/Les Films Concordia
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] I am lucky. I had a very beautiful mother. – Sophia Loren[/box]

Three comic tales starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni are like a breath of fresh air!

The first story, “Adelina” has Loren as a illicit cigarette vender who is threatened with jail when she cannot pay a fine.  She and husband Mastroianni learn that she can stay out of the pokey as long as she is pregnant or nursing a baby.  This works for several years until hubby tires and is ready for a break.

“Anna” is the shortest of the three.  Here Loren is a fabulously wealthy married lady out to seduce Mastroianni while on a drive in her Rolls. Her scheme is interrupted by an accident.

As “Mara”, Loren is a high-class call-girl and Mastroianni her odd-ball but endearing sex-starved client.  She also catches the eye of a young seminarian and must take drastic action when he is tempted to renounce his vocation.

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this movie.  Mastroianni and Loren have fantastic chemistry and shine in all their very different roles.  She was perhaps at the height of her beauty here.  Warmly recommended.

Murder at the Gallop
Directed by George Pollock
Written by James P. Cavanagh based on a novel by Agatha Christie
1963/UK
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Miss Jane Marple: Don’t look so frightened, my dear. I’ve done my quota of murders for today.[/box]

Margaret Rutherford shines as Miss Marple in this fun murder mystery.

Miss Marple discovers that a stingy old recluse has been frightened to death by the sudden appearance of a black cat.  At the reading of the will, she finds that his relations all qualify nicely as prime suspects.  This leads her to spend a weekend at The Gallop, a riding establishment/inn run by nephew Hector Enderby (Robert Morley).  She ferrets out the killer amidst even more murder.  With Flora Robson as a paid companion

Rutherford maintains a ridiculous dignity as she does everything from dancing the twist to riding to hounds.  Morley is a whole lot of fun as well.  Good for a rainy, or dry, afternoon.

The V.I.P.s (1963)
Directed by Anthony Asquith
Written by Terence Rattigan
1963/UK
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/De Grunwald Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Frances Andros: I love you for what you are. Not what you think you are.[/box]

This was the lame melodrama I expected it to be.  I came for Margaret Rutherford, though, and she did not disappoint.

The setting is Heathrow Airport on a foggy morning.  It concerns people offered the hospitality of the airport’s VIP longue.  All are heading to New York and each has a private reason to absolutely require that the plane leaves on time.  Naturally, the plane cannot depart due to weather and they are forced to overnight at the airport hotel.

The principal story is a love triangle.  International beauty Frances Andros (Elizabeth Taylor) is leaving her tycoon husband Paul (Richard Burton) for playboy Marc Chamselle (Louis Jourdan).  Paul is not about to take this lying down.  We also have tractor maker Les Mangrum (Rod Taylor) who will lose his business in a take over if he cannot make good on a $150,000 check.  He is accompanied by the private secretary who is secretly in love with him (Maggie Smith).  With Margaret Rutherford as the dotty Duchess of Brighton, Orson Welles as a tax-dodging movie producer, and Elsa Martinelli as a starlet.

I have studiously avoided the movies from Liz Taylor’s black-eyeliner period that capitalize on her notorious love affair with Richard Burton.  This one met my expectations.  The screenplay is unbelievably soapy and I anticipated each of the plot developments by several minutes.  Rutherford is good fun though as is Orson Welles.

Margaret Rutherford won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.