Fail-Safe
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by Walter Bernstein from a novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler
1964/USA
Columbia Pictures Incorporated
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Brigadier General Warren A. Black: We’ve got no alternative! This minute the Russians are watching their boards, trying to figure out what we’re up to. If we can’t convince them it’s an accident we’re trying to correct by any means, we’re going to have something on our hands that nobody bargained for, and only a lunatic wants![/box]

Something must have been in the water in 1964.  The public got not one but two apocalyptic thrillers.  Dr. Strangelove would earn the laurels but this somber take on the same subject is well worth seeing.

A group of heavy-hitters has gathered in Washington to discuss strategy in the event of nuclear war.  The issue for discussion is whether limited nuclear war is possible.  A real-life event out of central command in Nebraska looks to make a hypothetical scenario reality.  Due to a computer glitch, a squadron of bombers is sent beyond its fail-safe point and into Soviet airspace.

Level upon level of security makes it virtually possible to recall the bombers.  So the President (Henry Fonda) must convince his counterpart that the whole situation is an accident and the U.S. is willing to cooperate to bring its own bombers down.  Needless to say there are hawks in the Pentagon who disagree with this tactic.  With Walter Matthau as a Strangelove-like consultant and Larry Hagman as a translator.

The script is perhaps a bit preachy but Fonda keeps it grounded.  The spare black-and-white cinematography and the ambient noise “score” works perfectly.  Recommended.

The World of Henry Orient
Directed by George Roy Hill
Written by Nora Johnson and Nunnally Johnson from Nora Johnson’s novel
1964/USA
Pan Arts
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] [Describing the concept of “adventuring” to Gil] Valerie Boyd: I mean, like, jumping right out of your skin, and being absolutely somebody else. Not just pretending, but actually *being* somebody else. [/box]

I first saw this in the theater as a pre-teen.  This coming-of-age comedy holds up well into adulthood.

Thirteen-year-olds Marian Gilbert (Merrie Spaeth) and Valerie Boyd (Tippy Walker) are both new kids in school.  Marian lives with her single mother after the divorce of her parents. Valerie’s parents are together but usually MIA because the father travels a lot for business.The girls have a lot in common and they bond.  Soon they are having adventures all around New York.

They come across concert pianist Henry Orient (Peter Sellers) and Val develops a huge schoolgirl crush on him.  The girls soon are following him all over town, often interrupting an affair the conceited womanizer is attempting to start with a married woman (Paula Prentiss).  Matters come to a head when Val’s parents come home.  With Tom Bosley as Val’s father and Angela Lansbury as her mother from hell.

The young leading ladies had short careers but boy are they charming here.  The whole thing is a light, fun romp.  Peter Sellers is good but not the focus of the film.  I loved it after all these years.

Murder Ahoy
Directed by George Pollock
Written by David Pursall and George Seddon
1964/UK
Lawrence P. Bachmann Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Miss Marple: Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead, Mr. Stringer![/box]

The last of Margaret Rutherford’s four Miss Marple films is as fun as the first.

Miss Marple (Rutherford) finds herself on the Board of Trustees of a charity that rehabilitates wayward boys in seamanship on a historical merchant marine training vessel. At her very first board meeting, another of the trustees is murdered just as he was about to convey important information learned on a visit to the ship.  Naturally, Miss Marple installs herself there post haste and the murders begin to pile up.

This series has become like an old friend.  I am sorry it was so short.  The highlight of this one has Rutherford holding her own in a sword fight!

Pale Flower (Kawaita hana)
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda
Written by Masaru Baba and Masahiro Shinoda from a novel by Shintaro Ishihara
1964/Japan
Bungei Production Ninjin Club
First viewing/FilmStruck

I have long understood that losing always comes with the territory when you wander into the gambling business, just as getting crippled for life is an acceptable risk in the linebacker business. They both are extremely violent sports, and pain is part of the bargain. Buy the ticket, take the ride. Hunter S. Thompson

The style is is some of the most striking of the Japanese New Wave.

Gangster Muraki is released from prison and slowly makes his way back into the underworld where he has many friends.  While he is waiting for the action to heat up among shifting gang loyalties, he meets up with mysterious, beautiful compulsive gambler Saeko.  Muraki becomes obsessed with the strange girl and introduces her to higher stakes games.

Saeko clearly gets a sexual charge from gambling and other high risk sports such as speeding and heroin.  Muraki eventually gets hired as a hit man by one of the gangs and witnessing a murder may be Saeko’s greatest thrill yet.

Although the plot is extremely slight, the film is consistently fascinating to watch.  It’s a bit like Godard might be minus the inane dialogue and philosophy – an almost pure exercise in style.  On balance, I enjoyed this.

Dead Ringer
Directed by Paul Henreid
Written by Albert Beich and Oscar Millard from a story by Rian James
1964/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Edith Phillips: [as her wealthy identical twin sister Margaret inspects Edith’s dingy apartment, Edith says sarcastically to her] A dump?[/box]

Bette Davis never ever lost her acting chops.

Margaret De Lorca and Edith Phillips are identical twins (both played by Davis).  Margaret is a wealthy socialite and Edith owns a working-class saloon.  The sisters were estranged for 20 years after Margaret stole Edith’s man away from her.  They meet again at the husband’s funeral.  Margaret invites Edith home where Edie eventually learns that Margaret faked the pregnancy that caused Edie’s boyfriend to marry Margaret.  Infuriated, Edie lures Margaret to the saloon, murders her and switches identities.

It is not so easy for Edie to navigate a life as complicated as Margaret’s was.  Things get even worse when she meets up with Margaret’s caddish lover (Peter Lawford).  With Karl Malden as Edie’s policeman boyfriend.

There are some gruesome moments but basically this is less like Baby Jane and more like a throwback to some of Davis’s “women’s pictures” of the 40’s and 50’s.  She is very good in the dual roles, giving each sister a distinct personality and look.  There’s some fun in-jokes as well.  I loved all the stuff about smoking.

Point of Order!
Directed by Emile de Antonio
1964/USA
Point Films
First viewing/YouTube

[box] “Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?” – Joseph Welch, Counsel to the U.S. Army[/box]

IMDb Plot Summary:  Point of Order is compiled from TV footage of the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings, in which the Army accused Senator McCarthy of improperly pressuring the Army for special privileges for Private David Schine, formerly of McCarthy’s investigative staff. McCarthy accused the Army of holding Schine hostage to keep him from searching for Communists in the Army. These hearings resulted in McCarthy’s eventual censure for conduct unbecoming a senator.

The film is straight-forward edited footage without narration or commentary of any kind. Nevertheless, it is constructed to have maximum impact, causing this viewer to want to reach through the screen and strangle several people.  The battle between the oh-so-clever Joseph Welsh and the oh-so-venal Sen. McCarthy is mesmerizing.  Unfortunately, the senator was not the last politician to give the finger to the American people.  Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in thisl period in US history.

Exchange between McCarthy and Welch

The Pawnbroker
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by Morton S. Fine and David Friedkin from a novel by Edward Lewis Wallant
1964/USA
Landau Company/The Pawnbroker Company
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Sol Nazerman: I do not believe in God, or art, or science, or newspapers, or politics, or philosophy.

Jesus Ortiz: Then, Mr. Teacher, ain’t there nothing you do believe in?

Sol Nazerman: Money.[/box]

Rod Steiger gives a masterful performance as a Holocaust survivor who has almost succeeded in obliterating his emotions.

Sol Nazerman has emigrated to the United States after surviving confinement in a concentration camp during WWII.  He lives with some extended family members but apparently lost his entire immediate family in the Holocaust.  Nazerman makes ends meet in a skid row pawnshop where he strikes a hard bargain.  Many of his down and out clientele are lost souls who are looking for a sympathetic word as much as a loan but Nazerman is all business.  He also rejects the friendship offered by a kindly spinster (Geraldine Fitzgerald).

Nazerman acts as though he has more in common with the gangsters his shop fronts for. He also hands out hard-nosed business advice to his eager assistant Jesus.  None of these stratagems really works and the pawnbroker must eventually come to terms with his humanity.

Steiger is magnificent in this.  He avoids all his latent hamminess and turns in a subdued, moving performance.  This is the real reason to see the film.  I thought more could have been done with the story line to give it depth.

Rod Steiger was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar.

The Pawnbroker was the firstU.S. film to show a nude woman from the waist up and be granted a Production Code Seal, representing another step in the gradual dismantling of the Code.

Trailer – spoilers

Hidden themesong

Blood and Black Lace (6 donne per l’assassino)
Directed by Mario Bava
Written by Marcello Fondato, Giuseppe Barilla, and Mario Bava
1964/Italy/France/Monaco/West Germany
Emmepi Cinematographia/Les Productions Georges de Beauregard/Monachia Film
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Inspector Silvester: Perhaps the sight of beauty makes him lose control of himself, so he kills.[/box]

Can a slasher film be beautiful?  This one is.

The story takes place in and around an Italian high-fashion salon.  A mysterious figure kills the models one by one in search of the missing diary of one of them.  His signature is some gruesome disfigurement to the face of each victim.

My plot summary is short but so is the plot.  The victims are so alike as to be interchangeable.  There is a bit of mystery surrounding the identity of the killer but we are not asked to care too much.

It’s the way the women are killed that is outstanding,  Bava combines Hitchcockian technique with a stunning use of color to make each gruesome death memorable.  The score adds to the atmosphere.

Robinson Crusoe on Mars
Directed by Byron Haskin
Written by Ib Melchior and John C. Higgins from a novel by Daniel Defoe
1964/USA
Aubrey Schenck Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Draper: Friday, you’re gonna learn English if I have to sit on your chest for two months.[/box]

Just what you’d expect from the title and pretty fun to boot.

Two astronauts and a woolly monkey are orbiting Mars when a meteor forces them to eject from the spacecraft in pods and land.  One of the Astronauts dies but Kit Draper and the monkey survive.  Things look bleak at first but gradually the two find ways of surviving. Later man Friday in the form of an escaped space slave shows up.

This is good-looking Saturday matinee fare.  The poster and trailer stress scientific accuracy but fantasy prevails throughout.  The monkey was my favorite part.