Monthly Archives: June 2018

King and Country
Directed by Joseph Losey
Written by Evan Jones from a stage play by John Wilson
1964/USA
B.H.E. Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Captain Midgley: A proper court is concerned with law. It’s a bit amateur to plead for justice.[/box]

With a line up like Joseph Losey, Dirk Bogarde, and Tom Courtney, I couldn’t resist.  This anti-war film does not disappoint.

The setting is the trenches of WWI in France.  Foot soldier Private Arthur James Hamp (Courtney) can’t stand another day of the mud, shooting, and hardship and simply starts walking toward home.  He is apprehended after several days and court-martialed.  The penalty for desertion is death.  Captain Hargreaves is assigned as “soldier’s friend” to defend him but holds out little hope of prevailing.

Between some powerful courtroom scenes we experience the day-to-day misery in the trenches and plenty of gallows humor from those bearing up better than poor Hamp.

I liked this a lot.  Bogarde and Courtney are superb.  The film effectively uses still photos from the Imperial War Museum to show the horrors of the war.  Recommended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1CZZJkyTaY

Clip

Nothing But a Man
Directed by Michael Roemer
Written by Michael Roemer and Robert Young
1964/USA
DuArt Film and Video/Nothing But a Man Company
First viewing/Netflix rental

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.— Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963

Powerful film about one man’s struggle to keep his dignity combined with a tender, real love story.

Duff Anderson (Ivan Dixon) has a well-paying job maintaining railroad tracks.  This keeps him on the move throughout the American South.  One day he meets Josie, a preacher’s daughter, at a church service.  Though Duff is not religious and has a fairly low opinion of women, he asks Josie out.  Her family disapproves but Josie sees something special in Duff and they fall in love and marry.  The marriage ends Duff’s employment with the railway.

Duff soon has another job but constantly bristles at degrading treatment from white foremen and co-workers.  He is eventually fired for being an organizer and trouble maker.  Thereafter he is unsuccessful in finding work or keeping it long.  A baby is on the way and his relationship with Josie grows strained.  Duff’s encounter with his estranged father and his own illegitimate son provokes a crisis.

I loved this film which goes straight on to my Favorite New-to-Me Films of 2018 list.  The examination of racism is thoughtful and the romance is beautiful and realistic.  Really a well-made film and highly recommended.

Intentions of Murder (Akai satsui)
Directed by Shohei Imamura
Written by Keiji Hasebe and Shohei Imamura; story by Shinji Fujiwara
1964/Japan
Nikkatsu
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] I am interested in the relationship of the lower part of the human body and the lower part of the social structure on which the reality of daily Japanese life obstinately supports itself. — Shohei Imamura[/box]

Two and a half hours of misery was too much for me no matter how interestingly shot.

Sadako Takahashi is a plump housewife and mother of a six-year-old.  Her mother-in-law and husband treat her like a servant.  In fact, she has never been listed in the family register and thus is not legally either a wife or mother.  One day, Hiraoko breaks into the house while she is alone and robs and rapes her.  She tells no one and decides the only way out is suicide.  She is unsuccessful.

Things get worse as Hiraoko keeps coming back for more.  He eventually declares his love but she resists.  After some time, Sadako falls pregnant.  She is unsure of the identity of the father as her husband also has joyless sex with her regularly.  This leads to more thoughts of suicide and/or murder.  In the meantime, her husband’s mistress is spying on her encounters with Hiraoko with a camera.  The ending came as a surprise to me.

This film is strikingly shot with some unforgettable images.  There is a dream sequence in which Sadako is pushed off a train and goes flying into space that is incredible.  In fact, many sequences straddle the line between imagination and reality.  I think I missed a lot.  I will never get a chance to fully analyze the film though, because I can’t see ever watching it again.

Clip – no subtitles but the camera work alone is worth seeing

Black Sun (Kuroi Taiyo)
Directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara
Written Tesei Kono and Nobuo Yamada
1964/USA
Nikkatsu
First viewing/FilmStruck

[box] I’m a spade, you’re an ofay. Let’s play. – Louis Armstrong[/box]

This is just the kind of movie I hate.  Some good jazz on the soundtrack though.

Young Japanese weirdo Akira is obsessed with jazz and all things African-American.  He is squatting in a ruined Christian church which is about to be demolished surrounded by his many albums and pictures of black musicians.  One day, a black GI, Gil,  is fleeing the police after having killed another soldier with a machine gun.  Badly wounded, he picks Akira’s digs to hide out in.

Things do not go well.  Neither speaks the other’s language.  And Gil badly disappoints his host by failing to play jazz or be interested in anything other than his own predicament.   Things spin farther and farther out-of-control.

Well, at the least this gives you a glimpse into Japanese racial stereotypes.  That is if you assume anything in this movie is rooted in reality.  I think ithat might be an unsafe assumption. It’s like the director was given money and told he could do whatever he wanted. So he went wild and not in a good way.  There is that gorgeous soundtrack though.

Castle of Blood (Danza macabra)
Directed by Sergio Corbucci and Antonio Magheriti
Written by Sergio Corbucci and Giovanni Grimaldi from a story by Edgar Allen Poe
1964/Italy/France
Giovanni Addessi Produzione Cinematografica/Ulysse Productions/Vulsinia Films
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Julia: Your blood will be our life![/box]

OK Italian Gothic horror film could possibly have been improved with color.

It’s the old story.  A writer makes a bet that he can survive the night of All Hallow’s Eve in a spooky old castle.  Naturally, there are ghosts galore.  This being an Italian film of its era, plenty of them are scantily clad women.  The writer develops a special relationship with Elisabeth (Barbara Steele) who seems to offer him guidance.

This may have suffered from the dubbing.  At times we have straight English dubbing and at other times the English actor’s voice is superimposed on French dialogue. It is also the kind of thing that absolutely cries out for color.  Those skin tones and gore are what make the movie.  Of course Barbara Steele is alway watchable.