Monthly Archives: September 2018

The Great Race
Directed by Blake Edwards
Written by Arthur A. Ross from an original story by Ross and Blake Edwards
1965/USA
Warner Bros./Patricia/Jalem Productions/Reynard
First viewing?/Netflixrental

[box] Maggie DuBois: And because I consider myself sexually free and morally emancipated, I am still a responsible, discriminating woman who does not intend to jump into bed with the first wavy-haired, muscle-bound, egocentric male who thinks he can seduce me by agreeing with some of the things I believe in.[/box]

Any movie dedicated to “Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy” has set itself a high standard.  Not quite up there in my opinion.

On the lines of Around the World in 80 Days (1956), the story takes place in the late 19th/early 20th Century and concerns a race, this one proposed by hero The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) from New York to Paris by automobile.  His archrival, the dastardly Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon) takes up the challenge accompanied by his faithful assistant Max (Peter Falk).  Natalie Wood plays would-be journalist suffragette Maggie Dubois, who worms herself into one car and then the other to get an exclusive.

The remainder of the movie follows the participants’ comic adventures during the race. This is the kind of thing that culminates in a pie fight.  With Keenan Wynn as Curtis’ assistant.

This was 2 hours and 40 minutes of very broad comedy that I tired of after the first hour. The cast might have saved it but I thought both Wood and Lemmon, fine as they can  be, overdid it here.

The Great Race (1965) won the Academy Award for Best Effects, Sound Effects.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Cinematography, Color; Best Sound; Best Film Editing; and Best Music, Original Song (“The Sweetheart Tree”).

The Rabbit Is Me (Das Kanichen bin ich)
Directed by Kurt Maetzig
Written by Manfred Bieler and Kurt Maetzig from Bieler’s novel
1965/East Germany
Deutsch Film
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] “You see the mistakes of one system—the surveillance—and the mistakes of the other—the inequality—but there’s nothing you could have done in the one and nothing you can do now about the other. She laughs wryly. “And the clearer you see that, the worse you feel.” ― Anna Funder, Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall[/box]

During a brief period of thawing, this examination of corruption was produced in East Germany.  Well-made and acted film was then banned on release.

Teenager Maria Morzek is on a mission to get her brother freed on parole from his imprisonment for “subversive behavior”.  She refused to denounce her brother in school, was rejected by university, and now works as a waitress, a job in which she is constantly harrassed.  Coincidentally or not, she meets and is wooed by the married judge who sentenced her brother.

Story follows their relationship, Maria’s continuous efforts to get the judge to help her brother, and her coming of age.

I enjoyed this one.  For one thing, the young leading lady is excellent.  The dynamics of the relationship were fascinating.

No subtitles

King Rat
Directed by Bryan Forbes
Written by Bryan Forbes from a novel by James Clavell
1965/USA
Coleytown
Repeat viewing/AmazonInstant

Cpl. King: [while preparing meal] If you don’t want to eat it, you can sit and watch, it’s a free prison!

I remembered this being excellent from my first viewing years and years ago.  The rewatch confirmed my memory.

Cpl. King (George Segal) is one of the few Americans in a Japanese POW camp mostly occupied by British prisoners.  The thoroughly amoral King, better known as “King Rat”, is not only a skilled scavenger but a throughly corrupt opportunist and liar.  He is always freshly bathed, shaved, and uniformed.  The rest of the prisoners are basically starving to death.  Lt. Robin Grey (Tom Courtney) has vowed vengeance.

When King discovers upper-crust British Lt. Peter Marlowe (James Fox) speaks the local language, he decides to befriend him.  Marlowe is soon seduced by such delicacies as fresh eggs and begins translating for King. With  John Mills as the superior officer at camp, James Donald as the camp doctor, and Denholm Elliot as one of the prisoners.

I just love this movie.  The story is absorbing and the fantastic cast is at the  top of its game.  I haven’t seen all his work, but I am willing to bet this is Segal’s best performance. I liked the silent moments as much as the action.  Highly recommended.

Bernard Guffey was nominated for an Oscar for his stunning B&W cinematography.  King Rat was also nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White.

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Red Beard (Akahige)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Masato Ide, Hideo Oguni, Ryuzo Kikushima, and Akira Kurosawa
1965/Japan
Kurosawa Production Co./Toho Company
First viewing/FilmStruck

[box] Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: It smells like rotten fruit.

Genzo Tsugawa: It’s the smell of the poor.[/box]

Three hours was at least an hour too many for this underwhelming tale.

Dr. Noboru Yashimoto has dreams of becoming head physician to the shogun.  He is assigned for post-medical training to the non-profit clinic of Dr. Kyojio Niide (Toshiro Mifune) known by all as “Red Beard”.  Red Beard is gruff and demanding to his students but kind to his many poor patients.  Yashimoto is appalled by the rules and conditions of the clinic and is determined to leave.

Gradually, Yashimoto learns the value of a life of service.

Akira tells a quietly philosophical story without much action.  He certainly did not need 3 hours and 5 minutes to do it.  This is high-quality filmmaking and the acting is good but I never did get invested in it.

This was Kurosawa’s last black-and-white film and last collaboration with Mifune.

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The Love Goddesses
Directed by Saul J. Turrell
Written by Graeme Ferguson and Saul J. Turrell
1965/USA
Paramount Pictures/Walter Reade
Repeat viewing/FilmStruck

[box] [asked for her thoughts on Marilyn Monroe after Monroe’s death] A sex symbol is a heavy load to carry when one is tired, hurt and bewildered. – Clara Bow[/box]

Interesting look at female sex symbols between the silent era and 1965.

The history of sex in cinema is shown to be emblematic of the mores of various periods during the 20th century.  The film is filled with good clips from films with some beautiful movie stars.

Movie lovers of all stripes should enjoy this documentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEVe0C0CK4Q

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It Happened Here
Directed by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo
Written by Kevin Brownlow, Andrew Mollo et al
1965/UK
Rath Films
First viewing/YouTube

[box] Doctor Richard Fletcher: The appalling thing about fascism is that you’ve got to use fascist methods to get rid of it.[/box]

Interesting premise does not result in an interesting movie.

The year is 1947.  In the alternative history of this film, Britain was invaded and occupied by Germany following the retreat at Dunkirk.  By 1947, with the main German forces concentrated in fighting in the USSR, the UK is run by a small force of German soldiers and a large number of collaborators.  The U.S. has entered the war and supplied partisans in the West of England.  The population of this area is evacuated to London.

The story is centered on the experiences of a public health nurse who just wants to practice her profession without affiliating with either side.  This proves to be impossible. The movie ends with a pretty devastating twist.

I was looking forward to this one.  It could have been so much more than it was. Just kind of cold and tedious.

The Knack … and How to Get It
Directed by Richard Lester
Written by Charles Wood from a play by Ann Jellicoe
1965/USA
Woodfall Film Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] [of Tolen’s “rough play” with women] Tom: Just think of what you could do with a real whip, Tolen. A real whip.[/box]

“Comedy” about Swinging 60’s London was a major disappointment.

Plot is almost non-existent.  Colin (Michael Crawford) is a twenty-something virgin who lives with self-styled lady killer Tolen (Ray Brooks).  Colin would like lessons but never does seem to develop the knack.  Concurrently, naive young Nancy Jones (Rita Tushingham) has just arrived in London and is having trouble get directions from the YWCA.

I expected something better than this from Lester after his electric A Hard Day’s Night (1964).  Unfortunately, this has a lot of that film’s wackiness but none of its charm or laughs.  Toward the end there is a tongue-in-cheek section about Tushingham’s “rape” that is even less funny than the rest of the film.  Not recommended despite my love for Tushingham.

Ship of Fools
Directed by Stanley Kramer
Written by Abby Mann from a novel by Katherine Anne Porter
1965/USA
Stanley Kramer Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Bill Tenny: [Drunk] You know what I think?

Glocken: No.

Bill Tenny: I think you’re a sawed-off intellectual.[/box]

Omnibus story

The year is 1933.  The ship is German departing Mexico with a final destination of Bremerhaven, Germany.  The first-class passengers are of various nationalities, with a predominance of Germans.  Many Spanish sugar workers are being shipped back to Spain since sugar prices have dropped and live in deplorable conditions on an open deck. Dwarf Karl Glocken (Michael Dunn) addresses the audience and says that all the passengers are fools.  Can we recognize ourselves among them?

There are several stories being told simultaneously.  One involves a drug-addicted Countess (Simone Signoret) who is being sent to prison in Tenerife for defending workers on the plantation owned by her husband.  Oskar Werner is the ship’s doctor who treats and falls in love with her.  Vivien Leigh is an aging divorced socialite who makes a strange dinner partner for boozy ex-baseball player Lee Marvin.  Jose Ferrer plays an loud and obnoxious early Nazi party member.  Prejudice plays a major supporting role with the Jewish outcast being one of the most affable and positive member of the cast of characters and particularly touching.

Casts of thousands and many stories to keep track of are hard to pull off but I thought this worked surprisingly well.  It helped that the stars involved were all on the top of their game.  Recommended.

Ship of Fools won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Cinematography, Black-and-White and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White.  It was nominated for Best Picture; Best Actor (Werner); Best Actress (Signoret); Best Supporting Actor (Dunne); Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White.

Summer Children
Directed by James Bruner
Written by Norman Handelsman; original story by James Bruner
1965/USA
Robinette Productions
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] West: But everyone looks up to Franky.

Diana: Yes, but looking up to people can be a pain in the neck.[/box]

Trite story of young people boozing and screwing their way to and around Catalina Island on a yacht is lifted to the extraordinary by Vilmos Zsigmond’s stunning cinematography.

Three couples and a mystery deck hand set off on a sailing party to Catalina on West’s daddy’s yacht.  The hanky panky begins almost immediately.  One of the girls is not interested in this nonsense and is of course, the most desirable.  Franky, one of the boys, has musical beds in mind.  All this is accompanied by hard drinking.  The basic scenario does not change when the kids land on the island.  There we get some music and dancing to go with it.

An R-rated beach party movie without the beach.  Leering tone kind of left me feeling icky. But the cinematography is far better than it deserves.  The views of the yacht and the sparkling sea are spectacular.

Battle of the Bulge
Directed by Ken Annakin
Written by Philip Yordan, Milton Sperling, and John Melson
1965/USA
United States Pictures/Cinerama Productions Corp.
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Col. Martin Hessler: They have the fuel and planes to fly Cake over the Atlantic Ocean. Do you know what this means?[/box]

Building on the success of The Longest Day (1962), this movie is long on star power, explosions, and Cinerama moments and short on story.

By  its own admission, this is a “generalized” and “synthesized” version of the last German offensive of WWII.  Col. Hessler (Robert Shaw) is ordered to launch an all-out attack on American forces with his Panzer division.  He has only 50 hours before his tanks will run out of fuel.  In the meantime, intrepid surveillance officer Lt. Col. Dan Kiley (Henry Fonda) attempts to warn the brass of the impending battle but is not believed.  All hell breaks loose.  With Robert Ryan and Dana Andrews as Fonda’s superiors and Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas, and James MacArthur as soldiers.

This film was denounced by former President (and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during WW2) Eisenhower soon after its release in a press conference due to its glaring historical inaccuracies. For one thing, it completely omits the major role the British Army played in the fighting.  For another, it was shot on Spain in terrain vastly different than that encountered by the participants.

Leaving that aside, the film is almost three hours of footage in search of a story or compelling characters.  On the other hand, if you are in the mood for explosions and awesome Cinerama visions of approaching tanks you could do far worse.  Shaw’s performance as a hardened Nazi warrior is the highlight of the performances.