Monthly Archives: April 2020

The Cremator (1969)

Posted on April 12, 2020 | 2 comments

The Cremator (Spalovac mrtvol)
Directed by Juraj Herz
Written by Ladislav Fuks and Juraj Herz from a novel by Fuks
1969/Czechoslovakia
IMDb link
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Kopfrkingl: The flames, my sweet, will not hurt you.

Not a feel-good film but a unique and well-made one. I’ll settle for that during Lockdown.

The setting is Czechoslovakia in the weeks surrounding the Nazi occupation. Kopfrkingl is the director of a large crematorium. He is demented and believes that cremation sets the soul free to travel to heaven or some such nonsense. He is devoted to his half-Jewish wife and two children. He has several Jewish employees.

The cremator is surprisingly blase about the Occupation and soon attracts the attention of Nazis who are eager to recruit him to the Party. He does not let love or loyalty stand in his way.

I found this movie on the They Shoot Zombies, Don’t They? list and assumed it would be a horror film. The subject matter is macabre obviously and several cremations are shown. However, the style is very detatched and dreamlike and not conducive to actual scares.

There is some incredible showy use of the camera in this one along with a beautiful score. It is full of the wry Czech wit I have grown to love. It’s a subversive film and I’m not surprised that it was banned on release in 1969 and not shown in Czechoslovakia until after the Prague Spring. This goes immediately onto the short list for the Favorite New-to-Me Films of 2020. Recommended. If you like the trailer, you will likely love the movie

2 Comments

Posted in 1969

The Artist (2011)

Posted on April 10, 2020 | 10 comments

The Artist
Directed by Michel Hazanavicius
Written by Michel Hazanavicius
2011/France/Belgium/US
IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Doris: I’m unhappy.

George Valentin: So are millions of us.[/box]

I can’t think of a more perfect movie for these times. These enthusiastic young people wouldn’t let any mere virus get in the way of their dreams! And so we must hold onto ours.

The story takes place in Hollywood between 1927 and 1932 as the movies were transitioning from silents to talkies. George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a conceited silent film star of the Douglas Fairbanks, swashbuckling sort. He meets very cute with his biggest fan Peppy Miller (Berenice Bujo) who is trying to break into the business. His path crosses with Peppy’s several times as the story continues and there is an unmistakeable attraction at each meeting. George, however, is married to the long-suffering Doris, who hates everything about him but his money.

Studio head Al Zimmer (John Goodman) informs George that the studio is going strictly to talkies. He says audiences are looking for new faces. Peppy will be one of them as her star rises high.

But George refuses to speak. Instead he put every penny he has into a self-produced and directed jungle adventure. This bombs at the box office. His wife leaves him. He is reduced to living in a small apartment with his faithful driver Clifton (the wonderful James Cromwell). Things go downhill from there for George. I’ll stop there. With the ultra-talented Uggie as Jack, George’s dog.

I absolutely love this movie. It delighted me on original release and I had a grin slapped on my face for the entire running time yesterday. My plot summary does no justice to the very clever screenplay which takes situations from classic movies (Singin’ in the Rain; A Star Is Born) in a totally modern and unexpected direction.

Every element of this film is flawless in my opinion. The Artist is beautiful to look at and listen to. I entered another world as I got immersed in the story and characters. This is truly cinema. Most Highly Recommended.

Hollywood has always loved movies about itself. The Artist won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Picture; Best Director; Best Actor; Best Costume Design; and Best Music, Original Score. It was nominated in the categories of Best Supporting Actress (Bejo); Best Writing, Original Screenplay; Best Cinematography; Best Film Editing; and Best Art Direction.

10 Comments

Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, Lockdown Edition

Army of Shadows (1969)

Posted on April 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

Army of Shadows (L’armee des ombres)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
Written by Jean-Pierre Melville from a novel by Joseph Kesel
1969/France
IMDb link
First viewing/Criterion Channel

[box] Tagline: Betrayal. Loyalty. Collaboration. Resistance.[/box]

I love Melville and the actors in the great cast. The plot was a tad too convoluted and dialogue-free for this distracted soul during Lockdown.

The setting is WWII France. Philippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura) leads a cell of French Resistance fighters. He is denounced by a collaborator and interned in a concentration camp. His comrades, including the brave, tough Mathilde (Simone Signoret), help him escape from prison. It is now time for reprisals on the collaborator.

A bunch of other stuff happens, leading to the need to take action against a tortured colleague who squealed. Paul Meurisse plays the commandant of another cell.

The story captures the real life experiences of Melville and co-writer Kessel in the resistance during WWII. It has a beautiful score and some great performances. This is not much of a review but it will have to do for now.

For some reason, this movie was not released in the USA until 2006, when a restoration opened to great critical acclaim.

****************************

I also watched Top Hat (1935) which I have previously reviewed on this blog. What a treat! Beautiful art deco sets, elegance, romance, love, snappy banter, Eric Rhodes, Eric Blore, Edward Everett Horton, and of course Fred and Ginger dancing in such sublime partnership. Back when people weren’t afraid to dance cheek to cheek. Heaven!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILxo-TUkzOQ

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969)

Posted on April 5, 2020 | 7 comments

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
Directed by Sydney Pollock
Written by James Poe and Robert E. Thompson from a novel by Horace McCoy
1969/US
IMDb link
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Gloria Beatty: Maybe it’s just the whole world is like central casting. They got it all rigged before you ever show up.[/box]

A grueling and inhumane dance marathon stands in for all the misery of the Great Depression. Not ideal for Lockdown viewing but an excellent film with some great performances.

The film takes place at the height of the Great Depression. The story is told in flashback though I wasn’t really sure of this until the end. Desperate people crowd a dance hall to be contestants in a dance marathon in order to win the $1,500 prize, awarded to the last couple standing. There is a 10 minute break every two hours. The proceedings are orchestrated by heartless capitalist emcee Rocky (Gig Young).

We meet Gloria Beatty (Jane Fonda) a cynical, disillusioned young woman who is about at the end of her rope. When her own partner is ruled too sick to participate she pairs up with Robert (Michael Sarrazin). Glamorous Alice (Susannah York) and her partner dream of being scouted for Hollywood during the contest. The aging “Sailor” (Red Buttons) tries for the prize with his partner. Farmer James (Bruce Dern) struggles along with his young pregnant wife Ruby (Bonnie Bedalia).

The dance goes on for weeks. It is interrupted by cruel “Derbies” in which the exhausted contestants are forced to engage in a foot race to keep their spot. As the story goes on partners change several times. Sleep depravation drives several people mad.

There is not a ray of hope in this depressing film. Corruption, greed, exploitation, despair, misery, illness, and death combine in a kind of bad luck soup. Nonetheless, it was possible to admire the film’s several outstanding performances and its superb production values.

Gig Young won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. The film was nominated in the categories of Best Director; Best Actress (Fonda); Best Supporting Actress (York); Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; Best Costume Design; Best Film Editing; and Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation).

7 Comments

Posted in 1969, Lockdown Edition

Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

Posted on April 5, 2020 | 2 comments

Gold Diggers of 1933
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by Erwin Gelsey, James Seymour et al from a play by Avery Hopwood
1933/US
Warner Bros.
IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant

Trixie Lorraine: Isn’t there going to be any comedy in the show?

Barney Hopkins: Oh, plenty! The gay side, the hard-boiled side, the cynical and funny side of the depression! I’ll make ’em laugh at you starving to death, honey. It’ll be the funniest thing you ever did.

This movie captured my heart the first time I heard Ginger Rogers singing “We’re in the Money” in Pig Latin and I’m still loopy for it decades later. Memo to Hollywood: We need some feel-good escapist fare now as much as we did in the Great Depression. Pitch in!

When a Broadway show runs out of cash during the Great Depression, three chorus-girl roommates are left penniless. Polly Parker (Ruby Keeler) has fallen in love with songwriter Brad Roberts (Dick Powell) who lives across the way. Their luck turns when producer Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks) comes to them with a show about the Depression. Unfortunately he does not have the funds to put it on. But it turns out that Brad is the heir to a fortune and he becomes Barney’s “angel”, songwriter, and eventually leading man.

Brad’s brother J. Lawrence (Warren William) strongly objects to his involvement in show business and tries to prevent Brad’s marriage to Polly. Friend Fanuel H. Peabody (Guy Kibbee) believes all show girls are parasites and gold diggers. The other two roommates, Carol King (Joan Blondell) and Trixie Lorraine (Aline MacMahon), set about proving them wrong about Polly and snagging some wealthy men in the process. Fay Fortune (Ginger Rogers) tries to attract the men as well. With Billy Barty as a mischievous baby.

You don’t watch these things for the plot but for the extravagant Busby Berkley numbers and the snappy, naughty banter. I find this movie to be pure pre-Code bliss. This was my favorite film of 1933 back at the beginning of this blog.

Gold Diggers of 1933 was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound, Recording.

2 Comments

Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1933, Lockdown Edition, Pre-Code Reviews

A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

Posted on April 4, 2020 | 8 comments

A Fish Called Wanda
Directed by Charles Chrichton and John Cleese
Written by Charles Chrichton and John Cleese
1988/UK
IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Otto West: Apes don’t read philosophy.

Wanda: Yes they do, Otto. They just don’t understand it. Now let me correct you on a couple of things, OK? Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not “Every man for himself.” And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up.[/box]

I have a special fondness for this wickedly hilarious movie since I saw it on original release when I worked in London 1988-90. It made excellent comfort viewing for Lockdown.

As the movie begins, a gang of criminals is planning a jewel heist. These are mastermind George Thomason; his girlfriend the buxom, seductive, and distracting Wanda (Jamie Leigh Curtis); her assassin “brother” Otto (Kevin Kline) and the stuttering, animal-loving driver Ken (Michael Palen). The actual robbery goes off pretty well until George is identified by a little-old-lady witness and arrested. George is the only person who knows the location of the loot. George’s defense attorney is Archie Leach (John Cleese).

Ken is assigned to kill the eye witness. Unfortunately, she is only to be found while walking several very unlucky dogs. Wanda sets about seducing the very married Archie believing that George must have given him the location. Every attempt is thwarted by the insanely jealous Otto, Wanda’s outrageously stupid and impulsive lover. Who, if anyone, will end up with the loot?

I had forgotten how much I love this movie. The fantastic jokes and situations do not deserve to be spoiled. I absolutely cannot imaging a more perfect cast. Kline’s performance is one for the ages and certainly merited his Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Most highly recommended if you are in the mood for a good laugh.

The film was also nominated in the categories of Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.

The trailer made me laugh out loud all over again even though I just saw it yesterday

8 Comments

Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, Lockdown Edition

Fargo (1996)

Posted on April 3, 2020 | 4 comments

Fargo
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Written by Joel and Ethan Coen
1996/US
IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Marge Gunderson: [to Gaear] So, that was Mrs. Lundegaard on the floor in there. And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper. And those three people in Brainerd. And for what? For a little bit of money? There’s more to life than a little money, you know. Don’tcha know that? And here ya are, and it’s a beautiful day. Well. I just don’t understand it.[/box]

This outrageous, warm, wintry, black comedy/thriller has held up well through the years and made perfect Lockdown viewing.

The film takes place in Minnesota and North Dakota. Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) is an inept used car salesman and an even more inept crook. He is in a deep financial hole and his father-in-law (Harve Presnell), who owns the used car lot, hates him. As near as I can figure out Jerry has taken a big loan using non-existent cars as collateral and is about to face the music. So Jerry has the brilliant idea of having his wife kidnapped and getting himself out of his mess with a ransom to be paid by his father-in-law. He hires two unhinged and volatile kidnappers, the non-stop weirdo Carl Showalter (Steve Buschemi) and the silent but extremely violent Gaear Grimsrud).

The kidnapping takes place as per the plan but everything quickly goes to hell. And pregnant detective Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) is on the case.

I love this movie despite its sometimes gruesome violence. For me, it is the perfect blend of the amusing and bizarre wrapped up in an engaging police procedureal. Love those Minnesotan accents! And the relationship between Marge and her husband. And the two horrible kidnappers. And of course Macy and McDormand’s brilliant, hilarious performances. Highly recommended.

Frances McDormand won a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar and the Coen brothers won for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. The film was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Supporting Actor (Macy); Best Director; Best Cinematography; and Best Film Editing.