Category Archives: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

The Barefoot Contessa
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
1954/USA
Figaro/Transoceanic Film
First viewing/Amazon Instant
#288 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Maria Vargas: In Hollywood, it is not easy to become a star.

Harry Dawes: Ah, where is it easy?[/box]

Mankiewicz takes a melodramatic look behind the “glamour” of show business through a cynical Cinderella story of a Spanish beauty who becomes a Hollywood star.  It’s watchable enough.

Writer-Director Harry Dawes (Humphrey Bogart) has fallen on hard times and has taken to working for egomaniac producer Kirk Edwards.  The two are in Europe scouting for a fresh face to star as leading lady in their new film.  They find her in gorgeous nightclub dancer Maria Vargas.  Despite her bearing and beauty, Maria is a simple sort who prefers going barefoot and has a turbulent home life.  With the help of Dawes and PR man Oscar Muldoon (Edmund O’Brien),  Maria’s film debut is a sensation and she is a star.

All Maria’s fame and beauty seem to do for her, however, is make her the prize in a tug-of-war between the men in her life.   Finally, it seems she may have found her Prince Charming in the form of handsome, wealthy Count Vincenzo Torlato-Favrini (Rossano Brazzi).  But life is not a fairy tale even for the rich and famous.  With Valentina Cortese, Warren Stevens, Elizabeth Sellars, and Marius Goring.

I thought this film dragged and could not really get too excited about Gardner’s fate.  The actors all seemed tired.  I might not have been in the right mood.

Edmund O’Brien won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor beating out three far superior performances in On the Waterfront.  Mankiewicz was nominated for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay.

Trailer

On the Waterfront
Directed by Elia Kazan
Written by Budd Schulberg based on his original story suggested by articles by Malcolm Johnson
1954/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation/Horizon Pictures
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#281 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Edie: I want you to stay away from me.

Terry: Edie, you love me… I want you to say it to me.

Edie: I didn’t say I didn’t love you. I said, “Stay away from me.”[/box]

Every few years a group of craftspeople and artists at the peak of their creativity come together at one time and place and create a movie.  This is one such movie.

Terry Malone (Marlon Brando) grew up among longshoremen on the waterfront.  His brother Charley (Rod Steiger) went to college and became a big shot in the extremely corrupt union run by boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb).  At one time, Johnny backed Terry in his career as a prize fighter.  Now Terry works as longshoreman, raises pigeons, and does the bidding of Johnny and Charley.  One day this involves luring a whistle-blower, Joey Doyle, to the roof, from which he is then pushed by Johnny’s henchmen.

Terry has very mixed feelings about his part in Joey’s murder, which are further complicated by his feelings for Joey’s sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint).  A local priest, Father Barry (Karl Malden), becomes radicalized and starts working to get Terry to testify against Johnny and his gang before a crime commission.  Terry is torn between loyalty to his roots and his developing conscience and love for Edie until the powerful climax of the story.

I hadn’t seen this one in awhile and was blown away yet again.  I think this is Marlon Brando’s greatest performance.  He balances sensitivity and explosive power brilliantly. Then we get some of the best character actors of the 50’s and 60’s at the top of their game.  The Criterion Collection Blu-Ray makes the fantastic cinematography shine.  If all this were not enough, Leonard Bernstein’s amazing score perfectly accompanies the action and emotion of the piece.  Most highly recommended.

On the Waterfront won Academy Awards for Best Picture; Best Actor; Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Saint); Best Director; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White; and Best Film Editing.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Cobb, Malden, and Steiger) and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comediy Picture.

Trailer

A Star Is Born
Directed by George Cukor
Written by Moss Hart; 1937 screenplay by Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell, and Robert Carson; story by Carson and William A. Wellman
1954/USA
Transcona Enterprises/Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#284 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Judge George J. Barnes: Were you Norman Maine the actor?[/box]

This is a fine musical melodrama but it’s not a movie I love.

Esther Blodgett (Judy Garland) is the singer with a band that is one of the opening acts at a benefit.  Norman Maine (James Mason), one of the featured stars, shows up roaring drunk and stumbles into her act.  Esther reacts like a trooper turning his appearance into a comedy spot.  Later that night, after he sobers up, Norman goes in search of Esther and finds her jamming with some other musicians at a closed club.  He recognizes star quality when he sees it and offers to bring Esther to the attention of Hollywood bigwigs.  Before he can do this, though, he is more or less shanghai’d off to a remote shooting location.

Esther has bought the dream though and does her best to get somewhere in Hollywood. She is renamed Vickie Lester in the process. When Norman returns, he gets her a plum part and her talent does the rest and makes her a major star.  Unfortunately, twenty years of heavy drinking and bad behavior have rendered Norman virtually unemployable.  Norman’s addiction plays havoc with his romance and marriage to Vickie.  With Jack Carson as a cynical PR man and Charles Bickford as a studio head.

This has some amazing numbers for Garland, particularly “The Man That Got Away”, and a great performance by Mason.  The rest of the numbers seem sort of shoe-horned into the melodrama but are quite OK. The jabs at Hollywood hypocrisy are effective.  I’m going to be in the minority, I know, in feeling like Garland goes way over the top in the final third of the movie.

This movie was a remake of A Star Is Born (1937) directed by William A. Wellman and starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March.  I prefer the story as a straight drama.  It was remade again in 1976 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson as a rock and roll melodrama.

A Star Is Born was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actress; Bess Actor; Best Art Decoration-Set Decoration, Color; Best Costume Design, Color; Best Music, Original Song (“The Man That Got Away”); and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.

Trailer

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Directed by Stanley Donen
Written by Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich and Dorothy Kingsley based on a story by Stephen Vincent Millay
1954/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#294 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Milly: Well, it wouldn’t hurt you to learn some manners, too.

Adam: What do I need manners for? I already got me a wife.[/box]

For us dance fans out there, this entertains despite the dated sexual politics and corn.

Adam Pontipee (Howard Keel) is the eldest of seven parentless brothers carving out a homestead in a remote region of the Orgeon territory.  The housekeeping and cooking isn’t exactly up to scratch, so he decides what they need is some wives.  Adam makes one of his rare visits to town for supplies and starts scouting prospects.  All the eligible ladies are already spoken for.  But, rather miraculously, Milly, the feisty cook at the local saloon takes a long look at the big galoot and decides to marry him on the spot.  After she gets used to the idea of living with seven illiterate ruffians, the marriage works out ok.

Milly begins to groom the other boys to win them wives as well.  They succeed in attracting some girls at a local barn-raising but courtship is not going so fast as they would wish.  Inspired by tales of the Sabine women, Adam decides to simply kidnap the lasses.  With Russ Tamblin as one of the boys and Julie Newmar as one of the brides.

The superb dancing and singing was enough for me to overlook any political incorrectness in this one.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers won an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Color; and Best Film Editing.

Clip – Barn-raising dance

La Strada
Directed by Federico Fellini
Written by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, and Ennio Flaiano
1954/Italy
Ponti-De Laurentis Cinematografia
Repeat viewing/My DVD collection
#282 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] The Fool: What a funny face! Are you a woman, really? Or an artichoke?[/box]

Federico Fellini and Giulietta Masina are a marriage made in heaven.

Zampano (Anthony Quinn) works as a traveling strongman.  His assistant, Rosa, has died under unexplained circumstances.  So he visits her impoverished family to deliver the news and get a replacement.  This is Gelsomina (Masina) a simple, innocent girl with a charming gift for comedy.  She proves to be a hit in the act, which otherwise consists solely of Zampano unimpressively breaking a chain with his chest muscles.  Zampano is an inarticulate lout who beds Gelsomina when the urge strikes and otherwise treats her like property.  She slowly gets used to her new circumstances but continues to long to go home.

About half-way through the story, the pair run into a circus that features a high-wire act by a performer known as The Fool (Richard Basehart).  The Fool and Zampano have some unexplained longstanding grudge that causes the Fool to taunt Zampano at every opportunity, to which Zampano can only react with his fists.  The Fool and Gelosomina become friendly.  When she questions the meaning of her existence, he suggests that perhaps it is to be there for Zampano because, after all, who else would do this.

Gelosomina is inspired by this advice but then has the rug pulled out from under her by the continued rivalry between the two men in her life.

I love this film and all the performances in it. Masina has one of the great faces of any actress ever and is totally captivating. One could fault the story for making her character a sort of martyr.  I prefer to see the tragedy as primarily Zampano’s.  The story is offering both him and Gelosomina meaning for their lives.  She takes the offer and he rejects it to his utter sorrow.

At any rate, I have no problem with the story.  Fellini tells it with vivid and unforgettable images accentuated by the haunting Nino Rota score.  On this viewing, however, I did questioned whether The Fool was more of a philosopher or a plain troublemaker in the scheme of things.  What I appreciate about these classics is that I can open them up again and again and find something new to think about.

La Strada won the first official Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.  It was nominated for Best Writing, Best Screenplay – Original.

American Trailer

Animal Farm
Directed by Joy Batchelor and John Halas
Written by Lothar Wolff, Borden Mace et al from the book by George Orwell
1954/UK
Halas & Batchelor
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#295 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] “No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?” ― George Orwell, Animal Farm[/box]

A little Disney-fication aside, this animated feature is a powerful rendering of the book.

Farmer Jones has become a drunken lout and is no longer properly caring for his animals. So one night they meet and under the chairmanship of the pig Old Major decide to revolt.  Their battle cry is “All animals are equal.” Sadly, Old Major dies before the revolution can take place.  Soon all the animals fight bravely for the cause and oust Farmer Jones.  At first, all, save the pigs, work very hard to make the farm thrive.

As time goes on, the pig Napoleon makes himself dictator.  Gradually, the principles of the revolution are abandoned in favor of a luxurious life for the pigs.  The animals soldier on, particularly the strong and loyal horse Boxer and his friend the donkey but can hardly surmount the mismanagement of the farm.  Things get worse and worse as the pigs begin to sell the farm goods to humans for their own benefit. Finally, poor Boxer is worked to death but from his demise comes the seeds of counter-revolution.

This has a few cute ducklings to appeal to the kiddies but otherwise pulls no punches in presenting Orwell’s allegory of Communist Russia.  There is a fair amount of onstage animated violence and death.  The animation is very well done and the score is great.  The ending was changed a bit from the book but otherwise it is a faithful retelling.  Recommended.

Trailer

Senso (The Wanton Contessa)
Directed by Lucino Visconti
Written by Suso Cecci D’Amico, Lucino Visconti from a novella by Camillo Boito
1954/Italy
Lux Film
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] “When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince[/box]

This film is almost as lushly beautiful as Visconti’s later classic The Leopard.  I was a bit distracted by my irritation with both of the lead characters, however.

The story takes place in Venice, Italy in 1866.  Venice is still ruled by the Hapsburg Empire but rebellion is running high and the Italian War of Unification was on the horizon.  We begin at the La Fenice opera house where Verdi’s patriotic opera Il Trovatore is playing. The audience uses the occasion to shout revolutionary slogans at the Austrian officers attending the show.  Lt. Franz Mahler (Farley Granger) insults patriot Roberto Ussoni, who challenges the Austrian to a duel.

Ussoni’s cousin is fellow patriot Countess Livia Serpieri (Alida Valli), whose husband has made peace with the Austrians.  She takes it on herself to see Mahler privately and beg him to not accept the challenge.  Mahler says the cousin will be arrested before any duel can take place.  The meeting makes Mahler bold and soon the two are having a passionate affair. This is evidently represents Livia’s sexual awakening.

But after a while Mahler stops showing up for their trysts.  She humiliates herself by calling at the quarters he shares with other Austrian officers but she has no success in learning his whereabouts.  Finally, with war openly declared, the Count moves his household to the countryside.

Just as mysteriously as he disappeared from Livia’s life, Mahler shows up at the estate. Then Livia’s real troubles begin.

This is one of Farley Granger’s better performances, actually, as he certainly inspired some emotion in me.  I disliked his character heartily almost from his very first appearance on screen.  I don’t want to give too much away here but I just could not understand why Valli’s character would be moved to any sacrifice for this louse.  I suppose every heart has its reasons.

The film is absolutely stunning both visually and aurally from the first moments.  Worth seeing.

Clip

Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Hideo Oguni
1954/USA
Toho Company
Repeat viewing/My DVD collection
#278 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Gisaku: Find hungry samurai.[/box]

Yes, there is a 3/12-hour film in which not one minute is wasted.

A simple farming village has been repeatedly attacked by bandits.  The bandits are simply waiting for the barley harvest to strike again.  Some of the villagers believe there must be a way to fight back and the village elder recommends samurai.  Since the villagers can offer their saviors nothing more than room and board, they have a very hard time finding takers.

One day, the villagers spot a samurai who selflessly cuts off his symbolic top-knot in order to pose as a monk and rescue a child who has been held hostage.  This is Kambei (Takashi Shimura) and he helps to recruit five other samurai who care more about adventure and camaraderie than money.  The roster is filled out with Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune), a wanna-be samurai who more or less cannot be shaken off.

The samurai do not receive a warm welcome in the village.  One villager, Manzo, forces his daughter to dress as a boy as protection.  But the ice is broken by Kikuchiyo who has a special bond with farmers.  The remainder of the first half is devoted to the training of the villagers and detailed planning of strategy for the eventual battle.  Certain villagers will be required to abandon three outlying houses for the good of the twenty houses in the main village.

The second half of the film is devoted to the long battle with the bandits.  We see both the samurai and the villagers in moments of waiting and moments of action.  Because of the long build-up, we know enough about the characters to fully appreciate their heroism and their sacrifice.

I simply love this film and seem to watch it about once a year.  By now, all the principal characters seem like old friends.  The plot sounds sort of simple but is packed full of telling incidents and great dialogue.  The skill in film-making is astonishing and reveals Kurosawa’s prodigious talent as an editor.  One of my favorite parts of the film is the fantastic score by Fumio Hayasaka.  Most highly recommended.

Seven Samurai was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White.

Trailer

Rear Window
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by John Michael Hayes based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich
1954/USA
Paramount Pictures/Patron, Inc.
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#274 of 100 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Lisa: I’m not much on rear window ethics.[/box]

It seems this movie is endlessly re-watchable.  It is one of my very favorite Hitchcock films.

Jeff Jeffries (James Stewart) is in a hip-high cast and wheelchair, having broken a leg while photographing a car race.  To fill the hours, he gazes into the apartments across the way from his and makes up little stories about the inhabitants in his head.  The monotony is occasionally broken by visits from insurance nurse (what happened to those?) Stella (Thelma Ritter) and girlfriend Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly).

Lisa is angling hard for a marriage proposal but Jeff is able to resist her considerable charms.  He believes the fashion model could not share the life of an active photo-journalist who is sent to hot spots all over the world.  The lives of the married couples across from him are also discouraging.

Over time, Jeff begins to suspect that a salesman (Raymond Burr) has murdered his invalid wife.  He pieces together a mountain of circumstantial evidence but has no actual proof. His detective buddy Tom Doyle (Wendell Corey) thinks he is making things up.  But, to his surprise, Lisa proves to be a brave and enthusiastic investigator.

How anyone could possibly resist Grace Kelly is beyond me.  This is surely her sexiest performance and Hitchcock caressingly photographs every ounce of her appeal.  But Stewart’s cold feet are key to the movie, which is as much about commitment phobia as anything else.  We also have the very ingenious sets to enjoy and some questions about voyeurism, Stewart’s and our own, to ask ourselves.  This time I actually almost felt sorry for Raymond Burr.  Anyway, I cannot think of a single thing I would change about this movie.  Very highly recommended.

Rear Window was nominated for Academy Awards in the following categories:  Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Color; and Best Sound, Recording.

Re-Release Trailer

The Band Wagon
Directed by Vicente Minnelli
Written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
1953/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing/from my DVD collection
#266 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Stagehand: You got more scenery in this show than there is in Yellowstone National Park![/box]

I have loved this movie for decades.  Yesterday’s viewing did nothing to change my opinion.

Tony Martin (Fred Astaire) is an aging dancer who has been called back to New York from Hollywood by his friends Lester Martin (Oscar Levant) and his wife Lily (Nanette Fabray) who have written a musical for him to star in. Lester and Lily are thrilled that Jeffrey Kordova (Jack Buchanan) is interested in directing the play.  Jeffrey is an obvious take off on the Orson Wells type who is directing three shows on Broadway while starring in one of them.

Jeffrey envisions the simple plot of Lester and Lily’s play about a children’s book writer as a modern-day version of the Faust legend.  He decides to get prima ballerina Gabrielle Gerard (Cyd Charisse) on board by engaging her boyfriend as choreographer.  Tony has grave misgivings about Jeffrey’s approach and thinks Gabrielle is too young and too tall to be his partner.  But Jeffrey has organized the money and Tony, Lester, and Lily are helpless to resist.

The musical moves into production.  Rehearsals are full of tension.  Jeffrey has loaded up the show with so many gimmicks and so much scenery that the out-of-town tryouts are a disaster.  But the show must go on and, with Tony at the helm, Lester and Lily’s original version is resurrected.

I have always thought the comedy in this film was almost equal to Singin’ in the Rain.  I just love Jack Buchanan who manages to play the egomaniac director to perfection while retaining the ability to do a mean soft shoe.  The fund-raising scene is hilarious.  You are going to get a lot of dancing in a musical with Fred Astaire and I think it is well-incorporated into the plot.  Recommended.

The Band Wagon was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of: Best Writing, Story and Screenplay; Best Costume Design, Color; and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.

Trailer

Fred Astaire and Jack Buchanan doing the soft shoe