Category Archives: 1963

Love with the Proper Stranger
Directed by Robert Mulligan
Written by Arnold Schulman
1963/USA
Pakula/Mulligan; Boardwalk Productions; Rona
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Rocky Papasano: [about family] That’s what makes it rough – when they love you.[/box]

Could super-cool Steve McQueen be tender?  Why, yes he could!

Angie (Natalie Wood) is a salesclerk at Macy’s.  She is from a very traditional Italian family but is a bit rebellious.  A couple of months back, she had a brief fling with musician Rocky (McQueen) after a dance as an “experiment”.  The experiment left her pregnant and she now approaches Rocky asking him to find her a doctor to abort the child.  He does but neither can go through with it.

After a bit of persuasion from Angie’s brother, Rocky says he will marry Angie.  She isn’t interested in spending the rest of her life with an unwilling partner.  The outcome is inevitable.

I really liked this one.  It’s an off-beat romance for the era and the writing and acting are strong.  Wood is feisty and fiery in her role and I have never seen McQueen quite like this.  Recommended if the plot appeals.

Love with the Proper Stranger was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actress; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen; Best Art Direction – Set Decoration, Black-and-White; and Best Costume Design – Black-and-White.

Heavens Above!
Directed by John and Ray Boulting
Written by Frank Harvey and John Boulting
1963/UK
British Lion Film Corporation/Romulus Films/Charter Film Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] The Reverend John Smallwood: This town is full of people who *call* themselves Christians. But from what I’ve seen of it, I wouldn’t mind taking a bet there aren’t enough *real* Christians about to feed one decent lion.[/box]

This send-up of religion and modernity is black enough to satisfy fans of Luis Buñuel.

The setting is a one industry country town in England.  It’s source of prosperity is an over-the-counter medicine called Tranquilax – a three-in-one nostrum that acts as a sedative, pep pill and laxative.  The living of the Church of England vicarage has become vacant. The Bishop recommends a man named Smallwood.  Unfortunately, while he is away on vacation his staff appoints the wrong man.  At the time, this Smallwood (Peter Sellers) is chaplain of a prison where he is famous for being too chummy with the prisoners.

When he arrives, Smallwood scandalizes the upper crust by choosing a black assistant, taking in a family of welfare fraudsters, and by his pointed attacks on the general morals of his new parish.  Things change when he manages to convert the head of the Tranquilax family and she starts giving away her wealth to the “needy”.  Eventually, though, all Smallwood’s good intentions backfire.

Peter Sellers is excellent in an almost straight dramatic role.  Although the film is a black comedy, it succeeds on Sellers’ slightly daft sincerity.  This was a little too mean-spirited to captivate me but it is quite well-made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA5fvO21H6o

Clip – the reverend arrives

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Ieri oggi domani)
Directed by Vittorio de Sica
Written by Eduardo De Felippo, Cesare Zavattini, et al
1963/Italy/France
Compagnia Cinematografica Champion/Les Films Concordia
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] I am lucky. I had a very beautiful mother. – Sophia Loren[/box]

Three comic tales starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni are like a breath of fresh air!

The first story, “Adelina” has Loren as a illicit cigarette vender who is threatened with jail when she cannot pay a fine.  She and husband Mastroianni learn that she can stay out of the pokey as long as she is pregnant or nursing a baby.  This works for several years until hubby tires and is ready for a break.

“Anna” is the shortest of the three.  Here Loren is a fabulously wealthy married lady out to seduce Mastroianni while on a drive in her Rolls. Her scheme is interrupted by an accident.

As “Mara”, Loren is a high-class call-girl and Mastroianni her odd-ball but endearing sex-starved client.  She also catches the eye of a young seminarian and must take drastic action when he is tempted to renounce his vocation.

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this movie.  Mastroianni and Loren have fantastic chemistry and shine in all their very different roles.  She was perhaps at the height of her beauty here.  Warmly recommended.

Murder at the Gallop
Directed by George Pollock
Written by James P. Cavanagh based on a novel by Agatha Christie
1963/UK
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Miss Jane Marple: Don’t look so frightened, my dear. I’ve done my quota of murders for today.[/box]

Margaret Rutherford shines as Miss Marple in this fun murder mystery.

Miss Marple discovers that a stingy old recluse has been frightened to death by the sudden appearance of a black cat.  At the reading of the will, she finds that his relations all qualify nicely as prime suspects.  This leads her to spend a weekend at The Gallop, a riding establishment/inn run by nephew Hector Enderby (Robert Morley).  She ferrets out the killer amidst even more murder.  With Flora Robson as a paid companion

Rutherford maintains a ridiculous dignity as she does everything from dancing the twist to riding to hounds.  Morley is a whole lot of fun as well.  Good for a rainy, or dry, afternoon.

The V.I.P.s (1963)
Directed by Anthony Asquith
Written by Terence Rattigan
1963/UK
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/De Grunwald Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Frances Andros: I love you for what you are. Not what you think you are.[/box]

This was the lame melodrama I expected it to be.  I came for Margaret Rutherford, though, and she did not disappoint.

The setting is Heathrow Airport on a foggy morning.  It concerns people offered the hospitality of the airport’s VIP longue.  All are heading to New York and each has a private reason to absolutely require that the plane leaves on time.  Naturally, the plane cannot depart due to weather and they are forced to overnight at the airport hotel.

The principal story is a love triangle.  International beauty Frances Andros (Elizabeth Taylor) is leaving her tycoon husband Paul (Richard Burton) for playboy Marc Chamselle (Louis Jourdan).  Paul is not about to take this lying down.  We also have tractor maker Les Mangrum (Rod Taylor) who will lose his business in a take over if he cannot make good on a $150,000 check.  He is accompanied by the private secretary who is secretly in love with him (Maggie Smith).  With Margaret Rutherford as the dotty Duchess of Brighton, Orson Welles as a tax-dodging movie producer, and Elsa Martinelli as a starlet.

I have studiously avoided the movies from Liz Taylor’s black-eyeliner period that capitalize on her notorious love affair with Richard Burton.  This one met my expectations.  The screenplay is unbelievably soapy and I anticipated each of the plot developments by several minutes.  Rutherford is good fun though as is Orson Welles.

Margaret Rutherford won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

“X” (AKA X: The Man with the Xray Eyes)
Directed by Roger Corman
Written by Robert Dillon and Ray Russell
1963/USA
Alta Vista Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Dr. James Xavier: I’m blind to all but a tenth of the universe.

Dr. Sam Brant: My dear friend, only the gods see everything.

Dr. James Xavier: My dear doctor, I’m closing in on the gods.[/box]

I got much more than the cheesy fun I was expecting.

Dr. James Xavier (Ray Milland) is doing some sort of expensive research that his grant donors are questioning.  It turns out he is developing an eye drop that will increase man’s range of vision from 10% of the spectrum to perhaps all of it.  Naturally, he is his own guinea pig.  When the committee finds out what Xavier is up to, it pulls his funding.  Xavier goes back to the practice of medicine where his Xray vision gets him into trouble with less gifted colleagues.  He must flee.

Xavier ends up doing mind-reading at a carnival.  His promoter (Don Rickles) discovers that his mind-reading is real and tries to blackmail him to become a faith healer.  As the story progresses things get worse and worse for Xavier.  By the end, all he longs for is darkness.

This was one of Corman’s best films and Milland’s best performances to date.  It’s sort of a Frankenstein story where the mad scientist becomes his own pathetic creature. Recommended to fans of this sort of thing.

The DVD contains two excellent commentaries – one by Roger Corman and the other by a film historian.

The Old Dark House
Directed by William Castle
Written by Robert Dillon from the book by J.B. Priestley
1963/UK/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation/William Castle Productions/Hammer Films
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Agatha Femm: [Knitting] I capture time and space in my stitches. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I stopped.

Tom Penderel: Happen? To you?

Agatha Femm: No, no. To the world.[/box]

This lackluster horror spoof bears no comparison to James Whale’s great 1932 original.

American Tom Penderel must deliver a luxury car personally to eccentric Roderick Femm (Robert Morley) in England.  He accepts an invitation to visit the old dark house where his even more eccentric family lives.  Many mildly funny and/or scary hijinx ensue.  With Peter Bull as twins; Janette Scott as the “sane” one; and Joyce Grenfell as a knitter.

Despite the presence of some of my favorite British comic actors, this just didn’t work for me.  Watch the original and have a potato!

Muriel ou le temps d’un retour
Directed by Alain Resnais
Written by Jean Cayrol
1963/France/Italy
Argos Films/Alpha Productions/Les Films de la Pleiade/etc.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] “A clear conscience is the sure sign of a bad memory.” ― Mark Twain[/box]

A potentially haunting film about memory was marred for me by the dissonant music and constant cutting.

All of the principals are trying and failing to cope with painful past.  Helene Aughain (Delphine Seyrig) invites Alphonse Noyard to visit her in the seaside town of Boulogne.  He arrives with his beautiful young “niece” in tow.  Helene and Alphone were lovers during the War.  Their affair was tumultuous and both suffered from wartime trauma.  Helene lives with her stepson Bernard, who has been home for eight months after service in Algeria.  He may never recover from his involvement in the torture of a woman named Muriel.

Things don’t go well for anyone involved.

Just when you think you might be understanding the plot, Resnais starts frenetically cutting between random incidents in the day of the various characters.  This movie also features a lot of very irritating dissonant soprano opera singing.  I can understand why a lot of people like this film more than I do but I was more annoyed than anything else.