Flickers in Time

Eye of the Devil
Directed by J. Lee Thompson
Written by Robin Estridge and Dennis Murphy from Estridge’s novel
1966/UK
Filmways Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] People tend to fear the ghosts in their own family. You feel these family curses and think, ‘If it happened to my father, it could happen to me.’ Christian Louboutin [/box]

I came for the awesome cast.  All I can say is the material let the actors down.

Marquis Philippe de Monfaucon (David Niven), his wife Catherine (Deborah Kerr), and two children live the good life.  Then Philippe is suddenly called away to the family vineyards, which are suffering the effects of a drought.  He bans Catherine and the kids from traveling with him.  She soon disobeys and joins him there.  We are introduced to two creepy siblings (David Hemmings and Sharon Tate) who appear to have supernatural powers.  Finally, we learn that the vineyard workers believe only a sacrifice of the Marquis will save their crops  More stuff happens.  With Donald Pleasance, Emlyn Williams, and Flora Robson.

A cardinal rule of the horror genre is that a long build-up must result in a big pay-off.  Dull movie ends with a wimper instead of a bang.

Tokyo Drifter (Tokyo nagaremono)
Directed by Seijun Suzuki
Written by Yasunori Kawauchi
1966/Japan
Nikkatsu
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Tetsuya ‘Phoenix Tetsu’ Hondo: A drifter needs no woman.[/box]

This film is a feast for the eyes.  Not so much for the mind or heart.

Tetsuya Hondo is the right hand man to yakusa boss Kurata.  He follows Kurata in an attempt to go straight.  A rival gang tries to muscle in on Kurata’s legitimate business and Hondo decides to become a drifter to take the heat off.

Naturally, this doesn’t work and we follow the gunshots as they follow Hondo throughout Japan.

If it weren’t for IMDb I don’t know if I could have explained the plot.  This is all style and no substance.  The use of color is amazing.  Suzuki keeps the mood playful rather than pretentious so it went down easily.

I lost track of how many times this song is performed in the film.  Easily in the two figures.

Grand Prix
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Written by Robert Alan Arthur
1966/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/John Frankenheimer Productions/etc.
First viewing/Netflix rental

Pete Aron: [voiceover continues] The only thing to do here is to drive just as fast as you know how, and hope your car doesn’t break.

If not for the splendid racing scenes, this would just be another waste of some good actors on 3 hours of typical mid-sixties melodrama.

The film begins with several voice-overs that introduce the characters and explain Formula 1 racing to the uninitiated.  It then settles on the story of American driver Pete Aron (James Garner) who is accused of causing a British challenger to spin out and become seriously injured.  He is fired from his team.   Aron becomes a sports journalist but is soon picked up by Izo Yamura (Toshiro Mifune) and drives for him.

Saul Bass title sequence

Pete takes up with the injured driver’s estranged wife (Jessica Walters), setting up a love triangle.  Another kind of love triangle is the romance between married super-star driver Jean-Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand) and an American fashion designer (Eva Marie Saint).

It says something about this movie that my husband, a huge Formula 1 fan, had no desire to see this again.  Some of the driving shots are absolutely spectacular and the film ends with an unbelievable crash sequence.  I just wish they hadn’t hung such a dopey story to it.

Grand Prix won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Sound, Best Film Editing, and Best Effects, Sound Effects .

Hunger (Sult)
Directed by Henning Carlsen
Written by Henning Carlsen and Peter Seeberg from a novel by Knut Hamson
1966/Denmark/Sweden/Norway
Sandrews/Studio ABC/Svenska Film Institutet
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Pontus: All is lost, ladies and gentlemen! All is lost![/box]

I have to be in the right mood to watch a man slowly starve to death while gradually losing his mind.  I was not but I have to admit that this is a high quality movie.

The year is 1890 and the setting is Christiana (now Oslo, Norway).  Pontus (Per Oscarsson) is a talented but struggling young writer. He is unemployed and hungry. Numerous efforts to find work are fruitless.  He loses his living quarters.  He wanders the city carrying his only possessions – the suit of clothes he has on, his glasses, and his bedding.  The pawnshop owner will not lend money on any of it.

Despite his desperate state, Pontus begins a mild flirtation with a young woman (Gunnel Lindblom) who responds in kind.  An editor says he will pay for a story if Pontus can make some minor edits.  Is it too late for our hero to find some meat in his misery sandwich?

This film has a lot in common with Vittorio De Sica’s Umberto D. in that the protagonist is not exactly sympathetic.  Pontus is so proud that he refuses all offers of help and basically seals his own fate.  This keeps the story from falling into easy sentimentality.  So does Oscarsson’s performance.  He manages to be pathetic, endearing, and infuriating all at the same time.  The camerawork is splendid.

Daimajin
Directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Written by Tetsuro Yushida
1966/Japan
Daiei Studios
First viewing/YouTube

[box] Tagline: Behind a Mask of Stone, the Fires of Vengeance Burn![/box]

Do not be mislead by false advertising.  This is basically a fairly decent samurai movie with some avenging giant statue action toward the very end.

The samurai lord of a peaceful village is killed by one of his own men.  A retainer manages to hide the slain man’s children in the tabu location where the Daimajin statue which is the god of the villagers dwells.  Ten years pass during which there is plenty more samurai action.  Things with the evil warlord who took over the village go from bad to worse.  The villagers pray to Daimajin for deliverance.

I really expected a giant monster movie going in.  What I got was something a cut above. The samurai action is actually pretty good and it looks like they spent some money and effort into making it.  Pleasant enough way to spend an afternoon,

no subtitles

Incubus
Directed by Leslie Stevens
Written Leslie Stevens
1966/US
Contempo III Productions/Daystar Productions
First viewing/YouTube
Listed in They Shoot Zombies, Don’t They

[box] Marc: I see the heart of darkness… the universe unfolding… taking my breath, my blood, my life… down below, below, below…[/box]

Here is your golden opportunity to watch William Shatner speak Esperanto.

The setting is an island populated primarily with demons and witches.  Witch Kia is tired of seducing wicked men to their doom and seeks a devout man to ruin.  This she finds in Marc (Shatner) who leads a simple life with his equally god-fearing sister.  Kia gradually falls in love with him, an emotion that gets her in trouble with others of her kind.

The movie drags with most of the 75 minute running time devoted to people wandering around an island and spouting bad dialogue in Esperanto.  It’s a novel concept but not enough to carry a movie.

How to Steal a Million
Directed by William Wyler
Written by Harry Kurnitz based on a story by George Bradshaw
1966/USA
World Wide Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Simon Dermott: There’s the bathroom, take off your clothes.

Nicole Bonnet: Are we planning the same sort of crime?[/box]

Fans of Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole should be entertained by this pleasant rom-com/caper movie.

The setting is modern day Paris.  Nicole Bonnet (Hepburn) comes from a long line of art forgers.  Her father Charles (Hugh Griffith) agrees to loan out a “Cellini Venus”, actually a statuette crafted by his father, to a prestigious art museum.  The authenticity of the object must be verified for insurance purposes.  When Nicole surprises burglar Peter O’Toole in her father’s apartment, she begins planning to take the heavily guarded Venus before it can be scrutinized.  No bonus points for guessing what else happens in the movie.

This is utterly predictable but so charmingly done that I didn’t mind.