Daily Archives: November 1, 2016

The Nun’s Story
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Written by Robert Anderson from a book by Kathryn Hulme
1959/USA
Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Rev. Mother Emmanuel: Do good, then disappear.[/box]

A stand-out Audrey Hepburn performance is only one of the highlights of this beautifully shot and thoughtful film.

Gabrielle van der Mal (Hepburn) is the highly intelligent daughter of a prosperous and famous research physician.  She has been assisting him in the lab and is an accomplished nurse.  As the film opens, she is preparing to become a nun in a nursing sisterhood.  One senses that her calling has more to do with nursing in the Congo than with a religious vocation.  Her father (Dean Jagger) doubts that his daughter has the selflessness to keep vows of obedience.

Sure enough, Gabrielle struggles from the outset with the order’s Rule, which requires inner and outer silence, sacrifice and humility.  She tries her utmost and eventually takes the name Sister Luke and permanent vows as a Bride of Christ. After several frustrating years, she is sent to Africa where she thrives in a less restrictive environment.  But the onset of war presents yet more challenges.  With Peter Finch as a surgeon; Edith Evans as the mother superior; Peggy Ashcroft, Mildred Dunnock and Beatrice Straight as nuns; and Dolleen Dewhurst as a mental patient.

The initial sequences of Gabrielle’s initiation into convent life have always rather terrified me.  They are shot in a very severe and off-putting way.   I can’t imagine being strong enough or humble enough to withstand the discipline of this particular order.

I think the film might have benefitted by more of an emphasis on faith and love, but maybe that is not the point.  There is an appealing feminist strain in this story, which examines the plight of a woman whose drive and talents really have no place in either the outside world or the convent.  The performances are all great and the color cinematography is stunning. Recommended.

The Nun’s Story was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of:  Best Picture; Best Actress; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Sound; Best Film Editing; and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

Trailer

The Ghost of Yotsuya (Tôkaidô Yotsuya kaidan)
Directed by Nobuo Nakagawa
Written by Masayoshi Onuki and Yoshihiro Ishikawa from a play by Nanboku Tsuruya
1959/Japan
Shintoho Film Distribution Committee
First viewing/Hulu

[box] No ghost was ever seen by two pair of eyes. Thomas Carlyle [/box]

This gory ghost story turned out to be perfect for Halloween.

This is from an oft-filmed legend.  A greedy ronin and his sidekick murder a wealthy man who refuses to allow the men to marry his daughters.  The men trick the women into marrying them by vowing vengeance against fictitious culprits.  The ronin’s gentle wife Iwa grows to truly love him and bears him a son.  But the ronin’s greed and cruelty know no bounds and he spots a more profitable marriage prospect.

The ronin resorts to murder via a disfiguring poison.  He tries to set up an acquaintance for the crime but ultimately murders him as well.  Both victims take horrifying revenge from the grave. Buckets of blood ensue.

It takes some time for this film to get going.  When it does, it boasts some truly scary and graphic special effects.  The whole thing is beautifully shot in vivid color.  Recommended if the subject appeals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH0qXzVaO48

Fan trailer

The Giant Gila Monster
Directed by Ray Kellogg
Written by Jay Simms; original story by Ray Kellogg
1959/USA
Hollywood Pictures Corporation
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] Tag Line: Only Hell could breed such an enormous beast. Only God could destroy it![/box]

Sometimes bad rock and roll, hot rodders, and a giant lizard aren’t enough …

Despite his love for his crippled sister and entrepreneurship, tow truck operator Chase Winstead is considered by some to be the local bad boy,  So the town’s big wheel blames him when his son and son’s girlfriend go missing.  Turns out the real culprit is a slow-moving pink and black gila monster whose mere presence causes trains to derail.  Chase goes to the rescue, in between souping up cars and belting out “rock” classics like “Laugh Little Children”.

One would have thought that B movie makers would have giant creature effects down to a fine art by 1959.  Here we had some particularly lazy ones that concentrated on close ups of an actual lizard.  There are a couple of scenes in which we see the creature with fake looking miniatures.  The rest of the movie is an ultra-lame teen flick of the era. I watch some of these so you don’t have to.

Trailer