Daily Archives: November 28, 2016

Look Back in Anger
Directed by Tony Richardson
Written by Nigel Kneale and John Osborne from Osborne’s play
1959/UK
Orion/Woodfall Film Productions
Repeat viewing/FilmStruck

[box] Alison Porter: [on bears and squirrels] Its sort of a silly symphony for people who can’t bear the pain of being human any longer.[/box]

Jimmy Porter was the first of Britain’s Angry Young Men.  In Richard Burton’s hands, he comes off less as a rebel and more as an abusive jerk.

Jimmy Porter is a university graduate but runs a sweets stall in the local open market.  The only person in the world he does not look down upon is ‘Ma’ Tanner (Edith Evans), the caring elderly Cockney who set him up in business.  He has nothing but contempt for authority, the upper middle classes, the middle classes, conventional morality, and most especially for his upper-crust wife Alison (Mary Ure) and her friends and family.  He lives in squalor with Alison and his buddy Cliff.  He spends most of his time there raging at Alison for her origins, though sometimes his abuse grows more physical.  In rare moments, we can see how sexually passionate the couple is.  Jimmy plays the trumpet, loudly, anytime he feels particularly angry or sexy.

The gentle Alison is at the end of her rope and then discovers she is pregnant.  She invites Helena (Claire Bloom), a stage actress and old friend to stay so she will have someone to talk to.  Jimmy and Helena hate each other.  Helena convinces Alison to go home to her parents to await the baby.  On the other hand, Helena has no intention of leaving the flat.  With Donald Pleasence as a really unpleasant market inspector.

This story only really works if the viewer can find some kind of sympathy for Jimmy as a kind of confused lost youth trying to make his way through a messed-up world.  Unfortunately, the 35-year-old Burton seems to be so inflexible that you can’t even believe you could play the jazz trumpet.  He is so much in command he comes off as just a bully and the many fights are painful to watch.

The film does have some high spots.  One of them is the touching, pitch-perfect performance of Edith Evans.  Another is Tony Richardson’s use of the camera.  The scenes in the market in particular reveal a New-Wave style freedom that is pretty great.

American Trailer

Corridors of Blood
Directed by Robert Day
Written by Jean Scott Rogers
1959/UK
Amalgamated Productions/Producers Associates
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Resurrection Joe: He died peaceful, governor.[/box]

Boris Karloff brings class to a late role.  This is also notable for co-starring two famous Frankenstein monsters, Karloff and Christopher Lee.

It is 1840 and London is mired in Dickensian squalor.  Dr. Bolton (Karloff) is a famous surgeon, altruist, and researchers.  His most valued asset is the speed with which he can finish his operations.  This is because his patients must be strapped down and held by several strong men due to the excruciating pain involved.  In the evenings, Bolton experiments with various gases he believes may become useful as anesthetics.  Unfortunately, all of his experiments are performed on himself.

Bolton also spends one day a week attending to charity patients.  He gets called out to a bawdy house called Seven Inns and tricked into signing a death certificate.  Resurrection Joe (Lee) had previously dispatched the patient and does a thriving business selling corpses for dissection.

Bolton finally thinks he is ready to demonstrate a pain-free procedure using nitrous oxide. His patient goes berserk in the operating theater and his reputation is badly damaged. Undeterred, Bolton starts experimenting with stronger and stronger mixtures, now containing opiates,  His concoctions send him into dreamlike states that always seem to lead him back to the Seven Inns.  Worse, he becomes an addict and his hands aren’t as steady as they once were.

This has a little bit of everything – gruesome surgeries, mad scientists, body snatchers, and Jeckyll and Hyde.  It was filmed on the MGM lot and the production values are quite good.  Lee is interesting as the affable, soft-spoken villain.  Karloff had this well-intentioned but ultimately doomed scientist nailed by his 69th year.

IMDb had this listed as 1959 when i put it on my list.  Now it is shown by most sources as being a 1959 film.  The Criterion Collection DVD has an interesting commentary by the producer and a horror film expert.

Trailer