Monthly Archives: March 2019

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,

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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.

The Taking of Power by Louis XIV (La prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV)
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Written by Philippe Erlanger, Jean Gruaut, and Roberto Rossellini
1966/France
Office de Radiodiffusion Television Francaise
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there. L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between[/box]

Rossellini embraces the bizarre in his historical TV drama.

The year is 1661.  Louis XIV, who had been France’s king since he was 4, is an awkward dowdy young man.  The death of trusted Cardinal Mazin creates a power vacuum that allows Louis to rule as well as reign.  He reveals a heretofore unrecognized ability as a strategic thinker.

Louis plan was to keep the nobility in debt, the merchants in profit, the poor working and fed and the peasants untaxed.  The stratagem led to the building of Versailles where Louis expected all nobles to gather and adopt an outrageously expensive lifestyle set by himself. We watch as he becomes the Sun King,

Jean-Marie Patte, who plays Louis, was an amateur actor who appears gauche and ill at ease in his fine feathers throughout the film.  This and the over-the-top setting lends a feeling of heightened reality far from the usual historical drama.  I liked it.

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Alfie
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
Written by Bill Naughton based on his play
1966/UK
Lewis Gilbert/Sheldrake Films
Repeat viewing/Amazon instant

[box] Alfie: My understanding of women only goes as far as the pleasure. When it comes to the pain I’m like any other bloke – I don’t want to know. [/box]

It’s all about Michael Caine.

Alfie (Caine) is a drop-dead gorgeous rotter with an eye for the vulnerable woman.  He keeps them on steady rotation.  When he impregnates his live-in lover, he begins to experience true love for another human being – his son.  But his girlfriend wants something better for the boy.  This leaves a tiny hole in Alfie’s heart.

Alfie’s womanizing goes more out of control.  He comes down with TB and reaches his nadir.  Finally, a rich American cougar (Shelley Winters) teaches Alfie a lesson.  With Millicent Martin, Julia Foster, Jane Asher, and Vivien Merchant as some of Alfie’s women, Eleanor Braun as a doctor, and Denholm Elliot as an abortionist.

I vividly remember seeing this in the theater for 50 cents with a girlfriend as a teenager. Loved it then, have watched it multiple times over the years, and love it now.  Michael Caine absolutely makes this movie.

Alfie received Academy Award nominations in the categories of Best Picture; Best Actor; Best Supporting Actress (Merchant); Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; and Best Music, Original Song.

7 Women
Directed by John Ford
Written by Janet Green and John McCormick from a short story by Norah Lofts
1966/USA
Bernard Smith Productions/JohnFordProductions/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/YouTube rental

[box] Dr. D.R. Cartwright: What you all need is a good stiff… drink.[/box]

Ironic that John Ford’s swan song is Far Eastern rather than Old Western – and with a largely female cast at that.

The setting is 1935 China.  American women serve as lay missionaries.  Their leader is Agatha Andrews (Margaret Leighton).  She is a ramrod strict taskmaster who in her off hours obviously lusts after sweet young Emma (Sue Lyon).  The lone man is weak, nervous  Charles Pether (Eddie Albert).  His hysterical middle aged pregnant wife Florry (Betty Field) is waiting anxiously along with the entire mission for the services of a doctor.  She comes in the fierce, free-spirited form of D.R. Cartwright (Anne Bancroft).

Warlord Tunga Kahn (Mike Mazurki) starts to pillage the countryside.  The Americans are joined by women from the British mission.  Finally, Tunga Kahn pays a visit with dramatic consequences.  With Flora Robson, Mildred Dunnock , and Anna Lee as other missionaries and Woody Strode as a Mongol (!).

According to the ad campaign, the seven women represent the seven deadly sins but I sure didn’t get that out of the movie.  It’s a competently made melodrama with the chance to watch some favorite old-timers mingle in the New Hollywood.  Sad to see the last of John Ford on this particular journey.

Amazing that Hollywood continued to use yellow face this late in the game.

A Big Hand for the Little Lady
Directed by Fielder Cook
Written by Sidney Carroll
1966/USA
Eden Productions Inc.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Dennis Wilcox: Now look, mister, the first rule of the game of poker, whether you’re playing eastern or western rules, or the kind they play at the North Pole, is put up or shut up![/box]

A fine ensemble cast ensures an enjoyable movie despite the underwhelming plot payoff.

The setting is the Old West.  The richest men in the territory save up all year for one high stakes poker game.  They are in the midst of this when farmer Meredith (Henry Fonda) and his wife Mary (Joanne Woodward) show up with their little boy looking for a room in the hotel/saloon.  Meredith is evidently a compulsive gambler and is attracted to the game as a fly to honey. As per the title, Mary ends up having to play his hand.  With Charles Bickford in his last role, Jason Robards, Kevin McCarthy, Burgess Meredith, John Qualen, and Paul Ford.

It’s an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours for sure.  I think with a little tweaking the movie could have been really memorable.  No way to discuss further without spoilers.

Fahrenheit 451
Directed by Francois Truffaut
Written by Francois Truffaut And Jean-Louis Richard from a novel by Ray Bradbury
1966/UK
Anglo Enterprises/Vineyard Film Ltd.
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] The Captain: Robinson Crusoe, the Negroes didn’t like that because of his man, Friday. And Nietzsche, Nietzsche, the Jews didn’t like Nietzsche. Here’s a book about lung cancer. You see, all the cigarette smokers got into a panic, so for everybody’s peace of mind, we burn it.[/box]

Francois Truffaut’s first and only English-language film seems even more relevant in the age of political correctness.

It is sometime in the near future.  Montag (Oskar Werner) is a fireman. which in this time and place means that he burns things – mostly books.  Montag is married to Linda (Julie Christie) who spends all her time glued to reality shows on their widescreen TV.  She is completely brain-washed.  After one of his jobs, Montag meets free-spirited schoolteacher Clarisse (also Julie Christie) and becomes intrigued with the books he is burning.

Can love and literature survive in a world dominated by Big Brother?  With Cyril Cusak as the head of the fire brigade.

Fahrenheit 451 was required reading in my youth.  So much so that I’m not sure whether I’ve seen the movie before or was just reminded of the book.  It is visually stunning but I think Truffaut was better suited to more delicate, personal material.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9iyKI2pJbE

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The Pornographers (1966) (Erogotoshi-tachi yori: Jinruigaku nyumon)
Directed by Shohei Imamura
Written by Shohei Imamura and Koji Numata from a novel by Akiyuki Nosaka
1966/Japan
Imamura Productions/Nikkatsu
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box]on his friendships with prostitutes and bar hostesses] They weren’t educated and they were vulgar and lusty, but they were also strongly affectionate and they instinctively confronted all their own sufferings. I grew to admire them enormously. — Shohei Imamura [/box]

Another Imamura film that went over my head.

Mr. Ogata tries to keep his pornography business afloat while battling mobsters who want to claim a share of the profits.  On top of that he has a problematic domestic life to attend to with invalid wife, mistress, step-son and sexy step-daughter.

This film uses pornography more as a metaphor for modern consumerism than anything else.  Any examples are very discrete with minimal nudity.   I think this is the fourth Imamura movie I’ve seen.  It is probably the most accessible of those.  As usual, I got lost in the convoluted plot and self-consciously arty style about a quarter of the way through and never regained interest..

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