Category Archives: 1958

Dunkirk
Directed by Leslie Norman
Written by David Divine and W.P. Lipscomb from a novel by Trevor Dudley Smith and a book by Ewan Butler and J.S. Bradford
1958/UK/USA
Ealing Studios
First viewing/YouTube rental

[box] Merchant Seaman: It may be a phoney war to you, but it’s not to all the blokes at sea. Never has been.[/box]

This war history was the kind of excellent “sleeper” I am always hoping for.

This is a dramatization of the events surrounding the evacuation of over 300,000 British and Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk.  We follow three different stories.  The briefest is press conferences and official conversations following the fate of the British army.  We also focus on the home front.  Bernard Lee plays a concerned citizen and Richard Attenborough plays a man who is more concerned with his wife and new baby than what he thinks of as a phony war.  Both of these men are boat owners who will have to decide whether to put their vessels on the line.

The major drama comes from a small group of soldiers who have been separated from their company and must desperately try to cross enemy lines in an attempt to rejoin their comrades.  John Mills is a corporal who must keep them moving.

This was just my cup of tea.  It is the kind of moving historical drama that the British were so good at.  The story is equal parts action and pathos.  Richard Attenborough is becoming one of my favorite actors but the rest are no slouches either.

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I Bury the Living
Directed by Albert Band
Written by Louis Garfinkle
1958/USA
Maxim Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Robert Kraft: Andy, you better get this straight right now. You heard that lieutenant. It’s possible for some people to have things inside them that make other things happen. Nothing is impossible for a man like that, if he thinks about it hard enough.[/box]

This is predictable but of fairly high quality for a B horror flick.

Robert Kraft (Richard Boone) is on the management committee of a conglomerate.  One of the business’s concerns is the local mortuary and cemetery.  The committee members take turns managing that business.  Despite Kraft’s considerable objections, it is now his turn to take over.  One of his first actions is to give the elderly caretaker, Andy McKee (Theodore Bikkel), retirement on full pay for his forty years of faithful service.

In the office is a detailed map of all the grave sites.  Black pins mark “occupied” plots while plots with white pins have been purchased.  Kraft discovers that when he accidentally replaces a white pin with a black pin the plot owner dies.  Kraft is driven almost insane as the death toll mounts.

I figured out the ending about 10 minutes into the movie and then it was just a matter of waiting.  Despite this there were actually a few moments of mild scares en route.  This is better acted and produced than most such fare.  Bikkel gives it his all with the Scottish accent.

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God’s Little Acre
Directed by Anthony Mann
Written by Ben Maddow (uncredited)/Philip Yordan (front) from a novel by Erskine Caldwell
1958/USA
Security Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Ty Ty Walden: Lord, give me the strength to spread out my arms to the ends of my fields. Let me fill up the holes, make the land smooth. You spared my sons, and I’ll never dig another hole again. Except to… to plant seeds for things to grow.[/box]

1958 seems to be Hollywood’s year for Southern Disfunction.  Unfortunately, despite my beloved Robert Ryan and director Mann, this does not rise to the top of its genre.

Ty Ty Walden (Ryan) is a backwoodsy type ex-cotton farmer with a large family of lusty adult children.  His dying grandfather told him there was gold buried on the place and for the last 15 years he and his boys have spent their time in non-stop digging on the property. The only place free of enormous holes is “God’s Little Acre”, a small plot he has dedicated to the church.  Since he conducts no economic activity besides digging, he is little danger of having to make a donation.

The plot is full of all kinds of incidents but mostly concerns the romantic and sexual shenanigans of the kids.  Primarily of these is a love triangle concerning the continuing lust between daughter-in-law Griselda (Tina Louise) and son-in-law Will (Aldo Ray) and the consternation of both their spouses.  With Buddy Hackett as the suitor of TyTy’s youngest daughter, Rex Ingram as a loyal retainer, and Michael Landon as an albino (seriously!).

When the picture started and I saw that Ryan was going to play a drawling rube I began to cringe.  However, Ryan actually manages to deliver a complete and credible performance. Everyone else is also fine.  It is the material that is all over the place.  The tone careens violently between broad farce and melodrama.  Kind of like Lil’ Abner meets Peyton Place.

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The Long, Hot Summer
Directed by Martin Ritt
Written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr.
1958/USA
Jerry Wald Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Ben: Life’s very long and full of salesmanship, Miss Clara. You might buy something yet.[/box]

It’s such joy to watch a young, sexy Paul Newman woo Joanne Woodward on screen!

Ben Quick (Newman) has a reputation as a “barn-burner”.  There is no proof but he is kicked out of one town after another.  The sure thing is that he is an inveterate con man. At the urging of her sexy sister-in-law Eula (Lee Remick), Clara Varner (Woodward) picks up Quick as he is walking down the road toward town, a suitcase in his hand.  Clara is smart and cultivated and wants as little as possible to do with Quick.  She has been dating the genteel son of an old Southern family for years.  He’s not proving to be very quick on the uptake though.

Clara is the daughter of Will Varner (Orson Welles), a crude self-made man who owns just about everything in town.  Will is sorely disappointed in his son Jody (Anthony Franciosa), who just lacks the Varner ruthlessness, and in Clara for not giving him grandsons.  Will sees Quick as a kindred spirit.  Soon he has him lined up as the father of his grandbabies. Quick had been trying to get under Clara’s skin before but this new offer makes him relentless.  With Angela Lansbury as Will’s lady love.

Here Newman plays Hud before there was a Hud.  He is superb and irresistible. Woodward matches him every step of the way.  There is a wonderful playfulness in their scenes.  The story is sort of an ersatz blend of William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams but with this cast and the sparkling dialogue I didn’t mind a bit.

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The Hidden Fortress (Kakushi-toride no san-akunin)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Ryuzo Kikushima, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Akira Kurosawa
1958/Japan
Toho Company
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] General Rokurota Makabe: Hide a stone among stones and a man among men.[/box]

Probably the most purely entertaining film that Kurosawa made.

As the film begins we meet our two bumbling, whining, bickering protagonists, Tahei and Matashichi.  The two peasants went out to find adventure and fortune and ended up being press-ganged into burying the corpses of the enemy instead.  But adventure and fortune still await them in the form of gold ingots they discover hidden in some firewood.  We quickly learn that greed is their driving passion.

They are not to keep the treasure for long.  Suddenly a menacing figure appears.  He says his name is Rotoruka Makabe (Toshiro Mifune).  The pair don’t believe him since that is the name of a great general of the Akizuki clan.  Makabe decides to play on the greed of the men and cleverly cons them into carrying all the gold across enemy lines.  The party is accompanied by a mysterious mute girl whom the audience knows is really the Akizuki  princess

This is pure fun and the closest Kurosawa ever came to comedy.  There’s also lots of action, including some classic fights and a big production number at a fire festival to add to the experience.  It was so nice to see this early example of a wise, strong, brave and noble heroine as well.  It was the first time Kurosawa filmed in Tohoscope and there are lots of innovative shots to ponder.  The stirring score is another highlight.

This film was famously the inspiration for Star Wars with the princess and peasants standing in for Princess Leia and C-3PO and R2-D2.  The analogy more or less ends there.

Trailers from Hell

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Directed by Richard Brooks
Written by Richard Brooks and James Poe from the play by Tennessee Williams
1958/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Avon Productions
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Harvey ‘Big Daddy’ Pollitt: There ain’t nothin’ more powerful than the odor of mendacity![/box]

Fantastic acting and writing makes up for watered-down drama.

As the film begins Brick Pollit (Paul Newman) is drunkenly running high hurdles at his old high school’s track.  He falls and will be on crutches for the rest of the film.  We segue to the bedroom he shares with wife Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor).  Much of the action, or rather talking, will take place there.  Maggie is a lusty young woman in need of some action and Brick is both intoxicated and disgusted by her.  He would rather drink than address their problems which apparently stem from a disagreement about Brick’s friend Skipper, now deceased.

The remainder of the plot concerns Brick’s wealthy family.  His irascible father, whom every body calls “Big Daddy” (Burl Ives) and mother “Big Mama” (Judith Anderson) have just returned from a famous clinic where father has been examined for his severe stomach pains.  They have been told it is simply a spastic colon but we quickly learn that Big Daddy has terminal cancer.  His other son Gooper (Jack Carson) has shown up with his wife and five obnoxious children sniffing an opportunity to lock up control of the dying man’s vast estate.

Maggie is fighting this move tooth and nail but gets little cooperation from her alcoholic husband.  Before the end of the film many hard truths will have been told.

William’s play famously had a strong undercurrent of homosexuality or at least sexual confusion in the relationship between Brick and his friend Skipper.  This could no more be shown in 1958 than gang rape.  Thus, the whole conflict boils down to Brick’s search for a father figure in the absence of true love from his money-obsessed father.  This considerably weakens the story though there is still the pointed and poetic examination of hypocrisy, disfunction, and greed present in the play.

The acting is just fantastic.  I could watch these people do their thing all day.  Burl Ives is especially wonderful.  I had been under the impression that he got his Oscar for this performance but I was wrong.  If he hadn’t won for something else the same year, he would have been robbed.

The DVD contains a commentary by Donald Spoto.  I still haven’t quite forgiven him for his Hitchcock book but enjoyed his insights on this any way.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Picture; Best Actor (Newman); Best Actress (Taylor); Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; and Best Cinematography, Color.

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Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour l’échafaud)
Directed by Louis Malle
Written by Roger Nimier and Louis Malle from a novel by Noël Calef
1958/France
Nouvelle Editions de Films
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Le commissaire Cherrier: You see, madam, there are always several photos in a camera …[/box]

In his first film, Louis Malle gets film noir just right.

Simon Carala is a wealthy international arms dealer.  His young wife Florence (Jeanne Moreau) is having an affair with his assistant Julien Tavernier (Maurice Ronet), a former mercenary soldier.

The two plot the husband’s murder.  As is the way of these things, everything goes to hell. I shall not reveal the details of the clever plot.

This has everything going for it. The cinematography is the equal of that in any great noir.  The stunning shots are often accented by Moreau’s beauty.  Her debut in this film revealed her to have one of the great expressive faces of all time.  Even on the second viewing, the intricate story line retained its surprises and little thrills.  The films sultry darkness perfectly suits the great Miles Davis score.  Highly recommended.

Re-release trailer

Run Silent, Run Deep
Directed by Robert Wise
Written by John Gay from a novel by Edward L. Beach
1958/USA
Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions/Jeffrey Pictures Corp.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Lt. Jim Bledsoe: It’s one thing to drill a crew for fighting. But when you duck a Jap sub, they wonder why they should break their backs on drills when the captain has no stomach for attacking. What does he want? Obedience? Efficiency? Or the best drilled cowards in the Navy?

Commander Richardson: [after a long pause] Mr. Bledsoe, tell them I’m doubling the drills, starting tomorrow.[/box]

1958 was a good year for Clark Gable.

Before the credits roll, we see Cmdr. Rich Richardson’s (Gable) submarine sunk by a Japanese destroyer in the Bungo Strait.  Richardson is then relegated to a desk job.  We segue to Lt. Jim Bledsoe’s (Burt Lancaster) promotion.  The crew of the U.S.S. Nurka love him and all believe he will captain the submarine on its next mission.  However, Richardson uses his influence to wangle command of the vessel.  He asks for Bledsoe as his executive officer and refuses to allow him to decline the appointment.  This sets up tension for the remainder of the film.

Richardson begins by drilling the men repeatedly to achieve the quickest possible dive time.  This, and his failure to attack an easy target, earn him some reputation for cowardice.  Then the sub is ordered to an area that includes the Bungo strait but is specifically instructed to steer clear of it.  When Richardson insists on pursuing the ship that sunk his former sub there, his reputation begins to change to one for foolhardiness.  With Don Rickles, in his film debut, in a fairly straight role as a member of the crew.

The plot is sort of Moby Dick meets The Caine Mutiny without quite being either.  The performances, especially Gable’s, are excellent and Wise keeps the story moving forward and suspenseful.  This is a solid submarine movie.

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