The Holy Man (Mahapurush) Directed by Satyajit Ray Written by Satyajit Ray from a story by Rajshekhar Parashuram Basu 1965/India R.D. Banshal & Co/Rajshri Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] “He denounced him openly as a charlatan–a fraud with no valuable knowledge of any kind, or powers beyond those of an ordinary and rather inferior human being.” ― Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger[/box]
A devout Hindu family “adopts” a holy man and friends and neighbors flock to hear his ravings. Some clear-thinkers come up with a plot for blowing his cover. One of these is trying to woo a devotee’s daughter.
This comic film is only about an hour long. It is enjoyable but could have been fleshed out more fully. I really couldn’t wrap myself around how the plot worked in the end.
I have now watched 115 films that were released in 1964. A complete list can be foundhere. it was a fairly strong year and I had 17 films for my favorites list. They could have been sliced and diced in any number of ways. The films I reluctantly left off my Top Ten were: Charulata; The T.A.M.I. Show; Point of Order!; Alleman; Seduced and Abandoned; Marnie; and My Fair Lady. I was unable to locate Before the Revolution or Black God, White Devil from The 1001 Movies List. I will watch Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors as a 1965 film. My favorites are no particular order.
I won’t be starting my 1965 reviews until I return from a vacation on August 7. In the meantime, I intend to continue my pre-Code binge and might review some films from the List that pre-date 1934 when I began this blog.
King and Country Directed by Joseph Losey Written by Evan Jones from a stage play by John Wilson 1964/USA B.H.E. Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Captain Midgley: A proper court is concerned with law. It’s a bit amateur to plead for justice.[/box]
With a line up like Joseph Losey, Dirk Bogarde, and Tom Courtney, I couldn’t resist. This anti-war film does not disappoint.
The setting is the trenches of WWI in France. Foot soldier Private Arthur James Hamp (Courtney) can’t stand another day of the mud, shooting, and hardship and simply starts walking toward home. He is apprehended after several days and court-martialed. The penalty for desertion is death. Captain Hargreaves is assigned as “soldier’s friend” to defend him but holds out little hope of prevailing.
Between some powerful courtroom scenes we experience the day-to-day misery in the trenches and plenty of gallows humor from those bearing up better than poor Hamp.
I liked this a lot. Bogarde and Courtney are superb. The film effectively uses still photos from the Imperial War Museum to show the horrors of the war. Recommended.
Nothing But a Man Directed by Michael Roemer Written by Michael Roemer and Robert Young 1964/USA DuArt Film and Video/Nothing But a Man Company
First viewing/Netflix rental
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.— Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963
Powerful film about one man’s struggle to keep his dignity combined with a tender, real love story.
Duff Anderson (Ivan Dixon) has a well-paying job maintaining railroad tracks. This keeps him on the move throughout the American South. One day he meets Josie, a preacher’s daughter, at a church service. Though Duff is not religious and has a fairly low opinion of women, he asks Josie out. Her family disapproves but Josie sees something special in Duff and they fall in love and marry. The marriage ends Duff’s employment with the railway.
Duff soon has another job but constantly bristles at degrading treatment from white foremen and co-workers. He is eventually fired for being an organizer and trouble maker. Thereafter he is unsuccessful in finding work or keeping it long. A baby is on the way and his relationship with Josie grows strained. Duff’s encounter with his estranged father and his own illegitimate son provokes a crisis.
I loved this film which goes straight on to my Favorite New-to-Me Films of 2018 list. The examination of racism is thoughtful and the romance is beautiful and realistic. Really a well-made film and highly recommended.
Intentions of Murder (Akai satsui) Directed by Shohei Imamura Written by Keiji Hasebe and Shohei Imamura; story by Shinji Fujiwara 1964/Japan Nikkatsu
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] I am interested in the relationship of the lower part of the human body and the lower part of the social structure on which the reality of daily Japanese life obstinately supports itself. — Shohei Imamura[/box]
Two and a half hours of misery was too much for me no matter how interestingly shot.
Sadako Takahashi is a plump housewife and mother of a six-year-old. Her mother-in-law and husband treat her like a servant. In fact, she has never been listed in the family register and thus is not legally either a wife or mother. One day, Hiraoko breaks into the house while she is alone and robs and rapes her. She tells no one and decides the only way out is suicide. She is unsuccessful.
Things get worse as Hiraoko keeps coming back for more. He eventually declares his love but she resists. After some time, Sadako falls pregnant. She is unsure of the identity of the father as her husband also has joyless sex with her regularly. This leads to more thoughts of suicide and/or murder. In the meantime, her husband’s mistress is spying on her encounters with Hiraoko with a camera. The ending came as a surprise to me.
This film is strikingly shot with some unforgettable images. There is a dream sequence in which Sadako is pushed off a train and goes flying into space that is incredible. In fact, many sequences straddle the line between imagination and reality. I think I missed a lot. I will never get a chance to fully analyze the film though, because I can’t see ever watching it again.
Clip – no subtitles but the camera work alone is worth seeing
Black Sun (Kuroi Taiyo) Directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara Written Tesei Kono and Nobuo Yamada 1964/USA Nikkatsu
First viewing/FilmStruck
[box] I’m a spade, you’re an ofay. Let’s play. – Louis Armstrong[/box]
This is just the kind of movie I hate. Some good jazz on the soundtrack though.
Young Japanese weirdo Akira is obsessed with jazz and all things African-American. He is squatting in a ruined Christian church which is about to be demolished surrounded by his many albums and pictures of black musicians. One day, a black GI, Gil, is fleeing the police after having killed another soldier with a machine gun. Badly wounded, he picks Akira’s digs to hide out in.
Things do not go well. Neither speaks the other’s language. And Gil badly disappoints his host by failing to play jazz or be interested in anything other than his own predicament. Things spin farther and farther out-of-control.
Well, at the least this gives you a glimpse into Japanese racial stereotypes. That is if you assume anything in this movie is rooted in reality. I think ithat might be an unsafe assumption. It’s like the director was given money and told he could do whatever he wanted. So he went wild and not in a good way. There is that gorgeous soundtrack though.
Castle of Blood (Danza macabra) Directed by Sergio Corbucci and Antonio Magheriti Written by Sergio Corbucci and Giovanni Grimaldi from a story by Edgar Allen Poe 1964/Italy/France Giovanni Addessi Produzione Cinematografica/Ulysse Productions/Vulsinia Films
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Julia: Your blood will be our life![/box]
OK Italian Gothic horror film could possibly have been improved with color.
It’s the old story. A writer makes a bet that he can survive the night of All Hallow’s Eve in a spooky old castle. Naturally, there are ghosts galore. This being an Italian film of its era, plenty of them are scantily clad women. The writer develops a special relationship with Elisabeth (Barbara Steele) who seems to offer him guidance.
This may have suffered from the dubbing. At times we have straight English dubbing and at other times the English actor’s voice is superimposed on French dialogue. It is also the kind of thing that absolutely cries out for color. Those skin tones and gore are what make the movie. Of course Barbara Steele is alway watchable.
Onibaba Directed by Kaneto Shindo Written by Kaneto Shindo 1964/Japan
Kindai Eiga Kyokai/Toho Eiga Co Ltd.
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Woman: I’m not a demon! I’m a human being!
Beauty and horror meet in this savage film.
In 14th Century Japan, the mother and wife of a missing conscriptee eke out a meager living by killing vulnerable samurai, selling their belongings, and then dumping the bodies into a deep pit. The murders are assisted by the head-high grasses that surround their hut.
Into this milieu arrives Hachi, a neighbor who accompanied the missing man into battle. He assures the women that their loved one is dead. Mom can’t forgive Hachi but he easily seduces the daughter into secret nightly lovemaking sessions. When Mom finds out she does everything in her power to prevent the meetings.
She is unsuccessful until alone one night she comes across a samurai wearing a ghastly demon mask. He informs her that the mask is to conceal his face, the most handsome in all Japan. The meeting cuts the samurai’s life expectancy short and gives Mom another idea for splitting up the lovers.
This movie is gruesome in the extreme. The killings, including one of a dog, are brutal. Yet at the same time the supernatural elements have a stark grandeur and Shindo’s vision of the natural world is lyrical. Highly recommended.
The Strangler Directed by Burt Topper Written by Bill S. Ballinger 1964/USA Bischoff-Diamond Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] “I knew–though I didn’t recognize the fact–that I wasn’t all right.” ― Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me[/box]
One of the better of the many Psycho progeny.
Leo Kroll (Victor Buono) has mommy issues. Mom (Ellen Corby) is currently in a nursing home. He doesn’t visit as often as she would like. When he does, she berates him and puts him down. Leo has developed an outlet for his rage. He has taken to strangling nurses with nylon stockings.
One of this serial killer’s signatures is the mangled doll he leaves behind. We learn that these are obtained through his considerable prowess at a carnival game that offers the dolls as a prize. As a police investigation gets closer and closer to Leo his crimes become more frequent and personal.
Victor Buono’s truly creepy performance makes this movie. He is scary, arrogant, and just plain weird. Sort of a Laird Cregar of the 60’s. Recommended for those who like this kind of thing.
Seven Days in May Directed by John Frankenheimer Written by Rod Sterling from a novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II 1964/USA Joel Productions/Seven Arts Productions
Repeat viewing/FilmStruck
[box] Senator Raymond Clark: All you’ve got to know is this: right now the government of the United States is sitting on top of the Washington Monument, right on the very point, tilting right and left and ready to fall off and break up on the pavement. There are just a handful of men that can prevent it. And you’re one of them.[/box]
I expected more suspense in a conspiracy theory film from John Frankenheimer.
In the not so distant future, America is divided over President Jordan Lyman’s (Fredric March) decision to enter into a nuclear disarmament agreement with the Soviet Union. Chief among the President’s detractors is General James Scott (Burt Lancaster), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Fortuitously, Marine Colonel ‘Jiggs’ Casey (Kirk Douglas) learns of a top secret base in the desert. He eventually discovers that, unless foiled, there will be a military coup to overthrow the President in the next seven days.
The remainder of the film follows the battle of wits between supporters of the President and supporters of the coup. Many dirty tricks are employed. With Edmund O’Brien as a dipsomaniac Senator and friend of the President and Ava Gardner as General Scott’s ex-mistress.
This obviously has a fantastic cast and they handle their roles admirably. My problem with the film that the amount of speechifying undercuts what could be a very tense and suspenseful story. I had seen this before but had forgotten almost all of it – never a good sign. It’s got a 7.9/10 IMDb rating so your mileage may vary.
Seven Days in May was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Edmund O’Brien) and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White.
I’ve been a classic movie fan for many years. My original mission was to see as many movies as I could get my hands on for every year from 1929 to 1970. I have completed that mission.
I then carried on with my chronological journey and and stopped midway through 1978. You can find my reviews of 1934-1978 films and “Top 10” lists for the 1929-1936 and 1944-77 films I saw here. For the past several months I have circled back to view the pre-Code films that were never reviewed here.
I’m a retired Foreign Service Officer living in Indio, California. When I’m not watching movies, I’m probably traveling, watching birds, knitting, or reading.
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