Category Archives: 1965

The Agony and the Ecstasy
Directed by Carol Reed
Written by Philip Dunne based on the novel by Irving Stone
1965/USA/Italy
Twentieth Century Fox/International Classics/Dino de Laurentis Cinematografica/Cinecitta
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Raphael: [scoffs] You’ll always be an artist. You have no choice.[/box]

Looks like Carol Reed lost his vision when he started filming in color.

This docu-drama follows the story of Michelangelo’s (Charleton Heston) creation of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  It begins with a 12-minute educational documentary about the artist and his work.  “Warrior Pope” Julius II (Rex Harrison) is determined that Michelangelo will paint the ceiling despite all the artist’s protestations that he is “not a painter.” He also commands the singularly uninspiring idea that the ceiling will consist of images of the twelve apostles with “appropriate design”.

Michelangelo becomes obsessed with the project when the Pope finally agrees to let him paint his own vision.  But the Pope doesn’t realize or accept that the vision will take years to execute.  The two men continue to butt heads throughout.

This is a lot less than it could have been starting with the decision to lecture us about Michelangelo’s work rather than showing it in the context of the film.  There are veiled references to the artist’s homosexuality though in the end we are left to think that he remained celibate in service of his Faith and his art.  Really very little meat on this one’s bones.

The Agony and the Ecstasy was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of:  Best Cinematography, Color; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Costume Design, Color; Best Sound; Best Music, Score – Substantially Original.

Die, Die, My Darling! (AKA Fanatic)
Directed by Silvio Narizzano
Written by Richard Matheson from a novel by Anne Blaisdell
1965/UK
Columbia Pictures Corporation/Hammer Film
First viewing/Amazo Instant
They Shoot Zombies, Don’t They?

[box] Pat Carroll: Yes, I wondered if you might have a mirror I could …

Mrs. Trefoile: A mirror? Is it to adorn yourself, to observe yourself? Mirrors are not but tools of vanity, Patricia – I know! Vanity – sensuality, Patricia! The Bible speaks of our vile bodies.

Pat Carroll: Oh.

Mrs. Trefoile: I knew you would understand. [/box]

In the tradition of Baby Jane, we get this fun, fun thriller with an aging mad woman, this time played by Tallulah Bankhead.

Patricia Carroll (Stephanie Powers) has travelled to England to marry her fiance.  Before she does, she has been invited to the home of Mrs. Trefoil who is the mother of Pat’s former fiance Stephen who killed himself.  Mrs. Trefoil (Bankhead) is a bonkers religious fanatic that believes Pat is already married to the dead man, will be reunited with him in heaven, and that she must be “saved” and purified” before she dies.

Pat has a mind of her own.  While Mrs. Trefoil says she does not want to hurt her, intimidation and starvation seem to be the only way of preventing her from escaping.  The violence escalates after Pat tells Mrs. Trefoil that she had no intention of marrying Stephen if he had not died.  With Donald Sutherland as a halfwit gardener.

This movie is pretty darn great for what it is.  Bankhead is both campy and believable at the same time.  I loved the way she would pick out the very most boring verses of the Old Testament to read from ad nauseum for hours.  Powers is not nearly so good but she really does not need to be.  Bankhead is more than enough.  She didn’t make enough movies.

Die, Monster, Die!
Directed by Daniel Haller
Written by Jerry Stohl from a story by H.P. Lovecraft
1965/UK/USA
Alta Vista Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
Listed in They Shoot Zombies, Don’t They?

[box] Susan Witley: But, Steve, no one ever goes into the greenhouse at night![/box]

Triffids take the next step toward world conquest.

Young Steven Reinhart (Nick Adams) and his fiancee visit her family manse, Whitely Castle.  They are not welcome guests.  Almost immediately the fiancee’s father Nahum (Boris Karloff) tells him to get out.  But the intrepid Reinhart stays to get to the bottom of the mystery of the greenhouse.  Nahom has come into possession of a radioactive meteorite that causes plants to grow to gigantic proportions.  Unfortunately,  the radioactivitely also does a number on humans.  How to destroy the stone?

Any movie with an axe-wielding Boris Karloff automatically has something to recommend it. Nick Adams … not so much.  I thought the “monsters” here were really creepy and the special effects are decent.

Lord Jim
Directed by Richard Brooks
Written by Richard Brooks from a novel by Joseph Conrad
1965/UK/USA
Columbia British Productions/Keep Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Marlow: [Narrating] One hope kept Jim going – a hope common to most men. Rich or poor, strong or weak, who among us has not begged God for a second chance?[/box]

This adventure story is not bad but could have been better.

The plot is based on the Joseph Conrad novel.  Jim (Peter O’Toole) begins life as a sealoving boy, sets sail early on and climbs his way from deck hand to First Officer.  Jim appears to be an eager paragon of virtue and hard work.  When he has to leave his first ship due to an injury, he books on as First Officer the first ship out after his release from the hospital.

The ship happens to be carrying 1000 Muslims from the Malay peninsula on part of their pilgrimage to Mecca for the hajj.  The drunken captain’s error causes the ship to founder and take on water.  A terrible storm overtakes the ship.  Overcome with fear, Jim finally jumps on the lifeboat the remainder of the crew are escaping in, abandoning their human cargo in the process.  Their perfidy comes to light and Jim becomes state’s witness, loses his commission, and begins wandering seedier waterfronts across Asia in his shame and despair.  He is pursued wherever he goes by vengeful Muslims.

Lots of stuff happens and eventually Jim falls in with arms merchant Stein (Paul Lukas) who is selling guns to an indigenous tribe that is rebelling against powerful and evil warlord “The General” (Eli Wallach).  Jim comes to believe he can find redemption by fighting the tribes  battle against a better armed enemy.  With James Mason, Curd Jurgens and Akim Tameroff as other bad guys.

Although it has many merits, this was a disappoinment.  Despite my admiration for O’Toole as an actor he is simply miscast here – there is just no hint of madness in the wholesome Lord Jim.  This movie represents the first time I have seen Curt Jurgens play anyone other than himself and he doesn’t quite succeed.  Otherwise we have some good performances from an excellent supporting cast and exotic scenery of South-East Asia.  I thought that the movie was strongest in the first act at sea.  It gets convoluted and somewhat ponderous after that.

Man Is Not a Bird (Covek nije tica)
Directed by Dusan Makavejev
Written by Dusan Makavejev and Rasa Popo1
1965/Yugoslavia
Avala Film
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] America had Russia wrapped around it little pinky through the whole ’90s. We did everything you told us. And we were eager to do more and more. The whole nation – Russian nation was like, ‘Tell us what else we can do to please you. We want to be like you. We love you.’ And then in 1999, bam. You bomb Yugoslavia. And that was the end of it. — Margarita Simonyan [/box]

Charming romcom from behind the Iron Curtain.

Ditzy teenager Rajka works as a hairdresser.  She meets much older technician Jan Rudinski and decides she must have him.  He is on a temporary work assignment in her town and her first move is to get him lodged with her parents in a flat where she also lives.

She is finally successful with her seduction but things don’t work out as planned. Concurrently, Jan is being rewarded for his Hero of the People-level work but Rajka is not particularly impressed.

This has plenty of wry humor, interesting visuals, and some not-so-veiled political commentary.  The mid-60’s seem like prime time for coming of age stories in Eastern Europe.  Worth seeing if this kind of thing appeals.

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The Great Race
Directed by Blake Edwards
Written by Arthur A. Ross from an original story by Ross and Blake Edwards
1965/USA
Warner Bros./Patricia/Jalem Productions/Reynard
First viewing?/Netflixrental

[box] Maggie DuBois: And because I consider myself sexually free and morally emancipated, I am still a responsible, discriminating woman who does not intend to jump into bed with the first wavy-haired, muscle-bound, egocentric male who thinks he can seduce me by agreeing with some of the things I believe in.[/box]

Any movie dedicated to “Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy” has set itself a high standard.  Not quite up there in my opinion.

On the lines of Around the World in 80 Days (1956), the story takes place in the late 19th/early 20th Century and concerns a race, this one proposed by hero The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) from New York to Paris by automobile.  His archrival, the dastardly Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon) takes up the challenge accompanied by his faithful assistant Max (Peter Falk).  Natalie Wood plays would-be journalist suffragette Maggie Dubois, who worms herself into one car and then the other to get an exclusive.

The remainder of the movie follows the participants’ comic adventures during the race. This is the kind of thing that culminates in a pie fight.  With Keenan Wynn as Curtis’ assistant.

This was 2 hours and 40 minutes of very broad comedy that I tired of after the first hour. The cast might have saved it but I thought both Wood and Lemmon, fine as they can  be, overdid it here.

The Great Race (1965) won the Academy Award for Best Effects, Sound Effects.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Cinematography, Color; Best Sound; Best Film Editing; and Best Music, Original Song (“The Sweetheart Tree”).

The Rabbit Is Me (Das Kanichen bin ich)
Directed by Kurt Maetzig
Written by Manfred Bieler and Kurt Maetzig from Bieler’s novel
1965/East Germany
Deutsch Film
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] “You see the mistakes of one system—the surveillance—and the mistakes of the other—the inequality—but there’s nothing you could have done in the one and nothing you can do now about the other. She laughs wryly. “And the clearer you see that, the worse you feel.” ― Anna Funder, Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall[/box]

During a brief period of thawing, this examination of corruption was produced in East Germany.  Well-made and acted film was then banned on release.

Teenager Maria Morzek is on a mission to get her brother freed on parole from his imprisonment for “subversive behavior”.  She refused to denounce her brother in school, was rejected by university, and now works as a waitress, a job in which she is constantly harrassed.  Coincidentally or not, she meets and is wooed by the married judge who sentenced her brother.

Story follows their relationship, Maria’s continuous efforts to get the judge to help her brother, and her coming of age.

I enjoyed this one.  For one thing, the young leading lady is excellent.  The dynamics of the relationship were fascinating.

No subtitles

King Rat
Directed by Bryan Forbes
Written by Bryan Forbes from a novel by James Clavell
1965/USA
Coleytown
Repeat viewing/AmazonInstant

Cpl. King: [while preparing meal] If you don’t want to eat it, you can sit and watch, it’s a free prison!

I remembered this being excellent from my first viewing years and years ago.  The rewatch confirmed my memory.

Cpl. King (George Segal) is one of the few Americans in a Japanese POW camp mostly occupied by British prisoners.  The thoroughly amoral King, better known as “King Rat”, is not only a skilled scavenger but a throughly corrupt opportunist and liar.  He is always freshly bathed, shaved, and uniformed.  The rest of the prisoners are basically starving to death.  Lt. Robin Grey (Tom Courtney) has vowed vengeance.

When King discovers upper-crust British Lt. Peter Marlowe (James Fox) speaks the local language, he decides to befriend him.  Marlowe is soon seduced by such delicacies as fresh eggs and begins translating for King. With  John Mills as the superior officer at camp, James Donald as the camp doctor, and Denholm Elliot as one of the prisoners.

I just love this movie.  The story is absorbing and the fantastic cast is at the  top of its game.  I haven’t seen all his work, but I am willing to bet this is Segal’s best performance. I liked the silent moments as much as the action.  Highly recommended.

Bernard Guffey was nominated for an Oscar for his stunning B&W cinematography.  King Rat was also nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White.

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Red Beard (Akahige)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Masato Ide, Hideo Oguni, Ryuzo Kikushima, and Akira Kurosawa
1965/Japan
Kurosawa Production Co./Toho Company
First viewing/FilmStruck

[box] Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: It smells like rotten fruit.

Genzo Tsugawa: It’s the smell of the poor.[/box]

Three hours was at least an hour too many for this underwhelming tale.

Dr. Noboru Yashimoto has dreams of becoming head physician to the shogun.  He is assigned for post-medical training to the non-profit clinic of Dr. Kyojio Niide (Toshiro Mifune) known by all as “Red Beard”.  Red Beard is gruff and demanding to his students but kind to his many poor patients.  Yashimoto is appalled by the rules and conditions of the clinic and is determined to leave.

Gradually, Yashimoto learns the value of a life of service.

Akira tells a quietly philosophical story without much action.  He certainly did not need 3 hours and 5 minutes to do it.  This is high-quality filmmaking and the acting is good but I never did get invested in it.

This was Kurosawa’s last black-and-white film and last collaboration with Mifune.

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