Flickers in Time

Birdman of Alcatraz
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Written by Guy Trosper from a book by Thomas E. Gaddis
1962/USA
Norma Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Robert Stroud: I could use more room. For my birds.[/box]

This film asks the question: Can a psychopath by rehabilitated by birds?  It fails to answer it.

When we first meet Robert Stroud (Burt Lancaster) he is a surly, defiant young punk doing life in Levenworth for one murder.  He has a serious hang up about his mama (Thelma Ritter) and woe betide anyone who merely mentions her name.  This obsession leads him to conflict with a guard, whom he murders.  He is sentenced to death this time.  Mama works tirelessly for a reprieve and at the last minute President Wilson commutes his death sentence to life.  Warden Harven Shoemaker (Karl Malden) assures him he will wish he were dead as he is determined that Stroud will spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement.

In the exercise yard one day Stroud finds a baby sparrow whose nest has been blown down in a wind storm.  He nurses the infant to maturity.

Finally, a new warden takes over at Levenworth.  This man is impressed with Stroud, who has actually trained the little bird brain, and allows him to keep his pet.  Soon the other inmates are getting canaries from their relatives.  As they tire of the birds,  Stroud acquires a huge aviary from which he breeds even more birds.  An epidemic among his charges causes Stroud to study bird diseases.  Over the course of decades, he becomes a foremost expert in ornithology.  He also acquires a bird-loving wife (Betty Field).  She works for his release but clashes with mama.

Eventually, Stroud is transferred to Alcatraz where he meets up again with Warden Shoemaker and is forbidden to keep birds.  With Telly Savalas as Stroud’s next-door cell-mate.

I adored all the acting and the bird-related portions of this movie.  There is a wonderful scene showing a baby canary emerging from the egg.  I was not so hot on the critique of the prison system parts which seemed cliched to me.  It did not help that I had read before hand that Stroud was not only a murderer but a pedophile.  I thought he deserved to remain in prison, a view not shared by the film.  Worth seeing.

Birdman of Alcatraz was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actor; Best Supporting Actor (Savalas); Best Supporting Actress (Ritter); and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White.

Trailer

Walk on the Wild Side
Edward Dmytryck
Written by John Fante and Edmund Morris from a novel by Nelson Algren
1962/USA
Famous Artists Productions/Famartists Productions; Columbia Pictures Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental

Dove Linkhorn: What are you doing here, Kit?
Kitty Twist: I run the candy concession.

The cast list and the subject matter reflect a generational change in Hollywood.

Dove Linkhorn (Laurence Harvey) is a simple Texan with an undying love for artist Hallie (Capucine).  He hops a train en route to New Orleans in search of her.  Fellow tramp Kitty Twist shares his freight car.  She makes a big play for Dove but it is no dice.  While hitchhiking to NOLA (Jane Fonda) the two stop at a cafe run by Mexican-American Teresina Vidaverri (Ann Baxter).  Kitty tries to rip the kindly proprietress off.  Dove returns her stolen property and ends up working for Teresina, who clearly also falls for Dove.

When Dove finally locates Hallie she is working at a high-toned brothel run by Jo Courtney (Barbara Stanwyck).  Jo shares Dove’s love for the beauty and has no intention of letting her go.  As is the way of these things, Kitty becomes Jo’s next employee.

This is quite OK even if entirely predictable.  I liked it mainly for the opportunity to see Stanwyck and Baxter again.  By this time, the Hayes Code was just begging to be broken. Doesn’t quite happen here but almost.

Elmer Bernstein and Mack David were nominated for the Oscar for Best Music, Original Song for the title tune.

Clip – Music by Elmer Bernstein

Alternative title tune for a friend

Tales of Terror
Directed by Roger Corman
Written by Richard Matheson from Stories by Edgar Allen Poe
1962/USA
Alta Vista Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Montresor Herringbone: Haven’t I convinced you of my sincerity yet? I’m genuinely dedicated to your destruction.[/box]

The combination of Edgar Allen Poe, Roger Corman and Vincent Price nearly always ensures something enjoyable.  Toss in Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone for triple the fun!

This is an omnibus film based on three short stories by Poe – “Morella”; “The Black Cat” (combined with “The Cask of Amontillado”) and “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”. Price appears in all of them.

In “Morella”, Price plays a widower whose wife died in childbirth.  His daughter comes to visit underestimating the staying power of her father’s resentment.

In “The Black Cat” Peter Lorre hates his wife and her cat.  He invites the world’s foremost wine taster (Price) to a drinking contest.  After getting the connoisseur drunk, he takes him home for fun and games.

In “The Facts of the Case of M. Valdemar”, Price plays Valdemar who is dying of a painful disease.  He hires hypnotist Basil Rathbone to put him in a trance to dull the pain.  In this state, his body dies but the hypnotist cruelly refuses to let his soul die.  Revenge ensues.

This is a nice movie for a Monday or any other afternoon.  All the actors are in top form.

The Counterfeit Traitor
Directed by George Seaton
Written by George Seaton based on the book by Alexander Klein
1962/US
Perlberg-Seaton Productions
First viewing/Amazon Prime

Eric Erickson: Suddenly, he becomes your brother.

William Holden has played the cynic forced against his will to do good many times.  This movie was not my favorite of these.

Erick Erickson is an American-born Swede who renounced his US citizenship when he moved permanently back to Sweden.  In neutral Sweden, his business is brokering oil refined in Germany.  He is “blacklisted” for this activity courtesy of some Allied spies who blackmail him into becoming an agent.  His cover is arranging for Germany to build a refinery in Sweden.  This requires him to travel back and forth frequently.  In order to establish himself as a Nazi sympathizer, Erick alienates his wife and all of his friends.

Erick’s spy contact in Germany is Marianne Möllendorf (Lily Palmer).  She is in the spy game as a committed Christian.  Naturally the two fall in love.  Erick eventually begins to see things her way.  Things get more dangerous from here.  With Hugh Griffith as Erick’s controller.

This movie is OK but didn’t wow me.  I felt like I had seen it several times before.  The IMDb rating is 7.6 out of 10 so your mileage may vary.

Trailer

Days of Wine and Roses
Directed by Blake Edwards
Written by J.P. Miller
1962/USA
Jalem Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Joe Clay: Well, anything worth having is worth suffering for, isn’t it?[/box]

Love story meets horror story in this well-acted drama about alcoholism and its consequences.

Joe Clay (Jack Lemmon) works as a Public Relations man.  It is the age of Mad Men and business is conducted over plenty of martinis.  Joe is fonder of the booze than he is of his job.  One of his more distasteful duties is to line up “girls” to entertain clients.  When he meets Kirsten he assumes she is one of these.  She turns out to be the boss’s secretary and after a rocky start they fall in love.  Kirsten is a teetotaler.

Joe keeps getting deeper and deeper into the sauce.  As he grows more dependent and more frustrated with his life, he craves an at-home drinking buddy.  Thus Kirsten becomes hooked herself.  Things get worse and worse until they get better – at least for one of them.  With Charles Bickford as Kirsten’s father.

We are in Lost Weekend territory – complete with violent DTs – here but with a romance at its core.  Both leads are fantastic at every stage of their disease.  We like these people while they are destroying family and each other. Recommended.

Director Blake Edwards did the commentary on the DVD I rented.  One thing that made it particularly interesting was that he was watching it for the first time since it came out.  He was pleased with his handiwork.  We also hear about his own battle with the bottle.

Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer’s title tune won the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song.  Days of Wine and Roses was also nominated in the categories of Best Actor; Best Actress; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White; and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White.

Trailer

Don’t Knock the Twist
Directed by Oscar Rudolph
Written by Robert E. Kent
1962/USA
Four Leaf Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] I compare the twist to the electric light, the twist is me, and I’m it. I’m the electric light. – Chubby Checker [/box]

The story is dopey but a lot of the music and dancing are pretty good.

The head of a TV network has noticed that its rival is getting the ratings with its twist shows.  He challenges one of his executives to beat the rival by putting together a twist spectacular in only one month.  Fortunately, the executive is a friend of Chubby Checker’s!  We also get the obligatory love triangle between a money-hungry brunette fashion designer, a blonde teenage dancer (only dances to benefit an orphanage) and the executive.

I had low expectations going in but it turns out we get several sixties golden oldies and some good twisting, along with lots of rear views of ladies shaking their booties.

Clip – Gene Chandler sings “The Duke of Earl”

Still in great voice all these years later

Gigot
Directed by Gene Kelly
Written by John Patrick; original story by Jackie Gleason
1962/USA
Seven Arts Productions
First viewing/YouTube

[box] I have no use for humility. I am a fellow with an exceptional talent. — Jackie Gleason, AKA “The Great One”[/box]

Jackie Gleason, Paris, and Gene Kelly sound like a winning combination, right?  Unfortunately not for me.

Gigot (Gleason) is a mute who works as a janitor in a Paris apartment building and lives in the basement.  People believe him to be a simpleton.  Some think he should be locked up. Most use him as a source of fun.

Gigot’s life changes when he meets an ailing prostitute and her adorable daughter, who is perhaps five or six years old.  The daughter loves Gigot completely.  The mother is does not feel the same.  Gigot gets in numerous scrapes trying to keep the daughter with him.

I love Jackie Gleason, Gene Kelly, and Paris.  Many people apparently love this movie.  The problem is I do not find mocking the disabled funny and a lot of this movie turns on it. Also, for me, one of Jackie Gleason’s charms as an actor is his dignity, which he completely abandons here.  His style of comedy depends usually more on his personality than physical humor as well.  This struck me as Gleason’s attempt to throw a Chaplin-esque pity party. Your mileage may definitely vary.

Clip

Ring of Terror
Directed by Clark L. Paylow
Written by Lewis Simeon
1962/France
Playstar Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] “True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.” ― Kurt Vonnegut Jr.[/box]

The poster gives away the only scare in this very bad movie.  It does not really matter since it is also telegraphed early in the film.

The story is framed by a dumb appearance by a cemetery custodian.  We find out all we really need to know about this movie when the first scare is created by his stepping on a cat’s tail – a scene dragged out to ridiculous lengths.  The main action concerns Lewis B. Moffat, a medical student, and hijinx at the college he attends.  His fate will be sealed by a hazing prank.

This movie fully deserves its 1.4/10 IMDb rating.  It contains much of the disconnected weird vibe of an Ed Wood movie but is much more boring.

Amazing trivia:  By the 1970’s, director Paylow managed to survive his shame and had became an assistant director and production manager, notably on Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and The Conversation (1974).

Clip – the custodian looks for his cat