Flickers in Time

It Happened in Broad Daylight (Es geschah am hellichten Tag)
Directed by Ladislao Vajda
Written by Friedrich Durrenmatt, Hans Jacoby and Ladislao Vajda from Durrenmatt’s novel
1958/Switzerland/West Germany/Spain
Praesens Film/Central Film Company Film/Chamartin Producciones y Distribuciones
First viewing/Amazon Instant

 “When the Fox hears the Rabbit scream he comes a-runnin’, but not to help.” ― Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs

Here is an excellent and creepy police procedural about child murder.

Jacquier (Michel Simon), an old peddler, stumbles upon the body of a young girl in the woods.  He reports this to the police but they doubt his story and end by pinning the murder on him.  The only person who believes him is Inspector Matthai but he is due to retire the next day and is ordered to stay away from the case.  A shocking development makes Matthai determined to hunt down the real killer by himself if necessary.

Matthai follows a series of clues he gleans from the victim’s drawings to an Alpine village. There he hopes to attract his man with a little girl who resembles the victim.  He is almost too successful.  With Gert Frobe as a bad guy.

Every “year” I look forward to discovering one or more hidden gems.  This one was delivered to me courtesy of scanning Amazon Instant, though it also appears to be currently available on YouTube.  The version I watched was dubbed but still absorbing. The director has developed a palpable sense of menace and the acting is uniformly excellent.  Reportedly, it was Gert Frobe’s performance in this film that drew the producers’ attention to cast him in Goldfinger.  Recommended.

The Ballad of Narayama (Narayama bushiko)
Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita
Written by Keisuke Kinoshita from stories by Shichiro Fukazawa
1958/Japan
Shochiku Company
First viewing/Hulu

[box] “I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. I want this adventure that is the context of my life to go on without end.” ― Simone de Beauvoir, La Vieillesse[/box]

Kinoshita has been hit or miss for me.  This film was a big, big hit.

The story is presented in kabuki style – without the masks but with a sung narration.  It concerns a legendary mountain village where food shortages have resulted in a cruel tradition.  When a person turns 70, s/he is left to die in a mountain top domain of the gods called Narayama.

Orin (the fantastic Kinuyo Tanaka) is about to turn 70 and is happily looking forward to her journey to Narayama.  She cares tenderly for her whole household, arranging her widower son’s marriage to a recent widow and welcoming the arrival warmly into their home.  Her eldest grandson is a total ingrate, however, and openly sings songs mocking his grandmother and wishing for the day of her departure.

We see other traditions of the village, all of which seem to revolve around food.  Reprisals against food thieves are swift and violent.  One old man refuses to go to Narayama and is denied food by his family.  Finally, the day comes when Orin’s son must reluctantly bear his mother to her final resting place.

This story might be too much to take without the distancing effect of the kabuki device. The stylized production still is very moving, largely due to Tanaka’s genius acting at its heart.  Orin’s kindness balances out all the negativity of many of the other characters.  The painted sets and use of color are glorious.  Highly recommended.

Trailer – no subtitles

Houseboat
Directed by Melville Shavelson
Written by Melville Shavelson and Jack Rose
1958/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Robert Winters: Who, Sir? Me, Sir?

Tom Winters: Yes, Sir. You, Sir. [/box]

I was pleasantly surprised by this 50’s rom-com.

Tom Winters’ (Cary Grant) ex-wife has just died leaving their three young children motherless.  The children’s maternal aunt is willing to take the boys but Tom is unwilling to see them be separated.  The children have seen him infrequently though and all are in various stages of mourning for their mother.  Tom tries taking them to his bachelor pad in Washington DC but this is clearly an unworkable situation.  He is in desperate need of a nanny.

Cinzia Zacarrdi (Sophia Loren) is the daughter of an Italian symphony conductor.  He wants to run every aspect of her life.    One night, Cinzia meets up with Robert, the youngest boy, who has run away and bonds with him.  Robert begs his father to hire Cinzia as the new maid.  She finally agrees.

Through a series of misadventures, this menage ends up moving into a dilapidated houseboat in Virginia.  It turns out Cinzia has zero homemaking skills.  Fortunately, she is talented at making a happy family.  The two adults are drawn to each other but the children’s aunt (Martha Heyer) is in love with Tom and threatens to throw a spanner in the works.

I thought this might be a bit too 50’s for my taste but I was entertained all the way through. Loren and Grant’s chemistry carries the movie.  Grant is more of his Mr. Blandings persona than the bon vivant in this.  We get to see Loren jitterbug !  The movie is light and frothy yet there is a bit of depth to the child psychology.

Houseboat was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen and Best Music, Original Song (“Almost in Your Arms” – Love Theme from Houseboat.

Trailer

Les tricheurs (“The Cheaters”; “Youthful Sinners”)
Directed by Marcel Carné
Written by Marcel Carné and Jacques Sigurd
1958/France/Italy
Les Films Corona/Silver Films/Cinetel/Zebra Films
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] In order to exist, man must rebel, but rebellion must respect the limits that it discovers in itself – limits where minds meet, and in meeting, begin to exist.  — Albert Camus[/box]

Marcel Carné reinvents himself for the beat generation and doesn’t do half badly.

Most of the story is told in flashback in the memories of Bob Letellier who has decided to return to his studies  and his bourgeois roots.  By chance, he had hooked up with Alain, whom he bails out when Alain has no money to pay the rental fee on a booth where he had been listening to a record.  It turns out Alain stole the record as well.  Something about the reckless, carefree former existentialist appeals to the more sober Bob and he goes to party with Alain’s friends that night.

Alain’s crowd seems to be more nihilist that existentialist.  They believe in nothing except good times and free love.  Alain hooks up with the hostess but is really more attracted by her friend, Mic.  Mic craves the good life and has no intention of working to get it.  She gets Bob involved in a dangerous swindle to earn some easy money.  At the same time, something in the souls of both of them yearns for genuine love.  Can this ever be?  With Jean-Paul Belmondo in an early small role as one of the young people.

When I saw that the Amazon Instant version of this film, which I had already paid for, was billed as a “juvenile delinquent” movie, dubbed, and in a poor print, I had very low expectations.  While I can’t claim to have properly seen it, I was surprised at how well it kept my attention.  Carné keeps things moving at a fairly good pace, the acting is fine, and there are some good shots.  There is also a nice soundtrack of American rock and roll and jazz hits of the era to enjoy.

Trailer – no sub-titles

The Sign of Zorro
Directed by Lewis R. Foster and Norman Foster
Written by Norman Foster, Louis F. Hawley et al
1958/USA
Walt Disney Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] “Do you truly believe that life is fair, Senor de la Vega?

-No, maestro, but I plan to do everything in my power to make it so.” ― Isabel Allende, Zorro[/box]

This was a fun trip down memory lane.

The evil and greedy Capitan Monastario has Spanish colonial Los Angeles in his grip and is reeking havoc on the aristocracy.  Don Alejandro de la Vega calls his son Diego (Guy Williams) home from Spain where he has been studying. Diego, an expert swordsman, wants to fight Monastario without involving his father and adopts an alter ego, Zorro.  The masked man, with his faithful mute servant Bernardo, has many adventures before saving the day.

The Disney TV series is associated with some of my very early memories.  This film is actually eight episodes from the series that have been edited together pretty well.  It was fun being reintroduced to the characters, especially Bernardo and the incompetent Sgt. Garcia, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.  If you are looking for the perfect Zorro film, however, I would go with The Mark of Zorro (1940) with Tyrone Power.

Main title from the TV series

Big Deal on Madonna Street (I soliti ignolti)
Directed by Mario Monicelli
Written by Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli et al
1958/Italy
Cinecittá, Lux Film, Vides Cinematografica
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Tiberio: Stealing is a serious profession. You need serious people, not people like you. All you can do at your best is work.[/box]

Some of Italy’s stars of the 1950’s get together for this spoof of the era’s heist movies.

Cosimo is in prison for the umpteenth time.  Inside, he hears of a fool-proof plan for robbing a pawn shop and is desperate to get out.  He sends his lawyer to hire a scapegoat who will confess to his crime.  The lawyers try out all his old cronies from the neighborhood but all have previous commitments.  Finally, a boxer (Vittorio Gassman) who has no criminal record agrees.  In the first of many set-backs in the movie, all three men – Cosimo, the boxer, and the lawyer – are thrown in the clink.  Cosimo reveals his plan to the boxer and the boxer steals it from him when he is released on probation.

An old master (Toto), who seems to spend most of his time in a bathrobe, trains the motley gang of losers that the boxer puts together in the art of safe-cracking.  The rest of the movie covers the meticulous planning for and disastrous execution of the job.  With Renato Salvatori, Marcello Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale in her film debut.

This film was inspired by Rififí and follows the heist formula perfected in that film to comedic effect.  At the same time, it spoofs neo-realism and makes fun of some familiar Italian stereotypes.  For some reason, I didn’t find it as funny this time as on the first go round.  Still, it is worth seeing.

Trailer

The Space Children
Directed by Jack Arnold
Written by Bernard C. Schoenfeld; story by Tom Filer
1958/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is make the rubble bounce. — Winston Churchill [/box]

Not every B-picture directed by Jack Arnold can be The Incredible Shrinking Man.  That said, I thought this was much better than its IMDb rating.

The Brewster family is moving to the seaside so that Dad can work on a not-so-secret satellite capable of dropping an H-bomb from space.  Somehow the beach seems sinister to Mom and she has good instincts.  The two young sons see a blinding flash from the sky but no one will pay attention to them.  On their first outing with the neighbor children, they explore a cave where they discover a glowing brain-like object.  This promptly hypnotizes the kids into doing its bidding.

The film suffers from a miniscule special effects budget.  This means that we have no alien action and, indeed, only a few glimpses of the creature.  So Arnold has to create suspense where none really exists and is only partially successful.  I though it was well-made for what it was.

Trailer

Yoru no tsuzumi (“Night Drum”)
Directed by Tadashi Imai
Written by Shinobu Hashimoto and Kaneto Shindô from a play by Monzaemon Chikamatsu
1958/Japan
Shôchiku Eiga
First viewing/Hulu

[box] No adultery is bloodless. — Natalia Ginzburg [/box]

This tragedy recounts several points of view on the conduct of a samurai wife suspected of adultery.

A samurai spends weeks and months at a time on business for his lord.  He is finally returning home to his beloved wife. Rumors are flying around that the wife has had an affair with a lowly drumming instructor.  The wife denies this and the samurai is the only one who believes her.  But the rumors persist and we see events given from the perspective of several different people.

I thought this was pretty good.  I especially liked Masayuki Mori as the drumming instructor.  It’s a Rashomon-style tale without the lingering doubt.