Flickers in Time

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.

Trailer

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.

Trailer

Stolen Desire (Nusumareta yokujô)
Directed by Shohei Imamura
Written by Toshiro Suzuki from a novel by Toko Kon
1958/Japan
Nikkatsu
First viewing/Hulu

[box] “There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart’s desire. The other is to gain it.” ― George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman[/box]

This ribald comedy about theater folk is a departure from classic Japanese film.

The story concerns a down-and-out theater troupe in Osaka that combines a strip-show with Kabuki-light plays.  The management can no longer pay the actors but they stick with their show out of love for the bright lights.  The owners decide to take the show to the countryside to see if a new audience will change their fortunes.

One of the actors is university-educated but also in love with the theater.  In love with him are another actor’s wife and her sister.  Which will he end up with?

The story here is very slight but first-time director Imamura compensates with some innovative staging.  I kept wondering if he drew some of his inspiration from Fellini’s Variety Lights.

Clip

Teacher’s Pet
Directed by George Seaton
Written by Fay and Michael Kanin
1958/USA
Perlsea Company
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Erica Stone: As my father used to say, a reporter has to do a lot of sweating before he earns the right to perspire.[/box]

The best post-War performance I have yet seen from Clark Gable enlivens this entertaining rom-com.

Jim Gannon (Gable) is a hard-bitten, prickly city editor who came up in the school of hard knocks.   Erica Stone (Doris Day) invites him to speak to the students in her journalism course and he writes her a nasty letter in response.  The newspaper owner forces him to apologize and he is mistaken for a student.  He gives her a hard time in this role as well but comes to respect her … and more.  So he adopts an assumed name and enrolls in the class.  Naturally, he is a prodigy at writing news articles and she wants to mentor him personally.

He can’t get to first base with Erica though because she spends all her free time with Dr. Hugo Pine (Gig Young), a psychologist.  Pine also speaks seven languages, writes prolifically and, in short, is the kind of guy a kind of guy like Jim loves to hate.  Jim plots Pine’s downfall and many misunderstandings ensue en route to the happy ending.

I was kind of expecting a smarmy 50’s-style “sex comedy” but ended up liking this a lot.  I thought Gable would look tired and totally age inappropriate but he made it work.  His performance brought to mind some of his light-heartedness in It Happened One Night. Day is always good.  Recommended if you are looking for something frothy.

Teacher’s Pet was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Gig Young) and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen.

Trailer

The Cry Baby Killer
Directed by Jus Addiss
Written by Leo Gordon and Melvin Levy
1958/USA
Allied Artists Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

My motto is: more good times. — Jack Nicholson

Mostly for those completists who want to see Jack Nicholson’s film debut.

Nicholson plays high-schooler Jimmy Wallace.  As the film begins he is beaten up by a gang of his ex-girlfriend Carol’s boyfriend’s henchmen.  Jimmy heads to the malt shop to confront Carol. There is another slugfest during which Jimmy picks up a gun dropped by one of the thugs and accidentally shoots a couple of people.  Convinced he has killed them, he takes hostages including a mother and baby.  Much drama ensues.

In Corman’s introduction to the film on the DVD, he says that he spotted Nicholson during an acting class he was taking.  He offered the actor the job as he was the best in his class.  Corman certainly could recognize (cheap) talent when he saw it, giving many famous actors and directors their first breaks.  Nicholson is 100% Nicholson from the get go.  The film is kind of all over the place and mediocre.

Macabre
Directed by William Castle
Written by Robb White from a novel by Anthony Boucher
1958/USA
William Castle Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Narrator: Ladies and gentlemen – for the next hour and fifteen minutes, you will be shown things so terrifying that the management of this theatre is deeply concerned for your welfare. Therefore, we request that each of you assume the responsibility of taking care of your neighbor. If anyone near you becomes uncontrollably frightened, will you please notify the management so that medical attention can be rushed to their aid? [/box]

Castle’s underwriters weren’t losing much sleep over the risk anyone would die of fright.

Dr. Rodney Barrett is a hard-working physician.  A widower, he is raising his young daughter Marge with the help of a nurse (Ellen Corby).  Barrett’s wife Alice died giving birth to Marge.  Police Chief Jim Tyloe (Jim Backus) blames Barrett for Alice’s death.  Now her blind sister Nancy has died and Tyloe suspects Barrett once again.  Both were daughters of the wealthiest man in town.

As the film begins, the undertaker reports the theft of a child’s coffin from his mortuary. Later that day, Barrett’s loyal nurse Polly gets a call from a man who says he has buried Polly but Barrett still has four or five hours to find her alive.  The rest of the film is devoted to Barrett and Polly’s desperate search for the girl.

Despite a couple of mild jump cuts this movie is structured far more like a mystery than a horror film.  It’s not bad or good enough to be very entertaining but it’s short enough to be tolerable.  This is primarily notable for being the first of producer/director Castle’s many “gimmick” films.  The audience was insured against death by fright by Lloyd’s of London. There was an exclusion for preexisting conditions and suicide.

Trailer – exploiting the gimmick