Flickers in Time

The Caine Mutiny
Directed by Edward Dmytryck
Written by Stanley Roberts based on a novel by Herman Wouk
1954/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Repeat viewing/Netflix Rental

[box] Barney Greenwald: I’m going to be frank with you two. I’ve read the preliminary investigation very carefully and I think that what you’ve done stinks.[/box]

This is a thought-provoking movie with a terrific cast.  I didn’t even mind the extraneous romantic sub-plot quite as much as I did on previous occasions.

The story takes place in the Pacific during WWII.  It is more or less seen through the eyes of Ens. Willie Keith, who has recently graduated from officer school and is off on his first voyage.  He is a rich kid with an over-protective mother who is in love with May Winn (played by May Winn!), a nightclub singer.  We spend too much time in the first part of the movie focusing on Willie’s conflict between choosing May or his mother and taking a field trip to Yosemite National Park.

Things get better when we board the U.S.S. Caine with Willie.  The Caine is a decrepit old ship, whose main function is to tow targets for other ships to practice on.  The captain is Cmdr. De Vrees (Tom Tully) a crusty but fair old-timer with a realistic view of his ship and its mission.  Unfortunately, he has allowed discipline to lapse a bit.  The first officer is Lt. Steve Maryk (Van Johnson), a career navy man.  The communications officer is Lt. Tom Keefer (Fred MacMurray).  Keefer is a self-styled novelist with a very cynical view of the navy.

Cmdr. De Vrees is promoted and replaced by Lt. Cmdr. Queeg (Humphrey Bogart).  Queeg is a very strict disciplinarian.  Keefer immediately takes a dislike to him and suggests to Maryk that he has a paranoid personality.  Queeg reveals though a number of incidents that he is very insecure, overreacts, and must always be right.  Keefer starts pumping Maryk with ideas about a Navy provision that allows the first officer to take over when the captain is incapable of command.  Queeg has made several questionable judgement calls in the past.  When the ship is caught up in a typhoon and Queeg will not listen to Maryk’s advice about the course the ship should take, Maryk relieves him of command.

Maryk is court-martialed when the ship returns Stateside.  He is defended by attorney Lt. Barney Greenwald (Jose Ferrer), who isn’t exactly in love with his client.  The prosecutor is played by E.G. Marshall.

This is three-quarters of a practically perfect film.  Why the filmmakers found it necessary to spend so much time with the ensign and his love affair is beyond me.  It does not help that the actors concerned are fairly weak.

But once we get to sea the story is riveting.  Humphrey Bogart is really great as the neurotic captain, a role quite different than his usual fare.  Fred MacMurray makes an excellent stinker and Jose Ferrer is perfect for his part.  This is the kind of movie that asks the viewer to contemplate the bigger ethical questions involved.  Recommended.

The Caine Mutiny was nominated for Academy Awards in the following categories:  Best Picture; Best Actor (Bogart); Best Supporting Actor (Tully); Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Sound Recording, Best Film Editing and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

Hobson’s Choice
Directed by David Lean
Written by David Lean, Norman Spencer, and Wynyard Brown from a play by Harold Brighouse
1954/UK
London Film Productions/British Lion Film Corporation
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Maggie Hobson: I’ve been watching you for a long time and everything I’ve seen I’ve liked. I think you’ll do for me.[/box]

This is an excellent feel-good film with a fine comic performance from Charles Laughton.

The setting is the North of England in the 19th Century.  Henry Hobson (Laughton) must have been good for something at one time because he has a thriving boot shop.  Now, however, the widower spends his time terrorizing his three daughters and drinking at the local pub.  In fact,he is in the end stages of alcoholism (comic edition).

Maggie (Brenda De Banzie) is the eldest of the girls and takes care of the business end of the shop and most of the housekeeping.  She is around 30.  Her younger sisters both have beaus.  However, Hobson resolutely refuses to pay the traditional marriage settlement.

One day, a wealthy customer comes in to ask who made the boots she is wearing, because she likes them so much.  It turns out to be rabbit-like boot hand William Mossop (John Mills).  Thereafter, Maggie makes it her mission to marry him.

The rest of the story chronicles how Maggie outsmarts everyone to solve all romantic, domestic, and financial crises.  In the process, we get to witness William transform from a mouse to a man.

This is really well-done with typical Lean flourishes in the camera work.  The acting is uniformly excellent.  I generally detest comic drunks but this is the exception.  Laughton is genuinely funny while at the same time being believable.  Highly recommended.

This was the last black-and-white film made by Lean.

No trailer or clip so here’s some music

Devil Girl from Mars
Directed by David MacDonald
Written by James Eastwood from a play by Eastwood and John C. Mather
1954/UK
Danziger Film Productions
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] Nyah: Today it is you who learns the power of Mars.[/box]

The two best things about this movie are the title and the poster.

Robert Justin alias Albert Simpson (or is it the other way around) staggers into a remote Scottish inn after escaping from prison.  He was there on a murder charge but it wasn’t really his fault, the woman was “bad”.  The girl he should have been with works as a barmaid at the inn.  Meanwhile, a scientist and a reporter are en route to investigate something or other when the reporter feels a deep desire to drink heavily.  They ask to stay the night.  The only other guest is a reclusive fashion model.  The other inhabitants are the couple who own the inn and the wife’s little nephew Tommy.

After awhile, a spaceship lands and the company receives the first of many visits from Nyah.  She really on her way to London but she drops by here first.  Her mission is to bring back suitable specimens to Mars, which is suffering from a shortage of males.

Nyah keeps going back and forth between her space ship and the inn (there are only two sets), making assorted threats.  She takes most of the males, including Tommy, to the ship for visits.  Can this band of oddballs defeat her evil plan?

It is hard to decide what is worse in this movie, the actors or the dialogue.  I’m guessing that it’s a combo of both because veteran actor John Laurie who plays the inn owner does better with the same hackneyed lines.  This is really a melodrama with various romantic subplots with an alien thrown in to add a little spice.  It is very bad.  It held my attention and gave me a few smiles.

The complete film is available on YouTube but the best parts are in the two minute clip below (spoiler).

Clip

I’m guessing I’m not the only one who needs a smile after the worst Friday the 13th on record.  So far I’ve only seen two of these, so I have a lot to look forward to.

Dial M for Murder
Directed by Albert Hitchcock
Written by Frederick Knott from his own play
1954/USA
Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Tony Wendice: [to Mark] People don’t commit murder on credit.[/box]

This may be the only Hitchcock movie with a smart cop in it.  I wish the script was a bit stronger.

The setting is London.  Margot Wendice (Grace Kelly) is independently wealthy.  Her husband Tony (Ray Milland) is an ex-tennis pro with no funds of his own.  A year ago, Margot had an affair with mystery writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings).  She broke it off and he returned to the States.  He kept writing to her and she destroyed all the letters but one, a “special” letter that she carried in her purse wherever she went.

Recently, the purse was stolen.  Margot got the purse back, minus the letter and the money.  Then the blackmail threats began.  As the story begins, Mark has returned to London.  This is making Tony very nervous, not because he particularly cares about infidelity but because he is afraid he will be cut out of Margot’s will.

So Tony embarks on an ingenious plan to solve his problem before Margot can leave him. The plan is almost too clever and it will take the combined efforts of Mark and Scotland Yard to untangle Tony’s web of deceit.

There are many things to like about this film but I think the script is too stagy and doesn’t hold together all that well.  Kelly looks luscious and Milland makes a truly detestable villain. Nevertheless, I can’t believe that Kelly would prefer Robert Cummings to him in a million years.  I’d like to see this in 3D someday.

Trailer

The Robe
Directed by Henry Koster
Written by Philip Dunne, Gina Kaus and Albert Kraus (uncredited) from a novel by Lloyd C. Douglas
1953/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental

 Jesus Christ: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

The restored version of this, the first Cinemascope film, looks stunning.  Other than the visuals though, every thing about its erzatz Christianity left me cold.

Marcellus (Richard Burton) is a tribune in ancient Rome.  He gets on the wrong side of Caligula, the heir to the throne, when he gets in a bidding war with him for a couple of hot twin slaves.  Following his defeat, he purchases the defiant Greek slave Demetrius (Victor Mature), who had been slated for gladiatorial combat. On the same occasion, he becomes reacquainted with childhood sweetheart Diana (Jean Simmons), who is the ward of the Emperor Tiberius.

Tiberius orders Marcelllus to serve in the hell-hole of Palestine as punishment for fighting with his son.  Demetrius becomes fascinated with the preacher Jesus Christ early on. Marcellus redeems himself and is eventually ordered back to Rome, but not before one final duty.  Marcellus is assigned to the crucifixion of Christ and becomes the soldier that wins Christ’s robe in a gambling game.

There is a terrible storm after Christ dies and Marcellus orders Demetrius to cover him with the robe.  Mere skin contact drives Marcellus insane.  When he gets back to Rome, the Emperor decides that the way to restore his sanity is to destroy the robe.  So he sends Marcellus back to Palestine with that order along with instructions to wipe out as many of Christ’s followers as he can lay his hands on.

To find the robe he disguises himself as a wine merchant and ends up in the village of Cana.  There, he eventually meets up with the apostle Peter (Michael Rennie) and Demetrius, who is now a devout Christian.  Marcellus converts and all the predictable consequences ensue.

I suspected I would dislike this film, as with all sword and sandal films, going in but I wanted to see it because it was a Best Picture nominee.  I was not wrong.  The acting is wooden and the script is hackneyed.  However, I was very pleased with the visual aspects of the production.  Many of the scenes look like Renaissance paintings.  The music is suitably grand as well.

The Robe won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color and Best Costume Design, Color.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Actor (Burton); and Best Cinematography, Color.

Trailer

Wife (Tsuma)
Directed by Mikio Naruse
Written by Toshirô Ide from a novel by Fumiko Hayashi
1953/Japan
Toho Company
First viewing/Hulu

[box] By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher. – Socrates [/box]

It is a unique movie about infidelity that has me rooting 100% for the husband.

Toichi and Mieko Takamine have been married for ten years and have no children.  Any spark they ever had with each other is long gone.  Mieko, the wife, has given up entirely. She puts together disgusting meals, has no table manners, and is stingy in every way. The couple don’t talk to each other much.  Then Sagara, a widow at work, asks Toichi to join her for a visit to an art exhibition.  Before long they are seeing each other frequently. Finally, they admit their love to each other just before Sagara has to move to Osaka.

After awhile, Toichi has to go to Osaka on business and looks Sagara up.  They spend a whole weekend together.  Then Sagara comes up to Tokyo.  The Takamine’s border had previously seen Toichi and Sagara together and now tips off Mieko.  The rest of the movie follows Mieko’s desperate attempts to break up the relationship.

I thought this was only OK, though it gets much better in the last half hour.  It was surprised by the non-Hollywood ending.  I was rooting for something even more surprising,however.

Mogambo
Directed by John Ford
Written by John Lee Mahin from a play by Wilson Collison
1953/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Eloise Kelly: Look, Buster, don’t you get overstimulated with me![/box]

I wasn’t expecting much and wasn’t crazy about the love-triangle plot.  Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this movie.

Victor Marswell (Clark Gable) is a Great White Hunter who makes a living guiding safaris and capturing animals for zoos around the world.  One day, Eloise Kelly (Ava Gardner) shows up to join a maharaja friend on a safari.  The two immediately start trading barbs. The maharaja has already left for India and the boat that would take Eloise back to civilization will require lengthy repairs.  Victor then decides Kelly is alright and they begin an affair.

Later, a young couple, the Nordleys, show up to be guided on a safari to gorilla country. He is an anthropologist and his wife Linda (Grace Kelly) is a very upper-crust beauty, the polar opposite of the earthy Kelly.  So Victor starts an affair with her under her husband’s nose.  She and Kelly start feuding.  All is solved by the end courtesy of the Hayes Code.

I’ve never thought much of Ava Gardner as an actress but she is excellent in this movie.  I think she should have had a chance to do more cynical parts like this and maybe some comedy.  I don’t know why I didn’t realize that this was directed by John Ford.  He couldn’t do much with the script but he makes Africa look really beautiful.  It’s all soapy stuff but somehow I was very entertained throughout.

This is a re-make of Red Dust (1932) with Gable in the same part, Jean Harlow, and Mary Astor.  I still have not had a chance to see that one.

Ava Gardner was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar and Grace Kelly got a nod for Best Supporting Actress.

Trailer