M*A*S*H (1970 Robert Altman)

Scr Richard Hooker (& novel), Ring Lardner Jr.

Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Roger Bowen (Colonel), Gary Burghoff (Radar), Micahel Murphy, Jo Ann Pflug, Bud Cort.

Ph. Harold E Stine, Panavision.

Another film Q didn't want to watch then thoroughly enjoyed. Radar stealing Colonel's blood; dog in Sugar Lips line-up; Keystone Cop moments; overlapping dialogue; frequently pointless PA system; completely useless priest.

Kinamand / Chinaman (2005 Henrik Ruben Genz)

Bjarne Henriksen, Vivian Wu (The Last Emperor, many others). Linkun Wu (working as a bus driver when cast fo this, his first film).

Scr. Kim Fupz Aakeson.

Maybe a shade too gentle and slight. But fun. The first Chinese-Finnish co-production.

Une Femme Infidèle (1969 Claude Chabrol & scr)

Stephane Audran, Michel Bouquet (an unforgettable performance), Maurice Ronet.

Beautifully simple.

Loved the giant Zippo!

Ph. Jean Rabier

 

Sophie's Choice (1982 Alan J Pakula & scr)

Meryl Streep (AA), Kevin Kline, Peter MacNichol.

Ph. Nestor Almendros.

It wasn't all depressing, contrary to urban myth.

Oh, Mr. Porter (1937 Marcel Varnee)

Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat were writers.

Will Hay, Moore Marriott, Graham Moffat (the three often appeared together; Moffat is the 'Seven Sisters sergeant' in Canterbury Tale.)

Funny gags at outset not sustained ('What happened to him?' 'I don't know, but I remember we sent a wreath') but good windmill and train chase scenes.

Ph. Arthur Crabtree.

The Poseiden Adventure (1972 Ronald Neame)

Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Stella Stevens (his wife), Red Buttons, Roddy McDowell, Shelly Winters, Jack Albertson (her husband), Pamela Sue Martin, Eric Shea (her brother), Carol Lynley (the singer), Leslie Nielsen (difficult now to take seriously in anything).

I though the other preacher looked familiar - Arthur O'Connell from Anatomy of a Murder, written by Wendell Mayes, who also wrote this (with Sterling Silliphant). Music John Willimas.

It was more tragic than I remembered. And, therefore, not as much fun. The lengths some filmmakers will go to show off girls' legs...

Le Feu Follet (1963 Louis Malle)

Maurice Ronet kills himself.

Malle doing Bresson before Bresson.

Volker Scholdorff is assistant director.

Zazie Dans le Métro (1960 Louis Malle & co-scr)

Catherine Demongeot, Phillipe Noiret, Hubert Deschamps, the striking-looking Carla Marlier.

It's as though Malle saw what the New Wave were doing (referenced in the film), then threw away the rule book. The dazzling tricks and colour (ph. Henri Raichi) seem to have influenced Amelie, or closer in time, Dick Lester's Beatles films and the swinging sixties, though the hilarious chase sequence is pure Warner Bros. cartoon. Zazie's coarse language also makes us think of Paper Moon.

But it's all too much - needs a chill-out section, which it nears in a night scene with a great jazz-pop score - and the end punch-up in the restaurant is just silly (though even here there's a very Godardy device of background images being bigger than the foreground). The scenes atop the Eiffel Tower are terrifying.

Richard Ayowade reckons he watches this film once a month.