If ... (1969 Lindsay Anderson)

"Run in the corridors!"

A real pleasure to see this again. It made me probably as angry as I was on 8th April 1979 to see the behaviour of the prefects, who are to all intents running the school. (In the final massacre, the Establishment fights back.)

Despite watching a 4x3 TV print (the aspect ratio is supposed to be 1.66:1) it shows Miroslav Ondricek's brick-coloured hue; he's assisted by an 'A' team of Chris Menges and Michael Seresin!

Brideshead director Charles Sturridge is one of the odious oiks.

Malcolm McDowell, Arthur Lowe.

Written by David Sherwin.

Le Samourai (1967 Jean-Pierre Melville)

"Whereas the colours in L'aine des Ferchaux are very warm, I wanted very cold colours for le Samourai. With this in mind I carried out a series of conclusive experiments, which I carried even further in Army of Shadows, and further still in Le Cercle Rouge (1970). My dream is to make a colour film in black and white, in which there is only one tiny detail to remind us that we really are watching a film in colour [did Spielburg ever read this??]. I think we took a small step forward in a form of expression - cinema in colour - that has become dangerous." ["Melville on Melville", Rui Nogueira 1971.]

Not the monster that is L'Armée des Ombres, but satisfyingly Bressonian and beautifully lit on Melville's own sets that burned down during filming. Thematically closer to Bob le Flambeur (loyalty, police adversary, fatalism).

Presumably the influence on Ghost Dog, the Way of the Samurai; John Woo is a big fan also. Compares interestingly to This Gun for Hire (Alan Ladd 1942).

"I sometimes read (I am thinking of the reviews after le Samourai and L'Armée des Ombres came out) 'Melville is being Bressonian'. I'm sorry, but it is Bresson who has always been Melvillian." (Nogueira.)

So I stand corrected!

Beautifully photographed by Henri Decae: his first films were for Melville and he shot early Chabrol, Truffaut and Malle, and so is a hugely important figure in French cinema.

Alain Delon, François Perier, Nathalie Delon, Cathy Rosier (pianist)

Hanging Up (2000 Diane Keaton)

Meg Ryan, Walter Matthau, Diane Keaton, Lisa Kudrow, Adam Artkin (son of Alan)

scr Delia and Nora Ephron.
Ph. Howard Atherton

Walter great in last film, but Ryan stand-out as nervy, highly strung daughter / carer.

I'm not convinced that Diane's a good director

Dark Passage (1947 Delmer Daves)

Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Bennett, Agnes Moorehead

Ph. Sid Hickox
Music Franz Waxman

Intriguing opening POV and camera in barrel. Might have been interesting to show different actor with Bogart's voice? (Would need excellent lip syncing.)

The Duchess (2008 Saul Dibb)

Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell (Fear of Fanny, Mansfield Park, Ruby in the Smoke), Simon McBurney (Prime Minister Fox), Aidan Mcardle (Sheridan) - the latter two parts are underwritten - they are her friends.

Ph Gyula Pados

Fiennes kept slightly reminding me of Leonard Rossiter and I wished it was him.
Film is OK but a bit 'so what?'
Photography is modern and flat.

Domestic Disturbance (2001 Harold Becker)

John Travlota, Vince Vaughan, Steve Buscemi
ph Michael Seresin

Unremarkable thriller in which T's son has witnessed V murdering B, but no one believes him.

L'Armée des Ombres (1969 Jean-Pierre Melville & scr)

I was completely blown away. How do the French manage to make these precise, economical films that without any sentimentality manage to be so moving? There's a highly cinematic use of dramatic irony and mournful Eastmancolor cinematography (Pierre Lhomme) that delivers the tough, brave exploits of Lino Ventura, Jean Pierre Cassel, Simone Signoret and the other Resistance members - the early execution scene is worthy of Hitchcock.

Amidst the cool development and performances it manages to be totally involving, exciting and heart-rending, marking Melville as a top-class and brutally honest auteur. It went straight into my Top 100 from this single viewing.

Afterthought: And what WW2 movie did Britain produce in this year? The Battle of Britain!

Also in cast: Paul Menrisse, Christian Barbier

Addtl. ph. Walter Wottitz
Music Eric Demarsan (wrote Belle and Sebastian in 1965!)

V For Vendetta (2005 James McTeigue)

Well. The problem here is you have a guy in a mask who can't emote (Hugo Weaving) and a girl who doesn't do much (Natalie Portman). Whose idea was it to muffle his voice realistically? Stupid. Very faithful to the graphic novel, lacks humour. Good supporting cast (John Hurt, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, Rupert Graves, Roger Allam, Eddie Marsan). Alan Moore's name completely absent, even as original author.

The Way to the Stars (1945 Anthony Asquith)

One of a number of terrific WW2 films we've steered through, and deserves immense praise for its proud, hard script (Rattigan; poems by John Pudney) and direction (Asquith), such as a camera finding a lighter that should have gone airborne with its owner, a pan up revealing that it isn't he. Trevor Howard in his 'debut' (actually the Way Ahead) and Michael Redgrave are so frightfully good that we rather miss them, though there's a bounteous supporting cast including Bonar Colleano (doing a Tarantino), Basil Radford (that handsome scar a WW1 trophy) and "I'll thank you" Joyce Carey as the wicked aunt. The scene where Johnny Mills kisses Renee Asherson goodbye through Rosamund John is delightful, particularly the look on the latter's face.

Derick Williams rather overlights the actors, but the second unit comprises not just Jack Hildyard but Guy Green as well.

A certain kind of quintessential British film: stiff upper-lipped, patriotic, unsentimental, cynical, witty and  off-handedly literate. Do we need the war to make films this good?

If.... (1969 Lindsay Anderson)

 A real pleasure to see this again. It made me probably just as angry as I was on the 8th April 1979 to see the behaviour of the prefects, who are to all intents running the school. (In the final massacre, the Establishment fights back.)

Despite watching a 4x3 print which doesn't seem cropped (the format is 1.66:1) Miroslav Ondricek gives things a brick-coloured hue, and he's assisted by Chris Menges and Michael Seresin! Brideshead director Charles Sturridge is one of the odious oiks.