What was it between Howard Hughes and Robert Mitchum? The millionaire used to lend Mitchum office space when he was starting out; when at Hughes-controlled RKO, he protected Mitchum's career after the dope bust, then kept him in starring roles.
We don't see Mitchum for seventeen minutes, but already get the feeling he's going to be the incorruptible cop everyone's talking about, as the plot is introduced - we have the standard tough crime boss (Robert Ryan), but also the new fifties element of the 'syndicate' - organised crime of a much bigger and more powerful nature - working behind the scenes (in this case, run by 'The Old Man', who we never see).
In a very ironic ending, the Old Man's bent cop, William Conrad, shoots Ryan rather than let him testify, so whilst the nominal bad guy is beaten, the real bad guys are still at work. This, then is deflated by a last minute arrest of the bent Judge (Roy Collins) and (we think) Conrad - something of a last minute cop-out (forgive the pun), which seems a compromise.
Also going on is a budding relationship between a young newspaper man Robert Hutton and singer Lizabeth Scott. Dedicated cop is played by William Talman (who had quite an old face for 36).
William Wister Haines and W.R. Burnett (Scarface, The Asphalt Jungle, This Gun For Hire) adapted Bartlett Cormack's play, first filmed in 1928. Sam Fuller apparently worked on it too.
Photographer George Diskant wouldn't like the terrible quality print that Sony Classic Movies ran this week.
Thursday, 30 April 2020
Tuesday, 28 April 2020
School for Scoundrels (1960 Robert Hamer)
"Oh - hard cheese." It's always an enjoyable hour and a half.
Ian Carmichael had spent quite a stretch on TV before getting any interest, since 1947. Terry-Thomas had an even longer slog, since the thirties, his first film of note Private's Progress in 1956. Hamer's drinking ended his film career here (though clashes with producer Hal Chester didn't sound like they helped) - he was dead within three years. Chester and Patricia Moyes are credited with adapting Stephen Potter's 'Oneupmanship' books but didn't - see earlier review.
Janette Scott, Alistair Sim, Dennis Price, Peter Jones, Edward Chapman, Irene Handl, John Le Mesurier.
Erwin Hillier shot it. The Quiller Memorandum was one of his later notables. John Addison wrote the rowdy score.
Love the initial meeting between Sim and Carmichael in which the former constantly one-ups him, firstly in use of surname / 'Mister', then in not returning the pen...
Ian Carmichael had spent quite a stretch on TV before getting any interest, since 1947. Terry-Thomas had an even longer slog, since the thirties, his first film of note Private's Progress in 1956. Hamer's drinking ended his film career here (though clashes with producer Hal Chester didn't sound like they helped) - he was dead within three years. Chester and Patricia Moyes are credited with adapting Stephen Potter's 'Oneupmanship' books but didn't - see earlier review.
Janette Scott, Alistair Sim, Dennis Price, Peter Jones, Edward Chapman, Irene Handl, John Le Mesurier.
Erwin Hillier shot it. The Quiller Memorandum was one of his later notables. John Addison wrote the rowdy score.
Love the initial meeting between Sim and Carmichael in which the former constantly one-ups him, firstly in use of surname / 'Mister', then in not returning the pen...
Monday, 27 April 2020
Love & Mercy (2014 Bill Pohlad)
I'm not quite sure I believe John Cusack to be the older version of Paul Dano - both playing Brian Wilson - but film could have been heavy, and isn't. Giamatti is great as evil controlling doctor, Elizabeth Banks is the car dealer who saves Wilson.
I swear there's a nod to Godard (Sympathy for the Devil) in a recording studio scene; recreations of famous song recordings interesting. Some interesting use of sound.
Written by Oren Moverman and Michael Lerner, photographed by Robert Yeoman.
I was amused to read on IMDB that one of Paul Dano's early supporting roles was in...
I swear there's a nod to Godard (Sympathy for the Devil) in a recording studio scene; recreations of famous song recordings interesting. Some interesting use of sound.
Written by Oren Moverman and Michael Lerner, photographed by Robert Yeoman.
I was amused to read on IMDB that one of Paul Dano's early supporting roles was in...
Life of Crime (2013 Daniel Schecter & scr, ed)
Based on Elmore Leonard's 1978 novel 'The Switch', the film is dedicated to him.
Great fun from the off, tight story-telling. Yasiin Bey (Begin Again, Be Kind Rewind) and John Hawkes (Three Billboards, Lincoln, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Winter's Bone) kidnap Jen An, but her husband Tim Robbins is rolled up in a luxury apartment with Isla Fisher and isn't interested in her return. Will Forte is also involved; Mark Boone Junior is the Nazi obsessed kidnapper.
Eric Alan Edwards shot it.
Great fun from the off, tight story-telling. Yasiin Bey (Begin Again, Be Kind Rewind) and John Hawkes (Three Billboards, Lincoln, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Winter's Bone) kidnap Jen An, but her husband Tim Robbins is rolled up in a luxury apartment with Isla Fisher and isn't interested in her return. Will Forte is also involved; Mark Boone Junior is the Nazi obsessed kidnapper.
Eric Alan Edwards shot it.
Sunday, 26 April 2020
Mad Men - Season 7 (2014 / 2015 Matthew Weiner)
1969. I did not like the episode in which Don comes back to the office and is made to wait around all day whilst the staff treat him as though he's toxic; then he's finally summoned to the partners who insist he can't behave like Don anymore... and he meekly accepts. Then he has to work for Peggy...
Sally: "I'd stay here until 1975 if I could get my mom underground." That's a line that has quite ironic significance by the end.
We're going off Peggy... At least she and Don are finally reconciled over some burger pitch...
Robert Towne is a consulting producer..
This ends episode seven - there was then a year before eight resumed... Eight was dedicated to Mike Nichols.
John Dos Passos was a writer noted for his 'USA Trilogy'.
The poster is Moshe Dayan, Israeli military leader and politician:
"Where's Don? He walked out of a meeting Wednesday and hasn't been seen again." We wondered if the ending Coke ad suggests Don's returned and that's his work. Loved Don's wanderings.. that left turn, where the nice motel veteran turns nasty, thinking he's stolen the money. And then testing high speed cars in the desert...
Sally: "I'd stay here until 1975 if I could get my mom underground." That's a line that has quite ironic significance by the end.
We're going off Peggy... At least she and Don are finally reconciled over some burger pitch...
 |
| Ben Feldman (Jesus, he goes crazy..), Elizabeth Moss, Jay R. Ferguson |
 |
| An Omega Seamaster Deville. There are all sorts of watches on his wrist throughout the seasons |
Robert Towne is a consulting producer..
This ends episode seven - there was then a year before eight resumed... Eight was dedicated to Mike Nichols.
 |
| Bye bye Bert.. Robert Morse will be 89 on May 18. |
John Dos Passos was a writer noted for his 'USA Trilogy'.
The poster is Moshe Dayan, Israeli military leader and politician:
"Where's Don? He walked out of a meeting Wednesday and hasn't been seen again." We wondered if the ending Coke ad suggests Don's returned and that's his work. Loved Don's wanderings.. that left turn, where the nice motel veteran turns nasty, thinking he's stolen the money. And then testing high speed cars in the desert...
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949 Robert Hamer & co-scr)
He wrote it with John Dighton; source was novel by Roy Horniman.
Apart from The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, I'm not sure there is a drier film. Probably my favourite Dennis Price / Joan Greenwood / Hamer / Ealing film.
"Two days later I made the tedious journey to Bayswater. It was typical of Lionel to live on the wrong side of the park."
"We do seem to be a very short-lived family." And "All your cousins seem to get killed."
Locations this way.
Apart from The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, I'm not sure there is a drier film. Probably my favourite Dennis Price / Joan Greenwood / Hamer / Ealing film.
"Two days later I made the tedious journey to Bayswater. It was typical of Lionel to live on the wrong side of the park."
"We do seem to be a very short-lived family." And "All your cousins seem to get killed."
Locations this way.
Saturday, 25 April 2020
The Towering Inferno (1974 John Guillermin)
There's unusually no studio ident as two made it - Warners and Fox. (It was based on two similar books.) Unfortunately, the script was one of the early casualties of the fire.
We quite enjoyed seeing some of the people - Bill Holden, Fred Astaire, Steve McQueen. Paul Newman, Jennifer Jones, Roberts Vaughan and Wagner, Faye Dunaway, Susan Blakely..
.. but when you start expecting Richard Chamberlain's burned corpse to fall on the fire fighters, and the little girl says 'Will there be a bang?' and you realise the flaming film's going on for another hour...
For the record, Fred Koenkamp and Joseph Biroc (action scenes) won the Oscar. After 9/11 and Grenfell it's not an easy watch, somehow. I once thought it was the best film ever made.
We seem to be watching a lot of crappy films, lately...
We quite enjoyed seeing some of the people - Bill Holden, Fred Astaire, Steve McQueen. Paul Newman, Jennifer Jones, Roberts Vaughan and Wagner, Faye Dunaway, Susan Blakely..
.. but when you start expecting Richard Chamberlain's burned corpse to fall on the fire fighters, and the little girl says 'Will there be a bang?' and you realise the flaming film's going on for another hour...
For the record, Fred Koenkamp and Joseph Biroc (action scenes) won the Oscar. After 9/11 and Grenfell it's not an easy watch, somehow. I once thought it was the best film ever made.
We seem to be watching a lot of crappy films, lately...
Thursday, 23 April 2020
Mad Men - Season 6 (2013 Matthew Weiner)
1968, potted with the war and assassinations, and cuing this sort of exchange: 'We've already had this meeting, and it went well.' Don: 'Where's our check?'
Dick Dong Swinger is having an affair with his neighbour, doctor's wife Linda Cardellini, while Megan pursues an acting career, about which he's not happy - double standards at work again, not just from him.
In an outrageous episode eight, written by Weiner and Jason Grote, the staff of the newly merged ad agencies take some 'vitamin' injection - coke? - and go crazy, whilst Sally wakes up to find a strange black woman in the apartment who claims to be Don' s mother. This is interspersed with young Dick in whorehouse being cared for (in more than one way) by a young prostitute, intercut with Don's mad quest for an old ad image, one that is the key to some Grand Idea...
Looking at Dick's life - his mother died giving birth, his step-mother hated him, his Dad was no better, then raised in a whore house - it's not surprising that he has such difficult relationships with women. He knows how to charm, flatter and flirt, is suitably handsome, confident and mysterious, and can be tender and thoughtful... but at the end of the day he can't share himself with them - even the ones that know about his past - and just doesn't get how to relate to them at all. It's a nicely complex characterisation.
Anyway, in a slightly unlikely plot development, Don tries to help the doctor's son not get drafted to Vietnam; Sally catches him 'comforting' the mother - she then decides she'd rather be at boarding school. (I cannot seem to stop writing dangling modifiers at the moment.) (Don also 'comforted' Betty at camp.)
Ken: 'I told them Cynthia was pregnant and to celebrate they took me out and shot me... On the way to the hospital, they tried to stop for lunch.' Pete's mum says he was 'a sour little boy'. James Wolk is the too-smooth Bob Benson.
The ending is that Don gets too personal with Hershey and as a result is put on indeterminate leave. And Pete's mum goes overboard on a cruise. I was beginning to get a feeling that it was becoming a bit far-fetched.
Dick Dong Swinger is having an affair with his neighbour, doctor's wife Linda Cardellini, while Megan pursues an acting career, about which he's not happy - double standards at work again, not just from him.
In an outrageous episode eight, written by Weiner and Jason Grote, the staff of the newly merged ad agencies take some 'vitamin' injection - coke? - and go crazy, whilst Sally wakes up to find a strange black woman in the apartment who claims to be Don' s mother. This is interspersed with young Dick in whorehouse being cared for (in more than one way) by a young prostitute, intercut with Don's mad quest for an old ad image, one that is the key to some Grand Idea...
Looking at Dick's life - his mother died giving birth, his step-mother hated him, his Dad was no better, then raised in a whore house - it's not surprising that he has such difficult relationships with women. He knows how to charm, flatter and flirt, is suitably handsome, confident and mysterious, and can be tender and thoughtful... but at the end of the day he can't share himself with them - even the ones that know about his past - and just doesn't get how to relate to them at all. It's a nicely complex characterisation.
Anyway, in a slightly unlikely plot development, Don tries to help the doctor's son not get drafted to Vietnam; Sally catches him 'comforting' the mother - she then decides she'd rather be at boarding school. (I cannot seem to stop writing dangling modifiers at the moment.) (Don also 'comforted' Betty at camp.)
Ken: 'I told them Cynthia was pregnant and to celebrate they took me out and shot me... On the way to the hospital, they tried to stop for lunch.' Pete's mum says he was 'a sour little boy'. James Wolk is the too-smooth Bob Benson.
The ending is that Don gets too personal with Hershey and as a result is put on indeterminate leave. And Pete's mum goes overboard on a cruise. I was beginning to get a feeling that it was becoming a bit far-fetched.
Sunday, 19 April 2020
Grease (1978 Randal Kleiser)
I'm amazed this was a big hit - what was it 1978 audiences found attractive about a cheesy 1950s musical? Travolta dances like a chicken and the behaviour of his 'gang' is laughable.
Of main interest then is late appearances by Eve Arden and - believe it or not - Joan Blondell. And someone called Frankie Avalon is in it too.
The musical numbers are awful, particularly the solos - the exact opposite of La La Land in fact. It's like the film's written around terrible songs. It's frequently flat, and the ending will make you puke.
Our Paramount DVD in 2.35:1 looked like it was squeezed, which didn't exactly help matters. (It was supposedly shot in 2.2:1).
Still the moment Travolta is in a diner ordering milkshakes does make you think Pulp Fiction all of a sudden...
Of main interest then is late appearances by Eve Arden and - believe it or not - Joan Blondell. And someone called Frankie Avalon is in it too.
The musical numbers are awful, particularly the solos - the exact opposite of La La Land in fact. It's like the film's written around terrible songs. It's frequently flat, and the ending will make you puke.
Our Paramount DVD in 2.35:1 looked like it was squeezed, which didn't exactly help matters. (It was supposedly shot in 2.2:1).
Still the moment Travolta is in a diner ordering milkshakes does make you think Pulp Fiction all of a sudden...
Jaws: The Revenge (1987 Joseph Sargent)
Definitely in the 'so bad it's good' department. The credited writer is Michael de Guzman - we decided though that he fell asleep and his seven year old niece finished it.
I was going to say that despite dreadful dialogue at every turn, Michael Caine is the only actor in it with any credibility, but when he emerges from the sea and is totally dry that was stretching things too far. Lance Guest is so wooden he could get a job as a tree. It's like it's a foreign film which has been badly dubbed. Even back projected scenes in plane are hilarious.
"I've always wanted to make love to an angry welder."
"Whatever we had last time."
"Two Bahama Mamas."
Dearly wished the little girl would be eaten by the shark.
Flashbacks (and clips from) the original made me think of that crocodile fight in the early Tarzan which is then in all the subsequent films.
I was going to say that despite dreadful dialogue at every turn, Michael Caine is the only actor in it with any credibility, but when he emerges from the sea and is totally dry that was stretching things too far. Lance Guest is so wooden he could get a job as a tree. It's like it's a foreign film which has been badly dubbed. Even back projected scenes in plane are hilarious.
"I've always wanted to make love to an angry welder."
"Whatever we had last time."
"Two Bahama Mamas."
Dearly wished the little girl would be eaten by the shark.
Flashbacks (and clips from) the original made me think of that crocodile fight in the early Tarzan which is then in all the subsequent films.
Mad Men - Season 5 (2013 Matthew Weiner)
Episode two. 1966: student riots, a nurse killer, a sniper (leading to Targets). Recently married, Megan has made the mistake of throwing Don a surprise birthday party in which she saucily performs a French song, 'Zou Bisou Bisou', originally recorded by Gillian Hills. The next day, Harry is overheard by her making lewd comments about her.
Later, Harry's summoned to Roger's office.
HARRY
(nervously)
You wanted to see me?
ROGER
I did. Come in. Have a seat.
HARRY
No - that's OK.
ROGER
I think you should have a seat.
HARRY
OK.
Sits, anxiously.
ROGER
Now, I think you know that we like to think of this place as a family. And, there are certain ways a family behaves.
HARRY
What did she say? Look, you have to hear my side of it.
ROGER
Your side of what?
HARRY
What?... Nothing.
ROGER
You're always up to something, aren't you Crane?
HARRY
It was an honest mistake, and I consider myself reprimanded.
ROGER
Great. I was thinking Pete could take your office.
HARRY
(thinks he's fired)
Really? Look I will apologise face-to-face, as horrible as that would be, but I think it would be... There's no reason to let me go.
ROGER
You're not getting fired.
HARRY
(exhales with relief)
Oh...
ROGER
What the hell did you do?
HARRY
I made fun of Zou Bisou.
ROGER
So did I.
Both laugh.
ROGER
Is that a crime? No. I've been trying to get Jane to talk to me in that accent. Nothing doing. She doesn't speak French, doesn't like me.
HARRY
I went home afterwards and Jennifer didn't know what was coming, I was so -
ROGER
(interrupts)
I don't wanna hear that.
HARRY
No of course you don't. Why would you?
ROGER
Look - I think you can understand that Pete needs a bigger office. And just between you, me and the window washer, it's been decided that you should trade.
HARRY
Who decided that?
ROGER
I did.
HARRY
I can't do that. And I don't know that I have to do it... Do I?
Roger sighs and stands up and approaches Harry.
ROGER
Harry. I am asking you, as a friend.
HARRY
I appreciate that Roger, I really do, but I need my office.
ROGER
Look, first of all, Pete's office isn't that different.
HARRY
I disagree.
ROGER
Fine. Name the most important person you could bring in to this office.
HARRY
William Paley.
ROGER
OK, so you shouldn't do that. Trust me, network and studio executives want to think you're out there jet-setting, rubbing shoulders with television stars, chorus girls. You should be talking to clients ringside. Or at a three star restaurant. Not coming in to your miserable little office.
HARRY
But I do. I come in here almost every day and Pete's office is a shithole with a support beam.
ROGER
What if I were to make it worth your while.
HARRY
I'm already head of my department.
ROGER
What would be an appropriate bonus?
HARRY
There's no bonuses. We have no money.
ROGER
How much would it take?
Goes for his pocket.
HARRY
Well, first of all, it's more than you would have on you.
ROGER
Really?
(counts it)
There's eleven hundred dollars.
HARRY
Why do you carry so much cash?
ROGER
That's more than a thousand, Harry.
Harry, thinking.
ROGER
That is a month's salary - after tax.
Harry takes the money. But adds -
HARRY
There's no window in there.
ROGER
You could buy yourself a very beautiful picture of something to look at.
Harry stands.
HARRY
Well, OK. But you're gonna owe me.
ROGER
No I'm not! I just gave you a load of money! This is a transaction. If you don't like it, we can have the conversation you thought we were having.
HARRY
So this is every month?
ROGER
Get the hell out of my office!
Weiner is credited as the sole writer on this one.
And - Roger spying Joan "There's my baby!"
Pete's moved to the country - doesn't look like the giraffes went with him. Roger tries LSD - which he loves - but it causes he and Jane to split up (quite a left field episode - the only thing I remember was that acid scene, Roger's cigarette being smoked in a split second, with which there's a kind of tuba-delivered sound effect).
Don's not reading James Bond, but 'The Fixer' by Bernard Malamud.
Roger: 'For all we know, Jesus was trying to get the loaves and fishes account.'
Lane steals, Pete cheats. Megan acts, Don buys a Jag, Joan prostitutes herself. Peggy quits, Harry meets Krishna, Betty's a bitch. (Nick jots.)
Weiner fell out with AMC, which was why there was such a gap between series. Part of the agreement reached was that season five, six and seven were simultaneously green lit.
Jared Harris and Cristina Hendricks steal the acting honours for me, though John does deliver his lines deliciously.
Later, Harry's summoned to Roger's office.
HARRY
(nervously)
You wanted to see me?
ROGER
I did. Come in. Have a seat.
HARRY
No - that's OK.
ROGER
I think you should have a seat.
HARRY
OK.
Sits, anxiously.
ROGER
Now, I think you know that we like to think of this place as a family. And, there are certain ways a family behaves.
HARRY
What did she say? Look, you have to hear my side of it.
ROGER
Your side of what?
HARRY
What?... Nothing.
ROGER
You're always up to something, aren't you Crane?
HARRY
It was an honest mistake, and I consider myself reprimanded.
ROGER
Great. I was thinking Pete could take your office.
HARRY
(thinks he's fired)
Really? Look I will apologise face-to-face, as horrible as that would be, but I think it would be... There's no reason to let me go.
ROGER
You're not getting fired.
HARRY
(exhales with relief)
Oh...
ROGER
What the hell did you do?
HARRY
I made fun of Zou Bisou.
ROGER
So did I.
Both laugh.
ROGER
Is that a crime? No. I've been trying to get Jane to talk to me in that accent. Nothing doing. She doesn't speak French, doesn't like me.
HARRY
I went home afterwards and Jennifer didn't know what was coming, I was so -
ROGER
(interrupts)
I don't wanna hear that.
HARRY
No of course you don't. Why would you?
ROGER
Look - I think you can understand that Pete needs a bigger office. And just between you, me and the window washer, it's been decided that you should trade.
HARRY
Who decided that?
ROGER
I did.
HARRY
I can't do that. And I don't know that I have to do it... Do I?
Roger sighs and stands up and approaches Harry.
Harry. I am asking you, as a friend.
HARRY
I appreciate that Roger, I really do, but I need my office.
ROGER
Look, first of all, Pete's office isn't that different.
HARRY
I disagree.
ROGER
Fine. Name the most important person you could bring in to this office.
HARRY
William Paley.
ROGER
OK, so you shouldn't do that. Trust me, network and studio executives want to think you're out there jet-setting, rubbing shoulders with television stars, chorus girls. You should be talking to clients ringside. Or at a three star restaurant. Not coming in to your miserable little office.
HARRY
But I do. I come in here almost every day and Pete's office is a shithole with a support beam.
ROGER
What if I were to make it worth your while.
HARRY
I'm already head of my department.
ROGER
What would be an appropriate bonus?
HARRY
There's no bonuses. We have no money.
ROGER
How much would it take?
Goes for his pocket.
HARRY
Well, first of all, it's more than you would have on you.
ROGER
Really?
(counts it)
There's eleven hundred dollars.
HARRY
Why do you carry so much cash?
ROGER
That's more than a thousand, Harry.
Harry, thinking.
ROGER
That is a month's salary - after tax.
Harry takes the money. But adds -
HARRY
There's no window in there.
ROGER
You could buy yourself a very beautiful picture of something to look at.
Harry stands.
HARRY
Well, OK. But you're gonna owe me.
ROGER
No I'm not! I just gave you a load of money! This is a transaction. If you don't like it, we can have the conversation you thought we were having.
HARRY
So this is every month?
ROGER
Get the hell out of my office!
Weiner is credited as the sole writer on this one.
And - Roger spying Joan "There's my baby!"
 |
| They're all horrible, but even Don can't carry off that jacket |
 |
| Roger and Sally make friends... for a short while |
Don's not reading James Bond, but 'The Fixer' by Bernard Malamud.
Roger: 'For all we know, Jesus was trying to get the loaves and fishes account.'
Lane steals, Pete cheats. Megan acts, Don buys a Jag, Joan prostitutes herself. Peggy quits, Harry meets Krishna, Betty's a bitch. (Nick jots.)
Weiner fell out with AMC, which was why there was such a gap between series. Part of the agreement reached was that season five, six and seven were simultaneously green lit.
Jared Harris and Cristina Hendricks steal the acting honours for me, though John does deliver his lines deliciously.
Wednesday, 15 April 2020
Top 10 Dog Films
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
No, seriously..
Lassie Come Home
Red Dog
The Thin Man
The Incredible Journey
Turner and Hooch
Marley and Me
Hachi
As Good As It Gets
Isle of Dogs
All the other Lassie / Pal films (which for the record are Son of Lassie (1945), Courage of Lassie (1946), Hills of Home (1948), The Sun Comes Up (1949), Challenge to Lassie (1949) and The Painted Hills (1951).
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
Lassie Come Home
No, seriously..
Lassie Come Home
Red Dog
The Thin Man
The Incredible Journey
Turner and Hooch
Marley and Me
Hachi
As Good As It Gets
Isle of Dogs
All the other Lassie / Pal films (which for the record are Son of Lassie (1945), Courage of Lassie (1946), Hills of Home (1948), The Sun Comes Up (1949), Challenge to Lassie (1949) and The Painted Hills (1951).
Mad Men - Season 4 (2010 Matthew Weiner)
 |
| It does look like a Bridget Riley, 'Hesitate', but don't think it is a real one |
'The Chrysanthemum and the Sword' is today's literary reference, a 1946 study of Japanese culture.
We were pleased that our vodka of choice Stolichnaya looked the same back then. And we enjoyed hearing 'If you're fond of sand dunes' recorded in the original in 1957, Patti Page's 'Old Cape Cod'.
Don has three girlfriends this season: Anna Camp, Cara Buono and new secretary Jessica Caré (we rather liked his older secretary Randee Heller, but... 'I'd ask my secretary to do it, but she's dead.' Funny scene of Don in meeting seeing them trying covertly to carry the body out.) And, in an unexpected turn of events, Don marries his new secretary.
Deborah Lacey is Betty's maid. New creatives: Matt Long, Jay Ferguson. Zosia Mamet from Girls is on, as is Lethal Weapon's Kevin Rahm.
Wasn't sure why one episode had Don giving a sort of authory voiceover throughout. And Don is so scared of his past being revealed he makes Pete ditch a $4 million contract - really?? Then they lose Lucky Strike, and things start to look really bad..
Monday, 13 April 2020
The Tomb of Ligeia (1964 Roger Corman)
Bizarre, often hilarious film about a pesky cat and a dead woman, replete with the director's fondness for dream sequences, necrophilia and fiery finishes. Either or both writer Robert Towne and / or Corman were smoking too much dope. Unusually, filmed in England, by Hammer's Arthur Grant.
With Vincent Price in interesting dark glasses is Elizabeth Shepherd.
Far out. For a horror actor, Price sure had a reassuring voice.
With Vincent Price in interesting dark glasses is Elizabeth Shepherd.
Far out. For a horror actor, Price sure had a reassuring voice.
Sunday, 12 April 2020
La La Land (2016 Damian Chazelle & scr)
It was only our eighth viewing.
I don't have any words.
Never noticed before - Hoagy Carmichael's stool is in 'Seb's'.
Should have won Best Film Oscar (did the BAFTA) - went to Moonlight - and screenplay - went to Manchester By the Sea. And should have won Sound Mixing - Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steven Morrow (went to Hacksaw Ridge) and sound editing - Ai-Ling Lee, Mildred Iatrou.. and film editing (Tom Cross, went to Hacksaw Ridge).
The singing of key songs took place live on stage - not looped. Thus 'Someone in the Crowd', 'City of Stars' and in particular 'Audition' are all live, the latter complicated by the movement of a desk as the camera comes in. Which makes Emma's performance there all the more remarkable.
I love the really sarcastic way Ryan begins playing 'deck the halls' and then turns into a beautiful bit of jazz. And the scene with Ryan and his sister which you don't notice is a single take. I mean, these are just two little things in a film full of things I love.
I don't have any words.
Never noticed before - Hoagy Carmichael's stool is in 'Seb's'.
Should have won Best Film Oscar (did the BAFTA) - went to Moonlight - and screenplay - went to Manchester By the Sea. And should have won Sound Mixing - Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steven Morrow (went to Hacksaw Ridge) and sound editing - Ai-Ling Lee, Mildred Iatrou.. and film editing (Tom Cross, went to Hacksaw Ridge).
The singing of key songs took place live on stage - not looped. Thus 'Someone in the Crowd', 'City of Stars' and in particular 'Audition' are all live, the latter complicated by the movement of a desk as the camera comes in. Which makes Emma's performance there all the more remarkable.
I love the really sarcastic way Ryan begins playing 'deck the halls' and then turns into a beautiful bit of jazz. And the scene with Ryan and his sister which you don't notice is a single take. I mean, these are just two little things in a film full of things I love.
"No, Jamal - you be tripping."
Mad Men - Season Three (2009 Matthew Weiner)
1963. The ads have changed again in the opening credits scene.
There's clearly a top pocket etiquette going on here - Roger always has three points, Don is always a straight top. Bert has four. Other people come and go.
Gynocracy = woman centred.
In a crazy episode 4, this happens:
Then this:
Roger! What were you thinking? (You'd think the two scenes are connected, but they're not.) Then this:
I know. It's all going on. Q liked this outfit:
In an unforgettable moment, one of the Brit bosses has his foot run over by a lawn mower.
"He might lose his foot."
Roger: "Just when he got it in the door."
(Whilst glass is cleaned of blood in the background.)
Neil Dickson is the politician who's come into Betty's life, Ryan Cutrona is Betty's dad (who allows Sally - Kiernan Shipka - to drive), Jared Harris has joined the team from London. Now we understand Don's 'meet cute' with the man who turns out to be Conrad Hilton (Chelcie Ross) at the wedding.
Lots of lying, deception, unspoken things... Don hasn't seen A Guide For the Married Man because it hasn't been made yet, but if he had, it would be Robert E Morse (ironically) who would be saying 'You can't screw this girl, she's single, lives two miles from your house, your wife knows her...'
David Ogilvy's 'Confessions of an Advertising Man' get a name check (publ. 1963). And noticed Frank Pierson as consulting producer - thought that name sounded familiar - he wrote Dog Day Afternoon, Cool Hand Luke and the 1976 A Star Is Born. More lovely bits of music from Dave Carbonara - add him to the list of other great Italian film music composers: Piersanti, Marienelli, Rota, Giacchino, Morricone... Puccini, Q adds, usefully. And I seem to be the only person finding a link between Chris Manley and Metty's Sirk pictures.
Anyway, in the end, Bets has had enough - out of the frying pan... (She's not a nice character, and a terrible mother.) But the agency is sold again, to McCann, so Don has the delicious bright idea that Lane should fire them so they can start a new agency.. but they don't know where anything is. Roger seeks help... when Joan walks in to the office there's a round of applause from everyone... (well, us, anyway.)
Christina Hendricks is just great.
We have a new nickname for him - Dick Dong Swinger.
There's clearly a top pocket etiquette going on here - Roger always has three points, Don is always a straight top. Bert has four. Other people come and go.
Gynocracy = woman centred.
In a crazy episode 4, this happens:
Then this:
Roger! What were you thinking? (You'd think the two scenes are connected, but they're not.) Then this:
I know. It's all going on. Q liked this outfit:
In an unforgettable moment, one of the Brit bosses has his foot run over by a lawn mower.
"He might lose his foot."
Roger: "Just when he got it in the door."
(Whilst glass is cleaned of blood in the background.)
Neil Dickson is the politician who's come into Betty's life, Ryan Cutrona is Betty's dad (who allows Sally - Kiernan Shipka - to drive), Jared Harris has joined the team from London. Now we understand Don's 'meet cute' with the man who turns out to be Conrad Hilton (Chelcie Ross) at the wedding.
 |
| Lovely shot from Chris Manley evokes Russell Metty |
David Ogilvy's 'Confessions of an Advertising Man' get a name check (publ. 1963). And noticed Frank Pierson as consulting producer - thought that name sounded familiar - he wrote Dog Day Afternoon, Cool Hand Luke and the 1976 A Star Is Born. More lovely bits of music from Dave Carbonara - add him to the list of other great Italian film music composers: Piersanti, Marienelli, Rota, Giacchino, Morricone... Puccini, Q adds, usefully. And I seem to be the only person finding a link between Chris Manley and Metty's Sirk pictures.
Anyway, in the end, Bets has had enough - out of the frying pan... (She's not a nice character, and a terrible mother.) But the agency is sold again, to McCann, so Don has the delicious bright idea that Lane should fire them so they can start a new agency.. but they don't know where anything is. Roger seeks help... when Joan walks in to the office there's a round of applause from everyone... (well, us, anyway.)
Christina Hendricks is just great.
We have a new nickname for him - Dick Dong Swinger.
Wednesday, 8 April 2020
Mad Men - Season Two (2009 Matthew Weiner)
1962/3. Episode five, writer Robin Veith. Involving crude Jerry Lewis-like comedian Patrick Fischler and his wife / manager Melinda McGraw, with whom Don goes for a drunk drive, and ends up crashing. Peggy puts her up while the swelling goes down and in flashback shows how after she'd had her baby, and was feeling pathetic, Don turns up and tells her to pull herself together - an unknown and unexpected connection between them. Then the comedian spills all to Betty, causing her to suddenly vomit in Don's brand new Coupe de Ville, funnier because you're not expecting it at all (and because he's been at great pains to make sure the kids don't dirty it)... then she kicks him out.
There's also a priest Peggy likes... it's only Colin Hanks!
Meanwhile, back in the office, Don's new secretary Jane (Peyton List) is having an affair with Roger, and both Peggy and Joan are excluded from work opportunities by their male colleagues.
A trip out to California has Don dropping out, then reconnecting with the widow of the real Don Draper, who he's been supporting since they met, and is a real sweetie (Melinda Page Hamilton). There, Don, fixes a chair - he's good with his hands (this will come back later). He misses the action back home, when Duck (Mark Moses) simultaneously starts drinking again whilst suggesting to a powerful British agency they should buy a controlling interest in Sterling Cooper... not that Don objects much when he finds out... he's just cleared $500,000. (On returning he finds Peggy coming out of the office next to his. "Do I work for you now?" he quips.)
Frank O'Hara's 'Meditations in an Emergency' gets another name check, and indeed is the title of the last episode. Meanwhile Jane's reading Faulkner ('The Sound and the Fury').
Some lovely incidental music from Dan Carbonara.
Many writers throughout. Chris Manley photography (he shot most of the series).
Strikes me that Hitch would have loved January Jones (the icy blonde).
 |
| Pete and his giraffes |
Meanwhile, back in the office, Don's new secretary Jane (Peyton List) is having an affair with Roger, and both Peggy and Joan are excluded from work opportunities by their male colleagues.
A trip out to California has Don dropping out, then reconnecting with the widow of the real Don Draper, who he's been supporting since they met, and is a real sweetie (Melinda Page Hamilton). There, Don, fixes a chair - he's good with his hands (this will come back later). He misses the action back home, when Duck (Mark Moses) simultaneously starts drinking again whilst suggesting to a powerful British agency they should buy a controlling interest in Sterling Cooper... not that Don objects much when he finds out... he's just cleared $500,000. (On returning he finds Peggy coming out of the office next to his. "Do I work for you now?" he quips.)
Frank O'Hara's 'Meditations in an Emergency' gets another name check, and indeed is the title of the last episode. Meanwhile Jane's reading Faulkner ('The Sound and the Fury').
Some lovely incidental music from Dan Carbonara.
Many writers throughout. Chris Manley photography (he shot most of the series).
Strikes me that Hitch would have loved January Jones (the icy blonde).
 |
| Strikes me there's a few of these... seem to remember one in a tuxedo, somewhere |
The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936 Lothar Mendes)
Written for the screen by H.G. Wells, from his short story, for London films / Alexander Korda.
Some God-like presence gives ordinary man Roland Young the power to do almost anything - various people including Ernest Thesiger, Edward Chapman and Ralph Richardson try to advise him, but he goes power mad. Wrong woman is Joan Gardner, right one is Sophie Stewart; down cast list: Joan Hickson, George Sanders, George Zucco.
Music Michael Spolianski, photography Harold Rossen - they seemed to like importing great American cameraman, though it's difficult to study his contribution in soft, fuzzy print. Editor: William Hornbeck.
I wondered if this film had given Young his Hollywood break, but no. He was on Broadway since 1912, served for the US in WWI and became an American citizen in 1918.
Some God-like presence gives ordinary man Roland Young the power to do almost anything - various people including Ernest Thesiger, Edward Chapman and Ralph Richardson try to advise him, but he goes power mad. Wrong woman is Joan Gardner, right one is Sophie Stewart; down cast list: Joan Hickson, George Sanders, George Zucco.
Music Michael Spolianski, photography Harold Rossen - they seemed to like importing great American cameraman, though it's difficult to study his contribution in soft, fuzzy print. Editor: William Hornbeck.
I wondered if this film had given Young his Hollywood break, but no. He was on Broadway since 1912, served for the US in WWI and became an American citizen in 1918.
Sunday, 5 April 2020
A Guide for the Married Man (1967 Gene Kelly)
Fun to see young Robert E Morse alongside Mad Men.
For some inexplicable reason, Walter Matthau wants to have an affair despite being married to Inger Stevens, who's gorgeous. Serial adulterer More shows him how, using many amusing vignettes to illustrate (his wife Claire Kelly's also lovely, just to rub the joke in). Sue Ane Langdon is Matthau's target. Very 1967 in treatment (zoom, wipes - 'barn door' wipes, to be precise - music, conversations taking place over multiple locales).
Written by Frank Tarloff. Catchy title song from The Turtles, music by John Williams, shot by Joe MacDonald, edited by Dorothy Spencer.
Guest starring Lucille Ball, Phil Silvers, Jayne Mansfield, Terry-Thomas, Carl Reiner, Art Carney, Sam Jaffe.
Funniest moment is still the guy caught by his wife in bed with girl, who just denies everything... I think that's a dangling modifier. Hey! Sorkin! I done one!*
Maybe a neat end would have been if we somehow understood that Matthau's wife was having an affair.
20th Century Fox.
* No it isn't, it's a dangling noun, or something. Sgd. A. Sorkin.
For some inexplicable reason, Walter Matthau wants to have an affair despite being married to Inger Stevens, who's gorgeous. Serial adulterer More shows him how, using many amusing vignettes to illustrate (his wife Claire Kelly's also lovely, just to rub the joke in). Sue Ane Langdon is Matthau's target. Very 1967 in treatment (zoom, wipes - 'barn door' wipes, to be precise - music, conversations taking place over multiple locales).
Written by Frank Tarloff. Catchy title song from The Turtles, music by John Williams, shot by Joe MacDonald, edited by Dorothy Spencer.
Guest starring Lucille Ball, Phil Silvers, Jayne Mansfield, Terry-Thomas, Carl Reiner, Art Carney, Sam Jaffe.
Funniest moment is still the guy caught by his wife in bed with girl, who just denies everything... I think that's a dangling modifier. Hey! Sorkin! I done one!*
Maybe a neat end would have been if we somehow understood that Matthau's wife was having an affair.
 |
| Q wanted this for reasons of wallpaper |
 |
| With a prematurely aged Terry-Thomas |
20th Century Fox.
* No it isn't, it's a dangling noun, or something. Sgd. A. Sorkin.
Sommarnattens Leende / Smiles of a Summer Night (1955 Ingmar Bergman & scr)
Are you sure this is the same Ingmar Bergman who made Cries and Whispers? It can't be. This is a delightful sex comedy, clearly the inspiration for A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy. Or like an Oscar Wilde.
Really well played too. A man (Gunnar Bjornstrand) is married to a much younger wife (Ulla Jacobssen) - they haven't consummated the marriage. They live with his son from his former marriage, Bjorn Bjelfvenstam. The man's ex lover, actress Eva Dahlbeck, comes into town. Her lover now is soldier Jarl Kulle, his wife Margit Carlqvist. Harriet Andersson is a randy maid, Ake Fridell a lusty servant and Naima Wifstrand the mother, who stages a get-together at her country place on the midsummer night in which everything comes together.
Sending the husband home in a nightshirt is a funny moment, reminiscent of Lubitsch. Similarly the duel between Bjornstrand and Kulle.
It's really delightful. Shot by Gunnar Fischer. Made the year before The Seventh Seal - interesting prefiguring of that film is the clock which displays a Knight and Death amongst its characters.
Really well played too. A man (Gunnar Bjornstrand) is married to a much younger wife (Ulla Jacobssen) - they haven't consummated the marriage. They live with his son from his former marriage, Bjorn Bjelfvenstam. The man's ex lover, actress Eva Dahlbeck, comes into town. Her lover now is soldier Jarl Kulle, his wife Margit Carlqvist. Harriet Andersson is a randy maid, Ake Fridell a lusty servant and Naima Wifstrand the mother, who stages a get-together at her country place on the midsummer night in which everything comes together.
Sending the husband home in a nightshirt is a funny moment, reminiscent of Lubitsch. Similarly the duel between Bjornstrand and Kulle.
It's really delightful. Shot by Gunnar Fischer. Made the year before The Seventh Seal - interesting prefiguring of that film is the clock which displays a Knight and Death amongst its characters.
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| Ulla Jacobssen and Margit Carlqvist |
 |
| Gunnar Bjornstrand and Eva Dahlbeck |
 |
| Something about this shot makes me think of A Canterbury Tale |
Saturday, 4 April 2020
House Calls (1978 Howard Zieff)
It had been far too long. Funny film - written by Max Shulman & Julius Epstein and Alan Mandel & Charles Shyer - has widower surgeon fall for independent and feisty Glenda Jackson (good). Art Carney hilarious as bumbling fellow surgeon (he played opposite Matthau on Broadway in The Odd Couple). I felt - sensed - that either Matthau wasn't having a comfortable time, or that he wasn't directed well. Richard Benjamin is in it too.
Glenda's son is played by Charlie Matthau.
Music by Mancini, photographed by David M Walsh (The Goodbye Girl, Silver Streak, The Sunshine Boys, Sleeper).
Glenda's son is played by Charlie Matthau.
Music by Mancini, photographed by David M Walsh (The Goodbye Girl, Silver Streak, The Sunshine Boys, Sleeper).
Knives Out (2019 Rian Johnson & scr)
Johnson wrote and directed Looper. He manages to open out a whodunit so it is something more. Screenplay nominated for BAFTA and Oscar.
We liked the end credits.
In a great performance (accent too) Daniel Craig - with help from Lakeith Stanfield - teases the truth out of dysfunctional family, and nurse Ana de Armas (Bladerunner 2049, and in the new Bond). It's funny, too.
Cast: Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Katherine Langford, M Emmet Walsh. Shot by Steve Yedlin, music Nathan Johnson, editor Bob Ducsay, production design David Crank, art direction Jeremy Woodward.
We liked the end credits.
In a great performance (accent too) Daniel Craig - with help from Lakeith Stanfield - teases the truth out of dysfunctional family, and nurse Ana de Armas (Bladerunner 2049, and in the new Bond). It's funny, too.
Cast: Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Katherine Langford, M Emmet Walsh. Shot by Steve Yedlin, music Nathan Johnson, editor Bob Ducsay, production design David Crank, art direction Jeremy Woodward.
Friday, 3 April 2020
Mad Men - Season 1 (2007 Matthew Weiner)
In lockdown mode we decide to revisit the iconic series. Weiner had written 12 episodes of The Sopranos - he got the job by showing David Chase his spec script for this, written as far back as 1999. It was produced by AMC who had never made a dramatic series before, a big investment, you would have thought.
Great fun to see the support of smoking, drunk driving, sexism, even from women, children with cellophane on their heads, office drinking, Stepford Wife behaviour, again. Well, I say "fun". The sexism is mind-boggling and outrageous; like "Weinstein, this way forward."
Everyone looks so young. John Hamm (Don Draper), Elizabeth Moss (Peggy), Vincent Kartheiser (Pete), January Jones (Betty), Christina Hendricks (Joan), Aaron Staton (Ken Cosgrove), Rich Sommer (Harry Crane), John Slattery (Roger), Robert Morse, Bryan Batt (Salvatore). And Don's girlfriends this season: Rosemarie DeWitt (Midge) and Maggie Siff (Rachel). With Alison Brie (Pete's wife Trudy), Talia Balsam (Martin's daughter; also the real life Mrs. Slattery), Michael Gladis (Paul), Alexa Alemanni, Mark Moses ('Duck'), Julie McNiven (Hildy, Pete's sectretary).
I like the way things are gradually revealed, exemplified by the fact we don't even know Don is married with children until the end of episode one. Only gradually are revealed that Don isn't who he says he is, has brother, that Joan is sleeping with Roger. Didn't know why Peggy slept with Pete at the very beginning... The more we find out about Don, the more his behaviour is explainable.
Liked the conversation between Joan and Roger, The Apartment having come out (it's 1959/60).
Joan "Those poor girls being passed around the office like that."
Roger "An elevator operator who isn't coloured? And a woman? I want to work at that firm."
We love hating Pete - forgot he found out about Don's past so early.
Loved the moment where Betty effectively talks to Don via her psychiatrist, having found out he's reporting everything back to her husband. And when pot smoker Don (to Miles Davis) is told by beatniks he can't go outside because of the cops - "You can't" - and he walks out and the cop says "Good evening sir". And in probably the series' funniest moment, there's a punch up going on between Pete and Ken in the background, and Don and Roger totally ignore it:
Cinematographer Steve Mason et al, production designer Dan Bishop, editor Leo Trombetta et al.
There's a lot of lying - and dramatic irony - going on throughout.
Great fun to see the support of smoking, drunk driving, sexism, even from women, children with cellophane on their heads, office drinking, Stepford Wife behaviour, again. Well, I say "fun". The sexism is mind-boggling and outrageous; like "Weinstein, this way forward."
Everyone looks so young. John Hamm (Don Draper), Elizabeth Moss (Peggy), Vincent Kartheiser (Pete), January Jones (Betty), Christina Hendricks (Joan), Aaron Staton (Ken Cosgrove), Rich Sommer (Harry Crane), John Slattery (Roger), Robert Morse, Bryan Batt (Salvatore). And Don's girlfriends this season: Rosemarie DeWitt (Midge) and Maggie Siff (Rachel). With Alison Brie (Pete's wife Trudy), Talia Balsam (Martin's daughter; also the real life Mrs. Slattery), Michael Gladis (Paul), Alexa Alemanni, Mark Moses ('Duck'), Julie McNiven (Hildy, Pete's sectretary).
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| Vincent Kartheiser, Michael Gladis, Rich Sommer, Aaron Staton |
Liked the conversation between Joan and Roger, The Apartment having come out (it's 1959/60).
Joan "Those poor girls being passed around the office like that."
Roger "An elevator operator who isn't coloured? And a woman? I want to work at that firm."
We love hating Pete - forgot he found out about Don's past so early.
Loved the moment where Betty effectively talks to Don via her psychiatrist, having found out he's reporting everything back to her husband. And when pot smoker Don (to Miles Davis) is told by beatniks he can't go outside because of the cops - "You can't" - and he walks out and the cop says "Good evening sir". And in probably the series' funniest moment, there's a punch up going on between Pete and Ken in the background, and Don and Roger totally ignore it:
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| "Can I drop you at the station?" |
There's a lot of lying - and dramatic irony - going on throughout.
Wednesday, 1 April 2020
Little America (2020 Creators Lee Eisenberg, Emily Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani)
Gordon and Nanjiani wrote The Big Sick. Half hour true stories about immigrants - different and engaging, each story flagged by 'Now showing' film title, each with different writer / director, generally about rising from extreme poverty into some form of success through hard work.
Young Indian has to run motel solo when parents are deported. Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi, Homeland).
Feisty, disadvantaged Latin American girl (Jearnest Corchado) gets good at squash.
Hard-working Nigerian economy student (Conphidance) becomes a cowboy.
A woman on a silent retreat turns out to be French. Mélanie Laurent.
A Ugandan girl Kemiyondo Coutinho (her debut) changes her life by selling cookies in Louisville.
Chinese mother Angela Li is very possessive of children on Alaska cruise - we find out why.
Iranian fantasist Shaun Toub (Homeland, The Kite Runner) attempts to build house on rocky plot; actually fails, in slightly disappointing episode.
And gay Syrian Haaz Sleiman escapes persecution via Jordan and finally to America.
Made by Universal television for Apple TV. 8 x 30'.
Young Indian has to run motel solo when parents are deported. Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi, Homeland).
Feisty, disadvantaged Latin American girl (Jearnest Corchado) gets good at squash.
Hard-working Nigerian economy student (Conphidance) becomes a cowboy.
A woman on a silent retreat turns out to be French. Mélanie Laurent.
A Ugandan girl Kemiyondo Coutinho (her debut) changes her life by selling cookies in Louisville.
Chinese mother Angela Li is very possessive of children on Alaska cruise - we find out why.
Iranian fantasist Shaun Toub (Homeland, The Kite Runner) attempts to build house on rocky plot; actually fails, in slightly disappointing episode.
And gay Syrian Haaz Sleiman escapes persecution via Jordan and finally to America.
Made by Universal television for Apple TV. 8 x 30'.
Ceiling Zero (1936 Howard Hawks)
Frank Wead's play / screenplay, "one of the great fliers who broke his back in a fall, and was confined to a wheelchair, so he started writing". Whilst Hawks worked on the romance element ("the girls make the passes"), the rest of the story was in the play, but it's quintessential Hawks materials in which the relationship between the two buddies James Cagney and Pat O'Brien is more important than that with any of the girls, though with the June Travis character (her debut), tellingly called 'Tommy', you also have an independent and brave heroine; and in its grouping of tough professionals and the talking over each other scenes. Can be seen very much as a trial run for Angels Only Have Wings which is also about the brave world of mail pilots against the odds.
This is terrific, though perhaps it would have been more pleasing to not kill off Tex (Stuart Erwin), as you have Cagney die in the end as well. Otherwise it's funny, quick, tense and concise.
With Barton MacLane, Henry Wadsworth, Martha Tibbetts, Isabel Jewell, Craig Reynolds, Dick Purcell. Made for Warner Brothers, Arthur Edeson on camera.
Though fuzzy, the French release is the most affordable way to go - bizarrely, it's not available from the USA at all.
Quotes from Hawks, via Peter Bogdanovich. Hawks' own brother died in a flying accident.
Note how Hawks loves to fill the screen with characters. In the tense scene with Tex up in the air, more and more characters come into frame, finally joined by his wife in the final frame:
This is terrific, though perhaps it would have been more pleasing to not kill off Tex (Stuart Erwin), as you have Cagney die in the end as well. Otherwise it's funny, quick, tense and concise.
With Barton MacLane, Henry Wadsworth, Martha Tibbetts, Isabel Jewell, Craig Reynolds, Dick Purcell. Made for Warner Brothers, Arthur Edeson on camera.
Though fuzzy, the French release is the most affordable way to go - bizarrely, it's not available from the USA at all.
Quotes from Hawks, via Peter Bogdanovich. Hawks' own brother died in a flying accident.
Note how Hawks loves to fill the screen with characters. In the tense scene with Tex up in the air, more and more characters come into frame, finally joined by his wife in the final frame:
