The Apartment (1960 Billy Wilder & prod)

I love every second of this film. It's probably the best written screenplay ever.

Goin' South (1978 Jack Nicholson)

Nicholson may sound like his nose is somewhat blocked, but he gives a fine - though broad - performance as a bungling horse thief saved from the gallows by Mary Steenburgen, who thinks there's gold on her land.

The ending perhaps should have been that she double-crossed him and got away with it - there's a suggestion that when the old gang come to visit, she takes to drink immediately despite having claimed to have never, she starts saying 'shit' - in other words not the good girl she's made out to be. Difficult to say - it's one of those ampersandy screen play credits - John Herman Shaner & Al Ramrus and Charles Shyer & Alan Mandel. Anyway the ending is fine and the main thrust of the story - that they fall for one another and she softens his rough edges - is good.

Also the fact that oil's there should have been exploited further?

Nicholson's direction is fine and whilst Nestor Almendros laudably shoots it in low light there's some problem with his focus puller, resulting in some noticeable out-of-focus shots. Editors Richard Chew and John Fitzgerald Beck often favour Steenburgen in the edit, quite rightly: she gives a lovely performance (it was her debut). With Christopher Lloyd, John Belushi, Veronica Cartwright, Richard Bradford, Jed Morris, Danny DeVito. For Paramount.

Even at the time there was speculation about excessive cocaine use amongst cast and crew on location in Mexico, and the film was a flop, but I thought it held up pretty well.

Next time - consult 'Masters of Light' Schaefer & Salvato, for some interesting stuff from Nestor Almendros about the filming.

Every Girl Should Be Married (1948 Don Hartman & prod, co-scr)

Story: Eleanor Harris, co-writer Stephen Morehouse Avery. Hartman wrote The Princess Comes Across and Road films.

Betsy Drake bumps into pediatrician Cary Grant and decides she will marry him. She proceeds to dig, track and stalk whilst friend Diana Lynn looks on (weirdly Lynn gets a higher billing than Drake. Ah, I see - it was Drake's debut; Lynn really doesn't have much to do). Meanwhile Drake pretends to date Franchot Tone to make Grant jealous.

Liked the mothers' meeting where they all confess to having manipulated their husbands into marrying them.

Photography George Diskant, music Leigh Harline. RKO's most successful picture of 1948. Exec produced by Dore Schary

Grant is smiley and happy-looking, perhaps as he was falling in love with Drake - they married the next year, divorced 1962.

L'Eternel Retour (1943 Jean Delannoy)

Written by Jean Cocteau. "For a long time I have cherished the dream of taking the theme of Tristan and Yseult, and setting it in our own time...what would I have become without Delannoy who wanted to get on my wavelength who asked me to join him in the cutting and montage, or without Roger Hubert, who filmed through my eyes and my heart? I am taking advantage of these few lines to thank the firm, the actors and Georges Auric, whose wonderful music cut the last thread that still held us to the ground..." ('The Art of Cinema'.) Don't you love Cocteau - 'the last thread that still held us to the ground'... so poetic...

I thought this worked well, a myth or fairytale transposed to modernity, complete with an evil dwarf, an island, a castle, a love potion... and a garage. With Georges Auric's music and the shimmering photography, it's fabulous.

With Madeleine Solonge, Jean Marais, Jean Murat, Roland Toutain, Junie Astor (the second Nathalie), Jane Marken, Jean d'Yd, Piéral, Alexandre Rignault, Yvonne de Bray. The dog is also a welcome member of the cast.

White Noise (2022 Noah Baumbach & scr)

I enjoyed the first hour - the family of different parents, the supermarket, the ominous cloud, the Hitler specialist (though I fail to see the relevance). Then - what was it all about? If it was 'Don't spend time worrying about dying, just live your life' than I don't think we needed two and a quarter hours and a mega-dollar budget to get there. I found it by the end rather frustrating, and the dance credits scene pretentious. Was it about epidemics? Consumerism? The pharmaceutical business? Some funny bits.

Adam Driver kept making me think of Steve Coogan. With Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy (eldest daughter), Sam Nivola (son). Based on book by Don DeLillo, photographed by Lol Crawley, edited by Matthew Hannam, music by Danny Elfman, fabulous 1980s production design by Jess Gonchor.

Yes, did get a quiver of Close Encounters in exodus / cloud  moment, and the opening in particular seems exactly like a Robert Altman film, but so what?

Today We Live (1933 Howard Hawks)

Romantic triangle war drama, initially written by William Faulkner (in 'five or six days') from his own short story. Then MGM insisted it was to be a Joan Crawford picture, even though there was no female character in it (how very thirties Hollywood!), so Hawks added her as an ambulance driver. Peter suggests that the opening of the film (Gary Cooper comes to Kent to rent a house from Crawford, whose father has just been killed in action) isn't even like a Hawks picture - but you have to set the story up somehow.

One thing I found a bit arch was the dialogue between Crawford and her brother Franchot Tone in its odd clipped staccato, but according to the director, Crawford wanted 'to have the same kind of dialog as the boys' so that's down to her.

Anyway - I should mention it's 1916, by the way - the film picks up when we get to France. Childhood sweetheart Robert Young and Tone are in the navy, Gary Cooper is a flyer - they show each other a taste of their own wars, and it's these scenes in the air and at sea that are still so good and exciting. And the usual Hawks camaraderie and drinking. And the ending has oomph.

With Roscoe Karns, Louise Closser Hale. Photographed by Oliver T Marsh, made for MGM. With credit for co-director to Richard Rosson.

'Firstly, I'd like to apologise for this dress I'm wearing...'

Ver Var Engang En Krig / Once There Was a War (1966 Palle Kjærulff-Schmidt)

It's wartime in occupied Denmark. But life goes on a for a typical family. Our focus is mainly on a teenaged boy, the youngest child with two older sisters, and his episodic adventures with school, parties, his bicycle and best friend, books, fantasies, jokes. The music's by Bach and Chopin and a great deal of what we might call 'Woody Allen' numbers, and what with the elegant tracking shots of people walking or cycling or running down roads, you're left with the impression of Les Quatre Cents Coups directed by Woody Allen (if he had seen this film I wouldn't be surprised).

The war is just a distant murmur, though we do learn the school's been requisitioned, the boy's love object's boyfriend is with the Resistance, and a friend of the family - or acquaintance, anyway - has been shot.

Very successful and could actually be about any group of kids anywhere and at any time.

Beautifully shot by Arne Abrahasen and Claus Loof.

The boy's good - Ole Busck - but he didn't go into acting. With Kjeld Jacobsen, Astrid Villaume, Katja Miehe-Renard, Birgit Bendix Madsen, Yvonne Ingdal.

A Lot Like Love (2005 Nigel Cole)

Very successful romcom, written by Colin Patrick Lynch, his only feature. Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet are both fresh and fun.

With Kathryn Hahn, Jeremy Sisto.

I could have sworn the music was by Tom Newman - it was Alex Wurman. DP John de Borman, editor Susan Littenberg.

Ruthless (1948 Edgar G. Ulmer)

Ulmer: "It was a dangerous script which had to be cut because McCarthy came in and it was written by Alvah Bessie [among McCarthy's blacklisted victims]... The interesting thing was going back in characterization - the flashback. Futhermore the complete evilness and ruthlessness about money... I wanted to do a morality play... But they fought me every step, because it was a very bad indictment against 100 percent Americanism." I'd say it worked, it's pretty relentless. Quote of course from 'Who the Devil Made It?'

It's beautifully shot by Bert Glennon, nicely directed and has a visual design and style that's noticeable, plus a very interesting score by Werner Janssen*. Spent the whole film trying to work out who Ann Blyth was playing, only to realise that the double role of Martha / Mallory is in fact played by The Miracle of Morgan's Creek's Diana Lynn. With Louis Hayward, Zachary Scott, Sidney Greenstreet, Lucille Bremer, Martha Vickers. And Bob Anderson (from It's a Wonderful Life) again as the young Scott.

* Made me think that the Nazis sure gave us a lot of good film composers - then I found out that Werner Janssen was born in New York City!

Amused to read later (in Halliwell) of the review by C.A. Lejeune:

"Beginning pictures at the end 
Is, I'm afraid a modern trend;
But I'd find Ruthless much more winning
If it could end at the beginning."

 

Wife Versus Secretary (1936 Clarence Brown)

"Wife Versus Secretary showed what thoroughly professional writing, production and acting can do for a trite theme. The story, a typical Faith Baldwin magazine piece, was polished by Norman Krasna, Alice Duer Miller and John Lee Mahin, director Clarence Brown and producer Hunt Stromberg until it shone like the silver that poured into the box offices. A major reason for this success was its cast: a restrained and charming Jean Harlow; Clark Gable, vital in almost every frame of the film; and May Robson as his mother, igniting the jealousy of his wife, Myrna Loy, who was at her subtle best. James Stewart, George Barbier, Hobart Cavanaugh, Gilbert Emery and Tom Dugan [and John Qualen] supported." Do you think John Douglas Eames watched every single film in his book 'The MGM Story'?

Harlow had by all accounts a colourful though short life. She died aged 26 in 1937 of uremic poisoning, which is where the kidneys aren't working properly. She's photographed here by Ray June.

La Fille aux Yeux D'Or (1961 Jean-Gabriel Albicocco)

Supposedly some relation to Balzac, written by Pierre Pelegri and Phillippe Dumarcay.

A horrible, boorish man pursues an enigmatic woman and they play mind games when he isn't shouting his head off at her or hitting her. He confesses to his older partner / lover that he loves the girl, so she kills her. I wonder if an in-depth knowledge of Balzac would help with any of this because I found all the characters repellent and vile, and such dialogue as "It's your duck that made the surface" pretentious and unintelligible. Luckily the performances are good, the direction and photography are good, there are certain moments of tremendous beauty (e.g. her apartment being full of birds) and the Spanish guitar music adds a certain something. Plus it's always nice to see early sixties Paris in black and white.

It's photographed by Quinto Albicocco, the music's by Narciso Yepes and the editor is Georges Klotz. Francoise Dorleac is in it but I didn't notice her.

So a real mixed bag, or duck, if you prefer.

It's somehow perverse and contradictory, and in that regard, very French.

Well, there it is.

A Knight in London (1928 Lupu Pick)

It was certainly a morning for obscure films. This one didn't have any credits at all except for the very ending (Copia de la Filmoteca Nacional de Espana, Madrid) and it seemed like any intertitles there may have once been had been removed. It was also a print of a somewhat dubious nature. However what emerged in the 45 minute running time was a quite visually inventive (e.g. use of reflections) and neatly plotted story of a young woman who mixes up a proper admirer in a hotel with some slimy count. I said 'Count'.

It turns out the woman is the cute Lilian Harvey, her admirer Robin Irvine and the Count - OK, Prince, then -  Bernard Nedell.

On Camera: Robert Baberske and Karl Freund, editor... Michael Powell! His book 'A Life in Movies' usefully reveals that the film had been made by UFA in Germany but no one wanted to release it. Powell cut it down from 'eight reels to five' and received fifty pounds payment.

Als Ich Tot War / Quand J'êté Mort (1916 Ernst Lubitsch & scr)

Very early Lubitsch is quite sweet, though primitive - everyone seems to be acting towards the camera, including Lubitsch himself, who plays the lead in a sort of goofy early Woody Allen style. It's funny watching Lubitsch the actor when you consider just how he directed people like Garbo and Melvyn Douglas, Burgess Meredith and Jack Benny.

My version had French intertitles and had the name above with the subtitle 'Comédie in trois actes' - on IMDB it's listed as Where Is My Treasure? which was apparently the worldwide release title.

Louise Schenrich, Lanchen Voss. 35 minutes with no other credits.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022 Rian Johnson & scr)

Benoit Blanc is summoned to an Agatha Christie type island setting where various old friends have been invited to a murder weekend - but whose murder? Ingenious tale start unweaving or ravelling when Janell Monae's story comes to life - the film is perhaps too long (2 hours 19) but very enjoyable. Edward Norton's place is cluttered to the point of exhaustion with art objects (which become quite distracting, but fun for art connoisseurs I should think).

With Daniel Craig are Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr (The Many Saints of Newark), Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Hugh Grant.

I was most surprised to hear the lyrics of 'Glass Onion' which seemed to be all about John Lennon's own songs.

The Song of the Thin Man (1947 Edward Buzzell)

The last Thin Man, with Powell and Loy are Keenan Wynn, Dean Stockwell, Philip Reed, Patricia Morison, Leon Ames and Gloria Grahame.

The Beat Generation dialogue is strewn with such nonsense as "The rooty-toots and the bobby-soxers are verboten" and "The dust don't start rising till deuce o'bells".

It was written by Steve Fisher and Nat Perrin, with additional dialogue by James O'Hanlon and Harry Crane, from a story by Stanley Roberts - yeah. Even Dashiell Hammett didn't care any more (and as an aside, after being jailed in 1951 for refusing to answer HUAC questions, he was given a back tax bill for $111,000 - what a bunch of bastards. Well, I suppose if he did really owe $111,000.. It's just the timing sounds mighty suspicious...)

Handsomely photographed by Charles Rosher. Woody Van Dyke had died in 1943.

What We Did On Our Holiday (2014 Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin)

There's a great early line from earnest young Emilia Jones that sets the scene: "I need a list. A list of all the lies we're going to tell. In case I forget one."

Knockout cast in hilarious proceedings.

"Why didn't you wake me?"
"You said it was rude."

That girl violinist looked good.

Summerland (2020 Jessica Swale & scr)

Most successful film - involving a young evacuee boy, a former love affair, and floating islands - had eluded us. Swale is originally a playwright - Gemma Arterton appeared in her 'Nell Gwynn' and is terrific in this, and co-star Gugu Mbatha-Raw had also appeared in a production of it, so it's a nicely reunified cast. Lucas Bond very good as the boy too. With Tom Courtenay, Penelope Wilton, Dixie Edgerikx, Sian Philipps. So far Swale's only feature.

Very nicely edited by Tania Reddin; photographed by Laurie Rose, scored by Volker Bertelmann.

The Thin Man Goes Home (1944 Richard Thorpe)

Written by Robert Riskin and Dwight Taylor. Nick's only drinking cider as his Dad, crusty small town doctor Harry Davenport, doesn't approve of his 'fast' ways. Nick wins him over by solving a local murder or two. The same star chemistry is still there - love the scene in which Nick keeps kissing Nora, also classic deckchair moment.

A new 'Asta'

Karl Freund's lighting very impressive

With Edward Brophy, Lucile Watson, Gloria DeHaven, Anne Revere ('Crazy Mary'), Helen Vinson, Donald Meek.

The Blue Sky Maiden / A Cheerful Girl (1957 Yasuzo Masumura)

Image-wise an exact replica of a 1950s Hollywood melodrama but without the sub-text of someone like Sirk - thus the picture feels more like a 1940s Hollywood melodrama, very successful and always fascinating to see Japan (especially Tokyo) in the fifties.

A graduate is told by her dying grandmother that her mother isn't her mother. She goes to the family home where she's made to be a servant - she doesn't mind at all but deals with her 'family' (cold, horrible mother, jealous, bitchy sister, indifferent older brother) as 'cheerfully' as she can, attracting the attention of a young man from a wealthy business background. But she's on a hunt for her real mother, aided by her former teacher, a young man who she's always fancied. Then it turns out he has a girlfriend who's a model (though she isn't). Great scenes like the fight between her and her little brother, after which they are best friends, and the sensei having dinner with his former class, all of whom want to marry him. Screenplay by Yoshio Shirasaka.

Ayako Wakao is the girl, with Keizo Kawasaki, Kenji Suawara, Ryuji Shinagawa, Yuko Yashio.

Wakao is a big deal in Japan where she's starred in several other films by Yasuzo Masumura (A Woman's Testament), and those of Kon Ichikawa (Princess from the Moon), Kenji Mizoguchi (A Geisha, Street of Shame) and Yasujiro Ozu (Floating Weeds). Further reading here. Consider me a new fan.

Cinematography by Michio Takahashi.

La Bande degli Onesti (1956 Camillo Mastrocinque)

An honest janitor (Toto) is tempted into using a 10,000 lire plate to start manufacturing notes; helped by printer Peppino de Filippo and artist Giacomo Furia.  The son Gabriele Tinti works for the Finance Police and starts to look for the counterfeiters; a sub-plot charts his relationship with the printer's daughter, Giulia Rubini.

Wall-to-wall dialogue, including some hard-to-translate wordplay, means you're reading fast subtitles for 70% of the time, but it's still an entertaining journey.

Photographed in Rome by Mario Fioretti, exuberant music by Alessandro Cicognini.

Wedding Crashers (2005 David Dobkin)

Once again made the mistake of watching the extended cut where you can just see bits of overdone materials and improvised scenes that should have been cut. Lesson: always watch the theatrical version.

Still, fun film, with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn the title idiots, who finally meet true loves in the shape of kinky Isla Fisher and already-engaged Rachel McAdams (to Bradley Cooper). Also features Christopher Walken and Jane Seymour. Written by Steve Faber and Claire Cleary.