I find it hard to remember a film from the 1930s which has more relevance for today’s society than William Wellman’s 1937 satire “Nothing Sacred”. The premise is simple – a journalist (Fredric March) in desperate need for a scoop finds a small town girl (Carole Lombard) suffering from uranium poisoning (or something similar) and brings her to New York where a lot of headlines about her courage, bravery in face of adversity and decaying health help improve the circulation of the newspaper. There is, of course, a tiny problem with all this. She’s isn’t really dying. Oh, and did I mentioned that she falls in love with the journalist?
The film reminded me of Howard Hawks’ “His Girl Friday” (1940), which although slightly later, it is adapted from an earlier play called “The Front Page”. It’s not as funny, fast-paced or corrosive as Hawks’ film, but then very few films really are, so that’s not necessarily a bad thing. “Nothing Sacred” is indeed quite funny, with one of its leading lady better performances, one where she masterfully balances her slapstick and screwball comedy sides. It’s also her only Technicolor film, but sadly it has fallen into public domain, and the owner of the print (WB, I believe) doesn’t see the need to release a restored version.
Monday, 22 June 2009
Thursday, 18 June 2009
North by Northwest (1959) trailer
The first (I think) of Hitchcock's funny trailers for his own movies (the one for Psycho is possibly better than the fillm). The film itself is on from tomorrow at the BFI in London.
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Monday, 15 June 2009
The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)
Slowly but surely, I am being persuaded that Henry Fonda might have been a very good actor after all. I think next to “Once upon a time in the West”, “The Ox-Bow Incident” might just be his best performance.
William Wellman’s film is a tale of a world where rules have been ignored. A farmer has been murdered, and the sheriff is away. Some defend they should wait for him; some defend that a search party should be form and go hunt the killers. The latter group wins, and when three men are found with some of the murdered man’s cattle, which they claim to have bought, and a few other circumstantial evidence. What ensues is a masterpiece of cinema.
Fonda plays Everyman, the man with whom we identify; neither a stranger nor a resident of Ox-Bow, someone passing through with a friend, looking for the woman he loves. But his isn’t the only great performance of the film. Dana Andrews is simply fantastic – actually the two worked very well together, as another of their collaboration, Preminger’s “Daisy Keynon” (1947) with Joan Crawford has an amazing performance from Andrews (and Crawford) and a good one Fonda. But the best of the performances is Harry Davenport’s as the voice of Justice. Davenport is one of those character actors from the studio system days who are in loads of films although you may never be quite sure of which ones. He’s probably best remembered as Dr Meade in “Gone with the Wind”. Here he gets a meatier part, although his is in fact the third main character, his name appears quite low in the credits, way below rising star Anthony Quinn or Mary Beth Hughes (seriously, no idea of who she is…) who has a scene but gets third billing.
The film also had an interesting subplot. A father and son conflict – the father, an authoritarian Southern (although I might be wrong) general from the Civil War, with a not entirely clear past and who takes control of the mob and wants to “make a man” of his son. The son’s portrait is rather interesting – he’s described as a “coward” by himself and by his father, but what’s really at stake here is the proof of his manliness (i.e. he needs to prove he’s straight). Personally, I am slightly inclined to believe he might be indeed gay – the intensity of his father’s suspicions and cruel remarks and his reaction to Dana Andrews when he sees him. But then again, especially in the latter it might just mean he’s a better type of human being than the majority of those around him.
PS - On top of the R1 release, which is probably the best, there's a standalone R2 release of this film in some European countries. However, in the UK is only part of a Henry Fonda box-set which includes "The Grapes of Wrath" and "My Darling Clementine". I picked my copy in Belgium a few weeks ago for a very agreable €5.
William Wellman’s film is a tale of a world where rules have been ignored. A farmer has been murdered, and the sheriff is away. Some defend they should wait for him; some defend that a search party should be form and go hunt the killers. The latter group wins, and when three men are found with some of the murdered man’s cattle, which they claim to have bought, and a few other circumstantial evidence. What ensues is a masterpiece of cinema.
Fonda plays Everyman, the man with whom we identify; neither a stranger nor a resident of Ox-Bow, someone passing through with a friend, looking for the woman he loves. But his isn’t the only great performance of the film. Dana Andrews is simply fantastic – actually the two worked very well together, as another of their collaboration, Preminger’s “Daisy Keynon” (1947) with Joan Crawford has an amazing performance from Andrews (and Crawford) and a good one Fonda. But the best of the performances is Harry Davenport’s as the voice of Justice. Davenport is one of those character actors from the studio system days who are in loads of films although you may never be quite sure of which ones. He’s probably best remembered as Dr Meade in “Gone with the Wind”. Here he gets a meatier part, although his is in fact the third main character, his name appears quite low in the credits, way below rising star Anthony Quinn or Mary Beth Hughes (seriously, no idea of who she is…) who has a scene but gets third billing.
The film also had an interesting subplot. A father and son conflict – the father, an authoritarian Southern (although I might be wrong) general from the Civil War, with a not entirely clear past and who takes control of the mob and wants to “make a man” of his son. The son’s portrait is rather interesting – he’s described as a “coward” by himself and by his father, but what’s really at stake here is the proof of his manliness (i.e. he needs to prove he’s straight). Personally, I am slightly inclined to believe he might be indeed gay – the intensity of his father’s suspicions and cruel remarks and his reaction to Dana Andrews when he sees him. But then again, especially in the latter it might just mean he’s a better type of human being than the majority of those around him.
PS - On top of the R1 release, which is probably the best, there's a standalone R2 release of this film in some European countries. However, in the UK is only part of a Henry Fonda box-set which includes "The Grapes of Wrath" and "My Darling Clementine". I picked my copy in Belgium a few weeks ago for a very agreable €5.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Could someone be kind enough to explain me what on Earth this has to do with Sherlock Holmes? I sense a major flop... [Edit: I was clearly wrong...]
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Remember the Night (1940)
“Remember the Night” is a romantic comedy, and the first pairing of Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. She’s a thief caught stealing a few days before Christmas. He’s the prosecutor who wants to put her jail and gets the trial to be adjourned till after the New Year. Only he gets guilty and ends up spending the whole Christmas period with her.
The film is simply delightful. It’s well directed, well acted, well paced. I’m surprised it’s not really as well known as other comedies of the period. I think it’s one of Preston Sturges best scripts along with “The Lady Eve” (1941) which he himself directed, also starring Barbara Stanwyck. In reality, her character in Leisen’s film is a first draft (but what a draft!) for her character in Sturges’ masterpiece. Fred MacMurray is at his best as a romantic leading man, and his chemistry with Stanwyck amazing. The same chemistry that both actors would take a step further that less than five years later, as the so sexy and so deadly protagonists in Billy Wilder’s “Double Indemnity”.
Mitchell Leisen, the director, is mostly remembered for allegedly been the reason Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges started directing – they didn’t appreciate his treatments of their scripts. Thankful as I am that both men turned into directors, it’s not a fair assessment. Wilder’s comments on him were always harsh, stating that he gave more importance to costumes and décor (Leisen was a former art director/set designer) than to substance (i.e. his script). For Wilder the last straw was during the filming of “Hold Back the Dawn” (1941); for Sturges, the previous year’s “Remember the Night”. Having seen both films, I think it’s more of a case of the victors rewriting history.
Leisen was a director who did very good stuff if the material (and the actors) he had to work with was good. And that shows in films like “Hands across the Table”, “Midnight” and “Hold Back the Dawn” (by the way, I don’t like “Easy Living”…). If the material was ok but not as good, he couldn’t improve much on it – for instance in “The Mating Season”. So yes, he wasn’t Wilder or Sturges, but he was far from a fool obsessed with decors. And there’s suddenly an interest in his work. There were some retrospectives in the 2007 Edinburgh Film Festival and last summer in the French Cinematheque. And little by little, his films are coming out on DVD – like “Remember the Night”.
On the DVD: At the moment this film is only part of an Italian 4 disc DVD box set “Cofanetto Mitchell Leisen” which includes this, “Midnight”, “Easy Living”, “Arise my Love”, “No Time for Love” and “Lady in the Dark” (there are 2 films in discs 2 and 3). The quality of all the films is quite good, with some restoration work done to them – except for “Lady in the Dark”. This is a faded Technicolor copy, with Italian subtitles burnt in, probably taken directly from an archive copy somewhere. It’s a pity – especially cause they could have included “Hold Back the Dawn” or “To Each his Own”.
The film is simply delightful. It’s well directed, well acted, well paced. I’m surprised it’s not really as well known as other comedies of the period. I think it’s one of Preston Sturges best scripts along with “The Lady Eve” (1941) which he himself directed, also starring Barbara Stanwyck. In reality, her character in Leisen’s film is a first draft (but what a draft!) for her character in Sturges’ masterpiece. Fred MacMurray is at his best as a romantic leading man, and his chemistry with Stanwyck amazing. The same chemistry that both actors would take a step further that less than five years later, as the so sexy and so deadly protagonists in Billy Wilder’s “Double Indemnity”.Mitchell Leisen, the director, is mostly remembered for allegedly been the reason Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges started directing – they didn’t appreciate his treatments of their scripts. Thankful as I am that both men turned into directors, it’s not a fair assessment. Wilder’s comments on him were always harsh, stating that he gave more importance to costumes and décor (Leisen was a former art director/set designer) than to substance (i.e. his script). For Wilder the last straw was during the filming of “Hold Back the Dawn” (1941); for Sturges, the previous year’s “Remember the Night”. Having seen both films, I think it’s more of a case of the victors rewriting history.
Leisen was a director who did very good stuff if the material (and the actors) he had to work with was good. And that shows in films like “Hands across the Table”, “Midnight” and “Hold Back the Dawn” (by the way, I don’t like “Easy Living”…). If the material was ok but not as good, he couldn’t improve much on it – for instance in “The Mating Season”. So yes, he wasn’t Wilder or Sturges, but he was far from a fool obsessed with decors. And there’s suddenly an interest in his work. There were some retrospectives in the 2007 Edinburgh Film Festival and last summer in the French Cinematheque. And little by little, his films are coming out on DVD – like “Remember the Night”.
On the DVD: At the moment this film is only part of an Italian 4 disc DVD box set “Cofanetto Mitchell Leisen” which includes this, “Midnight”, “Easy Living”, “Arise my Love”, “No Time for Love” and “Lady in the Dark” (there are 2 films in discs 2 and 3). The quality of all the films is quite good, with some restoration work done to them – except for “Lady in the Dark”. This is a faded Technicolor copy, with Italian subtitles burnt in, probably taken directly from an archive copy somewhere. It’s a pity – especially cause they could have included “Hold Back the Dawn” or “To Each his Own”.
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
João Bénard da Costa (1935-2009)
I just found out that the director of the Portuguese Cinematheque (PC), João Bénard da Costa has died last Thursday. Unless you’re Portuguese, you’ll probably have never heard of him. I never met him although I saw him a few times. Once or twice he even introduced a screening I attended. But it's hard to find out any person, with perhaps one exception, who has had a more important role in exposing me to films and shaping my taste in film.
In the mid-1990s when I was discovering old films and devouring everything I could get my hands into, he had a weekly column in a newspaper my father bought. I still have saved somewhere the ones he dedicated to Laura (1944) and Sunset Blvd. (1950) and probably a few others. They all have been collected in books that I have been toying about buying for at least 10 years – maybe now I will.
And then, in 1999, I started attending the Cinematheque screenings regularly. My first film there was Billy Wilder’s Irma La Douce (1963), in a season dedicated to films that were forbidden in Portugal during the dictatorship. Each screening at the PC has an original essay written by one of the programmers or collaborators. His were the best. I have all to the screenings I have attended over the past 10 years plus a few random others I have picked along (or in one case, my brother picked for me). Some of these essays (not just his) have also collected in book format, arranged by director. This has exposed me to even more films, directors, actors, etc., as I have a considerable number of these collections. I read and reread some of the entries a lot, as I watch or revisit a film. And I still get curious about films he mentions, and I still find new things.
Reading his words, or hearing him speak about cinema, you could feel his passion for each film, including Johnny Guitar (1954), which is the most screened film at the PC, and not surprisingly, his favourite – and the one they chose show as homage.
He was not without controversy, and I didn’t always agree with him. But he helped me explore what is undoubtedly one of the great passions of my life.
In the mid-1990s when I was discovering old films and devouring everything I could get my hands into, he had a weekly column in a newspaper my father bought. I still have saved somewhere the ones he dedicated to Laura (1944) and Sunset Blvd. (1950) and probably a few others. They all have been collected in books that I have been toying about buying for at least 10 years – maybe now I will.
And then, in 1999, I started attending the Cinematheque screenings regularly. My first film there was Billy Wilder’s Irma La Douce (1963), in a season dedicated to films that were forbidden in Portugal during the dictatorship. Each screening at the PC has an original essay written by one of the programmers or collaborators. His were the best. I have all to the screenings I have attended over the past 10 years plus a few random others I have picked along (or in one case, my brother picked for me). Some of these essays (not just his) have also collected in book format, arranged by director. This has exposed me to even more films, directors, actors, etc., as I have a considerable number of these collections. I read and reread some of the entries a lot, as I watch or revisit a film. And I still get curious about films he mentions, and I still find new things.
Reading his words, or hearing him speak about cinema, you could feel his passion for each film, including Johnny Guitar (1954), which is the most screened film at the PC, and not surprisingly, his favourite – and the one they chose show as homage.
He was not without controversy, and I didn’t always agree with him. But he helped me explore what is undoubtedly one of the great passions of my life.
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