Starting a run on Hitchcock films beginning with Rear Window. They just don't really make films like that anymore. This was concept played perfectly by an absolute master of the thriller genre. Inspirational filmmaking, and has me very excited for my next selection. So many great films to choose from...!

Be sure to post here after each film, S. Rear Window is my fave from the Master, but you're correct in that there's about 30 more I'd watch right now in a minute!

The Citadel [King Vidor, 1938, Grade: B]



This beautiful, humanistic film may very well still be the best ever made about the medical profession. Robert Donat and Rosalind Russell make a wonderful couple, and Ralph Richardson and Rex Harrison are both superb as a pair of rascally doctors. This film doesn't really seem dated at all, and I dare you to try to watch it without bawling like a baby, often at scenes you would be shocked were allowed in a film from 1938. (Hell, they wouldn't even have the balls to put 'em in a 2005 film; they'd have to be too PC, aka non-human.)

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
If you have never seen it, or even if you have, you owe it to yourself to watch Otto Preminger's Laura(1944), one of the fastest, wittiest and most-memorable mysteries ever made. Gene Tierney plays the title role, a gorgeous, adorable young woman whose murder at the beginning sets off twists and turns that delve into the recesses of men's hearts. There's the police detective (Dana Andrews) who falls in love with the dead woman, the radio personality (Clifton Webb) who is extremely jealous of anyone else who spends time with her, and the penniless gigolo (Vincent Price) who's engaged to marry her. There's also one of the most beautiful themes of any film, composed by David Raksin. The thing though which really sets the film apart is the fast-paced, witty repartee which all the characters speak in. Watching an 88-minute masterpiece like Laura makes you see what today's movies are missing: original plots, witty dialogue, and no wasted scenes.

I watched "Laura" for the first time tonight. I can't add much to mark's comments but I do second this recommendation. I'd read the novel many years ago but bought the dvd because I'm a fan of Vincent Price. The dvd also features the A&E Biography's on both Price and Gene Tierney. Better late than never to watch this excellent film and I know I'll be viewing it many more times.

Dark Passage [Daves, 1947, Grade: B]

I've always loved this Bogie flick. Yeah, I love it because of Bogie, but I would have loved it anyway because of Delmer Daves' direction of the film. I would think that younger people would really appreciate the first person camera used for almost all of the first 40 minutes of the film. Then there's all the on-location shooting in and around San Francisco. Add in Lauren Bacall and a spirited cast of good and bad guys, led by Queen Bitch Agnes Moorehead, and you've got a very entertaining film noir, no matter if you think it's on the implausible side. Hell, if this film was more plausible, I don't think it'd be nearly as fun.

The story is about Bogie escaping from San Quentin and hiding out while he tries to figure out who framed him for his wife's murder. We never see Bogie at all in the early scenes, just what he sees. We do hear his voice, but his character doesn't even look like Bogie in the pictures in the newspaper. He only looks like Bogie after he gets plastic surgery! So, even after 40 minutes of no Bogie (except for a shadowy outline in the back of a cab), the next 20 minutes has him in bandages recovering from the surgery. I don't want to say anymore, but this film was well-ahead of its time and is a treat.

Gun Crazy [Lewis, 1949, Grade: B]

This film gets better with each viewing. The movie begins with Rusty Tamblyn as a kid who constantly gets into trouble with guns because "it's the only thing that makes me feel good inside". The fact that he's reaching puberty shouldn't be lost on anybody, especially when a few years later, now played by John Dall (Rope), he gets the hots for a sexy carnival sharpshooter (Peggy Cummins) who confesses that "I'm NO GOOD!"

What ensues is a visually pumped-up movie about an out-of-control couple. The guy makes it a practice to never shoot anybody, but his femme fatale shoots to a different drummer. This film can be seen as inspiring Bonnie and Clyde, Badlands, and many other similar flicks. Director Joseph H. Lewis uses tons of cinematic inventiveness, especially in his use of one-long-shot subjective camerawork in some of the most tense heist and car getaway scenes ever filmed. Highly recommended.

Oliver Twist [Lean, 1948, Grade: B]

David Lean was/is a genius, and people realized it in the '40s, but nowadays, movie watchers mostly know him for his Oscar-winning epics, The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia and his massively-popular Doctor Zhivago. Back before those, he was creating super cinema through powerful technique and intensely-personal, yet classical storytelling, much like his fellow countrymen Carol Reed and Michael Powell.

My fave of Lean's Mid-to-Late Forties output is undoubtedly the lightest, the color romantic ghost farce, Blithe Spirit, but all the three films after that are also personal favorites. Great Expectations was one of my favorite novels growing up, mostly because of Lean's film version, which edited the thing down to the basics and used an awesome black-and-white pallette. Lean also did a similar job on another Dickens' classic, Oliver Twist.

The film begins like some German horror film, with awesome expressionistic photography and then it proceeds into the well-known story, but I had forgotten how funny AND intense much of the film is. Silly Me. The scene where pint-sized Oliver beats the crap out of three much-older-and-larger "villains" had me roaring with laughter. Alec Guinness, my second favorite actor after Bogie, plays Fagin with his giant hooked prosthetic nose, but there's never any mention of him being Jewish or some kind of criminal mastermind. Instead, Guinness plays Fagin as a sort-of-comical Underachieving Bum who understands human nature (especially a child's), but he's scared of wild-eyed Bill Sykes (Robert Newton) because Fagin's not completely sure that Sykes is human. Kay Walsh, looking more attractive than ever, invests Nancy with both her good and bad traits, and Henry Stephenson is his usual wonderful self as Oliver's benefactor. I know I'm rambling, but I need to mention young John Howard Davies, who plays Oliver as wide-eyed, wild and wise. He did a similarly-impressive job just after in both The Rocking Horse Winner and Tom Brown's Schooldays.

Brief Encounter [Lean, 1945, Grade: B]

After Blithe Spirit, Lean reteamed with playwright/scripter/bon vivant Noel Coward the same year for a much-more dramatic take on love, the classic Brief Encounter. Lean, once again using D.P. Guy Green (who shot Great Expectations and became a fine director in his own right), fashions an intensely-visual-and-aural experience while telling the seemingly-simple story of two married people (not to each other), both with children, who have lost their "spark", but rekindle it with each other. The fact that they can't actually bring themselves to act on it physically doesn't detract from a serious examination of what adultery can mean to all those involved. Plus Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson (both perfect) seem just about as in love as any couple I've seen in the movies. I know...that means there's an "unhappy" ending, but maybe it isn't. The narrative is quite complex while remaining the "everyday" story of two people who aren't really all-that-attractive, but become all the more so to each other and the audience because of their love. This is very powerful on both emotional and filmmaking levels, and I don't want to rain on anybody's parade, but it seems stronger to me, at least as a tale of love, loss, and consequences, than the soon-to-be-Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain.

..............................

Once again, I want to say that I wholeheartedly recommend that everybody at this website check out these movies. Maybe for purposes of understanding, I should start raising my grades, but I've been told before that I'm usually a tough grader.

Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks, 1939, Grade: C)

This is a watchable, but disappointing, adventure film, which could have been better if it had settled more on the characters and less on the hokey plotting and sometimes fake FX. Cary Grant leads a strong cast, playing the head of a flight service in the Andes where dangerous missions are an everyday occurrence. Some of the other important roles are played by Jean Arthur, Richard Barthelmess, Thomas Mitchell, Rita Hayworth and Sig Ruman. There are plenty of tense situations between the macho men and their ladies, as well as a couple of good real flying scenes in the movie, but they're weakened by overlength and a few too many corny situations and model plane effects. Yeah, it's watchable, but I can't really bring myself to recommend it.

A Canterbury Tale [1944, Grade: B]

This Powell/Pressburger gem is most-reminescent of i know wher i'm going! in that it mostly advocates people returning to the simple life of the countryside and avoiding the cities, but it's different in that it was more-obviously filmed and takes place during World War II. It's also "semi-based" on a literary classic, albeit one which is amazingly adapted. The beauty of Pressburger's plots and dialogue is often overlooked due to the brilliance of Powell's visuals, but this film is really GOOD.

I don't want to give anything away, but the acting is plainspokenly-wonderful, the plot is unbelievably-original, the film grows more moving as it "moves" along, and you can't really ask for a more-perfect ending. I'll tell you the truth: I'm underrating it. They just don't make such charming films anymore.

The Tales of Hoffmann (1951, Grade: C)

This is a beautiful production of a famous opera, but Powell/Pressburger decided that they could make it into an opera/ballet, and that makes it just too MUCH. I love the sets, the costimes, much of the characterizations, and obviously the stylized-direction, but the movie seems to collapse under its own weight. The Red Shoes was WAY over the top, but it had a clearly-defined plot, and it was easy to relate to the characters. This one....NO.

I WILL rewatch this film until I die, but I will rewatch it only after I've rewatched every other Powell/Pressburger flick. It just seems WAY more specialized than their other flicks. If it speaks to you, by all means, watch it. It's wonderfully cinematic, compared to most films, but compared to a Michael Powell extravaganza, it will probably put you to sleep. I love P/P, but even I think a C is VERY fair.

One, Two, Three (Billy Wilder, 1961, Grade: A-)

This remains one of the fastest-paced comedies ever, and one that has so many up-to-the-minute (in '61, the year of Roger Maris) historical, pop-cultural and movie references that it will certainly teach you about the Cold War while (hopefully) making you laugh yourself silly. James Cagney is overpowering as a Coca-Cola executive in West Berlin, who's dreaming of a promotion to the London job. His dreams turn into nightmares when his boss's visiting teenage daughter (Pamela Tiffin) falls in love with and secretly marries a Communist youth (Horst Buchholz) from East Berlin who's anti-capitalistic diatribes will probably cost Cagney his job. Oh yeah, the daughter is also "slighty pregnant". This is a second-wave screwball comedy which never fails to get me laughing out loud. I could go on about all the other characters who are all too witty for words, but you need to watch it first.

Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953, Grade: B+)

This is one of the ultimate Cinderella stories ever filmed. I've read how people belittle it for "losing whatever charm it may have had", but those same people never have said a bad word about Fellini. I think that some viewers are disappointed because thay expect some Big, Hollywood flick. The actual charm of this still-very-charming film is that it meets Italian neorealism head on and rassles it at least to a draw! Highly recommended for both romantics and cynics.

Robert Mulligan did a masterful job in bringing Harper Lee's great novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird" to the screen in a powerful, believable manner. Few movies intertwined the social dymanic of racism, the psychological dynamic of fearing what we do no know, and the interpersonal dynamic of children finding their hero in the place called home like this ageless classic. I use the term "ageless" with strong purpose, for the film speaks to the present culture with the same potency as its original audience.