Quicksand (1950)

The television schedules all implied that this movie which was on a few afternoons ago was some sort of unknown gem, and I thought I should have a look since I couldn't remember whether or not I had seen it (I had!).  Take it from me that while it was of some minor interest, it was hardly worth seeing again.  What we have is a youngish Mickey Rooney "borrowing" twenty bucks from the till at the garage where he works, having every intention of replacing it tomorrow, so that he can take out the hot new babe at the diner, Jeanne Cagney -- sister of James and a spitting image of him, but in high heels.  Anyhow events go from bad to worse as he tries to make good this lapse, escalating into grand larceny, armed robbery, burglary, car theft and possibly murder.  In the end he agrees to face the consequences, knowing that there is the love of a good woman awaiting him -- not Miss Cagney the gold-digger.  The movie also featured Peter Lorre in a small role as a rather nasty amusement arcade owner, but it is always a treat to see him, albeit briefly.  If you too caught this flick, I think you'll agree that there are probably better ways to spend an afternoon; if not, you're really not missing much.

Happy Anniversary to me!

Well, folks, today is the first anniversary of my starting this compulsive blog and if my arithmetic skills are in tact this makes the 458th entry.  And that means I have viewed more than that number of films since some entries were multiple catch-up reviews.  My God, I'm obsessed.  But then we already know that.  In fact I have probably seen half as many movies again since much of what I "watch" -- and in these instances I use the verb loosely -- are so pathetic that they never reach the keyboard.  I must confess I do often kill a film in the middle or nod off or try to do other things at the same time; normally I will persevere, hoping for the best, but life does have its disappointments.

According to the counter (and I've had to reset it from zero several times -- so it's only more or less accurate) there have been some 4600 hits in the year -- not so great when you remember that at least twice 458 of them were mine.  But I live in hope and we'll see what numbers the second anniversary brings.  And to those few faithful souls who leave comments, my very, very sincere thanks.

Dans la Nuit (1929)

To maintain my record of writing reviews that no one reads about films that few have seen, I present this French silent which I was thrilled to discover.  It is the only movie that was written and directed by the actor Charles Vanel, who had perhaps the longest film career of any, appearing in pictures for some eighty years until his death in 1988.  He is probably best known outside France for his roles in "Wages of Fear" and "Les Diaboliques".  Here he takes the lead playing a newly-wed miner whose happiness is shattered when he is disfigured in an avoidable mining accident and who is forced to wear a mask (like the Phantom of the Opera) to conceal his hideous face, even from his beloved wife.  What was a happy marriage begins to come apart and the wife considers a new love.  However in a twist which has subsequently become a cliche in movie writing, we are granted a happy ending.  It's a pity that Vanel did not chose to direct again (other than one obscure 30s feature), as he shows here a definite flair for making characters real and an artist's eye for composition.  Even the intertitles are pretty.

Romeo is Bleeding (1993)

What is one to make of Gary Oldman's career since he played Sid Vicious?  It has largely been in America where his slimy villains are never less than creditable and where he blends into his roles like a native-born.  Mind you we can now see him again in the truly British Harry Potter series, so all is not lost, since his many US parts while admirably played have seldom been ones to cherish.  In this neo-noir -- a term I must admit I dislike, since noir films must by definition be in black and white -- he plays a corrupt cop happy to take the mob's money for informing where key witnesses are being held (so that they can be eliminated) and happy to two-time his loving wife, Anabella Sciorra, with a scrawny Juliette Lewis.  He meets his match however when Godfather Roy Scheider wants him to kill a Russian hit woman in the form of Lena Olin.  And there is no question that she owns this movie.  She is one of the most sexy, vicious and double-crossing villains in movie history and of course Oldman thinks he can tame her.  Fat chance.  Noirs always have a treacherous female and Olin's is very memorable, but the film ultimately focuses on Oldman's poor choices, despair and false hopes. 

Les Diaboliques (1955)

There are some films that one should really see only once since a second viewing can not re-create the impact of the first.  This movie is very definitely in that category.  No one who has ever seen it can forget the shock of its denouement and the image remains burned into one's brain.  Unfortunately there is just no way to regain one's innocence to watch it a-fresh.  That caveat apart, it remains a classic chiller, well-made and involving, but unfortunately without the same surprise factor.  And why anyone thought re-making it a few years back with Sharon Stone might be a good idea is definitely a mystery.  It's funny...some movies reveal something new with each watching, small details that one has not quite taken in before, whilst others can not improve upon the initial experience.  This is not to say that they should be consigned to the dustbin, since Clouzot's shocker of more than fifty years ago remains a template of excellence from which modern film-makers could learn some worthwhile lessons in audience manipulation. 

Empire of the Wolves (2005)

Having enjoyed one maverick cop film below, I thought I would try another, but to keep to the police analogy, this French flick was flat-footed indeed.  There have been a series of murders in the illegal immigrant Turkish community in Paris and the young inspector ropes in retired (and disgraced) cop Jean Reno, who was once a big force in this community.  Simultaneously we are presented with the storyline of a young wife who discovers that her memory has been erased and that her face has been altered by plastic surgery.  These two strands are meant to be related, but it really took some doing to understand the relationship or to believe it for that matter.  The source novel is from the same author as "Crimson Rivers" -- another policier with Reno (but not the same character) and I understand from my friend that the film was fairly faithful to the book.  I just hope that the novel was more coherent.  I usually like Reno, despite his increasingly scruffy appearance, but unlike the Korean film below, I had little tolerance for either his methods or their results in this muddled thriller.

Public Enemy (2002)

Knowing my penchant for elderly films, you might have thought that a film with this title was the 1931 James Cagney number (still very worthwhile), but no, it is a Korean policier with a difference.  Despite its 138 minute (!) running time, this is an involving and fast-moving story of a maverick cop in a department of oddball detectives -- none of your noble public-serving spirit here -- who is convinced that he knows the identity of the murderer of an elderly couple who also attacked him while he was "taking a dump" (probably the most unnecessary bit of business in any cop movie).  No one else credits that the wealthy yuppie businessman could be the felon, but our hero goes about bringing him to justice in his own way. I found the notion of a policeman who occasionally works outside the law very reminiscent of the early Takeshi Kitano films, so maybe this violent approach (but always leavened with black humour) is a particularly Asian thing.  Throughout the action, the policeman is being investigated by Internal Affairs (not just for his unorthodox methods, but also for taking bribes, and possibly drug-dealing as well) but they are unable to bring him to book; and at no time does the viewer lose sympathy with this likeable anti-hero.

National Treasure (2004)

I was completely amazed as to how enjoyable this film proved to be, as I came to it expecting absolutely nothing special.  Nicolas Cage has always struck me as a most unlikely movie star, but he certainly gives his all (see my review of "Vampire's Kiss" somewhere below) in every movie, sometimes with better results than others (think, or better yet, don't think of "Captain Corelli's Mandolin").  In this adventure film he plays a treasure-hunter from a long line of treasure-hunters, following clues to unearth the fabled hidden wealth of the Knights Templars, now somewhere in America and hidden away by the founding fathers.  The story hinges around stealing the Declaration of Independence (if only to prevent arch-villain Sean Bean from stealing it), as there is purportedly an invisible map on the reverse.  Well one clue leads to another with Bean hot on Cage's tail, until we have some sub-Indiana Jones action in the bowels of a Wall Street church.  It's one of those movies where the viewer is well-advised to overlook the many plot holes and just sit back and enjoy the unlikely action.

The Major and the Minor (1942)

I'm still luxoriating amongst the golden oldies, a sure cure for modern blues.  This was the first American film directed by Billy Wilder, having originally worked in Hollywood as a scriptwriter, and a guaranteed albeit minor pleaser.  I've never had an enormous amount of tolerance for Ginger Rogers outside the Astaire musicals, but she does a fine job here as a "head-massager" (read that as you will) fed up with the big smoke and trying to get home to Iowa.  However she doesn't have enough money for the train fare and passes herself off as a 12-year old to get a cheap ticket.  Yes, it does take some suspension of belief to see that well-toned body playing a sub-teenager, but she just about pulls it off.  Enroute while running from the suspicious train conductors who have caught her smoking, she bursts into Ray Milland's compartment (the army major in question) where he innocently offers her protection.  She ends up at the military school where he is based, along with his putative fiancee, her teenaged sister (who sees through the ruse immediately) and some 300 cadets -- all of whom are lovestruck.  When Milland's bitchy fiancee discovers the truth, Rogers loses the chance to come clean with him (since of course she is now in lurve), but needless to say there's eventually the happy ending that all light comedies of this period demand.  One interesting bit of incidental information: when Rogers eventually gets home, her mother there is played by her real mother (who was not an actress but who remained pushy throughout Ginger's career.)

The Talk of the Town (1942)

With such a dreary choice of newish films on digital TV, I have been recharging my batteries with some choice oldies.  Now no one in their right mind could believe that Cary Grant could be a villain, not even in "Suspicion", so the fact that this film opens with his breaking free from jail where he has been placed for arson and murder does not make the viewer think for one moment that he is a bad person.  And of course he's not -- he's just slightly eccentric with some unpopular opinions.  He takes refuge in the house of Jean Arthur (the quintissential screwball comedy heroine) just as she has let the property to law professor, Ronald Colman.  He is about to be nominated for the Supreme Court and must avoid any scandal -- and naturally he has landed in a mare's nest. It's a pretty talky film as Grant and Colman debate the law while getting more friendly, and of course both are falling for Arthur's quirky charms.  It's no surprise with whom she ends up, but the alternate choice would have made as satisfactory an ending.  I suspect that this movie is not as well-known as it might be or as it deserves, since despite the so-so supporting cast, it presents three charismatic stars at their best.

Piranha (1978)

Joe Dante is in many ways a director out of his time, since the creature features he has been making for nearly thirty years now are like something more likely to be encountered in the terrible 1950s, even if the budgets have been growing larger.  This little horror flick produced by Roger Corman is something of a "Jaws" rip-off, but done with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour, and unlike the teen horror movies of the 1980s, not just bad folk or raunchy kids end up dead.  The film is interesting in so many ways.  For a start the female lead is Heather Menzies, not a name that rings many bells and not an actress who had much of a noteworthy career -- until you realise that she was one of the von Trapp sprogs in "The Sound of Music".  Playing a detective trying to trace two lost hikers, she discovers the abandoned government research station where they have been devoured by flesh-eating fish and promptly empties the pool, thereby releasing the killer-fish into the waterways of the great Northwest.  Of course she blames Kevin McCarthy for this as he was the scientist who bred the little devils in the first place, but together with sometime-drunk Bradford Dillman she sets out to save the world -- but not before the fish have a bloody nibble at a summer camp where Dillman's daughter is staying and at a newly opened swimming resort.  The owner of said resort is another genre favourite, Dick Miller, who has been forewarned about the piranhas but who refuses to take action.  At one stage his frazzled sidekick tries to tell him that there is a problem.  Miller says, "What about the damned piranhas?" and his toady replies that "the piranhas are eating the guests".  (Great line).  Add to the mix other cult actors like Paul Bartel and Barbara Steele and you have a film buff's idea of heaven, especially when you add the fact that the script was penned by John Sayles (who also appears in a brief cameo).  And like all good horror films the smug scientist at the end assures the world that the problem has been contained -- but we know better...

A Cinderella Story (2004)

Yet another version of the fairy-tale, updated for the teeny-bopper set.  Hilary Duff is the hard-done-by beauty forced to slave for her wicked stepmother (the ever-amazing comedienne Jennifer Coolidge -- "Stifler's Mum") and her two miserable and gawky stepsisters, the butt of ridicule at her California high.  But she has a dream of going to Princeton (whence her prince will come), a supportive make-believe family at the diner where she works, and a secret internet lover.  For someone proportedly held back financially, one wonders where she got her convertible, her computer and her cell phone, but presumably these are considered staples for the modern teen.  She discovers the identity of her Prince Charming before he twigs hers; isn't it amazing how wearing an eye-mask can stop one being recognized -- kind of like Clark Kent and his glasses?  And as in all fairy tales we get our happy ending, even if it is a little mean-spirited towards her former oppressors.  A harmless, if completely unnecessary, diversion.

Having just been staying in a household with young children, I have been exposed to "The Chronicles of Narnia" for the first time -- I did resist seeing it at the cinema.  I think I will reserve judgment for the nonce, until I've viewed it under less distracting circumstances, but first reactions included noting the high production values, admiring the human casting (in particular Tilda Swinton and the youngest child), and thinking that some of the voice-casting was not quite right (I didn't like the Cockney beavers and felt that Liam Neeson was wrong as Aslan).  But I'll return to this film eventually. 

Il Bidone (The Swindle) (1955)

I've seen a number of films over the last few days and couldn't decide which to review.  Among them were "The Spoilers" (1942), a movie that has been filmed at least five times, in which John Wayne has his best brawl outside "The Quiet Man".  Then there was R-Point (2004) a Korean variant on a fairly frequent modern theme: a platoon of soldiers are haunted by the ghosts of the dead -- a wee bit on the confusing side and, as you know, I distrust war films.  So I decided to celebrate the first showing on UK television of the above film -- mind you it was on BBC4 and therefore probably had a wee audience.  I had seen it once previously, but it was good to welcome it again.  Directed by Federico Fellini immediately after "La Strada" it was not a success in Italy and didn't get a US release for another nine years.  It was probably something of a failure in that it did not much embrace the quirky side of life like his most memorable films and was very definitely ultimately downbeat.  In a role conceived for Humprhey Bogart (now that would have been something to see), the lead was taken by Broderick Crawford, supported by another American actor, Richard Basehart (who was so very good in "La Strada"); of course they were both dubbed into Italian -- not too professionally I should add.  Broderick's scam was to dress as a bishop and to con poor peasants out of their hard-gained savings by pretending to find "treasure" on their land -- a fairly elaborate con for relatively small returns.  As his original gang falls apart, Crawford joins up with less savoury crooks and when he finds his own epiphany, he also finds unforgiving tragedy.  I kept trying to picture how Bogie would have handled it and think he was probably wise to turn down the role.  In short, a movie well worth seeking out, but not one to restore your faith in humanity.

I'm off to Newcastle for a few days, so probably no new entries before Saturday.  See you then....

Fig Leaves (1926)

My goodness, two 1926 films in a row, although the above movie was pure serendipity.  One finds what one hopes will be gems in the least likely places.  There is something going on at the moment at the ICA and two other venues called the Fashion Film Festival which on the face of it is unlikely to attract me.  That is until we noticed that they were showing the above obscurity which is actually the second film to be directed by classic director Howard Hawks.  Fig Leaves you see were the "fashion" in primaeval times!  Well all I can say is that his craft improved between this movie and such standards as "Bringing Up Baby" and "Rio Bravo".  Actually it started extremely well with an amusing pastiche of "Adam" and "Eve" surrounded by phony-looking dinosaurs and puppety snakes -- kind of like a biblical Flintstones -- and even then Eve was complaining that she had nothing to wear.  It then switched to a present-day (i.e. 1920s) Adam and Eve where the "snake" became their next door neighbour and Eve was still obsessed with fashion.  That's where it got really, really boring with endless fashion shows and stupid action.  Mind you, the fashionistas in the audience seemed to be enjoying it hugely.  As for yours truly, while I was pleased to discover a film that I had not previously heard of, it didn't turn out to be one worth watching a second time.

For Heaven's Sake (1926)

I don't write about Harold Lloyd very often, although I have implied previously that after Keaton, I prefer him to Chaplin.  The above is one of his best silent features (all 58 minutes of it) but I should mention that he also made a couple of quite acceptable talkies of which "Mad Wednesday" is a particular favourite of mine.  Here he plays a feckless millionnaire who inadvertently funds a Skid Row mission.  Going there to complain about his name being used, he falls for the preacher's daughter and helps rope in all the local no-goodniks to come to services.  Amusingly for a silent film, there is an awful lot of "singing" in this one.  Lloyd's films are exceptionally clever in  their shtick and performed with great athleticism, but perhaps they are just a little too cold and calculated to really enchant the viewer.  Incidentally, the intertitles on his films are perhaps among the most literate yet pun-ful of all the silent comics.

The above film is not to be confused with a 1950 film of the same name starring the always droll Clifton Webb and something of an amusement in its own right.  It has been on television once that I know of, but is unlikely to receive further showings in the short term.  Is it just me, but does British TV seem to show fewer older films nowadays, to say nothing of silent films (which used to be aired)?  I approach the schedules each week with great anticipation and I am so often disappointed.

Bright Leaves (2003)

Documentaries are all the rage nowadays, but some deserve more of your time than others.  This one from film-maker Ross McElwee was right up my alley, since apart from presenting a good-natured approach to the tobacco industry in his home state of North Carolina, the doc has a movie-related sub-text.  On a visit home he meets a cousin who is a collector of film stills and reels and is introduced to the 1950 movie "Bright Leaf" starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal.  They convince themselves that the movie is the true story of their great-grandfather who was a tobacco pioneer, but robbed of his fortune and his place in history by the all-powerful Duke family.  Eventually McElwee discovers that the main character in the film was probably an amalgam of several historical figures, but not before he has investigated the legacy of tobacco on the State natives -- all of whom still seem to smoke and many of whom are dying from cancer.  But his is not a strident voice and this is not a muck-raking documentary; rather it is a gentle study of how one industry has impacted on an entire community and in fact the world.

Confidential Agent (1955)

This Orson Welles written and directed film is known as "Mr. Arkadin" in the States and remains something of a curiosity.  That it got made at all is an achievement, since throughout his life after the notoriety of "Citizen Kane" Welles had a remarkably uphill battle to get his singular visions to the screen, facing studio interference and a continuing lack of funds when he chose the independent route.  Some of his output, like "Chimes at Midnight" are brilliant despite the obstacles involved.  Others like this one remain a very mixed bag.  Welles, looking like a Greek sculpture, plays Mr. Arkadin of the title, a mysterious magnate who will do anything to protect his beloved daughter (played by Welles' third wife!).  He employs a petty blackmailer who is infatuated with the daughter to draw up a confidential report on Arkadin's background, since he claims to have no memories before a certain date in 1927.  In fact it is his way of disposing of any characters from his past who might blacken his image.  The most unfortunate part of all this is that the blackmailer is played by one of the least charismatic and able actors I have ever seen, one Robert Arden, who had a long career in bit parts, but who never should have been trusted with a major lead.  I guess he was cheap to employ!  Visually the film is magnificent as the quest takes him all over the world and it is quite amusing to see well-known actors like Michael Redgrave playing quirky bit parts.  It's a pity that the latter couldn't take the lead as well.

In Good Company (2004)

Joanie asks if I ever review contemporary releases and of course the answer is "yes", but only occasionally.  It takes something really special to make me drag myself to the cinema to watch a new movie -- it could be that I really, really can't wait to see it or that I think it demands to be seen on the big screen or I have tickets for a preview or it is included in one of several film festivals that I attend religiously.  But the truth is that most of my cinema visits are for art house flicks or for classics which I have previously missed.  "Brokeback Mountain" which she asked about in particular falls into the category of 'Yes, I would like to see it, but I am in no rush'.  Therefore it and so many others will not be reviewed in this blog until I have seen the DVD or digital showing, long after the movie has left the cinema.

Of course I travel to and from the States a lot and cover the newish movies which I see as in-flight entertainment, but that viewing experience as I have previously written is far from ideal.  For example I had "seen" the above film some time ago, but took little away from that particular encounter.  Watching it again yesterday I was pleasantly surprised by how "nice" a picture it was.  The gist of the tale is that family man Dennis Quaid's company is taken over by a faceless conglomerate and he finds himself demoted with a hotshot boss roughly half his age.  Said hotshot played by Topher Grace did in fact look about fourteen years old despite purportedly being 26.  Grace then finds himself falling for Quaid's just-off-to-university daughter, played by the lovely Scarlet Johannson, and Quaid does his pieces when he discovers this.  In the end age and experience does win out over soulless commerce and even Grace is finally a better man.  I say that this makes the film nice, but in fact it's all probably horribly unrealistic and an outcome that panders to my wishful thinking.  But why not enjoy this while one can?

Magic Town (1947)

This is certainly a bit of sub-Capra whimsy which probably would now be barely watchable were it not for James Stewart in the lead -- since he can always be relied upon to give a money's worth performance.  Here he plays a market researcher who thinks he has found the perfect town whose inhabitants' preferences exactly match any findings taken nationwide, and to him this is a golden goose.  However so that they will be none the wiser that he is profiting from their opinions, he and his two colleagues -- Ned Sparks and the ever-wonderful Donald Meek -- pretend to be insurance agents.  He begins romancing the local newspaper editor, Jane Wyman, who discovers what he is doing and exposes him.  This results in a wave of chancers arriving, wanting to invest in the so-called perfect town, and the townspeople themselves churning out their own nonsensical research which makes them a laughing stock.  Hence despair and ruin until Jimmy and Jane discover how to put things to right.  Not quite the same all-American "gosh, aren't people great" that one finds in Capra's best.

Talking of James Stewart, I also watched a portmanteau movie from 1948 called "On Our Merry Way" and were it not for the quite extended sector where Stewart and Henry Fonda played two down-on-their-luck musicians frenetically attempting to rig a talent show, the film would have been a complete waste time, even allowing for Burgess Meredith, Paulette Goddard, Dorothy Lamour and Fred MacMurray in the other sections.  It was something of an embarrassment all round for this hapless cast.

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

There is something to be said for being in the right frame of mind to be receptive to certain films (also known as staying awake).  I supposedly viewed this movie some six months ago, but when I saw the director's cut yesterday, only a few small scenes looked familiar and I was knocked out by how involving the story was.  I should also mention that I had the chance of seeing a preview of this movie at FrightFest back in 2004, but forewent the opportunity as I was put off by the continuous gossip concerning its star, Ashton Kutcher, and his involvement with a certain older actress.  In fact he was very very good in his role, playing a college-age student who has suffered blackouts throughout his youth and who finds a way to enter his past life at traumatic times through the notebooks he has religiously kept.  Not only can he enter the past with the foresight that age has brought, but by so doing he can change the future.  The only trouble is that every change he creates seems to be for the worse, with both he and his various co-actors caught in unacceptable scenarios.  Eventually he finds the right path for ensuring a happy future for the main players -- a path that makes real sense, but which comes as a surprise.  While the logic of all of the role-shifting is not quite as watertight as it might be, the film remains an intriguing bit of science-fiction.

Vampire's Kiss (1989)

Well, if you wait long enough, everything turns up eventually.  This oddity received its first UK screening yesterday on one of the very, very minor satellite channels and I wonder if anyone else saw it.  In fact I do have my own copy on VHS which I bought some years back after reading about how Nicholas Cage ate a live cockroach in the movie as part of his method approach to the role.  You'll have to take my word as to how incredibly far Cage took his performance as a yuppie going steadily gaga after imagining that he has been bitten by a vampire (Jennifer Beals).  A literary agent, he has been making life hell for his secretary, Maria Conchita Alonso, who he browbeats into a state of hysteria.  As his obsession grows that he too is becoming a vampire, his behaviour may seem comic on some levels, but it becomes more and more erratic with inevitably tragic results.  Cage's playing of this role is really something special to behold, even if one dismisses the rest of the film as a crock. 

Nathalie... (2003)

When I saw that the three leads in this French flick were Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Beart, and Gerard Depardieu, I was sure it would be a winner.  But I've been wrong before.  Not that it wasn't well-acted and interesting in part, but it was poorly paced and I could see the twist coming from way off.  Ardant and Depardieu have been married for years and their relationship seems to be cooling, especially when she discovers that he has been casually unfaithful.  So she decides to hire Beart, a part-time prostitute working at a "private" club, to seduce her husband and report back on both his behaviour and what turns him on; which Beart procedes to do in extremely graphic terms.  The fact that Ardant is by profession a gynecologist might explain her interest in adopting such a highly unlikely approach to her marriage, but I don't see it. As she and Beart become more involved in each other's lives, I half expected some lesbian overtones, but this was not the focus of the film.  On a positive note I must add that Beart who one remembers fondly from "Manon des Sources" is still outstandingly gorgeous and that Ardant remains a very handsome woman.  Despardieu was very definitely the minor and least-rounded character (except around the middle!).

College (1927)

If there is one thing that is guaranteed to restore my faith in film after watching a number of modern duds, it is going back to Buster Keaton.  This one starts with his high school graduation with the oldest bunch of eighteen-year-olds you could ever assemble, where our Buster is the class swot and risks losing the girl of his dreams who berates him for knocking the jocks.  So he follows her to college and does his best to excel in sports, hoping to win her affection, but the joke is that he is hopeless at them all.  This in itself is funny, since Buster was among the most athletic actors ever to grace the screen, but his pathetic attempts and failures make him a laughing stock.  Meanwhile he is trying to earn his way and also fails as a dexterous soda-jerk and a waiter in blackface (don't ask!).  He finally saves the day at the big boat race, where as coxswain he becomes a human rudder -- but alas his sweetheart is not there to see his triumph.  She is being held in her room (with the risk of expulsion for immorality) by Buster's evil rival, so Keaton proves his real athletic prowess by running, jumping and hurling all obstacles to save her.  How wonderful it is to seen so many sight-gags packed into a lean 65 minuts. 

The Secret Agent (1936)

This film was one of Hitchcock's last British features before tootling off to America, and while not one of his best, it still deserves to be better known.  Set during the first World War, it has John Gielgud -- yes, he of the mellifluous voice -- declared dead in battle so that he can go to Switzerland and unearth a German spy.  Gielgud made several film appearances in the 30s before making his mark as one of our greatest stage actors, and he is frankly pretty stiff and unconvincing both in this movie and in others of the period.  He is accompanied by Peter Lorre playing an assassin and so-called Mexican general, wearing a curly wig and chasing the ladies a la Harpo Marx -- a completely OTT portrayal.  (On leaving Germany en route to Hollywood, Lorre did make two British pictures for Hitchcock -- this one and the first "The Man who Knew Too Much".)  The female roped in to pose as Gielgud's wife was Madeleine Carroll, a typical Hitchcock blonde, who was seen to better advantage in "The 39 Steps". And then we had American actor Robert Young playing his usual suave playboy image but turning out to be the big baddie, despite various red herrings en route -- most of which were filmed with the usual Hitch panache.  Finally if you look quick you can spot Michael Redgrave and Michael Rennie uncredited in bit parts.  So all in all the film still has all sorts of oddities to commend it.

The Bad Seed (1956)

To disprove the rumour currently extant that I am chained in a dark cellar and forced to watch movies all day, I varied the proceedings by escaping today and going to see the Sultan's Elephant which is visiting London for four days. If you haven't read about this, it is a piece of street theatre by a French troupe which includes a mechanical elephant some 40 feet tall propelled by steam, people power, and sheer bravado.  Watching it lumber its way out of Horseguards and into the Mall left me feeling like a big kid again -- and yes it was a good feeling.  This was preceded by a quick look at the Bellini exhibition at the National Gallery (Venetian painter at the Turkish Court).  And to really show my freedom I haven't told you about visiting the Gothic Nightmares exhibition at the Tate Britain just before it closed last week which focused on Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination.  Not my favourite period of art by a long shot, but much of it was good fun with its emphases on fairies, fatal women, witches and "gloomth".  Maybe I should not add that there were two video shows -- one reproducing the sort of entertainment known as Phantasmagoria and the other showing clips from movies that may or may not have been inspired by this movement such as the original "Nosferatu" and James Whale's "Frankenstein" -- so it wasn't a complete escape.

Let me briefly comment on the above film which I haven't viewed for a long, long time but which has held up reasonably well despite some dated pyschobabble.  Based on a stage hit, it didn't shed its theatrical provenance completely, but remains fascinating in following the machinations of an evil eight-year-old who murders anyone who gets in her way and how her mother, who blames herself for passing bad genes on to her child, tries to cope.  The cast included Nancy Kelly as the mother and Patty McCormack as the devil-child with the angelic mien, both from the original cast, as were character actors Henry Jones and Eileen Heckart.  Of course being Hollywood in the bad old days, the kid had to face God's justice which, I understand, did not occur in the original.  However, having added this, one wonders why the last section which introduced the various cast members ended with a tableau of the brat being spanked.  Pretty idiotic to suggest that this might be a cure or punishment for homicide.

The Alamo (2004)

Let's be clear up front -- by and large I hate war movies and however well-done they may be, they will never convince me that there is a valid point behind the carnage.  This one was as depressing to me as any and the attempt at accuracy only made it seem slower and draggier.  The brave band may have defended the Alamo for thirteen days, but as one critic said, it felt more like the Hundred Years War!  And it's not exactly as if there could be any suspense engendered since we all know that everyone ended up dead.  Mind you, the classic version with John Wayne and Laurence Harvey was actually an hour longer.  Most of the cast in this version were undistinguished with the possible exception of Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett.  Not that I could ever figure out why the Congressman from Tennessee was at the Alamo in the first place.  Dennis Quaid as General Sam Houston seemed quite content to sacrifice these men, expecially since his forces were later capable of defeating the Mexican army in eighteen minutes.  Would someone please tell me where the glory is in this scenario.

How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2000)

I had heard of this oddly-named movie but had never previously come across it; I believe it premiered on US cable TV and I doubt whether it had any sort of release in the UK, although it is highly-rated on the IMDb and seems to have its share of fans.  What can I tell you?  It was quirky and sharply written without necessarily being some kind of lost gem.  This could be because I have never warmed to Kenneth Branagh who took the lead, playing an insomniac, chain-smoking playwright in L.A. whose career has hit a sticky patch nor to the actress playing his wife -- Robin Wright Penn, who has lost her "Princess Bride" glow and now only takes suitable roles for the wife of America's purported 'greatest actor of his generation'.  The main thrust of the story was their befriending the daughter of their new next-door neighbor (not the one with a dog) who had slight cerebral palsy and Branagh, previously a child-hater, and Penn, a wannabe mother, helping her to become a normal child -- much to her mother's horror.  There was also a subplot concerning a celebrity stalker who used the same name as Branagh's character, played by Jared Harris -- son of the late Richard -- and some nice small roles for Lynn Redgrave and Peter Riegert (a fave of mine).  The somewhat fractured composition of the film, moving in and out of the time frame (some scenes were sequential and some just the same bit of business with interruptions) didn't help much but added to the overall quirkiness.  In short, all a bit like the proverbial parson's egg.

Marie Galante (1934)

I thought I knew all of Spencer Tracy's films since I reckon him as one of the all-time great and consummate screen actors, but this one was a new one to me, and if it hadn't been released to DVD, I doubt whether I would ever have seen it.  Not that it was all that marvelous, although Tracy was his usual able self playing a "doctor" who is really a government agent in the Panama Canal zone trying to root out a saboteur.  The interesting thing here -- and remember that this film precedes World War II -- two of the potential suspects were a German, a very nazi-like Sig Rumann, and a Japanese.  Incidentally the Japanese turned out to be one of the good guys.  The love interest was a French actress called Ketti Gallian who again was new to me, and not surprising since she made only a sprinkle of films in the 30s and 40s.  The photo under her name on the DVD cover was oddly not of her, but of Helen Morgan a well-known cafe singer of the period, who appeared in the film as -- what else? -- a singer; so that was something of an added bonus.

Kinsey (2004)

I sometimes wonder why certain movies are greenlit and for whom they are intended; such is the case here.  There is little doubt that Alfred Kinsey helped spark not so much a sexual revolution after World War II, but peoples' loss of inhibition in discussing sex.  As the good doctor who spent his first twenty years of university life studying wasps, Liam Neeson does a fine impression of the virgin-when-wed discovering that people can be as different as his wasps and enthusiastically embracing sex in its many forms.  Laura Linney as his equally adventurous wife also does a first-rate job.  But do we really want to follow his career as he is first hailed as a sexual messiah and subsequently labelled some sort of voyeur.  In probably the film's most controversial scene, Kinsey and one of his assistants interview a sexual adventurer who has kept detailed records of his every exploit, including hundreds with under-age children.  The assistant and possibly Kinsey himself is appalled by the guy's insouciance, but was his record-keeping all that different from Kinsey's own research?  For a movie about sex, the film was singularly unsexy, unless one is turned on by the two minutes or so of copulating animals included in the end credits.

Spanglish (2004) and other horrors

I am always hopeful when I watch new films but the last few days have been painful.  I'll start with the above movie, probably promoted as an Adam Sandler vehicle, which would have disappointed his legion of young fans.  It wasn't even his story as he played a largely subdued and confused celebrtity chef.  Nor was it his dysfunctional wife's as played by the usually amusing Tea Leoni, here playing the sort of over-reaching woman that could put your teeth on edge.  Nor was it the Spanish actress Paz Vega's in her first English-speaking role, as the Mexican single mother who becomes their maid.  If anything it was her daughter's as she related the above history in an essay on her college application. To watch these characters exposing their neuroses for two hours was painful indeed.  Yes, Mr. Sandler is attempting to grow up, but please, not into a conflicted bore.

Some other movies that have paraded past my eyes include the screamingly horrible "Are We There Yet" (2005) in which the normally competent ex-rapper Ice Cube agrees to transport some obnoxious kids in an attempt to ingratiate himself with their mom.  It was one of those experiences where I wanted to climb into the fame and slap somebody.  Of course, I suppose, I could have turned it off, but it had an unexplainable hold.  Then there was an oddity called "Who is Cletis Tout" from 2001 which I had never even heard of, and if it ever was released to cinemas, it probably did around $2.13 worth of business.  An able cast of Christian Slater, Richard Dreyfuss and Tim Allen (playing against type as a hitman obsessed with old movies -- just like moi) could not compensate for the complications and impossibilities of the plot.  But full marks for trying.  There were some other films as well, but the less said, the better.

Pocketful of Miracles (1961)

The last film by legendary director Frank Capra is a remake of his own 1933 movie "Lady for a Day", in itself something of a gem.  There were only a few mis-steps in his long career, despite being accused of too much schmaltz by snooty critics, but he made some of the most memorable films of the '30s and '40s -- doesn't everyone who has seen it (and perhaps only the youngest haven't) love "It's a Wonderful Life"?  While this picture may not number among his greatest, it is a genuine feel-gooder, helped by a superb cast.  The inimitable Bette Davis plays Apple Annie, a gin-sodden New York streetseller who is smartened up into a lady when her daughter (Ann-Margaret in her first role) arrives from Spain where she has been raised, with her noble boyfriend and his father the Count in tow.  It's more than an early makeover programme.  Assisting her are Glenn Ford as the local Mr. Big, Hope Lange as his girlfriend, and a wonderful cast of character actors among whom are Everett Edward Horton as a snooty butler  who's a sucker for fairytale endings and Thomas Mitchell (of "Stagecoach" and "Gone with the Wind" fame) who will pose as Bette's new husband.  In the end, all of the city lend a hand in the deception and every one of them feels the better person for having done so.  You'll feel better too after viewing this happy miracle.

Innocence (2004)

This French film was on my shortlist to see at the 2004 London Film Festival and I can't now remember why I didn't get tickets.  A beautifully-shot picture that probably would have looked better on the big screen, but I have finally caught up with it on DVD, where it still works well enough.  The writer-director, Lucile Hadzihalilovic, is the partner -- both artistic and personally I believe -- of the brutalist director, Gaspar Noe, but her work here in her first full-length feature could not be more different.  Based on a story by Frank Wedekind, it introduces us to the innocent world of young girls who reside in an isolated boarding school where they remain from about age six to just short of puberty with no contact with outside society and who "disappear" if they try to leave.  Each house holds seven girls who initially arrive by coffin and who are differentiated age-wise by the coloured ribbons in their hair.  Apart from a very loose training in ballet and biology, they seem to have no focus to their years there other than to be children and the non-professional cast do well as they frolic in their short white skirts, white leotards, or nude.  Any adult viewing this, however, can not help but think how this subject matter might be viewed by certain unsavoury members of our world -- since the children could well be seen as objects of desire, particularly when the oldest girls dance each night in a darkened theatre with no sight of their obviously male audience.  So yes there is a feeling of unease running through the idyllic setting and one is left with many unanswered questions, such as what becomes of the one girl selected each year by the Head and how do the others survive when released to society, without presumably friends, family or training.