Reviews

The somewhat familiar story of a well-to-do "good" boy who gets involved with a "bad" girl from the poor side of town. The story of Anders, a promising student and the apple of his parent's eye, and Gerd, a "wayward" girl who is the bane of her single mother's existence, "You little whore!" . . . "Whore's do it for money. I do it for pleasure!" Sound a bit like a bad "B" movie? It's not. At it's heart "Ung Flukt" is about the unnatural corrupting influence that "civilization" has on human beings, especially the young, rudderless, and in Gerd's case, fatherless. Anders, having had the benefit of a stable family life, has direction and purpose and it is his idealism that provides the source of conflict between him and his parents. He believes that if he could remove Gerd from her hazardous environment, he could save her. Is he motivated by love? Moral duty? A sense of righteousness? Gerd is in love with Anders but is frightened that he'll turn out like her other lovers, "You'll just use me while it's fun." In a bold move, Anders takes Gerd by surprise on a long trip into the forest, first by car and then by foot, to a cabin that he had visited with his Father. At first this environment seems harsh and unforgiving, "Is there no end to this forest of yours?" Gerd complains while finally getting rid of her cumbersome city shoes. "Soon you'll get used to it and will no longer need clothes." Soon the two lovers are running through the forest barefoot, swimming naked in the lake, happy and carefree under the warm sun. But clouds will eventually turn the sky gray and Gerd, like an addict, will be torn between the Good healthy life and a craving for the pleasures and conveniences of the city. Soon their parents will come looking for them. Soon a mysterious and dangerous stranger will enter their orbit and Anders will undergo a "rite of passage" for his manhood with Gerd hanging in the balance. A beautifully photographed and extremely well paced story that showcases the talents of a phenomenal actress, even at such an early stage in her career. Liv Ullmann delivers a positively scintillating and sexy performance as Gerd, one that would be emulated a year later, wittingly or unwittingly, by Lee Remick in Elia Kazan's "Wild River" in which Nature would also play a crucial role.

This documentary is a revelation for all of us who witnessed on our television sets the hi-jacking of the 1972 Olympics Games by Palestinian terrorists. The ineptness of the German's in every aspect of this tragedy is almost incomprehensible and certainly reprehensible. To hear the interviews with those Germans involved, one would be inclined to share in their obvious amusement at such incompetence were it not for the murder of 11 Israeli athletes. And so one watches this film in three stages, with sadness, disbelief and then anger. For those not yet initiated to the most tragic event in Olympic history, on September 5, 1972, a week into the Olympic Games in Munich, Palestinian terrorists entered the Olympic compound and held hostage 9 members of the Israeli Olympic team, after already killing two who attempted resistance. Their demands were the release of 200 terrorists held primarily by Israel. Israel maintained its policy of "no negotiations with terrorist" while the Germans, anxious to get on with the games, attempted to negotiate a settlement that was never possible. In the end they bungled a rescue operation and all the hostages were murdered. ONE DAY IN September takes a much closer look at the facts, which should be a revelation for those ignorant of the European history of appeasement and the current crisis between radical Islamists and the West. In their desire not to be a target for terrorism, after having three of the Munich terrorists in custody, Germany arranged for the hijacking of a commercial airliner as a means to release their captives with a fictional hostage exchange scheme. One of them still lives to "proudly" tell his tale. The other two were hunted down and killed by Israel, acts that no doubt sparked condemnation from Germany and the UN.

One of the greatest filmmakers of France, Henri-Georges Clouzot, makes a film about his friend Pablo Picasso, perhaps the 20th Century's most renown artist. Clouzot begins with a proposition: if one were present at the conception of a great artistic masterpiece such as Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, and could peek inside the mind of the artist, what would one see? Fortunately, the visual art of painting offers a filmmaker that insight, and so Clouzot begins with Picasso in a dark room with white light directed at an empty canvas. The artist, like a bullfighter, confronts and ultimately displaces the empty space with drama and suspense. Clouzot takes a minimalist approach which chooses to focus on the art rather than the artist, and he achieves this objective by having Picasso sit on one side of a translucent canvas, and the camera on the other capturing only the ink or paint that has been administered, without the distraction or impediment of the artist - pure creation. A window into the mind of the artist! Twenty artworks are created in this manner, each being overlayed with the often suspenseful sounds of Georges Auric's excellent score. With THE MYSTERY OF PICASSO, art becomes exhilarating as one attempts to anticipate what Picasso will do next. "How will he resolve this problem?" Clouzot has created a priceless document for anyone seriously interested in art.

Bert Stern captures the Newport Jazz festival of 1958 in vivid color and with clarity. While jazz is the primary focus of the film, Stern does meander to the America's Cup race that was being contested off Newport at the time, along with some diversionary local flavor, which gives us a sense of what it was like to actually be there. Continuing along this vein, during the festival itself, Stern spends much of his camera time observing the audience caught unaware reacting to jazz on a summer day; after all, live music does not exist in a vacuum. It's this footage along with the incredible jazz music that makes this documentary really special. As a viewer we get to react to the music, and react to the audience reacting to the music. That girl with the seductively cute smile in the yellow dress, and that gruff man hiding behind the shades with the nervous twitch are people that we can connect to from our own personal experiences at open air summer concerts. The feeling of community one gets as the music breaks down the barriers and the sun begins to set. Stern allows his moving compositions to develop and flesh out the character of his subjects, giving us a nostalgic feeling for a time gone by that may have occurred long before we were even born. It does not matter because we are there! But this particular slice of time has special significance, because jazz would soon be replaced in popularity by Rock & Roll. We watch it happen before our eyes as a young Chuck Berry takes the stage. Backed by some excellent jazz musicians, all looking "amused" but not taking very seriously the music that would knock them off the charts for good within a couple of years. As Berry's classic Rock & Roll riffs project across the audience, young people spontaneously jump to their feet and start moving to the rhythm while their parents watch, perplexed.

During that relatively small window of time, prior to the beginning of Hitler's conquest of Europe, when exportation rather than extermination was still the prudent solution to the "Jewish Problem", a rescue plan called the Kindertransport was begun which provided for the relocation of Jewish children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia into Great Britain. INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS is a documentary that examines the Kindertransport program through the eyes of the participants. No broad social commentary here, just remembrances of parents that had to send their kids away to a foreign land and into the arms of strangers so that they might survive the Nazi barbarians. The difficulty of having to provide a whole life's worth of instruction to children just before those devastating last goodbyes. A little girl wondering why, just after Hitler annexed Austria, none of her long-time Austrian friends showed up for her eighth birthday party. Parents desperately trying to keep the harsh reality of Nazi occupation from the innocent little people oblivious to the evil of man. And once the children were safe in Britain, their desperate attempts to get sponsors for parents left behind and for those lucky enough to be re-united with family after the war, having to say goodbye once again, only this time to broken hearted foster parents. This documentary is made more effective by snap-shots of the children, archival footage of Nazi Germany during the late 1930's ( a veritable sewer of anti-Jewish destruction and propaganda), and in this context, the painfully frightening sound effects of broken glass, trains and the voices of children singing in German, which seem strangely perverted; an unfortunate consequence which Germans should never forgive the Nazi's.

A documentary that is disturbing and compelling in a Koyaanisqatsi "life out of balance" sort of way. Indeed, the haunting score was composed by Philip Glass. Filmmaker Morris takes the interrogation approach in his interview with McNamara, the infamous Foreign Secretary during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and consequentially the guy in charge of the Vietnam War during the 1960's. A kind of "where were you on the night of . . . " that ends up being a forum for the former Secretary to discuss his "Eleven lessons" about warfare, wise advice that is almost surreal coming from the mouth of one who seems oblivious to his personal culpability during a very tragic part of American history. Essentially McNamara says that "we were dead wrong and thousands of people died as a result, but I was not personally responsible". He goes even further, suggesting at one point a commonality between the Vietnam protesters and himself! Very adept at reflecting the negative spotlight on other "notorious" figures of the military establishment (Curtis LeMay in particular), the ease with which he dispenses the difficult questions has the effect of sending that light out into space, essentially leaving the question shrouded in fog. McNamara still appears to be very much the same unrepentant, beaten "faith in numbers" man after Johnson fired him from his post. THE FOG OF WAR was an opportunity for McNamara to repent that was missed. On the plus side, McNamara's reflections on the Cuban missile crisis and his subsequent dialog with Castro are enlightening and scary. We are told during this film that the "FOG OF WAR" is where a leader during wartime finds oneself when the variables are too numerous to enumerate. Unfortunately, this documentary only thickens the fog. McNamara's eleven lessons: (1) empathize with your enemy, (2) rationality will not save us, (3) there's something beyond one's self, (4) maximize efficiency, (5) proportionality should be a guideline in war, (6) get the data, (7) belief and seeing are both often wrong, (8)be prepared to re-examine your reasoning, (9) in order to do good you may have to engage in evil, (10) never say never and (11) you can't change human nature.

An excellent in your face documentary about 60's rock promoter Bill Graham that chronicles the last days of his Fillmore West which he closed in 1971 along with the Fillmore East a while later. FILLMORE gives us a no nonsense look at the music business after the nirvana of the 1960's had evaporated. The musical groups that flourished in the open San Francisco atmosphere and elsewhere during the mid to late 60's, became "authoritarian", corrupted by power bought with success and money. When love of music became secondary to egos and business interests, Graham decided to get out of the business. And so after watching the daily drudgery of Graham having to deal with prima Donnas, the threat of cancellations and broken agreements, it's easy to see why he wanted out. On the other hand, when talented musicians like Boz Scaggs, Carlos Santana, Elvin Bishop and Jerry Garcia take the stage to do their thing, it's easy to see why he got into the business in the first place.

Part psychological drama, part film-noir. The beautiful wife of the famous psychoanalyst Dr. William Sutton, gets caught stealing an expensive pin from a department store. The infamous astrologer David Korvo comes to her aide but for a price. Through hypnosis, Mrs. Ann Sutton will unconsciously become a party to an elaborate scheme involving murder. What's most interesting about this film is the relationship between psychology and astrology. Are they both pseudo-sciences? Psychological tricksters preying on the weaknesses inherent in the human psyche? Mrs. Sutton suffers from the condition Kleptomania, but is caught between the patriarchal righteousness of her husband, "Stay as you are, as you've always been - healthy and adorable" and the cold cynicism of Mr. Korvo, "A successful marriage is usually based on what a husband and wife don't know about each other." Both Dr. Sutton and Mr. Korvo are bright guys adept at exploiting human weakness in others (especially Ann's), but both fall prey to a shared weakness: wounded vanity. An interesting film that is well worth watching. Jose Ferrer as Korvo is a standout but Gene Tierney seems to have lost her fire and ends up sleepwalking through the film, even when she is not hypnotized.

An excellent opening title sequence starts this gritty Noir off in perfect step with what will follow. The son of a thief who was killed while attempting to shoot himself out of jail, Mark Dixon became a cop in an attempt to atone for the sins of the father, but cannot quite escape the fathers blood surging through his veins every time he strikes out at a hood, and it's his excessive use of force that gets him demoted with the threat of losing his job as detective, the only thing he ever wanted out of life. When he accidentally kills a witness to a murder, panic takes hold of him and he proceeds to cover up the evidence, but fate has a way of meting out cruel justice. Mark will fall in love for his victim's ex, and then her innocent uncle through another freak accident ends up taking the rap for the murder when the body turns up. And now the real moment of truth - atone for his own sins and free an innocent man, but probably lose the girl, or say nothing, keep the girl, but end up being just like his father? A brilliantly executed noir by Preminger and Dana Andrews nails one of the best performances of his career as the tormented detective.

Considered by many to be the last "classic" noir film ever made, and perhaps the last masterwork from child prodigy Orson Welles, who looks about sixty in this film, despite his 42 years. In TOUCH OF EVIL the "noirish" dark streets and shadows are darker than ever, practically swallowing up the soft tones like a murky swamp. The action takes place in a nondescript U.S./Mexico border town where the worst that both sides has to offer is most in evidence. The famous opening scene (a 3 1/2-minute continuous shot) where we witness a time bomb being placed in the trunk of a Cadillac is masterful. The camera pulls in and out of the city scene as it follows the motion of the vehicle winding its way through streets littered with pedestrians, thus effectively creating a level of anxiety that could not be duplicated with multiple edits. After the inevitable explosion, the drama dives into a seedy world of corrupt police justice and malevolent decrepitude, which is filmed with such a stylish flair, it is almost weirdly humorous and playful! Mike Vargas, the good guy, is played by Charlton Heston and seems more than a wee bit miscast as a Mexican narcotics officer with his face darkened by makeup. When U.S. Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) first meets him he remarks, "He doesn't look Mexican." Quinlan is the ultimate repugnant cop gone bad and Welles has the camera looking up into his nostrils most of the time making his character look even more monstrous. But Quinlan is also pitifully sad. A man who once had the instincts of a cat and the intelligence of a fox has been reduced to an insignificant mass of tissue, who's "instinct" is having a knack for finding evidence that he himself has planted. And while he may be revered by the local officials in law enforcement, he's acutely aware that he is a fraud and petrified that Vargas, has seen him naked.

A tale about two young teenage orphans, Martha who lives with her repressive but extremely wealthy Aunt and Sam who lives in a house for boys, literally and figuratively on the other side of the tracks. The two teens are in love and keep hatching schemes about escaping from Iverstown together but always getting caught. Another boy about the same age, Walter, is also in love with Martha, and he is dominated by a greedy father who lusts for the wealth that Martha will some day inherit. One stormy night after Martha is returned to her Aunt after a failed escape, a power outage occurs during which Sam sneaks into the house to steal her away but disaster strikes before they can make their escape. Martha ends up killing her Aunt with Walter standing by as a witness and Sam has suddenly disappeared into the night. Another man is blamed for the crime and now Walter and Martha share a deadly secret. Seventeen years later, Sam arrives back in Iverstown through a freak accident to find that Walter and Martha have married and now pretty much control the wealth and power of the entire town. Immediately his motives are questioned. Since he was a witness to the crime, has he arrived for the purpose of blackmail? Gradually all the old jealousies and passions are brought back to the surface, which lead to even more intrigues. Excellent dialog and well paced directing make this film highly enjoyable.

Seductively decadent! "It smells so incredibly evil" says the beautiful protagonist, intoxicated by the very repugnance of the place,"I didn't think a place like this existed except in my imagination." The place is called Mother Ginsling's Casino which exists in the volatile morally ambiguous no-man's land that was Shanghai during the 1940's. Controlled by the "most cold blooded dragon you'll ever meet", Madame Ginsling, a scholar of human folly and master manipulator of their emotions, the Casino is threatened with closure by a powerful English business man, ironically not for morality but because she's an impediment to his expanding empire. But like any cunning predator, Ginsling searches for Sir Guy Charteris's Achilles heel and finds it in his beautiful, but not-so-innocently curious daughter Poppy Smith, who's curiosity with Ginsling's establishment quickly turns into an addiction. In about 20 minutes time, director Josef Von Sternberg will turn this heart-stopping beautiful and sophisticated girl into a babbling tramp, and considering that Poppy is played by Gene Tierney at her prime, this is a remarkable achievement! SHANGHAI GESTURE illustrates how skillful understatement in a master's hand can be scorchingly sensual and overtly decadent without even raising an eyebrow of the modern censor. Powerful performances by Tierney, Walter Houston, and Ona Munson. A masterpiece!

Time has no pity, no sympathy, no joy and no sorrow. It's passage denotes the brevity in which the living inhabit the earth. In TIME WITHOUT PITY, a young man is dong time in prison for a murder he did not commit. A correctional institution is about to put a stop to that young man's time at the behest of the State. A father caught between the daunting task of fighting the system for more time, and forgetting time altogether at the bottom of a whisky glass. A broken woman mourning the loss of time never spent with one who's out of time. Every character in this drama is lost somewhere in their own guilt ridden space and time, but director Losey makes sure his audience is always aware, littering the screen with watches and clocks ticking like a giant timebomb about to explode as the desperately pathetic father searches for a clue to disable the alarm. Lost in an alcoholic haze that is almost dreamlike in it's ability to paralyze action, he clumsily attempts to win back for his son the time he let slip away. Is it too late? An incredibly edgy, self-aware film, TIME WITHOUT PITY clearly states its objection to the State as executioner. From the opening scene, we know the son did not commit the murder, but neither the State, "You must keep your visit short . . . we don't want to upset the prisoner," the Church, "He's given himself over to more compassionate hands," or the anti-capital punishment advocates, "We're not interested in whether young Graham is innocent or guilty," seem to have a specific interest in the individual. To make matters worse, young Graham himself has given up hope and when his father pleads, "don't give up," he asks, "What difference would it have made if you had died when you were my age?" And this question gets to the core of the film; it's resonance heavily influencing the final pivotal scene.

Chris Cross is a bank cashier who has just been given a gold watch by his boss for years of faithful service. Chris has three gifts, which are highly sought and cannot be bought: honesty, integrity and talent. The first two earned him the gold watch but the third is something he keeps to himself. He's a "Sunday" painter who paints from the inside out as a means of escaping his colorless life and loveless marriage. Chris is a man who loves beauty but has none himself, and so he fantasizes about some pretty girl that might see beyond his exterior to the man inside. And so one late rainy night chance places a beautiful damsel in distress in this path, and after saving the girl from the villain, he falls desperately in love and to his amazement, the girl loves him back. But things are not what they seem, and in a short while, Chris will trade in the three gifts he does possess for something he can never have. One of the defining films of Classic Film Noir.

One of Film Noir's perennial themes is the inability to escape from one's past. OUT OF THE PAST is a textbook example of this theme and as a representation of Film Noir in general, it's practically flawless. Robert Mitchum plays a private detective who has created a new existence for himself in a small town out in the country, with a small town girl and runs a roadside gas station, when from out of the past comes a menacing looking stranger in a black suite, seeking to re-unite Mitchum with a powerful hood played by Kirk Douglas. In order to have the possibility of a future, our detective must confront his past. His first order of business is to come clean with the girl he loves and through flashbacks we witness this former detective's "fall from grace" at the double-crossing hands of a beautiful femme fatale, Jane Greer. When we return back to the present, this double-cross will be followed by a whole series of crosses, ultimately resulting in a labyrinth of deception from which no one can escape. Daniel Mainwaring wrote the script from his novel "Build My Gallows High" (a line that is also used to great effect in the film) and the dialog is brilliant but just as important, the characters know when not to speak. Nicholas Musuraca, whose brilliant camera work in CAT PEOPLE (also directed by Jacques Tourneur) was a hi-light, repeats that success here, and films one of the most subtle, yet evocative sex scenes ever. Required viewing!

The struggle between the individual and "the organization" or whomever hold the keys to power, is no more in evidence than during wartime. In "Odd Man Out", Johnny (James Mason) is the group leader of a band of Irish rebels fighting the British occupation of their land. Johnny, having escaped from a British prison, is hiding out in the home of sympathizers, a young Irish girl Kathleen Sullivan and an old woman called "granny". Kathleen is in love with Johnny and under different circumstances they might be living their lives together as lovers, but war is hell and men must act to end tyranny. During a robbery to obtain badly needed funds for "the Organization", Johnny gets shot and then falls out of the getaway car in the heart of occupied Belfast. The heart of the picture is Johnny's attempt to reach home . . . to Kathleen, and her attempt to find Johnny and protect him from certain death. During this struggle to find each other, they encounter a cast of characters that cover a wide spectrum of society, some genuinely willing to help, but most being motivated by self-interest. The last fifteen minutes of the film are riveting as Johnny and Kathleen get closer and closer to home . . . to each other. Excellent performances from James Mason and Kathleen Ryan as Kathleen Sullivan.

Using Ernest Hemingway's short story as the foundation for the film, Siodmak and cinematographer Elwood Bredell create a dark, brooding and brilliant looking character study of Ole "The Swede" Andersen (Burt Lancaster), a quiet unassuming man who is hunted and shot by two killers who enter the small town he inhabits. Indeed, the opening shots are textbook examples of how to use shadows and light effectively in film. The central idea behind the short story and Siodmak's film, is the very masculine concept of dignity in the face of death. The fact that "the Swede" apparently knew of his fate but did not try to flee puzzles the insurance investigator (Edmond O'Brien) assigned to the case. He becomes obsessed with resolving this mystery, and through the testimony of people that had various associations with the dead man, facts start illuminating the gray areas but ultimately end up darkening the reality. Lancaster plays the proud, tough, handsome but intellectually limited Olle "the Swede" Anderson convincingly, and Ava Gardner as the sultry femme fatal never looked better.

Not the noir masterpiece we've come to expect with the likes of Welles and Cotton in the cast, but still an engaging film with cleverly shot scenes, witty dialog, and suspense. Joseph Cotton plays Howard Graham; an American armaments engineer in the midst of a deal designed to supply Turkey, a U.S. ally, with weapons to fight the axis. The axis, in particular the nazi's, have other ideas and are determined to prevent Graham from reaching the shores of the U.S. to seal the deal. During a magician's act at a club in the heart of Istanbul, a hit man mistakenly kills the magician instead of graham - or was it really a mistake? Graham is immediately questioned by the head of the Turkish secret police Colonel Haki (played with joyful exuberance by Welles) and for his protection, and the interests of the Turkish military, is put on a ship deemed the "safest" route back to the U.S. Of course this is not the case and the ship is filled with a cast of menacing characters, many not what or whom they seem. JOURNEY INTO FEAR is most enjoyable for its humorous subplots that are eluded to, but never explicitly. When Graham had to suddenly disappear he left behind a wife, and Colonel Haki has taken upon himself the duty to inform her of the crisis but elects to mislead, indirectly suggesting that Graham is a womanizer, with the possible objective to seduce her in this weakened state. "What's to become of me?" She asks. "We'll think of something." Is Haki's coy reply. And so it goes.

Johnny is a small time, but talented, hustler who finds himself at the wrong end of a gun on the dark back streets of Buenos Aires. He is rescued by a mysterious and controlling stranger, Ballin Mundson, who ends up being the owner of a club/casino that operates under the radar of the law. Johnny and Ballin form a close partnership with Johnny being the "man who runs the joint" and Ballin the Master. When Ballin takes a short leave and comes back married to the gorgeous Gilda, a threesome develops that puts a strain on the partnership. There is a burning mutual dislike between Johnny and Gilda. When Gilda feigns ignorance over not remembering his name, she coyly replies, "Johnny. So hard to remember . . . and so easy to forget." Of course there's much more to their acquaintance than they are willing to acknowledge, and a fusion of sexual heat, jealousy, fear and hatred keep the tension tightly wound which fuels the film. And of course there is Rita Hayworth up front and center. All the accolades that have been showered on her sexy "striptease" interpretation of "Put the Blame on Mame" are true! And still this film has much more to offer; an economical but effective story line; a tight witty script loaded with innuendo; and superb acting all around, especially the overlooked icy performance of George Macready as Ballin Mundson.

On May 18, 1933 the Federal Government under FDR's "progressive agenda", created the Tennessee Valley Authority, a vast scheme of regional development that involved, in part, the diverting of masses of water into valleys thus protecting large populations of people from the ravages of flooding rivers. Dams were created to assist in this enterprise and to harness the vast energy of the raging waters through turbines which in turn created electricity for communities that still lived in the "dark ages." WILD RIVER begins with stock news footage of the damage ravaged upon a community by a flood, in particular a heart rending first hand account of a man who has suffered a great loss. In comes the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to save the day, a bastion of progress with Chuck Glover (Montgomery Clift) as its representative. The TVA, in order to complete its mission, must relocate all the residents within a particular area slated for water relocation but Mrs Ella Garth, an old hard-as-nails woman living on a small island in the middle of the valley, refuses to leave her land for any price. This is the context of WILD RIVER, but for director Elia Kazan, the TVA and its surrounding controversy are a microcosm for America's growing pains and the divisions between North and South that have persisted since the Civil War brought them to a head. Kazan contrasts rugged individualism, so much a part of the Nation's heritage, with an activist Federal Government citing the best interests of the community. The traditional attachment that the South has to "the land", where "the elements" are an accepted part of life is contrasted with the North's reliance on technology to tame the elements. The sophisticated Montgomery, full of enthusiasm and conviction for his mission, is immediately jolted into reality first by the steadfast conviction of the old landowner (in a towering display of acting by Jo Van Fleet), then by overt Racism "for a minute I forgot where I was.", and finally by his own mixed emotions. His passions are aroused by Carol (Lee Remick), Mrs Garth's stepdaughter, who is suffering from under stimulation, both physically and mentally. Widowed for over two years, she lives with her two children and the old woman on the island. When the handsome, educated Chuck arrives on the scene, she finds in him a source of combustion to feed a very deep well of passion. Once ignited, the fire threatens to envelope Chuck's controlled existence and intensify Carol's feelings of displacement. Rarely has confusion, vulnerability and molten sexuality been rendered more effective by an actress. Remick completely dispenses with any pretense about her sexual and emotional hunger and sets the screen on fire! While still smoldering, she manages to convey her separate, but equally passionate emotions for man and child during a tender scene between Clift and her daughter.

Can love be reduced to an intellectual calculation? Can faith? What role do the emotions play into this calculation? Blaise Pascal, a French scientist and philosopher, put down his thoughts regarding the Christian Religion which were published after his death and came to be known as "Pensees" or "thoughts". Here Pascal puts forth the case for belief: "Since the duration of our lives is but a moment and the state of death eternal . . . those who are guided by their own inclinations and pleasures without reflection and concern" for the reality of death eternal, are idiots and should be "condemned". He asks, "What would you wager? . . . God is, or He is not. Reason can decide nothing." And not to wager is not an option. Pascal reduces belief to a win/loss calculation with the following: "If you gain, you gain all. If you lose, you lose nothing." MY NIGHT AT MAUD'S is a film devoid of conventional film devices to sway you one way or the other such as music, special effects, close-ups and general sentimentality. This is a film full of dialog and intellectual meanderings, but it is the emotions of the characters, those subtle distortions of the face, and the voice behind the eyes captured by a lingering camera that speak the truth. On the surface, this picture appears one dimensional and the end merely a continuation of the beginning, but under the surface, the characters have been transformed. One's actions may be controlled by intellectual pragmatism, but the emotions govern the inner world with a volotility that cannot be controlled. Single minded conformity to a religious proposition may bring security and comfort, but can love be divorced from the emotions? Can emotions be governed by the intellect? As to Pascals Wager, if one clings to this rigid proposition, despite the changing landscape of the emotions, perhaps shunning love itself, can the conclusion that "nothing is lost" still be held?

"Beware! I see all and tell all." So quoth the Raven, the pen name of the mysterious writer of poison pen letters that has plagued a small town in France with suspicion, fear and anxiety. Since this film was made by a Frenchman under a German controlled studio during Nazi occupied France in 1943, there is a subtext not necessarily explicit in the film itself, but nonetheless pervades its very essence. In Le Corbeau, Dr. Remy Germain becomes a victim when letters start circulating that accuse him of having an affair with a married woman and of being an abortionist. Both of these accusations are false but do contain half-truths, and it is the unfortunate tendency for groups of people, usually motivated by fear, to assume the worst. Furthermore, Germain is an outsider, in that he refuses to participate in gossip and avoids social clicks, which ironically makes him a target. Soon he will find himself under suspicion and alienated. Since virtually every member of the community has some skeleton in their closet, they would much rather turn their ire on the accused than risk having their own affairs aired by The Raven. And so the drama escalates to a crisis where Clouzot does not even spare the victim of blame. By assuming a position of detachment, Germain has turned a blind eye and thereby contributing to ignorance which only provides fuel for the Raven and the lies and deceit spread like a plague.

There's something magical and timeless about the movies. The stars that inhabit them are like fixed points in a firmament created out of the imagination; ageless reminders that despite the fact that our bodies deteriorate during the passage of time, in our minds we are forever young. Images projected across the distance and onto a screen like ghosts from far off memories have the ability to take us back through time like bookmarkers for important events in our lives. Giuseppe Tornatore's glorification of the movies in CINEMA PARADISO is really a celebration of life and the limitless possibilities for the individual with determination and imagination. There are really three protagonists in this film; Salvatore, the principle character who's story is told primarily through flashbacks; father figure persona grata, Alfredo, projectionist and Salvatore's mentor; and the theater itself, Cinema Paradiso, that refuge for the weary. A place where dreams, if only for a couple hours, can be found. A place where, laughter, sadness and joy can be shared. Paradise! Salvatore is fatherless and Alfredo childless. The two will form a special bond and remain virtually inseparable until Salvatore is a young man. A bond forged primarily in the projection room of the Cinema Paradiso, and fired by their mutual love for the movies. The years will be marked with tragedy, love won and lost and the realization that perhaps "life isn't like in the movies." Alfredo, having lived most of his life through the movies, encourages Salvatore not to make the same mistake, urging him to "Get out of Dodge" and direct his own destiny. "I don't want to hear you talk anymore. I want to hear others talk of you. Don't come back. Don't give into nostalgia." When Salvatore finally does leave, making it big as a successful and respected filmmaker, it will take the death of Alfredo to bring him back after an absence of 30 years. A trip back in time that will inflame old wounds, but also provide an opportunity for them to heal, and after the final kiss of CINEMA PARADISO's inspirational last scene, any lover of the movies will find it almost impossible not to give into nostalgia.