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The Rose Tattoo (1955)
We Want Joan
I am thrilled with the performance of Anna Magnani, but would love to see Joan Crawford in this, rather than in Johnny Guitar which came out the same year (as fabulous as that is). Yes, Tennessee wrote the play for Anna in 1951 (though she waited for the movie when her English was better). In later life Joan complained about being shunned by a clique of Hollywood snobs. Maybe it really was their fault or her reluctance to relinquish the conventional star glamour for a role (though she did so for Baby Jane and other horror outings later on). You want to see her sans make-up in a cheap dress keeping her men and romantic rivals in line while being elemental, direct, and fierce. Joan might have taken her basic Mildred Pierce character to the next level for heightened longing, maternal control, and romantic fireworks. And yet, she might have passed on such a role, as Ava Gardner did when asked to appear nude in the Graduate. (Wouldn't we all love to have seen Ava as Mrs. Robinson?)
Random Harvest (1942)
Riches To Rags To Riches Tale of Feminine Empowerment
This superbly romantic melodrama offers at least four literary peripeteias, two dramatic anagnorises and beautiful acting. Ronald Colman plays Charles Rainier, an upper class gentleman who suffers two bouts of amnesia, one following trauma on the front lines of WWI, another after a cab accident. Identified only as John Smith, Charles is able to escape his asylum back in England to meet Paula Ridgeway, played by Greer Garson, in the nearby city of Melbridge - thanks to Armistice Day celebrations. They marry, move to a country town and have a boy child together. Paula is in complete control of this one-sided relationship. Even her performance in a girlie show puts Charles into a deep sleep. John or "Smithy," as she calls him, becomes a successful writer. On his way to a Liverpool interview, he is hit by a cab, remembering his former life as Charles Rainier, and completely forgetting Paula, their son and three-year marriage. Even his house key, the only object from his former life with Paula, does not trigger a memory. Charles returns to Random Manor and takes up the family business. He is courted aggressively by Kitty, the stepdaughter of one of his siblings and beautifully played by Susan Peters. He passively tolerates her advances, agrees to marry her and, when she realizes he does not love her, neutrally accepts her withdrawal from the engagement. In the meantime, Paula has seen Charles in a magazine described as a prince of industry. She becomes his secretary under the pseudonym of Margaret Hanson. Her intimate role does not restore Charles' memory of their marriage. Margaret feels he needs to remember on his own to legitimize their union, even after he marries her a second time. This is the problem with the plot. Paula had total agency when she first went after him in Melbridge. Why should it bother her to direct his affections a second time? Nevertheless, he is shown to be on the verge of remembering several times until finally, while handling a strike at the family cable works in Melbridge, he remembers a tobacconist shop, leading him to the country house he shared with Paula. A bizarre coincidence places Paula in the same place when his dramatic anagnorisis occurs under the cherry blossoms. I wanted a scene in which Margaret directly reveals their three-year marriage and proclaims their relationship as one sided. It would have made the story perhaps less romantic, but more authentic, if Paula accepted his love on any terms. A side note: what color are Greer Garson's eyes? Smithy gives her cheap beads and she says "they are the color of my eyes" (hazel, blue, amber, brown, green?). When Charles is married to her a second time he gives her an emerald necklace once owned by Empress Marie Louise. She muses on her preference for the cheap beads after trying on the emerald, so maybe her eyes are green?
Destroyer (2018)
A Master Class In Great Acting
Nicole just gets better. Here, she can convince as a dewy young rookie, but also as a ratchet, burned out lady with a past. She's both a good and bad cop, and a good and bad mother. Her scenes with the understandably skeptical daughter are magnificent. They should at least have earned her an Oscar nomination. Here you catch a glimpse of an L.A. cop who has seen and done it all with a thousand unsavory secrets to share, just waiting for the right time to unburden herself. It's a wrenching film that is an instant classic thanks to top-rated directing and acting. A must see.
Ben Is Back (2018)
Grippingly Realistic Look At The Opioid Crisis Julia Robbed of 2nd Oscar
I love Julia Roberts. So this is not an unbiased review. A boy returns from rehab for the Christmas holidays to a very sophisticated, if wary, family. His mom confronts the depths of his addiction and all he has suffered due to the greed of the pharma industry. I love her ability to create believable characters who, after decades, seem to weather the vagaries of cinematic taste. Some might have said this is just an after-school movie about a mom dealing with her teenage son's addiction to pills (and other narcotics). The performances, however, are so epic that the film became an instant classic. She was lucky to have had Lucas Hedges cast as her addicted son, because he is certainly no child actor, but a savvy, seasoned pro. I, however, am shocked how gripping Julia is. She owns this material like no other actress could. It feels more like she wrote her lines, than that she depended on a script. Can that be true? At any rate she's definitely the one you want on your team on your journey down the dark alley of addiction. I am speechless as to why she did not get a nomination for best actress. I am speechless about the performance that won. Julia - do keep going after these roles as you have so much to offer our culture.
The Innocents (1961)
Not Horror, The Source Novella Is Precocious Existentialism
The producers have decided the meaning of the story by retitling the film The Innocents. The source material is much more ambiguous and more ambitious than the sensationalism of this fine movie. James' novella transcends the gothic horror of his contemporaries with a brilliant conflation of past and present, indoor and outdoor, spoken and unspoke, real and hypnagogic. He even alludes to the fluidity of identity itself. Is the demonic Peter Quint the same person as the governess. Are the children merely another turn of the screw represented by Quint and Jessup? Is Miles the evilest being in the English countryside or does the unnamed governess (the producers call her Mis Giddens in the film, though James erased her specific identity) manufacture the evil from her own twisted imaginings? Benjamin Britten's operatic score of this story is worthy of James' precocious existentialism, best illustrated by the neurotic percussion attending Miles and Flora as they sing "Tom Tom the Piper's Son." Mrs. Grose, who at first seems a level-headed housekeeper, soon betrays her awareness of the supernatural presence of Peter Quint and Miss Jessup, former servants who, though now dead, occupy the same space with alarming frequency. Even though Flora is taken away in hysterics and Miles dies of apoplexy, one is left guessing as to what actually happened and who caused it to happen, placing the piece in a category other than that which identifies the works of Poe. It's plausible that the governess has a greater rapport with the deceased servants than we will ever know, as the work ends with the stopping of Miles' weakened heart. Horrible, yes, but a great work of art, more like "Finnegan's Wake" than "The Tell-tale Heart." The acting is so good you should watch the film first then read the book.
Good Behavior (2016)
Lady Mary Goes Slumming
She has put aside her musical Oxbridge accent for the nasal twang of the Valley (an American accent, but definitely not mid-Atlantic where the action is). She's actually a wonderful actress, with emotions telegraphing mostly from the eyes and mouth, more than the dialogue, which is just OK. It's a fantastic show, with fun opportunities for dressing up, high-end heists and contract hits. I was put in mind of Audrey H. swanning through How To Steal A Million, but now with an even cuter boyfriend. The stories are a notch edgier than typical TV fare: bet you never thought you'd see Lady Mary smoking crack with a light bulb. My recommendation to Michelle Dockery, however, is get to work right away on the Patty Hearst story. She looks like her twin and already has the accent. From tabloid heiress to "Tania," the tale has Oscar written all over it.
Versailles (2015)
Stop throwing shade on Le Roi Soleil
This king was a showman, not an insecure philosopher, spectacularly controlling, not a bit shy. To him the only crime was to be a bore. You might start with a makeover of the look and let the acting follow. Please do a better job with the men's hair and costumes. This is France, not dowdy old England. Although I do like the Mark Farner '70s rock star chevelure imagined for the king (who is very well cast with a short actor), all portraits of him show a cloud of curls from cradle to grave (wigs, of course). The fabrics are couture, but too neutral. That little red bow tie over the white lace cravat would have been three times as wide and multiplied by seven, like a holiday bottle of cognac. (Again, look at the portraiture.) Conspicuously absent: the fabulous music of Marc Antoine Charpentier and Lully, the Paintings of Le Brun, Mignard and Le Moyne, the solid silver furniture that nearly bankrupt the nation. Look to the movie, Vatel, for better food and fete inspiration. Monsieur said it best when Louis chided him about the 50,000 ecus shoe note with: "But you haven't seen the shoes!" No, we haven't.