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Reviews
The Draughtsman's Contract (1982)
Can Mathematics Be Erotic?
Hugely enjoyable, if somewhat a tad too clever for its own good. A very good English director's attempt to be more continental, by being deliberately obscure, and throwing in large dollops of raunchy eroticism. Imagine if you will an episode of PBS's Mystery set during the Restoration, with a script by Einstein, and direction by Frederico Fellini.
Two excellent stage actors - Anthony Higgins and Janet Suzman - in combination with the very sultry and seldom seen Australian actress Anne Louise Lambert, act their sexy sox off in this delightful delicate pastry of a movie. In the year 1694 an artist is commissioned to create a series of precise drawings of an enormous country house. The twist is that his agreed form of payment is most unusual.
Michael Nyman's score is a careful, yet loud, modern arrangement with contemporary wind and string instruments. The photography by Curtis Clark is incredible, and these two creative artists convince you, you are in the 17th Century. The interior scenes are lit only by candlelight - as was also the case in Kubrick's superb historical masterpiece Barry Lyndon. This movie somehow combines elements of sophisticated themes of woman's self-empowerment, the inhumanity of the aristocracy, mathematics, and Benny Hill eroticism. Really rather wonderful and unique, but also in-retrospect, less than the sum of its parts. For a superior Peter Greenaway picture, try Drowning By Numbers, A Zed and Two Naughts, and The Cook, the Wife, etc..
Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
Flaming Great In'it!
A remarkable film, that like a Bordeaux grows better with each passing year. Yes some of the sets will seem very 1960's, but compare to say Logan's Run - these houses, unlike Logan's Secaucus New Jersey Mall, could be in the future. Little parts of nostalgia kept on to make the future all the more depressing. Quirky in that its a British produced movie, based on an American's novel, with an Austrian and an Irish star, directed by a Frenchman. Despite all that its great.
This is a love story, a great entertainment and a very scary premise. A future without books. There is nothing in it of a graphic sexual or violent nature, and although psychologically disturbing to an adult will seem rather dull to a small child. It contains the usual prophetic artifacts of a good sci-fi. The TV's are all flat screen and mounted on walls, and to own one is the ultimate status symbol. TV is really bad and housewives are addicted to it to relieve the boredom of their marriages. Nobody seems to own cars and public transportation seems to be the norm.
The casting is superb, Julie Christie is sexyfull and subtle, Oskar Werner is a great everyman whose conscience gradually begins to get to him, and the great Irish stage actor Cyril Cusack - Jeremy Irons, father-in-law for you trivia buffs - is sinisterly wonderful. Truffaut's direction and Bernard Herrmann's music ranks among their best work. It will make you want to read Charles Dickens with gusto. I'm stum on the rest of the story. Enter the movie with an open mind, and leave with a desire to read.
Border Incident (1949)
Terrific, Taut, & Terrifying Movie about Farming
An underrated gem from the cannon of Anthony Mann. Two agents - one American, one Mexican - cooperate on an investigation into illegal immigrant farm labour. The bad guys are the people smugglers, and boy are they bad - evil, ruthless and sadistic. Contains scenes of extreme violence which Hollywood tolerated in certain westerns and noirs of the late 40's post-war era, and this is kind of a western noir crime movie with lots of vegetables. Its a movie that could give you nightmares, especially if you approach it unaware due to its age, that its actually quite disturbingly brutal and relentless.
Easily ranks as Ricardo Montoblan's finest performance, and only makes one baffled as to how he became such a shameless ham later in life with the likes of Fantasy Island. George Murphy, who plays the American agent, had a fascinating career. Dropping out of Yale to become a coal stoker, he switched to a tap dancing hoofer in 30's pictures, then a solid supporting actor in war pictures. Following the lead of his pal Ronnie Reagan he entered Republican politics, rising to become a member of the US Senate for California.
John Alton lensed this picture, and his monochrome work is a remarkably beautiful achievement. Only a year after this movie Alton would photograph An American In Paris - easily one the best Technicolor movies ever shot.
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
Brilliant Battle Scenes, But then it all becomes rather silly
The battle scene in the forest between Romans and Huns early on is breathtaking - especially when seen in its original widescreen. Its yet another movie which does NOT exist on DVD in the USA however - like much of Anthony Mann's catalogue. Hollywood hang your heads in shame! I had hoped when Gladiator became a success, that it might have a knock-on effect on classic swords & sandals movies like this - especially as this one is essentially borrowing from the same era of Roman history - but alas and alack, not the case my fellow citizens. Ironically enough Alec Guinness plays wise philosopher Emperor Marcus Aurelius, because original choice Richard Harris had creative differences with Mann. 13 years later in Star Wars, Guinness in similar garb, would play a Jedi bitterly opposed to an Emperor. In Gladiator Harris finally got his chance to play Aurelius, even though that film was equally casual with its historical facts. Also curious to note that Mann was the original director of Spartacus - perhaps the best Roman movie ever made - yet was fired after directing the opening scenes over creative differences with producer and star, Kirk Douglas.
A wonderful mix of epic battles with more cerebral - befitting Emperor Marcus Aurelius - dialogue, and a very sexyfull Sophia Loren heaving and pouting. In a twist on usual casting Stephen Boyd - an underrated actor - plays a good Roman, as opposed to his evil Roman in Ben Hur, while Christopher Plummer, old Eidelweiss himself, plays the evildoer. A bit too long even for a epic, but loads of fun along the way, even after it starts to get a wee bit silly.
The Man from Laramie (1955)
Not a Boring Western
One of the series of westerns Anthony Mann made with James Stewart, see also Winchester 73, Bend of The River, Naked Spur, etc. Its also - along with Naked Spur - a superbly shot widescreen movie. Stewart's career has large chunks in which he repeatedly worked with the same directors, and all of them - though radically different in style - brought out fine performances from him: Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford and Mann. Mann really extracted the ability of Stewart to be both vulnerable, yet also tough and uncompromising. In this movie our hero tries to find the men who killed his brother, though during his quest he also learns a great deal about himself, and the lengths he will go to to reach the truth. So its a Shakespearean tale of revenge - a classic western theme - set amidst the arid desert and the burning sun. As with all Mann films, the violence when it occurs is sudden and brutal. In this he was years ahead of Tarentino.
Phantom Lady (1944)
A Dark Treat
Sadly not available on DVD as yet, but worth pursuing on TCM or VHS. A secretary believes her boss is wrongly accused of murder, and courageously takes on many dangerous characters in an effort to establish the truth. A movie with many twists and dark alleyways, none of which I will mention! The jazz band sequence where our heroine seeks the information about the killer, is one of the most erotic scenes in Hollywood history, despite being at very low budget and made during WWII in black and white. Despite the low budget - Long Island looks somewhat mountainous - this is a movie of original style and outstanding vision. Ella Raines was a great actress discovered by Howard Hawks who knew much about these matters, casting the feistiest women - Joanne Dru, Hepburn, Angie Dickinson, Lauren Bacall, Ann Sheridan - of their era. Robert Siodmak was of one of several German, Hungarian & Czech film-makers - Sirk, Wilder, Zinnemann, Lubitsch, Curtiz,Lang, etc - who émigrés relocated to Hollywood, and brought a highly original fresh vision with them. Sadly Ella Raines was never given such a great part again, and eventually ended up in poorly produced westerns.