THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)

Posted on December 11, 2022 by velebit2

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: David Lean

SCREENWRITER: Carl Foreman. Michael Wilson

FILM STARS: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa, James Donald, Geoffrey Horne, André Morell, Percy Herbert

COUNTRY: Great Britain / USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Pierre Boulle

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Fontana

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1958

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1952

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: War

WORDS: The incidents portrayed in the book are fictional, and though it depicts bad conditions and suffering caused by the building of the Burma Railway and its bridges, based in part what Boulle saw as a French POW though he made his characters English in the book. For a relatively small book, David Lean (in David’s not so lean normal manner) has given us a big,  long (long) film. It is engrossing but ultimately it is a well done war melodrama with perhaps mixed messages (are we supposed to feel a grudging admiration for Colonel Nicholson, is war hell or is it about personal honour and growth). Many of the characters aren’t people but just characters reflecting points of view.

Regardless, because it was a well made epic, beautifully filmed on location with a good cast it was a humongous hit.

Incidentally it was first scripted by Carl Foreman, and then by Michael Wilson who were both blacklisted in Hollywood (and working quietly in the UK, but still under cover …  their names at the time would have affected an American release of the film). The film was credited to author, Pierre Boulle, who did not speak English.

Though, often assumed, and understandably so, to be an English film it is actually an English – American co-production. The money for the film came from Columbia studios who had money parked in England and where happy to use it there (The Guns of Navarone (1961) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962) were also Columbia productions). I assume Columbia required a big name American lead so the William Holden role was written to accommodate his Americanness. Alec Guinness and the British and Japanese supporting cast are great and sometimes overshadow Holden, but, he and his post war American cynicism is perfect.

I loved it as a kid, but ultimately, if it wasn’t for Holden (who I love) I probably would have seen the film only once. Yes, I know some will disagree.

I can’t fault the theme song, the Colonel Bogey march, which was written in 1914, which is catchy.

The novel I read a long time ago and have little recollection of the same. I do know the Holden’s character was a British commando officer in the novel, and the bridge is not destroyed (but suffers minor damage) as the train plummets into the river from a secondary charge. Nicholson’s character (does not realise “what have I done?”) and does not fall onto the plunger.

LINKS

TRAILER

 

Posted in Novel, War | Tagged | 2 Comments

THE MAN CALLED NOON (1973)

Posted on December 4, 2022 by velebit2

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Peter Collinson

SCREENWRITER: Scot Finch, Antonio Recoder

FILM STARS: Richard Crenna, Stephen Boyd, Rosanna Schiaffino, Farley Granger, Patty Shepard, Ángel del Pozo

COUNTRY: Great Britain / Spain

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Louis L’Amour

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Corgi

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1973

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1969

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Western

WORDS: British westerns have rarely worked. Italian ones have. German ones have. Spanish ones have. Even Yugoslavian ones have. This British production (with some Spanish input … a beef wellington paella western?) filmed in Spain is odd but has some memorable scenes. A partial American cast, a Louis L’Amour novel basis (the film is very liberal with the book), and an intriguing premise (a man has amnesia, searches for his identity and the killers of his family) is a good start.

But, ultimately, it comes off as a sullen curio which may or may not be helped with alcohol and / or drugs. There’s abundant violence amongst the 70s cutting occasional camera tricks. Peter Collinson directed. An English director who directed (sometimes entertaining) clunky international action co-productions which are, normally, in your face all action with pauses for existential angst (well, he worked mainly in the 1970s).

The film, if you approach it right, is entertaining though don’t expect much L’Amour and do expect 70s continental excess. The cinematography is good though there is a lot of darkness, even during the day, and the score is Euro great by Luis Bacalov (who worked on Django (1966)).

Englishmen, producer Euan Lloyd and primary screenwriter, Scot Finch, wrote two other European films based on L’Amour novels – Catlow (1971) (in which Richard Crenna co-starred) and Shalako (1968)(in which Stephen Boyd co-starred).

L’Amour’s book, is like most of his work a straight read. The hero is a hero, not an anti hero, not a dubious hero, not a flawed hero. Here, also, like in some of his earlier writing (where he wrote some pulp crime), he throws in an element of mystery (the amnesia angle). Of course the beauty in L’Amour is not the plot but the detail of time and place and the escapist joy in adventure.

LINKS

TRAILER

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MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)

Posted on November 27, 2022 by velebit2

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: John Schlesinger

SCREENWRITER: Waldo Salt

FILM STARS: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro, Barnard Hughes, Bob Balaban

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: James Leo Herlihy

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: panther

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1970

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1965

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Drama

WORDS: I loved the film as a youth (though, oddly, I don’t feel compelled to watch it over. Well, maybe one more time). It’s an odd “buddy movie” about a hustler and a crippled con man who would be his pimp looking forward to better days. The film has has become iconic and is one of those movies you think about when you think “New York”.

Like his close friend and mentor Tennessee Williams, Herlihy was a gay (though publicly closeted) author whose wrote about taboo subjects and broke new ground for what was acceptable to mainstream publishers (his 1958 play “Blue Denim” was about underage sex and pregnancy). His pushing the boundaries set him up well for the mid to late 1960s where he captured the zeitgeist of the times and it’s free love and expression of all forms. But his world view (at least on paper) was  not with the casual “flower power” optimism of youth (he was born in 1927). He was drawn to characters at the fringes and positioned himself there as well. Though of an “older” generation, in the late 1960s Herlihy became passionately interested in the hippie and anti-war movements. In the late 1960s he formed a artists commune of sorts in key West, and then had the idea for another in rural Pennsylvania. He loved Key West (at the end of Midnight Cowboy, Joe Buck and Ratso are riding a Greyhound to the sunny Florida of Ratso’s dreams when tragedy strikes) but, he ultimately lived in Los Angeles through the 70s and 80s till his death from suicide in 1993). He wrote nothing after 1971.

Sex (or sexuality) is an overcurrent in “Midnight Cowboy” (as it is in many (most) of Herlihy’s works) and despite the passing of time, though not graphic, it still manages to surprise.  The sexuality in homosexuality is more evident in the novel than in the film (call it the naivete of youth but I assumed it was more gay for pay (and then grudgingly) rather than homosexuality when I first saw it. Is it? The film was even a little homophobic (by today’s standards) … and racist … if name calling are indications of hang ’em high homophobia and racism. The novel has a lot more backstory on the title character, Joe Buck, than the film. How Joe goes from Albuquerque to New York is the story. The film tends to canter on his New York experiences and his platonic relationship with Ratso..

The book is a great read and the film, though narrower in narrative, is well done, with many iconic lines (arguing with Ratso, who implies the cowboy look is gay, Joe Buck exclaims in anger … “John Wayne! You wanna tell me he’s a fag?” and of course the “I’m walking here! I’m walking here!” neither of which were in the novel). Englishman John Schlesinger directed, and perhaps his status as an outsider (gay and English) gave him some insight but the film looks as urban 1969 as many other urban films of 1969. It captures the quality of a time and a place well. I suspect that the script by (ex) blacklisted writer, Waldo Salt (who wrote screenplays for “Rachel and the Stranger” (1948), “Serpico” (1973), “The Day of the Locust” (1975), “Coming Home” (1978)), which manages to give back story without showing it has a lot to do with it’s success. Voight and Hoffman are superb (both were nominated for Best Actor but lost to John Wayne in “True Grit” … take that new Hollywood). As good as Voight is it is intriguing what Elvis would have made of the role of Joe Buck. Producers at United Artists wanted Elvis to play Buck but Colonel Tom Parker didn’t like the idea of the film. Actually I think Elvis would have been perfect.

Partly because of its notoriety (sexual frankness) the film became the third highest grossing film in 1969 (in the US) though notably the both old fashioned and modern “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and the old fashioned “The Love Bug” grossed more (take that new Hollywood). Best of all the film features the 1966 Fred Neil song “Everybody’s Talkin'” as sung (recorded in 1967)  by the great Harry Nilsson.

LINKS

TRAILER

The re-issue trailer

Title theme song by Harry Nilsson

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MACKENNA’S GOLD (1969)

Posted on November 21, 2022 by velebit2

THE FILM

DIRECTOR: J. Lee Thompson

SCREENWRITER: Carl Foreman

FILM STARS: Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Camilla Sparv, Keenan Wynn, Julie Newmar, Ted Cassidy, Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Massey, Burgess Meredith, Anthony Quayle, Edward G. Robinson, Eli Wallach, Eduardo Ciannelli, Rudy Diaz, Victor Jory

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Will Henry

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Corgi

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1969

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1964

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Western

WORDS: A big, sprawling, ripe film. A semi international big name cast (Americans, Egyptian Sharif, Swede Sparv, Englishman Quayle), a big budget and a lot of action (some absurd) about various obsessives looking for the fabled “Mackennas Gold”.

Producer / screenwriter Carl Foreman teams up again with director J. Lee Thompson (they did “Guns of Navarone” together with Peck in 1961). Westerns weren’t Thompson’s strength though he did the strange but appealing “The White Buffalo” in 1977. What Foreman can do is “big” ((Guns of Navarone (1961), Taras Bulba (1962), Kings of the Sun (1963)) and one on one violent “action” (he worked with Bronson a lot in the 70s and 80s). This film has big images, and big locations, this would have been visually stunning on the big screen, though no less ripe.

The cast is great and treating it with fun. Telly Savalas, Keenan Wynn, Burgess Meredith, and Eli Wallach have to be watched, normally, to make sure they don’t trip over into excess. Here, they aren’t. And it works, as long as you don’t take it seriously.

Quincy Jones did the soundtrack with, as to be expected, jazz side notes. It is “big” and very 1969. The title song (“Old Turkey Buzzard”) was sung by José Feliciano and (composed by Quincy Jones with lyrics by Freddie Douglas (a pseudonym for Carl Foreman)). José Feliciano did a Spanish version of the theme song “Viejo Butre” for the Spanish-language version of the movie.

Will Henry churned out many western novels, all readable and above the pulp level. His skill was in telling a story quickly and adding flavour and detail amongst the gunplay. I assume, in part, because he was a screenwriter. Henry was born “Henry Wilson Allen” and wrote, as Heck Allen, many Tex Avery MGM cartoon shorts in the 30s and 40s before turning to writing. The novel was based on the legend of the Lost Adams Diggings (a legend about a teamster named Adams and some prospectors in Arizona who were approached by a Mexican Native American named Gotch Ear, who offered to show them a canyon filled with gold) and is similar to “Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver” (1939) by J. Frank Dobie, a collection of tales about the fabulous treasures of the Southwest, based on the same legend.

The film made a lot on money in the US but not enough to cover its cost. It was however a smash internationally. Apparently, in India (allegedly) it was the highest grossing Hollywood film ever until the 1990s and was re-run in cinemas often, and in the Soviet Union (where it was first shown in 1973) it stands fourth in the all-time rankings of foreign film distribution. I can see why it would be popular in India – it is Bollywood ripe and the Russians love an epic.

It may be a simple story but have I mentioned the film is “big”.

LINKS

TRAILER

Title song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A7dxZiSZjw

Title song in Spanish (which I prefer)

 

Posted in Novel, Western | Tagged | 4 Comments

THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (1978)

Posted on November 13, 2022 by velebit2

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Franklin J. Schaffner

SCREENWRITER: Heywood Gould

FILM STARS: Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, Lilli Palmer, Uta Hagen, Steve Guttenberg, Denholm Elliott, Rosemary Harris, John Dehner, Anne Meara, Bruno Ganz, Michael Gough

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Ira Levin

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Pan

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1979

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1976

ORIGINAL BOOK  TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Political thriller, War

WORDS: Ira Levin writes genre novels with an artistic bent … well, I think he does. His most famous novels are perhaps the murder drama, “A Kiss before Dying” (1953), the horror, “Rosemary’s Baby” (1967) or the satirical sci fi “The Stepford Wives” (1972). His plot twists, and perhaps because he was a playwright, make his novels perfect for films … and most have been filmed.

This novel about post WW2 Nazi’s in South America (headed by Dr Joseph Mengele, who was alive at the time) using Hitler’s DNA to to create cloned children (one of which is hoped may one day start a Fourth Reich) is a hoot. The film, if I recollect correctly plays it straight as a political thriller (and as a pseudo cautionary tale about Nazism) with all the mind games, philosophising, and politics mixed with thrills you would expect from a Schaffner film. A magnificent cast though Peck as Mengele and Olivier as the Nazi hunter seem to have got their roles reversed. Perhaps they were looking for a change as Olivier had just played a Nazi in “The Marathon Man” (1976) and Peck had just played uber American general MacArthur in the film of the same name from 1977. James Mason seems happy playing a German … again.

What’s there not to like?

LINKS

TRAILER

Posted in Novel, Political Thriller, War | Tagged | 2 Comments

WAKE IN FRIGHT (1971)

Posted on November 6, 2022 by velebit2

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Ted Kotcheff

SCREENWRITER: Evan Jones, Ted Kotcheff

FILM STARS: Donald Pleasence, Gary Bond, Chips Rafferty, Sylvia Kay, Jack Thompson, John Meillon, Norman Erskine, Slim DeGrey

COUNTRY: Australia

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Kenneth Cook

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Penguin

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1973

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1961

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Drama

WORDS: The film is certainly not an advertisement for “Tourism Australia” though, perhaps, at the time it was a more truthful depiction of a part of Australia … the “Outback”. One of the great Australian films. It is in your face and certainly picks up on a specific part of Australian culture – rural, pre migration Anglo-Celtic, working and lower middle class.

It could be argued (if this was a sociological exercise) that the culture depicted extends beyond that. There is some evidence to suggest that Australian culture is the great equalizer and that its power lies in making you become part of it rather than you making it part of you. It is certainly seductive in it cavalier attitude to social norms and rules .. and the further one travels from “society” the more the norms and rules can be disregarded.

The central character, John Grant, certainly lives that as he journeyed into a alcoholic, cultural, sexual and spiritual nightmare as he tried to get back to Sydney from his teaching post in outback New South Wales. He is stranded in a small rural town (the fictional town of Bundanyabba is based on Broken Hill in New South Wales) and becomes immersed in the local culture of the “outback”.  Kenneth Cook is, I suspect, a much underrated writer. He was a journalist (who spent much time in the outback) but with an artistic bent.  His lines are matter of fact though there is a big picture going on. The book opens with a great opening “He sat at his desk, wearily watching the children file out of the room, reflecting that, this term at least, it was reasonable to assume that none of the girls was pregnant”. The title comes from an old curse: “May you dream of the Devil and wake in fright”.

Despite that the film was called “Outback” in both the UK and the USA and only reverted to its current tile on the DVD release in 2012

The film came at a time when few Australian films were being made though English money (largely) financed the film which explains director Kotcheff (Canadian but working in England) and the two leads, Englishmen Gary Bond and Donald Pleasence (interestingly, Michael York stated (apparently) in a 1980 interview that he turned down a role in the film due to being offended by the kangaroo hunting scene and Robert Helpmann was initially hired to play the role of Doc Tydon, but he was replaced with Donald Pleasence due to scheduling conflicts). Director Ted Kotchelff who had worked in film and television (and would go on to direct westerns (“Billy Two Hats” (1974)), action films (“First Blood” (1982)), and comedies (“Fun with Dick and Jane” (1977), “Switching Channels” (1988), “Weekend at Bernie’s” (1989)) is much underrated and approaches the material straight on. The cast is great including Australians Chips Rafferty (who died of a heart attack prior to the film’s release), Jack Thompson (whose first film it was), and John Meillon. The only surprise was why Bond didn’t become a bigger star (though he was quite well known in the UK in theatre). The film won (apparently) much critical acclaim in Europe, and was Australia’s entry at the Cannes Film Festival. Interestingly a film version was linked with the actor Dirk Bogarde and the director Joseph Losey in the early 1960s. Cook originally sold the adaptation rights for his novel in 1963 to Bogarde, who intended to play John Grant and make the film for his production company, Bendrose Films, with Joseph Losey directing the film. Nothing happened so Bogarde sold the rights to (Australian author) Morris West who sold it to the films producers. Ironically, when the film was shown at Cannes, it was competing with “Death in Venice ” (1971) starring Bogarde and Losey’s The Go-Between (1971) for the Grand Prix du Festival. It lost to the latter.

Quoted from the movie credits … “The hunting scenes depicted in this film were taken during an actual kangaroo hunt by professional licensed hunters”. Apparently the hunt lasted several hours, and the hunters were getting really drunk and they started to miss. Kangaroos were wounded, hoping around. There was blood, there were intestines. The crew were not used to this and eventually orchestrated a power failure in order to end the hunt. Art imitating life? The kangaroo hunt scene is confronting to modern urban audiences (apparently at the 2009 Cannes Classic screening 12 people walked out during the kangaroo hunt)

Despite this the mindless brutality of human and life in the Australian outback is, perhaps, even more confronting, unsettling and disturbing. And controversial, at the time … apparently, during an early Australian screening, one man stood up, pointed at the screen and protested “That’s not us!”, to which Jack Thompson yelled back “Sit down, mate. It is us.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_in_Fright

Amusingly, according to some trainspotter there are approximately 107 occurrences in the film where a person drinks from a beer glass, beer bottle, whiskey bottle or whiskey glass. Director Ted Kotcheff recalled that Chips Rafferty insisted on drinking real pints of beer during the bar sequences. Kotcheff replaced non-alcoholic beers for the real stuff, but Rafferty noticed immediately and demanded proper pints be served. He told Kotcheff: “You concentrate on the directing, I’ll concentrate on the drinking.”  The director calculated that due to this, Rafferty was drinking up to 30 pints per day.

The book is a good read. the film is a must see.

And, the big question is, does the culture shown still exist?

LINKS

TRAILER

40th Anniversary trailer (2012)

1971 US Release Trailer

 

 

 

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TWO RODE TOGETHER (1961)

Posted on October 30, 2022 by velebit2

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: John Ford

SCREENWRITER: Frank S. Nugent

FILM STARS: James Stewart, Richard Widmark, Shirley Jones, Linda Cristal, Andy Devine, John McIntire, Paul Birch, Willis Bouchey, Henry Brandon, Harry Carey Jr., Olive Carey, Ken Curtis, Anna Lee, Jeanette Nolan, John Qualen

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Will Cook

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Bantam

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1961

COUNTRY: USA

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1959

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: Comanche Captives

NOTES

GENRE: Western

WORDS: The American west in film (and in literature) has been the black and white battle ground between concepts of good and evil even if the protagonists are grey. Its landscape is usually stripped of laws (or at least established accessible laws), is remote (where things can go hidden), and is a place where undesired consequences don’t always follow anti-social acts. It becomes a place where human emotions and personal philosophies can be viewed without the garments of “civilisation”. The clash of the new, of different cultures and the changes time itself brings just adds to the fun.

More than any other genre  the western is a place where actions have reactions, and both could end in death. I think this occurs because the  western is the setting for the last place where everyday people could carry weaponry in the open … and could use the same. It’s a place where the violent reactionary past of humanity meets the beginnings of modern liberal civilisation.

The beauty is, though, the west, like everything, isn’t black and white.

Cook’s novel, “Comanche Captives” (1959) seems to be a follow on to Alan Le May’s “The Searchers” (written 1954, filmed by John Ford in 1956). “The Searchers” is all about the quest to recover white captives taken by Comanche Indians. “Two Rode Together” starts with the recovery of the white captives. The rest is about how they fit in. Both stories are based on real life (and relatively) common place incidents through out the south west of the time. Cook’s book is grim but entertaining, as westerns had to be. Readers wanted action with their philosophical discussion, or, rather, they wanted action to hide any philosophy. It’s a great read.

In both the film and book two different philosophical types are sent to negotiate with Comanche chief Henry Brandon (who was also the chief in “The Searchers”) as Chief Quanah Parker for the release of prisoners. In history Chief Quanah Parker was the half native American son of the girl stolen by the Comanches (which is the basis for “The Searchers”). So if you want to look at this in a meta way. Henry Brandon here (in “Two Rode Together”) is playing the son of the girl stolen by an Indian, played by Henry Brandon (in “The Searchers”).

Quannah Parker’s story (and he himself) is well known in the south west. Recently the wonderful non-fiction “The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend” (2013) by Glenn Frankel tied up history, literature and film. The book (just like the novels), in its treatment of history pulls no punches on the relationships between whites and native Americans, unlike films and television of the time. There is no desire to turn the Comanches into a Native American version of the Cunningham family of the Cosby family (which was what, for all the right reasons, the film “Broken Arrow” (1950), with Jimmy Stewart in the lead, did, and set a trend for). Ford’s film however reflects the unpleasant history.

 To some it may be violent and reactionary but to portray protagonists in other ways would be unkind to history, legend or not. There is some darkness in Ford’s west in “The Searchers”, especially with John Wayne’s character , though ultimately, as a character says “this can still be a fine land”. “Two Rode Together” is perhaps Ford’s first totally dark western. That’s not to say there is no humour but it is still philosophically cynical.

Stewart is the cynical marshal hired to repatriate pioneer children captured by the Comanche, and Widmark is the cavalry officer who accompanies him. The captives, the Indians, the soldiers, and the settlers all are victims of the frontier. Westerners, Native Americans (both proto capitalists of different “tribes”) compete with new migrants, and with Easterners for a piece of the action. Gone is the clean frontier as a would-be potential garden of “The Searchers” and earlier Ford films. Instead, Ford offers us a nightmare vision, the frontier overrun by hysteria and (Eastern/Yankee) hypocrisy, with even the Indians seen as primitive entrepreneurs. It is an unsettling film. By all account Ford was unhappy with the film., and he said as much. He may have been but what the famously cantankerous Ford said should be taken with a grain of salt. He had everything he liked including supporting roles populated with Ford regulars and Frank Nugent who was brought in to write the screenplay (he wrote many Ford films and worked on “The Searchers”).

I love this films. It has flaws but it has more merits … the relationship between Stewart and Widmark and their different ideals (in the film they play each others normal roles) is funny but pointed. There are many great scenes – their riverfront dialogue exchange has been mentioned by others and is a classic.

It was called “second rate John Ford” but second rate Ford is far better than first rate from 90% of directors.  This neglected Western repays careful attention.

LINKS

TRAILER

two reissue trailers (the first for the DVD release and the second for cable) which are clearly aimed at different audiences (or have different philosophies)

 

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BARABBAS (1961)

Posted on October 20, 2022 by velebit2

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Richard Fleischer

SCREENWRITER: Christopher Fry, Nigel Balchin (uncredited), Diego Fabbri (uncredited), Ivo Perilli (uncredited), Salvatore Quasimodo (Italian dialogue) (uncredited)

FILM STARS: Anthony Quinn, Silvana Mangano, Jack Palance, Ernest Borgnine, Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Norman Wooland, Valentina Cortese, Arnoldo Foà, Michael Gwynn, Laurence Payne, Douglas Fowley, Guido Celano, Enrico Glori, Sharon Tate.

COUNTRY: Italy – USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Par Lagerkvist

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Four Square

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1962

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1950

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Historical

WORDS: I saw the film so long ago I have little recollection of it. But given it stars (favourites) Anthony Quinn and Ernest Borgnine and is directed by (favourite) Richard Fleischer it deserves to be revisited.

The story (of Barabbas) is familiar enough to anyone of the Christian west, though only in part. The novel (and film) follow Barabbas after Christ’s crucifixion as he struggles with answering “why me?”

The premise of the movie (and novel) is that Barabbas has to go around in life with the weight of the fact that the Son of God died in his place. The film, then, is a long movie about survivor’s guilt. The book is an existentialist, philosophical look at faith and belief by a Swede who had rejected Christianity (but never became bitter to it). In 1951 Pär Lagerkvist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature largely on the back of this book’s popularity (critical and public).

The novel (which is quite short) and the film (which is quite long) both set out to ask what became of the man who was freed instead of Christ. The novel is a pure work of fiction which expands the story of Barabbas in the Bible. The film expands the novel even further … and adds all sorts of action scenes as required in a Biblical epic.  The novel’s Barabbas wants to believe in Christ but his nature prevents him from accepting a God who preaches love and forgiveness. He wants rough justice. He cannot affirm his faith. He cannot pray. He can only say, “I want to believe.” The film is more ambivalent and can be read (at the end) as a person who has placed his faith in Christ.

LINKS

TRAILER

 

The Italian trailer which is the same though sharper in picture

 

Posted in Historical, Novel | Tagged | 2 Comments

SONS AND LOVERS (1960)

Posted on October 16, 2022 by velebit2

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Jack Cardiff

SCREENWRITER: Gavin Lambert, T.E.B. Clarke

FILM STARS: Trevor Howard, Dean Stockwell, Wendy Hiller, Mary Ure, Heather Sears, Donald Pleasence.

COUNTRY: Great Britain

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: D.H. Lawrence

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Penguin

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1960

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1913

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Drama

WORDS: I haven’t read the book but the film is great. I’m sure the book is good, but I had to (forced to) read (other) Lawrence when I studied literature at Uni. It through me off a little. I was young, I wanted, modern, I wanted post war (well, at least post World War 1). I regret that. I later went on to read Dickens, James Fenimore Cooper, Sinclair and others and loved them. Still haven’t made it back to Lawrence.

Published in 1913 and, as per usual for Lawrence, followed by allegations of obscenity, the book is regarded as one of his best. Lawrence summarised the plot in a letter to Edward Garnett on 19 November 1912, “It follows this idea: a woman of character and refinement goes into the lower class, and has no satisfaction in her own life. She has had a passion for her husband, so her children are born of passion, and have heaps of vitality. But as her sons grow up she selects them as lovers – first the eldest, then the second. These sons are urged into life by their reciprocal love of their mother – urged on and on. But when they come to manhood, they can’t love, because their mother is the strongest power in their lives, and holds them. It’s rather like Goethe and his mother and Frau von Stein and Christiana – As soon as the young men come into contact with women, there’s a split. William gives his sex to a fritter, and his mother holds his soul. But the split kills him, because he doesn’t know where he is. The next son gets a woman who fights for his soul – fights his mother. The son loves his mother – all the sons hate and are jealous of the father. The conflict goes on between the mother and the girl with the son as object. The mother gradually proves stronger, because of the ties of blood. The son decides to leave his soul in his mother’s hands, and, like his elder brother go for passion. He gets passion. Then the split begins to tell again. But, almost unconsciously, the mother realises what is the matter, and begins to die. The son casts off his mistress, attends to his mother dying. He is left in the end naked of everything, with the drift towards death”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_and_Lovers .

The film was stark and uncompromising for its time. Dean Stockwell (much underrated) was great and Trevor Howard was … magnificent (all modern British actors are rubbish compared to him). Howard, in a sizeable role, lifted average films to something better than they were. In a film with quality antecedents like he added tenfold. Both he and Mary Ure were nominated for Oscars. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards(including best Actor (Howard), Best Supporting Actress (Ure), Best Director, and Best Picture) winning one for Best Cinematography.

Jack Cardiff said, apparently, “The films that I am most proud of – the film, for instance, that I made under great difficulty, Sons and Lovers (1960), I wanted to make it into a good film because the book is marvellous, and I didn’t want to let the author down”. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002153/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm.

Director Cardiff was a great cinematographer (The Vikings (1958), Legend of the Lost (1957), The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), War and Peace (1956), The African Queen (1951), 1The Magic Box (1951), Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), The Black Rose (1950), The Red Shoes (1948), Black Narcissus (1947), and Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Conan the Destroyer (1984), The Awakening (1980), Death on the Nile (1978), Scalawag (1973)) and an interesting director (Young Cassidy (1965), The Long Ships (1964), The Mercenaries (aka Dark of the Sun)(1968), The Liquidator (1968)) though I suspect much credit should go to the producer, American Jerry Wald, who was an expert at these sorts of family melodramas (Wild in the Country (1961), Return to Peyton Place (1961), Hound-Dog Man (1959), Infidel (1959), The Best of Everything (1959), The Sound and the Fury (1959), Mardi Gras (1958), The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Peyton Place (1957), An Affair to Remember (1957), Queen Bee (1955), The Lusty Men (1952), The Glass Menagerie (1950)).

This is a superior family drama, kitchen sink style.

LINKS

TRAILER

Posted in Domestic Drama, Drama, Novel | Tagged | 2 Comments

BEING THERE (1979)

Posted on October 12, 2022 by velebit2

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Hal Ashby

SCREENWRITER: Jerzy Kosinski, Robert C. Jones

FILM STARS: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard Dysart, Richard Basehart, Ruth Attaway, David Clennon

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Jerzy Kosinski

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Corgi

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1980

COUNTRY: USA

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1970

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: satire

WORDS: Kosinski’s 1970 satire and the 1979 Hal Ashby film of the same, about a simple gardener who rises to become an influential political pundit, commentator and presidential advisor are both considered classics, and rightly so.

The story: Chance, a gardener, has taken (or inherited) his former wealthy employer’s expensive, old-fashioned suits and people make mistaken assumptions about his social station and wisdom, and call on him for opinions, elevating him to a celebrity (a influencer today). His wisdom, though, is only derived from his knowledge of gardening and his constant television watching.

Polish born Kosinski writes in a dry, simple way in much the style of the American satirist novelists of the 50s and 60s. It’s a one gimmick book and not as profound as some may think but it is an enjoyable read. There are some changes between the book and the film. Chance is much younger and handsomer than he is represented in the film (changed, I assume, to accommodate Peter Sellers age). Also, importantly, I think the most important difference between the book and the movie is that in the book, we get to read what Chance is feeling and thinking, but in the movie, we only get to see his actions. Since we only see Chance’s actions in the movie he seems even more innocent and simple than in the book. Oddly, because of his distance he also seems more other worldly or godly whereas in the book he is more human. Perhaps this was intentional. For example, when he is working in the garden in the film it seems he has no facial expressions, feelings or emotions. He is beyond that … he isn’t tired, sad, happy or anything, he just is. His inner thoughts in the book though give a more human picture. Of course, an inner monologue is always difficult to put on the screen but I think a true, complete “innocent” is, also, easier for movie audiences to follow. There are pros and cons about both.

It has been suggested that Kosinski modelled the character of Chance on Jerry Jarvis, the national leader of the transcendental meditation movement during the late 1960s and early 1970s, who had been a greenhouse manager and who Kosinski had met. On the other hand, some Polish critics (at the time) said the book was a variation on Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy (Nikodem Dyzma’s Career) by Tadeusz Dolega-Mostowicz, a Polish novel from 1932, and Kosinski was accused of plagiarism.

The film gave Peter Sellers one of his best latest roles, and  director Ashby was not slacker when it came to gentle cynical observation. He had bite but he also saw the humanity in situations. The supporting cast is wonderful. The film is more of a tragicomedy than the book.

The film (and the book) are still relevant today … in relation to the media (its shallowness), perception, assumption and status.

LINKS

TRAILER

Posted in Comedy / Satire, Novel | Tagged | 2 Comments