The Last Hunt (1956)

Stars: Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger, Lloyd Nolan, Deborah Paget
Plot: In the Old West, two men with vastly differing views on killing and Indians partner to hunt Buffalo.  After killing a Sioux raiding party, one man takes a squaw for his own thereby leading to conflict and a showdown.

Pros:  Robert Taylor,  Several Location shots,  Acting

Cons:  Real Buffalo killed on screen, Miscast supporting actors, Too stage bound and talky,  Mediocre Script

Produced by Liberal MGM producer Dory Shary this adult western is really another civil rights morality play with Psycho Robert Taylor (full of greed, a love of killing, and a hatred for "Injuns") is opposed by Good Guy Granger.  There are a few good location shots and bursts of outdoor activity -but too much is shot on sound stage "campfires" and Hollywood backlots.  There's much talk and little action, and the movie ends with a whimper not a bang.  While Granger more or less convinces as a Westerner, the supporting cast fairs less well.  Nolan is too urbane and nasal as the lovable old coot/sidekick ( ala Walter Brennan) while Deborah Paget is about as Indian as Myrna Loy.  Justly characterized as bleak, it seems much longer than the 104 minute run time as  Granger takes forever to break with the Psychotic Taylor.  The on-screen Buffalo killing (done by National Park Rangers) adds nothing and  manages to be  both disgusting and boring at the same time.  

Summary:  Notable only for the excellent performance by Robert Taylor, otherwise a mediocre talky Western.  People who dislike seeing Animals killed onscreen should avoid at all costs. 

The Runaway Bus and The Last Tycoon

The Runaway Bus - A pleasant and forgettable English comedy-thriller staring Frankie Howerd as a hapless Bus driver lost in fog in route to an alternate airport, On board are a mixed group of passengers (well acted by Margaret Rutherford, Petulia Clark, and Belinda Lee) one of whom is the mysterious criminal mastermind "The Banker". The film does a good job of disguising who is "The Banker" till the very end and several comedy bits are quite funny. However, there's a lot of Frankie Howerd, so if you find him tiresome, you're in for a long 88 minutes.

The Last Tycoon - Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished novel, it tells the thinly disguised story of MGM's wonder boy Thalberg. Given talent involved, De Niro, Kazan, Mitchum, Pinter, this was quite a disappointment. Its not bad, it just never got me involved. De Niro does his usual good job as the lead and the direction is fine, but there's just nothing in the story/script that got my pulse racing. Its one of those movies where you get to "the end" and ask "what was the point?" Others may find it deep and subtle.

Les Amants (1958)

Director - Louis Malle

Not really my kind of movie but Jeanne Moreau is incredibly attractive as a bored Upper-class wife who finds excitement with a new lover. Well made and interesting, as always, for the views of 1958 Paris and the countryside. Probably famous today because it was involved in the absurd 1964 SCOTUS case Jacobellis v. Ohio, where Justice Potter Stewart goofily stated "he knew Pornography when he saw it" but otherwise couldn't explain why.

Three by Dearden

League of Gentlemen (1960) - Very enjoyable bank heist movie. Jack Hawkins has never been better. 
Victim (1961) - Dirk Bogarde shines as a Gay closeted Lawyer battling a blackmailer preying on the Gay community. Well done and interesting even though a bit dated. 
All Night Long (1962) - Based on "Othello" a party of Jazz musicians turns nasty. More or less a filmed play. Not bad but the lack of charisma in the supporting actors hurts it. Charles Mingus and Dave Brubeck make brief appearances and show why they chose Jazz over acting.

Obsession (1949)

Neat little British thriller/film noir with some heavy American input (Dymtryk). Robert Newton shines as the cold as ice Doctor who plans on killing his wife's American Lover (Phil brown) by committing the "perfect murder".

Newton was the real revelation in this one as he is miles away from his "Avast Ye" Long John silver role. He out does James Mason as highly intelligent, cold as ice Killer who underneath is a raging mass of obsession and jealousy.

Supporting Newton are Sally Gray - intelligent and impossibly lovely - and Naunton Wayne, as the laid back, pipe smoking Scotland Yard detective. Phil Brown is good as the Gray's lover but is overshadowed at times by Monty the dog.

Very enjoyable.

Cleopatra (1963)

A rewatch of the infamous Burton-Taylor sword and sandals epic that almost sunk Fox. On the plus side: Harrison and the massive crowds, sets, and customs. You can see all the money on the screen. A big minus has to be the script which just lumbers along for 4 hours (!) along with Burton who seems very subdued. He gets better at the end when his character has more to do. As for Taylor, it hard to think who else could have played Cleopatra in '63 spectacular, but she her acting seems very flat at times and seems at times somewhat matronly.

The supporting cast seems fine except the occasional lapse such as Roddy McDowell as Octavian!

All in all, not as bad as I remember. Certainly watching it on DVD helped as I was able to pause and do other things as opposed to being immobilized for 4 hours in a theater. Of course, the photography is more impressive on a big screen.

Supposedly, the director wanted to issue two 3 hour movies, which is incredible since it may mean that they shot 6 hours of film and cut 2 hours! Like Mutiny on the Bounty the film lost money for the studio not because it was unpopular - it was the highest grossing film of 1963 - but because it cost so much.

Zero Hour!

Plot: A routine flight turns into a major emergency as passengers and crew succumb to food poisoning - is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?

Zero Hour! surprised me. Given that Airplane spoofs it, I thought it would be a hokey "Camp classic" - instead its a low-budget, tight little thriller, that lasts 85 minutes and kept me entertained. Zero Hour doesn't spend much time on character development. At the 12 minutes mark we're in the air and at the 22 minute mark we've got the bad fish and the crisis occurs.

Andrews does a bang up job in the lead role as "Ted Stryker" and is very good as the former pilot whose lost his confidence. Also good are Darnell and Hayden. Of course, its hard not to react to so many of the lines which Airplane turned into punch lines but the lines themselves aren't that bad. For example the innocuous line : "He's a menace to everything in the Air" is made into a laugh by adding the line: "Yes, Birds too".

Probably the only dreary part of the movie is Jerry Paris as the "Comedy" relief. And that's the one part that Airplane didn't spoof.

Rating - ***

Big House (1930)

Plot: A convict falls in love with his new cellmate's sister, only to become embroiled in a planned break-out which is certain to have lethal consequences.

A sometimes creaky, often hokey, enjoyable Old school prison drama. The highlight is the action at the end, which seems to foretell "the Battle of Alcatraz". Also, good is Wallace Beery as the tough, not-too-bright Prisoner "Butch". Chester Morris is excellent in the lead, and you have wonder what happened to his leading man career. He's no Clark Gable in this one, but he's still good. Almost unrecognizable is a young Robert Montgomery playing a sniveling coward. The script has plenty of Guard brutality, but unlike "Brute Force" it doesn't seem to have a political agenda.

Summary - An entertaining prison movie. At 87 minutes it doesn't wear out its welcome.

Chimes at Midnight (1965)

Plot: The career of Shakespeare's Sir John Falstaff as roistering companion to young Prince Hal, circa 1400-1413.
Stars: Orson Welles (Falstaff), Rutherford (Mistress Quickly), John Gielgud (Henry IV), Kieth Baxter (Prince Hal)

Plus: Script, Acting especially Gielgud, Exciting battle scene, Ending, Great blend of comedy and drama
Minus: Hard to follow at times, Occasional Bad sound, Welles' voice

Probably the best written of Welles movies due to his co-author and for once Welles’ tinkering/rewrites actually add value. Welles keeps both the plot and camera moving so boredom is kept to a minimum. However, this leads to jumps in the plot that are hard to follow. The confusion is compounded at times by the occasionally bad audio sound and Welles’ rumble grumble voice which makes his words hard to understand. Sometimes subtitles would have been helpful! Fortunately, the other actors enunciate their words clearly. Visually, the Battle of Shrewsbury is compelling and a triumph of editing. Dramatically, the highlight is Hal’s rejection of Falstaff.

Summary: Almost lives up to the hype. Despite it low budget, Chimes is the most impressive of Welles’ films, Welles was born to play Falstaff, and the source material constrains his usual desire for flash over substance and darkness over humor. Despite its flaws, a must see. **** 

Pushover (1954) and Nightfall (1957)

Pushover (1954)
Stars: Kim Novak, Fred MacMurray
Plot: Will a good cop go bad? A beautiful gangster moll and $200,000 in stolen money says yes.

Nightfall (1957)
Starring: Aldo Ray Ann, Brian Keith Anne Bancroft
Plot: A falsely accused artist is pursued by the police and criminals after stolen money.

Both Nightfall and Pushover are well crafted film noir covering familiar ground. The two have much in common, good leading performances, and some excellent supporting casts, suspenseful action, and B&W photography. However, neither film has the memorable lines and fleshed out characters required for great film noirs. Too bad - a dose of Raymond Chandler could have made both films much better. Each film has its positives:

Pushover is notable for the cast. Its Kim Novak’s film debut and she’s an incredibly mature 19 and beautiful year old, while Fred Mac replays a role that echoes Double Indemnity. FM still surprises with his acting ability, including one scene where Fred shows the fear and shock of being shot at. A “young” EG Marshall is good as the by the book Police chief.

Nightfall – stands out with some excellent location photography and action scenes (watch out for that snowplow!) and has Brian Keith as the affable villain. Aldo Ray has some good chemistry with Ann Bancroft. The script tries to keep up the suspense through flashbacks.

Summary: Two enjoyable, well crafted, 1950s film noirs that cover familiar ground.

Tomorrow is Forever (1946)

Stars: Orson Welles and Claudette Colbert
Plot: After their Honeymoon, a husband goes off to war in 1917 and is supposedly killed in action. In 1939 a crippled stranger returns to America and meets the remarried widowed wife. Is it the same man? If so, what next?

One of Welles more obscure films, only briefly mentioned in his biographies. Its a preposterous but strangely effective soaper, released the same year as Welles' "The Stranger". Both movies are silly, contain WW2 Propaganda points, and require a suspension of disbelief.

However, I found TIF much more enjoyable than the Stranger primarily due to the acting of Welles and Colbert. Welles is much better in TIF, although he uses the same dodgy "German" accent. In "the Stranger" Welles hams it up and can't convincingly portray menace or evil. In TIF script plays to his strengths, he was always good at playing older men and being a weakened cripple requires him to underplay (to the extent he ever could) the role. Colbert meanwhile gives it her all and is wonderful in the part.

The biggest drawback of TIF is the WW2 Propaganda which tries to convince us that only childish "Selfish" women try to keep their menfolk from going off to war and getting themselves killed and there's quite a bit of dated "Internationalist vs. Isolationist" talk.

Tomorrow is Forever seems to draw a mixed response. The New York Times (Crowther) hated it and many of the external reviewers at IMDB feel the same, however its rated a 7.2 and a small group find it very effecting. I was ready to write it off, but got drawn in by the performances.

The Human Desire (1954)

Director: Fritz Lang
Plot: A Korean War vet returns to his job as a railroad engineer and becomes involved in a sordid affair with a co-worker's wife and murder.
Cast: Glenn Ford (Jeff), Gloria Grahame (Vicki) Broderick Crawford (Carl)

Based on the Zola novel and Renoir's 1938 film La Bête Humaine, this is a  cleaned-up and dulled down version for American audiences. The film lacks the style and emotional punch of Renoir's version. Its only 91 minutes - but seems longer. While Grahame does well with her "bad girl" part, Crawford can't play his character as anything more than a whiny, violent, unlikable slob. At his best playing blustery authority figures and crooks - any kind of nuance is beyond him. Nor does Ford do much better.  He does nothing to make his bland character more interesting. He's just a "Good Joe" who falls for Grahame and takes a walk on the wild side. Never did I sense that "Jeff" was getting in over his head or capable of an evil deed.




Summary: An Hollywoodized retelling of the Zola story, its unremarkable except for a good performance by Grahame. Watch the Renoir version instead.