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House of Games (1987)
Mamet's a better writer than director
"House of Games" is a good film with some surprising plot twists and an interesting lead character that is nearly ruined by a bad lead actress and some bumbling direction. Lindsay Crouse stars as a psychologist who seems to specialize in treating addictive behavior, and it soon becomes apparent she may head down the same path. She is led there by a con man named Mike (played brilliantly by Joe Mantegna) who recruits her to help him win a large poker hand and she finds she wants more. Along the way we meet some fun characters and a young William H. Macy in his big-screen debut, but writer David Mamet decided to take the helm himself as director and is a bit out of his league. He wants to create a noirish atmosphere and employs the usual tricks of the trade--rainy nighttime streets with stark lighting, seedy bars, lots of smoking, and a femme fatale (blonde, of course). But it smacks of amateurism, forgivable as it is his first attempt at directing.
Less forgivable is the performance of Crouse. She seems stilted and uncomfortable in the role and comes across as an actress reading her lines rather a character embodying them. Her best scene is the last one of the film, (spoiler alert!) where after getting her revenge on Mike for double-crossing her, she steals a woman's cigarette lighter for no reason other than the small thrill it gives her. She has become like many of her patients, addicted to a destructive behavior.
The role cries out for an actress such as Kathleen Turner, Sharon Stone, or Glenn Close, but it appears Mamet chose Crouse for one reason--she was his wife.
The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1997)
A Tale (not The Tale) of Sweeney Todd
If you are interested in a faithful depiction of the legend of Sweeney Todd (the Demon Barber of Fleet Street), look elsewhere--to the 1936 version starring Tod Slaughter, or the much more recent one starring Johnny Depp. The Ben Kingsley-led 1997 TV movie takes the basics of the original story and puts its own spin on it.
From the outset, Todd and neighbor Mrs. Lovett are co-conspirators in robbing and killing barber Sweeney's rich customers and turning them into Mrs. Lovett's meat pies. But there is no Johanna, no sailor who loves her, no wicked judge who Sweeney blames. In the 1936 film, Slaughter makes Todd seem a deranged human being--quite mad. In the Stephen Sondheim musical (and Johnny Depp film based on it) Todd is driven mad by being framed for a crime and shipped off to an Australian penal colony just so the judge could seduce Todd's wife. Here there is no apparent reason for Kingsley's Sweeney (and Lovett) to commit these heinous crimes other than greed, besides Sweeney years earlier being "forced" to result to cannibalism when in Africa during wartime. I guess he developed a taste for it and assumes (correctly it seems) that others will too.
Campbell Scott plays an American who crosses paths with Todd and will eventually be his downfall, although he is not the one who ultimately kills him--a young boy will do that since Sweeney for some reason locks him up instead of killing him when the boy finds out what's been going on. I can think of no reason why the Scott character is American. That fact doesn't seem to be important in any way.
Despite all this, the story is a pretty good one, with good acting and some good lines, but it is visually a mess. We know how grimy and germy 19th century London was and it may be important to show some of that, but director John Schlesinger is unrelenting in scene after scene of meat being butchered on dirty tables, people (including Mrs. Lovett) with gross teeth, rats eating corpses, etc.
I would not recommend this as your first exposure to the tale of Sweeney Todd, but if having already seen one of the other versions, you might find this alternate take interesting enough.
Marihuana (1936)
Exploitative and educational--and terrible!
It's impossible to watch this film and not think of "Reefer Madness," released in the same year, 1936. Both purport to educate the country on the evils of marijuana. "Marihuana" isn't as laughable and is supposedly based on a true story, but is a worse movie.
The makers have thrown in everything they could, short of profanity, to generate buzz and attract an audience. Most surprising is a skinny dipping scene where five young women bare all after smoking some weed and one drowns. I suppose this was allowed (except in some cities that demanded cuts) because it was "educational."
There are also scenes of other drugs being used and sold to adults, but it is the selling of marijuana to high school students that is the main focus, and how that is often a "gateway drug" that can lead to a lifetime of crime. The main character, nicknamed Blondie after she becomes a drug dealer, is ruthless and we see her demanding a woman's wedding ring in payment for some heroin, then hatching a kidnapping plan to raise $50,000. Eventually it is the drugs that do her in, as she is also a user.
If you are looking for a movie so bad it's funny, then "Marihuana" is a prime candidate (the acting and direction and writing are all terrible) but I would go with "Reefer Madness" for more outlandish depictions of what can happen when you smoke "the devil's weed."
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936)
A Haunting Portrayal of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
The tale of Sweeney Todd has been told many times, in books, on stage (with or without music), and on the screen (movie and television), but the 1936 British film directed by George King is worth a look primarily because of Tod Slaughter's menacing portrayal of the Demon Barber.
Unlike the brilliant stage musical by Stephen Sondheim (or the not-as-good movie version by Tim Burton), there is no explanation as to how Todd started his gruesome business or how his neighbor Mrs. Lovett became involved. In some ways it feels as if we've missed the first reel or two of the movie. Todd watches sailors and passengers disembark from ships arriving from afar to London and approaches wealthy-looking men in need of a shave to his nearby barbershop, sweettalking them all the while. Once he has learned that they are carrying a good amount of money or jewels, he has them sit in his special chair and after lathering them up, pulls a lever which causes the chair to flip upside down, dumping them onto the stone floor of the basement below, knocking them unconscious. After securing their valuables, he walks down the steps to "polish them off" with his razor. His neighbor Mrs. Lovett will dispose of the bodies. They split the proceeds of the robbery/murder.
Slaughter has a way of making his character appear creepy and untrustworthy even when he struggles to look kind and benevolent. Few people seem at ease around him but they follow his lead almost unwillingly.
Unlike Sondheim's version, the pretty Johanna is a love interest for Todd (but he not for her) instead of his long-lost daughter. She loves Mark, a sailor who of course will eventually become Sweeney's adversary.
The movie never explicitly shows or tells what Mrs. Lovett does with the bodies, but there are broad hints of her using them in her meat pies. And it is she who rescues Mark when Todd has sent him down to the basement via his trap door. Her motive seems to be not because of any change of heart, but merely to get back at Todd for holding out on her some of the spoils from his victims.
This version of Sweeney Todd is no classic, but remains enjoyable even if some of the "effects" are laughable, such as the rear projection behind a buggy ride. Tod Slaughter's face may haunt you for awhile.