nmarshi Reviews

Mr. Lucky (1943)

Always Lucky With Cary Grant

[9/10 · 21 July 2006]

Unavailable on DVD, but found on VHS at Blockbuster, "Mr Lucky" is a Cary Grant vehicle, even more than a morale boosting, "keep the homes fires burning" war movie. Grant gets to play a wide range of roles here: fashion plate, grifter, romantic lead, war hero and (most notably) knitter of sweaters. Look, I've seen them all: North By Northwest, Bringing Up Baby, To Catch A Thief, and on and on.This has many moments that match the very best that Cary Grant had on offer. Most notably, there's an extended sequence of Grant riffing in Cockney to Laraine Day. Now Cary Grant liked to identify himself as a Cockney (which is usually termed as an East Londoner), but here he gets the rare opportunity in his movie career to play one (also in Gunga Din), and when asked where he picked up the rhyming slang that makes Cockney so annoying (charming to Americans) he says: Australia ! Ah Hollywood... You've also got to admire the sartorial splendor which Cary maintains throughout the film, even though he 's supposedly a poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks who left home at nine. Apparently there's a finishing school on Skid Row, and Cary was voted Best Dressed. Of course, one of the perverse running gags of "Mr Lucky" is that our hero wears absurdly garish ties, and does not know how to tie a Windsor knot. All he needs is Laraine Day to bring him the appropriate conservative necktie to complete him. Bless him he fights her off ... On a fifth viewing (over a lifetime), I have to admit the last twenty minutes drips with melodramatic sentiment out of step with our modern times (hey, I still tear up-don't tell anyone) but this is still a classic: funny, fast paced, easy on the eyes, and with a great supporting cast.

Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Deadly Combination of Noir and Pulp

[7/10 · 16 April 2006]

Saw "Kiss Me Deadly" at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica as part of the Film Noir Festival which happens every year there. First time viewing, and expectations were high. We were lucky enough to have the first assistant director from the film, and Maxine Cooper who played Velda waved at us from the back of the cinema. However, the pre-film discussion was lackluster and a missed opportunity. The film itself was a gripping, complex tale, where neither the characters nor the audience knew what was going on. This Mike Hammer-played unconvincingly by big muscled, Beach boy looking Ralph Meeker is an opportunist with a heart of gold, a cad with a conscience, a bully with a soft streak. His sidekick and secretary Velda, didn't have the femme fatale aura I would have expected. However, there are a host of other character actors who flit in and out of the film who are worth the price of admission: Nick Dennis as Nick, Hammer's idiosyncratic car mechanic (va va voom); Leigh Snowden as Hammer's fastest pick-up ever and Cloris Leachman in a small but pivotal role, in her first film. Where the film falls down is in its central intrigue: 'the "great whatsit' which Hammer and everyone else in the movie is chasing, has a dated, ho-hum quality once the cat is out of the bag. Apparently the film was controversial in its day and the studio may or may not have been behind the changing of the ending at the time "Kiss Me Deadly "was issued. According to our presenter the final 5 minutes were confusingly cut to satisfy the U.S. Government. We got to see the film as originally intended by the director, but there's nothing there now which warrants the fuss made 50 years ago. In fact, the supposed "incredible" ending I've read about in other reviews played cheesily to me, to use a classic film critique term. Still, "Kiss Me Deadly" is worth seeing, as much for its foibles as its accomplishments, as well as for its wonderful glimpses into downtown Los Angeles, and Bunker Hill before the skyscrapers replaced its Victorian tenements.

The Fallen Idol (1948)

The Fallen Idol: Minor Masterpiece

[9/10 · 14 April 2006]

Just saw "The Fallen Idol" at the Nu-Art in West Los Angeles on the last day of its one week run, with a new crystal clear 35 mm print. The meaning of the title only becomes clear at the film's conclusion, so I won't say much more on that score. From a Graham Greene novella which I have never read, the author drafted the screenplay, so presumably the film remains faithful to Greene's perennial themes: loyalty and betrayal; faith and faithlessness; marriage and divorce. What makes these issues intriguing is that the film largely revolves around the point of view of an innocent, charming young boy called Phillipe, played to perfection by Bobby Henrey. He lives in the London embassy of a French speaking country, which is a sort of purgatory (always the Catholic themes with Greene) which is both in England and not subject to its laws. He is taken care of by a kind valet/ chef de maison called Baines (understatedly played by Ralph Richardson) and his Cruella De Ville of a wife (played as the personification of small-minded evil by Sonia Dresdel). Phillipe has no mother (she has been unwell and away for a long time), and no memory of her. Insteads, he has the run of his own Garden of Eden-the huge Embassy with its lovely views over London, great rooms and sweeping staircases. He even has his own snake- a pet that he hides behind a brick on the balcony and carries around in his pocket. He hero-worships Baines, who indulges him and talk to him and hates Mrs Baines who orders him around, hectors him and threatens him at every turn. The story of the film occurs over a week-end, where Phillippe and the Baines' are left alone in the Embassy as the ambassador has gone to bring back his wife from her convalescence, and revolves how Phillipe understands the love triangle between Mr Baines and Mrs Baines and the lovely Julie (played with cheek-bones high) by Michele Morgan, speaking both French and English.

Look out for some terrific performances by the main cast (especially Bobby Henrey as Phillipe), but also by a series of supporting characters : two washerwomen, a sharp tongued lady of the night, a kindly bobby, several detectives and a perceptive doctor. The photography bears mentioning. There are shades of the "Third Man", as well as a great hide and seek game in darkness under the furniture in the empty Embassy, and a truly memorable run through the empty streets of London in the dark. From a personal point of view I enjoyed several scenes shot on location at the London Zoo, which was all very familiar even from a fifty year vantage point.

The film won a British Academy award so it's not exactly undiscovered, but it's not been easy to find at revival theaters or on DVD, but it deserves to be. As I said at the top, a minor masterpiece which operates on many levels. (Los Angeles-April 2006).

A Very Long Engagement (2004)

A Very Long Engagement: Very Special

[9/10 · 4 January 2005]

It's been two months since I saw "A Very Long Engagement" at the Royal in Santa Monica, and the appeal of the film continues to warm the cockles of my heart. Simply put, Jean Pierre Jeunet's film is a one of a kind, maybe even a masterpiece. That's a term that's easy to type up but hard to deliver. It begins with the design and texture of the film. Every scene is brilliantly staged, packed with details and historically precise. We are thrust back into the first two decades of the twentieth century, but not in a flat, documentary-sense but in a heightened reality which bears more of a debt to French "comic books" than to any history book.

Then there are all the secondary characters in the film. There are dozens of them, each idiosyncratic, funny, memorable. But any would be masterpiece needs a central character we can root for. Here we have Audrey Tautou as Mathilde, the fiancée who does not accept the news of her beloved's death at the front in World war I. Against all the evidence, against all hope, the film follows her determination to find her beloved Manech. Tautou is in the bulk of the scenes , and she never wears out her welcome in a difficult role because she is playing a head strong, difficult person. At times, we want to wring her neck because determination looks very much like madness or petulance. Yet she wins us over, as the plot twists and turns in ways expected and unexpected.

You have to see this film. I'm concerned that it's not going to find the audience it deserves, which would be a great pity. In fact, I think I've just talked myself into a second viewing !

Spanglish (2004)

Spanglish-Lost in Translation

[6/10 · 3 January 2005]

For the first hour of Spanglish I was in love: in love with Paz Vega, with the characters, with the plot.I live in Los Angeles, not far both geographically and socio-economically from the Bel-Air based family which is the center of the story. Brooks' observations of Los Angeleno attitudes and concerns are spot on, and amusing to boot. For a while, I could look beyond the terrible miscasting of Adam Sandler as the father of this dysfunctional family. I was rooting for Sandler to continue his transition from clown to actor, but it didn't happen in Spanglish. No mind, Cloris Leachman is terrific as the alcoholic grandma with a heart of gold matched with a wicked tongue. Paz Vega is just tremendous as are all the children in the movie. Even Tea Leoni, whom I usually detest in everything she does, brings a fierce, daring characterization to her part.

Then it all falls apart in the third act. The humor largely takes a bus out of town, and we're left with a long, meandering, half baked denouement (I'm trying really hard to not give anything anyway). We're treated to a couple of homilies, and a number of unresolved plot lines as if director Brooks ran out of time or interest. In my opinion, the basic problem is that Brooks couldn't decide who the movie was about: the speak no English gorgeous cleaning lady from Mexico (Paz Vega) or the Adam Sandler headed Anglo family whom she works for.

In Good Company (2004)

In Good Company: By the Numbers

[6/10 · 3 January 2005]

Here is a typical example of a mid-sized by-the-numbers "Hollywood" movie. This is not necessarily a bad thing: As you would expect there are good actors in all the main parts (with special kudos for Topher Grace who plays both tough whizz kid and love struck suitor with equal credibility. Dennis Quaid is endearing as father, and low pressure ad sales salesman. Margaret Helgenberger is too good to be true as Quaid's wife. Last and (curiously) least is Scarlet Johansson as Quaid's daughter and Grace's love interest. She plays the twenty year old college student with too much detachment, too much of a monotone. Still, she's gorgeous and fun to watch whatever she's doing.

The problem lies in the script. Sure there are several one liners which raise a chuckle, but just about nothing that happens to any of the characters really surprises us. Moreover what does happen can sometimes move at a snail's pace. Maybe director Paul Weitz was too much in love with screenplay author Paul Weitz' script.

You'll have forgotten "In Good Company' in a week, but it's fun for its hour and a half. Don't worry about cutting out to get that popcorn and soda, you won't miss anything you couldn't have guessed at.

The Aviator (2004)

The Aviator Soars

[8/10 · 29 December 2004]

Wondered if DiCaprio could pull off a dark, complex role ? Wondered if Scorcese would pull back from the excess and cant which almost ruined "Gangs of New York" ? Wondered if Howard Hughes-rake,megalomaniac and robber baron-could be made to be interesting or compelling ? Well I wondered on all 3 counts before seeing the Aviator, and am pleased to report the answer is yes on all 3 counts. It's not a perfect picture, partly because Scorcese wants to provide a big sweep: huge sets with hundreds of extras, huge "production values". They're fun, provide lots of useful clips for the trailer but don't add much the story. There are a few characters who make an appearance for no particular purpose such as Jude Law playing Errol Flynn. The film is at its best when it hews to its main character. At the end of the day the movie is about the inner demons of Howard Hughes, and everything else is just (very watchable) froth.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917)

Mary Pickford in Rebecca opens a window on a vanished world

[8/10 · 5 August 2004]

Saw Rebecca for the first time at the UCLA 2004 Restoration Festival. Obviously, Mary Pickford steals the show in a series of vignettes loosely tied together by screenwriter Frances Marion from the original children's story. Pickford is the original coquette, tiny (just watch her dancing with her "beau" in one scene), her head a mass of curls and a spunky spirit that's very twenty first century. However, there is much of the film that is dated and does not resonate with a modern audience.Of course, that's what I enjoyed most about the film- gazing back into a world which no longer exists. We get a glimpse at Victorian sensibilities- the movie was made in 1917-and harks back to an even earlier time. Much of the plot is devoted to Rebecca's heart warming but somewhat patronizing efforts to succor the woeful and shiftless Simpson family (now that's funny). The Simpsons are poor, badly dressed and lack a parlor lamp and a wedding band, until Rebecca comes along.

At times, it's disconcerting to see Pickford play a young teen because for all the prancing,pouting and curl tossing, Mary is clearly an adult woman. Even creepier is the abject attention this little girl is receiving from the village's most eligible bachelor, but I guess back even in 1917 people wanted to see a love story. Still, the film is an old fashioned pleasure, with many charming gags and characters, and over much too soon.