Change Your Image
Garranlahan
Reviews
Notorious (1946)
Horrendous Miscasting
I believe that Notorious is as close to a perfect movie as one can get. The performances of all participants are beyond praise, not to mention the direction. My only complaint is with the casting of Claude Rains (Sebastian), the man with the mellifluous voice. He is 26 years older than Bergman and about 6 inches shorter. He looks every day of his age (not being, as Grant turned out to be, ageless). Consequently, as Bergman's suitor and husband he is totally unbelievable and unacceptable. In fact, his embarrassing scenes with her make one think of nothing so much than a towering Viking Goddess being courted by a teensy-weensy, aged, English elf.
Rains would have been appropriate in this movie only if the plot had called for someone to play her Daddy.
Brass Monkey (1948)
Carole Landis Memorial
The two previous excellent reviews present a fair, balanced, and accurate view of this movie. It is of interest now primarily as a period piece---actually an English period piece: believe me when I tell you that in 1948 there wasn't one American in 500,000 who had ever heard of Carroll Levis, "England's favorite Canadian." There is, however, a second and far more important reason for this movie's value. It captures the luminous Carole Landis at the height of her beauty (and very shortly before her tragic suicide at 29). If ever there was a movie actress who was not only breathtakingly beautiful and amazingly talented, but also underused, unappreciated, and relegated (for the most part, as here) to roles far beneath her, it was Carole Landis. She lost what could have been her best Hollywood years by her unselfish, indefatigable, tireless entertainment of American troops throughout the world in World War II, surpassing even Bob Hope and Martha Raye in miles traveled and military outposts visited. As above noted, she was in a class by herself for beauty, absolutely nonpareil in face and figure---Betty Grable and Alice Faye were just pretty made-up dolls in comparison. What a shame that, in the end, she ended up in fare such as this.
Chuka (1967)
An Historical Landmark in Awfulness---Featuring a Stellar Cast
This may be one of the strangest A-List movies ever made. It has a superb international cast (U.S., Great Britain, Australia, Italy), but the story is unbearably childish, intolerably boring, and riddled with errors and plot missteps that defy belief. Just a very few: no cashiered foreign officer could possibly get a commission in the U.S. Army, much less rise to the rank of Colonel; no Colonel wears major's leaves as his rank insignia; no Colonel ever commanded a fort consisting of what appears to be no more than a squad of soldiers (not to mention that no frontier fort was ever held by a mere squad); no Americans served in the British Army's Sudan Campaign; Chuka NEVER misses his shots at the rapidly moving Indians, regardless the range and the fact that, rather than aiming, he lunges, throws out, his pistol when firing, which absolutely GUARANTEES a miss; poor Louis Hayward (at the end of his career) agrees to lead a mutiny, which no officer in the U.S. Armed Forces has ever done; there was no concept, ever, of a fort to which were banished incompetent, criminal officers and cast-off, second-rate men (where do they GET ideas like that?)---this could go on forever. Given the idiocies of the plot and parade of one moronic scene after another (e.g., the Commanding Officer going around the dinner table and grievously insulting every single officer in his command), it must be admitted that the highly professional cast did its very best with the hopeless script (written by someone with no knowledge of the military or the American West)---but that was like trying to breathe life into the first 500 pages of the Manhattan telephone directory. Years from now this film---given its stellar cast---will be pondered upon as one of the great mysteries in Hollywood production and film-making.
Play It Again, Sam (1972)
Classic Allen
I detest slapstick and even as a child I could never understand why an audience laughed when people got poked in the eye (the unspeakable Three Stooges), fell down (the mawkish, tiresome Charlie Chaplin), or ran into and destroyed things (the ineffable Ritz Brothers). This is the only movie I have ever seen in my life where I not only thought the slapstick was hilarious (trying to impress the blind date), but it made me laugh out loud---something I don't think I've done more than two or three times in watching a movie. This is comic perfection from beginning to end, and not even the dismal, dislikable, annoying Diane Keaton (what IS it that is so off-putting about her?) could hurt it. Allen, in addition to his many other talents, is a brilliant actor-comedian. His characterizations are so good as to transcend acting---it is as if one were watching him being secretly photographed from real life. I don't know another movie actor I can say that about.
Hadaka no shima (1960)
A Film Nonpareil
I was living next to the Seto Naikai (Inland Sea) at the time this movie was made, and marvel at its matchless, eclectic choice of images and atmosphere to convey the ambiance of the time and place. The photography, music, and restrained acting are perfection itself. The lack of dialogue helps, rather than hinders, its beautiful, simple story. It has captured a Japanese way of life and culture (actually lived by the director---the movie was made as a tribute to his parents) forever and in the very highest artistic sense. The movie is so genuine, so sympathetic to its participants and subject matter, that the viewer is softly, irresistibly, drawn in to share their travails. For years it has been a wonder to me why this classic film has been forgotten. Of the thousands of movies I have seen in my lifetime, this is the finest.
Devil's Doorway (1950)
Taylor Miscast
Robert Taylor, a Hollywood workhorse if there ever was one, NEVER in over 30 years on the screen, put in a bad performance or one in which he failed to give everything he had--from heavily romantic roles, to fatuous 1930s comedies to Westerns to Toga & Sandal monstrosities to crime dramas and---you name it. And always to the level best of his ability. William Wellman, a crack director and one very, very tough and world-experienced hombre, said Taylor was the finest man he ever knew. But the problem Taylor faced in The Devil's Doorway was absolutely insurmontable, even for him. American Indians are Asiatics (which is abundantly clear from the many Indian faces which appear in the movie (not including his father, played by a Caucasian)). No one in the whole wide world looks less Asiatic or more Caucasian than Robert Taylor (with the possible exception of Burt Lancaster, who also, moronically, got saddled with a Noble Indian role). Indeed, in the original version of this movie, which was in color, blue-eyed Robert Taylor had the dubious distinction of playing the only full-blooded blue-eyed Shoshone in the history of the world. Throughout the movie all the experienced moviegoer could think while watching it was "There's Ol' Bob Taylor in blackface." It was like watching Louis Armstrong in whiteface. Ridiculous. Also, his English was without accent and clearly educated, upper-middle class White (mirroring what Taylor in fact was)---how could that possibly be?---while his Shoshone was limited to a few barked, incomplete commands. Nevertheless, Taylor did his usual faultless, yeoman-like job against hopeless credibility odds. The photography was outstanding, Paula Raymond---who, by the way, could not, as a woman, have been licensed to practice law---was breathtakingly beautiful (what ever happened to her?), and Louis Calhern, as always, was excellent. As for the story, that is something else again. Childish, good-guy spirit-loving, earth-loving Indians versus bad-guy avaricious, violent Caucasians. Yawn. That is not the way it was. The Indians did all but teach university-level courses in Violence and Avarice---which they practiced extensively on one another before and after the arrival of the Whites. But that's for another time.
The Key (1958)
A Neglected Masterwork
An extraordinary movie in every way, from the combat scenes, which are so lifelike as virtually to constitute a documentary, to the superb acting by every single member of the cast, including each of the supporting players. But the very highest praise must go to Sophia Loren's absolutely stunning performance (not to mention her uncanny command of English at so early an age). Her quiet, dignified, and restrained interpretation of her very unusual and extremely demanding role is simply in a class by itself. I have never been able to get her graceful performance out of my mind. This is one of those movies of great merit, bewitched from the start, that simply disappear from public and critical consciousness---never to be recalled or mentioned even when, for example, the careers of Loren, Holden, or Trevor Howard are discussed. It is as if it were never made at all. A great shame.
So Proudly We Hail! (1943)
Nurses at Bataan and Corregidor
Not a single nurse in 1942-1945 who served in the Philippines died during the Japanese invasion or later in Japanese prison camps.
In contrast, the death rate among males in both situations, which included the Bataan Death March (in which the nurses did not participate), was absolutely horrific, and included slave labor in Japan by being transported there by unmarked Japanese hell ships routinely sunk by unknowing U.S. submarines where starved, sick, suffocating men locked in holds drowned by the thousands.
There were endless aspects of the movie that tried the viewer, even in 1943: maudlin speeches by the chaplain, nurses, and others (including a speech in a love letter at the end of the movie) every 15 minutes or so; front line soldiers and a Marine (who for some reason wanders around all alone in an Army unit, on the voyage over and in the Philippines when he should have been with his fellow Marines in the 4th Marine Regiment) who nonchalantly stroll back and forth at will from the front lines to the rear to schmooze with their girl friends; fraternization (absolutely forbidden) between a nurse and the (apparently) lost enlisted Marine (who is a PFC in his blouse and a Pvt. in his shirtsleeves); absolute confusion as whether these nurses were Red Cross (civilians) or U.S. Army and Navy; the usual tiresome 1940's litany of wisecracks; not a single, solitary mention of the U.S. Army medics and Navy Hospital Corpsmen who, unlike the nurses, indeed WERE in the front lines, decimated, and left behind with their patients (no Australia for them); Claudette Colbert and Paulette Goddard obviously too old for their roles; Veronica Lake with hair shoulder length; endless, childish cat fights; and a scene with Veronica Lake, Japanese soldiers (who don't fire but obligingly gather around), and a hand grenade which has no competition for the 20th Century's Prize for the Hands Down Stupidest Scene Ever Filmed in a War Movie. The production values were good, but that and its patriotism are the only positive things you can say about this movie.
Blanche Fury (1948)
Good representative of a first-class movie at the end of the Golden Era.
A classic example of a very well-made historical drama of the late 1940's. In every respect it is faultless, given the constraints of time and the story compression inherent in all movie making. There are simply no movie actors or actresses today who could play the star roles with the same enormous presence, dignity, grace, self-assurance, and acting skill manifested by the superb and striking Hobson and Granger---not to mention their precise and exemplary articulation of the English language. These were manifestly adults, not today's mumbling urchins posing as adults. Photography, production values, and historical accuracy are beyond praise. This was Valerie Hobson's personal favorite of her film performances.
Ocean's Twelve (2004)
A movie to be avoided.
Boring, hard to follow, difficult to understand what is being said (everyone mumbles and speaks over other actors), moronic and totally unbelievable story, tiresomely plain Julia Roberts, and a collection of thieves who would never in real life have become allies and several of whom are clearly certifiable. While it is bad enough trying to keep the various members of the 12 straight, it is impossible when it comes to third parties whose interests and motivations are unfathomable. It is ridiculous to even think that world-class thieves would enter into a childish contest. Finally, the mawkish ending looks like it was cut out of another movie and pasted here.
What a mess.