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The Wonderful Country (1959)
I couldn't help it...
I enjoyed watching this movie in the same way I'd enjoy watching an exhibition baseball game. What it was was fine for what it was, but it could have been oh so very much more. I couldn't help thinking what a nice piece of Western Noir this would have made if shot in black and white by James Wong Howe and directed by Howard Hawks or Michael Curtiz.
I watched because of Mitchum and the almost cameo role played by Jack Oakie...a favorite since seeing him for the first time in Thieves' Highway.
I may watch it again, but it isn't one I'll be adding to my library of discs.
Interstellar (2014)
Rivals Casablanca Neck and Neck For My All-Time Favorite Film
The packaging of an incredibly well told and unforgettable love story in a science fact/fiction setting. This is Interstellar. I was blown clean away. Five subsequent viewings haven't dulled my enjoyment one tiny iota. While this film has its share of in-context special effects, I thought they kept the focus and flow of the narrative very much alive rather than distracting from it. Pacing is excellent. The unexpected appearance of an acting favorite of mine, was also a surprising treat. Interstellar, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. You are a truly wonderful piece of cinema that should not be missed.
Flesh and the Devil (1926)
Noirish in a pre-noir world
Let this begin by my outing myself as an unashamed card-carrying political correctness Luddite. In reading several of the reviews already posted here I was shocked, shocked to find that there was grumbling going on in here. *SPOILER ALERT* One reviewer made reference to misogynism because Felicitas drowns in freezing water beneath a layer of ice and the guys rediscover the depth of their friendship. Allegedly, this happens because it is a male dominated world and women always get the **** end of the morality stick. Sorry...not buying that. She gets it in a wonderfully symbolically perfect (for her character) way (recall Frost's Fire and Ice). AND...17 years later when Phyllis Dietrichson gets offed by Walter Neff I don't think anyone was crying foul because she dies on screen and Walter is left to ponder his inevitable fate in the arms of his pal, Keyes, during the fade out. While watching Flesh and The Devil I was struck several times how noirish was the story line and some of the camera work. The film was shot so well that it was hard to take my eyes off the screen for even a moment (much the same effect that Metropolis has). Others have remarked on the undercurrent of homoerotica. I guess we find what we're looking for. The lens I viewed this film through saw two men who shared a very deep and life-long affection for and loyalty to one another. They displayed this affection openly, viscerally and verbally (through the dialogue intertitles). As a lifelong heterosexual male I have to say that these qualities in some of my male friendships over the years never resulted in me or my pals confusing one another with Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy. Acapulco Gold does not always lead to being a smack addict. So... I accepted this film for what it (in my opinion) is: a really fine film that I was thrilled to discover in the Garbo box set I just bought. So what if this wasn't the first (or last) time in the history of humankind that this theme was worked. Originality can be an overworked and highly overrated quality. For anyone interested in watching a superior film that is now 89 years old, Flesh and The Devil should satisfy. And so say all of us.
It Takes a Thief: Guess Who's Coming to Rio (1969)
The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of...Kinda
This episode was interesting/enjoyable to me for a couple of reasons. There were THREE...count 'em...three actor/actress persons in this episode who were also in some memorable Star Trek (original series) episodes. Teri Garr, Michael Ansara and Arlene what's her name that played Duprene, Mr. Spock's betrothed that wanted Ston instead. But, the really fun bits were the Demetrius and Quigg characters. They studied the Gutman/Joel Cairo characters in The Maltese Falcon well enough to make their nods to both of them pretty entertaining. I bet the casting people and script writers had fun with this. Star Trek and Maltese Falcon fans...enjoy!
The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Solid Seven
So... this one is the second film on the second DVD in a 3-disc Classic Film Noir collection I'm going through. Following on the heels of The Strange Love of Martha Ivers as it does, I was prepared to be let down a notch or three from that true classic. But...I was not! Hamilton Burger's...I mean, William Talman's... performance was VERY good. They must have had him tied down pretty tight in his role on Perry Mason, because he's not just OK in this one, but really quite good. He carries the film's action almost entirely by himself. Lovejoy and O'Brien seem flat in comparison, but they really aren't. You can see each of them go through separate cycles of comprehension and response and, for my money, I thought they were very much like real persons in their circumstances would be. I would say this...if you liked The Petrified Forest, then you should probably like The Hitch-Hiker. TPF had "characters" and major film stars. TH-H has guys you might know being played by guys you might know. So, in that sense, at least, the leader at the start of the film is right on. Give it a try and I think you, too, will not be disappointed.
The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950)
I Felt His Pain
Some viewers are born fans, some achieve fandom and others have fandom thrust upon them. Right, Malvolio? My continually expanding passion, if you can call this insatiable thirst for black and white/old/scratchy films like this one a passion, certainly feels like it has been thrust upon me. I didn't start off loving this stuff because it was just the sort of film my mom and dad would never have let me see as a kid in the 50's. I forget the 60's and was raising kids on the Berenstain Bears and Curious George in the 70's and 80's. Now, here we are in the reclining years and there is the wonder of NOIR exploding on my screen like that meteor busting in on the Russian skies a few days ago. The Man Who Cheated Himself was painlessly easy to watch in spite of the places where the source material suffered from the hiccups, staggers and jags. I liked it very much. Some of the scenes evoked recollections of the camera work in The Third Man, interestingly enough itself made just one year earlier. If you are a noir fan and aren't picky, you'll love this. If you are a critic or anal retentive about only watching films in better condition than before they originally went into the can, well...you may only like it. One objective subjective observation...the writers did a fine job of getting me to the place of feeling younger Cullen's pain. Ouch! :-)