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The Ruling Class (1972)
A Marvelous Gallery of Grotesques
I recently watched the uncut version of this film on Turner Classic Movies in the wee hours of the morning and thoroughly enjoyed the performances of all the actors in it with the exception of the lead character J.C./Jack played by the redoubtable Peter O'Toole. The plot of a mad lord(God knows that there are way too many of them by far in the House of Lords both in the past and present) who believes himself to be a benevolent, loving "Peace, Man" Jesus Christ who is subsequently driven by the "scientific" vile machinations of a crazed German psychiatrist(who ends up needing his own head examined)to become a "sane" Jack the Ripper, is buttressed by the superb performances of the supporting cast. Peter O'Toole's "Tour de Force" performance which for the most part lauded by the other reviewers here, is too over-the-top which works within the context of this film for his role but I found O'Toole shamelessly mugging and leering without restraint(indeed like a real madman) which again works accidentally within the context of this film. After O'Toole has been branded "sane" as Jack the Ripper there are several huge closeups of his wide staring eyes--I swear I thought I was watching Joan Crawford as "Mommie Dearest" glaring in her best Kabuki "Mie"-grimace before letting her "Strait-Jacket" axe descend for some satisfying mayhem. Harry Andrews as O'Toole's pater, the 13th Lord Gurney turns in a short but satisfying appearance in his rigid iron-jawed unpleasant upper-crusty sod who offs himself whilst wearing unflattering raiment, William Mervyn and Coral Browne play two of the Gurneys, the nastiest "upper class" scum dripping with self-importance and probably a leaky colostomy bag! Mervyn excelled in portraying snooty, "stiff-upper-lipped" pompous nabobs with their noses in the air though I presume he was not like that in real life; Coral was just doing what came naturally, playing herself, i.e., being a nasty, caustic-tongued man-hungry bitch who got her hooks into horror legend Vincent Price in reality as Vinnie's last wife, James Villers as his specialty, a gormless pathetic gangling twit, Nigel Green as an "Electric Jehovah"(Nigel offed himself after this role, his life imitated his F-art), Michael Bryant as the crazed unscrupulous German psychiatrist, Hugh Burden as the harried mousy lawyer(Mr. Reeder indeed!), Graham Crowden as a gimlet-eyed "sanity officer" who bursts into a lively duet of the Eton Boating Song with O'Toole, Arthur Lowe as the one sympathetic character in the whole film, the Bolshie old manservant who gets framed for the murder done by O'Toole, and last but not least, the great Alastair Sim as the doddering old Bishop, shaking and trembling in fear in the best Kierkegaardian manner. These supporting actors along with Kay Walsh and Patsy Byrne, all work very well together but O'Toole, purposely, I'm sure, strikes a jarring note in the whole film as the huge stinking turd floating in the middle of the punchbowl. You can't miss him but wish he were a little less noticeable! All in all, 10 Stars, Excellent All Around, even with O'Toole's shameless overacting, and chewing up the scenery, which I am sure was his original intent for the overall theme of this gem of a film. The director, Peter Medak(The Changeling, Species II, The Krays) does an absolutely rip-roaring job here and is to be highly commended for this film, which may indeed be his masterpiece!
Secrets of the French Police (1932)
A Delightful Adventure!
SECRETS OF THE FRENCH POLICE is an exotic mixture of Sax Rohmer, John Buchan, Edgar Allan Poe and Dorothy L. Sayers mystery genres. The convoluted plot centers around French flower-seller Eugenie Dorain(Gwili Andre) who is hypnotized by a ghoulish mad Russian criminal mastermind, General Hans Moloff, a cross between Rasputin and Fu Manchu(Moloff's father was a Russian but his mother was a 'Manchu Princess'!) hammily played by a young Gregory Ratoff, who seems to be channeling Bela Lugosi's Murder Legendre from WHITE ZOMBIE whilst speaking like Erich Von Stroheim! Ratoff chews up the scenery as he sneers and ruthlessly murders anyone who gets in his way or is a witness to his schemes, including a male and female cohort of his. Ratoff also has a nasty habit of covering up his female victims with clay after doing away with them like in Lord Peter Wimsey's THE ABOMINABLE HISTORY OF THE MAN WITH COPPER FINGERS and to be shown in other films like MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM, HOUSE OF WAX, MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN(Il Mulino Delle Donne Di Pietra) and DIARY OF A MADMAN! Ratoff/Moloff has a hare-brained scheme to pass off Eugenie/Gwili as the lost princess ANASTASIA, sole "survivor" of the massacre of Czar Nicholas Romanoff and his family by the communist scum Bolshies. The Grand Duke Maxim Romanoff, the late Czar's brother and émigré residing in Paris, is given an "audience" with the would-be Anastasia and cannily sees right through Moloff's nefarious plot to get his greedy claws on the Romanoff millions. This forces Moloff to arrange a traffic "accident" that reunites Maxim with his brother Nicky(Nicholas) in the hereafter! Moloff is so wacky he claims that Eugenie has "the Romanoff features" which really calls for the suspension of the audiences' belief.
Also on hand are Eugenie's gallant boyfriend, Leon Renault, a Richard Hannay-ish RAFFLES-like Robin Hood thief(who NEVER steals from his fellow Frenchmen) played by John Warburton and the later-to-be WIZARD OF OZ, Frank Morgan as a sharp Surete inspector, Francois St. Cyr. Renault and St. Cyr join forces grudgingly to foil Moloff's plot and rescue Eugenie from his vile clutches! Several moments in the film, like a nude female plaster-covered corpse with breast nipples taut, are a surprising sight in a film of this period. The film was produced for RKO by David O. Selznick, of all people! David wanted to showcase his new discovery Gwili Andre to create the "Second Garbo" from the Danish Andre, but her utter lack of talent, charm and emotive powers had spelled doom for her career to be. Poor Gwili, she never should have let David catch her as he chased her around the casting couch! Oh Well, nobody's perfect!
If you can suspend your belief long enough to suffer the ham being sliced thick by Ratoff and blank stares by Andre(she was HYPNOTIZED, after all), SECRETS OF THE FRENCH POLICE is a MUST-SEE! FIVE STARS and EXCELLENT all around! Vivien Leigh and Jennifer Jones(God rest her soul), EAT YER HEARTS OUT!
Madeleine (1950)
An Excellently Acted and Directed Lesser-Known Film
I had the great joy of watching David Lean's MADELEINE(1950)for the first time ever on TCM early this morning, and can say without any reservations that though it is one of the great director's lesser-known works, but it is by no means lesser in either acting or direction.
Featuring the glacial blonde Ann Todd(then Mrs. David Lean) as the real-life accused murderess Madeleine Smith, the film skillfully portrays the travail a foolish and willful young woman goes through when she follows her heart instead of her head and gets ensnared in a sticky situation. Caught between her tyrannical martinet father, James Smith, played excellently by the great Leslie Banks with his paralysed profile which added an extra flourish to his cold unsympathetic manner and her charming but unscrupulous gold-digging French paramour, Emile L'Anglier played skillfully by Ivan Desny, Ann Todd's Madeleine is veritably "caught between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea!" It would seem that there is but one recourse for Madeleine, that of shutting two-bit Casanova and lothario L'Anglier up so that her fire-breathing dragon of a father does not bite her pretty little head off, in much the same way that I have enjoyed biting into pastry Madeleines! But the ambiguity throughout the film of whether Madeleine actually did the deed and put paid to her paramour is maintained even up to the end when Madeleine gives her leprous Madonna half-smile which could indicate either guilt or innocence, leaving it up for the viewing audience to decide on their own.
The splendid direction of Lean, the superb moody photography of Guy Green contrasting various shades of darkness and light as well as interesting character studies of familiar character actors' and actresses' faces, the excellent film editing of Clive Donner(later to become a great director as well) and Geoffrey Foot, the authentic costume design of Margaret Furse all add to the moving drama. Jewel-like performances by such thespians as Barbara Everest as Madeleine's mother, Jean Cadell as Mrs. Jenkins the careworn landlady, Kynaston Reeves as a lugubrious Dr. Penny, Amy Veness as the sympathetic police matron Miss Aiken, John Laurie as the hypocritical Bible-spouting religious maniac and fanatic Divine rabble-rouser exhorting the crowd to condemn Madeleine, Edward Chapman as the worried Dr. Thompson, Moyra Fraser(more than HALF A CENTURY later, 55 years to be exact, in Dame Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer's "As Time Goes By" latest 2005 episode as one of the regulars, bumptious Penny, a role since 1993) as a spirited Highland dancer! Irene Browne as Mrs. Grant, George Benson as the Chemist, Eva Bartok as the Girl, Ivor Barnard as Mr. Murdoch, Anthony Newley! as Chemist's Assistant, Wylie Watson as Huggins, and many, many more, bear in mind that from Jean Cadell onwards, these were all UNCREDITED roles in Lean's film! They join with the credited cast Barbara Everest, Leslie Banks, Ivan Desny, Ann Todd, Norman Wooland as the ever-stolid and respectable William Minnoch, Madeleine's would-be-husband-to-be, Elizabeth Sellars as the harried but loyal pretty housemaid, Patricia Raine and Susan Stranks as Bessie and Janet Smith, Madeleine's younger siblings, Eugene Deckers as Thuau the unsympathetic French consul and friend of L'Anglier, and Barry Jones as the merciless Prosecuting Counsel. Last but not least is Hammer films stalwart and a superb actor, the late Andre Morell(husband of the late Joan Greenwood) as the Defending Counsel, who gives an impassioned and heart-wrenching yet cool and logical defense of Madeleine that has got to be one of the greatest courtroom speeches in Cinematic history! At least I think it is! The next time I bite into a pastry Madeleine I will recall Andre Morell's defense!
All in all, a FIVE STAR ***** film rating for the actors' performances alone!
A Ghost Story for Christmas: Lost Hearts (1973)
A faithful M.R. James Adaptation
LOST HEARTS is based on the short story of the same name by the renowned scholar and Provost of Eton College who wrote ghost stories as a hobby and amusement, Montague Rhodes James(or M.R. James), and comes from James' landmark collection entitled GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY. Part of the BBC's "A Ghost Story For Christmas" Series, it was directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, who directed many other M.R. James stories for the BBC series. LOST HEARTS is one of his best, with chilling supernatural occurrences and the dangers faced by children at the hands of evil adults skillfully mixed together in a very satisfying tale of ghostly revenge.
The typical "Jamesian" spectre is a solid, menacing revenant, usually skeletal, sometimes demonic, that returns from the dead to revenge themselves on those who have killed them. In LOST HEARTS, the alchemist/diabolist/sorcerer Mr. Peregrine Abney, played by the marvelous Joseph O'Conor(also credited as Joseph O'Connor), is a seemingly charming, eccentric and kindly old soul who welcomes young Stephen, his cousin, played innocently by Simon Gipps-Kent, into his palatial residence. Scarcely believing his good fortune in becoming the ward of such a well-to-do gentleman of class and learning, Stephen is nevertheless taken aback by Mr. Abney's more than guardian-like interest in his well-being by having Mrs. Bunch, played by the motherly and comforting Susan Richards, to nourish Stephen by giving him lots of good food to keep him strong and vigorous, like a lamb or calf being fattened up for the slaughterhouse. A statue of Arimanius, the lion-headed Mithraic God of the Dark who holds the keys to heaven, on Abney's desk and Mithraic Cult astrological symbols on Abney's study wall and his weird queries and remarks about "Censorinus", "Simon Magus" and the like all bode ill for little Stephen. The sinister-looking manservant Parkes is played stolidly by James Mellor.
Stephen, at the very beginning of LOST HEARTS, sees two pale-looking children, a boy and a girl, waving at him from the countryside fields as he nears Abney's residence, and as Stephen is exploring the grounds surrounding Abney's estate, he hears children laughing and the same boy and girl appearing and disappearing amid the trees of the estate, appearing at windows and around columns. Stephen asks Mrs. Bunch about this and Mrs.Bunch explains that Mr. Abney, being a very kindly soul, brought two children before Stephen came, to "care" for them--an Italian lad by the name of Giovanni Paoli, played by Christopher Davis, and a girl with "a touch of the Gypsy about her," Phoebe Stanley, played by Michelle Foster. Giovanni had a hurdy-gurdy with him and its distinctive tune is used to great effect in one nightmarish scene at night when the long-finger-nailed ghostly revenants of Giovanni and Phoebe pay Stephen a visit, pale bluish-grey faces and dark-rimmed eyes filled with longing and hunger(exactly as James described them in his story)childishly exhort Stephen to join them, not to harm him but to warn him about what Abney has in store for him, Giovanni playing his hurdy-gurdy and both of them expose their torn-open chests, bones gleaming and their hearts missing from their bodies as their ghoulish peals of childish laughter echo through the house. Mr. Abney feigns ignorance when Stephen asks him about the children, while Mrs. Bunch and Parkes assume that the two children ran away somewhere. Abney finally sees the two ghost-children as they glare and smile at him from outside the window and he makes notes in his commonplace book about not being able to prevent their psychic flotsam and jetsam from returning to bedevil him. Abney had cut their hearts out from their bodies, reduced the hearts to ashes, and drunk those ashes in a glass of fortified wine, preferably Port, in a Mithraic-inspired blood sacrifice for his own attainment of immortality. The time for Stephen's fate draws nearer and Abney requests that Stephen join him downstairs late at night on Halloween, his birthday, for "a surprise!" Stephen is leery at first but Abney is very persuasive and Stephen has his fateful rendezvous with Abney, who tries to make Stephen drink some wine which he has drugged--Stephen resists violently but Abney overpowers him and makes him drink. Stephen falls into a drugged stupor and Abney prepares to perform the sacrifice which will make him immortal--but then the two revenant-children enter the scene. They close in on Abney, who says that it's too late, they cannot stop him, that he is immortal! The children, giggling, prove him wrong as Abney is paralysed in their thrall, his drawn dagger taken by Giovanni from his numb fingers, and Giovanni and Phoebe, dagger and long fingernails extended, cut into Abney's chest, ripping HIS HEART out of his chest as he screams in fury and agony! Stephen watches helplessly as the two spirits make their exit.
Afterwards, a churchyard scene is seen as the vicar, played by Roger Milner, remarks that Abney dabbled in things better left alone. Stephen looks to the side and sees Giovanni and Phoebe smiling and waving good-bye as they go to their final rest, their brutal murders avenged.
LOST HEARTS is a masterpiece of its kind in the ghost story genre, having both frightful and playful scenes, cold grue and childish fun. It also touches on diabolical actions by perverted adults, the scenes of Abney forcing Stephen to drink the drugged wine very uncomfortably realistic in its depiction of a stronger adult forcing a young child to his will much in the same way as Gilles De Montmorency-Laval, Baron De Rais, or Gilles De Rais murdered, raped, and dismembered children in his alchemical and black magic, necromantic quest for immortality. Perverted adults taking advantage of children is present in everyday life nowadays as well, as in the Mark Foley republican party FIASCO! Everyone should watch LOST HEARTS for its moral lesson to be learned as well as for its well-crafted supernatural thrills! TEN STARS!
Marple: The Sittaford Mystery (2006)
The Series Gets Better and Better
In the second Dame Agatha Christie MISS MARPLE Series, THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY has got to be the best of the bunch. In addition to the splendid guest cast, the trappings of ancient Egyptian curses and supernaturalism abound in the atmosphere of this teleplay. An added bonus is a music score that at times resembles the music scores of the MGM-British film adaptations of the Miss Marple series that featured Dame Margaret Rutherford as the bull-dogged armchair detectress. Some familiar and not-so-familiar but skillful faces strut their stuff for the cameras, starting with Timothy Dalton, who looks GREAT a decade and a half and nearly two decades after he played James Bond 007, as Clive Trevelyan. Rita Tushingham as Elizabeth Percehouse, looks positively GHASTLY, hollow-eyed and like death warmed over, not at all like the pert pretties she played more than four decades ago in A TASTE OF HONEY, THE LEATHER BOYS, GIRL WITH GREEN EYES, and THE KNACK! Patricia Hodge as Evadne Willett doesn't fare much better, with a pasty-faced complexion reminiscent of the dead Debbie Reynold's face in WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? Patricia was seen previously in the late Jeremy Brett's SHERLOCK HOLMES series, the late John Thaw's INSPECTOR MORSE series, and the late Leo McKern's RUMPOLE series--maybe she's arisen from the grave as well! Robert Hardy has a GREAT cameo at the very beginning, as whom? You'll know right away! Michael Brandon, once winsome American actor in Dario Argento's 4 MOSCHE DI VELLUTO GRIGIO(FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET) shows what 35 years does to one as he growls through his portrayal of Martin Zimmerman. SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI! Laurence Fox, son of James Fox and nephew of Edward Fox, plays a nasty little sod, James Pearson, very well, and will be joining Kevin Whatley in LEWIS, a carry-over/homage/unofficial sequel to the INSPECTOR MORSE series. Zoe Telford and James Murray play Emily Trefusis and Charles Burnaby, the charismatic young leads, both of whom will spring surprises upon the watching audience towards the end. Great characterizations by Mel Smith as John Enderby, Jeffery Kissoon as Ahmed Ghai, James Wilby as Stanley Kirkwood, Paul Kaye as Dr. Ambrose Burt, Carey Mulligan as Violet Willett, Robert Hickson as Arthur Hopkins, Matthew Kelly as Donald Jones and Michael Attwell as Archie Stone round out the cast, but the biggest surprise is Geraldine McEwan's Miss Jane Marple; she seems to have resisted the urge to mug for the cameras and keeps her smiles and activity to a minimum--probably because the snow kept her indoors most of the time. But the long scene when she unmasks the murderer is excellently acted by her, though the pace at which she explains the details might be a little fast to follow by the audience in general. Kudoes to Geraldine for becoming closer to the Jane Marple character as envisioned by Dame Agatha! There's one more surprise at the end, but I'll leave that as a treat for the audience! Director Paul Unwin is to be commended for his good job in pulling the threads of this complex story together.
Grip of the Strangler (1958)
An atmospheric period thriller
GRIP OF THE STRANGLER aka THE HAUNTED STRANGLER is one of the films the great Boris Karloff made in the late fifties in his birthplace, Merrie Old England! Unfortunately, there's nothing merry about the sombre mood set by this film with the exception of the dance hall scene in "The Judas Hole", a questionable place frequented by sleazy-looking aristocrats and skivvies. Jean Kent struts her stuff as Cora Seth, the floozie whom "all the boys adore" as her song goes, and she lets rip a full-blooded and catchy chorus of "Cora, Cora" as Dear Boris skulks backstage with a fearful grimace on his contorted face, planning some diabolical skullduggery to unleash upon the unwary damsel. Elizabeth Allan, who survived her encounter with Bela Lugosi's Count Mora in THE MARK OF THE VAMPIRE at MGM almost three decades earlier, plays Boris' wife, and doesn't fare as well in her encounter with King Boris. Anthony Dawson, who played villains in films like DIAL M FOR MURDER, DR. NO and THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, plays police inspector Burke in a rare sympathetic role. Vera Day, who was menaced by George Coulouris and his huge human-eating plant in THE WOMAN EATER, gets "Gripped" by Boris in his strangling hand. The crowd of extras in the opening execution by hanging scene are the most loathsome, grotesque and ugly(both physically and morally) excuses for people who literally uproariously laugh and enjoy the spectacle, foretelling the carnage and fun to follow. By the way, one of the Haymarket Strangler's victims' is named MARTHA STEWART--keep an ear peeled so you don't miss that name! Highly Recommended and great fun without overt blood and gore, very atmospheric and well photographed and ACTED, of course!
Marple: The Moving Finger (2006)
A Marvelous Gallery of Grotesques
I thought BY THE PRICKING OF MY THUMBS in this new Miss Marple series was good, but THE MOVING FINGER has presented a lineup of many pleasing and not-so-pleasing eccentrics and British grotesqueries. The famed director Ken Russell portrays a shambling vicar, the Rev. Calthrop, like a fugitive from one of his deliriously enjoyable films; his wife, Maud is portrayed by Frances de la Tour, the horsey and lugubrious actress who portrayed the gigantess Madame Olympe Maxime in HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE; Sean Pertwee, son of the late and great Jon Pertwee plays a nervous, mousy Dr. Griffith who is seduced by the hoydenish and blazing red-headed lorelei, Joanna Burton, played by Emilia Fox; the waspish and flagrantly gay Cardew Pye has an unexpected soft centre, courtesy of John Sessions; James D'Arcy plays Jerry Burton as a seemingly unsympathetic character who gradually begins to come out of his self-imposed protective shell as the story progresses. Geraldine McEwan seems to have put her stamp on the Jane Marple character by presenting her as somewhere between the indomitable Dame Margaret Rutherford's swashbuckling and sputtering Miss Marple and the icily restrained and too-perfectly-emotionless Joan Hickson's Miss Marple, which is generally seen as the portrayal closest to Dame Agatha Christie's original intent for the character. Mugging, smiling, very physically active, McEwan gives her Miss Marple a distinctive flair that may be an acquired taste, like rutabagas, to some of you viewers out there. The rest of the cast is more than adequate, and director Tom Shankland does an OK job pulling all the story threads together.
Marple: By the Pricking of My Thumbs (2006)
A good director creates atmosphere but jarring touches annoy
The superb director of the chilling THE CHANGELING and the witty and iconoclastic THE RULING CLASS has imbued BY THE PRICKING OF MY THUMBS with several John Dickson Carr-like eerie supernatural touches. Despite some awful mugging by Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple and a faded beauty Greta Scacchi as a tippling Tuppence Beresford, the overall mood and quality of this Dame Agatha Christie adaptation make it the BEST so far in this series. I saw Claire Bloom's name in the credits and wondered where she was until I saw her unmade-up features as the victim, Tommy Beresford(Anthony Andrews)'s Aunt Ada, in a wheelchair, yet!!! Amounted to a mere cameo, but a nice one. June Whitfield(the dotty mother in ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS) as Mrs. Lancaster is also a must watch. Charles Dance as the nasty boozing vicar Septimus Bligh(any relation to Captain Bligh?) is also nice to have around. The rest of the cast is above average, and if Geraldine McEwan could restrain her exuberance and curb her enthusiasm a bit more, she would make a good Miss Marple--AND STOP SMILING or is that leering, so much!!! I am very disappointed at Andrews and Scacchi's Tommy and Tuppence--James Warwick and Francesca Annis, where are you when we need you!!! The excellent direction, photography, mood and most of the actors save this adaptation, however.