Change Your Image
christopher-underwood
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
No Trees in the Street (1959)
great dialogue
I wanted to watch this having just seen J Lee Thompson's earlier one of Diana Dors in Yield to the Night (1956). This is not quite as good as that one but it was much better than I thought it might have been. It was surprisingly good that the East End slums were made to be more realistic than sentimental. The screenplay was by Ted Willis from his original play and with great dialogue. Of course Herbert Lom is impressive, even if I didn't expect he would have been in a kitchen sink drama. Sylvia Syms is also good although I did find the young Melvyn Hayes was rather annoying and I had never really liked him such as in Summer Holiday (1963) or many of his many TV series like, It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974-1981) but I suppose he just about holds it together in this. Stanley Holloway is great and almost sings more than talks and certainly does in this and he could certainly do his authentic Cockney voice.
The Devil's Rejects (2005)
nasty, brutal and thriling
At my local charity shop there were dozens of DVDs at three for a pound so I thought I would have this one. The cover was poor and the credits so small I didn't know what it was. Many of these little horror films can be really terrible, either silly or campy. But this one turns out to be really nasty, brutal and thrilling. From the beginning until the end it is awful but I found it stunning and I sat at the ending wondering if I had really watched this. I was surprised that there is nothing apart from this distasteful and appalling action and this is unusual. And the 70s soundtrack is wonderful.
Yield to the Night (1956)
waiting to be hanged
I like Diana Dors and many of her films, knew of this story as well and find it surprisingly good. At the beginning she is walking across Trafalgar Square and most of it is shot very low down as we see her high heels and seamed stockings and dozens of pigeons fluttering about. Other little shots of some railings a busted gate and chains and an old lock that it looks like a prison. She gets a cab and she has a key and a gun. After the credits we have the story moving back and forth and some narrative well done. There is only so much that can happen in a prison while she is waiting to be hanged but it is good of the woman prison warders, with her trying to sleep but does have some walks under the wall. One of Dors very best performance and we get three deaths, the one at the opening, her at the end and a surprise in the middle. It is not a noir but it does have a feel about it. Splendid.
Ondine (2009)
unusual little film
Well, I have to say that this is a rather unusual little film written and directed by Neil Jordan, who else would have been able to carry this out with assurance? So this is not really a mermaid but a selkie, supposedly a creature that can move between a seal and a human. Okay, so this might be silly but this is very good and rather sweet. Colin Farrell and Alicja Bachleda are both splendid and just right but it is the little girl, Alison Barry who plays his young ailing daughter in an electric wheelchair, is amazing and she loves this fairy tale idea that makes it work. Christopher Doyle is the brilliant cinematographer and with his amazing control over with the shots of the sea, the brilliant boats and the Irish countryside so wonderfully green. It is really lovely.
King and Country (1964)
the terrible plight of men
Although there were heroes in the First World War the real story is the terrible plight of men and here in Britain it was how awful was the loss especially of the ordinary men that so very young some of them and also the difference between the elite in charge and the downtrodden. It was odd that Losey should have made this film from a play and just after The Servant (1963) the year before but maybe it was because he was interested in the class war in Britain. It is not an easy watch and he had used many of the photographs from the Imperial War Museum but the dialogue is exceptional and the acting brilliant. I'm pretty sure that I have never seen such work before from Leo McKern and although I have seen James Villiers so many ordinary little parts, but great in this and Barry Foster at his best. Dirk Bogarde is also really good and of course was also in Losey's film the year before. Tom Courtnenay made his first two films with The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) and Billy Liar (1963) before this and it has almost been forgotten.
The Angry Silence (1960)
agent provocateur
A powerful and absorbing film and certainly rather interesting. Richard Attenborough produced with Bryan Forbes and starring in this as the factory worker who stands up to a bully and poor local union leader. Clearly we see at the opening someone is up to something and every now and again we see an activist and possibly communist, quietly stirring up, we could see him known as an agent provocateur. The strike starts and ends but that he wants to carry it on but then it gets out of control. It was written by Michael Craig and he was also co-starring with Attenborough. It is interesting to note that, I'm Alright Jack (1959) was a very funny film with Peter Sellers and Attenborough playing a factory owner. Both the films appear to be anti-union but it fact they are showing the complex difficulties between workers and management which became even worse in the 60s and the 70s. Great film.
Pushover (1954)
there is Kim Novak
Straightaway the robbery is underway even without any dialogue although it does later seem a bit slow with the police in and out with their cars and their surveillance. There was the rain and the night and day with the street and dozens of the wonderful 50's cars. The cast is very good with Fred MacMurray and Phil Carey and across the road with their binoculars there is the splendid Dorothy Malone working really well but next-door there is Kim Novak. Only on her very first film she is amazing and 21 and so beautiful you'd have thought she would have had even more films than she did. In this one she had one of the best lines and she looks stunning even though she had Malone across the way. A decent noir always watchable.
La mala ordina (1972)
impressive ending
This film was in the middle of Fernando Di Leo's trilogy after Caliber 9 (1972) and The Boss (1973) even if this one is not quite as the others it is still rather good. A splendid international cast and though the very good Woody Strode doesn't have much to say or even the amazing Henry Silva a bit bloated but has a little bit more and after this one will be many more Italian films. There is some humour early on and we get to see lots of the girls but one has a rather rough time in this even if one of the ugly fat men seems to enjoy it. It was good to see Cyril Cusack at the start, a rather odd opening, but we some get to see the brilliant Mario Adorf. He is in action straight away and all throughout, hitting, running, driving amazingly and killing all the time especially that impressive ending in the scrap yard.
Hebi musume to hakuhatsuma (1968)
dreams with surreal images
At the beginning there is this young short haired girl happy leaving her Catholic orphanage and being reunited with her father and mother but she doesn't seen to remember her and straight away he has to go off to Africa. A lot goes on here with snakes and spiders and a hole in the ceiling somebody peeks at her and sometimes snakes through there. There are dreams with surreal images and it seems there are other people in the house. Are they ghosts or another sister and even someone else, surely not the snake girl with silver haired witch? So much goes on but it is rather low budget and it is really not so brilliant. Now and again I'm afraid I find it rather silly and even made we laugh out loud as I thought much of it reminded me of Saturday morning pictures many years ago.
La sirène du Mississipi (1969)
more like a noir
The two have a correspondence as Jean-Paul Belmondo having started a mail order marriage while he is a rich tobacco planter on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean. The romance begins and then she is supposed to be on the Mississippi steamer although the beautiful Catherine Deneuve she just appears and looks so much better than he had of a photo. All of this is in the credits, the marriage is just as fast and we imagine that this is all going to be wonderful. Although we realise that the story was written by Cornell Woolwich (Waltz Into Darkness, 1947) so this is may be more like a noir and certainly this is rather dark. It is a bit longer than it should have been but there are some surprising moments and Belmondo is splendid. I have to say that Deneuve is stunning and I suppose that we have to believe that Belmondo is really in love but I'm not sure he should have stayed around.
Soylent Green (1973)
a great story
It is one of those films that once seen is never forgotten. I am not really a fan of sci-fi but this one is a great story, based on the Harry Harrison book, Make Room! Make Room! I thought the book was a good title although the film really has to be even better, because all the time we wonder what those biscuits are made of. Clearly there are the very rich who have splendid food, and they don't have to live crowded in the street or on the steps, but of course they have these wonderful rooms and furniture. The 'furniture' are beautiful ladies, they have no rights and are just like, concubines. And it seems that the rich and important are all men. Charlton Heston is fine and it is great to see Edward G Robinson in his last film and this rather good scene, I've always remembered, his finale.
Bakuto gaijin butai (1971)
spectacular action
We really know that in this yakuza situation what will happen and it will be with lots of shouting with guns and knives and much blood and many dead. The well known, Koji Tsuruta, being out of prison after ten years and is wanting to get together some of his old pals. Still with this we have had it before but then it is rather splendid that they had been together in Yokohama and decides to go to Okinawa. It is rather surprising because here at the time the US was in control there only a few months after the film was released and they gave it back to the Japanese. There are much location shots really there and it looks great and we see foreigners and resistance groups and some many dark alleys and seedy bars. In Okinawa we get to see with great Tomisaburo Wakajama as the downtown boss and we know that there will be some spectacular action. I thought it was rather good with Koji and his pals walking together in the street and I wondered if Tarantino had seen this because it reminded me of Reservoir Dogs (1992).
La peau douce (1964)
more like a Bunuel
Surprisingly, for me, this film begins very well and it turns into a splendid one, although, for some reason I have not liked many of Truffaut's but certainly this turns out to be terrific. From the very start it is fast and the publisher, writer is to be flying to Lisbon to give a talk and with his friend taking him to the airport, and he lets his young daughter go for the ride. He only just makes it and then we are landing but he gives more than a glance at the air stewardess, Francois Dorleac. They meet, then he is back and so is she and their relationship continues, also it is speedy but it is difficult and almost a farce. Later it is very funny although in the end more like a tragedy. Throughout with the two lovers it changes but we think that it will be wonderful and that soft skin but it is rather odd and strikingly more like a Bunuel. Originally on the plane, he is thrilled seeing her in stockings changing her shoes behind the curtain. Later on, they're supposedly for an amazing weekend, and in the car, he is unhappy she is wearing jeans. At the garage as he watches the petrol gauge as it goes up meanwhile she leans over to get her skirt and her bottom fills the screen, although he doesn't see her. After he pays he finds she's gone but then she is back her jeans in hand and he smiles to see her back in a skirt. Much later she falls asleep, on the bed, still dressed and he, as like on the plane, he slips off her shoes and strokes her stockings and then up her legs. These are only moments but very well done and there is the wife and infidelity and his daughter and his lover and he has think about him moving out and divorce. When the writer and his lover get together again in Paris and he notices other women and she maybe thinks she is moving on as well. There is so much going on it is marvellous but there is still something else, of course, as he had taken those photos.
The Heiress (1949)
great dialogue
Turned into a 1947 play and originally from the book of Henry James' Washington Square. Very good with Ralph Richardson and Montgomery Cliff and wonderfully with Olivia De Havilland in a rather romantic story even if she had to look rather plain in this one. The great dialogue taken from the play and is amazingly good even if we can see what is going to happen although we maybe think it might not. William Wyler is brilliant here and the music by Aaron Copland is just right. There is nothing too surprising but it is all so well done, even if it is not really Paris or a boat and her father still so horrible, although we are keen to us get home and then... Turned into a 1947 play and originally from the book of Henry James' Washington Square. Very good with Ralph Richardson and Montgomery Cliff and wonderfully with Olivia De Havilland in a rather romantic story even if she had to look rather plain in this one. The great dialogue taken from the play and is amazingly good even if we can see what is going to happen although we maybe think it might not. William Wyler is brilliant here and the music by Aaron Copland is just right. There is nothing too surprising but it is all so well done, even if it is not really Paris or a boat and her father still so horrible, although we are keen to us get home and then...
Restless Natives (1985)
It starts very well
For some reason I had never seen this before but I don't think it did well at the cinema so maybe I didn't think it would be very good. It starts very well and it is funny. I loved the joke shop and there were some good jokes and the little boy running in to get some and more but his grown-ups are not as funny. The bikes and the masks and robbing the tourist coaches were fine but gradually it becomes just amusing but in the end it is charming and then rather silly and runs out of ideas. The Big Country music is great, I always liked them but I was surprised how good the soundtrack was. It was good seeing Ned Beatty I had only recently seen him in Deliverance (1972). The Highlands looked good in the sunshine and surprisingly also in Edinburgh and it doesn't rain but this is not as good as most of Bill Forsyth's.
Q (1982)
it is fun
Clearly this is not a great film but it is fun. I watched it a couple of times many years ago and even as I cringe now and again and then it makes me smile. Also the New York streets are good to see, back in the day, and those wonderful shots from up in air and the lovely art deco building that is, the Chrysler Building. Of course the serpent is fine, better in some shots than others but all the time the film is fast and if some of those bits are less good it moves on. I didn't find David Carradine so good and maybe Richard Roundtree should have had his part. As for Michael Moriarty, you either like him or not but I have to love it although there are moments and I think my mouth is open wide, especially with his singing or unhappy with Candy Clark. All the time there are people dying from the buildings and then by the end there is a big egg to be cracked and I smile again.
The Mask (1961)
dreamlike almost surreal
One of the better 3-D ones with a decent story and some great effects. Fortunately with this you do not have to wear the glasses all the time and only when you get the instructions, 'Put the mask on, now!' It's rather good that during the 2-D it is interesting and all the time there are often things in the foreground and with some people very close that almost look 3-D. When we have to get the glasses on these sections are amazing. A good idea that they only have to be dreamlike almost surreal, walking through the forest with branches near by and lots of arms towards us or even just some hands or even just the fingers. I think its well done and certainly the Kino Classics are splendid with many extras.
Una (2016)
seems very slow
Almost straight away I realised that this had been a play. There is nothing wrong turning one into a film and they are usually opening up but with this one I think maybe it shouldn't have. It seems very slow even though it has some more action and I think that the original play would have been more terrifying all in one room. As the same with Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The Mike Nichols film almost kept it the same room and it seems so intense. So, this is okay and interesting but because it is so very slow we are thinking ahead of the story. Also in the original the man was older and the girl a little younger but I'm not sure it would have been any better.
Body Snatchers (1993)
there are some great moments
I like both, before with Don Siegel in 1956 and Philip Kaufman with Donald Sutherland in 1975. This one is not quite as good but at least it tries something different and as with the Siegel one it is not too long. Abel Ferrara is an intelligent guy and with this one he knows that everyone is familiar with the story so he gets to it straightaway. It is also rather good that it is set right in the middle of the military base and early on we see what is going on with the eggs. This film is certainly rather nasty and there are some great moments. I liked the kid's drawing and he noticed that we shouldn't go to sleep (easier said than done). I loved the tentacles and the way they are thin and get up your nose. Not brilliant but I'm sure it wasn't too expensive but rather effective.
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981)
Unusual, bizarre
Is this really stupid, silly or rather good? At the beginning the car crash is amazing and at the end it is really wonderful and completely insane. This is directed by William Asher who had done a couple of films and loads of TV. He did the Bewitched series between 1964-72 and I Love Lucy 1952-57, two of my favourites and he did a few films such as How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965) and then this one. Jimmy McNichol, not always good but fine with this and his girl friend Julia Duffy who is very good, and lovely, although what about the madness of Susan Tyrrell mother, aunt or killer and what about Bo Svenson? Bo is astonishing and breathtaking as the cop, surely the most homophobic and racist one we have ever seen, while funny as well. Because Bo is usually rather good but with this one you can hardly believe what he is saying. All the film is rather bad but there is something going on here and it is just that Asher really has to make it amusing all the time even with the atrocious killings. Unusual, bizarre and included with the UK list of "Video Nasty'.
Voice Over (1982)
rather unusual
Difficult and rather unusual but I rather liked this taken from the original 16mm elements. The radio 'play' is the narrative given every night and made up before during the day or maybe as he makes it up as he goes on. It is something like a 19th century romance and he has some postcards of some famous painting as his inspiration. This has lots of people who apparently love it and listen on the radio although maybe they find it silly. So he gets upset and starts changing the story having a vampire or more violence. Then there is really violence first with two girls when he gets drunk and even more when he brings home a bloodied women from the street back to his place. This is really rather worrying, we think she might be dead or dying and then he undresses and redresses her which I find even more troubling. It goes on a little too long towards the end but it is rather impressive for this with such a low budget when he had been at Chelsea School of Art in London. I understand that at the time he was, like many of us, inspired by Warhol and loved Heat (1971) that was a little based on Sunset Boulevard (1950). At the end and the very, long slow out zoom reminded me of the experimental short, Wavelength (1967) Michael Snow. With this surprisingly Christopher Monger also went on to make, The Englishmen Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1992) with Hugh Grant.
The Greasy Strangler (2016)
filthy and disgusting
Certainly this is filthy and disgusting and some terrible acting although we realise that Jim Hosking can direct but maybe wants the film to be known as 'bad'. I'm not sure about the actors, Sky Elobar maybe better than he seems, but Michael St Michaels, I'm not sure because he is so keen on taking down his pants and everything and he seems to have a penis prosthesis, I hope. Elizabeth de Razzo can act and is rather good but she has to work with the others and sometimes without any clothes. There is a scene when there is a 'joke' when they say many times what are chips made from and the answer is that they are potato. This got me a smile but I can't explain this so you will have to watch this yourself, if you can be persuaded. I suppose that this reminds us of the films of John Walters such as Mondo Trasho (1969), Multiple Maniacs (1970) and Pink Flamingos (1972) but these had better dialogue and they also had Divine.
Excalibur (1981)
sword and Table looked splendid
I was pretty sure that I was not going to like this but having just read John Boorman's autobiography, I thought I should give it a go. When I was a young boy I knew that it was a good old story about Merlin, Lancelot, Guenevere, Morgana and of course Arthur himself and his Round Table of Camelot. Thomas Malory's classic, Le Morte D'arthur I remembered it in the early 60s as a great story, although now it doesn't seem so wonderful as it looks just like fighting and loving and also very long. The sword and Table looked splendid, and Helen Mirren, but where were the adventures? Was it really just for the Holy Grail and it was just like of the Monty Python people that made me smile. I really loved Boorman with Deliverance (1972) and Hope and Glory (1987) and also with the earlier ones of Point Blank (1967) and Catch us if you Can (1965).
Longlegs (2024)
Anxious and unsettling
It's gripping and sensational and it is rather difficult to work out what is going on and also the terrible killings, throughout. Intriguing I find it thrilling and spine-tingling most of the time. Maika Monroe was great and I had seen her in The Guest (2014) that I thought was very good and even better in this one. She is with the FBI and because she seems have intuitiveness, or even like a sixth sense, to bring her in to help with this serial killer and even more. Anxious and unsettling something rather as Lynch or like with Se7en (1995). I didn't even notice that the really worrying man was Nicolas Cage a bit over done but in this one it is fine because he is really creepy and nasty especially with his hands, his hair and his long legs.
Tori et Lokita (2022)
fascinating and gripping
Splendid but difficult, wonderful but heartbreaking this is an important and excellent film by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne written, directed and produced. It is not a happy film but it certainly thrilling and awful, it is surely 88 minutes of harrowing, anxiety. Tori and Lokita are 11 and 16 year old youngsters posing as brother and sister having to work in the drug cartel as she hopes she will eventually get a card so she can work. Obviously a couple of young and dispossessed Africans who had gone from home into Italy and then on to Belgium but nothing is easy. All the time it is fascinating and gripping while these two actors are so brilliant that we believe that is really happening.