1961 - THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY, the first of Bergman's "God" trilogy.

Bergman filmed this chamber piece with only four actors, Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow and Lars Passgård members of his famous stock company.  The film was shot on the island of Faro by Sven Nykvist.  Faro would show up in many of Bergman's later films and it was the place where Bergman eventually retired.

This is a very grim and sometimes harrowing film.  Harriet Andersson in a very intense performance, is the wife of Max von Sydow and the daughter of Gunnar Bjornstand.  She is slowly descending into madness and dragging her brother played by Lars Passgard with her.  The film deals with the interrelationships and consequences of her emotional instability among the characters.  The film explores their relationship to "God," if even there even is a god.

Not exactly a fun viewing experience, but Ingmar Bergman could always present this kind of intense drama in and interesting and watchable way.

 

This was the first of his trilogy on the absence of God.  The second and third films respectively, Winter Light and in particular The Silence are even more forbidding.  The series is probably for serious admirers of Bergman as the films are very real intense viewing experience.

Bergman as usual wrote the film and the running time is 91 minutes.

2008 - GRAN TORINO, a good film from Clint Eastwood

I was expecting the worst on this film.   Clint Eastwood plays a retired automotive factory worker who's a big bigot.  When a family of Hmong immigrants moves in next door, Eastwood is slowly won over by them and helps their youngest son deal with a gang of Hmong toughs. 

I'm not really the biggest Eastwood fan when it comes to his film making style.  He has never seemed to bring a lot visual interest to the films he directs and it seems like his point and shoot technique of movie making is more suited to a bland 1970's made for TV movie style.

 

However I think this film works fairly well.  I would have to give most of the credit to the writer Nick Schenk who has actually managed to make Eastwood's character and the situations believable.  As a director,  Eastwood did a good job working with his young cast who for the most part had never been in a film before.

 

This film was a pleasant surprise, the running time is 116 minutes.

1951 - NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY, an excellent aviation drama

James Stewart is an "absent minded professor" type working at a British aviation company.  He discovers that the company's latest model plane has a tail that will literally fall off of the plane after 1400 hours of flight.   While flying to investigate a plane crash in Labrador, Stewart realizes that the plane they are on is probably close to crashing due to stress and fatigue that flying has placed on the plane's tale.  The film involves Stewart's attempts to avoid disaster.

 No Highway In The Sky with the exception of James Stewart, the producer Lewis Leighton, the director Henry Koster and Marlene Dietrich is basically a British film.  It was shot entirely by British technicians in England and features an outstanding cast of British actors such as Glynis Johns, Kenneth More, Jack Hawkins,  Niall MacGinnis and Felix Aylmer.   James Stewart does his usual "aw shucks" acting thing but even if he's played this type of character before he does it very well.  Stewart had been a pilot during World War II so he definitely knew a thing about airplanes.   

 

The film re teamed Stewart with Marlene Dietrich.  They had first worked together in Destry Rides Again, but this time Dietrich's part as a glamorous Hollywood star seems more a supporting role.  Glynis Johns is really the female lead.

 

This is commercial film making at it's very best.  A good story, a great cast and a top notch production team.

The film was written by three talented writers, R. C. Sherriff, Oscar Millard and Alec Coppel.  The running time is 98 minutes. Again,  an excellent drama.

1952 - KANGAROO aka The Australian Story

With money tied up in Australia, 20th Century Fox sent director Lewis Milestone over to the "land of down under."  To bad they couldn't have sent him a better script.  Kangaroo has the benefit of being filmed entirely in Australia, particularly in some hell hole called Mount Brown which really looks like a place no self respecting tourist would go.  The plot has something to do with a cattle ranch trying to keep their herd alive in the drought stricken outback by driving them to water.

Into this situation come a couple of bad guys. Richard Boone a real bad guy with no redeeming features and Peter Lawford a bad guy with some redeeming features.  Living on the ranch is British actor Finley Currie and his daughter played by Maureen O'Hara.  Boone and Lawford conspire to steal the ranch from Currie by having Lawford pretend to be Currie's long lost son.  Lawford falls in love with O'Hara and you can basically guess how this is going to end.  The director Lewis Milestone clearly realizing what a dumb plot this is, focuses on the cattle drive instead. This takes up much of the running time of the film thankfully.

 

This film is not without interest, the on location filming in color is impressive and Milestone knows how to stage action scenes.  It's too bad that more work couldn't have been put into the script.  As it stands the film is basically an American western shot in Australia.

 

The screenplay is by Harry Kleiner, the running time is a brisk 80 minutes.

2022 - BABYLON, a strange messy tribute to Hollywood

 Damien Chazelle is the writer/director of Babylon.  Chazelle had previously made the film La La Land, the revisionist musical drama that featured leads who couldn't sing or dance.  Babylon appears to be Chazelle's tribute to Hollywood's silent film phase and it's transition to sound in the late 1920's and early 30's. Like audiences would be interested in that.  The film chiefly follows a few story lines. 

Margot Robbie is a woman who believes she is destined to become a major Hollywood star, Brad Pitt is the fading Hollywood leading man caught in the transition to sound.  Diego Calva plays a Hispanic who improbably rises to the top of the studio hierarchy as an executive.  The film is well cast and the performances are at a high caliber.  Robbie in particular really goes for it with an all out diva performance.  

 

Babylon is a frustrating film. the first 30 to 40 minutes of it are quite good with lots of black humor particularly in an extended party scene and the filming of a costume epic.  It seems that everything story wise starts to go wrong around the one hour running time of the film as the film transitions into drama  and about forty minutes later the film completely descends into melodrama.  Frankly the script is just a complete disaster.

Damien Chazelle is a talented filmmaker who clearly has a personal vision, however he will need to get his rather excessive and overblown style particularly in his screenwriting under control if he wants to have a career in the film business.  For all of it's ambitions Babylon is a major disappointment.

The running time is a ridiculous 189 minutes.

1967 - KING KONG ESCAPES, more Toho monster stuff

Toho Studios partnered with Rankin/Bass studios for this monster mess.  Rankin/Bass primarily made stop motion holiday specials for American television studios.  They are probably best remembered for their Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer special featuring Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman. To have these two studios team up on a film about King Kong you can probably guess what you are going to get for an end result, a film squarely aimed at children.

It seems an evil villain named Dr. Who, has built a robot version of King Kong for the purpose of digging up something called "element X."  The actor Mie Hama probably best known to western audiences as James Bond's assistant "Kissy Suzki" in You Only Live Twice is an agent for an unnamed foreign government interested in purchasing element X which will help them take over the world. 

 

Into this story comes American actor Rhodes Reason the leader of a United Nations submarine  exploring Mondo Island in search of the real King Kong.  Rhodes Reason was the brother of Rex Reason who I last saw flying around in a spaceship towards the planet Metaluna in This Island Earth. But that's another story.

Along with Reason is his trusty assistant Akira Takarada who appeared in many Honda monster movies which stared Godzilla who was usually versus something.  Also in the mix is a young woman who was an American model in Japan named Linda Miller as a member of Reason's crew.  Miller is an interesting performer in that she can't really act but has that all American blonde look that appealed to a lot of people.  For years Miller was a mysterious presence, she didn't appear in a lot of films and had kind of vanished.  It took the internet to finally track her down.

Well anyway the movie's climax involves King Kong and robot Kong battling it out on top of Tokyo Tower in true Toho monster movie fashion.  The models and miniatures are once again by the master Eiji Tsuburaya.  Although it seems Toho could have spent a little more money on a better monkey suit for the actor playing King Kong, the giant gorilla looks awfully stupid.  

The film was written by Takeshi Kimura an old pro at this kind of film.  The running time is 104 minutes.

1968 - BLACK LIZARD, a strange Japanese crime film

A very strange crime drama from Japan, this is a an odd ball film if ever there was one.  Black Lizard is one of those master criminals doing a battle of the wits thing with the police, in this case detective Akechi.  The film's plot involves a rich jeweler who's daughter has been kidnapped by Black Lizard who demands a ransom of a diamond worth about one million dollars (1968 money). Black Lizard also likes to take her victims and turn them into statues for or own private museum.

But probably the strangest thing about this film is the casting of the actor Akihiro Maruyama in the role of Black Lizard.  Maruyama was a famous female impersonator, a drag queen if you will.  Absolutely no mention is made of Maruyama as a female impersonator and in fact there is kind of a love duet played between detective Akechi and Black Lizard.  This is a strange film.

 

The film is based on a play by the writer Yukio Mishima who's life was dramatized in the film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.  Mishima was quite a character himself.

The film was written by Masashige Narusawa and the director Kinji Fukasaku, the running time is 86 minutes.

2005 -KING KONG, the Peter Jackson remake

Peter Jackson's follow up to his Lord of the Rings trilogy and just about as ambitious an undertaking as those three films.  The chief complaint on this film is it's extreme length, the film comes in at almost three hours.  In spite of the length, Jackson makes sure you get your money's worth when you watch his version of King Kong.

Even for a long film like this, King Kong is never dull.  Jackson has enough of a film making instinct to know how how to keep an audience interested.  He really pulls out all of the stops when the SS Venture finally arrives at Skull Island home of the legendary King Kong and lots of other monsters with really big scary teeth.  The film thrives on monsters chewing on people and Kong ripping the heads off of anyone or anything who gets in his way in his pursuit of Ann Darrow.

 

If the film falters, it's when showman Carl Denham returns to New York City with plans to put the captured King Kong on display.  Here the special effects by Jackson's  company Weta start to look a little shaky.  Things perk up at the end when Kong climbs the Empire State Building for the big climax.

 

Frankly, it I have any issue with this Kong film or the previous version with Jessica Lange, it's the love story between the ape and Ann Darrow.  It just doesn't ever work for me.  I gigantic gorilla capable of ripping people to shreds is not my idea of a healthy relationship.

 

The film with the exception of Jack Black is very well cast.  Naomi Watts is a classic blonde Hollywood beauty, although she is actually from Australia.  She does pretty well with the role considering.  Adrien Brody is good as a playwright who is accidentally shanghaied and ends up on the SS Venture writing a script for showman Carl Denham.

The film has it flaws and Peter Jackson was apparently under enormous pressure to meet a Christmas release date, so I sense he didn't get to spend as much time on the post production of the film as he would have liked.  Still, this is a very entertaining remake of the original film.

The film was written by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.  The running time is 188 minutes.

1981 - THEY ALL LAUGHED, attempt at a sophisticated romantic comedy.

One of the better efforts from Peter Bogdanovich who had a long dry spell after his early successes.  They All Laughed is about the romantic adventures and love lives of some rather inept private detectives working in New York City.  The film follows the detectives around while they try to determine if some married women may or may not be cheating on their husbands.

Although this film wants to be a rather sophisticated farce somewhat like the films  Max Ophuls directed, what this film really is about is girl watching.  Bogdanovich has loaded the film up with lots of hot women as they say.  Audrey Hepburn is one of the women being followed by Ben Gazzara, unsurprisingly Gazzara falls in love with her.  Model Patti Hanson is a cab driver, Bogdanovich has her imitating Lauren Bacall in To Have And Have Not.  Playboy model Colleen Camp is one of Gazzara's ex girlfriends.  Camp is basically the stand in for the Katherine Hepburn character from Bringing Up Baby.  Bogdanovich could never resist copying his mentor Howard Hawks.

 

John Ritter who was probably a stand in for Bogdanovich in this film is in love with Playboy model Dorothy Stratten in a thinly disguised version of the Bogdanovich/Stratten love affair which ended very tragically.

 

The film always kind of had a black cloud hanging over it.  Dorothy Stratten's death seemed to end the commercial possibilities for a decent release.  No studio would pick up the film when it was completed.  Bogdanovich spent his own money attempting to release the film on his own.  His plan failed and sent him into bankruptcy.

For all that, They All Laughed is a good romantic comedy.  The film was shot on New York locations and as I said before, if you are looking for a film with a lot of good looking women in it, this show is probably for you.

Bogdanovich wrote the screenplay along with Blaine Novak, the running time is 115 minutes.

1977 - ROLLING THUNDER , one of the best films of the 1970's.

William Devane plays a soldier held as a prisoner during the Vietnam war.  He has to put it mildly an extreme case of PTSD.  Rolling Thunder is about his attempt along with another soldier played by Tommy Lee Jones to readjust to life in the United States after seven years of imprisonment by the North Vietnamese.  Since this was a film written by Paul Schrader the writer of Taxi Driver,  Obsession and The Yakuza, any viewer familiar with his work should have an idea how this film is going to end.

The film was directed by John Flynn an underrated filmmaker.  I suppose Flynn could be labeled a low budget exploitation director in some cases, but Rolling Thunder is as good as anything a Peckinpah or a Walter Hill could make.

 

William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones are a real creepy couple.  They are both practically emotionless and appear to have become addicted to violence and torture during their time as prisoners.

 The film's story details Devane's efforts to avenge the killing of his wife and son by a gang of Texas criminals.  The violence if tough and very brutal. Mention should be made of the actor Linda Haynes playing a waitress who becomes a groupie with a crush on Devane.  Haynes  portrays a woman who has been around the block a few times but still comes off as a highly intelligent character considering her circumstances.

 

 The film was written by Paul Schrader with a rewrite from Heywood Gould, the running time is 100 minutes.

1960 - THE HUMAN VAPOR, oddball science fiction stuff

 Ishiro Honda, Toho's original Godzilla director took on this strange hybrid of a film.  The Human Vapor is as the title says, about a man who is given the ability by a scientist  to turn himself into a gaseous cloud.  He uses this vapor power stuff to rob a a series of banks in order to bankroll a performer of ancient Japanese dance. Simultaneously, the police are after this vapor guy as they try to figure out a way to stop him. So what we have here is a film that combines science fiction with a love story and a crime thriller.

Ishiro Honda directs and I guess he gets the job done in his own way.  Honda never brought a lot of  so called directorial touches to his film.  Honda was a very pedestrian filmmaker, no fancy angles or editing for him.  Honda was always the good company man.  The strange mix of these different genres would probably have intimidated any director.  But Honda soldiers on and gets the job done I guess.

 

Since this is a Toho film, the colors are bright, the special effects are interesting and the love stories between the various characters are very chaste.  The Human Vapor is mostly for Toho science fiction film fans, a regular viewer will probably find the film kind of boring for the most part.  

 

The screenplay was by Takeshi KImura an old hand at writing Toho science fiction films, the running time is 91 minutes.

1958 - RUN SILENT RUN DEEP, a very good war film

A very good war film, Burt Lancaster's production company purchased the rights to the book and hired Robert Wise to direct.  Wise was known as the consummate professional and a superb craftsman.  Lancaster was known for eating film directors for lunch.  This didn't appear to keep the production team from turning out an exceptional war movie about the submarine service.

Clark Gable is the new captain of the submarine USS Nerka.  Lancaster is the executive officer, Gable had previously had his submarine torpedoed in the Bungo Straits where ever that is.  As the captain of the Nerka, Gable wants to avenge the deaths of the men killed on his previous mission. 

Against orders Gable sails the Nerka back into the Bungo Straits.  The dramatic conflict involves Gable out for revenge and Lancaster who wrestles with trying to assume command of the Nerka in order to stop Gable from sinking yet another submarine through his supposed reckless behavior.

Run Silent Run Deep was filmed on sets that approximated the actual interior of a World War 2 submarine, the model and special effects work was at a very high caliber for a 1950's film.  Gable and Lancaster were both commanding personalities.  The film had a very good screenplay by John Gay.  Along with Robert Wise's excellent direction Run Silent Run Deep couldn't miss.  

Run Silent Run Deep is an impressive example of a Hollywood film production delivering the goods for a change. The running time is a tight 93 minutes.