1961 - WEST SIDE STORY, in 70mm on the big screen, accept no substitutes.

West Side Story is part of a 70mm film series that is being screened at our revival theater The Heights located in Columbia Heights Minnesota prior to the release of The Odyssey.  The 70mm print was in very good shape and it played to a packed house.  The film definitely has it dated aspects but this is film making at a very high level.

The film was directed and produced by Robert Wise.  The choreographer Jerome Robbins received co-director credit but was fired during the production on the film.  Apparently somewhat of an arrogant perfectionist Robbins went a month over the allotted schedule.

 

This film was a high point in the career of Robert Wise an excellent director. He had one of the best production teams in Hollywood working on the film.  Ernest Lehman wrote the screenplay, Daniel L. Flapp was the cinematographer, Boris Levin was the production designer,  Saul Bass was a visual consultant responsible for the titles and most importantly Thomas Stanford did an outstanding job editing this film.  These craftsmen were working at the top of their creative abilities. 

 

The film was an important role for Natalie Wood.  She had started her career as a child actress and moved into adult roles.  She was a total professional on about any film she worked on.  It's well known that she didn't like her leading man Richard Beymer during production but you would never know it watching the film.  Rita Moreno had been stuck playing stereotypical Hispanic parts early in her career.  This was her big breakout but it didn't really do much for her career.  Russ Tamblyn was more an acrobat than dancer but he didn't seem to have any problem with the strenuous musical numbers in this film.

 

West Side Story was a big commercial and critical success and an award winning film during it's initial release.  Viewed 65 years later what really stands out are the impressive musical sequences.  Steven Spielberg for some reason remade West Side Story in 2021.  It was a critical success but a commercial failure.  I suppose I'll have to give his version a look.

The running time is 152 minutes 

1961 - THE GREEN ARCHER aka DER GRUNE BOGENSCHUTZE

This is a crime thriller set in a creepy old mansion which features a masked man dressed in green like Robin Hood running around a castle killing people with arrows.  The overly complicated plot involves a corrupt American businessman played by German actor Gert Frobe who when he isn't yelling at people he's holding people prisoner in a secret room, harassing his niece, planning to flee the country with his fortune and seeking revenge on his brother who took the woman he loved from him.  And that's just the beginning of this film. Where does The Green Archer fit into all of this?  I was never entirely sure, the archer is either trying to kill Frobe or is working for him.

To get an idea of the goofy nature of this film, one of the other characters in the film is a reporter who frequently breaks character by talking directly to the audience.  What soon becomes obvious during this film's running time is that the whole film has it's tongue firmly in it's cheek and the dead pan acting of the rest of the cast is really part of the joke.  The exception to playing it straight is Gert Frobe whose performance can only be described as so over the top I couldn't even figure out where the top is.  Frobe is chiefly remembered as the James Bond villain Goldfinger and that larger than life villain can't touch Frorbe's crazed bad guy performance in this film.  The female lead is played by Karin Dor another James Bond villain alumnus.  Dor was Helga Brandt in You Only Live Twice who ended up getting eaten by piranhas.

 

This film was based on a book by an English writer named Edgar Wallace who worked in the 1920's and 30's pumping out these overly complicated crime thrillers.  This story is clearly very dated and the filmmakers probably made the right decision to just spoof the crime/mystery aspect of this film.

 

The Green Archer entertains by virtue of its absurd plot and Gert Frobe's crazed performance.  The film is set in London but it's a German production with German actors gives it's a very surreal feeling.

Written by Wolfgang Schnitzier and Wolfgang Menge, the running time is 93 minutes. 

1951 - DISTANT DRUMS, a western set in Florida

With the exception of the rather novel setting of Florida this is very much a Gary Cooper western which could just as easily have been set in California.  Cooper plays an army captain sent on a mission to stop guns from being sent to the in this case to some very nasty Seminole Indians.  After fulfilling his mission of blowing up the fort with the guns that had been supplying the Seminoles, Cooper and his troops are pursued by the Seminoles through the Florida Everglades.  This is basically the same plot as the director Raoul Walsh's Objective Burma.  But if the story worked once it will work again I guess.

 Along the way Cooper picks up a sexy gal who you know will end up falling in love with him played in this case by a performer named Mari Aldon.  Also along is veteran character actor Arthur Hunnicutt who as usual is playing Arthur Hunnicutt.

The film was written and not very well,  by a couple of decent writers, Niven Busch and Martin Rackin.  The director was old action pro Raoul Walsh.  If the film has any interest at all it's the extensive on location filming in Florida and Walsh's skill with staging action scenes.  Otherwise this film just seems completely out of it even for a 1950's film.

 

The running time is 101 minutes.

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.

1951 - TALES OF HOFFMANN, Powell and Pressburger at their most esoteric

 Alexander Korda who was running British Lion Studios was anxious to have Moira Shearer the star of The Red Shoes appear in another film.  This gave the opening that Powell and Pressburger were looking for to stage a version of Jacques Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann as an exotic dance extravaganza. Be careful what you ask for.

The Tales of Hoffmann is an amazing infuriating film.  The film's production design and cinematography are outstanding.  The cast is extremely well chosen along with Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann a dancer and choreographer, Léonide Massine a dancer and also a choreograher as well and Ludmilla Tchérina a prima ballerina appear in the film.  Sir Thomas Beecham, conducted the score which was prerecorded prior to filming.

 

So what's the problem.  Well watching the film is an exhausting experience.  The film is so drenched in overwhelming color design and movement after a while it begins to get to be a bit to much for this viewer anyway.

 

It's amazing that Powell and Pressburger got away with making this film as the commercial potential for this film was not good.  Alexander Korda must have known he did not have another film of The Red Shoes on his hands.

 

For an exercise in extreme style this film is certainly something to look at.

 

Written byE.T.A Hoffman, Jules Barbier, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger and Dennis Arundell.  The running time is 133 minutes.

1961 - ONE EYED JACKS, Marlon Brando's only film as director

Marlon Brando was the driving force behind this revenge themed western.  His production company found the story and developed it.  Besides directing the film, Brando also starred in it and cast a lot of actors he had previously worked with.

The film has beautiful photography courtesy of Charles Lang a veteran Hollywood cinematographer and the decision to film on locations near the Pacific Ocean gave the film a very unusual setting for a western

 

Brando wasn't afraid to mix his cast with method and non method actors.  Karl Malden who had worked with Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire played Dad Longworth the man who betrays him during a bank robbery. Ben Johnson and Slim Pickens hardly ever though of as method actors much less actors at certain times, gave very impressive performances under Brando's direction.

For his leading lady as they like to say, Brando cast Pina Pellicer a Hispanic actor who was a rather troubled individual and committed suicide at age 30.

 

The original cut of the film was five hours, Paramount ended up reducing it to a running time of 141 minutes. The film had an extensive list of screenwriters including, Stanley Kubrick, Sam Peckinpah, Guy Walter Trosper,  Calder Baynard Willingham and Brando himself.

1961 - ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS, another high point for the Disney animated film.

 A very good animated film from the Walt Disney Company.  

In this film the animators and artists simplified their approach to the story.  They were clearly influenced by the work that UPA was doing with their animated product.

The result was one or Disney's least overstuffed films.  Gone were the elaborate settings of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.  The film is definitely all the better for it.  This is a simple story told clearly and effectively.

The film is so good that Disney paid it the ultimate compliment, remaking it as a live action film.

The writer was Bill Peet, the running time is 79 minutes.

1961 - LA NOTTE, interesting study in modern alienation.

 Antonioni continued his study in modern alienation with this story of an Italian novelist and his wife who seemed completely cutoff from their society and ultimately each other.

 

As always with an Antonioni film it's all about the images with cinematographer  Gianni Di Venanzo providing some stunning black and white photography and composition.

A dark serious film but very worthwhile.  The performances from  Marcello Mastroianni and Jeannie Moreau are very good. incidentally La Notte translates into English as "The Night."

Michelangelo Antonioni along with Ennio Flaiano and Tonino Guerra wrote the film, it runs 122 minutes.

1961 - EL CID, hugh epic filmed on an epic scale

The director is Anthony Mann, the producer is Samuel Bronston.  The film is huge.  A cast literally of thousands, real castles and massive battle scenes.

Charlton Heston is the legendary Spanish knight fighting to save his country from the Moors while dealing with a worthless King. Sophia Loren is his impossibly beautiful wife and the rest of the cast is the usual bunch of British actors hired to class these kind of films up.

They don't make them like this anymore and they never will again.  Viewing the film just for the large scale production values is certainly worth it.  The film also has a very memorable ending.

 

The film was written by Philip Yordan, Fredric M. Frank and Ben Barzman.  It has an epic running time of 184 minutes.

1961 - THE LADIES MAN, another so called Jerry Lewis comedy.

Jerry Lewis goes with his brand of slapstick comedy and pathos once again.  Paramount had made so much money with him he was able to move into direction, a true auteur.  The problem with Lewis is that a lot of his humor is not particularly funny.  The Ladies Man plays to a lot of his faults and weaknesses.

But, there are some generally funny bits.  Lewis has a tendency to mug his way throughout the film.  It's like he seems to think that if he makes a lot of funny faces the humor will just flow out of him.  He gets involved in a dance routine, his very clumsy and sloppy dancing is supposed to be hilarious.  Instead it comes off as having the class clown run around the room making everyone feel uncomfortable.

He does get some generally surrealistic moments in his film.  Paramount built a huge set that apparently covered two sound stages.  This set allowed Lewis to move the actors around in interesting ways.  It's somewhat of a precursor to what Tati did in Playtime, with his massive sets.

The Ladies Man does require a very high tolerance for the Jerry Lewis brand of humor.  If your not into his infantile behavior steer very clear of this film.

106 minutes, written by Jerry Lewis and his frequent collaborator Bill Richmond.

1961 - THE HAPPY THIEVES, the unhappy audience.

This thing seemed like it was constantly showing up on the 10:30 late show when I was growing up.  I remember it was supposed to be some kind of heist thriller comedy story but all I really remember was it involved carrying paintings around a museum.  At the time I thought the film was pretty lame and guess what, the film is still pretty lame.

Rita Hayworth and Rex Harrison are the stars of this so called "caper" film.  But only Rex Harrison as one of those dashing thief types is actually any good.  In fact I think it's safe to say that Harrison drags this film along with a lot of charm and a very smooth performance.

The Happy Thieves is really not worth anyone's time.

88 minutes, written by John Gay.

1961 - YOJIMBO - Kurosawa's samurai comedy/drama classic

Filmed after Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well, a dreary drama of corporate intrigue in Japanese business.   Yojimbo was a transitional film for Kurosawa and the Japanese film industry and audience.

Kurosawa mixed comedy with action in a story that had it's influences back to Dashell Hammett's novel Red Harvest, a book with enough double crosses for about three novels.

As usual, Kurosawa used a lot of his stock company of actors and most importantly Toshiro Mifune as the bad ass wandering samurai.

Yojimbo is probably one of Kurosawa's best films and is certainly a one of a kind film that has been ripped off many times.

Screenplay by Kurosawa, Ryūzō Kikushima and Hideo Oguni, it runs 110 minutes.

1961 - X-15, test pilots risk their lives un-huh un-huh.

The X-15 was the Air Force's program to send a man into space in a rocket like ship and have him return.  The program was probably discontinued once panic set in with the Russians sending a man into space in a capsule.  Since the United States was in a state of anxiety about the Russians in the early 1960's the X-15 program was discontinued in favor of shooting Americans into outer space in capsules as well.  The space race had begun. 

Naturally Hollywood saw this as movie material so someone dragged out the old "honey don't go fly the X-15" story line with a whiny wife yapping at the brave test pilot about his dangerous career.  All very dreary.  The film  to give the film some authenticity, it was narrated by Air Force Colonel James Stewart also know as actor Jimmy Stewart who clearly didn't read the script.

The cast of the film were virtual unknowns, with Charles Bronson and Mary Tyler Moore the future stars.  The director was Richard Donner who would go on to have a successful career churning out decent mainstream Hollywood films.  However if you were watching this film and didn't know any of these people you would be hard pressed to see any talent in any of them.  

The film is mostly a mixture of real test footage and some animation of the X-15 in space towards the end.  The Air Force and NASA test footage has been stretched out to fill the widescreen format so everything looks weirdly distorted.  The planes crashing and the rocket engine blowing up are the real deal.  That's entertainment I guess, show someone dying for real so you can stick that footage in a cut rate film.

107 minutes, written by James Warner Bellah and Tony Lazzarino.

1961 - THE QUEEN'S GUARDS, for Michael Powell completists

I doubt Martin Scorcese who is a big fan of the director Michael Powell will be spending a lot of time preserving this very mediocre picture.  The Queen's Guards is a film that so drips with the English spirit it's a cliche of everything British.

The film focuses on an English army officer who is a member of an elite unit responsible for guarding the homes (!) of the Queen of England.  The film follows this officer, from his time in training, through a British incursion into a North African county and concludes with him presiding over an unending ceremony featuring an unending parade of men dressed up as toy soldiers for some dull as dishwater royal review.

The actor Daniel Massey who played Noel Coward in Star plays the officer in the guards.  He comes off as a real simp running around with his umbrella and bowler hat and affecting that stiff upper lip character that every American thinks the British are born with. 

It's hard to believe that a director like Michael Powell, who usually made interesting and unique films about England and English life could get involved in such a cliche ridden mess like this.   Many of Powell's other films examined the British character with a lot more subtlety than this sloppy patriotic crap.  This is an England that probably never existed except in the fantasy world of film.

 

 

110 minutes, screenplay by Roger Milner.

1961 - CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, wrapping up the Hammer film weekend.

Hammer does what Hammer does best, make a lurid horror movie with sex and lots of violence.  Oliver Reed is the werewolf and he looks like Oliver Reed even in his werewolf makeup (ha ha good joke).

Anyway, the director Terence Fisher is good with this horror stuff and holds off showing the werewolf until the end of the film.  The story is completely original and not a remake of the unimpressive Wolf Man film that Universal filmed back in the 1940's.  There is lots of mumbo jumbo about good vs. evil and evil spirits inhabiting the bodies of innocent people to turn them into werewolves.  It's all presented very soberly even though it's a bunch of nonsense.

When it comes to acting, Oliver Reed is in a class by himself.  This guy just never heard of the word "restraint" when it came to giving a performance.  Even in the love scenes he's still kind of a scary guy. 

The film ends with the usual angry crowd scenes of people running around with torches and the silver bullet through the heart.  Hammer wrote a new werewolf story but couldn't entirely let go of the old cliches.

91 minutes.

1961 - CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA, Roger Corman cheapie from the 60's naturally.

Filmed  in 1959 released in 1961 Corman shot this thing in 5 days and that's about all you need to know.

Supposedly a "horror comedy"  the film is certainly some kind of horror with imitations of Humphrey Bogart by one of the leads, a bizarre introductory sequence which has something to do with spies and of course the appearance of the creature about halfway through the film.

The film is under 90 minutes and has a couple of laughs but pretty bad overall even for a low budget Corman film.

You can watch it so you can say you watched it.  That's about it.

75 minutes.

1961 - THE GREENGAGE SUMMER, aka The Loss of Innocence

Based on a novel from Runmer Godden and similar to Godden's The River which was filmed by Jean Renoir.  The Greengage Summer is a coming of age story which is unusually well done when you put it up against something like The Blue Lagoon or that sleezefest The Lovers.

The film was amusingly enough directed by Lewis Gilbert, photographed by F.A. Young and edited by Peter Hunt who all worked together on You Only Live Twice.  That this bunch could make a film about teenage girls without descending into exploitation is probably due to Godden's story which isn't afraid to make the teenagers immature and unlikable at times.

The film has a good cast with Kenneth More who usually played light comedy roles and Susannah York as the teenager way in over her head doing the little girl tease thing.

99 minutes, written by Howard Koch.