1954 - THE BRIDGES AT TOKO -RI, one of the finest Korean War films.

One of the finest films about the Korean War.  The Bridges at Toko-Ri was closely based on the short novel by James Michener.  Michener had been a reporter on a navel task force flying bombing runs against the North Koreans.  He created his characters based on actual pilots and officers he had met during his stay.  In fact the last part of this film follows the fate of an actual helicopter rescue of a downed navy pilot towards the end of the film.

This is an excellent studio production.  The producers William Perlberg and George Seaton put together a good cast starting with William Holden as the navy pilot with serious questions about what the United States was doing with it's involvement in Korea.  Frederic March is Holden's commanding officer, Grace Kelly has a small role as Holden's wife.

The film also has for a change a restrained Mickey Rooney as a helicopter rescue pilot.  Character actor Earl Holliman is his co-pilot.  Another veteran character actor Charles McGraw is Holden's squadron leader.  This is one of the very underrated McGraw's best films.  Charles McGraw had previously had a good role in the classic The Narrow Margin.

 

The navy cooperated with the producers so a good portion of the film was shot on actual carriers.  The rumor is that Holden  learned how to taxi a fighter jet down the carrier's runway.  One of the most interesting things about this film is the subtle antiwar theme that is carefully woven through out the film.  The navy may have been good about providing ships for this production but they certainty didn't read the script carefully.  This film does not have the usual "rah rah" feel good war movie ending.

The film was written by Valentine Davis, the running time is 102 minutes.

1945 - ISLE OF THE DEAD, horror film from producer Val Lewton

The producer Val Lewton known for his atmospheric "B" horror films for RKO studios in the 1940's was coming towards the end of his run.  Lewton was an extremely creative producer who when stuck with small budgets and at times lurid titles forced upon him from the studio, could turn something into nothing with clever writing and atmospheric noirish photography.  Lewton was responsible for giving talented but relatively unknown filmmakers like Jacques Tourneur,  Robert Wise and Mark Robson opportunities to direct which helped launch their careers.

Boris Karloff who was basically stuck in the horror genre had good parts in Lewton's pictures with The Body Snatcher, Isle of the Dead and Bedlam.  Lewton was a very influential figure in the horror genre and his influence can still be found on many horror films produced today.

Isle of the Dead concerns a group of people stuck on an island during the plague.  One of the group begins to believe that they are being haunted by a spirit called the "Vrykolakas." an undead creature. The film focuses on the interactions of this group while balancing the expected scary stuff the studio was looking for.  Lewton and his writer Ardel Wray mostly focused on character development which was rather unusual for these types of films.  A good film.

 

The film runs a compact 72 minutes.

1967 - VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, campy trash fest if ever there was one.

 For some reason Criterion decided to release this film into their collection.  I believe the thinking was that they were trying to market this mess as some sort of glorious camp fest for their audience.  After all one can't consume a steady diet of Ingmar Bergman and Ozu films.  

I don't know if Valley of the Dolls is worthy of the Criterion treatment.  Even if you consider the camp factor of the film, it's kind of struggle to get through this thing.  The story about three women trying to make it in show business has been done before so this isn't exactly an original plot going on her

The actors played by Patty Duke, Barbara Parkins and Sharon Tate are all over the place.  Duke had something of a reputation as a serious actor once upon a time but in this film she really hams it up as a young Judy Garland type of character who resorts to popping pills to keep going.  Barbara Parkins has that sophisticated sexy look thing going but struggles to act.  Sharon Tate of all people actually gives the best performance in the film.

The film was directed by Mark Robson an old Hollywood filmmaker.  Robson films the whole thing like a middle aged guy trying to act hip or as hip as you could be in 1967. 

123 minutes.

1963 - THE PRIZE, the term Hitchcock like thriller comes to mind.

An American writer accepting his Nobel prize in Sweden gets mixed up in cold war espionage in this very blatant borrowing (ripoff?) from some of Alfred Hitchcock's films.

Method actor Paul Newman tries for the light comedic touch of Cary Grant but seems to be smirking a lot.  Old school actor Edward G. Robinson and German model Elke Sommer are actually more credible then Newman and seem less affected in their performances.

The writer of The Prize is Ernest Lehman who had written Hitchcock's North By Northwest and he probably had a lot of explaining to do because in this case imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery it's more like stealing.  The director is Mark Robson a Hollywood veteran who made some good films and some mediocre ones in his career.  Their approach is to use the Hitchcock formula of suspense and comedy and if they "borrow" a scene or two so be it.

The Prize is a decent time killer of a film, it has nice glossy photography and a couple of actors who are easy on the eyes, it wasn't the first film to steal from Alfred Hitchock and it certainly wasn't the last.

134 minutes.