1957 - THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION - large scale epic about pulling a big cannon around Spain

Liberal producer Stanley Kramer had carved out a decent career making quasi goody two shoe films aka "message films" for Columbia pictures.  They were generally well made thanks to talented directors Kramer hired like Mark Robson, Fred Zimmerman and Richard Fleischer.  Kramer decided to move into directing as well as producing his own films and his skill as a director was to put it mildly uneven.  In 1957  Kramer really rolled the dice with a large scale production of a C.S. Forrester novel "The Gun" which was sort of a Bridge of San Luis Rey multi character story except instead of a bridge it was a really big cannon.

The film made considerable changes to the novel.  During the war with the French in the early 1800's the British send an officer who is an expert on field artillery to assist the Spanish guerillas.  The plot involves the guerillas hauling a huge cannon around the Spanish countryside in order to take part in an attack on a French fort.  The film ends with a large scale battle with the usual cast of thousands running around.  However the drama on this film was all behind the camera.

A very uncomfortable looking Cary Grant is the British artillery officer.  Grant did not usually take roles in period films as he felt he was more suited to comedy.  Grant apparently signed up for this film to escape from a troubled marriage in Hollywood.  Frank Sinatra was cast as the Spanish guerilla leader.  Well it can be said that Italian American Sinatra wearing brown makeup and a rather ridiculous wig was probably miscast.  Apparently Sinatra took the part to be near his then wife Ava Gardner also making a film in Spain, they were having marital problems as well.   

 

Finally there was Italian actor Sophia Loren who was trying to break into Hollywood.  This was about her second or third American production and her English was none to good.  The solution was to put her into lots of low cut blouses to distract from her dialog.  To top it all off Cary Grant decided he was in love with her and spent most of the film chasing her around.

 

All this foolishness with the cast was not going to help make this a good picture.  Stanley Kramer probably had his hands full dealing with these three actors and managing and expensive production. In spite of everything The Pride and the Passion is entertaining enough although it could have been a whole lot better.  The chief merits of this film were the excellent photography, interesting Spanish locations and the kind of viewing pleasure watching a large scale production with lots of large scale action scenes can provide.

The film was written and rather poorly by Edna and Albert Anhalt, the running time is 132 minutes. 

1969 - THE SECRET OF SANTA VITTORIA, interesting story, poor presentation.

Towards the end of World War II, the citizens of the small town of Santa Vittoria hide over one million bottles of wine to keep the German army from confiscating them,  The Secret of Santa Vittoria turns into a battle of wits between the mayor and the German Army Captain to keep the Krauts from locating the hidden bottles.

The Secret of Santa Vittoria was a well regarded novel by the author Robert Crichton.  Somehow producer/director Stanley Kramer acquired the rights to the book and got United Artists to finance it.  Kramer had made his reputation producing low budget message films early in his career. He was lucky to have decent filmmakers like Fred Zinneman, Richard Fleischer, Carl Foreman and Mark Robson work with him.  After a string of successes with Champion, Home of the Brave and The Men.  Kramer got it into his head that he wanted to direct as well as produce his own films.

 

Kramer turned out to be a film director who wasn't particularly good at directing.  Among the films that Kramer had a hand in were, The Pride and the Passion, a film about a bunch of guys dragging an enormous cannon around.  On the Beach the end of the world nuclear war film had more soap opera than message.  Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Kramer's sort of comedy film about interracial marriage and race relations was so free of conflict it's safe to say there was no conflict.  All of these films suffered from Kramer's inability to tell a story while at the same time bludgeoning the movie viewer with his sanctimonious liberal sentiments.  Kramer was reasonably successful for a while but as he moved into the 1960's his liberal themes seemed extremely dated.  Kramer actually thought the tepid Guess Who's Coming Dinner put him in the category of major directors like Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.

The Secret of Santa Vittoria is a very good example of a late in his career film. Written by his longtime screenwriting associate William Rose who in this case had certainly seen better days.  Kramer signed up and interesting cast to say the least.  Anthony Quinn who only had one performance level which was always over the top. Anna Magnani was a performer who could match Quinn for exaggerated and hysterical acting.  Hardy Kruger the German officer looking for the wine seemed frightened dealing with these bombastic actors.  The great Virna Lisi had a nothing part as Kruger's love interest.

 

The film is an overlong mess with Kramer indulging in that 1960's photography crutch, the zoom lens to drive home any plot point he had already driven home. It's unfortunate that a better filmmaker and writer weren't involved in this movie, the plot is actually kind of interesting.  But as they say it's how you tell the story that counts as well.  As one critic said about Kramer "he was a man directing a comedy who never understood how drama worked."

The running time is 139 minutes

1963 - IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD, on Blu Ray

Stanley Kramer's over the top slapstick comedy has a real over the top cast of comics.  How a filmmaker like Kramer who usually made dreary 50's and 60's preachy liberal films got it in his head that he was the guy to film this epic widescreen comedy will probably forever be a mystery.

This film is essentially a car chase comedy.  The cars race around the California desert highways while the cast does it comedy shtick thing.  The film also has some spectacular airplane stunts and Johnathan Winters is funny as a dumb tow truck operator who destroys a gas station when he loses his temper.

Dick Shawn (dancing with Barrie Chase) is the ultimate "mama's boy" the son of the very loud Ethel Merman.  Towards the end of the film Kramer throws in Peter Falk and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson as a couple of cab drivers just to mix it up more.

Frankly Kramer's director is in his usual blunderbuss get it done style.  The basic comedy situation and the expert stunt, model and miniature effects make the film work.  Let's not forget no computer generated effects were used in this film.

161 minutes. written by William and Tanya Rose.

1965 - SHIP OF FOOLS or Germans suck.

Liberal director Stanley Kramer and his associate the equally bleeding heart liberal writer Abby Mann adapt a "distinguished" novel for the clear purpose of making some grand statement about the human experience.  The end result is just another bash the Nazi era Germans film. This is a film that takes a courageous stand against these evil Nazi loving Germans 20 years after World War II ended.

Ship of Fools is essentially Grand Hotel or Airport or maybe even Airplane.  Stick a bunch of actors together and watch them interact with each other in various subplots and story lines.  This film is just a lot more dour than usual for this genre.

Stanley Kramer was the director known in Hollywood for making personal films that dealt with social problems such as racism, prejudice, nuclear war and fascism.  He was also the director known for beating the audience over the head in the most unsubtle way possible with his "message movies.

Kramer's films have not aged well, I recently caught a piece of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and it's theme of racial harmony looked mighty silly.  Ship of Fools has a good cast but the relentless hammering of the evil German nation finally does the film in.  Casting actors who appeared in Hogan's Heroes probably doesn't help much either.  The film also clocks in at a butt busting 2 1/2 hours.

149 minutes