kingrat

Sister Kenny isn't actually a nun, which is confusing for us Americans. The British and Australian practice is to refer to all nurses as Sisters. Interesting fact: one famous person who received the Sister Kenny treatment for polio is Joni Mitchell.

I've been enjoying World on Fire on PBS. It's a big well-done WWII historical soap opera. Season 1, just finished but no doubt available on demand, had seven episodes set in 1939 with scenes in England, Poland, France, and Germany. The show has been renewed for Season 2, but who knows when it will be filmed, given the coronavirus. In addition to the young actors playing the romantic leads, stars include Helen Hunt as an American journalist (evidently based in part on Dorothy Thompson) and Sean Bean as the working-class socialist pacifist father of our plucky heroine Lois. However, Lesley Manville as the chilly mother of our hero Harry steals every moment of every scene she's in. A breathtaking performance of a character who could easily be a stereotype. Some of the period details are bent a little to fit our current preferences. Would a black singer have been a headliner for the British equivalent of the USO, or would that group allow an unmarried pregnant woman as a headliner? Would Harry's mother and Lois' father call each other by their first names, given the class system at the time? On the other hand, I'm delighted we have a gay subplot, with an American doctor in Paris in love with a French North African jazz musician. I doubt that any jazz musician in France at that time would have a ripped and toned body, but oh well. I've noticed that several recent British films and TV shows (the Branagh Murder on the Orient Express and Darkest Hour, for instance) have gone out of their way to play down the actual British racial attitudes at the time. If you have known Brits of a certain age, this will ring false. All in all, World on Fire has been great fun to follow, and I just hope it will survive.

I appreciate the witty scheduling for Tuesday morning with a double feature of Grey Gardens and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Those two films belong together! A friend pointed out that Mad Love and The Red Shoes make another appropriate pairing.

George Brent seems much better than usual opposite Myrna Loy in Stamboul and opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Gay Sisters and My Reputation.

The only two I have seen are The Lady Eve, a classic screwball comedy and a winner all the way, and No Man of Her Own, a most enjoyable domestic melodrama/film noir. I certainly agree that Jane Cowl, a prestigious stage actress, does a fine job as the "mother-in-law."

I hadn't thought about it, but that is a lot of testosterone, isn't it? Four different genres, four really good films.

James Shigeta: handsome, sweet, gentle strength, lovely soft voice. What's not to like? SPOILER ALERT??: Eddie's intro gives away what was actually a plot twist for me. I knew nothing about the film when I saw it the first time a few years ago, and about an hour in I was thinking, "Well, if it were me, I'd dump Glenn Corbett for that dreamy James Shigeta," and then that was exactly where the movie went. The Crimson Kimono is one of my favorite Fuller films, just below Pickup on South Street and The Steel Helmet. Frequently, Fuller's directorial skill is undercut by his writing deficiencies. He knows how to pick a good subject for a film and open strongly (he was a tabloid journalist, and it shows), but often has problems developing the story and writing credible dialogue. The Crimson Kimono has a much better developed script than most Fuller movies, and this time around I appreciated the way he ties together the reason for the murder and the detective's assumption about his buddy's reaction. By the way, you gotta love how Victoria Shaw says with surprise that she never gave Glenn Corbett reason to think she was interested. Uh, that's not what we saw, toots. He came on fairly strong, and she agreed to go out with him. Anna Lee is terrific. Eddie mentioned that Anna Lee was fondly remembered as Lila Quartermaine on General Hospital. A decade or so earlier, Victoria Shaw was also on GH as a TV reporter who was a love interest for John Beradino's Dr. Steve Hardy, but the character never caught on.

Saturday has four pretty amazing movies, all in different genres, back to back: Out of the Past, The Naked Spur, The Hill, The General. The Hill, a brutal WWII prison camp drama--a camp the British have set up for British soldiers who have misbehaved. Sidney Lumet is one of the most inconsistent directors in film history, but this represents him in top form. Great B&W cinematography by Oswald Morris, who won a BAFTA for this, is a huge asset. Sean Connery shows that he has real acting chops, and either Harry Andrews or Ossie Davis is my favorite supporting actor for 1965.

If you like Diary of a Country Priest and haven't seen A Man Escaped or Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne, those would be good ones to seek out. Bresson's view of God has changed, and not for the better, by Au hasard Balthazar, which some like but I destest.

CI, I have noticed that films that are geared to an older audience almost always get more negative reviews than the film deserves. This has been generally true for the last few years. Anyone who likes Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen will probably enjoy The Good Liar.

As many times as I've mentioned my shuddering dislike for Barry Fitzgerald, it's only right to mention that he gives an altogether outstanding performance as a treacherous, sniveling villain in The Sea Wolf. He's also rather good as the hanging judge in And Then There Were None.

Joe, I liked this film even better the second time around. The first time I was expecting a little more action in the opening section, but on re-watching I loved all the details about the gangsters' lives. I also really liked the middle-aged woman behind the bar who used to be Gabin's mistress, but has evolved into a friend who just watches as he runs after much younger women. Lots to like about this film.

My, they do look like the hottest couple in ancient Egypt, don't they?

I think Maltin has it backwards, except chronologically. James Dean is the American Zbigniew Cybulski!

Not a fave of mine, either. Mitchum and Hepburn have zero chemistry on screen and detested each other off screen. Hepburn has very little chemistry with Robert Taylor, either. It's really a gothic or damsel-in-distress film rather than a noir. The story is familiar enough that it has to depend on the casting, and the casting doesn't work for me.

Thank you, Bogie. Ashes and Diamonds is one of the greatest films ever made. Probably the ultimate noir film, but in a historical context.

Tom, thanks for a great review. I remember how good the opening was, and how surprisingly sexy Bruce Bennett was. Who knew? Ida is outstanding, but then she usually is. She was one of the best actresses of her time.

The Long Night is an excellent remake of the French film Le jour se leve. Henry Fonda, Barbara Bel Geddes, Ann Dvorak, Vincent Price, and Elisha Cook Jr. are all outstanding. first-rate noir cinematography, too. This film doesn't get high marks in some of the guides, like Maltin's. They are wrong. Tony Randall does a fine job as Poirot, if I remember correctly. Had the film been a big hit, there would probably have been a series of Randall/Poirot movies. Speaking of Leslie Nielsen, I just saw him give a fine performance as an old flame of Jessica's on Murder She Wrote.

I am not a fan of Who'll Stop the Rain, which, as it goes on, delights in its own rancidness. Nick Nolte turns his girlfriend on to heroin, but he's somehow supposed to be the hero of the film. For those who care about such things, early in the film there is a brief shot of Nick Nolte frontally naked. Michael Moriarty, who is often a very good actor, isn't so good in this one. However, I am a fan of Go Tell the Spartans, one of the best films about the Vietnam War.

This is the best description of John Cassavetes I have ever seen.

I'm excited about the daytime Thursday schedule as well. There are four films directed by Basil Dearden I haven't seen: Sapphire, The Silent Partner, Woman of Straw, and Masquerade. The three I have seen--Victim, All Night Long, and The League of Gentlemen--are all worth investigating. Victim uses the thriller genre to make some valid points about how the English laws forbidding homosexuality actually encouraged blackmailers, and Dirk Bogarde was brave to play the lead role. All Night Long is a version of Othello set in a jazz club in London. Some famous jazz musicians make guest appearances. Nice performances by Patrick McGoohan, Betsy Blair, and Richard Attenborough. The League of Gentlemen is a heist film with a script by Bryan Forbes, who knows how to write lines that actors can use; Forbes also plays the gigolo who's part of the gang.

The Silver Cord was a prestigious Broadway hit, which is probably one reason why it wasn't re-imagined for the screen. The concept of the "silver cord" remained part of popular culture for at least another couple of decades. With such a good cast it should have been a better movie. Speaking of imagined for the screen: The Sin of Nora Moran was very imaginatively shaped, structured, and shot. Like TopBilled, I really liked Zita Johann. Once to Every Woman was enjoyable, too, with a fine cast. There have been several films with the "patients in the women's ward" concept. The operation scene was imaginatively filmed, with the other doctors looking on from above. I have not seen many of Fay Wray's films and did not realize how attractive and talented she was. It was great to see Ralph Bellamy as the romantic lead, not the guy who gets dumped for Cary Grant. Mary Carlisle was fun as the platinum blonde selfish hussy and Jane Darwell was fun as the most annoying of the patients. Congratulations to TCM for bringing these three movies to us.

1. Marx Brothers - Duck Soup 4. Basil Rathbone - The Adventures of Robin Hood 5. Farley Granger - Strangers on a Train 6. Kirk Douglas - Spartacus 7. Natalie Wood - West Side Story 8. Bette Davis - All About Eve (The Letter, Now Voyager) 9. Sidney Poitier - Something of Value 10. Walter Matthau - The Odd Couple (and yes, great in support in Mirage)

Thanks, Joe. Serpico is one film that has a lot of the puke green look. I don't really care for the look, but it's clearly a deliberate choice.

I think the ideas in Gabriel Over the White House are those of William Randolph Hearst, the driving force behind the movie. Yes, it's wacko. This would be one of my examples of when the director of a film is not the auteur.