I Just Watched...

[Fading Fast]

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Of Human Bondage from 1964 with Laurence Harvey, Kim Novak, Robert Morley and Roger Livesey

 

 

Thirty years after its first effort, Hollywood took its third swing at Of Human Bondage (I haven't seen the second attempt done in 1946). This effort is a more-nuanced one than the impressive Bette Davis and Leslie Howard picture from 1934 (comments here: https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/what-was-the-last-movie-you-watched.20830/post-2822190).

 

Whatever version you see, know this is not happy viewing. The basic story outline from the W. Somerset Maugham book is the same in the 1934 and 1964 versions: a club footed "gentleman" falls for a "common" waitress, but instead of him bringing her up in the world, she does everything possible to bring him down.

 

Insecure about being a "cripple" (the accepted terminology of the time), medical student Laurence Harvey pursues Cockney waitress Kim Novak who manages to make a stunningly bad string of decisions for the next several years.

 

She alternates between rejecting Harvey while also embarrassing him by pursuing other men in front of him and, occasionally, being nice and, almost, coming on to him. Most men would have walked away after the first or second insulting event, but not Harvey; he's in for the long haul with her, come what may.

 

What comes is an incredible amount of abuse. When she rejects his marriage proposal with derision, goes off to marry another man and, then, returns to him unwed but pregnant, he provides a room for her. After she gives birth to another man's baby, he pays for its care. What? Yup, that's what he did and she isn't even "dating" (sleeping with) him.

 

She then leaves him again, this time for his best friend, only to turn up later as a streetwalker where, once more, Harvey rescues her and her baby in return for, well, nothing but brief moments of kindness wrapped inside more abuse.

 

After she destroys his apartment and his artwork (the thing she knows is most precious to him), she turns up later in his hospital sick with syphilis. Yet again, he tries to help her, but she rejects his help.

 

Finally, she returns to the hospital where he comes to her on her deathbed and promises to honor her request for a "proper" funeral. If I were Harvey, no promise would be necessary, as I'd gladly pay to bury the woman at this point just to make sure she is dead.

 

In this 1964 version, Novak plays the role of the waitress with more nuance than Bette Davis' full-force evil version in 1934. It makes it modestly easier to understand why Harvey puts up with it all, but there really is no explanation other than blind passion or addiction or obsession or, well, "human bondage."

 

Harvey plays his version of a man obsessed about a woman with a Yuri-from-Doctor Zhivago thoughtfulness. He, like Boris Pasternak's kind and sensitive Russian poet-doctor, tries, with an emotional detachment, to understand why people behave badly, even when they are behaving badly toward him.

 

The combination of Novak's and Harvey's more layered portrayals than Davis' and Howard's in 1934, makes this version less demoralizing on the surface. But it is equally powerful in its exposition of good smashing into evil on the field of human relations.

 

Blindly loving a person who mistreats you - even after you know it - is a form of "human bondage." Today we call it some version of an "abusive relationship," but it's the same theme of Maugham's powerful tale penned over a hundred years ago. Nothing is really new; we just see and understand things differently in different times, which is what these various movie versions of, Of Human Bondage reveal.

 

 

 

 

 

[LornaHansonForbes]

17 hours ago, King Rat said:

I'm no more impressed by Lori Singer than you are

Her brother MARC SINGER, HOWEVER is a different story...

(I think he was maybe my first crush, at age 5 watching V in 1983(?))

[LornaHansonForbes]

(The fact that I had my sexual awakening brought on by a television show that featured RAT EATING LIZARD HUMANOIDS goes a long way to explaining why I'm still single.)

[King Rat]

44 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

(The fact that I had my sexual awakening brought on by a television show that featured RAT EATING LIZARD HUMANOIDS goes a long way to explaining why I'm still single.)

On the other hand, a television show featuring rat-eating lizard humanoids is an excellent introduction to your average gay bar!

[LornaHansonForbes]

13 minutes ago, King Rat said:

On the other hand, a television show featuring rat-eating lizard humanoids is an excellent introduction to your average gay bar!

you're making me miss THE ABBEY.

[TomJH]

Flash Gordon (1936 Serial)

I hadn't seen this famous Universal serial adaption of Alex Raymond's popular comic strip hero in years so decided to sit through its 13 chapters in installments. Boy it was a fun, easy sit, finally watching it in chunks of three chapters at a time.

What can you say about a piece of science fiction hokum like this except that, depending upon your frame of mind, it's a great way to escape the realities (and news headlines) of the day. The special effects of monsters and rocket ships are, shall we say, quaint, and the miniature work of foreign worlds and kingdoms are obvious, yet remain an endearing part of the charm of the serial. The action is pretty well non stop and the broadly drawn characters are engagingly played even if they will never be up for consideration for any awards from the Motion Picture Academy.

Larry "Buster" Crabbe is perfect casting as Flash, the son of a scientist on his way to join his father in Chapter One as the mysterious planet Mongo is hurtling towards Earth, only to have to parachute from his storm wracked plane (along with reporter Dale Arden). Once landed the two then encounter the slightly eccentric Dr. Zarkov, who is about to take off in a rocketship to Mongo to try to prevent its collision with Earth. So what do Flash and Dale decide? To accompany him, of course.

This sets up the premise for the rest of the serial, with Mongo (and the universe) controlled by the outer space Fu Manchu-like Ming the Merciless (delightfully played in dead earnest by Charles Middleton in the role for which he will be forever remembered). There will be a series of encounters for blonde haired hero Flash, including physical confrontations with half ape men, shark men, an orangopid (an ape, in essence, with a horn in his forehead), a masked swordsman and a tigron (looks like a regular tiger to me), among others.

It's a good looking serial which some say cost Universal one million dollars (other sources say it was closer to $350,000), with a musical score that is a selection of snatches of scores from various Universal monster films (Black Cat, Bride of Frankenstein, etc.), as well as a bit of Wagner thrown in, I believe. You may also recognize some sets or props from other Universal monster films (such as the winding tower staircase from Frankenstein and an Egyptian god statue seen in The Mummy). It might sound  like a mess on paper but it somehow all works well, adding to the fun of Flash Gordon.

Buster Crabbe may be on no one's list of great, or even good, actors, but he makes Flash a clean cut, athletic hero who looks like he did a fair number of the stunts himself. The actor once said, in reference to his acting ability, that some people said his acting achieved a certain mediocrity and then levelled off from there. Any actor who is honest enough and funny enough to make a comment like that about his own acting ability sounds like an unpretentious good guy to me.

One of the key aspects of the serial that drew my attention on this viewing was the rivalry for Flash's affection between earth woman Dale Arden, played by Jean Rogers, and a literally out of this world Princess Aura, Ming's daughter, a role performed by Priscilla Lawson. The serial ran into some problems with morality groups in 1936 with the skimpy outfits worn by the two actresses. Aura's outfits, in particular, placed an emphasis upon the actress's impressive upper body endowments. Buster Crabbe, too, for that matter, has to strip off his shirt quite a bit as eye candy for the ladies (as well as a few guys, of course).

Aside from the blatant sexuality that this otherwise innocent science fiction serial exploits, though, are the two contrasting characters of Arden and Aura. Jean Rogers' Arden is blonde and very cute, wearing a few fetching two piece outfits. But her role in the chapters is very much that of a helpless lady in distress. Whenever Arden is in a stressful situation her reactions are always the same, to, one, scream and two, pass out. That's it. Not one time in the serial does Arden save the day or come up with a suggestion to extricate someone from a tight spot. She is simply in the serial to look helpless and be rescued by Flash.

In contrast to Arden there is the Princess Aura. She is also attractive but in a different way, with long brunette hair and more of a worldly (if one can use that expression here) quality than sweet, innocent (undoubtedly virginal) Dale. Right from the moment that Aura first sees Flash, Priscilla Lawson makes it pretty clear that she openly lusts for the earth man and wants him for her own.

Flash only has eyes for Dale but it's Aura who is a woman of action in the serial getting Gordon out of jams while Arden stands around screaming. I counted at least four times in which Aura saves Flash's life. That makes, by my count, Flash Gordon Life Saving Moments, Aura 4, Arden 0. Yet Flash won't give the poor princess a second glance as he is only concerned about the lovely, just passed out yet again, Dale Arden.

In one chapter, for example, Flash is losing a battle to a gigantic orangopoid (Ray Crash Corrigan in an ape suit). While Dale screams (what else?) Aura asks the High Priest if there is any way to defeat the monster. He tells her of a vulnerabile spot in the creature's throat. Aura then grabs a spear, runs out into the arena (risking her own life in the process) and tells Flash where to strike the orangopoid (much to Ming the Merciless's displeasure). Flash kills the beast and a few seconds later is being hugged by a smiling Arden. Of note, neither Flash nor Dale say a word of thanks to Aura who stands there looking jealous while they hug. Yes, I know it's a science fiction serial, with an emphasis upon action rather than characterization but, come on! Princess Aura saved the day (and Flash's life once again) and she doesn't even get a thank you for it, let alone Flash's affection.

There is one moment in the serial between Flash and Aura in which she asks him why he worries about Dale so much while she's the one who saved his life. She tells him to come with her and she can make him a king. Flash, of course, replies that he is only interested in the earth woman. To the credit of Buster Crabbe, however, subtle as it may be, I thought I detected a slight note of empathy in his voice when he said those words to the princess.

In real life it seems that Priscilla Lawson didn't get many more breaks than did her character in this serial. The role of Princess Aura would be the highlight of her film career, and it's difficult to find much information about the actress after that. Her contract with Universal ended soon after this serial was made (thus her character did not return in either of the two Flash Gordon serials that followed in 1938 and 1940). Lawson signed with MGM but got a handful of forgettable small roles at the much bigger studio (I recall sighting her briefly in Test Pilot), with her final role an uncredited one in 1941.

Lawson's first marriage in 1932 was a short one, with her husband dying the following year. She later had a second brief marriage to actor Alan Curtis after which the actress joined the Women's Army Corps where there were unconfirmed reports that she lost a leg as a result of a jeep accident. Former co-star Jean Rogers denied those reports but the fact that there doesn't appear to be any verification one way or another shows how much Lawson must have simply disappeared from view. She would be only 44 when she died in an LA veterans hospital as a result of cirrhosis of the liver and bleeding from a duodenal ulcer. What a sad life Priscilla Lawson seems to have had.

That's why, among other reasons, I'm glad that she still lives on, in a sense, looking sexy and attractive, plotting, conniving and trying to win Flash Gordon's affection in a 1936 serial. Flash Gordon has a lot to offer for undiscriminating viewers ready to lose themselves in a silly, action filled 13 chapter outer space adventure full of monsters and space ships that can still engage us with its naive charm.

3 out of 4

[King Rat]

1 hour ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

you're making me miss THE ABBEY.

Is this The Abbey in Atlanta?

[LornaHansonForbes]

32 minutes ago, King Rat said:

Is this The Abbey in Atlanta?

No West Hollywood.

[EricJ]

9 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

(The fact that I had my sexual awakening brought on by a television show that featured RAT EATING LIZARD HUMANOIDS goes a long way to explaining why I'm still single.)

I've noticed that Q-Anon theories (like the theory that "Q" is actually one guy, who looks like it) tend to crib old movie and TV-show plots as "real", because A) they're more entertaining, and B ) they have a little...trouble telling the difference.

Even Marjorie Greene's idea that the Democrats were secretly "in" with the Alien Lizard-Men was borrowing actual UFO-theorists' idea that Lizard-Men are out there and planning against us, and...I can't help wondering from which piece of Boomer pop-lore THAT idea might have come from.  🙄

(Actually, Kenneth Johnson wanted the original "V: the Miniseries" to be a version of It Can't Happen Here, which ended with journalists becoming the new free underground--The network thought that was too political, so Buzz Windrip's Minutemen became lizard aliens.)

[King Rat]

10 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

Her brother MARC SINGER, HOWEVER is a different story...

(I think he was maybe my first crush, at age 5 watching V in 1983(?))

I have never understood why this guy did not become a big star. He could even act!

[King Rat]

I have rarely seen a film that took me back more thoroughly to a moment in time than Blume in Love (1973). Good grief, I thought of people I haven't thought of in decades. For those of you who are younger, I can't imagine what you'll make of it. Whether you love it or hate it, are fascinated or utterly bored, this is a dead-accurate picture of the times. Yes, people behaved like this. Ah, the wife swappers. I had always avoided it because of knowing about a particular scene, which cannot be comfortable for anyone to see. It's daring and imaginative for TCM to program this with "divorce remorse" comedies like The Awful Truth, and illuminating to think about the differences.

This is a darker film than Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Paul Mazursky shows us how the characters behave and gives us the inner thoughts of Blume (George Segal), but he doesn't tell us how we're supposed to think about or react to what we see. It isn't a comedy, not much, anyway. When the ex-wife says that she's come to a place where she can be "clear and open and real" in her relationships, do you laugh? (I did.) Do you wince? You can be sure that this isn't presented as a great insight or a dramatic revelation.

George Segal, Susan Anspach, Kris Kristofferson, Marsha Mason, Shelley Winters, and Donald F. Muhich (the psychiatrist) are all perfect for their parts. None of the characters has any real depth, and that isn't a knock on Mazursky or the actors. The idealism is shallow, the sex is shallow, the people are shallow. Blume and his wife-to-be meet at a rally for farm workers where bearded preppy guys in sports coats are playing "Mr. Tambourine Man." Perfect. When the psychiatrist laments that his wife, who's smoking pot, is a victim of a sick society, he's overstating the seriousness of the pot-smoking, but on target about the world of the film. To borrow some familiar lines from Yeats, "Things fall apart, the center cannot hold."

Unfortunately, Blume in Love follows McCabe and Mrs. Miller and other early 70s films in sound-mixing the dialogue too low, so that the audience will miss some of the dialogue. The musical underscoring is regularly mixed louder than the dialogue. The editing is excellent, and the movement back and forth in time (Segal's beard or beardlessness is always a clue to where we are in time; he looks better without the beard, though the neat trimmed one is fine) works well. As Lorna noted only a day or so ago, Kris Kristofferson has screen presence and can act, though he is limited in the kind of characters he can play. Susan Anspach looks and sounds enough like Tuesday Weld that I'd love to see Serial, which reduces similar characters to farce, in a double feature with this film. Marsha Mason is topless for much of the time. Her final scene is especially well acted. Cast George Segal in the right part and he can carry any film.

 

 

[Aritosthenes]

Violet.

Came out last year. (Madam) Justine Batemam Directs this Unique film and the Lovely (Madam) Olivia Munn portrays This Films Namesake. Slow, "Simple" plot. Solid Performances and Script from Everyone Involved. Very (Very, Very) Unique way of telling a Story here.

[LornaHansonForbes]

12 hours ago, King Rat said:

I have rarely seen a film that took me back more thoroughly to a moment in time than Blume in Love (1973). Good grief, I thought of people I haven't thought of in decades. For those of you who are younger, I can't imagine what you'll make of it. Whether you love it or hate it, are fascinated or utterly bored, this is a dead-accurate picture of the times.

I keep a copy of 5001 NIGHTS AT THE MOVIES by PAULINE KAEL in the can

(judge me if you want, but as a result, I've expanded my vocabulary and nitpicking skills tenfold)

in it, she writes a really eloquent piece on BLUME IN LOVE, i looked online for it to copy and paste here, but i cannot. (and because of the alphabetization, her review for BOB & CAROL &TED &ALICE immediately follows. )

next time i find myself there with some time on my hands, i'll transcribe it for you.

[Fading Fast]

Cast a Dark Shadow from 1955 with Dirk Bogarde, Margaret Lockwood, Mona Washbourne and Kay Walsh

 

 

Whether the writers and director intentionally included them or not, there are strong echoes of the movies Suspicion, Night Must Fall, The Postman Always Rings Twice and, even, Angel Face in Cast a Dark Shadow.  

 

But those are issues for modern fans of old movies who have seen them all several times. Back in 1955, when Cast a Dark Shadow was released, movie goers, maybe, had seen each of those earlier pictures once or twice when they had been released a half-a-decade or longer ago. They were probably distant memories by the time Cast a Dark Shadow came out. 

 

Hence, its echoing plot twists and storylines wouldn't have mattered to a 1955 movie goer, which should have made Cast a Dark Shadow a more original ride for them, than it is for us today.

 

Young, handsome Dirk Bogarde is married to much-older and wealthy Mona Washbourne. But Bogarde isn't content living a comfortable life with his elderly wife, so when he overhears she is updating her will, he panics and, well, kills her. He did it so well, he gets away with it, despite her lawyer, Robert Flemyng, not believing it for a second.

 

Oh if only he had waited, as Washbourne was actually planning to leave all her money to Bogarde, but he killed her before she could, so our murderous gigolo needs another rich wife.

 

In the first plot flaw, he chooses a non-murderous female version of himself, Margaret Lockwood, who waited until her wealthy spouse died of natural causes to obtain riches. Bogart would simply have been too smart to marry another scammer, even if she was rich. And she should have been too smart to marry him.

 

Stuck in a marriage in which he can't bilk money from his wife, he now needs a third older rich woman, so enter Kay Walsh. Walsh is a wealthy widow; Bogarde knows the water he swims in best. 

 

Cast a Dark Shadow gets a little muddled here as Bogarde is already married to Lockwood, with one suspicious murder under his belt, so how is he going to profit from Walsh?

 

The real fun is watching young, conniving and psychotic Bogarde try to do the impossible with aplomb. He is a despicable murderer, yet you are engaged with him. Worse, you believe that Lockwood, who has his number, likes and, maybe, loves him. The guy's got something going on. 

 

Just like in Night Must Fall, the plot is bumpy at best, but it's the window into the mind of a killer, Robert Montgomery in that one, that keeps you engaged. Hitchcock milked a similar thread in Suspicion, but ramped it up as, in that classic, you don't know if Grant is a murderer or not until the final scene.

 

In Angel Face and The Postman Always Rings Twice, like in Cast a Dark Shadow, we see smart murderers go to the well once too often and end up paying the price, just not necessarily for the crime they actually committed. All movies are variations on earlier themes.

 

Cast a Dark Shadow has a pretty neat surprise at the end that's better left unsaid for first-time viewers. Unfortunately, though, it also has a not very believable last-minute resolution.

 

Yet the movie isn't really about its plot flaws or "ah-hah" moments; instead, Cast a Dark Shadow is about Bogarde scrambling from woman to woman to strike it rich. It is also about seeing each female lead - Washbourne, Lockwood and Walsh - either being manipulated by or manipulating Bogarde in a constant game of real-life chess.   

 

Cast a Dark Shadow doesn't break new ground, but as with so many post-War British movies, a good story, a talented cast and smart directing produced an enjoyable movie on a limited budget.   

[sewhite2000]

1/17 Lawrence of Arabia (Columbia, 1962)
Source: Amazon Prime

Okay, it's a very long review for a very long movie, as I get bogged down more than a little in the plot, with which most of you are probably already familiar. I tried to sketch only a very broad outline of the final half hour of themovie.

I tend to sort of shamelessly look for the biggest of the big movies when I get on Amazon Prime. Lawrence of Arabia is airing on TCM tonight, at least the night I begin to type this. Sometimes it takes me two or three days to get through a review. But seems as good a time as any to do this one.

Lawrence of Arabia is a biopic about the adventures of Thomas Edward "T.E." Lawrence, who began World War I as a lieutenant in the British army and I believe ended it as a colonel. He united the diverse Arab tribes, infamous for quarreling with each other at the drop of a hat (or turban) and led them against the Ottoman Empire. His contributions were real and significant, but as is often the case with biopics, the movie story doesn't necessarily always jibe with the real-life story, and imdb is overflowing with historic-minded users nitpicking over what the movie got"wrong". As I've stated before on other reviews I've done, I enjoy letting a movie tell the story it wants to tell and don't get too hung up on the discrepancies. So, I'll shy away from bringing up to many of these unless they're relevant to whatever point I'm trying to make. Lawrence's brother, unhappy with the film, wouldn't let them use the title of Lawrence's autobiography, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and who knows if that would have rolled off the tongue as easily 60 years later? I think in the case of movies like this, where a small number of white guys (in Mississippi Burning last night, it was two guys; in this movie, it's just one) swoop in and make things radically better for large numbers of minority people - "white savior" movies, I've heard them called - it's of critical interest to the memvbers of those minority cultures that they be represented accurately. The movie was banned in many Arab countries where it was felt certain hisorical figures and the Arab people in  general were misrepresented. Omar Sharif went back to his homeland of Egypt and arranged a screening for President Gamal Abdel Nasser with the intent of showing him there was nothing degrading about the way the Arabs were portrayed. Nasser loved the film and allowed it to be released in Egypt, where it was a massive hit. King Hussein of Jordan lent his Arab brigade to be used as extras in the movie, so many of the Arab soldiers are portrayed by real soldiers. Actual Bedouin tribesmen and Moroccan soldiers were also used as extras in the movie. Hussein frequently visited the sets and began a romance with a British secretary named Antoinette Gardner, whom he married by the time the film was released. Their son, Abdullah II, became king in 1999.

Lawrence was filmed on location over 14 months in Jordan, Spain and Morocco (and briefly in England, where the first couple of scenes take place). It took longer to make the movie than it took Lawrence to be promoted from lieutenant to major to colonel. Producer Sam Spiegel wanted director David Lean to consider shooting in a more hospitable climate like Southern California or a more politically favorable one like Israel. But Lean wanted to film in as authentic a location as possible, actual Middle Eastern Arabic countries (and it mostly was. The assault on Aqaba only was filmed in southern Spain) . Spiegel was Jewish, and there was some question whether he'd even be allowed to enter Jordan. The British government issued Spiegel a passport that listed his religion as Anglian. He bristled at the deception but finally acquiesced. Meanwhile, Lean watched John Ford's The Searchers multiple times for inspiration. 

"The Other Parts They Could Have Played" (or whatever that thread title is). Speigel and Lean both wanted Marlon Brando for Lawrence. Spiegel had produced Brando before in On the Waterfront, but Brando turned him down, saying he didn't want to spend two years of his life riding a camel. They next considered Albert Finney, an unknown at the time of casting, though he'd garnered attention by the time the movie was released. They put him through extensive screen tests at a cost of 100,000 pounds, but Finney ultimately balked at the demand he sign an exclusive seven-year contract with Spiegel. Meanwhile, O'Toole, equally unknown, happily signed the exclusive contract and got the part. Unsure what movies he made for Spiegel during those years. He made Beckett and The Lion in Winter, but those may have been loan-outs, because I didn't see Spiegel's name in the IMDB credits for those films. Sharif signed a similar deal. He would have to make seven pictures for Speigel at a salary of $15,000 a picture. Having just read that Bogart got $100,000 for The Barefoot Contessa almost a decade earlier, I must say this seems like an incredible bargain. We know exactly what these seven pictures were. They're listed on IMDB. The most famous were Dr. Zhivago and Funny Girl. Sharif was a big star in Egypt and didn't think he'd get premission to leave the country and "go Hollywood", but Spiegel arranged it, and Sharif marveled that a Jew could get the Egyptian government to grant him an exit visa, something he was unable to obtain on his own.

After six minutes or so of the overture (it's one of those grand spectacle wide-lens roadshow movies of the '60s. There are at least four different edits of Lawrence. The restored version TCM airs strives to be as close as possible to the original, matching its lengthy 228-minute running time, including the overture), the opening credits play over an overhead shot of Lawrence puttering around with his motorcycle on the day of his death in 1935. He takes it out for a drive in the British countryside, then swerving to avoid a collision flies over the handlebars into a grove of trees. A pretty brilliant wordless shot of his goggles suspended in a tree branch give us a pretty good idea what's become of him. And if not, we cut to his funeral, where several of the film's major supporting characters briefly relate to the inquisitive members of the press of how they knew him. It's a mix of aforementioned Barefoot Contessa and Citizen Kane.

Jump back 20 years or so to the early days of World War I. Lawrence (O'Toole) is a lieutenant with the British army stationed in Cairo. When we first encounter him, he's hand-drawing a map.  The soldiers around him are happy to not be in a trench in Europe, but there's also a feeling that the "real" war is being fought with Germany. Lawrence is known for being extremely well read and knowledgeable about many matters. However, his superior officers are more than a little fed up with what they deem to be his insolence. He's not explcity disrespectful, but a bit of a stargazer with little patience (or competence) with military order and tradition. Dryden (Claude Rains in his next-to-last film role), who I think is supposed to a French member of the Arab Bureau, thinks Lawrence is just the man to meet with Prince Faisal I (Alec Guiness), the future king of Syria and Iraq, and "appreciate the situation" i.e., assess what his prospects are in the revolt his tribes have launched against the Turks. Lawrence's easily flustered commanding officer, General Murray (Donald Wolfit) can scarcely believe it: "You seem to me to be barely fit to handle your duties here" he tells Lawrence. But Dryden twists Murray's words to his advantage: clearly Murray doesn't actually NEED Lawrence in Cairo. Why not spare him to the Arab Bureau for 10 weeks or so?

And so we have the most famous cinematic jump cut of all time - possible exception: the bone becoming a space station in 2001 - Lawrence blows out a match at headquarters in Cairo and boom! We're in the desert of Arabia, Lawrence having already crossed the Suez Canal by boat  and now riding on the back of a camel with a Bedouin guide (Zia Moyheddin) entrusted with taking him to Faisal. The flame of the match matches the color of the desert sunrise. Lawrence and his companion don't get far before the two men drink from a well belonging to another Arab tribe. Appearing almost like an apparition at first, Serif Ali (Sharif) of the tribe that owns the well rides onto the screen from an extended long shot, at first just a dot on the horizon, all captured by some experimental Panasonic lens used only for this movie, riding his camel inexorably forward, until his features are visible, and killing the guide with his rifle. It's not an auspicious first meeting for Lawrence and Ali, who's a devoted servant of Faisal's and offeres to escort Lawrence the rest of the way. But an angry Lawrence declares he will travel alone and then launches into a diatribe that the Arabs are "a little people, a silly people ... greedy, cruel and barbarous", killing one another over something so trivial as the use of a well (Ali doesn't kill Lawrence for drinking from the same well, telling him "You are welcome"). Ali in turn believes Lawrence is too delusional to grasp what life is really like among the tribes of the desert. Ali thinks it likely that Lawrence will get lost and die without ever finding Faisal, but using his army compass, Lawrence reaches Colonel Brighton of the British army (Anthony Quayle), also assigned to Faisal. Brighton orders Lawrence, "Keep your mouth shut, make your assessment and get out." Lawrence promptly ignores these orders, demonstrating his vast knowledge and giving Faisal advice contradictory to Brighton's, piquing the prince's interest.

Brighton wants Faisal to fall back to the Arabian city of Yenbo after the Arabs have suffered a major defeat, and Faisal indicates he will do so, but he bides Lawrence to remain in his tent after Brighton leaves. He tells Lawrence frankly his people need "What no man can provide ... a miracle". Lawrence wanders in the desert, lost in thought, all the while observed by two worshipful teenage orphans, Daud (John Dimech) and Frraj (Michel Ray), who ultimately become his servants. The light of inspiration shines in Lawrence's intense eyes, and he formulates a plan: the key is Aqaba, a coastal city on the Red Sea in present-day Jordan, which cold provide an ideal port for the British to deliver desperately needed supplies to the Arabs. The port is fortified with heavy artillery against a naval assault but only lightly defended on the landward side. The reason: the landward side sits on the opposite edge of  the expanse of the Nefud Desert, considered impassable by even the expert Bedouin travelers, from any Arab settlements and thus given extremely low priority by the Turks. Lawrence proposes crossing the desert, traveling both day and night the final leg of the journey. If they survive, taking Aqaba should be easy pickings. 

The journey itself covers the next long section of the movie. One night, a member of the party, Gasim (I.S. Johar) succumbs to fatigue and falls off his camel. By sunrise, the rest of the party has reached an oasis, but Lawrence turns back for the lost man, In the movie, this is an act of heroism and finally wins over Ali, who burns Lawrence's British uniform and welcomes him into the tribe by presenting him with Arab robes, which he wears for much of the rest of the movie. This incident apparently happened in real life, but in his autobiography Lawrence seems mostly embarrassed by it, indicating that he wasn't welcomed as a hero but chided by his Arab companions for engaging in an effort so foolhardy. 

Lawrence and his entourage encounter Auda abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn), leader of the powerful local Howeitat tribe and Lawrence persuades him to turn against the Turks. Matters nearly dissolve into chaos when it's reported to Lawrence that the in-fighting between the Arab tribes continues - one of Ali's men has killed one of Auda's men over a blood fued. Not wanting to risk losing his new allies, Lawrence volunteers to execute the murderer. He - and certainly me, too - is shocked to discover the man in question is Gasim, the very man Lawrence has risked his life to rescue. Lawrence is horrified but goes through with the execution. The next day, the alliance intact, Lawrence and the Arab tribes assault and take Aqaba.

Lawrence begins the return journey to Cairo, accompanied by his two servants. They get as close as the Sanai Desert, where Daud steps into quicksand, and Lawrence and Farraj are unable to rescue him. When they finally arrive, Lawrence causes a great affront to British convention by taking Farraj into the officer's club for a lemonade Lawrence himself still also dressed in his Arab gear. Eventually, he's taken by Brighton to meet the new commanding officer General Allenby (Jack Hawkins). He informs Allenby and Dryden of his great victory, of which they hadn't even been aware. Allenby promotes Lawrence to major on the spot and promises him the money and arms he'll need to continue campaigning against the Turks. Lawrence intitially recoils at the idea. In one of my favorite scenes, he describes his execution of Gasim, which has troubled him but not for the reasons Allenby believes he would, finally admitting "I enjoyed it." He also is troubled by the fact he's tried to allay Arab suspicions that the British have designs of Arabia themselves. Dryden is cryptic on the matter - "Diffictult to say" - but Allenby, after admitting "I'm not a politician thank God", gives Lawrence permission to say in his name the British have no such designs. 

And now ... Intermission! During which time, I'll relate a hopefully funny anecdote when I was in college about a friend of mine who took one of his friends to see the theatrical release of the restored version of Lawrence in Austin whatever year that might have been - very end of the '80s or very beginning of the '90s. My friend's friend had had some advance warning that this was a long movie and had watched the first half with increasing anxiety at its lenghth, but had settled into the comfortable assumtion that it was nearing its ending when Lawrence and Farraj returned to Cairo. Then he saw the Intermission title and turned to my friend and began yelling, "IT'S ONLY HALFWAY OVER?!!?" I think he punched in the arm several times to let him know unhappy he was.

The second half of the film focuses intially on the arrival to Arabia of an American reporter named Jackson Bentley (Arthur Kennedy) who's arrived to cover Lawrence's exploits. We saw him briefly at the beginning of the movie in the funeral scene. Bentley is based on a real-life guy who followed Lawrence around. I'm unsure why they didn't just use the real name. Bentley works for a single newspaper, but his articles are syndicated nationwide, and he wants to sell a hero to the people back home to motivate America "to join the war against the Germans ... and, of course, the Turks", he mumbles almost apologetically in a scene he shares with Faisal. Bentley accompanies Lawrence when he stages a track explosion that derails a Turk train, almost as spectacular as the explosion of the titular bridge in The Bridge on the River Kwai, to my understanding filmed at the actual location where the real Lawrence set up just such a derailment. Lawrence gets shot in the arm but shrugs it off nonchalantly, thus adding to his mythical status. Bentley begins accompanying Lawrence everywhere. Another raid doesn't go as well. Farraj is critically wounded and Lawrence, knowing he'll be tortured if captured, kills him (this is foreshadowed by the scene where Bentley meets Faisal, who informs him of the standard Arab policy to not let their men be taken prisoner).

In disguise, Lawrence and Ali scout out the Syrian city of Daraa, occupied by the Turks. Lawrence is captured and brought with several Arabs before the Turkish Bey (Jose Ferrer). While not found out as an Englishman, he does stand out among the prisoners for his pale skin and blue eyes. I think he says he's from the Caucausus or something - which I assume is the root for the term caucasian. The Bey's interest in Lawrence is quite prurient. He wants to ogle and manhandle Lawrence when he is shirtless, for which Lawrence punches him and is promptly flogged before being dumped back out in the street. I don't know that the real life Lawrence discussed this incident in his autobiography, but his Wikipedia bio indicates his experiences as a prisoner were much worse. He was imprisoned for a period of weeks or months and repeatedly sexually abused. Meanwhile, it's a wonder that the film got away with as much homoeroticism as it did. Subsequent rerelases downplayed this aspect of Ferrer's Bey, making him merely appear tyrannical and sadistic. I think only with the restored version was this scene returned to its original running time. However relatively mild his experiences were, they're enough to traumatize movie Lawrence. While he's practically been revered as a god, he insists he's only a man. He puts his fatigues back on and returns to the British forces in Cairo although he doesn't fit in any better than he did at the beginning of the movie. Allenby urges him to support his "big push" on Damascus. Maybe my favorite line in movie history is O'Toole very dramatically replying "I don't want to be part of your .... beeeg .... POOOSCH!" But Allenby appeals to Lawrence's ego, telling Lawrence he has a destiny, and Lawrence relents. Regaining some of his self-confidence,  Lawrence tells Allenby with braggadocio and naivetee that the Arab warriors will come for him, not for the money.

We then move into the final phase of the movie. Lawrence recruits an army of killers and mercenaries who fight only for money and for Lawrence, rather than for the Arab cause, much to the consternation of Ali. They encounter a Turkish contingent that has just completed the wholesale slaughter of the villagers of the Syrian town of Tafas. One of Lawrence's cutthroats begins muttering "No prisoners" and charges the Turks only to be killed. Lawrence takes up the cry, and a slaughter of the Turks commences. The rest of the movie is a race between Lawrence and his men against the British army to reach Damascus first and then what happens after Damascus is releived, as the British and the French have drawn up an agreement to split Arabia between them, and the Arabs aren't exactly keen on the idea.

Lean's film is filled with beautiful images, and he directs with a real flair. The on-location cinematrography is astounding. But what Lean movie isn't visually stunning? Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Passage to India, The Bridge on the River Kwai, etc., etc.  I'm reading on IMDB that Lawrence probably should have had one more Oscar nomination than the 10 it already had, but someone forgot to submit costumer Phyllis Dalton's name for consideration. Unusre if she was overlooked because she was a woman (somewhat infamously, this is also the longest movie ever made with no speaking parts for women - the antithesis to The Women, I guess), but she had the brilliant ideas of making Lawrence's Arab gear appear ill-fitting early on and then to make it thinner and more transluscent to reflect the deteriorating state of Lawrence's sanity as the movie progresses.  Another woman mde significant contributions, film editor Anne Coates. It was her idea to have the stunning jump cut early in the film, inspired by the style of the French New Wave. Lean was originally going to do a dissolve. In virtually all respects, this movie stands as the bridge between the classic epic cinema that had gone before and the revolutionary styles that were to follow - equal parts DeMille, Godard and Scorsese, if you will.

I'm at a loss to provide the vocabulary to adequately praise O'Tooles' performance. His Lawrence is both mystic visionary and occasionally deeply flawed and vulnerable human. He's given great dialogue to utter, largely the effort of frequent Lean collaborater Robert Bolt (There's kind of a sad story of original writer Michael Wilson, a blacklisted Communist sympathizer, who was denied credit in the original release andin subsequent rereleases by Lean and Bolt. But the best revenge is living well, I guess: Wilson finally had credit reinstated in the restored version after both Lean and Bolt were dead. Who wrote what isn't entirely clear, but Wilson focused on historical context both real and fancified for the movie, while Bolt focused on Lawrence himself. And Wilson admitted at least 90 per cent of the dialogue is Bolt's). There are many great moments as when Lawrence describes England as a "fat country with fat people", adding "I'm different"or when he awkardly tries to reinsert himself to British army life, describing everything as "jolly good" until one officer mutters "Lays it on a bit thick, doesn't he?" He's most powerful at his moments when he's tenuously clinging to his sanity.

Sharif in his English language debut is also a tour de force. His Ali beams with pride at his Cairo education and his literacy, is smug and defiant toward and suspicious of the British. Ultimately, he's in awe of Lawrence, but also easily confounded and ultimately alarmed by Lawrence's idiosyncracies. Typical of the day, we have multiple Western actors playing Eastern roles. Guiness and Quinn made careers out of being "ethnically diverse" in an era when it was no big dea (Sharif had a different ethnic background, but also transcended ethncity on screen, as I discussed in my Funny Girl review)l. I like their performances nonetheless - Faisal's weary resignation early on, recharged by Lawrence's energy but never losing  his widdom or healthy cynicism. He looked so much like Faisal he was apparently mistaken on occasion by the stunned Arab extras. Quinn is more curmudgeonly. I like his suspicion of Bentley's camera. The actors playing the British officers are also notable: Quayle's Brighton, at first utterly bewildered  by Lawrence and then admiring of him even as they work at somewhat cross purposes late in the fiml; Hawkins' Allenby is both forward-thinking and a traditionalist, kind of like the movie itself; and Wolfit's Murray is mostly played for comedy - the stodgy old-school officer who gets nothing but annoyed by Lawrence. Rains has a showy glorified cameo as Dryden, impressed by Lawrence in his own way but always practical and dodgy when it comes to stating the truth. Kennedy is pitch perfect as Bentley, I imagine the most identifiable character for Americans back in the day, having his own agenda for glorifying Lawrence but also wary of Lawrence's reputation. Ferrer, another "ethnic chameleon" is a standout in his one scene. Pretty fearless for an actor in those days to embrace a role when the mere hint of "deviant" sexual preference automatically made one a villain.

I can't recommend Lawrence highly enough. A true classic - a term much debated on these message boards - but I think a classic in every sense of the word.

Total films seen this year: 28

 

 

 

  

 

 

[Det Jim McLeod]

The Lost Weekend (1945) TCM -10/10

An alcoholic writer (Ray Milland) goes on a 4 day bender.

One of my favorite Best Picture Oscar winners,  I cannot stop watching if it is ever on TV. Milland deserved his Oscar as well, but this has so many other things going for it. There are many fine supporting performances. Howard da Silva has one of his best roles as  a tough but empathetic bartender. Doris Dowling has some wickedly funny moments as a "working girl" who uses abbreviations. Frank Faylen excellent as a sadistic nurse who takes delight in Milland's misery.. Many powerful and disturbing scenes. I love the on location NYC scenes of Milland wandering down the street along the now long gone 3rd Avenue El. I also liked the Yom Kipper scene at the closed pawnshop. On top of it all is Miklos Rozsa's eerie almost science fiction sounding music score.

[Fading Fast]

12 minutes ago, Det Jim McLeod said:

The Lost Weekend (1945) TCM -10/10

An alcoholic writer (Ray Milland) goes on a 4 day bender.

One of my favorite Best Picture Oscar winners,  I cannot stop watching if it is ever on TV. Milland deserved his Oscar as well, but this has so many other things going for it. There are many fine supporting performances. Howard da Silva has one of his best roles as  a tough but empathetic bartender. Doris Dowling has some wickedly funny moments as a "working girl" who uses abbreviations. Frank Faylen excellent as a sadistic nurse who takes delight in Milland's misery.. Many powerful and disturbing scenes. I love the on location NYC scenes of Milland wandering down the street along the now long gone 3rd Avenue El. I also liked the Yom Kipper scene at the closed pawnshop. On top of it all is Miklos Rozsa's eerie almost science fiction sounding music score.

I'm with you on all your comments and would add that I think, in the movie, Dowling would be a better match for Millland's character than Wyman. I know what Dowling is, but I think those two could make a life on the mend better than Milland would trying to live up to Wyman's world's expectations. 

[Sepiatone]

On 2/28/2022 at 11:41 AM, TomJH said:

Flash Gordon (1936 Serial)

I hadn't seen this famous Universal serial adaption of Alex Raymond's popular comic strip hero in years so decided to sit through its 13 chapters in installments. Boy it was a fun, easy sit, finally watching it in chunks of three chapters at a time.

What can you say about a piece of science fiction hokum like this except that, depending upon your frame of mind, it's a great way to escape the realities (and news headlines) of the day. The special effects of monsters and rocket ships are, shall we say, quaint, and the miniature work of foreign worlds and kingdoms are obvious, yet remain an endearing part of the charm of the serial. The action is pretty well non stop and the broadly drawn characters are engagingly played even if they will never be up for consideration for any awards from the Motion Picture Academy.

Larry "Buster" Crabbe is perfect casting as Flash, the son of a scientist on his way to join his father in Chapter One as the mysterious planet Mongo is hurtling towards Earth, only to have to parachute from his storm wracked plane (along with reporter Dale Arden). Once landed the two then encounter the slightly eccentric Dr. Zarkov, who is about to take off in a rocketship to Mongo to try to prevent its collision with Earth. So what do Flash and Dale decide? To accompany him, of course.

 

Local UHF channel WKBD used to show this one every Sat. night in the mid '70's.  At 11:00 pm.  And introduce it with a rousing excerpt of Mendelssohn's Hebrides overture.

But kinda wish someone could have figured a way to serialize:

  Sepiatone

[Shank Asu]

Spencer (2021) I'd read and heard a lot of hype for this film so my English wife and I were looking forward to seeing this but we both HATED this film.  I tend to watch films with subtitles anytime they are available, but i don't think it's possible to understand Kristen Stewart's talking without them and her performance was laughably bad.  The way she delivered her lines with a rushed whisper and emphasis on the last word of every sentence has become a joke now between my wife and I.  Imitating her voice in this film has now officially replaced Billy Bob's performance from Sling Blade.  How she got accolades for this performance is baffling to me.

The story itself was just plain bad as well.  Felt more like a hit piece against the royals other than the two princes but shows Harry as a more sympathetic character.  We had to force ourselves to finish this one and it took three different nights to finally do it.

If anyone liked this film, i'd be curious to know their thoughts why.

[Sepiatone]

15 hours ago, Shank Asu said:

Spencer (2021) I'd read and heard a lot of hype for this film so my English wife and I were looking forward to seeing this but we both HATED this film.  I tend to watch films with subtitles anytime they are available, but i don't think it's possible to understand Kristen Stewart's talking without them and her performance was laughably bad.  The way she delivered her lines with a rushed whisper and emphasis on the last word of every sentence has become a joke now between my wife and I.  Imitating her voice in this film has now officially replaced Billy Bob's performance from Sling Blade.  How she got accolades for this performance is baffling to me.

The story itself was just plain bad as well.  Felt more like a hit piece against the royals other than the two princes but shows Harry as a more sympathetic character.  We had to force ourselves to finish this one and it took three different nights to finally do it.

If anyone liked this film, i'd be curious to know their thoughts why.

My brother in law, who's heard of the movie but didn't see it because he was disappointed to find out it wasn't about his chocolate Lab, which he named Spencer.  And, yes...

His other dog, a b i t c h, is named Tracy.  

Sepiatone

[Bronxgirl48]

On 3/2/2022 at 10:04 AM, Det Jim McLeod said:

The Lost Weekend (1945) TCM -10/10

An alcoholic writer (Ray Milland) goes on a 4 day bender.

One of my favorite Best Picture Oscar winners,  I cannot stop watching if it is ever on TV. Milland deserved his Oscar as well, but this has so many other things going for it. There are many fine supporting performances. Howard da Silva has one of his best roles as  a tough but empathetic bartender. Doris Dowling has some wickedly funny moments as a "working girl" who uses abbreviations. Frank Faylen excellent as a sadistic nurse who takes delight in Milland's misery.. Many powerful and disturbing scenes. I love the on location NYC scenes of Milland wandering down the street along the now long gone 3rd Avenue El. I also liked the Yom Kipper scene at the closed pawnshop. On top of it all is Miklos Rozsa's eerie almost science fiction sounding music score.

One of my all-time favorites.

"Natch, Gloria, natch"

"Mr. Boy-nem..."

"Delirum tremens is a disease of the night.  Good night"

"Like this....or like that...."

[Fading Fast]

4 minutes ago, Bronxgirl48 said:

One of my all-time favorites.

"Natch, Gloria, natch"

"Mr. Boy-nem..."

"Delirum tremens is a disease of the night.  Good night"

"Like this....or like that...."

"Mr. Boy-nem..."    Perfect.

[CinemaInternational]

19 hours ago, Shank Asu said:

Spencer (2021) I'd read and heard a lot of hype for this film so my English wife and I were looking forward to seeing this but we both HATED this film.  I tend to watch films with subtitles anytime they are available, but i don't think it's possible to understand Kristen Stewart's talking without them and her performance was laughably bad.  The way she delivered her lines with a rushed whisper and emphasis on the last word of every sentence has become a joke now between my wife and I.  Imitating her voice in this film has now officially replaced Billy Bob's performance from Sling Blade.  How she got accolades for this performance is baffling to me.

The story itself was just plain bad as well.  Felt more like a hit piece against the royals other than the two princes but shows Harry as a more sympathetic character.  We had to force ourselves to finish this one and it took three different nights to finally do it.

If anyone liked this film, i'd be curious to know their thoughts why.

The scene with the pearls in the soup is the 2021 equivalent of the wig scene from Valley of the Dolls

[jameselliot]

On 3/2/2022 at 10:04 AM, Det Jim McLeod said:

The Lost Weekend (1945) TCM -10/10

An alcoholic writer (Ray Milland) goes on a 4 day bender.

One of my favorite Best Picture Oscar winners,  I cannot stop watching if it is ever on TV. Milland deserved his Oscar as well, but this has so many other things going for it. There are many fine supporting performances. Howard da Silva has one of his best roles as  a tough but empathetic bartender. Doris Dowling has some wickedly funny moments as a "working girl" who uses abbreviations. Frank Faylen excellent as a sadistic nurse who takes delight in Milland's misery.. Many powerful and disturbing scenes. I love the on location NYC scenes of Milland wandering down the street along the now long gone 3rd Avenue El. I also liked the Yom Kipper scene at the closed pawnshop. On top of it all is Miklos Rozsa's eerie almost science fiction sounding music score.

On top of it all is Miklos Rozsa's eerie almost science fiction sounding music score.

Rozsa's use of the theremin in this picture  was genius.

[sewhite2000]

 1/18 Places in the Heart (Tri Star, 1984)
Source: TCM

Warning: this movie is highly episodic, and it took me a lot of sentences to describe the plot.

Night Three of TCM' month-long theme on accents back in January began with Sally Field attempting to sound like a Texan in this film set in a location pretty near and dear to (a place in?) my heart - Waxahachie, for most of its existence a relatively prosperous farming community 40 miles south of Dallas, though this movie is set in the troubled times of the Great Deression, during which Waxahachie wasn't faring any better than the rest of the country. I wrote extensively before about Robert Benton, who was born on the same day and same year in the same state as my father about 130 miles apart. Benton became the art director of Esquire magazine and for a time dated Gloria Steinem before he co-wrote the Bonnie and Clyde screenplay with his fellow Esquire editor David Newman, which was filmed in Waxahachie itself and in other towns and in the country of the same county. That movie was directed by Arthur Penn, but almost 20 years later, Benton had become an acclaimed movie director himself, and he returned to his roots by filming this period piece on location in Waxahachie.

1984 was a big year for female-focused farming movies. In addition to Places in the Heart, there were Country with Jessica Lange and Same Shepherd and The River with Sissy Spacek and Mel Gibson. All three films featured Best Actress nominees, and Field won. Lange actually turned down the Places in the Heart role.  Also, Depression-era films were a big deal in the '70s and '80s, as we seemed to reach a point as a nation where we could kind of be nostalgic about that time: everything from Bound for Glory to Annie.

This movie, just like Lawrence of Arabia, which I just reviewed, begins in 1935, although Waxahachie of 1935 is a very different place from the English countryside where TE Lawrence met his end in a motorcycle accident. Over the opening credits, we get a kaleidoscope of images of what life is like, everything from people gettinig out of church and eating lunch in a small restaurant to glimpses of the abject poverty everyone, but most specifically the town's black residents, are going through. The Spalding family is gathered for Sunday lunch. Royce Spalding (Ray Baker), the local sheriff,  is called away from the house, summoned by one of his deputies (Jerry Haynes) to let him know one of the town's young black residents, Wylie (Devoreaux White), is down by the train tracks, drunk and taking potshots with a gun. The incident is treated with a "Oh, you rascal, you" mentality, and the sheriff gently admonishes Wylie as he and the deputy approach, and Wylie, sheepish, admits he's drunk and seems perfectly content to surrender it. But the gun accidentally goes off, and the sheriff falls back with a bullet in his heart, killed instantly. Field plays Royce's widow, whose first name is Edna, though I believe that name is spoken only once in the entire movie. Most people refer to her as "Mrs. Spalding". Edna's sister Margaret Lomax (Lindsey Crouse), who operates a beauty shop out of her home, arrives at the house to provide comfort. Edna is faced with the growing realization that she must find work, because she has no idea how she'll take care of her children and doesn't even have knowledge of her late husband's financial status. She admits to Margaret she's never been anything but a housewife.

Margaret's husband (Ed Harris) is a late arrival to the wake. He's been having an affair with a teacher, Viola Kelsey (Amy Madigan, who later married Harris), herself married to a local businessman named Buddy (Terry O'Quinn, future star of The Stepfather and Lost).  They periodically meet and have sex in an abandoned shack on the prairie. 

There is a quick, wordless, poetic but horrifying scene in which we see a group of black people cutting down a lynched body from a tree, which is obviously Wylie's body, a white mob no doubt having strung him up for the sheriff's killing, not caring if it was accidental.It's almost a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment compared to the focus on the goings-on at the Spalding house, but it's one scene from the movie that really stayed with me. Back at that house, the funeral is over, and all the visitors have left except for Margaret. A homeless black man named Moze (Danny Glover) knocks on the door and asks if there are any chores he can do, much like William Holden in Picnic. Margaret wants him to be on his way, but Edna brings him a plate of food, telling Moze he must leave after he finishes it.

Edna awakes next morning to the sound of Moze chopping wood in her yard. Moze recites a list of chores a handyman like himself could be doing for her, but she once again gives him a plate of food and insists he leave afterward.

The local banker Albert Denby (Lane Smith) comes by the house and after offering his condolonces spells out the dire situation Edna is now in, her husband having died with large payments still due on a rather large loan. He suggests that Edna sell her home and move in with relatives. Edna tells him flat out that she won't do this, though she (and we) at this point don't see any promising alternatives. 

That night, a sheriff presumably from a neighboring county brings Moze to Edna's house with an entire set of silverware Moze has stolen from her kitchen and tells her Moze's story is that he works for her. Edna plays along, and the sheriff releases Moze into her custody. Edna is already formulating a plan in her hand and asks Moze how much he knows about cotton farming. She's willing to hire him for that purpose but warns him if he ever steals from her again, "Ill kill you myself'.

Edna travels to the bank not to repay the loan but to ask Denby to teach her how to write a check (something she's never done), so she can buy the necessary crop and equipment to go into cotton farming, informing him she's hired a black man to assist her in this endeavor. Denby thinks both the business proposition and the hiring of a black man are terrible ideas and urges her once again to sell her home, stating he's had to foreclose on many other customers who haven't. Again, Edna shows her determination to make it on her own.

Edna goes to buy seed from a local cotton gin. Moze realizes the dealer, Simmons (Jay Patterson), is attempting to rip off Edna, selling her a lower-quality seed for his top price. The annoyed dealer chews out Moze, his language not explicity racist but tinged with racist innuendo, for what he says was an "honest mistake", but he sells Edna the higher quality seed.

Back on the farm, Moze has his first real conversation with Edna's son Frank (Yankton Hatten), who's about nine. This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie and one of the many great quiet scenes Benton is so good at. The black man and the white boy are initially wary of each other, but they bond, and Frank offers Moze his full assistance and cooperation.

Meanwhile, Denby has taken some pity on Edna but also sees an opportunity to help himself out. He brings his brother Will, a vet who was blinded in World War I (John Malkovich) and who make some income by painting furniture, and offers him to Edna as a board-paying tenant who can help reduce her debt to the bank (and also get out of Denby's home). Will is as reluctant to be a boarder as Edna initially is to have a strange grown man living in the house. She tries to warm up to him but he tells her he simply wants to be left alone and not pitied.

The seemingly eternally **** Wayne makes love to his wife Margaret after coming home from work, which causes them to be late to a dance which Buddy and Viola are also attending. Wayne dances with Viola on the pretext it's just a friendly interaction between neighbors, but she's intuited the reason for his tardiness and doesn't want to be in an affair with someone who's still having intercourse with his wife (read into that what you will about what Buddy and Viola's domestic life is like, we don't get to see much of that). She tells Wayne the affair is over, something he doesn't want to believe.

Frank and his sister Possum (Gennie James), who I wold gues is about a year younger than him, are playing with Will's Victrola while he's out. Angry, Edna calls them out of his room and a panicked Frank accidentally runs the needle across the record, ruining it. Will storms into Edna's room, unaware she's bathing and naked, and rants about her children using his things. She gets angry and defends her kids. The sound of splashing water makes him realize what's happening, and he retreats, highly embarrassed. 

The next morning, Edna and Moze begin plowing her 30 acres of land and seeding the cotton crop.

Viola is distressed by Wayne driving by the school slowly and staring at her, stalker-style. She plans to calm her nerves by smoking a cigarette behind the shcool building but arrives to find Frank and some of the other school boys already lighting up.

Viola drives Frank home from school and lets Edna know what's happened. Edna is reluctant to punish Franks, but asks him what his father would have done, and he confesses he would have gotten "10 good licks". Edna delivers the corporal punishment, and Frank manages to emerge from it pretending in front of Possum it hasn't bothered him that much. Edna confesses to Will that she'll never be able to do that again.

A tornado hits the town, and we witness its impact on a number of the movie's characters. Viola hides with her students behind a piano in the classroom as a shield. Frank funs away from the school in an effort to get home.  In Margaret's beauty shops, a customer shuts a window and seconds later it shatters, the glass lacerating her face. Will makes a desperate search in the house for Possum, who's been hiding in a cabinet. Frank makes it home just in time. Moze rushes in from the field, and the whole makeshift family  rides out the storm in the cellar, the doors threatening to blow open as they're buffeted by the heavy winds. 

After the storm is over, the  Spalding house has sustained only slight, easily repairable damage, but parts of the rest of the town have been devastated: a homeless woman living in her car who offered Frank shelter in it has been killed, the car having been flipped over. The school house has been razed. Buddy comes to Viola's rescue. While embracing him, she sees over his shoulder that Wayne has also come to check on her welfare, but Wayne sneaks away before Buddy can see him. While a real tornado apparently didn't figure into Benton's childhood, I csn personally affirm that Dallas and parts just south are on the very southern edge of what's referred to as "Tornado Alley", and tornadoes are definitely the most common natural disaster in this part of the world. Ahd the damage can indeed be very random and capricious, depending what crazy path the tornado takes.  One tornado we had just two years ago knocked down telephone poles in the office complex in the parking lot adjacent to my apartment complex, while my apartment was thankfully left untouched.

We jump ahead roughly half a year. Will turns on the radio to listen to the farm and ranch report while Edna prepares breakfast. They hear the distressing news that cotton is at an all-time low of 3.5 cents/pound.

Edna visits Denby at the bank and pleads for an extension on her loan, an idea for which he generates little sympathy. She owes $150 on her next payment and has only $24 in her account. Edna notices photos of annual payments being made to the first people bringing in a bale of cotton of an additional $100. This becomes Edna's dream of a way out. She could make her payment, hire some laborers and still have some left over.

Edna reveals her plan to Moze, who's less enthusiastic. He knows too well the physical toll of picking cotton, especially trying to pick it quickly - the backbreaking labor and the tearing of the flesh of the hands. But Edna tells him flat out, it will be worse-case scenario for all of them if they don't bring in the first bale - Moze will have to go back to begging at doors for food; Will will have to move into the state home for the blind; and Edna and her children will lose their home and eithermove in with relatives or be homeless. 

Wayne and Margaret are playing bridge or some other four-handed card game (not sure) with Buddy and Viola, who announce they're moving to Houston. Wayne attempts to take cards out of Viola's hands after a round and lets his hands linger a little too long on hers. She pulls away. Margaret makes a mental note of all this, and after Buddy and Viola leave, forces Wayne to confess his infidelity. She slaps him in the face and tells him she doesn't love him anymore and wants a divorce.

Edna, Moze and the kids work hard in the hot Texas sun, picking cotton, but Edna realizes they must have additional help if they have any chance of winning. She implores Moze to bring in more people. The next morning, he returns with nearly a dozen people from the crowd he knows - they're all black. Edna provides them with cornbread and tea, all she has. Will can't help out with the picking, but seems to have his other senses heightened like Daredevil. He hears a number of trucks driving by and races to the field using a series of wires strung up to help him get around and informs Moze someone else is working quickly to get in the first bale.

Now Edna has to deal with Simmons again to ger her cotton baled. Moze has warned her to be wary of his lowball offers. She's tough. Both budge only incrementally on their initial offers, but Edna says she'll tae her cotton to another gin and that they can get the credit for bringing in the first bale, and Simmons relents. Simmons quietly seethes with anger at Moze's influence on Edna.

The movie begins to wind down at this point. There's a dance at the Spalding house, where Edna proudly dances with Frank, but trouble brews outside the house with the arrival of the Klan with the intent of killing Moze. Will arrives with a gun. He proves to be a predictably poor shot, but he still saves the day by using his Daredevil hearing powers in a unique and inventive way that I enjoyed. There is a bit of a bittersweet endinig to Moze's story. And then we have the final scene at the church, which I won't reveal if you haven't seen it, but it is extraordinary one of the greatest movie scenes of all time that elevates this otherwise competent melodrama into something transcendant. I get goosebumps every time I watch it.

The soundtrack is authentic gospel and country music of the period. There are unusually lively colors for such a drab, dusty setting, rendered by Benton's regular DP Nestor Almendros, who previously won an Oscar for Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven. The effects of the cinematography I'm guessing are less effective on my tiny TV. This is a film I hope TCM/Fathom Event will return to the big screen for its 40th anniversary in 2024. I'd go see it.

Field makes a nice transition from dutiful and loving housewife who depends on her husband for pretty much everything and who, suddenly deprived of him, has to learn quickly to be tough and resourceful in a world going through particularly hard times, not just making an income for herself, but handling all the duties of parenting and learning to interact with other adults. The movie could have thrown in the element of Field finding a new romance - some hunky actor of the day could have helped Edna get back on her feet and get over her grief - but it's not necessary to the story, and Field gives us another woman surpised at her ability to stand on her own so successfully, much like her character in Norma Rae. Perhaps not coincidentally, she won Best Actress Oscars for both films, and Places in the Heart is the one for which she gave her "You really, really like me!" speech that guaranteed she wouldn't be a three-time winner (she was nominated a quarter century later for Lincoln, I think in the supporting category?). Boy, if memes had been a thing in 1984, she would have been one. You just have to look at a list of the names of the actors in the supporting cast to see what a great job Benton and his casting director did - I mean, my God, Danny Glover, John Malkovich, Ed Harris, Lindsey Crouse, Amy Madiagan, Terry O'Quinn and Lane Smith all in one movie.  Glover could have fallen into the trap of the "Magical Negro" that got people upset around the time Will Smith was playing Matt Damon's otherworldy caddy almost 20 years later, but Benton's script (for which he won an Oscar) is too smart and Glover's performance too nuanced for that. Moze is not perfect; one of the first things he does after metting Edna is steal her silverware. In fact, the men in Edna's life are all lacking in some critical way, which only forces her to be more self-reliant. Malkovich is initially a bitter crank, but I like how Will finds ways to be resourceful as the movie progresses. There is maybe some sexual tension between him and Edna - the scene where he unknowingly walks in on her naked and another where he asks her to describe herself physically - but like I said before, the movie doesn't go for the obvious plot twist here. Several people on IMDB complained about the Ed Harris-Lindsey Crouse-Amy Madigan-Terry O'Quinn quadrangle, all of them saying it was totally irrelevant to the main plot and only periodically popped up to take us away from Field's powerhouse performance. I don't know that I agree. I liked the performances of all those actors. It gave me a feeling that this was an actual town where all kinds of people lived, and other things were going on besides one woman trying to save her farm. The '80s were big on fractured storylines - this was right around the time of Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law, and the whole multi-plot, soap opera-type structure was pretty ubiquitous in those days.

Total films seen this year: 29