I Just Watched...

[cigarjoe]

Farewell My Lovely (1975) 

 

 

This post Hays (Motion Picture Production) Code and pre PC "code" version of Raymond Chandler's "Farewell My Lovely" is probably the closest version to the novel we are going to see, it's firing on all cylinders. It pulls no punches, it's serious, dialog wise, doing justice to the novel. 

 

Farewell My Lovely was ably directed by Dick Richards just like an old studio "B" production picture without any noticeable in your face style. The screenplay was written by David Zelag Goodman (Straw Dogs (1971)), and based on Raymond Chandler's 1940 novel of the same name. The gorgeous Cinematography was by John A. Alonzo (Chinatown (1974), Scarface (1983)). All the above combined with an excellent Production Design by Dean Tavoularis, Art Direction by Angelo P. Graham (uncredited) and Set Decoration by Robert Nelson, is what makes this film a true gem. Music was by David Shire (The Conversation (1974), Zodiac (2007)).

 

The real revelation in Farewell My Lovely is Jack O'Halloran's Moose Malloy, in this film version Moose actually becomes more than a cartoon bad guy. You really feel sorry for the big lug and the torch he carries for his lost hooker girlfriend. Moose doesn't care that Velma fingered him for the job and took off with the loot. He just wants to be back in that sweet spot. O'Halloran gives off a Laird Cregar vibe, if we had been in a full blown Noir revival both Jack and Sylvia Miles would have been two of the major new stars, out of this cast only Harry Dean Stanton went on to really make a name in Neo Noir. The film also features Sylvester Stallone in one of his first roles. It's the definitive Marlowe in the correct time period 9/10. 

 

Fuller review with more Screencaps from the ITV Studios DVD here in Film Noir Gangster board and with full review here http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/12/farewell-my-lovely-1975-good-detective.html.

[Sepiatone]

Speaking of "ham" acting, I had to chuckle to myself while looking in on THE JAZZ SINGER the other night, as there seemed to be a LOT of "ham" on the screen, my inward chuckling stemming from the fact that the movie was about a Jewish family.

 

 

Sepiatone

[TomJH]

 

Farewell My Lovely (1975) 

 

 

This post Hays (Motion Picture Production) Code and pre PC "code" version of Raymond Chandler's "Farewell My Lovely" is probably the closest version to the novel we are going to see, it's firing on all cylinders. It pulls no punches, it's serious, dialog wise, doing justice to the novel. 

 

 

 

 

I'm a big fan of this adaption of the Chandler novel, as well (as I am 1944's Murder My Sweet). Many have commented upon Mitchum being too old for the part. To be Chandler's Marlowe of the books, that's true. But his beat up slow moving appearance is still perfect for the role. He's just an older Marlowe. He's tired and seen it all and doesn't have a lot of hope for the future, but there's still a reliable knight of the streets quality about him, even amidst all the seedy ruin he inhabits.

 

One of my real loves of the '75 film is the great atmosphere brought to the production by David Shire's musical score, its graceful sound tinged with a sadness seeming to embody lonely nights in a big city.

 

Take a listen here to a wonderful orchestral arrangement:

 

 

[cigarjoe]

I'm a big fan of this adaption of the Chandler novel, as well (as I am 1944's Murder My Sweet). Many have commented upon Mitchum being too old for the part. To be Chandler's Marlowe of the books, that's true. But his beat up slow moving appearance is still perfect for the role. He's just an older Marlowe. He's tired and seen it all and doesn't have a lot of hope for the future, but there's still a reliable knight of the streets quality about him, even amidst all the seedy ruin he inhabits.

 

One of my real loves of the '75 film is the great atmosphere brought to the production by David Shire's musical score, its graceful sound tinged with a sadness seeming to embody lonely nights in a big city.

 

Take a listen here to a wonderful orchestral arrangement:

 

 

Too bad when they remade The Big Sleep with Mitchum they went and blew a winning combonation by switching the setting to the UK, I don't remember being too impressed I'll have to track it down and see if it was as bad as I remember, I see it's on DVD.

[TomJH]

Too bad when they remade The Big Sleep with Mitchum they went and blew a winning combonation by switching the setting to the UK, I don't remember being too impressed I'll have to track it down and see if it was as bad as I remember, I see it's on DVD.

 

I agree. They shot it in England and decided to set it there, too. They also updated it to the '70s. Why?

 

A major disappointment, especially after Farewell My Lovely. I should seek it out again some time to see if I have a reappraisal.

[cigarjoe]

I agree. They shot it in England and decided to set it there, too. They also updated it to the '70s. Why?

 

A major disappointment, especially after Farewell My Lovely. I should seek it out again some time to see if I have a reappraisal.

I've just been breezing through the IMDb page and it's reviews and comments, some say it follows the details and dialog of the book quite closely but then that would make it quite out of place in the 70s. I'll break down and get it, has James Stewart, Sarah Miles, Richard Boone, Oliver Reed, Candy Clark, Joan Collins, and John Mills in the cast, should be interesting mess. ;-)

 

As to your why? apparently the bottom line of not having to recreate LA of the 1940s, big mistake.

[JamesJazGuitar]

I agree. They shot it in England and decided to set it there, too. They also updated it to the '70s. Why?

 

A major disappointment, especially after Farewell My Lovely. I should seek it out again some time to see if I have a reappraisal.

 

As for the location being England;   It would have looked rather strange to have Oliver Reed and Joan Collins in Southern California. 

[TomJH]

I've just been breezing through the IMDb page and it's reviews and comments, some say it follows the details and dialog of the book quite closely but then that would make it quite out of place in the 70s. I'll break down and get it, has James Stewart, Sarah Miles, Richard Boone, Oliver Reed, Candy Clark, Joan Collins, and John Mills in the cast, should be interesting mess. ;-)

 

As to your why? apparently the bottom line of not having to recreate LA of the 1940s, big mistake.

 

I don't recall if he does have the part, but I can definitely see Richard Boone in Bob Steele's role of Canino.

[ChristineHoard]

I just watched a 1991 doc on CBS called "The Heroes of WWII" narrated by Walter Cronkite (it ran after the network evening news here in Atlanta).  The camera footage of Pearl Harbor and other war scenes was amazing.  The only downside was that the background music was kind of loud while the Pearl Harbor vets were talking about their experiences.  Otherwise, excellent and important viewing on this 75th anniversary.

[film lover 293]

"The Night Caller" aka "Blood Beast From Outer Space" (1965)--Starring John Saxon.

 

Not bad British sci-fi movie, done on a Low Budget.  Don't let the dreadful title song/love theme scare you off.  

 

The plot:  Remnants of what scientists think was a meteorite of some sort land in the British countryside.  The scientists can't explain why the thing landed, not crashed.  The remains of it are stored in a laboratory--and things start to happen.

 

The actors are very matter of fact about everything.  The use of special effects is kept to a minimum.

 

Don't bother looking for either title on TCM.  Neither is the title in director John Gilling's filmography or star John Saxon's filmography.  I found the film on imdb under the aka title listed.  The print I saw on archivedotorg had the title as "The Night Caller".

 

Interesting film that recovers after a bad start.  2.4/4

[LawrenceA]

"The Night Caller" aka "Blood Beast From Outer Space" (1965)--Starring John Saxon.

 

I saw this on DVD with a title that was a combination of the two. I think I got it from Netflix about 10 years ago:

 

 

I enjoyed it as well.

[NickAndNora34]

I watched Hairspray Live last night with my friend. We watched as a way to celebrate both of our birthdays. I was naturally impressed with all the Broadway alums who were in the cast. I think they redeemed themselves with this after the disaster of "Peter Pan Live." (I only watched video clips and trailers for Peter Pan, but decided to stay away from it because Christopher Walken was cast as Cap Hook). 

 

Something funny: I predicted that the next live musical would be Bye Bye Birdie or West Side Story, and guess who was right? They're doing Birdie next December. They should hire me to work for their station; I already predict the live musicals they have planned. Mark my words: West Side Story and Music Man are next. 

[Hibi]

It's odd they are doing Bye, Bye, Birdie as it was done once before on tv. Maybe 10 years ago or so and was a ratings disaster. I dont think it was done live though.

[RoyCronin]

I remember that 1990s version with Jason Alexander....pretty awful.  I heard that they are casting Jennifer Lopez as "Rosie" in the live one?

[Hibi]

I remember that 1990s version with Jason Alexander....pretty awful.  I heard that they are casting Jennifer Lopez as "Rosie" in the live one?

 

I assume she's playing that role.........was it that long ago? TIme flies!

[scsu1975]

The Mummy’s Ghost (1944) youtube, with Korean-type subtitles

 

Entertaining yet completely idiotic entry into Universal’s mummy series of the 1940s.

 

John Carradine (who gets top billing) plays an Egyptian priest who is ordered by George Zucco to go to America and bring back the mummy Kharis (Lon Chaney, Jr.). Now this is just the type of crap that Donald Trump needs to put a stop to.

 

Meanwhile, in New England, Robert Lowery is in love with Ramsay Ames, who happens to be of Egyptian descent. In fact, she is really the reincarnation of the Princess Ananka, whom Kharis had/has/always will have the hots for. Lowery’s professor, played by Frank Reicher, manages to decipher some hieroglyphics, which brings us to a major idiotic point. You see, the big breakthrough for Reicher comes when he translates the number “nine.”  Duh. Apparently he can translate hieroglyphics, but not Egyptian numerals. This clown needs to take my history of mathematics class. We quickly move to major idiotic point number 2. While Reicher is brewing 9 tana leaves, the mummy just happens to walk out of the woods nearby. Where has he been hiding since the last film? In the Rocky De La Fuente campaign? This leads to major idiotic point number 3. The tana leaves are supposed to sustain Kharis, so what does he do? He chokes the stuffing out of Reicher and shuffles off without taking a sip.

 

The ending is nonsensical, especially since, if memory serves, Ananka awakens in the next film … in Louisiana.

 

There are so many other idiotic points that they are too numerous to mention, but here are a few. Ames’ hair starts developing white streaks; people notice, but nobody says “**** lady, what did you do to your hair?”  One of the investigators declares “If those aren’t mummy footprints, I’ll eat ‘em” … but it’s never clear if he means he’ll eat the footprints – or the mummy. (Okay, did that one just for me).

 

The supporting cast is good, headed by Barton MacLane as a detective. For film buffs, silent leading lady Claire Whitney has a substantial part as Reicher’s wife. The producers also threw a bone to silent film western star William Desmond by having him appear in one scene, with no dialogue. Speaking of bones, Peanuts the dog does a nice job.

 

 

 

 

George Zucco explains to John Carradine just how many spam posts he intends to make on the TCM Message Boards.

[film lover 293]

"Earth versus the Flying Saucers" (1956)--Starring Ray Harryhausen's Special Effects, Hugh Marlowe, and Joan Taylor.

 

The plot: aliens attack a military base to stop a rocket project that is meant only for space exploration.  A soldier shoots first, and mayhem ensues.  Eventually, the whole world is threatened, because of some fools in Washington D.C.  

 

Matter of fact B movie knows not to let dialogue and plot slow the action down.  The flying saucers are introduced in films' first five minutes, and they and their inhabitants are very visible from that point on.  Marlowe is brusque and businesslike as the man who must save the country from its' leaders, as well as the space creatures.  Taylor plays the 50's version of The Perfect Wife.  All hell may be breaking loose around her, but there's never a hair out of place, an outfit wrinkled, and shoes and outfit always match.   

 

Harryhausen's special effects deliver, most effectively in the initial and final battles.  Things go boom, get zapped, collapse, and are vaporized.  The saucers are more lifelike than the actors.

 

Film is a philosophic opposite of "The Day The Earth Stood Still" (1951).

 

Fine special effects and a minimum of pseudo-scientific yapping make this a winner.  3.2/4

 

Source--archive.org.  Search "EthvFlScer19561".

[scsu1975]

"Earth versus the Flying Saucers" (1956)--Starring Ray Harryhausen's Special Effects, Hugh Marlowe, and Joan Taylor.

This film contains one of my all-time favorite lines, spoken by Tom Browne Henry:

"When an armed and threatening power lands uninvited in our capitol, we don't meet him with tea and cookies!"

[film lover 293]

"Message From Space" (1978)--Wild Japanese take on "Star Wars" (1977), "Battlestar Galactica" (1978), "Star Trek"( television series) and about fifteen others--I quit counting after half an hour (film is 107 minutes long).

 

The plot;  The planet of Jelusia has been taken over and ruined by the evil Gavannas.  The leader of what is left of Jelusians scatters eight magic seeds to the wind and tells his granddaughter that she must go where the seeds go; together she and the people the seeds choose to find them will save the planet.  She then sails off into the night--on a motorized schooner.

 

Film relentlessly copies scenes and characters from Star Wars and any other film it can fit in.  There is a supposed-to-be-cute little robot that is called Beba, instead of R2D2; a Bad copy of See-Threepio that's in one scene, then vanishes; the heroine wears a gown that looks like one Princess Leia rejected; a scene in a intergalactic bar where we meet the hero (Vic Morrow).  The main villain even tries to copy the voice of Darth Vader (the attempt is a flop).  There are often repeated shots of the underside of the evil battleship from Star Wars or maybe Battlestar Galactica.  One of the characters actually says to the heroine "I'll get you, my pretty!"  There is talk of "chicken runs" about racing.

 

The special effects are wildly inconsistent, varying from cheapjack to impressive looking.  The color scheme is brighter than in a Hammer horror film.  Things go boom, explode, swords shoot lasers, with amusing regularity--anytime the good guys are in trouble, which is most of the time.

 

One character mutters "This is ridiculous".  Perfect description of the film.  3/4 on a "So Bad It's Good" scale.

[cigarjoe]

The Drowning Pool (1975)

 

 

9 years after making Harper (1966), Paul Newman reprises his role of private eye Lew Harper in The Drowning Pool. The Harper character is based on Ross Macdonald's private eye Lew Archer who was based in the fictional town Santa Teresa (Santa Barbara) just North of L.A. 

 

The film was directed by Stuart Rosenberg (Cool Hand Luke (1967), Voyage of the Damned (1976)), and written by Tracy Keenan Wynn, Lorenzo Semple Jr. (The Parallax View (1974) and Three Days of the Condor (1975)), and Walter Hill (Hickey & Boggs (1972), The Getaway (1972), Hard Times (1975), Last Man Standing (1996)). 

 

The cinematography was by Gordon Willis (Klute (1971), The Godfather (1972), The Parallax View (1974), The Godfather: Part II (1974), Pennies from Heaven (1981), the music was by Michael Small (The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), Black Widow (1987) Night Moves (1975)) with an instrumental version of 1971 hit song "Killing Me Softly" composed and conducted by Charles Fox serving as the leitmotif for the character Iris whenever she is on screen. 

 

The film chugs along through various intrigues and colorful characters, bayou cajuns, the trusting ditsy prostitute Gretchen, the crooked cop Franks, the **** trophy wife of Kilbourne, Mavis. The film is entertaining enough, with some interesting locations, but it seems a bit old fashioned and restrained comparatively to 1975's Night Moves, I still like it. 8/10 

 

Fuller review in Film Noir/Gangster board topic and with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-drowning-pool-1975-louisiana-noir.html

[RoyCronin]

The "Here's Lucy" episode with Liz and Richard. Lucy gets "The Ring" stuck on her finger. Mayhem ensues. I laughed as loudly as I did when it first aired. Liz showed that she had a real flair for comedy....Richard, not so much.

[TomJH]

The Brotherhood (1968).

 

A Mafia drama about, among other things, conflict between some heads of the organization wanting to behave on the surface like a respectable modern business, as opposed to one other who is ready to resort on occasion to "the old ways" of brutality and violence with opponents.

 

This film died a quick death at the 1968 box office, becoming enough of a concern that some Paramount executives were worried about spending the big bucks on a film adaption of Puzo's The Godfather a few years later. The Francis Ford Coppola film, of course, was a huge hit which has gone on to become a film legend, while The Brotherhood is pretty much forgotten today.

 

But this earlier Martin Ritt directed Mafia exploration, while lacking the drama and epic quality of the Coppola film, still has some things to recommend it. Kirk Douglas is solid as one of the heads of a Mafia syndicate in conflict with other heads of that organization as to how to deal with "finks," as Douglas calls them. The other heads want to stay out of the headlines as much as possible. They also want to expand the business in ways that the more cautious Douglas doesn't like.

 

The Brotherhood precedes The Godfather by having a big marriage sequence in which all members of the family and old members of the Mafia gather for a festive occasion. Douglas plays the gracious host, and is full of ebullience and charm. At one point, though, he takes a few seconds to talk to two torpedoes who have just returned from having made a hit for him. Reassured from them that all went well, Douglas is immediately back to the smiles and charm as party host.

 

Cast in the role of Douglas's younger brother who wants into the organization is Alex Cord. I'm tempted to call him Alex Cord of Wood because that would best sum up his performance. If ever there was a contrast in what is and is not charismatic on screen it would be a comparison between Cord and Douglas.

 

Irene Papas, playing Douglas's wife, is largely wasted in the film, I'm sorry to say. However, playing an old time Mafioso big boss that Douglas respects is Hollywood veteran Eduardo Ciannelli, and Ciannelli is terrific in his part, with one scene that is quite riveting. It's nice to see the character actor with an opportunity to still strut his stuff in a role that was ideal casting for him (you might regard it as the character that he had played in 1937's Marked Woman thirty years later).

 

Also impressive in this drama is Luther Adler as one of the heads of the Mafia. Luther will play a very strong scene in this film with Douglas that is the highlight of the production. For reasons of plot giveaways I can't reveal the contents of this tense sequence. Suffice it to say, if the film had had one or two other scenes as potent as this one The Brotherhood might be better remembered today.

 

A minor crime drama, in the final analysis, one distinguished by some good performances, and that gripping scene between Douglas and Adler.

 

 

3 out of 4.

[Fedya]

The Search (1948)

 

Ivan Jandl plays Karel Malik, a young Czech boy who survived the Auschwitz death camp and now that it's 1946 is being transported with lots of other children to UN refugee camps. He's particularly afraid of people in uniform, so he flees at the first opportunity, eventually being discovered by GI Montgomery Clift.

 

Meanwhile, Mrs. Malik (Jarmila Novotná) is going from one refugee camp to the next searching for her son, who she just knows is still alive. Of course, we all know that he's alive too.

 

The movie is filled with excellent performances, by Jandl, Clift, and Aline MacMahon as a refugee camp administrator. Even Wendell Corey acquits himself well as Clift's friend and the guy billeting him. The movie also used authentic locations in the American sector of occupied Germany for verisimilitude. If the movie has one problem, it's that we know from pretty early on that mother and son are going to wind up together at the end. If the studio had tried to have an ending that didn't have mother and son reunited, there would have been riots. But that's a very minor flaw.

 

9/10.

[film lover 293]

"King Kong vs Godzilla" (1962)--Starring the title two.

 

This one starts off with a quotation from Shakespeare.  The film gets the action started quickly after that dose of culture.

 

A nuclear submarine in the Arctic Ocean somehow awakens Godzilla, who has been slumbering in the middle of an iceberg.  He breaks his way out, starting a seaquake which takes care of the submarine and crew, then Godzilla heads for Tokyo, stomping toy villages and airbases in his way.  Meanwhile, King Kong has been located on a faraway island.  A ratings mad television executive decides to bring Kong to Japan.  Film goes from there.

 

The film's special effects vary from dreadful to somewhat scary (film has one successful monster--it's neither of the title ones).  CalTex Oil (I think they are now part of Chevron) got a big boost, as their name is prominently displayed on a toy train that derails.  Sharp eyed viewers can see the edge of a bathtub in two nautical scenes.  Kong appears to have a case of the mange.

 

Films' score is ripped off from "The Creature From The Black Lagoon", and classical music.

 

A newscaster remarks that Godzilla is moving "in a northwesterly direction"--one of the prerelease names for "North By Northwest" (1959).

 

On a So Bad It's Good scale, film rates 3.3/4.

[TomJH]

"King Kong vs Godzilla" (1962)--Starring the title two.

 

 

Thought you might like a photo of the two participants going at it to accompany your review, filmlover.

 

.

 

Are these two fighting or dancing here? Ali Vs Frazier this is not!