Review older films here: 1979 and earlier - Page 5

Although the motive isn't entirely clear, the shooting down of Leslie Howard by a German Junkers JU 88 while in a civilian passenger plane (a DC-3) flying from Portugal to England - along with all the other passengers (including children) and crew - was no accident. The story would lend itself to a movie in its own right. May they all RIP.

Dana

This afternoon I watched the 1939 British film "The Four Feathers." It's ...


The color is Technicolor of the supersaturated kind. I thought for a moment i was seeing a travelogue but then, I doubt that most readers of this post would know what a travelogue was. Hence, the link.

In some ways this film is unique for the period in that much of it was shot on location in the Sudan. (The Brits always called it "The Sudan." You know where that is of course.)


If words don't do it, how about a map?



"I see," said the Blind Man. (Oops! That's part of our story.)

Mucking around in that part of the world seems to have been a British tradition. Mention of Khartoum (The capital city of Sudan which I know you already knew.) always conjured up thoughts of exotic locales in my mind. Veiled women, camels, spies lurking in every door, etc. That isn't far off actually. This is the fourth filming of the original novel of the same name mentioned above. Three more films with the same title have been made since 1939 making seven in all, but some think this is the one that got it right. One would hope so.

Lots of British military on parade, stiff upper lips, explosions, fights with Dervishes, Fuzzy-wuzzies and other local tribes. Considering that there was no such thing as CGI in 1939, the scenes of huge numbers of tribal warriors on the move is most impressive. (Thoughts of the 1962 film "Lawrence of Arabia" came to mind.)

See what I mean? The Brits loved to play in the sand in this part of the world. And of course fought the Germans there in WW II. Rommel vs. Montgomery, et al.

This film was directed by Zoltan Korda and produced by his brother Alexander Korda. (Vincent Korda, a third brother, was also a noted film producer/director e.g., "The Longest Day" 1962) It is a well-made movie, especially so for its time.

It's on a Netflix rental SD DVD © 2005. Technicolor. OAR 4x3. Mono sound. Playback was problem-free.



Dana

Today I watched "Random Harvest" ...


It was quite a successor to "Mrs. Miniver" for Greer Garson and undoubtedly would have gotten her at least another Academy Award nomination if she's been eligible. Nowadays the studio would have managed its release so she would have been eligible. It brought some attention, as did the popular novel, to a condition known as "shell shock" or more accurately combat stress reaction (CSR).

It seems to me that there were several films of this period that used amnesia as a plot mechanism, whether accurately or not. A wack on the head = amnesia.

On a Netflix 2005 SD DVD restored and remastered version. B&W. OAR 4x3. Mono audio. It played well.


Dana

Tonight I finished watching "Malta Story":

It featured an all-star UK cast including Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Anthony Steel, Muriel Pavlow, Flora Robson and others who appear briefly in bit parts.

On the one hand, I thought Alec Guiness was miscast. He seems almost uncomfortable in this leading, romantic role. The young, lovely lesser known female lead Muriel Pavlow (still alive!) outplayed him. She is more lively and relaxed. Maybe Alec was trying too hard with the stiff upper lip. Of course the late Jack Hawkins was always tops. Those who know Flora Robson as an English character actress may find her playing a Maltese mother a bit disconcerting but I don't have that frame of reference and thought she was very believable.

The real star of this movie is Malta itself. I read a book years ago about Malta's struggles in WW II as an unsinkable aircraft carrier blocking the Axis supply route to North Africa from Italy/Sicily. Its people suffered terribly. The island itself received the George Cross in 1942 awarded by King George VI. "To honour her brave people, I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history."

The film incorporates archival wartime footage of aerial combat, ships at sea and the dramatic arrival of the oil tanker SS Ohio in Malta harbor so battered and crippled that it was tied to a destroyer to keep her afloat and never sailed anywhere ever again. Her ordeal alone is worthy of a movie.

This film really is a tribute to the Maltese and the men and women of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force who helped defeat one of the greatest menaces to civilization in history. It makes most so-called heroic films look cheesy and cheap by comparison. For airplane buffs, there are quite a number of shots of real Spitfires, Bristol Beauforts, Fairey Albacores and German airplanes of the period.

It's on a SD PAL Region 2 DVD released in 2004. B&W. OAR 4x3. Mono sound. I own it but had never watched it with my current 47" LCD and OPPO Digital BDP-83. It played well. Netflix has it but some say it is a Chinese copy with Chinese subtitles. This is what my keep case cover looks like.



Don't settle for less.

Dana

Bill,

The last two posts you've put up apparently include images of movie posters. What I see is a white rectangle that says "No hotlinking please. MoviePosterDB.com."

I get mine mostly from Wikipedia.

Dana

"The Fallen Idol" is a 1948 UK film produced and directed by Carol Reed based on the short story The Basement Room by Graham Greene who also wrote the screen play.


... lead to a seat-squirming, suspenseful conclusion. (Sorry. Don't want to give the final scene away.)

The film was released in the USA in 1949 and re-released here in 1954.

It's filled with top flight actors including Ralph Richardson, Michèle Morgan, Jack Hawkins and Bernard Lee (early in their film careers) and a child actor Bobby Henrey in the lead role. (This was essentially his one-and-done movie career.)

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay, and won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.

It's a dandy film in its own right with terrific cinematography by Georges Périnal and solid acting by a very competent cast. But, it occupies a place in film history because of one man - the director Carol Reed. This film was one of a succession of films - Odd Man Out (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948) and The Third Man (1949) - noted for their excellence which established Reed's reputation.

This SD DVD issued by Criterion includes a special feature made just for Criterion in appreciation of Carol Reed, consisting of interviews and film clips. He was considered a director's director, a man of great patience, respectful of his actors and especially gifted regarding the direction of child actors.

A Netflix rental. SD DVD issued in 2006. B&W. OAR 4x3. Mono sound. Playback was problem-free.



Dana

No problem. Whatever you did fixed things.

Dana

Well done.

There is little doubt that Lindbergh was a racist and a Nazi sympathizer. Certainly an isolationist. But, a majority of the country was until Pearl Harbor. Ambassador to Britain Joseph Kennedy - the father of Ted, Jack and Joe Jr., all killed in mid-life - also thought Nazi Germany was too powerful/dangerous to fight and that Britain would lose its battle with Nazi Germany.

Lindbergh was naive and over-impressed with Germany's air force. He had plenty of company at the time.

IMHO.

Dana

"I Was Monty's Double" is a 1958 UK film directed by John Guillermin, from a screenplay adapted by Bryan Forbes. It was based on a book by M. E. Clifton James, the real impersonator of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the commander of all Allied ground forces during the D-Day invasion of Europe in 1944.

The film utilizes Clifton James in person to relive his exploits, although of course the film-makers had to invent some scenes to provide more action, including a fictitious attempt by the Germans to kidnap the impersonator. The film has a bit of tongue and cheek about it and plays well. I read both the original book and saw the film years ago, possibly on VCR tape.

The resemblance of Mr. James to the genuine general is uncanny.

This is on a PAL Region 2 SD DVD released in January, 2007. B&W. OAR 4x3. Mono sound. It probably is a copy from tape mentioned earlier. The intensity of the black and white varies but may be caused in part by the use of filters to simulate nighttime scenes shot in broad daylight. It is quite enjoyable in any event.



Dana

Bill,

You win the "Who has the biggest movie poster" contest.

Dana

Last night I had the privilege of seeing the 1951 film "The African Queen" on Blu-ray. Possibly the best film of all time.

It's been reviewed by just about everyone. I won't attempt another. Just outstanding in every way. And the digital restoration is a huge success. I hope that this results in a BIG financial payoff so the studios will invest in more such restorations of classic movies. Lawrence of Arabia anyone?

Finally, a new Special Feature is included "Introducing Chaos: Making The African Queen" that runs for a little over an hour and is very informative, not only about this particular film but also about the problems with using three film strip Technicolor cameras on location. (Huge 4' x 3' wooden boxes for soundproofing the noise of the already large camera inside with its three separate primary color film strips running in sync.)

Don't miss it.

Dana

Tonight I watched a 1944 film "Ministry of Fear." I'd call it a "sleeper," meaning a film that has escaped a lot of notice but is a gem of a certain genre. One reviewer has called it "... a well-made, thoroughly gripping and intelligent example of film noir."

Another review captures its essence well.


It features a cast that was destined for bigger roles and more attention later in their careers. Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Carl Esmond, Hillary Brooke and Dan Duryea. It's notable for the director, Fritz Lang and a wardrobe by Edith Head, an A-film costume designer if there ever was one! (You can win a trivia contest with this question. "Who has won more Oscars than any other woman in history?" Answer: Edith Head with eight!)

This wasn't one of them but it's a good flick nonetheless.

Yet, curiously it's not available on a NTSC DVD. I had to order a PAL Region 2 DVD to see this movie. Strange. B&W. OAR 4x3. Mono audio. It plays well.



Dana

I recently watched the 1949 UK film "The Small Back Room."


It's an "Archers" ensemble cast meaning that many of the actors had appeared in earlier Powell and Pressburger films.




The Criterion Collection SD DVD was released in 2008 and includes excerpts from Michael Powell's audio dictations for his autobiography. So we hear Powell's opinions and observations about this film and related matters in his own voice although he died in 1990.

This DVD also includes an interview with award-winning British cinematographer Christopher Challis that is very interesting. He was born in 1919 and is still alive!

These Criterion Collection discs are very special in that the film itself is usually restored to first class shape and there is added content of value to the film enthusiast.

While the film has artistic merit, it didn't do well at the box office. Powell accepted that the fault was his. He saw it as a love story in a WW II setting. The Brits may have seen it as a WW II story with love interest thrown in. By the late 1940s, the Brits were tired of WW II. They'd lived through it, had a lot of heroic "I won the war" movies thrown at them immediately after, and weren't ready to flock to yet another war drama, especially one in which the protagonist spends most of his time feeling sorry for himself.

I thought the film was a bit artsy, featuring some special effects that were supposed to simulate the psychological problems of the leading character that didn't come off. The type of anti-personnel bomb depicted had no counterpart in fact and conveniently falls in small numbers only in a few locations. Its resemblance to a benign object that a passerby might pick up is never fully developed.

Finally, on a personal note, while the penultimate bomb disposal scene is supposed to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, it is tame compared to those offered in the 1979 UK TV series "Danger UXB" since released on four SD DVDs in the USA.

Worth seeing for its historical value as one of the Archers productions, it falls short of being memorable.

It's a Netflix SD DVD rental. B&W. OAR 4x3. Mono sound. It plays well.

Dana