Sex & Melodrama

The Story of Film: An Odyssey 'Sex and Melodrama' (2011)

*** (out of 4)

The six episode in Mark Cousins' series takes a look at the melodrama's of the 1950s but much like earlier episodes, the film jumps around to cover a wide range of topics. We start off seeing a clip of James Dean but then we hear Cousins' say that the real Dean was Youssef Chahina who made CAIRO STATION. From here we take a look at some films from India (PANTHER PANCHALI, MOTHER India) and then the works of Kurosawa, Mexican cinema and Bunuel, Nicholas Ray and even Ken Anger. As I go through this series it's becoming very clear that Cousins isn't trying to tell a general history of film but instead he's staying true to his vision and his opinion by telling you what his idea of the story of film should be. I think this approach might turn many off but if you stick with it there are some very good moments throughout. I think some of the highlights here include a look at ON THE WATERFRONT and we even get to see a location and how it looks today compared to in the film. Cousins has an interesting take on the taxi scene and compares it to a scene in RED RIVER. Overall this is another fine episode but the remark on Dean was... a little off I guess you could say.