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michaelchager
Reviews
Cry Terror! (1958)
New Wave
This is a movie that had to be made. Not much for a plot but it grabs you and makes for wonderful acting. Rod Steiger in full brilliant control, Mason and Stevens in peril, wonderful location shots, big screen shots, risky low budget, new wave economy, suspense entertainment. Could go on a double bill with Breathless. As if improvised the plot twists have unexpected stuff and there is nothing routine here. But it is real life like too scary to watch in numerous edgy scenes. Far too adult for contemporary audiences. And whoever remembers Chryslers on the road in 1958 will love the ride in this convertible driven by Stevens. 1958 is itself a star here. Beautifully photographed and edited and that should be enough, a movie for movies' sake.
The Big Combo (1955)
Rite of Passage
This is not a family movie. How wonderful that there remains this film as a monument to the off-limits neon adult night zone where the rules of an obscene sporty criminal life were as American as college football or a corporate boardroom. This movie is too adult for modern audiences. People doing bad things because they are good at it now means something psychological. In 1955 post WWII there was no excuse needed for boxing, using revolvers, no children admitted, strippers, smoking, jazz, rackets, in which culture a genius like Mr. Brown could operate. Brian Donlevy and Richard Conte, Van Cleef and Holliman bring to life a real movie script. The rule of law requires mastery of the rules of the underworld. Urban movies in dark movie theaters during an era of suburban family life and TV, for older audiences who earlier in life had defeated the superinsane Axis, a sane noir generation also the greatest.
Get Carter (1971)
Family values
This posits a familiar British form of low level civil war not involving the crown but outside of regulated society. Here one Carter takes on the Newcastle underworld as if a working class James Bond but also close to being a serial killer. The pretext is that a family's revenge is a man's job, pre-Thatcher. The women are treated quite a bit more unequally and violently however than in the supposedly offending porn movies at the source of the problem. Carter makes Norman Bates look like a Boy Scout. The movie world still applauds Norman Bates as a dramatic surprise and there is a stream of similar misogynist behavior here rendered watchable by the rational rules of movie underworld revenge. Played for humor and artistry as in a cartoon but in today's world this is more like Exhibit A in the case against screen violence as obscenity. Otherwise this is quite enjoyable entertainment.
After the Thin Man (1936)
Sprawling
If you've got the money this has the time. This explores how far out to take the continuity of loose ends. Levene uses the bedroom phone which was put away in the drawer the night before for quiet sleeping (before the almost scrambled eggs). Frightened by Asta, Levene politely asks if he should put the phone back in the drawer. Hammett was on the screenplay. Levene makes this tick as it meanders to the denouement. Let's shake em up and see what happens. Of course Loy is the master of the comedy of married life. Turns out here like the first entry that the crooks are semi-innocent. How current, the Charleses go from dog owners to starting a family.
Caught Plastered (1931)
Dorothy and Bert
A beautiful print for 1931. Dorothy Lee.gets drunk and sings with Bert in a musical moment of wonder. Wheeler was a genuine romantic lead opposite Lee with Woolsey as avuncular liaison to Mother whose business picks up with the right kind of medicine. There are no slow spots in the 69 minutes this takes. There are several laugh out loud moments. Amidst a stream of consciousness like "Those moth balls are no good. I've never hit a moth with one yet. Still I'm glad I didn't. Because if I did the moth would cry and I can't stand to see a moth ball." The comparison to Burns and Allen is closer than most. The cast is loaded with characters unburdened by Code limitations e.g. Woolsey hooks up briefly with a flirtatious book buyer whose prurient interest ultimately a book can't satisfy, as Woolsey explains to her, losing the customer.
Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
Suspense
Nothing wrong with suspense that evokes strong identification with Allied heroes in WWII. Those in the movie theaters in the US had been guaranteed that Allied losses were not in vain. Baxter personifies what we were fighting for. Tone provides the heroic road to victory. In 1943 there was nothing the war didn't touch. The global patriotism the immigrant Wilder fully expresses is now somewhat forgotten. His direction is impeccable and the camera is of the highest art. The supreme acting talent of the terrified Tamiroff is balanced against his equal and opposite in the terrifying totalitarian field marshal. The collective presence of the Nazis in their motorized columns and their mechanical manners at headquarters mark a curse where death waits to happen.
The Sea Hawk (1940)
Impressive
Dame Flora Robson brings the Shakespearean Elizabeth to life all for a good cause against villain Spain as the proto- Axis Empire. Flynn could not be improved upon in taking over every aspect of this huge movie. Korngold defines the adventure soundtrack and inside the Curtiz concept of a complex of coordinated variables of rare spectacle. Two massive ships connect in combat, the piratical takeover choreographed minutely down to the abandonment and sinking. Lavish sets, costumes, furniture, dialogue, sheer numbers of cast that keep on coming as a preview of WWII production, the wealth of nations beyond the familiar movie budget by a lot. You say this isn't historically accurate but we see it with our own eyes. Not just political optics for 1940 Hollywood but party to Anglophone history America is born in this era and never escapes from clashes of empire.
The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
Two Bogarts
Bogart was someone you want in charge as in Sahara and countless roles where he is the hero. Then there is the guy gone off the rails as in numerous Warners mob movies through his many oddball and psychotic roles later. Then there is here the younger Babs who finds herself in a gothic situation. Babs has a revolver, in a good way, taking the edge off Phyllis from Double Indemnity. As a wife killer Bogie goes well beyond Milland to the outer realms of Karloff and Lugosi. The reduction of Stanwyck to fending off a monster was not such a step back here where her glamour, bounce and acting chops make this memorable.
I Like Your Nerve (1931)
B - movie charm
Young had eloped with Grant Withers the year before this production. This perhaps exploits the factual although implausible that Fairbanks Jr., would be so enthralled. However everything here is implausible, which is the point. The hero breaks up a wedding to claim the bride. Romance defeats finance as would be a theme in the 30s. Young could play powerful roles while still a teenager, here she is 18, but this is Fairbanks Jr.'s movie. He is not stopped by the roadblocks. The hypothetical Central American setting helps because If this had been set in the US the economic and class issues could not have been so readily dispensed with. The movie goer in 1931 gets some momentary relief from reality.
The Lady Refuses (1931)
Her Own Code
This is another Compson story that does not avoid the scandalous. While the Code would not want supposedly middle class moral families exposed to a lower class prostitution story, there is nothing in the plot that strays from praising wealth and condemning immorality. Veblen's conspicuous consumption is the reason to watch. In the absence of strict censorship, high fashion provides cover for quasi-nudity. This not so early talkie has inconveniences like camera noise, bad dialog and incoherent acting. But concerning the looks of apartments, night clubs, the sounds of jazz, fashions, beauty, dark lighting, noisy editing, a blurry camera this is fairly inimitable. To show prostitution as an economic choice was still normal in 1931.
Street Girl (1929)
Earliest RKO
Betty Compson's 4 boys are a successful jazz band with awesome music also from Gus Arnheim. Jack Oakie is quite the dancer. From Wesley Ruggles this has some sound problems and can hear the camera but wouldn't change that. Compson easily drives this highly successful hit for RKO, a true star. Ned Sparks to Compson regarding her break up,"when they're jealous they always come back." Nothing better than a twenties musical based on a jazz band and here with a mushy love story. The piano player is the prime mover. A New York night club floor show with wonderful jazz dancing and proto- Busby Berkeley camera. If you don't like early jazz not so special. Thank Pre-Code for giving us a beautiful Snow White street-wise Aregonian homeless violinist who moves into a spacious one room apartment with four jazz guys and winds up wearing furs and jewels and gives the piano player his rightful romantic expression. For a remake would have had Streisand and Ryan O'Neal.
The Public Enemy (1931)
Cagney
This is the unique intersection of elite talent assembled in one place and time. Robert E. O'Connor holds this together as the father figure. Wellman could not have done it better even if there are some continuity issues. This has the feel of being improvised throughout as this is alive. Cagney brings improvisation to even his standard lines. His meeting with Harlow on the street is the iconic aftermath of the grapefruit scene. The violence is in stark contrast to Blondell's love nest - in all her pre-Code radiance. Wonderful location scenes abound including the opening period flashbacks to the teens era. Among the best acting ensembles Warners ever had especially with the juveniles providing strong nostalgia for the Pre-Prohibition era.
St. Ives (1976)
Worth watching
Apparently the story was derived from a book. That helps the film if not the book. This has little to do with books or any such deliberative thinking, even if the protagonist is an author. This has little to do with feature movies like with suspense or dramatic turns that hold the audience to the end. This is a B- movie/TV show that satisfies an expectation. A better funded production than a Kojak or Rockford this Bronson vehicle is very watchable on TV with excellent hand-held photography, good color, perfect soundtrack, interesting sets, wild stunts, surprises and actors like Guardino as a guarantee of authenticity - from that golden age of caper action. Moreover, an opportunity to see Bronson actually act at which he was very good.
Alias a Gentleman (1948)
B plus
Dorothy Patrick plays a young actress hired by mobsters to play the long lost daughter of parolee Beery to access his fortune. Beery's protege from prison days, Tom Drake, becomes her boyfriend. By the time Patrick spills to Beery that his real daughter is deceased the family bonds have been forged. Clever ending with a nightclub shoot out wraps up this B length feature. The lone flaw is that Gladys George has too small of a role. This is a distant cousin of Vertigo where the actress hired in a criminal deception also gets personally involved. Beaumont's no nonsense direction and MGM quality, vintage 1948, make this entertaining and effortless.
The Great McGinty (1940)
A Sleeper
What Bosley Crowther said, not expecting much from this modest Paramount product. Which grows on you, moving at an Oscar winning pace and no down spots. Not a big picture this meanders, as a tale told in a dive bar, on the theme of personal chemistry. Tamiroff and Angelus provide contrasts with a somewhat surprising result, the script freed, ex machina, from significance. So lucky for movie fans that Sturges found a way to direct what he wrote, populating his world with Demarest and others like him. Fans of Tamiroff have here something worth watching in this forceful unleashed larger than life performance. Donlevy as well.
The Crowd Roars (1932)
The sum of its parts
A quorum of star talent is assembled in this over-the-top melodrama. Cagney cranks up the emotional extremes and gets even more larger than life. Blondell makes it work with Eric Linden who comes of age by the end. Dvorak's career is not enhanced here until toward the end when subtlety is permitted. McHugh is indispensable to the plot although expendable. The benefit of melodrama is the course of obstacles, twists and turns. The unlikely decisions of Dvorak and Blondell in their respective romances are obvious when extremism in this pursuit is no vice. Hawks has it so the action speaks for itself.
The Racing Scene (1969)
Garner's best role
Garner's motorsports quest gave him a life of real intentionality. Here he is immersed in a community that shares his passion that oh by the way comes with the risk of death. From the love of the sport, teamed with experts he trusts, captured in close ups. Nothing is missed of the drama unfolding. And most of it happens as just matter of fact like a home movie in the Garner narration. This quest for elite performance with his team leads to a a notable denouement in Quebec. Talk about living with breakdowns. The inside story is these performers have a very short time frame to prepare anything and nothing is for certain.
Two for the Seesaw (1962)
Seesaw
Not a bad use of film to offer a good play that otherwise would not have reached such a large audience. Here the Previn score is an enhancement. This play is a two person dialogue like a Nichols and May improvisation with Mitchum and MacLaine negotiating the phases of an imperfect and improbable relationship that rather than end in mutual dislike or in living happily ever after, leaves the parties healed and strengthened as individuals. The twists and turns in the dialog drive the action where honesty leads to love being expressed. There is a pronounced cathartic effect in the love made palpable while the instances of temper and domination stand out as human flaws.
Pirates of the Prairie (1942)
The Badge
Holt was in Ambersons that year and later Sierra Madre. Not a problem that he was maybe the best of a certain type in that era. He used the freedom given in these B westerns to make some magic. This is about the sacredness of the badge. This has beautiful photography with a flawless print. Ike is a big plus here particularly with his remarkable singing. Without the horses this is nothing. The task of bringing law to the lawless led seamlessly to the message at the end to buy war bonds. Readily apparent is the reason for the B's: that democracy requires defending, vulnerable to the enemies of its future.
The Fallen Idol (1948)
Transcendent
Sonia Dresdel gives a glimpse of some of the most vivid acting captured on film. Not to be left behind, Sir Ralph delivers a most complex performance of a hidden love affair. And Michele Morgan provides the most perfect object of his affection. Amidst this complexity it's easy for the incredible child actor Bobby Henry to make mistakes figuring it out. And it is a mistake, a slip, that has all the artifice tumble down. Carol Reed's direction is so intense that it all becomes real. This film could go in a space ship as indication to other civilizations that there is intelligent life on this planet.
Trapped (1949)
Worth it
Textbook perfect photography from Guy Roe. A beautiful print. Here there is no spoiler since the Feds are going to win and they are a seamless team. They have John Hoyt hanging out undercover and he is more than enough to carry this to completion. Lloyd Bridges is a very talented bad guy. Barbara Payton was the reason for buying a ticket to this in 1949 as she is beautiful, talented and truly stars here. The final scenes at the trolley yard add unusual visual fireworks. This genre showing T-men in action remains an essential for audience education. A professional job worthy of its subject depicting the Feds and the currency counterfeiters.
Blow-Up (1966)
End of the Code
Between 1934 and 1966 the morality police dictated to distributors. This film broke the Code and restored a mood that was in Pre-Code that of dissolution and degeneracy. In fact, there are no police anywhere in this movie. In the Maltese Falcon, Ward Bond and Barton MacLane guaranteed there would be a prosecution for every murder. Although Bogie loved Astor she was going to take the rap. Not so here, Hemmings has found his match in Redgrave but she is elusive, has a partner in crime and goes free. There remains the question of how Hemmings having bumped into reality will now live. This goes on a double bill not so much with Rear Window as with Vertigo.
Ma nuit chez Maud (1969)
Venus conjunct Mars
One function of the movies has been to teach the varieties of sexuality and romance. The Catholic Church among others enforced an anti-prurience Code on behalf of families but not before Brooks, Mae West et al had gotten on screen. The iconic goddess continued to live but within moral guidelines. Here we have in Fabian a goddess who is from a higher plane of existence, those who encounter her do not recover. Her reappearance at the beach is of surpassing beauty, a vision. The merely human male protagonists protected by Catholic or Marxist philosophy are incapable of genuine escape or victory. Unseen is Fabian's ex-husband, the father of her daughter, also of higher powers from whom certain others do not recover.
Crack-Up (1946)
High Art
There is a plot here which comes down to Ray Collins delivering a soliloquy, pistol in hand, that high art properly belongs to those who best appreciate it not to the museums with their inattentive masses. Who knew Collins was such a powerful actor. Such connoisseurs who criminally appropriate priceless art echoes Goring the art collector, WWII as an opportunity for acquisition. And maybe that is the full debrief. Pat O'Brien stands for the democratic popularity of great art. Claire Trevor delivers a masterclass in modern acting, the focus of what's happening in this deeply mysterious plot, later awarded an Oscar for her support in Key Largo but a more revealing performance here in a leading role. Herbert Marshall guarantees that this is worth watching to the end.
Backfire (1950)
Wagnerian
Amfitheatrof's score is so intense the actors yell over it to be heard. The music played on camera on the piano and by a band with a singer have extremely warped dissonance. The soundtrack imposes a not so subtle conflict expressive of what has gotten out of hand in a noir hijacked by a serial killer. This would not have been a movie to see on a first date. Otherwise this treasure comes from a year graced by perfect camerawork and production quality. This is what a movie should look like and Edmund O'Brien and Virginia Mayo would soon become immortalized in White Heat. The furnishings and fashions are unmistakably 1949.