michaelmaleficapendragon
Joined Feb 2012
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michaelmaleficapendragon's rating
Calcutta was a big hit upon its release, and I can easily see why. It's Hollywood escapism at its finest. Every frame of the film is eye candy to the nth degree. Alan Ladd never looked more beautiful. Hell, no man ever looked more beautiful. Gail Russell and June Duprez are beautiful. The Hollywood version of Calcutta is beautiful, and its exotic doors and windows frame the actors beautifully as well. The film has a relatively short running time (83 minutes), an exciting, and necessarily fast-paced story, and a lot of twists and turns that will keep viewers until the end (and, after the end, as exactly what happened is never very clearly explained). But the story is almost irrelevant to the appeal of the film -- it's merely an excuse for all of the beautiful people, drinking, fighting, smuggling jewels, double-crossing one another, making love, while acting uber cool and looking breathtakingly beautiful the entire time. Josef von Sternberg, who was known for making films in studio versions of exotic locations with beautiful stars and gorgeous photography once said that the best stories don't come from novels or plays, but from newspaper articles. Film isn't really about plot. Film is a dream fantasy -- and Calcutta is pure dream. Okay, it's a male-oriented fantasy: Ladd has two gorgeous women in love with him (and despite the Production Code restrictions, he obviously sleeps with both), who he basically treats like crap... sexy, smoky-voiced nightclub singer, June Duprez is willing to accept his "playing the field"; and packed with guy style adventure (Ladd comes off as a cross between James Bond and Indiana Jones)... but who's complaining. Just sit back and enjoy the dream.
And one of Alan Ladd's best.
"Thunder in the East" boasts excellent direction by Charles Vidor, the camerawork of one of Hollywood's master cinematographers, Lee Garmes (who worked on most of the Von Sternberg-Dietrich masterpieces), and memorable performances by Ladd, Deborah Kerr, Charles Boyer, Cecil Kellaway, John Williams, and virtually everyone involved. The romance between Ladd and Kerr is poignant and unforgettable ("The awning is still blue."), and Kerr is a standout as a blind woman who's afraid to leave the city that she was born in, and knows so well that she can walk through as if she had sight.
The film's political message won't appeal to pacifists, and while there is only one real action scene at the end, the offscreen acts of violence leading up to it are extremely disturbing: a bus load of refugees, many of them children rides off with the children happily singing a song. We later hear that the bus was attacked and that everyone on board had been killed. An English couple attempts to evacuate by driving off in a horse and carriage, only to have their empty carriage return, and one of the main characters has his hand cut off by the bad guys (the attacking Muslim forces) in an attempt to persuade him into complying with their demands.
The open ending, described as "abrupt" in some of the other reviews is a decade ahead of its time. I like to think the odds are in favor of our heroes -- however the main point is that each of the men advancing toward the camera (the primary and secondary protagonists) has undergone a profound change in character as a result of the events they've become embroiled in.
Yes, the film feels a little like "Casablanca" at times (is this a bad thing?); and, no, it isn't quite as great as "Casablanca" (few films are); but while it's not as enjoyable, it's much darker, more realistic (in spite of being set in a fictional state), has a deeper, more profound message, and a much more adult approach. "Casablanca" works so well because the overriding air of cynicism is merely a pose -- with the two most jaded characters (Rick and Louis) finding a cause to believe in. "Thunder in the East" offers little in the way of hope -- only violence (with superior force) can save one from violence. And even then, the outcome remains unknown.
I've only given this film 9 stars because it never rises to the level of a cinematic masterpiece (like "The Third Man," "The Lady from Shanghai," "Orphee," "Meshes of the Afternoon," "The Seventh Seal," or "Shane") -- but for a "standard" Hollywood film, I rank this with the "Greats."
"Thunder in the East" boasts excellent direction by Charles Vidor, the camerawork of one of Hollywood's master cinematographers, Lee Garmes (who worked on most of the Von Sternberg-Dietrich masterpieces), and memorable performances by Ladd, Deborah Kerr, Charles Boyer, Cecil Kellaway, John Williams, and virtually everyone involved. The romance between Ladd and Kerr is poignant and unforgettable ("The awning is still blue."), and Kerr is a standout as a blind woman who's afraid to leave the city that she was born in, and knows so well that she can walk through as if she had sight.
The film's political message won't appeal to pacifists, and while there is only one real action scene at the end, the offscreen acts of violence leading up to it are extremely disturbing: a bus load of refugees, many of them children rides off with the children happily singing a song. We later hear that the bus was attacked and that everyone on board had been killed. An English couple attempts to evacuate by driving off in a horse and carriage, only to have their empty carriage return, and one of the main characters has his hand cut off by the bad guys (the attacking Muslim forces) in an attempt to persuade him into complying with their demands.
The open ending, described as "abrupt" in some of the other reviews is a decade ahead of its time. I like to think the odds are in favor of our heroes -- however the main point is that each of the men advancing toward the camera (the primary and secondary protagonists) has undergone a profound change in character as a result of the events they've become embroiled in.
Yes, the film feels a little like "Casablanca" at times (is this a bad thing?); and, no, it isn't quite as great as "Casablanca" (few films are); but while it's not as enjoyable, it's much darker, more realistic (in spite of being set in a fictional state), has a deeper, more profound message, and a much more adult approach. "Casablanca" works so well because the overriding air of cynicism is merely a pose -- with the two most jaded characters (Rick and Louis) finding a cause to believe in. "Thunder in the East" offers little in the way of hope -- only violence (with superior force) can save one from violence. And even then, the outcome remains unknown.
I've only given this film 9 stars because it never rises to the level of a cinematic masterpiece (like "The Third Man," "The Lady from Shanghai," "Orphee," "Meshes of the Afternoon," "The Seventh Seal," or "Shane") -- but for a "standard" Hollywood film, I rank this with the "Greats."
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