Union Station (1950)

☆ ☆ ☆

Union Station (1950) – R. Maté

Snappy by-the-numbers police procedural with William Holden as the head railroad cop at Union Station (which may or may not be in Chicago) who has to deal with a kidnapping case.  Director Rudolph Maté shoots this as a noir but the tone is light not dark even if the kidnapper seems especially brutal and the cops are not above ignoring their prisoners’ rights.  Perhaps Police Chief Barry Fitzgerald with his Irish charm (turned up strong) softens the edge or maybe Holden’s aw shucks attempts at romancing the key witness (Nancy Olson) divert our attention from the poor blind girl who is stuck down in the tunnel.  At any rate, the result is an enjoyable thriller but not much more.

  

A Woman, A Gun, and a Noodle Shop (2010)

☆ ☆ ☆

A Woman, A Gun, and a Noodle Shop (2010) – Y. Zhang

This surprising Chinese remake of the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple begins as a candy-coloured slapstick comedy and gradually turns darker (in tone).  Yimou Zhang uses his pictorial skill to set the film in an artificial landscape in the distant past where at least they still have noodle shops, even if the cops run everywhere in formation with an odd sort of siren voiced by the wind.  A greedy miser’s young wife is having an affair with one of his employees and when he finds out, he hires a crooked cop to kill them both.  However, greed wins over evil – or wait, love triumphs over evil and greed – or wait, no one stays dead – or wait, everyone dies in the end.  It has been too long since I saw Blood Simple but I assume its twisty plot has been replicated here as a sort of fable that ends as a cosmic joke.  I suspect the original is far better but this remake stands as a valiant effort to do something different with the material.   

  

Jurassic World (2015)

☆ ☆ ☆

Jurassic World (2015) – C. Trevorrow

Implausible.  Ha, ha.  Of course, that could stand as a review of the very first Jurassic Park film in 1993 too; however, the new third sequel contains many more absurdities.  But, hey, I hear you saying that “plot” isn’t why one watches this kind of film and you are right – it is all about the monsters.  I have never been a big fan of CGI but I’ll admit that as the years go by the technology gets slicker.  So, there are many “life-like” dinosaurs here, large and small, and they move realistically and kill and eat a lot of people (sometimes less than realistically).  Spielberg was executive producer but he handed the directing reins to relative newcomer Colin Trevorrow.  He doesn’t exactly make a hash of it but, as I said, the plot, as well as the characters and the script, are wafer-thin.  Any intended moral commentary about genetic engineering and the military is pretty ham-fisted. Nevertheless, this was probably rip-roaring in the theatre (and in 3D?) but at home the inadequacies are more obvious.  Still, it doesn’t lose your attention and as an example of the latest whiz-bang graphics, it’s fine, if a bit gruesome.

The Vampire Lovers (1970)

☆ ☆ ½

The Vampire Lovers (1970) – R. W. Baker

At the start of Hammer Film’s decline, they took advantage of the era’s growing permissiveness to merge their longstanding interest in vampires (who are by nature the most erotic of monsters) with an effort to attract viewers with titillation (which admittedly wasn’t too far from their agenda with their previous period costumes for actresses). Here, Ingrid Pitt, with her Garbo-like Polish accent, makes a redoubtable lesbian vampire (from the oft-filmed tale by Sheridan Le Fanu), seducing (and killing) the young ladies of the village, under the watchful eye of Christopher Lee surrogate, John Forbes-Robertson. Unfortunately, the best and spookiest scene occurs before the opening credits roll and from then on in things are rather lacklustre, although presented with Hammer’s usual flair for set decoration. Peter Cushing makes what amounts to a guest appearance. Look elsewhere for your British horror thrills.

Violent Saturday (1955)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Violent Saturday (1955) – R. Fleischer

Take one part noir-ish bank heist film featuring Lee Marvin with a bad cold and another part widescreen Technicolor over-the-top sub-Sirkian melodrama (including alcoholics, peeping toms, and nymphos), add a heaping helping of Victor Mature, stir well.  Garnish with Ernest Borgnine playing Amish.  The result is a bizarre cocktail that is rather intoxicating in its strangeness even as the ingredients threaten not to hold together at all.  The dusty vistas of Arizona look great with their several shades of dirt and Fleischer frames the action well even if things get a bit coagulated at times.  The sudden violence (of the title) comes as a surprise in the final moments.  This could have after-effects.  Do not drive after consuming.   

Park Row (1952)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Park Row (1952) – S. Fuller

Clearly a labor of love for director Sam Fuller who financed this NY newspaper story out of his own pocket in order to do it his way.  The result is a punchy gutsy drama that sees an idealist new editor (Gene Evans) of a start-up paper fighting a larger corrupt rag that uses its wide circulation and power maliciously.  The publisher of that other paper (Mary Welch) is wrong-headed but her underlings use real violence to try to smash the smaller new paper.  At the same time, Fuller didactically shows us the mechanics of printing a newspaper and the birth of new technologies and innovations.  Although a case could be made that the cigar-chomping editor is his surrogate, we also know that he was a copy-boy (perhaps a “printer’s devil”) when he was a kid.  Park Row, the street in NYC near The Bowery where newspapers had their offices/presses, is artificially recreated on a studio set where Fuller is able to move the camera around in long tracking shots and nothing “real” distracts from the sense that we are in 1886.  A big part of the story focuses on France’s donation of the Statue of Liberty to America and the newspaper’s involvement in securing donations for the pedestal on Beddoe’s Island.  A gritty slab of history told from the heart.

Graduate First (1978)

☆ ☆ ☆

Graduate First (1978) – M. Pialat

This is the first film I’ve watched by Maurice Pialat and perhaps it isn’t the right place to start.  A mostly plot-less but engaging look at a bunch of 19-year-olds finishing their schooling in northern France (a town called Lens).  These kids are largely aimless, living in a depressed economy, without too many options aside from getting married or leaving.  They sleep late, kick around the local café/bar, and sleep with each other.  Pialat largely avoids commentary and the parents who do make an appearance are reasonably easy-going about everything.  A philosophy teacher turns up now and again to offer encouragement and the film’s “message” about having to unlearn everything you already knew (when learning philosophy… but it may apply to becoming an adult too).  The young non-professional actors are mostly interesting and their improvisation seems natural enough -- spending 80 minutes of time with them was fine.  You have to draw your own conclusions about whether these kids are destined for drudgery due to poor choices or whether this is a natural state of affairs for late teens/early twenties youth who nevertheless get their acts together (somehow).  Pialat doesn’t stick around to find out.   

  

Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)

☆ ☆ ☆

Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) – J.-H. Bong

The directorial debut from Joon-Ho Bong (Snowpiercer, The Host) is a quirky comedy of sorts about a grad student under pressure who loses it over a neighbour’s barking dog.  A nerdy office worker gets involved in the search for the lost dog(s) and the film follows his story and hers.  There are some eccentric characters and odd moments (yes, they do eat dogs in Korea, apparently) but the whole thing seems designed primarily to demonstrate Bong’s flair as a director.  So, this feels a bit like an audacious show-reel at times and one wonders whether anyone would be interested in this kind of plot otherwise.  And, yes, apparently the film did bomb financially at home.  Nevertheless, it allowed Bong to graduate to better things (Memories of Murder, Mother) en route to his Hollywood blockbuster success.  So, there are some interesting moments here but this is probably only for the curious. 

  

Three Monkeys (2008)

☆ ☆ ☆

Three Monkeys (2008) – N. B. Ceylan

Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the Turkish master, directs movies that contain images of stunning widescreen beauty, often of the Anatolian foothills but sometimes, as in this film, just in a grungy apartment building.  The slow plots of these films can burn with a mysterious intensity that makes it hard to look away.  However, Three Monkeys is a lesser work and although noir-ish in its focus on the poor choices and inescapable fates of a chauffeur, his wife, and his son, it drags rather than grips.  Perhaps this is because Ceylan uses tectonic slabs of storyline that drift and then fit together too easily compared to the expected twists and turns of the usual noir (a late surprise offers nothing but resolution, satisfyingly apt though it may be). The acting by the four leads, particularly Hatice Aslan as the wife, is strong.  But for choice Ceylan, I would recommend Once Upon a Time In Anatolia (2011), Winter Sleep (2014), or Distant (2002) ahead of this one.  And I’ll be anticipating whatever comes next from this auteur!

The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947)

☆ ☆ ☆

The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947) – F. Feist

This noir-ish B-movie quickie (only 62 minutes) coasts along on the personality of Lawrence Tierney – he’s a tough guy and presumably the devil incarnate of the title.  When a tipsy travelling salesman picks him up, Tierney is all smooth-talking (as the devil is wont to be) and convinces the hapless slub to do all manner of things to aid and abet Tierney’s flight from the law.  You see, he’s on the lam after a hold-up turned murder.  They pick up two gals also needing a ride (in the stretch between San Diego and L. A.) and wind up at the beach house of the salesman’s colleague (out of town).  All the while, the cops are closing in, assisted by a smart gas station attendant.  Tierney alternates between smooth and merciless, trying hard not to show his true colours too often but soon everyone knows and the cops show up for the final showdown.  It holds up pretty well for what it is but Born to Kill (also 1947) is the stronger Tierney vehicle.  He never became a star (purportedly because of drink and off-screen punch-outs) but Tarantino did give him a final heyday in Reservoir Dogs.

  

Innocents with Dirty Hands (1975)

☆ ☆ ☆

Innocents with Dirty Hands (1975) – C. Chabrol

I’ve only recently delved into Chabrol’s thrillers (after dipping my toe in the water with his first nouvelle vague films (Le Beau Serge, Les Cousins) – and there are some excellent suspenseful movies from which to choose (basically any of the six films between Les Biches in 1968 and Just Before Nightfall in 1971).  As with Hitchcock before him (and Chabrol wrote a famous book about the Master of Suspense along with Eric Rohmer), Chabrol deals with issues of guilt and moral complicity with a wry sense of humor.  However, I found this international production (starring Romy Schneider and Rod Steiger) left me a bit cold.  They are married but she takes a younger lover and they plot to kill him.  But things don’t go right and both of the men end up dead with Schneider then the prime suspect for the police (who are played rather comically).  As the plot unravels there are a few twists and turns but somehow I never quite cared about Schneider or Steiger enough to feel suspense about their fates.  I’m not sure whether this is the fault of the acting, the English-dubbed version I watched, the script, or Chabrol.  Start somewhere else with his oeuvre.

Branded to Kill (1967)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Branded to Kill (1967) – S. Suzuki

Not sure if Seijun Suzuki was on acid or insane when he made this film.  Branded to Kill is less a coherent narrative and more an opportunity for weird and audacious stylistic choices.  Sure, it’s about a hit-man and a bungled job but there is barely enough plot to hold onto here (don’t even try!).  Instead, it’s best to let the cinemascope images wash over you – or arrest you.  There isn’t really a consistent style – pop art is what the critics say – but instead a variety of different choices:  POV shots, shots from above, truly odd angles, experiments with light and darkness, odd patterns laid over the shot, large close ups, distant wide-shots, basically the whole gamut with an emphasis on weird.  Obtuse sex and violence figure prominently.  The problem with all this, even though it can be exhilarating, is that it is just all piled on with no attention to plot or characterization.  It feels…abstract and distancing.  So, in that respect, the film simply falls apart.  Suzuki lost his job because of this one.

The Savage Innocents (1960)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Savage Innocents (1960) – N. Ray

It is impossible not to cringe when you see Anthony Quinn playing an Eskimo (now referred to as Inuit or with specific tribal affiliations) and the assorted supporting actors come from a range of Asian cultures (with Yoko Tani excellent as Quinn/Inuk’s wife).  Setting this aside – and also setting aside the condescending view of indigenous people as less civilized – is difficult, but persisting with the movie does allow for some rewards.  In fact, contact with the white men reveals them to be decadent, foul, and unwilling to understand the (stereotypically noble) “savages” who eat raw meat, wife-swap, and only occasionally kill each other.  Director Nick Ray heightens the emotional interpersonal drama between the two main characters and their surrounding sparse social network and uses (probably stock footage of) arctic animals along with trained seals and a polar bear for counterpoint.  The whole thing is so strange – and the characters speak in a kind of pidgin English that heightens this strangeness – that the viewer is quickly absorbed into an entirely different world.  It is just too unfortunate that the rampant stereotyping of the time infects everything.   

The Leopard Man (1943)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Leopard Man (1943) – J. Tourneur

Val Lewton’s productions use minimal means to create scares out of shadows and The Leopard Man is no exception.  A young girl walks alone to buy corn meal in the New Mexico night.  The soundtrack is silent except for her footsteps and the wind rustling the trees.  Suddenly tumbleweed rushes by out of nowhere.  We are afraid for her because a dangerous leopard is on the loose after escaping from a nightclub publicity stunt gone wrong.  The young girl does die and this event initiates a series of murders.  But is the cat really the culprit? Although there are a number of suspects, under Jacques Tourneur’s direction, this never really turns into a B-picture mystery where a detective sorts through the clues to build up to an announced solution but instead the film remains spookier and more existential.  There is a heavy coldness here where the chilly fingers of death could be just around the next corner, stalking their prey and taking the soul away offscreen, leaving only remains.