The Big Clock (1948)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Big Clock (1948) – J. Farrow

This film came packaged in a “Universal Noir” DVD boxset (alongside This Gun for Hire, The Glass Key, and The Blue Dahlia) – to be honest, I always felt this was the lesser of the bunch (the only one without Ladd & Lake). Watching it again last night for Noirvember, I appreciated it a bit more but still feel that its often jokey tone doesn’t quite allow the darkness of the noir themes to come through. As “Crimeways” magazine editor George Stroud, Ray Milland is, in many ways, an archetypal noir protagonist – he’s a bit of a cad who ignores his wife and child, partly because he’s pressured by the publisher Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton) and partly because he likes a drink and is happy to chat up a pretty lady. For these latter sins, he is made to pay when one of the women he is out with ends up murdered and his magazine is charged with finding the killer, using their special board of clues that all begin to point directly to George himself.  He’s in a tight spot but thinks he knows the real killer – however time is running out as witnesses who saw the victim with him are lining up to take a look at all of the employees in the building. Janoth cruelly ramps up the pressure, demanding an outcome, without knowing the squeeze George is in. And yet, and yet, Milland’s performance never really captures the dread he would be feeling, instead he displays fast-thinking and scrambles to get out of the jam (with the help of his wife played by Maureen O’Sullivan, director John Farrow’s real wife and mother of Mia Farrow) with a bit of sardonic humour to boot. Enjoyable but I want the darkness.   

 

The Hidden (1987)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

The Hidden (1987) – J. Shoulder

I’d be very surprised if Kyle MacLachlan wasn’t thinking about this film when he played the role of “Dougie” for David Lynch in the final series of Twin Peaks. His role as an FBI agent in The Hidden seems similar in outlook: simple-minded but purposive and relatively affectless. The difference is that Agent Lloyd Gallagher has a secret that he knows better than to share with others, including the Los Angeles cop (Michael Nouri) that he teams up with to track down a whacked-out killer on the loose.  Or more than one killer.  So, it is your typical ‘80s buddy film decked out with car chases and a high body count and at least one visit to a strip joint. But despite all of the clichés, this film gains some points just for its sheer weirdness (there is a sci-fi angle) and, I guess, for the fact that it manages to hold its plot together all the way through.  

 

X (2022)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

X (2022) – T. West

Perhaps the only thing I distinctly remember (aside from the ubiquitous hockey mask) from Friday the 13^th Part III (in 3D! 1982) is an eyeball being torn from a head and thrust out of the screen and into the audience (and yes, I saw this in the theatre for maximum shocks and social support). There is something of an homage to that scene (or to Fulci’s The Beyond) in Ti West’s new film, X. Indeed, in re-watching the trailer to the 3D film now, it is even more apparent how much West’s film is a return to those carefree days of the slasher film. As in the old trailer, a bunch of young people jump into an old van (the new film takes place in 1979), headed to the countryside, where they run into trouble.  In this case, they are actually on their way to make an amateur porno movie – but West turns the old cliché that the characters who have sex are the first to die on its head here (we can talk about the pornification of everything some other time). And, of course, all of the characters do die – save one, but what did you expect? Intriguingly, the killer here is not your ordinary insane man but instead an elderly woman (played in a dual role by Mia Goth who also plays one of the kids in trouble). Part of the horror then is undoubtedly supposed to be based on our repulsion to thinking about old people and, in particular, old people with real human desires.  Perhaps the youthful audience that is more likely to watch this kind of film might find them gross, but West does seem to find some sympathy for the killer(s). Not really what you’d expect in your garden variety slasher film.

 

The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Kiss of the Vampire (1963) – D. Sharp

Although the plot is standard fare (stranded travellers find themselves invited to vampire castle), there is something different about this Hammer Horror outing, something that makes it feel more unseemly than usual, perhaps more genuinely horrific. I don’t think we can chalk that up to the absence of Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing, although perhaps their charismatic presences make evil and the fighting of it something less than mundane. In this film, with no real recognisable actors (not even Hammer regulars), perhaps there’s a sense that the unspeakable could happen to anyone. The innkeeper’s wife has some deeply sad moments, grieving privately for her daughter, now a vampire as part of the cult lead by Dr Ravna (Noel Willman), grief that is perceived quizzically by our protagonists, Gerald and Marianne (Edward de Souza and Jennifer Daniel), who seem very sheltered if not occasionally buffoonish.  Although warned to be careful by Professor Zimmer (a rather spooky figure himself, played by Clifford Evans), they still attend the fancy dress party held by Ravna where his followers drug Gerald’s drink and then escort Marianne to receive the titular kiss from Ravna. When Gerald awakes, everyone (including the innkeeper) claims never to have seen Marianne.  Fortunately, Zimmer is ready, armed with some supernatural incantations that cause a horde of bats to descend on the vampire clan and destroy them. Even the rubber bats can’t really destroy the unsettling spell cast by this film.  

Charlie Chan in London (1934)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

Charlie Chan in London (1934) – E. Forde

Comfort-watching another Charlie Chan entry, #6 out of 16 for Warner Oland, the Swedish actor who ended up type-cast as Asian. Although definitely dated, this first series treats Chan kindly with gentle stereotyping (he often speaks in fortune-cookie riddles) and when his Number One Son shows up in later efforts, there is true affection for his family.  (The subsequent series with Sidney Toler for Monogram features considerably more racist content directed at the comic African American cab-driver Birmingham). Here, Charlie goes it alone. Having just solved another case in London, he is begged to stay by socialite Pamela Gray (Drue Leyton) whose brother is on death row for a murder she thinks he didn’t commit.  Charlie has only 72 hours to prove him innocent by finding the real killer.  Of course, the episode takes place in a British country estate (including fox hunt) and the various suspects are staying for the weekend.  There’s an attempt on Charlie’s life and another murder before all the suspects are gathered together in the drawing room for the final reveal.  But rather than announce the killer outright, Charlie lures them into a trap where they make a move and get caught red-handed in front of the police.  A fine entry, if you like this mystery-by-the-numbers genre.

The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975)

 ☆ ☆ ½

The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975) – J. L. Thompson

Somehow the Seventies seems the right era for melancholy supernatural fare. There’s a loneliness found in many films of the era, from neo-noir to horror, as alienation and disillusionment set in.  In this film, college professor Peter Proud (Michael Sarrazin) is suffering from a recurring nightmare where he is swimming naked at night and approached by a woman in a rowboat who abruptly kills him with a paddle. His doctor can’t help him and sends him to a parapsychologist (with a sleep clinic) who discovers no evidence of dreams at all.  A shooting pain in his hip with no organic cause just adds to the mystery.  When he sees a too-familiar New England town on TV, remembered from his “dreams”, Peter heads East to investigate. By now, he suspects that he is really remembering a past life.  After a lengthy search, he makes contact with people he believes are his former wife, Marcia (Margot Kidder), now in her sixties (with old age make-up), and his adult daughter, Ann (Jennifer O’Neill), in Springfield, Mass.  He doesn’t let them know his visions, but falls for Ann despite the hint of incest. At this point, the film starts to lose its momentum, perhaps searching for a satisfactory ending – an extended square dance sequence is the nadir – and then the end is in sight, a perfect looping back to the film’s opening scenes. But alas, whatever spooky suspense was built up in the film’s first sequences has long since been squandered (notwithstanding an extremely unpleasant flashback) and the film ends abruptly, its promise denied.

 

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

 

☆ ☆ ☆ 

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) – T. Gormican

It’s a trifle but amusing enough for a mindless night in.  Nicolas Cage plays a fictionalised version of himself (called “Nick”, a telling giveway), at a point in his career where his star is fading and he needs a hit.  He’s recently divorced with a teenage daughter with whom he is struggling to connect. After missing out on another plum role, he takes a $1M gig to attend a wealthy Spanish guy’s birthday party. They bond but soon Cage learns that his host Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal) is suspected of being an arms dealer by the CIA and responsible for a politically motivated kidnaping to boot. Cage is corralled into helping the CIA (led by Tiffany Haddish). To stay close to Javi, he suggests working on a film together, a film about their friendship…and about a kidnaping. The film moves gradually from a character study to a male-bonding relationship piece to a full-on comic action thriller. It’s all very “meta” and if you are a Nic Cage fan, then you’ll enjoy all of the references to his films (he also talks regularly with his younger self, circa Wild at Heart). But apart from Cage hamming it up in a variety of classic situations, this is basically substance free viewing – yet amusing.