FilmFanatic.org

Synopsis:
An egomaniacal ventriloquist known as the Great Gabbo (Erich von Stroheim) treats his kind assistant (Betty Compson) so badly that she leaves him for another man (Donald Douglas) — but Gabbo (who begins to invest more and more of his personality in his dummy, Otto) never gives up hope that Compson may return to him one day.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Erich von Stroheim Films
• Mental Breakdown
• Puppets and Ventriloquism
• Vaudeville and Burlesque

Review:
This early “transitional talkie” — based on a story by Ben Hecht, and starring Erich von Stroheim in his first acting role after the end of his directing career — is a disappointing enigma. Despite its intriguing premise, the movie is utterly undone by deathly slow pacing, an underdeveloped plot, and countless extraneous musical revue numbers thrown in to pad the film’s running time. Gabbo’s performances with Otto are neither amusing nor remotely realistic, yet — in perhaps the most surreal aspect of the entire movie — Gabbo is supposed to be a world-class entertainer (?!). Far too much is made of the fact that Otto is somehow able to “talk” while Gabbo is eating, drinking, and smoking (we’re shown this “trick” no less than three times); in fact, we think there must be either fraud or something fantastical going on, but again, neither of these hints are ever explored.

Meanwhile, Von Stroheim — never the most nuanced of actors — is both heavy-handed and insufferably heartless as Gabbo: the insults he hurls at poor Compson in the opening ten minutes of the film are enough to make you want to throttle him, and he never (re)gains our sympathy. In fact, the entire screenplay is premised on Compson’s enduring pity for Gabbo, yet we can’t help thinking she’s nuts to give him the time of day. The creepy promise of Gabbo’s descent into ventriloquial madness isn’t adequately exploited until the very end of the picture, at which point it’s too little, too late. At least there are occasional moments of surreal hilarity scattered throughout the film — as when Otto sings a song about preferring lemon drops to lollipops because the latter get “all over icky”. Indeed.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• A creepy — albeit sadly unfulfilled — portrait of an obsessed ventriloquist
  
• Otto singing the truly surreal “lollipop song”:
  

  “I always drop my lollipop, and it gets all over icky”

  

• Some surreal performance sets
  
  

Must See?
No, though most film fanatics will likely be morbidly curious to check it out. See “The Ventriloquist’s Dummy” segment in Dead of Night (1945) instead for a truly creepy story about an obsessed ventriloquist.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• All Movie Guide Review
• NY Times Original Review
• SciFilm Review

Synopsis:
An Argentinian cattle baron (Pomeroy Cannon) with two European son-in-laws — a Frenchman (Josef Swickard) and a German (Alan Hale) — favors his rakish French grandson Julio (Rudolph Valentino) over all others. Meanwhile, the arrival of World War I wreaks havoc on the family’s tenuous ties, as well as Julio’s love affair with the wife (Alice Terry) of an older attorney (John St. Polis).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Alan Hale Films
• Character Arc
• Infidelity
• Rudolph Valentino Films
• Silent Films
• World War One

Review:
Based on a “mystical” novel by Spanish author Vicente Blasco-Ibanez, this epic silent film (directed by Rex Ingram) broke all box office records the year of its release (it was the first film to gross more than one million dollars), and became the sixth highest grossing silent film of all time. It’s widely known as the film that brought “Latin Lover” Rudolph Valentino (real name: Rodolfo Alfonzo Raffaelo Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina D’Antonguolla!!!) into the spotlight as a leading man, and his charisma is clearly evident — at one point, while in the midst of seducing a woman, he actually turns to the camera in a quick aside, as though to wink at the audience!

His early, sultry tango scenes — not part of the original novel — are so sensual and evocative that they made the dance a hit craze for a while.

As far as the story goes, it’s a fairly standard overblown saga of forbidden romance, family feuds, and the inevitable tragedy of war — with Germans emerging as the definite baddies of the bunch (it was released, after all, just three years after the end of World War I, when sentiments were still raw). Meanwhile, the integration of a “mystical” element into the story — embodied by a wacky neighbor (Nigel De Brulier) who foretells the coming of the “four horsemen of the Apocalypse” (hence the film’s title) — is simply silly and heavy-handed.

But Ingram has a fine directorial hand, framing his scenes carefully and adding unique visual touches — many of which are quite memorable (see stills below); and the “DeMille”-ian amounts of money spent on the production seem to have been put to good use, given Ingram’s ability to effectively present the devastation of war. Remade by Vincente Minnelli (!) in 1962, with Glenn Ford (!) starring as Julio.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Rudolph Valentino as Julio
  
• A devastating portrait of war
  
• Powerful imagery
  

Must See?
Yes, for its historical importance. Listed in the back of Peary’s book as a film with Historical Relevance.

Categories

• Historically Relevant

Links:

• IMDb entry
• TCM Article
• Wikipedia Article

Synopsis:
A troubled young veteran (Warren Beatty) takes a job as an occupational therapist at an upscale mental asylum, where he falls for a bewitching schizophrenic named Lilith (Jean Seberg).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Femmes Fatales
• Gene Hackman Films
• Jessica Walter Films
• Kim Hunter Films
• Mental Illness
• Obsessive Love
• Peter Fonda Films
• Robert Rossen Films
• Veterans
• Warren Beatty Films

Review:
Though it’s received mixed reviews from critics over the years, Robert Rossen’s final film is ultimately a dated disappointment. Drawing upon every possible cliched romanticization about mental asylums and their inhabitants, Rossen’s screenplay (based on J.R. Salamanca’s novel) comes across as well-intentioned but painfully pretentious and unrealistic. From the beginning, we wonder how a potentially disturbed young veteran can walk off the street into a high-scale asylum and secure a specialized job as a pseudo-therapist, working closely with its inmates and spending more and more time with one beautiful inmate in particular, while nobody bats an eyelid (only in the movies — that’s how). To that end, Kim Hunter as Vincent’s boss (who SHOULD be more attentive!) is completely wasted in an underdeveloped role, while Jessica Walter (as Vincent’s former girlfriend) and Gene Hackmann (as her husband) fare better in tiny supporting roles (but their role in the story is insubstantial at best).

Meanwhile, Beatty’s overreliance on Method-acting mannerisms does him no favors here: his character is all hesitations and sideways glances, and never really comes to life. What redeems Lilith to a certain extent — but only marginally — is Seberg’s performance in the title role. I’m not an enormous fan of her work in general, and find her range limited, but here she really takes the role and runs with it; clearly she was able to relate to Lilith’s seductive insanity in some fundamental way, and channel that back through onto the screen. Equally compelling is Eugen Schufftan’s black-and-white cinematography: the film is truly stunning to look at, with each shot like a work of art, beautifully lit and framed. It’s all the more of a shame, then, that the story itself — which, as DVD Savant notes, “wants to be about the mysteries of the human personality” — is ultimately simply a muddled and tiresome snoozefest.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Jean Seberg as Lilith
  
• Jessica Walter as Laura
  
• Gene Hackman as Norman
  
• Eugen Schufftan’s gorgeous b&w cinematography
  

Must See?
No. Listed as a film with Historical Importance and a Cult Movie in the back of Peary’s book, but I’m not sure it has much of a following anymore, and am unclear about why it would hold historical relevance.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• DVD Savant Review
• Eye for Film Review
• TCM Article
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
Scenes from three novels by controversial Japanese writer Yukio Mishima (Ken Ogata) are interwoven into a reflection on his troubled life and infamous suicide by seppuku.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Biopics
• Episodic Films
• Japanese Films
• Paul Schrader Films
• Suicide
• Writers

Review:
Paul Schrader’s Mishima remains one of cinema’s most uniquely conceived, visually evocative biopics. By weaving strategically chosen vignettes from several of Mishima’s novels — The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kyoko’s House, and Runaway Horses — into the background of his unconventional life, viewers are given an unprecedented glimpse into this warrior-poet’s heady sensibility: we bear witness to his past as a stuttering youth, his ambiguous sexuality, his obsession with bodybuilding, and his determination to die while young and beautiful. What’s most immediately memorable about the film is its stunning palette of vibrant colors, put to work within a series of gorgeous stylized sets used during the “fictional” elements of the film; see the stills below for merely a glimpse of what’s to come. Indeed, the film’s visuals are so captivating that it might be easy to overlook the fine performances by Ken Ogata and others in the supporting cast (most notably Reisen Lee as a butch, domineering lover in “Kyoko’s House”). Meanwhile, Philip Glass’s pulsating score seems like the only logical choice for a film this audaciously original. Time Out‘s reviewer labels Mishima a “breathless plunge into the creative soul”, and this is an apt description: we may not like Mishima-the-author very much, but we can’t help watching his life as portrayed here with fascination.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• John Bailey’s varied cinematographic palette
  
• Eiko Ishioka’s vibrant set designs
  
• Ken Ogata as Mishima
  
• Reisen Lee as Kiyomi
  
• A unique and spellbinding approach to a biopic
  
• Philip Glass’s pulsating score

Must See?
Yes, as a one-of-a-kind cinematic treat, and a cult favorite. Listed as a Cult Movie in the back of Peary’s book.

Categories

• Cult Movie
• Good Show

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Roger Ebert’s Review
• Q Network Review
• Onion A.V. Club Review
• TCM Article
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
A petty London gangster (Michael Caine) heads to his hometown of Newcastle to investigate the mysterious death of his brother.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Amateur Sleuths
• Britt Ekland Films
• Gangsters
• Michael Caine Films
• Murder Mystery
• Revenge

Review:
Steely-eyed Michael Caine gives perhaps his iciest performance ever in this cult British gangster flick, which is ranked 16th on the British Film Institute’s “Top 100 British Films of the 20th Century”. Based on Ted Lewis’s crime novel Jack’s Return Home, it tells the cold-blooded tale of a man hell-bent on avenging his brother’s death, who simultaneously discovers that his niece has become embroiled in a pornography ring. The convoluted plot is far too complicated for its own good, but what one ultimately “remembers” about the film are its fine performances, the gritty on-location cinematography, and its hard-boiled dialogue (“You know, I’d almost forgotten what your eyes looked like. Still the same. Pissholes in the snow.”). Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, and countless other modern filmmakers obviously owe an enormous debt to this bleak but groundbreaking movie, which you may find too genuinely unpleasant to really “enjoy”, but which should be seen at least once by all film fanatics. Remade with Sylvester Stallone (!) in 2000, but this version is widely considered a failure.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Michael Caine as Carter
  
• Mike Hodges’ stylish direction (assisted by DP Wolfgang Suschitzky)
  
• Excellent use of diverse Newcastle locales
  

Must See?
Yes, as a cult favorite.

Categories

• Cult Movie

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

Links:

• IMDb entry
• TCM Article
• Jigsaw Lounge Review
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
A naval engineer (Steve McQueen) onboard an American gunboat in 1920s China finds himself at odds with his strait-laced captain (Richard Crenna).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Candice Bergen Films
• China
• Historical Drama
• Race Relations
• Richard Attenborough Films
• Robert Wise Films
• Sailors
• Steve McQueen Films

Review:
A year after winning an Oscar as best director for The Sound of Music (1965), Robert Wise helmed this epic historical military flick, based on a bestselling novel by Richard McKenna. Critics at the time of its release were understandably distracted by the screenplay’s obvious parallels with the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War; these days, it’s easier to accept the story on its own merits. Steve McQueen gave one of his best, most introspective performances in the central role of Jake Holman — a soldier genuinely “in love” with engines, who situates his integrity as a man within his ability to care for them effectively.

To that end, his insistence on rigorous maintenance while aboard the San Pablo becomes the catalyst driving two key narrative threads: his contentious relationship with his superior (Crenna, whose only interest lies in continuing to manifest a strong American “presence” in China), and the racial tensions that ensue when he tries to take over responsibilities traditionally handled by Chinese “coolies”.

Given its lengthy running time (nearly 3 hours) and epic ambitions, there’s a lot more going on in The Sand Pebbles than “just” Jake’s identity as a naval engineer. His inevitable romantic interest is played by Candice Bergen (just 19 years old!) as a do-gooding teacher — but the primary romantic subplot is filled by Jake’s shipmate Richard Attenborough and his Eurasian flame Maily (Emmanuelle Arsan), whose “forbidden” love affair has tragic consequences.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of exciting action sequences sprinkled throughout, and Joseph MacDonald’s cinematography brings the Chinese landscape to vibrant life. But the film isn’t uniformly entertaining: the story immediately begins to drag whenever Attenborough and Arsan’s romance is given screentime, and despite an initial attempt at humanizing the Chinese (as evidenced in Mako‘s Oscar-nominated performance as a doomed “coolie” who briefly befriends McQueen), they ultimately turn into an amorphous mass of “Others”. Nonetheless, McQueen’s impressive performance is reason enough for film fanatics to check this film out at least once.

Note: Wise was apparently so proud of his work on this film that he hosted annual cast reunions for years after its release; click here for a website devoted exclusively to the film.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Steve McQueen as Jake Holman (McQueen’s performance earned him his only Academy Award nomination)
  
• Beautiful on-location cinematography (by Joseph MacDonald)
  

Must See?
Yes, simply for Steve McQueen’s Oscar-nominated performance.

Categories

• Noteworthy Performance(s)
• Oscar Winner or Nominee

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• DVD Savant Review
• Time Out Capsule Review
• The Sand Pebbles Website

Synopsis:
A stray cat bears witness to three tales of everyday horror: a smoker (James Woods) finds his family’s safety at risk when he joins a strong-arming organization called Quitters, Inc.; a former tennis pro (Robert Hays) is blackmailed by his lover’s gambling husband (Kenneth McMillan) into walking on the ledge of a highrise; and a young girl (Drew Barrymore) is terrorized at night by a breath-stealing troll in her wall.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Cat-and-Mouse
• Episodic Films
• Fantasy
• Horror Films
• James Woods Films
• Stephen King Adaptations

Review:
There seems to be little consensus among critics as to which segment of this Stephen King horror anthology film (directed by Lewis Teague, who also helmed Cujo) is the “best” and which one(s) fall flat; therefore, I’ll simply add my own subjective two cents here by noting that I find the first story (“Quitters, Inc.”) to be the most consistently compelling. James Woods is perfectly cast as a smoker who instantly regrets walking in the door of an anti-smoking organization (run by Alan King) which takes its mission deadly seriously:

The dark comedic potential in this set-up is effectively mined. Fortunately, there’s something to enjoy in each of the other two segments as well; it’s impossible not to feel one’s heart in one’s mouth during “The Ledge”, for instance:

… and I’m impressed by Carlo Rambaldi’s troll in the third segment (the scene in which the troll slowly sucks breath directly out of Barrymore’s sleeping mouth is truly haunting).

Best of all, it’s nice to see cats getting such a good rap here — and it should be noted that the multiple tabbies enlisted to “play” the central feline character do an impressive job (at the very least their handler, Karl Lewis Miller, should be applauded!).

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• The entire first segment (“Quitters, Inc.”)
  
• Kenneth McMillan as jealous Cressner in “The Ledge”
  
• Carlo Rambaldi’s special-effects troll in “The General”
  

Must See?
No, but horror fans will likely be curious to check it out.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• SF, Fantasy, and Horror Review
• Qwipster’s Movie Review
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
A nihilistic apathist (Elliott Gould) in New York is courted by a headstrong optimist (Marcia Rodd) who hopes to change his outlook on life, but their marriage is weirdly interrupted by a series of random murders.

• Alan Arkin Films
• Black Comedy
• Donald Sutherland Films
• Elliott Gould Films
• New York City
• Play Adaptation

Review:
Alan Arkin directed and Elliott Gould co-produced this adaptation of writer-cartoonist Jules Feiffer‘s semi-autobiographical play, which isn’t for all tastes. As Roger Ebert noted in his original review, it’s “a very New York kind of movie, paranoid, masochistic and nervous”, leaving you to wonder what type of trouble might be lurking around the next corner. To a certain extent, I can appreciate where Feiffer is coming from with his passively nihilistic perspective, in which emotions are a liability given the unpredictability of life — but the overall effect of the random-violence-ridden story is one of numbness and discomfiture, and for a satire, it offers relatively few outright laughs. The performances by all the actors involved (see stills below) are the main reason to check out this unusual but alienating film; they’re remarkably game players.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Elliott Gould as Alfred
  
• Marcia Rodd as Patricia
  
• Elizabeth Wilson as Mrs. Newquist
  
• Vincent Gardenia as Mr. Newquist
  
• Donald Sutherland as “The Minister”
  
• Alfred trying in vain to interview his detached parents (Doris Roberts and John Randolph) about his childhood
  

Must See?
No, but it’s worth a look simply for the performances.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Roger Ebert’s Review
• NY Times Original Review
• Jigsaw Lounge Review
• Time Out Capsule Review