Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
“He’s the most trying man ever put on this Earth!”
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Response to Peary’s Review: Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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Girl Can’t Help It, The (1956)
“I’m telling you I stink, stink, stink!”
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then later leans “over with her half-exposed breasts close to Ewell’s eyes and ask[s] if he thinks she’s ‘equipped’ to be a mother”. Indeed, Tashlin — a former animator — “uses” Mansfield’s body so strategically (she’s “barely able to walk” in her “tight sweaters and tight skirts”) that “she looks more like a caricature of the ‘fantasy blonde bosom-beauty of the fifties’ than a real woman”.
However, as Peary notes, “Mansfield is so spirited, lively, and funny that she emerges unscathed”, and somehow manages to “blunt the sexist humor and make it harmless, [so] we don’t feel guilt”. Mansfield and her bosoms aren’t the only fetish exploited and explored by Tashlin, however: as DVD Savant has hinted, the entire film could be viewed as an extended satirical deconstruction of the fifties, given Mansfield’s not-so-secret desire to simply be a housewife rather than pursuing a career (“I’m a domestic”, she guiltily admits), and the strategic inclusion of rock-n-roll throughout the entire narrative. To that end, Peary points out that the “picture has a strong cult today because of the many great rock acts who appear, including Little Richard at his peak” (singing the title song), “Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, and Eddie Cochran”, among others. (My favorite musical act, however, is that given by the apparition of Julie London, in which she sings the haunting “Cry Me a River” in various locations of Ewell’s apartment while he tries in vain to get her out of his mind; it’s a classic, cleverly conceived comedic sequence.)
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All About Eve (1950)
“I’ll admit I may have seen better days, but I’m still not to be had for the price of a cocktail, like a salted peanut.”
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Review: With that said, Peary does point out that not all critics are unanimously impressed by the film. Some, for instance, “blame Anne Baxter’s lack of depth as an actress for making Eve Harrington come across as an essentially shallow character”. But Peary convincingly argues that “Eve is shallow by design”, “limited by her own superficiality” and unable to “lay down a victorious trump card because she has none”. Indeed, he astutely notes that “if Eve were the strong character that some critics wanted Anne Baxter to play her as, she could never have wound up as the kept woman of a man who only selects from the bottom of the barrel” (ouch!). Baxter, I believe, is ultimately fine and well-cast in the title role — but it’s Davis as Margo Channing who remains the film’s undeniable viewing magnet. Channing — “perhaps the most dynamic woman ever to appear on the screen” — is “intelligent, opinionated, high-strung, temperamental, and… adept at unleashing funny one-liners”, but what’s most interesting about her character is how “contradictory” she is: she’s “vain, but self-effacing”, “self-reliant one minute and dependent the next”. It’s no wonder Merrill’s character is so fascinated by this enigmatic, all-too-human diva! (potential spoiler alert) While I appreciate the film’s enduring central melodrama of rivalry and back-stabbing, what struck me most upon revisiting All About Eve recently is what a strong statement it makes about the power of friendship. The film’s narrator, after all, is Margo’s best friend (Celeste Holm), whose loyalty to Margo may be sorely tested by the intrusion of Eve in their lives, but is never permanently severed. During a pivotal scene later in the film, Margo, Karen (Holm), Bill (Merrill), and Lloyd (Hugh Marlowe) sit around a restaurant table together, and Margo mentions how much the couples’ friendship means to her — this, along with her romantic commitment to Bill, ultimately emerges as the most important triumph in her storied existence. Although Eve may get what she (thinks she) wants by brutally clawing her way past any obstacles that stand in her way, the film’s clever denouement provides all the proof we need that Eve’s lonely path won’t afford her nearly the satisfaction that Margo has earned in all other areas of her life. It is also interesting, as Peary points out, to note that in the “final section of the picture”, “Bill and Lloyd, with Margo’s blessing, work with Eve in a new play” — the point being that “in the theater, talented people are accepted, regardless of character”. Be duly forewarned. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) Links: |
Out of the Past (1947)
“That’s one way to be clever: look like an idiot.”
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a lying, cheating, chameleon-like femme fatale… who leads an essentially decent guy down a wayward path; and, ultimately, betrayal, frame-ups, and fall guys”. Indeed, the pulpy, intelligent script (by Daniel Mainwaring, based on his novel Build My Gallows High) is so densely plotted that, as Bosley Crowther of the New York Times warned in his review, the film’s action “is likely to leave the napping or unmathematical customer far behind” — i.e., you need to be awake and paying attention, or risk not quite keeping up. Yet this is a movie that truly merits one’s full attention, given that there’s so much here to enjoy and appreciate — including atmospheric direction by Tourneur, who has the film taking “place mostly at night”, with “darkness… used metaphorically to express… malignant evil spread[ing] from character to character”:
… Nicholas Musucara’s truly “outstanding cinematography”, which often relies on “single-source lighting to place spooky shadows on the faces of his characters and across entire sets”; and “solid performances” by Mitchum, Greer, and all members of their estimable supporting cast. In his lengthier review of the film for his Cult Movies book, Peary writes that while Humphrey Bogart was the studio’s first choice to play the lead role, Mitchum is ultimately “a better choice than Bogart”, given that his “reserved style is more in keeping with the way Tourneur directs his actors”, and the fact that he is young enough to play someone who is “unprepared for the likes of Kathie [Greer] and welcomes her with open arms”. Meanwhile, gorgeous Greer emerges here as one of cinema’s most memorable femme fatales — it’s truly a shame her career didn’t go further.
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(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) Links: |
Another Thin Man (1939)
“You can laugh if you want to — but I don’t laugh at my dreams!”
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Europeans, The (1979)
“I’ve been pretending all this time; I’ve been dishonest. It’s pleasure that I care for.”
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Perceval (1978)
“Make me a knight, sire!”
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Thin Man, The (1934)
“Haven’t you heard the news? I’m a gentleman now.”
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Response to Peary’s Review: Much of the credit for the success of The Thin Man belongs to its director, W.S. Van Dyke (“One-Take Woody”), who — shooting in just 12 days and working with Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich’s “breezy adaptation” of Hammett’s novel — managed to infuse the film with “an improvisational feel, with characters moving freely in and out of the frame”. Equally noteworthy is James Wong Howe’s atmospheric cinematography (see stills below), as well as a fine supporting cast — all of whom end up as suspects. Indeed, while the murder mystery here could almost be considered a MacGuffin (as argued by Roger Ebert in his “Great Movies” overview of the film), it’s actually a reasonably enjoyable whodunit which will certainly keep you guessing. Followed by five sequels and a television series, and selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress in 1997. Spoofed in Neil Simon’s Murder By Death (1976), with David Niven and Maggie Smith as Dick and Dora Charleston. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) Links: |
One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
“I live for furs; I worship furs!”
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Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965)
“There is within each of us a twin destiny: the natural and the supernatural.”
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— this disappointing horror anthology fails to live up to its potential. The first vignette — starring Neil McCallum as an architect who discovers the tomb of a werewolf in his ancient familial estate — shows some promise but never really pays off:
The second — involving a man (Alan Freeman) whose home is overrun by a killer plant — is, sadly, laughable rather than terrifying:
… and the third — following a jazz musician (Roy Castle) who arrogantly steals a sacred song he hears in the West Indies, and is visited by a voodoo curse — is nearly unwatchable, thanks to Castle’s utterly insufferable personality.
The fourth vignette — starring the inimitable Christopher Lee as an arrogant art critic whose harsh indictment of an artist (Michael Gough) comes back to haunt him, via an increasingly gruesome disembodied hand that refuses to “die” — is the most satisfying by far:
… while the fifth — in which Donald Sutherland discovers he’s married a vampire (Jennifer Jayne) — at least offers an unexpected plot twist at the very end.
But the film as a whole never really musters any collective tension, and remains of interest primarily for its historical importance as the first horror “portmanteau” film produced by Amicus Studios (a competitor with Hammer Studios). Click here for an interesting background article on Amicus. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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