FilmFanatic.org

Synopsis:
In 16th century Japan, a group of farmers offer food to an aging samurai (Takashi Shimura) in exchange for protection against an impending raid by bandits, and Shimura soon gathers six other men to assist him: an old friend (Daisuke Katō), the son (Isao Kimura) of a wealthy samurai, a good-humored fighter (Minoru Chiaki), a skilled swordsman (Seiji Miyaguchi), a skilled archer (Yoshio Inaba), and an untrained wanderer (Toshirô Mifune).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Akira Kurosawa Films
• Japanese Films
• Medieval Times
• Samurai
• Toshiro Mifune Films
• Village Life

Response to Peary s Review:
In his overview of this “tremendous achievement by Akira Kurosawa, regarded by most everyone as one of the all-time great films,” Peary points out that each of the samurai join the rag-tag group of defenders for different reasons, ranging from Shimura being “touched that [the farmers] would sacrifice their rice and be stuck eating millet” in order gain protection, to Inaba “who joins because Shimura’s personality intrigues him,” to Chiaki being welcome “because his sense of humor will more than compensate for him being just an average fighter.”

Peary notes that the final battle — which “takes place in the day during a hard rain, with the men racing back and forth through the mud to block off the road into the village and to battle the horsemen who get through the lines” — is “one of the greatest action sequences in the history of cinema:”

… but he adds that “since Kurosawa’s epic… is peerless as action-adventure, one tends to forget that it’s also a remarkably poignant human drama” — a “brilliant character study where we come to understand that each of the seven samurai takes part in the defense of the village for a personal reason.”

Peary points out that “in addition to dealing with the samurai as individuals and as a group”:

… “Kurosawa takes time to probe the nature of farmers, as individuals and as a group,” leading us to understand “that they are selfish, cruel, and cowardly” but have become that way due to, as Mifune’s character points out, “the looting, raping, enslaving samurai of Japan.”

Peary writes that the “best known directorial element” of this “visual tour-de-force” is that “there is always movement within the frame”; indeed, it’s challenging to capture the film’s essence with stills for this very reason. Ultimately, it’s a movie that needs to be seen to be appreciated — and given how much has already been written about it by others, I humbly defer interested readers to any of the many links below, and/or the Criterion disc’s notable extras.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Takashi Shimura as Kambei Shimada
  
• Gorgeous cinematography
  
• Many memorable sequences
  

Must See?
Yes, as a masterful classic.

Categories

• Foreign Gem
• Genuine Classic

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

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Q Network Review
• DVD Savant Review
• Time Out Capsule Review
• NY Times Original Review
• TCM Articles

Synopsis:
Just after the end of Nazi occupation, a Polish Resistance fighter (Zbigniew Cybulski) and his partner (Adam Pawlikowski) accidentally assassinate innocent men rather than their intended target (Waclaw Zastrzezynski) — and Cybulski soon has a change of heart about his career when he falls for a beautiful bartender (Ewa Krzyzewska).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Assassination
• Character Arc
• Eastern European Films
• Resistance Fighters
• World War II

Response to Peary s Review:
Peary argues that this “thematically ambiguous Andrzej Wajda film” — about a Resistance fighter who “checks into the same hotel as the aged Communist [he was meant to assassinate] and looks for an opportunity to complete his mission,” but then “has an affair with [a] pretty barmaid… that affects him greatly” — does not successfully convince “American viewers… that Wajda is on the side of the anti-community resistance fighters,” and fails to evoke our sympathy for the two assassins given that the “Party Leader… is old, humble, walks with a cane,” and has a son who “was raised by people of whom he didn’t approve.”

This is likely due to the fact, as DVD Savant points out, that “A popular pro-Communist novel was the source, a choice that insured smooth sailing during production” — although “the powers that be didn’t know that Wajda’s rewrite would displace the central figure of a People’s Minister in favor of a minor character, a hit-man for the nationalists.” To that end, while his actions at first are questionable (given his seeming lack of remorse for killing “the wrong men at the beginning”), Cybulski — “who became a major Polish star because of this film”, and is often likened to James Dean — eventually garners our sympathy given the vulnerability he displays with Krzyzewska.

Peary notes that the “early and late scenes, those in which guns are fired, are fairly exciting”:

… but the “middle scenes” — while “artistically photographed” — are “slow and deadly.” I’m not sure I fully agree, given that the “middle scenes” are designed to show us both Cybulski falling for Krzyzewska (and thus undergoing a transformation), and the humanity of Zastrzezynski (who wasn’t yet tainted by Stalin’s venom) — and there are enough strikingly shot moments to keep us engaged.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Zbigniew Cybulski as Maciek
  
• Jerzy Wojcik’s cinematography
  

Must See?
Yes, as international classic.

Categories

• Historically Relevant

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

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Trailers From Hell Review
• Q Network Review
• Time Out Capsule Review
• NY Times Original Review
• TCM Article

Synopsis:
During the waning days of the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis, a dedicated commander (Wienczyslaw Glinski) leads his platoon down into the sewers of the city, where a beautiful blonde (Teresa Izewska) carries a wounded soldier (Tadeusz Janczar), an inexperienced composer (Vladek Sheybal) goes mad, and a married aide (Emil Karewicz) travels alongside his young lover (Teresa Berezowska).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Eastern European Films
• Resistance Fighters
• World War II

Response to Peary s Review:
As Peary writes, this “breakthrough film of the Polish cinema, directed by Andrzej Wajda,” centers on “survivors of the Warsaw uprising” — a “platoon of resisters” that “goes below and in the chaos gets split into three groups,” with most becoming “hopelessly lost in the dark.” He points out that as the resisters “wallow waist-deep in filth, they become delirious from the intoxicating fumes,” and “even the strongest and bravest men act helpless, go berserk.”

Only “a young woman (Teresa Izewska) who is alone with her wounded, dying boyfriend knows the escape route, and he is incapable of undertaking the difficult climb.”

Peary notes this film’s similarities with Das Boot (1982) in that is also “shows the claustrophobic horrors endured by soldiers who are trapped below and are at the mercy of both the enemy above and their watery environment” — and both feature “a leader who disagreed with the orders that placed him and his men in such an insane situation, but who would never disobey orders or go off to safety and desert his men.”

Peary argues, however, that this “film is not as impressive as it once seemed” given that “the characters aren’t very well drawn; and once the platoon goes into the sewers, we lose all track of time — it seems the men are hysterical and exhausted after being below for 20 seconds and having walked five steps.” He asserts that the “premise is intriguing, but [the] execution is more punishing than exciting.” While I don’t find any problem with the fighters’ responses to being in the sewers, I agree that this is a relentlessly grueling flick to sit through — especially hearing in voiceover as we’re introduced to the main players, “These are the heroes of the tragedy; watch them closely, for these are the last hours of their lives.”

Note: Film fanatics will likely recognize distinctive character actor Sheybal (the mad composer), who would appear in a number of other Peary-listed films — including From Russia With Love (1963), Casino Royale (1967), Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Women in Love (1969), Leo the Last (1970), The Last Valley (1971), The Boy Friend (1971), and Red Dawn (1984).

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Jerzy Lipman’s cinematography
  
  

Must See?
Yes, for its historical significance within Polish cinema.

Categories

• Historically Relevant

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Criterion Review
• Q Network Review

Synopsis:
After learning his former flame (Marie Sabouret) has hooked up with a nightclub owner (Marcel Lupovici), an ex-con (Jean Servais) newly released from prison agrees to help his young friend Jo (Mohner) and Jo’s friend Mario (Robert Manuel) carry out a major jewelry heist, with support from expert safecracker Cesar (Jules Dassin) — but when Lupovici learns Servais has beaten Sabouret, he and his brothers Remy (Robert Hossein) and Louis (Pierre Grasset) seek revenge on the thieves, which includes terrorizing Jo’s wife (Janine Darcey) and young son.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Ex-Cons
• French Films
• Heists
• Jules Dassin Films

Response to Peary s Review:
Peary writes that after being blacklisted in Hollywood, writer-director “Jules Dassin went to France and made what quickly became the prototype for future caper films.” He points out that “the heist, which takes about half an hour, during which time no one speaks and there is no music, is a great, nail-biting sequence”: we soon “marvel at how expertly planned their robbery is, how they work as a team, and how innovative each man is, particularly in knowing how to incorporate items such as fire extinguishers and umbrellas that wouldn’t be found in a burglar’s manual.”

He notes that “when the heist is complete, the inevitable trouble begins,” and asserts that the “film holds up surprisingly well due to sex and strong violence (the many killings are all terrifyingly brutal) that were ahead of their time in the fifties, and because Dassin sets up interesting, loyalty-based relationships between the men and their women.”

He writes that “while the heist is the film’s classic sequence, other scenes have strong tension as well,” and “also impressive is Dassin’s use of Paris locales.”

I’m in agreement with Peary’s review: this film remains top-notch entertainment, and deserves its status as a classic. The synopsis provided above doesn’t go into specifics about how this elaborate heist ends up going so wrong — but suffice it to say that we learn just enough about all the key characters in the first portion of the film to understand how their loved ones and enemies will play a crucial role in the movie’s tense denouement.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Jean Servais as Tony
  
• Magali Noël singing the title song
  
• The incredibly tense heist sequence
  
• Fine location shooting
  
• Atmospheric cinematography
  

Must See?
Yes, as a classic of the genre, and an all-around good show.

Categories

• Foreign Gem
• Genuine Classic

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Movie Diva Review
• TCM Article
• DVD Savant Review
• NY Times Original Review

Synopsis:
A notorious “fallen woman” (Martine Carol) is reduced to starring in a circus led by a ringmaster (Peter Ustinov) who calls out her many love affairs — including her relations with composer Franz Liszt (Will Quadflieg), her unhappy marriage to a Scottish officer (Ivan Desny), her brief love affair with a student revolutionary (Oskar Werner), and her romance with King Ludwig I of Bavaria (Anton Walbrook).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Anton Walbrook Films
• Carnivals and Circuses
• Feminism and Women’s Issues
• Flashback Films
• French Films
• Historical Drama
• Max Ophuls Films
• Peter Ustinov Films
• Strong Females

Response to Peary s Review:
Peary writes that Max Ophüls — “the master of the mobile camera” — “introduces us to his real-life heroine (Martine Carol) with an incredible shot that begins high in the circus rafters and ends three flights below on the ground — a visual metaphor that reveals to what depths Lola has fallen since she was lover and mistress to many of Europe’s most important men” but now is “the main attraction in a seedy circus, accepting donations for the Society of Fallen Women.”

Drawing from his lengthier analysis of the film in his Cult Movies book, Peary goes on to write that:

Lola epitomizes Ophüls’s intelligent, free-willed, free-spirited, brave women [whose] rebellious actions mock society’s norms and make her an example for repressed women to follow. What she wants is what her heart wants, and it’s not surprising that when we come upon her she has loved so much that her heart is almost worn out. Love has the power to consume an individual and she suffers a great loss each time an affair comes to an end, as it must in Ophüls’s preordained world.

Peary adds, “[Lola] refuses to protect herself from heartache because she believes in living and loving with intensity. Time is Lola’s emotional domain. She is, in fact, a product of her past — her memories are bittersweet at best, but they remain an integral part of her (she remembers every affair.)”

Peary notes, however, that while “Ophüls’s last film is a rich, beautifully designed, scored, and photographed work,” there “are lapses in the script and problems with some characters.” He concedes that “Carol is exciting at rare moments, as in the scene when Lola seduces Liszt”:

… “but mostly she is bland and unable to project the inner beauty that men sense immediately in Lola.”

He points out that the film was “photographed by Christian Matras, whose camera constantly moves to emphasize the shifts and uncertainties in Lola’s life.”

In his Cult Movies essay, Peary concludes by writing, “I don’t agree with the high assessment given the film by [Andrew] Sarris and others, but Lola Montes does reveal Ophüls’s genius with the camera and for set design, and gives insight into his unique vision of women” — which “are reasons enough for it to be seen several times.” I concur.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Vibrant CinemaScope cinematography
  
  
  

Must See?
Yes, for its cult status and as the final film of a major director.

Categories

• Cult Movie
• Historically Relevant
• Important Director

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

Links:

• IMDb entry
• DVD Savant Review
• Salon Review
• Movie Diva Review
• Q Network Review
• TCM Article

Synopsis:
An aging ex-gangster (Roger Duchesne) addicted to gambling decides to pull one final heist, despite warnings from a friendly inspector (Guy Decomble) — but Bob’s (Duchesne’s) plans are complicated when his protege (Daniel Cauchy) falls for a young prostitute (Isabelle Corey) Bob has taken in off the streets, and a thuggish pimp (Gérard Buhr) gets annoyed at Bob for refusing to support him.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Casinos
• Ex-Cons
• French Films
• Gambling
• Heists
• Jean-Pierre Melville Films

Response to Peary s Review:
As Peary writes, this “elegant, classy caper film by Jean-Pierre Melville” — not released in the U.S. until the early 1980s — is “like Kubrick’s The Killing, made a year later, in that it brings together a group of sympathetic men — here they are more refined — to pull off an impossible robbery.” He points out that “much emphasis is placed on the planning of the crime.”

Indeed, the crime itself only takes up the final third of the movie — and even then it doesn’t proceed anything like planned. Instead, primary focus is placed on how “wives and lovers of the men foil the plot because of greed or indifference”:

… with “the one good female” in the film being “Bob’s bartender friend.”

Peary asserts that “Melville’s picture neither looks nor feels like any other caper film,” given that the “floating camera gives the visuals a ‘poetic’ quality”: while “we worry about Bob,” the “picture is so easygoing that we have a chance to enjoy the sights as he drives through the wide streets of Montmarte.”

Peary concludes by pointing out that the “picture has interesting characters, smart dialogue, [and] several truly unusual scenes, including the off-the-wall finale.”

I’m in agreement with Peary’s overall assessment of this film, which has held up well and remains engaging throughout. Peary doesn’t include a few other highly regarded Melville films — including Le Samourai (1967), Army of Shadows (1969), and Le Cercle Rouge (1970) — in his GFTFF, so I may visit them as potential Missing Titles at some point.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Henri Decaë’s cinematography
  
  
• Fine location shooting
  

Must See?
Yes, as a nifty French heist film.

Categories

• Foreign Gem

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

Links:

• IMDb entry
• TCM Article
• DVD Savant Review
• NY Times Review