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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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: |
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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I Walked With a Zombie (1943)
“Because I loved him, I felt I had to restore her to him — make her what she had been before.”
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Directly inspired by Jane Eyre (and preceding Jean Rhys’ post-colonial follow-up novel Wide Sargasso Sea by more than 20 years), the richly layered film is “set up like a Greek tragedy”, in which “a house has been ripped asunder by infidelity, meddling in-laws, sibling rivalry, and calling on pagan gods to carry out selfish bidding”; it even includes a “one-man Greek chorus” in Sir Lancelot, a calypso singer who fills us (and Dee) in on the family’s past troubles through a cleverly written ditty. (“Ah, woe! Ah, me! Shame and sorrow for the family.”)
Peary notes that “the lyrical quality of the long silent passages” — most famously “Dee and Gordon’s nocturnal walk through the mysterious woods” —
contribute towards this film’s status as possibly “the most visually impressive of Lewton’s films”. Certainly, the “shadows, the lighting, the music, [and] the exotic settings contribute to make this one of the masterpieces of the genre” — a “beautiful nightmare” which lingers in one’s memory. As in Cat People, the film’s horror elements here are left up to viewers’ imaginations: is Gordon insane, or “is her zombie-like state the result of a voodoo curse”? Other than a few highly suggestive scenes near the end, the answer is entirely unclear throughout, and “we never find out for sure”. What we “come to believe”, however, as Peary notes, is “that there is just as much validity in believing in the powers of voodoo as there is in believing God will answer prayers”.
To that end, Lewton noticeably “does not belittle the island blacks by mocking their beliefs, customs, and religious practices”, given that it’s the whites who “wallow in confusion and terror”. As Chris Dashiell of CineScene.com writes, “Although the film occupies the European stance towards the black ‘other’ that was always assumed in commercial films at that time, Tourneur is much more sensitive in this regard than one might expect.” Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) Links: |
Cat People (1942)
“Cats don’t seem to like me.”
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Peary notes that, “as in several other Lewton films, evil and good fight for control of his characters” — and, “like Lewton’s other tragic heroines… Irena doesn’t have the willpower to reject her evil side”, especially when she begins experiencing (justifiable) jealousy towards her husband and his co-worker, Jane Randolph (waiting conveniently in the wings).
As so many have noted, Lewton’s RKO “horror” films were true masterpieces of suggested terror — and Cat People is a prime example of this. With the exception of a few highly contested shots of a giant cat later in the film (most likely inserted by the studio against Lewton’s will), Irena’s neuroses could be viewed as purely psychological. Each of the film’s justifiably “classic horror sequences” — “terrified Alice [Randolph] being followed through a dark park, jumping when a bus screeches to a halt next to her:
… Judd (Conway) trying to seduce Irena, only to be attacked by a giant cat:
… Alice swimming alone in an indoor pool when the lights go out, [as] cat shadows appear on the wall and growling can be heard”:
— succeeds largely because of what’s implied rather than what’s actually seen. To this end, as Peary notes, director Jacques Tourneur “does a wonderful job of creating tense atmosphere”, and he’s helped in no small part by d.p. Nicholas Musuraca, who “does wonders with light and shadows”. Cat People is a rare breed of literate horror film that — even at just 73 minutes long — merits repeat viewings in order to allow for full appreciation of the nuanced plot. Much like with its sequel (The Curse of the Cat People, a masterful film in its own right), Cat People is rich enough to be viewed and debated on numerous levels; a quick glance at IMDb’s message boards provides evidence of this ongoing phenomenon. Peary suggests that this would make a good double bill with Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964), “because of strikingly similar sexual themes and plot elements”. Remade by Paul Schrader in 1982 in a much more literal fashion (a title included in Peary’s book as well). Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) Links: |
Curse of the Cat People, The (1944)
“Amy isn’t lying to you. It’s an unseen companion; children love to dream things up.”
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it actually defies categorization, and should probably not be labeled a “horror” film at all. In classic Lewton fashion, its chills and frights are suggested rather than shown; indeed, the only monsters here are ones created through the tragedy of life — such as the nearly psychotic Russell, who is being slowly driven off the deep end by her mother’s maddening refusal to acknowledge her existence.
Screenwriter DeWitt Bodeen’s inclusion of this subplot in the storyline at first appears a bit odd — until one begins to recognize the parallels between Russell and Amy: both are lonely, misunderstood individuals who are alienated from their parents, but while one chooses fantastic escape, the other wallows in increasingly hostile and dangerous bitterness to soothe her emotional wounds. Interestingly, while Peary labels this a “so-called sequel” to Cat People, arguing that it “has no resemblance to its predecessor”, this isn’t technically accurate: Bodeen’s screenplay actually creatively imagines what might have happened to each of the central protagonists of Cat People a few years after that film’s tragic denouement. In this follow-up story, Smith is now (predictably) married to sympathetic Randolph, and they have a child:
— but Smith remains so haunted and guilt-ridden by his troubled past that he suspects Carter of somehow representing or channeling his late wife. Meanwhile — depending upon how literally one wishes to view Carter’s imaginative friendship — Simon’s character here could be viewed (as one contributor on IMDb’s message board posits) as finally having achieved some peace after her tortured life, and bringing her new-found happiness to the daughter who might have been her own. Despite a few creakingly dated elements (wait until you hear Carter’s teacher’s opinion about spankings!), this remains a true sleeper, one which all film fanatics are sure to want to check out. Note: This was, as Peary notes, “probably the first horror film ever screened at child-psychology courses”. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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Sleeping Beauty (1959)
“Before the sun sets on her 16th birthday, she shall prick her finger, on the spindle of a spinning wheel — and die!”
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Response to Peary’s Review: While Peary refers to Aurora as “one of the sexiest and most beautiful of Disney’s animated heroines”, she unfortunately — much like Snow White — can’t really be considered the film’s central protagonist, given that she only appears on-screen for 18 minutes. Meanwhile, her romance with Prince Philip (Bill Shirley) is as slight and meaningless as Snow White’s with Prince Charming. Instead, it’s Aurora’s fairy godmothers — “who are like three lovable, squabbling, slightly daffy maiden aunts” — who drive the story forward, and are featured in some of the film’s most enjoyable scenes. The most justifiably celebrated sequence, however, is the “spectacular” “climactic battle on Forbidden Mountain”, between Prince Philip and the evil Maleficent — this scene, while far too scary for young viewers, is a truly thrilling, masterfully animated denouement. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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Dumbo (1941)
“You all oughta be ashamed of yourselves — a bunch of big guys like you, pickin’ on a poor little orphan like him.”
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Response to Peary’s Review: Note: Other than the “traumatic” mother-child separation scene cited above, Dumbo is probably the film most suitable for young children out of all of Disney’s early features. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) Links: |
