FilmFanatic.org

Synopsis:
A group of American soldiers, led by Captain Nelson (Errol Flynn), parachute into Burma on a mission to blow up a radar station, and must fight off Japanese enemies while attempting to escape.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Errol Flynn Films
• Raoul Walsh Films
• Soldiers
• World War Two

Response to Peary’s Review:
Peary is appropriately laudatory of this Raoul Walsh-directed WWII action flick (released just six and a half months before the bombing of Hiroshima), in which “Flynn leads his command on a daring mission into the Burmese jungle to blow up a strategic Japanese radar station”, only to find that “rescue plans can’t land to get [them] out”, and thus “they must begin [a] long trek to [a] new rescue point, with vengeance-bent Japanese both on their heels and waiting in ambush all along the way.”

He accurately labels it “one of the best war movies”, despite being “among the grimmest, considering how many soldiers on both sides are killed, and the brutality of their deaths.” He calls out “the great pacing” — with “characters who always seem to be moving” — as “characteristic of director Raoul Walsh”:

… and notes that the film is “highlighted by powerful battle sequences, including a tense, climactic ‘night’ battle in which few survive.”

As Peary notes, the soldiers (each a unique individual):

… show the utmost professionalism on the field (they’re remarkably “well prepared and efficient”), yet they also display very real emotions and fear, becoming “frustrated, scared, and los[ing] confidence as their numbers start to diminish and rescue looks hopeless.”

Flynn is especially admirable in the lead role (Peary refers to his performance as “unusually restrained” and “humble”):

Less impressive is Henry Hull as an “aged war correspondent” a la Ernie Pyle, whose performance (in a role meant to simulate “our eyes” on the battlefield) comes across a tad heavy-handed.

Regardless, it’s the non-stop action here that keeps us riveted — yet Peary forewarns us that it may be difficult for modern viewers to stomach the “racist propaganda” in the film, given that, as we “watch our soldiers ambushing Japanese soldiers”, it’s “like a shooting gallery”.

Note: According to Time Out’s Review, England was so upset about the film’s suggestion that Americans “won the Burma Campaign single-handled” that they prevented this film from future distribution in the country until 1952.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Errol Flynn’s surprisingly subdued, stoic performance as Captain Nelson
  
• Nonstop, exciting action
  
• Atmospheric cinematography
  
  
• Plenty of smart dialogue:
  

  Reporter: What if my parachute doesn’t open?
  Captain Nelson: Then you’ll be the first one on the ground.

Must See?
Yes; this one remains among the best WWII movies ever made.

Categories

• Controversial Film
• Historically Relevant

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
A wealthy wanna-be cowboy (Jerry Lewis) joins his new “pardner” (Dean Martin) in a stand-off against masked raiders who are terrorizing a Western town.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Agnes Moorehead Films
• Comedy
• Dean Martin Films
• Jerry Lewis Films
• Lee Van Cleef Films
• Lon Chaney, Jr. Films
• Revenge
• Western

Response to Peary’s Review:
Peary admits to a childhood fondness for this fun if mediocre Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis comedy — their next-to-last together before Hollywood or Bust (1956) — which he finds “still pretty amusing”.

He points out that the direction by Normal Taurog is “snappy”, and that Lewis is as nutty, juvenile, and physically dexterous as ever. As Peary notes, he’s “not only silly but has a sense of humor”, and is a “genuinely quirky fellow with a touch of rebelliousness… and reckless abandon”. Although a little goes a long way with Jerry Lewis, there’s no denying that he was a talented comedian in his own fashion; meanwhile, Dean Martin croons as nicely as ever.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Lewis secretly miming a story Martin is telling in the next room
  
• Lewis incompetently trying to roll a cigarette using Martin’s tobacco
  

Must See?
No — though every film fanatic should see at least one Martin-and-Lewis comedy, and this may be as good a choice as any.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
Corrupt bondsman Bill Bailey (George Bancroft) falls for a thrill-seeking young socialite (Frances Dee), who nearly causes his downfall.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Corruption
• Framed
• Frances Dee Films
• George Bancroft Films
• Judith Anderson Films
• Love Triangle
• Thieves and Criminals

Response to Peary’s Review:
This above-average underworld thriller from the early 1930s defies easy categorization. As Peary points out, director Rowland Brown doesn’t pass judgment on those participating in organized crime (which he considered to be a “legitimate” business during the Depression); in this film’s universe, the only crime of which “one should be ashamed” is a double-cross. The characters flout convention as well: a shady, ordinary-looking bondsman is the sympathetic protagonist of the film, while Frances Dee’s wealthy kleptomaniac thrill-seeker is, as Peary puts it, “a woman years ahead of her time”. At only 65 minutes long, Blood Money moves quickly, with several exciting plot twists, some unusual settings (including a dog race), well-written dialogue, and nuanced characters. Well worth a look.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Judith Anderson, wonderful in her first screen role
  
• Frances Dee as the spoiled, thrill-seeking young socialite
  
• An exciting climax
  
• Smart dialogue
  

  “How’d you like to get interested in me?”

Must See?
Yes, simply to watch one of the few films directed by the notorious Rowland Brown. Discussed at length in Peary’s Cult Movies 2 (1983).

Categories

• Cult Movie
• Important Director

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review

Synopsis:
A reporter (Clark Gable) and a moll (Jean Harlow) help a group of concerned citizens (the “Secret Six”) bring about the downfall of big-time prohibition-era mobster Louie Scorpio (Wallace Beery).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Clark Gable Films
• Gangsters
• Jean Harlow Films
• Journalists
• Lewis Stone Films
• Prohibition
• Wallace Beery Films

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, the cast in this early anti-crime flick is “first-rate”, with Wallace Beery’s “offbeat” performance as Louie Scorpio especially notable.

While there’s nothing new under the sun here in terms of the plot — small-time slaughterhouse worker rises to the top of the crime world by killing colleagues, bribing journalists, and planting politicians — it’s all done with style and levity, and is a joy to watch. It’s also fun to see Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in two of their earlier film roles, with Gable coming across as especially charismatic. However, this film really should have a different title, given that the “Secret Six” (concerned citizens who, as Peary puts it, “look silly in their Lone Ranger masks”) only show up twice, and don’t have much to do with the overall plot.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Wallace Beery’s comical portrayal as “Slaughterhouse” Scorpio
  
• Clark Gable in one of his first star-making roles
  
• Jean Harlow in a sympathetic early role
  
• Gable and his colleague (Johnny Mack Brown) making competing phone calls to their newspapers while simultaneously chatting up Jean Harlow
  
• A fun glimpse of the New York Metro system in the 1930s
  
• Scorpio dictating a letter to his secretary, who makes some substantial changes:
  

  Scorpio: “You better lay off shipping grapes into our state if you don’t cut me in on it.” Read that.
  Secretary: “Gentlemen: I understand you are shipping concentrated grape juice into our state without consulting our organization.”
  Scorpio: That’s right.
  Secretary: Thank you, sir.

  

Must See?
No. While it’s a good anti-crime flick with an excellent cast, I believe director George Hill’s previous film, The Big House (1930), is a better candidate as a “must see” film.

Links:

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

Synopsis:
A group of bourgeois dinner guests find themselves inexplicably unable to leave once the party is over.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Black Comedy
• Bourgeois Society
• Get Together
• Living Nightmare
• Luis Buñuel Films
• Surrealism

Response to Peary’s Review:
Peary refers to this “perplexing, absurdist black comedy” — an extended allegory on the fragile veneer of class — as “one of Buñuel’s most bizarre films” (a notable distinction, given Buñuel’s many other surrealistic endeavors). As Peary notes, this film represents one of Buñuel’s “many indictments of the bourgeoise” given “it is they who have contaminated society” and now they are transformed “into the smelly, violent, uncouth people they’ve always despised.” The guests — caught in a living nightmare from which they can’t awake, without servants to help mediate their pressing needs — eventually begin to lose every shred of their carefully seasoned civility, making “brutally honest remarks about each other” that “may seem like cheap shots, but are a big improvement over the false respect that previously distinguished their relationships.” Nothing is left sacred here: suicide, infidelity, and bitterly sarcastic barbs all come to bear as the days go by and nothing seems to change for the trapped guests.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• A powerful allegory of bourgeois conformity and fragility
  
  
• Atmospheric cinematography
  

Must See?
Yes. This film is a masterpiece of Buñuelian absurdism, and should be seen by every film fanatic.

Categories

• Foreign Gem
• Important Director

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• Roger Ebert’s Review
• Moria Review

Synopsis:
A door-to-door salesman (Bill Teas) develops the uncanny ability to see women without their clothes on.

Genres:

• Comedy
• Peeping Toms
• Russ Meyer Films
• Supernatural Powers

Response to Peary’s Review:
Peary notes that this one-note nudie comedy was “notorious when released”, but now seems “tame, even genteel”. Most importantly, it put director Russ Meyer on the map as the “King of the Nudies”; he went on to make much raunchier fare, including Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill (1965) and Vixen! (1968). TIMT is pure male fantasy all the way, naturally, and becomes repetitive fairly quickly; fortunately, it’s only an hour-plus long, and has enough “curiosity appeal” to remain relatively amusing until the end.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Occasional moments of unexpected humor
  

Must See?
No, though it’s of mild historical interest simply for its status as “bosomania” director Russ Meyer’s first feature film.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Images Journal Review

Synopsis:
A shy beauty salon assistant (Isabelle Huppert) falls in love with a suave literature student (Yves Beneyton), who becomes embarrassed by her lack of intellectualism.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Cross-Class Romance
• French Films
• Isabelle Huppert Films
• Mental Breakdown
• Romance

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary points out, this “interesting”, heartbreaking tragedy — featuring a “moving performance” by Isabelle Huppert as an “extremely sweet, lovely, and passive 19-year-old beauty-salon assistant” with “the capacity to love too much” — may be “too sad” for some viewers to handle, yet it remains a powerful meditation on the difficulties inherent in cross-class romance. He notes that it was unusual at the time for a male director to show sympathy for the “ignorant” female in a couple rather than the “educated, political”, yet ultimately short-sighted male. Refreshingly, director Claude Goretta and screenwriter Pascal Laine aren’t “putting down Pomme for being shallow”; instead, “they are showing that intellectuals like Francois [Beneyton] can’t see the depth of Pomme’s beauty”.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Isabelle Huppert in an early, star-making role
  

Must See?
No, but it’s recommended.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
A deaf-mute runaway (Susan Strasberg), hoping to find her missing brother (Bruce Dern) in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, becomes immersed in a crazy scene of drugs, sex, and rock n’ roll.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Bruce Dern Films
• Counterculture
• Deafness
• Dean Stockwell Films
• Jack Nicholson Films
• Runaways
• Search
• Susan Strasberg Films

Response to Peary’s Review:
The “Flower Power” era of 1960s Haight-Ashbury — complete with acid rock, bad trips, tie-dye clothing, hip lingo, and “free love” — comes roaring to colorful life in this “energetic” exploitation film, which Peary refers to as “the best of all the biker and drug films that AIP produced during the era”.

Its success is largely due to a sensitive performance by Strasberg, who “was never so appealing”.

Meanwhile, Bruce Dern as Strasberg’s “raving lunatic” brother:

… and Dean Stockwell as an acid freak:

… are both memorable in supporting roles.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Susan Strasberg as Jenny
  
• Exciting on-location footage in 1960s San Francisco (shot by DP Laszlo Kovacs)
  
  

Must See?
Yes, for Strasberg’s performance, and as an all-around “good show”.

Categories

• Noteworthy Performance

Links:

• IMDb entry
• TV Guide Review
• Spinning Image Review
• DVD Savant Review
• DVD Talk Review

Synopsis:
Richard Pryor discusses oversexed monkeys, nonchalant nurses, peeing in the woods, and boxing with Muhammad Ali.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Richard Pryor Films
• Stand-Up Comedy

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, to watch this live concert film is to see “a comic genius at work.” Pryor is uninhibited and raunchy, yet manages to reveal deep-seated “pain, fear, anger, and concern for his race”. Pryor’s routines weren’t always funny (I’m thinking in particular of Richard Pryor: Live and Smokin’, a 1985 film release of a 1971 performance which should never have seen the light of day), so this uniformly brilliant snapshot of his career shouldn’t be taken for granted. Among the many enjoyable segments are Pryor explaining how he got arrested for shooting his own car; describing nurses’ nonchalance while collecting pee from their patients; and reminiscing about beatings from his grandmother (!). Watch and enjoy.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Pryor’s inimitable physical humor on stage
  

Must See?
Yes. This is one of the few “must see” stand-up performances on film.

Categories

• Historically Relevant
• Noteworthy Performance(s)

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review

Synopsis:
A beautiful, sexually liberated nightclub dancer (Louise Brooks) inadvertently shoots one of her admirers, lands in jail, and turns to prostitution to survive.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• G.W. Pabst Films
• Louise Brooks Films
• Prostitutes
• Sexuality
• Silent Films
• Womanizers

Response to Peary’s Review:
Peary offers an excellent, in-depth analysis of this classic silent film by G.W. Pabst in his GFTFF, describing Lulu as “the victim of the weak men around her rather than the traditional vamp who causes (with pleasure) their downfall”. As with so many other sexually active females in the movies (i.e., Janet Leigh in Psycho, Blythe Danner in Lovin’ Molly — not to mention the doomed heroines of countless teenage horror flicks), Lulu must pay dearly for the “sins” of her attractions. It’s difficult to imagine anyone but Louise Brooks — surely one of the most beautiful and distinctive screen actresses of all time — in the lead role. As Peary notes, she “gives Lulu intelligence, spirit, and dignity, even in debasement.” He argues that while men may view her as a femme fatale, she is ultimately a “vivacious innocent” who “means no harm.”

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Louise Brooks (nominated by Peary for an Alternate Oscar as best actress of the year) as Lulu
  
• Gorgeous, expressionistic cinematography
  
• A creepy, horror-inspired ending
  

Must See?
Yes. This silent masterpiece is essential viewing for any film fanatic. Discussed at length in Peary’s Cult Movies (1981).

Categories

• Genuine Classic

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

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Q Network Review
• TV Guide Review