Sunday, February 12, 2012

The Ex-Lady - 1933 ****



It's surprisingly shocking how taboo the subjects in this film are, but had it been a few years later then the Hayes Code would have been put in place to prevent them.

Davis plays Helen, a beautiful and independent woman who is totally against marriage, fearing that it will spoil her career and turn her old before her time. Her boyfriend Don however is desperate to marry her, and only after a visit from Helen's moralistic father does she decide to keep him happy and tie the knot. However, problems begin to arise when financial problems with Don's business cause marital problems at home, and Helen decides (after finding out that

Don has been seeing someone else) that the marriage is the main reason for the problems and therefore they should go back to just 'seeing' each other. I think it's quite a daring film for it's time, but Bette Davis looks gorgeous and I totally fall in love with the decor, clothes and way of life everytime I see a film from the 1930s.

Mata Hari - 1931 ***



I have for a long time been interested in the story of Mata Hari, and although I am aware that this is a semi fictional account of her tragic life, I'm not sure it paints the best picture of her. Garbo portrays a heartless woman who plays with men and treats them badly just because she can. The film doesn't focus a huge amount on the spying allegations, prefering to show us how she treated her many lovers instead. Novarro is heart-breaking as the love-struck man who falls for her, and Barrymore is a standout as the General who betrays her. An interesting movie, and if you think about it, it was made only 12 years after her death, but I would have liked to have seen her story told in a bit more detail.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

(NOIR) Detective Story - 1954 ****



One of the things that struck me about 'Detective Story' was how amazingly powerful Kirk Douglas was in his role. Apart from 'Spartacus' I don't think I have ever seen him act so well in anything. He put his heart and soul into his character, playing a stressed and cold-hearted detective who finds out some very unpleasant truths about his supposedly innocent and good wife by accident when doing a routine arrest on a dodgy man at the station. This film is also very moral based, and I think it tries hard to teach you that you mustn't always judge everyone the same way that you judge someone who has let you down or mistreated you. This seems to be what Douglas' role points to. Not really a film noir although it is listed as one.

Eyes of Laura Mars - 1978 ***



I was drawn to the bizarre idea of this movie, and decided I had to see it. Laura Mars is a famous photographer who unwittingly begins to take pictures of her models in poses of murders that are about to happen. She also has visions where she sees the murders take places through the eyes of the killer. This is naturally terrifying to her, but she begins to feel she is making more sense of it when she meets a very young Tommy Lee Jones who is a detective specialising in the cases. Very soon they make a romantic connection, and she feels that she can trust him, or can she?

I liked the idea, and found the film a sort of foreign version of an American horror movie, a bit like the giallo genre. It's tense and unnerving, but that's what makes it so good, and you get to see the fantastically wacky clothes that people wore in the 1970s!

Copycat - 1995 ****



For a film I've only heard of once before this was surprisingly good. Sigourney Weaver plays Dr Helen Hudson, an expert in criminal psychology and serial killers. One day after she has given a lecture, she is attacked in the toilets by a former subject of hers and as a result, becomes severely paranoid of setting foot outside of her apartment, to the extent that she finds it difficult to pick up the newspaper from outside her door. When a new series of murders takes place she is drawn into the terrifying world assisting the two main detectives on the case. Holly Hunter is excellent. Weaver is brilliant as the manic and intellectually stimulating Doctor. Great film, but I am very interested in the criminology of serial killers.

The Browning Version - 1951 ****




Although this movie is very simple, it's incredibly poignant, about a stuffy and unlikeable teacher at a school for boys who is declining in health and also coming to the realisation about how unpopular he actually is amoungst his class, his staff members and his wife. Added to which, his younger wife's infidelity is rubbed in his face throughout his last few days at his post which leaves him bitter and hopeless. Michael Redgrave is marvellous as Professor Crocker-Harris and Nigel Patrick is suitably grim and smarmy as the Professor's wife's lover and fellow school-master. Rattigan is a fascinating playwright who seems to be able to create a pile of characters that you really care about almost at once.

PS The title of the film refers to the copy of a book of verse which Professor Crocker-Harris is given by a pupil towards the end of the film, Robert Browning's version of 'Agamemnon'.

(NOIR) Act of Violence - 1948 ***



'Act of Violence' is a mediocre noir about a man struggling to come to terms with the guilt of betraying his comrades in the war. Van Heflin plays Frank, who is constantly haunted by the fact that he took food from his captors after the rest of his men had been murdered. Unbeknownst to him, his former best friend Joe (Robert Ryan) also survived and is determined on payback. Frank's wife knows nothing about the situation, whilst Joe's girlfriend knows everything but cannot convince Joe to let sleeping dogs lie.

The stand out performance has to be Mary Astor as a bedraggled, past her prime prostitute who tries to help Frank out of his predicament. Van Heflin is a good actor too, and the more I see him in the more I like him. I wouldn't rate this noir at the top, but it's better than average.

Thursday, February 02, 2012

The Silent House - 2010 **



I thought this sounded a really interesting idea for a horror film when I first read about the style. All filmed in one single shot with no breaks. To my knowledge this has only ever been done with 2004's 'Russian Ark.' Anyway! It wasn't quite as interesting as I was hoping. I actually thought I was going to be seriously scared but obviously not, and on the whole, I find that foreign horror is generally much more atmospheric than English.

A girl and her father go to an old, remote cottage to clean it out and repair it as they know that the owner will soon be putting on the market. Once inside (all in one shot don't forget) they hear a strange noise from above and the father goes to investigate. Except he doesn't come back. And the girl is trapped.

On the contrary I actually found the continuous shot very annoying and completely lacking in tension, and it just sort of trundled along without much interest, despite the disturbing goings on.

Not one I would recommend, although the idea of a Uruguayan Spanish horror film did originally sound appealing.