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The Stranglers of Bombay (1959)
The British did not always do too bad in India
It is unavoidable to compare this film of the Thuggee sect with the other one 30 years later with Pierce Brosnan as the hero ("The Deceivers" of 1988) on the second novel by John Masters, that is a greater story and filmed in colour, this is in black-and-white but actually more efficient without colours and getting closer to the overwhelmingly shocking reality of the matter. Guy Rolfe is more natural and convincing as an ordinary honest Englishman suspecting something fishy going on about all those people disappearing into nowhere, while Pierce Brosnan dashing in flying colours is more the Hollywood James Bond type. This is more like a genuine documentary without any romanticising, and the strictness of the realism brings out the full horror of the actual organised murder of one million people by stealth covered by absolute obligatory silence, which makes Indiana Jones and his temple of doom appear like a distorted adventure caricature. Guy Rolfe is always good and makes a strong impression of honest integrity. He was the surgeon in Francis Durbridge's "Operation Diplomat" 1953 and made good in many other films. This is a startlingly realistic film of India in 1829 and should not be ignored.
The Fearmakers (1958)
Getting mixed up with political racketeers
This is actually a political thriller dealing with corruption in America on the highest level. A polling institute is used to manipulate the public to vote for the "right" politician, and it is a far gone project, when Dana Andrews steps in as an unprecedented factor. He was in the Korea war, lost and presumed dead, and when he suddenly returns from the dead and finds his polling institute taken over after his partner who has died under mysterious circumstances, he tries to dig for the truth. He finds too much of it, he is worked over almost worse than by the Chinese in their prison camps, they try to make of him a worthless wreck of a brainwashed soldier with brain damages (after Korea) and try to dispose of him like they did of his partner, but in the process he learns the whole truth. There are many political turns here, it is difficult to hang on in every bend, the difficult dialog gets tiresome in its intricacies, but it is worth sticking through the drama to the end. Any film with Dana Andrews is worth watching, and this is no exception but rather a confirmation of the rule.
Souls at Sea (1937)
One of the great films of the great 30s.
Everything is excellent here. Gary Cooper makes one of his great character roles of double depths, George Raft makes for once a great contribution, all the characters are natural and organic, the realism is magnificent, the glory of the era of the sailing ships is enhanced and lifted out of the screen, and even the music is perfect, with many glorious moments of innovation and good humour, and the quality of the drama, both human and natural, is undeniable in its realisation with a formidable shipwreck to crown the masterpiece. Henry Hathaway knew his business thoroughly, he never committed mistakes, and this is just one of his many masterpieces.
General von Döbeln (1942)
En krigshjältes vanära och återupprättelse - A war hero's honour and exoneration
Det vore synd att låta denna film passera obemärkt förbi då den uppvisar uppenbara förtjänster som torde uppmärksammas. Manuset är skrivet av ingen mindre än Sven Stolpe, varför det är synnerligen välskrivet även om det förekommer brister. Den största är väl den att Stolpe helt missat den historiska poängen: Varför blev Bernadotte så fruktansvärt upprörd när Döbeln på eget initiativ undsatte Hamburg och räddade staden från Napoleon? Därför att Bernadotte då ännu inte hade bestämt sig om han skulle stödja Napoleon eller de allierade. Genom Döbelns initiativ hade Bernadotte inte längre något val, utan han måste gå i lag med de allierade. Därför blev Bernadotte fullständigt ursinnig för att Döbeln berövade honom hans initiativ och avgjorde hans ställningstagande i stället för han själv. Detta kan ha avgjort hela kriget, till de allierades fördel. Döbeln blev satt på fästning för insubordination, och Sven Stolpe har utbroderat incidenten med att även omfatta en krystad kärleksintrig och ett misslyckat revolutionsförsök. Men skådespelarinsatserna är strålande, Poul Reumert briljerar som Bernadotte, och Edvin Adolphson gör en känslig rolltolkning av von Döbeln. Det är en stor svensk historisk film av betydande dramatisk kvalitet.
It would be a shame to let this film pass by unnoticed as it displays obvious merits that should be observed. The script is written by none other than Sven Stolpe, which is why it is extremely well written even if there are flaws. The biggest one is probably that Stolpe completely missed the historical point: Why was Bernadotte so terribly upset when Döbeln on his own initiative came to the rescue of Hamburg and saved the city from Napoleon? Because Bernadotte had not yet decided whether to support Napoleon or the Allies. Through Döbeln's initiative, Bernadotte no longer had a choice, but he had to join forces with the Allies. Therefore, Bernadotte was completely furious that Döbeln deprived him of his initiative and decided his position for him. This may have decided the entire war, in favour of the Allies. Döbeln was imprisoned for insubordination, and Sven Stolpe has embellished the incident to include a convoluted love plot and a failed revolution attempt. But the acting is brilliant, Poul Reumert shines as Bernadotte, and Edvin Adolphson makes a sensitive interpretation of von Döbeln. It is a great Swedish historical film of considerable dramatic quality.
The Man I Love (1946)
Ida Lupino coming home, sorting things out, finishing business and leaving.
There are several factors that make this a great film. The story is nothing special, Ida Lupino comes home to her family and sisters somewhere around Los Angeles, one of the sisters have two very nice little twin boys and her husband is rather jealous about her since she is blonde and beautiful, and the other sister's husband is in the "looney bin" suffering from war traumas, and they have a small son, so there is quite a family to take care of, which Ida Lupino does, while at the same time she gets connected to a night club as a singer, the manager of which is rather a hoodlum and tries to possess her, but no one can possess Ida Lupino. From nowhere another guy turns up, Hugh Bennett, in the best character role of the film after Ida Lupino, he is a melancholy guy and a former jazz pianist who has lost his ambition but goes on playing anyway, and that's where the music enters the story and soon becomes the dominating factor. It is all Gershwin, it is not only excellent but extremely refined and adds a lot of style to the film, and they have known each other before. She gradually recognizes him as the great pianist he once was and tries to resurrect him, but he is only on a temporary visit, he soon has to embark on his ship again to nowhere, and Ida can't hold him. There are other intrigues as well, there is a lot about the night club joint, but Lupino and Bennett dominate the entire film and makes a heart-rending love story out of it, while the Gerswin music gilds the lot. Many consider this Ida Lupino's best performance ever, but Hugn Bennett is equally impressing in his fathomless melancholy. Ida and Gershwin's music has the final word in this very dark noir which at the same time is a very humdrum story of very ordinary people, but all the actors make them shine with unforgettable sincerity.
Between Midnight and Dawn (1950)
Splendid idyll going down in sinister darkness
This is not just an ordinary cops and robbers film. But it is actually a fine story of two war veterans who stick together consistently also as policemen and even court the same girl. But her father was a policeman who got killed, so she has decided to never get involved with any policeman. Well, here she gets involved with two. It starts very well as comedy full of good humour, but it doesn't remain like that. Their service in the force takes a sinister turn when a convicted murderer breaks loose and swears revenge at any cost. The drama that follows is sinister indeed and becomes rather hard-boiled with very much brutal force, furious car chases and shootouts in total contrast to the lovely beginning, and the girl's worst premonitions come true with a vengeance, while Edmond O'Brien succeeds in saving the situation - he was one of Hollywood's most reliable actors, all his films are excellent, and you never tire of him. This is a very noir police thriller going all the way from hilarious comedy to hopeless tragedy, but it is very impressing indeed, both concerning brilliant script, outstanding cinematography and perfectly natural acting.
Cry Wolf (1947)
A dark noir of awfully dark family secrets in very romantic settings
You never expected Errol Flynn to be able to play a role like this. It is a very difficult character role of some profound complexities, and as little as Barbara Stanwyck you will be able to figure out this character at all, he could be a villain and a thug and tyrant and all kinds of nasty schemers, but like Barbara Stanwyck you will be constantly surprised by his turnings into other sides of this character with awfully dark secrets, which perhaps never would have come out if Barbara Stanwyck hadn't been as foolhardy in her stubbornness as she proves herself to be. That perilous foolhardiness saves the story, the film, Errol Flynn and herself in a drama that could be characterised as Gothic. The family secrets hang heavily over the grand house of a happy past long since gone, they tend to stifle anyone and especially poor Geraldine Brooks in her debut film, but there is an explanation to everything. Gradually Errol Flynn reveals himself in perhaps the most sensitive and delicate part of his career, and even Barbara Stanwyck has to accept it.
Disputed Passage (1939)
Baptism of fire through love and war
This is a grossly underrated feature by Frank Borzage on the threshold to his last period and before the Second World War, dealing with a young doctor's medical education and development into a real doctor getting his hands thoroughly trained in the horrible mess of the war in China under constant attacks by the Japanese. The contrast between the safe idyllic student years and the war reality is overwhelming. He makes the acquaintance of a young Chinese nurse in America brought up and adopted there, and he meets her again in China: their love story is the main theme of the film. Dorothy Lamour is surprisingly good as the young Chinese student and nurse, but the great character of the film is Akim Tamiroff, in a role of a kind that usually Edward G. Robinson used to play, a grumpy veteran surgeon who usually scolds all his students with bitter sarcasms, but his character undergoes a great change as he also comes to China and find it necessary to reevaluate his entire attitude and position. I have never seen Akim Tamiroff so good. John Howard is all right as the young doctor, and the story is typical of Frank Borzage: outrageous crisis and redemption. It's a great human story well performed and convincingly realized.
Dark City (1950)
A classic noir at its best
All the participants in this film warrant something of a masterpiece, excellent delicate suave direction by William Dieterle, an impressing performance by Charlton Heston in his first great leading role, Lizabeth Scott as a nightclub singer of many songs as overwhelmingly beautiful and charming as ever, Viveca Lindfors as a terrorised and frightened widow with a small boy making a bold contribution all the same, Ed Begley being persecuted by ulcers, hypochondria, practical jokes and a psychopathic murderer who only gradually appears by being recognised by his ring, a great plot with no way out except through the worst of it, a great score by Franz Waxman, nothing is missing, it is darkness all over in many dark cities, so it couldn't get more noir.
Aces High (1976)
Enthusiasm crowned by glory or death
There are a number of great actors here, and most of them make lasting impressions that you are never likely to forget. But first of them I would place Simon Ward who plays the most difficult, most sensitive and most susceptible part as the pilot suffering from neuralgia and wishing for nothing else than to have an end to the nightmare and go home, which he is not allowed to, threatened by court martial and firing squad if he does. Malcolm McDowell is the leading ace, the veteran in charge of the brigade who almost outshines all the others, although there are distinguished aces like Trevor Howard, Richard Johnson, John Gielgud, Ray Milland, Christopher Plummer in a leading role and Peter Firth as the enthusiastic greenhorn, who is mercilessly brought up to the infernal reality of a war fought in the sky without parachutes. There are particularly spectacular scenes of these airfights in very primitive planes, it all happens in just a week, while every day seems like an eternity of unendurable ordeals. It's a great film coming as close to a documentary as was possible under the circumstances, and every actor adds overwhelming credits to the film.
The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947)
Whose is the guilt?
This is an exquisitely beautiful film reminding of the best moments of William Dieterle (like in 'Portrait of Jennie') with many innovative surprises, as the film moves on into the guilt complex of Rosalind Russell as she can't get over the death of her husband in the war, who sacrificed himself to save five of his comrades. An unemployed journalist on the booze comes across the case, when she is confined to a hospital for nervous problems when she can't move her legs, he gets over the list of the five saved comrades and develops an interest in her, a he knew all those soldiers. He develops a dialog with her in which he tries to open up her secret inhibitions to get her on her feet again, and thus all the five saved characters and their stories turn up as flashbacks. The problem is that she can't accept that they were worth saving by her husband's death, while Melvyn Douglas as the journalist on the booze, his first part after the war, gradually makes her realize the worth of the five chums. It's a wonderful film gradually revealing a deep mystery, and Melvyn Douglas is impressive as never before, and so is Rosalind Russell. This is a film to return to for its beauty, its charm, its wonderful story of many aspects and depths and one of the most extraordinary redemptions of a war film.
Bait (1954)
The old ordinary disaster of greed
One review labelled this film Hugo Haas at his worst. Well, it certainly isn't one of his best. A young man comes to a joint in the wilderness where he is invited by an old gold-digger (Hugo Haas) to form a partnership in the quest of a gold mine somewhere up in the mountains, and employed at the joint is Cleo Moore, against whom Haas warns the young man to have anything to do with her, since she is a bad woman. Naturally he does get something to do with her. The three of them go up in the mountains, and the young man actually stumbles on the gold mine, and thus you would think they all have made their fortune. Actually there's where the problems begin. This is a commonplace morality about the damnation of greed, and to make things worse there is a blizzard complicating things. The mountain scapes are wonderful, but that is about the only thing making the film worth watching.
Address Unknown (1944)
The rise of Nazi Germany from the inside
There is a great performance here by Paul Lukas as an art dealer of San Francisco who goes to Germany to continue his business there with his family at the time of the Nazi rise to power. He does not understand what is happening until it is too late, and his tragedy is a bottomless abyss of despair as he can't get out, while he should have when already his wife and children left Germany for Switzerland, but he never got the hint and the grasp of what actually was going on, not even when his best friend's daughter, an actress, was disposed of for opposing the Nazi censorship. The film is a propaganda film of course towards the end of the war, but there is some terrific photography here, and the film is mostly worth watching for its extraordinary cinematography.
The Pumpkin Eater (1964)
What a waste of excellent actors!
I always had a hard time with Harold Pinter, usually bored to death and depressed into suicidal moods. There is usually not much of a story, no wit, no sense of humour, bleak commonplace circumstances and practically no drama, while I always found reason to highly admire his wife, Antonia Frazer, who has written some of the best biographies in modern times and who should have been awarded the Nobel prize instead. There is nothing wrong with the direction, the camera work or the acting, which is on the highest level: Anne Bancroft, always supreme, Peter Finch, James Mason, Cedric Hardwicke, Eric Porter, Maggie Smith, there is almost no one missing in this actor's gallery of splendour, and to all this comes a whole menagerie of little children constantly gamboling. The film is good, but the less said about the deplorable Harold Pinter the better.
El Greco (2007)
El Greco at the mercy of oppressors, his ladies and the inquisition
The acting is very good in this film throughout, especially by the Spanish actors Juan Diego Botto as the Dominican priest who helps El Greco out from a few dilemmas in the beginning to then turn into an austere inquisitor accusing El Greco for blasphemies by his art, and Laia Marull, as his life's companion and mother of his son. Nick Ashton (Nick Clark Windo) makes a very good portrait of the painter himself with his ups and downs, while there are of course some theatrical exaggerations, but on the whole it is a very beautiful and informative film, made on locations in Crete, Venice and Spain, so the film is definitely worth examining and enjoying. Sotiris Moustakas makes perhaps the greatest impression as Titian, and it became e his last performance before dying. Vangelis provides excellent music all the way, and any friend and lover of art will love this film.
Fragment of Fear (1970)
Anatomy of paranoia
This film has many possibilities to turn interesting but it never does. The munder of the pious aunt in the beginning is just the first instant of an any number of inconsistencies that never make any sense. For some pathologists lost in the mumbo jumbo of psychology it might be of interest in some instances, but any thread that starts looking hopefully for giving some hint at the plot of all the anomalies, just peter out, like the laughing man on the telephone. David Hemmings always make good performances, but he is seldom served with any script that makes sense. His best films were Joshua Logan's "Camelot" as the rebel Sir Mordred and the photographer getting into trouble for his photos in Antonioni's "Blow-Up", he was always good and convincing as a rebel, but the scripts he had to act for seldom made any sense. The film is well made, the direction is perfect, the colour photography is splendid, while the main lack is in the script. It just derails from beginning to end.
Deported (1950)
An American gangster getting second thoughts in Italy
The film is better than its reputation. Jeff Chandler has served five years in Sing Sing for his racket and is deported to Italy, his home country, which he hasn't seen since he was a small boy. His remaining family, most of them are dead, take good care of him and he finds himself at home in the town he never knew, which becomes interesting for him by the young widowed countess, Marta Toren, whose husband died in the war. His company makes her stop wearing black, and there is a beautiful romance developing. However, his past catches up with him and he gets involved in an Italian racket which threatens to ruin everything, but the story glibly passes on through some complications to reach a satisfactory end after all. The film is mainly worth watching for the performances of Jeff Chandler and Marta Toren, they are both always reliably good, and Robert Siodmak's direction adds some interesting camera work to the plot. In brief, there is nothing wrong with a mobster turning to charity, if his destiny will just let him.
Sea of Lost Ships (1953)
Fighting icebergs among icebears and foundering ships
The films with John Derek are not many but they are always enjoyable for his very sensitive acting, usually in parts where he gets into trouble and has to work hard to get out of it, if he is not executed or dies on the way. This film is mainly interesting for its documentary parts. The film begins with the Titanic disaster and ends with another disaster of same kind, a Norwegian passenger ship running full speed into an iceberg and getting stuck there in the fog. John Derek is part of an Arctic Coast Guard patrol, founded after the Titanic disaster just for the purpose of avoiding further accidents of that kind, and there are amazing sequences of the rescue team at work. The story is very ordinary, but the Arctic scenery is well worth wasting a film on. Walter Brennan plays the adoptive father after John Derek lost his own father in a failed rescue operation. It's an adventure film based on reality.
Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
Regimental honour at stake
It could be treated as a negligeable trifle of a soldier violating the finest lady of the place, but etiquette demands the matter to be court martialled with both a prosecutor and defense, and as the proceedings go on, everyone desiring to get the problem brushed off as quickly as possible, strange facts turn up to make it a very complicated matter indeed. The lady in question is found to have been lying, a widow of a renowned hero of the regiment, and the question must arise, why she was lying. Who was she protecting? The answer is only the regiment, for the sake of the honour of her deceased husband, killed in battle. It's an intricate court case parading all the best British actors at the time, Trevor Howard, Richard Attenborough, Christopher Plummer, Michael York, Susannah York, Stacy Keach, it's an excellent play brilliantly performed under the expert direction of Michael Anderson, and if you find it dull and boring you will find it surprising by the unexpected turns it takes. Almost all the actors make some of their best performances ever, especially Michael York and Stacy Keach, and you will inevitably be hanging in the end with the unanswerable question: what happens then?
Soho Incident (1956)
Canadians making the mistake of going to Soho
This is only a shabby B-feature but it grows interesting as it develops. A young Canadian coming from America has a friend in Soho whom he looks up and asks for a job, and the friend gets him a job as a kind of general technical support to a Sicilian who runs various rackets concerning racing horses and greyhounds, who doesn't mind applying murky measures. He has a sister who gets interested in the young Canadian, and they develop a relationship. Too late it appears that she is the spider in the web of her brother's murky affairs, our Canadian wants to get out but it is too late, he knows too much, and she won't let him. There are a few murders and that spiral is getting worse, and so the intrigue develops towards constantly more doubtful complications. Finally there are some thrilling car chases through the waterfront of London with amazing views and insights into that and the Soho part of London in the 50s. For this the film is worth watching, even if you have to wait for it. Faith Domergue makes a fascinating portrait of the fatal woman in question in her cool intelligent and cruel calculation, and Lee Patterson makes a likeable figure of the innocent Canadian who can't get out of his unintentional mess. It should be seen in black-and-white though.
One Girl's Confession (1953)
When you tie a knot that ties up your life into a knot you will not be able to untie it yourself.
Cleo Moore was the blonde bombshell that Hugo Haas usually used for his classical "femme fatale" roles, but here she is actually quite good, although she almost never varies her stone face of a cold marble statue, and her role and performance here would impress anybody. The story is typical of Hugo Haas, rather sordid with much bitterness and mean spices, but it actually gradually turns more and more into a comedy. It has the form of a morality, what you do will be sent back to you by fate, but there are some unexpected twists to the sordid plot which actually makes a favourable summary of Cleo's character. She makes the best of it whatever she happens to, and her five years in prison is ultimately turned to her advantage. Although there is reason for much bitterness and hate, she never lets it get the better of her, while her employer (Hugo Haas) really has his ups and downs, being both consistently lucky at cards and making it his own ruin. As a morality turning into a comedy by most unexpected turns it is rather thought-provoking, and like all Hugo Haas' films it has great human and psychological interest, and the acting with the music is perfect. This must be one of his best films.
The Woman in Question (1950)
Five portraits of a lady - or the opposite?
The mystery here is which of the portraits is true. They are all true according to the witnesses delivering them, who see her as a victim, a saint, a rotten something, some divine angel, but something is wrong about all of them. One of her various lovers and suitors is a Welsh sailor, wonderfully played by John McCallum, actually the best part of the film, another is a poor widower to be, having pets and parrots for his only company, then there is the sister who is the one who really knows her sister and makes her suitor Dirk Bogarde know her well too, and then there is a weird book-keeper who only gets one scene to his and her disadvantage, and of course there is a shrew of a land lady, Hermione Baddeley, who dominates the first part of the film and gives a very bad picture of all Jean Kent's suitors and cavaliers. It's a wonderful mystery, expertly contrived by bits of piece to a jigsaw puzzle, but the solution, after all the previous mess, will hardly come as a surprise, while you must feel pity about the poor fellow walking out of the last scene.
Bequest to the Nation (1973)
Nelson and his two opposite ladies
"That Hamilton Woman" of 1941 was a spectacular Alexander Korda production bent on exonerating the woman in question, marvellously played by Vivien Leigh in her prime against Laurence Olivier as Nelson who consequently became her husband. It was a very romantic film romanticising and idealising the affair and story, making Lady Hamilton something of a martyr and a saint, while this film, written by Terence Rattigan, does the opposite: it focuses entirely on undressing Lady Hamilton almost to the bone, making her an almost unbearably impudent self-indulgent and self-derogatory shameless woman, whom no one can understand how Lord Nelson could prefer her to his wife. Well, he did, and his wife even made him an ultimatum to choose between the two, and he actually chose the cheap and vulgar one, if you are to believe Terence Rattigan. His portrait of Lady Hamilton must be somewhat exaggerated, she can't have behaved like that in social life, although Glenda Jackson makes a virtuoso performance of her. Peter Finch is perfect as Lord Nelson, quite credible in his love and weakness for her and still remaining in perfect order and loyalty as an admiral. Lady Nelson is heart-renderingly played by Margaret Leighton, which must be one of her best performances, and also Gladys Cooper made an excellent interpretation of her in "That Hamilton Woman" - both films make her justice. Glenda Jackson overdoes it in all her splendour, and the final battle of Trafalgar crowns the film in realism and admirable reconstruction of the battle. It's a great film although slightly biassed by Terence Rattigan, who did not understand women. An additional triumph of the film is an absolutely stunning and perfect score by Michel Legrand.
The Naked Street (1955)
Charting the depths of a dark world constantly growing darker
Anthony Quinn is at his best as a ruthless enforcer in the dark gambling world who is used to enforce his will whatever he wants by any means. Anne Bancroft at an early stage is also at her best as his sister who gets pregnant by a young man who is found to have ended up in Sing Sing after a brutal burglary murder, sentenced to death within 60 days. Farley Granger is that man, it is not a nice role, you have to agree with almost everyone that he is no good, but Farley Granger makes the best of it, he is at least good looking, so it's quite believable that Anne Bancroft would fall for him. It's a sordid story, it has to go only one way involving the deaths of two of the main characters apart from dozens of others ending up as victims, it's a story of corruption, bribery, brute force and anything rotten, so it's not very uplifting. But it is well acted, and you get a fascinating insight into this very hopeless world where at least someone survives.
Over-Exposed (1956)
Working hard by exposing yourself and others, whether they like it or not
Cleo Moore was the actress that Hugo Haas used in almost all his films as a rather shabby second rate blonde bombshell, somewhat more vulgar than Diana Dors, and his films with her were usually rather sordid stories in no way following the Hollywood rule of happy end at any cost but rather following the pattern of bleak tragedies, but almost always of psychological interest, trying the bearings of the noir in as many aspects as possible, here she is not psychologically interesting but instead better as an actress than usual, exposing herself at the cost of any depth of the story. Richard Crenna is good and does his job and ultimately saves her, and following her story you have to admit she had to be saved. It's about a career in the superficial world of magazine photography, where the constant quest is for something sensational, which sometimes turns up without anyone desiring it and causing more problems and controversies than money and interest. And here, in opposition to all Hugo Haas' films, she accomplishes a very formal happy end.