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Topkapi (1964)
Heist caper for adults
Peter Ustinov is a small-potatoes crook who becomes embroiled in a plot by better crooks to rob the Topkapi Museum on Istanbul.
The movie is based on a novel, THE LIGHT OF DAY, by thriller-writer Eric Ambler, and is a rare case of an improvement on the source material. Ambler leaves his readers in the dark for half the novel about what's going on, while the movie gets off to a better start. Ambler's one of my favorite authors, but in this case the movie's better.
The surprising thing is that this is a heist movie by and for adults. It's not full of young actors who look like they're on a sabbatical from college.
Maximilian Schell proves he can play more than the Nazi roles he was often squeezed into. But the joy, here, is the comically-flustered Peter Ustinov, who picked up a best supporting actor Oscar. Supporting?
One warning: this movie comes from an era where they took their time crafting character and setting up plots. It may leave less discriminating modern viewers scratching their heads. So will the incongruous closing credits sequence, but that's all in good fun and I'm glad it's there.
I hate to say it, but this movie is only for people who can stand 1960s heist movies like "The Italian Job" that don't move like you're on a buttered staircase.
History of the World: Part I (1981)
It's good to be Mel Brooks, you can coast on past successes and make junk like this
Mel Brooks made some hilarious movies. This sketch movie about history ain't one of them.
Okay, we know what Brooks' humor is like. He started his career as a director with one of the funniest movies ever, "The Producers" and a worthy adaptation of a Russian novel (which he improved upon), "The Twelve Chairs." When he discovered his flair for satire he showed his sense of humor is scatalogical and leering. This is also easier than doing work of quality (such as "Young Frankenstein," which was scatalogical and leering enough for me: "What knockers!" Ha bloody ha).
The best part of this movie are previews for "The History of the World, Part II." The second best is an extended sketch about the French Revolution. At least these days we may skip to these sections and don't have to sit through the first part of the movie in an embarrassingly silent theater to get there.
A few of the old Brooks stock company are here (though the ones who spun off to make their own Brooksian movies are sorely missed). Keep an eye out for (then) newcomer Pamela Stephenson.
Darling Lili (1970)
Oh, the humanity!
A star everyone loved at the time, Julie Andrews, plays a singing German spy trying to undermine the allies in a World War. What could go wrong?
Andrews remains popular, and for good reasons. But her rise and decline as a film star can be charted.
A phenominal stage presence in "My Fair Lady" and "Camelot," her practically perfect film debut in "Mary Poppins" won her an Oscar (and no, I don't believe it was a consolation prize for losing the "My Fair Lady" movie, unless every voting actor in Hollywood was in a conspiracy).
Unharmed by digressions into a few non-musical roles where she acquitted herself professionally, she went on to the magical "Sound of Music" and the tuneful "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (which did far better business than people remember).
Then, for a host of reasons (among them the putative collapse of big musicals in the public favor, Andrews' apparent tin ear for good material, and perhaps a disappointment amongst the public that every movie she made wasn't going to be "The Sound of Music") the air began going out of her stardom like a slow leak from a bicycle tire.
Like the disastrous, unfocused "Star!" the original story of "Darling Lillie" needed work. Director Blake Edwards (who would remain married to Andrews until his death) had made some really good movies, but his own movie judgment was becoming impaired and he was beginning a free fall that would only be stopped by re-teaming with his bete noir, Peter Sellers, in Pink Panther films.
"Darling Lillie" is too long, unfocused, with some good (but not earth-shaking) songs that didn't fit the exploding rock era of its time.
It was probably not smart, little more than 20 years after the allies crushed Hitler, to have Andrews playing a pro-German entertainer helping the Reich's war effort. Yes, the setting is the First World War, but who can tell the difference?
Her non-singing co-star is a step up from Richard Crenna in Andrews' previous musical flop, "Star!" but this turkey needed more than photogeniality.
"Darling Lillie" proves two extremely talented people (Andrews, Edwards) can really lose their way without the proper guides dropping bread crumbs.
Star! (1968)
BORE!
Julie Andrews, the biggest star of the time, in the biopic of Gertrude Lawrence. Who? That's part of the problem.
Lawrence was legendary in Britain (especially as a close friend and co-star with Noel Coward) and not unknown to NY theatre audiences. Portraying (really doing homage) to such a towering figure of the British theatre must have been exciting to Julie Andrews. I assume as a singing theatre star herself Lawrence may have been one of Andrews' heroes.
In one of those movies that repeatedly proves Hollywood is awash with money to burn (if I'm not mixing my metaphors too much), "Star!" recreates famous Lawrence songs, in a way Lawrence herself wouldn't recognize. These stylized "music videos," showing off Andrews' phenominal talents, are the best part of the movie.
Lawrence's actual life, with less-than-exciting co-stars like Richard Crenna and Daniel Massey, is the less-than-interesting part of the movie (compare the workmanlike Crenna to the smoldering Omar Sharif in another, contemporary musical biopic, "Funny Girl").
"Sta!" is too long, unfocused and dull. We who know nothing about Lawrence and couldn't care less can pretend it's total fiction (most biopics are) but it doesn't really help with the serious script problems. Andrews' sheer talent and her capacity for bursting out of the screen are wasted. She's simply too good for the material and we keep hoping something better will hatch out of this weird egg Hollywoid laid. Too bad it doesn't. It only proves even the greatest talents need good material.
Twin Peaks: The Black Widow (1991)
Why hard-core Twin Peakers loved the show
"Twin Peaks" was built around the central mystery: who killed Laura Palmer? (I hope it's not a spoiler that Laura Palmer was killed).
The "small town" of Twin Peaks (a metrpolis compared to the town I grew up in) was full of oddball characters. It was seen mainly through the eyes of Agent Cooper, who himsrlf was flakey as they come (cherry pie flakey).
With the central pillar of the unsolved murder ripped away, the tent began collapsing.
To be fair, an unsolved mystery can't be strung out forever. That "Twin Peaks" didn't have decent contingency plans for a new main storyline was a writers' failing.
Some new storylines worked for me. When Bobby began working for Ben Horne and that devolved into reenacting and rewriting the Civil War, I was tickled. I always thought Major Briggs was a great, underutilized character in Season 1; now he's back with his own storyline.
This is a largely transitional episode. Great things are behind them and okay things lie ahead, but they're still moving pieces around . . .
. . . Except that this episode has one of those great moments only "Twin Peaks" could get away with.
A woman every man finds irresistible has joined the cast. Passing several of the men they begin spontaneously to quote lines from "Romeo and Juliet."
I knew a woman like that once. Not the prettiest delicacy in the chocolate box, without doing anything, almost without realizing it, she was incredibly sexy and every man in the place was like a moth to a light bulb. I'm proud to say she and I were friends (nothing more) and she often turned to me for moral support.
That one moment makes this, for a Shakespeare lover like me, one of my favorite second-season episodes. Thank you, "Twin Peaks," for daring to be different--and yet, true to life.
The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
Excellent Distillation of Great Novel
That disgusting reprobate old Karamazov (Lee J. Cobb) is murdered. Did one of his sons do it? The masculine soldier (Yul Brenner) who was cheated by his father? The atheist journalist Ivan (Richard Basehart), whose philosophy suggests everything is allowed, even crime? The religious fanatic (William Shatner)? Or the illegitimate boy treated like a servant (Albert Salmi)?
Sure, the novel has more to it than this bare-bones murder mystery, which Agatha Christie could've wrapped up in 180 pages, but the movies are no place for Dostoevskian wrestlings with life, fate and God.
For a movie less than two hours, they were able to squeeze in a surprising lot of the novel. The climax is slightly different, but I prefer this version. If you want to get the gist of the Karamazov saga without the bother of reading the book, try this on for size.
The Bridge at Remagen (1969)
War is no fun
George Segal plays a weary American officer charged with taking the Remagen Bridge so the good guys can cross into Germany. Robert Vaughn is a German officer assigned to blow up the bridge, but only when he's gotten enough fleeing German soldiers across, first, so they don't get trapped between the Americans and the river.
They make an effort to make the men colorful. Ben Gazzara, for instance, plays an American intent on looting dead Germans.
A friend of mine who did his stint in the army told me in any war the side with the best uniforms loses. I don't know what this says about military tailoring, but the Nazis, as usual, often have beautiful uniforms (occasionally pristine) while the Americans look like they were dragged behind horses.
It doesn't have much good to say about the liberators. It's almost like they want us to cheer for the Nazis, who are the underdogs.
If you like your war movies less than heroic, this one's for you. Me, I'll stick with "Kelly's Heroes," which came out the next year. If you're going to loot, do it in a big way.
Miss Marple: The Moving Finger (1985)
Close enough for horseshoes
Who is sending poison pen letters around town? And how did they contribute to a tragedy? It takes Miss Marple to find out.
THE MOVING FINGER is one of my favorite Agatha Christie books, vying for the top Marple slot with MURDER AT THE VICARAGE. That's really neither here nor there. I just point it out to say I'm not disappointed with this adaptation.
Are there changes from the book? You bet your bippy. In the book, for instance, Miss Marple takes her sweet time about hauling her old bones into the story. But on TV, the star has to be in lots earlier.
This version nevertheless sticks pretty well to the original. The newer version gave the lead guy some sort of cockamamie death wish and so forth; and while the newer version cast the ethereally lovely page 3 girl Kelly Brook, I'd rather live here.
One caveat: I miss David Horovitch's Inspector Slack. He's not in the novel, but he's not in all the novels of others of these adaptations, either, just as Inspector Japp isn't in all those Poirot stories of David Suchet. I just like the way Horovitch's slack responds to Hickson's Marple. They play well together. Horovitch is missed.
Overall, one of the best Hickson Marples.
Death Cruise (1974)
What happened in 1970 Atlanta?
Who is killing of passengers in a cruise ship? What do they have in common?
It's a pretty good TV cast. Tom Bosley. Kate Jackson, not yet an angel. Celeste Holm, fallen movie star. Edward Albert, son of Mr
Douglas on "Green Acres." Polly Bergan. And Richard Long of "Big Valley" fame, in his final role. And the ship's doctor/detective is John Constantine, turning in a surprisingly lifeless performance. He's capable of so much more.
The story has twist upon twist. Unfortunately, in the intervening years we've seen so many of these things the flavor's gone out if it.
And in these things where a lot of people in a closed group get murdered, eventually It's pretty easy to guess who is behind it. The question is: why?
A bigger question: we learn young couple honeymooned in Atlanta in August, 1970. I was a very young boy at the time but growing up near Atlanta I can attest there was nothing of interest in Atlanta in 1970. And in August? Were they mad? Or was it because being in Atlanta in August is conducive to sitting around with no clothes on?
These days, It's only a so-so mystery. Too bad.
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
The real "Pearl Harbor"
"Tora, Tora, Tora" is the best movie examining the affair at Pearl Harbor.
The Japanese had already invaded China (a little fact usually covered up by those who Eurocentristically try to blame the start of World War II on Germany alone) and America sent its fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor both as a protection against possible Japanese aggression and perhaps a bit of sabre-rattling.
From then on, the Japanese decide to take out the American fleet at Pearl to protect their backs while slipshod and occasionally goofy American mismanagement make a disaster inevitable. Only the accident of the aircraft carriers being out that day kept the disaster from being complete.
The movie tries to be fair to both sides and it shows nuances in both forces, including Japanese who oppose the attack.
A solid but perhaps not top-drawer cast does a superb job. I fear I'm unfamiliar with the Japanese actors, but Americans include Martin Balsam, Jason Robards, E. G. Marshall and the barely-glimpsed Joseph Cotten, playing an admixture of real and composite characters. However, the inclusion of the lesser known Wesley Addy, George MacReady and even Richard Anderson and Edward Andrews shows the effectiveness of keeping actual stars out. That also lowers the overhead. The movie "Midway," to be watched after this, features Charleton Heston, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, James Coburn, Glen Ford and other luminaries. I find the cast of "Tora, Tora, Tira" more effective.
Unfortunately, so the viewer fully understands what's going on, the movie is talky as a play, building slowly to the beaurifully-staged recreation of the bombing more than an hour in. On the plus side, it lacks a taked-on, phony love story.
American Masters: Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius (1989)
Good documentary though the title makes it sound like Lloyd only deserves the bronze medal
On a personal note, I've had a fascination with Harold Lloyd since seeing a collection of his movies on PBS when I was in high school in the 1970s. When his collection came out on dvd I was quick to add them to my library.
To be honest, Chaplin was always a little too highbrow for me. Keaton is hilarious. So, in his limited way, was baby-faced Harry Langdon. But I always found Lloyd the most accessible of the the bunch.
And while I enjoy many of Lloyd's glasses-shorts and feature-length movies, I'm a particular fan of his thrill comedies like "Safety Last" and "Never Weaken" (which are pulse pumping even when you see the so-called "tricks" of hisctrade that still could have easily gotten him killed).
Though I hate the title, this revealing examination of Lloyd's career, despite the short shrift given to his sometimes quite worthy (and, in a case or two, lucrative) sound comedies, is informative and enjoyable. If you listen to old radio shows like Jack Benny's you realize, though some of his sound movies stank on ice, Lloyd was a star well into the 1930s.
American Masters: Eugene O'Neill: A Glory of Ghosts (1986)
First-rank Examination of a Notable American Author
Disclaimer: I am no Eugene O'Reilly fan. I've tried to sit through a few of his plays and I've always fallen asleep. Sometimes more than once, they're so long.
But this examination of O'Neill's life and works, with a line-up of top notch actors including Blythe Danner, Jason Robards and Tom Hulse, interspersed with comments from O'Neill scholars and friends, with readings and scenes from his plays, is fascinating from one end to the other.
It begins with several of the notable actors coming in and sitting at what I assume is a rehearsal table (as with Leonardo's Last Supper, all on one side). They even have (silent) film of O'Neill's actor/father.
Whether you love O'Neill or merely have an interest in writers and how they live and work, this episode of "American Masters" is a must.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1986)
Padded Version of Poe Tale
Dark (physically as well as emotionally) adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe yarn about . . . What else? . . . a series of inhuman murders in Paris.
George C. Scott, recently- and forcibly-retired detective, is grumpily worried about his future. His daughter, Rebecca de Mornay, is lovely and that's all that's required of her. Too bad. With Ian McShane and Val Kilmer.
I sympathize with previous reviewers who complain about accurate adaptations of Poe; but he was (perhaps the first) master of the short story. Most of his tales will require padding for the movies. But an installment of "American Masters" about Poe has a fine enactment of "The Cask of Amontillado" with John Heard and Rene Aberjonois, if you can find it.
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Too bad for America and Kate Beckinsale
Two boys grow up to be at Pearl Harbor during its attack by the Japanese (or, if you went to the same school John Belushi's character in "Animal House," the Germans. It's a genuinely funny moment in the earlier movie).
The reviews seem to be divided equally between people who disapprove of the (extreme) liberties taken by the filmmakers, who give it a thumbs down; and those who would rather have a Harlequin romance version of history but are too lazy to read (or write) one, who give it a thumbs up.
Myself, I like a jigger of romance stirred into my movies. I also prefer "Tora, Tora, Tora" to this (an earlier Pearl Harbor movie with less "yummy" actors. "Tora, Tora, Tora" gives a better view of this American disaster while trying to be fair to both sides, but it's also cut down to help those of us who aren't experts on the period understand it. And there's no tacked on love story).
A few things to clear up:
The attack by the Japanese wasn't a sneak attack. The Japanese tried to get the US a warning (just) in time but, not being their German allies, they were deficient in efficiency so the "warning" arrived unforgivable late.
America had other advance information of the attack through Japanese coded "traffic," but this is after the fact. The truth is, while those messages were received, they hadn't been cracked by Dec. 7 1941. So much for the conspiracy theorists. FDR isn't one of my favorite presidents and I'd love to trap him in a plot to get Americans killed to cause a war; but Japan, not Wahington, bears the blame for this American fiasco.
The Doolittle Raid was hardly payback for Pearl Harbor. If we need to have "payback" before Hiroshima, look to the battle of Midway, where four of the six Japanese aircraft carriers that took part in the Pearl Harbor attack were destroyed.
So far as I'm concerned, "Pearl Harbor" is a waste of Kate Beckinsale, one of my favorite actresses of the last 30 years. She's soooo yummy!
Oklahoma! (1955)
Stands Up
Oklahoma! Laurie (Shirley Jones) wants to go to the box social with Curley (Gordon MacRae) but after a tiff tries to teach him a lesson by going instead with the brutal Jud (Rod Steiger). Huh?
From that weird plot comes one of America's most beloved musicals.
Shirley Jones makes the most impressive debut in American movies since Errol Flynn in "Captain Blood."
What more to say? The singers sing well, the dancers dance well. The actors? Eddie Albert is always a welcome face but amusing as he is, he seems a bit out of place. Gloria Graham is funny. Steiger is uber-menacing. Brrr. And keep your eye peeled for James Whitmore.
Agnes de Mille's choreography is worth watching, though I'm occasionally baffled by it.
Lovely songs beginning with "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning." Sing along with it and you'll feel life is, indeed, worth living.
Four Star Playhouse: Uncle Fred Flits By (1955)
An excellent story given four star treatment
A sedate young Englishmam's life is thrown into turmoil when his uncle visits.
This is one of Wodehouse's most delightful short stories, dtamatized for Four Star Playhouse. David Niven was one of the four stars and he turns in an excellent performance as Uncle Fred.
The rest of the cast is stiff and the show has limited movement, but most of that is due to the limitations of the medium back then.
As usual, Wodehouse's world is topsy turvey. It's his young people who are staid and stodgy and insist on propriety and their elders who are wild. Somehow, what's on his pages never seem quite as funny when acted out; but it's nice to see an honest try, where they show respect for the material (after a rocky, un-Wodehouse start).
Smiley's People (1982)
It's Biggest Fault is it's no "Tinker Tailor"--and shocking news about Guinness
When an old associate is killed, retired secret agent George Smiley (Alec Guinness) tries to discover why--and winds up going through all sorts of Secret Service rabbit holes to face up to an old nemesis.
This follow-up to the masterful 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" doesn't have quite so impressive a cast but lots of familiar faces, nevertheless (watch for Alan Rickman in a small, early role).
The series' failings are author John le Carre's. He never wrote anything as good as "Tinker Tailor" again. He had a fine writing style but this story is convoluted, difficult to follow, and dependent on earlier works.
It's a great showcase for Guinness, but by this time his Smiley is a tad shopworn and lacking the support he had in "Tinker Tailor," kind of dull. Gasp! Did I say the man who brought Professor Marcus, Sidney Stratton, Colonel Nicholson, Obi-Wan, Prof. Godbole and, yes, George Smiley to life, was dull? Well, he could be. Watch his King Charles in "Cromwell." Yawn. Same here.
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Vintage pre-Hollywood Hitchcock
A young lady (Margaret Lockwood) visiting the continent is returning to England with an elderly lady who . . . Guess what? . . . vanishes on the train across Europe.
They're not yet at war (catch a kind of a sort of a sequel called "Night Train to Munich," not done by Hitchcock for the outbreak of war) but tension is in the air. Was the older lady's vanishing act a National Socialist plot? Or did the younger woman, who got a serious bump on the head, dream her up? Is the missing lady a figment of her imagination?
Warning: This is top drawer early HItchcock, but it spends about half an hour character building. It's enjoyable, but the movie doesn't really pick up speed until the introduction of Michael Redgrave.
Redgrave was one of a great generation of English actors and he was a bit of a coup back then because he didn't have much respect for movies. He's so light-fingered here one wonders why he wasn't brought into more comedies. It's too bad he's better known these days for his issue, Lynn and Vanessa, and various grandchildren (and for all I know, great-grandchildren).
Then there's Paul Lukas, who always made a great villain. Here, he's a doctor who advises Lockwood. But is he there to help or muddy the waters further about the older lady's disappearance? And why would anyone want to kidnap her, anyway?
Like other notable Hitchcocks ("North by Northwest," for example) "The Lady Vanishes" is as much comedy as suspense, proving the two may go well together.
But it's 1930s English, not a smooth modern movie. Still, all the HItchcock signatures are there. A blending of comedy and suspense, the weird clues, the odd camera angles that highlight what Hitchcock wants us to see that the characters don't.
If nothing else, enjoy Redgrave, who plays well with Lockwood.
Beat the Devil (1953)
What the devil?
What the devil is this about, anyway? And why the devil am I drawn back to it?
I'd love to do a precis, but the story is as difficult to grasp as water.
What a cast: Humphrey Bogart, looking like death warmed over. Peter Lorre, looking not quite warm. Robert Morley. Jennifer Jones. Gina Lollobrigida.
A script by Truman Capote and director John Huston.
And the only person I so much as smile at is Edward Underdown. I love all kinds if humor, but I simply don't get it.
Furthermore, it looks like it had a budget if about ten bucks. And they had dough left over after shooting.
I don't usually care about who plays what roles or age differences, so long as the acting is good. But when a still-young-looking Jennifer Jones tells an aging Humphrey Bogart he can make a pass at her, I don't know if it's cradle robbing or grave robbing.
I don't understand it, I don't find it funny . . . Yet I get the urge to see it at least once a year.
It's weird. The movie is weird and the urge is weird. But then, so am I.
The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015)
Good if downbeat biopic of interesting figure
Solid, if downbeat, movie about S. Ramaujan, a "Mozart" of mathematicians.
Brought to Cambridge by a couple of mathematics experts, he has difficulty comprehending the western need for proofs. His mathematics was intuitive. He simply knew what he sensed was correct. But to publish his work, his sponsor (Jeremy Irons) knew he had to show convincing proofs of his conclusions or his academic rivals would have their knives out for him. I spent 36 years in academics and It's dog-eat-dog. Ramanujan has difficulty grasping that, and from that comes much of the drama (the story itself doesn't have much natural drama--a tale of squabbling ivory tower math professors?--so that has to be highlighted).
Onban academic level, It's not enough to reveal one's destination. One has to explain how one got there.
I first heard of the man from a PBS show back in the 1980s, and It's good to see a movie about him 40 years later.
Whenever they start talking about anything mathematical, my eyes glaze over. It's not my field. But Irons is superb as usual, and the film is visually splendid.
The Notorious Landlady (1962)
Muted adult comedy with professional cast
Gridley, newly posted to a diplomatic job in London (Jack Lemmon), finds an apartment with a lovely AND NOTORIOUS landlady (Kim Novak).
Blake Edwards and Larry Gelbart wrote the script from a Marjorie Sharp novel and it's more lighthearted than funny. It's one of those comedies intelligent adults used to make for other intelligent adults, which I generally enjoy.
However, I don't care much for Lemon. Or Novak. On the plus side, the supporting cast includes the likes of Fred Astaire (in a non-dancing role) and the usually hilarious Lional Jeffries. Jeffries plays the sort of character Clouseau might have been without the genius of Peter Sellers.
If you like the leads you may enjoy this. Unfortunately, most of the humor is muted. And it's one of those movies where everything can be interpreted with a double meaning, and perhaps I've seen too many of those.
Fortunately, rather than running out of steam the movie picks up steam for the big climax, with a welcome infusion of Gilbert and Sullivan (actually, only Sullivan).
Guys and Dolls (1955)
"It is an advantage to have a successful father."
If you can't see the original on stage, catch this movie adaptation of "Guys and Dolls."
It's based on one of the stories of Damon Runyan, which explains the stilted dialogue. He wrote like that. I guess he thought it was endearing.
Nearly all (but unfortunately not all) the wonderful songs are here, though . . .
Movie and recording star Frank Sinatra wanted the lead, but he's perfect for Nathan Detroit. Vivian Blaine is equally perfect as his long-time girlfriend.
The leads: well, the Mission woman, Sgt. Sarah Brown, is lovely actress Jean Simmons. She's good, but she's kind off a knock-off Audrey Hepburn.
Then we have Marlon Brando. Back then his star was on the ascendent and snagging him was a bit of a coup. The problems they had trying to make him sound like he could sing have been rehearsed too often. He can hold the screen. But . . . I wonder what a singing actor might have done. Still, ironically, he makes a convincing hood.
The rest of the cast are enjoyable (especially Stubby Kaye).
It's heavily stylized, especially the "descent into Hell" sequence in the sewers. But that's part of its fun.
It's colorful, tuneful, delightful and ignores reality completely. Good.
Reagan (2024)
Be not afraid of greatness
The only union president to go on to be the president of the US is portrayed with heart by Quaid & Co. Will he get an Oscat nod? Don't hold your breath.
"Reagan" starts with an odd framing device. Nothing unusual about that. So did Oscar-winning biopic "Amadeus." 1) it provides flexibility when dividing a life into bits, which must be done; and, 2) it gives the filmmakers an out. If they miss painting in a few odd corners they can point to the "narrator" who got it wrong.
Of course, it doesn't all work in retrospect. For instance, when he calls for the last dictator of the brutal Soviet autocracy to tear down the Berlin wall . . . Well, it's done, but it was a comedy of errors (they should make a movie about that) that led to ordinary people getting out there with their weapons of destruction (pickaxe, etc.) In one of the most beautiful moments of my lifetime. Did President Reagan give them inspiration? That's a matter individuals have to decide on their own. But at least, unlike JFK, he didn't say he was one big doughnut.
Is "Reagan" a good movie? That's all the popcorn munchers want to know. Yes, if you can lay your politics aside and enjoy it strictly for what it's worth, yes. It's a good movie and (uh-oh) it may also be a good history lesson.
Boy on a Dolphin (1957)
Don't let the title song stop you
There are two good reasons to see this movie: Sophia Loren. This, if anything, was her breakthrough role and she almost did.
Loren is a sponge diver. Okay. Sponges must come from somewhere I guess. She's Greek. Fine. If Anthony Quinn and Jose Ferrer (neither in this movie) can play every nationality under the sun, and play them well, why not the ladies?
On the Aegen floor (I think It's the Aegean; when Loren climbs into her boat all my senses shut down for a while) she finds a lost artifact of great value: the eponymous boy on a dolphin, so forget any fantasies you may have of an seagoing Roy Rogers (who also isn't in this movie).
Now comes her dilemma, and It's very modern: does she donate it to a museum and see that it's kept where it belongs where, being in a museum, no one will ever know it's there? Or does she sell it to an appreciative collector and live happily ever after on the proceeds? And maybe snag a rich husband in the bargain?
It would take me about two seconds to make up my mind (all but the husband part), but her situation is complicated by her growing affection for the side of good and decency and right, represented by Alan Ladd.
Ladd was an actor of limited range, but he parlayed that into being able to play tough good guys and tough bad guys. And he was a bona fide movie star, which meant he can hold a screen. Unfortunately, in his later years Ladd didn't appear at all well. It's only been a few years since he made what some consider his masterpiece, "Shane," and he's clearly going to seed.
On the other horn of Loren's dilemma is the always delicious Clifton Webb, who also with great facility played good guys and bad guys without changing a note or turning a hair in his performances.
Webb had greater range as an actor but in the movies way back then stardom meant typecasting. People going to the theaters, I suppose, were like diners who wanted their burgers to taste the same whenever they went to their favorite joints. Who doesn't? If they go to a Clifton Webb movie they want to see Clifton Webb. And here he is.
One big mistake in this movie is an almost preternaturally lame title song. I suspect it's one they piped into Soviet gulags during Happy Hour. I nearly switched off. I'm glad I wasn't holding the remote.
Whether you like this movie depends your tolerance for Greek scenery and the freshly-hatched Sophia. She'd grow into a much better actress in English. But even at that stage, she exuded a sense that would come to haunt her when she begged her producer-husband to cast her as Lara in "Dr. Zhivago": she lacks nothing, they said, except inexperience.
Verdi (1982)
What Matters is the Music and Becoming Acquainted With the Genius Behind It
Ronald Pickup brings opera composer Verdi to life.
It's only fitting that the two greatest (arguably) opera composers of the nineteenth century have duelling, operatic biopics.
Okay, age-ists, crawl out if your caves and surrender! In "Wagner" Richard Burton gives the performance of his life. He was born to play Wagner and he's supported by some great English actors who were marquee names of stage and screen. "Wagner" also has a fantasy feel, as if Wagner were one of his own heroes. Perhaps, in his mind, he was.
While Ronald Pickup is equally well-chosen to play Verdi, his name lacks Burton's across-the-pond resonance. I'd seen lots of movies with the guy and never noticed him until this miniseries highlighted him for me.
"Verdi" is more down to Earth than "Wagner." It doesn't have that ethereal feel the other biopic gives the German. And since Verdi is an Italian hero the series is filled with Italian actors who are dubbed for us Englush speakers, which makes their lips look a bit rubbery and unnatural.
Both "Wagner" and "Verdi" have narration to help the novice understand what's going on. Most of us aren't Verdi experts, after all. Even the shorter, story-driven "Amadeus" had narration. While narration in "Wagner" is subtly done by a minor character who may not be altogether trustworthy, "Verdi" in its English incarnation has no-bones-about-it narration by American actor Burt Lancaster, and he's just fine.
'Verdi" isn't an Oscar-worthy flick; nor is it an operatic fantasy. It's a straightforward retelling of the life of Verdi (so far as I know) for those of us who appreciate the background material.
But whether "Wagner" or "Verdi" what's most important is the music.