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| Syd |
 Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 8:51 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12894
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Era Notte a Roma (variously known in English as Escape by Night, Blackout in Rome, Wait for the Dawn and It Was Night in Rome--the last a literal translation of the Italian title) is set in Rome in 1943, during the interval between the Italian surrender and the liberation of Rome from the Germans by the Allies. (Germany occupied most of Italy in-between and set up a puppet state under Mussolini.) When Italy surrendered, there was a massive escape of Allied POWs, many of whom were sheltered by Italian civilians. This was less risky for the POWs, because, as explained by opening narration, if captured, they would be sent back the POW camps, but the penalty for the Italians who helped them was death by firing squad.
Three prisoners of war, an American, an Englishman, and a Russian, escape and are taken in by some nuns who are transporting orphans, and doing a little black marketing on the side. The nuns decide to leave most of the food and the prisoners with one of the sisters who lives nearby, who is also the most successful of the marketeers. It soon becomes obvious that Esperia (a beautiful and very good Giovanna Ralli) is decidedly not a nun, and also not too happy to have three deathtraps under her roof, but cannot easily get rid of them. However, eventually the escaped POWs do have to move from one hiding place to another as allies are captured and collaborators collaborate. They'd like to get to Allied lines, but things are complicated.
At one point, the Anzio landing occurs, and the POWs celebrate, assuming that liberation is imminent. The celebration is a bit premature.
The film's stretched out a bit too much, but it mostly moves well, and builds a lot of tension in key scenes. There are a lot of interpersonal relations well-developed, including the camaraderie between the three POWs, and their Italian friends. Good film--not quite as good as Open City and Paisan (few films are) but in the same ballpark. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 9:39 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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whiskeypriest wrote: I have never seen a bad Hitchcock movie.
Marnie remains my least favorite Hitchcock.
Sorry, but if you've seen Marnie you've seen a bad Hitchcock movie. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:04 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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billyweeds wrote: whiskeypriest wrote: I have never seen a bad Hitchcock movie.
Marnie remains my least favorite Hitchcock.
Sorry, but if you've seen Marnie you've seen a bad Hitchcock movie. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 11:13 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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whiskeypriest wrote: billyweeds wrote: whiskeypriest wrote: I have never seen a bad Hitchcock movie.
Marnie remains my least favorite Hitchcock.
Sorry, but if you've seen Marnie you've seen a bad Hitchcock movie. I got in trouble for this before, with joe, Bad Hitchcock is like a bad blow job, which after all is still a blow job.
True that. I just saw Pacino on Netlfix in an idiotic 2007 thriller titled 88 Minutes. It's ridiculous from beginning to end, but Pacino is Pacino, and 88 Minutes is like a bad blow job, but, like, y'know... |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 4:26 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6949
Location: Black Hills
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"Scent of a Lawyer."
Hoo-ahh! |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 6:14 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12894
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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House by the River (1950). Stephen Byrne (Louis Hayward) is a married writer who is attracted to his pretty maid, but when she starts screaming when he makes a drunken pass, he makes her keep quiet so the neighbor won't hear, in the process strangling her. He browbeats his decent but weaker brother John (Lee Bowman) into helping him dispose of the body by dumping in the river, playing the "you gotta help me! You're my brother!" card for all it's worth. However, this is a tidal river, so things set adrift in it tend to go upstream and downstream, upstream and downstream... You can see where this is going. John starts to break down from guilt, while Stephen is rather chipper, and getting progressively nuttier, not that he was all that stable to begin with. And when someone suggests to him that he should write about what he knows, he starts a murder mystery called "The River."
Good film noir, directed by Fritz Lang, with Lee Bowman and Jane Wyatt (playing Stephen's wife) quite good, and Hayward acting strange enough that you'd think he'd be the prime suspect. Excellent atmosphere, and impeccable camerawork, considering that it must have done without much of a budget. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 11:47 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| Flipping around to escape the monotonous news today, I chanced upon the Frank Oz musical of "Little Shop of Horrors," and was stuck for the next two hours. (The commercials at least gave me time to get some chores done.) I hadn't seen it since film class, when it first came out--Oz was a guest at class afterward--and I'd forgotten how really wonderful it is. Great songs, great monster, great creepy-ridiculous plot, great finale. And great romance. Rick Moranis was adorable, Steve Martin was enjoying himself enormously, Bill Murray made the most of his cartoonish character, and when Ellen Greene sang "Somewhere That's Green," I was wondering why I was getting tearful over such a funny song. And I also wondered why they haven't revived the show on Broadway--if they can do "Groundhog Day" and "Kinky Boots," why not "Little Shop," which was originally an off-Broadway hit? |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:28 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6949
Location: Black Hills
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| While we're on "seasonal" movies...recently watched "A Ghost Story," with Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck (as the incorporeal one). It's more of a metaphysical meditation (think "Il Quattro Volte" with really sexy people) on time and loss and the human heart than it is a spooky movie. Like Quattro Volte, it takes its time and is mostly quiet observation rather than dialog. Haunting and fascinating. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:33 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| Update on my "Little Shop of Horrors" post--coincidentally, last week I read in a Playbill email that the show was recently being prepared for revival, but some rights problems cropped up and the project is on hold. I hope it works out, because I would love to see it on stage again. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 9:01 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12894
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| I'm watching Watch on the Rhine and discovering that when Humphrey Bogart lost the Oscar to Paul Lukas, effectively Rick Blaine lost to Victor Laszlo. (Lukas's Kurt Muller is also fighting fascism. Muller even got the girl--in this case, Bette Davis, though he has no competition.) |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 11:50 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12894
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| So did Lukas deserve the Oscar? In retrospect, no, but he's damn good, and he wasn't a bad choice at the time. It's a powerful film which was propaganda when it came out, but no more so than Casablanca. It reminds me a bit of Mrs. Miniver on the home front, but I like Mrs. Miniver as a piece of its time, and the same goes for Watch on the Rhine. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 12:42 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Ride the Pink Horse is a post-war noir starring and directed by Robert Montgomery. A fun film. Interesting side characters who get a lot of play. Especially since the 2nd half of the film, the protag is woozy and at the mercy of others.
Reminded me of Odd Man Out in that way, which came out in early '47, 6 months prior to Pink Horse. Both have a main character who is a criminal with semi-noble purpose, who kill a man, get wounded and spend a good deal of the film in a daze.
OMO uses this to record various reactions to the IRA and the ways various people in the community get by. While RtPH contrasts the warm helpful poor Mexicans with the corrupt, money-grubbing gringos.
An interesting noir rescued by Criterion. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 5:31 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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carrobin wrote: Update on my "Little Shop of Horrors" post--coincidentally, last week I read in a Playbill email that the show was recently being prepared for revival, but some rights problems cropped up and the project is on hold. I hope it works out, because I would love to see it on stage again.
Little Shop was revived on Broadway about 15 years ago under the direction of Jerry Zaks. I was playing Mr. Mushnik in Atlantic City at about the same time. The Broadway revival was a severe disappointment and my Mr. Mushnik was distinctly not Jewish, but the show survives. It's great. And the movie version IMO is one of the most successful stage-to-film transitions of any musical. On a par with Chicago and Cabaret and far, far above such overpraised items as West Side Story and Oliver! |
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| knox |
| Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:05 am |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1245
Location: St. Louis
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I join the general praise here for the year's comedies, Get Out and The Big Sick. Both using humor to access racial/ethnic issues in the country. There is so much divisiveness and attack rhetoric on these issues, it's great to see the gentler ways of levity used as a possible way to open minds.
On a Halloween theme, recently enjoyed A Ghost Story and last year's Kubo and the 2 Strings. The latter stood out for me - very find stop-motion animation from that Portland studio that Nike money rescued (I don't think the director's last name being Knight is a coincidence - Phil Knight is co-founder of Nike). Though Kubo plays a shamisen, the end crawl is tracked with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," but it works. After all, one of the lead roles is a beetle. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 3:28 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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The Pakistani movie "Dukhtar" (2014) is about a mother who takes off with her teenage daughter whom the father had promised in marriage to a tribal chief as a price to end a deadly feud. They are pursued by several enraged men from both feuding sides over some very scenic and precarious mountainous roads. Weaknesses in script and depiction are more than made up by the thematic strength and the underlying pathos. Director Afia Nathaniel and performer Samiya Mumtaz account for most of the eight international awards this movie received.
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