The African Queen is very similar to Ice Cold in Alex in that it has a very linear story. Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) and Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn) are traveling down a river in Africa, so it would have struggled to be anything but linear. Set at the start of World War I, Rose's missionary brother (little Robert Morley) comes a bit of a cropper at the hands of the Germans at the beginning of the film, so the piano-playing, hymn-singing, high-necked dress wearing Rose is hell-bent on revenge. The plan is to tool up Charlie's boat, The African Queen, with whacking great torpedoes and ram an enemy warship. Kaboom!
Between them and the German's death boat are a variety of river-related problems: rapids, German gun emplacements, leeches and a major lack of gin. This all makes it sound like an action packed rip-roaring adventure. It's not really. It's all quite gentle. There is some mild peril at the end but you are never really worried about the two main characters.
The acting from Bogart and Hepburn is great, as you'd expect, and it would have to be, seeing as though they are carrying the whole film. Bogart plays a rough and ready character who likes a bit of a drink (and does some premium quality hippo impersonations) and Hepburn, a prim and proper lady who discovers she is an adrenaline junkie. They are the quintessential odd couple.
You know that there are going to be some romantic entanglements, but it all seems to happen a tad too fast for my liking. One minute they hate each other and then it's all kisses and cuddles and wriggling about. Possibly not the wriggling. It feels like there should have been more of a transition period in the middle of the film. Maybe he could have given her some Milk Tray, or winked and clicked at her.
Given that, I still enjoyed The African Queen. I've never really been bothered about watching a Humphrey Bogart film (Casablanca never appeals) but I quite liked him and would probably watch another. 6/10 evlkeith
If you like this you could also try: Ice Cold in Alex, The Philadelphia Story, Apocalypse Now (only joking)
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a bit of the Marx Brothers. Many years ago, Channel 4 had a Marx Brothers Season at Christmas, showing about four of their films late at night. Hence their inclusion in our Christmas Season.
If you've never seen a Marx Brothers film prepared to be baffled, especially by the black painted rectangle that is supposedly Groucho's moustache. The jokes come thick and fast, particularly from Groucho as Rufus T. Firefly. Try to have an ear rest for five seconds and you've probably missed about eight jokes. You've got to work to keep up with him. Here's a sample bit of dialogue from Groucho after hearing that Mrs Teasdale's husband was dead:
Firefly: Will you marry me? Did he leave you any money? Answer the second question first.
Mrs Teasdale: He left me his entire fortune.
Firefly: Is that so? Can't you see what I'm trying to tell you? I love you!
Chico and Harpo are more at home with slapstick. The completely unnecessary scene where they are selling peanuts and fighting with a rival lemonade seller is comedy genius: hats are swapped repeatedly, things are cut off with a large pair of scissors (a recurring occurence throughout the film) and many legs are put into hands (you'd have to watch it to understand).
That's not to say that Groucho can't partake in a portion of silent comedy. Another standout scene is where Harpo is pretending to be Groucho on the other side of a smashed mirror and has to copy his every move. It involves many funny walks and dances. You can see the family resemblance in this scene as Chico also tries his hand at a Groucho impersonation.
By the end Duck Soup descends into something resembling one of Ernie Wise's plays as the four brothers go to war. Everything gets very frantic and random. Not that it hadn't been fairly random before that. But this is as good a place to start as any if you haven't seen any Marx Brothers films.
6/10
evlkeith
(If you have seen Duck Soup you will be aware that I've seriously contradicted my last review where I had a rant about musicals. It does contain a few songs, but they are funny, especially when Groucho whips out a little piccolo mid song. The musical numbers subvert tradition. In one scene, the four brothers do some really stupid dance manoeuvres that the rest of the cast then copy. Anyway, you need an exception to prove a rule, so leave me alone.)
If you like this you could also try: Animal Crackers, A Day at the Races, A Night at the Opera.
There has been a bit of an unofficial Sir John Mills Season going on without me noticing. This is the third film containing him in not many weeks (see This Happy Breed and Ice Cold in Alex for more of his antics). No wonder he was compared to a chameleon by many of his actorly chums due to his independently swiveling eyes. Er, not really. Just from the three roles here, you can see his range. Every character is very different and at times it's hard to believe they were all played by the same man. A true master of his craft. The complete polar opposite of Mary's dad.
In Hobson's Choice he plays Willie Mossop, a boot-hand in Henry Hobson's (Charles Laughton) boot emporium. Hobson's three daughters are all of a marrying age (he believes Maggie is well past it at the ancient age of 30), but Hobson won't pay the settlement required by their husbands-to-be. When Hobson (a loveable comedy alcoholic, as they all were in the films of this period) gets completely tanked and falls into a cellar, Maggie (Brenda De Banzie) sees an opportunity for some devious crafty wiliness.
For a film that is nearly sixty years old, Maggie is a surprisingly strong female lead. Hobson obviously has his ideas about a woman's place but Maggie shows her true potential as a business woman. She is strong-minded, knows how to get what she wants and doesn't stand for any messing. Strange that one of the only pictures I can find is of her in the kitchen.
When we first meet Willie, peeking his head through the cellar trapdoor (shouting 'Swallow your soul!' - sorry, wrong film), he lacks self-esteem and clearly knows his place in the grand scheme of things. By the end of the film, Maggie transforms him into a hard-nosed, go-getting business lad. Cleverly, the script still allows you to see through the veneer of confidence to the character we know. A quality performance.
Hobson's Choice is a gentle comedy with some laugh out loud moments (in particular, the comment Willie makes the morning after his wedding night). As with most older films, the pace is slower, but this is used to great effect. In the build up to the aforementioned scene, Willie spends an eternity getting ready to go to bed, tending the fire, folding his clothes etc. This makes his comment even funnier. A classic film and one that I would recommend as a 'My First Black and White Film' experience. (Plus you get appearances from British sit-com icons John Laurie and Prunella Scales - what more do you want?) 8/10 evlkeith
The first thing that hits you about Ice Cold in Alex is the music. I think that a slight bit of cheeky tributing has been done by John Williams when composing the Star Wars score. Just have a listen to the trailer at the end of the review and you'll hear what I mean. Dirty little homager.
Anyway, on with the film. I know this wouldn't have been obscure at the time, but I'd never heard of it until a colleague at work told me to give it a look (along with the quality This Happy Breed). Captain Anson (Sir John Mills) is given the unenviable task of driving two nurses to Alexandria. Doddle. He's setting off from Tobruk though. Okay, still not too bad. Nazis are lurking about around every sand dune shooting at them, they have to cross mine fields and quicksand, and they're driving an old clapped-out ambulance with limited supplies of water and food. Ah. Rather you than me, mate. Anson is ably assisted by Tom Pugh (Harry Andrews), a very affable sort of fellow, the kind of bloke you'd like to have a pint with, get him to fix your car and then have a game of darts with him. Also along for the ride is the slightly more unsavoury Captain van der Poel (Anthony Quayle), a South African hitchhiker with a bag full of gin that Anson, being a big alcoholic, covets like his neighbour's ox.
The story is very linear. It's basically a road trip without any side quests. Just keep going until you get to Alexandria. This means that you can disengage your brain (quite easy for me) and enjoy the ride. Even if it is on a bumpy ambulance. You get to fully appreciate the four leads and the numerous scrapes they get themselves into, including a beautifully lit run-in with the aforementioned quicksand. (One of my major fears, surely one of everyone's major fears?)
Bear in mind that this was made in 1958 and you can let it off for having slightly dubious gender politics. Sister Diana Murdoch (Sylvia Syms) is told at one point to stop worrying about her make up and get pushing the ambulance. I won't spoil one of the top calamities of the film but have a guess who's responsible. The fellas soon put her in charge of the bags, metaphorically speaking, and sort the problem out in a very stoic British kind of way. Then they get her to make sandwiches and butter the malt loaf while they have a game of cricket. And while they all go down the pub for pints and back slapping, she does the washing up. Er, maybe not. I think that scene was cut out of this version.
(Image not taken from the film - funnily enough.)
All in all a quality Sunday afternoon kind of film. Gently paced for the majority of the time, with a smattering of excitement and tension along the way. Granted, there's a completely unnecessary (and preposterous) romantic entanglement but you can forgive this minor slip, due to the film's uncomplicated, clear storytelling. (It's also quite funny that the best beer in the whole of the Middle East turns out to be Carlsberg. They may as well have made it Strike lager for the local Happy Shopper equivalent.) 7/10 evlkeith
Not much happens in This Happy Breed. Well, that's not strictly true. There are some major life changing situations but the characters deal with it all in such a British stiff upper lip kind of way that the film seems uneventful. It is anti-melodrama.
Based on the Noel Coward play, it is a very gentle film centering on the life of the Gibbons family in the period between the two world wars. The film does betray its theatre origins at times (in a similar way to Harvey). It does feel like they have just filmed a play. Get over that, and you've got a fantastic film for a Sunday afternoon that shows a slice of life from simpler times.
As previously mentioned, the acting is brilliantly understated. You would expect great things from Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter), Robert Newton (Treasure Island) and Sir John Mills (Hobson's Choice) and they all deliver. Also, Stanley Holloway is top fun as a neighbour who comes round and gets tanked with the father of the family (Newton). Malarkey a-go-go as they get discovered by the mother (Johnson) and both promptly salute her. Great stuff. Amy Veness plays the grandmother and she is basically my mum. When one of the characters comes in wearing a hat for a wedding she says, 'Oh.' And then proceeds to say something along the lines of, 'Well, if you're happy with it.' My mum to a tee.
This Happy Breed is a history lesson in easily digestible form. (I severely dislike history and I enjoyed it.) The family leave the back door open and think nothing of it. The ladies make their own dresses for the weddings with paper patterns. They eat oranges on Christmas day and not chocolate ones neither. This film works really well in partnership with Since You Went Awaywhich shows the effect on family life when the father goes to war and with Glorious 39, a story about appeasement and the British Secret Service. I'm just hoping for a Blu-ray release soon.
Right, let's get all this out of the way first. It's in black and white. There are no big stars involved. Kenneth More is a likeable fellow but he's never been a major star. The other 'big name', Honor Blackman, is hardly in the film. All the effects were done with models in a pre-CGI era. If all that puts you off then you're missing out on a treat.
A Night To Remember is a historical film about the sinking of the Titanic, based on the book by Walter Lord. The filmmakers knew that the ship was the star and the actual sinking is given plenty of screen time. The characters who you meet are representative of the people who sailed on the Titanic. The first class passengers are beyond belief, moaning about being cold and the life belts being uncomfortable whilst other people, mainly the steerage passengers, are drowning. It gives you a taste of how the classes were segregated at that time.
There are lots of British stiff upper lips, but this only adds to the emotional impact of the film: the husband who puts his wife and children in the lifeboats, knowing that it will be the last time he sees them, the young couple who decide to stay together and brave the cold sea, the ship's designer and captain going down with the ship, all of these add up to a surprisingly touching experience.
The special effects showing the ship going down are surprisingly effective. It is notoriously difficult to make water look realistic when using models and they partially got around this by using a very large model and shooting at high speeds so that the ship would appear slower and have more weight. You do forget that you are watching effects after a while and become engrossed in the story.
To finish with, I really need to compare this to the other Titanic film, namely Titanic. James Cameron (the director of Titanic) didn't realise that he already had a fantastic story and a captivating star. The story of the sinking of the Titanic is so strong you don't need a fictional love story that takes up most of the running time. If you want to make a something romantic, make it as a separate film. Plus, if you watch A Night To Remember you don't have to put up with Celine Dion's warblings. That's got to be a bonus.
7/10
evlkeith
If you like this you could also try: The Hindenburg, Ice Cold In Alex, The Admirable Crichton.
Told from the perspective of Lisa (Joan Fontaine) this is a story of unrequited love. It is also a bit of a masterpiece. I can't say that I was really looking forward to it when I first watched it but it draws you in and sticks in your memory for a long time afterwards.
Stefan Brand (Louis Jourdan) is a concert pianist and a right one for the ladies. He comes into contact with Lisa throughout the film but he is so self-obsessed that he never actually sees her. We see the story through Lisa's memories of events, so her face is often bathed in light, as if she is his saviour. He sees her as just another notch on his Steinway. Because we are seeing her memories, Fontaine plays Lisa at every stage of her life, even down to the age of twelve. It is her perception of events and not reality we are watching.
Watching this makes you wish that black and white films were made more often now. The lighting and compositions are gorgeous with a great use of shadow. Echoes of past events are often used. Lisa watches Stefan enter his room, with yet another lady, from the top of a staircase. Later, we see her enter Stefan's room from the same viewpoint, telling us she is no different from his other lady friends.
I hadn't heard of this before and only came across it because I'd seen Rebecca, again with Joan Fontaine, and wondered what else she was in. I'm glad I did because this is a beautiful, poignant film that still holds up to this day.
7/10
evlkeith
If you like this you could try: Le Plaisir, Rebecca, Gaslight, A Place in the Sun.
To an older generation this film would be classed as mainstream. To a younger generation, who have never seen it, you are missing a treat. Cary Grant plays Roger Thornhill, well, Cary Grant really, a man mistaken for a secret agent by James Mason and his crew of suit-wearing henchmen.
Hitchcock is on top form with this film. There are so many great moments. Standouts include a chase sequence in a corn field (culminating in my favourite film explosion), a comedy auction and a climax on a famous American landmark. There are some great double entendres in the film, especially on a train journey with Eva Marie Saint. Also, there is a cheeky end shot to the film.
I've had this on DVD for quite a few years and have recently bought it on Blu-ray. It was like watching a different film. The colours and the sense of scale are breathtaking, not to mention the excellent score by Bernard Herrmann never sounding better. Younger readers: ignore/embrace some suspect rear projection shots, relax into a slower pace of editing, enjoy the gentle humour and prepare yourself for a classic that still holds up to this day. 10/10 evlkeith
If you like this you could try: To Catch a Thief, Suspicion, Rear Window, Rebecca
The acting from Bogart and Hepburn is great, as you'd expect, and it would have to be, seeing as though they are carrying the whole film. Bogart plays a rough and ready character who likes a bit of a drink (and does some premium quality hippo impersonations) and Hepburn, a prim and proper lady who discovers she is an adrenaline junkie. They are the quintessential odd couple.
