I find it hard to remember a film from the 1930s which has more relevance for today’s society than William Wellman’s 1937 satire “Nothing Sacred”. The premise is simple – a journalist (Fredric March) in desperate need for a scoop finds a small town girl (Carole Lombard) suffering from uranium poisoning (or something similar) and brings her to New York where a lot of headlines about her courage, bravery in face of adversity and decaying health help improve the circulation of the newspaper. There is, of course, a tiny problem with all this. She’s isn’t really dying. Oh, and did I mentioned that she falls in love with the journalist?
The film reminded me of Howard Hawks’ “His Girl Friday” (1940), which although slightly later, it is adapted from an earlier play called “The Front Page”. It’s not as funny, fast-paced or corrosive as Hawks’ film, but then very few films really are, so that’s not necessarily a bad thing. “Nothing Sacred” is indeed quite funny, with one of its leading lady better performances, one where she masterfully balances her slapstick and screwball comedy sides. It’s also her only Technicolor film, but sadly it has fallen into public domain, and the owner of the print (WB, I believe) doesn’t see the need to release a restored version.
Monday 22 June 2009
Thursday 18 June 2009
North by Northwest (1959) trailer
The first (I think) of Hitchcock's funny trailers for his own movies (the one for Psycho is possibly better than the fillm). The film itself is on from tomorrow at the BFI in London.
Wednesday 17 June 2009
Monday 15 June 2009
The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)
Slowly but surely, I am being persuaded that Henry Fonda might have been a very good actor after all. I think next to “Once upon a time in the West”, “The Ox-Bow Incident” might just be his best performance.
William Wellman’s film is a tale of a world where rules have been ignored. A farmer has been murdered, and the sheriff is away. Some defend they should wait for him; some defend that a search party should be form and go hunt the killers. The latter group wins, and when three men are found with some of the murdered man’s cattle, which they claim to have bought, and a few other circumstantial evidence. What ensues is a masterpiece of cinema.
Fonda plays Everyman, the man with whom we identify; neither a stranger nor a resident of Ox-Bow, someone passing through with a friend, looking for the woman he loves. But his isn’t the only great performance of the film. Dana Andrews is simply fantastic – actually the two worked very well together, as another of their collaboration, Preminger’s “Daisy Keynon” (1947) with Joan Crawford has an amazing performance from Andrews (and Crawford) and a good one Fonda. But the best of the performances is Harry Davenport’s as the voice of Justice. Davenport is one of those character actors from the studio system days who are in loads of films although you may never be quite sure of which ones. He’s probably best remembered as Dr Meade in “Gone with the Wind”. Here he gets a meatier part, although his is in fact the third main character, his name appears quite low in the credits, way below rising star Anthony Quinn or Mary Beth Hughes (seriously, no idea of who she is…) who has a scene but gets third billing.
The film also had an interesting subplot. A father and son conflict – the father, an authoritarian Southern (although I might be wrong) general from the Civil War, with a not entirely clear past and who takes control of the mob and wants to “make a man” of his son. The son’s portrait is rather interesting – he’s described as a “coward” by himself and by his father, but what’s really at stake here is the proof of his manliness (i.e. he needs to prove he’s straight). Personally, I am slightly inclined to believe he might be indeed gay – the intensity of his father’s suspicions and cruel remarks and his reaction to Dana Andrews when he sees him. But then again, especially in the latter it might just mean he’s a better type of human being than the majority of those around him.
PS - On top of the R1 release, which is probably the best, there's a standalone R2 release of this film in some European countries. However, in the UK is only part of a Henry Fonda box-set which includes "The Grapes of Wrath" and "My Darling Clementine". I picked my copy in Belgium a few weeks ago for a very agreable €5.
William Wellman’s film is a tale of a world where rules have been ignored. A farmer has been murdered, and the sheriff is away. Some defend they should wait for him; some defend that a search party should be form and go hunt the killers. The latter group wins, and when three men are found with some of the murdered man’s cattle, which they claim to have bought, and a few other circumstantial evidence. What ensues is a masterpiece of cinema.
Fonda plays Everyman, the man with whom we identify; neither a stranger nor a resident of Ox-Bow, someone passing through with a friend, looking for the woman he loves. But his isn’t the only great performance of the film. Dana Andrews is simply fantastic – actually the two worked very well together, as another of their collaboration, Preminger’s “Daisy Keynon” (1947) with Joan Crawford has an amazing performance from Andrews (and Crawford) and a good one Fonda. But the best of the performances is Harry Davenport’s as the voice of Justice. Davenport is one of those character actors from the studio system days who are in loads of films although you may never be quite sure of which ones. He’s probably best remembered as Dr Meade in “Gone with the Wind”. Here he gets a meatier part, although his is in fact the third main character, his name appears quite low in the credits, way below rising star Anthony Quinn or Mary Beth Hughes (seriously, no idea of who she is…) who has a scene but gets third billing.
The film also had an interesting subplot. A father and son conflict – the father, an authoritarian Southern (although I might be wrong) general from the Civil War, with a not entirely clear past and who takes control of the mob and wants to “make a man” of his son. The son’s portrait is rather interesting – he’s described as a “coward” by himself and by his father, but what’s really at stake here is the proof of his manliness (i.e. he needs to prove he’s straight). Personally, I am slightly inclined to believe he might be indeed gay – the intensity of his father’s suspicions and cruel remarks and his reaction to Dana Andrews when he sees him. But then again, especially in the latter it might just mean he’s a better type of human being than the majority of those around him.
PS - On top of the R1 release, which is probably the best, there's a standalone R2 release of this film in some European countries. However, in the UK is only part of a Henry Fonda box-set which includes "The Grapes of Wrath" and "My Darling Clementine". I picked my copy in Belgium a few weeks ago for a very agreable €5.
Tuesday 2 June 2009
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Could someone be kind enough to explain me what on Earth this has to do with Sherlock Holmes? I sense a major flop... [Edit: I was clearly wrong...]
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