Rope of Sand, The Gold Rush, Two-Way Stretch, When Eight Bells Toll

Rope of Sand, by William Dieterle,1949

So, here's the problem with being as far behind as I am in reviewing the movies I watch.  Most of the time, I watch good movies and I remember them and still have stuff to say a couple weeks later when I get around to writing about them.  Occasionally, I don't like a movie, and I can usually remember my gripes pretty well. too.  But then there's the occasion where I watch a movie that's just kind of OK.  Forgettable, even.

I guess I should have taken notes while I was watching William Dieterle's adventure film Rope of Sand, because I can remember very little at this point.  It didn't wow me.  Burt Lancaster stars as a guy in Africa who is hiding some diamonds he found from an evil diamond company.  They hire a lady to seduce it out of him and ummmm, I can't remember.  Peter Lorre is in it, and I always like him.  Claude Rains, too.  The movie is fine in the moment as a diversion, I don't recall NOT liking it, but if I'm any indication, it doesn't really stay with you.  Dieterle also directed The Devil and Daniel Webster, so he's still alright in my book.

The Gold Rush, by Charles Chaplin, 1924

Well, OK, I blew it on that last one.  Let's see if I can't do a little better this time.

As forgettable as Rope of Sand was (I even just now blanked on the title, no kidding), Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush is that much more memorable.  It's quite simply Chaplin's Little Tramp character in the gold rush.  Not the gold rush in California in the 1840's, the one in the Yukon at the turn of the century.  The Tramp finds himself trapped in a cabin with a couple of nasty guys, then finds himself in a town, in love with a local girl.  Lots of great physical comedy bits ensue.

My favorite bit was while Chaplin was stuck in the cabin during a blizzard with the two guys.  The two guys are fighting each other over a rifle while The Tramp hides.  No matter where he goes, though, the fighting men always turn so that the gun is pointing directly at him.  It's really funny stuff, in that great, timeless kind of way.  There are also some excellent practical effects involving the cabin being suspended on an icy cliff.

I usually lean toward Buster Keaton when it comes to silent comedies, but I'm not opposed to Chaplin.  He was an immensely talented comic and director.  I haven't actually seen a lot of Chaplin's films, and none of them since, I don't know, Intro to Film in college?  I should look into him a bit more.

Two-Way Stretch, by Robert Day, 1960

Two-Way Stretch is not a great comedy by any means, but it has a great premise and is worth watching if you're a fan of Peter Sellers.  That premise?  It's about a group of crooks living comfortably in prison, who hatch a scheme to break out, pull a heist, and break back into jail before anyone notices they're gone.  Unfortunately, a new warden arrives and tightens things up in the prison, so now they have to sneak around him.

It's a pretty clever premise, no?  The movie is just decent.  I do remember it better than Rope of Sand, which is apparently my new reference point now.  I liked Sellers, and my favorite jokes were early in the movie, when they show just how comfortable life for these prisoners is.  You know, I don't say this about many movies, but Two-Way Stretch would actually be a pretty good candidate for a remake.

When Eight Bells Toll, by Etienne Perier, 1971

Hey now, this is pretty awesome.  When Eight Bells Toll was initially intended to be a competitor with the highly successful James Bond series.  Of course, it didn't stand a chance, but you know what?  It's actually closer to a true 007 story than the Bond movies were at that point.

A young Anthony Hopkins, not long after his debut in A Lion in Winter, plays secret agent Phillip Calvert, on a mission to investigate a hijacked ship carrying a bunch of gold.  It's a fairly standard spy movie, but Hopkins is awesome in it.  He's suave and charming, and badass when necessary.  He even snaps a guy's neck in a pretty awesome way.  He has great dialogue, too.

In 1971, Diamonds are Forever came out, easily the lamest Bond movie yet (at the time, I mean, it may have been surpassed since).  Things had gotten campy and over-the-top ridiculous.  Of course, it was highly successful.  When Eight Bells Toll came out, it didn't do nearly as well, despite the fact that it was far superior.  It feels like a cool, low-tech spy movie (I prefer 'em low-tech), along the lines of the first 007 film, Dr. No.  It's totally worth watching.  In fact, of these four movies, it's the one I recommend the most.  I know The Gold Rush is a masterpiece, but When Eight Bells Toll is one of those little hidden gems.

The Hurt Locker, The Long Good Friday, Scarface (1932), The Last Laugh

The Hurt Locker, by Katheryn Bigelow, 2008

It took a long time before I got around to seeing The Hurt Locker. I really should have seen it in the theaters, but for some stupid reason, I didn't. Well, I saw it, and like everyone said, it's pretty awesome. It might go down as one of the few times the right movie won the Best Picture Oscar.

Jeremy Renner stars as a leader of a military bomb squad in the Iraq war. He's cocky, has a reckless attitude, and seemingly a death wish. The movie doesn't necessarily have a plot, so much as an episodic series of bombs, each situation elevating in intensity from the last, as the men count down the days, wondering if they'll survive to the end of their tour of duty under this guy.

The performances are all around great, especially Renner. I can see why Marvel wanted him as Hawkeye now, though he had little opportunity to show these traits in The Avengers. Director Kathryn Bigelow, who has been around and doing solid work for some time now, steps up her game big time. The movie is well shot and edited and loaded with tension of both kinds: between the characters and in diffusing the bombs. I really have nothing negative to say about The Hurt Locker. Great movie.

The Long Good Friday, by John Mackenzie, 1980

You know, I couldn't get into The Long Good Friday at first, but it became more and more engaging for me as it went on, all the way to the end. The last ten minutes or so are excellent. It might just have been the time of night that I watched it, which I think was pretty late, or maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention at the start. Either way, I know it's a well regarded film, and I liked it enough.

The Long Good Friday is the movie that really put Bob Hoskins on the map. He plays gangster, trying to become a legitimate businessman (with funding from the mafia, whaaaaaaat?). When his men start getting picked off by someone, he goes on a violent manhunt trying to find the culprit. Hoskins' character is pretty nuts, leaving a trail of bodies wherever he goes, and by the end, even the mafia has second thoughts about associating themselves with this guy.

It's pretty good, probably actually better than I'm giving it credit for. Really strong performance by Hoskins. I was sad to hear about his recent retirement due to Parkinson's. The guy was great in a ton of stuff.

Scarface, by Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson, 1932

Forget the Al Pacino/Brian De Palma remake, this is the classic Scarface. Based loosely on Al Capone, this Howard Hughes production is probably about as over the top and violent as a film in 1932 could possibly get.

Scarface is Tony Camonte, played by Paul Muni, an ambitious gangster, second in command to Johnny Lovo, who runs the south side of Chicago. Camonte begins to eye both the Irish-run northside of the city, as well as the leadership position held by Lovo. He even makes moves at stealing away Lovo's girl. Eventually, Camonte's ambitions get the best of him, and, you know, a hail of bullets.

Scarface is pretty excessive, even for a Pre-Code movie. I read that Howard Hughes just had Howard Hawks make the movie how he wanted it, and they would worry about getting it through the system later. That was pretty ballsy at the time. As a result, we got one of the first truly great gangster films, and still one of the best ever.

The Last Laugh, by F.W. Murnau, 1924

F.W. Murnau, best known as the director of spooky silent masterpieces Nosferatu and Faust, brings us a smaller and more personal, but no less interesting film. The Last Laugh is the story of an old man (played by future Nazi Emil Jannings), content in his job as a hotel doorman. His increasing age and infirmity are making it harder to do his job, and his boss reassigns him to the undignified job of a bathroom attendant. The old man falls into a depression, his life has lost all its meaning, and becomes a laughing stock to all his friends and family.

That's pretty depressing, right? What a horrible statement on life to have to hear, huh? Well here is why the movie is great: After all that heavy stuff, the audience is given a reprieve. A title card comes up and says something along the lines of "This is where the story should end, but we took pity on this guy and decided to give him a break". The final act of the movie is an improbably joyful payoff, where the doorman randomly inherits a bunch of money and lives like a king, while those who treated him poorly are punished.

The film flat out tells us that this isn't how real life works, that this is just a fantasy, but despite that knowledge, we still take joy in his happiness, and leave the movie feeling a little better about things. The Last Laugh is, ultimately, a movie about the very purpose of going to the movies. They're a brief escape from the harsh reality of life.

Grab Bag: Diary of a Lost Girl, Transatlantic Tunnel, Series 7: The Contenders

Hey, sorry I haven't updated in a while. I'm in the midst of a big cross-country move. I'll still post reviews whenever I can, but I'm guessing they'll be a little less frequent for the time being.

Diary of a Lost Girl, by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1929

I challenge you to watch Diary of a Lost Girl and not fall in love with Louise Brooks. Louise Brooks was a silent movie star in the 1920's whose hairstyle became a big fashion thing. When sound movies started happening, she's one of many who didn't make the transition (see: The Artist), but before giving up completely, Brooks went to Germany and starred in three more silent films by director Georg Wilhelm Pabst.

Diary of a Lost Girl is a silent masterpiece, starring Brooks as Thymian, a girl raped and impregnated by her father's associate. When she refuses to marry him because she doesn't love him, her parents give her baby away and places Thymian in a cruel and abusive boarding school. And so on. Lots of tragic, horrible things happen to Thymian, and she stays strong throughout it all, showing love and compassion in the face of a cruel, uncaring society.

I really loved this movie. The storytelling is timeless (except for the no sound thing, I mean, that kind of dates it), and Louise Brooks is great. Totally worth watching. In fact, I think it's essential. I want to see her other films now too, especially the ones with Pabst.

Transatlantic Tunnel, by Maurice Elvey, 1935

"The Tunnel" was a 1935 British science fiction film chronicling the building of an underground tunnel beneath the Atlantic Ocean from London to New York City. Somewhere along the way, they picked up the word "Transatlantic", which was added to the title for the US release.

The movie actually treats the subject matter rather realistically, and spends much time on the difficulty, danger, personal toll, and great expense of such a massive undertaking. The narrative takes place over a period of many years.

Though I did not think it was a very good movie, I found Transatlantic Tunnel's very existence interesting. You don't hear of a lot of science fiction films from the 1930's, and this might be the only one I know of that actually tries to project an accurate future. The idea of building a tunnel between the continents has been proposed and explored in the past as far back as the late 1800s, and found to be physically possible but not worth the time, money, resources, effort, and danger inherent in building it. They use televisions a lot in the movie, which I thought was cool, since they weren't widely available for another 15-20 years.

I probably wouldn't recommend Transatlantic Tunnel, unless you're interested in the history of science fiction. It's more of an interesting artifact than anything else.

Series 7: The Contenders, by Daniel Minahan, 2001

I remember when Series 7: The Contenders came out. I was only 18, and it was the peak of the reality TV boom. I thought the idea of a satirical movie about a reality show where people were given guns and given a legal pass to kill each other was really cool. It IS the kind of idea a teenager would find really cool. I never got to see the movie, though. Until now.

It's pretty corny stuff, man. The story was rather silly and contrived, and the execution was trying to emulate the feel of a reality show, but it just didn't feel slick and polished enough. It could have gone so much further. I'll give it a few points, though. There are a couple of good moments. Some nice bits of irony here and there. A couple of surprising twists and some original ideas. I liked that the people were no-name actors, who just looked like real people. The soundtrack by the alternative band Girls Against Boys was decent, I always kinda liked them. The biggest, most pleasant surprise for me, though, was a brief appearance by a pre-Arrested Development Will Arnett as an MC for the reality show.

It's not worth watching for that, though. He doesn't ride around on a Segway or do an impromptu magic show to the Rocky IV music. Series 7: The Contenders has its moments, but there are better satires about reality TV out there. Just watch The Truman Show. Or if you want a reality TV thing with killing, watch Battle Royale or The Hunger Games.

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Well, this wasn't the greatest bunch of movies. Diary of the Lost Girl was lovely, though. That's the one to watch. More to come as soon as I can!

Faust

It's amazing what could be accomplished visually in film almost a hundred years ago. Sure, the medium was still developing as an art form; we're not talking Star Wars level yet, but the effects in the best fantasy films of the 1920's and 1930's and beyond still hold up today. They weren't hung up on realism back then. They wanted to transport you to another world through striking visuals and good storytelling. Nobody watches The Wizard of Oz or King Kong and goes "that looks so fake!", because they don't care.

F.W. Murnau's 1927 silent masterpiece Faust is one such fantasy film. The story is a timeless classic, and the movie visualizes it beautifully. Faust is, of course, the story of a bet between the demon Mephisto and an Archangel. If Mephisto can corrupt the soul of a good man, then the earth will be his. Mephisto chooses the old alchemist Faust, and sets his plan into motion by spreading the plague to Faust's village. Faust prays for assistance in curing the dying masses, but the only help he gets is from Mephisto, who offers him the power to heal for a 24 hour period only. This, of course leads to more deals, for money, power, lust, and ultimately love. Will Faust's soul be saved, or will the world be given over to Mephisto?

Murnau is perhaps best known for Nosferatu, the eternally creepy Dracula adaptation that is better than the actual Dracula adaptation. He is an important figure in the German expressionism movement, which influences the look of fantasy and horror movies to this day. He brings this expressionist dynamic to his beautiful and surreal visual portrayals of heaven and hell. I mean, just look at this!


The standout performance in the movie isn't Faust, it's Mephisto himself, played by Emil Jannings. He's sinister and playful all at once, always peeking over Faust's shoulder and toying with him. His performance is made all the more unsettling with the knowledge that 15 or so years after this movie, he was a Nazi, acting in several propaganda films for the party. Learning that fact made me kind of sad because I totally wanted to like the guy.

The Faust legend has been told and retold a million times. My favorite version is Bedazzled, the Dudley Moore and Peter Cook comedy from the 60's. And you can't discount 1941's The Devil and Daniel Webster, with Walter Huston's performance as Old Mr. Scratch being possibly the most endearing and memorable portrayal of the devil in cinema. Murnau's Faust is also up there with the best of them, and one of the most beautiful looking films of the silent period.