Friday, December 06, 2013

The 13 Best Films of 2013


This is not really a list of the best films of the year. Its simply a list (in no order of preference of some really marvelous films that I saw on dvd  and that I  wrote about in 2013. These are not my complete reviews, instead they are excerpts and links to the complete reviews are included if you want to read the complete review.  There were 100’s of other films that I saw on dvd that I loved, liked or simply enjoyed that I didn’t write about, and I also wrote reviews of many films that I hated or didn’t like, but why dwell on those.

Night and the city 1950


Scurrying across the streets and alleys of post war London Noir nights like a rat is Harry Fabian played by Richard Widmark who is always on the run from hoods and creditors he owes money to. Based on a Gerald Kersh novel Night and the City was directed by the black listed and also on the run, the hunted and haunted Jules Dassin. Widmark plays a two bit schemer always on the make and always on the look out for his 2nd act, which of course never comes. Everything he touches instead of turning to gold turns to shit including his one sided romance with his naive girlfriend played by an unlikely Gene Tierney.  Set among the seamy underworld of dives, dumps and sewers with bars in them and peopled by a wide assortment of colorful low lives, the best one being Philip Nosseross played by the great Frances L. Sullivan who brings  a feeling of Dickens to the film because of the several films he did that were based on his works. Dassin also brings to the film a big helping of Fritz Lang and Brecht, think of M and The Three Penny Opera. 




The Rise and Fall Of Legs Diamond 1960

http://wwwirajoelcinemagebooks.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-rise-and-fall-of-legs-diamond-1960.html

Made on the cheap this is an entertaining if  somewhat fictionalized look at the life of Legs Diamond that was directed by Budd Boetticher who is best known for his minimal elegiac westerns that he made with Randolph Scott. As I said it was made cheaply and it shows in the back lot sets and the on again off again look of the period, which takes place in the 1920’s but has the look and feel of the late 50’s in style, sets and costumes.  Cast as Diamond the nasty and unfeeling gangster is the very handsome but wooden Ray Danton who does the best he can with the role considering his limitations as an actor.   There are a couple of memorable sequences in the movie especially the one where Diamond mows down 3 would be assassins from a tenement window and Boetticher shows them laid out in the street which makes for a well known still that usually pops up in books on the gangster crime genre. The other well known sequence is a clever montage like series of scenes of Diamond and Steele (who he finally married not out of love but to prevent her from testifying against him) on a vacation in Europe to avoid the heat coming down on him that consists of the two of them bored watching movie newsreels in various capitals that show the changes in the criminal underworld including the downfall of Mayor Jimmy Walker and the imprisonment of Al Capone for tax evasion. Diamond who shows more and more discomfort watching these newsreels realizes that it’s time to get back home but its too late as the crime world has changed and Legs is a now a relic of the past with a price on his head.

  Heavens Gate 1980


http://wwwirajoelcinemagebooks.blogspot.com/2013/05/heavens-gate-1980.html                                               
 
I finally saw this film the other night, and although not a masterpiece (though it comes very close to being one) it’s hardly the piece of shit that many have said it is. Thanks to the beautiful new Criterion restoration the complete film and vision of its director Michael Cimino is now available for us to watch and ponder. Spanning time from 1870 to 1903 the film opens with a leisurely wonderful and beautiful sequence of a late and running Kris Kristofferson rushing to his graduation ceremony at Harvard that ends with an intoxicating swirling waltz on a lawn to the music of Strauss. This opening alone is enough to make one sit up and take notice, to maybe even swoon a little.   I think one reason that it never found its audience is that many were expecting an old fashioned western and this is not what Heaven’s Gate is dressed up for. There are of course good guys and bad guys but they are not wearing black and white hats and the characters are all flawed and somewhat unlikeable to a degree. It simply does not do what we want and expect our Westerns and indeed our movies to do. It’s not linear and there are too many ands and ifs and moral fussiness lurking among all those grand and magnificent vistas. 
 

Johnny Guitar. 1954


Ostensibly a western, but looking and feeling more like a fevered Freudian bad dream, a high pitch operatic frenzy that at times you expect the actors to break out in song. Directed by lefty Nicholas Ray at the height of the UHAC witch hunt and blacklisting, the film can be seen as a political statement against this right wing Washington D.C. government nightmare if you know where to look. Bathed in rich paint box colors (in Tricolor no less) the plot pushes 3 chunks of characters against each other in intense confrontations. In fact the film is pretty much all about confrontations, physical and psychological.    Taking place at the end of the 19th century the visual look of the film is quite beautiful in this newly restored print, with the main action taking place in Vienna’s saloon that is very 50’s moderne looking with slick wooden floors, big beams and a rock wall, the whole place would not be out of place in Aspen. Also the costumes tell a lot about the characters moods and personas with Emma and her men all in black while Johnny and the gang of thieves are usually costumed in light pastel colors. There are some really out of breath running up the stairs scenes including Joan dressed up in a virginal white gown which accidently catches on fire, a mob lynching, the burning down of her saloon, an ecstatic (almost sexual) look of pleasure on the face of McCambridge as she takes her revenge out on Joan, and the final gunfight between two of the characters


Forty guns 1957



I’m not a big fan of westerns, but occasionally one will come along that will knock me for a loop, and send me out into the night howling at the moon. Forty Guns directed by Sam Fuller is one of those westerns (it’s actually more than just a “western”, it transcends the genre) that makes me holler and scream This film is memorable and startling, full of erotic innuendos, double entendres and phallic metaphors and imagery some of which are very much in our faces, and is full of rich visual sentences helped by the wonderful cinematography by Joseph Biroc whose palette is made up of noirish blacks and greys. The film has many memorable scenes including a dinner scene with Stanwyck  at a huge table surrounded by all her 40 men, a wedding that becomes a funeral in a matter of minutes (Truffaut pays homage to this scene in The Bride Wore Black), a sudden suicide by hanging and one of the most poetic death scenes in the history of cinema, “I’m Killed” the villain of the movie cries as he is taken out by one of the brothers in a heated state of revenge.

Phantom Lady 1944


The film opens on a steamy 1944 July New York City night (its seems all film noirs are set on steamy summer New York City nights) the film covers all the usual Noir territory, innocent man accused of a crime he didn’t commit, loyal attractive young woman out to prove his innocence, tough but likeable detectives, psychotic behavior unexplained and deep sexual undertones. Based on a William Irish (Cornell Woolrich) novel and directed with strong German expressionist style by Robert Siodmak with a big helping hand from the great cinematographer Woody Bredell, master of B movies, and made by Universal on the cheap but looking hard, sharp and beautiful with great economic touches including murders and deaths unseen.   Some of the great set pieces of the film includes a scene set on a deserted 3rd ave el platform, where we only know that a train is arriving by the wind blowing a woman’s dress and a late night jam session with Cook on drums working himself into an orgasmic frenzy as his pickup for the night does a great sexual come on that leaves little to the imagination, (how this bit got by the censors is beyond me). Also memorable is a man being hit by a car again unseen by us, as his hat flies in the air and winds in a puddle by the curb, and a trial that is seen through the eyes of the spectators with all of the testimony heard off screen. This is good stuff. There are wet patent leather streets, the  ubiquitous  Yiddishe Mama candy store owner, shadows that have shadows and wonderful sleazy bars and high toned apartments full of late deco furnishings and sculptures along with small details such as Van Gogh’s self portrait after he cut off his ear that is clearly hanging in the murderer’s abode. With the gorgeous but limited Ella Raines, the gorgeous but very limited Alan Curtis, Franchot Tone & Thomas Gomez. The film is available in a pristine print  for viewing on YouTube.

I wouldn’t Be In Your Shoes. 1948


I discovered all these b movies and Noirs on youtube last night and its a goldmine an absolute goldmine. The first one I watched was this little rhinestone "I Wouldn't Be In Your Shoes" based on a novel by the great Cornell Woolrich with a screenplay by the well known pulp writer Steve Fisher who is probably best known for his novel "I Wake Up Screaming" (and don't we all). The film stars Don Castle, an attractive lump of a guy who when the film opens is sitting on death row for a crime he says he didn't commit. Flashback to a hot steamy B movie back lot July New York City where Don who is an out of work dancer lives in a tiny room with his very pretty wife who is also a dancer and is working as an instructor at a sleazy dance school. Don is irritable over not having a job, a wife who is working around guys who hit on her all the time,  the heat (tell me about it Don) and the two cats outside his window going at it hot and heavy. So what does Don do? Why he throws his only good pair of shoes out the window at them, and this sets up the plot involving the murder and robbery of a reclusive man who lives in a basement apartment next door. The Movie is cramped and crowded with lots of good cheap details as any good B Noir should be, and has lots of familiar character actors playing cops, lawyers and a woman candy store owner with a vivid Yiddish accent and her heart on her smudgy sleeve. Directed with verve and imagination by someone named William Nigh who began making movies in 1914 and some of his other films listed here sound fabu. "Beauty and The Bandit", "The Gay Cavalier", "Allotment Wives", "Are These Our Parents?" "Lady From Chunking", "Zis Boom Bah" and "Dizzy Dames". I don't know about you but I would love to see them all. 

 
All That Heaven Allows. 1955


Sitting somewhere between a woman’s melodrama and Planet Debbie is this masterpiece of angst and longing from one of the great stylists of mid- 20th century cinema Douglas Sirk. The story is plain and simple. Jane Wyman plays a tidy and nice widow living in a pretty little town somewhere but she’s lonely and longs for romance and maybe a little sex. She has two grown up children (more about these two ingrates later) a very nice home and a really nice gardener played by the very beautiful Rock Hudson, who was a much better actor than given credit Now this is not a tidy little woman’s weepy, because Douglas Sirk directed it, and it’s simply gorgeous to look at. He uses colors like a painter to indicate moods so there will be a slash of red or blue light crossing over the faces of the characters or dark rooms with light casting unnatural shadows and reflections of sad Jane on the oddest of surfaces. He also knew how to dress a set and women, so at first Jane is in dark clothes until she meets Rock then she’s bright and colorful until she’s back in black when the romance comes to a crossroad and her dour daughter who was all in dark colors is now in bright red because she’s going to marry her beau played by the unaccredited David Janssen and Gloria and her brother have talked Jane out of being happy. A lot they care that Jane has broken off her marriage to Rock and is once again lonely and sad and sits at home with her new television that the kids gave her for Christmas. Thanks a lot. This is an important film, a shimmering feast of color and texture, mood and décor that influenced two other movies that are pretty much homage’s to this film and to Sirk. Fassbinder’s 1973 classic film “Ali, Fear Eats The Soul”, and the more recent and also very good Todd Haynes film “Far From Heaven.” I love this film a lot.

Les Girls.  1957


One of the great sissy movies of the late 50’s is this sort of backstage musical with a
Rashomon slant about three young women who are performing in a cut rate (you’d never know this from the lavish look of the show.) musical revue in Paris. Taking place in the years right after the war, the revue is run by Gene Kelly who wears an unfortunate toupee and was coming to his end as a big M.G.M. musical star at the same time the Hollywood original movie musical was breathing its last breath.  The “girls” are played by Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall and Taina Elg and all three are fun to watch, but it’s especially wonderful to see Kay Kendall who died very young cut up the screen in song, dance and comedy, she pretty much walks off with the movie. The plot light and slim as Kay waist concerns a libel suit brought by one of the “girls” years later and their conflicting stories which are told in flashback as they testify in London against one another. Directed by George Cukor with style and flair and featuring an original score, his last for a movie by Cole Porter. Cukor ah George had a fantastic eye for color, space and decor and he used the difficult CinemaScope space brilliantly with the great help of his frequent collaborator, the color specialist George Hoyningen-Huene. Each scene in the film is a visual delight, with deep saturated colors, lots of movement, (the backstage moments are simply glorious) and telling objects and details. Also great are the wonderful costumes and clothes by Orry- Kelly who won an Oscar for his designs..

 The Uninvited 1944



The real ghost, the haunted and sad spirit hovering over and in this elegant and atmospheric haunted house movie is Gail Russell who in her first big role played Stella of the starlight and who in real life didn’t make it past her 36th birthday, dying alone, broke & alcoholic in some Hollywood dump after having a terrible time of it. Russell who was very pretty was married for a short 5 years to the gay-bi closeted and supremely handsome Guy Madison, and there are many stories of Russell being gay herself which if true would have no doubt added to her conflicted and troubled self even though the usual reason given for her problems was her lack of confidence in her acting skills which some say led her to start drinking during the making of this film and began her downward spiral of despair. The movie like all good ghost stories has a sadness and unease about it, even though this one ends on an upbeat and somewhat abrupt note. The haunting start with terrible mournful crying that fills the house and soon candles go out, doors close by themselves and the scent of Mimosa fills the cold and drafty rooms.. Directed by Lewis Allen who went on to do a few other films, none of which matched the directness and ambience of The Uninvited and spent most of his career directing for television. The film looks A list with handsome process shot, matt paintings and glittering shadowy cinematography (Oscar nominated) by Charles Lang whose remarkable career behind the camera spanned nearly 50 years


His Girl Friday. 1940


Hysterical hysteria. Howard Hawk’s topsy turvy slap happy gender bending adaption of the old chestnut “The Front Page” stars Cary Grant (who was never more delectable, he’s like a rich piece of chocolate cake) as Walter Burns a big city newspaper editor who will do anything including extortion, kidnapping, passing counterfeit money, and lying to get what he wants, which includes getting his ex-wife and his ex star reporter played by Rosalind Russell back to writing for the paper, and maybe back into his bed. The film begins with Roz decked out in a pin stripe suit and hat looking like a moving early Frank Stella painting visiting her old newspaper where she once worked to let Grant know that she is going to get married again. Russell brings just the right mix of feminine-masculine traits to the part that is a good match for Grant’s masculine-feminine traits, a tactic that Hawks would use in film after film during his long and great career. Hawks loved using Grant in his movies and went so far as to put him in drag in two of the films that they did together, “Bringing Up Baby” and “I Was a Male War Bride.” The screenplay by Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur and Charles Lederer based on Hecht and MacArthur’s play is fast, loose and tart with over lapping dialog with the two leads crossing and double crossing each other with Grant doing most of the crossing, as a pending execution of a sad Earl Williams played by John Qualen plays in the background.


The Naked City 1948


There are eight million stories in The Naked City, and this here movie directed by Jules Dassin is probably the most famous of those stories. The title is taken from the seminal book of photographs of New York City by the great Weegee and in a way one can say that the film is like a flipbook of the Weegee.  Mostly neo-realist with a touch of Noir, (the opening murder seen through a window) the film is startling even for today. It was new in its look, and it brought post war audiences right into the most famous city of the world and rubbed their faces in the grit and grime and crime of it, along with the glitter and glamour. We know right off the bat who did the murder, but there are connections to the crime that slowly come out of the woodwork including fancy fashion dames, high society matrons, doctors, wrestlers and all sorts of urban stereotypes and low lives. This movie is fun in spite of its nasty crusty top.  Also in the cast is an oily Howard Duff, Ted de Cosica and a slew of unaccredited familiar faces in bit parts including David Opatoshu,, Paul Ford, Arthur O’Connell, Kathleen Freeman, James Gregory, Nehemiah Persoff and John Randolph. The great cinematography is by William Daniels who won the Oscar for it. 













The Outsiders 1983



Lush, dreamlike and adolescent in story and look this 1983 film directed it seems on a feverish whim, a pipedream by Francis Ford Coppola is a hot house kiss to build a wet dream on of a movie. Three brothers, motherless and fatherless, whose parents were killed in a car stuck on a railroad track accident, are living in a last picture show 60’s Oklahoma town in a rundown house without the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, simply trying to get along without much of much. There’s no “Oh What A Beautiful Morning” here. We meet the youngest of these lost boys of the prairie Ponyboy who opens the film writing in his composition book about coming out of the movies into the sunlight thinking only of Paul Newman who he just saw in “The Hustler” and getting home. This is a beautiful opening to begin this movie with. They are poor and they are the “Greasers” of the town who along with their fellow buds are in constant motion and combat with the “Socials” who are the jocks and privileged boys living on the right side of town. But we never see the right side only the wrong. There is a rumble in the rain that is beautifully done and photographed by the great cinematographer Stephen H. Burum who uses lots of yellows and oranges and browns throughout this movie highlighted by sunsets never before seen, shot on backstage and in front of blue screens. The one girl in the film is played by the pretty Diane Lane who is called Cherry because of her red hair and is one of the privileged kids, but is drawn to the “Greasers” especially to the sensitive Ponyboy who pines for her, but this one sided June Moon goes nowhere.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

Site Meter