June 2018 Round-Up
TOTAL FILMS SEEN IN JUNE: 16
(see the film posters at the bottom of the post, arranged in watching order)
NEW-TO-ME: 13
REWATCHES: 3
SEEN ON THE BIG SCREEN: 9
MOST WATCHED ACTOR: Brian Donlevy & Charlie Chaplin (2 in total)
MOST WATCHED ACTRESS: Ann Todd (2 in total)
MOST WATCHED DIRECTOR: David Lean (5 in total)
Very happy with this month's program at the Filmoteca. I watched 9 films in total on the big screen! They are (in the order I watched them; marked with a * means a rewatch):
The Passionate Friends (with Ann Todd, Claude Rains and Trevor Howard)
The Gold Rush* (with Charlie Chaplin, Mack Swain and Georgia Hale)
Brief Encounter* (with Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson)
Hobson's Choice (with Charles Laughton, John Mills and Brenda De Banzie)
Madeleine (with Ann Todd and Norman Wooland)
Doctor Zhivago* (with Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin and Rod Steiger)
Monsieur Verdoux (with Charlie Chaplin)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford)
Splendor in the Grass (with Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty)
My elder sister came to visit us this month (in Barcelona) and she likes to go to the Filmoteca. Fortunately around that time there were films programmed that I wanted to see. During her visit we watched Hobson's Choice, Madeleine and Doctor Zhivago together. All of the David Lean films seen at the Filmoteca this month were part of the special The Heroines of the first David Lean focusing on his leading ladies, except for Doctor Zhivago which was part of the special Gómez Grau and the Fall of the Hollywood Empire.
Of the Lean films that I watched for the first time I enjoyed Hobson's Choice the most. Charles Laughton is great as the grumpy father but John Mills and Brenda De Banzie made this film compelling and charming for me. They are so sweet together and especially Mills is adorable and very likeable.
Madeleine was also enjoyable and quite thrilling ánd based on a true story. The cinematography by Guy Green is beautiful, especially those shots of the lashing rain.
The Passionate Friends is beautifully filmed too. I think Ann Todd looks so much different in her carefree scenes when she's casually dressed. The girly Ann is really pretty. I have to say that the layered flashbacks were a bit confusing and sometimes I didn't know where I was in time. The best scene is the one with Claude Rains and the binoculars. Great tension and suspense, very Hitchcockian.
The other two Lean films Brief Encounter and Doctor Zhivago are among my four highest rated films of this month (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and The Gold Rush being the other two), both rewatches.
I think anyone who has seen Brief Encounter can probably understand what the appeal is of this great classic. An ordinary love story, one that people can relate to, played to perfection by Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard and superbly directed by Lean. The affair is handled with integrity, it never gets vulgar or distasteful. It's just something that happened to two decent persons. The Rachmaninoff score, the Piano Concerto No.2, is one of my favourites of classical music, and to see the film on the big screen, accompanied by that wonderful piece of music, was amazing. And the cinematography by Robert Krasker is beautiful.
It was also great to see Doctor Zhivago, that other Lean masterpiece, on the big screen. I had seen this film once before, also at the theater, at the Eye Film Institute in Amsterdam, and I loved it. I think I have yet to see a Lean film that isn't visually appealing. He must have had a strong vision of how he wanted his films to look and he worked with some great cinematographers. This film is no different and has so many gorgeous shots. I'd say that if a film can hold your complete attention for 197 minutes (for the second time), it must be pretty good.
Apart from the Lean films I saw four other films on the big screen. The Gold Rush and Monsieur Verdoux both star Charlie Chaplin and were great watches. I had seen The Gold Rush once before. Now to see it with live piano music was even better. It was shown as part of the kids' program and the young audience was very responsive and laughed a lot during the slapstick scenes. Too bad we saw the re-edited version, with the intertitles cut out, but fortunately the subtitles were in Castellano and not in Catalan. Monsieur Verdoux was a first watch for me. A totally enjoyable black comedy and at times very funny, especially Chaplin's scenes with Martha Raye.
I was also very happy to finally have seen What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, now in its entirety (had only seen bits and pieces of it) ánd on the big screen in a very clear print. Both Davis and Crawford give great performances and the film is beautifully shot by Ernest Haller. Compelling until the very last minute, it also has an unpredictable ending.
To end my summary of Filmoteca viewings, the last film seen this month was Splendor in the Grass and I didn't like it very much. If I had not seen this on the big screen, I probably wouldn't have finished watching it. I like Natalie Wood (actually more as a child actress) but I don't like Warren Beatty (he also shows some pretty awful acting), and I just don't like the story premise of sexual repression. Just ridiculous that Wood ends up in the nut house as a result of being deprived of sex. Yet I found the ending well done, by far the best part of the film. I like how the two women seem to be a bit embarrassed by their appearances, Wood overdressed and Zohra Lampert as Angelina underdressed (well, not for the occasion because she was in the kitchen cooking, but in comparison to Wood), and I like how there was no happy ending. By the way .... it almost never happens at the Filmoteca that the audience is laughing just to make fun of the movie but here a couple of young people did. I agreed with them (because parts of the film are really silly) but I still found their behaviour a bit annoying.
So what else did I watch? I saw three film noirs this month: Fallen Angel (with Alice Faye, Dana Andrews and Linda Darnell), The Chase (with Robert Cummings, Michèle Morgan and Steve Cochran), and Mr. Soft Touch (with Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes).
Of these three noirs I liked The Chase best. I had read some good reviews about this one and was glad I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere and pacing are great, Robert Cummings' character is likeable, and somehow I was surprised to like Michèle Morgan, the actress. I also liked villainous Steve Cochran and his car with the extra accelerator and brake in the back seat, and his final scene with Peter Lorre in the car, racing against the train, is exhilarating. Also some great cinematography by Franz Planer.
I had high expectations of Fallen Angel and was a bit disappointed, also because Dana Andrews' character is not likeable at all. Linda Darnell is great and at least you understand Andrews' attraction to her. But Alice Faye and Andrews have little chemistry, I found them a weird couple, and their happy ending is not convincing. But the cinematography by Joseph LaShelle is great.
Mr. Soft Touch is not really a film noir pur sang. It was an enjoyable watch and I like Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes together but the film is too uneven, going from noir to comedy and back again. It has two directors so that could have something to do with it. And that ending made me lower my rating! See for yourself.
Furthermore I watched two Brian Donlevy films, Human Cargo (with Claire Trevor and Rita Hayworth) and 36 Hours To Kill (with Gloria Stuart), and a Jimmy Stewart film Of Human Hearts (with Walter Huston and Beulah Bondi).
I really liked Human Cargo, even though it isn't particularly good, just a regular programmer for the studio. But I like both Brian Donlevy and Claire Trevor, they have great chemistry, and I also liked the predictable happy ending. Though I have to say that the plot (and how it unravels) is not very exciting, it's interesting to notice how the topic of immigrants is still a present-day problem (it's curious that the immigrants are called aliens here). Look out for a young Rita Hayworth in a small part and she gets to dance as well.
36 Hours To Kill is an enjoyable film with Donlevy and Gloria Stuart but I found the comic relief provided by Stepin Fetchit (as the porter) pretty tiresome.
Of Human Hearts stars Jimmy Stewart and it almost never happens that he annoys me (he is one of my favourite actors) but here he did (just slightly). It could have had something to do with his character, who is selfish and not very likeable, or with his distinctive way of acting. I should watch him more often again because I have been neglecting him. Having said that, this film is not among his best. Actually, Beulah Bondi's character and performance carry this film. She's great as the mother who makes sacrifices for her only son so he can become a doctor, and I love every scene she's in. Yet one of the most memorable scenes is the one with John Carradine as President Lincoln (he's unrecognisable and physically he resembles Lincoln well). Imagine the president setting aside time to pull a doctor off the front lines during the Civil War in order to sit him down and make him write a letter to his mother (whom the soldier has been neglecting shamefully). Well, it happens here and it's really far-fetched. Noteworthy is that Stewart and Bondi also played son and mother in another film, It's a Wonderful Life. Maybe you've heard of that one.
Coming to the end of my June recap, there's one more film to mention. I finally watched Frank Borzage's The River (with Charles Farrell and Mary Duncan), a film I've been wanting to see for some time now. I also had some ambiguous feelings towards the film because I knew a lot of it had been lost and I had no idea how watchable it was. Well, it is very watchable but it's really sad how much was lost of this film, especially when you see what scenes are missing, even the ending. But thankfully we can still enjoy this reconstructed version (done very well) with photo stills and added intertitles to explain the story to us. What's left of the actual film I truly loved. Charles Farrell and Mary Duncan make a great pair and Farrell looks so good here. The film is known for its eroticism, so pay attention to the scene where Duncan lets Farrell feel her heart and then clutches him against her breast, or when she presses her warm body against a naked Farrell who almost dies from hypothermia. I love this film for what it is and what it could have been.
So that's it! I had a great film month. Haven't seen as many films as I would have liked to see but I'm still happy with the fair amount seen on the big screen. Hope it will improve next month!
PHOTOS/GIFS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*The Gold Rush (1925) with Charlie Chaplin and Georgia Hale;
*Monsieur Verdoux (1947) with Charlie Chaplin;
*Brief Encounter (1945) with Celia Johnson;
*The Passionate Friends (1949) with Trevor Howard and Ann Todd;
*Doctor Zhivago (1965), publicity still with Geraldine Chaplin, David Lean and Julie Christie;
*Doctor Zhivago (1965) with Omar Sharif and Julie Christie;
*What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford on set;
*What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford;
*What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) with Bette Davis applying makeup on set;
*Fallen Angel (1945) with Dana Andrews and Linda Darnell;
*The Chase (1946) with Robert Cummings and Michèle Morgan;
*Mr. Soft Touch (1949) with Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes;
*Human Cargo (1936) with Claire Trevor and Brian Donlevy;
*Human Cargo (1936) with Ralph Morgan, Rita Hayworth, Claire Trevor and Brian Donlevy;
*Human Cargo (1936), on set with Brian Donlevy and Claire Trevor;
*Of Human Hearts (1938) with James Stewart, Walter Huston and Beulah Bondi;
*The River (1929) with Charles Farrell and Mary Duncan;
*The River (1929) with Charles Farrell and Mary Duncan.
