“THE FATHER’S SON”

By Raymond Benson

Throughout the fascinating and seriously creepy film, The Comfort of Strangers, an Italian man named Robert (diabolically played by Christopher Walken) repeatedly speaks about his father. “My father (pause) … was a big man. He had a big black mustache…” The story relates how his father colored his mustache black with mascara after it turned grey, and how no one at the dinner table was allowed to speak unless the father addressed the person first, whether he or she was a wife, daughter, or son. A portrait is eventually formed of a man who was brutally sadistic and controlling. And Robert is the result.

Based on the novel by Ian McEwan, Strangers was adapted by the great playwright Harold Pinter, who turns McEwan’s already strange psycho-sexual drama into something of palpable menace. Directed with style and finesse by Paul Schrader, this Italian-British production brings to an audience a collage of beauty, mood, and horror that only Pinter can deliver with his elliptical dialogue and potent pauses of what is not said. The locale of Venice is also a character in the picture, and movie buffs might be reminded of Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now when viewing Strangers.

Colin (the Adonis-like Rupert Everett) and Mary (the late, radiant Natasha Richardson) are a couple on holiday in Venice. Mary is divorced with two children (who are in England with their grandmother). The subtle tension between the couple is the question of taking their relationship to the next level—that is, should they get married? While wandering the twisty, turny streets of the city, they meet Robert, who at first is friendly enough. He invites them to his lush, expansive home that resembles an art museum. There, Robert’s welcoming wife Caroline (Helen Mirren) reinforces the nagging suspicious that there is something off about this couple. Colin and Mary realize early on that they really don’t like Robert and Caroline, and yet they are perversely and inexplicably attracted to them. Once they visit Robert’s apartment a second time, they are unwittingly ensnared in the web. Exactly what Robert and Caroline have in store for the younger couple, especially Colin, cannot be revealed here! Just know there is sex, more sex, and unexpected violence in the works.

Director Schrader is here working with Italian designers (for example, Giorgio Armani is the costumer) so the look for the film is impeccably gorgeous. The music score by Angelo Badalamenti is also hauntingly exquisite, underlying the melancholy and mystery of the proceedings. As for the acting, it is top notch. Walken shines as the enigmatic villain of the piece. In a supplemental interview, the actor explains that he channeled Italian actor Rossano Brazzi to exhibit charm and sensuality that is distinctly European. Everett and Richardson are so shockingly stunning to look at, both clothed and without, that they cast a spell over the viewer. And Mirren, in a small role, showcases her dark side that she once did so well in many independent pictures before her rise to the super-A-talent category. For this reviewer’s money, though, the stars of the movie are Walken and writer Pinter. In a few of the supplements, the tale is related how Pinter came to Venice for one week of rehearsals prior to shooting. As was his way, not one word of his script could be altered or changed. If an actor didn’t understand something, Pinter would simply say, “Read the text. Then read it again.” By the end of the week, all the actors knew what they were doing.

The Criterion Collection’s new restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Dante Spinotti and approved by Schrader, is a delight to behold. It comes with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack, plus English subtitles for the hearing impaired. The supplements are 2020 interviews with Schrader, Walken, Spinotti, and editor Bill Pankow. Vintage interviews with Richardson and novelist McEwan are also included, plus trailers. The booklet features a marvelous poster with artwork by R. Léveillé and an essay by critic Maitland McDonagh.

The Comfort of Strangers is an art film for discerning viewers who appreciate unconventional tales about relationships, sex, desire, and mystery. As usual, the Criterion presentation is top notch. Recommended.

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BY TIM MCGLYNN

Criterion has released a Blu-ray edition of one of the best science fiction films from the 1950s or any other decade for that matter.  George Pal’s version of War of the Worlds, directed by Byron Haskin, landed in theaters in 1953 and has become an iconic symbol of alien invasion stories.

H.G. Wells’ novel had already been made famous by Orson Welles’ landmark CBS radio drama in 1938.  The Martian invasion played out as news bulletins concerning an attack on the East Coast by enemy tripod machines armed with a terrifying heat ray and poisonous gas.  With Americans nervous about a possible war in Europe at the time, audiences listening that night were especially vulnerable hearing the fabricated reports of destruction and carnage.  One has to wonder why many of the people glued to their radios didn’t turn to another station for confirmation.

With Alfred Hitchcock and Cecil B. DeMille linked to film adaptations of Wells’ novel at different times, it was producer George Pal who finally brought the story to the screen in 1953.  Pal, an Academy Award winning animator, had already thrilled moviegoers with Destination Moon and When Worlds Collide, both of which were box office successes.  His Puppetoon short from 1942, Tulips Shall Grow, depicted the Nazi invasion of Holland and provided a template for the attack sequences in War of the Worlds.

Featuring a relatively hefty budget of $2 million, Pal funneled most of his resources into the famed special effects depicting the deadly Martian war machines destroying Los Angeles.  An in-house team at Paramount, led by Gordon Jennings and art director Albert Nozaki, designed and built the futuristic swan-like vehicles armed with ferocious heat rays and skeleton beams that lay waste to all military weapons that stood in their way.  Striking miniature work and beautiful paintings by astronomical artist Chesley Bonestell completed the look of this Technicolor masterpiece.

The cast included future Bat Masterson star Gene Barry, beautiful newcomer Ann Robinson and radio actor Les Tremayne. The script was fashioned by Barre Lyndon who transferred the story from Victorian England to modern day California. The three-strip Technicolor photography was supervised by George Barnes and the pulsating music score was composed by Leith Stevens. The unsung heroes of War of the Worlds were the sound effects teams led by Paramount regulars Gene Garvin and Harry Lindgren.  All manner of new sound cues were created for this film and many of these effects are still in use today.

Criterion’s Blu-ray features the 2018 4K restoration produced by Paramount Pictures, and the results are truly spectacular with amazing color saturation and crisp, clear sound.  Errors in registration of the Technicolor strips have been cleaned up and an alternate 5.1  soundtrack has been realized by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt.  Purists will be happy to know that the original mono track has been included as an option.

War of the Worlds was filmed in the 1.37 aspect ratio although some theaters were exhibiting it in a matted 1.66 version.  After adjusting my monitor to view this cropped presentation, I found the picture to look cramped and noticed that important information was occasionally lost.  The original stereo tracks are now lost but, according to Ben Burtt, they only provided exaggerated sound effects to the additional speakers.

As a 9 year-old watching War of the Worlds on its’ NBC television premier in 1967, I was terrified and hooked at the same time. Much like experiencing an E-ticket ride at Disneyland, I enjoyed being

scared.  I found the narration by Sir Cedric Hardwicke to be gripping as he described the “rout of civilization" during a montage of destruction.  Through the years I continued to enjoy this film on network and local television broadcasts and at college screenings.  Eventually I owned home video copies in the VHS, CED disc, DVD and now Blu-ray formats.  To say War of the Worlds is my favorite film is an extreme understatement.