It's been quite a while since a film starring Robert Redford got a lot of positive buzz at film festivals. However, his offbeat starring role in a new film called All is Lost got a great reaction after its premiere showing at Cannes. Directed by JC Chandor, the movie depicts Redford as a lone sailor who finds himself in jeopardy on the high seas. The film is said to be masterfully directed and acted and its predicted Redford may score a Best Actor Oscar nomination even though he has no dialogue in the one-character adventure flick. For more click here

By Harvey Chartrand

Neville Heath was an English killer responsible for the murders of two young women. He was executed by hanging in London in 1946 (aged 29). Heath was a handsome and well-spoken sociopath who could easily lure women to their doom.

In 1967, Alfred Hitchcock was trying to rebound from the failure of the Cold War espionage thriller Torn Curtain with an original screenplay entitled Frenzy (and later Kaleidoscope). The unproduced project was to have been based on the crimes of serial rapist-killer Heath, although the story would be set in the present day in and around New York City. The original story would be told completely from the point of view of a murderer who is both attractive and vulnerable.

Screenwriter Benn Levy wrote in a letter to Hitchcock in January 1967: “It's got to be (based on) Heath, not (John George) Haigh (the acid bath murderer). Told forwards, the Heath story is a gift from heaven. You'd start with a ‘straight’ romantic meeting, handsome young man, pretty girl. Maybe he rescues her from the wild molestations of a drunken escort. ‘I can't stand men who paw every girl they meet.’ Get us rooting for them both. He perhaps unhappily married and therefore a model of screen-hero restraint. She begins to find him irresistibly ‘just a little boy who can't cope with life’ -- least of all with domestic problems such as he has described. She's sexually maternal with him, she'd give him anything -- and we're delighted. Presently a few of us get tiny stirrings of disquiet at the physical love-scenes but don't quite know why. By the time we see the climax of his love in action and her murder, then even the slowest of us get it! But we shouldn't know till then.”

Rare trade ad for a film that was never made.

Frenzy would also be a stylistic departure for Hitchcock. After watching Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up, Hitchcock felt he had fallen behind the Italians in technique. Hitchcock biographer Patrick McGilligan writes: “Watching one Antonioni, he sat up straight at the sight of a man all in white in a white room. ‘White on white!’ he exclaimed to (his personal assistant and script supervisor) Peggy Robertson. ‘There, you see! It can be done!’”

Hitchcock was also impressed by the camerawork improvisation of maverick American director John Cassavetes (Shadows). He asked the novelist Howard Fast (Spartacus, Cheyenne Autumn) to sketch a treatment about a gay, deformed serial killer. Pleased with the results, Hitchcock composed a shot list with over 450 camera positions and shot an hour’s worth of experimental color tests, using unknown actors in various states of undress. This footage was filmed in New York City, and gives a tantalizing glimpse of what Hitchcock had in mind, of how revolutionary Frenzy/Kaleidoscope would have been in his body of work – a Psycho for the more liberated counterculture era. Unfortunately, MCA/Universal were disgusted by the script and test footage and immediately canceled the project, reducing Hitchcock to tears. Hitchcock was coerced into directing Topaz, Leon Uris’ behind-the-scenes account of the breakup of a Soviet spy ring at the highest levels of the French government during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Topaz was another in a string of artistic and commercial failures for Hitchcock as he approached age 70.

Japanese poster for the 1972 film Frenzy which was entirely different from the previous project Hitchcock had intended to use the title for.

What would have been Hitchcock's most daring and controversial work was thwarted: an avant-garde film using hand-held camerawork, a first-person viewpoint and natural lighting (à la Blair Witch Project, filmed 32 years later), detailing the exploits of a gay bodybuilder who dabbles in murder, rape and possibly necrophilia. It was conceived in 1964 as a prequel to Hitchcock’s 1942 film Shadow of a Doubt and was initially titled Frenzy, not to be confused with his eventual 1972 movie of the same name, from which certain plot elements of the original Frenzy were recycled.

Hitchcock’s interest in Neville Heath first manifested itself in 1959 in his unproduced project No Bail for the Judge, which would have starred Audrey Hepburn, Laurence Harvey and John Williams. A respected judge is blamed for the murder of a prostitute, and his barrister daughter searches for the real killer in London’s criminal demi-monde. Hepburn, who desperately wanted to work with Hitchcock, suddenly withdrew from the project because of a scene in which her character is brutally raped in Hyde Park by a good-looking London pimp named Edward “Neddy-Boy” Devlin, who dominates Hepburn by slowly strangling her with a necktie.

Audrey Hepburn never did work with Hitchcock, but Laurence Harvey got along with the Master of Suspense and starred in Arthur (1959), a grisly episode of the long-running TV anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents in which a beautiful woman (Hazel Court) meets with a terrible fate.

Neville Heath

The rape scene in No Bail for the Judge obviously was one that Hitchcock wanted to realize, in one form or another. It is quite similar to the scene of Mark’s rape of the frigid Marnie on their honeymoon cruise. The unproduced script of No Bail for the Judge also looks forward to the unproduced Frenzy/Kaleidoscope and to Hitchcock’s serial killer masterpiece Frenzy (1972), with its sexually impotent necktie strangler Bob Rusk (Barry Foster) loose in London, eager to pin the murders of several attractive women on his best friend. The unproduced Frenzy contains a sequence in New York’s Central Park where the killer, Willie Cooper, takes a young woman into the bushes and murders her. And while Bob Rusk may have more victims to his credit than Neville Heath and Willie Cooper, it is clear that Edward “Neddy-Boy” Devlin was Hitchcock’s first “necktie strangler”.

So, as Hitchcock matured as an artist, his impulse to film violent misogynistic scenes intensified – scenes which would finally be free from censorship in the freewheeling “anything goes” atmosphere of Hollywood in the sixties and seventies.

(Click here to order Cinema Retro issue #18 featuring extensive coverage of Hitchcock's Psycho. Click here to order Cinema Retro issue #24 featuring in-depth article on the making of the 1972 version of Frenzy)  

By Dr Karen Oughton

Naughty little Nana stands in front of the camera. With her head in close-up, she poses: left, full profile and then right. Throughout Jean-Luc Godard’s Vivre Sa Vie, the philosophising prostitute is both alluring and clinical, free-spirited and forced, but despite her famous speech in the cafe (and being seen and perhaps censured by capricious cinephiles) can she be held responsible for her actions within the film

Godard’s piece (naturally enough for the New Wave) is a mixture of different styles, as suggested by its teasing, nimble title, Vivre Sa Vie, which translates roughly as “live life” and has been moulded variously into It’s My Life, My Life to Live and To Live Her Life across the territories. It suggests an approach mixing direct cinema with cinema verite-style camera work to indicate a defiant, almost decadent posturing that is nonetheless a delicate portrayal of its theme and holds its truth in the quickest flecks of light caught on camera behind the beguiling Nana. Indeed, Nana’s relationship with the camera changes from scene to scene; she flirts with it almost as a client, forces herself on it when dancing and is followed by it when fleeing terrified from the scene of a shooting. The film’s subtitle is A Film in Twelve Scenes. Simply speaking, it charts segments in the life of Nana, a wife and mother who has left her family to tread the boards.

She aspires to life as an actress and it could be argued that she subsequently spends most of the time fulfilling a series of roles, such as the moll she becomes for most of the feature’s duration. From the opening frame, Godard goads us, makes us strain for the meaning in her scenes, for the meaning of her mythos as a whole.

Following the frames in which we are given information about the film’s festival-circuit run, the opening section is where Godard’s starlet seduces the camera. Nana stands still, sometimes almost in silhouette. Her eyelashes are fluttering and there are slight movements of her tender mouth and smooth throat as she breathes. While an understated gesture, it is sexual, sordid even and oddly uncomfortable for the viewer, so personal is the image that it reminds them of their own breath and rhythmic deglutition. The music appears, then disappears and we are denied Nana’s eyes as they are blotted out by obviously obtrusive text in the titles. The referent paradox is clear: she is Miss X of the same generation, one of the modern masses, yet a subject worthy of study and a creature so captivating she must be periodically censored for her audience’s own good.

The film is an exercise in illustrating the paradoxes of interpretation, so much to consider, yet every element included is a potential deconstruction. Nana is an appealing mix of style and naturalism, function and frivolity. Her short hair makes her comparatively boyish (as she semi-acknowledges in her letter to a potential Madam, stating that it could quickly be grown out), yet it also shows off that sensual neck. From the opening scene where we only truly see the back of her head and hair, bulky jacket and cigarette smoke, she may drink like a man, play like a man and talk like a man, but she can also be moulded by a man. She talks about her torturous life to her ex-husband, Paul, in the café. We see their backs and note their similar shapes and the ferocity of fear for her fate versus her desire to be seen as “special” by him. She acts in place of his inaction. We are desperate for them to touch as shutting us out of their conversation (as the framing does) makes us feel vulnerable too, all the while praising Nana for her forward-thinking vehemence. Above all, however, her hair’s sleek cut makes her look extremely functional, as underlined by her clothes and chamber while working as a call girl. Nana has an innate glamour that both enhances her sex appeal and sterilizes her environment.

Here is a girl who borrows her gestures from the gentlemen she galvanises. Her head bobs with theirs on her bored, business-like but Byzantine journey; while leading them often around the room, she also follows their lead when allowing herself to be purloined for their pleasure. The easy, lazy angle of her hand holding a cocked cigarette is her calling card and is the art of the tart considering the inevitable conclusion of her next conquest.

Art or apparatus, Godard wants us to feel the grit under Nana’s shoes in order to understand the poetry of the situation; she cannot appreciate the responsibility she claims during the canteen scene as for her (an actress in both senses) it must remain unsaid lest it becomes a piece of performed fiction. As Susan Sontag states in Against Interpretation, she’s there to be seen, not to explain, so we must fill in the gaps for her. Against this interpretation, however, is our own interpretation of that. As Godard changes his camera angles and plays with diegesis we cannot help but imply an interpretation. According to Sontag, these are simply snippets of a kaleidoscope, a section of discourse that relates to the narrative frame but not to our assertive femme for whom (she feels) no explanation is given. Yet despite Sontag’s clear investment in stating the alternative, it becomes impossible not to see the implied implications of the oddly innocent girl’s situation.

Indeed, Nana’s more masculine behaviour only serves to silhouette her slightness and frailty. As Sontag comments, each one of the film’s twelve segments recalls a text and, as the ‘text’ in the café sequence suggests, Nana’s story is that of ‘The Chicken’, that which’s soul can only be found when she has given of herself. However, this is not through negation of herself as Sontag suggests – it is not exactly a process during which Nana has no control over the layers that are stripped away, but it is controlled submission. We see Nana unburdened in the scenes in which she drifts, when her smile shines brightly enough for it to light up her eyes. This is when the body and soul of this little ‘chick’ are peeled away and we notice Nana unconstructed, a Nana of pure feeling inside the skin cage, a ghost inside the machine.

We listen to Nana and her lover discuss passages of Poe and may think her mask is beginning to slip; despite the simple, clinical setting alongside the business-like montages of our Mademoiselle and her men, we begin to feel warmth. Nevertheless, this is hope for the future that feels hallucinogenic, so far is it from the narrative’s precision-focused frame. Nana has become a body, a sculpted doll not only in her looks but in her assertive, masculine behaviour, so it is natural that this, too, must be discarded. This occurs in our final sequence, wherein our miss is sold to another pimp. She is manhandled across a bleak parking slot from man to man until she is shot. Her delicate figure contrasts against the shaft of the gun, yet like it she has become little more than a mechanism of male control, a cog in a wheel of a criminal machine maintained by money and murder. Nana’s impregnation by the phallic symbol represents a loss, a commercial union turned sour. Nana the machinic mode of production has been decommissioned. To put it crudely, the bullet has given her more holes than necessary for her occupation and has marked her. Particularly in the cold, hard light of the modern-day chicks, she is simply an appendage sullied, and therefore sullying by association, another man.

After her evisceration and an indelicate death dance, therefore, she falls to the floor by the car.

It is here the viewer finally feels Nana in a way that Sontag would probably support; we feel her precisely because we don’t. As she lies lifeless in the street, her personality begs a playback the fast-paced action will not permit. We watch in horror as first one car leaves her, then the other half speeds towards her as though to crush the evidence of her calamitous conclusion by driving straight across her and leaving a pool of unbelievably black blood oozing and oscillating on the tarmac. Such is the departure from the film’s abstracted gentility that the idea alone of this sort of image – regardless of the film’s final fade before it becomes possible – remains with the viewer. While Sontag complains bitterly that the bombastic director destroys the thematic complexity of his piece by allowing Nana’s death to mirror the parable of the ‘poule’, it actually seems to do the exact opposite. It forces Nana to live in our mind’s eye. We recoil from the image despite the fact it never worries our retinas. We instead see Nana in all humanity, philosophy and beauty precisely because God(ard) deprives her – his muse and off-screen wife Anna Karina – of it in those final few frames. By placing herself in that scenario, she is given chance to bear her soul.

She is responsible.

Dr Karen Oughton is an academic and film journalist. Click here for her web site

(Viva Sa Vie is available as a special edition Blu-ray from Criterion. Click here to order from Amazon) 

The Shoes of the Fisherman

By Mike Malloy

Complex and arcane religious rituals wouldn’t seem to make for good filmed entertainment. And yet, the Vatican’s papal election process – occurring again this week to name a successor to Pope Benedict XVI – has been detailed in cinema almost as many times as the more Hollywood-sounding subject of papal assassination attempts.

And while the workings of the pontifical election conclave might not be surprising in a religious film, they were even deemed dramatic enough for inclusion in The Godfather Part III. Yep, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1990 crime epic takes a break between whackings to portray the 1978 conclave that elected the first Pope John Paul.

But more impressive than the fact that cinema has depicted this process is the fact that, on occasion, the movies seem to have gotten it right. When a papal vacancy isn’t being used as a premise for a goofy comedy (witness 1991’s The Pope Must Diet!), the election process is treated with seeming care and accuracy.

Of course, screenwriters can only base such scenes on the generally accepted consensus of how the election conclave of cardinals works; no press members have ever documented the proceedings first hand. No cameras have been allowed.

“And I’ve never heard of a [conclave member] writing a report of it,” says Bill Ryan, spokesman for the United Conference of Catholic Bishops. Ryan says he assumes screen treatments of the conclave are “working backward from the document,” referring to On the Vacancy of the Apostolic See and the Election of the Roman Pontiff.

But 1968’s The Shoes of the Fisherman, which chronicles the rise of fictional Pope Kiril I (Anthony Quinn), also benefited from the technical consulting of Monsignor Adone Terzariol, an unofficial papal advisor. The film is likely the tastemaking cinematic vision of the conclave, the blueprint for other films’ depiction of the same.

Anthony Quinn in The Shoes of the Fisherman.

Indeed, Shoes of the Fisherman – a twice-over Oscar nominee – presents the pontifical election in fine detail. We see the cardinals locked in the annex of the Sistine Chapel by the Marshal of the Conclave. Ballots are cast, placed onto a plate, then dumped into a chalice. Wet straw is burned with the ballots to produce black smoke, indicating a failure to elect a pontiff on the first few days of voting. Canopies collapse overhead each cardinal not elected pope after the new pontiff has accepted.

Shoes of the Fisherman uses a TV news journalist (played by David Janssen) as its exposition. Janssen’s character is stationed outside St. Peter’s, giving very specific play-by-play analysis. If the dry crime-lab films of the 1950s can be termed “Police Procedurals,” the mid portion of Fisherman is truly a Pontifical Procedural.

Not only does Shoes of the Fisherman capture the rituals of the election in great detail, its election of a fictional Russian pope foretells the coronation of Polish pope John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.

Later films The Pope Must Diet! and The Godfather Part III (neither of which credit a religious technical advisor) seem to have borrowed Fisherman’s vision of the election process.

But The Pope Must Diet!, about a schlubby priest (Robbie Coltrane) who is accidentally coronated as Pope, does serve as a reminder that the elected Pontiff need not be a cardinal attending the conclave.

“It could be any baptized male,” says Ryan. Other reports suggest it can be any adult Roman Catholic.

The Pope Must Diet! covers many of the rituals surrounding a papal succession – at least those rituals that serve as easy fodder for cheap jokes. In Diet, the deceased pope isn’t just tapped on the forehead with the silver papal hammer to determine death, he’s given a good whack. Papal nominations are struck down on the grounds of “He’s too fat!” And the cardinals are wanded with metal detectors before entering the conclave (though this last joke isn’t too far off the truth; the conclave is reportedly screened for bugging devices).

Only the 1984 telefilm Pope John Paul II shows a side of the electoral conclave not covered in Shoes of the Fisherman. The Polish pope-to-be, portrayed by Albert Finney, is seen in his sparsely furnished conclave quarters between election days. Apparently, this is an accurate depiction, as each cardinal has a cell furnished only with a bed, a crucifix, a table and chairs.

But even movies that don’t detail the conclave can raise provocative points about papal succession.

The 1972 film Pope Joan – about a rumored female Pope that snuck in around 855 – is one of several films to feature a papal election but that skips the rituals of the election process (2003’s Luther and 1981’s From a Far Country are others). But when Pope Joan’s infirm pontiff (Trevor Howard) suggests a successor on his deathbed, it raises the question of whether an outgoing pope has ever tried to name his replacement.

“It’s totally in the realm of speculation or fiction,” says Ryan.

As it all might be, considering that only cardinals, sworn to secrecy, have witnessed a papal election conclave. The closest depiction we may ever see is on the screen.

Films Depicting the Papal Enclave

“The Shoes of the Fisherman” (1968), with Anthony Quinn as fictional Pope Kiril I

“Pope John Paul II” (1983), with Albert Finney as Pope John Paul II

“The Godfather Part III” (1990), with Raf Vallone as Pope John Paul

“The Pope Must Diet!” (1991), with Robbie Coltrane as a fictional pope

Films Featuring the Election of a New Pope

“Pope Joan” (1972), with Liv Ullman as rumored female successor to Pope Leo IV

“From a Far Country” (1981), with Cezary Morawski as Pope John Paul II

“Luther” (2003), with Uwe Ochsenknecht as Pope Leo X

The folks at Kindertrauma, a web site dedicated to everthing that scared baby boomers as children, has a good tribute to The Norliss Tapes, the 1970s TV movie starring Roy Thinnes and Angie Dickinson. It's sounds intriguing enough for us to order the DVD. To read the article click here.

To order the DVD from the Cinema Retro Amazon Movie Store, click here.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Director David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook deserves praise, if for nothing else, overcoming the seemingly incomprehensible title and becoming a major box-office success. The film is typical of today's "rom-coms" (romantic comedies, for the uninitiated.) Troubled, attractive young guy. Troubled, attractive young woman. Both meet cute. Both have to interact with lovable, eccentric friends and family members before overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles in achieving great goal.  Bradley Cooper, progressing very well from low-brow comedies, gives a very fine performance as Pat, a charismatic Philadelphia school teacher who goes bonkers when he discovers his wife getting on in the shower with one of his school colleagues. He goes on a rampage and almost beats the man to death. When we first see him, his mother is checking him out of a psychiatric institution after 8 long months- and against the advice of his doctors. Seems Pat has been bi-polar all along but never knew it, something that strains credibility given the fact that emotionally, he carries more baggage than a cruise ship. (In a completely unbelievable but "cute" plot device, he is sent into a rage every time he hears Steve Wonder singing "My Cherie, Amour"- you know, sort of like that old sketch in which the Three Stooges go ballistic upon hearing "Niagara Falls"). Pat tries to readjust to his dysfunctional family life but it's a rocky road. He is obsessed with winning back his gorgeous wife, who he mistakenly believes is equally determined to revive their marriage. In the process, he has to frequently lock horns with his father (Robert De Niro in very fine form), a reckless gambler and bookmaker who is always only seconds away from financial disaster. The old man is betting the ranch on the outcome of football games in the hopes of fulfilling his dream of opening a small, local restaurant. In the midst of all this chaos, Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a vivacious but equally troubled young widow with a history of mental illness. Before you can say "When Harry Met Sally", the two enter a combative relationship that all -too predictably results in a gradual attraction. All of this leads up to a crisis-filled night in which Pat has promised to be Tiffany's dance partner in a local contest that they have to score well enough on to prevent Pat's dad from losing everything he has and, instead, win the bet that will allow him to open his restaurant.

The script of Silver Linings Playbook contains every cliche except, "Hey kids, we can put the show on in a barn!" Yet, it's a feel-good, crowd-pleaser that is just off-beat enough to rise above the level of most romantic comedies. The scene-stealer is Jennifer Lawrence, who fully deserves her Oscar nomination as the bitchy-but-lovable head case whose emotions run up and down like a roller-coaster. She and Cooper make for a fine on-screen couple and watching them deal with their respective eccentricities is one of the film's delights. Director Russell also makes good use of the suburban Philly locations and the cast (particularly De Niro) is especially convincing at making you believe you are intruding on an actual middle-class family's intimate moments. Still, as the movie nears its climactic dance competition sequence, I found myself praying that the script would refreshingly forgo what was shaping up to the be most predictable of endings. Sadly, Russell (who also wrote the screenplay) goes for the low-hanging fruit and employs every mothballed romantic cliche imaginable, complete with love-crazed young guy running after heartbroken girlfriend down a city street adorned with Christmas decorations. There's enough moss on these story elements to make penicillin.

The film is refreshing in the sense that it's one of the few youth-oriented comedies that doesn't rely on vulgarity and gross-out humor. It's definitely a good date movie, but certainly undeserving of a Best Picture Oscar.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Ernest Borgnine's final film, The Man Who Shook the Hand of Vincente Fernandez, opens theatrically with a one-week run at the Laemmle Encino Town Center Theater beginning today.  The independent production is a modestly-budgeted family comedy/drama that presents the legendary Oscar-winner with the kind of showcase role that actors in their nineties almost never have. Borgnine makes the most of it, too, giving a terrific and moving performance that earned him the Best Actor award at this year's Newport Film Festival. Written and produced by Elia Petridis, Fernandez centers on Rex Page (Borgnine), a cantankerous old coot given to griping about every aspect of life. He seems oblivious to the fact that he has an adoring wife (June Squibb), a devoted middle-aged daughter (Dale Dickey) and and a worshipful granddaughter (Audrey P. Scott). Rex is frustrated by his failure to fulfill his dream of becoming a big time actor on the silver screen. He once came close to landing the leading role in a spaghetti Western, but lost out to a competing actor. He's spent a lifetime in self-imposed hell, obsessed with watching this B movie and learning every line of dialogue, which he repeats to anyone in his presence. When a health crisis sees the fiercely independent Rex move into a nursing home, a series of incidents motivate him to reevaluate his life. The nursing home is a money mill for corrupt bureaucrats who use the patients as cash cows. It doesn't take Rex long to figure this out and he quickly wears out his welcome by insulting and chastising fellow elderly patients who are part of a click belonging to the corrupt family that owns the facility. He also is abrasive towards the largely Hispanic staff of nurses and orderlies, often referring to them in unflattering racial insults.

The relationship between Rex and his caregivers gradually softens, however, when the young staff members learn that Rex, a former popular DJ, once briefly met and shook the hand of the film's titular character, Vincente Fernandez, a "Mexican Frank Sinatra" who enjoys mythic stature in the Hispanic community. Rex transfixes the staff by telling and retelling his account of this brief meeting in the 1970s. This common bond allows Rex and the staffers to form a mutually respectful relationship that grows stronger by the day. Rex particularly takes a shine to his nurse Solena (stunningly beautiful Carla Ortiz)- and he comes to her defense, saving her from the clutches of would-be molester Dr. Dominguez (Tony Plana), the chief administrator.  In a scenario that is a clearly geriatric version of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Rex inspires his young friends to stand up for their rights and take on the oppressive bureaucrats who exploit them. He must also deal with challenges in his own life when his family feels he's been alienating them in favor of his adopted family at the nursing home. 

The film contains more than its share of sugary scenes and corny cliches. (The villains are so lacking in any redeeming qualities that they practically twirl their mustaches.) Nevertheless, director Petridis offers Borgnine the finest role he's had in more years than I can remember. He dominates every scene and, ironically for his final film, looks like the picture of good health. Petridis, who must clearly be obsessive about spaghetti westerns himself, cleverly manages to intertwine many aspects of Western movie lore into this contemporary story so that even a card game between Borgnine and a nursing home nemesis is drenched in Leone-like imagery and music. This homage extends to the brilliant title credits which are cleverly derived from the Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood "Dollars" trilogy. This is a feel good family film that is marred by one easily correctable misjudgment: the insertion of a completely unnecessary expletive said from a mother to her young child. It's wildly out of place in an otherwise uplifting tale for all ages. If director Petridis is wise, he'll exclude this from the video and pay-per-view versions of the film.

I only had the pleasure of meeting Ernest Borgnine once several years ago for an interview for Cinema Retro magazine. He struck me as a warm, honest and kind individual. Thus, perhaps I had a bit more of a personal outlook when viewing Borgnine's final sequence in this film, which Elia Petridis handles brilliantly. It's so touchingly filmed and directed that I was moved to watch it again on the DVD screener. Not since John Wayne's final scene in The Shootist has a legendary actor had a more appropriate on-screen send off.

The Man Who Shook the Hand of Vicente Fernandez is not high art, nor does it pretend to be. However, it is an enjoyable film that refreshingly extolls family values. The supporting cast members are all very talented and a pleasure to watch, but is  Ernie Borgnine who justifiably dominates the movie and your memories of it.

Many people remember the portly actor William Conrad for playing the role of detective Cannon in the popular 1970s CBS TV series. However, his long career extended back to playing Marshall Matt Dillon on the radio version of Gunsmoke. There is another often neglected side to his career: his long association with horror films. TCM's Movie Morlock web site examines these films. Click here to read

By Lee Pfeiffer

The new romantic comedy ("romcom" for you hipsters) Excuse Me for Living represents the first feature film by Ric Klass, at least in terms of getting any meaningful distribution. (His prior excursion into filmmaking was the little-seen Elliott Fauman, PhD. back in 1990.)  The indie movie goes into theatrical release in select theaters nationwide this week. The film traces the tangled relationships between young New Yorkers, with the emphasis focusing on Dan (Tom Pelphrey), a privileged Gen X'er who nonetheless suffers from severe depression and a penchant for self-destructive behavior. When the film opens, we find him about to leap to his death from a bridge. Saved by a cop, he is "sentenced" to a rehab clinic run by a strict, but compassionate psychiatrist (Robert Vaughn), who attempts to form a personal bond with the troubled young man. Dan agrees to join a therapy group comprised entirely of elderly men, each of whom reveals their own personal demons. Dan is accepted by the group, but his rebellious nature gets the better of him. Before long, he's being lured back to his old ways. He sneaks out to attend wild parties at the home of a snobby friend and even starts an affair with his own psychiatrist's daughter. The episodic nature of the film provides both strengths and weaknesses. On the plus side, we're introduced to some interesting characters, well played by a talented cast of largely unknown actors and actresses. Pelphrey is especially good in the lead role, but he gets able assistance from Melissa Archer and Ewa Da Cruz as the femme fatales who wreak havoc on his his troubled mind by offering a continuous string of sexual temptations.  On the other hand, Klass, who also wrote the screenplay, introduces so many characters and relationships that the viewer sometimes can't follow who is doing what with whom. Klass doesn't strive for belly laughs, instead concentrates on amusing situations and poignant and often moving dramatic aspects to the storyline. Best of all, he brings together some terrific veteran actors, all seen in their largest big screen roles in years. Vaughn, in particular, makes the most of his considerable screen time, bringing grace and dignity to a complex role. It's great to see him in a lead role on the big screen again.  Seinfeld almuni Jerry Stiller (playing a relatively subdued and realistic character) and Wayne Knight are also on hand, along with Christopher Lloyd, whose usual crazy guy shtick is quite amusing. There is also enough mildly kinky sex and scantily-clad women to appeal to guys who might otherwise think this is a chick flick. In fact, it's a smart, witty comedy that should have special appeal to young, urban audiences. The movie also has a rich look to the production design and is crisply photographed and impressively edited.

Excuse Me For Living makes for a fine directorial debut for Klass. Here's hoping he has a second act in the works. 

Click here to visit the official web site for the film

Star Gilles Pelletier in a 1960 publicity photo.

By Harvey Chartrand 

In 1959-60, the distinguished Quebec actor Gilles Pelletier (who had earlier appeared in Otto Preminger’s The 13^th Letter and in Alfred Hitchcock’s I Confess) came to Ottawa to shoot 39 episodes of the R.C.M.P. television series, coproduced by Crawley Films, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Executive producer F.R. “Budge” Crawley cast Pelletier as Corporal Jacques Gagnier, a Mountie working at a detachment in rural northern Saskatchewan. Interiors were shot on a brand-new soundstage near Ottawa at Old Chelsea, Quebec. Exteriors were filmed in nearby Aylmer, Quebec, and in Outlook, Saskatchewan, which stood in for the fictional western town of Shamattawa, the center of the action of this contemporary adventure series.

Casting a Québécois in the lead role was considered a gutsy move at the time, but Crawley was ahead of the curve in acknowledging the “French fact” on Canadian television, according to Pelletier. (Crawley went on to produce the Oscar-winning 1975 documentary The Man Who Skied Down Everest.) Co-starring in R.C.M.P. as Gagnier’s sidekick Constable Bill Mitchell was Don Francks, later a series regular on La Femme Nikita and co-star in Todd Haynes’ Bob Dylan “biography” I’m Not There.

With all that talent on board, why did R.C.M.P. only last one season? The show was well produced. Crawley partnered with the CBC, the BBC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and figured it would be a snap to break into international TV markets, especially in the United States. R.C.M.P. was a crisply-shot, realistic and sometimes extremely violent crime drama which stood in stark contrast to the usual stagebound and fusty Canadian television programming of the time. Influenced by the European neorealist school of filmmaking, the show had the look and feel of a documentary, very convincingly conveying the dismal Canadian ambience (especially in wintertime) and the homegrown criminal element of small-town Canada. R.C.M.P. more than held its own against similar U.S. TV fare.

According to Pelletier, what was overlooked was the fact that the American TV networks, distributors and producers operated like a closed circuit. They weren’t interested in buying a foreign TV series unless they had a hand in its production from the word “go”, and Crawley wouldn’t allow that. He said if they had that kind of control, R.C.M.P. would lose its distinctively Canadian cachet and be like any other American-style series.

Sean Connery in Zardoz: looking like a pitch man for adult incontinence products!

The pop culture web site Detour has a  brief homage to director John Boorman's ill-fated 1973 sci-fi epic Zardoz (referred to by many as Zardoze) The bizarre futuristic tale involved immortality, slavery, sex-obsessed women and The Wizard of Oz. It's the kind of movie that should alarm you if it starts making sense to you. Nevertheless, we have affection for the film and are among those who consider "Boorman's Folly" to be an intriguing, thought-provoking gem. Where else can you see Sean Connery (who replaced Burt Reynolds in the leading role) strutting his stuff in what looks like a red Depends diaper, while Charlotte Rampling runs amok starkers. For more click here

Click here to order Zardoz from the Cinema Retro Amazon Movie Store- only $9.98!

Vincent Price (see here in the 1964 adaptation of The Tomb of Ligeia) collaborated with producer Roger Corman on several successful cinematic translations of Poe's work.

John Cusack's new movie -a fictionalized look at the life of Edgar Allan Poe that presents the famed writer chasing a serial killer- has brought about renewed interest in seeing how the master of the macabre's stories have translated on to cinema screens over the decades (for better or worse). Click here to read New York Times analysis. 

Over on his Filmgoers Guide blog, CINEMA RETRO contributor Howard Hughes reviews some Euro-cult rarities from the 1960s and 1970s, including Enzo G. Castellari's Napoleonic comedy The Loves and Times of Scaramouche (1976), with Michael Sarrazin and Ursula Andress
http://filmgoersguide.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/not-tonight-josephine/
The German 'Winnetou' westerns starring Lex Barker and Pierre Brice, including The Treasure of Silver Lake (1962) and Among Vultures (1964)
http://filmgoersguide.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/requiem-apache/
And Marcello Baldi's little-seen Old Testment trilogy - Jacob, the Man Who Fought With God (1963), Saul and David (1964) and The Great Leaders (1965) - some of which was shot in Almeria, southern Spain.
http://filmgoersguide.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/who-was-solomon-king/

With The Iron Lady opening in the UK, Daily Mail writer Chris Tookey acknowledges Meryl Streep's acclaimed performance as Margaret Thatcher. However, he says the film suffers from a simplified look at her actual career and accomplishments. Tookey says her most notable achievements are given brief mention while speculative or rather inconsequential aspects of her life are given prominence in the script. Tookey seems to be writing from a distinctly Tory point of view ("She deserves to be studied because she was right about so many things, and carried out her public duties despite hysterical abuse from most of the political and media establishment"), so your own political leanings may influence whether you agree or disagree with his assessment. Click here to read 

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM CINEMA RETRO'S ARCHIVES

(This article originally ran in October 2008)

In the wake of Paul Newman’s death I’ve been watching a few of his movies over again, and in some cases, watching some of his films for the first time.

For an avowed admirer of 60s and 70s films, and thrillers especially, I was surprised that I had never seen The Mackintosh Man (1973) before. I was very familiar with it in the context of Newman’s canon, and films in general, and I remember it opening, but for some reason it had passed me by until today.

Well, truth be told, there’s good reasons for that. It’s not a bad film per se, but you can see why its not part of the common cultural currency of 70s movies.

The story involves a British Intelligence spy working deep undercover and known only to his chief – Mr Mackintosh – hence being a Mackintosh man - and attempting to bring to book a corrupt MP. The means by which he does this (faking a diamond robbery in order to go to jail, so as to attract the attention of a mysterious firm who can spring him and a high level prisoner with links to the said MP) are contrived the point of hilarity.

But the pedigree is good, great even. Directed by John Huston, with a script co-written by Walter Hill from a novel by Desmond Bagely one could reasonably expect a memorable and exciting yarn. With a supporting cast to die for including James Mason, Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen, Nigel Patrick, Peter Vaughan and Michael Horden, its always interesting , but only from a social and culturally historic perspective. If you ever wanted to see Paul Newman wander round early 70s London, hopping on tube trains and round Leather Lane market (with actual market goers trying very hard and failing to stop and gawk at the Hollywood royalty walking amongst them), or even slopping out in Liverpool  with John Bindon from Get Carter, then this is the film for you. What 1973 audiences would have made of it is anyone’s guess. The convoluted plot and intentionally slow pace would have left the most hardened thriller fan napping. There are practically no markers that this is directed by the same man that gave us The Maltese Falcon, The Asphalt Jungle and Chinatown; its so pedestrian as to resemble an episode of The Saint, which apparently, according to IMDB, this film is almost a carbon-copy of one such episode.

The Mackintosh Man is the dictionary definition of a film which survives on star power alone. On paper this could quite easily have been filler on the bottom half of a double bill, and had starred someone like Ian McShane or Bradford Dillman without changing anything in the script. As it is, Newman brings effortless professionalism to the proceedings, and even manages to adapt, chameleon-like to his drab and everyday surroundings, a little like Sean Connery in The Offence.

If you’ve never seen it, the tone in the first half of the film veers between Frenzy, The Ipcress File and Porridge. But after the jailbreak the tone shifts into almost Bondian territory, or at the very least an episode of The Avengers with the introduction of Jenny Runacre’s Gerda, a kind of taller version of OHMSS’s Irma Bunt with her mute henchman (I kid ye not)Taafe played by Percy Herbert. This scenario is almost played for laughs and culminates with perhaps cinema's only onscreen kick in the female crotch by a male character.

Dominique Sanda glides through the film with a single blank expression her face from start to finish, which doesn’t help in a scene where James mason spikes her drink. It took quite few moments to spot that she was trying to act like someone who’ s lost most of her higher motor functions.

Ultimately, any enjoyment one can derive from this film is in watching a mid-career Newman in a film featuring authentic locations with a sterling, if underused cast. It’s a sombre film in tone, with only a few flashes of action, notably a very realistic motor chase along bleak Irish roads, and a foot chase across moors which resembles Newman’s flight from the prison guards and dogs in Cool Hand Luke. The film reeks of “contractural obligation”, but at the end of the day I’m glad I’ve finally seen it, and will probably revisit again. Maybe.

At the moment its only available as part of a Warner Region 1 Newman Box set, but its worth getting as it includes Harper, The Drowning Pool, Pocket Money, The Young Philadelphians and The Left-Handed Gun, all under-appreciated films. - Steve Saragossi

CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE PAUL NEWMAN COLLECTION BOXED DVD SET

Hughes makes the case that the restored version of Sergio Leone's classic The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is inferior to the original theatrical release.

Cinema Retro columnist and film book author Howard Hughes vents on his blog about misconstrued extended cuts of films that failed to improve on the originals. Among those in his sites: Star Wars and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Click here to read

Cinema Retro is proud to present a major article by author and film historian Collin Stutz

“Contrast, Counterpoint, and Patience: The Vanishing Penultimate Moment in Film” by Collin Stutz

In Daniel Raim’s Academy-Award nominated 2001 documentary The Man On Lincoln’s Nose, the film’s subject, legendary film production designer Robert F. Boyle (North By Northwest, The Birds, The Thomas Crown Affair - 1968, Fiddler On The Roof), profoundly states, “One of the problems with a lot of films now is that we’re dealing with climaxes rather than the penultimate moments which are more interesting.” Boyle defines the penultimate moment as the moment before something actually happens. It is the scene before the climax (Scene 12). In the DVD audio commentary to their 2004 Pixar film The Incredibles, director Brad Bird and producer John Walker discuss how “movies don’t have people sneaking around anymore. I want some sneaking around in my movie! People are in such a rush to get the action sequences going fast that they forget there’s pleasure to be had in the sneaking around part, taking a look at where you are. So I have a few sneaking around sequences in here, and I don’t think they’re a waste of time” (Scene 9). Whether one artist refers to it as “the penultimate moment” or another calls it “sneaking around” is irrelevant; they are both discussing the same thing. The penultimate moment can be one of the most rewarding experiences for a cinema audience, and there are three elements – contrast, counterpoint, and time investment – that go into its creation. Unfortunately, the penultimate moment and its components are becoming a lost art in today’s world of instant gratification.

Boyle uses Michelangelo’s Renaissance sculpture masterpiece David as an example to further illustrate his belief in the penultimate moment. He states that the sculpture of the Biblical hero is “a young man standing, thinking. He’s got the sling over his shoulder and he has a frown on his face and he’s obviously concerned. He’s concerned about the coming conflict. The stone that hits Goliath is momentarily interesting but only for that second. What went on before David meets Goliath…that’s what’s interesting” (The Man On Lincoln’s Nose, Scene 12).

As the five minute, thirty second sequence where Mr. Incredible sneaks around the island trying to discover Syndrome’s evil plan plays, director Bird, in his Incredibles audio commentary, goes on to say, “The filmmakers I most admire recognize the value of “teasing” moments and “milking” moments. You think about a good storyteller or someone who tells good stories in a bar. They don’t blast through a story. They stop and they savor certain moments. And they know which moments they can milk. And all of my favorite filmmakers have the confidence to slow down. Versus, I won’t name names, but a lot of successful hacks, who, by having rapid-fire editing all the way through, never have to deal with the issue of “Is anybody paying attention?” because they keep throwing stuff at you. To me, there’s an edge of desperation about that. The kind of filmmaking I most admire takes a moment to savor things, because there are so many things a movie can offer, particularly when you have a really talented crew that works on getting sets to look great and is putting things up there. You want a moment to take them in. Like a good comic pauses, I think a good filmmaker slows down” (Scene 15). Incidentally, five minutes of that Incredibles sequence is nothing but sneaking around. The final thirty seconds is the action climax where Mr. Incredible is attacked by goo balls and captured. John Fawell, author of Rear Window: The Well-Made Film, elaborates on Bird’s thoughts in his DVD commentary of the film, “People sometimes ask, ‘Why do we make such a deal of these old films?’ Part of it is the professionalism on the smallest level. Even your most unimportant moment should have a nice composition to it” (Scene 12).

By Giacomo Selloni

   "I was born in Harlem... I weighed a pound and a quarter and the doctor said 'If he survives, he'll be a genius,' but, he said, 'Don't count on it'."  Thus begins Irwin Hasen's narration of his life in "Irwin - A New York Story" by painter, and first-time filmmaker Dan Makara. The short film was presented at the famous Players club in Manhattan on November 30, 2011. In it Mr. Hasen speaks candidly and openly about his career, work and especially his personal life. The documentary short takes you back and forth through Hasen's miserable childhood, first "paying" job, schooling, being in on the ground floor of the burgeoning comic book industry, army stint and most importantly the creation for which he's most famous, "Dondi", the newspaper comic strip he drew for over 30 years. Hasen, at age 92, is also one of the few surviving comic book artists of the Golden Age period, having worked on Superman, Green Lantern and many other classic titles.  Many of his friends, also legends in comic industry also appear in the film to reminisce. Coming in at almost 55 minutes, "Irwin" is a bit long for a short; not unlike the man himself. At times funny (Mr. Hasen is often self-deprecating), moving, nostalgic and cartoonish (as it should be), "Irwin - A New York Story" is a colorful and honest look at a true New York and comic book art legend. He also tells you how to make a great martini!

Click here to visit Facebook page for the film

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM CINEMA RETRO'S ARCHIVES

Donald Hamilton’s Serious Spy Becomes a Bond Parody
By Matthew R. Bradley

When JFK revealed his fondness for the James Bond books by Ian Fleming, and 007—ably embodied by Sean Connery—struck box-office gold with Dr. No (1962) and its sequels, the resultant “Bondmania” set off a spy craze manifested in everything from atmospheric adaptations of Len Deighton and John le Carré to tongue-in-cheek secret agents on screens small and large. Perhaps the most successful of the latter was Matt Helm, a singing and swinging spy played in four films for Columbia Pictures by Rat Pack member Dean Martin, who unlike Connery shared in the profits from the outset via his own company, Meadway-Claude Productions. The former partner of Bond producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli - Irving Allen - was playing catch-up after deeming Fleming’s work unworthy of filming, which speeded his breakup with Broccoli. But ironically, his quartet of quintessential spy spoofs was actually based on a series of gritty Gold Medal paperback originals by Donald Hamilton that had been launched by Fawcett before Kennedy was even in office, or Connery started shaking his martinis.

STELLA STEVENS IN SEXY PUBLICITY POSE FOR "THE SILENCERS"

As Halloween approaches, Cinema Retro contributor and author Howard Hughes looks at the many faces of Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale of terror, The Black Cat. Click here to read.

By Gareth Owen

I very rarely rave about new films. Some puzzle me, others annoy me and many are plain incoherent when it comes to dialogue vs special effects soundtracks. But more than anything, jerky camera work does nothing to excite nor, in my opinion, does it "add" anything to a movie.

How refreshing therefore it is for a misery guts like me to see a film that bowls me over and one which flies in the face of expected convention.

I first saw THE ARTIST in Cannes back in May - at I think its fourth screening, as the other three were totally over-subscribed. It is a black and white, silent movie shot in a 4:3 ratio. Yes, that's correct: not widescreen, not 3D, not cluttered with sound effects and not in colour. Furthermore its star is a Frenchman - Jean Dujardin. His name might not mean much, but he is already one of France's highest paid actors and is set for huge glory in Hollywood.

THE ARTIST is a beautifully crafted film, exquisitely shot and brilliantly cast. It centres on silent movie star George Valentin (Dujardin) and his fall from favour when 'talkies' come in.

Valentin is a hugely charismatic, charming and likeable character. With his four legged Jack Russell, Uggy (who almost steals the film), he stars in a vast number of silent movies from action-adventures to romance and spy thrillers. However, his aversion to talking on film results in a sudden fall from stardom, and coupled with the 1931 stock market crash, he finds himself loveless, penniless and homeless.

A young extra, Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), who was given a leg up in the industry by Valentin meanwhile captures the hearts of audiences, and soon becomes the doyen of the talkies. As Valentin's star fades, Peppy's rises.

The sizzling chemistry between the two characters leads Peppy to help her now suicidal friend and bring him back to movies. "No one wants to pay to hear my speak" argues Valentin, in one of the frequent subtitle cards. Instead they choreograph an amazing dance routine, which reignites Valentin's star.

With guest turns from John Goodman, Penelope Ann Miller, James Cromwell and Malcolm McDowell it is a film which will capture your heart, and demonstrates that just because something is in B&W and silent, it doesn't mean the power of storytelling is null and void in this multiplex world.

(Gareth Owen writes the Pinewood Past column, covering the history of Pinewood Studios,  in every issue of Cinema Retro)

Christopher Lee in The Wicker Man

By Mark Mawston

With Halloween fast approaching I thought I might recommend some films that seem to have found themselves, bar one or two, languishing in DVD dungeons like forgotten prisoners.

There are many recognized classics of the genre from The Omen and The Exorcist to The Haunting, as well as the Universal classics such as Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy but some of what I humbly call classics seldom, if ever, get a chance to shine. To try and set this straight before the witching hour strikes, I like to recommend a few films, 13 to be precise, that you may have missed or could perhaps re visit during this spookiest time of year.

13) Night Of The Eagle:

This superb British Witchcraft tale (known under the more lurid title Burn Witch Burn in the U.S.) is a minor monsterpiece. Starring Jason King himself Peter Wyngard it shows the consequences of marrying a witch in a way that Darren and Samantha never had to deal with on Bewitched. Taking its subject matter very seriously, this is a superbly acted little film with a, quite literally, killer climax. A Stone Cold Classic you could say.

12) Night Of The Demon.

This genre classic would make a superb “Night” time double bill with its predecessor in this list. Based on the short story Casting Of The Runes by M.R. James (and known as Curse Of The Demon In The States) this is a terrifying film whose dark atmosphere is backed up by superb and believable performances and a classic storyline. Dana Andrews was never better but the star of the show is Niall MacGinnis as Dr. Julian Karswell who can switch from children’s entertainer to demon conjurer quicker than the extinguishing of a flickering candle flame. The chase through the forest by the unseen demon is a masterpiece of subtly which is disregarded in the climax for the full on view of the film’s title creature. Many say this spoils the Val Lewtonesque feel of the film but I rather like it.

11) The Devil Rides Out:

Quite simply one of the best Hammer films ever made, with Christopher Lee acting against type, very successfully, as the hero rather than the monster. Based on the novel by Dennis Wheatly and brought to the screen by the superb Richard Matheson, this is Hammer firing on all four cylinders and has some of the most memorable set pieces of the studio’s superb output. Future Blofeld Charles Gray is excellent as Macata. One of Terence Fishers best, a director who was to Hammer what Terence Young was to the Bond films.

10) The Wicker Man:

One of the key films to watch over the period is Robin Hardy’s cult classic about a cult. Is it a musical? Is it a horror film? Is it really a classic? Well it’s a simple yes to all of them. When I talked to producer Michael Deeley about this he still seemed a bit bemused about this film’s well documented past and pointed out that the only way it could be released at the time was for it to be trimmed and released as a double bill. Many films have had that happen over the years (Ray Harryhausen’s Valley Of Gwangi coupled with Marianne Faithfull in Girl on a Motorcycle (a.k.a Naked Under Leather ) but few films who’s trims ended up as motorway landfill have such a following. The ending is still up there with that of Planet of the Apes for those who have yet to see it. Unlike The Sixth Sense, I had no idea of the “twist” until the shocking climax. It remains a unique cinematic experience. The soundtrack by Paul Giovanni is as unforgettable as the naked dance of Britt Ekland’s character Willow in the film.

Click here to view New York Times critic A.O. Scott's video tribute to Elia Kazan's 1957 classic A Face in the Crowd, in which Andy Griffith ignites the screen with one of the most dynamic performances of the decade. The film is a cautionary tale about how fame can corrupt and destroy and features superb supporting performances by Patricia Neal and Walter Matthau.

Click here to order DVD from Amazon

Peckinpah discusses a scene with star Dustin Hoffman.

With the pending release of the Americanized remake of Sam Peckinpah's 1971 classic Straw Dogs, writer Terrence Rafferty of the New York Times looks back at the original film and reopens the reasons why it still remains one of the most controversial movies of all time. Click here to read

Clint Eastwood's 1975 thriller The Eiger Sanction was generally dissed by critics in its day. However, as writer Jason Ivey points out, in today's climate of dumbed-down action movies, it seems like a work of art, specifically for the incredible mountain climbing sequences which Eastwood did himself, while directing! Click here to read and to view the original trailer.

Click here to order the DVD discounted from Amazon

Woody Allen's charming and intelligent comedy Midnight in Paris ranks among his best work in many years. I found the film to be an intoxicating blend of humor and sentimental homages to a lost era and the titanic talents that inhabited it. Writer Rob Kirkpatrick seems to have caught the spirit of the film and writers extensively about its merits.

Click here to read

- Lee Pfeiffer

Writer Richard Luck of the Sabotage Times analyzes five worthy prison movies that he feels have been underrated. Click here to read and see the trailers.

Don't count New York Times film critic A.O.Scott among those who may be toasting the just-released remake of Arthur. Scott is so singularly depressed by the Russell Brand remake about a lovable alcoholic that he says it's driving him to drink. Click here to read.

In his review in the CNN, critic Tom Charity rightly calls out Hollywood for shamefully ignoring the Western film genre. He says the situation has at least momentarily been corrected with the release of True Grit. While Charity sells short the immense qualities of Henry Hathaway's original version of the film, he does say that the remake returns the genre to its former glory and ranks the film among the best of the year. Click here to read

By Lee Pfeiffer

Beneath the Dark is an ambitious new chiller that has been relegated to "premiering" on the Independent Film Channel this month. The movie falls short of its ambitions but still has enough strong points to have merited a theatrical release. Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Josh Stewart are an attractive couple driving across the Mojave Desert at night, en route to a wedding in California. A near fatal crash convinces them they should stay overnight at the first motel they come across. It will surprise no one to learn that the chosen place is run by a creepy eccentric and is virtually bereft of any other occupants. (Honestly, night clerks of motels across America should unionize to demand a better image on-screen.) The two hunker down in bed but Stewart begins acting strangely (how else can you describe behavior that finds him disinterested in sexual favors offered by Sigler?). The two begin to bicker and Stewart storms out to the deserted cafe, where he encounters a strange, almost mystical man (Afemo Omilami) who seems to inexplicably know a great deal about humiliating aspects of Stewart's past. This is coupled with him seeing strange messages and apparitions that are invisible to Sigler. The story is entertwined with the troubled life of the night clerk (Chris Browning), who is a perpetual loser, constantly humilated by his wife (Angela Featherstone) who has had to turn to stripping and bedding strangers in order to pay the rent.

Hollywood Reporter critic Todd McCarthy's take on the Coen Brothers' new version of True Grit is that it's impressively cast and enacted but lacks the humor of the source novel and John Wayne screen version. Click here to read

In his review of Tron:Legacy, Disney's sequel to its 1982 sci-fi film that introduced the CGI era, Variety critic Todd McCarthy says the movie is better than the lame original- hardly the type of praise the studio would put into ads. To read click here

New York Times film critic A.O. Scott is not an easy man to impress, but he's given an unqualified rave to Clint Eastwood's Hereafter, saying the veteran filmmaker continues to explore new territory in exciting ways- in this case, the realm of the supernatural. Click here to read

By Lee Pfeiffer

As I've often said, there are some excellent films being made nowadays - but most of them don't involve invading aliens, serial murderers or tortured teenagers. The independent film market is booming and there are some real gems currently in release- though you may have to have the skills of Sherlock Holmes to track them down. One such film is Cairo Time, a charming and intriguing love story that finds Patricia Clarkson as Juliette Grant, the middle-aged wife of a United Nations diplomat who flies to Cairo to meet him for what should be an enjoyable business conference at a swank hotel. When she gets there, she learns he has been indefinitely delayed due to a crisis in Gaza. He asks his old friend and colleague Tareq (Alexander Siddig) to show her the local sites and try to entertain her. Initially, Juliet feels awkward and attempts to go it alone - only to find herself the unwanted center of advances from the male locals. Over the course of several days, she and Tareq form a bond that is becoming uncomfortably close to crossing the line into romance.

Stone directing star Michael Douglas

In a harsh review, New York Times film critic Joe Nocera takes on director Oliver Stone for bunting when he could have swung for a home run with Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Nocera says the mercurial director missed an opporunity to take on the financial crisis head-on and instead concentrated on personal dramas with the crisis only serving as a backdrop. Stone says he had to compromise or else alienate his audience by making the film too tecnhical for mass audiences. Click here to read

The web site Bachelor's Degree Blog has a good article detailing their choices for 15 of the best "Coming-of-Age" movies. In addition to insightful analysis, they provide clips from the films to bolster their arguments. Click here to read

Sylvester Stallone's reunion of 80s action stars in The Expendables has failed to impress USA Today critic Claudia Puig, though maybe a female writer isn't the intended audience Stallone had in mind. Puig gives the film the kind of unreservedly awful review that you seldom come across, calling it "... truly a movie that nobody needs — gratuitously savage, implausible and sometimes incoherent." Click here to read

By Lee Pfeiffer

Director Richard Lester's post-apocalyptic satire The Bed Sitting Room enlisted the talents of many notable British actors including Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, Ralph Richardson, Spike Milligan, and others. The film was released in 1969 and generally won respectable reviews, but died at the box-office, helping to end Lester's reputation as a new generation director who had his finger on the pulse of what young audiences wanted to see. The film has never been released on home video in the USA but last year Turner Classic Movies presented a rare showing. With great expectations, I began to watch ...but could not get past the first half hour. It was truly one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and - mind you- I'm a man who has found kind things to say about Ishtar and Heaven's Gate. Because I could not endure the entire film, I'm unqualified to make a complete judgment about it. I suppose it's possible that the movie became enchanting exactly at the point at which I turned it off - or it could be that the praise the movie has gained over the decades could be a cinematic case of The Emperor's New Clothes. Perhaps some people want to say they see subtle, hip qualities the average viewer doesn't perceive - even though the movie may just be an unintelligible mess. Writer Mike Watt, who runs the entertaining Movie Outlaw web blog, has a different take and defends the film's qualities. In the interest of being fair and balanced, click here to read his views.Click here to view trailer

Click here to order the DVD from Amazon UK

Kung Phooey: The New York Times blasts The Last Airbender

By Lee Pfeiffer

Remember when a new film by director M. Night Shyamalan was perceived as an actual event? Films like The Sixth Sense, Signs and The Village gave his movies the aura of something special - and audiences anticipated being brought in unpredictable directions by the compelling storylines. Nowadays, Shyamalan is content to take the Nicholas Cage career path and trash his talents in return for a sizable paycheck. Shyamalan is now down to adapting cartoon series to the big screen with The Last Airbender, an effects-filled extravaganza designed to appeal to audiences who are glued to the fare on Saturday morning kid's TV stations. The New York Times critic A.O. Scott blasts the film in his review, saying "It’s all pretty silly, and handled with unrelenting solemnity. But that in itself is neither unusual nor fatal. The problem — the catastrophe — of “The Last Airbender” is not in the conception but the execution. The long-winded explanations and clumsy performances are made worse by graceless effects and a last-minute 3-D conversion that wrecks whatever visual grace or beauty might have been there. The movie is so dim and fuzzy that you might mistake your disposable 3-D glasses for someone else’s prescription shades. And Mr. Shyamalan’s fondness for shallow-focus techniques, with a figure in the foreground presented with sharp clarity against a blurred background, is completely out of place in the deep-focus world of modern 3-D. The format also has no place for one of this director’s major gifts, which is his ability to use the implications of what is off camera to create a mood of intrigue and suspense." For full review click here

Studios should stay away from certain titles. Back in 1946 Cary Grant starred in a widely-disdained, watered down version of Cole Porter's life titled Night and Day. Half a century later, with only the slightest variation, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz star in the action flick Knight and Day. It's obviously geared for audiences dumb enough to consider The A-Team too Bergmanesque - and New York Times critic A.O. Scott lets loose, blasting the film as a brainless, incoherent excuse to waste money on CGI effects. To read click here

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM CINEMA RETRO'S ARCHIVES.

(The following piece was the first film review posted on Cinema Retro on February 25, 2007)

"Bus Riley" and William Inge: or When Playwrights Are Wronged

By Joel Shatzky

Bus Riley's Back in Town is a 1965 Universal production that is vaguely based on a play written by William Inge (1913-1973) in the early1950's bearing the same title. Because of the rewriting of the script and plot by the studio so that the story could be more of a vehicle for Ann-Margaret, Inge removed his name from the credits and not even the fact that the title was from an Inge play was mentioned. It is one of the few times, I believe, that a prominent playwright had his credits removed from a script that was based on his own play. Even Tennessee Williams, who had every good reason to remove his name from the credits of A Streetcar Named Desire due to the distorted ending, abstained from such a temptation.

Writer Patricia Zohn takes a fascinating look at Otto Preminger's little-discussed, but interesting film Bonjour Tristesse, based on a best-seller by 18 year old author Francoise Sagan, who reflected on personal aspects of her life with this tale of a teenage girl (Jean Seberg) forced to compete with many women for the attention of her charismatic father (David Niven). Click here to read

Kimberly Lindbergs gives a valuable and insightful analysis into the 1970s Western Hannie Caulder in which Raquel Welch plays a woman who becomes a gunslinger in order to track down the men who raped her and killed her husband. The great supporting cast includes Robert Culp, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam, Strother Martin and Christopher Lee. Click here to read on TCM's Movie Morlock's web site. The film is available on DVD in the UK, but not North America. Click here to order from Amazon UK

New York Times film critic A.O. Scott provides a narrated film clip tribute to Roman Polanski's 1974 classic Chinatown. Click here to view

Cinematical columnist Jeffrey M. Anderson pays tribute to the 1945 "B" movie Detour, which was made for $30,000 and went on to be one of the most acclaimed low budget films ever made. Click here to find out why

RETRO ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM CINEMA RETRO'S ARCHIVE

P.B. HURST, AUTHOR OF THE NEW BOOK THE MOST SAVAGE FILM: SOLDIER BLUE, CINEMATIC VIOLENCE AND THE HORRORS OF WAR (McFarland) LOOKS BACK AT WHAT IS PERHAPS THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL WESTERN OF ALL TIME.

A good number of critics in 1970 believed that Soldier Blue had set a new mark in cinematic violence, as a result of its graphic scenes of Cheyenne women and children being slaughtered, and had thus lived up – or down – to its U.S. poster boast that it was “The Most Savage Film in History.”

A massive hit in Great Britain and much of the rest of the world, Soldier Blue was, in the words of its maverick director, Ralph Nelson, “not a popular success” in the United States. This probably had less to do with the picture’s groundbreaking violence, and more to do with the fact that it was the U.S. Cavalry who were breaking new ground. For Nelson’s portrayal of the boys in blue as blood crazed maniacs, who blow children’s brains out and behead women, shattered for ever one of America’s most enduring movie myths – that of the cavalry as good guys riding to the rescue – and rendered Soldier Blue one of the most radical films in the history of American cinema. The film’s failure in its homeland might also have had something to do with the perception in some quarters – prompted by production company publicity material – that it was a deliberate Vietnam allegory.

I was unaware of most of this in 1971 when, as a nervous fifteen-year-old English schoolboy, I read about the film’s horrors in newspapers, and heard lurid accounts of the cutting off of breasts from my classmates, who had illegally seen the film at a cinema that wasn’t too bothered about the age of the patrons (all of whom should have been at least eighteen to view what was then an X certificate film).

I had managed to survive several Hammer horrors – Scars of Dracula, Lust for a Vampire and Countess Dracula spring readily to mind – at the very same cinema when I was underage. But having been scared witless by the mutilation scene in Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte, when that gripping movie had played on TV several months earlier, I wisely realised that any of the various cuts inflicted on the Indians by the cavalry in Soldier Blue represented a mutilation too far in terms of my well being. So I waited for the picture to turn up on television (as it takes considerably more guts to walk out of a packed cinema than to hide behind the sofa!). Waited and waited as it turned out.

I eventually viewed the picture, which stars Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss and Donald Pleasence, when ITV transmitted it in 1980. However, there was a small problem: the notorious massacre sequence, which is the picture’s reason for being, had been removed virtually in its entirety (seemingly more cuts had been inflicted on the film than had been perpetrated on the American Indians!), as it was deemed too horrific for television. (It took another twenty-two years for the film to be shown on British terrestrial television in something resembling its theatrical release form!) So I still hadn’t viewed the notorious scenes that had sparked, in conjunction with films such as The Devils, Straw Dogs and A Clockwork Orange, the screen violence inferno that engulfed Britain in the 1970s.

Long coats, loud ties and big fedoras: refreshing sights for retro movie lovers.

By Lee Pfeiffer

The bad buzz regarding Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island began even before the film was released. Paramount postponed the premiere from the height of Oscar season to the dog days of February, ostensibly for marketing purposes. In reality, most critics felt it signaled that the movie was not worthy of coughing up the cost of an Oscar campaign. Now the film has opened, and studio executives look vindicated: the movie is on track to being Scorsese's biggest hit. Reviewers weren't as kind. There were raves from the likes of Roger Ebert, but the New York Times called the movie "terrible". The consensus from most critics is that, while it isn't without value, in the end, it is a pretentious movie that falls short of its goals.I find the film to be atmospheric, rather than pretentious. At its heart, it's a movie about production design and Dante Ferretti, who is a long-time collaborator of Scorsese's, comes through with some triumphant set pieces. Some critics have attacked Scorsese for using a sledgehammer to remind audiences the film takes place in 1954, but I found the costumes and habits of the characters to be refreshing. It's hard to find movies where you can relish actors wearing long coats, fedoras, loud Hawaiian ties and proudly engaging in the politically incorrect habit of puffing away on cigarettes and cigars.

It's rare to see the word "terrible" linked to the work of Martin Scorsese, but New York Times film critic A.O. Scott does just that in his pan of the master director's new thriller Shutter Island. Scott claims the film is a jumbled mess of red herrings, pretentious special effects and plot distractions that wear viewers down and ultimately bores them. Click here to read

Given the long, troubled history of Universal's attempt to bring The Wolfman back to the screen as a big-budget remake, you may wonder how they were going to pull it off. According to Variety critic Todd McCarthy, the answer is simple: they didn't. McCarthy rips the production for lacking suspense and condemns director Joe Johnston for using quick cut-aways in the action sequences that not only become a boring technique, but gives the film a cheap look. To read the entire review click here (You may have to register with the Variety site)