Celebrating Films of the 1960s & 1970s - Raymond Benson

REVIEWS: CRITERION RELEASES "BADLANDS" (1973) AND "MINISTRY OF FEAR" (1944)

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 05:29:00 -0500

AND THEN THERE WAS… BADLANDS

By Raymond Benson

Terrence Malick fans will rejoice for the newly restored (and director approved, I might add—so apparently he’s not as reclusive as he’s been made out to be), marvelous release of the auteur’s first, and very low-budget, feature film. It was originally screened at festivals in 1973, and released to the public in early ’74. No punches pulled here—Badlands is a masterpiece, and its arrival immediately garnered a fan following for the enigmatic director who has made only five films in so many decades. But as producer Edward Pressman says in the exclusive video interview that The Criterion Collection included as one of several good extras, Badlands was not a success on its first release. Reviews were mixed—as would be the case for any Malick film—and the public didn’t go see it. Pressman also had to fight for Malick to have his own artistic vision, despite complaints and pressure from the backers. The film was properly “discovered” when it started playing on cable television some years later. By then, Malick was making Days of Heaven, and these would be the only two pictures he would make before a twenty-year gap in output. Already his mystique had been established.

Badlands is indeed a remarkable film, not only because of the unique point of view Malick brings to the table, but for the performances of young Martin Sheen and young Sissy Spacek. They are both knock-outs, and they were undeservedly ignored when awards season came around. Sheen, especially, gives a chilling performance of psychopath-as-James Dean, more or less, because the character fashions himself after the famous actor. You can’t help but like the guy. He is utterly charming to the girl he’s chosen to run away with him on a killing spree, and the couple’s love for each other is so real and so oddball that we can’t help but be fascinated by them.

It is Malick’s most “accessible” film, perhaps, for it tells a linear, sweeps-you-along story with characters you can follow through a story arc. If you know Malick only from his recent works (The Tree of Life, The Thin Red Line), you’ll know he didn’t always stick to that format. However, Malick displays many of his signature traits even here. A common stylistic and thematic element of the director’s films is the marriage of nature to whatever story is being told, thus there are striking cinematographic images of plains, bugs, birds, flowers, wheat, and sky, all set to some unusual piece of music from an eclectic palate of recorded works. (The unique soundtrack to Badlands has never been compiled and released, and someone should do it!)

Loosely inspired by the real-life Charles Starkweather case of the late 1950s, Badlands is a road movie that is poetry in motion, haunting and unforgettable. The 4K digital transfer is gorgeous. Other extras include an engrossing forty-minute piece on the making of the film, featuring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek today, reminiscing about the extraordinary experience they had with “Terry.” Associate editor Billy Weber also provides an interview, and a highlight is the 1993 episode of TV’s American Justice about Starkweather.

If you’ve never seen Badlands, take a look at this exquisite Criterion release and experience something beautiful and strange.

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ALSO NEW FROM CRITERION:

Ministry of Fear, 1944, directed by Fritz Lang, and starring Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, and Dan Duryea, looks fantastic on Blu-ray. It’s one of the best restorations and transfers I’ve seen of a black-and-white film noir of the period. Lang’s German Expressionistic background is classroom-clear in the look of this intriguing spy tale, based on a novel by Graham Greene (The Third Man). The high-contrast light-and-shadow and angled lines are all over the place. Nazi spies in England are the bad guys, and our innocent man on the run (Milland) thinks he knows where a few of them are hiding. The problem is, he’s a former mental asylum patient who served time for mercy-killing his already dying wife. This is a terrific World War II-era paranoia thriller, despite the fact that so many American actors in the picture are supposed to be British, and they make no attempt to sound that way. Still, the story is compelling and the direction is superb. Includes an interview with Lang scholar Joe McElhaney.

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Continue reading "REVIEWS: CRITERION RELEASES "BADLANDS" (1973) AND "MINISTRY OF FEAR" (1944)"

RAYMOND BENSON LOOKS BACK AT 1963

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 05:32:00 -0600

John Wayne's McLintock! was a major hit at boxoffices- though it's lighthearted tone was contrasted against the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which occurred days after the movie's release.

Author and Cinema Retro columnist Raymond Benson takes a sentimental journey back to the year 1963. A half-century later, we can remember that year as one of tumultuous events, capped off by the assassination of an American president. But Benson also points out the pleasures of that period as well, from classic TV shows to enduring motion pictures- and he combines them with his own personal memories. Click here to read

REVIEW: HITCHCOCK'S "THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH" (1934) CRITERION BLU-RAY EDITION

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 17:59:00 -0600

HITCHCOCK’S BREAKTHROUGH

By Raymond Benson

Finally! After years of sub-par and downright bootleg quality transfers of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1934 British classic, The Man Who Knew Too Much, we now have a very decent-looking presentation. Thanks to The Criterion Collection, the film has undergone a new digital restoration, and it looks great. We can finally see a clear photographic image! Peter Lorre is no longer blurry and in soft-focus. And the sound! Thanks to an uncompressed monaural soundtrack, we can now actually hear the dialogue and understand it, whereas on previous releases everyone sounded like they were speaking from inside a barrel.

The Man Who Knew Too Much was Hitchcock’s first hugely successful talkie. In fact, Man was the number one picture in the UK in 1934, and it more or less introduced America to the Master of Suspense when it was imported across the pond. So, in many ways, The Man Who Knew Too Much was Hitch’s breakthrough to a worldwide audience. And it’s such a good story that he decided to remake it in Hollywood twenty-two years later. Film historians like to argue about which version is better. As the director himself said, the first one was the work of a “talented beginner” and the second version was that of a “professional.” Regardless, the 1934 edition is hugely entertaining and a worthwhile addition to any cinema buff’s collection.

The picture also marks the first English-language appearance by Peter Lorre, who had recently escaped from Nazi Germany. While making Man, he was learning English and legend has it that he recited his lines phonetically without truly understanding their meaning. If that’s truly the case, then his performance is remarkable; he’s one of Hitchcock’s best villains. Leslie Banks and Edna Best are the protagonists, and while they are no Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day, they carry the film along marvelously.

Extras include a terrific hour-long 1972 British TV interview with Hitchcock conducted by Ingrid Bergman’s daughter Pia Lindstrom and film historian William K. Everson. The disk is worth the price for that alone. There’s a new interview/appreciation from Guillermo del Toro, audio excerpts from Francois Truffaut’s classic interview with the master, a new audio commentary by film historian Philip Kemp, and the usual thick booklet full of photos and an essay by Farran Smith Nehme.

A jolly good show indeed.

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REVIEW: “THE QATSI TRILOGY” (The Criterion Collection) ON BLU-RAY

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 05:05:00 -0600

TRIPPING WITH GODFREY REGGIO & PHILIP GLASS

By Raymond Benson

When I walked out of the New York cinema in 1983 after viewing Koyaanisqatsi for the first time, I overheard someone say, “That was the trippiest movie since 2001.” I had to agree. I’d never seen anything like it, but it was a feast for the eyes and ears. I’d been mesmerized for 86 minutes, lost in a swirling and exhilarating journey through North American landscapes of deserts, canyons, skies, and big cities. Using slow motion and time lapse photography by Ron Fricke, director Godfrey Reggio presented a feature-length music video that defied categorization. Accompanied by the vibrant score by Philip Glass, the film seemed to be saying that man was screwing up nature and that we’d better watch out. Life was “out of balance,” as the Hopi Indian one-word-title of the movie meant. Koyaanisqatsi was one of the most moving cinematic experiences I’d encountered.

Powaqqatsi (Image courtesy of Criterion.)

Two sequels followed—Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002)—produced in the same non-verbal style but with successively more challenging thematic content. Powaqqatsi concentrated on the Southern Hemisphere and third world countries, emphasizing how the more “modern” parts of the world fed upon the poorer and harder-working civilizations. Naqoyqatsi went deep into the computer, re-imagining the globe’s landscapes, people, and especially armies into digitally-altered and enhanced imagery that suggested we’ve become an artificial mechanization of our former selves. While powerful in their own right and certainly worthwhile, it is Koyaanisqatsi that will always be the ground-breaking piece of the trilogy, as well as the most effective.

Koyaanisqatsi (Image courtesy of Criterion.)

Given the deluxe Blu-ray treatment by the Criterion Collection, all three films are presented in new restored digital transfers, approved by director Reggio, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks. The results are amazing. Each of the three disks also comes with an abundance of extras—vintage and current interviews with key creative personnel; an early demo of Koyaanisqatsi shot in the 70s with music by Allen Ginsberg; Reggio’s rare 30-minute short Anima Mundi, with music by Glass; a thick booklet of essays, and more.

Wow. Turn out the lights, get comfortable, and trip out. The Qatsi Trilogy will change your life, man.

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BLU-RAY REVIEW: GODARD'S "WEEKEND" (1967): THE CRITERION EDITION

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 17:18:00 -0600

GODARD’S NIGHTMARE ROAD TRIP

By Raymond Benson

Jean-Luc Godard was the bad boy of the French New Wave. Whereas his contemporaries such as Francois Truffaut were “safe” and “accessible,” Godard liked to shock people. A lot of his work, especially in the sixties, was also political in nature—this was a man unafraid to scathingly portray French bourgeois society at its worst and trumpet his views on class discrepancy with the ferocity of a bull dog. In other words, he enjoyed pissing off audiences.

Released in 1967 with the opening titles caveat that “children under 18 should not see this film,” we are told at the beginning that Weekend (or Week End or Week-end, depending on what country you’re in) is a film “found on the trash heap.” It is one of the darkest and most vicious black comedies ever made, and naturally, it is one of Godard’s best pictures. It is simultaneously fascinating, repulsive, and hilarious, and not for the faint of heart. But discerning fans of art house cinema should eat it up.

The story, as it were, involves a bickering married couple (Mireille Darc and Jean Yanne, both of whom were major French TV stars at the time the film was made) who have plans to kill each other and run off with their respective lovers. But before that can happen, they have to murder Darc’s father so she will inherit his wealth. They set off across country to her parents’ home and find themselves on a nightmare journey through a landscape of traffic jams, automobile accidents (and fatalities) at nearly every juncture, and violence. The humor comes with the couple acting as if it’s all part of everyday life.

One celebrated sequence is a lengthy tracking shot along a road backed up with vehicles. As our anti-heroes attempt to pass the idling cars and trucks to move to the head of the line, we’re treated with all kinds of sight gags (such as one car that’s facing the opposite direction and wedged between two vehicles going the right way). We laugh and laugh. Then, when we finally reach the front of the traffic jam, we see that the cause was a bad accident, and entire families are lying bloody in the road. The couple drives through the scene as if the holdup was a minor nuisance. Later, when the couple’s car is also in a collision and catches fire, Darc is more upset about her Hermes handbag getting burned than the fact that she and her husband are covered in blood and the car is destroyed. That’s the kind of movie Weekend is.

Criterion’s new digital restoration with uncompressed monaural soundtrack is superb. The cinematography by Raoul Coutard always had a color documentary feel to it, but the Blu-ray brings out a sharpness hitherto unseen in prints. Extras include archival interviews with the stars and assistant director, an archival piece on Godard featuring on-set footage, and more. The thick booklet contains an essay by critic/novelist Gary Indiana, selections from a 1969 interview with Godard, and excerpts from a Godard biography.

Weekend was a comment on French society in 1967, and the irony today is that the film might be even more relevant in our own present world.

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REVIEW: "ROSEMARY'S BABY" (1968): THE CRITERION BLU-RAY EDITION

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 09:36:33 -0600

By Raymond Benson

"Pray for Rosemary's Baby..."

That tag line for Roman Polanski’s 1968 horror classic is an example of brilliant marketing. Until it was created, Paramount’s head of the studio, Robert Evans, admits not knowing how to sell the picture. Yes, it’s a horror film, but not like anything we’ve seen. Yes, it’s produced by William Castle, the schlock-meister who was famous for B-movie scare flicks utilizing gimmicks such as the selling of insurance policies in the theater lobby for patrons who feared they’d be scared to death. But the film is also an ingenious thriller outside of the horror genre; a crime story, in many ways, about a cult that drugs and rapes a woman for fiendish purposes. The subject is taken seriously, despite an undercurrent of dark humor. It was also very adult and frank for its time, and it had the potential to offend some audiences. Indeed, how does one sell that in the late sixties? The tag line intrigued enough people that it worked, for Rosemary’s Baby was a hit and the picture still resonates today.

It was Polanski’s first American film, and it remains an essential entry in his oeuvre. His early trademark style was doing a Hitchcock but taking it a few steps farther into more bizarre, creepy-crawly, and supernatural territory. That’s on full display in Rosemary’s Baby. We’d had devil movies before, but nothing as realistically-portrayed as this one. It certainly held the reign of Satan movies until The Exorcist came along five years later. In my book, it’s the better of the two. AFI is well justified in naming Rosemary’s Baby in their “Top Thrills” top ten list.

While brilliantly directed and written, a good deal of credit for the success of the film goes to the excellent cast. Mia Farrow has never been better as Rosemary. John Cassavetes is dead-on as the frustrated actor/husband who literally makes a deal with the devil. Ruth Gordon, the multiple award winner for the picture, is a revelation. She brings much of the necessary comic relief to the proceedings, for the film is an exemplary model of tension-building to a near-unbearable level.

As usual, the Criterion Collection does a magnificent job. Polanski approved the new, restored digital transfer, and it looks marvelous. Extras include a new documentary featuring interviews with Polanski, Farrow, and Robert Evans. Original novel author Ira Levin is showcased in a 1997 radio interview and original drawings and other prose in the enclosed booklet. Also of interest is a feature-length documentary about the film’s talented jazz composer, Krzysztof Komeda.

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REVIEW: "LAWRENCE OF ARABIA" RESTORED ON BLU-RAY

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 05:15:00 -0600

EPIC GRANDEUR CAPTURED IN BLU-RAY GIFT SET

By Raymond Benson

It’s probably the quintessential motion picture epic. If you’re looking for an intimate story told on a grand scale, an adventure set in an exotic location and against the backdrop of significant historical events, and an engrossing portrait of an important First World War figure… seek no further. Lawrence of Arabia has it all. This 1962 roadshow attraction from arguably Britain’s greatest director, David Lean, Lawrence is simply a magnificent achievement—both technically and artistically. With star power such as Peter O’Toole (in his first major role), Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Alec Guinness, Claude Rains, Jack Hawkins, and Jose Ferrer, and a master cinematographer such as Freddie Young, Lawrence of Arabia is not only gorgeous to look at, it is dramatically compelling.

O’Toole states that on the first day of shooting, Lean told him, “We’re off on a great adventure, Pete!” Indeed. With a director like Lean, an actor had to trust the helmsman and follow him, whether it was to the universe of Charles Dickens, war torn Southeast Asia, Russia at the time of the Revolution, Colonial India, or the deserts of the Middle East. Lean tackled big subjects with equally large productions. In this case the director took on the life of T. E. Lawrence, the famed British army officer who acted as a liaison to the Arabs during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and the revolt against the Turks during World War I. In O’Toole, Lean found his Lawrence, the role the actor was born to play, and the picture exhibits the man’s greatness as well as his vulnerabilities and enigmas. This is fabulous stuff.

Seeing a David Lean picture was always an event. You knew you were going to step back into another time and place, and learn a little something about the historical events surrounding the story. You knew you would examine in great detail the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people. For three to four hours, you would live in a world only the magic of the movies could reproduce. Columbia/Sony’s new limited collectors Blu-ray gift set replicates the epic grandeur of the film with a lavish, handsomely-packaged treasure trove of material that will enhance your immersion experience.

The film itself, on disc 1, is an all-new 4K restoration, along with an optional picture-in-graphics track, exclusive to the Blu-ray. Two additional Blu-ray discs are loaded with extra features, providing hours of in-depth coverage of the making of the film and retrospective interviews and analyses. The most complete reconstruction of the deleted “balcony scene” between O’Toole and Jack Hawkins, never-before-released, appears on the third disc. A fourth disc, a CD, contains the soundtrack by Maurice Jarre with two unreleased tracks. If that wasn’t enough, a terrific hardbound coffee-table style book, informatively written by Jeremy Arnold and with a Preface by Leonard Maltin, is full of photographs surrounding the production and insight into the challenges the filmmakers faced. Finally, an individually-numbered, mounted 70mm frame of the film completes the enthusiast’s collection.

Just in time for Christmas, this collector’s gift set is a movie buff’s dream.

Note: the following is a press release sent by Sony UK pertaining to this major restoration:

“Lawrence of Arabia is universally considered to be one of the greatest epic films of all time and is certainly the crown jewel in the Columbia Pictures library,” noted David Bishop, President of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. “Finally, the long anticipated and much in-demand release of David Lean’s masterpiece will be available on Blu-ray, which will provide consumers the chance to experience the sheer spectacle and beauty of this movie with the finest image and sound available. Additionally, in honor of Lawrence of Arabia’s
50th Anniversary, we have created a special gift set composed of a coffee table book and soundtrack, which will add further dimension to the enjoyment of this film.”

Never-before-seen bonus content included in both the four-disc Gift Set and the two-disc release include the “Secrets of Arabia: Picture-in-Graphics Track,” which allows the viewer to become immersed in the world of Lawrence of Arabia and learn about the customs and rituals of desert existence. The set also comes with the “Peter O’Toole Revisits Lawrence of Arabia” featurette, as well as the previously released, hour-long behind-the-scenes documentary “The Making of Lawrence of Arabia,” and the featurettes “The Camels are Cast (Maan Jordan),” “In Search of Lawrence,” “Romance of Arabia,” and the 1970 version of “Wind, Sand and Star: The Making of a Classic.” Both sets include newsreel footage of the New York premiere and advertising campaigns. Exclusive to the Gift Set are featurettes including “In Love with the Desert,” “King Hussein Visits Lawrence of Arabia Scene,” the original 1963 35mm version of “Wind, Sand and Star,” and conversations with Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. Also included is a never-before-released deleted scene complete with an introduction by Lawrence of Arabia’s Oscar^® winning film editor Anne V. Coates, A.C.E.

Bonus Features:

DISC 1:

Feature Film, including overture, intermission, entr’acte and exit music

Newly re-mastered 5.1 English audio

“Secrets of Arabia: A Picture-in-Graphics Track

DISC 2:

§ Featurettes:

“Peter O’Toole Revisits Lawrence of Arabia” - All-New Interview

The Making of Lawrence of Arabia” documentary

“A Conversation with Steven Spielberg”

“The Camels Are Cast”

“In Search of Lawrence”

“Romance of Arabia”

“"Wind, Sand and Star: The Making of a Classic” (1970 version)

Newsreel Footage of the New York Premiere

Advertising Campaigns

DISC 3 (Gift Set Exclusive Disc):

Never-Before-Released Deleted Scene with Introduction by Anne Coates

“The Lure of the Desert: Martin Scorsese on Lawrence of Arabia” All-New Interview with Martin Scorsese

Featurettes:

"“In Love with the Desert”

“Lawrence at 50: A Classic Restored”

King Hussein Visits Lawrence of Arabia Scene”

“Wind, Sand and Star” (original version, 1963)

Archival Interviews with William Friedkin, Sydney Pollack, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg

Trailers/TV Spots:

Theatrical Trailer

Teaser Trailer #1

Teaser Trailer #2

70mm Restoration Trailer (1989 Release)

TV Spot #1

TV Spot #2

DISC 4 (Gift Set Exclusive Disc):

Exclusive Lawrence of Arabia Soundtrack CD including original score and two previously unreleased tracks

Lawrence of Arabia has a running time of 227 minutes and is rated 12.

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For an interview with Grover Crisp, the man who spearheaded the restoration for Sony, see forthcoming issue #25 of Cinema Retro.

RAYMOND BENSON'S JAMES BOND NOVELS NOW AVAILABLE AS E-BOOKS

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 05:02:00 -0500

Cinema Retro columnist Raymond Benson’s six original 007 novels, originally published between 1997 and 2002, are now available as e-books for Amazon Kindle (other formats will appear in the future).

ZERO MINUS TEN

THE FACTS OF DEATH

HIGH TIME TO KILL

DOUBLESHOT

NEVER DREAM OF DYING

THE MAN WITH THE RED TATTOO

All six titles can be found on both Amazon US and Amazon UK sites, and at a nice price, too.

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RAYMOND BENSON REVIEWS "CHILDREN OF PARADISE"- THE CRITERION BLU-RAY EDITION

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 17:16:00 -0500

By Raymond Benson

Children of Paradise has been called the greatest movie ever made in France, their equivalent to Gone With the Wind. Originally released in 1945 and directed by Marcel Carné, the three-hour historical epic is big in scope and ideas, and yet it is simplistic in its story about four men in love with the same woman. The excellent Criterion Collection label released the picture on DVD several years ago, but now they have given it the deluxe treatment with Pathé’s 2011 restoration and uncompressed monaural soundtrack in new Blu-ray and DVD editions. It looks and sounds amazing.

The story of the film’s production is just as fascinating as the picture itself. Made in Vichy France during the Nazi Occupation, Carné and his collaborator/writer Jacques Prévert had to work in secrecy, for the Nazis acted as “studio executives” and approved everything being made. The production designer and music composer were Jews, and they had to keep their presence under wraps. Allegedly many of the 1800 extras were Resistance agents using the film as daytime cover, who, until the Liberation, had to mingle with Vichy supporters and sympathizers imposed on the production by authorities. The production also came under natural obstacles (some large sets were destroyed by a storm), film stock was rationed, and principle photography had to be stopped and started numerous times over two years. Only after Liberation in August 1944 was the film able to be completed.

Children of Paradise takes place in Paris between 1830-1848, mostly centered in the “Boulevard du Crime,” the city’s “theatre row,” where the plays produced were typically crime melodramas. Thus, the film is a massive period costume drama to begin with. The protagonist is a mysterious woman named Garance (portrayed by the actress Arletty, one of France’s most famous stars), who is a feminist long before that word was invented. Four men vie for her attentions—notably the mime Baptiste (the magnificent Jean-Louis Barrault), the actor Frederick, the thief Pierre, and the aristocrat Edouard. Each have their own way of wooing the object of their desire, and Garance, in turn, has her own ways of dealing with them. Other minor characters complicate the proceedings by initiating their own seductions and pursuits of the four main men.

Prévert’s script is extremely poetic. One might think the dialogue was written in verse, but it wasn’t. Combined with Carné’s lush, fluid direction, the picture becomes an exquisite, flowing piece of art. The acting is top-notch, the black-and-white cinematography is breathtaking, and the overall power of the epic will stay with you long after its finish. When I was in college in the early to mid-70s, Children of Paradise was a popular on-campus import, shown in scratchy 16mm prints. Even then I fell in love with the picture, and now, seeing it in its restored, near-perfect glory, it’s like manna from heaven.

Extras take up an entire second disk. Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam provides an insightful (and humorous) introduction to the film and cites it as one of his favorites. A 2009 documentary on the making of the picture is extremely enlightening. A new visual essay on the film’s design is a welcome addition since the former release, and a vintage 1967 documentary features interviews with Carné, Arletty, Barrault, and others. The film itself sports audio commentaries by film scholars Brian Stonehill and Charles Affron, and a new subtitle translation.

Any serious student of film history should pick up Criterion’s new edition of this important, wonderful motion picture.

Released on Blu-ray and DVD simultaneously with Children of Paradise is another Marcel Carné film from 1942, also made during the Occupation—Les Visiteurs du Soir (aka The Devil’s Envoys). This is a fantasy along the lines of Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, in which two emissaries of the Devil arrive at a medieval castle to wreak havoc on love lives. Also starring Arletty, the picture is definitely overshadowed by Paradise, but it’s a little-seen gem that’s worth checking out.

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DVD REVIEW: CRITERION RELEASES KUBRICK'S "PATHS OF GLORY"

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 05:28:00 -0500

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM CINEMA RETRO'S ARCHIVES (This article originally ran in October 2010)

By Raymond Benson

Often called one of the best, if not the best, anti-war movie ever made, Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory solidified the director’s standing in Hollywood as a talent to be reckoned with. The second film in Kubrick’s collaboration with producer James B. Harris (the first was the excellent The Killing), and released in 1957, the picture demonstrated Kubrick’s flair for camerawork, composition, and controversial subject matter. Certainly Paths of Glory stands out among his early works as a monumental achievement.

Based on true events during World War I, the story concerns how three innocent French privates are court-martialed for “cowardice” simply to set an example after a devastating defeat on the battlefield. Their commander (Kirk Douglas, in one of his best performances) must defend them. Thus, the film is part war movie and part courtroom drama.

Upon release, the French government pressured United Artists not to exhibit the film, so it wasn’t seen in France for nearly twenty years. It was critically received in America and Britain, although it curiously failed to garner any Academy Award nominations. (BAFTA nominated it for Best Picture, and Time Magazine cited it in their annual “Ten Best” list.)

Paths of Glory’s battle scenes are remarkably realistic and choreographed. The trademark Kubrick forward and backward tracking shots, as Douglas marches through the trenches, are particularly striking. The court-martial sequence, staged on a chessboard-like floor, displays the director’s penchant for orderly, symmetrical composition.

The film also contains some of the best acting in any Kubrick film—besides Douglas, who carries the picture, there are strong performances from George Macready as the general who insists on the court-martial, Adolphe Menjou as his superior, and the three unfortunate privates—Ralph Meeker, Timothy Carey, and Joseph Turkel (who was interviewed in Cinema Retro #16). The only female in the film, Christiane Harlan (billed as Susanne Christian), plays a German barmaid persuaded to sing to the troops. After the film’s production, she became Mrs. Stanley Kubrick.

As usual, Criterion does a splendid job in its presentation of the film on both Blu-Ray and DVD. The restored, high-definition digital transfer results in a crisp, clear picture unseen since the film’s release. Extras include an audio commentary by film critic Gary Giddins; an excerpt from a 1966 audio interview with Kubrick; a 1979 television interview with Kirk Douglas; and, more importantly, brand new video interviews with producer Harris, Christiane Kubrick, and Kubrick’s longtime executive producer, Jan Harlan. Also of great interest in a vintage French television piece about the real-life World War I execution that partly inspired the film.

This is a must-purchase for any serious Kubrick fan, as well as for all aficionados of cinema history.

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HOT EARLY BERGMAN: “SUMMER WITH MONIKA”/”SUMMER INTERLUDE” (The Criterion Collection) On DVD and Blu-Ray

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Wed, 30 May 2012 17:59:00 -0500

By Raymond Benson

The red carpet label Criterion Collection has continued its mining of classic foreign language films by releasing for the first time in the U.S. two pictures that first brought famed Swedish director Ingmar Bergman some attention. Summer Interlude (1951) and Summer with Monika (1953) are both fairly commercial love stories but with a slightly dark flair which only Bergman can produce. Both films are highly erotic (especially Monika) for the time, and these titles contributed to the notion in America that Sweden made sexy movies.

In fact, Summer with Monika was first released in the U.S. as a sexploitation film in 1956 by the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest showman,” Kroger Babb, an exhibitor/producer who specialized in low budget sleaze thinly disguised as “educational material for adults.” Babb re-cut Summer with Monika, added a dubbed English language soundtrack that had little to do with Bergman’s original, laid on a jazzy, sultry Les Baxter musical score, and released the film as Monika: The Story of a Bad Girl. Because the picture contained brief nudity, it was marketed solely for titillation purposes. (Woody Allen once remarked that the only reason he and his friends went to see it was because they’d heard there was a “naked woman” in it.)

The character of Monika, in Bergman’s version, is not necessarily a “bad girl,” she’s just from a poor working class family and does what she can to have fun and bring excitement into her life. She embarks on a summer-long sexual affair with the rather young and innocent Harry and ends up getting pregnant. Poor Harry does the right thing and marries her; but wild Monika will have none of the domestic life. She soon leaves her husband holding the infant. A cautionary tale? Perhaps.

Summer Interlude may not be as dour, but it still ends with characters questioning the meaning of life and death, and speculating how love fits into the equation. Marie (played by the gorgeous Maj-Britt Nilsson, who has the best legs of any Bergman actress) is a successful ballet dancer who, when she was a teenager, had a summer fling with Henrik (Berman stalwart Birger Malmsten) that was idyllic. Unfortunately, the fellow dies in a freak accident, leaving Marie disillusioned and bitter, even as she becomes famous.

Despite the heavy-sounding storylines, these are two of Bergman’s most accessible and enjoyable films. Bergman often touched on the subject of young love in these early pictures, and he nailed the nervousness, exhilaration, and angst that accompany what we have all experienced. The photography by Gunnar Fischer is outstanding, especially with the new digital restorations on both disks.

Summer Interlude disappointingly has no extras. Summer with Monika, however, sports a treasure trove, including a revealing new interview with legendary Bergman actress Harriet Andersson—it’s hard to believe she was once the scandalous nymphet of the film. Images from the Playground is a collection of home movies Bergman shot while on the sets of these and other films, including archival interviews with Andersson and Bibi Andersson. Especially interesting is the short on the distribution of Monika: The Story of a Bad Girl in the USA, with a profile of Kroger Babb. If only Criterion had obtained the rights and a print of that sexploitation version of Monika and included it—that would have been a gem. Both disks come with thick booklets containing essays and photographs.

If you’re a Bergman fan—and a Criterion fan—these lost jewels are highly recommended.

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REVIEW: CRITERION PRESENTS "DAVID LEAN DIRECTS NOËL COWARD" ON BLU-RAY AND DVD

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 05:39:00 -0500

On Blu-ray and DVD

4-Disk Box Set

By Raymond Benson

Any fan of British cinema must celebrate Criterion’s deluxe packaging of David Lean’s first four films as a director. These collaborations with writer, performer, and “personality” Noël Coward are exemplary examples of the fine work made by the Two Cities Unit production house, which was formed during the Second World War. In each case, the films are presented in beautiful new high-definition digital transfers from the 2008 BFI National Archive’s restorations. And, as this is a review for Cinema Retro, the readers of which include many 007 fans, it must be pointed out that there is indeed a connection between the films (three of them, anyway) and Bond. Actress Celia Johnson was Ian Fleming’s sister-in-law (her husband was Ian’s older brother, Peter Fleming), and her daughters Kate Grimond and Lucy Fleming are currently on the Board of Directors of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd., which of course guides the Bond literary franchise. And if you’ve never seen Celia Johnson perform, you’ve been missing something. She is arguably one of the greatest actresses the UK has ever given us.

In Which We Serve, co-directed by Coward and Lean, and starring Coward as a naval captain (not his usual persona), John Mills, Bernard Miles, and Celia Johnson, is pure war propaganda stuff, but it’s well done and compelling. The 1942 picture was made when Britain was fighting for her life, and it was the year it seemed the Axis might win. Lean was plucked from the ranks of clever film editors to handle the technical aspects of the production whilst Coward concentrated on acting. According to all accounts, Lean ended up actually directing most of it because Coward grew bored with the process. It’s a surprisingly good picture, despite its sentimentality. Look for a very young Richard Attenborough in his first film role—he’s just a kid!

This Happy Breed, 1944, stars Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, Kay Walsh, and John Mills, and it’s a poignant drama about a working-class family’s life between the two world wars. Coward rarely wrote about anyone that wasn’t upper-class, so in many ways the film is a novelty. Like How Green Was My Valley, it is an honest and wonderfully-acted ensemble piece about a people, based on Coward’s stage play of the same name. It’s the second-best picture in the set.

Blithe Spirit, 1944, stars Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings, and Kay Hammond, but the film is stolen by Margaret Rutherford, who displays so much verve and energy as the medium Madame Arcati that the rest of the cast seems asleep. Based on Coward’s hugely popular stage play, the film won an Oscar for Visual Effects (namely creating Hammond’s ghostly apparition). It’s pure fluff, but it’s entertaining and whimsical in a way Lean never explored again.

Brief Encounter, 1945, is the jewel in the crown here. Based on Coward’s short play, Still Life, the picture features the performance for which Celia Johnson is primarily known (she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar). Paired with Trevor Howard, she displays a truthfulness and believability not often found in 1940s cinema. Brief Encounter is the often sentimental yet profoundly effective tale of two would-be adulterers who take an affair to the line—but do not cross it. The picture deservedly provided Lean with his first Oscar nomination for Best Director.

Extras abound. Each disk includes a video interview with Coward scholar Barry Day about each respective film; an episode of The Southbank Show from 1992 examines the life and career of Coward; and a couple of vintage documentaries on Lean are among the more interesting features. A booklet of essays rounds out the handsome package.

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REVIEW: "BELLE DE JOUR": THE CRITERION BLU-RAY EDITION

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:54:36 -0600

By Raymond Benson

It was surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel’s most popular film and his biggest financial success, even outperforming the great Oscar-winning The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (the idea for which was given to the director by actor Owen Wilson during a time travel escapade to Paris in the 1920s*). Starring an effervescent, young and beautiful Catherine Deneuve in a defining role that would forever typify her as the kind of cool, intense, independent blonde she would portray for the rest of her long career, Belle de Jour broke ground for eroticism and feminism alike.

Released in 1967, the picture is one of Buñuel’s most accessible pictures. The plot is simple enough. Severine, a frigid and frustrated woman of the Parisian upper class who is married to a successful doctor, has disturbing fantasies of being sexually humiliated and degraded. When a friend of her husband’s (a man who has tried many times, unsuccessfully, to seduce Severine) tells her about a high class brothel, she becomes curious. At first frightened and timid, Severine applies for afternoon work at the brothel, and there she ultimately discovers the path to her own sexual fulfillment. Yes, she’s a masochist, but she is one by choice and desire. Her new vocation improves things at home with her husband until she becomes involved with a client who happens to be a hit man. The gangster also grows obsessed with Severine, a story twist with tragic results.

The legendary mystery: are the contents of the box erotic, disgusting or both?

As with any Buñuel film, there’s a lot more going on. There is humor, to be sure, as well as the kind of shocking imagery typical of the auteur’s work. Severine’s fantasies take on the surrealistic touches the director has been known for since his first picture, Un Chien Andalou (made with Salvador Dali), but the “realistic” scenes in the brothel also venture into absurdist territory. For example, one client, a successful gynecologist, insists on role-playing a disobedient servant to a punishing mistress. Another client, an Asian man, carries a jewelry box, which, when opened, emits a strange buzzing sound. We can’t see what’s in the box, but whatever it is gets mixed reactions from the various prostitutes (usually disgust). It is only Severine who finds the mysterious object fascinating. Of course, Buñuel means for the audience to interpret what’s in the box for themselves.

The new edition from Criterion features a magnificent high-definition digital restoration. Audio commentary is by Michael Wood, author of the BFI Film Classics book on Belle de Jour. A very interesting video interview with activist Susie Bright and film scholar Linda Williams sheds light on the sexual politics and feminist themes in the picture. Co-writer Jean-Claude Carrière talks about working with Buñuel in a new interview. Finally, Deneuve appears in a vintage French television program on the making of the movie. Also included is a booklet featuring a 1970 interview with Buñuel and more.

Belle de Jour is a classic of the new permissiveness of the late 1960s, and it is a must for true film buffs. And watch for Buñuel’s cameo appearance at an outdoor bar/restaurant!

* As seen in Woody Allen’s new film, Midnight in Paris

Click here for video clips

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RAYMOND BENSON'S "JAMES BOND BEDSIDE COMPANION" AVAILABLE ONCE AGAIN!

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:33:07 -0600

Now Available! Author and Cinema Retro columnist Raymond Benson’s classic 1980s reference book all about 007, THE JAMES BOND BEDSIDE COMPANION, has been re-published!

THE JAMES BOND BEDSIDE COMPANION was Benson's very first published work (it originally appeared in 1984!). Crossroad Press has published it again this week, first as an e-book, available for Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, and all other e-reader formats. Coming later will be an downloadable audiobook edition, followed by a new print edition!

As of today, the book is the #1 best-seller on Amazon Kindle’s “Film and Video/Reference” category.

THE BEDSIDE COMPANION was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Biographical/Critical Work of 1984 by Mystery Writers of America and 007 fans still consider it to be a "Bond Bible."

Here is the official description of the book:

New digital edition of the classic 007 reference book from the 1980s, complete with a new Foreword by the author.

THE JAMES BOND BEDSIDE COMPANION is an encyclopedic celebration of 007, who is still the world’s most popular secret agent.

The only book to cover all aspects of the James Bond phenomenon in a single volume, it includes: a) An intimate portrait of Ian Fleming as remembered by his friends and colleagues; b) a character study of James Bond—his background and early life, his clothing and other personal habits, his preferences in food and drink, his attitudes toward women and marriage; c) The by-products of Bondmania and the merchandising of 007; d) Detailed analyses of every James Bond novel by Ian Fleming, as well as those written by other authors through the 1980s; e) A critical look at the 007 film series—the producers, screenplays, directors, actors, soundtracks, and special effects; f) over 100 photographs; g) An Introduction written by Ernest Cuneo, perhaps Fleming’s closest American friend; h) And enough facts, figures, and miscellaneous Bondian trivia to satisfy even the most ardent fan.

BIO: Raymond Benson is the highly acclaimed author of twenty-five books, six original James Bond 007 novels, three film novelizations, three short stories, and two anthologies on Bond. He is a sought-after lecturer on film genres and history. Writing as David Michaels, Benson is a New York Times best-selling author, an Edgar Alan Poe Award nominee, and a Readers' Choice Award winner.

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REVIEW: "GODZILLA": THE CRITERION BLU-RAY EDITION

nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:35:00 -0600

By Raymond Benson

The original 1954 Japanese Kaiju (it means “strange beast”) film, Gojira, is not only a classic monster movie, it’s one of those significant game-changers that is important to pop culture and cinema history. Gojira, known as “Godzilla” in the west, was the first of an onslaught of “strange beasts,” spawning a Kaiju franchise that is still popular today. In fact, Hollywood is remaking Gojira as a reboot at the time of this writing.

The ’54 film, directed by Ishiro Honda and produced by Toho Studios (it’s ironic that it was being made at the same time as Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai from the same studio), was little seen in the West until recent DVD releases appeared. Instead, for over fifty years we’ve had Godzilla, King of the Monsters, an abominably bastardized, re-edited import of Gojira. Joseph E. Levine had bought the rights but had additional footage shot in Hollywood featuring Raymond Burr as an American reporter caught in the Tokyo chaos—and throwing out much of Honda’s film except the Godzilla sequences—thus, creating an entirely different storyline and movie. It was released in 1956.

Why was this an egregious thing to do? Honda’s artistic statement was jettisoned. Gojira was a Japanese reaction to and a social comment about the atomic bomb. It’s quite obvious, actually, that Godzilla is a metaphor for nuclear destruction. Part of the plot also involves a scientist who has unwittingly invented a new weapon of mass destruction and threatens to destroy his research so that no country can get its hands on it. Of course, it’s the only thing that can stop Godzilla, so he has to use it once. In the end, he sacrifices himself, and the weapon, to do his duty for Japan; but the message is clear—get rid of the bombs.

On the other hand, the American version, directed by Terry Morse (and using Honda’s footage), is seen in the West as just another giant monster romp in a decade when Hollywood was churning out giant monster romps by the dozens. The cliché of giant beasts destroying Tokyo arose from this release. The real message behind the Gojira is totally lost.

Criterion has done a terrific job with its new high-definition digital restoration of both versions of the picture in this wonderful two-disk set. The commentary on the two pictures is by film historian David Kalat. You also get interviews with Akira Takarada and Haruo Nakajima, two of the stars, and several of the special effects team. Film critic Tadao Sato provides an insightful interview, as does one with composer Akira Ifukube. The clever packaging contains a pop-up of the “strange beast” in question along with an informative collector's booklet.

If you’ve never seen the original, it’s time to check it out. Sure, the monster scenes are crude—it is a guy inside a suit—but that’s part of the appeal.

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