Losey / Baker / Bogarde

Having just purchased 3 Joseph Losey films I had not seen previously, they fill in the gap in his output during the late '50s to that breakthrough with THE SERVANT in 1963. Good to finally get BLIND DATE (1959) and THE CRIMINAL from 1960 now; actually I did see TIME WITHOUT PITY as a child but it was just a routine thriller then and its never surfaced here since (apart from in Losey retrospectives at the London BFI National Film Theatre).

TIME WITHOUT PITY is a tense thriller from 1957 as alcoholic Michael Redgrave (superlative as ever) has 24 hours to clear his son's name before he is due to be hanged for a crime he did not commit. It also features Ann Todd, Alec McCowen, Leo McKern, Peter Cushing and Joan Plowright, and is just as effective now.

I knew BLIND DATE would be a cool movie, from 1959, and it does not dissapoint. Four years before THE SERVANT Losey is reaching his zenith here - it still looks crisp and fresh as Hardy Kruger dances along the street to meet his mistress Micheline Presle - but has she been murdered? Detective Stanley Baker is waiting at the apartment and has lots of questions .... Christophe Challis provides the strong black and white photography and its a key Losey actually.

THE CRIMINAL from 1960 lives up to its reputation too. Alun Owen's gritty screenplay serves Losey well, as does Stanley Baker again and that cast including Jill Bennett, Sam Wanamaker, Patrick Magee and reliable Laurence Naismith. Its gripping from start to finish showing the workings of the prison system. As in THE SERVANT Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine provide perfect music and vocals. Billed at the time as the most violent film ever made in Britain, it may not be that any more but it still certainly delivers. Another essential Losey then.

Losey seasons at the London National Film Theatre, and Bogarde's appearance (and autograph) in 1970: (click to enlarge)


Joseph Losey [1909-84] was a contemporary of Elia Kazan and, like Orson Welles, hailed from Wisconsin. His initial American career was cut short by the HUAC - he then worked in Britain in the early '50s using false names and directed a varied set of films before his most glorious period in the '60s and into the '70s, placing him at the centre of British film-making along with the likes of Schlesinger, Richardson and Lester. I could write a whole separate essay on his THE DAMNED in '62, as well as those Harold Pinter collaborations. His increasingly baroque style found its perfect outlet in his ravishing film of DON GIOVANNI in '79. He in all directed 31 films between 1948 and '84. There is an authorative book on his life and career "Joseph Losey: A Revenge on Life" by David Caute.

I first began watching Dirk Bogarde films in '57 [when I was 11] with CAMPBELL'S KINGDOM (where Stanley Baker, already the tough guy of British movies with films like HELL DRIVERS, is the cartoon villain) so its been interesting catching up with his earlier ones (like CAST A DARK SHADOW, APPOINTMENT IN LONDON etc) - Bogarde had already done a Losey, the little seen THE SLEEPING TIGER in 1954 and would do four more with Losey, but Stanley Baker also did 4 with Losey - BLIND DATE and THE CRIMINAL, 1962's EVA with Jeanne Moreau, and re-teamed opposite Bogarde in 1967's ACCIDENT. Bogarde of course hit the jackpot (though it may not have seemed so initially) with 1963's THE SERVANT which made him and Losey key figures of the '60s cinema.Hardly anyone went to see their 1964 follow-up KING AND COUNTRY [well, I did...] with Tom Countenay; I certainly loved their misunderstood MODESTY BLAISE in 1966, its still a joy now as Dirk's Gabriel in the silver wig grapples with Vitti's ever-changing Modesty on that op art mediterranean island! and then of course ACCIDENT....

Bogarde hit the European trail with Visconti, Baker continued producing and directing [he died aged 48 in 1976], while Losey (right, with Vitti and Stamp) went on to those movies with the Burtons, FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE, and then the success of THE GO-BETWEEN. He later moved to Europe too: MR KLEIN with Delon is certainly a success, but LES ROUTES DE SUD with Montand only surfaced here in the UK on BBC television; A DOLL'S HOUSE made in Norway is an interesting if not entirely successful reworking of the Ibsen play - Jane Fonda does not seem quite right as Nora (as contrasted with the Claire Bloom version of the same time), DON GIOVANNI is a perfectly realised version of the opera; and his last film back in the UK, is the rather touching little drama STEAMING. His 1958 Rank Organisation title THE GYPSY AND THE GENTLEMAN may be a routine melodrama [its reviewed further back here] but is also a delirious Technicolor update on those '40s Gainsborough romps. I must watch his ASSASSINATION OF TROTSKY from 1972 with Burton, Delon and Schneider.

I saw Losey in 1970 when he and Taylor and Burton took to the stage for an hour or so, with esteemed critic Dilys Powell, at the Roundhouse in London during the "Cinema City" exhibition run by "The Sunday Times" [left, click to enlarge] to lambast the selling of their SECRET CEREMONY - a notorious flop at the time - to television where it had been re-edited. It was fascinating seeing them on stage, and as Taylor said "its our names and reputations up there on the screen". Well, 40 years later SECRET CEREMONY is quite well regarded now... and those other Loseys grow in reputation.

My full-length 'appreciations' on Bogarde and Baker are on IMDb at:
Bogarde: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001958/board/nest/85494684?d=85494684#85494684
Baker: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0048939/board/nest/145171727?d=145171727#145171727

As well as the official Dirk Bogarde site there is also a great Bogarde blog site at: http://discoveringdirkbogarde.blogspot.com/

Some choice Pre-Code movies

That Pre-Code era of the 1930s is well documented now, when Hollywood was turning out lots of racy movies between 1929 and '34 which are quite suggestive and even flaunt nudity - that locker room scene (above) from the 1934 title SEARCH FOR BEAUTY would be unimaginable in the '40s or the '50s (no nudity in the locker room in PICNIC!). The Pre-Code era flouted censorship and pushed the boundaries when producers and directors found ways to suggest topics which sold tickets during the Depression era. The self-censoring Production Code by the movie industry (to avoid further regulation) came into operation in 1934 which immediately toned down the likes of Mae West ... as Code chief Joseph Breen had the power to veto any film. Without his seal of approval movies could not be shown and studios fined if they violated the Code, which of course encouraged movie makers to suggest what could not be shown. Here are some of my particular favourites:

MIDNIGHT MARY is a terrific snappy little thriller from William Wellman in '33, with Loretta Young at her loveliest as the girl (she is shown as a child of 10 with clever use of camera setups) who becomes involved with gangsters and society guy Franchot Tone. Its sheer delight.

FRISCO JENNY is another Wellman from the same period, a darker tale with Ruth Chatterton as the San Francisco madam working her way up high society, giving up her son - its almost like MADAME X - who defends her in court at the end, not knowing who she is. Its hardboiled and tough, just like Jenny herself.

THE HATCHET MAN is an amazing little thriller from '32, also by Wellman, with Edward G Robinson and Loretta Young both playing Chinese in a tough tale of a Tong executioner and the girl he falls for.

MAN'S CASTLE from Frank Borzage is the quintesstial Depression tale with a lot of poetic realism as Spencer Tracy and Loretta (as the ideal depression waif) try to rise above the shantytown slum around them. Tracy and Young did have a romance during the film, but both being Catholics, it could not last. Loretta was one of the most prolific stars of the '30s - with 9 movies in 1933 alone! She is a recent discovery for me as her cinema career was over by the time I started movie-going in the '50s and I never saw her television series but just knew her from her strait-laced '40s persona. Back in the '30s though it was a different story, she is also terrific in ZOO IN BUDAPEST and De Mille's THE CRUSADES.

BABY FACE must be one of the best known pre-codes as Barbara Stanwyck brazenly works her way up to the executive suite by snaring all those hapless men en route. The tagline went: "She climbed the ladder of success, wrong by wrong"!

BED OF ROSES is another delightful 1933 title by Gregory La Cava, with Constance Bennett perfect as the girl on the make as she and a pal, ex-hookers, leave prison and determine to fleece some more suckers. Joel McCrea is the nice guy she falls for on his riverboat. It's very suggestive as it shows her blackmailing the rich guy and causing mayhem until she realises what she really wants ...

SEARCH FOR BEAUTY by the (unknown to me) Erle Kenton must be one of the most visually clever films of the pre-code era. It shows con artists duping Olympic athletes into appearing in their porn magazine and shows ladies blatantly focusing on the crotches of the swimmers, as young Buster Crabble and an uncrecognisable Ida Lupino star, and there are no inhibitions in the locker room.

A good starting point for Pre-Code films is the box-set "Pre-Code Hollywood", which has 6 interesting items: Tallulah Bankhead in THE CHEAT, Dorothy Arzner's MERRILY WE GO TO HELL with Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney; Randolph Scott and Cary Grant in HOT SATURDAY with Nancy Carroll, Claudette Colbert in TORCH SINGER, the aforementioned SEARCH FOR BEAUTY and all those semi-naked chorus girls in MURDER AT THE VANITIES by Mitchell Leisen, which got into circulation just before the Code came into force! There is also the "Forbidden Hollywood" series.

++++++++++++

LADIES IN LOVE may not be Pre-Code as such, being 1936, but its one I like a lot now and was a terrific discovery last year. Probably the first of the Fox '3- girls-sharing-an-apartment-and-looking-for-love' movies it is set in Budapest and teams up Loretta Young, Constance Bennett and Janet Gaynor, with a young Tyrone Power and Paul Lukas in support, as well as Simone Simon. The others may look dated now, but Loretta is lovely and quite modern here, nicely dressed in black and white outfits, with interesting line readings and just being very appealing. [This was just after Loretta's CALL OF THE WILD with Clark Gable which resulted in her having his baby (on the rebound from her romance with Tracy) which she later adopted; Loretta was later one of Hollywood's most prominent Roman Catholics].

Soundtracks

Favourite soundtrack albums of a '60s/'70s boy:

Back in that pre-video age of the '60s and '70s the soundtrack album was essential, as witness the sales of THE SOUND OF MUSIC album! I started off as a teen with those big hits like SOUTH PACIFIC, WEST SIDE STORY and the Broadway cast of MY FAIR LADY. The following though were my essentials before getting my first vhs recorder at the end of 1979! The Beatles albums A HARD DAYS NIGHT and HELP! did not seem like soundtrack albums at all, but were regarded as the new Beatles albums.

BLOWUP - this 1966 soundtrack has been part of my life, first on album, then CD and now on the ipod. Herbie Hancock's spare score still fascinates and was my introduction to modern jazz, its great background music too. One felt very cool playing this to friends back then...

UN HOMME ET UNE FEMME - Francis Lai's score was also much played over the years, particularly that "Samba Saravah" number with its enticing bossa nova beat.

2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY - Kubrick's films all have great scores and make great use of music, this being the daddy of them all giving "The Blue Danube" and "Thus Spake Zarathustra" a new lease of life...

AMERICAN GIGOLO - this sums up the late '70s for me - disco grooves like "Love and Passion" and more laid back Giorgio Moroder ambient pieces

CLEOPATRA - a great soundtrack by Alex North capturing the lushness of the film, particularly the love theme and Cleo's entry into Rome. (also of course the scores for BEN HUR, EL CID etc)

THE LION IN WINTER - John Barry's score of this much loved 1968 film is a perfect blend of faux medieval chants and choral work that perfectly capture the period - and he did not use "Carmina Burana"!

MIDNIGHT COWBOY - Barry's 1969 hit album is also just right, with the "Everybody's Talking" hit...

FUNNY GIRL - how we loved it at the time, also the Broadway cast album (as I had seen the London stage production in 1966, when 20 and in the front row!). We also liked the soundtrack for HELLY DOLLY!

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND - perhaps the best of the John Williams scores?

BARRY LYNDON / DEATH IN VENICE / ELVIRA MADIGAN - the great classical crossover albums - Mahler became the sound of the Visconti film, and Mozart for Bo Widerberg's almost too pretty ELVIRA.

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER - kitsch now of course but enormous at the time, we had to have it.

Favourite/best female performances

My selections from a IMDb Classic Film Board thread on favourite actresses in a leading role:

Vivien Leigh - A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE / THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS STONE / SHIP OF FOOLS

Gloria Swanson - SUNSET BOULEVARD

Bette Davis - THE LETTER / JEZEBEL / ALL ABOUT EVE / NOW VOYAGER / OLD ACQUAINTANCE

Katharine Hepburn - THE LION IN WINTER / SUMMERTIME / LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT / HOLIDAY

Isabelle Adjani - THE HISTORY OF ADELE H

Alida Valli - SENSO

Ingrid Bergman & Liv Ullmann - AUTUMN SONATA

Ingrid Bergman - NOTORIOUS / VOYAGE TO ITALY

Judy Garland - A STAR IS BORN / I COULD GO ON SINGING

Barbra Streisand - FUNNY GIRL

Setsuko Hara - TOKYO STORY

Barbara Stanwyck - DOUBLE INDEMNITY / THE LADY EVE

Fanny Ardant - CALLAS FOREVER

Lee Remick - DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES / BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL / ANATOMY OF A MURDER

Susan Hayward - I WANT TO LIVE / I'LL CRY TOMORROW

Sophia Loren - TWO WOMEN / MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE

Monica Vitti - L'AVVENTURA / L'ECLISSE / DESERTO ROSSO

Anna Magnani - WILD IS THE WIND

Audrey Hepburn - THE NUN'S STORY / TWO FOR THE ROAD

Celia Johnson - THIS HAPPY BREED / BRIEF ENCOUNTER

Wendy Hiller - I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING

Anne Bancroft - THE PUMPKIN EATER

Maggie Smith - THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE

Joan Crawford - A WOMAN'S FACE / HUMORESQUE

Emma Thompson - WIT / SENSE & SENSABILITY

Kate Winslet - THE READER

Vanessa Redgrave - ISADORA

Lynn Redgrave - GEORGY GIRL

Catherine Deneuve - REPULSION

Julie Christie - DARLING / AWAY FROM HER

Elizabeth Taylor - GIANT / CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

Jean Simmons - ELMER GANTRY

Ava Gardner - NIGHT OF THE IGUANA / BHOWANI JUNCTION

Deborah Kerr - NIGHT OF THE IGUANA / THE INNOCENTS / THE SUNDOWNERS / BLACK NARCISSUS / SEPARATE TABLES / HEAVEN KNOWS MR ALLISON / THE JOURNEY

Brenda Blethyn - SECRETS AND LIES

Imelda Staunton - VERA DRAKE

Alison Steadman - ABIGAIL'S PARTY / NUTS IN MAY

Helen Mirren - THE QUEEN

Simone Signoret - ROOM AT THE TOP / SHIP OF FOOLS

Jeanne Moreau - BAY OF ANGELS

Romy Schneider - DEATH WATCH [LE MORT EN DIRECT] / THE IMPORTANT THING IS LOVE

Jane Fonda - KLUTE / THEY SHOOT HORSES DONT THEY

Faye Dunaway - CHINATOWN / BONNIE AND CLYDE / MOMMIE DEAREST

Jean Seberg - IN THE FRENCH STYLE / LILITH / MOMENT TO MOMENT

Olivia De Havilland - THE HEIRESS

Joan Fontaine - LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN

Danielle Darrieux - MADAME DE...

Ida Lupino - ROAD HOUSE

Natalie Wood - SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS / MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR / GYPSY

Geraldine Page - SUMMER AND SMOKE / INTERIORS / SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH

Marilyn Monroe - THE MISFITS

Tippi Hedren - THE BIRDS

Sarah Miles - I WAS HAPPY HERE

Irene Dunne - THE AWFUL TRUTH

Carole Lombard - TO BE OR NOT TO BE

Margaret Sullavan - NO SAD SONGS FOR ME

Anne Baxter - ALL ABOUT EVE

Linda Darnell - A LETTER TO THREE WIVES

Julie Harris - EAST OF EDEN / THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING

Claire Bloom - THE CHAPMAN REPORT

Shelley Winters - LOLITA

Joan Bennett - THE RECKLESS MOMENT.

The Innocents

THE INNOCENTS was a key movie for me in 1961, being all of 15 at the time. It was the scariest thing since PSYCHO. Over the years its subtle pleasures have increased and its certainly for me the best version of the Henry James Story.

Jack Clayton's direction, the screenplay by John Mortimer and Truman Capote and Freddie Francis's camerawork [he also shot Lynch's THE ELEPHANT MAN] all create this masterwork of eerie suspense. Deborah Kerr delivers one of her best performances as Miss Giddens, the governess persuaded by Michael Redgrave’s Uncle to take on the task of looking after his two charges who live deep in the country. Bly, the estate, becomes an eerie, mysterious place with all that lush vegetation and that lake. Mrs Grose, the house-keeper (Megs Jenkins) is pleased there is a new governess, and the two children Miles and Flora initially enchant Miss Giddens. Miles has got himself sent home from school. The power of suggestion is perfectly utilised here as Miss Giddens begins to suspect that her charges are far from innocent, and the apparitions of Quint and Miss Jessel become bolder. But is it all in her fevered imagination? There are two logical interpretations: the governess is slowly going mad, or the estate is haunted and if it is are the children in on it? Martin Stephens and Pamela Franklin are both brilliant as the precocious Miles and Flora [Stevens had already played Kerr's son in a very forgettable 1959 comedy COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS]. Sound is used brilliantly too with that song that Flora sings and that first ghostly appearance by the lake (below).

There was a new version [“The Turn of the Screw”, the title of Henry James’ story] last year from the BBC, one of their “re-imagining the story for a new audience” adaptations (like their recent laughably inept, radically changed and widely derided remake of “The 39 Steps”), that firmly suggested the Governess imagined it all, with those naked all too physical ghosts copulating in the bedrooms, and it begins and ends with her in a mental hospital telling it all to doctor Dan Stephens. This was updated to 1920 which didn't work at all - it needs that Victorian Gothic ambience - but was presumably to show her frustrations due to the lack of young men after the great war. It seems to play it both ways though with a more knowing, sly Mrs Grose (Sheila Johnston) and suggesting the demons win at the end as a new governess arrives....

Forty years on though the original is the one to see and it will keep on enthralling us (unlike that silly BBC version). There is enough evidence in the film to suggest that Miss Giddens is not just imagining things or has lost her mind, unlike the more ambiguous Henry James novel. There is now a good dvd transfer from the BFI.

People We Like: Capucine

Capucine [1928-1990] was one of the stars of the early '60s whose career didn't last that long but it was fascinating seeing her in those comedies and dramas where her fashion sense (she had been a model) made her one of those people like Kay Kendall or her friend Audrey Hepburn who wear clothes marvellously. Capucine's patrician looks and flair for haughty comedy was ideal for those two with Peter Sellers: THE PINK PANTHER in '63 and the delirious WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT in 1965.

She was a protege of agent Charles Feldman and got her big break in SONG WITHOUT END with Dirk Bogarde in 1960. She and Bogarde were good friends [they were rumoued to be engaged, which was good publicity for both of them], and he writes about her in two of his books "Snakes and Ladders" and "Cleared For Takeoff". She holds her own well opposite John Wayne and Stewart Granger in the fun western NORTH TO ALASKA and her scenes with Fabian are amusing. WALK ON THE WILD SIDE in '62 is one of the great bad movies - Laurence Harvey did not get on with her here, but Stanwyck is great as the brothel owner wanting Capucine for herself, with young Jane Fonda and Anne Baxter also involved in this Edward Dmytryk farrago, great credits and Elmer Bernstein score.

Capucine was also involved with William Holden and they did two movies together: the interesting THE LION by Jack Cardiff in 1962 set in Africa where she is the wife of hunter Trevor Howard who asks former husband Holden to visit as their daughter is growing up wild and getting too attached to the lion of the title. Cardiff's memoir "Magic Hour" goes into the problems they had keeping Pamela Franklin safe when around the lion. Capucine was very effective as the Eurasian facing the death penalty in THE SEVENTH DAWN in '64 where Holden gets involved with the ridiculously young Susannah York. She was also featured as one of Rex Harrison's three lovers lured to his deathbed in Mankiewicz's under-regarded THE HONEYPOT in 1966, other roles were in FRAULEIN DOKTOR, she was amusing with Alberto Sordi in an episode of LE FATE, and in FELLINI SATYRICON, and had a small part in the Bronson-Delon-Mifune actioner RED SUN in 1971. She was then mostly in European movies which did not surface elsewhere - one I saw recently and liked was NEST OF VIPERS in '77, an overheated melodrama with a surprisingly good Senta Berger and Ornella Muti.

She had retreated to an apartment in Lausanne and did television, including a MURDER SHE WROTE in '85. She suffered from manic-depression and it seems she jumped from her 7th floor window, after feeding her pets. A sad end to a fascinating presence, but it will always be a pleasure to see her fending off Peter Sellers in re-runs of THE PINK PANTHER or WHATS NEW PUSSYCAT.

'60s [1]

The start of the ‘60s was that great era of intelligent dramas, mainly in black and white (see my post on 1962), so I am just highlighting some here. [Others like ALL FALL DOWN, THE CHAPMAN REPORT, THE APARTMENT, STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET, THE CHILDREN'S HOUR and I WAS HAPPY HERE have been reviewed already here, as well as late 60s capers like DUFFY, OTLEY, SEBASTIAN, DAY THE FISH CAME OUT etc]. By the mid-‘60s Hollywood ‘product’ seemed more and more dumbed down as the studios grappled with the new morality of the Swinging decade before the new cinema of the late '60s. Some producers like Joe E Levine certainly turned out their share of schlock, which makes for fascinating viewing now. We will get on to those next ….

CONE OF SILENCE. This 1960 British airline thriller was just one of the many airline dramas of the time (others being THE CROWDED SKY, JET STORM, SOS PACIFIC). This is mainly courtroom based as an inquiry investigates the cause of pilot Bernard Lee’s crash. It’s a compelling drama about aircraft design flaws. The cast here though is the thing: Michael Craig at his most attractive teamed with that interesting dancer Elizabeth Seal, Peter Cushing and George Sanders in fine form in the courtroom, plus reliables like Marne Maitland, Charles Tingwell, Andre Morrell, Gordon Jackson, Noel Willman and Delphi Lawrence.

THE GREENGAGE SUMMER – this 1961 film from a Rumer Godden novel ("Loss of Innocence") is rarely seen now, but is an engaging drama by Ronald Neame, with Kenneth More and Danielle Darrieux as the adults, and a trio of youngsters left on their own at Darrieux’s hotel in France while their mother is ill. Teenager Susannah York becomes involved with the mysterious More who is involved with Darrieux who also seems to be involved with her (female) hotel partner. Young Jane Asher is terrific as York’s younger sister, and its intriguingly resolved. York is engaging here in her first role after her debut in TUNES OF GLORY.

GOODBYE AGAIN. A perfect early ‘60s film set in Paris by Anatole Litvak (who certainly got the best out of his actresses like Davis, De Havilland, Kerr etc). Ingrid Bergman stars here as Paula, the ‘40ish stylish woman who feels her lover Yves Montand takes her for granted and see other women on the side, which indeed he does. Enter young Anthony Perkins who falls for Bergman and their bittersweet romance ensues. There are nice scenes of Bergman and Perkins driving around Paris, Jessie Royce Landis is fun as Perkins’s mother. It is of course another Francoise Sagan story, from her AIMEZ VOUS BRAHMS? Bergman finally sends Perkins away with the risible line that she is too old, but marriage to Montand does not resolve her fears, as he still plays around. It certainly highlights the plight of the older woman, though Ingrid here is far from old!

FIVE MILES TO MIDNIGHT – another Litvak film set in Paris with Anthony Perkins! This 1962 thriller, scripted by Peter Viertel, was interesting to see recently, as I had never seen it before, despite it starring Sophia Loren! Any film that begins with Sophia dancing the twist in a Paris nightclub can’t be all bad … this one isn’t that good but holds the interest. Sophia is the centre of the film here playing an ordinary woman working in Paris but getting tired of petulant, demanding, jealous husband Perkins (his second teaming with Loren). She thinks he is killed in a plane crash, but he is the only survivor and secretly comes back with a plan to get the insurance money and forces her to play along, then of course things go wrong ……it’s a pleasant time-waster with that new look Loren for the ‘60s. Perkins had a good run in Europe in the early '60s, there was also Dassin's PHAEDRA with Mercouri, Welles' THE TRIAL with Moreau and Schneider among others. Carol Reed's THE RUNNING MAN the next year, '63, was another airline survivor insurance scam with Laurence Harvey, Lee Remick and Alan Bates. That plot also unravelled...

ADORABLE JULIA. I finally caught up with this 1962 Lilli Palmer film a while ago. A French-German production set in London theatreland of the early 60s, it is of course an earlier version of that Annette Bening film BEING JULIA from the Maugham story. Lilli though is much more suited to the material, as the ageless, eternally glamorous sophisticated actress deftly dealing with lover Jean Sorel and husband Charles Boyer. Sorel is good here as the demanding lover who has his own agenda (aiming to get his not very talented girlfriend into Lilli’s play) and its nicely played out. Top marks to Lilli.

WIVES AND LOVERS – This long unseen 1963 comedy is a lot of fun now, particularly with that cast. Its nice to see Janet Leigh in a leading role after PSYCHO and MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and she seems to be having a lot of fun here, as the wife of newly successful writer Van Johnson as they move to Connecticut, with Shelley Winters and Ray Walston as neighbours. Martha Hyer is Lucinda the glamorous agent who causes trouble. It should have been in colour though but it does seem a more adult variation on the Rock and Doris comedies. Shelley is not chewing the scenery for once, but Johnson is a dull one-note uncharismatic lead. It’s a Hal Wallis production competently directed by John Rich. Great theme tune of course.

A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME. Another great theme tune (sung by Brook Benton) here in this enjoyable farrago from 1964, also in black and white and starring Shelley Winters as famous madam Polly Adler. It’s a great role for Shelley but the movie is hiliariously awful – it must be set in the ‘20s or ‘30s but Edith Head dresses them all in early ‘60s ensembles. Shelley starts as the innocent soon involved in providing girls for parties for county hall bigwigs and assorted gangsters (Cesar Romero is Lucky Luciano) – Robert Taylor (looking bored throughout) is her mentor and the girls include Edy Williams and Raquel Welch (a silent role, glimpsed next to Robert Taylor in a bar scene). The girls just loll around in negligees or evening dresses – only two of them come to grief showing the downside of prostitution, as Shelley happily takes to being a madam, the men though are all creeps. It’s a typical studio piece of dross from the ’64-’65 era by producer Joe Levine [wait till I get around to the two HARLOW films, SYLVIA, THE OSCAR etc!]. Russell Rouse directs, Kaye Ballard and Broderick Crawford also feature. It at least gave us that classic Burt Bacharach-Hal David song that outlasted the film (like "The Shadow of Your Smile" is superior to the risible THE SANDPIPER, probably the Burtons' worst movie, though Minnelli gives it the required gloss).

Two European comedies, both with Monica Vitti and Jean Sorel: Vitti's delicious deadpan sense of comedy surfaced in two Italian compendium titles which were popular in the 60s, each containing 4 segments with 4 different stars, and directed by Bolognini, Risi, Rossi and Comencini. LE BAMBOLE (THE DOLLS), now on dvd, was a popular hit in 1965, featuring Gina Lollobrigida, Elke Sommer, Virna Lisi and Monica whose sequence is a hilarious tale of a working class woman trying to get rid of her slob of a husband. Gina is terrific too as the hotel owner’s wife trying to seduce the nephew (Sorel) of visiting cardinal Akim Tamiroff. This was a sensation at the time.

LE FATE (THE QUEENS or SEX QUARTET) in 1966 features Monica in a gaudy dress picking up various men in sports cars and driving them mad with her incessant chatter which is very funny and she looks adorable. Capucine (with Alberto Sordi), Claudia Cardinale and Raquel Welch (with Jean Sorel) also feature in this one.

Next: WHY MUST I DIE?, SOS PACIFIC, THE VICTORS, WALK ON THE WILD SIDE, THE CARPETBAGGERS, SYLVIA, HARLOW (both of them), A GIRL NAMED TAMIKO, A RAGE TO LIVE, THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF MOLL FLANDERS, LOVE HAS MANY FACES, THE OSCAR, NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY, the unbelievably awful THE SINGING NUN, A QUIET PLACE IN THE COUNTRY and THE LOVE MACHINE.

Treats

Some current interests: the dvd of CLOUZOT'S INFERNO arrived yesterday - I had tickets for a screening of this at the London BFI back at the height of the snow and ice a few months back so I did not go - but now the dvd is here, with some interesting extras. Fascinating to see now, Romy Schneider here in 1964 - she went on to WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT next, and Clouzot's methods and how his film was not completed. Movie making in the '60s!

2 new CDs: Maybe not a great singer but I like the summery sounds of Astrud Gilberto and that samba bossa-nova vibe, some nice stuff on this greatest hits, including the extended original of "The Girl from Ipanema". How very mid'60s. Mose Allison is over 80 now but still going, I just like this laid-back white blues guy and those great songs, again redolent of the 60s.

The BFI programme for May - after the current seasons on PSYCHO, L'AVVENTURA etc in April, its on to Agnes Varda and Jack Cardiff for May. I for one will want to see BLACK NARCISSUS and PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN again on the big screen. Pity they are not including that Sahara horse opera, Hathaway's LEGEND OF THE LOST with Wayne and Loren, which Cardiff photographed - and makes it look fabulous.

I have some Varda dvds including her films on Jacques Demy (on the CHERBOURG dvd) and the 25th anniversary of LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT (on the BFI Rochefort dvd) and her JACQUOT DE NANTES, but it will be nice to see LE BONHEUR again - it has not been seen here since 1965! There are two Varda box sets just available too, which should be worth investigating. Varda herself is making several appearances at the BFI during May.

MAN'S WORLD - the most fascinating novel I have read in ages - surely a modern gay classic telling two stories 50 years apart which come nicely together. Its a touching romance set in the repressive fifties, contrasted with the hedonism of today's clubbing generation [been there, done that]. Things are taken to excess here but its a terrific read. I loved it. What else has Rupert Smith done? Its inspired me with my own novel/memoir.

Then there is Jamie Oliver, back with his latest moneyspinner JAMIE DOES... - but its food and travel, what's not to like? The first episode of the new series was on last night, set in Marrakesh, great armchair viewing as Jamie shops, cooks and explores that mysterious city, with France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Sweden all lined up as well as Morocco. I may even try some of the recipes, like that easy Courgette Gratin or the Moroccan chicken with preserved lemons tagine...

and the dvd of NINE also turned up. I didn't care for the movie that much - as per my review on here - but there are some interesting extras on its making, plus an interview with Sophia Loren, thats good enough for me.

Next up: MAD MEN Series 3 has just finished, so now its catching up with the Series 1 and 2 boxset, and GLEE continues.

A friend Daryl Chin, currently in Berlin, mentioned a stage production of that 1930s drama MADCHEN IN UNIFORM, in his blog - which prompted me to get out the dvd of the 1958 version, with those 2 icons of mine: Romy Schneider and Lilli Palmer, which also works very well. Romy is Manuela the lovelorn orphan at the strict military academy for girls in pre-world war one Prussia who forms a forbidden attachment to the understanding attractive new teacher, as who wouldn't...