Sixties rarity: Nine Hours To Rama, 1963

Another of those long-unseen 20th Century Fox Cinemascope "prestige" films, benefiting from exotic locations and a tense story, even if we know the outcome, from a popular bestseller of the time. I caught it at the time before it vanished ...

NINE HOURS TO RAMA depicts the life of Nathuram Godse the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi. How Godse planned the assassination is shown in the film. How he became a Hindu activist who (unfairly) blamed Gandhi for the killings of thousands of Hindus by Muslims is revealed in a series of flashbacks.

Directed by Fox veteran Mark Robson (he had more success with the thriller THE PRIZE that year) with a polyglot cast browned up as Indians and set in India, it features German Horst Buchholz as the assassin, and Jose Ferrer as the weary police inspector on his trail, trying to catch him before it is too late. It is startling now to see the likes of Robert Morley, Harry Andrews, Diane Baker, Valerie Gearon, Francis Matthews etc as Indians, alongside Marne Maitland and other natives, J.S. Casshyap is an effective Mahatma as the film tries to make sense of those violent years. 
It is though colourful and tense, and Buchholz more or less looks authentic. It took several decades though for a more realistic picture of Gandhi to emerge, in Attenborough's 1982 film. 

1963 was the year of the Kennedy assassination, and like THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, NINE HOURS TO RAMA was taken out of circulation for a while,. 

Horst Buchholz

That late '50s was a fascinating period for young European actors, with all the opportunities coming their way in the booming international cinema.

We have mentioned the likes of Delon and Belmondo a lot here - as per their labels - but lets have a look at that interesting Horst Buchholz ...

Other French actors on the rise then included Brialy and Trintignant, Robert Hossein and Jean Sorel (usually in genre films like thrillers), Gerard Blain and Maurice Ronet. Marcello led the field in Italy with Raf Vallone, Renato Salvatori, Vittorio Gassman also prominent. Germany had Hardy Kruger becoming very international (in England's THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY, BACHELOR OF HEARTS, Losey's BLIND DATE, and the French SUNDAYS AND CYBELE and in Hawks' HATARI! with Blain, as well as with Monty Clift in THE DEFECTOR, 1965, and in Kubrick's BARRY LYNDON), while Carl Boehm went from the kitsch SISSI films with Romy, to being Michael Powell's notorious PEEPING TOM in 1960 and he was later in Fassbinder's very gay FOX AND HIS FRIENDS in 1974.

Horst Buchholz (1933-2003) was initially tagged "the German James Dean" due to the punks and teenagers he played in the '50s, as in DIE HALBSTARKEN (1956), which made him a teen favorite in Germany, he did several with Romy Schneider - MONPTI in 1957 is particularly charming, as per my review, (Horst, Romy labels). Being able to speak several languages he was soon in international cinema: in the English TIGER BAY in 1959 before going to America for John Sturges' western THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, as big a hit a you could get at the time, one we loved as kids. Billy Wilder chose him for his Berlin comedy ONE TWO THREE in 1961 - one of my favourite Wilders - and Josh Logan wanted him for FANNY with Caron, Boyer and Chevalier. He then went Indian for NINE HOURS TO RAMA, which we will be re-seeing and reviewing shortly, a drama about the assassination of Gandhi, made in 1962.  
A versatile actor, Buchholz appeared in comedies, horror films, wartime dramas and other genres, but his best work was mostly behind him by the mid-1960s, again like most popular young actors, he had ten good years. THE EMPTY CANVAS was an odd Italian drama he did with Bette Davis. He could have done roles in WEST SIDE STORY and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and also turned down A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, and continued filming in Europe, later roles included LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. 
Below, with Romy in MONPTI in 1958.

He had married and had 2 children. Usually reticent about his private life, in a 2000 interview in the German magazine "Bunte" Buchholz publicly came out saying "Yes, I also love men. Ultimately, I'm bisexual. ... I have always lived my life the way I wanted." He explained that he and his wife of nearly 42 years had a stable and enduring arrangement, with her life centered in Paris and his in Berlin, the city that he loved.Their son Christopher Buchholz also an actor and the producer of the feature-length documentary HORST BUCHHOLZ ... MEIN PAPA (2005), has publicly acknowledged his father's bisexuality.

Buchholz died unexpectedly at the age of sixty-nine in Berlin from pneumonia that developed after an operation for a  hip fracture. Its another fascinating career. 
Next up: Gerard Philipe.

Romy Horst Delon Belmondo! Fashion! Glamour !

MONPTI. Oh, to be young in Paris in 1957 – Horst Buchholz and Romy Schneider were in this romantic confection from Helmut Kautner. He is a poor Hungarian who lives in an attic and has some colourful neighbours, she appears to be a rich girl whom he meets in the park. There are some lovely romantic moments but (like Romy’s CHRISTINE the next year) there is no happy ending here. We also see a contrasting wealthy but shallow couple and wonder why we see so much of them, this is revealed at the climax, where that car accident robs our couple of happiness. It is a slight tale told to us by the older Monpti, and it all captures that 1950s Paris nicely, I imagine, as it was 1970 when I first got to the City of Light. Romy and Horst (1933-2003) though shine nicely here, he too was a European star before Hollywood beckoned.

I am indebted too to a friend (thanks Mel) who sent me a 1967 documentary on Romy which I did not know about: ROMY - PORTRAIT OF A FACE, by Hans-Jurgen Syberberg,  catching her at a good point, on a ski-ing holiday, where she talks to the camera and discusses her career and life to date, including her teen years as SISSI and working with the likes of Welles and Visconti.. Schneider was one of the most prolific international actresses of her era, with 62 titles in her 43 years (1938-1982), often averaging several a year, 
from her teenage years in Germany to being an icon of French cinema.
(I have about 40 of her titles, with maybe 10 yet to see, see Romy label for reviews).

BORSALINO, 1970. It’s a brilliant idea: take two popular French male stars, set them in a 1930s setting, spare no expense with period detail, kit them out in great suits and give them lots of stuff to do, as they initially fight – over a woman of course, faithless Catherine Rouvel (from CHAIR DE POULE), then they team up and play at gangsters in Marseilles, but their easy-going approach to crime soon changes as they end up in control of organised crime in the city. Add in Michel Bouquet and Corinne Marchand and plenty of local colour and its all a leisurely, blissful movie, which I somehow did not see at the time, despite my affection for the two leads – Belmondo and Delon. 

It was a huge hit at the time, as directed by Jacque Deray (LE PISCINE), and a fashion hit as well, covered by all the magazines, but has not been available here for a long time, but finally, a sub-titled version. It all looks terrific and is one to return to. The two leads are perfectly matched too as they guy their tough-guy images, that first fight of theirs is hilarious. It could well be this hit gave someone the idea to team another popular pair, Newman and Redford, in a similar 1930s setting ? 

Some more French and Italian rarities

courtesy of YouTube:

THE EMPTY CANVAS: I wondered why this 1964 Italian drama never played in London, despite Bette Davis and Horst Buchholz, still popular then, in lead roles. Bette was big that year what with DEAD RINGER and HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE capitalising on her BABY JANE success, and let's not forget trash classic WHERE LOVE HAS GONE! Buchholz (1933-2003) had an interesting period in Hollywood with films as diverse as Sturges' THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, Billy Wilder's ONE TWO THREE (one of Billy's best for me) and Logan's FANNY, as well as being a major European star.
He has nothing much to play with here as a bored Italian artist with a creative block, reliant on his rich, domineering American mother (Davis), but finds escape in the arms of Catherine Spaak, a beautiful young model, who believes in indiscriminate love affairs. Spaak is as lovely as she was in I DOLCE IGNANNI (Italian label)  four years earlier in 1960. There is a car crash, Spaak gets covered in money, but it all seems to be going nowhere ...

Bette shines in quite a good role, but it is all rather turgid. Isa Miranda and Daniella Rocca are also in the cast. It is an Albert Moravia story, his books were being filmed quite a bit then after the success of his TWO WOMEN. The same year 1964 saw Maselli's TIME OF INDIFFERENCE, a much more intriguing tale, featuring Claudia Cardinale and Tomas Milian as the brother and sister, in a great 1920s setting, with Paulette Goddard as their mother, losing her estate to Rod Steiger who wants Claudia, while Shelley Winters has designs on Tomas, as the indolent siblings shrug. see Claudia label ...  Its worth watching THE EMPTY CANVAS, complete with English sub-titles, while it is available on YouTube ...

THE JOY OF LIVING: We love Rene Clement's PLEIN SOLEIL (PURPLE NOON) here at the Projector - one of the first European films we saw when young which opened our eyes to the glamour of Europe in 1960, and beautiful people like Delon and Laforet, and of course from a favourite Patricia Highsmith book.  I had though never heard of THE JOY OF LIVING (Che Gioia Vivere) till advised - thanks Daryl - that it is available on YouTube, so I spent a pleasant afternoon watching it. (YouTube also had that other Delon rarity, the 1968 FAREWELL FRIEND with Charles Bronson).This one, about fascists and bomb-makers and anarchists, is certainly a rarity, there are comic moments but Clement was better suited to thrillers like his others with Delon: PLEIN SOLEIL and LES FELINS (Delon label).

BOULEVARD: Fifteen year old Jojo has run away from home to escape his controlling stepmother who hates him. He manages to make ends meet with some odd jobs, and living a room under the roof of a block of flats in Pigalle. Selling magazines works for a while but posing as Narcissus for two gay artists proves a disaster. When things go really awry, Jojo tries to commit suicide by jumping off the roof of his house.
Jean-Pierre Leaud was an instant sensation as Antoine Doinel in Truffaut's THE 400 BLOWS in 1959 - this, Leaud's second role, sees him as another early teen, precocious and rather bratty, leaving home and taking an attic room. His rooftop hideout allows him to see everything, including the older woman he desires, Magali Noel. There is of course also a nice young girl .....

our hero gets into some scrapes, and poses for two gay artists who befriend him. We get lots more of that 'Paris by night'/early '60s vibe. It is all nicely directed by veteran Julian Duvivier - I have not seen too many Duvivier films but liked those I did like Robert Hossein and Jean Sorel in CHAIR DE POULE in '63 and Gabin in top form in the brilliant VOICI LE TEMPS DES ASSASSINS in '55 (French label). 

YouTube only has the opening minutes of BOULEVARD but it gives a nice flavour of the film. I saw this when 18 and new in London in 1964, though it has not turned up anywhere since. Leaud was soon back as Antoine Doinel continuing his adventures for Truffaut .,..

 Soon: 1970s paranoia triple bill: THE PARALLAX VIEW, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR and THE STEPFORD WIVES.