Italy or Greece? The talented Captain Corelli ...

Summer holiday time? Two stunning books - two (three, actually) very different films

Anthony Minghella expanded Patricia Highsmith's novel THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY for his 1999 film, while James Madden's scriptwriter Shawn Slovo filleted Louis de Bernieres' CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN ....

Finally, a look at CAPT CORELLI which I had refused to see so far, as I had heard how the book was changed for the 2001 film. Again, the heavy hand of Miramax (see 54 review, below) is evident - it all looks marvellous on that Greek island of Cephalonia, 
and after the wonderful SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1990s label, mind you thats mainly due to the perfect witty script by Tom Stoppard), John Madden seemed the right man to bring it to the screen. First the casting - the only real Greek among the leads seems to be the venerable Irene Papas, John Hurt though is ideal as the doctor - but Spanish Penelope Cruz is Pelagia (she is also Italian in that recent Woody Allen - is there a worldwide shortage of Greek or Italian actresses so a Spanish actress, terrific in Spanish movies, has to play these nationalities?) and Nicolas Cage has been widely seen as ill-cast here.

The film is set against the backdrop of war between the Germans and Italians on that Greek island; the Italian Captain is billeted with Dr Iannis and his daughter, as we see the initial idyll fall away as the grim realities of war intrude. We also get Christian Bale as Mandras, the fisherman son of Drousula (Papas) who goes to join the resistance - Mandras here though is not as vicious as in the book, and as for Carlo, one of the main voices of the novel, as he tell us his story of his secret love for Corelli.  In the film Carlo (Piero Maggio) is reduced to a minor character whose sole function is to sacrifice himself to save Corelli's life when the Germans retaliate .... his heart-breaking story is gone. Then the ending is fudged too - the Captain and Pelagia meet again when they are old in that marvellous ending in the book - in the movie he just walks back after the war and its no big deal - rather like this forgettable film. After this and THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL which I loathed with a vengance (in that one, as per my review, 2000s label, Madden inserted a gay character not in the book, only to kill him off when no longer needed, as the others continue to live in India), so we be giving Madden films a wide berth from now on.  So the great complex novel has been Miramaxed: been turned into a date movie with added war stuff and no depth at all - its a Greek travelogue like MAMMA MIA!. Pauline Kael talked of "the higher trash" and "the lower trash" - this travesty is lower with a vengance. 


Minghella's glossy adaptation of Highsmith's novel  is an engaging if slightly hollow noir thriller. New York wannabe Tom Ripley's life changes after he is sent to haul an errant playboy home from Italy. Matt Damon is suitably sinister in the lead and Jude Law gives a convincing performance as the wastrel playboy. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Marge, Dickie's girlfriend, who rightly never quite trusts Ripley ... 

So there was less of CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN in the film, but we get a lot more of THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY as Minghella expands on Highsmith's original, a book I first discovered as a teen, setting me up for a lifetime passion for Highsmith books, developing the characters played by Cate Blanchett and Jack Davenport, and creating a whole new ending and making a bigger movie out of it. The '50s locations are terrific, around Capri and the Amalfi coast, and the period feel is laid on with a trowel, as they wear those fussy '50s outfits, hats and gloves. But in the original PLEIN SOLEIL - which I have written about here several times, as per label, filmed in 1959 and released in 1960, they (Delon, Ronet, Laforet) look marvellous in those casual clothes of the time, which still look fashionable now, and the mediterranean feel is perfectly captured as it really was in Henri Decae's stunning colour photography. 

Jude Law of course made his name here as the glamorous Dickie Greenleaf - no wonder needy nerd Matt Damon wants not only him but to be him, as bored Dickie toys with him and then thinks he can get rid of him when he has had enough - that murder on the boat is brilliantly done, and a nice contrast to the Rene Clement version in PLEIN SOLEIL (PURPLE NOON), where Delon, Ronet and Marie Laforet's Marge are effortlessly glamorous. As if Dickie is not enough of a heel, Minghella invents the sub-plot of Dickie making a local girl pregnant, and who drowns herself - presumably so we don't feel too bad about him being killed off halfway through the film. It all gets very convoluted then with the Blanchett and Davenport characters. It was obviously a labour of love for Minghella, as per his published screenplay.

So, two books I like a lot (the Highsmith is very re-readable for a book published initially in the mid-50s) and two very different films. The Madden Miramax CORELLI is disposable Trash, but we like Minghella's as a different addition to the Ripley canon - while the Clement-Delon version is always there, and now on Blu-ray, thats another for the collection then ... 

Westerns, again

Joan/Vienna plays as the posse arrive ...

Jeff & Vera - THE SEARCHERS

We like a good western here at the Projector, as per previous posts on them (Westerns label). THE SEARCHERS turns up frequently on our TCM channel - we always like seeing Martin Pawley and Debbie and Laurie, and Wayne and that very emotional climax
 and then the door closes, its a western poem really with those landscapes and characters ... and they are showing JOHNNY GUITAR (left) again tomorrow, naturally I will have a front row seat, it is after all the first film I ever saw aged 8, and I love every delirious minute of it, as per previous posts.

Now that 1962 behemoth HOW THE WEST WAS WON is getting quite a few screenings and its fun to drop in and watch it for a while now and then. First thing to say is it looks terrific now on HD widescreen television - before it looked cramped and the joins of the 3 screens (used for Cinerama) were obvious and it looked liked it needed restoring. So it looks terrific now as we watch several generations of that family headed by Karl Malden and Agnes Moorehead heading west. with the daughters Carroll Baker and Debbie Reynolds. The score is terrific here too as Alfred Newman and Ken Darby's majestic music takes the pioneers through every conceivable encounter in the West, from fighting off river pirates to hazardous rapids on their raft ... 

It is of course a star-studded western taking in great panoramas and sweeping events, as we follow the pioneers in their covered wagons, mountain men, trappers, the railroads and the outlaws and desperadoes who formed the west. Spencer Tracy narrates and the directors include Henry Hathaway and George Marshall, John Ford does the civil war segment, and stars like James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck are well used., the script is rather simplistic though. George Peppard has a central role and Richard Widmark is good value too in the terrific Railroad sequence, with that stampede by bison as the Indians fight back against the iron horse taking over their lands. Thelma Ritter is a pioneer woman and Debbie ages nicely as she ends up out west with Peppard and his family while Eli Wallach has fun as that nasty villain .... Thats just a thumbnail precis of this always entertaining spectacle, perhaps the biggest hit of the Cinerama fad, apart from 2001. Later westerns of course  like McCABE & MRS MILLER, LITTLE BIG MAN and THE WILD BUNCH debunked this version of how the west was won as the new violence took hold in the '70s.

A couple of western treats: the run of the mill GUN FURY in 1953 is a pleasing Raoul Walsh oater with the good teaming of Rock Hudson and Donna Reed (right) fighting badman Phil Carey, and young Lee Marvin excels here as he does in SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, reviewed here recently. Ty Power and Susan Hayward are teamed in Hathaway's tense RAWHIDE for Fox in 1951 more of a thriller than a western as Hugh Marlowe and his gang, including Jack Elam at his most loathsome, hold up a stagecoach station while awaiting a gold consignment to be delivered. Can our warring couple outwit the gang and keep alive?

A nice treat yesterday was TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN which I vaguely remember going to with my father but I hardly remembered it, its a handsome 1956 western by Robert Wise (just after his HELEN OF TROY - he certainly excelled in all genres). 

Jeremy Rodock is a tough horse rancher who strings up rustlers soon as look at them. Fresh out of Pennsylvania, Steve Miller finds it hard to get used to Rodock's ways, although he takes an immediate shine to his Greek girl Jocasta. 

The interest here is the debut of Greek actress Irene Papas as Jocasta, years before her great Greek roles, playing opposite James Cagney - it should have been Spencer Tracy but he objected to being away on location. Its a handsome production with great landscapes (like that other discovery last year, THE VIOLENT MEN which had Edward G Robinson in a similar role) with a rather predictable storyline and some jarring back projections towards the end, but certainly an enjoyable time out west.

The '80s - 2: some rarities

THE COMPETITION - a 1980 drama I had missed, despite my affection for Lee Remick. Its one of those movies that never surfaced since so I was pleased to finally get a copy. The movie centers on a piano competition whose winner is assured of success. It is Paul's last chance to compete, but newcomer Heidi may be a better pianist. Can romance be far away? Will she take a dive despite the pressure to win from her teacher, Greta, or will she condemn Paul to obscurity?
It began with my thinking that I could fast-forward a lot of this but it becomes totally compelling as we get to know the six contestants in a music competition in San Francisco - there is the Russian girl with a kidnap sub-plot, the good-looking Italian guy who thinks he can tap into the DeNiro-Pacino-Travolta market. We spent most time though with our two leads: Richard Dreyfuss as the cocky musician desperate to win, and Amy Irving, so it is all very 1980s with more big hair. Sam Wanamaker is good as the orchestra conductor, but the movie is totally stolen by Lee Remick, in the role of Amy's teacher. It is one of her best roles and she totally compelling here, as we await her next appearance. She is wise, witty, and more beautiful than ever as she sees her pupil Amy falling for Dreyfuss, and tries to advise her that he may be manipulating her to gain a competitive edge. 

Who wins? who loses? It is interestingly worked out, Joel Oliansky directs with a sure hand. Dreyfuss was very lucky indeed to be in 2 of the '70s biggest hits - he worked well with Spielberg in both JAWS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS (my review is at '70s label), and of course AMERICAN GRAFFITI and also had that enormous success (and Best Actor Oscar) for THE GOODBYE GIRL (so very 1970s) when his mannerisms were becoming apparant. I found both him and his character (with that cap glued to his head) deeply unlikeable here, but it does not spoil the movie. The best I can say about him is that he plays an egocentric jerk to perfection ....

The music scenes are well handled too -  the actors must have rehearsed so that they could actually mimic the hand movements of a pianist. The overall score is by the splendid Lalo Schifrin. There is a theme song as well sung by Randy Crawford. Good as Irving and Dreyfuss are, it is Remick who scores here as the hard-nosed, totally serious, single-minded taskmaster who demands, and brings forth, the best from her pupil. Dreyfuss is driven and desperate but, while gifted, has never been able to break through as a serious musician, and who will be washed up if he does not win. He and Amy become romantically involved, much to Remick's dismay, only to find themselves competing head to head for the most coveted prize in their field. Can they work it out knowing that only one of them can win? A solid, well-crafted romantic drama then.  

Can't say the same for HIGH SEASON - which I was really looking forward to, due to good comments on it over at IMDB. This is a supposed comedy from 1987 about a disparate group on holiday and mixing with the natives in Rhodes, Greece. It is though an absolute snoozefest, which I could not bear. Top-lining are those '60s people Jacqueline Bissett and James Fox, we also have young Kenneth Branagh and Leslie Manville, both very annoying here (she was wonderful though in Mike Leigh's ANOTHER YEAR recently, as per my review, 2000s label). The great Greek actress Irene Papas is also present, and again has too little to do.

Now I know Rhodes well, but writers Clare and Mark Peploe make nothing much of it here - the stunning village of Lindos (see my comments at Greece label) is not even well served here, it could be any old Greek village, we barely see the temple - and we don't even see the great medieval Rhodes Old Town! The plot too is too dreary to go into. So, not one I liked at all. Clare Peploe directs (she is married to Bernando Bertolucci) and her brother Mark has associations with Antonioni, having scripted THE PASSENGER - so art-house associations then, but no wonder this one sank without trace.

Helen, Aphrodite, Ulysses, Attilla .. oh, and Alexander

 Italian week: 1 - Peplums  "If you want something visual, thats not too abysmal, we could take in an old Steve Reeves movie" - The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Some early classy peplums - those sword & sandal mini-epics of the '50s and early '60s, the heyday of the genre. 1955's HELEN OF TROY is a Warners film made in Europe by Robert Wise (who has turned his hand to most genres after editing CITIZEN KANE, with films like I WANT TO LIVE, THE HAUNTING, THE SOUND OF MUSIC and his STAR! which I posted about here recently, see below). His HELEN is one of the better epics with great sets and is very visual and utilises a great cast even if the leads are rather blank.

Rosanna Podesta is quite lovely as Helen, there is something otherworld about her - is her voice dubbed perhaps? but Jacques Sernas as Paris is rather dull. But there are British stalwarts Stanley Baker (Achilles), Harry Andrews (Hector), Ronald Lewis, Cedric Hardwicke and Nora Swinbourne add gravitas as Priam and Hecuba, and Janette Scott impresses as Cassandra - it all impressed me as a child and I still like watching it now. Oh, there is also young Brigitte Bardot being very amusing as Helen's man-mad slave ... something for everyone then. The fall of Troy is nicely depicted too ...

HELEN gets a hommage of sorts in 1957's APHRODITE, GODDESS OF LOVE as Jacques Sernas again is lying in the surf as a beauty approaches - he calls her Aphrodite in HELEN, but she really is Aphrodite here, or rather Iride the model for the statue of Aphrodite being created by the famous scuptlor Praxitiles who lives nearby.
Iride is Rank Organisation starlet Belinda Lee, who looks terrific here. Sernas is the macedonian  on the run whom the army is looking for, but she and Praxitiles take him in and shelter him - but as Iride and Sernas fall in love Praxitiles (Massimo Girotti) gets jealous and betrays them .... it looks great with good production values and there is a happy ending for our lovers overlooking the sunlit sea. We also get lots of waves crashing on the beach .... (more on Belinda at Belinda Lee label).

ULYSSES is a De Laurentiis-Ponti production in 1954 which is also a great view now, Kirk Douglas as the wandering Ulysses, Silvana Mangano as his wife Penelope and the enchanteress Circe, Anthony Quinn (on a busy trip to Europe for ATTILA and LA STRADA also features) as does Helen, Rosanna Podesta. 

Quinn scores again as ATTILA, also 1954, who he plays as a blood-thirsty savage who kills his own brother who wants to make peace with the Romans. Henri Vidal is the Roman general Aetius and Sophia Loren is Honoria the greedy ambitious Roman who allies with Attila [her death scene was a vivid memory since I first saw it aged 12], and Irene Papas is good as Attila's discarded woman who can see the trouble Loren will bring .... it is splendid stuff, again with great Ponti-De Laurentiis production values.  The blurb says: Attila, the leader of the barbarian Huns and called by the Romans "The Scourge of God", sweeps onto the Italian peninsula, defeating all of the armies of Rome, until he and his men reach the gates of the city itself. They are then defeated by the power of Christianity and turn back as a giant cross illuminates the sky - peplums don't get more mind-boggling than that! Talk about De Mille's SIGN OF THE CROSS (see below!) Sophia (then 19) was, like Quinn, churning them out that great year 1954 (and of course they did 2 later in Hollywood: BLACK ORCHID and HELLER IN PINK TIGHTS. Quinn must have been one of the 50s busiest actors, along with Vincent Price.

Jack Palance also essayed a frightening Attila that year in Sirk's delirious SIGN OF THE PAGAN with Jeff Chandler, as well as his Simon the Magician who thinks he can fly in Warners THE SILVER CHALICE, which I also loved as a kid in 1954. [Gerard Butler's ATTILA in 2001, complete with eye-liner and wearing what looks like a big nappy, is nowhere near as good, though Alice Krige as usual impresses as a very tough Roman].

By the late '50s Steve Reeves had arrived with all those HERCULES movies which Joe E Levine shrewdly packaged for international audiences and soon other like Gordon Scott and Ed Fury were heading to peplum-land. I have just seen Steve Reeves in THE GIANT OF MARATHON (which seems to be his best, direted by Jacques Tourneur and lensed by Mario Bava, with Mylene Demongeot),and still have THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII and THE WHITE RUSSIAN to catch as well as Palance and Anita Ekberg in THE MONGOLS, Jeffrey Hunter in GOLD FOR THE CAESARS, while Belinda was a terrific MESSALINA, and in JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS and CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS with Cornel Wilde; and Jeanne Crain as NEFERTITI QUEEN OF THE NILE as well as Jeffrey Hunter and Debra Paget in the hilarious PRINCESS OF THE NILE.

Steve and the boys in whities at Marathon

These peplums are sometimes cheesy, made on a shoestring but have humor with action and drama along with kitsch and camp plus the beefcake and cheesecake - qualities lacking in humourless recent attempts like TROY with its unreal CGI effects and a cast with no idea how to play this material - apart from O'Toole as Priam (or Russell Crowe in GLADIATOR which at least re-invented the genre).  More on these later then ...

One I like a lot is Oliver Stone's take on ALEXANDER and his determination to get it made and then the reaction to it (as middle America did not want a gay or bisexual hero). Its a splendid looking film with some staggering set-pieces - even the CGI recreation of Babylon looks stunning. Its not really a peplum as such but a major work by a visionary director. More on this at epics label. By contrast Fox's 1956 ALEXANDER THE GREAT is rather turgid with a blonde Burton, but Claire Bloom, Stanley Baker and Harry Andrews again and Peter Cushing all command attention. This impressed me as a kid though - Andrews as the fleeing Persian king Darius, and those great shots of Danielle Darrieux as Alex's mother Olympias on the castle battlements ...

One has to include 1962's camp delight SODOM AND GOMORRAH by Robert Aldrich (before he went on to BABY JANE...) with its sometimes hilarious moments as Anouk Aimee as the slinky lesbian queen, Stanley Baker as her hissably evil brother, Stewart Granger with Pier Angelia [pillar of salt], Rosanna Podesta again (rather wasted here) and the stunning Scilla Gabel are all great to look at. It looks like Sodom is hit by a nuclear explosion at the climax but what happened to Gomorrah?

Then of course the heights of the genre are BEN HUR (I really must watch that 1925 silent version), EL CID, SPARTACUS, CLEOPATRA, FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE and then the rather tatty GENGHIS KHAN and the still stunning THE VIKINGS - and of course studio fodder like Warner's LAND OF THE PHAROAHS, MGM's THE PRODIGAL, Fox's THE EGYPTIAN and 300 SPARTANS. 1961's COLOSSUS OF RHODES by Serio Leone is eye-catching too with Rory Calhoun and Lea Massari. DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS is huge fun for an American peplum in 1954, that great year for biblicals - I must find and include that posed shot of Susan as Messalina dragging a chained Ed Fury around on all fours.   more on all these at epics label. All these look terrific now on widescreen HD televisions.

A brilliant site by the way is:  http://peplums.blogspot.co.uk/

Italian peplums 1: spoofs and thrills

TWO NIGHTS WITH CLEOPATRA - Sort of an Italian CARRY ON CLEO? This Alberto Sordi comedy seems to be a spoof of the sword-and-sandal genre churned out in Italy during the ‘50s and early ‘60s. This one is only of note now because it features the 19 year old Sophia Loren in the dual role of Cleopatra and a slave girl who looks like her. Cleo needs to escape for a night or two and the slave girl Niscia has to impersonate her. Cleo though is in the habit of sleeping with her guards who are then killed the next morning – and Sordi is the latest guard. Alberto though is one of those annoying comedians (like Benny Hill or Frankie Howard or Norman Wisdom or Jerry Lewis – I dare say every country has their own) whom one either likes or dislikes. I am afraid it is the latter for me, but Sophia looks like she is going places here and has that swim in the pool … direction is credited to one Mario Mattoli. Very average but then Italian comedy does not always translate well abroad. It is of course a Ponti-De Laurentiis production.
NERO’S LOST WEEKEND or MY SON NERO – This 1956 one features Sordi again as Nero on holiday at his seaside villa. The cast though is the thing here: Vittorio De Sica as Seneca (one of his take the money and run jobs to finance his gambling no doubt), the pre-Vadim Brigitte Bardot lovely as ever as Poppea – AND Gloria Swanson as Nero’s fearsome mother Agrippina. She makes a fantastic entrance parting the curtains of her carriage as she is all in red with a red veil – quite a contrast to Norma Desmond. She enters into the spirit of all, so it is amusing nonsense. My copy is in Italian though – but with that cast one hardly needs English!. Steno is credited as director but Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci are also involved and it has the usual Titanus production values. Peter Ustinov’s Nero though was a lot funnier in QUO VADIS!



MESSALINA IMPERIAL VENUS – a 1960 routine Italian sword-and-sandal saga I had been meaning to see as it features a fascinating starlet Belinda Lee, who was one of the British Rank Organisation girls and who featured in British moves in the ‘50s before moving to Europe and the popular peplum movies of the era, before being killed in a car accident in 1961 while still in her 20s. Maybe she would have had a better career … Here she is the evil Messalina, wife of Claudius (a minor character here) as she plots to take control using lovers and having people assassinated. There are also some Christians of course, but Messalina the ex-vestal virgin gets her comeuppance eventually. It is a good German issue actually with German and English subtitles and interesting enough, though without a strong male lead. Directed by one Vittorio Cottafavi.

JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHERN – Another interesting biblical, released in 1962 but must have been filmed about 1960 (as star Belinda Lee died in 1961), directed by veteran Irvin Rapper (who lived to be 101!). It has decent production values, and a score by Mario Nascimbene, as it expands on the biblical story of Joseph sold into Egypt and his coat of many colours. Geoffrey Horne from BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (and BONJOUR TRISTESSE and THE TEMPEST, both ’58) is Joseph, biblical veteran Finlay Currie his father and one of the brothers is Terence Hill as Benjamin. Robert Morley has a whale of a time hamming it up as the merchant Potiphar and Belinda Lee, looking sensational in a black wig, is Potiphar’s deceitful wife who puts the make on Joseph. It is all quite watchable as Rapper (a long way from NOW VOYAGER) makes it seem effortless.

and: not a sword-and-sandal but certainly an oddity I finally caught up with:



THE TROJAN WOMEN – Funny how one resists certain movies. Despite my admiration for those leading actresses I just never wanted to see this Michael Cacoyannis 1971 version of the Euripedes Greek tragedy, and despite having the dvd for over a year, I was in no hurry to see it. But as it is a week of exploring female roles I gave it a go, and it certainly lived up (or down) to my expectations. Perhaps Greek tragedies are now unfilmable (though Cacoyannis’ ELECTRA was an exception). Here he is showcasing Katharine Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave, Genevieve Bujold and Irene Papas who all get their moments but they are Acting, Acting, Acting. It just gets tiresome and is in fact rarther risible as they are dressed in rags, scrabbling around in the dust in a barren desert landscape (rather like out-takes from THE LIFE OF BRIAN) – but these are Trojan noblewomen and Troy has just been captured, it would not be reduced to rubble just yet, so one queries the look of the film. Redgrave produces a weird animal-like shriek as she is told her son has to die, and it is fascinating to see the leonine Hepburn, as the queen Hecuba, at this stage of her career after her late ‘60s successes and before her frailties set in. Papas scores best though as the caged Helen, proud and defiant in her nakedness. Brian Blessed and Patrick Magee are the only males of note. It is certainly an interesting oddity, but hardly one to re-see.

Next lot: Steve Reeves THE GIANT OF MARATHON, THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII, Jeffrey Hunter GOLD FOR THE CAESARS, Anthony Quinn ATTILA, Kirk Douglas ULYSSES, Jeanne Crain NEFERTIRI PRINCESS OF THE NILE etc

Fantasy double bill: The Moonspinners / Moonfleet

Here's an antidote to grey wintry snowy skies: THE MOON SPINNERS, a 1964 Walt Disney confection set in sunny Crete - its still a delicious entertainment. One of Walt's Hayley Mills films it boasts an incredible cast of various acting styles from silent star Pola Negri to method man Eli Wallach, plus cute young leads Hayley and Peter McEnery, intense Greek actress Irene Papas (who is wasted here in a nothing role), marvellous British stage and movie actress Joan Greenwood (whom I have rhapsodised about several times here, see label) and English farcuers John Le Mesurier and Sheila Hancock - now one of England's great dames.

Directed by Disney regular James Neilson from a Mary Stewart adventure story, it has Hayley as the sweet young thing travelling in Greece with her Aunt (la Greenwood) who is collecting local folksongs for the BBC!, and becoming involved with strange young chap McEnery who it turns out is spying on local crook Wallach as he (Peter, that is) lost his job at the bank due to some missing jewels which it turns out Eli is going to sell to the reclusive wealthy Madam Habib (Pola - who makes a splendid late entrance with her pet leopard) - dependable Andre Morell (Mr Greenwood) captains her yacht where everyone converges for the climax. Add in escapes from locked windmills and lots of local colour, plus of course Hayley's first proper kiss! So it is all sweetly amusing.



A grimmer view of Crete was also on view that year, in Cacoyannis's ZORBA THE GREEK, which at least had an iconic role for Papas. McEnery (who was the boy in VICTIM) went on to an interesting career, he did another Disney THE FIGHTING PRINCE OF DONEGAL, and Vadim snapped him up for LA CUREE (THE GAME IS OVER) with sex kitten Fonda, he was with Glenda Jackson in NEGATIVES, and well as ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE (as the enterprising Mr Sloane) and THE ADVENTURES OF GERARD etc. He was the first Hamlet I saw on stage in 1967, and also in an 80s revivial of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. I always liked Hayley back then, but she grew up to be perfectly ordinary as an adult - it was nice seeing her recently as the mother in law in an African medical tv series WILD AT HEART.

This is really a Joan Greenwood double bill - she is also fascinating in Fritz Lang's 1955 adventure MOONFLEET - which is totally different from the children's classic novel by J Meade Faulkner. It is also filmed in California but captures perfectly late 18th century England among the smugglers of the Dorset coast. Jon Whiteley is the little boy sent to stay with Jeremy Fox (Stewart Granger, at his most dashing) who of course is the leader of the smugglers. Add in churchyards, deserted tombs, a missing diamond, and intrigue with villains George Sanders and Joan Greenwood and one has a perfect period entertainment. Viveca Lindfors is also present. This is one I enjoyed as a child and still do now, its one of the high points (like ADVENTURES OF QUENTIN DURWARD) of the MGM '50s costume drama.