White Hunter Black Heart, 1990

A thinly fictionalized account of a legendary movie director, whose desire to hunt down an elephant turns into a grim situation with his movie crew in Africa.

The blurb states: "For a film of "excitement, wit and intelligence" (Rex Reed) the hunt ends here. As both star and director of WHITE HUNTER BLACK HEART, Clint Eastwood plays one of his most colourful roles and crafts one of the most acclaimed movies of his 45-year career.

He plays John Wilson, a brilliant driven film director (loosely based on legendary John Huston) determined to turn his new project in Africa into personal adventure hunting a wild elephant. Jeff Fahey, Marisa Berenson and George Dzundza co-star in this rugged, robust movie from the novel by co-screenwriter Peter Viertel, who accompanied Huston to Africa in 1950 to work on THE AFRICAN QUEEN. Filmed on location in Zimbabwe and London, WHITE HUNTER BLACK HEART is a bold trek into the heart of adventure". 

Well they would say that I suppose, but there is no "loosely based" about it. Clint's character is meant to be Huston, and the film they are making is THE AFRICAN QUEEN, with Marisa Berenson a convincing Hepburn character (Bogie and Bacall - also on the location - are not as developed here). 

We were discussing THE AFRICAN QUEEN over at IMDB, which got me interested in this, which I had missed at the time, as indeed I had most of Eastwood's films, I just do not find him or his films interesting (apart from the early stuff like PLAY MISTY FOR ME or DIRTY HARRY). Viertel was a fascinating guy too, writer and Hollywood marverick, who married Deborah Kerr, and knew Huston, Hemingway etc. well, as per his fascinating memoir. (His mother Salka was an intimate of Garbo's). There is a strong British contingent here, with Timothy Spall, Alun Armstrong and Richard Warwick, and Fahey is a pleasing presence. Eastwood gets Huston's speech patterns and mannerisms off pat, so its a fascinating look at movie-making, but really anyone not familar with THE AFRICAN QUEEN or who these people were, would be totally at sea. The climax with the elephants is well handled too. Having seen Berenson recently on the stage, see label, it was interesting to see her again here and she too (like Blanchett) sketches a passable Kate. Hepburn's slim  memoir of making the film is a fascinating read too with great photographs. 
Huston returned to Africa in 1957 for another elephant saga, THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN, about saving elephants, not shooting them. 

The Lion & The 7th Dawn ....

A William Holden and Capucine double feature! and Audrey gets a look in too ...

Left: Capucine visits Hepburn and Holden on the set of PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES;  right: Capucine, Audrey and Givenchy on a night out in 1972.

Audrey Hepburn and Capucine were indeed good friends - muck-rakers are even trying to suggest more about them now, but we are not going into that, we don't do unconfirmed gossip here. Both of them though had relationships with William Holden - it is now documented that he and Audrey had a romance during SABRINA in 1954 but due to his vasectomy she went on to marry Mel Ferrer. She and Holden were teamed again in PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES (filmed in 1962 but not released until 1964, I found it unwatchable when finally caught up with it recently) but he was ageing rapidly as drinking a lot then .... By the early Sixties he was involved with French model turned actress Capucine - one of our favourites here, as per label items on her - and they did two films together. 

THE LION was filmed in Africa in 1962, directed by Jack Cardiff from a novel by Joseph Kessel, it is a fascinating re-view now. Its another of those 20th Century Fox CinemaScope and colour films that seldom get seen now. In it Capucine is the wife of game reserve warden Trevor Howard. Holden is her former husband who arrives as she asks him to visit as their daughter is growing up wild and getting too attached to the lion of the title. Pamela Franklin, just after playing Flora in THE INNOCENTS in 1961 score again as the tomboy daughter who has reared 'King' the lion since he was a cub and is now the only one who can handle him. Cardiff's memoir "Magic Hour" goes into the problems they had keeping Pamela Franklin safe when around the lion. It all ends rather predictably with Capucine looking very tailored in her African outfits. Holden of course had interests in wildlife in Africa so the project must have been one he was interested in.

Capucine was very effective too as the Eurasian facing the death penalty in THE SEVENTH DAWN in '64 where Holden gets involved with the ridiculously young Susannah York. The Malaysian setting is quite exotic, and Freddie Young's (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, DR ZHIVAGO, etc.) photography adds to the moody, violent and lush atmosphere of the film, directed by Lewis Gilbert. I liked this a lot in 1964 but again it has hardly been seen since, Perhaps it is one of those films that goes unnoticed for some reason, despite having an excellent story, superb cast and breathtaking scenery. Although it is "entertainment" we see the brutal reality of how a dedicated (and duped) Marxist revolutionary lets deep, committed friendships fall to the wayside, in fact uses those very friendships, to further his political cause, as Dhana (Capucine) faces execution by the British if Holden cannot capture the rebel leader as time runs out ...

Like other "entertainments" of the time, like Rank's THE HIGH BRIGHT SUN in 1964 or Fox's THE LOST COMMAND in '66, it tells a fictional story against political unrest - whether in Malaysia, Cyprus, Algeria or ... 

Capucine also did those two comedies with Peter Sellers that we like a lot: the first PINK PANTHER in 1963 and the zany, madcap WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT? in 1965. How we loved that then .... and, as per label, we like her in SONG WITHOUT END with Dirk Bogarde, NORTH TO ALASKA with Wayne, and the delirious Trash Classic that is WALK ON THE WILD SIDE, also in '62.

Holden, after his great '50s roles, particularly for Billy Wilder, again looks older here, and the dyed hair does not help, but he had further hits with Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH in '69 and NETWORK in '76, as well as all those lesser items. 

Holden died in 1981 aged 63; Capucine committed suicide in 1990 aged 62, and Audrey died in 1993, aged 63, Susannah died in 2011, aged 72 ...

The Prince and the Showgirl: a 1957 review

There seems to be an impression that THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL was a damp squib back in 1957 and did not get very good reviews and the general view was that the combination of Olivier and Monroe just did not work, it was of course a troubled production - as all Marilyn's later films were.  

"Films and Filming" though gave it an upbeat review, by one Rupert Butler. It is rather nice:

"The coupling of of Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe in THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL represents one of the shrewdest gimmicks in show-business: the film was guaranteed maximum curiosity value before one foot of it was shot. I found the combination of these two stars irresistible and salute a brave attempt to inject Ruritanian dash into the rather dreary provincialism of much of British Cinema. 

Terence Rattigan's smoothly carpeted THE SLEEPING PRINCE used one of the oldest themes extant in light romantic comedy - the mildly libertine Royalty who falls in love with a commoner. To the coronation of George V comes the Grand Duke Charles, Regent of Carpathia, a near middle-age stuffshirt whose idea of light relaxation from protocol is a a deux caviare supper with a ravishing George Edwardes showgirl, Elsie Marina. The devastating and indestructible naivety of his victim, however, is something new to the Regent. Getting rid of this embarrassing encumbrance proves harder than he imagines. 

Elsie stays around long enough to melt his heart, ride to the Coronation practically by accident, and patch up a quarrel between the Regent and his young son (Jeremy Spenser).When the couple eventually part they promise to meet again - somewhere, sometime ...

One has become accustomed over the years to a certain amount of filmed theatre - characters' entrances and exits, perfectly natural in a theatre, can appear on screen as artificial  ... and eventually become a trifle monotonous. 

Nothing though can quite affect the quality of the leading performances. Olivier, looking like an upper-crust Heathcliff armed with a monacle, makes the Regent a figure of considerable charm. Only in moments of straight comedy does the character come dangerously near burlesque. The baby-faced Elsie, who knows all the answer and can stride through any situation with a marvellous wide-eyed innocence is tackled with all the customary Monroe zest. Nor is the performance without its moments of pathos. 

In recommending this gay and inconsequential charade I would put in a word for the superb jewel-bedizened Queen Dowager of Sybil Thorndike and about all for Richard Wattis, a perfect personification of affronted Foreign Office dignity,"

Yes, it was good to see Richard Wattis in a strong role for once - he usually popped up for a moment or two in most British films - and it all makes one want to see it once again.  There are other comments on it here, Monroe label - is also fun seeing MM interacting with those British stalwarts like Gladys Henson, Jean Kent, Maxine Audley, Vera Day - as Olivier as the Regent demands that Elsie be taken back to Brixton ! I was too young to enjoy it when it opened, but we like seeing it over the years as Jack Cardiff makes Marilyn look her most beautiful here, in that iconic white dress, and Olivier's sly performance is a lot of fun too, and he was directing it as well! 

The blue dress and the red shoes

Just one marvellous costume from Michael Powell's THE RED SHOES that 1948 delirious movie - no wonder its a Scorsese favourite - from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger.

This particular costume was designed by Jacques Fath, a completely self-taught designer, learning his craft from studying museum exhibitions and books about fashion. He presented his first collection in 1937, and became - together with Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain - one of the three dominant influencers of postwar haute couture. 
In 1954, he died of leukemia. Thankfully he got to design some costumes for movies, He dressed Kay Kendall in GENEVIEVE and ABDULLAH THE GREAT.  She would have been ideal for his fashions (and she too died of leukemia in 1959 - as per my posts on her, Kendall label.). 

He also created this lovely outfit, in a wonderful shade of blue/sea green, for ballerina Moira Shearer. I love that dreamy scene where she wears it ascending those stairs to meet the ruthless but charismatic impressario Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) who will offer her that dream role in "The Red Shoes" ballet .... see Michael Powell/Jack Cardiff labels for more on this fantastic film, its a 1940s dreamworld where Jack Cardiff's Technicolor seems positively psychedelic - as in BLACK NARCISSUS. Moira Shearer is perfect here too - though she was later a victim of Powell's PEEPING TOM!  (right: Kay in GENEVIEVE).
Walbrook is a Person We Like here; he died in 1967 and is buried opposite Kay Kendall in that charming Hampstead cemetry I have written about here before - Walbrook label.

Sophia's new memoir .....

Sophia at the AFI tribute to her, November 2014, see below

Finally I have got my hands on Sophia Loren's new memoir, and yes, its the book Loren admirers have been waiting for. Now 80, she takes us through her life and career, with a marvellous selection of photographs, including notes and letters from the likes of Cary Grant and Richard Burton and of course Marcello Mastroianni and Vittorio De Sica.

She comes across as a likeable, very grounded woman - after that amazing life in the '50s and '60s and '70s when she worked non-stop, always getting on and off of planes and finally having her two children, and she still looks amazing now.

As per all my posts of Sophia here, I grew up with her movies, ever since I was 10 or 11 - I went to THE MILLIONAIRESS both nights it played in my hometown, as I did IT STARTED IN NAPLES and all the others I liked - I particularly like BOY ON A DOLPHIN and LEGEND OF THE LOST and HOUSEBOAT etc.

The book, for which she is sole author, covers in detail her early Italian films, which I have enjoyed discovering: ANNA, WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC, TWO NIGHTS WITH CLEOPATRA, ATTILA, GOLD OF NAPLES, TOO BAD SHE'S BAD, WOMAN OF THE RIVER (I loved seeing that as a kid, with her terrific mambo), THE SIGN OF VENUS, LUCKY TO BE A WOMAN and finally recently the delicious SCANDAL IN SORRENTO (PANE,AMORE, E...) - as per reviews here, see Sophia label..

It seems she is not doing a book-signing or appearance here in London, but there was a recent Sky Arts Interview with her, in Italian, also titled YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW, which was terrific (photo below) - and she did sign my copy of her first memoir (left) back in 1979 at that crowded Selfridges department store in London, it was marvellous to see her up close. Elizabeth Taylor was really the only comparable star to her back then. 

I did not care for the cover of this new book at first and felt it should be a more recent photograph of Sophia as we know her now, but actually it is very appropriate from her great late '50s era. 
She gives us nice comments on the likes of Burton, O'Toole, Alec Guinness, John Wayne, Peck etc. and one can see who she did not get on with too - Charlton Heston is only mentioned twice in passing, as is my favourite: EL CID, surely one of her most iconic roles - dismissed in one line, whereas she goes into detail on most of her other films! 
She couldn't possibly include everyone she has worked with of course, but some directors are not mentioned at all, like Anthony Mann or Stanley Donen, nor co-stars like Clifton Webb, Tab Hunter, Peter Finch, Jack Hawkins, Alan Badel or Brian Blessed, nor camera ace Jack Cardiff (who wrote revealingly about her in his memoir MAGIC TIME on when they were shooting LEGEND OF THE LOST, as I have mentioned before here, Loren/Cardiff labels), but there is quite a lot on her early days in Italian films and the directors (like Blasetti and Lattuada) she worked with then. 
Just two errors I noticed: a photo from ARABESQUE is captioned as being directed by Chaplin, when of course it was Stanley Donen; and the Peters get mixed up at one stage, Ustinov instead of Sellers. 
She is very discreet on Peter Sellers who became obsessed about her. The Cary Grant saga is nicely handled too. Brando gets short shift as well, and there's a delicious story about lunch at Audrey Hepburn's place (basically a lettuce leaf with garnish... Sophia had to make a sandwich when she got home!) She is frank on some of the films as well: THAT KIND OF WOMAN was not much of a success, despite being directed by the genius Sidney Lumet, and she learned a lot from Cukor on HELLER IN PINK TIGHTS which she now likes a lot. We finally find out what she did as an extra on QUO VADIS: she is one of the handmaidens tossing flowers at a victorious Robert Taylor, while her mother carries a big basket on her head - one may spot them next time one sees it then ! At least a decade or so later she was headlining her own epics! 

Here is my first publication on Sophia: a 1958 fan magazine, 64 pages on her life to then, I collected all that series, being 12 at the time, and still have the Sophia and Dirk Bogarde ones! 

I had felt that interview in the 2012 Hollywood issue of "Vanity Fair" might be her last comments on her life and career, so its nice to have a new book on and by her. There have been other biographies and books on her as a style icon and Italian woman, this new book is essential. She is getting another award next week from the American Film Institute in L.A (see link below), but hopefully we will see her in London again too, as at 80 she seems just as active as ever. 

http://variety.com/2014/scene/festivals/sophia-loren-spills-the-beans-%20%20%20on-co-stars-her-career-and-fellini-at-afi-fest-1201355304/

Below: she and Marcello in that great year 1954.

Showpeople - troupers

More weird and wonderful photos:

I like this tender moment with Flora Robson and John Ford on the set of YOUNG CASSIDY in 1964. Ford only directed the first 20 minutes of the film as he got ill and was replaced by Jack Cardiff - more on this film which I like a lot at Cardiff label.

Flora and Ford worked again on his last film, SEVEN WOMEN in 1966.

Left: Rock and Diana Dors, in the 50s. Right: Judy Garland and Juliet Mills visit Margaret Leighton in her dressing room - Margaret's stage make-up is rather much - she would have been playing Hannah Jelkes in that original run of Tennessee's NIGHT OF THE IGUANA, circa 1962 ...

Below: Rock with veterans Gloria Swanson and Tallulah Bankhead, at the premiere of his PILLOW TALK in 1959!

R.I.P.

Bryan Forbes (1926-2013), actor, director, writer, producer - another British titan of cinema gone. I re-saw KING RAT only last week (review below), and also caught Bryan in one of his acting roles in a re-run of THE COLDITZ STORY. He was also amusing as Rock Hudson's pal in the '53 SEA DEVILS among other acting roles. He was a major force in international cinema since 1960 when he and Attenborough produced THE ANGRY SILENCE and his directing starting with WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND, THE L-SHAPED ROOM etc. and those nice comedies like THE WRONG BOX.

Like Schlesinger he was great with actors: Edith Evans in THE WHISPERERS, Kim Stanley in SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON, Leslie Caron in L-SHAPED ROOM (with its early fair treatment of gay characters) - all 3 Oscar-nominated as Best Actress; and his pal Katharine Hepburn leading that great cast in THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT, a terrible flop at the time in 1969, but an amusing oddity now.

Masina, Hepburn, Evans, Leighton in CHAILLOT

The original STEPFORD WIVES remains terrific, probably the best of his later films, review at '70s label, (lets draw a veil over INTERNATIONAL VELVET and THE SLIPPER AND THE ROSE, entertaining enough but doomed efforts to re-capture that family audience back in the '70s). THE RAGING MOON, 1970, has its admirers too, with his wife "the lovely" Nanette Newman, who was in all his films, and KING RAT in 1966 is a terrific war movie - no Nanette there though!

He also wrote novels later and ran a book-shop, and had been ill for some time. A man of many talents then (like his friend Richard Attenborough), going from being an attractive young jobbing actor to the saviour of the British Cinema, as he was called in the '70s, when he was in control of Elstree Studios which produced  successes like THE RAILWAY CHILDREN and Losey's THE GO-BETWEEN, before he resigned in 1971. His scripts for THE ANGRY SILENCE and THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN, both 1960, were well-crafted too. He certainly knew how to engage the audience. Perhaps someone like Kenneth Branagh would be his modern equivalant. A theatrical venture, directing Peter O'Toole as HAMLET was such a disaster in 1980 that it became a must see ... 
He also wrote "Ned's Girl" a nice biography of Edith Evans, who was a personal friend. He also wrote a nice piece on Katharine Hepburn back in 1969...

Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013) - RIP indeed, to another maestro of cinema who lived to a good age, 92 (like ace photographer Jack Cardiff aged 94 in 2009, Cardiff label). Ray was cinema's undisputed master of stop-motion animation and the man who brought the impossible to life for audiences worldwide for two generations and continues to do so now with dvds of his creations.

 

I only recently discovered his Kerwin Matthews films, THREE WORLDS OF GULLIVER being particularly brilliant, and 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (Fantasy label). Every holiday season here the original 1981 CLASH OF THE TITANS is aired, and we enjoy it all over again - that Medusa is a terrific creation. 1961's MYSTERIOUS ISLAND is terrific too, with the giant crab and insect .... those films marvellously mixed great casts with those terrific effects, ok some of them look a bit cheesy now in this CGI age, but for their time were ground-breaking - how kids of all ages loved JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, and the later Sinbads, not to mention THE VALLEY OF GWANGI and ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.!

As my friend PEPLUM put it: His creations inspired an entire generation of moviegoers AND fx aficionados movie-makers like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg whom went on, on their own terms, to change the face of cinema as we know, for better or for worse.

Storm Thorgerson (1944-2013) - the of-Norwegian-descent graphic designer best known for his work on album covers, creating those timeless iconic images for groups like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, Genesis and others. 
The prism and pyramids poster inserts (I had them on the wall) for "Dark Side of the Moon" and the man on fire for "Wish You Were Here" and the Battersea Power Station of "Animals" were in so many record collections back in the '70s, the great era of gatefold albums and album cover art, as designed by Thorgerson and Hipgnosis, the graphic group he co-founded in '68, later diversifying into music videos. Pink Floyd called him "a graphic genius". 

Taylor Mead (1924-2013) lived to be 88 and was an actor, beat poet, and performance artist who (according to Harvard Film Archive) "was at the furiously beating heart of the American avant-garde and counterculture for over sixty years". Part of New York's bohemian scene in the 1940s he was also part of the Andy Warhol factory in the 60s - being one of those LONESOME COWBOYS (he and Viva are amusing among the pretty cowboys) or starring in TAYLOR MEAD'S ASS, as well as THE FLOWER THIEF, COFFEE & CIGARETTES, and popping up in MIDNIGHT COWBOY, UNION CITY and others ... having survived the Aids crisis and drugs, which took a heavy toll on a lot of his contemporaries, his later years "as a lonely old barfly fighting eviction from a squalid Lower East Side apartment and feeding stray cats" saw him as a latter-day Quentin Crisp ....RIP to a true original.

Black Narcissus, once more...

BLACK NARCISSUS was on once again and once again there I was watching it one more time, its a film that never palls and is so richly textured that one discovers new aspects to it. It is probably equal to BLOW-UP now among my best/favourite films ever ... as per my previous posts here.

It is on the one hand a very 1940s lurid melodrama set in that convent/harem high in the Himalayas, from the popular book by Rumer Godden. It is also maybe the best of the Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger classics (I also love I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, THE RED SHOES..) as key British films of the '40s. The look of this 1947 film is amazing, so many shots of the convent and the mountains and landscapes are beautiful as are those flashbacks to Ireland in that rich '40s Technicolor, as photographed by ace camerama Jack Cardiff (see also PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, and that desert adventure LEGEND OF THE LOST, plus THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL etc, as per Cardiff label).

This time around I liked that early introduction to the convent as we follow the old Ayah (May Hallatt) around the deserted halls while the mother superior registers her disapproval of young Sister Clodagh being put in charge of the mountain convent. The other nuns are nicely depicted too: Sister Honey, Sister Briony and Sister Phillipa who plants flowers instead of vegetables ... Deborah Kerr at 26 (a decade before her lovely Sister Angela in HEAVEN KNOWS MR ALLISON) is ideal as Sr Clodagh and Kathleen Byron's Sister Ruth comes into her own in the closing scenes as she leaves the convent, puts on that red dress and lipstick and goes in search of Mr Dean, the land agent in the shorts, who has been having an unsettling feeling on both her and Sr Clodagh .... there is that scene in a red mist as Mr Dean rejects her .... the convent at sunset as the nuns search for her, and Sr Clodagh wearily goes to toll the bell .... this is delirious stuff that no matter how often one sees it keeps one enthralled. that stunning cut too and then the aftermath .... 

The nuns leave as the clouds swallow up the convent, and there is that deeply emotional final meeting of Sr Clodagh and Mr Dean when their affection and love is apparant as they have to say goodbye, and she asks him to do one final thing for her ... I love too that shot of the rain starting to fall on those giant leaves as the caravan moves on.  Back around 1980 when I got miy first vhs video recorder BLACK NARCISSUS was one of the first films I taped on those clunky cassettes, so we used to see that scene over and over ... I have not even mentioned Jean Simmons as Kanchi and Sabu as the young general with that perfume "Black Narcissus" from the Army & Navy Stores in London ... and to think it was all created in the studios. 
Soon: another late '40s Technicolor treat: Ealing's SARABAND FOR DEAD LOVERS.

Up, up and away ...

A perfect day's viewing for New Year's Day: a discovery, an old favourite, and an absolute horror: in other words: UP, LEGEND OF THE LOST and the 2010 ROBIN HOOD ...as well as those Divas (below) ..

UP was one Pixar cartoon I somehow missed - but I loved and saw FINDING NEMO several times, and the TOY STORY films. UP is dazzlingly inventive, amusing and emotional by turn. 

Young Carl Fredrickson meets a young adventure-spirited girl named Ellie. They both dream of going to a lost land in South America. 70 years later, Ellie has died. Carl remembers the promise he made to her. Then, when he inadvertently hits a construction worker, he is forced to go to a retirement home. But before they can take him, he and his house fly away by tying thousands of balloons to his home . However, he has a stowaway aboard: an 8-year-old boy named Russell. Together, they embark on an adventure, where they encounter talking dogs, an evil villain and a rare bird named Kevin

This plays out delightfully and socks an emotional punch as well. I have to get the dvd now and make sure my friends see it too. A great movie to share with a loved one .... Maybe the best Pixar ? as directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, with the cast voices led by Edward Asner.

I have written about  LEGEND OF THE LOST a few times here before - here is what I said in 2010:

"I loved the 1957 Henry Hathaway adventure LEGEND OF THE LOST when I saw it as a kid and had become fascinated by Sophia Loren (from the previous year's BOY ON A DOLPHIN and that Italian film WOMAN OF THE RIVER) and its still terrific now - call it what you will: a Sahara western, an oater, a programmer - its still terrific entertainment as John Wayne (iconic as ever), 23 year old Sophia, and Rosanno Brazzi trek into the Sahara from Timbuktu in search of lost treasure and find that ancient Roman ruined city which looks rather like Leptis Magna in Libya (one of those places I must get to see...).

What rises this above the usual films of its type though is that it was photographed by Jack Cardiff - the desert never looked more attractive, well apart from in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Whether its Sophia cooking by sunset or deep in the ruined city it always looks terrific. The shots are as good as any in those other classics lensed and lit by Cardiff: BLACK NARCISSUS, PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, THE RED SHOES, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH etc. Jack also pulled off the same trick with Fleisher's THE VIKINGS - that too still looks perfect now, as does his work on THE AFRICAN QUEEN, WAR AND PEACE, THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL etc - Ekberg, both Hepburns, Loren, Monroe, Ava, Leigh etc all look their best when lit by Jack Cardiff. Cardiff's book MAGIC HOUR has a very interesting chapter on it and his chaste romance with Sophia .... "

I had wanted to see Ridley Scott's ROBIN HOOD but negative reviews put me off, so I thought I would wait for the dvd, but now here it is on tv. I began recording it but alighted on it during the last half hour and could not believe what I was seeing. This is a very grim dour take on the legend .... no wonder the original Maid Marian Sienna Miller had to be replaced, she would have looked far too young for Russell Crowe here, but Cate Blanchett seems all wrong too and the sight of her in armour and fighting battles is plain ludicrous. After seeing that sea battle where the French arrive in what looks like scenes from a D-Day landing World War II film, with all the usual bloodshed and sheer carnage - and of course the south coast is nowhere near Nottingham - I just did not want to see the rest of it. Eileen Atkins (replacing Vanessa Redgrave) seemed wasted too as Eleanor of Aquitaine. If you are going to do Robin Hood give me the legend any time - 

I remember watching Olivia De Havilland in 1972 watching herself and Erroll Flynn riding in the forest in the sparkling 1938 film, when she appeared at London's National Film Theatre - that was 40 years ago, she is still here now in her 90s, as is her sister Joan - and we liked the '52 Disney Richard Todd version too (where Martita Hunt was a splendid Queen Eleanor) and the derided Kevin Costner one was a lot of fun, particularly when Geraldine McEwan and Alan Rickman were on-screen. This though, like Scott's KINGDOM OF HEAVEN or that recent TROY looks totally unreal - even the sea and the ships seems CGI ... Mark Strong again impresses as the best heavy around. There are over 520 mainly negative reviews of it over at IMDB, reading just a few of them is enough as they itemize everything that is wrong with this film from the script and music to the actual story.  Of course there really was no need for yet another Robin Hood film as they thought they were being clever deconstructing the legend ... Richard Lester's 1976 ROBIN AND MARIAN is the one to beat. 

John, Maureen, Clifton, Sophia ....

Rainy day doodlings: THE QUIET MAN was on again yesterday .... in a movie of magic moments I love that scene where Wayne's Sean Thornton first sees Mary Kate Danaher ..... we like Wayne in lots of movies: those Ford and Hawks classics - THE SEARCHERS with Jeff Hunter and Natalie Wood, RIO BRAVO with Feathers (Angie Dickinson) and Colorado (Ricky Nelson), and the bliss that is Hawks' HATARI; his Joe January in Hathaway's Sahara western LEGEND OF THE LOST with the blooming Sophia Loren in 1957 (Loren label), the still delighful NORTH TO ALASKA (Westerns label) also for Hathaway, and of course here in THE QUIET MAN with another of his perfect co-stars Maureen O'Hara.

Maureen's MIRACLE ON 34th STREET is on tomorrow, with the even younger Natalie Wood (I must get around to GYPSY and LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER soon) its one I am not that familiar with, I may only have seen it once ... so we will tune in again, particularly now with Christmas rushing at us. 

 
The Maureen one I do want to see though is SITTING PRETTY, her 1948 comedy with Clifton Webb as Mr Belvedere, the baby-sitter. This seems impossible to obtain now here in the UK.  I saw it when I was a kid though, at one of those Sunday matinee revivals, but obviously I would appreciate it a lot more now. Maureen's book was a good read and she is still going strong in her 90s ... 

I have done an 'appreciation' on Clifton here,  see label - particularly his Negulesco films I like, like WOMAN'S WORLD and BOY ON A DOLPHIN, with Sophia. There is also a book on Clifton, which I just had to order ... there was 1 copy left and I had to have it. Seems he began it himself and did the first half dozen chapters .... should be a fascinating look back at his career and that Hollywood gay era in the 40s and earlier ..... his early career as a dancer, and hits like LAURA, and his family movies like CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, to his later waspish roles. I particularly like his art collector in BOY ON A DOLPHIN (below, with Sophia), as mentioned before here ...
The Clifton book has got good comments - The Zanucks regarded him as "family": There has never been a replacement for him; he could do everything and did it in a singular style that could never be repeated. He was 20th Century Fox's most unlikely star ... who was also a meticulous and devoted friend".