Stella, 1955

Melina Mercouri's first film (at the age of 35) STELLA, directed by Michael Cacoyannis, is an astonishing drama, a Greek version of CARMEN .... one watches fascinated as this tale of love and revenge builds to a stunning crescendo. 

Stella is a taverna singer who has romances but doesn't want to compromise and settle down. She hates the idea of marriage, particularly to a man who wants her to stay at home with babies and in fact lock her up. She is a restless, rebellious Greek woman who plays with men and enjoys her life as much as she can. But when she meets a young football player Mitso, things get complicated. He forces her to agree to their marriage and he and his mother fix the date, but Stella realises she cannot go through with it, despite knowing how the jealous Mitso will react. The stage is set for a Greek tragedy.

Melina is marvellous in the early scenes, fascinating all the men, whom we see doing those Greek dances and enjoying their masculine culture in the bars and taverns. Women are very much subordinate here - apart from free-living Stella. 
She tires of her current beau - Aleko - despite he having bought a piano for her; he later kills himself.. Once she and the sporty Mitso set eyes on each other, their passions erupt ...... We also get to know Stella's pals at the tavern, the girl who is jealous of her success with men and the older woman who tries to protect her. There is also a pertinent scene with Mitso's mother who makes it clear what her son expects in a wife and how it is best not to thwart him ... but Stella, like CARMEN will face her own destiny. Instead of going to her wedding she goes dancing with that 19 year old admirer dancing into a frenzy, as does Mitso back at the taverna .... 

George Foundas is Mitso - he was also in Cacoyannis's ZORBA THE GREEK where he also stabs the Greek widow (Irene Papas) whom his son killed himself over. 
STELLA was at the Cannes Film Festival in 1955 where Mercouri met Jules Dassin whom she married - their NEVER ON SUNDAY was that sensation in 1960 and all their work was at least interesting. The vivid music score here is by Manos Hadjidakis. Cacoyannis went on to several other fascinating movies like THE TROJAN WOMEN and odd misfires like THE DAY THE FISH CAME OUT in 1967 (Trash label), and of course the huge hit of ZORBA ...

This was the mercurial Mercouri's first cinema role and Melina (1920-1994) mesmerises here, as indeed she did in most of her roles: in NEVER ON SUNDAY, PHAEDRA, Dassin's LA LOI, TOPKAPI, 10.30 PM SUMMER and the rest. Check the Melina label for more reviews. 

As I mentioned in other posts, I had an afternoon with Melina back in 1968 when she led a march and demonstration in Trafalgar Square in London protesting about poverty in Biafra, Africa. I was an idealistic 22 year old and Melina led the march, resplendent in a long red dress and lots of gold chains. She of course became a Greek MP and campaigned for the return of those Elgin Marbles in the British Museum. 

Greek tragedy, Turkish delight - a Melina double-bill.

I came across Rex Reed's 1967 article on Melina Mercouri, when sorting out books in the garage, and just have to share this opening paragraph: "Years from now, when we're all dead and gone, they'll still be talking about Melina Mercouri. They'll talk, because in an age full of plastic people, she was the real thing." Melina was on Broadway at the time, in a musical ILLYA DARLING, based on her hit film NEVER ON SUNDAY.
 

PHAEDRA, 1962 is a retelling of the Greek myth of Phaedra. In modern Greece, Alexis's father, an extremely wealthy shipping magnate, marries the younger, fiery Phaedra. When Alexis meets his stepmother, sparks fly and the two begin an affair. What will the Fates bring this family? Alexis's roadster and the music of Bach figure in the conclusion. 

NEVER ON SUNDAY was that great surprise hit of 1960, as European cinema was getting more popular and outside of the arthouses, that song and the music of Mikis Theodorakis swept the world. (I still have the soundtrack EP with Melina singing the theme song). Jules Dassin and Melina Mercouri were hot, after their previous films like STELLA and LA LOI in 1959. They next turned to Greek tragedy and Euripides:  PHAEDRA, instead of Elektra, Antigone or Medea. Its a brilliantly shot drama with great black and white images as the relentless Phaedra sacrifics all for the love of her stepson Alexis. 

It starts with shipping magnate Thanos (Raf Vallone) celebrating the launch of his latest vessel, the "Phaedra", then he unwisely sends his wife Phaedra to London to bring back his son - Perkins. They meet at the British Museum, by the Elgin Marbles (which Mercouri when a later MP campaigned tirelessly to have returned to Greece); she thows an expensive ring into the Thames as the price to pay and soon they are having a passionate affair in Paris. 

Back in Greece Thanos has plans to link his son with the daughter of a friendly rival thus making the the most powerful family in Greece, but Phaedra is burning up with passion which will not be thwarted, to the alarm of her faithful servant .... The sybolism is laid on as the Aston Martin car which Alexis loves and has been bribed with arrives in Greece in a big box - the natives bless themselves and say it looks like a coffin. The young people go dancing, and Alexis begs Phaedra to leave him alone.  Then disaster strikes - the "Phaedra" has sunk with loss of life of crew. Phaedra chooses this moment to arrive at Thanos's office as they are announcing the names of the dead, to tell her husband that she loves Alexis and there will be no marriage .... The Greek tragedy ending is clear - Thanos beats up his son who drives off in that car, which soon plunges over a cliff, as Phaedra, assisted by her servant, prepares to take her own life. The images are stunning - Phaedra all in white with a white turban and dark glasses, pushing her way through the wailing relatives of the dead, all in black. She has a great Dior wardrobe too.

Mercouri is a fascinating presence, like Moreau (they were both in THE VICTORS, 1963) or Signoret, able to look radiant or haggard at will. Pauline Kael has referred to her "drag queen baritone" and she does seem to have an unusual voice to suit a larger than life persona. She and Dassin continued making films, like PROMISE AT DAWN and A DREAM OF PASSION which were certainly interesting. She died in 1994 aged 73 after her later years in the Greek Parliament.  I remember an afternoon with her in 1968, that revolutionary year, when I was 22 and attending a march in Trafalgar Square about aid for Biafra in Africa. Melina was leading the march and looked splendid in a long red dress with lots of gold chains. 10.30 PM SUMMER in 1966 is rather a lulu, but quite enjoyable, a version of Duras with the intriguing threesome of Peter Finch, Melina and Romy Schneider, and considered quite daring at the time. (Review at Melina, Romy, Peter labels). During the '60s she was one of the great European ladies, along with Anouk Aimee, Monica Vitti, Romy Schneider, Liv Ullmann, Stephane Audran, Ingrid Thulin, Loren, Lollobrigida, Cardinale etc. Irene Papas of course was other great Greek actress, pity they were never cast together ...

Perkins too after PSYCHO had some good years in Europe, mainly for Welles' THE TRIAL (with Moreau, Schneider, Martinelli), GOODBYE AGAIN (Perkins label) in Paris in '61 from Francoise Sagan, with Ingrid Bergman and Yves Montand was popular, and teamed with Loren again in the thriller FIVE MILES TO MIDNIGHT in '62, and with Bardot in THE RAVISHING IDIOT in 1964. PHAEDRA in Greece in '62 seems to have been unseen for a long time, but its certainly fascinating now; Kael also commented that the film's flaw is how could anyone believe Phaedra would leave Raf Vallone for boyish Tony Perkins ...

TOPKAPI is a bright, dazzling, colourful comedy thriller, from Eric Ambler, which was a big hit in 1964, and won Peter Ustinov a best supporting actor award. Its set in Istanbul and is about a daring jewel robbery. Dassin recreates his great RIFIFI robbery again, as the gang prepare to steal a priceless dagger from the Topkapi Museum - will they get away with it? 
Fun and thrills abond in equal measure, as Melina and Maximilan Schell recruit down on his luck Ustinov, as well as that other great scene-stealer Robert Morley. Melina's friend Despo from NEVER ON SUNDAY, is amusing here too as the lady-friend of Ustinov in the early scenes, Its a light-hearted caper taking in the sights of Istanbul, including those oiled wrestlers. I remember sitting through it twice when it opened in 1964, when I was 18.

Yes, war is hell ....

THE VICTORS. Good to see this 1963 anti-war film getting a rare airing on our TCM in the UK. It does not look 50 years old - written, produced and directed by Carl Foreman it is a very mixed bag now, but has a sensational cast acting out various episodes showing how war corrupts everyone, victors as well as losers and victims, as it follows the fortunes of a squad who arrive in Southern Italy and move up to occupied Berlin at the climax, intermixed with newsreels of war coverage at the time. Maybe Foreman (who produced THE GUNS OF NAVARONE) meant it to be a riposte to the gung-ho 1962 Zanuck all-star THE LONGEST DAY, but they must both have been in production about the same time ...

 
There are lots of strong sequences, some a bit over the top such as the execution of a deserter in the winter snow to the accompaniment of a Sinatra christmas song, and the shooting of the dog one soldier had befriended, as the squadron moves on and the dog runs after them ... there was also a now-deteted sequence showing a boy who sleeps with soldiers for money or food. The two main leads are Georges Peppard and Hamilton, one forgets what interesting young actors they were before excess and the perma-tanned life took over. There are also Vince Edwards, Eli Wallach, Maurice Ronet, Michael Callan, Peter Fonda, Robert Mitchum's son and, for a minute or two, a young Albert Finney for that grim climax in Germany. Wallach has a good episode with Jeanne Moreau ... (below).
 
The film was sold on its joblot of prestige European actresses at that interesting time when there was that growing interest in international cinema (The only female in THE LONGEST DAY was Zanuck's mistress Irina Demick) - so here we have Romy Schneider (below) as the young musician corrupted into being a prostitute, shell-shocked French widow Jeanne Moreau, war profiteer Melina Mercouri, lonely Italian wife Rosanno Schiaffino and Elke Sommer and Senta Berger as two sisters enjoying wartime benefits in wartorn Berlin. Something for everyone then! 

Summertime blues ...

SUMMER THINGS, 2002. A quite amusing French comedy by Michel Blanc (MONSIEUR HIRE) who also wrote it. A disparate group go on vacation to Le Touquet: the wealthy Charlotte Rampling whose husband Jacques Dutronc decides to stay at home as his life is rather complicated – he has been having an affair with their friend, Julie a single mother, and is now seeing his personal assistant who seems to be a transsexual. Their friends Vero (Karin Giard) and her husband are broke and trying to keep up appearances – they are staying in a caravan site. Their teenage son Loic (Gaspard Ulliel – THE SEA WALL) hates this and manages to get a bed at the hotel as Vero is looking after Julie’s baby.
Julie falls for a hotel lothario, and Loic meets a rich girl who takes him sailing. There is also Michel Blanc who is insanely jealous over his beautiful wife Carole Bouquet as he imagines every man is having sex with her. Charlotte and Bouquet becomer friends and drink lots of champagne while poor Vero tries to keep up. Lots of comedy situations then, including Rampling and Dutronc’s sex-mad daughter who is in Chicago with an employee of his who has stolen some money for the trip and is promptly dumped by the daughter for a guy she meets on the plane – he is then mugged and robbed and left on his own in Chicago. By the end of it all Loic comforts Charlotte who is having a miserable time and gives her the courage to confront the holes in her marriage as she insists on separate bedrooms. It is all fitfully amusing in a Gallic way as Blanc works out his Robert Altman/Woody Allen inspired interweaving tales, it almost makes one feel like one has been on holiday too. Rampling is effective as usual in another of these late starring roles of hers (SWIMMING POOL, UNDER THE SAND, HEADING SOUTH etc).

SUMMER HOURS, 2008. A more sombre richly textured French drama by Olivier Assayas. Helene (Edith Scob – the mad doctor’s disfigured daughter in 1959’s EYES WITHOUT A FACE, reviewed here last year, French label) is the 75 year old matriarch facing her imminent demise as she sorts out the legacy she will leave for her 3 children. She was the mistress of a great artist so there are a lot of valuables which Museums are interested in. Two of the children though no longer live in France and rarely return – Juliette Binoche is the successful designer living and getting married in New York, Jeremie Renier and his family now live in China, only the eldest Charles Berling and his family live in Paris. He wants to keep the family home for all of them and their children to enjoy but the other two want to sell.


They get their way as we see the ramifications following Helene’s death. The house and grounds are loving explored, Isabelle Sadoyan is just right as the aged retainer. We see some pieces on display at the Musee d'Orsay as the house is stripped and teenagers have a farewell party there. There is a lot of sadness at the nature of how things change as families splinter and heritage takes over. A very satisfying movie then, like a good read with well-rounded characters.

10.30 PM SUMMER, 1966. A return visit to Dassin’s film of Marguerite Duras’s story which I had not seen since its release. A very oddball confection but with three people I like, heading by Melina Mercouri who is travelling around Spain with husband Peter Finch and friend Romy Schneider. A great cast then but it is all somehow very risible as Melina goes into over-drive. There is a murderer on the loose whom Melina tries to assist escape, as Finch and Romy also get involved. This provided a lot of hilarity at the time, I remember Pauline Kael being particularly choice on this version of exploring threesomes. For me though Finch and Schneider are always endlessly fascinating and I like Melina a lot too – I spent an afternoon with her once in 1968 when she was leading a protest march in London in Trafalgar Square about poverty in Africa – in Biafra then. I was an idealistic twenty-two year old and Melina looked terrific in a long red dress with lots of gold chains. The Dassin-Mercouri films get a lot of stick now but I like them! Melina can often resemble a croaky drag queen but she is certainlty intense here - that scene where she watches Finch & Schneider (a terrific pairing of favourite people of mine) together on the balcony as the rain beats down and the wanted murderer also hides on the roofs is brilliantly staged.



Now that summer is gone perhaps more summer movies?: SUMMERTIME, SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT, SUMMER AND SMOKE, SUMMER OF THE 17TH DOLL, LAST SUMMER, THE LONG HOT SUMMER ......

I will now be away for maybe two weeks - not alas on vacation as in SUMMER THINGS but have a hospital engagement (knee replacement surgery) followed by extensive physiotherapy, and I am not allowed my laptop! but I shall be returning with an appraisal of Visconti's LUDWIG, Antonioni's rare OBERWALD MYSTERY [below, with Monica Vitti] and his segment in I TRE VINTI, 5 Catherine Deneuve films (I shall keep her A CHRISTMAS TALE until that time), 4 versions of DORIAN GRAY, more silents like THIEF OF BAGHDAD and BEN HUR (1925), NATHALIE GRANGER and other Marguerite Duras films, KINSEY and other gay interest movies, and more People and Movies We Like and of course more Art, Trash and lots of Glamour!

A discovery !: La Loi (The Law), 1959

Where has LA LOI or THE LAW or LA LEGGE been for the last 50 years? How come it never played anywhere here in London since then - not on tv or on the arthouse circuit or even at the National Film Theatre? It is for me a major discovery and a great addition to that superior year 1959, and in fact plays like a new film with that great cast in their prime from 50 years ago. It is almost unclassifiable but leaves one joyous and exhilirated, not least for Jules Dassin's direction. The setting is tremendous too, that small Italian town is so real as everyone seems to live around and overlooking the main square. There is one stunning shot of Mastroianni with the night-time square in the background in deep focus that could be from some classic like LA DOLCE VITA (his next film). So, it is a stunning film and now in a new 2-disk dvd edition, for which many thanks.

LA LOI is from an accaimed novel by Roger Vailland and Dassin's film was made in 1958 (one of the dvd extras is a documentary at the time with interviews with the stars on set). It powerfully captures life in this small town where the menfolk gather to pass the time in the square and of course discussing everyone else's affairs and lusting after the local bombshell Marietta - Gina Lollobrigida has a whale of a time here and is dazzlingly attractive as she erupts all over the place - being tied to a table and whipped by her mother, stealing a tourist's wallet, looking after the local most powerful man Don Cesare (Pierre Brasseur) and falling for new guy in town engineer Marcello Mastroianni. Yves Montand is also in top form (much more so than in his English speaking roles) as the local Mr Big, Matteo Brigante, who aspires to Don Cesare's power and he also wants to have Marietta - who turns the tables on him with his knife.... his son Francesco (Raf Mattioli) is pining for Lucrezia (Melina Mercouri) the unhappy wife of a local businessman - they have some marvellous scenes together and Melina is also a delight here.
It is the kind of film where one has no idea what is going to happen next - comedy or tragedy or more vignettes of small town life: the jealous police chief does not want his large wife to appear in public in a swimsuit but when she does she attracts all the male attention is just one one such moment. The men also play a cruel drinking game called The Law, where one of them is chosen as The Boss who is then able to insult and humiliate the others if he so chooses - Montand certainly does to Paola Stoppa. Finally events come to a climax as Francesco and Lucrezia try to leave town by bus and are stopped by his father, dying Don Cesare sorts out Marietta's problems and Montand's Brigante loses his power in a stunning climactic scene with Lucrezia, and Gina and Marcello are finally able to marry.

It is deliriously done and the kind of film one wants to watch all over again, which I did. Dassin orchestrates it all with a sure light hand from the men in the square and those doves, to that powerhouse cast in their '50s perfection. There is a mystery too: the attractive young Francesco is played by Raf Mattioli whom I had not seen before, a check on IMDB reveals that he died the next year 1960 aged 23 but no other information seems available - what on earth happened to him? - he had that perfect '59 look with the shirt tied in a knot. Dassin of course went on to that huge hit with Melina NEVER ON SUNDAY in 1960. This though is a marvellous long unseen movie with Gina, Marcello, Yves and Melina firing on all cylinders. It was called WHERE THE HOT WIND BLOWS in the USA, no doubt to lure in more customers than the arthouse crowd. Dassin's RIFIFI (the daddy of all heist movies) was also a major discovery a few years back (he even remade it as TOPKAPI in '64)!



It has reminded me of an afternoon I spent with Melina in 1968 at a protest rally in Trafalgar Square London to highlight poverty in Biafra [we thought we could make a difference then]. Melina was leading the march and was stunning in a long red dress with lots of gold chains, and I was 22 and at the top of the march with her as we walked along and spent time in the square. What a time that was.....