Fantastic French flick

CHAIR DE POULE was directed by legendary French director Julien Duvivier in 1963 and what a treat it is - a blacker than black noir, which seagues off into THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE territory and then goes a whole lot further ... it's English title HIGHWAY PICKUP sounds kind of porny but also captures it's essence.

My friend Melvelvit-1 over at IMDB puts its so succintly in his review:

Locksmith Daniel Boisett (Robert Hossein) and his co-worker Paul Genest (Jean Sorel), friends since childhood, supplement their income with the occasional burglary until life spins wildly out of control one rainy night after Paul kills a man who catches them robbing his apartment. Paul manages to escape but Daniel's wounded by police and, taking the fall alone, is later sentenced to 20 years in prison but, enroute to the big house, he escapes and hitches a ride with the middle-aged Thomas (Georges Wilson) who offers him a job at his roadside restaurant. Daniel quickly accepts but soon finds out that Thomas' sexy young wife, Maria (Catherine Rouvel), has had her eye on the nest egg in her husband's safe for a long time and could use a man like him...

Julien Duvivier's classic French noir, based on a ripe piece of pulp fiction by James Hadley Chase ("Come Easy -Go Easy"), careens into THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE territory at this point but the story takes so many breathless twists and turns, any comparisons are ultimately unfair. All kinds of complications ensue when Maria's husband ends up dead and Paul pops up again but "no good deed goes unpunished" in this perverse universe where greed, lust, and self-preservation trump decent human emotions like love and friendship every time. Daniel's the quintessential noir anti-hero, caught in a vortex of nightmarish cause and effect, and the femme fatale's a feral sex kitten who double-crosses anyone who crosses her path. Like MGM's version of THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, much of HIGHWAY PICKUP takes place in broad daylight, giving the film an "evil under the sun" aura and even though a stylistic shadow world, hallmark of the American Film Noir, is absent here, thematically the film's as bleak and as black as they come. The bitterly ironic ending, reminiscent of both Robert Siomak's CRISS CROSS and Stanley Kubrick's THE KILLING, is a memorable one.

It is one of life's pleasures to see a movie that rivets one and leaves you exhilerated - and CHAIR DE POULE does this in spades. Duvivier of course is one of France's great directors, ever since PEPE LE MOKO in 1937. As good as De Broca's '64 Belmondo caper L'HOMME DE RIO then! And now for those Jean-Pierre Melville, Chabrol, Malle and Ozon titles I have been meaning to catch up with ...

Another Sorel flick I saw recently was a dreadful Spanish giallo DEATH SURROUNDS MONICA from 1976 which was for me dire on every level. I am not an expert on those Italian giallo thrillers popular in the 60s and 70s - I liked the Sorel ones like SHORT NIGHT OF THE GLASS DOLLS (with Ingrid Thulin), A QUIET PLACE FOR A KILL (one of his with Carroll Baker) and LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN (with Florinda Bolkan) (as per reviews) but this one was just a skinflick with laughable pretentions...

Here is Sorel with Sidney Lumet on A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE back in 1962, and with Lilli Palmer in ADORABLE JULIA (also 1962) which, as per my review at Sorel label, is a fascinating German-French co-production set in London's theatreland from the Maugham play, where Palmer, Boyer and Sorel all excel.

Revisits ...

... back to the houseboat, Naples, Paris and Padua ...

I had been meaning to re-visit HOUSEBOAT for some time, as I last saw it when I was 12 back in 1958 and I was pleased I enjoyed it just as much this time. It is a very pleasing comedy with Cary Grant in his prime, as he was back then in the late '50s (he was going on to NORTH BY NORTHWEST next) and Sophia Loren of course in her early 20s, as she was then when co-starring with all those older guys like Gable, Ladd, Wayne and Cary. It seems this script was originally by Grant's then wife Betsy Drake, but the script was considerably revised when Loren came on board! Melville Shavelson keeps it nicely afloat. Cary as the widower moving to the houseboat has some good moments with the children, particularly Paul Petersen as the oldest (Petersen went on, as per his biography on IMDB, to work for the rights of child actors). Sophia delighted us back then as Cinzia the fabulous Italian girl who escapes from her music conductor father and meets up with the youngest son at the funfair - soon she is the new maid, despite being a socialite on the run! The run-down houseboat soon looks a treat, no wonder country club girl Martha Hyer is worried! She chooses a horrible gold gown for Cinzia to wear but it soon looks sensational when Loren is wearing it ... this is all just a very nice treat, and probably the best of Loren's American films of the late '50s. Of course by then her so-called relationship with Grant was over ...


Back in Italy for 1960's IT STARTED IN NAPLES, also helmed by Shavelson, is equally still very enjoyable as stuffy Clark Gable arrives in Naples to sort out the estate of his late brother, only to find there is a cute streetwise kid who lives with aunt Sophia ... it is all very colourful as we explore Naples, Sophia sings and dances in a nightclub, the kid stays out late and Vittorio De Sica is on hand to help Sophia in court. I loved it back then and it still works now, despite Gable really being too old here (he must have been about 30 years older than Loren) - this was his penultimate movie as back in America he began THE MISIFTS ...



THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS was one I saw as a kid and I remember being upset by the scene where Elizabeth Taylor is locked out in the rain and then dies very prettily in hospital (just like Kim Novak in THE EDDY DUCHIN STORY - traumatic for a 10 year old!). It may not be very F Scott Fitzgerald but in 1954 Taylor looked astounding and is ravishing here [she was Mrs Wilding and the mother of two at the time and this one of her 4 films this year] - but whose bright idea was it to team her with Van Johnson? He is tolerable in something like BRIGADOON but just seems all wrong here, stuffy and boring and just not interesting and so is the self-pitying character ... Donna Reed and Walter Pigeon and a very young Roger Moore are on the sidelines and the young moppet is very resistable!



THE TAMING OF THE SHREW is one I had not seen since its release in 1967 and its been rather forgotten but the BBC showed it as part of their Taylor tribute (along with a good new documentary) and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Taylor looks great and has some nice moments - despite being rather shrill in her shrew scenes - and she looks like she is enjoying herself. Good cast of English thespians too, it is always a pleasure to see Michael Hordern mugging, and there's young Michael York, Cyril Cusack, Victor Spinetti etc. and of course Zeffirelli makes it all look terrific. I am not sure how much Shakespeare is left in the movie, but it certainly made the 2004 film of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (which I learned and played at college, on after it) look dull by comparison!

Michael Sarrazin RIP

Another R.I.P! Michael Sarrazin (1940-2011) was one of those interesting new actors who came along in the mid-60s and, again like most good-looking actors, had a good 10 years with some interesting hits and misses. As a leading man of the era he was ideal opposite the likes of Jacqeline Bisset and foil to Jane Fonda and Susannah York in THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY, 1969 - one of those movies we loved at the time and which I have been meaning to re-watch.

Sarrazin often played young drifters (as in HORSES) and is another one in the effective teasing thriller EYE OF THE CAT, 1967 (reviewed here previously). Other movies included Streisand's co-star in one of her minor movies, the amusing FOR PETE'S SAKE (1974), and THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD, and the monster in the television FRANKENSTEIN: THE TRUE STORY ('75). Other movies included SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION, THE FLIM FLAM MAN, and that Italian oddity in '68 with Julie Christie - IN SEARCH OF GREGORY, another one to re-watch sometime. Canadian Sarrazin was always interesting and had a nice laid-back presence. Among the roles he turned down was Joe Buck in MIDNIGHT COWBOY.

1934 cigarette cards - a selection .....

Double click images to enlarge...

300th post: 50 year old Antonioni feature

50 years ago, in January 1961, British magazine "Films and Filming" ran an Italian Cinema issue, just as LA DOLCE VITA, L'AVVENTURA and ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS were opening worldwide, as international and European cinema was taking off. It - the magazine - makes for fascinating reading now, with features on and by Antonioni, Fellini, Visconti, Pasolini and profiling those other Italian directors of note like Monicelli, Risi, Rosi.

Here is the feature by Michelangelo Antonioni - which may not have been seen since [click image twice to enlarge]. "Films & Filming", as per my other posts on it (see label), had its heyday from the '50s to the '80s (when it ceased publication) - I used to work for it and knew the late owner and editor, so perhaps an item like this helps keep their work alive.

Showpeople (11): Pals at play ...

Rock Hudson and Vera-Ellen painted gold [as Oscars!] in 1949; Tab, Tony (Perkins) and Natalie Wood out on the town [Tab and Tony were an item by then]; Jimmy, Elizabeth and Rock fooling around on GIANT; Guy Madison and Rory Calhoun with super-agent Henry Willson, who represented them, '47, both careers continued into the '60s: Rory, after his films with Marilyn and Betty Grable had a good sword-and-sandal in Sergio Leone's COLOSSUS OF RHODES, '61, Guy had some good westerns like THE COMMAND, '54 and romanced the likes of Jean Simmons in HILDA CRANE, 56, as per review; what do closeted heart-throbs talk about? - Dirk Bogarde and Rock in Italy in 1957 - "my closet is bigger than yours" perhaps?

Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter - friends or rivals?: both 20th Century Fox contract players they made at least 5 films together so must have hung out a lot on various sets, but Jeff is hardly mentioned in RJ's "tell-all" autobio.

Perhaps though it was more a case of friendly rivals than just pals? Seems Wagner really wanted that Martin Pawley part (Jeff's most iconic role) in THE SEARCHERS [which of course would have been his first pairing with Natalie] but John Ford had a mean streak - he tested Wagner several times but would never cast him whereas he used Hunter in 3 of his films .... They were free-lancing by the early '60s when a whole new raft of teen idols were appearing, so both hit the Euro-route - Wagner was luckier getting plum roles in hits like THE PINK PANTHER and arty fare like De Sica's THE CONDEMNED OF ALTONA with award-winners Loren and Schell, and then went successfuly into television. Despite KING OF KINGS for Nick Ray Jeff found himself in sword-and-sandal fare like GOLD FOR THE CAESARS and dabbled with STAR TREK but did not stay with it and alas died in 1969 aged 42. He will always be Martin Pawley though....

Above: Jeff being made up for WHITE FEATHER, 1955