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  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    A superb double bill on Film4 today. First,

    iu.jpg

    The second Harry Palmer film can't match The Ipcress File and I've always found the plot too confusing with too many double crosses to keep tabs on. Still it's Caine looking young and doing his thing.
    The Jewish woman working for the Israelis (is that the way to put it or do I have to report myself to David Baddiel's Twitter feed?) is obviously it seems dubbed by the same actress who dubbed Ursula Andress in Dr No.
    One creepy character I recognised as the sinister Slugworth in the later Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

    It cries out for John Barry but he only did the first film, on the other hand it's directed this time by Bond man Guy Hamilton.

    Nice shots of Berlin too. Then we had Berlin again in Bridge of Spies

    iu-1.jpg

    Enjoyed this a lot but it's a bit too polished really, that's Spielberg these days really. A bit 'on the nose' as they say. The era is almost done in the same way as Indy and the Crystal Skull.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,882Chief of Staff
    I saw David Fincher's latest, Mank, on Netflix. If you've never seen--or don't like--Citizen Kane and/or if you have no interest in Hollywood filmmaking in the 1930s and '40s, you will probably be bored out of your mind. But if you're someone like me who loves those things, this is a real treat--a brilliant recreation of the filmmaking style of the '40s, down to black and white photography and reel cues in the upper right corner of the screen. And Gary Oldman puts in another great performance as the boozy, anarchic screenwriter Herman Manciewicz (uncle of the Tom Manciewicz who worked on all the Bond scripts of the '70s) who pounded out the script for Kane in the teeth of W. R. Hearst's opposition, Orson Welles's badgering, and his own alchoholism. Great fun--if you're in the right audience.
    Vox clamantis in deserto
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent
    edited December 2020
    Topaz
    Hitchcock, 1969
    based on a novel by Leon (Exodus) Uris

    One of only a few of Hitchcock's Hollywood films I've never seen before. And its a spy film, how did I miss this one?

    Hitchcocks most recent film was another spy film, Torn Curtain. With A-list stars Paul Newman and Julie Andrews, that one was a taut human scale thriller about a phony defector scheme complicated when the defector's wife decides to join him. Very different from what was considered a spyfilm in the mid/late 60s, but a well told story. (and note how I can summarise the concept in half a sentence)


    Topaz is an overlong sprawling convoluted "epic" with dozens of characters, several digressions, that neither knows where to start its story nor where to end. And, for the first time since Rebecca (?) no A-list stars. Mostly about a French secret agent's adventures in Cuba at the time of the missile crisis.

    First half hour shows the defection of a highranking KGB officer and his family. This is all very exciting, but nothing to do with the films main plot or characters.
    After half an hour, the American agent who managed the defection (who has a very familiar voice) meets with a French agent and asks him to travel to Cuba.
    Which brings us to the real start of the story. This Cuban section is full of tense scenes, lots of detailed spycraft involving contraband photographs, eccentric supporting characters, a terrifying villain and the sympathetic widow of a hero of the revolution.
    Then just when we think the story is over with its tragic climax, it continues to drag on for another half hour in Paris, with our French agent pursuing a tangentially related plot, and the really interesting events we just witnessed in Cuba (specifically the human cost) are never mentioned again.
    Film just stops after 140 minutes with an ambiguous and morally unsatisfying scene at the airport. There had been three endings filmed, and this was Hitchcock's preferred ending.


    I say no A-list actors, but there were at least three supporting actors I recognised:
    - The American agent with the familiar voice was John Forsythe, the silver-fox lead from Dynasty and the unseen Charlie from Charlie's Angels. No wonder I recognised that voice.
    - Speaking off great voices, the terrifying Cuban villain was John Vernon, Dean Wormer from Animal House! I always said that character had a great movie villain voice! wikipedia says his very first acting job was the voice of Big Brother in a 1950s adaptation of 1984, and that voice woulda been perfect!
    - And most of interest to us, the Cuban leading lady is played by Karin Dor, from You Only Live Twice. Her character in YOLT was a bland rewrite of a better character from an earlier film, so watch this film to see her really get to show what she can do in a more interesting role. And she's doing cool spy-stuff, too.

    But who is playing our hero, the French secret agent?
    Frederick Stafford, who had been doing lo-budget eurospy Bond knock-offs before being discovered by Hitchcock. He had been the lead in a series of films about Agent 117! wikipedia claims Stafford had been one of the contendors to be the new Bond in OHMSS. say what you want about Lazenby's acting skills, but thankfully our Lazenby was more charismatic than this guy.


    I would not ordinarily waste time reporting on a film I did not think was good, but this one is Hitchcock and is a 1960s spy film, so is doubly deserving of discussion.
    Hitchcock's many spyfilms, from The Man Who Knew Too Much through to North By NorthWest, are usually said to be the inspirations for our Bondfilms, the Avengers, The Man From UNCLE and therefor ultimately the whole 1960s spy craze. Humourous, glamourous, spectacular, usually rather weird with largescale climaxes.
    Interesting that as this Hitchcock inspired trend evolved into such nonsense as Matt Helm or Casino Royale, Hitch himself returned to the genre with a final spyfilm so dry dense humourless unglamourous as this one.
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    That's a brilliant review, caractacus potts, I really enjoyed reading that.

    I saw Topaz maybe a decade ago when I'd regularly rent DVDs from LoveFilm, which would mail out the next DVD on your list when you sent back the last. It became a sort of self-perpetuating thing, never-ending, like scrolling down Twitter.

    I just can't remember much about it, save one excellent death scene filmed from overhead, very Hitch. Convoluted plots aren't really his thing, are they? It's usually about one guy out of his depth and up against the State, or someone. Even Pyscho sort of follows that line, as it's from Anthony Perkins' pov.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent
    thanks for saying so Napster!
    though really what I do are reports, rather than reviews. Ordinarily I prefer to leave my subjective opinion unsaid and just suggest the experience, and maybe open up some topics for discussion.


    I'm not sure which death scene you mean, unless its the death of...
    Karin Dor
    ... but I don't remember if it was an overhead shot. It was suspenseful...
    with the big baddy loudly promising in front of his men she would have to be tortured for her treason, then quickly shooting her in the back in a move so subtle his men would not notice
    If the whole film does not add up, there are lots of great specific Hitchcock moments, especially in the Cuban scenes.

    There's a lengthy oblique overhead shot in the final section of the film, where we watch several groups of NATO diplomats slowly realising which is the mole in the room, while we the audience already know. We silently watch the the groups of men move back and forth and whisper, while the mole begins twitching and is slowly isolated from the rest. A well choreographed bravura sequence, and the film is full of such impressive technical moves.
    But no death in that scene.

    Maybe you're thinking of Torn Curtain, which featured...
    a lengthy and gruesome scene in a remote farmhouse, with self defense resulting in a slow gory death


    And you're right, a Hitchcock plot is usually pretty highconcept, made interesting by its variations in suspense, humour and tricky camera moves. The odd plot structure of Psycho was exceptional, but that twist partway through was in itself part of the high-concept. Whereas the rambling story structure of Topaz is very different than how he usually made films.
  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,177MI6 Agent
    Nice review Caractacus.
    Topaz was very dull as I remember. It lacks Hitch's normal suspenseful sequences. You're right about the cast of relative unknowns here, but Rebecca did have a well known cast list (Olivier, Fontaine, Sanders, etc). I think 'Strangers on a Train' has probably his least starry cast of his post-war movies. You neglected to mention the film's an adaptation of Leon Uris' bestselling book, which I believe was based on an actual Cold War incident.
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent
    yes I meant starting with Rebecca, his films usually had at least one A-lister at the top of the bill.
    Olivier, Grant, Stewart, Bergman, Kelly...
    I think even his British films were led by actors who were stars at the time in Britain, even if theyre not so well remembered now.

    On the other hand, I was thinking Psycho and the Birds may also have been led by lesser known actors. We know who Perkins and Leigh are now, but is their longlasting fame maybe because they were in Psycho? and Tippi Hedren I think of as a Hitchcock actress, cant think what else she's done.
    But those two were meant to be lowbudget shockers, Hitchcock's challenge to himself to make something new to contrast with the large scale of 1950s films. And then his next two films starred Sean Connery (he's one of ours!) and
    Paul Newman. Back to the A-listers.


    hey I did so mention Leon Uris, in the third line! but thanks for reminding us of that point, and giving the author proper credit. I gather it was based on a true story too, not just the general context of the Cuban missile crisis.
    We often forget Hitchcock based most of his films of novels, even if he usually radically rewrote them to suit his own interests. How many of his other films were based so directly on recent real world events?
  • Lady RoseLady Rose London,UKPosts: 2,667MI6 Agent
    Hardyboy wrote:
    I saw David Fincher's latest, Mank, on Netflix. If you've never seen--or don't like--Citizen Kane and/or if you have no interest in Hollywood filmmaking in the 1930s and '40s, you will probably be bored out of your mind. But if you're someone like me who loves those things, this is a real treat--a brilliant recreation of the filmmaking style of the '40s, down to black and white photography and reel cues in the upper right corner of the screen. And Gary Oldman puts in another great performance as the boozy, anarchic screenwriter Herman Manciewicz (uncle of the Tom Manciewicz who worked on all the Bond scripts of the '70s) who pounded out the script for Kane in the teeth of W. R. Hearst's opposition, Orson Welles's badgering, and his own alchoholism. Great fun--if you're in the right audience.


    Interesting HB.

    I saw it had landed on Netflix and thought it looks like my kind of thing. I've never seen Citizen Kane but I do like the film making aspect of it. Plus Gary Oldman is usually good value.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,704MI6 Agent
    I haven't seen Topaz, but I know it's one of Hitchcock's leser movies. I suspect Frenzy was his last really good film, and that one has no stars in the cast.
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    Frenzy was v decent. Sleazy, but in mostly the right ways - though some odd boring stuff in it with the detective and his meal. One actor was Van de Valk and in The Wild Geese of course.

    Yes, c Potts, the deaths scene was the one you mentioned. -{

    'Reports not reviews'! :p
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent
    yeh I just found an old review from Golrush where he includes a screencap of that shot. forgot it was an overhead shot, very geometrically bold composition. Blood spilled in this film is always a very brilliant scarlet, contrasting violently with the surrounding colour scheme.

    I was thinking, if we could somehow curate an online video library of 1960s spyflick actors with one representative performance for each, I would include Karin Dor's scenes from this film rather than You Only Live Twice, regardless of which is otherwise the better film. Her acting and character arc in this film is really very good, as I say she does cool spy stuff, and is all beautifully filmed.
    That screencap in Golrush's post, what an outro for a character.

    Technically theres a lot of great moments in Topaz, and great performances from Dor and from Vernon. Its just the weak leading man, and moreso the rambling story structure, that make it lesser Hitchcock.


    Frenzy was sleazy. A final return to the "wrong man" plot, but now Hitchcock is including the more graphic sex and violence that had become normal in the New Hollywood era. He'd made a career of implying this stuff in ever more creative ways, in defiance of the Hays code. But its less fun when he makes in explicit.
    Family Plot I haven't seen since I was a kid, and don't remember. But I think its a comedy rather than a spyfilm or a shocker. I do have it sitting on my shelf so should cue it up soon.
  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,177MI6 Agent
    hey I did so mention Leon Uris, in the third line! but thanks for reminding us of that point, and giving the author proper credit. I gather it was based on a true story too, not just the general context of the Cuban missile crisis.
    We often forget Hitchcock based most of his films of novels, even if he usually radically rewrote them to suit his own interests. How many of his other films were based so directly on recent real world events?

    Oh. I apologise. I kinda expected to see it referenced in the bulk of the review because one of the reasons for the rambling structure might have been the complex and in depth detail of Uris' novel. I've read Exodus - it's good but seriously long and involved.
    Goid follow up points caractaus.
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    Frenzy was sleazy. And I don't much care for it in terms of seeing it again. But it's a proper movie really and... again, as with Topaz one great death scene, and this one is implied.
    The camera tracking back down the stairs of the flat and outside into the sunny street as the necktie strangler unseen and unknown goes about his business upstairs
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,704MI6 Agent
    Perhaps Frenzy can be called sleezy, being more direct about darker subjects and unglamorous. But it has great characters, a good plot and structure, plus masterful tense scenes and funny scenes. I'd cose it over many of Hitchcock's other movies.
  • superadosuperado Regent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,651MI6 Agent
    Number24 wrote:
    Perhaps Frenzy can be called sleezy, being more direct about darker subjects and unglamorous. But it has great characters, a good plot and structure, plus masterful tense scenes and funny scenes. I'd cose it over many of Hitchcock's other movies.

    Watched it on TV as a child on TV, surprisingly the salacious frontal nudity was allowed during the 70’s which makes me think it was pay TV. It stands to me as having the most disturbing scenes in a Hitchcock movie.
    "...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
  • superadosuperado Regent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,651MI6 Agent
    As part of my annual holiday retinue, I rewatched Heroes of Telemark for its snow scenes and that one brief church sequence in which the parishioners were singing O’ Tannenbaum I think. My wife asked me the significance of the “heroes’” mission because the small skirmishes up to that point seemed trivial and abstract to her; I responded that if they failed, what happened in The Man in the High Castle, of all four (?) seasons we watched together, would be our reality...then I saw it click in her head!

    Then, seeing Kirk Douglas she asked if the heroes were American, I said no, they’re supposed to be Norwegian, lol!
    "...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
  • Golrush007Golrush007 South AfricaPosts: 3,418Quartermasters
    Number24 wrote:
    Perhaps Frenzy can be called sleezy, being more direct about darker subjects and unglamorous. But it has great characters, a good plot and structure, plus masterful tense scenes and funny scenes. I'd cose it over many of Hitchcock's other movies.

    I agree Number24. I really enjoy the cast in Frenzy, all of whom are excellent British character actors of that era. The film feels quite authentic as a result, and the blend of sleaze and nastiness with some of the more humourous elements make it a Hitchcock film that I enjoy revisiting a lot more frequently than most.

    caractacus potts posted a link to my old review of Topaz, which reminded me that I haven't rewatched that film since posting that review, and even though I did enjoy the film on first viewing I certainly haven't felt tempted to go back and give it another look in that time...unlike Frenzy.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,704MI6 Agent
    edited December 2020
    superado wrote:
    As part of my annual holiday retinue, I rewatched Heroes of Telemark for its snow scenes and that one brief church sequence in which the parishioners were singing O’ Tannenbaum I think. My wife asked me the significance of the “heroes’” mission because the small skirmishes up to that point seemed trivial and abstract to her; I responded that if they failed, what happened in The Man in the High Castle, of all four (?) seasons we watched together, would be our reality...then I saw it click in her head!

    Then, seeing Kirk Douglas she asked if the heroes were American, I said no, they’re supposed to be Norwegian, lol!

    Several of the saboteurs mentioned Heroes of Telemark, and never in a positive way. If the subject I can reccomend the 1948 Norwegian movie (If available ... :#) "The battle for the heavy water". The movie is highly unusual since most of the saboteurs play themselves.

    A more modern alternative is the mini-series "Saboteurs/The heavy water war'. It's made in 2015 and is more easily available.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    I agree with your review of the Star Trek movies Gymkata -{
    The first ST I too only occasionally watch, and Fast Forward
    a lot of it. Khan is a classic and "Search" is great fun.
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • superadosuperado Regent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,651MI6 Agent
    Number24 wrote:
    superado wrote:
    As part of my annual holiday retinue, I rewatched Heroes of Telemark for its snow scenes and that one brief church sequence in which the parishioners were singing O’ Tannenbaum I think. My wife asked me the significance of the “heroes’” mission because the small skirmishes up to that point seemed trivial and abstract to her; I responded that if they failed, what happened in The Man in the High Castle, of all four (?) seasons we watched together, would be our reality...then I saw it click in her head!

    Then, seeing Kirk Douglas she asked if the heroes were American, I said no, they’re supposed to be Norwegian, lol!

    Several of the saboteurs mentioned Heroes of Telemark, and never in a positive way. If the subject I can reccomend the 1948 Norwegian movie (If available ... :#) "The battle for the heavy water". The movie is highly unusual since most of the saboteurs play themselves.

    A more modern alternative is the mini-series "Saboteurs/The heavy water war'. It's made in 2015 and is more easily available.

    Thanks, Number24, I'll check those out!
    "...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Who Dares Wins (1982) ... Free on YouTube

    Hadn't seen it in many years, still a great action thriller, and the late great Lewis Collins.
    Amazing to think this is what he could have looked like in FYEO, if he hadn't ( In his own
    words ) Messed up his audition for Bond. Did notice a couple of Bond connections with
    Both Phil Meheux and Syd Cain involved with the film. One bit of trivia is about the
    Final big attack, which wasn't actually done by the stunt crew but by the SAS advisor Team
    who volunteered to make it more realistic
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Ens007Ens007 EnglandPosts: 863MI6 Agent
    Who Dares Wins (1982) ... Free on YouTube

    Hadn't seen it in many years, still a great action thriller, and the late great Lewis Collins.
    Amazing to think this is what he could have looked like in FYEO, if he hadn't ( In his own
    words ) Messed up his audition for Bond. Did notice a couple of Bond connections with
    Both Phil Meheux and Syd Cain involved with the film. One bit of trivia is about the
    Final big attack, which wasn't actually done by the stunt crew but by the SAS advisor Team
    who volunteered to make it more realistic

    I have a real soft spot for this movie (a definite guilty pleasure) despite some of its very obvious flaws. Lewis Collins is very good in it & the mews house scene is also superb along with the final attack crescendo. Legend has it that Ronald Reagan was a big fan of the movie too.

    As you've said, the fact that SAS operatives helped out gives it a nice touch of trivia too. One of the actual ex SAS stunt guys (Terry Forrestal) died in a base jumping accident & another, Tip Tipping, sadly ended up jumping to his death in a parachute accident whilst filming for a tv show.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,704MI6 Agent
    Terry Forrestal died jumping from The Pulpit in Lysefjorden, precisely where the final action scene in Mission impossible: Fallout was filmed.
  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,177MI6 Agent
    THE HILL
    (1965)

    Probably been reviewed before on here, but whatever...

    The Hill is a brutal film. From its stark opening, a tracking shot across a desert bound prison encampment, the centrepiece a forbidding sand and stone punishment hill, bathed in salt-like white, the audience is aware how uncomfortable a journey they will be on for the next two hours.

    Oswald Morris won a prize at Cannes for his photography and it is the contrasts between light and dark which draw our attention. Why is Ian Hendry's Staff Sgt William's so brooding? Is it because his face is always in half-shadow? Why do we fear Harry Andrews' S.M. Wilson? Because early on Morris shoots him from below, but facing the sun, the reverse of our expectations. Likewise, Michael Redgrave's passive M.O. is shown in a domestic environment and from above. We recognise his weaknesses immediately.

    Sean Connery, splendid as Joe Roberts, is shot face on to the camera, capturing our trust. Yet his scowl also suggests all the brooding, sweaty, controlled menace of a cold, calculating, agent provocateur. This is a man who is not a hero. He is practical and he understands the men around him, prisoners and screws alike men who are trapped in the stinging, harsh reality of procedure and order. "We're all doing time," he says after his and his comrades initiation on the titular hill, "even the screws."

    Connery took the antihero role of Robert's because it was so unlike James Bond. He could grow a tache, lose the toupee, let loose with a string of expletives. He's a powerful, controlled presence. Yet it is the warring staff sergeants who dominate the proceedings. Harry Andrews is brilliant as the 25 year veteran warden, a man whose methods have never altered and whose position has never been threatened. He panders to a lazy commandant, a man too busy with the local whores to witness the calamities on his doorstep. "He'd sign his own death warrant if I handed it to him," chuckles Wilson. This revelation opens the door to Williams, a pen pusher out to assert himself, a man whose own courage is questioned and who hides his failings under a psychopathic bully boy regime. Ian Hendry too is menacingly calm. Only at the very end does his guard drop and that provokes the moment of downfall for our prisoners.

    Sidney Lumet's film was widely and rightly praised in Europe (plenty of BAFTA nods, but no wins). In America, for some reason, they didn't 'get it.' Perhaps the racist undertones and the lack of respect for military hierarchy disturbed their sensibilities too much. However, the film's reputation has been revised in recent years and rightly so.

    The Hill sits easily among the British New Wave of the 1960s with its anti establishment and revisionist stance. Writer Ray Rigby was himself a military internet, so he wrote from experience. He also creates a powerful sense of loss among the characters. Everyone in this little sand blasted square of hell is searching for personal justification. None of them receive it. They are damaged, flawed (in some cases fatally flawed) characters.

    A moment must be taken to reflect on Thelma Connell's snappy film editing and the crackling soundtrack; devoid of music instead we hear the sounds of the everyday - the clanging of mess tins, the choruses of square bashing troops, the slap and dash of water buckets and showers. Laughter is loud and framed in switching, angry close up. Madness is greeted by hilarity and the crump of marching boots. When the camp waits for their commandant, they do so in stifling, fly infested silence. This gives a wholey unsettling, visceral visual and aural experience. The viewer isnt simply watching the action, they are being immersed in the brutality and the confines of a British military prison. Stunning work.

    This is a magnificent achievement of British cinema - although it was, like another great film of '65 The Ipcress File, directed by an American - one though who at least had his finger on the pulse of the social moment. Excellent performances, stunning black & white images, a tough, uncompromising and challenging screenplay and an ending which both appals and relieves.

    A must see for anyone who loves truely great cinema.
  • JoshuaJoshua Posts: 1,138MI6 Agent
    I watched the double bill of Sean Connery films last night on TV.

    I was not impressed by 'The Untouchables' and will not watch again.

    I was impressed by 'The Hill'. I am glad that the BBC showed it without editing the discriminatory language. This film needed to be shown in its original form because it conveyed more of its message that way.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    As an experiment I recently watched the two part episode of TMFU
    The Alexander the great affair, and then watched " One spy too many"
    The film version of these two episodes. Not really much different except
    Maude the radio controller had a bigger part ( Oh er Missus ) and in one
    scene where Alexander had seduced a Prince's wife, in the film they showed
    them kissing on the Bed and having a conversation. The TV version had
    Alexander walking in to a bathroom to fix his shirt etc as he speaks to the lady
    who's presence is implied . I might do this again with my other TNFU films.
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,177MI6 Agent
    FEAR IS THE KEY (1972)

    Adaptation of a bestselling Alistair MacLean novel which rather shows its age: a plot creaking at the edges and full of violent unnecessary incident. I read the book over 35 years ago, but it all seemed vaguely familiar so I'm guessing it's a fair adaptation.

    Barry Newman was a rising star at the time and he's efficient if not entirely likeable as John Talbot, a man framed for murder who is not everything he claims to be. The narrative twists and turns and is packed full of improbabilities. This is standard MacLean fare, as is the inconsequential female character, here played fetchingly by Suzy Kendal.

    The movie is perhaps most interesting at its beginning and end: the former a twenty minute car chase through Louisiana backwaters, the latter an undersea confrontation within a submersible running perilously low on oxygen. Talbot is attempting to discover who was responsible for the ditching of a cargo plane loaded with precious stones. His investigations have led him to the Nyland Oil Company and a whole heap of trouble.

    Along the way Talbot gets into several fights and has to contend with a couple of nasty death scenes. One of the villains is played by a very young Ben Kingsley, his cinema debut. The score is by Roy Budd. It's a jazzy little number which zips cheerfully along and always raises the tension a pitch.

    The score is probably the best thing about the movie. It isn't one if the best MacLean adaptations, but it is worth a look, especially if you're a fan.
  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,177MI6 Agent
    WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954)

    A film which needs no introduction. The sort of film they simply don't make anymore. The first ever VistaVision Warnet Bros. production. All songs by Irving Berlin. Bing Crosby in his 50s prime. Danny Kaye also at the height of his fame. Rosemary Clooney, a post-war sweetheart. Lush photography. Elegant costumes. A script ridden with cliche and yet still an entertaining, spry affair with a character driven plot. Super dance numbers (The movie was meant to reteam Fred Astaire with Crosby to reprise their partnership from "Holiday Inn", of which this is a remake.) Michael Curtiz directs with assurance; he's not flashy, he sets up the stage and rolls with it (note to the camera directors on Strictly Come Dancing: we can see all the dancers feet all the time) Great songs. Great vaudeville style performances. A shamelessly sentimental story that pours the sugar on at the start and keeps on pouring. The worst and best of it is you know you are being emotionally manipulated and you don't care. Oh. And that Christmas song. Here we go: "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas / just like the ones I used to know...."

    Yeh. They really don't make movies as good hearted and beautifully created as this anymore.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,704MI6 Agent
    edited December 2020
    I'm re-watching The Godfather part 2 (it's a pretty good movie actually :v) and I noticed a detail. When the young Vito Corleone kills Don Fanucci he walks along the rooftops while a big festival is going on in the street. Fanucci is wearing a white suit. It resembles the PTS of SPECTRE enough for me to sit up and take notice.
  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,177MI6 Agent
    Interesting detail, Number24.
    Directors can't escape echoing their predecessors.
    Infact, while TheGFP2 is a great film, but it's over-revered IMO because the modern story arc echoes everything we saw in TheGF. If it wasn't for those excellent flashback scenes the movie wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting. IMO TheGF has all the stunning visuals, storytelling and performances. The less said about P3 the better.
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