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  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent

    Rambo II - or whatever it's called.

    Never seen this film from start to finish before, though I've caught the excellent and authentic First Blood, the first film to feature Vietnam vet John Rambo, several times.

    This is an odd sequel. The 'hero' John Rambo is the same guy as in the first one, but the cinematic universe is wholly different, and he's been muscled up and repurposed for an all-action adventure film. It's as if you went from From Russia With Love straight to You Only Live Twice, it's the same guy but the scope and reality is very different.

    I turned up my nose at these kinds of films as a teenager, figuring I was a cut above with my suave Bond movies, but I shouldn't have. Not sure I'd have made it into an 18 certificate, if this was. Certainly after the increasingly sober and ambitious recent Bond films, watching this was a breath of fresh air, and look! There's Berkoff's General Orlov popping up as a nasty Russian in a helicopter! He was also the villain in Eddie Murphy's Beverely Hills Cop so he had a thing going on in the 80s didn't he.

    For a movie known for its high body count at the time, perhaps I missed a savage opening by tuning in 10 mins late but it seems 30 or 40 mins go by without John Rambo shooting or killing anyone. Things pick up later of course but actually compared to the indiscriminate machine gunning in later Bond films, it's nothing too OTT.

    Much as I enjoyed Moore in A View To A Kill, you just can't see him in this role with his shirt off running around shooting stuff. Perhaps I am being unfair! Anyway, films like this just adjusted the mean for Hollywood action heroes, it made the Bond thing look passe and I'm afraid Dalton wouldn't have done much to avert that, he hardly ever got his shirt off and when he did it was nothing to shout about. He wasn't a physical presence much.

    Surprisingly for a movie I thought would be all gung-ho my country right or wrong, this film has a savagely cynical attitude to US leadership and the bureaucrats running things. It's quite political albeit in small soundbites.

    It's also a very simple, seemingly short movie. Maybe all the jungle stuff was mocked up in the studio but otherwise I can't see how this would have broken the budget. The returns would have been immense.

    I think this film got maligned largely because of the kind of people who went big for it, with tabloid reports of dumb Yanks going in to relive Vietnam - only they got to win this time! - and shouting out 'Go get em, Rambo!' There is some dumb stuff in this of course, my favourite is when our hero is getting hostages out only a villain appears with a gun and lets fire! One gets hit before the villain is taken out. But as the helicopter flies off, we never get to see if he died or not, indeed the shot hostage is never referenced again!

    Sadly, I did read there is evidence to suggest that some Vietnam vets were left as hostages there and the US Govt let them rot, being unable or unwilling to extricate them, don't know if that's wholly true.

    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,033MI6 Agent

    WEST SIDE STORY (2021) The trailers.

    The two trailers I’ve seen have been amazing. Steven Spielberg directs a new version of what is my favourite musical and I cannot wait to see it. It even has Rita Moreno who starred in the 1961 version in it. This could be an all time classic.

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,033MI6 Agent

    COUNTESS DRACULA (1971)

    The lovely Ingrid Pitt spends a lot of this movie in “elderly” make up in varying degrees of effectiveness. A countess discovers that she can become temporarily young again by bathing in the blood of young women. With the help of her lover and her maid, they kidnap local girls for their blood to rejuvenate her, finding out along the way that only virgin’s blood will suffice.

    This is an odd entry in the Hammer series as the countess is not a vampire but only nicknamed Countess Dracula by peasants in the final scenes. Nigel Green, Maurice Dunham and Peter Jeffrey all turn in good performances, along with Ingrid Pitt, but the rest of the cast are lacking gravitas somewhat. There is a notable lack of gore as well which doesn’t help proceedings.

    An interesting effort but a little dull.

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent

    Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

    Nice to watch a good old fashioned movie with a happy ending, after that bummer of a James Bond film.

    Surely Tarantino's nicest film?

    So, is Brad Pitt's character imaginary? cuz I saw this other film with Brad Pitt in it once and he turned out to be imaginary in that one, and maybe in this one Leonardo diCaprio has to leave his imaginary friend behind so he can like himself again and move on to better things.

  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent

    Not sure, I didn't 'get' that film the first time I saw it so I was a bit non-plussed. Now I do, in that - oh, I don't know how to so spoilers on this new format so I won't bother.

    Halloween

    John Carpenter's original, for the first time last night. His eerie, electronic music - as used in Assault of Precinct 13 - sets the tone and it also captures the strangeness - to English eyes - of US middle-class suburbia, all these nice large houses with a front porch and a garden and greenery all around them, unlike the straight, cheek-by-jowl stacked arrangement we have.

    The film was seminal I guess in that it began all these high-school slasher movies. It would have won publicity perhaps for the sense it incited such behaviour - we don't hear of that stuff so much now, largely because any real sickos can just find stuff to watch online, perhaps. Jamie Lee Curtis is very good in her role as the repressed teenager and of course this follows the commented upon cliche that the loose, sexually liberated teens get punished, it's all very puritanical despite it all.

    Our own Donald Pleasance has a key role as a psychiatrist who is on the trail of Michael Myers who has escaped the asylum and headed back to his home town. But the actor's role is underwritten and he doesn't have much to do. He just blathers on about how evil Myers is - it's at that point, all tell and no show. He spends much of the movie dramatically wasted, just hanging around Myers' old empty house waiting for his charge too show up, he almost puts you in mind of Ed Rooney going after Ferris Bueller!

    I enjoyed it but it seems this kind of movie has been improved upon or at any rate ramped up over the decades, I guess it's like the porn of the time might have been a big deal - Debbie Does Dallas? - but it's all moved on since. Very possibly they were restricted by the censors back then anyway.

    I didn't quite get how evil Myers was - he seems to be going through the motions as a generic bogeyman for much of it - he almost puts me in mind of Safrin in the latest Bond film. With Myers, It's not clear if he's a real person or someone with mysterious magical powers. I suppose he's some kind of abstract foe.

    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Shady TreeShady Tree London, UKPosts: 2,965MI6 Agent
    edited October 2021

    I've seen a part of 'Black Widow' (the rest to follow) and Florence Pugh's awesome performance in the disturbing folk horror film 'Midsommar' (2019). I agree she'd be great in a Bond film.

    The most recent film I've seen (yesterday) is 'Fighting With My Family' (2019) in which Ms Pugh plays Paige, the real-life English break-out star in the world of WWE. It's a Brit comedy drama with themes and an emotional trajectory fairly typical of films of that ilk, but it's written and directed by Stephen Merchant, whose brand of humour I like, and Ms Pugh is totally captivating as the feisty goth-babe wrestler from Norwich, England who has to overcome her insecurities to prove herself in the States. There are wonderful cameos by Dwayne Johnson and A J Lee.

    Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
  • Shady TreeShady Tree London, UKPosts: 2,965MI6 Agent
    edited October 2021

    I binge-watched all of these at home in March 2020 and thought them totally generic and undemanding but entertaining. After the first one they all kind of blur into one another for me but Mila Jovovich is definitely the main attraction and she's a lot of fun on the commentary tracks, too.

    Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
  • Shady TreeShady Tree London, UKPosts: 2,965MI6 Agent

    Thanks, I'll check that out. She was also awesome as Cordelia against Anthony Hopkins' Lear in the 2018 BBC production of 'King Lear'.

    Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,704MI6 Agent

    Another up-and-coming actress is Renate Reinsve, bur her career is at an earlier stage than Pugh's. International media are tipping Reinsve as a future star after her breakthrough performance in "The worst person in the world" ( reviewed in this thread). She won the Best Actress award in Cannes and her chances of walking the red carpet at the Oscars next year are very good. She's 28 years old and 5' 10'', and just the type of talent EON should be looking for.

  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,178MI6 Agent
    edited November 2021

    NOTORIOUS (1946)

    Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious is probably his most condensed and satisfying thriller. Filmed at the very end of the Second World War and released in September 1946, the film is a taut, gripping and subversive romantic espionage thriller. Ingrid Bergman, who Hitch was fixated with through the late ’40s, plays Alicia Huberman, a German emigree U.S. citizen whose scientist father has been convicted by a Miami Court of crimes against the state. She’s not your usual 1940s heroine. Young and liberated, Alicia is drunk when we first properly meet her, flirting with Cary Grant’s gate-crasher at an awful, louche party and planning to abandon her father to gaol and go on a cruise with a rich businessman. What Hitchcock does so well, aided by a superb performance from Bergman, is turn the audience’s distaste into affection as she rediscovers her self-respect while beginning an undercover assignment for the American secret services. She is mistreated by the man she loves, the people who employ him and the man she is forced to marry.

    Following the drunken party, special agent T.R. Devlin, a sublime Cary Grant in one of his tastiest and nastiest roles, takes Alicia to Rio de Janeiro on the pretext working with him will prove her loyalty to the United States. While spending time together, the pair embark on an affair which turns to love, although Devlin denies it once he discovers Alicia’s mission: to spy on Alex Sebastian, a German businessman who was once in love with her. The Americans believe Sebastian and his ex-pat Nazi friends, who all worked with Huberman for Faver Industries, are conducting clandestine unfriendly activities in Brazil. Unable to access Sebastian directly, they hope Alicia can obtain vital information for them, which leads to her first seducing and then marrying the German. Due to an indiscretion at a party, Sebastian learns his wife has betrayed him and sets out to kill her. Trapped in his mansion, Alicia can only hope for help.  

    This, of course, was one of Hitchcock’s favourite tropes, the lone, trapped victim in peril. He repeated it in many different disguises throughout his career, but never had he been so cruel to his heroine. Ben Hecht’s fantastic script pulls no punches about Alicia’s behaviour. It isn’t as obvious as you’d hear in a modern movie, but the clues are there and handled with subtlety: “You can add Sebastian to my list of playmates,” she tells Devlin bitterly. Even more forthcoming is the exchange between her American bosses:

    Beardsley: She’s had me worried for some time. A woman of that sort.

    Devlin: What sort is that, Mr. Beardsley?

    Beardsley: Oh, I don’t think any of us have any illusions about her character. Have we, Devlin?

    Devlin: Not at all, not in the slightest. Miss Huberman is first, last, and always not a lady. She may be risking her life, but when it comes to being a lady, she doesn’t hold a candle to your wife, sitting in Washington, playing bridge with three other ladies of great honour and virtue.

    This sharp, incisive and insensitive dialogue is astounding for a film of 1946. The picture painted of the American Secret Service is not pretty. First they are openly sponsoring a form of blackmail prostitution and second they seem to be not only capable of, but willing and enthusiastic about the exploitation of a potentially vulnerable woman. This is certainly a bleak and muddied depiction of American officialdom, chauvinistic and callous, marked too by condescension towards the outside classes. Devlin has to apologise for slighting Beardsley’s wife, but no one apologises for slighting Alicia.

    Devlin is your consummate anti-hero. He may be a white knight at the end, but he’s obnoxious at the beginning, pensive in his love, exploitive in his actions and so caught up with the job in hand he ignores his genuine passions. He’s something of a cad [it’s in the name, a bastardisation of ‘devil’] yet it is he who recognises the position of emotional danger he’s been forced to place Alicia in. That this danger becomes physical, in both a sexual and a corporeal manner, is what eventually forces him to confront his failings, redeeming himself at the last.

    Hitchcock introduces Devlin from behind, a man of mystery. Terence Young must have noted this, for it is exactly how he introduces Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr No. Devlin says nothing at the party; he sits and smokes and all the knowledge we gain about him is his silhouette. Finally alone, he and Alicia begin some saucy banter. “You want to go for a ride? – Very much – I don’t like gentlemen who grin at me.” They go for a midnight drive and he places a scarf not around her neck, but her waist, like a chastity belt, claiming her. She recognises the movement and it seems to both entice and annoy her: “I want the speedometer to touch eighty so I can wipe that grin off your face.”

    Throughout the film, Devlin’s behaviour continues to be kind and cruel. It isn’t clear he’s falling for her until they share a meal at her apartment. [“Do we have to eat?” he asks wickedly.] There’s a four-minute kiss, during which the actors constantly break for dialogue or distraction – some of it occurs during a telephone call – a clever scene designed to comply with the Hays code, but one which ends up highlighting their desire. Grant’s reaction when Devlin discovers the mission is outright anger, but he’s swayed by the patriotic loyalty he himself demonstrated to Alicia when recruiting her. His boss, Paul Prescott, played with some understatement by an excellent Louis Calhern, recognises something is amiss; when Devlin leaves his office, Prescott notices his agent also left a bottle of Krug Champagne.

    When Devlin tells Alicia of her mission and what it involves, he’s cold, brutal. The evening is curtailed, as is their relationship, for when Bergman says “We should have eaten inside, the food’s gone cold,” she isn’t talking about the roast chicken. Alicia has been slowly rebuilding her life thanks to Devlin. She’s cut back on the drinking. She’s happy. She’s decided not to grieve for her father, who committed suicide:

    “When he told me a few years ago what he was, everything went to pot. I didn’t care what happened to me. Now I remember how nice he once was, how nice we both were. It’s a very curious feeling, a feeling as if something had happened to me, not to him. You see, I don't have to hate him anymore or myself.”  

    Love, it seems is the cure, yet Devlin doesn’t say it, she even pleads for him to do so to give her an excuse not to go through with the charade: “If you’d only once said you loved me.” Curiously, it is Alex Sebastian who treats her most kindly. As a suitor he is attentive and polite; he has money and social standing. At any other time, he would be a good match. The ever cultured Claude Rains plays him with an English accent and I wonder if this is where cinema developed its belief that all great villains must have an English – or German – accent? More on the latter later. Hitch and Hecht provide a series of scenes which demonstrate the depth of Sebastian’s adoration wrapped in the deviousness of his Nazi cabal, a council of fear he cannot escape, one which he is leading Alicia indirectly into conflict with.

    Their marriage comes swift. His mother doesn’t like it. Leopoldine Konstantin is magnificent as the dowager matriarch with a predisposition to suspicion, a woman committed to the memory of the Nazi cause. When Sebastian realises he’s made a mistake and married a spy, she scoffs at him, admonishes him then sits back on her pillows and strikes a cigarette to plot a diabolical end for her daughter-in-law. This is wonderfully effective and efficient characterisation – modern filmmakers should take note. Her motives though are less to do with the Nazi cause than with maintaining her and her son’s preeminent position among the community. This band of dastardly brothers are an intense, dedicated committee, quick to administer summary justice. The weak and dishonest are not of interest to them. Full marks to the small, ghoulish ensemble who inhabit these terrors.

    Central to Notorious is the theme of trust. It is given too easily by some, most notably Sebastian, but also Alicia. Madame Sebastian never trusts anyone, not even her son, and she resolves to solve their problems alone. This is completely the opposite of Alicia’s character; she requires an element of trust to build her relationships. Devlin meanwhile takes the whole film to decide where his honour lies. His conflict of trust comes with his employers. Throwing Alicia and Sebastian together, exploiting her notoriety for gain, sits badly at odds with his view of the world, shaped as it is by loyalty and duty. His bitterness is palpable, especially when he recognises what an excellent extracurricular job she’s made of being sexual bait. He can’t express it without giving Alicia the excuse to escape the situation and expose the mission. He trusts her indignantly at distance.

    Sebastian meanwhile is a more sympathetic, though equally complex, character, probably one of Hitchcock’s most nuanced villains. He is a jealous lover, a war criminal, an effete socialite, a cuckold to his domineering mother and a cold hearted killer. Yet when his confidence is betrayed, when he recognises his folly, it hurts us, the audience, because we also recognise he is genuinely in love and has been badly deceived. Alicia however is being coldly manipulated by both the man she loves and the man she doesn’t. Hearts are being damaged everywhere.

    Hitchcock emphasises this through a series of terse meetings between her and Devlin, her and Sebastian, her and Madame, Madame and Sebastian. It comes to a climax at a society party, where Alicia helps Devlin gain access to the cellar and they discover wine bottles packed with uranium ore awaiting for despatch to client countries [one assumes the USSR, but it isn’t stated.] Hitchcock was always good at doing parties and he doesn’t disappoint here, as the camera seamlessly moves from room to room, person to person. It commences with a brilliant tracking zoom starting at the peak of the mansion’s staircase and ending at Bergman’s hand, the stolen cellar key clasped in her palm. The difference between the serenity of Sebastian’s mansion, where danger lurks and the huge spaces feel unwelcome, and the chaos of Alicia’s Miami pad, which was safe and homely, is brilliantly identified. Bergman especially excels, at turns calm and controlled, then panicked, almost terrified. When Grant kisses her in front of Sebastian – “He’ll think we came down here deliberately – That’s what I want him to think” – it releases her fears and she, metaphorically, melts into his arms in relief.

    As the action plays itself out, Hitchcock and cinematographer Ted Taztlaff – rarely better – invoke a series of excellently framed scenes which draw us into the tension: Alicia realising the coffee is poisoned at the same time we do, by the camera focussing on a close up of a China cup; the long walk down the staircase to freedom, watched by the piercing eyes of the German cabal; Sebastian’s return to the mansion, his death imminent, the door closing on his life. Perhaps best of all, as Alicia lies sick in bed, the camera is positioned for the same angled close-up used to photograph her hungover in Miami; this time, rather than a glass of aspirin it’s water and Devlin’s figure isn’t backlit, furry, off-kilter and upside down, but upright, certain and focussed. The white knight has finally materialised.

    It’s worth noting that Mission Impossible 2 borrowed the plot of Notorious almost verbatim. Compared to the colourful remake, the 1946 version is amazingly composed despite being completely studio made. It barely notices, such is the configuration of long shots in small environments and edgy shifting camera angles to suggest space and the haunting close-ups of desperation which interrupt our attention. There’s a lot less killing also; three deaths only, all off-screen. The movie’s depiction of how and why we trust is mature, delicate and intelligent; in being elusive, the script allows an audience to engage with the characters’ emotions as the actors interpret them. When compared to more modern, heavy handed treatments, Notorious is a flawless success, skilfully blending a romantic subplot with an overarching international threat and treating its incidents and people with prurient elegance and a veneer of style, wrapped up of course in the suspense we all know Alfred Hitchcock loves to deliver.

    Marvellous.

  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,704MI6 Agent

    Notorious makes me think of the novel Casino Royale in many ways, particularely in tone. I'd love it if Hitchcock had made CR much like this, maybe even with the same cast.

  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,033MI6 Agent

    DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE (1971)

    This is an interesting entry from Hammer as it is also a mash-up of the Jack The Ripper and Burke and Hare cases. And of course Jekyll turns into our own sultry Martine Beswick instead of the usual handsome cad. Capably directed by Roy Ward Baker, it stars Ralph Bates as Jekyll and a nice turn by Ivor Dean as the grave robbing Burke, a change from his usual portrayal of police Inspectors in The Saint and Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) TV series.

    The leads have incredible look-a-like features and the transformation is well done. This is probably Beswick’s standout movie in her career. It’s all played straight and better for it and even though the sets are obvious it has a lot of atmosphere.

    Well worth a first time watch or repeat viewing.

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent

    The Likely Lads

    Movie spin-off of the British sitcom - actually by this time known as Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? but shortened back to its original title of the 1960s to fit on the cinema boards.

    Originally in its 1960s black and white incarnation, this sitcom was about two Newcastle lads making their way in the world - drinks and women I guess, these episodes aren't shown mum now - but years later the writers Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais (brought by Connery in to be script doctors on NSNA many years later) returned to the characters with a new spin - Bob the straighter more conscientious one was married to Thelma, a slightly hissy, disapproving woman, the perfect foil for Bob's dissolute layabout mate Terry.

    But I imagine many younger readers are going, 'What's a sitcom, Granddad?' and I have to point them to the likes of The Big Bang Theory, as it seems no UK TV channel makes them anymore, relying instead on panel games which are cheaper. I think Not Going Out is the only one out there. Maybe the 'situation' thing is harder these days where working life is more fluid that it used to be, or perhaps post New Labour there's the sense that everyone is meant to be all the same - middle class, bland, aspirational - and if you're not like that you're not worth the attention anyway, you're on the wrong side of a situation, never mind any comedy.

    Big screen spin-offs of sitcoms were big in 1970s Britain, though we've seen it recently again with the Channel 4 sitcom The Inbetweeners, to be fair, and maybe Alan Partridge stuff - I'm contradicting myself a bit aren't I? The smash success of On The Buses actually rivalled our very own Diamonds Are Forever at the UK box office and of course wouldn't have cost nearly so much to make. This maybe worked well with On the Buses as it had a kind of bawdy raucousness to it, but many Britcoms were actually pretty downbeat and depressing and crucially deprived of a laugh track, what works for a 30 mins slice of hilarity and gloom can become a bit much spread over two hours. Porridge - also by Clement and Le Frenais and set in a bleak prison - was another one like this. Some of these movies, perhaps with on eye on the US market, tried to pitch themselves as standalone from the series - Dad's Army did this, essentially beginning the story all over again with the recruitment of the Home Guard upon hearing the declaration of war, a sort of reboot situation that we saw with our hero when Daniel Craig took over the role.

    The Likely Lads in the usual tradition is not as good as the current series at the time and tries to ramp things up with a bit of sleaze and sauciness. There isn't much of a plot at all - Terry has a Finnish girlfriend and Bob is feeling the frustrations of married life, so Thelma tries to get them all to bond over a caravan trip. It does winningly encapsulate the awfulness of 1970s life in the UK, all rain and early closing on a Wednesday, many of the shops shut, a bit Brexity you might say. I enjoyed watching it because it's now a slice of social history, you could watch it on a double bill with Get Carter. 'In the chocolate box of life, the top layer has gone and someone's nicked the orange creme from the bottom' goes one line summing up the kind of disappointment also seen in the lyrics of the series 'The only thing to look forward to... the past' which might also sum up disillusioned James Bond fans!

    Someone on Twitter is a massive fan of the late character actor Ronald Lacey who appeared as the whiney sneak thief Horrible Harris in Porridge and also as the chief Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark. She pointed out that Lacey has a small role in this as Terry's slobbish brother in law.

    I enjoyed this movie sitcom chiefly because as I've said, they don't make them like that anymore, though Frankie Boyle's standup routine has a lot of sour observation and self-loathing, it's not sitcom., and sitcom is a great way of letting out the pressure from a society. One funny scene has the lads deciding to give up on their caravan trip and head home, with their other halves still asleep in the tow caravan behind them. Anyway, you can find out how it plays out if you watch it. For all that, watching a film like this on your own at a certain time in your life - seeing lads in their 30s wondering where their life has gone - is perhaps not advisable if you want to keep your mood on an even keel during these straightened times.

    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,033MI6 Agent

    @Napoleon Plural

    I love The Likely Lads movie (and the series) it harks back to my younger days when life was simpler. It has a multitude of very funny lines only dragging slightly when the boys head off to Whitley Bay and the shenanigans in the B&B. Sitcoms were fabulous in those pre-pc days when everyone could laugh at themselves, and others, without taking offence at every syllable uttered.

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent

    @chrisno1 your Notorious review is like a Masters thesis!

    a couple thoughts off the top of my head:

    It's one of the more serious Hitchcock films, not a lotta laffs I can remember. His spy thrillers especially usually are more light hearted.

    Eva Marie Saint's character in North by NorthWest is essentially in the same position as Ingrid Bergman here, but its Mr Waverly who's ordering her to sleep with the villain, and Cary who's trying to get her out. Hitchcock liked to recycle his best ideas, with different emphases each time.

    Climaxes with yet another traumatic staircase scene. We could make a compilation video of just Hitchcock's staircase scenes and it would probably add up to the length of a feature film.

    There was another film starring Dick (Murder my Sweet) Powell made round the same time, that also involved Nazis in South America immediately after the war. I saw such a film once and was struck by the similarity. Anybody know this other film I'm half-remembering?

  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent

    Well, @caractacus potts there's this thing called imdb... maybe my talk of Likely Lads has put you back in the 70s...

    This seems to be the film you're looking for, though it might also be To The Ends of the Earth. Actually, most of these films listed I'd fancy seeing on TV but never seem to get aired, it's like the movies shown are from a specially restricted pool.

    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent

    yes I think it must be Cornered. "with uncredited help from Ben Hecht" a year before Notorious could even explain superficial plot similarities!

    excellent sleuthing Napoleon

  • The Red KindThe Red Kind EnglandPosts: 3,119MI6 Agent
    edited November 2021

    ‘Last Night in Soho’

    Had been looking forward to seeing this for a while and it didn't disappoint. The recent accolades from people such as Stephen King only whetted my appetite further.

    This psychological horror, set in London between the swinging sixties and modern day oozes atmosphere, fun, suspense, sadness and takes the viewer on an emotional ride.

    The cast is excellent with Bond Alumni present in the form of the late great Diana Rigg and Margaret Nolan. Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy are both mesmerising in their roles. Great performances. Matt Smith and the legend that is Terence Stamp, were never going to disappoint either.

    Edgar Wright's direction is superb. He really captures the spirit and sense of the time. For us Bond fans the huge Thunderball poster adorning the outside of the cinema with the sights, sounds and almost smells! of London in its most flamboyant, yet decadent and sinister hey day, is a joy to behold.

    There are plenty of twists and turns and of course, with any film of this genre, one has to suspend belief for the most in part, but the crux of the film's story is hard hitting and poignant.

    The soundtrack, as you would imagine for a sixties themed film, is great. Classic Cilla, Dusty, Petula et al. It not only elevates the film but the songs are placed perfectly for each scene and create real depth to the story.🍸️👗

    On a side note. I now want a TR4! and Sam Clafin's very brief appearance shows he could be a great Bond.

    This is a film suitable for both Ladies and Gents. I highly recommend.


    "Any of the opposition around..?"
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent

    This is showing at my local. Reviews have been not great but I will see it anyway because I fancy a night out at the pics.

    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,178MI6 Agent

    THE EXORCIST (1973)

    Unusually compelling shock-chiller about a twelve year old girl, Regan [Linda Blair] who inexplicably appears to be possessed by a demon. Her distracted actress mother, Chris O’Neill [Ellen Burstyn] tries all routes offered by science, but is eventually forced to confront the possibility this may be a supernatural manifestation of evil. Desperate, she employs a lapsed Catholic psychiatrist, Father Karras [Jason Miller] who, only partially convinced, contacts an old, missionary come archaeologist, Father Merrin, a man with experience in matters of demonology.

    Superficially intriguing from a point of view of faith – the man questioning his beliefs is tested by the devil, fails then reforms – and tremendously gripping early on; as the girl’s slow wind to full possession takes hold, each incident and attempted solution become steadily more shocking and more personally intrusive. Director William Friedkin employs a documentary style, adding a sense of normality to the quite horrendous experiences the family is suffering, interlacing them with Georgetown night-and-day life and doctors scratching their heads when confronted with an unsolvable problem. Extracts from Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells are the only musical accompaniment and this too allows the audience to fully immerse themselves in both the everyday lives of the characters and the dramatic storyline they underpin. Music would also have ruined the soundscape, as the surreal audio effects raise the suspense to extraordinary levels, contributing to the creeping, cold atmosphere of the girl’s bedroom. Robert Knudson and Chris Newman won an Academy Award for Sound Recording, but it was really the effects editing which deserved to be scored.

    Overall the feel of the film is higher than the look, which in fact is quite sparing in its ability to shock. I remember watching this in the early nineties at a special screening, at the Ritzy, I think, and the audience found many of the possession scenes quite laughable. On my own, in a dark room, with no distractions but my own thoughts, the film isn’t so clumsy. The effects are tremendous given the constraints of the 1970s and it’s fair to claim they are probably still more realistic than a lot of the CGI stuff we see today simply because they are down-played and relying on physical movement to create their surprises. The screenplay and dialogue is a bit ordinary. The devil, voiced superbly by Mercedes McCambridge, has all the best lines, but its equal moments of insight and insult seem at odds with each other and a lot of the physical self-abuse seems unlikely even for an angry demon.

    My favourite moment is Max Von Sydow’s entrance into the O’Neill house, all in shadow like a western movie villain, a man as intense and intent as his rival. Father Merrin’s presence is so powerful even the demon recognises his spirit and calls his name – they have previous, both in Borneo and Iraq. He issues instructions to Father Karras, but the poor man still envisions a psychological solution and wants to explain the case history. “Why?” asks Merrin. He knows what’s important. Oh, this man knows, all right. Unlike the saying, the devil really isn’t into detail. Cue an unremitting climax.

    Highly influential, and banned in the U.K. for many years, The Exorcist all seems a bit tame these days. It’s underlying theme of temptation and redemption is more interesting than the devil eviction. The victim is innocent in all this, as it’s never made clear why the demon chooses Regan, other than she likes playing with a Ouija board. So, if there is a message, it might not be trust in God, but more likely don’t play with a Ouija board.

    Oddly satisfying.

  • Bond fan from OzBond fan from Oz Posts: 88MI6 Agent

    The Suicide Squad (2021)

    Terrific comic book popcorn movie starring Idris Elba, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis and QOS' Joaquin Cosio.

    Good for at least one viewing; if you see it, watch from beginning to very end, including the credits.

  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,178MI6 Agent

    KISS THE GIRLS AND MAKE THEM DIE (1966)

    Oh, goodness, where to start?

    I think @caractacus potts wrote a review explaining the plot and the background of this Dino di Laurentis entry into the Euro-Spy genre. I can’t remember if he enjoyed it or not.

    Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die is a horrendous film full of some of the most wooden acting and low-level suspense I have ever come across on screen. It is humourless, has a convoluted plot of mind-numbing ridiculousness – stolen piece meal by Christopher Wood for Moonraker and improved on simply by injecting laughter and suspense – we don’t mind a bonkers plotline as long as we can be carried away by decent acting, a sense of danger and some deadpan humour – and an annoying continuous chimmering music score which sounds as if its been borrowed from a Jack Jones live show.

    This film is abysmal in almost all areas. I’ll give it some marks for attempting to be exotic [Rio de Janeiro and its sites and sights are well used] and some of the set design has that funky swinging sixties vibe I generally appreciate, but oh, boy, the acting, the script, the action sequences: I was flabbergasted by the ineptitude. Director Henry Levin went on to helm [ahem!] a couple of Matt Helm’s and this makes his work on those look like genius.

    Mike Conners is the hero spy Kelly – might be his first name, might be his second, might be a cover – and he looks as if someone drugged him and dragged him to the set. His expression doesn’t change from one moment to the next. He’s bemused and befuddled and bewitched by everything around him as well as Dorothy Provine’s upper class British spy Susan Fleming [!!!] who is a posh bird in the Lady Penelope mould – she even has a chauffeur in full Thunderbirds Parker mode – played with his usual disdain for everything beneath the level of upper class refinement by our own Terry-Thomas. There’s a good fight scene in an empty, moonlit piazza where Thomas karate dispatches a chasing group of hoodlums, arguably the best action scene in the whole film. I can’t remember why it occurred, but there you have it.

    Dorothy Provine’s legs look amazing.

    There are obvious parallels with Bond films both past and future [the film was made in 1965, post Goldfinger but pre-everything else] and you do have to believe that Roald Dahl and Christopher Wood had both seen it as they pinched so many ideas, in Wood’s case a whole scene – the one where Bond and Holly flirt over silly gadgets in Venice. The most watchable thing in the film – apart from Miss Provine’s legs which I’ve already mentioned – is Raf Vallone, who cuts quite a dash as a Brazilian oligarch who wants to sterilise the world. The writers don’t have a clue where to go with this fiendish idea so they send it into space [literally] and instead spend most of their time confusing sterility with impotency.

    It’s rubbish, it really is. Maybe I was too tired at 10pm to appreciate it [past my bedtime these days, right?] or maybe I’m missing something [sense of humour failure? It has been known.] Apparently Quentin Tarantino marks Kiss the Girls… as one of his favourite films. My appreciation of that guy has been going downhill since the abomination which was Inglorious…. and info like that does not help his reputation.

    You know what? I’m not really commenting on the film anymore, so I’ll stop. Suffice to say, I do not recommend this unless you want to torture someone. 

  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent

    Yeah, Tarantino has form on this - he did a series of intros to his fave films and one of them was the final Matt Helm movie with the star who would go on to be portrayed in his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood film, Sharon Tate, who in the film is a sort of quirky, kooky character, along the lines of Tiffany Case in DAF. Well, okay, but the film is pretty awful imo - actually a couple of ajb members like it, but it's pretty ropey.

    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent
    edited November 2021

    chrisno1 said:

    KISS THE GIRLS AND MAKE THEM DIE (1966)

    Oh, goodness, where to start?

    I think caractacus potts wrote a review explaining the plot and the background of this Dino di Laurentis entry into the Euro-Spy genre. I can’t remember if he enjoyed it or not.

    I filed my report here.

    I liked it mostly, thought Dorothy Provine and Terry Thomas were hilarious, and since I can never suspend disbelief enough to appreciate the Thunderbirds was happy to a see live action version of the Lady Penelope character. I thought the film was funnier than some of the stoopidest SpySpoof stuff that was coming out around that time, and a better product than most of the cheapie EuroSpy stuff I've seen from the same era.


    My brain cant do the ranking thing others here do, but I'd love to see someone attempt a ranking of the Bond rip-offs from the mid60s.

  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent

    Was this film on telly or did you both watch it on YouTube? The fight the Christ the Redeemer statue sounds like the climax of the Jean DuJardin spy spoof sequel of some years back. We haven't heard too much of that actor since The Artist some years ago.

    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,033MI6 Agent

    I like Kiss The Girls And Make Them Die, any film with the genius Terry-Thomas in cannot be all bad. Dorothy Provine is lovely and kooky as she was in all her stuff from the 60’s, It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World being her highlight. I have said before on this site that I love the 60’s spy craze, and I give special exemption to this genre of movie, in that I overlook much of the shortcomings that occur in them.

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,178MI6 Agent

    Napoleon, I catch most of these on OK RU, which usually has original versions. Sometimes the movies are subtitled. You Tube doesn't always have all these old cult movies.

  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent

    Vertigo

    The main gripe here being of course the age gap between the leading man and his romantic interest...

    Now, I love this Hitchcock classic, always have since I saw it as part of a Hitchcock season at a cinema in Tottenham Court Road in the mid 80s. Oddly, it was the first time I saw it as it never seemed to be on telly. And Vertigo didn't do great on its initial release - Hitch blamed the age of Jimmy Stewart for its failure - so it fell off the radar. At some point in the 70s I think it was hard to even find a print in Europe. That's mad, isn't it? Then again that's how it might be - I was a mega Bond fan but only got to see From Russia With Love when I was about 12 - it was on telly. I got to see Dr No at the London Pavilion cinema I think, early 80s as part of a brief season, but neither really got shown much on telly at all - possibly because Cubby Broccoli fixed it so that Roger Moore would be his star man in the late 70s.

    Anyway, Vertigo retained its classic status in France, possibly because its social mores did not have such a problem with an older romantic lead, they're all a bit Maurice Chevalier over there.

    I felt sheepish watching this however, as I gripe about plot holes in recent Bond films but applying the same scrutiny to this film, mmm.... I can't give away plot holes without giving away the plot - luckily the wonderful score pulls you along and the holes don't notice so much on first viewing, only on the second or third time round.

    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent
    edited November 2021

    I believe there were a half dozen Hitchcock films that were out of circulation when I was a lad, for some reason (legal?)

    Vertigo was one, and I think maybe even Rear Window: some of his most important 50s classics, the very ones that are always mentioned in the film history books.

    My recollection is when De Palma's Body Double came out in the early 80s, it was described as the trashy lovechild of Rear Window and Vertigo, yet nobody I knew had actually ever seen these two films that were considered so influential.

    ___________________________________

    EDIT: wikipedia mentions this, but does not explain why the five films were removed from circulation for so long, aside from saying that was Hitchcock's own choice.

    In October 1983, Rear Window and Vertigo were the first two films reissued by Universal Pictures after the studio acquired the rights from Hitchcock's estate. These two films and three others – The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), The Trouble with Harry (1955), and Rope (1948) – had been kept out of distribution by Hitchcock since 1968. Cleaning and restoration were performed on each film when new 35 mm prints were struck.

  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent
    edited November 2021

    O.K. Connery, 1967

    as found on youtube

    also known as Operation Kid Brother. Its easy to find online a version of the film with the alternate title, but that's the Mystery Theatre 3000 version with the usual gang of idiots talking loudly in the next row and ruining the film, and scenes missing. But this youtube version is the unobscured original. So you BondFilm completists know what you'll be watching tonight.

    with the (almost) All Star cast of...

    Daniela Bianchi, Adolfo Celi, Bernard Lee, Anthony Dawson, and Lois Maxwell. Even sacrificial lamb Yee-Wah Yang was a geisha girl in You Only Live Twice.

    and introducing... Neil Connery!

    Soundtrack by Ennio Morricone, doing a persuasive Barry pastiche (repeated hints of the bass vamp, and Thunderball style tension raising motif), also drifting into psychedelic rock and the expected spaghetti western-isms


    Adolfo Celi is the big baddie, Mr. Thayer ( codename Beta), living on a magnificent yacht in the Mediterranean, with an all-babe crew. Daniela Bianchi is Maya, the leader of the all-babe crew, and captain of the ship. She gets much more to do here than in her other BondFilm. We learn Celi is Number 2 or 3 man in an evil organization called Thanatos, that has lots of toxic board meetings that usually end with the death of a failed agent. Dawson is Alpha, leader of Thanatos, and Celi is out for his job. After the death of the latest failed agent, Celi is put in charge of the project to steal some sort of "atomic core" mcguffin. It is actually Bianchi who does the practical work of hijacking the mcguffin from the its military convoy, with her all-babe crew cleverly disguised as the "Wild Pussy Club" (the rest of the sign says "and gamble with the wildest pussies in all the west")

    Bernard Lee is imaginatively cast as head of a branch of British intelligence Commander Cunningham, and Lois Maxwell is his assistant Miss Maxwell. Miss Maxwell is more of an active field agent and gets more to do here than any superficially similar character we might have seen before. (wikipedia also says she got paid more for this role than all her BondFilms combined)

    To bring down Celi and his evil organization, Commander Cunningham recruits Dr. Neil Connery (played by an actor also named Neil Connery, to save any confusion). Connery is a plastic surgeon, hypnotist and lip-reader, exactly the skill set needed to infiltrate Thanatos and save the world. He is also the little brother of Cunningham's greatest Secret Agent Zero Zero... (at which point another character says "yes yes we all know who his brother is, now get to the point"). The unnamed big brother is frequently referred to, but apparently off on another assignment and not currently available. Cunningham persuades Dr Connery through blackmail, threatening scandal courtmartial and harm to big brothers career if he does not cooperate.

    As the plot is an eensy bit formulaic, it's not really a spoiler to tell you that Connery Jr seduces Bianchi and persuades her to switch sides, and even better she wears red leather pants for the final act of the film. Celi by coincidence also dresses in an all-red leather putfit, as he stands manfully in the center of a control room full of blinking lights and blooping sound effects, complete with countdown (I think starting somewhere near "125 and counting", to give the amateur spy plenty of time to save the world). And you know, big brother could not have handled this mission, since lipreading and hypnotism skills are both required before the story is over!

    Final scene shows Connery Jr now moved onto the yacht with the all-babe crew, snogging with the Captain. Hey that's Octopussy 14 years early! I wonder how many other latterday BondFilms stole ideas from this?

    In fact, if Daniel Craig has a brother out there somewhere (and I don't mean Christoph Waltz!) maybe EON can buy the rights to this film and do a remake, as a way out of this corner they've painted themselves into with their latest film's ending.

    Comparisons must be made with Casino Royale (the "funny" version), which came out the same year. That one of course had an actual Fleming title and the legal rights to use the characters and plot elements, yet went perversely out of its way to not even pretend to be a proper Bond film, barely even a spy film. This film has no official legal status whatsoever so far's I can tell, yet uses much of the EON cast, in basically the same roles they play in the EON films carrying out much the same plot moves. And since big brother is off screen, for whatever reason unavailable to save the world this time, this film actually could fit into official EON continuity!


    Since you're probably wondering, here is good clear shot of Neil Connery. I wouldn't have seen the resemblance if I didn't know, but at least he got a bit of work from the family connection (and at a time when big brother was arguing over the pay and threatening to quit). In a later scene he even dresses in a kilt, so that proves it!


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