I'm not sure I can post all these in one sitting or not. If you have questions about them, please ask because I plan on getting better.
Perfect Stranger (James Foley, 2007)
- This is one of those
Basic Instinct-type thrillers (although I give
B I ). The main difference seems to be that they grafted a well-thought-out but uninteresting first two-thirds to a totally-insane, throw-everything-to-the-wind finale. In a supporting role, Bruce Willis is surprisingly sexy.
The Reader (Stephen Daldry, 2008)
- This is a complex, watchable film which really isn't nearly as involving as it should be. Yes, PW, it's crammed with sex which might make you feel uncomfortable, but it's more interested in how someone would rather die than be thought of as illiterate. Most of the cast do a fine job considering they're all playing the walking dead.
The Elephant Man (David Lynch, 1980)
- Lynch proved himself to be human here, using many of the techniques he perfected in
Eraserhead to tell the true-life story of a deformed man who was treated as a freak although he was a misunderstood gentle soul. The film takes its time to build to several shattering emotional moments, and both John Hurt as the ill-fated Elephant Man and Anthony Hopkins as his doctor are incredible.
A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
- Extremely disturbing take on the criminal justice system shows a no-win situation where the brutes and their victims are ultimately both treated as fodder for politicians. Kubrick is able to film "the old ultra-violence" as exhilaratingly as anyone, so many people feel as sick as Alex does halfway through, although I daresay my students love sex and violence and always will until they stop breathing.
The Man in the Iron Mask (James Whale, 1939)
- The director of
Frankenstein and
Showboat (1936) brings his talents to his best later film, involving the Four Musketeers and the gentle twin brother of the rascally King of France. There is plenty of derring-do, as well as plot twists and romance in store when Louis Hayward woos Joan Bennett.
Niagara (Henry Hathaway, 1953)
- I spent part of my honeymoon at Niagara Falls, and I'll say that this film shows the majestic beauty of the Falls better than any other film. You can add in a young Marilyn Monroe who's trying to get rid of her husband Joseph Cotten, and you get a Hitchcock-lite thriller. It goes down easily but is forgettable soon enough.
The Upturned Glass (Lawrence Huntington, 1947)
- Interesting James Mason thriller which he produced after making
Odd Man Out. The storytellng is rather unique in more than one way, so that keeps one involved even though the filmmaking is a bit more pedestrian than the script. I'd recommend it to anyone who remotely believes that they'd enjoy seeing a murderer tell his plan to a huge group before he actually commits the crime.
Crime and Punishment (Josef von Sternberg, 1935)
- Peter Lorre teams with exotic expressionism from Marlene Dietrich's fave director and cinematographer Lucien Ballard (
The Wild Bunch) to make a sparkling, if abridged, version of the Dostoyevsky classic. Lorre is quite excellent, as is the Inspector played by Edward Arnold. There are just about as many significant shadows in this film as there are in Lorre's
M, but this has more of a blatant cat-and-mouse feel to the plot and more of a guilt trip kept up throughout the film.
The Jackpot (Walter Lang, 1950)
- James Stewart wins a radio show jackpot and it turns his and his family's life upside down. The film is cute, if completely cliched and not terribly funny. It can't compare to a similarly-plotted flick from the same year,
Champagne For Caesar. That one I give
.
The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas (Val Guest, 1957)
- Hammer Films attempted to make a serious movie about this subject where an American hunter (Forrest Tucker) and an English scientist (Peter Cushing) argue about what to do if one comes in contact with a Yeti. There really isn't too much action, but it's exotic and semi-intelligent. Too bad it's totally inconclusive about what happens and why.
Rancho Deluxe (Frank Perry, 1975)
+ - Picaresque tale of how Jeff Bridges and Sam Wanamaker try to take advantage of ranchers who are far out of their depth. The film should probably have been better since it's got a high quotient of humor, sex and action, but overall, it's lacking in structure and clarity. Even so, it does give Slim Pickens a juicy role.