The Nun's Story (Fred Zinnemann, 1959)
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The Nun's Story is a very unique film. It's based on a true story told from an insider who was a European nun and specifically delineates why it's so difficult for most people to follow a life which, in this case, the Catholic Church says is conducive to becoming one with God. The movie doesn't attack the Catholic Church at all. It's just that the central character, Gabrielle (the radiant Audrey Hepburn), who becomes Sister Luke, is the daughter of a famous Belgian surgeon (Dean Jagger: perfection), and her father tells her up front that he cannot see her being obedient to bells and thus, even though she joins the Church in the hope of becoming a nurse in the Belgian Congo, she has a constant struggle to overcome what the Church proclaims as her disobedience. This film is so far different than almost any other film that it almost belongs to its own genre: the quiet and 95% non-melodramatic film about religion. This and
Elmer Gantry are easily my two fave films about religion, but they couldn't be more different except for the fact that Dean Jagger is awesome in both of them.
Elmer Gantry is a "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" melodrama which still contains more truth than many "indie, realistic" films could ever imagine.
The Nun's Story is so sublimely-beautiful, quiet, and yet exhilarating that it could also teach modern-day indie flicks a thing or two about how to tell a potent story.
The Nun's Story is one of those rare films where the acting is equally as important as the direction. Now, I realize that this comment sounds silly, but what I'm trying to say is that this film is one of the best-acted films I've ever seen, and most of the film is truly involved with people and their souls. If you don't believe me, look at that pic of Audrey above. However, Fred Zinnemann's direction is meticulous and covers a verisimilitude of worldwide locations which is almost mind-boggling. I've always felt that Zinnemann was one of the top-of-the-line directors (
A Man For All Seasons, The Day of the Jackal, High Noon, The Men, From Here to Eternity, Oklahoma!, The Search, A Hatful of Rain, The Member of the Wedding), but I find this to easily be his most-complex and effortless direction, although it does resemble a bit what he did later (and won his second Best Director Oscar for) in
A Man For All Seasons. Both films are about spiritual concerns, yet the protagonists come and leave them from different perspectives. The thing which really makes this film even more unique is the Peter Finch character of Dr. Fortunati who is a healthy antedote to all those holier-than-thou flicks because he's sexy and gives Sister Luke her own set of punishments every time she shows a semblance of pride.
Before I get too far making
The Nun's Story sound like some boring, austere flick, I want to make sure that you realize that there are several scenes of excruciating suspense and violence. It's amazing how strong scenes can be when they're surrounded by the normal quiet and then, BANG! There are two such scenes in
The Nun's Story and both are basically mind-blowing. Then, there are all the other scenes where people lose loved ones, get a disease, have their dreams dashed, etc., so
The Nun's Story is an intense experience all the way through, whether it's because it's so calm or because it's so in-your-face. The Honor Roll of actresses includes Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft, Mildred Dunnock, Beatrice Straight, Colleen Dewhurst, Patricia Collinge, Ruth White, etc.
The Man With a Million aka The Million-Pound Note (Ronald Neame, 1954)
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This film needs to be restored and put on DVD. It's based on a Mark Twain story and it's extremely witty. However, the film is slightly broader than it should have been, but that certainly doesn't keep it from being worth-watching. The way the film looks and sounds now, the color is uneven and the sound is inconsistent. Gregory Peck is a penniless sailor who shows up in London and somehow finds two brothers who realize that he's a perfect person for their unnamed "test" which involves giving a poor man a "Million-Pound Note" (that's way more than a million dollars nowadays). Of course, nobody can change his note, but it's a cool social satire which probably could be remade into an even-cooler flick. Yep, I'm now officially saying this should be remade along with
The Tenth Victim. Does anybody else want to go in with me and buy the rights to these films so we can make some bucks when we remake a couple of good flicks? (I'm serious. I already own the copyrights of some films, but I don't believe they're worth remaking, at least not yet.
)
Always Together (Frederick De Cordova, 1947)
This is truly amazing. I cannot find an image for this flick which is actually unique in more than one way in film history. This is probably the first one where the husband (Robert Hutton, dad of Jim Hutton and grandpa of Timothy Hutton) asks for alimony, and that's because his wife (Joyce Reynolds) gets a cool million from a dying millionaire (Cecil Kellaway) who doesn't die. The wife is probably the biggest movie fan there is, at least the biggest Warner Bros. fan there is. Part of what makes this film so much fun are all the cameos by WB stars, such as Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Dennis Morgan, Eleanor Parker, and, best of all, a hilarious turn by Humphrey Bogart who pokes his nose up against a window while the rain is pouring outside.
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (D.W. Griffith, 1913)
I finally saw Griffith's 29-minute flick which set the stage for his masterpiece
The Birth of a Nation. In this film, he cranks up the melodramatics, shows plenty of racism (in this case, the Indians), and also basically pre-directs some of the enormous battle scenes he made for
The Birth of a Nation. This film has plenty of silly acting, makeup, costumes and sets, but what do you expect from an almost 100-year-old flick? On the other hand, this film shows a far-more-sophisticated way of directing huge action scenes, especially from a God's Eye View, and it also shows ways to crank up the melodrama using the puppies and the baby. No matter how much you think you hate Mr. Griffith (remember, you should experience these things for yourself), he was the greatest filmmaker of the early silent era, not only in visuals but in the way he pushed people's buttons to exploit any of their prejudices and dramatic reactions. For the record, I give the racist film
The Birth of a Nation and I give
Triumph of the Will a high
+, so do with me what you will.
Sonny Boy (Robert Martin Carroll, 1989) Who knows what rating, but somewhere between
and
I only watched the first half of this one because I tried to placate my wife. Now, it's not like I thought it was better for me to watch a flick about a 375-pound crime kingpin (Paul L. Smith,
Midnight Express) who lives with a transvestite (R.I.P David Carradine) as his wife, but certain things happened while I was watching it last night. The supporting cast of Brad Dourif, Sydney Lassick and Conrad Janis is very good, and some of the dialogue and acting make the whole film come across as a comedy, but there are other moments involving the baby who turns up later on which makes the film more-complex or is that more-pathetic? I have this memory that somebody here has seen this, so if so, tell me what you think.
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