Man on Wire (James Marsh, 2008)
I know, my rating seems a little low for a film depicting a real-life incident almost completely unbelievable, not to mention often exciting and funny. Perhaps, I'll raise my rating next time, but this is still a recommendation for a film which somehow left me feeling as if I was missing a little something. Maybe it was because it wasn't as documented visually as I was hoping, but then again, what did I expect? I know how things were in 1974 when Frenchman Philippe Petit and his small crew of linesman and helpers made it to the top of the World Trade Center, and Petit proceeded to walk back and forth between the Twin Towers for 45 minutes with no safety cable, while the police try to remove him for violating the law by being "man on wire" (according to the NYPD citation). I will rewatch the film and change my rating if I deem it necessary. I liked the offbeat humor the film displays, but sometimes it seems a bit extended.
Ivanhoe (Richard Thorpe, 1952)
Surprisingly, this M-G-M romantic action-adventure seems to get better with each passing year. The story, concerning Richard the Lionheart's kidnapping/ransom during the Crusades while England suffers under the rule of Prince John (Guy Rolfe), is full of strong characters and plotting and doesn't shy away from labeling people, whether they be Normans, Saxons, Jews, etc. The hero is Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe (Robert Taylor), the estranged son of his Sir Cedric (Finlay Currie), who learns of Richard's imprisonment in Austria and returns home to raise a ransom and try to dispatch as many Norman as possible, the chief of whom is Bois-Guilbert (George Sanders). Ivanhoe is aided by the love of his life, Lady Rowena (Joan Fontaine) and also the beautiful daughter (Elizabeth Taylor) of a wealthy Jewish nobleman (Felix Aylmer). The film is photographed in gorgeous color and graced with a memorable Miklós Rózsa score. It also contains three rousing action highlights: the lists where Ivanhoe poses as the Black Knight and jousts with five of Prince John's men in succession; the spectacular siege by the Saxons and their longbowsmen of a Norman castle; and the duel to the death at the end between Ivanhoe and Bois-Guilbert. Great entertainment.
The Blot (Lois Weber, 1921)
This is a little-seen, but still interesing silent drama concerning the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. The wisest character in the film is a Professor who cannot even earn enough money to keep food on his famiy's table. His wife almost steals food from her rich neighbors, and when her beautiful daughter witnesses this, she's incredibly embarrassed for her family. However, one of the Professor's students (Louis Calhern) is attracted to the daughter and feels sorry for her and her family, so he tries to help them by secretly leaving them some money in their home during a visit, but unfortunately it gets lost! That's enough plot, but I will say that the film is still watchable and interestingly made. One technique which I enjoyed is that during some title cards, you could see a character moving around in the corner, and when they edited back to the film proper, that character would be front-and-center in the scene. However, this film is VERY significant historically because the director, Lois Weber, was the first woman to direct a feature film. She directed and starred as Portia in the 1914 film
The Merchant of Venice. Weber remained a successful silent director, but she directed only one talking film, W
hite Heat (1934).
Mr. Hulot's Holiday (Jacques Tati, 1953)
I've never liked the cliché that "comedy is subjective", but sometimes when you see a comedian who is very original, it does challenge my intolerance of that phrase. I've seen several Tati films, and I'll be the first to admit that much of them seem to be a whole heckuva lot of nothing. Then again, there are occasional bursts of ecstatic joy to be found in each one. This film probably has as much joy as any of them. Mr. Hulot is a simple Frenchman who goes to a seaside resort for a week of relaxation, but what he finds relaxing frays most other vacationers' nerves. Hulot is a true innocent at heart, but just as some children cannot tell right from wrong, Hulot can cause plenty of trouble by just trying to be happy. There are some classic scenes in this film involving a car, a bicycle and some fireworks. There are also extended scenes, which while cinematic in their use of sound, may test the patience of some viewers. However, it's probably true that without Hulot, there would be no Clouseau or Bean.
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