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The Sinking of the 'Lusitania' (1918)
No warning given, no mercy shown
The RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner laid down in 1904, but achieved worldwide notoriety after it was attacked and destroyed by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland during World War I. This short film by famed American cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay briefly goes over what happened in a dramatized way in order to basically serve as propaganda. By this point, the german empire had publicly declared unrestricted submarine warfare, meaning that any non-military ships carrying harmless supplies like food or oil can and will be sunk without any warning. Like in 1914, the germans feel that stating their intentions acts as a disclaimer to any destruction they cause. They even go to the extent of publishing warnings authored by their embassy in New York newspapers, as the short says. The ship had just left here and was supposed to be arriving in Liverpool soon, but this was not to be. While cruising at 18 knots near southern ireland, the Lusitania was hit just behind its bridge by a torpedo launched by the U-boat U-20. While the order was given to abandon ship, the lifeboats were only about halfway lowered when a second torpedo slammed into the engine compartment. Like a knife to the heart, the Lusitania was shook like never before. After this, the ship stabilizes itself but begins to sink, starting with its bow. Just 15 short minutes after it was first hit, the Lusitania disappears under the sea. According to the short, the Kaiser gave the captain of the submarine a medal for his heinous act. Although the Lusitania's loss was a serious shock all over the world, one thing allowed McCay to dramatize and animate it the way he did: the sinking wasn't photographed. The ending of the film is pretty disturbing, as it shows a woman trying to keep her baby on the surface of the water as the ship sinks nearby. A few years before this, McCay had completed Little Nemo, his first animated film which he made from 4000 individual drawings on rice paper. For this film, he would use over 6 times that number, which just makes my mind go numb thinking about how someone can commit themselves to that. Interestingly, papers owned by William Randolph Hearst (McCay's boss) tried to make the Lusitania event seem not that bad, as Hearst did not want America in the war. However, McCay was obligated to draw pro-isolationist cartoons for Hearst's publications. To demonstrate how insanely slow this style of animation progressed, it was said that it took McCay 2 months just to make enough film to last 8 seconds. For someone like McCay who was mostly known for funny cartoons, this is undoubtedly his most serious production, and it still angers and shocks people today to learn about what germany was doing in the first world war. Gas attacks, flamethrowers, this, list goes on and on. It's also pretty realistic looking, such as when you see people jumping over the side of the ship or the U-boat cutting through the waves. As important as this film is (it's probably the world's oldest animated documentary), Hearst was not happy with what McCay was doing a few years later. In the early 20s, when he discovered that McCay was more concerned with animation than his papers, he ordered him to give it up. While the new process of utilizing cel animation with a static layer underneath might have made things easier, it still took McCay a huge amount of time to make this relatively short movie. Because of its historic status as the oldest animated documentary, I think this is something all people interested in history should see.
How to Sleep (1935)
Sweet dreams
It might sound like an oxymoron, but doing something as simple as going to sleep isn't always so easy. This short from the 1930s shows how even back in these times, people had problems going to bed, even if you just lay there thinking about how tired you are. In fact, this issue was probably worse in the past, as people didn't have access to white noise or other calming sounds whenever they wanted on the internet. The short starts by saying sleep is induced when blood circulation slows down in your brain. Oftentimes what happens is you'll hear something in the middle of the night and you don't know what it is. This will in turn most likely make you spiral into an array of thoughts about what the sound could have been, and those thoughts lead to others. Your mind is now wide awake and it is impossible to go back to bed. Constantly worrying about things is also a good way to keep yourself up. Some people suffer from a form of sleeplessness in which they are not only unable to fall asleep, they cannot remain in bed. It is often accompanied by feelings of suffocation, and happens if you drink too much. The only way to get around this is to not go to sleep at all. We then see a series of photographs taken during a study, where it is shown that a man changed his sleeping position over 50 times during an 8 hour period, which believe it or not is normal. In a comical time lapse, we see the guy sleeping changes positions unconsciously about every 10 or so minutes. It almost defeats the whole reason of going to bed. Lastly, we see how important it is to not become fully conscious if you get up in the middle of the night to drink something. On his way back to bed after getting some water, the man trips over his shoes and lands in the bed, causing him to become wide awake. Once you're in this mental state, you will most likely not be able to get back to bed (until 20 seconds before you need to get up for work, that is). As somebody who is in the habit of rarely willing to go to bed (since there's not enough time in a day to do everything you want), I thought this was a good short. It actually won an Oscar for best comedy short. Robert Benchley had plenty of experience with this as his contract mandated he make a bunch of shorts for Metro Goldwyn during the 30s. The part where he goes over how you are destined to fall asleep right when you're supposed to get up couldn't be more accurate, as sometimes, even going to bed early will not save you from feeling horrible in the morning. Being woken up from a deep rest early in the daytime is such an awful feeling since you're going from one extreme (total lack of senses) to another way too fast, and I never got used to it. Overall, this short shows how important sleep is, since without it, not only does your mind not match up with what you're doing, but you can't really do anything effectively. Not sleeping completely screws with your behavior and well being.
Souls for Sale (1923)
Path to stardom
It's not often we get to see such an old movie that gives insight into how corrupt the movie industry is, but Souls for Sale does this while also having cameo appearances of some of Hollywood's most legendary actors and directors. The silent film follows a girl with an unusual name: Remember Steddon (Eleanor Boardman). More commonly known as Mem, Steddon marries Owen Scudder (Lew Cody) after a brief courtship. Right before they are to be married in LA, Mem changes her mind and doesn't like him anymore. On the train ride there, she gets off when the train stops in the middle of the desert without Scudder's knowledge. Mem tries to make her way out of the desert, and is on the verge of dying of thirst when she comes across a guy riding a camel. As it turns out, it's an actor named Tom Holby, and his director Frank Claymore are shooting a movie out here. Both Frank and Tom like Mem, but she stays behind in the desert and gets a job at an inn while they pack up and leave. Scudder is then arrested and found to have a long criminal history of committing insurance fraud against women he marries and then murdering them to get free money. After being handcuffed, he escapes and persuades the dumb Abigail Tweedy to file them off. Instead of killing her, he robs her savings and then sets his sights on "Lady Jane," a woman who (unbeknownst to him) is the same type of criminal. Jane robs Scudder, but doesn't kill him. When Mem's inn of employment closes for the season, she goes to Hollywood to get a new job. Leva, a girl who was involved in the desert movie, tells Frank she wants Mem to have the only part not taken by an actor yet in his next movie. During her screen test with Frank, Mem performs badly, but Frank decides to keep her. She gradually gains access to better roles. Mem becomes quite famous, and Scudder comes back into her life. By this point, Frank and Tom are being pitted against each other because the town of Mem's affection isn't big enough for the two of them. Scudder wants Mem to be with him again, but she knows he is a violent fugitive and is worried about the public finding out about his past with her. The resulting scandal could ruin her, so she tries to bribe him to go away. He only does when she threatens to commit suicide. When Frank later tries to propose to Mem, Scudder, lurking around a corner with a handgun, overhears him and makes his move. Frank disarms him, but Mem convinces him to turn him loose. During filming of Frank's new movie, Mem's costar is crippled by a falling light, so Mem replaces her. The filming resumes outside, in and around a large circus. A lightning storm interrupts the fake storm they are shooting for the movie and sets the tents on fire. Despite this, Frank orders the cameramen to keep going. Scudder, who has infiltrated the set, puts the chaos to use and attempts to kill Frank by driving a cart with a giant propeller attached to it right at him. Tom sees Scudder and attacks him. When Mem is nearly cut to shreds by the machine, Scudder himself pushes her to safety. Before dying, Scudder tells Mem he is sorry for everything and they were never legally married. Mem then decides to be with Frank instead of Tom. It is perhaps fitting that Eleanor Boardman was actually married to Hollywood legend King Vidor, as he does appear in this movie alongside other similarly famous figures such as Charlie Chaplin and Erich von Stroheim. The latter two were actually directing real films while being featured in this one (A Woman In Paris for Chaplin and Greed for von Stroheim). As for the movie itself, I found it to be mostly average. It's a typical love triangle where a bunch of characters are vying for the protagonist's attention, but she needs to keep them at bay (especially Scudder) for the sake of her growing career. The movie is right about one thing though: a scandal will more often than not halt even the most well known careers in their tracks. Even if it's proven to not be true, the actor in question will never gain back the respect he once had, and people will view him or her with suspicion from that point on. I felt that Scudder trying to use the wind machine to kill Frank was one of the most macabre things I've seen so far in a silent movie. Even though he doesn't succeed, the implication and gory image of it is there in your mind as he chases him down. Even Frank is guilty of some unfiltered sadism: he refuses to stop filming his extras panicking while the tent around them goes up in an inferno. Overall, if you want to see how the movie industry behind its glamorous exterior looked like in this era, I would advise you to see this. The love story was not as important, relatively speaking.
My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
"Let her die"
Nowadays, the term "gaslighting" (so called because of the classic Ingrid Bergman film) means to make a person believe their memories are false so that they are led into thinking they are losing their minds or doubting reality. This movie, while not as well known as Gaslight, attempts a similar premise, and holds up remarkably well even today as the story moves right along and doesn't drag on unnecessarily. The story begins with a London woman named Julia Ross (Nina Foch) going to an employment agency to find a job. When a landlady finds out Julia has no close relatives, she advises her to work as a secretary for a rich widow named Mrs. Hughes (Dame May Whitty). The latter gives Julia money and insists she does some shopping, after which she'll be expected to come live with her as her secretary. Two days later, Julia wakes up to a strange sight: she's locked in a bedroom in a large Cornwall mansion overlooking the sea. In order to convince everyone around Julia (and Julia herself) that she is crazy, Mrs. Hughes burns all her possessions and identification so that she can't be sure of who she really is. Mrs. Hughes tells her her actual name is Marion Hughes, and is married to Mrs. Hughes son, Ralph. Although Julia knows who she really is, the family keeping her hostage try their best to make her think she's not who she thinks, and all the staff Mrs. Hughes employs are in on it. Anytime Julia tries to beg people from the outside to believe her story of being abducted, Hughes just tells them she is mentally ill and needs rest. A desperate Julia writes a letter to Dennis, her only friend, and deliberately leaves it where Mrs. Hughes will see it, which she eventually does. She rips it up, puts a blank piece of paper in its place, and allows Julia to mail her "letter," not realizing Julia has written a second one. After a cat leads Julia to discover a secret passageway in her bedroom, she overhears Ralph talking to his mother about how he murdered his wife and threw her body in the ocean outside. Julia knows she needs to escape here in a hurry. She devises a ruse in which she pretends to poison herself so that Mrs. Hughes is forced to call her a doctor. Once alone with him, Julia tells the doctor that she's been held here against her will and he needs to let her escape somewhere, but the doctor is revealed to be in it with Mrs. Hughes' deception. She sends him to the village to stop Julia's letter. When the actual doctor gets there, a dejected Julia tells him to go away, thinking it's another trick. Although the doctor wants her hospitalized, Mrs. Hughes persuades the doctor to come back later for Julia. Ralph and his mother now have to find a way to murder Julia before the doctor comes back, and make it appear as though she killed herself. Julia screams and throws her gown down the cliffs to the sea, making it look like she killed herself from Mrs. Hughes point of view, and then escapes via the hidden passage. When the doctor pulls his car in front of the mansion, Hughes stalls him so that Ralph can make sure Julia is dead. Upon reaching her "corpse," he finds out she is fine, as Julia explains how she successfully tricked him and Mrs. Hughes. A cop shows up to arrest both Ralph and his mother, but Ralph is shot dead as he punches the cop and tries to run. Dennis shows up and picks up Julia in his car, with the two discussing getting married. This is quite a good movie. It's not that confusing, and we have two great actresses in the same movie together going head to head. Foch was already in a number of noir films I've seen years ago and always gives a good performance. While the movie may not be very probable, it is relatable since we've all been in situations where we want people to believe our incredibly outlandish stories that happen to be real. When they don't believe you, there's no worse feeling in the world. May Whitty was born in the 1860s, so she was old even here. I can't really remember how she was in Hitchcock's 30s classic The Lady Vanishes (which features her) as I watched that too long ago, but I do remember liking that movie. She's perfect in her part here since she is unsympathetic and uses her guise as a matronly old woman to hide her murderous intent in plain sight and fool any would-be investigators. To be clear, I think My Name Is Julia Ross should be seen by anyone who likes noir, even if it doesn't include the genre's hallmark of a woman being bad news for a guy (although it kind of does at the end).
Stop That Tank! (1942)
Sniping panzers
In the years leading up to World War II, the armor on armored vehicles being used by many countries was thin enough that a very large rifle could actually have a realistic chance of disabling a tank. Numerous countries had what are now known as anti-tank rifles for this purpose, such as the German Panzerbüchse 39, the Polish Wz 35, or the USSR's PTRS-41. America never really had one as they jumped right to rocket launchers (such as the bazooka) for anti-armor purposes. The subject of this film is training soldiers how to make effective use of the British .55 inch rifle, more commonly called the Boys anti-tank rifle. This weapon was designed in the late 1930s for use by the british military in order to combat german armored vehicles, but what this film doesn't mention is how just about every anti-tank rifle became obsolete once tank armor got reinforced. Anyway, the film begins with a pretty humorous animated section (done by Walt Disney) in which Hitler himself is leading a group of german tanks towards a town. As the tanks start firing, Canadian soldiers (armed with the Boys Mk. 1) shoot back at the weak points of the vehicles. Hitler is shot by one of the rounds and tumbles down into Hell itself, where he meets Satan. Hitler throws a fit in front of him over how superior german engineering has been stopped in its tracks (literally) by something as simple as an oversized sniper rifle. The weapon in question is then examined in detail, using various animations and live action sequences featuring servicemen. The Boys Mk. 1 is a bolt action, magazine fed anti-tank weapon that feeds from a box magazine which contains 5 enormous .55 inch diameter bullets, which is about the same size as 14 millimeters. This gives it very hard hitting penetration ability against vehicles such as tanks and can even punch through their armor. Unlike most guns with detachable magazines, the one on the Boys is top mounted, allowing gravity to assist in the firing process as the bullets don't need to get pushed up into the receiver. The film explains how shooting a tank coming straight at your position is a pretty simple task. A target moving straight at you is not moving laterally from your perspective and can thus be considered stationary (in a way). When using the gun, it makes the most sense to aim for a few specific areas on an enemy tank. Arguably the best place to aim is at the vision slit for the driver, as killing him will instantly stop the vehicle. A similar effect can be achieved by shooting at its tracks, and by hitting the turret ring the tank's cannon can be prevented from turning. When shooting vehicles moving diagonally or straight across from you, sniping it will be a lot easier if you can put your sights where they need to be before the target gets there. The Boys Mk. 1 only has iron sights and no attachable scope or other optic, so this is important. Using schematic views, the viewer is shown how the rifle works, how to disassemble and clean it, how to use its safety mechanism so it doesn't fire accidentally, and why it includes a muzzle brake. Also known as a recoil compensator, this device is fitted on the very end of the gun's barrel in order to redirect the huge back blast created by the expanding gases leaving the barrel when the gun is fired. The device vents gas away from the barrel on both sides, so that recoil is reduced and the gun comes to rest faster, making subsequent shots more accurate. Even with this thing though, the Boys Mk. 1 has tremendous kick to it and will punish your shoulder very fast. It really needs to be fired laying down. Finally, after learning how to clean the Boys Mk. 1, we're told that there's a popular army saying that goes "a rifle is like a woman: treat her right, and she'll never let you down." As someone who can't get enough of ww2 related things, whether it's films, books, video games or anything else, I was excited to watch this. It is undoubtedly propaganda, as the german tanks in the beginning all look like they're ready to fall apart any second as they trundle along. Furthermore, Hitler's ridiculous nature is shown as he rants to the Devil about not being able to do anything against anti-tank weapons, and Satan himself can't even hear himself think with his tantrum going on. The film is clearly meant for those already in the military, and more specifically, those who were assigned to use this gun. Like I said earlier, anti-tank rifles as a whole lost their utility very fast, and once tanks such as Panzer IVs and Tiger 1s were rolling out of The Fatherland's factories, the amount of damage they would do was laughable. To deal with these threats, the US would adopt the bazooka and the british would adopt the PIAT (projector, infantry, anti-tank), a type of spigot mortar that launched a shaped charge explosive. While laborious to charge (as it was spring loaded), it uses no gunpowder, so the shooter doesn't automatically give his position away upon firing. Overall, this is a very hit or miss short film, no pun intended. It was only made for those in the military, and if you don't have an interest in ww2, you'll probably disregard it right away. I still think it's an important part of history, since it shows how even big animation studios like Disney realized that the nazis had to be stopped.
One Got Fat (1963)
Monkey business
Due to this film being the music video to the song "Everything You Do Is a Balloon" by Boards of Canada, it has been in my mind for the past 15 or so years. Strangely, it was directed by none other than Dale Jennings, who also directed the John Wayne film The Cowboys. Stranger still, the narrator is Edward Everett Horton, who also narrates the fractured fairy tales segment of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The plot in this is pretty easy to grasp, since it's not meant for kids much older than 10. It still manages to be terrifyingly creepy because all the kids in it have monkey masks for some reason. The film is about 10 kids who plan on riding their bicycles to the park to have a picnic there, and along the way something bad happens to each of them because they ignored a specific bicycle safety regulation. The friends see that one of their friends has a basket on his bike, so they all put their sandwiches in here (remember this for later). During the journey, each kid is disqualified from the bike ride in some way, which is just a nicer way of saying they get hit by a car. For instance, in the age before blinkers, hand signals while driving were important to let other people know where you are intending to turn, but cyclists are also supposed to use hand signals. Not doing this can get you into an accident. One of the kids is a bit of a show-off and decides biking down the right side of the road is too easy and boring, so he cycles the opposite way into oncoming cars. None of them end up hitting him, but a parked one turns suddenly and juts towards him, knocking him over. One kid named Mossby had his bike stolen and tries to unsuccessfully keep up with the other bikes on foot. Because his bike wasn't registered, the cops can't track it down. Eventually, Mossby stops giving chase. Probably the most macabre moment is when it shows what happens to Filbert, a kid who has neglected his bike to the point of its brakes not working. Because he didn't take care of his brakes, they don't take care of him, and he slides ride in front of an oncoming steamroller. Once all the other kids have been disposed of due to them not taking safety seriously, Orville (the last kid, and the only one not wearing a monkey face), arrives at the park. He now has all the sandwiches to himself. The narrator says how even though he may be alone, it's not as alone as being in a hospital bed like his friends. This is one of a number of quite disturbing films from the early 60s that also has the distinction of joking about things usually considered off limits. Starting in the 90s, there was a massive uptick in shows, movies and music following this pattern, as writers and producers seemingly wanted to make things just to offend and shock people. Nowadays, it's everywhere (especially with the anonymity of the internet) but it's odd seeing it in this time period. I understand that the idea behind this film was probably to scare kids into taking bike safety seriously, but it also probably made them afraid to ride bikes again, period. Overall, this is not really an excellent film, but it's been in my subconscious for so long that I feel there is nothing else like it.
The Guns of August (1964)
The war to end all wars
Although World War I is probably my second favorite historical subject (behind you can probably guess what), its early history and how it all began is thoroughly convoluted and pretty confusing. Because of this, along with the fact that such an important event is already documented countless times, I won't really bother explaining the nuances of various political events leading up to the war's outbreak. Instead, I'm going to focus on what I liked and found interesting about this film, and will be making some use of The Great War as a comparison. The latter is a series that ran on British television around the same time this film was made, and is essentially World at War but for ww1: it features a lot of war footage, a narration explaining the significance of onscreen events, and even interviews with former servicemen. When compared with this series, The Guns of August is almost too simplistic. It goes over the events leading up to the war in great detail, but after the first few months, just jumps ahead way too fast, almost like they were obligated to cover the whole war but didn't really have time. Fritz Weaver, who was cast in a particularly excellent episode of Combat (with Vic Morrow) a few years after this, narrates the film. The film does a good job of conveying how ww1, contrary to public opinion, was not unavoidable. European powers and monarchs would be given many chances to peacefully defuse a situation that lead to disaster, but because of repeated exchanges of ultimatums, over 8 million people had to die. As you've probably heard already, the event usually credited with starting world war 1 was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo in 1914. Ferdinand was the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a very old and ailing state that would generally perform poorly during the conflict. Ignoring pleas from his advisors not to take the trip (for fear of his safety), he rode in an open topped car through the streets with his wife, Sophie. As Ferdinand's convoy stalled on a side street in the city after making a wrong turn, a young man named Gavrilo Princip, nervously fingering a semi-auto handgun in his pocket, made his move. He stepped out of the crowd of admirers and fired two shots point blank into Ferdinand and his wife, but was seized by cops before he could kill himself. Within minutes, the archduke and his wife were dead; peace in Europe died with them. Following this, austria-hungary bullied the Serbian government into accepting a very harsh and demanding ultimatum, in which austria-hungary basically demanded war. Although serbia accepted the terms, austria-hungary declares war anyway. The huge Russian Empire to the east, under Tsar Nicholas II, honors its pact with serbia to act as a vanguard for all Slavic peoples and declares war on austria-hungary. From here, things spiral out of control and alliances and promises of military assistance force european nations to rapidly declare war on one another. The film goes over how despite russia's seemingly endless reserves of manpower, they attacked german positions in East Prussia (now Poland) and lost nearly half an entire army thanks to german forces commanded by Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. One of the russian commanders involved shot himself. In the west, France and its generals determine the easiest way to subdue germany (if they are attacked by them) is to immediately cross the Rhine with a huge army and capture Berlin. The germans on the other hand favor the Schlieffen Plan: a tactic that involved the german military invading french territory via neutral Belgium, getting behind Paris, and then swinging down and to the left in order to capture it. As germany puts the plan into action, they let the belgian public know that their only concern should be to step out of the way and let them take over their country. By stating their intentions, the germans feel any destruction they cause is justifiable. Belgium gives up its neutral status and fights germany, but is quickly overwhelmed and has its huge forts blasted to pieces. As punishment for destroying their own railroads and other facilities to slow the germans down as much as possible, german forces engage in an extended period of complete sadism against belgian civilians, killing the young, the sick, and whoever else opposes them. Ironically, the sheer brutality the germans display, meant to shock the world into giving up to them, backfires on them. French forces manage to stop the german advance in the famous Battle of the Marne, and both sides are soon forced into trench warfare: a very static type of fighting where the factions dig trenches and are separated from each other by a desolate stretch of land. Trench warfare is largely to blame for ww1's reputation as a total bloodbath, as men attempting to attack enemy positions in huge waves would often be killed in mere seconds by machine gun fire. Neither side can make progress, and neither one gives in. This is a general overview of what went on during the first few weeks of the world's costliest war (up until that time). Other people have been saying this film is propaganda, as Weaver's narration kind of makes you feel pity towards Princip and his actions that ultimately caused the war. A subject as massive as world war 1 is simply too big to explain in only 100 minutes, so they had to no doubt cut a lot of things. What The Guns of August offers however is still extremely important to see, such as footage of the carnage at Verdun, in which the french and germans battered each other for almost an entire year until almost a million were dead, or scenes of Lenin giving a speech to russia's mistreated underclass. As someone who avidly reads history, I've seen these types of things many times, but some of the footage is new to me. Either way, The Guns of August is an important part of history in and of itself, as it shows how europe (and eventually most of the world) was sucked into a terrible symphony of destruction that nobody was prepared for.
Night and the City (1950)
Punch out
We all know that professional wrestling is fake, but you're at least supposed to try and make it look real. While wrestlers are essentially entertainers putting on a show in front of an audience, the injuries sustained during their predetermined fights are typically real. This brings me to Night and the City, a film noir concerned with wrestling (something I don't think I've ever seen an old movie about), and how building a career off of deception will get you nowhere in the end. The film starts with Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark), an American charlatan in London who is looking to make money. He argues with Mary Bristol (Gene Tierney), a woman who has a strained relationship with him as she is honest and he isn't. Harry also has relations with a nightclub owner named Phil Nosseross (Francis Sullivan). Harry goes to a wrestling match and tries to scam people, but comes across Gregorius (Stanislaus Zbyszko), a Greek wrestler and one of the most famous of all time, arguing with his son Kristo, the latter being in control of nearly all wrestling-related affairs in london. Gregorius is mad that the type of wrestling being done here isn't being done in the way wrestling's pioneers (ancient Greeks and Romans) would have done it, so he leaves with another wrestler named Nikolas. Harry witnesses this and rushes up to the pair, pretending to be a big fan of Gregorius and encourages him to be his friend in a wrestling enterprise. Harry hopes that by getting Gregorius on his side, his son's monopoly on the sport will go away. Fabian goes to Phil and his wife Helen with his plan and wants Phil to invest in it. Phil bursts out laughing, but his wife persuades him to put up 200 pounds if Harry can do the same. Harry rushes out and tries to beg people for money, including an old Irish woman who lives on the bank of the Thames named Anna, but nobody helps him. Eventually, Helen herself meets with Harry and gives him 200 pounds in exchange for a licence to own a nightclub. Harry says yes, but double crosses her by getting someone he knows to forge the piece of paper. Concurrently, Phil receives visitors in the form of Kristo's goons who warn him he better not give Fabian leverage over British wrestling. Phil says nothing of the visit to Harry, who by now is opening his own gym with Gregorius and Nikolas. An enraged Kristo goes to Harry's gym and learns his own dad is in it with Fabian. Kristo talks with Phil, both of them planning to kill Harry, but realize they can't do anything with Gregorius by his side. Next time they meet, Phil bluntly tells Harry he is cutting his supply of money, and instead says he should get Nikolas together with The Strangler (Mike Mazurki), a wrestler that Kristo likes. Phil knows this plan will end badly for Harry (which is what he wants), as The Strangler and Gregorius hate each other. Harry goes into a restaurant and taunts The Strangler, who is eating dinner, saying he's too cowardly to fight Gregorius. As The Strangler goes to the gym and climbs into the ring, the match between him and Gregorius begins. It's time for the latter to prove Greco-Roman wrestling is superior. When The Strangler's manager asks Fabian for 200 pounds for his fee, Fabian decides to get Phil to pay him. Instead, Phil lets Kristo know The Strangler is in Harry's gym right now. After being backstabbed, Harry steals Mary's money and runs back to the gym, seeing the fight in progress. Nikolas' wrist gets broken, and Gregorius eventually defeats The Strangler by squeezing his abdomen. However, as Kristo arrives and sees his exhausted father exit the ring and try to lie down, he dies. Kristo wants revenge and orders Harry hunted down, offering an 1000 pound reward to any london criminal for killing him. While Harry flees, Helen leaves her husband to run her own nightclub, only for a cop to tell her the document is fake and worthless. She is forced to crawl back to Phil, but is horrified to found out he shot himself. Harry goes back to Anna's barge on the thames, and he is visited by Mary. At first her compassion appears authentic, but she was sent by Kristo to lure Harry out. Harry tries to flee again, but as he runs towards Kristo (standing on Hammersmith Bridge), he is ambushed and choked to death by The Strangler. Just before being arrested, The Strangler dumps Harry's corpse into the river as Mary looks on incredulously. While this movie has a real unique concept for a noir, I have to say one of the biggest letdowns of it is the protagonist himself. Not only is Harry despicable because he cons people, but he's a total weasel. You can see in real time how fast his tough guy persona disappears during his confrontation with Phil, in which the latter calls his old friend Kristo to betray Harry while Harry impotently begs him to stop. It's pretty hilarious. Speaking of which, I really need to see more films with Francis Sullivan. I've already seen him in Great Expectations, and he's probably my favorite thing about this movie, since he manages to be threatening to Harry, but in a concealed and underhanded way. He actually reminds me a lot of George Sanders, as his suave accent and habit of playing sophisticated but conniving roles is something you'd see from him as well. I was also disappointed that Tierney had no real significant part in this film, as her career-defining performance in Leave Her to Heaven is still in my mind. Overall, Night and the City was ok. It's a noir about wrestling, but if weren't for the novelty of that, I would probably be less forgiving here.
The Outer Limits: Counterweight (1964)
Don't panic
I hardly ever need to do this, but I am giving a less than stellar review of an Outer Limits episode. Even though the series was running out of original ideas and compelling storylines towards the end of its run, I still feel like I have to force myself to say negative things about them. Counterweight (like Behold Eck) was disliked even by its creators and producer Joseph Stefano, but unlike Eck, Counterweight has barely any redeeming qualities. Just going by the plot, you would think it would be awesome: a group of scientists, a news reporter and a construction foreman are to spend around 9 months in total confinement onboard a simulated flight to the planet Antheon. Even at faster than light speed, this trip is going to be a long one. Antheon, while countless miles from Earth, has been selected since it is believed it will be a safe bet for human colonization. Onboard the spaceship, there is a "panic button." Shielded behind glass, this device can be pressed by any person participating in the experiment in order to halt the simulation at once if it gets too intense for them. However, doing so ends the simulation for everyone, and all cash they would have otherwise won for completing their "interstellar journey" is confiscated. Little do the travelers realize, an actual alien from Antheon has made it into the ship. In its initial form, it doesn't look like a life form at all; just a small patch of light. One evening, it slithers into the heads of some of the sleeping passengers, making them talk in their sleep and unknowingly reveal their true thoughts. Joe (Michael Constantine), the foreman, says he only wants to go to Antheon for the money involved with building enterprises there. He is then awakened in a fright by the feeling of being strangled. Everyone rushes towards him to see what the noise is about, and concludes he was just having a bad dream. However, a doctor onboard sees actual marks on Joe's neck, which quickly vanish. Later, the doctor finds the doll of his deceased daughter on his bed with no explanation, as he didn't even bring it on the ship. As the days go by, each of the passengers become more on edge and eager to accuse the others of sabotaging him. Eventually, one of the scientists checks on his plants in the botany lab and finds the alien force seen earlier is controlling one of the plants. It kills the other plants, causes the scientist to die from a heart attack, and then grows into a huge creature with a single, folding appendage. The alien mind reveals itself to everyone, saying how it is one of Antheon's inhabitants. It indicts the humans of wanting to visit its planet only to invade it, which it deems unacceptable. When the scientist who died earlier appears good as new thanks to the alien's presence, the doctor comments that he was dead by science's definition. The alien's power apparently transcends this and crosses into the realm of the unexplainable. Joe steals the gun of the ship's captain, but in the end, is forced by the alien to press the panic button, freeing everyone of the simulation. Aside from the fact that the narration at the end of the episode (about the unknown and known only being frightening when they're both misunderstood) makes absolutely no sense, Counterweight has a host of other problems. For a show that had quite a few padded out episodes that offered not much other than filler until the final act, this one is rather genuinely boring. None of the characters really have a time to shine, with the exception of Joe. Constantine puts on a performance more akin to someone like William Bendix, but without him, things would feel even more uneventful. The episode also has an uncanny resemblance to The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, a Twilight Zone installment I talked about some months ago. The characters become increasingly paranoid due to the actions of an alien, but the similarities end there: this just can't hold a candle to that. Originally, the plot for this episode first appeared in a 1959 edition of the popular sci-fi magazine Worlds of If, in which a scapegoat is placed aboard a spaceship so that the crew will direct their hatred at it instead of each other. The scapegoat has the secret permission of the captain to be a menace to everyone and commit acts of theft and violence in order to provide the counterweight that cools tensions between everyone else, hence the title of the episode. For its Outer Limits adaptation, the role of human scapegoat was discarded and an alien put in its place to go with the show's theme. The alien still causes tensions between the passengers, but none directed at itself since no one knows what's going on. Overall, Counterweight is something of a paradox. It's quite confusing, but also remarkably mundane. I didn't really care for it 4 years ago when I first saw it, and my view is unchanged. It is interesting to note though, it shows the members of the cast at the end, accompanied by their names and what their roles were. This was done for no other installment.
Bob le flambeur (1956)
Casino caper
Before the French New Wave flipped how narratives and techniques would be handled when it came to cinema, there were a lot of movies being made in france that played out similarly to noirs in America. One of these is Bob the Gambler, which kind of reminds me of Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, as it involves a heist, but the heist itself is not something we get a good look at. The story follows a gambler named Bob (Roger Duchesne) who lives in a district of Paris. He is respected when it comes to women on the fringes of high society, but is also a former bank robber. For 2 decades, he has been out of trouble, and is even friends with a police commissioner named Ledru. Bob lets Anne (Isabelle Corey), a young blonde woman who is unemployed, stay with him in his apartment so that she is kept safe from Marc, a pimp he dislikes. Bob rejects Anne's advances and instead encourages her to sleep with Paolo, someone he knows. Another ex-criminal named Jean (now a croupier at a Deauville casino) tells Bob's friend Roger (a safecracker) that the safe in the casino will contain nearly a billion dollars worth of francs at 5 in the morning. Bob plans to rob the safe and attempts to get a guy named McKimmie to finance the heist while he puts a team together. Jean acquires floor plans of the casino and tells the others their roles. Foresight is clearly not in Paolo's vocabulary as he brags to Anne about what is about to happen in order to impress her. When she starts seeing Marc instead, she tells him about what Paolo said. Before this, Marc was arrested for beating one of his prostitutes, but Ledru let him go if he gave him info on a more serious crime. The next day, Anne tells Bob what she did, and Bob hits her out of frustration. Bob and Roger look for Marc, but no luck. When Paolo finds out from Bob Anne cheated on him, he finds Marc and guns him down while he's on the phone with Ledru, stopping him from exposing Bob's plans. Suzanne, Jean's wife, finds out how her husband was able to buy her an expensive bracelet earlier and asks Bob for more money. Both of them drive to paris but can't find Jean or Roger. Hoping Bob won't notice, she sends an anonymous tip to Ledru. Bob believes that Marc being dead means his plans are still unknowable, so he and the team head to the casino. Ledru attempts to find Bob to get him to give up, but can't find him. He doesn't want to, but has to lead a bunch of armed cops to the casino to bring him down. Bob walks into the casino at around 2 in the morning. His team will rob the safe at 5 unless he says not to. He starts gambling even though he said to Roger he wouldn't until this is over. Ironically, Bob has much better luck this time around and wins so much at roulette he loses track of time. Right before 5, he looks at his watch. He rushes out the door to the casino. The cops show up just as Bob's team are approaching the entrance, and a gunfight ensues. Paolo gets shot and killed. Bob and Roger are arrested by Ledru, who says Bob will be out within 3 years. Roger thinks he will get acquitted if his lawyer is good. When I said this movie reminded me of Kubrick, I meant it in a good way, but it still doesn't manage to be as memorable. There's hardly any action in the film until the final moments outside the casino (unless you count the part where Marc gets gunned down). While the movie takes a while to get going before the heist is set in motion, the parts that don't involve it are still enjoyable since the movie has a certain non-serious mood about it. There's also a lot of cool camera shots from unexpected angles, which definitely helps since scenes just seem to drag on and on when the viewpoint is never changing. It's also interesting to note that Duchesne is somewhat similar to the guy he plays, as some people at the time were still suspicious of his alleged cooperation with the Nazis during the war. Overall, Bob the Gambler is a unique movie simply because I don't think I've ever seen a french noir before. It was on its way out by 1956 anyway.
Eat for Health (1954)
Good food = good mood
While it should be a conscious thought in everyone's mind every day, a lot of people (especially in America) don't make healthy eating a high priority, and the older you get, the more important choosing the right food becomes. This short film from the 50s goes over how eating right is arguably just as important for kids, as they probably won't develop right without it. It focuses on a kid named Ralph who never enjoys things like peas and forgoes them in favor of candy. He refuses vegetables while dining at the house of his friends Judy and Frank. The next day, Ralph is quite tired and while his two friends stop by his house to see if he wants to go outside with them, he says they'll have to do without him for today. As he's wondering why he doesn't feel as energetic as usual, he remembers something his teacher went over last week: there are 5 groups of foods you should ingest every day if you want to maintain the state of being healthy. They are (in no particular order of importance) dairy, meat, vegetables, fruit and bread. Whole grain and rye breads have a lot of vitamins, which is a trait they share with cereal. Enriched white bread has vitamins added to it as well. Butter and margarine both have vitamin A, which is important for other reasons. The second group of food is milk and cheese, which remind Ralph of the tallest kids in his class. Milk is important for the strengthening of bones and teeth, and while it doesn't pair well with things like meat, it is wise to have at least a glass of it a day. Speaking of meat, it is the group of food responsible for giving you physical power, as it contains protein which helps to produce muscles and blood cells. There are many types of meat, with chicken being a favorite of many, but let's also not skip over pork, pheasant, lamb, beef, ham, and fish (not counted as meat depending on who you ask). Nowadays there's also the debate over whether consuming meat is a cancer risk or causes diabetes, but this is beyond the scope of this film. The next group of food is vegetables. There are many types of vegetables, like broccoli, asparagus, and carrots, and also ones more befitting of a salad, such as celery, lettuce and radishes. Lastly, we have fruit. There are two kinds of fruit, the kind that offer a lot of vitamin C, such as oranges and tomatoes, and then the fruits that people have just because they're almost akin to candy. Things like bananas, peaches, grapes, and so on. After thinking about these foods, Ralph realizes his classmates are healthy not because they partake in one kind of these foods, but because they make an effort to have all of them on a daily basis. It takes all of these things working together to achieve homeostasis. Ralph decides he's not going to have the chocolate bar he usually has most of the time, as things like this don't have any of the proteins or vitamins involved with fortifying your body's well-being. Next time he's at the dinner table, he samples everything that is presented to him, even if it's not something he prefers. By broadening his horizons when it comes to food, he finds after several weeks that eating right has become enjoyable, he has more friends because of it, and he's able to play with them more often due to regaining his energy through natural means. This short was good. It's ironic how things that are meant to be shown to a class (something kids would probably hate watching) is fun to watch now because this era is long gone. It has the typical vintage feel to it, and we can see how even doing something as simple as going outside to skate or play handball made kids happy. While there are still people who do these things, it's not anywhere near as common as in this time. Being someone that is always really selective with what I eat, I thought the message of this film was important no matter your age. You can feel better about your habits and about yourself by staying away from things like chips and candy. You'll also literally feel better for doing it, as things like that don't offer you any energy and usually just make you feel worse (I'm familiar with this). My only problem with this short is how the medically licensed narrator calls the thumb a finger.
Dead Man's Eyes (1944)
Blindsided
While he was never really able to live up to the sheer quality standards of horror his father laid the foundations for, Lon Chaney Jr. Did appear in a large number of films that are worth seeing just because their concepts don't really appear in any other movies. Even if the movie is not that good, you will want to see it since the story is special and outlandish. This is the case here. The story in this is quite easy to grasp, but not so simple that it burns itself out before the film is halfway done. The plot involves a painter named Dave (Lon Chaney Jr.) who is blinded by a jealous model of his: Tanya. Knowing Dave's habit of washing his eyes, she swaps his eyewash with powerful acid. "Dad" Hayden, parent of Dave's girlfriend Heather (Jean Parker), tells Dave all hope is not lost, as a medical procedure exists which involves replacing his damaged eyes with a donor's. The thing is, Hayden needs to die first, and the operation is ghastly enough if he dies naturally. Somehow, Hayden does actually die prematurely, and his bloody corpse is found by Heather. It just so happens that Dave was right next to the corpse and has blood on his hands, so Heather's conclusion is obvious. After Dave becomes a suspect, he tells Heather he doesn't love her anymore, as he feels he is burdening her with his disability. Tanya seizes the opportunity because she knows as long as Dave remains blind, he is dependant on her care. While Dave is still a prime suspect in the killing of Hayden, Hayden's will stated he wanted the operation to go ahead, so Heather cannot legally do anything. In between this event and the operation starting, Tanya steals the corneas, hoping that Dave will not return to Heather. Doctor Alan Bittaker thinks Tanya is responsible and argues with her, getting her to confess she wants to continue to care for Dave. She gives the eyes over to him and the operation proceeds, but upon completion, Dave says he still can't see. Meanwhile, Heather believes her other suitor, Nick, is the one who killed her father, though he says this isn't true. Tanya phones Heather and tells her she knows the potential murderer, but she is suddenly killed by an unknown attacker. The cops, still having their eyes on Dave, confront him. They think that Dave is secretly able to see, and he has been hiding it this whole time. Still, Dave reveals nothing to them. Dave goes back to the same spot Hayden was killed in, looking for clues, but is attacked by none other than Nick. Dave gets away, then Nick tries to spin the story to Heather and tell her that Dave is the killer. Dave asks Alan to visit his apartment and says he knows he's the one who killed Tanya and Hayden. Dave theorizes that he killed Hayden so that he could see again, allowing him to be with Heather. This would free up Tanya to be with Alan, who, according to the latter, loved her much more than Dave did. When Tanya found out Alan was the killer, she was killed to keep quiet. After Alan's cover is blown, he tries to kill Dave by swinging his cane at him, but Dave sees it coming via a mirror. He jumps up and stops him, at which point the cops arrest Alan. Heather enters and professes she still loves Dave, who can actually see again. This was a pretty good movie. Like I said, the story is one of a kind and the constant twists in the plot actually kept me guessing what the truth really was until the final moments. I had no idea Dave wasn't the killer. You don't really need top class actors or special effects to make a worthwhile movie, just a memorable story and believable motives for the cast. We assume Dave is innocent, and want to see him prove it, so it keeps the audience on edge. Overall, I never heard of this film so I didn't expect much, but we can see how Chaney continued his father's horror legacy in his own way. His movies might not have been as polished, but they offer a look into what his father's career might have been like had he lived into the era of talkies.
Old San Francisco (1927)
A Vasquez avenges a Vasquez
With many silent movies, you often get themes and portrayals of certain characters that would never be considered acceptable these days, even if they're not meant to be derogatory. Maybe people have added more hurtfulness to certain stereotypes just by refusing to acknowledge that they exist. This movie from 1927 features an actress who was cast (more often than not) as a malicious Asian woman, and while it gets pretty tiring seeing her play the same role non-stop, I thought the film was ok. It revolves around Delores (Dolores Costello), a Spanish granddaughter of a Californian ranchero, Hernandez de Vasquez, who came to the state in search of gold. He is old now, and prospectors want his land. An Irish businessman named Terrence O'Shaughnessy visits Hernandez and comes into contact with Delores. They are instantly attracted to each other. Soon, Delores catches the attention of Chris Buckwell, a power broker from the city. He has a lot of money, and the Chinese district of San Francisco hates him because he wants to stop their community from growing. They know better than to anger him though, as he is white (or so they think). Buckwell is actually chinese, but is disguised so that his people don't recognize him. His mansion is on top of an underground shrine to Confucius, and is also where he keeps his dwarf brother in a cage. This underground lair is also where Anna May Wong acts as his evil hireling. She's one of the only characters who knows Buckwell is half asian. Chris causes the death of Vasquez, who refused to sell his land to him at any price. Delores eventually finds Terrence dancing with some other woman and is heartbroken. She tries to forget about him, but is captured by Chris and shown to his bosses in the chinese district. He announces his plans to deliver her to a brothel, as his bosses have made a fortune in distributing opium, but never had a gem as rare as her. Terrence infiltrates Chris' mansion and frees the dwarf in the cage, so they try to locate Delores before Chris gets his way. Right then, they bring on the infamous 1906 san francisco earthquake, which flattens much of the surrounding area. Due to what someone was raving about earlier in the film, it's suggested that God himself is giving out retribution for Chris' crimes. Anna May Wong, Chris, and the rest of the villains are killed, and Terrence and Delores are reunited. This is a strange movie. Even back then, the New York Post found it ridiculous. Zanuck was behind this so it seems well produced, but Wong barely appears throughout the entire thing. In fact, her character doesn't even have a name. For those of you who wish you lived long in the past before people started being so sensitive, you should look into how residents of san francisco's chinatown reacted to its release. Asians in the movie are depicted as taking part in many activities that serve to subvert society, such as slavery, fraud, idol worship, and even drug trading. I find it strange they would be so fond of opium of all drugs, since china was brought to its knees in a war against Britain a century earlier in which the latter got millions addicted to it. You may as well also point out that it is other asian characters who expose Chris for what he is, proving not all the portrayals are negative. I just think it's odd a Swede was the one playing Chris.
Eyes of the Navy (1940)
Getting ready for the unavoidable
With America's involvement in World War II looking inevitable by 1940, the country started gearing up for yet another European bloodbath. Hundreds of films were made during this period to show the public what america was doing in order to achieve victory as fast as possible and with as few losses as possible, and this is a good example of it. In this film, we see how those from all across the US register for service in the Navy. While this was the case for all the other military branches as well, the navy is the focus here. Recruits attend courses in which they're taught the strategies of being a pilot on an aircraft carrier. You really see how unprepared america's carrier fleets were for ww2 when you realize the carrier decks are full of biplanes. Later in the war, even advanced monoplanes would be used for training purposes. Pilots also undertake training at Pensacola air station in northwest Florida, which has been a naval base for over a century. Aircraft carriers are not the only type of warship that carry aircraft. Some battleships are fitted with steam catapults to launch biplane scouts towards the sea. The catapult accelerates the plane to 70 miles an hour in about half a second. When the plane's reconnaissance is completed, it lands alongside its parent ship and is hoisted aboard with a crane. At a shooting range, future navy pilots undertake pistol training with Colt 1911s and shoot clay pigeons with shotguns. The latter is especially important since being a gunner in the rear of a dive bomber isn't easy: you're trying to hit something that's moving from something that's moving. We're then shown biplanes shooting at a large fabric target towed by another biplane. After the exercise, the fabric is examined for bullet holes, and the pilots find too many to count, proving they don't just have the wings of eagles, but the eyes of them too. The recruits that do really well are sent to a base in San Diego to undertake more training, this time under actual naval conditions. Later, we're shown a biplane is nosed over on purpose in order to make sure response teams and damage control personnel know what to do in a crash landing scenario. While use of parachutes for airborne landings is typically the Army's concern, the parachute is still essential safety equipment for the navy. Next is one of the most grueling things a navy pilot can train for: actually landing on a carrier. A relatively small stretch of field is laid out to simulate the deck of the ship, and a signal officer coaches each pilot with arm movements as they start their approaches. Carrier landings are extremely difficult, even for seasoned pilots, and depending on exactly how you land, the plane can flip over or slide off the ship completely. Finally, we see biplanes take off from a carrier in order to partake in a dive bombing mission. This short was ok. It's not really anything out of the ordinary when it comes to ww2, but I thought it was interesting to see this since america wasn't involved yet. By this point, it was only a matter of time before we got involved, and most here didn't want it. I liked seeing the PBY Catalina flying boats at the naval base, since that entire class of aircraft is something you never see anymore. Essentially a seaplane, but the entire hull is boat shaped. A far less impressive plane we see in this short is the Douglas TBD Devastator. Its name couldn't be more wrong as during the Battle of Midway, over 40 of these obsolete deathtraps were sent out to hunt for Japanese aircraft carriers, and all but 6 were shot down. This horrendous loss led to the navy replacing it right away with the Grumman Avenger, as this company has a long history of making great naval planes. As this short shows, tactics in war keep evolving, and while things like dive bombing seemed state of the art at this time, it's completely unnecessary today due to things like laser guidance and drones. Those serving in the navy right now stand on the sacrifices of the men in this film.
Great Expectations (1946)
Trying to become a gentleman
While David Lean has directed some of the most acclaimed and important epic films of all time, these typically overshadow his lesser known movies such as this one. While obscure isn't really the word I would use to describe this since it's based on a Charles Dickens book, Lean's other works are so grand in scale that they make this one seem small. The story begins with a young orphan named Pip (Anthony Wager) going into a cemetery to visit the graves of his parents. While there, he comes across an escaped criminal, Abel Magwitch. He threatens Pip to come back the next day with tools he can use to get his chains off. The next day, Pip also gives him food. Abel is later caught when he attacks another inmate on a beach instead of running away. Pip later gets an invitation from a reclusive woman named Miss Havisham to come to her mansion to play with her adopted daughter, an attractive teenager named Estella (Jean Simmons). However, Estella is really mean to Pip and makes fun of his coarse manners, pays no mind when he tells her she is pretty, and even slaps him at one point. He also meets a boy slightly older than him, Herbert, who challenges him to a boxing match. Pip wins, the whole thing being witnessed by Estella from her bedroom, unbeknownst to Pip. Pip tells Miss Havisham he must leave because he's about to turn 14 and become a blacksmith's apprentice. Estella leaves for France to learn the mannerisms involved with being elegant. Several years pass. Miss Havisham sends her lawyer Mr. Jaggers to tell Pip that his unidentified benefactor wants to turn him into a man with "great expectations." Pip assumes the anonymous person must be Miss Havisham. He leaves for London and stays with a now adult Herbert (Alec Guinness). Herbert tells Pip Miss Havisham's backstory, which involves her wanting to destroy the lives of men because her would-be husband refused to marry her at the last moment. She now uses Estella as her tool to be cruel to them. When he is 21, Pip receives an invitation from Miss Havisham to revisit the house, and for the first time in years, sees Estella (Valerie Hobson) again. They talk in the garden, and Pip brings up the times Estella was nasty to him. She admits that she is soulless and in spite of going out with the wealthy Bentley Drummle, doesn't actually like him. When Pip returns to london on a rainy night, he gets a surprising visitor: the same man who he met in the graveyard all those years ago. Abel has been keeping himself busy with farming sheep in New South Wales, Australia, which made him a lot of money. Abel reveals that he is Pip's secret benefactor, and wanted him to have a pleasant life, unlike him. Meanwhile, Pip visits Estella and learns she plans to marry Bentley. For the first time in her presence, Pip appears mad, and confronts Miss Havisham about using Estella to torment him. Pip leaves, but a spark from the fireplace lands on Miss Havisham's dress and she is ignited. Pip hears her wails and tries to save her, but is too late. Pip finds out that an adversary of Abel's is in london, so he and Herbert plan to smuggle him onto a ship. Upon rowing out to the steamboat, the cops ambush them, and Abel and his enemy are knocked into the water. His enemy (the same guy he fought with on the beach years earlier) is crushed to death by the paddlewheels, but Abel is sentenced to be hanged. Abel tells Pip the true reason he has done so much for him: he had a child himself, but lost her years ago. As it turns out, Abel's daughter is Estella. By now, Abel is dying in the prison infirmary, so Pip visits him to say that his daughter is beautiful now, has much wealth, and many powerful acquaintances so he doesn't die with any regret. Pip contracts whatever illness Abel had and is looked after for days by Joe, the blacksmith. When he's able to, Pip goes back to the mansion and hears the words Estella first spoke to him years ago echo in his mind. Entering Miss Havisham's old room, Pip is shocked to find Estella still living here. She tells Pip she's here forever because Drummle cancelled the engagement after learning her father is a convict. Unwilling to see his obsession turn into another hermit like Havisham, Pip gets rid of all the curtains in the room and lets the sun shine through. Estella decides to leave her former habits of cruelness behind, and she leaves the house with pip. While essentially a watered down retelling of its source material, I really think this movie is a win for David Lean. There's just an allure movies set in the 19th century have, and I like seeing all the architecture and decorations they had back then. John Mills as adult Pip plays a man who realizes that money is just as bad for someone's conscience as being poor, if not worse. Despite all the times Estella abuses him, he doesn't drop to her level. Estella is immature for most of the film, but understands by the end that she needs to break free of Havisham's influence. She used her as a tool, and Estella becoming a recluse who hates men is what she would have wanted. This is also Alec Guinness' first credited movie, paving the way for a long and legendary career. While I think this movie is at its most interesting before Pip grows up, I still have to consider Great Expectations a near perfect adaptation since it is just a real interesting story.
Platoon (1986)
What is it good for?
Ever since the conclusion of the Vietnam War, the conflict has often been treated as probably the lowest point in US history. Even many who partook in it did not discuss it when they came back here. It was akin to growing up in a family with abusive parents; something you just pretend never happened. With Platoon, Oliver Stone paints a detailed picture of why vietnam is the most hated of all wars America has been involved in. The movie starts in 1967, right when america's involvement in southeast Asia is expanding. An Army volunteer named Chris (Charlie Sheen) arrives in south vietnam and is assigned to a platoon near the border with Cambodia. The platoon is commanded by a rookie Lieutenant just out of officer candidate school named Wolfe, but the men instead prefer to take orders from two of his underlings: Staff Sergeant Barnes and Sergeant Elias (Tom Berenger and William Dafoe respectively). Taylor's first taste of action comes at night, when he is deployed alongside Barnes, Elias and several other soldiers in order to ambush a north vietnamese army force in the jungle. After a patrol appears, a firefight breaks out and a recruit named Gardner is killed. After the engagement, Chris returns to base and gets to know Elias and his circle of weed smokers while alienating himself from Barnes and his more brutish guys. While on another patrol, two soldiers are killed by a bomb trap left by the vietnamese. The platoon eventually comes to a village, where Barnes threatens and interrogates locals about whether or not the villagers are stashing food for the NVA. Barnes guns down the village chief's wife when she gets up in his face, then tells his translator to tell the villagers he will kill more if they don't get rid of the food. Elias shows up and smacks Barnes with the end of his M16 when he learns what he did. Wolfe acts like he didn't know about Barnes' actions when Elias brings up the issue (which is a lie). Back at base, a Captain threatens to get Barnes court martialed if he finds evidence of GI's killing civilians. Barnes is worried Elias will see this as an opportunity to get rid of him. On another patrol, the platoon again comes under sudden attack by the NVA, who are armed with rocket launchers this time. The situation takes a nosedive when Wolfe mistakenly directs friendly artillery support on top of his own unit by giving them wrong coordinates. While Elias, Chris and some other soldiers fight off an NVA attack next to their position, Barnes tells his men to fall back while he goes deeper into the jungle to find Elias. Upon finding him, Barnes kills him and then tells Chris NVA are crawling all over so it makes no sense to go back for him. After reaching a Huey helicopter for an extraction, Chris watches in disbelief as a fatally wounded Elias runs out of the jungle with a large group of NVA soldiers attempting to kill him, which they eventually do. Chris now has all the proof he needs this was Barnes' doing. At the base, Chris tries to convince the others that they need to "frag" Barnes: a real life form of fratricide during vietnam where disgruntled and abused soldiers would murder their own officers on purpose with hand grenades. However, Barnes hears what's going on and bets Chris won't say what he just did to his face. Chris attacks Barnes, but the latter easily pins him down and cuts his cheek with his combat knife. The platoon once again takes a position near the front to repel a north vietnamese night onslaught. The defenses are punched through and an enemy soldier manages to kill Wolfe in a suicide attack when he runs into his headquarters and blows himself up. In a last ditch attempt to force back the NVA, an airstrike is authorized inside the base perimeter. Barnes and Chris run into each other, and right when Barnes is about to kill him, both are knocked out by a jet dropping bombs nearby. Chris awakens the next morning, and finds a badly wounded Barnes crawling around. Chris picks up an AK47 and aims it at Barnes when the latter asks him to call for a medic. When Chris doesn't answer, Barnes dares him to shoot him, which he does. A helicopter then picks up Chris. As he was wounded twice, he is allowed to go home. There are few other movies that show war to be this hellish, except for maybe the first 20 or so minutes of Saving Private Ryan. All the ugly realities of being in a war are shown here, none of it is sugarcoated and it's on full display. Sheen and Dafoe give great performances in the various shocking scenes and more easygoing sequences where they're at camp. After watching the brutality in this movie, it's pretty easy to classify it as anti-war, but I don't think it is. It just shows what war actually is. In general, Platoon is quite a disturbing look at what it was like to be part of the vietnam war, and with Stone's own experience in vietnam, it makes it more authentic. The only way to win a war like this where enemies could be hiding literally anywhere is to kill everyone, including civilians. This was the depressing reality of the conflict. Overall, Platoon is about as whimsical as an autopsy, and is a hard to watch but important movie because it shows how war is just an instrument of death.
Glimpses of California (1946)
The Golden State
Among all the US states, California is one of the most powerful and influential. It possesses the strongest non-national economy on Earth, has a huge tech industry, and many of the world's most recognizable companies and industries are located here. Even back when this short was made, california was the place to be if you wanted to accomplish your dreams of making a ton of money or getting big in the motion picture industry. Fitzpatrick starts by saying Spanish settlers came to what is today california in search of gold, but they never located it. Due to its climate, growing flowers is easier in california more than most other states, and it's not unusual to see residential houses with huge lawns comprised of what seems like hundreds of flowers all densely grown together. California's state flower is the poppy, and the state has an extensive and advanced network of trams and railway lines for the transportation of pedestrians and supplies. To outsiders, one of california's most famous attractions is without a doubt Hollywood, the undisputed center of film. While that may be the case, most of the major studios are in the surrounding areas and not in the district itself. Many movies that later become world famous for decades have their premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theater in LA. We also see the outdoor dining scene, which has a lot of tables that are Paris-inspired. California also has a huge fruit industry, and around half the fruit in America originates from here. Finally, we visit Forest Lawn Memorial Park, which is a cemetary in Glendale that contains a massive, 30 foot wide stain glass reimagining of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, The Last Supper. This version is backlit by natural light, the intensity of which is controlled by shutters, ensuring that it looks even more amazing when the surrounding area is dark. This concludes Fitzpatrick's look at 1940s california. While it says this short was made after the war, I feel like it was done during it since it was risky to travel outside america at the time. I don't think they would have focused so much on american states if there wasn't a global war going on. Even today, california is the most populous state and is a prime example of how crucial geographical location is. Because it's extremely big, has basically every type of climate and biome imaginable, more money than it knows what to do with, and probably the overall nicest weather on earth, it's not hard to see why california was basically destined for greatness as soon as it was discovered. I am kind of disappointed there's no mention of the Golden Gate Bridge but I'm sure there's other parts of this series that show it.
The Twilight Zone: From Agnes - with Love (1964)
"Women only love or hate"
Although I've seen every single episode of the Twilight Zone, I can't think of many episodes that had laughs as the main focus. This one is funny for two reasons: it is relatable to those who are interested in computers and is also a commentary on how frustrating romance can be. The story begins with a computer programmer named Fred. He is being driven to the brink of insanity by a large mainframe computer known as Agnes. Another programmer, James Elwood (Wally Cox) is brought in to solve the error message Agnes has run into, and he manages to do so. Because he proved he's up to the job, James' new task is to be one who operates Agnes: the world's most advanced computer. James asks out a female programmer he works with, Millie (Sue Randall). At work, James uses Agnes to work out problems and equations relating to the escape velocities of spacecraft taking off from Cape Canaveral, but before long, the computer itself becomes jealous of his life love and starts holding it over his head. Agnes stops giving James space related info and instead provides him with intentionally bad advice for his date with Millie, starting with encouraging him to buy her champagne. James tries courting Millie by reading her some of Einstein's theories about the universe but irrevocably sours the date when the champagne explodes all over Millie's dress. She is angry and storms out. The next day, James asks Agnes for more advice on how to get Millie to forgive him, to which she responds by saying he needs to buy roses. Upon giving some to Millie, he finds out (too late) that she's allergic to them. James eventually sets up another date with Millie, but fears if he doesn't impress her soon, he'll end up losing her. Agnes suggests introducing her to a male even more pathetic and nerdy than he is: a programmer on the third floor named Walter. Walter is a stud much taller than James, but despite his stature, expensive Mustang and penchant for doing dangerous races, Agnes reassures James that he's a loser. James does as Agnes says and makes Millie meet Walter, and she's immediately smitten with him, much to James' shock. Right after meeting Walter, Millie acts as if James doesn't even exist. Meanwhile, James is called back to work because his boss desperately needs an answer to a complex math equation regarding a probe mission to Venus. James is forced to leave Millie with Walter. At his job, Agnes refuses to do math and instead tells him he should forget about Millie since someone better loves him: Agnes. When James says that's not going to happen, Agnes gets angry and beeps loudly, producing nonsensical answers. James, out of patience by now, wants to know why the computer is trying to destroy his life, to which Agnes says it is jealous of Millie. James has had enough of this and tries to disable Agnes. Eventually, James' boss (alongside Walter) enters the room to see if he's gotten the answer to the Venus problem yet, and all he sees is an exhausted James staring off into space talking to himself. The boss wants James to take a vacation while Walter tries to fix Agnes. As he leaves, James yells out that Walter hasn't got a chance; Agnes knows about his stint with Millie. I like this episode. There's not many actors who can play a nerd better than Wally, which is ironic because he used to ride motorcycles. Here, he is a man who, despite all his mental prowess when it comes to math and science, remains impressively naive. It's not really his fault he can't see through Agnes' lies, as computers evidently make up a big part of his life. He no doubt trusts them. Seeing him get friend zoned at Walter's apartment later basically guarantees the episode is still relevant today. It's a very unfair feeling when someone you can't stop thinking of leaves you for a person who is (in their mind) more exciting or adventurous. Beyond themes such as these, the episode also shows a rather archaic way of thinking since lots of people at this time really believed robots would take over everything. Computers were still pretty new, and logically, people thought that such advanced electronic devices could surpass humans if they weren't kept in check. It's fun to think about, but it still hasn't happened yet. Overall, this episode is one of the best from the fifth season of TZ, a time when the show's plots were wearing thin.
A Study in Scarlet (1933)
Mystery society
I never saw a Sherlock Holmes movie before, so this archaic example from the early 30s seemed as good a place as any to start. It is a pretty average murder mystery that is slowly unraveled (but also made more complicated) by the addition of unexpected events or even other characters getting killed. The movie starts on a train, and a London man named Mr. Murphy is found dead in one of the seats, murdered. A secret society meets in a dimly lit lair, led by a lawyer named Thaddeus. He tells about Murphy's demise, which comes just after the death of Colonel Forrester, another member whose daughter Eileen (June Clyde) is granted permission to be a member for unclear reasons. Thaddeus says the money interest in the society will be shared among the remaining members but Murphy's widow gets nothing. Mrs. Murphy visits Sherlock Holmes (Reginald Owen) and Doctor Watson to try and get help in getting what she believes she is owed. Holmes tells his partner how Thaddeus is London's most formidable criminal and has escaped him many times before, but he will put a stop to this. Thaddeus tells Eileen she shouldn't marry her boyfriend John for the foreseeable future. While she's distracted, one of the society members (Captain Pyke) rushes into the room and is shot dead through a window. Eileen faints, and Pyke's body is identified by his wife Mrs. Pyke (Anna May Wong), whose lawyer happens to be Thaddeus. It looks like the society members are being killed one at a time. Holmes and Watson look into the death of another member named Malcolm. The two of them visit Thaddeus to ask about Murphy's money, but he keeps his mouth shut. Right after, Thaddeus calls Eileen to invite her to another meeting of the society, now called the Scarlet Ring. She tells John that her dead father said that Thaddeus wants to give her a large inheritance. John takes off and speaks with Holmes, claiming that his future wife is in jeopardy. Holmes puts on a disguise and visits Mrs. Pyke's mansion, which she has put up for sale. What he finds there makes him wonder if Pyke is working with Thaddeus, so he puts ads in papers asking people to reach out to him if they know anything regarding the Scarlet Ring. The society hosts another meeting, and while the surviving members are worried they're about to be killed, Thaddeus announces that after years in the making, their grand scheme is about to pay off to the tune of 1 million pounds: 200 thousand each for the remaining members. Sherlock and Watson arrive just as the meeting is ending, and find Eileen tied up in a gas filled room. After rescuing her, the society member Wilson tries to plead with Holmes after someone apparently attempts to kill him. Wilson and Eileen get lured and don't realize they are they next targets of the society. Holmes and the cops show up and enter the mansion, saving them both. The murderer is revealed to be Captain Pyke, thought to be dead the whole time. Pyke is arrested and subsequently hanged for carrying out 3 murders, and his wife is arrested because she helped him. Thaddeus arrives with the huge sum of money, and is arrested as well. Eileen and John can now be together with no worries. This was ok. I have yet to see a film where Anna May Wong is cast as anything but a mysterious and typically malicious Chinese woman, so a lot of the plot felt run of the mill and ordinary. Despite not being very long, the movie is noticeably slow moving and doesn't really have any type of music, which just adds to the tedium. I know he's meant to be a sidekick, but Watson barely does anything in this movie and gets pushed to the side while Holmes takes centerstage, which is quite a missed opportunity. You should always try to get the most out of actors no matter who they're playing since it's going to help the movie in the long run. If I watched any other movies based on Sherlock Holmes I'd probably criticize this movie a lot more, but I have nothing to compare it to so I thought it was tolerable.
Alien³ (1992)
Rehashed
Second sequels rarely work, and there's few science fiction movies that show this more plainly than Alien 3. The first installment of the series was a terrifying survival film set in the cold reaches of space, where members of a spaceship's crew are getting killed one by one by an unknown lifeform that is incredibly fast and nearly invisible. The second is (in the eyes of many) even better than the first, as the situation was much more chaotic with more than one Xenomorph, not to mention we got Michael Biehn from The Terminator as one of the protagonists. This one is just okay. It feels tired and played out since we're down to only one alien again, it continues its rampage of disposing of unsuspecting victims, and I had basically no sympathy for any of the characters due to the setting. The movie begins with the Sulaco, the marine spaceship from the previous movie, drifting through space on its way to Earth after Ellen Ripley has fought and killed a xenomorph queen at the end of Aliens. She has been placed in a cryogenic pod to halt her aging process. At some point during the journey, a xenomorph egg hatches on the ship. Its acidic blood causes a fire. The ship's AI jettisions the section of the vessel containing Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Corporal Hicks (Michael Biehn), the android Bishop, and Newt, the 10 year old girl Ripley protected throughout the previous movie. The four of them land on a nearby world that is home to Fiorina 161, a maximum security prison which only houses male inmates. Still unconscious, Ripley is taken by Clemens, the prison's medical officer, and awakens to find out she's the last survivor. Newt has died in her sleep due to her pod being flooded with water, Hicks was impaled by a piece of the ship, and Bishop was torn in half by the xenomorph queen at the end of the last film. Clemens takes Ripley to the morgue where she is allowed to say goodbye to Newt, but she seems more inquisitive about how she might have died. Clemens says that she drowned and that's all there is to be said, but Ripley isn't satisfied until an autopsy is done. Clemens is reluctant but agrees to do it right in front of her, but no signs of disease or more importantly an alien embryo are found. As a precaution, Ripley still wants the corpses of Newt and Hicks cremated using the prison's furnace. This is done as the facility's spiritual leader, Dillon, gives a speech. Meanwhile in a secluded area of the prison, a small xenomorph alien violently emerges from one of the prisoner's dogs, Spike, and kills him. Ripley retrieves the remains of Bishop and goes to the infirmary to connect his wiring and reactivate him. Before permanently being shut down, Bishop confirms Ripley's worst fears: an alien did get ejected with her and the others as they crashed on the planet. Now bigger than a human, the xenomorph kills several inmates and Ripley has to use her experience as an officer to lead the prison's efforts to hunt it down. This will be way easier said than done as the prison has no firearms at all. Some time later, while Clemens is trying to give Ripley an injection, the xenomorph ambushes them both and kills him, but inexplicably refuses to harm Ripley. She then rallies the inmates and gets them to pour gallons of nuclear waste into the air vents going through the prison to hopefully force the alien out of hiding. However, the xenomorph ambushes the guy carrying the lit match, causing a massive premature inferno. Several inmates die horribly, but Ripley soon has a much worse thing to worry about. As it turns out, she discovers the embryo of a xenomorph queen inside her after placing herself in a scan. After learning that Weyland-Yutani, the company responsible for the spaceship Nostromo from the first film, plans to turn xenomorphs into weapons, she tries to stop their so called "rescue team" from arriving to the planet. They will be doing some rescuing, just not with her or the inmates in mind. Now knowing why the xenomorph didn't kill her, Ripley tries to explain her predicament to Dillon, who thinks she is lying. Ripley is effectively immune to the alien's rage, and so has no choice but to ask Dillon to kill her instead so the xenomorph queen is vanquished as well. Dillon only agrees if Ripley helps him and the remaining inmates kill the current xenomorph first. For their final plan, the inmates attempt to trap the alien in a corridor in the prison's foundry, and then dump a flood of molten lead on it. As the alien chases the prisoners through the foundry, all but Dillon and one named Morse are killed. Dillon gives his life to trap the alien in the corridor facing the lead mold as Morse releases the boiling metal onto them both. Incredibly, the xenomorph is unphased and leaps up towards Ripley. She activates the fire suppression system, and the xenomorph is blown to pieces by the rapid change in extreme temperatures. At last, the team from weyland arrives, led by a guy who looks just like Bishop (Lance Henriksen), the android. He explains that he designed Bishop, hence the resemblance. He and the weyland operatives try to convince Ripley to surrender the alien inside her to them, as they have a surgical ward on their ship. Although he doesn't state it, Ripley knows he intends to use the xenomorph as a weapon and rejects his proposal. Ripley moves onto a platform which is positioned over the huge furnace by Morse. The weyland soldiers shoot Morse in the leg to try and stop him but it's too late; Ripley drops herself into the fire, ending her life and the xenomorph threat. Morse, the last survivor, is led away by the team while Ripley's final audio entry from the events of the Nostromo play. Whichever way you look at it, Alien 3 is mostly more of the same for this series. I don't know if I'd say it's the worst one, but the premise just isn't as interesting as the first two. Firstly, there's no guns in this movie at all until it's almost over, so the options the characters have for combating the alien are very few and far between. This lack of viable options against the xenomorph means that Ripley has no choice but to interact with the thoroughly contemptible prisoners for much of the runtime. She's not quite as independent in this movie as in the first, willing to hunt down the xenomorph on her own (not that it matters since it won't attack her anyway). As a side note, HR Giger was asked to make the alien more animalistic this time, contrasting the more imposing and upright posture it had in the previous films. I don't think this decision has aged that well. The thing literally runs like a cheetah in some scenes, and while you only get a few frames of it, that's all you need to see the rather dated computer animations. While there was an early 90s video game based on this movie intended for consoles such as the Sega Genesis and Commodore, I don't really think Alien 3 has stood the test of time like its predecessors have. David Fincher himself seems to write this off as a mistake.
Fine Feathers (1933)
Bird is the word
One of the most interesting but sad aspects of nature is observing just how many types of species have become extinct over the years, whether due to human actions or some other reason. This short from the 1930s goes over different types of birds that the average person will probably never get a look at in person. Some of the birds shown include Cardinals, including a non-red one that is probably more uncommon than the already rare specimen most are familiar with. One thing I didn't know is how Pheasants are native to Asia, and they have one from Manchuria (northeast China) here to show us. This bird's plumage is mostly yellow and copper, with a wide, white collar on its neck region that is more broad at the front. Other types of pheasants exist in southern Siberia or some Korean regions. We also see a Victoria Crowned Pigeon from New Guinea, which is off the northern coast of Australia. The narrator says how they're almost extinct, but even in the current day, this is nowhere near true. Next, the Black Crowned Crane makes its appearance. These are found in wetlands across the African savanna and are so named because of a distinct, bright yellow arrangement of feathers on their heads. One surefire way to anger basically any type of animal is to go near its young, and someone involved with this short finds that out when trying to get film of a baby crane. Lastly, we see Barn Owls, which are strange creatures that oftentimes seem to be lacking a face. They are the most common type of owl and are found everywhere except for deserts or the ice caps. With their black eyes usually obscured behind an oversized ridge of feathers, they're probably the owl species most bird enthusiasts would want as pets (which is sadly illegal in the US). Just like most other Pete Smith shorts, this one was quite amusing and (in my view) much easier to get enjoyment out of due to his humorous comments about the birds. Some other narrators for 30s and 40s short films just tend to drone on and on without their voices ever changing (James Fitzpatrick and his Traveltalks series come to mind). While I still like those, it's not often we see films like this on animals. Being the only relatives of dinosaurs that you can see in the current day, birds and the hobby of watching them is something more people should look into. The Technicolor in this short was clearly chosen for a reason, as it would still work in black and white, but not quite as magnificent. Overall, TCM made a good decision to play this after one of the movies I saw there recently, since it's a little known part of history you will probably never find anywhere else.
George Stevens: D-Day to Berlin (1994)
On to victory
Alongside fellow directors Frank Capra, John Ford, George Huston and William Wyler, George Stevens journeyed overseas during World War II in order to get a glimpse on what the conflict was like. This film is a collection of some of the things Stevens shot, filmed in color using the same Kodachrome film he made his home movies with. Stevens followed the US Army in Europe as they assaulted the hellish beaches of Normandy in northern France during the largest amphibious attack in history. The highlight of his entire reel (and according to himself, his whole life) was being in the midst of a newly liberated Paris. The charismatic general Charles de Gaulle returns after 4 years in exile, embodying the soul of a resurgent france. Stevens also takes footage of a big military parade being held in front of the Arc de Triomphe, as well as a high ranking German commander surrendering to Allied forces. As american forces push further into europe, Stevens is there with them and documents the Battle of the Bulge, the last major german attack of the war which was launched to give Hitler a straight passageway to the crucial port of Antwerp. The Belgian countryside is devastated, but Stevens records a mass surrender of german troops, an event in which they even gave up 25 generals, as well as some GI's hanging grenades on a Christmas tree. After advancing across the Rhine river into germany, another extremely important event is captured by Stevens, as American and Soviet forces finally meet at the Elbe River in germany. While they were a world away from each other fighting their own separate campaigns, Russian and american cameramen, both tasked with filming the war, get along almost instantly. A much more serious location is next for Stevens, as he and his unit come across the Dachau camp in the south of germany. Here, they discover scores of malnourished prisoners. Thousands are already dead. Many are disease ridden due to typhus. Many former SS guards try to evade capture by wearing prisoner uniforms, but many are recognized and beaten to death by enraged inmates. Stevens ventures on to Nordhausen, where a huge underground complex comprising 40 miles of tunnels is located. The germans have been using inmates and prisoners to build Hitler's wonder weapons that were supposed to change the tide of the war, such as the ME-262 jet fighter and V2 ballistic missile. Lastly, Stevens gets permission from the soviets to go to Berlin, which they are intent on holding on to since 200 thousand russians died capturing it. Stevens would be part of this film unit until 1946. Because of what he saw during the war, his subsequent movies were not as comedic as his past ones. Keep in mind, this is the same guy who wrote jokes for a large amount of Laurel and Hardy films. Overall, I really liked this unique look at history, not only because it was well made and reminded me a lot of World at War, but also since having such important pieces of ww2 history on film is crucial to making sure the lessons of it are not forgotten. Maybe it's not coincidental that I felt like I was watching World at War while viewing this, since Carl Davis did the music. He really did manage to set up the mood of the entire war musically.
Julie (1956)
Doris saves the day
Since my search for a barely known about Argentinian noir hasn't given me results, I moved on to this film that I've been meaning to watch for months. The plot is really not that hard to understand, which for the sake of writing is a good thing, but the execution of it on the screen just feels really sloppy. The movie follows (no pun intended) a girl named Julie Benton (Doris Day) who is being stalked by her intensely jealous husband, a concert pianist named Lyle (Louis Jourdan). One day while she's out driving with her husband in the passenger seat, he forces Julie's foot on the gas and won't let go. Forced to navigate winding roads that seem to appear out of nowhere, Julie realizes Lyle nearly killed both himself and his wife, but threatens to kill Julie if she ever leaves him. Julie goes to her friend Cliff, who tells her that her first husband's death was actually a homicide that Lyle committed, although the aftermath was meant to make it look like he was hanged. Julie gets Lyle to admit that he killed her first husband, and the only thing on her mind now is a desperate escape before it's too late. She manages to get away from their cabin, but Lyle tracks her down to a police station. The cops are unable to help Julie as she has no written proof that Lyle actually killed somebody. Lyle confronts Julie as she leaves the precinct, telling her she's making a mistake. She drives with Cliff to San Francisco, where the cops are a little more willing to offer assistance, as one of the cops here had his wife killed because of a jealous ex husband. Julie is forced to go under a new name and get her old job as an airline stewardess back. Lyle manages to find out that Cliff plans to meet up with a friend in California later that night. Lyle pursues Cliff's car, and Cliff confronts him. Lyle shoots him after he refuses to drive him to where Julie is hidden. The badly wounded Cliff manages to crawl to a small shack owned by an old man, and Lyle is forced to back off. Meanwhile, Julie is told by her airline that she needs to fly back to New York to fill somebody's role. Cliff manages to tell the old man that Lyle is about to kill Julie. The cops arrive too late to find Julie at her safehouse, and Lyle follows her to the airport, getting on the very same plane she's on. The cops communicate with the pilots over the phone and learn that Lyle is on the plane. They try to figure out how to subdue him, but Lyle makes his move too quickly, rushing the cockpit as Julie returns to it and killing one of the pilots. The other pilot shoots Lyle fatally, and Lyle tells Julie how instead of killing her, he's going to strand her on a plane without any pilots on it. Lyle then shoots the other pilot, badly wounding him. Although Julie has been around aircraft most of her life, she doesn't know how to fly something this advanced. The copilot walks her through the landing process when he's able to, but he keeps going unconscious. The control tower gives Julie instructions on how to land the plane, and it's a nervewracking experience since visibility is poor and there is a crosswind near the runway that pushes the plane to the left. Julie manages to land the plane successfully, saving everyone on it, and she is now free of Lyle's relentless vengeance. This movie isn't that great. My interest went up considerably when I got to the part with the plane, but if you look past that, there's nothing special about it. The ending kills the entire movie in my eyes. Once the plane is landed, it ends almost immediately, as if the central plot point of Julie being hunted down doesn't even matter. It sucks all the urgency right out of the story. In general, I'm kind of in disbelief at how vastly different the two halves of this film are. The latter half of it is more like a flight simulator than a noir, and because of this inconsistency I have to not rate it that highly. Even if you're someone interested in flying, you're not watching a noir movie to acquire this type of knowledge.
With the Marines at Tarawa (1944)
Carnage
During World War II, US Marine forces fighting the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean could be assured that no matter how difficult taking one island might seem, the next was sure to be worse. This fact is epitomized by Tarawa, a very small atoll in present day Kiribati. Although not even a square mile in total area, almost six thousand people would be killed here in 3 days. In order to secure airbases even closer to japan, American forces had to attack various islands and use them as staging points to attack subsequent ones. After months of intense training, marines are loaded into ships on their way to tarawa. They are familiarized with their objectives and what they have to do once ashore via a large map of the atoll. Weapons are tested, units receive word on what formations they're supposed to use, and chaplains conduct services. Many of the men attending will be dead by tomorrow. On the day of the attack, marines head into tracked amphibious vehicles called LVTs and landing boats with descending ramps. Both ships and navy planes from aircraft carriers provide cover fire, bombing and shelling the beach with so many high explosives it seems impossible for anything to survive it. Japanese mortars and machine guns destroy several landing craft, but the marines push on toward the beach. Once there, they are pinned in one location by machine guns for hours on end and can't advance. Medics try their best, but scores of them are killed. Flamethrowers and the terror they're responsible for are one of the only effective ways of clearing bunkers and concrete fortifications. The japanese defenders prefer death to surrendering. In some cases, they even swim out to the wrecks of american landing craft during the night and set up machine guns on them to stage surprise attacks. After much mortar fire from the americans, most of the japanese resistance is crushed, but several snipers climb palm trees and snipe at marines from up there. When killed, they don't fall out of the trees; just dangle from them. American Stuart light tanks, nimble but lightly armored, join the fight after being carried to the beach by ships. The marine assault is backed up by fresh supplies coming to the shoreline. When the fighting has ended, bulldozers need to be brought up to demolish certain bunkers that were so solidly made that shelling didn't destroy them. Wounded men are taken to navy hospital ships waiting off the coast. Even some japanese soldiers are taken alive, which is rare. In their eyes, the only way to avoid the shame of giving up is to kill yourself. Finally, we're shown the massive toll america has had to pay in order to secure this tiny island and establish an airbase there: huge amounts of marine corpses litter the beach and the water, too many to count. Some of them are brought back to ships to be buried at sea. After the american flag is hoisted on top of a palm tree, the film ends. No matter how hard the job is, the marines always seem to get it done. After seeing World at War years ago, I already knew the nightmare that was the battle over this island, but it's important to have this unseen footage of it I never saw before. Such a huge amount of attackers and destruction brought to this one tiny island really shows how devastating ww2 was. The deeds of the deceased marines on the island wouldn't be for nothing as each island taken represented a launching point for american bombers looking to bomb distant targets. The short even told me things I didn't know (or that World at War skips over) such as how some of the large coastal guns the japanese were using against the ships were British and taken from Singapore when it fell to japan the previous year. I always say one of the reasons I enjoy reading about ww2 so much is because after all these decades, you still discover new things.
Little Fugitive (1953)
"Ya shot your brother!"
Despite being a neighborhood in one of the world's most populated cities, I seldom ever see movies about Coney Island. Even though this film has no well known actors playing the lead parts, it still manages to captivate audiences decades later by showing the world through the curious eyes of a kid and how many things have changed in this area since the 50s. The movie starts with a kid named Lennie playing baseball on the street with his friends in Brooklyn. He has a young brother named Joey (Richie Andrusco), who he is really nasty to and hardly wants to be bothered with. Because it's summer, Lennie wants to go with his friends to coney island, but his mother tells him she must check on his sick grandmother and instructs him to watch over Joey while she's away. Lennie goes back to his friends and expresses dismay at not being allowed to go, so he does something underhanded about it. On Lennie's birthday, he gets a container of ketchup and puts it in his shirt, then gets one of his friends to steal his father's rifle. Lennie's friends ask Joey if he wants to shoot a real gun, and he says yes. The friend holds onto it and allows Joey to shoot into some bushes. It is then revealed that Joey has fatally shot his own brother, or so he thinks: the blood is actually ketchup. Still, Lennie's friends tell Joey he better run away to save himself from the electric chair. Joey gets on a train and escapes to coney island, leaving Lennie at home. For hours, Joey wanders around the boardwalk, plays carnival games, goes on a merry go round, and turns in Pepsi bottles for money on the beach. He uses the coins to pay for horse riding lessons. Meanwhile, Lennie finds out from the guy in charge of the horses that his brother is walking aimlessly around coney island, and Lennie decides to redeem himself by going after him. He writes graffiti in various places telling Joey that he isn't dead and that he wants to meet up with him at the 250 foot tall tower that drops parachutes. Lennie pays for a ride on the parachute jump and is strapped into the canvas seat. By the time he sees Joey walk across the nearby boardwalk onto the beach, it's too late. After Lennie comes down on the parachute, it begins raining and he buys ice cream. He decides to traverse a basically deserted boardwalk and go onto the beach to find his brother, which he finally does. Upon finding Joey, Lennie asks him why he ran away, and Joey says he didn't know his brother getting shot was a joke. To make up for his mistakes, Lennie gives his brother the harmonica he got for his birthday. The both of them manage to get home to brooklyn just in time, just seconds before their mom gets back. As a reward for taking care of each other, she offers to take her sons to coney island, completely unaware of what just transpired. This is a surprisingly classic movie. I think the main reason I like it is just because it shows you how a popular place looked decades before you existed (in this case a place I have been to many times). I really think the most unrealistic part is towards the end when the boardwalk is totally empty. I liked seeing the old style soda bottles, the quaint little booth under the boardwalk where Joey exchanges them for money, and seeing the rides and attractions they had back then. By far the most interesting one is the parachute jump. Originally made for the 1939 World's Fair hosted in New York, this ride is a huge, red metal tower with steel arms that support parachutes attached to guide cables. While it ceased operations in the early 60s, it was eventually added to the landmark registry and is today one of brooklyn's most recognizable sights. Seeing it in action here is an experience. This whole movie has a special quality to it, as it shows how kids in the 50s were content with standing in alleyways and talking to their friends, playing baseball, or just being outside. It's sadly something you don't really see anymore. To summarize, The Little Fugitive isn't just an easy to understand movie, but an actually enjoyable trek through a vanished era.