Reviews

Broken Badly: The Yesterday Machine

Posted by Dave on June 19, 2012
Posted in: Film, Movies, Reviews. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

THE YESTERDAY MACHINE (1963; starring Tim Holt; directed by Russ Marker; public domain, available on DVD from Netflix, or watch the entire thing on YouTube, below)

The “plot”: It’s 1963, and an elderly Nazi scientist is attempting to change the outcome of World War II by giving Hitler a second chance via a time machine.

All right, this movie is appallingly bad. Bad print, bad sound. So bad for you kind of bad that it’s actually good. The Yesterday Machine isn’t quite in the realm of such classics as Manos: The Hands of Fate or Plan Nine From Outer Space, however it tries really, really hard.

This black-and-white, public domain time travel film opens with a pretty, blonde cheerleader furiously twirling a baton. Generic teen music blares from a transistor radio that’s perched on the fender of a ’59 Buick.  A college sweater-wearing, Mitt Romney-like guy–apparently the young woman’s boyfriend–is doing something beneath the hood of the car. Margie the cheerleader mindlessly twirls on. We don’t know if Mitt (actually Howie) is fixing the car, or if he’s about to go with the tried-and-true, “We’re out of gas” line.

Cinematically, things proceed to plunge rapidly downhill the moment the first lines of dialog are spoken.

“Howie, For heaven’s sake! It’s almost dark! If you don’t hurry up, we’re gonna be late for the game!”

“Margie, have you ever tried to fix a fuel pump to a rock and roll beat?”, remarks the perturbed Howie.

To find help, and this being a low-budget, B-movie, they naturally decide to cut through the nearby woods. Howie gets shot even before the credits have finished rolling. Margie and her baton vanish.

Later, at a Big City newspaper (The Sentinel), we meet an intrepid, curious, tough-guy reporter who will stop at nothing to get his story. In an unexpected, Rashomon-like sequence at the hospital where Howie’s being treated, the reporter gets the lowdown, through a flashback, about the incident. Then suddenly, we’re twisting the night away. It’s the music of Nick Niklas and “the girl with the orchid voice”, Sandra de Mar. Sandra’s song, oddly enough titled “Leave Me Alone”, is actually sung by Ann Pellegrino in her one and only film appearance.

“Go on away and leave me alone. I want to be by myself when I cry. And there’s gonna be some cryin’… I just told my baby good bye.

Get out of here and leave me alone. I don’t care whether I live or die. Cause my life’s already over, it ended when you told me good bye.

Why is it everything happens to me and my dreams just explode in my face?”

Sandra is confronted by the police about the disappearance of her sister Margie. Officer Laskey, played by Robert Kelly, shared his memories of making this movie on the Internet Movie Database:

I was honored to play Dectective Laskey in this Yesterday Machine movie. Tim Holt was a true professional to put up with a bunch of local Dallas actors and even thou this is a typically bad science fiction movie– for the time, it is OK to watch. […] I had a recording studio in Dallas, Texas at the time of the shooting of this movie and most of the interior scenes were done in the back rooms of my studio—sets built for the dungeons, and the time machine locations, etc. All of the music was recorded at my studio with the Nick Nicklas band doing the playing.

Accompanied by Tim Holt in suit and tie, De Mar visits the rural, wooded scene of the crime in a tight skirt and high heels. Outside an old farmhouse, Holt gets accosted by a storm trooper to the tune of what sounds unfittingly like the Tonight show theme. Soon, the couple realize they’re lost… in time. Sandra’s hysterical yet orchidly voice is in full flower:

“Jim! The car! It’s gone! There isn’t a telephone pole in sight! The road was paved and now it’s dirt! What’s happening? Where’s the car?? What’s going on?? Jim, someone must’ve stolen it! Tell me what’s going on! Tell me what dreadful thing has happened!! TELL ME!!!”

In a nicely done transition shot, Holt and de Mar are beamed up (or down) to the laboratory of one Professor Von Hauser, and now we are at the real, rotten core of this movie.

Jack Herman, a Yiddish theater actor, hams up his role gloriously with a thick, over the top German accent and sly, menacing expressions and outrageous gestures. I sure hate to give anything away, but prepare yourself to endure the white-haired Von Hauser’s interminably long (but hilarious) blackboard lecture, as a serious but baffled Tim Holt looks on.

“Ziss line represents za vurld… […] Ziss is to illustrate vy vee vood have von da var!! Now, vee are da masters, and time is our servant!! Aahhh, you Americans are an egotistical, arrogant lot! How proud and superior you felt as you strutted through the ruins of our cities!! Soon, Hitler will return!!!”

“I’m afraid you lost me, doctor.”

I wonder if Holt–who once was a star in Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons and John Huston’s Treasure of Sierra Madre, after all–longed for a real, working Yesterday Machine when he saw the end results of this.

It’s nevertheless a great time, and there are plenty of unintentional laughs for an open-minded group. Serve it with some bratwursts, sauerkraut, and a few Heinekens or a nice Riesling. 

Seven Dads for Seven Sons & Daughters

Posted by Dave on June 15, 2012
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Not every one of these dads is a happy one, but here’s wishing them (and yours) a Happy Fathers Day anyway. This is by no means a list of definitive dad movies. They’re all good for a Fathers Day family screening, depending on how much of a sense of humor your dad has, and whether he and you can tolerate subtitles. (All of these films are widely available.)


MY FATHER’S GLORY (1991; France; directed by Yves Robert; subtitled) “A sweet, beautiful memory of a young boy’s favorite summer in the French countryside of the early 1900s.” –Video Hound. Followed by its equally as good companion film, MY MOTHER’S CASTLE. 


THE SHINING (1980; directed by Stanley Kubrick; with Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall) Nicholson takes time to be with his family, including his son (Danny Lloyd) and, apparently, with other people. I’d like to see the post-trip, Trip Advisor review. 

FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1950; Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth Taylor; directed by Vincent Minnelli) The Steve Martin remake is OK, but the original bride is irreplaceable. Tracy is the walking definition of the word, “curmudgeonly”. 

RIVER OF NO RETURN (1954; Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe; directed by Otto Preminger) “Wilder then river fury, wilder than all the savage wilderness of America, was the savageness of their love!” Dad Robert Mitchum has more than he can handle with both his son (Tommy Rettig, co-star of the TV show Lassie) and frontier showgirl Marilyn, not to mention the raging river and several, money-grubbing bad guys. 

BIGGER THAN LIFE (1956; James Mason, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau; directed by Nicholas Ray) Father thinks he knows best, but he doesn’t–it’s the drugs talking. In a way, Mason’s portrayal of a dad is scarier than Nicholson’s in THE SHINING. 

DEKALOG IV (1988; Poland; directed by Krystof Kieslowski; subtitled) There’s a lot going on under the surface in this 55-min. movie. It’s thought-provoking and fun trying to figure it all out–and you might not, until the end. Part of a series of ten films, all very loosely (and mostly not all that religiously) based on the Ten Commandments, this concerns the close relationship a young woman has with the architect father she’s living with. 

REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955; James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus, Dennis Hopper; directed by Nicholas Ray) Yes, another Nicholas Ray film. But no one had a better hand on the pulse of 1950s American suburban life. Backus is out of touch with his pessimistic son, who refuses his dad’s advice to wait “ten years!” for his life to change and get better. 

Fire In a Crowded Theater

Posted by Dave on June 12, 2012
Posted in: Film, Movies, Reviews. Tagged: , . 3 Comments

FAHRENHEIT 451 (1966; Oscar Werner, Julie Christie; directed by Francois Truffaut; widely available)

“You see, it’s… it’s no good, Montag. We’ve all got to be alike. The only way to be happy is for everyone to be made equal. ” 

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray BradburyAuthor Ray Bradbury passed away last week at the age of 91. He wrote for television, including for Alfred Hitchcock, but the most famous movie to be adapted from one of his books was Fahrenheit 451. The best-selling Bradbury novel (which I read way back when) was directed by Francois Truffaut (his first and only English film) and released in 1966. Its critical reputation has improved (“meandering narrative…”, “pretentious and pedantic…”, “an interesting miss”, in the words of critics then). I’d seen Fahrenheit before, but in light of Bradbury passing away, I wanted to re-watch it. It’s gotten better with each viewing. A very good film; not quite perfect though.

From the start, Truffaut startles with quick zooms towards what appear to be ordinary, old rooftop TV antennas. But upon closer look, they are not. They’re a little bit different. This is the future. Over these dramatic shots, we hear the credits being read by an ominous, off-screen voice. The absence of the printed word is in keeping with Bradbury’s novel (a 1984-like future in which fire departments-in-reverse burn all books–“even this one (Mein Kampf)”–and sometimes their owners, with extreme prejudice. I don’t recall seeing (actually, hearing) this technique anywhere except in Welles’ Magnificent Ambersons (readers may want to help me out here…). Composer Bernard Herrmann created one of his best scores for Fahrenheit 451, and to his credit he (reportedly) resisted requests to use it during these opening “titles’. Immediately after these credits, however, Herrmann’s music gets underway. It’s urgent, unique, oppressive and authoritarian, all at once. The childlike xylophone has an accompanying visual: a bright red fire truck carrying a squad of fire lighters. It looks remarkably like a child’s toy as it races through the countryside–not to put out a blaze but to start one.

With the exception of glimpses of the pages of books, and “The End”, there is no text anywhere in the film. Not on or in any building (the fire station exterior simply reads “451”). Not during the odd, intrusive and sterile television programs Linda Montag (Julie Christie) watches on her “wall screen”. Christie’s husband, Guy, (Oscar Werner), aspires to a second screen (and, being a “guy”, he will most likely want a bigger one).

Christie also plays the part of Clarisse, a free spirit compared to the Stepford Wife behavior of her Linda character. She’s very direct while commuting via the monorail, initiating a conversation with the reclusive fellow traveler Montag, who is intrigued by her persistence. “Why do you burn books?”, she questions cheerily.

This is a thought-provoking film. Books in Fahrenheit 451 are looked upon much like how we view illegal drugs today. Books in this book-less new world are “used” even though they can “cause unhappiness”. They’re hidden away in homes. People who’ve read them all their lives, can’t stop–and would rather die than withdraw from reading. Confiscations of books are announced by weight (“Today’s figures for operations in the urban area alone account for the elimination of a total of 2,750 pounds of conventional editions…”). Whether you’re a casual or an avid reader, these firemen are not your friends.

A middle-aged “book lady” says, “These books were alive; they spoke to me!”. She meets, voluntarily, a horrible fate. Perhaps she didn’t know that books could continue to speak to her, in the true sense of the word. Some distance away from this restrictive society, there is a place where books are kept alive. A precious few have memorized one book a piece. With these wandering souls, books will live forever. They’ll be passed on to other, younger people.

Questions remain. There are only so many folks out there in that forest along the river and abandoned railroad tracks. Just how many books can possibly be saved? Why do the authorities leave them alone? Wouldn’t they suspect Montag (who is not as sympathetic a character as he should be) would be hiding among them? With helicopters and men in jet packs (an unfortunately poor special effect) at their disposal, how could the authorities miss this community–a community that could easily be wiped out without consequence.

Then there’s the two, trouble-prone young firemen at the station. What are the misdeeds they are berated for? It’s sort of funny that it’s never explained; it appears as though it might be a subplot left on the cutting room floor–one of a few plot threads that don’t go anywhere. There’s also Montag’s surprise (or is he faking it?) that there could be such a thing as a non-fireproof house, and his response to Clarisse’s astonishment that fireman once extinguished fires. (Surely large fires must still occur… .)

In the end, the literary scofflaws who’ve become the books they’ve read and memorized, walk through the snow-covered, leafless woods–woods that once, in a way, were the carriers of those words. It’s a moving and unforgettable scene, sad and yet a little hopeful, with beautiful, moody music to match. But the pace is off a bit there, too–the film ends a little bit abruptly. The romance here is about our love of books. The romance between Clarisse and Guy, which needs some resolution or fulfillment–one more chapter–is a loose end that is not tied-up.

This dark, cold movie is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s a thoughtful, cautionary story, and it’s not to be missed by anyone who’s ever read a book they wished would never end. Machines are gradually intruding on the lives of the film’s inhabitants, says one character, slowly taking them over. It’s the future in Fahrenheit, but that line was written 50 years ago. “Wall screens” (big, LCD and plasma sets), street corner cameras, satellite views, mindless TV programming and drone surveillance are a reality here in 2012. This is entertainment for us in the here and now, but once the movie’s over, you’ll wonder if the bleak future the movie depicted is as far-fetched as it seemed in 1966. 

Random Noir Night

Posted by Johnny C on June 11, 2012
Posted in: Film, Reviews, Themed Events. 1 Comment

Sometimes movie nights can be unplanned and spontaneous.    I’ve stressed out many times over what movie to show feeling that if it wasn’t right and a success that it somehow was a reflection on me.  I’ll do some posts later on this, but I wanted to relate an alternative to  the planned movie night.   I’ve been calling them  Random Noir Nights.   This Saturday was sixth of these nights that have sort of sprung up organically.   A few friends know I have a 100 inch screen and that usually on the weekends I’ll be watching something.

The past couple weeks I’ve had a small group of friends stop by and instead of planning a movie I’ve been just going to my Netflix Streaming queue in which I have over 400 movies lined up and we just pick a movie at random.   The only bit of planning we might do is to read the short description of film to see if its something that we all agree on.  But I don’t like this process to go on more than a couple minutes.   The other thing I’ve been insisting on is that the film be no more than an hour and a half; and less than that is even preferable.  This way if its bad, its not that big of an investment  of time and usually you fit in two movies in an evening.

Surprisingly this process has come up with some interesting and delightful surprises.   This week we picked a movie pretty much on its name alone.  The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945, Universal).  

Now I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable film buff and especially of films that are a little out of the ordinary.  So I was shocked I’d never head of  this bizarre little thriller, film noir that plays like the  lost,  illegitimate child of Alfred Hitchcock and Carson McCullers .    The story is about a three siblings living in the family home in a small town where they were once leading citizens.  Their fortune was lost in the depression and the youngest son (George Sanders) is forced to work drawing flowers for fabric for the local textile mill.   I found this fascinating because I always wondered who designed those sad flowers that are always found on sheets and pillowcases.   George is living with his two older sisters  who depend on him to keep the family home running.  The eldest is a widow played by  Moyna MacGill (Angela Lansbury’s mother)  The other sister is played by the brilliant Geraldine Fitzgerald.    Early on you learn that Lettie (Fitzgerald) is a drama queen who uses a fake heart aliment to keep Sanders under her thumb.   Complications ensue when a beautiful lady designer comes from New York and sweeps timid George off of his feet.

This is where the plot gets strange as Lettie begins to sabotage her brother’s wedding plans.   I’ve never seen incest played so delicately, yet so blatantly in a film.  There is no doubt in the audience’s mind that Fitzgerald is in love with her brother and she will do anything so that no other woman will have him.  For once George Sanders as Uncle Harry is a sympathic character, even though he is driven to extremes, you are rooting for him to get free of his clinging family.

One of the best scenes in the film (posted below) is where Uncle Harry is getting to know Miss Brown played by the beautiful and largely forgotten, Ella Raines. The scene is a masterful dance of double entendres.  It’s all seemingly innocent. but you can read between the lines as they the talk of hung stars that need polishing and Uncle Harry’s nine inch telescope which they will watch Saturn’s rings,  but they’ll have to wait until it rises high enough.  It got a few gasps out of the group.

The whole production has a feel of Hitchcock’s 1940’s films.  That is probably because Joan Harrison, screenwriter of Suspision, Foreign Correspondent, Rebecca, and Sabatour is credited as the producer.  It is rare that you see a female producer on any films, let alone one made in 1945.  Robert Siomak (Cobra Woman, Spiral Staircase) does a fine job of directing.  And even though he’s no Hitchcock he does elevate this B-film to a quality production.   The film reminded me in some ways of Shadow of a Doubt because of the colorful town characters that are peppered throughout the film.  Most notably. Ethel Griffies who is best known to Hitchcock fans as the Mrs. Bundy, the know it all ornithologist from The Birds.

Director Robert Siodmak does a fine job in pulling all of the elements together and makes this a tight, little thriller.   Not to give away any spoilers for this film, but it has to be noted.  As I’ve said this film was a wonderful surprise and everyone who watched it on Saturday loved it.  However, the ending of this film nearly ruins the previous 78 minutes that came before it.   You’ll go away shaking your head and saying ‘What, the hell just happened?’ It’s like the movie swirves off the road and goes into a corn field.   You’ll know when it happens!

But it was a lucky and happy random movie pick.  At a quick 80 minutes its the perfect length, lots of fun campy lines, a good story that never seems to go where you think its going.  And on top of that a softball team comprised of 1940’s beauties.   That alone is worth the price of admission!   

Five for Dino

Posted by Dave on June 7, 2012
Posted in: Film, Movies, Reviews. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

A toast to Dino, who might’ve celebrated his 95th birthday today by visiting the beverage cart and fixing himself “a salad”. Five recommended movies; all are widely available:

THE YOUNG LIONS (1958; directed by Edward Dmytryk) Martin plays “the Broadway wise-guy” in this seriously underrated WWII picture. Also starring Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. 

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HOLLYWOOD OR BUST (1956; directed by Frank Tashlin) Dean and Jerry’s last picture. It’s a lighthearted, colorful, cross-country road trip, with a dog who almost steals the show. Martin’s annoyance with Lewis sometimes appears to be more than just acting. Lots of fun. 

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KISS ME STUPID (1964; directed by Billy Wilder) Dino plays himself as a visitor to Climax, Nevada, in this dark and suggestive Billy Wilder comedy. Great lines, like “I need another Italian song like a giraffe needs a strep throat” and “You ain’t heard nothin’ sung until you heard me sung it!”. Also with Kim Novak. 

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 RIO BRAVO (1959; directed by Howard Hawks) Terrific western with Angie Dickinson, John Wayne, Walter Brennan and Ricky Nelson. Dean is a cowboy with a drinking problem and a reputation to repair. 

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SOME CAME RUNNING (1959; directed by Vincent Minnelli) Bitter WWII vet Frank Sinatra (“Buy yourself a Quonset hut!”) bumps into Bama Dillert (Martin), a professional gambler. Dillert wears a big hat–no matter what he’s doing. Also with Shirley MacLaine. 

I Fell for Fall

Posted by Dave on June 3, 2012
Posted in: Film, Movies, Reviews. 1 Comment

2012 TCM Classic Film Festival: Review

This is the second of my reviews of the 16 films I saw over the course of four days at the TCM Festival this past April.

FALL GUY 1947; Leo Penn, Elisha Cook, Jr.; directed by Reginald Le Borg; Chinese #4; Saturday, 9 a.m.

The lure: A rarely-screened film noir; Walter Mirisch in attendance.

If I could’ve cloned myself: This was not as difficult a decision as others, such as HTWWW. The festival’s main theme was “Style”, and this was “Noir Style”, but there were not that many noirs on the schedule. Running concurrently with Fall Guy was the very long The Longest Day, with a post-screening discussion featuring Robert Wagner, an Abbott & Costello feature, Who Done It (I never was a fan of A&C), and Auntie Mame. There also was the footprint ceremony with Kim Novak in front of Graumann’s, but I’d seen Kim the previous afternoon at Vertigo.

Thoughts: The legendary producer Walter Mirisch (The Apartment, West Side Story and many more) appeared on stage prior to the screening of this terrific film. Fall Guy was adapted from author Cornell Woolrich’s Cocaine. Mirisch, contrary to what one might expect, was very charming and humble (“I was lucky to be a story teller”). He shot the film in just eight days on very small sets, with a miniscule budget of $85,000 (“I was paid $2,500 and was very displeased with the music”; “It’s very similar to Phantom Lady”) all while skirting the era’s restrictive Production Code.

Leo Penn (father of Chris and Sean) plays a returning and bitter WWII veteran who finds himself confronted with charges of murder, when he awakens at a party from a drug-induced blackout. Great lines, such as “I’m even seeing him in my soup!”, and “Nothing makes you forget a woman faster than another woman.” During the discussion, Mirisch proclaimed, for the record, that his Invasion of the Body Snatchers was–contrary to popular belief–“not about Communism!” A dazzling and very funny Columbia Pictures cartoon, Rooty Toot Toot, preceded this film.

No dice, guys: Fall Guy is unavailable at the present time, although TCM will probably be showing it. Rooty Toot Toot is part of a new set of UPA animated films, available through TCM’s online store. It’s also on YouTube:

That 70s Show

Posted by Dave on June 1, 2012
Posted in: Film, Movies, Reviews. Leave a comment

Beginning July 9, 2012, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be hosting a 70mm Film Festival at the Goldwyn Theater, Beverly Hills, Calif. The films: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World*, Sleeping Beauty, Grand Prix*, The Sound of Music, 2001: A Space Odyssey*, and a new print of Spartacus (* films originally shown in Cinerama).

 

Eject/Play: Jump Cuts

Posted by Dave on May 30, 2012
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These two films have one thing very much in common: a man on a ledge. And they have one major difference: one of them is not good, and should be ejected.

EJECT! Man on a Ledge (2011; Sam Worthington; directed by Pablo J. Fenves; widely available) “Uninspired acting and preposterous plotlines defuse Man on a Ledge’s mildly intriguing premise” is the summation on RottenTomatoes.com, where this descriptively-titled film (which adds a heist element) managed only a 31% rating but is currently a top DVD rental. Some of the not-so-hot reviews: “The ledge is the movie’s most dynamic performer”; “The solution to ‘now what do we do for 103 minutes?’ is to pile as many silly distractions into the running time as possible”; “Nobody should be this hard up for entertainment”. 

PLAY! 14 Hours (1951; Richard Basehart; Barbara Bel Geddes; Paul Douglas; directed by Henry Hathaway; widely available) There is the usual workday hustle and bustle on the streets of Manhattan, mixed with a St. Patrick’s Day spirit, when we hear a woman’s penetrating scream. There’s a man in a white shirt and tie perched precariously on the ledge of a tall building, and he’s looking downward as if he’s preparing to jump. From there, this tense film proceeds to uncover this troubled man’s motives, building sympathy for him along the way. Focusing on the characters and the basic idea of will he or won’t he, the movie will keep you on the edge, too–without overloading you with distractions. 

The Wide, Wide West

Posted by Dave on May 23, 2012
Posted in: 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival, Film, Movies, Reviews. 2 Comments


2012 TCM Classic Film Festival: Review

This is the first of my reviews of the 16 films I saw over the course of four days at the TCM Festival this past April.

HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1962; James Stewart, Debbie Reynolds) at Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome, Sunday April 15, 9 a.m.

The lure: A restoration; 1st time!; Cinerama print! Cinerama Dome theater!!

If I could’ve cloned myself: (In order to see HTWWW, I had to miss all these Festival films, which were playing concurrently): To Catch a Thief and Black Narcissus (painful to have to pass on those two…), A Trip to the Moon, Rosemary’s Baby, The Grapes of Wrath, Trouble in Paradise, Charade).

Thoughts: Loved it. It was far from the plodding, talky “horse opera” I’d anticipated. I’d almost decided against going, partly due to the movie’s length (close to four hours with one intermission) and partly because Black Narcissus and To Catch a Thief (along with some others) were playing at the same time. It was a tough choice. But after all, this was Cinerama!, to paraphrase Lowell Thomas, and it was the Cinerama Dome. A once-in-a-lifetime chance.

On the Dome’s big, curved screen, the sweeping, episodic film was breathtaking. Some of the fun was wondering which Hollywood star would make their appearance next. Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, Robert Preston, Gregory Peck, Walter Brennan. (John Wayne’s had an impact similar to Welles’ in The Third Man).

Debbie Reynolds chatted with TCM host Robert Osborne afterwards. She recalled having had a lot of fun with co-star Thelma Ritter (“she was a sonofabitch with the horses”), and how director Henry Hathaway gave Reynolds a slug of whisky before she had to shoot some of the more dangerous scenes (Reynolds’ double was in the audience as well). Hathaway wrote scenes during the filming, and “really pulled the picture together”.

Two stunt doubles died during the river raft sequence; another lost his leg while filming the movie’s spectacular, concluding train wreck–a sequence which received applause from the sold-out, very appreciative audience. This was a truly unique experience. The film’s big, bulky Cinerama camera was on display in the lobby.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: The restored version of HTWWW is widely available, including on Blu-Ray. Obviously, this movie will be much better on the biggest screen possible. Even better–if you have a projection system–would be a wide, white, inwardly-curving wall. (If you have three projectors, feel creative, and want to experiment, see if you can set them up so that you recreate Cinerama’s three-film-strip presentation. Then let us know the results!) The movie’s long. I mean really long (164 minutes), but there are very few dull moments, and if your guests are classic movie fans, they’ll love the endless parade of cameos. For vittles, I’d serve this film with–what else–anything cooked with BBQ sauce, preferably outdoors on the grill, beans, and a jug of powerful likker. Suggested shorts: Droopy in The Shooting of Dan McGoo, or Devilwood ( available on iTunes).

Wings

Posted by Dave on May 17, 2012
Posted in: Film, Movies, Reviews. Tagged: , . 1 Comment

WINGS (1927; Clara Bow, Gary Cooper, Buddy Rogers, Richard Arlen; directed by William Wellman; film is widely available)

For my first-ever viewing of William Wellman’s 1927 silent, Wings, I couldn’t have chosen a better place: the 2012 TCM Classic Movie Festival, in Hollywood, at Graumann’s Chinese Multiplex Theater #1. I didn’t know what to expect; I thought the film might be way too melodramatic (as silents sometimes are, to me) and the effects very primitive. But, although the story got slightly corny in parts, I really, really loved the film. I was glued to my seat and found the aerial battles truly amazing (some scenes in this black-and-white film are color-enhanced, to excellent effect). Adding to the experience was a memorable musical score–a new recording of the original music. I think Star Wars fans will find the basis for their film in Wings.

Preceding the screening, Paramount Pictures legend A.C. Lyles (who turns 94 years old today) spoke briefly about his career (he literally forced his way into a job at Paramount through sheer will power, and some ingeniously bold and hilariously inspiring tactics) and also about Gary Cooper, who, in Wings, has a brief but truly unforgettable cameo. Another added bonus for me was that during the TCM Festival I was staying at the famed Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where Wings was presented Oscars for Most Outstanding Production, Best Effects and Engineering Effects, at the Academy’s very first awards presentation. (Wings has just been released on Blu-Ray.)