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dennisb-6
Reviews
Uncut Gem (1990)
Another dismal CDN effort
Made apparently by committee (you know you're in trouble when more than two writers are credited), not sure whether it's a caper movie, a horror-suspense, comedy or (even!) a sex- farce. Bad writing, scenery-chewing acting, absurd mcguffin; the only thing good about this disgrace is the main set, some kind of uber-luxurious hotel room in downtown Toronto. Worst of all, though, the direction, which seems utterly uninformed, unaware of where the drama in the 'script' might be, and tragically devoted to sappy, sometimes hilariously inappropriate background music.
A sure miss.
Dial 1119 (1950)
...a pondering on the gray area of social engineering.
Out of the grayness of film noir drama comes a pondering on the gray area of social engineering.
Dial 1119 is a film discussion of the distention between straight-ahead law enforcement and the brand-new authority of psychological intervention in criminal matters. The heart of the film is the series of conversations between the Homicide Captain and the forensic psychiatrist. Therein lies a clear blueprint of the issues: Is it better to identify and treat society's offenders, rather than simply punish? What should the treatment be; confinement, medicine or capital punishment? In view of the fact they prosecuted a man for murder and saw him escape the electric chair to kill again, are the police to be blamed for being skeptical of the medical model in dealing with crime? Are we to condemn the doctor's humanist courage as simple folly, or celebrate it as a noble march toward higher existence?
I found the relationship between police and doctor to be unique in cinema, can't remember when I've ever seen it so clearly and dramatically drawn. Also, the characterizing vignettes of the various hostages were deftly wrought. Overall, a remarkable film rendered nearly into the realm of science-fiction by the dominance of a 48 inch flat screen TV over the main set, presaging the looming hypnotic sway the contraption would wield on a developing social world.
Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Becoming more important as the years (wars) go by
'Kelly's Heroes' is an enduring showpiece of brilliant cynicism, with a healthy attitude toward war. I used to watch this film with my uncle, an army veteran of Normandy-all-the-way-to- Berlin, on-the-ground fighting. He would laugh and say that as goofy as it all was, the movie portrayed war as he experienced it; stupid, tragic, pointless and nasty.
I think it further remarkable that this film was made and released during a time when US casualties in Viet Nam sometimes exceeded five hundred dead per week. It took political courage to script, cast, produce, and distribute a movie so contemptuous in its treatment of military authority. In these times of foreign wars I wonder when a film will be made that confronts the questions of our war-policies as aptly as 'Kelly's Heroes' dismisses those of the 1960's. If it never happens it won't be too tragic, we still have this film to re-visit every few years.
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
Good film, but the book is better
While the film impressed with its grit-tinted cinematography, setting and tough-guy characterizations, the plot got dumb at about the time the caper got going. This after we are introduced to two characters who both depend upon each other and simultaneously despise one another's existence. With such fascinating underpinnings, I wondered why this movie didn't have as much punch as I thought it should, and my answer came when I read the William P. McGivern novel of the same name.
McGivern was a writer of fiction, scripts and adaptations who won an Edgar award in the 1950's for his mystery writing. In 'Odds Against Tomorrow' he stepped away from form to discuss the problem of racism. While the film uses only about a third of the book, and its ending is pat and unsatisfying, the novel explores with depth and innovation the dynamics of human relationships, and the ironic developments that are sometimes the upshot of common experience.
There was so much more to the story. After reading the book I felt that it was a pity the writers (one of which was McGivern himself) did not use at least some of it's fascinating and protracted denouement. I still enjoyed the movie, but the book is highly recommended reading for the noir aficionado.
Remember Last Night? (1935)
A paean to drunk driving and racism
It's a wild party all right, with a lot of content that would curl the hair of the average movie- goer nowadays. While we in the 21st Century have been brutalized to boredom by the sight of a person's entrails being blown via shotgun blast onto the walls like some kind of macabre Rorshach, these folks would have been mortified at such a sight. But abuse people? While mid-party, even before the first piece of significant action, we are treated to profligate drinking, both individual and group (You have to see this to believe it.), impaired driving, racism (The most embarrassing and shamefacedly tacky minstrel-take-off I've ever seen!), vandalism, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and dangerous driving.
Notwithstanding, the movie is an instructive social exhibit of a time when, during the depth of the worst depression in history, these brutes marauded carelessly while the world burned around them. Never has a house staff been so clearly cast as in utter disgust of their employer's very existence.
Overall, a terrific example of its time. Fun, too, even if it's darn near too nasty to live.