February 2013 Recap

Let's go...

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die - As seen in February 2013
1) The Big Carnival (1951 - Billy Wilder) 4/10 - The definite worst of the "Wilder Week" festivities. Can't fathom this one even having a chance at the TOP 20, unless my opinion of it radically changes.
2) Sunset Blvd. (1950 - Billy Wilder) 6/10 - Man, this one had a TON of potential, but I think I really missed the appeal of it. I honestly think it could use a third look (I'd seen it once before). There are some amazing shots, amazing acting and the story is pretty great, but something's missing.
3) The Defiant Ones (1958 - Stanley Kramer) 7/10 - Went '8/10' originally, but a solid '7' seems more suitable.
4) Grease (1978 - Randal Kleiser) 8.5/10 - Kind of on a different level than other '8.5' rated movies. This one is more on the fun side/guilty pleasure side.
5) Some Like It Hot (1959 - Billy Wilder) 7.5/10 - WHOA a '10' on first viewing? Nah, can't go QUITE THAT high, but still really good and a serious TOP 20 contender.
6) Le Trou (1959 - Jacques Becker) 10/10 - Still THE best movie of the season and honestly, the best movie I've seen in a LONG time. If this doesn't get the #1 spot of my next TOP 20, I can't wait to see the one that does.
7) The Cranes Are Flying (1957 - Mikheil Kalatozishvili) 6.5/10
8) Wages of Fear (1953 - Henri-Georges Clouzot) 8.5/10 - Slow start, but dammit what a middle and end. Big thumbs up!
9) Les Diaboliques (1954 - Henri-Georges Clouzot) 7/10 - I have a feeling this one WILL find a home on my TOP 20 list, somehow, somewhere.
10) The Housemaid (1960 - Kim Ki-young) 7/10 - Grew on me a little bit. Hard to deny such a unique, original piece.
11) Animal Farm (1955 - Batchelor, Halas) 5.5/10
12) Forbidden Games (1952 - Rene Clement) 6/10 - Barely a '6' though and actually quite a forgettable film.
13) Angel Face (1952 - Otto Preminger) 5/10 - Still upset that this one didn't pan out better. I love me some Mitchum, so giving his movie a '5' is hard. *sigh*
14) Tokyo Story (1953 - Yasujiro Ozu) 6/10 - Liked "An Autumn Afternoon" a LOT better (review forthcoming), which may be the reason this one went down. Still decent.
15) Floating Weeds (1959 - Yasujiro Ozu) 5/10 - I was a little hard on this one the other day. Not quite as bad as I made it out to be and honestly, overall, I liked the Ozu films and am intrigued enough to check out more...someday.
16) Carmen Jones (1954 - Otto Preminger) 6/10
17) Silver Lode (1954 - Allan Dwan) 7.5/10

NON-1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die - As seen in February 2013
1) To Rome with Love (2012 - Woody Allen) 6.5/10 - It's really hard for me to rip on a Woody Allen movie, but I'd understand anyone who'd call his 2012 offering a failure. When I look at the career of Woody Allen, I see it in three parts. Part 1 - The early, pure comedies (What's Up Tiger Lily? through Annie Hall), Part 2 - Everything in-between (Interiors through Melinda and Melinda) and Part 3 - The Present (Match Point - present). If you look at that third part, "To Rome with Love" certainly isn't the worst of those (I'd probably give that "honor" to "Scoop"), but it certainly isn't the best either. It tells several different stories, all taking place in Italy. My personal favorite was probably the one starring Woody Allen, where he discovers the newest opera singing sensation, but also discovers that his talents are only revealed when he's in the shower. The other good one is the one with Penelope Cruz and the newly married couple. Then there's the other two, which are too far fetched and I've always hated it when Woody went the far fetched route (see "Alice"). There's a LOT of jumping back and forth, since we're following four (or five, at times) stories and naturally, the audience is going to like certain stories better than others, which will make it frustrating when the film isn't concentrating on your story of choice.

2) The Cabin in the Woods (2011 - Drew Goddard) 4.5/10 - So somebody said to someone else "Hey, let's make a teens/twentysomethings in peril movie!" and the other guy says back, "Nah, they've been done to death (no pun intended)!". So some wizard thought up "The Cabin in the Woods", which is just a teens in peril movie disguised with a pretty good idea. I'm not even going to delve into the plot, but if you're a fan of movies like "Friday the 13th" and "The Evil Dead", you'll probably go crazy for this, especially when all the twists are revealed. I'm so over twist endings, it's not even funny. I'm sick of filmmaker's who still think they're cool and I wish people would just write smart, proper endings to their films and quit trying to screw with the audience. And actually, as I type that, I realize that this movie really doesn't have a twist ending, actually, but really, the whole movie is a twist and I just couldn't get into it. Horrible acting too.

3) The Campaign (2012 - Jay Roach) 2.5/10 - *Sigh* Why do I still think, nearly ten years after "Anchorman", that I'm going to like Will Ferrell movies? Listen, judge me if you will, but I loved me some "Anchorman". I honestly think that fifty years from now, when people think of the greatest comedies of the 21st century, they'll still remember "Anchorman" and speak well of it. But, Will Ferrell needs to just go away. I don't even want to see "Anchorman 2". Will I see it? Yes. But would I be upset if they didn't make it? Not at all. It took this train wreck (I'm talking about "The Campaign" now) to make me realize that "Anchorman" was the peak of Will Ferrell's career and everything since has been his slow and certainly steady decline. He's just not funny anymore. All of his jokes are ten years old and his facial expressions and "funny" demeanor has been done to death. He either needs to go away or TRY to take on some more serious roles. However, let me tell you, if he DOES try to take on more serious roles, it's going to take a serious piece of work to erase his funnyman image from people's heads. I'm talking like an Adam Sandler/Punch Drunk Love, Jim Carrey/Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind kind of role. But lets face it folks, Will Ferrell isn't going anywhere. Why? Because of people like me who still remember him as a genuine funnyman and still have some sort of unexplainable desire to see his new movies. But please folks, trust me on this one, skip "The Campaign".

Well that about does 'er for another month. My goal for March is to reach the halfway mark for the season, which is going to mean hauling ass and doing some serious movie watching. I'm up to the writing, if you're up to the reading. Let's make it happen. See ya next month.

March 1, 2013  10:14pm

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280. Silver Lode (1954)

Running Time: 80 minutes
Directed By: Allan Dwan
Written By: Karen DeWolf
Main Cast: John Payne, Lizabeth Scott, Dan Duryea, Dolores Moran, Emile Meyer
Click here to view the trailer

BETTER THAN 'HIGH NOON'

Yes, I said it. "Silver Lode" is a better film than "High Noon", a comparison I make because the films are similarly structured. Anyway, I'll get to the reasoning in a bit. I needed a short movie last night to pass the time while the wife watched "Survivor", so I grabbed "Silver Lode", which has been sitting here via Netflix, waiting to be watched.

Most plot synopsis' of this film will be quick to point out that this western is a thinly veiled hint at McCarthyism, which it is. However, forget about all that, because it's also a hell of a western, loaded with action (well as much as can be loaded into eighty minutes) and there's no need to muck things up, dragging politics and political themes into the mix. John Payne is Dan Ballard, a highly respected citizen of Silver Lode (but a citizen who has only lived there for about two years) who, when the film begins, is about to get married. As the wedding bells ring and the guests gather, however, U.S. Marshall Fred McCarty and his deputies ride into town, showing a warrant for Dan Ballard's arrest and demanding to know where he is. Eventually they find him and since their paperwork is fully in order, the townspeople - most notably Sheriff Wooley and Judge Cranston - have no choice but to turn him over to the Marshall. The charges that McCarty brings to Ballard are of murder and for stealing $20,000. As the talking continues we learn that the murder Ballard is being accused of, is that of McCarty's brother and the $20,000 was also his, according to McCarty. Ballard admits to killing McCarty's brother, but only in self defense and being the highly respectable citizen he is, nearly the whole town is on his side. Ballard requests two hours to get things in order before McCarty takes him to the nearby town of Discovery to be jailed. During this two hours, Dan hopes to prove that not only are McCarty's papers forged, but that McCarty himself isn't even a real U.S. Marshall. As the two hours ticks by, the townspeople slowly start to turn on Dan.

SPOILER ALERT!

Before I get into defending my "better than High Noon" remark, let me first tell you why this film won't be getting a '10'...or even a '9' or an '8' for that matter. The sole reason this film won't get a rating higher than the one I intend to give it is because of the ending. I absolutely HATED the ending. Because this film wasn't a high profile choice, meaning it wasn't a movie that I'd ever heard of before, Dwan wasn't a director that I'd heard of before and Payne wasn't even an actor that I'd heard of before, I thought the possibility existed for their to be an unhappy ending. Sure it was an RKO release, which means it was still a product of the Hollywood machine, but I thought maybe...just maybe I could get an unhappy ending, which I would have loved. I would've liked the ending to go one of two ways:

1) The townspeople continue to turn on Dan Ballard through till the end of the picture, where they finally gun him down and kill him, just moments before the telegram arrives that would've proved Dan's innocence and proved McCarty to be a liar, saying he WAS NOT a U.S. Marshall. This is the ending I wanted.

However, I would've also settled for....

2) The ending goes exactly as it did, with Dolly and Rose running back to the church with the fake telegram and telling everyone that McCarty wasn't a real U.S. Marshall and Ballard killing McCarty. We think everything is well, the townspeople re-embrace Dan and we cut to the telegraph office where the real telegram comes in, reading that indeed McCarty is a real U.S. Marshall and to bring in Dan Ballard dead or alive! Sure, it wouldn't have jived with Johnson's earlier claim that McCarty was a poser, but you could've easily plucked the scene where Johnson rats on McCarty and left the whole thing up in the air right down to the very end.

Keep in mind folks that the only reason I try to play screenwriter and rewrite certain endings, is usually because I like the film so much and just really want to see it go a certain way. Anyway, yeah this was a pretty top notch western and I'd even go so far as to say (unless I'm forgetting something) that this is the best western I've watched for THE BOOK thus far, aside from the Sergio Leone offerings. I thought the whole cast was great and how in the world had I never heard of John Payne before "Silver Lode"? Was he just not that popular? I thought he was great! He had a soft spoken quality about him, where he kept his voice calm and low, but you still knew he meant business and was ready to draw guns if things got serious. He was like a much calmer John Wayne, with a dash of Jimmy Stewart mixed in. I thought he was top notch. Dan Duryea was also really good as the bad guy and Dolores Moran wasn't hard to look at. I liked how the film kind of built like "12 Angry Men", in that the townspeople's minds slowly began to change, one by one, over the course of the whole movie, until one man stood alone against the whole town at the end. Oh and speaking of the end, the film gets extra points for falling under my "any ending that takes place in the top of a  belltower, clocktower or lighthouse is automatically awesome" rule.

Yes, this film is much better than "High Noon". Four strangers swagger into town (well, their horses do the swaggering I guess), with the sole purpose of killing one man and in the battle of Silver Lode vs. High Noon, Silver Lode gets my vote by a mile. This is a top notch western and if you're looking for a good film that represents the genre suitably, then this is as good a choice as any. It's short and to the point and for eighty minutes long, it sure does pack a hell of a punch.

RATING: 7.5/10  Had they gone with my ending #1, we'd be seriously talking about a '10/10', but it is what it is. If ever there were a season to be called the "Western Season" this is it. Coming up later in the season: "Shane", "The Searchers", "Ride Lonesome" and all of the Anthony Mann westerns. Stay tuned.

MOVIES WATCHED: 622
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 379

February 28, 2012  4:28pm

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281. Carmen Jones (1954)

Running Time: 105 minutes
Directed By: Otto Preminger
Written By: Harry Kleiner, from the novel Carmen by Prosper Merimee
Main Cast: Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, Olga James, Joe Adams
Click here to view the trailer

DANDRIDGE IS DYNAMITE!

I had to halt the "Ozu Hat Trick" festivities, in order to check out "Carmen Jones", a movie that is currently streaming via Netflix, but that is scheduled to stop streaming as of March 1. Not wanting to have to add it to my "At Home" queue, I decided to just go ahead and knock it out.

For the unaware, "Carmen Jones" is a musical and opens with Cindy Lou (James) arriving at an Army base in North Carolina to visit her man Joe (Belafonte).  On the army base, is also a parachute factory, where the free-spirited Carmen Jones works. Carmen is an independent woman and if she lived in this day and age, she'd probably be called a "diva". Carmen could have any man she wants and when she spots Joe, eating lunch with Cindy Lou, she decides she wants him. Joe wants no part of Carmen Jones, however, as he's committed to Cindy Lou. When Carmen, oozing with sass, picks a fight with one of her co-workers, Joe is selected to drive her to a nearby town, where she'll be brought up on charges and jailed. When she tries to get away from him, Joe chases her down, even jumping a moving train and finally tackling her & tying her up and when his Army Jeep breaks down, Carmen invites him to her neighborhood, which they happen to be near. At Carmen's house, Joe finally gives into temptation and allows himself to be seduced by the beautiful Carmen. The next morning, however, she's gone, citing that she just can't allow herself to be cooped up. Joe is put in the stockade for allowing his prisoner to escape and when he's released he finds Carmen working at Billy Pastor's, a Louisiana nightclub. After Joe knocks out a superior officer in Louisiana, the two hop a train to Chicago, courtesy of Husky Miller, heavyweight boxer and another would-be suitor for the vivacious Carmen, where they plan to hide out while Joe's trouble blows over. Can Carmen bring herself to be "cooped up" with Joe and can she resist the lavish lifestyle that a life on the arm of Husky Miller would allow her?

Fun Fact: I had no idea this was a musical until the opening credits started to roll and I spotted the name Hammerstein, put two and two together and came to a realization. It's hard to believe that the same man who directed Jimmy Stewart in "Anatomy of a Murder" and Robert Mitchum in "Angel Face", was also the same man who directed Dorothy Dandridge in "Carmen Jones". Honestly, I wasn't gaga about this film or anything, but a lot of little things added to the amazing abilities of Dorothy Dandridge gets it at least a mild recommendation. Let me just say that Dandridge OWNED the screen! Without her, this movie would have totally failed with me and let me just say that I thought she was brilliant. She was nominated for an Academy Award at the 1955 ceremony and while I haven't seen any of the other nominees from that year, I have a hard time believing that anyone had as much of a powerful screen presence as Ms. Dandridge. And hey, don't let me gloss over the talents of Mr. Belafonte either - he was a fine casting choice and held his own very well standing beside the great actress. THE BOOK poses the question as to why Dandridge and Belafonte's voices were dubbed and I second it. I really didn't know whether or not Dorothy Dandrige was a singer (apparently she was), but as I watched, I knew that Harry Belafonte WAS and wondered why he was being so obviously dubbed.

Now, again, despite the performance of Dandridge, I'd only really be able to give this one a mild recommendation. The story is good, but my main problem is with the music, which, more often that not, hinders the progression of the film, instead of helping it along, as it should be doing. Aside from Pearl Bailey's rendition of "Gypsy Song" and Dandridge's initial rendition of "Habanera", the rest of the songs I REALLY could've done without. Also, like I mentioned above, the voices are so obviously dubbed that it's more distracting than enjoyable. Give this one a shot, but being a fan of musicals is going to help you (not entirely though, as I'm a mild fan of musicals and the musical aspect here was lost on me) and don't go in expecting a run of the mill Preminger vehicle. Instead, go in expecting a dynamite performance from Dorothy Dandridge and a decent story with a good ending.

RATING: 6.5/10  Good, but just misses out on the '7', a number that would mean that it crosses the threshold from good to great.

MOVIES WATCHED: 621
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 380

February 27, 2013  1:47am

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354. Ukigusa/Floating Weeds (1959)

Running Time: 119 minutes
Directed By: Yasujiro Ozu
Written By: Kogo Noda, Yasujiro Ozu
Main Cast: Ganjiro Nakamura, Machiko Kyo, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Haruko Sugimura, Ayako Wakao
Click here to view the trailer

OZU HAT TRICK: PART TWO OF THREE

Moving right along with the three film salute to Yasujiro Ozu, we come to the remake of his own 1934 film, "The Story of Floating Weeds" - this one simply called "Floating Weeds". I had a more difficult time getting through this one, than I did with "Tokyo Story". Why, you ask? Read on...

The main story of "Floating Weeds" deals with a troupe of Kabuki actors, who arrive in a seaside town, during a very hot summer. Upon their arrival, many of the troupe's actors make their way around town, flyers in hand and promote the upcoming series of shows that they plan to put on. Komajuro (Nakamura), the troupe's master, takes time to visit an old flame and the two reminisce. It seems that the old flame, named Oyoshi (Sugimura), has a child by Komajuro. The child, Kiyoshi (Kawaguchi), now nearly college age, doesn't know that Komajuro is his father and thinks that he is actually his uncle. While in town, Komajuro plans to spend as much time as he can with Kiyoshi and during an all day fishing outing with him, his current flame, Sumiko (Kyo) begins to wonder where he's been getting off to. When he returns, she confronts him about it, but not wanting anyone to know about his illegitimate son, he hides the details from her and simply tells her to stop being jealous. This only makes Sumiko more curious and when she asks around, she finds out that Komajuro has been seen at Oyoshi's place many times. Sumiko begins to suspect that Komajuro is cheating on her and goes to Oyoshi's to confront all three of them: Komajuro, Oyoshi and Kiyoshi. When there, she sees Kiyoshi and makes the assumption that he is the child of Komajuro. Later, Sumiko pays another female member of the troupe, the beautiful Kayo (Wakao), to seduce Kiyoshi.

Whew, that got a little confusing at the end there, didn't it? I'm not going to say that "Floating Weeds" was horrible, because with it's superb cinematography and top notch acting, it definitely had it's merits as to why it was included in THE BOOK. I'll simply say that the film wasn't for me, was very traditional in it's themes (once again Ozu finds fascination with the interaction between different generations, something that I found interesting in "Tokyo Story", but not here) and due to it's traditional nature, that may have been detrimental in my dislike for it. It wasn't necessarily hard to get through, I WAS able to get somewhat lost in the story. It's just that I didn't care enough about the characters to wonder how they'd turn out. It seems to me, after only watching two Ozu pictures, that the filmmaker is very of his time and obviously some of the themes and ideas that fascinate him, aren't as interesting to me. I won't necessarily look forward to the next Ozu offering ("An Autumn Afternoon"), but after one like and one dislike, nor will I dread it.

RATING: 4/10  I really hate wrapping things up THAT fast, but I've said all I needed to say on this one. Next up for Ozu: "An Autumn Afternoon".

MOVIES WATCHED: 620
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 381

February 26, 2013  7:20pm

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257. TOKYO STORY (1953)

Running Time: 136 minutes
Directed By: Yasujiro Ozu
Written By: Kogo Noda, Yasujiro Ozu
Main Cast: Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama, Setsuko Hara, Haruko Sugimura, So Yamamura
Click here to view the trailer

Note: This is the first time I've noticed this, but I find it interesting that THE BOOK doesn't list the foreign title for "Tokyo Story" ("Tokyo Monogatari"). It USUALLY lists both and therefore I always list them both in the title, however, I'm also very strict with myself about only including what THE BOOK includes, so I left it out here. That's also why a lot of times the years are wrong for some of the movies. Yeah, in case you haven't noticed, A LOT of the cited years that are in THE BOOK are wrong. There usually only off by one year, but I've noticed a lot of deviation from what THE BOOK says to what, for example, IMDB says. Anyway...

OZU HAT TRICK: PART ONE OF THREE

So it's time, yet again, for a "hat trick" or three films by one director. I decided long ago that if a single director was able to get three of his offerings into the book of "must see" movies, then they at least deserve a little acknowledgement by yours truly. This time around it's Yasujiro Ozu, who not only has three films in THE BOOK, but two of them are from the 1950s, which fits in perfectly with the 50s theme of this season.

I had heard "Tokyo Story" was a (sort of) remake of "Make Way for Tomorrow", which is a film I watched a couple of years ago for THE BOOK. Therefore, I was pretty excited to watch it, but found out quick that it really wasn't that much like "Make Way for Tomorrow" at all. Shukishi (Ryu) and Tomi Hirayama (Higashiyama) are an elderly couple, who had five children. When the film opens they're packing for a trip to Tokyo where they intend to visit two of their children and their daughter-in-law, who was married to their now deceased son. They'll be leaving their youngest daughter, Kyoko, at home and along the way, meeting their youngest son, who'll pick them up at the train station. When they arrive in Tokyo, a city where they've never been and at the home of their eldest son, Dr. Koichi (Yamamura), they settle in and their initial conversation is probably a lot like the initial conversation you'd have with relatives you hadn't seen in a while - all very natural, not too exciting, a round of greetings and then a sit down to catch up. Their eldest daughter, Shige (Sugimura) also meets them at her brother's house, as well as Noriko (Hara), the daughter-in-law, who seems to be the happiest to see them. In fact, after a while, it becomes apparent that the Hirayama children have obviously grown up, they have their own lives now and their parents, although they'd never tell them this, have become more of a burden that a treat. The parents, meanwhile, are like two fish out of water in Tokyo, a city that seemingly has passed them by and has nothing to offer people of their age. After a lengthy visit, the parents decide to return to their home (many miles away) and consider it a swan song of sorts to their children, bracing themselves for the possibility of never seeing them again (because they live so far away). However, during the train ride home, mother is stricken ill and when they arrive home, her condition only worsens.

On paper, "Tokyo Story" looks as if it COULD be called "Tokyo Boring". I mean, a couple of elders go to Tokyo to visit their kids and then....they visit them...then come home!! Judging by some of the comments I came across on places like IMDB and ICheckMovies, apparently it's also a popular opinion to classify this movie as boring and write it off, as I saw many doing just that. "I feel asleep twice while trying to watch this movie" is a quote from an IMDB user that comes to mind. However, despite my long work days and being very tired at night, I managed to not fall asleep once while watching "Tokyo Story" and while it wasn't setting my world on fire or anything, it certainly kept me interested. Check out this quote from THE BOOK:

"...any human activity, however 'unimportant', is worthy of our attention..."\

I agree 100%. You can literally show me ANY human activity and as long as I'm convinced and understand why said person is doing what they're doing, then I'll be drawn to the screen. Show me a man peeling and then eating an orange and I'll watch it intently and write a review on it. "Tokyo Story" comes down to a lot of dialogue and basic human activity and interaction. The dialogue isn't particularly slick or good - it's very normal, everyday talk. However, observing the interactions between these different age groups, between these parents and their, now grown, children is sometimes fascinating. Watching two elders try and keep themselves occupied in a city that is quickly growing and passing them up - also fascinating, at times. "Tokyo Story" relies on the audiences ability to simply observe. There isn't any high drama, there aren't any great climaxes, twist endings or unexpected surprises. Ozu simply shows us a tale and asks us to observe his characters. I didn't LOVE it or anything, nor do I understand such praise that calls it "one of the greatest movies of all-time", however I didn't mind it and found it very easy to get through. The acting wasn't particularly brilliant, however it was very natural and maybe that's what makes brilliant actors - the ability to be as natural as possible. Go in expecting little and you may be pleasantly surprised.

RATING: 7/10  Honestly, that rating could go down with time, but I'm confident giving Ozu's first offering a '7' for now. Next up for Ozu: "Floating Weeds".

MOVIES WATCHED: 619
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 382

February 23, 2013  10:34pm

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244. Angel Face (1952)

Running Time: 90 minutes
Directed By: Otto Preminger
Written By: Chester Erskine, Oscar Millard, Frank S. Nugent
Main Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Mona Freeman, Herbert Marshall, Leon Ames
Click here to view the trailer

MITCHUM DISAPPOINTS...SOMEHOW

Back to work, but feeling pretty spry for having just done absolutely nothing for the span of one week. Last night, as my vacation came to a close, I took the time to take in one last movie before heading back to work - "Angel Face".

This time around the shadowy, film-noir block, Mitchum stars as Frank Jessup, an ex-race car driver and current ambulance driver who, after taking a call at the wealthy Tremayne residence, strikes up an interest in Diane Tremayne (Simmons), daughter to Charles Tremayne and step-daughter to Catherine Tremayne, the latter of which controls the checkbook. Frank already has a girl on the string, Mary (Freeman), but she isn't exciting enough for him and instead he takes the time to pursue Diane and even lands himself a new job because of it, when Diane offers him a position as the Tremayne chauffeur. Maybe I should back track a little bit here and explain that the reason Frank was called to the Tremayne residence, on the night he initially met Diane, was because someone had triggered the gas in Catherine Tremayne's room. It was either a huge accident or someone was trying to kill her. As the film continues, Frank starts to piece things together and makes no qualms about telling Diane his suspicions of her and her role on the "accident" with the gas. Frank tries over and over again to reunite with Mary, who represents a normal, content life, but can't break free of the exciting like that Diane represents. At about the halfway mark of the film, Charles and Catherine Tremayne are killed when their automobile goes in reverse over the side of a cliff, the reaction of an apparent car tampering. From there, Frank and Diane are hauled into court, where they stand trial for the murder of Charles Tremayne and Catherine Tremayne.

SPOILER ALERT!

Well add "Angel Face" to the list of biggest BOOK disappointments, right up there with "The Hustler", because ever since seeing "Out of the Past", I'd been looking forward to another Robert Mitchum film and this one just didn't stack up in the slightest. My main problems with "Angel Face" were pretty much the same problems I had with "The Postman Always Rings Twice", where things just got waaaay too out of hand, which lead to too many contrivances. There was also the problem of Mitchum and Simmons' chemistry, of which, in my opinion, there was none. I just didn't buy these two as lovebirds and I was never fully sold on their relationship. They just didn't give off the sparks necessary to lead me to buy into the rest of the story. Once we got into the courtroom (and don't get me wrong, the courtroom scenes are some of the best in the film) the movie had blown into too big of a circus and I no longer cared about these characters.

It's a real shame too, because when the film opened up and I realized that Mitchum wasn't playing a private detective, an insurance investigator or an ex-cop, I was pretty excited. Here you had a noir that wasn't going to seem to fall into the standard stereotypes, introducing a regular Joe, an ambulance driver and it all seemed to set up so perfect. I've realized, after being burned by "Angel Face", that when it comes to film-noir and your truly, there's no middle ground - I either love 'em or I don't and I didn't love "Angel Face". Keep your eyes peeled for the courtroom scenes, where Leon Ames shines and the two car crashes, the first of which totally caught me off guard (I saw the ending coming out as it did and I really liked it), however, the rest of the film you can feed to the dogs.

RATING: 5.5/10  That was a pretty harsh write-up for a '5.5', but I was disappointed dammit!! I'll be checking out "The Night of the Hunter" later this season and hopefully Mitchum can win me back over.

MOVIES WATCHED: 618
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 383

COMING SOON
Salt of the Earth (1954 - Herbert J. Biberman)
Silver Lode (1954 - Allan Dwan)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 - Elia Kazan)
The Quiet Man (1952 - John Ford)

February 20, 2013  8:35pm

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OZU Hat Trick - COMING SOON

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