Simply put, I really did not like, enjoy or appreciate The Shanghai Gesture, which is on the BBC list of the best American films, and apparently greatly admired by many Netflix reviewers. I tried, but most of the acting was not very good. Josef von Sternberg directed Victor Mature, Gene Tierney, Walter Huston and Ona Munson in this period piece set in Shanghai, China, in the late 1930s or early 1940s. There is a gambling house involved, corrupt officials and young women in less than desirable circumstances. Ona Munson is "Mother" Gin Sling, the proprietress of a casino that also may permit illicit business of the flesh. "Doctor" Omar (Victor Mature) is a gigolo working for Mother. He brings American showgirl, Dixie Pomeroy, to the casino after getting her away from the police. He then becomes the focus of another young girl, going by the name of "Poppy" Smith (Gene Tierney, who commits some of the worst overacting I have seen in quite a while). Unbeknownst to everyone else, Poppy is the daughter of Sir Guy Charteris (Huston), a wealthy businessman who is trying to buy the land where Mother' casino sits, and push her into the Chinese sector. Mother is not a woman to go quietly and she tries to dig up information on Charteris. All of these machinations lead to the climactic scene (which was my favorite) where Mother and Charteris confront each other after Mother has humiliated Poppy in front of her father. Mother and Charteris knew each other before; in fact, it turns out that Mother is Poppy's real mother. And, it doesn't end well. Yeah, I spoiled it. Sorry, but I didn't think you were going to run to the library and get it.
5/20/17 Barry Lyndon, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Musical Score, 1975, #27 BBC
Stanley Kubrick has not failed to surprise me; I never know what to think about any of his movies, some of them I like, or I don't, but there is usually something that piques my interest. That is definitely true of Barry Lyndon, starring Ryan O'Neal as a gadabout, ne'er do well in the late 1770s in Ireland and England. Redmond Barry, later known as Barry Lyndon, has a rough life, growing up without his father (who was shot in a duel), falling in love with his older cousin who is flirty, but more interested in a captain in the King's army, frightened into leaving home, only to be robbed by a highwayman before he enlists in the British army. Yep, that's all in the first hour. The movie follows his adventures, schemes, ascent and painful descent back from whence he came. Unlike most films, there isn't a whole lot of dialog to tell us what's going on, but we have the benefit of an all-seeing, all-knowing narrator, who may or may not be truthful. Experiencing all of the action with Barry is part of the fun, and I don't want to ruin it for you, because unlike the previous movie, I do hope you watch this (it is three hours, but I happened to have a rainy Saturday to watch it guilt-free). It's a gorgeously filmed movie, the scenery, the costumes, which is probably the reason it won for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design (see, I'm smart like that). The narrative device is an interesting way to tell a story, and it works here. Kubrick really was one of the best directors; he has 5 movies on the BBC 100 list (is that 20%? I can't do math) and four on the AFI 100, and I will be watching the last two over the weekend: Spartacus and Eyes Wide Shut. Stay tuned.
5/20/17 Song of the South, Best Song, 1946
I'm going to try and review Song of the South as a movie, without the controversy and without any social commentary (we'll see how that goes). Song of the South is set in the period after the Civil War, known as the Reconstructions, when the South was trying to rebuild after being decimated during the war; in some ways, things had changed, but in others, there was still a dependence by newly freed slaves on their former owners. The movie opens with little Johnny (Bobby Driscoll) traveling with his mother (Ruth Warrick) and father (Erik Rolf) going to visit his grandmother on her plantation; Johnny and his mother will be staying, but his father will head back to Atlanta. This upsets Johnny a great deal, and he wants to run away. As he is running through the woods, he comes upon Uncle Remus telling stories about Br'er Rabbit (Joel Chandler Harris collected the Uncle Remus stories after the Civil War). Although he and his neighbors are never identified as such, it can be surmised that they are former slaves, who still live on or very close to the plantation and have a fairly civil relationship with their former owner. Uncle Remus (James Baskett, who received a special Oscar for his performance) is a kindly man, who tells stories similar to Aesop's Fables, with animals, like Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear to get his message across to the children. Song of the South was Disney's first film that combined animation with live action, and Uncle Remus's stories were animated. Johnny quickly becomes fond of Uncle Remus, even though his mother does not approve of the stories. Johnny also becomes friends with Toby, a young black boy on the plantation; and Ginny Favers, a young girl who is part of a poor white family, her brothers antagonize Johnny and they fight with Johnny over a puppy that Ginny gave Johnny for safekeeping, that her brothers wanted to drown. The puppy causes all kinds of trouble, because Johnny's mother doesn't want him to have it, so Uncle Remus keeps it, but that pisses off Johnny's mother so much that she basically tells Uncle Remus to stay away from Johnny (holy overreacting, Batman). Uncle Remus is so upset that he packs up to move away. Johnny chases after him across a field, getting tossed by a bull for his troubles. As he lies unconscious, all of the people from the planation gather at the main house in vigil; Johnny's father returns from Atlanta. That is a very high level synopsis of the movie. As a movie, it was okay. James Baskett was fun to watch, and he definitely had a way with the children. The kids were okay, not overly sugary, although the two Favers brothers were a bit much. I didn't mention the lovely Hattie McDaniel, as Aunt Tempy, the cook at the house; she won an Oscar in 1939 for her role as a maid in Gone with the Wind, on another plantation in Georgia. The songs were fun, and the movie won the Oscar for Best Song with "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah". It also uses one of the familiar Disney tropes, a young person finding a connection with an older person not of his family: Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Mary Poppins, both movies combining animation and live action.
It was very uncomfortable to watch the stereotypical characterizations of black people, the way the dialog was written and the paternalism extended by the former white master (mistress, actually). I was also uncomfortable with how I felt, because I really liked the relationship with Uncle Remus and Johnny, Remus was the teacher and father-figure that Johnny wanted so desperately. Ugh. The animated sections (which I loved in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Mary Poppins) also made me squeamish, with a segment Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby, which is just offensive if you think how "tar baby" has been thrown around as a slur. As I was watching, I thought people should still be able to get this movie (it's not on Netflix and not every library has a copy, and I do not think it is sold anywhere) and watch it and then have a discussion about race, and why this might be offensive and hurtful, and maybe, how could this be adapted to be more about the innocence of the children and learning at the knee of Uncle Remus without the stereotyping. But, given the climate of today, and the past 70 years, that's probably not even possible. I'm not sure where this leaves this little segment; you are free to make up your own mind.
5/21/17 Death on the Nile, Best Costume, 1978
I love Agatha Christie; I recently finished watching all of the Hercule Poirot mysteries starring David Suchet and I am in the process of reading all of her novels, in chronological order, and it felt like the right time to revisit this old chestnut. Hercule Poirot is played by the late Sir Peter Ustinov; even he admits (in the special features) that he doesn't exactly physically resemble Poirot, which can be distracting if you let it. The cast is a who's who of cinema, past and present: Mia Farrow as Jackie de Bellefort; Olivia Hussey (Romeo & Juliet) as Rosalie Otterbourne, and Angela Lansbury as her salacious mother, Salome Otterbourne; David Niven as Colonel Race; Bette Davis as Marie van Schuyler and Maggie Smith as her companion, Bowers, it was funny to watch because there was a lot of Dowager Countess Grantham in Mrs. Van Schuyler, and Maggie Smith was pretty salty herself. The movie opens in the English countryside, where friends Jackie and Lynette Ridgeway (Lois Chiles) meet at Lynette's estate, and later, Jackie brings her beau, Simon Doyle (Simon MacCorkindale) to meet Lynette, and they fall in love. This leaves Jackie bitter and pretty close to the edge of hysteria, as she follows Simon and Lynette to Egypt and on to a cruise on the River Nile. What Christie does well in her books, and if we're lucky, the screenwriters build on that, are these wonderful snippy conversations and witty exchanges between the characters, whether it's Poirot and all the fools who think he's French; or Bowers staging a verbal takedown of Mrs. Van Schuyler. There are always the most extraordinary coincidences, people meeting up thousands of miles away from home, usually carrying a grudge or two. There are plenty of those here, and I would hate to give it away. This is not the best movie I have ever seen, but I had a good time watching it, between the characters and the fabulous actors playing them, the occasionally witty dialog and the beautiful scenery of Egypt, where much of the movie was filmed. If you're looking for a fun movie, with a bit of a mystery, for the long weekend, or a summer night, I don't think you can go wrong.
