I first saw this particular flick at the now famous Sydney cultural icon, The Cremorne Orpheum in Sydney. I've always regarded Aldo Ray as a very good actor seeing him in Erskine Caldwell's 'God's Little Acre'and with Humphrey Bogart and Peter Ustinov in 'We're No Angels'. However, the screenplay was really pushing the envelope to achieve the 'suspension of disbelief' to make an audience accept that an American psycho who's reason for being in Australia in the first place,was never explained, could just muscle in and take over Pinchgut right in the middle of Sydney Harbour and hold the whole city to ransom by pointing a Big Bertha canon directly at a ship carrying high explosives...well, I just don't buy it. Also the coppers lining the arc of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, ready to blow Aldo Ray's head off, if he happened to show his face....well, melodramatic in the extreme. Just not going to happen. I think that even in those days, the Sydney Water Police would just seal the island off and send the equivalent of a SWAT team by helicopters or scuba divers to deal with Aldo Ray. Added to this, Matt Kirk (the Aldo Ray character) and Johnny are supposed to be older & kid brothers; Matt talks to him as if he's an infatuated homosexual which I found laughable. So there are many implausible events in this brave '59 production which I could have believed if an Australian escapee from Long Bay Gaol or Callan Park Mental Asylum pulled this stunt or Aldo Ray played a psycho U.S. Serviceman who was obsessively infatuated with the Pinchgut Island caretaker's daughter instead of his kid brother and was in a position to know first-hand that there was a ship docked in the harbour carrying high explosives to blow the Bridge, Circular Quay, Balmain and Wooloomooloo sky-high. Nevertheless, it was a fun-filled Saturday afternoon, when I saw it many years ago at the Cremorne Orpheum.
Reviews
5 Reviews
The Body Snatcher
(1945)
R.L. Stevenson's "Grave Robbers" really a Psychological Thriller
21 December 2006
I agree that Karloff deserved an Oscar for his role as "Grey" in this film. Perhaps it could be awarded to him posthumously.
This was a psychological thriller more than a horror story.
From the dialog's and the narrative of the relationship between "Toddy MacFarlane" and "Cabman John Grey"; I saw something even more sinister than the business transactions of medical men with grave robbers.
In his time, a man of Toddy MacFarlane's class and position could have easily gotten rid of Cabman Grey. Not a problem. A No-Brainer! Instead, he chose to have him "stick around." to constantly vex him and torment him. It was stated earlier in the script that a Dr. Knox turned a blind eye to Burke & Hare (earlier grave robbers who turned to murder) and who serviced his medical people with cadavers for study, go to the gallows; while he himself lived out his life as a "respected English gentleman doctor", untainted by any kind of scandal.
In a Freudian sense, I see MacFarlane and Grey as two closet queens in a love-hate relationship and that MacFarlane is a chronic self-deceiver who cannot come to terms with this. Cabman Grey is the dominant personality or 'alpha' male and plays MacFarlane like a tune right to the tragic finish.
The 'carriage ride' at the end is very 'sexual' in its overtones; graphically, in fact. The horrifying ride with "Grey's corpse", the eventual 'crash' of horse & buggy and then Fiddes, the young doctor revealing that the corpse that took the horror ride with the then insane MacFarlane, was in reality the corpse of a woman who the two doctors stole from a grave earlier.
The central narrative of this R.L. Stevenson story is not the 'grave-robbing' or murders but the sick relationship between Grey and Toddy MacFarlane. This relationship affects Toddy's marriage (his wife is 'beside herself' about it and hates the very sight of Grey, his professional ethics (MacFarlane's readiness to turn a blind eye to murder and even provide Grey with alibis) and his willingness to 'proselytise' others to his twisted ethics about life and death.
Viewed as a psychological thriller; this is a great story! R.L. Stevenson had examined "Universal Values" and this is why this story has lasted so long.
In reality, Grey and MacFarlane are two sides of the same coin.
This was a psychological thriller more than a horror story.
From the dialog's and the narrative of the relationship between "Toddy MacFarlane" and "Cabman John Grey"; I saw something even more sinister than the business transactions of medical men with grave robbers.
In his time, a man of Toddy MacFarlane's class and position could have easily gotten rid of Cabman Grey. Not a problem. A No-Brainer! Instead, he chose to have him "stick around." to constantly vex him and torment him. It was stated earlier in the script that a Dr. Knox turned a blind eye to Burke & Hare (earlier grave robbers who turned to murder) and who serviced his medical people with cadavers for study, go to the gallows; while he himself lived out his life as a "respected English gentleman doctor", untainted by any kind of scandal.
In a Freudian sense, I see MacFarlane and Grey as two closet queens in a love-hate relationship and that MacFarlane is a chronic self-deceiver who cannot come to terms with this. Cabman Grey is the dominant personality or 'alpha' male and plays MacFarlane like a tune right to the tragic finish.
The 'carriage ride' at the end is very 'sexual' in its overtones; graphically, in fact. The horrifying ride with "Grey's corpse", the eventual 'crash' of horse & buggy and then Fiddes, the young doctor revealing that the corpse that took the horror ride with the then insane MacFarlane, was in reality the corpse of a woman who the two doctors stole from a grave earlier.
The central narrative of this R.L. Stevenson story is not the 'grave-robbing' or murders but the sick relationship between Grey and Toddy MacFarlane. This relationship affects Toddy's marriage (his wife is 'beside herself' about it and hates the very sight of Grey, his professional ethics (MacFarlane's readiness to turn a blind eye to murder and even provide Grey with alibis) and his willingness to 'proselytise' others to his twisted ethics about life and death.
Viewed as a psychological thriller; this is a great story! R.L. Stevenson had examined "Universal Values" and this is why this story has lasted so long.
In reality, Grey and MacFarlane are two sides of the same coin.
La regina degli scacchi
(2001)
Excellent Psychological Drama
30 November 2004
It is said that 'art imitate life'. Well, in this case it may be said that 'Life imitates Chess'. This is one of the best well constructed psychological dramas I've seen for a while.
In a lot of ways the plot and characterization remind me of the Guatama Bhudda story in which the heroine,Maria has been shielded by her loving parents especially the father from the disgusting things and terrors of life. She is bought up in an environment of good food, classical music and Chess, at which she is a genius and mentored by a great master of the game,a magistrate of a Family Court. Maria also has dreadful psychological problems in that she hates being touched, is somewhat emotionally unstable and is abnormally obsessed with Chess.
Along comes this reporter, Emilio Sasso who sniffs out a scandalous story about her Chess master who works at the Italian Family Court and has been convicted of being a child rapist and pedophile. He befriends Maria to get more information and dirt on him. This is the start of the plot in which human beings manipulate one another like chess pieces and where scenes are inter weaved and juxtaposed with dog-eat-dog Competition Chess playing where Marie annihilates her opponents without mercy who are the absolute best in their field.
The similarity of the Bhudda story kicks in when Marie discovers a letter by her late mother that she was adopted.
The Judge upon realizing that both his life and career are about to be ruined appeals to Marie to persuade Emilio who by this time has become romantically interested in her to not publish his story. Marie is disgusted and refuses. The Judge counter-moves and offers to reveal the name of her birth mother should she accept a challenge to a Chess game and win. The Judge is so brilliant that he doesn't even have to look at the board while he is playing and makes decisions so fast that he doesn't even need a clock. To put Marie off her game, he confesses the graphic details of his child raping and pedophilia in the past. This is abhorrent but she is still focused and wins. The Judge reveals the names of her birth parents.
Eventually, Emilio writes his scandalous story and ruins the Chess Master's life. The Judge is driven to suicide. Emilio regrets that the man took his life but he does not apologize to anyone for having written and publishing the newspaper story. He loves Marie but she won't let him touch her.
She must at this point find out who her birth mother really was. Eventually, it unfolds that she was a murderess who stabbed her husband, Marie's father 9 times because according to her court testimony, she discovered him raping Marie as child on the kitchen table. She leaves her foster father and the excellent environment of her cultured home to find her real mother. She goes to live with her mother in a depressing environment and finds that she is extremely emotionally scarred and very psychologically unstable somewhat like herself.
I will not ruin the brilliant mind-blowing twist for those who may be interested but the irony of Chess as a leit-motiv and metaphor with self-discovery and the pursuit of truth is most satisfying.
Acting performances, the script and photography are all brilliant.
In a lot of ways the plot and characterization remind me of the Guatama Bhudda story in which the heroine,Maria has been shielded by her loving parents especially the father from the disgusting things and terrors of life. She is bought up in an environment of good food, classical music and Chess, at which she is a genius and mentored by a great master of the game,a magistrate of a Family Court. Maria also has dreadful psychological problems in that she hates being touched, is somewhat emotionally unstable and is abnormally obsessed with Chess.
Along comes this reporter, Emilio Sasso who sniffs out a scandalous story about her Chess master who works at the Italian Family Court and has been convicted of being a child rapist and pedophile. He befriends Maria to get more information and dirt on him. This is the start of the plot in which human beings manipulate one another like chess pieces and where scenes are inter weaved and juxtaposed with dog-eat-dog Competition Chess playing where Marie annihilates her opponents without mercy who are the absolute best in their field.
The similarity of the Bhudda story kicks in when Marie discovers a letter by her late mother that she was adopted.
The Judge upon realizing that both his life and career are about to be ruined appeals to Marie to persuade Emilio who by this time has become romantically interested in her to not publish his story. Marie is disgusted and refuses. The Judge counter-moves and offers to reveal the name of her birth mother should she accept a challenge to a Chess game and win. The Judge is so brilliant that he doesn't even have to look at the board while he is playing and makes decisions so fast that he doesn't even need a clock. To put Marie off her game, he confesses the graphic details of his child raping and pedophilia in the past. This is abhorrent but she is still focused and wins. The Judge reveals the names of her birth parents.
Eventually, Emilio writes his scandalous story and ruins the Chess Master's life. The Judge is driven to suicide. Emilio regrets that the man took his life but he does not apologize to anyone for having written and publishing the newspaper story. He loves Marie but she won't let him touch her.
She must at this point find out who her birth mother really was. Eventually, it unfolds that she was a murderess who stabbed her husband, Marie's father 9 times because according to her court testimony, she discovered him raping Marie as child on the kitchen table. She leaves her foster father and the excellent environment of her cultured home to find her real mother. She goes to live with her mother in a depressing environment and finds that she is extremely emotionally scarred and very psychologically unstable somewhat like herself.
I will not ruin the brilliant mind-blowing twist for those who may be interested but the irony of Chess as a leit-motiv and metaphor with self-discovery and the pursuit of truth is most satisfying.
Acting performances, the script and photography are all brilliant.
Pizza
(2000–2019)
Who says Oz has no finesse?
17 November 2004
Being what the ethnic community refers to as a 'skip' - anglo-saxon Australian. Nothing I've seen on Aussie T.V. surpasses this show. But then again, I'm a larrikin and a mug.
Who would have ever thought that the 2nd generation 'choccos' would create their own subculture and create a unique show like this. Banjo Patterson & Henry Lawson would turn in their graves. Even the Sydney characters of C.J. Dennis at the turn of the 20th Century weren't as rough or uncouth as Paully,Sleek (the elite), Bobo and Habib. And that new flower of Australian womanhood, Toula just cracks me up every time she appears.
In a lot of cases, Australians throughout history have been rebellious and couldn't give a tinker's toss what other people think of them. What you see is what you get down here.
To the creators of 'Fat Pizza' - Welcome to the fold fellas...Forget that "New Australian" label. You're as Aussie as they come.
Who would have ever thought that the 2nd generation 'choccos' would create their own subculture and create a unique show like this. Banjo Patterson & Henry Lawson would turn in their graves. Even the Sydney characters of C.J. Dennis at the turn of the 20th Century weren't as rough or uncouth as Paully,Sleek (the elite), Bobo and Habib. And that new flower of Australian womanhood, Toula just cracks me up every time she appears.
In a lot of cases, Australians throughout history have been rebellious and couldn't give a tinker's toss what other people think of them. What you see is what you get down here.
To the creators of 'Fat Pizza' - Welcome to the fold fellas...Forget that "New Australian" label. You're as Aussie as they come.
Crocodile Dundee II
(1988)
"The Crocodile that walks like a man"
15 November 2004
What got me about this film was the character, "Walter" played by John Meillon. Here, Columbian drug traffickers or Ibero-American gangsters of the worst stripe have a vendetta against Dundee and they follow him to outback crocodile-infested Australia to whack him. Unfortunately for them, you don't fight the 'devil' in his own backyard. And it's too easy, a no-brainer for Mick Crocodile Dundee to take them out one by one and make them wish they were never born. No match!No contest!They're finished as soon as they get off the plane and set foot on the red dust in spite of their mean attitudes,their street fighter sadism and submachine guns. These Hispanic gangsters from New York are so freaked out at one stage that Walter, Mick's mate spins them a yarn that " Mick was raised by Aboriginals and that the Aboriginals themselves are convinced that he has supernatural dream-time powers." ( These are modern cynical New Yorkers that Walter is talking to and who appear as scenes go by, not to be so skeptical.)During Walter's story he makes a pregnant pause,"...(The Aboriginals) they call him 'the Crocodile that walks like a man.'" Well talk about 'p*ssing in someone's pocket' or 'yanking someone's chain' This would have to take the all-time Aussie cake. I've never laughed so hard at an Australian movie. This was almost as good as Crocodile Dundee convincing the gangsters that he had the supernatural powers to change one of their plug-ugly Hispanics into a goanna.(A huge outback Australian lizard.) I disagree. This sequel was better than the first but you'd have to have lived in the bush to appreciate the ridiculous humour of it.
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