michael-schwartz-2 Reviews

My Son John (1952)

I waited 35 years to see this movie

[3/10 · 8 February 2010]

Ever since a friend in grad school described it: "Robert Walker is mean to his mother, so everyone suspects he's a Communist." It was worth the wait: it is spectacularly awful. Some other reviewers say the last 3rd is spoiled because of Walker's death. Not true: This movie is a disaster from the first scene. McCarey tries to present everyone but Walker as a simple, patriotic American. He succeeds in making patriotism look simple-minded. Walker seems to be still playing Bruno, ironic in a world of terminally sincere people. (He's literally Bruno in the scenes spliced in from "Strangers on a Train.") And Helen Hayes! She seems to think she's playing Mary Tyrone in a road company of "Long Day's Journey," and she's pitching it to the back balcony: only morphine addiction and withdrawal could justify the split-second mood swings that occur within a single sentence.

Thanks to TCM for making my dream come true. And for showing pro-Soviet films that are as wonderfully bad in their way as "My Son John." Apparently the thought of the Soviet Union turned everyone in Hollywood, friend and foe, into hysterical simpletons.

The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (2007)

Blissful

[8/10 · 11 September 2008]

I love Rohmer's films - about people in love who talk too much about being in love - but wasn't sure how I'd take this one. Not to worry. It's the distilled essence of the other films, an abstraction of them. The characters in those films are always less deep than they believe. Part of the pleasure is seeing them brought back to normal humanity. Here the characters start out shallow and stay there. The lovers are lovers and nothing more. Their love is a given. The complications are perfunctory, as is the resolution. In the middle of this shallowness, Rohmer gives us a philosophical conversation that is basically about the Trinity (Druid-style, to be sure) and the oneness of the multiple gods, and another conversation about the oneness of lovers. And then the resolution has Celadon becoming Astrea and then Astrea and Celadon becoming one, so the shallow story becomes a reflection of divinity.

I loved the pastoral setting. The countryside is beautiful - flowers in almost every shot - without having its beauty forced on you. The sound is live and dense - human conversation embedded in the natural noise of water and birds. Yet the characters, especially the nymphs, felt something like Rohmer's modern Parisians without seeming alien from their setting. It's a masterful touch.

This is not my favorite Rohmer, of course. But it's a wonderful way for him to sum up his career and to say au revoir or even adieu.

A Cold Wind in August (1961)

Loved by John Waters AND Pauline Kael

[7/10 · 30 June 2008]

Kael in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," Waters in (I think) "Crackpot." Ever since I saw Kael's comment (circa 1970), I've wanted to see this. I finally tracked down a DVD pirated from TBS. And it was worth the wait. Yes, it's florid and overstated, but so is opera, and this is the film equivalent of "Traviata": older, "experienced" woman, young man who can't deal with her experience. It reminded me of "Who Killed Teddy Bear?" in that it's another film that is much better than it should be. I can't really say that Albright gives a good performance, but it is a great one, at least in its impact. Her lack of depth feels right for this character, more right than a more subtle performance would have been. It's a paradox of this kind of film.

The film is also surprising frank for 1961. No euphemisms here. Even the boy's father understands what's going on, and is amazingly understanding about it. It's adult, not just in its subject matter, but in its refusal to be coy about it.

I do want to point out one problem with the film. Scott Marlowe's character is supposed to be 17, but Marlowe was about 29 when he made this. Albright was only 7 years older, so you don't get the effect of the age difference, and Marlowe just feels too old to be so innocent. But it's not a killer problem.