richardchatten Reviews

Sniper's Ridge (1961)

"Saddle Up!"

[7/10 · 16 April 2024]

Those familiar with 'The Manchurian Candidate will recognise the late Douglas Henderson as the aptly named Sgt Sweatish, in a movie that like the latter begins with a caption identifying the action as located in Korea in 1953, but unlike 'The Manchurian Candidate' that's were the film remains.

Because the Korean War failed to end in outright victory films of that conflict tend to be short of the simple heroics that characterise films depicting the Second World War - described in this film as "The Big Bad War" - while the lack of women in the cast promises something mean and ugly.

The foreword that opens 'Sniper's Ridge' from the outset puts us on notice that as in many a cavalry film the men spend more time in fighting each other than engaging the enemy; a warning defined at a climactic moment (SPOILER COMING:) when an officer announces to his men that he's stepped on a mine and his sergeant says "Good!"

ITV Saturday Night Theatre: The Death of Adolf Hitler (1973) Season 5, Episode 13

"Beauty Can Be Built Only on Sewers!"

[9/10 · 15 April 2024]

The very simplicity of this television production works in its favour as it graphically portrays the claustrophobic environment in which Hitler spent his final days; although the depiction of him sleeping in his uniform smacks of dramatic license.

Frank Finlay's portrayal of the Fuhrer - while as usual inadequately portraying the prematurely aged, grey-haired, shambling husk of a man he had descended to by this stage in the war - doesn't fall into the usual trap of showing him as sympathetically as most other portrayals usually are; although there's a lapse when Goebbels is described as "one of Hitler's oldest friends", since Hitler hadn't had any close friends since he purged Ernst Rohm.

This production provides a colder-eyed look at Hitler than usual and it's portrayal of a self-centred bully prone to temper tantrums is far nearer the mark; although David Irving would certainly take exception to Hitler personally telling a secretary that "in 1941 I personally ordered the extermination of all inferior races'.

In supporting roles Caroline Mortimer emerges both as more substantial and culpable Eva Braun than the real thing ever was, depicted yelling "Kill the Jews!", Ed Devereaux is memorably cast as an oleaginous Martin Bormann while Myvanwy Jenn makes a brief but vivid impression as a shrill Hanna Reitsch.

Incident in an Alley (1962)

Guilty Bystander

[8/10 · 13 April 2024]

The talents of up & coming TV scriptwriter Rod Serling and veteran 'B' director Edward L. Cahn made for pretty strange bedfellows in this Allied Artists quickie made with effective and low-keyed intelligence.

The title is really a misnomer as there (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) are in fact two incidents in the same alley that bookend the film, which actually devotes over half of it's running time to a courtroom drama in which the incident that gives the film its title - in which a trio of hoodlums rob a musical goods store with violence - which although in screen time is all over in less than five minutes is thereafter the subject of painstaking forensic analysis.

Bearing a passing resemblance to the case of Craig & Bentley this time its the policeman who pulled the trigger and has to deal with the consequences. To anyone familiar with Serling the depiction of office politics within the police department is characteristically sardonic.

The Power of the Dog (2021)

The Pianist

[7/10 · 12 April 2024]

'The Power of the Dog' is an austere deconstruction of the western genre which despite the presence of stars of the calibre of Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst suffers from the malaise that blights so many modern westerns of an uncompromising lack of pace and a concentration on mood at the expense of action.

As usual the landscape is lovely, but most of the performances are framed in the middle distance, everyone speaks in hushed tones with hardly a word above a whisper, with the usual lack of overt action that passes these days for profundity; briefly enlivened by Miss Dunst's attempts to play the Radetzky March on the piano, which Cumberpatch turns into a duet on the banjo.

The Open Road (1926)

The Open Road

[8/10 · 10 April 2024]

One of the many satisfactions that continue to compensate for the frequent frustrations that plague students of silent film are survivals such as 'The Open Road', whose promotion from a brief mention in Rachel Low's book on twenties British cinema concerning Claude Friese-Greene to its promotion to a TV series of its own was a consummation devoutly to be wished.

But 'The Open Road' suffers from the bugbear that afflicts most amateur photography in concentrating on the picturesque at the expense of what appears at the time to be mundane but gains in interest with the passage of time.

The Yorkshire Dales, for example, continue to look pretty much today as they did a century ago, so it's the fleeting glimpses in colour of what at the time seemed banal events like the Test at Lords in 1926 or what at the time seemed a thoroughly ordinary shot of Whitehall as it looked at the same time that today gives 'The Open Road' its most lasting value.

Ride in the Whirlwind (1966)

Abigail's Party

[6/10 · 9 April 2024]

In an episode of 'The Monkees' in which Rupert Crosse featured there was a typical running gag when the camera would cut to Crosse looking into the camera and incredulously interjecting "Who writes this stuff?"

In this, the first of two westerns Monte Hellman filmed back-to-back a bearded Crosse had his question answered: none other than Jack Nicholson (also later to write for 'The Monkees').

More a home invasion film along the lines of 'The Petrified Forest' - with a conclusion that anticipates 'Reservoir Dogs' - rather than a conventional western, the only principals the two films have in common are Nicholson himself in a more conventional role than his part in 'The Shooting', while Millie Perkins says so little Nicholson at one point actually declares "You don't say much!"

Red Sonja (1985)

Red-Headed Woman

[3/10 · 8 April 2024]

Representing a perfunctory attempt by Dino De Laurentis to create a distaff 'Conan the Barbarian', 'Red Sonja' hails from the days when Arnold Schwarzenegger still wore his hair down to his shoulders; and while set in the mythical past the hairstyle Brigitte Nielsen - who gets an 'Introducing' credit - wears in the title role is more evocative of the 1980s.

Playing a far less substantial amazon than her later role as Karla in 'Beverly Hills Cop II', despite her name Nielsen is rather colourless in the part. Although supposed to have issues with men few of them are well defined and her most substantial adversary is actually Sandahl Bergman's evil queen - who keeps a spider the size of a sheep as a pet - which could have made it resemble a medieval version of 'Dallas' if it had given her sufficient screen time; but the long hoped-for confrontation (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) takes an unconscionable time in coming.

Chickens Come Home (1931)

"Somebody's Coming to My House!"

[10/10 · 5 April 2024]

One tends to forget that the majority of Laurel & Hardy's shorts were preCode, which accounts for some pretty racy situations.

In 'Chickens Come Home' Oliver Hardy has come up in the world and is wed to high maintenance blonde Thelma Todd. From the word 'Go' he breaches the fourth wall as he imploringly looks into the camera while his desperation mounts as skeleton in his closet Mae Busch wages a campaign of attrition that makes Glenn Close in 'Fatal Attraction' look meek and submissive; while Stan Laurel's celebrated generosity behind the scenes towards his co-workers is evident in the number of opportunities Ms Todd and Mae Busch are given to be as funny as the boys are (witness Ms Todd's rapid shifts from jealous wife to gracious hostess).

The Way Ahead (1944)

The New Lot

[8/10 · 4 April 2024]

Marking a further rise in the cinematic ascendancy of Carol Reed, 'The Way Ahead' was intended to do for the army what 'In Which We Serve' had done for the navy; the film being aptly titled since so many of the cast went on to enjoy substantial careers well into the television era, notably William Hartnell.

In supporting roles it's good to see Esma Cannon in a 'normal' role and in his debut we fleetingly see Trevor Howard who postwar went on to far greater things under the direction of Reed.

As in 'Dad's Army' - for which this strongly resembles a template - the tale begins with a gathering of veterans reminiscing about their war service (as usual complaining how soft youngsters are now getting) and features John Laurie - who looked old even then - with David Niven as an officer prophetically named Jimmy Perry.

The Promise (1952)

The Great Power

[7/10 · 3 April 2024]

More a Sunday school lecture than an actual film and thankfully free of the brashness that characterises the American model, 'The Promise' marked the beginning of the final phase of Norman Walker's career as a director making cinematic Sunday school presentations for his company G. H. W. Productions.

Within its budgetary limitations it does a satisfactory job in its depiction of the Nativity, done in an understated thoroughly British manner, with palpable sincerity and with a quietly dignified leading performance by Edward Underdown as the prison visitor continually being reminded how popular his successor was.

Life Is a Circus (1960)

The Winters' Tale

[6/10 · 2 April 2024]

'Life is a Circus' provides further evidence that despite Val Guest serving his apprenticeship as a writer for Will Hay his thrillers were usually far superior to his comedies.

Although effectively a remake of the Crazy Gang's earlier 'Alf's Button Afloat', it more resembles 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', with Shirley Eaton as a country lass in sweater & jeans - who claims that her friends rather improbably call her 'Butch' - as their Snow White.

As the genie Lionel Jeffries provides a satisfactory substitute to Alistair Sim in the earlier film; while the most cherishable moment comes when Flanagan & Allen briefly re team to perform 'Underneath the Arches'.

The Big Trail (1930)

Off the Beaten Track

[7/10 · 1 April 2024]

In this early exercise in widescreen filmmaking - presently available in a magnificent high definition print on YouTube - Raoul Walsh makes good use of the new process both in outdoor scenes (including the usual encirclement of the wagons and culminating in a showdown in a blizzard) and chiaroscuro interior lighting effects.

Among the many impressive sights the film provides the most impressive is probably of a fresh-faced young John Wayne - apparently recommended to Walsh by John Ford - who demonstrates the grace and ease in front of a camera that ultimately would sustain a forty year film career.

Anyone looking for Tyrone Power be warned the name on the opening credits refers to his father, a hirsute brute of a man wearing dentures (at least I hope they're dentures) that look as if they were originally meant for Lon Chaney, who towers over Wayne and who Junior plainly didn't get his looks from.

Although the settlers dismiss the Indians as "savages" most of the conflict is actually between the settlers themselves; wile the most egregious racial stereotype is probably the dreaded El Brendel wandering in and out of the action making dire mother-in-law jokes: Laugh? I thought I'd never start.

All These Women (1964)

The Dream of the Fish

[3/10 · 1 April 2024]

The pleasures afforded by films of the sixties are many and various, not least the quality of the black & white photography when it was the cinema's default setting; and if a film had been made in colour it was the result of a conscious decision on the part of the makers.

In this context an eminent director's first film in colour was a major event; the catch being that it was a novelty that it could only take place the once. Within months of each other in 1964 the first colour films emerged from both Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni, the former taking a (very) temporary break from austere drama. Easily Bergman's worst film - castigated by Peter Cowie for its "embarrassing witlessness" - it just wasn't funny (Bergman himself later dismissing it as "a putrid film", while Billy Wilder had made much better use of 'Yes, We Have No Bananas' for comic effect a couple of years earlier in 'One, Two, Three'), swiftly outstays its welcome and it took nearly twenty more years before 'Fanny and Alexander' finally showed that Bergman's capacity for warmth and humour had merely been dormant, not extinct.

But Sven Nykvist's Eastman Color photography and P. A. Ludgren's sets (which look as good to eat as icing sugar) ensure that visually you certainly get your money's worth, while the women are gorgeous, Allan Edwall amusing in a a supporting role, and it offers the not inconsiderable pleasure of seeing a major talent totally crash and burn.

The Flying Deuces (1939)

Gay Paree

[7/10 · 31 March 2024]

I've headed my review 'Gay Paree' as it spends as much time in the City of Light as 'Bonnie Scotland' did north of the Border.

Laurel & Hardy's final feature to be released during the thirties remains one of their least known, completing an unofficial trio beginning with 'Beau Chumps'. Basically a series of episodes it again begins with Ollie having his heart broken by a girl called 'Jeannie Weeny' - the 'Jeannie' in this particular case being Miss Jean Parker playing a a French popsie called Genette - whereupon he once again demonstrates what a stupid peabrain he is by taking Stan's advice to end it all by jumping in the Seine. Being in the birthplace of existentialism they briefly get all philosophical and engage in a discussion of reincarnation (Hardy offering the extraordinary insight that with him gone "People would stare at you and wonder what you are, and I wouldn't be there to tell them...!"), before changing their minds and joining the foreign legion instead; where they find their old nemesis Charles Middleton as the Commandant who once again reminds them when they change their minds that they're in for keeps.

The humour is markedly less subtle than in their earlier films but it's pleasant enough and provides the opportunity to briefly savour Hardy's rich baritone as the Boys step out to 'Shine On Harvest Moon'.

Lost Continent (1951)

"Hey Joe, we've got company!"

[3/10 · 30 March 2024]

Although Hillary Brooke shares top billing with Cesar Romero - and would have provided him with a robust travelling companion - she's actually there just to provide Romero with a quick squeeze before the main action actually starts.

Unfortunately it then takes half the film's running time for the expedition even to arrive at the promised lost continent; at which point at least a little visual interest is provided when the picture suddenly turns green - a phenomenon accounted for by one of the expedition members as maybe "Somebody got lonesome for some soft light and put a green bulb in the socket!"

'Samuel' Newfeld's direction is competent with a nice use of lateral tracks, and the production design is satisfactory in a 'Star Trek' kind of way. Although we only ever see one brontosaurus footprint the characters always refer to "them", just as we never see more than more than one brontosaurus itself, and always at a distance. The kids might find the two battling ceratopsians kinda cute since they resemble two puppies fooling around; but when one of the expedition spies a pterodactyl and his immediate response is "I wonder if a piece of that big buzzard would make good eatin'" he plainly gets what he deserves.

Convict 99 (1938)

The Old School

[10/10 · 28 March 2024]

Given the befit of hindsight one of many ironic lines in this film is that "Even in Russia you get a fair trial!"

Probably the slickest of Will Hay's Gainsborough period, combining elements that subsequently served Peter Sellers well in 'Two-Way Stretch' and 'The Wrong Arm of the Law', peddling the reassuring notion that the criminal fraternity were capable of far greater resource than the actual upholders of law and order.

Despite the presence of Moore Marriott - who as Jerry the Mole makes 'stir crazy' a positive understatement - and Graham Moffatt (cutting quite a dash as a prison officer), director Marcel Varnel had at his disposal a much larger cast than previously, including such later Ealing luminaries as Basil Radford (seen too briefly, alas), with Google Withers hard as nails as a fake Russian countess who pays Hays the backhanded compliment of describing him as "as big a liar as I am!", and a rare cameo appearance by stout xylophonist Teddy Brown as a denizen of the underworld answering to the name 'Slim' Charlie.

Although the credits read "Will Hay as Convict 99" that honour actually belongs to Wilfred Walter who plays the definitive scowling malcontent Max Slessor seen at one point wielding a mean blackjack.

The Moonraker (1958)

The Purple Pimpernel

[7/10 · 26 March 2024]

This swashbuckler following in the footsteps of the TV version of 'Robin Hood' and not to be confused with the James Bond adventure (although Fleming's novel had already been published), 'The Moonraker' is embellished by the addition of Technicolor, which enables George Baker (first seen galloping through Stonehenge) to cut a dash in purple.

Sylvia Syms gives off her usual glow as the film's damsel in distress, Marius Goring, Peter Arne and Patrick Troughton are as creepy-looking a bunch of heavies as you'll ever see and you're treated to the memorable if fleeting sight of John Le Mesurier as Oliver Cromwell.

Lonely Road (1936)

Red Roses and Carpet Sweepers

[7/10 · 26 March 2024]

Quota quickies usually get short shrift from film historians, but 'Lonely Road' does a pretty slick job, aided by plush & mobile photography by Jan Stallich and some nice night-for-night exteriors.

Actually conceived by Nevil Shute with Clive Brook in mind, who he personally approached to play the lead role of retired naval Commander Malcolm Stevenson who (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) stumbles across the path of a pair of gun runners.

In a nod towards the realities of the hungry thirties one scene depicts a little old lady selling flowers in the middle of the night, while the political troubles of the period intrude in the form of a wild-eyed fanatic smuggling tommy guns - in cases identifying the contents as vacuum cleaners - to facilitate a scheme to influence the coming general election to bring about a "five year plan to save England under patriotic government".

Battle of Rogue River (1954)

Trial by Comat

[7/10 · 25 March 2024]

In this reminder of his journeyman days as a director of westerns for Columbia William Castle was already showing signs of the cynical sense of humour that soon became a feature of his exploitation pictures in his depiction of the US cavalry as an ill-humoured bunch; the Indians not being much better as the chief berates his braves for sustaining insufficient casualties during a raiding party

George Montgomery shows a natural talent for winding his men up the wrong way and certainly lives up to his admonition that "An officer's weakness is measured by every one of his men that likes him personally".

Martha Hyer, meanwhile, as a comely lass in a blouse and tight britches shows she has other fish to fry when she gazes longingly at him and coos "Did you ever notice what blue eyes he has?"; to which Montgomery's idea of banter when he tells Hyer "Not another word" and she replies "Fine!" is to respond "That's another word!"

Operation Cross Eagles (1968)

Action in the Aegean

[5/10 · 24 March 2024]

Roy Calhoun and Richard Conte - the former with becoming flecks of grey in his hair - let rip with machine guns and blow a lot of things up in this very poor man's 'Guns of Navarone' with a high body count.

Conte wears his habitual look of concern, probably due as much to having to grapple with the logistics of directing a film than simply bearing the burden of command.

Inevitably native Yugoslavs are cast as the heavies in the form of Relija Basic - best known abroad for his role in 'Rondo' - and Rade Duricin, who looks seriously foxy in her chic little Nazi uniform; while fans of 'Stars War' might recognise Phil Brown as Uncle Owen in the later film.

West 11 (1963)

Boredom and Crime

[9/10 · 23 March 2024]

Michael Winner dined out for the rest of his life for testing but not casting Julie Christie for a part in this reminder of those far-off days when even Winner couldn't fail to make a watchable film

Another of that select band of films upon whose behalf fate intervened in the winter of 1963 by covering London in a picturesque covering of snow and employing probably the best cast Winner ever worked with - ranging from Finlay Currie to Francesca Annis - just the title and date tell you that you're in for a treat; with a witty script by Waterhouse & Hall, technical collaborators of the calibre of Otto Heller and designer Robert Jones (the latter with obvious relish placing Tretchikoff's 'Green Lady' on the wall of Diana Dors' apartment) and Mr Acker Bilk on the soundtrack.

Village of the Giants (1965)

Happy Days at Hainesville

[3/10 · 23 March 2024]

That noise you can hear is probably H. G. Wells spinning in his grave at this travesty of his novel, although Bert I. Gordon has the temerity to credit himself with having provided the screen story.

Preceded by the usual disclaimer by Talking Pictures that the film might be unsuitable for small children, despite the psychedelic credits it's actually pitched at the juvenile level of 'Land of the Giants' - with which it shares the ambition of its visual effects - the disclaimer probably referring to a briefly wielded knife and the provocative scenes depicting groovy chicks in big hair, wet tee shirts and swinging their hips in enormous bikinis and tight slacks, who must be high on drugs since they seem to take giant ducks crashing their party in their stride.

Von Ryan's Express (1965)

Voyage to Italy

[7/10 · 21 March 2024]

Buoyed by the success of 'The Great Escape' - the one cast member the two films having in common being John Leyton - and set in Italy in 1943, this time it's Frank Sinatra's turn to sashay about in German uniform surrounded by an otherwise European cast.

For a change the captors were Italians rather than Germans, with Adolfo Celi's function as chief baddie anticipating his role as Largo in 'Thunderball' (although this time its his subordinate officer who gets to wear the eye patch).

Aided by a rollicking score by Jerry Goldsmith, like 'The Great Escape' it all treats war as a bit of a lark, and if like the earlier film the ending (SPOILER COMING:) is a real downer its the part of the film everybody remembers.

The Eyes of Annie Jones (1964)

"I go from place to place"

[8/10 · 20 March 2024]

A crime drama rather than the fantasy a synopsis suggests. I don't wish to go into too much detail discussing the plot since the murder that provides the narrative with its mainspring is the first thing you see before the credits have even started, and what makes the film worth watching is figuring out WHY the murder was committed rather than how by whom and what part Francesca Annis's clairvoyant powers take in it's exposure.

Although Richard Conte is technically the star, pride of place surely goes to Miss Annis, who evidently impressed someone at Fox while she was playing Elizabeth Taylor's handmaiden in 'Cleopatra' enough to entrust her with title role in this Lippert quickie (made at Shepperton by 'B' movie stalwart Reginald Le Borg) in which she plays a seventeen year old guttersnipe "born and raised in a Liverpool slum" who went into an orphanage at 12, boasts "I stopped playing dolls when I was six years old", is reviled as "a nasty child and a liar", whose first question when temporarily allowed out is to ask "Got a light?" and justifies her appalling table manners by stating "I've been hungry for years!"

The Ghost Goes West (1935)

"Och aye, the battle!"

[6/10 · 17 March 2024]

Korda had long been in thrall to quintessentially British subjects and emboldened by the great success of this earlier piece of Scots fantasy (whose frequent use of models emphasised its whimsical nature), he later took a bath on 'Bonnie Prince Charlie'.

True to form most of the production personnel came from Hollywood and from the continent (notably Rene Clair in his first English language production), although in the small part of the fearsome McLaggan Hay Petrie actually gets to plays a bona ride Scotsman for a change.

Since the title role was originally written with Charles Laughton in mind that presumably accounts for a fleeting appearance by Elsa Lanchester.