Regeneration

Regeneration
1915 - William Fox Pictures
Directed by Raoul Walsh



SYNOPSIS

Owen Conway has had a rough life. His mother died when he was a child. His adoptive parents were abusive, so he took to the streets. By the time he was 25 Owen was a notorious gangster. Conway (Rockcliffe Fellowes) meets the pious Mamie Rose (Anna Q. Nillson) and falls in love. Giving up his gang, Owen devotes his time to Mamie Rose and her efforts to help the poor. But his past comes back to haunt him when the old gang shows up after stabbing a cop.



MY THOUGHTS

I was eager to see this since it was featured prominently in the documentary 'Public Enemies The Golden Age Of The Gangster Film' (featured in Vol. 4 of Warner Brothers excellent Gangsters series.) Although the film is primitive in every respect (due to its era) it remains an interesting view.

The actors give more realistic performances than you'd ever expect in a silent film... but the STAR is director Raoul Walsh. This was the first of his many, many feature films. He would work into the 1960's and work with everybody from John Wayne to James Cagney to Humphrey Bogart to Errol Flynn. It all started here.
His use of dolly shots, point-of-view shots and close-ups are surprising to see in a film of this era and must have been fairly innovative.

Each scene of Regeneration is tinted. Owen's youth is tinted sepia, night scenes are tinted blue, etc. The best use of this is during a scene where there's a fire on a boat. The scene starts out blue, then there's a shot of the fire and the screen turns red and everyone panics. It was very cleverly done.
The big brawl at the end was also well shot. Any western or other action film would die to have a massive melee like that.

The film is far from perfect.
The editing is a bit scattershot, due to the complete lack of editing technology at the time. Editors had to hold the film up to the light to look at it to edit.
The story is rather basic and lacks much depth and its themes have been handled countless times in film and literature before and since.
The film quality is badly deteriorated in some spots, causing it to look like a psychedelic light show at some 60's rock concert. This doesn't detract too much from the film.

As a fan of the gangster genre, I was a bit let down from the lack of doing anything 'gangsterish.' Sure, they drink, brawl and gamble but that's about it. It wasn't until prohibition, still a few years away, when the 'gangsterish' things started in earnest.
The one thing this film had over the 1930's gangster films was that it was shot on the streets of the lower east side of New York City. Many real life thugs and oddities lurk in the backgrounds as they would in any real slums... and this adds real flavor to the scenes, especially one shot in a bar complete with vaudeville show.

Though nowhere near what he would later achieve, Raoul Walsh presents a competent story shot in many creative ways that still holds up 94 years later.

Niagara

Niagara
1953 - 20th Century Fox
Directed by Henry Hathaway



SYNOPSIS
The Cutlers (Jean Peters and Max Showalter) honeymoon at a Niagara Falls motel. There, they meet George and Rose Loomis (Joseph Cotten and Marilyn Monroe.) Rose also has a lover and they hatch a scheme to kill her new husband. George winds up killing the lover and seeks out Rose for revenge. He kills her and tries to escape to the U.S. side of the falls by boat. The boat was to be rented by the Cutlers for fishing and Mrs. Cutler is on board. The boat drifts perilously close to the falls.



MY THOUGHTS

It's not technically a film noir, with all of it's Techicolor glory, but Niagara sure fits the mold with it's grim subject matter: betrayal, murder, and one bad femme fatal.

Joseph Cotten was always a fine actor and this is no exception. His intensity and vague creepiness reminded me of his performance in Hitchcock's 'Shadow of a Doubt.'

Marilyn Monroe surprised me in the film. I have only seen her previously in light comedic films like 'Some Like It Hot' and 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.' She had strong dramatic chops and plays a bad girl very well. She is radiantly beautiful in the film, but when wasn't she?

Showalter and Peters give solid supporting performances as the idealized prototypical 50's husband and wife who are thrown out of that world and into mayhem. The four main characters have great chemistry.

Henry Hathaway's direction helped put a lot of suspense into the chase scenes. The bell tower scene where Cotten stalks Monroe up the stairs and the boat's race against time at the end are excellent examples. Hathaway seems to be trying to ape Alfred Hitchcock's style and succeeds, but I think Hitch would have made it better.

The tight editing keeps Niagara moving like the water over the falls... fast.

Plus the Technicolor cinematography is beautiful. I've never been to Niagara Falls before, but the film makes me want to visit... as long as I don't meet anyone named Loomis.

Overall the film is solid and entertaining and definitely worthy to see, if not for just Monroe playing a different kind of role than usual.

A Slight Case of Murder

A Slight Case of Murder
1938 - Warner Brothers
Directed by Lloyd Bacon



SYNOPSIS
Prohibition is over and people are happy they will never have to drink Remy Marco's beer again! So Remy (Edward G. Robinson,) decides to turn his illegal business legit. He faces one major problem... his beer tastes like crap, and he's not a drinker so he's never tried it. 4 years later and his business is about to be repossessed by the bank, and he's forced to withdraw his daughter (Jane Bryan) from her ritzy European prep school. The family heads to their summer home. His daughter falls in love with a cop (Willard Parker,) who tries to meet Marco and his wife (Ruth Donnelly) after he adopts a troubled punk (Bobby Jordan) from an orphanage. Before the Marcos arrive, Remy's thugs find 4 of 5 members of a former rival gang dead in the home. The gang just pulled a big armored car job... and the 5th member is still in the house. On the eve of his repossession, Remy throws a big party even though the dead gangsters are stashed in a closet in the home... and the dough is stashed elsewhere.



MY THOUGHTS
I'm biased. I believe this is Hollywood's greatest comedy of the 30's, apart from the Marx Brothers in 'A Night at the Opera' and a few screwball comedies. As a gangster movie fan, I see many of the subtle plot devices and cliches that the film plays with and subverts. And as each one comes up it makes me laugh harder.

The script is based on a play co-written by Damon Runyon. The classic Broadway musical/film 'Guys and Dolls' was based on several of his short stories and feature many similar larger-than-life lowlifes, and this film is just as fun or even more fun to watch. The script is filled with so many one liners it's hard to keep up.

Robinson is even better at comedy that as a straight tough guy, like his classic turn in 'Little Caesar.' This is one of several gangster comedies about his tough-guy persona 'seeking class,' and is the best of the bunch. He's got great comedic timing and plays a buffoon very well. His beer tasting scene is hilarious. He doesn't need to spit the beer out all over the camera to lets us know it tastes like sewer water.

His thugs, played by Allen Jenkins and Edward Brophy, among others, are even funnier than the dozens of goofy characters they played during their long careers. They can make me laugh without opening their mouths.
Other supporting characters like Ruth Donnelly and Bobby Jordan are also at their top game and generate many laughs. Donnelly is one tough moll, remembering she's has to be a high class society dame. She's like Mae West forced to transform mid-scene into Margaret Dumont's character from many of the Marx Brothers films... and is never short of hilarious.
Any scene in the film that pits Bobby Jordan versus Allen Jenkins is comedy dynamite.

Any fan of gangster films or classic comedies would be a fool to miss this one, see?



or featured in the great box set for only a few bucks more:

Fantastc Planet

Fantastic Planet
1973 - France
Directed by Rene Laloux



SYNOPSIS
On the far-off planet of Ygam, the planet's dominant species, the Traag, keep the OMs as pets. The OMs (humans) are tiny creatures from the planet Terra (Earth.) Many OMs have escaped from their masters and live in the wild. One OM named Terr is raised by a Traag girl named Tiwa. He later escapes. Terr takes a learning tool that helps educate the wild population. After the Traags attempt to exterminate the wild OMs, they rise up and kill a Traag and become a definite threat. Can these two very different species achieve peace?




MY THOUGHTS

The very best science fiction is a reflection of the current time. My head is still swimming from this insanely imaginative animated film and I'm uncertain of the exact reflections and I've likely missed many. Enslavement is handled vaguely reminiscent of 'Planet of the Apes' and the rise of the OMs can be likened to the Ewoks battling the Empire in 'Return of the Jedi.' I couldn't help thinking of 'Gulliver's Travels' during the killing of the Traag man, expecting him to be tied down rather than murdered. I'm not sure if the filmmakers were making any comment on the North Vietnamese overcoming the United States in the Vietnam War, which was raging and nearing its end when the film was released.

The film also seems to recount the history of humans. The wild OMs are very tribal and are led by a 'wizard,' much as early sun-worshiping human were. The common people are leery of latching on to new ideas, like the ones Terr brings. He's like a Galileo or a Martin Luther, thwarted by the people in power, but gains people's trust after awhile and dominates. With that knowledge, the people rise in power and take over control of their world (like the Renaissance through to today.)

The animation is one part Salvador Dali (and other surrealists,) one part 'Yellow Submarine,' and one part Terry Gilliam's cartoon segments on 'Monty Python's Flying Circus.' It's psychedelic and surreal. The bizarre alien imagery is like the creepiest elements of Dali's work alive and moving around. I wonder if this will lead to any creepy dreams and/or nightmares tonight. The animation style is very earthy and different from the CGI garbage we're force-fed today.

The musical score is also out of this world it's trippy acid jazz, with funk and some lounge music mixed in and is so different from the music of today it adds an extra element of the surreal (although it fit in at the time.)

The film is definitely a trip and one you should take soon... maybe with some 'enhancement.'
My real question with the film is... why would an advanced race of beings speak French? Highly logical creatures would learn a different language.

The Wrestler

The Wrestler
2008 - Fox Searchlight
Directed by Darren Aronofsky



SYNOPSIS
Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was the king of wrestling in the mid to late 1980's, best known for his legendary match against The Ayatollah. 20 years on, Randy is all washed up. Living in a trailer park and working during the week doing manual labor at a grocery store, he wrestles on the weekends, keeping his dreams of a comeback alive. When he's not in the ring, he eying a middle aged stripper Cassidy (Marisa Tomei) at the local strip club.
After a brutal match, The Ram suffers a heart attack, and bypass surgery. Doctors say he can never wrestle again. So he tries to start a new life. He tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and fails. His budding relationship with Cassidy doesn't blossom as well. His steady job goes down the tubes. But there is one thing to keep him going... a 20th anniversary rematch with the Ayatollah.

MY THOUGHTS

There are a few acting performances where you can absolutely positively imagine no other actor in the role. Brando in 'A Streetcar Named Desire.' Jack Nicholson in 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.' Daniel Day Lewis in 'There Will Be Blood.' This is one of THOSE performances. Mickey Rourke simply is The Ram. His performance is that realistic.
You feel his every emotion, whether it be pain from pulling barb wire out of his skin, or pain from his failed relationship with his daughter, or loneliness and desperation.
In his battered face you see every single day in those 20 years. No other known actor could have played that aspect of the part, they would have been too pretty.

You can also draw many parallels with the fictional Ram and real-life Rourke. Both were phenoms of the 80's. They suffered diminishing returns in the 90's, and fought to reclaim their lofty heights in the 00's. Rourke reclaimed that and even took it to new heights.

Marisa Tomei was also excellent. I loved the way the story compared and contrasted her character with The Ram. Both character's professions are frowned upon by most people. Strip club patrons made fun of her because of her age, yet The Ram never faced those criticisms in the ring.
Cassidy was a responsible both as a parent and with her finances, while Randy was the complete opposite.
He was lonely and needing companionship and she was quick to brush him off and keep her distance.

The cold, bleak weather and gray, gritty color palette added a real dimension to the story and showed Randy's depression after missing wrestling, without the need for words. This was a subtle mark of a great director at work. The film is very different from Aronofsky's other works like 'Pi' and 'Requiem For a Dream,' and shows this young director has great range.

It's a shame Rourke did not win the Academy Award... but Sean Penn's performance in 'Milk' was also one of THOSE performances.

The Trouble With Harry

The Trouble With Harry
1955 - Paramount
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock



SYNOPSIS

A young boy (Jerry Mathers) comes across a dead body in the woods in rural New England. He runs home to tell his mother. An older man (Edmund Gwynn) also comes across the same body and believes he shot it while hunting and decides to hide it. The boy returns with his mom Jennifer (Shirley MacLaine) and she seems glad the man (Harry) is dead. A middle aged woman named Miss Gravely (Mildred Natwick) happens by, followed by the town doctor (who doesn't notice) and lastly a drifter comes by and swipes the corpse's shoes. Both women also believe they contributed to Harry's death.
Unsuccessful local artist Sam Marlow (John Forsythe) goes into the woods, finds the body, and sketches it. The older man is still there and they agree to bury the body. The old man accounts for all his bullets, and realizes he didn't kill Harry, so the body is dug up. The body is buried and dug up several more times before the doctor is brought in and finds out what really killed Harry.
Meanwhile, Jennifer and Marlow fall in love, as do the old man and Miss Gravely.



MY THOUGHTS

This blacker-than-black comedy is a showcase for Alfred Hitchcok's macabre, twisted, definitely British sense of humor.
Ocassionally laugh-out-loud funny and sometimes too absurd and goofy, the film excells, offering a vastly different film than you'd expect from the Master of Suspense.
This almost operates as a parody of his standard fare. There's little action, suspense or mayhem. It starts like an atypical one, with the discovery of a body, but quickly veers off in another direction.

The 4 main character's situation seems a little ridiculous, and they handle it in an equally illogical way. Each of the actors display their character's quirks and bring a sense of realism. But there's more surreal in the story than real. There's no way that real people would react with as much indifference to seeing a dead body, or to repeatedly change their minds about burying it. But the direction and script are so good, the viewer suspends his/her disbelief and stays on board for the ride.

John Forsythe and Shirley MacClaine (in her debut) are great but are outshone by Edmund Gwynn and Mildred Natwick. Both couples have great chemistry.
Their two love stories are purposly made to be parallel to compare and contrast. The man and woman in each couple have never met, yet live in the tiny community where they know everyone else.
The main difference is young love vs. old. Forsythe is quick to ask for MacClaine's hand in marriage and there seems to be a lot of passion and lust there. The older couple moves slower and wiser and come across more as friends than impassioned lovers.
Some racy double entendres litter both of the courtships and create much of the non gallows-related humor.

The appearance of a pre-Beaver Jerry Mathers made me wonder why they could't have made a 'Leave it to Beaver' episode where the Beav found a corpse... or at least went around carrying a dead animal.

The photography is amazing. New England during the fall adds so much to the small town feel to the film.

The film is also noted for Hitchcock's first pairing with composer Bernard Herrmann, who delivers a solid score, but it doesn't stand out like his more well known ones later on like 'Psycho' or 'Vertigo.'

If you go into this film expecting to see a standard Hitchcock film you will leave disappointed, but there's a lot to like here. It isn't his best film, but it is fun seeing him experiment.

Hollywood: Then And Now #2 The Big Lebowski

The Big Lebowski
1997 - Polygram
Directed by Joel Coen

Location 6700 block of Santa Monica Blvd between Highland Ave. and McCadden Place.

Then:




The Dude is picking up Walter and 'the ringer' at Walter's workplace.

Now: 7/2009



Walter's shop is now a medical marijuana dispensary. The Dude would be abide by that...