Stagecoach

Stagecoach
1939 - United Artists/Walter Wanger Productions
Directed by John Ford



SYNOPSIS

A stagecoach full of troubled souls must travel through hostile Indian Territory with Geronimo on the warpath. Along the way, they pick up a wanted outlaw, the Ringo Kid (John Wayne) who is on the way to avenge the killings of his father and brother. One the way he falls for a female passenger with a secret (Claire Trevor.) Every one's plans for the future are put on hold... when the Apaches strike!



MY THOUGHTS

John Ford and John Wayne's first major team-up propelled them both into the stratosphere... while remaining in the old west.

The film succeeds on numerous levels.
The small stagecoach is crammed with interesting characters that bring color to the black and white film. Claire Trevor plays a prostitute, being kicked out of her town by a legion of decency. Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell) is also given the boot for his continual drunkenness (he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role.) Boone takes a liking to a timid whiskey maker (Donald Meek) who carries samples with him. A notorious gambler (John Carradine) takes a liking to a woman (Louise Platt) on her way to meet her soldier husband. She becomes ill and we soon find out why when she gives birth to a baby daughter. A cantankerous banker (Berton Churchill) is also aboard, with loot stolen from his bank. To round out the group, the noisy Andy Devine drives the stagecoach, with the tough as-nails Marshall (George Bancroft) riding shotgun.
John Wayne offers little different from his screen persona. This film elevated him from B-movie western hero to a full-fledged star. He's not even given top-billing in the credits (Trevor is.)

All the characters contrast against each other well in a very credible way. All are from different walks of society and clash with each other at first... but through the course of the journey learn to understand, tolerate, and some even like each other.

The film's short run time (1:30) keeps the epic story moving at a fast pace and there's rarely a dull moment. When there's no physical action, the verbal conflicts between the characters propel the story thanks to the great script.
The climactic battle with the Apaches is the highlight of the film. The stunt work is amazing. The horses alone should have won an Oscar for all their amazing stunts. The stuntmen were also shockingly good.
The camerawork is equally breathtaking. There's only a few static shots. Most of the cameras were moving (likely on trucks) in and around the action. That gives a real feeling of 'being there' amongst the fight.
The camerawork also shines a bit earlier in the film when the stagecoach forges the river. The camera is actually set up on the top of the stagecoach looking over the shoulders of Devine and Bancroft, also adding to the 'being there' feel.

The film clearly shows John Ford's mastery of film and he was nominated for an Oscar, and the film for Best Picture, but both lost to Gone With The Wind. Ford did however win Best Director the next two years for The Grapes Of Wrath and How Green Was My Valley.
This film is not his masterpiece, but comes close.

Zombie

Zombie AKA "Zombi 2"
1979 - Italy
Directed by Lucio Fulci



SYNOPSIS

A seemingly abandoned sailboat drifts into the harbor of New York City. The Coast Guard boards to investigate when a zombie attacks kills one of them. The daughter of the boat owner (Tisa Farrow) and a journalist (Ian McCulloch) head to the remote island her father had visited to find him. There, they find a doctor (Richard Johnson) who is working on a cure for a local plague that's causing residents to waste away and die... only to return from the dead!



MY THOUGHTS

Zombies on the prowl usually make for a fun film, and this one is no different.

Unlike many Italian horror films, like those by Dario Argento, Zombie doesn't aim for anything remotely artsy. The plot is bare-bones simple and the flat characterizations make the film seem much like an old horror comic book or pulp story. That's not necessarily always a good thing on the big screen, but it works here.

The film was designed as a sort-of sequel to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, yet pales in comparison to that 1978 classic. Dead was released in Italy as "Zombi," this film as "Zombi 2."

Like most great zombie films this is not for the squeamish. There's plenty of flesh feasting, blood oozing, maggots, and other gore. A woman gets her eye impaled on a splintered piece of wood too.

One of the most inventive sequences involves one of the female characters going for a swim (topless, naturally) to take pictures of a reef. A great white shark approaches. She ducks into a part of the reef where the shark can't get her and is attacked by a zombie (being dead, it doesn't need to breathe.) She gets away and that sets up an epic battle, zombie vs. shark.

Most of the rest of the film is much like any other zombie film. Hands come up through the cemetery grounds, people run from the slow moving undead, and all the other staples.

The big thing the film lacks is a sense of humor, which leaves the film dry (except all the blood.)
The dubbing from Italian into English is bad, but not Godzilla bad. Some of the lines seemed to be literal translations and not something someone would actually say.

Overall, it's a fun film, but not one of the most essential zombie films out there.

Saboteur

Saboteur
1942 - Universal
Directed By Alfred Hitchcock



SYNOPSIS

Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane (Robert Cummings) is accused of sabotage when a fire at the plant kills his best friend. Instead of going into custody, Barry escapes and vows to find the real saboteur. Along the way he meets a model (Priscilla Lane) and convinces her of his innocence. Together they realize their opponent is much greater than one man... and the group plans to strike again!



MY THOUGHTS

A lesser known Hitchcock film is an exciting thrill ride from start to finish.


Saboteur is one big chase. The cops are always after Kane, and Kane is always pursuing the villains. The film starts off strong and the suspense builds and builds steadilly until the exciting conclusion.
The non-chase scenes in the film should by all means slow it to a crawl, but Hitchcock fills them with Kane meeting very colorful and unusual characters, like a truck with the cast of a circus sideshow, an old coot truck driver, and a kindly wise old blind man.

There a few corny parts to the film, mainly dealing with wartime patriotism, but they don't detract from the film and actually help hammer away at its themes.

The film is clearly an Alfred Hitchcock one. Many themes that run through his films appear here as well.
A good portion of his films feature an 'everyman' (average guy) caught up in something way over his head and is falsely accused of a crime who must prove his innocence. This along with 'The 39 Steps' and 'North By Northwest' fit that description to a 'T.' This film's climax on the Statue of Liberty's torch is also reminiscent of Mount Rushmore in North by Northwest. Other bits and pieces in the film also would pop up in his later films.
Inventive camera angles, his unique use of locations, and his dark sense of humor (the billboards) are also present.

Robert Cummings suits the 'everyman' role perfectly. He seems like your average Joe. Priscilla Lane's role was not a typical Hitchcock woman. There's usually something devious about them. Instead, Lane's role is more of a spunky sidekick. The two have decent chemistry.
The villains are the real treat. They're more three dimensional than most bad guys of the time and they're almost on the level with James Bond villains in their fiendishness. (is that a word?) It was very inventive to have one of the big bosses to be an older society woman.

Though not a masterpiece, Saboteur should be more praised than it is, and remains a very exciting thrill ride.

The Great Ziegfeld

The Great Ziegfeld
1936 - MGM
Directed By Robert Z. Leonard



SYNOPSIS

The film chronicles the life of theater impresario Florenz Ziegfeld (William Powell,) from his days managing Sandow the Strong Man (Nat Pendleton) to producing lavish Broadway shows starring his wife Anna Held (Luise Ranier) and his triumph, the Ziegfeld Follies... which starred his future wife Billie Burke (Myrna Loy.)



MY THOUGHTS

A loose biopic of the life of a stage legend may have won a Best Picture Oscar... but it doesn't age as gracefully as others of the era.

MGM threw all it had at this film and it shows. Several popular stars of the day are on hand like the stars of the big Thin Man series (Myrna Loy and William Powell) along with others playing themselves like Fannie Bryce and Ray 'Scarecrow' Bolger. The film's nearly 3-hour run-time is nearly twice as long as the average movie of the era and tries to cram as much of the impresario's life in as possible, though not all of it was historically accurate.
It would probably be a better film if it lost at least 30 minutes. The musical numbers, though scant, add nothing to the film (odd for a musical.) Most of them are forgettable. I can't recall one song title while writing this, immediately after viewing the film.
In losing 30 minutes, the film would lose it's epic feel, but it would definitely give it a more personal feel.

William Powell provides a solid center for the actors. He really doesn't shine as Ziegfeld, but does an adequate job. His on-screen chemistry with Myrna Loy completely lacks any of the spark that their paring does in the Thin Man films (maybe the booze was the spark?)
Luise Rainer does shine and she won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Anne Held. (She's currently the oldest living Oscar winner at 99.)

Overall, it's not a bad piece of cinema, though it is certainly locked into the period it was created, and is very dated.

Rio Bravo

Rio Bravo
1959 - Warner Brothers
Directed by Howard Hawks



SYNOPSIS

The sheriff of the town of Rio Bravo (John Wayne) has the brother of a powerful rancher behind bars for murder. The rancher has dozens of men for hire and wants his brother free. It up to the sheriff, a drunk (Dean Martin,) a crippled old man (Walter Brennan,) and a young wannabe gunslinger (Ricky Nelson) to keep the criminal behind bars until the Marshall arrives. And to complicate matters further, the sheriff becomes smitten with a new woman in town (Angie Dickinson.)




MY THOUGHTS

A classic western looks better than ever on Blu-Ray.

Legendary director Howard Hawks apparently designed the film as an answer to High Noon, which he despised. The film holds up to that classic and is further added to by some excellent performances.

John Wayne is John Wayne. Love him or hate him, his screen presence dominates the film. There is NO ONE else who could have played the role of the sheriff. The film does find several moments to poke fun at his screen persona, like whenever he deals with Walter Brennan or Angie Dickinson's characters. Most of their interactions are very silly.

From his stage persona, Dean Martin would be a no-brainer as the drunk. He bring much more depth to the role than I would have expected and provides an unexpected heart and soul to the film as his character tries to conquer his alcohol addiction amid the action.

Being a young TV star and music phenom, Ricky Nelson is perfectly cast as the headstrong young gunslinger.

Angie Dickinson is also fun to watch, but her character is painfully too young to be interested in Wayne's. They practically look like grandfather and granddaughter.

From a lesser actor, Walter Brennan's part would be largely annoying. The character you would hope would get killed off quick, but Brennan's light touch brings hilarity to nearly everything his eccentric cripple has to say. His rapport with John Wayne is a delight every time.

The images on the Blu-Ray are outstanding. The daytime outdoor shots are such good quality it's almost as if you are looking out a window instead of at a television. (amazing for a 50 year old + film. Warner Brothers should be commended) Many of the indoor or nighttime shots do show some heavy grain, but that's the way they were shot. It's not a default in the disc.

The disc also offers an excellent documentary on the film, one on director Howard Hawks, and a brief one on the filming location.

Though stuck in a precarious situation, the cast of Rio Bravo shines against the evil they face, and make it a very entertaining ride.

Tribute To A Bad Man

Tribute To A Bad Man
1956 - MGM
Directed by Robert Wise



SYNOPSIS
A naive young man (Don Dubbins) heads west and finds work wrangling horses on a ranch run by Jeremy Rodock (James Cagney.) Rustlers are always threatening the ranch and Rodock strikes back with extreme force. The young man finds fault with Rodock's harsh methods... and falls in love with his woman (Irene Papas.)



MY THOUGHTS

One of Hollywood's greatest unsung and most versatile directors tackles the western genre.

Robert Wise was a director who could do anything. Sci-fi (The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Andromeda Strain,) film-noir (The Set-up, Born To Kill,) musicals (West Side Story, The Sound Of Music,) as well as horror (The Haunting) and action (The Sand Pebbles.) His direction here is good, but doesn't stand up to his best.
The CinemaScope really adds much to the overall beauty of the cinematography. The film is nearly completely shout outdoors and the setting is beautiful.

The script doesn't offer up much originality. It seems like the screenwriter wasn't interested in putting anything new on the screen. It seemed like a perfectly average script... that was boosted by some good performances.

James Cagney delivers another strong performance as the hard-ass ranch owner. Cagney was always best at playing tough guys and this is no different, though the character itself isn't as interesting as others he played in his career. The film/his performance out succeeds his other notable western, The Oklahoma Kid, which is just about terrible.
Don Dubbins plays the naive Steve well and the role seems perfectly cast. Many familiar faces show up to fill small supporting roles like Vic Morrow and Lee Van Cleef.

Overall, not a bad film, but it's nowhere near the best film Robert Wise or James Cagney ever made.

This film is not available on DVD.

Swing Parade

Swing Parade (AKA Swing Parade of 1946)
1946 - Monogram Pictures
Directed by Phil Karlson



SYNOPSIS

After being evicted from her apartment, a struggling young singer named Carol (Gale Storm) gets a job working in a supper club run by Danny Warren (Phil Regan.) Warren's father (Russell Hicks) is a utilities magnate and is intent on shutting the place down before it opens because he believes his son can do better. It's up to Carol and three schlubs that work there (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard) to help keep the place open... and the elder Warren away. Meanwhile, the younger Warren falls for Carol.




MY THOUGHTS

A bargain basement '42nd Street' delivers on laughs and music.

'42nd Street was the tale of a Broadway show in the making. This is the 'B' movie version, a supper club variety show in the making. It never plans/expects to be anything better than it is and the down-home feel makes it feel genuine and endearing.

The music excels far beyond what I would expect in a low rent production. Monogram Studios were known for the lowest of the low in terms of production cost. You would imagine a 'B' movie musical would employ some hack songwriters to come up with second rate crap for the cast to sing, but with this film, the producers chose to use already familiar tunes. "Stormy Weather," "Caldonia," and "On The Sunny Side of The Street" are some of the well-known classics used to keep the audience entertained.

Gale Storm, as Carol, is a bright center to the film. She's very likable and this was near the beginning of her career, which would later lead to her starring role on TV as "My Little Margie." She passed away in the middle of the celebrity death march following Michael Jackson's death in June.

The Three Stooges are hilarious as always. The trio get to be dishwashers, waiters, and plumbers, all with disastrous results (naturally.) This was Curly's final feature film appearance with the group before his debilitating stroke which caused him to retire. He is maybe not as manic as his younger days, but still is the standout of the three, though Moe and Larry get some great lines/parts/slaps as well.

Phil Regan is suitable as are most of the other cast. It's always great to see comedic character actor Edward Brophy pop up, here as the manager of club and the Stooges' boss and feared nemesis.
Louis Jordan and his band add much to the overall fell to the film. Their brief musical appearances show their important influence as one of the main links between swing and rock and roll. Their performance of "Caldonia" (see above) is one of the band's most well-known songs.

While the film won't go down as one of the classic musicals of the golden age, Swing Parade remains a lot of fun.