Sugar Hill

1974 - American International
Directed By Paul Maslansky


SYNOPSIS

When Sugar Hill's (Marki Bey) boyfriend refuses to sell his nightclub to a bunch of gangsters, they beat him to death. Sugar turns to an old voodoo queen (Zara Cully) for help and thanks to Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley,) she gets an army of the undead to help her exact revenge.

MY THOUGHTS

A great mix of a blaxploitation and a zombie film.

Rare for both genres, Sugar Hill managed a PG rating. It lacks excessive violence, nudity, strong language or gore that are commonplace for those films... and still manages to be exciting, tense and a lot of fun.
Also lacking was a big budget... but the filmmakers made due with what they had. The zombie makeup was low-tech but creepy as hell... especially the shiny brass eyes.

Plot-wise, the film is very simple... just your typical revenge story, without any unnecessary sub-plot. It gets right down to the story, tells it, and finishes it. Great economic storytelling.


B-movie giant American International was one of the leading studios making blaxploitation films in the '70s, most notably those starring Pam Grier (Foxy Brown, Coffy, etc.) I wonder why she wasn't cast in this. Marki Bey is fine as Sugar, but I think Grier would have been a better choice because she has a stronger screen presence.

The acting is not the strongest overall, but you don't look for master thespians in a film like this.

American International also was responsible for the 2 Blacula films (far better known blaxploitation/horror combos) but this film is far better than either.


Sugar Hill is a fun, well-made film that would definitely impress and entertain fans of both horror and blaxploitation.

Seven Chances

1925
Directed By Buster Keaton


SYNOPSIS

Jimmie (Buster Keaton) stands to inherit 7 million dollars from his deceased grandfather... if he is married by 7 o'clock on his 27th birthday... which is today! His girl (Ruth Dwyer) rejects his sudden and underwhelming proposal... so he tries to get any woman he knows to marry him with no success. After an article appears in the afternoon newspaper about the inheritance... every woman in town will stop at nothing to get him!

MY THOUGHTS

Seven Chances isn't as well known as some of Buster Keaton's films, but it should be.

The first half of the film is slow (almost boring,) setting up the plot. It features no action and a few mildly amusing moments. Then it dramatically shifts from first gear all the way to fifth and the film races to its finish... with Keaton literally running top speed the entire way. A mob of hundreds hungry brides chasing him... he jumps off a cliff onto a tree being chopped down. He then dashes down a steep hill, triggering a landslide with bouncing boulders threatening his life the entire way down. The entire sequence must be seen to be believed. (see above video) The shots and editing are as close to perfect as any scene could possibly be.


The premise, which came from a play, has been used before Keaton and many times after.
 
Fans of the Three Stooges will easily recognize the plot was later 'borrowed' for one of their most well known shorts 1947's Brideless Groom.


With as much success as the Stooges were able to have with the same plot... Keaton's take is still superior in every way.

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

2005
Directed By Martin Scorsese

SYNOPSIS

The film chronicles Bob Dylan's path from being a young Minnesotan arriving in New York with a guitar in hand in 1961... to becoming 'The Voice Of His Generation' in just 5 years.

MY THOUGHTS

A fascinating look at Bob Dylan and the New York folk scene of the early 1960's.

Many a filmmaker and author have tried to tackle the life of Dylan... but they all failed to get one important interview that would lift their work above the pack... Bob Dylan himself. Director Martin Scorsese did just that... giving No Direction Home authority of the others. In most past interviews, Dylan is cryptic and comes off as an enigma. Here, Dylan is very straight-forward and doesn't act like a smart ass (like in some of the 60's interviews featured.)
Friends like Joan Baez, Allen Ginsberg, Pete Seeger, Liam Clancy, and Maria Muldaur (among others,) also share their recollections of that heady time... and as Dylan's career started to take off  Mitch Miller, Peter Yarrow and Al Kooper also chime in.

The 3 hour + run-time (divided into 2 parts) allows to delve deep into Dylan's story and can focus on extended music clips. Getting to see Dylan perform so many times really hits home his power as a songwriter and performer that a shorter documentary couldn't do without sacrificing narrative.

Any Bob Dylan fan, heck, any music fan will thoroughly love this.

Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

1993
Directed By Francois Gerard


SYNOPSIS

The life of pianist Glenn Gould is told in a series of vignettes.

MY THOUGHTS

Glenn Gould was an eccentric, enigmatic genius and a very unconventional man. It's apropos that Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould is both enigmatic and unconventional. It's not anywhere near a conventional biopic. As the title claims, the film is divided into 32 parts, each briefly touching on one aspect of the pianist's life. Some parts are interviews with real people who knew him, some feature Colm Feore (as Gould) reenacting parts of his life, and others are just animated segments featuring his music.
The music takes center stage and is playing nearly constantly, the film's strength.

The film is unique and has a very experimental feel... but I feel it fails in giving an understanding of the genius piano player and later radio producer.
If you're searching for a more in-depth (and conventional) documentary of Gould, Genius Within: The Inner Life Of Glenn Gould is a far better way to learn about the man. Watching that documentary first will help explain some of the more cryptic parts of Thirty Two Short Films (like why Petula Clark's Downtown plays under one of the vignettes.)
Having seen the documentary first, I already had an understanding of Gould's life. Not having seen it, or had any knowledge of his life, I would most likely been very confused or even lost while watching Thirty Two Short Films.

Overall, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould is a bold experiment... but you might need to know something about Gould before going into it... to fully appreciate it.

King Of Cowboys

1943
Directed By Joseph Kane


SYNOPSIS
Nazi saboteurs are targeting American targets. A governor assigns a popular rodeo showman (Roy Rogers) to take them down... and some of them are his fellow performers!

MY THOUGHTS

An absurd piece of WWII propaganda.

The governor enlists Roy Rogers (who plays 'himself') because the saboteurs 'wouldn't suspect him.' This is completely ridiculous concept and it's hard to accept this as any form of reality. This isn't helped by Rogers' path to take down the bad guys being an extremely boring one... even if he has to diffuse a bomb and fight the baddies.

There are a few musical numbers (delivered onstage) to pad out the story. These are fine, but clearly exist as padding and add nothing.

The only worthwhile bit from the film is that it gave Roy Rogers his classic nickname, King Of The Cowboys.

Of Human Bondage

1934 - RKO
Directed By John Cromwell


SYNOPSIS
Phillip Carey (Leslie Howard) gives up an unsuccessful art career in Paris, moves back to London and goes to medical school. He soon falls madly in love with a cockney waitress named Mildred (Bette Davis.) She rejects him and goes off with another man (Alan Hale.) She later returns to Phillip pregnant and alone. Soon they're engaged but she soon runs off with Phillip's friend. (Reginald Denny.) Mildred returns, ruining Phillip's new relationship, destroying his apartment and his stock certificates, forcing him to leave medical school. He finds work as a salesman and falls for another girl (Frances Dee) but Mildred comes back into his life again.

MY THOUGHTS


W. Somerset Maugham's book comes across as a bit soap operatic on the big screen... but the lead performances make it memorable.


Bette Davis gives a complex and strong characterization. Her character is essentially the villain of the piece, but you feel more pity than hate for the detestable character. She's a bit over-the-top at times, but it works very well for the role. This is the role that made her a star.

Leslie Howard gave a thoughtful, sensitive performance (much like all of his other roles) and matches Davis' strong portrayal.

The two have an unusual chemistry and would star together two more times.

Definitely a pre-code film, Of Human Bondage tacked soon to be taboo topics like unwed pregnancy and general sluttiness.

Bondage moves at a crisp pace, but it does drag often, as many early talkies did. Still, it's great to see two great actors at the top of their game play off one another.

The Best Of Benny Hill

1974
Directed By John Robbins


SYNOPSIS
A best-of compilation of the long-running BBC TV series The Benny Hill Show released into theaters.

MY THOUGHTS

The Best of Benny Hill is a silly look at the classic TV show. It showcases all of the comic's most memorable strengths: silly songs, bawdy innuendo, mangling the English Language, poking fun at the upper class, and of course, chasing half naked women around.


The film could easily draw a comparison to Monty Python's first feature And Now For Something Completely Different, which also was a best-of of their series. The Pythons re-shot all of the sketches for the film and as a result, much of the film lacked the timing and punch of delivering the material fresh before a live studio audience. Benny Hill, on the other hand, just used the existing footage from the series, so that was not an issue.

I am so glad I never got to see this on the big screen. The primitive analog video would look absolutely horrible transferred to 35mm film and blown up to fill a cinema screen. It doesn't even look that great on DVD.

It looks bad and some of the humor is dated, but the film delivers a great variety of fun and is a great way to discover (or remember) the magic of Benny Hill.