June Films Update 2

Ten films I watched!

**** 

1. Dial M For Murder

Tony Wendice, former professional tennis player, is married to Margot. Margot has been having an affair with Mark Halliday, an American crime writer. As their money comes from Margot, Tony does not reveal he knows, as he would expect to lose out in a divorce.

Instead he comes up with a plan. He tricks Charles Swann, an old acquaintance, into coming round, pretending he’s interested in buying his car. There he reveals that he knows about Swann’s profession as a con-man, including a suspicious death. Tony stole Margot’s handbag with the only incriminating letter from Tony, and has been anonymously blackmailing her. He then blackmails Swann into a murder plot, including as an inducement a thousand pounds, that he’s been drawing out as part of his weekly budget.

The majority of the film takes place in Tony and Margot’s living room, and Tony lays out the details, how he and Mark are going out to an all-male party, how Charles will let himself in and make it look like a burglary. Where and when Swann should stand to attack Margot when Tony makes a phone call to draw her out. Swann makes a number of objections, all of which Tony has anticipated.

Having set up the details, the next part of the film has events play out more or less as Tony has planned ensues. Less in fact, Tony’s watch stops so he’s late in calling. He does though, and Swann is in place and attacks. But Margot has left her scissors on the desk – one of a number of details of the evening the film focusses on, some vital, some minor, some red herrings. In a panic, being strangled, she grabs the scissors, stabs Swann. He releases her and fall, the scissors killing him.

Tony thinks fast, his first instinct to cover his own tracks (which were well covered anyway in the unlikely case that Swann got caught). He successfully incriminates Margot, making it appear that Swann was blackmailing her. Will he get away with it, managing to get rid of his wife by having her hanged for murder? Mark keeps coming up with ways to get her off, his wild ideas converging on the truth. But not close enough.

A well crafted borderline claustrophobic crime thriller, mostly set and revolving around one room. And of course a telephone call.

Watch This: Fun crime drama where the tension is in the anticipation – and how plans go wrong
Don’t Watch This: Man goes to ridiculously convoluted lengths to kill his wife

2. Where Eagles Dare

The film opens with a commando team on board a winter camouflage painted aircraft, flying low over snow-covered mountains. Flashing back we learn the mission. Admiral Rolland (Michael Horden) and Colonel Turner (Patrick Wymark) have gathered a mismatched collection of German-speaking agents for an emergency mission to be led by Major Smith (Richard Burton). An American General’s plane has been shot down and the General captured; he has plans for the second front (placing the World War Two setting into winter 1943-4). They must attempt to release him before he gives away the secrets.

A few twists; captured by the Wehrmacht, the internal rivalry of various parts of Nazi Germany ensure he’s been taken to Schloss Adler (Eagle Castle) the regional headquarters of German Military Intelligence, which can only be accessed by cable car. It’s also the mountain warfare training centre, so there’s a lot of troops hanging about. Also with the team is an American, Lieutenant Schafer (Clint Eastwood) for poorly defined reasons. A suggestion that they bomb the castle is dismissed as to do that without even trying to rescue the general would annoy the Americans. Flashback over they parachute out the plane.

Immediately after they have jumped out complications are revealed. From another compartment in the plane emerges Mary Ellison (Mary Ure) later to be revealed as Major Smith’s partner in operations and also lover. While gathering together and collecting their equipment one of then is found dead, killed. They take shelter in a cabin in a high alpine pasture and Smith pretends he needs to go back for the code book* in order to brief Mary. She’s to go into town, pretend to be a newly arrived maid for the castle and make contact with Heidi, a waitress in the bar who is also an agent. Mary notes that the General was only shot down yesterday; this would have taken weeks to set up.

They head down, disguised as German troops out on an exercise and head into town where they get a drink at the bar. One of them goes out and Smith discovers him dead too. Mary arrives and is greeted by Heidi and also by a very keen officer from the castle. Troops arrive and arrest the team (but not Mary); Smith and Schafer escape but the others are taken into the castle.

To infiltrate the castle they have to ride on the roof of the cable car; then climb the icy wall to be let in by Heidi who has accompanied Mary up. There’s a lot of mysterious preparation (at one point Shafer demands to know what’s going on and Smith begins to tell him only for the sound to be drowned out and the camera cut away. Annoying!) There are twists and turns, betrayals and counter-betrayals. And on top of this some excellent stunts.

Watch This: Excellent wartime action spy thriller
Don’t Watch This: People murdering, lying, betraying their country, etc

* “Broadsword calling Danny Boy.” There’s one moment where someone breaks radio code and uses a real name that passes unnoticed; because of later revelations was this a mistake (in the film); a mistake by a character; or deliberate? Unknown.

3. Twilight Of The Warriors

In 1980s Hong Kong Chan Lok-Kwan is a refugee from the mainland, earning money in underground fights to get papers. He’s betrayed by Mr Big and flees to the Walled City of Kowloon. This is controlled by Cyclone, a legendary kung fu master who won a great battle some years ago.

The Walled City is a place of community, but also always threatened. He becomes part of four fighters who use vigilante justice. But Mr Big, and his bosses, intend to take over the Walled City.

A straightforward kung fu movie, lifted by it’s iconic setting. The 80s styles are enjoyable, if anything brighter and more enjoyable than those in films made in the period. Some good fights, and an interesting puzzlebox of one with a character whose “spirit power” protects him from injury.

Watch This: Great looking fun kung fu movie
Don’t Watch This: Moves awkwardly from historical events to grim crime to mythic fights with magic powers to homely joy

4. Gladiator (2000)

Emperor Marcus Aurelius is campaigning in Germany, wins a victory thanks to his general Maximus (Russel Crowe). He intends to disinherit his son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), return Rome to a republic, swears Maximus to this. The late arriving Commodus refuses this settlement and kills his father, claiming the throne. When Maximus refuses to offer loyalty his family is killed and he is captured and sold as a slave.

He's discovered by a gladiator trainer Proximo (Oliver Reed). Commodus is a big fan of the arena so Proximo brings his gladiators to Rome. They’re going to be thrown away in a spectacle but Maximus rallies them and they defeat their attackers. The crowd think this is great; Commodus enters the arena. Maximus decides against killing him as Maximus’s nephew – the same age as Maximus’s son – is there. He confronts Commodus with his crimes.

Already unpopular with the senators and the army, Commodus can’t be seen to go against the mob, who love Maximus. He tries to have him killed in the arena with rigged fights but that doesn’t work. In the end Commodus decides to face him himself.

The battle scenes and gladiatorial fights are first rate. The history and politics of Rome are a bit dubious – this is the second film (after The Fall Of The Roman Empire) to depict Commodus being killed in a duel, when history relates that he was strangled in the bath by a wrestler. All in all entertaining rather than enlightening, as is only to be expected.

Watch This: Superb historical adventure
Don’t Watch This: Rather silly revenge story

5. Slingshot

John (Casey Affleck), Captain Franks (Laurence Fishburne) and Nash (Tomer Kapon) are the crew of Odyssey One, a spaceship en route to Titan, the moon of Saturn. They wake every 90 days from hibernation to check the ship is working. They have an important slingshot manoeuvre around Jupiter to perform. However Nash thinks something’s wrong with the ship. Franks insists it’s fine and the mission is too important.

In his hibernation John recalls his training and selection for the crew, in particular Zoe (Emily Beecham) a scientist, who was his girlfriend. He remembers their relationship in fragments, at on point unable to recall her last name when asked.

Clearly something is wrong, though whether the ship, John, the other crew, his memory or what is unclear. A paranoid and claustrophobic film.

Watch This: Mind-bending psychological science fiction thriller
Don’t Watch This: Man goes mad on a spaceship, again

6. Godzilla (2014)

In the rather confused opening Godzilla, a giant lizard creature, wakes up in the 1950s and is attacked with nuclear weapons disguised as nuclear tests. A secret organisation Monarch is set up to look into giant monsters. In 1999 they discover a Godzilla skeleton with some giant eggpods in it, also a trail leading to the sea.

In Japan a nuclear powerplant is experiencing seismic events. Joe Brody tries to investigate; there’s a meltdown and he has to seal his wife behind a door to avoid the disaster spreading. Fifteen years later Brody is arrested trying to enter the zone; his son Ford, a military bomb disposal expert just back from deployment has to leave his wife and child in San Francisco to bail him out.

It turns out a creature (MUTO – Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) has been eating the radiation. It escapes, and Joe Bordy’s data suggests it’s been communicating. Tracking it across the Pacific, the US Navy Carrier Group is joined by Godzilla. Ford Brody is deposited on Hawaii to fly home, just in time for the airport to be attacked and Godzilla and the MUTO to fight.

The other pod was hidden in a secret vault in Nevada; when they go to check on it they discover it’s hatched and it attacks Las Vegas. All secrecy out the window they calculate the likely meeting place of all three creatures to be San Francisco and send a nuclear weapon with it. Ford Brody, back in uniform, is attached to the team with the bomb. Perhaps inevitably the bomb, with radioactive materials attracts the MUTOs, also Brody’s wife and child (and many others) have not been able to evacuate San Francisco in time for the giant monster fight/ potential nuking.

A slightly puzzling introduction to Godzilla – hinted at in the credits, the dead (fossilised?) version, the fake out of what’s in the chrysalis in the nuclear powerplant. When he finally appears he’s just swimming along peacefully with an aircraft carrier. The scientists who know what’s going on and the admiral who’s in charge are cyphers rather than characters so far as I could tell; the actual story going on is with Ford Brody and his family, in the style of classic disaster films.

Watch This: Monsters fights, cities are destroyed, a franchise reboots
Don’t Watch This: Confusing start, many coincidences, silly ending

7. Airplane II The Sequel

In the near future the first commercial flight to the moon on Mayflower One shuttle is about to start. There are concerns that it’s not ready, not safe, but it’s important to the boys on the board and the boys in Washington it goes on schedule. Elaine Dickinson (flight attendant in Airplane, now computer operator) is worried; her fiancé points out that the bad reports were made by her former boyfriend Ted Striker, who was committed to a mental hospital after breaking down in court following his disastrous test flight.

Ted learns about the flight and realises, via flashback, that it’s not his PTSD from losing his squadron in the attack on Macho Grande in the war that caused the crash. He has been committed to silence him. He breaks out, gets to the space port and buys a ticket to get on board.

Inevitably the computer goes wrong in a 2001 A Space Odessey manner, killing the flight crew and turning the ship on a course for the sun. Also on board is a passenger who bought a time bomb from the airport shop. Ted must, again, overcome his anxiety and fear of failure to land the shuttle. It’s a comedy!

Similarly zany to the first one, it can’t quite manage to equal it. For example there is one shot of bare boobs as part of the passengers panicking in Airplane; in the sequel boobs are the punchline of several jokes. As though they don’t have quite enough ideas for the rapid fire comedy, and not quite enough good ones.

Watch This: Fast paced space disaster comedy
Don’t Watch This: Very silly, not as inventive as the first one

8. The Monster (1975) aka I Don’t Want To Be Born

Lucy (Elizabeth Taylor) used to perform in a risqué night club run by Tommy, and amongst the entertainers was Hercules, a dwarf. On her last night she invites Hercules into her dressing room; after initially accepting a neck rub, he then assaults her and she screams, bringing Tommy. Tommy throws out Hercules, and they have sex. As she leaves the club Hercules curses her "You will have a baby ... a monster! An evil monster conceived inside your womb! As big as I am small and possessed by the devil himself!"

Several months alter Lucy is married to a rich Italian, Gino, and has a baby, who is very large and there is a difficult birth, the doctor commenting that he doesn’t want to be born. Handed the baby, Lucy is scratched by him; taking him home the baby bites Mrs Hyde their housekeeper. Rude about the baby, she later discovers a dead mouse in her tea.

Lucy’s friend Mandy comes over and Lucy confides her concerns; then there are crashes upstairs. The baby is fine, in his cot, but the nursery has been wrecked. Gino’s sister, a nun, comes to visit and her nun-sense detects something is wrong. She and Gino pray and the baby starts screaming. They get the doctor to preform some tests.

Events escalate though most of the people are more worried about Lucy, thinking she has fragile mental health. Of course they do, the medical world doesn’t have a test to find out if a baby is evil. What if a baby was a monster is the question this film asks, and if it gets a bit silly and melodramatic at times, there’s some real menace in the juxtaposition of a fairly regular looking baby and the mayhem that results.

Watch This: Liz Taylor loses her mind while a cursed baby commits murder
Don’t Watch This: Liz Taylor loses her mind while a cursed baby commits murder

9. Thief (1971)

Neil Wilkerson is on probation for burglary in Los Angeles. He wants to go straight and get custody of his son, who is in a care home as his ex-wife is an alcoholic. He’s dating Jean, an interior designer. Unfortunately he has gambling debts, several thousand dollars worth. His lawyer encourages him to go and pay them off.

So he has to go out and steal some jewellery, initially in broad daylight as he claims it’s safer, everyone is out at work and no one is suspicious of someone just walking about (he brazens his way past a woman who catches him coming out the backyard by claiming to be in real estate, and giving a plausibly wrong address). But he needs more, and his fence suggests a party some wealthy people are having. His exploits there are fun.

The crimes are well done, about audacity as much as skill. And this fits fairly neatly with Wilkerson’s problem, his compulsive gambling. He gets enough money to keep the casino off his back, then loses most of it. And so has to take greater and greater risks, which threaten his relationship with Jean, his friendship with his lawyer, and even his freedom. The ending comes a bit suddenly.

Watch This: Solid crime film with some good thievery
Don’t Watch This: Guy fails at everything except stealing

10. Storm Over The Nile

Harry Faversham is brought up by his father the general; he and his mates all gather and retell their stories of the Crimean War and how today’s army is soft. Also about cowards who shot themselves. Harry joins the North Surrey Regiment as a second lieutenant and does fine, making three friends; Burroughs, whose father was another general and whose sister Mary he gets engaged to; Durrance, his romantic rival; and Willoughby an affable fool. Then, while planning to get married, there’s war in the Sudan.

Faversham decides to resign his commission and get married rather than go to war. His three friends and the fiancée take this badly, each sending him a white feather saying he’s a coward. Faversham consults with the least military of his father’s friends, a former army doctor, who tells him he’s confident Faversham won’t kill himself. He then makes arrangements for Faversham to travel to Sudan and regain his honour or die trying.

In the Sudan he blacks up and has a brand put on his forehead, one that identifies him as part of a tribe that had their tongues cut out for betraying the Mahdi. Disguised as a “native” and made free from having to talk he follows the regiment as it enters the Sudan. His friends are put in charge of a detachment that’s sent out as a diversion. Faversham tries and fails to warn them of a night attack, and Burroughs and Willoughby are captured. Durrance is trapped without his helmet; unable to move while hiding he’s blinded by the sun. Faversham silently guides him back to British lines, then escapes.

Back in England Mary cares for Durrance, the two falling back in love. However when he pulls out her letter to him a white feather falls out, to the surprise of everyone around the table (Mary, the doctor, General Burroughs) who realise it must have been put there by Faversham.

It’s The Four Feathers again. In fact very much again as it reuses both script and some of the location and battle footage of the 1939 version. Here Faversham is direct in his choice not to go to war, after the regiment is ordered abroad. In any case probably one for completists. There doesn’t seem to be an actual storm in the film.

Watch This: Historical action film, briefly touching on honour, courage and masculinity
Don’t Watch This: Inessential, there are better versions, also quite racist