MAKSQUIBS CINEMATHEQUE: WORLD FOR RANSOM (1954)

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It's a bit like seeing Rembrandts & Titians in a book reproduction, or from posters with iffy color values, no texture or weight to the surface and the wrong dimensions . . . all while snacking on chips & soda. (Oops! You get that at your local cinema,too.)
The ease of instant movie gratification risks turning an art form (well, sometimes) into little more than low-grade eye-candy & mindfodder. So, maybe it's worthwhile to write a bit down on what we're all viewing, just to keep fully engaged.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2015

WORLD FOR RANSOM (1954)

Robert Aldrich was shifting from tv to film production on this quickie feature with Dan Duryea as star, something of an extension of their CHINA SMITH series. Lousy stuff, it’s a poorly plotted espionage/kidnap story, supposedly set in Singapore, with atomic scientist Arthur Shields nabbed on his way to a conference and held for ransom by Gene Lockhart. The big gimmick has Lockhart (in Sydney Greenstreet mode) hoping to start a bidding war between nuclear powers for his release and Duryea racing to keep ahead of all parties. Very weak tea, yet just watchable thanks to a nifty action climax that shows Aldrich’s already considerable technical chops in a well managed raid sequence, and also from a fun cast of middle-aged ex-contract players finally able to play inter-league catch. From Warners: Gene Lockhart & Patrick Knowles; from 20th/Fox: Key Luke; from M-G-M: Douglass Dumbrille & Reginald Denny*; and Nigel Bruce from Universal. Too bad the pic isn’t up to snuff.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Of course, the Holy of Holies would be if Reginald Denny, Reginald Gardiner & Reginald Owen all showed up in a film together. Preferably under the combined direction of Henry King, King Vidor & Charles Vidor.

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A last thought before we go.

Well, enough from me. But before we sign off, here's a great quote from Emile Zola's L'OEUVRE (THE MASTERPIECE), which is about painting rather than the yet to be invented medium of film, but which points a fine critical eye toward the whole idea of art criticism. It's a good, if chilly, thought to keep in mind, especially when you surf the net.

"Has it ever struck you that posterity may not be the fair, impartial judge we like to think it is?

"Suppose the artist's paradise turned out to be as nonexistent as the Catholics, and future generations prove just as misguided as the present one and persisted in liking pretty pretty dabbling better than honest to goodness painting. There are some accepted masterpieces for which I myself wouldn't give a twopenny damn.

"Classical training has given us a wrong view of everything and forces us to acclaim as geniuses a lot of fellows who are no more than well-balanced, facile painters, while what we might really prefer is the work of more emancipated but less even artists known only to an initiated few. Immortality at present depends entirely on the average, middle-class mind and is reserved only for the names that have been most forcibly impressed upon us while we were still unable to defend ourselves...

"Perhaps that's the sort of thing that's best left unsaid. It's certainly the sort of thing that gives me the shudders!"- Emile Zola

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Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

WORLD FOR RANSOM (1954)

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A last thought before we go.

DROP ME A LINE