MAKSQUIBS CINEMATHEQUE: THE RESTLESS YEARS (1958)

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RECOMMENDED - Meaning Strongly Recommended. A film that's good enough or historically important enough to demand viewing. WARNING: A few real stinkers are important enough to rate this label. And, on the other hand, lots of pretty good or pretty valuable films, don't quite measure up to our RECOMMENDED level. (See also UNIQUE, below.)

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(Hint: most of the posters will enlarge if you click on them.)

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT - sort of like those EAT THIS, NOT THAT diet books only with film instead of food as the topic. Sometimes, the substitute pick isn't the obvious 'better' choice, but one of those 'flawed-but-interesting' films that often get left behind.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID - some easy to miss element worth noting.

SILENT FILM - hey, figure it out (LOL)

. . . and DOUBLE-BILL - a suggested second feature.

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Like just about everyone with an interest in the movies, I'm watching more films on DVD and going out to movie houses a lot less. Convenience trumps the better experience.
Of course, you lose audience interaction and the poor film now has to compete with all the comforts of home.
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.

DVDs: the latest opiate of the people meets the internet, where everyone's a critic.
God help us.

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Monday, January 28, 2019

THE RESTLESS YEARS (1958)

Sandra Dee & John Saxon, fresh off secondary leads against Rex Harrison & Kay Kendall in THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE, jump from High British Society to High School Peyton Place in this typical ‘50 tale of angst-ridden, hormone-addled teens. Misfits in a conformist MidWest town (where everyone is secretly neurasthenic), Dee is snubbed as illegitimate by her peers & held on an extra-tight leash by over-protective/hysterical mom Teresa Wright; and Saxon sticks out as the new kid in town with mismatched parents James Whitmore & Margaret Lindsey (bottled beer & demitasse). Looking like it was made for a price by German director Helmut Kautner*, the b&w WideScreen image is a missed opportunity for KodaChrome hues, and Edward Anhalt’s script skips the implied third act (no legal showdown in court?; no comeuppance for those spoiled classmates?), while still managing to goose things up with alcoholism, school play backstabbings, false friends and on-the-hour mental collapses. Get thru some heavy lifting in the opening and it’s a pretty tasty show even without a single unwanted pregnancy in the whole student body. Plus, dialogue that seriously perks up whenever they rehearse the school play: Thornton Wilder’s OUR TOWN, natch.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *After his success with German emigré Douglas Sirk, producer Ross Hunter must have hoped lightning would strike twice with German director Helmut Käutner.

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Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

Monday, January 28, 2019

THE RESTLESS YEARS (1958)

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