MAKSQUIBS CINEMATHEQUE: THE HAUNTING (1963)

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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.)
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

THE HAUNTING (1963)

Robert Wise earned his directing stripes making classy low-budget shockers in the Val Lewton unit at RKO, & he returned to the genre (and its sci-fi offshoot) thru-out his career. This old dark house story is considered one of his best, but I find his work here too strenuous and visually knowing to allow the scare effects to migrate under your skin. The plot 101 set-up brings four "investigators" to a creepy old gothic monstrosity to await . . . the horror, the horror, or whatever. But the cast is too unbalanced to keep the game from turning into a blowout as the men (Russ Tamblyn & Richard Johnson) haven’t a chance against the glorious scenery chewing turns by a virginal Julie Harris (bringing along a full quota of Tennessee Williams/Wm Inge subtext) and a slim-hipped Claire Bloom all but pawing her.

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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!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

THE HAUNTING (1963)

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A last thought before we go.

DROP ME A LINE