THE GOOD GERMAN (2007)

In contrast to his recent skirmishes with avant garde filmmaking (FULL FRONTAL, BUBBLE), Steven Soderbergh goes boldly devant here, with results that are equally desultory. The idea was to shoot a Berlin-based/post-WWII murder mystery in period style (think A FOREIGN AFFAIR or THE THIRD MAN), but Soderbergh gets the look all wrong (deliberately?) with a contrasty, over-exposed glare that’s half GERMANY YEAR ZERO & half MILDRED PIERCE. In any event, the Berlin setting is only a cover for yet one more trip to Raymond Chandler-Land, with George Clooney going all Phillip Marlowe on us. (He gets beaten to a pulp for each clue just like Dick Powell.) Meanwhile Clooney & the whole cast struggle to find a consistent acting style (larger-than-life, yet realistic) that matches Soderbergh’s aims. (Only Beau Bridges handles the vibe naturally.) Then, right at the end, Soderbergh has the chutzpah to try to recreate the final scene from CASABLANCA! Clooney & the great Cate Blanchett have never looked so dim-witted & foolish. Warner Bros. must have wanted OCEANS 13 awful, awful, awful bad to ‘green light’ this one.*

*On the other hand, the numbskulls who put out the DVD slap on the ‘altered format’ warning for mastering the frame in the old Academy Ratio of 1:33-to-1 which Soderbergh fought to use.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: Obviously, THE THIRD MAN/'49, but adventurous types should also have a look at Lars von Trier's EUROPA/'91.

THE DAY THE SUN TURNED COLD/TIAN GUO NI ZO (1994)

Hong Kong based writer/director Ho Yim made this consistently involving murder story in the remote Northern regions of the PRC. It’s a tale of deferred justice that begins when a 24 year old man reports his long held suspicions about his mother to the police ten years after his father unexpectedly died. The film jumps back and forth between the current investigation and the events of a decade ago, and though the crime is straightforward and easy to solve (love triangle, ‘nuff said), the lines of familial duty and honorable intentions combine with the unusual tundra-like environment to easily hold our attention. The last scenes between mother & son are rarely caught and this simple film inhabits a larger emotional scale than is at first apparent. A classic example of a movie that’s more than the sum of its parts.

THE BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI (1954)

One of the few Korean War pics, this adaptation of James Michener’s bestseller is heavy with prestige it can’t live up to. The biggest problem is Valentine Davies’ script which hits all the philosophical points on Men & War, Families & War, Comradeship & War, Leadership & War with an earnest voice that’s too ‘on point’ to convince as dialogue. Plus, the staggeringly handsome footage at sea & combat flying scenes only make the mock-up studio stuff & backscreen projection stick out all the more. (Odd coming from Paramount where Farciot Edouart ran Hollywood’s best F/X department.) As the conflicted pilot, William Holden shows sorrowful panic while retaining his manly mien in his unique manner, but everyone else (Fredric March, Grace Kelly and an obnoxious Mickey Rooney) only gets a single tune to hum. Right at the end, the big mission shows helmer Mark Robson at his best, with some good tough scenes for a couple of reels, but this just spotlights all that’s been been missing in the previous hour & a half.

THE BIG STEAL (1949)

Don Siegel, of all people, helmed this fast & funny romantic comedy/picaresque caper which stars Robert Mitchum & Jane Greer, of all people. Bob’s down in Mexico, on the run from William Bendix who’s trying to recover $300,000 in army payroll money. But Mitchum doesn’t have it, he’s chasing Greer’s slick fiancé to recover the loot & his reputation. Watching these mad Gringos is Ramon Novarro, the great silent film star, delightful in his first Hollywood pic since the mid-‘30s. He’s the town’s police chief who knows what going on, but lets matters run their course. The Mexican background (people & places) are used to wonderful advantage and at a brisk 71 minutes, no one has to start acting stupid to keep the plot running. Between Siegel, Mitchum, Bendix & Greer, there’s enough noir trimmings to season the stew and this modest film is a twisty delight. Enjoy!

LOST HORIZON (1937)

Well-remembered adaptation of James Hilton’s pacifist Utopian fantasy adventure gets off to a fine start under Frank Capra’s muscular helming. Ronald Colman, with his gentlemanly heroics & decency, rescues a group of Americans & Brits as riots & war break out in China, then finds himself shanghaied on his way to Shanghai. The irony! But once they stumble into Shangra-La, the film goes belly up. The city-state is an odd benign dictatorial commune with European masters and Asian worker-bees, and its isolation from world issues (in 1937 mind you) feels disingenuous, at best. Capra, whose ability to control an audience was second to none, seems unable to activate the philosophical discussions as drama so the deliberate pacing feels deadly. Perhaps if the film elements were in better shape or if the design of Shangra-La didn’t call to mind a mishmash of the Barcelona World Exhibition, M-G-M’s Thalberg Building, the backyard of Buster Keaton’s Hollywood mansion & the sets for the movie SHE.
READ ALL ABOUT IT: Read Frank Capra's version of how he saved this film at the last minute by trashing the first two reels in his autobio THE NAME ABOVE THE TITLE and then watch Joseph McBride separate fact from fiction (and self-aggrandizement) in his massive & merciless Capra bio THE CATASTROPHE OF SUCCESS.

WHEN WILLIE COMES MARCHING HOME (1950)

When John Ford walked away from PINKY/’49 (Elia Kazan took over), he owed Fox a quick pic and got assigned this largely uncongenial bit of whimsy. It’s a bland variation on Preston Sturges’s great WWII farce HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO, this time with Dan Dailey as a weapons instructor who can’t get into the war. (Shades of Ford’s unhappy version of MISTER ROBERTS/’55.) When Dailey finally gets his big chance, his largely accidental, whirlwind behind-the-lines adventures happen so fast, no one believes his heroic tale. It’s always enlightening to see directors with strong profiles working out of their element, you can see the professional instincts laid bare, but WILLIE is pretty flaccid stuff. Not painful, except for some Fordian alcohol gags, and nicely handled by most of the cast (William Demarest plays Pop for some of that old Sturges spirit), but it doesn't add up to much. The deleted scenes on the current DVD edition show that this film, like Ford’s WHAT PRICE GLORY/’52 misfire, was designed as a mini-musical, but left most of its musical numbers on the cutting-room floor.

UP THE RIVER (1930)

A treat from the early Talkie days, this John Ford prison drama travesty manages to have its cake & eat it too. Spencer Tracy (totally assured in his debut) and the intensely likable Warren Hymer (in comic slo-think mode) play recidivist cons who break out just to help their high-class pal Humphrey Bogart stay out for good. The story’s one big whopper, but it's impossible not to relax with its goof-ball humor and nicely timed gags featuring do-gooder society ladies mixing with the boys, inter-prison baseball tournaments and a women’s prison right over the fence. It all plays like a happy improvisation, and probably was. Bogie’s still the callow, handsome, lisp-free youth here, so don’t be surprised. Save your shock for the amazing range of racial attitudes on display. Everything from subservient slavey to sassy wiseass to casual integrated acceptance right up thru a blackface stage act. You’ll be scratching your head more than once. But the film is an inexplicably successful bit of tomfoolery

ILLEGAL (1955)

Modest Edward G. Robinson vehicle, a remake of THE MOUTHPIECE/’32, about a tough D.A. who switches sides after convicting an innocent man on a murder rap. (StarTrekaphobes can enjoy watching DeForest Kelly walk to the electric chair.) He winds up as a big-time lawyer for the mob, but has to go straight when his favorite girl gets charged with Murder-One for shooting her husband in self-defence. If only Lewis Allen had shown a bit of swagger & style as megger since the script is reasonably shipshape and the cast is willing (Nina Foch, Hugh Marlowe, Ellen Corby & Jayne Mansfield in her debut). But everything here, even the great Eddie G., pales next to the 1932 original. Unavailable in any video format, THE MOUTHPIECE is only one of a dozen pre-Code titles with Warren William that are begging for release. Any takers?

UNCONQUERED (1947)

Cecil B. De Mille’s directing skills grew increasingly stiff after the early ‘20s, and adding Technicolor in the ‘40s just made everything look more arthritic. He retained, as ever, his hold over narrative structure (his saving grace), but the combination of hokey stories, acting, motivation, film technique, studio sets & out-of-touch attitudes skirted with outright derision from all but the naifest of audiences. This tall, tall pre-Revolutionary tale (‘injun’ nations join in war against the white man) is typically ridiculous stuff, yet about halfway thru you may find yourself succumbing to the consistency of its puddingheaded vision. Only Gary Cooper is near his best (though Boris Karloff is weirdly riveting as Top Chief) while you’d never guess that Paulette Goddard would ace the role of a lifetime in Alex Korda’s masterpiece, AN IDEAL HUSBAND/’48, the year after this remarkably poor showing. Weak as it is, it’s probably De Mille’s best work from the decade.