The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

“His brain has not only been washed, as they say... It has been dry cleaned.” 

            Politics and I are not friends. Whenever it is an election year I die because I hate hearing about who promises what and all the lying bull that comes out their mouths. Since I do not pay attention to politics I am not a registered voter… I hear it all the time that it is my right as an American citizen to vote and how I should feel ashamed that I do not but I am not ashamed so if you are upset reading this fume over it on your side of the computer and leave the comments to yourself not at the bottom.

            The above being said hopefully it is obvious that political thrillers are not a film genre I am fond of. Ever since I started watching classic films my grandparents have been telling me that I need to see the original Manchurian Candidate. I figured they were just telling me this because both of them really like this film so I dragged my heels to see it. I finally got around to seeing The Manchurian Candidate and I really liked it. The plot, to me, was not so much political it was definitely a thriller and thrillers are one of my favorite genres.

            Major Ben Marco (Frank Sinatra) served in a squadron with Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) during the Korean War. Shaw was given the Medal of Honor for rescuing his men from enemy lines. Now home Marco has a recurring nightmare where he, Shaw and their squadron have been captured by the Koreans and are put on display in front of other communists. In the dream they are all being brain washed beyond brain washed. Raymond has been given the order to shoot one of his men and does so without thinking twice and the man he shoots does not move nor is he afraid. He is ordered to kill another man by chocking him and the man who is about to be killed is ordered to relax. Ben works in Washington as an intelligence officer for the US Army. He lets his superiors know about his dream. Ben now believes that his dream is not a dream at all but a memory. 

            Raymond returns home to a hero’s welcome. He did not want to come to anything like this. As soon as he sees his mother Eleanor (Angela Lansbury) and her husband John Iselin he knows they are the ones to throw the fanfare. Raymond hates his mother and his step-father more than any two people on earth. John is an ineffectual politician. Eleanor is the one who puts all the power behind John and tells him what to do and what to say. She is very anti-communist and does everything in her power to make sure that anyone who is suspected of being a communist is punished. To make his mother angry and to go his own way Raymond takes a job for a newspaper in New York City who constantly slams John.

            On the day Raymond arrives in New York he receives a letter from one of the men in his squadron. The letter is about the dream he keeps having where they are sitting in a room with a Korean man and they are surrounded by communists. Before Raymond can react to the letter his phone rings. On the other man is the Korean man from the dreams calling to activate him as a communist killer. He tells Raymond to play a game of solitaire. When Raymond sees the Queen of Diamonds it becomes his activation for the service of the communists.

            Meanwhile, Ben has been given leave. He cannot concentrate which is affecting his work. Ben was moved over to military publicist and that did not work out too well. He was to have been advising on a hearing where John Iselin was put on the stand. John kept giving different number for how many communists may have been placed high in the American government. Ben decides to see Raymond so they can figure out what is going on between them.

            Things slowly but excellently begin to unravel. We see that the one person being driven mad is not Ben but Raymond by people he thought he knew.

            The cast besides Janet Leigh was phenomenal. Frank Sinatra was great the man had so much talent. Laurence Harvey not enough words can be said about how amazing he was. You can see how tormented the character was Harvey made him so believable. The film truly belongs to Angel Lansbury. She played a truly wicked character and blew it out of the water. I kept saying “oh my god how am I ever going to watch Beauty and the Beast again she was so sweet as Mrs. Pots” haha. Amazing character played by an amazing actress. Because of Lansbury Eleanor Iselin is one of my favorite film characters and I do not care that she is bad. Janet Leigh was a waste of film. I am so made she got top billing over Angela Lansbury. Leigh was barely in the film and worst of all she was what Hitchcock called a MacGuffin. Her character had nothing to do with the story she was just a love interest for Ben.

            The Manchurian Candidate is such a great film. The twists and turns do not end until the film ends. I love films that make say “wait what on earth just happened?!” and I was saying that most of the time. I have to say I was shocked some things happened in this film because I was totally not expecting them to happen. It is always nice to still be able to feel a little shocked and awed with a film. I liked seeing a Cold War film plot that took place in the actual time period. Today we do not have fears that the communists are going to take over or they are going to brainwash people but back in the sixties that was a real and frightening threat. My grandparents were young in the sixties they said this film freaked them out when they first saw it. The Manchurian Candidate is a political thriller I was happy to have watched because it was suspenseful and I could not guess what was going to happen next.

 

The Three Musketeers (1948)

“To die among friends. Can a man ask more? Can the world offer less? Who wants to live 'till the last bottle is empty? It's all-for one, d'Artagnan, and one for all.” 

            The Three Musketeers has gone through many incarnations over the years. I remember the first Three Musketeers movie I watched when I was little was the one with Chris O’Donnell. So far until I viewed the 1948 version with Gene Kelly that was the only version I had seen. While I have not seen the others I am going to go ahead and say this is the best version just because it was made by MGM with a cast that includes Gene Kelly, Lana Turner, Van Heflin,  Vincent Price, Angela Lansbury, and Frank Morgan.

            D’Artagnan (Kelly) sets out from a small provincial town in France to the capital. He has a letter in his hand to give to the head of the king’s musketeers to join them. D’Artagnan stops in a town where he is met by a royal guard. The guard does not tolerate his humor and a lady in the carriage signals for her guards to knock him out.

            The musketeers allow D’Artagnan to join them but he still needs to train and practice in order to become a full member. He clumsily bumps into two different musketeers and each one challenges him to a fight to the death. D’Artagnan meets with Athos (or so I think it is) to fight and is met by Porthos and Aramis (or so I think). Before the men can start fighting they are met by governor’s Richelieu’s (Price) soldier lead by Rochefort. D’Artagnan helps in the fighting do several acrobatic moves and outsmarting the other soldiers. He basically defeats them all and sends Rochefort running all by himself.  

            D’Artagnan is a made a full musketeer and given his own apartment. His landlord asks him if he could watch his daughter Constance (June Allyson) who is a lady for the queen. The father thinks Constance is in trouble and being followed by Richelieu’s men. D’Artagnan saves Constance from the hit men and falls madly in love with her.

            Queen Anne (Lansbury) is seeing the Duke of Buckingham. She gives him two diamond studs as a gift. Richelieu and Lady DeWinter (Turner) want those studs and plan on getting Anne into trouble with her husband Louis XIII (Morgan). Constance overhears what is their plan is and tells the musketeers. D’Artagnan manages to get the jewels back in time before the queen is found out.

            There is much more to the adventure but it would take too long and the plot to me got a little complicated to the point where I kind of stopped paying attention. Also I would not want to give much of the action away as well the parts I did pay attention to were very good.

            The cast is excellent. Gene Kelly was the perfect choice for D’Artagnan because he was so athletic and a complete charmer. I did not explain too much about the character of Lady DeWinter, she was evil and Lana Turner did a fabulous job. She had the perfect sinister look for the wicked lady. Tuner looked gorgeous every one of her costumes were beautiful shades of green. Turner in Technicolor was gorgeous her eyes were such a gorgeous blue. Angela Lansbury in her small parts was great but then again when is nothing but fabulous. Vincent Price was so evil and so wonderful. He had the perfect voice for a bad guy. Van Heflin was alright, his dramatic scenes especially the one at the end was very good. June Allyson I have never seen in a film before this. I liked her she was pretty and she was a good actress. Frank Morgan as King Louis XIII was only in the film for glimpses really. He was funny I always enjoy seeing him in a film no matter how long he is in it.

            In Singin in the Rain the clip of Don and Lina’s movie that is shown at the premier in the beginning is a scene of Don sword fighting with the bad guys to protect Lina. The scene that was shown was actually taken from The Three Musketeers. MGM recycled the scene when D’Artagnan has gone to seen Lady DeWinter about Constance whereabouts and her guards attack him at her command. I read about this fact and knew it but as I was watching I completely forgot until the scene came up. It was pretty exciting to see the scene from Singin in the Rain in the real film it comes from.

            The 1948 version of The Three Musketeers is very entertaining. Although I found some of the scenes slow and some of the plot to be confusing I enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed Lana Turner’s scenes. There is no doubt that this The Three Musketeers is the ultimate version to see.

 

The Court Jester (1956)

“I've got it! I've got it! The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!”

            The Court Jester is one of those classic comedy films that not many people may have heard of. I remember seeing this film when I was younger and I remember laughing the whole time at how silly it was. Watching now a few years later I was still laughing the whole time at how silly it was. The film is a wonderful spoof of the swashbuckling films of early cinema.

            Hawkins (Danny Kaye) is a former circus performer who has joined a rebel group of the Black Fox. England is under tyrannical rule after the royal family has been disposed by the evil King Roderick. Fortunately a baby who is the heir to throne has survived and the Black Fox and his team plane to return the baby to the throne. Hawkins desperately wants in on the action but the Black Fox will not let him. But his chance finally comes when the “captain” Maid Jean (Glynis Johns) comes back to camp with news of how they can infiltrate the castle. The Black Fox is wanted so cannot go with Jean. Hawkins is finally given his chance to go on a mission.

            Jean and Hawkins disguise themselves as a young deaf woman and her old grandfather. They hide the baby in a barrel on a cart. They narrowly (and hilariously) slip by the guards who are on the lookout for the Black Fox and his men. Hawkins, Jean, and the baby stop for a night at an inn. There they meet a court jester named Giacomo who is on his way to the palace. This is the perfect opportunity to get into the castle and the private quarters of the king. Jean knocks out the jester and Hawkins takes his clothes and wagon.

            Hawkins gets to the castle the next day all song and smiles. He sings a song and includes a whistle which is the signal of the Black Fox to find one of the bands followers who has been working in the castle. Hawkins thinks that the evil Sir Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone) is the one who has been placed in the castle from the band but it turns out the real man is only a stable hand and whenever he tries to subtly tell Hawkins, Hawkins pushes him away. The jester that Jean knocked was just an entertaining jester but also an assassin who was to kill three men that opposed the king. Hawkins does not know this but in true comedic style signals get crossed and they agree to things that they should not have.

            Meanwhile Princess Gwendolyn (Angela Lansbury) wants to kill herself rather than marry Sir Griswold, she wants to marry for love but the king wants her to marry her for an alliance. Her servant and sorceress Griselda tells her that her true love will arrive shortly and then Hawkins as the jester shows up. Griselda puts a spell on Hawkins that makes him a strong dashing romantic man ready to fight for love and honor. With the snap Hawkins can come in and out of his bravery.

            Jean sneaks into the castle but she is caught and the king thinks she is pretty so he has her put into a pretty dress and jewels to be his escort for dinner that night. Jean’s capture works perfectly to balance out Hawkins’ craziness with trying to be a jester and being put under Griselda’s spell for Gwendolyn.

            The king and Ravenhurst believe they see that the jester is in love with Gwendolyn. This is not good news to them so they have Hawkins as Giacomo quickly become a knight so he can joust with Griswold and be killed. Somehow Hawkins wins the joust which does not sit well with the king and Ravenhurst.

            Hawkins, Jean, and the Black Hawk save England and restore the baby king to the throne.

            The entire cast was perfect. Danny Kaye was one hell of a talented man. His energy seems boundless as he clumsily yet gracefully stumbles scene to scene. The scenes where he goes from being Hawkins the timid and cowardly to the hypnotized Giacomo he was truly incredibly graceful and hysterical. One of the best scenes of the film is when Hawkins is being knighted. The ceremony is going very slow so the king has the ceremony sped up and poor Hawkins has no idea what is going on! I am sure sometime in your childhood you have seen Mary Poppins with Glynis Johns as suffragist mother. Johns is great in this film I love the fearlessness and feistiness of her character. Her best scene was when she was trying to get close to the king to steal a key from his chain but she did not want to lead him on romantically. When the king was trying to get close to her romantically she said that she has a skin disease that was carried down in her family and this completely grosses him out and she just keeps going for him. I loved how she played this scene it was just really funny. Angela Lansbury looked beautiful in her costumes. Her character really did not have too much to do except to just show up, look pretty, and create some problems. Basil Rathbone pretty much played the same character he played in The Adventures of Robin Hood eighteen years before. Ravenhurst was a bad guy looking to get ahead and get whatever he wanted. Rathbone was such a good actor that it does not matter to me if he is playing a bad guy or a good guy he was always great.

            Edith Head along with Yvonne Wood created the costumes. Even with period gowns Head’s designs are so distinct that if you have seen her gowns and outfits before in other films you automatically know that they are her dresses. The dresses Angela Lansbury wears were beautiful. Every color dress she wore matched her skin and her hair and made the color of her eyes stand out.

            The Court Jester from beginning to end is one of the most entertaining comedies ever made. There is not a dull moment in the entire film it perfectly holds your interest. The comedy does not let up for a second. The Court Jester deserves so much more recognition

The Hoodlum Saint (1946)

No film ever suffers from having William Powell in the lead. He was a great actor he could play comedy and drama to perfection. Time and again I go on about how classy and sophisticated he was which always added that little more to his characters and the films. Powell gives a great performance, as always, in The Hoodlum Saint but he feels miscast playing the love interest to the much younger Esther Williams and Angela Lansbury.

            Terry O’Neill (Powell) has just returned from serving in World War I to find that he no longer has a job at his old newspaper where he was a reporter. He has nowhere to go and no food or clothes. One day Terry decides to crash a wedding of rich society people to try to get a job with any of them. There he meets the very pretty Kay Lorrison (Esther Williams). There is an instant attraction and after that they start seeing each other when he gets a job with her uncle’s newspaper.

            After a few months on the job Terry leaves the paper to work for a man in the stock market. Kay and her uncle have no idea why he wants to work for the man since he had been going after the stock broker incessantly in the paper. Terry wants to make money he does not want to go back to not having money again. He goes to New York City and a few of his old friends tag along.

            Terry becomes very successful and makes a lot of money and meets new people. Over the course of a few years he and Kay meet. Kay could not wait for him anymore so she married. Terry sees a singer named Dusty (Angela Lansbury) at a nightclub he frequents but he does not love her the way he loves Kay. One meeting years later Kay tells Terry that her husband died. They both want to be together again and they try to make it work. She sees that his life is all about making money he is not happy unless he has money.

            The Stock Market Crash of 1929 happens and Terry is left with nothing. With Terry’s wealth gone Kay goes back to him.

            In the middle of all this and the reason why the film is called The Hoodlum Saint is because one of Terry’s friends keeps landing in jail. To keep him from returning to jail Terry has the story told to him about St. Dismas the good thief who was crucified next to Christ. The friend gets out of jail and the plan works the friend becomes good. With Terry’s help the friend sets up a fund in the saint’s name to help others who have no place to go. Terry was never really a believer in the fund even though he wrote about it and put some money towards it until the end he needs help himself.

            William Powell was just fabulous even though the part should have gone to someone younger… well I should not say younger I should MGM should have casted an older actress as Kay instead of Esther Williams. Williams wrote in her autobiography how even Powell thought it was ridiculous that he was cast to play a younger man with a much younger leading lady. Powell and Williams did not look bad together they were excellent but the age difference is noticeable. Powell was fifty-four and Williams was twenty-five. Powell was older than most of his leading ladies by quite a few years (thirteen between he and Myrna Loy) but that difference is nuts. Esther Williams is quite good as Kay. MGM was still testing how far they could go with her since she was really a swimmer. There was one line that was good Powell asks her “Do you want to go for a swim?” and she tells him that he is the guide and he takes her to a pool hall. I thought Williams was adorable and not a bad actress. Angela Lansbury played the sinister Dusty with ulterior motives. From the moment she first comes on screen you know she is no good. I liked her performance the best because I am used to seeing her as nice characters or hearing her as Mrs. Potts so when I see as a bad girl I like her. She did not have the look which makes her all the better at playing bad. Lansbury hid her accent very well, a big difference from her cockney accent in Gaslight.  

            The Hoodlum Saint had potential to be better. It could have gone that William Powell was cast in the role and an older actress could have played Kay or Esther Williams stayed and another actor could have played Terry. I got a little bored with the story after a while but for the most part The Hoodlum Saint is not a bad film. As I said at the beginning no film starring William Powell ever truly suffers. 

Gaslight (1944)

“I am mad. I'm always losing things and hiding things and I can never find them, I don't know where I've put them.”

            Ingrid Bergman was the first classic film actress I admired. Before I found out how to download movies and found them used on Amazon I would spend a lot of money buying the DVDs. During that time I made some lousy purchases but one of the best films I got during that time was Gaslight. I can remember buying it just because Ingrid Bergman was on the cover. I remember buying the DVD like it was yesterday I bought it along with another Bergman film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. The first time I saw Gaslight I was floored by how amazing Bergman was and how beautifully it was filmed.

            Paula Alquist (Bergman) was a young girl when her opera star aunt Alice was murdered in their home. The murder was never solved there seemed to be no motive. She was sent away to Italy where she studied music. While there she meets and falls in love with an older man named Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). He convinces Paula to live in her old home in London.

            For a while they live happily in their home facing a square. Things begin to change one day when Paula finds a note from a man named Sergis Bower hidden among her aunt’s sheet music. After that she begins to hear footsteps in the attic and the gaslight dims down then burns brightly again. Gregory convinces her that she is losing her mind and losing things around the house and that she is seeing and hearing things.

            One man who sees something is not right is police detective Brian Cameron (Joseph Cotton). He is curious why after so many years Paula has come back. When he first meets Gregory he senses the man is no good. No matter how hard he tries he cannot get into the house to speak to Paula.

            By the time Brian is able to get into Paula’s house to help her she has been driven towards real insanity. Gregory wants something in the house that once belonged to Alice and the only way he could get what he wanted was to drive Paula away to an asylum.

            I have to say even though the story of a man driving a woman to insanity or to a breaking point had been done before and has been since 1944- Rebecca, Suspicion, Sorry Wrong Number, Laura- but what makes Gaslight so menacing comes down to the direction and lighting and acting by Charles Boyer. It is a gothic story filmed in the noir style; they are two of the most interesting and psychologically thrilling genres mixed together.

            While reading reviews of the film on IMDB one person excellently wrote: “If you're looking for everything you've ever wanted to know about horror, mystery, depression, and suspense, go take a peek into Ingrid Bergman's eyes.” The reviewer summed up Ingrid Bergman perfectly in the film. You can see Paula’s fear, sadness, and confusion in her eyes. There are so many shots of just her eyes and they say so much. Bergman is amazing this is definitely one of her best films she ever made. This film attests to her incredible acting talent. Bergman was one of those great actresses that no matter what type of character she played you believed she was the character you were not watching an actress you were watching the character. You believe she is a woman who wants love, the love she thought she found is only trying to drive her mad and you can see her questioning her identity and struggling to find herself again.  I will admit there are quite a few scenes that Bergman goes a little too dramatic but those are balanced out with her other scenes especially the one at the end (you will know what I am talking about if you have ever seen it or when you see it).

            Charles Boyer as Gregory Anton creates the most tension. He has the look of a person who is only out for what they want and does not care who they hurt or how to get it. You really just want to punch him the face. He was perfect for the part I cannot imagine anyone else in the role.

            Joseph Cotten was wonderful as the good guy. He was the perfect balance to Boyer’s evilness. You want Paula to trust Brian and go with him when he eventually gets into the house. Cotten was such a great actor though he had that silent greatness he never commanded a scene either playing a bad guy or a good guy he was just there… in a good way. I look forward to seeing a film where Cotten is one of the stars.

            This was Angela Landsbury’s first film. She was eighteen years old at the time. She plays the tart house maid who aids in helping Paula lose her mind. All I ever think of her as is the sweet old lady from Murder She Wrote which makes her role in this film even better.

            George Cukor is known mostly for his adorable women’s comedies and dramas. To me this film is a world apart from what I am used to seeing from him. He did a fantastic job of filming Ingrid Bergman and creating an air of tension that does not let up until the very end.  

            Gaslight is one of the greatest psychological films ever made. Even one of my friends who is into all these weird modern psychological thrillers told me that one of his all time favorites is Gaslight. I think it holds up very well today there is so much suspense and so many things that Gregory does that drives not only Paula crazy but you as well! Every time I watch this film the more I love it and the happier I am that I spent money on the DVD all those years ago. Gaslight will have you on the edge of you seat from beginning to end. 

Death on the Nile (1978)

“He was her man, but he was doin' her wrong!” 

            Murder mystery stories are some of my favorites when reading a book or watching a movie. Some of literature’s best murder mysteries have been written by Agatha Christie. Her most famous novels are those containing the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. I had always heard of Christie and her famous stories but it was not until three years ago that after watching the movie version of Murder on the Orient Express that I began to read her novels. Each of her stories are so interesting with several twists and turns. Of her novels I have read that have been turned into films I have only seen Orient Express and not too long ago Death on the Nile. Death on the Nile has a very good plot and very good twists.

            Jackie de Bellefort (Mia Farrow) brings her fiancé Simon over to see her best friend Linnet Rideway’s mansion to see if she can find him a job on her estate. But when Simon and Linnet meet it is love at first sight and after a whirlwind romance they marry. While on their honeymoon they are plagued by Jackie who has followed them no matter where they go. Jackie cannot get over the fact that Simon left her so she has taken to stalking them.

            Once the couple reaches Egypt Jackie’s stalking becomes worse. More and more people are becoming witnesses to her outbursts and the couple’s pleas to leave them alone. As the trip progresses we come to find that Linnet has many enemies for several different reasons: an author by the name of Salome Otterbourne (Angela Lansbury) based a character in her latest racy novel off Linnet and now Linnet wants to sue for libel; she wants to have a psychologist whom she believes killed her friend to have his license taken away; a Miss Bowers was once an heiress but her family’s fortune as taken away by the Ridgeway family; a Mrs. Van Shuyler (Bette Davis) has been coveting Linnet’s jewels; Linnet’s lawyer has been cheating her out of money and other things when he has her sign papers; her maid is extremely upset because Linnet will not give her her pay so she can marry after Linnet found out the man the maid wants to marry is Egyptian and is already married.

            With the tour group and on the riverboat is the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. As usual he takes very care and notice of his surroundings. He sees that everyone is a bit hostile towards Linnet and each has a reason to hate to her. Jackie eventually catches up to Simon and Linnet and makes a great drunken scene late one night on the boat. That same night Linnet is found dead from a gunshot wound to the head. Poirot immediately takes over the case along with his English detective friend Col. Race (David Niven). He has a boat load of suspects to interview and investigate. Everyone had a motive for wanting Linnet but it is a challenge to figure out who really did.

            The ending is one I did not really see coming and I really liked that since so often than not I figure out the ending to mysteries.

            The cast was alright I was not too crazy about it as a whole. I cracked up the whole time with Bette Davis and Maggie Smith because Smith was supposed to be a companion/nurse for Davis and she just kept saying the funniest things to Davis. Davis’s character was such a pain in the rear. In one scene she tells Smith to move along the boat was beginning to look like a mortuary and Smith replies “Thank God you'll be in one yourself before too long you bloody old fossil!”. Angela Lansbury as Salome Otterbourne was the highlight of the movie. The character was totally eccentric and she played her to perfection. It is odd seeing Lansbury act so crazy but she was just so good. David Niven did a good job as Race, I am not a big fan of his but I found him alright. Mia Farrow has got to be the most annoying person on the face of the planet. The first time I ever saw her was in The Great Gatsby and I could not take her then and I fully remember why. I could not believe how much she sounds like her mother Maureen O’Sullivan though, it was so scary how much they sound alike. Farrow just ruined the movie whenever she was in a scene she was so bad.

            All in all I have to say Death on the Nile was an alright movie. The story and plot as I said was very good with a great twist at the end but I was not that crazy about it. I think I was comparing it the whole time to Murder on the Orient Express because I love it so much. The cast is Orient Express is one of the best I have ever seen in a movie and I think that is why I did not like the cast too much here. I am so used to Albert Finey as Poirot that Peter Ustinov fell flat. At the end of the movie this Poirot mentions to Mrs. Van Schuyler that next time they meet he has to tell her about his case on the Orient Express. 

            Death on the Nile is worth a viewing at least once for the story and the twist.