The Sea Wall, again ...

From "Lost Films of the Fifties" by Douglas Brode (an ideal companion to his essential "Films of the Fifties") a selection of stills from one of my favourite films, mentioned on here quite a bit (Mangano, Perkins, Clement labels) THE SEA WALL or THIS ANGRY AGE from 1958 - which I liked at the time, and finally saw again - in an Italian copy - last year [thanks to my IMDB pal Timshelboy]. I also wrote about the recent French remake of this Marguerite Duras story, LE BARRAGE CONTRE LE PACIFIQUE starring Isabelle Huppert [French label]. The '58 version though by Rene Clement for Dino De Laurentiis, starring his wife Silvana Mangano, is one of the first international co-productions made in Thailand, and remains a fascinating lost movie.


Here we have Silvana and a pre-PSYCHO Tony Perkins as the siblings, the great Jo Van Fleet [as good as in EAST OF EDEN or WILD RIVER] as their mother trying to protect their rice plantation from the sea, and Mangano with Richard Conte, and Nehemiah Persoff. I love the scenes with Perkins and Mangano dancing. Alida Valli also appears as the woman who picks up Perkins in the cinema! Maybe one day a proper print will be available .... ditto, De Laurentiis's THE TEMPEST, another international co-production, by Lattuada with Mangano in '58 from the Pushkin novel set in the Russian steppes. I loved it when I was 12!

Sophia - two more rarities

A BREATH OF SCANDAL, 1960. This, the last of the films Sophia Loren made for Paramount, seems rather forgotten now. I last saw it back in the days when revival houses ran double bills, coupled with BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS – gosh, one got value for money then! This though was not really a success, despite the opulent sets of palaces, hunting lodges and stunning interiors, set as it is in the Austrian empire circa 1900, shortly after Mayerling, as automobile salesman John Gavin from Pittsburgh gets involved with princess Olympia (Loren) who has been banned from court for being indiscreet. Maurice Chevalier and Isobel Jeans (so splendid in GIGI) are improbably her parents. Loren thinks papa has a mistress, but he only pretends to, as it is expected of him! Gavin though lacks the light comedy touch required here. Like THE SWAN it is from a play by Molnar and what sinks it is the leaden direction from old timer Michael Curtiz – I thought this was actually his last film, but he helmed a few more.

The best thing about it now of course (apart from Sophia) is another scene-stealing performance by Angela Lansbury – rather reprising her similar one in THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE – as the catty Countess trying to get everyone into trouble at the Royal Palace. An amusing soufflé then with a few nice moments. I enjoyed it a lot when I was 12 though. Cukor regular George Hoyningen-Heune is credited with the costumes and he creates some stunning ones for Loren, incuding that hat which looks like she has a dead bird on her head!


DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS. The one Sophia Loren title I had not seen of her early American films - perhaps it was considered too strong for Ireland in the '50s? This Delbert Mann film, scripted by Irwin Shaw from the Eugene O'Neill play must have been heavy stuff back in 1958 – but it all seems rather risible now. There is something inherently funny in the sight (and sound) of Burl Ives’ portrayal of the despotic biblical patriarch Ephraim (who has already buried two over-worked wives) returning with Anna, his new Italian wife (Loren) a shrewish woman who married him for security and the farm. Resentful son Tony Perkins gets rid of the two other sons (who not only share a room but also a bed, common practice then, but would raise eyebrows now) and the stage is set for a variant on Greek tragedy. The actors do their best with the material which gets rather ponderous towards the end, with the party and the return of the other sons and their “fancy women”. Mann from MARTY and SEPARATE TABLES to some Doris Day films certainly helmed some interesting choices then, rather like Martin Ritt did. Certainly an interesting oddity and very stage-bound; Sophia and Tony were better cast in 1962's FIVE MILES TO MIDNIGHT.

Barrage Contre le Pacifique - 2008, 1958

I have finally got around to seeing the recent (2008) film by Rithy Panh of Marguerite Duras's semi-autobiographical novel THE SEA WALL or UN BARRAGE CONTRE LE PACIFIQUE which is a fascinating contrast to the long-unseen 1958 version [also confusingly titled THIS ANGRY AGE] by French director Rene Clement with one of the first great international casts and filmed in Thailand. I saw this as a 12 year old and that was it until I got my hands on an Italian copy last year and I liked it all over again. The brother and sister are the fascinating pair of the statuesque Silvana Mangano (Mrs De Laurentiis) and a pre-PSYCHO Tony Perkins - with Jo Van Fleet creating another great mother role as their mother trying to protect their rice plantation in Indo-China from the sea. This seems to have a '50s background - when Suzanne's admirer gives them the record player the music and dancing seem to be the rock'n' roll era. Mangano (as per my other post on it, see label) gets involved with Richard Conte while Nehemiah Persoff sweats and wants her, while Joseph (Tony) goes off to the city and gets picked up by Alida Valli in a cinema ! I don't suppose we will ever see a good English version of this again?



Now, Rithy Panh's version takes the story back to its 1930s origins, set in 1931 in French colonial Indo-China where a corrupt government and Land Registry control the plots of land and oppress the locals. Isabelle Huppert, mesmerising as usual, is the worn-down mother trying to protect her worthless land, the children are indifferent and long to get away - but here we have no Mangano or Perkins to fascinate us - the daughter (Asrid Berges-Frisbey) is a pouting bored teenager [but who now looks as good as Silvano Mangano in her prime?], while the son (Gaspard Ulliel) has the looks and build and blankness of a male model. Randal Douc impresses as the besotted admirer. Interesting views then of the same story, 50 years apart. Panh and Huppert provide interesting interviews too on what they intended to convey with the story and the politican background, which is still relevant today where the locals do not own their land and have to work for outside interests. L'AIMANT (THE LOVER) is another version of Duras's youth and erotic awakening by an Oriental, which was dismissed as soft porn at the time (1992).







More Duras: I have been meaning to re-visit her NATHALIE GRANGER with Moreau and Bose, and the oddity that is 10.30 PM SUMMER (which at least has Schneider, Finch and Mercouri) and Peter Brooks' MODERATO CANTABILE with Moreau and Belmondo, and her screenplays for MADEMOISELLE and THE SAILOR FROM GIBRALTAR (Tony Richardson's collaborations with Jeanne Moreau)... watch this space!

Showpeople (11): Pals at play ...

Rock Hudson and Vera-Ellen painted gold [as Oscars!] in 1949; Tab, Tony (Perkins) and Natalie Wood out on the town [Tab and Tony were an item by then]; Jimmy, Elizabeth and Rock fooling around on GIANT; Guy Madison and Rory Calhoun with super-agent Henry Willson, who represented them, '47, both careers continued into the '60s: Rory, after his films with Marilyn and Betty Grable had a good sword-and-sandal in Sergio Leone's COLOSSUS OF RHODES, '61, Guy had some good westerns like THE COMMAND, '54 and romanced the likes of Jean Simmons in HILDA CRANE, 56, as per review; what do closeted heart-throbs talk about? - Dirk and Rock in Italy in 1957 - "my closet is bigger than yours" perhaps?

Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter - friends or rivals?: both 20th Century Fox contract players they made at least 5 films together so must have hung out a lot on various sets, but Jeff is hardly mentioned in RJ's "tell-all" autobio.

Perhaps though it was more a case of friendly rivals than just pals? Seems Wagner really wanted that Martin Pawley part (Jeff's most iconic role) in THE SEARCHERS [which of course would have been his first pairing with Natalie] but John Ford had a mean streak - he tested Wagner several times but would never cast him whereas he used Hunter in 3 of his films .... They were free-lancing by the early '60s when a whole new raft of teen idols were appearing, so both hit the Euro-route - Wagner was luckier getting plum roles in hits like THE PINK PANTHER and arty fare like De Sica's THE CONDEMNED OF ALTONA with award-winners Loren and Schell, and then went successfuly into television. Despite KING OF KINGS for Nick Ray Jeff found himself in sword-and-sandal fare like GOLD FOR THE CAESARS and dabbled with STAR TREK but did not stay with it and alas died in 1969 aged 42. He will always be Martin Pawley though....
Above: Jeff being made up for WHITE FEATHER, 1955

Aimez-vous Brahms?

A new selection of Movies We Love! starting with the 1961 sudser GOODBYE AGAIN (others to include BLACK NARCISSUS, JOHNNY GUITAR, A LETTER TO 3 WIVES, ALL ABOUT EVE, NORTH TO ALASKA, LEGEND OF THE LOST, DONA HERLINDA AND HER SON, A BIGGER SPLASH, THE HISTORY OF ADELE H, WILD RIVER and ooh several others...)
GOODBYE AGAIN is a nice entry to those early '60s sudsers like IMITATION OF LIFE, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, A SUMMER PLACE, BACK STREET, ADA etc. this is a rather low-key one though in black and white, and again we zoom around Paris in the early 60s with rich spoilt Tony Perkins, and his rich bitch mother Jessie Royce Landis (a good role for Jessie here).

It is Ingrid Bergman's show though as 40ish Paula, a successful interior decorator, hired by Jessie and getting involved with her son Tony. Paula has been carrying on for 5 years with businessman Yves Montand who is certainly having his cake and eating it, often letting Paula down at the last minute when he picks up a new 'Maisie' (he calls them all Maisie...). Paula is used to this but longs for commitment. Tony is going to provide it in spades as he follows, woos, flatters and finally gets Paula, which of course in turn makes Montand jealous. There are nicely judged moments along the way as our stars eat, drink, dance and drive around Paris by day and night. Perkins' little boy act gets a bit tiresome actually - he has a nice drunk scene in a nightclub with singer Diahann Carroll, and interesting to see British actress Alison Legatt (the spinster sister in THIS HAPPY BREED) sharing his office where Perkins pretends to work.


Francoise Sagan's novel is nicely adapted here, though the end is amusing now - Paula sends Perkins away saying she is "too old" [Ingrid too old at 40!], when Montand decides to marry her - as his single life isn't quite so satisfying without her to return to. But once married he reverts to his old ways with a new Maisie, leaving Paula on her own again, rubbing night lotion into her face. A nice touch too is when she is driving and crying so she turns on the windscreen wipers as she thinks it is raining.

The older female does not fare too well in these Sagan stories: Kerr in BONJOUR TRISTESSE, Joan Fontaine in A CERTAIN SMILE or Bergman as Paula here. Litvak was good with actresses, viz his films with Davis, De Havilland, Kerr (THE JOURNEY) and Bergman previously in ANASTASIA. This is a nicely satisfying soap - Perkins after PSYCHO had a good run in Europe with some super ladies: Ingrid here, Mercouri (PHAEDRA), Orson's THE TRIAL with Moreau and Romy, with Loren again in FIVE MILES TO MIDNIGHT in '62 and Bardot in THE RAVISHING IDIOT.

Showpeople (5): Looking in on colleagues ....

I loved this photo [top] of Marlon Brando dropping in James Dean and Julie Harris on the EAST OF EDEN set - note Jimmy's attention-seeking little-boy-lost look as everyone focuses on Brando. I treasue a note the great Julie Harris sent me to wish me a happy new year for 1978 when she was doing THE BELLE OF AMHERST in London (I hadn't felt well on the night but went anyway and she was so amazing I had to write and tell her...)
A very glamorous Tony Perkins looks in on Wayne and Sophia on LEGEND OF THE LOST - he and Loren were doing DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS next. [Tony's pal Tab would get his turn with the statuesque Italian the following year in THAT KIND OF WOMAN].
Below: Audrey visits Ponti and Loren in Switzerland - and Capucine drops in on beau William Holden with Audrey in PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES - it fizzled.

Finally: The Sea Wall / This Angry Age - in Italian!

A fond childhood memory was the 1958 Rene Clement film THE SEA WALL, also known as THIS ANGRY AGE, which I saw when about 12 and it was very vivid and impressive, but it never appeared anywhere since and seemed to be a totally lost film, but a pal of mine from the IMDb site whom I meet every few months for drinks, chat and swopping rare movies, found a copy - but its in Italian!. Well all the leads speak English so maybe there is an English print out there somewhere - but its been totally fascinating to see it again now 50 odd years later !

It starts with the camera descending over the Thai locations, including temples and other exotic buildings, as the story, by Marguerite Duras, unfolds on the plantation of tough Jo Van Fleet (nice to see her looking herself for a change, and not aged as in EAST OF EDEN or WILD RIVER) who is trying to keep the ocean from encroaching on her land, but its a losing battle. Her teenage children - Silvana Mangano and Tony Perkins - have their own ideas about the future, as the mother tries every ruse to keep going, including trying to get Mangano interested in businessman Nehemiah Persoff, but then Richard Conte comes on the scene ... Perkins meanwhile moves to the city and picks up (or get picked up by) Alida Valli in a cinema! Its a terrific scene, and I like her snazzy automobile too. Back at the plantation things get worse ...


1958 was a good year for Perkins - (relaxing with Mangano, above) he went on to Sophia Loren and DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS next (and THE MATCHMAKER), and Silvana headed another De Laurentiis spectacular THE TEMPEST which I also liked a lot at the time and again it never surfaced again, but I got a copy last year and commented on it on here, and Rene Clement of course went on to make that complex classic PLEIN SOLEIL from the enduring Highsmith Ripley tale [there is a separate post on it here]. It would be nice if these De Laurentiis films were re-issued now - like Ponti with Loren he featured his wife Mangano in his international co-productions (like ULYSSES, MAMBO, TEMPEST, FIVE BRANDED WOMEN etc) which all have fascinating casts and production values, as per my comments on here.

Good though to get to see THE SEA WALL again after so long, even if its dubbed into Italian! I love the scenes with Perkins and Mangano dancing, and that cinema scene with Valli! Duras's novel (with its original self-explaining title "Barrage Contre le Pacific" was recently remade as a French film starring Isabelle Huppert, which I think I will have see now.

'60s [1]

,

The start of the ‘60s was that great era of intelligent dramas, mainly in black and white (see my post on 1962), so I am just highlighting some here. [Others like ALL FALL DOWN, THE CHAPMAN REPORT, THE APARTMENT, STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET, THE CHILDREN'S HOUR and I WAS HAPPY HERE have been reviewed already here, as well as late 60s capers like DUFFY, OTLEY, SEBASTIAN, DAY THE FISH CAME OUT etc]. By the mid-‘60s Hollywood ‘product’ seemed more and more dumbed down as the studios grappled with the new morality of the Swinging decade before the new cinema of the late '60s. Some producers like Joe E Levine certainly turned out their share of schlock, which makes for fascinating viewing now. We will get on to those next ….

CONE OF SILENCE. This 1960 British airline thriller was just one of the many airline dramas of the time (others being THE CROWDED SKY, JET STORM, SOS PACIFIC). This is mainly courtroom based as an inquiry investigates the cause of pilot Bernard Lee’s crash. It’s a compelling drama about aircraft design flaws. The cast here though is the thing: Michael Craig at his most attractive teamed with that interesting dancer Elizabeth Seal, Peter Cushing and George Sanders in fine form in the courtroom, plus reliables like Marne Maitland, Charles Tingwell, Andre Morrell, Gordon Jackson, Noel Willman and Delphi Lawrence.

THE GREENGAGE SUMMER – this 1961 film from a Rumer Godden novel ("Loss of Innocence") is rarely seen now, but is an engaging drama by Ronald Neame, with Kenneth More and Danielle Darrieux as the adults, and a trio of youngsters left on their own at Darrieux’s hotel in France while their mother is ill. Teenager Susannah York becomes involved with the mysterious More who is involved with Darrieux who also seems to be involved with her (female) hotel partner. Young Jane Asher is terrific as York’s younger sister, and its intriguingly resolved. York is engaging here in her first role after her debut in TUNES OF GLORY.

GOODBYE AGAIN. A perfect early ‘60s film set in Paris by Anatole Litvak (who certainly got the best out of his actresses like Davis, De Havilland, Kerr etc). Ingrid Bergman stars here as Paula, the ‘40ish stylish woman who feels her lover Yves Montand takes her for granted and see other women on the side, which indeed he does. Enter young Anthony Perkins who falls for Bergman and their bittersweet romance ensues. There are nice scenes of Bergman and Perkins driving around Paris, Jessie Royce Landis is fun as Perkins’s mother. It is of course another Francoise Sagan story, from her AIMEZ VOUS BRAHMS? Bergman finally sends Perkins away with the risible line that she is too old, but marriage to Montand does not resolve her fears, as he still plays around. It certainly highlights the plight of the older woman, though Ingrid here is far from old!

FIVE MILES TO MIDNIGHT – another Litvak film set in Paris with Anthony Perkins! This 1962 thriller, scripted by Peter Viertel, was interesting to see recently, as I had never seen it before, despite it starring Sophia Loren! Any film that begins with Sophia dancing the twist in a Paris nightclub can’t be all bad … this one isn’t that good but holds the interest. Sophia is the centre of the film here playing an ordinary woman working in Paris but getting tired of petulant, demanding, jealous husband Perkins (his second teaming with Loren). She thinks he is killed in a plane crash, but he is the only survivor and secretly comes back with a plan to get the insurance money and forces her to play along, then of course things go wrong ……it’s a pleasant time-waster with that new look Loren for the ‘60s. Perkins had a good run in Europe in the early '60s, there was also Dassin's PHAEDRA with Mercouri, Welles' THE TRIAL with Moreau and Schneider among others. Carol Reed's THE RUNNING MAN the next year, '63, was another airline survivor insurance scam with Laurence Harvey, Lee Remick and Alan Bates. That plot also unravelled...

ADORABLE JULIA. I finally caught up with this 1962 Lilli Palmer film a while ago. A French-German production set in London theatreland of the early 60s, it is of course an earlier version of that Annette Bening film BEING JULIA from the Maugham story. Lilli though is much more suited to the material, as the ageless, eternally glamorous sophisticated actress deftly dealing with lover Jean Sorel and husband Charles Boyer. Sorel is good here as the demanding lover who has his own agenda (aiming to get his not very talented girlfriend into Lilli’s play) and its nicely played out. Top marks to Lilli.

WIVES AND LOVERS – This long unseen 1963 comedy is a lot of fun now, particularly with that cast. Its nice to see Janet Leigh in a leading role after PSYCHO and MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and she seems to be having a lot of fun here, as the wife of newly successful writer Van Johnson as they move to Connecticut, with Shelley Winters and Ray Walston as neighbours. Martha Hyer is Lucinda the glamorous agent who causes trouble. It should have been in colour though but it does seem a more adult variation on the Rock and Doris comedies. Shelley is not chewing the scenery for once, but Johnson is a dull one-note uncharismatic lead. It’s a Hal Wallis production competently directed by John Rich. Great theme tune of course.

A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME. Another great theme tune (sung by Brook Benton) here in this enjoyable farrago from 1964, also in black and white and starring Shelley Winters as famous madam Polly Adler. It’s a great role for Shelley but the movie is hiliariously awful – it must be set in the ‘20s or ‘30s but Edith Head dresses them all in early ‘60s ensembles. Shelley starts as the innocent soon involved in providing girls for parties for county hall bigwigs and assorted gangsters (Cesar Romero is Lucky Luciano) – Robert Taylor (looking bored throughout) is her mentor and the girls include Edy Williams and Raquel Welch (a silent role, glimpsed next to Robert Taylor in a bar scene). The girls just loll around in negligees or evening dresses – only two of them come to grief showing the downside of prostitution, as Shelley happily takes to being a madam, the men though are all creeps. It’s a typical studio piece of dross from the ’64-’65 era by producer Joe Levine [wait till I get around to the two HARLOW films, SYLVIA, THE OSCAR etc!]. Russell Rouse directs, Kaye Ballard and Broderick Crawford also feature. It at least gave us that classic Burt Bacharach-Hal David song that outlasted the film (like "The Shadow of Your Smile" is superior to the risible THE SANDPIPER, probably the Burtons' worst movie, though Minnelli gives it the required gloss).

Two European comedies, both with Monica Vitti and Jean Sorel: Vitti's delicious deadpan sense of comedy surfaced in two Italian compendium titles which were popular in the 60s, each containing 4 segments with 4 different stars, and directed by Bolognini, Risi, Rossi and Comencini. LE BAMBOLE (THE DOLLS), now on dvd, was a popular hit in 1965, featuring Gina Lollobrigida, Elke Sommer, Virna Lisi and Monica whose sequence is a hilarious tale of a working class woman trying to get rid of her slob of a husband. Gina is terrific too as the hotel owner’s wife trying to seduce the nephew (Sorel) of visiting cardinal Akim Tamiroff. This was a sensation at the time.

LE FATE (THE QUEENS or SEX QUARTET) in 1966 features Monica in a gaudy dress picking up various men in sports cars and driving them mad with her incessant chatter which is very funny and she looks adorable. Capucine (with Alberto Sordi), Claudia Cardinale and Raquel Welch (with Jean Sorel) also feature in this one.

Next: WHY MUST I DIE?, SOS PACIFIC, THE VICTORS, WALK ON THE WILD SIDE, THE CARPETBAGGERS, SYLVIA, HARLOW (both of them), A GIRL NAMED TAMIKO, A RAGE TO LIVE, THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF MOLL FLANDERS, LOVE HAS MANY FACES, THE OSCAR, NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY, the unbelievably awful THE SINGING NUN, A QUIET PLACE IN THE COUNTRY and THE LOVE MACHINE.