A touch of class: The Nun's Story

THE NUN’S STORY. Zinnemann’s 1959 classic was on in the middle of the night, so I recorded it, despite having the dvd, and what a transfixing experience it is. I had not seen it for decades but remember what a big hit it was at the time. It is surely Audrey Hepburn’s crowning achievement. One hardly sees classic movie-making on this scale any more, as Zinnemann orchestrates it all – the early scenes in the convent as the young novice adjusts to the religious life, the faces of all those nuns, and then the Congo scenes, her recovery from tuberculosis, and back to wartime Europe, based on a best-selling true story. as scripted by Robert Anderson. While not as austere as a Bresson or a Dreyer or indeed Melville's LEON MORIN, PRIEST (reviewed here at Belmondo label) it does convey the rigours of the religious life and the demands it makes (and of course complements those nuns perfectly portrayed by Deborah Kerr in BLACK NARCISSUS and HEAVEN KNOWS MR ALLISON).

It is totally absorbing and the players are so perfect for their roles: Hepburn as the strong-willed and fiercely independent Sister Luke, whose very psyche is torn asunder by the battle between her own innate, personal pride and a sincere desire to live a life of obedience to the Church and its rules; Peter Finch as Dr Fortunati, Edith Evans as Mother Superior (doing marvels with very little screen time), Peggy Ashcroft, Dean Jagger as her father, Mildred Dunnock, Coleen Dewhurst, etc. A totally marvellous achievement and Franz Waxman's score complements the visuals perfectly.

1959 was not only a key year both in cinema and for me, aged 13, and loving all those big hitters of the year, as lots of key directors produced their late classics: BEN HUR, SOME LIKE IT HOT, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, ANATOMY OF A MURDER, SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, ON THE BEACH, RIO BRAVO, IMITATION OF LIFE, PILLOW TALK, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, SOLOMON AND SHEBA etc, THE NUN'S STORY was up there with them as one of the key dramas of the year and it was of course an enormous hit, for such a solemn film, and it is certainly one of Hepburn's key roles, ably supported by Finch's skilful portrayal of the doctor. After the Congo episode we are back in wartime Europe as Sr Luke tries to settle back into the religious life, but her rebellious spirit will not let her.... The complexities of the religious life are nicely demonstrated when she is asked to fail an essential examination to help another nun go to the Congo. The interiors were actually shot at Cinecitta so just how much of it was shot in Africa I wonder? The seemingly now under-rated Fred Zinnemann showed his mastery again the next year with the wonderful THE SUNDOWNERS and that great re-teaming of Mitchum and Kerr, and of course his 1953 hit FROM HERE TO ETERNITY among others.

I find it incredible that London's National Film Theatre in their Audrey Hepburn season a year or so ago did not include THE NUN'S STORY or indeed the chance to see King Vidor's WAR AND PEACE, 1956, another key Audrey role, on the big screen, as they were focusing on Audrey as the fashion icon and not the actress!

Soon: an appreciation on Peter Finch.

Downton Abbey returns, plus Jane and Alice ...

No sun-dappled gardens or gentle rustling of taffeta greets viewers as they return to DOWNTON ABBEY for Series 2. We are blasted straight into the trenches, where a mud-covered Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) is heroically fighting the Great War. The first series began with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 when the Downton estate loses its male heir, and ended with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It is now 1916 as we revisit Julian Fellowes’s “posh soap opera” featuring the Lords and Ladies of the Estate and their downstairs staff, who get equal screen time.

Previous classic costume dramas like UPSTAIRS AND DOWNSTAIRS were a bit staid, but the fascinating thing about DOWNTON is that is done in the modern zappy American style. Each character – and there’s about 20 of them - have their own story arcs and there are some marvellous bits of humour here and there, as in the first episode here, the uppity new maid wanted the cook Mrs Patmore to save her some of the crepes suzettes from “upstairs” but she annoys the cook who takes pleasure is tossing the pancakes to the dog – it’s a little moment but a satisfying one.

While Armageddon rages abroad, life at Downton remains stultifyingly the same for the Earl (Hugh Bonneville) and Lady Mary (Michelle Dockerty). By moving the action from the relative frippery of country-house living to war, Fellowes has wisely raised the stakes and given the actors more to chew on. Lady Edith is still a bitch but apparently will change, ditto Lady Sybil. Then there is Mr Bates the valet and his evil wife, ladies maid O’Brien is still as poisonous as ever, as the house is presided over by the butler and wise housekeeper (Phyllis Logan). The Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith in a late great role) still has some biting retorts as she and Mrs Crawley (Penelope Wilton) try to gain the upper hand. But it is our star-crossed lovers – Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) the new heir and Lady Mary who fascinate.

Lots to look forward to here then as the Estate becomes a convalescent home, and will Matthew and that devious footman Thomas survive in the trenches? Overall, the sumptuous drama remains as inviting as before. Classic costume drama at it’s best then. Best though to record it and watch afterwards, zapping out the commercial breaks as there are too many of them, and how soon will the DVD be out?

During my recent hospital engagement I decided to read some old books which have become favourite films, so it was a pleasure to actually read the original BLACK NARCISSUS by Rumer Godden, first published in 1939 and never out of print, ditto her THE GREENGAGE SUMMER which became that intriguing 1961 film with Kenneth More, Danielle Darrieux and Susannah York, and also the 1950s novel by A.J. Cronin THE SPANISH GARDENER which became that popular Dirk Bogarde movie in 1956, but how they changed it! I was astonished to see that Jose is 19 and the father too is taken with his attractive physique, Jose though gets killed while trying to escape due to the father’s intervention. Bogarde was in his mid-30s then so Jose is a lot older (and provided with a girlfriend to keep his relationship with the boy innocent). The Rank Organisation were of course not going to kill off their 'Idol of the Odeons', so Jose not only survives in the film but sends the reconciled father and son happily on their way to their next posting - a total reversal of the ending in the book which is much bleaker with father and son now posted to Sweden and Nicholas resolved to get away from the unloved father and return to his mother as soon as he can! (Reviews of these at Bogarde, York, Deborah Kerr, Black Narcissus labels).

I now see that Jane Asher (who played the younger sister in THE GREENGAGE SUMMER (LOSS OF INNOCENCE) is playing Lady Bracknell in a new production of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST and I imagine she will be terrific in the role. Asher is actually the same age (64) as Dame Edith Evans when she played the role. Several actresses have portrayed a younger sexier Lady Bracknell - Jane should be perfect! What a contrast to her dolly bird in Skolimowski's 1970 DEEP END, reviewed here (Jane Asher label), and just out on dvd.



Below: performers now have the internet in their dressing rooms!

Alice Krige has also turned into a fascinating presence - now in the BBC series SPOOKS as Peter Firth's lost love, and as Ralph Fiennes' ex-wife in PAGE EIGHT the recent film by David Hare (reviewed recently here). I did not see her Borg Queen in a STAR TREK film, but she has been quietly impressive so many different genres - that icy patrician Roman in the 2001 ATTILA (as played by Gerard Butler), SOLOMON KANE, and others since her debut in CHARIOTS OF FIRE.

6 very good-looking films

Six of the best colour films ever? certainly 6 of my favourites ...





I have written plenty on here on the above favourites of mine, as per labels, but here is a toast to some great photography: BLACK NARCISSUS and PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN by Jack Cardiff, PLEIN SOLEIL by Henri Decae, THE LEOPARD by Guiseppe Rotunno, MODESTY BLAISE by Jack Hildyard, BLOW-UP by Carlo Di Palma - all 40 or 50 years ago!

Summer Repeats: Movies I Absolutely Love

Summertime and TCM (UK) are finally showing some interesting afternoon double-bills, so its a case of laying out some cold drinks and snacks and enjoying once more items like Minnelli's LES GIRLS followed by Tashlin's ever-delirious THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT. Logically speaking as I have the dvds I can watch these any old time, but if they are on television I simply have to watch them again. There was also a nice double bill of two I don't have and have not seen since I was a kid: BELOVED INFIDEL and THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. INFIDEL is one of the 3 Kerr made in '59, all very unseen now - I like THE JOURNEY (as per Kerr label), but will we ever get to see again COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS? Deborah and Peck should have been a dream team in '59 (like Greg was with Jean Simmons, Sophia Loren, Lauren Bacall, Ava Gardner) if only the film had been worthy of them.
But it got me thinkiing on all those movies I love and can see any time: not only my top 25 or so movies (Top 50+ movies label) but choice items like: THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE, WOMAN'S WORLD, DESIGNING WOMAN, THE OPPOSITE SEX, JUPITER'S DARLING, ANATOMY OF A MURDER, DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, WILD RIVER. Then there's those recent (re)discoveries of mine like I WAS HAPPY HERE (Sarah Miles label), THAT MAN FROM RIO (Belmondo, Dorleac labels), Visconti's SANDRA or OF A THOUSAND DELIGHTS (Visconti, Cardinale, Sorel labels), THE SEA WALL or THIS ANGRY AGE (Mangano label), and Jayne in the delirious THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT - it will be on to WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? next!



So,just a few images to remind ourselves of Lady Wren (Kay Kendall label) in court in LES GIRLS, Jimmy Dean in EAST OF EDEN, Lee Remick in WILD RIVER, Kay and Rex and Angela in DEBUTANTE, Sarah back in Ireland in I WAS HAPPY HERE, Belmondo and Francoise Dorleac in THAT MAN FROM RIO, Silvana and Tony Perkins dancing in THE SEA WALL, Jean Sorel and Lilli Palmer in ADORABLE JULIA, Kate in SUMMERTIME, and those striking images from Visconti's SENSO and SANDRA (Sorel, Cardinale, Alida Valli, Visconti labels)...

Then there's all those other favourites, commented on here, like ALL FALL DOWN, THE CHAPMAN REPORT, QUENTIN DURWARD, MOONFLEET, THE PRODIGAL, THE EGPYTIAN, THE WAY TO THE STARS, NOW VOYAGER, OLD ACQUAINTANCE, PLEIN SOLEIL, THE LION IN WINTER, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, SOME LIKE IT HOT, BLACK NARCISSUS, I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING, LA LOI, THE LEOPARD, AMERICAN GIGOLO, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, and those Lorens, Hitchcocks, Von Sternbergs ... quite a few more "Movies I Love" to write about then!

Black Narcissus, again

Perfect for an Easter afternoon: a repeat of that excellent documentary on ace cameraman Jack Cardiff - it includes lots of his portraits too of the likes of Monroe, Loren, both Hepburns, Ava Gardner, Anita Ekberg etc not seen elsewhere, plus home movies on the set of films like LEGEND OF THE LOST, WAR AND PEACE, PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN etc. following by repeats of BLACK NARCISSUS and THE AFRICAN QUEEN (though I think that one should be given a rest for a while, one may have seen it too often...).



BLACK NARCISSUS though from Rumer Godden's novel in 1947 is one one never tires of, and is a film one can live with and see quite often - every frame and scene are just spellbinding, as the heated melodrama of the nuns living in the abandoned harem high in the Himalayas - and it was all done at Pinewood after the war! then that cast: 26 year old Deborah Kerr as Sister Clodagh (a decade later in '57 she would be a much simpler nun in Huston's HEAVEN KNOWS MR ALLISON - at least she got to go to Tobago for that!); Kathleen Byron, an unjustly neglected actress, as Sister Ruth; teenage Jean Simmons, Sabu, Flora Robson, David Farrar as the agent Mr Dean ... somehow I always love that final scene at the end between him and Sr Clodagh and then the rain falls on those giant leaves, as the convent is obscured by clouds. The scenes too of Sr Ruth now demented as sunset falls on the chapel and Sr Clodagh goes to ring the bell are endlessly fascinating. Sr Clodagh (like Audrey Hepburn's Sister Luke in THE NUN'S STORY) may also be over-reaching her authority as she has to maintain order and discipline in this hostile environment, with the winds blowing, as feelings of jealousy, anger and madness surface ... and the presence of Mr Dean in his short shorts does not help...

Then there are those 4 luscious flashbacks to Sr Clodagh's life in Ireland, in Cardiff's perfectly '40s Technicolor: fishing on the lake, hunting, the gift of the emeralds and the carol singing where Kerr looks radiant. It may well soon be my favourite movie of all time!

"Yes, but money isn't everything.."

That is probably the key line in I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING - Powell & Pressburger's timeless romantic fantasy from 1945 (the year I was born). The very independent Joan Webster who wants to marry a rich man travels up to the highlands on her way to the remote island of Kiloran which the millionaire has rented, but a storm forces her to stay on the mainland, at the house of Catriona (whose husband is away in the Far East, and children at boarding school), the war must be still on. Also staying is a friend of Catriona's Torquil whom Joan realises she is falling for, hence her desire to get away to the island. Navy officer Torquil [who is the real Laird of Kiloran] realising her dangerous plan to go out to sea in the storm helps her but the storm defeats them and the weary travellers arrive back at the house where Catriona puts Joan to bed in her own room with a roaring fire. (how wonderful it seems now to have real fires in bedrooms!). Catriona soon puts Joan to rights as Joan thinks that all these highland people are poor because they have no money so why doesn't Catriona sell her house Erraig, and their neighbour Mrs Crozier could sell her estate Achnacroish and Torquil could sell Kiloran - Catriona thinks about it and then says decisively "yes, but money isn't everything".



The next morning sees the storm abated, Joan has come to her senses as she sits on the table and says "I can't do a thing with my hair" and wonders where her wedding dress is (it was lost in the storm) to which Torquil replies "a mermaid will get married in it". The boat from Kiloran finally arrives to collect her, but will she have a change of heart? .... enter 3 pipers and the most perfect ending imaginable.

There is also that lovely detour to the Castle of Sorne to visit some snobby neighbours whom the pompous millionaire thinks are the only people worth knowing locally - it is the most perfect location with that high window seat (and young Petula Clark is the daughter) and then there is that lovely interlude at Achnacroish with Rebecca Crozier (Nancy Price) who sees Joan's worth at once and we have the highland dancing as the magic works on Joan. Torquil who is also there explains "highland economics" to Joan - letting Kiloran for three years means he can live there for six - and the millionaire installing a swimming pool means that "money spent is money earned" for the local workmen whom they travel with on the bus.


These are just some moments from this lovely film, which grows on one at each viewing. The cast are all superb: Wendy Hiller as Joan, Roger Livesey as Torquil (he was not actually at the highland locations due to being in a play in London - his scenes are interiors, with a stand-in for location shots), Nancy Price as Mrs Crozier and that very individual actress Pamela Brown as Catriona, the resourceful woman managing on her own while her husband and children are away (she was Powell's lover at the time and until her death aged 58 in 1975) - her entry here with her dogs and gun and a brace of rabbits presents her like Diana the huntress - as she says "if I don't shoot this rabbit then I don't eat"! She and Torquil are old friends and she soon realises the attraction between him and Joan. Hiller is delightful too as Joan who is used to getting her own way (as set out in the breezy introduction). The climax with the ruined castle and that curse and the highland tune are also just right. I also like the great photography with those great black and white images [like WHISKEY GALORE that other great film shot in Scotland in the '40s]. A film to cherish then, it may well be my favourite film of all. Like THE QUIET MAN or THE SEARCHERS it's admirers are legion and devoted, just like for Powell's others like BLACK NARCISSUS, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH and THE RED SHOES all of which I also love dearly.