2011 discoveries including more Rene Clement

New movie-going was a bit rare on the ground for me in 2011, as from the summer on I was preparing for and getting over knee replacement surgery, so those movies I saw and reviewed in the first half of 2011 seem remote now: THE KING'S SPEECH, ANOTHER YEAR, UNCLE BOONMEE, MEEK'S CUTOFF, POTICHE, HANNA, etc (2000s label) - in fact my last cinema outing was to the National Film Theatre to see a favourite, Rene Clements' KNAVE OF HEARTS (Gerard Philipe label) on the big screen with a friend back in August. Now however dvds of those movies I wanted to see like THE SKIN I LIVE IN, TREE OF LIFE, DRIVE, WEEKEND, TINKER TAILOR... etc are just starting to come available this month, so reviews on those in due course.

It has been a year of re-discoveries then, like the previous 2 years when I loved the '58 THE SEA WALL, I WAS HAPPY HERE, THAT MAN FROM RIO, Visconti's SANDRA (VAGHE STELLE D'ORSA), THE CHAPMAN REPORT, etc, as per reviews, so the main big discoveries for me this year were the Silvana Mangano ANNA (reviewed below, Mangano label) and the Belinda Lee THE LONG NIGHT OF '43 (ditto, review below), plus those first two Antonioni films on brillaint new divds: CHRONICLE OF A LOVE AFFAIR and THE LADY WITHOUT CAMELIAS (Antonioni label), De Sica's GOLD OF NAPLES (Italian/De Sica/Loren/Mangano labels), Duvivier's CHAIR DE POULE (Jean Sorel/French labels) and now Rene Clements' LES MAUDITS from 1947, along with his 1956 GERVAISE (Clement, French labels).

Silvana Mangano as ANNA; THE LONG NIGHT OF '43

LES MAUDITS (THE DAMNED), 1947: Rene Clement directs an exciting U-boat drama that focuses on a group of Nazis and Nazi sympathizers fleeing in a submarine to South America as World War II draws to a close. There is one reluctant passenger, a doctor (Henri Vidal) kidnapped to tend to Florence Marly who bangs her head and falls into a temporary coma early on. She is the wife of an Italian who tolerates her openly sleeping with a German general, also on board. The ringleader of the group is a vicious, not-so-secret homosexual (Jodest) with a young companion Willy (Michel Auclair), who has his own agenda. Top billed is Marcel Dalio (just Dalio here), but he only appears briefly and has a great death scene. It's an exciting drama, nicely shot capturing the claustrophobia of the submarine - rather an old tin can one here - as the seas rage and the inmates turn on themselves. Henri Vidal was a very attractive guy too - like my other discovery Gerard Philipe he also died young (a heart attack at 40!) in 1959. He is good with Sophia Loren in the Anthony Quinn ATTILA (1954) and with Bardot in the '57 LE PARISIENNE (a treat on YouTube).



LES MAUDITS though is another terrific Rene Clement discovery, along with the engrossing GERVAISE, and THE SEA WALL (THIS ANGRY AGE), PLEIN SOLEIL, LES FELINS, IS PARIS BURNING? etc, as per my previous posts at Rene Clement/French/Alain Delon labels. I already wrote about that favourite KNAVE OF HEARTS (MR RIPOIS) where Clement, five years before the New Wave, was shooting with Gerard Philipe and Joan Greenwood on the streets of London with mobile and hidden cameras. An essential French director then, before the New Wave, but not as old as those '30s masters... Henri Vidal, right.

Next discoveries will be Mangano's RISO AMARO (BITTER RICE) and a batch of Gerard Philipe films: THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA, THE SCARLET AND THE BLACK, POT BOUILLE, LES FEMMES DE NUIT, FANFAN LE TULIPE, LA RONDE, LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES ... and 2 more Antonioni rarities; plus a handful of Catherine Deneuve films!

A '50''s rarity: Gervaise

I must admit I have not read any of the great 19th century French novels (Balzac, Zola etc) where grim malevolent fates lay in store for the likes of Madam Bovary, Therese Raquin, Cousin Bette and of course Gervaise and her daughter Nana .... Maria Schell in Rene Clements' 1956 film GERVAISE delivers a great performance even if she smiles too much as everything conspires against her, but today's feminists would scream at her almost wilful complicitness in her own misfortune and putting up with those useless men who leech off her and not seeing through her rival Viriginie. Clements' film though has the complexity of a greart novel and its a marvellous recreation of 19th century Paris working class life.

Poor Gervaise has a limp, works in the laundry (there is a great extended fight scene), men use and abuse her, she can't be with the real man she loves, the roofer husband has an accident and takes to drink and sinks into a spiral of alcoholism and is soon using up all her money from her shop .... and she too sinks into drink as little Nana runs wild. Strong stuff ! This adaptation of Zola's L'Assommoir is a harrowing and somewhat excruciating tale of working-class Parisians in the mid-19th century. .

The film begins with Gervaise being left by her lover Lantier, leaving her with two young boys and she finds out everyone knew about his cheating. This leads to an extended cat fight when Gervaise is confronted by the other woman's sister, Virginie (Suzy Delair) at the laundry. Unfortunately for Gervaise, this incident has long-term ramifications for her.



Gervaise then marries the roofer Coupeau (Francois Perier) and they have a daughter Nana, but his roofing accident takes all their money, but his steadfast friend Goujet who quietly loves her, loans Gervaise the money to finally open her own laundry shop, but then Virginie returns with her own plan for revenge as she re-introduces Lantier.to the neighbourhood. Coupeau who is sinking into a spiral of drink becomes best friends with Lantier and even invites him to move in with them! Both men are soon using up the profits of Gervaise's shop, the disgusting Coupeau even pawning customers' sheets, while Lantier casually forces himself back on Gervaise whose shame kills her blossoming romance with Goujet. Finally the only solace for Gervaise is to hit the bottle herself.

Schell won the best actress award at the Venice film festival and was soon on her way to Hollywood. Clements had a good run of interesting films I like a lot: KNAVE OF HEARTS with Gerard Philipe in 1954, GERVAISE in '56, THE SEA WALL (or THIS ANGRY AGE) which I have written about here several times (Silvana Mangano label) in 1958 and PLEIN SOLEIL in 1960. His 60s successes included LES FELINS with Delon again and Jane Fonda, and the 1966 IS PARIS BURNING?

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!

People We Like: Gerard Philipe, the Knave of Hearts

KNAVE OF HEARTS (or MONSIEUR RIPOIS). Back to the cinema for a rare screening of Rene Clement’s 1954 film about a romantic Frenchman on the loose in London and his conquests, including young Joan Greenwood at her loveliest – their scenes in the rain are very lyrical. Other women who fall under his spell include the prostitute (Germaine Montero) who takes him in when he is suddenly homeless and destitute, Valerie Hobson, Margaret Johnston and Natasha Parry. It is cleverly done with Clement shooting on the streets of London (with mostly hidden cameras) 5 years before the New Wave were doing the same in Paris.



Gerard Philipe is mesermising with those soulful eyes magnified on the large screen – what a loss he was, dying at age 36 in 1959 – just as Delon, Belmondo and the others got going. Now for his other roles like FANFAN LA TULIPE (with the luscious Gina Lollobrigida) and he is one of the LA RONDE merry-go-round, and I have been promised a copy of Vadim's 1959 LES LAISIONS DANGEROUSES with Jeanne Moreau, his last film. I have already reviewed here his 1958 MONTPARNASSE 19 as the painter Modigliani, a standard biopic, but with Anouk Aimee and Lilli Palmer.

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!

People We Like: Maurice Ronet

I have already blogged a lot here on Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belondo and Jean Sorel (as per labels), but Maurice Ronet (1927-1983) is another fascinating French actor, and certainly the equal of Delon and Belmondo, Sorel probably being the most lightweight.

I first encountered Ronet in 1960 as Dickie Greenleaf in one of the first European films I saw back then, Rene Clement's PLEIN SOLEIL, from Highsmith's book which is one of my favourites. Delon had the more showy role, but Ronet captured Greenleaf perfectly. He had already done Malle's LIFT TO THE SCAFFOLD in 1958 (see below) and appeared in other films like CARVE HER NAME WITH PRIDE being in films since the early '50s.

Ronet brought a complexity and depth to his roles, and an easy charm, even when featured as the lover in Chabrol's LA FEMME INFIDELE in 1968 - another one where he gets killed off, coming into close contact with a blunt object. Then there was that fatal re-union with Delon in LA PISCINE, Jacques Deray's glossy thriller from 1969, also with Romy Schneider, whom Ronet starred with in QUI? IN 1970 - a so-so thriller but with good roles for them. He was perfect with Jean Seberg in Chabrol's sunlit comedy thriller THE ROUTE TO CORINTH in 1967, and with Monica Vitti in THE SCARLET LADY in 1969 (as per my reviews on those, Vitti, Seberg, Schneider labels). He also featured in other international movies like Carl Foreman's THE VICTORS in 1963 and the all-star BLOODLINE (with Schneider again) in 1979, and part of Vadim's LA RONDE remake in 1964.



His best role though has to be in Malle's LE FEU FOLLET in 1963 as the recovering alcoholic Alain Leroy who is trying to find a reason to go on living. Its a profound, moving, complex masterwork - reviewed below. Ronet had quite a prolific career (as detailed on his profile at IMDB) and did a lot of routine films, as most actors do, but at his best he was supreme. He died in 1983 aged 55.

Life during wartime: Paris -v- Rome

Two contrasting looks at life in occupied cities during World War Two: Paris in IS PARIS BURNING? and Rome in THE SCARLET AND THE BLACK.

I have been on a Rene Clement jag recently, catching up with KNAVE OF HEARTS (MONSIEUR RIPOIS), THE SEA WALL, PLEIN SOLEIL and LES FELINS (THE LOVE CAGE) [all reviewed here] so I finally got around to that 1966 war movie IS PARIS BURNING? which he directed efficiently, with that huge cast of extras and mixing in newsreel footage cleverly with the action. Scripted by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola and shot in widescreen monochrome it should have made for an interesting, involving story, but sadly not. It was not a hit at the time and one can see why now.
The dvd blurb states: "As the Nazi jackboot maches through Europe, the freedom fighters of Paris mount a brave resistance. An insane and desperate Hitler sends a top general to determine if the Nazis can hold the city, if not Paris will be burned. This epic film boasts an international cast of screen legends .... and is a staggering portrait of heroism and brotherhood and one of the most rivetting stories to come out of World War II."



In fact the narrative is wildly confusing, there seems to be interminable sequences of shoot-ups and tanks catching fire, tension is minimal. This was the era of the big budget all-star war movie: Darryl Zanuck's THE LONGEST DAY, Carl Foreman's THE VICTORS, Carlo Ponti's OPERATION CROSSBOW, and this co-production for Paramount, followed by OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR, THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN and A BRIDGE TOO FAR., among others. This one though wasn't one we rushed to see back in 1966 despite the cast.

American stars pop up for a moment: Kirk Douglas, Glenn Ford, Robert Stack as military brass; Anthony Perkins and George Chakiris (just glimpsed at the end) as foot soldiers and as for the natives: there is a moment with Simone Signoret as a cafe owner, Montand in a tank, Delon and Belmondo in a couple of talky scenes (they get a moment together to showcase their first teaming); Leslie Caron is effective in a harrowing sequence as the woman trying to save her husband from being deported in a crowded train to a concentration camp. Best are Orson Welles as the Swedish ambassador and Gert Froebe as the German commandant tasked by Hitler to burn Paris if the Allies get too near .... its all efficiently done but would at 160 minutes have been a pain to sit through in a cinema. I dare say Clement did what he could with the material.

Much more involving and exciting is THE SCARLET AND THE BLACK, a superior telemovie from the '80s about the similar Nazi occupation of Rome and their resistance, led by Irish priest Father O'Flaherty, who was (this is a true story) based at the Vatican in 1943-45 and had been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His diplomatic status in a Catholic country prevents his arrest, but O'Flaherty's activities become so large that the Nazi's decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican. O'Flaherty continues his work in a variety of disguises. The older Peck is ideal here as we side with him playing his cat and mouse games with the Germans. His adversary is an icy Christopher Plummer as the hissable bad guy, ruthlessly determind to control Rome - a city of "priests and whores" as he tells Peck, however the proud Nazi will need a very special favour at the end. He and Peck have some splendid set-pieces, and also riveting is John Gielgud - usually content to glide through cameo roles on autopilot - as the troubled wartime pope Pius XII. Its a splendid piece of casting which Gielgud makes the most of. Good support too from the likes of Raf Vallone and Gabriele Ferzetti. Highly recommended. Directed by Jerry London, 1983.