Moreau: Eve & Nathalie Granger

"Welsh writer Tyvian Jones (Stanley Baker) seems to have it all, 60s style: an international best seller, an apartment in Rome, holidays in Venice, a lovely fiancé Virna Lisi, but he is bitter anyway, He meets his existential match in ennui in the mod seductress Eve, played by Jeanne Moreau, who was never more cynical or iconic. Decked out in pointy pumps and heavy eyeliner, listening to Billie Holliday on scratchy LPs as she counts lire and smokes endless packs of cigarettes in strangers’ bedrooms, she is the epitome of frayed glamour. An emotional tyrant, Eve’s cruelly casual maneuvering forces Baker to confront his past – and his weaknesses – as a man and as an artist.

When the Hakim brothers (the notorious producers of PLEIN SOLEIL and BELLE DE JOUR) handed Losey a fat contract and a pulp potboiler by James Hadley Chase, Losey was sure it was his break. After years of tighly budgeted British programmers he hoped EVA would be his ticket to the glossy world of international cinema. But while Losey’s final cut was hailed by critics as equal to his masterpiece THE SERVANT, it was barely released and remains largely unseen after 30 years.Losey disowned the producers’ version, 15 minutes shorter than his own,

Losey’s original version (titled EVE) is now included on dvd, along with the Hakim’s cut. The only surviving print of the original longer version is a Swedish/Finnish release print with Swedish/Finnish subtitles and English dialogue."

Thus went the cover notes on the combinded dvd of EVE and EVA, Joseph Losey's 1962 film set mainly in a wintry Venice. Catching up with it is a fascinating experience now. Losey had done those thrillers like THE SLEEPING TIGER, TIME WITHOUT PITY and the excellent BLIND DATE in 1959 (which I like a lot, as per Losey label), and also THE CRIMINAL and that Hammer oddity THE DAMNED. EVE / EVA is his third with Stanley Baker (who would also co-star with the other Losey regular Dirk Bogarde in ACCIDENT in 1967) and Moreau was at the height of her European stardom. It seems though like a very disjointed odd film - perhaps Losey imagined he too could do an arthouse "sick soul of Europe" movie in the style of Resnais or Antonioni - then the height of intellectual cinema. EVE now though looks and plays like a parody of an early 60s arthouse flick.



Large parts of it seem unintentionally funny, Baker glowering and occasionally hitting Moreau when she provokes him too far - there is no logical ending or conclusion to their story, as it looks like she is going to keep on humiliating him as he keeps coming back for more. One extended sequence fascinates - as Baker and we the audience watch her arrive in her hotel room, she puts on the Billie Holliday record, messes up her hair, lights a cigarette, plays with a cat and finally goes to bed ... then Baker's hands encircle her throat - we wonder briefly if this is real or a fantasy or is he going to finally kill her ... but no, on and on they go. He turns out to be a hollow man - is it really his brother's book he is passing off as his own? How many admirers does she have at all those endless casino nights? There is too a wintry funeral in Venice, anticipating Roeg's DON'T LOOK NOW a decade later. Moreau is a fully realised character in films like LA NOTTE and BAY OF ANGELS, (reviews at Antonioni and Demy labels), and in those Malle and Truffaut films, but here she is merely a cypher whom we do not get to know or understand at all. It points the way to Losey's next film though: THE SERVANT where all his themes of class and decadence would come together perfectly - lots of mirror shots here too. Later after he and Bogarde and Baker had gone as far as they could in British cinema, he teamed up with the Burtons for another pair of oddball films and thence to Europe to Delon and Romy Schneider, Montand (and Moreau again in MR KLEIN). Losey - a martinet and a sadist, according to critic Alexander Walker who knew him well - made so many interesting films which remain fascinating viewing - EVE or EVA certainly is. As I relate in other posts on him, I saw him and the Burtons on stage in 1970 when they were furious that SECRET CEREMONY which had been a box-office disaster had been recut and sold to television!

NATHALIE GRANGER - Marguerite Duras's 1975 puzzle film; to some it is a tedious boring mess, others find it a rivetting minimalist drama. I only know after watching it one remains in its unique mood for ages afterwards. It creates an atmosphere of unbearable tension, depression, grief, apprehension, as we watch two women living with some unexplained trauma, in a waiting that never ends (though the film is quite short). Something to do with the mother's anguish over a violent, abnormal daughter who is Nathalie Granger (whom we hardly see). The radio announces that the police are looking for a pair of depraved teenage boy killers on the loose in the local woods. Did they kill someone in the family? Or are they perhaps family members? Do the two women know something about these boys that the police don't? The shots suggest the house and garden is being watched ... A numbed mood separates them from the world outside in front of the house, and the equally claustrophobic garden at the back where they dully burn leaves. Great actresses are denied the opportunity to act, as they sit around staring dully into space or move from room to room in a trance. By bizarre contrast, the young Gerard Depardieu drops in as an awkward vacuum cleaner salesman who tries to sell them a hoover, as they blankly stare at him - it is like something out of Pinter or Beckett commenting on the futility of life.



Moreau - usually the protagonist in her films, seems to do nothing here, she just sits and observes and she is just titled the Other Woman - is she a friend, neighbour, lover of Lucia Bose who seems to be the owner of the house? Good to see Bose again here after catching the re-issues of those first two Antonioni features this year (CHRONICLE OF A LOVE AFFAIR, THE LADY WITHOUT CAMELIAS). A fascinating experiment then in what looks like real time from the ever-fascinating Marguerite Duras (author of THE SEA WALL - both versions of which are reviewed here, Silvana Mangano and Isabelle Huppert labels).

Below, right: Duras with Moreau (who took to directing herself with the fascinating LUMIERE in 1975).


Soon: Moreau with Gerard Philipe in Vadim's 1959 LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES, and those other Philipe films like THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA, THE SCARLET AND THE BLACK, POT BOUILLE, LES FEMMES DE NUIT, LA RONDE, FANFAN LA TULIPE etc; my favourite KNAVE OF HEARTS and LOVERS OF MONPARNASSE are reviewed at French and Gerard Philipe labels.

People We Like: the great dependables ...

Jack Hawkins [1910-1973]. No wonder when Howard Hawks was casting LAND OF THE PHAROAHS in ’55, he chose Jack for his Pharoah, he has the required natural authority here to be a very commanding Egyptian king. No wonder when William Wyler was casting BEN-HUR he chose Jack for the part of the Roman admiral Quintus Arrius. Again, Jack was perfect here, and no wonder when John Ford was casting his GIDEON OF SCOTLAND YARD in ’58 Jack was the obvious choice for the police commander – which led to all those cop dramas on television. Hawkins it seems always had that natural authority which made him ideal for military men in war dramas and costumers. Odd to think that when young he and Jessica Tandy were married to each other. Other great Hawkins roles of course include his Allenby in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (below), THE CRUEL SEA, ZULU, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, with Loren in JUDITH, with Ty Power in THE BLACK ROSE (1950), MANDY, THE MALTA STORY, LORD JIM, WATERLOO and he is perfect as the leader of THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN in 1960. I won't mention the dreadful SHALAKO or GREAT CATHERINE in '68!
An aside: a lot has been written about the supposed "gay subtext" inserted by Gore Vidal in BEN HUR, concerning Boyd and Heston, but I wonder if they did not have a word with Jack too, as although his hobby is training fighting men in Rome, he practically slavers when he sees the hunky Ben at the oars, and that whole scene and the ones following are all about Hawkins and his attraction to Heston. Is it just me or is that whole "ramming scene" very suggestive .... later Ben is like his hunky boyfriend when they arrive in Rome and Hawkins then "adopts" him, giving Ben his signet ring - it's almost like a civil partnership ceremony! Hawkins though lost his voice in 1966 but continued acting with a voice box and being dubbed (usually by Charles Gray). A brave man indeed.



Trevor Howard [1913-1988]. Trevor was a star and a leading man for a long time, and then like Hawkins and James Mason had a good run in the 60s in strong supporting parts and kept busy right until the end. One always knew one was going to enjoy any movie with Trevor. He was married to actress Helen Cherry and seems to have been a bit of a hell-raiser in his time, but what an actor. I like him as the young leading man in THE GOLDEN SALAMANDER, ’49 with the teenage Anouk Aimee, and THE CLOUDED YELLOW, in 1950 with Jean Simmons, after his breakthrough roles in BRIEF ENCOUNTER (he is just right as Alec Harvey), GREEN FOR DANGER, THE WAY TO THE STARS, THE THIRD MAN and for Lean, his lover coming back into the life of married Ann Todd in THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS in 1948 (a recent discovery, and several of Howards are reviewed here, as per label). THE HEART OF THE MATTER and OUTCAST OF THE ISLANDS are also key roles, as are his African roles in THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN for Zanuck by Huston, and Jack Cardiff’s THE LION in 1962, where his gruff manner is perfect. I like RUN FOR THE SUN with Jane Greer and Widmark in ’56, where he is he Nazi holed up in the jungle, and his evil villain in INTERPOL with Anita Ekberg and Vic Mature in ’57. Then there were Carol Reed’s THE KEY with Loren and Holden, and of course SONS AND LOVERS for Cardiff where he and Wendy Hiller are ideal as the warring parents. He crops up in OPERATION CROSSBOW, is ideal in THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (top with Harry Andrews), and BATTLE OF BRITAIN, and of course back with Lean in Ireland for that priest in RYAN’S DAUGHTER. He was re-united with Celia Johnson for that nice telefilm STAYING ON in 1980. Then there was Wagner for Visconti in LUDWIG in ’72 with Silvano Mangano as Mrs Wagner, Losey’s A DOLL’S HOUSE as Dr Rank, STEVIE with Glenda Jackson, and a schmaltzy Christmas movie CHRISTMAS EVE with Loretta Young in ’86. These are just a few in a long and varied career – and of course his Captain Bligh opposite Brando in the ’62 MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY. They don’t really make them like Trevor any more.



Nigel Patrick [1913-1981]. Nigel was a dapper gent, very insouciant, bred in the theatre and had a some good movie roles in the ‘50s and ‘60s. He is ideal as the teacher who regrets carrying on with Michael Redgrave’s wife in Rattigan’s THE BROWNING VERSION in 1951, and the test pilot who marries Ann Todd in Lean’s THE SOUND BARRIER in ’52, as well as Mr Jingle in THE PICKWICK PAPERS, young Audrey Hepburn’s husband in YOUNG WIVE’S TALE in ’51, and the test driver who wrecks his racing car for love of Ava Gardner in PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN. He pops up in RAINTREE COUNTY in ’57, and that year stars in and directs a droll black comedy HOW TO MURDER A RICH UNCLE, which is too little known now. He is ideal as the police superintendent solving the mystery of SAPPHIRE, a race drama from 1959, and he is the defence council who defends Peter Finch’s Oscar Wilde in THE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE in 1960, a splendid performance, as is his turn with Jack Hawkins in THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN in 1960. Other roles of note were in ALL FOR MARY in ’56 and THE SEA SHALL NOT HAVE THEM, BATTLE OF BRITAIN as well as lots of theatre and television. We like Nigel a lot.

HOW TO MURDER A RICH UNCLE - Having also recently seen Charles Coburn again in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, Nigel Patrick in THE BROWNING VERSION and THE SOUND BARRIER, and Wendy Hiller again in I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING, it was a pleasure to see them together in the 1957 British comedy HOW TO MURDER A RICH UNCLE, directed by Patrick, who also plays the lead and is as splendidly insouciant as ever. He and wife Wendy are the impoverished aristocrats trying to bump off their American relation – Coburn – but every attempt goes wrong, leading to members of the family being bumped off instead. It is low key but nicely droll and should be a much better known black comedy. Supporting players are those wonderful eccentrics Athene Seyler and Katie Johnson (from THE LADYKILLERS), with a young Anthony Newley and an almost silent Michael Caine in one of his first bit parts. A Warwick film which Columbia used to distribute.



Harry Andrews [1911-1989]. Like Anthony Quayle Harry is another ‘great dependable’, equally at home as military men in any war film, or in costume in those ‘50s epics like his Persian king Darius in Rossen’s ALEXANDER THE GREAT in ’56, Balthor the advisor to Gina Lollobrigida’s queen in SOLOMON AND SHEBA, or Hector in the best film about HELEN OF TROY, in 55. He excels of course in ICE COLD IN ALEX, Lumet’s THE HILL, and again like the others here had a very prolific progidious career. He is just right too as the brother of Beryl Reid in the 1970 film of Orton’s ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE eager to get his hands on that enterprising young man. Then there were his roles in Huston’s MOBY DICK, Preminger’s SAINT JOAN, war films like A HILL IN KOREA, a little film I like REACH FOR GLORY with Kay Walsh in 1962 (I must report back on that one), Nick Ray’s 55 DAYS AT PEKING, NOTHING BUT THE BEST, Lumet’s THE DEADLY AFFAIR, THE JOKERS and so many others, BATTLE OF BRITAIN of course, Losey's MODESTY BLAISE with Vitti, and his Lord Lucan in Richardson’s THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE in ’68. Harry kept going until the end of the 80s. He was certainly a trouper.
An enduring memory of the ‘80s is an edition of “This Is Your Life” which was devoted to Harry – and to his, and our, astonishment, out walked Gina Lollobrigida in full Queen of Sheba dress, including that hair ornament, to thank Harry for helping her with her English during the shoot of SOLOMON AND SHEBA. Then she sat down next to a bemused Beryl Reid. Pity I didn’t get to video that…. His IMDB profile lists lots of theatre work with Gielgud and Olivier. I think Harry was what was mentioned then as a “confirmed bachelor” – it is always a pleasure to see him in any role, large or small.

Next: some great female dependables and a couple of dames!

A '50s Losey double bill

A pair of ‘50s Joseph Losey films: I remember seeing TIME WITHOUT PITY as a kid in 1957 and that it was a gripping drama, so was looking forward to seeing it again, but really it is just a potboiler, albeit a very well acted one with Michael Redgrave as the former alcoholic released from a clinic in Canada who flies to England just as his son (Alec McCowen) is due to be hanged in 24 hours for the murder of his girlfriend. Can the father find enough evidence in that time to prove his son’s innocence? What is the link beween the girlfriend and that wealthy Stanford family, presided over by Leo McKern as the domineering father, with Ann Todd as his wife, and son Paul Daneman, the friend of the condemned man. Redgrave and Todd are of course excellent as is Peter Cushing as the lawyer, but McKern is so over the top that he becomes totally annoying and exasperating. One hardly recognised the young Joan Plowright as a high-kicking chorus girl!



Much more in the Losey style is the 1959 thriller BLIND DATE which nicely captures that end of the 50s/early 60s era. I did not see this at the time but knew it would be a stylish movie, and so it proves. Hardy Kruger is the Dutch painter turning up for a liaison with the attractive, elegant French woman he knows as Jacqueline, only to find that she has been murdered and he is the prime suspect as the police start to investigate. Stanley Baker is the man in charge and we see in flashblacks how Kruger and his Jacqueline (the very elegant Micheline Presle) meet. It turns out of course that there are shady secrets among the upper classes and police chief Robert Flemyng wants the case quickly closed with the painter charged. As usual with Losey there are some great mirror shots, Kruger and Presle are an attractive pair and the resolution is quite neat. Losey was hitting his prime here, he went on to do 2 more with Baker (THE CRIMINAL and EVA with Moreau) and then began that run with Bogarde starting with THE SERVANT in ’63. BLIND DATE and THE SERVANT would be a terrific double bill....

Soon, a raft of other Loseys to see, re-see and review: FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE, A DOLL'S HOUSE, STEAMING, DON GIOVANNI, ASSASSINATION OF TROTSKY, EVA and that Burton/Taylor double BOOM and SECRET CEREMONY! Several of these were failures then but are cult movies now! Other Losey posts at label, including seeing him and Burton & Taylor in 1970.

Losey

They do it with mirrors! Some classic images from Joseph Losey films - like Visconti, most of my favourites worked with him ... Jeanne Moreau and Stanley Baker in EVE (1961); that classic image from THE SERVANT, 1963; Bogarde and Sarah Miles; Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in THE ASSASSINATION OF TROKSTY in 1972; Julie Christie in THE GO-BETWEEN, 1971; Bogarde, Baker, Vivien Merchant, Michael York, Jacqueline Sassard, and Delphine Seyrig with Bogarde in ACCIDENT, 1967; and Losey with Vitti, Bogarde and some of the MODESTY BLAISE cast, 1966.

Also, Elizabeth Taylor and Noel Coward in BOOM, 1967, and Mia Farrow with those two aunts Peggy Ashcroft and Pamela Brown in SECRET CEREMONY, 1968. I have written previously [Losey label] on how I saw Losey with Burton and Taylor in London in 1970 when they were protesting about SECRET CEREMONY which was not a success being edited and sold to television! Losey had a great late hit with his baroque verson of DON GIOVANNI, one of the best opera films.Other Loseys of note [and which I have written about previously] include, after his early Hollywood era, that 1954 thriller THE SLEEPING TIGER (his first with Bogarde), and TIME WITHOUT PITY, BLIND DATE, THE CRIMINAL, THESE ARE THE DAMNED, KING AND COUNTRY, FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE, and then his French era with Delon and Moreau in MISTER KLEIN and Montand in LE ROUTES DE SUD (only ever shown on tv once here in the UK) and his final, the intriguing STEAMING with Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles and Diana Dors, her last movie also, and his 1973 re-worked version of A DOLL'S HOUSE headed by Jane Fonda and Seyrig. His THE GYPSY AND THE GENTLEMAN for the Rank Organisation in '58 is a rip-roaring melodrama in vivid colours, like an updated Gainsborough picture with good roles for Mercouri and Flora Robson.

Fantasy double bill: Lizard / Ashes

LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN from 1971 is another of those steamy Italian giallo thrillers with heightened drama and piling on the exotica, by stalwart Lucio Fulci. I liked those two I saw a while back: SHORT NIGHT OF THE GLASS DOLLS with Jean Sorel and Ingrid Thulin and Barbara Bach, which was stunningly done and involving, and Sorel again with Carroll Baker in one of theirs, A QUIET PLACE FOR A KILL in 1970.

This one is all about Florinda Bolkan - that stunning Brazilian who came to prominence in Visconti's THE DAMNED in '69 and was the lead in De Sica's A BRIEF VACATION, as well as her Lola Montez in Dick Lester's ROYAL FLASH in '75 (see previous post....). Here she is Carol who is having very realistic dreams or nightmares where she is involved with the sex crazed lesbian who lives next door - cue lots of girl on girl action which takes a violent twist when the said neighbour is found stabbed to death, with Carol's fur coat and scarf nearby .... in Carol's nightmares she is the guilty party who then realises after the stabbing that she is being watched by two hippies who are out of their minds on acid.... What is real and what is fantasy or nightmare? Is Carol being set up? Carol dreamed the killing, and there are her prints all over the place. She claims she didn't kill her, but then who? Can Carol's father find out and put the blame? Will the police detectives solve the crime, which could be a set-up. There are several striking sequences such as Carol fighting her way through a crowded train corridor when suddenly all the other people on the train are naked....



Fulci takes the viewer on a convoluted journey through Carol's psyche, with the various endless corridors, winding staircases and labyrinthine buildings through which she finds herself being pursued (whether by actual physical forces or her own subconscious) reflecting her confused and deeply convoluted mental anguish.


The supporting cast is similarly excellent, combining famous British faces - an older Stanley Baker as the investigating policeman and QUO VADIS's Leo Genn (that dependable English actor) as her wealthy father, and as her husband giallo regular Jean Sorel who really has not too much to do here. The sets are opulent and there is that chase through the deserted Alexandra Palace, which features a bat attack clearly influenced by Hitchcock's THE BIRDS. Other London locations are well used too, and there is the usual Morricone score. The ending is quite a revelation....

What I actually enjoyed more was the 1965 British thriller RETURN FROM THE ASHES, a long unseen item, by stalwart J. Lee Thompson, shot in Panavision monochrome by Christopher Challis with a good score by Johnny Darkworth (who also did those scores for THE SERVANT and MODESTY BLAISE among others). This is an involving thriller heading by Ingrid Thulin terrific as ever as the woman returning to Paris from the concentration camps - we first see her on a crowded train unaware of her surroundings as an annoying child falls from the train, her tattoo visible on her arm. She books into a cheap hotel in Paris and even her old work colleague Herbert Lom does not initially recognise her. Before the war she had married an opportunistic chess player Maximilian Schell but is he really carrying on with her tease of a step-daughter Samantha Eggar?



It turns out that Thulin is now a very wealthy woman and Eggar and Max want to get their hands on it. Sam spots Thulin in the street and realises they could use her to pose as her mother, whom they believe died in the camps, to get their hands on the money. Ingrid goes along with this, not telling them who she really is. The plot twists and turns, with a very good bathroom scene, until final retribution. It is actually very enjoyable and the 3 leads excel. Highly recommended - if you can find it!