Legend of the Lost, 1957 (Grade C-)

Director: Henry Hathaway

Any Awards?  none that I know of--it isn't that kind of movie--ie one that would win an awayd

Cast:  John Wayne; Sophia Loren; Rossano Brazzi; Kurt Kasznar; Sonia Moser; Angela Portaluri; Ibrahim El Hadish

PLOT: good/religions man (Brazzi) need a guide (Wayne) to take him into the Sahara Desert to locate the treasure that his father told him was there. A lost woman (Lorn) returns to virtuous ways under Brazzi's tutelage an joins them on the quest in the desert.  After many adventures Brazzi finds the treasure but also learns his father was not the hero he had thought he was-- this drive Brazzi crazy--throws Loren into Wayne's arms--and things get desperate as there three try and find there way out of the desert.


sez says: Color Cinematography by Jack Cardiff makes this a watchable film-- he was amazing. And the Ben Hecht Scree play added a little oomph..but John aye is John Wayne in the American SW or on the Sahara, so itis no wonder that some classify this as a WESTERN, even though it was filmed in Libya. And all of them stayed might tidy and clean for having spent so much time in the desert...white shirt are still white even after weeks wondering in the dust.   Wayne had a trust mule named Janet--that was--well, very John Wayneish 


mjc says: as you watch it close your eyes.  John Wayne's voice and Sophia Loren's Italian accent will fill your visions of the Dukes every gesture and Sophia's full lips -- on second though forget the movie and just stick with your imagination

A Star Is Born, 1958, (Grade C-)

Director: George Cukor

Any Awards?  Yes, Lots of them Academy Awards; Golden Globes, BAFTAs --and multiple AFI top 100 lists 

CAST:  Judy Garland; James Mason; Jack Carson; Charles Bickford; Tommy Noonan; Lucy Marlow; Amanda Blake; Irving Bacon; Hazel Shermet. 

STORY (SPOILER ALERT) -- hard working singer has come along way--(having made it to being the lead singer with an orchestra), following her muse but she hasn't made it yet (her dream is to be a singer, record a record and get played on the radio) She is 'discovered' by a big-name drunken actor who says her dreams are too small.  She follows his lead--which include a few travails that result from his drinking-- and eventually becomes a BIG STAR. He agrees to quite drinking if she will marry him--and so they get hitched.  But his career falters.  He returns to drinking when he is accused of sponging off his wife.  She decides to give up her career to nurse him--he can't have that and commits suicide.  She is distraught and is going to give up everything until a buddy comes along and says she is doing her dead husband's memory wrong if she doesn't use the talent that he discovered.  So she goes back to work.

sez says: First be aware that this is a 3 hour movie...long.  And I am sure everyone was happy to see Judy Garland back in the movies after her long absence due to drugs and drink. This being esp so in a movie that deals with the ravages of drug/alcohol addiction.  (She being on the care taker side in the movie--as opposed to being the addict, as she was in real life.)  She has one scene where she tells her producer that she loves her husband and hates him too becasue he keeps making promises to quite and then doesn't..and the tears in her eyes and the intensity of her feeling are clearly not acting. She knows this situation well and brings the audience right into midst of this painful reality. That scene alone is --in my opinion-- why she--and this movie--got the awards it did.  I say that because the rest of the movie is just not all that good.  It is spotty. Some of her performances were o.k.--  The Man That Got Away, in the first half is the best. But you gotta like her singing more than I do to appreciate all of the songs.  And, Garland is a pathetic actor.  She did a really bad job in the first half as young woman--she became a more believable character in the second half--but you've got to watch a lot of ho-hum to get to the second half.  In sum, this is just  not my cup-of-tea.

MJC SAYS:  James Mason was credible as a has-been actor, but the movie is approx 2 hours too long.: 

The Vikings, 1958 (grade D)

DIRECTOR Richard Fleischer
Awards?  none that I know of
CAST:  Kirk Douglas; Tony Curtis; Ernest Borgnine; Janet Leigh; James Donald

story line:  This was one of 1950's largest-grossing films. It is full of slam-bang action from start to finish, with Kirk Douglas and Ernest Borgnine as a couple of Norsemen who rape and pillage the British countryside. Tony Curtis is their slave (who is really Borgnine's son -- offspring of a long ago rape of a British Queen..so he is of royal bloodlines from both enemy camps).   Curtis and Douglas (brothers) have eyes for the beautiful British princess Morgana (Curtis's real-life wife, Janet Leigh) -- and she prefers Curtis -- Odinnnn! they cry. and ohhhh noooo I cry.

sez says: we just came home from a visit to Scandinavia, so I've been reading about Vikings..plus I just saw a documentary of Jack Cardiff (the cinematographer for this film), and I have a strong memory of seeing this as a child and thinking it was great.  So I was really looking forward to viewing it.  Well..was I ever knocked off my feet --this is possibly the most sexist movies I have ever seen.  Did you know that men enjoy sex most when they are engaged in rapping them?  No joke, that is a part of this story.  And beating women is for their own good...and and it does not stop there.. it is really distressing even to watch.  And there are lost of really boring and long battle scenes.  Kirk Douglas does his own stunts...for what that is worth.  And Cardiff's camera work is impressive. He was a genius in the early use of technicolor--but you have to be pretty interested in the history of film technology to get off on that because it is hardly even noticable when compared with what can be done today.