A Tale of Two Cities, 1958 (Grade C)

Director: Ralph Thomas
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin, Paul Guers, Marie Versini, Ian Bannen, Cecil Parker, Stephen Murray, Athene Seyler, Alfie Bass

sez says:  We've been watching all the versions of this Dicken's classic that we can find.  This one is  watered down to the 'love story' --there is a "back story" on Madame LaFarge (how her family had been mistreated - murdered by the Evremondes) that is missing from other versions--but this version of the story leaps over other aspects of the tale to hold Carton's love for Lucy as the center piece -- the French Revolution is just a backdrop for that love to be demonstrated. Ho Hum -- Derk Bogart did a good job -- but there is nothing exceptional here.  Grade C

La Strada, 1954 (Grade A)

Director Frederico Fellini
Awards? - Nominations for Academy Awards and BAFTA awards
Cast: Anthony Quinn; Giulietta Masina; Richard Basehart; Also Silvani; Marcella Rovere; Livia Venturini.

sez says: I have known about this movie for years but I'd never taken the time to see it till now. What a treat.  It deserves all the praise it has received.  It is wonderful. Anthony Qninn did a pitch perfect job of being a hard, cruel man who lives on the thin edge of survival and who has no warmth or kindness to offer anyone.  Giulietta Masina offers a character entirely unique. A woman who is somewhat slow and who lives such a narrow existence  as to not even know why she should go on living -- but she is also able to find joy in tiny moments and actions where many would miss its existence. What she can convey with a sinlge change in facial expression is fabulous. 
It comes to a point where she questions continuing her life and Basehart's character tells here even the smallest pebble has a meaning and a purpose: She sets herself to do what no one else can do -- that is, to love Quinn.  What happens from there is agonizing and profound.  Events lead to her death and the film ends with Quinn weeping on the beach.  But it is not depressing.  It is a relief to see him recognize that there can be more to life than what he has known. That she is gone is sad: but that he has at long last experienced love provides a kind of joy. She accomplished her purpose.  And what was his purpose? Maybe it was to bring her into the world where she discovered and spread bits of joy,   And by staying her course, she brought Quinn to a knowledge of the possibility that life can offer gifts that he had never known--his life could have ended never knowing anything but harshness if it were not for her...thus the film ending with him weeping on the beach turns out to be a celebration of hope. (Grade A)

Bigger Than Life, 1956 (Grade C)

Directory Nicholas Ray
Awards--not that we know of
Stars: James Mason; Barbara Rush; Walter Matthau; Robert F. Simon; Chris Olsen; Roland Winters; Rusty Land; Rachel Stephens; Kipp Hamilton

sez says: My dad didn't need cortisone to act like Mason does in this film when he is all hopped-up on the new wonder drug cortisone.  Indeed, without drugs my father had tendencies toward being the same kind of Ubermensch-maniac that Mason portrays.  So excuse me if I find it hard to report without bias about a movie that tries to depict a man like this.  All I could think was what the HE-double-LL-- is his wife doing? Call the doctor and get out of there. But truth is, in the 1950s women were not so likely to act independently--men were suppose to be in charge--and most women were in fact economically dependent on their husbands. So exposing a spouse's misbehavior to the outside world could be a bigger threat than the raucous behavior that was going on behind the doors to your house.   Barbara Rush's acting was awful. And Mason's was not as good as he was capable of. But, sorry for me and my siblings and for her too, my mother's behavior was not unlike that depicted by Rush.  But then the movie is suppose to be about the dangers of miracle drugs--esp if not dosed correctly --and that continues to be a problem today.  (Grade C)

The Human Condition: Part One, Two & THree - NO GREATER LOVE, 1959 (Grade A)

Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Stars:  Tatsuya Nakadai
note: runs 3 Hours and 28 minutes, first of three parts, B&W

SPOILER ALERT -- story facts are given away here.

sez says: Part One & 2: this is a brutal story to watch. A good man, assigned the duty of being a boss, tries to find a moral / humanist path through the thicket of a forced labor camp. How does one develop just labor policies and practices for prisoner's of war, non-combatants, who are forced to work in mines for the war effort (being waged against their own people)?  Our hero tries...and he wages a long hard fight to do the right thing in the face of corruption, jealousy, sadism, prejudice, the demand for increasing output with less and less labor, etc.  This is a masterpiece but it is not entertainment. It is harsh, but compelling and I am looking forward to the next part. Grade A

sez says: just saw part 3&4 -- now our hero is in the army--part 3 is about the sheer and utter brutality of the military --people are treated terrible ways.  We all have seen lots of American boot-camp movies, this makes American discipline look light weight.  Not only are people constantly being beaten but they are being humiliated and, interestingly, the experienced troops out-trump the officers in many cases. They are shown to have a power unto themselves which is beyond the reach of the officers becasue the officers must rely ion them-and IF they refuse an officer's orders the officer is lost --so a balance of power exists. In this case the balance is played out in how much abuse the new recruits will receive.  Of course our hero is on the side of the new recruits and he tries to protect them and train them without brutality--all the time getting beat up himself for his efforts.  In part 4 they go into battle... and the ending comes when our guy is the only one left alive --and he has has, in the process of the battle, killed one of his own.  -- It is slow moving and powerful stuff-- (it is a LONG LONG movie) that is full of stark images that will stay with you. Be warned this is not light weight and it is an immersion gien the time you have to spend with it. Grade A

sez says --ok we did it--we watched the last 3 hours-ie part 5 & 6. this is depressing stuff. Our hero is trying to get back home to his life--and we get to walk with him, and see the horror around him, for about 100 miles across the tundra, through forests, into battles, and a POW camp. All around him women are being mistreated terribly--and all he can think about is his wife and how much he wants to get back to her. He has mixed feelings about if Russia can really stand for the values he has tried to live by--and in a nightmarish scene he tries to talk to Russian officers--but his translator refuses to translate honestly--so he can not understand or be understood.  It is a long drawn out and depressing end.

The Great Caruso, 1951 (Grade D)

Director: Richard Thorpe
Awards --Academy Awards for Sound, Costume, Score
Staring: Mario Lanza, Ann Blyth,

sez says--"Does the man own the voice or does the voice own the man?"  That's the define line in this movie. And that is punctuated with aria after aria.   There is no real story here, except: rich girl marries a famous peasant who is also a famous singer -- dad does not approve.  Then the singer (Caruso) died young.  Not my cup of tea -- but if you really like Opera you might like it. (My grade is D)

Imitation of Life, 1959 (Grade C+)

Director, Douglas Sirk
Starring: Juanita Moore; Lana Turner, Sandra Dee, Troy Donahue; John Gavin
IMDB Link:  Imitation of Life 1959

sez says--wow--what a change from the 1930s version! This is almost an entirely different movie: still purportedly about racism--and still racist. Again a black woman and a white woman, both with daughters, live together and form a close relationship--but this time not as partners in a pancake business (1930s story)--but as a famous actress and her maid who is also a close friend (1950's story.) In the 1950s version men are much more present at least in the white woman's life. The maid has no men at all in her life.  The white woman has to battle men who want to control her--she succeeds at keeping them at bay, but she is sad as a result--and her daughter (whom she loves more than any man --same both movies) --lambastes her for being ambitious and absent and not a good mother.  In the mean time the black woman (Juanita Moore) happily scoots around the house, cooking up a storm, running baths for the white women. rubbing their feet..etc. The black woman's daughter, a light skinned woman, wants to pass for white (same in both versions) and this brings about all sorts of suffering and shallow conversation about race--and the 'pain' caused by being black.  Lots more could be said about the story--but it really is something people ought to see and talk about so we can all come to an understand of how racism has evolved in our society.  Finally can't close without saying that Lana Turner was not much of an actress, nor was John Gavin.  Juanita Moore ran rings around them out there on the boards.  Grade C+

mjc says:  Sandra Dee is cute; Lana Turner is allowed to be as old as she is; the house in the suburbs is spotless thanks to the crew of black servants, including the purported friend of the "mistress" of the house, who refuses to simply accept the rewards that come with supposedly having helped a friend in need who made it big.