“ACE IN THE HOLE” - Billy Wilder
Wilder does it again. And so does Kirk. Both of these men are not afraid to show the seamy side of human nature: selfish, exploitative, greedy. And tell me that Wilder’s not prescient. Did he call it or not? The media circus in this movie seems like it’s ripped from the today’s headlines as they milk the life out of this story
and the trapped miner. Billy Wilder...I love you.
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“ANNE OF THE INDIES” - Jacques Tourneur
I dunno. I can’t quite see sleek simmering Jean Peters call her agent and say:
“Get me a pirate script. I want to play a pirate.” But what’s more fun than to play a pirate? She’s on the wrong side of the law, the boss of a crew of men and cruises around the high seas of the Carribbean. It’s a fun movie.
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“DETECTIVE STORY” - William Wyler
This movie is a time bomb. And Kirk Douglas is the bomb. Yes it’s stagebound but the story’s in the characters, not the landscape. Character actors rock this drama and they’re all in top form, especially William Bendix. Kudoes to Eleanor Parker who is always one to watch. A good character study of a detective who metes out justice. But his rigidity cannot withstand the truth.
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“HIS KIND OF WOMAN” - John Farrow
Mitchum and Russell together. What a physically imposing pair. But that’s not ( the only reason ) why it’s a favorite. I like it because it’s a fun romp. This movie has everything: two gorgeous leads ( man + woman ); comic hammy relief ( a la Vincent Price ); and Raymond Burr as the handsome heavy. Throw these ingredients in a blender, mix ‘em up and you get ‘puree’ entertainment.
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“PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN” - Albert Lewin
What happens when a heart-breaking, jet-setting, international playgirl who treats men like toys, falls in love. James Mason is the Dutchman who looks for a needle in Eternity and finds Ava. I have a long and short answer for this favorite of mine.
THE LONG ANSWER: I love the romance of Love...what one does for love...dying for love.
THE SHORT ANSWER: Ava Gardner. Seeing her here is proof Ava is the most beautiful woman in motion pictures in the 1950’s.
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“A PLACE IN THE SUN” - George Stevens
George Stevens gives a class in Filmmaking 101 as he visually walks us through the story of Boy Meets Girl, Boy Meets Girl
...of his Dreams, Boy Loses Everything. ( Elizabeth Taylor’ll do that to a guy. I marvel at the deck stacked against Monty. ) What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
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“STRANGERS ON A TRAIN” - Alfred Hitchcock
Hitch is on my list again. He ratchets up the suspense when he shows two strangers on a train kibbitz about exchanging murders. Only one man is kidding. The lighter...the Great Dane on the stairs...the carousel. Come on...you know you rooted for Bruno to get Guy’s lighter. Say, didn’t your mother tell you not to talk to strangers?
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“A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE” - Elia Kazan
Brando’s animal magnetism viscerally leaps off the screen. Vivien Leigh’s Blanche DuBois comes undone, and it’s the most devasting thing I will see in this decade.
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“THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD” - Howard Hawks
Sci-fi with the Hawks touch. A community under attack by something from...another world. And this time it's not Communists. Tension. Terrible terrible tension as folks are picked off by
...something.
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“WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE” - Rudolph Maté
We’re coming into the sci-fi era and that’s my genre too! If it crawls, grows gigantically, is not human, or is metaphysical, I’m there. Nature gone atomic, or worlds ending. And Barbara Rush to boot. It’s a sci-fi Noah’s Ark, and desperate people take desperate measures to get off the planet. Why do I feel Mankind
still won’t have learned its lesson in another world
