Re: Bad Movies You Love
Posted: March 8th, 2011, 6:58 pm
We mustn't neglect the delightful subject of bad movies we love.
One movie that is pretty unforgettable if you have ever seen it was The Miracle (1959), directed by Irving Rapper (Now, Voyager, Rhapsody in Blue, Marjorie Morningstar) starring Roger Moore and Carroll Baker. Based on a medieval poem and traditional pantomime, in the 20th century it was a German language play by Karl Vollmöller that had been first staged in 1911 and later in 1924 in New York to worldwide acclaim by Max Reinhardt in a unique and spectacular staging designed by Norman Bel Geddes. Wolfgang Reinhardt (Max's son) had originally hoped to film the play in 1944 in a four hour version for Warner Brothers, though not surprisingly, that was shelved--not just until the end of the war, but the end of the '50s! (It had been made into silent films, a 1946 Spanish language film and has been remade a couple of other times as well.
I am actually a total sap for movies about miracles or saints or anything vaguely spiritual, but this one sort of strained my credibility with the OTT shenanigans blended with romantic swooning. I hope that my gentle mockery doesn't offend anyone's beliefs, especially since I tend to share some myself, though Hollywood really missed the boat on this one. Despite my quibbles, The Miracle is fun though I don't believe it has been shown on TCM nor is it available on commercial DVD as far as I know, though you can find VHS copies and DVD-rs occasionally.
What's good about the movie:
A great cast in support of the rather underwhelming leading players: Walter Slezak, Katina Paxinou, Isobel Elsom, Vittorio Gassman. A good, rousing score by Elmer Bernstein and beautiful cinematography (in something called Technirama, which apparently wasn't enough, so they added Technicolor too) by Ernie Haller and two good looking young leads who have a strange, operatic and heedlessly romantic way of throwing themselves into the story--even if restraint might have made it work. It's a wild ride through one last gasp of lavishness, believe me. Better yet, see for yourself in the clips I've posted below. They do capture something that English-speaking movies are embarrassed by usually, so I can't help wondering of this might have been a fantastic movie if made by a Spanish, French or Italian director with a sense of grandeur.
What's uh...questionable about the movie:
The acting, the dialogue and the dramatic logic of the cast of thousands, from the Madonna of Milles Flores to a satanic looking pickpocket Walter Slezak to the reluctantly blessed lamb trying to run away from the Blessing of the Animals (you had the right idea, lamby).
I like Roger Moore a good deal even though I never thought he was exactly a born swashbuckler. He always seemed to be a jaunty, good light comedian as an actor, though at this stage of his career, he was far too beautiful to appear on screen with anyone other than Elizabeth Taylor. In the lavish costumes they put him in (Moore in his memoirs says this movie was originally a big budget production, but the bean counters lost their minds when they realized how much it would all cost if they filmed in Europe as planned, so the back lot and locations around California stood in for Spain, France and Italy.
Carroll Baker never seemed to have a grasp on the character, or her spiritual or romantic conflicts, though she sure looks tortured in this part. To be credible, her character might have gone over with audiences if an Audrey Hepburn had played the role--though, oops, Audrey had already played a nun in that decade, hadn't she? I suspect that Baker took this role as a kind of counterbalance to Baby Doll--though with Something Wild (1961), the actress returned to her grittier Method Acting roots, (though another "great" bad movie, Harlow also loomed in her future). Baker was always hampered, at least to me, by that twangy, child-like voice of hers, and she was completely unequipped to suggest that her initially introverted character might have a believable inner life. Mostly, she reminds me of someone cast in a school pageant at the last minute.
Spoilers Below*Spoilers Below*Spoilers Below
In a nutshell the plot updated by Frank Butler and Jean Rouverol's screenplay of The Miracle re-told an old legend about a sheltered Spanish postulant (Carroll Baker) who has been having doubts about her vocation as a nun. Set in the Napoleonic era, Sister Teresa prays for guidance, but overcome by passion, runs away from her convent with a dazzling English soldier, Michael (Roger Moore), whose wounds she has tended at the convent after a nearby skirmish. and subsequently has several mystical adventures, eventually leading to her being accused of witchcraft. During her absence, a roaring thunderstorm erupts and the statue of the Virgin Mary in the convent's chapel comes to life and steps down from her pedestal, taking the nun's place in the convent, until her safe return. Mary appears in the radiant form of the erstwhile Teresa to all who see her in the convent, hanging around impressing the heck out of her fellow nuns with her extreme otherworldliness. Of course, while the BVM is off her pedestal doing time as Teresa, there is no rain and the crops and animals die precipitously. Meanwhile Teresa, who is now a camp follower of Michael's army, falls in with a band of gypsies (led by Vittorio Gassman's oily Guido the Gypsy who guffaws and slaps his belly to show he's lusty) once she hears that Michael has been killed in battle. Denouncing God for being so cruel to her, Teresa, in the course of this movie has affairs with, among others, the Duke of Wellington's nephew, a Frenchman, a bullfighter. She is eventually taken up by a Count who finances a career as an opera singer!
Guess who isn't really dead? Michael the Magnificent (who appears in gold and white uniforms no matter where he is, He is eventually reunited with Teresa, but she is now more determined than ever to return to her proper place in the convent as a bride of Christ--especially since the people near the convent really need rain, and the BVM needs to to get back on her pedestal.
[youtube][/youtube]
You can see more scenes from this whopper of a movie here.
One movie that is pretty unforgettable if you have ever seen it was The Miracle (1959), directed by Irving Rapper (Now, Voyager, Rhapsody in Blue, Marjorie Morningstar) starring Roger Moore and Carroll Baker. Based on a medieval poem and traditional pantomime, in the 20th century it was a German language play by Karl Vollmöller that had been first staged in 1911 and later in 1924 in New York to worldwide acclaim by Max Reinhardt in a unique and spectacular staging designed by Norman Bel Geddes. Wolfgang Reinhardt (Max's son) had originally hoped to film the play in 1944 in a four hour version for Warner Brothers, though not surprisingly, that was shelved--not just until the end of the war, but the end of the '50s! (It had been made into silent films, a 1946 Spanish language film and has been remade a couple of other times as well.
I am actually a total sap for movies about miracles or saints or anything vaguely spiritual, but this one sort of strained my credibility with the OTT shenanigans blended with romantic swooning. I hope that my gentle mockery doesn't offend anyone's beliefs, especially since I tend to share some myself, though Hollywood really missed the boat on this one. Despite my quibbles, The Miracle is fun though I don't believe it has been shown on TCM nor is it available on commercial DVD as far as I know, though you can find VHS copies and DVD-rs occasionally.
What's good about the movie:
A great cast in support of the rather underwhelming leading players: Walter Slezak, Katina Paxinou, Isobel Elsom, Vittorio Gassman. A good, rousing score by Elmer Bernstein and beautiful cinematography (in something called Technirama, which apparently wasn't enough, so they added Technicolor too) by Ernie Haller and two good looking young leads who have a strange, operatic and heedlessly romantic way of throwing themselves into the story--even if restraint might have made it work. It's a wild ride through one last gasp of lavishness, believe me. Better yet, see for yourself in the clips I've posted below. They do capture something that English-speaking movies are embarrassed by usually, so I can't help wondering of this might have been a fantastic movie if made by a Spanish, French or Italian director with a sense of grandeur.
What's uh...questionable about the movie:
The acting, the dialogue and the dramatic logic of the cast of thousands, from the Madonna of Milles Flores to a satanic looking pickpocket Walter Slezak to the reluctantly blessed lamb trying to run away from the Blessing of the Animals (you had the right idea, lamby).
I like Roger Moore a good deal even though I never thought he was exactly a born swashbuckler. He always seemed to be a jaunty, good light comedian as an actor, though at this stage of his career, he was far too beautiful to appear on screen with anyone other than Elizabeth Taylor. In the lavish costumes they put him in (Moore in his memoirs says this movie was originally a big budget production, but the bean counters lost their minds when they realized how much it would all cost if they filmed in Europe as planned, so the back lot and locations around California stood in for Spain, France and Italy.
Carroll Baker never seemed to have a grasp on the character, or her spiritual or romantic conflicts, though she sure looks tortured in this part. To be credible, her character might have gone over with audiences if an Audrey Hepburn had played the role--though, oops, Audrey had already played a nun in that decade, hadn't she? I suspect that Baker took this role as a kind of counterbalance to Baby Doll--though with Something Wild (1961), the actress returned to her grittier Method Acting roots, (though another "great" bad movie, Harlow also loomed in her future). Baker was always hampered, at least to me, by that twangy, child-like voice of hers, and she was completely unequipped to suggest that her initially introverted character might have a believable inner life. Mostly, she reminds me of someone cast in a school pageant at the last minute.
Spoilers Below*Spoilers Below*Spoilers Below
In a nutshell the plot updated by Frank Butler and Jean Rouverol's screenplay of The Miracle re-told an old legend about a sheltered Spanish postulant (Carroll Baker) who has been having doubts about her vocation as a nun. Set in the Napoleonic era, Sister Teresa prays for guidance, but overcome by passion, runs away from her convent with a dazzling English soldier, Michael (Roger Moore), whose wounds she has tended at the convent after a nearby skirmish. and subsequently has several mystical adventures, eventually leading to her being accused of witchcraft. During her absence, a roaring thunderstorm erupts and the statue of the Virgin Mary in the convent's chapel comes to life and steps down from her pedestal, taking the nun's place in the convent, until her safe return. Mary appears in the radiant form of the erstwhile Teresa to all who see her in the convent, hanging around impressing the heck out of her fellow nuns with her extreme otherworldliness. Of course, while the BVM is off her pedestal doing time as Teresa, there is no rain and the crops and animals die precipitously. Meanwhile Teresa, who is now a camp follower of Michael's army, falls in with a band of gypsies (led by Vittorio Gassman's oily Guido the Gypsy who guffaws and slaps his belly to show he's lusty) once she hears that Michael has been killed in battle. Denouncing God for being so cruel to her, Teresa, in the course of this movie has affairs with, among others, the Duke of Wellington's nephew, a Frenchman, a bullfighter. She is eventually taken up by a Count who finances a career as an opera singer!
Guess who isn't really dead? Michael the Magnificent (who appears in gold and white uniforms no matter where he is, He is eventually reunited with Teresa, but she is now more determined than ever to return to her proper place in the convent as a bride of Christ--especially since the people near the convent really need rain, and the BVM needs to to get back on her pedestal.
[youtube][/youtube]
You can see more scenes from this whopper of a movie here.