piapia Reviews

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Spielberg tried to do a Kubrick film and failed.

[7/10 · 4 November 2001]

I'm a Spielberg fan. But I like Spielberg pictures, and A.I. is not a Spielberg film bur a Stanley Kubrick film, which is something altogether different. Spielberg inherited the project from Kubrick and that explains the failure, because he tried to make a mixture of E.T. and 2001.The first part of the film is charming, in the same way that E.T. was charming, and the second part tried not to be cryptic, as Kubrick would have made it, and it ended in confusion. The character of the "mecha" child is charming, and so is the boy actor who plays it, But what the devil was that Teddy bear?. Perhaps Spielberg needed it, but the film did not. The gaudy "Flesh Fair" of the second part is too long, too noisy and not very credible. The mecha gigolo that escorts the boy through that part is definitely repugnant, the introduction of fairy tale elements is an act of desperation on the part of a filmaker who doesn't know what to do next with his characters. And the boy... Will he be destroyed? Is he condemned to live forever in a state of loneliness? Steven Spielberg found a magnificent climax for his first creature in need of love: E.T. But poor David is doomed. He is immortal, learned to love, but won't be loved. The end of the movie is literally a dead end.

Address Unknown (1997)

A false premise, but a very entertaining and well acted and directed film

[7/10 · 8 August 2000]

Address Unknown is a very enjoyable film, especially because of its intelligent direction of actors, and the talent and personality of its two chief teenagers: Kyle Howard and Johnna Stewart, even if Howard looks younger than his character and himself are. I expect to see more of them. The trouble with this film is that once you have seen it and enjoyed it, the falseness of its initial sequence is evident. What were those two characters doing with a bag of U.S. Mail? Why was it in their hands? Why was it so important to them since it did not contain anything of real value, except a letter from one of them that was important only to the recipient?

Children of Heaven (1997)

A piece of neo-realism as moving as The Bicycle Thief

[9/10 · 10 April 2000]

Neo-realism was the school of cinema developed by the Italians just after World War II. From 1945 to approximately 1954, directors like De Sica, Rossellini and Zampa delivered masterpieces like Open City, Paisan, To Live in Peace, Shoe Shine, The Bicycle Thief, Umberto D and Miracle in Milan. But the Italian (not the World) audiences got tired of seeing poverty and everyday problems and demanded something more sophisticated. Federico Fellini added imagination to the down-to-earth themes of Neo-realism and gave the world a new concept of cinema. Neo-realism, it was said, was proper to poor, not to wealthy cinematic industries. It this was son, Iranian Director Majid Majidi accepted the challenge, and has made Children of Heaven, the most moving and perfect piece of neo-realism that has been filmed outside of Italy. The story is much like that of The Bicycle Thieves: it's a pair of shoes that are stolen. But Majidi has provided us with the most wonderful performances from children that the screen has ever seen. A great story, magnificent color and camera work,perfect actors both children and adult, and a firm direction that never misses an opportunity to engage and captivate the audience. I have never seen a better motion picture from that part of the world.

Miss Mary (1986)

Bad editing ruined a fine picture

[15 November 1999]

Miss Mary was meant to be an excellent motion picture. It is well written, with intelligent dialogue, the color photography is stunning. The cast was well chosen and includes some of the best Argentine players, who brilliantly support the wonderful work of Julie Christie. Maria Luisa Bemberg has shown her directorial talent before.

But... this picture in completely incoherent. The editor makes the action go back and forth, inserting flashbacks that could have been more comprehensible if shown in the natural order. Miss Mary is a movie with no sense of time. We never know if the sequence we are watching happens in 1938, in 1945, or in between. We never know when the action goes from the "estancia" to Buenos Aires. It has been a loss for the art of the cinema, that modern editors have forgotten the classic grammar of the great directors of the past, such as the fading ins and fading outs that indicated the pass of time, and now limit themselves to cut and cut and cut. The sense of continuity and the sense of time have been lost. And Miss Mary is a sorry example of what has happened to movie editing since the 70's.

Night People (1954)

Everything is all right except the story

[6/10 · 2 November 1999]

This is an extremely well done motion picture. The first directorial job of longtime writer Nunnally Johnson revealed a fine talent which created suspense and captures the audience minds without resorting to chases and explosions. Everything happens indoors, and it is question of brains not of fists.

A magnificent job by Broderick Crawford and Gregory Peck, and a well done investigation into cold war minds, all about the kidnapping by the Russians of an U.S.Corporal in Berlin, in order to exchange him for a couple of elderly Germans wanted supposedly by former Nazis in the service of the Soviets. Everything works wonderfully, until one asks why didn't the Russians kidnap the couple in the first place and save all the trouble.

Curiously, this was nominated to an Oscar for best original story... It lost, and the award went to Philip Yordan for Broken Lance, which was based not on an original story but in the screenplay Yordan had written in 1949 for House of Strangers, from a story by Jerome Weidman.

Deep in My Heart (1954)

The least pretentious but the best written, acted and directed of the musical biopics,

[4 October 1999]

This was the last of the musical biographies made in Hollywood.

They had falsified the lives of Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, so they looked up Sigmund Romberg, whose old fashioned but very sweet music had been lost in silly librettos. Note that his musical shows have not been revived in decades. But MGM put this biography in the capable hands of screen writer Leonard Spigelglass, who decided to tell the true but simple story with a tongue-in-cheek approach, and of first rate director Stanley Donen, who made miracles chiefly by employing a cast of people who really knew how to act. Especially Jose Ferrer. The result is a movie that manages to ring true, and not a sleep-inducing hit parade. Romberg was a composer for the twenties, full of viennese nostalgia like Friml and Herbert. None of them could survive the jazz invasion of the musical comedy, but their songs are always popular, naturally out of their theatrical context. Deep in my Heart deserves to be seen.The songs are still highly enjoyable, and Donen, Spigelglass, Ferrer and the rest of the cast gave their best to the film.

Mélo (1986)

A trite melodrama made into a mesmerizing movie

[8/10 · 2 October 1999]

If the chief merit of Last Year at Marienbad was to hypnotize the viewer with a story that may or may not have happened or be happening, director Alan Resnais achieved the same effect fifteen years later with Melo, a trite play from the boulevard theatre of Paris. The eternal triangle, wrapped in pretentious dialogue which was the trade mark of playwright Henry Bernstein. To admire Resnais achievement, one has only to look at the previous film from the same source: Paul Czinner's Dreaming Lips (1936)starring his elfin-like wife Elisabeth Bergner, a very good melodramatic film with a magnificent work by Miss Bergner and Raymond Massey, but nothing more. The Resnais film hypnotizes you and forbids you to apart your eyes from the screen, simply by moving the camera among the characters in close-up after close-up, while they deliver an extremely intelligent but not specially profound dialog. A six-minute close up of André Dussolier while he tells a story, is only one of the astounding achievements of the director in treating a film as if it were a play and at the same time treating a play as if it were a film. We have even a curtain between the acts. But the marvelous camera movements make all the difference. I know nothing about Sabine Azema (except that she won the French Cesar award for her work in this film) but certainly her performance in Melo is something that anybody would like to tell about to his grandchildren. The film is slow, but you don't feel it as slow, because all the performers are taking their work seriously, and giving their best to their parts. Melo proves that Alain Resnais is a true artist. Many have tried to do something like Melo, but only Resnais has succeeded. I must be fair and declare here that I did not care a bit for Hiroshima mon Amour.

Gabriel Over the White House (1933)

A political fantasy with fascistic overtones

[8/10 · 12 September 1999]

I remember having seen this movie when I was very young, and it impressed me then as propaganda for President Roosevelt's New Deal. Now I know better, and have read something about its real history. William Randolph Hearst had become an FDR fan, and had this picture made by his Cosmopolitan productions, affiliated with MGM, in order to express what he hoped the new President would do. MGM's boss, Louis B. Mayer, a staunch Republican, shelved the picture until after the Roosevelt inauguration. Now we can see that what Hearst expected FDR to do by dictatorial means, the President achieved as a real believer in Democracy. The picture is intelligent; Walter Huston's performance, brilliant, as well as the supporting work by Karen Morley and Franchot Tone (was this his movie debut?). The direction by Gregory LaCava, exceptional, as he managed to make the audience believe in such far-fetched and unbelievable sequences as the "war" against racketeers with courts martial included, but he could not avoid the allusions to the Archangel Gabriel sounding ridiculous. Anyhow this a curious motion picture, and probably the most politically inclined ever made by a major Hollywood studio. But the fascistic leanings of Hearst could not be hidden, not even by a producer as liberal in politics as Walter Wanger.

The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953)

Charming, but not up to the Ealing standards

[7/10 · 16 August 1999]

The Titfield Thunderbolt is one of the last among the famous comedies made by the Ealing Studios under the command of Sir Michael Balcon. It is as charming as the best of them, and as absurd as the best of them, but not as funny, the presence of a great cast of British comedians notwithstanding. The trouble was that, for the first time, the absurdity of the situation was not made believable. Writing, direction and acting were too self-conscious. Perhaps Alec Guinness was missing. Anyhow, the leitmotiv of Ealing: the small winning their wars against the big, was exquisitely portrayed, the Technicolor cinematography was a delight and the picture highly entertaining. It was always better an Ealing comedy from the second drawer than no Ealing comedy at all, or a first drawer comedy from any other provider.

Jane Eyre (1997 TV Movie)

The worst of all possible jane eyres.

[6/10 · 10 August 1999]

"Jane Eyre" is a great romantic novel, full of passion as all the novels of the Brontë sisters, and with a terrific story to tell. This version, the third I have seen, has no passion, no mystery and apparently no direction. Robert Young has treated the Brontë world as if it were the world of Jane Austen. I recently saw the 1944 and the 1970 versions (the Robert Stevenson and the Delbert Mann ones). The Stevenson opus had the advantage of a really powerful cast. Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles understood and projected all the passion and the mystery of the novel. Besides, it had a marvelous musical score by Bernard Herrmann. The 1970 film had at least a passionate Rochester in that great actor George C.Scott. But this one! I don't believe any woman in her right mind would fall in love with the prosaic, colorless, inexpressive man that a very bad actor, Ciaran Hinds, could project.And the leading lady, Samantha Morton, is not only plain (as Jane Eyre is described in the book), but totally unattractive and only a passable actress. I felt I was not watching a film, but having the book read aloud to me. The only element that can be saved of this unfortunate "Jane Eyre" is the color photography and some natural but already hackneyed scenery. See the 1944 version and forget about the others. It is still a classic film and a clear demonstration of what can be done with a classic novel when there is talent behind and in front of the camera. Let's not forget that Aldous Huxley was a co-author of the '44 screen play. What a great film after 45 years. The responsibles for the '97 version should take cover.

The Sword and the Rose (1953)

Not a swashbuckler but an enchanting romance

[8/10 · 5 August 1999]

This is not an action picture, but an enchanting historical or pseudo-historical romance taken from a Charles Major novel which was very popular, especially with women, many decades ago. It tells the story of Mary, the sister of Henry VIII who was married to king Louis XII of France. But the movie tells chiefly of his love for a commoner, Brandon, and how it eventually succeeded. An excellent reconstruction of the ambiance and ways of living,of the English Court in the 16th century, a screen play full of humor (incidentally, what became of the scenarist, Lawrence Edward Watkin, whose thirties novel "On Borrowed Time" was such a delight?), magnificent photography, all this contributes to make The Sword and the Rose one of the better Disney films. But what makes it exceptional, is the magnificent performances of Glynis Johns and James Robertson Justice. In Miss Johns' hands, Mary is a woman every man would be proud and satisfied to fall in love with. And the Henry VIII of Mr Justice justifies comparison with Charles Laughton's.

Conquest (1937)

When the film leaves Walewska behind to follow Napoleon, it drags.

[6/10 · 12 July 1999]

Ever since I first saw "Conquest" back in '38, I've been convinced that the first half of the film is a magnificent production, while the second half is terribly slow,as Clarence Brown's films always tended to be. The magnificent opening, with the cossacks invading the Walewski Palace, is typical of the best Clarence Brown, even if reminds you of Josef von Sternberg's "The Scarlet Empress". The trouble with the picture is that it starts telling the story or Marie Walewska, and in the middle leaves Walewska (and Garbo!) behind to tell us the political and military fall of Napoleon, which it does very badly. It is typical of this Garbo film, that its best scene omits her, and is a verbal duel between Charles Boyer and Maria Ouspenskaya. Garbo is magnificent, but Boyer was a more talented performer, and is the only actor ever to "steal" a picture from her. Magnificent production, a screen play that has no unity, and a direction that drags, conspire to make you admire Garbo, Boyer and Ouspenskaya during the first half, and sleep through the second.

The West Point Story (1950)

The ultimate Cagney performance.

[8/10 · 9 July 1999]

A silly story, forgettable songs and a poor stage show of cadets on parade. But what fun! The best thing Doris Day did while at Warner Bros. The most alive performance of Virginia Mayo ever. And James Cagney at his best, dancing, fighting, arguing and filling the picture with his legendary personality. It must be seen to be believed. Cagney, the street boy, the gangster, the tough guy, shines and sparkles in musicals. His performance here is as good if not better than the one that earned him an Oscar (Yankee Doodle Dandy). And this, immediately after his brilliant, hideous, terrific work in White Heat. What an actor! What a dancer! What a performer! It is impossible to define the fine qualities of Roy Del Ruth direction: the man who made some of the better (Folies Bergere de Paris, Broadway Melody of 1936, On the Avenue) as well as some of the worse (Du Barry was a Lady, Broadway Rhytm) musicals in Hollywood history, excelled in West Point Story,working with a screenplay that was only bright dialogue with no story to speak of. See it and understand how Hollywood in its golden age, knew how to make gold out of plumb.

Alfred the Great (I) (1969)

It succeeds both as history and as cinema.

[9/10 · 27 June 1999]

When this picture first appeared en 1968, several critics complained that it had not make up its mind whether to be a swashbuckler or a lesson of history. After all this years, it is easy to see that it succeeded in both accounts, and also as a depiction of the psychological development of its chief character. Perhaps in 1968 swashbucklers were supposed to be only action, movement and blood, and the serious treatment given to this movie was ahead of its time. even in its careful explanation of the strategy Alfred employed to defeat the Danes in one of the better staged battles the cinema has seen since Griffith gave us Gettysburg in 1915.David Hemmings' work as Alfred is brilliant, and Michael York gave here what was perhaps his finest performance in films. A misunderstood movie, that deserves to be recovered after 30 years.Of course, director Clive Donner should be given almost all of the credit.

The Moon Is Blue (1953)

Not controversial nor important now but highly amusing.

[8/10 · 19 June 1999]

The Moon is Blue broke the Moral Code of the Hays Office and started its liquidation, not by its content, but by its use of words that were not accepted by the code, such as virgin and seduction. For that reason, it was important and controversial in 1953. But at that time, the original play by F.Hugh Herbert was a Broadway hit like many other F.Hugh Herbert and Norman Krasna plays. A run-of-the-mill comedy with practically no story but plenty of funny situations. The movie version, whose risqué dialogue, both writer Herbert and director Otto Preminger refused to alter, is still funny and still amusing, because it is clever and merry. The movie is a fine example of photographed theater, but the camera movements and the direction make the movie move. In fact, The Moon is Blue is the best work of actual direction that Preminger achieved in his career, not only for the movement of camera but for the movement of actors and the perfect performances he extracted from William Holden, David Niven and the lovely newcomer Maggie McNamara (whose tragic story would make a good TV film). After so many years, The Moon is Blue is a delight to watch from every angle except that of content and significance.

Emma's War (1987)

The slowest and most erratic picture I can remember

[5/10 · 7 June 1999]

I like Australian movies. They are alive. But Emma's War is a failure. They never made up their mind about whose war they were portraying; Emma's or her mother's. There are many stories in it and it ends with no story. The initial sequences at the Teosophic School are completely pointless and soon forgotten. The episode of Emma's mother and the US sailor has feeling and good performances. But when the family decides to go to the country, the picture becomes a shambles, and a new story emerges, that of the conscientious objector. Did Australia really treat its conscientious objectors as traitors? Anyhow, this third episode is the only one that has any connection with the movie's title. And it is left unresolved. A very fine performance by Lee Remick (how beautiful she still is!), and a very interesting one by the lovely Miranda Otto is all I would save from what is, besides, the slowest and most tiresome picture of recent years.

A Song to Remember (1945)

As bad as any of the musical biographies made in Hollywood.

[6/10 · 28 May 1999]

A Song to Remember looks bad now not because it is 54 years old but because it is bad and, notwithstanding its blockbuster reputation, it was bad in 1945. The story is a falsification of Fredric Chopin's life. The miscasting of muscular Cornel Wilde as the consumptive composer is a travesty. And the over-acting of Paul Muni, uncontrolled by the director, is an insult to the intelligence and good taste of the spectator; besides, too much footage is dedicated to him. The magic is, of course, the music, the way Jose Iturbi plays it, and the magnificent color and art direction. But the writing, the direction and the acting are all abominable.

Stage Door Canteen (1943)

The perfect cinematic reflection of an era.

[8/10 · 23 May 1999]

I am old enough to have seen Stage Door Canteen when it first appeared.It was a morale booster, and nothing more than a delightful musical with a lot of big bands and performers. But after more than 50 years, it is not only a wonderful piece of nostalgia, but the perfect reflection of an era and of the spiritual climate of the war years. It is now that I can understand that the miracle is that Frank Borzage was called to direct it. All the classic Borzage feeling is present, and the sentimental master was able to make gold out of Delmer Daves' sentimental dialog. I wonder why these two gifted gentlemen did not collaborate again. I strongly recommend that every old timer who remembers the war years, the forties, the music, the bands and the feeling, should see again this picture which has become a magnificent piece of authentic nostalgia. I own it and intend to see it again and again.

Swept from the Sea (1997)

A picture for those who care more for sound stories than for special effects

[9/10 · 18 May 1999]

The British have dedicated themselves lately to film their wonderful 19th century novels: Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, and have come now into the 20th for a Joseph Conrad short story with a strong 19th century flavor. It's their answer to the special effects-oriented Hollywood film. And they are catering to the older audiences, those who care more for story values and literary qualities than for the display of technical advances in films. Any one who cared for Sense and Sensibility, The Return of the Native and Persuasion, will have a real feast in Swept from the Sea. The Conrad story is beautiful, and the adaptation is intelligent. A memorable musical score by John Barry, the breathtaking photography and the magnificent scenery are real assets for those who pursue an esthetic experience in the movies. Old fashioned? Perhaps. But the emotional experience is second only to that of Wuthering Heights, which it resembles in certain secondary aspects. Forget the unfavorable reviews you may have read, practically all of them oriented toward teenagers. Swept from the Sea is a film for mature audiences.

The Westerner (1940)

Big production but absolutely unbelievable

[7/10 · 10 May 1999]

The Westerner enjoys a big reputation, due to two persons: Gregg Toland and Gary Cooper. I am a great admirer of Walter Brennan, but what he did in The Westerner was the same thing he had been doing for years, without adding anything which could have justified a new Oscar for him. Nobody can believe the first sequence in which Cooper escapes being hanged by the infamous Judge Roy Bean by making believe he is a friend of Lily Langtry. This could have worked, had Wyler treated the whole picture as a parody, which in a certain way it is. The climax, in the empty theater is still more unbelievable than the first sequence. I have read somewhere that Cooper did not want to make this picture, and it was Wyler that convinced him. The trouble is that Wyler does not appear to have been convinced himself, except in the dramatic even tragic sequences: the spectacular fire, for example. It is a pity that the charming Doris Davenport retired after three films; she showed promise in The Westerner. Anyhow, it has the wonderful photography one always expected from Gregg Toland, and is terrifically entertaining.

Lady with Red Hair (1940)

Again, Claude Rains saves a motion picture

[7/10 · 5 May 1999]

I had seen Lady with Red Hair back when it appeared, and didn't remember it as something to cherish. The truth is that, notwithstanding its base in a true story, its screen play is silly and unbelievable. The real merit of the picture is the cast. A constellation of some of the best supporting players of the 30's and 40's make a background for the delicate, intelligent work of the always underrated Miriam Hopkins, and the wonderful, spectacular performance of Claude Rains, who, as usual, is the best thing in the picture. What an actor! He never won an Oscar, but he is in the good company of Chaplin, Garbo and Hitchcock. Perhaps Lady with Red Hair contains his best work in films. See it and enjoy him.

I Confess (1953)

The trouble is that the story is intriguing but has no suspense.

[6/10 · 26 April 1999]

There are not worse mystery stories than those that are resolved by a confession. This picture starts with a confession, and starts well. But the very complicated, and very absurd story's denouement is another confession: The real murderer confesses by shooting people. Hitchcock himself said to Francois Truffaut that he did not remember why he bought the old play in which this picture is based. Lots of coincidences do not construct a suspense story.The picture is saved by the performances of Montgomery Clift (even if it is slightly monotonous), Anne Baxter and Anny Ondra. Imagine a Hitchcock picture without humor!

Daughters Courageous (1939)

The resumé of the kind of values the dream factory encouraged.

[6/10 · 25 April 1999]

This merely acceptable movie depicts the kind of moral and social values Hollywood was encouraging during the aftermath of the depression. The "Daughters" series had better production values and less clowning than the Andy Hardy ones. But Daughters Courageous manages to present the family values as terrible dull. As dull as the daughters' beaux. The picture itself is nothing. The four daughters are as interchangeable as the pieces of an Erector set. The only positive features are John Garfield and Claude Rains. Garfield caused the picture to be made, and repeated unashamedly his character of Four Daughters, with less redeeming features. His performance had the high standard to be expected of him. But the real star of the picture is Rains. His part is not very well written; the Epsteins and Michael Curtiz forgot to explain him and his motivations. But what an actor! He gives life to the picture, makes you love one of the most despicable characters in movie history, and you go all the way with him even if you know that he is poison to the whole life of his former wife and former(?) daughters. One cannot root for the sort of dull life Fay Bainter, Donald Crisp, the daughters and the daughters' beaux embodiy. But you cannot root either for the kind of social irresponsibility Rains and Garfield represent. But, anyhow, the picture is very entertaining and Priscilla Lane was adorable.

The Hunter Will Get You (1976)

A good thriller but the denouement is not explained

[6/10 · 7 April 1999]

A good thriller, with a very good cast and Belmondo at his best. Excellent photography, and everything you may wish, but a very important thing is missing: How did Belmondo identify the criminal? Nothing is explained. He just happens to find him, and we are not part of the secret. It is a pity, for the picture was doing well, and is very entertaining. But the rating of 8 went down to 6 in the two or three last minutes. The French are good at this type of thing, and Belmondo excels. But in this case they committed the unpardonable sin.

The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)

A fine example of what Hollywood has forgotten how to do

[9/10 · 4 April 1999]

"The Stroy of Louis Pasteur" is an example of Hollywood's Golden Era at its best. The first of the Warner Bros "biopics", it can boast of a great performance by Paul Muni, with none of the mannerisms that became a trade mark in the last and sorry years of his career. It was an example of the "good citizenship" that Warner Broa boasted of: a highly educational film that at the same time was very entertaining. The screen play was masterful and won the Oscar it the deserved. Authors Sheridan Gibney and Pierre Collings were able to dramatize scientific struggles and investigations. This was also the beginning of the most fruitful period in William Dieterle's career, an from that moment on he shared with Michael Curtiz the top assignments at Warner. It is now known that The Story of Louis Pasteur was made with a very low budget. You don't notice it. It is a wonderful show, as was the following year "The Life of Emile Zola" and, with some reservations, "Juarez" in 1939. There are notable performances in the picture by Fritz Leiber and Akim Tamiroff among others.