Reviews by Citizen Caine

A wonderful Hitchcockian murder-mystery, essentially Rear Window with a visually impaired Val Johnson replacing Jimmy Stewart and a microphone instead of a camera. Set in London, we have Johnson's dejected playwright trying to sort out his relationship with Vera Miles, whilst trying to come to terms with his blindness. Upon visitng his local pub, he partially overhears a conversation that he is sure will put a young woman's life in danger and what follows is an investigation into kidnapping and murder. Cecil Parker is Johnson's assistant and Goldfinger's Martin Benson has a small but very important part. Some parts are slightly incoherent but the climax is thrilling, the plot keeps you guessing, the leads are fine and it's all in glorious CINEMASCOPE, accompanied by a fantastic score. Fabulous, not to mention some beautiful photography.

4/5

Once you can get past the constant screeching, wailing and rediculous overacting in the utterly attrocious first act, there's probably a decent adaption of Arthur Miller's play in here somewhere - which there should be considering Milller wrote the screenplay. I won't get into the play's modern relevance (there isn't really any social commentary), post-McCarthyism, but Winona Ryder isn't very convincing as the manipulative Abigail and neither is the realtionship between her and an otherwise very good Daniel Day-Lewis as John Proctor. However, things really pick up by the time we get to act III and Paul Scofield is magnificent as Danforth. The final scene is immensley powerful but doesn't make up for the lacklustre first hour in which the fates of many of the characters, namely Tituba, are never seen. A score would probably have helped this film out.

I was appalled after watching ”the brothers Strause’s” Aliens Vs. Predator : Requiem last weekend. As a big fan of Ridley Scott’s original 1979 phallic imagery-filled sci-fi horror, I couldn’t understand how a movie like Requiem could ever have been thought of as a good idea to make. After James Cameron’s Aliens, which was essentially Full Metal Jacket in space without the satire, it was expected that each subsequent sequel would be brawn over brains. Sure, Aliens is an exhilarating and very enjoyable film, but the intellectual intensity of Alien is missing. David Fincher’s Alien3, which in my opinion is a very underrated but flawed flick, at least took the Alien Saga away from the fanboyish but fun elements of Aliens and remained similar in tone to the original. Not content with that, French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet took the fourth film, Alien Resurrection, back to the balls-to-the-wall action of Aliens. So, 4 films in, we have a tie at brains 2, brawn 2 and it’s been a thrilling match.


And then we get to Alien Vs. Predator, an ill-fated idea to merge two horror icons together in one film adaption of a comic book. The ideas are good (ancient civilisations for one) but the lack of characterisation, excitement and genuine horror, missing since Alien3 is woeful. And thus came Requiem, a horrible, horrible mess of a film. It’s so far removed from it’s inpspiration it’s hard to imagine just quite what the filmakers were thinking of, other than money of course. No plot. No characters. No acting. No anything. Not to mention, Requiem is so dark, that if you were to watch it with the sound muted, it would be like watching a blank screen. Where are the excellent cast members like John Hurt, Ian Holm or Yaphet Kotto of the original? Where are the characters we can emotionally connect with like Newt, Hicks or even Bishop from Aliens? Where is the dark gothic tone and thrilling climax of Alien3 ?. Hell, I’d even settle for the muddled satirical elements of Resurrection. The Alien series has become an instant cash-in. No matter the quality, it’s assured that any film tagged with the Alien or Predator name will make a hell of a lot of money. Still, there’s hope on the horizon; Ridley Scott’s prequel is in the works, but to counter that, so is AVP 3. Bet whatever happens, at least we won’t go from ‘chestbursters’ to ‘headbursters’ like in Italian rip-off Alien 2 : On Earth. It’s time for the Aliens’ true resurrection.

Here's an interesting concept for a film : an Italian-French production about a fictional Portuguese colony in the caribbean starring Marlon Brando as an Englishman. Throw in a haunting score by Ennio Morricone and you've got Queimada, also known as Burn! outside Italy. Brando plays a British agent, very loosley based on American William Walker, who along with first time Columbian actor Evaristo Márquez as José Dolores, a resistance fighter, overthrow the Portuguese rule so the Brits can control the island to "put sugar in their tea". Brando disliked working with Pontecorvo, but his excellent performance is not undermined by this and Pontecorvo crafts scenes of visual power. The ending is slightly bizzare, but this is still a compelling tale. A forgotten classic that deserves to be seen.

4/5

Sensational. A tough, tense British gangster thriller with a superb Richard Attenborough who has a hell of a presence playing 'Pinkie' Brown, the leader of a group of mobsters, clearing up a murder racket. Caught up in the mess is the lovely Carol Marsh (who unfortunately died early this year) who falls for Pinkie, unaware that Pinkie is not in love with her. The working class struggle of post war Britain and devout Catholocism are both explored in detail here, along with a great supporting cast including old Bill Hartnell (who would go on to play a gangster again in Hell Drivers), lead up to a thrilling and harrowing climax. The change to the final scene, differing from the novel (albeit, I haven't actually read it), is a welcome addition. Truly unforgettable.

4/5

A gritty Texas-set drama containing Paul Newman's allegedly finest performance on film. Whilst he was certainly excellent, I prefer him in roles like Butch Cassidy or Henry Gondorff in The Sting. The rest of the cast are superb, especially Melvyn Douglas and Patricia Neal. Even though the film is named after Newman's character, I feel the main focus of the film is Brandon De Wilde's character, Lon, and his transformation through adolescence to adulthood, his relationships with the people around him (his love for Neal's Alma, his close bond with his grandfather, Douglas) and his ambitions in life, somewhat stilted by his Uncle Hud's own characteristics and desired ownership of the ranch. James Wong Howe's cinematography is nothing short of astonishing, and remains the best aspect of the film in my opinion - God knows why Ritt didn't use him again for The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. A solid, enjoyable film.

Pretty damn good. Only my second Preminger after Laura but my favourite so far. It has a very clever and well-written plot that gets well-respected Gene Tierney caught up in a shoplifting scandal that leads to murder and blackmail. José Ferrer makes an excellent villain, Richard Conte is decent as Tierney’s husband and there is good support from Charles Bickford and Rope’s Constance Collier. Preminger seems almost reliant on long sequences, which is by no means a criticism as the scene with Tierney hiding the recordings is magnificent. However, the confession scene and onwards proves to be the downfall of the film and the proceeding scenes seem overdone, (particularly when Tierney starts to remember everything) and the climax is almost a copy of Laura’s, even if it is tense. Still, there’s plenty to enjoy – the showdown between Ferrer and Conte is terrific.

H.G. Wells’ novel is brought to the big screen here with an excellent Rod Taylor as a Victorian Englishman who feels that the key to the human races’ present problems (Britain was facing defeat in colonial South Africa) is by heading into the future. The new year’s day of 1900 section of the film is wonderfully done, it’s clearly a lavish production, as Taylor’s scientist friends including Vertigo’s Tom Helmore are invited to his home, brimming with timepieces of all shape and sizes, and the log fire on a snowy winter’s day keep things cosy. The first time travelling sequence is superb as Taylor ascends through both world wars and onto a nuclear holocaust in 1966 (!). However, the destruction of Earth (complete with fire wardens in snazzy suits) starts the films’ fast decline in quality, the effects are very, very dated. Taylor eventually ends up in the 810th century, complete with an Aryan- like race and Star Trek style creatures and falls in love with a very pretty Yvette Mimieux but by then, the film is unfortunately starting to drag. Overall then, a film that is very much of its time (no pun intended) and a decidedly mixed, but pleasant, bag that's visually very nice.

3/5

From the opening title sequence panning up Raquel Welch's legs, this is everything a sixties spy movie should be - colourful, full of beautiful women, exotic locations (Spain is used nicely) and a nice title track. But it’s a spoof. Welch turns in a brilliant performance as Fathom, a skydiving ace, sent by British intelligence to find a nuclear bomb triggering mechanism which turns out to be an expensive Chinese relic, hunted by many all claiming to be allied agents. The resourceful and strong-willed Fathom is thus torn between 3 men (Anthony Franciosa, Ronald Fraser and Clive Revill, who is particularly rediculous ) all with villainous qualities, as to who is the real detective. I suppose the film plays out like a cross between The Man From U.N.C.L.E and Once Upon A Time In The West, but the whole affair is rather tedious after awhile. It’s worth seeing for Welch and the terrific bull-fighting scene but the humour really, really falls flat on its face and the climax drags on and on.

2/5

On the surface it's just a low budget zombie film. The fact that it became the defining film of its genre ,and even a social commentary at a moment of civil-rights unrest in the United States, just goes to show that great films can be made without a lavish production schedule. Sure, the acting isn’t great. Whilst Duane Jones is pretty good, it’s his character that really sets the film alight (quite literally too). He plays an intelligent, brave, resourceful anti-hero who also happens to be black, something completely unheard of at its time. He even breaks all the bigoted rules by slapping white girl, Judith O’Dea (who gives the best performance in the film). I love the whole concept of the characters seeking the house for shelter from the ‘ghouls’ as it adds a familiarity and normality to the fantasy. Great score, plenty of good shocks, gripping plot and well directed all up to the chaotic final scenes (the little zombie girl and the shovel is chilling). A bona-fide classic.

5/5