Film You may Have Missed (#16)

Night and the City (1950)

 

Directed by Jules Dassin who I’ve always assumed was French (with a name like that he should be) but was actually an American son of Russian immigrants. In my defence, he is best known as the director of the classic caper thriller 'Riffifi' filmed in France and made several European films after falling foul of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist witch-hunt of the early 1950’s.

Night and the City is one of the great black and white film noirs. Set in London it tells the story of small-time grifter Harry Fabian, played by Richard Wydmark, and yet another of his doomed get rich quick schemes. Herbert Lom, the then go-to actor for crooked foreigners, plays wrestling promoter Kristo.

Despite being essentially a Hollywood studio-financed film, it has the look and feel of the best of the European film noir genre, using on-the-fly location and night-for-night shooting that shows a gritty and dangerous London rather than the more usual tourist/travelogue backgrounds used in many films at the time. Dassin was helped here by having the veteran German cinematographer Max Greene (aka Mutz Greenbaum) behind the camera.

If you enjoy films about London’s criminal underworld or just very good noirs then this is a must-see.

Random Cutting - Oliver Reed Dies in Pub (1999)

Reblogged from my newspaper collection blog (mhill46-holdthefrontpage.blogspot.co.uk)

The Sun dated Monday May 3rd 1999

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What a shame that the star of ‘The Devils’, Ken Russell’s ‘Debussy’, ‘Women in Love’, ‘The Three Musketeers’, ‘I'll Never Forget What's'isname’, ‘The Trap’ and ‘Oliver!’ and so many others, should be remembered this way – Oliver Reed, the drunken buffoon in a silly hat. 

                

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I offer no apology for including this more fitting tribute, not from The Sun but a cutting from The Independent – Oliver Reed, the professional film actor.

Book You May Have Missed (#16)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (1962)

If you have seen and enjoyed the 1975 Jack Nicholson film based on the book and you want to take the experience to a whole new level, read the Ken Kesey book.

Where the film was romp led by Jack’s trademark grin, the book is told from the point of view of the traumatised and apparently deaf and dumb half-caste Red Indian (to use the language of the time) Chief Bromden.

Before writing the book the author spent time as an orderly in a mental hospital and had volunteered to take various drugs including LSD (Acid) in a controlled experiment, and he uses these experiences to give Chief Bromden’s paranoia about the ‘Combine’ (who he believes is trying to control his mind) a surreal reality.

This makes the book sound depressing, but it’s still a romp – only tempered by seeing everything through the Chief’s insanity which emphasises the battle between control and freedom.

Some online reviewers have criticised the book for being misogynistic but I think that this is the old problem of trying to impress current moral standards on previous generations of authors. It’s like criticising Dickens for his portrayal of the Jewish character Fagin – pointless. Another thing comes to mind – just because McMurphy attacks and humiliates Nurse Ratched, it doesn’t mean that Ken Kesey was a woman-hater; any more than Thomas Harris is a cannibal just because he created Dr Hannibal Lecter.

Anyway, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is a damn good read.

Film You may Have Missed (#15)

Stormy Weather (1943)

 

I’m not a fan of musicals but there are a handful (‘SweeneyTodd’, ‘Cabaret’, ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’) I enjoy; ‘Stormy Weather’ being one of them. Forget the plot- boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl again. It’s all about the music. Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller and the Nicholas Brothers, if these names mean anything to you then you’ll love this film.

 

Bill Robinson with Lena Horne and Cab Calloway

 The Nicholas Brothers

Lena Horne gets to sings the haunting title track along with four or five other numbers, Bill Robinson shows off his dancing skills, Cab Calloway and his Orchestra belt out several numbers and Fats Waller tickles the ivories and sings a couple of songs including his signature ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’’ but it is the Nicholas Brothers who steal the film with their incredible acrobatic tap-dancing. Even if you never watch the whole film, please spend 3 minutes watching this Youtube extract showing them dancing to Cab Calloway’s Jumpin’ Jive.

Unfortunately ‘Stormy Weather’ was the final screen appearances of both Fats Waller and Bill Robinson.

Random Cutting - To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar

Reblogged from my newspaper collection blog (mhill46-holdthefrontpage.blogspot.co.uk)

Today dated Friday November 17th 1995

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You get to the final of ‘Pointless’

The problem is to find an obscure Wesley Snipes film.

You say, “To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar”.

The big board clicks down to zero, the crowd roars and you win!

Book You May Have Missed (#15)

The Dead Can Wait by Robert Ryan (2014)

Sub-titled  A Dr Watson Thriller.

The creator of the Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson characters, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, died in 1930, so under UK law the copyright to those names ran out 70 years later in 2000, hence the glut of ‘new’ Sherlock Holmes adventures since then. 

Plenty of authors have tackled Holmes by filling in the gaps in the original chronology or speculating on Holme’s later life but in ‘The Dead Can Wait’ Robert Ryan (no, not the tough-guy actor) tells us of a Dr Watson adventure during World War I.

Sherlock Holmes is indisposed so it to Dr Watson that the War Office sends when eight men mysteriously die during the testing of a new secret weapon. Watson has to apply those skills he learnt from his former mentor to try to prevent further deaths, outwit spies, deal with the military brass and even get the better of Winston Churchill.

A well-researched mystery that allows John Watson M.D. to stand on his own two feet for once. This is the 2nd in a series of Dr Watson adventures and as of writing there are 5 books available.