cinema 1964

As I may have mentioned before, I arrange my Netflix queue mostly by date. Since I caught up to my own birth, the number of movies per year has grown sharply, so this may be my longest post yet.

Doctor Strangelove (dir. Kubrick). I enjoyed it more my first time, however many years ago that was. The silly names, Colonel Bat Guano and all that, were a bad idea.

Seven Days in May (dir. Frankenheimer). I saw it once before, and enjoyed it at least as much the second time. Burt Lancaster is well cast as an inhumanly stiff authoritarian, and yes that compliment is backhanded.

Dead Ringer (dir. Henreid). A disappointed woman kills and impersonates her rich twin; but the role requires more of her than she thought. Twisty, and well played by Bette Davis.

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (dir. Demy). Not your typical musical: there are no “numbers”, though all the dialogue is sung. Potentially an interesting gimmick but, with no melodic hooks and little variation in tempo, it makes the performances emotionally flat. And the plot is well-worn, unless there’s a surprise after the first act.

座頭市千両首 (Zatōichi and the Chest of Gold) (#6; dir. Ikehiro). A distinct flavor of spaghetti – before A Fistful of Dollars.

7 Faces of Dr Lao (dir. George Pal). Missable.

The World of Henry Orient (dir. George Roy Hill). Lightweight, pleasant.

Doctor Who: The Aztecs (dir. John Crockett). Routine. I’d be more impressed if someone in the production were aware that Spanish x never represents /ks/; at the time of the invasion of México it was pronounced /ʃ/ (as in Xerez, whence sherry), and that is what it means in transliterated Nahuatl.

Seance on a Wet Afternoon (dir. Bryan Forbes). Surprising, tragic, and somewhat atmospheric.

A Hard Day’s Night (dir. Richard Lester). Still good fun. Details that I had not noticed/remembered: John’s understated “snorting Coke” gag in the train; George’s poor acting (when separated from his mates); the brief appearance of David Langton in the dressing-room. — A funny error in the disc’s subtitles: when John is clowning as a U-boat in the bathtub, he calls out Helf uns! and the subtitle says Headphones! You’d think subtitle writers would have access to the script.

座頭市あばれ凧 (Zatōichi’s Flashing Sword) (#7; dir. Ikehiro). Not so spaghettish this time. I must have seen this before: though I remembered nothing of the (generic) plot, a couple of the gags stand out, like the burning candle balanced on the end of Ichi’s sword in a darkened corridor.

Bande à part (The Outsiders) (dir. Godard). I can say that the first 37 minutes or so are dull.

砂の女 (Woman in the Dunes) (dir. Teshigahara). Netflix mysteriously withdrew this from the catalog.

Topkapı (dir. Dassin). Eh, I’ve seen better caper flicks, including Dassin’s own Rififi. I cannot suspend my disbelief that such a complex burglary could ever succeed with so little provision for adjustment to the unexpected; if this is typical of the leader’s schemes, how has he (as he says early on) so far entirely escaped police notice? On the other hand, I give points for the way in which the conspirators shake off their tails. — I submitted a continuity error to IMDb.

The Munsters. I used to think of this as a cheesy imitation of The Addams Family, though it premiered only six days later. I prefer Addams (which is not available on disc, grr!) because suspension of disbelief is so much easier. Apart from Thing, there’s little overt sign that the Addams family are not merely eccentric; whereas the Munsters are explicitly paranormal and – this is the part that’s hard to swallow – seem entirely unaware that their neighbors aren’t. Perhaps they were recently shifted, without their knowledge, from a parallel world where vampires and frankensteins are the norm and Marilyn the pitiable freak.

Fail-Safe (dir. Lumet). Gripping.

座頭市血笑旅 (Fight, Zatōichi, Fight!) (#8; dir. Misumi). In 1983 a theater in Santa Monica showed samurai movies on weekends; this was my introduction to the Zatōichi series (or “franchise” as it would be called today), and I still find it the best I’ve seen so far: it has a strong human story, a strong female character, and plenty of humor.

My Fair Lady (dir. Cukor). I wish Henry Higgins were shown explaining to Eliza Doolittle how she’s getting it wrong, rather than merely bullying her about it. The absence of visible constructive effort on his part makes the emotional bond implausible. Perhaps that’s why I misremembered “I Could Have Danced All Night” as referring to the embassy ball rather than to a brief impromptu turn with Henry. Has Shaw’s original ending, in which Eliza did not return, ever been filmed? — Singing along with “On the Street Where You Live”, I cracked up at one point: there’s no way one could sing these words (even to an air-mike) and pull that face, making Jeremy Brett’s claim to have sung most of Freddy’s part himself – which he maintained for thirty years, according to IMDb – seem absurd. — The disc includes two songs as sung by Audrey Hepburn: she hadn’t enough power for “Show Me!” but I liked her “Loverly”.

The Americanization of Emily (dir. Hiller).

鬼婆 Onibaba (dir. Shindō). More mood than story; innumerable shots of reeds waving in the wind, lest we forget that the setting is a marsh.

Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth (dir. Richard Martin).

Father Goose (dir. Ralph Nelson). Not as good as Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957), which has a similar premise. — I submitted a continuity error to IMDb: near the end, as the civilians are hurrying off the beach, dawn twilight becomes full day in one cut.

Alexis Zorbas (Zorba the Greek) (dir. Cacoyannis). I want my two hours back.

怪談 Kwaidan (dir. Kobayashi). Slow but gorgeous. — Shimura Takashi (familiar from numerous Kurosawa works) appears here in a prominent supporting role, but with someone else’s voice! I wonder why.

座頭市関所破り (Adventures of Zatōichi) (#9; dir. Yasuda). Not for the first time, there’s a scene where Ichi cuts open a pair of loaded dice, but here it seems impossible. When the dice-rolling guy (what is he called?) brings the cup down, Ichi’s sword flashes (for one frame!) below it. But because the cup is coming down faster than gravity, the dice ought to be in its inverted base, so Ichi could not slice the dice without cutting the cup.