A Town Like Alice

Dir: Jack Lee

1956

****

Based on the best selling novel by Nevil Shute, A Town Like Alice does not follow the whole novel, concluding at the end of Part Two and truncating or omitting a fair bit of detail. Leslie Norman expressed interest in directing an adaptation in 1952 but nothing came of it. While I think Norman would have perhaps made a better film, I’m glad he didn’t otherwise he wouldn’t have made the amazing X the Unknown which was released the same year as A Town Like Alice. The original script was written by W. P. Lipscomb, who concentrated on the first half of the novel only, leaving out the second half of the story that was set in Alice, Australia. You have to wonder why they didn’t change the title. Producer Joe Janni sent a copy of the script to director Jack Lee, who later recalled, "The script made me cry, and I knew it would make audiences cry too". Janni and Lee took the script to Rank, who agreed to finance. Lee did further work on the script with Lipscombe and then with Richard Mason. After visiting Singapore and Malaya, Lee soon realised that if he cast the film in the UK, decided on their exact clothing, and filmed their characteristic way of walking, he could find a second cast in Malaya, and, if he were careful, he could work very close to them on location. So in the end Lee shot some footage in Malaya then went back to Britain, where the majority of the film was shot at Pinewood Studios. I’d say he got away with it. Olivia de Havilland and Anna Kashfi were considered for the main role of Jean Paget but in the end Virginia McKenna got the part and it became one of the best of her career. Jack Lee had worked with Peter Finch before and cast him as the male lead, stating that he never considered anyone else for the part but the truth is that while at the 1952 premiere of Disney’s The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men,  producer Earl St. John was particularly impressed by the young man who played the Sheriff of Nottingham. The name on the program was that of Peter Finch. St John bumped into Finch on the stairs of the theatre and invited him to come and talk business at Pinewood. The following day he gave Finch what would be a pivotal role in his burgeoning career, Joe the Australian soldier in A Town Like Alice. The film begins in post-Second World War London, where Jean Paget is informed by solicitor Noel Strachan that she has a large inheritance. Asked what she wants to do, Jean decides to travel to Malaya to build a well in a small village, as a way of thanks for taking care of her during the war. Jean goes to the village and arranges for the well to be dug and she recalls her life in the village for three years of the war. The film flashes back to 1942 when Jean was working in an office in Kuala Lumpur in Malaya when the Japanese invaded. She was about to escape but decided to stay behind and help her boss and his family to escape, but in the end they were all captured and taken prisoner. As part of a group of women and children - the men having been sent away - she is the only one to speak Malay fluently, and so, she takes a leading role in the group. However, the Japanese refuse to take any responsibility for the group, marching them from one village to another. Many of them, unused to physical labour, die of exhaustion, sickness and starvation. Jean somehow keeps going and is spurred on by the fact she promised to take care of the children of her employer after his wife dies. Along their walk the group meets a young Australian soldier, Sergeant Joe Harman, also a prisoner, who is driving a truck for the Japanese. He and Jean strike up a friendship, and he tells her about the town of Alice Springs, where he grew up. Appalled at the women's treatment by the Japanese, he steals food and medicines to help them. Jean does not correct his impression that she is married. When the thefts are discovered and investigated, Harman takes the blame to save Jean and the rest of the group. He is crucified on a tree and left to die by the Japanese soldiers. The distraught women are marched away, believing that Joe is dead. To further humiliate them, the Japanese assign only one guard to the group, an elderly sergeant. They become friendly with him, although they can barely communicate. They even help to carry his pack and rifle when he is ill. When he dies of exhaustion, Jean asks the elders of a Malayan village if they may stay and work in the paddy fields, asking only for food and a place to sleep. The elders agree, and they live and work there for three years, until the war ends. The film returns to the present, and Jean discovers from the well-diggers that Joe Harman survived his punishment and returned to Australia. She decides to travel on to Australia to find him. On her travels, she visits the town of Alice Springs, where Joe lived before the war, and is much impressed with the quality of life there. She then travels to the primitive town of Willstown in the Queensland outback, where Joe has become the manager of a cattle station. Meanwhile, Joe has learnt that Jean survived the war, and that she was not married. He travels to London to find her, using money won in a lottery and arrives just as she does in Australia. It is some time before they are re-united in Alice Springs and they fall in love immediately. The last few scenes are a little clumsy if I’m being honest and much of the story’s more important parts are rushed, while other less important scenes drag. However, the last scene is about as rewarding as it gets and is a classic weepy moment. I’m a big Peter Finch fan but Virginia McKenna steals every second she is on screen. It’s a non-perfect, perfect film.

The Kid Who Would Be King

Dir: Joe Cornish

2019

**

I’ve been a fan of Joe Cornish since the 90s and his Adam & Joe days. I thought Attack the Block was an unexpectedly edgy sci-fi, when in truth I was expecting a Shaun of the Dead-style film vs Aliens. I think he’s wasted too much time with the likes of Steven Spielberg and I really felt for him when he left the Ant-Man project, even though the film still turned out to be great. So I was excited about The Kid Who Would Be King but ultimately disappointed with it after viewing. The story is solid, it’s the first really great British sci-fi fantasy in a very long time, I just don’t think it was executed that well. The story follows Alex Elliot, a twelve-year-old boy who is starting a new term at school while struggling to adapt to his new surroundings. When his best friend Bedders is bullied by older students named Lance and Kaye, Alex comes to his aid but ends up in a fight and gets his face punched. Alex, Lance, and Kaye are given detention by the headmistress while she tries to encourage Alex to live up to himself. Meanwhile, Lance and Kaye plot to harm Alex further. That night, the duo chase Alex as he is on his way home but he hides in a nearby construction site, where he finds a mysterious sword and removes it from its position. Taking the sword with him, Alex shows it to Bedders, and they discover that its markings identify it as Excalibur, the sword of King Arthur. Alex then playfully "knights" Bedders, shrugging off the idea that it really is Excalibur. Elsewhere, the wicked sorceress Morgana awakens underground and sends her minions of Mortes Milles after Excalibur. The next day, a teenager appears from inside Stonehenge and presents himself at Alex's school as a new student. The boy reveals himself to Alex as the wizard Merlin, capable of aging backwards, but is also able to shift between his Arthurian counterpart. Alex plans to return the sword, wanting nothing to do with ancient myths. That night, Merlin saves Alex from a demon and explains that he has four days to destroy Morgana or she will enslave all of England. Morgana's demons can appear only at night and can only be seen by Alex and those he has knighted, but an upcoming total solar eclipse will enable her to emerge fully into the world. Alex realises that these events parallel an inscribed storybook his estranged father once gave him. Alex concludes he descends from Arthur through his father and later recruits and knights Lance and Kaye, who fight beside Alex and Bedders, defeating three demons. Alex declares them a new Round Table. Merlin soon tasks Alex to find the entrance of Morgana's prison. Believing his father is the key, Alex leads the group to Tintagel where he last saw his father. En route, Merlin trains them in swordsmanship. But when Morgana infiltrates the lesson, Lance betrays Alex and takes the sword for himself. Merlin barely saves them and Excalibur is broken when Alex and Lance come to blows in a marsh. Alex calls upon the Lady of the Lake who appears and restores the sword. Rededicating themselves to the quest, the four overcome a horde of demons by luring them over a cliff and arrive at Tintagel. Alex meets his aunt Sophie who tells him that his father was revealed to be an alcoholic who abandoned Alex's family, and that it was secretly his mother who inscribed the book. Alex is enraged to discover that not only has he come a long way for nothing but also that his mother had lied to him about the book and is overcome with resentment. Merlin tells Alex that Excalibur is not handed down by birthright, but by individual merit. Alex and his friends arm themselves and Alex uses the storybook to locate the entrance to the Underworld. Alex challenges Morgana who takes on a monstrous form and breathes fire, but Alex strikes her down and the children escape. Believing Morgana is dead, Alex returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake knowing that if he was caught with it back at home the police would confiscate it. On the day of the eclipse, Merlin informs Alex that Morgana was merely wounded and Alex realizes that he violated the Chivalric Code by lying to his mother. In desperation, Alex tells her everything that has happened. His mother reveals her own lie that she never told him the truth about his father or the book, because if he had known the truth to begin with, it would've hurt him. Eventually, he stuns her by summoning the Lady of the Lake into the bathtub, where he regains Excalibur. At the school, Merlin enchants the faculty and Alex knights the entire student body. During the eclipse, Morgana appears with her entire army and now takes on a huge, semi draconic form. The children fight back, using strategies combining medieval warfare with modern technology, but ultimately retreat to the rooftop. Merlin casts a magic spell to pull Morgana from the world and Alex decapitates her as she vanishes, dispelling all the demons. Alex, Bedders, Lance, and Kaye bid farewell to Merlin, who encourages them to become leaders with Alex once again returning the sword to the Lady of the Lake. While there is a lot I liked about the film, ultimately it is let own with a few glaring issues. The pace of the film is all over the place, with long scenes where nothing happens and then over the top action scenes that are a little too CGI heavy. I liked Louis Ashbourne Serkis as Alex and Dean Chaumoo as Bedders but Tom Taylor and Rhianna Dorris  are rather boring as Lance and Kaye respectively. The only kids film that I can think of that truly unites the bully with the bullied, and they cast two of the most plain actors I’ve ever seen. I think Rhianna Dorris has around three lines, and she’s one of the main characters. The kids are a little too drama school for my liking and they don’t come across as normal state school kids. I hated the school battle at the end, it was a real anti-climax, and when I was a kid I’d refuse to watch anything set in a school, I didn’t want to think about school when I was at home. I also hated the absent father sub-plot. It’s quite a tiresome story now, why can’t interesting things happen to kids with both parents still alive? Angus Imrie and Patrick Stewart are the film’s highlights, both playing Merlin at different ages. Other than that, it was only the expected Adam Buxton cameo that kept me watching. Like I said, the idea is great, it just needed a 95% change in cast and a different ending. The Lady in the Lake coming out of the bath was about the only hint that it was written by Joe Cornish. He’s a great director, a great writer and a very funny man but I’m afraid The Kid Who Would Be King was ultimately over-ambitious and missed the mark.

Strategic Air Command

Dir: Anthony Mann

1955

***

1955’s Strategic Air Command was a post-war propaganda recruitment tool, the last of three films that paired Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson and the eighth and final collaboration between one of the greatest partnerships in modern cinema, that of Anthony Mann and James Stewart. Stewart's character, Robert "Dutch" Holland, is based on the real-life military career and an actual mission flown by Brigadier General Clifford Schoeffler, who crashed during an Arctic B-36 mission and survived. Brigadier General Schoeffler was on site at Carswell Air Force Base during the filming of Strategic Air Command for consultation. However, his character could also be inspired by Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams, a World War II veteran, who was recalled for Korean War service as a U.S. Marine Corps aviator, at the height of his baseball career. However, Stewart's military service and lifelong interest in aviation greatly influenced the making of the film. In real life, during World War II, Stewart had been a B-17 instructor pilot, a B-24 squadron commander, and a bomb group operations officer, completing 20 combat missions. At the time of filming, Stewart, much like the character he portrays, was also a colonel in the Air Force Reserve, serving with the Strategic Air Command when on duty; he was later promoted to brigadier general. In later years, Stewart continued to fly, including Operation Arc Light missions in Vietnam as a non-duty observer aboard a B-52F. Stewart pushed for an authentic but sympathetic portrayal of the Strategic Air Command, which led Paramount to put together a strong cast of Hollywood veterans and production people including June Allyson, Frank Lovejoy, his long-time collaborating director Anthony Mann, and the top stunt pilot of the day, Paul Mantz. The film accurately portrays (from the perspective of the 1951 starting point of the script) the duties and responsibilities of an Air Force strategic bomber pilot, and the demands such service places on family life. Robert "Dutch" Holland (Stewart) is a professional baseball player with the St. Louis Cardinals. A B-29 bomber pilot during World War II, he is also an officer on inactive status in the United States Air Force Reserve. During spring training at Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, he is recalled to active duty for 21 months. He reports to his posting at Carswell AFB, a bomber base in Fort Worth, Texas, to qualify in the Convair B-36. He arrives in civilian clothing because his old uniforms are those of the old U.S. Army Air Forces, for which he is rebuked by General Hawkes (Frank Lovejoy), the commander of SAC. The General's character is patterned after the real SAC commander of the time, General Curtis LeMay. Dutch is given a staff job with the bombardment wing at Carswell that involves a lot of flying. He soon has a B-36 crew of his own, selecting a former World War II colleague as his flight engineer, and becomes enamored with both flying and the role of SAC in deterring war. He is joined by his wife, Sally (June Allyson), who had not bargained on being an Air Force wife, and who struggles with his repeated absences and the dangers of flying. On any given night, Dutch might find his aircraft on airborne alert far from the continental United States, in secret, only telling his wife when he returns days later. Even so, Sally tells Dutch that she is happy as long as they can be together, no matter what he decides to do with his life. The B-36 is a complex aircraft when introduced, but improvements are being worked on all the time. One challenge was leakage from the fuel tanks, but a new fix is introduced to address this once and for all. On their next flight, Dutch's crew has to fly their B-36 from Carswell AFB to Thule Air Base, Greenland. The fix does not work and one of the engines bursts into flame, causing the entire left wing to catch fire. The crew is forced to abandon the aircraft and bail out over the ice and snow of Greenland before arriving at Thule. Dutch and his radar navigator stay on board for a forced landing, which causes Dutch to injure his right shoulder. Dutch becomes a favorite of General Hawkes, and he is rewarded with a revised assignment flying the new Boeing B-47 Stratojet at MacDill AFB, Tampa, Florida, across the bay from St. Petersburg where his old baseball team continues to conduct its spring training. Promoted to "Full Bird" colonel and made deputy wing commander of his B-47 wing at MacDill AFB, Dutch decides, to Sally's displeasure, to remain in the Air Force, rather than return to baseball at the end of his active duty obligation. On a full B-47 wing deployment exercise that involves flying nonstop from MacDill to Yokota Air Base, Japan, they encounter severe wind and storms. Low on fuel, they divert to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. As they prepare to land, Dutch realizes that his shoulder injury from the B-36 crash was worse than he thought, and his arm is almost immobile. He is unable to operate the engine power levers (throttles) during final landing phase, and he has to rely on his co-pilot to do so, while Dutch works the flight controls with his left arm and two feet. This injury not only bars him from further flying (he is discharged from the Air Force (USAF) shortly after the incident), but also appears to threaten his baseball career. General Hawkes suggests that he would make an excellent team manager. The final speech is propaganda at its finest as Hawkes reminds Dutch that it is people like him, volunteers, who keep the country safe from threat, often at the expense of a normal home life. It’s a war film without a war. The film includes some spectacular aerial photography which was accompanied by a soaring score composed by Victor Young, for which it was awarded a special citation by the American National Board of Review. It is also the only motion picture to highlight the Convair B-36 (depicted in the movie poster), the largest mass-produced piston-powered aircraft ever built, and the first bomber for the hydrogen bomb. The propeller-driven B-36 was then near the end of its service life, about to be replaced by the jet-powered B-47 Stratojet, and ultimately by the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. The B-36 and B-47 bomber aircraft showcased in the film were such powerful deterrents against Soviet aggression in the 1950s that neither plane ever had to be used in combat and the film reflects this brilliantly, even though it was made long before the cold war ended. The B-36 was eventually retired due to persistent problems with it's engineering and it's fuel distribution to the outer wing exactly as shown in the movie. I love all of James Stewart’s films but I did find his character to be less enthusiastic than usual which was strange due to how passionate he was about the subject. I adore June Allyson and it was nice to see Harry Morgan and James Bell once more but the Glenn Miller Story connection was a little distracting. In both The Glenn Miller Story and Strategic Air Command (both directed by Anthony Mann), James Stewart and June Allyson portray a married couple, Stewart portrays Harry Morgan's boss, and James Bell portrays Allyson's father. While it isn’t the greatest of Stewart and Mann’s films it was sad that it would be their last. I enjoyed it overall but propaganda aside there really isn’t much to the film at all.

Reign of the Supermen

Dir: Sam Liu

2019

**

2018’s The Death of Superman was the third adaptation of the Doomsday story following Superman: Doomsday in 2007 and the live-action Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Neither was that faithful to the original, which might be the reason why they revisited the rather tired story, but I think more to the point, DC really wanted to explore the events that followed. Reign of the Supermen is an adaptation of what happened in the comics following the infamous The Death of Superman – the most over-hyped comic event of all time. I’ve mentioned my loathing for this comic several times in my reviews but if there is one thing worse than the Doomsday story, it is the nauseatingly bad comics that happened straight after. We all knew Superman would come back from the dead some how and his eventual rebrand was a relief from the long-haired yuppie that he had turned into in the early 90s, but before then we had to endure the Reign of the Supermen. It had a few high points but generally it was unimaginative stuff. Much like the 2018 adaptation of The Death of Superman, the 2019 sequel got rid of some pointless sub-plots but kept the crux of the story in tact. Six months following Superman's death after saving the world from Doomsday, four new versions of the hero appear: Superboy, Steel, Cyborg Superman, and the Eradicator. Each one of them is different in their personalities and crime-fighting style compared to the original Man of Steel, leaving the world questioning which one, if any, is the true Superman come back to life. Lois Lane, still reeling from Clark's death, decides to investigate. Lex Luthor holds a press conference introducing Superboy as the true Superman, sponsored and bankrolled by LexCorp. Lois attends the conference, along with Steel, and sneaks inside one of the labs inside LexCorp. There Lois learns from scientist Dabney Donovan that Superboy is a clone of Superman. Suddenly, the conference is attacked by the Eradicator, who seeks to "eradicate" Luthor. Superboy and later Steel try to stop him, only to be defeated until the timely arrival of Cyborg Superman, who fights and drives away Eradicator. Many see him as the real Superman, angering Luthor. Lois writes an expose revealing Superboy to be a clone and asking if all of the Supermen are fakes. This leads to a meeting between her and Cyborg Superman, telling him she knows he isn't the Superman she knew and loved. Luthor, angry that Superboy was not declared the true Superman, forces Superboy to be security detail for the President of the United States. Superboy soon butts heads with the Justice League as the President arrives to launch the new Justice League Watchtower. A boom tube opens and Parademons terrorize the event. Superboy is defeated, but the Justice League hold their own while Cyborg Superman saves the President. The boom tube collapses and falls onto the League, appearing to have killed all of them. With Cyborg Superman declared the "real" Superman, Luthor, on the verge of injecting Superboy with a fatal substance, angrily reveals Superboy to be a clone of both Superman and Luthor himself; deciding against destroying the only viable Superman clone, Luthor instead unleashes the remaining failed clones to kill Donovan. While Cyborg Superman visits the grave of Terri Henshaw, he gets a message from Darkseid to begin. Lois and Irons learn of this visit, and discover that Cyborg Superman is really Hank Henshaw, the astronaut thought dead from the previous film. Cyborg Superman announces to the world his plans for a new Justice League: a Cyber Corps, composed of regular people that he grants superpowers. Everyone agrees, and while it has good results at first, many become drones in the process, losing their humanity. Lois recognizes the technology as Apokoliptian and questions Luthor's involvement, as he has stolen the technology before. Steel confronts Intergang, Luthor's buyers of the tech, only to discover that they have been attacked by the Eradicator. Steel follows the weapons' signal to the Fortress of Solitude while Lois breaks into Luthor's penthouse and meets Superboy, who reveals he knew Luthor had previously intended to kill him, which has shaken his allegiance to his 'father'. Steel and the Eradicator fight while Lois and Superboy, and later Luthor, get a video call from the fight. Lois discovers the Eradicator is technology that protects Kryptonians, and realizes that the real Superman is inside the Fortress. Superman is revived and stops the fight. At the same time, Lois and Luthor see a broadcast from inside Cyborg Superman's mind, revealing Darkseid and his plans to invade, and that he orchestrated the deaths of both Superman and the Justice League in response to the failure of his previous attempt. Lois and Luthor form a plan just as Superman, Steel, and Superboy head to Metropolis. Cyborg Superman begins the invasion, using the Cyber Corps to open a giant boom tube over Metropolis as Lois heads inside the Watchtower and reveals to Cyborg Superman that she knows who he really is. When the Watchtower reveals the real Superman heading towards him, Henshaw betrays Darkseid and closes the boom tube, stopping the invasion so he can personally kill Superman. He orders the drones to attack Metropolis just as Superman arrives. The battle is one-sided, as Superman is not yet at full strength, and Cyborg Superman reveals he blames Superman for not being there to save him and his wife from the Excalibur space shuttle disaster. Luthor uses the Mother Box to free the Justice League, who were actually imprisoned in another dimension, to help Steel and Superboy defeat the drones. Cyborg Superman launches the Watchtower into orbit to prevent the League from aiding Lois and Superman. With Superman nearly defeated, Lois opens the Watchtower's window shutters so the sun's yellow rays shine on Superman, bringing him back to full power. Superman defeats Henshaw with help from his "wild card", the Eradicator, in the form of one of the Fortress' crystals which injects the Eradicator's program into Henshaw's brain and destroys him from within. With Cyborg Superman dead, the battle ends when the drones are deactivated, although all of the people who were turned into drones die in the process. Weeks later, Clark Kent is revealed to be alive (with the cover story of having been stranded off grid during the Doomsday attack), and the real Superman, donning a new suit, is welcomed back to the world with open arms. Clark later tells Lois that Superboy, with the new name Conner, now lives with his parents Jonathan and Martha Kent. In a post-credits scene, the Justice League meet up at the Watchtower and agree to end the war with Darkseid by going to Apokolips. Luthor enters the watchtower inviting himself to the fight. I have to admit I found the whole thing only slightly more entertaining than I did the comics all those years ago, but, if it leads to a Justice League vs Darkseid battle then fine, it may have all been worth it, especially adding the untrustworthy Lex Luthor into the mix. The problem I have with it, and this is generally more with DC’s treatment of Superman, is that it all seems rather rough and rushed. DC animations isn’t the quality studio it once was and you have to wonder, would it really be that hard to go back to the brilliance of the original Batman animations? It’s not like DC is short of a few stories it could tell.

The Death of Superman

Dir: Sam Liu, Jake Castorena, James Tucker

2018

***

1992’s The Death of Superman is the best selling comic of all time. In my opinion, it is also the worst. I have always considered myself more of a DC man than a Marvel guy but the truth is DC have made some awful comics, the early 90s Superman comics being a prime example. I adore Superman and read all the comics from the mid 80s to the mid 90s but The Death of Superman story was such a low point it pretty much killed it for me. After that I only really read DC Elseworld one-shots and switched to their Vertigo imprint. It was a marketing gimmick, probably a much needed one due to poor sales but nether the less, it was for non-comic reading Superman fans and not those of us who had stuck around hoping that one day the comics would get better. Unfortunately it is now one of those stories DC can’t seem to be able to get away from, not that I think they want to. They already made an animated adaptation in 2007 that got rid of a lot of the crap admittedly, but still did little to make the story more interesting. Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice also touched on the story and we all know how that panned out. It’s time DC just left it alone but I can’t help but think this won’t be the last adaptation of the Doomsday story. They’ve certainly made the the story easier to digest than the comic and have cut out certain characters and made Lex Luther bald again but essentially the story is the same. There is more made of Lex Luther’s argument that no one polices Superman or the rest of the Justice League but not so much that the cartoon becomes anywhere near intelligent. It starts with a few uninteresting sub-plots and Clark Kent admitting to Louis Lane that he is in fact Superman. I’m pretty sure she was supposed to know by now but this film doesn’t seem to follow the comics or indeed DC animation. An attempt to kidnap the mayor using Apokolips technology, the Intergang are stopped and their equipment taken to S.T.A.R. labs. There, Silas Stone and Dr. John Henry Irons determine Intergang’s devices contain both Apokoliptian and Earth elements, leaving only one suspect with the means to synthesize these technologies -  Lex Luthor. Meanwhile, Superman admirer Captain Hank Henshaw leads a team of astronauts aboard the space shuttle Excalibur when a boomtube sends a meteorite hurtling towards the shuttle. As Henshaw waits for Superman's rescue, the shuttle is destroyed, leaving everyone dead and Henshaw's body unaccounted for. The meteorite crashes to the Atlantic Ocean floor, monitored by Luthor’s underground research facility. Luthor sends a deep sea exploration team to the crash site where they encounter Atlanteans, but both groups are destroyed by a monster (Doomsdays) that emerges from the wreckage. Doomsday reaches the U.S. coastline and murders two campers and a grizzly bear before rampaging against the police. The Justice League arrive and are brutally defeated in a battle that isn’t as good as either the original comic or the 2007 adaptation. Martian Manhunter’s telepathy reveals the creature to be a living weapon designed to annihilate entire civilizations. As the monster heads for Metropolis, Batman notes that their last hope is the Man of Steel. Meanwhile, Clark and Lois meet for lunch at a restaurant owned by Superman fan Bibbo Bibbowski (how the hell did he make it into the film?), where Clark finally reveals himself as Superman to a shocked Lois. The two resolve their differences, and Clark receives the Justice League’s distress call. He arrives just in time to save Wonder Woman from the rampaging creature. Lois, reporting live by helicopter with her cameraman Jimmy Olsen, gives the monster his name Doomsday as his fight with Superman rages through Metropolis and reaches the Hall of Justice. A battlesuit-clad Luthor joins the fight against Doomsday, aiming to become Metropolis’ “true savior,” but he is incapacitated and saved by Superman. Realizing the toll the battle has taken on Superman, Lois attempts to sacrifice herself to Doomsday to force Clark into using lethal force. As the beast prepares to kill Lois, Superman hurls himself at Doomsday and breaks the villain’s neck, but is fatally stabbed at that moment, and dies in Lois’ arms. There are only so many times you can retell this moment before you become numb to it. Jimmy broadcasts Superman's death across the globe as the world mourns. After a state funeral for the fallen Man of Steel, the Kents welcome Lois into their family. Jimmy brings Lois to Superman's mausoleum where they find his coffin open and witness a figure resembling Superman fly away. At S.T.A.R. Labs, Lex Luthor tries to gain custody of Doomsday's corpse for Project Cadmus before Superman's rocket self-starts and flies off. Four mysterious figures are then introduced during the ending credits. First, as numerous failed Superman clones are destroyed at Cadmus, the sole surviving prototype escapes. Second, Dr. Irons forges Superman’s symbol onto a suit of armor. Third, a Superman-like figure watches as Superman's rocket buries itself under the North Pole and creates a vast crystalline structure. Lastly, high above the Earth, a cyborg resembling Superman arrives. It wasn’t that intriguing in 1992 and it still wasn’t in 2018. The only things I liked about it where the improved version of Lex Luther, the inclusion of certain characters who weren’t in the original, the interaction between Wonder Woman and Louis Lane and the fact that Jerry O'Connell and Rebecca Romijn, who provide the voices for Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane, are married in real life.

About Elly

Dir: Asghar Farhadi

2009

*****

What starts out as a middle-class Big Chill-esque look at old friendships and the different levels of relationships, suddenly becomes an edge of your seat thriller that refuses to let up. Director Asghar Farhadi is now famous for his intense dramas, many involving a kind of redemption, relationships and divorce in Iran but for me this is his most deceptive and exciting film. It makes you look one way, so that you don’t see it coming from the opposite direction. The film begins as we see a group of middle-class friends, former classmates at the law faculty of the university, as they travel to the Caspian Sea for a three-day break. They consist of Sepideh, her husband Amir and their young daughter; Shohreh, her husband Peymān and their two children, including their son Arash and Nāzy and her husband Manuchehr. Sepideh, who planned the trip, brings along her daughter's kindergarten teacher, Elly, in order to introduce her to Ahmad, a divorced friend visiting from Germany. When they arrive they discover that there has been a mistake in the booking and their villa is not ready. At the villa that Sepideh has booked the woman in charge tells them the owners will return the next day and suggests that they stay instead in a deserted beach-front villa next door. During making arrangements Sepideh lies to the old woman about the relationship between Elly and Ahmad and says they're married and on their honeymoon. The group finally decide after much debate to stay at the dilapidated villa and proceed to clean it up for their overnight stay. Elly is a little shy, but begins to feel interested in Ahmad, who seems to have developed an attraction for her. She calls her mother and lies to her, saying that she's with her co-workers at a sea-side resort and that she expects to go back to Tehran the following day, as planned. Sepideh, however, doesn't want her to leave and hides her luggage. While some still clean the villa and others enjoy themselves playing volley ball, one of the mothers asks Elly to watch the children who are playing at the seaside. Everything changes when one of the children calls out to the men who are all playing at the side of the house. As they rush to the call they find Arash floating in the sea. Arash is saved and resuscitated in a particularly intense and unexpected scene. Once things are settled, the group wonder where Elly is an are angry that she has left the children unattended, that is, until they realise that Elly might have drowned herself in trying to save Arash. The children are confused and unsure whether Elly went in the sea or not, so the group are divided; Elly either abandoned their children or she is dead. The police are called, while the group continues to search for Elly. The group starts to blame each other for the series of events leading up to her disappearance and her presence on the trip. It also becomes clear that none of them really know who Elly is and their story becomes more and more suspicious to the police. Sepideh had been lying and knows Elly is engaged to a man named Alireza. Since Elly is reluctant to marry Alireza, Sepideh insisted she comes on the trip to meet Ahmad. Elly initially refused the invitation, as an engaged woman but, following pressure from Sepideh, eventually accepted without telling anyone where she was really going. Alireza is contacted under false information and arrives later that day. Suspecting something is up he attacks Ahmad, then asks Sepideh whether Elly had refused her invitation to go on holiday. Sepideh wants to protect the honour of Elly and tells the truth but, following pressure from the others who feel threatened by Alireza, lies and tells him that Elly accepted the invitation without hesitation. The conclusion challenges each character in a different way and effects the relationships between partners and old friends to a devastating degree. The first half of the film is somewhat slow and then goes from 0 to 60. It asks a few moral questions and looks at some very average issues to do with marriage, parenthood and friendship but turning into a a gripping thriller that tests each one of those issues to the extreme. It also shows the effects a simple lie can have on a situation, something that can seem quite innocent at first, can lead to a series of chaos and disaster. It is everything you expect from a Asghar Farhadi drama, with an huge helping of Alfred Hitchcock thrown in. The story itself is a huge onion of mystery, with a devastating conclusion, but the lies and mysteries themselves are simple, ordinary and are by and large usually of no consequence. To make this mountain out of a mole hill is quite spectacular and proves how clever a writer/story teller Farhadi is. The film is so intense and full of suspense, I was exhausted by the end of it. The sign of a great thriller, certainly one of the best I’ve seen in recent years.

Hilary and Jackie

Dir: Anand Tucker

1998

****

I have a real soft spot for British films made in the mid to late 1990s and Hilary and Jackie was one of those great ones that flew under the radar somewhat. However, it came with controversy. It starred Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths who were both at exciting points of their careers and their performances here were, in my opinion, two of their best to date. The film is about the lives and careers of British classical musician sisters Jacqueline du Pré (who played the cello) and Hilary du Pré (who played the flute). The screenplay by Frank Cottrell-Boyce is often claimed to have been based on the 1997 memoir A Genius in the Family by Piers and Hilary du Pré (Jacqueline’s siblings) which was later republished under the title Hilary and Jackie. However, thier memoir had not yet been published when Hilary and Jackie was being filmed. Cottrell-Boyce stated, "Hilary was working on the book at the same time as I was working on the film ... it was at a very early stage when we were doing the script.” The film was instead based on conversations with Hilary and Piers; unlike the book it does not claim to be the true story, and contains some fictionalised incidents. This led to controversy and criticism for allegedly distorting details in Jacqueline's life, and several personal friends of Jacqueline du Pré publicly condemned it which damaged the film rather than bring more attention, even though both Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances. The film begins in the 1960s, where sisters Hilary and Jacqueline "Jackie" du Pré both pursue musical professions after being instructed throughout their childhoods in music by their mother (played by Celia Imrie). Though Jackie rebelled against practicing as a child, she became a virtuoso in early adulthood, quickly rising to international prominence. It is suggested that Hilary’s early success pushed Jacqueline to do better out of jealousy. While Jackie tours throughout Europe, Hilary remains in London with her parents and brother, Piers, and struggles in her musical studies at the Royal Academy of Music. She becomes acquainted with a gregarious fellow student, Christopher "Kiffer" Finzi (played by David Morrissey), son of composer Gerald Finzi, and the two begin a romantic relationship. Hilary begins playing in a community orchestra, where she garners local notoriety. Jackie returns home from touring in Moscow, and pleads Hilary to get a flat with her. Instead, Hilary marries Kiffer, and the two relocate to a farmhouse in the country to start a family. Meanwhile, Jackie begins dating pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, with whom she bonds over their mutual love of music. Her eventual conversion to Judaism and subsequent marriage to Daniel garners significant publicity. Later, Jackie arrives unannounced at Hilary and Kiffer's home, inexplicably forgoing scheduled engagements she has in Los Angeles. She confides to Hilary that she wants to have sex with Kiffer, and makes attempts to seduce him. The next day, Hilary finds Jackie stripped naked in the woods in the midst of an emotional breakdown. Daniel arrives and attempts to console her, but she is indifferent to him. Jackie remains at Hilary's home, and Hilary consents to Jackie having a sexual encounter with Kiffer, hoping it will help her work through her nervous breakdown. This, however, ultimately drives a rift between the sisters as the affair becomes emotionally suffused. Jackie leaves and resumes touring, but yearns for a different life. From Jackie's perspective, Hilary chose a life with Kiffer over their relationship. While Jackie found solace in her marriage to Daniel, she began to notice a subtle yet progressive deterioration of her motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It had in fact been unspoken anxieties over her health that led to her previous visit to Hilary's. During a live performance, Jackie finds herself unable to stand, and has to be carried offstage by Daniel. She is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and Hilary goes to visit her in hospital. Jackie remains optimistic about her diagnosis, but the disease progresses rapidly, leaving her unable to position her fingers or use a bow. Daniel continues to conduct around the world, and Jackie finds he is having an affair. As her disease progresses, she becomes paralysed before going deaf and mute. One night, Hilary goes to visit Jackie, who is in the throes of tremors, and recounts a cherished childhood memory of the two playing on the beach. Shortly after, Hilary hears news of Jackie's death on the radio. The film ends with Jackie's spirit standing on the beach where she used to play as a child, watching herself and her sister frolicking in the sand as little girls. It’s a fascinating film with some brilliant performances but when you read about the sisters and hear what Jackie's friends all say it soon becomes apparent that not all is as it seems. A group of Jackie's closest colleagues, including fellow cellists Mstislav Rostropovich and Julian Lloyd Webber, sent a bristling letter to The Times in February 1999 that included this statement from Webber: “Hilary and Jackie is an ugly film, not because it is badly made or acted - quite the reverse - but because Emily Watson's du Pré bears no resemblance to the radiant Jackie I remember so well, first as a brilliant cellist, and later when I came to know her after she contracted MS. The film woefully fails to convey Jacqueline du Pré's wonderful joy in making music and her unique ability to bring that joy to her audience. Worst of all, the book that spawned the film was written by her elder sister, Hilary, and younger brother, Piers - two siblings apparently eaten up by bitterness and jealousy.” This totally rings true when you think about the turn of events in the film. Even Clare Finzi, Hilary du Pré's own daughter, charged that the film was a "gross misinterpretation, which I cannot let go unchallenged” particularly surrounding the ‘affair’ between her father and her aunt. It is suggested that Kiffer only had sex with Jackie when it was agreed by Hilary but the truth was that Kiffer was a serial adulterer who took advantage of Jackie when she was ill and not of sound mind. It is clear to see that Hilary du Pré wanted to protect herself, indeed, in reality she was the jealous sister. I can’t really fault the film though as it always claimed that this was the story as seen through Hilary’s eyes. You can question her turn of events but they exist never the less. The film is beautifully shot and wonderfully performed, it just isn’t necessarily the truth.

This Land Is Mine
Dir: Jean Renoir
1943
*****
A few films touched on the rise of fascism before the Second World War started (such as La Grande Illusion) and many a great anti-war film was made after the war had ended. There are also plenty of great war films that were made during the war, most of which were propaganda films requested by governments. The majority of these films focused on morale and comradery, for those fighting and for those at home suffering bombs, rationing, fear and worry. Then there were a few films that really got to the roots of the war and the crux of society. This Land Is Mine is one of those few films and I believe it should be regarded as one of the best war films ever made – a good war film being an anti-war film. The great Jean Renoir begins the film with a shot of a World War One monument with Nazi troopers entering the town (‘somewhere in Europe’) in the background. The First World War was of course known as the ‘War to end all Wars’ and the first scene already becomes more poignant and devastating then most films ever manage in their full run-time. Our protagonist is Albert (Charles Laughton), an unmarried schoolmaster living with his dominating mother. Albert is secretly in love with his neighbour and fellow teacher Louise (Maureen O'Hara) but hasn’t the confidence to tell her, besides, Louise is engaged to George (George Sanders), the head of the railway yard, who like many in the town believes that collaboration with the German occupation is the only logical course. Widely regarded as ineffectual, Albert is unable to control his class, is looked down upon (but isn’t disliked) and on one occasion embarrasses everybody by his panic during an Allied air raid. Louise’s brother Paul (Kent Smith), who works in the yard, befriends the German solders but is in fact an active resister and, trying to kill the German commandant Major von Keller, instead kills two German soldiers. After turning a blind eye to previous acts of resistance in the hope of preserving good relations, Major Erich von Keller (Walter Slezak) must now act and takes 10 hostages, saying they will be shot in a week if the guilty person is not found. Albert's mother, jealous of Louise, tells George that it was Paul. George tells von Keller and then, in a crisis of conscience, shoots himself. Albert bursts in a minute later, furious at discovering his mother's treachery, and is found with corpse and gun. Regarding it as a matter for the civilian courts, the Germans expect Albert to be condemned. When in his defense he starts an impassioned plea for resistance, the prosecutor requests an adjournment. That night, von Keller comes to his cell and offers a deal: If he will keep quiet next day, new forged evidence will acquit him. To emphasise the point, in the morning the 10 hostages are shot beneath his window, one of them being his friend and colleague Prof. Sorel (Philip Merivale) who he greatly admired. Back in court, Albert is all the more eloquent in the cause of liberty and the jurors proclaim him innocent. Freed and back in his schoolroom, with a proud Louise by his side, he reads to his pupils who all now stand as he enters the room. The courtroom speeches Albert gives are extraordinary but the talk he gives the boys is breathtaking. Time of of the essence as he addresses his class, “I'm afraid this is my last class. I don't know how much time I have. If this must be a short lesson, I think I've found the best book. It was given to me by Professor Sorel. The only reason it wasn't burned with the others is because I hid it away in my bedroom. I'm going to read you something that was written by great men. Written in a night of enthusiasm a long time ago. 150 years ago. These men came from all classes, rich people, poor people, businessmen, men of religion. And they didn't fight with each other. They all agreed on that wonderful night. Now, other men have tried to destroy this book. Maybe this copy will be burned. But, they can't burn it out of your memories. You'll have to rewrite it someday. That's why you young people are so important. You're the new nation! "A Declaration of the Rights of Man!" Article I - All men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Article II - The purpose of all political parties is the safeguarding of the natural and inalienable rights of man. These rights are liberty, property security, and resistance to tyranny. Article III - The principle of all government resides in the Nation itself. No group, no individual can exercise any authority that does not expressly emanate from the people. Article IV - Liberty consists in freedom to do all that does not harm others. Article V - The law has the right to forbid only..” Albert pauses as the German solders arrive for him. “Just one moment, gentlemen, please.” Albert asks before continuing, “The law has the right to forbid only those things that are harmful to society. Well, I must go. I must go, not because I'm harmful to society - which is you - but, I am harmful to tyranny.” It is a remarkable speech to end a remarkable film. While it felt far more mainstream than Renoir’s earlier film La Grande Illusion, it still hit all the same notes. The prime purpose of the film is propaganda, to strengthen Allied resolve in the fight against Nazism, but once more Renoir adopted a distinctively nuanced approach. The Germans, with von Keller an eloquent advocate of the advantages for Europe of Nazi rule, are not shown as mere brutes. Nor are the French shown as heroes battling tyranny. Instead, as in Renoir's previous films La Grande Illusion and La Règle du Jeu, class is shown to be more significant than race or nationality. The film blames the bourgeoisie, a few left-wing intellectuals excepted, for letting Hitler into power in 1933, for surrendering France in 1940 and for collaborating actively or passively. This stance was confirmed by Renoir shortly after the film came out when, in a speech, he asserted that his recent films "breathed this breath of anti-Fascism" and were rooted in the experience of the Popular Front of 1936, which was "a magnificent exposition of human brotherhood". It is for this reason that This Land Is Mine, as well as his other films, have stood the test of time and will always be relevant.

The Water Diviner

Dir: Russell Crowe

2014

****

Before sitting down to watch The Water Diviner, a film I knew little about, I did wonder how and why, an Australian of all people, could think about making a film about Gallipoli after Peter Weir had made his masterpiece on the subject. The answer, of course, is that he, Russell Crowe, didn’t, rather he made a film about what happened after the battle of Gallipoli and how wounds are best healed. Loosely based on the book by Andrew Anastasios and Dr Meaghan Wilson-Anastasios, The Water Diviner deals with regret, honour and redemption. The film begins in 1919, just after the First World War, and centres around Joshua Connor (Russell Crowe who stars and directs), an Australian farmer and water diviner. His three sons Arthur (Ryan Corr), Edward (James Fraser), and Henry (Ben O'Toole) served with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the military campaign in Gallipoli four years previously and are presumed dead. After his wife Eliza (Jacqueline McKenzie) commits suicide out of grief, Joshua resolves to bring his sons' bodies home and bury them next to their mother. Joshua travels to Turkey and stays in a hotel in Istanbul run by war-widowed Ayshe (Olga Kurylenko), but is unable to travel to Gallipoli by road. Ayshe treats Joshua with contempt at first but learning the purpose of his journey, she tells him to bribe a local fisherman to travel to Gallipoli by boat. When he arrives, Joshua learns that ANZACs are engaged in a mass burial detail and all civilians are banned. Major Hasan (Yılmaz Erdoğan), a Turkish Army officer assisting the ANZACs, persuades the ANZAC captain Lt-Col Cyril Hughes (Jai Courtney) to prioritize helping Joshua with his search, arguing that while they can’t necessarily every father who has lost their sons, he is the only father that has come looking. After finding Edward and Henry's graves, Joshua sees in his dreams that Arthur survives the battle. Hasan recognizes Joshua's surname and tells him that Arthur might have been taken prisoner. Joshua returns to Istanbul, but fails to find out which prison camp Arthur was transferred to, as many Turkish records have been burned. He returns to Ayshe's hotel and learns that she is being pressed to marry her brother-in-law, Omer. Their argument becomes heated and Omer retreats when Joshua intervenes. Ayshe lashes out, blaming Joshua for making things worse and tells him to leave. As Joshua leaves the hotel, Omer and a few of his friends attack him, only to be stopped by Hasan's subordinate, Sergeant Jemal (Cem Yılmaz). Jemal takes Joshua to Hasan, who explains that the Greeks have invaded and they are going to defend their country as the British are not intervening. Joshua decides to travel with Hasan's group, who will pass through the region where his son might be. As Joshua returns to the hotel to retrieve his belongings, Ayshe apologizes for her earlier words. While on the train, Greek soldiers attack with only Jemal, Hasan and Joshua surviving the initial assault. Joshua saves Hasan as a Greek officer prepares to execute him but Jemal is killed in the resulting struggle. Joshua and Hasan flee to a nearby town where they spot a windmill, which Joshua saw in his recurring dream, the sort he taught his son to build before he went to war. There he finds Arthur alive but traumatized. Arthur reveals that at the end of the battle, Edward was still alive but badly wounded. He pleaded with Arthur to end his suffering, and Arthur reluctantly complied. Blaming himself for his brothers' deaths, Arthur felt he could never return to his family. The Greek soldiers who previously attacked the train begin to attack the town, and the two men try to escape through the mountains. Arthur refuses to follow his father, but relents when Joshua says that without his wife and sons, he has nowhere else to go. They successfully evade the Greek army and return to Ayshe's hotel. The film ends with Joshua drinking a cup of coffee made by Ayshe with lots of sugar in it, which, thanks to an earlier conversation, indicates that she has fallen in love with him. I have a few issues with the story but these are generally overshadowed by what I really liked about it. I really didn’t think it needed a romantic story line, especially as Joshua still clearly loved his wife who had only recently killed herself. Life goes on for sure, but it was a little too soon I feel. I also felt the dream sequences let the film down, surely finding Arthur by chance would have had far more impact. It would have certainly made the film a lot less predictable, one of the big things it has against it. However, I hugely respect the film for the way it handles war. It addresses wrongs made on both sides and shows that there really aren’t any winners in war. It looks at prejudice and redemption without shying away from the brutality of things. The depictions of one of the brothers, dying slowly and helpless is a shocking and upsetting scene but exactly the sort of thing a film about war should never shy away from. The story concept originated from a single line in a letter written by Lieutenant-Colonel Cyril Hughes who was a worker in the Imperial War Graves unit. The footnote simply said, “One old chap managed to get here from Australia, looking for his son’s grave.” After a year of research the writers were unable to identify the man or his son which gave them the freedom to imagine a story which would become their screenplay and thankfully they saw fit to examine both sides of the historic battle. While I feel the film was a little ambitious I thought it was very well constructed. That said, co-screenwriter Andrew Knight's own grandfather had fought at Gallipoli, so he and fellow writer Andrew Anastasios were able to derive elements from his diary. In addition, they read a lot of Turkish accounts of the war and the period immediately after to try to tap into the prevailing mood in the country and the different political and social divisions that existed. The screenwriting duo of Knight and Anastasios actually based the water diviner aspect of the character of Joshua on Anastasios's own grandfather, who was a real water diviner in the countryside of New South Wales in Australia. It’s personal passions that make good films like this and it comes through as clear as day. It is a fine debut feature by Russell Crowe and it has a great script, but it also represents a sad farewell to the brilliant cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, as this would be his final film.

The Man in the Iron Mask

Dir: Randall Wallace

1998

***

You can tell a classical adaptation by the decade it was made. I think the 1970s remains the peak decade, everything before and after still haven’t quite matched it, but then I think the same could be said of all genres of film, the 1970s were the best. After Ridley Scott’s Gladiator the grand epic made a revival, with very few being of great quality, and the swashbuckler seemed to all but disappear. Randall Wallace’s adaptation of The Vicomte de Bragelonne isn’t great but it is very 90s, making it not so bad. It hasn’t aged well but I really dig it, as it reminds me of how wonderfully silly many 90s films were. It also shamelessly copies Richard Lester’s Three Musketter films, although it has very little of their charm. For me it was all about the cast and their performances. It was a relatively early film for Leonardo DiCaprio who was a real pin-up at the time, so choosing such a deplorable role was very canny of him. It did him well to play the villain and he plays it well, but his character is also the bad boy that many a young girl is attracted to, so it is a role with duel reward – which is fair I guess, seeing as it is also a literal duel role. Jeremy Irons plays Aramis, John Malkovich plays Athos, Gerard Depardieu plays Porthos and Gabriel Byrne is D'Artagnan. It seemed a novelty for Irons to play a good guy for once and he suited the role well. Gerard Depardieu seems a far too obvious choice for Porthos but you wouldn’t want anyone else and Gabriel Byrne is rather good as D'Artagnan. I think my favourite performance was from John Malkovich, and to cast Peter Sarsgaard as his son was a genius decision. The film is more Douglas Fairbanks than it is Alexandre Dumas but it is what it is. Set in 1662 (half a century before the real Louis XIV’s birth), the Kingdom of France faces bankruptcy from King Louis XIV's wars against the Dutch Republic, which has left the country's agriculture impeded by a heavy tax burden and forced the citizens to live on rotten food. Though the country appears to be on the verge of a revolution, Louis continues to spend his time preparing for war and seducing countless women. The three musketeers have gone their separate ways; Aramis is now an aging priest, Porthos has become a philandering drunk, and Athos is retired and living with his only son, Raoul, who aspires to join the Musketeers. Only D'Artagnan has remained with the Musketeers, now serving as their Captain. Aramis learns that the Jesuit order has declared Louis's wars unjust and the source of public hunger and outrage. Louis personally instructs Aramis to secretly hunt down and kill the Jesuit leader. Also in attendance are Raoul and his fiancée, Christine Bellefort. Louis immediately sets his sights on Christine, but faithful to Raoul, she resists his affections. A Jesuit assassin attempts to kill Louis but is killed by D'Artagnan instead. Louis immediately plots to seduce Christine by having Raoul sent to the battlefront. D'Artagnan visits his old friend Athos to warn him of the danger Raoul faces but then Raoul arrives and informs his father he has been recalled to his regiment because he believes Louis desires Christine, Athos turns on his friend and holds him partly responsible. Raoul nevertheless resolves to go because he will not risk making Christine a widow nor consider himself a coward. Athos angrily warns D'Artagnan that if Raoul is harmed, then Louis will become his enemy. D'Artagnan tells Athos he will personally speak to Louis about the situation. An angry crowd from Paris attacks the Musketeers when they are fed rotten food, but D'Artagnan calms the crowd and says he will personally speak to Louis about public hunger. Louis assures D'Artagnan he will deal with the matter, and that Raoul will return soon from the war. Instead, Louis orders his chief adviser Pierre executed for distributing the rotten food (despite the fact that Louis earlier ordered him to do so), and orders that all rioters are to be shot from now on. Raoul joins the war and is killed at the battlefront by cannon fire. Upon learning of his son's death, Athos attempts to kill Louis but is stopped by D'Artagnan, and goes into exile. Louis invites Christine to the royal palace and coerces her into sex by pretending to care for her mourning and by promising to have his personal doctor treat her sick mother and sister and has them sent to recover at his country estate. Aramis summons Porthos, Athos and D'Artagnan for a secret meeting in which he reveals that he himself is the Jesuits' leader and has a plan to depose Louis. Athos and Porthos agree, but D'Artagnan refuses to cooperate citing his oath of honor cannot be removed or betrayed. Athos angrily confronts D'Artagnan over his devotion and loyalty to Louis, but D'Artagnan still refuses to join their plot. Athos brands him a traitor and threatens him with death should they ever meet again. The three musketeers enter a remote prison and smuggle out an unnamed prisoner in an iron mask, taking him to the countryside, where Aramis reveals that he is Philippe, Louis's identical twin brother. Aramis reveals that the night Louis was born, his mother, Queen Anne, gave birth to twins. Louis XIII, hoping to avoid dynastic warfare between his sons, sent Philippe away to live in the countryside with no knowledge of his true identity. On his deathbed, Louis XIII revealed Philippe's existence to Anne and Louis. Anne, having been told by her priest that Philippe had died at birth, then wished to restore Philippe's birthright. But Louis, now king and too superstitious to have his brother killed, had Philippe imprisoned instead in the iron mask to keep his identity secret, something Aramis reluctantly carried out. Aramis's plan is now to redeem himself and save France by replacing Louis with Philippe. The musketeers begin training Philippe to act and behave like Louis, while Athos develops fatherly feelings for him. At a masquerade ball, the musketeers lure Louis to his quarters and subdue him, dressing Philippe in his clothes while taking Louis to the dungeons. D'Artagnan uncovers the ruse, after Christine accuses Philippe with evidence of Louis's role in Raoul's death and is not rebuffed. He forcibly escorts Philippe to the dungeons and they confront the musketeers before they can take Louis to the Bastille. They trade twins, but Philippe is captured before the musketeers escape. D'Artagnan is shocked to learn who Philippe is and begs Louis not to kill him, as does Anne. Louis refuses, but after Philippe pleads with Louis to kill him rather than put him back in the mask, Louis decides to send Philippe to the Bastille and have the mask placed on him again, cynically stating Philippe will "wear the mask until [he] love[s] it...and die in it". He orders D'Artagnan to bring him the severed heads of Athos, Porthos and Aramis or Louis will have his head. Meanwhile, Christine commits suicide by hanging herself outside Louis's bedroom window out of grief and remorse. D'Artagnan contacts his friends for help in rescuing Philippe from the Bastille. Louis, who suspected D'Artagnan would help his friends, ambushes them at the prison. Though he offers D'Artagnan clemency in exchange for surrender, D'Artagnan refuses, privately revealing to Philippe and his friends that Louis and Philippe are actually his sons from an affair with the Queen. He also reveals he never knew Philippe existed, and never felt pride as a father until now. They charge one final time at Louis and his men and are fired upon; their bravery compels the soldiers to close their eyes before firing and all miss. Louis attempts to stab Philippe but wounds D'Artagnan fatally. Philippe attacks Louis but stops when D'Artagnan reminds him that Louis is his brother. Athos asks D'Artagnan's forgiveness, realizing his loyalty to Louis was out of fatherly devotion to his son, the same fatherly devotion Athos had to his son Raoul. D'Artagnan dies in his friends' arms. D'Artagnan's top lieutenant, Andre, angered by his mentor's death, swears his men to secrecy and orders them out of the prison, siding with Philippe. He and the Musketeers switch the twins' places again. Philippe orders Louis locked away and fed by a deaf mute, placing him in the iron mask, and then names Athos, Porthos and Aramis as his royal counsel. A small funeral is held for D'Artagnan, where Philippe admits to Athos that he has come to love him like a father, which Athos reciprocates. Philippe later issues Louis a royal pardon and sends him to live peacefully in the countryside visited often by Anne, and goes on to become one of France's greatest kings. The tombstone of D'Artagnan has an iron mask imprint chiseled upon it by his friends with Philippe saying earlier that due to his secret, D'Artagnan was the real man in the iron mask. In Alexandre Dumas's The Vicomte de Bragelonne, although the plot to replace King Louis XIV with his twin brother is foiled, the twin is initially depicted as a much more sympathetic character than the King. However, in the last part of the novel, the King is portrayed as an intelligent, more mature, and slightly misunderstood man who in fact deserves the throne - and the Musketeers themselves are split, Aramis (with assistance from Porthos, who is ignorant and easily duped) siding with the prisoner, D'Artagnan with King Louis, and Athos retiring from politics entirely. D'Artagnan, foiling the plot of the others, is tasked with capturing his friends, who have taken refuge in a fortress in Bretony: he resigns his command, knowing that he will be arrested and his subordinate will open fire anyway. Without D'Artagnan's command and his tactical knowledge of his friends-turned-foes, Aramis's fortress refuge is taken by the king's men but at great loss of life, while Porthos dies in a heroic last stand and Aramis escapes to take political asylum in Spain (and later return as a member of the Spanish embassage, to ensure their neutrality should France and Holland come to blows.) D'Artagnan explains himself to the King, and is pardoned and restored to his position, and told that if he wants the final promotion he was on the point of earning, he had better go and win it on a foreign field: in the later war against Holland, he is finally awarded promotion to the supreme command, only to be killed while reading the notice of his promotion at the siege of Maastricht. I can see why the change was made but the ending of the film is fairly rubbish compared to the classic novel. It’s a bit of fluff, a Sunday afternoon film. It’s a terrible adaptation and not a particularly well made film but it’s incredibly watchable and totally forgivable.

Age of Consent

Dir: Michael Powell

1969

****

Age of Consent has become something of a cult film, although I don’t personally consider it a masterpiece as many do, especially as it was directed by the legendary director Michael Powell. However, I did enjoy it, and no, not just because it features a young naked Helen Mirren. The story is based on Norman Lindsay's 1938 novel that was actually banned in Australia for several years. The novel was later adapted into the 1994 film Sirens, starring Hugh Grant, Sam Neill, and Elle Macpherson. The first adaptation was announced in 1961 by producer Oscar Nichols who said he wanted Dan O'Herlihy and Glynis Johns to make the film. In 1962 Michael Pate bought the rights and he eventually brought in Michael Powell. Several changes were made from Lindsay's novel including shifting the location from New South Wales to the Barrier Reef and making the artist a success instead of a failure. While the film was still in production, director Michael Powell said “My next film is the story of a painter who believes that he will no longer paint and of a girl who persuades him to begin again...He will probably end up painting her; but to see a painter sit down and paint a girl, this could be exciting, but I had the hardest time explaining to my scriptwriter that this didn't excite me at all. What interested me was the problem of Creation and the fact that this creation in the case of the painter was very physical. He will have to struggle, to fight, even more strongly than he will move away from reality. It will be a slightly bitter comedy that I will produce with James Mason who will play the leading role.” Powell and Mason had wanted to work together in the past, on I Know Where I'm Going!, but had not been able to come to an agreement on billing and Mason was unwilling to go on location to Scotland. It was originally intended to cast an unknown seventeen-year-old Australian actress opposite Mason but in the end twenty-two-year-old Helen Mirren was chosen. For some reason they added the line "Miss Mirren is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company" underneath her name. maybe it was to let the audience know she was an actor and not just a model who had agreed to take off her clothes, I don’t know, but I’ve always thought it to be rather condescending. That said, maybe it was on her request and she had predicted the sort of interview Michael Parkinson gave her six years later, but like I say, I really don’t know. The film follows Bradley Morahan (James Mason), an Australian artist who feels he has become jaded by success and life in New York City. He decides that he needs to regain the edge he had as a young artist and returns to Australia. He sets up in a shack, just him and his dog (who receives his own credit at the beginning of the film), on the shore of a small, sparsely inhabited island on the Great Barrier Reef. There he meets young Cora Ryan (Helen Mirren), who has grown up wild, with her only relative, her difficult, gin-guzzling grandmother 'Ma' (Neva Carr Glyn). To earn money, Cora sells Bradley fish that she has caught in the sea. She later sells him a chicken which she has stolen from his spinster neighbour Isabel Marley (Andonia Katsaros). When Bradley is suspected of being the thief, he pays Isabel and gets Cora to promise not to steal any more. To help her save enough money to fulfill her dream of becoming a hairdresser in Brisbane, he pays her to be his model. She reinvigorates him, becoming his artistic muse. Bradley's work is disrupted when his sponging longtime "friend" Nat Kelly (Jack MacGowran) shows up. Nat is hiding from the police over alimony he owes. When Bradley refuses to give him a loan, Nat invites himself to stay with Bradley. After several days, Bradley's patience becomes exhausted, but Nat then focuses his attention on romancing Isabel, hoping to get some money from her. Instead, she unexpectedly ravishes him. The next day, he hastily departs the island, but not before stealing Bradley's money and some of his drawings. Ma subsequently catches Cora posing nude for Bradley and accuses him of carrying on with her underage granddaughter. Bradley protests that he has done nothing improper. Finally, he gives her the little money he has left to get her to go away. When Cora discovers that Ma has found her hidden cache of money, she chases after her. In the ensuing struggle, Ma falls down a hill, breaks her neck, and dies. The local policeman sees no reason to investigate further, since the old woman was known to be frequently drunk. Later that night, Cora goes to Bradley's shack, but is disappointed when he seems to view her only as his model. When she runs out, Bradley follows her into the water, where he finally comes to view her as a desirable young woman. Mason’s accent isn’t great, although I love his voice, and the desire between both he and Mirren is never really that convincing. I didn’t find the last scene to be the most logic as neither character ever saw each other as anything other than an opportunity – inspiration for him and a way out for her. As much as I enjoyed Jack MacGowran’s performance, he brought the film back to the typical sex comedy of the era, when before his appearance it all seemed rather grown up and contemporary. The younger actor’ performances were a stark contrast to the more seasoned actor’s performances and they never really worked in unison. Months later Michael Powell admitted the film had turned out to be too comedic, suggesting it was "A sensual comedy. Not a big success, but interesting anyway." The film will always be best remembered for the nude Helen Mirren and the problems the production had with censorship. It’s a shame in many respects, because all of the great scenes and the clever script have been overlooked ever since. It is a nice film, no masterpiece and no where near Powell’s finest work but it does have a lot of charm to it and it remains a fascinating film for various different reasons.