Godzilla (Gojira)

Dir: Ishirō Honda

1954

*****

Ishirō Honda’s 1954 classic Godzilla (Gojira) isn’t about a giant green lizard that terrorizes Tokyo. I mean it is, but that’s not really what it is about. Written by Honda, Takeo Murata, and Shigeru Kayama, Gojira was written to symbolise nuclear holocaust from Japan's perspective and is a metaphor for nuclear weapons. Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka stated back in the 1950s that, "The theme of the film, from the beginning, was the terror of the bomb. Mankind had created the bomb, and now nature was going to take revenge on mankind." Honda filmed Gojira's Tokyo rampage to mirror the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, stating, "If Godzilla had been a dinosaur or some other animal, he would have been killed by just one cannonball. But if he were equal to an atomic bomb, we wouldn't know what to do. So, I took the characteristics of an atomic bomb and applied them to him." Themes aside, Gojira was really just a classic 50s B-movie, but there was always something more to it above the others and most of it’s American counterparts. When the Japanese freighter Eiko-maru is destroyed near Odo Island, another ship – the Bingo-maru – is sent to investigate, only to meet the same fate with few survivors. A fishing boat from Odo is also destroyed, with one survivor. Fishing catches mysteriously drop to zero, blamed by an elder on the ancient sea creature known as "Gojira". Reporters arrive on Odo Island to further investigate. A villager tells one of the reporters that something in the sea is ruining the fishing. That evening, a storm strikes the island, destroying the reporters' helicopter, and Gojira, who is seen briefly, destroys 17 homes and kills nine people and 20 of the villagers' livestock. Odo residents travel to Tokyo to demand disaster relief. The villagers' and reporters' evidence describes damage consistent with something large crushing the village. The government sends paleontologist Kyohei Yamane to lead an investigation on the island, where giant radioactive footprints and a trilobite are discovered. The village alarm bell is rung and Yamane and the villagers rush to see the monster, retreating after seeing that it is a giant dinosaur. Yamane presents his findings in Tokyo, estimating that Gojira is 164 ft tall and is evolved from an ancient sea creature becoming a terrestrial creature. He concludes that Gojira has been disturbed by underwater hydrogen bomb testing. Debate ensues about notifying the public about the danger of the monster. Meanwhile, 17 ships are lost at sea. Ten frigates are dispatched to attempt to kill the monster using depth charges. The mission disappoints Yamane, who wants Gojira to be studied. When Gojira survives the attack, officials appeal to Yamane for ideas to kill the monster, but Yamane tells them that Gojira is unkillable, having survived H-bomb testing, and must be studied. Yamane's daughter, Emiko, decides to break off her arranged engagement to Yamane's colleague, Daisuke Serizawa, because of her love for Hideto Ogata, a salvage ship captain. When a reporter arrives and asks to interview Serizawa, Emiko escorts the reporter to Serizawa's home. After Serizawa refuses to divulge his current work to the reporter, he gives Emiko a demonstration of his recent project on the condition that she must keep it a secret. The demonstration horrifies her and she leaves without breaking off the engagement. Shortly after she returns home, Gojira surfaces from Tokyo Bay and attacks Shinagawa. After attacking a passing train, Gojira returns to the ocean. After consulting with international experts, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces construct a 100 ft, 50,000 volt electrified fence along the coast and deploy forces to stop and kill Gojira. Yamane returns home, dismayed that there is no plan to study the monster for its resistance to radiation, where Emiko and Ogata await hoping to get his consent for them to wed. When Ogata disagrees with Yamane, arguing that the threat that Gojira poses outweighs any potential benefits from studying the monster, Yamane tells him to leave. Gojira resurfaces and breaks through the fence to Tokyo with its atomic breath, unleashing more destruction across the city. Further attempts to kill the monster with tanks and fighter jets fail and Gojira returns to the ocean. The day after, hospitals and shelters are crowded with the maimed and the dead, with some survivors suffering from radiation sickness. Distraught by the devastation, Emiko tells Ogata about Serizawa's research, a weapon called the Oxygen Destroyer, which disintegrates oxygen atoms and causing organisms to die of a rotting asphyxiation. Emiko and Ogata go to Serizawa to convince him to use the Oxygen Destroyer but he initially refuses, explaining that if he uses the device, the superpowers of the world will surely force him to construct more Oxygen Destroyers for use as a superweapon. After watching a program displaying the nation's current tragedy, Serizawa finally accepts their pleas. As Serizawa burns his notes, Emiko breaks down crying. A navy ship takes Ogata and Serizawa to plant the device in Tokyo Bay. After finding Gojira, Serizawa unloads the device and cuts off his air support, taking the secret of the Oxygen Destroyer to his grave. Gojira is destroyed, but many mourn Serizawa's death. Yamane believes that if nuclear weapons testing continues, another Gojira may rise in the future. It is a warning to the future from the victims of the past. Gojira contains political and cultural undertones that can be attributed to what the Japanese had experienced in World War II, so much so that Japanese audiences were able to connect emotionally to the monster. Many viewers actually saw Godzilla as a victim and felt that the creature's backstory reminded them of their experiences in World War II. The atomic bomb testing that woke Gojira were carried out by the United States, the film in a way can be seen to blame the United States for the problems and struggles that Japan experienced after World War II had ended. The film could be said to have served as a cultural coping method to help the people of Japan move on from the events of the war. Making it a monster movie was very canny, as it appealed to the masses – the genre being popular at the time – and would have carried around the world. It’s clearly a political piece but it would not appear so, being a melodramatic monster movie. It is perhaps the first film to ever use metaphor in such an obvious and outrageous manner. It startles me just how many people still don’t realises what it’s really all about. Toho originally planned to produce Eiko-no Kagi-ni (In the Shadow of Glory), a Japanese-Indonesian co-production about the aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, however, anti-Japanese sentiment in Indonesia forced political pressure on the government to deny visas for the Japanese filmmakers. The film was to be co-produce with Indonesian studio Perfini, filmed on location in Jakarta in color (a first for a major Toho production), and was to open markets for Japanese films in Southeast Asia. Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka flew to Jakarta to renegotiate with the Indonesian government but was unsuccessful and on the flight back to Japan, conceived the idea for a giant monster film inspired by the 1953 film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and the Daigo Fukuryū Maru incident that happened in March 1954. The film's opening sequence is a direct reference to the incident. Tanaka felt the film had potential due to nuclear fears generating news and monster films becoming popular, due to the financial success of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and the 1952 re-release of King Kong, the latter which earned more money than previous releases. During his flight, Tanaka wrote an outline with the working title The Giant Monster from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and pitched it to executive producer Iwao Mori. Mori approved the project in April 1954 after special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya agreed to do the film's effects and confirmed that the film was financially feasible. Honda was not Toho's first choice for the film's director, however, his war-time experience made him an ideal candidate for the film's anti-nuclear themes. Several other directors passed on the project, feeling the idea was "stupid," however, Honda accepted the assignment due to this interest in science and "unusual things," stating, "I had no problem taking it seriously."  It was during the production of Gojira that Honda worked with assistant director Koji Kajita for the first time. Afterwards, Kajita would go on to collaborate with Honda as his chief assistant director for 17 films over the course of 10 years. Due to sci-fi films lacking respect from film critics, Honda, Tanaka, and Tsuburaya agreed on depicting a monster attack as if it were a real event, with the serious tone of a documentary, which has always made Gojira stand out above all other monster/b-movies. There have been many Godzilla movies made since, some good, some bad, but the good ones always follow Honda, Tanaka, and Tsuburaya rule. It is an iconic film in terms of idea and special effects, a cultural phenomenon and one of the most important films of the twentieth century.

Sabrina

Dir: Billy Wilder

1954

****

The goings on behind the scenes are just as famous as the film itself in Billy Wilder’s 1954 romantic classic Sabrina. The lead actor hated everyone, the other two leads fell in love and had an affair and the director, who would end a 12-year business relationship with the studio after the film’s release, was so up against it, he asked the actors to fake sickness so he’d have a chance to catch up. Sabrina is a bonafide classic but one wonders whether it could have been better with one or two slight changes. Sabrina Fairchild (Audrey Hepburn) is the young daughter of the Larrabee family's chauffeur, Thomas (John Williams), and has been in love with David Larrabee (William Holden) all her life. David is a three-times-married playboy who has never paid attention to Sabrina because to him she was still a child. Eavesdropping on a party at the Larrabee mansion, as she has often done before, Sabrina notices David enticing yet another woman. Distraught, she leaves her father a suicide note and starts every car in the garage so as to kill herself. Instead she is interrupted by David's older brother, Linus (Humphrey Bogart), who escorts her back to her quarters above the garage. Sabrina had been on the point of sailing for France, where she is to attend a culinary school in Paris. After two years there, she returns home as an attractive and sophisticated woman. When her father is delayed from picking her up at the station, David offers her a lift instead without even knowing it is Sabrina. Once David realizes who she is, he is quickly drawn to Sabrina and invites her to join him at a party at the mansion. When Linus sees this, he fears that David's imminent marriage to Elizabeth Tyson may be endangered. If the engagement is broken, it would ruin a profitable opportunity for a great corporate merger between Larrabee Industries and Elizabeth's very wealthy father's business. Instead of confronting David about his irresponsibility, Linus pretends to sympathise with him and in a moment of inattention David sits down on champagne glasses he has placed in his pockets, so that he is incapacitated for a few days. Linus now takes David’s place with Sabrina on the pretext that “it’s all in the family” until both fall in love, although neither will admit it. In fact Linus’ plan is to pretend to be accompanying Sabrina back to Paris but not to join her on the liner. However, when he reveals his intention to Sabrina instead, she agrees to leave the next day and never come back. The following morning, Linus has second thoughts and decides to send David to Paris with Sabrina. This means calling off David's wedding with Elizabeth and the big Tyson deal, and he schedules a meeting of the Larrabee board to announce this. However, David enters the room at the last minute and declares that he has decided to marry Elizabeth after all. David helps Linus recognize his own feelings for Sabrina and assists him in rushing off to join Sabrina's ship before it leaves harbor. Linus and Sabrina meet on board and sail away together. The story is flawed way before the film is. I hate how suicide has been so poorly handled in love stories. You have to go back to Romeo & Juliet to find its origins but since then, particularly in older films of the 40s and 50s, it has been used out of context and in a irresponsible manner. We look back at films like Sabrina and comment on the love story without once questioning Sabrina’s mental state or the actions of the two brothers. Everything about it, when you really think about it, is deplorable and not romantic at all. It’s horrific really, but Hepburn’s eyes, Holden’s charm and Bogart’s voice somehow make people overlook such things. I like the film because I like watching Bogart, Hepburn and Holden, not because I like either the story or the characters. Initially, Cary Grant was considered for the role of Linus, but he declined, supposedly because he did not want to carry an umbrella onscreen but I don’t know how true that really is. The role was taken by Bogart. Best known for playing tough detectives and adventurers, Bogart was cast against type as a smart businessman gradually transformed into a romantic lead. He was something of a last minute replacement and he knew, just like everyone else did, that he wasn’t really right for the part. He was very unhappy during the filming, convinced that he was totally wrong for this kind of film, mad at not being Wilder's first choice, and not liking Holden or Billy Wilder. Bogart also disapproved of Audrey Hepburn and he wanted his wife Lauren Bacall in the role. Asked how he liked working with Hepburn, Bogart replied: "It's OK, if you don't mind to make a dozen takes." During production of the film, Hepburn and Holden entered into a brief but passionate and much-publicized love affair but Hepburn called it off once she learned that Holden couldn’t bare children. Bogart later apologized to Wilder for his behavior on set, citing problems in his personal life but by that time the stories were infamous. Wilder began shooting before the script was even finished, and Lehman was writing all day to complete it. Eventually he would finish a scene in the morning, deliver it during lunch, and filming of it would begin in the afternoon. Considering the film’s many problems, the final result is pretty miraculous. For all of the problems the film though, I do find it funny just how many times Wilder managed to mention the play The Seven Year Itch – the next film project with a new studio. The reality is that the film isn’t as special as all that but it is, and always will be, a joy to watch the four giant film makers at work.

The Naked Jungle

Dir: Byron Haskin

1954

**

Based on the 1937 short story Leiningen Versus the Ants by Carl Stephenson, The Naked Jungle is a film of two halves. What starts as an unconvincing melodrama suddenly turns into a ant-themed disaster film, it’s not quite the pay off I’d hoped it would be but the film isn’t without its appeal. Set in 1901, Joanna (Eleanor Parker) arrives from New Orleans at a South American cocoa plantation to meet her new husband, plantation owner Christopher Leiningen (Charlton Heston). This has been arranged by his brother in New Orleans, with whom she has had some form of relationship. Not only is Leiningen unhappy about getting his brother's "hand-me-downs" he is even more upset that she is a widow, as he wished to marry a virgin. Leiningen is cold and remote to her, rebuffing all her attempts to make friends with him. She is beautiful, independent, and arrives ready to be his stalwart helpmate. There is a strong sexual tension, which appears hard to resolve. He mocks her lack of understanding of the native ways and takes every opportunity to belittle her. Although there is a mutual softening she resolves to leave him and return to America. Leiningen decides to advance this plan by a month when he hears from the local commissioner of a potential attack by an army of ants, as he does not wish her to be harmed. As she awaits the boat to take her back to the United States, they learn that legions of army ants - the "marabunta" - will strike in a few days' time. Leiningen refuses to give up the home he fought so hard to create. Instead of evacuating, he resolves to make a stand against this indomitable natural predator. The ants take several days to arrive and during that time their joint effort brings them closer and love begins to blossom. Joanna joins the fight to save the plantation. Leiningen last hope is the drastic action of blowing up a timber dam to flood his own estate, washing the ants away. It’ll take years to rebuild but the fact that Joanna will be by his side and will thus understand his plight, will make the task easier. The first half of the film is dated, even by 1954 standards. Heston’s Leiningen is like a petulant child, he’s abusive, a narcissist and woefully misogynistic. There is nothing in it for Joanna and it never becomes clever why she goes to so much effort for him. He doesn’t become any less misogynistic either, only less abusive but only for the ending, you just know a character like that will eventually make her life hell. I can’t help but think that her character would probably end up wishing the ants had got her. The film picks up a bit when the ants do arrive but it’s a completely different film. I’ve often thought, half way through a boring film, how much better it would be if aliens suddenly invaded or if people began exploding, so I was thrilled when the tiresome melodrama was suddenly infested with destructive insects. I only wish they were giant radioactive ants. As painfully melodramatic as the first half is, the script is occasionally sharp and quite wonderfully so. When Leiningen shares his disappointment that his new wife isn’t a virgin, she’s tactfully quips that “a piano plays better if it has already been played.” The sexual tension is still disturbing though and its hard to like. Eleanor Parker’s character is flawed but her performance steals the show, followed closely by William Conrad’s performance as the Commissioner. Charlton Heston’s performance was over-baked, as it so often was, so in many respects it was perfect casting. My favourite scene is still the one where the village drunk gets his skin eaten off down to the bone while sleeping off a night of drinking. It’s not worth watching the film for though. I find it odd that it was produced by George Pal who brought us such classics as Destination Moon, The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine among many. It’s a poor man’s Tennessee Williams play at best and if you want ants then watch Them!, which came out the same year or fast-forward twenty years and watch Phase IV instead. Better still, cover your face in honey and lay down outside for a while are let real ants crawl over you for 90 minutes, trust me, it’ll be more entertaining than watching this.

The Barefoot Contessa

Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz

1954

***

Marlon Brando famously turned down the leading role in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s now classic The Barefoot Contessa, telling the director "I'm not making pictures about movie stars this year. I'm not even into being a movie star, myself." While Barefoot Contessa is now seen as a classic Hollywood picture, a piece of fantastical glamour and a celebration of extravagance from the golden age, it is actually a lot closer to reality than many people realise. The lead character of Maria Vargas is based on Rita Hayworth, who was actually offered the part. Hayworth was a Latina who later married a prince, Prince Aly Khan. Other elements were taken from Ava Gardner's life as well, particularly the stormy relationship between Maria and tycoon movie producer Kirk Edwards (Warren Stevens) which was based on Gardner's own relationship with billionaire film producer Howard Hughes. It’s not without its issues but it is hard not to love and indulge oneself in the glamour and decadence of the bygone era, but in many respects it is a shame Humphrey Bogart was cast, given that the film really was about Ava Gardner’s Maria, and not about him or his character. It begins as we find washed-up movie director and writer Harry Dawes (Humphrey Bogart) who is down on his luck and reduced to working for abusive, emotionally stunted business tycoon Kirk Edwards (Warren Stevens), who has decided that he wants to produce a film to stroke his monumental ego. Looking for a glamorous leading lady, they go to a Madrid night club to see a dancer named Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner), whom Kirk had already been told about. Maria is a proud spirit who likes to walk barefoot and who always refuses an audience backstage but makes an exception for Harry. Maria immediately likes Harry, whose work she knows, but takes an instant dislike of Kirk. Although she flees during their meeting, Harry tracks her down to her family home and convinces her to fly away with them to America to make her first film. Thanks to his expertise and the help of sweaty, insincere publicist Oscar Muldoon (Edmond O'Brien), her film debut is a sensation. With subsequent films by this team, Maria becomes a respected actress, Harry's career is resurrected, and they become friends. During a party at Maria's house, Kirk and wealthy Latin American playboy Alberto Bravano (Marius Goring) become involved in an argument over Maria. Alberto had conspicuously admired Maria during the evening. When Alberto invites her to join him on his yacht in the Riviera, Kirk orders her to stay away from him. Offended by Kirk's attempted domineering, she accepts Alberto's invitation. Also seeing an opportunity, Oscar, tired of being Kirk's lackey, switches his allegiance to Alberto. Soon Maria becomes a big star, but she is not satisfied. She envies the happiness her friend Harry has found with his wife Jerry (Elizabeth Sellars). Alberto is too frivolous and shallow for her. One evening at a casino, while Alberto is gambling, Maria takes some of his chips and cashes them, throwing the money to her gypsy lover from a window. When Alberto goes on a losing streak, he berates Maria in public for ruining his luck. Subsequently, he receives a slap in the face from Count Vincenzo Torlato-Favrini (Rossano Brazzi), who escorts Maria from the casino. Maria stays with Vincenzo and his widowed sister, Eleanora (Valentina Cortesa), at the count's palazzo. She has found the great love of her life, and they wed in a lavish ceremony, in which Harry gives away the bride. But there is a problem. The count and his sister are the last of the Torlato-Favrinis; without offspring, the noble line will die out. The count has a secret. Due to a war injury, he is impotent. He does not tell Maria about this until their wedding night. On a rainy night months later, with Harry in Italy, an unhappy Maria arrives at his hotel room, telling him about her husband's impotence, but confessing that she is pregnant. She believes Vincenzo will want this child in order to perpetuate the family lineage. Harry warns her Vincenzo is too proud to accept this, but Maria feels otherwise and plans to tell him about her pregnancy that night. As Maria leaves his hotel room, Harry notices Vincenzo's car trailing hers and follows them. Back at the palazzo in the servants' quarters, Vincenzo shoots to death both Maria and her lover before she can tell him about the child. Harry arrives just as the shots are fired but he does not tell Vincenzo about the pregnancy. The story ends, as it began, with flashbacks at her funeral. While the story needs a narrator, someones eyes for the audience to see maria’s life through, I’ve always found the clear career determination of Bogart above Harry the down on his luck director. The studio was about to release the film's poster without an image of Bogart, which was a contractual violation but Bogart had the matter rectified with the addition of a line drawing of his face. That is what makes the film authentically Hollywood. I adore Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s films and I love the script in Barefoot Contessa, but I’ve always thought it would have been a much richer film if it had been made by a French or Italian director and their native country. It was indeed filmed in Rome, making it one of the films referred to as ‘Hollywood on the Tiber’, a short lived phenomenon that included films such as Roman Holiday and Three Coins in the Fountain, but it is 100% Hollywood at its core. While Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner had good chemistry on screen, off screen Bogart wasn't particularly impressed with her as an actress. He commented that Gardner gave him nothing to work with when they were performing together. Some believe Bogart's unfavourable feelings towards Gardner was due to the divorce between Gardner and his close friend Frank Sinatra but when you hear about how Bogart acted in other pictures, I believe it was just the way he was. It’s one of those films where its best to enjoy it for what it is, without learning too much about the reality of the production. For me it wins due to its amazing script but I find it hard to ignore the brattish Hollywood behaviour that has had negative repercussions ever since within the industry. Like I say, I love the film, but pioneering films such as Rear Window, Seven Samurai, La Strada, On the Waterfront and Godzilla were released at the same time and I have far more time for them.

The Black Shield of Falworth

Dir: Rudolph Maté

1954

***

Rudolph Maté’s 1954 The Black Shield of Falworth is an adaption of Howard Pyle's 1891 novel Men of Iron,  a juvenile "coming of age" work in which a young squire, Myles Falworth, seeks not only to become a knight but to eventually redeem his father's honor. Everything about it, from the sets and clothes to the way the characters speak is historically wrong and merry old England couldn’t have looked more like California if it tried. However, the film stars Tony Curtis, who is like a god to me. I love it. It has about as much swash (and indeed buckle) that you could ever desire from a medieval romp and Curtis jumps around the set like a giant flea in tights, never once letting his thick Brooklyn accent bother him. He never actually says the now infamous line "Yonda stands da castle of my fodda" but part of me wishes that he had. It was the second of five films in which husband and wife Curtis and Janet Leigh appeared together on screen during their nine year marriage – not their best but their worst is still brilliant. The story is about a young Myles Falworth (Curtis) and his sister Meg (Barbara Rush) who live in obscurity on a farm in Crosbey-Dale with their guardian Diccon Bowman (Rhys Williams). This is to protect them from the attainder placed upon their family by King Henry IV of England (Ian Keith) because their father has been (falsely) accused of treason and murdered by the Earl of Alban (David Farrar). When a hunting party comprising the Earl of Alban, the lord of Crosbey-Dale, and another nobleman, Sir Robert, stop at their farm for refreshment, they are repulsed by Myles to stop them molesting his sister. Why anyone thought that the attempted rape scene should feature upbeat trumpets and violins is beyond me. This confrontation accelerates Diccon's plans to send them to Mackworth Castle in Derbyshire (based on the eponymous castle). It is amazing how similar Derbyshire and the San Fernando Valley look. The Earl of Mackworth (Herbert Marshall), a close friend of their father, becomes their protector, and he sees in Myles the man who can rid England of the evil machinations of the Earl of Alban. Myles is trained to be a knight, is knighted by the king, and kills the Earl of Alban in trial by combat, foiling Alban's attempt to seize the English crown. Myles then marries the Earl of Mackworth's daughter, Lady Anne (Janet Leigh). Now you can hate on the story, dialogue and performances all you like, but the last battle scene in the castle is one of the most amazing pieces of cinema of all time. There are quite a few differences between film and book, Myles's father and mother being still alive and distinct lack of sister being the big ones. There is no "black shield of Falworth" in the book, and Myles falls in love with the Earl Mackworth's niece, Alice, rather than his daughter Anne. Falworth's great enemy is only unmasked at the end while in the film Alban is known as the hated tyrant throughout. Myles is only sixteen in the book and the Earl of Alban does not try to seize the throne from King Henry, he actually remains his friend. In the book King Henry is not so pleased by Myles's final victory over the Earl of Alban, and Myles and his family are only given full restitution when King Henry V ascends the throne. Wives aren’t just handed around to the victorious good guys either but I really don’t care because Tony Curtis jumps of a mezzanine and actually makes tights look good on a man. I love how short-tempered and lairy Curtis’s Myles is, always punching first and asking questions later. I’m pretty sure Curtis hurt the other actors in real life. Joking aside, the performances are actually all very good, the film is fluff but the performances are class. I can’t really fault Rudolph Maté’s direction either, it is a cheap studio flick but it features some handsome compositions and like I said before, that last battle scene is cinema gold. The film really is all about Tony Curtis but Torin Thatcher is great as a one-eyed warrior and both Janet Leigh and Barbara Rush are positively enthusiastic in their performances. The film is famous for an apocryphal line, rendered as "Yonda stands da castle of my fodda" or similar but it simply isn’t true. The line is said to have come from a remark made by Debbie Reynolds in a television interview but she simply got confused with the film Son of Ali Baba. In that film Curtis said "This is the palace of my father, and yonder lies the Valley of the Sun", and he did deliver it in a markedly New York accent but that was two years before. This was 1954 and it was up, up, up for Curtis after this. Besides, if you want to laugh at his out-of-place accent, then watch Winchester ’73 instead.

River of No Return
Dir: Otto Preminger
1954
**
I’m not sure why River of No Return is still so fondly remembered, I can only guess that it has everything to do with Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe and nothing to do with the story or script but even then, it’s clear that Mitchum is drunk half the time and obvious that Monroe wasn’t enjoying herself. The screenplay by Frank Fenton is based on a story by Louis Lantz, who is said to have borrowed his premise from the 1948 Italian film Bicycle Thieves, although I don’t quite see it myself. Set in the Northwestern United States in 1875, the film focuses on widower Matt Calder (Robert Mitchum), who has recently been released from prison after serving time for killing one man while defending another. He arrives in a boomtown tent city in search of his ten-year-old son Mark (Tommy Rettig), who was left in the care of dance hall singer Kay (Marilyn Monroe) after the man who brought him there as Matt had arranged took off for the hills. Matt promises Mark, a virtual stranger to him, the two will enjoy a life of hunting, fishing and farming on their homestead. Kay's fiance, gambler Harry Weston (Rory Calhoun), tells her they must go to Council City to file the deed on a gold mine he won in a poker game. They head downriver on a homemade log raft, and when they encounter trouble in the rapids near the Calder farm, Matt and Mark rescue them. Harry offers to buy Matt's rifle and horse so as to reach Council City by land. When Matt refuses, Harry knocks Matt unconscious and steals both hore and rifle. Kay chooses to stay behind to take care of Matt and Mark, and the three are stranded in the wilderness. When hostile Indians attack the farm, the three are forced to escape down the river on Harry's raft. That night they set up camp by the river, and Matt and Kay argue about the wisdom of pursuing Harry. Matt asks why Kay would choose to marry a man who had endangered a child, whereupon she reminds him that Harry never killed a man like Matt did. Mark overhears their discussion, and Matt is forced to reveal the truth about his past to his son, who is unable to comprehend why his father acted as he did. As the three continue their journey, Kay comes to appreciate Matt's bravery and the tender way he cares for both her and Mark. Along the way, they are forced to deal with a series of trials and tribulations, including a hilarious mountain lion attack; gold prospectors Sam Benson and Dave Colby, who are after Harry for stealing their claim; and a second Indian war party. After a difficult ride through the worst of the rapids (basically having buckets of water thrown at them for five minutes), the three arrive in Council City and confront Harry. Harry shoots at Matt, prompting Mark to shoot Harry in the back, using a rifle that he was inspecting in the general store. As a result, Mark comes to understand why his father had to shoot a man in a similar fashion so many years before. Afterwards, Kay finds a job at the local saloon. While she is singing there, Matt walks into the saloon and throws Kay over his shoulder to take her back to his farm along with Mark. She happily leaves with him. The final scene is Kay throwing her high heeled showgirl shoes from their buckboard into the street, a renunciation of her old life. Otto Preminger was preparing for the opening of The Moon Is Blue when 20th Century Fox executive Darryl F. Zanuck assigned him to direct River of No Return as part of his contract with the studio. They really wanted either William Wellman, Raoul Walsh, or Henry King to helm the film, and the producers were concerned Preminger, who he felt was better suited for film noir, melodrama or sophisticated comedy, would be unable to rise to the task of directing a piece of Americana. Preminger himself had no interest in the project until he read the screenplay and saw potential in the story. He also approved of Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe, who already had been cast in the lead roles and everything seemed set. However, problems arose fairly early on in the film’s production. Monroe was accompanied by Natasha Lytess, her infamous acting coach. Preminger clashed with the woman from the very start. She insisted on taking her client aside and giving her direction contrary to that of Preminger, and she had the actress enunciating each syllable of every word of dialogue with exaggerated emphasis. Preminger called the producers in Los Angeles and insisted Lytess be banned from the set, but when the producers complied with his demand, Monroe called them directly and asserted she couldn't continue unless Lytess returned. The studio commiserated with Preminger but, feeling Monroe was a major box office draw they couldn't afford to upset, so they reinstated Lytess. Angered by the decision, Preminger directed his rage at Monroe for the rest of the production. During the difficult shoot, Preminger also had to contend with frequent rain, Mitchum's heavy drinking, and an injury to Monroe's ankle that kept her off the set for several days and ultimately put her in a cast. Monroe nearly drowned while filming in Jasper, Canada. She had donned chest high hip waders during rehearsal to protect her costume. She slipped on a rock, the waders filled with water, and she was unable to rise. Mitchum and others jumped in the river to rescue her but her ankle was sprained as a result. Young Tommy Rettig seemed to be the director's sole source of solace. He respected Rettig's professionalism and appreciated the rapport he developed with Monroe, which often helped keep her on an even keel. When Lytess began to interfere with Rettig's performance, thereby undermining his confidence, Preminger let the cast and crew know about her behavior and was delighted to find they finally began to support him in his efforts to remove her from the set. Mitchum – a great actor but a miserable drunk – disliked Rettig and was open about it, for me Rettig easily outshines the two big stars. The two lead performances couldn’t have been more lethargic. I hate it when I hear friends state they hate westerns and they hate musicals – I argue with them and suggest several films that will change their minds – but I have to admit I struggle with musical westerns. The music in River of No Return is forgettable and unnecessary. The story is about as thin as it gets and when you see Monroe ducking in anticipation from the buckets of water the crew are throwing at her just out of shot, it kind of spoils the illusion that they are really out in the wilderness. A lot of the film is outside and the scenery is lovely, but it isn’t really the reason why most people have sat down to watch it. Basically, Monroe and Preminger were forced to do the film against their will, due to contractual obligations and it really shows. During post-production, Preminger departed for Europe, leaving editor Louis R. Loeffler and producer Stanley Rubin to complete the film. Jean Negulesco was called in to film a few retakes. The dailies reconfirmed Rubin's belief that Preminger had been the wrong choice for the project. He felt the director had failed to capture the Western aura, had ignored key elements in the plot, and had perfunctorily directed action sequences, leaving them looking staged and static. In several cases, studio and location shots didn't match. Preminger's experience on the film convinced him he never wanted to work as a studio employee again, and he paid Fox $150,000 to cancel the remainder of his contract. In later years, Monroe claimed River of No Return was her worst film, and Preminger spoke bitterly about her in numerous interviews. It was not a happy film and nor is it an entertaining one. Indeed, the most interesting things about the film in fact had nothing to do with either story, the cast or direction. The film was the very first films to use a blood squib to simulate realistic bullet impact. This occurs when Harry (Rory Calhoun) is shot dead in the film's climax. As such, the film beats Run of the Arrow (1957) - which is often credited with being the first to use blood squibs - by three years. This movie was also the first to be filmed in CinemaScope in Canada. River of No Return was the first film released by 20th Century-Fox to feature the "CinemaScope extension" fanfare before the opening credits. Written by Alfred Newman, it's a rerecording of his original 1933 fanfare, with the extra few bars that play under the credit " 20th Century-Fox presents A CinemaScope Production". After Fox switched to Panavision in 1967, they went back to their old fanfare, so the extension fanfare wasn't used again until it was revived by George Lucas to play before the opening credits to Star Wars. This time those few extra bars played under the credit " A Lucasfilm Production" Since then it's been re-recorded a few times but remains to this day the intro to every film released by that studio. Other than that the film is uninteresting and forgettable. It certainly wasn’t just the mountains that were rocky and I think these days it will only appeal to old men who yearn for the time when you could just grab a women, fling her on your back and take her home, claiming her as your own.

Track of the Cat

Dir: William A. Wellman

1954

***

After adapting Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s adventure novel The Ox-Bow Incident in 1943, director William A. Wellman decided to shoot the authors other great story Track of the Cat with long time collaborator Robert Mitchum. John Wayne, star of The Ox-Bow Incident, decided to produce the film with Robert Fellows for their Wayne/Fellows production company. While there are glaring issues with the film as a whole, I have to say I was impressed with the brilliant script that struck me instantly. The film begins as we see three brother woken my the sound of screaming cattle. The Bridges family is experiencing a harsh winter on their remote ranch in northern California in the early years of the 20th century. Crude and quarrelsome middle brother Curt (Robert Mitchum) bullies his noble, unselfish eldest brother Arthur (William Hopper), while youngest brother Harold (Tab Hunter) endures Curt’s abuse in browbeaten silence. Their mother (Beulah Bondi) is a bigoted religious zealot and their father (Philip Tonge) is a loquacious, self-pitying drunk. Bitter old maid sister Grace (Teresa Wright) is temporarily gladdened by the arrival of Harold’s fiancé, spirited Gwen (Diana Lynn). As the brothers dress for breakfast before checking on their cattle, their ancient Native American hired hand Joe Sam (Carl Switzer) alerts the family that the cattle are being attacked by a black panther prowling the hills. Many years before his family was wiped out by a panther. Joe Sam’s superstitious dread of the panther irritates domineering Curt. Curt and Arthur split up to track the panther while the family tensely awaits their return. Gentle Harold tries to avoid conflict with his parents while Gwen tenderly encourages him to assert his claim to an equal share of the ranch. Although Grace tries to support her youngest brother and his fiancé, Ma Bridges spews hateful suspicion at Gwen, but she ignores the family’s histrionics calmly for Harold’s sake. Meanwhile Arthur and Curt are deep in the wilderness when the panther attacks. The two have split up to cover more ground and when Curt discovers Arthur’s horse alone he suspects the worse. His fears are realised when he discovers Arthur's body – the panther had attacked him before he could get raise his gun. Curt suspects that Arthur’s cow-print coat may have attracted the big cat so he swaps his red coat with his body, straps him to his horse and sends the horse home. When the horse arrives the family are openly relieved that it is Curt and not Arthur – until they realise it is Arthur, and he is dead. The family then deal with the death of the only family member who kept them together, each one of them finding their own individual way to morn or to forget. Curt, alone and without provisions, is left to fend for himself, now obsessed with coming face to face with the panther that killed his brother. By the end of the story, the major conflicts have been resolved, but not without tragedy and loss. The remaining characters seem hopeful that their ordeal may have created the basis for a happier future. The outdoor scenes were filmed on Mount Rainier, Washington and Mitchum regarded shooting in the deep snow and cold as the worst filming conditions he had ever experienced. Wellman had always intended to film a black & white movie in color. His idea was that if a movie were to be shot in mostly monochromatic shades, with stark blacks and whites and otherwise mostly very subdued colours that were almost shades of grey, he could use bright colors very sparingly for intense dramatic effect. The photography of William Clothier was designed to highlight black and white and downplay colors. Only key elements like the blue matches, the fire, and Mitchum's red coat stand out extremely well and the technique is very effective but at times the film is a little too stark. That said, it is a bleak story, so it suits it well. I found the film as a whole to be a little too melodramatic and the contrast between brilliant performance and over acting was something of a distraction. Why on earth they cast twenty-six year old Carl Switzer, child star of The Little Rascals (and Our Gang as it was originally named), as the elderly Native American Joe Sam is anyone’s guess. The make up is okay I suppose but seriously, they couldn’t have found a real Native American or an old man? Philip Tonge’s performance as a drunk was good for most of the film but I don’t think his script was up to much, his depiction of a drunk walking up stairs however is probably the most convincing I have ever seen. Unsurprisingly though, Robert Mitchum steals the show. Mitchum plays a good villein but Carl is a totally different bad guy to what he had played before. He is a bully and an antagonist but he is a provider and protector. I wonder whether he was an influence on Paul Newman’s Hud. The biggest problem with the film was later addressed by Wellman himself when he admitted that it had been a huge mistake not to have shown the panther at all in the film. There is no terror or intrigue when there should be and if you are never going to show the thing that is most integral to the film’s plot, then you have to build suspense around it and film it right, otherwise the actors just look foolish. It’s a great alternative western but it could have been a lot greater with only a few tweaks.

Jail Bait

Dir: Ed Wood

1954

***

Inspired by the 1935 script Let ‘Em Have It by producer Edward Small, Ed Wood’s suspenseful thriller is the first to feature the idea of a criminal undergoing plastic surgery to elude the authorities. I always thought it to be a contemporary idea and if I had to guess its origins I would have guessed that it was a story right out of a 1950s pulp magazine but no earlier than that. Say what you will about the infamous Ed Wood but Jail Bait (sometimes known as The Hidden Face) is a class crime-thriller, a film that stands out from his other works. To be fair, it has been suggested that Jail Bait is somewhat superior in quality to most of Wood’s works due to the fact it was co-written by Alex Gordon, whose talent led to a far tighter narrative structure and a more coherent story-line. The direction however is all down to Wood. Set in California, every scene is shot at night, the perpetual darkness giving the film an otherworldly ambiance that is something of a signature of the cult director. The original script sees a gangster in the main role, while in the film it is a youth offender who gets in with the wrong crowd but soon has delusions of grandeur. The film begins with Don Gregor (Clancy Malone) being bailed out of prison for carrying an illegal handgun by his worried sister Marilyn (Dolores Fuller). Don ignores his sisters concern and flees their home full of drink and with another gun he had stashed away. Marilyn then discusses Don with their father, successful plastic surgeon Dr Boris Gregor (Herbert Rawlinson in his swansong performance – he died the day after shooting wrapped and clearly had breathing difficulties throughout the film) and suggests that her brother is somehow involved with the notorious gangster Vic Brady (Timothy Farrell). Dr Gregor however is well aware of the situation and is not worried, suggesting that it will all blow over and that Don's current behavior is a result of the premature death of Mrs. Gregor and his own upbringing having had the unintentional effect of spoiling the boy – he will soon grow out of it. However, that night Don and Vic rob a theatre and when things go wrong they are forced to kill two innocents. Don can’t handle what he’s done and flees to his father who tells him to give himself up, which he agrees to but not right away. His father helps him escape, only for him to be killed by Vic who learns of his intension to surrender. Vic then tricks Dr Gregor and Marilyn (who is a nurse) into coming to his house, telling them that he has Don hostage and that only they can make a deal that will have him free him. Once there, Vic blackmails the doctor into performing plastic surgery on his face in order to change his appearance and therefore aloud the police. The doctor, who has guessed that his son is dead by this point, goes ahead with the operation. Weeks later when the police catch up with Vic they order him to undo his bandages, which he does with confidence. However, in a delightfully morbid twist, the doctor has modeled Vic’s new face on his own son’s – Don being the one at this point who is suspected of committing the murders. The doctor then admits to the police that he is his own son and Vic is shot down as he tries to escape. It’s a pretty dark and wonderfully macabre twist. I only wish that Vic had gone to prison, as having to spend the rest of his life as someone else would have been a far more disturbing concept. The score is also a bit strange to be honest, the use of flamenco guitar and piano music is clearly meant to add to the otherworldliness but it becomes something of a distraction and it couldn’t suit the story less. There is also the unfortunate inclusion of Cotton Watts performing in blackface which was outdated then but as the film was primarily released in areas of the deep south where blackface still held nostalgic appeal, it was deemed appropriate. To be honest Ed Wood was taken advantage by producers Joy Newton Houck Sr. and J. Francis White who owned Howco and a chain of movie theatres in the south. They gave him a bigger budget than he was used to but he wasn’t allowed any demands on the film’s box office earnings and couldn’t make certain decisions. The film has many themes that Wood and other crime-thriller film makers explored at the time. It’s not one of the best of the era but I would argue that it has one of the greatest endings of the time and genre. It’s certainly one of Wood’s best and most overlooked films.

White Christmas

Dir: Michael Curtiz

1954

***

Michael Curtiz's classic Christmas musical is a seasonal must in many a household and has been for some time. Not in mine though. My biggest gripe about 1954's White Christmas is that it has very little to do with Christmas at all. The whole production seems to have been thrown together as a loose accompaniment to the title song. The fact is, White Christmas as sung by Bing Crosby first appeared in 1942's Holiday Inn. Crosby didn't think much of the song and neither did anybody else, even though writer Irving Berlin was rather fond of it. The song steadily grew in popularity to the point where the studios knew that if attached to a new project, would be even more of a success. White Christmas starts off during the Second World War, somewhere in the battlefields, Christmas Eve 1944. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye are putting on a show for the boys and for their beloved commanding officer who is being relieved of command, much to the surprise and bewilderment of the men. Later we see the two men become a success back home after the war is ended that sees them both as Broadway performers and big time producers. They then meet a sister act (Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen) and are tricked into performing with them, although they don't mind so much once they find out. The couples pair up and the film remains in 'will they, won't they' territory until the end, even though we all know that they inevitably 'will'. Hollywood being Hollywood, no couple can confirm their togetherness until first having a dispute, generally due to a misunderstanding or a throw away lie told towards the beginning of the film. The boys (ha) follow the girls to Vermont, where they find their old commanding officer has a big old empty ski lodge. Seeing as its empty (due to a lack of snow, snow snow) they decide to move their entire dance production there at a huge financial loss because girls and army. Everything else is just one big practice of various different routines that really have nothing to do with the story or indeed Christmas. It isn't until the final minutes of the film do we actually see the White Christmas and hear the song and by that point you will have worked out whether this film is for you or not. I like Danny Kaye, so I was happy. The dance scenes are impressive but I'm afraid I wasn't fond of the songs. However, I would argue that the film’s success lies on the fact that there is genuinely something for everyone to enjoy.

On the Waterfront
Dir: Elia Kazan
1954
*****
Elia Kazan's 1954 film On the Waterfront is the quintessential American classic. It's a post-war, post-noir - almost neo-realist drama focusing of union violence, corruption and racketeering on the waterfronts of New Jersey that overlook the towers of Manhattan. Cited as being Kazan's reaction to criticism he received for providing names to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) or The Red Scare as it was also referred to, in 1952, it deals with social issues that hit a nerve and addressed an injustice that was rife among workers at the time. Marlon Brando plays Terry Malloy, an ex-boxer and dockworker whose brother (Rod Steiger) is the right-hand man of mob union boss Johnny Friendly (played by Lee J. Cobb). Malloy is torn between making extra money working for the corrupt union boss and his fellow workers, his middleman status providing an excellent protagonist highlighting the contrast between the groups. After Malloy is hired to assist in a the murder of a friend and because he was one forced to throw a fight for Friendly, ending his boxing career in the process, his guilt and resentment finally boils over but not before Brando delivers the now infamous line "I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody..". It is delivered with such desperation, regret and honesty that it immediately resonated with audiences. It's hard to imagine the great Frank Sinatra delivering the line in the same way. Sinatra was originally cast after Brando refused, stating that he was disgusted by the script. Old blue eyes was desperate to play the part and was devastated and angry when Brando finally took the role. As well as challenging political thinking, it changed acting styles across the film industry. It's possibly the first time that theatre and cinema merged perfectly, creating a totally different way of making movies. Masterpiece is an understatement.

Broken Lance
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
1954
****
It's often been said that a good War film is an anti-war film. I would argue that a good Western generally highlights what was wrong with society in the old west. Broken Lance mainly deals with greed and entitlement but it also has a strong anti-racism message. In many respects the story mimics the history of the US; settlers come, work hard, alienate the natives and greed eventually takes over. Spencer Tracy plays successful Irish settler Matt Devereaux who started out in hardship and ended up owning a lucrative ranch that he built up from hard work and a strict work-ethic. After his Wife died only six months after arriving in the country, he put his three young sons to work that would create a resentment that would last his whole life. The resentment is only worsened when he controversially marries a native princess and has a 'half blood' son with her and favours him over his other offspring. The locals refrain from criticism as he is an important financial figure in town but as he ages and after his death, the vultures rear their ugly heads and his youngest son is left with his legacy and burden. Spencer Tracy steals the show with his powerful and convincing portrayal but he is ever so slightly let down but sub-par supporting performances. The film raises important issues but never tries to answer them, leaving the audience with plenty to think about long after the credits role. It has everything you could want from a great western but is also unique in its mood and style. I can help but think that a few key scenes should be regarded as iconic moments in cinema, I think maybe they would be if they had been treated by another director but apart from the largely unimpressive visuals there is plenty to enjoy.

Creature from the Black Lagoon
Dir: Jack Arnold
1954
*****
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is a Jack Arnold B-movie classic and also the birth of the monster movie. I don't mean monster as in King Kong or Godzilla, this is a different kettle of fish (excuse pun). Without Creature from the Black Lagoon you wouldn't have Alien, Predator or many of the serial killer type scary movies we know and love today. They all owe a great deal of gratitude to this film, another one of Jack Arnold's timeless classics. It's also worth mentioning some of the wonderful camera techniques used that are often woefully overlooked. Jack Arnold invented so much of what we see in modern cinema today but is given very little credit. Jaws is actually a complete rip off of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, almost frame for frame.

Them!
Dir: Gordon Douglas
1954
*****
One of the first and one of the best Atomic monster movies from the 1950's. I'm very fond of these movies and was quite disgruntled when I saw this at a 50's B-Movie festival screening where the audience laughed and jeered throughout. I know the crowd were fans but it was like watching people make fun of an old man just because he couldn't keep up and it made me feel sad. Although the effects etc are dated, they are still based on creative and intelligent ideas that could teach modern film makers a thing or two. At least it didn't have a gratuitous love story going on and the gi-ants were not defeated by teenagers, the townsfolk look generally scared (as you would be) and it really did tap into a very real paranoia of the time. As a rule, it seems that every good B-movie is in fact a secret political statement heaped full of symbolic ideas. It's quite brilliant.