There Will be No Leave Today

Dir: Andrei Tarkovsky, Aleksandr Gordon

1959

****

There Will be No Leave Today is a student film by the directors Andrei Tarkovsky and Aleksandr Gordon who both attended the Russian State Institute of Cinematography in 1959. Based on a real postwar incident, the film is about an army unit trying to dispose unexploded bombs to save a small town. It was Tarkovsky's and Gordon's second film after The Killers and was produced while being students at the State Institute of Cinematography. It was commissioned by Soviet Television for VGIK students to make a film to be aired on Victory Day, the anniversary of the Capitulation of Nazi Germany in WWII, May 9, 1959. It was aired each year on this day for at least 4 years beginning with the initial 1959 broadcast. For a long time it was thought to be lost after it stopped being broadcast in the 1960s, but the camera negatives were discovered in the mid-1990s. It’s far more professional than any student film I ever made or any that my class-mates produced. The level of suspense captured is quite incredible, when it also feels like an ordinary day in many respects.  The short begins where we find a group of Construction workers as they find an old cache of bombs from World War II in an unnamed Russian town. An army unit is charged with solving this problem and we follow them as they get to work. The municipal committee decides that exploding the bombs would inflict too much damage on the town and so the army unit must transport the bombs manually to a safe site. After the entire town is evacuated, the soldiers carry the bombs one by one to the armored transport truck. The danger of explosion looms. As the army unit concludes its mission the population returns to the town as the bombs are simultaneously destroyed at the safe site. A rather simple tale but also very striking. If you cross The Hurt Locker and the last scene in 1974’s Juggernaut but take away all of the melodrama, then There Will be No Leave Today is sort of what you’re left with. The idea was suggested by the State Institute of Cinematography to Tarkovsky and Gordon as a practical exercise for the two film students. The main objective for Tarkovsky and Gordon was not to produce a masterpiece, but to learn the basics of filmmaking through making an uncomplicated and easy-to-consume film. The project was based on a real postwar incident. To prepare Tarkovsky and Gordon interviewed witnesses of the incident and visited army barracks to study the military. The script was written jointly by Tarkovsky, Gordon and a third scriptwriter who was later replaced by a group of scriptwriters. The main storyline of the film was created in the beginning of writing the script, and survived with the exception of some minor changes. According to Gordon, Tarkovsky finished and contributed the majority of the script, with the hospital scenes and the civilian/soldier who volunteers to detonate one bomb being Tarkovsky's ideas. Contrary to Tarkovsky's other student film The Killers, this film had a relatively high budget. The VGIK film school provided the equipment and a small part of the budget. The major part of the budget was provided by Soviet Central Television. The higher budget allowed for professional actors in the main roles, such as Oleg Borisov who was quite famous at the time. Other actors were Tarkvosky's and Gordon's classmates such as Leonid Kuravlyov and Stanislav Lyubshin. Other actors in non-lead roles were people from the province where the film was shot, working without receiving any compensation except the chance to appear in a film. The army also provided some support in the form of military equipment and troops as extras. The film was shot in Kursk over a period of three months, while editing took a further three months to complete. There Will Be No Leave Today isn’t a typical Tarkovsky film and it more resembles a Soviet propaganda film or docu-drama, with heroic soldiers and the grateful population of the town. The Killers was Tarkovsky experimenting and also imitating the gangster genre, while There Will Be No Leave Today was all about the skill of film making. It was two years later, with The Steamroller and the Violin where we saw a glimpse of his visionary genius. It’s a well constructed film with suspense and drama, but it’s for Tarkovsky compleatists and film students only.

A Bucket of Blood
Dir: Roger Corman
1959
*****
A Bucket of Blood is overlooked as the horror/comedy masterpiece that it is. Not only is it an honest, undiscriminating portrayal of the many facets of beatnik culture, including art, dance and style of living, it is also a brilliant satire of Roger Corman's own films and teen films of the 1950s. I think it was a first – another reason why Corman should be regarded as one of the greatest film makers who has ever lived. It also features the first appearance of Walter Paisley. A Bucket of Blood was the first of three collaborations between Corman and Charles B. Griffith in the comedy genre, followed by The Little Shop of Horrors (which was shot on the same sets as A Bucket of Blood) and Creature from the Haunted Sea. One night after hearing the words of Maxwell H. Brock (Julian Burton), a poet who performs at The Yellow Door cafe, the dimwitted, impressionable, busboy Walter Paisley (Dick Miller) returns home to attempt to create a sculpture of the face of the hostess Carla (Barboura Morris). He stops when he hears the meowing of Frankie, the cat owned by his inquisitive landlady, Mrs. Surchart (Myrtle Vail), who has somehow gotten himself stuck in Walter's wall. Walter attempts to get Frankie out using a knife, but accidentally kills the cat when he sticks the knife into his wall. Instead of giving Frankie a proper burial, Walter covers the cat in clay, leaving the knife stuck in it. The next morning, Walter shows the cat to Carla and his boss Leonard (Antony Carbone). Leonard dismisses the oddly morbid piece, but Carla is enthusiastic about the work and convinces Leonard to display it in the café. Walter receives praise from Will (John Brinkley) and the other beatniks in the café. An adoring fan, Naolia (Jhean Burton), gives him a vial of heroin to remember her by. Naively ignorant of its function, he takes it home and is followed by Lou Raby (Bert Convy), an undercover cop, who attempts to take him into custody for narcotics possession. In a blind panic, thinking Lou is about to shoot him, Walter hits him with the frying pan he is holding, killing him instantly. Meanwhile, Walter's boss discovers the secret behind Walter's "Dead Cat" piece when he sees fur sticking out of it. The next morning, Walter tells the café-goers that he has a new piece, which he calls "Murdered Man". Both Leonard and Carla come with Walter as he unveils his latest work and are simultaneously amazed and appalled. Carla critiques it as "hideous and eloquent" and deserving of a public exhibition. Leonard is aghast at the idea, but realizes the potential for wealth if he plays his cards right. The next night, Walter is treated like a king by almost everyone, except for a blonde model named Alice (Judy Bamber), who is widely disliked by her peers. Walter later follows her home and confronts her, explaining that he wants to pay her to model. At Walter's apartment, Alice strips nude and poses in a chair, where Walter proceeds to strangle her with her scarf. Walter creates a statue of Alice which, once unveiled, so impresses Brock that he throws a party at the Yellow Door in Walter's honor. Costumed as a carnival fool, Walter is wined and dined to excess. After the party, Walter stumbles towards his apartment. Still drunk, he beheads a factory worker with his own buzzsaw to create a bust. When he shows the head to Leonard, the boss realizes that he must stop Walter's murderous rampage and promises Walter a show to offload his latest "sculptures". At the exhibit, Walter proposes to Carla, but she rejects him. Walter is distraught and now offers to sculpt her, and she happily agrees to after the reception. Back at the exhibit, however, she finds part of the clay on one figure has worn away, revealing Alice's finger. When she tells Walter that there is a body in one of the sculptures, he tells her that he "made them immortal", and that he can make her immortal, too. She flees, he chases, and the others at the exhibit learn Walter's secret and join the chase. Walter and Carla wind up at a lumber yard where Walter, haunted by the voices of Lou and Alice, stops chasing Carla, and runs home. With discovery and retribution closing in on him, Walter vows to "hide where they'll never find me". The police, Carla, Leonard, Maxwell, and the others break down Walter's apartment door only to find that Walter has hanged himself. Looking askance at the hanging, clay-daubed corpse, Maxwell proclaims, "I suppose he would have called it "Hanging Man" ... his greatest work." Never before has a film been so horrific, macabre and funny. Corman and Griffith developed the idea for producing a satirical black comedy horror film about the beatnik culture after American International Pictures approached Corman to direct a horror film with a $50,000 budget, a five-day shooting schedule and leftover sets from Diary of a High School Bride. Corman accepted the challenge but later said he was uninterested in producing a straightforward horror film. Griffith later claimed Corman was very uneasy at the idea of making a comedy "because you have to be good. We don't have the time or money to be good, so we stick to action.” Griffith says he talked Corman around by pointing out that since the film was made for such a little amount of money over such a short schedule, he could not fail to make money. Corman says that the genesis of the film was an evening he and Griffith "spent drifting around the beatnik coffeehouses, observing the scene and tossing ideas and reactions back and forth until we had the basic story.” The director says by the end of the evening they developed the film's plot structure, partially basing the story upon Mystery of the Wax Museum. According to actor Antony Carbone, "The production had a kind of spirit of 'having fun,' and I think Corman realized that while making the film. And I feel it helped him in other films he made, like The Little Shop of Horrors - he carried that Bucket of Blood 'idea' into that next film.” Actor Dick Miller was unhappy with the film's low production values. Miller was as stating that, “If they'd had more money to put into the production so we didn't have to use mannequins for the statues; if we didn't have to shoot the last scene with me hanging with just some gray make-up on because they didn't have time to put the plaster on me, this could have been a very classic little film. The story was good; the acting was good; the humor in it was good; the timing was right; everything about it was right. But they didn't have any money for production values ... and it suffered”. He is absolutely right but the film is much better than I think he realised. Miller has portrayed Walter Paisley seven times in total, A Bucket of Blood being the first. He would play a character with the same name (it is never confirmed whether it is the same person) nearly twenty years later in another Corman production, Hollywood Boulevard, directed by Allan Arkush and Joe Dante. Dante cast Miller as another character named Walter Paisley in the 1981 film The Howling. This time, Paisley is the owner of an occult bookshop. Two years later, the name popped up again for another Miller character, the owner of a diner in the third segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. 1986's Chopping Mall featured a janitor named Walter Paisley, and the 1994 made-for-TV remake of Shake, Rattle and Rock! had Miller playing a character named Officer Paisley. Officer Paisley also appeared in Night of the Creeps. The theatrical marketing campaign was brilliant as it emphasized the comedic aspects of the film's plot, proclaiming that the audience would be "sick, sick, sick—from laughing!", a reference to cartoonist Jules Feiffer's popular Village Voice comic strip. So the film's poster consists of a series of comic strip panels humorously hinting at the film's horror content. I’m not sure the critics or audiences of the day really got the satirical nature of the film and looking at it now it was clearly ahead of its time. The last scene is pretty powerful, perhaps unfairly overlooked due to the low-budget production. It has since become a cult hit – like all great films ahead of their time. Dick Miller is one of the actors of all time and Corman is one of the greatest film makers of all time, end of story. The only terrible thing about the film was the promotion it had during its opening week: "If You Bring In A Bucket Of Blood To Your Local Theater's Management (Or Ticket Booth), You Will Be Given One Free Admission". As you can imagine, it didn't pan out too well for the poor cinema staff.

Plan 9 from Outer Space

Dir: Ed Wood

1959

****

Ed Wood’s infamous Plan 9 from Outer Space is has often been declared as the worst film ever made. It’s not. It belongs in a completely different category altogether, the so-bad-its-good category, where films can never count as being truly awful. I can think of many serious and mainstream films that are far worse. It’s certainly in the top 10 so-bad-its-good films, and while it is probably Ed Wood’s most famous film, I wouldn’t agree that it was his best. The story begins at the funeral of an old man's wife. The fellow mourners are gathered by an open grave, among them her husband (played by Bela Lugosi who was actually dead at the time the film was released). Overhead, an airliner is heading toward California. The pilot and his co-pilot are blinded by a bright light and loud sound. They look outside and see a flying saucer (a Frisbee on a string). The pilots follow the saucer's flight until it lands at the graveyard, where the funeral's gravediggers are killed by a zombie. So far so Wood. At his home, lost in his thoughts of grief, the old man goes outside and (off-screen) steps in front of an oncoming car and is killed. This footage of Lugosi was filmed some time before by Wood and was edited into the film after he had died – so Wood could give him one last film credit. His posthumous appearance would also help with box office sales. The bodies of the dead gravediggers and discovered and Inspector Daniel Clay (played by Wood regular Tor Johnson) and other police officers arrive, but Clay goes off alone to continue his investigation.The pilot from the initial scene, and his wife Paula, who live near the graveyard, hear the sirens and Jeff tells Paula about his saucer encounter, stating that the Army has since sworn him to secrecy. A powerful swooshing noise then knocks everyone to the ground at both the Trent residence and the nearby graveyard as a saucer lands. Police Inspector Clay then encounters the and the reanimated corpse of the old man, and is promptly killed by them. Newspaper headlines continue to report saucer sightings over Hollywood Boulevard, while a trio of saucers flies over Los Angeles. In Washington, D.C., the military fires missiles at more saucers, while the Chief of Saucer Operations (which is hilarious) reveals that the government has been covering up saucer attacks for years. He mentions that one small town was annihilated, hinting at a secret history of other encounters. Just when things couldn’t get any more ridiculous, we see the aliens return to their Space Station 7. Commander Eros informs his ruler that he has been unsuccessful in contacting Earth's governments. To force their acknowledgment, Eros recommends implementing "Plan 9", which will resurrect the recently deceased by stimulating their pituitary and pineal glands. Meanwhile Trent the pilot, about to leave on another flight, is concerned for his wife's safety. He urges her to stay with her mother, but she insists on staying home. That night the zombie old man rises from his grave and breaks into their house. He pursues Paula outside and is joined by his zombie wife and the zombie Inspector Clay. Paula barely escapes, but then collapses after her ordeal. All three zombies return to Eros' saucer. Things get increasingly heated when the aliens, coming to the conclusion that humans are immature and silly, decide to wipe out man kind once and for all. They nearly get away with it to but for all of their higher intellect, technology and superior weapons, they are stopped when Trent punches one of them and knocks over their computer. The human race is saved, the aliens bugger off and the dead go back to being dead again. It’s a work of b-movie genius. It’s got everything you could possibly want from a trashy horror sci-fi; a Cemetery, aliens, flying saucers, zombies, abduction, annihilation and a good old punch-up. It was space-race science mixed with gothic horror, you could attach whatever meaning you liked to the film – you’d be wrong – but that was fine. The film is hugely influential and much loved around the world. If you want a really wonderful and comprehensive look at the making of then you should watch Tim Burton’s Ed Wood which is a truly loving tribute. It’s awful but its fun. Spotting the film’s mistakes is actually half the fun. You can quite clearly see the first officer from the first aircraft cockpit scene reading from the script that is clearly visible on his lap and you can see the shadow of the boom microphone more than once. In one particularly funny scene, you can spot one of the actors (Duke Moore) point his gun at himself several times during filming. This wasn’t in the script, the actor decided to test Wood to see if he was actually paying attention to what was going on – he wasn’t – and it made the final cut. It’s a great scene. It’s a film full of great scenes, and cult classics don’t come anymore classic or culty than this.

The Wonderful Country

Dir: Robert Parrish

1959

***

Legend has it that director Robert Parrish went to Tom Lea and asked if he could direct his novel The Wonderful Country but never made a contract with him. The only money that Lea received from the picture was for his cameo role as the town’s barber. Parrish and Lea first asked Henry Fonda, then Gregory Peck to take the starring role. But, Robert Mitchum really wanted to do the film, and after Fonda and Peck said no, Mitchum took over production. The story is pretty much the same in the film as it is in the novel. In Mexico, expatriate American pistolero Martin Brady (Robert Mitchum) is employed by the Castro brothers, Marcos (Victor Manuel Mendoza), a general, and Don Cipriano (Pedro Armendáriz), the new governor. On a business trip to the United States to arrange the purchase of a wagonload of rifles and ammunition, he is delayed when he falls of his horse due to exhusion and breaks his leg in the Texas border town of Puerto. Treated by Dr Stovall (Charles McGraw), he stays with German immigrant Ben Sterner (John Banner), who is the seller of the rifles, and Ben's nephew Ludwig (Max Slaten). Due to the severity of his injury, Brady is told he will have to stay in town for at least a couple of months and he soon becomes familiar with the town and its residents. Brady's help is sought by the local U.S. Army commander, Major Colton (Gary Merrill), to persuade Cipriano Castro to cooperate with Colton's Buffalo Soldiers in an expedition against hostile Apaches in Mexico, even though Brady suggests the Castros’ wouldn’t be interested in anything unless there was money in it for them. In the meantime the rifles he purchased for Castro have been stolen. Captain Rucker of the Texas Rangers knows that Brady fled to Mexico as an adolescent after avenging the murder of his father not knowing the man he killed was an outlaw, and tries to enlist him as a Ranger. Brady is attracted to Colton's unhappy wife Ellen (Julie London), but after shooting a man (Chuck Roberson) who murdered Ludwig and then drew on Brady, he returns to Mexico to inform Cipriano Castro of the missing rifles. Major Colton and Ellen arrive to meet with Cipriano, arranged by Travis Hight (Jack Oakie), the representative of a railroad threatened by the Apaches. Ellen and Brady have a brief affair. Cipriano tells Brady that by law he must pay a debt for the rifles and orders him to assassinate his brother Marcos, who seeks to make himself governor instead. Brady refuses and finds himself an outlaw in Mexico as well. Weeks later on the run, he finds cavalry sergeant Tobe Sutton (Satchel Paige) and returns with him to Major Colton's camp. Colton has been seriously wounded in a skirmish with the Apaches but is determined to rendezvous with Captain Rucker and General Castro's troops. En route they recover the stolen rifles from a small band of Apaches, but Colton dies. The rifles are returned to General Marcos, who reveals that Cipriano is also dead and he is now governor. Calling Brady an assassin, he demands the Americans surrender him and leave Mexico immediately. However Rucker offers to help Brady prove that the shooting in Puerto was a case of self-defense if he returns to Texas. Brady decides to risk it and heads across the river to the U.S. to be with Ellen. Mitchum’s portrayal of a Mexican is a little insulting by all respects but he just about gets away with it. To be honest, even when he was drinking heavily and his heart wasn’t in it, he’s still a powerful figure of a man on screen. The way Mexico is portrayed in general seems unfortunate but then there is the story that during filming in Durango, Mitchum and his stunt double Chuck Roberson decided to have a few drinks at a local cantina. They witnessed two Mexicans get into a violent confrontation in which one drew a pistol and fired a shot into the other's face. After running outside momentarily, the wounded man came back into the bar and dropped dead. The incident shook up Mitchum so badly it convinced him to keep his drinking to the hotel and its vicinity. It’s a fairly average western to be honest, Mitchum’s performance is good, although I rather liked Charles McGraw’s Dr. Herbert J. Stovall and thought it was a shame he didn’t have a larger part to play in the story. Julie London plays quite a powerful female which is unlike many films of its kind but she is also side-lined. It’s filmed well by Parrish but one would think that he would have shot more of the beautiful countryside, especially given the title of the film which I still don’t really understand. Forgettable but pleasant all the same.

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Dir: Terence Fisher

1959

****

I adore Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories and although The Hound of the Baskervilles is my least favourite book of his, I think it is the story that has being adapted best for the big screen, on more than one occasion. I've always been rather fond of Douglas Hickox's 1983 'Made for TV' version of the The Hound of the Baskervilles but you just can't beat Terence Fisher's 1959 Hammer Studios hit adaptation. There have been many wonderful variations of Conan Doyle's characters and many actors have played Sherlock Holmes brilliantly but for me Peter Cushing is up there as maybe the best and probably my favourite. Cushing was said to be a bit of an expert regarding the books and made many changes to the film himself, so it's not surprising he returned to the character nine years later for the BBC TV series. Andre Morell made for a great Doctor Watson and Christopher Lee is outstanding as Sir Henry Baskerville. The performances and chemistry between actors is great throughout and although the many changes from the novel are questionable, I have to say I rather liked them. It wouldn't be a Hammer film if there wasn't at least one ritual sacrifice, a tarantula or an abandoned mine shaft but I did like the part about the missing portrait and the webbed hands. It's a shame the Hounds weren't glow in the dark as they should have been but there is something a little bit more believable about this version, although only just and the higher body count went some ways towards making up for it. It's a British classic from a very British studio, one I love and grew up enjoying. You can't beat a Terence Fisher thriller/horror, he is by far the most underrated British director of all time.

Carry On Nurse

Dir: Gerald Thomas

1959

***

Carry On Nurse, the second of the Carry On series, is still the franchise's most successful films to date and was the highest-grossing film of 1959 in the UK. It was also popular in the USA, with some cinemas claiming that they played it for three years running. It was a case of director Gerald Thomas and producer Peter Rogers testing the waters after the success of their 1958 film Carry On Sargent. It was based on a small play but the 'Carry On' prefix was added because of the similarities to the first film, not just because of the returning cast members but because it focused on an established profession. National Service and now the NHS, British comedy for British people in two of the most British of environments. The hospital setting also gave the film plenty of opportunities to develop the art of innuendo, something the series would become famous for. Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Connor, Bill Owen, Shirley Eaton, Terance Longdon and Hattie Jacques return from the first film. Jacques' role as Matron is now world famous and a character she was brilliant at portraying but I personally loved Joan Sims Carry On debut as a frustrated and bumbling nurse. I have to admit I preferred the later, bawdier hospital based Carry On films but the scene whereby a rectal thermometer is replaced with a daffodil is one of Carry On's greatest moments and quite daring for a 1959 audience. A series was never the intention but after the film's success it was clear that the possibilities were too good to ignore, although it took quite a few films before the right balance was found and it all went terribly wrong towards the end. However, Carry On Nurse captures a quintessential timelessness of British life, humour and attitude that I grew up with and adore. Even though the references are dated, it remains as funny today as it was all those years ago. The performances were all perfect from a collective group of class acts and comedy greats who are still greatly missed.

Carry On Teacher

Dir: Gerald Thomas

1959

***

The third outing for the Carry On team sees regulars; Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques, Leslie Phillips and Joan Sims take on the classrooms of the comprehensives of the late fifties. Leslie Phillips and Rosalind Knight play child physiologist and Ministry of education inspector respectively, both visiting the school to see if it is up to standard. When the pupils hear of this they decide to cause trouble for their Headmaster who is keen to leave the school and teach in a more modern college of learning. It's fairly innocent stuff this early on in the franchise, although there is a risqué scene involving Joan Sims' bottom, Leslie Phillips roaming eyes and a split pair of shorts that is clearly an influence on later Carry Ons, most notably the fans favourite Carry On Camping. It's good old classic British comedy. Star Wars fans might like to note a blink-and-you'll-miss-it early appearance from a young Jeremy Bulloch who went on to play the infamous Bounty Hunter Boba Fet.

Operation Petticoat
Dir: Blake Edwards
1959
****
The premise of 1959's Operation Petticoat is very silly, it's pure Blake Edwards material and him at his best. Cary Grant and Tony Curtis are great together on screen, you can just tell they had a great time making it too (although I'm sure the LSD helped). It's a little sexist but it's very much of its time rather than dated, in fact there is something quite timeless about it even though it is a classic. It's certainly never offensive, it's Sgt. Bilko at Sea but with a certain debonair charm about it. A great comedy with a match made in heaven.

The 39 Steps
Dir: Ralph Thomas
1959
**
As much as I love Hitchcock's original, there was always room for improvement. Made 24 years after the original film based on John Buchan's novel, it had time to improve vastly, from the use of colour, the development of the cameras, camera trickery etc but they achieved quite the opposite, they took all that was right about the original and undid it. The changes in story were of no benefit at all to the overall feel of the film. The humour was even more displaced than the original, the acting was pretty shoddy and all of the various substitutes in the story distracted too much from the original. I'm very fond of Ralph Thomas's film but I think he found his feet with the Doctor films, if you want to see what I consider the best version of the story, then go to the Beautiful Crighton Theatre in London's Piccadilly Circus and go see the stage show, it's brilliant.

The Battle of the Sexes
Dir: Charles Crichton
1959
***
1959's The Battle of the Sexes directed by comedy legend Charles Crichton is a reworking of James Thurber's short story The Catbird Seat. It is a story of advantage, envy and having the upper hand. Typically of it's day, the story (but more so the title) was sexed up a bit to appeal more given the current political climate regarding Women's lib. It's really not much of a Battle between the Sexes, rather a battle between Capitalism and tradition. Peter Sellers leads an old fashioned workforce against his new employer (the son of his recently deceased employer - played brilliantly by Robert Morley) and his new efficiency expert, a zealous American Business Women (a rather over the top Constance Cummings) with revolutionary ideas for modernising the old fashioned company. The laughs are subtle but good, the script is clever and well delivered. It's a gentle comedy that only gets a little too silly towards the end. You can't beat a good Charles Crichton film or a good Peter Sellers film and this film is both.

Ben-Hur
Dir: William Wyler
1959
***
Oscar wins mean very little to me, Ben-Hur beat films that were better than it and the better films that year weren't even nominated. Many an unworthy winner has been awarded since. Personally I felt Ben-Hur to be over-hyped, as many of the classic epics are. I do appreciate the production that went into the making of it, as cynical as I can be about big budget studio film, there is much I enjoyed and respect about this film but it's hard to ignore the huge faults also. The story, a far from perfect adaptation of Lew Wallace's novel, is full of contradictions. I'm not going to go into faith, belief or Christianity but I know a bit about it and for the most part it gets it wrong. Although I realise this is a work of fiction, the factual elements are completely incorrect (Julius Ceaser died before the birth of Christ) which is always a source of annoyance to me with films of this nature. Considering the film is 3 and a half hours long, much of the story is skipped. You'd think that that amount of time would allow the story to be told in its entirety but William Wyler lets every scene hang unnecessarily. The melodrama replaces decent acting for the best part of the film and the performances that are worth speaking of (Stephen Boyd) are overshadowed by the awful performance from Heston and the cartoon character like Hugh Griffith who I'm amazed won and was even nominated for best supporting actor. Hype is a funny thing really, as soon as a film becomes a multi-Oscar winner it becomes somehow untouchable. Ben-Hur has dated badly and is not quite worth the investment of time it takes in which to watch.

Night of the Ghouls

Dir: Ed Wood

1959

***

Made only a few years after its predecessor Bride of the Monster, Night of the Ghouls wasn’t actually released until 1984 – nearly twenty-five years after it was made, after most of the key players had died. Night of the Ghouls is a very loose sequel in that it shares a few of the characters from the first film and its events happen after the those of the first film. The basic plot involves the police investigating another haunted house that is said to serve as headquarters for a confidence trickster called Dr. Acula (get it?) who pretends to be able to contact the dead, and charges naive customers large amounts of money to allow them to speak to their deceased loved ones. The opening scene features a montage of seemingly unrelated events, which seem to feature Wood's view of the post-war era and its social problems including juvenile delinquency, street fighting, and driving under the influence. In one scene a car is seen driving off a cliff and crashing with the sequence ending with the bloody corpse of the drunk driver staring blankly at the camera. It’s an odd sort of ‘You get what’s coming to you’ vibe that acts as a warning, albeit a misplaced one. The film then reverts to well-trodden 1950s b-movie territory as we see a young couple getting amorous with each other in a car parked in the woods. The guy gets a bit too hands on and both are killed by a ghost as the girl tries to get away from him. It is explained that the house from the first film has been rebuilt and Dr. Acula is making a killing from clients thanks to the history of the place. However, little does he know, but his powers might not be as false as he first thought. The film is full of bad jokes but is redeemed somewhat by its charm. The Ghost scenes were quite funny, what with the floating lamps and the odd sound effects but why were there two skeletons sitting at the table during the séance remains a hilarious mystery. It was a bit disappointing when we finally do see the 'Ghouls' of the film’s title, only to find they're a bunch of middle age men in suits but what doesn’t frighten you makes you roll about laughing. In a brief epilogue which also closes the frame story, the narrator – who had come out of his coffin to tell us the tale - returns to his grave, suggesting that it is time for both the old dead and the new to return to rest, reminding the viewer that he/she too can soon join them in death. Certainly not one of Wood’s best but definitely one of his funnier films.I loved that officer Kelton returned and it was great to see Tor Johnson as Lobo once more – I can only imagine how wonderful it would have been for fans of the original to see the sequel for the first time after twenty-five years of waiting. Ed Wood finished the principal photography and rough cut of the film by late 1957, but could not financially afford paying for the post-production work. In 1958, the film laboratory opted to keep the negative film footage until the bill could be paid, and it remained unpaid for nearly three decades. By the 1980s film historians either considered Night of the Ghouls a lost film or suspected that the film never existed in completed form, since there was no evidence it was ever released theatrically nor ever shown on television. Another great piece of quirky film history by the great director.

I'm All Right Jack

Dir: John Boulting, Roy Boulting

1959

****

Fear not socialist comrades, everyone gets their fair share of ribbing in this British classic poking fun at strike culture, unionists and factory life in the post war years. Ian Carmichael, Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas, Richard Attenborough, Dennis Price , Margaret Rutherford and John Le Mesurier all in one film!!!! What more could you ask for (Well, more sick day allowance, free dental care, extra carers leave.....I jest). A classic, well worth a watch and still very funny.

Rio Bravo
Dir: Howard Hawks
1959
****
Classic western. A bit long and not particularly well structured but it's entertaining enough for either to be a problem. John Wayne is John Wayne, if you like him (as I do) then you will love this film. Dean Martin is great as the recovering alcoholic (beer doesn't seem to count as alcohol in the old west for some reason) and both Ricky Nelson and Angie Dickinson are good in their supporting roles, although I preferred it when Nelson wasn't singing. Walter Brennan's Stumpy is the real attraction though, say what you want about Hawks's direction, Wayne's performance and Martin's real alcoholism, Rio Bravo is all about Stumpy.

Pillow Talk
Dir: Michael Gordon
1959
***
I thought Doris Day was endearing enough and found Rock Hudson's performance to be rather witty compared to many of his contemporaries of the time. You could see both were friends in real life and in one particular scene you can tell the laughs are genuine. It's silly and nonsensical, completely unconvincing and even mildly absurd. It lead the way to all the badly written, poorly acted and abysmally unoriginal 'chick flicks' we've had to endure since. While I hold it responsible for much of what I hate about today's cinema, I still actually quite like it.

The Mouse That Roared
Dir: Jack Arnold
1959
****
A fantastic bit of classic Peter Sellers. You can always tell a good one by the fact that he plays more than one character. It's a very clever idea but it's always far to concerned with its own silliness to ever boast as much. It's that type of British nonsense that is universally appreciated that makes me proud, there just isn't enough of it around anymore and it's long overdue.

General Snippet: I warn you, madam - I know the entire Geneva Convention by heart!Grand Duchess Gloriana: Oh, how nice! You must recite it for me some evening; I play the harpsichord. 

The World of Apu
Dir: Satyajit Ray
1959
*****
Life comes full circle for Apu in Apur Sansar as he becomes a Father to a little boy who is very much his Father's Son. The third and final installment of the Apu story focuses on identity and responsibility. Again, Apu has to make difficult decisions and doesn't always make the best choices but for any dip in the middle of the film (and it does dip a little) all is made up for in the wonderful, and for once, heartwarming final conclusion. Apu (Soumitra Chatterjee) is now an unemployed graduate living in a rented room in Kolkata. Despite his teacher's advice to go to university, he is unable to do so because he can't afford it. He tries to find a job, while barely getting by providing private tutoring. His main passion is writing a novel, partially based on his own life, hoping to get it published some day. One day, he meets his old friend Pulu, who coaxes him to join him on a trip to his village in Khulna to attend the marriage of a cousin named Aparna (Sharmila Tagore). On the day of the marriage, it is revealed that the bridegroom has a serious mental disorder. The bride's mother cancels the marriage, despite the father's protests. He and the other villagers believe, according to prevalent Hindu tradition, that the young bride must be wedded off during the previously appointed auspicious hour, otherwise, she will have to remain unmarried all her life. Apu, after initially refusing when requested by a few villagers, ultimately decides to take Pulu's advice and come to the rescue of the bride by agreeing to marry her. He returns with Aparna to his apartment in Calcutta after the wedding. He takes up a clerical job, and a loving relationship begins to bloom between them. Yet, the young couple's blissful days are cut short when Aparna dies while giving birth to their son, Kajal. Apu is overcome with grief and holds the child responsible for his wife's death. He shuns his worldly responsibilities and becomes a recluse – travelling to different corners of India, while the child is left with his maternal grandparents. Meanwhile, Apu throws away his manuscript for the novel he had been writing over the years. A few years later, Pulu finds Kajal growing wild and uncared for. He then seeks out Apu, who is working at a mining quarry and advises Apu one last time to take up his fatherly responsibility. At last, Apu decides to come back to reality and reunite with his son. When he reaches his in-laws' place, Kajal, having seen him for the first time in his life, at first does not accept him as a father. Eventually, he accepts Apu as a friend and they return to Calcutta together to start life afresh. It is the third and final part of The Apu Trilogy, about the childhood and early adulthood of a young boy named Apu in early twentieth century India. The film is based on the last two-thirds of the 1932 Bengali novel, Aparajito, by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. Ray wanted fresh faces again for the film like other two films in the Apu Trilogy and thus he started auditioning. In other films he made in between, like Parash Pathar (1958) and Jalsaghar (1958), he did work with professional actors like Soumitra Chatterjee, a radio announcer and a stage actor who, with doyen of Bengali theatre Sisir Bhaduri, had first auditioned for the role of the adolescent Apu in Aparajito (1956). Though Ray thought he had the right look, he found him too old for the role. Ray remembered him and offered the role of adult Apu two years later. Chatterjee was still unaware that he had already been selected for the title role. He had gone on the sets of Ray's fourth film, Jalsaghar, to watch the shoot. That day, while he was leaving the sets, Ray called him over and introduced him to actor Chhabi Biswas, saying, "This is Soumitra Chattopadhyay; he's playing Apu in my next film Apur Sansar", leaving him surprised. Ray however had a tough time finding an actress for the female lead Aparna. He even placed an ad in a local daily asking for photographs from girls between ages of 15 and 17. There were over a thousand responses to the ad, but Ray found none of them worth auditioning. This was when Ray came to know of a young girl, Sharmila Tagore, who had recently performed at a dance recital at Children's Little Theatre in Kolkata. She is related to poet Rabindranath Tagore, and subsequently auditioned and was selected. It is the perfect conclusion to the trilogy – very much its own story – but a great chapter in the story of one man’s life.