Chopping Mall

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Rating 2


Directed by Jim Wynorski

Written by Jim Wynorski and Steve Mitchell

Starring Kelli Maroney (Alison Parks), Tony O’Dell (Ferdy Meisel), Russell Todd (Rick Stanton), Karrie Emerson (Linda Stanton), Barbara Crampton (Suzie Lynn), Nick Segal (Greg Williams), John Terlesky (Mike Brennan), Suzee Slater (Leslie Todd), Dick Miller (Walter Paisley), Paul Bartel (Paul Bland) and Mary Woronov (Mary Bland)


Four young couples plan a wild party in the Park Plaza Mall after it has shut for the night, but they are menaced by three deadly security robots that have gone haywire following an electrical storm.

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‘Chopping Mall’ is a 1986 horror film. It was produced by Julie Corman, the wife of the celebrated low-budget filmmaker Roger Corman, the film’s executive producer, and was originally released under the title ‘Killbots’. Basically, it’s a kind of horror version of ‘Short Circuit’, although it pre-dates that film by a couple of months.

There isn’t much to say about the film. It’s cheap and cheerful and doesn’t outstay its welcome. The script is threadbare and the robots are not threatening looking in the slightest, but Kelli Maroney (who also starred in the cult favourite ‘Night of the Comet’) runs around the deserted Mall with commendable enthusiasm.

It’s silly and not remotely scary, but the exploding head is effective and the film is quite fun to watch once. I cannot imagine needing to watch it a second time.

Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov have cameos playing their characters from Bartel’s cult 1982 film ‘Eating Raoul’. Perhaps these cameos are amusing if you are familiar with the earlier film, which I am not.

Review posted 21 January 2010

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Night Of The Comet

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Rating 2½


Written and directed by Thom Eberhardt

Starring Catherine Mary Stewart (Regina Belmont), Keli Maroney (Samantha Belmont), Robert Beltran (Hector Gomez), Mary Woronov (Dr Audrey White), Geoffrey Lewis (Dr Carter), John Achorn (Dr Oscar Silverman), Peter Fox (Dr Wilson), Michael Bowen (Larry Dupree), Ivan E Roth (Willy), Sharon Farrell (Doris), Janice Kawaye (Sarah) and Chance Boyer (Brian)


The world is preparing for the spectacular display that will light up the night sky when a comet passes overhead. The comet had last crossed paths with the Earth at the time of the sudden extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years earlier. Regina, who works at a local cinema, elects instead to spend the night with Larry, the projectionist. Her sister Samantha, a cheerleader, sneaks out of a party at home after an argument with her stepmother. The next morning Regina and Samantha discover that a red smog hangs heavy in the air, nearly everyone seems to have been reduced to a red dust, and they are harassed by flesh-eating zombies. They encounter another survivor, Hector, at a local radio station. He is on his way to search for any surviving members of his family. In the meantime, Regina and Samantha have come to the attentions of a group of scientists who had predicted the effects of the comet and hidden in a secret underground facility.

...

‘Night of the Comet’ is a low-budget 1984 film that pays homage to other low-budget genre movies. The classic 1953 film ‘It Came From Outer Space’ is mentioned early on, but a more obvious reference point would be ‘Night of the Living Dead’ and, I thought, ‘The Day of the Triffids’, as well as ‘The World, the Flesh and the Devil’, a 1959 Harry Belafonte film in which he is trapped by an underground cave in and when he escapes he discovers that the world is deserted and he appears to be the only person left alive.

The film’s writer and director Thom Eberhardt has claimed that the production budget was just $700,000, although $3 million has been quoted as a more likely figure. The film grossed a little under $14.5 million at the domestic box office. It has an 83% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes from 18 reviews and has an established cult status, even being described as a masterpiece of its genre, although one dissenting reviewer was extremely critical of the film and particularly scathing about absurdities in the plot, which is perhaps missing the point when the film so obviously has its tongue in its cheek.

Its protagonists, the heroes (or, I should say, heroines) of the film, immediately make it stand out, although I am not quite sure why in the opening scenes when Regina and Larry have sex in the projection booth she apparently does so on the promise of $15, which he doesn’t pay. We are supposed to glean that she is tough and independent, capable of looking after herself, but this doesn’t seem to serve any purpose whatsoever, other than being slightly demeaning. Much is made of the film’s humour. It is of a type and I didn’t find it particularly funny. The line “Daddy would have gotten us Uzis” spoken by Samantha when the mechanism on the machine gun she is firing jams has been quoted as an example of the witty dialogue.

The film is undoubtedly clever, subverting the genre and paying homage to it at the same time. I did find it rather stilted in general and some of the acting leaves a lot to desired, but I found myself, if not actually liking it more, than certainly disliking it less as it went on. In the end, it’s a film that appeals to a certain audience, has a website devoted to it and even an online discussion board. I didn’t find it as fun or engaging as I had hoped, but that is probably fairly meaningless. It would be interesting to know what influence if any the film had on Joss Whedon.

Thom Eberhardt went on to direct the Sherlock Holmes spoof ‘Without a Clue’, starring Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley. Robert Beltran played Commander Chakotay in 171 episodes of the television series ‘Star Trek: Voyager’. Kelli Maroney’s other films include ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ and ‘Chopping Mall’. Geoffrey Lewis, the father of Juliette Lewis, is a veteran of 200 or more films of varying quality.

Review posted 19 January 2010


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The Turn of the Screw

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Rating 2

Directed by Tim Fywell

Written by Sandy Welch, based on the novella by Henry James

Starring Michelle Dockery (Ann), Sue Johnstone (Sarah Grose), Dan Stevens (Dr Fisher), Nicola Walker (Carla), Eva Sayer (Flora), Josef Lindsay (Miles), Mark Umbers (Master), Corin Redgrave (Professor), Wendy Abiston (Baines), Sarah Buckland (Diana), Edward MacLiam (Peter Quint) and Katie Lightfoot (Emily Jessel)


Ann takes up the position of governess to two young orphaned children in a large isolated house in the country. They have been cared for by the housekeeper Sarah Grose since the sudden departure of the previous governess. The girl Flora lives in the house, but her brother Miles is away at school, until a letter arrives to say he is being sent home and will not be allowed to return to the school. Ann becomes increasingly concerned by the behaviour of the two children and as the secrets the house hides are slowly revealed she becomes convinced that a depraved and malevolent presence from beyond the grave is attempting to claim them.

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The BBC has a long tradition of broadcasting Gothic ghost stories at Christmas, often those written by M R James, who remains probably the most celebrated English writer of ghost stories. For Christmas 2009, however, they chose a new production of the famous novella by Henry James, the famous British-based American writer. It was first published in 1898 and has frequently been the subject of literary analysis and discussion. This new adaptation, written by Sandy Welch, who has written many costume dramas for the BBC, including adaptations of ‘Emma’, ‘Jane Eyre’ and ‘North & South’, sexes up the story, presumably in an attempt to make it more palatable to television audiences now, and in the process destroys much of the sinister mystery and ambiguity of the themes to found in the book.

Michelle Dockery (whose previous credits include ‘Cranford’, ‘Waking the Dead’ and ‘Fingersmith’) is very good in the central role and Sue Johnston is always worth watching. Eva Sayer and Josef Lindsay are suitably creepy as the strange young brother and sister, but while the production is well mounted, I found it ultimately a little disappointing.

Tim Fywell is an experienced director, primarily working in television. He has directed several episodes of the brilliant long-running BBC crime drama series ‘Waking the Dead’. He also directed the Disney film ‘Ice Princess’, starring former ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ actress Michelle Trachtenberg, and prior to that ‘I Capture the Castle’, a film that starred another former ‘Buffy’ actor, Marc Blucas, together with Tara Fitzgerald, one of the current main cast of ‘Waking the Dead’.

Review posted 9 January 2010


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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

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Rating 2½


Directed by Gore Verbinski

Written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, based on characters created by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpatt

Starring Johnny Depp (Captain Jack Sparrow), Orlando Bloom (Will Turner), Keira Knightley (Elizabeth Swann), Bill Nighy (Davy Jones), Jack Davenport (James Norrington), Jonathan Pryce (Weatherby Swann), Tom Hollander (Cutler Beckett), Stellan Skarsgård (Bootstrap Bill Turner), Lee Areberg (Pintel), Mackenzie Crook (Ragetti), Kevin McNally (Joshamee Gibbs) and Naomie Harris (Tia Dalma)

Lord Cutler Beckett arrests Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann in Port Royal, Jamaica, threatening execution to force Turner to hunt for the Pirate Captain Jack Sparrow and relieve him of his magic compass. The devious Sparrow and the crew of his ship the Black Pearl have been captured by cannibals on a tropical island. Following their escape they are pursued by Captain Davy Jones and the ghost ship the Flying Dutchman, as well as the legendary sea monster the Kraken.

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‘Dead Man’s Chest’ is the second film in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ franchise, produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Gore Verbinski, whose previous films include ‘The Ring’, and was released in 2006. Its box office gross was a mind-boggling $1,066,179,725, against a production budget of $225 million, making it the fourth highest grossing film of all time (not taking into account inflation). It received mixed reviews and has a 53% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes from 212 reviews.

I enjoyed the first film ‘The Curse of the Black Pearl’, but I also found myself somewhat disappointed by it. I had the same reaction to ‘Dead Man’s Curse’. It’s expertly made, a master class of modern day effects-soaked action-adventure blockbusters, but it’s so bombastic and arrogant of its own hugeness that it lacks heart.

Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are unremittingly bland and charisma-free leads, but perhaps they need to be as an antidote to all the madcap mayhem being unleashed around them, much like Allan Jones (the father of the singer Jack Jones), who found himself playing the bland romantic lead in the anarchic Marx Brothers films ‘A Night at the Opera’ and ‘A Day at the Races’. Johnny Depp’s performance as Captain Jack Sparrow is little more than an impersonation of Keith Richards (who turns up in the third film, playing Captain Jack’s father), but is no less enjoyable for that and has played a big part in the success of the franchise.

At 150 minutes it is probably a little too long and it does become a bogged down and convoluted at times, but there is also a lot of humour and it is fun to watch. While I am often not especially impressed by CGI effects, the special effects here are superb. I particularly liked the Kraken.

‘Dead Man’s Chest’ was followed by ‘At World’s End’. A fourth instalment ‘On Stranger Tides’ has been announced, with Johnny Depp returning as Captain Jack Sparrow, although both Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley (who, in 2008, was the second highest paid actress in Hollywood) have both stated that they do not intend to reprise their roles.

Review posted 8 January 2010


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The Day of the Triffids (2009)

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Rating 2¼


Directed by Nick Copus

Written by Patrick Harbinson, based on the novel by John Wyndham

Starring Dougray Scott (Bill Masen), Joely Richardson (Jo Playton), Eddie Izzard (Torrence), Brian Cox (Dennis Masen), Vanessa Redgrave (Durrant), Julia Joyce (Imogen), Jenn Murray (Susan), Shane Taylor (Osman), Ewen Bremner (Walter) and Troy Glasgow (Troy)


The giant and deadly carnivorous triffid plant is cultivated on a huge scale because of the oil it produces, which provides a clean alternative fuel source. Bill Masen is a scientist who works at one of the “farms” where the triffids are grown, studying the plant to try to understand it better. His father, who he is estranged from, was the first person to fully realise the potential of the triffid to end the world’s energy crisis, but his mother, also a scientist, warned of the dangers. Her fears were not heeded and she was killed by a triffid when he was a young boy.

Masen is kept in hospital for observation and has gauze wrapped around his eyes following at accident at work. When he wakes up in the morning, he discovers that a spectacular solar event the previous evening has left everyone who watched it blind. He immediately realises the terrible danger posed if the triffids are able to escape from their confinement and when he encounters Jo Playton, a radio presenter who has also escaped becoming blinded, they join forces, but as anarchy takes over they have more than just triffids to worry about.

...


I first saw the 1962 film version of ‘The Day of the Triffids’ when I was a teenager and it immediately became a favourite film of mine. Although it has never been widely regarded with much affection and deviates quite a lot from the original source material (particularly the ending), I still remain very fond of it. I did subsequently read John Wyndham’s original novel, again when I was a teenager. I must admit not to be overly fond of Wyndham’s writing style, although I have also read two of his other most famous novels, ‘The Kraken Wakes’ and ‘The Midwich Cuckoos’. In 1981 the BBC adapted ‘The Day of the Triffids’ for television in six 25-minute segments. I am sure I must have watched it, but I remember nothing at all about it. The BBC has now made a new adaptation, this time in two 90-minute segments.

I chanced to read a review written by John Wollaston for The Guardian before I watched it. Wollaston wrote that Joely Richardson, who plays Jo Playton, “appears to have lost the ability to act.” That seems to be something that afflicts several of the actors here. Joely Richardson’s performance is a little odd in places. She seems to have gone for a naturalistic performance, but frequently her facial expressions are at odds with what is happening round her and the way in which we would perhaps expect her to be reacting. Dougray Scott’s portrayal of Bill Masen is stiff and expression-free, although he fares a little better in the action sequences. Eddie Izzard is a cartoon super-villain, seemingly plucked from another film altogether.

I thought the first 40 minutes or so of the opening episode were horrible, with a constant stream of irritating out of focus shots, slow motion sequences and painfully arty camera placement. However, matters had improved by the end of the opening 90 minutes and ultimately I quite enjoyed it, although it is of no great substance or quality. As has been mentioned in other reviews, Danny Boyle’s film ‘28 Days Later’ is a very obvious reference point.

The general consensus seems to be that the triffids are not scary. I would not disagree with that, but they are effective enough as far as it goes.

Review posted 4 January 2010


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Portrait of Jennie

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Rating *5*


Directed by William Dieterle

Written by Paul Osborn , Peter Berneis, Ben Hecht (uncredited) and David O Selznick (uncredited) – adaptation by Leonardro Bercovici from the novel by Robert Nathan

Starring Joseph Cotton (Eben Adams), Jennifer Jones (Jennie Appleton), Ethel Barrymore (Miss Spinney), Cecil Kellaway (Matthews), Lillian Gih (Mother Mary of Mercy), David Wayne (Gus O’Toole), Albert Sharpe (Moore), Florence Bates (Mrs Jekes), Henry Hull (Eke) and Clem Bevans (Captain Cobb)


Eben Adams is an unsuccessful and starving artist in New York City who manages to sell a sketch to art dealer Miss Spinney for $12, not because she is particularly impressed by his work, but because she sees a spark of something in him. Soon afterwards, he encounters Jennie, a rather strange but engaging girl, in Central Park and then soon after secures a commission to paint a mural depicting the Irish rebel Michael Collins in a local bar. He has more encounters with Jennie and becomes increasingly obsessed with painting her portrait, but on each occasion she is noticeably older than the last. As he falls more and more in love with her he realises that he is a witness to fragments of events from the past.

...


During the long production of ‘Portrait of Jennie’ Jennifer Jones, who had been married to Robert Walker, the troubled actor whose memorable final performance was in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 film ‘Strangers on a Train’, had a long relationship with producer David O Selznick, the legendary film producer responsible for ‘Gone With the Wind’ amongst many others. They married in 1949. Selznick was perpetually unhappy with results he saw during the production, commissioned numerous rewrites, some of which he undertook himself, and tinkered with the film for over a year before it finally received its theatrical release on Christmas Day 1948. It was not a success, but it is now considered to be a classic film of its time.

‘Portrait of Jennie’ is based on a 1940 novel by Robert Nathan, who also wrote ‘The Bishop’s Wife’. The film has an eerie dreamlike quality that perfectly suits the tale of a doomed young woman who calls across time to an artist who had once painted the scene of her death. Even the rather blatant republican propaganda of the mural of Michael Collins, the Commander-in-Chief of the Irish National Army who was killed during the Irish Civil War in 1922, has an certain value. Jennifer Jones and the always reliable Joseph Cotton (a long-time collaborator of Orson Welles and the star of the classic Alfred Hitchcock film ‘Shadow of a Doubt’) give good performances and there is excellent support from Cecil Kellaway and, in particular, Ethel Barrymore, the grand-aunt of Drew Barrymore and a formidable presence in American theatre.

The German director William Dieterle was a steady hand who had previously directed ‘The Story of Louis Pasteur’ and ‘The Life of Emile Zola’, both starring the now largely forgotten Paul Muni, who was once considered to be one of America’s greatest actors, winning one Oscar for Best Actor and receiving five other Academy Award nominations. He also directed ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ starring Charles Laughton.

Jennifer Jones, who did at the age of 90 on 19 December 2009, having survived a suicide attempt in 1967 that left her in a coma, two years after the death of her husband David O Selznick, won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1943 for her role in ‘The Song of Bernadette’. She was nominated on three subsequent occasions; for ‘Love Letters’ in 1945, ‘Duel in the Sun’ in 1946, in which she also co-starred opposite Joseph Cotton, and ‘Love is a Many-Splendored Thing’ in 1955. She received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for ‘Since You Want Away’ in 1944. ‘Duel in the Sun’, a controversial film at the time of its release in 1946, also featured Lillian Gish, who received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role. Gish, who plays Mother Mary of Mercy in ‘Portrait of Jennie’, had been a major film star during the silent era. When, in 1999, the American Film Institute announced a list of the 50 top stars of American cinema, 25 male and 25 female, Gish was included at No.17 in the list of “female legends”.

‘Portrait of Jennie is a film of ethereal beauty and fully deserves its reputation.

Review posted 2 January 2010


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Doctor Who: The End of Time

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Rating 3


Directed by Euros Lyn

Written by Russell T Davies

Starring David Tennant (The Doctor), Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred Mott), John Sim (The Master), Timothy Dalton (Narrator / Lord President), Claire Bloom (The Woman), Catherine Tate (Donna Noble), Jacqueline King (Sylvia Noble), Karl Collins (Shaun Temple), David Harewood (Joshua Naismith), Tracy Ifeachor (Abigail Naismith), June Whitfield (Minnie Harper), Sinead Keenan (Addams), Lawry Lewin (Rossiter), Alexandra Moen (Lucy Saxon), Jessica Hynes (Verity Newman), Russell Tovey (Alonso Frame), Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones), Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Tommy Knight (Luke Smith), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) and Matt Smith (The Doctor)


The Doctor is summoned to the Ood Sphere, where he learns that the Ood have experienced visions of his arch-nemesis the Master, who he until now believed to be dead. They tell him that something is coming and the end of time is near. The Doctor races back to Earth, arriving on Christmas Eve. Aided by the elderly Wilfred Mott, the grandfather of his last companion Donna Noble, it is now a race against time to stop the Master and, ultimately, the return of the Time Lords themselves.

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‘The End of Time’, broadcast on BBC1 in two one-hour segments on Christmas Day 2009 and New Year’s Day 2010, marks the end of David Tennant’s tenure as the Doctor, as well as providing a farewell to Russell T Davies, the show’s head writer and one of its executive producers since its return in March 2005. The show has proved to be a huge ratings success in that time, a winner with (most) fans and critics alike, and David Tennant is now arguably the most popular Doctor of them all, although each fan will have her or his own particular favourites. Mine will probably always be Jon Pertwee, the Doctor between 1970 and 1974, and Sylvester McCoy, who occupied the role between 1987 and 1989. I would also have liked Christopher Eccleston to have stayed around for a while longer, although his single season does have a very distinctive and quite unique flavour to it.

The show, since its return, was undoubtedly at its peak in the first two seasons – the one with Eccleston and the first season with David Tennant, when Billie Piper was on board as Rose Tyler, the Doctor’s companion and perhaps the most iconic companion since Elisabeth Sladen appeared as Sarah Jane Smith between 1973 and 1976. That character was brought back by Russell T Davies and subsequently given her own series, ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’, which has run for three seasons so far. ‘Torchwood’ is another successful spin-off of the revived show, proving the extent of its enduring popularity. Since the end of season three of ‘Doctor Who’ in July 2008 there have been a number of “specials”, taking the place of a full fifth season. These have proved to be a little hit or miss and it has been difficult not to conclude that the formula set in place by Russell T Davies and the full-on approach of David Tennant has become a little stale at this stage. The same impression lingers during ‘The End of Time’.

I find that the constant frenetic pace can become rather tiring after a while and across two hours it is positively exhausting, although I do appreciate that the intention is to provide exhilarating Christmas entertainment for a widespread family audience. The Master’s appearance here is perhaps not quite as successful as John Sim’s initial appearance in the role at the end of season three and I wasn’t all that keen on having so many of him on the screen at the same time after the Master has become, more or less, every single person on Earth. It sometimes seemed as though Sim and David Tennant had shared a private bet to see who could give the most exaggerated performance, although they are certainly no slouches when it comes to acting ability. The characters Joshua and Abigail Naismith were far too sketchy, particularly given their central roles in the plot early on, as were the two “Vinvocci” aliens, whose presence was rather artificially and unconvincingly engineered as a plot necessity. Even the presence of Bernard Cribbins did not wholly rescue matters, although I have added an extra star rating for giving him such a central role and so much welcome screen time.

For all of the frenzied running around, it was at times strangely flat and rather convoluted, veering too much into metaphysical storytelling for my own tastes. However, for all of these criticisms it ultimately proved to be reasonably successful, although I imagine there will be much debate amongst fans about it, especially those who have been critical of Russell T Davies and his handling of the show – for example, the reference to the Lord President (played by Timothy Dalton) as “Rassilon” is sure to have raised a few eyebrows.

I did like the cameo appearances at the end of the second episode by various departed central characters from the four most recent seasons. This could so easily have been clumsy, but I thought it worked very well and highlighted the lovely emotional undercurrent that exists in the writing style of Russell T Davies at his very best. I am curious about the appearance of Russell Tovey (whose name had at one point been put forward as a possible candidate to take over the lead role when David Tennant announced his departure) and I wonder if there are plans for him to feature in the fourth season of ‘Torchwood’, assuming there is going to be a fourth season.

The regeneration scene before the brief appearance of Matt Smith as the new Doctor was perhaps rather drawn out, but David Tennant has been a particularly successful Doctor and so probably deserves such a send off.

Judged on the extremely high standards that Russell T Davies set for the show, ‘The End of Time’ proved to be slightly disappointing, but it was no less welcome for that and there was a whole host of nice little touches, especially during the closing scenes.

Review posted 2 January 2010


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Top Hat

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Rating *5*


Directed by Mark Sandrich

Written by Allan Scott and Dwight Taylor

Songs written by Irving Berlin

Starring Fred Astaire (Jerry Travers), Ginger Rogers (Dale Tremont), Edward Everett Horton (Horace Hardwick), Helen Broderick (Madge Hardwick), Erik Rhodes (Alberto Beddini) and Eric Blore (Bates)


Jerry Travers, a celebrated American dancer, comes to London to star in a new show produced by Horace Hardwick. He meets Dale Tremont in less than congenial circumstances and instantly falls in love with her. Dale is on her way to Italy to visit Madge Hardwick, the wife of Horace, and also to model the clothes of Alberto Beddini, a flamboyant Italian fashion designer. She mistakes Jerry for Horace, thinking that Madge’s husband has designs on her, and a comedy of errors ensues.

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Between 1933 and 1939 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made nine films for RKO Radio Pictures, reuniting again briefly in 1949 to star in ‘The Barkleys of Broadway’ for MGM. They remain the most celebrated and the best loved dancing duo in the history of Hollywood film musicals and Astaire has been widely acknowledged as one of the foremost American dancers of the 20th Century. Rudolph Nureyev is quoted as having called him, “Simply the greatest, most imaginative, dancer of our time.”

‘Top Hat’, the fourth of the nine films they made at RKO, one of the so-called “Big Five” studios during the Golden Age of Hollywood, was their most commercially successful film together and the second most successful film of Astaire’s career, behind ‘Easter Parade’, the 1948 musical in which he co-starred with Judy Garland. Like that film, the songs featured in ‘Top Hat’ were written by Irving Berlin, who is arguably the most celebrated American songwriter of the 20th Century, although Astaire is more usually associated with the songs of George and Ira Gershwin. ‘Top Hat’ contains all the elements that went to make Astaire and Rogers such a winning combination – unforgettable songs (including ‘Cheek to Cheek’), outstanding dance routines, a light frothy rom-com storyline and just the right degree of screen chemistry between the two leads. It has often been claimed that Astaire and Rogers constantly feuded, but there seems to be little real evidence to support this rumour, although Astaire did lose his temper with her during the filming of the ‘Cheek to Cheek’ sequence, something that has subsequently become Hollywood folklore, and his perfectionism is known to have been hard on his dance partners, especially those like Rogers who were not professional dancers.

Astaire’s first dance partner was his sister Adele and it has sometimes been said that she was the more talented of the two. They began dancing together in 1905 and by 1917 they were dancing on Broadway. They became major stars of the musical stage on Broadway and in London’s West End during the 1920s and unsuccessfully auditioned for Paramount Pictures in 1927. In 1932 when Adele married Lord Charles Arthur Francis Cavendish, the 9th Duke of Devonshire, and retired from performing Astaire continued to dance with new partners Claire Luce and Dorothy Stone, before trying his luck again in Hollywood.

Legend has it that the initial response to his RKO screen test was “Can’t sing. Can’t act. Balding. Can dance a little.” However, RKO signed him up and immediately loaned him to MGM for the 1933 Joan Crawford and Clark Gable musical film ‘Dancing Lady’, playing himself. The film was a box office hit and RKO next put him in ‘Flying Down to Rio’ in a supporting role alongside a contract player, Ginger Rogers. This was their first film together and from it the partnership was born. Their first film as co-leads was ‘The Gay Divorcee’ in 1934, which Astaire had previous starred in on the stage at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway in 1932, partnered by Claire Luce. It has been said that he wanted Luce to reprise her role in the film, but this was vetoed by RKO when the screen chemistry with Rogers in ‘Flying Down to Rio’ was specifically noted by many film critics.

I first saw the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films in either late 1976 or 1977, when, coming towards the end of my teenage years, I had become a punk, or at least a fan of punk music. Although the two things may not seem obviously symbiotic, I perhaps perversely found something glamorous about the early punk era and as much as it was a reaction to the abject dreariness and hopelessness of 1970s Britain, so the Astaire and Rogers films seemed to speak of a more glamorous past. It is clearly no coincidence that part of the appeal and glamour of 1930s Hollywood was the escapism it offered its audience from the grim reality of the Great Depression. And so it was that, as well as buying records by the Sex Pistols and the Clash, I was also discovering the recordings Fred Astaire made for Brunswick Records at the time of the Astaire and Rogers musical films.

‘Top Hat’ is not my favourite Astaire and Rogers film, but it is their archetypical outing. The frothy plot moves along at a crisp pace and it has a lightness of touch that matches their dancing. The deliberately artificial Art Deco sets are also notable. However, the film is almost stolen by supporting actors Helen Broderick and Edward Everett Horton, a master of the double-take. Lucille Ball, a mainstay of American television in the 1950s, has a small uncredited role as a flower shop sales girl.

It’s just a delightful film that defies criticism.

Review posted 1 January 2010


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Touch of Evil

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Rating *5*


Directed by Orson Welles

Written by Orson Welles, Paul Monash (additional scenes – uncredited), Franklin Coen (contributing writer, reshoots – uncredited), based on the novel ‘Badge of Evil’ by Whit Masterson (pseudonym of Robert Allison Wade and H Bill Miller)

Starring Charlton Heston (Ramon Miguel ‘Mike’ Vargas), Janet Leigh (Susan ‘Susie’ Vargas), Orson Welles (Police Captain Hank Quinlan), Joseph Calleia (Police Sergeant Pete Menzies), Akim Tamiroff (Uncle Joe Grandi), Ray Collins (District Attorney Adair), Harry Gould (Police Chief Pete Gould), Mort Mills (Al Schartz), Joanna Cook Moore (Marcia Linnekar), Victor Millan (Manolo Sanchez), Val de Vargas (Pancho), Zsa Zsa Gabor (Strip-club owner), Dennis Weaver (Night Manager) and Marlene Dietrich (Tana)


In the hellish town of Los Robles that straddles the Mexican/US border a local construction tycoon and his companion are killed by a bomb just moments after their car has crossed the border onto American soil. Mike Vargas, who is heading up a Pan-American Narcotics Commission that has recently led to the arrest of the head of the notorious Grandi family, is on the scene and witnesses the explosion. He offers his services to the local police, but the lead detective Hank Quinlan is openly antagonistic towards him from the start. When the case is quickly solved, Vargas is convinced that Quinlan has planted evidence and sets out to prove his suspicions. In the meantime, Uncle Joe, the acting head of the Grandi family, seeks revenge against Vargas by targeting his new wife Susie.

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The popular story surrounding the making of ‘Touch of Evil’ has it that Orson Welles was hired in a supporting acting role when the film was in pre-production. Charlton Heston, who Universal Pictures wanted for the lead role, only agreed to take it if Welles was signed on to direct, at which point Welles insisted on re-writing the script, based on a pulp novel called ‘Badge of Evil’, first published in 1956. Welles greatly increased his own role in the film. An alternative story suggests that given the opportunity to direct his first American film in ten years by the producer Albert Zugsmith, Welles choose the worst script from those he was given, rewriting it to prove that he could produce a great film from bad source material.

Whatever the true story may be, the studio did not like the rough cut Welles gave to them and demanded reshoots and extra scenes. Welles always claimed this was done without his consent and involvement, although the studio counter-claimed that he simply ignored their communiqués to him. When the eventual 1958 93-minute theatrical cut was eventually cobbled together Welles sent a lengthy memo to the studio asking to be allowed to re-edit the film, setting out in detail what he planned to do. His request was either refused or ignored and the story became another sorry chapter in his fraught relationship with Hollywood. ‘Touch of Evil’ was to be the last American film he directed.

In the mid-1970s Universal Pictures discovered a 108-minute cut of the film in their vaults and released it, claiming it to be the original Orson Welles version, although it was actually no such thing. That cut no longer exists. In 1988 a new cut was assembled from all the existing stock still available, using the 56-page memo Welles had written in 1958 for guidance. This version is as close as it is possible to get to how Welles originally intended the film and is the one now available.

‘Touch of Evil’ is a masterpiece, from the legendary opening three-and-a-half minute single tracking shot onwards. It contains all of the visual imagery and interweaving storylines that had made Welles so famous in the first place at the time of his debut film ‘Citizen Kane’ in 1941. Shot in black and white, the film is visually stunning in places, making outstanding use of the setting and utilising constantly arresting camera angles and shifting shadows. Welles also gives a tour-de-force performance as Hank Quinlan, the police detective gone to seed, a huge lumbering malevolent figure inexorably hurtling towards his own inevitable doom.

It has been suggested that the scenes that take place at the desert motel featuring a young Dennis Weaver as the unbalanced and disconcerting night clerk influenced ‘Psycho’, the classic and controversial Alfred Hitchcock film released two year later, although I don’t know if there is any truth to this rumour. Janet Leigh, the mother of Jamie Lee Curtis, starred in both films.

Charlton Heston is clearly miscast in the lead role as a Mexican government official, but he still does a competent job. In the end, none of that matters. It is Welles who bestrides the film like a colossus, sweeping aside everyone else in his wake. The film also gave Marlene Dietrich one final memorable role and Joseph Cotton, a long-time collaborator of Welles, dating back to the Mercury Theatre Company in the 1930s, makes a brief appearance as a police detective.

‘Touch of Evil’ is one of the 525 films preserved (as of 2009) in the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress.

Review posted 1 January 2010


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