Gilda

A blistering love/hate triangle drama about a casino owner in Argentina, his new bride, and his right-hand man.  George Macready and Glenn Ford are both fine in the first two roles, respectively, but this one is all about Rita Hayworth.  Her performance sizzles with playful contempt and powerful sexuality.  She’s a force to be reckoned with… and the more subdued version of her character in the final act kind of drags things down a bit.  But otherwise the film is quite enjoyable; not quite a noir, but with a number of noirish elements.  There’s an unpredictability to the script that I found refreshing.  You can kind of figure out the basics of where things are going, but the details are usually surprising.  Rating: 8

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Une histoire d’eau

A short co-directed by Truffaut and Godard, in which a young girl cavorts around with a companion during a flood, while delivering a monologue.  It’s a very playful, speedy and free-wheeling piece that seems to perfectly meld the styles of its two creators.  Rating: 7

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Fort Apache

John Ford and John Wayne, whoop-de-fuckin-doo.  I actually didn’t hate this as much as I expected to.  Wayne is a far more likeable character than usual, a just and reasonable man without all the macho dick-swinging.  And the story is mostly engaging and touches on compelling themes of honor.  But the film is still buried in those Ford-isms that bug me so much, and my stomach clenched when Wayne gives his little speech at the end, with “Battle Hymn of the Republic” swelling in the background.  So while I enjoyed it more than most Ford/Wayne movies, I didn’t enjoy it enough to want to see it ever again.  Rating: 6

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Gun Crazy

An intense noir that tells a Bonnie and Clyde-style story, with one hell of a Bonnie.  Peggy Cummins is great as the femme fatale, you’re never quite sure how sincere her character is being.  It’s interesting that John Dall is playing pretty much the opposite of the character in his previous film, Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope.  In this one, he’s the more unwilling partner in crime whereas before he was the dominant one.  The film is stylish and steamy and a little bit sleazy, and definitely holds your interest.  Rating: 8

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Kaos

Directed by the brothers Taviani, this film tells five stories (presented as four, plus an epilogue) by Pirandello.  All of the stories are pretty good, except the fourth which involves some villagers making a whole lot of fuss over where they can bury their dead.  This one wasn’t as interesting as the others, but maybe that’s because I think sticking corpses in the ground is a really silly thing to do.  My favorite was the third, about a potter who gets himself stuck in a wealthy landowner’s jumbo-sized olive oil jar.  I also thought the epilogue was incredibly beautiful.  It’s all very well done, and the music by Nicola Piovani (augmented by a little Mozart) is majestic and sublime.  A little on the slow side, perhaps, but an improvement of the self-conscious Night of the Shooting Stars.  Rating: 8

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Casablanca (rewatch)

I honestly believe I could watch Casablanca once a week for the rest of my life.  I wouldn’t change one thing about it.  I’m not saying it’s flawless… I just wouldn’t change anything.  Rating: 10

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The Postman Always Rings Twice

The original, not the Jack Nicholson remake.  I’ve watched a lot of noir by now, but somehow kept skipping this one for a long time.  I’ve seen it compared to Double Indemnity (also written by James M. Cain) a lot.  There are some similarities, but there are plenty of differences too.  For instance, the quality of the script.  It’s a reasonably engaging story, but the dialogue lacks pizzazz.  The direction also seems flat, especially in comparison to Wilder’s work.  And the leads aren’t that great, either.  John Garfield isn’t a guy you root for like Fred Macmurray, and Lana Turner isn’t a gal you secretly root for like Barbara Stanwyck.  But it’s a solid noir picture, with a particularly notable supporting performance from Hume Cronyn as the sleazy attorney.  Rating: 7

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Artists and Models (rewatch)

I was going to put an end to my Jerry Lewis spree, but I decided to revisit this as the last one, if only because I adore Shirley Maclaine (Dorothy Malone and Anita Ekberg ain’t bad, either).  And this is the perfect one to go out on.  Definitely my favorite of the Martin & Lewis pictures, and could even be considered a legitimately great movie.  Frank Tashlin spent most of his early career directing Looney Tunes, and it shows.  The film has a carefree, stream-of-consciousness, anything can happen vibe to it, in a candy-colored world where comic book artists get involved in international intrigue.  It’s often teetering on the edge of insanity.  Sexy, sassy and a load of fun.  Maclaine easily holds her own with the boys, and Malone does well, too.  I really need to see some more Tashlin (cited as a major influence on the delightful Down With Love), especially his signature films Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and The Girl Can’t Help It.  Rating: 9

IMDb

You’re Never Too Young

Apparently this is a remake/reworking of The Major and the Minor, but I’ve never seen that one.  The premise is, well, preposterous.  Jerry Lewis hides out from a dangerous criminal (Raymond Burr) by posing as a 12 year-old child… and everyone believes it.  It’s definitely a strain on one’s willing suspension of disbelief, but then again, this is a world where a number of the students at an all-girls school appear to be in their 20′s and 30′s.  Even if you overlook the ridiculous implausibility of the story, there’s not much here.  Most of it isn’t very amusing, although the madcap waterski ending is kinda fun.  Rating: 5

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Living It Up

A typical Martin & Lewis scenario, with the boys living under a big lie that constantly threatens to undermine their shenanigans.  This one’s got a pre-Psycho Janet Leigh as the love interest.  It’s all very standard and workmanlike, nothing special about it all, but nothing too horrible about it either (except the usual ethnic humor).  Meh.  Rating: 6

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