Mubi Monday: Rope (1948)

Alfred Hitchcock once said something about how an explosion will give audiences a fright but showing a ticking bomb under the chair of some unsuspecting potential victim would have them on edge right up until the explosion. I'm paraphrasing but I remember the essence of his message. He liked to scare people, but he equally enjoyed making them tense.

Rope starts with a murder, committed by Phillip (Farley Granger) and Brandon (John Dall). The body is hidden in a chest and, for the rest of the movie, there it stays while the two murderers host a small dinner party, all the while hoping that nobody suspects that they're sharing a room with a hidden corpse. The one person who may suspect is Rupert Cadell (James Stewart), an old schoolteacher they believe would actually enjoy their whole plan. Of course, they cannot tell him what they have done. The only thing they can do is enjoy watching Cadell mull over how strange the evening is.

As famous for the way it was shot as for the content, Rope is a film unfairly viewed by some (including Hitchcock himself, and I should mention that it was he who directed it) as nothing more than a gimmicky experiment. There's no denying that the lengthy takes, the logistics of how every shot was set out, and the manipulation of the main environment (including a wonderful display showing the city skyline turning from day to night), is technically impressive, but that's only part of the reason to enjoy the film. The script, by Arthur Laurents (from a play by Patrick Hamilton), is a lot of fun, allowing viewers to watch two nasty individuals grow increasingly edgy as their own arrogance starts to bite them on the backside.

Granger is the more agitated of the pair, tense from the very beginning and only getting worse when alcohol is added to the mix. Dall gets to have more fun, unflappable throughout, even as it looks more and more unlikely that their "perfect crime" will be discovered. Stewart, despite the fact that he didn't think himself suited to this role, is his usual good self, a smart and sophisticated man who is equally happy chatting to the other guests as he is joking with the maid (Edith Evanson). Joan Chandler and Douglas Dick are both enjoyable enough as the other, younger, guests,  and both Cedrick Hardwicke and Constance Collier are very good as the two older attendees, with Collier a particular delight.

Although it would be easy to confuse Rope with the attitudes of the two main characters - smug, self-absorbed, interested in creating something audacious and impressive just for the same of being able to say it was done - I think it holds up as a fine piece of thrilling cinema. Few other films spend the entire runtime showing you that ticking bomb under the chair. This one does, and to great effect. The ticking bomb just happens to be in the shape of a stashed corpse.

8/10

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Sci-Fi September: Things To Come (1936)

Directed by William Cameron Menzies, Things To Come is a sci-fi movie that's often forgotten when the major touchstone movies of the genre are discussed, despite being arguably just as important and influential as any other title that you could mention.

Written by H. G. Wells, who adapted his own novel into screenplay form, this is a compressed history of an imagined future. Things to come, of course. It's a film that shows the impact of a long, devastating, world war before going on to show society being rebuilt. People are, however, mistrustful in the aftermath of the war, which makes progress slower than it could be. And there's always the worry that the advancement of the human race will lead to the potential for another war.

Things To Come is a film that I first saw while in my early twenties. My love of film was already established, but not quite to the point that it is now. I would try to watch a variety of genres, try to sample some world cinema, and also try to watch movies from different ages of cinema. But I had to do so with films that would help make the journey as smooth as possible (as opposed to now, when I can happily sit down and watch anything and everything). This was a film that had a reputation for being ahead of its time, for holding up as an interesting piece of work with impressive visual style and design throughout.  That reputation was/is well deserved.

Raymond Massey does well in the nominal lead role, and there are similarly solid performances from Edward Chapman, Ralph Richardson (who plays a character that I guess you could equate with The Governor from The Walking Dead . . . . . . . . sort of), Margaretta Scott, and Cedric Hardwicke, among others.

But, while the performances are all well and good, this isn't a film that you watch mainly for the acting. Made and released in the '30s, this is a movie that seemed to eerily prefigure a few 21st century problems, such as another major war and a powerful individual motivating people to conquer others in possession of valuable fuel. Even the first few minutes of the movie, showing Massey shrugging off talk of an upcoming war as he enjoys time with friends and family, serves as a timely reminder to those watching current world events (from here in the UK we currently watch trouble unfolding in Syria, Russia, Iraq, and the constant tensions that seem to arise from North Korea). Don't forget how far things can go, and just how powerful the technology is nowadays.

Although it doesn't seem as influential today as many other sci-fi movies from the earlier years of cinema, Things To Come certainly remains an experience that should be enjoyed by cinephiles. It shows that science fiction sometimes bleeds into science fact, which is slightly unnerving when you think of how many of these movies show things going horribly wrong for us meddling humans. Of course, that's still not dissuaded the many of us who are impatiently awaiting the day when we can all travel around by either jetpacks or hoverboards.

9/10

http://www.amazon.com/Things-Come-Blu-ray-Raymond-Massey/dp/B00BX49BAC/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1411314211&sr=1-2&keywords=things+to+come

The Invisible Man Returns (1940)

Time for another man to turn invisible, and possibly a bit insane, in this enjoyable movie that I guess could be class as a sequel of sorts to The Invisible Man.

Vincent Price is Geoffrey Radcliffe, a man who has been charged with the murder of his brother. Luckily, a couple of people believe that he is innocent, including the lovely Helen Mason (Nan Grey) and Frank Griffin (John Sutton). Griffin is especially useful, as he is the brother of the main character in the 1933 movie. He has recreated the formula that makes people invisible, but he also needs to find a way to reverse the procedure before madness sets in. As Geoffrey sets out to prove his innocence, he becomes more and more unbalanced, and it's not long until Helen and the doctor suspect that they may run out of time. Meanwhile, Inspector Sampson (Cecil Kellaway) goes to great lengths to capture the invisible fugitive, and he knows a trick or two to make him appear.

Directed by Joe May (with a script by Lester Cole and Curt Siodmak), this is a competent and entertaining movie. The special effects are pretty good, although they don't quite seem as impressive as they were in the original movie, and the plot unfolds with a few enjoyable twists and turns that mix in enough elements to stop everything feeling like a simple retread of the first movie.

Vincent Price has, as we all know, a great voice, which makes him a great actor to put in the central role. He's as good as ever here, although it's a shame that it's, by necessity, mostly a voice-only performance. Grey and Sutton are both fine as his main allies, and Kellaway is good as the dogged Inspector. Cedrick Hardwicke is the smooth Richard Cobb, and Alan Napier is the rough Willie Spears.

Overall, this is a good bit of fun. There are one or two enjoyable set-pieces, a good set of characters to spend time with, and the sheer fun that comes from any movie using invisibility as a main plot point.

6/10

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