The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

Okay, look, hear me out. I know that I can't add much to the amount of praise already heaped upon The Bridge On The River Kwai. All I can do is agree that it's a masterpiece, praise the cast (especially Alec Guinness giving what I consider to be one of his very best performances), and remind everyone that it was based on a book by the same author who gave us Planet Of The Apes. So there you go. Job done.

Well . . . I guess I could say a bit more.

For those who have yet to experience the majesty of The Bridge On The River Kwai, it's essentially about a group of British POWs forced to build the titular bridge for their Japanese captors. Colonel Nicholson (Guinness) butts heads with Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), who doesn't believe in abiding by the rules of the Geneva Convention, but he also believes in keeping his men busy, and giving them a sense of achievement. Meanwhile, a lone escapee (Shears, played by William Holden) is ordered to return with Major Warden (Jack Hawkins), and one or two others, on a mission to destroy the bridge.

I loved this movie the first time I saw it, and that love has never diminished with any subsequent viewings. It's a masterpiece. You can feel the heat and the dirt on the POWs, and the battle of wills between Nicholson and Saito is legendary. This puts human nature under a microscope while maintaining an epic backdrop, paying very careful attention to the world-renowned stiff upper lip that seems to be a vital component of the British army. The screenplay by Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson is wonderful, Michael Arnold's score equally so (even if it is incorporating the very familiar "Colonel Bogey March), and Jack Hildyard's cinematography is, while not on a par with the visuals delivered when Freddie Young was working with director David Lean, at least as lush and expansive as you could hope for. Especially in the astounding final sequence.

If you haven't seen this already then you should really make time for it ASAP. There's a decent smattering of humour throughout (particularly in the scenes involving Holden trying to enjoy his freedom, but also in the wry exchanges between Guinness and Hayakawa), there's not one mis-step in the lead performances, and the 161-minute runtime moves by far quicker than expected.  

You should also watch many other Lean movies though, and this is what prompted me to take the plunge and review The Bridge On The River Kwai here. Feel free to argue the point, but I find myself worrying that Lean seems to be at risk of being forgotten nowadays. People will still take time to discuss the Ealing films, there's always room for Powell & Pressburger to be included in conversations, and we've seen a very talented crop of British directors gain prominence and platitudes throughout the past few decades, but Lean seems to have fallen slightly out of fashion. Perhaps it's the epic runtimes of his most well-known movies. Perhaps it's the fact that they're not being put front and centre on any of the major streaming platforms (let's face it, Netflix is as likely to promote Lawrence Of Arabia as it is to ask you to turn your phone off while you watch their content). Whatever the reason, or maybe it's just me missing/forgetting some obvious celebrations of his work, Lean deserves his flowers. And he may as well get them for The Bridge On The River Kwai as for anything else he did. It's glorious cinema.

10/10

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Mubi Monday: The Man In The White Suit (1951)

There are certain breakthroughs that you suspect just wouldn't be allowed to happen. Society runs in a certain way, capitalism needs continuous meat put into the machine to make the sausages, and contentment and sustainability often get in the way of that. It's why there's so much money to be made in medicine, why so many struggle to get paid a living wage, and why, as The Man In The White Suit tells us, nobody wants a fabric that is indestructible and never needs cleaned.

Alec Guinness plays Sidney Stratton, a determined young scientist who keeps trying a variety of experiments and formulae in his quest to create a brand new fabric. Some view him as a liability, especially when his presence in any workplace increases the chance of a random explosion, but some see him as a brilliantly progressive thinker who just needs some time and space to turn his theories into a reality. The closer he gets, however, the more people start to think of him as a serious threat to the status quo. Because dirty and damage clothing ensures that people are repeat customers, not to mention the laundry and repair services that rely on such wear and tear.

Another Ealing comedy from director Alexander Mackendrick, who also worked on the screenplay with John Dighton and Roger MacDougall (creator of the original play), this is a slightly lesser, but no less enjoyable, title that often feels unfairly forgotten in the shadow of some films that have retained their status as being some of the very best of British cinema. There's less focus on quirky characters here, although our lead is amusingly nervy and naive throughout, and more time spent hammering home a commentary on the battle between scientific progress and ongoing business interests.

Guinness delivers another effortlessly wonderful performance, doing enough to hold your attention at all times as he turns from a minor inconvenience to a much sought after commodity. Joan Greenwood is a delight as the young woman who takes an interest in him, although her character also happens to be the daughter of a powerful factory owner (played by Cecil Parker), and both Michael Gough and Vida Hope stand out as two individuals on either side of the employer/employee divide.

Although it will be 75 years old next year, it's sad to think of just how insightful this remains. We just need to look around us to see how many of the super-rich are desperate to stop people from latching on to an idea that will save them both money and resources, from sustainable fashion items to methods of generating electricity, to name just a couple of main examples. The Man In The White Suit remains slightly far-fetched when it comes to the central invention, but it remains all too realistic and depressing when it comes to how the rich and the powerful would want to handle such a thing.

8/10

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Shudder Saturday: Mute Witness (1995)

A film that seems to have been beloved by genre fans over the past few decades, Mute Witness has long been on my viewing list. It wasn't always easy to get hold of though, a situation that has now completely changed, thanks to the fact that it can be found on streaming, as well as on a shiny disc release from Arrow Video. Maybe, just maybe, that easier availability will see people slightly re-appraising the film, and perhaps no longer viewing it as some lost classic.

The plot is quite simple. Marina Zudina (billed here under a slghtly different spelling of her surname, Sudina) plays Billy, a mute makeup artist working on a Moscow film set who ends up witnessing the making of a snuff film one evening. This leads to her being pursued by various members of a far-reaching criminal network, some who may also be in the police force, and the only people that may be able to help her are her sister, Karen (Fay Ripley), and Karen's boyfriend, Andy (Evan Rochards).

Written and directed by Anthony Waller, who followed this up with, ummmmm, An American Werewolf In Paris, this is a decent idea turned into a decidedly okay movie, but it's far from a classic blend of tension and darkness, although one or two moments (including the witness of the main murder) come close to brilliance. Things aren't helped by the fact that the cast has a couple of familiar British faces dropped into the middle of the Russian setting (Ripley being the main one, but there's also a jarring cameo from the wonderful Alec Guinness that feels exactly like the massive favour it clearly was), amplifying the feeling that most of the Russian players came directly from "Rent-A-Russian-Heavy Inc."

Zudina is good in the lead role, expressive and easy to root for, but she's only equalled by Oleg Yankovskiy (also credited with a different spelling of a surname, Jankowski), playing a man named Larsen who is enjoyably difficult to gauge for most of his screentime. Is he actually good, and able to help our lead, or is he yet another member of the crime ring? Ripley and Richards try their best, hampered by a script that wants to put them in peril while also keeping them generally safe enough to get to the third act, and most of the other cast members are suitably menacing, whether that's done deliberately or not.

While I appreciate that this was obviously put together with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, it's a shame that no one aspect of it feels as good as it could be. From the acting to the cinematography, from the music to the production design, you can almost feel the desperation to simply get the film made permeating every frame. While everyone involved can be proud of having actually completed a decent movie, I'm not surprised by the fact that I recognise so few of the names in the cast and crew (although it's worth noting that many have remained working in Russia, a cinematic region I cannot claim to be overly familiar with).

Anyway, to sum it all up, Mute Witness is good, but I don't think it came close to being great. Ironically enough, I'm bemused by how much time people have spent talking this one up since the mid-'90s.

6/10

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Filmstruck Friday: Tunes Of Glory (1960)

When you think of a film starring Alec Guinness that focuses on a battle of wills between two commanding officers then I would be very surprised if you didn't think of The Bridge On The River Kwai. That film is a gold-plated classic, and if you have yet to see it then please do so immediately. Tunes Of Glory, however, is no slouch. It may be a lesser-known film, certainly compared to "Kwai", but it's almost as good, and arguably more interesting in the way it shades the two main characters.

Guinness plays Jock Sinclair, a Colonel due to step down from his commanding position as another man steps in to take charge. That other man is Basil Barrow, a Lt. Col. played by John Mills, and he's very different from Sinclair. Barrow likes order and for his men to be on their best behaviour at all times, Sinclair prefers to let his men have fun, and thinks that people will easily forgive any perceived rudeness or social indiscretions committed by soldiers in high spirits. A lot of the soldiers side with Sinclair, who obviously has popularity, but a few support their new commander, and don't appreciate the friction being caused by Sinclair.

Director Ronald Neame (who had also used Guinnes so well in his previous film, The Horse's Mouth) has the great benefit of a near-perfect cast doing their best with a fantastic screenplay, written by James Kennaway, adapting his own novel. Which isn't to take anything away from Neame's work. He knows exactly how he wants each scene to play out and paces everything perfectly to give viewers plenty of time to chop and change their minds about the good or bad standing of various characters.

With his bright red hair and fine Scottish brogue, Guinness provides yet another acting masterclass in his portrayal of Sinclair. He's an obstinate, proud, man who is unwilling to consider compromise as anything other than a repudiation of all that he stands for. Mills is equally good in his role, although he has to sweat and twitch a bit too much during the moments that see his unflappable demeanour being pushed to the . . . flappable. Gordon Jackson also excels, playing a decent soldier trying to help the new commander in his role. It's testament to both the script and the performance that Jackson never comes across as a sycophant or goody-two-shoes. He's stuck between two men he admires in different ways. Dennis Price also gives a great turn, taking on the role of the one man who will call out both Sinclair and Barrow on their mis-steps. Kay Walsh gets the one main female role, although Susannah York has a small part to play too, and there's a fine selection of supporting actors, including John Fraser, Duncan Macrae, Percy Herbert, and Allan Cuthbertson, as well as many other wonderful faces.

Full of pipe music, whisky, and moments in which tempers flare, Tunes Of Glory is steeped in Scottish flavour throughout, yet also remains a quintessentially British film. It's about doing your duty, about being in a position that you wish to see as being beyond reproach, and about the overriding need to save face above all else. Yep, quintessentially British.

8/10

You can buy the DVD here.
Americans can get a Criterion edition here.

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Kind Hearts And Coronets (1949)

Oh, how embarrassing it is when the chance comes along to finally view a movie recommended by many, many others over the years and it turns out to be an easy favourite because, guess what, everyone has been recommending it with good reason. Kind Hearts And Coronets is that film for today and I am that person who put off viewing this masterpiece for far too long. Shame on me.

Dennis Price stars as Louis Mazzini, the child of a woman who was deemed by her family to have married beneath her. Due to the judgment made by the rest of the family, Louis and his mother are left to make their own way in life and when his mother dies with no display of remorse or warmth from her estranged family, Louis decides to take matters into his own hands. He sets out to take his rightful place in the family tree and to pull himself up to the higher strata of society. This will involve killing every one of his main relatives (all played by Alec Guinness) until he is left, the sole heir to the family fortune and title.

I'd heard SO much about Kind Hearts And Coronets over the years that I must admit to being a little worried when I didn't love it from the very opening second. People had praised it sky high and I may have been expecting too much.

Balderdash.

Within minutes I was relishing each and every perfectly formed line of dialogue (written for the screen by director Robert Hamer and John Dighton, from the book by Roy Horniman) and dying to find out just what would happen to each character populating the movie.

Dennis Price is superb in the lead role and he's able to play off two very different women, one being the ambitious and manipulative Sibella Holland, played by Joan Greenwood, and the other being the beautiful and gracious Edith D'Ascoyne, played by Valerie Hobson. Audrey Fildes, Clive Morton, Miles Malleson and John Penrose all do fine work in their roles, small or large, but everyone on-screen plays second fiddle to the versatile and hilarious Alec Guinness. Whether he's playing an arrogant cad, a priest with a love for an occasional tipple or even a female heavily involved in the suffragette movement, Guinness is never less than absolutely brilliant.

Hamer, in his directorial role, keeps everything mixed just perfectly. Most importantly, he manages to keep the black comedy throughout without it ever feeling too mean-spirited or just downright grim. This is helped by the casting - despite Guinness doing such sterling work, let's not deny how likable Price is in the lead role - but it's really the result of every single component being put together perfectly.

If you haven't seen Kind Hearts And Coronets then reschedule whatever you had planned and watch it right now. Don't make the same mistake of leaving it as long as I did.

10/10

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The Ladykillers (1955)

When, years ago, I was eagerly trying to communicate to someone just why I loved The Ladykillers so much I said the following: "imagine if the Reservoir Dogs were stuck in a house with a little old lady and they kept trying to get her out of their way, but failing." Now, that was perhaps a silly and flippant way to describe it, but I was trying to do two things. First, I was trying to describe the plot in one sentence while highlighting what a brilliant blend it was. Second, I was trying to show how truly timeless it was. I may have failed to do either of those things, but at least I tried.

The great Alec Guinness gets, arguably, his best ever role as Professor Marcus, a criminal mastermind with a new scheme that seems so stupid it could be a stroke of genius. He rents a room in the household of kindly Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) and then invites his gang along to join him, only they're masquerading as a musical quintet. Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers and Danny Green play his cohorts and not one of them puts a foot wrong. Unbeknownst to Mrs. Wilberforce, she is crucial to the whole plan. Will everything go smoothly? Well, that wouldn't be any fun now, would it?

It's hard for me to know where to begin in my praise for The Ladykillers. I want to mention every actor, every scene and every great line of dialogue, but I don't want to be some rambling bore (for anyone who rolled their eyes and thought that I'd already made that my specialty . . . . . . . . how dare you). For the sake of brevity, let's just assume that I've already heaped enough praise upon Guinness,  Johnson, Parker, Lom, Sellers, Green, Jack Warner (who plays a superintendent), Philip Stainton (who plays the sergeant) and Kenneth Connor and Frankie Howerd, who both have small, but memorable, roles. And let's assume that I mentioned the many wonderful scenes and the many wonderful exchanges in the script and then repeated myself for hours on end. There. I think that should do it.

The screenplay by William Rose really zips along from start to finish and the direction by Alexander Mackendrick takes each separate element and puts them together perfectly, but it's the cast that makes the movie the timeless classic that it is. If you don't believe me then just watch the remake by the Coen brothers. Actually, don't. I'd never forgive myself for recommending it to anyone, even as a joke.

People who know my taste know that I enjoy movies across a very, VERY broad spectrum, but watching a film like The Ladykillers serves as a wonderful reminder of why I have, and always hope to have, a passion for film. It's easy to pick a number of worthy films that people should see and enjoy for a variety of reasons (technical accomplishments, acting prowess, etc. etc.), but it's also just as easy to pick a number of films that people should see just to be provided with flawless entertainment from start to finish. Films like this one.

If you haven't seen it yet then rectify that oversight ASAP.

10/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Ladykillers-Blu-ray/dp/B0042FPSLA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1361640680&sr=8-4

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

A classic caper from the much-loved Ealing Studios, The Lavender Hill Mob holds up today as a charming, amusing film full of great characters and a few fantastic set-pieces. It's overshadowed by a few other movies from the studio (does it get any better than The Ladykillers? I think not), but remains as watchable as ever thanks to uniformly perfect performances from everyone involved.

Alec Guinness is the leading man, he plays a mild-mannered bank employee named Holland. Holland oversees the transport of gold bullion from the refinery to the bank. He is as predictable as he is punctilious, but that hasn't stopped him from coming up with a plan to rob the gold and give himself a lifestyle he could never otherwise afford. He needs the help of an artist named Pendelbury (Stanley Holloway), who spends most of his days making souvenirs out of lead, and two men with experience in criminal activities - Lackery (Sid James, here billed as Sidney James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass). The robbery should be easy, getting the gold out of the country and keeping hold of it might be the hard part.

Directed by Charles Crichton and based on a screenplay by T. E. B. Clarke, The Lavender Hill Mob starts off in an exotic locale with a character about to tell his tale before jumping back into the past to become a low-key character piece. The beauty of the movie is that, for most of its run time, it remains a low-key character piece. You want these criminals to succeed because, well, they're just a good group of blokes aiming to commit a crime without hurting anyone besides the bank. And considering how the banks have failed people in recent years, the whole thing feels much more satisfying.

Alec Guinness gives yet another wonderful performance, Stanley Holloway is a great partner for him and both Sid James and Alfie Bass bring a roguish charm to their roles. Marjorie Fielding and Edie Martin are good as two women who live in the same block/house as the men, the former has a couple of fun scenes while the latter has a lot less to work with. John Salew and Ronald Adam are also enjoyable in their respective roles and there's even the teeny tiniest of roles for one Audrey Hepburn (don't let your attention stray for a moment or you will miss her).

If you're unfamiliar with the output of Ealing Studios then I urge you to change that as soon as possible and you could do a lot worse than starting your exploration of their movies with The Lavender Hill Mob (although there is a risk that it will spoil you when it comes to viewing many of the others).

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lavender-Hill-Mob-60th-Anniversary/dp/B00525QHM8/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1361404550&sr=1-1

The Horse's Mouth (1958)

Everyone with a love of cinema has seen at least one performance from the great Alec Guinness that has stuck with them through the years. Whether it's his work with Ealing, his fantastic turn in The Bridge On The River Kwai or just being that certain wise gentleman in a small movie called Star Wars, the chances are that Mr. Guinness has made a favourable impression on almost every movie-goer of my age (37, just now) and older. He was, and in the movies that hold his memory forever he still IS, a class act. The Horse's Mouth features yet another great performance from the man, but it's also the only movie that he ever wrote the screenplay for (adapting the novel by Joyce Cary) and, by all accounts, he did a pretty good job of it.

Guinness plays Gulley Jimson, a man that viewers first see coming out of prison. He's a chancer and an unfriendly sort, feeling very hard done by and angry at the world around him. A world that owes him. As it turns out, he has a point. Gulley is also an artist and a very good one, but his desire to keep creating great art often leads him into situations that perversely end with destruction. He just can't stop himself, even when things start to look up. There's no self-control there, no filter, the art is all that matters. Kay Walsh plays a stern woman trying to help him get what he deserves, Renee Houston is an ex who still holds a candle for him, Robert Coote and Veronica Turleigh are two potential patrons and Michael Gough has some fun as a fellow artist afflicted with the same short-sighted way of muddling through life.

It takes a while to warm to The Horse's Mouth (Guinness uses quite an accent for his character and he's not the most pleasant person to spend time with during the first few scenes) but do stick with it and it ends up as quite a rewarding experience. Once the main theme becomes apparent - that of the driven artist constantly striving to create another masterpiece even while destroying other things around him - it's an absolute delight. THAT'S when viewers are able to identify, and connect, with the Gulley and almost see everything onscreen as he sees it.

Apparently, when Guinness developed the screenplay he decided to drop some other aspects of the novel and focus on the plight of the artist, something which really gives the film a unique and fascinating centre. Having not read the source novel, I can't say whether or not this improves the material, but it certainly feels like a good decision for the cinematic adaptation.

Director Ronald Neame captures everything unobtrusively enough, but that's not to dismiss his work. He somehow sets everything up in a way that seems to capture the very essence of both creation and destruction, this is a film with all of the elements gelling together almost perfectly.

The acting from all concerned is fantastic. Guinness is never less than the brilliance that's expected from him, Walsh and Houston are both wonderful, Gough is great and Mike Morgan is very sweet as a young lad who looks up to Gulley and wants him to stay out of trouble so that he can just continue to make great art. Coote and Turleigh aren't on screen for very long, but do fine with the time they have, and every minor character gets a fleeting moment to shine.

If it wasn't for that unsteady opening, this would be closer to a perfect film. As it is, it's a very good one. A very good one indeed, do yourself a favour and seek it out. It's hugely entertaining, but it's also art.

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/The-Horses-Mouth-Criterion-Collection/dp/B000063N9O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1365634687&sr=8-2&keywords=the+horse%27s+mouth