Noir November: Night And The City (1950)

The great thing about the classic film noirs, from my limited experience, is that so few of them seem to be awful. They were movies that could really make the most of their resources, and often had numerous character actors giving some of their best performances. I'm not naive enough to think that every one is a winner, but the hit ratio seems to be a lot higher than other types of movies from this era. And many remain near-perfect viewing experiences. Night And The City is one of the greats.

Richard Widmark stars as Harry Fabian, one of the classic schmucks of film noir. Fabian is a small-time hustler with dreams of the big time. He has a lovely woman in his life (Gene Tierney), who puts up with more than most women would, and he has a network of people who could end up helping him out, if only he'd put his energies to better use. But he knows better, of course, and soon comes up with a scheme to make himself the biggest name in the local wrestling scene. Not by becoming a wrestler, you understand, but by poaching some big names to draw in crowds. He'll put on the best shows, once he sorts out the initial capital investment, which he hopes he can acquire from either Helen (Googie Withers) or her husband, Philip (Francis L. Sullivan). Whoever helps him is going to be upsetting someone else.

Based on a novel by Gerald Kersh, Night And The City is both a painful character study and also, as the title suggests, a look at how the world can be a very different place for those who don't stick to the 9-5 daytime hours that so many others aim for. Director Jules Dassin keeps things balanced between bleak and mesmerising, helped in no small part by the great cast, and also the script by Jo Eisinger. Fabian is a central character who seems destined to fail from the opening scenes, yet he's someone that you can still root for when the odds start to really stack up against him. He's a hustler and a con artist, but he's often honest about it. Certainly more honest than some who end up resenting his ambition.

Widmark is superb in the central role, not exactly oozing charm but certainly putting a positive spin on his own failings until he starts to get more desperate. Tierney's role is a relatively small one, but she's as great as ever. And the sweetest person in the whole movie. Withers and Sullivan are both pretty fantastic, always turning things up a notch whenever they appear to continue the secret game of chess that they're playing against one another, and Herbert Lom is a credible threat as the powerful man that Fabian ends up butting heads with. The great performances don't stop there, however, and I need to also praise Hugh Marlowe, Stanislaus Zbyszko, Mike Mazurki, Charles Farrell, Ada Reeve and Ken Richmond. I think that covers all of the main players.

If you're new to film noir then there are many other classics that are easier to enjoy, films that make for more comfortable starting points, but this remains a real gem. Not just a look at one unsavoury character, it takes viewers on a journey into a world where the unsavoury characters hide and thrive. Fantastic stuff.

9/10

http://www.amazon.com/Night-Criterion-Collection-Richard-Widmark/dp/B0006Z2NE0/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415130541&sr=1-1&keywords=night+and+the+city

Sci-Fi September: The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)

One of my favourite sci-fi movies of all time, The Day The Earth Stood Still is a film that I have loved ever since discovering it when I was still a young boy. Watching it as an adult, it seems strange to me that I liked it so much in my youth. Not because the film is bad, oh no, but because it doesn't have the usual mix of easy distractions that would have appealed to the younger me. This is a film paced perfectly for people thinking about how they would react to the situation being depicted, yet it still manages to entertain while providing plenty of food for thought.

Michael Rennie plays Klaatu, a spaceman who pays a visit to Earth one day. Not a sneaky, undercover visit, but one that's hard to miss. He lands his spaceship, walks out with his trusty robot (Gort) beside him, and announces his plans to meet with the major leaders of the world. After some initial nervousness from the main people that he speaks to, Klaatu decides to go incognito for a while, getting himself lodgings while he sets out to find one of the more intelligent human beings on the planet (Professor Jacob Barnhardt, played by Sam Jaffe). And he also has to figure out how to make a statement to the world that will display some awesome power without being viewed as an act of aggression.

Directed by Robert Wise, a man responsible for a number of classic movies in a number of different genres, this remains both a prime example of standard sci-fi from the 1950s and also something quite unique. It has a flying saucer, a big robot, and even the essential "take me to your leader" request from the main alien. Yet it also has a main alien who is completely humanoid in appearance, and also coming to see us in peace, and there's a lack of any tension and/or sheer terror that would appear in so many other outings from this decade.

Michael Rennie may not be the most charismatic leading man, but he's pretty perfect for this role. Slightly cold, just a little bit stiff in his delivery, but completely non-threatening to anyone he encounters, he really anchors the whole movie. Patricia Neal is a pleasant female lead, and Billy Gray is lively and entertaining (in the role of her son, a young boy who helps Klaatu find his way around). Jaffe plays Professor Barnhardt exactly as a professor should be played, and is another highlight in a film packed full of them.

Based on a story by Harry Bates, the script by Edmund H. North allows everything to move along briskly without ever feeling as if it omits anything for the sake of patronising viewers. Of course, Gort has become a bit of an icon, a favoured creation among lovers of the genre, but he doesn't feel as if he's there JUST to widen the appeal of the material (although maybe that's exactly why he was there - I've not read the original short story so can't say).

Last, I just have to mention the great score by Bernard Herrmann (especially as I was guilty of forgetting to compliment the fantastic, electronic score in Forbidden Planet - by Louis and Bebe Barron). Herrmann makes some great use of theremins in his wonderful score, a unique instrument that seems designed particularly for use in sci-fi movies, and the whole thing is a treat for fans of great soundtracks.

All of these words written about one of my favourite movies when all I really should have said was: absolute classic.

10/10

http://www.amazon.com/Day-Earth-Stood-Still/dp/B00005JKFR/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1410813998&sr=1-1&keywords=the+day+the+earth+stood+still+1951

Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956)

There are many factors that can influence individual movie viewings, and when writing up a review it's important, I feel, to mention these if they've notably contributed to the final rating/view of a movie. I try to mention the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia when applicable. I've mentioned when my own lack of knowledge may be working against me when it comes to certain genres/subgenres/world cinema releases (world cinema releases? I do hate that phrase but have never come up with anything better, sorry). Or, of course, it's worth mentioning if you hate one particular type of movie. A review of Halloween will be very different if the film is watched by someone who doesn't like slasher/horror movies. This is all just leading up to me saying that I fairly enjoyed Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers, but I think that has as much to do with me having recently watched Mars Attacks! as it does to do with the final product on display here.

Hugh Marlowe and Joan Taylor star as the couple who may have the key to fending off an attack by aliens when flying saucers starts appearing everywhere and causing lots of destruction. Well, it's mainly Marlowe thinking up the defence/retaliation plan while Taylor is the loving wife bravely sticking by his side. That's really all there is to it.

I don't know, off the top of my head, if anything similar came along before this film so I'm going to take a guess and say that, despite its many flaws and moments of ridiculousness, Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers has remained quite an influential movie. It undoubtedly cast a large shadow over Independence Day, a film made and released four decades later, with the scenes featuring flying saucers hovering over, and ready to attack, some very famous buildings and landmarks.

Director Fred F. Sears keeps things moving briskly enough, and the script by George Worthing Yates and Bernard Gordon (based on a NON-FICTION book by Donald E. Keyhoe) may often be downright silly most of the time, but is also very entertaining.

The acting isn't the best, but I guess Marlowe and Taylor do okay in the lead roles. Donald Curtis and John Zaremba are two main supporting cast members, both do fine with their limited screentime.

The special effects by Ray Harryhausen are fine. Sadly, he doesn't get to create any living, breathing creatures of myth, but the flying saucers are good, old-fashioned flying saucers that work just fine onscreen. The model work helping to realise the big scenes of destruction in the final reel is nice enough, even if it's not on a par with his usual stuff.

Part of me wonders why I enjoyed Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers so much, but another part of me knows that . . . . . . . sometimes that's just the way it goes. I saw all of the failings and mis-steps, I just found myself easily able to overlook them thanks to the sheer fun factor of the whole thing.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ray-Harryhausen-Collection-Million-Saucers/dp/B0012OTRR0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1369521808&sr=8-3&keywords=earth+vs+the+flying+saucers