Mubi Monday: Psycho (1960)

What is the point in even attempting to write a review of Psycho nowadays? People have said everything there is to be said about it, right? It's had a remake that was almost shot for shot, it has featured in movies made about director Alfred Hitchcock, and that classic shower scene has even been dissected in a documentary all on its own (78/52, which refers to the number of shots and cuts, respectively).

And yet . . . it's that feeling that everyone has seen the film, that everything to be said about it HAS been said, that makes me feel it is still worth writing a whole review. Because most of us know Psycho, and know it well, but I would wager that few remember just how great a number of the elements are, especially when you are asked to pick favourites from the outstanding filmography of Hitchcock.

It seems pointless to summarise the plot, and pointless to try and avoid spoilers. So let me roll my sleeves up and attempt to do two pointless things at once. Janet Leigh is Marion Crane, a woman we first see making herself look respectable again after a tryst with her lover (John Gavin) in a hotel room. They are not married, he stays quite a distance away and has very little money, but they do seem to love one another. The whole situation, and an encounter with a customer at her work who seems intent on being as vulgar about his wealth as possible, leads Marion to seize an opportunity when her boss asks her to take a large sum of money to the bank. She leaves town, money in her possession, and sets out to join her lover. It's a long journey, however, and she decides to stop at the isolated Bates Motel, which seems suited to the low profile she is keeping on her travels. And the young man in charge of the place (Norman, played by Anthony Perkins) is very pleasant and accommodating. He seems to take a liking to Marion, but his mother most certainly doesn't.

Everybody remembers bits of Psycho. They remember the shower scene (it's unforgettable, a masterclass in editing and audio-visual synchronicity), they remember the Bernard Herrmann score, they remember the twists and jumps. They even remember how good Perkins is in his main role. They also often remember enjoying Martin Balsam (he plays a detective who ends up trying to track down Marion Crane). Some people also remember that Janet Leigh is quite good in her role, despite being overshadowed by Perkins.

Yet very few people remember everything all together. I rewatched Psycho with the intention of taking down some notes in preparation for this review, and I soon gave up on that idea. I was hooked from the beginning, and I knew there was better still to come. Leigh isn't just quite good. She's great in her role, perfectly portraying a woman who has one moment of madness and then spends the rest of her time onscreen weighed down by that decision. Perkins still manages to overshadow her, but not deliberately, simply due to him being so absolutely perfect as the nervy and pleasant young man with a dark secret. Balsam comes into the movie at just the right time, a shot of energy before the tension starts to ratchet up again in the finale, and Gavin does a good job in his smaller role, working well alongside Vera Miles (playing the sister to the character played by Leigh).

Hitchcock knows just how far to push things, and how to code the characters very effectively, in ways that work with, and subvert, expectations. There are other films from him that are more complex, that are more thematically interesting, that can be dissected even more than this one, but Psycho is arguably his most effective blend of the macabre and the entertaining. He's helped by the team around him. Hermann giving him that classic score, Joseph Stefano giving him a cracking script adapted from Robert Bloch's source novel, the supporting cast members, the titles from Saul Bass, and every key player who helped to bring his vision to life.

And what more is there to say? Nothing, and everything. There are new film fans created every day, of all ages, and some won't have seen Psycho yet. So I hope this may prompt one of them to do so. I also hope it maybe reminds more seasoned film fans to revisit it, to just remind themselves of how utterly fantastic it is, in every aspect of the craft it took to bring it all together. That is the point in deciding to write a review of the movie, after almost sixty years of it scarring the membrane of public consciousness and becoming a pop culture staple. Or maybe it was just another little moment of madness.

"We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?"

10/10

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Holiday Affair (1949)

Janet Leigh plays Connie, a young woman who is employed to shop at other stores and compare goods. She's a very nice kind of corporate spy. And Robert Mitchum is Steve, the salesman who knows exactly what she's up to as soon as she takes a toy train off his hands. That would be that, I guess, except for the situation that develops when she tries to return the train the next day. Steve becomes involved in Connie's life, meeting her young boy (Timmy, played by Gordon Gebert) and the man (Carl, played by Wendell Corey) who wishes to marry her, despite her reluctance to let go of the memory of her deceased husband.

Holiday Affair is the kind of light entertainment that shows how easy it can seem to get everything just right. A lot of the charm comes from the leads, but the pacing and fun script help a lot. One exchange in particular, one that occurs when Steve and Carl first meet, had me laughing aloud. Based on a story entitled "Christmas Gift" by John D. Weaver, Isobel Lennart provides a script that rattles along too briskly to allow viewers too much time to start picking things apart. Director Don Hartman goes with the flow, allowing the cast to carry the material without ever requiring them to lift anything too heavy.

Leigh is on fine form here. She's sweet and earnest, as a confused woman who wants to do the best by her son, but also doesn't want to leave her past completely in the past. Mitchum is at his best, as laid-back as usual, never holding back when it comes to saying what he means and meaning what he says, and very kind to everyone around him without ever appearing saintly. Corey also does well. He can't compare to Mitchum, although he does his best with a role that doesn't take the easy route of making him into any kind of major ass. Gebert is your typical gap-toothed, all-American kiddiewink from this era, and he's just fine. And it's worth mentioning that Harry Morgan has a small, but fun, role, because Harry Morgan is always worth mentioning, in my opinion.

I WAS going to end this review by commenting on the premise and plot developments not standing up to close scrutiny, with my main point being that they don't have to. The film keeps providing enough fun to ensure that nobody is overthinking things. Yet, it has to be said, this is actually one of the less fantastical seasonal movies that I've seen. The more I think about it, the more I realise that I think it entirely plausible. Okay, maybe not entirely plausible. But it's a Christmassy treat that manages to feel magical and delightful without having to include any angels, miracles or Santa Claus. Which is kind of a miracle in itself.

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Film-Favorites-Classic-Blossoms-Happened/dp/B0050MB43A/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1417603922&sr=1-1&keywords=holiday+affair

Go on, you know you should really buy my e-book, that has almost every review I've written over the past 5 years. It's very reasonably priced for the sheer amount of content.
The UK version can be bought here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1395945647&sr=1-3&keywords=movie+guide

And American folks can buy it here - http://www.amazon.com/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395945752&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=TJs+ramshackle+mov

As much as I love the rest of the world, I can't keep up with all of the different links in different territories, but trust me when I say that it should be there on your local Amazon.

Noir November: Touch Of Evil (1958)

Written (well, he rewrote a script so much that he received credit) and directed by Orson Welles, based on the novel "Badge Of Evil" by Whit Masterson, Touch Of Evil is dark and disturbing stuff indeed. Yet it also remains highly entertaining, brilliantly cinematic, and mesmerising from start to finish.

The basic story concerns a death in a Mexican border town that sees Mexican Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) clashing with revered Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Welles). The two men want to get to the bottom of the crime, but both have very different approaches. The former, also a target of some Mexican crime syndicates that he's been helping to break up and imprison, wants to investigate with due diligence and care, while Quinlan believes that he already knows who did it, and has a case that will stick. Meanwhile, some nasty types are hoping to get to Vargas through his pretty, new wife (Janet Leigh).

The biggest mistake that Touch Of Evil makes is having Charlton Heston cast as a Mexican. It just doesn't work well, and he doesn't look the part. However, viewing the film with the inclusion of Heston as a necessary evil (no pun intended) makes it easier. His name carried a lot of weight, he ended up inadvertently getting Welles on board as director, and kudos to him for taking such an interest in a film with such a discomforting premise (something he would do, intentionally or not, with a number of other movies in his career).

Despite not being believable as a Mexican, Heston does invest his main character with that stalwart nobility that he would bring to so many of his roles. This really works well in highlighting that central friction between Vargas and Quinlan, with Welles happy to paint himself in many darker shades. As soon as Quinlan appears we start to discover that he's not the nicest man to be around, but he gets results. But at what cost? Leigh puts in one of her best performances as the sweet young woman who looks set to be most damaged by the unfolding events, Joseph Calleia is very good as Police Sergeant Pete Menzies (who looks up to Quinlan, to a point), Akim Tamiroff does well as a devious crime boss, Dennis Weaver is a little bit too on edge, although enjoyable enough, as the night manager of a motel, and Joanna Moore and Marlene Dietrich do well with their small roles. Dietrich is particularly good in a role that seems to carry within it the many ghosts of her past.

There's a memorable score by Henry Mancini, direction from Welles that's damn near flawless, and a script full of some great moments of dialogue. The design of each sequence, from lighting to camera angles to shot duration, makes this a prime example of a movie that can be both enjoyed in terms of sheer cinematic pleasure and also studied as a masterclass in film-making.

If only they hadn't tried to pass Heston off as a Mexican, it would have been perfect.

9/10

http://www.amazon.com/Touch-Evil-Limited-Blu-ray-UltraViolet/dp/B00I3C1T1Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1415565266&sr=8-2&keywords=touch+of+evil