Every man knows me as Shanghai Lily

 SHANGHAI EXPRESS (1932)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Few actresses in the 1930's could light up the screen like Marlene Dietrich, the glamorous woman who outshone them all. Not only was she a fine actress, she also had pizazz, wit and flamboyant energy. Never have all those qualities been shown with such eloquence as Dietrich showed in 1930's "The Blue Angel" and 1932's quixotic, progressive-in-its-attitude with occasional fireworks at every turn, "Shanghai Express." It is not a great film but it is a very expressive, excitingly told work by Josef von Sternberg who makes a train ride from Peking to Shanghai fabulously entertaining and intriguing.

Set during the time of the Chinese Civil War, we are introduced to a host of passengers of diverse backgrounds on this train ride. Dietrich is front and center as an infamous courtesan known as Shanghai Lily who also carries a reputation as the "White Flower of the Chinese Coast." She is dressed with the feathers and fringes of exotic birds that cover her head and her whole body - she is only missing a pair of wings. It is one of her first scenes as she enters the train station with many bystanders taking notice. She shares a compartment with an Asian courtesan, Hiu Fei (Anna May Wong) who is far more restrained in her mood and style yet just as exotic (even for a Pre-Code 1930's flick, the word "prostitute" is not uttered to describe either woman though it is as clear as day what their occupations are). Also on board the Shanghai Express (though it makes a few unscheduled stops) are an amoral half-white, half-Chinese Rebel leader named Chang (Warner Oland, in one of his umpteenth Asian roles); thickly-British-accented military doctor (Clive Brook) who once had a romantic fling with Lily, and for comic relief there is Louise Closser Hale as Mrs. Haggerty who is always looking after her dog and has a boarding house that would be occupied only by "respectable people." Shanghai Lily and other passengers would hardly qualify as respectable.

The film has a sweaty, tension-filled atmosphere to it, often complemented by silhouettes (Chinese soldiers sneaking into the train during an ambush) or characters hiding in the dark corners of a room (Wong's knife attack is truly startling). Even for a Pre-Code film there are some tough scenes such as an unseen rape and the aforementioned stabbing involving Wong's Hiu Fei who practically saves the train from sadistic evil. If I have any issues, it is with the stifling and uneven relationship between Lily and the military doctor - the actors don't exactly emit fireworks between each other and I grew impatient with their on-again, off-again romance built on betrayal and perhaps lust. Also odd is the relationship between Hiu Fei and Lily - one assumes they know each other well yet Lily tells the good doctor that she is no friend of hers. Huh? Depth is missing and some sense of history between the two - any implication, as other critics have alluded to, of some deeper, physical relationship between them is not even remotely suggested.

"Shanghai Express" still packs a wallop overall and manages to keep us intrigued with its stylish, chiaroscuro lighting (some of the most famous shots of Marlene Dietrich are in this film) and a suspenseful finish. Oh, and those less than respectable characters.

Chinese Princess's Fate is sealed

 JAVA HEAD (1934)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

It took a British production like Ealing Studios for a Chinese-American superstar Anna May Wong to lock lips with her leading man. Not that in Hollywood it would matter because Anna could not lock lips with anyone, no matter what race (thanks to anti-miscegenation laws). "Java Head" has her sole moment as an actress where she got to kiss her leading man. Thankfully that is not all that works because 3/4 of the film works swiftly enough until we are treated to a problematic ending that defined most of Anna May's early films. 

Java Head is the name of the house owned by a wealthy Bristol shipping magnate named Jeremy Ammidon (Edmund Gwenn, perfectly cast who most would later remember as Santa in "Miracle on 34th St."), a man who is having heart issues and sees his two sons are gunning for new implementations in their company like switching to steam ships. John Loder is Gerritt Ammidon, who lives for seafaring adventures and traveling to exotic locales like China. When he returns to Bristol after a year and a half voyage, he arrives married to a Manchu Princess named Taou Yuen  (Anna May Wong) much to the consternation of his family and everyone in town, including churchgoers. Gerritt is also aware that he may be in love with another woman, the lily-white Nettie (Elizabeth Allan) who has a far too domineering religious father. Will Gerritt choose Nettie despite having married Tauo (her name translates as Peach Garden)? 

"Java Head" is a melodramatic and tragic love story yet it has a couple of relationships that are awkwardly handled. Loder shows he is in love with Taou, far more than Nettie, yet he does an about-face that is so abruptly written that it never convinces. Same with the tragic ending that doesn't seem to affect anyone at all, excluding George Cuzon's Englishman Dunsack who feels more Chinese than English, and leaves the viewer cold. Despite the unusual kind of relationship depicted and the racist overtones as evidenced by people's observations of the Chinese princess, "Java Head" gets crushed by a problematic ending that says more about the times than anything fitting into a solid narrative. Still, the film is a treat to see for its cast (early performance by Ralph Richardson as Gerritt's brother) and for Anna's flamboyant dresses and her heavenly presence that shatters almost everyone else on screen.

Insane King of the River

 ISLAND OF LOST MEN (1939)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

There is something fundamentally creepy about J. Carrol Naish as a half-Asian slave labor owner on a trading post in the jungle north of Singapore. His character's name is Gregory Prin and he is both ostentatious, insane, suave and prim and proper in appearance and completely amoral. The fact that he is greedy and treats his workers as subhumans doesn't begin to describe his persona - he has also stolen a substantial amount of money from a Chinese general! Guess who is coming to collect? Why none other than Anna May Wong as the general's daughter and Prin is keeping her father prisoner. 

Most of "Island of Lost Men" is atmospheric in stupendous black and white with sharp silhouettes and its over-the-top demeanor in terms of style matches Naish's performance. Naish is the star of the show, stealing every scene (even from Anna May Wong who is more passive than usual) with unrepentant glee (it must have been stipulated in his contract). Anthony Quinn also plays an Asian, in this case a slave working for Prin who is actually a secret agent - he is also Anna's lover! Broderick Crawford is fantastically colorful and memorably slimy as an American named Tex who blackmails and manipulates to his heart's content - he wants that money for himself. Tex's final scene doesn't make much sense but neither does most of "Island of Lost Men." 

The film is a curious noir-jungle-swamp tale that includes some oddities (like the monkey who can pinpoint danger when convenient) yet it never is coherent in its overall approach ("Island" is an apparently loose remake of 1933's "White Woman.") When the few good guys survive by leaving this jungle unscathed with a boat full of gas, there are no reaction shots from the survivors - just merely a glimpse of the boat fading to the Paramount Pictures logo. The whole thing is a shambles but a sporadically diverting shambles nonetheless.

Kubrick's Fatalistic Heist Thriller

THE KILLING (1956)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Stanley Kubrick's heist drama "The Killing" is one of the finest noir films of the 1950's, a film so deliberately wire-tight that it will leave exhausted and exhilarated. Its one of the most tense thrillers of all time, and likely to leave you gasping for air after it is all over.

The film introduces us immediately to a host of characters, all involved in a big-time upcoming heist of a racetrack. Kubrick introduces the device of the omniscient narrator, a sort of "Dragnet"-like voice-over that is essential in understanding and following the structure of the story, particularly the time shifts in "Rashomon" style, atypical for that time. The narrator also comments on the actions of the characters, their timed schedules and documentary-like shot scenes of their initial preparations an

d confrontations with others while planning and partaking in this heist.

Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) is the leader of this heist, a witless though direct and thorough professional thief and ex-con. He is ready to rob San Francisco's Bay Meadows Race Track of a cool two million dollars. This prodigious amount of money is to be split up between Clay and a crew that includes a former Greek wrestler and chess player, Maurice (Kola Kwarian); a psychopathic sharpshooter with a thick accent of some kind, Nikki (Tim Carey); a patrolman deep in debt (Ted de Corsia); a wimpy track cashier, George (Elisha Cook, Jr.); a track bartender, Mike O'Reilly (Joe Sawyer); and a wise old drunk, Unger (J.C. Flippen) - the latter has a touchingly real scene where Unger admits to Clay that he sees him as his own son. It is a motley crew to be sure, and the narrator makes it clear from the outset that this will be a botched, messy robbery, which they often are in the movies anyway.

Kubrick was already beginning to show a smooth handling with his actors. Hayden says his lines with such dexterity and a fast-paced alertness that you must listen closely to keep up with him, as was the case later with Hayden's similar role in Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove." He is tall, commanding, and takes no prisoners. Elisha Cook, Jr. has many great scenes, a handful of them are with his conniving wife, Sherry (played by the fabulous Marie Windsor). Their relationship shows a genuine love-hate bond where money is the driving issue, and there are the customary put-downs of her husband's behavior by Sherry (You've got a hole in your head.")

I also enjoyed the scenes between the track bartender, Mike, and his invalid wife whom he promises to take better care of. All these scenes indicate not only the level of financial desperation in these men but also how far they are willing to go to protect their families. In the case of the stocky cop, his needs are to pay off a loan shark. The cashier George simply wants to give his wife a better life, and is thus dismayed to learn that money is all she cares about.

"The Killing" has many twists and turns, and slowly the machinations of the plot become tighter and unfold faster once they approach the climactic robbery itself. We know the planned robbery will go wrong, but the steadfast pacing and controlled tension makes it amazingly tense to watch. The narrator knows what will happen and so do we, and part of the pleasure of the film is seeing the racetrack robbery from different perspectives. This was all unusual for its time, and led the way to Tarantino's own pulp stories, particularly "Reservoir Dogs," its most direct influence.

There are so many great scenes and dialogue of such color and distinction that this film bears close relation with the classic noir "Double Indemnity" (Example: "You've got a big dollar sign where others have a heart.") "The Killing" is simply a huge improvement over Kubrick's former noir tale "Killer's Kiss." The music by Gerald Fried tightens the narrative screws and keeps us in suspense. The performances are extraordinary (including Vince Edwards as another small-time hood). The camerawork is astoundingly good (shot by Lucien Ballard, who used the widest camera lens at the time, a 25mm, for heightened reality). "The Killing" is high on my list of the most fatalistic of all noir tales, guaranteed to keep your stomach in knots from start to finish.

Catch Me, Please!

PENELOPE (1966)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A phosphorescently lit romantic comedy from the 1960's always has a nostalgic hold on anyone who loved watching them, even if some felt like warm do-overs from the Marilyn Monroe and Doris Day 1950's relics. But when it comes to a powerhouse actress like Natalie Wood, it is either fittingly funny (as in her so-so "Sex and the Single Girl") or full of slapstick gags left and right as in "The Great Race." Natalie rarely disappoints so I was delighted to see a frothy confection with sugary residue glue me to the screen. This is no great movie comedy nor is it nearly as roaringly funny as it should have been, but it is a classy, spirited movie with Natalie shining on screen like the captivating movie star she was.

The plot could've been mined for more laughs than it gets in its first half-hour or so. Penelope is married to a wealthy banker (Ian Bannen) and since she's not getting any attention from him (he shamefully fools around with other women right in front of her!), she decides to start robbing his bank. First, she convincingly pretends to be a wrinkly old woman who wants a few thousand dollar bills, you know the ones with Grover Cleveland on them. Then she starts teasing the cops and detectives, almost as if she wants to get caught. One bright detective (played by pre-"Columbo" Peter Falk) knows Penelope is behind it yet contains his delight in how she doesn't even try to deceive anyone. It turns out, through a series of flashbacks, that she is something of a kleptomaniac. Some flashbacks feel ill-timed and hardly memorable, especially a cringe-inducing cameo by Jonathan Winters as a lecherous chemistry teacher (not to be seen to be believed - you have been warned). Far better are flashes of Penelope's developing romance with the banker where it turns out she was some sort of fun-loving hippie (her singing of the song "The Sun is Grey" is eye-poppingly groovy in its slight nod to psychedelic colors of the time) rather than the mink-loving, Givenchy-dress wearing Penelope we see through most of the film.

"Penelope" is mutely spirited and not too free-floatingly funny in the first half of the film - it just merely amuses. Then it becomes a bit of a laugh riot especially the shenanigans involving Penelope and her smitten psychiatrist (a hilariously over-the-top Dick Shawn), or Peter Falk's bemused concern at Penelope's crying fits and her disbelief that the police can't catch the real thief. We get a few oddball characters like a wealthy couple (Lou Jacobi, Lila Kedrova) who discover Penelope is the thief and try to bribe her. And through and through, Penelope wants to get caught and keeps thinking that her husband will eventually see she is not lying. Then we get a sequence at a cocktail party where she starts returning jewels and pearls to friends who don't want them and they insist they never had anything stolen. Huh? I still don't get the point of that sequence unless Penelope only imagined stealing from her group of friends but not from the bank? Were those flashbacks real? Or do these rich folks simply not care because it is only money? 

"Penelope" is a wonderful if slightly off balance comic vehicle for Natalie Wood. With truly gorgeous array of costumes by Edith Head, Natalie burns the screen fast with her charm and sophisticated elegance that also allows for a little girlishness. The film flopped at the box-office but I will take it over "Sex and the Single Girl" any day. 

Anna May Wong's in over her head

BOMBS OVER BURMA (1942)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

If it were not for the the pivotal presence of Anna May Wong, "Bombs over Burma" might have been forgotten as a WWII film focusing on the war between Japan and China, and the film obviously on the side of the Chinese.

Here, Wong plays a schoolteacher, Lin Yang, whose school is bombed by Japanese planes. One kid who stays behind in the classroom is killed. Segue to Lin being commissioned to spy on a convoy of trucks on the road to China through Burma. She is part of a group of Allied reps, one who might be a mole, possibly a Nazi, who's providing aid to the Japanese. When the group settle in a monastery, it becomes an Agatha Christie mystery where the mole has to be identified, particularly after Japanese planes are flying overheard bombing trucks carrying supplies to the Allied Forces. We know Lin's identity but what of the American truck driver who wants to hear "both sides before determining the enemy?" Or what of a British nobleman and his assistant, or the jolly heavyset guy (Dan Seymour, who had more than a passing resemblance to Victor Buono) who sees more than he lets on, or the Chinese monk played by Caucasian actor (and not of Asian descent as was often the case in Wong's films) Noel Madison, though it is never clear if he really is a monk or Chinese at all. At one point, he refers to Lin as his daughter though none of this is followed through and his character simply disappears from the narrative.

For the two low-budget PRC productions starring Anna May, "Lady From Chunking" is far superior and thrilling from start to finish. "Bombs over Burma" merely reduces tension to some sort of murder mystery with shades of political turmoil in its background. Fascinating and entertaining yet too slight for its own good.

Appearances are not everything

EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1959)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

For sheer panicky terror and thrills dependent on atmosphere, "Eyes Without a Face" is one of the most lurid horror films in quite some time. Its lurid subject matter and uncharacteristically subtle performances and camerawork make it a notch above most modern horror fare. It is a classic.

"Eyes Without a Face" begins with a calliope-infused musical score by famed composer Maurice Jarre set against images of the woods in some unnamed road. We see a woman driving with another body sitting upright in the backseat. The driver dumps the body, that of a girl, in a river. We learn the body was of a kidnapped woman left for dead. Apparently, the woman is Professor Genessier's (Pierre Brasseur) daughter, a reputable Parisian doctor. Genessier seems less
than perturbed by the incident considering the corpse is not his real daughter.

His actual daughter, Christiane (Edith Scob), is tucked away in the second floor of his house, wearing a white mask that covers severe scars (she was in a horrible accident that left her disfigured). The Professor wants to reconstruct her face by grafting similar facial skin from the kidnapped victims. The Professor's assistant and secretary, Louise (Alida Valli), is in charge of the kidnappings. Her modus operandi is to lure college women who look like Christiane to her Parisian mansion for a room rental. The victims are put to sleep and then operated on by removing their facial skins. One scene that is guaranteed to make you squirm shows the actual procedure, though it often cuts away to the Professor's sweating forehead. You'll definitely sweat bullets after watching it.

"Eyes Without a Face" is stunningly directed by French director Georges Franju, opting for minimalism rather than the easy route of shocking and disgusting the viewer. This is not a gorefest akin to "Blood Feast" or any of the lurid schlocky, shock films from the early 1960's. In pristinely beautiful black-and-white, Franju transforms shock into art by alluding to the horror rather than presenting it in living color. The shadows, the operating table, the cavernous room of caged dogs, the nocturnal forest, the delicately refined rooms of the mansion are all ingredients of superb atmospheric detail - even two sequences at a cemetery make the heart palpitate. This is the kind of horror movie where horror is omnipresent, even in a Parisian city street where no female student is safe. But there is a certain kind of beauty from an extended sequence where Christiane walks from her room to another, dressed in a gown with her luminescent white mask, as she stares at a portrait of herself with doves. Moments like this show that Franju was interested in the peaceful quiet of a woman who has not forgotten how to feel - we get the impression that her appearance is not as important to her as her father thinks.

"Eyes Without a Face" is one of those sleepers that should have received a better reception abroad (in America, it was retitled "Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus," as erroneous a title as you can imagine). It is decidedly European horror that will keep your stomach tied in knots and your heart beating at an alarming rate - and a sweaty forehead, of course.

Finding love in the afterlife

THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (1947)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A lonely English cottage by the sea, its only occupants being a widow who needs a new lease on life, her honest maid, and the widow's daughter who sees more than she lets on. This could be a movie with Maureen O'Hara and set in Ireland and not make much difference at all, but instead we got marvelous Gene Tierney as Lucy Muir and witty, highly frank and unpretentious Rex Harrison as a ghost who had been an adventurous sailor back in the day. Nope, unlike the TV series, this is not an uproarious comedy but a fairly straightforward, seemingly elegiac romance between two electrifying leads who make this sing with all the glory and escapism we expect.

Apparently, the cottage is haunted and the clumsy real-estate agent (Robert Coote) tries to convince Lucy Muir not to buy the lovely home, facing the sea in a village named Whitecliff. Still, despite the relatively muted hauntings that never seem to bother the maid  (Edna Best) nor Lucy's daughter (Natalie Wood), Lucy loves the new house though she has reservations about the painting of a sailor, Daniel Clegg (Harrison). Of course, the hauntings are courtesy of Daniel who is as blunt as a whistle about everything and makes his presence known to Lucy. She is about to lose the cottage due to limited funds so Daniel pledges to her that everything will be fine as long as she writes a book about his exploits, a yarn without any compromises and with all rough language intact ("blasted" is a curse word in the early 1900's).

"The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" is stirring entertainment with truly astounding, dreamlike black-and-white cinematography lensed by Charles Lang. Every shot on the countryside by the cliffs is strikingly photographed and mesmerizing - you get a real feel for the environment such as the little dirt road leading to cottage, the vast rolling hills, etc. Interior shots are also well-designed as we feel we live in the cottage with Mrs. Muir. Added to the visual tableau is the always sublime presence of George Sanders as a charming though deceitful children's author who has romantic inclinations with Lucy. The jealousy shines through and adds tension when Daniel disapproves but he is only a ghost and knows no actualized romance could exist.

Directed by Joseph Mankiewicz with the finesse towards actors he always showed, "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" also delves deeply into Lucy's resonating love for Daniel and the disapproval by her maid of other men in her life such as the deceitful Sanders, as if Mrs. Muir was destined to be alone till death. It is a sad, slightly ambiguous picture of a woman who would rather see love in death than in life.

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