Sinning in Suburbia, circa 1960

STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET (1960)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Kim Novak will always be Madeleine in Hitchcock's masterpiece "Vertigo." Although she is one of the loveliest presences of the last forty years, she has seldom been used well. Outside of Hitchcock, she gave a poor performance in "Picnic" where it was readily apparent that she was straining to fall in love with William Holden's character. Although that may have been the intention, Novak always seemed penurious. "Strangers When We Meet" was one of the few times where Novak's acting flowed from the character she played.

Kirk Douglas plays Larry Coe, a Californian architect who feels like a sell-out for making the same designs for the same exact houses. He gets the golden opportunity to make a house with a bizarre design for a successful author (Ernie Kovacs), and does it so that he isn't as restricted in choosing unimaginative clients. Larry has the typical trappings of your average suburban family - a nice wife, a beautiful lawn, a child, etc. It is unclear if Larry is happy, especially since his wife is so deeply involved in his career choices (she obviously wants him to make money). A neighbor named Maggie (Kim Novak) opens his eyes to a potential affair. At first, she is disinterested in going for a simple ride with Larry to the designated hill where a new house will be built. Slowly, she grows to accept him and falls in love. In other words, it is a tale told so many times in the exact same setting - suburbia (these tales come tenfold on Lifetime television every week). What cues the interest is that the film was released in 1960, the beginning of a new era where 1950's attitudes and values still meant something, particularly taking care of a family, yet were about to be headed in a new direction with women's lib and so on. The last thing you would expect is for Maggie or Larry to leave their families to pursue their affair beyond their tidy existence of suburban heaven.

There is one scene that evokes an honest, almost frightening disturbance to the calm and idyllic nature of pleasantville. Walter Matthau plays Larry's best friend, Felix, who astutely reads body language and notices that Larry is having an affair with Maggie. Felix attempts to seduce Larry's wife in a sequence that is as scintillating and subversive as one can imagine - he taunts her with piercing words and one senses that she almost plays into his hands.

Beyond that, Kirk Douglas ably performs though he seems more willing to pick up a spear than make love to Kim Novak, especially in the passage where she admits to having a prior affair. Kim Novak really startles the eyes and the ears with her incandescent beauty and dreamy voice, possessing all the characteristics that made her a spectacular success in "Vertigo." She also displays her need for love, particularly to her husband in a scene that will make you squirm since the husband seems so repressed and loveless - how can anyone resist Kim Novak? Ernie Kovacs, who died shortly after making this film, provides ample comic relief as the friendly, sensitive ear to Larry. And Matthau is at his best, playing a nearly-villainous neighbor whose main weapon is seduction.

"Strangers When We Meet" is no classic and its melodramatic, syrupy, soap-opera theatrics with swooning, syrupy, sentimental music may cause many to tune out. But I admire the performances and the revelations about marriage and commitment in an era where such ideals were often met with more success than they are today. It wasn't all as squeaky-clean and repressed as we might have thought, and this film proves it.

Falconetti's saintly, wounded Joan

THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (1928)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Amazingly, there have been a few remakes of Carl Theodor Dreyer's passionate, powerful film, "The Passion of Joan of Arc." I say amazingly because I am hard pressed to think anyone could make a superior film or come up with a better actress than Maria Renee Falconetti as the tortured, wounded, saintly Joan. Ingrid Bergman was not bad but let's face it: Falconetti is reason enough to believe that saints do exist.

Dreyer's film begins with the inquisition of Joan at her trial after being captured. Essentially, she is a farm girl who becomes a warrior. She is questioned in regards to her faith and where it stems from and if she feels God put her in her place to save France or if she is the Devil's handiwork. The inquisitors include mostly judges and orthodox theologians who watch every word and gesture Joan makes with relish. They try to provoke her, and they foolishly think that an illiterate nineteen year-old would have little faith or much understanding of her actions. They are surprised by her responses to say the least.

When Joan is asked who taught her the Lord's prayer, she sheds tears at the remembrance of her mother. When asked the most difficult question, if she is in a state of grace, she responds that she does not know if she is, but she hopes God will grant her grace and salvation. This is naturally considered blasphemy by the judges.

The undying power of "The Passion of Joan of Arc" is Carl Dreyer's attentive direction and superbly mobile camera, showing endless tracking shots and exquisite close-ups. There are lots of canted angles and little sense of space, mainly because it is constricted by the use of several close-ups. Most of these close-ups are of the judges, often showing them as monstrous and ugly when questioning or spitting at poor Joan. There are of course many extreme close-ups of Joan, sometimes allowing for lots of headroom to accentuate the high ceiling of the cathedrals. This kind of composition is rightfully disorienting, and it works in conveying Joan's own subjective disorientation. The visual language is incredible considering the film was made back in 1928, and it further establishes Dreyer as a principal artist of the silent film era and beyond with classic films like "Vampyr" and "Day of Wrath."

Of course, the majority of the film's success belongs to Maria Renee Falconetti as St. Joan, who never made another film since. She invigorates the sympathetic and pained soul of the martyred Joan as fully as anyone can imagine. Falconetti shows the enlightenment, the emotional wounds, the startled eyes as if hinting that she had seen God, the flowing tears, the sly smiles, and the gradual acceptance of her fate. This Joan suffers greatly as we see her faint while she stares at a wheel of spikes, and at another point, she is bled with a needle to cure a fever.

"Passion of Joan of Arc" is one of the greatest films ever made, as passionate and soulful a portrait of a scorned woman as you can imagine. Falconetti's performance is one of the most enlightening, on par with Gulietta Massina's work in "La Strada" - two of the foremost performances of the 20th century. Having seen the film three times, I confess that the restoration of this print, which includes illuminating music by Richard Einhorn titled "Voices of Light," adds enormously to the crescendo of the tragic finale that seals the fate of St. Joan. This is as vivid and human as films get.

Singing the praises and the pain of love

THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG aka LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG (1964)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Original review from 1996)

Catherine Deneuve is probably the most beautiful, attractive, mysterious blonde in cinema. In my opinion, her beauty is her magic and it draws enormous pathos and is unsurpassed in the history of film, even with the iconic, empathetic sexiness of Marilyn Monroe. I think part of her unmistakable beauty is her ability to play both weak and forlorn women in films such as "Repulsion" and "Belle De Jour," and strong, independent, callous women in films like "O Convento" and the lesbian vampire in "The Hunger." I have not seen all of Deneuve's films, but I doubt she's ever played such a vivacious, funny, charming woman who sings as she does in the seemingly riotous "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg."

In her film debut at the age of twenty, Deneuve plays the teenage Genevieve, a girl who works for her mother (Anne Vernon) at a small umbrella shop. Every day after work, Genevieve meets the local garage mechanic named Guy (Nino Castelnuovo) whom she is deeply in love with. Guy wants to marry her and whisk her away from her mother. There are complications, though. Her mother's shop is about to be closed down until a wealthy playboy, Roland Cassard (Marc Michel), offers to save it - of course, he is deeply smitten by Genevieve's beauty and falls in love with her. Her mother insists that she marry Cassard since Guy is out to be drafted to the army in Algeria for two years.

More complications ensue. Genevieve turns out to be pregnant. Since she only receives one letter from Guy, she accepts Cassard's marriage proposal, and his willingness to raise her child as their own. A few years later, Guy returns from the army only to discover that Genevieve has married, his mother is sickly, and her caretaker, Madeleine (Ellen Farmer), is in love with him.

Part of the charm of "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" is that director Jacques Demy has turned this highly romantic film into a musical in the strangest sense. Demy's screenplay is full of the usual romantic cliches and witticisms except they are not spoken by the actors, they are sung! The movie gets funnier and funnier as it proceeds with its noble, inventive idea - it is equally pleasurable to watch Deneuve singing her shouting matches with her mother. After a while, we forget the actors are singing as the film gets richer and more serious leading to an unexpectedly touching finale.

"The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" also has exquisitely designed cinematography where the interior walls, chairs, tables, staircases and lights consist of primarily bright colors such as pink, blue, green and red - this partly pays homage to Hollywood's musicals where bright colors seemed to seep in every frame, especially Vincent Minneli's musicals. This is also partly a device where we are aware that we're not seeing the real world, but a fictional and dreamlike one.

"The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" is unlike any movie I have ever seen, and it is very similar to Woody Allen's recent "Everyone Says I Love You" where some of the characters sang at the most inappropriate moments, though they mostly sang famous songs of the 20's and 30's. In this case, the actors actually sing the dialogue. Jacques Demy's film has been recently restored because the original Eastman film stock was fading. The result is a film that's bright, vivid and frequently funny and hits all the right notes and some sad ones about how love does not conquer all. The film is a treasure to behold and an antidote to the sappy, robotic romantic comedies of the 90's. No treasure is greater though than the magical, youthful presence of Catherine Deneuve.

Kubrick went and did a funny thing

DR. STRANGELOVE: OR I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

As cynical satires go, there is nothing as audacious, thought-provoking and scary as "Dr. Strangelove," Stanley Kubrick's superb film on what if the United States and Russia were involved in an accidental nuclear attack, and what if it was the fault of the U.S.

The unstable, loony General Jack D. Ripper (played by the commanding, towering presence of Sterling Hayden) is the C.O. of the Burlepson Air Force Base who has access to the code that can send an SAC (Strategic Air Command) wing on its way to bomb Russia. The general initiates the order to bomb Russia, but the irony is that no immediate war is taking place and Russia has no intention of bombing the U.S., though they have every intention to counterattack with their prodigious Doomsday Machine. This is cause for concern at the Pentagon where the President of the U.S. (Peter Sellers) has a meeting in the War Room trying to pinpoint why this unplanned attack was initiated. The President is joined by an ex-Nazi strategic adviser, Dr. Strangelove (again played brilliantly by Peter Sellers), and the stubborn General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott), the head of the Joint Chief of Staff, among other officials. General Buck sees no harm in destroying the Commies and risking the lives of innocent people whereas Dr. St rangelove sees a future where mine shafts will have to be utilized to accomodate the population before being affected by radiation ("Ten women to every man.") In the meantime, the President calmly explains to the Soviet Premier that it all boils down to a crazy man who went and "did a funny thing."

"Dr. Strangelove" was released back in 1964 at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis when nuclear missiles were a worlwide threat - a "Fail-Safe" error could possibly happen and there is nothing in the film that exaggerates that possibility. That is why it was so controversial - the satire in it bit everyone loud and clear. In fact, outside of 1983's "Testament," "Dr. Strangelove" is one example of what can go wrong in a nuclear crisis and why all nuclear weapons should be disarmed. We may be at peace with Russia now but back then, the potential for such a disaster was a strong reality (in a sense, it could happen today since nuclear weapons still exist).

The suspense builds and becomes wire-tight in the hands of director Kubrick, who helmed the similarly chaotic, suspenseful "The Killing" - both films dependent on time as a factor in a crisis. Here, it becomes a chaos for the audience since the attack is inevitable unless the code is revealed to recall the several nuclear-armed planes. One of them is led by the B-52 pilot, Major "King" Kong (Slim Pickens), who reminds his crew that medals and promotions will be handed out when all is said and done. Naturally, Kong has his reservations about the deliberate attack, but his questioning it is reserved in favor of his patriotic duty, even if it means to literally ride on one of those bombs himself.

General Ripper, however, has no intention of revealing the code, especially to the British military attache (also played by Sellers), and they have a couple of humorous scenes together where Ripper explains that distilled water and preservation of bodily fluids is essential in the face of the Russians who want to control everything.

"Dr. Strangelove" is an anti-war, anti-nuclear weapons statement done with biting humor and bitter irony, but it is more effective than Sidney Lumet's serious "Fail-Safe" because it takes such a no-holds-barred approach with its satirical pull. As Kubrick said while writing the film with Terry Southern ("Candy"), "the things you laugh at most are really the heart of the paradoxical postures that make a nuclear war possible." From its phallic symbols of B-52 planes to the sexual connotations of Ripper's philosophies and General Buck's relationship with his secretary ("Of course, it is not just physical") to the hysteria and absurdity in the War Room (a memorable set piece), "Dr. Strangelove" pokes fun but remains scarily real - the threat and the inevitable doom of nuclear fallout is felt from first frame to last. Like Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange," you are left unsure whether to laugh or to take it seriously. But when you hear Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again," you can feel Kubrick's pathos of a world at war with itself.

Countess Zaleska has Risen

DRACULA'S DAUGHTER (1936)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Dracula's Daughter" is the fabulous and eerie sequel to Bela Lugosi's original "Dracula" film from 1931. This one has Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) as the daughter of the infamous Count, who was staked to death by Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan, who for some reason is named Von Helsing in this film). Interestingly, Von Helsing is about to be arrested for murder so long as the body can be recovered. At the beginning of the film, Zaleska retrieves her father's body and burns her it to free herself from her vampiric tendencies. Of course, you can never keep a good vampire or good countess down for long since she continues to stalk and drain the blood of female victims in London. The Countess hypnotizes her victims with the use of her magical, glowing ring, and often succeeds. However, she doesn't want to continue with her deeds and requests the help of a psychiatrist! This must be the first vampire in the history of cinema to ever seek help for his/her condition. In 1945's "House of Dracula," John Carradine's Dracula sought the help of a doctor to cure him of his vampirism but it is rarely touched on in any vampire film.

The psychiatrist in this story is Dr. Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger), a former colleague of Dr. Van Helsing - he is entranced by her piercing eyes and wants to help her. Zaleska has another plan, however, and that is to get eternal life and bring Dr. Garth with her. Her assistant, Sandor (Irving Pichel), sees things differently since he was promised eternal life. Sandor's appearance is a devious combination of Karloff's character in "The Raven" and Lurch from "Addams Family."

Based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula's Guest," "Dracula's Daughter" was released back in 1936 and was the first vampire movie coming out of Universal Studios since the Lugosi original. Why it took so long since Lugosi's film was a box-office hit is not clear. This film is notable for the subliminal lesbian tendencies of Countess Zaleska and her cunning ability to lure her female victims to her lair (she does lure one male victim though). Consider the controversial, memorable sequence where Zaleska lures a blonde, petite female to her studio to model. All we see is the girl's face and shoulders, and once again she is startled by the Countess's eyes and ring.

"Dracula's Daughter" is a splendid film with some of the gloomiest and most elegiac black-and-white images I've ever seen in a Universal production or in any horror film for that matter (not counting 1922's "Nosferatu"). There are stark, foggy images of London and a town called Chelsea where evil awaits near bridges and bookstores, always at night. Gloria Holden is excellent as the Countess whom you sympathize with, even when she's undressing a female victim before biting her. Irving Pichel is impressively solid as Sandor, who assures the Countess that she will always be overcome by darkness. I also like the continuous bantering and arguing between Dr. Garth and his secretary, Janet (Marguerite Churchill), who always fixes his tuxedo tie. But it is Holden who walks away with the film, showing us a helpless vampire who wants to be consoled for her unfortunate habits. It was a model for Anne Rice's "Interview With a Vampire" in more ways than one.

An underrated film and a classy, sophisticated picture in a less than reputable genre, "Dracula's Daughter" is a definite classic.

The Monster demands a Mate

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

1935's "The Bride of Frankenstein" remains one of the great horror films of all time. It is cheerful, dark, mysterious, comical, compelling and quite frightening at times. It is the sequel to 1931's "Frankenstein," which starred Boris Karloff, and is significantly superior in every aspect.

The opening prologue is set in 1816 with Elsa Lanchester as the lovely author of the "Frankenstein" novel, Mary Shelley, who tells her close admirers, Percy Shelley, her husband, and Lord Byron, "London's greatest sinner," how her story didn't really end. Thus, we get the sequel with the Monster (Karloff again) escaping from the burning windmill and wrecking vengeance on everything and everyone who crosses his path. He attacks village women, gypsies, peasants and so on. He encounters a blind old man in one of the most famous sequences in history as the old man teaches him the virtues of fire, smoking, music ("Ave Maria"), and how to speak. Of course, two men (one of them is played by John Carradine) find the Monster and try to kill him. The Monster escapes again and is caught by all the villagers, tied to a pole in crucifixion-style, and eventually chained in prison before escaping yet again.

Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) managed to survive the fiery debacle of the original, and is all set to marry his sweet Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson, who was only 17 at the time) before being convinced to create a mate for the Monster by the evil Dr. Praetorius (Ernest Thesiger). Naturally, they create a mate with the help of a drooling assistant, Karl (Dwight Frye, in reportedly a combination of two roles) who memorably shrieks "It's a very fresh one" after killing a bystander on the street to get a fresh heart. The Monster finally has a new mate (Elsa Lanchester) who memorably shrieks herself and turns her head in jerky, robotic movements recalling Brigitte Helm in "Metropolis." The film ends with the fiery explosion of Praetorius's castle, and the good doctor and Elizabeth manage to escape and embrace in a happy ending devised to let the good doctor live.

"The Bride of Frankenstein" has some oddball moments although I can't say I know what era the film is set in. At one point, Dr. Praetorius lets Frankenstein communicate with Elizabeth through a voice transmission device! However, the villagers and every other citizen travel by horse and carriage, so is it set before the 1900's? And there's an abrupt finale where simply pulling a lever causes an explosion (this is how most mad scientist movies would end).

Still, "The Bride of Frankenstein" is a great film with some horrifying moments and some weirdly funny ones such as Dr. Praetorius's own creations which are life-like dolls in glass containers, including a smitten king, a ballerina, and a mermaid. "This is not science. This is black magic," says the dumbfounded Frankenstein. The scene is darkly comic yet there's something fundamentally horrific about it too - it shows a man who has gone at extreme lengths to give life to dead beings for his own pleasure, like Frankenstein himself. There are also several religious symbols throughout, especially during a quixotic moment when a crucifix shines brightly in the background while the blind man weeps after finding a companion in his home again. The entrance of the Bride towards the end is one of the loveliest sights in history as we see a ravishing beauty given life to please a monster whom she despises.

The performances are top-notch. Colin Clive is credibly and constantly uptight - he gets to yell the immortal line "She's alive! She's alive!" Ernest Thesiger plays the most evil villain in eons, and is unmatched in its baneful nature until Henry Fonda's cold killer in Once Upon a Time in the West. Thesiger has some delicious quips throughout and appears to be more frightening than the Monster itself. Karloff is given more to do this time as he's allowed to speak threateningly to Frankenstein, and even laugh! Elsa Lanchester is grandly beautiful and tremendously adept playing two roles: first as a delightful Mary Shelley in the wonderful prologue, and then in an extended cameo as the shrilly Bride with Nefertiti-shock hair and piercing eyes (if only screenwriters John L. Balderston and William Hurlbut gave her more to do). Also noteworthy is Una O'Connor who is hilarious as Frankenstein's maid servant, Minnie, who screams every time she sees the Monster - I love the way she utters "Dr. Praaeeetttorius!" when the doctor enters the house. Her role is quite similar to her equally delectable parts in "The Invisible Man" and "The Adventures of Robin Hood." Another small but significant role is the pompous burgomaster played by E.E. Clive with a big mustache - he was also cast in "The Invisible Man."

Other pluses in "Bride of Frankenstein" are the moody, evocative cinematography by John Mescall, including the justly famous graveyard scenes populated by fog and crucifixes; the creepy music score by Frank Waxman that is among the greatest ever composed for the silver screen and was used in many films since; and James Whale's fine direction and his extraordinary feel for the supernatural and the monstrous ironies in Shelley's text. There is simply not a better film about Frankenstein to see and, although it doesn't follow the novel too closely, this is among the finest and most visually spectacular Universal horror films ever made.

Nondescript freak of nature

THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES!!? (1964)

So we have a carnival where the palm reader throws acid in your face, especially at pizza owners! The palm reader is Estrella (Brett O'Hara) and her assistant smokes cigars and looks uglier than Rondo Hatton! We have some older teenagers, possibly leftover extras from "Rebel Without a Cause" and one of whom is a foreigner, who enjoy going to this carnival quite possibly because there are showgirls on the order of Bettie Page who sing and striptease!

What we have here is a mess called "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies," which is the most surreal, wacky and nonsensical movie I've seen in some time (complete with the wackiest title of all time). The lead role belongs to the director himself, Ray Dennis Steckler (also using the alias Cash Flagg), who plays Jerry, a teen troublemaker who like to frequent the carnival (who wouldn't with all those peep shows and bad comics?) It turns out that Estrella, the palm reader, has thrown acid on one customer after another and has kept them in some sort of underground dungeon. They aren't exactly zombies, just some angry customers I would imagine with largely disfigured heads. Jerry is hypnotized into killing people at Estrella's command - he goes around wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt and brandishing a knife. He bears an uncanny resemblance to Charles Whitman, the infamous rifleman who stood on top of the University of Texas and shot several students.

The reason this movie has achieved cult status is because it makes no sense and contains more musical numbers than suspense. The benefits are that it is technically proficient and astoundingly and superbly photographed, considering one of the cinematographers is Laszlo Kovacs (although a lot of scenes are badly staged).

Other than that, it is quite a strange experience that can't be put in any real category. Not quite horror, not quite a suspense film, and not much of anything else other than a colorful blend of gaudy music numbers and some loose serial-killer subplot. There is an erratic energy to it that keeps you glued to the screen - it is a freak of nature. Describing what it is all about is another story.