Three Odd Film Noir

By definition all film noir are odd, but we have recently watched three that are Odd (note capitalization).  In January the Criterion streaming channel has a whole bunch of films we would like to see, so we have now watched 6 films in a row leaving January 31st.  Most recently have been three "B" pictures worth noting, all in beautiful b & w.  Most recent came The Man I Love, a 1946 film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Ida Lupino.  Though it has some soap opera moments, this drama jumps all over the place, telling three stories during the course of the movie.  What is most interesting about this film, however, is how strong a woman Lupino is.  The film centres on her, and she handles the part with a solid type of acting seldom seen in female characters, especially in the noir genre.  She is tough and tender, smart and talented, as she sings her way into top nightclubs.  She falls for a down and out jazz pianist, and they almost make a go of it.  By the end it appears as if they are not totally washed up, but still might manage to get together later.  Robert Alda plays the owner of the nightclub where Lupino sings, and manages to create one of the creepiest creeps who ever crept into a movie.  A dizzy blonde, mother of twin babies and wife to husband Johnny, also manages to upset audiences with her lifestyle.  An unusual film, and worth a peek for Lupino's performance.

Leaving Criterion January 31st. 

 

Before that came Pickup Alley, a 1956 film starring Victor Mature as a globetrotting cop on the trail of bad guy Trevor Howard, who is being assisted by Anita Ekberg.  A few things make this film unusual for a film noir.  First of all, it is filmed in Cinemascope.  Secondly, we get to travel the world, instead of only staying in New York or LA.  The sleazy film title has nothing to do with this film, made fun because the police are looking for Trevor Howard but don't know what he looks like.  London, Paris, Rome, and Athens all feature somewhere in this fairly fast paced thriller.  Sadly, Mature hardly makes it as a hero cop.  He seems to do very little acting in this film, going through his lines like an amateur.  Ekberg is, of course, rather cute, though her part is not very demanding.  Can she act?  We would hardly know for sure from this film.

 

Leaving Criterion January 31st.

Earliest of the three came Human Desire, an American Fritz Lang directed remake from 1954 of La Bete Humaine, from a story by Emil Zola.  Glenn Ford stars as a passenger train engineer who runs headlong into trouble when he falls for a married woman, played by Gloria Grahame.  Her overbearing husband, played by Broderick Crawford, is a jealous man, and an alcoholic who lets off too much steam and is fired from his job at the railroad yard.  The film, especially at the very beginning, features some of the worst background matting this viewer has ever seen.  Glenn Ford guides his train through the mountains, across bridges, and into tunnels, though when the camera pans to him we see Midwest flat farmland in behind him out his cab window.  Weird.  Ford is mostly emotionless in this picture, hardly acting at all.  Grahame is okay as she goes through the motions of loving Ford to help her get rid of her husband.  We learn that her past is a sordid one, beginning when she was 16.  Will Ford, freshly back from Korea, kill her husband for her?  Good tension is built up to this climax.  I much prefer the earlier French film starring Jean Gabin, but this one has its moments.

Leaving Criterion January 31st. 

 

In local news, I did some fun things this week.  Last Sunday I went ice skating for the first time in 14 years.  Public skating at the local arena is on Sunday at 5 pm.   I managed to skate for 30 minutes without falling or crashing into someone (It was rather crowded).  Seniors can skate on Wednesday afternoons, but our schedule is currently too filled with medical appointments, so I will stick to Sundays for now.  On Tuesday morning I dropped Deb off at her physio appointment (for TMJ) in Amherstburg, then went on to walk a segment of the local rails to trails path.  It was a very cold day (about 25 F) with a nasty little breeze, but once I was into the forest it was okay.  It was strange to be walking here in January, but we had had no snow.  The marsh was frozen over and could have been travelled on skates.  We haven't gone above 30 F for nine days now, and some of the nights have been bitter.  Then on Thursday morning I went over to Dr. Seski's home and put in an hour on his incredible 7' Fazioli piano.  I was able to run through my entire program, and it went pretty well.  He played a Brahms Intermezzo for me.  I may be back into the piano group on occasions when they have smaller gatherings.  Last time there were only three of them.

 

From my trail walk on Tuesday morning.  The marsh is frozen solid.

 

Tonight (Friday) it is snowing, our first real snow event this season.  We might get 2" or a bit more, so we should awaken to a white winter wonderland.  If so I will take some pics tomorrow morning and add them here. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

Lots of Movies

First, a quick health update.  My cold is passing, in its 6th day.  Deb's is at its peak, in its 4th day.  Deb's bruised lung is beginning its 7th day of healing, and seems to be getting better day by day.  She has more sitting options now, and less sudden pain when she moves.  She has learned about a technique to reduce the magnitude of a sneeze, and that seems to be working well.  The coughing can't be helped too much, as she has to get stuff out of her lungs or risk pneumonia.  It's been a lot of fun for both of us going from tip top condition to get up some big mountains, to becoming like a pair of sick marshmallows sitting around and watching movies.  Of course we are also watching three great lecture series' on The Great Courses channel.

 

We were both at a pretty low point when we returned home last Friday afternoon.  My first movie choice was The Trojan Horse, from 1961 and starring Steve Reeves.  An Italian picture, we were expecting the usual sand and sandal muscle man epic.  There was some of that, but this was a big budget picture that sticks pretty true to Homer.  It actually was pretty good!  I hadn't wanted anything with depth or requiring much thinking, and Deb could not afford the luxury of a comedy, as laughter would have caused her more pain.  But we both ended up enjoying this widescreen and very colourful spectacle.  Reeves plays heroic Aeneas, saddled with Paris for a military leader, while John Drew Barrymore plays the cunning Odysseus.

Now showing on Prime. 

 

My leaving choice (Criterion) was a fantastic SF film we are certain we have never seen before.  But who can tell--our memories may have been scrambled, like in the movie.  Dark City (1998) all takes place at night, except at the very end.  A man awakens at a murder scene, and he appears to have been the killer.  He remembers nothing, and tries to figure out his past.  He quickly learns that the city where he lives is one of the strangest places in the universe.  He seems to have a special power, and eventually learns that an experiment on his memories went awry when he woke up during the event.  He managed to escape, and evil aliens are now in search of him.  To their peril.  This is an amazingly good film, worth a second look, too.  Even Jennifer Connelly is tolerable in her role as his wife.  Kiefer Sutherland plays a somewhat mad professor by the name of Daniel Paul Schreber (look up the real name).  William Hurt and Ian Richardson also star.  The aliens are a bit too evil, as they experiment and try to find out what makes humans tick.  Mad scientists, without a shred of humanity.  They toy with memories in an effort to find out what is inside of us.  Definitely worth catching, especially on a very dark day or night.

 

Leaving Criterion Oct. 31st. Directed by Alex Proyas.

 

Deb chose two Noir films, now that Dark City had set us in the mood.  We watched the Corinth version of Mr. Arkadin, a 1955 weirdo film by none other than Orson Welles.  There are at least four different versions of this film now, with the Spanish version even featuring different actresses from the English ones.  That includes the Criterion restored edition, helped on by Peter Bogdanovich and other directors and film historians.  We hope to see that one in a month or so, so stay tuned.  Welles plays one of the richest and most powerful men in the world, who has a past to hide from his daughter.  He hires an American to try and find out what he had done before 1927, telling him that he has amnesia.  Of course he hopes that the investigator won't find out anything, but he does.  The people who the investigator spoke with and gave information are soon showing up dead.  Certainly one of the strangest films we have ever seen, and along with Dark City we were now on a very impressive roll!  Welles looks like a satyr, and appears to have a very unhealthy interest in his daughter.  Filled with bizarre scenes and characters.  Not to be missed.

 

3 versions are currently showing on Criterion.  We watched the Corinth version. 

 

Mr. Arkadin's Christmas party in Rio. 

 

Next came one of the great classics of American Noir film,  The Big Heat, from 1953.  Glenn Ford plays a police sergeant who steps over the line when he tries to finger the biggest mobster in town.  When his wife is blown up with a car bomb (instead of him), he turns in his badge (not his gun) and goes hunting.  That car blow up scene is still one of the most shocking moments in American cinema.  Gloria Grahame gets boiling coffee thrown in her face, and returns the favour to bully boy Lee Marvin later in the film.  Shock after shock, even after seeing the film perhaps 8-10 times.  Ford is perfect in his role as cop, father, husband, and avenger.

Leaving Criterion Oct. 31st. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

 The wildfire smoke has peaked in our area over the last few days, and breathing the air has become "dangerous."  It's difficult to see across the river, and the smell of burning is everywhere.  For several hours over the last few days, Detroit and Chicago had the worst air quality in the world.  So the world is burning.  Big deal.  I think I'll stop at McDonalds and get something to eat (said no one at Lone Mtn. Homestead).  Despite the bad air, Detroit carried on with its annual major fireworks display.  That should help things improve.

We had to visit Deb's lawyer's office today in Kingsville.  The court probate certificate arrived, and next step is to get the money from Lois' estate transferred to a central holding area, where it will be distributed among her three daughters, Deb being one.  It is not a very large estate, but a sizable chunk of money will find its way into our bank account in a few weeks time.

In medical news, Deb's two shots she received to alleviate her hip pains seem to have worked rather well.  She will report to physio next week.  And I have attended two Iaido classes.  Techniques are slowly coming back to me.  Being in good physical shape has eased my transition also, as I have not suffered any undue aches and pains as a result of cutting with the sword again.

In anticipation of the arrival of the new piano, we are redoing the flooring in the music room.  That means moving filing cabinet and bookshelf, both major undertakings, ripping up the old carpet, getting the basic floor ready for peel and stick tile, and doing a bit of trim and baseboard painting.  At some point the piano will have to be moved, too, to get at the strip of carpet underneath.  The new tiles will arrived in less than two weeks.  They should lay down easily in one go; then we can move everything back where it goes.  Then the old piano will go out, and the new one in.  I won't even talk about our outdoor project right now, except to say that the removal of vast amounts of poison ivy is underway, next to the garage and other areas.

In movie news, it is my film festival at the moment, and we have seen three out of four selected films.  All were selected from the Sight and Sound Top 100 list, the ones available for view on the Criterion Channel.  First up was a short film by Chris Marker.  La Jetee is tied for 67th place in the list.  It is not really a film, but a narrated series of still images.  It is a haunting sf story about a man from a future wartime living in Paris.  He is puzzled and haunted by the vision of a woman and tries to track her down.  He is being used for experiments in time travel.  Quite a good film and worth more than one viewing.  It seems to have influenced, among other films, the recent Last and First Men we saw.  Recommended.

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Also tied for 67th place is a short feature film from 2000 by Agnes Varda called The Gleaners and I.  It is a very original documentary picture about people who glean fields and orchards after the harvest.  But it expands on this theme, even following people who glean at outdoor markets, and who rummage in trash bins for food.  She uses Millet's famous painting as a goalpost, and goes from there.  Highly watchable and a totally fascinating film making.  Recommended.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Then came our second viewing of Godard's Contempt, from 1963 and tied for 54th place.  If you like to see Brigitte Bardot's bare bottom you might enjoy this picture.  If you realize that she has a fairly ordinary bottom, a somewhat tired looking face, large but empty eyes, and bleached hair, you may not enjoy the film so much.  She is in most of the scenes, so despite what critics might say the film is about, it's about getting Bardot on camera as much as possible.  The music is often overbearing, telling us to be sad and thoughtful often.  Give me Monica Vitti any day, and Nino Rota (and Marcello).  The film has two things going for it, though.  The first is that Fritz Lang is in it, playing the part of a film director filming The Odyssey.  The second thing is the location shots once the crew reaches Capri.  Wow!

 

Now showing on Criterion.

Coming soon!  June reading summary!  Stay tuned for this exciting event!

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

Catching Up

...we now return to our regular programming.

The first part of June, with one or two exceptions, was seasonal and even a bit on the cooler side.  But not the 2nd half.  We have already endured many days of temps that go far beyond "above average."  Not only that, but it has been very dry, and will continue so until at least Friday.  I cut the grass yesterday for the first time in two weeks, on the slight chance of predicted rain.  No rain, but the grass is cut.

Later today I am awaiting the passage of the CSL Laurentien, one of five ships I watch on a regular basis.  This will be her 7th upstream pass, heading for Thunder Bay from Quebec City.  Back and forth all summer.  Quite a workhorse.  Meanwhile, Federal Bering, which was in Windsor a few weeks ago (likely picking up salt), was then off to Scotland, and is now in Ostend.  The Federal Cedar, which spent the winter in and around South American and Mexico, is on its way to Montreal, and will hopefully take a swing up our way in the upper Great Lakes.

We are nowhere with repairs to our garage foundation.  We simply cannot find anyone interested to come and fix it.  We basically need a foundation mason, but apparently they are all busy.  Sigh.  We ourselves are assembling and putting up railings this week on the new staircase, however.  The main job is to drill 16 holes into the new cement.  We are purchasing a new drill for that job.  Pictures to follow.

In film news, we have watched three interesting documentaries lately, all of them excellent and very well presented.  We have had to subscribe to AMC+ for two months in order to watch a new series they are presenting (see below), but they also have several other good things to watch.  One of them is Jodorowsky's Dune, from 2013.  Featuring much of the concept art that was created, and nearly endless conversations with the man himself, this pre-Star Wars idea was simply way too ahead of its time.  There can be no doubt that it would have been a terrific and awe-inspiring picture had it been made.  In the end it needed 5 more million dollars, which were nowhere to be found.  Definitely a fascinating way to spend a few hours!

Now streaming on AMC+.

Another good doc showing on AMC is Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown.  Dating from 2008-09, this one is incredibly well researched, and features interviews with Guillermo Del Toro, Neil Gaiman, John Carpenter, Caitlan Kiernan, and others.  Lavishly illustrated with historical photos and art inspired by his works, this is a must-see film for fans of horror fiction.

Now streaming on AMC+. 

A few weeks ago we watched Margin, a simple film about a journey up the Amazon on a passenger ship, directed by Maya Da-Rin.  Criterion also has her film called Land, from 2009, about a city that shares a border with Peru, Colombia, and Brazil, far up the Amazon River.  She spends time in this far off city, getting in fairly deeply with some of its citizens, including some Indigenous people who have had to make major adjustments to their lives in order to survive. Well worth seeing, her work is a form of visual anthropology.

Showing until June 30th on Criterion.   

Some other films we have seen lately (Criterion) include One Day In The Rainy Season, an Indian film from 1971 directed by Mani Kaul.  Based on a play by Mohan Rakeesh, the plot concerns a young village woman who gives up her hold on her lover so he can go to court and become a famous writer.  The play has very few characters, and is entirely set within a small and very basic hut in a small village. The acting is carried out in unemotional speech, giving a timeless quality to the b & w proceedings, almost as if the words were spoken by dead people, rather than ones emotionally involved with the tale.  Unique and worthwhile.

Showing on Criterion until June 30th/22 

 

Fritz Lang's 1941 Man Hunt was next, starring Walter Pidgeon and George Sanders.  Pidgeon is a big game hunter who sets his rifle sights on Adolph Hitler.  Before he can pull the trigger he is caught and arrested.  Refusing to sign a confession to Nazi Sanders, he escapes back to England with the Germans in hot pursuit.  Though well acted and filmed tautly and expertly, the film left me a bit cold.  I think that the character of the hunter becoming the hunted could have been made a bit more realistic.  He seems to have virtually no skills whatsoever, so how he ever got close enough to Hitler in the first place remains a mystery.  The whole concept of the enemy in our midst, however, was very well done.

 

Showing on Criterion until June 30th. 

 

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart In the Land of Demons, and Black Belt Jones, from 1973 and 1974 respectively, make a good double feature of action packed mayhem.  While Lone Wolf slaughters the enemy with his trusty blade, Jones uses karate to demolish his enemies.  And they both dispose of a lot of enemies.  It's not the kind of movie pairing one might think of, but it works! Both are streaming on Criterion.

Streaming on Criterion. 

 

Streaming on Criterion until June 30th. 

 

In addition to films, we are currently involved in several series, including two sets of lecture courses on Wondrium.  We only have one left in the SF literature series, and still several more on the archeology of North America.  As one of those courses finish, we will begin a new one.

 

On Prime we are now well into the 2nd season of Undone, an animated fantasy series that is quite complex and easily one of the better fantasy screen adventures ever undertaken.  It is aimed at adults, and follows the adventures of a family of four as they unravel their past, present, and future selves.  Needless to say the plot is difficult to explain, but the acting, writing, and special effects are truly inspired.  Episodes are less than 30' each, but pack an awful lot into that time.  Highly recommended.  There are 8 episodes in each season.

Seasons 1 &2 are showing on Prime. 

 

The reason we subscribed to AMC+ was to watch their new series called Dark Winds. The first season has 6 one hour episodes.  It is so well done that a second season will be presented next year.  It features Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, Navajo police officers from Tony Hillerman's acclaimed detective series, largely set in Northwest new Mexico and Northeast Arizona.  So far we have seen three episodes, and the fourth is set for tonight.  We both love the Hillerman books (17 or 18 of them before he died, with the series now taken over by daughter Anne, who was an executive producer for the TV series), and have seen two or three earlier films based on the books.  But this series has a budget, and the production values are near to perfect.  The casting seems enlightened, especially Leaphorn. We are devouring this series!  We got my dad interested in the books a long time ago, and he should be able to watch this series on his AMC regular channel.

 

Leaphorn and Chee take on the bad guys!  Great stuff! 

 

As a bonus, we also found an 8 part series on AMC called Name of the Rose.  It follows Ecco's book much more closely than the earlier film ever did, and once again the TV production values are superb and nearly overwhelming.  It may seem odd to find John Turturro playing the lead role of the detective monk, but so far (2 episodes in), he is unbelievably good.  I have never seen medieval atmosphere so authentically depicted on the screen.  We have certainly hit gold this month.  And waiting in the wings is a 2009 version of The Prisoner, a six episode series that might prove interesting.

 

A 2019 8 part series showing on AMC. 

 

I will return with more news in a day or two.  And it close to the time when I summarize my month's reading.  Please return soon.

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Anniversary

45 years of marriage on Saturday.  The weather will be very warm and humid, like it was on that Saturday in 1976.  We were married in a small church by the lake, and the party was at the camp afterwards, with swimming and sauna.  The bride was blushing and exceedingly beautiful, and she still is.  Why she has stayed with me for 45 years I cannot fathom.  But here we are.  It's also a full moon tomorrow, and that means a party on top of the party.  The opera of the month is Wagner's Lohengrin.  The main food dish is homemade vegan lasagna.  There will also be vegan chocolate cheesecake and ice cream.

The sun continues to retreat southwards, shortening our evenings and mornings.  We still have heat and humidity, though, until at least the end of august.  A little more than 4 weeks and it will be Equinox.  The summer is passing quickly, and soon I will be recalled to astronomy nights.  Without those nights this summer I have been mostly home, practicing piano, listening to music, watching films, and reading.  I continue to intensely study my New Mexico topographic map collection, which is exhaustive.  However, the program is not supported anymore, and someday a new computer of ours will fail to run it, which is what happened to my National Geographic collection of maps on CD.  So I will have to hang on to an older computer until I die.

Next week I begin my piano performances, in the hopes of playing the program a few times for individual or paired listeners.  My friend and colleague Paula is stopping by here Monday evening to listen, and to perform a few things she has been working on.  Depending how that one goes, we'll see about doing it a few more times, including at Lois' long term care home in Kingsville.

A few things to report on in film viewing.  Deb's leaving August 31st choice for last weekend was a 1952 Fritz Lang film called Clash By Night.  Starring Barbara Stanwyck as a woman returned from the big city to her hometown (Monterrey, CA), she eventually settles down with a simple but loving fisherman, raising a baby and keeping a home.  However, along comes a lit match in the form of Robert Ryan, and she is soon having a torrid affair with him and planning to leave town with him and her baby.  So much for settling down.  Some people have it, and some don't.  Did I mention I haven't been going out much lately?  And have little to no desire to do so?  Settling down is just right for this blogger at the present time.  Marilyn Monroe does a great job in her role as the 20 year old lover of Stanwyck's younger brother, and is supportive of the older woman, no matter how bad her choices seem.

Leaving Criterion August 31st. 

 

My main choice for this week was Zatoichi Meets The One-Armed Swordsman, #22 in the seemingly endless series of movies about the blind samurai bad guy who is really a good guy.  This one stars a Chinese kung fu dude, and provides a relief from the virtually repeating formula the movies have always had.  Had this one had a better ending, it could have been a classic.  But it ends exactly the same way as all his movies end; Zatoichi fights the main guest character and kills him.  For this movie especially, this was a really bad choice, and spoils the entire film.  Though he often gets it wrong, this time was a major blunder.  Only 6 more movies to go (and I already know the plot and outcome of all of them, even though I haven't seen them yet).

 

Samurai meets Hong Kong style fighting, on Criterion.

 

My going away choice proved to be a somewhat better film, Fellini's Nights of Cabiria.  The version we watched was fully restored in 2019, and the print is flawless, as it always is on Criterion.  Giulietta Masina is the entire film, her facial expressions and body language speaking volumes, even as her mouth rattles on and on.  She takes nothing from no one, and yet is so easily duped into falling for the man of her dreams and having all her money stolen, not once but twice.  She is a woman who deserves the best, but only gets leftovers from the garbage can of life.  The environs of Rome never look stranger than in Fellini and Antonioni films, and this one is no exception.  But there is a bus stop!  it's very odd, but I have no memory of ever having seen this film before, though its simple story is age old.  Highlights include Cabiria's night with a real movie star, and her early morning encounter with a good samaritan who brings blankets and food to poor people living in volcanic tube caves.

Leaving Criterion August 31st.

Lastly we turn to art from the DIA, a return to a print by Bruegel many who was inspired by this super creative genius.  I think my love of detail in paintings comes from my piano background, which requires that not only every note by clear and in its proper place and frame of mind, but also all the extras there are besides notes in a piece of music.  There are dozens of markings above and below notes, as well as in between the two staves.  So looking at details in detail is something I do without even blinking an eye.  Bruegel takes the prize when it comes to details in art.  This print is as detailed, if not more, than Hunters In the Snow.  I wish I had a poster-sized image of it to hang.

 

Rustic Solitude, Jan Duetecum, Dutch  after Bruegel the Elder, between 1555 and 1558.  Black ink etching on laid paper, 13" x 17".  Collection Detroit Institute of Arts.

 

Detail of right corner.

 

Detail of lower central area.

 

Detail of lower left.

 

Detail of central left.

 

Central detail.

Central detail. 

 

Mapman Mike