North Face and Edge of Darkness

Spent so much time and space on my last blog on the TOP FILM 2010 list that I neglected to mention a superior and spectacular adventure film now showing at Seattle's Egyptian Theatre--it is a German film called NORTH FACE, set just before the start of World War II when Hitler was gearing up his publicity of German superiority by sponsoring an Eiger mountain climbing expedition led by Nazi (so he thinks) climbers. The politics is soon put on the back burner, however, as the expedition is endangered by nationalistic competition (from France and Austria and others), bad weather and injuries during the climb, and soon the film becomes not a race to the top, but a matter of survival for all concerned, and the film builds a lot of tension and irony by cutting to a fancy hotel at the bottom of the mountain where various rich patrons can indulge in luxury while the half dozen climbers struggle for their lives. This is straight forward, almost old-fashioned film-making--leaving fast editing and fancy camera moves behind and focusing on the horror of the mountain climbing experience. The film delivers the goods.

Also opening last week is a fine, solid police story, based on a British five hour mini-series, called EDGE OF DARKNESS and starring Mel Gibson. Whatever you may think about Gibson's political and social gaffes in the past, he certainly knows how to pick interesting and provocative film projects (see APOCOLYPTO and PASSION OF CHRIST as two recent examples.) This film starts with his beloved daughter being shot down while the two stand together on the front porch, and immediately his fellow officers assume the gunman was after cop Gibson as revenge for some past arrest. But soon it becomes clear that his daughter was caught up in a corrupt swirl of corporate evil-doing, and the "can of worms" that he opens spreads far and high up. What I liked about the film was its unsensational approach to political corruption and film making style--it moves engrossingly along without feeling a need to glamorize the more lurid aspects of the story or the violence. Think Helen Mirren's series PRIME SUSPECT, or any number of British TV series as a model for the restraint this story portrays.

My wife Toni and I spent 5 days in Winthrop this past week (she likes to go skiing on/over her birthday) and there is no TV reception where we stay (or cell phone or Internet service either) so our only option for entertainment other than skiing, sleeping, reading and eating is to watch DVD's. It was an odd selection this week.....

First up was a 3-pack of older melodramas that I received for my birthday 2 weeks ago. We'd never seen PEYTON PLACE, or read it or even seen the TV series w/Mia Farrow that played for several years in the 1960's, but as soon as the feature started, I certainly remembered the theme music. The 1957 film based on the novel by Grace Metalious had been well received by the public, receiving an impressive nine Oscar nominations (although it did not win in any category--this being the year of BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI,) and it was clearly the spectacular cinematography and vivid color and excellent print that grabbed my attention first. The cast included five Oscar nominees: Lana Turner, Diane Varsi, Hope Lange, Russ Tamblyn, and Arthur Kennedy. The film also received best picture, director, screenplay and cinematography nominations. Still, seen today, the film remains most effective if viewed in an historical prospective. Themes included abortion, incest, rape and premarital sex, and at the time must have been quite shocking. Viewed with today's sensibilities, it is rather....dully predictable and quaint. I have a feeling, however, that this film set the stage for the progressive themes that were to abound in the 1960's. Toni found it too dull and slow, I found it interesting and tastefully progressive for it's time.

Of course, we had to see the follow up film in this pack---RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE (1962) which is basically the same characters (but with different actors) with the same themes regurgitated all over again. It was interesting to see the early film of Carol Lynley, Luciana Paluzzi, and Tuesday Weld, and Jeff Chandler and Eleanor Parker and Mary Astor rounded out the less than stellar cast. Fortunately, this version was a bit campier than the original, with Mary Astor as a town elder with a giant "stick up her back" as the most fun to watch.

It took me nearly 30 minutes of watching LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (1945) with Gene Tierney, Jeanne Crain, Cornel Wilde, and Vincent Price to remember that I'd seen this film only a year and a half ago. It is not a bad film, per say, but it makes me rather uncomfortable to watch a character who is obviously mentally neurotic (psychotic?) (and no one seems to notice!!!) that I must have put it out of my head. Suddenly I remembered one of the most powerfully sickening scenes ever put in a film noir---the purposeful drowning of the lovable handicapped brother of Cornel Wilde by his new wife Gene Tierney, who watches his painful death with detached emotion. Her evil intentions even reach out from her grave(--see also the recently blogged film BLACK WIDOW.) I won't forget this film again.

We also watched SAMURAI 1: MUSASHI MIYAMOTO (1954) which is the first of three sequels also called SAMURAI 2 and 3, and it won the Best Foreign Film Oscar that year. The film moved slowly for me, and I found the action scenes too chaotic to follow, and some of the characters I got mixed up with other characters, and I was not too engaged. Perhaps the next two will be more interesting.

Our favorite film DVD of the week was a French fluff piece starring Catherine Deneuve and Yves Montand called LE SAUVAGE (1975) which is billed as a madcap romantic comedy, and for once this is a good and accurate description. In an effort to escape her abusive Italian fiance, Deneuve enlists the help of the mysterious Montand, ending up on his private island with gangster, government officials and others all in pursuit of her. The film has some great laughs, some very exotic location scenery, and a strong plot, along with the beautiful and talented and at times topless Catherine Deneuve and the handsome Montand. This was a delightful and wacky surprise.

Finally, we watched, again, the newly rebooted version of STAR TREK (2009) which I should probably stick in my top 20 for 2009. I'd forgotten how much energy, creativity and fun it was to watch the STAR TREK legend being reborn for a new generation. The actors playing the old characters from TV (and the "older" STAR TREK films of the 80's and 90's) are delightfully introduced and spot on. I couldn't find a bathroom break during this screening, we were so involved with the characters and story. It's a blast, in spite of a few plot coincidences, and well worth seeing on a big screen or even on TV.

Update to last weeks TOP FILMS of 2009: The impressive British film called BRONSON has just been released on DVD, and if you don't mind some "in your face violence", it is a very entertaining "truth is stranger than fiction" story. (The style reminded me at times of Stanley Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE complete with some cartoonish violence and bizarre humor).