cinema history class: jack the ripper

Session: Saucy Jack, Week 3
Movie: Jack the Ripper (1976)
Directed by Jesus Franco

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
In London, a doctor is killing prostitutes while a policeman, his ballerina girlfriend and a blind man are hot on the case. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

There were a lot good things in this movie. This featured vivid colors and some really great cinematography. Sure, there's no way that rural idyll could have been the River Thames, but that's forgivable. The lively cabaret music (a bit of which you can see in the trailer above) helped set the lively pace.

Kinski, one of the creepiest actors to have become a star, was well cast as Dr. Orloff/Jack. He is disturbingly believable in the sexual scenes as well as the violent scenes (and, it should be noted, there is plenty of overlap between those two categories). It was fun to watch the blind man providing the police the leads they needed, in a modest Peter Falk type of way. The story kept up a good level of intensity, though there was a reasonable amount of comic relief.

But I couldn't help feeling that there were missed opportunities here. The murderous doctor has a mentally challenged (presumably due to primitive brain surgery) assistant named Frieda. Frieda helps him dispose of bodies, cleans up the blood-drenched lab after he performs his dismemberments, and performs other helpful tasks. It would have made the whole thing much more interesting if, in the end, we had learned that she was his mother, and that he had performed the lobotomies. The fact that there was no such revelation disappointed me. I was also expecting that, as the police were closing in on the Doctor, Frieda would -- disgusted by the horrors she has seen -- would gather the resolve to turn on him. Again, that did not happen -- though this may have been a matter of the movie purposefully defying expectations. Finally, after all the thrills and violence, I found the very end to be a huge letdown. This could have done so much more.

 

Ratings

Me: 8.5

Bob-O: 7.1

Christina: 7.5

Dave: 9.5

Joe: 10 (actually, Joe missed this session, but I'm just assuming he would have given it a 10).

cinema history class: jack the ripper

Session: Saucy Jack, Week 2
Movie: Jack the Ripper (1959)
Directed by Monty Berman and Robert S. Baker

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
In London in 1888, a man is asking prostitutes about Mary Clarke. And then killing them. The police and doctors are trying to figure out who's killing them. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

This version of JtR features a story that's told reasonably well. The trouble is that none of the performances stand out and there was nothing to make me care about the characters, so it was hard to feel engaged. The soundtrack featured appropriate music, but it was played at too high a level, thus becoming obtrusive.

The film was, apparently, intended to be a mystery, forcing the viewer to guess at the culprit's identity. But I didn't realize that. It was so obvious to me that I didn't even realize that it was meant to be obscured.

What saves the film is the ending. The last several minutes are thrilling, and the very end is both ghastly and brilliant. There were several of us in the class (myself included) who had kind of settled on a rating only to raise it when the ending unfolded.

Ratings

Me: 7

Bob-O: 8.2

Christina: 9.65

Dave: 9.7

Ethan: 7.5

Joe: 10

cinema history class: the lodger

Session: Saucy Jack, Week 1
Movie: The Lodger (1944)
Directed by John Brahm

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
A mysterious lodger has developed quite an obsession with a showgirl. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

The true shame of this is learning about the short career of Laird Cregar, who played the titular lodger. Tall and heavyset, Cregar was a natural to portray heavies -- something which he did wonderfully. But he wanted to be a leading man, and literally died pursuing that dream. The extreme dieting and surgery that he hoped would turn him into a svelte romantic lead killed him at age 31. He is one of those performers who died tragically young and make you wonder "what if?"

I had never heard of Cregar, but found out this information during Joe's introduction. Joe missed Bring Your Own Movie month last year and this was one of the movies he was considering bringing. So Keith let him present. He chose to focus on Cregar, and even showed us a 20-minute documentary, The Tragic Mask: The Laird Cregar Story.

And Cregar lived up to the hype. He was part of an excellent cast, but this show was him. Over the course of the story we see him slowly transform from a relatively controlled man struggling to be proper to a crazed maniac. The essence of this transformation was captured in one particular scene that places him in a cabaret, watching the object of his affections, Kitty Langley (played wonderfully by Merle Oberon). He starts out looking well enough. But each time the shot changes to the stage where Kitty is performing and then back to Mr. Slade (Cregar's character), he looks more and more disheveled. Someone, I forget who, noted similarities between that and a scene in The Night of The Hunter (which we saw recently), but this was done better. I was thinking that he seemed to be turning from Jeckyll to Hyde. And that was capped by his appearance in Langley's dressing room, looking like he's lost his grip on sanity.

Director John Brahm did a great job using Cregar's size to advantage. Many camera shots emphasize just how big he is, as the camera shoots down over his shoulder, looming over other characters, or contrasting him with smaller actresses.

What if?

Ratings

Me: 9.8

Bob-O: 9.7

Christina: 9.2

Dave: 9.7

Ethan: 10

Joe: 10

it's zmedsday!! (cvi)

 

new transfer -- a first

 

Recently the subway system opened up a new free transfer between Times Square (N,Q,R,S,W,1,2,3,7) and 42 Street/Bryant Park (B,D,F,M). Essentially, this is a connection between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, along 42nd Street.

I note that the Times Square station is already connected by free transfer to 42 Street/Port Authority Bus Terminal (A,C,E) and the 42 Street/Bryant Park station is already connected by free transfer to the 5 Avenue station (7). This means that, without leaving the system you can go along 7th Avenue from 8th Avenue to 5th Avenue. Those are three long blocks. I doubt the system has any other transfers covering such a distance.

But what makes this really interesting to me (and the reason I am writing this post) is that you can now get a free transfer between the 7 train at Times Square and the 7 train at 5th Avenue. I am reasonably sure that this is the first ins-system transfer between two stops on the same line.

cinema history class (the mafu cage)

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month, Week 6 (Christina)
Movie: The Mafu Cage (1978)
Directed by Karen Arthur

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
Ellen Carpenter is trying her best to take care of her dysfunctional sister, Sissy, who wants a pet. But can Sissy take care of an animal? Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

The Mafu Cage left me exhausted. It's an emotional roller coaster in which you really never know what's going to happen -- who will live, who will die, and how. Gee, isn't it appropriate that I'm writing this during the Ten Days of Repentance.

I've always liked Carol Kane. I usually see her in comedic roles -- notably in Taxi -- and she'sreally good with the funny wackiness. But this was a side I don't recall seeing before -- Kane's wackiness in service of dark drama. In some ways it's like looking at a mirror-universe Simka Gravas. As the movie starts Sissy's insanity seems, if not minor, harmless. Then we see that something isn't right. And, we watch her descent accelerate.

Lee Grant, as Ellen, is sane by comparison. But she has her own issues -- her passive enabling and emotional repression. And, of course, there's the creepy context of the lesbian incest. And it's easy to miss all that as her neuroses can be easily overlooked in the shadow of Sissy's massive insanity. But it's there. And Ellen's refusal to deal with a clear and obvious problem is a major factor in Sissy's descent.

This is another one of those great movies I would never have heard of if not for this class.

Ratings

Me: 10

Bob-O: 10

Dave: 10

Ethan: 10

Joe: 10
Keith: 10
Sharon: 10

I believe that this is the first time in the class where everyone gave the movie a 10.

it's zmedsday!! (cv)

 

snacks for the mailman (3)

About a week ago I posted about the fact that we put out snacks for delivery people. Yesterday I posted about the fact that some stranger dropped off some snacks to put out with the others. Those posts were here and here.

I didn't expect the topic to become a series, but this the third entry about it. So now I'm numbering it as such. We'll see if there's a fourth.

Yesterday we had the annoying experience of someone taking all the snacks. It may have been an innocent mistake. We had put out stuff for freecycle, so maybe the up-picker honestly thought the snacks were part of it. Maybe not. We'll never know for sure. But either way it left us needing to buy more snacks to put out.

Then, in the eveneing, Blair and I were out at a freind's house enjoying an end-of-summer get-together. Sharon called. Sharon and Asher went out to pick up food. When they got back they found that someone had left a case of root beer.

This is all getting weird.

snacks from a stranger

 A week ago I wrote a post about the snack box we put outside for the mailman (as well as various others who find themselves at our door. That post is here.

This week brought a surprise. Someone -- not anyone who lives here -- added a bunch of snacks to the box. I have no idea what to say about it other than to note it.

Thanks, stranger!

cinema history class: the night of the hunter

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month, Week 5 (Ethan)
Movie: The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Directed by Charles Laughton

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
A preacher marries a widow for the money her husband hid. But only her children know where it is.. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

It's a terrible shame that Night of the Hunter was a critical and commercial failure upon its release. I say that in part because it's a really great film that deserved to be successful. But more importantly its failure resulted in Laughton never directing again, which is a true loss to the history of film.

Robert Mitchum, as the preacher, turns in one of cinema history's great creepy performances. One of the things Ethan noted in his presentation is that Laughton wanted that role for himself -- which makes sense given that he had toured the country giving Bible readings. It's fortunate that that didn't happen. As good an actor as Laughton was, I can't imagine him turning in such a strong performance as a disingenuous charmer.

Billy Chapin and Sally Jane Bruce as the children, John and Pearl, turned in amazingly strong performances -- which was all the more amazing given their young ages. Chapin, I note, seemed very much like Billy Mumy (of Lost in Space fame).

Bob-O noted that this movie is all about adults failing the kids. Their father fails them (and his actions end up getting their mother killed), their mother fails them, the friends and neighbors fail them. The preacher -- well, it's hard to say he failed them since he had no intention of helping them. It's not until the end of the movie, when they find Mrs. Cooper (or, more accurately, Mrs. Cooper finds them) that there's an adult who they can actually rely on.

I've seen references to this movie as a noir, but I don't think that's really accurate. Other than being in black and white and having beautiful stark contrasts, it's really not noir. In many ways, it is stylistically like a silent film (except for the silent part). A lot of the imagery -- notably in the scene before the preacher stabs his wife -- seems taken from the silents.

Which brings me to the visuals. The backgrounds are often stark and minimalist. The night scenes often look like the background is a gray cloth lit from behind. And yet it works It creates a stunningly beautiful effect. And it draws you into the real action.

I just can't praise this enough.

Ratings

Me: 10

Bob-O: 9.2

Christina: 10

Dave: 10

Joe: 10
Keith: 9.8
Sharon: 8

it's zmedsday!! (civ)