DeadChannel

New film #1


Vertigo is a 1958 American suspense/thriller film by Alfred Hitchcock starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novac.

It's the first new movie for me this year, and a great way to start it off.

Jimmy Stewart plays a detective who develops agoraphobia (fear of heights), and decides to retire. A friend then convinces him to follow his wife, who he has good reason to be concerned about. Soon, though, he becomes obsessed with her...

All of the actors do an very good job on this film. Jimmy Stewart is a pretty consistent actor, so there's not a lot I can say. Kim Novac didn't have too many lines (Barbara Bel Geddes actually probably has more, owing to the quick banter between her and Stewart), but she was the right person for the part. The supporting cast does a good job as well, particularly the previously mentioned Barbara Bel Geddes, who I wish had more screentime (although, at 128 minutes, this is already very long for a Hitchcock movie).

As a whole, its suspenseful, smart and tense. Hitchcock deals with the same themes that he is often associated with, particularly voyeurism (the first few scenes when the protagonist investigates the woman come to mind).

I adore the beautiful 65mm cinematography all over this movie. The colours are vibrant and everything is very sharp. Film grain isn't terribly noticeable either. As a whole, I'd like to watch this on blu ray at some point (I've got the dvd). That being said, there was at least one scene that stood out as having a star trekish softness to it, but that might have just been the print that was scanned.
Interestingly, something called the dolly zoom was invented for this movie. It is achieved by physically moving the camera away from the subject while zooming in. It is often called the "Vertigo" shot, but you might have also seen it in films like Jaws and Goodfellas.

The music is brilliant too. It's not quite as frenetic as Psycho's iconic theme, but it has a great amount of range. As far as I can tell, the dialogue is mostly recorded on location. There also aren't any noticeable mistakes with the foley work on the film.

All in all, I loved this movie. I still like psycho a bit better, but I think this is an 8.5

Oriphiel

If you like Klaus Kinski in Spaghetti westerns, you might get a kick out of "Twice a Judas" (1969). I think he also appeared in a few random westerns like "Lo Chiamavano King" and "The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe".

Plankton

It'd be awesome to see a review of this:

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DeadChannel

Previously watched film #2:


Detour is a 1945 American poverty row noir film starring Tom Neil, Ann Savage and Claudia Drake and directed by Edgar G. Ulmer.

Really, this is the best example of a poverty row film that I can give. As far as I can tell, it might've been done for as little as $20,000, but man is it a bang for the buck. Poverty row studios were sort of like the indies of today. They shot B pictures on shoestring budgets. Often, these movies gained very little critical attention at the time they came out. However, some of them (like detour) have gained attention since then.

Detour is a short, fundamentally flawed film, but it races forward and explodes on impact. It's well paced and powerful. It's got the typical archetypes of the genre (the vitriol spewing femme fatale, for instance), but they're used in an incredibly interesting fashion.

I would describe all of the performances as passable. Tom Neil plays a quietly depressed man, which he does a good job at. Ann savage seldom looses her crunched up expression of rage and hate and general pissed-off-ness, which is at times a a bit funny but works for the part. Throughout the movie, this is really the only feeling that she expresses. I would have likes to see a bit more range. Claudia Drake's performance is pretty unremarkable, but it's not a travesty or anything. None of the performances are terribly naturalistic, but for this type of movie they don't need to be.

The script is dynamic, hard hitting and incredibly climactic. The dialogue is pretty well written. Most of the supporting characters (ie. everyone but Tom Neil) are a bit one dimensional. Even Tom Neil's character feels like he's really just there to serve the plot. This isn't a movie that you'll want to go to if you're looking for character drama.

The music is pretty unremarkable, but there was a scene where the protagonist l plays a piano that I particularly enjoyed. So much so, in fact, that I sampled it in the short film that I shot this summer.
The dialogue is clear enough, and the sound effects are fine (for a 1945 poverty row noir), but there's a cracking in the background throughout. This is something that you come to expect from films like this, though. Nothing to be dome except for maybe a full restoration.

A full restoration seems pretty unlikely, though, because the film has entered into the public domain. It's an excellent example of B noirs, and I full heartedly recommend it. You can probably find it on YouTube if you look.
I give it a 7/10

DeadChannel

@Oriphiel: I'll put all of those in my watch list. There's something really special about a good (and sometimes bad) spaghetti.

@ContrivedNihlism: ah, yeah, I've heard good things about that. Also on the list.

@Plankton: broken link...

CoNtrivedNiHilism

Yeah man, I went in to the movie blind, knew nothing about it, literally. Late at night, browsing Netflix at a buddies drinking beers, and it caught my eye, and so I watched it and discovered a fantastic work of foreign cinema. I still haven't watched a better foreign film since, thought I am sure if I did some looking around, I'd find something better.

Oh hey, as another late night Netflix movie discovery in foreign cinema, I will also recommend this...



The movie poster doesn't do much for giving an idea of the film, but trust me; do not judge this movie by its poster. I think you'll be surprised.



This one too.

Plankton

Sorry 'bout that.

Adventures of Power: In his quest to become the world's greatest air-drummer, a small-town dreamer must overcome obstacles and ridicule to save the day.

Adventures of Power (2008) - IMDb

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DeadChannel

Those all looks really intriguing, so hopefully I can get to a few soon. For the next little while, my internet is to ****ty to download or stream anything, so I'm stuck with whatever I have on dvd and blu ray, but I'll make a point of including those next time I get a chance to download stuff.

Oriphiel

Since everyone seems to be posting big pictures of movie posters, I may as well jump on the bandwagon!

DeadChannel

New film #2


Shock is a 1946 film noir starring Vincent Price, Lynn Bari, Frank Latimore and Anabel Shaw and directed by Alfred Werker.

Alanbel Shaw's character witnesses a murder and becomes distraught. The perpetrator (Vincent Price) happens to be a doctor, and he covers up the murder by having her committed to a sanitarium.

I thought this was a terrific idea for a movie, and ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It's by no means an amazing picture, but it is a solid, dependable way to kill an hour (well, seventy minutes). There's nothing that stands out as being particularly excellent, but it's suspenseful and generally well made. It has a much larger budget than the last movie I reviewed, but it still firmly sits in b picture territory.

The film was made before Vincent Price became known for b horror pictures, and he does an excellent job. On one hand, he comes off as being wonderfully evil. On the other hand, you get the feeling that he has a lot of remorse. All in all, both sides of him work towards a great performance.
Lynn Bari plays a nurse and Price's girlfriend. Throughout then movie, she pushes him to do things so that they both can get away, and she's fairly convincing at it. I wouldn't really say that she's as good as Price in this movie, but she's very competent and right for the part.
Anabel shaw has an interesting part. Throughout the movie, she's psychological distraught over the murder. Honestly, it's a bit overacted (and at times, weirdly sexual). Throughout, she has a wide eyed look of either terror or vacancy.
Frank Latimore plays Shaw's husband who's just returned from war. He seems pretty concerned about her, but again, it's not a particularly remarkable performance.

I'd be hard pressed to differentiate the soundtrack of this film from that of any other 1940s film noir. However, the sound is plenty crisp and clear.
It's shot and lit pretty well. I love classic noir 3 point lighting, and this is a fine example of it. There's also a scene towards the start with some weird distortion going on. I'd like to know how this was accomplished.

I hate to call this movie "so-so", because I actually really enjoyed it and would recommend it to fans of the genre. However, I'm going to give it the so-so rating of:
5/10