Saturday afternoon. Don’t want to play baseball in the hood. If I stay home, I will have to cut the grass. Why can’t the lawn grow wild anyway? The solution is clear. Get a five spot from Dad, have him don his chauffeur hat, hop in the Hudson Jet and head to town for a mid row, mid section seat in the Warner Theater for a Saturday Afternoon Sci Fi triple feature. There was no bigger thrill in the world than being seated in a large dark room surrounded by like minded cronies with a bag of buttery popcorn on your lap. All of us were waiting for the projection man to roll the first flick of the day, “Them”. “Them” is a classic of the 50′s Sci Fi genre. Anybody who was a child in the fifties will know that we were taught to fear an inevitable nuclear attack by the dreaded Russian Commies. Who could ever forget the duck and cover maneuver? We rehearsed this goofy defensive procedure every month in grade school. You would simply hide under your little wooden desk and cover your head with your hands. I always crossed my fingers and hoped they would miss, praying all the time that those evil predators would target DC way before Westtown, PA. The fear of the bomb, which, in and of itself, is not paranoid, was the fodder for many Sci Fi films. The usual plot line would be an atomic bomb test gone wrong followed by the appearance of some giant mutant creature with a taste for human flesh. What a set up for real trepidation. The bomb, giant ants and a terrified little girl screaming, “Them, them”. The sound that the giant ants in “Them” made was early synthesizer magic. The film also had two very good actors in it so that it would not fall into cornball ham drama. These actors were James Whitmore and Edmund Gwenn, who was famous for playing Santa Claus in “Miracle on 34th Street”. This has all of the hokem that makes fifties fantasy flicks fun. It also is quite well made by most standards. The current generation of Science Fiction movies have universes that revolve around eye candy that is, most certainly, state of the art. In my era, this genre of movie relied on a very present fear because of our indoctrination. If our Saturday afternoon movies were not based around nuclear swollen insects and such, they were busy terrifying us with flying saucers and aliens. Aliens back then seemed quite possible. Just check out Mamie Van Doren. My favorites were always the large city-devouring monster variety. When it comes to Saturday afternoon joy, this short list of movies fits the bill just right: (1) Them – Giant ants and terror stricken children. (2) Tarantula – Most folks hate spiders, so tarantulas as tall as buildings evoke primal fear. (3) Gojira (Godzilla) – Actually, a very powerful political statement. Do the Japanese version without Raymond Burr. (4) The Incredible Shrinking Man – Radioactive mist gives the protagonist ultimate shrinkage. (5) The Giant Behemoth – Even the Brits have trouble with radioactive monsters. (6) The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms – Ray Harryhausen gets into the act. (7) The H Man – Another classic from the director of Godzilla (8) Mothra – Who could not love a giant moth? (9) Kiss Me Deadly – Not a Sci Fi. I had to mention a fave film noir with a nuclear ending (10) The Day The Earth Stood Still – No catastrophes. Aliens come to Earth to stop our violent nature and love of the Big One. A movie that resonates in any decade where wars rage and the A bomb reigns as the secret king of doomsday. Sit back on a rainy Saturday afternoon with some treats and a good companion to give one of these entertainments a viewing. They are coming for you and they are buffed up with radioactive isotopes.
Robert Wise – A Man of Many Genres
When West Side Story was released as a movie in 1960, I was 12 years old and deeply in love with movies. I enjoyed Mr. Bernstein’s masterpiece so much that I went to see it six times during its initial release year. The opening sequence of the mad dance between The Jets and The Sharks through the streets of New York is still one of my favorite beginnings to any film. West Side Story is absolutely my favorite musical and, most probably, one of my personal top tens just because of the pure enjoyment it has brought to me. The director of the movie, Robert Wise, is an unsung master of many genres. His best films run the gamut from Sci Fi to Film Noir. He made every style he approached look good to the eyes.
His early films with Val Lewton are minor miracles of the horror mode. Both The Body Snatcher and The Curse Of The Cat People get their feelings from a much deeper place than fear. The Curse Of The Cat People is a wonderful black and white eye feast. The true uneasy feeling you get from the movie comes from the fact that all the horror is directed at a young child who is left helpless because the adults around her don’t see what she sees. Truly a creepy flick.
I can watch any level of Film Noir at any moment in the day. Two of my favorite Film Noirs are Wise’s The Set Up and Born To Kill. The Set Up is a back alley fight picture that lives deep in city shadows. Born To Kill is a very real portrait of murder as sex. Claire Trevor is a lascivious creature that gets Laurence Tierney’s attention by her skills with guns. Their partnership in murder is their romance. These two films would make a great double feature.
Wise’s masterpiece is now and always shall be The Day The Earth Stood Still. Pacifist aliens that would have no trouble shutting down life on Earth if provoked by human violence. When Klaatu decides to demonstrate his powers to humankind, he always reminds me of Moses of The Planets in a button down suit.
There are plenty of other treasures in Robert Wise’s work. There is The Sound of Music (Beautiful music, incredible wide screen vistas and Nazis). The Sand Pebbles is a slightly drawn out epic about a very interesting period of history. Odds Against Tomorrow is a late Film Noir with a very powerful depiction of overt racism. The Haunting may be the most frightening movie ever made that relies on pure suggestion and not sudden shock. Hats off to Mr. Wise. I have taken delight.
The French Bogart
I have always loved the acting skills of Humphrey Bogart. His face was the perfect instrument to play a tune of emotion for the camera. I am more likely to stare at a face of character than one of exquisite beauty. So, I have spent some goodly hours peering at Bogie’s visage and enjoying it like a view of a breath taking vista. On the other side of the ocean, there existed a face that gives me a similar response, Jean Gabin. He has the same sort of countenance as Humphrey. It can be awash in humor, set in a blinding rage or as sensitive as a moment of doubt. Gabin also had the same physical quality in his gestures and gait. His best work is in the films of Jean Renoir where he embodied the working class man with a brooding temperment and complex moral structure. His face could terrify you with an innate threat of violence or beguile you with a gentle hint of romance. If you wish to explore his work, let me suggest the following titles to fill an evening or two with cinematic pleasure: Grande Illusion, La Bete Humaine, French Can Can, Pepe Le Moko, Touchez Pas au Gribi and The Lower Depths. At all cost avoid his great American mistake, Moontide. Au revoir.
A Major/Minor Kurosawa – “I Live in Fear”
To anyone old enough to remember “duck and cover’ or “the arms race”, the atomic bomb remains a very real fear. These apocalyptic companions live on in great numbers in our current world. The environment may be degrading, terrorists may be behind every door, but nuclear weapons are the one threat that could end the world in one fell stroke. They are also the physical manifestation of the darkest recesses of the human soul. “I Live In Fear” is a Kurosawa movie made after World War II that reflects the paranoia of the only nation to have experienced the destruction of a nuclear attack. The central character of the film lives with the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki haunting his every day. He spends the movie trying to get his family to move to South America to avoid the effects of the inevitable use of nuclear weapons. To me, this movie is the ultimate “horror” film because it displays the ruins of a man who has lived through true terror. Aliens, vampires and zombies to the rear. Here comes the big one. “I Live In Fear” is not movie making history in terms of direction or production. Yet, it is the only movie that deals with the man made monster that must, one day, be confronted and destroyed – the “H” bomb. I shivered through the entire running time. Toshiro Mifune plays an old man while he was a young man better than anyone that comes to mind. See it. This is a fear we should all have.
Carol Reed – A Brit in the Shadows
When someone suggests a great starting point for viewing British cinema, the names of David Lean or the team of Powell and Pressburger generally come to mind. To understand the global attitude after World War II, film noir is often suggested. I would like you to consider three films by Carol Reed that would serve as both of the above. In the years of 1947, 1948 and 1949, Carol Reed made three films that are some of the best of British film and show the fears of the world after Hitler. These are shadow laden, black and white movies that have elements of suspense and fear within all of them. The use of light and camera angles have never been better shown. All three movies drip post war paranoia and suspicion. They feature wonderful performances by Joseph Cotton, James Mason and Ralph Richardson. I give you: Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol and The Third Man. Watch them in tandem and enjoy.
