Movie Review: Shadow Of A Doubt (1943)

A suspense mystery directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Shadow Of A Doubt meanders around a few intriguing topics without finding a firm footing.

Charles "Uncle Charlie" Oakley (Joseph Cotten) is hiding out in a rooming house with a large stash of crumpled cash. When two men track him down, he gives them the slip and relocates to Santa Rosa, California and the family home of his sister Emma (Patricia Collinge). She is married to banker Joseph Newton (Henry Travers), and their teenaged daughter Charlotte (Teresa Wright) is named after her uncle and also goes by "Charlie". 

Charlie sees her Uncle as a suave, sophisticated, mysterious and brilliant businessman. Emma is equally enthralled by her brother. But in reality Uncle Charlie is the subject of a nationwide manhunt as one of two men suspected of being the "Merry Widow Murderer" for marrying and killing a succession of wealthy widows. When detective Jack Graham (Macdonald Carey) arrives in Santa Rosa and starts asking questions, Charlie is torn between admiring and suspecting her increasingly agitated Uncle.

Uncle Charlie's guilt or innocence is the core question in Shadow Of A Doubt, but the attempt to prolong the guessing game is exceptionally weak. The script by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville fools no one in introducing an abstract potential other suspect on the other side of the country. With the detective work on display best described as inept, the crime-related suspense elements are tame and only marginally intriguing until a late but clumsy burst of malevolence. 

Hitchcock settles for merrily dancing on the edge of other subversive topics, and meanders towards dangerous domestic alleys. Charlie's infatuation with her Uncle is excessive and pushes well into romantic crush territory, with references to their special relationship not discouraged when he gifts her a ring. And Emma's protective coddling of her brother further suggests unusual family dynamics.

Beyond the real, desired or imagined taboo liaisons, Hitchcock teases with a running side-conversation between Joseph and his tweedy buddy Herbie (Hume Cronyn) about murder methods. This banter is only partially humorous before descending into pointlessly morbid dinner table conversations (with Herbie an uninvited but frequent guest). A lazy side-trip to Joseph's bank for Uncle Charlie to flash his wealth and insult all comers provides another distraction.

More pertinent is Uncle Charlie's deeply troubled psyche, and here Shadow Of A Doubt crackles. Joseph Cotten exudes well-rehearsed smarm as a curtain to hide depravity, but only until the hate bubbles to the surface and Uncle Charlie expresses disdain for elderly women and utter antipathy for peaceful small-town life. This is one tormented soul, and of that there can be no doubt.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Last Sunset (1961)

An astute western, The Last Sunset adds character texture, multiple romantic threads and complex themes to traditional genre elements.

In Mexico, Bren O'Malley (Kirk Douglas) rides to the ranch of Belle Breckenridge (Dorothy Malone), his lover from years ago. She is now married to the limping and bottle-dependent cattle baron John Breckenridge (Joseph Cotten), and has a 15 year old daughter Melissa (Carol Lynley). Bren is honest about his intentions to win back Belle's love while Melissa quickly develops a crush on the handsome stranger, despite their age difference.

Sheriff Dana Stribling (Rock Hudson) arrives at the Breckenridge ranch with a Texas-issued warrant to arrest Bren for murder. But this is also a personal pursuit, because the murder victim was Stribling's brother-in-law. Dana is immediately smitten with Belle, creating a romantic triangle. The two men agree to pause their looming showdown and help the Breckenridge family drive 1,000 head of cattle to Texas, where the fugitive and the sheriff will settle their differences.

An adaptation of a Howard Rigsby novel produced by Douglas' company Brynaprod, The Last Sunset delivers all the staples expected from a conventional western. The cattle drive as a centerpiece and transformative journey carries echoes from Red River, as does the conflict between two strong personalities at the helm. An epic fist-fight, no-good bandits (including the omnipresent Jack Elam), foul weather, stray cattle, quicksand and a run-in with a native tribe all make an appearance. 

Despite the cliches and some sticky, creaky and melodramatic moments, director Robert Aldrich keeps the action moving, aided by visually rich and colourful cinematography courtesy of Ernest Laszlo. But writer Dalton Trumbo, in a post-blacklist credit, is also interested in pushing well beyond typical genre topics. The Last Sunset features multiple elaborate romantic pursuits and two compelling women in the mother-daughter pair of Belle and Melissa, both provided with expansive arcs.

Belle finds herself at the centre of three men. Her husband is the weakest (Joseph Cotten in a thankless role), O'Malley is the fiery lover from her past and Stribling the potentially more promising and stable presence. Dorothy Malone strikes the right balance portraying a woman with a sudden range of options and a pragmatic disposition to assess them, and Belle takes her place among the more memorable women in westerns.

Melissa (nicknamed Missy by O'Malley) slowly gains presence, first as an awe-struck teenager then as a more outspoken woman-in-the-making. Carol Lynley grows into the role and asserts increasing influence as the cattle drive reaches a climax. The relationship twist in the tail is not difficult to anticipate, and Trumbo strides into dangerous territory with eyes open and an elegant ending in mind.

Douglas gave Hudson first billing, and he is fine in the lead role as a guardian of the law with a personal sting. But Douglas reserved the more intricate role for himself as Bren O'Malley, a man at the crossroads and eager to right past wrongs but still at the mercy of his character failings. He pursues a long-gone vision of Belle and is emotionally ambushed by the emergence of Missy as an eager here-and-now lover. O'Malley has to navigate away from a dark past and into a potentially impossible future.

In a relatively tangential side-story, the resolution of John Breckenridge's journey reveals the breadth of narrative ambition. His past as a confederate soldier catches up with him, and Trumbo writes a soul-destroying scene for a broken man facing the ultimate humiliation. The Last Sunset is a challenging time for men and women on the frontier, and a more than worthwhile western.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: Niagara (1953)

A film noir featuring stunning scenery and Marilyn Monroe's first starring role, Niagara offers luscious visuals but suffers from underdeveloped characters and a distracted crime story.

Polly and Ray Cutler (Jean Peters and Max Showalter, credited as Casey Adams) head to the scenic Canadian side of Niagara Falls for a delayed honeymoon. At the motel they meet troubled couple Rose and George Loomis (Monroe and Joseph Cotten). George has spent time at an army mental hospital and remains agitated. Rose is bored with her husband and has no hesitation flaunting her sexuality.

As the Cutlers enjoy the local tourist attractions they stumble upon Rose carrying on an illicit affair with the hunky Patrick (Richard Allan). Polly feels sorry for George and reaches out to offer support. Rose has a nefarious plan in mind to move on with her life, but her plot will unexpectedly unravel, leaving Polly in the middle of churning danger.

The first film to feature Marilyn Monroe as the primary star name, Niagara shamelessly showcases both the famous falls and Ms. Monroe's figure. The murder-most-foul plot does contain intriguing nuggets including unresolved mental health and infatuation issues. But the narrative takes a back seat as director Henry Hathaway is preoccupied with finding the best angles to capture the forceful waterfalls and his force-of-nature star.

This includes celebrating her derriere and hip-swaying walk in a famous scene that lingers as Monroe sashays away from the camera. Hathaway also dresses - and undresses - his star in a series of legendary outfits, pushing 1953 cinematic boundaries and cannonballing Monroe into superstardom as the world's premier sex symbol.

Niagara's visual objectives demand vibrant exposition, and so this is a film noir bursting with colour. Hathaway plays with window blind shadows creating prison stripes and a few moments of suspense, but otherwise allows Rose's femme fatale and her evil intentions to stand alone against the rather incongruous backdrop of spectacular imagery.

With attention focused elsewhere, the real shadow falls on the wholesome characters of Polly and Ray. Supposedly the entryway into the story, they are reduced to passive observers as the plot unfolds. Ray is a dorky businessman oblivious to the evil brewing in the cabin next door, and he mainly represents the red-blooded male exhibiting helpless tongue-hanging-out lust at Monroe's sensuality. Meanwhile the attempts to insert Polly into the swirl of tension are only partially successful, and she also has to tolerate Ray's infantile attempts to overtly glamourize her once he's exposed to the Rose calibre of sexuality.

The conniving Rose and troubled George are by far the more interesting characters, but they are not provided sufficient context to harbour sympathy. The background of George's mental health troubles deserved a deeper dive than afforded in the script co-written by producer Charles Brackett.

Hathaway's best Hitchcockian sequence comes courtesy of a bell tower and a suspenseful chase up the stairs serving as a build-up to an act of sorrowful revenge followed by unexpected entrapment. Niagara is frustratingly sprinkled with moments of promise, but drenched by a near-exploitive yet star-making agenda.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: I'll Be Seeing You (1944)

A romantic drama, I'll Be Seeing You is an involving wartime story designed for maximum sentimentality.

Christmas is approaching, and Mary Marshall (Ginger Rogers) and decorated Sergeant Zachary Morgan (Joseph Cotten) meet on a train trip in California. They are both harbouring secrets that they hide from each other: she is a prisoner on a short break for good behaviour. He is suffering from shell shock after being wounded in battle, and is on temporary release from hospital to test his emotional resilience in society.

During her furlough Mary stays at the house of her Uncle Henry and Aunt Sarah (Tom Tully and Spring Byington) and her teenaged niece Barbara (Shirley Temple). They welcome Zach to dinner and a relationship starts to blossom between him and Mary. Zach finds comfort with his new companion and reveals his condition, but Mary cannot bring herself to talk about her imprisonment, and also has to navigate around young Barbara's passive hostility.

Directed by William Dieterle and with a title derived from a hit song of the day. I'll Be Seeing You covers some of the same ground later tackled with more polish in The Best Years Of Our Lives. While I'll Be Seeing You deserves credit for delving into the world of what is now called post traumatic stress disorder, the film is less about the impacts of war and more about damaged souls helping each other heal. Dieterle delivers a purposeful and compact sub-90 minute drama, the film's efficacy matched only by its predictability.

The tension between Mary and Zach is generated by the shame they carry, and an inability to navigate towards honesty. She cannot imagine any form of bright future as a future ex-convict, and is sure revealing her status will drive away anyone who may care about her. After a couple of meltdowns Zach starts to understand that Mary is good for him and stumbles his way towards revealing his condition, creating a growing but uneven dependency.

With a sappy music score milking every scene, Dieterle carefully constructs the film for maximum tragic effect, the lovers' happiness doomed to fall into a deep pothole. I'll Be Seeing You does not disappoint in its singular intent to deliver intense romance in the face of hopelessness, with Mary and Zach carrying enough humanity to make the experience worth caring about.

Ginger Rogers and Joseph Cotten are serviceable but both also appear older than their characters. The Marshall household provides the supporting cast, and Shirley Temple adds an enterprising dimension as the niece caught between curiosity and repulsion.

Arriving exactly at the intended station, I'll Be Seeing You is professionally syrupy.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: Airport '77 (1977)

A disaster movie with a galaxy of stars trapped on a submerged airliner, Airport '77 is as corny as can be expected but also surprisingly well produced.

Aging tycoon Philip Stevens (James Stewart) invites high profile guests to travel on his lavishly outfitted private Boeing 747 en route to the grand opening of his home-based museum. Captain Don Gallagher (Jack Lemmon) is in command of the flight, while Eve Clayton (Brenda Vaccaro) is Don's long-time lover and in charge of passenger comfort. The guests include Nicholas St. Downs III (Joseph Cotten) and Emily Livingston (Olivia de Havilland), who first met in the 1930s and are reunited on the flight. Businessman Martin Wallace (Christopher Lee) and his neglected and perpetually drunk wife Karen (Lee Grant) are also on the flight, as are Stevens' daughter Lisa (Pamela Bellwood) and her young son.

In the cargo hold is a large collection of expensive art, and this attracts a band of thieves under the leadership of co-pilot Chambers (Robert Foxworth). Over the Bermuda Triangle the criminals release a sleeping gas to knock out Gallagher and all the passengers, and Chambers changes course, flying below the radar towards an uninhabited island. But in dense fog the 747 clips an off-shore oil rig, the plane crashes into the sea and sinks to the sea bed, intact but leaking. Gallagher has to keep the passengers calm and find a way to notify rescuers of the plane's location while the Navy and Coast Guard mount a search operation.

Directed by Jerry Jameson, Airport '77 arrived relatively late in the cycle of 1970s disaster films. By now the formula is overly familiar: collect a bunch of mostly elderly Hollywood stars, place them in peril, and play a parlour game of who lives and who dies before the credits roll. While everything about the film is conventional, the production values are well above average, yielding a mixed experience where the content is tired but the packaging is slick.

Disaster movies tend to work better in confined spaces, and the coffin-under-the-sea premise is appropriately claustrophobic and generates a real sense of danger, with water slowly seeping into the plane, and the passengers threatened with both drowning and asphyxiation.

The film's ambitions are reflected in a superior cast deep in veteran talent. Lemmon and Cotten are most prominent and get to run around the bowels of the cavernous plane and play the role of heroes. The likes of Stewart, de Havilland, Grant and Lee ensure that as irritating as the passengers are, they are good at being irritating. George Kennedy makes his obligatory disaster movie appearance, but this time is limited to a more minor role as a rescue coordinator. The special effects are decent for the era and have survived the test of time.

The final act transforms into a propaganda piece for the rescue capabilities of the Navy and Coast Guard, and although again the cheese factor is odorous, the execution is polished. Jameson keeps the pacing tight, delivering the drama in under two hours, and the final acts of tactical implementation, heroism, and late-in-the-day death are completed with requisite precision.

Airport '77 is definitely all wet, but enjoys its time in the cinematic tub.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Duel In The Sun (1946)

An overwrought Western romantic drama, Duel In The Sun is a barely tolerable exercise in overheated emotions. David O. Selznick's foolish attempt to create another Gone With The Wind unfortunately crosses the line into unmitigated camp.

In Texas, the wealthy Scott Chavez (Herbert Marshall) kills his flirtatious wife (Tilly Losch) and her lover. Before being hanged for murder, Scott arranges for his half-breed free-spirited daughter Pearl (Jennifer Jones) to live with the family of his former lover and second cousin Laura Belle McCanles (Lillian Gish). The McCanles own a massive ranch, and while Laura Belle welcomes Pearl, her wheelchair bound patriarch husband Senator Jackson McCanles (Lionel Barrymore) does not conceal his condescending and racist attitudes.

The two McCanles sons immediately start to vie for Pearl's attention. Jesse (Joseph Cotten) is a calm and educated man, but also lacking in charisma. Lewt (Gregory Peck) is rough and rude, but also passionate and possessing a violent streak. Pearl tries to grab Jesse's attention, but it is Lewt who makes the aggressive move to start a steamy, possession-obsessed relationship, and Pearl can't resist his advances. With the approaching railway supported by Federal troops encroaching onto the McCanles property, a deep rift emerges between Jesse and the Senator, amplifying the tension.

While King Vidor is credited as the director, Duel In The Sun was a troubled production that suffered from Selznick's continuous meddling. In total up to seven directors may have had a hand in creating the film, including William Dieterle, Otto Brower, Selznick himself and none other than Josef von Sternberg, who was hired as a lighting expert to ensure Jennifer Jones always looked good.

And making Jones look good was one of Selznick's main motivations. They were in a relationship that would end in marriage, and Selznick was intent on sparing no expense to make Jones a huge star. He also wanted to top Gone With The Wind with another big-scale romance. Unfortunately, Duel In The Sun fails on all counts.

Despite a hideous makeup job that miserably fails to conceal her whiteness, Jones does look ravishing, and her wardrobe helps her convey an unconstrained sexuality. But Jones' overacting has to be seen to be believed, and in many scenes she descends into theatricality only suitable for the silent era or the amateur stage.

But much worse is a jackhammer script that invests 145 minutes on a romantic triangle featuring love, hate, sex, rape, racism, devotion and repulsion, often crammed into the same scene. An adaptation of a Niven Busch novel, the film does deserve recognition for daring to tackle some thorny issues head-on, including sexual power struggles and discrimination due to race. But the film fundamentally fails to provide any enriching societal or historical context around the romantic complications. The subplot related to the railway expansion appears in brief throwaway scenes and is soon forgotten. Instead the entirety of the movie drowns in the melodramatic emotions of Pearl as she wildly fluctuates between the breathless pursuit and evasion of Jesse and Lewt with no rhyme or reason.

While Lionel Barrymore and Lillian Gish show the younger cast members how its done, the stars surrounding Jones flounder just as badly as she does. Gregory Peck struggles mightily as the bad guy, the script calling on him to transform into an overtly evil man but depriving him of any depth. Joseph Cotten is so bland as Jesse that when he leaves the ranch after his dispute with the Senator, no one seems to notice.

If nothing else Duel In The Sun looks gorgeous, with plenty of sunsets, silhouettes, deep reds, blazing yellows and grand vistas to convey the harsh but wide open Texas terrain. But after a train wreck that seems to belong in another movie but here serves as an apt metaphor for the entire project, the film ends with what is probably one of Hollywood's best bad climaxes: a crawl-in-the-dust fiasco intended as dramatic but that is nothing short of hilarious in the worst possible way. For all the wrong reasons, it really is difficult to look away from the debacle that is Duel In The Sun.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Third Man (1949)

A missing man murder mystery set in post-war Vienna, The Third Man is a masterpiece of ambiance. Director Carol Reed creates a world of intrigue populated by men and women hiding secrets, and captures it all with stunning visuals filled with uneasy shadows and glistening surfaces.

Vienna after the war is divided into five sectors. Each of the French, British, Americans and Russians control one, while the centre of the city is the international sector, where the four countries run hopelessly inept joint police patrols. It is here that all the criminals have congregated to run the assorted dangerous rackets that flourish in a devastated city. American Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a little-known writer of bad pulp westerns, arrives in the city at the invitation of his old friend Harry Lime only to find out that Lime has just died in an accident after being run over by a truck.

Martins meets British police Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) and his assistant Sergeant Paine (Bernard Lee), and they are keenly interested in any friends of Lime. Martins also gets involved with the cryptic Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), Lime's former lover. But more intriguing is the collection of Lime's former associates, including  "Baron" Kurtz (Ernst Deutsch), Dr. Winkel (Erich Ponto) and the Romanian Popescu (Siegfried Breuer). In addition to the coincidence of all having being present when Lime died, they appear friendly and keen to meet Martins, and just as eager to see him leave town.

In talking with Lime's porter (Paul Hörbiger), Martins discovers inconsistencies in the narrative about Lime's death, including the possibility that a "third man", in addition to Kurtz and Popescu, helped carry Lime after he was struck by the lorry. Martins is drawn to the troubled Anna but out of his depth investigating the death of his friend. Another man dies and Martins himself is now a suspect, before the truth gets further entangled in a growing web of deceit.

Written by Graham Greene and directed with panache by Reed, almost every frame of The Third Man is a piece of art. Making outstanding use of film noir techniques including oblique angles, enormous shadows, acute light, reflective surfaces and stark blacks and whites, Reed and his cinematographer Robert Krasker create a world unhinged by the aftereffects of war, occupied by desperate men profiting from a vacuum of civil order and the slow creep of anarchy. Almost everything important appears to happen in the dark hours, Vienna at night the playground of the twisted and evil.

For a story set in the land of Mozart, Strauss, Haydn and Schubert, Reed goes looking for a unique music score and veers sharply away from anything resembling convention. Composed by the unknown-at-the-time Anton Karas, the music consists of simple, rural tunes played by Karas himself on the zither. The music adds enormously to the sense of a world gone halfway insane, and is a timeless, playful and instantly recognizable accompaniment to the dazzling visuals.

As for the plot, it is sturdy enough to compete with all the dramatic style on display. A classic investigation into a dense mystery by an unwelcome outsider, it is evident early on that nothing about Harry Lime's death is routine. It is equally clear that not much good will come from Holly Martins' well-intentioned but ultimately misguided search for a better truth.

Before long a bad situation is just getting worse thanks to his meddling, Anna landing in trouble with the Russians, another dead body landing on the Vienna streets, and Martins fingered as a suspect and on the run from both an unruly mob and more clinical goons. It's a cat and mouse game in the half abandoned back alleys of a wounded city, and Martins is never sure until it's too late whether he is the hunter or the hunted.

And then there is Orson Welles. Appearing for less than 20 minutes of screen time, Welles turns a glorified cameo into an unforgettable experience. His lines of dialogue have entered movie folklore, and his searing, beady-eyed and ruthless intensity leaves an indelible impact. Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee and Alida Valli are steady, but once Welles appears he dominates with effortless composure, and the film becomes about a man controlling the strings while hiding in the literal and figurative shadows.

The Third Man ends brilliantly, with an exquisitely framed encounter that doesn't happen, full of words that aren't spoken, and the tantalizing promise of a better life that is not fulfilled. The war may have ended, but for many the misery will continue.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

The Movies Of Joseph Cotten

All movies starring Joseph Cotten and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Citizen Kane (1941)

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Shadow Of A Doubt (1943)

Gaslight (1944)

I'll Be Seeing You (1944)

Duel In The Sun (1946)

The Third Man (1949)

Niagara (1953)

Touch Of Evil (1958, uncredited)

The Last Sunset (1961)

Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

Soylent Green (1973)

Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)

Airport '77 (1977)

Heaven's Gate (1980)

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

The decline and fall of a rich Indianapolis family, The Magnificent Ambersons is a directorial tour-de-force by Orson Welles. Despite significant studio editing, the film sparkles as a gossipy drama and a story of love and jealousy across generations.

Early in the 1900s, the Ambersons are one of the wealthiest families in Indianapolis, and they live in the grandest of mansions. Daughter Isabel (Dolores Costello) rejects the advances of eccentric inventor Eugene Morgan (Joseph Cotten) when he embarasses himself with an awkward fall. She settles instead for the grey Wilbur Minafer (Donald Dillaway). They have a son George, a spoiled brat who grows up to be a conceited young man (Tim Holt).

George returns home from college and immediately sets his sights on Lucy Morgan (Anne Baxter), Eugene's daughter. Eugene is fast becoming a successful tycoon in the nascent automobile industry, while the fortunes of the Ambersons are in a rapid decline due to bad investments. When Wilbur dies, Eugene again tries to ignite a serious romance with Isabel. George strongly objects to his mother having a dalliance with a new man, while Isabel's plain sister Fanny (Agnes Moorehead) is equally devastated, since she had always harboured secret hopes of winning Eugene's affections.

Edited down to just 88 minutes from an eternally lost original cut of 148 minutes, the surviving version of The Magnificent Ambersons is a compact masterpiece of human drama and cinematic wizardry.

Almost every scene in the film is a carefully composed artwork. Welles directs his own script with an emphasis on fluid camera movements, actors seamlessly gliding in and out of the frame, breathtaking long takes, animated backgrounds, and in-scene depth. Shooting through doors, doorways and hallways or in the cavernous rooms of the Amberson mansion (built with moveable walls to accommodate the kinetic camera movements), Welles fills the screen with action behind the action, something always happening in the background to compete with or enhance the foreground main event.

The story is an epic reversal of fortune, fully deserved in the case of George, as his comeuppance unfolds with the full support of a community fed up with his singularly unearned arrogance. The disintegration of the Ambersons is also a classic tale of the ever turning wheel of market forces. George's grandfather Major Amberson (Richard Bennett) loses his touch in picking winning investments just as Eugene Morgan gets to grips with the automobile and steps into the wealthy industrial class through a technology unheard of in the Major's era.

Welles' phenomenal perception is on full display, as even before the private car fully catches on with society, Eugene, in response to a snide comment from George, expresses his concern that his seemingly miraculous invention may yet prove to be a negative societal force.

Eugene: I'm not sure George is wrong about automobiles. With all their speed forward, they may be a step backward in civilization. It may be that they won't add to the beauty of the world or the life of men's souls. I'm not sure. But automobiles have come. And almost all outward things are going to be different because of what they bring. They're going to alter war and they're going to alter peace. And I think men's minds are going to be changed in subtle ways because of automobiles. And it may be that George is right. It may be that in ten or twenty years from now, if we can see the inward change in men by that time, I shouldn't be able to defend the gasoline engine but would have to agree with George: that automobiles had no business to be invented.

The Magnificent Ambersons is also a series of tragic love stories. Eugene and Isabel pursue a love that is simply never meant to be. Small events, the passing years and small people will conspire to keep them apart. Fanny also suffers in solitude, her pathetic pining for Eugene worlds apart from his utter disinterest in her. Even the relationship between George and Lucy stumbles and stalls rather than soars, his haughtiness in contrast to her practical upbringing.

But for all the financial and emotional turmoil, Welles keeps the mood light. The townsfolk provide a prattling commentary on the travails of the Amberson clan, there is a steady diet of humour, and a thread of world-wise resignation accompanies all the heartache.

A grand story which was ultimately destined to be revealed in unusually concise form, the story of the Ambersons remains nevertheless magnificent.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Citizen Kane (1941)

One of the most outstanding achievements in the history of cinema, Citizen Kane ushered in the era of maverick directors stamping their films with grand personality and vision. Orson Welles assembles a masterpiece of virtuoso storytelling in recounting the amazing tale of a rich industrialist who has everything that can be bought and nothing that matters.

Mega tycoon Charles Foster Kane (Welles) dies a lonely death in his enormous, lavishly furnished but mostly empty Xanadu mansion. His last uttered word is "Rosebud". Journalist Jerry Thompson (William Alland) is tasked with finding out what the word meant, and tracks down Kane's closest associates, including best friend Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten) and lifelong employee Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane). Through their anecdotes Kane's life story is revealed.

Born to a poor rural family in Colorado, when he was a young boy Kane's mother Mary (Agnes Moorehead) inherited a piece of property where a massive gold deposit was unearthed. Kane's parents place him in the care of banker Walter Thatcher (George Coulouris) and send him away to get an education and see the world until his 25th birthday, when he inherits his massive fortune. Kane never gets over the shock of abrupt separation from his parents and happy childhood.

As a rich young man, Kane has his pick of businesses to run, but decides to personally take control of the New York Inquirer, a struggling newspaper. He uses it as a pulpit to expose corruption, bolstering his popularity and influence, and he goes on to build a massive national media conglomerate. He marries Emily Monroe Norton (Ruth Warrick), the niece of the President, and sets himself up for a career in politics, initially running for the Governor's office.

With Kane riding a wave of popularity and holding a seemingly unassailable lead in the opinion polls, his rival Jim Gettys (Ray Collins) exposes Kane's extramarital affair with lounge singer Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore), ending Kane's political career before it starts, and also destroying his marriage. Emily leaves him and he immediately marries Susan. Kane pours enormous resources to try and establish Susan as a serious opera star. As Kane grows ever more obsessed with seeking the world's approval, his remaining personal relationships start to suffer. And still, Thompson doggedly pursues what "Rosebud" could have possibly referred to.

Coming from the world of theatre and radio, Welles was recruited to Hollywood by RKO studios and given complete artistic control. At 24 years old, he set about reinventing the movies, creating his own rules because he did not know that there were any that needed to be followed. The original artistry injected into Citizen Kane is one of the gateways to modern film, a suite of inventiveness that redefined the possible, and recast the role of director as an inspired visionary rather than a studio hack.

Welles sets a challenge for himself by removing all tension about how the movie will end, and establishing his protagonist as not very likable. The film starts at the end, jumps back to the beginning and then moves forward again, as Kane's colleagues recount their memories. That Kane dies a lonely death is not in doubt, and many of the people interviewed by Thompson don't seem all that enamoured by the old man. And so the introduction of the Rosebud puzzle becomes an ingenious plot device, a small word that may help to define a big man, a trivial mystery that propels a grand biography. And among Citizen Kane's ultimate triumphs is the transformation of one of the world's most powerful tycoons into a desperate man deserving of pity.

Welles uses deep focus to fill the screen with layers of activity, all demanding attention. Citizen Kane is filled with shots where the closest item to the screen is driving events in the deep background, and the eye can choose to focus on the catalyst, the reaction, or both.  There are also many scenes of countless people or items filling the screen as far as the eye can see, all in crisp focus, to convey the enormous scale of Kane's empire and influence.

The camera placement is often as important as the unfolding events, Welles providing imposing perspectives, often filming powerful men from below to heighten their high levels of intimidation. When filming large rooms, the cameras capture impressive scope and the majesty of the space, either by demonstrating how full a large hall can be, or by emphasizing size through the cold stillness of under-utilized emptiness. Characters who serve to nudge the story forward but who are not essential to Kane's life are often filmed from the back, or with shadows obscuring their face.

As for the essence of Citizen Kane, Welles and screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz were at least partially inspired by the real life story of William Randolph Hearst. The theme of the movie settles on the eternal quest for love and acceptance by a man who has everything except what he needs to close the hole in his heart. Money can buy everything except inner peace, and Kane obsessively attempts to gain the adulation of his newspaper readers, his political supporters and the two women in his life. Often substituting material things for meaningful caring, Kane may have infinite financial resources but limited emotional competence, and money without soul cannot warm the heart. But maybe Rosebud could.

Thompson: Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything... I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a... piece in a jigsaw puzzle... a missing piece.

Citizen Kane captivates and enthralls, a film as powerful and commanding as Charles Foster Kane himself.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Gaslight (1944)

A suspense-filled thriller fuelled by a long-ago murder and a husband's nefarious ill-will towards his new wife, Gaslight has an enjoyably sinister plot, a haunting examination of emotional turmoil, and slick black and white execution.

Paula Alquist (Ingrid Bergman) was a young girl when her aunt Alice was murdered in their London townhouse. Alice was a world-renowned opera singer, and Paula had the misfortune of discovering the body. The murder case was never solved. Many years later, Paula is living in Rome where she meets and falls in love with the suave pianist Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). They get married and move back to London, living again in the townhouse where the murder occurred.

Gregory is not all that he seems to be, and he starts to mentally abuse Paula into thinking that she is losing her mind. He manipulates her into believing that her memory is failing, that she is quick to lose precious items, and that she irrationally moves objects around the house. He forbids her to see other people, and every night when Paula is left alone in the foreboding townhouse, the intensity of the gaslight is mysteriously dimmed and she starts to hear baffling noises from the attic. Family friend Brian Cameron (Joseph Cotton), now a police detective, is intrigued by Paula's return to London, and starts to investigate the circumstances around the unsolved Alice murder.

For a performance filled with the fragility brought upon by self-doubt, Ingrid Bergman won her first Best Actress Academy Award for Gaslight. Paula is caught between the horrors of the past, her current love for new husband Gregory, and the race between doubting her sanity and her unwanted suspicion that Gregory may be behind her apparent descent into madness. Bergman dominates with tenderness and vulnerability, fighting but softly, objecting submissively, and taking stands meekly, Gregory knocking her two steps backwards whenever she tries to take one step forward.

Boyer plays Gregory as dripping with questionable intent, a man with the dangerous combination of romantic charm, sophisticated taste, and cold-hearted plotting. Gregory stays just behind the line of overt hostility, convincing Paula that she is losing her sanity while staying for the longest time on her good side as husband and protector. A close examination of the screenplay (based on an original play) would result in questions regarding the efficiencies of Gregory's methods (could he have achieved his objectives using less complex means), but with the story's main selected thrust of control by implied insanity, Boyer is irresistible.

Joseph Cotten is relatively bland in the relatively underdeveloped role of Brian Cameron, too astute as a hero and deploying impeccable timing to provide help on exactly the pivotal evening. More interesting is a sassy Angela Lansbury, making her debut as Nancy, the outspoken and flirtatious maid adding agony to Paula's life and tension to the surrounding neighbourhood. Lansbury received a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for her efforts.

Director George Cukor makes excellent use of the spooky multi-level London townhouse that effectively becomes Paula's prison, the narrow staircase and many dark corners providing plenty of opportunities for a base level of delicious creepiness. The gaslight intended to provide illumination serves mostly to throw shadows in all directions, and Cukor delights in revealing what is needed and hiding all else for the pure pleasure of adding tension.

Gaslight keeps the tension simmering, a quality psychological drama of skulking darkness in the house and in the mind.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.