Didn't realize silent films could go this hard. Whoa.
Also one of the first uses of the match cut I've ever seen, predating its use by Fritz Lang in Dr. Mabuse the Gambler by three years or by Buster Keaton in Sherlock, Jr. by five years
There's pieces of a good movie here, but the action feels a bit off in parts, its focus on officers means that they are constantly "teleporting" between the field HQ and the frontline.
I do think it portrays the chaos in the lines of the real Battle of the Bulge well, but there are a lot of creative liberties taken.
Outbreak (1995) has a remarkably similar plot to this with the exception of the African monkey part, which is due to Outbreak's origin as being based on the 1994 novel The Hot Zone. Definitely seems like the writers lifted the stronger parts of this movie for their script.
However of the two I'd say Cassandra Crossing is the weaker movie, watered down by its "Murder on the Orient Express" style trainbound cast of characters that dilutes its ability to move past archetypal depictions of most of the characters.
Biki: Good catch! For anyone curious the original painting is set in front of the Siegestor (Victory Gate) in Munich, which was heavily damaged in WWII and was restored with a new inscription Dem Sieg geweiht, vom Krieg zerstört, zum Frieden mahnend translating as "Dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, urging peace"
What I really appreciated about this film is that it doesn't just focus on the horrors of the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis, or a sort of "one man's tale of epic hardship" situation, but it instead focuses on the psychology of the people as a group going through it.
It shows how they are broken down, how they are dehumanized. How people turn on each other when resources are scarce. How people do things they'd swear they'd never do.
But it also shows moments of hope, and of shared struggle, of community. Moments where you see the flicker of humanity stay lit against the cold wind of fascism and brutality.
It's amazing to think that this film, for its sins of promoting gender equality and how to stand up to unsafe work environments and unsanitary living conditions via organized labor, suffered the following fate:
FBI investigated its financing
Film set was shot at by anti-Communist vigilantes
Lead actress was deported to Mexico
American Legion boycotted
Film labs were told to not to work on it and unionized projectionists instructed not to show it
Only screened by 12 theaters nationally
It's one of the most compassionate and moving films I've ever seen. Highly recommend.
I watched part of Roman Holiday on TCM before watching this and despite them being EXTREMELY different movies there were an odd amount of similarities:
* Vespa scooters
* Famous people who are controlled by those close to them
* The famous person is being tricked by a duo for their job, but *spoiler* ends up romantically involved with one of them
* The end of Roman Holiday is a press interview about the nascent European Union, Diamantino involves Portuguese nationalists trying to leave the EU.
I watched this mostly because of the director Herbert J Biberman's interesting history as one of the Hollywood Ten during the HUAC era. Ironically during the early 1940s the Jewish director was suspected by the FBI of being a Nazi since he held the anti-interventionist view that the US should not do the Lend-Lease program providing war goods to England.
In all likelihood it was because his family were Russian-Jewish immigrants and he did not support the war until Germany broke the Molotov-Ribbentrip pact with Russia.
However it probably led to him making this movie in order to firmly clear his name as a Nazi sympathizer. He also manages to include a very friendly Russian character.
Overall while the movie is blatant US propaganda, it does a few interesting things. It's not a part of the war you see very often, the rebuilding far from the frontline of a Belgian town reclaimed from the Germans. It addresses a number of the real issues of the situation: war trauma, rape by invading soldiers, treatment of POWs, collaborators, etc.
It's impressive how quickly the movie was made too. The liberation of Belgium began Sept 2, 1944, the film was released Sept 22nd. I wonder what the production schedule must have looked like.
The conclusion of the film does have some good points about fascism and the conditions that tend to lead to it, it feels more substantial than your average propaganda film.
This movie is a darkly comedic portrait of mental illness and of an individual. But I also think it's an interesting and prescient critique of toxic masculinity and how easily it sublimates into fascism, from police brutality and its cousin the "good guy with a gun" Death Wish-esque vigilantism, to mass shootings.
It definitely doesn't always stay on point, and a few bits haven't aged as well as others (the whole side plot with Michael Cena's lispy character detracted and seemed like it was there to pad runtime, IMO)
This movie is complicated and I'm not sure what I think of it. The action is pretty cool, but plotwise it left me a bit mixed. In some ways I appreciate that some characters are neither all good nor all bad, but that also leaves me ambiguous as to how the main character is supposed to feel about them. One character in particular is "redeemed" narratively but it feels unearned.
It shares a lot of blood with Besson's Nikita and Black's The Long Kiss Goodnight, as well as some John Wick moments, although it employs CG in fights a little more than any of those.
It also tends to employ smaller cameras with more fisheyed lenses to really get up close to the action, but it obscures the action at times as the wide FOV makes smaller things hard to see.
Overall I would say it is worth watching, but don't expect to finish it and feel satisfied in any sense other than the action sense.
Wow. Raw revolutionary passion in the wake of MLK Jr's assassination courtesy a passionate Ruby Dee script combined with Jules Dassin's directing experience and Boris Kaufman's masterful camerawork.
In particular I thought the roles of the village women were very standout for a film of this era. Because it was wartime and so many men were off fighting this is reflected onscreen with women (and a child) getting to play the hero in a way they rarely got to otherwise.
The dialogue is total garbage. Every line is more painful than the last, especially the women, has this writer ever talked to a woman? Yet it never fully crosses over into good-bad dialogue territory.
However the movie leaves no stone unturned for any stunt, it delivers on every promise there. The xXx team actors have a lot of good screen presence (Donnie Yen, Ruby Rose), it's a shame they weren't given things to say.
Very proto-Indiana Jones. Charlton Heston is a sleazy scoundrel in Cold War-era South America. Some excellent camera work and good action show off the on-location filming in Machu Picchu.
Watch it for famed singer Yma Sumac's debut film performance
This is a standout noir, not only due to very competent directing as usual by Anthony Mann, but also a tense plot and a unique time period for a noir, featuring some of America's first PIs.
I'd say this movie must have had an influence on The Wages of Fear. Definitely different movies but they share a nihilistic view of white folk working rough jobs in South America.
Another thing I was really impressed by was the aerial photography during MacPherson's flight. I wasn't aware there was anything that good until the post-WWII period, when directors like William Wyler and John Sturges came back from serving as Air Force filmmakers with a ton of experience under their belts.
Comments 1 - 25 of 134
Movie comment on Behind the Door
senorroboto
Didn't realize silent films could go this hard. Whoa.Also one of the first uses of the match cut I've ever seen, predating its use by Fritz Lang in Dr. Mabuse the Gambler by three years or by Buster Keaton in Sherlock, Jr. by five years
Movie comment on Battle of the Bulge
senorroboto
There's pieces of a good movie here, but the action feels a bit off in parts, its focus on officers means that they are constantly "teleporting" between the field HQ and the frontline.I do think it portrays the chaos in the lines of the real Battle of the Bulge well, but there are a lot of creative liberties taken.
Movie comment on The Cassandra Crossing
senorroboto
Outbreak (1995) has a remarkably similar plot to this with the exception of the African monkey part, which is due to Outbreak's origin as being based on the 1994 novel The Hot Zone. Definitely seems like the writers lifted the stronger parts of this movie for their script.However of the two I'd say Cassandra Crossing is the weaker movie, watered down by its "Murder on the Orient Express" style trainbound cast of characters that dilutes its ability to move past archetypal depictions of most of the characters.
Movie comment on Berlin Express
senorroboto
Biki: Good catch! For anyone curious the original painting is set in front of the Siegestor (Victory Gate) in Munich, which was heavily damaged in WWII and was restored with a new inscription Dem Sieg geweiht, vom Krieg zerstört, zum Frieden mahnend translating as "Dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, urging peace"Movie comment on Obaltan
senorroboto
Free in its entirety on YouTube courtesy the Korean film archive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfxIfK8ThFcMovie comment on Jeon tae-il
senorroboto
Now on YouTube officially for free courtesy the Korean Film Archive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTvVq_aeC6gMovie comment on Kapò
senorroboto
What I really appreciated about this film is that it doesn't just focus on the horrors of the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis, or a sort of "one man's tale of epic hardship" situation, but it instead focuses on the psychology of the people as a group going through it.It shows how they are broken down, how they are dehumanized. How people turn on each other when resources are scarce. How people do things they'd swear they'd never do.
But it also shows moments of hope, and of shared struggle, of community. Moments where you see the flicker of humanity stay lit against the cold wind of fascism and brutality.
Really great.
Movie comment on House of Wax
senorroboto
a very belated response, but you can generally feel the vibration of a creaky floorboard as it gives
Movie comment on Salt of the Earth
senorroboto
It's amazing to think that this film, for its sins of promoting gender equality and how to stand up to unsafe work environments and unsanitary living conditions via organized labor, suffered the following fate:It's one of the most compassionate and moving films I've ever seen. Highly recommend.
Movie comment on Diamantino
senorroboto
I watched part of Roman Holiday on TCM before watching this and despite them being EXTREMELY different movies there were an odd amount of similarities:* Vespa scooters
* Famous people who are controlled by those close to them
* The famous person is being tricked by a duo for their job, but *spoiler* ends up romantically involved with one of them
* The end of Roman Holiday is a press interview about the nascent European Union, Diamantino involves Portuguese nationalists trying to leave the EU.
Also both movies are great and I recommend them
Movie comment on The Master Race
senorroboto
I watched this mostly because of the director Herbert J Biberman's interesting history as one of the Hollywood Ten during the HUAC era. Ironically during the early 1940s the Jewish director was suspected by the FBI of being a Nazi since he held the anti-interventionist view that the US should not do the Lend-Lease program providing war goods to England.In all likelihood it was because his family were Russian-Jewish immigrants and he did not support the war until Germany broke the Molotov-Ribbentrip pact with Russia.
However it probably led to him making this movie in order to firmly clear his name as a Nazi sympathizer. He also manages to include a very friendly Russian character.
Overall while the movie is blatant US propaganda, it does a few interesting things. It's not a part of the war you see very often, the rebuilding far from the frontline of a Belgian town reclaimed from the Germans. It addresses a number of the real issues of the situation: war trauma, rape by invading soldiers, treatment of POWs, collaborators, etc.
It's impressive how quickly the movie was made too. The liberation of Belgium began Sept 2, 1944, the film was released Sept 22nd. I wonder what the production schedule must have looked like.
The conclusion of the film does have some good points about fascism and the conditions that tend to lead to it, it feels more substantial than your average propaganda film.
Movie comment on Observe and Report
senorroboto
This movie is a darkly comedic portrait of mental illness and of an individual. But I also think it's an interesting and prescient critique of toxic masculinity and how easily it sublimates into fascism, from police brutality and its cousin the "good guy with a gun" Death Wish-esque vigilantism, to mass shootings.It definitely doesn't always stay on point, and a few bits haven't aged as well as others (the whole side plot with Michael Cena's lispy character detracted and seemed like it was there to pad runtime, IMO)
Movie comment on Aknyeo
senorroboto
This movie is complicated and I'm not sure what I think of it. The action is pretty cool, but plotwise it left me a bit mixed. In some ways I appreciate that some characters are neither all good nor all bad, but that also leaves me ambiguous as to how the main character is supposed to feel about them. One character in particular is "redeemed" narratively but it feels unearned.It shares a lot of blood with Besson's Nikita and Black's The Long Kiss Goodnight, as well as some John Wick moments, although it employs CG in fights a little more than any of those.
It also tends to employ smaller cameras with more fisheyed lenses to really get up close to the action, but it obscures the action at times as the wide FOV makes smaller things hard to see.
Overall I would say it is worth watching, but don't expect to finish it and feel satisfied in any sense other than the action sense.
Movie comment on Uptight
senorroboto
Wow. Raw revolutionary passion in the wake of MLK Jr's assassination courtesy a passionate Ruby Dee script combined with Jules Dassin's directing experience and Boris Kaufman's masterful camerawork.Don't sleep on this.
Movie comment on Went the Day Well?
senorroboto
In particular I thought the roles of the village women were very standout for a film of this era. Because it was wartime and so many men were off fighting this is reflected onscreen with women (and a child) getting to play the hero in a way they rarely got to otherwise.Movie comment on Tiszta szívvel
senorroboto
AKA Kills on WheelsMovie comment on xXx: Return of Xander Cage
senorroboto
The dialogue is total garbage. Every line is more painful than the last, especially the women, has this writer ever talked to a woman? Yet it never fully crosses over into good-bad dialogue territory.However the movie leaves no stone unturned for any stunt, it delivers on every promise there. The xXx team actors have a lot of good screen presence (Donnie Yen, Ruby Rose), it's a shame they weren't given things to say.
Movie comment on Secret of the Incas
senorroboto
Very proto-Indiana Jones. Charlton Heston is a sleazy scoundrel in Cold War-era South America. Some excellent camera work and good action show off the on-location filming in Machu Picchu.Watch it for famed singer Yma Sumac's debut film performance
Movie comment on Mystery Street
senorroboto
This is a tight little movie, great cinematography, good performances, nice message about the early use of science in mainstream detective work.Movie comment on The Tall Target
senorroboto
This is a standout noir, not only due to very competent directing as usual by Anthony Mann, but also a tense plot and a unique time period for a noir, featuring some of America's first PIs.Movie comment on Only Angels Have Wings
senorroboto
I'd say this movie must have had an influence on The Wages of Fear. Definitely different movies but they share a nihilistic view of white folk working rough jobs in South America.Another thing I was really impressed by was the aerial photography during MacPherson's flight. I wasn't aware there was anything that good until the post-WWII period, when directors like William Wyler and John Sturges came back from serving as Air Force filmmakers with a ton of experience under their belts.
Movie comment on Von Ryan's Express
senorroboto
This pales in comparison to its WWII predecessors The Train and The Great Escape, but it's ok.Movie comment on Dupa dealuri
senorroboto
aka Beyond the HillsMovie comment on Chi-Raq
senorroboto
It's a little bit of a hot mess, but what a passionate, engaging mess it is.Toplist comment on TCM October 2015 Schedule
senorroboto
Happy to help, Crunchy!Showing items 1 – 25 of 134