NOTORIOUS - A

Starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains, Notorious (1946) is to me one of the three best Alfred Hitchcock films ever.  [You will have to wait for the rest of my list to come out to figure out the others as I am not going to go into any of his other films in this review.] Producer-director Alfred Hitchcock’s spy thriller is to me much more satisfying than Casablanca (1942, starring Humphrey Bogard, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henried and Claude Rains and which won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay out of the total eight Academy Award nominations that it received).  Casablanca is often cited as one of the best pictures ever, if not outright mythological in its character portrayals and we-were-once-lovers ‘romances.’

Ben Hecht wrote the screenplay for Notorious.  (Again, I don’t want to give away anything more about the films that remain on my all-time top ten by alphabet by talking about any of Mr. Hecht’s other films but suffice it to say that for Notorious he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay.)  This film, like many of Hitchcock’s others, has wonderful dialogue in addition to his signature mix of suspenseful action and male-female tensions (romantic and otherwise). There is no better script as far as I can remember for the sheer number of times that irony plays in the extraordinary scenes between Grant and Bergman. 

Frankly as much as I love Jean Simmons and Gregory Peck in The Big Country (1958 and you can read my review on this blog), I think there is no more exciting couple on screen than Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman and therefore, I also recommend a personal favorite Indiscreet (1958) which stars these two as older lovers who are childishly keeping secrets from each other.  Other Ingrid Bergman films which I recommend are Gaslight (1940, starring Charles Boyer and has Ms. Bergman in her first Best Actress Oscar-winning performance); Anastasia (1956, which has Ms. Bergman in her second Best Actress Oscar-winning performance); Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958); Cactus Flower (1970, starring Walther Matthau and Goldie Hawn in her Best Supporting Actress Oscar-winning performance); Murder on the Orient Express (1974, starring Albert Finney and in which Ms. Bergman won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar); Autumn Sonata (1978, Ingmar Bergman directed this feature starring Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann); and A Woman Called Golda (1982 made-for-television movie). As for Cary Grant I do believe I will save him for a special review all his own at a later date (i.e. after my top ten of all time alphabetically is finished).

Apparently one of the love scenes in Notorious is notorious because Hitchcock was able to get around the not-longer-than-three-seconds (kissing) code rule by having the lovers break their kiss long enough to press cheeks and then resume kissing again for another few seconds.  Yeah, that’s true romance!  In this film, Bergman plays Alicia, the daughter of a Nazi spy, who is by her own American sympathies and the presence of her crush Cary Grant, persuaded to become an American spy.  As you probably have figured out, I don’t much care for giving away a lot of the plot because I think good movies can speak for themselves. Just know that Notorious has all the suspense you have come to expect from Hitchcock and a great bad guy in Claude Rains who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the American government’s target Alexander Sebastian.  In addition to Casablanca, some of my favorite Rains appearances are in The Invisible Man (1933), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938, starring Errol Flynn in which Rains plays Prince John), The Sea Hawk (1940, also starring Errol Flynn), The Wolfman (1941) and as Mr. Dryden in Lawrence of Arabia (1962).  He was in numerous other films which, as I always say, you can find on the awesome www.imdb.com website. Additional credits of note for Notorious are music by Roy Webb and cinematography by Ted Tetzlaff.

A Favorite Quote:  “Wouldn’t it be a little too much if we both grinned at her like idiots.” [Leopoldine Konstantin as Madame Sebastian]

Another Favorite Quote:  “There’s nothing like a love song to give you a good laugh. [Ingrid Bergman as Alicia Huberman] (Hint:  She might be saying it ironically!)

Genre:  Espionage Thriller

Running Time:  101 Minutes 

THE GODFATHER - A+

The story of an Italian-American crime family introduces a multi-year, multi-film, multi-career-catapaulting, multi-Academy-Award-winning saga with this outstanding first installment based on Mario Puzo’s novel of the same name. This film is rated by many critics as great, must-see, etc. and it is interesting to note that the fear which initially disinclined Francis Ford Coppola to direct it, appears to have no long-term surviving sway (to my sights anyway) that portraying a Mafia family so epically would reflect badly on Italian-Americans.  It is perhaps well known that this is an often trotted-out complaint against productions with mafia related characters but Coppola (as he so often does) succeeds in creating something much larger, grander and more important than any single ethnic, cultural or historic identity.  [This is the place where I will also admit that I am by many means a fan of violence in movies when it appropriately (here read meaningfully) frames the theme or themes of the film.]  

I am personally happy that he endured this self described ‘extremely nightmarish’ film production which included many conflicts including Coppola’s continued fight for star Marlon Brando who won an Academy Award for Best Actor.  Also starring Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Sterling Hayden, John Cazale, Diane Keaton, Richard Conte with music by Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola, this film was produced by Albert S. Ruddy from a screenplay writeen by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo (which won them Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars).  This is the second appearance of writer-director Coppola in my top ten films of all time (alphabetically).  [You can read my review of Apocalypse Now (1979).]

http://www.lisasmovielist.blogspot.com/2014/04/apocalypse-now-a.html

Knowing that I would have the pleasure of recommending more of Mr. Coppola’s films, I forcibly delayed giving the man his proper due by not mentioning any of his other notable pictures there.  He co-wrote the screenplay (with Edmund H. North) of Patton (1970, winner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for George C. Scott [who was the first actor to refuse his Oscar]) which won Coppola his first Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay which was based on several Patton biographies though not adapted per se on, hence the ‘Original Screenplay’ Award; The Conversation (1974, which starred Gene Hackman and also has John Cazale in it and was written, produced and directed by Coppola and winner of the coveted Palme d’Or).  The Conversation was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and it lost to The Godfather Part II (1974, starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, Talia Shire and John Cazale, produced, directed and written (with Mario Puzo) by Coppola, nominated for 11 Academy Awards and winner of six including Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for De Niro, Best Adapeted Screenplay and the first sequel to win Best Picture); The Godfather Part III (1990, starring Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, produced directed and written (with Mario Puzo) by Coppola, nominated for seven Academy Awards).

As I’m such a fanatic about writing, I am making special mention of The Rainmaker (1997, starring Matt Damon, produced by Michael Douglas, Fred Fuchs and Steven Reuther, and adapted by Francis Ford Coppola from John Grisham’s novel of the same name).  This film was deemed by Grisham [at the time] to be the best film adaptation of any of his books. This film has the final performance of Teresa Wright, who I have previously mentioned was the Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress in one of my favorite films Mrs. Miniver (1942, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, Best Director went to William Wyler and Garson won Best Actress).

I should take this moment to mention that all of Mr. Coppola’s films are worthy of note for many reasons but it is clear he has taken the time to cast the smaller parts in his films so adroitly.  [I don’t mean to minimize Casting Directors but the Director makes the final cut, ha hah, yes, some day you will hear me talk about editors.]  I could not do justice in the Godfather saga alone to call out all the veritable gems of performance art of the minor characters.

You will not get many chances to hear me go on and on about the specifics of directors and their artistry (usually because their techniques vary and the judging is clearly in the results, and my reviews); however, one mark of a great director is to understand how the lesser roles serve both the larger roles as well as the multiple themes of a film.  Coppola uses every element possible in his films to complement his chosen themes and one of those elements could be termed human capital of which much exists and not just in the major roles but in the supporting players, bits and extras.  This is evident in all of the pictures that he directed and you can go to the awesome www.imdb.com to find a complete list of them.

I would have to write whole articles on Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Sterling Hayden and Diane Keaton to do them justice so I will save them for other pictures to be reviewed later; however, I will here mention two John Cazale movies which I highly recommend:  Dog Day Afternoon (1975 starring Al Pacino and directed by Sidney Lumet, and winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay by Frank Pierson) and The Deer Hunter (1978, starring Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, John Cazale, and Meryl Streep, winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture for Barry Spikings, Michael Deeley, Michael Cimino and John Peverall, Best Director for Michael Cimino, Best Supporting Actor for Walken, Best Film Editing for Peter Zinner and Best Sound for Richard Portman, William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin and Darin Knight, nominations were garnered for De Niro, Streep, the Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond and writers Michael Cimino, Deric Washburn, Louis Garfinkle and Quinn Redeker.)  Yes, of course I would be remiss not to say that you should see Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick in The Freshman (1990) just because it gives you another chance to see Marlon Brando as a Mafia Don.

A Favorite Quote:  “It’s a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes. [Richard Castellano as Clemenza]  Apparently if you watch The Sopranos (1999-2007) you can find lots of direct and indirect allusions to The Godfather (as well as other Mafia crime stories) but personally I liked it a lot when Tony Soprano had a strange fish dream.

For those who are purists, of course, here’s the most famous one, though not my favorite:  “My father made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.” [Al Pacino as Michael Corleone]

Genre:  American Crime Drama

Release Date:  March 15, 1972

Running Time 175 minutes

The next installment in my top ten by alphabet will be Notorious.  See I told you Gone with the Wind wasn’t on my list!

CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS - A

Screenplay by John Lee Mahin, Marc Connelly and Dale Van Every from Rudyard Kipling’s 1897 serialized novel, this movie for me is all about what it means to be a [masculine?] role model for a young person [in this case a boy].  Freddie Bartholomew plays a rich and arrogant lad who is rescued and forced to take a job on a schooner.  Spencer Tracy won an Academy Award for his performance as Manuel Fidello, an American-Portuguese fisherman on the schooner who rescues the boy and becomes a much-needed mentor. 

This is the place to mention a few other Kipling inspired movies which I recommend highly:  The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936 starring Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland, yeah, okay, I will probably always recommend anything with Errol Flynn it it!); Elephant Boy (1937 starring Sabu); Gunga Din (1939 starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine [who is Olivia de Havilland’s sister); The Jungle Book (1942 starring Sabu); Kim (1950 starring Errol Flynn, see, I told you!); and, of course, the musically delicious animated 1967 version of The Jungle Book.

Produced by Louis D. Lighton and directed by Victor Fleming, this picture is one of those movies my family liked to watch with me so they could prove that I was actually capable of crying (I AM KIDDING but it really does make me cry).  Some of my personal favorites of Mr. Tracy’s are Boys Town (1938 which also has Mickey Rooney in it), Adam’s Rib (1949 with Katharine Hepburn), Father of the Bride (1950 with Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor) and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1968 which also stars Katharine Hepburn).  Two additional notable and recommended Victor Fleming-directed films are:  Gone with the Wind (1939 and not on my top ten list, so there!) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941 also starring Spencer Tracy with Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner).

The film also stars Freddie Bartholomew, Lionel Barrymore, Melvyn Douglas, Mickey Rooney, Charley Grapewin and John Carradine.  If you want to see more of these great actors in very good films then I also recommend Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936 which also has stars Freddie Bartholomew and Mickey Rooney in it and is my second favorite movie with the ‘spoilt brat gets a taste of the real world’ plotline),  David Copperfield (1935 which also has stars Freddie Bartholomew and Lionel Barrymore in it), Treasure Island (1934 which has Lionel Barrymore in it with stars Jackie Cooper and Wallace Beery and also directed by Victor Fleming) and Grand Hotel (1932 which has Lionel Barrymore in it along with stars Greta Garbo and John Barrymore). 

I have not seen A Free Soul (1931 for which Lionel Barrymore won the Academy Award for Best Actor) however you can see from Wikipedia’s webpage why it’s on my short list of movies to see ASAP:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Free_Soul

As for Melvyn Douglas he has been in so many films that most of them I have never seen or heard of however two personal favorites are Billy Budd (1962 starring Terence Stamp) and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) which is a comedy that stars Cary Grant and Myrna Loy and puts movies like The Money Pit (1986) on the bad side of town.  He was in films like Ninotchka (1939) and Hud (1962) which I cannot remember if I ever saw them but are fairly well known films. Being There (1979 stars Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine) was one of Douglas’ last films and he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Benjamin Rand.  Douglas was in a lot of playhouse and made for TV productions which you can find on www.imdb.com. 

Charley Grapewin is famous for playing Uncle Henry in The Wizard of Oz (1939 also directed by Victor Fleming) and Grandpa Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940 which stars Henry Fonda and also has John Carradine as Jim Casy).  In addition, Grapewin is credited with appearing in more movies in the 1930’s than anyone else. 

John Carradine deserves his own paragraph because he was in a lot of movies as a bit player, however I am only going to mention a few which I know are movies I have seen and recommend:  Stagecoach (1939), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962) and The Shootist (1976) which starred John Wayne; Kidnapped (1938); The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939 which stars Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as the famous duo Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson); Drums Along the Mohawk (1939 starring Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda); Captain Kidd (1945 starring Charles Laughton and Randolph Scott); The Court Jester (1955 starring Danny Kaye); Cheyenne Autumn (1964 starring Richard Widmark); and, of course, my all time favorite is Sex Kittens Go to College (1960 starring Mamie Van Doren where he plays Professor Watts - I AM KIDDING but he really was in that movie.)  Carradine was in so many horror movies and made so many guest appearances on lots of TV series (such as The Twilight Zone, Bonanza, Ironside and Kung Fu [imagine that!]) that if you want a complete list then check out the awesome www.imdb.com.

A Favorite Quote:  “Wake up, Little Fish.  Hey, wake up, wake up!  Somebody think you dead, they have celebrations.” [Spencer Tracy as Manuel Fidello]

Genre:  Sea Adventure [Yeah that sounds so cool, doesn’t it?]

Running Time:  115 Minutes

Release Date:  May 11, 1937

THE BIG COUNTRY - A

This movie for me is all about what it means to be a person of character.  I don’t mean as in ‘she is a real character’ but as in ‘she has real character.’  The story is about an East Coast sea captain, played by Gregory Peck, who has to navigate the dangerous waters that exist in and around the family of his Texas fiancé (played by Caroll Baker).  The movie is long at 165 minutes but it is well worth it. One of the gems you will find is Burl Ives as the patriarch of the Hannassey clan.  He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. 

While there are several traditional western elements in the film they admirably serve to expound on the theme of the movie which is about the nature of a person’s behavior (i.e. their character) and how what other people think and do has no bearing on that issue.  When a woman of character (played by Jean Simmons) is introduced, the film gets additional valuable subplots and the theme is shown to apply equally to women as to men.  Let me just come right out and say it (not a spoiler) that Gregory Peck and Jean Simmons play heroes and they would be good role models for anyone!

Produced by Gregory Peck and William Wyler and directed by William Wyler, this film was released October 1, 1958.  Other notable William Wyler films (all of which he was nominated for Best Directing Academy Awards) are Dodsworth (1936, starring Walter Huston), Wuthering Heights (1939, starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon), The Little Foxes (1941, starring Bette Davis and winner of Best Director Academy Award for Wyler), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946 and winner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director for Wyler and Best Actor for Frederic March and Best Supporting Actor for Harold Russell), The Heiress (1949, starring Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift and Ralph Richardson), Roman Holiday (1953, starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, winner of the Best Actress Academy Award), Ben-Hur (1959 and Best Director Academy Award for Wyler among a total of 11 Academy Awards for the film), Funny Girl (1968, starring Barbra Streisand), The Children’s Hour (1961, starring Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine and James Garner) and my favorite Mrs. Miniver (1942, starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon and Teresa Wright, for which Wyler won a Best Director Academy Award, Garson won Best Actress and Wright won Best Supporting Actress).

Screenplay by James R. Webb, Sy Bartlett and Robert Wilder, adapted by Jessamyn West and Robert Wyler from Donald Hamilton’s serialized magazine novel Ambush at Blanco Canyon.  Starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Caroll Baker, Charleton Heston, Burl Ives (Winner of Academy Award for Best Suporting Actor and Golden Globe), Charles Bickford, Alfonso Bedoya, Chuck Connors.  Score by Jerome Moross who was nominated for an Academy Award.

A Favorite Quote:  [I am not going to put my favorite quotes in here because they are so integral to the story’s theme that I don’t want to spoil the fun of hearing the actors speak them for you on screen first.]  So here’s one that is good and famous but not my favorite:  “There’s no prettier sight in the world than 10,000 head of cattle… unless it’s 50,000.” [Charles Bickford as Major Terrill].

Genre:  Epic Western, Romance

The next installment in my top ten by alphabet will be Captains Courageous.

BEAU GESTE - A

Producer-director William A. Wellman’s film from a Robert Carson screenplay adaptation of the P. C. Wren novel that was written in 1924 was released in 1939.  According to Wikipedia, this version is essentially a remake of the silent version done in 1926 starring Ronald Colman. Since I haven’t seen the silent one, I have no comments about that version.  There have also been other talkie adaptations but most everyone agrees that Wellman’s film is the standard.

The story line is basically who of the orphan Geste Brothers will outdo whom in the goody-goody department by taking credit for a thievery which they may or may not have committed in order to save various other people’s honor. The story is played out in what is a fairly accurate representation of the pre-World War I French Foreign Legion as the brothers are forced to confront what they ran away from. (Yes, I will dangle a preposition if I want to.)

It’s an engaging morality tale (if you like black and white movies and Gary Cooper, that is).  (I mean who couldn’t love Sergeant York, 1941!)  I like to compare Beau Geste to The Four Feathers (also released in 1939) which is similar but not as fun. I am not giving this film an A+ or A- because I haven’t seen it in awhile and I want to make sure it has stood the test of time for me. (I basically am reserving the right to add a plus or minus or not depending on how I feel later.)

Some other notable Wellman films which I highly recommend are Wings (a silent film starring Clara Bow, released in 1927 and the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture), The Public Enemy (released in 1931, starring James Cagney and Jean Harlow), The Ox-Bow Incident (starring Henry Fonda, released in 1943) and Battleground (released in 1949 starring Van Johnson).  Beau Geste stars Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy (Academy Award Nominated Performance as Best Supporting Actor), Susan Hayward, J. Carrol Naish, Albert Dekker, and Broderick Crawford and has music by Alfred Newman.

Additional information can be found on Wikipedia but don’t read their plot if you don’t want the story twists and ending spoilt for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beau_Geste_(1939_film)

Trivia:  Donald O’Connor as Beau as a child; one of four stamps issued in 1990 commemorating four films from 1939 including Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind.

A Famous Quote:  “Wait a minute.  I don’t know much about mutinies, but I do know it isn’t good form to plan them at the top of your voice.” [Gary Cooper as Michael ‘Beau’ Geste]

Genre:  Action Adventure

Release Date:  August 2, 1939

Running Time:  112 Minutes

If you are paying attention so far you may see a similarity between this film and the number one film on my list (alphabetically, so far, Apocalypse Now) which is that they are both adaptations.  Of my top ten, six were adapted from novels, one was ‘suggested’ by a novel and one was based on a play, meaning only two were original screenplays (both of those were nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award and one of them won that Oscar. Don’t feel bad for the one that didn’t because that writer won in a different year and was nominated multiple times.) 

Anyhow, you can see how important writing is for me in judging a film. My Dad is a writer and he introduced me to movies early on and we bought lots of them when they first came out on VHS. I know I’m dating myself but what do you expect from someone whose top ten list hasn’t changed since the 1990’s?  My top twenty is populated by a lot more recent films but those reviews will come after the first ten as well as some awesome recent releases.

The next installment in my top ten by alphabet will be The Big Country.

APOCALYPSE NOW - A+

Adapted from Joseph Conrad’s novella “Heart of Darkness” (written in 1899 and taking place in the Congo), this film is set in Vietnam by screenwriters John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola (with narration by Michael Herr). Mr. Coppola produced and directed the film. To understand how completely we are engrossed by Mr. Coppola’s vision I would suffice it to let the filmmaker himself say:  “My film is not about Vietnam, it is Vietnam.” He thoroughly succeeds in creating an experience by carefully using all that film has to offer (combinations of light, sound, music and performances to present a mood which conveys the themes of the film).  

I hesitate to use the term theme because there has been a lot of argument stemming from a pro- or anti-Vietnam War stance as well as the apparent ambiguities in the novel itself; however, while a nice amount of credit goes to Joseph Conrad, there is no denying that Coppola, if he had done nothing else, would be famous for this film alone.

Nominated for Oscars in all three categories (Best Picture, Screen Adaption, Direction), Mr. Coppola did not win an Academy Award.  He did win a BAFTA for Directing and the film garnered Oscars for Best Cinematography (Vittorio Storaro) and Sound.  Mr. Coppola won Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Drama and also for Best Original Score with Carmine Coppola and the film won the coveted Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or.  The film was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories for Best Editing, Art Direction – Set Decoration and Supporting Actor (Robert Duvall).  Other nominations were received from WGA, DGA, and the Grammy Awards among others which are listed on the film’s wikipedia webpage:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Now

You might be crazy if you didn’t want to see this film after learning who makes up the amazing cast.  The great performances perfectly serve Coppola’s narrative and that is why this is one of my top ten favorite films of all time.  It stars Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen (BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actor), Robert Duvall, Frederick Forrest, Albert Hall and Sam Bottoms.  Look for Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, Scott Glenn, R. Lee Ermey, G. D. Spradlin and the notable appearance by Harrison Ford as Colonel G. Lucas as well as cameos by Coppola and Storaro as a TV Director and Cameraman.  Trivia note:  Charlie Sheen is an extra.

A Famous Quote:  “I love the smell of Napalm in the morning.” [spoken by Robert Duvall as Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore]

Genre:  Adaptation, Drama, Epic, War

Release Date:  August 15, 1979

Running Time: 153 minutes (original release)

[Thank you for reading my first post.  I am starting with my top ten films of all time (in alphabetical order).]