BUtterfield 8

Resensi Film: BUtterfield 8 (***/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1960

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: Daniel Mann

Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, Eddie Fisher

Plot: Seorang wanita panggilan berusaha menemukan cinta sejati dari kehidupan jalangnya (IMDb).

Film melodrama adaptasi dari novel dengan judul yang sama karya John O'Hara ini mempunyai cerita yang mirip seperti Breakfast at Tiffany's yang dibuat setahun sesudahnya. Dibatasi oleh aturan sensor MPPC (Motion Picture Production Code), script BUtterfield 8 *) memiliki rangkaian dialog berkualitas sastra, tetapi sayangnya tidak riel dalam kehidupan nyata, misalnya:

Gloria : I saw a woman. Utterly proper. Utterly conventional. Utterly beautiful.

Ibunya : You're beautiful too, dear.

Gloria : I have a face. That's not the kind of beauty I mean.

Ibunya : What kind of beauty?

Gloria : The kind that comes from self-respect, I guess. That shines.

Ibunya : I've seen that kind. It takes a lifetime to find.

Gloria : I'm going to find it.

Ibunya : I think you will.

Indah, tetapi tidak riel dalam kehidupan nyata -- hanya penulis yang berkata-2 seperti itu, bukan orang biasa dalam kehidupan nyata -- dan arahan dari sutradara Daniel Mann tidak membantu mengurangi efek tersebut tetapi malah memperparah. Konon Elizabeth Taylor tidak menyukai film ini karena dia mengerjakannya secara terpaksa -- agar studio MGM bersedia melepaskannya ke studio 20th Century Fox untuk membuat Cleopatra (1963), proyek blockbuster yang memberinya gaji yang besar dan hampir saja membuat Fox bangkrut. Namun demikian, apati Taylor tersebut tidak menyurutkan kemampuan aktingnya yang substansial sebagai wanita yang tersesat jiwanya -- aktingnya berhasil memberinya penghargaan tertinggi Oscar sebagai Aktres Terbaik.

*) Judul BUtterfield 8, dengan huruf besar B dan huruf besar U, diambil dari nama sambungan telpon di AS saat itu. BUtterfield 8 adalah nama sambungan telpon yang melayani daerah Upper East Side di Manhattan, New York. Memutar huruf B dan huruf U sama dengan memutar nomor 2 dan nomor 8, maka BUtterfield 8 sama dengan nomor 288, yaitu tiga nomor pertama dari tujuh digit nomor telpon.

Cerita (***)

Screenplay (**1/2)

Karakter (***)

Akting (***1/2)

Keseluruhan: ***/4

BUtterfield 8 dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

National Velvet

Resensi Film: National Velvet (***1/2/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1944

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: Clarence Brown

Cast: Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp, Elizabeth Taylor, Anne Revere, Angela Lansbury

Plot: Seorang bekas jockey membantu seorang anak perempuan mempersiapkan kuda kesayangannya memenangkan lomba pacuan kuda paling bergengsi di negaranya (IMDb).

National Velvet adalah film yang meluncurkan karier Elizabeth Taylor, saat itu berusia 12 tahun, di dunia perfilman. Bersetting di dearah pertanian di Sussex, Inggris, pada tahun 1928, ceritanya diambil dari novel dengan judul yang sama karya Enid Bagnold. Film manis untuk keluarga ini mempunyai kedalaman karakterisasi yang mengesankan: Mickey Rooney sebagai Mi Taylor, bekas jockey, yang morally ambivalent (dia beberapa kali hampir saja mencuri/membawa lari uang majikannya, tetapi kemudian membatalkan niat buruk tersebut); Donald Crisp sebagai Mr. Brown, kepala keluarga Brown, yang dari luar nampak berhati keras tetapi dari dalam berhati emas; Anne Revere sebagai Mrs. Brown yang dari luar nampak seperti istri yang manut terhadap suami tetapi dari dalam memiliki kekuatan dan kebijaksanaan yang exceptional sehingga dialah yang membuat keputusan-2 penting dalam keluarga; dan Elizabeth Taylor sebagai Velvet, anak ketiga keluarga Brown, yang terobsesi dengan kuda liar milik tetangganya yang dia beri nama "The Pie". Selain Velvet, keluarga Brown memiliki tiga anak yang lain yang masing-2 mempunyai hobby dan "keunikan" sendiri-2: Angela Lansbury *) sebagai Edwina, anak pertama, yang menyukai cowok; Juanita Quigley sebagai Malvolia, anak kedua, yang menyukai burung; dan Jackie Jenkins sebagai Donald, anak paling buncit, yang menyukai serangga. Kedalaman karakterisasi ini didukung oleh akting yang mumpuni dari para anggota castnya: Rooney sangat pas memerankan Mi Taylor, Crisp menyediakan humor di sana sini, Revere menjadi sumber inspirasi, dan Taylor -- di tengah cast yang sangat baik tersebut -- berhasil memimpin dan membawakan seluruh film dari awal sampai akhir (Lansbury dengan aktingnya yang superior dan karakterisasinya yang selfish hampir saja mencuri centre-stage dari Taylor!). Di balik ini semua berdiri sutradara Clarence Brown, dengan catatan sukses yang panjang mengarahkan Greta Garbo, mulai dari Flesh and the Devil (1926) sampai Anna Karenuna (1935). Brown juga mengarahkan dua film keluarga yang menjadi klasik, yaitu The Yearling (1946) dan Angels in the Outfield (1951). Beberapa titik lemah dalam film ini adalah kesabaran Revere yang nampak tak terbatas, kesinisan Eugene Loring (jockey Taski) yang nampak berlebihan, dan akhir film dimana Rooney membiarkan Taylor menjadi jockey -- dengan tujuan menghasilkan akhir yang dramatis -- yang nampak tidak masuk akal. Namun demikian, walaupun dengan happy ending yang terkesan dibuat-2, secara keseluruhan film ini cukup mengesankan. Pada tahun 2003, National Velvet memperoleh tempatnya dalam sejarah perfilman sebagai karya yang "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant" (United States National Film Registry).

*) Angela Lansbury mungkin lebih dikenal oleh penonton jaman sekarang dalam perannya sebagai Jessica Fletcher dalam serial TV "Murder, She Wrote". Miss Lansbury masih aktif berakting sampai resensi ini ditulis.

Cerita (***)

Screenplay (***1/2)

Karakter (***1/2)

Akting (***1/2)

Keseluruhan: ***1/2/4

National Velvet dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

Ivanhoe

Resensi Film: Ivanhoe (***/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1952

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: Richard Thorpe

Cast: Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders

Plot: Sepulangnya dari perang salib, Ivanhoe menemukan Inggris dikuasai oleh Pangeran John yang korup. Bergabung dengan Robin dari Locksley (Robin Hood), Ivanhoe berusaha mengumpulkan uang untuk menebus Raja Richard Berhati Singa yang ditahan di Austria, agar dia dapat kembali ke Inggris (IMDb).

Cerita klasik karya Sir Walter Scott ini mengingatkan kita pada buku cerita di masa kecil dimana imajinasi kita ikut terbawa dalam petualangan Ivanhoe. Baru setelah dewasa kita menyadari betapa kaya dan indahnya cerita karya Scott ini kalau dibandingkan dengan legenda Robin Hood. Sayang sekali, film ini tidak mempunyai anggaran yang besar sehingga setting produksinya tidak seindah film tentang Robin Hood yang diproduksi sebelumnya, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Selain itu, film ini tidak memasukkan semua plot dari cerita aslinya, misalnya: tidak menyertakan karakter-2 Aethelstane, Lucas Beaumanoir, dan Gurth; tidak menampilkan keterlibatan pasukan perang salib; juga tidak menampilkan keterlibatan Raja Richard sampai scene terakhir. Namun demikian, dengan script yang rapi dan ketat, dan penampilan aktor-2 dengan nama dan kharisma yang besar, secara keseluruhan film ini sangat menghibur -- khususnya untuk para penggemar novel klasik Ivanhoe.

Cerita (***1/2)

Screenplay (***)

Karakter (***)

Akting (***)

Keseluruhan: ***/4

Ivanhoe dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

Jane Eyre

Resensi Film: Jane Eyre (7.7/10)

Tahun Keluar: 1943

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: Robert Stevenson

Cast: Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine, Margaret O'Brien, Peggy Ann Garner, Elizabeth Taylor

Plot: Setelah menjalani kehidupan pahit di sebuah asrama yatim piatu, Jane Eyre bekerja sebagai pengasuh anak di sebuah puri bangsawan yang ternyata menyimpan sebuah misteri (IMDb).

Ketika film dimulai dengan Joan Fontaine membacakan paragraf pertama dari novel Jane Eyre karya Charlotte Brontë, penonton langsung menyadari bahwa cerita yang disampaikan adalah cerita dari salah satu karya-2 sastra paling terkenal dan berpengaruh di dunia.

"My name is Jane Eyre... I was born in 1820, a harsh time of change in England. Money and position seemed all that mattered. Charity was a cold and disagreeable word. Religion too often wore a mask of bigotry and cruelty. There was no proper place for the poor or the unfortunate. I had no father or mother, brother or sister. As a child I lived with my aunt, Mrs. Reed of Gateshead Hall. I do not remember that she ever spoke one kind word to me."

Jika anda belum membaca novel Jane Eyre, film ini akan membuat anda ingin membaca novel tersebut. Film ini terbagi dalam dua bagian: Jane ketika kanak-2 di asrama yatim piatu dan Jane ketika dewasa di puri bangsawan Edward Rochester. Sayangnya, bagian pertama ternyata lebih baik daripada bagian kedua (yang merupakan bagian utama). Joan Fontaine adalah aktres yang piawai; tetapi dalam film ini, Peggy Ann Garner yang berperan sebagai Jane kanak-2 ternyata "mencuri" spotlight dengan aktingnya yang meyakinkan. Sementara Fontaine sebagai Jane dewasa cenderung mengenakan ekspresi wajah yang sama di seluruh bagian, Garner berhasil mengenakan ekspresi wajah yang kompleks yang mengungkapkan kekompleksan karakter Jane sebagai anak yang sederhana dan pendiam tetapi menyimpan bara perjuangan dan cita-2 yang tinggi.

Mr. Brocklehurst: No sight so sad as that of a wicked child. Where do the wicked go after death?

Jane Eyre: They go to hell.

Mr. Brocklehurst: And what is hell?

Jane Eyre: A pit full of fire.

Mr. Brocklehurst: And should you like to fall into that pit and be burning there forever?

Jane Eyre: No, sir.

Mr. Brocklehurst: Then what must you do to avoid it?

Jane Eyre: I must keep in good health and not die.

Orson Welles, seperti biasanya, tampil meyakinkan sebagai Edward Rochester yang berperawakan tinggi besar tetapi tidak berdaya dan bersikap kasar tetapi menarik simpati ... sebuah studi karakter yang menarik. Dan Elizabeth Taylor tampil memegang peran minor; siapa yang menyangka gadis kecil dengan sinar mata yang tajam ini akhirnya menjadi legenda Hollywood (mengalahkan semua pemain yang lain dalam film ini). Cinematography hitam-putih menampilkan gaya gothic yang menyeramkan yang menggambarkan atmosfir jamannya dengan sangat pas. Dan Bernard Herrmann menciptakan musik dengan sangat pas juga. Lebih dari sekedar kisah cinta, Jane Eyre adalah kisah tentang pencarian jati diri.

"As the months went past, he came to see the light once more as well as to feel its warmth; to see first the glory of the sun, and then the mild splendour of the moon, and at last the evening star. And then one day, when our firstborn was put into his arms, he could see that the boy had inherited his own eyes as they once were ... large, brilliant and black.

The end."

7.7/10

Jane Eyre dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

A Place in the Sun

Resensi Film: A Place in the Sun (****/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1951

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: George Stevens

Cast: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters

Plot: Ambisius menemukan tempatnya di dunia, George Eastman bekerja di perusahaan pamannya dan membina hubungan dengan Angela Vickers yang cantik yang berasal dari keluarga kaya. Tetapi hubungan lamanya dengan Alice Tripp, sesama pekerja, ternyata membuahkan hasil yang tidak diharapkan dan mengancam impiannya tersebut (IMDb).

Berdasarkan novel dengan judul An American Tragedy karya Theodore Dreiser, drama moralitas A Place in the Sun memperoleh tempatnya dalam sejarah perfilman sebagai karya yang "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant" (United States National Film Registry). Ceritanya sendiri sesungguhnya sederhana, tetapi kemiripannya yang begitu dekat dengan realitas membuat cerita ini begitu menusuk ke dalam subconscious (alam bawah sadar) penonton. Siapa sih yang tidak ingin menemukan tempatnya di dunia? Siapa sih yang tidak ingin menangkap kesempatan ketika kesempatan itu muncul? Siapa sih yang tidak bingung dan marah ketika impiannya itu terancam? Tetapi, sampai sejauh mana kita berani bertindak (bahkan melawan hukum) untuk melindungi impian itu? Didukung dengan penyutradaraan yang stylish, penyampaian cerita yang Hitchcockian dan cinemotagraphy hitam/putih yang indah, Montgomery Clift membawakan peran gandanya (kecamuk batin antara ambisi dan hati nurani) dengan sensitivitas yang pas dan kematangan yang tinggi (Clift menerima nominasi Oscar untuk perannya ini); sementara Shelley Winters membawakan peran menderitanya dengan kontras yang meyakinkan terhadap Elizabeth Taylor yang berperan glamorous (Winters juga menerima nominasi Oscar untuk perannya ini). A Place in the Sun adalah film serius pertama untuk Taylor dan sekaligus meluncurkan kariernya untuk peran-2 serius yang lainnya di perfilman dewasa. A Place in the Sun menangkap perhatian dan simpati penonton dari awal sampai akhir (menyaksikan karakter Clift perlahan-2 terjebak dalam kegelapan betul-2 bikin hati berdebar-2) dan menghantui alam bawah sadar sampai jauh setelah selesai menonton.

Cerita (****)

Screenplay (****)

Karakter (****)

Akting (****)

Keseluruhan: ****/4

A Place in the Sun dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Movie Review: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Year of Release: 1958
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Richard Brooks
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Jack Carson

Plot outline: A Southern house is divided by patriarchal dominance and the marital problems between one of the sons, a heavy drinker, and his wife (IMDb).

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was originally a successful play by Tennessee Williams, who had earlier created a sensation with A Streetcar Named Desire. For the movie adaptation, some changes had to be made to get past Hollywood censors, and to prevent Paul Newman from playing a character with homosexual overtones. Williams' exaggerated characters and situations create a tumultuous soap opera plot involving latent homosexuality, suicide, terminal illness, gold-digging, and alcoholism. The movie is hard to watch yet hard to turn away from. The story provides the frame for a script loaded with impassioned speeches and vicious arguments; the final outcome amazingly creating a happy ending with Newman's personal demons apparently cured. While never boring, the intense drama is sometimes overblown. Newman constantly drinks but, except for the opening scene, is never drunk. It is also difficult to believe Taylor's faith in her embittered husband, and that she would repeatedly throw her gorgeous self at him despite his rejection. (BK)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars

Secret Ceremony

Movie Review: Secret Ceremony

Year of Release: 1968
Country of Origin: UK
Director: Joseph Losey
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Mia Farrow, Robert Mitchum

Plot outline: A woman and a girl she insists is her long-lost daughter are caught in a web of insanity and deception in this psychological thriller (IMDb).

This psychological thriller of mistaken identities, mental disturbance, and sexual deviance - based on a prize-winning short story by an Argentine civil servant - received reasonably positive reviews upon its release, but has since been criticized by most as either campy and/or “ill-conceived”. The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in between: while the convoluted narrative occasionally defies belief (and completely devolves by the end), it remains bizarrely compelling until then, thanks in large part to the brave performances given by both Farrow and Taylor. From her first appearance on screen, Farrow - wearing a long, black wig and tights - is completely convincing as a 22-year-old with the mind of a child; but it’s Taylor who really cements the story: while her performance gets off to a bumpy start, we’re soon captivated by her increasingly nuanced portrayal as a self-sufficient prostitute who knows a good deal when she sees it, yet can’t help feeling genuine maternal concern for Cenci. Despite its flaws, Secret Ceremony offers enough provocative moments to make it worth checking out. (FF)

My judgement: ** out of 4 stars

Giant

Movie Review: Giant

Year of Release: 1956
Country of Origin: USA
Director: George Stevens
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker

Plot outline: Sprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates (IMDb).

In movie version of Edna Ferber's big Texas novel "Giant", George Stevens takes three hours and seventeen minutes to put his story across. Hewing pretty closely to the content of Ferber's agitating tale of contemporary Texas cattle barons and newly rich oil tycoons, Stevens and his able screenwriters have contrived a tremendously vivid picture-drama that gushes a tawdry tragedy. And he has made it visual in staggering scenes of the great Texas plains and of passion-charged human relations that hold the hardness of the land and atmosphere. In strong swipes of outdoor realism and audaciously close-to interplay of invariably violent emotions among its lively characters, Giant gives an almost documentary picture of how oil exaggerated and confused the virtually feudalistic ways of living of the old Texas landowners and cattlemen. It visions the change of social standards from rugged individuality to the massive and vulgar acceptance of running in plutocratic herds. It does not wax moralistic. It simply presents what has occurred - or what Ferber and Stevens tell us is the reason that Texas is as it is today. Perhaps because Stevens has attempted to include the full content of Ferber's story and then a good bit more, it does have a way of becoming a trifle rambling and overwrought at times. Dramatic emphasis changes from one to another theme. Despite the confusion of issues, the whole picture flows rapidly and is a series of fascinating episodes that illuminates its complexities. Thanks to Stevens' brilliant structure and handling of images, every scene and every moment is a pleasure. He makes "picture" the essence of his movie. Under his direction, an exceptionally well-chosen cast does some exciting performing. Elizabeth Taylor as the ranchman's lovely wife, from whose point of observation we actually view what goes on, makes a woman of spirit and sensitivity who acquires tolerance and grows old gracefully. And Rock Hudson is handsome, stubborn and perverse but oddly humble as her spouse. However, it is James Dean who makes the malignant role of the surly ranch hand who becomes an oil baron the most tangy and corrosive in the movie. Dean plays this curious villain with a stylized spookiness - a sly sort of off-beat languor and slur of language - that concentrates spite. This is a haunting capstone to the brief career of Dean. Others, too, are excellent - Chill Wills as an old Texas type, Jane Withers as a plump and uncouth heiress, Mercedes McCambridge as a bitter, cold old maid, Charles Watts as a hypocritical windbag and Carroll Baker as a spirited Texas deb. (NYT)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Movie Review: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Year of Release: 1966
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis

Plot outline: A bitter aging couple reveal their deepest secret to a young couple during an all-night booze fest (IMDb).

Edward Albee's play of the same title has been brought to the screen without pussyfooting. Mike Nichols proved to be a brilliant director. Any transference of a good play to movie is a battle. The better the play, the harder it struggles against leaving its natural habitat, and Albee's extraordinary comedy-drama has put up a stiff fight. Nichols has gone to school to several movie masters in the skills of keeping the camera close, indecently prying; giving us a sense of his characters' very breath, bad breath, held breath; tracking a face - in the rhythm of the scene - as the actor moves, to take us to other faces; punctuating with sudden withdrawals to give us a brief, almost dispassionate respite; then plunging us in close again to one or two faces, for lots of pores and bile. Richard Burton was part of the star package with which this movie began, but - a big but - Burton is also an actor. He has become a kind of specialist in sensitive self-disgust, and he does it well. He is utterly convincing as a man with a great lake of nausea in him, on which he sails with regret and compulsive amusement. Elizabeth Taylor has shown previously, in some roles, that she could respond to the right director and could at least flagellate herself into an emotional state (as in Suddenly, Last Summer). Here, with a director who knows how to get an actor's confidence and knows what to do with it after he gets it, she does the best work of her career, sustained and urgent. Under Nichols' hand, she gets vocal variety, never relapses out of the role, and she charges it with the utmost of her powers - which is an achievement for any actress, great or little. As the younger man, George Segal gives his usual good terrier performance, lithe and snapping, with nice bafflement at the complexities of what he thought was simply a bad marriage. As his bland wife, Sandy Dennis is credibly bland. (NYT)

My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars

Father's Little Dividend

Movie Review: Father's Little Dividend

Year of Release: 1951
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor

Plot outline: In this sequel to Father of the Bride, newly married Kay Dunstan announces that she and her husband are going to have a baby, leaving her father having to come to grips with the fact that he will soon be a grandfather (IMDb).

Father's Little Dividend tells of the trials of the bride's father when his darling daughter whelps her first child. Sounds slightly obvious, does it? Well, if becoming a granddad is that, then it is. But the way it is played by all the principals from the original cast, headed by Spencer Tracy, make for great diversion on the screen. Under the sure-touch direction of Vincente Minnelli, Tracy is sitting down again to remember, in a mood of mild sarcasm, some of the things that have happened to him since last we saw him as the papa amid the debris of his daughter's wedding feast. And among the things that he remembers are the night that his daughter informed him, his wife and her husband's parents that she was going to have a baby; the bristling contention among the in-laws as to a name for and monopoly of the child (all of this far in advance of the date on which it is to be born); the night that his daughter "left" her husband and came home dismally "to live" - and, of course, the alarms and excursions attendant upon the birth. All the way through the picture Tracy does a wonderful job of displaying the agonized reactions of a father and a badly baffled man. And the same goes entirely for Joan Bennett as the charmingly eccentric wife, for Elizabeth Taylor as the expectant mother and for Billie Burke and Moroni Olsen as the other in-laws. Don Taylor does even better as the tormented husband of the girl, and in him one sees the definite glimmers of another distracted father twenty years hence. (NYT)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

Elephant Walk

Movie Review: Elephant Walk

Year Of Release: 1954
Country of Origin: USA
Director: William Dieterle
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Dana Andrews, Peter Finch

Plot outline: The young bride of a rich tea planter finds herself the only white woman at Elephant Walk, British Ceylon (IMDb).

Based on the novel of the same title by Robert Standish, menacing elephants and a father-in-law's dark shadow is the situation in Elephant Walk. No wonder Taylor acts so scared. No wonder she soon finds her new husband, Peter Finch, just a bit of a bore and starts riding out with Dana Andrews to see how the tea plants are coming along. And, we might add, no wonder the picture becomes a bit of a bore, too. This sort of menace melodrama has to be done awfully well to hold. Unfortunately, the script is lengthy and hackneyed in the build-up, and William Dieterle's direction does not provide anything more than gaudy panoramas of a tropical palace to fascinate the eye. Taylor's performance of the young wife is petulant and smug. Andrews is pompous as the manager. And Finch, as the husband, is just plain bad. Abraham Sofaer as the native major-domo wears moustachios like a Turkish highwayman's and has the best chance to be intriguing. But he does little more than roll his eyes. In the last fifteen minutes, however, the fireworks are made to explode. Cholera breaks out and the native villages are put to the hygienic torch. Then the elephants, taking advantage of the absence of the native guards, respond to their old frustrated instinct and come lumbering down their ancient walk. Is there anything more you'd like to know? (NYT)

My judgement: ** out of 4 stars

The Taming of the Shrew

Movie Review: The Taming of the Shrew

Year of Release: 1967
Country of Origin: Italy, USA
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Michael York, Victor Spinetti, Cyril Cusack

Plot outline: Brutish, fortune-hunting scoundrel Petruchio tames his wealthy shrewish wife, Katharina (IMDb).

In settings that fairly teem and tumble with Renaissance décor, vegetable stands, street singers, heavily robed merchants and clowns, Burton's hairy Petruchio sweeps grandly onto the operatic scene with the obvious intent of being funny quite as much as that of getting a wealthy wife. And Taylor's powerful Katharina hauls off and swats him with as much desire to set the customers whooping and howling as to discourage his matrimonial quest. Under Zeffirelli's gleeful urging more than his restraining, the Burtons race madly through the first part of the movie, committing physical violence on each other with a minimum exhaling of Shakespeare's words. After they've finally exhausted their energies ... and ours, we are treated to more slamming and banging on a slightly lower level of the decibel scale, as Petruchio goes about the standard business of domesticating his bosomy shrew. It is in their extravagant overacting and in the evident fun they have that the sheer theatrical gusto and rollicking sport of this movie reside. But I find it all grows a bit tedious. After we've examined Burton's great red beard, Taylor's amazingly revealing yet deftly restraining decolletage, and listened to them toss about the language without much clarity or eloquence, it seems time to have done with clowning and settle down to a bit of comedy - comedy of a slightly adult order. The Burtons never do. Neither do the other performers. They all seem to want to be clowns, popping their eyes, flaring their nostrils, slapping their bellies and pulling their hats down over their ears. Michael Hordern as Katharina's father is the best of the lot. Cyril Cusack as Petruchio's guzzling servant, and Alfred Lynch as the bug-eyed pumpkin who comes to town with Michael York's romantic Lucentio, are the worst. Natasha Pyne as the fair-haired Bianca, who has to wait until her sister is wed before she can enjoy matrimony, is convincingly eager, at least. As for Zeffirelli's settings and the elaborate Renaissance costumes, they look very rich and mellow in the misty pastel colors that are used. But they, too, like the music, tend to monotony. (NYT)

My judgement: ** out of 4 stars

Suddenly, Last Summer

Movie Review: Suddenly, Last Summer

Year of Release: 1959
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift

Plot outline: The only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine. What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane. Now, Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth (IMDb).

Based on the play of the same title by Tennessee Williams, the point of the story is somewhat missed, because the true nature of the most-talked-of character could not be tagged (he was obviously a homosexual, as well as a sadist of some sort) and the precise and horrible details of his death could not be explained (he was literally eaten by urchins). What should be thoroughly shocking in the flash-back scenes of his death is only confusing and baffling, because I can't really see what's happening, and the girl who is describing the incident is much less vivid and exact than she could be. In structure, as well as in content, the story is a simple mystery, a psychological whodunit - or howdunit, to be exact - how did the man die? The script does not tell how the urchins killed the man, to justify frequent mention that it was "horrid and obscene". It does not tell why they did it, other than to suggest that they were "hungry", which is a feeble explanation and gastronomically far-fetched. And it certainly does not complete an image, made much of by the wealthy widow early along, that vultures swooping down upon young turtles and devouring them reveal the cruel "face of God". The script indulges in sheer verbal melodramatics which only add to the audience confusion and are barely elevated from tedium by some incidental scenes of inmates of a mental institution. Nevertheless, Elizabeth Taylor is rightly roiled as the niece, Katharine Hepburn is craftily mischievous as the wealthy widow, but Montgomery Clift seems racked with pain and indifference as the brain surgeon, Albert Dekker growls and gropes as his dull boss, and Mercedes McCambridge and Gary Raymond do a routine - a vaudeville routine - as the mother and brother of the girl. (NYT)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars

Father of the Bride

Movie Review: Father of the Bride

Year of Release: 1950
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor

Plot outline: A father of a young woman deals with the emotional pain of her getting married, and the financial and organizational pain of arranging her wedding (IMDb).

Adapted from Edward Streeter's novel, this movie is a sweet, universal and timeless story of a father's agony dealing with emotional pain of giving away his daughter and financial pain of arranging the wedding. Spencer Tracy perfectly plays the father of the bride with just the right amount of frustration, bemusement and adoration for his only daughter. He dominates the screen from beginning to end. He superbly holds together the clever script and the marvelous supporting cast. He was indeed at the top of his career. Joan Bennett delightfully plays the mother of the bride with patience and understanding to deal with both her husband and daughter who lose their minds to pre-wedding jitters. Elizabeth Taylor, though rather blank most of the time, commands attention with her youth and beauty. She is drop-dead gorgeous and no one can take the eyes off of her. Although Tracy is the main show, it is Taylor who makes this movie a box-office success. The movie contains not only comedy, but also moments of poignancy, especially in the scenes where Tracy and Bennett are in: e.g. 1) When he realises that his wife never got a church wedding she wanted, he gives in and splashes out for his daughter. 2) When they dance together in the post-party mess of their once-pristine house. This puts the movie above the ordinary and is exactly what is missing in the 1991 remake (Steve Martin does a great job in the 1991 remake, but it is difficult to top Tracy's performance here). This movie received three Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Screenplay. Vincente Minnelli deserves all the credit in directing this sweet comedy.

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars

The Last Time I Saw Paris

Movie Review: The Last Time I Saw Paris

Year of Release: 1954
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Richard Brooks
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon, Donna Reed

Plot ouline: Charles returns to Paris to reminisce about the life he led in Paris after it was liberated. After his discharge he met Marion and Helen. He would marry, be happy staying in Paris and working for a news organization. He would try to write his great novel and that would come between him, his wife and his daughter (IMDb).

Except for the beauty and elegance of Elizabeth Taylor, this adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story spills out too much romance, wine and Paris that spoil the broth. If you like sentimental romantic drama, you might like this movie. Despite the tediousness of the storyline, it's good to see that the movie ends on high notes with scenes that tie up all the remaining loose knots.

My judgement: ** out of 4 stars.