Movie Review: Yojimbo
Year of Release: 1961
Country of Origin: Japan
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yôko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada
Plot outline: A samurai comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them off against each other to free the town (IMDb).
Akira Kurosawa frequently borrowed western themes for his movies, which in turn became the basis for western adaptations. A good example of this mutually beneficial cultural exchange is Yojimbo. The setting and story is similar to that of an American western, with Japanese equivalents substituted for gunmen, sheriffs, taverns and showdowns in the dusty streets. The success of Yojimbo bred imitations in the west. The first was A Fistful of Dollars (1964), the initial entry in Clint Eastwood's western trilogy with Italian director Sergio Leone. Less notable was Last Man Standing (1996), the remake starring Bruce Willis. The year is 1860. The fall of the Japanese Shogunate dynasty has led to the unemployment of samurai. One of them is Sanjuro (Toshirô Mifune), who wanders poor and hungry into a small town. He learns from bitter but compassionate Gonji (Eijirô Tôno) that the town is divided by two rival families, who each have hired criminal gangs to do the other in. This arrangement is for the benefit of both Sanjuro and the local coffin maker (Atsushi Watanabe). Learning that both sides are equally despicable, Sanjuro decides to play them off against each other. Kurosawa, of course, is one of the greatest directors of all time. His movies are consistently of very high quality. Yojimbo is a very good movie, but it is not up to the standards of his best movies. Sanjuro's swordsmanship, survival ability, and heroism take on mythic proportions, losing some credibility along the way. The supporting characters lack the depth found in The Seven Samurai (1954) or Ran (1985). Yojimbo also varies between drama and comedy, betraying some indecision on the part of Kurosawa. But, Yojimbo does have excellent cinematography, a unique, interesting score, and an entertaining story. And perhaps no movie better showcases the talents of Toshirô Mifune, who may be the greatest of all Japanese actors. (BK)
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
Movie Review: The Great Ziegfeld
Year of Release: 1936
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer
Plot outline: A lavish biography of Florenz Ziegfeld, the producer who became Broadway's biggest starmaker (IMDb).
The Great Ziegfeld is a lengthy but surprisingly effective biography of Broadway producer Florenz Ziegfeld. William Powell gives an entertaining performance as the title character, and the script is both witty and compelling. Luise Rainer gives a heartrending performance as the dithering, childlike French stage performer Anna Held. Meanwhile, Myrna Loy appears to be miscast to play Billie Burke. Loy's attempted vocal imitation of Burke comes and goes, and seems half-hearted at best. Loy, a striking beauty, was probably cast due to box office considerations. Powell and Loy had already been teamed up together in several successful movies, including Manhattan Melodrama and The Thin Man. She was a talented actress, but wasn't the right personality for playing vivacious Burke. Whether his shows become smash hits or disappointments, Ziegfeld always seems to be broke. This is due to his characteristic excessive generosity and gambling. Ziegfeld's frequent encounters with creditors and bankers provides much comic relief. The Great Ziegfeld is three hours in length. This is due to the addition of many elaborate production numbers, featuring a bevy of showgirls in outlandish costumes. These stage productions are visually impressive and have undeniable historical and cultural importance. But they are also dead in the water, their very scale making them turgid and bloated. The movie drags during the show depictions, and picks up again when Powell and the narrative resume. (BK)
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
Movie Review: Shall We Dance
Year of Release: 1937
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton
Plot outline: A budding romance between a ballet master and a tapdancer becomes complicated when rumours surface that they're already married (IMDb).
Shall We Dance is best known for its George and Ira Gershwin scores: "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me". From the beginning, Astaire wants Rogers. Of course, she plays hard to get, and the usual misunderstandings create further obstacles, but we know that they'll get together at the end. Rogers first falls for Astaire because he is walking a team of dogs. If that 'hilarious' sight gag is unconvincing, what about this one? Rogers is set to present Astaire with divorce papers, until she sees him dance with a bevy of showgirls dressed up like her. Worse, they each have a mask of her. The normal feminine reaction would be to recommend psychiatric treatment for Astaire, then run. Instead, she joins the act. The middle of the movie is dominated by a thin storyline. Astaire orchestrates publicity that he is secretly wed to Rogers. Why? So he can escape the clutches of a dancer (Ketti Gallian), as simply telling her no would be too easy. Rogers' best friend and night club owner (Jerome Cowan) participates in the scam with Astaire to prevent Rogers from marrying William Brisbane, as it will end her (and allegedly his) career. But Rogers never has any romantic interest in Brisbane. She wants to get married because she's tired of being chased by men. So, she lets Astaire chase her instead. No part of the story makes any sense. The supporting characters are even more befuddled. Edward Everett Horton owns a dance studio, but in effect is Astaire's constant companion. The problem is, he's a complete idiot, as is a moralistic hotel manager (Eric Blore) that receives far too much screen time. Shall We Dance asks the audience to disregard the shallowness of plot, script, and characters. After all, it is a musical, and don't Astaire and Rogers sing and dance divinely? But in truth, neither can do little more than keep in tune. Their carefully rehearsed dance routines can't carry the movie's dead weight. Don't examine it, just find the spirit and enjoy it. (BK)
My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars
Movie Review: Follow the Fleet
Year of Release: 1936
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Randolph Scott
Plot outline: Two sailors on leave romance a dance-hall hostess and her prim sister (IMDb).
Imperfections in Follow the Fleet, a free adaptation of Hubert Osborne's play Shore Leave, are confined to story, and that's usual with musicals, stage or screen. The major flaw - and it is really a minor one - is the movie's failure to include a few comedians to help carry the picture along when Astaire and Rogers are not in there dancing. Edward Everett Horton would have helped, and so would Eric Blore or Erik Rhodes. Comedy, rather than the minor romance of Randolph Scott and Harriet Hilliard, would have been a more satisfactory order of the day. An admiral's salute is still due for Astaire and Rogers, with a general broadside of approval for Scott, Hilliard and Allwyn. Nevertheless, the story never detracts from the important element - the Astaire-Rogers musical efforts. There are seven songs which is a bit too much - all by Irving Berlin, with "Face the Music", a cross between "Piccolino" and "Lovely Day", easily the leader. The score on the whole is pleasant but save for "Face the Music", the last number, not particularly distinguished. (V)
My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars
Movie Review: Night and Day
Year of Release: 1946
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Cary Grant, Alexis Smith, Monty Woolley, Ginny Simms, Jane Wyman, Eve Arden
Plot outline: The fictionalized biography of composer Cole Porter from his days at Yale in the 1910s through the height of his success to the 1940s (IMDb).
With Cary Grant giving a casual and thoroughly ingratiating performance, and with Monty Woolley on hand to let some delightfully acid comments drop where they may, Night and Day moves with slick cinematic and rhythmical ease from one hit tuneshow to another. While the movie begs quick dismissal as an idealistic smattering of biography about a living personality, there is no denying that it is stuffed with the gaudy things that make for a visually handsome entertainment. Brief and not precisely accurate glimpses of the tunesmith's early life in Indiana, his days at Yale, when he dashed off the football hymn "Bulldog", and his experiences with the French Army in World War I are followed by a lively series of excerpts from a half dozen or so of his popular Broadway shows. Ginny Simms sings most of the songs, putting them over nicely in her own pleasant and sort of blue-velvet-tone voice without making any attempt to imitate the style of an Irene Bordoni or an Ethel Merman. Just as well, too. The incomparable Mary Martin is in the picture for one delectable sequence, doing the popular "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" as only she knows how to put that suggestive ballad over. "Begin the Beguine," certainly one of Porter's best and most frequently played tunes, is richly sung by Carlos Ramirez in a setting of lush tropical splendor, and there is a sizzling specialty tap dance by Estelle Sloan. Night and Day is a fulsome entertainment, well larded with the flavor of the Broadway show world and touches of sentiment, romantic and otherwise, which smack more of Hollywood than Porter. Alexis Smith's role as Mrs. Porter is largely fictional, but the actress performs the part with a great deal of charm. Jane Wyman, as a show girl, and Eve Arden, who plays a French songstress in broad burlesque, are both very amusing. Director Michael Curtiz never permits the movie to drag. His is more of an achievement than might be readily apparent, considering the sprawling character of the production and the rather thin and conventional scenario the scenarists concocted about the fabulous Cole Porter. (NYT)
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
Year of Release: 1961
