Movie Review: The Verdict
Year of Release: 1982
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason
Plot outline: An alcoholic lawyer tries to redeem his reputation by taking on a difficult medical malpractice case (IMDb).
Despite being about a court case, The Verdict is really about a washed up attorney's decision to go to trial on behalf of his client, rather than taking the easy way out and accepting a cash settlement from the powerful defendant. David Mamet wrote and Sidney Lumet directed it. While the dialog has a number of good lines, the story is one that has been told many times before. However, Lumet has the insight to let Paul Newman and the supporting cast act and let his camera be an onlooker. The result is a tremendous character study of a man coming to terms with himself and ultimately redeeming himself against all odds. Sort of a new take on the tortoise and the hare fable. Newman is at his finest playing underdog Frank Galvin. One look at the battered, almost defeated alcoholic speaks volumes. Supporting actor Jack Warden also is spot on as Galvin's partner. James Mason is deliciously evil as the unscrupulous defense attorney who will do anything to win. While I can't speak to the accuracy of the legal proceedings, I can say that they were only a side issue in this story. The real question was, "Can a man long accustomed to his habits redeem himself?" Whether you believe the answer is yes or no, Lumet has made a convincing case for his view in The Verdict. (GC)
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
Movie Review: Citizen Kane
Year of Release: 1941
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Orson Welles
Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Everett Sloane
Plot outline: Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final word (IMDb).
What does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?
Perhaps that is the whole point of the story. We have all felt the pangs of failure, of regret, of things that we should have done, but left undone; of opportunities lost. So we sublimate our desires in a variety of ways. It's a thing common to humans. Kidding ourselves, we project our ambitions on another, perhaps our mate or our child. Or perhaps we become a collector like Kane, trying to fill our frustrated emptiness with possessions beyond number. No matter what our personal mechanism for coping with these human inadequacies, it all amounts to the same thing; when we die, we are alone. Our personal triumphs or failures are no more or less than those of the richest tycoon or the poorest beggar. They become the winding sheet that accompanies us to our grave and are as soon forgotten.
The most auspicious debut movie ever for a director is also the most influential and discussed movie of all time, and also one that was controversial due to its stinging fictionalized representation of publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst. The 25-year-old Orson Welles innovatively directs, writes and stars in Citizen Kane. The film was noted for so many innovative features that are now regularly part of a modern film, that the film itself can still be presented to film schools as 'a film on how to make a film.' The innovations include such things as stylistic camera movement, unconventional lighting - including chiaroscuro and a novel use of shadows, following in the tradition of German Expressionists, depth-focus and angle shots, over-lapping dialogue, flashbacks, non-linear narrative, frequent use of dissolves, long takes and many other marvelous technical feats. Welles assumes most of the credit, but I would think cinematographer Gregg Toland had more than some minor part in the innovations. The movie is a masterpiece that has a certain continual fascination despite its dazzling technical achievements that encourages repeated viewings and always seems to bring out something seen in a different light or something brand new. It's an enigmatic movie that invites comparisons to Welles' own character, and one that invites further questioning about such things as art, authorship, fakery and filmmaking. Citizen Kane should be required viewing by anybody interested in film. It shows the results of a prodigal life with many material benefits yet yielding very little spiritual fruit. (DS, GC)
My judgement: **** out of 4 stars
Movie Review: Send Me No Flowers
Year of Release: 1964
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Norman Jewison
Cast: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall
Plot outline: When he mistakenly thinks he's dying, a hypochondriac tries to choose his wife's next husband (IMDb).
Send Me No Flowers, the third and final pairing of Rock Hudson and Doris Day, is unquestionably the duo's least effective and most uneven effort, as Norman Jewison - working from Julius Epstein's screenplay - has infused the proceedings with a plodding sensibility that's compounded by an egregiously overlong running time. The premise is certainly not at fault; it's the sort of wacky setup that could (and should) have resulted in a fun and frenetic romantic comedy, but his refusal to keep things moving at a brisk clip transforms the movie into a distinctly interminable experience (with the stagnant and needlessly drawn-out third act only exacerbating matters). Hudson and Day are fantastic together, of course, and Tony Randall does his usual scene-stealing thing - yet there's no doubt that Send Me No Flowers ultimately comes off as a desperate attempt at recapturing Pillow Talk's charming and effortlessly delightful atmosphere. (DN)
My judgement: *1/2 out of 4 stars
Movie Review: The Lady from Shanghai
Year of Release: 1947
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Orson Welles
Cast: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders
Plot outline: A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife (IMDb).
The Lady from Shanghai is a complicated mess, but it’s a treat to watch. Even for a film noir, the plot is too full of twists, turns and triple-crosses. By the time the whole case is laid out during the movie’s climax, it’s easy not to care too much about what happened. Through it all, though, Orson Welles weaves a compelling narrative, and his distinctive visual style drives the movie. Yet where he succeeds in directorial prowess, he totally fails in accent affectation - his Irish brogue is fairly embarrassing, and its necessity to the story is dubious. Rita Hayworth’s Elsa is a fine femme fatale, but has very little to do until the very end of the movie. Some of the most fun comes from watching Elsa, Bannister and Grisby bicker aboard the yacht. As Mike looks on, the three trade verbal barbs that are some of the movie’s best dialogue, including Mike’s oddly poetic speech about sharks. The Lady from Shanghai delivers the goods during the last 10 minutes, when Elsa, Bannister and Mike chase each other through a funhouse. It’s a thrilling, disorienting sequence that makes sitting through Welles’ terrible accent totally worthwhile. (LC)
My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars
Movie Review: The Trial (Le procès)
Year of Release: 1962
Country of Origin: France, Italy, Germany, Yugoslavia
Director: Orson Welles
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Romy Schneider, Orson Welles, Akim Tamiroff
Plot outline: In this adaptation of Franz Kafka's classic, a man in a nameless country stands trial for an unnamed crime (IMDb).
Orson Welles chose the project partly because it suited his subtly surreal directorial style, and partly because the source material was in the public domain. The adaptation is every bit as strange as expected: nosy flatfoots out of a 1940s film noir merge with outrageously promiscuous femme fatales and faceless bureaucrats, collectively powerful but individually impotent. Corruption and degradation is everywhere except in our affronted protagonist, whose refusal to play along may be the nameless crime that he has been accused of. The Trial doesn't work as a black comedy. Yet it is surprisingly watchable; the story almost mesmerizing with its legal conundrums that defy logic yet sometimes seem to reflect reality. Welles himself plays The Advocate, a dissipated lawyer who seems to be complicit with the court to turn the defendants into pathetic sheep stripped of their manhood. Perkins' Joseph K has freedom of movement, but is always under surveillance by someone belonging to the conspiracy. The sets are the real star of the movie. Cavernous rooms are used to depict a business filled with endless rows of automaton typists, and a courtroom where Joseph's show trial has become a concert-styled mass entertainment. Hallways wind everywhere but lead nowhere; rooms are stuffed to the roof with bulging folders that no one ever reads. The studio of painter Titorelli (William Chappell) is made up of cheap plywood separated widely enough for a mob of insane schoolgirls to look in on his every movement. One ceiling is a ramshackle collection of misjointed lumber planks. While the script is sometimes lacking, the visuals are always unusual enough to be of interest. Those enamored with the trappings of The Trial ignore its problems. The surreal nature of the characters doesn't always explain their motivations. The same can be said for the lack of continuity, and the unsatisfying ending. (BK)
My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars
Year of Release: 1982
