Some Favorite Films

My interest in films is predominantly in their message, and less in the craft of acting, direction, production, cinematography or other technical matters. This means that my comments may well ignore the star performers, and that X or Y's acting, or Z's directing, are of less interest to me. My attitude runs counter to most discussions of films, and I've found it frustrating to try to engage in talk about the symbolism and meaning of a particularly fine film while everyone's focus is on the cult of the performers. There's no reason that film can't be as deserving of analysis as good literature is. I guess that my years of German literature classes, especially of short stories, have spoiled me to look beyond the tale itself. 

Favorite Films 

My criterion is a little different from most, these are not necessarily "great" films (whatever that means), or "top 10", but those which I would, and do, see again and again. In no particular order, with brief comments below:

Das Boot   (Wolfgang Peterson, 1981, 1997 director's cut) - the greatest film ever about war: the fear of death, the boredom, the inhumanity toward the enemy, the frustration of incompetent high command, and even the thrill of the chase. Over the length of the film, one gets to live with the crew and captain in the cramped, damp, claustrophobic quarters of the U-boat. A superb film - even the dubbed version is excellent. 

 Nach dem Roman "Das Boot" von Lothar-Günther Buchheim, herausgegeben von dtv (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag).

Chushingura   (Hiroshi Inagaki, 1962) - a wonderfully moving and beautiful film of the Japanese legend of the 47 ronin. I saw it in Berkeley in the late '60s, and noticed recently that it was available on DVD. It was everything that I remembered. The scene where Lord Asano prepares to commit seppuku while cherry blossom petals fall is heartbreakingly sad and beautiful. 

My only quibble is with the prominence given to Toshiro Mifune, who plays a character somewhat peripheral to the tale, but who is given star billing because of his reputation in samurai films. 

There is also a recent opera based on Chushingura, by Saegusa Shigeaki, recorded in 1997. Unfortunately, the depth of the tale is not captured by the music; a very pale shadow of Puccini meets the 47 ronin and paints by numbers. Disappointing.

Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot- a subtle and inventive comedy with very little dialogue. Jacques Tati is M. Hulot, with every slight motion choreographed to perfection. Too many favorite scenes to count, but every time I hear an unintelligible announcement at a train station, I think of this film.

Treasure of the Sierra Madre   (John Huston, 1947) - Who can forget the scene where Walter Huston dances his merry jig when his partners don't realize that they have to work for the gold dust, or that infectious, roaring laughter at the end when he and Tim Holt realize that the gold is gone. Humphrey Bogart gets star billing, but Walter Huston as the wise old prospector makes the film, in my opinion. Yes, the dialogue is sometimes old-fashioned and a bit preachy, but it doesn't detract from the character study of the three men, and how they react to the gold. Looks great on DVD (2003).

Breaker Morant - Aussie officers as victims of the rules of conduct and cowardly higher-ups during the Boer War. Maybe a bit manipulative in its portrayal of good and bad, but beautifully put together, especially the ending. 

M   (Fritz Lang, 1931) - the masterpiece with Peter Lorre in the role of the child murderer. The Inspektor Lohmann role is also great (it was used again in one of Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse films). There's a further level of enjoyment for those who understand the Berlin dialect. 

 Für Deutschsprechende, es gibt ein hervorragendes Berlinisch Lexicon (link TBD).

Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel) - it's widely known for Marlene Dietrich, but Emil Jannings as Professor Immanuel Rath is the one to watch. The film is based on a novel by Heinrich Mann, "Professor Unrat".

High Noon - perfection. How many of us have wanted to do the equivalent of dropping the badge in the dirt at the end of the film?

Alien - has there ever been a greater atmosphere of terror in a film? The cave-like atmosphere of that dim, drippy spaceship interior and the few short glimpses of the alien make everything seem ominous. It's in the grand tradition of leaving most of the terror to your own imagination. I made the mistake of seeing it for the first time late at night alone in a hotel room.

Slapshot   (1977) - Paul Newman as an aging hockey player leading a struggling minor league team. Then he decides to goon it up, with the Hansons as the key ruffians.

Dead of Night - a 1945 black-and white film in which people meet in an English countryside cottage and tell each other strange tales; then the end loops to the beginning.... The sense of foreboding builds and builds. Maybe even the silly tale of the golfers serves as a change of pace before the final horror. And who can forget "Just room for one inside, sir". Let's hope it's transferred to DVD soon.

The Blues Brothers - just the music and dance scenes are enough to draw me back again and again. 

"It's a 106 miles to Chicago. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it."

Kwaidan - On DVD, four Japanese ghost stories (three in the original film), of which the most striking is "Hoichi the Earless". Beautiful photography.

Bullitt - Of course there's the famous chase scene over the San Francisco hills. But there's lots more, including the Robert Vaughan character that one loves to hate

Other Films of Interest

Caché   - The title means "Hidden", and contains many levels of meaning in the film, which more like literature than any that I can remember seeing. As such, it deserves the thought and analysis that serious literature demands. There is much that's seemingly mundane, small gestures and incidents matter, but nothing is neatly tied together like a mystery. Even the ending under the final credits is ambiguous, leaving more questions than answers, and one has to be alert to see what's happening in a static shot without the filmmaker guiding the eye. Seen January 2006. My highest rating: 10 of 10. 

The Triplets of Belleville   - Catching up on a film long on the must-see list, now on DVD. Animated, and wonderfully put together. The characters are unique individuals: Bruno, the dog, is the essence of dogness, driven to bark at all moving things; the bicyclist is all calves, thighs and nose. Is the language French or English? It doesn't matter. 

Sideways Nov. 2004)   - Two buddies, very different and both highly flawed in their own ways, go off for together for a week before one of them is to marry. The failed writer is heavily into wine, especially pinot noir, and leads their trip into California's Santa Barbara County. The other is most interested in bedding women before his marriage, with some painful and some hilarious consequences. Well-played and believable, even when the writer seems oblivious to sensuous wine talk from his date for the evening. 

It was a pleasure to hear some of my favorite wineries for pinot noir mentioned and see their labels displayed. But it sure was tough on merlot. 

Goodbye, Lenin!   - The story line concerns a woman with two children, a dedicated socialist in the DDR, who has a heart attack just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and then remains in a coma for eight months. When she awakes again, the doctor advises that, with her fragile health, she must be spred any shock. The grown children, especially the son, decide to keep the news of the opening of the DDR from her, and seek to recreate the environment around her at home just as she knew it. A friend who is an aspiring film producer is a great help to the son. It all leads to comedy as well some serious moments, as well as some thoughtfulness for the viewer. 

The film may have more meaning for me, knowing the circumstances and having relatives from the former DDR, than for other viewers. When we saw it, we seemed to be the only ones in the theater reacting to the comic parts. At two hours, the film would have profited from a bit of tightening and trimming. In German, with English sub-titles with decent translation. 

Die Mörder sind unter uns (The Murderers are among us)   - A 1946 black-and-white film on a post-war theme, quite an achievement in itself. The action takes place in bombed-out Berlin, among the actual ruins and dilapidated houses that still stood. The film draws on a heritage of German film-making, expressionist influences are clear as well as almost direct references to Fritz Lang's "M". 

There are faults to find - for example, messages are often delivered in an obvious, heavy-handed way. The heroine, Hildegard Knef, is photographed like a film star - she returns from a concentration camp none the worse for wear; when she's cleaning a run-down, decrepit apartment, there's not even a smudge on her face. 

The overall theme, of the characters' history in the war, and their post-war reaction, is very important, and gives the film its weight. We have a former doctor who, while in the army, was witness to an atrocity committed against civilians, and is no longer able to function as a doctor. He meets his former commander who ordered the atrocity, and who is now running a successful factory, having brushed aside his past. 

Es gibt ein ausgezeichnetes Filmheft (link TBD) das den Film ausführlich beschreibt (benötigt Registrierung). 

Mystic River   - Quite a good film and, being set in Boston, of some local interest to us. A story of three men and their families, unable to escape their background and living by the code of the neighborhood. One is trapped by his childhood trauma; another is a tough, small-time criminal who can kill and steal but looks out for his own; the third is a detective with blunted emotions. A local crime draws them together and apart. There is a vivid contrast between one wife who supports her husband no matter what, and another who does not, violating the neighborhood code and leading him to his eventual fate. 

About Schmidt   - It's a story about a very ordinary middle-American man in a mid-Western city just after retirement from a lifetime position in an insurance company. What could be so interesting about a character like this, to an older or to a younger audience? More at About Schmidt  (link TBD)

Highly recommended. 

The Pledge   - An unconventional detective story transplanted from Switzerland to Nevada, from a novel by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. My interest was aroused with a TV ad for the film - only half-paying attention, I thought I saw the name of Dürrenmatt, a writer of real literature, appear. The story on which the film is based, "Das Versprechen", is worth reading in itself. More at The Pledge  (link TBD)

Z   - The 1969 Costa-Gavras film, available on DVD, is based on real events. The opening credits claim that "any similarity to real persons or events is intentional", in contrast to the usual disclaimer. The film is an indictment of anti-democratic government power for its own sake, especially as the original political assassination took place in the director's homeland of Greece. 

The pacing is relentless, with no rest or break for the viewer. Although Yves Montand playing the assassination victim is most often cited; my favorite role is that of the humorless, incorruptible prosecutor, as portrayed by Jean-Louis Trintignant. In my mind, it's no accident that he wears dark glasses, symbolizing "blind" justice, and also hiding the eyes as the window of emotion. Justice triumphs as, one by one, those in power are charged with criminal acts. 

But triumph is ephemeral, as the trailing credits show how the criminal charges were set aside and minimized, and as principals suffer "accidents". 

Mulholland Drive   - A very confusing story for about the first half or more until I was fortunate enough to have an "aha" moment to be able to join the plot pieces coherently. It's probably best to see this more than once so that one can see the context in which the various characters first appear. Recommended. 

Elf   - Yes, I really did see it. Good fun family fare, for small kids with enough for adults to laugh too. Amazingly, it avoids being treacly. It may become a holiday classic. But seeing it once was enough. 

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens   (F. W. Murnau, 1922) - This classic silent is available on DVD for about $8; it's famous for the title role by Max Schreck ("Fright" in German). In its historical context as the first vampire film, it's quite remarkable. The count is played to be both repulsive and frightening, as distinguished from the seductive, exotic version of Bela Lugosi's Dracula.

The modern film closest in style is Nosferatu by Werner Herzog, with Klaus Kinski in the title role.

It Came From Outer Space - A 1953 black-and white film with B-movie star Richard Carlson in the lead role. Revolutionary in that the aliens are not malevolent and just want to do some repairs to their spacecraft be on their way. Although it was released as a 3-D movie, it did not exploit 3-D effects; all that I recall was a giant eyeball projected into the audience (which was sudden and scary). The film music makes use of the theremin to reinforce its eerieness. 

For those of us who were around in 1953, the same Richard Carlson also played Herb Philbrick in the TV series "I Led Three Lives", the story of a family man who infiltrated the communist organization for the FBI.

The War of the Worlds - The 1952 color film version of an H. G. Wells story, featuring a planned full-scale invasion of earth by very malevolent Martians, with invincible technology.