One of the finest films I have ever seen. Rossellini developed this turning point in film history while in hiding with a leader of the Italian resistance during the Nazi occupation of Italy. He filmed it in the "Open City" of Rome after the Nazi withdrawal near the end of WWII. Reportedly made with film scraps and mostly non-professional actors, the film's rough look give this powerful movie the raw edge and the gritty realism of a documentary newsreel. It virtually defined the Neorealist film style. This story of occupiers, collaborators and resistors--derived from actual characters and stories from Rossellini's lifepaved the way for a variety of great filmmakers from Jules Dassin and Luchino Visconti to Gillo Pontecorvo and Francis Ford Coppola and influenced future cinematic landmarks from Naked City to City of God. A must see.
Reviews
4 Reviews
Sergeant York
(1941)
This Movie Has Not Withstood the Test of Time
8 March 2007
This movie is not a complete waste of time but I do not believe it can justify the high ratings it receives here. Sergeant York actually picked up some Academy Awards so it is interesting to note the movies it competed with at the time: Citizen Kane, Suspicion, The Little Foxes, The Maltese Falcon, Yankee Doodle Dandy, How Green Was My Valley--In short, some of the greatest movies ever made. The stilted acting and predictable script makes the movie appear older than it actually is. Made in an era before the discovery of irony, the heavy handed wartime propaganda film seems cartoonish today. The idea that Gary Cooper beat out Walter Huston (All that Money Can Buy) or Orson Welles (Citizen Kane) for best actor says more about Hollywood's patriotism at the time than it did their ability to recognize or reward a great performance. A similar observation could be made about it's Film Editing award.
I found Max Steiner's score to be particularly disappointing. For an interesting comparison look at Sea Hawk, a wartime film made by the British two years earlier as they prepared to enter WWII (with music by Korngold). For a great movie from the era, see any of the movies listed above. For an exercise in tedium see Sergeant York.
I found Max Steiner's score to be particularly disappointing. For an interesting comparison look at Sea Hawk, a wartime film made by the British two years earlier as they prepared to enter WWII (with music by Korngold). For a great movie from the era, see any of the movies listed above. For an exercise in tedium see Sergeant York.
Doctor Zhivago
(1965)
Shallow, Slow and Sad
16 April 2006
I consider David Lean to be one of the greatest filmmakers ever--but this is far from his best film. The cinematography is sweeping in it beauty (not unlike other films from its day such as the Sound of Music) and the actors were talented but the love story was so simplified that it lacked the emotional depth needed to give the characters arcs or even elicit sympathy. Such is the stuff that fluff is made.
Another disappointing aspect of this film was it's award winning score. The short dominating theme (which can be heard in its entirety as the DVD menu music) reoccurs every time the star crossed lovers met or are about to meet. The variations on the theme are not well developed so we hear the same 30 seconds of mandolin music again, and again and again. Out of all of the Academy's nominations in 1965 for Substantially Original Musical Score (which included Alex North's brilliant work Agony and the Ecstasy-- Alfred Newman's awe-inspiring Greatest Story Ever Told and what many consider to be the finest musical ever filmed: Michel Legrand and Jacques Demy's Umbrellas of Cherbourg) this was the least deserving of an Oscar. I would have awarded Frank DeVol the prize for Cat Balou (also nominated) before I would have given it to Maurice Jarre for this score.
After finally seeing the film--and being so disappointed--i looked into the history of the movie to discover why this is such a well-known work, and here is what i discovered: Dr Zhivago was a epic book by Boris Pasternak that was truncated for the movie stripping it of many layers of meaning. As a film it was not critically acclaimed--in fact the reviews were so bad that David Lean swore he would never make another movie again (and he didn't for almost 20 years until Passage to India). But the public loved it. Dr. Zhivago made more money, up until that point in time, than all of David Lean's previous films combined. Dr Zhavago was an anti-communist film made during the cold war (probably not an unpopular position) during an era of greater sexual repression. So a movie made in 1965 about a cheating man whose pride and extra-marital affair trumps his concern for his child and wife could--in its time--be seen as romanticized heroism. But not from many people's point of view today. The movie isn't even erotic--just shallow, slow and sad.
Dr Zhavago is more comparable to Titanic (which is superior musically and artistically) than it would be to a truly great epic such as Lawrence of Arabia or The Bridge on the River Kwai. There are far better ways to spend three hours than Dr Zhivago.
Another disappointing aspect of this film was it's award winning score. The short dominating theme (which can be heard in its entirety as the DVD menu music) reoccurs every time the star crossed lovers met or are about to meet. The variations on the theme are not well developed so we hear the same 30 seconds of mandolin music again, and again and again. Out of all of the Academy's nominations in 1965 for Substantially Original Musical Score (which included Alex North's brilliant work Agony and the Ecstasy-- Alfred Newman's awe-inspiring Greatest Story Ever Told and what many consider to be the finest musical ever filmed: Michel Legrand and Jacques Demy's Umbrellas of Cherbourg) this was the least deserving of an Oscar. I would have awarded Frank DeVol the prize for Cat Balou (also nominated) before I would have given it to Maurice Jarre for this score.
After finally seeing the film--and being so disappointed--i looked into the history of the movie to discover why this is such a well-known work, and here is what i discovered: Dr Zhivago was a epic book by Boris Pasternak that was truncated for the movie stripping it of many layers of meaning. As a film it was not critically acclaimed--in fact the reviews were so bad that David Lean swore he would never make another movie again (and he didn't for almost 20 years until Passage to India). But the public loved it. Dr. Zhivago made more money, up until that point in time, than all of David Lean's previous films combined. Dr Zhavago was an anti-communist film made during the cold war (probably not an unpopular position) during an era of greater sexual repression. So a movie made in 1965 about a cheating man whose pride and extra-marital affair trumps his concern for his child and wife could--in its time--be seen as romanticized heroism. But not from many people's point of view today. The movie isn't even erotic--just shallow, slow and sad.
Dr Zhavago is more comparable to Titanic (which is superior musically and artistically) than it would be to a truly great epic such as Lawrence of Arabia or The Bridge on the River Kwai. There are far better ways to spend three hours than Dr Zhivago.
Suspicion
(1941)
A Symphonic Web of Silver Shadows on Celluloid
6 April 2006
Suspicion--one of Hitchcock's finest--features an Oscar winning performance by Joan Fontaine, as Lina, animated to a brilliant score (that almost carries the movie) by the Franz Waxman. Hitchcock, Fontaine and Waxman transform the screen into a vehicle for Lina's innermost thoughts and fears: a symphonic web captured on celluloid. Lina suspects her husband--Cary Grant--is trying to kill her. Her emotional vulnerability, and our deepest fears, cast silver shadows--like dendrites--on to the screen.
If you are a fan of great old movies, great film scores or Alfred Hitchcock--find Suspicion. A wonderful companion to Rebecca.
If you are a fan of great old movies, great film scores or Alfred Hitchcock--find Suspicion. A wonderful companion to Rebecca.
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