David Lean’s first big Oscar-laden epic. Not as good as the two movies – Lawrence and Zhivago – that followed, but still pretty good, if perhaps overlong. Lean’s feeling for the vast landscape, dwarfing his human characters, is already present and correct. But the central tale of the battle of wills between Nicholson and Saito is well told, and the performances by Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa are superb. William Holden, James Donald and Jack Hawkins are excellent too, the cinematography is wonderful, the music stirring, and it’s a great story.
I think that my main problem is that Nicholson is – despite his qualities of loyalty, intelligence, courage and devotion to his men – a prig and a bore, a man whose rigid adherence to protocol, “decency” and “principle” leads him to betray his men, his country and, ultimately his cause. “What have I done?” he asks at the end, shortly before dying. As well he might.
I am very fond of creaky old sci-fi movies – the lower the budget, the better! And they don’t come creakier or more low-budget than this 1967 British schlocker. It has some of the least convincing effects, script, dialogue and acting I’ve ever seen. Basically, a trio of scientists are conducting a SETI-style search for alien life, when the ETs they are searching for “transport” their shed, lock stock and barrel to their base on an asteroid. Also in the shed at the time are an accountant, played by Charles Hawtrey (I kid you not), and Patricia Hayes as the tea lady (I’m still not kidding). Along the way they meet perhaps the most pitiful alien “monster” ever captured on celluloid, and defeat a fleet of enemy starships using a tube that fires ping-pong balls. That’s about it…
“In Mongolia, when a dog dies, he is buried high in the hills so people cannot walk on his grave. The dog’s master whispers into the dog’s ear his wishes that the dog will return as a man in his next life. Then his tail is cut off and put beneath his head, and a piece of meat or fat is placed in his mouth to sustain his soul on its journey; before he is reincarnated, the dog’s soul is freed to travel the land, to run across the high desert plains for as long as it would like.
I learned that from a program on the National Geographic channel, so I believe it is true. Not all dogs return as men, they say; only those who are ready.
I am ready.”
A very enjoyable movie and my wife thought it was the best acting that she had seen from Kevin Costner.
This was on ITV last night, so I watched it. What a curious film. Although doubtless well-intentioned, it might just be the most pointless picture I have ever seen. The cast is great – Toby Jones, Bill Nighy, the wonderful Tom Courtenay, Michael Gambon, Bill Paterson Daniel Mays – but the script these actors are given is decidedly sub-par. Catherine Zeta Jones’ glamourpuss feels shoehorned in and the plot is daft and for the most part desperately unfunny. Although I have to say that the scenery/street scenes are glorious.
The problem is, I think this: the original Dad’s Army TV ensemble (Arthur Lowe, the majestic John Le Mes, Clive Dunn, Arnold Ridley, Ian Lavender, John Laurie, Bill Pertwee, James Beck, Frank Williams et al) is perhaps the single greatest collection of acting talent ever assembled in one place at the same time. Added to that, the characters they played were indelibly memorable and the scripts so perfectly pitched that they simply cannot be equalled, let alone surpassed. Nighy’s Wilson is a bit seedy rather than louche, and lacks the languid baffllement JLM did so well. Only Toby Jones comes anywhere near the original, and even he falls way short.
Agreed, Kev. I generally avoid remakes eg look at the awful job Steve Martin & co made of the Pink Panther, but I watched the remake of Dad’s Army because of the impressive cast. Oh dear!
That excellent actress Amy Adams is often wasted in movies unworthy of her – usually romcoms and superhero crap. But this intelligent sc-fi movie is the perfect showcase of her talents. Looking dowdy, she plays a linguist helping to translate an alien language after ETs land at a dozen spots around Earth. I won’t spoil it by revealing any more of the plot, but I can recommend it heartily. Forrest Whitaker and Jeremy Remmer are excellent too, but this is Adams’ movie. The splendid score is by Max Richter and Johann Johannssen.
I hadn’t seen this 1944 David Lean-Noel Coward film before, but knowing that it was filmed in my part of the world, I paid very close attention.
The story of the lower middle class Gibbons family, who settle in a rented house in Balham, South London just after the Great War, it’s a very English film, and a convincing portrayal of the trials and tribulations of Londoners, friends, family and neighbours between the wars. The cast is to die for – John Mills, Robert Newton, Celia johnson, Kay Walsh, Stanley Holloway…
The glorious Tecnicolor cinematography is by the great Ronald Neame; despite having a Technocolor rep on set, Lean and Neame managed to get a very “unTechnicolor” look.
Best of all, I recognised the locations, including the Gibbons’ house, which is on Alderbrook Road (other streets that I recognised included Lysias Road, Nightingale Lane, Oldridge Road, Temperley Road etc). The street and the house have barely changed, although there are a lot more Mercs and Maseratis parked up these days.
A fascinating and beautifully observed portrait of the way we were… 9.5 out of 10, I reckon.
