Boom! 1968
Posted by spheer2002 | Filed under Film, Films of the 1960's
Some of us Invite Death…
…..and some of us try to escape it on a lonely island surrounded by the sea, scorched by the eternal sunshine,
‘Sissy’ Goforth (Elizabeth Taylor)the richest woman in the world lives on her luxury island somewhere in the Mediterranean and rules over all like a great dying monster, while dictating her autobiography , a poet( Richard Burton) washes up upon her great island, a poet who has been nicknamed”Angelo Del Morte” or The Angel of Death, because all woman he encounters are ( as Noel Coward puts it) a few steps away from the Grave Digger.
Based off an unsuccessful Stage Play By Tennessee Williams‘ from the early 1960’s that had starred Talulah Bankhead and Tab Hunter, its a wonder any producer would have put any money into it at all ,aside from the fact it was a ”Tennessee Williams” Play and it was to star Power Couple Liz + Burton,
It at the end of the day quite a minimalist play similar to Night of the Iquana , and is set catastrophically on an unnamed private island in the middle of the ocean where Taylor Sunbaths her Dying Body in the sunshine, but there are some redeeming qualities,Noel Coward makes good with his interesting little role as ”the Witch of Capri” essentially playing… Himself and Sports quite a primitive, but interesting score by John Barry ( Born Free, and the James Bond Theme) which to this day is incredibly popular with collectors.
This Film Interestingly enough is Praised most loudly by John Waters who has screened the last remaining print of the film in several parts of the states , has sited it as (along with Imitation of Life) as one of the greatest influences and a testament to his craft
Like Most Taylor Burton Films of the late 1960’s this one bombed most horribally , and was one of their last great screen apperaences together, it had been ravaged bu critics everywhere, and was seen to be a ”Folly” for everyone conserned, However as a film which deals with isolation Dying and or death as a metaphor, its one of the best there is.
Tags: Based off Play, Death, Decadence, dying, fate, Island, Melancholy, metaphor, Noel Coward, Tennessee Williams
Our Man In Havana 1959
Posted by spheer2002 | Filed under Film, Films of the 1950's
Our Man Alec
Our Man Alec
Highly recommend this one…
Based of Graham Greene novel
Jim Wormold(Alec Guinness ‘Bridge on the river Kwai, Star Wars’) is an expatriate Englishman living in pre-revolutionary Havana with his teenage daughter Milly. He owns a vacuum cleaner shop but isn’t very successful so he accepts an offer from Hawthorne(Noel Coward .’The Italian job’ and the second coming of Oscar Wilde ) of the British Secret Service to recruit a network of agents in Cuba. Wormold hasn’t got a clue where to start but when his friend Dr. Hasselbacher(Burl Ives, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) suggests that the best secrets are known to no one, he decides to manufacture a list of agents and provides fictional tales for the benefit of his masters in London. He is soon seen as the best agent in the Western Hemisphere but it all begins to unravel when the local police decode his cables and start rounding up his “network” and he learns that he is the target of a group out to kill him Also starring Maureen O’Hara(The Quiet Man) as British intelligence
Written in the wake of the popularity of the James Bond Novel Phenomena, and released three years before the franchise begin with ”Doctor No” Spys and the Cold war were a score of fear and speculation at the time, the Novel and the film more so make fun of this as well as present a possibility of real espionage and contract killing as the result of ‘Hype’ of the Red Scare , this film although a parody shows the real consequences of what happens when you dont check your facts and believing in ‘Santa clause’
Although the New Government of Cuba was More than happy for Graeme Greens novel about the baptista regime, showing it to be corrupt and the thoughtless meddling s foreign spies from both Brittan and America , The Book and the Film were subsequently withdrawn after Greens comments about the treatment of Intellectuals and Gays and Lesbians ,People don’t realize when they put posters of Che Guevara on their wall , they forget when he worked with Fidel Castro he actually supported putting intellectuals and Homosexuals in concentration camps, subsequently this important film about the change in power in Cuba from the Batista’s seems to be little know in its own country.
as a time capsule of a period in history its fascinating to watch a generation who lived in fear of the Bomb and the blunderings of both sides to resolves this the best way they can by sheer stupidity.
Alex Guinness is great as a British ‘Jimmy Stewart’ everyman who wants the best for his family and plays both side of politics like a poker game with deadly consequences.
Tags: Based off Novel, Black Comedy, Comedy, Espionage, expressionist, Graham Greene, Murder, Noel Coward, Noir, Red Scare, Satire, South America, Spy
