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malatzky
Reviews
Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
Fritz Lang makes good propaganda
Fritz Lang was such a great director that he was able to take this hackneyed subject matter and make a very good film. Many films have been made about Nazi occupied homelands, France, Holland,Norway,Sweden,Hungary now Czechlosovakia. They all end up with the film telling us that the land will be free and all freedom loving citizens will defeat the Nazis etc. Lang lays on the propoganda thick at some points but otherwise it's a very good film
The Nazis are depicted as mostly inhuman savages, especially Heydrich who really reminds me of the Emporer in The Empire Strikes Back. Notice that films about the Nazis filmed during the war are much less realistic than post-war. Surprising that the standard stock company of Hollywood Actors, particularly Gene Lockhart play characters that I have never seen in American films
Borderline (1950)
A very run of the mill movie
Is it a comedy or a film noir? Not much of a film noir even though the video jacket called it a noir classic. It wasn't. A weak premise and certainly not what one would expect of noir.
Once you read the video jacket, you already know the story line and there is no suspense.
Secrets & Lies (1996)
Great conception, lousy accents
Mike Leigh seems to have founded the school of anti-Hollywood. I know that whenever I see a film of his it will be well written and can't watch it. The accents are so awful that I have to close my eyes to be able to figure out what they're saying. In this film Brenda Blethen concocts an accent that is so incomprehensible that I couldn't watch the film straight but had to break it up into many viewings. I saw My Left Foot so I know this is made up because she had a different accent there. It seems every year Mike Leigh puts out an award winning film and I dread them because they're made up of the most low class charachters and awful sounding voices. As far as this film, a more Hollywood like treatment would make it more enjoyable
Pred dozhdot (1994)
Masterpiece of Masterpieces
Like Yol, we have here a film that brings you into the way of life of a People, living in the mountains and outside of the modern world and you know that ethnic rivalries are bred here. The males go around carrying uzis and the Albanians and Macedonians just can't wait to kill each other. Beautiful photography and music. A different world, there in the Balkans!
Ivanovo detstvo (1962)
Excellent film
A slice of life of a revengeful 12 year old boy who becomes a scout for the Russian army during WW2. As seen from the Russian point of view and all that goes with that. All the soldiers are kind in this quiet war film. Tarkovsky is more interested in the look of the natural world with birch trees and the swamps and the first birch cabin I have ever seen. Another example of why foreign films are the antithesis of American films. A lack of a "character" as in character actor in the American stage tradition. People look and speak more like real human beings and Tarkovsky was a poet of the motion pictures.
Hanussen (1988)
Terrific film
Of the many Brandauer films I have seen, this is the best. He has a truly extraordinary face and he really acts with his expressions.
As usual,Szabo throws in the Hungarian factor even though most of his films occur outside of his home country. And very little Hungarian is spoken. This character Hanussen is based on a true story, but since I don't believe in the supernatural I can't validate what happens in the film as true. Szabo makes consistently interesting films but it seems that all I have seen has been under Communist rule
Tôkyô nagaremono (1966)
What a mess!
I couldn't wait for it to end. Most if not all the film is incomprehensable. After watching it, it's all a blur and I can barely remember anything that happened. Something about 2 ex-gangsters trying to go straight and all the gangsters who want to bring them back in. It goes to show that there are people who like/love films that others absolutely hate. I must have lost something in the translation.
Experiment in Terror (1962)
One of the better Film Noirs
I was surprised that Blake Edwards was the director as I identified him with comedy. There was an effective use of largely unknown San Francisco locations like Twin Peaks so you see the rest of the city far below. Another interesting aspect is that Lee Remick in her pre blonde days is more recognizable as a pretty face rather than a glamorous actress. The black and white makes you look more at the face than the body. I did think that Ross Martin's character could not possibly escape as he was desperate and didn't seem to have any organization behind him like you see in most gangster films. A note about the game at the end. For Baseball fans note that not only is Don Drysdale pitching but also Mike McCormick, making 2 future Cy Young award winners appearing. Not in the credits in imdb but watching closely will yield this.One aspect of this film makes it different from other film noirs I have seen and that is the late date (1962) and the change in mood between the usual LA and NYC locations. Very clean during the day with only short bursts in the street in the sunshine. Otherwise you have people driving in cars in non threatening situations in the sun. Darkness always makes it more threatening. Usually FNs look threatening most of the time.