Reviews

For viewers who might be most familiar with Luis Bunuel's work in surreal films such as The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, his approach here might be surprising. It's a mostly straightforward retelling of the Defoe story, although with a few dream-like touches. Bunuel was in exile from Spain and facing McCarthyism in the U.S. when he made this film (his first in English and his first in color), making the Crusoe metaphor a very personal one. So it's his personal reinterpretation, and has lots to offer regarding man's relationship with God, and his views on morality.

This film has been almost impossible to see for a very long time, but in May 2004, VCI Entertainment announced a deal to distribute it. It's well worth your time, whether you're a student of Bunuel or Defoe, or just a student of the important questions of life.

For reasons unknown to me, this version of the film has been unavailable for years. When I finally was able to view it recently, I thought it was excellent, and that Frederic March was the ideal Willy Loman. Played on Broadway by Lee J. Cobb, George C. Scott and Brian Dennehy, powerful men with powerful presences, the role has the potential to make Willy's downfall extremely dramatic, a testament to how far the mighty can fall. But in Frederic March, we better see his inherent weakness, and believe his corruption. We're not tricked into believing that his life's work was ever worthwhile, that it just fell on hard times. Instead, we see that his life was a lie from the beginning, which is what I believe the play intends.

Dustin Hoffman, another great actor, also famously played the role on Broadway and in the TV version of that production, widely available on video and therefore perhaps the version most viewers are familiar with. His interpretation was quirky and unreal, a character actor playing the lead in a modern take on a Greek tragedy, and it didn't work for me. But no matter how you feel about the play and the role, if you can catch this Frederic March version, do so; you won't regret it.

This hard-to-find film, rumored to be released soon on DVD after decades in mothballs, is the blueprint for the disaster movie genre that came into its own in the 1970s (Airport, Earthquake, The Towering Inferno). It introduces a wide array of stock characters (in this case they all have in common being part of the high and the mighty), lets us in on each character's melodramatic backstory and reveals their various characters in the early scenes as they interact in the film's chosen setting (a commercial flight from Hawaii to the states). Then a crisis intervenes, and we see how they react. The formula was beaten into the ground by Irwin Allen (see, or rather don't see, The Day the World Ended) and it sounds so clichéd to us now, but it was an effective story-telling method then and can still be. This version was extremely well-told, with some excellent 50s-style performances (John Wayne in a relatively small part, Robert Stack originating the kind of part he went on to lampoon so well, and Oscar-nominated performances for supporting actress to both Jan Sterling and Claire Trevor, ). Catch it if you can.

This is a 1950s melodrama which tells, in episodic fashion, the story of the adult lifetime of Louise Mason (Jane Wyman, yes, the first Mrs. Ronald Reagan). Louise dedicates her life to being a nanny, i.e. raising other people's children. Wyman gives a very sympathetic, understated performance, and received an Academy Award nomination for it. She's surrounded by familiar character actors, some relatively understated (Charles Laughton)and some over the top (Cyril Cusack). Also look for Agnes Moorehead, Vivian Vance (better known as Lucy's landlord, Ethel Mertz) and Joan Blondell (Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress). Without giving away the story, I would compare the film's emotions to a nanny version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips. This film is not available on video, and is very hard to find, but's it's definitely worth a look if you do.

This low-budget, old-fashioned film, set in Italy during World War II, is probably best remembered for Mickey Rooney's Oscar-nominated performance in a supporting role. And he does steal the show as Dooley, the fast-talking soldier with a dream. But the primary plot revolves around Wendell Corey and Don Taylor's roles as soldiers with very different approaches to war, and life. Corey and Taylor also do fine work, if less flamboyant than Mickey's. The film is extremely well-plotted, in a way that's very rare in today's movies, and the screenplay also was Oscar-nominated. It's a thoughtful piece with something to say about human character. The film has basically disappeared from view. It never appears on TV, and is very hard to find anywhere. But if you come across it, it's well worth viewing.