Reviews

Here we are in a colourful and dangerous past. Summer 1966, or are we in the whole of the sixties and seventies? Anyway, we are supposed to be in New England (made in California) or rather a very small part of it named Gloucester Island. The camera watches a well picked cast and plenty of fancy extras and a Russian (I recognize a red star) submarine commanded by Fatso Theodore Bickel, while having fun and chasing and threatening each other to death. Canadian director Norman Jewison (MOONSTRUCK, Jesus CRIST SUPERSTAR, THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR) at that time 40 years of age (the Khrushchev era with its freezing cold war fund shortly after J.F.K.s Cuba confrontation) tells in good humour the story of a Russian submarine, that collides with a fishermen island, gets stuck and can't get off the shore again.

Good for the story: About 20 Russian sailors face 50 or more (including beautiful Eva Marie Saint) strangely behaving American New England locals. Of cause the island people at first don't see much of the vessel and the daring aliens. But somehow people get to know of the arrival of almost the whole of Russia and gather to defend America. Between rumours and facts Jewison present us some strange local characters, good and almost evil, not so clever and stupid, tough and lovely - not necessarily like anywhere in the world. There is an old foolish fellow (Paul Ford), who tries to form a citizen guard and carries around a sword of former times and does and says some of the stupid things of the third kind. He just doesn't know better and strangely enough survives as well as the rest of the cast (and the crew).

Generally underrated Brian Keith is sheriff Link Mattocks. He knows much better and tries to find out, who at all has seen just one example of the alleged strangers. His great scene is at the harbour edge when he is trying to arrest Captain Bickel, and lieutenant (Alan Arkin) Rozanov translates into Russia and back into something like English they understand in New England. Captain Bickel is facing about 79 or probably even 92 different weapons of the less (?) dangerous kind, while he has directed a huge canon of the grey and very long type toward Chief Brian Keith and his xenophobe fellow men and women gathering behind him.

Not getting anywhere questioning fat man Bickel Chief Link Mattocks just wants to know and put it in his book, what the name of the captain is. We do not learn his name, the captain is a very quiet man, so that is why he doesn't even carries a name in the cast overview at IMDb.

In the meantime blond Andrea Dromm and (at that time) black haired John Phillip Law look at each other and this time we catch the names: She is Alison and he is Alexei. Great and good to know, but what for ? They kiss and part, I'm afraid for ever. He takes his love and not the girl across the ocean, but sure soon will forget her, because he is young and she is an American bore. And who after all wants to live in Russia, wherever that country may be.

Since the whole matter is of cause a fairy tale, the confrontation doesn't move into a bloodshed (Just imagine one Russian canon ball would blow off about 15 to 20 American fishermen and fisherwomen, while out of about 98 small American bullets definitely 3 or 5 will find the broad chest of captain Bickel and many of the rest will push the Russian sailors next to him into the harbour more or less wounded, more or less dead.)

They all come together trying (successfully) to save the life of a little boy, who hangs on a church tower hook, where the script (not good old deus/Lord) put him purposely to interrupt the confrontation. Now really everybody participates in saving the American island boy by building a circus pyramid of people - of cause a Russian American mixed life pyramid.

We leave the cinema or our place in front of the goggle box and have watched a very inspired and entertainingly written, fast moving, qualified directed and played peace satire (at the very end of the picture the sub is escorted to the open sea by the American fishing boats to shelter the Russians from the alarmed Air Force) with little but well calculated slapstick and some jolly surrealistic dialog.

We once more realize that time goes by. The lead actors are either dead or round about their 80ies. Some are still active, for instance director Norman Jewison himself. Eva Marie Saint is in her 80ies today, here on Gloucester Island she still looks like heading North by North West.

Cary Grant dropped making pictures the same year. In earlier OPERATION PETTICOAT he was head of a pink painted Submarine. And don't forget the fabulous Yellow Submarine....

Michael Zabel, Offenbach/Rodenbach

France 1942. Jean Pierre Grumbach alias Melville is away in London with General de Gaulle. France is occupied by the German nazi swastika. Jean Bruller, actually an illustrator, writes a novel 'LE SILENCE DE LA MERE', which is published by the underground 'Edition de Minuit'. Bruller calls himself Vercors. On Feb. 22, 1942 the book is ready to be issued and distributed in Paris by messengers on bicycles.

Melville first read the novel in English. He reports, that he was absolutely determined, that it would be his first film. He returned to France and negotiates with Vercors to buy the rights for his resistance novel. Vercors refused to let Melville have it. The book had virtually served as a Bible during the war and had become part of the French national heritage. Finally Vercors and Melville make a deal: The future famous director guarantees to submit the film as soon as it was finished to a jury of resistant selected by Vercors. Should one single member of this Jury be opposed to the film being shown, Melville promised to burn the negative.

The trouble was, that Melville was unqualified professionally, had no union card and in fact not obtained the rights to the book. Still, the director of the GTC laboratories Colling encouraged Melville and did the chemical work for nothing and the later famous lighting cameraman Henri Decae was the operator of the hired and not so well working equipment. The film was made in Vercors own house and Howard Vernon, a German (Swiss?) starred, as well as a friend of Melvilles Jean-Marie Robain, a wartime comrade, and a family friend Nicole Stéphane, whose profile and limpid eyes Melville loved and who was according to him a Rothschild, what the CGT didn't like so much.

What is it all about ? Uncle (Robain) and his niece ( Stéphane) live together in a house outside some village that is occupied by the Germans (and drink expensive coffee all the time). They have to tolerate a German lieutenant (Vernon), who comes to live upstairs and has a bad leg and who works in the Commandantur. He is a well educated composer of music and has never been to France, though he has traveled the world - except France. When he after work comes back to the uncle-niece couple (he sucking a pipe, she knitting) he knocks at the door and speaks (mostly in his German uniform) in French to the owners of the house, who never answer to him or comment on his statements, explanations, ideas, longings, who never say good night. They are just listening to him.

What is the lieutenant speaking and dreaming of ? He imagines the genius of German music and the greatness of French literature being united in a peaceful Europe. One day our lieutenant Werner decides to go to Paris, that he avoided a long time. The opera like action inside the (Vercors) house is now taken to open air Paris, Vernon with his officers cap is a tourist in front of several well known Paris Buildings and we watch him attending a party of officers, who wise Ebrennac up, that they never intended to respect the French culture or let it at least exist as it is. They make clear that the occupation has just one aim, finish the French for once and for all times. Ebrennac looses all hope, returns to the cottage of uncle and niece, packs his luggage and reports to them what he had heard in the officers Club in Paris. He decides to go back to the front. He leaves the house and this is the time, when the niece says just one word: Adieu.

Certainly the film has an anti-cinematographic aspect and there is little action. But you watch every minute with growing interest how the relationship between the three is developing. There are simple means, two or three walls, a ceiling, a door, a uniform, a ball of wool, a flickering fireside and the over and over repeated greeting of the officer, that he wishes a good night. Are we even witnessing a quiet love affair ? It is probably not in the book, but I like to accept that idea, sympathy for the devil. (Andre Gide: I think the girl was a fool. She deserved to be spanked.)

The film is full of fine details. All of them put splendidly by Decae into a black and white photography as if that sort of film was just freshly invented. The church at the horizon (where would that be ?) behind a field of corn and the forgoing panning shot followed by a slow pan toward a gun barrel. The scene when the lieutenant and his corporal cross a bridge and three French occupy the sidewalk and don't move a single inch. The group of officers caps on the table at the soiree, the perfect focus in the kitchen (Gregg Toland's way) and the nice scarf of the niece towards the end, which looks like decorated by Jean Cocteau, but was drawn by Melville himself, who greatly admired Cocteaus work. Its all much more than just a first film of a future independent film maker.

Melville tells us, making the film was the happiest year in his life. Decae and Melville did the editing from 35 mm rushes in a hotel room. They projected on to the wall. They filmed in total penury. After putting an original music to the film (cost as much as the whole film, 120 musicians) in October 1948 the film was first screened at the studio des Champs-Elysees, in the presence of a top-drawer audience. Now at last Pierre Braunberger came in and managed to persuade Melville to give him the film. It did well at the box office.

And thanks to young Howard Vernon, who passed away only recently at the age of 82. And Cocteau thought the mentioned scarf was a work of his.

Michael Zabel, Offenbach/Rodenbach.

His fourth film leads author/director Jean Pierre Grumbach alias Melville in 1955 right into the Pigalle milieu in Paris. Before and after WW II Melville obviously knew this territory well and wrote an original script and wanted to paint as truthful a picture as possible. The story is about an aging small time gambler Bob (Roger Duchesne a post war movie star), who doesn't sleep with the girl he loves (Isabelle Corey as Anne, according to Melville 16 years of age at that time), but leaves that to almost everybody else. Bob is a loner, smoking all the time dangerous cigarettes, drifting through the night and always ending up in the restaurant Carpeaux for an early morning gamble. Looking into a rusty mirror , he mutters: , A fine hoodlum face ! ‘

One day he looses his heart to a fluff, tells her the morals as well as his young friend Paulo ( Daniel Gauchy), is liked by really everybody even the police inspector (great actor Guy Decomble), is always halve broke and supports the girl, that shows us some nice black under ware. Bob is long time out of the gangster business since he was caught and run in jail by the inspector, who has it seems not much to do, so he sends out the pimp Marc to find something worth wile going after. Bob drives an American V 8 convertible through Paris, the police rides a 15 CV and out of every bar one can hear some different music. And Henri Decae is the lighting cameraman as in most Melville pictures, and he just pulls the trigger of his hand camera to catch the nightly beauty and morbidity of the Picalle area.

One night Bob is eventually totally broke and starts to plan a hold - up at the Casino of Deauville. He gathers a group of specialists (you can bring guns, but we don't use them) and being broke – has to hire the money for the preliminary expenses from wealthy Howard Vernon (wearing obviously a false moustache and being almost a star in the fifties and the first leading character in Melvilles Film of 1947, Le Silence de la Mer ). Well, the inspector gets a hint because Paulo cant keep his mouth shut and wants to impress Anne, who doesn't love him at all, and stupid as she is tells the plan Marc. And it is the wife of the croupier, who tells the plan anonymously to the inspector. Many years ago Bob has saved the inspectors life, so the inspector runs around places to find Bob to tell him to stay away from the Deauville job. But the warning is too late. The action is supposed to start at 3 O'clock in the morning. To kill the time Bob is at the roulette and baccara tables, of cause starts to gamble and eventually blows up the bank and is late for the hold up. His beautifully prepared hold-up becomes completely unnecessary because he has just won the eight hundred millions in the Casino vaults by legal means. Paulo is shot dead by the police. Like a waiter the casino boy brings the money after the handcuffed Bob, who mentions to his friend the inspector, that he hopes that the money is safe with them....

Actually a comedy, not very light hearted thou, and only because of the ending. A fine black and white picture (made with very little money) with one black man at the piano, all the rest are people between night and day between a thing called love and making somehow a living. It is a rather cool picture, a love letter to Paris; no fast actions; there is only one outburst of hate, when Paulo shoots Marc, to stop him to tell the inspector about the Deauville Raid. You can see nice details from the time one is missing for over forty years now, for instance the small 4 door Renault with the engine in the rear and the doors opening the wrong way. And I liked the two ladies dressed by Ted Lapidus in the bar, I liked the one - armed bandit in the closet, the three wheel mini car being purposely put in front of the oncoming huge convertible (that is pure Tati), early tourists in American sailor uniforms driving motorcycles, and the relationship between Bob and the Cop. One can hear and see, that they are in the same business.

Buildings underneath Sacré Coeur are still, where they used to be. But nowadays the area is pretty well redecorated. Girls and lovers, gamblers and gangsters, inspectors and thieves, concierges and barmen are where they are supposed to be. You watch the picture and look into an authentic past, because Melville made a (as he would have said)‘movie' about stuff he not only knew from books or the screen. The picture includes one of the best gambling sequences in film history. Toward the end when Bob is in the Casino and starts to win Decae films and catches some great moments at the gambling tables and puts them together to a summary of post war melancholy and oncoming Gaullism.

Melville liked to have the film redone in colour. I don't. Still it was remade by Neil Jordan and called THE GOOD THIEF in colour and scope. I have my doubts if Melville would have liked that one. He cant object anymore. He was a conservative man.

Michael Zabel, Offenbach/Rodenbach