Reviews

For me, this live action Tintin yarn from 1960 is an amiable antidote to the supercharged Steven Spielberg-Peter Jackson animated epic of 2011. My stepson and I read all the Tintin comics of Hergé and enjoyed them hugely, but we didn't find Spielberg's film much fun at all (and we're Spielberg fans for the most part). The unrelenting, frenetic action and spectacular animation was for us more exhausting than entertaining.

But this movie really captures the atmosphere of the comic books. There's Captain Haddock's cartoon beard, Tintin's cowlick and insouciant ultra-competence (mirrored by his delightful dog Milou/Snowy), the choreographed idiocy of the Thompson twins, Professor Cuthbert Calculus with his long goatee, green outfit and daffy inventions, crayola-bright color schemes that reflect Hergé's comic book panels, a hidden treasure with a mysterious backstory, a cast of dastardly villains-you name it!

As a bonus, this movie was shot entirely on location in Turkey and Greece, with street scenes that effortlessly incorporate landmarks like the Hagia Sofia and the Parthenon, plus seemingly casual passers-by who lend a nice flavor of verisimilitude to the proceedings. There's even a sort of musical interlude in a Greek village with an excellent folk ensemble providing the entertainment.

Story, direction and acting are just fine, especially Georges Wilson as the blustering Captain Haddock and mild-mannered Jean-Pierre Talbot as the "reporter" Tintin.

A masterpiece?-well, no. A lot of fun?-You bet!

This movie is proof that greater faithfulness (though still partial) to your source material is no guarantee of a successful film. In the 1930s, James Whale and his colleagues made two great ones taking what they pleased from Mary Shelley and inventing the rest. This version succeeds only with the monster itself, and its striking to see that the otherwise frantic pace of this film slows down and becomes most coherent when the monster takes center stage. Much credit goes to Robert De Niro for a nuanced and empathetic performance that almost, but not quite, redeems this adaptation. The sequence in which he secretly helps an impoverished farm family and befriends their blind grandfather is most effective and comes straight from Mary Shelley's remarkable work (it's also the clear inspiration for the blind hermit sequence in Whale's Bride of Frankenstein, hilariously sent up in Young Frankenstein).

The rest of the movie is often incoherent and overwrought. Despite some impressive moments, it never matches the stately motion or design of the old Universal horror creations. But De Niro is great because, like Boris Karloff before him, he uses his actor's intuition to find the heart of the monster, and he never overplays the part. He makes this fkawed adaptation worth seeing.

The cast and production are first rate, and the script is pretty good, but this version of Bleak House is marred by fancy camera work and editing that call attention to themselves at the expense of the story. Characters are introduced in a disorienting fashion that makes it hard to fit them into the scheme of things-unless you've read the book. Sound cues and handheld camera effects are jarring and anachronistic for a period production. Probably the director made his reputation making rock videos. Just look at the photo that pops up on IMDB. That says it all.

I can only attribute the poor ratings for this imaginative documentary to general ignorance on the part of the critics. In fact it is consistently interesting and even moving, if sometimes lacking in continuity, and it tells a compelling story of two brilliant children of a distinguished father, voiced by siblings Vanessa and Corin Redgrave (whose father Michael was no slouch himself). Klaus and Erika Mann were way ahead of Thomas Mann when it came to identifying and combating the Nazi menace. There are revealing interviews with sister Elizabeth Mann and an old associate of Erika Mann's who performed in the 1930s landmark production of her Peppermill, along with footage of a 60s television interview with Erika, some of her stage and film performances, and recordings of Klaus's voice. Inserted at intervals are re-enactments of incidents from the lives of the Mann siblings and snippets from their works. These are in color and are unobtrusive, though perhaps too fleeting to be wholly coherent. On their own they are well done, however. The music is also stylish and effective. There are plenty of evocative stills and clips from the period, too. If you are interested in this fascinating and turbulent period and this dynamic family, I recommend this film to you.