Henri-Georges Clouzot, France 1953, BW subtitles
Grande Prix from Cannes, 1953. Best Film from British Film Group, 1954.
Viewed at Nathan/Justus’ house, March 2004. Rented as a guess.
A Latin America suspense masterpiece. 4 men stranded in a dead end town loaf all day on the porch of a local tavern. An accident occurs at the oil wells, and they need a delivery of tonnes of nitroglycerin. It can only be delivered, over three hundred miles, by two old trucks with antique suspension…our four disposed suddenly become would be heros, or would-be dead men.
Clouzot’s suspense is very very good. The slowness of the trucks, and visual build-up in the streets of the small town, and the harrowing scenes on the journey so full of risk. If this movie does not thrill one, if it does not deserve five stars, if it does not plumb the depths of these desperate men and turn them into9 magnificent possibilities – than what will?
*****
Filed under: 1950's, Bresson, Robert, Cinematheque, French, Uncategorized
Robert Bresson
France 1959 BW
Disappointing film. Loosely and poorly based on Crime and Punishment. Plot bad – filmmaking worse.
Horrible trait of presenting the characters on screen and than narrating all their actions and thoughts, rather than allowing the scenes to present themselves (in the first person). Thus he stands: thoughts are narrated. He walks: the narrator describes where he is going. He goes to the racetrack: the film contains not a single shot of a racing horse.
Fortunately the film forgets Dostoevsky at some points, forgets to be clever, and produces some rather effective and exciting scenes of various pick-pocketing methods, in particular in very clever sequences with three pickpockets working together. These scenes are what must account for the status and description of this as a remarkable film. I have seen worse – I have seen far better.
Claude Chabrol
1958
His first film. Now I hate to spoil it, but there are not multiple murders in this film.
It’s very good. A young man returns to his Rural hiome town; but he is now something of an urban sophisticate. His old best friend is a young drunk, and the passions of the rural environment are raw and unbridaled. They are ‘animals’ – and as his friend points out (the drunk friend) – it’s normal, for them. So it’s a good contrast study, of the urbanite who returns home, and in a way fits in as he always did. A Tarzan story, in rural France, but backwards, as he returns to his primevil roots.
I don’t like that lead actor – I believe he is Jean-Claude Brialy, but he works in this roll, except in the scene where he is running, which makes you want to punch him in the face, as usual.
Went to both films that night (Aug 2009), ran into Darren at the second, which was Chabrol’s newest film, LA FILLE COUPÉE EN DEUX (A GIRL CUT IN TWO).
1959. Rohmer. An Early one, with less polish, and not very light. Very sad. Saw by myself, July 2009, Cinematheque.
It was so sad that it was hard to watch. A saxophonist has great hopes – not for merit, but for luck, but he is still a likable fellow. But they are dashed, and he falls into real, full-on poverty. It’s aweful to watch. Rohmer really takes us down.
Right at the low point, our financially devistated protagonist becomes ridiculous – opera for money with another bum – and it really is funny. And then the ending, surprise, pulls your right up. And after being taken down so low, so that you almost just wanted to leave and go home, it’s a memorable experience. 5/5. Why be stingy.
Clouzot
IMDB 8.2
1955 B&W
Not as good (more conventional than) Wages of Fear, however very good. One might even, after that superb ending, forget some of the earlier less striking parts and mistakenly say that the entire film was fantastic. Such is the the great strength of the ending of the film, even if one expects something good, and even though the ‘twist’ is not so unfathomable: it is just somehow very well executed.
Stars a rather steely blong, a nasty dark haired man and a very nice girl, who may be the actress listed with the same last name as the director. Set in a somewhat decrepit English boy’s school.
The ending is complemented by a directive written in very large letters across the screen at the end asking viwers not to spoil the ending for others and so not to disclose it to their friends etc. Clearly a film bracing itself for many enthusiastic referrals.
Summer 2004, Cinematheque
