1962
D: Arthur Penn
C: Anne Bancroft, Victor Jory, Inga Swenson, Andrew Prine, Kathleen Comegys, Patty Duke, Jack Hollander
W: William Gibson (play); William Gibson (screenwriter)
Original Music: Laurence Rosenthal
Cinematography: Ernesto Caparrós
Film Editing: Aram Avakian
Runtime: 106 min
Country: USA
Language: English | American Sign Language
Color: Black and White
Aspect Ratio: 1.66 : 1
Sound Mix: Mono
Certification: Unrated

Annie Sullivan developed the eye disease trachoma at age 5 and spent a good portion of her childhood in an almshouse. In 1880 she was sent to the Perkins School for the Blind, from which she graduated class valedictorian six years later. Upon graduating, at the suggestion of a mentor at the Perkin’s School, the 19-year-old Sullivan traveled to the Keller plantation in Alabama to see if she could find success with a deaf and blind child so many other specialists had failed to make any headway with. Thinking their daughter a lost cause, the Keller’s had given up any hope of Helen ever being able to communicate with her environment beyond crude home signs. The Keller’s simply wanted someone to train their unruly daughter in good manners so they wouldn’t be forced to send her away to an asylum. Being a relative amateur, and having only a rudimentary knowledge of sign language (odd considering that she graduated from a school for the blind), Sullivan accomplished in just 4 weeks what all the other specialists had failed to achieve.

The genesis of this film stretches back to the early Fifties when writer William Gibson (not of cyberpunk fame) “stumbled upon” Sullivan’s autobiography in a library in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and thought the story of her work with Keller would make for a successful teledrama. Gibson pitched the idea to his friend Arthur Penn, who was producing and directing television dramas for CBS at the time. Penn was enamored enough to propose it to CBS, who in turn bought it even before a script had been written. Gibson rolled up his sleeves and churned out the teleplay in three weeks, using Sullivan’s autobiography and Keller’s The Story of My Life as source material. The title comes from Mark Twain, who referred to Annie Sullivan as “the miracle worker.” Penn directed, with Teresa Wright cast as Sullivan and Patty McCormack (of Bad Seed fame) cast as Keller. It aired in 1957 and became a hit for CBS’s Playhouse 90 series. Gibson then adapted his teleplay for a Broadway run with, again, Penn at the helm. This time Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke were cast as Sullivan and Keller, respectively. (By the way, Patty Duke’s real first name is Anna Marie. Her agents had it changed to “Patty” due to the popularity at that time of Patty McCormack.) It opened on October 19, 1959 and ran for 719 performances. A huge success, it won four Tony’s including best play and best director, with Bancroft taking home a prize for best dramatic performance by an actress. The play was then optioned by United Artists, and Gibson was hired to adapt it to the screen, with Penn hired to direct. UA wanted a bigger name than Bancroft, and they also felt 16-year-old Duke was too old to play a 7-year-old. But Penn held out for both of them, and what was originally slated to be a big budget star vehicle turned out to be a low budget affair made for only $500,000.

It’s a refreshingly brisk-paced, fuss free film with not an ounce of fat, a fringe benefit resulting from a hungry director given tight purse strings. I sat down intending to watch the first few minutes just to refresh my memory, not having seen it for years, and ended up watching the whole thing after being drawn in by the fantastic montage sequence of Sullivan on the train. The very physical scenes in which Sullivan and Helen engage in a battle of wills have such a queer quality to them — in their stylized relentlessness, they suggest the dramatic edge those highly choreographed fight scenes in martial arts films would have, if only they were emotionally charged with some sort of significance. Duke and Bancroft are spectacular. I can’t tell if the other members of the Keller family have been poorly conceived or poorly performed, but they’re certainly interesting and add up to more than just background noise.

1988
D: Tim Burton
C: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Carmen Filpi, Simmy Bow, Sylvia Sidney, Robert Goulet, Dick Cavett, Glenn Shadix, Patrice Martinez, Rachel Mittelman, Annie McEnroe
W: Tim Burton, Larry Wilson & Michael McDowell (story); Michael McDowell & Warren Skaaren (screenplay)
Original Music: Danny Elfman
Cinematography: Thomas E. Ackerman
Editing: Jane Kurson
Runtime: 92 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Technicolor
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Sound Mix: Dolby
Certification: PG

Adam and Barbara Maitlands’ dream home sits atop a sun-showered hill in the idyllic Connecticut village of Winter River. One day they go into town to pick up some supplies and get into a freak accident. Returning home they slowly realize that they are no longer among the living. They find a book called The Handbook of the Recently Deceased, and are soon appointed their own personal afterlife social worker, who teaches them the ins and outs of being dead. Relegated to the confines of their house as ghosts, they soon come to terms with the afterlife. Until, that is, the Dietzes arrive.

Charles and Delia Dietz are yuppie transplants from New York. The rat race has given Charles a nervous breakdown, so he decides to move his family to peaceful Winter River, far away from the bright lights and honking horns of the city. But Delia Dietz is not at all happy with living in the sticks or with the Maitlands’ L.L. Bean aesthetic, so she enlists the aid of her interior decorator to do a complete overhaul of the property. This doesn’t sit well with the Maitlands, who after trying and failing to scare the Dietzes away become so determined to get rid of these city folk that they call on the services of Betelgeuse (”the ghost with the most”). An afterlife “bio-exorcist” who promises to rid the Maitlands of these pests, Betelgeuse’s tactics aren’t what they bargained for, so the Maitlands set about getting rid of him. All ends well, as the Maitlands and Dietzes forge a truce and decide that the house is big enough for all of them.

The creation of the bucolic little town of Winter River is the best thing about this comedy. It has the same enchanting beauty that I find in Maxfield Parrish’s paintings of New England villages. Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis are ostensibly the stars of this film, but their characters aren’t well developed, so they act as dull foils to the other characters. The set design is sharp, especially the waiting room for the dead. And the score by Danny Elfman is wonderfully inventive, making great use of a couple classic Harry Belafonte hits in “Day-O” and “Jump in the Line.” Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O’Hara, and Glenn Shadix (who plays Delia’s interior decorator Otho) are fabulous. As Betelgeuse, Michael Keaton is only on screen 17 minutes but he does vaudevillian wonders with what he’s given, and to this day it’s the role people are most likely to associate him with after Batman. Kudos to whatever clever mind thought up the zany idea of casting Dick Cavett and Robert Goulet as dinner guests.

1975
D: Ellen Hovde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Muffie Meyer
C: Edith Bouvier Beale, Edith ‘Little Edie’ Bouvier Beale, Jack Helmuth, Brooks Hyers, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Norman Vincent Peale, Jerry Torre, Lois Wright
Cinematography: Albert Maysles & David Maysles
Editing: Susan Froemke, Ellen Hovde & Muffie Meyer
Runtime: 100 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color
Sound Mix: Mono
Certification: PG

In the early 1970’s socialite Lee Radziwell commissioned the Maysle brothers to shoot a documentary on her life. During some preliminary research they discovered the Beales, close relatives of both Lee and her sister Jacqueline Onassis. “Big Edie” Beale and “Little Edie” Beale, Jackie O’s aunt and first cousin, respectively, were living in seclusive squalor in a rat- and raccoon-infested, crumbling 28-room mansion in East Hampton, New York named Grey Gardens. Over the years, both mother and daughter had become increasingly cut off from the world, living on a meager $300 a month (in one of the richest neighborhoods in the world, no less), and supplementing this allowance by selling off family valuables. The eccentric duo came within a hair’s breadth of eviction because the local board of health, after a series of raids provoked by reprehending neighbors, threatened to demolish their mansion. Fortunately family ties never unbind, as Jackie’s hubby came to the rescue with a $25,000 check for the cleanup and renovation of the property.

This is just backstory, covered by the Maysles in the first five minutes by way of newspaper cutouts. The Maysles don’t conduct any interviews with the Beales’ neighbors, Jackie O, or Lee Radziwell (who, by the way, canceled that commission upon their discovery of her family secret). They spent just six weeks with the Beales, recording frequent spats between mother and daughter and reminiscences of society life and failed romances. The focus is largely trained on “Little Edie,” who in younger years was a beautiful model wooed by some of the richest men in the world. The only people we see besides the two heroines are a young handyman named Jerry Torre whom “Little Edie” nicknames, after the Hawthorne novel, The Golden Faun (at one point, not knowing the Faun is gay, she complains to her mother about his intentions); and a couple bewildered-looking people who come to Grey Gardens to celebrate “Big Edie’s” birthday. But mostly it’s just mother and daughter, lazing away in their otherworldly idyll.

A completely absorbing documentary. Albert Maysles later took another look at the Beales in The Beales of Grey Gardens, which was released in 2006 and made up entirely of unused footage that didn’t make the cut the first time around.

1959
D: Howard Hawks
W: B.H. McCampbell (short story); Jules Furthman & Leigh Brackett (screenplay)
C: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, John Russell, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, Estelita Rodriguez, Claude Akins, Malcolm Atterbury, Harry Carey Jr.
Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Cinematography: Russell Harlan
Editing: Folmar Blangsted
Runtime: 141 min
Country: USA
Language: English / Spanish
Color: Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Sound Mix: Mono (RCA Sound Recording)
Certification: PG

A sheriff struggles to uphold law and order in a small Southwestern town while being outmanned by a corrupt rancher.

El cheapo set design. One of the ugliest color films I’ve ever seen. Undistinguished score. Ricky Nelson redefines “wooden.” Supporting cast is eminently mediocre.

The script is key. Wayne, Martin, and Brennan give maybe their most likable performances. And Hawks’ sturdy craftsmanship, combined with his inimitable gift for directing unpretentious conversational dialogue, provides enough potency to shine through the dreck.

2004
D: Brian W. Cook
W: Anthony Frewin (story & screenplay)
C: John Malkovich, Jim Davidson, Richard E. Grant, Luke Mably, Marc Warren, Terence Rigby, James Dreyfus, Peter Bowles, Ayesha Dharker, Robert Powell, Henry Goodman, Maynard Eziashi, Leslie Phillips, Honor Blackman, William Hootkins, Marisa Berenson, Lynda Baron, Ken Russell, Peter Sallis, Jack Ryan
Original Music: Bryan Adams
Cinematography: Howard Atherton
Editing: Alan Strachan
Runtime: 86 min
Country: UK / France
Language: English
Color: Color
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Sound Mix: DTS / Dolby Digital
Certification: Not Rated

In the early 90’s a swindling Londoner by the name of Alan Conway (born Eddie Alan Jablowsky in Whitechapel, London in 1934) began passing himself off as Stanley Kubrick and duping gullible people into buying him favors with promises of parts in phantom projects (New York Times theater critic Frank Rich was one of his victims). Even though he looked nothing like Kubrick, and sounded nothing like him, he managed to get away with his ruse so successfully that word eventually reached the real Kubrick that there was some conman impersonating him. Kubrick found it amusing. Conway died in 1998 (a few months before the famous director passed) without ever having served time. His victims, ashamed of being hoodwinked and having their pictures in the paper, never went through with pressing charges against him.

A sloppy film with a flimsy plot, no attempt has been made to portray the real Conway (hence the “True…ish” subtitle), who was reportedly a dour and nondescript bore with a meanstreak. Rather, Malkovich camps it up, portraying Conway as a wild eccentric devoid of personality. The film is a hit-or-miss mess and Malkovich carries it with a delightfully silly performance. Jim Davidson (who’s a well-known comedian in England and who was actually one of Conway’s real-life victims) plays the garish cabaret singer Lee Pratt, and he injects a lot of life into the film with his equally outlandish performance.

Well worth seeing despite its flaws, but not for every taste.

1999
D: Atom Egoyan
W: William Trevor (novel); Atom Egoyan (screenplay)
C: Bob Hoskins, Arsinée Khanjian, Elaine Cassidy, Sheila Reid, Nizwar Karanj, Ali Yassine, Peter McDonald, Kriss Dosanjh, Gerard McSorley, Marie Stafford, Gavin Kelty, Brid Brennan, Mark Hadfield, Danny Turner, Susan Parry, Claire Benedict
Original Music: Mychael Danna
Cinematography: Paul Sarossy
Editing: Susan Shipton
Runtime: 116 min
Country: Canada / UK
Language: English / Gaelic / French
Color: Color (DeLuxe)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Certification: PG-13

Hilditch is a mild-mannered caterer living in Birmingham, England. Felicia is a pregnant Irish naif who’s traveled to Birmingham in search of the boy who impregnated her. Befriended by Hilditch, Felicia accepts his assistance until she can get back on her feet. But trouble is brewing in this relationship as, unbeknownst to Felicia, this harmless-looking do-gooder has a disturbing history with wayward women.

If you’re in the mood for something along the lines of Silence of the Lambs, then skip this. More a psychodrama than a suspense film. Egoyan has taken a low-key approach to William Trevor’s acclaimed novel, gradually letting the story unfold through flashbacks, allowing the audience to get to know the characters at a leisurely pace. Egoyan is fascinated with the industrial wasteland that is Birmingham: lingering shots of gas works and cooling towers suggest Hilditch’s spiritual desolation and Felicia’s friendlessness. Hoskins is very good as Hilditch, and relative newcomer Emily Cassidy makes for an interesting camera subject.

A gloomy, but memorable, film.

2006
D: Louise Osmond & Jerry Rothwell
C: Jean Badin, Bernard Moitessier, Clare Crowhurst, Donald Crowhurst, Simon Crowhurst, Santiago Franchessie, Ted Hynds, Donald Kerr, Robin Knox-Johnston, Françoise Moitessier de Cazalet, Simon Russell Beale, Tilda Swinton, Ron Winspear
Original Music: Harry Escott & Molly Nyman
Cinematography: Nina Kellgren
Editing: Ben Lester
Runtime: 92 min
Country: UK
Language: English
Color: Black and White / Color
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Certification: PG

A fascinating story ripe for rediscovery. Deep Water concerns the tragic figure of English yachtsman Donald Crowhurst and his ill-fated attempt to circumnavigate the world nonstop in 1968, while competing against eight other sailors in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race.

Narrated by Tilda Swinton, Deep Water isn’t a documentary spliced with reenactments, which is what I was expecting when I heard that the makers of Touching the Void were involved. Not particularly cinematic, it’s more like a really good PBS documentary, complete with talking heads.

1987
D: Yurek Bogayevicz
C: Sally Kirkland, Robert Fields, Paulina Porizkova, Gibby Brand, John Robert Tillotson, Julianne Gilliam, Joe Aufiery, Lance Davis, Deirdre O’Connell
W: Yurek Bogayevicz & Agnieszka Holland
Original Music: Greg Hawkes
Cinematography: Bobby Bukowski
Editing: Julie Sloane
Runtime: 100 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color (TVC)
Sound Mix: Mono
Certification: PG-13

Offbeat independent film about an aging actress on the downside of her career seeing herself eclipsed by a younger woman.

Kind of reminds me of Gillian Armstrong’s High Tide. Both films came out within a year of each other, both have female leads, and both explore the dynamics of older women-younger women relationships. Newcomer Porizkova is winning as the Czech greenhorn, but it’s Kirkland’s show.

1964
D: Jack Clayton
C: Anne Bancroft, Peter Finch, James Mason, Janine Gray, Cedric Hardwicke, Rosalind Atkinson, Alan Webb, Richard Johnson, Maggie Smith, Eric Porter, Cyril Luckham, Anthony Nicholls, John Franklyn-Robbins, John Junkin, Yootha Joyce, Leslie Nunnerley, Gerald Sim, Frank Singuineau, Faith Kent
W: Penelope Mortimer (novel); Harold Pinter
Original Music: Georges Delerue
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Editing: James Clark
Runtime: 118 min
Country: UK
Language: English
Color: Black and White
Sound Mix: Mono
Certification: Unrated

Jack Clayton is not someone whose name often comes up when talking about great directors, but he was responsible for some of the greatest films ever made, most notably that masterpiece of Gothic horror The Innocents, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, and this neglected black comedy/drama.

The Pumpkin Eater, adapted for the screen by Harold Pinter, tells the story of a perpetually pregnant, deeply unhappy woman in her third marriage who experiences feelings of dramatic isolation and depression. It sounds like one of those insufferable Lifetime flicks, but it’s a great character study of a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It’s also a great study in faces, with Oswald Morris’s careful cinematography and lingering camera catching every nuance of emotion from the characters.

A great cast (Finch and Bancroft have never been better–even though I think Bancroft’s role would probably have been better served with an English actress), marvelous jazz-tinged score by Delerue, and — if Clayton has any clear signature at all — flawlessly crafted from beginning to end. James Mason gives a wickedly hammy supporting performance as a fuming cuckold.

1982
D: Phillip Borsos
C: Richard Farnsworth, Jackie Burroughs, Ken Pogue, Wayne Robson, Timothy Webber, Gary Reineke, David Petersen, Don MacKay, Samantha Langevin, Tom Heaton, Jim McLarty, George Dawson, Ray Michal, Stephen E. Miller
W: John Hunter
Original Music: Michael Conway Baker
Cinematography: Frank Tidy
Editing: Frank Irvine
Runtime: 110 min
Country: Canada
Language: English
Color: Color
Sound Mix: Mono
Certification: PG

After serving 20 years in San Quentin for stagecoach robbery, Bill Miner “The Gentleman Bandit” goes to live with his sister in Washington. It’s 1901 and times–and modes of transportation–have changed, but Miner hasn’t. Unable to reform himself he quickly settles back into his old ways and begins robbing trains.

An interesting character, it’s said that in his day he was far more popular than Jesse James. He’s credited with originating the popular phrase “Hand’s Up!”

This was the film that brought Richard Farnsworth to the public’s attention. A longtime Hollywood stuntman (he did stunt work in Gone With the Wind and the Marx Bros. A Day at the Races), this was his first starring part. Who could have filled the role of this grizzly old outlaw with more authenticity? He even looks like the real Bill Miner. A classy, visually gorgeous masterwork covering the same pre-WWI period of the waning West as Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch, but with a lot less blood and a lot more charm.

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