Movies, books, music and TV

Author: EarlD Page 1 of 313

“The Southerner” Is A Farmer

The man who directed such masterworks as The Rules of the Game and La Grande illusion, Jean Renoir, should have purveyed a better Hollywood drama than The Southerner (1945), derived from a novel by George Sessions Perry. Zachary Scott and Betty Field have no real appeal as a Southern couple trying to support a family on miserable farmland. Even in ’45 this post-Depression picture had nothing new to say, and to me it gets tiring.

On the other hand, Renoir was a mostly serious man, and an artist, and The Southerner is at least a serious movie with a touch of art. Its outdoor shots are terrific. But the French auteur resembles a Southerner named William Faulkner in that he stopped proving he was a great artist after a certain period of time.

Re-Igniting: “The Ballad of Wallis Island”

In The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025), two pop/folk musicians reunite to make some money through playing a gig on Wallis Island, off the coast of England. One musician, Herb (Tom Basden), is male; the other, Nell (Carey Mulligan), is female. An odd fan named Charles (Tim Key) hired them. Nice Nell, the singer and sharer of Herb’s music, much appeals again to Herb. He desires that they go back to performing together, because his love for Nell is reigniting. Nell, however, is now married.

Ballad was directed knowingly by James Griffiths. The screenplay, written by Basden and Key, is rather schematic but still sapid and humane. The performances are delightfully strong. Charles, it must be said, is a naif who talks too much; and, for my part, I wish there had been less Charles and more Nell. Oh, well . . .

“Army Of Shadows” Against An Army Of Brutality (The Melville Film)

Cover of "Army of Shadows - Criterion Col...

Cover of Army of Shadows – Criterion Collection

Jean-Pierre Melville‘s Army of Shadows (1969), adapted from a Joseph Kessel novel, would be a mere adventure story if it were not for its impressive sophistication and excellent execution.  It follows the actions of Philippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura) and other French Resistance members in German-occupied Marseille.

The Nazis in the film are scumbags, suspicious and inhumane.  The qualms about violence the resisters often exhibit never arise in the hearts of the Germans.  But the resisters do kill, for various reasons; yet, alas, the Nazis are able to shockingly push them against the wall.  Watch the entire movie and you’ll see what I mean.

Treated unfairly in France—for one thing, it was thought the Resistance ought not to be glorified after the Algerian conflict—Shadows is long and slow-moving but, to me, fascinating and effectual.

(In French with English subtitles)

 

Hey, Lady—Of The Lake

“The Lady of the Lake” is from Bernard Malamud‘s classic short story collection, The Magic Barrel (1958). In a number of the author’s fictions, men are smitten with women they should not pursue or they should pursue them but make poor choices along the way. “Lady” is an example of the latter.

The comely Isabella asks Henry, vacationing in Italy, if he is Jewish. Growing to love the girl, Henry lies and says no since he fears Isabella might reject a Jewish lover. But this is not the case. A piercing, carefully written item, the story shows us the complications surrounding identity—and has no resolution at the end. Worthy, this, and superior to such men-in-love Malamud works as Dubin’s Lives and even “In Retirement.”

A Curse Can Befall A Nurse: The Movie, “Night Nurse”

In William Wellman‘s Night Nurse (1931), the world of nursing can be an alarming and even dangerous one because of human nature.

Barbara Stanwyck stars as Lora Hart, a nurse hired to care for an alcoholic’s two ostensibly sick children.  In truth, a lawless brute called Nick (Clark Gable) is slowly starving the children because their deaths will mean financial gain for him.  It is the early Thirties, and the big city is producing small-time Al Capones and Johnny Torrios.  A bootlegger (Ben Lyon) who is sexually attracted to Lora represents moral ambiguity.  He is an inhumane man, but he helps Lora against Nick.  All of this, and the fact that Lora seems to be taking up with the bootlegger, requires that she be a strong woman, in the way that her somewhat cynical friend (Joan Blondell) is strong.  And she is.

Based on a novel by Grace Perkins, Night Nurse is blunt and engrossing, more consequential than Wellman’s The Public Enemy.  Even David Thomson, who has been unfair to Wellman, has praised it.

 

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