HitchcOctober Day 10: The Pleasure Garden

Posted on October 10, 2014 by jaycluitt

See, told you I’d be getting to The Pleasure Garden soon (though when I wrote that yesterday I had no intention of it being quite so soon, I just ran out of time to watch anything longer than an hour. All praise YouTube!).

Patsy (Virginia Valli) is a chorus line girl at a theatre known as The Pleasure Garden, which is run by Mr. Hamilton (Georg H. Schnell). One day a new girl, Jill (Carmelita Geraghty), arrives, but she’s had her introductory letter stolen along with all her money, so Patsy offers her a place to stay for the night. The next day, after Patsy puts in a good word and Jill haggles with Hamilton, Jill is offered a shot at dancing and, despite never having danced professionally before, she secures herself a place not just as one of the backing dancers, but as a starring attraction. Jill stays with Patsy in her small flat (even sharing a bed, which they do on their first night together as perfect strangers, it was a different time back then), and when Jill’s fiancé Hugh (John Stuart) visits, Patsy is soon set up with his colleague Levett (Miles Mander). Hugh has to go abroad on business for two years, and requests Patsy prevent Jill from going off the rails, but Jill’s newfound fame and fortune soon go to her head, leading her down a dark path. Meanwhile, Patsy and Levett marry, with the intention of waiting for one another and being together once he is back from his similar work trip.
Continue reading →

Russian Ark

Posted on September 19, 2014 by jaycluitt

When I made my list of films from the 1001 List that I’m Most looking forward to, this was one I was a little apprehensive of, but looked forward to nonetheless. You see, I knew Russian Ark was filmed as one long steadicam shot – a filming technique I’m fascinated with and always impressed by – but I didn’t know a great deal more about it, other than it somehow featured Russian History in some way. History isn’t my strong suit, especially not Russian (Alexander Nevsky proved that), and once again I felt I was missing out on a great deal, simply because I’ve never cracked open a book on the lineage of the Tsars. Continue reading →

Jules et Jim

Posted on August 11, 2014 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written recently for Blueprint: Review, and is also my selection for August for my Blind Spot pick.

Before I get into this review, I feel it’s only fair I give you a glimpse into my brief history with French New Wave cinema. As with David, whose review of another Truffaut film, Shoot the Pianist, posted yesterday, I’m not a huge fan, however, I’ve seen fewer films from within the period than he has, so there was a greater potential for me to like this film. To date, I’ve only really seen two New Wave classics, Godard’s Breathless (written by Truffaut) and Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad. I hated them both, and even went back to re-watch Breathless (also known as A Bout de Souffle) and in fact hated it more the second time around. My problems with these films are many and varied, but essentially I find the characters to be so dislikeable that I genuinely don’t want to spend any time with them, and they all suffer from an abundance of style over substance, more so than any other films I could mention. Marienbad is particularly frustrating, given the complete absence of anything resembling a cohesive plot. I’ve heard arguments praising its open-ended narrative, allowing the viewer to read all sorts of insights into the film, but I see it as laziness on the part of the writer, or potentially an inability to write two adjacent scenes at all. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that Jules et Jim didn’t have much of a chance to begin with, even though I went in with as open a mind as I could manage.

Continue reading →

Cat People (1982) for the Cinematic Katzenjammer’s Not-So-Secret Santa Review Swap

Posted on December 31, 2013 by jaycluitt

This review was written, as you may guess from the post’s heading, for the Not-So-Secret Santa Review Swap over at the Cinematic Katzenjammer, or CineKatz, as run by Nick Powell. It’s a fairly simple yet great idea – you submit a film for some random person to review, and in return you receive one back. I signed up (and gifted Andrew from Go See Talk with Starter for 10, a movie I adore but which is criminally underseen even in the UK), thinking that I’d receive something outside of my wheelhouse, that would potentially expand my movie viewing experience, or even better, get something already on one of my lists that would provide a little extra motivation to cross it off a bit sooner. Instead, I received a schlocky 80s remake of a 40s horror that I didn’t much care for in the first place. So yes, it technically was an off-my-radar selection, but maybe it wasn’t on my radar for a few good reasons. Continue reading →

Before Sunrise and Before Sunset

Posted on August 28, 2013 by jaycluitt

Whilst on a train returning home from visiting her grandmother in Budapest, Céline (Julie Delpy) moves seats when her journey is interrupted by an arguing couple nearby. She impulsively sits across from Jesse (Ethan Hawke), and the two soon strike up a conversation. When they arrive at his stop in Vienna, he asks her to join him as he spends the night strolling around the town before his flight back to America in the morning. What begins as a moment of spontaneity slowly grows into a life-altering encounter. Nine years later, we revisit the pair in Paris, and catch up on where they are in their lives and their relationship.
Continue reading →

War Game

Posted on May 22, 2013 by jaycluitt

An amateur teenage English football team all sign up to fight in World War 1, much to the despair of their families. Whilst they believe, due to propaganda and peer pressure, that the war will be a bit of a lark, the reality is vastly different, consisting of trenches, terrible food and the possibility of death at every second. However, one Christmas in the trenches, an impromptu football game breaks out between the English and the German soldiers.

Continue reading →

Kate Winslet: Naturist

Posted on April 18, 2013 by jaycluitt

Kate Winslet, it seems, is more than just a disembodied pair of breasts that sporadically unveil themselves at inopportune moments in movies. Apparently there is a voice associated with those mammaries (and therefore, one assumes, a mouth, tongue, trachea and who knows how many other body parts too), and it is a voice that has become familiar to the public at large. It was only natural then that the lady in question would use said voice within films, as is the case here with two semi-documentary dramas that focus heavily on nature: The Fox And The Child and Pride. After all, it’s no secret that voice acting is a great deal easier than full-body acting, as there’s no hours of make-up, preparation of scenes and lighting or extravagant costumes to put on (or take off, as the case may be). Unfortunately, the appeal of an easy job can cause a lull in judgement in choosing said work, as is the case with both of these films. Continue reading →

Secret Agent

Posted on February 12, 2013 by jaycluitt

A funeral is being held for British World War I soldier and novelist Brodie (John Gielgud). The thing is, he isn’t dead, as Brodie has been recruited as a spy and renamed Richard Ashenden, and is being sent by the Q-like R (Charles Carson) to Switzerland in order to apprehend and kill a German spy, with the help of an overzealous assassin nicknamed The General (Peter Lorre). Upon arriving in Switzerland, Ashenden discovers a woman has already booked into his room, saying she is his wife, and when he enters his room he finds her to be the not-too-shabby form of Elsa Carrington (Madeleine Carroll), a fellow agent posted to assist Ashenden, but she is already entertaining another guest at the hotel (Robert Young). The three spies must work together, despite not necessarily all getting along, in order to find and stop their adversary before he completes his mission.

Continue reading →

The War Lover

Posted on February 1, 2013 by jaycluitt

England, 1943. Two US Air Force bomber pilots, Buzz Rickson (Steve McQueen) and Ed ‘Bo’ Bolland (Robert Wagner), are best friends, room-mates and regularly go on missions together during World War Two. When a bombing run is called off mid-flight due to heavy cloud cover, Buzz completes it anyway, and causes the death of several airmen in the process. His insubordination becomes a problem, but because he’s the best pilot they’ve got, the army is forced to keep him on. Meanwhile, Bo hooks up with Daphne (Shirley Anne Field), a girl dating one of the men in the downed plane. Buzz’s irresponsibility and Bo’s relationship pulls the two friends apart, especially when Buzz looks set to make a move on Daphne.
Continue reading →

Christmas Carol: The Movie

Posted on December 19, 2012 by jaycluitt

Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly debt collector in 19th century London, is something of a git. He shuns all those around him, choosing to spend Christmas alone instead of with his nephew, his only living relative. He is cruel to his clients and staff, rude to charity collectors and has no qualms with ordering people to be locked up and their furniture repossessed on Christmas Eve. Oh, and he pours a bucket of cold water onto Tiny Tim, a sickly carol singer, who also happens to be the son of Scrooge’s secretary, Bob Cratchit. After finishing work on Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the spirit of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who warns him that he will be visited by three more ghosts before the morning, in the hope that Scrooge will change his miserly ways and live a better life, or face the same fate as Marley.
Continue reading →