Film Club 2010: Back in the Habit

Let’s get this Film Club thing back on track. I’ve a mind to tackle ROBIN AND MARIAN, purely because it’s a favourite I haven’t watched in years — disgracefully, I’ve lectured on Richard Lester with nothing more than my young self’s memories of the film to guide me. And I don’t know about you, but my young self was a right berk.

What’s in it for you? I’m assuming some of you will have seen it, so you’ll be able to jump in and join the heated debate. And those of you who haven’t, you have time to grab it, by rental or purchase of (shudder) illegal download. I highly recommend it, based on my youthful memories: for your money you get a screenplay by the bloke who wrote THE LION IN WINTER (witty, philosophical, with charming use of anachronism), one of Sean Connery’s best performances, Audrey Hepburn in her return to the screen after a nine-year absence, plus an intimidating array of drunken men — Richard Harris, Robert Shaw, Nicol Williamson, Denholm Elliott. Fortunately Lester gave himself a break from Oliver Reed on this one.

This is, for most people, more a pleasing oddity than an all-time masterpiece, but hey, maybe it’s both. Anyhow, I liked it.

I propose January 29th (a Friday) for this cyber-shindig. I will post a biggish reflection in the morning, and everyone is invited to weigh in with their responses and their own ruminations.

US buyers: Robin and Marian

UK buyers: Robin And Marian [DVD] [1976]

The Sunday Intertitle: Go East, Young Man!

From MANHATTAN MADNESS, directed by Allan Dwan, where Doug Fairbanks complains of the inferior quality of violence available to the sophisticated gentleman in New York, as opposed to the prairies of Nevada.

Doug has come East to negotiate the sale of some horses to the mysterious Count Winkie (a man so mysterious he hasn’t considered changing his name), and finds himself the recipient of a crazy plot involving kidnapping and much athletic climbing about on the outside of a house.

After the visual splendor and economy of A MODERN MUSKETEER, this one seemed unambitious and primitive, but then it was made a year earlier — during which time Dwan honed his craft on twelve or so movies. Also, my copy of this one played much too fast, rendering the fisticuffs chaotic and the cutting stroboscopic. Perhaps post-1916 re-editing was also to blame, since the IMDb gives Winkie’s name as the more sensible Marinoff. Somebody may have tried to turn this from light comedy adventure into slapstick farce. Weirdly, the plot felt like five minutes’ work, while the intertitles seemed redolent with wit and likely the product of long hours’ cogitation. A strange set of priorities, somebody had.

Still, Doug is as irrepressible as ever, and winks at the audience at least three times, which is good enough for me. He is the real Count Winkie, and the biggest media winker prior to Superman.  I’m working my way up to the really celebrated Fairbankses — THIEF OF BAGDAD, ROBIN HOOD, THE GAUCHO, THE IRON MASK, WHEN THE CLOUDS ROLL BY…

My City #3

Ronald Neame’s very lovely film of Muriel Spark’s THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE is actually one of relatively few major movies to prominently feature Edinburgh locations. TRAINSPOTTING was shot mainly in Glasgow, so apart from the opening sequence you don’t get to enjoy sunny Leith and its slums. A shame, because there’s a subtle difference in style of bad area from one city to another, although the social problems don’t vary that much.

The Neame film is another kettle of fish: while there’s certainly a dark side to it, the surroundings are more on the charming, “genteel” side, which is in keeping with the reputation Edinburgh inexplicably has. Also inexplicable: the fact that so few films come here when you can still achieve a shot like the one above: just say “1932″ or whatever and choose your angle carefully and you can pretend it’s any period you like. The distance from London and the lack of studio facilities are the only two explanations possible, but they seem inadequate to account for Edinburgh’s cinematic neglect.

Maggie Smith’s accent, or “eccent,” which she’s still getting good mileage out of in HARRY POTTER, and which others, such as John Hurt in ROB ROY, have taken off the peg and deployed from time to time, doesn’t correspond to any accent I’ve ever actually encountered in my life. But it seems to have some kind of historical existence as a mode of speech favoured by the blue-rinsed old ladies of Morningside, who would have been schoolgirls in 1932, so I guess it’s authentic.

And it has given rise to the following “joke”. Not quite sure it’ll work in print though, unless you read it aloud and do the voice.

A schoolteacher in Morningside addresses her class: “Cless, I em going to name some cepital cities, and I want you to tell me which countries they ere in. Peris.”

“Frence,” chant the class.

“Medrid.”

“Spain,” chant the class.

“Ostend.”

And they all get up.

Think I can probably squeeze a few more posts out of this movie’s scenery. US buyers can get the DVD here:
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie