The Best Films I Have Never Seen Before: The Naked Spur (1953)

The Naked Spur (1953) *** ½

Directed by: Anthony Mann.

Written by: Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom.

Starring:  James Stewart (Howard Kemp), Janet Leigh (Lina Patch), Robert Ryan (Ben Vandergroat), Ralph Meeker (Roy Anderson), Millard Mitchell (Jesse Tate).

I have heard the Anthony Mann-James Stewart Westerns of the 1950s described as “revenge films”, but that is not exactly accurate. True, in Winchester 73, Stewart is trying to track down his brother, who killed their father, but he’s only one part of a larger story. And in The Man from Laramie, Stewart is seeking revenge for his brother’s murder, but his motives, and in fact his character, are largely outside the family melodrama at the heart of the film. What is true is that the movies are morally complex – and that Stewart may not always be the good guy – he may never actually be the good guy in these films. I think Mann liked using Stewart for a similar reason that Hitchcock liked the actor – he had such a wholesome image, that audiences would follow Stewart into darker places than they would many other actors.

The Naked Spur (1953) is no exception. In the film, Stewart plays Howard Kemp, a man who has been tracking fugitive Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan) for months, in the hopes of catching him and getting the $5,000 reward. He knows that if he does catch Ben, it will mean he gets hanged, but he doesn’t care. He wants the money. But just as he’s closing in on Ben, he unwittingly gets two partners – the wily old Jesse (Millard Mitchell), and the dishonorably discharged soldier Roy (Ralph Meeker). They catch Ben, but things get further complicated because he was travelling with Lina (Janet Leigh), a beautiful young woman, who is the daughter of a dead associate of Ben’s. Things get even more complicated, when Ben reveals to everyone the bounty on his head, which Howard had failed to mention. So now, these three “bounty hunters”, who don’t know each other, have to find a way to trust one another. Ben hopes to drive a wedge between them, and perhaps that wedge could be Lina.

The Naked Spur is odd for a Western, in that it is almost a chamber piece. These are the only five characters we see in the movie, and although the mountains and the scenery are fantastic (as we expect from Mann), this certainly a film with more talk than action. Stewart did some of his best work with Mann, and here is no exception – he is a bitter, angry man just trying to get back his land, and sees everyone as in his way. And yet, he is also a moral man – or at least likes to think of himself as one. Robert Ryan, who was a wonderful character actor, and often played terrific villains roles, is in top form here as Ben, who slowly tries to pick this “alliance” apart. He isn’t a nice man, but he doesn’t seem unrepentantly evil either. No one, it seems, except Howard really care if he is ever caught – no one else is pursuing him anyway – and he’s fighting for his life. Although the roles played by Leigh (part damsel in distress, part innocent girl in over her head), Meeker (slimy skeezeball) and Mitchell (old coot) are more standard issue Western tropes, they play them well – and round out the cast.

The filmmaking by Mann is, as always, top notch. He loves the shots of the mountains in the distance – another hill to climb – and also loves the idea of “higher ground”. The few gun battles in The Naked Spur – like Winchester 73 and The Man from Laramie as well – all involved someone getting the upper hand, by getting the higher ground. The scenery in The Naked Spur is beautiful, but it’s also ominous.

If I think The Naked Spur is perhaps not quite as good as Winchester 73 or The Man from Laramie (on the same level of Bend of the River – and I still need to see The Far Country), it’s because this time, I didn’t see much wrong with Stewart’s moral position. A lot is made of the fact that he is going to making money off of another man’s death. But Ryan is hardly an innocent – he is a murderer after all – and in the Old West, the death penalty was something no one questioned. Perhaps looking back through modern eyes his position seems slightly suspect, but not really. If he was a Sheriff chasing down Ryan to be hanged, would anyone have a problem with it?

But that’s really just a small quibble, with what is otherwise a top notch Western. Anthony Mann was one of the masters of the genre, and The Naked Spur is a good example of why.

Movie Review: The Thing

The Thing ** ½  

Directed by: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.

Written by: Eric Heisserer based on the short story by John W. Campbell Jr.

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Kate Lloyd), Joel Edgerton (Braxton Carter), Ulrich Thomsen (Dr. Sander Halvorson), Eric Christian Olsen (Adam Goodman), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Jameson), Paul Braunstein (Griggs), Trond Espen Seim (Edvard Wolner), Kim Bubbs (Juliette), Jørgen Langhelle (Lars), Jan Gunnar Røise (Olav), Stig Henrik Hoff (Peder), Kristofer Hivju (Jonas), Jo Adrian Haavind (Henrik), Carsten Bjørnlund (Karl), Jonathan Walker (Colin), Ole Martin Aune Nilsen (Matias).

It seems like every 30 years or so, someone decides to make their version of The Thing. This is the third such movie – following Howard Hawks’ 1952 version The Thing From Another World and John Carpenter’s 1981 film The Thing. It’s clear the filmmakers behind this latest version are big fans of the Carpenter film – saying this is a prequel to that film, because it was so perfect they didn’t want to remake it. Yet, (and a minor spoiler warning should go here for the next line or two) other than the fact that over the end credits the filmmakers recreate the opening scenes of the Carpenter film, this feels like a remake. Because they say it’s a prequel, it give them permission to pretty much rip off the original film, and its creature design. In the past 30 years, special effects have improved tremendously, but the creature here still looks and acts much like it did in the Carpenter film. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing. Good, because Carpenter’s creature was truly innovative at the time, and is still creeping and disgusting. Bad, because it brings to mind the Carpenter film a little too much, and invites comparisons to it. Carpenter’s The Thing was one of the best horror films of the 1980s. This prequel is little more than a serviceable horror film. Not really bad, but when you have Carpenter’s film already, and the two are similar, yet one clearly better, what’s really the point of this film?

The movie opens with a group of Norwegian scientists in Antarctica literally crashing into a huge discovery. They’re there to take core samples, and don’t know what they’re dealing with, so the leader calls his friend Dr. Sander Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen) to come investigate. He brings along his research assistant Adam (Eric Christian Olsen) as well as paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). All Sander will tell her is that it is a major find. When they get there, they discover it is in factor major. There is a massive spaceship under the ice, as well what appears to be an alien creature frozen not far away. While the spaceship is trapped, the creature isn’t. They cut it out, and leave it a giant block of ice. Of course, it doesn’t stay asleep, and has soon broken out, and is attacking everyone there. What’s worse is, that as Kate discovers, it can replicate its victims. So perhaps not everyone there is still human – some may be the creature hiding.

This is a classic setup, that allows not only for some truly gruesome scenes – the giant, crab like creatures shoots out its spear like tentacles to infect it prey, and can do other nasty things as well, but also breeds paranoia. Who can you trust when anyone could be infected? Kate thinks she can trust Carter (Joel Edgerton), the America pilot and former military man, who wants to destroy the creature. But Sander says, as scientists, they must protect their knowledge. But does he really believe that, or is he The Thing?

Directed by first timer Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., The Thing is effective as an exercise in style and special effects. It also effectively builds the paranoia of the movie, and offers a few nice scares. And the performances by Winstead, Edgerton and Thomsen are as good as can be expected, given what they had to work with. For people who have not seen the original The Thing, this may make for a decent night out if they just want a few scares. And yet, unlike the more successful horror remakes like Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, Alexandre Aja’s The Hills Have Eyes or Rob Zombie’s Halloween, the filmmakers here bring nothing new to the table. So in a world where John Carpenter’s The Thing is still available for anyone who wants to see it, this version of The Thing, while not horrible by any means, still isn’t really necessary. Rent Carpenter’s version instead.

Oscar Update: 63 Foreign Language Submissions

Some readers may have noticed that I'm not really writing much of anything about this year's Oscar race yet. The reason is simple - I have gotten tired of getting caught up in the prognosticating well before we've actually seen many of the movies coming out. So I have taken a step back this year - and you know? I like it. I will do my annual predictions, but not until closer to Oscar time.

But I am always interested in seeing what countries submit for the Foreign Language Film Oscar. I am on record as not being a fan of the current process - thinking you should actually have to release your film in North America to be considered, and that as long as it is released, then it should be eligible, instead of having some political panel select their countries "best" film. But no matter. The Academy won't change it, and I'm tired of tilting at windmills.

What strikes me about the 63 films that were selected this year is how few of them I have heard of. Hell, I hadn't even heard of my own country's selection - Monsieur Lazhar by Phillip Falardeau (a brief read of the synopsis has me thinking Canada will not be getting nominated two years in a row). Below, I have highlighted some of the title that did stand out for me though. I'm not going to bother making predictions now - until the shortlist of 9 titles is announced, it's a fool's errand.

The Flowers of War (Zhang Yimou, China) - The people you picked Zhang Yimou's Ju Dou (1990) for China selection were fired for picking a supposedly anti-Chinese film. Now, 21 years later, Yimou seems to be one of their go to guys. I don't know what to make of that. Christian Bale stars in this one, and it is about Chinese sex workers who volunteer to take over as escorts for occuoying Japanese soliders in 1937. No clue what it's like.

Le Havre (Aki Kariusmaki, Finland) - Famed Finnish director Kariusmaki's latest has been on the Festival circuit since Cannes in May - and has generated some mixed reviews - some saying it's a return to form for Aki, some insisting it's more of the same. This is about a shoe shiner, who tries to save a refugee. I seem to remember Aki pulling his last films, Lights in the Dusk, from consideration after Finald selected it - so we'll see what happens.

Pina (Wim Wenders, Germany) - Wenders is one of the important filmmakers of the German New Wave movement of the 1970s. But for many, his last great film was 1987's Wings of Desire, and he's been coasting ever since. I'm not necessarily one of them, but it's true it's been a while since Wenders was truly great. This is apparently a 3-D dance documentary. Who knew that Wenders would direct that, or it would be the best a major film producing country like Germany produced in a year? The reviews have been good so far.

The Turin Horse (Bela Tarr, Hungary) - I can all but guarntee you two things - the Academy is never going to nominate a Bela Tarr film for anything, and cinephiles will decry them for it. I'm ashamed to admit that he is a filmmaker I have avoided so far - apparently his film are long and slow, but brilliant.

Footnote (Joseph Cedar, Israel) - He got nominated for Beaufort a few years ago, and he is probably a good bet again. I missed Beaufort, and what I heard about Footnote from Cannes did not fill me with desire to see it.

In Darkness (Agnieszka Holland, Poland) - Another WWII film from director Holland, most likely means another nomination.

Burnt By the Sun 2 (Nikia Mikhalov, Russia) - The original won this award way back in 1994, so although I haven't heard great things about this one, don't count it out.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Blige Ceylon, Turkey) - Turkey's premiere filmmaker has been put up for this award before by his home country, but never been nominated. The review for this have been strong, so maybe it's his year.

Below is the complete list of films, countries and their directors:

Albania	Amnesty	Bujar Alimani
Argentina	Aballay	Fernando Spiner
Austria	Breathing	Karl Markovics
Belgium	Bullhead	Michael R. Roskam
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Belvedere	Ahmed Imamovic
Brazil	Elite Squad: The Enemy Within	José Padilha
Bulgaria	Tilt	Viktor Chouchkov
Canada	Monsieur Lazhar	Philippe Falardeau
Chile	Violeta Went to Heaven	Andrés Wood
China	The Flowers of War	Zhang Yimou
Colombia	The Colors of the Mountain	Carlos César Arbeláez
Croatia	72 Days	Danilo Serbedzija
Cuba	Havanastation	Ian Padrón
Czech Republic	Alois Nebel	Tomás Lunák
Denmark	Superclásico	Ole Christian Madsen
Dominican Republic	Love Child	Leticia Tonos
Egypt	Lust	Khaled el Hagar
Estonia	Letters to Angel	Sulev Keedus
Finland	Le Havre	Aki Kaurismäki
France	Declaration of War	Valérie Donzelli
Georgia	Chantrapas	Otar Iosseliani
Germany	Pina	Wim Wenders
Greece	Attenberg	Athina Rachel Tsangari
Hong Kong	A Simple Life	Ann Hui
Hungary	The Turin Horse	Béla Tarr
Iceland	Volcano	Rúnar Rúnarsson
India	Abu, Son of Adam	Salim Ahamed
Indonesia	Under the Protection of Ka’Bah	Hanny R. Saputra
Iran	A Separation	Asghar Farhadi
Ireland	As If I Am Not There	Juanita Wilson
Israel	Footnote	Joseph Cedar
Italy	Terraferma	Emanuele Crialese
Japan	Postcard	Kaneto Shindo
Kazakhstan	Returning to the ‘A	Egor Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky
Lebanon	Where Do We Go Now?	Nadine Labaki
Lithuania	Back to Your Arms	Kristijonas Vildziunas
Macedonia	Punk Is Not Dead	Vladimir Blazevski
Mexico	Miss Bala	Gerardo Naranjo
Morocco	Omar Killed Me	Roschdy Zem
Netherlands	Sonny Boy	Maria Peters
New Zealand	The Orator	Tusi Tamasese
Norway	Happy, Happy	Anne Sewitsky
Peru	October	Diego Vega and Daniel Vega
Philippines	The Woman in the Septic Tank	Marlon N. Rivera
Poland	In Darkness	Agnieszka Holland
Portugal	José and Pilar	Miguel Gonçalves Mendes
Romania	Morgen	Marian Crisan
Russia	Burnt by the Sun 2: The Citadel	Nikita Mikhalkov
Serbia	Montevideo: Taste of a Dream	Dragan Bjelogrlic
Singapore	Tatsumi	Eric Khoo
Slovak Republic	Gypsy	Martin Sulík
South Africa	Beauty	Oliver Hermanus
South Korea	The Front Line	Jang Hun
Spain	Black Bread	Agusti Villaronga
Sweden	Beyond	Pernilla August
Switzerland	Summer Games	Rolando Colla
Taiwan	Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale	Wei Te-sheng
Thailand	Kon Khon	Sarunyu Wongkrachang
Turkey	Once upon a Time in Anatolia	Nuri Bilge Ceylan
United Kingdom	Patagonia	Marc Evans
Uruguay	The Silent House	Gustavo Hernández
Venezuela	Rumble of the Stones	Alejandro Bellame Palacios
Vietnam	The Prince and the Pagoda Boy	Luu Trong Ninh

The Best Films I Have Never Seen Before: Blast of Silence (1961)

Blast of Silence (1961) *** ½

Directed by: Allen Baron.

Written by: Allen Baron and Waldo Salt (Narration).

Starring: Allen Baron (Frank Bono), Molly McCarthy (Lori), Larry Tucker (Big Ralph),  Peter H. Clune (Troiano),  Danny Meehan (Petey),  Howard Mann (Body Guard),  Charles Creasap (Contact Man),  Bill DePrato (Joe Boniface), Lionel Stander (Narrator).

Allen Baron’s Blast of Silence (1961) came right after what most historians consider to be the age of classic film noir – which ended in 1959. Yet the film would fit easily alongside the film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s. It is also one of the first truly independent films in America, and has echoes of John Cassavetes Shadows (1959), although it tells a tighter, more cohesive plot than the Cassavetes film. It is an odd, one of a kind film, perhaps because writer/director Allen Baron only made three films after this one – and none of them are very well regarded. His career, which seemed to get to such a promising start with Blast of Silence, never really amounted to anything behind the camera. And that’s a shame, because Blast of Silence is pretty damn good.

The movie stars Baron as Frank Bono, a hit man from Cleveland who has come to Manhattan at Christmastime to kill a low level mobster named Troiano (Peter H. Clune). We don’t know why Troiano needs to be killed, and neither does Bono, but he doesn’t really care either. Both the fact that Bono is from out of town, and that it’s Christmas, are key to the movie. Bono is a perpetual outsider – an out-of-towner if you will – everywhere he goes. He doesn’t seem quite comfortable in his own skin and is completely miserable. He tries to grasp onto something in his life – a girl he used to know, Lori (Molly McCarthy), but she rejects him, as well she probably should.

Bono has a lot of time to kill in New York. He has stalked Troiano to get to know his routine, and the best way to kill him, but he has to wait for days on end for the morbidly obese gun dealer Big Ralph (a brilliantly creepy Larry Tucker) to get the gun he needs. So Bono stalks the streets of New York – seeing the happy, holiday shoppers, the displays in the windows, and just getting lonelier and lonelier.

One of the most striking things about Blast of Silence is the narration. It was written by Waldo Salt (who was blacklisted at the time, so he went under another name) and delivered by fellow blacklistee Lionel Stander, with the perfect gravelly voice. Oddly, the narration is in the second person – which means it refers to Bono in personal pronouns like “you” – as if God himself is talking directly to Bono, whispering dread into his ear for the whole movie. I looked to try and find another example of second person narration in film, and I simply can’t, although I’m sure there are some (and would love to hear about other examples). This mode of narration is odd, and yet it works wonderfully well for the film.

Blast of Silence has had some big time supporters over the years (Martin Scorsese has called it a “key New York film”), but probably because Allen Baron never really had much of a career after this film, it has pretty much languished in obscurity until Criterion released a special edition DVD a few years back. What emerges is a unique film, part film noir, part messy, independent film, and wholly original. It isn’t a perfect film by any means – although the cinematography is for the most part superb, the film does have some of the uneasiness that many first films do. The acting isn’t particularly great (I was never sure if Bono’s unease was really his own, or the unease of Baron himself – no matter it works), with really only Larry Tucker (better known as a writer than actor) delivering a great performance, although one that is all too brief. And yet, Blast of Silence is a wonderful curiosity piece – a one of a kind film that should have been the start of great career for Baron. It didn’t, but we should be thankful he made this one.

The Best Films I Have Never Seen Before: The Gunfighter (1950)

The Gunfighter (1950) ****

Directed by: Henry King.

Written by: William Bowers and William Sellers.

Starring:  Gregory Peck (Jimmy Ringo), Helen Westcott (Peggy Walsh), Millard Mitchell (Marshal Mark Strett), Jean Parker (Molly), Karl Malden (Mac), Skip Homeier (Hunt Bromley),  Anthony Ross (Deputy Charlie Norris), Verna Felton (Mrs. August Pennyfeather), Ellen Corby (Mrs. Devlin), Richard Jaeckel (Eddie).

The Gunfighter was years ahead of its time when it came in 1950. Darkness was just starting to creep in Westerns at that time – in films like Howard Hawks’ Red River (1948), but for the most part, Westerns will still fun, entertaining adventures. But The Gunfighter looks at the dark side of the Old West – and stars Gregory Peck in one of his greatest performances as a gunslinger, already old at 35, who is tired of living life on the run, tired of having to prove just how tough he is every time he walks into a bar, or really anywhere else he goes. All he wants is to live a normal life – and that is something that he almost certainly will never have.

Peck stars as Jimmy Ringo, who along with Wyatt Earp is one of the most famous gunfighters in America. Everyone knows his name and how many people he has killed (or at least they think they do, as many more deaths have been attributed to Ringo than he actually killed). The film opens with a wonderful sequence where a young Richard Jaeckel finds out the stranger at the bar is THE Jimmy Ringo. “He don’t look so tough” Jaeckel says, and proceeds to antagonize the older man, who tries to get the kid to sit down and shut up, but the kid won’t listen. When he draws his gun, Ringo has no choice but to kill him. But Jaeckel has three older brothers, who are none too pleased that Ringo killed the baby of the family – never mind that it wasn’t Ringo’s fault – and they come after him, forcing Ringo to leave town. That doesn’t matter too much to Ringo anyway – he’s already on his way somewhere else.

The movie takes place over the span of 24 hours – with most of it happening in a barroom in a small town. The bartender is Mac (Karl Malden), who remembers Ringo “from the old days”, and the Town Marshall is Mark Strett (Millard Mitchell), who used to run with Ringo and his gang, has now gone on the straight and narrow. All Ringo wants in town is to see Peggy Walsh (Helen Westcott), the wife he had to run out on years before. If she’ll talk to him, he’ll leave with no trouble.

For a Western, the action in The Gunfighter is oddly muted. There are only three gunfights in the movie, and even using the term doesn’t quite seem right. When they come, they come quickly, and are over just as fast. Most of the movie is simply Peck’s Ringo, walking around the bar trying to figure out why his life went so wrong, and what he could have done to prevent it. The other part of the movie is the town’s reaction to Ringo being there. Some are scared, some “don’t think he looks so tough”, but everyone is curious. One of my favorite scenes in the movie involves the local ladies, who all get behind Mrs. August Pennyfeather (Verna Felton) as they go to the Marshall Strett to demand that he run this murderer out of town – or even string him up. Little do they realize that the ever polite man they are talking to as they wait for the Marshall is actually the nefarious evil doer himself.

The Gunfighter calls to mind a film like Unforgiven (1992) – which was about a much older gunfighter, who had many more kills to his name, who has tried to go straight. Clint Eastwood’s film is a masterpiece – one of the very best Westerns ever made, and The Gunfighter is pretty much just as good. Gregory Peck was known for the dignity he brought to his roles – he did after all play Atticus Finch – and he brings that same dignity and authority to his role here. But he also brings a tiredness – a weariness to this role that fits it perfectly. This could just be the best work of Peck’s career. Millard Mitchell works well as the Marshall – a man who realized the path he was travelling would lead him nowhere before Ringo did – in essence before it was too late. There is no hatred or anger in him towards Ringo – but more of a pitying sympathy. Ringo is holding onto a delusion that he knows really isn’t going to happen, and Mark knows it too, but they don’t mention it. Sometimes delusions are all we have.

The film was directed by Henry King, who was an old pro of the Hollywood system. He also directed Peck in 1949’s 12 O’Clock High (a film I really do need to watch for this series at some point). Hardly one of the greats of the studio era, and not much remembered today, here he finds the perfect way to shoot the movie. The period detail is more accurate that most Westerns of its era – including Peck’s ridiculous mustache and bowl haircut – and he captures the sudden violence and the weary tone of the film perfectly. Had The Gunfighter been directed by someone like John Ford or Howard Hawks, it would probably be recognized as one of the greatest Westerns ever made – it certainly deserves to be. But it wasn’t, so to a certain extent the movie has toiled in relative obscurity throughout the last 61 years. This needs to change. The Gunfighter is a masterpiece.

The Best Films I Have Never Seen Before: Torn Curtain (1966)

Torn Curtain (1966) ** ½

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock.

Written by: Brian Moore.

Starring: Paul Newman (Professor Michael Armstrong), Julie Andrews (Sarah Louise Sherman), Lila Kedrova (Countess Kuchinska), Hansjörg Felmy (Heinrich Gerhard), Tamara Toumanova (Ballerina), Wolfgang Kieling (Hermann Gromek), Ludwig Donath (Professor Gustav Lindt), Günter Strack (Professor Karl Manfred), David Opatoshu (Mr. Jacobi), Gisela Fischer (Dr. Koska),  Mort Mills (Farmer), Carolyn Conwell (Farmer's Wife).

Can one magnificent 20 minute sequence redeem an otherwise dull two hour movie? I ask that question at the beginning of this review for Alfred Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain, because for the most part, I think the film is a rare miss for the master filmmaker. Yet at around the halfway point of the film, there is sequence of pure visual genius. Professor Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman), an American nuclear scientist who we have just seen defect to East Germany, ditches his “bodyguard” (Wolfgang Kieling), and makes his way to a small farm in the German countryside. He draws the symbol for Pi on the ground, and the woman who answers the door, points him to a field, where he has a conversation, much of it in code, with the “farmer”. Then just as he is about to leave, his bodyguard indeed shows up at the farm. He knows why Armstrong has come here – that he isn’t really a defector – and intends to turn him in. What follows is one of the most memorable, and brilliantly realized murder scenes in Hitchcock’s career – and easily the most protracted. Considering how many people have died in Hitchcock movies, that is saying something. This sequence – from the moment Newman leaves for the farm until the moment he leaves it – is spellbinding and absolutely brilliant. The rest of movie is not.

The first half of Torn Curtain is pretty dull by Hitchcock standards. It involves Newman’s Professor Armstrong and his fiancée Sarah (Julie Andrews) on a boat to Berlin, and what happens when they get there. Armstrong is being secretive, and it is mentioned several times that he tried to convince Sarah to stay home. When they finally get to Germany – West Germany – he tells her he needs to fly to Sweden for a while, and she should go home. But she digs deeper, and finds he is not going to Sweden – but to East Germany. She follows, and is soon swept up right alongside him as he defects – something she did not know about. This throws her whole view out of whack. Could the man she loves really be a traitor? And could he possibly be right.

The problem with this part of the movie is that Newman and Andrews have zero chemistry together. This whole part of the movie harkens back to earlier Hitchcock movies like Rebecca (1940) and Suspicion (1941), where a wife mistrusts her husband. Yet those movies, the leads had chemistry, you could feel the conflicting emotions of love and mistrust in the women, and the men were convincing aloof – you couldn’t get a read on them. Perhaps it was because apparently Newman did not get along with Hitchcock, but he isn’t suspicious here, just dull. Andrews tries hard, I guess, but she doesn’t have much to work with. You’re stuck wondering how these two got together in the first place. It doesn’t really get much better after the murder at the center of the movie either. What follows is a lengthy sequence where Newman and Andrews have to flee East Germany – in the slowest, dullest, least suspenseful “chase” sequence ever.

Hitchcock is one of my favorite directors – perhaps ranking just behind Martin Scorsese as my favorite ever. Torn Curtain was his 50^th feature, and he ended up making three more after it. Remarkably, there are few duds in his filmography – and almost none after coming to America in 1940 (his earliest British films can be hit or miss at times). Torn Curtain ultimately has to rank as one of his duds. Because he is such a talented filmmaker, there are isolated moments in the film that look and sound brilliant – and the murder setpiece at the middle of the movie is truly one of his most memorable in any film. And yet for the most part I was bored by Torn Curtain – and I’m almost never bored by Hitchcock. When you make as many films as Hitchcock did, they can’t all be great.

The Best Films I Have Never Seen Before: Fallen Angels (1995)

Fallen Angels (1995) *** ½

Directed by: Wong Kar Wai.

Written by: Wong Kar Wai.

Starring: Leon Lai (Wong Chi-Ming / Killer), Michelle Reis (The Killer's Agent), Takeshi Kaneshiro (He Zhiwu), Charlie Yeung (Charlie / Cherry), Karen Mok (Punkie / Blondie / Baby), Fai-hung Chan (The Man Forced to Eat Icecream), Man-Lei Chan (He Zhiwu's father),  Toru Saito (Sato),  To-hoi Kong (Ah-hoi).

Fallen Angels is Wong Kar Wai’s quasi-sequel to his 1994 hit Chungking Express. I fell in love with Chungking Express, with its dreamy tone and romanticism that is laced through every scene. The characters in Chungking Express have relationships that end, and that they learn to accept that, and enjoy living in the moment. When Wong wrote Fallen Angels, it was to be the third story in Chungking Express – but it ended up taking on a life of its own, and he decided to make it a film unto itself. I think this was the right decision, because Fallen Angels is much darker than Chungking Express, less dreamy and romantic, even as it touches on the same themes – and sometimes even references the previous film. But while Chungking Express was about infatuation, and how wonderful it can be, even if it never leads to anything else, Fallen Angels is about the dangers of infatuation.

The movie, much like Chungking Express, tells two stories that take place in Hong Kong. Instead of stacking them as he did in Chungking Express, here the two stories intermingle – cutting back and forth from one to the other. The first is about Wong (Leon Lai) a professional killer who is sent on assignments by his agent (Michelle Reis), who also happens to be in love with him. She does everything for him, except for the actual killings – and he likes that. He says it allows him not to think or force him to make decision. Who lives and who dies has long since been decided before he shows up. He knows his agent is in love with him, but he doesn’t love her back. Instead, he has an affair with a blonde woman he meets at McDonalds – but even that won’t last. They barely speak to each other.

The other story involves He (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a mute young who goes around and reopens closed businesses at night, and forces passersby to buy from him. He does this, he tells us in voiceover, so he can be his own boss. But like Wong, the killer, he also does it so he doesn’t have to make decisions. Whatever business he reopens already has their stock – all he does is sell it. He meets Charlie (Charlie Yeung), a young woman who is on the phone with what she thinks is her boyfriend, joyfully accepting what she thinks is a proposal of marriage to her – when really what he is saying is that he has become engaged to someone else. She goes crazy, and decides to track down this woman – Blondie, who may or may not be the same woman the killer has an affair with. Meanwhile, He falls in love with her – but he barely registers with her. When they meet again, months after she left, she doesn’t even remember him.

As with all of Wong’s film, Fallen Angels is a visual feast. Many critics have noted that he seems inspired by Godard, in his attitude toward film and his visuals, but I think Wong is clearly the more talented filmmaker. There is hardly a scene in Fallen Angels that is not inventive and mesmerizing. Wong has never been known for his action sequences, but the moments where the killer goes on his sprees are stylish – playing with the visual style of fellow Hong Kong filmmaker, and action master John Woo, brilliantly. And yet, I do not think that Wong’s visuals are the whole point of his films – like many of his detractors claim. The visuals match the thematic elements of the films – like the wonderful closing scene where the Agent talks about how relationships are short, but for the moment, she is happy – as the smoke from a cigarette dissipates above her. It is a brilliant moment.

Overall, Fallen Angels isn’t quite as good as Chungking Express. Perhaps it’s because it’s so much darker than the previous film, but for some reason, this film didn’t quite wrap me up in the same way Chungking Express did. Nevertheless, Fallen Angels is still an innovative, daring and finely textured film. It may not be Wong’s best, but even lesser Wong is better than most film’s best.