Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

Review #1446: Murder on the Orient Express.

Cast: 
Albert Finney (Hercule Poirot), Lauren Bacall (Mrs. Hubbard), Martin Balsam (Bianchi), Ingrid Bergman (Greta Ohlsson), Jacqueline Bisset (Countess Helena Andrenyi), Jean-Pierre Cassel (Pierre Paul Michel), Sean Connery (Colonel Arbuthnot), John Gielgud (Edward Beddoes), Wendy Hiller (Princess Natalia Dragomiroff), Anthony Perkins (Hector McQueen), Vanessa Redgrave (Mary Debenham), Rachel Roberts (Hildegarde Schmidt), Richard Widmark (Ratchett), Michael York (Count Rudolf Andrenyi), Colin Blakely (Cyrus B. Hardman), George Coulouris (Dr. Constantine), and Denis Quilley (Antonio Foscarelli) Directed by Sidney Lumet (#035 - 12 Angry Men, #036 - Network, #404 - The Anderson Tapes, and #1065 - Deathtrap)

Review: 
"My job is acting, and that is why I hate interviews or lectures, explaining myself to an audience."

Sometimes the devil is in the details when it comes to making a film, and this can be two-fold for a movie like this, an all-star mystery film based on the book of the same name by one of the most famous authors of all time, Agatha Christie. Her novel featured the famed character Hercule Poirot, who was featured in over forty novels and short stories since the very first in The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). Murder on the Orient Express (1934) had been inspired by numerous events, such as a stuck Orient Express train that was there for five days in snow along with the infamous kidnapping of Charles and Anne Lindbergh's baby. Christie had her works first adapted into film with The Passing of Mr. Quin (1928), while the first Poirot adaptation followed with Alibi (1931, starring Austin Trevor). Four actors have played the character of Poirot in film: Trevor, Tony Randall, Finney, Peter Ustinov, and Kenneth Branagh, although the most famous portrayal of the character is likely David Suchet's portrayal (1989-2013) that adapted the entire catalogue of mysteries by Christie as 70 episodes for British television. Despite reservations about a film adaptation, this proved to be one of the very few that she liked (the other was Witness for the Prosecution) prior to her death in 1976.

To put in perspective how careful one had to handle such a diverse international cast, five actors (Gielgud, Quilley, Redgrave, Bergman, and Finney) were participating in the production in the day while doing West End performances in London in the night time. Finney (third choice after Alec Guinness and Paul Scofield, both unavailable) must have had it worst of all, since he needed tremendous makeup done to emulate his character but also need sleep, which reportedly led to a routine where he would be taken out on a stretcher while asleep and the crew would do makeup on him as he was being traveled to the set. Finney, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, had started his career with the theatre in 1956 (starring as the title role in Henry V), before taking on television and film with The Entertainer (1960), and he would come into prominence with his lead roles in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (same year) and Tom Jones (1963) in a varied career that had a good deal of success for over five decades before his death in 2019 at the age of 82. As a who's who for a whodunit meant to evoke the elegance of a different time (such as Richard Rodney Bennett's striking musical composition), this proves quite satisfactory for all parties involved. Whether one is familiar with the famed novel or not isn't too important - the mystery is carefully crafted with these distinct faces that are each given a few moments to shine while set primarily on a railway car that makes for a quality 128 minutes. Finney is quite excellent with a role basked in makeup and a careful disposition that makes him the ideal man to match up with a mystery like this, particularly when it comes to seeing his initial interactions with others before the train leaves compared to when he lays out the climax of the whodunit (a scene shot numerous times to capture all the adequate angles) - he leads the film on with well-crafted care. Balsam and Coulouris accompany him for the hunt with care, while Widmark makes for a fine conniving presence to set up his murder. Of the stars that appear, the ones who seem to stand out are Bacall, Bergman (who rejected playing a bigger part while having one stand out five-minute interrogation scene, which resulted in a Best Supporting Actress win at the Academy Awards - her third overall), Gielgud, and Perkins. Each stand their ground when it comes to making their moments count in laying out their side of a story, although no one really lends a bad performance anywhere, since having a bit of scenery-chewing now and then comes with the territory without derailing the suspension of disbelief. By the time one gets to its conclusion, one finds them satisfied with how things raveled and unraveled without fail or stumble. Films can serve as escapism for its audience, and a murder mystery with plenty of agreeable faces and voices complete with a game Finney at the head and a craftsman in Lumet make for a good time worth a curiosity in its era.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

On the Beach.

Review #1402: On the Beach.

Cast: 
Gregory Peck (Commander Dwight Towers), Ava Gardner (Moira Davidson), Fred Astaire (Julian Osborn), Anthony Perkins (Lieutenant Commander Peter Holmes), Donna Anderson (Mary Holmes), John Tate (Admiral Bridie), Harp McGuire (Lieutenant Sunderstrom), Lola Brooks (Lieutenant Hosgood), Ken Wayne (Lieutenant Benson), and Guy Doleman (Lieutenant Commander Farrel) Produced and Directed by Stanley Kramer (#139 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and #228 - Inherit the Wind)

Review: 
"I take a very reluctant and conservative view on what a single film can do in affecting our lives. I don't make films to stir the world. I am not conscious of a responsibility to society or even to my own social consciousness when I make a film. My motivation can be as simple as saying, gee, this would make an exciting picture."

Message films, with the right execution, can strike a chord with an audience. Stanley Kramer was a director-producer who liked to specialize in these type of films throughout his career in film. Kramer had written columns for his university paper and graduated with a business degree from New York University, and it was his zest for writing that led to a internship with 20th Century Fox (as opposed to his initial ambition for law), which led to a variety of small jobs around the Hollywood studios for over a decade, such as set furniture mover, writer-researcher, and film cutter. His plan to make his own independent production company was delayed due to Pearl Harbor, and Kramer served underr the Signal Corps to make training films. After the end of the war, he formed a partnership alongside writer Herbie Baker, publicist George Glass and producer Carl Foreman to form Screen Plays Inc. They set out to make films with stories they wanted to do that had something of value to say as per their personal taste without needing to rely on stars. Their attempts at producing independent films met with a few notable films such as Champion (1949), The Men (1950), and High Noon (1952). In 1951, Columbia Pictures signed Kramer and the company to a deal that would give them their own production unit within the studio that gave them free rein and increased budgets. It did not last the contracted five years, and Kramer felt that this one of the most dangerous moves of his career. In a three year partnership, he would produce films such as The Wild One (1953) and The Caine Mutiny (1954) before deciding to enter the foray of directing and producing with Not as a Stranger (1955). This was his fourth work, released between noted films The Defiant Ones (1958) and Inherit the Wind (1960), and it simultaneously premiered on all seven continents one week before Christmas Eve. Despite fair reviews, it was not a big hit with audiences, although it has found appreciation in later years.

Can you imagine what the world would look like after a massive event that affected people's lives and led to long-term consequences? Authors have written apocalyptic and post apocalyptic fiction for as long as people have been around on this Earth, with the modern age being no different in inspiring further looks into what a world would look like with disaster from nuclear fallout, or from something like disease or the environment. Nevil Shute wrote one such work on the apocalypse, writing his work in 1957 while residing in Australia (he also worked as an aeronautical engineer and pilot before his death in 1960). The novel has been turned into a film twice, with the other adaptation being a TV film in 2000. Shute found dissatisfaction with this adaptation when it came to certain aspects of the novel, particularly the romance between Peck and Gardner's characters being more pronounced than in the book when it came to the former's fidelity to his dead wife (Peck agreed with this privately). It certainly must have been an interesting film to view for the time (where this decade had seen war in Korea and continuing Cold War tension) - a bleak movie through and through, where blame is not given to any one side of the unseen war. While one is spared visual decay of vanquished people or even the effects of radiation on the survivors, the film manages to do well enough in maintaining itself in grim composure that makes one think about their future that could have been or the future that could be for what was the future of 1964, complete with filming in Australia. Peck handles himself with resolve in a mellow voice that can handle impending doom and conflicting feelings with care. Two actors playing against the type they were usually known for in film are femme fatale Gardner and song-and-dance Astaire, and each follow Peck fine, making light romance and guilt come out with some effectiveness. Perkins and Anderson give off a bit of intimacy and anxiety decently enough, although they don't stick out as much as they could when it comes to such a dreary quiet time. It is the sights and what one can see and doesn't see within the Australia landscape and beyond (such as a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge with no one present) that drives the film for 134 minutes with adequacy. It comes off with an urgency that warns for the future without becoming too much of a lecture to stand on its own as a film of oblivion that resonates still after over six decades since release.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

And now, an announcement for the month of May, comprised of 30 films.

Movie Night: Psycho (1960).

Review #447: Psycho.

Cast
Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates), Janet Leigh (Marion Crane), Vera Miles (Lila Crane), John Gavin (Sam Loomis), Martin Balsam (Milton Arbogast), John McIntire (Al Chambers), Virginia Gregg (Norma Bates), and Simon Oakland (Fred Richmond) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock (#219 - Rope, #223 - North by Northwest, and #446 - Spellbound)

Review
First off, I'd like to say happy Labor Day to all who I'm sure are enjoying this day off. 

The film doesn't take too long to be impressive, as its titles by Saul Bass certainly do leave an impression, and in a way foretells the rest of the film. Janet Leigh does a fine job and all, but Perkins certainly steals the show, maybe it's the demeanor, or that creepy smile, but he leaves you wanting more, and makes for an interesting character, which drives the film. The film has its moments of suspense, especially at the end. And then there's the shower scene (Which if I didn't mention, I'd regret later), which is certainly the most effective scene of the film. You could say the scene might be spoiled already, but when you watch the film, it's given a proper context, and that certainly helps. I won't spoil it, you'll probably (if not definitely) find it on YouTube, or when you watch the film, whichever comes first. Hitchcock does a fine job directing, and this for a film produced by him and made on a tight budget, very quickly and very successful, spawning three sequels and a TV series. There was a "remake", but...there's a reason I put that it quotations. Nevertheless, this is an impressive, chilling, and interesting film. 

Countdown to 450 Reviews: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3...

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: The Black Hole.

Review #092: The Black Hole.

Cast
Maximilian Schell (Dr. Hans Reinhardt), Anthony Perkins (Dr. Alex Durant), Robert Forster (Captain Dan Holland), Joseph Bottoms (Lieutenant Charlie Pizer), Yvette Mimieux (Dr. Kate McCrae), Ernest Borgnine (Harry Booth), Tom McLoughlin (Captain S.T.A.R.), Roddy McDowall (V.I.N.CENT), and Slim Pickens (B.O.B.) Directed by Gary Nelson.

Review
The film is unlike other Disney films in the fact it's more suited for more then just kids. And for that reason, it succeeds. The film has special effects unlike other films, such as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The acting's standard good, and the robots are great. they're unlike other droids of their time, such as R2-D2 or Dewey. I like those droids and the others as it's imaginative and useful. The film has action, even if it is in the last 25 minutes. But it's still a good film for what it's worth. And with this review, Robot Week ends. It was great to do reviews involving robots, especially one every day. Now then, what number are we on? Number 92? We're getting closer and closer now. 10, 9, 8...This ends Part VII of Robot Week. Thank you for your appreciation.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.