Reviews by johanlefourbe

It is probably the oldest movie I have seen so far. On top of that, it had been a while since I saw a movie directed by Georges Méliès so I was quite eager to check it out. Well, I really enjoyed the damned thing, that’s for sure. Indeed, even though it was basically only a static shot of 2 mins, it’s incredible how much Méliès managed to achieve with the technology available at the time. Of course, in 2 mins, there was no way he could develop a plot but it didn’t really matter. Indeed, it was still fine anyway and, instead, he gave us such a completely daft scene involving Méliès himself playing some mad scientist blowing up the head of some random guy, of course, played by Méliès himself as well. Eventually, the damned thing was probably not as ambitious or complex as ‘Le voyage dans la lune’ was but it was still seriously awesome. Eventually, beside the real neat special effects for the time period, Méliès had obviously so much fun, it was just seriously contagious, and, even if it was all so short, it was also really entertaining. Eventually, if you are into very old movies, you should really check it out. 

Recently, I have watched several vintage experimental shorts directed by Hans Richter, Fernand Léger and Marcel Duchamp and, this time, I thought I might as well watch this one directed by Man Ray. First of all, even though I did hear before about Man Ray, I have to admit that I’m not really familiar with his work but he was apparently mostly famous for his modern photography even if he considered himself a painter. Concerning the movie itself, I’m getting rather acquainted with the genre and I think these short experimental movies could be divided into 2 categories. On one hand, you have some films constantly repeating endlessly the same pattern(s) and, on the other hand, you have some films which are completely random with a succession of seemingly unrelated surrealist bits. Well, this movie definitely belonged to the 2nd category, that’s for sure. Seriously, it was actually quite impressive how much random stuff Man Ray has managed to cram in just 2 mins. Eventually, I have always a rather hard time to get a good grip with such movies because it all seems so incoherent. Still, there is no denying that the end-result was quite intriguing, especially towards the end, with a really gorgeous topless lady who was apparently the famous Kiki de Montparnasse, Man Ray’s lover and muse for many years. 

I wonder how I actually ended up watching this movie. Indeed, I constantly add movies to my queue. Right now, I’m focusing on older movies released during or before the 40’s and I think I picked up this one because it had been nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award back in 1944 (it didn’t win though). Well, to be honest, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing. Of course, the fact that I was really exhausted when I watched it probably didn’t help, even if I did start to watch it at 17:00. Anyway, I still don’t think that this movie required almost 3 hours of running time. Seriously, nothing really much happened though the whole duration, there were only a handful of characters and none of them really evolved, except maybe Jane Hilton. Basically, it was some piece of propaganda showing how everybody back at home in the US was brave while most of the men were gone to fight during WWII. Not so long ago, I saw ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ which was released only a few years later after and this movie was quite interesting in the sense that it delivered a more complex and actually rather bleak view on the impact this war had on the individuals who were directly involved. You won’t get any of this here though but, on the other hand, back in 1944, the US were still deeply involved in this conflict so I guess you can’t blame them to try to give a more positive message. It was also pretty neat to see Shirley Temple when she was just a teenager and it’s a pity to think that her career would end only 5 years later. Anyway, to conclude, even though the damned thing was terribly cheesy, I have to admit that it was also rather harmless and I guess it is worth a look but probably only if you really like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Alain Resnais and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Except for ‘Nuit et brouillard’, it had been so many years since I saw a movie from this French master and, to be honest, with its title and poster, I was actually expecting a light comedy. Well, it turned out to be something completely different after all, that’s for sure. Indeed, eventually, it was some kind of experimental feature dealing with the play ‘Eurydice’ written by Jean Anouilh, not exactly some easy stuff to digest. It reminded me of Louis Malle’s last movie, ‘Vanya on 42nd Street’, which was focusing in a similar way on Anton Chekhov’s play. The interesting thing with this approach is that it allows such a great focus on the text and the performances of the actors and, in this case, Resnais pushed the concept even further by having some characters played by 3 different actors. He also played around with and without sets but it all looked so fake, especially this weird house owned by their host. Well, even though I do respect this approach and believe it’s intriguing, to be honest, I have to admit that it is not really my thing. In fact, I think it is actually terribly sleep-inducing. Seriously, there were many times during which my mind was wandering off and, when I was finally focusing on the movie again, I was really wondering what the hell they were actually talking about. Anyway, to conclude, even if I had a hard time to connect with the damned thing, it was still an interesting watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Alain Resnais’s work.  

To be honest, I wonder how I actually ended up watching this movie. Indeed, I constantly add movies to my queue. Right now, I’m focusing on older movies released during or before the 40’s and I think I came across this one more or less by accident on YouTube. Anyway, basically, it turned out to be a decent film noir. The funny thing (depending on your sense of humor, I guess) is that I have just been recently separated from my wife and I certainly could identify with what happened to Philip Marshall. Indeed, getting stuck in a really toxic relationship within which the only option is to avoid any confrontation at all costs was terribly familiar. What’s even more eerie is that I also met a wonderful young woman and we are both seriously in love so the similarities with this story were just really striking. However, I was already separated from my wife when I met her so, fortunately, there was no need to murder anyone. But, that’s the interesting approach with this movie, the fact that even though Philip Marshall was really a murderer, he was also a really nice and decent guy who killed his wife not because he really wanted to get rid off her but because he wanted to protect an innocent young woman. On top of that, it was really neat to see Charles Laughton playing the lead for once and, even though I haven’t seen many movies starring this guy, I’m already pretty much sure he was one of the best actors that ever lived. Concerning the story itself, well, even if it was fairly entertaining, it was not really great though and, eventually, it felt like a rather average Hitchcockian thriller. The fact that Charles Laughton and Ella Raines didn’t have much chemistry probably didn’t help either. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, thanks to Laughton at the top of his game, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. I have to admit that I didn’t know it before watching this movie but it was actually a  sequel to ‘Going My Way’ which I haven’t seen. Apparently, this sequel was a big box-office success when it was released. Anyway, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing, to be honest. Of course, the fact that I’m not a religious man probably didn’t help but I actually find religious movies in fact often quite interesting, at least, when they turn out to be slightly challenging but it was definitely not the case here. I won’t blame Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman though. Indeed, Bergman was so lovely and delivered here another solid performance. Concerning Bing Crosby, it was actually the first movie I have ever seen with this guy, I have to admit that he was quite charismatic and I’m not surprised that he was quite popular back then. So, the lead actors were fine but, well, pretty much everything else felt rather flat, I’m afraid. Sure, it was all rather cute and harmless but it was also really episodic without an actual plot. The tone also kept bothering me. Indeed, it is usually considered as a comedy but I’m not sure if this genre really fit this movie. On the other hand, nothing seriously dramatic really happened through the whole duration. Eventually, it was basically a really bland feel-good movie but not much more than that, I’m afraid. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work for me, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, at least, if you like the genre. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it was definitely dealing with a super interesting story, the movie itself was not really great, I’m afraid. First of all, I thought this movie would be about the conflict between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla and, in fact, I have to admit that I had never heard of George Westinghouse before. It’s weird because I saw ‘Tesla’ starring Ethan Hawke less than 2 years ago and I couldn’t remember that he did work for both men. Anyway, in spite of his legendary status, Tesla was never really successful after all but that’s not what this movie was about. However, even though you might expect the whole thing to be a duel between these 2 great men, you still had Tesla who kept popping up with his own narrative and, as a result, this movie always felt rather unbalanced. Another thing that bothered me was the way they tried to conjure some kind of excitement through some slightly annoying score. I mean, the story itself should have been fascinating enough without resorting to such artifice. Another mistake they made was to try to focus as well on the wives of Edison and Westinghouse which was not necessarily a bad idea. Unfortunately, both women had simply not enough impact on the career of their respective husbands so it all felt like a rather useless distraction. At least, the cast was really neat (Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult, Tom Holland, Matthew Macfadyen, Katherine Waterston), except maybe Tom Holland who was rather unconvincing and probably miscast here. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.