All quiet on the Western Front

I haven't got a clue how I have missed Im Westen nichts Neues for so long. It's so famous as a title, I'm ashamed to have not seen it sooner. The film covers:

1. the pre-war education of schoolboys, and the enlistment of the young German recruits
2. the soldiers' arrival at the front of World War I
3. the experiences of the cruelties and horrors of war in trench warfare
4. the hero's homecoming, return to the front, and ultimate death

I wondered whether, whilst watching, it would drag on too long but quite the opposite. Considering how long ago this was made, the change from scene to scene was very engaging. For a plot (in German) click on the excellent German Film Institute's page Follow the further links to read the original documentation which shows the film was banned, one week after its Berlin release, in pre-Nazi Germany. The Net is a wonderful thing!

Whilst writing this I wondered if we'd seen an English or German version and none of the three of us could remember! Quite an interesting occurrence! It must have grabbed our attention in a unique way! As the film is still so effective it's no surprise that it was banned so close to the Second World War!



Apparently Universal Pictures, not wanting to lose major business agreed to censor various scenes of German cowardice, German regret at shooting a French solider, etc. A lovely example of how censorship misses the big picture - if you'll excuse the pun.

Einen ganzen Vormittag spielen zwei Schmetterlinge vor unserm Graben. Es sind Zitronenfalter, ihre gelben Flügel haben rote Punkte. Was mag sie nur hierher verschlagen haben weit und breit ist keine Pflanze und keine Blume. Sie ruhen sich auf den Zähnen eines Schädels aus



[Reviewed by Nuthatch]

I found this film really absorbing as it seemed very modern for such an old film, both in its construction and the sentiments it conveyed. Action sequences are interspersed with the lead character's (narrator's) reflections on war and its futility and wastefulness. WW1 did mark a turning point in attitudes to war and we can see this in the contrast between the teacher's presentation of war as a great and glorious enterprise and the narrator's disgust with the sordid realities of life at the front. There is very little heroism, just a multitude of ways for men to kill and be killed. What is interesting is that it is still controversial and challenging today - perhaps we haven't moved on very far? [Reviewed by Nightjar]

(Stonechat also enjoyed this film but will not be adding her thoughts as she has migrated for the winter.)

The Chorus

The teacher equals saviour metaphor has been done before a few times, but it's nice to see it in French. What more can I say beyond giving you the plot:

En 1948, Clément Mathieu, professeur de musique sans emploi accepte un poste de surveillant dans un internat de rééducation pour mineurs ; entre délation et sévices corporels, le système répressif appliqué par le directeur, Rachin, bouleverse Mathieu. En initiant ces enfants à la musique et au chant choral , Mathieu parviendra à transformer leur quotidien.

I watched the 'specials' on this DVD and then realised how good the costumes were. The music is moving, apparently performed by the actor himself - unlike Audrey Hepburn, Deborah Kerr and few other Hollywood dames. Nicely produced standard fare [Reviewed by Nuthatch]

I really enjoyed this touching, human story about a disappointed musician (Mathieu) who takes up a position as a teacher in a correctional school and transforms the lives of at least some of the boys in his care by introducing them to music. One boy, in particular, discovers a hidden talent that leads eventually to a successful career and international acclaim. The grimness of life in such an institution is well depicted and the film is realistic in its portrayal of the differing responses of both staff and boys to Mathieu's music project. I thought everything about the film was elegantly understated and this, for me, was what gave it its special charm. [Reviewed by Nightjar]

(Stonechat also watched this film but, as she has now flown the nest to take up residence in more Northern climes, she will not be able to add her review.)

Jezebel

I don't really honestly like Bette Davis. However, I'm a great fan of the studio films of this era. I watched this and felt it was a trial version of "Gone with the wind" - a screen test almost! I can't suspend disbelief in a woman like this and therefore have a hard time identifying with her in order to care much what she gets up to. I normally love Foindsa, but here even he sinks in the mire of flouncy skirts!

Not one I will re-watch! [Reviewed by Nuthatch]

Although I thought Bette Davis was excellent (as usual) in this film, I was disappointed by the film itself. I believe it was released around the same time as 'Gone With The Wind and to me it seemed to be a smaller-scale version of many of the same themes (spoiled wilful heroine who destroys her own happiness, North/South divide, a world torn apart by sudden disaster - in this case sickness rather than war). Unlike Scarlett O'Hara, however, Bette Davis' character does take responsibility for her actions and makes an act of heroic sacrifice to atone for her misdeeds. The ending, with Bette Davis sitting on the cart with the dead and dying, is a classic movie moment. I'm sure at the time it was released, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Modern cinema-goers are however much more sophisticated and would be unlikely to appreciate the moralistic tone of the story or the staged quality of the production. [Reviewed by Nightjar]

Ikiru

In the sixties there was a fairly standard American TV series called 'Run for your life' with Ben Gazarra. I enjoyed the concept as a kid - 18 months of foregoing life now has to squashed into 18 months of living due to life threatening condition.

I loved this film. Why? The tension in the first part mirrors humdrum civil service beautifully - even though this is in 50s Japan! Not much has changed - just like for our protagonist

The film has three distinct parts

1. Drudgery and acceptance of everyday bureaucratic work
2. With a limited lifespan, breaking out and experiencing life becomes the order of the day (with even a frisson of sexual attraction?)
   
3. Eulogies do not necessarily reveal that a person was known

We do not follow his deterioration but his awakening -skipping his death, but catching a glimpse of his spirit on the swing! Ikiru, after all, means "to live" Is this a depressing film? - no way! It's uplifting and life affirming [Reviewed by Nuthatch]


I found Ikiru absolutely engrossing, so much so that I forgot at times that I was watching a Japanese film with English subtitles. This was because the universal nature of human experience stood out above the sometimes jarring strangeness of Japanese culture. Although we cannot all relate to the central character's experience as a Japanese bureaucrat, we can all empathise with his fear of death, the pain of his illness, his loneliness, his feeling of being distant from and burdensome to his immediate family and his burning desire to achieve something good before he dies. There is a great satisfaction in knowing that he finished what he set out to do and died a happy man. His actions prompt discussion and debate amongst those who attend his funeral and one senses that his influence will live on after his death and inspire change in others. It is a great story of the little man prevailing against the system. [Reviewed by Nightjar]

The Leopard

A strange cover for this DVD film. I much prefer the original poster below. The new one is fictitious as the pair do not dance outside, and this cover implies something that is actually handled better in the film itself. Cardinale and Lancaster's characters dance to indicate the passing of the old and the coming of the new. This cover appears to me to be shallow in implying simple romance. Admittedly I'm sure there is implied sexual attraction in the couple's dance, but that's not the whole message.




A film which starts as a travelogue in history and in Sicily and then twists into a meditation on old age. The story follows the Prince as he watches revolution come from the mainland to the island of Sicily - a revolution that he knows will change hardly anything at all. He sees the need for an advantageous marriage for his nephew, but wishes this wasn't necessary. He moves from town to country and sees the old ways passing. The final section of this beautiful looking film shows an old man on what might look like the verge of a heart attack taking time to look around him and enjoy meditating on life and what he's learned and seeing the short new future ahead, which he half hopes he won't have to face. Scenes stick in the memory: The family after journeying are shown in the church covered in dust like ancient monuments they are soon to become! The Garibaldi's men arrive all pompous to the ball at the end of the film. They are so modern in being of no lasting value and full of celebrity, yet the Prince knows they are fleeting, but at the same time is ware that his way of life is too. We see the Prince lose his temper whilst out hunting, but the comedic servant with him balances the scene beautifully

I always thought Lancaster's subdued acting was underrated despite his fame. In this piece in which his words are dubbed into Italian, he blends into the affair very well. Apparently there is an English version of the film with his own voice, which might be interesting to view to see what difference it makes. Cardinale looks brilliant and Sicily shows off all its glory, much the same as in the Godfather.



"If we want things to stay as they are, things have to change." [Reviewed by Nuthatch]

Oh my! The more reviews I write, the more I am convinced that I must be some kind of cine-barbarian. This film was, in the first place, far too long! A terrible criticism, I know, as it implies either that films should have an allotted time-scale and not deviate from this, or that I merely have the attention span of a three-year-old and so this is the only way I can think of to criticise the film. When I say it was too long, it is more that I felt the narrative was far too long and rambling, with no real conclusions or illuminations, and it never made me feel much sympathy for any of the characters so I felt I never really engaged with it. I am sure that attending a lecture or reading an in-depth analysis of this film could really open it up and I did pick up on many of the broader themes, but for me there has to be a more immediate engagement with a film for me to want to look deeper. I get deeply frustrated with films which, like some impenetrable works of literature or art, require an in-depth analysis and class on how to 'read' them before I can even begin to get something out of them, and so unfortunately this film, although it may have great depths to be penetrated and appreciated, has left me unimpressed and wondering why I spent around 3 hours of my life watching it! If that makes me a barbarian, then feel free to call me Ghenghis!
[Reviewed by Stonechat]


I really loved the book 'The Leopard' but wasn't sure how it would translate to the big screen. I was pleasantly surprised. The film captures the indolence and self-indulgent arrogance of the Sicilian ruling class as it seeks to mitigate the change taking place all around it. The Prince accepts change in order to keep things as much as possible as they are. One senses that the momentous events occurring in Italy at that time were considered more than an inconvenience than a genuine threat. At the same time, it is clear the Prince's family is in decline. Many rooms in the family home have not been occupied for years and have fallen into disrepair. The ruling class is living on borrowed time and the Prince knows this. He seems disappointed with his own progeny and more interested in his nephew Tancredi (Alain Delon), for whom he arranges an advantageous marriage with a beautiful member of the nouveau riche (Claudia Cardinale). While mourning the decline of his class, the Prince also senses his own decline as he moves towards old age and death. The two young lovers (Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale) seem to catch a glimpse of their own mortality too when wandering through the disused rooms in the house and the family Priest is a constant reminder of death and Judgement. Fine performances from the leading characters and beautiful to watch as well as being a poignant study of a man at the end of life.
[Reviewed by Nightjar]

Pleasantville

Very interesting science fiction theme which could have come from a pulp magazine of the 30s. I wonder why we think this needs doing now?

Jennifer is the catalyst once the brother and sister enter the black and white world of Pleasantville. Her randy behaviour sparks the spread of colour. And of course at the end her weedy unsocial brother learns about living and 'finds himself' and she redeems herself for her role in the 'fall' (or is that redemption?) of the town/world.

The problem I have with this film is that I could see loads of tangents at which the film could turn:
1) Parable of the Fall - but is it a Fall? I'm led to believe colour is better than black and white. In a typical postmodernist way, I am told 'everything goes', but then told 'what I say goes'. So did Jenny do the right thing or not? The ending says 'yes'. However
2) Industrial Man meets Stone Age Man. The penetration of modern man into the Amazonian tribesman way of life is an anthropological conundrum. If we watch from afar we see and judge them too prinitive, or black and white and lacking colour. If we show them the error of their ways we give them our Imperialistic vision or our consumerist world-view. Should our friends have changed the world that was well ordered by its own criteria?
3) Colour / Black and white is this not a film about racial problems. Even those slow witted audiences that Hollywood aims at must have seen - even in this single frame - an allusion to the North-South divide! And what about the 'No Coloureds' signs in shop windows - referring here to those who are no longer black and white. Themes accompanying this one are fascist behaviour, apartheid etc.


4) Feminism vs Male control: The poor Dad expects his slippers and pipe to be ready for him and his tea ready on a gingham tablecloth and his woman complies! Hold on though, she falls for another bloke and becomes aware of feelings she hasn't had before (where did their children come from? And don't say a scriptwriter!) I felt it was a pity he didn't 'turn' as well. Then the two of them could have explored those feelings together and retained the good life together. But maybe that's me projecting onto the film my disappointment with modern life and couples changing their partners like....socks, or rather McDonalds Happy Meals! And why shouldn't I as it appears everything is up for grabs according to this film!
5) Teens and sexual promiscuity are the key that unlocks the door to 'rightness' is just one more nail in the coffin for youth-bound society towards the elderly!

There is some beautiful use of colour in this film -think of the blossom's first appearance in colour - perhaps an inspiration for American Beauty's rose petals. However the scene shown above I found disturbing. The message was destroyed in the moment the son covers his mother in grayscale make-up. However Jeff Daniels' character's paintings are fantastic against the black and white world!

Interesting thought-provoking film but goes out with a whimper in my opinion. [Reviewed by Nuthatch]

I had seen this film before but almost entirely forgotten it. As it is I don't think I'll remember it for too much longer this time either. The actual premise is quite fun and interesting but it really needed a much quirkier director (Tim Burton comes to mind) to blend some of the more jarring aspects of the story. The film starts as much as possible in the real world and then suddenly, inexplicably, a strange TV repair man shows up (surely our characters, being very much of-the-world would think this odd?) and the fantastic happens. The characters seem to largely accept what has happened (that they have magically been sucked into a TV show), albeit with bluster and indignation that it has, and carry on largely as normal. The actual body of the film is pretty sound, but again the ending is peculiar as so much of the film has dealt with more 'real to life' issues such as sex, relationship breakdown, gender roles etc and then suddenly the characters don't behave like real people. Reese Witherspoon's character decides to stay in Pleasantville and her brother doesn't try to stop her or worry about whether she will ever return, and nor does their mother ask where she is! A very strange film which either needed to become more realistic or make a move towards being stranger still, rather than staying in the very unsatisfactory and slightly bewildering middle ground it chooses. [Reviewed by Stonechat]

I was prepared not to like this film but ended up finding it quite thought-provoking and endearing. Brother and sister (David and Jennifer) find themselves transported into the TV world of Pleasantville and are challenged and changed by their experiences there. David, who at the start of the story seems enamoured with the simplicity and predictability of Pleasantville compared with life at home, emerges at the end of the film with a subtler and more mature appreciation of the complexities of real life and a greater empathy with his mother and the choices she has made. His sister Jennifer is the character who initiates the blossoming (or breakdown, depending on your point of view) of life in Pleasantville. She introduces the wayward pleasure-seeking element into ordered Pleasantville life and, by awakening in the characters an awareness of their power to deviate from their scripts and seek out personal fulfilment , she sparks the change from black-and-white to colour. Despite being a catalyst for the transformation of others, she herself remains unfulfilled until she begins to look beyond herself. I liked the way the film showed the painfulness and riskiness of change and also its divisiveness in that the empowerment of some characters (the mother) went hand in hand with the threat of loss for those around them (the father). [Reviewed by Nightjar]

Elvira Madigan

Birth: Dec. 4, 1867, Sweden Death: Jul. 1, 1889, Fyn, Denmark Born Hedvig Jensen in Flensburg, Germany, to Danish-Norwegian parents. She took the stage name Elvira Madigan from her stepfather, John Madigan, the owner of the circus where she performed as an acrobatic dancer. In late Spring of 1889, while touring with the troupe through Sweden, she met and fell in love with Sixten Sparre, a cavalry lieutenant in the Swedish Army. She was 21, he was 34. He was also married with two children. They kept their romance a secret until June, when Sparre suddenly deserted his family and his post and fled with Elvira to Denmark. They stayed on the island of Taasinge for two weeks before their money ran out. On July 1, 1889, the couple packed a picnic basket and walked deep into the Neorreskov, a nearby forest. After having a final meal and making love for the last time, Sparre shot Elvira and then himself with his service revolver. They were buried together in the Landet Churchyard. The saga of these doomed lovers slowly entered romantic mythology, leaving a key question unanswered: Did Elvira willingly enter a suicide pact with Sparre, or was she the victim of his ruthless obsession? Her sister and friends claimed she was not the romantic type and yearned only for a life away from the circus, which she apparently hoped Sparre would provide. As for her paramour, he was known as something of wastrel, prone to expressing cynical thoughts in his journals while piling up gambling debts. And the positions in which the bodies were found leaves open the possibility that Sparre killed Elvira while she slept. Such clues have had little influence on the popular imagination, which still views the affair as a tragic case of "love on the run". It was the subject of an award-winning film, "Elvira Madigan" (1967), by Swedish director Bo Widerberg. The soundtrack features the Andante from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21, now popularly known as "Elvira Madigan's Theme." Newlywed brides still place flowers on Elvira's grave, to make up for the wedding bouquet she never got. Taken from Findagrave

With all art we need to think about the basics: the subject as presented; how the object is constructed; and lastly context

The film looks gorgeous - yellow sunlight, woods with light streaming down (or was that my wishful thinking?), the colour red - as a recurring motif. The acting seems verisimilitudinous, and focusses primarily on the couple. The camera shows time passing often with lingering shots of nature and simple actions. We are enthralled when we see her walking on the tightrope between two trees. And here we begin to see that this might be a story of context. The film was made in 1967 the year before the summer of love - hippie thinking was reaching a zenith. George Harrison met Ravi Shankar in 1967. However in reality this year also saw another film love affair depicted somewhat differently - Bonnie and Clyde. The contrast between the two is ionteresting. In Elvira stravation is not depicted very truthfully - starvation does not equate to eating flowers and then puking in a feminine nice way! B&C show violence more like it is - fictious no doubt, but at least attempting to protray the viciousness.

Beautiful film very sunny, beautiful lady -in the film - tragic love - but hey, could they really not travel to Germany and try their luck? Is life really THAT hard?

Did she jump or was she pushed? Do I care? Nah! I'll remember the image of a lovely blond with sixties mascara freely frolicking, but not much else. Oh, maybe I'll remember Mozart's piece he didn't write for the film! [Reviewed by Nuthatch]

I began the film with high hopes. All the reviews looked promising - here was a beautiful love story I could settle down to have a good blub over. How wrong I was! I spent most of this film wondering why on earth these two people were together, and wondering what Elvira saw in a man who had left his wife and kids without any means of support and doomed them both to a life of constant running by deserting the army. Perhaps if we had seen a blossoming romance or scenes of how difficult their lives had been before they ran away then I might have been convinced; but as it was they might as well have just been strangers who met in a field one day and out of the blue struck up a romance (in fact I spent the first half an hour thinking that this was exactly what happened).

Being unmoved by the romance of the piece, I spent much of the latter part of the film feeling disgusted at the supremely selfish and naive attitude of the protagonists (especially Sixten leaving a wife and kids in a time in history when there would have been little support available for her), and a little incredulous that they could possibly feel that suicide was the only way for them to go! I was left feeling that I had arrived at the film 40 years too late, and that I might only have appreciated it if I had watched it in the 60s when it would have fitted beautifully with the sentiments of "all you need is love" and to hell with the consequences. Perhaps being female also clouds one's judgement as I couldn't help but feel sorry for the (presumably older and uglier) wife at home. Writing this review a couple of weeks down the line the impressions I am left with are largely of sunshine, a becoming blonde, and general dissatisfaction at a film, the specifics of which have largely faded from my memory. [Reviewed by Stonechat]

This film evoked for me the same sort of feeling as the long summer holidays when I was at school. There was a sense that it was too good to last!! It seemed as if the two lovers were from the start aware of the time-limited nature of their love. The predominant colours of the film were vivid green and yellow, colours of sunshine and trees in full leaf, but every so often there appeared a touch of blood red, such as spilt wine - a warning of the end to come. The end was as inevitable as the end of summer because Sixten and Elvira's love was a forbidden one and was indulged at the expense of family and other commitments and without the blessing of society. The two lovers had forsaken everything, including their livelihoods, for their love and had no way back into society and no means of support once their money ran out. I was reminded of the tale of the ant and the grasshopper. Sixten and Elvira are like grasshoppers, living for the moment, heedless of the future. Is it significant that this film was released in 1967, the "Summer Of Love"? I enjoyed the film on a visual and musical level but found myself distanced from the characters and their predicament. The film had a dreamlike quality which perhaps echoed the nature of their love - a brief and beautiful interlude that had to end. [Reviewed by Nightjar]