The Edge

100695 / 16 / US / 1997 / Tamahori, Lee / / adventure / thriller
Edge, The / Reunalla. © 20th Century Fox. P: Art Linson. D: Lee Tamahori. SC: David Mamet. DP: Donald M. McAlpine. CAST: Anthony Hopkins (Charles Morse), Alec Baldwin (Robert Green), Elle Macpherson (Mickey Morse), L.Q. Jones (Styles), Bart the Bear. Shot on location in Alberta, Canada. 117’. Scope. MPAA 35275. R = 17. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Janne Staffans. DIST: Columbia Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Thursday 16 April 1998. *** ”Why is the rabbit not afraid? Because he’s smarter than the jaguar.” A good survival thriller about three men stranded in deepest Alaska forest after a plain crash. Anthony Hopkins is the millionaire who can never know whether others really like him and has had to learn to trust only his own resources. A bookworm, he learns to master the skills needed in the wilderness with no fire, no food, no shelter, and no weapons against the man-eating kodiak bear. Hopkins even learns to create fire with ice. - Visually majestic, with no razzle-dazzle. This is good solid story-telling, and it’s not even story-driven but character-driven.

Dark Passage

027920 / 16 / US / 1947 / Daves, Delmer / / thriller
Dark Passage / Pimeä käytävä. © Warner Bros. P: Jerry Wald. D+SC: Delmer Daves - based on the novel by David Goodis (1946). DP: Sid Hickox. M: Franz Waxman. CAST: Humphrey Bogart (Vincent Parry), Lauren Bacall (Irene Jansen), Agnes Moorehead (Madge Rapf). 106’. B&w Academy. 106’. 16mm print viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Good Friday 10 April 1998. *** Framed for his wife’s murder, Humphrey Bogart escapes from San Quentin and changes his face to track down the real killer. Excellent use of subjective camera is in striking contrast to the unhappy experiment in The Lady In the Lake. We first see Bogart’s face when 68 minutes of the film have lapsed, but thanks to the imaginative and exciting cinematography this is never a problem. Too many coincidences at the start weaken my involvement in the story. Otherwise this is a fine thriller.

Mercury Rising

Harold Becker: Mercury Rising (US 1998). Bruce Willis (Art Jeffries), Miko Hughes (Simon).

100689 / 16 / US / 1998 / Becker, Harold / / thriller

Mercury Rising / Salasana: Mercury. © Universal. D: Harold Becker. SC: Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal - based on the novel Simple Simon by Ryne Douglas Pearson. DP: Michael Seresin. CAST: Bruce Willis (Art Jeffries), Alex Baldwin (Lt. Col. Nicholas Kudrow), Miko Hughes (Simon), Kim Dickens (Stacey). 110’. Scope. MPAA 35891. Rated R = 17. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Eirik Udd. DIST: UIP Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Wednesday 8 April 1998. *** An autistic boy cracks the code of a secret government agency. Now the boy’s life is in danger, but maverick FBI agent Bruce Willis comes to the rescue.

Red Corner

100678 / 16 / US / 1997 / Avnet, Jon / / thriller
Red Corner / Punainen labyrintti. © MGM. D: Jon Avnet. SC: Robert King. DP: Karl Walter Lindenlaub. CAST: Richard Gere (Jack Moore), Bai Ling (Shen Yuelin), Jessey Meng (Hong Ling). 122’. 1,85. MPAA 35271. Rated R = 17. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Anna-Lisa Holmqvist. DIST: UIP Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Thursday 2 April 1998. *** American TV businessman is framed for murder in China while trying to close a huge satellite deal. Caught in the net of Chinese jurisdiction he is helped by a female attorney. The theme of the clash of the cultures is a strong one, and also as a court drama this of course treads new ground.

The Game

100673 / 12 / US / 1997 / Fincher, David / / thriller
Game, The / - oletko valmis peliin? © PolyGram. D: David Fincher. SC: John Brancato, Michael Ferris. DP: Harris Savides. CAST: Michael Douglas (Nicholas Van Orton), Sean Penn (Conrad Van Orton), Deborah Kara Unger (Christine). 128’. Scope. MPAA 35106. R = 17. Finnish / Swedish subtitles: Hannele Vahtera. DIST: Buena Vista International Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Monday 30 March 1998. *** Extremely well-produced thriller which, however gets too tricky. All involvement is lost.

Fallen Angel

026707 / 16 / US / 1946 / Preminger, Otto / / thriller
Fallen Angel / Langennut enkeli. © 20th Century-Fox. P+D: Otto Preminger. SC: Harry Kleiner - based on the novel by Marty Holland. DP: Joseph LaShelle. ”Slowly” by David Raksin, Kermit Goell. CAST: Alice Faye (June Mills), Dana Andrews (Eric Stanton), Linda Darnell (Stella), Charles Bickford (Mark Judd), Ann Revere (Clara Mills), John Carradine (Professor Madley). 97’. B&w Academy. MPAA 10940. Extremely beautiful print viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Thursday 26 March 1998. **** A lyrical thriller focusing on the shifting tensions between the main characters. Eric Stanton is thrown out of the night bus in the small town of Stanton between Los Angeles and San Francisco. He gets mixed up in a web of intrigue, and has himself to blame for the results. There is little action, but the gliding, flying camera keeps it all visually exciting. The dialogue is brilliant.

Out Of the Past

086840 / 16 / US / 1947 / Tourneur, Jacques / thriller
Out Of the Past / Menneisyyden varjot (HTV) / Varjot menneisyydestä (TV3 1987). © RKO. EX: Robert Sparks. P: Warren Duff. D: Jacques Tourneur. SC: Geoffrey Homes [= Daniel Mainwaring] [and Frank Fenton, James M. Cain] - based on the novel Build My Gallows High (1946) by Geoffrey Homes. DP: Nicholas Musuraca. AD: Albert S. D’Agostino. M: Roy Webb. Locations: Reno, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Acapulco. CAST: Robert Mitchum (Jeff Bailey / Jeff Martin), Jane Greer (Kathy Moffat), Kirk Douglas (Whit Sterling), Rhonda Fleming (Meta Carson), Virginia Huston (Ann Miller). 97’. B&w Academy. MPAA Seal 12082. A fine NFTVA print. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 17 March 1998. **** The first 35mm screening of this classic in Finland. Never released in this country in the cinemas nor on video, it has been previously shown at the Archive and transmitted on TV only on 16mm. - For the first time I had the chance to fully appreciate the moody poetry of Out of the Past. It is a dark, slow film, where even the daytime scenes of California invariably seem to take place under cloudy skies. Robert Mitchum gives an extremely powerful, laconic performance as Jeff Bailey, who has taken the effort to cut himself from his criminal past, but is caught again in the web of fate.

Straw Dogs

Sam Peckinpah: Straw Dogs (GB 1971). Dustin Hoffman (David Sumner), Susan George (Amy Sumner).

080285 / 18 / GB / 1971 / Peckinpah, Sam / / thriller

Olkikoirat. GB © 1971 ABC Pictures. P: Daniel Melnick. D: Sam Peckinpah. SC: David Goodman - based on the novel The Siege of Trencher’s Farm by Gordon M. Williams [= J. Anderson Black]. DP: John Coquillon. M: Jerry Fielding. CAST: Dustin Hoffman (David Sumner), Susan George (Amy Sumner), David Warner (Henry Niles the village idiot), Del Henney (Charlie Venner), Ken Hutchison (Norman Scutt).

The title comes from Lao-Tse: ”Heaven and Earth are ruthless and treat the countless creatures like straw dogs. The wise man is ruthless and treats people like straw dogs”. The ancient Chinese sacrificed straw dogs instead of living animals.

Filmed on location in the west of England and in Twickenham Film Studios.

Original version 118’. US release version: 113’. TV Nelonen PAL transmission with commercial breaks on Friday, 6 March 1998 (midnight). This was a special in-between cut: subtracting the commercial breaks it would run 115’48” at 24 fps.

Finnish subtitles by Jari Bohm / Pre-Text. Caught on VHS in Helsinki.

*** The Finnish TV premiere of a film which is not available on video because of the Finnish Video Act.

The astromathematician David and his wife Amy seek peace from the turbulence of the U.S. campuses in Amy’s little home village in Cornwall. They soon meet the village idiot and five hellraisers who get dangerous when drunk. The violence escalates – Amy gets raped and the teenager Nadine strangled – and in the final bloodbath the small, peace-loving David has to defend himself. 

”I don’t know my way home”. ”Me neither”. 

This grim tale, no longer scandalous at least in the version transmitted, neither condemns nor glorifies violence as self-defence. Violence is shown as necessary in an extreme situation, but violence is not entertaining: it just depresses and brutalizes everybody who survives.

The film has a Jewish subtext; having had a double Scotch David quips to the priest that Christianity has not been able to put a stop to bloodshed.

Criss Cross (1948) (1998 viewing) (NFTVA print)

Robert Siodmak: Criss Cross (US 1948). Yvonne De Carlo (Anna) and Burt Lancaster (Steve Thompson).

031311 / 16 / US / 1948 / Siodmak, Robert / thriller

Criss Cross / Elämän ja kuoleman leikki. © Universal Pictures. P: Michel Kraike. D: Robert Siodmak. SC: Daniel Fuchs – based on the novel (1934) by Don Tracy. DP: Frank Planer. M: Miklos Rozsa. CAST: Burt Lancaster (Steve Thompson), Yvonne De Carlo (Anna), Dan Duryea (Slim Dundee), Stephen McNally (ltn. Pete Ramirez). 88’. B&w Academy. MPAA Seal 13393. A fine 35 mm NFTVA print. Revisited in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 3 March 1998. **** Bunker Hill, Los Angeles. Steve Thompson is the armored car guard who gets connected with gangland because of love. The romantic ambience of the Round-Up Club is contrasted with the cold efficiency of the armored car robbery. These scenes are pure cinema, as is the sequence in the hospital where Steve is waiting for the assassin at night, and the final confrontation (”She’s all yours now”).

...

SUOMEN ELOKUVA-ARKISTO

FINLANDS FILMARKIV

PROGRAM NOTE BY MATTI SALO

Criss Cross 

Elämän ja kuoleman leikki / På liv och död

 

Yhdysvallat, 1949. Tuotantoyhtiö: Universal-International. Tuottaja: Michel Kraike. Ohjaus: Robert Siodmak. Käsikirjoitus: Daniel Fuchs – Don Tracyn romaanista Criss-Cross / The Cheat (1934, suom. Naarassusi).  Kuvaus: Frank (Franz) Planer. Musiikki: Miklos Rozsa. Laulut: ”I’ll Remember April”. Leikkaus: Ted J. Kant. Pääosissa: Burt Lancaster (Steve Thompson), Yvonne De Carlo (Anna), Dan Duryea (Slim Dundee), Stephen McNally (poliisi luutn. Pete Ramires), Richard Lang (Slade Thompson), Esy Morales (orkesterin johtaja), Tom Pedi (Vincent), Percy Helton (Frank), Alan Napier (Finchley), Griff Barnett (Pop), Meg Randall (Helen), Joan Miller (naisjuoppo), Edna M. Holland (Mrs. Thompson), John Doucette (Walt), Marc Krath (Mort), James O’Rear (Waxie), John Skins Miller (kääpiö), Robert Osterloh (Mr. Nelson), Tony Curtis (gigolo), Gene Evans (yksi vartijoista). Helsingin ensiesitys: 3.3.1950 Tuulensuu – maahantuoja: Bio-Kuva – VET 31311 – K16 – 2450 m / 90 min

 

Huom! Robert Siodmak tiettävästi osallistui käsikirjoituksen tekoon. Elokuvan alkuperäinen tuottaja ja ideoija, Mark Hellinger kuoli 1947, ja projekti siirtyi Universal-yhtiölle.

Huom 2! Steven Soderbergh teki elokuvasta uusversion The Underneath / Isku vasten kasvoja (1995). Austiniin, Texasiin sijoitetussa älyllisen mietiskelevässä tunnelmassa Soderbergh paljolti kyseenalaisti film noirin fatalismia. Poliisiystävä ja veli sulautettiin yhteen: psykoottiseksi poliisiveljeksi.

”The link between the opening kiss and final carefully composed death tableau resonates with the irony of a failed romantic passion. It is one of the great dramatic endings of film noir”

Romaaninsa Criss-Cross (1934, epäilyttävän näköisenä suomennoksen Naarassusi) nojalla Don Tracy (1905-1976) luokittuu Ernest Hemingwayn jälkeläisiin, kovaksikeitettyyn kirjailijakuntaan. Laskelmoiva sankaritar ja tätä lammasmaisesti ja pakkomielteisesti palvova nuori lättänenä ex-nyrkkeilijä lähentävät teosta James M. Cainin rikosmaisemiin. Verrattain ohueksi ja ennustettavaksi jäänyt romaani liittyy kuin sivuteitä gangsteriperinteisiin. Taannehtiva, muisteleva minäkerronta oli omiaan film noirin rakennuspuiksi.

Daniel Fuchsin vapaasti mukailema Elämän ja kuoleman leikki oli Siodmakin kolmas film noir gangstereista: Tappajien ja Cry of the Cityn jälkeen se oli ohjaajansa fatalistisin, sternbergiläisin teos, ”ei vähemmän kuin jengivaltakunnan Tristan ja Isolde” (Carlos Clarens). Vartijakuljettaja Steve Thompsonin näkökulmaan pitäytyvää taidokasta takautumarakennetta sitoo Steven ja hänen entisen vaimonsa, petollisen Annan kuolemaantuomittu viha-rakkaus. Se värittää mustasukkaisen pomon, Slim Dundeen johdolla suoritetun viimeisen ”suuren keikan”, ”big caperin” seksuaalisen orjuutuksen kuvaukseksi, Tappajista tutun masokistisen suhteen muunnokseksi.

Ulkokohtaukset kuvattiin valtaosin Los Angelesin vanhassa kaupunginosassa Bunker Hillissä, alueilla, jotka tuhottiin 1950-luvulla. Elämän ja kuoleman leikin ohella ainakin kaksi muuta film noirin klassikkoa sijoitti toimintansa noihin slummeksi rähjääntyneisiin muinoin niin arvokkaihin kortteleihin: Fred Zinnemannin Kenen on kosto (1948) ja Joseph Loseyn M (1951). Bunker Hill jäi kirjallisuuteen Raymond Chandlerin ja John Fanten romaanien ansiosta.

Elämän ja kuoleman leikin avaus vie suoraan tarinan ytimeen, in median res, ”kuin vatsaan survaistu veitsi” (David Thompson). Helikopteriotokset öisestä Los Angelesista johdattelevat pienen yökerhon (the Round-Up Club) parkkialueelle, Steven ja Annan salaiseen tapaamiseen, ja film noirille ominainen kohtalon ilmapiiri kiihkeine seksuaalisine kolmioasetelmineen on loihdittu esiin. Steve muistuttaa Ulmerin Detourin antisankari Al Robertsia siinä, että hän ei näe eikä myönnä omaa osuutta kohtaloonsa vaan pettää ja sääli itseään petollisen, kypsymättömän ja haavoittuvaan femme fataleen, Annaan kohdistuvan pakkomielteisen intohimon vallassa. ”From the start, it all went one way. It was in the cards or it was fate or a jinx or whatever you want to call it.” (“Alusta pitäen se kaikki meni yksisuuntaisena. Se oli korteissa tai se oli kohtalo tai pahanilmanlintu ja mitä tahansa nimeltään.”)

Panssariauton rahojen ryöstö San Raphelon, Long Beachin tehtaalla on elokuvan tour de force, Siodmakin ekspressionismin taidonnäyte, kuin balettia. Tummat naamioidut hahmot liikkuvat pahojen aavistustensa vallassa savupommien aikaansaaman sekaannuksen keskellä. Michael Walkerin oivalluksen mukaan ryöstö on kuin Steven ja Slimin ei-myönnetty kaksintaistelu Annan voittamiseksi. Stevestä tulee sankari tahtomattaan, ja jälkinäytöksen ympäristönä on sairaala, josta Siodmak kehittelee klaustrofobisen vainoharhaisen painajaiskuvion subjektiivisine otoksineen. Ikkunoissa on sälekaihtimet. Ryöstön tulitaistossa haavoittunut Steve maksaa avuttomana vuoteellaan käsivarsi ja olkapää telineessä. Hänellä on syytä odottaa rikoskumppaneittensa kostoa: vinopeilin avulla hän tähyilee käytävään, josta harmittomalta vaikuttava kaupparatsu lähestyy potilasta... Francis Ford Coppola osasi Kummisedässä hyödyntää tätä jännitysjaksoa ja laventaa sen pohjalta muistettavan episodin.

Siodmakin ohella elokuvan tekijäkaartista on syytä nostaa esille käsikirjoituksen laatija Daniel Fuchs, kuvaaja Franz (Frank) Planer ja säveltäjä Milos Rozsa, kaikki film noirin olennaisia voimia. Kirjailija Fuchsin (1909–1993) muita noireja olivat The Gangster (oman romaanin Low Company pohjalta), Hollow Triumph/The Scar / Arpi, Storm Warning / Ku Klux Klaanin merkeissä ja Pakokauhun vallassa. Planer (1984–1963) oli Ufan kuvaajia ja työskennellyt mm. Max Ophulsille. Unkarilaissyntyinen Rozsa (1907–1995) kirjoitti musiikin mm. elokuviin Double Indemnity / Nainen ilman omaatuntoa, Tuhlattuja päiviä, Noiduttu, Tappajat, Alaston kaupunki ja Asfalttiviidakko.

”The big caper film”, suuren keikan kuvaukset, on gangsterifilmien kiintoisa alalaji. Sen muita merkittäviä Hollywood-edustajia ovat Walshin High Serra, Siodmakin Tappajat, Lewisin Rikosten Pyörteessä, Walshin Valkonen hehku, Hustonin Asfalttiviidakko, Kubrickin Peli on menetetty, Wisen He pakenivat huomispäivää, Tarantinon Reservoir Dogs ja John Irvinin ”melvilleläinen” City of Industry – Pelon kaupunki. Ranskassa tätä alalajia ovat kehitelleet mm. Becker, Dassin ja ennen kaikkea Melville. Joseph Losey teki Englannissa Sementtiviidakon. Keikkakuvaukset ylipäätään keskittyivät rikoksen valmisteluihin, itse rikoksen suoritukseen (Dassinin Rififi selkeimpänä esimerkkinä) taikka – useimmiten kohtalokkaisiin, tuhoisiin – jälkivaiheisiin (Reservoir Dogs, City of Industry).

Michael Walker on kiinnittänyt huomiota kolmen Siodmak -elokuvan toistuvaan kuvioon: rikollisen ja tämän lapsuudenystävän, nykyisen poliisin väliseen asetelmaan. Toisin kuin Tappajissa ja Cry of the Cityssä poliisi ei Elämän ja kuoleman leikissä juurikaan esiinny rikosta tutkivana, ratkovana voimana vaan lähinnä rangaistuksen välikappaleena. Poliisiluutnantti Pete Ramirez on Steven moraalin vartija, omatunto tai yliminä. Michael Walker on huomannut ”ratkaisemattoman homoeroottisen kiintymyksen” Steven ja poliisin välillä.

Kanadalaissyntyinen Yvonne De Carlo (s. 1922) ansaitsee oman kappaleensa. Hän oli alkuaan tanssijatar, ja niinpä Annan latinotanssi Elämän ja kuoleman leikissä vastaan Kittyn (Ava Gardner) laulua Tappajissa: Burt Lancasterin tulkitsemien miesten eroottinen pakkomielle syttyy jäädäkseen. ”Läpi Siodmakin elokuvien – ja läpi film noirin valtaosan – käy tuntu siitä, että mies joka rakastaa naista on heikko.” (Michael Walker). De Carlo ei valitettavasti koskaan muulloin saanut Annan veroista haastetta eikä Siodmakin tasoista ohjaajaa. Annassa on proletaarista seksikkyyttä. Petollisuudestaan ja rakkauteen kykenemättömyydestään huolimatta Anna säilyy liikuttavana ja vetoavana hahmona, paljolti siitä syystä, että hänet kaiken aikaa nähdään palvovan Steven näkö- ja muistelukulmasta.

Lähteitä:

Carlos Clarens: Crime Movies: From Griffith to the Godfather and beyond (1980), Tom Flinn: “Three Faces of Film Noir”, The Velvet Light Trap 5/Summer 1972, 11–16.

R. Barton Palmer: Hollywoods Dark Cinema: The American Film Noir (1994).

Matti Salo: Seinä vastassa: Johdatus Hollywoodin mustan elokuvan, film noirin lähteille (1982).

A.S. [Alain Silver]: ”Criss Cross”. Teoksessa Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward, Carl Macek & Roberto Porfirio (toim.): Film Noir (1979), 70–72.

David Thompson: “A Cottage at Palos Verdes”, Film Comment 26:3/May–June 1990, 16–21.

Michael Walker: “Robert Siodmak”. Teoksessa Ian Cameron (toim.): The Movie Book of film Noir (1992, 1994), 110–151.

– Matti Salo (1998)

See my 2012 blog remarks.

Le Doulos

Jean-Pierre Melville: Le Doulos (FR 1962). Jean-Paul Belmondo (Silien), Serge Reggiani (Maurice Faugel).

072162 / 18 / FR / 1962 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / thriller

Doulos, Le / Ilmiantaja. © Rome-Paris-Films. P: Carlo Ponti, Georges de Beauregard. D+SC: Jean-Pierre Melville – based on the novel by Pierre Lesou. DP: Nicolas Hayer. M: Paul Misraki; piano M: Jacques Loussier. CAST: Jean-Paul Belmondo (Silien), Serge Reggiani (Maurice Faugel), Jean Desailly (Inspector Clain). 108’. B&w 1,66. Visa de contrôle 26164. Print: SEA / Adams-filmi. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Orion, Thursday 26 February 1998. **** A key Melville work revisited. Silien is the diabolic stool pigeon who manipulates everybody by his well-timed information to the police. His web of deceit completely baffles everybody, and it all leads to a massacre of Shakespearean proportions.

Born To Kill

/ / US / 1946 / Wise, Robert / / thriller
Born To Kill / Lady Of Deceit / Deadlier Than the Male. © RKO. P: Herbert Schlom. D: Robert Wise. SC: Eve Greene, Richard Macaulay - based on the novel Deadlier Than the Male by James Gunn. DP: Robert De Grasse. CAST: Lawrence Tierney (Sam Wild), Claire Trevor (Helen Trent), Walter Slezak (Arnold Arnett), Audrey Long (Georgia Staples), Elisha Cook, Jr. (Fred Grover), Esther Howard (Mrs. Kraft). 92’. B&w Academy. MPAA Seal of Approval 11703. A brilliant NFTVA print. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 24 February 1998. *** This was the first ever screening of this film in Finland. It’s a classic, laconic film noir about the hitman (Lawrence Tierney) who marries a publisher’s daughter (Georgia Staples) for money. The hitman becomes a mirror for his wife’s sister (Claire Trevor) who is forced to realize the iciness of her own egoism. The story is told with bluntness worthy of a Biblical parable.

Lady In the Lake

027538 / 16 / US / 1946 / Montgomery, Robert / thriller
Lady In the Lake / Nainen järvessä. © MGM. P: George Haight. D: Robert Montgomery. SC: Steve Fisher - based on the novel (1943) [and the rough draft screenplay] of Raymond Chandler. CAST: Robert Montgomery (Philip Marlowe), Lloyd Nolan (Ltn. DeGarmot), Audrey Totter (Adrienne Fromsett), Tom Tully (Capt. Kane), Leon Ames (Derace Kingsby), Jayne Meadows (Mildred Haveland). 103’. B&w Academy. MPAA Seal of Approval 11803. BBFC: Passed for Adult Audiences. Print: NFTVA. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 24 February 1998. * This rare experimental Hollywood film has been seen in Finland after its premiere only once on TV (two years ago). The experiment with rigid first person point of view is famous and totally unsuccessful. Lady In the Lake is rather a lesson how a film should not be made. By abandoning the basic shot-reverse-shot method the film-makers seriously weaken true identification. The experience is strange and boring. Robert Montgomery is not a good Philip Marlowe. Marlowe should impress us more with his wit than with his gun. But Montgomery’s sense of humour is limited, and his wisecracks lack momentum. All other performances are wooden, as well. The screenwriters have built the role of Adrienne Fromsett considerably: she is a strong, ambiguous, interesting woman. In the end, however, she succumbs to the traditional role of ”Marlowe’s girl”.

Fallen

100616 / 16 / US / 1997 / Hoblit, Gregory / / supernatural thriller
Fallen / Kadotettu. © Turner Pictures. P: Charles Roven, Dawn Steel. D: Gregory Hoblit. SC: Nicholas Kazan. DP: Newton Thomas Sigel. ED: Lawrence Jordan. CAST: Denzel Washington (John Hobbes), John Goodman (Jonesy), Donald Sutherland (Lt. Stanton), Embeth Davidtz (Gretta Milano). 124’. Scope. MPAA 35527. Rated R = 17. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Hannele Vahtera. DIST: Warner Bros. Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Tuesday 24 February 1998. *** The demon Azazel has turned into a serial killer who sings Irma Thomas’s ”Time Is On My Side” and can transfer possession into another living body just by touching. This is a tough case for the NYPD, but Denzel Washington won’t give up although everybody thinks he’s gone mad. Visually the film is ambitious and worth a close look. It belongs to the same recent trend as Se7en, Copycat, and One Eight Seven.

Christmas Holiday

Robert Siodmak: Christmas Holiday (US 1944) starring Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly.

025933 / 16 / US / 1944 / Siodmak, Robert / thriller
Christmas Holiday / Tuli ja tuhka / Att älska så... © Universal. D: Robert Siodmak. SC: Herman J. Mankiewicz - based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham (1939). DP: Elwood Bredell. M: Hans J. Salter. Theme song: ”Always” by Irving Berlin. CAST: Deanna Durbin (Jackie Lamont / Abigail Manette), Gene Kelly (Robert Manette), Dean Harens (Charles Mason), Gale Sondergaard (mother Manette). 93’. B&w Academy. MPAA Seal of Approval 10010. BBFC: Passed for Adult Audiences. An NFTVA print. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Saturday 21 February 1998. **** A soft, melancholy thriller, a woman’s noir spiked with sharp dialogue courtesy of W. Somerset Maugham and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It’s full of strong musical selections including ”Kyrie eleison” at the midnight mass, ”Der Liebestod”, and ”Always”. There is an unerring moody flow in the images. ”You can let go now Abigail”. The clouds part on the night sky revealing the stars in the distance as Robert dies.

Midnight in the Garden of Good And Evil

Clint Eastwood: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (US 1997).

100623 / 12 / US / 1997 / Eastwood, Clint / / thriller

Midnight In the Garden Of Good And Evil / Keskiyö hyvän ja pahan puutarhassa. US © 1997 Warner Bros. P: Clint Eastwood, Arnold Stiefel. D: Clint Eastwood. SC: John Lee Hancock - based on the book by John Berendt. DP: Jack N. Green. PD: Henry Bumstead. M: Johnny Mercer - a compilation of his songs like ”Jeepers Creepers”. CAST: Kevin Spacey (Jim Williams), John Cusack (John Kelso), The Lady Chablis. 155’. 1,85. MPAA 35694. R = 17. DIST: Warner Bros. Finland. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Jari Niittylä. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Friday 20 February 1998. *** Contemporary Savannah, Georgia. A journalist about to report for Town and Country gets involved in a murder case. The tempo is slow, and most of the characters are bizarre. Among them, a voodoo priestess and a black transvestite. The suspect himself is a flamboyant gay (Kevin Spacey as Jim Williams) whose rough trade boyfriend is found shot dead.

Quand tu liras cette lettre... / When You Read This Letter

Jean-Pierre Melville: Quand tu liras cette lettre... / When You Read This Letter (FR 1953) starring Juliette Gréco.

/ / FR / 1953 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / thriller

”Quand tu liras cette lettre…” [title on the movie]. PC: Jad Films; S.G.C.; Titanus. D: Jean-Pierre Melville. DP: Henri Alekan. CAST: Juliette Gréco, Philippe Lemaire, Daniel Cauchy, Irène Galter, Yvonne Sanson. B&w Academy. 104’ according to sources. The screening ran 106’. Visa de censure 13722. Finnish earphone translation by Leena Talvio. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Orion, Thursday 12 February 1998. *** A fine melancholy thriller with which Melville wanted to demonstrate that he can direct a regular commercial film. The screenplay is nothing special, but the Melville-Alekan collaboration creates several visually exquisite passages about solitude, very much like the ones by Antonioni and Bresson in the following years.

John Grisham’s The Rainmaker

100592 / 12 / US / 1997 / Coppola, Francis Ford / drama / thriller
John Grisham’s The Rainmaker / John Grishamin Sateentekijä. © Mont Blanc Corporation; Bernina Films. A Paramount release. D+SC: Francis Ford Coppola - based on the novel by John Grisham. CAST: Matt Damon (Rudy Baylor), Claire Danes (Kelly Riker), Danny DeVito (Deck Schifflet), Jon Voight (Leo F. Drummond). 135’. Scope. MPAA 35679. PG-13. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Jaana Wiik / Ditte Kronström. DIST: UIP Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Friday 6 February 1998. *** My favourite of the some five Grisham films I have seen. This one is the least frenetic and violent of them. It is a morality tale, told with humour and taking its time with the characters, interpreted by several first rate actors. Coppola’s flair of strong ensembles is in evidence here. It’s about the rookie lawyer defending a poor mother against a huge insurance company. The film is sober and wise and it confronts all the stereotypes about American lawyers. ”What’s wrong with ethics?” asks the young lawyer who keeps growing through the story by learning from his own mistakes. I like the film’s focus on nobility.

Cop Land

James Mangold: Cop Land (US 1997) with Harvey Keitel (Ray Donlan), Sylvester Stallone (Freddy Heflin), Robert De Niro (Moe Tilden) and Ray Liotta (Gary Figgis).

100578 / 16 / US / 1997 / Mangold, James / thriller

Copland / CopLand / CopLand. © Miramax Film Corp. EX: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Meryl Poster. D+SC: James Mangold. M: Howard Shore. CAST: Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, Janeane Garofalo, Annabella Sciorra. 105’. 1,85. MPAA 35498. Rated R = 17. BBFC: 15. Finnish subtitles by Movision. DIST: Scanbox Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Tuesday 27 January 1998. *** Fine realistic police drama reaches dimensions of true tragedy as slow witted sheriff Stallone has to confront a team of corrupted top officers. Moving, elegiac score by Howard Shore.

Charley Varrick

081990 / 16 cut / US / 1973 / Siegel, Don / / thriller

Charley Varrick / Tappakaa Charley Varrick! PC: Universal. EX: Jennings Lang. P+D: Don Siegel. SC: Howard Rodman, Dean Riesner - based on the novel by John Reese. DP: Michael Butler. M: Lalo Schifrin. CAST: Walter Matthau (Charley Varrick), Jacqueline Scott (Nadine Varrick), Andrew Robinson (Harman Sullivan), Felicia Farr (Sybil Fort), Sheree North (Jewell Everett), John Vernon (Maynard Boyle), Joe Don Baker (Molly). PAL TV transmission 5 December 1997 MTV3: 106’13” /25 fps/ = 110’39” /24 fps/. Cut: the scene where Molly tortures and slaughters Harman Sullivan (same scene was cut in the Finnish cinema release version). Cropped from 2,35 Panavision to 1,35 Academy. Finnish subtitles by Sirpa Glantz. Viewed on video Saturday, 6 December 1997. ***½ The screenplay is excellent. The dynamics between the bucolic scenes and the crisp bursts of action is perfect. They don’t make action films like this anymore. Almost everything in the 1990s is nervous and hysterical with the exception of Clint Eastwood who has not changed since his apprenticeship with… Don Siegel. Here the total sense of control is to be relished. Small things stand out. ”Nadine was a hell of a driver”. ”I never thought I’d be willing to trade places with a cow”. The complaint: Siegel’s customary nihilism. All betray. Trust nobody. So then: why care?

La sindrome di Stendhal

V-003391 / 18 / IT / 1996 / Argento, Dario / / thriller

Sindrome di Stendhal, La / The Stendhal Syndrome. PC: Medusa Film. P+D+SC: Dario Argento. DP: Giuseppe Rotunno. FX: Sergio Stivaletti. M: Ennio Morricone. CAST: Asia Argento, Thomas Kretschmann, Paolo Bonacelli. VHS PAL cropped from 1,85 to 1,33. Dubbed into monotonous English. Time-coded. Long version 113’26” /25 fps/ = 118’10” /24 fps/. (Cf GB release 110’43” at 25 fps.) DIST: Finn Innovation Productions. Big screen video projection viewed in Helsinki, VET, Friday 21 November 1997. Impossible to evaluate: the plot is not the thing, and the probably exquisite visuals could not be appreciated from this VHS copy. Asia Argento is a policewoman tracking down a serial rapist-killer. Visiting Uffizi Gallery and other marvellous sites of art she succumbs to ”the Stendhal syndrome”: a posttraumatic stress reaction with personality changes. (The title has been taken from the novelist, since he was the first one to record it based on his experiences in Florence.) Her persona changes several times, and after eliminating the killer in a gruesome battle she is taken over by the slain monster: ”He is inside me now”.