No.168 : The Stranger (1946)

The Stranger at the IMDb

Post war melodrama now in this 1946 effort starring and directed by Orson Welles, before be was over inflated.

The war has just ended and Edward G Robinson is on the trail of escaped Nazis - presumably the ones who didn’t have much to offer the rocket programme in the US. Bit of politics there.

They want the big fish in the shape of Franz Kindler, but no one knows what he looks like - all they have is that he likes clocks. No clocks. Remember that for later. They suspect that there is a secret network of Nazis on the go, so they let one go in the hope that he will lead them to the head goose-stepper. Of course he does, and Robinson is soon in the small town of Harper Connecticut with a list of likely candidates.

He crosses off those he has dismissed and is close to dong the same with Welles’ ‘Charles Rankin’ but has a second look when he remembers that Welles described Karl Marx as a Jew rather than a German. Welles has gotten his feet under the table and is soon to marry local lovely Loretta Young. He also has a job in fixing the town clock - what a giveaway!

He manages to stretch things out for a while after killing off the Nazi from the start, who was a terrible actor in any event. He also has to off an overly curious dog - damn efficient these Germans. Welles keeps his soppy fiancé onside, but soon even she is having a hard time believing that he’s not a friend of Hitler.

As the net closes in Robinson meets his quarry in the clock tower - will the sausage eater get his just desserts and is some overly poetic justice on the cards?

This was a decent romp but apart from a hilarious ending it was pretty much as you’d expect. Welles is poor as the Nazi on the run and makes no attempt at an accent. Fair enough the Boshe would have masked his accent but Welles is more Bostonian than Bavarian. He does well smooth talking his gullible lady and the idiotic townsfolk, but he’s no match for the no-nonsense Robinson who has his man clocked from the off.

The cat and mouse is pretty poor with it broadcast from the start that a big showdown at the end is inevitable. The clues about pipes and clocks were telegraphed throughout and although the ending was no surprise, it’s manner was. I won’t spoil it, but you’ll guess when you see that this small town has a massive automatic clock, complete with life sized mannequins armed with swords.

The film does include footage from the concentration camps and for 1946 it is quite full on. The message is clear as Robinson shows the films to the disbelieving fiancé that these things are real and that justice needs to be served.

Fair play to Welles for being the villain but he could have done more with the character. I can see why they made him likeable and more handsome than Robinson, but I don’t doubt folks would have been cheering fro the wrong guy at then end on the basis of his straighter jaw line and nicer manners.
Overall the film is an interesting record of the mood of the nation straight after the war - the Nazis should face justice and if it’s mad clockwork justice, then all the better!

THE Tag Line Stranger Danger! 67%

No. 134 : The Magus (1968)

The Magus at the IMDb

Woody Allen is quoted as saying that if he had his life again he’d change nothing except that he wouldn’t watch ‘The Magus’ a second time. I can see where he’s coming from as it’s a frustrating and difficult film, but you will see worse and at least it’s always sunny!

Michael Caine stars in his seventh Definite Article outing at Nicholas Urfe (pronounced ‘earth’), a young teacher who is starting an assignment working at a remote Greek school. His predecessor killed himself and the conditions may have something to answer for - no OFSTED pass here! He’s told that 'there are no women here' to which he relies ’Good’. No, not like that - he’s nursing a broken heart!

We see in flashback his romance with a French air stewardess who shows him her prized glass paperweight with a flower inside - the self same one Caine receives as a gift in the post. He looks somewhat saddened - maybe he was expecting a consignment of nudie mags when the postman appeared?

Anyway, to wile away the time Caine wanders around the island and soon meets Anthony Quinn who is hamming it up as usual. His character is Conchis (pronounced ‘Conscious’) and he starts to entrance/annoy Caine with a series of mind games and parlour tricks. He reads Caine’s tarot cards and explains ‘The Magus’ (that’s the name of the film!) card represents the magician. He also goes into flashback mode to explain his own heartache and morphs into a young Trigger. Trigger is so young his broom is on its first head and second handle and he’s dodging the war draft and upsetting his lady love at the same time.

Meanwhile Cane is seeing a foxy Candice Bergen in 1920’s garb and lots of fantasy hallucinations. Quinn reveals he’s actually a shrink and Bergen is his nutty patient. Caine doesn’t know who to believe when Bergen says she’s sane and lets him have a big kiss. With his air hostess erstwhile girlfriend heading by for a layover and no teaching being done whatsoever, we have to wonder who is mad, who is sane and who will watch to the end to find out?

After an nice skinny dip with the air hostess Caine lets her go in preference to Bergen who may or may not be nutty. Quinn meanwhile gives up a bit of his backstory and a sorry episode involving his time as mayor during the Nazi occupation. Caine is indifferent but gets interested when the Nazis appear and start to bother him. Is the whole thing a film set? A hallucination? A pretentious journey into the troubled Caine’s mind? Don’t ask me, I just watched it!

There is so much happening in ‘The Magus’ that it’s hard to totally dismiss it. It is a disjointed mess but there are good bits, especially Quinn’s impossible dilemma when he has the choice of bashing three partisans to death or letting the Nazis kill 80 locals. Actually that one doesn’t seem too tough.

The film doesn’t have a coherent narrative and you get the sense that this was the plan throughout. You could imagine polo necked film students getting a lot from analysing every frame, but for a casual viewer seeking entertainment ‘The Magus’ can’t be recommended.

• Well, apart from the unreleased ‘The Debtors’ that’s the Caine Definite oeuvre covered. It’s been a mixed bag at best but from an enjoyability standpoint alone I’d rank them best to worst as Actors, Hand, Statement, Destructors, Swarm, Island, Magus.

25% TAG Line : Make it Disappear!

No.94 : The Bunker (1981)

The Bunker at IMDb

No, it’s not a sequel to ‘Happy Gilmour’, the Bunker in question is that of Hitler in this American TV movie from 1981. It was in fact a mini series with the version I saw chopped down to a meagre two and a half hours. At least its bound to have a surprise ending? What?

The film opens two months after Hitler’s demise with an American officer arriving at the bunker for a nosey. He provides a bit of narration before we dissolve into flashback as the bunker is being prepared for the fuhrer’s arrival. The sets aren’t that impressive but the cast is, with familiar faces raiding the dressing up box all over the place. We meet Martin Jarvis’ cockney mechanic as well as Drax off ‘Moonraker’ as Martin Bormann. Julian Fellowes of ‘Downton Abbey’ fame shows up as an officer and the pivotal role of Albert Speer is taken by Richard Jordan who was the baddie sandman in ‘Logan’s Run’.

The main role of Hitler is taken by Anthony Hopkins who for some reason plays the megalomaniac as a Welshman - they won’t like that in the valleys! The plot is basically that of the superior ‘Downfall’ with the frail Hitler battling his officers and sanity as he tries to salvage the war. He orders a scorched earth policy but Speer is keen to distract the head Hun to save the German nation. Meanwhile, Hitler’s dog has puppies.

The film is seen from the viewpoint of several characters such as Speer who is trying to bump off the horrible Herr at any cost and the kitchen staff, including Pat Butcher, who are having trouble keeping the dinners coming. Elsewhere Henry Davenport off ‘Drop the Dead Donkey and Mr Bronson off ‘Grange Hill’ boost their Cvs with small but well accented parts.

To lift the claustrophobic air we also get some scenes in flashback such as Hitler walking his dog and his birthday party - maybe the full version has him getting his hair cut too; they seem very thorough. As the war gets worse - seen only by more rumbles from outside - the officers gather to convince Hitler to seek peace in scene familiar to anyone who has seen ‘Hitler’s X-box stops working’ on YouTube

The plot doesn‘t need much more analysis as it‘s a well worn tale with a surprise free conclusion. The scale of the production is impressive although the uniforms look a bit too crisp for it to be believable as a last stand. There is no attempt at speaking German or even consistent accents but it is well staged with a good cast doing their best with familiar material.

The production won an Emmy and it was a clear template for ‘Downfall’ with many of the scenes such as the medals presentation complete and intact. It is however too long and fails to match the later film’s sense of authenticity. There is no grime, or sense of desperation present, merely Hitler’s shaky hand as his officers head off to their next acting gig.

Hopkins is OK in the lead but he’s let down by a moustache that’s too big and a script that has him shout too much and act irrationally too often. Of course we are dealing with a maniac here but his outbursts didn’t convince and his hands and accent were equally shaky and equally unconvincing.

Overall this was a decent stab at familiar material but it lacked authenticity or any sense of drama. I preferred ’Downfall’ for it’s use of German, its crumbling and dirty sets and it’s far creepier Goebbels.

THE Tag Line - Take a Sandwich to The Bunker (sand wedge - geddit?)
64%

No.70 : The Keep (1983)

The Keep at IMDb

Nazis and the occult are well worn bedfellows in the movies with largely forgettable results. I’d never seen the 1983 effort ‘The Keep’ before, but it was better than I anticipated, though not by much.

The film opens with Jurgen Prochnow leading a group of German soldiers to a castle in a remote part of Romania. The war has yet to touch this area and he’s happy to be given this backwater job rather than a place on the Russian front. His men however are less thankful and use the soft posting as grounds to scare the locals and pillage what they can from ‘the keep’ - basically the prison bit of the castle.

The men soon disregard their ‘no looting’ orders and pry silver crosses from the brickwork. One cross stays stubborn, and when forced it brings a full stone block from the wall with it. This new gap opens into a massive chamber, which is well realised as the camera pulls back to reveal its scale. The new opening awakes something that has lain dormant in the keep and it wastes no time in getting out and frying its liberators.

Jurgen and a typically nasty SS man start an investigation into the deaths and to an inscription they find painted on the wall. They determine the best man to answer the questions they have is Ian McKellan who is presently languishing in a concentration camp. In the very next scene he’s at the keep with his daughter and translating doom for all. Meanwhile Scott Glenn awakens in Greece to a bad case of glowing eyes and heads towards the keep himself.

McKellan manages to make contact with the monster and is told that if he can remove an artefact from the keep the beast will no longer be anchored there and will rid the world of Nazis. To demonstrate his power he makes McKellan go all Benjamin Button and the old man sheds 40 years in seconds. He initially keeps his wheelchair though - possibly worried that it’ll affect his benefits.

Glenn by now has shown up and after boffing McKellan’s daughter gets shot up by the SS man, revealing green blood. He falls into a pit but no doubt he’ll still have a part to play. With all the Keep based Nazis dead, including Jurgen and Gabriel Byrne in a funny haircut, McKellan makes for the door with the monster restricting device. Should his quest to rid the world of Nazis be achieved at any cost or are some prices too high to pay?

If you don’t take it seriously ‘The Keep’ is a lot of fun. Seemingly director Michael Mann disowned the film after his 3 hour cut was halved but I think in this case the studio called it right. 90 minutes of crappy dialogue and ropey special effects is fine, but 3 hours would be taking the piss.

The whole film has an 80s aesthetic from the daughter’s big hair to the totally inappropriate synth soundtrack from Tangerine Dream. The effects, as they are, are mostly post-production additions of light and lasers and frankly they make ‘Flash Gordon’ look like ‘Avatar’. The same reversing smoke effect is used frequently but you wished they’d used it more when the monster is full revealed - he looks like one of those ‘Slam Man’ training dummies.

McKellan does OK with his preposterous dialogue and he seems to be enjoying himself, hamming it up for all he’s worth. His ‘old man’ make up is rubbish and it’s no surprise when he’s ‘transformed’ into his younger self. Glenn’s role is underwritten and I imagine a lot of his character development was lost in the edit. He basically gets the bright eyes, shags McKellan’s daughter , gets shot and then saves the day. A good day’s work you may think, but he seems totally anonymous when mysterious was being sought.

‘The Keep’ is no classic but good fun and fast moving, and well worth a look.

THE Tag Line : One to Keep (as a guilty pleasure) 70%