Touch of Evil

Orson Welles, 1958, bw (8.3*)

Whether you love Welles or not, you have to admit that this is one unique and bizarre crime film. True to classic noir, this one also has its seminal scenes at night, in fact most of the action is in the dark, like the souls of many in this film. It's a dark and almost dreary film, but that's true of much of classic noir.

Charlton Heston is Mike Vargas, a Mexican narcotics officer, whose honeymoon to Janet Leigh is interrupted by a murder in a border town that happens after someone places a bomb in the trunk of a car on the Mexican side of the border that then drives back across, while on the same street. Vargas is soon dealing with the police chief on the U.S. side, a long-time corrupted Hank Quinlan, to whom his law is 'the law', played with cynical gusto by Orson Welles. Quinlan is all too ready to convict an innocent Mexican-American, but Vargas begins probing into his checkered past.

Meanwhile his wife Susie (Leigh) is not only out of danger at a seedy motel, but right in the middle; this part is inexplicably broken up by a sudden comic appearance by Dennis Weaver as the dumbfounded but pruriently interested hotel clerk, in one of the more bizarre performances in cinema history.

This examines racism along the Mexican border as well as police corruption, and does it in classic film noir dark palette and lighting, with hardly a character you'd want to know personally, even Heston's, for he wouldn't last long in the real world by diving into the fire. More than a clash of individual personalities and ethics, it becomes an inter-racial and cross-cultural statement on mutual cooperation and understanding.

Those interested in Welles should by all means see Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. Touch of Evil is No. 125 on the IMDB 250, and is No. 30 on our compendium of all film polls - so it's obviously ranked much higher by critics than the public.

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Elevator to the Gallows

Louis Malle, 1958, France, bw (8.2*)
This was 24-yr old Louis Malle's first film after being an assistant to Jacques Cousteau. It pays perfect homage to America's best film noir, as it begins with a rather boneheaded criminal, Maurice Ronet, who carries out a well-planned 'perfect murder' of the spouse of his adulterous lover, wonderfully played by a harried yet sensual Jeanne Moreau. All goes according to plan except for one minor detail, and from then on the plot spirals into a night of anguish for all involved, which grows to even more drastic actions as the night progresses, involving more criminals and victims.

The entire film is perfectly scored by the eloquent 50's jazz of Miles Davis, which is just right for the look and ambiance of a jazz-era Paris of the night. Even though the plot may stretch a bit, the acting and journalistic look make this a timeless window into a certain era which had the classy elegance we all miss. Certainly a noir classic, and an auspicious beginning to Malle's brilliant career, which included Au Revoir, Les Enfants and Atlantic City. I prefer this to the other French noir classics I've recently seen, it seems to have more plot twists and a humorous wit that most others lack. This should be ranked on the internet survey, I can't believe it's not on some of the lists.

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Vertigo

Alfred Hitchcock, 1958 (8.7*)
This is perhaps Hitchcock's most serious film, eschewing the usual tongue-in-cheek humor for a character study of a seriously flawed hero in James Stewart. Uniting with Hitch for the last time as a police detective, he has a sudden vertigo attack for the first time during a chase, which leads to the accidental death of a colleague, thus starting his emotional torments. He is hired after recuperating as a private investigator to follow a man's mysterious wife, played by Kim Novak, perhaps out of her league here, and she leads him into a thickly plotted crime story that becomes his next torment.

Without spoilers, I can't describe the action, just to say that there are a couple of major plot surprises that take a routine plot into the extraordinary, largely on the performance of Stewart. Some of the film is a little cheesy, such as a psychedelic dream sequence that looks like a Warhol acid trip, or worse, a Peter Fonda 60's trip movie. The film is also a little slow and lengthy, but it remains Hitchcock's most complex character study, and film with the most depth of his Hollywood period, which, to me, wasn't as critically successful as his earlier British films in black and white (The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Strangers on a Train).

The film is somehow ranked #2 on the critics consensus poll after Citizen Kane - how it's above The Godfathers, 2001, All About Eve, Lawrence of Arabia and others is a mystery. This is #41 at IMDB, ranked after North by Northwest. Personally, I prefer Hitch's b&w British films The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes to any of his Hollywood productions, though Vertigo is certainly just as good, certainly is more sophisticated. Oscar® nominations for art direction and sound. Hitchcock himself never won an Oscar® which some think is a travesty, but I can see why, as no one film excelled in any particular year, he's more respected for his entire body of work.

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The Big Country

William Wyler, 1958, 3 hours (7.6*)
The stars of this film are nearly overwhelmed by the panaromic scenery and symphonic music score, so this makes a perfect 70mm film for remastered dvd. Gregory Peck plays a former ship's captain coming to the prairie to marry the daugher (Carroll Baker) of a ranch owner, played by Charles Bickford, who's mired in water rights feud with his "trailer trash" neighbors, the Hennesseys, led by Burl Ives, in an Oscar winning supporting role. His evil son is perfectlly played by Chuck Conners (who knew?), and even Charlton Heston takes a supporting role as Bickfords ranch foreman. Schoolteacher Jean Simmons has inherited the key ranch in the area, which has the water everyone else needs to keep their cattle alive during droughts. Wyler, one of the best ever (Ben-Hur, Best Years of Our Lives, Little Foxes) makes long, thoughtful films, so don't expect lots of action and gunfighting, this is a more intellectual, leisurely paced, and personal film, and it's terrific in widescreen. One Oscar

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Auntie Mame

Dir: Morton DaCosta, 1958 (9.1*)
The epitome of screwball comedy, a dazzling performance by Rosalind Russell, a classic stage comedy - how in the world did this get NO Oscars? This is about an eccentric, spinster aunt who inherits her orphaned nephew, with hilarious and heart-warming results for all concerned. Her menagerie of free-thinking, bizarre, (and yes, sometimes a bit gay!), and occult friends is unrivaled in film casts, everyone is perfect, esp Peggy Cass (Oscar nominee) as perennial wallflower secretary "Agnes Gooch", who also benefits from Mame's free-thinking influence. This is not to be missed! 8 Oscar noms, no wins.
Quote: We're gonna raise that boy to be a decent, God-fearin Christian if we have to break every bone in his body!

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