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THE HITCH HIKER

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I had hoped that this low budget noir directed by Ida Lupino would be taut and suspenseful but alas no. Two boring middle-aged guys are on a fishing trip down Mexico way when they pick up a hitchhiker. Bad mistake! He’s a serial killer on the loose who pulls his gun on them and commandeers the car. They eventually get to a small port from where said serial killer plans to make his getaway.  But the police easily nab him.  End of film. That the conclusion to this film is lame wouldn’t be so bad if the journey to get to it was entertaining, but it’s not.  The three characters are all dull and predictable. One of the guys is played by Edmond O’Brien who was a decent enough character actor to win an Oscar but even he can’t breathe any life into proceedings. As for incident, there’s precious little of interest other than maybe a shooting contest the killer sets up so as to have some sadistic pleasure with his prisoners. Lupino was a pioneer as a woman director in Hollywood at ...
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PROJECT HAIL MARY

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If you came away from 'The Martian' thinking that what it really needed was for dour Matt Damon to lighten up and be replaced by Ryan Gosling, and to have a creature made of rocks as a companion, then this is the film for you.   Instead of being stranded on Mars, Gosling's character (maverick scientist Ryland Grace) is out in the Tau Ceti star system, trying to work out why that star isn't dimming whilst our Sun is.  The Sun is losing energy due to some pesky micro-critters (called Astrophage) appearing from nowhere and taking a one-way trip from the Sun to Venus.   This is going to lead to catastrophic consequences for humanity, which is why the jokey tone of this film sometimes rubbed me up the wrong way.  For example, there's an early scene where Grace and a companion go to a DIY store to buy some kit with which to conduct an experiment on the Astrophage, and in case the audience might find this boring they of course have to do some clowning about. ...
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HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY

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This 1941 film directed by John Ford was very much what I expected (or feared): a sentimental tale about a Welsh mining community where people break into song at regular intervals.  It is an adaptation of a best selling novel with the same title, from 1939. The focus of the story is the Morgan household, comprising Mr and Mrs Morgan who are in late middle-age, and seven children.  There are five grownup sons, Ivor, Ianto, Davy, Owen and Gwilym.  None of them have much of a personality, so that as far as I was concerned they were anonymous and interchangeable characters.  Ivor gets married and moves out, but the other four live with their parents and don't seem to have any interest in the opposite sex.   There is a sixth son, Huw, played by a 12-year-old Roddy McDowall.  The events of the film are narrated by adult Huw, looking back nostalgically on his childhood. It was unclear to me how long a period is covered by the film, but it can't be many years ...
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THE STARS LOOK DOWN

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This 1940 film is an adaptation of the best selling novel by AJ Cronin about a mining community.  As a work of social realism centred on the working class it was ahead of its time in that we had to wait another twenty years or so before the wave of British kitchen sink dramas such as ' Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' and 'Th is Sporting Life' started appearing.  This is also the film that confirmed the director Carol Reed as a major talent. Cronin was involved in the process of adapting his long novel (over 700 pages) which necessarily meant some streamlining. For example World War I features prominently in the novel but is not present in the film, which I took to be set in the 1930s. The lead protagonist in the film is Davey Fenwick a bright young man, the son of a coal miner, who passionately believes in the need to nationalise coal mining. He is very well played by Michael Redgrave even if he is, at 32 years of age, too old for the part. A few years earlier Redgra...
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THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES

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  As the title suggests, this 1940 Western directed by Fritz Lang and starring Henry Fonda, is about the older brother of Jesse James.  Frank is returning in the sense that Henry Fonda played him the previous year in 'Jesse James', which was a sufficiently big hit to cause the studio to reunite many members of the cast for this sequel.  It starts where the earlier film finished, with the murder of Jesse James in 1882 by R obert Ford (played in both films by John Carradine).  In truth Frank's life after the death of his brother  doesn't sound very dramatic: after a few months he gave himself up to the authorities, was tried for robbery and murder, was acquitted, and went on thereafter to live a surprisingly long and uneventful life. So hats off to the screenwriters for creating a moderately entertaining story, built around his trial and acquittal, which takes up the second half of the film. Before we get to Frank handing himself in the film has him going after Fo...
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BROKEN LANCE

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This excellent 1954 Western is a good example of what happens when you hand over a good story to a competent director (Edward Dmytryk) and a decent cast, headed up by  Spencer Tracy as Matt Devereaux, the domineering owner of a ranching empire and father of four sons — Ben (Richard Widmark), Mike, Denny and Joe (Robert Wagner). T he first three were born to a white wife who died long ago, whilst Joe is the son of an Indian woman (Katy Jurado) who Matt married.  The locals disapprove but given Matt's wealth and importance he can afford to ignore it. But, as we learn, all is not well in th e Devereaux family.  All the sons, especially Ben, resent the fact that Matt treats them as little better than hired hands.  Ben also envies Joe because he is Matt's favourite. The film has an interesting structure, starting with Joe being released from prison after serving a three year sentence.  Matt is dead, and Ben as head of the family tries to get Joe to start a new life e...
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THE TALL STRANGER

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Joel McCrea always brings a sense of decency to any of his roles, in a way that even in the days of the Wild West (as in this 1957 Western) must have seemed a mite old fashioned. He always wants to do the right thing - here he’s trying to stop a lot of killing but he sure has his work cut out.   On one side is his bull-headed half-brother Bishop who owns more land than he knows what to do with but who's determined to protect it at any cost. On the other side is a devious piece of work, Harper, who wants to get his hands on Bishop’s cattle.  He has a cunning plan to do so, involving a bunch of innocent settlers who he has brought to Bishop's land, so that there will be a battle between them and Bishop's men.  In addition Harper has employed the services of a criminal, Zarata, and his men.  It's an intriguing setup which held my attention throughout.  Admittedly the settlers are largely a forgettable bunch, other than an eye-catching widow, Ellen, played by Virgin...
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