Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

It's 1942 in Port Talbot, and Philip Burton (Toby Jones) is a teacher who lives on his own, frustrated that the War interfered in his aspirations to make a career in the theatre, as a playwright, or director.  One of his pupils, Richard Jenkins, a miner's son (played by Harry Lawtey), shares something of Mr Burton's passion for the stage, and he has some raw talent.   So Mr Burton takes him under his wing, helps him develop that talent, and uses his contacts to open up a remarkable opportunity for him to go to Oxford University. The only snag is that for him to take up that opportunity he'll need to become Mr Burton's adopted son.   Well, that happens and so Richard Jenkins becomes Richard Burton (yes, that Richard Burton). Everything seems to be going swimmingly well except that out of the blue young Mr Burton gets the idea that maybe old Mr Burton's motives might not be what they seem - after all he does live alone. When he gets drunk and angrily expresses hi...

In 1949, 'A Letter to Three Wives' was released which earned Joseph L Mankiewicz two Oscars, one for Best Director and one for Best Adapted Screenplay. Then the very next year this masterpiece was released, and yes, once again Mr Mankiewicz won the same two Oscars. Quite an achievement. It's a long time since I first saw this picture, but the basic storyline had stuck with me: ambitious young actress Eve Harrington (played by Anne Baxter) supplants aging actress Margo Channing (Bette Davis).   But I had forgotten that this film starts by giving away the ending, with an awards ceremony where Eve is the star turn.   We then get a series of flashbacks, narrated by different characters, which show us how we got to this point. By doing this the film removes some element of mystery (where is the film heading?) and replaces it with suspense (how will Eve's startling rise to stardom affect Margo and her friends?).  I'm sure Hitchcock would have approved - see 'Vertigo...

This is François Truffaut's love letter to the theatre in the same way that 1968's 'Day For Night' was his love letter to cinema.  Both are essentially light in tone but this film has darker undertones, being set in Nazi-occupied Paris of 1942. Catherine Deneuve is Marion Steiner, a celebrated actress who has had to take over the running of her husband Jacob's theatre because he has had to go into hiding, being Jewish.  Fairly early on we learn that he hasn't left Paris at all, and that instead he is ensconced in the cellar of the theatre, until Marion can arrange his safe passage out of France. The other main character is Gérard Depardieu as Bernard, an up-and-coming actor who is to star opposite Marion in the theatre's next production.  Given Depardieu's real life conviction for sexual assault it is unfortunate that the film starts with a scene in which Bernard is pestering the theatre's designer with his unwanted advances.  Perhaps because of this...