EdgarST

What a beautiful film! "Hester Street" is a subtle, fine immigrant tale centered on a Jewish wife and mother who arrives in New York City in the late 1890s, not just a period drama as it has been often identified... and a highly enjoyable comedy too. I remember seeing Carol Kane for the first time in "Carnal Knowledge". She had a wonderful face that I never forgot. Bu in "Hester Street", Joan Micklin Silver made her a glowing presence, and gave her a moving character to play, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. Steven Keats is also very good as her husbands, as well as Dorrie Kavanaugh as her husband's mistress. A plausible entry into the National Film Registry, not to be missed.

In my opinion, this was the best film in the third volume of "Forbidden Hollywood" DVD anthologies edited by Warner Home Video. My appreciation for William A. Wellman has grown, starting with "The Ox Bow Incident" and "Wings", which are among the best films I have ever seen by an American filmmaker. A script that mirrors the best attitudes and ethics, and the worst of the United States population and institutions (some of which unfortunately persist), good performances by Richard Barthelmess and Aline MacMahon, downplayed sentimentality, and Wellman's direction, all combine to good effect. Recommended.

«The Haunted Palace» has nothing to do with Edgar Allan Poe (credited as Edgar Allen Poe) apart from the title that was borrowed from his poem, but it is a shortened version of the novella «The Case of Charles Dexter Ward» by H. P. Lovecraft, who strove to force his tale with countless historical, linguistic, and Kabbalistic details, as well as some from his own imagination.

The film adaptation by Charles Beaumont simplified everything, in accordance with the format that Roger Corman drew up from the scripts by Richard Matheson, Beaumont and others for the movies of the Poe cycle. So, as a title in that series, «The Haunted Palace» is a motion picture that does not get lost in detail or reflection to tell, in less than 90 minutes, the story of the possession of Charles Dexter Ward by his sorcerer ancestor Joseph Curwen.

Lovecraft knew how to be ambiguous and leave the interpretations and deductions of his stories to the reader, but Beaumont was more explicit, inventing gestations of beings from the wombs of women from the port of Arkham, possessed by summoned archaic gods, which seems a bit far-fetched, if all they spawned were mutants; and on his side, Corman materializes the monster of the ancient fertilizing god, and shows --through a green filter-- a roaring but immobile prop, without causing any impression. Perhaps that is why the climax is so fast and rushed, so that there is little opportunity to see the entity or to let us think.

I found Floyd Crosby's camera movements and lighting admirable, as well as Daniel Haller's sets, especially those in the basement of the palace. But for every fluid camera movement or corporeal decoration, the budget betrays the movie with poor makeup and visual effects, while composer Ronald Stein, although he wrote a melodious central theme, does not know when to stop the music and let the images express their own "music".

Of the eight films in the Corman-Poe cycle, I think this one, «The Pit and the Pendulum» and «Tales of Terror» are the ones that I like the least. But with the next two productions, «The Masque of the Red Death» and «The Tomb of Ligeia» Roger Corman brought the cycle to full maturity.

While a group of young men and women from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Senegal were taking a Spanish course to enter their freshman year in the film school created by Gabriel García Márquez in Cuba, I taught them Historia del Cine in a mixture of English, French and Spanish. I remember to this day their pretty faces (they were all very beautiful!) and their brilliant eyes with fascination as they discovered the early stages in the evolution of cinema, especially when I showed them this movie. By that time (around late 1980s) I had not seen the work of Afro-descendant filmmakers as Oscar Micheaux, or the ethnographic shorts by Zora Neale Hurston, so I used Vidor's production to illustrate the films with "all-Black cast". Of course the tale, music and actors were very attractive to them (as they are still to me), but for them it was also a revelation.

Charles Chaplin may not be everybody's favorite comic of silent cinema: as for myself, sometimes I prefer Buster Keaton while there are times I feel more inclined to Harold Lloyd. But we cannot deny that neither made such a great film as this tale of love, greed, misfortune, and luck. Not even Chaplin topped himself! The film includes classic scenes and sequences, as the roll dance, the complete sequence in the cabin with Mack Swain (including Chaplin cooking his shoe or dressed as a chicken), the waltz scene... Chaplin was so fond of this work that he declared that this was the film for which he most wanted to be remembered. A true masterpiece.

The Australian film «Girl Asleep» is a fascinating tale (based on a play by Matthew Whittet) that covers that difficult stage in which a woman becomes less and less a pre-adolescent little nymph and more of "wife material", according to traditional canons that throw her into the ring as a potential bride. This phase is closely associated with the 15th birthday, which gives rise to a line of rituals ranging from debutantes' sampling on the social scale to sexual brag, in dances, waltzes and pink dresses. In Cuba, in particular, it is a crazy celebration with gowns, crowns, photos, rides in 1950s convertible Cadillacs and excited mothers who celebrate their horny daughters.

In other cases, such as Greta, the protagonist of this film, the debutante does not want a party, she does not want a boyfriend or girlfriends of the "Heathers" type. Greta (endearing Bethany Whitmore) struggles to stay in her dream world of dolls and music boxes. During the birthday party --which opens with a delirious sequence to the rhythm of "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" by Sylvester--, the three "Heathers" arrive to spoil the party by singing about her lack of tits; her friend Elliott, whom his classmates call a "homo", proposes (a very funny performance by Harrison Feldman) and a being from the woods next to her house steals her music box. Greta chases the thing through the woods and enters a world that drastically breaks the tone that the film has held until then, between parody and absurdist comedy. We enter a dark and threatening dimension that Greta has to flee from if she does not want to be devoured by canine entities that we hear but never see clearly. With the help of a young forest Amazon, Greta flees and returns to the party, but before she must go through other rites to come to terms with her family, with Elliott and her 15 years old life.

The associations that have been made to this film directed by Rosemary Myers, are with Wes Anderson's cinema and surrealism. It does have that tone, but also a bit of Susan Seidelman's female fantasies and it strongly reminds me of Neil Jordan's «The Company of Wolves», a film about of Little Red Riding Hood's sexual initiation with the Hunter who is also the Wolf, with the difference that in «Girl Asleep» it is a single story, while in Jordan's movie the story of Little Red Riding Hood is crossed with folk tales about werewolves, nymphs in heat and knowing grandmothers. Myers' movie obviously does not contain the horror sequences that abound in Jordan's, but both films are intelligent and visually ingenious works that equate that moment of social and sexual validation with the stories and characters that filled our childhood's fantasies. Highly recommended.

The best story is probably "Final Girl", which opens the movie, probing that less is often best. It is the shortest, only has occasional narration as a girl mutilates her (probably abussive) father, and ends when it starts to get more interesting, leaving you wanting more, which is good anyway. The second segment, "Make a Wish", is a story of old nazis and present-day neo-nazis torturing and killing Polish persons in the past and the present. It is the more complex, a tale that mixes strong ideological content with fantasy and extreme violence, but it keeps the tension. "Alraune", the third one, is the last, and I guess it was placed in the end because it delivers what horror fans like best: sex and gore. But it is the less effective: it is decidedly the worst. Too silly approach to male menopause crisis, with not-too-pleasant actors, anti-erotic situations and despite its sucking tentacles, flirt with S&M and horrific sex scenes, it is the less "angst" inducing segment of the three. A nice puke trilogy, though.

In 1957, at age 70, the legendary Boris Karloff had already lived the best years of his artistic career as a film actor, in classics such as Edgar G. Ulmer's "The Black Cat", James Whale's "Bride of Frankenstein" and Mark Robson's "Bedlam". However, Karloff would continue acting until 1969, the year of his death, often in projects unworthy of his talent and resume, but also in very good films, such as "The Raven", "The Three Faces of Fear", "The Sorcerers "and" Targets ", directed by Roger Corman, Mario Bava, Michael Reeves and Peter Bogdanovich, respectively.

In 1957 he appeared in "Grip of the Strangler", a psychological drama, a tale of mystery and death (based on the story "Stranglehold" by Jan Read) in which the writer James Rankin (Karloff) investigates the execution of a man, unfairly accused of having strangled and stabbed a chorus girl and other women. Rankin ends up following the trail to a doctor declared crazy and then disappeared, who, by all accounts, is the real culprit. The problem begins when Rankin rescues the murder weapon, falls in trances in which his face is disfigured and continues the crime wave.

Made with limited resources, the drama solves many situations with wit, although director Robert Day or editor Peter Mayhew dilute the tension in long sequences of can-can. So Karloff sustains the drama development with a passionate performance that gradually shows the emotional imbalance that the research had caused on him.

It has been noted how, to find a solution to the absence of money for special make-up and effects, Karloff proposed to remove his dentures in the scenes in which his face appears deformed. It is interesting how his proposal was in line with the drama, because Rankin is not "possessed" by any spirit, but the grimace on his face is an evidence of his imbalance.

Also in 1958, the year of the premiere of "Grip of the Strangler", Karloff and the same technical team finished the superior "Corridors of Blood", which was not released until 1962, due to problems with the British censorship. But this one is definitely worth a look.

This is a perfect motion picture, an original comedy, a brilliant reflection on life in the latter days, a disguised discourse about faith, relativity, change, love, and chance, under the appearance of a comical fantasy... This happens only once in anybody's life. I mean, to be in "Groundhog Day"... including Bill Murray, who immensely benefited from this great film. I could not stop laughing the first time I saw it. It is bright, hilarious and profound. Everything good that it merits has been said and written, although a few things were omitted: dumb members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences simply, fully ignored it 100%. Thankfully it was declared National Film Registry in 2006.

Visually majestic, conceptually ambitious, "Frontera azul" is nevertheless a flawed opus, primarily due to a screenplay that does not supply the needed cohesion to a complex narrative that tells five stories simultaneously, and to excessively relaxed editing that does not know when to end the montages of waves and surfers, and this movie is not "The Endless Summer" or "Rompiendo la ola"... The narration in Yupik is loaded with maxims, metaphors and reflections that little add to the global structure, to the point that when the film ends you can hardly tell what it is about. Death, life, survival, redemption and love are themes frequently identified all along the running time, but it is mainly the magnificent visuals that keep us attracted to the motion picture, which was filmed in Alaska, Tahiti, Namibia, Indonesia and Perú, with mostly natural actors. I would not tell you not to see it, but be warned. In case you are a lover of oceans, this is for you.

...almost ruins the viewing experience. This is the third Mr. Wong movie I watch and this time the plot almost forces Boris Karloff to play second fiddle to Withers: a good friend of captain Street (Withers) has been killed while investigating a smuggling case, so the action is more centered on him, not in Wong (Karloff). But the way Withers plays him, Street is an obnoxious man who yells his lines, while in the two movies I previously saw he shouted just the same, but was secondary to Mr. Wong and his intelligent deductions. Marjorie Reynolds is funny, but she is constantly pushed and shouted at by this moron. Add to this that the plot is excessively convoluted and you have a not very good Mr. Wong film, in spite of Boris Karloff's usual good performance.

This is not a Mexican movie. It contains footage from two films made in México, but the concept, butchering of the original material and lousy additional scenes are the work of L. A. film peddler Jerry Warren. It is better to find good copies of the first entry of the Aztec Mummy trilogy directed by Manuel Portillo and the comedy "La casa del terror" starring Tin Tan and Lon Chaney under the direction of Martínez Solares. Both movies were very popular in their time, and with a bit of creative marketing they could have made a little more money for Warren than whatever he got from this horrid junk.

I do not think it is fair to compare the works of Gaspar Noé (Argentina, 1963) and his wife Lucile Hadzihalilovic (France, 1961) and highlight one over the other. However, it is worth noting that media reporters have given all the recognition to Noé's films, ignoring her works, are little known movies that have not been distributed or promoted like those made by Noé.

Although Hadzihalilovic made her own porno-didactic short (jokingly and seriously) titled «Good Boys Use Condoms» (1998), I believe that she does not resort to explicit sex with the assiduity of Noé. I have her first feature on my list of films to watch, «The Mouth of Jean-Pierre» (1996), a drama about an abused girl, and «Innocence» (2004), about a school for girls, which seems to be her most celebrated movie; and I have already seen «Earwig» (2021), the story of a man who takes care of a girl who wears ice dentures, and now his drama «Evolution», one of the most suggestive and hypnotic films I have ever seen in my life.

Set in a town of lonely streets by the sea, where only Caucasian children and mothers live, «Evolution» tells the story of little Nicolas, who, while swimming and diving one morning, sees the corpse of a boy at the bottom of the sea, with a starfish on his belly. The boy tells his mother and his friends, but they do not believe him. His mother feeds him something that looks like seaweed and noodles and makes him drink a supposed medicine because he is growing. One morning his mother takes him to an austere-looking hospital, where Nicolas must spend the night. A true ordeal then begins for the boy and, without a doubt, for the viewer, who does not understand what is happening, especially when Nicolas discovers that other children (including his friends) are suffering the same (bad) luck and when he follows his mother one night. And sees her participate in a viscous rite with the other mothers... who possibly none of them are mothers... Without having monsters, witches, or apparitions, we discover a terrifying process in the damp and gloomy hospital, without us knowing if the child dreams everything or if it is reality...

Running only 81 minutes, the film, however, feels longer, especially when the director decides to dispense with the obligatory scene in which the events are explained, so typical in mystery or horror films, but rather chains a series of meetings, ultrasound, drawing and surgery sessions, and rare therapies. Filmed in the Canary Islands, with a cast exclusively of children and women, with great visual economy, few sets and special effects, «Evolution» is an overwhelming film experience, which well deserves all the multiple awards it won.

This was Alberto Gout's final film, far from the corrosive cabaret melodramas starring voluptuous and sexy dancer Ninón Sevilla. Gout was only 59 but he opted for a clone of "How to Marry a Millionaire", and wrote this outdated comedy for Silvia Pinal (wo was looking better than ever at 35). She decided to break the "respectability " of her recent movies with Buñuel, Bolaños and Del Villar, and played a woman who decides to act "scientifically" to marry a millionaire. The film, the plot, the actors (whose ages fluctuated between 43, 35 and 30 years old) and the music are all dated, at a time when stoned hippies were jumping in the streets, The Beatles, The Supremes, Mick Jagger, and Aretha dominated the radio, and world cinema had produced "Divorzio all'italiana", "The Knack", "Lujuria tropical", "I Am Curious (Yellow)", "What's New Pussycat". And "Un homme et une femme"... For a better appreciation of Gout's work, watch his classics "Aventurera" and "Sensualidad".

For its time, this must have been a slightly bigger production for the genre (péplum), with hundreds of extras involved in battle scenes, and perhaps a higher budget than the usual moneys assigned to these projects. Unfortunately it is partially betrayed by the little charm of Sergio Ciani (aka Alan Steel) as Hercules --although he is more than physically adequate for the title role--, and almost ruined by a romantic subplot involving a young girl (Erika, played by Simonetta Simeoni) infatuated with the hero Otherwise, it is the usual fun found in any of these Italian epic fluffs, this time with a score by maestro Angelo Francesco Lavagnino.

Yesterday I had the pleasure to see "Earwig" and "Kerr", two films that could intrigue and fascinate whoever sees them. However, some may get desperate because they do not "explain" in detail what is happening, while others can follow the flow of beautifully captivating images and sounds that, as in this case, narrate the story.

«Earwig» the second feature film by French filmmaker Lucile Hadzihalilovic, the daughter of Bosnian parents who was raised in Moscow and studied film at IDHEC (later FEMIS) in Paris. Married to Gaspar Noé, Lucile was previously an editor and screenwriter (she wrote "Enter the Void" with Noé, among others). This is first film I see by her, and I found quite an original creator, able to paint a disturbing universe, bordering on the limits of horror.

The movie follows the fate of five characters, at the center of which are Scellinc (Hilton), a gloomy 50-year-old man who has little Mia (Hemelaers) under his care, having to change her ice teeth several times a day. Scellinc keeps Mia in a mansion with almost no sunlight and everything seems to be in order, until the day he receives the order to prepare Mia to live out of that oppressive space. On the other hand, we see the story of the waitress Céleste (Garaï), whose right cheek is accidentally disfigured by Scellinc, when he attacks a foreigner (Begin) who harasses him in the local pub; and finally, Laurence (Lawther), who chooses to take care of the waitress in exchange for company.

However, the stories take place chronologically and in parallel, while simultaneously memories of Scellinc's childhood take form, creating a kind of kaleidoscope, loaded with luminous images that emerge from crystals. «Earwig» is a beautiful journey towards the rendezvous with destiny for Scellinc and Mia, with horrific "forking paths" where terror waits in silence.

Winner of the Special Jury Prize in San Sebastián, it is a film that deserves recognition, especially among full-time cinéphiles who have an ecumenical vision of cinema, which is not limited only to what Hollywood offers.

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I also wrote about «Kerr», please check it.

Aslan went to the city of Ushuaia in Patagonia, to register penguin mating. But he discovered something else in Ushuaia: the extinction of the Onas (or Selk'nams), indigenous people who were decimated by white foreigners. The last Ona, Angela Loij, died in 1974. When she sang Ona songs nobody could understand her, so when she died, so did her culture, her language, songs and traditions. Or perhaps not. Aslan did some research and found strikingly prejudiced and xenophobe notes on the Onas, written by Charles Darwin in 1845. And made this experimental short film, which does not need extra length or spoken words to be worthwhile.

I just finished reading Lovecraft's... horror story, though for my taste it is too childish to take seriously as adult literature. However, his description of Wilbur Whateley, above all else, is material for an infinite horror movie.

Which this horrendous movie is not. With the bad state that the American horror cinema is in (2021), it would not be a bad idea to make a remake of this story of the author whos has inspired most of the ugly, the bad and very little of the good examples of this film genre in the USA. I prefer Poe, Hawthorne and even King, without denying that with what Lovecraft devised you can do better things than what I have seen so far.

"The Dunwhich Horror" is a mine for a galore of visual and special effects, for the viscosities and juices that American filmmakers of this genre like so much. I can see that two-meter high man, crossing a field, the dogs barking and all those birds attacking "a la Hitchcock"...

When voices were heard and film comedy became verbal, funny artists like The Marx Brothes, Mae West and W. C. Fields achieved rapid success, while silent slapstick comics like Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton were adapting their acts to sound. By 1933 The Marx Brothers (with Zeppo) had made four successful films at Paramount, but their zaniness were surpassed by the short, fast and lunatic film, "Duck Soup", a rare opportunity to see Groucho, Chico, Zeppo and Harpo in top form, as they declare war to the status quo and bourgeois respectability, epitomized by the great Margaret Dumont. A marvel of farcical cinema.

One of the most ingenious ways to make a (political) statement about the world situation (the early 1960s) in an absurdist comedy tone and at the same time make a visionary film that anticipated the effects of the Cold War in the new millennium. It is undeniably my favorite work by Stanley Kubrick, in which genius and humor reign, above film technology. The cast is all magnificent, but Peter Sellers stands out above all. He had already made significant movies, but I think that "The Pink Panther" and this satire -in which he played three characters- were the films that turned him into an international superstar. After this, Kubrick became pompous.

Urban psychiatrist Jane van Dopp (played by Dutch actress Carice van Houten) arrives on an island to treat a girl called Dorothy Mills, accused of the attempted murder of a baby. The first thing that the psychiatrist encounters is a car chase that forces her to jump over a bridge, inside her car. She saves her life almost miraculously, but it does not take her too long to discover that most of the men in the village are very hostile. When she begins her investigation and meets the accused girl, she suspects that the community hides very ugly secrets. Dorothy soon evidences a divided psyche, manifesting in various personalities, while the parish priest conducts séances in the church. When Jane witnesses paranormal manifestations, the sheriff, her only ally in town, warns her that she is in danger and offers to take her to the city.

Deceptively marketed as a contemporary take of "The Exorcist," nothing is further from the truth: there are no turning heads, green liquids, or gratuitous apostasies here, but a drama that has elements of terror, with possessions and acts of violence of inexplicable origin. When the truth emerges, a terrifying portrait of an archaic community is revealed. The islanders pretend to be a happy community, but they lead a life rooted in notions of guilt, sin and expiation.

I think what most impressed me in the film was the collective performance of the cast of Irish actors, particularly Jenn Murray, who in the same scene can be Dorothy, Duncan, Mary, Kurt, David, Mimi or Jane. Good film, directed with a firm hand by Agnes Merlet, and a discreet use of music by Nathaniel Méchaly.

I believe that Matteo Garrone is the best active Italian film director, which is a lot to say, with Paolo Sorrentino and Alice Rohrwacher nearby. It is not that others are not good, but for me Garrone exceeds in genius and vision. I admit that the exercise in 'globalized cinema' that was «Il racconto dei racconti» left me a bit perplexed -although I do recognize its merits-, because it is his 21st century Neapolitan world that exerts fascination and arouses curiosity in me, with his deformed little men and his delinquents in violent environments, in milieux deprived of love and hope.

«Dogman» is an extraordinary film, it is a study of oppression, marginality and brute force that takes shape slowly, and shake us at precise moments when tragedy overflows. Based on true events, it tells the story of friendship-enmity and love-hate (because there are no better indicators to classify this so terrible relationship that we witness) between Marcello, the dogman, one of those men that nature did not endow with "kaleidoscope eyes" to sing about, simply nothing more than his strength to survive; and Simone, a huge, destructive, gross, cocaine-addicted, possibly ex-boxer ruffian, who constantly abuses all the people in the coastal community in which they live.

With the perception Garrone demonstrated in movies as "L' imbalsamatore" and "Gomorra" to describe hatred and harassment, he contrasts the acts of the fearsome Simone, with detailed descriptions of the daily activities of the dogman. Marcello treats his client dogs with the same love he professes for her lovely little daughter Alida, whom he takes to diving excursions and together they dream of going to Hawaii and the Red Sea. The "dogman" is played by Marcello Fonte, an unremarkable actor who won the Golden Palm for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival (which also gave a special Palm to the canine cast).

This masterful conjugation of beauty and cruelty takes the film to the level of life lessons that demand to be spreaded, known and shared.

A bit slow for moments, but quite an original story of supernatural possession, with a tormented soul inside the body of a dummy called Hugo, a wickedly mystic mesmerizer who is after the fortune of a heiress (beautiful Yvonne Romain), with a subplot of a jealous mistress and a boyfriend in defense of his lady in danger, plus abundant sexual content. In the Image Entertainment release on DVD you can watch both the American version and the UK version. The European release contains nudity. Much better than many other bad, cult products that are recommended here and elsewhere, this one is worth a look.

Almost everything good in this drama is due to Shirley MacLaine's very good performance (winner of the Best Actress Award at Berlin Film Festival), and the fine support of Kenneth Mars and other character actors, in spite of the monologues with no purpose that they have to recite. Although a few seem to be overacting for the microphone, probably they had to, because of one of those sound recordists who ask performers to "talk louder, I can't hear you", even when the situations are intimate, as is in this case, in almost every moment of the story. This was the first movie directed by playwright Frank D. Gilroy, and surprisingly (and thankfully) he made it short.

An uncredited adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" I guess I was expecting too much of this movie by Larry Fessenden, whose work I had lost contact with since "Wendigo" in 2001. It is not bad, but it goes on forever, has two or three endings, speeches get in the way of physical action when it is desperately needed, and it's literally a bloody mess if you compare it to James Whale's diptych in which (I believe) there were hardly blood stains or drops.

It is undeniably interesting in its first act, but the introduction of the Polidori character complicates things, needlessly extends the story to almost two hours, and it makes the movie lose the balance between realism and fantasy, leaving me indifferent.

Alex Breaux does a superb job as the monster with the tragic conscience of his condition and keeps the picture together whenever he is on the screen. If only for him, you can look at this Fassenden product.