by Tony Dayoub
MovieMan0283 (I still don't know my friend's name) over at
The Dancing Image has just tagged me for a Dozen Movie Meme of My Holy Grail Films, meaning 12 films I've never seen, and can't obtain on video in the U.S. He got the idea from Piper at
Lazy Eye Theatre, and I guess
Out 1 got MOVIEMAN0283 into the game. For more on the rules I had to follow, you can go
here. I've chosen to tag:
Aaron Aradillas at
The House Next Door and
Movie Love
Dylan Fields at
Blog Cabins
Glenn Kenny at
Some Came Running
Jeremy Richey at
Moon in the Gutter
Dan Seitz at
thetathx1138's journal
As for the movies, since I haven't seen them, I'll follow my friend's example and use any
IMDB commentaries or summaries to describe them. My list follows after the jump.
The African Queen (1951, dir. John Huston)
"...this film will always be the validation of Humphrey Bogart's long and distinguished career. His portrayal of the hard drinking Charlie was what made this film what it was. Also, he showed just how great an actor he was when he was able to match up against the woman who is generally considered to be the greatest actress in film history, Katherine Hepburn."(Brian Washington)
Brewster McCloud (1970, dir. Robert Altman)
"Bud Cort plays Brewster McCloud. He's a very strange young man who lives in the Houston Astrodome and is building a huge set of wings so he can fly. The movie is about him and his VERY odd assortment of friends and family. And how about the killer running around Houston strangling people and leaving bird droppings on them? As you can see this is a very strange film. It's unlike anything director Robert Altman has ever done. The film isn't perfect--it's too long, the weirdness wears you down at times, some of the humor is real sick and there are characters that are just disgusting (Stacy Keach) or too flat out weird, even for this movie (Jennifer Salt)! And what's with the circus ending (entertaining as it is)? Still I love this film."(Wayne Malin)
Cul-de-Sac (1966, dir. Roman Polanski)
"Desperate hoodlums overcome borderline insane proprietor of Northumberland castle and his loose wife in order to rescue their situation. One wonders how these things got sold to the money men! In fact there's a great deal to like in this cult picaresque film. Plenty is unexplained - starting with the wonderful opening idea, that the getaway car is a stolen driving instructor's vehicle. There's such a profusion of ideas, location-proffered opportunities and good acting that it seems difficult to criticise in retrospect."(Framescourer)
The Devils (1971, dir. Ken Russell)
"For some, it's a horrific and unwatchable display of savagery, while for others it's an intense yet rewarding ride into a city besieged with madness. It is Ken Russell's most tolerable film to sit through, because it is always interesting and contains many memorable scenes and images, but at the same time it is highly controversial and challenging, often making you want to turn away from the screen."(Jonathon Dabell)
Il Vangelo secondo Matteo a.k.a. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964, dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini)
"...by far the best depiction of the last days of Jesus' life. By taking the view that Jesus was a revolutionary rather than emphasising the religious aspects, the film succeeds in presenting a unique view of the life, and death, of Jesus and the reactions of His followers. There are no mystical halos descending from heaven, no 'angelic music' and none of the other cliches that Hollywood's attempts at presenting the story usually contain. Instead the humanity of those who lived the story comes through, and by doing this the film takes on emotional, even religious intensity totally lacking in other, larger budget depictions of Christ. Possibly the most moving part of all is the moment Peter realizes he has disowned Jesus three times. This isn't portrayed as some great epic Biblical act, the denial of the Messiah, but rather as the actions of a man, scared for himself, who, when he realizes that he has betrayed his friend runs away in shame sobbing uncontrollably."(dababog)
The Jericho Mile (1979, dir. Michael Mann)
"An interesting and involved film about a 'lifer' just trying to live out his days peacefully. Elements of the main character appear in Michael Mann's later films, like Thief (1981), Heat (1995), and so on."(awatters1)
L.A. Takedown (1989, dir. Michael Mann)
"...it is superior in many ways to the remake Heat. The movie rests solely on the performances of the actors and the writer/director rather than on any star attractions or hype (Pacino and De Niro have both made far better films and put in far better performances). There are a few good set pieces in here, and a myriad of fine acting performances from both the leads and the supporting cast. The fact that the remake was relatively faithful to the original is in itself a bit of a homage... where the two films really differ is in the action sequences that overtake the story in the remake. If you want to watch a more intelligent and somewhat darker crime thriller, then I recommend this before Heat every time."(roger-hepburn)
Pirates (1986, dir. Roman Polanski)
"Polanski's talents did not wane with his exile from the U.S. Basically what I'm trying to say here is Polanski's talent for genre redefinition is alive and well in this wonderfully comedic look at the action-adventure film. Not only this, but he also manages to re-evaluate and comment on the action hero as well as the genre as a whole. It is puzzling, as in most Polanski films, to ask yourself are the main characters heroes, and if so what kind? and if they are heroes, then to look at the way the film treats them... and with Polanski this is always a fresh, beautiful, and rewarding task." (PMGII)
The Pit and the Pendulum (1991, dir. Stuart Gordon)
"As mentioned, Lance Henriksen gives what is maybe his best performance in this film. He is both powerful and frightening in his role as Torquemada, the head witchfinder of the Spanish Inquisition. When he says 'I am the inquisition', it's enough to make your hairs stand on end. Henriksen is a criminally underrated actor and one that certainly deserves more praise...it's just unfortunate that he tends to shine in movies that don't get noticed." (The_Void)
Song of the South (1946, dirs. Harve Foster, Wilfred Jackson)
"...is it racist? Well, it has no overt depictions of racism and therein lies the problem: Song of the South presents life in the Southern states after the civil war as idyllic and harmonious, a place where white people live in their mansions, black people in their cabins, everybody knows their place and is happy in it. 'Yes sir, things are lookin' mighty satisfactual' says Uncle Remus and his Br'er Rabbit stories convey the same social conservatism: leaving your home (to a non-segregated North for instance) is pointless because 'You can't run away from trouble. There ain't no place that far.' This movie can't imagine a single reason why a black man living in the post-slavery South wouldn't be happy with the way things were." (bartman_9)
Vampire Circus (1972, dir. Robert William Young)
"An often overlooked gem from Hammer, Vampire Circus is one of Hammer's best and most original vampire films. Count Mitterhouse has been feeding on the children of a small village and they storm his castle and eventually kill him, but he lives long enough to tell them that their children's blood will bring him back to life. 15 years later, when the village is cut off from the outside world because of the plague a circus breaks through the roadblocks and comes to the village. At first the villagers welcome this entertaining attraction/distraction, but soon they realise that something is wrong, and their children are in danger again as the circus people go about their business of making the Count's prophecy come true." (Steamcarrot)
What? (1972, dir. Roman Polanski)
"What? is one of those few movies to play on the obvious notion that 99% of all pornography is just plain silly - hence unwatchable to any viewer with even an elementary sense of the ridiculous. Its 'parody porn' screenplay reads like an LSD-fueled collaboration between Escher, Borges and Lewis Carroll. Not only is it far and away Roman Polanski's funniest film. It is also, quite possibly, his most stylish." (david melville)
Jeremy at Moon in the Gutter is conducting a month-long tribute to films that are still unavailable on Region 1 DVD. Any of you are welcome to contribute, and as long as you give some kind of recognition to his site, he'll be happy to link to your post at Moon in the Gutter. Unlike some of the more obscure films missing from Region 1, my contribution to his retrospective is a tribute to a classic film that is quite well known and a perennial favorite on many all-time best lists, John Huston's The African Queen (1951).
Some time back, I was tagged for a meme in which I had to list my 12 Holy Grail films, films that I had never seen, and were not available on DVD or Netflix. Since I made my list, I've made a concerted effort to track some of these down to view by some alternate method. At the top of my list was The African Queen. Coincidentally, it is also the first film from the list that I've had the opportunity to see.
An adaptation of C.S. Forester's novel, the movie takes place in East Africa during the early days of World War I. Rose Sayer (Katherine Hepburn) and her brother, Samuel (Robert Morley), are missionaries who depend on deliveries from good-natured drunkard, Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart), and his riverboat, the African Queen. But as Africa falls to the Germans, Samuel falls ill and dies, leaving Rose alone until Allnut's next visit. Allnut and Rose decide to take a treacherous voyage on the riverboat in hopes of escaping the encroaching Germans. But first, the patriotic Rose hopes to convince Allnut to use some of the blasting gelatin his boat carries to make torpedoes that will destroy a German ship upriver, the Louisa. The ensuing journey brings romance to the unlikely couple as they face the river's travails with courage.
And what a refreshing film romance it is, between two powerhouse stars that engage both the viewer and themselves as equals. After a run through some white water rapids, the prissy Sayer is exhilarated: 
Huston's film is important in some significant ways. Like their characters, Bogart (Casablanca) and Hepburn (The Philadelphia Story) made for an unusual but effective screen couple, their incongruous acting styles contributing to the romantic chemistry. Also, it was the rare movie in those days that got to shoot on location, and Huston (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) travelled to Africa to add authenticity to its aesthetic, an account of this being the basis for Peter Viertel's novel, White Hunter, Black Heart, and its eventual Clint Eastwood-directed 1990 film adaptation. Marking the first time either star would appear in a color film, the Technicolor cinematography is executed by the renowned Jack Cardiff (Black Narcissus).
Cardiff's photography enhances this enjoyable romp, as one can observe from even these less than stellar screen captures. Cardiff, who so effectively pushed the boundaries of color cinema in his collaborations with the Powell and Pressburger team (A Matter of Life and Death, The Red Shoes), captured the inherent dichotomy of the dark continent in his mysterious yet alluring lighting and framing design. The African Queen is amongst his most visually attractive films in a career that spans the range of film history, from silent film to today.
For Huston and Bogart, who had collaborated on some of their best films together starting with The Maltese Falcon (1941), this would be their last film together. The film would prove to be a vindication of sorts for Bogart, who was often underestimated as an actor. He would win his only Oscar for the role of Allnut, a role that had to be modified from its depiction as an Englishman, in the original novel, to a Canadian because Bogart had trouble pulling off the accent. While I'm not sure it was entirely deserved in a year where he competed against Marlon Brando (A Streetcar Named Desire), Montgomery Clift (A Place in the Sun) and Fredric March (Death of a Salesman), all arguably better performances, the role is easily Bogart's career best. Stealing the show throughout is no easy feat when acting opposite the actress with the most Oscar wins in history.
As of 2003, according to the Home Theater Forum, The African Queen has yet to be released on DVD in Region 1 because of issues with the rights, even though Paramount seems to be the leading contender in regards to releasing it. Apparently restoration work is rumored to have begun, which hopefully means that a pristine version is forthcoming sooner rather than not.
