BEST FILMS OF 1953
by Mike Lorefice

The Big Heat
Fritz Lang

***1/2

The Blue Gardenia
Fritz Lang

***

The End
Christopher Maclaine

****

Full Movie Review

Gate of Hell
Teinosuke Kunigasa

The most beautiful of the early Japanese color films, ironically Daiei's first usage of the format, is a mature samurai tale that's more a Shakespearean tragedy. Using a visiting warrior's desire for another's wife to explore their marriage, their love for each other is so strong in their heart yet, largely due to society's female repression, they fail to communicate. The wife lacks confidence not only in herself but especially in her husband, despite him being head of the royal guard. Though the plot not only lags but suffers from somewhat unbelievable and the characters being dimmer than the audience, the visuals are far more shaded, enhancing the story a great deal without overtaking the drama. The action is kept to a minimum, though the choreography is quite stunning, particularly the horse race. It's excellent as a period piece, with costume design so impressive even the Academy Mafia gave it the marketing rub. The set design is also very textured and detailed, and the cinematography by Kohei Sugiyama, who shot Mizoguchi's Ugetsu, is quite sumptuous. [10/29/05] ***1/2

The Hitch-Hiker
Ida Lupino

First film noir directed by a female is one of the best; a strong psychodrama pitting two friends with opposing means against a cold heartless killer. It's a very tight and tense suspense that benefits tremendously from an outstanding stone faced performance by William Talman as the cocky sadistic dumb eyed villain. Lupino succeeded (for the brief time she was able to get films made) in creating strongly moralist cautionary tales that were very enjoyable to watch and never stooped to the preachiness usually associated with the rare well-meaning Hollywood flick. This one is theoretically a warning against picking up strangers, but actually they function as a metaphor for US cold war paranoia and the insecurity it instilled in the citizens. Their varying coping methods help prevent the two middle class friends from getting along when confronted with the enemy, and it's interesting how Lupino applies negative aspects previously only passed off on women (since the directors were all men) to her male characters. Lupino shows moments of brilliance as a director, particularly early on in using shadows to obscure the villain then memorably having him emerge from them. However, the one thing that really hampers the film is the obnoxious hokey hammy Hollywood score. It truly undermines this type of visual filmmaking, as well as any attempt at tension and suspense, at every turn by using the requisite cues to reveal what the filmmaker would seemingly like to keep a mystery. [10/29/05] ***1/2

Hondo
John Farrow

John Wayne's personal favorite of his westerns features one of his finest performances, playing himself. Wayne is a straightforward man who values honesty above all else, making him a loner. He's wise and skilled, figuring a way to lead and teach when he needs to and leaving people to their (de)vices the rest of the time. The first film based on Louis L'Amour's writings has some surprising aspects though, starting with Wayne being a half-breed who is not accepted by either side. It's much fairer to Native Americans than usual, the Apache uprising is due to the whites breaking the treaty, and Chief Vittorio (Michael Pate) is more knowledgeable, honorable, and reasonable than his counterparts. Both Wayne's Hondo Lane and Vittorio see the need for a man to run Angie Lowe's (Geraldine Page) ranch and raise her son Johnny (Lee Aaker). Though some connotation of good and evil is placed expectedly, even the endorsement of a half-breed with a white woman was progress. Excluding Angie's husband Ed (Leo Gordon) - he married her for property then abandoned her - because he only has a few minutes of screen time, much of what makes the film so interesting is there's no obvious bad guy. Stage actress Geraldine Page, in her first notable screen role, is far too theatrical and has no chemistry with Wayne, so of course rather than Robert Burks fine cinematography she's what the Academy Mafia choose to honor. The characters are all exagerated and Wayne very obviously isn't doing his own stunts, but Hondo is a good mix between the action of the 1930's & '40's westerns and the intelligence of the then contemporary adult westerns. Wayne's lines are deceptively simplistic, yielding a great deal of wisdom and insight into human nature as well as witty self degradation/mockery of his life as an outcast drifter. Though finally available for purchase, it's always advisable to avoid stores and in-laws when Hondo is actually broadcast. [3/4/07] ***

I Confess
Alfred Hitchcock

***

Jeopardy
John Sturges

***

Little Fugitive
Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, and Ruth Orkin

***

The Man from the Alamo
Budd Boetticher

Budd Boetticher started most westerns with the same basic story elements. His hero is a stoic alienated man who is indifferent to the opinions of others, causing him to be misjudged and wrongly accused. He will sacrifice anything to complete his mission of avenging his family's murder, yet will still behave honorably and protect innocents. In the later, greater ones written by Burt Kennedy or Charles Lang - Seven Men From Now, Decision At Sundown, & Ride Lonesome - everything was pretty much fated, and the tension was derived from the subtle moves leading up to the inevitable climactic gunfight. This earlier outing written by D.D. Beauchamp & Steve Fisher, whose dialogue sometimes wreaks of scripting, is certainly more an attempt to make a popular film than Boetticher's restrained later films; it's fast-paced, surprisingly action packed, filmed in color, and given an epic feel despite Boetticher's typical sub 90 minute length. Glenn Ford stars as John Stroud, the local man who, unbeknownst to most others, lost the draw to leave Fort Alamo and usher the local ranch families to safety. Stroud has consistently miserable luck, not arriving in time to help the women and children and not returning in time to shed the coward tag (by dying with the others). He's haunted by his own conscience as most of the 200 other men who died at The Alamo were also married, and always on the verge of being lynched because the now influential Lt. Tom Lamar (Hugh O'Brian), a messenger for Sam Houston who offered to stay in cowardly Stroud's place, leads the angry mob in judging him without even inquiring into his reasons. Stroud looks that much less honorable when it's discovered that he's involved with Jess Wade's (Victor Jory) band of white mercenaries who have sold out to Mexican General Santa Ana for land grants (he's actually infiltrated them because they are responsible for killing his family). Everything works out too quickly and easily in the last 20 minutes so Ford, of course, winds up the beloved noble hero, but the traitors raid on the wagon train is a brilliantly laid out and photographed highlight of the cinematically stunning climax. [9/25/07] ***

Mr. Hulot's Holiday
Jacques Tati

***1/2

The Naked Spur
Anthony Mann

****

Pickup on South Street
Samuel Fuller

****

Full Movie Review

Stalag 17
Billy Wilder

***1/2

Titanic
Jean Negulesco

***

Ugetsu
Kenji Mizoguchi

***1/2

The War of the Worlds
Byron Haskin

***

The Wages of Fear
Henri-Georges Clouzot

****