This blog was begun the night of April 24th, 2021 :
Tonight I watched "Behold the Man"(1935), the first sound film ever made about the Passion of Jesus Christ, and since you know that story by heart, I'll give you a few details surrounding the movie instead. I bought the dvd several months ago. If you recall, sometime around Thanksgiving or Christmas we watched the 1934 presentation of "Les Miserables" and were blown off the map, not only by Raymond Bernard's direction and the high production values, but also by the lead performance of Harry Baur as "Jean Valjean". That caused us to search for more films featuring Baur, which led to our discovery of "Behold", one of his few movies available for purchase. So, I ordered it from Amazon and finally unwrapped it this evening. It's directed by a man named Julien Duvivier, who - I discovered on IMDB - was most famous for helming "Pepe le Moko", one of the greatest French crime films ever made (Top Five, at least). The great Jean Gabin starred in that film, and he's on hand also in "Behold the Man", as Pontius Pilate (looking much less craggy than he does in "Pepe", even though that film was only two years later).
In short, it's one of the best adaptations of the Easter Story, shot in a Neo-Realistic style similar to Pasolini's "The Gospel of St. Matthew", which we saw and reviewed a couple years ago. In Robert Le Vigan, Duvivier has a "Christ" that looks very close to the image on the Shroud of Turin. Harry Baur plays "King Harrod", though his role is brief. The re-telling of the oft-told tale is straightforward, and there are no "spectacular" embellishments ala Cecil B. DeMille, nor the grotesque violence we were forced to endure in Mel Gibson's version, which marred an otherwise excellent movie.
"Behold the Man" is released by Alpha Video, which lets you know in advance that the picture quality is not going to be stellar. Though that is indeed the case, and the French dialogue is dubbed, neither of these factors should weigh against your appreciation of the film. In fact, it's first-hand viewpoint, as if someone were walking through the crowd 2000 years ago with a camera, or was filming the Disciples as they waited with the Lord at Gethsemane, gives you the feeling of being right there on site, which increases the mystical quality of the experience. While I'll root for a Criterion restoration, you could even rationalise that the substandard quality of the print gives it the look of a relic, an ancient record of events captured as they took place. In the final analysis, it's a great film and thus gets Two Big Thumbs Up. In fact, it bears repeat viewings and can be our "go-to" movie for Easters to come. Highly recommended. ////
The previous night I watched "Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies", director Ken Annakin's 1969 follow-up to "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines", which we reviewed earlier this week. As you can guess from the title, "Jalopies" has to do with automobiles rather than aeroplanes, but once again a race is involved and the same comedic formula is more or less in place, one of ethnic caricatures and foibles. Some of the stars are back as well, including Terry-Thomas and the hilarious Gert Frobe.
The race is the 1500 mile Monte Carlo Rally, of which winning the purse is secondary to the personal objectives of some of the drivers. For instance, Tony Curtis has a bet with Terry-Thomas that whoever comes out on top between them will take over 100% of the stock in the auto company they co-own. And you can guess what the Italian driver wants, when he makes an "hourglass" outline with his hands and says "MON-ti CAR-lo! Ahh, the women-a there, they've-a all-a gotta the big-a...."! All the stereotypes are in place, including Frobe's German oaf and Thomas' sinister English twit, but it's all lightly sketched and in good fun. Particularly strong this go-round are the team of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, playing a Stiff Upper Lip Military Officer and his aide. We all know Dudley, but I'd never seen Cook before. He appears to have been exceptionally talented in the John Cleese mold (and likely predated Cleese). He's an absolute riot as the humorless but inventive officer; we'll have to look for more films with him.
While "Jaunty" is a jolly good time, it misses the anchoring presence, in "Magnificent Men", of Sarah Miles and the romantic rivalry for her hand between Stuart Whitman and James Fox. "Jaunty" is way more hyperkinetic than the first film, so while it's very funny, the gags don't have much room to breathe. In "Magnificent" there was a long setup to establish the characters, which allowed the audience to develop connections, especially to Miles and Whitman. Thus we were drawn into the story as well as the humor. Here, it's all about the yuks. The race begins 20 minutes into the picture, so with the exception of a few scenes, they're in their cars most of the time and the jokes must take place "in motion" so to speak.
Still, it is quite funny, and the characters of Frobe, Cook and the Italians are reason enough to watch. Ken Annakin keeps the widescreen action zipping along like the old pro he is. It's still unclear whether George Lucas named Anakin Skywalker after him. Lucas denies it, but I'll bet he loved both these movies, and no doubt was influenced by "Those Magnificent Men".
Despite it's minimal story, let's go ahead and give "Jaunty Jalopies" Two Big Thumbs Up, in the spirit of fun and international cooperation. It's got a great energy to it. Watch it back-to-back, over two nights of course, with "Magnificent". You'll be glad you did. ////
Finally, here's a musical choice you may not have expected : Al Stewart! I just got in the mail a box set of five of his albums, bargain priced and including "Year of the Cat", his smash hit from 1976 that I, you, and everyone we knew, owned and loved at the time. I played the heck out of that record, and also Al's "Past, Present and Future", which included his song about Nostradamus. We all loved that one too, but other than that long ago binge, and hearing "Cat" and "On The Border" used as bumper music on Art Bell's show in the 1990s, I hadn't thought much about Al Stewart in a long time. Recently, however, I was hit with a notion, call it a subliminal influence, that I should revisit his music. Perhaps it was seeing that "Year of the Cat" was being given a deluxe anniversary reissue. Those are always too expensive imo, but in any event I found this five album set for 19 bucks (great googley moogely), and not only did it have "Cat" but also his first three records, two of which I've listened to already. Man.......they're really good! Who knew Al released his first album in 1967? And had five albums out before "Year of the Cat"? Well anyhow, I've listened to "Bedsitter Images" (his debut) and "Love Chronicles" from 1969, and tonight I'll check out "Zero She Flies"(1970), which is supposed to be a bit darker.
Anyway, bottom line : Al Stewart holds up, in a big way! He's got a lot of great songs and albums, most of which we'd never heard before (well, I hadn't anyway......maybe I should speak for myself). But yeah, it was a great discovery. :)
That's all for the moment. Now I'm headed out for my hike. Have a great afternoon, tons of love as always!
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