I've got a few movies for you, all highly recommended, but just the titles and basic details for now. I've haven't got the energy or concentration to review 'em. Especially good was tonight's film, "The Brothers Rico", starring Richard Conte as a former accountant for the Mob, who's forced to track down his brother by a Miami Don. Directed by Phil Karlson, who brought us the excellent "99 River Street" a few weeks ago.
Last night I watched the also top notch "Human Desire" by Fritz Lang, starring Glenn Ford as a train engineer, who gets involved with a co-worker's wife, not knowing that the man has recently committed a murder. It's a lot more complicated than that, but make sure to see it. Broderick Crawford and Gloria Grahame co-star as the dangerous couple.
"Out of the Fog" was a British crime flick by the reliable Montgomery Tully. A young ex-con tries to go straight but is hassled by his parole officer, who suspects him in a series of murders in a local park. Solid lead work by David Sumner as the accused young man, and good suspense all around, leading to a twist ending that you'll never guess.
"Portrait of Alison" is an Anglo-American co-production that, like "Serena" a couple weeks ago, riffs on the popular "Laura" theme, of the idealized femme captured on canvas who then disappears, only to reappear in a different guise. This movie involves a jewel theft ring, and is more of a Scotland Yard procedural than a love triangle melodrama (ala "Laura"), but it still utilizes similar Noir elements of the "double" or returned girl.
And finally, "The Passing of the Third Floor Back", a parable of good and evil adapted from a stage play, starring the great Conrad Veidt as a mysterious stranger who comes to live at an English boarding house full of miserable tenants, He tries to change their lives for the better but is opposed by an unscrupulous man of wealth. This one has a marvelous scene in which Veidt gets all the tenants out of the house for boat ride on the Thames. They come to life in exhilaration, but later that night, when their day of fun has ended, the Wealthy Man corners Veidt. "You've had your say", he tells him, "but now it's my turn. Wait til they see the cold hard reality facing them in the morning". You'll have to see it in the context of the movie, but it's brilliant. "The Passing of the Third Floor Back" is an incredibly spiritual film that uplifted me in what has been a very difficult week. Conrad Veidt has become one of my favorite actors and I can't recommend it highly enough. /////
So there you have it, good flicks all, and not a one of 'em rating less than Two Bigs. "The Brothers Rico" gets Two Huge. ///
I went back to Pearl's this afternoon, to help her daughter sort her belongings. It was actually therapeutic, and I am managing my days right now by just taking one hour at a time, and doing what's right in front of me. Mornings are the hardest, as the Wealthy Man in "Third Floor Back" so aptly pointed out, but what I do is just read my book until "the cold hard reality" ebbs away, and then when early afternoon comes 'round, I start working on the magic. It's the only way out of such a situation.
Right now, I am reading "John" by Cynthia Lennon. Did I already mention that in a previous blog? Well anyway, her book is also helping me a lot. I always thought "Cyn", as she was known, was a lady of true class, who never got the credit she was due as John's loyal and supportive wife during the headiest years of Beatlemania. Yoko gets all the press, which says that she was John's true love, but I've always believed his true love was Cynthia, who he met at art college in 1957 when he was 17 and she a year older. He was with Cyn for 11 years. As far as The Beatles are concerned, she was there from the beginning, coming into John's life just a couple months after he met Paul McCartney. She was there at the table in a club or restaurant when John and Stu Sutcliffe chose "The Beatles" as a band name. She was there for almost the whole ride, under often trying circumstances, accepting the role of the traditional wife and mother.
Then John discovered LSD, and it basically destroyed their marriage, because he took it every day for years. Not everyone knows that about John, but it's also why Paul took over The Beatles. During that period, John left Cyn for Yoko, who still gets all the press but wasn't there when it mattered. Cynthia was the real John Lennon's wife, and as they say, "behind every successful man there is a strong woman".
Cyn got a raw deal out of the whole thing (ask Julian), but remained in love with John to the end. Nothing against Yoko, as she suffered through John's death, but in my opinion, she couldn't shine Cyn's shoes.
So I'll say God Bless Cynthia Lennon. Her book is helping me greatly this week. She tells an exciting tale from bygone days that turned into an emotional roller coaster, so it's a diversion that helps me get through my day. Cyn's gone now, in heaven, and I believe she and John are together again. /////
That's all I know for now. See you tomorrow morning. I send you Tons and Tons of love, as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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