Before we begin, please note that there will be major spoilers ahead in our first review. I know I always have some, but this time I'm giving away most of the plot. What's that you're saying? "You always give away most of the plot, Ad". I do? Well, I'm giving away even more than usual this time, so be warned. Here we go. //
Last night's movie was a multi-themed affair entitled "Serious Charge"(1959), a combination melodrama/juvenile delinquent story about a priest accused of molestation, with some early rock n' roll dancing thrown in to showcase the songs of Cliff Richard, who co-stars. There's a lot going on in this British production. The great Anthony Quayle stars as "Reverend Howard Phillips", a Boy's Town type vicar who teaches local lads how to box and hosts a Saturday night dance blowout for rowdy teens at the parish auditorium. He's also an amateur soccer star. Not your average starched collar preacher, in other words.
On the other end of the spectrum is the neighborhood punk, a fast talking "juvie" named "Larry Thompson" (Andrew Ray). Larry's brother "Curly" (Cliff Richard), has been up before a magistrate already at the beginning of the movie. He's charged with petty crimes but Rev. Phillips is there to vouch for him. The brothers story is typical, they come from an abusive home, their Dad uses a belt. The reverend asks the magistrate to consign the boys to him, to give him a chance to reform them. Curly, the younger brother, is willing. Larry, the troublemaker, is resentful. He hates Reverend Phillips for what he represents, which is "Squaresville" according to Larry (who uses American slang).
At the next parish dance, things get out of hand. Cliff Richard is singing, the kids are swing dancing, and Larry gets carried away. He starts twirling a French girl up and around, doing the Lindy Hop and more. He's exposing her legs, which you don't do in England in the 1950s (nor anywhere else I imagine) and finally the Reverend has had enough. He's an open-minded man and likes the teenagers, but Larry and the other juvies have pushed the dance too far. He turns off the music and declares the party over. Larry is offended and ends up pulling a knife when the reverend asks him to leave. Because the rev is an athlete, he easily disarms Larry. This sets the two on a collision course. Larry already hates authority figures, and on top of that the rev has now shamed him in front of his friends. But that's only part of the story.
There's also a woman named Hester, a 30 year old spinster-in-the-making who lives with her father, the elder priest at the church. He's semi-retired ( I think he'd be known as an emeritus), and Hester has remained at home to look after him. She also volunteers at the parish. Now, Hester has a crush on the handsome Reverend Phillips. She confides this to the reverend's mother, who urges her to go for it. "Neither of you is getting any younger, my dear". But Hester, not having had any experience with men, comes on too strong. She grabs the rev one night and plants him with a major league smootch. With some men that wouldn't be a problem, but with the reverend it's a lack of decorum. And as it's depicted on screen, her advance is a bit sudden and awkward. The reverend pushes her away, saying "Hester! My dear, what are you doing"? Hester is crushed and embarrassed. "I......I'm in love with you", she stammers. "Oh, Hester.....Hester. I'm sorry but I don't feel the same way". Reverend Phillips likes her fine, and she's not unattractive. He just doesn't love her back. There's also a chance he might be gay, though this is the only such hint and it may not have been intended in a 1959 release. It may also be that Hester is a little too spinsterish, or that the rev simply is not the marrying type. In any event, she does throw herself at him, and it doesn't work. Now she's embarrassed, as noted.
Later that night, as Reverend Phillips is walking through town, he comes across young "Mary Williams" (Leigh Madison). She's alone and crying. "Why Mary, what's wrong", the rev asks her. She won't tell him at first. He convinces her to come back with him to the parish "for a nice hot cup of tea", and while there he gets her to spill the beans. She's pregnant. Even now, this could be upsetting news for a girl who hadn't meant to become so. But for an unwed teenager in 1950s England? Poor Mary's scared half to death. "What'll I tell my parents"? The rev asks if she's informed the boy who's responsible. "I.....I can't tell him". "Why not"? asks Reverend Phillips. "Because he'd leave me". "That doesn't make him much of a man anyway", says the rev. Mary doesn't want to reveal the father's name but eventually she lets it slip. "Larry would just get mad". "Do you mean Larry Thompson"?, the reverend asks her. "Yes", says Mary.
Well, here's where the collision course becomes set in stone. While Mary is still in his office, Hester returns unexpectedly. She sees Mary, a pretty young thing who wears makeup, and assumes she's the reason Reverend Phillips rejected her. Feeling doubly crushed now, she storms out of his office before the rev has a chance to explain. Mary leaves five minutes later. At a bus stop, she observes Larry, the punk who got her pregnant, making out with Michelle the French girl. Mary is now at the end of her rope. She runs into the street and is hit by a passing car. When the reverend finds out that Mary is dead, he loses his cool and becomes furious. Keep in mind that, besides being a priest, he's also a macho boxer and athlete. He finds Larry and demands he come back to the parish to talk with him. When Larry gets there, Reverend Phillips confronts him with Mary's pregnancy. "You're the reason she's dead"!, he concludes, yelling at the sullen street punk. All the hatred rises up in Larry, a cunning young man. He gets an idea. "Say, Reverend. You know something? You made a mistake inviting me over here alone". "Oh really? Why is that Larry"? Larry begins trashing the place, knocking pictures off the wall, sweeping the mantle of knicknacks and vases with his arm. He smashes a lamp, overturns a table. "Here now! What in the world are you doing, young man"?!
Larry looks him in the eye as he rips up his own shirt. "I'm getting back at you is what! You see reverend, it'll be just my word against yours. I'm gonna yell for help and then I'm gonna run to the police". He's announcing he's gonna frame Reverend Phillips for molestation. "But it won't work, Larry, because it isn't true", he tells the kid.
Well, who should walk in the parish door at that very moment than the scorned Hester, who's holding a grudge against the rev because she saw him with Mary.
Holy Smokes, talk about a Gordian Knot. Observing the scene - the trashed room, Larry's torn shirt and flushed face - Hester asks, "what in the world is going on here"? Larry speaks up first. "He....he tried to take advantage of me"! "It's not true", says Reverend Phillips. "He created this all by himself". Hester storms out once again, saying "I'm going to tell the police".
That's all I can reveal, but is that a potboiler or what? We should coin a new phrase and call it a plot-boiler. Man oh man is the reverend in a jam. It's his word against Larry Thompson's, and normally you'd think the police and the townsfolk would believe the Man of God. But Larry has a "witness", the also reputable Hester, who takes Larry's side even though she didn't see what happened (she only saw after the fact). Hester's romantic grudge against the rev causes her to want revenge. But we still have a long way to go before things are resolved. "Serious Charge" is a very frank movie for 1959, examining juvenile delinquency and sexual repression in a way that was far ahead of it's time. The acting is uniformly excellent all around, and I was surprised to discover later on that the actress playing Hester - Sarah Churchill - was, you guessed it, none other than Winston Churchill's daughter. Talent runs in the family. She may not have saved England from the Nazis, but she's a heck of an actress if this role is any indication. The rest of the supporting cast are incredible, too, and Anthony Quayle shines. Man what a tremendous actor.
"Serious Charge" has one of the most involving and complex stories of any of the films we've seen recently. I'm gonna give it Two Huge Thumbs Up, with a high recommendation to see it. You've gotta see it soon, however. The guy who posted it said it'll only be up for a week or so. Don't know why, maybe copyright reasons or some other some-such. So watch it asap, the picture is razor sharp. /////
The previous night's film was called "Yesterday's Enemy"(1959). Simply stated, it's one of the most powerful war films ever made, and probably one of the greatest. I'll need some time for it to settle in. I might ultimately decide it belongs in the top ten. It's a British film, a Hammer production. Stanley Baker stars as "Captain Alan Langford", who's leading a company of soldiers down a Burmese river in World War Two. The troop is behind enemy lines, forty miles from their headquarters. They're carrying wounded comrades and are short on food and water. They lose communication when their radio gets wet.
After stumbling across a jungle village, they wipe out a small group of Japanese soldiers hiding there and use the village as a place to regroup. Captain Langford orders the radio repaired, then sets about interrogating the villagers about any remaining Japanese in the area. One man tries to run away. When he is caught, Langford leans on him even harder. "Why did you flee"? The man pretends not to understand, even when Langford's message is translated by a local girl who speaks some English. "Tell him we found a colonel among the dead Japanese soldiers". Langford believes the man is an intelligence agent who was working with the dead colonel, who had a map in his possession he thinks indicates British troop positions. The man continues to play dumb, and this is where the plot intensifies. I'm not going to give as many spoilers as I did above with "Serious Charge", but when I say that this film gets intense, think of My Lai or the Kevin Dillon scene in "Platoon". What happens is not as brutal as either of those examples, but it's no picnic, either, and is especially shocking given the film's 1959 release year. In fact, both of our films this time are from 1959, and both are ahead of their time in dealing with previously taboo issues. I have to cut in to say "Tab who"? "No, not Tab Who, Gilligan! Taboo"! - The Skipper.
Okay, but yeah, when the suspected intelligence agent won't talk, Captain Langford decides to play hardball with him. This causes a crisis in his ranks, as some of the men in Langford's troop think he's going too far and some go along with him willingly, particularly his sergeant, who carries out every order the Captain gives, no matter how unethical, or even illegal. Accompanying the troop are a priest (Guy Rolfe) and a newspaperman (Leo McKern), both of whom object strenuously to Langford's methods. He explains that in war, there can be no half-measures. "If we don't find out about that map, it'll get us all killed including the rest of the brigade up front. I'm doing what I have to do".
The tables will turn on the Captain later on, when Japanese reinforcements arrive in the village, led by an articulate, English speaking and utterly ruthless officer named Major Yamazaki (Van Nuys' own Phillip Ahn). I won't tell you how his arrival plays out, but I will say you've got to see this movie. According to Wiki, both it's star Stanley Baker (who should've got an Academy Award) and it's director Val Guest called it one of the proudest achievements of their careers. It's also included on a list by Total Film magazine, called "50 Amazing Films You've Probably Never Seen". The plot mostly concerns this one issue, of whether or not Colonel Langford has overstepped his bounds. You may think the answer is obvious; it certainly seems so. However, as he states, and as Yamazaki later confirms, "this is Total War", a military philosophy in which there are no rules. "Yesterday's Enemy" is a tremendous film. Harrowing and thought-provoking, there's also a fair amount of combat. Two Huge Thumbs Up for this must see motion picture. Wow, have we ever had two Two Huges in the same blog? I don't think so. Don't miss either one them. The picture on "Yesterday's Enemy" is widescreen and razor sharp. /////
And that's all I've got for the moment. The Krazy Kafka Konstruktion Krew is back, pounding and sawing away in the Unit From Hell next door beginning at 8:30 each morning. They've been at it, on and off, for over two months now, since around September 10th. Can you believe that? I think I remarked, in my last blog about them, that they must be rebuilding The World Trade Center in there. How else do you explain two months to renovate a one bedroom apartment? Have you ever seen the movie "Mother" by Darren Aronovsky? It's a weird, nutty movie, and not all that great, but if you remember the ending, well, that's what it's like, living next door to the Unit From Hell when the Krazy Kafka Krew are at work, which seems to have been forever. I think I'm turning into a cockroach....... ;)
I hope you had a nice evening and I send you Tons of Love as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment