Destination Moon (1950)

George Pal was probably the best known and most financially successful sci-fi/ fantasy producer of his time; while best remembered for the 1953 'War of the Worlds' and 1960 'The Time Machine' his most significant film was probably 'Destination Moon'. Financally it made $5 million world wide off a budget of just under $600,000, but that impressive return is not why it's important, it's important because it was probably the first science fiction film to take the science seriously.

Pal wanted to make a film about the first moon landing that was as releastic and scientifically accurate as he could make it. On a technical level what is shown is not that different from the Apollo program and the real moon landing of 19 years later. The differences however are fun, Pal's moon mission, while also rooted in fears of the Russians getting there first, is privately financed and launched from the desert. A full rocket makes the whole trip there and back and the crew of four use magnetic boots to get around inside. Once on the moon the mission leader claims it for the United States of America, largest land grab in history.

The characters are hardly characters, save the one with the Brooklyn accent, this is a story of human achivment not of human characters. The crew encounter technical problems necessitating a space walk in route, they also have some difficulty getting back and have to dump most of their stuff on the lunar surfice in order to achieve lift off. Included in that refuse are their multicolored space suites.

The film looks fairly neat, bright colors, effects that have dated and Woody Woodpecker makes an appearance in a film within the film intended to explain the science to would be investors. The story, acting, most of the action, dead dull. Like its crew however the film still goes where no one had gone before, at 91 minutes it remains just watchable. **

The Pope's Exorcist (2023)

I might say "spoilers" but it's not the kind of movie you can really spoil.

Some years ago I read an artical about an exorcism confrence, it's weird to think of a conference were exocrists get together and talk about their craft, technique, tools of the trade and presumably recent developments in the field. A featured speaker was Manuel Acuna, the prefered exocrist of Pope Francis during his Argentine days, something of a controversial choice. given that Acuna is a Lutherian. Upon papel elevation Francis would inherated as official exocrist of the Diocese of Rome Father Gabriele Amoroth, who had served his two immediate predecessors and would hold the position from 1986 until his death in 2016 at age 91, he had purportedly performed thousands of exocrisims.

'The Pope's Exocrist' is based losley on two of Amoroth's longer writings, as his character tells an associate upon learning he has only read his articals "the books are good", a joke that will ocure more then once in the movie. The real Amoroth was apparently something of a jokester, I image his a profession in which the ability to ease tension is particularly helpful psychologically, or even practically as he also informs us that the devil hates jokes.

Amoroth is played by Russell Crowe, his performance fits well the strangely balanced tone of the piece. This movie plays things, even kind of ridiculous things, mostly straight, while it takes it demons seriously it's dosen't take its self too much so. Set in the summer of 1987 the plot is principally concerned with the exorcism of a young American boy (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) living with his sister (Laural Marsden) and widowed mother (Alex Essoe) in Spain, specifically a recently inherited former abby they are in the process of renovating. The abby of course has a dark history, which gets into Dan Brown territory, and is home to one of Satan's 200 top demons. Gabriele enlists the young local priest (Daniel Zovatto) to assist him in his fight against evil, and along with the boys family they must all learn to fight personal inner demons in order to fight a real physical demon.

As mentioned before the film does an impressive job of balancing its various elements, it is neither too serious or too silly; it has roots in classic's of the genre like 1973's ' The Exocrist', but also it's knock-offs, Dan Brown fare and even Universal's abortive 'Dark Universe' (yes Crowe was in the Tom Cruse 'Mummy movie), ending by telling us that Father's Amoroth and Esquibel have begun their hunt for the Devils 199 other lieutenants.

So I liked it, have gone back and forth a bit on how to rate it but have decided to go with a full *** rather then **1/2, because while it ain't deep or groundbreaking, it is unexpectedly well executed and consistently entertaing. For those who might be wondering a Pope does make an apperence in this movie, though rather then the period correct John Paul II its a fictional Pope played by Italin B movie legend Franco Nero, the original Django himself, the devil hadn't a chance.

Bitter Victory (1958)

 Along with 'Wind Across the Everglades' which came out the same year and 'The Savage Innocents' which came out in 1960, 'Bitter Victory' is part of Nicholas Ray's "location trilogy", grouling shoots afar a field resulting in films of mixed reputation.

Adapted (losley?) from the French novel of the same name and set in North Africa during the Second World War, it tells the story of a group of British imperial solders who successfuly raid intellegence information from a German headquarters, but find returning to safety across the Libyan desert to have a high attrition rate.

Central to the story is a love triangle between Richard Burton, Ruth Roman and Curd Jurgans. Burton and Roman had been lovers before the war, Ruth's now husband Jurgans finds out about it and dosen't like it. The two men are to lead the mission together, Jurgans a major is the superior officer, but Burton an archeologist before the war knows the country and speaks the language. Burton brings an old friend and bedoin guide along (Raymond Pellegrin) and director Ray did intend the homosexual subtext in that relationship, a bit daring for the time.

The most puzzling thing about the film is the casting of the German Jurgans as leader of the Allied solders; he could only mask his accent so much so they made his character South African as a sort of cover. Still one of the chief pleasures of the film is when Jurgans and Burton harp on each other, the career military man shows some cowardice in the field and is bailed out by the intellectual enlistie, who won't let him forget it 

The film looks beautiful, a sharp black and white in wide cinemascope it soaks up the desert and some local flavor when the team is in Bengazi. I really enjoyed the score by Frenchmen Maurice Le Roux, he never did an American movie so his sound is European not Hollywood, this film was largely French financed which explains his presence. Still the film is uneven, it takes too long to start and has too many slow bits, but there are parts that work extremly well, Burton espically is top of his game. The supporting cast is fine with Christopher Lee a stand out as a very competent solder. The sour ending works better then I'd have expected. ***

 Lately I've been watching these 'In the Line of Duty' movies on Prime. These are a lose series of TV movies NBC made between 1988 and 1997. They each cover then recentish true crime stories and the role various law enforcement organizations played in resolving the case. 

The quality ranges from pretty good to kind of bad, they are mostly of interest for the number of recognizable names and faces that show up in them, Samuel L. Jackson, Rod Steiger, Alan Arkin, Melissa Leo ect. Someone could ask me "Nate, with all the political correctness and wokeism in the world now could the networks get away with making movies that so positively depict law enforcement today?" Well I'm affraid my answer would have to be no, because the networks don't make TV movies anymore.

In A Lonly Place (1950)

 While containing mystery and nourish plot elements 'In A Lonely Place' is really about a couple, who while they genuinely love each other, simpley should not be together. In the hands of director Nicholas Ray this is a very meta movie. Ray's surragate Dixon Steel (played by Humphrey Bogart) is a screenwriter (as opposed to a director) in the process of very loosely adapting a novel; 'In A Lonely Place' is also very loosley adapted from its source material. Ray directs his then wife Gloria Graham in the story of a doomed relationship even while their own real marriage was falling apart. While the two remained very professional onset they seperated mid filming, with Ray moving into the set of Bogarts apartment, its self modeled on Ray's former home at the Chateau Marmont.

Steel is suspected in the death of a young woman who was last seen in his company, Graham is Steel's new neighbor Laurel Gray, an aspiring actress who provides his alabi. Laurel did legtimelty see him bid his ill fated visitor goodbye and then return to his bungalow, but as she went to bed shortly there after she can't be sure he didn't leave. She wants to believe he's innocent, the two are very quickly taken with each other, becoming nearly inseparable, they talk of marriage. Yet an impulsive and quick to anger part of Dixon is becoming increasingly noticeable to Laurel, doubts start to form and do battle with her love. Steel starts to pick up on this vibe, which only quickness his anger. They are both 'in a lonely place' and sooner or later somethings going to give.

Bogart gives a solid performance and Graham does some of her best work here. Film's in which Ray has a large amount of control over the supporting casting tend to be better then those where he dosen't; the directors instincts in this regard tend to run a little out of the box, old friends, lesser knowns, has beens and non professionals. Art Smith and Robert Warwick have memorable turns, black jazz singer Hadda Brooks has multiple scenes, and Frank Lovejoy makes good of the part of Dixon's old war buddy now investigating him for murder.

The film plays a little off kilter for a movie of its time, it's both airy and tight, not alot happens on the surface but the subtext is almost crowded. Dixon's anger is erratic and intense, scary in a way a typical movie tough of the era was not. We know he has an artists soul, we know he lives rigorously by an internal code but we come to know increasingly as the film progresses that he is capable of murder, though the movie wisely waits until the last minute to tell us if he killed the girl or not. 

Solid and understated, at times this movie feels more like something out of the "New Hollywood" of the 1970's then a product of the old studio system. The film is small in scale and the story ultimately not that deep, but the execution is artful and the cast turns in a handful of really engaging performaces. Ray is on game behind the camera even as his life beyound it was falling apart.  ***

Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)

 There is more going on here then in your typical slasher. Released under various titles, 'Communion', 'Holy Terror', and most famously 'Alice, Sweet Alice', it has been said this is a movie only an angry ex Catholic could make.

A passion project of its co-writer and director Alfred Sole (1943-2022), the film was made early in his career, and though it shows great promise Sole did not go on to do much more directing. David would do some director for hire work but would spend much of his Hollywood career in production design and there mostly in television, he is the credited production designer on nearly every episode of 'Veronica Mars' and 'Castle'.

The production design on 'Alice' is rather strong, espically on its independtly financed budget of $350,000. Sole was a trained architect and working in the field of building restoration as he started the film, as a result he got some great locations inside and around older buildings in various states of repair. Filmed and set in his decaying home town of Patterson, New Jersey, I was about 20 minutes in before it dawned on me that this was a period piece. The film is set in 1961 and that presumably so it could depict the pre Vatican Two Catholicism in which the director was raised.

A 10 year old Brooke Shields in her screen debut plays Karen Spages, the advertising of later releasses emphasized her presence but she's not in it that much, her character is murdered, strangled and then set aflame moments before her first communion. Suspicison naturally falls on her older sister Alice (Paula Sheppard), who was not in the chapel where she was supposed to be at the time of the murder, is a somewhat cruel child and is seen to be jelouse of her favored younger sibling.

Alice is known to act out, she is copping, or trying to with the absence of her father. Though the backstory is never spelled out in great detail "Dom" Spages (Niles McMaster), left the family and church in the recent past and remarried. The mother (Linda Miller, daughter of television Legend Jackie Gleason) remains defiantly Catholic. Alice is surrounded mostly by Catholics and they are mostly unsympathetic to her, difficult child as she is. Even Father Tom (Rudolph Willrich), the most likable and benign Catholic presence in the movie clearly favored Karen to Alice.

The film deals with the drama of an already shattered family trying to cope amid tragedy. "Dom" comes back for his daughter's funneral, trys to comfort his surviving daughter and also solve the mystery of the killers identity. There are further attacks, stabbings, Alice remains under suspecision and is remanded to the custody of mental health professionals who like seemingly everyone else in her life fail her. Director Sole said he wanted Alice to be depicted as a troublesd girl, an adolcent (She's supposed to be around 12 but the actress who plays her was 19, though dosen't look it at all) on the brink, who could seemingly go either way in life.

Minor spoilers

Alice turns out to not be the real killer, that person turns out to be a character we know from other contexts and this persons motivations are perversely religious. Unreleted to all this we also have a pedophile residing in Alice's building, he makes some trouble and is played by the obese and slimy Alphonso DeNoble, who was working as a bouncer in a gay night club at the time this movie was made. DeNoble would go on to have a short film career in a couple of other horror movies before dying in his early thirties. Lillian Roth, a notorious actress in her own right, also has a small role as a police pathologist.

'Alice, Sweet Alice' is a moody, horror- thriller-family-drama, a strange hybrid of a film whose distinctive look, amateur detective verses killer story line, as well as themes of religion, decay and hidden truths have caused it to be referred to as an American 'Giallo film'. It's a diamond in the rough piece of cinema, which hints at a potential autor filmmaker whose career sadly never realized. ***

Boom Town (1940)

 Clark Gable and Spencer Tracey are frienemie oil wildcaters in the 1910's and 20's. Their fortunes go up and down, they both like Claudet Colbert, Tracy bows out but then Hedy Lamarr shows up in the second half to tempt Gable. Gable and Colbert's second teaming, Gable and Tracey's third; yet I don't think it works, it's cliche and takes too much for granted. Critics were midling on it but audiences approved, big hit, $5 million off $1.6. **