Faces and Places I recently rewatched this because of the Branagh version. We now have three: this Ustinov version, a later Suchet, and the recent Branagh. I see that my original comment — likely 20 years ago — was one of those deleted from IMDB by a fellow angry about unrelated remarks about proselytising christian… Continue reading Death on the Nile (1978)
Tag: 1970s
Films made in the 1970s
A Real Young Girl (1976)
Another Alice Although blunt and clumsy, this film transports one — especially a male — to a place never visited. That’s in part because of the unflinching honesty of the narrative stance; never wavering from the girl’s perspective. It it were more familiar territory, like Jane Campion’s, it would be a failure — or if… Continue reading A Real Young Girl (1976)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
Tamer Wilder I like the fantasy of a superartist, someone who knows what they are doing, someone who knows where the levers to my soul are. But I know that’s extremely rare, that most art that I see as art is the result of someone just following their own urges, intuitive or accidental. Its okay,… Continue reading The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
Jubilee (1978)
The Deep, Vacuous Meditations of Angels Feeding Dogs I’m amazed that anyone would think this is similar to “Clockwork Orange.” Kubrick’s world was one of too much sense: strong minds of people and institutions creating realities that compete, even clash with each other. His worlds are reasonable — all of them — and at least… Continue reading Jubilee (1978)
Storm Boy (1976)
Internal Weather I’ve had the advantage of being old, and living in both the US and Australia and raising kids in each. That gives me a perspective on the book before seeing the film. Every so often, a young adult book hits a sweet spot in the national heart. I believe it is because we… Continue reading Storm Boy (1976)
7 Plus Seven (1970)
We Discover The way I think of films is that every film is first about other films and incidentally about life. In referencing or extending our film experience — and at the same time providing tools for folding that experience into life — movies give us tools for life. Or for dreaming, which is much… Continue reading 7 Plus Seven (1970)
Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy (1976)
Mock Turtle Alice appears in scores of films, and many of the appearances are subliminal. I’ve made a hobby of collecting all the references and looking to see how cleverly they exploit the story. As it happens, there is a natural fit between Alice and sex, and the fantasy that defines life. The best example… Continue reading Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy (1976)
Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (1978)
Thieves There’s a blanket term in film criticism, reflexivity. Its an odd word. It denotes something where outside and inside are merged or mixed, where viewer and viewed overlap. And yet the word itself is not reflexive, it stands aloof. While the root comes from reflection, and the direct form would be reflective, the whole… Continue reading Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (1978)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Books, Binding Sidney Pollack recently died, and I dredged this up to watch. It is a strange relic of a time when we really liked these spy stories — and the stories were allowed to be simple. The characters had no life outside the confined story. The story dynamics are simple, the migration of the… Continue reading Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973)
Arabiana Jones Boy, I’ll tell you that when this was new, it was great. This was before Lucas and Spielberg made it impossible to have a straight ahead adventure film with no winks at the audience. This was when special effects were more believable because the monsters were so unlike humans. This was before Arabs… Continue reading Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973)