Continuing on Operation Clear the DVR of Oscar Flicks, today's entry is a winner for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress in 1958: Separate Tables. David Niven and Wendy Hiller were the aforementioned recipients.
I'll tell you one thing: I hate the beginning already. It falls into that category of movies à la Three Coins in the Fountain and Love is a Many-Splendored Thing that has a suuuuuper-schmaltzy title song that's more expository than anything Randy Newman has ever done. Separate Tables's ditty sounded something like this:
Separate Tables
There is space between the tables that makes them
Separate Tables
People sit at them
To eat
Or, possibly, if the mood suits them better and they've already eaten, then they'll use these
SEPARATE TABLES
For bridge.
Four spades.
Five No-trumps.
La la la la la musical interlude here
Separate Tables
Not to be confused with
Adjoining Tables
Which will be the sequel to this movie
Separate Tables
And me.
Total song length: 2:04.
Now let's meet the characters!
There's David Niven. Isn't he charming, and slightly batty?! That old war veteran. Or IS he?!?!?1?!
There's Deborah Kerr. Look at her being yelled at by Gladys Cooper, who's old. HAHAHAHAHA.
There's Wendy Hiller. Look at how efficient she is! I bet it was she who made the separate tables, to expedite dinner service.
There's Burt Lancaster. He's a drunk Irishman. Silly, there's no other kind!
There's Rita Hayworth. Isn't she stunning? I know... let's have her not even say any words for like, forever. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Fast forward to the end of the first hour:
We have had three revelations:
1. David Niven was arrested on a morals charge. Gladys Cooper is organizing his removal from the hotel.
2. Burt Lancaster is a released prisoner who once tried to kill Rita Hayworth, his ex-wife, and in the meantime, he is
3. engaged to Wendy Hiller.
Deborah Kerr has done a magnificent job to this point, while Lancaster and Hayworth's subplot is very meh. Cooper and the other hotel residents and their rise-up-and-take-action committee are infuriating.
And another point: "Best Actor" David Niven has been on-screen for about six minutes in this first hour. What the hell was the Academy thinking? Hell, "Best Supporting Actress" Wendy Hiller has had more screen time (and has done a better job). Maybe this will change in the second half of the film, though we do seem fated to following out the boring Lancaster/Hayworth subplot further. (In case it wasn't obvious, I care much more about Deborah Kerr right now.)
Okay, the movie is definitely mediocre, with the exception of Kerr and Hiller's performances. Too bad poor Deborah never won an Oscar, because she was marvelous (incidentally, she lost to Susan Hayward in I Want To Live!, a movie I am going to watch as soon as Netflix makes it available for instant streaming, and as such, I am unable to speak to whether or not a correct decision was made. Also, you needn't tell me: I should very much like to make the choice for myself after I've seen both).
Score: 5.5/10
Showing posts with label 1958. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1958. Show all posts
Friday, March 4, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
#53 - Vertigo (1958)
I am very excited! On the heels of the three-hour adventure that was Heat, I am now sitting down to one of the last great Hitchcock films I've yet to see, the highest-ranking suspense film on the AFI Top 100 list: Vertigo.
I'm very honored to count among my friends Jessica, whose love for Hitchcock spilled over while we lived together. Most of the following we watched together, or I watched on her suggestion: Rebecca, Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt, Spellbound, Rope, Strangers on a Train, Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, and Frenzy. Vertigo is my 14th film, and there's not a one among them I haven't really liked.
That being said, one hour into this film, I'm not seeing what the big deal is. I mean, it's fine but not spectacular.
And of course, seconds-- literally, seconds-- after finishing that sentence, we got a nice "Huh?" moment that kind of turned things around for now.
"But we're not here to pass judgment..." LOL.
Hitchcock was of course a genius when it came to filmmaking, and I found out that Vertigo is remembered for Hitch's use of zooming in and combining it with reverse tracking to create the "vertigo effect" that so many directors have used since.
There is agreement here that while it's a fine movie, it's a little slow moving. I don't doubt that some of the seemingly endless scenes of Jimmy Stewart as the worst "tailer" of a detective ever could have been truncated. The final rising action and climax/denouement/unraveling were pretty sweet. Very Hitchcockian. But overall, I'd sooner rewatch quite a few of the other films that I prize more highly.
Score: 7.5/10
I'm very honored to count among my friends Jessica, whose love for Hitchcock spilled over while we lived together. Most of the following we watched together, or I watched on her suggestion: Rebecca, Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt, Spellbound, Rope, Strangers on a Train, Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, and Frenzy. Vertigo is my 14th film, and there's not a one among them I haven't really liked.
That being said, one hour into this film, I'm not seeing what the big deal is. I mean, it's fine but not spectacular.
And of course, seconds-- literally, seconds-- after finishing that sentence, we got a nice "Huh?" moment that kind of turned things around for now.
"But we're not here to pass judgment..." LOL.
Hitchcock was of course a genius when it came to filmmaking, and I found out that Vertigo is remembered for Hitch's use of zooming in and combining it with reverse tracking to create the "vertigo effect" that so many directors have used since.
There is agreement here that while it's a fine movie, it's a little slow moving. I don't doubt that some of the seemingly endless scenes of Jimmy Stewart as the worst "tailer" of a detective ever could have been truncated. The final rising action and climax/denouement/unraveling were pretty sweet. Very Hitchcockian. But overall, I'd sooner rewatch quite a few of the other films that I prize more highly.
Score: 7.5/10
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