THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE

US, 1946, 83 minutes, Black and white.
Dorothy McGuire?, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, Kent Smith, Rhonda Fleming, Elsa Lanchester, Sara Allgood.
Directed by Robert Siodmak.

The Spiral Staircase was an original thriller of the mid 40's. It has become something of a classic. The Gothic atmosphere, the black and white photography, the music and the excellent performance by Dorothy McGuire? ensured an impact on audiences. Dorothy McGuire? portrays the deaf mute who is caught in the atmosphere of intrigue and murder. Ethel Barrymore was very impressive as the mother. George Brent was the hero, the mysterious doctor. The film was made at a time when Hollywood sets were most important, and it looks somewhat dated in its presentation these days. Nevertheless, the film has strong impact, and is a good study of horror and mysterious relationships.

1. This film is considered a classic thriller. Why? In terms of technique? Content? How suspenseful was it? Why?

2. How was the suspenseful atmosphere-created? By music and photography? By the opening with the film show? The use of the weather? The fact that Helen was mute? Was the spiral staircase itself important?

3. The atmosphere of mystery? Was the film a successful mystery - the showing of hands doing the murder? were you puzzled by who was the murderer? Why?

4. The central role of Helen - how sympathetic a character? How did she draw audience sympathy? Her initial watching of the film and her return home, her fear, her continual state of fear and suspicion, the relationship of the storm to her character, the fact that she was mute and could be terrorised?

5. Professor Warren - was he a credible character? Did you believe that he would be the hero? Were you surprised that he was the villain? Why?

6. Did you think Stephen was the murderer? How did the film seem to suggest this?

7. Mrs. Barker -what importance did she have in the plot?

8. Mrs Warren - the impression of Ethel Barrymore, her being bed-ridden, the mysterious nature of the relationship with her sons, her relationship with Helen, did you think that she was the murderer? The impact of her final shooting of the Professor?

9. The importance of Blanche as a character? Her relationship with the Professor? Were you surprised at her murder? Did this add to the mystery?

10. Were you suspicious of Doctor Parry? Did the film try to make him suspicious?

11. Was the film plausible in its psychology,. and its reasons for Professor Warren being a murderer? What motivated him? Was this plausible?

12. Was the ending too melodramatic? Or did it fit into the melodramatic suspense of the film's style? Was there too much talk in the resolution? Should it have been handled visually?

13. How did this film manipulate audience suspense and fear?

THE SPIKES GANG

US, 1974, 96 minutes, Colour.
Lee Marvin, Gary Grimes, Ron Howard, Charlie Martin Smith, Arthur Hunnicutt.
Directed by Richard Fleischer.

Despite the gangster-sounding title, this is a western and a good one. It is also grim, a look at the hard people of the West and the ease in moving to robbing banks and killing, a look at the youngsters who, if they
survived, were to be the conscienceless gunfighters, a look at the glamour of violence and at its ultimately destructive futility. A well-written and competently made film, it plays with audience feelings and expectations - interest in and sympathy for three boys and for robber Harry Spikes and repulsion for what they are doing and what happens to them. An entertaining and thoughtful Western with Lee Marvin and Garry Grimes.

1. The overall impact of the film? Entertainment, interest, valuable?

2. Its principal characteristics as a western? Its use of the conventions of the genre, its look at the past, its use of the conventions and the past and its critique of them? The presentation of the myths of the west and the critique?

3. The title and its expectations? The focus on Spikes, more focus on the gang, and their relationship to Spikes? The irony of this?

4. The locations and the colour photography? The atmosphere and environment of this kind of west?

5. The importance of the structure: the saving of Spikes' life, the possibility of killing him, letting him live, the irony of another life? The forward projection of the boy's career? The re-encounter with Spikes? His causing their death? The flashbacks within this? The final flashback?

6. How pessimistic was the outlook of the film? As regards human nature, personal relationships, the west, survival, crime? How fatalistic in its approach? The emphasis on death throughout the film, even in statue form, as symbol?

7. The presentation of the west as a fatal place: hard farms, harsh families and relationships, punishment and justice? Outlaws and justice? Hunger and the need to rob? Filthy jobs? Bounty hunters? Bullets and guns? The attitude of the film to this? The response it asks of the audience?

8. The portrayal of violence, as a way of life, its destructive power, its continual hurt? The ultimate destruction and its futility? Violence and the boys' lives, even Spikes' life?

9. The focus on the boys? Their growth during the film? Their holding up Spikes as a hero? Learning from him? Being betrayed by him? If they had grown old, what would they be like, Spikes or Kidd?

10. The picture of home, its harshness, harsh parents? Yet dreams? The sentiment in the presentation of home life? Will's return and his greeting to his sister? The other boys and how hard they found it to leave home?

11. How was Will their leader? The initial helping of Spikes, his relationship with his father, being hurt by him, the hardness of the way of life, the inevitability of his running away? The loyalty of the others? The effect of running away, their hunger, robbing the bank? The irony of their killing the nun, dropping the money, having to flee? Becoming outlaws before their time? The effect of jail, the ugly jobs? Spikes's helping them? The loyalty of their following him? The humour and yet the irony of their being tested for the robbery, the failure of the robbery and Todd's being shot? The impact of his death? Will's decision to return the letter? The shooting of Les and his death? The vengeance theme and the shooting of Spikes? The fulfilment of the dream of reconciliation, shattered with death? What comment on the West was made through the character of Will?

12. The character of Spikes? The conventional gunfighter and bounty hunter? His ordering of the boys and relying on them? His age? His helping them? The failure of the robbery? The embarrassment of the boys' following him? The inevitability of his turning against them? His not telling them? Their mutual shooting? The futility of his life?

13. The characters of Les and Todd? How real, how well developed, for example, Todd's practice shooting and the spectacles, their deaths?

14. Kidd and the irony of the ageing gunfighter shot uselessly? The vengeance of the bounty hunters?

15. The exploration of themes of the West, the American heritage, pessimism?

THE SPIDER'S STRATAGEM

Italy, 1970, 97 minutes, Colour.
Giu1io Brogi, Alida Valli, Tino Scotti, Pippo Campanini.
Directed by Bernardo Bertollucci.

The Spider's Stratagem is a film made for Italian television by Bernardo Bertollucci in 1968. It is recommended for serious cinema-goers and for people interested in Bertollucci's films as The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900. It is a film of great beauty in its visuals and colour, of great complexity in structure and explorations of political, national psychological and conscience themes. A local anti fascist hero murdered in 1936, has a stultifying hold over the inhabitants of Tara thirty years later. His son arrives to unravel the truth and to liberate himself.

Memory, fantasy, nightmare, symbol are all used to communicate personal torment as representing Italian torment through Fascism, anti fascism and self-justification. Bertollucci made this film when he was still in his twenties. The Conformist then continued to explore the fascist personal problems. Last Tango in Paris then concentrated on personal anguish and loneliness. 1900 attempted a comprehensive observation of Italy this century.

1. What is the meaning and what are the implications of the title? Did the tapestries during the credit sequences give indications? The meaning of the animals represented on the tapestries? Animals of prey, the lion, the use of the lion during the film?

2. How did the title indicate the themes of the film? With reference to Athos Magnani? How was he a spider weaving webs? The significance of the 'strategy? Or, as in other translations, 'stratagem'?

3. Comment on the use of colour and the richness of the colour. The use of location photography: the town itself, its buildings, its fields of maize, the countryside; Draifa's house; the focus of colour on people’s profiles; the memories of 1936 and the use of colour?

4. What did the musical commentary add to the film? The initial use of Italian band music during the credits, the musical accompaniment to dramatic sequences, the snatches of opera, the use of 'Rigolettol? The different times when these musical motifs were used?

5. The significance of the snatches of poetry and song? The old man singing the song about a little girl, the lines about going without a ticket, the poem about the horse?

6. What was the impact of the structure of the film, a stranger entering town, the atmosphere of a visit and search, the inability to leave .. the visit never ended; the structure of memories, the 1936 episodes and their merging into the present; finally, the running identification of Athos, father and son; the device of portraying memories with people still acting their age in the sixties within the memories of the thirties?

7. How realistic was the film? Can the events of 1936 be recounted factually by the audience? Can the events of the sixties be recounted factually? Or did symbolism take over? Memories and suggestive memories?

8. How symbolic was the film? The use of the train and the train lines, Athos' luggage, the sailor leaving the train, later running cheerfully to the train, the monuments to Athos Magnani, the opera and the opera house, the open air theatre, screening 'The Last Sunset", the grave year, the references to Julius Caesar and Macbeth, and the messenger of death. the circus lion and the lion on the tray of food. the eating of water melon. the people and their postures in the town. the old people, the old men challenging Athos on his arrival. the children playing in the streets, the young boy and Draifa's servant, the young girl?

9. What impact would this film make on non-Italians? Why? Was it beyond them?

10. What impact do you think that this film would have on Italians living in Italy? The memories of fascism. the older generation's allegiance to fascism, the antifascist movies, the status of memory, the impact of the war subsequently, the driving out of fascism, modern Italy and its development, the danger of fascism? How well presented and explored were these themes?

11. What did the film have to say about the realm of memory, legend, myth, truth? Of people in authority providing the ordinary people with what they want? The ordinary people craving myth, stories, heroism? What effect do these have on ordinary people - as applied here in the anti-fascist development?

12. The original Athos Magnani? Was his character clearly presented and explored? It lived in the memory of people? Could the audience understand the real Athos Magnani? Athos as a memory, a memorial in Tara, as a legend, as a hero? What did he stand for in the eyes of the people? What kind of heroism? Their belief about his role in the plot? Athos as victim and martyr? The comparison with the reality of his weakness. ordinariness, friendship, love for Draifa, his being suspected as a traitor, yet a hero engineering his own memory? The impact of his son's final speech to the villagers and the questions he asked and the memories that flashed through his mind? Who was the real Athos Magnani? For the 1960s how much did this matter? Was the fact that he could not be reached part of the Italians' disillusion?

13. The film's implications about Italian heroism. as being founded on romance. lies. vengeance? A strategy of lies or heroism? The melodramatics of Julius Caesar Macbeth, motor cyclists of death? In comparison to truth and the phoney hollowness?

14. How was Athos Junior a representative of modern Italy and the modern Italian? His return into the past. unsuspecting? And when he had returned. he was trapped in unreality? The truth did not set him free.

15. How was the young Athos an everyman figure. searching for the truth, bearing the burden of his heritage, trapped in his past, disillusioned? Was his character presented as a person or as a symbol? His involvement in real incidents in the town? The unreality of his experience and contact with the people?

16. The importance of Draifa? The facts about her in the past and the present, her role as Magnani’s mistress, where she was on the night of the murder? Her style and freedom, her function in the film of guiding Athos Junior to the truth? Could she comprehend the truth?

17. The role of Beccaccia? The lingering fascist. his hostility to Athos Magnani, his place in the village of the '60s? What judgement was being made on fascists through him?

18. Athos' three friends - their relationship to Athos in the past, their sharing the plot against Mussolini, their idealism and disillusionment with him, their killing him, their perpetuating the memory through the strategy? The strategy not being perfect and their being discovered? The importance of showing them in their work, the details of the salami tasting, the open air theatre, the teaching? The impact that they had on the young Athos?

19. The function of the children in the film - the boy as the younger generation reciting Italian poetry, receiving this particular heritage in Tara? The girl in her service of Draifa painting her toenails? How did this contrast with the old men in the hotel, the old man who ran the place?

20. Themes of sanity and madness?

21. How political a film was this? Its stances to right or left? The insights into fascism, into politics. the effect on her sons? The exploration of society? Relationships and isolation?

SPHINX

US, 1981, 117 minutes, Colour.
Lesley Ann Down, Frank Langella, Maurice Ronet, John Gielgud, John Rhys Davies.
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner

Sphinx has several ghastly deaths on the Nile as well as exhilarating Panavision photography of Egypt, ancient and modern. It also has the beautiful Lesley Anne Down, running, hiding, screaming, moaning, gasping, driving, beset by old curses and age-old greed. Intrepid used to be the word - and most certainly will still do here - for the put-upon but vigorous heroine. Maurice Ronet is a suave cad, Frank Langella romantically enigmatic. John Gielgud pops up briefly again and director Franklin Schaffner (Patton, Papillon) seems to be recreating with what really is a sumptuous B-thriller. Audiences fascinated by Pharaohs' tombs (Sphinx is only a tourist ring-in) are numerous and will relish this. Philip Leacock made a more staid but similar film for television with an excellent English cast, called The Curse of Tutankhamen's Tomb.

1. The appeal of film about Egypt? Archaeology? Historical background? The horror tradition of curses of the Pharaohs' tombs? The blend of the historical, the exotic, action?

2. The colour photography, the use of locations? The atmosphere of Egypt's past? The present - Cairo, shops, black market, excavations? The special effects for violence and their appropriateness? The musical score and its classical tone? The basic B-budget plot, penny-dreadful characters given the sumptuous treatment?

3. The prologue and the story of Menephta? The robberies, the curses, the deaths? The concealed devices for violence? The importance of the flashback? The irony of the curse for the family? Erika and her being involved in the curse?

4. Erika as heroine - the emphasis on feminism? A plucky heroine, her background, explanation of her studies and knowledge? Writing her paper and serious ambition? Her encounter with Abdu Hamdi and witnessing the violence of his death? His message? Her adventures in Egypt - crowds, police, the comic sequence of her hiding under the bed? Her being saved by Yvon? The encounter with Ahmed Khazzan? The attempts on her life? Her growing involvement in finding the tomb? Prison and her torture, the violence of the soldiers and her rescue? Travelling to Luxor? Her being lured into the cavern? Her bravery in pushing her way out - with the skeletons? The build-up to the finale of the crashing of the tomb? Her relationship with Yvon and trusting him? Her love for Ahmed? Her response to his death? The blend of the serious, romance, action? The hurtling pace in the presentation of the heroine?

5. Yvon and his French charm, his seeming cowardice, his assistance, his treachery and greed?

6. Ahmed and his mysterious personality, as an official, saving her from the prison, the encounter and relationship? The interview? His guiding her through Luxor? The truth and his death?

7. Houndi and John Gielgud's style? The violence of his death? His relations and the various murders in Luxor? Ahmed's uncle and the family interest in black market treasure? Greed and violence, the shootout?

8. Egypt and archaeology lending themselves to traditions of curses? Accidents, fate, reality?

9. The popularity of this kind of light entertainment done in the lavish style? In comparison with other examples of its kind?

SPECIAL DELIVERY

US, 1976, 99 minutes, Colour.
Cybil Shepherd, Bo Svenson, Michael C. Gwynne, Vic Tayback.
Directed by Paul Wendkos.

Special Delivery is a better robbery film than usual, opening with an effective robbery sequence, unexpectedly foiled and creating tension for the Vietnam veteran leader, who spends a day trying to recover his money. Sub-plots involve a drug pusher who shares his eagerness to recover the money, and a divorcee who falls in love with him. What results is an entertaining blend of suspense and romantic comedy. Bo Svenson is the robber-hero and Cybil Shepherd a very attractive heroine. There is also some social comment on American conditions through the motivations of the hero and his colleagues and their war injuries, but the crime and the comedy are the main thing.

1. How enjoyable a crime film? Comedy? The quality of the presentation?

2. The Los Angeles opening, the authenticity of the atmosphere of Los Angeles in the bank, the streets and the apartments? The sense of place and the film as finally being confined to a particular street corner the time compacted into one day? The humanity injected into the film via the characterisation and the comedy? The irony of values?

3. How good an example of the robbery genre was the film? The skill in presenting the techniques of the robbery, its visualising, the escape? The importance of visuals for the atmosphere, e.g. the focussing on the mail box?

4. The tension with the escape, the detailed planning,. things beginning to go wrong with Mickie and his eye, the consequences of death, capture, the predicament for Jack Murdoch?

5. How appropriate were the indications of the Vietnamese background? As momentary flashbacks in Jack Murdoch's mind at a crisis point during the robbery? The indications of fraternity with his fellow robbers? How satisfactory were the later explanations in terms of comradeship, involvement in the war, injuries, the debt of America to these soldiers? Jack Murdoch's discounting this, and saying that he robbed for the money? The fact that he didn't want to rob any other banks? The implications of this social comment about the war, America's involvement and its debt to individual soldiers? The irony of the soldiers using their military expertise against the country in such robberies?

6. The build-up and focus on Jack Murdoch: the fact that he escaped, the sense of his running and the physical sense of the need to escape his feelings as regards the death and capture of the others, his desperation in putting the money in the special delivery box, the suspense in his return?

7. The contrast with the character of Graff: his look and his greed, his continually eyeing and circling the box. the fact that he would stoop to murder of the mailman for the key (the pathos of this death with the words of advice from the mailman), his involvement in the drug world, his subservience to the bosses, his desperation in trying to pick the lock, the fact that he acted suspiciously which led to his torture and death? The points made about this kind of evil man, the wages of sin?

8. The contrast with Mary Jane as she watched Murdoch's putting the money in the special box? The humour of her giving the little girl to pick him up? Her friendliness. the feeling that she "came on strong", her attitude towards the money. towards him?

9. How credible a character was Mary Jane: her glamour, her humour and wisecracking. her art work? The background of her marriage and the importance of the sequence where she met her ex-husband and discussed their marriage, and her attempted self-discovery? The humour of Otto, the dog, and his presence in the film and at crises? The reaction to the bikies and her despising of them, her walking past them and their attempting to rape her? Her feelings for Jack, their making love, her decision to help him? Why did she want to be involved? Interest and boredom, human feeling: The comedy angles in this relationship?

10. How well did the film develop the character of Jack Murdoch: initial reaction to him as the mastermind of the robbery, sympathising with him in his escape and wanting to evade detection, his desperation in waiting to get the money from the special box? Its humorous character in many ways, the pathos of the sequence where he went to see Mickie's wife and give her the money, her humane feelings? His fighting the bikies, as the defender of Mary Jane? The achievement in getting the nail box, the escape by truck, the escape from the pursuing criminals? What did he achieve?

11. The minor characters, especially the thugs on the streets, the comment on Los Angeles streets, the importance of the fight sequence and its parallel to the sex film? The atmosphere of the bikies and that particular part of the street? With the cafes, the shops, the adult movie house? The character of the police?

12. The build-up to the chase, the ingenuity of Jack and Mary Jane? The puzzle of the pursuers?

13. The build-up to the happy ending, the final irony with the bank manager on the ship? To what purpose was this film made in terms of entertainment, comment on America and its social implications?

A SPANISH AFFAIR

US, 1958, 93 minutes, Colour.
Richard Kiley, Carmen Sevilla.
Directed by Donald Siegel and Luis Marquina.

A Spanish Affair is a small-budget entertainment of the late '50s. It is not exactly gripping entertainment for contemporary audiences. The plot is basic: an American architect comes to Spain, falls in love with his interpreter, travels the countryside with her to persuade businessmen to accept his architectural plans, is pursued by her gypsy lover and there is a final confrontation before a happy ending. There is a lot of attractive colour photography of Madrid, Barcelona and other cities, as well as the Spanish countryside. Many Spanish rituals and customs are presented, from bull-training to city dances in Barcelona.

The film is of historic interest because of its direction by Donald Siegel. Siegel had made a number of brisk thrillers in the early '50s and had just made the classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He was to move on to such films as The Line-Up?, Edge of Eternity, Hell is for Heroes, before moving into bigger budget and greater reputation with The Killers and then his Clint Eastwood films in the '70s.

This film, however, is very routine material and does not suggest the style of other Siegel films. It would seem that he and star, singer Richard Kiley, were enjoying the opportunity for working in Spain. There is an atmospheric musical score by Daniele Amfitheatrof.

A postscript and curious note on the career of Siegel.

SPACEHUNTER

US, 1983, 90 minutes, Colour.
Peter Strauss, Molly Ringwald, Michael Ironside, Andrea Marcovicci, Ernie Hudson.
Directed by Lamont Johnson.

Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone is an entertaining futuristic space adventure. After difficulties in pre-production, with changes of focus (e.g. the world was to be a post-Holocaust universe), director Lamont Johnson has stepped in and made a satisfying matinee style film.

Peter Strauss as the hero is in the Indiana Jones vein. Molly Ringwald (The Tempest, Sixteen Candles) is a lively orphan heroine. There is solid supporting cast and Canadian production values.

While the film has echoes of Star Wars, it is very much like the futuristic films as Mad Max. The location of the film is the plague-ridden planet of Terra Eleven. Androids and Cyborgs abound. The capital is Graveyard City. The film relies on its unusual decor - an atmosphere of squalor and abandonment with a variety of mutants. The film is thus in the Flash Gordon adventure vein. There is also an Elmer Bernstein rousing musical score.

The film was made in 3-D and many of the special effects designed for this. Although derivative, it is quite entertaining of its kind.

1. Enjoyable action adventure, the future, space? Popular material - matinee style? Derived from Star Wars, Mad Max etc.? Its quality as derivative, in itself?

2. Production values, especially the special effects for 3-D screening? The creation of the future, Terra 11 and its squalid abandoned look, decor and costumes? Odd landscapes and colouring? The mutants and the special effects? Explosions? The rousing score?

3. The familiar plot from action adventures and westerns: the soldier of war, the laconic hero, plucky heroines, ugly world, missions and rescue?

4. Humans and machines: the Androids and their role as engineers and pilots, the development of Cyborgs and their wresting power from humans? Human and machine control and conflicts? The future and machines - melodramatically presented?

5. Wolff: the American hero, the part detective, part-cowboy, salvaging agent? An individualist hero in the American tradition? His spaceship? His using Androids, especially Chalmers? Her destruction? The mission to rescue the three women? Adventures, dangers and prowess? The build-up to the confrontation with Overdog? Finding Niki, Chief Washington? Their participation in his exploits?

6. Niki as the teenage orphan waif, plucky, tough, pleasant? A girl of spirit? Her being captured, her ordeals, sacrifice? Rescue and sharing the adventures with Wolff?

7. The visualising of the adventures, editing and pace: Bat People, Barracuda Women, Dwarf Children, the abandoned desert? The encounter with the Duster Brothers? Overdog and his overlordship? The irony of Graveyard City? The mission to confront, rescue and destroy? Excitement?

8. The emphasis on torture, the three women and their rescue? Niki and her capture, the obstacles and her moving through them, her being the sacrifice for Overdog?

9. Overdog as villain - mutant, the Cyborg tyrant, Graveyard City?

10. Wolff and the rescues, the spectacle, the self-destruction of the city? Washington, the girls and the escape? Reconciliation with Niki?

11. Pleasing treatment of old themes: from the westerns, action adventures, futuristic conventions? Heroes and heroines, masculine and feminine roles? Good vs. evil? Heroic spirit? Characters like this as valid and valuable comic book popular symbols?

SPACEBALLS

US, 1987, 96 minutes, Colour.
Mel Brooks, Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, John Candy, John Hurt, Joan Rivers.
Directed by Mel Brooks.

Spaceballs is Mel Brooks at it again. After successfully satirising Broadway success and failure in The Producers, he went on in the '70s to satirise film genres; westerns in Blazing Saddles, horror in Young Frankenstein, Hitchcock in High Anxiety. After the success of his remake of To Be Or Not To Be, he returned to spoofing space adventures, especially the plot outline of Star Wars as well as some aspects of Star Trek. There are amusing jokes sending up aspects of Planet of the Apes and John Hurt reappears in a guest role, and once more an alien bursts out of him as he says wearily, 'Not again'.

Brooks co-wrote the film, appears as the President as well as a send-up of Yoda, Plain Yoghurt. Rick Moranis (Little Shop of Horrors) is Dark Helmet, a send-up of Darth Vader (whose assistant is Colonel Sandurz). There is a princess who gets more upset when her hair is shot at; there is a robot whose voice is supplied by Joan Rivers. There is also a monstrous send-up of Jabba the Hutt as Pizza the Hut (with voice supplied by Dom Deluise). John Candy appears in a send-up of the strange animals on the Star Wars planets.

The humour, as always, is hit and miss. There is also a crass tone often to Brooks's humour. However, there are some very funny sequences, some humorous lines as well as the parody. Brooks has shots at many contemporary films of the '80s and also has a lot of sending up of the marketing of films with all kinds of toys, domestic appliances and even videos. The even watch the video of Spaceballs the Movie in the middle of the movie!

1. An enjoyable spoof? Its impact? Ten years after Star Wars?

2. The comedy of Mel Brooks, his writing, spoofing, his own acting and parodies? Subtle, unsubtle? Broad and crass? Witty?

3. The use of the material from Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien, The Planet of the Apes?

4. Visual humour, verbal humour, skits, parody, spoof? The humour of sending up the marketing of films e.g. Spaceballs - the Sheets!

5. The situation in the galaxies (and the usual Star Wars opening)? The need for air, Dark Helmet and Colonel Sandurz, the President, the King and the Princess, Lone Star and Barf, the kidnap, the battles, the desert, the siphoning of the air (and the huge galactic vacuum cleaner and the Statue of Liberty)? The happy resolution?

6. The President and his self-centredness, his phone, the images, sex, advice, plans, the end and his escape, the bear, the Statue of Liberty and the Planet of the Apes?

7. Dark Helmet and Rick Moranis, parody? the Star Wars parallels, pettiness, the video, the Star Trek journeyings, moving through space, the capture of the Princess, the chases, the torture, the battle with
Lone Star, the Statue of Liberty and the suction, the end? The sparring between himself and Colonel Sandurz? The various soldiers on the battleship?

8. Lone Star and Han Solo? Travelling with Barf? The galactic mercenary? Encounter with the Princess, the rescue, the fights, the desert, the visit to yoghurt, the Schwarz and his exercising of it, the escapes, the sword, the battle with Dark Helmet? Barf and his mixture of human and animal, assistant? John Candy comedy?

9. The King and his fairytale kingdom, Prince Valium - and the parody of Prince Valiant? The lively Princess? Her escape, the wedding ceremony, the minister? The robot and the escape with the Princess? Flying through space, Lone Star, the adventures, the visit to yoghurt, the torture, the fighting and the Princess's hair, the threat to her nose? The final wedding and the happy ending?

10. The parody of the bar with the odd range of characters? John Hurt and the repetition of Alien?

11. The ending and the Planet of the Apes?

12. Parody, clever and corny, the contemporary movies and illusions, crude and functional, verbal humour? A Mel Brooks film?

SOUTHWEST TO SONORA

US, 1966, 98 minutes, Colour.
Marlon Brando, Anjanette Comer, John Saxon.
Directed by Sidney J. Furie.

Southwest to Sonora (also called The Appaloosa) is a Brando Western, focussing attention on the unusual hero and using him as the centre of reference for the fairly routine events the film recounts. The tale is a not unusual one of the Mexican autocracy and a valuable horse. However, there is human feeling in the film which keeps the interest (despite the scrawny bearded Brando at the start and the trial of getting used to his inarticulate drawl).

The film is also of interest as the work of director Sidney J. Furie who has made some significant films about individuals against the society in which they live or, more importantly, the society which manipulates their lives. This can be seen in such films of Furie's as The Ipcress File, The Naked Runner, The Lawyer, The Leather Boys, Little Fauss and Big Halsey.

1. Did you think that this was just an ordinary Western, the story of a horse and a chase, or was it a Western with a difference? Consider the story, the characters, the cinema techniques.

2. The film uses a usual Western technique - the 'picaresque': the hero who rides into the action and begins to change things and then goes to move on. How does the hero affect the lives of the people he meets?

3. Comment on the film's treatment of the themes of people's need to settle down, people ageing and getting tired, the arrogance of the land-owners, the struggle of the small people against the big.

4. The film opens with the hero going to Confession. What does this tell about him as a character? What if the film began without the Confession scene? Would anything have been lost?

5. How sincere was Mateo? Comment on the seeming contrast of his prayer and the burial of the old man and his swearing to revenge.

6. Did you understand the situation of the girl? Did you sympathise with her? She was sold at 15 years of age; there was no marriage; she was discarded. Her 'violation' in the Church and her attempt to escape, preferring to be dead. Do you think these are typical Latin-American? attitudes and situations or not?

7. Comment on the presentation of Medina. Was he a cliche villain? He was arrogant, an oppressive rich man and horse thief, trying to save face and reputation. Comment on how his dragging and humiliation of Mateo and the scorpion fight were cinematic judgements on his character.

8 What motivated Mateo's actions?

9. The film is alternately called The Appaloosa. Is the theme of this horse really the central theme?

10. The film made a lot of use of facial close-ups and close-ups of eyes. Effective? Why?

SOUTH OF PAGO PAGO

US, 1940, 98 minutes, Black and white.
Victor McLaglan?, Jon Hall, Frances Farmer, Gene Lockhart.
Directed by Alfred E.Green.

South of Pago Pago is an entertaining, but eminently forgettable, South Sea island melodrama. It resembles many films of the period - in the wake of John Ford's Hurricane. It resembles such films as John Wayne's Wake of the Red Witch and Fred MacMurray? in Fair Wind to Java in the late '40s, early 150s. Victor McLaglen? is at home in a roguish role. Jon Hall (who was in Hurricane and who was later to be paired with Maria Montez in some exotic adventures) is the island hero. There is a good supporting cast and Edward Small (producer of Man in the Iron Mask, The Corsican Brothers) gives his production some quality values.

The film is principally interesting in its focus on its female star, Frances Farmer. There was renewed interest in her and her career with the biography starring Jessica Lange in 1982. The film shows Frances Farmer as a tough actress and an actress with a touch of irony. Jessica Lange's performance shows a lot of the qualities that Frances Farmer illustrates in this film. It has been pointed out that when the film was released originally in 1941, the actress received third billing. Posters for its re-release in the late '40s show her reduced to 7th. or 8th. place with her name just above that of the director. This seems to illustrate the attack against her portrayed in the film biography. Frances Farmer was to appear in such films as Come and Get It, Rhythm on the Range, Son of Fury.