FIRST SHOT: THE PRESIDENT IS DOWN

US, 2002, 102 minutes, Colour.
Mariel Hemingway, Jenna Leigh Green, Gregory Harrison.
Directed by Armand Mastroianni.

First Daughter and First Shot are two telemovies starring Mariel Hemingway as Secret Service agent Alex Mc Gregor. Mariel Hemingway is a strong screen presence, rather stern than romantic, probably well suited to the presentation of a Secret Service agent. In the first film she makes a mistake and is subject to inquiry about her decision in saving the president from a shooter. She is chosen, however, to accompany his daughter on a camping expedition where she is abducted. She uses her resourcefulness in order to rescue the daughter. At the camp, she meets the instructor, Doug Savant, and clashes with him. However, they work together well in the rescue.

In First Shot, Alex Mc Gregor is still looking after the president. When there is a massacre of troops, she accompanies the president to Oregon where an attempt is made on his life. It turns out that the aggressors in the second film are related to the militia of the first film. By this time, Alex Mc Gregor is married to Grant, the outdoors instructor. Part of the drama of the film is the prickliness as well as the romance of their relationship.

Gregory Harrison plays the president in both films.

The film is interesting in its presentation of the Secret Service, the work, the difficulties, the dangers. It is also interesting in its presentation of the right-wing militias and their resorting to violence in order to assert their ideals. The film has a certain amount of personal drama, especially the president with his daughter, as well as tensions within the service itself.

There was a third film (although second in production) with Alex Mc Gregor. However, her part was taken in First Target (2000) by Daryl Hannah although Doug Savant continued as Grant Colman.

The films were all directed by Armand Mastroianni who made a number of terror-horror films in the 1980s but worked mainly in television.

1.Interesting action drama? The president? The Secret Service and their activities?

2.The Washington settings? The travels of the president? Attempts on his life? The work of the Secret Service? Musical score?

3.Audience knowledge of Alex Mc Gregor from the previous films? Mariel Hemingway returning to the role? Her screen presence, strong? Her relationship with Grant, the marriage? The prospect of the honeymoon? Their working well together? The tensions? Her character, at the White House, the protection of the president? His being wounded? The revelation of the attackers, the gaining of information, the research by the FBI and the Secret Service? The discovery of Carter, the information, his setting her up, the abduction of Grant, the explosion and the death of the agents? The rescue of Grant? Her final confrontation of Carter? With Jess? Her shrewdness, skills? Happily reunited with Grant?

4.Grant, married to Alex, the tensions of the relationship, wanting a honeymoon? Accepting that being a Secret Service agent was what she was? His skills, his knowledge of the outdoors, helping to track down Carter? His being abducted, rescued?

5.The president, his work, the attempt on his life? His going to Oregon out of sympathy for the massacred military and their families? Hospital, recovery? His own life – and his interest in remarrying? The tensions with Jess? Her objecting to Kathryn?

6.Jess, older, tension, not liking Kathryn, with her friends? The reaction to her father being shot? The hospital, her apology to Kathryn? Her birthday celebration? Her relying on Alex? Her admitting her suspicions of Alex – from the previous film?

7.Carter, the militia, Rick, the confrontation of the military in the bar, getting their identities, their uniforms, going into the militia? The massacre? The motivation, from the previous film? The van, the abduction of Grant by Rick? Carter and the set-up? The final confrontation and his death?

8.The place of the right-wing militias? Antagonism towards authority?

9.The picture of the Secret Service, the researchers in Washington, the jokes about dating, the new agent and his sexual orientation and marriage? His brother? Seeing the agents in action? Difficulties and dangers, deaths?

10.An entertaining part of a series about the Secret Service?

FIRST DAUGHTER

US, 1999, 102 minutes, Colour.
Mariel Hemingway, Doug Savant, Monica Keener, Dominic Purcell, Gregory Harrison.
Directed by Armand Mastroianni.

First Daughter and First Shot are two telemovies starring Mariel Hemingway as Secret Service agent Alex Mc Gregor. Mariel Hemingway is a strong screen presence, rather stern than romantic, probably well suited to the presentation of a Secret Service agent. In the first film she makes a mistake and is subject to inquiry about her decision in saving the president from a shooter. She is chosen, however, to accompany his daughter on a camping expedition where she is abducted. She uses her resourcefulness in order to rescue the daughter. At the camp, she meets the instructor, Doug Savant, and clashes with him. However, they work together well in the rescue.

In First Shot, Alex Mc Gregor is still looking after the president. When there is a massacre of troops, she accompanies the president to Oregon where an attempt is made on his life. It turns out that the aggressors in the second film are related to the militia of the first film. By this time, Alex Mc Gregor is married to Grant, the outdoors instructor. Part of the drama of the film is the prickliness as well as the romance of their relationship.

Gregory Harrison plays the president in both films.

The film is interesting in its presentation of the Secret Service, the work, the difficulties, the dangers. It is also interesting in its presentation of the right-wing militias and their resorting to violence in order to assert their ideals. The film has a certain amount of personal drama, especially the president with his daughter, as well as tensions within the service itself.

There was a third film (although second in production) with Alex Mc Gregor. However, her part was taken in First Target (2000) by Daryl Hannah although Doug Savant continued as Grant Colman.

The films were all directed by Armand Mastroianni who made a number of terror-horror films in the 1980s but worked mainly in television.

1.Interesting action drama? The Secret Service? The president and his family?

2.The Washington settings, the travels of the president? The outdoors in Colorado? The militias? The action sequences? The musical score?

3.The portrait of Alex Mc Gregor, her screen presence, height, strength? Work with the president, shielding him, not obeying orders about going into the car? Subject to inquiry? The gratitude of the president, giving her the necklace to make up for her mother’s heirloom? The suspicions of Jess? Her being assigned to the summer camp, the tensions with Jess, Jess explaining that she thought she was moving in on her father? The explanations, the bond? Her seriousness at the camp, with the other officers, the officer that she graduated with who was writing the novel based on her? The tensions in the camp, Jess and her going off with the young boy? The abduction, her being injured? The clashes with Grant, at the bar, his apology? Working together? His taking her, the climbing of the cliff face? Her skill in making contact with the White House, with giving information to Jess? The build-up to the final confrontation, her getting Jess, the shooting, the jumping from the cliff, the lifeboat? The finale? Her friendship with Grant?

4.The president, his work, his relationship with his daughter? The attempts on his life? The militia? The abduction of his daughter? His wanting to spend more time with her? Supporting Alex, relying on her? The plan, the substitute for the arrested man? The reuniting at the end, teaching his daughter to drive?

5.Grant, in the bar, his approaching Alex, her twisting his thumb? Finding that he was the instructor, the prickly interactions? His skill in the camp? Wanting peace between Alex and Jess? The attack? His helping Alex, the climbing of the cliff, his getting the raft? His courage, his admiration for Alex (and his losing the bet after she climbed the cliff)? The happy ending?

6.Jess, sixteen, clashes with her father, clashes with Alex? Wanting to go out, the Secret Service with her? The summer camp, her joy, her friendship with the boy, telling him of her identity? Going off with him in the morning? Her capture, her fear, her listening to the radio, the instructions? The rescue?

7.The members of the Secret Service, Daly and his attack on Alex? The inquiry? His failure as regards the site for the summer camp? The agents, their work? The final set-up, the disguise of the criminal? Danger and deaths? The young guards on the camp, their deaths? The young man and his ambitions to write a novel?

8.The militia, Mike Smith and his domination, complete loyalty? Troy and his brother? Finding the group, the decision about the abduction, taking Jess? The set-up, the broadcasts? On the bridge? The ruthlessness for killing Jess? Confrontations and deaths?

9.An interesting action drama? With political overtones? Especially in the light of the militias of the 1990s? The war on terror in the 21st century?

L'ATALANTE

France, 1934, 89 minutes, Black and white.
Michel Simon, Dita Parlo, Jean Daste, Gilles Margaritis.
Directed by Jean Vigo.

L'Atalante is considered a classic. It was directed by Jean Vigo, who in his twenties made a number of short films as well as the short feature Zero d' Conduite, a film about education with an anarchic touch. Banned at the time, it was later influential in such revolutionary films as Lindsay Anderson’s If…

Vigo made L'Atalante but was seriously ill, during the post-production he gave some instructions from his bed. However, he died before he could see the completed film. A biography of Vigo was made with James Frain by Julien Temple in 1998.

The film was not well received at the time, was taken away and cut by twenty minutes and called The Barge Passes By, named after a song that was used during the film. It was somewhat restored in 1940 but still not popular. In ensuing decades, researchers sought out film so that they could put a final cut together which was achieved by the 1980s.

The film tells a simple story: Jean, who is in charge of a barge, marries Juliet. They travel down the canals, visit Paris where Juliet wants to see the city, Jean in pique leaves her. His assistant, the old Father Jules (Michel Simon) goes to find her. They are reunited. The importance of the film is in the cinematography, less reliance on dialogue and captions but the natural and realistic presence of the cast, the barge, the canals and the city of Paris.

1.The classic status of the film? In advance of its time in terms of cinematography, black and white photography, editing? Naturalism and performance? The cast? The musical score?

2.The history of the film, its being restored in the 1980s?

3.The black and white photography, the picture of the canals, the pictures of Paris, Le Havre? Realism?

4.The basic story: the barge owner, his assistant, the wedding, travel and work on the barge, the attractions of Paris, moods and anger, Father Jules and his superstitions and going to visit fortune tellers, continuing the journey without Juliet, arriving at the sea, Jules finding Juliet, the happy reunion?

5.The portrait of Jean, on the barge, his moods, love for Juliet, the wedding? The details of work? The interactions with Jules? The issue of superstition? Wanting to go to the city, Jules going out, their having to stay, Juliet going alone? The clashes? His breaking the plates? His leaving her behind? His regrets, the coast, the reunion?

6.Juliet, marrying Jean, life on the barge, her adapting, the hard work? The interaction with Jules and her finding him funny? The fight? The promise to visit Paris, her dressing up, her not being able to go? Her later going, the minstrel and the songs, the dancing, Jean watching? Her fascination, being left behind? At the wharf, trying to find accommodation? Jules finding her?

7.Jules, the old man, eccentric? Working with Jean? Interactions with Juliet? Working with the boy? The superstitions, his amulet, going to get his fortune told? With Jean, his going back to Paris and finding Juliet?

8.The boy, his work on the barge, working with Jules?

9.The scenes of Paris life, the crowds, people out for their walks, the clubs, the singers and dancing, the minstrel?

10.A glimpse of French life at the time?

THE LAWLESS BREED

US, 1953, 83 minutes, Colour.
Rock Hudson, Julie Adams, Mary Castle, John Mc Intire, Hugh O’ Brian, Dennis Weaver, Lee Van Cleef.
Directed by Raoul Walsh.

The Lawless Breed purports to tell the true story of John Wesley Hardin, a convicted murderer who spent sixteen years in a Texas jail. However, commentators point out that Hardin was not the sympathetic western character portrayed in the film, but rather a sadistic mass-murderer.

The film shows Hardin being released and telling his story to. It then goes in flashback to his hard family life, the brutality of his religious father (John Mc Intire) and the sympathy of his cousin and uncle (the uncle also played by Mc Intire). Hardin revolts, leaves home, gambles, allegedly shoots a man in self-defence, accidentally killing a sheriff and goes on the run.

The girl he intends to marry is killed and he becomes a rebel. However, he is supported by a bargirl, Rosie (Julie Adams), who follows him and eventually marries him. The film culminates with his release, his confronting his son and stopping him using his father’s gun.

The film is an early star vehicle for Rock Hudson – who gets a bit of a sinister as well as mature look by being moustachioed. Julie Adams was a regular star at Universal in the early 50s. The film also has performances from the young Hugh O’ Brian, Dennis Weaver and Lee Van Cleef.

It was directed by Raoul Walsh, a veteran of films since 1912 with his Story of Pancho Villa, directing many action adventures during the 20s and 30s, coming into his own with a range of films at Warner Brothers in the 1940s. During the 1950s he made quite a number of colourful action films like this one, including Sea Devils, a pirate story with Rock Hudson.

1.A popular western of the 1950s? Universal Studios and their skill in presenting straightforward westerns?

2.Texas locations, the 1870s and 1880s? Farms, towns, saloons? Action and shoot-outs? The musical score?

3.The title, law and order in the American west, in Texas after the civil war? The Hardin family, the sadism of the religious father, the effect on the son, his own son admiring his father and having his gun? Building up to the final confrontation between father and son and the outlawing of guns?

4.Rock Hudson as John Wesley Hardin? Working at home, his skill in shooting, the period after the civil war? His harsh father? His sympathetic brother? His leaving, his father beating him? Gambling, the friendship with Rosie? The intention of having a farm with Jane? The confrontation, the killing in the saloon, the pursuit, the death of the sheriff? His being on the run, supported by Rosie? Travelling, eluding pursuit? The death of Jane? The farm, settling down, hard work, the wedding? His going to visit his father, arrest? The trial, the severe sentence? His coming out of jail, reuniting with Rosie, meeting his son, hitting him because of the gun, the confrontation at the bar, his saving his son, the taunts about his hiding a gun, his being shot? Recovering? The family going home? An ambiguous hero of the west?

5.Rosie, work in the saloon, love for Wes, going with him, helping him escape, settling down, exasperation, the wedding, pregnancy? In the court, waiting for him? The comparison with Jane, Wes expecting to marry Jane and have the cottage and farm? Her death?

6.The father, severe, quoting God, punishing? The contrast with his brother, genial, his son and their helping Wes?

7.The Texas Rangers, the authorities, the plans, the discussions, the pursuit? The final arrest at the railway station? The court case?

8.The band of brothers, their pursuit of Wes?

9.Popular western ingredients? The atmosphere of the civil war and the consequences? The lawless west?

REPOSSESSED

US, 1990, 80 minutes, Colour.
Linda Blair, Ned Beatty, Leslie Neilson.
Directed by Bob Logan.

While Leslie Neilson had a serious film career (appearing in such films as Forbidden Planet in 1956), he developed a comic style, deadpan humour and farce. This was taken up in the Naked Gun series in the late 1980s. He then made this satire, Repossessed, on The Exorcist. This led to quite an elaborate career in all kinds of spoofs including Dracula Dead and Loving It, Spy Hard, Mr Magoo, Wrongfully Accused as well as appearing in several of the Scary Movie films.

This one is more or less as expected. However, Linda Blair is a good sport appearing as a possessed woman now grown up. Ned Beatty also appears and Leslie Neilson is the exorcist – all done on a TV show. As expected, a lot of the humour is deadpan, much of it obvious, much of it quite juvenile. It is for those who relish parodies of feature films.

1.Entertaining parody? The status of The Exorcist and the Exorcist films? Audiences enjoying parodies?

2.Small budget, brief running time? The settings, the city? The media? The special effects to spoof The Exorcist?

3.The barrage of jokes, the spoof style, the main aspects of The Exorcist being spoofed? The songs?

4.The title and its humour, Linda Blair reappearing? Leslie Neilson as an exorcist?

5.Father Mayli, his remembering, jokes, cracks, Ernest and Fanny, fitness, the music parody? On screen? The exorcism? The end?

6.Linda Blair as Nancy, nice, watching television, her family, the past, the spewing and the swearing and the other trademarks of the Exorcist films?

7.Father Luke, nice, helping Father Mayli, the parody on the priests in The Exorcist, his being possessed?

8.Ernest and Fanny and Babbas? Exploitation? Plots, change?

9.Verbal humour, visual humour, impersonations – including the pope?

10.The value of this kind of spoofing of major films?

MERMAIDS

US, 1990, 110 minutes, Colour.
Cher, Bob Hoskins, Winona Ryder, Christina Ritchie, Michael Schoeffling, Jan Miner, Carolyn Mc Williams.
Directed by Richard Benjamin.

Mermaids was a very popular film for Cher. She had won an Oscar three years earlier for her role in Moonstruck. During the 1980s she had developed an acting career along with her singing career (after her teaming with Sonny Bono in the 1960s), with such films as Silkwood, Mask, The Witches of Eastwick and Suspect. She continues to do some acting as well as pursuing her singing career. Bob Hoskins shows that he is at home in films on both sides of the Atlantic.

The film offered early roles for both Winona Ryder and Christina Ritchie and both received awards for supporting actress as well as for young talent.

The film is set during the era of the Kennedy assassination and focuses on a mother who finds it difficult to manage her two children (from different fathers who abandoned her) and moves from town to town whenever there is a problem. However, it is time for mother and daughters to settle down – and to bring some order into their lives, especially for Winona Ryder as Charlotte, the older daughter who at one stage wants to be a nun and then falls in love with a man who works at the church. Cher also finds romance with Bob Hoskins in the town. It is a pleasing comedy-drama.

The film was directed by Richard Benjamin. Benjamin had achieved some success in the 60s and 70s as an actor with offbeat Jewish roles, especially in Diary of a Mad Housewife and Portnoy’s Complaint and The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker. He had good roles in Catch-22, Goodbye Columbus, Westworld and along with George Burns and Walter Matthau as their nephew in The Sunshine Boys. He then moved to directing in the early 1980s with My Favourite Year starring Peter O’ Toole. His films are varied in style with the romantic Racing with the Moon, Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood in City Heat, Sidney Poitier and River Phoenix in the thriller, Little Nikita, as well as comedies like Made in America with Whoopi Goldberg. He also made two television versions of Neil Simon plays, Laughter on the 23rd Floor and The Goodbye Girl remake.

1.The 1960s setting? The background of the Kennedy era? The trauma of the assassination? The average American family of the 1960s? Family values?

2.The background of Massachusetts, the small town in which the family settles? The musical score?

3.The comedy, the seriousness? The title and the images? In relationship to Kate?

4.The family’s past, Rachel and the men in her life, the two fathers, the two daughters? The break with the men? The oddities of the family? Rachel and the girls coping? Yet their needs and longings? Love and understanding? The problems arising, Rachel and her decision to move?

5.The re-creation of the 60s, the ethos? The music?

6.Cher’s portrait of Rachel, her relationship with her daughters? The memory of the men in her life? Oklahoma, her being a wife, problems, her leaving and running away?

7.Settling in Massachusetts, getting the house, settling in? The difficulties? Her job? Relating to her daughters? Their discussions? The convent and the discussion with the mother superior? The shops? Her meeting Lou – and the attraction, falling in love?

8.Rachel in herself, age and experience, the girls, the men in her life, her capacity for work, the shop, cooking? Exasperation? Parents? The meeting with Lou, wanting to run away, Lou’s anger with her? Kate, the swimming, the danger of drowning? The talk, the resolution at the end?

9.Charlotte and the focus on her, the voice-over, her perspective on the characters? Her religious attitudes, her fears, her sense of guilt, wanting to become a nun? God, prayer, signs? Her relationship with her mother? With Kate? Torment, the house, school, going to the convent? The meeting with Joe, her infatuation with him, kissing, fearing she was pregnant, the talk with the doctor and her innocence? Angst at home, running away? The importance of her family, returning? Sex and angst? Anger and reconciliation?

10.The portrait of Kate, her swimming abilities, her age? At home? The shoes? Her relationship with Lou? The accident?

11.Lou as a nice man, his work, relating with his staff? His place in the town? Breakfasts? The important day, his anger? The fancy dress? Resolution at the end?

12.Joe, his age, experience, his story? Truths and untruths? The convent? The fishing? His kissing Charlotte? The bell? The sexual relationship?

13.The Catholic background, the nuns? Charlotte thinking she wanted to be a nun? Discussions? Joe and his working in the church?

14.The family difficulties, the resolution? The affirmation of traditional family values? In a comic way?

BACK STAB

Canada, 1990, 91 minutes, Colour.
James Brolin, Dorothee Berryman, Meg Foster, June Chadwick, Brett Halsey, Isabelle Truchon.
Directed by Jim Kaufmann.

Back Stab is a routine thriller filmed in Montreal. It was directed by Jim Kaufmann who spent most of his time in television although around this period he made another feature film besides Back Stab, A Star for Two, a romance with Lauren Bacall and Anthony Quinn.

The film focuses on an architect played by James Brolin who is involved in an affair after his wife’s death but also in a murder mystery – and he has to spend his time justifying his innocence to his lawyer, played by Meg Foster.

There are many coincidences but the film is so fast-paced that audiences are kept moving along with it until the final denouement. An ordinary murder mystery that is average entertainment.

1.The popularity of murder mysteries? The quality of this mystery? The court sequences? The denouement?

2.The Canadian city, the world of affluence, the professional world, the apartments? Offices, courts? The musical score and its moods, over-emphasising atmosphere?

3.The title and its irony? The murder victim? Cliff?

4.James Brolin’s performance as Cliff: the architect, the grief at his wife’s death, the takeover and the celebration, his work, leaving, his relationship with Jennifer? The seduction? Juliet and her relationship with Cliff? The discovery of the body? The arrest? His relying on Sarah, her legal advice? The court? Caroline? Witnesses, his growing desperate? The intervention of Jennifer? The hanging? Juliet, the photo and the gun? Caroline and the confrontation? The background story, so often explored of, the wrong man?

5.Juliet, relationship, her loyalty, her mother, support, the truth, the affair, hearing Caroline, feeling used, her death?

6.Jennifer, acting, the seduction, the hanging?

7.Sarah, her friendship, her skill at her work, listening to Cliff, her suspicions, her work in court?

8.The takeover of the company, the background of divorce? The plans, murder and framing?

9.Popular themes of evil and greed, victims and being used, courts and justice – in the context of a popular murder mystery thriller?

MOBSTERS

US, 1991, 104 minutes, Colour.
Christian Slater, Patrick Dempsey, Richard Grieco, Costas Mandylor, F. Murray Abraham, Lara Flynn Boyle, Michael Gambon, Chris Penn, Anthony Quinn.
Directed by Michael Karbelnikoff.

Mobsters is the story of the young days of a number of friends who became some of the major gangsters in American history of the 20th century. Critics of the film said that too much of it was invented and events telescoped. However, it gives a glimpse of the background and ethos of the young thugs who were to have such a significant impact on American society. They include Lucky Luciano who is played by Christian Slater, Meyer Lansky, the business brains who is played by Patrick Dempsey, Bugsy Siegel, responsible for the building up of Las Vegas, played by Richard Grieco. Financier Arnold Rothstein is played by F. Murray Abraham and there are two dons, one played by Michael Gambon and the other by Anthony Quinn.

The film offers a lot of strutting and posing, the gangsters building themselves up into an image which they would draw on as they created their empires and ruled them ruthlessly. Since there are so many other films about these gangsters, it would be an interesting exercise to compare the different portraits as well as check the facts and the history. Italian cinema made a full-length feature about Lucky Luciano with Gian Maria Volonte and there was the Oscar-nominated Bugsy with Warren Beatty.

1.Interest in this kind of film? The younger years of well-known gangsters? The impact of the film? In the atmosphere of the 1990s – and other films at the time about these gangsters, including Bugsy?

2.The tradition of the gangster film from the silent era? The developments in the 1930s with Scarface, Public Enemy etc? As it continued through the decades? The change of gangster film in the 1970s with The Godfather films, The Valachi Papers (which also covers the material in this film)?

3.The blunt title, the true labelling of these gangsters?

4.The re-creation of the period, colour photography, sets and décor, a gangster world? The inner cities of the United States? The early 20th century? The musical score? The choice of actors for the cast, for the younger generation, for the dons?

5.Gangsters and mythology, seeing them as some kind of heroes – or inverted heroes? Their exploits, mythologised as heroic? Condemned as criminal?

6.The prologue, the representation of the four young men plus Lansky? The religious background?

7.Life for these young men, daily life, in the cities, in the neighbourhoods? Tough? Don Faranzano? His home? The church scenes, mass, his nephew? Luciano (the Catholic background of these gangsters and its influence – morality, rituals, the crucifix)? Lansky and his Jewish background?

8.The saving of Luciano, the bonds, the experience of racism, racist attitudes?

9.The four friends as a group, each of them in himself, the different characters, characteristics? Adherence to codes? Motivations? Bonds?

10.The character of Arnold Rothstein, his influence? Clothes and style? Pride? Prohibition and liquor?

11.The young men growing up, their experience of success, their exercise of violence – and the collage showing their activities, financial success, business success, brutality?

12.Luciano and the effect of this on his character? Myra and his falling in love? The sexual relationship? Experience, Lansky helping? The baby? His death?

13.The portrait of the other men, their careers?

14.The older generation, the dons, their authority, the bases of their authority? Don Salvatore, Don Giuseppe? The nicknames – Joe the Boss?

15.Tommy Reina and his relationship with the group?

16.The world of gambling, the world of the police? Priests, rabbis? The melting pot that was America during the early 20th century?

17. Lansky and his approval? The meal, destructive? Henchmen, the sauna, his not being killed? Deals? Beliefs, way of life, betrayal? Tommy? The feigned killing? Motivations, death?

18.Faranzano, brutality, delays, killings, war? The bridge and torture? Capo dei Capi? The collage? His death?

19.Assassinations, freelance, sneers.

20.Luciano, torture – and getting his nickname? Lansky, business and the IRS? Siegel and Tommy? Costello aide?

1. The world of gambling, the world of the police? Priests, rabbis? The melting pot that was America during the early 20th century?

METROPOLIS

Germany, 1926, 117 minutes, Black and white.
Alfred Abel, Gustav Froehlich, Brigitte Helm.
Directed by Fritz Lang.

The first difficulty in giving data about Metropolis is the variation in running times. There were various versions, a two hundred and ten minutes, a premiere cut, a one hundred and fifty-three minutes or a one hundred and forty-seven for Germany (even a restored 2001 version). The American version which was cut ran for one hundred and fourteen minutes with variations up or down from this point. There was a version re-released in the 1970s at eighty minutes with a new musical score by Giorgio Moroder which included songs from contemporary performers like Pat Benatar and Freddie Mercury. This was an interesting experiment – although many purists condemned this kind of musical adjunct to a classic film.

Metropolis was the first film to be registered in the memory of the world-register by UNESCO in 2001. In its time, Metropolis was an extraordinary classic, a vision of the world with the touch of romance as well as a critique of excessive socialism. Metropolis had two levels, literally, in the film. On the surface lived the wealthy and the ruling class, the head who could plan everything but were inexperienced in realities. Below were the workers who toiled away – but lacked vision. They were led by a vigorous woman, Maria (Brigitte Helm). The film shows the leaders in the upper world, especially the businessmen manipulating the workers. Maria falls in love with his son. The plot is complex because the owner creates a robot in the form of Maria who will lead the workers to revolution and to their eventually being crushed. (Brigitte Helm also does a fine acting job as the robot.)

The film has extraordinary special effects and sets, using miniatures. It has become the model for many films showing Metropolis-style cities of the future (including such films as Bladerunner). There is also the famous striking scene where the workers ascend the steps towards the furnaces which then turn into the pagan god Moloch who devours them.

Fritz Lang was one of Germany’s principal film directors in the 1920s with such films as the Doctor Mabusa films and his film about the child killer and molester, M, with Peter Lorre (1931). When Josef Goebbels offered him a role in the Third Reich as its major film director, he fled the country and went to the United States where he had a long and successful career with a wide range of films including Fury, You Only Live Once, westerns like The Return of Frank James and Western Union, thrillers like The Woman in the Window, Scarlet Street and The Secret Beyond the Door as well as thrillers like The Big Heat, Human Desire, While the City Sleeps. He made three films in Germany in the 1960s but these were not successful. He had a reputation of being a very hard taskmaster as a film director.

1.The impact of the film in its time? Establishing patterns for futuristic science fiction films? Political fables? Its being received in Germany? Worldwide? Later re-releases? The 1970s and the contemporary musical score? Its place in the register of world memory?

2.The silent techniques, black and white photography, the cityscapes, the use of models? The vision of the metropolis?

3.The work of Fritz Lang, his reputation in Germany, his skill as a film-maker, his vision, his perceptions of Germany between the wars? His eventually having to leave Nazi Germany?

4.The role of science fiction in film, film fantasy? Symbol and fable?

5.The visual picture of the city, the different levels? The lord of the upper city, the nature of his rule, exploiting the workers?

6.The character of Fredersen, his aristocratic attitudes, a world of pleasure and luxury? His attitude towards the poor children? The contemporary clothes, the allegory of contemporary business in the 1920s? Fredersen and his love for his son?

7.The contrast with the presentation of the workers, seeing them as cogs, working in unison, clockwork? The perceptions by Freder? His vision of Moloch devouring the workers?

8.Maria, her role, leading the workers? Her enthusiasm? The silent style and the seemingly stilted and eccentric performance? Yet its power? Her speeches to the workers, urging them on?

9.Frederson, the catacombs, the taking of Maria, the creating of the robot in Maria’s image? The use of the robot? Brigitte Helm’s performance as both Maria and as the robot? Seeing the robot in action stirring up the workers?

10.Rotwaing, and the creation of the robot?

11.The character of the false Maria, in comparison with the real Maria? Her dealing with the rabble, their not perceiving the difference?

12.Freder, his going down to the workers’ world, the encounter with Maria, in love with her? His warnings?

13.The destruction, the children, the fighting?

14.The melodramatic aspects, the excitement, the burning, the cathedral roof?

15.The reconciliation?

16.The aspects of technology, the science fiction city, the creation of robots in the 1920s, the role of the all-devouring machines?

17.The perceptions of socialism, the new society, the need for workers’ revolutions? The workers, their being exploited? Pessimism/optimism? A symbolic presentation of social issues?

MacARTHUR

US, 1977, 130 minutes, Colour.
Gregory Peck, Nicolas Coster, Ed Flanders, Dan O’ Herlihy, Dick O’ Neill, Edison Powell.
Directed by Joseph Sargent.

Mac Arthur is a biopic of General Douglas Mac Arthur who led American troops in the Philippines, had to retreat because of the Japanese invasion but vowed that he would return. From his base in Australia, he oversaw the war in the Pacific. After the war, he fell foul of the American government and was dismissed from his post by President Truman.

The picture gives a portrait, perhaps a Reader’s Digest kind of portrait, of the general from his military background, the discipline of his family, his own personal style, his touches of arrogance, his skills as military leader, his over-reaching himself in his vision of his future after the war.

Gregory Peck, who had been absent from the screen except for Billy Two Hats in 1974 for five years until he made a comeback in The Omen, is Mac Arthur. He then went on to make Old Gringo with Jane Fonda and a number of films during the 80s and 90s, particularly for television.

The film was directed by Joseph Sargent, who had worked in television since the 1950s, made a few feature films like The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 and Mac Arthur, but generally worked in television. Even around the age of eighty he was still making television films including the award-winning story of F.D. Roosevelt, Warm Springs (2005) and a remake of Sybil with Jessica Lange and Tammy Blanchard (2006).

The film serves as a useful reminder of Mac Arthur and his role in the war in the Pacific.

1.Audience interest in General Mac Arthur? In the 1970s? Later? An American military general, the war in the Pacific?

2.The scope of the film: Mac Arthur as a person, as a United States military leader, in the struggle with Japan, his role in World War Two, the return to the Philippines? His role after the war?

3.The strong cast, character actors, the skill of their impersonations of historical characters?

4.The re-creation of the period, the early 20th century, the background of World War One, the Depression, life in the Philippines, Australia during the war, New Guinea?

5.The editing, the pace, the staging of the battles? Intercutting Mac Arthur’s private and personal life? Colour photography, special effects? The Jerry Goldsmith score?

6.Gregory Peck as the choice to impersonate Mac Arthur? Strong American? The Mac Arthur family tradition, his father? West Point and training? His religious beliefs and righteousness? Congress, medals? Speeches? His spirit? Not wanting to be a warmongerer? His reputation, tough? The relationship with Roosevelt? His orders, his staff? Work in the Philippines, tough, people deprived of food, his hold over people? His being ordered out, sailing out? His wife? The mines, the Japanese reaction and their estimation of him? “I shall return”? In Australia, the medal, no reinforcements? The Australian training exercises? Determining the Brisbane Line? The Japanese attacking New Guinea? Wewak and starvation? The propaganda pictures? His interaction with the generals? Tours? Wainwright’s surrender? His political possibilities? The shower, combing his hair, carrying the cane, his pipe? Admiral Nimitz and Formosa? Roosevelt and the fact that Mac Arthur was never in the United States? His home – the Philippines, with memories of West Point? Leyte? His acting and rhetoric?

7.The picture of Roosevelt and the other politicians, politics in Washington? Mac Arthur and his reaction to Pearl Harbour?

8.The experience of the Philippines, the Japanese attack, starvation, the treatment of the people? Wainwright’s surrender? The landing at Leyte? The rhetoric? His encouragement of the Philippines? The scene with the wounded Filipino in the trench?

9.The Australian situation, arrival at Spencer Street, the news? Popular, training? The attack on Darwin? The Brisbane Line? Mac Arthur saving Australia? Australian troops in New Guinea?

10.The New Guinea battles, the slaughter? The Americans throwing it away? Spradling, the tours? Going to Pearl Harbour? The strategies, Nimitz, Mac Arthur, Formosa or Lusong for the landing? The explanations?

11.The intercutting of the Japanese activity? Estimates? Language techniques? Tojo? The time element? The Japanese failure? Propaganda, Tokyo Rose? The final confrontation with Mac Arthur? Seen as a monument or not? As a man?

12.The Philippines, the president, the landing, the slaughter? Going to the front line? Mac Arthur gaining his five stars, visiting the prisoners?

13.Truman, the funeral, his attitude towards God, the bombing of Japan? Mac Arthur and the occupation, the policy? Truman and 1948 – and the piano?

14.The dropping of the atomic bomb and its effect, leading to the Japanese surrender? Mac Arthur’s reconciliation with Wainwright? The signing ceremony, so many nations represented? Mac Arthur’s speech about war and peace? War as a most malignant scourge, the greatest sin of mankind? A new era? The war as Armageddon – Mac Arthur stating that the world had had its last chance?

15.Devastated Japan? The visuals? The courtesy and respect Mac Arthur received? Building a new country, his vision? The newsreels? Cultural changes after the war? The awareness of the oriental mind? Hirohito coming to Mac Arthur? The bodyguards, the possibility of assassination? The discussion with the girl, shooting or not?

16.The issue of war crimes, justice and responsibility, the legal officers, as seen by the newsreels? Ramsay and the discussions, Manila, discussions with the general? Umashita and language? The visit by Hirohito?

17.1948, the politics, the photo opportunities?

18.Korea, Truman’s attitude? Mac Arthur and his being given a last gift to an old warrior? At the battles, going to Formosa? The clash with Truman? The anti-communist stances? Mac Arthur and his arrogance, his vision of his destiny? Strategies, the battle of Inchon? His becoming obsessive? The conference at Wake, the reassurance of his return home, the Chinese attack? His being relieved by General Wridgway? Seoul, the war, political reactions leading to the ceasefire? His own attitude that stopping halfway was immoral and a compromise with evil?

19.Truman firing Mac Arthur, his reaction? Nixon and other politicians? The dinner story?

20.The portrait of Mac Arthur, an interesting man, his achievement, his over-reaching himself?