LOVE’S LABOURS LOST

UK, 1999, 94 minutes, Colour.
Kenneth Branagh, Nathan Lane, Adrian Lester, Matthew Lillard, Natascha Mc Elhone, Alessandra Nuvola, Alicia Silverstone, Timothy Spall, Richard Briers, Richard Clifford, Carman Ejogo, Daniel Hill, Geraldine Mc Ewan, Emily Mortimer, Stefania Rocca, Jimmy Yuill.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh.

Love’s Labours Lost is not one of the best known or best liked of Shakespeare’s plays. Branagh has pared the text to a bare minimum – and added a lot of his own material. He has used the device of setting the play in the 1930s, before the outbreak of World War Two and then continuing through the war to the post-war period. To this purpose he uses the device of using newsreel style to comment on the behaviour of the central characters, to advance the plot, to illustrate them with a slightly comic and ironic touch. This actually works quite well and is used right throughout the film to introduce the characters, their vow to keep away from women and study for three years, the arrival of the women at the court, their treatment, the devices used to change their plan with their oath, the outbreak of World War Two, war heroics and the aftermath.

He also makes it the equivalent of a 1930s musical using the following songs: ‘Charleston’, ‘I Won’t Dance’, ‘I Get a Kick Out of You’, ‘Anything Fancy’, ‘Just the Way You Look Tonight’, ‘Dancing Cheek to Cheek’, ‘Let’s Face the Music and Dance’, ‘ There’s No Business Like Show Business’ and ‘They Can’t Take That Away From Me’. The main actors are not singers or dancers but carry off the pastiche of the Rogers- Astaire style musical quite well – with a touch of the Busby Berkeleys. Timothy Spaull is outstanding especially with his song, Cole Porter’s ‘I Get a Kick Out of You’.

Kenneth Branagh is older than the other leads. They are played by Alessandra Nuvola, Adrian Lester and, surprisingly given all his thrillers and Scooby Doo-type films, Matthew Lillard. Lillard is not quite persuasive. Alicia Silverstone is the surprising lead as the Princess of France and is supported well by Natascha Mc Elhone, Emily Mortimer and Carmen Ejogo. There is amusing support given by Geraldine Mc Ewan and Richard Briers. Nathan Lane is very amusing as Costard and gets the big number, ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business’.

Branagh started directing film versions of Shakespeare with his 1989 Henry V. He followed it up with Much Ado About Nothing in 1993 and his four-hour Hamlet in 1996. 2006 saw his As You Like It.

1.Kenneth Branagh and his love for Shakespeare, bringing Shakespeare to the screen? Working with the text, abbreviating it? Themes of creativity, words and images?

2.The text itself, Shakespeare’s poetry? Sufficient to introduce the characters, the situation of the study, the oath? Falling in love, breaking the oath? Romance? The wry tone to the film – with such characters as Costard and with Timothy Spaull’s Don Armado?

3.The text itself, the verse, the images, the characters – and the 30s songs tying in with Shakespeare’s text?

4.The use of newsreel clips and styles, the happy chappie kind of commentary, the rhetorical questions, the irony? The visuals, the black and white photography? 1939, the king and his oath, the men, laughing, trying to live up to their vow? The later sequences of the women’s arriving, the party? The editorial wit of the commentary? Recreating the 30s?

5.The war experience, the black and white photography, the collage, aerial battles, the nurses, the overview, the personal stories, the invasion, imprisonment, heroics, the victory and the enjoyment of the liberation of France?

6.The range of songs, the choice, the composers, the insertion of the songs, the dances, the Rogers-Astaire? style, the Busby Berkeley style? The capacity of the cast to sing and dance? The sensuous song at the party? What did they add to the story? Don Armado’s song, Costard?

7.The strength of the cast, their acting abilities, singing and dancing, acrobatics? The American twang given to the film?

8.The credibility of the basic plot: the king, the oath, the discussions, the eager students, Berowne and his hesitation, his joining in? The strictness of the oath? The realisation how strict it was? Their attempts to study, philosophy and discussion? The assistance of Holofernea and Nathaniel? The arrival of the princess and her entourage? Receiving them, the decision to leave them outside? The photos, in the library and their catching each other breaking their vow? The change? The wooing? The dances, the party, the tricks and the changing identities with the masks? All ending well? The news of the death of the King of France?

9.The King of Navarre as a character, the touch of farce in the presentation of a monarch? The other men, their personalities? Berowne and his more melancholy tone, his age and experience over the others?

10.Holofernea, her being a tutor, the song-and-dance routines, her pipe? Sir Nathaniel, the cleric? Their age, chatter, wooing? Singing? Their participation in the war effort?

11.Costard, Nathan Lane’s style, comic, magician? Prison, mixing up the letters? The jokes, redeeming himself? ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business’?

12.Don Armado, his look, dress, voice, accent? His dull assistant? The police? His wooing? Maria, tall, her disdain? The song and the farcical aspects of Dull and the injuries, falling out of the plane etc? His relationship with Maria, her pregnancy? The war, prisoner – and the birth of the baby?

13.Maria and the jests, sexy style, the letter and the mistake, reporting to the king? Her relationship with Don Armado, the baby?

14.The princess, her personality, leadership? The other three women? The visit, in the camp, attraction, love? The deceit with the masks? The dance? The news of the death of the king? Nursing for the war effort?

15.Boyet, his role, the chaperon, overhearing conversations, rectifying everything?

16.Shakespeare and the romantic ending with all’s well that ends well?

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3

US, 2006, 126 minutes, Colour.
Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Keri Russell, Laurence Fishburne, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Maggie Q, Simon Pegg.
Directed by J.J. Abrams.

Exactly what the fans have been expecting since the last Mission Impossible – six years ago. Perhaps it’s even a bit more than fans were hoping for. There are plenty of effects and stunts but this time hero, Ethan Hunt, has a wife. The writers are trying to ‘personalise’ this successful movie franchise.

In reviewing Mission Impossible, we can’t help reviewing Tom Cruise. Without him, the film would not be nearly so popular. One of the first observations is that he has been making films for twenty five years. He began as a teenager in Franco Zeffirelli’s Endless Love in 1981. By the time he was twenty one, he had made an impression in Risky Business. Twenty years ago he starred in the top grossing film of 1986, Top Gun. He hasn’t looked back.

Yet, despite his popularity with the public, he is frequently the subject of ridicule and slander. The fact that he became a Scientologist, and an earnestly proselytising one at that, has not endeared him to many Christians. He spent a year of his schooling at a Franciscan juniorate. His religious beliefs and outspoken statements on all kinds of topics incur the ire of many sceptical and secularist commentators. His over-enthusiasm and television antics on the Oprah Winfrey Show for Katie Holmes and the recent birth of their child has lead to a mockery and some heavy satire on War of the Worlds and the Oprah show in Scary Movie 4.

Yet, he survives this criticism and has toplined popular films for two decades.

Many of the reviews of Mission Impossible III tend to stay with some of the observations made here and let them influence the judgment on the film. However, if we are more objective and look at the film as a film, we have to say that this is audience-satisfying action spectacle.

Once Lalo Schifrin’s well-known and distinctive score begins, we know what we are in for. Fans of the old television series will welcome the return of Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. He is the straight-arrow American hero. He is fitter than most people – and so is Cruise himself who does his own stunts and can be seen scaling buildings or leaping from them, hurtling across bombed bridges and even a long take of Cruise fast- sprinting along a riverside road. He is a great stimulus for making resolutions to exercise!

Ethan Hunt is also ingeniously intelligent and can plan what the publicity calls ‘mind-bending’ missions for rescuing imprisoned agents in deserted Berlin warehouses or abducting the arch-villain from a high-flyers reception in the Vatican. His car is subject to bombardment on the Chesapeake Bay bridge. At the end, he confronts the enemy to rescue his wife in Shanghai. The locations give an exhilaratingly international flavour to the film.

The Vatican sequence, however, needs better technical advice than the producers got. Our hero scales the Roman wall and disguises himself as a priest in the Vatican gardens – except that wardrobe has inexplicably given him a black skullcap that no one wears in the Vatican. Instead of being unobtrusive as intended, he would stand out as quite different. But, as the producers of The Da Vinci Code keep reminding us, ‘it’s only a fiction’.

One of the puzzling aspects of the Mission Impossible films is how all the required equipment simply turns up as needs be. In the first film, the fact that Ethan Hunt happened to have a mask of Jon Voight in his pocket strained credibility. At least we see the mechanics of making the masks here – though how Tom Cruise gained the villain’s height and weight in a split second defies suspension of disbelief.

Cruise has always surrounded himself with distinguished cast members. The ruthless villain this time is Philip Seymour Hoffman who has just won his Oscar for Capote. Ving Rhames is back on the team and is joined by Jonathan Rhys Meyers as a reckless Irishman. Laurence Fishburne and Billy Crudup are the Washington officials and Michelle Monaghan adds some glamour as Mrs Ethan Hunt.

Mission Impossible III is also a comment on today’s audience. Millions of us really go for big, noisy, colourful, explosive action.

1.The popularity of the series? Memories of the television series? The popularity of Tom Cruise? The previous Mission Impossible films? A ten-year distance between the first and the third?

2.The audience for this kind of escape adventure, enjoyment of missions, heroes and heroics? Impossible missions?

3.The American locations, the family home, Washington, the Chesapeake Bay? The warehouses in Berlin, Vatican City, the buildings in China, the ordinary streets and houses? The exotic flavour?

4.The musical score, the popularity of the theme, the rap versions?

5.The opening, Owen Davian and his threatening Julie, his counting one to ten, Ethan Hunt and his being trapped? The flashback, the building-up of tension throughout the film leading back to this scene? The irony of the face mask and the getting out of the problem?

6.The attempt of the screenwriters to humanise Ethan Hunt, opening with him bound, helpless, wanting to save his wife? The flashback to the party, seeing him with Julia’s family, his cover that he was involved in traffic supervision? The phone call from Musgrave, going to the supermarket? The plans for the wedding, Julia’s brother? Julia, nice, a nurse? The proposal and the marriage sequence? The return to her abduction, the audience knowing about Davian’s threats? Themes of love, rescue, the issue of her trust in him, the revelation of the truth?

7.Ethan Hunt as a Tom Cruise type, clean-cut, physical prowess, doing his own stunts, intelligent, the planning of the missions, courage? The cover of the issues with Brassel? Musgrave and his supervision of the team? His work with the team, the discussions with Luther Stickell? The friendship with the others?

8.Lindsay, her training and the flashbacks, Hunt’s praise of her? Her mission, Berlin, the bomb in her brain, the explosions and the rescue, the tension, the helicopters, the pursuit? Brassel’s reaction?

9.Musgrave, his place in the IMF? The phone call, the discussions with Ethan in the supermarket, giving him the camera, the message, it exploding in five seconds? His being present in the discussions and debriefing with Brassel? The irony of the truth, his motivation, enabling Ethan to escape, guiding him to Shanghai, the final confrontation? His explanation of his patriotic motivations, right-wing pro-America? The irony of Julia shooting him?

10.The anti-gung-ho attitude of the film towards American government, Americans trying to solve everything and impose democracy? The irony of the gung-ho nature of the screenplay?

11.Philip Seymour Hoffman as Owen Davian, the opening and his ruthlessness in threatening Julia, in imprisoning Ethan? The background of his dealings and moneymaking? His being in the Vatican, at the reception, the wine on his shirt, going to the washroom to change? The abduction plan, its execution, the making of the mask, Ethan Hunt wearing the Davian mask and impersonating him? The tension with Declan holding the real Davian behind the door while the bodyguard made enquiries? Ethan’s treatment of him on the plane, facing him to the ground, the torture? The group restraining Ethan? The bombardment on the bridge, the rescue? His taking Julia, his deadline on the phone, the clashes in Shanghai, the final counting of one to ten, the escape, the fight – and his death on the street?

12.The Vatican episode, the wall, getting into the Vatican through the river, the complex plan for the abduction of Davian, Zhen and her glamour, her part in the plan, Declan and his impersonation of the delivery, the gridlock? His being a Roman policeman? His versatility, driving the car?

13.The stunt work on the Chesapeake bridge, the bombardment, the explosions, rescuing the case? The rescue of Davian?

14.China, Musgrave and his freeing Ethan? Ethan and his being gagged, the rebukes? Brassel and his seeming to be the villain, his ticking off of Ethan? Musgrave and his true colours?

15.The planning of the stunt in Shanghai, swinging from building to building, the dangers? His recovering the rabbit’s foot?

16.Ethan being taken, the counting of one to ten, the false Julia and the mask, his escape, running, contacting Washington, his being guided along the road by the surveillance, the rescue of Julia, the confrontation with Davian, the fight and his death?

17.Brassel, in charge, the humour of his lines – being interrupted while asking rhetorical questions…?

18.The members of the team, their loyalty, Stickell and the old friendship, the discussions about his marriage, the support of Julia? Declan and his Irish recklessness? Zhen and her martial arts skills, glamour?

19.The happy ending – and the prospect of more films?

THE RIPPER

Australia/US, 1997, 96 minutes, Colour.
Patrick Bergin, Gabrielle Anwar, Samuel West, Michael York, Essie Davis, Olivia Hamnett, Kevin Miles, John Gregg, Frank Whitten, Peter Collingwood, Adam Couper.
Directed by Janet Meyers.

The Ripper is one of, it is said, thirty-eight films based on the Jack the Ripper story. It is a contribution well worth seeing.

The film is an Australian- American co-production, recreating vividly 19th century London in great detail, especially the dingier aspects of Whitechapel. It also creates an atmosphere for the Jack the Ripper killings as well as for their investigation.

The screenplay, by Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan) opts for the theory that Jack the Ripper was Prince Victor Albert, Eddie, the Duke of Clarence. The screenplay makes a very plausible case for this – for his lack of intelligence, his position, surgical skills, his disappearance and early death and the cover-up. (However, historians point out that he was not in London at the time of several of the murders.)

Patrick Bergin has a good role (after appearing in many B-budget films) as the East Ender Inspector Jim Hansen, chosen by Sir Charles Warren (Michael York in foppish manner) to investigate the case. Samuel West is excellent as Prince Albert Victor – making a convincing case of his being an aristocrat, insane as well as a murderer. Gabrielle Anwar appears as a local East End girl. The supporting cast is Australian including Essie Davis as a possible fiancée for Hansen, Olivia Hamnett as Sir Charles’s wife, Frank Whitten as a doctor and John Gregg as Dr William Gull, the doctor who treated royalty for syphilis.

The film has a few gory touches but opts for drama. It is well acted and well presented. An interesting comparison is Jack the Ripper with Michael Caine as the investigating inspector, the character played by Johnny Depp in the Hughes Brothers’ Jack the Ripper drama, From Hell.

1.The tradition of Jack the Ripper films? Audience interest and expectations? The crimes, London in the 19th century, the suspects, the theories?

2.The film’s option for Prince Victor Albert as Jack the Ripper? The plausibility in the screenplay? History and the facts?

3.The re-creation of London, 1888, visual? Whitechapel, the slums and the dark? Scotland Yard? The London clubs? The palace and grounds?

4.Issues of class, presumptions of the upper class? Them and us? Manners, exclusive? Morals and moral stances – yet the prevalence of syphilis and Dr Gull treating the aristocracy? The judgments about prostitutes? The criticisms of the East End? The reverse snobbery of the East Enders, exclusive, condemning the upper class? Hansen being told by Sir Charles that “you are one of us”?

5.Issues of madness, physical disease, the consequences, the propensity for evil? Dr Gull and his information about illness and disease?

6.Scotland Yard, Sir Charles, his place in society, at the club, his dealing with the prince, not a detective, loose lips, his rebuke of Hansen for chastising him, his wanting to promote him? Pressures? The press? His wife and her social standing? Matchmaking? His revealing the information to the prince? His willingness to use Florrie as bait? The end, the presentation of the cash from the grateful government?

7.Jim Hansen and his assistant, Tommy Bell? At work, at the scenes of the crime? Jim as an East Ender, his ambitions, his tie and his shoes, the various knots (and the prince showing him how to tie a knot)? Being invited to the club, meeting the prince, the discussion about his case? Going to Sir Charles’s house, the wrong information about the spoons, Evelyn helping him? Listening to the opera, going to sleep? His witting answers and pleasing the prince? At work, the clues, finding Florrie, the interrogations? The tension with Florrie, the questions? His protecting her, the visit, the vigils? Getting the photos? Pressurising her with the photos? The information about the apricots, the doctor talking about arsenic, syphilis? Dr Gull and his information? Sir Charles and his pressure? Sparring with the prince? The challenge to solve the case? The lists of the club, Dr Gull’s patients? The identity of the prince? Showing the photo to Florrie? Going to set up the bait, the prince and his eluding Jim, the pursuit? Going to his palace, the prince out shooting? The arrest?

8.Florrie, her background, Ireland, hard work, her father? Her friend – and her friend’s murder? Working in the factory? The witnessing of the murder, the interrogation by the police? The pressure from Jim, claiming he was an East Ender? Protecting her? The information, coming to his house, the sexual encounter, the discussions about tension? Her response?

9.The solving of the mystery, the grateful government? The payment? Keeping the secret?

10.The prince, his madness, his violence, suave manner? His riding, his fall, the burning of the horse? Out shooting, the threats with the gun? The final image of the prince being helped? The information about his death?

11.The boat, Florrie’s rejection of Jim? His being on the boat, the encounter, his hopes for a future?

12.Audience fascination with Jack the Ripper, the crime, the suspects, the theories?

DRACULA 2000

US, 2000, 99 minutes, Colour.
Gerard Butler, Jonny Lee Miller, Christopher Plummer, Justine Waddell, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Jennifer Esposito, Omar Epps, Sean Patrick Thomas, Danny Masterson.
Directed by Patrick Lussier.

Dracula 2000 was presented by Wes Craven. Patrick Lussier had acted as editor on many of Wes Craven’s horror films. Lussier was to go on to make two sequels concerning Dracula as well as a sequel to White Noise.

This is a Dracula for the beginning of the 21st century. While it opens with memories of the Bram Stoker novel and Dracula being transported to England, it moves to the end of the 20th century with Van Helsing (Christopher Plummer) keeping himself alive by the help of leeches. However, a group of American criminals decide to raid the safe that Van Helsing owns, thinking that it will provide wealth. However, it unleashes Dracula again – to their detriment and their being transformed.

Jonny Lee Miller is the hero of the film, a reformed drug addict with the help of Van Helsing who is an antiques dealer. He then has to help Mary Heller, Van Helsing’s daughter, who does not know the secret of her ancestry. She, meanwhile, has nightmares of Dracula. Dracula is played by Gerard Butler – who was to go on to play the Phantom of the Opera. The criminal gang includes Jennifer Esposito, Omar Epps, Sean Patrick Thomas.

The action takes place in England but moves to the United States and to the city of New Orleans during Mardi Gras. The particular point of interest – and quite surprising – is that at the 77th minute it is revealed that Dracula is in fact Judas. There is a flashback to Judas and his betrayal of Jesus, the kiss, the pieces of silver, the crucifixion, Judas hanging himself – and the rope breaking which means that he has roamed the earth. The final confrontation with Dracula by Mary is to hang him with the rope not breaking this time – and she taking up the Van Helsing tradition as safeguarding humanity from vampires.

The film has its touch of horror – but with its strong cast and its novel idea, it is a superior Dracula film.

1.A Dracula for a new century? Contemporary? The contrast between the 19th and the 21st centuries? The dialogue referring to Bram Stoker as an Irishman novelising the vampire themes compared with the reality that the film treated? The international scope? The novel religious dimension?

2.Audience expectations from the tradition? Wes Craven and his horror films?

3.The opening, the 19th century visuals, the voyage of Dracula to London, Dracula loose in London?

4.The director, his skill in editing, the look and pace of the film? The London settings? The American countryside, New Orleans, the museums, churches, seminary? The Mardi Gras? The finale on the rooftop? The place of the giant crucifix? The score and the contemporary music? (And the strong product placement – Virgin Records?)

5.Christopher Plummer as Van Helsing, as Van Helsing in 2000, as Van Helsing surviving from the 19th century? His secret with the leeches? His lifestyle, his wealth, the company, the vault, the collection of weapons? His friendship with Simon, his helping Simon with drug rehabilitation? The antiques-dealing? His being a father figure? His alienation from his daughter, Mary?

6.Simon and his story, work as a dealer, his interest in Solina and her rejection? The crisis, the robbing of the vault, Van Helsing not telling him the truth? His tracking him down in America, in the US, confronting the vampires? Finding Mary, meeting Lucy in the Virgin shop, helping Mary?

7.Solina, the gang, Marcus and his leadership, getting into the vault, finding the coffin? Their greed? Their letting loose Dracula? Their deaths, transformations? Their going to the United States? The various appearances, Solina and the final fight, Marcus and his death, Nightshade and his apology and death? The further transformations, Valerie and her TV interview, fluffing the lines, the photographing of her transformation by Dracula? Lucy meeting him, at home? Their later appearances with Solina?

8.Dracula, Gerard Butler’s presence, style? Rising from the dead? His sinister appearances in Mary’s dreams? His being bewildered by the 21st century? The modern style, the permissiveness, the Mardi Gras? The blood, the flight and the crash? In the countryside, with Valerie? His appearing to Mary, transforming himself into the priest?

9.Van Helsing in New Orleans, seeking Mary, their clash? Simon helping him, the confrontation with Dracula, his death?

10.Mary and Lucy and their friendship, their lifestyle in New Orleans? Her concern about her mother, wanting to know her mother’s secret, going to the confessional, the discussions with David, her friendship with him, wanting him to break the seal of confession? His refusal? His appearing in her visions? Encountering Simon, rejecting him? Needing his help, going to the seminary, the research? Her being taken by Dracula, vampyrised?

11.Mary and Simon, the study, on the roof? The seminary and the Last Supper painting, the realisation who Dracula was, the pieces of silver, the cross?

12.The confrontation on the roof, Mary and Dracula, his wanting her to kill Simon, her saving him? The destroying of the female vampires?

13.The revelation about Judas, the flashback collage, the kiss, the pieces of silver, Calvary, Judas hanging himself, the rope breaking? The imposing cross on the roof? Dracula defying Jesus again?

14.Simon and his escape, Mary and her tying the rope around Dracula’s neck, hanging with him, her fall, her recovering her senses?

15.The end, Mary continuing the Van Helsing mission, saving the world from vampires?

16.How well did the film use the genre and its conventions – and more?

MURDER IN THE FIRST

US, 1995, 122 minutes, Colour.
Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, Embeth Davidtz, William H. Macy, Brad Dourif, R. Lee Ermy, Mia Kirshner, Stefan Gierasch, Kyra Sedgwick, Stephen Tobolowski.
Directed by Marc Rocco.

Another prison film, very demanding, a picture of injustice in Alcatraz in the 30s, Murder in the First. Kevin Bacon is superb as the victim prisoner. Set in the early 40s, the film recreates the horrors of prison injustice and then moves to being a powerful courtroom drama with Christian Slater as a young, inexperienced lawyer, expected to lose his case defending the brutalised Bacon. But, he challenges the system - as the film does its audience. Prisons and justice.

Don Siegel’s Escape from Alcatraz was a story about escapes from the prison and starred Clint Eastwood. The other celebrated Alcatraz story was The Birdman of Alcatraz with Burt Lancaster.

1.The history of Alcatraz? The history of prisons in the United States? The legal perspectives of the film? Personal crises? The combination of these themes?

2.The use of newsreel footage blending into black and white film for recreating the 1930s, the 1940s? San Francisco, the details of Alcatraz, the courts? Public opinion about crime, sentencing, Alcatraz? The atmospheric score?

3.The title, Henry Young and his offence? The officials and their turning a man mad, to crime? The justice issues, legal issues? The final decision? The recommendation of the jury?

4.The history of Alcatraz, in the civil war, in San Francisco harbour? For Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly? The failure of attempted escapes? The administration, Humson and his absences, public figure? Glenn and his harsh administration? The rules? The rules for solitary confinement, decision to make exceptions for Henry Young? The interviews about discipline and the success of Alcatraz? The dungeons, the isolation, the dark? The exposure of Alcatraz and the cruelty? Reform and ultimate closure?

5.The introduction to Henry Young, James Stamphill and his voice-over? The background of his petty crime, his sister, the attempt to escape from Alcatraz, the solitary, for over three years? The treatment by Glenn, the other wardens and guards? His back-story? Audience interest and sympathy?

6.The graphic visualising of his imprisonment, the isolation, the punishment, lying naked, the darkness, the food, the bashings, the rare exercise? His muttering to himself, keeping baseball information to keep sane? The passing of the years? His getting out, bewilderment, hearing voices? In the dining room, the reaction, the spoon and his killing the inmate?

7.The warden, his rare visits, rarely checking? Policy? Supported by the government? His behaviour in the court, cross-examined, his falling back on the fact that Henry Young had tried to escape?

8.Glenn, his cruelty, his relationship with the warden? Brutality to the prisoners, especially to Henry Young? His being interrogated in the court, his arrogance, his succumbing to pressure, his anger?

9.James Stamphill and his career, his studies? His relationship with Mary? In the office? With Mr Henkin? His being given the job? The antagonism of Henkin? His visits to Henry Young, the lack of communication, gradual trust, the talk about baseball and Joe di Maggio?

10.Mary, her place in the department, her relationship to James, her visit to the dungeons and being overpowered? James and his being sacked, her taking his place? Their drifting apart?

11.James’s research, the information about the dungeons, the visit? The discussions with his brother, his brother taking the photo? His contacting the warder, their being bashed? The witnesses? His confrontation with his brother – and his comment about their later reconciliation?

12.In court, Henry Young and his slouching, silence, poking his tongue out at the little girl? Mc Neill and the prosecution, his sure case, his stances, objections? The judge, Stamphill and his stances, the interchanges, the procedures, his decision to try Alcatraz and its administrators?

13.The severity of the judge, his decision about objections, his decision about arraigning Alcatraz? His managing the trial?

14.The details of the procedure, the cross-examinations, the alcoholic witness and his being dismissed? The truth gradually emerging? The cross-examination of Glenn and Humson?

15.The decision to put Henry Young on the stand, his wanting to change his lawyer, his wanting to die? Stamphill making him tell the truth, especially about his fear of going back to Alcatraz?

16.Stamphill, his character, development, change? Arranging for Henry’s sister to come and visit him? The effect on Henry?

17.The aftermath, Henry going back to Alcatraz, the reception by Glenn, his suicide?

18.Insights into American prison systems, the 1930s and 1940s, the administration of justice, legal aspects?

MURDER IN THE FIRST

US, 1995, 122 minutes, Colour.
Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, Embeth Davidtz, William H. Macy, Brad Dourif, R. Lee Ermy, Mia Kirshner, Stefan Gierasch, Kyra Sedgwick, Stephen Tobolowski.
Directed by Marc Rocco.

Another prison film, very demanding, a picture of injustice in Alcatraz in the 30s, Murder in the First. Kevin Bacon is superb as the victim prisoner. Set in the early 40s, the film recreates the horrors of prison injustice and then moves to being a powerful courtroom drama with Christian Slater as a young, inexperienced lawyer, expected to lose his case defending the brutalised Bacon. But, he challenges the system - as the film does its audience. Prisons and justice.

Don Siegel’s Escape from Alcatraz was a story about escapes from the prison and starred Clint Eastwood. The other celebrated Alcatraz story was The Birdman of Alcatraz with Burt Lancaster.

1.The history of Alcatraz? The history of prisons in the United States? The legal perspectives of the film? Personal crises? The combination of these themes?

2.The use of newsreel footage blending into black and white film for recreating the 1930s, the 1940s? San Francisco, the details of Alcatraz, the courts? Public opinion about crime, sentencing, Alcatraz? The atmospheric score?

3.The title, Henry Young and his offence? The officials and their turning a man mad, to crime? The justice issues, legal issues? The final decision? The recommendation of the jury?

4.The history of Alcatraz, in the civil war, in San Francisco harbour? For Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly? The failure of attempted escapes? The administration, Humson and his absences, public figure? Glenn and his harsh administration? The rules? The rules for solitary confinement, decision to make exceptions for Henry Young? The interviews about discipline and the success of Alcatraz? The dungeons, the isolation, the dark? The exposure of Alcatraz and the cruelty? Reform and ultimate closure?

5.The introduction to Henry Young, James Stamphill and his voice-over? The background of his petty crime, his sister, the attempt to escape from Alcatraz, the solitary, for over three years? The treatment by Glenn, the other wardens and guards? His back-story? Audience interest and sympathy?

6.The graphic visualising of his imprisonment, the isolation, the punishment, lying naked, the darkness, the food, the bashings, the rare exercise? His muttering to himself, keeping baseball information to keep sane? The passing of the years? His getting out, bewilderment, hearing voices? In the dining room, the reaction, the spoon and his killing the inmate?

7.The warden, his rare visits, rarely checking? Policy? Supported by the government? His behaviour in the court, cross-examined, his falling back on the fact that Henry Young had tried to escape?

8.Glenn, his cruelty, his relationship with the warden? Brutality to the prisoners, especially to Henry Young? His being interrogated in the court, his arrogance, his succumbing to pressure, his anger?

9.James Stamphill and his career, his studies? His relationship with Mary? In the office? With Mr Henkin? His being given the job? The antagonism of Henkin? His visits to Henry Young, the lack of communication, gradual trust, the talk about baseball and Joe di Maggio?

10.Mary, her place in the department, her relationship to James, her visit to the dungeons and being overpowered? James and his being sacked, her taking his place? Their drifting apart?

11.James’s research, the information about the dungeons, the visit? The discussions with his brother, his brother taking the photo? His contacting the warder, their being bashed? The witnesses? His confrontation with his brother – and his comment about their later reconciliation?

12.In court, Henry Young and his slouching, silence, poking his tongue out at the little girl? McNeill? and the prosecution, his sure case, his stances, objections? The judge, Stamphill and his stances, the interchanges, the procedures, his decision to try Alcatraz and its administrators?

13.The severity of the judge, his decision about objections, his decision about arraigning Alcatraz? His managing the trial?

14.The details of the procedure, the cross-examinations, the alcoholic witness and his being dismissed? The truth gradually emerging? The cross-examination of Glenn and Humson?

15.The decision to put Henry Young on the stand, his wanting to change his lawyer, his wanting to die? Stamphill making him tell the truth, especially about his fear of going back to Alcatraz?

16.Stamphill, his character, development, change? Arranging for Henry’s sister to come and visit him? The effect on Henry?

17.The aftermath, Henry going back to Alcatraz, the reception by Glenn, his suicide?

18.Insights into American prison systems, the 1930s and 1940s, the administration of justice, legal aspects?

16 BLOCKS

US, 2006, 105 minutes, Colour.
Bruce Willis, Mos Def, David Morse, Jenna Stern.
Directed by Richard Donner.

Richard Donner is a smart producer and director. After a lot of work in television and a few small films, he broke into the big time in 1976 with The Omen. He followed it with Superman: the Movie. In the mid-1980s, he was even more successful with Lethal Weapon (and followed with three sequels). Other films included Maverick and Conspiracy Theory. As he has become older, he has been producing, but has broken out with 16 Blocks.

You would think audiences may be a bit tired of police thriller. They may even be a bit tired of Bruce Willis and police thrillers. Donner cuts his audience off at the pass and casts Willis as a weary policeman himself. And it works. Bruce Willis is not only a die-hard action hero, he is an interesting character actor. His recent assassin in Lucky Number Slevin is a case in point. Now we have him as a burnt-out case, an alcoholic detective who is unreliable and who is asked to accompany a prisoner up town, 16 blocks to the courthouse where he is to testify and expose corruption.

Much easier said than done. He has two hours to get him there – and two hours of film running time. It is not only the traffic which slows things down, as it does. Soon the police are after them, corrupt police who want to silence the witness. That, too, is easier said than done because as played by rapper Mos Def, Eddie is an incessant talker, wid a furnny and grating voice. Even the audience would like him silenced! Bruce has to sober up more than a little and he and we are relieved that his brain is not completely sozzled. In fact, he is ingenious in the ways he uses his wits to out-manouevre the police, especially his former partner (a smooth and sinister, David Morse). They get into all kinds of traps and dead ends which seem impossible to escape from, but along comes a plausible plot twist and they are on their way again. (This includes hijacking a New York City bus and crashing it.)

While we might say we have seen it all before, we have to acknowledge that this time it is done briskly and with some wit and intelligence in the writing – and a nice twist at the end. Although at the very end, there is a literal sweet-tooth finale that anti-sentiment types will find as having too much icing on the cake.

However, as police thrillers and pursuits go, this is not bad at all.

1.A Bruce Willis film? Police thriller? Corrupt police? A variation on the bonding (films?) like The Defiant Ones? Friendship? Redemption and hope?

2.The title, New York City, from the police precincts to the courts? Chinatown and the neighbourhoods? The streets and the traffic? The people in the busy streets? The interiors, dingy corridors, apartments? Restaurants and kitchens? Bars and shops? The musical score?

3.The time span, two hours? The mission to get the witness to the courts within two hours?

4.Bruce Willis, his age, appearance? His limp? How he sounded? The opening and his doing the recording, his last will and testament to his sister? The twist when this scene recurs, the context? And the twist of truth that he was a corrupt cop as well?

5.Arrival at work, his career going downhill, his constant drinking, the audience being given no reason for the drinking – and the later explanation, his conscience? On the job, surly, reactions? His being asked to accompany the witness? A casual request – or not? His hesitation? A later understanding of why he hesitated?

6.Eddie, Mos Def and his rap background, the character, slow-witted, not a petty criminal? His recognising the photo of the policeman, giving evidence at the trial? A witness – and in danger of his life? The two hours to get to court? His tone of voice, whiny, incessant talking? His subjects, the bakery? The money at the Port Authority? His discussion about cakes? His hopes? The background of growing up in orphanages, discovering his sister, going to Seattle to meet her?

7.The ordinary and routine trip, the hold-up in the traffic, Jack and Eddie talking, Jack getting out, getting the drink, the bar? The police at the car? The police and the pursuit, the mystery? Frank Nugent and his being Jack’s partner for twenty years, their dependence on each other? Frank and the discussions with the commander? The plan? The realisation that they wanted to kill Eddie? The policeman at the window, Jack shooting – his moment of making a moral choice?

8.The intricacies of the journey and the pursuit? On the run? Eddie cuffed? Jack going to his sister’s apartment, getting his guns? Eddie looking at the photos, the discussions about friendship, family – and Eddie mistaking his sister as his girlfriend? Jack’s shrewdness, getting Eddie to talk and trapping the intruding officer? Getting out of the building? The discussions with Frank, the issues? Frank trying to persuade Jack to give up Eddie, to kill him? Eddie escaping, Jack’s pursuit, in the underground, the police, getting trapped in the train? Into the building, Jack taking the mobile phone – and the irony that they were able to track where the phone was and pursue Eddie and Jack? So many traps – and Jack continually using his ingenuity?

9.Through the kitchen, the dead ends, going into the building, up the steps, the apartment and the old Chinese man letting them in, Eddie and his chatter to the Chinese man? The phone call to the courts? The irony that they were informed on? The police – and Jack having given them the wrong apartment? The continued escape?

10.Final pursuit, taking the bus, the bus chase through the city? The final crash?

11.The passengers, calling out that there was a gun, the driver keeping his wits? The crash, the siege? The police shooting out the tyres? The mobile phone going in? The discussion with the commander? Jack and his shrewdness, putting the newspapers over the windows, concealing the action? Getting the passengers to stand at the window so that there would be no shooting? Changing Eddie’s clothes? The hostages coming out before Frank could think of what to do? Eddie in the suit and the escape? The information given to the police, Jack altering the numbers in the bus, the driver telling the truth? Eddie and his realisation that Jack had helped him, saved his life? Coming back to the bus and getting in? Their driving through the cars?

12.Eddie, his behaviour during the siege, comforting the little girl, talking about birthdays and cakes? The motivation for his return? The bond with Jack?

13.The shots, Eddie being wounded, being taken to the ambulance, Jack calling his sister, her coming, taking Eddie in, Jack following? The irony of the deceit – and the second ambulance?

14.Jack, telling the truth to Eddie about his corruption? Frank and his confrontation of Jack, in the building, not wanting to go up to witness? Jack and his decision to be the witness? Frank and his anger, talking about the cases, the truth, the motivation, doing the job? Jack taping the confession – and its later being replayed in the corridor?

15.Jack as the witness, in the corridor, with the lawyer? Frank and the orders to kill, the attempted sniping, the shooter being shot? The lawyers, the guards? Frank and the realisation that all was over?

16.Two years passing, Jack serving his sentence? The family gathering? The delivery of the cake? Eddie and the photos – and the shop Eddie’s and Jack’s? The sweet tooth ending with the cake – as a symbol of hope for the future?

DIPLOMATIC SIEGE

US, 1999, 90 minutes, Colour.
Peter Weller, Daryl Hannah, Tom Berenger, Adrian Pintea, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Jeremy Lelliot, Brion James.
Directed by Gustavo Graef- Marino.

Diplomatic Siege is one of those quickie films made for video release rather than for cinema. It is filmed on location in Romania and focuses on the siege of the American embassy in Bucharest.

The premise is interesting, though treated in melodramatic fashion. It seems that the Americans had planted nuclear bombs in eastern European embassies just in case of confrontation with the Soviet Union. during the 1990s, all these bombs must be defused. When an expert (Peter Weller) travels to Bucharest to do this work, he encounters an old flame (Daryl Hannah). The embassy is attacked by the Serbian Liberation Front (echoes of the Balkan wars and diplomacy during the 90s), and there is a time limit for the defusing of the bomb, and the relief of the siege with the threat to hostages (including the expert’s young son).

Peter Weller looks anxious – although he is given some rather implausible romantic scenes with Daryl Hannah. Daryl Hannah suddenly turns out to be one of the villains of the piece, after money because of disregard by the American government. Tom Berenger is the four-star general sent in to take command of the siege – although the national secretary adviser does not let him know what is mainly happening.

There is a time limit to the final countdown, a split-second saving of the world – or, at least, of Romania.

1.Entertaining action movie? 1990s politics? International relationships? The aftermath of the Cold War? Plausible?

2.The Romanian settings? Eastern Europe in the 90s? The American embassies? The aftermath of the war in Yugoslavia?

3.The introduction to the characters: Steve Mitchell, arriving with Chris, the antagonism between the two? Chris and his supposed to be going on the tour with the girl and her guardian? His getting back into the building? Steve, the authorities, his mission? Meeting Erica, the memories of the past, the sexual encounter? The collaboration during the siege? The dangers? Finding Chris still in the building, the rescue through the manhole? The escape with Erica?

4.Erica, her past history, Daryl Hannah’s style? The collaboration, the sexual encounter – plausible or not? Their working together, in the siege, her escaping from the room? Helping Chris?

5.The background to the terrorists? The opening with the colonel, his being at the ball, the drugging by the pianist? His going into the toilet, his being taken by the American authorities? The imprisonment? The Hague and the international tribunals? The demands of the terrorists for his release? The pressures, the release, his death?

6.Goran and the group of terrorists? The taking of the embassy? The brutality of the shootings? The hostages? The ambassador, sending him out, his escape, the bomb in his pocket, the blowing up of the van? The other hostages? The shootings? His personality, the fact that he had been educated in the United States, his patriotic change of heart? His assistants? The conduct of the siege, Buck Swain and the contact, their meeting, the discussions about the past? His ruthlessness? His not knowing about the bomb? The revelation of his liaison with Erica and the plan? The siege of the building by the Americans? His death?

7.The ruse of the Americans, the secretary for national security, his decisions, the information about the bombs in the embassies? General Stubbs and his criticisms, his being in the loop? The contact with Swain, not telling him about the bombs? The substitute for the colonel, the interview, his saving the day about his daughters – but Goran and his realisation that the shoes were wrong? The woman going out of the embassy after her husband was killed? Her beginning to shoot?

8.The issue of the bomb, Erica and her betrayal, the time going down, Steve and his attempts to defuse the bomb? The Americans entering, shooting? The traps, the rays, the mines?

9.Steve, his ringing Erica, his nickname being the code? His defusing the bomb?

10.His going out, welcomed by Swain, reunited with Chris, Chris and his new respect for his father? The phone call – and the rather cynical aspect of Erica with the money and Steve sharing in it? The background of American authorities, security advisers, the Pentagon? The issue of bombs planted in embassies? Conspiracy theories?

ALL THE LITTLE ANIMALS

UK, 1998, 112 minutes, Colour.
John Hurt, Christian Bale, Daniel Benzali, James Fawkner.
Directed by Jeremy Thomas.

All the Little Animals is a strange film, a film about a retarded young man who is bullied by his stepfather. When he runs away from home and gets a lift, he encounters an odd recluse who collects road-kill and saves animals. (The stepfather had killed the young man’s pets.)

Together, the couple save animals – until at last there is a violent confrontation with the pursuing stepfather.

Christian Bale, ten years after his extraordinary debut in Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun, had begun to build a strong film career. He was to appear as Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins in 2005 and achieve some international reputation. The reliable John Hurt is the strange recluse. Daniel Benzali, from the television series Murder One, is a very sinister stepfather.

Direction is by producer Jeremy Thomas, a producer who has made a number of significant films including the films of Bernardo Bertolucci, winning an Oscar for The Last Emperor.

1.The impact of the film, the drama, character study, animals and nature, violence?

2.The work of Jeremy Thomas, producer, directing debut?

3.A portrait of Britain, life in the city, the contrast with the roads, the countryside, the world of nature in the English countryside? The musical score?

4.The title, its focus, Bobby and his animals? The road-kill? Mr Summers? and his animals? The relationship between animals and humans? Saving animals? Human violence towards animals?

5.The portrait of Bobby and his story? Seeing Bobby as a little boy, his love for the animals the accident, his parents, the family, at home? His mother and her grief? His memories? As he grew up, mentally impaired? His mother and the stepfather? His nickname of The Fat? The shop, owning the shop, his tyrannical behaviour, sinister presence? The legal aspects of the documents, the lawyer, the arguments and the pressure?

6.The Fat and his treatment of Bobby, his voice and scorn, the animals and their death? Bobby and his running away, bewildered on the road, getting the lifts, experience on the roads? The crash and the hitting of the animal?

7.The picture of Mr Summers, Bobby meeting him, the initial reaction, talking, the antagonism? Mr Summers’ story, his killing, regrets or not? His relationship with the animals, living in seclusion, his house? What he considered his vocation and work? Bobby and his getting to like Mr Summers, the offer to him to help, Mr Summers teaching him, their out on the roads, collecting the animals, burying them? The growing friendship?

8.The beach, Mr Whiteside and his character?

9.The religious dimension? Mr Summers, De Winter? Spurning him, the throttling, his going back? Mr Summers and death?

10.Bobby, The Fat, the irony of the contrast between Winter and Summers as name? The Fat and his trap? The pursuit? The car? Bobby’s shrewdness? The shaft and his death?

11.Bobby, left with the animals? The affinity between the two? His future?

12.The atmosphere of menace throughout the film, with de Winter and his attitudes and behaviour, his sinister manner and action? The contrast with Summers, his sense of menace, his past, the relationship with Bobby? Death? The story and the telling of the story about humans and animals?

THE LADY IN QUESTION

US, 1999, 90 minutes, Colour.
Gene Wilder, Cherry Jones, Mike Starr, Barbara Sukowa, Claire Bloom, John Benjamin Hickey, Michael Cumstie, Kerry Mc Pherson.
Directed by Joyce Chopra.

The Lady in Question is a second telemovie devised by Gene Wilder and co-writer Gilbert Perleman and directed by Joyce Chopra. Wilder has created a theatre director in Hartford, Connecticut, a widower, who solves murder mysteries. He is aided by the local policeman, played by Mike Starr, and by his fiancée, airline hostess, Cherry Jones.

The setting for this mystery is 1938. Claire Bloom portrays Emma Sachs, a rich woman who had married a Jewish man, who had been killed in Berlin in 1933. She devotes her life to getting Jews out of Germany. Barbara Sukowa is her companion. There are various suspects including her secretary, John Benjamin Hickey, and her niece. The German cook is also a suspect as well as her spendthrift nephew.

The film is a strange mixture: the theatre in 1938 (with some song-and-dance routines). The film emphasises the anti-Semitism of the 1930s with people in the US watching newsreels of Hitler and his speeches? Michael Cumstie portrays an SS officer who impersonates an American and is possibly a suspect in the murder of Emma Sachs.

The other aspect of the film is that it is made in the style of the 1930s (which does make it seem too dated). It is also in the style of the murder novels of the time, especially those of Agatha Christie and similar authors. The detective and the theatre director interrogate all the suspects, lies are told, tensions felt, the murderer is gradually revealed.

1.An entertaining murder mystery? The comic touches? The 1938 issues, especially of anti-Semitism?

2.Hartford, Connecticut, the mansions, the theatre, the police precincts, the hotels? Authentic setting? The plane sequences and the rather luxurious styles of flights in the late 1930s? The musical score – the concert pieces, the songs?

3.The title – referring to Emma Sachs or to Rachel Singer?

4.A good murder mystery? The victim, the circumstances, the possible suspects and their motives, the investigation, the solution?

5.Larry Carter, knowing that he was Mimi’s fiancé and seeing him in a passionate scene with Dorie? Then discovering it was a play rehearsal? The theatre, his knowing Emma Sachs because of her being on his board? His relationship with Mimi, meeting her at the airport – and the final meeting her and singing the song, the dance? Interaction with his players? Choosing the songs with the band? Friendship with Tony Rossini and getting him to investigate Emma Sachs’s illness, then her death? His being present at the interrogations, liking Rachel Singer? Suspicious of the others? Going back to the theatre, his having visited Emma, Rachel having seen him in the room? The discussion about her relationships, engagement, her denial? His looking up the papers? The rehearsal with Dorie and getting her to imagine that she had inherited money and whether she could kill? The confrontation with Rachel in the theatre, Rossini being present, his sympathetic attitude? The truth? Her death? His going to the airport and greeting Mimi? Gene Wilder’s screen presence, appearance, comic style?

6.Mimi, on the plane, care for Emma Sachs, her neighbour? John Wheeler and his flirting? Her suspicions? The German woman on the plane? The return home, meeting Larry, with him, the discussions, phoning Emma Sachs, going to the house? Her having to go on the flight again? Rossini getting her to meet John Wheeler, her questions, the cocktail, his flirting? Her leaving – being rescued by Tony pretending to be her fiancé? The second flight, meeting the German woman? The return home and the happy ending?

7.Emma Sachs, her marriage, her work? Rachel as her companion? On the plane, tired? Her seeing through John Wheeler? Back home, changing her will? Dorie seeing her about her pregnancy and wanting money? Her nephew pleading for money? Her giving the note to Mimi that she would be murdered? Her death? Appearing in the flashback and her warning Rachel’s fiancé away from her? A motivation for murder?

8.Rachel, on the plane, Emma’s companion, saving her, but resentful of her? The spilling of the drink? In the household, the care? Her being interrogated, her lying about her engagement? Playing the piano, having wanted to be a concert pianist? Her musician father, musician fiancé? Her attraction towards Paul? Rejection? The sympathy of Larry? Her going to the theatre after talking about her engagement? Taking the poison, confessing, the motivation because of Emma’s warning off her fiancé?

9.Dorie, in the play, her pregnancy, love for Paul? Wanting the money? Lying about the changing of the will? In rehearsal? Her being innocent?

10.Rudy, his wanting the money, his borrowing money and replacing it, the interview with the bank manager and his outburst?

11.Paul, his work as secretary, love for Dorie? The past relationship with Rachel and his rejection? The irony of his being Wheeler’s brother? His being arrested for conspiracy?

12.John Wheeler, being seen on the newsreel, his really being Klaus Gruber, coming to America, his flirting on the plane, getting information about Emma Sachs? His lies about his business? Mimi meeting him, flirtation? His being in conspiracy with his brother? His being murdered by the German woman?

13.The mysterious German woman, on the plane, at the hotel, the meeting with Wheeler, killing him and explaining?

14.Gertie, the German cook, her Germanic manner? Suspect? Dorie telling lies about her politics? Larry pretending? Her explanation of her devotion to Emma Sachs, hungry from World War One, coming to America, acceptance, food and salary?

15.A range of characters, a traditional murder mystery – especially, 30s style?