QUEEN CHRISTINA

US, 1933, 97 minutes, Black and white.
Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Ian Keith, Lewis Stone, C. Aubrey Smith, Reginald Owen.
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian.

Queen Christina is one of the classic Greta Garbo films. She stars with John Gilbert with whom she had made a number of films – but whose career faltered because his voice did not suit sound film-making.

The film focuses on the young Christina of Sweden who became queen at the age of five. Action takes place in the 17th century. The politics of Sweden at the time, which was emerging as a dominant nation, are complicated by the aftermath of the Reformation. Christina herself is torn in her religious affiliations.

The Thirty Years War ended in 1648. Sweden was an important power in north-western Europe – and Christina is pressured into marrying her cousin. However, she falls in love with an ambassador from Spain and Sweden cannot understand that she could even contemplate marrying a Catholic.

Christina had to abdicate and retired to Rome. The film is immortalised in the famous still with Greta Garbo as Christina on the bow of the ship looking towards her homeland.

Greta Garbo was at the height of her powers in the 1930s with a range of films including Grand Hotel the year before Queen Christina. Within ten years she was to make her last film, Two- Faced Woman.

Rouben Mamoulian made a number of films with great flair from social comedies to action dramas, especially in the 1940s with The Mark of Zorro. Queen Christina’s story was told in the 1974 film The Abdication with Liv Ullman as Queen Christina.

1. The appeal of historical costume drama? The appeal of the love story? The film as a Greta Garbo vehicle?

2. Comment on the technical style of the early thirties, the use of sets for the court, snow settings, the inn, the final ship? The musical background? The status of the stars, especially Garbo and John Gilbert and audience expectations of a romance? The impact of these aspects In later decades?

3. The film’s building up a background of Sweden in the seventeenth century, the nature of the political conflicts, Sweden and its status in Europe and European politics, the religious repercussions of the Reformation and the religious wars? The impact on Sweden?

4. Audience response to Christina and her role as Queen of Sweden? The importance of the sequence of the child In the court? Her poise as a child, her adult kind of dignity, royal manners? Her control of the court? Its atmosphere? The influence of her father, the influence of her main adviser? The nature of her training as a child to be Queen?

5. How much control did her main adviser have over her? Where did he influence her? Especially the questions of marriage and diplomacy?

6. How did Christina grow up? As a woman, her place in her family, her role as a queen and in government? Her friendship with her cousin, with Karl Magnus, with the other suitors? Her emotional life and the questions of marriage? Her decision not to marry and to be Queen? Her yearning for a personal life? Did the film and Garbo’s performance show the complexities of this isolated monarch?

7. Queen Christina and her private life, as a woman? Her reading in bed, her vigorous way of life, washing in the snow? Her vigorous riding? Was she a credible Queen?

8. The portrayal of court life, the nobles, the clergy, the commons? Their positions in the court? Their advice about her marriage? Christina’s independence towards each group?

9. The importance of the betrayal of the cousin and Christina’s attitudes and forgiveness? Her snow holiday and its exhilaration?

10. Audience preparation for the arrival of the Spaniards? The contrast of the Spanish outlook in terms of politics and religion, even in climate? The humour of the first meeting with Antonio? The broken coach and the gallantry?

11. The irony of the discussion about the Queen's reputation? People’s attitude towards her and the enumeration of her lovers? The sequences at the inn and Christina’s pursuit of the deception? The friendship between Antonio and Christina as man-to-man?

12. The gradual build-up of the romantic night of Christina and Antonio? Their talk, falling in love, the effect on each? The depth of Antonio’s love in a casual encounter? Christina’s valuing of Antonio’s love?

13. The preparations and audience anticipation of the encounter at court? Christina’s changing her clothing becoming more feminine? The amazement of Antonio and his being hurt? The reconciliation and the blossoming of their love?

14. The contrasting background of Intrigue, the riots in the street, the invasion of the palace and Christina’s quelling of the mobs? Her regality?

15. How dramatic was the presentation of the abdication? The questions about her succession, the successors? The impact on her adviser, on the nobles on the commons? The ceremonies of her giving up the emblems of state, her procession away from the court? The motivations for her choice, the implications, the difficulties?
The freedom that followed?

16. The irony of the duel and Antonio’s involvement in his defeat? The contrast with Christina’s exhilaration and rushing towards the ship?

17. How much sentiment and pathos did the film invest in Antonio’s death scene? The impact of Christina? Her future without Antonio? A wandering Queen?

18. Critics have commented on the dramatic ending of the films the ship and Christina looking out from the ship? How appropriate an ending for this kind of film? What was the audience left with?

QUEEN BEE

US, 1955, 95 minutes, Black and white.
Joan Crawford, Barry Sullivan, Betsy Palmer, John Ireland, Fay Wray, Tim Hovey.
Directed by Ranald Mac Dougall.

Queen Bee was based on a popular novel by Edna L. Lee, author of the story for Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows, with Jane Wyman.

This is definitely a Joan Crawford vehicle. It might be called archetypal Joan Crawford. When an actor is described as chewing up the scenery, this could apply very strongly to Joan Crawford’s performance here.

During the 1930s she emerged as an actress and a musical star. During the 1940s she appeared in many melodramas, especially Mildred Pierce, 1945, for which she won an Oscar. Between 1945 and 1955 she appeared in quite a number of films like this with very strong, determined and even ruthless women: The Damned Don’t Cry, This Woman is Dangerous, Sudden Fear, Autumn Leaves.

While Barry Sullivan and John Ireland were substantial actors in their way, they were never top-flight casting – which means then that the focus of action is very much on Joan Crawford.

The film is melodramatic, a portrait of a rich woman, socialite, a manipulator, completely ruthless and destructive of everyone around her. She is definitely the queen bee.

The direction was by Ranald Mac Dougall who went on to make a few interesting films, offbeat, like The Word, the Flesh and the Devil, The Subterraneans and Go Naked in the World. However, he made his name more as a writer of screenplays which included a number of films at Warner Brothers in the 1940s and 1950s, Bright Leaf, Breaking Point as well as action films like The Naked Jungle and Secret of the Incas.

1. The impact of this melodrama? As enjoyable soap opera? The nature of its appeal? To what audience?

2. The significance of the title? Carol’s explanation? Indication of themes?

3. The black and white photography and the atmosphere of the South? The musical background? The film as a Joan Crawford vehicle of the fifties? The emphasis on the star?

4. The character of Eva? How was she a Queen Bee? As we first saw her, as she appeared to others, her initial charm, then the sting and the selfishness? How cruel and ambitious? How lonely? Did she have kny redeeming characteristics? Her explanation of her past? Did it justify how she treated people?

5. The effect on Avery? The impact in the past, her determination to marry him, own him? The effect in the present? His alcoholism, his withdrawing? His deceit? What kind of a man was he? The background of his jilting his fiancee ? His humiliation and Eva’s continual humiliation? What brought him out of himself? What gave him new strength against Eva?

6. How well drawn was the character of Jud? The past and his relationship with Eva? Her wanting to control him again? Her devices for this? Treating him as a servant? Jud’s role In the management of the business? His relation ship with Carol? Being made a victim in Carol's death? His hatred of Eva?

7. Carol and her place in the household? Her relationship to Avery and her protection of him? Her love for Jud? As vulnerable to Eva’s cruelty? How well was this illustrated? The pathos of her death? The effect on Eva?

8. Eva as the mother? Her children's love for her? The fear? The significance of their nightmares and the themes being integrated into the film, especially with Eva’s death? Jennifer’s helping of the children?

9. Eva as seen initially through Jennifer's eyes? The initial transition from sympathy to distrust?

10. How attractive character was Jennifer? Her visiting the family? Her initial encounter with the alcoholics and the mad people of the South? Her believing Eva? Her attraction to Avery? The gradual discovery of the truth?

11. Comment on the examples of Eva's cruelty? Her visit, Jennifer, Carol's death, Jud?

12. The build-up to the false happiness before Eva*s death? Her not seeing the truth? Her feeling that she was reigning supremely? The irony of this?

13. The irony of the two men planning Eva’s death? Outmanoeuvring each other to kill her? How credible, melodramatic? In terms of the feelings of the audience and sympathy with the men?

14. Was the happy ending appropriate for the film? What insight into human feelings and interactions via such melodramas?

QUEEN OF SPADES

UK, 1949, 95 minutes, Black and white.
Anton Walbrook, Edith Evans, Yvonne Mitchell, Ronald Howard, Mary Jerrold, Anthony Dawson, Miles Malleson, Michael Medwin, Athene Seyler.
Directed by Thorold Dickinson.

The Queen of Spades is a striking melodramatic ghost story. It is an adaptation of a story by Russian writer, Pushkin.

Edith Evans portrays an old countess who enters into a Faustian bargain with the Devil in order to win at cards to which she is addicted. She encounters a military captain, played by Anton Walbrook, who is also addicted to gambling and who murders the countess for her secret. He is then haunted by her ghost.

The film capitalises on its sets and décor, black and white interiors in Russian period drama. The acting is also very strong. Anton Walbrook had appeared in many significant British films of the 40s including The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and The Red Shoes. Edith Evans, a noted stage actress at the time, began her film career and made her mark in such films as The Importance of Being Earnest as Lady Bracknell as well as Bryan Forbes’ The Whisperers. Yvonne Mitchell was to emerge as a strong character actress in films of the 1950s.

The film was directed by writer-director Thorold Dickinson who made a number of films in the 1930s. He continued during the 1940s but made only two films in the 1950s. His first film was an adaptation of School for Scandal. In 1940 he made the first version of Gaslight and directed John Gielgud in 1941 in The Prime Minister.

1. What was the overall impact of this film? How enjoyable, how interesting, instructive, impressive?

2. The continental flavour of the film? The Russian flavour? And yet the film being British? Comment on the flavour gained by the use of sets, black and white photography, music, light and darkness, angle photography, flashbacks, shock editing, ghostly atmosphere? How did they combine in an impressive film?

3. The title of the film and the theme, the explanation of superstition and evil? The film as a parable, the hero as Everyman? the occult, power, love and lust, exploitation, haunting, disillusionment, death? These themes as illustrated by old Russia?

4. How interesting was the period and its portrait in the film? The contrived background from the introduction of old St Petersburg, the world aristocracy, dancing and deaths, cards and castles, old books and the occult, society? How did this add to the intensity of the parable

5. The film's comment on St Petersburg code of behaviour, honour, good and evil?

6. Did the audience sympathize with the hero? His initial stand-off, the revelation of his resentment, hidden obsessions, infatuation with the gypsies, the effect of this experience on him, his hovering over the book, his selling his soul, his using Liza, the possibility of redemption by love and yet his using her, his pride and arrogance, his co-operation, the horror of his killing the countess, greed overpowering him, relentlessness, success and then a failure? The meaning of his life?

7. The queen of Spades as evil, destructive, superstitious? The queen of spades as a projection of interior evil?

8. The contrast of Liza, simple, dominated by the countess, serving the countess, possibility of romantic love, infatuation, ignoring warnings, the letters, - suffering the utter disillusionment?

9. The countess as an image of the hero the importance of the flashbacks of the story, seeing her in old age, the desperation of her prayer, her wanting to be saved, her not revealing the suddenness of her death, the importance of her ghostly appearances? What insight into a greedy woman?

10. The importance of the background characters like the countess's grandson and his gambling, the other gamblers?

QUEENSLAND

Australia, 1976, 57 minutes, Colour.
John Flaus.
Directed by John Ruane.

Queensland is a short feature by John Ruane, his first film. Made in the 1970s, it stars John Flaus, the media education lecturer who appeared as a character actor in many films.

While this film is set in Melbourne, it offers Queensland as a symbol of hopes, of another place where all hopes could be fulfilled. In the meantime, the film offers a gritty study of life in Melbourne, in the inner city. The film also offers glimpses of relationships – especially in the vein of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.

John Ruane was to go on to make three features in the 1990s: the black comedy Death in Brunswick, the adaptation of Tim Winton’s That Eye the Sky, and the romantic comedy, Dead Letter Office.

1. The impact of this short feature? The audience for which it was made? Student and experimental film? Award-winning film?

2. The use of Melbourne locations, authentic atmosphere, the drabness of the city, the 'desert' of the city? Sights, sounds, mood? musical score?

3. The pace of the film and its immersing audience in its atmosphere and feel? The editing and pace? The quality of observation, feel? The moral comment on life in the city, the experiences and behaviour of the central characters?

4. The significance of the title? Queensland as a reality, a symbol? The 'grass is greener' syndrome? Hearsay about Queensland: money available, jobs, warmth of climate, others going to Queensland? Queensland as an Australian mentality? The reality of Queensland in the mid-'70s? The symbol of the Australian dream - and so many never getting there, not even within a thousand miles of Queensland?

5. The atmosphere of realism: the opening with the factories and work, the inner city streets, pubs, homes and flats, the greyhound course, betting, cars? An atmosphere of realism - not contrived?

6. The importance of the Australian dream: opportunity, people trapped in their dreams, the possibility of freedom, the possibility of willing success to the dream and its fulfilment?

7. Melbourne and its look, work, concrete, drinking, beer, sleazy atmosphere? Visual images of urban Australia?

8. Work, monotony, temporary jobs, attitude of the workers, attitude towards bosses, bosses and supervisors, hopes?

9. Recreation and relaxation: talk, the pubs, drinking, exercise? Reading 'Truth'. changing hotels for drinks, the dogs and bets? Relationships, sex?

10. The importance of money - owing money. bets, talks. hopes, losing money, losing cars and paying off instalments etc.?

11. Themes of mateship - echoes of 'Of Mice and Men'? Men sharing dreams and supporting one another? Strength, advice, help in decisions? Comparisons of the two men? The relationship with Marge and sexuality? Friendships between men, relationships between men and women? Doug using his relationship to 'put it over' Marge?

12. Doug and his strength, work, drinking, billiards, home, clash with the boss, bets. threats, persuasion. Marge, the car, pushing the car up the street in the long final sequence? The end of the dream? Doug as a city Australian middle-aged man dreaming?

13. Aub and his exercise, weak, the realist, sharing vision with Doug, opting out?

14. Marge and the outing, drinks, chatting and enjoying the talk with Doug, relationship with Mike? The sketch of Mike - and comparisons with Doug and Aub? A woman within this male city environment?

15. The communication of environment: radio, advertising, talk about Queensland? The city and economic recession. depression?

16. Themes of hope, hopelessness and futility? Longing?

X (THE MAN WITH X-RAY EYES)

US, 1963, 79 minutes, Colour.
Ray Milland, Diane van der Vlis, Harold Stone.
Directed by Roger Corman.

X or The Man with the X- Ray Eyes is a horror thriller from Roger Corman. Corman began his career in the fifties as a producer and as a director of quickies for American International. With a series of horror thrillers based on Edgar Alan Poe's stories, and generally starring Vincent Price, he came to the attention of critics. During the sixties his output increased in quality although it still bore the marks of his quick techniques.

He collaborated several times with Ray Milland and this is one of those occasions, taking a science fiction plot, a man playing God with chemicals and producing a substance which on the eyes gave x-ray vision and then became a money making gimmick. Corman shows how power corrupts and torments. He caps it with a rather grim literal application of 'if your eye offends you, pluck it out'. It is rather sensational but cleverly made.

1. The significance of the title? 'X' - the unknown, the man with the X-ray eyes?

2. What were audience expectations of this film from its title? What expectations of horror, entertainment, morbid fascination? Why are films like this generally successful? Why
do they appeal to audiences?

3. Comment on the technical success of the film considering its low budget? The style of the film?

4. How well did the film use colour for its theme? For prisms, blinding colour and visions, the editing techniques, the use of colour for atmosphere?

5. How interesting was the plot itself? How well did it involve audiences? As plausible, as thrilling, as horrifying?

6. Why is science-fiction like this so popular? The aspects of science and probing the unknown? The indulgence of fantasy and imagination? The probing of fears and dangers? Did this film do this well?

7. How did the film serve as a moral fable? Man as knowing his place in the world, using his intellect, but not playing God? The vengeful persecution of nature, that nature mocks man, the inevitability of retribution? Was this convincing and moving?

8. The central role of Dr Xavier? How convincing was Ray Milland, the portrayal of his skills as a doctor the drama of the testing of the fluid, the good that he hoped to come from his inventions? His response to the potential evil, his growing ambitions, the obsessions? His high-handed behaviour towards the doctor and his inevitable dismissal? His response to the horror of the eyelids that he could see through? His fleeing society, yet his being exploited? Helping others, yet the greed for the money? What future would he have? Was his death in some way an accident? The melodrama of the plucking out of his eyes? How fitting was a punishment for this for him?

9. How did the film blend comedy, for instance, seeing through people's clothes at the party, contrast with the melodrama of the hospital? incidents and this contrast with Dr Xavier's being helpful to patients and his being exploited? Did this give a complexity to the character and a satisfying exploration of his character?

10. Audience response to Crane and his manipulation of Xavier and exploiting him?

11. The minor characters the assistants, Diane, the antagonism of the doctors, the Las Vegas sequence? What did they add to the film?

12, How well did the film create the atmosphere of the Revival Meeting, the religious experience, the frenzy, the atmosphere for the horror of the ending? The visual impact of the close-up of the eyes?

13. What is the value of such a science fiction film? How well does it illustrate Roger Corman's skill?

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM

US, 1976, 105 minutes, Colour.
George C. Scott, David Hemmings, Claire Bloom, Gilbert Roland, Susan Tyrrell, Brad Savage, Michael John Wixted.
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner.

Islands in the Stream is a beautiful film with wide appeal but was unfortunately not very popular at the Box Office on its first release. It is based on a story by Ernest Hemingway and represents the Hemingway type of American hero - (rugged but sentimental). George C. Scott is a very fine embodiment of the Hemingway hero.

The film follows the episodic nature of the novel and has three sections: the boys, the woman, the journey. Each of the episodes makes quite some impact, especially the first with the sympathetic treatment of the relationship between
father and sons. The film is beautiful to look at and was directed by Franklin Schaffner who also directed George C. Scott in his Oscar winning role as Patton. Schaffner also directed Nicholas and Alexandra and Papillon.

1. Hemingway's reputation, style? American sentiment and toughness? Literary reputation? Transition from novel to film? Audience expectations from Hemingway, his themes and style?

2. The combination of the work of Franklin Schaffner and his re-creation of atmosphere, characters? George C. Scott as embodying the Hemingway hero? Sentiment, strength, confrontation of himself for conscience and decision?

3. The opening and the illustrating of the title? Colour photography of the Bahamas? Landscapes, seascapes - the Caribbean in daylight, at night, during the adventure sequences?

4. Tom Hudson as a Hemingway character? Middle-aged, an artist, tough, sentimental, living in exile? Leaving relationships? Two wives, children? At home in the Bahamas? The sea, the elements? American hero?

5. The film followed the structure of the novel and used episodes. How well did it do this? The impact of each episode? The coherence between them?

6. The feeling of the film, human relationships, achievement? Human communication? How well was this communicated? The purpose of the film in presenting these people and these issues? How were each of the characters islands in the stream?

7. The first episode: The Boys, Hudson as we first saw him, as a character in himself, his artistic work? At home on the island? His love of the sea -the varying moods of the sea as presented in the film? Relationship with Lil? The sculptures, the way of life? The 1940 setting and war on the horizon? His relationship with Eddie and Eddie's devotion to him? Eddie as alcoholic? Captain Rolf and the other sailors in the Bahamas? The preparation for the arrival of the boys, meeting them? Each of the boys in himself? What they had in common, their differences, age, temperaments? Their hesitation, their sharing his way of life? The encounter with L11 and her view of their father? Their differing mothers? The adventures with the boys? On the sea? The sequences in the house? The importance of David's hostility? The episode of the catching of the fish and David's courageous endurance? His motivation? The effect on David with his father? Tom and the danger with the shark? The friendship with Eddie and the discussion about his being alcoholic? These weeks as holiday? Idyllic? The build-up to their leaving and the emotional farewell of the sons and father? What was communicated about family relationships, fatherhood?

8. The second episode: The Woman. The arrival of Audrey, the explanation of her background in the first sequence? As Tom's mother? Tom's second wife and her absence visually from the film? Audrey's arrival, her summing up of the situation? Her seeming disdain and judgment of his way of life? The past love between the two, the experience shared? The memories of an American in Paris in the 20s? The importance of their talk, the seeming inconsequentiality of it? The preparation of the drink, and the sudden realisation that his son was dead? The effect on him? The shared grief of mother and father? Audrey's plans to remarry? The importance of her place in the final memories of Tom as he was dying? The fact that he really did love her and the sons?

9. The third episode: The Journey. The preparations for leaving the Bahamas, the return to America? The’ reasons for Tom's decisions? Eddie wanting to go and their clash? Tom leaving him behind and Eddie's presence on the boat? The importance of Eddie's problem as an alcoholic and Tom's strong words to him? The irony of his presence, his help, the pathos of his death? The significance of the journey in Tom's mind and the way it turned out? Captain Rolf and his help for the migrants? The atmosphere of the sea, sailing? The torpedo and the intrusion of the war? Danger, shooting and death? The refugees being smuggled? Their fears and on the move for so long? ( authorities, the flares and the gunning? The humour as well as the adventure of the boat trying to outwit their pursuers? The scenes in the river, the elusive nature of the ship? The ruses in order to avoid detection?

10. The journey as leading to Tom's death? The impact of his death? The visual style of his memories - white and pure? Audrey in her happiness, the sons present? Audrey as mothering the sons who were not her own? The nostalgia and the regret for what might have been?

11. The values that the film stood for? Its presentation of the achievement of the human spirit?

TRANSPORTER 3

US/France, 2008, 103 minutes, Colour.
Jason Statham, Natalya Rudakova, Francois Berleand, Robert Knepper, Jeroen Krabbe.
Directed by Olivier Megaton.

You have to wait only five minutes for the first car chase (and small crash), then fifteen for the first martial arts fight and then only three minutes more for the first major explosion. That's what the Transporter audiences want and that is what they get.

Jason Statham has made a lot of films (similar films) since The Transporter and has established himself as a star of this kind of action film. He is serious, clipped British accent, generally unflappable as he uses his wits and skills to drive into and out of the fastest and riskiest driving commissions he takes on. The only difficulty this time is that he is transporting a young Ukrainian woman, daughter of a minister who is about to give a speech on the environment but is being pressurised by industrialists to sign a document to their advantage in disposing of toxic waste. They have now abducted his daughter as blackmail.

Actually, that is not the precise difficulty. Everyone knows that Statham can do this transporting with ease (though not without chases, a spectacular drive off a bridge, raising his cherished car from the bed of the river with the bags that were in the boot of his car and the air from his tyres, then two spectacular car leaps on to the carriages of a moving train). It is the actress, first timer Natalya Rudakova who is the difficulty. She is meant to be attractive, seductive and causing the Transporter to fall in love with her. Statham's acting does not convince in the romantic department at all. He is merely following what is asked of him in the script. So is she, trying her best which is not nearly good enough.

Robert Knepper is a nasty villain. Jeroen Krabbe is the harassed minister.

Writers, producers and director know ( a documentary maker whose name itself sounds hugely explosive) exactly the kind of adrenalin action that their clientele want and spare little expense on stunt work (though saving costs on the leading lady) to give it to them.

1.The popularity of the Transporter films? Jason Statham as Frank Martin? His personality? The car, the driving, the chases, the crashes, the explosions? The plots and intrigue?

2.The Marseilles and French locations? The trans-European locations? Odessa? The atmosphere of France, of the Ukraine? The pounding musical score and atmosphere?

3.The title, the focus on Frank? His role in the previous films? Establishing a character? A hard man, determined, no private life? His loyalty, his skills in driving? His being employed?

4.Frank and Tarconi, the fishing and the jokes? The memories? Tarconi and his involvement in examining the car chase and the crash in Marseilles? The crash into Frank’s house? The issues and the girl?

5.The opening, the car chase? The young man and the border, (**?or boarder?) the girl? His being pursued through Marseilles? The revelation of Johnson as the mastermind? His trying to employ Frank? Making him an offer he couldn’t refuse?

6.The political implications, the ship with the toxic waster? The captain? The deaths of the men looking for alcohol? The later apprehension of the ship? Johnson and his links with the Ukraine politicians? The photo of Valentina, blackmailing her father, wanting him to sign the agreement with the industrialists?

7.Frank, driving Valentina? The pursuit across central Europe? The pursuit by the minister’s men? Their going over the cliff? Frank and Valentina, her story? The flashbacks? Her being provocative, seductive, Frank and his being seduced? The credibility of this romance? At the end – and their being together with Tarconi fishing?

8.The minister, his anxiety, the speech he was to deliver? The time pressures? The aide and his pressure? Johnson and his contacts?

9.Johnson, the bracelets on their arms, the explosions? Frank and his driving Valentina, going to Odessa? On the bridge, hemmed in, Frank driving the car over the bridge, using the bags to float the car again, phoning Tarconi, the rescue? The pursuit of the train?

10.Johnson and his men on the train, their violence? Johnson as sinister, his comments to Valentina about violence?

11.Frank and his landing the car on the train (and the repeat of the stunt work on the separated carriage)? His fight with Johnson? The issue of the bracelet? Johnson uncoupling the carriages? Frank’s final confrontation, the bracelet on Johnson, the explosion?

12.The minister and his freedom, tearing up the document, going to give his speech?

13.Valentina, the happy ending – and the possibility of Transporter 4?

2 Discussions

JANE DOE: TIL DEATH DO US PART

US, 2005, 90 minutes, Colour.
Leah Thomson, Joe Penney, William R. Moses, Joseph Bologna, Antonio Sabato Jr, Ed Marinaro.
Directed by Armand Mastroianni.

Jane Doe: Til Death Do Us Part is one of a series of feature films for television starring Leah Thomson as Cathy Davis and Joe Penney as her NSA boss Frank Darnell. William R. Moses is her husband.

The film is conventional in its story: a mobster engineers his own death, goes into hiding and starts to kill those who have plotted against him. Finally, he discovers that it is his son who has masterminded the attacks – and in a final embrace, the son shoots his father.

Leah Thomson is at home in this role as the agent who has to act as a housewife without her husband’s knowing. It is in this film, at the end, that she reveals the truth to him. Joe Penney looks generally concerned as the NSA boss. Joseph Bologna has a good role as the ruthless Mafia type. Antonio Sabato Jr is his son.

The film is familiar material – but the focus on the female agent and the tracking down of the gangster holds the interest for an enjoyable but undemanding film.

1.The popularity of the Jane Doe series? Leah Thomson as Cathy? Her moonlighting as an agent? Her family role? Her boss? Her husband and the children?

2.The familiar material, the gangsters, the business world, arms shipments, faking deaths, hospital personnel on the payroll …?

3.The atmosphere, the television world? The world of crime and investigators?

4.Cathy’s character, with her husband and his seeming disillusionment? With her children, their problems, Susan and the band? Her being a dutiful mother? Jack, his concern, alienation? Frank going to the bar to persuade him to go home? The reconciliation and Cathy’s explanation?

5.Frank, his background, separation from his wife, dedication to his work, concern about Cathy? Going to Jack to persuade him to support Cathy?

6.Louis Angelini and his background, crime, his wives, luxury life, the wedding? His faking his own death? In the hospital, the doctor and the nurse, disguising himself as the cleaner? In hiding, his contact with his connections, with Vincent? His threats, his killings? Armand and his going to Panama, shooting him? An unsavoury character – and his meeting with his son, asking him why he had betrayed him, his son killing him?

7.Joey, his resentment towards his father, lack of affection, his mother? His business deals? The betrayal of his father? Cathy interviewing him? His killing his father – and Cathy filming it?

8.The world of criminals, Vincent, lawyers, cover-ups? The nurse, the cleaner? Their relationship, their being on the payroll? Helping in the escape?

9.Cathy, going into action, the questioning, following Joey in the car? Her disguise at the wedding? Frank’s concern about her?

10.The usual themes of crime, vengeance, punishment, justice?




JANE DOE: TILL DEATH DO US PART

US, 2000, 75 minutes, Colour.
Lea Thompson, Joe Penny, Joseph Bologna, Antonio Sabato Jr, John Ashton.
Directed by Armand Mastroianni.

Jane Doe: Til Death Do Us Part is a contribution to a series featuring Leah Thompson and Joe Penny as FBI agents. Joe Penny portrays the bureau chief. Lea Thompson portrays a housewife who was an agent, an anonymous agent (Jane Doe) and who has not revealed her work to her husband. This crisis comes to a head in this film and she explains her work.

The basic plot is familiar, double-dealings within the Mafia community. Joseph Bologna portrays a Mafia chief who disappears, is actually engineering an arms deal in Panama, falls foul of various Mafia chiefs and murders. However, it is revealed, as might be expected, that it is his son who has something of an inferiority complex who is actually engineering the attacks on his father.

The film shows the work of the FBI, undercover work, explicit work in interrogations and investigations. The film was directed by Armand Mastroianni who filmed a number of horror films in the 1980s.

1.The popularity of this kind of television film? The work of the FBI, the Mafia, investigations? Solutions?

2.The settings, the city, the Mafia homes? Ordinary homes, the FBI headquarters? The set pieces like the wedding? The hospital? The musical score?

3.The character of Catherine, her friendship with Frank, her explanation of her being an agent, working anonymously, Jane Doe? Her not telling her husband? Her relationship with her husband, his growing suspicions, antagonism towards Frank? The home scenes? The children? The daughter and her music? The husband and his going to the bar, moroseness, separate rooms, the discussion with Frank? The concert, the daughter and her singing? Success? The explanations? Catherine as a character, her work?

4.Catherine, the interrogations, the hospital? Her going under cover at the wedding?

5.Frank, the bureau chief, strong, briefing the squad, the interrogations? Speculation? His work with Catherine?

6.The Mafia chiefs, the film and the FBI studying, the explanation of all the characters and their participation? Angelini, his young wife, his son? The lawyers? The arms dealers? The attack on Angelini, his alleged murder? The giving of information to the FBI? Anonymous phone calls?

7.Angelini, his being alive, taken to the hospital? The means of his escape, the deal with the corridor cleaner? The doctor, the nurse? The doctor and his gambling debts – and his being pursued, his car going over the cliff? The janitor, his relationship with Angelini, his relationship with the nurse? Giving information to the FBI, talking with Angelini? His death?

8.Informers, undercover, the Mafia and their contacts?

9.The lawyer, his attitude towards Angelini? Angelini’s young wife, her greed, the interview with Catherine? Antagonism towards Joe?

10.Joe, his lawyers, his associates? His business deals? The revelation that he was against his father? The scene with his father, killing his father, declaring it was an accident?

11.The background of arms deals? Wealth? Hit men? A plausible plot for this kind of television thriller?

MY BEST FRIEND’S GIRL

US, 2008, 101 minutes, Colour.
Dane Cook, Kate Hudson, Alec Baldwin, Jason Biggs.
Directed by Howard Deutsch.

Probably, several PhD theses in cinema studies are under way at the moment focusing on US romantic comedies and how they have changed over the decades but, especially, in more recent years. They have become much more sexually explicit in language, depiction and issues. In fact, an interesting thesis could be written on how many of them are portraying obnoxiously loud and obvious males who are any woman's nightmare – then showing how they go through some process that turns them into semblances of decent, even likeable, men. This is one of those films.

The trouble with My Best Friend's Girl is that Dane Cook is more persuasive when he acts obnoxious than when he acts with a touch of decency. Seth Rogen in the Judd Apatow comedies, which by now also must be the subject of theses, is able to say the most obnoxious dialogue but gives the impression that there might be something better underneath his roly poly exterior – and usually there is. With Cook, it is hard to believe in his conversion when we have seen how expert (and in the sequence of the wedding that he disrupts, how demonic) he is in being boorish. Yes, the romantic comedies of the 1930s introduced audiences to farce and screwball comedy but this one has too much emphasis on the screw.

Kate Hudson, who has inherited a number of her mother, Goldie Hawn's mannerisms, finds herself in a comedy that does not do all that much credit to her character either. Jason Biggs seems better as the lovelorn suitor – but then he is given some sex lines which undermines his credibility. And Alec Baldwin turns up as Cook's lewd and lascivious professor father who, no sooner is he given some sensible lines, mouthes some more lewdness.

This makes the film far too flippant in tone to support the ultimate message of true love and commitment.

1.The style of romantic comedy for the 21st century? American style? Franker and more open style?

2.The city settings, apartments, workplaces, restaurants? The wedding sequence? Identifiable locations? The musical score, songs?

3.The title? The reference to Tank, the reference to Dustin, the reference to Alexis?

4.The tone of the film, Tank’s behaviour in the opening sequences, his treatment of women, his being employed, his techniques? The change of heart? His love for Alexis, his misbehaviour at the wedding? The motivation?

5.The frankness of the film, sexual language, behaviour? The flippant tone? Undermining the commitment message?

6.Tank, seeing his exploits? The influence of his father and his crudeness? His missing his mother? His treatment of women, his bad behaviour driving them back to their boyfriends? His being paid? The crude techniques? Numbers 1 to 10? His sharing an apartment with Dustin? Listening to his problems? Going to Alexis, the affair with her, concealing it from Dustin? His being discovered? His outings with Alexis, his feelings towards her? The invitation to the wedding, going to her trying-on of the dress? The groom at the church and his threats to Tank? Alexis and her love for him, his decision to put her off so that she would go back to Dustin? His crass behaviour at the wedding, vomiting, the confrontation of Alexis’s mother? Dustin’s arrival, the speech, the revelation about the truth? The angers at the wedding? Alexis not wanting to see him? His going out with a date, his change of heart? Meeting Alexis, her creating a scene? The reconciliation?

7.Alexis, Kate Hudson’s style? At work, Dustin and his waiting on her all the time? The affair with Tank? Not deceiving Dustin? Her pity for him? The wedding, Tank’s behaviour, her confrontation? The finale and her behaviour in the restaurant? The happy ending?

8.Dustin, naïve, the attraction towards Alexis? Confiding in Tank? Betrayed by Tank? His constant attention to Alexis? The discovery of the truth, going into decline, taking time off? His disgust with Tank and ousting him? His performance at the wedding, the truth? The finale – and his supporting Tank? The lewd scene with the girl at the end, undermining his character?

9.Professor Turner, his feminist class, his attention to the young women? As a person, his career, lewd and crude? His influence on Tank? Listening to his problems? Moments of compassion – and then ironically turning them back on himself? A despicable character?

10.The variety of women, Hilary at the hairdresser’s and Dustin’s makeover? Her date with Tank? The profanity in the pizza parlour, Cheesus Crust? The waiters dressed as Jesus? Her being offended? Tank and his realisation, apology?

11.The various men that he worked for – and their reactions to him? The women’s reactions?

12.A screwball comedy – 21st century style?

SUMMER

UK, 2008, 89 minutes, Colour.
Robert Carlyle, Steve Evets, Rachel Blake.
Directed by Kenneth Glenaan.

This is a small-budget British film, a slice of life, raising a number of issues and, in unexpected ways showing aspects of a deep humanity.

The title refers to a summer when the central characters, Shaun, Daz and Katie, were sixteen, something of an idyllic time when Shaun was in love with Katie and she with him (despite her mother's stern disapproval) and Daz was something of a tearaway. The film is working on three time levels, going back to when the three were in primary school as well as in the present which is the main concern of the film.

As the film opens (with a Scottish setting though filmed in the English Midlands), we find Shaun and Daz in their forties. Daz is confined to a wheelchair and Shaun acts as his carer. We soon learn that Daz has very little time to live. At this stage, we are not sure what has happened to lead to this situation. With the flashbacks inserted in the action to build up the narrative links which do explain everything, there is a sense of curiosity on the part of the audiences: who really are these characters, what has happened to them, and why.

Robert Carlyle has proven himself an actor of great versatility. However, in films like this, he is so good that you believe that he really is the character. He is Shaun with every gesture, every movement of his face. It is a compelling performance. Steve Evets is also good as the older Daz, angrily confined to his chair, dependent on Shaun, a man of moods and finding that his teenage son is following in his uncontrolled footsteps.

While the film is generally naturalistic, there are moments of memory, dreams and fantasy which give more meaning to what has happened: that Shaun found school impossible, dyslexic, unable to spell and write and consequently ferociously angry towards boys who taunted him and towards himself. These disabilities still plagued him at sixteen but Katie was a great support and Daz, though not particularly responsible, a good friend. But Katie's mother organises her going away and Shaun's life is different.

When Daz is close to death, he goes in search of Kate (Rachael Blake) and then has the opportunity to put some kind of closure to the past.

One could say that this is a portrait of disadvantaged people, those who have difficult home lives, are considered slow and unteachable at school and whose future is disabled, but it is a sad story where friendship provides some humane hope.

Director Kenny Glenaan directed the Ecumenical award-winning Yasmin, a story of racial tensions between the British locals and the Pakistani British in Yorkshire.

1.A small slice of life? A film of humanity? Problems and questions?

2.The Scottish settings, the midlands location filming? The hill, the suburb and the streets, the house, hospitals, the school, the woods and the lake? Authentic atmosphere, sense of realism? The musical score?

3.The three time levels, their being intercut, the gradual revelation of character and plot?

4.The title, the summer when Shaun and Daz were sixteen?

5.The opening, Shaun and Daz on the hill, the clouds, Shaun and his thinking, Daz in his wheelchair, going down the hill, Shaun rescuing him? Taking him home, caring for him, showering and washing him, feeding him? Their talk? Danny and his wariness of his father? Shaun taking Daz to hospital, the discussions with the doctor, the news of his limited time, the jokes?

6.The flashbacks to when they were young, Shaun at school, his inability to spell, his difficulty in writing dyslexia? Daz and his independent spirit? The exhilaration of their bike rides? Katie joining the two? Problems at school, Shaun’s violence, his continued bashing of the schoolboy? The principal, the discussions with Shaun’s mother, the expulsion? At home, the meal, Daz eating the food, their going out together? Daz as wild and a follower?

7.The three at sixteen, the changes, Daz and his not having exams, a sense of freedom? Katie, clever, her mother’s disapproval of Shaun? The idyllic summer, on the lake, swimming, the sexual encounters? Shaun and the exams, his anger, his injuring his hand? In hospital? Katie’s support? His mother? Talking with Katie, her mother wanting her to leave and go to another school, Shaun not saying anything? Daz and his girlfriend, his son? The school, Daz and Shaun, the burning of the hall, Daz and his crash into the car, the accident and his being crippled? Shaun and his return to Daz?

8.The effect, Daz in his wheelchair, angry, drinking, ill? Sleeping, smoking, his meals, being washed, arguing with his son, getting Shaun to collect his drunk son? Cranky, arguing and insulting Shaun, collapsing and going to hospital? His death?

9.Shaun, his friendship with Daz, the effect of the accident, his life, going to the computer classes, his inability, difficulty in composing the job application letter? Finding Katie’s address, her father telling him, her mother’s disapproval? Visiting the office, Katie not coming out to see him? Her later coming to talk with Shaun? Daz and the funeral, Katie sitting with Shaun?

10.Shaun, the flashbacks, his trying to reach out, the barrier to his past? The scenes where the two actors portraying the younger Shaun walked past each other? The use of this kind of imagination to illustrate Shaun’s growth, change? Katie in his memories? The funeral, his being able to say goodbye, caring for Daz’s son? A funeral?

11.The issues of problem children, education, family, opportunities and lack of opportunities? The consequent anger, frustrations? The importance of hope and friendship?