A Christmas Carol (1951)

My fondness for Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol hearkens back to 4th grade when my class performed A Christmas Carol as a play and I played the role of the Ghost of Christmas Future. I wore my father's blue terrycloth robe which hung loosely on me and I had no lines of dialogue. All I had to do was point as my classmate who played Scrooge had all the dialogue.  Since I was a fan of horror films, playing the part of a ghost was right up my alley. I remember I liked the story so much that I asked my aunt for the book for Christmas.

As much as I love Dickens story, the film and television versions of his tale have never quite satisfied me. I've seen the television version A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1984) with George C. Scott.  Albert Finney starred in a musical version called SCROOGE in 1970.  Cartoon characters Mr. Magoo and Donald Duck have done animated versions and even the Muppets took a stab at it in THE MUPPETS CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992).  Director Richard Donner made a modern take on the story with SCROOGED (1988) starring Bill Murray and Karen Allen. Most recently, director Robert Zemeckis tried to strike gold for a second time with his animated A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2009) with Jim Carrey as Scrooge using the same animation style as his more successful THE POLAR EXPRESS (2004). I don't know if I haven't liked some of these CHRISTMAS CAROL versions because they've been in color or because the actors playing Scrooge haven't won me over.  But I think I just found the version that I like the best.

Most critics and movie goers alike seem to agree that the 1951 A CHRISTMAS CAROL (originally titled SCROOGE), shot in black and white, made in England with an English cast is the most well acclaimed version.  Having just watched it before Christmas, I would agree. What makes this CHRISTMAS CAROL a winner is the performance of Alistair Sim as the pivotal Ebenezer Scrooge. Tall and thin with expressive eyes and wild white hair, Sim is excellent as the Christmas hating miser. His voice, his mannerisms, and his transformation from grumpy, frugal curmudgeon to likable, good-hearted uncle and employer is magnificent.

This A CHRISTMAS CAROL, directed by Brian Desmond-Hurst and adapted by Noel Langley from Charles Dickens 1843 novella, moves at a very fast clip. We are introduced to Ebenezer Scrooge (Alistair Sim) who we very quickly learn is not in the holiday spirit. Scrooge won't extend a loan to a customer. He 'Bah Humbugs' his underpaid employee Bob Cratchit (Mervyn Johns) who wishes him a Merry Christmas. He rebuffs solicitors collecting for the poor and destitute. And Scrooge sends away some kids singing Christmas carols on a street corner near his home.

Scrooge wants nothing to do with Christmas and all its warmth and kindness and family. But as he prepares for bed on Christmas Eve, Scrooge has a terrifying nightmare. He is visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner Jacob Marley (Michael Hordern). Marley is a wailing, noisy spirit who warns Scrooge that he will be visited by three ghostly apparitions this night. The first to arrive is the Spirit of  Christmas Past (Michael Dolan). He takes Scrooge on a journey to visit his past life. We see Young Ebenezer Scrooge (George Cole) at college, full of life. Scrooge's sister Fan (Carol Marsh) arrives to bring him home for the holidays. Young Scrooge is even in love with a pretty young woman named Alice (Rona Anderson).  But Scrooge's happiness unravels as Fay, while giving birth to a son Fred, dies during childbirth. Scrooge begins working for a man named Fezziwig (Roddy Hughes) as a clerk. Another employer Mr. Jorkin (Jack Warner) later steals Scrooge away from Fezziwig. His co-worker is a young accountant named Jacob Marley (Patrick MacNee from THE AVENGERS television show).

Next, Scrooge is visited by the Spirit of Christmas Present (Francis de Wolff), looking like Henry the VIII in robes, thick beard, and a crown. He shows Scrooge the Cratchit family, gathered together for Christmas, their young lame son Tiny Tim (Glyn Dearman) ailing. Bob Cratchit defends Scrooge even as Mrs. Cratchit (Hermionne Baddeley) vilifies her husband's penny pinching boss. Scrooge and the Spirit of Christmas Present move on to the home of Scrooge's nephew Fred (Brian Worth).  Hosting a Christmas Eve party, Fred also defends his cynical uncle who he had invited to Christmas dinner earlier in the day but was turned down. Scrooge blames Fred for the death of his mother during childbirth and has cut himself off emotionally from his relatives.

The last ghost to visit Scrooge is the terrifying Spirit of Christmas Future, a variation of the grim reaper, hooded and faceless. This spectre reveals that Tiny Tim will die, his crutch alone in the corner of the Cratchit home. Scrooge witnesses his own funeral. The few mourners that attend lament that because Scrooge was so stingy, he had no one to leave his fortune to. "I'm not the man I was," Scrooge says as he awakens on Christmas Day a changed man. He dances and sings with his maid Mrs. Dilber (Kathleen Harrison), scaring the daylights out of her. Scrooge pays a young boy to buy the biggest turkey in the shop for the Cratchit family and pledges to help support Cratchit's children in the future.  Scrooge arrives at  his nephew Fred's home for dinner, becoming a part of his family again. Because of the previous nights events, Scrooge will make a difference in the community and families close to him.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL'S story of Scrooge's redemption is always a powerful tale during the holiday season and this version does it in such an entertaining way. The film shows us Scrooge's nasty side but doesn't overdo it like some versions have and moves quickly into the fantasy section (my favorite part of the story). Interestingly, this film version adds some background to Scrooge's back story that isn't in the Dickens book. Flashbacks showing Scrooge's sister's death and young Scrooge's first meeting with young Marley aren't in the book. The character of Mr. Jorkin is created just for the film. These scenes as well as other in the Christmas Past sequence paint a sympathetic picture of Scrooge and make us care for him a little earlier in the story as we discover how he went from idealistic young man to grumpy, lonely businessman.

Author Charles Dickens lived and wrote in the bleak Victorian Era of the 19th Century and his stories dealt with dark subjects like poverty and social injustice so it's only appropriate that this 1951 version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL (as well as the 1938 version) is shot in black and white. It adds to Scrooge's melancholy mood and the grim times many of the citizens London dealt with. Black and white conveys the two moods of the story.  Black for Scrooge's dark period, his foul mood, and the supernatural journey he takes to discover the joys of not just Christmas but helping mankind.  White as daylight breaks on Christmas morning, a new beginning. Scrooge discovers he's not dead but alive and that he can make a difference in the lives of not just one person (Mrs. Dilber, Tiny Tim) but a community. As much as we love color, Dickens stories belong in black and white.

The key to this A CHRISTMAS CAROL'S success is actor Alistair Sim who plays Scrooge. Sim is not a household name, a famous celebrity. Although Sim would have a successful career as an actor (he worked with Alfred Hitchcock in the 1950 film STAGE FRIGHT), Scrooge would become Sim's signature performance. He would perform as Scrooge a few other times in his career, even provide his voice for Scrooge for a 1971 animated short A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

All the acting in A CHRISTMAS CAROL is uniformly good. The actors all get the story and play their parts, whether large or small, splendidly. Dickens stories always have plenty of characters. In many filmed versions, Bob Cratchit is often the handsome supporting character but in this one, Scrooge's nephew Fred played by Brian Worth has that distinction. Cratchit played by Mervyn Johns is a more doting, parental figure. The Tiny Tim character can often be a bit excessively sweet or over the top but in this film he's just a normal kid struggling with a handicap as best as he can as played by Glyn Dearman. This British version just feels like an authentic Dickens adaption as it was filmed in Britain with English actors.

Although most of the cast is unknown to me in this A CHRISTMAS CAROL, a few familiar faces pop up. I spotted Ernest Thesiger (Dr. Pretorious in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN) as the Undertaker, Peter Bull (the Russian ambassador in DR. STRANGELOVE) as a Businessman, and Patrick MacNee (TV's Jonathan Steed in THE AVENGERS) as the young Jacob Marley.

One character I learned more about watching this version was Scrooge's business partner Jacob Marley. As young men, they are similar in their ambitions to become businessmen, taking over Scrooge's former employer Fezziwig's business, renaming it Scrooge & Marley, Enquirers. But both will be consumed with the all mighty pound and lose sight of giving back to the community or seeing the good will in men. They will also lose sight of their friendship. As Marley lies on his deathbed, Scrooge refuses to visit his partner until the day's work is done. Scrooge takes over Marley's estate but hoards it. When Marley returns as a ghost, he warns his old friend to take a different path than he did.

Another important piece to A CHRISTMAS CAROL are the fantasy elements. In this version, the special effects are understated yet effective. Computer Generated Images (CGI) are still decades away. The most important effect is the first one involving the ghost of Jacob Marley. We need to be able to see through him and the filmmakers achieve it. It's not fancy or spectacular but Marley's ghost is ethereal, floating around the room or his face appearing on a door knocker. Some of the effects are just old fashioned slight of hand. The Spirit of Christmas Future using his cloak to cover up the screen and transition us from one scene to another. Or The Spirit of Christmas Present's dramatic reveal when he lifts his robes and two children - Want and Ignorance - clutch at his feet works because of a powerful music cue. But the special effects and tricks never take away from the story.

Throw in a few actual Christmas carols sung throughout the film and this A CHRISTMAS CAROL is a perfect movie for children and adults alike to watch again and again during the holidays.  I dare anyone to 'Bah Humbug' me for making such a declaration.

Key Largo (1948)

KEY LARGO (1948) is a great example of a catchy plot and a bunch of fine actors lifting up a film that is decent but not scintillating.  Humphrey Bogart comes to Key West to visit a dead war buddy's father and widow and gets tangled up with a hotel full of mobsters led by Edward G. Robinson as a hurricane bears down on the Florida Keys and the hotel.

I first became interested in KEY LARGO (directed by the great John Huston) during college. What sparked my interest at the time wasn't Huston's film (which I knew nothing about) but a story I read in the Hollywood trade papers that up and coming Finnish uber director Rennie Harlin (CLIFFHANGER, DIE HARD II) was planning on directing a film about gangsters caught in a hurricane which echoed the plot of KEY LARGO. It was never made (maybe a good sign as Harlin's career has faded as much as that script idea). The combination of  gangsters and hurricane intrigued me so I caught KEY LARGO one night on television.  I was disappointed by it.  Yes, it stars Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and Lauren Bacall but the hurricane element was barely noticeable.  Having grown up in the Spielberg/Lucas era of big effects, I was expecting gangsters trying to shoot one another as houses and cars flew around and tidal waves crashed through the hotel.  But it was mostly talking and very little action.

Watching it now, that would make sense as KEY LARGO is based on a play by Maxwell Anderson adapted by Richard Brooks and John Huston (although apparently the movie resembles little of the play). But director Huston does play up the hurricane elements more than I recalled with wind sound effects, footage of huge waves crashing onto the shore, and a climactic palm tree that crashes through the lobby window to end the second act of the film. The hurricane is just a metaphor for the turbulent, swirling drama going on inside the hotel as innocent people are terrorized by dirty crooks. The main focus of the film are the actors and the dialogue and not the storm.

Humphrey Bogart stars as disillusioned WWII veteran Frank McCloud, on a bus to Key Largo to visit wheelchair bound James Temple (Lionel Barrymore) and Nora Temple (Lauren Bacall), the father and widow of Frank's war buddy George, who was killed in action at San Pietro in Italy. Mr. Temple runs the Largo Hotel. When Frank arrives, he discovers the hotel is temporarily closed, rented out for a month by a group of shady characters supposedly from Wisconsin on a fishing trip. As a hurricane looms in the distance, Frank helps Nora tie up their boat and board up the windows before the storm hits.

The leader of these unsavory guests is Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson), an Al Capone like mob kingpin who was deported by the Feds from the U.S. and fled to Cuba. Rocco has snook back into the United States but is hiding out at the hotel with his crew Curly (Thomas Gomez), Toots (Harry Lewis), Angel (Dan Seymour), and Rocco's old flame, the alcoholic, ex nightclub singer Gaye Dawn (Claire Trevor). We first meet Rocco sitting naked in a bathtub, smoking a cigar, a small fan blowing air to keep him cool from the Florida humidity. Everyone is cool and collect until one of the local sheriff's men Deputy Clyde Sawyer (John Rodney), while looking for a couple of escaped Seminole Indian convicts, recognizes Rocco. Rocco's men jump Sawyer and have him locked up in one of the hotel's rooms.

The hurricane hits landfall and the tensions inside the hotel ratchet up as Frank and Rocco begin to psychologically slug it out. Frank trying to protect the Temple's from Rocco's murderous impulses. Rocco terrorizing his hostages, trying to prove he's back in charge. Rocco doesn't like the storm and wants to leave for Miami where he's trying to sell a shipment of counterfeit cash to the Miami syndicate. Sawyer grabs a gun but it's empty and Rocco kills him. Rocco's men take Sawyer's body out in the turbulent bay and toss him into the water.

Rocco and his men discover the boat that brought them to Key Largo has left. Sheriff Ben Wade (Monte Blue) shows up looking for deputy Sawyer. He discovers Sawyer's body washed back in by the hurricane. Rocco lies, telling the Sheriff it was the Seminole Indian brothers who killed Sawyer. The Miami syndicate led by their leader Ziggy (Marc Lawrence) arrive and pick up Rocco's shipment. Rocco forces Frank to take him and his men back to Cuba. Gaye slips Frank a gun. Frank gets the gangsters away from the hotel, headed for Cuba when he decides to battle it out with Rocco and his men on the high seas.

The hurricane as a metaphor for the psychological storm brewing inside the Largo Hotel is constant throughout KEY LARGO. Rocco is a one man hurricane, mowing down human psyches and even taking lives. Rocco antagonizes the invalid Mr. Temple, inciting Mr. Temple to get out of his wheelchair to fight Rocco, with disastrous results. Rocco tortures Gaye Dawn mentally, keeping liquor from her, forcing her to sing a song when she can no longer carry a tune. Rocco flirts with Nora, calling her a "wildcat", making Gaye jealous. Rocco kills Sawyer and sets in motion a lie that will cause Sheriff Wade to kill the two Seminole Indian brothers for a crime they didn't commit.

But the eye of the hurricane, the calm before the Rocco tempest is Frank McCloud. He arrives at the hotel with emotional baggage, his best friend killed in the war, his faith in the freedom he fought for shaken. Frank has seen plenty of death and when Rocco challenges Frank to shoot him (with an empty gun that Rocco gives him), Frank backs down. Rocco calls Frank a coward and the film implies that Frank may have been a coward in Italy while his best friend George was the hero, winning medals.  But later, Nora hints that Frank is in denial, that it was Frank and not her husband who fought off the Italians, who showed bravery in the face of insurmountable odds. George had told her about the real Frank McCloud.

Frank McCloud is a prototype Bogart character, very similar to his Rick Blaine in CASABLANCA who states, "I stick my neck out for no one." Frank echoes similar words in KEY LARGO when he says, "I fight nobody's battles but my own." But Frank will battle with his lone wolf persona.  He tries to stay out of Rocco's affairs. But a spark has come back into Frank's life when he sets eyes on Nora. He doesn't want to see Nora or her father hurt. They've already lost a husband/son. Frank will get his confidence back when he observes Rocco becoming unglued during the storm, pacing like a caged tiger, unable to control things as Mother Nature takes over. "Show it your gun," Frank tells Rocco. "If it doesn't stop, shoot it."

Although Bogart is the star of KEY LARGO, it's really an ensemble film with everyone getting their turn to shine. At times, Edward G. Robinson seems like the main character as he takes over the middle section of the film, Bogart staying in the background. It's fun to see Bogart and Robinson squaring off against one another. In the early 30's, Robinson was the top dog playing gangsters and tough guys in films like LITTLE CAESAR (1931). Bogart would later take the mantle from Robinson as his career would start to flourish beginning with his role as a bank robber in THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1935). Bogart and  Robinson even worked together previously in the boxing melodrama KID GALAHAD (1937).

Edward G. Robinson is truly menacing as Johnny Rocco, sadistic, violent, a sociopath. Rocco is a one man cyclone, causing destruction and misery in his brief stay at the Largo Hotel. But Robinson could play any role and as vicious as he is as Rocco in KEY LARGO, he could also play timid and meek in Fritz Lang's SCARLETT STREET (1945) or a moral, dogged insurance investigator in Billy Wilder's DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944). Bogart is his usual steady, cool self as Frank McCloud but I wouldn't say it's one of his flashier performances. But he gets to act with his wife Lauren Bacall. KEY LARGO would be their fourth and last film together (1942's TO HAVE AN HAVE NOT and 1944's THE BIG SLEEP two of their earlier pairings). Bacall as Nora doesn't have to be sexy in KEY LARGO but she's fantastic at conveying what's going on in her head with just a stare or glance from her perfect face.  Director Huston does an amazing job of cutting to reaction shots by Bogart, Bacall, and Claire Trevor as Gaye that give so much information about what they're thinking or noticing as events unfold.

If you recognize actor Lionel Barrymore's voice as James Temple, it's because Barrymore's most famous role was as the mean Mr. Henry Potter in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946). But Temple is a good character although he suffers plenty of misery in KEY LARGO. Lionel Barrymore, along with his siblings John and Ethel, are considered Hollywood royalty (actress Drew Barrymore is related to them). Surprisingly, out of all the great actors in KEY LARGO, only actress Claire Trevor would win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as the over the hill, alcoholic moll Gaye Dawn. Director Huston rounds out Rocco's gang with some colorful characters. Thomas Gomez as the gum chewing heavy Curly Hoff and Harry Lewis as the giggling enforcer Toots Bass stand out with Curly my favorite.

All of director John Huston's films are adapted either from novels or plays with Huston writing or co-writing many of the screenplays.  His superb career includes classics like THE MALTESE FALCON (1941), THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE (1948), THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951), and THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975) all based on classic books.  Huston and Bogart would work together on six films.  I never realized it but co-writer Richard Brooks would become a protégé of Huston's, turning to writing and directing his own movies, many of them also based on novels and plays.  Some of Brooks more well known films adapted from plays or novels include CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958), ELMER GANTRY (1960), and IN COLD BLOOD (1967).

As great as the acting and dialogue is in KEY LARGO, there's something about the film that holds it back from being better. The film's climactic shoot out on the boat is staged poorly and doesn't have the dramatic effect expected. I would have liked to have seen Bogart and Robinson battle it out mano a mano at the end but their final confrontation is less than compelling. A few more scenes outdoors during the ferocious storm with the key players might have been interesting. And the subplot with the two escaped Seminole Indian brothers, who trust Mr. Temple and get killed because of Rocco's deception to Sheriff Wade, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

But my petty criticisms should not be enough to dissuade movie fans from viewing KEY LARGO. Any film with Bogart, Robinson, Bacall, and Barrymore is worth catching. They just don't make movies anymore where women are called "dames", gangsters are called "wise guys", and tough guys threaten to give someone a "sock in the kisser."

Werewolf of London (1935)

WEREWOLF OF LONDON (1935) has the distinction as the first werewolf film ever made. Yes even before Lon Chaney Jr and THE WOLF MAN (1941) came along, there was this minor gem that does not always get the recognition it deserves. Just its title exudes coolness and we've seen both a Warren Zevon song Werewolves of London and a more modern werewolf film, John Landis's AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981), borrow the British capital's name to good effect. WEREWOLF OF LONDON is unique as it borrows the FRANKENSTEIN story of an obsessed scientist, married to a beautiful woman that he forever ignores in the name of science, and even gives us not one but two werewolves (although it misses the chance to have the two werewolves battle each other in full werewolf make up), rivals for the same Tibetan flower that can stop their lycan condition.

WEREWOLF OF LONDON'S make up is done by famed make up artist Jack Pierce who would perfect his werewolf look with the later THE WOLF MAN. But WEREWOLF OF LONDON'S werewolf make up is cool as Pierce gives actor Henry Hull a different werewolf look than Lon Chaney Jr. Hull sports a widow's peak and less hair around the face. Actor Michael Landon would borrow a similar werewolf look for his teenage werewolf film I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF (1957).

Instead of opening in a Transylvanian castle or Frankenstein's village or the moors of Scotland, WEREWOLF OF LONDON begins in the mountains of Tibet as Dr. Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull) and his associate Hugh Renwick (Clark Williams) are searching for a rare Himalayan flower known as Mariphasa lumina lupina i.e. the phosphorescent Wolf flower that only blooms in moonlight. Just as Glendon discovers the elusive flower, he's attacked by a werewolf (looking a bit like the Cowardly Lion) and bitten on the arm. Glendon fights off the creature and brings the flower back to his laboratory in London.

Director Stuart Walker introduces us to the rest of the characters at a huge party thrown by the London Botanist Society including Glendon's wife Lisa (Valerie Hobson), Lisa's aunt Miss Ettie Coombes (Spring Byington), Lisa's childhood boyfriend Paul Ames (Lester Matthews), and the mysterious Dr. Yogami (Warner Oland), another botanist who's very interested in the moon flower that Glendon has brought back. Yogami, noticing Glendon's bite marks on his arm, tells the botanist that the flower is an antidote to lycanthrophobia or werewolfery. But not a cure. "The werewolf instinctively seeks to kill the thing it loves best," Yogami warns Glendon. The first full moon of the month, Glendon turns into a werewolf and tries to sneak into his house to attack Lisa but he's thwarted by Miss Ettie's screams. The werewolf ends up killing another woman along Goose Lane.

Glendon, with the help of his lab assistant Hawkins (J.M. Kerrigan) try to trick the Mariphasa into sprouting more blossoms but to no avail. Glendon turns down Lisa's wishes to go out, afraid he might harm his wife. Lisa begins to turn to Paul for comfort, making Glendon jealous.  Glendon rents a room above a pub the next night, trying to isolate himself from his loved ones. But the full moon transforms him again and the werewolf strikes at the London Zoological Gardens, murdering a streetwalker visiting her policeman boyfriend. Yogami goes to Scotland Yard, warning Sir Thomas Forsythe (Lawrence Grant) that a werewolf hunts in London. Yogami also sneaks into Glendon's laboratory and snips two blossoms from the plant. Yogami is the other werewolf who bit Glendon in Nepal.

The next day, Glendon hides out in his laboratory, catching Yogami lurking again to steal more blossoms. Glendon and Yogami struggle and Glendon kills Yogami. Glendon flees to Faldon Estate and barricades himself in the secluded Monk's Rest (a tower) as he awaits the next full moon. Lisa and Paul show up at the home to do some horse riding. Glendon transforms into the werewolf yet again and breaks out of the Monk's Rest, his blood lust to kill Lisa overpowering him. Paul battles Glendon until Forsythe arrives with Scotland Yard and shoots Glendon the werewolf just in the nick of time.

WEREWOLF OF LONDON'S screenwriter John Colton does things differently with cinema's first werewolf. This werewolf has a fashion sense, throwing on a hat and scarf before venturing out into the foggy London night. This werewolf doesn't want to be recognized although it would be hard not to notice a howling, snarling hairy botanist. This werewolf even speaks at the end of the film as a hirsute Glendon apologizes to Lisa for his carnivorous behavior before dying. I can't recall another werewolf film where a werewolf has the sense to dress himself or talk.  Colton messes up on how many full moons there are in a month (1 not 4) but it helps with his storyline. The godfather of werewolf mythology screenwriter Curt Siodmak would take different liberties with his lycanthropy lore when he writes THE WOLF MAN six years later.

Director Stuart Walker's direction of WEREWOLF OF LONDON has its hits and misses. Walker does an amicable job moving the action from Nepal to the foggy streets of London to Faldon Estate. Glendon's transformation from man to wolf is nicely rendered. Glendon's first metamorphosis is a moving shot as he changes each time he passes a wall.  Later, Walker uses time lapse photography for the transformation which THE WOLF MAN would adapt for Chaney Jr's changes as well. But Walker is less assured in some of the fight scenes particularly the pivotal struggle between werewolf Glendon and Paul that is staged clumsily and loses the dramatic effect needed. And how Walker could pass up the opportunity to have werewolf Glendon and werewolf Yogami battle each other in full make up is a monsterous mistake.

Although WERWOLF OF LONDON is obviously a werewolf movie, WEREWOLF has connections to another different 1935 horror film (also from Universal) James Whale's THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. The relationship and rivalry between Dr. Glendon and Dr. Yogami in WEREWOLF OF LONDON reminds me of a similar relationship between Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. However in BRIDE, Frankenstein ends up working with Pretorius to provide the Frankenstein's monster a mate. Glendon and Yogami never do collaborate. Both men are egocentric. Yogami tries to warn Glendon about the curse yet Yogami's selfish enough to know he needs the flower to prevent him from killing as well.  BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and WEREWOLF OF LONDON also share the same leading lady Valerie Hobson. Hobson plays Lisa Glendon in WEREWOLF and she's quite attractive and spunky in the role. She would play Dr. Frankenstein's fiancee in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN.

WEREWOLF OF LONDON would be actor Henry Hull's only horror film. Hull had mostly done stage work before beginning in silent films and then talkies. Hull's portrayal of Dr. Glendon is a bit stagey at first but his performance grew on me. Glendon's efforts to distance himself from Lisa so he won't kill her when he's a werewolf is noble and makes him very sympathetic. Pierce's werewolf make up allows Hull to be much more expressive when he becomes the beast. Hull would have a good long career in film, appearing in Westerns, Film Noirs, and even Alfred Hitchcock's LIFEBOAT (1944).

A great choice as Glendon's adversary is actor Warner Oland as Dr. Yogami. Oland is best known in film as Charlie Chan, a Chinese-American detective. Oland played Charlie Chan in 16 films (including one called CHARLIE CHAN IN LONDON) all made between 1931 and 1937. Dr. Yogami is another Asian character for Oland who ironically, was Swedish but looked Asian (thanks to a Mongolian grandmother). Yogami is a complex, conflicted character. He brought about Glendon's fate and tries to warn him of the dangers when the moon comes out. But Yogami is greedy and selfish, desiring the plant for himself, so he doesn't become a werewolf again. The Yogami role was originally going to be played by Bela Lugosi but Lugosi was committed to MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935). Oland proved to be a worthy alternative.

Rounding out the cast are Spring Byington who's amusing as Lisa's Auntie Ettie Coombes. Ettie likes to gossip and when Lisa's ex Paul shows up, Ettie is quick to remind Glendon that her niece and Paul are life long friends, causing issues for Glendon and Lisa. Lester Matthews who plays Paul Ames is saddled with the least interesting role in the film. Paul only gets to protect Lisa at the end and he doesn't even kill the werewolf. Actor J.M. Kerrigan who plays Glendon's owlish lab assistant Hawkins has the distinction of appearing in both WEREWOLF OF LONDON and THE WOLF MAN. And in a nod to the comedic English villagers in THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933), actresses Ethel Griffies and Zeffie Tilbury provide the humor as the liquor loving Mrs. Whack and Mrs. Moncaster (where is actress Una O'Connor when you need her).

If the name Stuart Walker doesn't ring a bell, it's because the director did not make another film after 1935 and would pass away from a heart attack in 1941. Besides WEREWOLF OF LONDON, Walker directed THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD and MANHATTAN MOON also in 1935. Walker's most noteworthy film was THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK (1933) starting Frederic March and Cary Grant. But Walker's contribution to the horror genre is cemented with his directing the first werewolf film in cinema.

For total werewolf geeks, check out the WEREWOLF OF LONDON trailer on the DVD which shows a quick shot (pictured above in a publicity still) of Glendon the werewolf clawing Yogami's face and drawing blood. This sequence is not in the actual film, perhaps a casualty of censors who found it too gruesome.  WEREWOLF OF LONDON will surprise the avid werewolf fan who holds THE WOLF MAN as the gospel. Good acting by Hull, Hobson, and Oland along with make up artist Jack Pierce's first attempt at werewolf make up and the London locale make WEREWOLF OF LONDON one of Universal's underrated horror hits.

The Omen (1976 and 2006)

We've all been around a young child with a devilish streak for mischief but what if that child was really the son of the devil, the Antichrist with the Mark of the Beast  - 666 - tattooed on his scalp and not just little Jimmy who likes to pull Susie's hair. It's hard to believe that it took filmmakers until 1976 to come up with a son of the devil idea. We've had SON OF DRACULA, SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, even SON OF KONG but no son of the devil until THE OMEN (1976).

While it's to be expected that there will always be remakes of DRACULA or FRANKENSTEIN (horror's closest thing to Shakespeare) for the next generation of audiences, it caught me off guard recently when we started to see remakes of horror films that first came out when I was in my teens. So far we've seen remakes and retellings of THE FOG and FRIGHT NIGHT and FRIDAY THE 13TH and THE THING and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. What other horror remakes did the creatively starved studios have in mind next?

20th Century Fox decided to remake 1976's THE OMEN with another version 30 years later in 2006 (had it really been 30 years!).  THE OMEN was another of those R rated films of the mid-70's that I was not allowed to see. When I did eventually watch it, THE OMEN quickly rose as one of my favorite horror films of all time.  It has a great premise (Satan's son is born on earth); some very creative deaths caused by either Satan or unnatural forces (impalement, hanging, decapitation); and director Richard Donner (SUPERMAN, LETHAL WEAPON) gives THE OMEN cache by casting Hollywood legends Gregory Peck and Lee Remick as the unsuspecting parents (at first) raising little Damian, the devil's son. And we finally learn that if you put the numbers 666 together, bad things will happen.

But THE OMEN remake really does little new with the original story except for a few minor alterations. Surprisingly, the new OMEN is written by screenwriter David Seltzer who wrote the original OMEN.  Seltzer obviously knows the story well but hardly explores new areas from his first stab at it, seemingly content with what he originally wrote (which was great). It's almost surprising that original director Richard Donner didn't direct this newer version too (he didn't).  Irishman John Moore gets the opportunity this time. My guess is the new OMEN was made to introduce to a new, younger audience the tragic tale of Ambassador Thorn and his wife Katherine and their first child Damian.

But let's begin with the original THE OMEN. It was directed by Richard Donner who was not yet the powerhouse director that he would later become. This was one of his first feature films after working years in television. But THE OMEN'S success would propel him to SUPERMAN (1978), THE GOONIES (1985), and the LETHAL WEAPON series. THE OMEN also benefits from a great score (using a spooky chorus at times) by renowned composer Jerry Goldsmith (PLANET OF THE APES, CHINATOWN) and the cinematographer is Gil Taylor (DR. STRANGELOVE, STAR WARS). This is no cheap horror film. THE OMEN has star power with its acting and technical people.

The original THE OMEN opens on the night of June 6th, 6am, in a Rome hospital where American diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) learns that he and his wife Katherine's (Lee Remick) first child has died during birth. Afraid Katherine can't handle the shock of losing her first child, Thorn makes a deal (not with the devil but it might as well be) to secretly adopt another child born on the same night whose mother died during birth. They name the child Damian.

Thorn, who is best friends with the President of the United States, becomes the new Ambassador to England.  They move to London and live in a huge English manor outside of the city, raising little Damian. Things begin to unravel on Damian's (Harvey Stephens) 5th birthday party when the Thorn's nanny (Holly Palance) leaps off the top of the mansion, a noose around her neck, and hangs herself. Soon afterward, a Father Brennan (Patrick Troughton) visits Thorn's office and warns him he and Katherine are in danger. A new nanny arrives to watch over Damian, the mysterious and very protective Mrs. Baylock (Billie Whitelaw).

Father Brennan tracks down Thorn again and tells him he was at the Rome hospital the night Damian was born. Brennan knows who Damian's real mother was. He also tells Thorn Katherine is pregnant again. Katherine and the unborn baby are in danger. Brennan is tragically impaled by a steel rod soon after during a freak storm near Bishop's Park. Katherine begins to suspect Damian is different. The young boy freaks out during a trip to attend a baptism at a church.  Later, wild animals react violently to Damian when he and Katherine go to a London Safari Park. Katherine's suspicions are realized when Damian (accidentally?) knocks her off a ladder at home while riding his tricycle. Katherine falls over the upstairs balcony, sending her to the hospital with a concussion, broken bones, and causing Katherine to have a miscarriage.

Thorn enlists the aid of Keith Jennings (David Warner), a photographer, to travel back to Italy with him and revisit the hospital where Damian was born. Jennings has uncovered unusual marks and symbols on photographs he had taken of both the first nanny and Father Brennan, marks that foreshadowed their deaths. An accidental self-portrait taken by Jennings reveals he may be marked too. Thorn and Jennings arrive in Rome to discover the hospital where Damian was born burned down five years ago with all the birth records. They track Father Spiletto (Martin Benson), the priest from the original hospital to a monastery. Spiletto, now disfigured from the fire, sends Thorn and Jennings to an Etruscan cemetery called Cervet to learn the true identity of Damian's real mother (I won't spoil the secret to you). To their horror, Thorn and Jennings also find the skeleton of an infant, a large hole in the side of the child's head. Thorn's real son was murdered the night he was born.

Thorn tries to call and warn Katherine at the hospital that she's in danger but Mrs. Baylock sneaks into the room and throws Katherine out the window. Convinced that the son he has raised is the Antichrist, Thorn and Jennings fly to Jerusalem, Israel (Father Brennan had suggested they go) to visit an archaeological site called Megiddo (which means Armageddon) and a man named Carl Bugenhagen (Leo McKern) who gives Thorn daggers that must be blessed with holy water to destroy Damian. Thorn has second thoughts and throws the bundle of daggers down an alley. Jennings retrieves them, only to be decapitated by a sheet of glass thrown from a runaway truck. Thorn returns to London, kidnaps Damian after fighting off both a deranged Mrs. Baylock and a giant black mastiff dog (another of Damian's protectors), and races to the nearest church to kill Damian before the authorities can stop him.

Although THE OMEN owes its devilish roots to other satanic themed films like ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968) and THE EXORCIST (1973), THE OMEN is scary because it derives its plot from real passages from the Bible, specifically the Book of Revelations. As the morphine addicted Father Brennan explains to Thorn, "When the Jews return to Zion / And a comet rips the sky / And the Holy Roman Empire rises, / Then You and I must die. / From the eternal sea he rises, / Creating armies on either shore, / Turning man against his brother / 'Til man exists no more." The filmmakers don't try to film these passages literally but Thorn and Jennings interpret them to a modern world. Thorn and Katherine were chosen to raise the devil's child because of Thorn's connection to the U.S President. Damian will rise to power through the United States political bloodline. Even more horrifying is that little Damian is played as an innocent.  He doesn't know who he is. He doesn't have any supernatural powers...yet. He's just a typical 5-year-old child. But the devil's disciples (Mrs. Baylock, the black mastiff, Father Brennan) are there to watch and guide him toward his destiny.

THE OMEN has the Hollywood star power of Gregory Peck (TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD) and Lee Remick (DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES) to give this horror film some cinematic credibility that most horror films don't have. Peck is commanding as Ambassador Thorn and both he and Remick do a marvelous job conveying their horror of discovering the child they have raised is pure evil. It's fun to see Gregory Peck back in Rome many years after one of his best films ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953) was filmed there. Throw in one of my favorite character actors David Warner (STRAW DOGS, TIME BANDITS), cast against type as a good guy and the downright creepy Billie Whitelaw (FRENZY) as the new nanny Mrs. Baylock, THE OMEN has a compelling cast. Two sequels would follow. The first one called DAMIEN: OMEN II (1978) would try to rekindle the magic of the original with another Hollywood legend William Holden and Lee Grant as the new guardians of 13-year-old Damian. Although gorier, OMEN II would not have the success that the original OMEN had. In 1981, the third and final chapter called OMEN III: THE FINAL CONFLICT with Sam Neill as an adult Damian was released.

Although I think there have been a few earlier films before THE OMEN that had a series of spectacular or unique deaths (THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES with Vincent Price comes to mind), THE OMEN catapulted grisly set pieces that would be embraced by future horror films like the FRIDAY THE 13TH series or FINAL DESTINATION films. Director Donner showcases each character's death with a high degree of theatricality: the first nanny's hanging, Father Brennan's impaling, Katherine Thorn's fall (twice), and photographer Jennings's decapitation (filmed in slow motion and from multiple angles). I think THE OMEN also springboarded the decapitation into screenwriter's minds as a very visual way for someone to be killed on screen. The advance of special effects and now computer-generated effects has helped too. Nowadays it's fairly common on horror television shows like THE VAMPIRE DIARIES or SUPERNATURAL to have a beheading on prime time.

The omen that no one saw coming was that 20th Century Fox would remake the original OMEN thirty years later.  But not much has changed with the plot although writer Seltzer and new director Moore add a few little brushstrokes here and there. The film opens with a Vatican astronomer (Predrag Bjelac) spotting the dreaded comet in the celestial skies foreshadowing that Satan's son is coming. He reports the bad news to his Cardinal (Carlo Sabatini). Robert and Katherine Thorn are much younger in the newer version, played reliably by actors Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles (but not making me forget Peck and Remick). Katherine supposedly miscarries and Thorn accepts Father Spiletto's (Giovanni Lombardo Radice) gift of another child born the same night to replace their dead son. Thorn is only an undersecretary to the US Ambassador of Italy Steven Haines (Marshall Cupp). When Ambassador Haines dies tragically in a car fire (caused by the dregs of hell who lurk like homeless people throughout the film), Thorn (who is the godson of the United States President in this version) is named Ambassador to Great Britain, replacing Haines.

We jump forward again to Damien's (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) 5th birthday party. The nanny (Amy Huck) hangs herself in front of everyone. Father Brennan (Pete Postlethwaite) tries to tell Thorn the terrible secret about his son Damian. In what seems like a casting coup, Mia Farrow (who may or may not have carried the devil's son in ROSEMARY'S BABY) plays Mrs. Baylock, one of Lucifer's disciples sent to protect Damian from any harm. Father Brennan is impaled by a steel rod struck by lightning near a church after revealing to Thorn Damian's real mother. Katherine begins to reject Damian, even seeking help from a psychiatrist (Richard Rees).  When Katherine is injured in a fall caused by Damian, freelance photographer Keith Jennings (David Thewlis) shows Thorn photographic proof that unholy forces may be at work. Thorn confesses to Jennings that Damian isn't his real son.

This OMEN'S final act follows closely the original. Thorn and Jennings learn the secret of Damian's mother at the Etruscan cemetery Cervet, barely escaping the hounds of hell sent to stop them. Katherine Thorn is killed by Mrs. Baylock before Robert can warn her to leave London. Thorn and Jennings travel to Israel and meet the archaeologist Bugenhagen played by Michael Gambon (who Father Brennan had told Thorn to seek out) who has the weapons that Thorn needs to destroy Damian. Satan's derelicts help facilitate Jennings's decapitation leaving Thorn alone to return to London and attempt to destroy the Antichrist known as Damian Thorn.

The new OMEN won't make anyone forget the original but it doesn't desecrate the first one, instead treating its source material almost like gospel. Director Moore incorporates a few more modern horror film devices for this version with some supernatural dream sequences and satanic imagery. As far as the spectacular deaths go, Moore outdoes the original with Jennings's decapitation but makes Katherine Thorn's death less spectacular but more terrifying.  His staging of the nanny's and Brennan's deaths are almost identical and he even uses the same technique for Katherine's fall from the balcony (although Damian now strikes her with a Razor instead of a tricycle).

One of the big differences I noticed between the two OMEN's is that the original director Donner played up the mystery of the story a bit more than director Moore. When Brennan is about to tell Thorn who Damian's mother was, he's cut off in mid-sentence. I never quite heard what Brennan said. But the new version makes it very clear who Damian's mother was. Even the reveal of Damian's mother's skeleton in the original is less clear. In the newer OMEN, there's no question what Damian's mother was. The character of Father Spiletto is more defined in the newer version.  Spiletto's more on the periphery in the first one but he's a key player in setting up the Thorn's with their unholy child. The relationship between Thorn and Katherine was much sweeter in the original. Peck and Remick appeared to be more in love before things start to unravel. In the new OMEN, there already seems to be tension in the Schreiber/Stiles relationship that only festers as Damian grows older.

In this newer one, Damian seems to have a sense that he's a bad seed.  He even mind controls a security guard when Mrs. Baylock murders Katherine Thorn. One interesting side note is the remake was made after 911. In the first film, Ambassador Thorn doesn't have a whole lot of security but in the 2006 one, there is a noticeable increase in police and secret service agents around Thorn. Just a sign of the times from thirty years ago. Ultimately, the newer one, whether intentional or not, seems to make things a little easier to follow.

Actor Liev Schreiber is decent as Thorn but the aura of Gregory Peck is too hard to shake although at times Schreiber seems to channel Peck by sounding like him. I loved the choice of David Thewlis as the photographer Jennings. Thewlis reminds me of David Warner who played Jennings in the first OMEN. Warner so seldom played a good character that his death is all the more powerful for me. Pete Postlethwaite, hard to forget with his bald pate, made a career out of playing tormented characters like Father Brennan. But little Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick as Damian can't make me forget the original devil boy Harvey Stephens. The only scary thing about Davey-Fitzpatrick is his bad haircut. Stephens had that devilish stare but a sense of innocence as well. Director Moore cleverly casts the now adult Stephens as a tabloid reporter in the remake.

Julia Stiles, one of my favorite unsung actresses, is fine as Katherine Thorn, who begins to suspect that she may not be the mother of Damian but Stiles doesn't make me forget how good Remick was in the original.  Probably the biggest disappointment is Mia Farrow as the diabolical governess Mrs. Baylock (just who is Mr. Baylock as an aside). Farrow seems a great piece of casting with her relationship to the witchy/satanic classic ROSEMARY'S BABY but it's Farrow's child-like voice, so great in ROSEMARY that nullifies her evilness in this new OMEN.

Speaking of director Moore, THE OMEN isn't his first remake.  Moore also directed a decent remake of THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (2004), introducing new audiences to director Robert Aldrich's 1965 classic starring James Stewart and Richard Attenborough. Moore also brought a video game to the screen with MAX PAYNE (2008) and helmed the 5th DIE HARD film called A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (2013). But ultimately, Moore's remake of THE OMEN doesn't break new ground, only provides new actors and a new audience a chance to experience a well written and well-made original film all over again.

Rollerball (1975) and Rollerball (2002)

Remember when you were a kid and you saw a commercial or advertisement in the newspaper for a movie that piqued your interest and you wanted to see it so badly and when you asked your parents, they gave you a resounding, "No!"?  That was me in 1975.  The two films that I wanted to see more than anything in the world were JAWS and ROLLERBALL. One was about a giant man eating shark terrorizing Martha's Vineyard. The other film was about a violent, futuristic sport that combined roller derby, football, and motocross. Looking back at my parents decision, I applaud them for their parental guidance. Today, most kids (mine included) have probably seen a bloody or violent film far worse than JAWS or ROLLERBALL. How times have changed. But oh, how it pained me to know it was playing in a movie theater near me and I was forbidden to see either film.

What's funny is that I had already seen a PG film a few years earlier when my grandmother took me to see THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972). How that got past my parents I'll never know (and the subject of a future CRAZYFILMGUY blog).  My mother must have had inside information about JAWS and ROLLERBALL (she probably read the reviews). The fact that I wanted to see films that didn't involve animated talking mice when I was 11 makes me proud. Even at an early age, I was reaching out to see different, interesting films. ROLLERBALL was R rated which also had something to do with my mother's decision. I did have a friend named John in fourth grade whose parents would let him see everything. I would have to go to John like a lost explorer seeking Buddha and have him describe the entire film back to me since I was not allowed to see it. John recounted JAWS to me as well as THE EIGER SANCTION and MARATHON MAN (two more films my parents wouldn't let me see) during lunch and recess.

But I don't think John ever saw ROLLERBALL (1975).  In fact, I don't know anyone who saw ROLLERBALL either in grade school, high school, college, or as an adult. Until I watched ROLLERBALL a few months ago, I still had never watched it.  The thrill of watching it as a kid had dissipated as girls and homework and later marriage and having kids took over. It was only seeing it advertised on MGM's Movie Channel recently did it rekindle that thrill to watch it when I was in fourth grade.  There's just something visceral about these athletes roller skating on a oval track with motorcycles, wearing thick gloves with spikes on them, bashing each other's bodies to try and put a steel ball into a magnetic goal.  If only ROLLERBALL had been made by a director with a better feel for action and visuals.  Instead, ROLLERBALL was made by director Norman Jewison.

Now Jewison is not a bad director having made the Academy Award winning IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967) and the critically praised MOONSTRUCK (1987). He brought two popular Broadway musicals to the screen: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (1971) and JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (1973). But ROLLERBALL just seems out of his league.  He probably wanted to direct something different after musicals and socially responsible dramas. If you've seen photographs of Norman Jewison, he's a distinguished, respectable looking man with white hair and glasses. He could be a doctor or accountant.  He's just not a sexy director like Kubrick or Coppola or DePalma. Yet Jewison worked with some of the most testosterone filled actors during his career: Steve McQueen (THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR), Al Pacino (AND JUSTICE FOR ALL), and in ROLLERBALL, James Caan.

It is clear from the first frame of ROLLERBALL that director Jewison is inspired by Stanley Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1972). The violence at times is in super slow motion. Jewison even uses classic music, Bach's Toccata in D Fugue, played on an organ just as Kubrick used Beethoven and Rossini for his futuristic tale. But Jewison is no Kubrick. Although ROLLERBALL has some interesting ideas from an original screenplay by William Harrison based on his short story Roller Ball Murder and the action scenes are kinetic, the film lacks a visionary director to take it to another level.

ROLLERBALL takes place in a distant future, after the Computer Wars. Corporations are now running the world instead of countries.  There are no more wars. No poverty or sickness. Corporations make all the decisions. To replace war and give society something to watch, a violent, fast moving game called Rollerball entertains the masses and satisfies their lust for blood and violence. Rollerball has become the new gladiator sport.  Teams from around the world compete to become the world champion. Brutal injuries and even death are common place on the oval roller rink in the world of Rollerball.

The film opens with the Rollerball team from Houston led by the Michael Jordan of Rollerball Jonathan E (James Caan) squaring off against the team from Madrid. The Houston team is owned by the Energy Corporation, a group of businessmen in gray suits who appear to run not only the Rollerball league but the world along with other corporations. The executive in charge is Mr. Bartholomew (John Houseman). Houston defeats Madrid. Bartholomew and the suits praise Jonathan E and the team for their victory.  But all is not well at the Energy Corporation. 

Jonathan E is becoming too big a star, too much of an individual.  As Bartholomew reminds Jonathan, "No player is greater than the game itself." Jonathan is called into the gleaming corporate headquarters of the Energy Corporation. Bartholomew tells Jonathan that the executives wants Jonathan to retire. A big television special is being prepared to announce Jonathan's retirement after 10 years in the Rollerball rink. But Jonathan doesn't take the request well. The Energy Corporation has already taken away his wife Ella (Maud Adams) replacing her with different girlfriends (Barbara  Hensley and Barbara Trentham). But Jonathan wants to learn more about the past, how the Energy Corporation came into control after the Computer Wars. Jonathan refuses to retire.

Houston makes it to the semi-finals and travels to the Far East to play against Tokyo, a Rollerball team that incorporates (what else) karate and judo tactics.  The Corporation releases new rules for the semi-final match.  Limited substitutions and no penalties.  The Tokyo team gangs up on Jonathan's best friend and teammate Moonpie (John Beck). Moonpie is beaten mercilessly by the Tokyo players and falls into a coma, brain dead. Houston wins the match.

Instead of returning to Houston with the team, Jonathan flies to Geneva where all the world's history and information is kept on computers.  Books are no longer needed or available. Jonathan meets the Librarian (Ralph Richardson) to find answers about the Computer Wars and the Energy Corporation. The Librarian is a bit befuddled when Jonathan arrives as a computer glitch has misplaced all information about the 13th century. The Librarian asks the main computer Zero to answer Jonathan's questions but the computer just blinks silently (another nod by Jewison to HAL the Computer in Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY).

Jonathan returns to Houston.  The Corporation brings back Jonathan's wife Ella who pleads for Jonathan to quit Rollerball. She warns him the conglomerate is out to defeat him.  Houston plays New York in the finals and this time, there are no substitutions and no penalties.  The winner is to be the last man standing. It's Jonathan E versus the gray suits behind the glass corporate suites.

The world of ROLLERBALL both in the rink and the outside world is nicely rendered by writer Harrison and director Jewison. Most of the film is set in a futuristic Houston but the filmmakers make a clever choice by filming in Germany, using unfamiliar glass skyscrapers and domed buildings from Munich, Germany to represent Houston. It give the locale an unsettling, foreign look. It's not an America we're familiar with. Companies have replaced countries, making decisions on a global basis for the common good of all. Houston, Madrid, Tokyo, and New York are all run by executives hidden in their glass towers.

Corporate Executive Mr. Bartholomew is the voice for the filmmakers to explain this sterile, dystopian world and the origin of Rollerball. "The game was created to demonstrate the futility of individual effort." Individualism has been stifled in this futuristic society. Jonathan doesn't even have a last name. Just a letter. He had a wife but the Corporation took her away. Even sex appears to be banished or limited.  At the party to watch Jonathan's retirement special, men and women mingle in evening gowns and suits, a formal orgy but no one takes their clothes off. The guests just touch each other's hands, stare at each other, and take a pill that seems to make everyone mellow and obedient. Black, White, Asian -- they're all one in this strange, new world.

But Jonathan E is curious. He wants to be the best at Rollerball and he wants to know about the world that existed before the Energy Corporation. His non-conformist behavior has Bartholomew concerned. "...a champion defeats the meaning for which the game was designed." Even the National Anthem has lost its uniqueness. There are no individual anthems for each country. Just one Corporate Anthem that sounds like a funeral dirge or something from Communist Russia.

Besides borrowing some visuals and music ideas from Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, ROLLERBALL also seems inspired by the great Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451 (made into a movie by Francois Truffaut in 1966). In Fahrenheit 451, books are outlawed and if anyone is found in possession of a book, it is burned. In ROLLERBALL, Jonathan wants to read history books but books are now edited and transcribed for people, loaded into computers banks that few have access to. The Corporation controls what information is allowed to be digested by the masses.

ROLLERBALL is a nice edition to the Science Fiction genre of the early 1970's, films set in the not very distant future. Spaceships, alien creatures, and distant worlds were a distant memory in the first half of the decade. Maybe because of the budgets, studios were green lighting films that didn't have extravagant special effects. Instead, these Sci-Fi films wrestled with more earthly issues. Films like THE OMEGA MAN (1971) and SOYLENT GREEN (1973) dealt with plague and over population on Earth just a few years in future.  Even the PLANET OF THE APES series was earth bound as ape and humans co-mingled and battled each other.

ROLLERBALL fits into this group. ROLLERBALL'S world is ruled by global businessmen that want society to conform to their directives. They don't want individuals who will rock the boat. Jonathan's ranch, his horses, even his women are all provided by the Corporation. As Bartholomew says, "Corporate society takes care of everything. And all it asks of anyone, all it's ever asked of anyone ever, is not to interfere with management decisions." They want Jonathan E to be a good soldier. Their fear is that Jonathan will become bigger than the game. An individual who might have his own thoughts and ideas, that other people would follow. Maybe even try to overthrow the suits in their glass towers. But in 1977 George Lucas would release his space epic STAR WARS and usher in the return of spaceships, alien creatures, and fantastic distant worlds. Science Fiction never looked back.

James Caan is a good choice as Jonathan E, the king of  Rollerball.  Caan is athletic which the role demands with so much roller skating and physical action. People may forget that Caan played a real sports hero in the television drama BRIAN'S SONG (1971) portraying Chicago Bears football running back Brian Piccolo. John Beck as his sidekick Moonpie reminds me a bit of Robert Redford as the Sundance Kid with his matinee blond hair and moustache.  In fact, Jonathan E and Moonpie are in a way the futuristic version of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in the world of Rollerball. They are outsiders in this conformist society. All the other Rollerball players are just numbers but Jonathan and Moonpie are rebels, skating and maiming and winning to their own beat. Jonathan is laconic like a western hero and Caan plays him like a gunslinger. Jonathan's OK Corral is the final match against New York.

John Houseman is another nice casting decision as Mr. Bartholomew, the Energy Corporation executive. He's Rollerball's version of Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones. Bartholomew doesn't have an athletic bone in is body. He just follows the company line. Houseman's cool demeanor and business-like attitude as Bartholomew permeates the film. Houseman would gain greater fame as the commercial spokesman for Smith-Barney, a Wall Street brokerage with the slogan, "They earn money the old fashioned way. They earn it." The rest of the supporting cast is fine, nothing memorable. Moses Gunn plays Cleveland, Jonathan's personal trainer. Cleveland seems loyal to Jonathan but there's always an uneasy feeling that Cleveland is also spying on Jonathan. I found Pamela Hensley as one of Jonathan's girlfriends much more interesting than his wife played by Maud Adams (who would later be a Bond girl in OCTUPUSSY).

I knock director Jewison for his direction of ROLLERBALL but I'm not sure how much further another director could have taken the action scenes in 1975. But I would have liked to have seen a better visual explanation of the rules of the game. I think there could have been some more exciting stunts with the motorcycles and even some bloodier action. What a young Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese could have done with the ROLLERBALL action scenes and the way those two directors use a camera would have been interesting to see.  With all the recent remakes of films from the 70's like THE POSIDEON ADVENTURE or THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1-2-3, you would think someone would have wanted to remake a cult classic like ROLLERBALL right? 

Well someone did. John McTiernan, director of DIE HARD (1988) and THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990) remade ROLLERBALL in 2002 but cast younger actors, rap stars, and even a supermodel in the film. I give McTiernan and screenwriters Larry Ferguson and John Pogue credit for trying to go a different route with their ROLLERBALL remake. This ROLLERBALL tries to tap into the X-Games/skateboard culture while keeping some of the basic themes from the original.

Set slightly in the future (just 2005), Jonathan Cross (Chris Klein looking a lot like Keanu Reeves) is a former hockey player participating in extreme sports on the side.  Jonathan runs into an old friend Marcus Ridley (LL Cool J) who talks Cross into joining a traveling sports roadshow called Rollerball. Part ROAD WARRIOR, Part Cirque du Soleil, Rollerball is a fringe sport that is storming around the Russian breakaway states like Kazakstan. Team owner Alexis Petrovich (Jean Reno) and his smarmy hatchet man Sanjay (Naveen Andrews) broadcast the matches around the world, trying to increase their viewing audience and ratings. International teams battle one another and every team has its own play by play announcer.

The actual Rollerball game is pretty much the same except the teams wear intricate masks, helmets, and some even capes as they skate around a more elaborate track, trying to put the metal ball into an even higher goal. Motorcycles also play a role again. This ROLLERBALL is like a video game. Heavy metal bands perform just outside the stage. Jonathan proves himself to be one of the better players. Petrovich begins to manipulate the game, turning it into a bloodsport, more dangerous and violent.  As the game causes more injuries and spectacular crashes, global television ratings soar.

Jonathan secretly carries on a physical relationship with one of his female teammates, a  Russian woman named Aurora (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos). A Mongolian team sabotages Aurora's motorcycle and Ridley rescues her from the burning bike, injuring himself in the process. Jonathan and Aurora bust Ridley out of the hospital and try to sneak across the border, fleeing Petrovich and his murderous game but their plan is foiled and Ridley is killed. Petrovich is close to closing a North American cable deal and he needs Cross to make it happen.

Jonathan and Petrovich play one another as Jonathan pretends to want to be a partner with Petrovich. Jonathan gets Aurora traded to another team to keep her out of harm's way. The owners of Rollerball led by Petrovich change the rules for the next match. No penalties and no fouls. The owners want players killed, all the better for ratings. Petrovich pays another team to kill Jonathan but he's not easy to kill. Jonathan turns the crowd against the violence and all the Rollerball teams unite to defeat their owners.

You have to hand it to director McTiernan for taking a novel approach to the original and not just copying Jewison's version. This newer ROLLERBALL seems less science fiction and more a critique on television ratings and creating fringe sports to market. I liked the different costumes and armor and masks the various teams wore. I was surprised the action scenes weren't more exciting. I always thought actor Chris Klein was a pretty dull actor but Klein is engaging as Jonathan Cross. LL Cool J and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos are credible as his teammates and friends.  But none of them has that star quality that James Caan brought to the original. Although this version isn't very Science Fiction like, that's what I miss. Rollerball is a game of the future. This ROLLERBALL is just a souped up roller derby/X-Games hybrid.

Sadly, the new ROLLERBALL goes to show how far director John McTiernan had fallen as one of the top directors in Hollywood. At one time, McTiernan was on top of the world as an action director with DIE HARD and RED OCTOBER. But then a couple of misfires with MEDICINE MAN and THE LAST ACTION HERO sent his career on the downslide. Currently, McTiernan is serving a 12 month prison sentence in South Dakota for wiretapping involving a former film partner.

Do yourself a favor and check out the original 1975 ROLLERBALL, an interesting Sci-Fi action film that transfers the ancient Romans bloody gladiator sports into the near future, where executive directors not emperors run the world and Rollerballers with spiked gloves not gladiators with swords fight to the death in front of a bloodthirsty audience.

Goldfinger (1964)

After two strong initial entries in the James Bond film series DR. NO (1962) and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963), the Bond filmmakers hit gold (no pun intended) with the third installment of novelist Ian Fleming's series called GOLDFINGER (1964).  GOLDFINGER is my favorite Bond film and as I confided in my DR. NO blog, my high school friends and I would watch GOLDFINGER over and over again while my Mom brought in popcorn or tortilla chips with melted cheese over it. We would sit silently in our small TV room and dream of becoming James Bond.  My high school friends even broke into two fun, distinct groups (I'm not going to call them gangs because it was all fun) called BOND and SWAT who would pull pranks on one another.

GOLDFINGER set the gold standard (again, no pun intended) for Bond films afterward and none has ever matched GOLDFINGER in my estimation although the recent Bond entry SKYFALL (2012) came very close. I still give the nod to GOLDFINGER just slightly because it has a better villain (Goldfinger), a superb henchman (Oddjob), and one of the best names for a Bond girl ever (Pussy Galore).  SKYFALL even has a nice nostalgic nod to GOLDFINGER when Bond (Daniel Craig) pulls out the Aston Martin DB5 from storage to take M (Judi Dench) up to his ancestral home in Scotland.

GOLDFINGER had a new Bond director as Guy Hamilton replaced Terence Young and the film does not miss a beat. GOLDFINGER still has the fantastic Sean Connery as James Bond, looking more and more comfortable as 007. The film gives us more detail about M (Bernard Lee) revealing his petty jealousy of Bond's multitude of skills (bourbon, gold, women), some nice flirting with Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), and the first great display of Bond gadgets by Q (Desmond Llewelyn) that would become a staple in future Bond flicks. GOLFINGER is written by the dependable Richard Maibaum (who co-wrote the first two films) and Paul Dehn.

Bond films usually open with the end of a mini-mission for Bond and GOLDFINGER starts with a bang (literally) in one of its cheekiest prologues (1977's THE SPY WHO LOVED ME might be the best prologue ever). James Bond (Sean Connery) emerges from the water in a wetsuit, placing plastic explosives on giant containers in some South American banana republic. He unzips his wetsuit to reveal a white dinner jacket (with carnation) underneath. He steps into a nearby club as the explosives detonate, destroying millions of dollars worth of heroin. Bond follows a belly dancer back to her room where he's attacked by a thug. Bond dispatches of the thug by electrocuting him in the bathtub. As Bond leaves, he shakes his head muttering, "Shocking, positively shocking." Door slams cut to horns blaring and Shirley Bassey's incredible rendition of the theme song Goldfinger.

We catch up with Bond vacationing in Miami where CIA Agent Felix Leiter (Cec Linder) finds him and relays that MI-6 (British Intelligence) would like Bond to keep an eye on one Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe), a gold industrialist suspected of smuggling 20 million pounds of gold all over the world to inflate the price of gold. Goldfinger is at the same Miami hotel as 007. Bond catches a beautiful woman Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) spying on Goldfinger's gin rummy partner, helping Goldfinger to cheat. Bond crosses Goldfinger and steals the girl. Jill is famously killed by Goldfinger's driver/caddy/henchman Oddjob (Harold Sakata) by painting her entire body in gold paint, causing skin suffocation (the urban legend was that Eaton died from this which is entirely false. Eaton lives today at the age of 76).

Hell bent on revenge but reminded by M (Bernard Lee) that he needs to stick to the mission, Bond follows Goldfinger to Switzerland after meeting and beating Goldfinger in a not so friendly golf game in England. Bond encounters Jill Masterson's vengeful sister Tilly Masterson (Tania Mallet), also following Goldfinger so she can kill him for her sister's murder. They follow Goldfinger to one of his factories where Bond discovers how Goldfinger smuggles the gold around the world. Even more suspicious, the factory is full of Chinese agents including Mr. Ling (THE PINK PANTHER'S Burt Kwouk), a Chinese scientist.

Goldfinger's men capture Bond and kill Tilly (those Masterson girls are very unlucky). Bond is about to be neutered by an industrial laser when he bluffs Goldfinger, bragging he overheard Goldfinger and Ling talking about "Operation Grand Slam". Goldfinger whisks Bond and the rest of his crew to his Kentucky stud farm. Bond becomes acquainted with Goldfinger's private pilot Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman). Goldfinger meets with several crime syndicates to thank them for smuggling different illegal items to his stud farm to be used for his fiendish plot. Then, he gasses them all to death. With almost all the loose ends tied up except for Bond, Goldfinger unveils his master plan. Goldfinger plans to break into Fort Knox, Kentucky (America's gold depository) and set off a small dirty (nuclear) bomb that will turn the United States gold supply radioactive for the next 58 years, crippling America's economy. It's up to James Bond to stop Goldfinger's nefarious plan but he's a bit tied up at the moment as Goldfinger has handcuffed Bond to the nuclear device.

The character Auric Goldfinger is one of the Bond films most interesting, complicated villains. Goldfinger must have been an only child in the Goldfinger family, the golden child (still no pun intended). Clearly, he was spoiled and he doesn't like to lose.  He cheats at gin rummy.  He cheats at golf. He double-crosses nearly everyone he does business with. No wonder the only person Goldfinger trusts is Oddjob, probably because Oddjob can't talk back to him. Goldfinger is not very good with women either.  He pays Jill Masterson to be seen with him.  When he learns Bond has bedded her instead of him, he has Jill killed, covered in gold. After Fort Knox is to become radioactive, Goldfinger asks Pussy Galore if she'll stick with him but Pussy turns him down. Goldfinger's pudgy appearance doesn't seem to win over the ladies. Goldfinger's thoroughbred horse ranch in Kentucky is even called Auric Stud but Goldfinger is no stud compared to Bond. He's jealous of Bond's sexual prowess with women and even aims an industrial laser at Bond's manhood. Gold is Goldfinger's only mistress.

GOLDFINGER opens up the Bond series, taking us for the first time to multiple locations. Miami, Switzerland, England, and Kentucky. Previously, they were usually set in just one location like Jamaica (DR. NO) or Turkey (FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE).  Even YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967) is mostly set in Japan. Bond films would later become a travelogue whisking him to beautiful locations like Thailand, Egypt, and Brazil. When Roger Moore took over the reins from Sean Connery as Bond, multiple locations would become the norm for the series.

The gadgets of James Bond are multiplied in GOLDFINGER as Q unveils Bond's new car, an Aston Martin DB5 that has more than just power steering and anti-lock brakes. This car has a bulletproof shield, rotating license plates depending on which country 007 is in, smoke screen, oil slick, and the all important ejector seat for that unwanted passenger. As Bond and Q make their way to the vehicle, they enter the Q branch workshop where gadgets are tested. A man fires a machine gun at another man wearing what looks like a raincoat. A bulletproof raincoat. It seems to work but Q grumbles "It's not perfected yet." I'd hate to see the bad tests.

Casting for Bond films has always been interesting as the filmmakers often chose actors and actresses from all corners of the globe and with an international flavor. They also chose actors and actresses for their look even when they didn't always speak English the best.  Case in point is Gert Frobe who plays bad guy Auric Goldfinger.  Frobe, a German, also starred in CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG (1968). Frobe's English wasn't very good so most of his dialogue is dubbed by actor Michael Collins. Ursula Andress's voice would also be dubbed in DR. NO. But Frobe looks the part of Goldfinger, chubby with reddish hair and a penchant for wearing gold colored clothes. I can't imagine anyone else playing Goldfinger (and Orson Welles was even considered for the role).

For the role of Oddjob, wrestler Harold Sakata was chosen.  In Sakata's case, his character only grunts. But he's perfect as Goldfinger's henchman, thick and impenetrable using his bowler hat as a deadly boomerang. No one would top Oddjob until Richard Kiel came along as Jaws in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977). Shirley Eaton who plays the doomed Jill Masterson reminds me of a British Marilyn Monroe. She has those same arched eyebrows and blonde hair and sexy voice and volumptous curves as Marilyn. No Bond character made a greater impact in less time than Eaton did before she famously was painted in gold and killed by a jealous Goldfinger.

 One of the unsung heroes of the Bond series is film editor Peter Hunt.  Hunt was editor for the first three Bond films and would even direct ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969).  Hunt made the fight scenes in the Bond films look raw and brutal and unrehearsed like the train fight between Bond and Red Grant (Robert Shaw) in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.  But in GOLDFINGER, many of his edits are a thing of beauty, so smooth and almost unnoticeable. In the opening Miami scene, we cut from an aerial shot of a hotel pool and a diver jumping off a ten meter platform to an underground window inside the hotel as the diver enters the water. Many times editing is used to cover scenes that weren't properly staged or photographed but every single scene in GOLDFINGER flows perfectly and Peter Hunt's editing brings about the right amount of humor, suspense, and danger.

Director Guy Hamilton gets a lot of credit for GOLDFINGER'S success as well following in the footsteps of Terence Young who handled the first two Bond films.  Hamilton began as an assistant director and worked with director Carol Reed on the classic THE THIRD MAN (1949) and with director John Huston on THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951). Not many assistant directors move up to become directors which speaks volumes of Hamilton's ability and ambition. GOLDFINGER is probably the most serious of Hamilton's four Bond films he directed which isn't saying much as the film has loads of double entrendres and funny bits. But the film has its dark moments too. Revenge is a key motivator in the film. Both Bond and Tilly Masterson seek vengeance for the tragic murder of Jill Masterson. Revenge will have its consequences as Tilly learns. Director Hamilton's later Bond films are much more cheekier in tone with DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971) and LIVE AND LET DIE (1973). Hamilton would become the first director to direct two different Bond's with Sean Connery and Roger Moore who debuted in LIVE AND LET DIE.

Director Hamilton handles all the Bond elements with equal aplomb -- great fight scenes (the final showdown between Oddjob and Bond is often overlooked), beautiful women (for me Shirley Eaton steals the film from the bigger female star Honor Blackman); and the perfect meglomaniacal villain in Goldfinger. The fact that GOLDFINGER has been spoofed in other films like DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE (1965) starring Vincent Price or the more recent GOLDMEMBER (2002), the third installment of the Austin Powers series with Mike Myers attests to GOLDFINGER's golden status (alright maybe this pun was intended).

GOLDFINGER just has so many different areas that rank it amongst the best of the Bond series. A great story, fantastic bad guys, a unique realistic plot that does not involve blowing up the world, and I barely even scratched upon one of the best opening theme songs of a Bond film (Shirley Bassey belting out Goldfinger) or the hallucinatory opening credits that would accompany the Bond theme song going forward.  If I had to award GOLDFINGER, I would give it a five gold stars (that's my last pun).