Little Shop Is an AIDS Play

Little Shop of Horrors is a weird fuckin' movie. In the first place, I really object to the fake flowers and the fake-looking plant and the fake sunsets. I just don't know why you wouldn't try to make things look more realistic. This film also involves an ending that totally differs from the stage show. I don't think I mind that quite as much. 

But... the important insight I had while watching this film is that I think Little Shop is an AIDS play. And if it isn't, this is certainly an AIDS movie. It's so weirdly about trying to process the violence of the medical profession, which in this play is represented by this strange dentist who is a drug addict and also a sexual sadist. The Bill Murray–Steve Martin sequence really seals that deal for me. Murray plays a kind of masochistic pervert, and he plays the character as a gay man. And then there is, of course, the blood. The plant takes over the whole world by feeding on Seymour's blood, and then it causes Seymour to hurt others, and it threatens and devours the heterosexual relationship at the play's center. 

(For the record I don't think AIDS causes anyone to hurt anyone, and I don't think it's devouring heterosexual relationships – or gay ones for that matter – I'm just saying that's how Little Shop is processing AIDS.)

This is a musical by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised about this, but I certainly had never thought of it before. 

Oh also Ellen Greene. Her performance is honestly incredible. Totally original and weird and genius. We are lucky to have her performance on film.

Navajo (1952)

I don't know what this ridiculous tagline on the poster for Navajo is supposed to be about with this boy and his eyes on my heart, but this is a really lovely movie. It begins a little dry and boring, but by the end of the film (which is no more than 70 minutes long), I was seriously worried about the characters, and the film took a dangerous, exciting turn. Even more notable is the absolutely gorgeous cinematography. 

Oh, I have read in several places that this is a documentary. It absolutely is not. It's not even  "documentary-style". This is a narrative feature about a young Navajo boy learning to deal with loss, learning to speak with his ancestors, and learning compassion.

I watched this movie via the Cave of Forgotten Films.

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

The Lavender Hill Mob is a funny crime caper farce that I enjoyed thoroughly, although it really is always such a disappointment when the criminals who pull off these excellent heists in the 1950s get caught. I never want them to. 

This film is very silly and very funny. But... nominating Alec Guinness for best actor for this is truly absurd. Why was he nominated? How is this possible? This was a delightful film, but it did not demand any great acting.

A Day at the Races (1937)

A Day at the Races had me laughing out loud, especially Groucho's level of insanity. But the whole crew is funny. Allan Jones has a lovely singing voice, and the musical numbers are... well they're very different from one another, but none of it matters. This is classic musical comedy. Hilarious nonsense and lots of musical numbers. I enjoyed this a lot. 

There is a totally unnecessary bit of blackface. 1937. I honestly can't believe this kind of thing still worked in the late 1930s, but this is also very much a legacy of musical theatre in the U.S. Minstrelsy always ends up rearing its head. There was also a totally unnecessary blackface joke in a Deanna Durbin movie I watched last week.

I watched A Day at the Races on the Criterion Channel.

Apples (2021)

Apples (Μήλα) is quirky and very funny – part of the New Weird Greek Wave – but then moves into beautifully moving territory. I really liked this.

The Queen

This is an extraordinary documentary of a rigged pageant in 1967 with some fabulous characters. Queens have been quoting this documentary for years. "Look at her makeup. It's terrible" and "I'll sue the fool" are amazingly quotable lines, and god bless Crystal LaBeija for saying them. 

I watched The Queen on the Criterion Channel. Happy Pride.

Chaos Walking

Chaos Walking was fun. The effects were cool. I like all the actors, and the worldbuilding was really, really interesting. I had a lot of fun. I'm not sure why everyone was so hard on this movie. I've been told there were a lot of plot-holes. I suppose that's true, but there was a lot of compelling running, and I had a good time.

I continue to love Tom Holland completely.

Moonrise (1948)

Moonrise is a pretty extraordinary film. We follow a young man whose father has been hanged for murder. He grows up really damaged and angry. Dane Clark is excellent, and Frank Borzage's direction is spot on. Even more importantly, John L. Russell's cinematography is astounding. It's amazing, wonderful work. I really, really liked this.

This movie was leaving the Criterion Channel this month, so I made a point to watch it and I'm so happy I did.

The Divine Sarah

A film about the great French actress Sarah Bernhardt starring the great British actress Glenda Jackson. This had the potential to be an easy biopic, but in Jackson's hands The Incredible Sarah is something else altogether. This is especially true in the extended sequences where Bernhardt–Jackson plays Phèdre and Joan of Arc. Jackson-as-Bernhardt is so good, even in these little sequences, that one began to understand how audiences really could be over the moon about an actress. The costumes in this film also are gorgeous and imaginative and really original. And there are two amazingly campy sequences in which Bernhardt destroys everything in the room, throwing mirrors to the floor and shattering vases and tearing curtains. It's a delight.

Irving Berlin's Blue Skies

I thought Blue Skies was a bit of a bust. It's a juke with a bunch of Irving Berlin songs. Fine. And some of the numbers are good. I really liked "Heat Wave", for example, and how can you not be in love with Astaire dancing "Puttin' on the Ritz"? But the plot is such a downer.  A love triangle where Bing can't settle down and Astaire is not interesting but Joan Caulfield can't settle for boring and stable and only loves the restless one. The Berlin numbers are shoehorned into this dumb plot in ways that don't seem very creative. I dunno. This whole thing just felt sorta phoned in.

Birth of the Blues. Is It, Though?

In Birth of the Blues, Bing Crosby, Brian Donlevy, and Mary Martin invent the blues. Well, slightly more accurately, they learn the blues from Black folks and then they teach white people to love Black music. (In other words, we don't get the birth of the blues in this film; we get its rise in popularity among white people.) 

There is only a mere wisp of a plot, and the movie itself is honestly not that interesting. How can it be when the stakes are will people understand that blues music is awesome or not? We know they're going to. In fact, the entire film is premised on the fact that we already know the blues are great. Much of the film's humor comes from white people being confused by the blues; the audience is supposed to feel superior to these fools.

Still, there are some solid numbers in Birth of the Blues, including a gorgeous rendition of "My Melancholy Baby" sung by Bing, and a breathtaking "St. Louis Blues" sung by Ruby Elzy in her final film performance.

Innerspace (1987)

Innerspace is pretty dumb, but it's funny enough. It's a kind of farcical crime-solving sci-fi romance thing, rather like Splash, if I'm honest, but better than Splash (not that that would be difficult). Martin Short's physical humor is good, and Dennis Quaid is funny. It's a really dumb premise, though. 

Oh one more thing: Dennis Quaid's body is incredible. It was apparently on this film that Meg Ryan and Quaid began dating. Understandable. They're both beautiful here.

I watched Innerspace on HBOmax.

Bubble Bath (1980)

Habfürdő: Zenés Trükkfilm Szívdobbanásra (Bubble Bath: a Musical to a Heartbeat) was one of the weirdest things I've seen. The animation is so cool and surreal. The plot... is not interesting, but the animation makes this a must-see, honestly.

The Mambo Kings (1992)

Based on Oscar Hijuelos' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, this movie feels a little shallow. It's a fine enough showcase for some great music, but it descends into slow-motion melodramatics by act two and never recovers. Also, Armand Assante feels miscast. And not just because he clearly can't speak Spanish but because he just doesn't seem to get the over-the-top sexy character he's playing. 

I read a bit of trivia about The Mambo Kings. Apparently, Antonio Banderas didn't speak any English when he made this movie and learned all of his lines phonetically. Apparently, also, Armand Assante didn't speak any Spanish when he made this movie and learned many of his lines phonetically, as well. This is a fine factoid and all, but, like, why not cast actual Cuban American actors? It was great to see Celia Cruz, obviously, and in such a large part, but this boasts a lot of missed opportunities.

Arabian Nights (Il Fiore delle Mille e Una Notte)

I loved Pasolini's Decameron, and I loved this adaptation of the Thousand and One Nights. I know that Arabian Nights and The Decameron are allegedly both supposed to part of some "trilogy of life". I put no stock in that at all, but this film is very similar in form to The Decameron, and I loved it for that. This is a sexy, romantic, delightful romp. With its scenes of homosexuality, explicit heterosexual sex, and erect penises, Arabian Nights was, unsurprisingly, not released in the United States until much later. 

It's quite clear, though, that Pasolini – with this film and with the Decameron – is interested in sex as something unsullied and pure, something that cultures try to disrupt and destroy. For him, these films that adapt stories from the medieval period are really showing us this purity.

Il Fiore delle Mille e Una Notte is also notable for the way it treats Ninetto Davoli, Pasolini's longtime lover. This was their final film together, and Davoli left Pasolini to go marry a woman. In the Mille e Una Notte, Davoli's character is violently punished for his faithlessness and callousness.

Annie Get Your Gun (1950)

I understand casting a comedienne in the title role of Annie Get Your Gun, especially after the production lost Judy Garland. But... Betty Hutton cannot sing. Howard Keel, obviously, sings beautifully, and all of the proper theatrical stuff that is supposed to be (and may very well have been) the actual Wild Bill show is great. But there is lots in this film that did not work for me. Mostly it's just the weird, quirky, folksy-jokey thing that is supposed to be charming Annie Oakley behavior. I was not charmed. 

And then there is all the redface. Like... a lot of redface. Betty Hutton even has a song called "I'm an Indian Too". It's extraordinarily cringe-worthy.

Cruel Gun Story (1964)

Cruel Gun Story (拳銃残酷物語) is a pretty straightforward Nokkatsu noir with great photography and Joe Shishido. The film's ending, with its double and triple crosses, works just fine from a plot standpoint, but from an audience standpoint, Cruel Gun Story's end is deeply unsatisfying. It has an American-style moral ending in which everyone has to die, including the innocents who are attempting to help our guilty hero. I dislike endings like this, and it feels like by 1964 we would have been done with this kind of morality. An ending like this completely betrays the melodramatic premise of the rest of the film.

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

A Vietnam War film reset in the Wild West in the late 1860s. The Outlaw Josey Wales is such a pleasure to watch that one almost feels guilty. The dialogue is great, the score is great, and ... I have to say, the filmmaking is great. Eastwood directed this in 1976 and it's great work.

Outland (1981)

This looks like it is going to be a dumb, forgettable action movie in space, but instead Outland is really, really good. It's High Noon but in an outpost on one of the moons of Jupiter. There are some excellent action sequences. The production design is great; the cinematography is great; the score is great. The whole thing is fun. I really enjoyed this.

Can't Help Singing (1944)

I've been watching a lot of old Hollywood musicals these days. Can't Help Singing is very silly. But, then, it's Deanna Durbin, and her stuff is usually pretty silly. She leaves Washington to go West and follow some lieutenant who works in California. He's a heel, but she doesn't know it, and then she falls in love with Robert Paige, who is very handsome and sings very well, but who is also a con artist/criminal. 

Still, as I said, he sings well and is handsome. And he's rather a gentleman. 

The thing about Can't Help Singing, is that it has several gorgeous Jerome Kern songs. The song "More and More" was nominated for an Oscar, but the real standout is "Any Moment Now", which Durbin sings while staring at the Grand Canyon. There's also a really great number called "Elbow Room" that is sung by everyone riding in this giant wagon train. Anyway, this is harmless and sweet if kinda dumb.

It's Always Fair Weather

It's Always Fair Weather doesn't have many memorable songs, but it has several memorable numbers. Dolores Gray has a great number, Cyd Charisse, of course, has an exquisite boxing number, and Gene Kelly tap-dances on roller skates. This one, especially, is just inspired. Oh! And the opening number, with Kelly, Dan Dailey, and Michael Kidd, is also just so excellent. This is filled with action-comic choreography and great dancing. I enjoyed this immensely.

The Glass Cell (1978)

Die Gläserne Zelle (The Glass Cell) is an adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel. All of the plot synopses on the internet, though, are bogus. What happens in this movie is that a Tom Ripley-like character begins to be very jealous of his wife. He is very likeable, though, and likably played by Helmut Griem. He does not try to turn his kid against his wife or any such thing. Instead, he begins to commit crimes and cover them up, like any good Highsmith character would do. It's very exciting and dangerous and, as usual, I wanted this bad guy to succeed. This is compelling stuff, and I really enjoyed it.

La Ciociara (1960)

This film, despite being titled Two Women in English, is not about two women. It's about one woman attempting to run the war by leaving Rome and returning to a small village. She encounters the war there, as well, and La Ciociara is quite a sad movie, like so much of De Sica's postwar stuff. Sophia Loren is great in this, and so is Jean Paul Belmondo.

Body and Soul (1947)

Body and Soul is not a groundbreaking boxing movie by any means, but it's done well. John Garfield is a great lead, and Lilli Palmer, as his girlfriend, is much, much better than she has any right to be in a regular old boxing movie. Body and Soul also boasts good performances by Anne Revere, Hazel Brooks, Joseph Pevney (who I don't recall seeing in anything else), and Canada Lee! That's a lot of good performances.

And then there is the extraordinary cinematography of James Wong Howe. His work really elevates this movie to an entirely other level.

Like many movies about pugilism in the late 1940s, this one is about the corruption of the boxing racket – the gambling, the fixed fights, the lack of care for the men who are actually doing the fighting. I am thinking, especially of Champion, which boasts a brilliant Kirk Douglas performance, and also The Harder They Fall from 1956, which turns its attention to corruption directly. Body and Soul is about the choices the fighter makes and how he deals with corruption personally. It's a liberal tack that asks how we personally behave when confronted with corruption. This isn't the (much smarter) institutional critique that The Harder They Fall takes, but Body and Soul works all the same.

The Milagro Beanfield War

I loved The Milagro Beanfield War. It's funny and charming and all the performers are great. I found the whole thing delightful and exciting. How did Chick Vennera not have a better career?

The Devil Pays Off

The version of The Devil Pays Off on the internet is missing something like 15 minutes, at least I think so. There's a disjointed sequence in act two where a captain who holds all of the information to solve the case has just been put into a coma by some nefarious men, and then we jump cut to him laughing and drinking with our heroes in a stateroom. In any case, the movie itself is also quite a disjointed thing, moving rather awkwardly in lots of ways with some very silly writing that doesn't quite work. Still, the story could have been rather cool with a better screenplay. It's a kind of poor man's Gilda or Affair in Trinidad, but William Wright is really charming!

Cherry (2021)

I hated Cherry probably a little more than it deserves, but I don't care. The main issue with this film is the way it is shot. It's photographed and colored in this flashy style as if it's a superhero movie, but it's supposed to be some sort of realistic memoir of a guy with PTSD. 

Here's the thing. The first act of the film is all dumb jokes and weird editing with tons of voiceover. I was annoyed. Then we go to war in Afghanistan and I liked the movie a little better. This stuff is all very sad, and the movie hates war as much as I do. They spent good money on this part and it all looks good, too. 

Then my dude comes back from the war and does a lot of drugs and most of the movie is actually just him and his little girlfriend being junkies. Lots of drugs, lots of slow-motion photography. Lots of ponderous, droning music. I was really, really bored.

Tom Holland can do no wrong, and I am not holding this film against him, but I hated this. Oh and to make matters worse, this is only available on AppleTV+, a streaming service no one needs.

Half a House (1975)

Half a House (Is Better Than None) ran for a single week in Beverly Hills in December 1976 and managed to get Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster an Oscar nomination for their song "A World That Never Was", which appears to solid effect within the film. 

The movie, however... is terrible. Like, Half a House is not funny enough even for a situation comedy on television. In fact it approaches hilarity simply because it's so awful. 

This is a very rare, hard-to-locate movie, however. It's nearly impossible to find, but I watched it through the Cave of Forgotten Films. The man who runs that site is a mensch.

Arise, My Love (1940)

You probably know that I am kind of obsessed with contemporary WWII movies, the ones made in the 1940s during the war, I mean. Well, Mitchell Leisen's Arise, My Love is one of the best I've seen. The script is superb, and this is a hilarious movie as well as being a good romance and a good propaganda vehicle. Oh, and it's also exciting and action-filled, with two daring escapes. This whole thing is aces. Ray Milland and Claudette Colbert are fantastic. And Walter Abel is hilarious.

Mitchell Leisen is having a bit of a renaissance at the moment, and perhaps a critical reassessment of his work. There is a series of his films on the Criterion Channel right now... but Arise, My Love is not one of them. Now, I do not know why this is, but this movie has got to be one of his best. It's great. 

You can watch Arise, My Love in some random spots on the internet just by googling it. 

The title, incidentally, comes up several times in the film, and it's from the English Standard Version of Song of Solomon 2.10-13:

Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.

Strategic Air Command (1955)

I don't understand Anthony Mann's career. He made several really excellent films, numerous good westerns, a couple of giant, bloated epics like The Fall of the Roman Empire and Le Cid, and he also made a bunch of garbage with Jimmy Stewart in the 1950s. What was he doing? 

Strategic Air Command is almost not a movie at all. It's a two-hour-long commercial for the Air Force. It's trying to get young men to join the Air Force, and it's trying to justify the U.S. government's funding of the Air Force. I don't know if this worked in 1955, but it didn't work for me.

In this film, there is no war. It's a film about the Air Force that doesn't involve shooting at anything. Talk about low stakes! This thing is really baffling.

June Allyson is pleasant, but Jimmy Stewart in the 1950s really and truly was not for me. This sort of grandfatherly character he plays in these movies just baffles me. He really wasn't so old when this came out – 48 or so – but he looks a great deal older for some reason, and the idea that he's supposed to be a baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals just seems preposterous.

Also, synopses of this film say things like baseball and the air force meet in this film. No. This film doesn't have anything to do with baseball. As I say, it's a long, drawn-out commercial for the air force, complete with unnecessary marching music when, like, random planes take off to go nowhere.

$1000 a Minute (1935)

$1000 a Minute, a film directed by Aubrey Scotto (who?) is awful. It's 70 minutes long and not one of those minutes has a joke that lands, even though it's filled with situations that are supposed to be funny. Roger Pryor and Leila Hyams are both attractive folks, and I pity them for having to do $1000 a Minute. This is awful. God, even the premise makes no damn sense. The main guy in this movie doesn't even have to spend $1,000 a minute. He has to spend $720,000 in twelve hours, which, if you ask me, seems considerably easier. The stakes here are pretty fuckin' low.

It Started with Eve (1941)

Now, I'm not really sure what this movie thinks is supposed to have started with Eve... Deception? Heterosexuality? Romance? But it doesn't much matter, It Started with Eve is an absolute delight. Charles Laughton and Deanna Durbin are legitimately great, and even Robert Cummings is quite sweet. I laughed aloud numerous times.