Change Your Image
beagle-13
Reviews
Disneyland: The Magnificent Rebel: Part 1 (1961)
Charming Disney Biography
Charming biography of Ludwig van Beethoven, originally made for the "Disneyland" television series. The film skims past the maestro's early life to begin with his struggle for recognition as a young composer and his friendship with Franz Josef Hayden. Beethoven's bullish manner and tortured genius are superbly portrayed by the German concert pianist turned movie star Karl Boehm, who was born for this role - and he makes the most of it. The family-friendly requirements of being a Walt Disney production make the film seem contrived and simplistic, but that's more due the Disney style than a deficiency in Joanne Court's script. (Court, a talented writer who was blacklisted during the U.S. anti-communism hysteria in the 1950's, received screen credit as Joanne Scott.) Beautifully produced in Europe with superlative production values, this doesn't look at all like a television programme. Released theatrically in Europe and Australasia.
Waking the Dead (2000)
Pretentious and boring
This ambitious semi-supernatural romantic drama has a clever central plot but wallows in it's own seriousness to the point where any enjoyment is dissolved. Jennifer Connelly is good as the saintly object of wannabe president Billy Crudup's affection, but Crudup himself struggles with an overtly emotional and poorly written role. Painfully (and I mean painfully) slow, self important and extremely uninvolving - with the one of the worst scores of recent history and awfully inept editing that wrings any sense of interest out of each and every scene.
Tess (1979)
Magnificent filmization of Thomas Hardy's novel
Roman Polanski's "Tess" is a magnificent filmization of Thomas Hardy's classic novel "Tess of the D'Urbervilles", about a poor girl whose connection with a rich, discontinued family ultimately leads to tragedy. Polanski may seem an odd choice to direct what is essentially a "Merchant-Ivory" type production, but his work here is sublime and his artistic sensiblities have never been better matched to a story. In the lead role, Nastassia Kinski is luminous and delicately vulnerable as Hardy's fated heroine; Peter Firth is fine as Angel Clare, as is Leigh Lawson as the treacherous Alec D'Urberville. This a rich, evocative and immensely moving film, stunningly photographed by Geoffrey Unsworth and Ghislain Cloquet, who won Oscars - as did the art direction of Pierre Guffroy and Anthony Powell's gorgeous costumes. My personal favourite of Polanski's films - not an easy judgment to make when you are talking about films as brilliant as "Chinatown", "Rosemary's Baby" and "Knife in the Water" - but as haunting and memorable as any film in recent memory. Do yourself a big favour and see it now!