The films reviewed here represent those I have liked or loved over the years. It is not a list of my favourite films but all the films reviewed here are worth seeing and worth seeking out. I know many of you won't agree with me on a lot of these but hopefully you will grant me, and the films that appear here, our place in the sun. Thanks for reading.
Tuesday, 18 December 2018
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
Savaged by the critics, (except perhaps for the over-praised Saul Bass
designed credit sequence of a prowling cat), Edward Dmytryk's film
version of Nelson Algren's 'scandalous' novel "Walk on the Wild Side"
isn't nearly as bad as its reputation suggests. It's certainly unevenly
acted, (a miscast Laurence Harvey is terrible and perhaps surprisingly
Jane Fonda isn't much better but Barbara Stanwyck is terrific as a very
butch lesbian madame and Capucine is surprisingly good as
the object of both Harvey and Stanwyck's affection), and naturally it
fudges the central issues of prostitution and lesbianism but it's very
well shot by Joe MacDonald, beautifully designed and the screenplay by
John Fante and Edmund Morris does manage to keep some of Algren's
original poetry. Dmytryk was always a better director than critics gave
him credit for and if he was often constrained by the studio system he
was no slouch either. If this isn't the best film he ever made it still
has much to recommend it.
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