Eleven movies, one mini-series

[One to four stars. Four sentences each. No spoilers. Sources: Criterion Channel, Disney, Hulu, TCM, Tubi, YouTube.]

Totally Under Control (dir. Alex Gibney, Ophelia Harutyunyan, and Suzanne Hillinger, 2020). The story of the previous U.S. administration’s response/non-response to COVID-19. Much of what’s here will already be familiar, but to see it all at once, in the space of two hours, is overwhelming: the cynicism, the dishonesty, the ignorance, the utter incompetence (and now in 2021, there’s still more evidence, and still more). For me the most revealing part of this documentary is the account Max Kennedy Jr. gives of his volunteer work with a Jared-led task force that sought to purchase PPE and failed to secure a single mask (see also this short New Yorker piece). The previous administration committed crimes against humanity, and no one has yet been held responsible. ★★★★ (H)

*

Terror Street, aka 36 Hours (dir. Montgomery Tully, 1953). It’s a most unusual day and a half: an American pilot (Dan Duryea) sneaks into England for a quick visit to his wife — and the next thing he knows, he’s waking up in her apartment, next to her murdered corpse. He enlists the aid of a pretty neighbor (Gudrun Ure), who for some reason instantly believes in his innocence, which he now elects to prove by DIY methods, evading the authorities and finding the killer himself. A most improbable story, with echoes of The 39 Steps. But Duryea, wooden to the core, is no Robert Donat. ★★ (YT)

*

Dear Santa (dir. Dana Nachman, 2020). We didn’t know what to watch, so we made a desperation pick — and it proved a good one. The documentary’s subject is the USPS’s 107-year-old Operation Santa, which makes children’s (and adults’) letters to Santa Claus available to people interested in providing presents. Lots of postal scenes, lots of postal workers who identify themselves as elves, lots of kids talking about Santa and writing letters, lots of grown-ups (and kids) shopping for, wrapping, transporting, and delivering presents (but this year’s work will be all through the mail). Yes, we signed up, right after the movie ended: USPS Operation Santa. ★★★★ (H)

*

Across 110th Street (dir. Barry Shear, 1972). Duke Ellington liked to point out that Harlem had far more churches than bars, but there are no churches here, only bars, tenements, a dry cleaner’s, and a parking garage. The premise is simple: three Harlemites commit some very ill-considered crimes and find themselves hunted — by the police, the Mafia, and a Harlem crime boss. Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto square off as dueling cops: a crusty old racist who breaks rules (and heads), and a college-educated younger Black man who refuses to play dirty. The bonus for our household: cinematography on location by Jack Priestly of the television series Naked City. ★★★★ (CC)

*

Street of Sinners (dir. William Berke, 1957). A rookie cop, John (George Montgomery), is paired with a beaten-down oldtimer, Gus (William Harrigan), on “the street,” whose undefined boundaries define life for its denizens. The king of the street is Leon (Nehemiah Persoff), whose eponymous bar is the gateway to alcoholism and worse for all who enter. On the one hand, this movie is bad; on the other, it’s so bad that it’s almost good — without, as they say in Ghost World, going past good and back to bad again. The best moments come from Geraldine Brooks as Terry, a beautiful alcoholic who invites John to dinner and offers frantic drunken assurances that she can be fresh and clean. ★★ (YT)

*

Nazi Agent (dir. Jules Dassin, 1942). It’s Conrad Veidt’s movie. He plays not two but three roles: a courtly stamp and rare-book dealer, Otto Becker (in the United States illegally); Otto’s twin brother, German consul Baron Hugo von Detner; and “Baron Hugo von Detner” — in other words, Otto poses as his brother to get the goods on Nazi plans for sabotage. Frank Reicher (Captain Englehorn in King Kong) has two great scenes as a loyal servant. The best moment: the glass of milk. ★★★★ (YT)

*

Johnny O’Clock (dir. Robert Rossen, 1947). The plot is not much, or too much — difficult to follow, but who cares? Just soak in the noir atmosphere. O’Clock (Dick Powell), a junior partner in a casino, is at the center of things, with Thomas Gomez (his boss), Lee J. Cobb (his police nemesis), and Ellen Drew, Nina Foch, and Evelyn Keyes (the ladies) all orbiting around him. Great ultra-noir cinematography by Burnett Guffey. ★★★★ (TMC)

*

Heat Wave, aka The House Across the Lake (dir. Ken Hughes, 1954). An America lead or two (Alex Nicol and Hillary Brooke) and an English cast: the same premise as Terror Street, and the same producer, Anthony Hinds. Nicol is Mark (heh) Kendrick, an American writer abroad; Hillary Brooke (passing for English) is Carol Forrest, a wealthy married woman who collects additional partners. Sidney James is the actor of real distinction here, as the long-suffering Mr. Forrest. With strong top notes of Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice. ★★★ (YT)

*

The Picture of Dorian Gray (dir. Albert Lewin, 1945). Great performances from George Sanders (top billing) as Lord Henry Wotton, dropping epigrams at rapid pace; Hurd Hatfield as Dorian Gray, for whom every gain or sorrow is merely “an experience”; and Angela Lansbury as the doomed Sybil Vane, gamely singing her specialty, “Goodbye, Little Yellow Bird.” Opulent sets, great black and white (Harry Stradling), and an air of decadence and corruption whose details are never made clear. “It’d kill her,” Dorian says of the letter he threatens to send to a friend’s wife. The wonderful thing about this movie, for me, is its naturalization of the supernatural: Dorian’s perpetual youth is just a fact of London life that people accept. ★★★★ (TMC)

*

The Beatles: Get Back (dir. Peter Jackson, 2021). It’s John, Paul, George, and Ringo — or Paul, John, George, and Ringo — or Paul and John, and George and Ringo — and Billy Preston. It’s a wonder that the Beatles put up with their director, Michael Lindsay-Hogg (not for nothing was he rumored to be Orson Welles’s son). A rare opportunity to see the work of creating music. I’ve already written a long post. ★★★★ (D)

*

The Last Laugh (dir. Ferne Pearlstein, 2016). The limits of what can be considered funny, with Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Joan Rivers, Sarah Silverman, and many other figures in comedy. Among the topics considered off or within limits: Hitler, the Holocaust, rape, the n-word, and September 11. The most compelling parts of the documentary: conversations with survivors of the Holocaust about the role humor played in their survival and the role it plays or doesn’t play now. With the comedians, though, a sameness sets in. ★★★ (T)
*

Assignment Paris (dir. Robert Parrish, 1952). Cold War intrigue in Hungary, as reported by the intrepid journalists of the New York Herald-Tribune’s Paris bureau. Cocky, persistent Dana Andrews and Ingrid Bergman-like Märta Torén are reporters; George Sanders is their editor; Audrey Totter has an Eve Arden-like turn as a hard-drinking, wisecracking also-ran. Dig Andrews’s cryptic communique from Budapest and the way his colleagues work it out. The best moments in the movie are the extraordinary scenes with Sandro Giglio. ★★★★ (YT)

Related reading
All OCA movie posts (Pinboard)