Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Tuesday Forgotten (or Overlooked) Films: Five That Are So Good (in various and sundry ways) They Shouid Be Available for Viewing SOMEWHERE - but aren't.

Artist: Mabel Dwight - source

Terrific movies I haven't seen in many a year simply because, for whatever reason, they are not easily available anywhere.

If I could find a good DVD of each of these, I guess I'd buy them though their rarity makes some of these things a bit expensive. These five are not available on Netflix or anywhere else that I can figure though that may be changing - I hope - as we speak. I will not watch them with commercials so I don't bother with Hulu. (They're probably over at Turner, but I don't have cable so that's out.) And forget about the library.

The late lamented (by me, at least) films are:


1) The Wrong Box (1966) with Michael Caine, Ralph Richardson, John Mills

We learn the meaning of the legal term 'tontine' - hilariously - in this Victorians-run-amok screwball comedy. Wayward British humor, I suppose, is an acquired taste if you're not British to begin with, but I guess I must have been a Brit in another life, because I find these sorts of movies rip-roaringly funny. The expectation of a huge fortune and the peculiarites of an old will drive everyone nuts in this greed for greed's sake story enhanced by a cast that only the Brits could produce.

An oblivious Sir Ralph Richardson blithely unaware that a crazed relation (John Mills) is plotting murder most foul.

Everyone in this movie is eccentric to the nth degree and bonkers - so that adds to the cheery atmosphere. Imagine this cast: Sir Ralph Richardson as a prosy insufferable bore, John Mills as an oh-so-adorable loony plotting murder, plus Wilfred Lawson, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Nanette Newman as a naive, inclined to faint light-headed Victorian virgin tempted by Michael Caine as a fellow hapless innocent, and Peter Sellers as his usual nutso self. (I believe this is the movie in which he lives in a flat full of cats and absent-mindedly uses a kitten as an ink blotter - but don't worry, the kitten is fine.) It's all wonderful lunacy. But if you resist, you won't get it.

A movie that includes an accidental be-heading by Queen Victoria, a train crash, a body in a box and a totally disrespectful funeral to end all funerals, it is long deserving of being seen as often and as much as possible but instead it is all but forgotten by most.


2) Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990) with Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson

One of the best romantic comedies that no one's ever seen - except me - or so it seems. It's all about Nina, a disconsolate widow (Juliet Stevenson) who's having trouble getting over the death of her beloved husband Jamie (Alan Rickman), a cellist.

Alan Rickman, Juliet Stevenson and the adorable Michael Maloney

When Jamie refuses to stay dead and his ghost begins haunting Nina at home (to her immediate and touching delight), the film takes that familiar old trope and goes in a much different and unexpected direction. See, here's the thing: Jamie is a very social ghost and thinks nothing of inviting fellow ghosts (most of which refuse to leave) to his and Nina's old flat to watch television or just hang out. Nina is running out of space! What is a bewildered widow to do?

If you get a chance to see this - absolutely grab it!


3) The Blue Lagoon (1949) with Jean Simmons and Donald Houston

Forget the 1980's version with Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins as hormone-tossed teens. THE BLUE LAGOON you want to see is the black and white original with the almost too beautiful to believe, Jean Simmons and the handsome Donald Houston as Edwardian innocents first ship-wrecked as children. Left to grow up alone on a South Pacific island in the middle of nowhere, as teens they fall in love and hardly knowing how it all comes about, they have a baby and must decide what the future holds for the three of them. Jean Simmons and Donald Houston are so very believable as innocents confronted by the natural pull of biology.


The heart-stopping scene when Emmaline (Jean Simmons) and Michael (Donald Houston) discover that they are not children anymore. Beautifully done. The hushed sultry tone is perfect after the wild desperation of Michael having believed Emmaline stolen by a lecherous yacht captain who'd tricked the girl and left the boy behind on the island.


4) Five Came Back (1939) with Chester Morris, Lucille Ball and Wendy Barrie


When a plane crashes in the wilds of a South or Central American jungle, it doesn't take long before the drums of a tribe of headhunters is heard beating a death knell for those aboard who providentially or not, survived the crash. A terrific cast (except for Chester Morris who I've always regarded as an onscreen whimp, but here he acquits himself sort of admirably as a guy who must make life or death decisions as he and a mechanic try to make the plane flyable again before they're all slaughtered) makes this thriller all the more thrilling as the true nature of each and everyone is revealed under extreme duress.

I think this is my favorite airplane crash movie and has been for many years.

Exceptionally good in the cast is Joseph Calleia as a cold-eyed pragmatist, a murderer bound for prison who at one point is unexpectedly called upon to play God. Also wonderful is C. Aubrey Smith.

This film was remade in 1956 with the title changed to Back From Eternity. It starred Robert Ryan, Rod Steiger and Anita Ekberg among others. Almost as good as the original since except for a few minor things, it keeps the same basic plot. And as the original, it is just as hard to find.


5) Making Mr. Right (1987) with John Malkovich and Ann Magnuson


An eccentric scientist builds a robot who looks just like him to take part in an upcoming space mission. The android 'Ulysses' will be taught human emotions (so he will behave like a human might in outer space I guess) but unfortunately the reclusive scientist who built him, has no emotions to speak of (and is well aware of it). Into the improbable plot comes 'Frankie' a perky P.R. consultant (played by the wonderfully quirky Ann Magnuson) hired by the scientist to educate Ulysses. Makes perfect sense right?

What with one  thing and another, Ulysses the android falls in love with Frankie and she, confused, falls in love with someone - is it the nerdy scientist or his doppelganger?

The ending is a delight, though just a teensy bit bittersweet. John Malkovich is never my idea of a leading man but somehow he always manages to pull it off. I think it might be something the camera does to him.

I also think this might be available in DVD now, but I'm not sure I want to buy it since I haven't seen it in MANY years and it might not live up to my hype. It's a quandry.

Since this is Tuesday, it's time for Todd Mason's meme: Forgotten (or Overlooked) Films, etc. So don't forget to check in at Todd's blog, Sweet Freedom to see what other Forgotten (or Overlooked) Films, Television or other Audio Visuals other bloggers are talking about today. We're an eclectic bunch.

22 comments:

  1. Yvette,

    Yes, I remember _The Wrong Box_ from long ago. Goofy is inadequate to describe it. By the way, a local video store has a DVD of it for rent. The date is 2011, which, I suspect, is the year it was digitized or whatever. I can't find out anything else except that it was directed by Brian Forbes,. who directed the 1966 film.

    I'll check it out and let you know what I find, if you're interested.

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    1. Please do, Fred. If worst comes to worst, I'll have to buy it I suppose. I definitely would like to see this once more. Yes, Bryan Forbes did a wonderful job. He was married to Nanette Newman at the time. She's fabulous as the fragile Victorian Miss.

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  2. I've not seen two of these (BLUE LAGOON and FIVE CAME BACK) and agree with you about all the others except Making Mr Right. Terribly unfunny and often just plain moronic. Malkovich was all wrong for that part, I think. He's not a comedian. He has sense of humor but it's a lot darker than that fluffy farce stuff he was asked to do. I know it's supposed to be satire, sort of The Stepford Wives in reverse, but I pretty much hated all of it. The robot sex nonsense in both movies is just utterly unbelievable to me.

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    1. Well, I think, here, John we must agree to disagree. I have a better memories of MAKING MR. RIGHT than you do. Though admittedly I haven't seen it in many years and my memories may have glossed it up a bit. This is not meant, I think, to be a laugh out kind of thing. Merely a sort of crazed observation on what it means to be human - kind of. The thing that makes it, for me, a memorable movie is Ann Magnuson who I suspect was probably too intelligent and maybe too unclassifiable for Hollywood to know what to do with. I would see this once again for her sake. In a way she is in the same class as Joan Cusack.

      As for Malkovich, I suspect that the casting was a deliberate anti-type thing. They could have gone with a hunky beefy type, but that would have been SO obvious. I don't know, John, you may be right. Malkovich is not your typical leading man. He can get a bit freaky. And yet he managed to carry off Dangerous Liaisons which was, in itself, not the casting I would have gone for. He always plays against type, I suppose. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. I loved him as the blind farm hand in PLACES OF THE HEART.

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  3. Hello Yvette,

    Well, we have seen 'Truly, Madly, Deeply' so that at least makes three of us! And, yes, we did think that it made very worthwhile viewing. Certainly an unusual story line but very convincingly done.

    And now you have seriously tempted us to track down 'the Wrong Box'. A stellar cast if ever there was one and, as we are British, we should understand the jokes. The hunt is on!

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    1. Oh, Jane and Lance, I hope you find a copy. I'm convinced you will love THE WRONG BOX. :) I would love to read your 'take' on it at some point. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

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  4. (2nd attempt at this comment)
    Okay, I love Truly Madly Deeply, and it's clearly time for a rewatch.

    Like Fred, I saw The Wrong Box a million years ago. What sticks with me is the scene with Peter Sellers as the disgraced doctor (I have not always been as you see me now...). And oh joy, I found this clip on You Tube
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taLNQWahGbw

    And while I was there, I tripped over the FULL MOVIE of The Naked Truth, a totally wonderful comedy with everyone you'd ever want to see in an English film in 1957.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8q9PnPjaRE

    I got me some joyful watching ahead tonight.

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    1. Never heard of THE NAKED TRUTH, Susanna. I will definitely look for it on youtube. Peter Sellers. Yes, that's the scene where he uses the kitten to blot his signature. SO funny. But in a very sweetly loony way.

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  5. We loved watching 'The Wrong Box' when we were children. A fab movie and, may I add, I have the book! I think it was written by Robert Louis Stevenson.

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    1. You're correct, Kirk. Wasn't it a novella? Or short story? I read about it somewhere...Childish glee. That's what THE WRONG BOX has. Yes.

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  6. Omigosh, movies from the past. I have seen the Wrong Box, but aging has wiped out many memory cells, so I will resee it. I saw Truly, Madly, Deeply and I'll see it again, but it was a bit sad, too.

    I don't know about the Blue Lagoon or Five Came Back, but I want to see Making Mr. Right just to see what it's like.

    Yes. I like loony British comedies. My father liked Peter Sellers and other zany British films or comedy acts. He loved Monty Python years ago. I wonder if he ever saw the skit about the Greek and German philosophers playing soccer. I fell on the floor laughing.

    And I found A New Leaf once again at the library so it's on reserve.

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    1. I think I'm going to buy A NEW LEAF, my copy from Netflix was all broken up so I missed part of the beginning. Even though I know the movie from head to tail, I still want to see every scene intact. :) Don't miss FIVE CAME BACK if you can find a copy, Kathy. Or for that matter, THE BLUE LAGOON. I loved both so much.

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  7. Here's a link to an entry on The Naked Truth. Has Terry Thomas, must be funny, a murder, some loonies, British, how could it miss?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naked_Truth_%281957_film%29

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  8. Yvette, The Wrong Box is available new on DVD at both TCM and Amazon! It is MOD (made on order) click on the links I included! I'm getting it!

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    1. Are these 'made to order' things trustworthy? I've never ordered one of those before. At least I don't think I have. At any rate, thanks for the info, Peggy Ann. :)

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  9. Yvette, we recently bought The Wrong Box through Warner Brothers Archives. Now we will have to get around to watching it. My husband has seen it before, but I have not.

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    1. Oh Tracy, what are you waiting for? Make time for this. I hope you'll enjoy it - be prepared to laugh.

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  10. Amazon has The Naked Truth, used copies for $2.87 plus $3.99 shipping costs.

    It looks like a lot of fun, Terry Thomas and Peter Sellars, lots of plots to kill off the rich guy. Zany.

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    1. Sounds good, Kathy. Thanks for the info. :)

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  11. Yvette, we're delighted that your Overlooked films included in THE WRONG BOX in particular, as I've just finally gotten to see it, and it's as wonderfully wicked and funny as we'd hoped, especially with young Michael Caine there looking all young and hot! :-) I'm also delighted to see that you enjoyed MAKING MR. RIGHT; I always liked Ann Magnusen,and she and John Malkovich worked well together! (Nice playful riff on our heroine's nickname being "Frankie," a la Frankenstein! ) I'm glad you brought FIVE CAME BACK back, and I'm curious to watch the original BLUE LAGOON now that I know it's available! Your post is fun and fascinating, Yvette, as always! Warmest wishes to you and yours, my friend! :-D

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    1. Thanks so much, dear Dorian. I'm so glad to learn that you're a fan of THE WRONG BOX as well. I have such happy memories of laughing until I cried while watching it. Wicked - that's a good word. Wicked indeed. Ha! I hope you get a chance to watch FIVE CAME BACK or BACK FROM ETERNITY - the later version. Both, oddly enough, were directed by the same person, John Farrow. Oh, and THE BLUE LAGOON....Swoony. Absolutely swoony.

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