My Week of Movie Watching
The Water Magician – Brilliant 1933 silent film from the great Kenji Mizoguchi. Famous travelling water magician (Takako Irie) meets an impoverished carriage driver (Tokohiko Okada) and falls in love with him. She offers to bankroll his studies to become a lawyer. Things hit a snag when winter comes and money runs short, forcing her into tragic choices. The re-unification of the couple at the films close is cinematic storytelling at its very best, and Mizoguchi takes this story to places others might not. I can’t recommend this film enough. Highly recommended.
Red Sundown – So-so western from 1957 stars Rory Calhoun as a gunfighter trying to put his past behind him, who winds up getting in the middle of a range war between small farmers and a wealthy cattle baron. That synopsis could also describe Shane, and this movie is similar in many ways, with Calhoun as Shane, Dean Jagger as the Van Heflin character, and a very good Grant Williams as the Palance-esque hired gun. The film also tries to add a bit of shading to the bad guy (Robert Middleton), much like Shane did with Emile Meyer’s Ryker. The most notable thing about this film is its opening passages, as Calhoun comes across a man (James Millikan) wandering alone in the country, who turns out to be an old gunfighter who elicits a promise from Calhoun to mend his ways, lest he wind up like him. This bit is unrelated to the balance of the movie, apart from establishing Calhoun’s Alec as a reluctant gunfighter, but two men have a good couple of scenes together. Their relationship is mirrored later by a couple of young boys who are fascinated by gunfighters, and Alec gets to pass the anti-gun message on to them. Not a great film, but it has enough good stuff in it to give it as recommendation. A hat tip to Drew at The Blue Vial bringing this to my attention.
Letter From an Unknown Woman – Outstanding romantic drama from the great Max Ophuls. Letter opens with a concert pianist (Louis Jourdan) preparing to flee from a duel, when he is presented with a letter. The letter is written by a woman (Joan Fontaine) who has loved him for many years, but who doesn’t seem to have made much impression upon him. Fontaine is great in this, as we see her evolve from mousy girl to strong adult woman, who eventually comes to realize that her obsession is a selfish playboy. This being Ophuls, the film is sumptuous in its music, costumes, and camerawork. Highly recommended.