Honour, revenge, art, religion, science and navy blue knickers.
70 | The Horse's Mouth Alec Guinness personally took the blame for this commercial flop, having written the story of maverick modern artist Gulley Jimson for himself to play. It's a shame he thought it was a failure, as it may be slight compared to the likes of The Ladykillers, but it's a lovely companion piece to Hancock's The Rebel, with Jimson taking over a rich couple's house to paint his masterpiece mural (like Hancock's artist, he's foot-obsessed) while his sculpting partner in crime takes advantage of the free studio space, lowering huge blocks of stone through the skylight, and eventually the floor. In the end, the whole house is brought down, leaving only the mural. Symbolic, Sir Alec? Whatever, anything that has a go at the Lust For Life tortured artist cinema cliche is fine by us, and Guinness, even in a minor film, is still remarkably good for you. |
69 | Witchfinder General A beautifully atmospheric piece of historical horror, the peak of the all-too-short career of director Michael Reeves, whose intention was to make a completely realistic film of the period - well, he's convinced us. Brooding charlatan Vincent Price, together with nasty sidekick Robert 'Cygnus Alpha' Russell, make their way through Civil War-era Essex, burning and deflowering gullible townsfolk as they go, until roundhead Ian 'Saint' Ogilvy catches up with him. Watch out for Nicky 'Psychomania' Henson and Wilfrid Brambell. It's masterfully crafted stuff throughout, and a joint career-best performance, we're saying (see below), from the ever-baroque Price. |
68
| Phantom of the Paradise Give us this camped-up Faust over Rocky Horror any day. Paul 'Evergreen' Williams performs copyright theft on William 'Eaten Alive' Finlay, who tries to blow him up, gets disfigured, then lures Williams into a devilish contract to pen a glammed-up musical for love interest Jessica 'Suspiria' Harper. Then a deranged Gerrit Graham turns up, and things go a bit bizarre. Fantastic foil and plastic sets from Jack 'man pulling levers in Eraserhead' Fisk (abetted by Sissy 'Carrie' Spacek), and for once Brian De Palma's 'trademark' split screen obsession is bang on the money and actually aids the storytelling, especially in the superbly choreographed bomb countdown double tracking shot. |
67 | A Full Day's Work This French black comedy follows a guy on a motorcycle and side car as he goes on a killing spree across France, killing garage attendants, lifeguards and actors in the most brutal, Penelope Pitstopesque contrived situations, eg. locking the garage attendant in his own paint-oven. All these murders are unlinked until the final ten minutes when we discover that they are actually members of a Jury about to condemn his son for murder, and the final scene... well, as with any good French film, you just have to see it. |
66 | First Men In The Moon Lionel Jeffries appears several times in this list, both as an actor and director (we’ve counted four - it may be more) but, to be truthful, it’s impossible to praise the man too highly. He’s perfectly used here as well in this excellent tale of a scientist who creates Cavorite, a substance that allows him to float to the moon in a nicely upholstered sphere and have a run in with terrific stop-motion caterpillar things and allows for the brilliant scene where the Americans touch down only to find a tattered Union Jack. There’s some other people in this as well, but you won’t notice them. |
65 | Darby O'Gill and the Little People Drunkenness, bar-room brawling, death and love triangles may not be what most people expect from a Disney live-action feature, but they're all here and in glorious Technicolor, too. Albert Sharpe is the eponymous hero tussling with his leprechaun adversary King Brian – played brilliantly by Irish comedy legend Jimmy O'Dea – and all the great clichés of Irish folklore, banshees, pookahs and death coaches abound. Sean Connery also makes an early appearance demonstrating that his unique talent for speaking lines in his own accent even though they have clearly been written for another had developed early. In addition, forced perspective may be wowing the masses in the Ring Trilogy these days but here similar effects are achieved with creditable success and with only a fraction of the expertise now available. The Disney live-action feature has a worthy history often forgotten (The Black Hole, The Love Bug, Tron etc) and this sits comfortably at the top of the heap. |
64 | Young Frankenstein Fine though it is, Mel Brooks' western spoof was just edged out of the running by this lovingly-tooled homage to pre-war Hollywood horror. Instead of the expansive quickfire stylings of the 'Saddles, the 'Stein trots along in a more sedate, claustrophobic manner, fitting for the subject matter, and giving Gene Wilder ample opportunity to do his "did that really just happen?" quizzical glance into the middle distance. The rest of the cast fill out all levels of spoofdom, from Cloris Leachman's po-faced, schwanstucker-obsessed Frau Blucher (distant whinny!) through Teri 'roll in ze hay' Garr's terminally light-headed fraulein and Peter Boyle's definitive turn as The Monster, to Kenneth Mars' Strangelovesque police chief, and Marty Feldman's hump-shifting, camera-hogging Igor, who never makes any pretence of taking the film seriously (many Brooksians reckon he spoils the film by doing so - we say he makes it). Authentic props and period-perfect direction and black and white cinematography complete the seemingly effortless effect of a genuine '30s b-movie overtaken by a bunch of nutcases. We'll pass on the obligatory "how did Brooks go from this to sub-Naked Gun rubbish?" lament - if he was still making stuff this great, they'd have to send the UN inspectors in. |
63 | The Last Remake of Beau Geste Apart from his Brooksfilms collaborations (see Young Frankenstein, below), Marty Feldman didn’t score very big with his big screen outings. Between the decidedly shaky The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother and the swinging mania of Every Home Should Have One, there wasn’t an awful lot to see, to be honest. But just before it would become too late, Marty pulled this little nugget out of his hat and it’s a beauty. The cast is splendid - particularly Peter Ustinov - but Feldman is the star and you can’t take your eyes off him, or his eyes. The plot, naturally, is largely incidental, but this isn’t pointless; the point is to let Feldman deliver his comic mania unbridled and this it does. If you haven’t seen it (and you probably haven’t, it’s criminally underused in a world where second rate war films and substandard westerns litter the schedules) then do so as soon as you can, and remember just how truly brilliant Marty Feldman was. |
62 | The Four Feathers
When another remake of this hitched up recently certain commentators were at pains to let us know how much more politically correct that version was and how this version from 1939, directed by Alexander Korda, was all militaristic bombast and the glory of war. We have actually seen the film though, and we love it. The entire first portion of the film is concerned with demonstrating that the old generals are a bunch of bloodthirsty old loons and the rest is a testament to the bonds of friendship and the glory involved is that of personal heroism, not blind loyalty or the allure of tunes of war. With the return of each feather we are constantly amazed at the ability of John Clements not to rub the original donors noses in it. A word of caution to those who enjoy holidays abroad, though: judging by Sir Rich Ralphardson's experience in this one can go blind by taking one's hat off in the sun. You have been warned. |
61 | The Belles of St Trinian's From the chimes of Big Ben over the London Films sig at the beginning, to the closing notes of the barrel organ theme music over the Ronald Searle credits at the end, this Launder/Gilliat masterpiece is simply the perfect British comedy film. From Alistair Sim's dual role as Millicent/Clarence Fritton, through Joyce Grenfell's career best as Chloe 'copper's nark in skirts' Crawley, to George Cole's Flash Harry and the staff room collective including Hermione Badderley, Renee Houston and Beryl Reid every performance is a sketch of greatness. Ealing? They did great work but they never got as good as this. |
