Pizza with Marcello, Monica, & Romy

A Marcello double-bill: Italian comedy with Monica and a ghost story with Romy ..

THE PIZZA TRIANGLE or JEALOUSY, ITALIAN STYLE or GRAMMA DELLA GELOSIA was a surprise hit in 1970 - Pauline Kael gave it a rave review too, but it had vanished without trace until recently. I should have been watching a new sub-titled disk but it has gone astray in the post (a replacement is on its way), so I am remembering it from back then. It shows Marcello Mastroianni and Monica Vitti as gifted farceurs as this trio of working class lovers clash, the third point of the triangle being Giancarlo Giannini. The prolific Ettore Scola, still writing and directing now, and who also directed Marcello and Sophia's hit A SPECIAL DAY in 1977, and Marcello as Casanova in THAT NIGHT IN VARENNES, fashions a hilarious tragedy as our bricklayer Marcello falls for flower-seller Monica, who then falls for pizza chef Giancarlo. Cue endless farce as they love, fight, bicker, and end up injured in hospital.

As IMDB puts it: An engrossing farce about a love triangle in modern Rome. Bricklayer Marcello Mastroianni meets flower-seller Monica Vitti at a political demonstration. He decides to ditch his fat, older wife for her. All goes well until a pizza, in the shape of a heart, arrives. It is sent to the girl by a young pizza-chef, played by Giancarlo Giannini. The pizza man becomes Vitti's lover, and poor Marcello goes mad with jealousy and attempts suicide, as do each of the other two at some point in this hysterical soap opera. The three lead performers, among the best that the Italian cinema has ever had to offer, are magnificent, as is the direction and comic timing by Ettore Scola creating a tragedy and comedy with political overtones and social satire.

Vitti and Marcello had not been this good in years (they were co-stars in Antonioni's LA NOTTE in 1961). Giancarlo Giannini of course went on to those towering performances in Wertmuller's SEVEN BEAUTIES, Oscar-nominated in 1975, and that chilly lead in Visconti's last, L'INNOCENTE in 1976 (both reviewed at Giancarlo  Giannini label), and again is still working now. 

FANTASMA D'AMORE (GHOST OF LOVE), 1981. 

A decade later, in 1981, we see an older Marcello with an older Romy Schneider - a year before her death (aged 43 in 1982). This for some reason, despite its two European stars, never played in London as I would have wanted to see it. It was only in Italian but I have now sourced a sub-titled print, 

I don't usually go for ghost stories, but this turned out to be a totally absorbing drama, with supernatural tones, which kept the interest, It is set in Pavia, a gloomy city as shown here, as Marcello's accountant catches the bus for a change, and an ill-looking, shabby woman boards the bus and does not have the fare, so he gives her a 100 lire coin. She thanks him and runs away and seems to know him. Then she rings him at home, where he and his wife lead separate lives. He did not recognise her, the woman on the bus, as she had changed so much due to illness, but she is Anna, his long lost love who has come back. He is astonished but agrees to meet her. 

She is now looking like her usual attractive self .... it turns out though she is married. Then he is told by a doctor friend that she died 3 years ago, which he cannot believe. They meet again and go out on the river in a boat, but she falls over and drowns .... there is also a mysterious murder where a man who abused Anna kills his aunt. It turns out Anna is unrepentant about that (before she falls into the river) .... then a body turns up, but it is not Anna but the man who abused her and who killed his aunt, who was also unpleasant to Anna. Is she a vengeful ghost bent on revenge? He has to find out and goes to see her husband, who also confirms that Anna died 3 years ago. Her aged servant also takes him to where she is buried ..... So what is the real truth.  The aged ill Anna turns up again on the bus - she keeps being drawn back to him as he keeps remembering her, and what does that odd priest know about it all. They have to part one more time ...... 

Ok, it is a ghost story, one can accept that. But what does one make of the final scene, where he returns to a large house (which may be a hospital or asylum) and the nurse in white uniform coming towards him is Romy/Anna too and she smiles as she leads him back in. It is all the ravings of a lunatic? or has he simply gone mad from it all? We have to make up our own mind .... Its an endlessly fascinating puzzle well directed by Risi, and made bearable by the stars, Marcello is fine as usual; Romy transcends the material and is a fascinating presence. They are a perfect team too, like Marcello with all the others: Sophia, Anouk, Gina, Anita, Monica, Silvana, Faye, Catherine, Brigitte, Belinda, Claudia etc. 

In due course, more Marcello rarities: with Silvana Mangano (DARK EYES, her last, in 1989) and maybe two dreadful ones, long unseen here: A FINE ROMANCE with Julie Andrews, and USED PEOPLE with Shirley McLaine, both from 1992. There is also something called MACARONI, another late '80s Marcello comedy also by Scola, with Jack Lemmon in crabby, annoying mode as an American in Naples (shades of AVANTI ?) ....I will have to resist that.
More Romy coming up too, and Catherine Deneuve.

Comedy 3: They all laughed ...

THEY ALL LAUGHED, 1981. A New York Detective Agency is hired by two different clients to follow two women suspected of infidelity. John Russo trails Angela Niotes, the elegant wife of a wealthy Italian industrialist, while Charles Rutledge and Arthur Brodsky follow Dolores Martin, the beautiful young wife of a jealous husband. Their respective cases are complicated when John falls for Angela, and Charles falls for Dolores.

Peter Bogdanovich's 1981 romantic comedy re-defines screwball. I like it a lot, its not as instantly funny as WHAT'S UP DOC? or PAPER MOON, but its slow burn gets one. Its a great New York movie too taking in myriad locations, from the Algonquin Hotel to The Plaza, theres a blissful roller-skating sequence that goes on and on, the characters all grow on one, and there's nothing violent or ugly (on screen at any rate). Bogdanovich has such affection for all his characters that we feel it too, even though it takes ages to understand what is going on. Audrey Hepburn may be the star but she is off-screen for most of the first hour as we focus on Sam (Patti Hansen) who drives a big yellow taxi and takes a client to the heliport, where he greets a businessman, his wife (Audrey Hepburn) and son, who arrive in a helicopter. Sam also notices Ben Gazzara, also there keeping tabs on the arrivals. They all drive back to the city but their paths will criss-cross many times. 

John Ritter is adorable here as Charles, the clunky other detective (Bogdanovich says in the 25th Anniversary edition, that Ritter plays a younger version of himself, and one can see that, left). Colleen Camp grates initially as the annoying country singer, but we get to like her too, and her endless referring to Charles's name. Dorothy Stratten is certainly attractive as the object of Charles's desire. Then Audrey comes back into the picture, as the industrialist's wife, who gets close with Gazzara. (She and Gazzara had an affair when they made BLOODLINE in '78). It is wonderful seeing Audrey again here, and the other women are fascinating too. I just read that Hansen (the taxi driver) is married to Keith Richards! It is a shame that Ritter (the son of legendary singer Tex Ritter) died so young at 54 in 2003. Stratten of course was killed by her jealous ex-husband. Bogdanovich covers all that in the dvd interview with fellow director Wes Anderson. She of course was the subject of Fosse's STAR 80 which I have not seen. (Audrey died in 1993, Gazzara in 2012, RIP label).  

Its a shame THEY ALL LAUGHED did not do better at the box-office, Stratten's death may have cast a pall over it (as Francoise Dorleac's death in a car accident after shooting finished in 1967 on Demy's LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT casts a pall over that otherwise blissfully sunny movie). THEY ALL LAUGHED reminded me a lot of Woody Allen too and has great location photography making New York (including those twin towers) look great, as lensed by Robby Muller (who did Wenders' THE AMERICAN FRIEND among others). Bogdanovich's two daughters and Hepburn's son are also playing parts here, adding to the family ambience.

Bogdanovich may have peaked as a director, but his books on Hollywood folk - PIECES OF TIME, and WHO THE HELL IS IN IT? are fascinating reads on classic hollywood, as he knew them all. 

Summer fun: Indiana and the secret of the Incas

Perfect Saturday evening fare: a re-run of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK shown uncut and in the correct ratio on primetime BBC tv - the other Indianas will run on coming Saturdays .... perfect summer fare then for kids of all ages. Not only Ford at his best (left: Indiana doll) but also Denholm Elliot, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey etc. That whole pre-credit sequence still sizzles and I just love those 1930s seaplanes.The ending is a doozy too, with its nod to CITIZEN KANE ...

Apple for teacher !

Lots of amusing little touches too, that I had forgot - like the (male) student with an apple for teacher! Like Kasdan's BODY HEAT, RAIDERS is another timeless classic from 1981 - incidentally if BODY HEAT is not a Heatwave Movie I don't know what is (see 1981 label) ....

Now lets go back to 1954 and that Sunday matinee staple: SECRET OF THE INCAS, which surprisingly they did seem to film in South America, at Cuzco at least, if not actually at Machu Picchu. Here we have Charlton Heston as Harry Steele, an adventurer on the search of lost Inca treasure. 
Both Spielberg and Lucas have admitted that Harry Steele here is their prototype for Indiana Jones - Indiana is even kitted out like Heston with that leather jacket and hat. It is a spirited adventure, directed by Jerry Hopper, with old reliables like Thomas Mitchell and Robert Young, as well as Nicole Maurey, and Yma Sumac who warbles a few choice Inca numbers. There is even the scene - later used in RAIDERS - where Harry places the Inca object in the cave so that it catches the light and points the way to the real gold ...

Like Heston's THE NAKED JUNGLE, also 1954, there is much to enjoy in SECRET OF THE INCAS: the wide vistas of Machu Picchu, the OTT performances of Yma Sumac, Heston's granite jawed arrogance and a whole host of excellent character actors, make this a jungle trip well worth taking.

A is for Amour & Anouk, B is for BB, Body Heat & BBM, S is for The Servant (with Q&A!)

Miscellaneous items that caught my attention over the weekend:

A is for AMOUR. The dvd of Michael Haneke's Cannes prize-winner and arthouse crossover is out today, and I should have mine in today's post. Its not hard to understand its success - we all have to deal with ageing and death, and witness our parents' decline .... This was my film of the year last year (French, Trintignant labels), it is though a pitiless drama showing what ageing does to us. Watch it and weep ... event cinema is rarely this grim. We observe two highly intelligent people, deeply in love, as we clinically observe their end ... the devotion of the frail husband (Trintignant in his 80s) caring for his ailing wife will stay with you for days ... it reminds me so much of  my parents (though their situation was reversed). Haneke tops and tails the film just right.

A is also for Anouk: We were having an interesting discussion over at IMDB (The Internet Movie Database) on UN HOMME ET UNE FEMME - it is still a very well regarded French movie, maybe THE French movie for those who don't usually like French movies ? ! Lots of love too for Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant ... I have posted on it before here, at Anouk label - but I feel like watching it again now, particularly that "Samba Saravah" sequence. Sheer '60s glamour bliss ...

B is for Brigitte ... The French Institute here in London is currently running a mini-season on Brigitte Bardot at their Cine Lumiere cinema in Kensington. They are only showing a handful of BB films, but they remind us that she had developed into a considerable actress before her other passsions for animals and their welfare took hold, though unlike Sophia born the same year 1934, BB was never that dedicated to her career. She is certainly stunning in the iconic AND GOD CREATED WOMAN in 1956, left, where she is a new archtype, like the female James Dean!
See Bardot label for review of one of my favourites: HEAVEN FELL THAT NIGHT, that Vadim scorcher from 1958 with BB and Stephen Boyd both in their prime. - they were less so a decade later in that dreadful western SHALAKO where she seemed bored with it all and her '60s look was all wrong for this 1890s western ...

her last great outing was really in Malle's VIVA MARIA that international hit from 1966, where she is playful and fun and oh so glamorous with Malle and Moreau. She was lovely too as Helen's handmaiden in HELEN OF TROY in 1955 and with Bogarde in DOCTOR AT SEA ....  '50s glamour then!

We also revisited two favourites on tv over the weekend:

BODY HEAT from 1982, a discovery from last year with Kathleen Turner as one of the great femme fatales ... I love her first appearance as she walks past our dumb hero Ned Racine as the breeze ripples her white dress showing some thigh, you can feel the heat .... then theres that zingy dialogue. 80s glamour !  (review at Turner label).

Also, another wallow at BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - still one of the great movie dramas ... though I still think why couldn't they have run off to San Francisco or some other big city (like so many other small town/country boys did) and opened a jeans store - they could still be cowboys! - and not ruin so many lives and be more fulfilled themselves. Ang Lee's direction (so good to see him getting another best director award this year, though I am not so sure if I want to see his new one ...) and the performances remain superlative - that moment with Ledger locked into himself, eating his apple pie in the diner, is a heart-breaking moment I won't forget - let along that climax with his visit to Jack's parents, which speaks volumes. Interesting too how Jack Twist begins to meet other people (is this what leads to his murder?), as Ennis cannot see a future for them together, ... including that nicely judged scene with that other husband who casually but eagerly invites Jack to his weekend log cabin, for drinking and outdoor pursuits ... oh those cowboys!

This year is also the 50th anniversary of Losey's THE SERVANT, that ground-breaker from 1963, and the BFI has some screenings lined up. Its easy to forget quite how creepy and daring this was back then, the early '60s was still the era of Norman Wisdom comedies in England, and Bogarde's war movies like THE PASSWORD IS COURAGE and HMS DEFIANT. There was of course that British "New Wave" led by Tony Richardson with A TASTE OF HONEY, Schlesinger with A KIND OF LOVING, and Dirk's VICTIM but then it was back to fluff like DOCTOR IN DISTRESS ...  

THE SERVANT though changed all that, as scripted by Harold Pinter from Robin Maugham's novella. Set is that very Losey house - all those mirrors - (off Kings Road, Chelsea) with that score by John Dankworth and the terrific Cleo Laine song "All Gone", it focuses on Barrett taking over the house of indolent young master James Fox, and soon we have Vera (Sarah Miles) whom Barrett introduces as his sister, and Wendy Craig as the displaced girlfriend.  
1963 was just when things were starting to change as the '60s got underway, the year of the first Beatles album as pop and mod and fashion took off. Of course it was also the year of the Profumo scandal. With his outsider's eye Losey picked up on the absurdities of the British class system ... THE SERVANT continues to fascinate and remains a key Losey-Bogarde film, more on it at Losey, Bogarde, Miles, Fox labels. Hard to think that those '63 classics like THE BIRDS and HUD, LE FEU FOLLET and BAY OF ANGELS are also 50 years old .... they just don't feel like old movies! '60s decadence! plus '63's BILLY LIAR, CHARADE and THE LEOPARD as well ...

PS: I am now attending a screening of THE SERVANT with a Q&A afterwards by surviving cast members James Fox, Sarah Miles and Wendy Craig, at The Curzon, Mayfair on Sunday 24 March, 2.45pm. As I saw Bogarde and Losey in interview in 1970, I felt I had to be at this one too ... more on that next week! (and Sarah is a 'People We Like' on here ...).

Summer re-runs: let me feel your Body Heat

BODY HEAT - Ned Racine is a seedy small town lawyer in Florida. During a searing heatwave he's picked up by married Matty Walker. A passionate affair commences but it isn't long before they realise the only thing standing in their way is Matty's rich husband Edmund. A plot hatches to kill him but will they pull it off?

After his screenplays for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, Lawrence Kasdan got to direct his first feature in 1981 - this torrid update on those '40s noirs.. BODY HEAT is a neo-noir full of the pleasures of hard-boiled dialogue, plot twists and old movies - DOUBLE INDEMNITY in particular. Kathleen Turner makes her film debut as the femme fatale who seduces sleazy lawyer William Hurt into murdering her husband ... and what a debut it is. The breeze riffling that white dress as she casually sways by as the mesmerised Hurt follows her to the beach. He says something, she replies "I'm a married woman" so he says "meaning what?" and she replies "Meaning I am not looking for company" .. but of course she is and how. Then there is that scene when she retreats indoors while he is outside as he gets the chair and breaks in, as she is egging him on.  Soon of course he is putty in her hands.   It is rather an appropriate movie to follow on from MISSISSIPPI MERMAID - see below.

BODY HEAT remains an '80s classic. Whats wonderful here is the colour and that great score by John Barry, and those throwaway lines like "Youre not very smart are you? I like that in a man....". There's reams of smart dialogue one could quote. In fact I want to run it again in case I missed any. Turner is astonishingly assured in her first role - she brings that other Turner to mind - Lana in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. Hurt was one of the 80s great actors (KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN etc) but his career seems to have faltered after that. Kasdan went on to that other essential 80s item: THE BIG CHILL and others. I find a lot of 80s stuff has dated badly, but BODY HEAT is an exception. Mickey Rourke and Ted Danson and Richard Crenna are excellent support.

This sultry, sweaty update on DOUBLE INDEMNITY succeeds on every level - you can almost feel the heat coming off the screen.  Its another duplicitous woman seducing a lust-addled stud into killing her rich older husband ("He's out of town a lot" - "thats my favourite kind") then leaves him to slowly unravel .... It is fascinating to watch the plot twists unfold and the ending is just perfect, as our hero in jail gets the evidence which shows who Matty really is ... but one cannot comment too much on that, we don't want to spoil it if you have not seen it. The final scene on some foreign beach is a zinger too.  Turner also has that great voice - didn't she voice Jessica Rabbit?  I will be watching BODY HEAT again and soon. It will be even more enjoyable next time round.