By the end of 1960, the United States of America had elected a new President, John F. Kennedy. At the cinemas, meanwhile, we were obsessed with sex and the mythologizing of nations. As witness:
BUtterfield 8
release: November 4
wins: Best Actress (Elizabeth Taylor)
nominations: Best Cinematography - Color
dir: Daniel Mann
pr: Pandro S. Berman
scr: Charles Schnee and John Michael Hayes, from the novel by John O'Hara
cin: Charles Harten / Joseph Ruttenberg
Liz Taylor won the Oscar for playing the self-described “slut of all time,” a model with a promiscuous past who finally finds true love with married Laurence Harvey. Early on, an exciting scene as each tries to dominate the other, her high heel dig into his foot, he not giving way. And once that’s over, we steer into dull weepy territory, hard to care about if you don’t care for anyone involved. Worst possible ending. At least it looks good?
The World of Suzie Wong
release: November 10
dir: Richard Quine
pr: Hugh Perceval
scr: John Patrick, adaptation by Paul Osborn, from the novel by Richard Mason
cin: Geoffrey Unsworth
William Holden is a middle-aged architect who goes to Hong Kong to see if he can hack it as a painter, not knowing that his hotel is affordable because it’s an unofficial bordello - and of course, he is soon smitten with the liveliest girl there, compulsive liar Nancy Kwan, the titular Suzie. Doesn’t exactly break new ground regarding stereotypes for either sex workers or Asian women, much less female Asian sex workers. At least Suzie is a calculating, formidable presence with a life and secrets of her own. Exteriors shot on location, and we love a time capsule, don’t we? The chemistry between the leads (and the great sets) is what keeps this movie afloat, but it’s very dated.
The Facts of Life
release: November 14
wins: Best Costume Design - Black-and-White (Edith Head / Edward Stevenson)
nominations: Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Song ("The Facts of Life"), Best Cinematography - Black-and-White, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration - Black-and-White (J. McMillan Johnson / Kenneth A. Reid / Ross Dowd)
dir: Melvin Frank
pr: Norman Panama
scr: Norman Panama and Melvin Frank
cin: Charles Lang, Jr.
Bob Hope and Lucille Ball are neighbors, married to other people, and suddenly find themselves drawn to each other and considering a full-on affair. Adult naughtiness, fun and funny, and since Ball and Hope are longtime colleagues, there’s genuine chemistry to be felt. It is exciting to see them navigate the forbidden…and it’s a hoot to watch them deal with the reality of now having to adjust to the quirks of a new partner, as if the eccentricities at home aren’t enough! Actually very sweet in that way, ultimately asking the pertinent question, “Do you love this person enough to overlook their worst traits?” A pleasant surprise, for me.
The Virgin Spring
release: November 14
wins: Best Foreign Language Film (Sweden)
nominations: Best Costume Design - Black-and-White (Marik Vos-Lundh)
dir: Ingmar Bergman
pr: Ingmar Bergman / Allan Ekelund
scr: Ulla Isaksson
cin: Sven Nykvist
The Ingmar Bergman classic that would later inspire The Last House on the Left, in which the daughter of a wealthy landowner is raped and murdered, her assailants later finding shelter unknowingly in her parents’ abode. A medieval tale that ends with a touch of enchantment. There’s tension between the growing Christian faith, of which forgiveness and charity are great cornerstones that challenge the victim’s parents, and the ancient beliefs of Odin and the more turbulent Gods of Olde, as witness the assault enacted brutally following a pagan prayer by a jealous half-sister. There’s class division, there’s the contrasting treatment towards the “good” virgin and the wayward pregnant stepsister/servant, there’s the observations about how a household in this period operates. There’s also shocking brutality, unscored, unsentimental. Stick with you.
Cimarron
release: December
nominations: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration - Color (George W. Davus / Addison Hehr / Henry Grace / Hugh Hunt / Otto Siegel), Best Sound (Franklin Milton)
dir: Anthony Mann
pr: Edmund Grainger
scr: Arnold Schulman, from the novel by Edna Ferber
cin: Robert L. Surtees
Earlier this year, there was Edna Ferber’s epic of Alaska, Ice Palace. Now, this, Edna Ferber’s epic of Oklahoma, a remake of the third ever winner for Best Picture, based on the 1930 novel of the same name. Watching them this close in proximity, one sees almost a beat-for-beat repetition of plot elements, right down to, gasp, mixed relations between white and indigenous, only difference being this one’s more focused on the noble man of the people than on the former best friend turned megalomaniacal millionaire. Glenn Ford leads, if that works for you. Two and a half hours long, I think they could have let it go for a full three just to flesh some things out.
The Sundowners
release: December 9
nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Deborah Kerr), Best Supporting Actress (Glynus Johns), Best Adapted Sceeenplay
dir: Fred Zinnemann
pr: Gerry Blattner
scr: Isobel Lennart, from the novel by Jon Cleary
cin: Jack Hildyard
A nomadic family comes of age in the Australian outback. More on this when we get to the Oscars.
The Angry Silence
release: December 12
nominations: Best Original Screenplay
dir: Guy Green
pr: Richard Attenborough / Bryan Forbes
scr: Bryan Forbes, story by Richard Gregson & Michael Craig
cin: Arthur Ibbetson
Remember I’m All Right, Jack and its comic depiction of the absurdities of corporate bullying and union bellyaching? This is the dramatic version, with Richard Attenborough willing to scab, though he and his colleagues-turned-enemies don’t know that the union has a saboteur in its midst goading things against him. Fine performances from all involved, and I do think it’s smart about how these necessary organizations can be manipulated for ill ends.
Esther and the King
release: December 14
dir/pr: Raoul Walsh
scr: Raoul Walsh and Michael Elkins
cin: Mario Bava
Another Biblical epic, this one adapted from the Book of Esther, in which a Jewish beauty becomes wife to the King of Persia and must face his devious courtiers. Like all Biblical dramas, tries to flesh out the plottier aspects - in this case, Lord Haman’s plots against the Jews and thirst for power - but such aspects feel like they’re being waved away, they are neither scripted nor performed thoughtfully, consistently. Joan Collins is an OK Esther, Richard Egan is a GREAT Ahasuerus. Not enough Mortdecai. You know who did a perfect version of this story was Hanna-Barbera’s The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible. Thirty minutes and not a second wasted, Adrienne Barbeau even gets to plot wickedly as Haman’s wife.
Exodus
release: December 21
nominations: Best Supporting Actor (Sal Mineo), Best Score (Ernest Gold), Best Cinematography - Color
dir/pr: Otto Preminger
scr: Dalton Trumbo, from the novel by Leon Uris
cin: Sam Leavitt
The story of the founding of the State of Israel. Gets into the messiness of it all, the broken promises, the extremism, the hope of rebuilding following liberation from the concentration camps, the bitterness, the antisemitism even among supposed allies. Deals with everything honestly, even ending not on a note of triumph, but more so with the feeling that there are several “next steps” yet to be taken. I love the characterizatiosn and performances of: David Opatoshu as the patriot-terrorist not just willing to kill for a nation of his own, but believes it is his sacred duty to do so; Ralph Richardson as the sympathetic diplomat whose empathy makes him suspect in the eyes of the Gentiles; Lee J. Cobb as a leader who's been trying to negotiate a peaceful co-existence with Arabs for his entire life, torn between loyalty to his family and loyalty to, uh, Man; of course, Paul Newman as our hero, a role he took on in acknowledgement of his Jewish mother, stubborn and sensitive, determined to do the right thing by his people but often conflating it with his own pride; and Eva Marie Saint as the shiksa do-gooder who means well but keeps talking about Jewish people like they’re space aliens, why can't they be normal like, uh, her. Most every character is like this, very convinced that they’re the only one looking at things the right way, often saying or doing the wrong things. This was my second time watching, I can safely say I love this movie.
Swiss Family Robinson
release: December 21
dir: Ken Annakin
pr: Bill Anderson
scr: Lowell S. Hawley, from the novel by Johann Wyss
cin: Harry Waxman
Disney’s take on the famed marooned family. Parents take a backseat on this one so we can watch the boys become men, with the addition of a love interest. Looks incredible, that treehouse is insane.
Tunes of Glory
release: Christmas Day
nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay
dir: Ronald Neame
pr: Colin Lesslie
scr: James Kennaway, from his novel
cin: Arthur Ibbetson
Scottish battalion leader sabotages his English successor over the holidays in peacetime Scotland. Alec Guinness and John Mills give very dedicated performances but I just did not buy the ending, the ways in which these men communicated their tension, or how everyone reacts. Or was it that I just didn’t find it interesting? A very labored climax. I think Child's Play did this kind of tension better.
Pepe
release: December 27
nominations: Best Musical Score (Johnny Green), Best Original Song ("Faraway Part of Town"), Best XCinematography - Color, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration - Color (Ted Haworth / William Kiernan), Best Editing (Viola Lawrence / Al Clark), Best Costume Design - Color (Edith Head), Best Sound (Charles J. Rice)
dir/pr: George Sidney
scr: Dorothy Kingsley & Claude Binyon, story by Leonard Spigelgass and Sonya Levien, loosely based on Broadway Magic by Leslie Bush-Fekete
cin: Joseph MacDonald
Four years after winning the Golden Globe for his performance in Around the World in 80 Days, Mexican star Cantinflas anchors a Hollywood vehicle of his own, an epic-length comedy about a ranch hand who travels to Hollywood when his boss sells his favorite horse to an alcoholic has-been producer. Somehow a wannabe starlet gets involved, and the trio plus horse become a team. And there are many complications, musical numbers, and star cameos. Greer Garson plays herself, Jack Lemmon plays himself, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis play themselves (the former emitting a scream that sounds exactly like the one her daughter demonstrates in Freaky Friday; theirs is the best scene in the movie), Maurice Chevalier plays himself for far longer than you’d think. A lark, just weird how childlike Pepe is. I get it's a character Cantinflas does, but it's bizarre to see this middle-aged man constantly referred to as a boy. Well, bizarre and patronizing.
Where the Boys Are
release: December 28
dir: Henry Levin
pr: Joe Pasternak
scr: George Wells, from the novel by Glendon Swarthout
cin: Robert J. Bronner
1960 saved one of the best for last. South Florida was already the destination for collegiate spring breakers, but this is the film that truly popularized it and announced to the world: here we are, for those who are young, restless, and eager for heavy petting! The movie itself follows four Midwestern college girls with varying attitudes regarding sex, which of course means different goals for the week. And it’s refreshing, this frank and honest depiction of young female sexuality, one that’s able to recognize that part of sexual liberation is bodily autonomy. Paula Prentiss is the standout for me, as the girl who just wants to get married and have babies - and happens to be the driest, quippiest of them. Also, man, I just love seeing South Florida in movies, some of the places they filmed still look the way they do here, right down to the huddled masses waiting for the light to change.
Tomorrow, we finally get to the Oscars with a look at the nominees for Best Supporting Actress: Glynis Johns (The Sundowners), Shirley Jones (Elmer Gantry), Shirley Knight (The Dark at the Top of the Stairs), Janet Leigh (Psycho), and Mary Ure (Sons and Lovers).
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