Playtime (1967)

Monsieur Hulot (Jacques Tati) visits Paris and goes to a trade show, visits an old army buddy, and attends the grand opening of a fancy restaurant. There’s a tour bus from America there as well. Visual comedy ensues.

Playtime is commentary on modern life. According to director Tati, the star of the movie is the decor. Hugely elaborate set pieces were constructed for the film in an absurdist modern style. They will feel familiar to today’s office dweller. Lots of plate glass, door handles you are unsure if you should pull or push, poorly sized and uncomfortable chairs. A scene at a travel agency has posters of various destinations showing iconic images with the stupid modern office building blocking the view.

Except for the small amount of English dialog, the film is subtitled. Not that it needed to be. It is visual comedy in the style of silent films. It is the third of four Monsieur Hulot movies made by Tati and by far the most ambitious. And it was a commercial flop. The reasons vary. It wasn’t the Hulot-focused story audiences wanted, the anti-modernist theme was more prescient years earlier when the film was developed, it was only shown in theaters equipped with 70 mm projectors. The end result is Tati was in debt for many years and audiences slowly recognized it as a masterpiece.

Filmed entirely in long shots, one sometimes is not sure where to focus their eyes. Second and third viewings will likely reveal details missed the first time. But there is essentially no narrative story. Just a series of visual gags that happen over the course of the day. I do not know how it differs from the other Hulot films and I am curious to find out. But truth be told I did not love Playtime as much as I had hoped. It's reputation preceded I sought it out specifically. It was amusing and visually interesting, but I didn't LOVE-love it. AMRU 3.5.

The Ladykillers (1955)

Pretending to be musicians, a gang of thieves rent a room from a little old lady (Katie Johnson) and plan their heist. Things don’t go as planned.

Quite unintentionally, this is the third black comedy I’ve hit recently. Leader Obi Wan (Alec Guinness) hatches a complicated plan and puts all of the pieces in place, including their charming landlady. The producers balked at casting the 76 year old Johnson and hired a younger actress, who died prior to filming. And so it goes.

A young and somewhat hard to recognize Peter Sellers appears in what he called his first ‘real’ film. He idolized Alec Guinness, who was insecure about his role. Originally intended for Alastair Sim, Guinness did a better than fair impersonation of him. Herbert Lom played another thug and would go on to co-star with Sellers in the Pink Panther series.

I suppose this falls into the ‘caper gone wrong’ subgenre and the plan was quite ingenious. I had watched the remake and it stands as the only Coen Brothers movie that disappointed me. As for the original, it was amusing, clever, and interesting to the finish. AMRU 4.

7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)

Stereotype rich bad man (Arthur O’Connell) tries to buy out a small town in the old(ish) west (got to do with where the choo-choo go), stereotype underdog (John Ericson) tries to stop him while wooing stereotype hot spinster (Barbara Eden) for the obligatory romance angle, when they are visited by a strange man (Tony Randall) in stereotype Chinese makeup.

Dr. Lao runs a circus and despite having bigger concerns, the entire town attends. There they learn the lessons of community, the folly of greed, and the necessity of catching a man. Tony Randall plays all seven characters (Chinese stereotype, tiny abominable snowman, Merlin, Greek fortune teller, Pan, snake, and sexy sexy Medusa). The role was intended for Peter Sellers for obvious reasons. Randall’s Dr. Lao falls in and out of accent, making one doubt that he is who he appears.

Produced and directed by sci-fi legend George Pal (War of the Worlds, The Time Machine), 7 Faces wasn’t a financial success. A sequel was announced but never produced. Pal would go on to produce only two more films and never direct again.

There are quite a few interesting character actors here, but I want to mention Lee Patrick. She had a small role in Vertigo but she is memorable as Sam Spade’s secretary in The Maltese Falcon. Here she is memorable as a vain busibody. Also here is Noah Beery Jr, son of Noah Beery and nephew of Wallace Beery. Combined they have appeared in 429 films of which I’ve seen six. He will always be Jim Rockford’s dad to me.

Randall’s characterization  does not age well, but it is hard to know what to make of it. Is he mocking the townsfolk with his over the top accent? Does that even matter? Maybe it’s no Mr. Yunioshi but in no way could you describe his depiction as ‘respectful’.

7 Faces of Dr. Lao isn’t original in many ways except for the fantastical Dr. Lao character and events. It's a pleasant, silly fantasy that is fun to watch, so long you can forgive the obvious. AMRU 3.

The Trouble with Harry (1955)

A retired sea captain (Edmund Gwenn) is out hunting when he discovers the dead body of a stranger he presumes to have accidentally shot. Not wanting trouble, he tries to hide the body. Unfortunately this corner of the forest gets many visitors today, some of which also feel responsibility.

It is said to be Hitchcock’s second comedy, but several of his early films are labeled as such. Either way, this is the first Hitchcock comedy I’ve seen. It was an experiment to see how audiences would react to a film without big stars. Lukewarm was the answer but that may have had more to do with the unexpected tone from The Master of Suspense. More of a dark comedy, there are few real laughs.

The film gives Shirley MacLaine an “introducing” credit which is strange as six year old Jerry Mathers didn’t. He, of course, had already done a fair bit of film and television by that time. The main protagonist was starving artist Sam (John Forsythe) who to me is Charlie of Angels fame. Known mostly for television, he also did a fair number of films.

Nobody feels sorry for dead Harry. And as the story progresses, we learn that we shouldn’t shed too many tears for him. This is key to the comedy. His inconvenient body is dragged around with little regard. Along the way we have not one but two obligatory Hollywood romances, with Santa Gwenn making time with the “well preserved” spinster Gravely. It was downright uncomfortable when the two male leads mention how no man had ever “crossed her threshold”. Well preserved, indeed.

Filmed in VistaVision, The Trouble with Harry looks fantastic. The exteriors were filmed in Vermont but most of the action was filmed on a Hollywood sound stage. They imported boxes of fall leaves. This is a surprising, pleasant diversion. A film I would not have even heard of had it not been for one YouTuber. AMRU 3.5.

“Yes, very well preserved. And preserves have to be opened, some day.”

The Gorilla (1939)

A rich man (Lionel Atwill) in a spooky mansion receives a note saying he will be killed by The Gorilla. He hires the worst detectives in the world to protect him, but is there more going on here?

The Ritz (or Joachim) Brothers were something of a poor man’s Marx Brothers. While prolific in their day, they never saw the same success. They appeared in fourteen films over eight years. If that sounds impressive, consider that their first twelve were released within four years. They used to just stamp these things out back then.

Unlike the Marx Brothers, however, some of their films were not purely Ritz Brother’s vehicles. Instead, the boys acted as comic relief in someone else’s film. And if The Gorilla is any indication, they were also unfunny. What was their comedy like? Think Huntz Hall from The Bowery Boys, with a touch of Shemp Howard, times three. Their jokes were mainly being dumb and doing the exaggerated delayed reaction gag. You know the one.

Luckily the film does not rely on the Brothers. Patsy Kelly, playing a domestic, was quite amusing. Atwill brought significant gravity to his role. Bela Lugosi was kinda wasted as the creepy butler. Peter Lorre, originally intended for the role, might have been a better fit. There was a lot going on with his character that was never explored.

At its core The Gorilla is a spooky mansion mystery/comedy with an ape fetish. The comedy is what it is, and the mystery element does not hold up at all. The filmmakers wanted to pull a twist on an already twisted ending, but none of it made any sense. I don’t think it matters as the audiences were likely checked out of that part of the story.

I shouldn't judge the boys too harshly. This is their lowest rated film. But I think I watched this film out of fear that someone would find out I liked the Marx Brothers, ask if I ever saw a Ritz Brothers film, and I would have to say no. Now I can say yes. Watchable with an occasional giggle. AMRU 2.5.