Solid Entry for the Great Barbara Stanwyck

 I kept looking for trademark indicators that this was a Fritz Lang film (which it is), but couldn't find them. Perhaps I don't know Lang's work that well.

It seemed like a fairly conventional, even formulaic Hollywood Studio System marital drama, based on a popular Broadway play by Clifford Odets. Quick plot summary, Stanwyck returns to her home down, decides, perhaps mistakenly, to marry the good guy, but falls in a kind of love with the bad guy. To reveal how it plays out would be a Spoiler, and I don't put those in my reviews.

That being said, a great vehicle for three very, very good actors. Starting with, not the least, Robert Ryan, who was apparently in the process of divorcing Stanwyck while the film was being made. Word is they were consummate pros on set. Ryan is, in my opinion, an under-rated actor, as he was normally playing "Bad Guys" - and here it is no different, he is the villain, in a sense, and plays the part superbly. I remember him being so, so good in the great A Bad Day at Black Rock.

Next up is Paul Douglas, who plays the "Good Guy" Milquetoast whom Stanwyck decides to marry. My recollection of Douglas is mostly seeing him do very good work in mostly supporting roles, especially WW2 action films and Melodramas. He was a very good actor, and is given the opportunity to absolutely shine in "Clash" and, in my opinion, nearly steals the show. It is a tough role to play and Douglas positively eats it up.

That brings us to the actress who won a recent Twitter poll as the greatest American Actress of all time. Miss Barbara Stanwyck was just always good, if not great in every role she took on. What I love about Stanwyck is, like Gene Tierney, she exerts a proto-Feminist strength in her acting that threatens to overwhelm the restraints of the Patriarchal society in which she was making films. Here, perhaps due to Odets' sensitive character development, she is really the power center of the film, as a perhaps disgraced woman, returning to her home town trying to find a man who will marry her before it is too late.

Stanwyck' s character, against her better judgement, agrees to marry Douglas' wimpy Boat Captain, and then nearly immediately regrets it as Ryan's character is circling about her, and her marriage like a man shark. Again, I won't spoil it to say what happens, but how Stanwyck manages the nuance of a woman returning from failure in her previous marriage, to try to find love, or at least a Husband, is really masterful.

If you love this era of films and/or Stanwyck, Clash by Night is for you. And, as an added Easter Egg, you get to see Marilyn Monroe in her film debut. That is worth the price of admission, right there.

More than Meets the Eye?

 

This kept popping up on my Acorn TV subscription. I love crime drama/mystery TV shows (from England, the US, Australia, Scandinavia) so I wasn't sure what to make of this. It looked more like a drama than a thriller, especially as the first couple of episodes very slowly explicate the plot and characters.

Well, if was worth the investment of time, as the storyline, characters, and acting are all superb. And, has been mentioned by other reviewers, the music is wonderful, and perfectly matched to the visuals and dramatic development.

I have recently been watching the excellent thriller, Hidden, which is also set in Wales, but is really an anti-Keeping Faith. And, there is nothing wrong with that. Hidden is more typical BBC, dark, even grim, with great writing and acting. But kind of hard to take sometimes. Faith, on the other hand fairly sparkles because it is set in the coastal area near Swanse which, at least at the times it was photographed, looks positively lovely.. What a contrast, and both shows deftly use the amazing Welsh scenery to great advantage.

Finally, I can't say enough about Eve Myles. I kept wanting to think that her character -- a working Mom married to her dream husband -- seemed a bit anti-Feminist, especially as the show makes great use of her natural beauty in its cinematography. Yet, as the show went on, and especially as it concluded its first Series, I realized that Faith is the epitome of a strong, intelligent woman working desperately to keep her family together in the face of unimaginable difficulty. Not defined by her Husband, or by Society, but by herself. What could be more Feminist than that?

A great show, and I am looking forward to watching Series 2.Slow burn, but worth the investment.

Great actress, great material

Sometimes the stars align for a film, as is the case with the legendary French actress, Isabelle Huppert taking the lead in Paul Verhoeven's in-your-face thriller, Elle. Both the story and the star are superbly matched, here.

It is almost cliche to say that Verhoeven is controversial. Hardly any of his English-language films, from Robocop to Basic Instinct did not generate strident conversations. Elle was not different -- is no different -- in its uncomfortable look at the role a strong-willed woman plays in a still male-dominated society.

A middle-aged CEO of a computer gaming company in Paris is attacked in her home. Not particularly unique, except that rather than reporting the rape to the police -- which, let's face it, probably wouldn't do any good -- she decides to take matters into her own hands and find the "perp" herself. She might have gotten more than she bargained for as the rapist begins taunting her, and without spoiling anything, when she finds out who it is it is not only surprising, but a bit anti-climactic.

Verhoeven and his lead actress use the unusual, but clearly-told story as a vehicle for interrogating issues of sexual predation, sexism in the corporate world and much else. Rather well, I think.