Cloak and Dagger at the Brattle

Yes, I'm lucky to live close to The Brattle Theatre, one of the last repertory cinemas in the country. Last week, I caught four of the films in their Cloak and Dagger series, two of which I'd never seen.

The best was probably Carol Reed's brilliant film version of Graham Greene's satirical novel, Our Man in Havana. Alec Guinness plays a vacuum cleaner salesman who gets recruited by MI6. Its got great location photography in 1959 Cuba, and several juicy performances. An odd film, though, tonally. I loved it but I wasn't really into it, i.e. it was hard to root for any particular character, although it was brilliantly put together.

Well, North by Northwest was clearly the best, but I wasn't counting it, because I've seen it many, many times. Enjoyable as always. And a beautiful expression of modernism.

Ministry of Fear was a 1944 film directed by Fritz Lang. It was interesting to watch, although not a very good movie. Terrible dialogue, and some shaky acting dooms it. Ray Milland is decent as an innocent man caught up in a Nazi spy ring in wartime England. There are nice moments, but not enough to really recommend this for anyone but Lang completists.

The Ipcress File. I've actually seen this 1965 film before. I watched it with my father on television probably around 1978. It made a huge impression, especially the brutal torture scene that concludes the film. It's a very good movie, both the anti-Bond, and a film that is very close to Bond. It's got music by John Barry, set design by Ken Adams, and it's edited by Peter Hunt. Michael Caine's Harry Palmer is, of course, very different than Bond. A Cockney spy with an attitude. A good film.

Hitchcock Art

If I lived in Los Angeles I would certainly check out Gallery 1988's Suspense and Gallows Humor show, a tribute to Hitchcock, his films re-imagined as art works. Several are up on their site. I was a little disappointed (but not surprised) how the artists seemed primarily inspired by Hitch's later works, in particular North by Northwest, The Birds, Vertigo, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief. Understandable, considering their built-in iconography and visual beauty, but I would have loved to see a piece inspired by Foreign Correspondent, say.

A few favorites below:

Robert F. Boyle, 1909 - 2010

Robert Boyle, who was a four-time Oscar nominee as an art director and production director, passed away Sunday at the age of 100. He had a long, amazing career, including his work as an art director and/or production designer on six Hitchcock films. Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubt, North by Northwest, The Birds, and Marnie.

Below are six of my favorite frames from those films.