WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1970) - Bronte gets the AIP treatment

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

(1970, UK)

Trying not to lose that Witchfinder General vibe...

Please don't think Bronte sisters' adaptions will start featuring regularly here. But this 1970 adaption of the gothic melodrama utilises some of the best talents in American International Productions of that time.

I'm still catching up on everything that Robert Fuest directed. Besides the stylish camp of The Avengers, Fuest could also excel at a straightforward chiller like the original And Soon The Darkness. Wanting to avoid being typecast for Vincent Price serial killings, Fuest turned down Theatre of Blood.
  

Fuest may not adapt Wuthering Heights faithfully, but with an excellent cast, and using the West Yorkshire moors as an authentic location, AIP get another gloomy melodrama at least reminiscent of Witchfinder Gerneral's historical setting. With the same cinematographer, John Coquillon, presenting an even bleaker British countryside.

After director Michael Reeve's untimely death, it was hard to recapture Witchfinder's success. Stars Vincent Price and Hilary Dwyer were cast in The Oblong Box (1969), but as a loving husband and wife, there were none of the same sparks.

In Wuthering Heights, Ian Ogilvy and Hilary Dwyer are together again, as brother and sister. It's fantastic to see them once more in period costume, as completely different characters. At times they look younger than they did in Witchfinder General, playing a pair of rather spoilt landowners. Ogilvy a bit of a twit, Dwyer with an upper-class lisp, but their characters evolve from comic relief to something more tragic...

There's an awful lot of plot to get through - sudden leaps in time and dramatic changes in fortune may even benefit some knowledge of the novel. Even now, it's pacey. Bronte's grand soap opera certainly has enough twists and turns, but also shows the disparity between social classes, especially how women's fortunes depended completely on charity, servitude or marriage.

The leading man is a 23 year-old Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff. This, his first starring role, made enough of an impression to boost his career off the stage and onto include two James Bond films, Flash Gordon and The Rocketeer. In smaller roles are Julian Glover (Star Wars, Quatermass and the Pit) and eccentric character actor Hugh Griffiths who'd appeared in both Phibes films.

Anna Calder-Marshall deserves top billing for her anguished performance as Cathy, ranging from feral servant to lady of the manor, but Judy Cornwell is also excellent, with almost as much screen time.

Never read Emily Bronte's book and hadn't seen any other film versions, so the unfolding story was a fascinating ride to the bitter end, haunting even. I was enchanted by the cast and Michel Legrand's (The Thomas Crown Affair) memorable soundtrack (recently remastered and expanded for a Silver Screen CD).

Looking good for its age, the film is presented 16:9 anamorphic widescreen on DVD.

Interesting collection of interviews with Timothy Dalton about Wuthering Heights (1970) and the start of his movie career.

Photoplay Film Monthly, July 1970, had this three-page article

Black Hole looks at director Robert Fuest's many genre films - Dr Phibes, The Devil's Rain, The Final Programme, And Soon The Darkness and more...

A recent TV adaption of Wuthering Heights (2009) has an interesting cast, starring Tom Hardy (Inception, Chopper) and Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead). Don't think I could take it seriously with the wig that Hardy's wearing...

THE ODEON STRIKES BACK - May 1980

Opening week, London, 1980...

Here's something I should have done more often, take photos of cinemas in the 1970s and 1980s. This is the front of London's Odeon Leicester Square, (the one that backs onto Charing Cross Road). I'm looking up at the hoarding above the main doors, the first week that The Empire Strikes Back was on worldwide release in the US and the UK. Usually Britain got the prints several months after the US, so this was special.

Note that it was a 70mm presentation, and in stereo! I also saw Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind at this cinema, and the use of stereo was certainly a novelty back then, if a little scary at times with some of its more directional effects. Stereo systems first appeared at these large city cinemas before being added to local multiplexes.

I think I was using up a roll of film with this shot. Film was expensive, developing film and paying for prints was expensive. Therefore, I've not got any other shots like this...

Midway Season Power Poll

# TEAM NAME (Record) (Previous Rank)

1. Philadelphia Phillies (57-34) (-)

2. Boston Red Sox (55-35) (-)

3. New York Yankees (53-36) (4)

4. Atlanta Braves (54-38) (5)

5. San Francisco Giants (52-40) (3)

6. Texas Rangers (51-41) (13)

7. Tampa Bay Rays (49-41) (10)

8. Los Angeles Angels (50-42) (20)

9. Milwaukee Brewers (49-43) (6)

10. Detroit Tigers (49-43) (8)

11. St Louis Cardinals (49-43) (7)

12. Cleveland Indians (48-42) (-)

13. Arizona Diamondbacks (49-43) (9)

14. Toronto Blue Jays (46-47) (-)

15. Pittsburgh Pirates (47-43) (17)

16. Cincinnati Reds (45-47) (11)

17. New York Mets (46-45) (19)

18. Washington Nationals (46-46) (23)

19. Chicago White Sox (44-48) (18)

20. Seattle Mariners (43-48) (15)

21. Florida Marlins (43-48) (16)

22. Colorado Rockies (43-48) (-)

23. Minnesota Twins (41-48) (28)

24. Los Angeles Dodgers (41-51) (25)

25. Oakland A's (39-53) (27)

26. San Diego Padres (40-52) (24)

27. Baltimore Orioles (36-53) (21)

28. Kansas City Royals (37-54) (26)

29. Chicago Cubs (37-55) (29)

30. Houston Astros (30-62) (30)

(record through 7/13/11)

INNOCENT BLOOD (1992) - a vampire in Pittsburgh

INNOCENT BLOOD

(1992, USA)

After worshipping John Landis' early films Kentucky Fried Movie, Animal House and An American Werewolf In London, by the end of the 1980s I was completely dispirited by his hit-and-miss comedies. But a return to horror in 1992 proved interesting and is now one of my Landis favourites. Again it blends modern cynicism, comedy and blood. That year it got lost in a flurry of vampire movies, much like we're deluged with zombies at the moment.

The core of Innocent Blood is a cross-breed of vampire horror with mob thriller, and the casting of Anne Parillaud, hot off Nikita. Luc Besson's 1990 thriller led to a US remake and two TV series. It was bizarre to see the action highlight - the kitchen shootout - not only being reused in John Badham's The Assassin (1993, starring Bridget Fonda) but also the first TV pilot for La Femme Nikita (1997, starring Peta Wilson).

Parillaud is sensational in Nikita, a female Leon, perfectly cast as an ethical vampire. She delivers physical confidence in her superhuman abilities, brash nudity, disarming Gallic sexiness, only hampered by her faltering English, which sounds really weird when she goes all deep-voiced and plasma-hungry. Despite her vampire abilities, she sometimes resorts to using a gun, presumably to trade off the Nikita role.

But I'm not telling you the plot. The story starts twice over as the two main characters are introduced before they meet. One is Joe Gennaro (Anthony LaPaglia), an undercover cop trying to bring down a Pittsburgh crime boss (Robert Loggia). He risks blowing his cover after a string of murders includes his police partner.

But these aren't mob hits, but vampire meals, with night stalker Marie (Parillaud) ethically picking victims who are murderous criminals. Mistaking Joe for a member of the mob, she only spares him because he's cute. One of her rules being "don't play with the food". But her rules misfire when the mob starts turning vampire. If they all get superhuman, nothing will stop them taking over the city...

The story has its own rules about vampirism, their powers, and how they die. This mythos might annoy purists, but hey, Landis was brought up on the Universal and Hammer horrors, and they changed the rules every movie. We're also in Pittsburgh - there's a clue.

The scenes of vampire mealtimes pull no punches, Landis using his accomplished scare tactics that triggered so many near heart attacks during American Werewolf. Visually there's less emphasis on fangs and more on the blood smeared all over their faces after 'dining'. Their eyes also glow in the dark, a startling effect using highly reflective contact lenses (and a beam-splitter, FX fans). Steve Johnson (Ghostbusters, The Abyss, Freaked) also provides spectacular prosthetic effects in the film.

This is definitely a pre-CGI movie, the camerawork is noticeably limited from what it really wants to do - there's a wobbly attempt to do a point-of-view flying shot, cheekily stolen from Dario Argento's Opera. It's interesting but more trouble than its worth. In portraying vampire powers, the wirework isn't as clever as the editing, and as usual the contact lenses never quite line up with each other. If it starred Karen Black, this might have been excusable.

There's also a wealth of in-jokes for horror fans. The movies playing on TVs (everywhere) seem too obvious a reference, but the movie directors used in bit parts are a real treat. Just brilliant fun. I'm guessing there was a horror convention in town. First to watch out for is Tom Savini...

American Werewolf had plenty of plot-driven male nudity, Innocent Blood has gratuitous female nudity. While tight bodies and talking about sex pervade horror movies aimed at teenagers, this is more adult. Like lingering, full-frontal nudity, prolonged sexual situations and two large placements for safe sex. While smoking has endured in movies, safe sex has barely been mentioned, even after the darkest years of the 1980s. Innocent Blood is a rare exception and reminds us how little safe sex has been suggested in any movie, in any genre, in the last three decades.

From nearly the first scene, Robert Loggia starts to dominate the film, his two-faced kingpin goes from human monster to inhuman, in a great horror performance. While I'm sure he was offered a lot of genre work after this, he's remained with characters that are psychologically and physically terrifying, rooted in reality. His Mr Eddy in David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997) is another example of extremely powerful performances, again as a psychotic mobster.

As Loggia's lawyer is an actor close to Landis' heart, Don Rickles. Currently known as the voice of Toy Story's Mr Potato Head, Rickles is better known as a comedian, one of America's maestros of stand-up. Landis first worked with him way back on Kelly's Heroes (1970) when he was a young production assistant. In 2007, Landis even made a documentary about Rickles, Mr Warmth, centring around the first ever filming of his renowned Vegas act.

Besides the cameos, Anthony LaPaglia is an agreeable lead (recently seen in TV's Without A Trace). There's notable support from Chazz Palminteri looking comfortable, and Angela Bassett (before she met the Vampire In Brooklyn) looking uncomfortable as a standard angry police chief.

It's a fresh premise, though it runs out of steam by the end. But night-time Pittsburgh looks fantastic, the cast are mostly on top of their game, Landis continues to treat traffic like a toyset, and above all does his best to keep horror fans happy.

The only widescreen transfer that I know is this laserdisc release. Even the more recent DVD is full-frame, well overdue for remastering.

Mondo 70 wasn't as enthusiastic as me, and has a more spoilery detailed breakdown of the story.

BURNT OFFERINGS (1976) - if THE SHINING was a TV movie

BURNT OFFERINGS

(1976, USA)

Hard to say whether this chiller will work for you, but it sent chills up and down my spine when I first saw it. Particularly when Oliver Reed's past comes back to haunt him...

I dusted the DVD off to remind myself of Robert Cobert's soundtrack, which has just debuted on CD (buy it here, from Screen Archives). The composer worked on many other of producer/director Dan Curtis' projects, including The Night Stalker and The Norliss Tapes TV movies. Curtis managed scary miracles on TV budgets, but I think this is his best work.

A family rent a house and grounds for the summer. It looks like it'll cost more than they can afford, but the owners offer it to them cheap on a single condition, that they look after an old relative in the attic. Sounds simple enough. What could possibly go wrong?

The father (Oliver Reed) is once again troubled by nightmares from his childhood. His young son gets scared by his father's behaviour. Grandma starts wasting away and mother can't stay away from the old lady upstairs. Living there affects each of the occupants in different ways...

After Burgess Meredith and Dub Taylor have left the stage with their comic overacting, the story settles down to some serious, unsettling scares. A simple day by the swimming pool becomes a living nightmare. Another nightmare seems to take reality... 

But is it a haunting, is it the house itself, or something living inside? It's impossible to watch without thinking of The Shining. There's confusion between past and present, a thematic preoccupation with photographs and an almost identical premise.

The Shining (1980) is of course in a different league as a film. But as a story, Stephen King hasn't looked very far back for inspiration. Robert Marasco's book was published in 1973. King's book was published in 1977, a year after Burnt Offerings was out in US cinemas. There's even a tantalising shot of Oliver Reed unable to face his typewriter and a sheaf of blank paper. Ahem.

It can't hope to compete with Jack Nicholson's performance and Stanley Kubrick's visuals or his budget. It makes Burnt Offerings look more like a TV movie, even though it wasn't. Many other lower budget movies of the 1970s were almost indistiguishable from the TV 'look'. But Oliver Reed didn't do TV (except disastrous chat shows), and you didn't get this amount of blood on the TV...

This scary house film also predates The Amityville Horror (1979) and for my money, was and is far scarier. I also recently watched Let's Scare Jessica To Death recently, expecting scares. But while it had an eerie visual quality that Burnt Offerings lacks, I didn't find it nearly as creepy as many reviews had suggested.

Oliver Reed is suitably restrained here, great at being scared and effortless at being threatening. Karen Black is director Dan Curtis' lucky charm here, after appearing in three different roles in the memorable Trilogy of Terror, back when TV horror movies could terrify. Black more recently appeared in the less restrained House of 1,000 Corpses. 

Lee Montgomery, as the son, is that rare talent, an unannoying child actor, also the lynchpin of rat horror epic Ben (1972). Bette Davis (Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?, The Nanny, The Anniversary) is shockingly good in a transformation from sprightly to unsightly - allowing herself to gradually be shown wearing less and less make-up. Extremely brave considering what she finally looks like...

The house and grounds used for filming can be visited just south of San Francisco as The Dunsmuir House in Oakland. The same site used as the mortuary in the Phantasm movies. Again, Burnt Offerings got there first.

Having enjoyed this in the cinema and on TV, I was disappointed by the region 1 DVD released by MGM in 2003. It's 16:9 anamorphic widescreen, but the framing is too tight and the compression really poor, distractingly laggy in the darker scenes, the transfer darker than the NTSC VHS. The DVD does however offer a commentary track with Dan Curtis, co-writer William F. Nolan (Logan's Run), and Karen Black.

After all these years, I've no idea why it's called Burnt Offerings, it might as well be called House...

And avoid any trailers - they'll ruin it completely...

47 RONIN - an epic story, revered in Japan

The Japanese samurai legend being remade with Keanu Reeves

This story is highly revered in Japan and has repeatedly been adapted for TV and film (reportedly 80 times). Its wintry climax has made it a regular part of Christmastime in Japan. Only a handful of the movie versions have been released in the west, but I wasn't aware of the story until I saw an exhibition of 19th century woodblock prints at the Royal Academy last year. Really.

The cinematic look of Utagawa Kuniyoshi's work, and the repetition of his depictions of the story and the characters impressed me that this was a big deal in Japanese culture. It actually took place, but I've no idea how much its been skewed from historical fact into legendary heroism. The actual graves of the 47 ronin are still revered and honoured today.

After the Kuniyoshi exhibit, I looked up the film adaptions. After I'd picked up two of the available movies, the story was announced for a Hollywood remake to be called 47 Ronin, starring Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada (Ring, The Twilight Samurai, Speed Racer) and Tadanobu Asano (Ichi The Killer, Gohatto). Expected in cinemas in 2012, it'll be in 3D... (news report here from Metropolis Tokyo). So, as usual, I'll try not to spoil too much about it.

Set around 1702, in and about various castles, it starts with an indiscretion that leads to an outrage. An elaborate revenge can only be mounted with extreme patience and utmost secrecy, sworn by dozens of loyal samurai. Well, disowned samurai are called ronin...

THE LOYAL 47 RONIN

(1958, Japan, Chushingura)

Respectful adaption from Daiei Studios that emphasises the impact of the ronin's revenge

Lord Kira's continual taunting of Lord Asano in his own castle pushes him to breaking point just as an imperial delegation arrives. His punishment sets his loyal men adrift without a leader, but they refuse to give up their castle. Their stubbornness causes rifts with their families and loved ones, while society waits for them to show some self-respect and avenge...

At the core of the story are the very strict codes of the imperial courts, the shogunate and their samurai, at a time when etiquette and dress code were extremely precise. The hierarchy of rank and the value of family name were rigidly defined. Within these almost invisible constraints, the ronin try to prove themselves with unending loyalty and extremes of emotional endurance, led by the stalwart Oishi (Kazuo Hasegawa).

This is primarily a drama, rather than an action film, over its three hour running time. The fight scenes are well orchestrated, but it's distracting not to see any blood after so many slashes from samurai swords. Much like old westerns never show any bloody wounds on even the whitest shirts, presumably the norm for this era of cinema. Seppuku (ritual suicide) is similarly tastefully dealt with, off screen.

As a drama it's impressive and the story kept me gripped till the end, bearing in mind that this was the first version I'd seen, with no idea how it was going to play out.

This is a faithful and straightforward account of the story. This DVD edition from AnimEigo has been praised for its accurate subtitle translations which optionally include extra historical explanations during the film, and in the DVD extras.

A fuller review of The Loyal 47 Ronin, with spoilers, from the Shogun's Mansion.

SWORDS OF VENGEANCE

(1978, Japan, Ako-Jo danzetsu, The Fall of Ako Castle)

Bloodier, action-packed, sloppier version from Kinji Fukasaku

Another epic offering, this time from samurai specialists Toei Studios, boasting Sonny Chiba in the cast, but it must be stressed that he's not the star. The story has a lot of characters! Sonny gets some action of course, but Tetsuro Tamba and Toshiro Mifune are also in there. Again, Oishi has the central role, played here by Kinnosuke Nakamura. Kinji Fukasaku directs, halfway between giving us The Green Slime and Battle Royale...

While The Loyal 47 Ronin (1958) was successfully dramatic, Fukasaku delivers more action and certainly much more blood. This isn't excessive considering how many swords are being waved around, and he shows admirable restraint in the film's most powerful scene, a seppuku...

Other aspects of this very 1970s update are less successful - the opening title music is just plain wrong. It sounds more suitable for a sleazy detective thriller. Thankfully the music during the rest of the film is less jarring, though it rarely enhances the visuals.

The drama is amped up to over-acting and shouting, which often reaches laughable levels. It made me appreciate the acting in the 1958 film more. The story wastes no time and gets straight into the crucial incident which started it all off, with notably more blood than the 1958 version. It never reaches the spurting extremes of Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch or the Baby Cart movies. There's an awkward jump cut in the film that I guess was a censor cut, removing a scene of seppuku (during the hair-cutting shot).

With a faster pace, and even voiceovers to keep the exposition rolling along, this still doesn't manage to be much shorter than the 1958 film at 160 minutes long. While the narrative is faster-moving, more and more complex action scenes have been included.

But this is where it falls down for me - the story of the 47 ronin hinges on a long and complex fight. The contemporary use of handheld camerawork made the action harder to follow, because it wasn't particularly good handheld work. I'd even say it's so 'loose' that it misses some of the action. This may be forgivable for viewers who know the story well, but it's a challenge for newcomers to understand what's happening. Handheld camera also intrudes into some slower dramatic scenes, further marred by wobbly zooms.

Swords of Vengeance is an epic showcase for the genre and the era, but the story deserves reverence rather than excess. It's worth seeing for the scenes that really work well, but it's not the best representation of the story.

The DVD from Adness has good subtitles, but the anamorphic 2.35 widescreen picture looks slightly too squeezed throughout.

A much fuller review of Swords of Vengeance here at Wild Realm, full of spoilers, as well as details of many other movie adaptions of the legend of the loyal 47 ronin.

KING NARESUAN (2007) - Thai epics finally hit America as KINGDOM OF WAR

KINGDOM OF WAR - PARTS 1 and 2

(2007, Thailand, King Naresuan)

It's been a long wait for these two historical epics to get English-subtitled releases in the west, while many more recent Thai movies like Tony Jaa's and various Thai horrors have wasted no time. King Naresuan parts 1 and 2 have presumably been waiting to tie-in with the delayed release of part 3, which premiered in Thailand in March this year. Raising the unprecedented budgets for these films has been a battle in itself, relying partly on the director's connections with the royal family.

The whole story tells of the birth of Thailand's fight for independence from it's neighbouring countries and brings to life a famous period of history. But if it's epic war action you want, I'd reluctantly advise you to skip to Part 2. If you want the whole story and to wallow in the sights and culture of 16th century Thailand and Burma, then start with Part 1. The events of these films even follow on from the same director's earlier epic Legend of Suriyothi (2001), which was presented in America by Francis Ford Coppola in 2003.

The DVD and blu-ray releases have been retitled as Kingdom of War for the US release by Magnet. Be careful not to confuse it with the Donnie Yen epic, An Empress and the Warrior (2008), which was also renamed Kingdom of War in some European countries.

I reviewed both films after seeing them in the cinema in Thailand in 2007. I'll report back on how the blu-ray compares.

King Naresuan Part 1 - Hostage of Hongsawadi review

King Naresuan Part 2 - Reclamation of Sovereignty review

The Making of King Naresuan documentary and merchandise review

Kingdom of War Parts 1 and 2 blu-ray on Amazon.com