I've been able to see a variety of films I have never seen before, here are a few that stuck out for me.
Fahrenheit 451: Francois Truffaut's only English language film and first film in color. This is an adaption of the science fiction masterpiece by Ray Bradbury about a future civilization that outlaws books and burns any that exist. With "Fahrenheit 451", Truffaut does with books what "Day for Night" did for film. It's a love letter to the written word. The moment for me that was sheer romance was when Oskar Werner's hero Montag opens up "David Copperfield" and begins to read for the first time. You can also sense the Hitchcock influence with Truffaut in this film, although the themes and the situations are purely his own. Like with all of Truffaut's films I fell under its spell, it's a very special film.
Who's That Knocking at my Door/Boxcar Bertha: Martin Scorsese's first two feature films had eluded me for so long, I was curious to see what they were. "Who's That Knocking..." started out as Scorsese's student film and was later expanded into a feature. At times it feels very much like two different films that don't quite add up. One film is a love story between a guy from the streets (Harvey Keitel in his first role) and a more educated young lady. The other has to do with the guy getting along with his hoodlum friends. The two stories never converge together but it remains interesting. I enjoyed the scenes between Keitel and his girlfriend much more, and you can sense Scorsese planting the seeds of what would become his first masterpiece "Mean Streets".
"Boxcar Bertha" is an entirely different entity altogether. This was Scorsese's film for famed B-movie producer Roger Corman. It's a knock off of "Bonnie and Clyde" with Barbara Hershey as the title character who forms a gang with Union man David Carradine. The two fall in love and try to hide from the law for as long as they can, until the inevitable climax. Watching it, you couldn't really call this a Scorsese film, not much of his usual style is evident throughout. You could probably say this was his "director-for-hire" job, although the finale does include one not so subtle religious symbol that Scorsese no doubt took part in. All in all this was an exploitation film, though entertaining wasn't all that memorable.
Bigger Than Life One of the masters of cinema in the fifties was Nicholas Ray. Best known for "Rebel Without a Cause", Ray was fully conscious of what was lying underneath a well-to-do suburban town. "Bigger Than Life" is one such story about a high school teacher who seems to have a perfect life with his wife and son. Suddenly he is taken ill, the only way for him to live is when the doctor's prescribe a miracle drug. All is well until he decides to addicted to the drug, and he slowly becomes a completely different person. I was interested in seeing "Bigger Than Life" for a few reasons, mostly because it seemed to be one of those textbook 50s melodramas which I haven't seen much of. The second because Nicholas Ray has always been a director I've wanted to see more of, and let's not forget the star of the film James Mason who is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors.
Lola Montes Director Max Ophuls' final film, the only one he did in color as well. Like Nicholas Ray, Ophuls is the kind of director that interests me, I like diving into his work every chance I can. "Lola Montes" is an ambitious film and is done in vivid technicolor and cinemascope. Ophuls is one of those directors who knows how to move the camera effectively and use every inch of space and movement with a certain motivation. However while all this was happening, I felt a distance towards the film, perhaps it was in the lead character who I didn't much care for. However with a director like Ophuls I will give him the benefit of the doubt and maybe appreciate it more the second time.
Gates of Heaven I'm not usually one for documentaries, I find there are very few that actually move me. I understand there purpose, but I rarely get invested in what's going on than when I watch a fictional film. "Gates of Heaven" is directed by Errol Morris who is a master at the documentary film. Roger Ebert declared it to be one of the top ten movies ever made. Despite all that I again never became much involved with the story about the people behind a pet cemetery. Morris brings on a lot of themes about love and death, and the people in the film are all very engaging, yet I was never deeply moved as I feel I should've been, perhaps that's my failing, or perhaps I was in a different frame of mind when watching it. I was grabbed by some people's stories, I felt a whole film should've been made on the lady who's son keeps borrowing money from her, I wanted to see more of her.
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