Saturday, 22 January 2011

GREAT MOVIES Part 1

I was busy doing as I do … writing about stuff that is probably not that interesting to most people and I turned Channel Four on for background noise. God Knows Mister Allison was on and I actually turned the computer off and watched it. It would be better to say I became glued to the TV screen instead of the computer screen. I’m a bit of a film buff but have lapsed of late. I hadn’t seen this one and it piqued my interest.
Robert Mitchum played Mr Allison. A US Marine washed up on an isolated island beach in WW2 where Deborah Kerr is a stranded Nun.
He was a fantastic and underrated actor by today’s standards. I don’t know why he didn’t get more recognition in his lifetime. I was so moved by his performance, yet again. I’ve seen a few of his movies. My dad and I used to play Name That Star on Sunday afternoons. Bless him. The wee shite! He taught me how to swim and fish so maybe I am waxing lyrical. But the film was great.
The late great John Huston directed it with his singular touch. Everything about it was real and touching and heart breaking and beautiful. I felt everything they were experiencing. The only person who can compare with Houston’s ability to create films that resonate is Ridley Scott.
Mitchum was magnificent and truly scary in Night of the Hunter. Deborah Kerr and he worked together in The Sundowners. They were consummate artists. It can’t have been easy to work in the conditions they did back then but their legacy is seamless. Every detail and every nuance perfect. The same goes for Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn in The African Queen. Another John Huston classic.       

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