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Gillian Hills

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Alienated Teenager Characters In Late 1950's London

The title to this piece at Tumblr is my way of remembering the television listing page of the New York Times, back in the 1960's and 1970's. I'm describing a movie that I'm thinking about, on this weekday, here, in New York City, and my choice of words for the description is perfect.

Yes, perfect; no additional words are required, and, if I was the person in charge of the television listings at the New York Times, my choice of words would not give the plot away and no one would convince me that I should change what I had written.

The crucial word in the description is 'alienated.' Many bloggers at Tumblr can relate to the word -- including yours truly. 'Alienated' covers a lot of territory. Reading the description at a TV listing page, many people would select the TV channel to watch the movie.

Two previous movies that I wrote about at this blog, SOME PEOPLE and BEFORE THE REVOLUTION, featured teenager characters who were alienated. Counting the movie that I'm thinking about, today, all three were made in the same era: the late 1950's to early 1960's. And two of the three movies take place in the United Kingdom.

The name of the movie that I'm thinking about is BEAT GIRL.

The teenager characters in all three movies reject the societies that they are expected to become part of. In the case of BEAT GIRL, the amount of detail o the characters -- the way that they think, the manner in which they behave, the way that they interact with adults and other teenagers -- is far greater than the way that the characters in the other two movies are detailed.

BEAT GIRL, which debuted in theaters throughout the U.K. on October 28, 1960, is a contemporary drama, with psychological and thriller elements that, one year after its theatrical release in the U.K., was in theaters, here, in the U.S., edited and re-titled as WILD FOR KICKS. The Internet Movie Database does not have any information as to whether WILD FOR KICKS subsequently played on television, but I suspect that it did.

The script is an original, credited to Dail Ambler, a name that I'm unfamiliar with. It focuses on four teenagers: Dave (Adam Faith), Tony (Peter McEnery), Dodo (Shirley Anne Field), and Jennifer Linden (Gillian Hills) who frequently hang out together at a coffee bar called The Off-Beat, in London's Soho district.

The coffee bar has a jukebox and a downstairs area that's large enough for a live music group and dancing. Music and dancing are things that the four characters enjoy doing as a group.

Other than getting together for music, dancing, plus sitting and eating what The Off-Beat offers in the way of food and drink, the four teenager characters don't seem to have any kind of direction or goals in their lives. Eerily, they seem to be precursors to the Punks of the 1970's, in that they believe that the future is a scheme that society forces on them.

Jennifer Linden is the movie's title character, by the way.

The plot of BEAT GIRL is complicated, in that Jennifer's family history accounts for much of her anger, resentment, and antisocial behavior.

The main strand of the plot is set in motion when Paul Linden (David Farrar), Jennifer's architect father, returns home after 3 months in Paris, with Jennifer's new stepmother.

I have to add that the movie shows that there are many teenagers in London who share the same defiant and bored outlook on life as the group of four characters.

The grim plot includes many scenes outside and inside a strip club called Les Girls, just down the block from The Off-Beat. Les Girls is run by a slimy character named Kenny King who is played by Christopher Lee. Lee's performance, in my humble opinion, is one of his most effective in his movie career.

With Jennifer Linden reacting negatively to her father's return with a stepmother, can the family continue and thrive? The movie leaves that question 'hanging in the air,' at its conclusion.

This is another movie that should be better known and thoroughly researched. One random question, among many, that I had: what did school teachers in the U.K. have to say to each other about the teenager characters, when the movie played in theaters?

Gillian Hills was 16 years old when the movie debuted in 1960.

If any of this sounds interesting to you who are reading my words, BEAT GIRL is available on DVD.

-- Drew Simels

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In Praise Of Forgotten Movies

The subject matter of the plot of the forgotten movie that I'm thinking about, today, is one that the majority of movie lovers can relate to. And not just movie lovers. People who study history will be interested in this movie. The plot -- thanks to the quality of the script, the acting, and the direction -- focuses on the impact of war. The war in question is World War II and the name of the movie is MINE OWN EXECUTIONER (1947).

More specifically, the movie focuses on the people who wage war, who fight the battles: soldiers, navy vessel personnel, air force pilots, etc. How does a war impact the life of someone who served in the army, the navy, or the air force?

If you -- you who are reading my words -- know that such-and-such movie's plot focuses on an air force pilot's psychological problems, some years after the conclusion of World War II, would you want to watch the movie? I'm reasonably certain that people, here, at Tumblr, would want to watch the movie.

When this movie was shown on a television channel in the U.S., starting in the 1950's and 1960's, many people, at that time, did not know any details about the plot. What they did know was that a movie was on a certain television channel, they knew the name of the movie, maybe the year of its debut, and maybe the name of an actor. But not the details of the plot.

"A movie's on channel 11. Let's watch a movie."

So many years later, I found this movie in a monthly catalog from one of the companies I do business with. And I'm glad that I did. I had not heard of the movie.

It's a movie that I will watch, every couple of years or so. And I recommend it to all movie lovers...

In a commercial neighborhood in the city of London, in the United Kingdom, a mail carrier is making his rounds at about the same time that an elementary school-age boy enters a free psychiatric clinic for his weekly appointment. Without making eye contact with the clinic's receptionist, the boy heads towards the upstairs floor where the individual doctors' offices are located.

On this particular day, the Director of the clinic, Dr. Norris, is taking a potential donor on a tour and introduces him to one of the Psychiatrists, named Felix Milne (Burgess Meredith), who is trying to get the previously seen elementary school-age boy to talk about what's bothering him.

The hard-working Milne, the viewer soon learns, has become fed up with both his work at the clinic and at his private practice. Too many of his patients don't have money to pay for their therapy, their problems no longer motivate him to try to help them, and his wife, Pat (Dulcie Gray), has been getting on his nerves.

But then, a new case is presented to the audience. the wife of a former RAF pilot, Molly Lucian (Barbara White), asks Milne for help regarding her husband, Adam (Kieron Moore), who recently tried to strangle her. A perceptive viewer figures out that Mr. Lucian has a serious problem that has needed attention for some time. Both husband and wife are not working, so this would be another non-paying patient. Mr. Lucian shows up late for his initial appointment at Milne's private practice. He feels terrible that he attacked his wife and he doesn't like doctors. Milne is not a licensed Psychiatrist. A tentative arrangement is worked out; he takes the case, anyway, because the man needs help.

The bulk of the plot of the 108-minute MINE OWN EXECUTIONER shows what happens with the case and how it impacts Milne.

After Lucian leaves the office, Milne's on-the-spot hunch -- which he writes in his notes -- is that his new patient is a schizophrenic. Milne does not have any experience with schizophrenics. In the United Kingdom in 1947, very few Psychiatrists -- licensed or unlicensed -- had experience with schizophrenics.

This, in itself, makes MINE OWN EXECUTIONER worth watching. In addition, Milne's emotional state is such that it affects his judgment. The combination of these two aspects of the plot make this a must-see movie.

So far as I can tell, the only available copy of the movie is a worn 16mm print that was used at television stations. but if what I have written sounds interesting, track down a DVD copy of MINE OWN EXECUTIONER.

And -- oh, yes -- this is another example of a movie that should be thoroughly researched.

-- Drew Simels

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"There has to be a positive, sympathetic character, somewhere..."

Starting in the 1950's, the number of Hollywood studio movies sent to theaters, month after month, decreased; i.e., less of these movies were being made. Movies produced in the U.S. -- movies made by small production companies separate from the studios -- did not immediately fill the gap, so movies produced in other countries started showing up in theaters, here, in the U.S. And they showed up on television, also. Television was where Hollywood studios sent their movies when their theater runs ended. So, increasingly, movies produced in other countries were sold to and scheduled on television stations throughout the U.S.; i.e., these produced-in-other-countries movies went straight to television and not to theaters, first.

Consider that many of these produced-in-other-countries movies were unknown quantities and were rarely written about in newspapers or magazines, at the time. Also, when a television station went out of business or the station's license went to a new company, television prints (16mm) from the station's library were usually thrown out; sometimes, collectors would buy them.

These produced-in-other countries movies became forgotten. From the point of view of many movie lovers, today, they are unknown.

The movie that I'm thinking of, today, is an example of the category 'forgotten movie.' It's one that I've never heard of, but I'm fairly certain that one of the New York City television stations did show it, occasionally...

Inside a house, at night, a man, not shown to the audience, is in the process of removing any traces of his crime; he has murdered a woman who resided there. As he surveys the rooms of the house, figuring out what he should do, his movement is shown to the audience from his point of view. Also, his thoughts to himself are spoken on the soundtrack.

Once this man assures himself that he has covered his tracks, he leaves the woman's house. The point of view immediately changes, as soon as he leaves; now, the audience sees the character.

Someone else sees the character, too; a new character, a young man who looks to be in his early 20's who lives across the street. And this new character recognizes the first character who has exited the woman's house; he calls out to him, by name.

I'm describing the opening minutes of MURDER PARTY (org'l title: MORDERSPIEL), a produced-in-West Germany movie that played in theaters, there, starting on October 19, 1961. A version of the movie, with dubbed-in-English dialog, was sold to the U.S. corporation Screen Gems, later in the same decade. Screen Gems distributed movies to television stations.

The bulk of the plot of the 79-minute MURDER PARTY plays out inside and immediately outside of a high-rise office building in an unspecified West German city, over the course of an evening.

MURDER PARTY is a movie that I'm not recommending, here, at Tumblr; i.e., not to people I don't know. I say this for two reasons: for the dubbed dialog, which many people will say turns the movie into an unreal experience, and, also, because many people are not interested in movies made before they were born. The latter reason is a short-sighted reason for passing on watching a movie; the former is a reason that I accept.

But then...there's the other version of the movie, the German language version of the movie. The only available print is a worn 16mm print used at more than one U.S. television station. That other version, the version shown to German-speaking audiences in West Germany, is a version worth tracking down. That connects with why I have stated -- on multiple occasions at Tumblr -- that a movie should be thoroughly researched.

In thoroughly researching the making of MURDER PARTY, I might find information about the movie's cinematographer. Prior to MURDER PARTY, I believe he had worked with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. After MURDER PARTY, he did work with Mr. Bergnan. The cinematographer's name is Sven Nykvist. Was Mr. Nykvist hired because of the frequent switching back and forth between the killer character's point of view with a public, objective point of view? Was that part of the movie's script? And was the movie's script an original -- or was it an adaptation of a novel?

The neighbor character invites the killer character to a party that he (the neighbor character) has been invited to and the killer character decides that he has to accept. From his work as a businessman, he knows many of the characters who will be there -- including his wife.

So...what happens at the party?

Viewed on a large theater screen, I would not think that I was wasting my time watching MURDER PARTY. The characters at the party are presented in an unflattering manner and the combination of the script and the direction builds effectively to a believable ending.

If anything that I have written sounds interesting to you who are reading my words, MURDER PARTY is available on DVD.

-- Drew Simels

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50 posts!

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"There's this man in a house somewhere in Iran and he has writer's block..."

Over the years in New York City, whenever a co-worker at one of my jobs would mention a movie that he or she had seen that I had not heard of, I usually would ask "What is it about?" The co-worker would give a quick description and... Well, maybe not a quick description. Maybe, really, a verbalization of a compressed glance is accurate -- as if the co-worker was doing something else and just happened to look over at a screen that was showing a movie and would explain what he or she saw and heard in his or her mind and, then, expect that anyone else will understand what he or she says.

These so-called descriptions were particularly amusing to me at crummy job #3 (the messenger job), since the office had a waiting area where many messengers (including yours truly) would sit, and, often, there was a radio tuned to an FM station playing music in the background. I rarely could hear myself think in that office. A day later, I would have to be reminded about what my colleague had said about a movie.

If the movie that I'm thinking about was shown on television during those years, a messenger co-worker would have used the words of my title to this piece at Tumblr.

In the case of the particular movie that I'm thinking about, today, the imaginary description does not begin to explain the plot. This movie is deep. And it's an example of what I mean when I saw that I don't need prior information before I watch a movie. It reminds me of that moment in the novel Steppenwolf when the character Harry Haller wanders along the street at night and sees the sign over the entrance that reads 'Magic Theater Not For Everyone.'

If I was moving from tv channel to tv channel with my remote control device and landed at a channel showing this movie, my interest in what was happening on screen would develop rapidly. And it would keep on developing...on and on. Watching this movie would be the one thing on my mind, the only thing on my mind.

The name of the movie is THE PEAR TREE.

A man who looks to be approximately 40 years old has returned to his family home in a village in a remote area of Iran. He's distinguished- looking, a writer, and he does not look well. He's upset about something. He paces inside the home which looks as if all of the furniture has been removed. He's lost in thought, he thinks to himself, and his thoughts are shared with the audience.

The man has been at the family house for a number of days already, at the beginning of the movie. What goes on outside the house seems to be getting in the way of his work; i.e., his work on a new book. I turns out that he does not know what to write about.

What's going on outside the house? The family property includes a garden with many trees. One of these trees has not borne any fruit during the current year and the gardener -- a man who looks like he's about 70 years old -- has been trying to get the man (the writer) to help him figure out what can be done with the tree. The village chief comes to help the gardener get the attention of the writer.

After many attempts at forcing the writer to make a decision, the two locals stand mute and wait for a response. The writer retreats to his study and, instead, tries to figure out in his mind what is it about this problem that's upsetting him so much.

Suddenly, he starts thinking about his childhood, when he and his family would spend the summer here.

The bulk of the plot plays out, in the past, in and around the house. This particular physical setting is one of the most convincing and compelling presentations of nature-as-paradise that I've ever seen on film.

The writer is referred to in his memories by his first name, Mahmoud. Mahmoud, at age 12, fell in love with one of his relatives -- a cousin, I assume, named Mimcheh who's a few years older than him. Slowly, Mahmoud, in the present, figures out that his unhappy relationship with Mimcheh explains a great deal why his life has become so negative.

THE PEAR TREE, at 95 minutes, is an absolutely wonderful movie experience that I recommend to everyone at Tumblr. And it should be thoroughly researched.

THE PEAR TREE (org'l title: DERAKHTE GOLABI - 1998) is available on DVD with English subtitles.

-- Drew Simels

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Traumatic Events

"How is all of this going to come together?"

At least two times, here, at Tumblr, I've referred to movies that are difficult to understand. That's an accurate label for the movie that I watched the other day. I was repeatedly confused by the number of characters in the plot and by the accumulating dramatic situations in which these many characters found themselves. It seemed to me that the dramatic situations involving the many characters were happening at the same time. Why were these characters all having emotional difficulties -- to the point that they were not functioning well in their day-to-day lives? And these puzzling dramatic situations kept going on for easily 60 minutes. Out loud, I spoke the words quoted above.

Now, I could explain the traumatic events that bring all of these characters together, but that would be an example of spoiling one's experience of the movie that I watched the other day.

Instead, I'll reach for my trusty dictionary for the definition of the word 'trauma': "An emotional shock producing a lasting effect upon a person." Everyone, here, at Tumblr, can relate to the concept. As long as that's part of my piece, then I feel as if I've done something useful.

The name of the movie is L'ENFER. That's the French word for Hell, by the way. L'ENFER is a contemporary drama, with psychological and thriller elements. According to the Internet Movie Database, L'ENFER debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2005. Subsequently, it played in theaters in a number of European countries, including the United Kingdom, and in a couple of Asian countries. It did not play in theaters in either Canada or the U.S. -- again, according to the Internet Movie Database.

I counted 13 characters who are involved in the traumatic events in this 102-minute movie. In the first traumatic event, a family was impacted: a husband, a wife, their three elementary school-age daughters. A few years elapse and a second traumatic event happens with the same family. Later on, the three daughter characters, in their 20's, are involved in traumatic events on their own, with other characters: with a husband, with a lover, with their own children.

Are any of these characters able to put the trauma in their lives to rest? It's not clear to me that any of these characters do so. This, I'm guessing, is the intended 'take away' with L'ENFER.

Each of the 13 cited characters are portrayed by actors whose performances will stay in my memory for years and years to come. Two of the actors' names might be familiar to movie lovers: Emmanuelle Beart and Jacques Perrin.

If any of this sounds interesting to you who are reading my words, track down a copy of L'ENFER. It's available on DVD, with English subtitles.

-- Drew Simels

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Family Members

There's something I learned recently that I need to share with everyone, here, at Tumblr. If you -- you who are reading my words -- want to study a society -- any society that's on planet Earth, today -- a good way to do so is to focus on a family in that society. A random family that you select. It's a start, the start of a process in understandng that society.

I learned this for myself as a result of watching a wonderful movie that I will briefly describe -- a character study, a contedmporary drama. The movie is called EPILOGUE (org'l title; POSLESLOVIE - 1983) and I recommend it to all movie lovers at Tumblr.

The plot of EPILOGUE sounds deceptively simple. A husband, age approximately 30 years old, living with his wife in a housing project in Moscow, recunts his experience dealing with a surprise visit from his father-in-law.

The husband character, from time to time, speaks directly into the camera to someone never identified. The 'someone,' really, is the audience, and this member of the audience -- yours, truly -- quickly became engrossed in the relationships between the three characters: father, daughter, son-in-law. And there's, also, one supporting character: a pet dog who appears to be a mix-breed Collie.

This is a 98-minute movie, with the majority of scenes taking place in the apartment in the housing project. The movie was shot on location in Moscow.

The relationships between the three characters becomes the plot. Lera, the wife, is on assignment working as a tour guide, elsewhere in the USSR. The husband, never named in the English subtitles, is trying to work on his Anthropology PhD thesis and, at the same time, entertain his father-in-law who he last saw six years previously.

The surprise visit lasts approximately seven days. By the time son-in-law and dad say their goodbye's at the airport, I felt that I thoroughly understood all three characters. In effect, I became another family member.

According to the Internet Movie Database, EPILOGUE did not play in theaters, here, in the U.S.

EPILOGUE is available on DVD with English subtitles and can also be viewed online, also with English subtitles. It's an unforgettable experience.

-- Drew Simels

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A Waking Nightmare In The City Of Angels

Before me, a view of Los Angeles, seen from above, looking down from an airplane or helicopter, in daylight, fills the screen. The view shifts and changes, with the movement of the airplane or helicopter. At first, I focus on large buildings, but soon, I see a highway with motor vehicle traffic in the foreground and the buildings recede into the background.

My aerial view is accompanied by the movie's opening credits and a song performed with a disco beat.

The one highway in the foreground changes, with the addition of a second highway with motor vehicle traffic, and soon, all I see are more and more highways, flowing with traffic. From above, the highways resemble geometric shapes.

Then, my gaze is directed downward, towards one highway in particular, towards one stretch of one highway, as if one car on the stretch of the one highway is important. Abruptly, at ground level, I see that one car is in motion. It's a yellow taxicab, with one passenger, a man, seated behind the cab's driver.

The movie's opening song concludes, as the yellow cab pulls up to the entrance of a hotel, identified as the Beverly Hilton. the passenger leaves the cab, holding one small piece of luggage, enters the hotel's lobby, walks to the reservation desk and identifies himself with a thick foreign accent as Roger Garnier.

The desk clerk, who looks to be in his late 30's, seems to recognize the man's name. He hands over an attache case which he says was brought to the hotel by Garnier's secretary, along with a small envelope. Garnier inquires about renting a car and signs in for his room.

Once in his room, Garnier inspects the contents of the attache case and opens the small envelope. There's a newspaper (the New York Times), small stacks of money, a small revolver, and bullets. The small envelope he simply opens and throws onto a table.

Garnier is lost in thought. He locates his bed in the next area of his suite and lies down. Something is on his mind.

Within a minute, the phone next to his bed rings. A man's voice on the phone speaks in a foreign language (which I recognize as French) and relays instructions: a man's name and an address in Beverly Hills. The caller tells Garnier to repeat the information which he does.

In a matter of minutes, Garnier is driving his rental car. He arrives at the address given in the phone instructions and, using the phone at the front gate, gives his name and asks to meet with the man named in the instructions. "I'm expected," he says.

Once let inside by a servant, Garnier is ushered into an impressive-looking room and waits for the man, named Victor Kovacs, to meet with him. A woman enters, identifies herself as Mrs. Kovacs, asks whether Mr. Garnier needs a drink, lets him know that her husband will be with him soon, adds that maybe she will speak to Garnier later, and then makes her way to a nearby swimming pool, outside on the premises, where a young man, Kovacs' son, is reclining on a chair.

Inside the impressive-looking room, Garnier is staring at a large painting over a mantle piece. Mr. Kovacs enters and starts a friendly conversation, but when his visitor turns around to look at him, Kovacs does not recognize him.

"Who the hell are you!?," he demands.

Garnier pulls out his revolver and ries one shot, right at Kovacs, above the waist, then quickly finds a way to exit the house and the property, making use of the electronic control of the front gate. Mrs. Kovacs and Kovacs' son, Alex, rush into the house, once they hear the one gunshot.

So...a man arrives by jet airliner, checks into a hotel, is given money, a gun, and bullets that are delivered to him at the hotel. He's, then, given instructions by telephone. He goes to an address, shoots and kills a man, then leaves.

My description does not convey the way that any of the characters in these scenes interact with each other.

Once I saw the contents of the attache case and paid attention to the phone call in the hotel room, I told myself that Garnier had arrived in Los Angeles, expecting to receive details regarding what he expected to do when he left France.

But then...how do I explain to myself why the character Mr. Kovacs is supposed to be murdered? And why does the character, Garnier, murder Mr. Kovacs? I can't come up with reasons.

I hope to find out the answer to each question.

But before I can get my bearings, the plot of this frightening drama quickly becomes tense. Garnier returns to the Beverly Hilton and asks for the key to his room. The same desk clerk tells Garnier that he's been checked out by his -- Garnier's -- secretary. The secretary took Garnier's belongings from the room. Garnier is due to take a flight to San Francisco at the airport. The clerk is confused by the fact that Garnier does not seem to know about this.

"Your secretary brought written authorization," he says.

On the spot, Garnier's facial expression takes on the look of a poker player. He thinks for a moment, then tells the clerk that he made a mistake by not changing the time on his wristwatch and became confused. He, then, turns and leaves.

The clerk calls after him. "Have a good trip," he says.

The conversation between the two characters in this scene is both cryptic and creepy. "What the hell is going on, here?" I say to myself.

The bulk of the plot of the 104-minute movie, THE OUTSIDE MAN, which played in theaters throughout the U.S. in January, 1973, focuses on what this enigmatic paid killer character has to do to stay alive in a strange environment, many miles from his homeland.

In staying focused with the twists and turns of THE OUTSIDE MAN's plot, I have to construct an arm's length relationship with the paid killer character who is played by French actor Jean-Louis Tritignant. I say "an arm's length relationship" because to simply follow along with this paid killer character is to start behaving like an accomplice, so it's best to keep one's distance and pay attention to what is happening throughout Los Angeles.

As the movie's plot plays out, I occasionally notice some gaps in details. Example: how does character X know the address where character Y lives? A gap in details, combined with the large amount of violent situations, reminded me of nightmares that I have had over the years.

In a nightmare, sometimes there will be a transition to a new situation that, when I wake up, at first, does not make sense, but, when I was dreaming, did make sense.

I am being deliberately vague about the way that THE OUTSIDE MAN's plot plays out. When I reached the grim conclusion of the movie, I figured out that there is a narrator who is separate from the main character -- the paid killer character. The main character is not telling the story. The narrator is more important than the paid killer character.

If any of this sounds interesting to you who are reading my words, track down a copy of this movie on DVD. THE OUTSIDE MAN is a forgotten movie and should be better known.

-- Drew Simels

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More Information, Please!

A number of times in my pieces, here, at Tumblr, I have said that a movie should be thoroughly researched. Most of these specified movies were positive experiences -- but in the case of a movie that I watched recently, it should be thoroughly researched to find out as much as possible about the script and also whether the director and scriptwriter did interviews when the movie debuted in theaters.

Am I suggesting or implying something, here? A value judgment?

By briefly describing the movie's plot, perhaps you -- you who are reading my words -- will understand why I feel that the movie should be thoroughly researched.

The movie in question is a produced-in-Italy contemporary drama that played in many movie theaters throughout Italy, starting in January, 1980, and then went on to play in theaters in two other European countries -- one, in 1980, and the second in 1982. The movie did not play in theaters in the U.S (information courtesy of the Internet Movie Database).

First, I have to share what Wikipedia has to say about this movie's plot: "A dozen passengers find themselves on some carriages of a train on a long trip. Among them a prostitute, a few couples, some girls, a policeman and three criminals. The latter steal the gun from the policeman and take control of some coaches, committing some murders, rapes and humiliation. But an unexpected stop will give Peter, a former convict, the opportunity for revenge."

My description is as follows...

A number of people have gathered inside a large train station, at night, somewhere in Italy. They're waiting to board a passenger train at the start of a long route. The train is shown to have economy seating cars, as well as sleeping and dining cars.

The waiting characters include a husband and wife in their 30's who've been having problems with their relationship. Also getting set to board is a stunningly beautiful woman in her 20's who storms away from three young adult males who harass her at a telephone booth; she seems to know a young man in company uniform who works on the train. There's also a husband and wife, aged roughly 40 years, who're traveling with their teenage daughter, and an older-looking businessman, accompanied by a personal secretary; just before boarding, he tells the secretary to make sure to buy every possible pornographic magazine at the station's newsstand.

Once the train leaves the station with the aforementioned characters on board, an older husband and wife in their 50's are introduced in their sleeping car compartment. The wife is concerned about her health and asks her husband about her medical records.

The young man in uniform, shown previously, is the train steward, moving from compartment to compartment in the sleeping car, politely asking whether any passengers are requesting a particular meal in the dining car.

In one of the compartments are the three young adult males who harassed the stunningly beautiful-looking young woman.

Once the three young adult male characters enter the dining car, the movie's plot turns into a long, drawn-out nightmare assault on the viewer. The three -- either working as a group or on their own -- attack individual passengers and two crew members (a waiter and the steward). Each new attack becomes increasingly violent -- with the victims looking more and more defenseless or impotent.

During the sequence in the dining car, two new characters are introduced in their compartment: a plainclothes police detective and a prisoner in handcuffs who is being extradited to West Germany.

I am being deliberately vague about the details of the bulk of the movie's plot. There are a number of pornographic sequences, involving not just the three young adult males, but some of the passengers, as well. The prisoner character, named Pierre, becomes the one character who fights the young adult males.

No police characters arrive at the plot's conclusion. The movie's last scene shows the train moving into the distance, from above, with the new day starting up. The viewer is supposed to complete the plot in his or her mind.

The movie, when shown in theaters in Italy, was titled LA RAGAZZA DEL VAGONE LETTO which translates into English as THE GIRL IN THE SLEEPING CAR. In other countries, the movie was called TERROR EXPRESS.

With a running time of 84 minutes, the movie is available on DVD with English subtitles and can also be viewed at a number of websites online, also with English subtitles.

-- Drew Simels

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In Search Of A Positive Movie Experience

Try to imagine, if you will, that you -- you who are reading my words -- are the general manager of a television station, somewhere in the U.S., and you are looking for programming -- content -- to include in the station's upcoming schedule. You look at the news on-line and on one of your station's many monitors and you say to yourself "Is there anything positive that I can put on the air?" And you, then, have no problem finding two free hours in the upcoming week on the calendar.

Right now, I'd like to think that there actually are general managers at television stations throughout the U.S. who are dealing with this question.

"What can I put in those two free hours? An infomercial? Don't we have plenty of infomercials, already? How about a movie..."

What kind of movie should the hypothetical television station general manager pick?

Most people, here, at Tumblr -- I'm guessing -- would say "Oh, a feel-good movie!" And that implies that most people at this website agree as to what a feel-good movie is.

I hope that what I just wrote is reality. I really do.

Amongst staff members at a television station, there would be agreement as to what makes a feel-good movie a feel-good movie. And at Tumblr...?

In my not-so-humble opinion, random television stations throughout the U.S. should schedule a feel-good movie, once every seven days.

Now, since many television viewers often do not check to see what's scheduled on any given day, it's possible that someone, here, at Tumblr, might go from channel to channel with their remote control device and suddenly wind up watching a movie, a movie that they don't recognize...

A squad of soldiers in the Swedish Army are being trained in firing machine guns at targets in a rural area. After each round is fired, there's a good-looking soldier who lowers and raises the targets and keeps the scores. Out of nowhere, a white-colored puppy dog appears on the slope behind the targets. The good-looking soldier tries to gather the puppy into his arms, just as the next group of machine gunners open up. One of the bullets grazes him on the side of his head and he collapses onto the ground.

What immediately starts up is an imaginative sequence that shows the good-looking soldier's response to the shock to his head. Accompanied by music and sound effects, the sequence lasts about a minute.

The good-looking soldier comes back to consciousness, his forehead wrapped in gauze, in a hospital bed. How much time has passed?

"I'm not dead," he says to himself, a number of times.

Besides a Nurse, there's a young woman standing at his side, by the bed. She knows him. Could they be family members?

"Why aren't the blinds raised?" he asks, and he, then, sits up. Slowly, he takes his right hand and passes it back and forth in front of his face. He's blind. Emotional music, played by an orchestra, starts up. The scene switches to a long shot, as he lies back down in bed. He's alive, he's conscious, and he's blind.

The good-looking soldier is named Bengt Vyldeke and he becomes one of the main characters of a contemporary drama called MUSIC IN DARKNESS (org'l title: MUSIK I MORKER) that debuted in Sweden on January 17, 1948 (information courtesy of the Internet Movie database).

The main thread of MUSIC IN DARKNESS focuses on how Bengt deals with his blindness. A second main thread deals with his relationship with a young neighbor named Ingrid Olofsson. At first, she is invited by Bengt's relatives to stay and help take care of him, during his recuperation. Quickly, a relationship starts to take shape. But the reality of life in Sweden in the 1940s is complicated. Ingrid's social position is lower than Bengt's; she's from a farming family. And Bengt must find a way to work. He needs to find employment.

Can Bengt become self-sufficient? Can he find a life partner?

The one piece of the plot that keeps the characters Bengt and Ingrid searching for each other is music. Ingrid is introduced fairly early in the course of the movie's 87-minute running time. Her father recently died and the funeral service will soon take place. But there's no organist. Mrs. Schroder, Bengt's relative, prods him to play the organ in the Church.

It so happens that Bengt's choice of music for the service is a piece of classical music that I had not heard in at least 30 years and I was moved to tears.

For the remainder of the movie, there are upwards of 20 musical compositions as part of the plot.

Music becomes a kind of emotional and intellectual magnet that helps the two characters stay interested in each other.

At a crucial moment, Ingrid is shown dancing with her current boyfriend at a graduation party and she imagines that Bengt's in trouble. She rushes out of the party to search for him.

So...without any more details, does that sound like a feel-good movie?

MUSIC IN DARKNESS played in theaters in the U.S. in the early 1960s, more than 10 years after its debut in Sweden.

If anything that I've written sounds interesting, MUSIC IN DARKNESS is available on DVD with English subtitles.

-- Drew Simels

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Some Mysteries Don't Get Solved - Cont'd.

The mystery that I refer to in the title of this piece at Tumblr is a discovery for me; it is unique, unexpected. It is a large part of my experience of a movie that I watched recently, an unusual foreign language movie that did not get theatrical distribution, here, in the U.S. The name of the movie is DENUNCIATION (org'l title: LA DENONCIATION - 1961). DENUNCIATION played in theatres throughout France, starting on July 18, 1962.

This is a contemporary drama, with psychological and thriller elements, that might prove to be a problem for some movie lovers. That's because DENUNCIATION is an example of a movie that is difficult to understand.

As I say, some mysteries do not get solved.

The mystery has to do with the intention, the feeling of purpose, the thinking that went into creating the script of the movie. The script was written by DENUNCIATION's director, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze. Did the writer-director explain his intention, his purpose, his thinking when the movie debuted? Is there an in-depth interview somewhere -- an interview in a French newspaper or magazine, on a radio station or TV channel? It's definitely worth a search. However, French writers do enjoy spinning their words, making something that takes place in a person's life more complicated than when it was first encountered.

Consider that the movie begins with a quotation attributed to a French writer: "We live in the oblivion of our metamorphoses."

The main character of DENUNCIATION is a movie producer named Michel Jussieu (Maurice Ronet), in his 30's, who goes to a nightclub in Paris the day following a trip there with his wife, Elsa (Francoise Brion), and a business partner, the previous evening. He has to wait outside for Le Play-Boy to open up and, when he enters, he stumbles upon a man's body on the floor. A door in the rear of the club's upper floor opens and a young woman, joined by a young man, enters. They heard some noise; was it Jussieu they heard or something else? Jussieu senses that he needs to exit and tries to, but a third person, a man, blocks his path. A fight quickly ensues and Jussieu is hit from behind with a chair. He collapses to the floor, unconscious.

The man that Jussieu almost tripped over was a well-known political writer and activist and his death is front page news when Jussieu wakes up the following morning.

As the plot of DENUNCIATION plays out, everything that happens becomes more and more complicated, characters are introduced and their participation and involvement become stories that are interesting in themselves. Michel remains the main character, the central character. He is haunted by what he went through as a Resistance fighter during World War II.

To add to the complexity, there's a narrator; there's Michel's current movie project, there's Jussieu's family, plus the day-to-day details of the Play-Boy nightclub.

If any of this sounds interesting, DENUNCIATION is available on DVD with English subtitles.

-- Drew Simels

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A Movie Dedicated To The People Of Italy

The movie that I'm thinking about on this Sunday evening is one that was written about extensively by many different writers -- first, throughout Europe, starting when it debuted at the Cannes International Film Festival in May of 1964 -- and then, here, in the U.S., when it played in theaters, starting on July 16, 1965.

Interest in this movie has continued through the decades to the present, because of the main thread of the plot. The movie is called in Italian, PRIMA DELLA RIVOLUZIONE, which translates into English as BEFORE THE REVOLUTION...

Fabrizio (Francisco Barilli), a young adult male who appears to be in his late teens, lives in the city of Parma, Italy, with his father, mother, and little brother. He is tormented by the injustices of Italian society and by corruption that too many Italians accept.

Fabrizio is a member of the Communist Party and reveres an older man named Cesare (Morando Morandini) who has taught him history, literature, and political theory, for a number of years.

Fabrizio is upset about the fact that the Party does not seem to be making any progress in bringing about a Revolution.

At the beginning of PRIMA DELLA RIVOLUZIONE, Fabrizio is urging a friend of his, another young man named Agostino (Allen Midgette), to join the Party and to introduce himself to Cesare, so that he -- Agostino -- can also learn from the older teacher who believes in the need for Revolution.

Shortly after Fabrizio and Agostino argue over what Fabrizio says are mistakes in judgment that Agostino is making, Fabrizio learns that his friend has drowned in an accident. The news affects Fabrizio deeply; he tells himself that Agostino took his life.

Fabrizio is also conflicted about two women with whom he wants to have a relationship. There's Clelia who is from Parma and there's also his Aunt, Gina (Adriana Asti), who has been living in Milan -- until recently, when she arrived in Parma.

The bulk of the plot of this 105-minute movie details Fabrizio's attempts at figuring out what his priorities are supposed to be. For me to disclose how the movie ends would be a mistake, because writer-director Bernard Bertolucci is serious about the personality details of his main characters; i.e., the way that they relate to each other, the way that they think. These details are important to Mr. Bertolucci; he wants the audience to discover these details on their own, for themselves, as they happen on-screen.

And when you -- you who are reading my words -- get to the end of the movie, I'm reasonably certain that you'll figure out that the movie is criticizing the Communist Party. The Party has no plan of action and is not communicating effectively with Fabrizio's generation.

Some sixty years later, some sixty years after PRIMA DELLA RIVOLUZIONE debuted, Italian society has changed greatly. It has become more complicated. The world, in general, has also changed, as well as Italy's relationships with other countries throughout the world; relationships between countries have become more complicated. Would an Italian man or woman in his or her 70's have any coherent advice about what the Italian government should stand for, what the government's priorities should be? Would a young man or woman in his or her 20's agree with that advice?

If any of this sounds interesting, PRIMA DELLA RIVOLUZIONE is available on DVD with English subtitles.

-- Drew Simels

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Some Mysteries Don't Get Solved

"I love a mystery. Don't you?"

My imaginary question from an imaginary questioner is something I would occasionally hear spoken in my 20's and 30's and I recall asking the question at one of my jobs; crummy job #2, I believe. What was the context? I can't remember -- and the fact that I can't remember any context says a lot about that job, by the way.

Most people at Tumblr will agree that mysteries are very much part of every human being's life. It's something that we all think about, from time to time. And it accounts for the continuing popularity of movies with police detective and private detective characters.

The movie that I'm thinking about on this cloudy Saturday in New York City presents a mystery with a number of layers. It's easily as memorable as any number of Hollywood movies -- such as CHINATOWN and BODY HEAT. So...it should be as well known, here, in the U.S., as those two movies, but it isn't.

Somewhere, there is information to be found on the Internet as to why the movie is not well known, here, in the U.S.

The name of the movie is BYE BYE BARBARA (1969).

Much of the effectiveness of the way that BYE BYE BARBARA's plot plays out has to do with the way that men and women relate to each other and the concept known as 'femme fatale.'

From the audience's point of view, the mystery for sports journalist Jerome Thomas begins in a bar in Biarritz, France, one evening, when, out of the blue, a beautiful-looking young woman wanders in from the street, barefoot, asking for someone to telephone for a taxi. It's one of those unforgettable moments in life.

Who is she? Is she in some sort of trouble?

Jerome offers to help and brings her back to the little hotel room where he had spent the previous afternoon. The two characters travel together and return by plane to Paris, the following day -- and by the end of Jerome's first workday back in Paris, he finds himself involved in a mystery, a disappearance. And the more that he focuses on this mystery, the more complicated it becomes.

BYE BYE BARBARA, with a running time of 109 minutes, is an absolutely unforgettable contemporary drama, with mystery, psychological, and thriller elements, along with some comedy touches. It's available on DVD with English subtitles. I recommend BYE BYE BARBARA to all movie lovers at Tumblr.

-- Drew Simels

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Changing Behavior

My choice of words for the title of this piece at Tumblr sounds like something that a psychologist, psychiatrist, or sociologist might choose. I've chosen the words because the subject for this piece is complicated. Ultimately, the subject is how movies can change a person's thinking and behavior.

"Have there been any changes in your son's behavior Mrs. Perkins?"

Early in the movie THE BABY CARRIAGE (org'l title; BARNVAGNEN - 1963), two young adults, on their first date, get ready to make love in the back seat of the young adult male's car. This is in a rural area of Sweden. The young adult female, Britt Larsson, says to her new lover "Do you think this is what foreigners call Swedish sinfulness?"

I cite the scene from this produced-in-Sweden movie because, starting in the late 1960s, a number of produced-in-Sweden movies were in theaters, here, in the U.S., whose plots included a good deal of partial or full nudity, along with sexual situations. In newspaper articles, in newspaper reviews, on television and radio shows, these movies were often described as part of a new era in the history of commercial motion pictures. The word 'freedom' was often used in advertisements for these movies.

Not long after these movies began playing in theaters, 'free love' became one of the buzz phrases that was noted in the press coverage of San Francisco, California's 'Summer of Love' in 1967.

Later on, in the 1970's, I would sometimes hear the term 'permissive society' used to describe life in Sweden.

In describing the plot of THE BABY CARRIAGE, the sensational or provocative aspects of movies like I, A WOMAN and INGA are nowhere to be found. THE BABY CARRIAGE's plot focuses on the relationships of young adults in a down-to-earth manner...

18-year-old Britt Larsson has recently started working in a local factory in a city in Sweden. The factory makes housewares and the employees are mostly young women. Britt's family -- mom, dad, and little brother, Staffon -- are preparing to move to a newly finished high-rise in another part of the city.

Britt is currently in an unsatisfying relationship with a young man her age.

One day, after leaving a movie theater matinee alone, she encounters a good-looking young man who is having difficulty using his key to unlock the front door of a building not far from the movie theater. The young man, drunk, strikes up a conversation with Britt and follows her, as she makes her way home. They agree to meet, again, the following day at a location they both know.

Some days following the good-looking young man's no-show, the Larsson family has successfully moved to their new apartment and are enjoying a new television set, with its remote control device.

Not too long afterward, Britt's mom sends her to fetch little Staffon who has wandered back to the old neighborhood to play with pigeons in a bird shelter constructed by someone in the old neighborhood. The two characters walk towards their new neighborhood and, en route, a new, good-looking young man strikes up a conversation with Britt.

These twc characters meet again by chance, one weekend, and, in a spur-of-the-moment decision, they go for a spin in the young man's car. During the car trip, they both talk about what they currently do for work.

The new good-looking young man is an aspiring rock and roll musician. Britt is attracted to him. He pulls the car over to the side of the road in a rural area, they jump into the backseat and make love. And it seems as if it's a first time for Britt.

A number of weeks later, Britt has a conversation with one of her co-workers at the factory and figures out that she's pregnant.

The bulk of the plot of THE BABY CARRIAGE details Britt's trials and tribulations with her pregnancy, her attempt at a relationship with good-looking young man #1, her relationship with the baby's father, and her need to make decisions for herself.

This is a contemporary combination comedy and drama, as well as a character study. And it's another movie that should be thoroughly researched.

Among the movie's many strengths is the fact that the scenes involving Britt and her two boyfriends (good-looking young man #1 and the new, good-looking young man - the baby's father) include improvised dialog.

Thanks to the combination of the direction and the acting performances of the entire cast, the movie comes across as completely believable. Most viewers will construct relationships with the main characters and will want to help Britt and her two boyfriends.

Britt comes across as a young adult who is secure in the way that she thinks of herself and in the way that she makes decisions.

The picture of daily life in Sweden is different from what was suggested in newspapers, magazines, and on radio and television, later on in the 1960's, here, in the U.S.

According to the Internet Movie Database, THE BABY CARRIAGE did not play in theaters in the U.S.

If any of this sounds interesting to you who are reading my words, THE BABY CARRIAGE is available on DVD with English subtitles.

-- Drew Simels

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Horror And Comedy

Here's some questions that I'm asking movie lovers at Tumblr. Can horror and comedy be combined in a movie so that each complements the other? Is this doable? Has it been done?

Many answers are that a perfectly balanced combination of horror and comedy was doable at one time, but is no longer doable. Past combinations were so unbalanced that the horror element of the movie became unimportant. For horror -- in any kind of fiction movie -- to be effective, it has to be believable.

This subject became clear in my thinking, after I watched a movie that I had never heard of, a movie called WOMAN IN WHITE (org'l title: VITA FRUN - 1962)...

The sun is moving below the horizon behind a group of buildings of an estate in a rural area of Sweden. A lone figure comes into view, walks slowly to a metal gate and closes it, while harpsichord music is faintly heard coming from one of the nearby buildings.

Inside one the buildings, a young, beautiful-looking woman, with long, blonde hair, sits playing a harpsichord. It's an unusual melody that she plays -- introspective, emotional.

Suddenly, something happens. The viewer sees a close-up of a man's eye. The beautiful-looking woman abruptly stops playing the harpsichord, slowly rises to her feet. She's wearing a white dress and she seems to be in a trance. She turns, makes her way to the door of the building, turns off the light, then walks outside into the darkness and drizzling rain, and heads off into the distance.

A new character, a man in his 40's, wearing a light-colored raincoat, follows behind the young, beautiful-looking woman, who is now moving through some woods that lead to a swamp. She enters the swamp, with the water becoming higher and higher, as she keeps moving forward. The new character also enters the swamp, some distance behind her, occasionally calling out to her; "Eva," he says, a number of times. The young, beautiful-looking woman is now completely submerged in the swamp water and the new character slowly wades out of view. As he does so, the movie's credits start up, accompanied by an orchestra playing a jazz melody.

The main strand of the plot of this 109-minute movie begins with the arrival of a new character at the estate. This starts during the sequence that's accompanied by the credits and the jazz melody.

The character's name is Roger von Schoffer who, it turns out, is the brother of the deceased, Eva. And that's not all. Roger was notified by telegram of his stepfather's death which happened shortly before his sister's death. Eva's death was called a suicide by Dr. Simon Ek, the character who followed Eva from the building into the swamp.

What drives the plot of WOMAN IN WHITE are the details of the Will of the stepfather, Vilhelm Lundberg, plus the number of characters named in the Will, characters who are living at the estate or working there. Roger joins this group of characters. He's upset, not just about his sister, but about his stepfather's Will in general. There's been friction between Roger and Eva, the stepfather, and the stepmother, Helen Lundberg, for some time.

Shortly after Roger's arrival, strange things start to occur. Wasn't the harpsichord that Eva was playing supposed to be locked up? The strange melody is suddenly heard in the evening. A figure in white is observed roaming around outside, on the grounds of the estate. From time to time, a woman's scream is heard in the distance. A mannequin in the likeness of Helen's adopted daughter, Agneta is found next to the harpsichord.

So a great deal of tenion increases, in short order. And out of the blue, a great deal of comedy is introduced. The comedy situations in the plot don't enhance the horror situations; they diminish the horror situations.

There are two aunts, Julia and Selma, who have done the cooking for the estate for many years. Their nephew, Freddy, shows up unexpectedly on Aunt Julia's birthday -- which is also the day of Eva's funeral. Freddy wants to start his own detective agency and he knows that the two aunts received money in Vilhelm Lundberg's Will. Aunt Julia wants Freddy to marry; i.e., marriage will likely convince her that Freddy is serious about his future. On and on.

Later on in the movie, a second character dies on the estate and a lady in white is responsible. How can this be possible? A ghost?

Was Eva's death a suicide?

These questions are answered, after many characters dash here and there, on the estate. It's the dashing to and fro that becomes more important than why the two characters died.

If any of this sounds interesting to you who are reading my words, LADY IN WHITE is available on DVD with English subtitles.

For the record, LADY IN WHITE is a contemporary combination comedy and drama, with horror, psychological, and thriller elements.

And it's a movie that should be thoroughly researched.

-- Drew Simels

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Lessons From An Older Generation

The beachgoers from an unnamed village on the coast of Brittany, France, are enjoying their summer's day when a storm unexpectedly starts up. Within seconds, everything becomes upended.

That includes what's going on in the water. A teenager, a young adult male, suddenly has to contend with the wind and the waves in his small boat that resembles a kayak. As the minutes pass and the wind stays constantly strong, the boat capsizes and the teenager is thrown overboard.

In a panic, he removes all of his clothing and, somehow, manages to swim to shore, calling out to someone named Vinca. The combination of his frantic effort, the wind, and the waves deposits him onto the beach, but he's exhausted and, for a moment, he passes out.

When the teenager comes to, he realizes that he's totally naked. He looks around for anything on the beach that he can use. Within reach is a woman's straw hat, so he uses the hat to cover his groin.

The teenager, named Philippe Audebert, makes it back to his home -- sort of. First, he has to deal with one of his village neighbors, a teenager roughly the same age as he, named Margo; then, the local gendarme who gives him his uniform jacket, plus a lecture.

The lecture continues to the house that Philippe was headed to, not far from the beach.

Now, the opening scenes of the movie play out for roughly five or six minutes and it's one of the more memorable five or six opening minutes of a movie that I can recall.

This story takes place in the 1920s.

The house that Philippe has headed towards is a summer vacation home for Philippe and his mother and another family. Both families are from Paris and have been friends for many years. The daughter of the other family is named Vinca. It was Vinca who Philippe was calling out to.

The movie is called LE BLE EN L'HERBE (U.S. title: THE GAME OF LOVE - 1954), a combination period comedy and drama that was popular when it played in theaters throughout France. It played in theaters throughout the U.S., starting in December of 1954.

Without giving anything away, the viewer becomes a participant in a number of relationships that are fascinating when compared to relationships in present- day movies.

Philippe is 16, Vinca is 15. Many people in the unnamed village think of them as brother and sister.

An older woman who looks to be around 40 years old suddenly arrives in the village. She, also, has a summer home, not far from where Philippe and Vinca are.

Have I given the plot away? Would you -- you who are reading my words -- like to find out?

LE BLE EN L'HERBE is available on DVD with English subtitles. I strongly recommend it to all movie lovers, here, at Tumblr.

-- Drew Simels