52:A Tribute to Lynn Redgrave

CRUISE IN CRISIS

War of the Worlds [e.tv.20.00] 
Gran Torino [M-Net.20.05]
Sin City [SABC1.22.00]

Monday, May 10 

Georgia O’Keeffe [M-Net.21.30]
In Bruges [M-Net.00.30]
Crime Busters [SABC3.02.30]

Tuesday, May 11 

Roman de Gare [SABC3.00.30]
The Great Buck Howard [M-Net.11.00]

Wednesday, May 12 

Marock [SABC3.03.15]

It was with great sadness that I read of the death of actress Lynn Redgrave, a member of the Redgrave acting dynasty. Lynn was never as high profile, either dramatically or politically as her older sister Vanessa, but she will always be remembered as Georgy Girl, the role that shot her to stardom in 1966.

REDGRAVE AND ALAN BATES MADE A GREAT TEAM 

Living in the shadow of her more famous sibling seemed not to faze Redgrave one bit. In fact, the family loved working together; they were obviously having a ball while making The White Countess, for Merchant/Ivory in 2005. The film co-starred Vanessa Redgrave and her daughter, Natasha Richardson. 

A FAIRLY RECENT PHOTO OF THE REDGRAVES

The death of Lynn, coming so shortly after the deaths of both Natasha Richardson and Corin Redgrave, has been a tremendous blow to both the Redgrave/ Richardson family and the British stage and film fraternity.

Although Lynn’s career was a trifle patchy, she often did not find quite the right material for her comic talents—The Happy Hooker was a very bad idea. However, when the right part did materialize, she was wonderful. In Gods and Monsters, she showed a talent and timing second to none. Personally, I remember her with great affection, playing the Glenda Jackson role in the television spin off of House Calls.

GODS AND MONSTERS EARNED HER A SECOND OSCAR NOMINATION

In my minds eye, I’ll always see a jaunty girl, with a terrible haircut, defiantly swinging her handbag while Judith Durham of the Seekers warbled,

Hey there, Georgy Girl, Swinging down the street, so fancy free………

When the Redgrave/ Richardson clan made The White Countess, their male star was Joseph Fiennes; watch him (if you haven’t already) in that superb black comedy, In Bruges [M-Net.Monday.00.30].

PRETTY MUCH STUCK IN BRUGES

In the old days, heroes came in black and white. To prove this in more ways than one, the SABC has acquired two movies, both made during the Second World War. The first is Bataan [SABC3.Friday.22.00], directed by Tay Garnett, who later made the definitive version of The Postman Always Rings Twice. In Bataan, released in 1943, pretty boy Robert Taylor, plays the doomed hero, fighting the ‘Japs’ to the last bullet.

FIGHTING TO THE LAST MAN

That was okay; the Japanese were to remain the designated enemy for ages. Poor Bob, he also starred in—whoops—Song of Russia, when the Russians were, briefly, our gallant comrades, before they morphed pretty quickly into ‘Nasty Reds Under Our Beds’.

EXPLAINING TO THE COMMITTEE....WAS PROBABLY WORSE

During the McCarthy Witch Hunts, Taylor got into terrible trouble for acting in a film that showed Russian people in a favourable light. Today’s hero can easily be tomorrow’s villain and vice versa. But during those tense war years, no one knew what the outcome would be, and morale had to remain high.

In the other oldie, John Wayne and Robert Montgomery star in John Ford’s They Were Expendable [SABC3.Saturday.21.30], a good movie; long and serious, but interesting to watch Ford at work. It is of an age, that if you saw an old print, it would end with the slogan, ‘Buy American War Bonds’.

AMERICAN HEROES

When John Wayne attempted the same kind of flag waving some twenty years later, in his pro Vietnam War movie The Green Berets, there were peace protests outside the cinemas. Times had changed, traditional heroes were out and antiheroes were in.

ARCHITYPICAL ANTI HERO

Clint Eastwood was typical of that genre, and forty years later, he has reinvented himself several times, and is now is highly regarded as a director. Eastwood stars in and directs Gran Torino [M-Net.Sunday.20.05], where he plays an angry, embittered Korean War Veteran (is there any other kind?)

TIME TO MEND FENCES

Anyway, now he lives in a neighbourhood that has become predominately Asian, Hmong, dare we say Korean? In fact, some of these folk live next door. The movie has a lot to do with reconciliation, understanding and forgiveness. It’s a not a bad film, just a bit ham fisted and obvious. Eastwood gives a solid performance, I’ve always preferred his acting to his direction; I find the latter a little cold and remote.

When Clint found international fame as ‘The Man with No Name’ and the so called Spaghetti Western took off, Italy created two home grown stars, gave them English names, Bud Spencer (Carlo Pedersoli) and Terence Hill (Mario Girotti)  and the Trinity Series-- much beloved in his country-- was born.

REMEMBER THEM?

In its wisdom, the SABC seems to have acquired a whole bargain box of these old Spencer/Hill ‘No Name Brand Spaghetti Western/Cop Flicks.’ Crime Busters [SABC3.Monday.02.30] is the classic of choice this week. These movies are cheap, corny and crass, with a great deal of potty humour, approach at your own peril.

EVEN THE RAIN LOOKS FAKE

Sin City [SABC1.Sunday.22.00] is a great mass of posturing and digital meanderings. Bruce Willis stars, and as if that isn’t bad enough, there—large as life is Mickey Rourke— the man is a star again, thanks to Iron Man 2. I wonder if he would go away permanently, if we threw enough money at him, don’t suppose so. The cast list is endless and the whole debacle takes a long time and plays rather like an animated cardboard cutout

GOOD ACTING ALL ROUND

The Great Buck Howard [M-Net.Friday.21.30 and Tuesday.11.00] much more like a proper movie and stars John Malkovich. The film teases the question—what is that real and what is merely an illusion? Malkovich is well supported by Colin Hanks and the very talented Emily Blunt. Tom Hanks guests as Colin’s dad (surprise, surprise). The movie was gone in a flash from the big screen; catch it on the small one.

TROUBLESOME MONK?

Another word on the perception of hero, the other Fiennes brother, Joseph, stars as (Martin) Luther [SABC3.Friday.19.30]. Luther was a hero to some, but to others, he was merely a troublesome priest with an attitude and an agenda all of his own. This is a fairly well told piece of history, and not the dramatic prose written by John Osborne, written and filmed a few years ago.

THEY OBVIOUSLY HADN'T READ THE BOOK

H.G. Wells was one of the first genuine writers of Science Fiction. War of the Worlds is probably one of his greatest works in that field. Personally, I prefer The Time Machine, but then, I adore the potential of time travel. If you do too, find, if you can, I think it is on DVD, a very underrated movie called Time After Time, which has Wells, bouncing through time, crossing swords with Jack the Ripper, but I digress.

IT WAS JUST SOUND EFFECTS.WELLES ON FAR LEFT

Interpretations of War of the Worlds are interesting. To coincide with Halloween in 1938, actor Orson Welles, then working in the medium of radio, recorded a version that was so realistic that Americans ran out of their homes, believing that a real alien attack was in progress. There was also, in the 50s, a tight, straightforward movie version by special effects pioneer Byron Haskins.

THEY CAME FROM OUTER SPACE

On view this week is the Spielberg version, with Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning. The ending, although true to the novel, is a bit dull, the Aliens falling victim to earthly viruses. I much preferred Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! where the little green men succumb to the voice of Slim Whitman. This War of the Worlds [e.tv.Sunday.20.00], made in 2005, looks sleek and expensive, because, quite frankly, it is.

THE MUCH UNDERRATED JOAN ALLEN

Joan Allen stars as American artist Georgia O’Keeffe [M-Net.Monday,21.30], with Jeremy Irons as her photographer husband, Alfred Stieglitz. Art as film, or film as art, take your pick.

A UNIQUE STYLE

Basic Instinct 2 [e.tv.Saturday.22.00] is a straight forward: Is she guilty or is she is she innocent? Who cares? As long as she takes her clothes off! Sharon Stone is much as always.

DITTO

There is a minor, but beautifully wrought movie by Claude Lelouch, the French director who changed lives with A Man and a Woman (Un Homme et Une Femme). Roman de Gare [SABC3.Tuesday.00.30], takes its title from the equivalent of a ‘beach book’ in English, something to be read on the train. Lelouch was never in the same class as Francois Truffaut, but then in my book, nobody is.

THE DIRECTOR AS A YOUNG MAN

Marock [SABC3.Wednesday.03.15] is Moroccan made, set in Casablanca. Not Bogie and Bergman, more Romeo and Juliet, another look at traditional friends and traditional enemies. This time, love between a Jew and a Muslim.

Michael J. Fox stars in the second and weakest in the Back to the Future series [SABC2.Saturday.16.00]. Fox is a real life hero, I wrote about him at length, last year in Nine .

THE YOUNG ONES

Adventureland [M-Net.Saturday.00.20] is a cut above your average coming of age teen flick. The movie is set in 1987, which, for starters, makes it nostalgia for quite a few people. Fans will be pleased to see Kristen Stewart, that rather grumpy girl, better known as Bella. There is some rather nice music from Lou Reed, Bowie and The New York Dolls.

TO USE AN OLD EXPRESSION : VERY DROLL INDEED

My rather belated pick is In Bruges [M-Net.Monday.00.30].

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