Lisa Lieberman's Blog, page 6

Korczak

My latest column, over at 3 Quarks Daily, on the Polish physician, educator, and Godless Jew who is the subject of Andrzej Wajda's film Korczak.

Read it here.

The Searchers

Dealing with “savages” has reduced the Texas pioneers to their most primitive elements. In the strong sun that bakes this barren landscape dry, only a strong hate like Ethan’s survives. Time and time again, his style of frontier justice wins out over the more civilized morality upheld by the settlers.



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The 400 Blows

I've got a new gig, writing a monthly column about film over at 3 Quarks Daily.

The opening credits sequence of The 400 Blows (1959) takes us for a drive along the empty streets of Paris on a gray morning in early winter. Bare trees, a glimpse of the weak sun as we make our way toward the Eiffel Tower: a lonely feeling settles over us and never really leaves. This world, the world of François Truffaut's childhood, is not the chic 1950s Paris of sidewalk cafés, couples strolling along the Seine, and Edith Piaf regretting nothing.

Read the column:

BUtterfield 8

“BUtterfield 8” is a smutty movie. You can tell from the poster, which shows Liz Taylor standing by a pink telephone, wearing nothing but a sheet.

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Our Man in Havana

Fidel Castro had just taken over Cuba when filming on Our Man in Havana began in April, 1959. He and Che Guevara dropped in on the set and fraternized with the cast; Maureen O’Hara was quite taken by Che, “a real freedom fighter,” in her words. This from a woman who adored John Wayne and Ronald Reagan.

I wonder what Fidel and Che made of Ernie Kovacs, who played the Havana police chief Captain Segura mostly for laughs.

Read the rest on Deathless Prose...

Double Indemnity

Chandler was writing within a schlock genre, but he aimed to create art. “To exceed the limits of a formula without destroying it,” he said, “is the dream of every magazine writer who is not a hopeless hack.”

When Billy Wilder brought him in to write the screenplay of James M. Cain’s novella, Double Indemnity, Chandler got his chance.

You've gotta read the rest of the review.

Top Hat

As screwball comedies go, this one lacks the dash of, say, “It Happened One Night,” the punch of “My Man Godfrey.” The inspired silliness of “Bringing Up Baby.” But “Top Hat” has Fred Astaire.

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Taxi Driver

This film isn’t a story, it’s a mood. It’s how you feel when you haven’t been sleeping, that curtain of blackness just behind your eyes, threatening to fall.

Read the review...

West Side Story

You can dismiss “West Side Story” as a racist musical. Forget the inspired choreography by Jerome Robbins, the jangle-nerved moves crackling with angry adolescent energy. Ignore Rita Moreno’s dancing. Stop your ears so you’re not moved by Leonard Bernstein’s score...
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Goldfinger

I swear, this picture has everything. Sean Connery saying his name. “Bond. James Bond.” Perfect! Asking for a vodka martini, “shaken, not stirred.” Love it!

Cue Shirley Bassey and the title sequence