The latest releases reviewed
Memorable melodrama
DIRECTED BY DOUGLAS SIRK
Born in Hamburg in 1900, Douglas Sirk worked on German films before moving to Hollywood in the early 1940s, when he established himself as a supreme stylist and a master of melodrama. This indispensable boxset features seven of his finest films, made between 1952-57, which have influenced directors from Rainer Werner Fassbinder to Todd Haynes.
Rock Hudson, whose strongest screen performances were elicited by Sirk, features in five of the movies: in a rare Sirk comedy, Has Anyone Seen My Gal?; with Jane Wyman in two love stories troubled by class distinction, Magnifcent Obession and All That Heaven Allows; and with Dorothy Malone and Robert Stack in The Tarnished Angels, a romantic triangle set against daredevil flying; and the enthralling Written on the Wind, which also stars Stack and Lauren Bacall (pictured above).
Barbara Stanwyck is on fine form in the emotional All I Desire, as a woman returning home to the family she abandoned a decade earlier to pursue an acting career. Completing the set is the marvellous Imitation of Life, which deals with family, class and racial tensions and features outstanding performances from Lana Turner, Susan Kohner and Juanita Moore, with Mahalia Jackson on glorious voice for the deeply moving finale of what is arguably the greatest tear-jerker ever made.
GONE ***
Directed by Ringan Ledwidge. Starring Shaun Evans, Amelia Warner, Scott Mechlowicz 15 cert
A holiday in Australia turns dangerous for a young English couple (Evans and Warner) when they link up with a friendly American (Mechlowicz), who reveals a volatile, manipulative personality. Formulaic as the film is, it works as an efficient genre exercise that makes atmospheric use of its remote, mostly uninhabited outback landscapes.
CATCH A FIRE **
Directed by Phillip Noyce. Starring Derek Luke, Tim Robbins, Bonnie Henna 12 cert
Set in early 1980s South Africa, Noyce's film is based on the experiences of a Mozambique immigrant who turns from pacifist to terrorist after he is wrongly accused of bombing an oil refinery. Luke's impressive portrayal in the central role anchors a movie lacking in dramatic urgency.
IF . . . *****
Directed by Lindsay Anderson. Starring Malcolm McDowell 18 cert
McDowell made a powerful cinema debut as the pouting student leading a violent rebellion at an English public school in former film critic Anderson's stylish, riveting - and at times, surreal - drama, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1968. Fuelled with the anarchic spirit of the era, the movie's startling scenes of armed students firing at their colleagues and teachers take on an eerie contemporary relevance.
TWO LANE BLACKTOP ****
Directed by Monte Hellman. Starring James Taylor, Warren Oates, Dennis Wilson 15 cert
Eager to reach the counter-culture audience drawn to Easy Rider, Universal backed Monte Hellman's 1971 road movie starring singer Taylor and Beach Boys drummer Wilson as the driver and mechanic of a souped-up old Chevy in a race with the menacing driver (Oates) of a new Pontiac GTO. However, Hellman allowed no mainstream concessions to interfere with the minimalist narrative in his intriguing movie, set against handsome landscapes.
REDS *****
Directed by Warren Beatty. Starring Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Maureen Stapleton 15 cert
Beatty's ambitious 1981 epic artfully blends romance and politics as it charts the relationship between radical journalist John Reed (Beatty) and writer Louise Bryant (Keaton), set against events in the US and Russia in the 1910s and 1920s, when Reed wrote Ten Days That Shook the World. Beatty collaborated with British socialist Trevor Griifths on the screenplay for this uncompromising drama, which features terrific performances, including Nicholson as alcoholic playwright Eugene O'Neill and Stapleton as anarchist Emma Goldman. Nominated for 12 Oscars, Reds won three: for Beatty as director, Stapleton as supporting actress and Vittorio Storaro as cinematographer. The two-disc DVD features a mass of interesting extras, including new interviews with Beatty, Nicholson, Storaro and composer Stephen Sondheim.
