Frankenstein (1931)

Director: James Whale
Country: United States

Frankenstein is the ultimate gothic scifi classic, a legendary novel that has reached the levels of the Greek mythology among contemporary scientists, filmmakers, writers and musicians, the mad scientist "playing God" and the monster who turns against its own father.

Many films have been inspired by this piece of work such as Blade Runner, Terminator 2, Re-Animator, Robocop, Body Parts, Frankenhooker, Frankenweenie and even TV comedies like "Weird Science". In the music department we can find Edgar Winter's song "Frankenstein" or Eddie Van Halen's custom guitar made with different guitar parts and named after the monster. In the science and techonology area we are living in a Frankenstenian-era: robots, drones and computers rule the manufacturing world, and according to some experts they soon will fight in warfields making their own decisions just like in fuckin Terminator 2: the Judgement Day. 

We also can see crazy scientific stuff since the cloning of Dolly the Sheep in the 90's to nowadays manipulation of genetic information in embryos and plants. Humanity and some scientists have gone crazy just like Victor Frankenstein, and society in itself is another version of him, we have created monsters through history either ideologically or physically and curiously enough, Victor and the Monster happen to be identified with the same name: Frankenstein, because the line gets blurred and we don't know who is the real villian here. 

Why do "Frankenstein" gets killed? and why does society kill him? Ironically that turns society into what the monster is, in other words, a ruthless murderer. Did Hitler create stone-cold Germans or the Germans created a crazy-murderer such as Hitler?; Whose gotta be judged by trial? autonomous killer machines or their creators behind a computer? These and more questions will be answered in the short run, but in the meantime in 2018, we are commemorating two hundred years since Mary Shelley wrote this fantastic novel and it is beautiful and terryfing at the same time how the story itself as the Monster in the film IS ALIVE!

                            
                 

Witchhammer (1970)

Director: Otakar Vávra
Country: Czechoslovakia

The Catholic Inquisition has been one of the most horrible things "invented" by human beings, along with other terrible chapters in the history of humanity as the Otoman Empire, the Nazis, the Atomic Bomb or the Communist regimes around the globe. "Kladivo na čarodějnice" in its original title, is a film about the massive witch trials that took place in the 18th century in Europe during the Austro-Turkish War perpetrated by the Catholic Inquisition. 

The storyline is focused on two characters, Boblig Von Edelstadt, an inquisitor judge, a ruthless and greedy murderer bastard who lives as a king and Kristof Lautner, a Presbyterian priest, a reasonable and compassionate man who fights against injustice and cruelty. Most of the people falsely accussed of witchery were women, all innocent, and most of them rich, so the clergy and judges could get rid of them and take over their possesions, i.e all this inquisition bullshit was a matter of business instead of spirituality as they claimed at the time. 

Boblig Von Edelstadt is the evil himself, he uses extreme methods of torture to get the confessions he wants, such as the "Spanish boot" which puts a brutal pressure on the victim's legs to the point of crushing the bones or the "thumbscrew" which crushes the victim's thumbs in a horrible and excrutiating way, his guide to obtain these confessions from the "witches" in order to judge them is a book called "Witchhammer" (whose name gives the title to the movie). Innocent people died not because of their religious beliefs but because their money was the real target.
  
This is a great film for many reasons, is well constructed, has precise dialogues and superb acting, the torture scenes are very realistic and I think is very accurate about this topic, also the film was supposed to be a criticism of the Communist regime which took over Czechoslovakia after World War II, if that was the case this parallelism between the Catholic Inquisition and Communism is fair because in my opinion Communism was a terrible and evil way of ruling a country, they deprived people from civil rights, freedom of speech, they tortured and dissapeared hundreds of people accused of subversion and homosexuality was criminalized, so basically it was "you are with us or against us" just like the Inquisition times. The scene that exemplifies that perfectly is when the judges are eating and making fun of people and telling disgusting sexual jokes, we can see that they were the real evil, and of course if somebody has any other thing in mind he was whether possesed or was a wizard and therefore should be executed. 

We also see similarities with the Betrayal and Crucifixion of Jesuschrist when father Kristof is imprisoned and like Jesus who was judged for crimes he did not commit including witchery and blasphemy, Kristof is tortured and accused of having made a deal with the Devil because the people who testified against him were tortured as well.The ending of the film is bleak, no happy-ending here, we can read "Mr. Boblig Von Edelstadt lived in piece and prosperity and still be married" and we have to take that punch because Mr. Boblig is one of the most brutal villians in the history of cinema; I would like to add that this film could be a perfect suplemental for another great movie about witchery: Häxan (I have written about it too on this blog), so you can watch both movies and see how evil the Catholic Church was at the time. 

      
                                    
                                           

Surcos (1951)

Director: José Antonio Nieves Conde

Country: Spain

A modest family from the Spanish country side decides to emigrate to the capital city of Madrid in an effort to earn more money and become part of the post-war society but soon they struggle to survive and have to face the hostile environment of the concrete jungle: poverty, misery, unemployment and crime among other hindrances. 

 

The main story revolves around the three brothers (like in Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers, except that this one was made 9 years before): Pepé, Tonia and Manolo, whom their different ambitions corrupt their souls little by little while coping with thieves and gangsters like Chamberlein, greedy and materialistic women like Pili or with the inability to find a job due to lack of skills and techniques to perform any job in the industrial field (like the scene when their father is in a factory and he's about to faint, that sequence contains a nice mixing of images and sounds and maybe is the only highlighting moment in the editing department). 

 

We can see how Spain was a developing country at the time, living with the consequences of the Spanish Civil War and the economic impact of the Second War World. This film is considered part of the Spanish neorealism, and was shot basically without technique like many other neorealist films from the era such as Vittorio De Sica's "Ladri di Biciclette", also the ending and some parts of the movie had been adultarated and censored by the Spanish goverment and the Catholic Church but fortunately they were restored in recent years. 

 

I personally enjoyed the dark humor dialogues in the film that work very well, especifically the ones on machismo and sexism. A great Spanish film which unfortunately has been forgotten over time.

                              

María Candelaria (1943)

Director: Emilio Fernandez
Country: Mexico

Written and directed by Emilio Fernandez, the story revolves around Maria Candelaria (performed by the gorgeous Dolores del Rio) a beautiful indigenous woman and her relationship with Lorenzo Rafael (Pedro Armendariz) whose story is told by a misterious painter. The action takes place in 1909 in an empoverished and underdeveloped but beautiful village of Xochimilco. 

For some reason the villagers hate Maria Candelaria, whose mother's life is never revealed, was she a prostitute or a witch? the only thing we know is that she was killed for being a "sinner". This film could be considereded a social one despite its love story, because we can see the division between white Mexicans and the indigenous, with the former ones being medical doctors, priests, artists and bureaucrats, and the latter ones being oppressed by the system and the Catholic Church, which in combination with the indigenous superstitions and the close-minded life style they have, the results are catastrophic such as the rejection of medical care, law enforcement or artistic disciplines, and characters such as "la chismosa", "la huesera" or the ruthless "patrón" are excellent examples of it. 

The film also has many dark humor and satiric dialogues that give balance and help to keep the pace, the cinematography by the legendary Gabriel Figueroa (Los Olvidados, Macario, The Fugitive, Animas Trujano, etc) is stunning and one of the best in Figueroa's career, with a masterful use of natural light, shadows and a perfect framing we can see how beautiful Xochimilco was at the time, and the performances of Dolores del Rio and Pedro Armendariz are very accurate, because portraying indigeous characters was not an easy task for sure, there was the risk of being ridiculous or fake, but they changed their accents and manners so well and the result was succesful. 

Definitely a must-see in the Golden Age of the Mexican Cinema and one of the key films of Emilio "El Indio" Fernandez.



                               

Salvatore Giuliano (1962)

Director: Francesco Rosi 
Country: Italy

This is a dense political-social film based on real facts, shot in a documentary style following a non-linear narrative about the circumstances around the assesination of Salvatore Giuliano, a bandit and the leader of a separatist movement in Sicily, that was responsible for a massacre against members of a communist party, he only appears as a corpse three or four times in the film. 

We can see how Sicily was after the departure of the allies, an empoverished, dejected, dangerous and corrupted place controlled by the local mafia, full of street codes such as the Omerta, and curfews by the military (North Italians who look down on Sicilians calling them savages.) Shot by the legendary Gianni Di Venanzo, the film has a stunning cinematography and a  pure neorealist look . 

Amazingly this film portrays how some goverments around the world still operating nowadays!, with the help of local mafias and bandits, definitely an incredible film.

                                 

The Wrong Man (1956)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock 
Country: United States 

We can see Hitchcock's shadow at the beginning of the film and listening to him quoting: "This is Alfred Hitchcock speaking, in the past, I have given you many kinds of suspense pictures, but this time, I would like you to see a different one. The difference lies in the fact that this is a true story". 

Henry Fonda was a deftly actor, he did not need too much dialogue, make up or whatever to express his emotions and thoughts, and he made it amazingly well in The Wrong Man, performing a jazz musician (Manny) who gets confused with a criminal when asking for a loan (to help his woman to get a teeth job) at an insurance office. Shot on location in New York City, this film is about human condition, and how a hard-working man living a normal life with his family can be ruined in less than 24 hours all over a human error. 

Also Vera Miles made a magnificent supporting role as Manny's wife, we can see her shift, from a sweet woman to a paranoid, demented one . Hitchcock is all about editing: point of view angles, close ups, soft transitions (one of the best transitions ever in the history of cinema is here, when we can see Manny's doppelganger's face matching with his) and silence in combination with atmosphere dissonant sounds made by the genius Bernard Hermann, who also made a jazzy-spicy score to highlight Manny's musical world, are equal to a powerful visual result . The film is perfect except for the ending, which is explained to the audience instead of leaving it to an open interpretation, that would have been excellent.

The cinematography by Robert Burks (The Verdict, House of Wax, The Rear Window, Dial M for Murder) who was one of the key Hitchcock's collaborators during the 50's and 60's, set up a magnificent tonality for The Wrong Man, shot it as a reenacment (but in a fastidious way) and with dramatic combinations of lights and shadows, which print a special mood in the film.

This amazing Hitchcock film was a precedent for another contemporary masterpiece, Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line, which as The Wrong Man, is about an innocent man accused of a crime he didn't commit. Definitely this film is a very solid, mature, unique and underrated work in Hitchcock's filmography.


                             

Marty (1955)

Director: Delbert Mann
Country: United States

Filmed on location in the Bronx, New York City, Delbert Mann's debut feature film about "Marty" portrayed by the legendary actor Ernest Borgnine, a butcher in his thirties who lives with his mother and everybody wonders when he's gonna get a woman, this is maybe the simpliest and most beautiful love story I ever seen. Betsy Blair as Clara did a terrific job also, portraying a simple, compassionate and innocent woman looking for love, just like Marty himself, faith or coincidence?

 

The film reminded me of "I Vitelloni" but in the love affairs department, two desperate souls looking for a chance to love someone, because they are tired and bored of living alone, and it hurts so much because they are getting older, and that's a strong reason to be together, but most importantly, they really want to love each other.

 

When I saw this film I felt myself so connected with it, and consoled me in many ways that just writing about it makes me feel emotional, an unforgettable and absolute New Yorker pièce de résistance.

                               

Seven Samurai (1954)

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Country: Japan

I'm gonna say it plain and simple, if you haven't seen Seven Samurai, you can't call yourself a cinephile, a film buff, or whatever the hell you refer to the fact of loving and being addicted to cinema, because this one is the quintessential Kurosawa's film, and in terms of innovation, story telling and filmmaking techniques is at the top. 

 

Three hours of action well developed characters and choreographies shot in a superb way as the result of a perfectionist filmmaker like Kurosawa who spent many days in the editing room in order to join the puzzle, are worthed of watching without distractions. 

 

The legacy of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai can be seen in movies like John Sturges' "The Magnificent Seven" (which was the American adaptation of Seven Samurai) or in other American classics like the original Star Wars Saga and even in American pop-culture comics like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, that's the impact of Seven Samurai, an inspiring and beautiful action film.

                          

The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948)

Director: John Huston
Country: United States 

"These burros have a long road ahead of them!"

This is a treasure I discovered thanks to Mr. William Friedkin, (and I will always be grateful to him for that), a combination between film noir and western, resulting in a simply beautiful work. "Sierra Madre" is one of the most complete films I ever seen and a magnificent adventure through Mexico with unexpected consequences. 

 

Walter Huston, Humphrey Bogard and Tim Holt did excellent performances, creating the perfect chemistry and atmosphere to build a story in which greed and corruption rules the world, or at least theirs, John Huston did a superb directorial work too, writing a great screenplay by himself, choosing the perfect actors (including his own father) and locations in Mexico and hiring one of the best composers of all time: Max Steiner, who was already famous for his work in "King Kong" (1933), "The Oklahoma Kid" (1939), "Gone With The Wind" (1939), "Casablanca" (1942), among many others. 

 

I recommend you to buy some cervezas, turn off the lights, turn up the sound and be ready to see the greatest movie ever made about greed and...burros.

                             

Le Doulos (1962)

Director: Jean Pierre-Melville
Country: France

Bleak, twisted, beautiful and intriguing, Melville's "Le Doulos" is a superb work in many departments: camera, cinematography, plot, acting and synonym of film noir, in its sub-genre of informants or as some people colloquially say, rats. 

I absolutely loved this film from the first shot, even when I'm not a big fan of Jean-Paul Belmondo, his performance here is unique, plus the cinematography is astonishing and I'm pretty sure it influenced neo-noir movies like "Blade Runner", "Blue Steel" and many more, but to be honest, I had to see it twice, 'cause it contains a very dense plot, full of intrigue and names, which can easily confuse the viewer, other than that, this is a highly recommended work.

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Elevator to the Gallows (1957)

Director: Louis Malle
Country: France

"Ascenseur Pour L'échafaud"  (its original title in French) brilliant and suspenseful film noir directed by the french filmmaker Louis Malle, who made one of the most impressive debuts ever, and also a masterclass of acting, cinematography, screenplay and editing. Simplicity is most powerful than a bunch of bullets and graphic bloody scenes in my opinion and I enjoyed every single frame, dialogue and sequence in the movie, since my favorite films are those from the noir-crime-heist genres.

 

I found Malle's movie very sophisticated and very well conceived, the plot is absolutely a wonderful gem, unpredictable 'til the end and able to cause you anxiety and to keep you on the edge of your seat . This is a great example of how noir gotta be made, the brutal soundtrack specially made for the ocassion by the legendary jazz genius Miles Davis (who created the music after seeing the film only once) fits perfectly with every shot, "Elevator to the Gallows" is a superb and breathless experience and if you haven't been in Paris, this is the perfect way to do it.

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On the Waterfront (1954)

Director: Elia Kazan
Country: United States

Elia Kazan's big hit, starred by Marlon Brando at his best as Terry Malloy is unbelievable, it's simply perfect, since the beggining 'til the end, it has a beautiful pace and development of the characters and every single shot and diologue is always important and entertaining. 

 

The supporting cast is awesome too, Rod Steiger made a great performance as "Charlie" (Terry's villain brother), and along with Brando built one of the most powerful and heartbreaking scenes in the history of cinema: "The Cab Scene", which is the highest point of the movie and influenced and inspired future super star actors like Al Pacino and James Gandolfini, also Lee J. Cobb did a very solid performance as "Johnny Friendly".

 

The soundtrack by Leonard Bernstein is impressive as well, and the cinematography by Boris Kaufman is a key factor with a lot of interestings and realistic shots of the faces and bodies of the longshoremen and point of view angles that allow the audience to sympathize with Terry Malloy, not to mention the cold atmosphere on the locations and the monocromatic black and white adds a very special touch. This is an unforgettable and quintessential New Yorker film. 

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Umberto D. (1952)

Director: Vittorio de Sica
Country: Italy

The Italian filmmaker Vittorio De Sica did one the best jobs in the history of world cinema without any doubt, and he did it by only hiring a non-professional actor and a simple dog to build a sad, dramatic and tragic story about an elderly pensioner who's struggling with poverty, loneliness, hopelessness and desolation in the middle of the Post-World War era in Italy. 

 

The main character, Umberto Domenico Ferrari, is in a big dilemma, whether losing his dignity and pride in favour of earning some coins as a homeless old man in the streets of Italy in order to satisfy his basic needs or facing life with a pair of empty pockets and the consequences that brings, for example, like giving up his lovely and loyal little dog named "Flike" which is his companion and the only being in Umberto's world that loves him in an unconditional way. 

 

This is an excellent work in every single aspect: story, acting, cinematography, directing, and in my opinion it contains one of the most beautiful and simpliest covers ever made, If you don't cry while seeing this movie, you certainly are not a human being.