Hell in the Pacific

I love these sorts of tiny little films from accomplished filmmakers. This is two actors (literally no more than two at any point in the film) in a battle of wills and wits on a beach. It's the sort of thing that, just at the sound of it without any mention of names, comes off…

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The Bridge on the River Kwai: A Second Look

I'm still in amazement at how well The Bridge on the River Kwai comes together in the end. David Lean had been working up his way through the British film industry through a series of smaller films, and he entered the epic game with a serious bang. Taking Pierre Boulle's novel and pushing it into…

On the Waterfront: A Second Look

It's interesting to watch this after my negative reaction to Gentleman's Agreement. I had large problems with Elia Kazan's earlier film, mostly about how the different pieces never connected dramatically. And then I revisit On the Waterfront, and it's damn near perfect. It makes me wonder if Kazan was one of those filmmakers who didn't…

From Here to Eternity

Adapted from the novel by James Jones, Fred Zinnemann's From Here to Eternity is a look at the lives of pre-war enlisted men told from a man who knew it. Sanitized a bit from the source, it shows how petty and undirected the army had become without a war to fight, especially how the officer…

The Shop Around the Corner

#2 in my ranking of Ernst Lubitsch's filmography. This is so warm, gentle, touching, and funny that it almost feels like it comes from a different filmmaker who made the much bawdier early sound films like The Smiling Lieutenant and The Merry Widow. It took a couple of films, but with both Ninotchka and The…