cinema obscura: Joey Lauren Adams' "Come Early Morning" (2007)

"Come Early Morning," the directorial debut of actress Joey Lauren Adams, will be televised on the Lifetime cable channel at 9 p.m. (est) on Saturday, October 6th.

The film, starring Ashley Judd in another fine performance, played a handful of film festivals, received a limited (very limited) theatrical release earlier this year and then went to DVD - all within the space of a few months.

That's gotta be a record. Another neglected film.

Cinema Obscura is a recurring feature of The Passionate Moviegoer, devoted to those films that have been largely forgotten. Suggestions welcome.

(Artwork: Actress-turned-director Joey Lauren Adams)

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Anyone interested in perusing some 2060 of my film reviews, dating back to 1994, can do so by simply going to RottenTomatoes.Com

Chlesea Handler on Ugly Balls

In an item he posted September 16th on his winning blog, "Reports from the Lost continent of Cinephilia," the ever-witty and ever-astute Dave Kehr noted that balls are the new breasts in America.

Commenting on the rather grotesque poster art for Billy Bob Thornton's "Mr. Woodcock, Dave wrote, "Presumably, emergency seminars are already being scheduled at Brown. And to think this was once a proud country of breast fetishists."

Ever since Dave voiced his observation, I've been aware of references to testicles everywhere, particularly on TV sitcoms, where they have become the token punchline for every bad, pathetic joke.

Which brings me to Chlesea Handler, the vivacious host of E!'s nightly "Chlesea Lately," a hilarious show brought to my attention by the New York Times' TV critic, Virginia Heffernan.

Anyway, Handler begins every show with a five-minute panel discussion and, on a recent show, she swapped jokes with Ken Baker, correspondent for US Weekly.com, comic Loni Love and porn icon Ron Jeremy. The name Cisco Adler came up, and Handler complained that Adler got his show on VH1 only because he once dated Mischa Barton.

But Baker set the record straight. Apparently, Adler is now a star in his own right because, according to Baker, he has "gigantic testicles."

This set off Handler, hilariously so:

"Is that such a huge draw for women? 'Oh, God, I have to get me some ball tonight!' (To the audience) Don't you agree that balls are disgusing? Nobody ever warns you about balls when you're in the third grade. They don't even tell you they're happening. You hear about the shaft of the penis coming your way. They don't mention that he has two little angry friends along for the ride. I would have liked a warning."

That just about says it all. And let's hope that Handler's witty tirade marks the start of a moritorium on testicles in American entertainment and the return of big breasts to their rightful place.

(Artwork: The poster art for "Mr. Woodcock" and E!'s very funny Chelsea Handler)

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Anyone interested in perusing some 2060 of my film reviews, dating back to 1994, can do so by simply going to RottenTomatoes.Com

critical quackery: David Denby on "West Side Story"

Film critic David Denby has the following to say about "West Side Story" in the September 17th edition of The New Yorker magazine:

"It is ironic that 'West Side Story,' a plea for ethnic tolerance by four Jewish liberals - Leonard Bernstein (composer), Stephen Sondheim (lyricist), Arthur Laurents (book) and Jerome Robbins (choreographer) - has now become difficult to revive in New York. Latinos have complained that its view of Puerto Ricans is stereotyped; producers have worried that its 'Cool, Daddy-O' slang new seems quaint. Yet the show, which opened fifty years ago, is a masterpiece of American musical theatre - perhaps the masterpiece. If the material is unfamiliar to you, skip the dreadful Oscar-winning movie version of 1961, with its embarrassing cast and hashed score and choreography. The original cast album, starring Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert, is ardent and heartbreaking, and Bernstein's own later recording makes a good case for the piece as an American opera. 'West Side Story' is now performed in prisons and gang-ridden neighborhoods, where it is used as therapy, and in summer-stock productions, where it leaps off the stage. It's time for a full-scale New York revival."

First, a question to Denby about this wildly gratuitous piece: Who asked you, anyway? (Can't the editors at The New Yorker simply say "no" when one of its writers comes up with a bad, pointless idea?)

Secondly, the stereotypes that litter this show/movie are the least of it.

Finally, I agree with him that the 1961 film version is pretty bad. It's been bad for years, hasn't aged well at all. But the problem is not the cast or the choreography (which, I hasten to remind Denby, is by Robbins himself).

No, the problem is that Ernest Lehman, who wrote the adaptation, was way to faithful to Laurents' arch stage script. The music and dancing are fine; everything in-between is an offense. The dialogue in WSS, whether on stage or on film, is really rough on the ears. Those producers who worry about all those dated "Daddy-Os" are correct. The only way to revive the show is to completely rewrite it.

An alternative, of course, would be to declare a moritorium on it. Put it in mothballs and let it rest in peace. Forget about it and move on.

P.S. That original cast album that Denby finds so "ardent and heartbreaking," actually sounds rather tinny compared to the film's soundtrack. Also, the original cast album doesn't "star" Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert. It features them (among others).

Feel free to disagree. And fee free to bark at me, Who asked you, anyway?

(Artwork: The poster from the original 1957 stage production of "West Side Story")

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Anyone interested in perusing some 2060 of my film reviews, dating back to 1994, can do so by simply going to RottenTomatoes.Com

David Gordon Green's "All the Real Girls" (2003)

Watching Andrew Dominik's "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," I was struck by two things - (1) Dominik's apparent (and very serious) fascination with Terence Malick and (2) co-star Paul Schneider.

The nominal star of the film is, of course, Brad Pitt and its break-out star is Casey Affleck, but Schneider continually commands attention, taking our eyes away from the stars whenever he's on screen doing his provocative turn as the libidinous Dick Liddil. With a dangerous glint in his eyes and a ranginess reminiscent of the young Dennis Quaid, Schneider takes this decidedly politically incorrect role and runs with it.

It reminded me of how great he was in David Gordon Green's seriously flawed "All the Real Girls," a film which, had it been better, could have loomed as Schneider's break-out movie. Unfortunately, it didn't and Schneider took his considerable charms and talents and bided his time in such films as "The Family Stone" and "Elizabethtown."

In Green's movie, Schneider played a guy named Paul, who at age 22, is the uncontested Valentino of his home town, having slept with just about every available girl there. Paul meets his match in Noel (the irresistible Zooey Deschanel), his best friend's younger sister, and his inevitable relationship with her not only ends his friendship with Noel's brother but also gives Paul a dose of his own medicine.

In this bucolic, sex-reversed "Splendor in the Grass," it's the guy who falls hard for the girl and is practically destroyed emotionally when things don't quite work out as he planned. He is as much surprised by Noel's direct willfulness as we are because, at first glance, she looks like she'd be a pushover, too loyal for her own good. There are some interesting ideas in "All the Real Girls" - not the least of which is Schneider playing the Natalie Wood role - but the film doesn't add up to much in the long run.

Still, it's a joy to watch Schneider and Deschanel together and the good news is that Deschanel also pops up in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." But, alas, she and Schneider have no scenes together in it.

(Artwork: Zooey Dechanel and Paul Schneider in the flawed but fascinating "All the Real Girls")

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Anyone interested in perusing some 2060 of my film reviews, dating back to 1994, can do so by simply going to RottenTomatoes.Com

cinema obscura: Otto Preminger's "Porgy and Bess" (1959)

Otto Preminger's long-suppressed 1959 film version of George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" will receive rare showings on September 26th and 27th at New York's Ziegfeld Theater, 141 West 54th Street.

It's not clear who's behind the screenings. It's most likely the Gershwin estate which controls the film and not Columbia Pictures, which originally released the Sam Goldwyn production. And so, by extention, the condition of the print that will be screened is also not clear. I've heard nothing about the film being restored. So will the film be projected in Todd-AO or traditional 'scope? Your guess is as good as mine.

Apparently, the screenings have something to do with Otto Preminger's centennial.

Preminger, whose work I adore, was not the original director of "Porgy and Bess." Goldwyn had initially enlisted the equally great Rouben Mamoulian, who staged the original 1935 production on Broadway. Mamoulian, who will forever be honored for his "Love Me Tonight" (1932), among many others, apparently wanted location shooting, but Goldwyn favored the soundstage arena. Reportedly, all that's left of Mamoulian's work is the "Good Morning, Sistuh" number at the beginning of the final scene.

According to Wikipedia, the film "was broadcast on network television only once, on the night of March 5th, 1967, on ABC-TV. It has not been seen in its entirety on network TV since, although clips have been shown on some of the American Film Institute specials. Ira Gershwin and the Gershwin estate were unhappy with the film, and rescinded the rights to it in the 1970s. As a result, the film has never been on video or DVD, and few public screenings have been permitted, albeit begrudgingly. It is believed that the original negative is in dire need of a restoration."

Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge, who play the title roles, had voices dubbed in songs. Robert McFerrin and Adele Addison, respectively. Diahann Carroll, although an accomplished singer, had her voice dubbed for the role of Clara by Loulie Jean Norman.

Wikipedia adds: "The film cut much of the music, turning the musical recitatives into spoken dialogue, as was done in the 1942 Broadway revival of the show. Gershwin's original underscoring, which is heard constantly in the opera during the recitatives as well as the two fight scenes, was not used, having been replaced by Andre Previn's own. (Previn adapted and conducted the music for the film.)"

Cinema Obscura is a recurring feature of The Passionate Moviegoer, devoted to those films that have been largely forgotten. Suggestions welcome.

(Artwork: Brock Peters, Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier elevating Preminger's "Porgy and Bess"; Rouben Mamoulian, who directed the original stage production and almost directed the film)

sondheim preserved

One of the more anticipated films of the fall-winter movie season is Tim Burton’s at-long-last adaptation of composer Stephen Sondheim’s masterwork, the Tony award-winning Grand Guignol musical, “Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” starring Johnny Depp in the title role and Helena Bonham Carter as his conspirator in crime, Mrs. Lovett.

This is just about a perfect mating of filmmaker with
material. And it’s been a long time coming. Although filmmakers have come and gone over the past couple decades (the most notable being Sam Mendes), the film was originally announced by Columbia in January of 1992 – 15 years ago! – with Burton attached as director.

At that time, Caroline Thompson, who collaborated with Burton on "Edward Scissorshands," was mentioned in the press as the potential adapter. The finished film, due out at the end of the year, is a Paramount/DreamWorks co-production, and John Logan, who wrote Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator,” did the writing duties.

"Sweeney Todd" opened on Broadway on March 1, 1979, and went on to win several Tony awards, including best musical, best book, best score, actor, best actress, best scenic design and best costume. The stage version cast Len Cariou as Benjamin Barker, a barber who, unjustly sentenced to prison, escapes after 15 years and returns to London to avenge his ruined life. He changes his name to Sweeney Todd and meets up with an unstable woman named Mrs. Lovett (the role created by Angela Lansbury), who bakes and sells meat pies. The two of them cook up a plan whereby Todd murders his customers, and Mrs. Lovett bakes their remains into meat pies.

The upcoming film version already has me reeling. While we wait, let’s entertain ourselves with the Stephen Sondheim already represented on film and video (which coincidentally includes a "Sweeney Todd" video of a stage performance). Here goes:

"West Side Story" (1961 film, 151 minutes): Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins co-directed this trailblazing, Oscar-winning update of the "Romeo and Juliet" legend for which a debuting Sondheim provided the exquisite lyrics to Leonard Bernstein's equally exquisite music.

"Gypsy" (1962 film, 149 minutes): The memoirs of strip queen Gypsy Rose Lee were the basis of this sure-fire musical for which Sondheim wrote the clever lyrics for Jule Styne's memorable music. Arthur Laurents' libretto was faithfully filmed by scripter Leonard Spigelgass and director Mervyn LeRoy; choreographer Robert Tucker re-created Jerome Robbins' stage dances, and Natalie Wood as Gypsy and Rosalind Russell as her mother were definitive. (Remade for TV in 1993.)

"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (1966 film, 99 minutes): Sondheim's first solo show - a veritable burlesque with dirty old men and pretty young women - for which he wrote both the music and the lyrics, was filmed by Britisher Richard Lester in a distinctly European manner. Zero Mostel re-created his stage roles and room was found for Buster Keaton.

"Evening Primrose" (1966 TV special, 50 minutes): An original musical written for TV by Sondheim and James Goldman, casting Anthony Perkins as a shy, repressed guy who moves into a department store to escape the world, hiding during the daytime and coming out only at night. Charmaine Carr, in her only other role following her turn as Liesl in "The Sound of Music" (1965), sings the best song here - the ballad "I Remember Sky." Never rebroascast or put out on VHS or DVD, "Evening Primrose" can be seen only on kinescope at New York's Museum of Television & Radio.

"Original Cast Album: Company" (1970 film, 52 minutes): Sondheim's legendary "theme" musical - a first for Broadway - was never filmed, but documentary director D.A. Pennebaker (Bob Dylan's "Dont Look Back") filmed the recording session of the Broadway cast album. The movie played the 1970 New York Film Festival and then went out of circulation until 1990, when it popped up at Joe Papp's Public Theater.

"The Last of Sheila" (1973 film, 120 minutes): Sondheim collaborated with his buddy, the late Anthony Perkins, on the screenplay of this popular Herbert Ross film. Both scenarists were devotees of games and puzzles, and the entire film involves a series of charades and double and triple crosses.

"Stavisky" (1974 French film, 117 minutes): This voluptuously cool French film by Alain Resnais, about a swindler-charmer named Stavisky (played by Jean-Paul Belmondo), who struggles to hide his Jewish origins, features '30s art deco elegance and a wonderful neo-Gershwin background score by Sondheim.

"A Little Night Music" (1977 film, 124 minutes): Harold Prince, who helmed the stage version, directed this movie of Sondheim's musicalization of the Ingmar Bergman film, "Smiles of a Summer Night," a roundelay about mismatched lovers, set in the country. Elizabeth Taylor, although seemingly perfectly cast as an aging,
girlish actress, is pretty bleak, but she does a nice job on "Send in the Clowns."

"Reds" (1981 film, 200 minutes): Sondheim's first screen collaboration with Warren Beatty. He scored the background music for this epic about the love between American Communists John Reed (Beatty) and Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton), with Dave Grusin providing additional music.

"Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (1984 video, 139 minutes): Harold Prince directed this startingly good filmed-on-stage video version of the show, with Angela Lansbury encoring as Mrs. Lovett and George Hearne replacing Len Cariou as Sweeney Todd. Even the TV screen can't dwarf this show.

"'Follies' in Concert" (1985 video, 90 minutes): "Follies" was Sondheim's great stage musical of 1971. Its original cast album truncates the score. So director Herbert Ross recruited a stellar cast (Lee Remick, Carol Burnett, Mandy Patinkin, Andre Gregory, Elaine Stritch) for a one-performance-only staging of the entire score at a special Lincoln Center performance. (Rumor has it that Fox once planned to film this with Doris Day and Debbie Reynolds int he lead role, a genuine missed opportunity.)

"Sunday in the Park With George" (1986 video, 120 minutes): Another stage-to-video transfer, this one directed by James Lapine ("Impromptu"), with Mandy Patinkin as the pointillist artist Georges Seurat and Bernadette Peters as his model Dot. The passion is palpable here.

"Dick Tracy" (1990 film, 104 minutes): Harry Connick Jr.'s original music for this comic-strip movie was rejected by filmmaker Warren Beatty. Danny Elfman was brought in to write the background score and Sondheim to compose the songs for Madonna's Breathless Mahoney and Mandy Patinkin's 88 Keys, one of which, "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)," won the Oscar.

"Into the Woods" (1991 video, 152 minutes): A video version of Sondheim's wicked take on popular fairy tales (one song is titled "Agony"), again filmed on stage. It should fill the bill for its aficionados and should also please those who were fans of Joanna Gleason's and Bernadette Peters' stage performances.

(Artwork: Depp and Bonham-Carter as Todd and Mrs. Lovett in Tim Burton's take on Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd"; Roz Russell streamrolling everyone as Madam Rose in "Gypsy")

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Anyone interested in perusing some 2060 of my film reviews, dating back to 1994, can do so by simply going to RottenTomatoes.Com