Victor Fleming reached his acme in 1939 with two remarkable films, which he largely directed. The Wizard of Oz is a perennial favourite, still loved by people the world over, and it launched the career of Judy Garland.
Fleming’s other movie was Gone with the Wind, a four-hour adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s epic Civil War novel. The film set a record at both the box office and at the Academy Awards. Adjusted for inflation, Gone with the Wind is the…
Asghar Farhadi’s 2011 drama, A Separation, is an exercise in building empathy. The viewer is presented with various layers of conflict that separate people. Gender and class are divisive factors here.
The film raises a series of moral problems. At various points the viewer might feel tempted to take sides, but as the facts fully emerge, it becomes clear that everyone has a good reason for their actions, no matter what mistakes they make.
In the film’s opening scene, we…
The environment of the post-war era pervades The Blue Dahlia. The action follows the return of three discharged aviators who saw service in the South Pacific. The presence of B stickers on car windshields indicates that rationing of gasoline is still in place.
One of the aviators is played by Alan Ladd, a man who had recently been honourably discharged from the army, and who at any moment might be called back, leading to some haste in making the film.…
It was Ingmar Bergman’s 1960s movies that did most to cement the image that many people now have of him – that he is a maker of gloomy, po-faced, and not easily accessible arthouse movies, notable for their slow pace, their long silences punctuated by scenes that are heavy on talking and limited on action, and for their almost unbearable intensity of emotion.
Through a Glass Darkly seems an apt title in this respect. It is as if Bergman, like…
