THE HONEY POT

Cliff Robertson and Rex Harrison

THE HONEY POT (1967). Writer/director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz.  

At his palazzo in Venice, wealthy Cecil Fox (Rex Harrison) has concocted a scheme inspired by Ben Johnson's classic play "Volpone." He has hired out-of-work actor William McFly (Cliff Robertson) to help him "stage manage" the situation when he pretends to be dying and invites two ex-wives and a long-time lover to Venice, where he will tease them about which will inherit his money. The ex-wives include actress Merle McGill (Edie Adams of The Oscar) and Princess Dominique (Capucine of The Queens), and the lover is Mrs. Sheridan (Susan Hayward of I Thank a Fool), who brings along her nurse, Sarah (Maggie Smith). Complications ensue when Mrs. Sheridan reveals that she is Cecil's common law wife. Then one of the women is murdered, and Cecil's own life seems to be in danger ... 

Capucine, Susan Hayward, Maggie Smith

For much of its length, it isn't certain exactly where The Honey Pot is going nor what the audience is supposed to think of it. It eventually emerges as a light-hearted murder mystery with some clever (if suspect) touches. As with most of these tricky pictures, the plot may not hold up under intensive scrutiny, but while the movie seems oddly disjointed at times, it can't quite be called boring. Because it's necessary to hold secrets from the audience, the characters aren't that well-developed, although the actors give it the old college try. Harrison is as marvelous as ever, Robertson better than expected, and of the ladies Hayward probably makes the best impression, although the others are also good. The ending may seem cute but it ignores some niceties of law. It's interesting that Cecil's dream was to be a ballet dancer, and he and a double dance to the strains of the ballet music from Ponchielli's La gioconda at one point (Allan Sherman used the melody for his "Camp Granada" novelty song.) 

Verdict: An interesting oddity that doesn't quite work but entertains in spite of it. ***. 

THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE

Maggie Smith as the airy Miss Brodie

THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (1969). Director: Ronald Neame. 

In 1930's Scotland Miss Jean Brodie (Maggie Smith) is a tenured teacher at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls. Jean is free-spirited, putting her at odds with the relatively new headmistress Miss Mackay (Celia Johnson of Brief Encounter), who keeps reminding her that this is a conservative school. Jean is one of those teachers who is convinced she can leave a lasting impression on her students and always supposedly knows what's best for them, even though she can be naive, dismissive, and rather stupid at times. She does her best to stay out of the clutches of the art teacher, Teddy Lloyd (Smith's real life husband at the time, Robert Stephens), her former lover, who is married and has six children. Jean encourages one of her charges, Mary (Jane Carr of Something for Everyone) to go off to Spain to fight alongside her brother, something which does not end at all well. Jean may have met her match in young Sandy (Pamela Franklin of The Food of the Gods), who replaces her in Teddy's bed and ultimately helps bring about her downfall.

Smith gets a dressing down from Pamela Franklin

The prime joy of Miss Jean Brodie is the performance of Maggie Smith, which netted her a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar. She fully brings to life all of the different, often maddening facets of Brodie's character and engages your full attention from start to finish. She is surrounded by other wonderful actors: Stephens as the utter pig of an art teacher; Gordon Jackson as the more gentlemanly music teacher with whom Jean dallies; Pamela Franklin, who is ferociously good as Sandy and especially excels in her climactic scene when she really tells off her irresponsible teacher, Jean; Celia Johnson as the long-suffering Miss MacKay, who tries various methods to send her nemesis packing; Jane Carr as the stammering, ill-fated Mary; and others. 

Smith with Robert Stephens

Miss Jean Brodie is by no means perfect. A comedy-drama, there are sequences in the girls' school that , unfortunately, remind one of antics in St. Trinian's! There is something a bit artificial and unreal about the film at times. However, what's amazing is that the particular school girls who form Jean's closest circle all look convincingly like children, despite their real ages, who age gracefully (or otherwise) into adulthood -- Franklin's transformation is especially astonishing. Rod McKuen composed a pretty song for the picture, but he should have been convinced not to sing it, as he has no voice. He had a certain run as a sappy poet and composer. 

Verdict: Smith's Academy Award-winning performance makes this film fully engaging whatever its flaws. ***. 

SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER

Maggie Smith as Mrs. Venable

SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER (1993  telefilm). Aired on Performance in the UK and Great Performances in the U.S. Director: Richard Eyre. The original text of the one-act play by Tennessee Williams. 

Violet Venable (Maggie Smith), a very wealthy New Orleans widow, asks to see a well-known neurosurgeon named Dr. Cukrowicz (Rob Lowe) or Dr. Sugar (the translation) in regards to her niece by marriage, Catherine Holly (Natasha Richardson). In exchange for a large grant, Violet hopes that Dr. Sugar will perform a lobotomy on whom she feels is the thoroughly crazy Catherine, who has been telling equally crazy stories about the death of her dear son, Sebastian in the Spanish village of Cabeza del Lobo (wolf's head). These stories also sully the moral character of the dear departed. Meanwhile Catherine's mother (Moira Redmond of Doctor in Love) and brother, George (Richard E. Grant of Can You Ever Forgive Me?) fear that Catherine's story will prevent them from getting $50,000 each in Sebastian's will. 

Mrs. Venable confronts her relatives

With no credited screenwriter I believe this simply uses Tennessee Williams' original text, and has the same combination of grotesqueness and poetry in its story of a highly dysfunctional family, to say the least. As I've already discussed the homoerotic aspects in my review of the 1959 film version, I will concentrate on the acting in this telefilm. Maggie Smith, a better actress than Katharine Hepburn, manages to get across the pain of her son's death and other vulnerable aspects of her character underneath the harsh and desperate exterior, something Hepburn fails to do. Rob Loew offers a professional and sensitive portrait of the doctor. Natasha Richardson is clearly a more gifted actress than Elizabeth Taylor, although she plays the role quite differently, without Taylor's almost hysterical urgency but with a more shattered resignation. The other cast members all acquit themselves quite nicely, but one has to wonder if this production was worth the time and effort when one considers the play itself. Smith, however, is alone worth the price of admission. 

Verdict: Decent, very well-acted version of a dated and half-baked play with some fascinating aspects. **1/2. 

ROUND UP OF NEW AND RECENT FILMS PART SEVEN

The Joker meets Boy Batman

ROUND UP OF NEW AND RECENT FILMS PART SEVEN.

Joker (2019). Not a "super-hero" film as such, Joker looks at the life of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) and shows how he transformed into Batman's arch-enemy, the clown-faced, maniacal Joker. Essentially this is a slow if absorbing study of a lonely and mentally-unstable outsider with show biz aspirations, a horrible mother, and a childhood full of abuse. Batman is still a child at the time this takes place, and Arthur wrongly imagines that he is Bruce Wayne's half-brother. Made fun of by talk show host and comic Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), he winds up a guest on the show with predictable results. Arthur is presented as an angry victim with some legitimate grievances, but his being turned into a champion of the poor and downtrodden is utterly ludicrous and just doesn't work. Very well-acted by Phoenix and De Niro, Joker is by no means a bad movie -- although it's not always well-paced -- but Best Picture ...? No. Directed by Todd Phillips, this has an interesting score by Hildur Guanodottir. Unless you're a total geek, you'll probably forget about the movie five minutes after you see it. **3/4.

Downton Abbey (2019) revisits the Crawley family from the very popular TV series and works effectively as an especially long episode. The King and Queen are going to spend the night at the estate, and everyone is thrown into a tizzy, especially the servants, who are told that the King's staff will take over and that even the cook, Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol), will have to temporarily turn in her apron. They aren't going to take that lying down! Meanwhile handsome butler Barrow (Robert James-Collier) is also temporarily shunted aside by retired Carson (Jim Carter), but Barrow finds a like-soul after he's caught in a raid on a gay bar. (Barrow is a much more sympathetic character in this than when he was first introduced.) Violet (Maggie Smith) is appalled that a relative is going to leave her fortune to a maid -- goodness! -- instead of Violet's son, but discovers the reason why. And a sneak thief is stealing various items from the household. One could quibble about certain aspects of the story, but for the most part Downton Abbey is delightful and beautifully acted, with equal parts charm, class and sentiment. Directed by Michael Engler. ***1/4. 

DEATH ON THE NILE

Bette Davis, David Niven, Peter Ustinov

DEATH ON THE NILE 

(1978). Director: John Guillermin.

"It's been my experience that men are least attracted to women who treat them well."

Following the success of the first screen adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, it was decided to do another big-scale, star-studded, somewhat overblown adaptation of a Christie novel with Peter Ustinov taking over the role of the great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. This has an interesting hook: Having stolen away her friend Jacqueline's (Mia Farrow) boyfriend, Simon (Simon MacCorkindale of Jaws 3-D), Linnet Ridgeway (Lois Chiles) finds herself and her new spouse being followed everywhere by Jackie while on their Egyptian honeymoon. Poirot, also on the same tour, warns Jacqueline that she may be heading for disaster, and indeed there's foul play afoot and more than one murder. In her modest and entertaining novel, Christie was wise enough not to make virtually everyone on board the ship a suspect, but screenwriter Anthony Shaffer makes the mistake of giving almost everyone a motive, as unlikely as that sounds. Death on the Nile is way too long, but it is handsomely produced, well-photographed by Jack Cardiff, and has a very nice score by Nino Rota. Ustinov is not the perfect Poirot, but he is acceptable. Among the very large cast, the stand-outs are Maggie Smith [Clash of the Titans], as Bette Davis' put-upon nurse-servant, and Angela Lansbury as the soused authoress, Salome Otterbourne. Everyone else is competent enough, but unremarkable. Bette Davis doesn't so much give a performance, but play "Grand Lady," one suspects as much for the cast and crew as for the audience. One could argue that Mia Farrow seems to give better performances in Woody Allen movies than in ones she makes with other directors. Christie later used a certain similar plot device in Evil Under the Sun. NOTE: A remake of this film is scheduled for 2019.

Verdict: Quite entertaining mystery is good to look at with a few fun performances and humor. ***.  

EVIL UNDER THE SUN

Peter Ustinov and Maggie Smith

EVIL UNDER THE SUN (1982). Director: Guy Hamilton.

"Even in the old days she would throw her legs up higher than anyone -- and wider." Daphne referring to Arlena.

At a resort run by former showgirl Daphne Castle (Maggie Smith), one of the guests is a former colleague and now star, Arlena Marshall (Diana Rigg of The Avengers). Although married, Arlena is fooling around with Patrick Redfern (Nicholas Clay), who is also married, to the plain-Jane Christine (Jane Birkin of Seven Deaths in the Cats Eye). When Arlena is strangled in an isolated cove, the suspects also include her wannabee biographer Rex Brewster (Roddy McDowall), and the producing team of Myra and Odell Gardener (Sylvia Miles and James Mason). Then there's Arlena's husband, Kenneth (Denis Quilley) and his obnoxious young daughter, Linda (Emily Hone). It is up to the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov) to find out who the true murderer is. Evil Under the Sun is another over-produced, not quite "all-star" Agatha Christie adaptation, with a script by Anthony Shaffer that makes some changes but doesn't do too much damage to the novel. Overlong, the movie is very slow-paced and often dull, although some of the actors, especially Maggie Smith [Downton Abbey] and James Mason, do their best to keep things interesting with their performances. Mason and Sylvia Miles certainly make a very odd pair, and Miles is vivid if typically vulgar. McDowall does his usual middle-aged fop act. Ustinov is not the perfect Poirot, but he is amusing at times, and indeed the movie often plays like a parody. The picture only really picks up in the final quarter when Poirot assembles the suspects and reveals the clever solution, which (as usual) works better on the printed page than spelled out in wide screen and TechniColor. Still, it sends the audience out possibly fooled into thinking they've seen a better movie than they actually have. The film has absolutely none of the suspense of the novel, and you probably won't even care who killed Arlena. Rigg is excellent as the victim, and Clay and Birkin also make their mark as her lover and his discarded spouse. Smith's character refers to McDowall's with a stupid comment about "cherchez la fruit." The score consists of adaptations of the songs of Cole Porter. Since Porter's bouncy music is hardly appropriate for an alleged movie of suspense and intrigue, it almost kills the movie, lovely tunes notwithstanding, right there. Ustinov also played Poirot in Dead Man's Folly, which was a better Christie adaptation than this.

Verdict: Read Christie's book instead for a much more entertaining experience. **1/2.

MURDER BY DEATH

Truman Capote

MURDER BY DEATH (aka Neil Simon's Murder By Death/1976). Director: Robert Moore.

"As a man you are barely passable, but as a woman you are a dog." -- Milo Perrier summing up the situation. 

A mysterious man invites variations of Sam Spade, Charlie Chan, Nick and Nora Charles, Miss Marple. and Hercule Poirot to his home where he challenges them to solve a murder that will occur at midnight. The host is played by Truman Capote, and the detectives by James Coco (Milo Perrier); Peter Sellers (Sidney Wang); Elsa Lanchester (Jessica Marbles); David Niven and Maggie Smith (Dick and Dora Charleston); and Peter Falk (Sam Diamond). If there's one problem with this rather cute movie is that it's a complete farce, with no real plot (just a premise) and nothing much to hang the jokes on. As for the jokes, for every one that garners a laugh there's two that land with a thud. However, the performances are all wonderful, and there's expert support from Estelle Winwood (Miss Marbel's nurse, who now needs looking after herself); Richard Narita as Wang's son; Nancy Walker as the deaf-mute maid; James Cromwell [American Horror Story: Asylum] as Perrier's chauffeur; Eileen Brennan as Diamond's girlfriend; and especially Alec Guinness [The Swan] as the blind butler, Bensonmum. Truman Capote is no actor, but on an amateur level he isn't too terrible as Lionel Twain. On the other hand, Peter Sellers [The Wrong Box] is simply wonderful. Don't expect any coherency (even for a comedy) and you may have fun.

Verdict: Silly, hardly for all tastes, but beautifully-acted and zany. ***.

DOWNTON ABBEY SEASON ONE

DOWNTON ABBEY Season One. 2010. Seven episodes. Created and [co-] written by Julian Fellowes.

The male heir to the British estate, Downton Abbey, is lost on the Titanic in 1912. Since Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), and his wife, Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) have no male offspring, and the heir must be male, Cora and her oldest daughter, Mary (Michelle Dockery) are faced with the prospect of losing a fortune. Haughty Mary has two sisters, the comparatively plain Edith (Laura Carmichael), who is basically treated like crap by the rest of her condescending family, and budding feminist Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay), who tries to help one of the ambitious maids get a job as a secretary. The new heir is a cousin named Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens), and everyone hopes that he and Mary will make a love match and solve all of their problems, but things get a little complicated. Matthew has a mother, Isobel (Penelope Wilton), who proves an irritant to Crawley family matriarch, the Dowager Countess Violet (Maggie Smith), although on occasion they have the same goals. Violet forms an alliance with Cora.

In the meantime, there's drama amongst the servants as well. The new valet, Bates (Brendan Coyle) is not only lame, but has an unsavory history. He has raised the everlasting ire of Thomas (Rob-James Collier), who had hoped to get his job, and who teams with the sour Sarah O'Brien (Siobhan Finneran) to scheme to get rid of him. [More on Thomas in a bit.] Sarah mistakenly believes Cora plans to replace her as personal maid and wreaks a terrible vengeance. The butler Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) and head maid Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan), run the household with the help of cook, Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol), who is losing her sight; young William (Thomas Howes), who is losing his mother; and Daisy (Sophie McShera), who has a hopeless crush on Thomas. Then there's the "radical" chauffeur Branson (Allen Leech), who talks politics with Sybil. 

Downton Abbey is handsomely produced and well-acted for the most part. Smith sometimes overdoes the cutesyness of her character, and McGovern, while not a bad actress, simply seems miscast and uncertain of how to proceed. The show begins quite reasonably, but in the second episode turns into a slightly absurd soap opera when it introduces a handsome young Turkish character who dies in unexpected circumstances not much later, suddenly turning Downton into Dynasty. Much more problematic is the character of Thomas, who is gay, and while the actor wisely doesn't play him too stereotypically [aside from arched eyebrows and the occasional pursed lips], it's hard not to notice that Thomas is like an old-fashioned nasty "faggot" being fairly horrible to everyone. Gay characters are welcome in programming, but surely Fellowes could have come up with a less odious creature than this, whose inclusion even seems homophobic. [Not that all gay characters have to be perfect, of course, but this man's evil doesn't quite seem divorced from his homosexuality.] Another odd thing is that some of the characters talk "wisely" about Thomas as if it were the 21st century and not 1912! Why the hell would the unsophisticated cook know of his sexual orientation -- in 1912 no less!

Aside from that, let's get real about Downton Abbey. Its main strength is simply that it's entertaining. It's not really great drama, and it will push the envelope of credulity if it will get people watching. Taken with a grain of salt, Downton Abbey is fun if nothing else. And it does have some marvelous and memorable sequences to be fair [such as Violet being selfless regarding her prize roses].

Verdict: Proof that the British can dumb things down just as well as the Americans when they want to, but it does hold the attention. ***.