KIM NOVAK, RELUCTANT GODDESS

KIM NOVAK, RELUCTANT GODDESS. Peter Harry Brown. St. Martin's; 1986.

This is the story of Kim Novak, a "manufactured" star who was signed to a contract because of her looks and then had to learn how to act on the run, so to speak. However, with the right roles and sympathetic directors, Novak was able to give good and sometimes very good performances in such films as Vertigo, Picnic, Middle of the Night, and others. On some occasions, such as in the wretched biopic Jeanne Eagels, she sunk to the level of the material. Novak had several boyfriends -- including the very married Ramfis "Ram" Trujillo, son of the Dominican president -- and got engaged more than once, but seemed to have commitment-phobia until she married British actor Richard Johnson [Deadlier Than the Male] for a union that lasted less than a year; the two remained friends. However, her later marriage to Dr. Robert Malloy has lasted over forty years. Novak apparently never wanted an acting career or movie stardom -- at least she didn't thirst for it as others did -- and when her glory days were over she didn't spend much energy on trying to make it back to the top, preferring wedded bliss and comparative anonymity over "Hollywood." The book has some behind-the-scenes stuff such as a report on William Holden's embarrassment over doing a sexy dance with Kim and her bad relationship with Laurence Harvey while doing the remake of Of Human Bondage, and some selections of her poetry indicate that she was a better actress than poet. This is a readable, entertaining, if comparatively superficial, bio of the star. Did she or did she not have a real affair with Sammy Davis Jr.? -- the book won't give you a conclusive answer, although Novak has always maintained the two were just warm friends who admired one another.

Verdict: Not a great, exhaustive book on Novak, but interesting and absorbing. ***. 

BREAKING THE CODE

Derek Jacobi and Julian Kerridge

BREAKING THE CODE (1996). Director: Herbert Wise.

Brilliant mathematician Alan Turing (Derek Jacobi of The King's Speech) knows his knowledge of cyphers and science can help the British war effort during WW2, and he's chosen to find a way to break the code of the German's Enigma machine. His genius also eventually brings about the creation of digital computers, but his work and worth are diminished in his later years simply because he is gay and apparently unapologetic about it. He pays a hard price for his indiscretion.

Prunella Scales and Derek Jacxobi

Breaking the Code is based on the successful and heralded 1986 play by Hugh Whitemore, and Jacobi reprises his acclaimed stage performance in this TV adaptation. Despite Jacobi's being nearly sixty at the time (Turing died at age 42), Jacobi's performance is excellent, although some may feel his frequent deliberate stuttering (not employed by Benedict Cumberbatch, who later played the same role in Imitation Game) is a bit of a distraction. There is also fine work from Prunella Scales [The Wicked Lady] as Turing's concerned mother; Richard Johnson [Zombie] as Knox, who interviews and hires him; Julian Kerridge as a man with whom Turing dallies; and Amanda Root as a colleague who falls in love with him in spite of his orientation. While Jacobi shows the feisty and slightly arrogant side to Turing's nature, he also lets his amiability and sweetness come through as well.

Verdict: Despite some technical explanations that go on a little too long, this is altogether admirable. ***.

ZOMBIE

Tisa Farrow encounters zombies but no Woody

ZOMBIE (aka Zombi 2/1979). Director: Lucio Fulci.

In some disquieting opening scenes, a seemingly abandoned yacht floats around New York City harbor, where a Coast Guard officer is attacked by a demonic figure. The owner of the ship has disappeared, and his daughter, Anne (Tisa Farrow), goes off with reporter Peter West (Ian McCulloch) to find him. They set sail with Brian (Al Cliver) and his girlfriend, Susan (Auretta Gay), to the mysterious island of Matul, where something strange is happening to the natives. Dr. Menard (Richard Johnson), who was working with Anne's father, is dealing with a plague of the recently diseased coming back from the dead. He refuses to believe that this has anything to do with voodoo, but it isn't long before ancient corpses are rising from their graves, turned into flesh-eating ghouls. It's a question if anyone will survive to get off the island. Fulci clearly took his cue from Night of the Living Dead and its sequels, but arguably Zombie is a better horror-thriller than any of them. The performances are professional, but the pic's selling point is decidedly the very grisly FX and make ups, with the gross-out factor as prevalent in this as in more recent movies. The film's "highlights" include an underwater battle between a zombie and a shark, the attack on Menard's wife (Olga Karlatos), featuring a sadistic scene when her head is slowly pulled toward a sharp piece of wood which impales her eye -- she is later feasted on by the ghouls -- and the climax when many zombies attack Renard's jungle hospital. Say what you will about Zombie (which I have no doubt is Fulci's best film), it is creepy, fast-paced and even, at times, suspenseful. Tisa Farrow is the sister of Mia Farrow, but her career certainly took a different direction. She has only a few credits and did a number of Italian thrillers. The best-known actor in the cast, Richard Johnson (ex-husband of Kim Novak), starred in The Haunting, and as Bulldog Drummond in Deadlier Than the Male and its dreadful sequel Some Girls Do.

Verdict: Effective  and very gory Italian horror film. ***.