Disc Reviews

"From the green hills of Vermont to the verdant canyons of Arizona, people all over the country are beginning to realize it's nearly over. We have almost beaten COVID, and the best news of all? Things are finally getting back to normal. Infection rates are at an all-time low. New stronger vaccinations have ebbed the tide. And we humans are cleaning up the mess and finally getting on with our lives But as we start to get back to our jobs and schools, one question remains: What lingering effect will the pandemic have on our children?"

This has been a tough year for everyone. Productions all around the world have been uprooted because of the pandemic. I guess I thought there might have been one place on this planet that was safe. OK, I made that last part up. We always knew that South Park was going to have a field day with COVID. Let's be honest; the amount of material for the irreverent show is simply off the scales. There's nothing like a global catastrophe to bring out the sharp wit of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The pandemic meant we saw the long-running animated series limited just like everyone else. So instead of a 10-episode run, the 24th season of South Park was made up of two double-length "Pandemic Specials", but just for whats and giggles, let's call it South Park The Complete 24th Season, and then there were two Post COVID specials, and that's what we have next, a look at it in Blu-ray.

I grew up hearing about Bob Hope and Lucille Ball. It was more about his television credits and hosting accomplishment. I’d say hosting the Academy Awards 19 times, which to my understanding is a record that still holds up to this day, is something to be proud of. Hell, his next closest competitor is Billy Crystal, who is still ten behind him. Then there is Lucille Ball, who is obviously most notable for her popular television series, I Love Lucy. I hear about these comedic icons all my life and now through Fancy Pants, the second of four films that these two collaborated on. I got to see them in action. And while there is much about the film’s brand of comedy that went over my head, it was easy to see the appeal of these two, as individuals and as a comedic pairing. Based on a musical by the name of Ruggles of Red Gap, Hope stars as Humphrey, real name Arthur Humphry, a struggling American actor masquerading as British to be part of a British acting troupe. When another British actor enlists the cast to pose as an aristocratic family in order to impress visiting Americans, Effie and Agatha Floud (Ball), Humphrey, pretending to be the family butler, finds himself in the employ of the visiting family, as he is tasked with refining both Effie’s husband and the tomboyish Agatha. While attempting to provide the two with a measure of culture, sparks begin to fly between Humphrey and Agatha, but their budding relationship may be threatened by his false identity. Meanwhile, a misunderstanding of Humphrey being a “gentleman’s gentleman,” leads the rural townsfolk to mistakenly believe him to be an aristocrat. Humphrey finds himself forced to maintain multiple deceptions: he has to pretend to be a British butler for the Floud family while also pretending to be a politically savvy Englishman for the townsfolk. All of which becomes further complicated by a visit from President Theodore Roosevelt.

The plot was a bit busy for me at times. However, I did enjoy watching Hope as he juggled what amounted to be three characters in one role. To his credit, I do believe he was convincing in each performance. As they were meant to be humorous and he was expected to struggle to maintain the lie, this worked to his benefit. Ball had it a bit easier, but even so her quick-wittedness carried the dialog for me. She is surly and sarcastic, which are traits that I hold in high esteem. My knowledge of Ball is limited only to the few I Love Lucy episodes that I’ve seen, but this role seemed to play right in her wheelhouse. The film is a bit campy at times, such as when Humphrey samples the punch which is so spiked that his breath made a portrait of the Leaning Tower of Pisa stand upright. This is a bit cheesy and over-the-top. Even so, it is in keeping with the film’s slapstick nature.

“In the 1940’s, a new genre – film noir – emerged from the world of hard-boiled pulp magazines, paperback thrillers, and sensational crime movies. These films, tough and unsentimental, depicted a black and white universe at once brutal, erotic, and morally ambiguous.”

Film Noir officially started in the 40’s, but the movement was well underway by the early 30’s. You can trace its roots to the Great Depression and the arrival of the dime pulp magazines. These were highly stylized, mostly mystery stories that provided cheap escapism for the masses who were not having a good time of it. Writers like Raymond Chandler crafted the mold that was easily transferred to the silver screen. These were low-budget films that were intended to be second billing with the more mainstream releases. They were shot quickly. Many have a very flat look, created intentionally. The lighting was often minimal, crafting odd shadows and unusual textures. The dialog wasn’t intended to be natural or realistic. These characters usually spoke in clichés and had names like Mac, Griff, or Dollface. There was often a shade of gray to these characters. Good and evil were not always so clear-cut. Gangsters became common themes of the genre. And while the dialog might have been cheesy, the cinematography was often gritty and almost ultra-realistic. At times the films played out like documentaries, often including narration. The narrator would always be a voice of authority; often film-reel stars were used. The films were heavily influenced by German Expressionism, perfected by the likes of Fritz Lang in the silent era and carried over to more modern themes. The films always contained a steady supply of stock characters and actors. It was smoky rooms and neon lights. It was a reflection on the times. It was Film Noir.

France is a country that is absolutely saturated by a rich cinematic history. Beginning in the late 1890’s with the Lumière Brothers and their Cinématographe, traveling to the middle of the century with Cahiers du Cinéma, the French New Wave, and Cinéma Vérité; all the way to more contemporary French cinema. The country still makes incredible waves that influence the film industry. Interestingly, the term “film noir” came directly from French film critics, commenting on the low-key lighting used in many of the gangster films of that time period, calling them “black films” or “dark films.” It wasn’t until the 1970’s that Auteurs began to intentionally make film noir, however, the characteristics of classic film noir were not lost on French filmmakers who consumed these “dark films” as means of inspiration.

Le roughe est mis/Speaking of Murder

Director William Wyler is a bit of an icon when you look back in Hollywood history. He’s a director with such classics under his belt as Roman Holiday, Funny Girl, and then of course Ben-Hur. But before he filmed those, he did a smaller and more intimate film called Detective Story. This isn’t a big spectacle, but instead it is a gritty drama that takes place over a single day in a New York police station. The film is so simplistic in scope that it’s no surprise that it was originally a stage play, but it’s Wyler’s direction that elevates this film to something bigger. Then there are the remarkable performances from Kirk Douglas and the rest of the cast that make this film better than the potential snore-fest this could have been. Jim McLeod (Douglas) is a hard-nosed cop who likes nothing more than to take the criminals down in his city, to the point that he doesn’t realize it’s been days since he’s been home and seen his wife.  He’s about to head out when he has an encounter with a criminal that sets McLeod off, and he attacks then criminal in custody. The altercation is bad enough to send the criminal to the hospital and jeopardize McLeod’s career. This is just one of the stories going on in the police station. There’s also a woman who’s there after her husband assaulted her, a shoplifter who finds himself in a bind but has a female companion that is trying to help him out, then there is a burglar with an odd sense of humor. All these stories are unfolding and somewhat overlap as the officers do what they can to help each other out, but the main focus seems to be on McLeod.

The drama between McLeod and his wife Mary (Eleanor Parker) is certainly the more interesting story, though I feel audiences these days would be clawing at the screen complaining about how misogynistic McLeod is. It’s their conflict that seems the most profound, though, because at the root of it all this is exploring what happens when couples keep secrets from the other, even if the secrets are kept for good reason. This is what makes this film feel timeless despite being released in 1951. Then factor in the police brutality storyline, and this seems as though it’s been ripped from the modern day headlines. The way these characters are written, it’s easy for the audience to side with one or the other, though there is a dialog exchange that stuck with me where Mary objects to being called a “tramp”, and McLeod’s response to how he interprets the meaning of the word speaks volumes to the time and the characters.