A lot of familiar titles in 1964, A Fistful of Dollars, Mary Poppins and Zulu among them. For best movie candidates I have chosen Charulata (Indian domestic drama), The Thin Red Line (USA war movie) and Goldfinger (James Bond’s 3rd cinematic outing).
Monica Vitti in Red Desert
I also had a look at Red Desert (Il Deserto Rosso), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, an Italian movie set in a completely industrialised landscape. This is a movie probably best loved by art students. It is a grim, headache-inducing piece which, although not necessarily bad – when I was an art student I’d have probably loved this – I would not recommend giving two hours over to without a sound reason and strong cup of coffee. Score: 1/10.
Madhabi Mukherjee
CHARULATA (17 April 1964) India
Director: Satyajit Ray.
Top billed: Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Shailen Mukherjee .
Plot: In 1890s India, a wife’s relationship with her cousin-in-law disrupts the stability of the whole household.
Review: The first ten minutes of this movie are simply of bored housewife, Charulata (Madhabi Mucherjee), wandering about her apartment. It is mesmerising. Other characters appear one by one, all members of her extended family. A male cousin-in-law is something of a soul mate, and they mutually encourage each other to start writing as a pastime, but when he decided to publish his work relationships subtly change.
Actually, I wasn’t always exactly sure what was going on. I think there were some cultural subtexts at play that I am not at privy to. I was afraid that I might have picked up something tedious, but it was nothing of the sort. It is a beautiful movie. There is a humour and lightness of touch that is very refreshing. I particularly liked the contrast between the newspaper editor husband who clearly takes his work very seriously, and the lack of fulfilment or focus in other people’s lives around him. Acting, cinematography, lighting, sound, locations, shot composition, all are done so well, and the story is accessible enough to make it enjoyable to any audience. It’s the kind of movie that leaves a pleasurable feeling afterwards, knowing that one has watched something of quality, even if one is not exactly sure why.
Rating: 8/10.
A man with a plan, or not as it turns out – Keir Dullea
THE THIN RED LINE (2 May 1964) USA
Director: Andrew Martin.
Top billed: Keir Dullea, Jack Warden, James Philbrook.
Plot: Tough company sergeant Jack Warden and maverick infantryman Keir Dullea battle their way – both with the enemy and each other – across the killing fields of Guadalcanal during World War II.
Review: Not quite the classic I expected. Rather uneven at times, especially during the earlier part of the film with some suspect acting and an awful lot of unnecessary explanation. Thankfully it is held together by the two lead performances – Jack Warden (a Hollywood stalwart) and Keir Dullea (better known as the astronaut Dave Bowman in 2001: A Space Odyssey).
The movie graphically depicts the horror and mercilessness of combat, an experience which gradually sends Dullea round the bend. Warden’s character, an unrepentantly hard-nosed company sergeant, never bats an eyelid. The two manage a sort of working relationship as events progress, but Dullea is an incomprehensible dreamer as far as Warden is concerned, while Warden represent everything that is wrong in the world to Dullea.
It was good to see Dullea in action, knowing him only from 2001. He comes across as a sort of mild Clint Eastwood – quietly spoken, thoughtful, singular, and probably with numerous issues going on behind his curious stare. Warden, a good character actor most familiar as one of the jurors in 12 Angry Men, must have drawn a lot on his own experiences as a sergeant in WWII.
I’m not sure what the movie was trying to say, but it definitely cannot be accused of glamorising war. It is the grim tale of men killing, being killed, and being driven to and beyond their limits for hopefully the greater good.
Rating: 5/10.
Gert Fröbe as Auric Goldfinger, uttering the immortal line, “No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die!”
GOLDFINGER (17 September 1964) UK
Director: Guy Hamilton.
Top billed: Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Gert Fröbe.
Plot: Secret Agent James Bond has to thwart the plans of gold-loving megalomaniac Auric Goldfinger to cripple the economy of the West.
Review: Had not watched this for a long time, and never on anything larger than an old-fashioned TV, so it was good fun to see it on a large modern plasma screen.
This third outing for Bond, after Dr No (1962) and From Russia With Love (1963), maintains and matures the quality of the brand, and there are some nice touches that disappear later in the franchise. There’s a lengthy sequence where the character Felix Leiter (Cec Linder) trails a vehicle, accompanied by magnificent orchestration, to its destination. To have Bond offscreen for so long would be unthinkable in later movies. Also, Gert Fröbe‘s performance as Goldfinger is masterly, and brings to mind a number of self-obsessed businessman I have met with in real life.
Trying to identify why the movie is so enjoyable is not so easy. On many levels it is ridiculous, with a loophole-ridden plot dependent on multiple coincidences, unbelievable characters, a non-extant backstory, bad science and a casual disregard for avoiding racial or sexual stereotypes. Watch it in the right spirit, however, and it is an excellent Saturday afternoon thriller, with plenty of action, a music score to die for and its leading foot clearly in fantasy. It is movie Marmite. You’ll either like it or you will want to push it aside.
Rating: 7/10.
So, the Best Movie of 1964 is …
CHARULATA (8/10)
… because of its all round quality, especially the wonderfully understated performences from the lead actors and sheer brillience of the camerawork.
Madhabi Mukherjee, momentarily content in her domestic world.
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