On The Boulevard: Signe Hasso

(An ongoing look at the stars on The Hollywood Walk Of Fame)

So who is Signe Hasso? A good question, because I had no idea. Sometimes walking down the street you see a name that strikes you and this is one of those names.

Signe is an actress who hails from Sweden. Born in 1910 she was one of the youngest students accepted to the Royal Dramatic Theater. That was in 1922, so I'm guessing there has been one or two younger since then. Maybe not.

She started making movies in Sweden in 1930 and was spotted by Hollywood where she moved to in 1940. RKO signed her and they tried to work the image promoting her as, "The Next Garbo!" Since most of us know Garbo's name and scratch our head at the name Signe Hasso, I'd say it didn't pay off.

But Ms. Hasso did have a decent little career. She starred opposite Spencer Tracy in The Seventh Cross (1944), George Raft in Johnny Angel (1945), as well as the Douglas Sirk film A Scandal In Paris (1946). For those who haven't seen Scandal, I'd highly recommend it. George Sanders plays a criminal who sees the light and becomes a cop... Or does he? It is one of Sirk's more underrated films and Hasso is quite luminous.

The other title I recognized was The House on 92nd St. (1945). This was another Henry Hathaway noir special. Shot mostly on the streets of New York it deals with the FBI taking down a nazi spy ring within the states. Hasso has an accent, so guess what she plays. The film is passable and entertaining. It even has J. Edgar Hoover introducing the film. He's not wearing a dress, so the film does lose a point for betraying reality.

Hasso's Career slowed down in the late fifties. Her husband passed away in 1955 and her son died in a car accident in 1957. That is just tragic. It looks like she gave up on Hollywood and went back to Sweden to make movies. She also spent some time on the New York stage according to Wikipedia, but I can't back that up. It also says she spent her later years as a poet and translated Swedish folk songs into english, which isn't something you hear about every day.

She passed away in 2002 at the age of 91. A good run you might say.

Though not a recognizable name, she earned her star, which means she has/had her followers. I'd also say that with A Scandal In Paris and House On 92nd Street, the following is well deserved.

24 Frames: Australian New Wave

The beauty of studying film is that there is always something new that came out of something old. The Australian New Wave is something that I recently discovered and I've actually unwittingly seen several movies from this movement. I even own some. Let's take a look t it, shall we?

Unlike the French New Wave which was spawned from a bunch of upstarts revolting against the film policy of the time, the folks down under just started making a group of movies that gained notoriety and popularity around the world. This popularity laster from around 1971 to approximately 1989 and included films that reached from the low to the high brow.

There are very few popular film movements that include a range of topics like The Year Of Living Dangerously, Breaker Morant, Razorback, The Road Warrior, My Brilliant Career and BMX Bandits. If that doesn't cover a rainbow of wackiness, I'm not sure what would.

The more pop culture loving entertainment crowd pleasers have recently been giving the label Ozploitation from a new documentary called Not Quite Hollywood. It takes a look at the low budget high octane exploitation movies of the era. These films include the Mad Max trilogy (as well as several other car movies), sexploitation, kung fu and lots of blood n' gore. Sound pretty terrific right?

Yes it is only putting a name to a period of time in a country's film industry, but it is exciting because it allows a framework of study. It's like offering a syllabus of movies to watch and try to understand the connection. I saw The Year Of Living Dangerously and Razorback as a kid, but I'd never consider that there was any sort of connection. Now I know there is. A period of time in a county's industry where business politics and ideas as well as audience understanding allowed both of these films to emerge from the same kettle.

Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman, George Miller, Peter Weir, Bruce Beresford, Sam Neill, Judy Davis, Phillip Noyce and Bryan Brown all emerged during this period of time. That is an amazing list of talent that have also made some great films in the United States. WOuld they have become as well known without the popularity of that movement? Who knows.

But...

There is one down side and I don't believe that any other country can claim to have damaged movies as much as the Aussies have. It is during this era that they gave us Paul Hogan and Yahoo Serious.

We are still awaiting an apology.

The Eclectic Choice: Crime Wave/Decoy

Crime Wave/Decoy (1954/1956)
Dir. Andre de Toth/Jack Bernhard


These are part of Warner Brothers Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 4 and every film in this set is worthwhile, but this disc is the prime cut. First you have Crime Wave, maybe one of the best B-noirs made. Directed by Andre de Toth in only 13 days it is a tight little thriller about a guy trying to go straight, the gang trying to pull him back in and the cop out to bust his ass. With some amazing visuals, including a gritty violent gas station hold up and a fist fight that physically hurts when you watch it, this is a primer on making every shot count. Sterling Hayden is excellent (as always) as the cop with a grudge and Timothy Carey makes an appearance as the wackiest criminal on the planet. Bit the real kudos go to Gene Nelson and Phyllis Kirk who give the film an emotional core. Nelson's tight gripped panic and Kirk's exasperation make you feel for the newlyweds who are stuck in a world they are trying desperately to escape. A winner on all fronts and bonus points for including Charles (Buchinsky) Bronson in an arly roll.

Next is Decoy, which may not be the best noir ever, but it is surly one of the nuttiest. Jeanne Gillie may not be the world's greatest actress, but her over the top performance melding with a character who's nothing but poison and bile is electric and leaves you giddy by the end. The plot itself is so implausible, which includes resurrecting a mob boss from the dead, that you have to appreciate it as high camp even if it was intended to be a serious piece. This sucker is filled with double and triple crosses, making it a fun filled, if not dated, companion piece to the straight forward gut punch of Crime Wave.

The entire set is well worth it and everyone will have their favorites, but for my money the Crime Wave/Decoy disc is the best of the lot.

Review: Australia

AUSTRALIA (2008)
starring: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Brandon Walter, Jack Thompson, Bryan Brown
Dir. Baz Luhrmann

They are saying this is Australia's Gone With The Wind. I'll say sure, since I didn't care much for Gone With The Wind. This is a georgoue looking sprawling epic that isn't very epic since it feels so small and isn't very sprawling because I never felt like we strayed far from a back lot or green screen. That isn't entirely fair, there are quite a few scenes that take advantage of the sprawling outback, but all you end up remembering is the confectionery creations that Baz Luhrmann and his team cooked up in a computer somewhere.

There is a very good film in the 165 minutes that flash across the screen with quit edits, continual camera movement and Nicole Kidman making noises every second to prove that she is acting. The good film is in the telling of Brandon Walter's character Nullah, a half white half aboriginal boy who narrates the tale as well as giving the most compelling performance. It's actually his movie, but Luhrmann decides to focus on the romance between Kidman and Jackman, sidelining Nullah's story at every turn. Had the project refocused to be about the persecution of "Creamys", a derogative term for Nullah's mixed blood, you'd have an amazing movie. But Luhrmann is a showman and he needs to keep it about love, loss, more love and big frothy compositions. It is cinematic, theatrically cinematic, but cinematic.

Luhrmann makes it epic for epics sake. It's like he just learned the word and wanted to prove it to everyone. The story keeps rolling along and could have easily been about any one of the many events but instead, jams it into a giant tale that never gives enough respect to any of them.

Kidman's portrayal of Lady Sarah Ashley are fingernails on a chalkboard. Perhaps she has to keep huffing, puffing and making rancid squeaks to show emotion because her botox wouldn't allow it to come through her face. Jackman is passable. I like the guy, he has a certain charm. Ladies, People magazine devotees and homosexuals across the land will enjoy the way Luhrmann's camera molests his body at every possible moment. Jack Thompson is back playing the heavy for Baz. Much like his character in Moulin Rouge! (2001), he twists his lips and furrows his brow in melodramatic overkill. The only word that kept popping into my mind when he'd show up on screen was, "blech".

Now, with all of this bad mouthing, I won't say I didn't enjoy myself. I couldn't understand why until I thought about it a bit. I realize and now understand how Luhrmann works his magic. It is through a type of hypnotism. All of his films are structured the same way. The first twenty minutes are designed to toss you back and forth and make the viewer wonder if they are going to enjoy it. Then he shifts gears and mellows out. It lulls you into a sense of enjoyment and makes you think the final product is much better than it actually is. It's like rolling on ecstasy. When the initial kick of the drug stars to hit you're a little worried and fear an ugly ride. Then that moment arrives (minute twenty in his films). it becomes more of a mellow feeling and you enjoy it. But it's just a drug and there is nothing more to it than being a drug. None of what you felt was honest.

So enjoy the trip. Remember that it could have been so much more. A dessert that could have been a meal. Sometimes though, it's nice to let the drugs take over and just go along for the ride.

For a better film that takes a look at the plight of the mixed-race Aboriginals, I am told Phillip Noyce's Rabbit Proof Fence (2002) is quite good. I haven't seen it myself, so no guarantees.

4.5 out of 10

On The Boulevard: Ida Lupino

Ida Lupino is one of those women that, in my book, has it all. She had looks attitude and a brain. That is an awsome package. Just look at her cute as a button nose and you'd never know she could play hard ass femme fatales or even have the nerve to start her own production company and succeed as a director for the second half of her career. She's a pretty amazing woman in my book, but then again I tend to romanticize.

For me it was movies like They Drive By Night (1940) and High Sierra (1941) that showed me she could hold her own and even control scenes against the likes of Humphrey Bogart and George Raft. In Moontide (1942) she gave a layered performance of a tough girl who wanted real love and found it in Jean Gabin. In Roadhouse (1948) she made me fall in love with her singing, if it was her. If not, I'm in love with someone out there. Last but not least she tamed a savage Robert Ryan (his best performance) as a sensitive blind woman in On Dangerous Ground (1952).

According to Wikipedia, Lupino is uncredited as director for On Dangerous Ground. There is no reference to it other than that so I don't know how valid it is. But Lupino did direct several great films. She had grown tired of the fact that women’s issues were never portrayed accurately on screen, so she decided to do it herself.

Outrage (1950) dealt with a woman who was raped. Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951) dealt with a woman deciding over a career or love. She is also considered the first woman to direct a film noir with the B classic The Hitch-Hiker (1953). She also directed the young ladies classic Trouble with Angels (1966), but I've never seen it so I can't comment. She'd go on to a directing career in television where she worked on The Twilight Zone, Batman, The Untouchables and Gilligan's Island just to name a few. That alone is an impressive resume.

She'd continue to act and direct until the late seventies and passed away in 1995 at the age of 77 from a stroke. At the time she was undergoing treatment for colon cancer, so it seemed she was gonna-get-got one way or another around that time. But it was a hell of a life and career she lived the way she wanted to. That's more than most people can say.

Lupino actually has two stars on the Boulevard, one for her work in television and one for her work in film. Beat that.

POV: Some Boetticher And Scott Love

I just finished watching Decision at Sundown, a Budd Boetticher western starring Randolph Scott and I have to admit, it may be the most depressing yet uplifting western ever put to film.


It’s about Bart Allison (Scott) spending three years tracking down the man he feels is responsible for his wife’s suicide. When he catches up with Tate Kimbrough, really well acted by John Carroll, Allison comes to discover that not everything is as it seems and the price tag way too high.

Through the course of events, these really interesting psychological and sociological themes bubble to the surface. What is the price of revenge and how do we use it to mask our own denial about our lives? That is the biggie on the psychological front and on the sociological front, how do we as a society allow tyranny and injustice to rule over us when all we have to do is stand up together and reject it?

The answer to the second question is: you are pushed to the point of being unable to take it any more and you finally do something about it. This makes for a very uplifting ending where a town silently ruled by a man who uses money to control is finally cast out. The first question though ends with the destruction of the soul for our main character. Allison is broken as he rides out of town even though the town itself will praise his name for showing them how to stand up for themselves. It is very reminiscent of Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai where the real winners are the farmers not the samurai.

This is a film that plays with expectations and wears its questions on its sleeve, but never gets pretentious or soapboxy. The visual style is simple and clean, as most of Boetticher’s films are and allows for performances that carry a level of nuance while still being very upfront about the message being delivered.

Scott is solid as always and the supporting cast holds its own. As I mentioned earlier though it is John Carroll who really breaks out thanks to a well constructed character. Kimbrough is a rich scumbag, but is willing to stand up when he has to. He has a code of honor that he respects and when crunch time comes, takes care of his own business. Carroll handles it with a charisma that I wouldn’t call charming, but you feel he has earned his right to be smarmy. Noah Beery Jr, who most people will remember as Rocky in The Rockford Files, plays Scott’s reliable and full of life sidekick. Beery tries to play the voice of reason to Scott and does so with a heart and compassion that never becomes melodramatic.

This is a gem of a movie that is in the new Budd Boetticher Box Set that was recently released on DVD. So far every film in this set has been a winner and I hope it helps bring some praise to Boetticher and Scott who are long overdue for their contributions to cinema.

The Eclectic Choice: Simon King Of The Witches

Simon King of the Witches (1971)
dir. Bruce Kessler


This is an odd and exciting find. When I rented it I expected some crazy exploitation movie with drugs, sex and maybe a wacky psychedelic sequence. I got all of those things plus an incredibly engaging lead performance that keeps this film moving and awkwardly grounded in a sense of reality. Simon is played by Andrew Prine with a charm and sense of humor that wins you over pretty quickly.

Simon is on a quest to become a god , but along he way meets and befriends a hustler named Turk who introduces him to a society of hipsters, fake Wiccans and free lovin' hippies. Simon is accepted by some, doubted by others and ends up reciting a curse that sticks it to the man. It's all groovy, baby.

This isn't a horror film as much as it is a satire about the sixties and all of the craziness going on behind closed doors. There is one fabulous scene where they crash a Wiccan ceremony that Simon breaks up with humorous fervor. It it very reminiscent of Frank Langella's performance in The Ninth Gate. I would not be surprised if it was inspiration for the scene.

Sure this film can be lumped into all of those occult movies that were coming out in the late sixties early seventies that were made for a few bucks and hoping to "blow your mind"; but Simon King of the Witches is a surprise for anyone hoping to have a film to laugh at. Instead, you'll end up laughing along with it and even find something to chew on when you come to a conclusion that can cause some discussion.

It's well worth the purchase. It's like having cloves in your spice rack. You may not use it all the time, but it's cool to have around.