Day 222: Whirlpool (1949) - Rank 4/5

A film noir about hypnosis, directed by Otto Preminger? Yes, please! While any storyline involving hypnosis feels a bit contrived, a decent script and excellent acting (well, superb acting where Jose Ferrer is concerned) imbue the film with a sizable amount of credibility. Ah, but the noirish atmosphere, complemented by a score with hints of theremin, that fills the screen during the scenes where the post-hypnotic suggestions are carried out add volumes to "Whirlpool."

The central character is Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney), a vulnerable, insomniac wife of Dr. Sutton (Richard Conte), the city's most prominent psychoanalyst. She also happens to be a kleptomaniac who indulges in shoplifting, as infamous hypnotist David Korvo (Ferrer) discovers. When Korvo prevents Ann from being arrested for shoplifting, he extorts her - but not for sex or money, just companionship. Soon, Ann seeks Korvo's help for her insomnia and next thing she knows, she wakes up in front of a strangled corpse with the police bursting in the door. All evidence points to Ann, but Dr. Sutton begins to suspect that Korvo may be the man behind the madness and seeks to expose him for the crook he is.

The story starts off a bit slow, but once Ann is arrested, the film becomes a battle of wits between Dr. Sutton and Korvo. At that point, the film really had me hooked. The film doesn't make any claim that Ann truly killed one of Korvo's former patients/lovers. Instead, it makes the heart of the conflict Dr. Sutton's quest to prove how Korvo carried out the murder, for at the time in question, he was hospitalized for an inflamed gall bladder - a seemingly airtight alibi. Ferrer easily steals the show, making Korvo seem as slimy as a street hawker, despite his fifth Avenue suit and posh surroundings. Tierney shines as well, making this a great view within the repertoire of Preminger.

Day 221: Yellow Submarine (1968) - Rank 4/5

Drugs! I need drugs! Man, I thought that Ken Russell's "Tommy" was the epitome of hallucinatory madness that the acid culture had to offer. I always regarded it as the type of production where everyone involved had to be on some mind-bending chemical. But "Yellow Submarine" trumps it, for the entire film is one gigantic trip. So much so, that I'm filled with a desire to procure it as a midnight film, just to see if the silence of the audience is interrupted at some point by an inebriated viewer screaming at the screen.

The story embodies that stereotypical message that them "gol' darned hippies" lived and died at the hands of the man by: love. The blue meanines (a clear metaphor for the cops), beat down a peaceful land of peace and music with their giant fists and deprive it of all color. It's then up to the Beatles, who join up with Captain Fred aboard his Yellow Submarine, to free everyone from the tyranny of the Blue Meanies with the only way they know how - love-infused music. The plot is pretty one-dimensional, but it merely serves as a way to infuse a series of Beatles songs with some pretty freaky animation.

Having never been a fan of the Beatles and still remaining fairly neutral on the subject, I appreciated the story more for its aesthetic value. The animation is astounding, from the vivid colors to the complexity of many of the vignettes, with multiple characters and objects blending together the way they would if someone fed Otto Messmer a handful of shrooms (it's easy to see how the animation style here no doubt influenced the style of Terry Gilliam). That's not to say that I found the soundtrack intolerable. Rather, I found it fitting; it was a perfect infusion of the audio and the visual. After completion, I honestly can't believe that a remake of the film has been greenlit. To me, "Yellow Submarine" is dated, but wonderfully so. It's a time capsule of the ideals, emotions, music and image of a generation. Any remake could scarcely convey those morals across several decades, and to put a new spin on the film's message would destroy it altogether. But I suppose in the eyes of Hollywood, if it makes money, then it doesn't matter. Ironically enough, such a mindset would be the very antithesis of the original product.

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Day 220: Black Sheep (2006) - Rank 4/5

I believe I've mentioned before that I possess a penchant for animal attack films. Therefore, the only surprise that should arise from my watching "Black Sheep" is not that I liked the film, but that it took me this long to catch it. Oddly enough, it's not a parody of the drive-in schlock of the 1970's. Instead, its more a tongue-in-cheek homage to the early works of Peter Jackson ("Braindead" or "Bad Taste" primarily). As such, it's replete with absurd creature effects and needless gore to the point of hilarity.

Henry Oldfield (Nathan Meister) returns to the family sheep farm, located in the heart of New Zealand, a decade after leaving it. He's there to both confront his phobia of sheep, as well as sell off his portion of the family farm to his corrupt brother Angus (Peter Feeney). While there, Henry meets Experience, an animal activist who's come to the farm in search of evidence of animal cruelty that will bring down Angus. But petty vendettas and ghosts of the past have to be laid aside once the sheep develop a craving for human blood (explained by the fact that they've been genetically-engineered by a mad scientist - though it's not like a serious reason is really needed).

The delightful absurdity of watching men and women alike devoured by sheep had me rolling. Peter Jackson produced this first-time film endeavor by writer/director Jonathan King, and was even kind enough to put his Weta crew on the project. As a result, the gore is not only hilarious, but it looks damn believable too, making it all the funnier. There are also moments of ovinanthropy (come on, how many times in my life will I have the opportunity to use that one?) that are cleverly conducted as well, for it seems that once humans are bitten by the sheep, they're doomed to turn into weresheep if not treated. I guarantee that when Rick Baker saw some of the transformation scenes in the film, he felt jealous. The movie is scarcely an intelligent way to pass the time, but it is smart and funny to the point that it hurts.

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Day 219: Zero Hour! (1957) - Rank 2.5/5

There's a fair amount of campiness to this thriller that kept me engrossed, despite a somewhat mediocre plot. I don't think I'm the only one who felt the film was rife for parody, for it clearly served as the template for "Airplane." Much of the plot here is the same as the Zucker Bros lampoon - Ted Stryker (Dana Andrews) is a former WWII pilot whose guilt over the death of some of his fellow troops has led him down a path in life filled with dead-end jobs and a wife that no longer loves him. But on a fated trip to Vancouver, the majority of the passengers and crew fall sick with food poisoning, leaving Stryker as the only man capable of landing the plane. But he first must overcome both his unfamiliarity with modern air equipment as well as the ghosts of his past - two tasks left up to ground controller Captain Treleaven (Sterling Hayden) to handle.

The production has the melodramatic feel of an Irwin Allen film, such as "The Swarm" or "Poseidon Adventure" (or a film by the modern Irwin Allen - Roland Emmerich). But there are also moments where the film takes itself seriously to the point of tedium. It's definitely a situation where the actors take the script up to a level of "watchability" for Andrews does quite well as the tormented pilot and Hayden - well, give the guy the dictionary and I could watch him read it for an hour and a half. But I suppose air disaster flicks were big business for the era, because screenwriter Arthur Hailey was also the brainchild behind "Airport," "Airport 1975" and "Airport '77." Disappointingly, none of them feature Harrison Ford or snakes.

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Day 218: Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) - Rank 4/5

This highly-stylized "biopic" is an impressive, experimental endeavor by director Paul Schrader. Focusing on the life of Japanese writer/actor/militarist Yukio Mishima, he expertly blends history with fantasy and the literary. To give a straightforward summation of what the film is about would be highly difficult, for it's operating on a number of complex levels. The main storyline is that of Mishima (played in this timeline by Ken Ogata) on the last day of his life as he prepares to stage a bloodless coup at a military complex - his hope being to move the troops to recognize the divine right of Japan's emperor once more. But as this storyline inexorably moves to an unpleasant end, Schrader incorporates two major components to the tale in an effort to help the viewer understand Mishima's motivation.

Early on, we are greeted with a number of flashbacks, narrated by Mishima (in this case, narrated by Roy Schieder) as he reflects upon his family, youth, accomplishments and insecurities. Many of his memories are climaxed by acts of destruction, though these moments are often perceived as efforts to achieve a greater good by Mishima. The second major element to the film are brief adaptations of the author's works ("Temple of the Golden Pavilion," Kyoko's House" and "Runaway Horses"). These selection illustrate the brilliant and creative mind of Mishima, instilling a sense of admiration for the literary giant of Japan, but they also appear to be allegories for his own shortcomings. Much like many moments in his real life, his fictiious tale end in moments of minor (or grandiose) destruction.

Schrader's film never seems to have a central message to it though. Perhaps this was a directorial choice - an effort to present the man's life in as objective of a manner as possible without judgment of his actions. But there are times where I felt like the beautiful imagery on the screen was mere eye-candy, absent of meaning. The art direction and the score though, are two exceptional reasons for watching the film. There are moments of surrealism so gorgeous, I wanted to catch a flight to L.A., slap Tim Burton across the face and say to him as this film plays: "This is the type of shit you need to be doing." As for Philip Glass' score - it was so engrossing and hypnotic that the instant the film ended, I hopped online and purchases the film's soundtrack. With the Kronos Quartet at his disposal, the music is as beautfil as the imagery on screen.

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Day 217: The Stranger (1946) - Rank 4.5/5

Hey, it’s another film where we see just who can defeat the Nazis and it turns out that yes, you, Suzie B. Homemaker, can expose the mongrel Nazis for the slime they are. That is, if you can handle having two X chromosomes long enough to see past your love and emotions and happy marriage to realize that the man you wed spent the past couple of years gassing Jews to death in concentration camps. Throw in a dash of cat-and-mouse, a dead dog and a hell of a lot of clocks, bake for an hour and a half and we get Orson Welles’ moody film noir “The Stranger.”

Charles Rankin (Welles) is a well-respected man in the sleepy town of Harper, Connecticut with an adoring wife and reputable career as a college professor. Funny thing is he just happens to be one of the most notorious members of the Third Reich, and when an old colleague comes to him for help, he's shadowed by an investigator with the War Crimes Commission. Rankin quickly kills his old friend in an effort to throw the investigator, Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson), off the trail, but it has the opposite effect, pushing Wilson to snoop about Harper all the more. It quickly becomes evident that Rankin will do whatever it takes, including killing members of his new family, in order to keep his past hidden.

The photography in this film is absolutely gorgeous and Welles really establishes himself here as an excellent storyteller (I personally found it more enjoyable than the quintessential "Citizen Kane," though I'm sure that such an assertion will lead to my excommunication from the cinephile community). Robinson is perfectly cast as Rankin's foil, shedding off his cliched gangster typecast to embody a personality as clever and calculating as Rankin, though his efforts are backed with a sense of justice. The film's climax even rivals the Mt. Rushmore showdown of "North by Northwest" as a battle ensues atop the towns grand clock tower. Definitely a top must-see in the Welles' pantheon.

Day 216: Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943) - Rank 3/5

If there’s one thing that cinema can provide, it’s repeated opportunities to kick Nazi ass. Allied troops do it in a number of flicks, from “The Dirty Dozen” to “The Great Escape.” Furthermore, cinema has also taught us that Nazis can be bested by demons from Hell (“Hellboy”), archaeologists (“Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” or “Raiders of the Lost Ark”), old Jews (“Marathon Man” or “The Boys from Brazil ”), hippies (“the Producers”), the indefatigable attitude of the British upper crust (“Mrs. Miniver) and even talking mules (“Francis”). But now I know that Nazis can also be defeated by erudite detectives from the 19th century.

Sherlock Holmes (played by the only, true Sherlock – and yeah, I’m talking to you, Robert Downey Jr.! – Basil Rathbone) is back to outsmart Hitler and his stooges as only Holmes can. His duty is to protect imminent scientist Dr. Franz Tobel (William Post Jr.) from being abducted by the Nazis, for Dr. Tobel has perfected a new type of bomb that will help turn the war around. When he’s kidnapped, despite Holmes’ and Watson’s efforts, Holmes employs his usual tricks to track Dr. Tobel down, only to learn that *SHOCK* his old rival, Dr. Moriarty (Lionel Atwill) is behind the shenanigans. Moriarty has pulled a Belloq in the sense that he doesn’t care about the Nazi cause, he just wants to outwit Holmes again.

I have a feeling that this film was generated when a couple of poor saps at Universal studios sat around, reading the bleak headlines in the paper and one quipped, “You know what? I’ll bet Sherlock Holmes could outwit Hitler.” That, or “You know how we could exploit England and the movie-going public during the war?” Bingo! Box office gold! Britain’s most notorious, fictional hero to save the day. The film’s not all that bad, for it has the same tongue-in-cheek attitude that serials from the era possess. However, I like a good Holmes story to have a period feel to it, replete with the atmosphere that only fog on the banks of the Thames and Big Ben eerily chiming midnight can generate. Having those replaced with stock footage of bombs being dropped over test sites leaves me feeling a little, well, cheated.

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