Across the Pacific (John Huston and Vincent Sherman, 1942)

 Secret agent Rick Leland (Humphrey Bogart) fakes a court martial and joins a ship on a cruise to Hawaii.

Onboard, Rick uses his fake dismissal to get in the good graces of Japanese agent Dr. Lorenz (Sydney Greenstreet), and romances a young woman, Alberta (Mary Astor).

As their journey gets underway, it becomes obvious that Lorenz and his fellow agents are up to something - and only Rick and Alberta are standing in their way.

This morning I was talking to my grandfather (a Bogart fan) about the academy’s Bogie Abroad festival.

He asked if they were all good.

Across the Pacific is probably the closest thing to a dud in the festival.

Sirocco does not work that well, but its ambitions are higher - and it is always interesting to watch.

Across the Pacific was made by the same team as The Maltese Falcon (director John Huston, Bogie, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet).

Set in the immediate run-up to Pearl Harbour, Across the Pacific is powered by nationalism. The Japanese are the villains - including, most insidiously, an American-born character Joe (played by Chinese-American actor Victor Sen Yung).

Unlike the more stereotypical tenets of other Asian characters in the film - heavy accents, broken syntax, emotionally reserved - Joe is a fast-talking, horny young man with no filter. With his late character turn, the film hammers home the racist message that, even if they are fully integrated into American/white society, a Japanese American’s loyalties are to Japan.

At the time of this film’s release, the internment of Japanese Americans was taking place, and is reflected in the film’s casting: Most of the Japanese characters were played by actors of Chinese descent because any potential performers were imprisoned. 

Even without this foundation, Across the Pacific is a bummer to sit through.

Across the Pacific is composed of reheated leftovers of earlier spy thrillers, and has the feel of a plot synopsis: poorly defined characters move through various incidents until a slambang finale in the jungle.

Bogart and Astor get some witty barbs, but the characters are dull cliches.

While the acting is not bad, there is a feeling of contractual obligation to the performances.

There is only rote craftsmanship, no sense of fun or momentum. Director Huston did not even finish the project - his duties were completed by Vincent Sherman.

Related 

Tokyo Joe

Sirocco 

The African Queen

Beat the Devil

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Nimona (Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, 2023)

After he is accused of murdering the Queen (Lorraine Toussaint), disgraced knight Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed) is ostracised from the kingdom he swore to protect.

That is when shapeshifter Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz) shows up, intent on becoming this ‘villain’’s sidekick.

Despite Ballister’s objections, he and Nimona are forced to join forces to clear his name, and save the kingdom from destruction…

One of Netflix’s latest releases, Nimona (based on the book by ND Stevenson) is another solid addition to their animated output.

It reminded me a lot of last year’s The Sea Beast in its rather radical underpinnings. 

In its portrayal of a futuristic middle ages, the film is an unsubtle allegory for militarism and conformity, and every aspect of society is geared toward war:

The city is under constant surveillance, kids play warlike games; and adverts play for a cereal brand adorned with the community’s enemy, the dragon.

As with The Sea Beast, the characters ultimately learn that the whole underpinning philosophy of their society is an illusion, and it is only perpetuated to maintain the status quo for those in power.

And while the film’s central message is familiar - about not fitting into the box society has assigned you - it feels a little more specific in its real-world implications. 

Nimona is constantly being questioned on their identity, while main character Ballister’s fall from grace seems to be pointing toward the difference between representation and actual systemic change.

If all that makes the movie sound heavy in tone and leaden in approach, fear not. Nimona is blessed with a chaotic, surreal sense of humour, through both the odd couple dynamic of its central duo, and the title character’s various manifestations.

The animation style is reminiscent of two-dimensional animation, with all the exaggeration and elasticity of the medium. It is not the progression of Across the Spider Verse, but it shows a refreshing aversion to the realism espoused by most computer-generated animation.

Riz Ahmed and Chloe Grace Moretz are terrific in the lead roles: Ahmed balances pathos with a comic exasperation, while  Moretz feels unleashed, leaning into every one of the characters’ ever-shifting states.

Overall, Nimona is a solid kid’s movie - if it has a flaw, the ending loses a little steam by robbing all sense of finality for a setup for a franchise. 

Related 

The Sea Beast

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Four Flies on Grey Velvet AKA 4 mosche di velluto grigio (Dario Argento, 1972)

After he witnesses a masked figure murder a stranger, drummer Roberto Tobias (Michael Brandon) decides against going to the police.

Despite his silence, the killer is not satisfied, and proceeds to engage in a campaign of terror against Roberto.

As the killer murders Roberto’s circle of friends and loved ones, the hapless musician goes on the trial to uncover the killer’s identity…

Maybe it was the effect of watching three movies in a row, but I did not enjoy Four Flies on Grey Velvet.

The lesser of the Animal trilogy, it is hard not to feel like Argento is struggling to come up with new variations on the established formula - the lead character is bland, and, at least in terms of plotting, this feels like the most generic giallo.

However, it does work as a bridge to the future, foreshadowing - in terms of style, and Argento’s specific cinematic vision - the more surreal nightmare-scapes of his movies later in the decade.

One of the most effective scenes is the stalking of the maid (Marisa Fabbri) in the park - it uses jump cuts to show transition: families disappear, there is a timeshift to night. It is wonderfully disconcerting. 

 It is also hard not to hear Ennio Morricone’s rock soundtrack and think of the musical frenzies Argento would create with Goblin.

But despite a few moments, and a fantastic ending, Four Flies on Grey Velvet is torpedoed by lax story-telling. With Argento, plot is not important - but Four Flies is overburdened with narrative, and a lead character who does not even seem to do anything.

Even by the standards of the previous movies, rockstar Roberto Tobias (Michael Brandon) is uncompelling. Brandon’s performance is a blank - sometimes it works for the film’s increasingly surreal atmosphere, but it drains the movie of energy.

It does not help matters that every idea he gets to fight back against his unseen tormentor is supplied by another character, Godfrey (AKA God). Played by Italian comedy legend Bud Spencer, God is a friend who offers advice throughout the film. Essentially, he is in the role of screenwriter, putting our hero into the mould of the giallo seeker protagonist, and telling him how to respond to his enemy’s every move.

While it lacks forward momentum, what makes Four Flies on Grey Velvet interesting from a genre perspective is how homebound it is. Unlike a typical mystery - or the previous films - most of the action is based at Roberto’s home. And this supposedly safe space is repeatedly shown to be the complete opposite. 

In this respect, Four Flies on Grey Velvet is more like a giallo riff on Gaslight, with Roberto as the helpless victim of (spoilers) his spouse (Mimsy Farmer).

One wishes the film was more involving, because what makes Roberto interesting is the ways in which his character is stripped of agency. 

By the end of the picture, I was too checked out and tired to care.

The first film of the trilogy with a masked killer, Four Flies on Grey Velvet is worth checking out. But it probably deserves some space from the other entries in the Animal trilogy to fully appreciate it.

Related

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

The Cat o' Nine Tails

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Harry Palmer enters the 90s: Blue Ice (1992)

  In this season of The James Bond Cocktail Hour podcast, we are covering the six year gap between Licence to Kill and GoldenEye, covering everything James Bond-related, from books to comics to video games, to non-Bond properties which tried to fill the gap.

On the latest episode, we return to the MCCU - the Michael Caine Cinematic Universe - with 1992’s Blue Ice!

Check out the episode at the link below:

No Time To Die (review)

No Time To Die (commentary)

Pierce Brosnan - The Bond In Waiting 

GoldenEye & Spymaker - The Secret Lives of Ian Fleming

Nikita

Total Recall

Fire, Ice and Dynamite & Bullseye!

The Russia House

BrokenClaw

Lethal Weapon & Die Hard

If Looks Could Kill

Hudson Hawk

The Rocketeer

Black Cat

Timebomb

Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country

The Man From Barbarossa

James Bond Jr 

James Bond Jr. and other lost adventures, with Mark Edlitz 

Timothy Dalton's Bond 17 (Mark I) 

Permission to Die

Memoirs of an Invisible Man & The King's Man

Live Wire 

Sneakers 

Blue Ice

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The Cat o' Nine Tails AKA Il gatto a nove code (Dario Argento, 1971)

After a doctor falls in front of a train, journalist Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus) follows a trail of clues back to the Terzi Medical Institute - where a break in has taken place, but nothing appears to be missing.

When an incriminating photograph reveals that the doctor’s death was murder, Carlo soon finds himself the killer’s next target.

Joining forces with Franco "Cookie" Arnò (Karl Malden), a blind former reporter, Carlo is in a race against time to unmask the killer before they have covered their tracks…

The Cat o' Nine Tails is more of a refinement of what Argento developed in The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Less concerned with the narrative, The Cat o' Nine Tails is more stylistically daring - particularly in the flashy, disjunctive editing style, and the introduction of a POV camera. Unlike the leather jacketed silhouette of the previous film, the killer is signified by extreme close ups of their eyes.

And unlike the familiar ordinary hero of the previous movie, we get a pair of heroes: A rugged journalist (James Franciscus) and a blind man (Karl Malden).

The film is filled with eccentric details - Malden has a cane with a hidden blade; one of the potential suspects is gay; the villain reveals his own motivation before being exposed.

  

It also boasts a more overt sense of humour - the cop who brags about his wife’s cooking; our macho hero is terrified when they are sneaking through the graveyard; the journalists go from shock at a man falling in front of a train, to back to work when the starlet they have been waiting for arrives on said train.

Once again, appearances can be deceiving: ordinary objects (canes, milk) can become weapons. The film foregrounds the idea of what exists within and outside the frame, literalised in the first clue: the photo of the doctor’s murder is cropped for publishing, hiding his murderer’s hand.

 

As well as drawing attention to the cinematic frame, the diegesis draws attention to sound - Malden’s character recognises the sound of the killer’s shoes.

An enjoyable potboiler, despite some unique aspects The Cat o' Nine Tails is a little anonymous compared with the freshness of Plumage. Solid performances and a cynical edge of irony are welcome, but it does feel a tad formulaic. 

Related

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

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BITE-SIZED: Plan B (Natalie Morales, 2021)

Best friends Sunny (Kuhoo Verma) and Lupe (Victoria Moroles) are two teens in South Dakota.

They are also in trouble: Sunny has just had sex and needs the Plan B pill.

When they are unable to get the pill from their local pharmacy, the best friends have to go on a race against time to get to the state’s one remaining Planned Parenthood.

Will they get there in time? And will they get Sunny’s mum’s (Jolly Abraham) car back before she notices?

The comic yin to Nia DaCosta’s Little Woods, Natalie Morales’ Plan B is no less terrifying in its implications.

Running just over 100 minutes, Plan B has the pacing of a thriller, as our heroines try to achieve their goal.

Maybe it is due to the current climate, with the end of Roe v Wade, and the swathes of anti-abortion legislation being passed by states in America, I did not find Plan B a laugh riot - but the movie is not interested in gags.

Aside from a bit involving unintended genital mutilation, the humor is character-based.

Verma and Moroles have a believable rapport as best friends, and most of the movie’s impact rests on their shoulders.

And while comic in part, there is a bleak underbelly to the film’s story - Sunny’s fear of her mother feels less imminent than the weight of having to carry through an unwanted pregnancy.

Further tension comes from Lupe’s covert relationship with a rock drummer (Myha’la Herrold), which she has kept secret from her family and her best friend.

While there is an element of farce to the characters’ trip, Plan B is a film about young women wrestling with a world that wants to dictate what they do with their bodies. And the film does not try to offer easy remedies to their problems. 

A small, empathetic teen movie, Plan B is a fine showcase for its stars - and a sad reflection of the world its intended audience are growing up in.

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