DVD/150: BONJOUR TRISTESSE (Otto Preminger, 1958)

After SAINT JOAN's failure, Otto Preminger chose the best-selling BONJOUR TRISTESSE, written by Francoise Sagan when she was 18, as a second vehicle for his discovery Jean Seberg, still only 20 years-old.

As with SAINT JOAN, Preminger bullied Seberg during filming and the film's American failure resulted in him ending their three-picture contract.

The film is told in flashback: Cecile is 18, indifferent to her glamourous Parisian life with Raymond, her rich playboy father with his parade of new girlfriends but inside she is tormented by events from the previous summer when they vacationed on the Riviera.

Joined by Raymond's latest mistress, the scatter-brained Elsa, they are suddenly visited by Anne, best friend of Cecile's late mother. Fashion designer Anne has a refined poise which attracts Raymond.

When they announce their engagement, Cecile slowly realises Anne will disrupt her relationship with Raymond and decides to act...

Shelf or charity shop?  Sunbathing on the shelf!  While not perfect - the clashing of English, American, French and Italian accents strains the ears - BONJOUR TRISTESSE rewards repeat viewings.  Jean Seberg has an excellent screen relationship with David Niven but she really impresses when Cecile is faced with Anne's kill-joy personality and becomes a wilful, vengeful teenager.  Deborah Kerr is effective as Anne and also enjoys a good partnership with Niven who gives a nicely nuanced performance. Preminger made a good choice to have the 'present-day' Paris scenes shot in cool black & white and the Riviera scenes in lush colour.  An odd supporting cast include two nice turns from British actresses Martita Hunt and Jean Kent as two Riviera denizens and a haunting appearance by Juliette Greco.  Although Jean's performance was dismissed in English-language reviews, both Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard both praised her; Godard saying that her performance as Cecile easily lead into her role as Patricia in his iconic A BOUT DE SOUFFLE (BREATHLESS).

 

DVD/150: GREAT EXPECTATIONS (David Lean, 1946)

There had already been two films of Dickens' novel but David Lean's version has reigned supreme ever since, despite two more screen adaptations and six TV versions.

Lean had only seen a 1939 stage version, written by Alec Guinness who also played Herbert Pockett.  Seven years later, Lean cast him in the same role; he also cast that production's Miss Haversham, the wonderful Martita Hunt.

Lean wrote the film script with his producers Ronald Neame and Anthony Havelock-Allan, other writers included Cecil McGivern and Lean's actress wife Kay Walsh who wrote the final scene.  It's a text-book adaptation.

Academy Awards deservedly went to Guy Green's cinematography and John Bryan's art direction; they deliver a believable world with a wonderful sense of place, the desolate Kent marshes of Pip's unhappy childhood, the bustling Chancery Lane of his life as a 'gentleman', the gothic decepitude of Miss Haversham's crumbling mansion.

Shelf or charity shop?  A definite keeper - it's a classic for a reason.  Lean's subtle direction works wonders with his wonderous cast: Guinness (in his first major screen role) is delicious as Herbert Pockett while John Forrest is perfect as teenage Herbert, Martita Hunt's magnificent ruin of Miss Haversham, Finlay Currie's scary but dignified Magwitch, Francis L Sullivan's Jaggers, the conceited spite of Jean Simmons' young Estella and Anthony Wager's sad young Pip.  Valerie Hobson is well cast as the brittle older Estella while John Mills - although too old for the role - is a personable Pip.

Dvd/150: ANNA KARENINA (Julien Duvivier, 1948)

This was the seventh screen version of Tolstoy's classic - another nine were to follow!

Thirteen years after Garbo's MGM version, Duvivier's film repeats several of it's problems: turgid pace, an overly-opulent design and an actress caught between a miscast Vronsky and perfect Karenin.

This was Vivien Leigh's first film in three years; she had endured a serious mental breakdown after a miscarriage but had recovered to appear onstage as Sabina in Thornton Wilder's allegorical comedy THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH under Laurence Olivier's direction.  Her Anna is beautifully delicate and tragic but an inner fire is missing.

Kieron Moore as Vronsky is resoundingly dull but Ralph Richardson as Karenin is at his dry, unfeeling best.

The compensations include Cecil Beaton's costumes, the cinematography and Martita Hunt as Princess Betty and while Vivien - and the film - do rise to a haunting ending, by then it has almost run out of steam.

Shelf or charity shop?  A shelf for Vivien alone..