Avast me hearties! - "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935)

Mat here. We were in the mood for some swashbuckling, and Mutiny on the Bounty fit the bill. This historical drama on the high seas retells the rebellion by the crew of the HMS Bounty, led by Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable), against the tyrannical Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton).

The film opens with a bunch of average guys being brutally press-ganged into the Navy to serve on Bligh's latest voyage. Things go from bad to worse as Bligh cruelly punishes any misdemeanours with the cat o' nine tails, a freezing stint in the crow's nest or a brutal keel-hauling.

Fletcher finally reaches breaking point and wrests control of the ship, dumping Bligh and his loyalists into a longboat and setting sail for some downtime in Tahiti. Amazingly, Bligh makes it back to England and then heads back for his mutinous crew.

One of the mutineers ends up on Bligh's boat and is taken to England for court martial. The film ends with his trial, and covers some of the changes to nautical practice that were set in place to ensure the sailors' treatment that resulted in mutiny wouldn't happen again.

Despite being a very old film, Mutiny on the Bounty had a lot of modern sensibilities. The action was fast-paced and the editing brisk. The pacing is a little uneven once the men get to Tahiti as we jump forward several years with little appreciation of the time passing. The rivalry between Bligh and Fletcher was more than acting as the two actors reportedly despised each other. Gable was a well-known homophobe and Laughton was openly gay, even bringing along his buff boyfriend to their island location shoot as his 'personal masseur'.

Rather than being based strictly on the real events, Mutiny on the Bounty was based on the novel of the same name by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. Thus there are some historical inaccuracies (such as Bligh is present at the court martial, or several men being killed in the mutiny) that follow the story of the novel rather than recorded history.

Mutiny on the Bounty was an enjoyable, if at times brutal (well, for the 30's) adventure, but if I was casting around for a fun swashbuckling movie to watch on a Saturday afternoon, I'd pick Treasure Island over this!

Danielle gave it 67/100 and I gave it 70/100 when I scored it quickly straight after we watched it and then 64/100 once I’d had time to reflect and score properly! So overall we'll say we agree and both gave it 67/100!

Slow and steady wins the Oscar - "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989)

This was not an easy one to get Mat to watch – it definitely screams ‘chick flick’ and this is exacerbated by the fact that for some completely bizarre reason his high school teachers felt that this was appropriate and entertaining fare for the the 7-11 boys while the year 12s had their muck up days. Every year for 5 years Mat was herded into a smelly gymnasium with 1000 other equally unimpressed pubescent boys to watch Miss Daisy and Hoke meander there way across the US and the decades. So you can imagine how thrilled he was when this came out of the hat!

But despite some fairly negative associations, he actually enjoyed this Best Picture Winner and rated it 69. I gave it 79 and our houseguest and guest reviewer, Gina, gave it 80.

This is a sweet and deceptively simple story that reflects the social change whipping through the south in the mid-twentieth century. The story follows the 25 year relationship between a stubborn Southern Jew and her African-American driver, a relationship that changes both of them and reflects the growing social changes in the South and the confusion many people must have felt as old divides and class distinctions became taboo.

I love Jessica Tandy, I should say that now and I’m so impressed she won the Best Actress Oscar for this role (making her the oldest winner at 81 years old). Her performance is rich, subtle, never clichéd and she lends depth and charm to a rather cantankerous old woman so stuck in her ways she’d fire a man over a tin of salmon rather than have his presence disturb her status quo.

Morgan Freeman plays a wonderful character; the proverbial stream wearing down Miss Daisy’s stone. He lends a grace and dignity to the role that you feel Hoke would have had to possess to survive for a quarter of a century!

This is so different to many of the winners we’ve watched so far, it’s quiet and unassuming. The humour is soft and real, the dialogue true to life and witty and the direction and score are beautiful additions while never over powering the scene or the flow. It’s not a big story – there are no wars or battlefields or great and famous heroes or struggles, just two people and the difference they made to each others lives. This makes the characters and the story eminently relatable despite the period setting (and our lack of Southern Jewish or African-American blood) and I think a worthy winner of the Best Picture Oscar.

"From Here to Eternity" (1953) - Dirty soldiers 1950s style!

This is another classic we’d been looking forward to watching where overall the background and gossip surrounding production were more interesting than the film itself.

First off, just so you know, the iconic scene on the beach between Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster that has been emulated by everyone from Madonna (in her ‘Cherish’ video) to Bolle sunglasses is really not that integral to the plot. Those guys aren’t even the main protagonists; they’re more of a heavily edited side story.

The main action is based on the novel by James Jones and takes place in Hawaii just before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour. We follows the indomitable Montgomery Clift’s character as he is bullied into boxing at his new army posting and an array of side characters that demonstrate a darker side to the US Army than the 1950s audience would have been used to.

The acting is quite compelling and the parts of the story that actually made it to the big screen are interesting but I would have really liked to seen the less-censored version! To get it past the Army (and ensure their help in production) key locations, events and outcomes had to be altered (e.g., changing a brothel to a nightclub and showing the broken bureaucracy of the Army higher ups being addressed and amended). But in true classic fashion, the best drama was all going on behind the scenes…

Montgomery Clift was his usual intense and method self on set, learning to play the bugle and move like a boxer and actually getting drunk for scenes that required his character to be drunk( although given that he was a lifelong alcoholic – that may not have been purely for the part!)

Despite the studio having severe reservations about the non-soldier ‘probably homosexual’ actor playing this role, he delivers a really honest and riveting performance. In another casting controversy, this is supposedly also the movie that Frank Sinatra got a little ‘wink wink nudge nudge/offer they couldn’t refuse’ help to land the part of the irascible 'only my friends can call me a wop' Private Maggio (as fictionalised in ‘The Godfather’).

Whatever the politics that went into this film getting made, we’re glad it did, it was entertaining, if a little too long and scored respectably for such a sanitised story. I gave it 59 and Mat scored it 61. (I may have taken off points for the film’s role in popularising Hawaiian shirts!)

"Annie Hall" (1977) - can't hold a candle to "Mega-Shark"

For the life of me I don’t understand the appeal of Woody Allen. Maybe I’m just coloured by the knowledge that he actually turned out to be an incestuous paedophile. Maybe I’m still sore that this piece of crap robbed ‘Star Wars’ of an Oscar. Honestly though, I think I’m just shallow and judgemental and the idea that a weedy, nerdy, puny little bald guy could actually be deemed irresistible by a veritable who’s who of 70s actresses just leaves me shaking my head in disbelief.

Woody Allen is at his obsessive compulsive peak in this reportedly ‘romantic adventure’ that follows the rise and demise of a narcissistic, neurotic comedian’s relationship with a narcissistic, neurotic singer. The shots are long and plodding, like their rambling and apparently never-ending psychotherapy sessions and nothing seems to have a particular beginning or end – not the shots, not the acts, not the script not even the core relationship we’re supposed to give a damn about!

There are some cutesy and accurate zings at the movie/tv business in general, and the LA/New York divide, but they mostly come across as the observations of a petulant child who isn’t allowed to sit at the grown ups table.

Annie: It’s so clean out here.

Alvy: That’s because they don’t throw their garbage away, they turn it into television shows.

Woody Allen, like Kenneth Branagh and the man who Allen pipped at the post with this offering, Mr George Lucas, would all be far better served by letting someone else tell their stories. When someone else directs and manages their artistic temperament and ‘vision’, the product becomes far less indulgent and much more compelling (see, ‘Scenes From a Mall’ versus ‘Annie Hall’, ‘Othello’ versus ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Empire Strikes Back’ versus any of the prequels!).

In all honesty the only way we managed to talk ourselves into watching this one all the way through was by bribing ourselves with the promise of ‘Mega-Shark versus Giant Octopus’ (which I may have to review at a later date). But the really sad part was, this schlock-mock horror movie with Deborah Gibson (of 80s big hair, pop light, lycra tights fame) tracking a prehistoric mega-shark and giant octopus through the ocean while they attack cruiseships and airplanes was 1000 times more entertaining than 1977’s Best Picture Winner, ‘Annie Hall’.

I did manage a 34 (which puts it in front of ‘Tom Jones’) and did manage to stay awake for this watching, but Mat only pulled out a 28 (probably because he had to spend so much time keeping me awake!)

Sex-BOMB - "Tom Jones" (1963)

Wow this was bad. So bad. Can’t tell you how much we wanted to turn this off. Mat has actually said he’d rather sit through ‘Forrest Gump’ again than this one!

So where to begin? I guess with the beginning which was actually kind of promising. It was quite a slapstick, funny opening, quite different for the times but the occasional witty dialogue and comical situations soon degenerated into a farce that Monty Python would have been embarrassed to produce.

This is a costume/period drama set amongst the English countryside and aristocracy and Tom Jones is the natural child of someone (e.g., illegitimate) who grows into a debaucherous, lecherous tramp. The plot (if we can stretch it to that) is that Tom is set up by the jealous ‘good and true’ son/nephew and kicked out of the manor to traipse around the country side getting into scraps. At one point he even has sex with someone who may or may not be his mother – and that’s not even the most distasteful scene!

The only reason it has scored even in the 20s (Mat = 22, D=24) is because annoyingly Albert Finney who plays Tom is actually really good. Despite the trainwreck of a movie, he displays a great control and presence and doesn’t ham things up like his co-stars. He almost succeeds in making this incredibly unlikeable character sort of likeable.

The other saving grace were elements of the script (that I believe were lifted straight from the book) which were actually very well written and could have produced a decent film if the filmmakers hadn’t decided to make a gyroscopic film version of Benny Hill meets Pride and Prejudice.

Please don’t ever watch this one! No-one else should have to suffer through this piece of poorly executed, insulting, nauseating and discombobulating mess!

Going Bing's Way - "Going My Way" (1944)

Mat here.

'Going My Way' won Best Picture in 1944, and is a pleasant, but ultimately forgettable, star-vehicle for Bing Crosby. Bing plays Father Chuck O'Malley, a young, hip Catholic priest sent to help a failing New York church.

Father O'Malley has some wacky ideas, like turning the local delinquents into a choir to keep them off the streets. His new-fangled ways don't sit well with old-fashioned Father Fitzgibbon (played by Barry Fitzgerald, who was nominated in both the lead and supporting actor categories for this role, and won best supporting - the rules have since changed so that this can't happen any more), but Father O'Malley's success gradually wins him over.

The songs are definitely a highlight of the film, with Bing & Co. breaking into song often. The classic 'Swinging On A Star' comes from this film, and right picked up it's own Best Song Oscar.

Between songs it tended to be a little dull, and the film is almost half an hour too long - there's a scene where the collection plate is going round and it's clear the church is going to be OK, then there's all this other stuff, including a giant church fire, that was all unnecessary. Cut from the collection plate scene to Bing packing up to go help another church in need and it would have scored better.

I gave this one 54/100 and Danielle gave it 61/100.

Play it again, king of the world - 'Titanic' (1997) and 'Casablanca' (1943)

We’re combining these two reviews because we’re running horribly behind with our weekly film-watching and reviewing goals but also because they’re almost at opposite ends of the classics spectrum and make for a good contrast! That’s what we’re telling ourselves anyway.

They both deal with epic love stories against historically important backdrops and they both have key scenes that have worked their way into the cultural zeitgeist – albeit for fairly different reasons. How many people have caught a ferry in the last 10 years without trying to replicate Kate and Leo’s king of the world moment? And who doesn’t know the line, “this is the start of a beautiful friendship”?

However, ‘Casablanca’ manages to deliver a poignant portrayal of one love story that reflected the choices, the conflicts and the sacrifice of so many people in wartime, while ‘Titanic’ takes an epic tragedy and turns it into an amusement park ride, complete with water features.

'Casablanca' endures because whether you like Bogart or not (mat – yes!, me – no), you care about the situation he finds himself in. You know this girl has hurt him and he’s learnt to rely on himself and do what’s best for him. Suddenly his loyalty and moral code are tested against his selfish desire for self-preservation and love. At the same time, Ingrid Bergman is faced with the ultimate pull between duty and love and I think we can all relate to the struggle between what we want to do and what we know we need to do.

The war, the location and the stories of those in limbo in Casablanca only augment the themes of love, duty, honour and sacrifice. The whole film displays the tug-of-war between the values you have the luxury to treasure in ‘normal society’ versus what needs to be done in the extraordinary circumstances of war. Mat scored this a 96 (making it one of his best rated movies), but I only gave it 82 (although I think my Bogart-bias is showing here!).

In the same way that ‘Casablanca’ managed to comment on life’s truths by showing us at our most stressed and vulnerable, ‘Titanic’ tried to comment on more overarching themes than ‘count the lifeboats before you sail’, but just can’t pull it off. The story is too manipulated and fabricated and that is the real tragedy. You only get snippets of what could actually have served as pivotal and important moments; the young Irish woman in the doomed third-class berths telling her children a bedtime story about everlasting youth or the elderly couple quietly holding hands on their gilded bed even as the water rushes in under them.

Didn’t Cameron think there was enough drama with the sinking of the ‘unsinkable ship’ without having to throw in a class war, a forbidden love, then (god help us) a frame-up and chase scene complete with firearms through the sinking ship?!?!

Having said all that, ‘Titanic’ is still pretty fun to watch, the underwater footage they shot of the real Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic is incredible and haunting, and the stars are likeable and watchable . Mat scored it a 62, but I could only get to a 56 – I don’t like knowing when they’re trying to jerk my heart strings! A decent script and some heavy editing really could have pushed this into the lasting classics rather than the generational classic I believe it’s destined to be.

Mat here.

I had to add a quick word about Casablanca, as my score of 96/100 has put Casablanca ahead of all the other Best Picture winners I've watched.

All of the elements of Casablanca come together to produce a film as close to perfect as I can imagine. Everything I look for in a film is here: engaging characters, an exciting setting, clever dialogue, actors at the top of their game, some of the best cinematography I have seen, genuine emotion and capped off with a very un-Hollywood ending.

What more is left to say? Casablanca is not only the best Best Picture winner in my book, I would also argue that Casablanca is probably the best movie of all time. We haven't finished every film on the Best Picture list yet (not by a long shot), but I'm doubtful anything will approach the heights of Casablanca.