The Picture Show Annual (1960)

If you were cast away on an island and could take a film projector and ten films of your choice... WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE? It's not a batl little island ; plenty of food, a cool stream, a tcell constructed hut icith aU mod. cons, and a perfect climate. Only otic snag : you’re likely to get a bit bored after a few years so it is just as tcell to make a careful, considered choice of flltns. You tnay not agree with mine. But then . . . tee tcon’t be on the same island. ★ ★ ★ HELLZAPOPPIN’. Just about the whackiest film ever made. Starring Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson, and loosely based on their four-year Broadway success, Hellzapoppin’ opens with a dance routine in Hell and proceeds from that moment to knock all kinds of Hades out of conventional film-making. The actors talk to the audience . . . and the things they say to Louie who is projecting the film ! It seems Louie has a girl in the box with him and that explains why the film sometimes runs upside down or gets stuck halfway between frames, squashing everyone into the top half of the screen. It also explains why a mob of Indian braves suddenly appears in a lavish ballroom scene asking “ which way did they go ? ” The Indians have nothing to do with Hellzapoppin ’ and it appears they should have been in a Western. Olsen and Johnson pulled more sight gags in Hellzapoppin than any picture before, or since. Aiding them : Martha Raye as a gargantuan “ baby ” who has a Canadian Mounted Police approach to life—she always gets her man; Hugh Herbert, burbling like a coffee percolator and with the ability to disguise himself in a variety of human and sub-human shapes ; Mischa Auer as a Russian Count and a host of other padded cell types. After years alone on a desert isle you will probably think of Hellzapoppin' as a sane film ! ★ ★ ★ FANTASIA. Eight wonderful music classicals con- ducted by Leopold Stokowski and visually interpreted in Disney cartoon magic. This is an absolute feast for eye and ear. I think Fantasia would be my most played film on the island. Just look at the programme : Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach ; The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky ; The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dukas ; Rite of Spring by Stravinsky ; The Pastoral Symphony by Beethoven ; The Dance of the Hours by Ponchielli ; Night on Bald Mountain by Mous- sorgsky ; Ave Maria by Schubert. Bliss, bliss . . . not a twanging guitar among the lot! ★ ★ ★ WITNESS FOR THE PROSE- CUTION. Agatha Christie’s thriller brilliantly scored for the screen. Everything about this film is profes- sional ; its plot, its dialogue, its players, its direction. Charles Laugh- ton, Elsa Lanchester, the late Tyrone Power and Marlene Dietrich are the top names and each gives a wonderful performance. Director is consistently good Billy Wilder. The film’s startling climax never fails to startle however many times you see it. CITY LIGHTS. This Chaplin classic was first screened in 1931 and has been re-issued many times since. An undatable film that is generally reckoned to be one of the most hilarious ever made. It is 83 minutes of sheer joy. In addition to comedy it has some beautifully tender scenes between Chaplin and the little blind flower girl with whom he has fallen in love. ★ ★ ★ BICYCLE THIEVES. A memorable Italian film which has won awards in practically every country in which it has been shown. Made soon after the war on a wafer thin budget, it has no stars and uses hardly any studio scenes. The people it portrays are believable, the back- grounds are real, too. It’s the story of a father and his small son—the lattfir a wonderful scene stealer—and tells of their heartbreaking search for the father's stolen bicycle. Without it he will be back again among the millions of unemployed. The final scene when he is con- fronted by thousands of unattended bikes outside a football stadium and of his attempt to steal one, to the horror of his son, is a treasured film memory. ★ ★ ★ INDISCREET is a complete contrast to the one above. Here we have a sophisticated, witty, tongue-in-the-cheek romp played by those two masters Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. The delightfully casual way Bergman and Grant stroll through this film and the warm glow they give their screen romance is something delightful to see. Another reason, too, why this film is on my island list . . . the brilliantly designed and furnished settings. I can see the Bergman flat now : the soft Regency blue of the walls, masses of cushions, lamp shades of vivid hues and the walls covered with innumerable paintings by Picasso, Dufy, Roualt and John Piper. The colouring of each painting enhanced by imaginative framing. Yes, In- discreet is a rich film. Something to savour among the austere bits and pieces of my island hut. ★ ★ ★ MARTY. Chosen because I would want something scripted by Paddy Chayefsky. I could have just as easily gone for his other films— The Bachelor Party and Wedding Breakfast —but Marty gets the verdict. Ernest Borgnine as the fat, ugly man, and Betsy Blair the plain, shy girl finding love when they had both feared it had passed them by, give compelling performances. Here's a picture with heart. ★ ★ CARLTON-BRtfVVNE OF THE F.O. For something essentially British this would be my choice. The Boulting Brothers’ film guying—ever so slightly, in fact, it could almost be documentary —the Foreign Office is a gem. Seeing it would make inejiope that one day a Terry-Thomas type would hear of my existence on the island and send a gunboat to protect me.