Between 1979 and 1987, Soviet television produced a series of five films (later broken up into eleven episodes) starring Vasily Livanov as Sherlock Holmes and Vitaly Solomin as Dr. Watson. The last of these was released in cinemas as Sherlock Holmes in the 20th Century. While the Livanov/Solomin series is well regarded by many Holmes aficionados, I found it to be very uneven, and this final film was the messiest of the lot, trying to mix together four different stories to tell a single tale of Holmes and Watson battling foreign spies in the lead up to World War I. Despite some thematic links, the four tales really do not flow together well. The strongest segments is based 'The Engineer's Thumb', which makes for a atmospheric opening, but it is one of those stories where it feels like Doyle got bored and gave up on early so it has no satisfying conclusion. Livanov and Solomin do make for an engaging and playful duo. The best part of the film is seeing Holmes and Watson contend with the rapid advance in technology the new century brings, from cars and motorbikes, to the many telephones and telegraphs littered around Mycroft's chaotic office.
Rating: ⭐⭐
David Lean's production of the Boris Pasternak novel about the doomed love affair between physician and poet Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) and his mistress and muse Lara (Julie Christie), set against the backdrop of WWI and the October Revolution. Lean understood how to make epics and, more importantly, knew how to make them alluring to audience so they didn't start to slip out during the intermission. He knew that they needed to be sweeping, but not sprawling. Expansive, yet intimate. And above all else they needed to look damn good. There's no point in hiring a master cinematographer like Freddie Young unless you cook up some evocative images for him to point the camera at. Lean reunited with many of his previous collaborators for this film, including Young and composer Maurice Jarre, and they're all operating at the top of the craft. The only thing that really lets the film down are its tragic lovers. Yuri and Lara are not the most compelling of characters, and actors don't have much chemistry, but by the gods are they photogenic, Christie especially. The camera is utterly bewitched by those blue eyes of hers.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
An unseen narrator wanders through the many rooms and hallways of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, encountering various famous figures for the palace's long history. Russian Ark has no story, no characters and arcs, and has no interest in explaining itself. Is the narrator a time traveler or a ghost? Who knows. It is very much like roaming around a museum and taking special interest in all of the exhibits on display. What it might lack narratively, it more than makes up for in filmmaking prowess. Shot in one single 87-minute unbroken shot featuring 2,000 actors in detailed period costumes, 33 different rooms of the palace, and at least three different orchestras, this is a masterpiece of planning and co-ordination.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
During the Russian Civil War, Red Army soldier Fyodor Sukhov (Anatoly Kuznetsov) is on his way home along the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea when he is caught up in a conflict against Basmachi guerrillas. This was one of the most popular films released during the Soviet era and remains so today. Russian cosmonauts even traditionally watch it before a launch as a sigh of good luck. Something must get lost in translation, however, because I thought it was nothing more than a rambling mess. Effectively a Russian spaghetti western, but not a very good one and often uncomfortably dated in many places.
Rating: ⭐⭐
Michael Apted directs Dennis Potter's adaptation of the 1981 novel by Martin Cruz Smith. Arkady Renko (William Hurt), an officer with the Moscow militsiya, is called in to investigate when three people are found brutally murdered near the ice rink in Gorky Park. Sometimes it isn't the story you tell or how you tell it, but where. This is a fairly conventional murder mystery story, employing all the usual tropes, twists, and cliches, but the appeal is seeing how those familiar elements are implemented in such an unfamiliar setting, for this viewer at least, as the declining days of Brezhnev Russia.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Andrei Tarkovsky's episodic and often ponderous film about the life of renowned 15th century monk and icon painter Andrei Rublev (Anatoly Solonitsyn). Tarkovsky is one of cinema's most esoteric filmmakers, yet despite being a three hour black and white art house film about a religious painter, this is one of his most accessible works and the one I've enjoyed the most. The various chapters drift from long scenes of monks arguing about art, faith, and the meaning of life, to the brutality of the sacking of Vladimir, to a detailed demonstration of how to make a church bell in medieval Russia, which ended up being the engrossing part of the whole film. Seriously, I practically on the edge of my seat waiting to hear whether or not that thing would ring.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Producer Sam Spiegel was clearly eager to make a film about revolutionary Russia. He was hoping to work with David Lean again on Doctor Zhivago, but he had annoyed Lean so much during the making of Lawrence of Arabia that he was shut out of production. Undeterred, he instead set his sights on Robert K. Massie's 1967 book about the fall of the Romanov dynasty, which he originally tried to adapt without buying the rights, arguing that it was all in the public domain (didn't work). By the 1970s, big budget historical epics were a dying breed thanks to the poor performance of films like Waterloo, Cromwell, and Lean's own Ryan's Daughter. Nicholas and Alexandra was one of the final nails in the coffin. Well made, but not in a way that really impresses, this is little more than a very expensive historical re-enactment. You might learn some facts, but it offers no real insight to these people and events. The only real entertainment value comes from Tom Baker gloriously hammy it up as Russia's greatest love machine. It was a shame how he carried on.
Rating: ⭐⭐
Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011 More Mark Greig
No comments:
Post a Comment
We love comments! Just note that we always moderate because of spam and trolls. It's never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.