Four-star movie: One, Two, Three

One, Two, Three
Director: Billy Wilder
1961

This was James Cagney's last major role, and he was great in it. He's onstage about 90% of the time. That said, this was a stupid and obnoxious movie unless you're able to put yourself in the comic book mindset this movie is set in. It's set in the Berlin of 1960, just before the Berlin Wall went up.

All the Americans are greedy and materialistic, and all the Communists are sneaky and either evil or greedy. People change their allegiances at the drop of a hat, and all the main German characters are secret ex-Nazis -- but not very good ones, they quickly assure you.

The timing was unfortunate on this, since once the Berlin Wall was in place, the whole premise didn't seem so funny, and in fact it was initially a box-office flop. However, it was re-released 1985 in France and Germany and became a box office success, especially in West Berlin. Go figure.

(I've been watching a lot of movies over the past week or two, and am trying to catch up on posts about them, so there will be several coming up. Once the new TV season starts, things will slacken up considerably.)

Four-star movie: On the Beach

On the Beach
Director: Stanley Kramer
1959

I think the most remarkable thing about this movie is that it got made at all -- and that it got made with an all-star cast and without significantly changing the ending.

No real spoilers, since the basic plot is set out at the beginning: this is about the end of the world from radiation poisoning following World War III (it's never mentioned whose fault it is). The movie isn't about averting the end of the world: that's already happened. Most of the world is already dead, but one American submarine arrives at Australia, where the last survivors are waiting for the cloud of radiation that will inevitably kill them.

The film (following the book) shows most people accepting their fate stoically, staying at their jobs until the last. I think social services would break down sooner, but that would be a different movie.

In a way, this movie was less grim than some of the other depressing movies I've watched in the past few weeks, because there was no feeling of suspense. As a cautionary tale, I don't know how effective it was, but I'm glad it's a future that never arrived.

Four-star movie: On the Town

On the Town
Director: Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
1949

This is complete and total fluff. It takes place in the sort of movie-plot universe where one can find one particular girl (there are no women these sorts of movies) in New York by visiting all the museums, because she likes culture. And where police officers will search all day and night for (and eventually find) three sailors because one of them caused a dinosaur skeleton to fall apart by bumping it in the kneecap.

It also contains one of my major squicks -- the clueless obnoxious roommate who doesn't understand that she's unwanted. Here, she's alternatively played as obnoxious and pathetically grateful when she gets any attention.

I enjoyed the production numbers (which do not generally advance the plot), and I'm glad none of the sailors pledged eternal love to any of the girls they connected with. Mostly this was a cotton candy movie, and I tried to watch it in the spirit it was intended and ignore the almost total gender fail (though all the girls are career girls of sorts, and portrayed as competent).