Doctor Faustus (1967)

 "Why, this is Hell, nor am I out of it".

I fear that, much though I enjoy the deliciously irreverent work of Christopher Marlowe, I've only read two of his plays (The Jew of Malta and Edward II), and until now had never seen a performance of any kind. One may certainly say that this isan odd place to start- a mostly amateur production from students at Oxford University (including one Ian Marter!), directed by a don, and somehow not only starring Richard Burton but, oddly, featuring Elizabeth Taylor as second billing despite the fact she has no lines and hardly appears.

The play is witty, delicious, but also odd- theologically deep, reflecting an age of alchemy rather than science, where the nature of academia itself was utterly alien to the modern mind. Marlowe is riffing on an existing German tale here, where the eponymous doctor sellshis soul to Lucifer for a mere four and twenty years in return for knowledge and... well, not much else. Not love, power or happiness. This is a version shorn of the comedic scenes, but both the power and irreverence of the play will speak for themselves in any production.

I'll admit this version is no classic. Burton is far too old to play the younger Faustus and his performance, while good, does not inspire. Yet the haunting music and the bizarre Hammer Horror style sort of actually work. The Seven Deadly Sins portion is well handed, with the masks echoing classical Greek theatre. And Andreas Teuber is a genuinely compelling Mephistopheles. This film isa bit mad, yes... but that's rather why I like it.

Bitter Victory (1957)

 "All men are cowards in some things..."

This film does not, it seems, have much of a reputation. Richard Burton gets top billing here as Captain James Leith, but far more interesting is Curd Jurgens, perennial German officer in World War II films but this tiome an officer- albeit South African- in the British Army, as Major David Brand. Brand is the protagonist, but a far deeper and more fascinating one than a mere hero would have been. Both he and Burton are superb, and both characters have real depth. The script is exquisite; this feels as much a serious play as a war film, despite the gripping action scenes.

Both men are candidates to lead an important, dangerous mission from Cairo into German-held Libya. Yet there is friction, with Leith being an old flame to Brand's wife Jane. Brand is an inexperienced staff officer, out of his depth in action, whereas Leith is a volunteer, a former archeologist, a philosophical man with a deep, dark soul. The general chooses Brand to lead, as Leith is "an intellectual. Besides, he;s Welsh." Well then.

The scenes between the two men are gripping. Leith sees Brand's failure to kill in action, yet this is no moral failing. Where Brand disgusts is in his dishonesty and the extent to which he goes to hide his failure, trying to kill Leith, subtly, and ending up with a reputation as a killer amongst his men and, indeed, his wife. Yes, this is an action film, and a good one. There is suspense. Yet, as a character drama, this is almost as good as anything by Miller or Rattigan.

Not only that, we get to hear Christopher Lee doing a cockney accent.

Look Back in Anger (1959)

 "I learned at an early age what it was to be angry..."

I've never seen a John Osborne play before, and this film puts me in an awkward position. Firstly, I'm inevitably going to be talking about the play more than the excellently shot prduction and, secondly, this isn't the play itself; it's a screenplay adapted by Nigel Kneale who, while well-known for science fiction of the more intellectual and despairing kind, is a strangely appropriate person to adapt this very '50s howl of existentialist, post-imperial despair.

Because that's what it is. It's existentialist, with Jimmy wrestling with the very '50s angst of finding purpose in a purposeless world, with a certain kind of period ennui. It's about class, in a strangely apolitical way. It's realist, if you're comparing it (as people mainly did) to the likes of Terence Rattigan, although the dialogue is a bit too polished for it to be truly that. It feels vaguely left-wing without necessarily having any coherent political point. It's genuinely good, if simultaneously deep and empty. Yet, ultimately, it's far more dated in 2021 than Rattigan wil ever be. It's poetic, its characters are passionately real, bt ultimately it's not actually about anything.

We're supposed to like Jimmy, the "angry young man", the university graduate who works on a stall, slumming it, as what Douglas Couland would call a "slacker" a few decades later. Yet, good as Richard Burton is, Jimmy is a pretentious, misogynistic arsehole who physically abuses his wife with an iron and seems unmoved at the news he's to become a dad. Yet I have a feeling he's supposed to stand as a sympathetic symbol of university educated, working class young men who feel alienated at.... well, nothing in particular. It would be different if he'd been shown to be aspiring to greater things but struggling at the lack of social mobility, but there's no suggestion of any such thing. There's mention of the American age, of the end of empire, of death. Admittedly it's a rather dull time where people were waiting for the '60s to happen. But, to me, Jimmy is just an unpleasant wanker.

Ths is a good film based on what looks to be a good and thought-provoking play. But, social mores aside, this comes across as old-fashioned in 2021 in ways that Terence Rattigan doesn't.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)

"She offered me free love. At the time it was all I could afford.”

Wow. That was bleak. More so, in fact, than the BBC’s superb version of Le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy which I am certain to blog at some point. And that Richard Burton is awfully good at this acting lark.

I was twelve when the Wall came down; I remember the Cold War. But the world of half a century ago seems a strange place in many ways. The leading man can sneeringly refer to a “queer”, labour exchanges advertise “jobs for men” and even a bibulous fellow like myself raises an eyebrow at the sheer amount of alcohol consumed. And Nan refers to her Hungarian goulash with Portuguese wine as a “Communist dish with a totalitarian wine”; no one seems to regard the tyrannies of the Eastern Bloc and Salazar’s fascist state as equally vile. It’s all a game and, as Control says, while one side supports freedom and the other does not, the methods used by both sides are equally abhorrent. No wonder it’s so easy to become burnt out and turn to drink.

(“Control”- I now get certain sketches from A Bit of Fry and Laurie more than I did...)

This is a thriller, of sorts, but one uniquely suffused with a profound sense of moral disillusionment and ennui. Leamas is younger than I am now but certainly doesn’t feel it. The final twist is clever but morally bankrupt and the unhappy ending, when it comes, is not unexpected. An excellently downbeat counterweight to the sort of spy film we usually see and a real acting triumph from Richard Burton.

The Longest Day (1962)

"Cor, stone the crows!"

I'm not a particular fan of war films, but I'm not prejudiced against them either. After The Dam Busters and Battle of Britain it's time for this epic saga of D Day which, shockingly, is the first film I've blogged to feature John Wayne, Henry Fonda or Robert Mitchum. Those are three omissions I'm certainly glad to rectify.

John Wayne doesn't get all that much screen time as Colonel Vandervoort, but he dominates the film. He's sort of the David Bowie of acting (those are two names you don't often hear together!); Bowie has a restricted vocal range but sings well within that and is careful always to stay within his range; he's primarily a songwriter and musician, not Freddie Mercury- as "Under Pressure" demonstrates. John Wayne may not be the most versatile actor, and he has presence and charisma rather than talent, but in the right role he can be truly extraordinary. This is one of those parts.

Films like this don't always quite work (hello, Battle of Britain), feeling disjointed and lacking in spirit, but this film is both masterly structured and full of heart and pathos. Little vignettes like the American shooting a surrendering German and then asking what "Bitte, bitte" meant, or the poetic scene late on with the lost American soldier and the crippled and philosophical British parachutist whose painkillers are wearing off. It's a nice touch that the German and French characters speak in their own language with subtitles and, while the Canadians are insultingly  downplayed, both British and American forces get a lot of screen time, with the slight bias towards the USA being understandable because of Omaha Beach being the bloodiest and most dramatic.

It's a long film, but manages not to drag, balancing the large scale with the human experience well. The ending feels sudden, but I suppose that's realistic. A much recommended film.