The Little Foxes, They Live by Night, In a Lonely Place, & The Ninth Gate

The Little Foxes was somewhat disappointing, but it's mainly because I keep forgetting just how much I don't care for Bette Davis. She's horrendous in Jezebel. She's slightly better in this. I mainly wanted to see it for Teresa Wright. Who is a favorite of mine. Not just for Shadow of a Doubt, but also for The Best Years of Our Lives. Anyway, she was good in it, as was Herbert Marshall, but I kept thinking that the plot was too Hollywoodized, too censored. There has to be more in it. Plus, it's a terribly racist movie. Too many Stepin Fetchits. Not as bad as Jezebel, but not far off. Ugh.

They Live by Night was good, but not great, with a strong lead performance from Farley Granger, something I didn't really expect. Knowing when it was made, I knew exactly what was going to happen, but it still kept some suspense. Cathy O'Donnell was ok, but most of the rest of the cast was just eh.

In a Lonely Place was another movie that should have been made about twenty years later so that there wouldn't have been the silly other guy in it. I wanted more angst. Still, for the time, very dark. This is the fourth Nicholas Ray film I've seen, and while he has talent, he's far from the great director that James Harvey portrays him as in Movie Love in the Fifties. Oh well.

The Ninth Gate was one of the few Polanski's I hadn't seen. Pretty good. Sort of reminds me of The DaVinci Code with good dialogue and talent, plus a reasonably realistic plot. Plus, this has both Lena Olin and Johnny Depp. Two of the most attractive and talented actors currently around. Damn shame Lena doesn't do more Alias. She needs much more work. And Johnny Depp is great. You'd think that people would not have forgotten just how talented this guy was before Pirates of the Caribbean. He can make anything better. Emmanuelle Seigner still can't act. Too bad she's being boned by Roman. She was ok in Frantic. Terrible in both Bitter Moon and this.