Foreign Film Favorites 2019

Lists of top films will often appear in newspapers and online at this time of the year. Rarely do these lists include foreign films. I'm sure that most foreign films can be as bad as most American films but the cream of the crop are well worth watching even with subtitles. These films open a window into other cultures while at the same time proving that we are all basically the same. Here are eight films that my wife and I enjoyed this year.*

The Lunch Box: This 2014 film is a charming tale of love and loneliness set in contemporary India. In the bustling metropolis of Mumbai, housewives still prepare hot lunches for their office- working husbands. A dedicated courier service delivers the lunch box right to the desk each day. This is the story of two people whose lives were changed when one lunch box was delivered to the wrong desk.


Hobson’s Choice: David Lean directed this 1954 black and white comedy about an overbearing widower whose three daughters work in his shoe shop but who are determined to get put from under his tyrannical rule. Charles Laughton and Brenda De Banzie star along with a young John Mills.


Bread and Tulips: By chance an Italian housewife gets separated from her husband and two sons on a bus tour. She winds up in Venice and discovers a new life.This heartwarming 2000 comedy from Italy won 9 “David di Donatello” awards (the Italian equivalent of the Oscars), including best picture, best actor, best actress, and best director.

Floating Weeds: An aging actor takes his theatrical troupe to a small seaside town where he reunites with his former lover and their illegitimate son to the chagrin of his current mistress. This 1959 color film by famed Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu is often found on all time top film lists.

Breaker Morant: Based on a true story, Edward Woodward stars as the controversial Australian folk hero Lt. Harry “Breaker” Morant in this 1980 film. As South Africa’s Boer War draws to a close, Morant and two fellow Australian soldiers are court-martialed for the murder of a civilian. Their only hope lies in a small town lawyer who fights passionately for their lives. Directed by Bruce Beresford, this 1980 film won 10 Australian Film Institute awards.

Too Bad She’s Bad: This 1955 Italian comedy stars a young Sophia Loren, an unknown Marcello Mastroianni, and famed movie star and director Vittorio De Sica. Loren plays a beautiful petty thief working with DeSica, her con-man father, while Mastroianni plays a naïve cabbie caught in their clutches. Artfully directed by Alessandro Blasetti, the film is a delightful romp, the first pairing of Loren and Mastroianni, not to mention the historic first appearance together of these three legends of Italian cinema.

Ballad of a Soldier. In this 1958 film, Russian soldier Alyosha Skvortsov is granted a visit with his mother after an act of heroism during WWII. As he journeys home, Alyosha encounters the devastation of his war-torn country, witnesses glimmers of hope among the people, and falls in love. With its poetic visual imagery, Ballad of a Soldier is a meditation on the effects of war, and a milestone in Russian cinema.

Always: Sunset on Third Street. This heart- warming Japanese comedy is a nostalgic look back at Tokyo in the late 50’s, poised on the brink of an economic explosion after defeat in WW II. Released in 2006, the film won Japan’s equivalent of the Oscars in 13 of the 14 categories in which it was nominated.

*My wife and I are avid film fans but rarely go to the movies anymore. We prefer to stay home and watch DVDs from Netflix or my own collection. I prefer to use a DVD rather than streaming because the DVD often comes with commentary and special features that can be interesting and informative.

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Christmas Message 2019

First Lady lights the Nation's Christmas Tree

By now practically everyone is familiar with the Grinch, the popular figure in the famous story by Dr. Seuss who tried to steal Christmas by stealing all the trappings of Christmas from the children of Whoville. He crept into their homes on the eve of Christmas and took all the presents, the lights, the trees, and even the holiday meal. Next morning, he discovered that he had not stolen Christmas at all. The people were still celebrating the wonderful holiday.

There are many grinches in our society today. For years there has been an annual attack on Christmas from those who object to the holiday.  Attempts are made to ban Christmas displays from public places. In schools, Christmas pageants have been replaced by Winter celebrations. For some, the greeting, Merry Christmas, is objectionable and replaced by Happy Holidays. Occasionally, a few fanatics even resort to outright vandalism.

In response, Christian apologist often react in an un-christian like manner. Their first instinct is to fight back as if statues and trees and lights were more than merely symbolic. People who believe in the true message of Christmas, like the residents of Whoville, don't need all the trimmings to celebrate. It is such a great story that no matter how hard the grinches of the world try, they will never be able to overcome it.

This year President Trump and his wife Melania presided over the lighting to the Christmas tree in the Nation's capital. After the First lady did the ceremonial lighting, the President gave a brief message that it worth reporting. Here is an excerpt:

In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge lit the first National Christmas Tree.
Later that night, African American community centers held an outdoor worship service on these grounds. And during that service, the Washington Monument was illuminated with a beautiful cross, a powerful reminder of the meaning of Christmas.

More than 2,000 years ago, a brilliant star shone in the East. Wise men traveled far, far afield. I mean, they were a long distance away. And they came and they stood with us under the star, where they found the Holy Family in Bethlehem. As the Bible tells us, when the Wise Men “had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshipped him.”

Christians give thanks that the Son of God came into the world to save humanity. Jesus Christ inspires us to love one another with hearts full of generosity and grace....

And at Christmas, we remember this eternal truth: Every person is a beloved child of God. As one grateful nation, we praise the joy of family, the blessings of freedom, and the miracle of Christmas.

On behalf of Melania and our entire family, Merry Christmas and God bless you all. Thank you very much. Merry Christmas, everybody. Thank you.

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2020 to all.

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More Film Noir Favorites

In the past few years I have become a big fan of a certain kind of American film from the 1940s and 50s. They are primarily black and white, dark crime dramas that French film makers and critics called film-noir when they discovered American films after the liberation of France in 1945. The term film-noir refers not only to the dark themes of these movies but also to the nighttime settings and the often startling contrasts between light and dark, black and white.

Originally, these films were low budget productions usually designed to be seen as the second feature on traditional Hollywood double bills. Nevertheless, today many are regarded as ground-breaking classics. They featured great directors, actors, writers, and film craftsmen and craftswomen. To fill the insatiable demand for movies in America, Hollywood even imported great talents from abroad. In my opinion, film-noir represents a short-lived American film renaissance that came to an end with the advent of television and technicolor.

 Not only are these films gripping, extremely well-told stories with masterful directing and acting, but also they bring me back to the days of my childhood. In the background I can see a world that is no more: the dark dingy streets, the small apartments, the cars, the old telephones, and the incessant cigarette smoking and drinking.

Below find brief descriptions of eight of these films viewed in 2019. For others click on the film noir label to the right or use the search box.

Dick Powell and Claire Trevor

Murder, My Sweet. Dick Powell stars as private eye Philip Marlowe in this 1945 film adaptation of a classic LA crime novel by famed writer Raymond Chandler. Powell departs from his boy next door type to play one of film’s classic detectives. Claire Trevor plays the femme fatale.

Crime Wave. Sterling Hayden plays a hard-boiled cop who is sure that a parolee in not going straight after a series of hold-ups. Gene Nelson and Phyllis Kirk also star as the parolee and his wife in this 1953 drama set in the mean streets of LA. A young Charles Bronson, then acting under the name Charles Buchinsky, appears as one of the gang members.

Tension. Richard Basehart and Audrey Totter, one of film noir’s classic femme fatales, star in this 1949 film about a mild-mannered druggist whose wife is two-timing him. With his dreams for a home and family shattered, he plots revenge. The beautiful Cyd Charisse appears in a rare non-dancing role.

The Postman Always Rings Twice. John Garfield and Lana Turner co-star in this 1946 film adaptation of James M. Cain’s classic crime novel. Garfield plays a drifter who stops at a roadside diner with a “Man Wanted” sign. He discovers that the sign has a double meaning. Lana Turner makes one of the great entrances in film history.

Lana Turner

The Lady in the Lake. Robert Montgomery stars as private eye Philip Marlowe in this 1945 film adaptation of another classic LA crime novel by writer Raymond Chandler. Montgomery also directs in an innovative style that puts the viewer into the action. Famed femme-fatale Audrey Totter co-stars.

Side Street. Farley Granger and Kathy O’ Donnell, who clicked in the film noir classic, They Live by Night, once again appear as two young lovers in this 1950 film directed by Anthony Mann. As usual, after one mistake their lives go from bad to worse. The film ends with one of the first urban car chases in film history.

The Brothers Rico. Richard Conte stars in this 1957 film as a businessman who has managed to escape his past as an accountant with the mob. However, his former boss calls him back to find his two younger brothers who are on the lam from both the police and the mob. Based on a story by famed Belgian crime novelist George Simenon. Diane Foster co-stars.

Atlantic City. Burt Lancaster stars in this 1980 film as an aging gangster who ekes out a meager living as a numbers runner in an Atlantic City that has seen better days. Famed French director Louis Malle directed this award winning film that co-stars a young Susan Sarandon.

Susan Sarandon and Burt Lancaster

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Note; Most of these films can be viewed on Netflix or Youtube. I prefer to use DVDs because they often include excellent commentaries, background information, and subtitles for people like myself who are hearing impaired.

President Trump and Fairness

A recent article in the Connecticut Mirror, an online newspaper, announced a Navy award of over $22 Billion to Groton’s Electric Boat company to build nine or possibly ten Virginia class attack submarines. The article quoted Connecticut’s Democratic leaders including Second District Congressman Joe Courtney, the State’s two Senators, and even Governor Lamont in praise of the huge boost to the State’s economy.

The article failed to give President Trump or the Trump Administration any credit for the Navy’s award. It quoted Connecticut Democratic politicians but did not even mention the President’s name. After all, the President is Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. 

President Trump referred to this reluctance to give credit or even just report significant news in his recent joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. In the course of that press conference, the questioning turned to Korea and the President took the opportunity to point out that in the past year his administration had succeeded in getting South Korea to contribute $500 Million more to the cost of stationing American troops in South Korea.

He asked the reporters if they were even aware of this news, and urged them to tell the story, especially since he was the first President in decades to ask the very prosperous South Koreans to pay their fair share.

No matter what you think of President Trump, you will have to admit that fairness is an important word or concept for him. One of the reasons the NATO meeting turned contentious was that the President repeated his claim that other NATO members were not paying their agreed upon, fair share of the cost of their own defense. For too many years they had been content to leave the lion’s share of the burden to the USA.

The President also uses fairness to describe his position on trade and tariffs.  To the dismay of the Wall Street Journal and other conservatives, he claims to be a “fair” trader and not a “free” trader. If the Chinese insist on putting high tariffs on American cars and motorcycles, he will retaliate by raising tariffs on their manufactured products. 

The economic arguments for or against tariffs don’t seem to concern him. He just argues that he will not play the chump, as his predecessors have done, and give away the store to China or any other country.

Fairness is also at the heart of his treatment of the press. Who can blame him for lashing out at the media or taking to Twitter to make his case. After almost three years in office, few have bothered to discuss or assess what he and his administration have actually done in office so far. There has been a steady flow of vitriolic venom directed against his person, his words and even gestures, but no real discussion or evaluation of his public policies or actions. 

Speaking of the press, I thought the President’s comportment in the press conference with Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary General, was remarkable in many ways. He did not think it necessary to dominate the conference but listened attentively to his ally’s comments and allowed him plenty of time to participate.

He then took questions that he answered with dignity, calm, and intelligence even when they inevitably swerved off the subject of NATO and on to impeachment. It was a remarkable performance. He spoke off the cuff in striking contrast to his predecessor in the Oval office, who rarely spoke without a teleprompter. 

In the press conference the President came off as a very magnanimous person, in striking contrast to those who are calling for his impeachment. He is not an ordinary politician. How else can one explain the $22 Billion award to a Connecticut company, one of the bluest states in the Country? 

The Senators from Connecticut have been two of his harshest critics over the past three years. My own representative from prosperous Fairfield County is one of the leaders in Congress in the impeachment process. I can’t think of any other President who would have allowed the Navy to award such a contract to a State from which he had nothing to gain politically. 

It’s just not fair to constantly blame and deride the President, and not give him credit for anything, especially when the Navy contract will provide much needed aid to the Nation’s defense, and the Connecticut economy.

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