60's Foreign Horror Part Seven

THE BURNING COURT

(1962)

Dir - Julien Duvivier

Overall: MEH

 

The cinematic adaptation of John Dickson Carr's novel The Burning Court, (La chambre ardente), is a topsy-turvy whodunit with very minor and vague black magic/supernatural components thrown in.  One of the last works by prolific filmmaker Julien Duvivier, it is efficiently photographed with some moody scenery around a candle-lite, occasionally fogged-out château, but some of the sudden musical cues are a bit unintentionally comedic and make the movie more farcical than what it seems to be going for.  The convoluted mystery is interesting if you are really paying attention, but the large crop of characters, (some of whom are clandestinely sleeping with each other), becomes difficult to track as it ultimately leads to a predictable conclusion, all things considered.  Spooky moments are few and far between even though it often has the look of something much more diabolical and atmospheric.  It is notable though for being one of the few other quasi-horror films to feature Édith Scob from Eyes Without a Face fame.

 

PLACER SANGRIENTO

(1967)

Dir - Emilio Vieyra

Overall: MEH

 

A mild exploitation film from Argentine director Emilio Vieyra, Placer sangriento, (The Deadly Organ, Feast of Flesh), manages to pull off some effective atmosphere here or there yet is otherwise unremarkable.  Filmed in 1965 though not released until two years later, it has an odd enough premise where a mysterious man in a garish, elderly mask hypnotizes women with an eerie melody while the police try to find him, various characters are suspects, and lots of young, attractive men and women of different sexual orientations frolic around the beach and in nightclubs.  Since it was made in the 20th century, of course the gay characters are given flamboyant accents and mannerisms because lord forbid we mistake them for straight.  That said, there is still a progressive slant to the movie in that anyone on screen who is depicted as either gay or lesbian all co-mingle with each other while none of it is used as a plot device of any kind.  This is one of the many micro-budgeted genre movies that seemingly could only afford one piece of music to use over and over again, but that element is actually crucial to the narrative which forgives the fact that it does become annoying after awhile.  It is hardly an engaging bit of work with typical idle pacing and a blah finale, but again, that song will certainly get stuck in your head at least.

 

JE T'AIME, JE T'AIME
(1968)
Dir - Alain Resnais
Overall: GOOD

Alain Resnais' Je t'aime, je t'aime, (I Love You, I Love You), is a deliberately disjointed examination of memory and realization, told in the guise of a science fiction film where a man enters an experimental time machine that he cannot escape from.  Said time machine is organic in design; a flesh-colored, quasi-bouncy house where he sinks into a cushion as his mouse companion presumably has a similar experience in a plastic bubble next to him.  Once the premise is set up in the introduction, Claude Rich's protagonist spends the rest of the movie being tossed around through his past experiences, most of which revolve around a doomed romantic relationship that he had with a terminally ill woman.  The structure is only befitting for the most patient of viewers as scenes frequently repeat themselves and it takes a considerable amount of time and effort to grasp what the take away could be.  Though there are moments of humor sprinkled throughout, Resnais keeps the tone more on the mysterious side with Krzysztof Penderecki's ambient score setting a melancholic mood during the infrequent amount of times that it arrives.  Somewhat of a cross between and possible inspiration for Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris and Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it is a challenging work that eventually wields its rewards along its fragmented ride.