A blog formerly known as Bookishness / By Charles Matthews

"Dazzled by so many and such marvelous inventions, the people of Macondo ... became indignant over the living images that the prosperous merchant Bruno Crespi projected in the theater with the lion-head ticket windows, for a character who had died and was buried in one film and for whose misfortune tears had been shed would reappear alive and transformed into an Arab in the next one. The audience, who had paid two cents apiece to share the difficulties of the actors, would not tolerate that outlandish fraud and they broke up the seats. The mayor, at the urging of Bruno Crespi, explained in a proclamation that the cinema was a machine of illusions that did not merit the emotional outbursts of the audience. With that discouraging explanation many ... decided not to return to the movies, considering that they already had too many troubles of their own to weep over the acted-out misfortunes of imaginary beings."
--Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

Monday, December 16, 2024

Strange Fascination (Hugo Haas, 1952)

Hugo Haas and Cleo Moore in Strange Fascination
Cast: Hugo Haas, Cleo Moore, Mona Barrie, Rick Vallin, Karen Sharpe, Marc Krah, Michèle Monteau, Pat Holmes, Maura Murphy, Brian O'Hara, Anthony Jochim, Ross Thompson, Maria Bibikov. Screenplay: Hugo Haas. Cinematography: Paul Ivano. Art direction: Rudi Feld. Film editing: Merrill G. White. Music: Václav Divina, Jakob Gimpel. 

Tired and hungry after a concert, touring classical pianist Paul Marvan (Hugo Haas) goes to a night club in his hotel where he's told he can get something to eat. He arrives in the middle of a dance number performed by Margo (Cleo Moore) and her partner Carlo (Rick Vallin), but his clumsy entrance annoys Margo so much that when she learns that Marvan is giving another concert the following night she decides to repay his rudeness. She arrives late, while he's performing, and intentionally makes a small disturbance while getting to her seat. To her surprise, she is captivated by Marvan's performance and goes to ask for his autograph after the concert. He's unaware that he had disturbed her performance but apologizes, and they agree to meet again when both return to New York. You guessed it: They see one another again and fall in love. But can this misalliance of a sophisticated middle-aged European and a bottle blonde showgirl thrive? Especially when Marvan has a wealthy patroness (Mona Barrie) of his own age and class? This familiar setup takes its familiar course, but Strange Fascination almost transcends its low budget and third-string cast by embracing its B-movie status and not camping it up too much. Haas made seven movies with Moore, and they're all watchable in their low-key way.  

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