Irony and twists abound in "The Lamp"

The Lamp (1959)

Starring: K. Romanowski
Director: Roman Polanski
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A dollmaker (Romanowski) modernizes his shop with unfortunate results.

"The Lamp" was made by future super-star director Roman Polanski when he was still in film school. It is one of his first films that use sound... and it does so with varying success. It's still basically a silent movie, but it uses sound effects to note the passage of time, as well as the power of electricity when the dollmaker's shop is wired for such.

The reason to watch this film is for the creative cinematography and lighting that infuses a great level of spookiness into the elderly dollmaker and his shop, as well as the creepiest anthromophication of an old-school fuse box you're ever likely to see. The film is further elevated by the way it plays with the audience's expectations, and, finally, by an ending that's ironic on many different levels. Polanski's takent for filmmaking is on full display, even in this very early work.

Check out "The Lamp", below. I think you'll find it well worth a few minutes of your time.

(On a purely personal note, I found myself struggling to not interpret this film in light of Polanski's predilection for wanting to control and have sex with young girls. It adds new levels of possible meaning to the film, some of them really disturbing, some of them showing more self-reflection that I imagine a sick person like Polanski is capable of. It can be hard to separate the art from the artist...)

Musical Monday With The Interrupters

We interrupt your Monday to bring you the Interrupters, a four-piece ska band that's been playing and touring since 2011. "She's Kerosene" is from their 2018 album "Fight the Good Fight" and it's their greatest hit so far. This is their second appearance here at Shades of Gray.

Watch the video. Get pumped for the week that lies ahead.

Ska makes everything better. We now return you to your regularly scheduled week.

The Dude Would Name This as His Favorite...

This was among the first of the blends I ordered from Florida-based Bones Coffee Company, because I was amused by the artwork and obvious callback to "The Big Lebowski". It turns out that it ranks among my favorite so far.

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: WHITE RUSSIAN

Bones Coffee's White Russian blend is another one of their flavored medium roasts that's just as tasty as its novelty packaging is amusing.

In preparation for this review, I first educated myself on what a White Russian is supposed to taste like. My liquor of choice happens to be vodka, and I am as enamored with flavored vodkas I am with flavored coffee. And like coffee, I rarely drink my vodka straight, even the flavored kinds; I tend to make mixed drinks with milk, fruit juices, or soda.

With that said, why would I need to educate myself on what a White Russian is supposed to taste like? Well, because my idea of a "White Russian" for years was vodka and milk over ice while a "Black Russian" was vodka and chocolate milk--which is what I did for myself at home. As you can tell, there's been a key component missing, namely Kahlua.

In preparation for this review, I got a bottle of Kahlua and mixed and drank a range of White Russians, using different milks and creamers and even matching the shade of the White Russian cocktails consumed by the Dude himself. 

Because I am all about self-sacrifice and going the extra mile for my readers. You take the trouble of clicking through to the blog and reading the posts, so I put as much effort into making them as humanly possible... including the sloshed on cocktails and buzzed on flavored coffee!

So--White Russian from Bones Coffee Company. Good or bad?

I say very, very good. 

While brewing, I didn't really notice any particular aroma beyond what usually issues forth from my drip coffee maker as it worked its magic. From the first sip of the White Russian coffee blend--as it had been poured into my mug--the flavor of the Dude's favorite cocktail was on my tongue. When I added a little unsweetened almond milk to the coffee, the flavor of the liquor and the edge of vodka popped even stronger. The blend captures the taste and sensation of White Russians perfectly, and it gets better if a little milk or creamer is added.  

The White Russian flavor remains strong and intact when this brew is consumed iced. This makes it even more satisfying, because that is how the cocktail the blend emulates is consumed. I recommend this highly to anyone who likes flavored coffees, and who might want to start their day with a White Russian but doesn't want to start the day intoxicated.

Can Bolshoi Ballerinas Binge Coffee? 'Course!

One thing I SHOULD have done in the course of this review was seeing what happened if I added vodka to a cup of this blend. I have a bottle of chocolate-flavored vodka in the freezer, and I think it would mix wonderfully with this blend of coffee. But, by the time I had this thought, I'd finished off all of the White Russian blend. Down the road, I will have to get some more and do some experiments. I will provide updates here when I do.

Early Disney version of 'Cinderella' disappoints

There's a new version of "Cinderella" debuting on Amazon Prime on September 3. To prepare, we're watching and reviewing some of the more obscure versions of the tale from yester-year. This time, it's an early effort from Walt Disney!

Cinderella (1922)
Director: Walt Disney

Rating: Four of Ten Stars

It's a modern-day (well, modern-day in 1922), slightly wonky retelling of a classic fairy tale about the abused girl who gets the prince with the help of a magical Fairy Godmother.

This is a cartoon that's really hard for me to like. Maybe it's because this isn't 1922. Maybe it's because I'm an adult... but between our introduction to the supposedly charming prince involves him massacring a clan of dancing bears who were literally just partying at their cave, and badly thought-out scene where the Fairy Godmother makes Cinderella's "carriage" appear inside her house yet Cindy gets in it and drives away with no issue, I was almost completely turned off by this before it had even reached the halfway mark. 

There are some very cute bits--almost everything involving Cinderella's talking cat sidekick, the portrayal of Cinder and Prince Charming's relationship, and a gag involving a duck near the end--and the way Cinderella reverts from an enchanted, high-fashion flapper girl to a down-trodden scullery maid is a cleverly and amusingly animated. These all add up to make this cartoon entertaining enough, but the opening sequence with the prince and bears--one that I have a hard time imagining anyone one but a psychopath finding that amusing--casts a shadow over everything that follows.

But perhaps I am reacting too strongly a bit of harmless fun. Why don't you take a few minutes to watch it and let us know what you think? If nothing else, "Cinderella" is worth checking out due to its historical significance: It's one of Walt Disney's earliest animated efforts... and I'm sure everyone will be able to appreciate that his output (and that of the army of animators he eventually had on the payroll to create the famous, feature-length remake of this short in 1950) was much, much better.

Click below... and watch the animated creatures go!

The literacy campaign poster that never was...

 ... but which would have made an instant bookworm out of teenaged boys and grown men everywhere:

The Avengers: The Girl from Auntie

The Girl from Auntie (1966)
Starring: Patrick Macnee, Liz Fraser, Diana Rigg, Mary Merrall, Alfred Burke, Yolande Turner, Ray Martine, and Bernard Cribbens
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Government "trouble-shooter" John Steed (Macnee) returns from vacation to find a strange woman (Fraser) has assumed the identity of his partner, Mrs. Peel (Rigg). When assassins start popping up, intent on getting rid of the imposter, Steed finds himself working just as hard at keeping her from harm, as he is at finding out what has happened to his partner and friend.

"The Girl From Auntie" is a really fun episode that strikes a balance between suspense and silliness with such skill that it's difficult to be sure who is and isn't involved with the villains until late in the episode. Even Steed has a more difficult time than average unraveling what's going on, due in no small part to the fact that an assassin who racks up an impressive body count during the episode appears to be a harmless little old lady.

The main mystery of the episode revolves around Gregorie Auntie, the owner of a brokerage house that promises it can secure any object the client wants--be it antiquities, modern art, rare collectables... or even people (although that last one is only known to a very select clientele). It's established early on that this organization that has abducted Emma Peel, and the action revolves around Steed trying to find and rescue her before she's sold off to a foreign power for the state secrets she knows, so I'm not breaking my "no spoilers" rule by mentioning it. Alfred Burke, as Auntie, and Yolonde Turner as his femme fatale sidekick are perfect as the operators of this mysterious business, being equally adept at playing silly or sinister as the moment of the story calls for--almost like personifications of what makes this episode work so well. (If fact, these characters are so much fun that they are added to the list of ones I wish could have come back for additional appearances.)

Speaking of things are the equal parts serious and silly, Diana Rigg's Emma Peel character spends most of this episode in a giant birdcage, dressed in a skin-tight, feather-festooned outfit, awaiting the auction that will decide her future. Watching this episode in 2021, I suspect there's less of a sense of danger surrounding Emma Peel's situation--there are many more episodes featuring her to come--but in 1965, it might have seemed to viewers that Peel was on her way out: Steed had never had the same partner for a sequential stretch of episodes as long the ones so far in Season Four. (I don't know if they were testing the waters with Liz Fraser or not.. her character certainly feels like she could be a replacement for Rigg's Emma Peel, especially with her strangely calm reactions to the dead bodies that keep dropping around her, but ultimately she's just one of the many quirky characters that come and go through the series. The actual reason for Rigg's light involvement in this episode and script is probably tied to scheduling realties; there's an episode coming up where she's at the center of the action for the vast majority of it.)

This is another excellent episode that's swiftly paced, features a strong script, and is a lot of fun. Even minor supporting characters--one of which even have names, like the cab driver who ferries Steed around for a good part of the episode--gets some very funny bits.

Roman Wives #1: Barbara Lass

Barbara Lass was born Barbara Kwiatkowski in a small country village during the German occupation of Poland in 1940. At the age of 17, she won a beauty contest and landed the starring role in "Eve Wants to Sleep" (1958). 

Barbara left Poland in 1959, changed her last name to the more-internationally-friendly "Lass" and found success in the broader European film market. Throughout the 1960s and into the 1990s, she appeared in German, French, and Italian films. Staunchly opposed to the Communist dictatorship in her country of origin, Barbara also lent her voice to Polish-language broadcasts of censorship free news by Radio Free Europe.

Barbara met future superstar writer/director Roman Polanski in 1958, while he was wrapping up film school and she was wrapping up "Eve Wants to Sleep". They were married in 1959, in Paris.

The union between Lass and Polanski was short-lived. The couple divorced in 1962, after roughly two-and-a-half years. Some sources state that Lass cheated on Polanski with a French actor, but others imply that it was Polanski's wandering eye toward young girls that caused the split.

Barbara Lass suffered a brain hemorrhage and passed away in 1995 at the age of 54.

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 This post was part of the Shades of Gray Roman Polanski Month.

A moment with a pervert

Toothy Smile (1957)
Starring: Nikola Todorow
Director: Roman Polanski
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A man (Todorow) going out for the evening stops to ogle his topless neighbor, but learns he should have stopped while he was ahead.

"Toothy Smile" is a short film made by Roman Polanski while he was at film school in Poland. It's a silent film, although there is one moment where it really needed sound (or at least a shot including a different angle on the action). 

It runs just shy of two minutes, so it will take almost no time at all for you to check it out--it's well worth it. My summary might make it sound a little more dramatic than it actually is, but everything here shows that Polanski had excellent mastery of cinematic storytelling from the beginning.

Note: Tuesdays in August of 2021, there'll be a review of one of Roman Polanski's short films at this blog. This is in observation of his 88th birthday, which is on the 18th. While he may be a shitty human being (what with him being a convicted child rapist who refuses to face punishment for his crime), he's made some pretty good films that are worth checking out.

It's a Boy Band from Down Under...

 ... where sheila shrieks drown the thunder!

And that Boy Band is the Bee Gees in 1963. Here they are, performing one of their hits in that fabled land of Australia.

(Until shortly before this post, we here at Shades of Gray had no idea that the Brothers Gibb got their start performing while they were still in their early teens and younger. In fact, the Bee Gees [originally the BGs] was the third group they had either performed as or as part of.)

'Cul-de-sac' is darkly comedic

Cul-de-sac (1966)
Starring: Donald Pleasence, Lionel Stander, Françoise Dorléac, Jack MacGowran, and William Franklyn

Director: Roman Polanski

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A wealthy couple, George and Teresa (Pleasence and Dorléac) are taken hostage in their isolated home by a wounded criminal (Stander) on the run and hoping for rescue by his boss. 

"Cul-de-sac" is one of those movies where characters are forced together in a situation and then proceed to tear each other apart emotionally, as interpersonal power dynamics move back and forth between them like a storm-swelled tide. It's near equal parts comedy and drama... although the comedy is almost all of a very cruel variety. 

Like almost all movies of this kind, it's a film that can only be successful if the characters are being portrayed by the right actors, who also happen to be extremely talented. Unlike most films of this kind, there is a very real sense that one or more characters will be brutally murdered by the time the end credits roll--and who and how many changes repeatedly as the story unfolds. 

So, given my comment above, is this film successful? Yes--because the three leads are absolutely fantastic in their parts. 

Lionel Stander and Donald Pleasence are playing the sorts of characters you've seen them portray before--Stander's once again a small-time hood ("so this is what Max did before he met Jonathan Hart", I thought to myself at one point) and Pleasence is the high-strung, fussy weirdo we're seen in slasher films,  comedies, and war movies. 

Meanwhile Françoise Dorléac provides them with a solid background to be quirky against with a character that is both the most grounded and most inscrutable. She seems to be very much out of George's league (and at least half his age), is clearly having an affair, and doesn't hesitate to mock him whenever the opportunity arises; she shows every indication of being a trophy wife who is in love with George's money rather than George. But, at several points during the film--and especially during its conclusion--Dorléac seems very protective of George and shows a concern that goes beyond just love of his money. This makes Teresa a very interesting character, and Dorléac's great skill as an actress makes the character even more-so. She was the perfect actress for a movie of this kind, since she shows an equal ability for comic timing and dramatic flourishes. She was also equally good, whether she was the center of a scene or just being there for someone else to play off.

Writer/director Roman Polanski's best films are centered on relationships between people, and he does an excellent job here--not surprising since he co-wrote the script. According to a couple different sources, though, this was a troubled production. The remote location resulted in some very uncomfortable days for actors and crew alike, and Polanski's relationship with people both in front of and behind the camera was stormy at times. In fact, the making of this film was so stressful for Polanski that he reportedly considered giving up on directing. The tension and frustrations felt by actors and crew may well have ended up on screen, lending even more power to the performances of the three principles, especially during several fantastic scenes that take place on the beaches.

Although "Cul-de-sac" isn't a perfect movie--some of the interactions with characters who aren't the main three don't make a whole lot of sense and lack any sort of payoff--but the the absolute brilliance that we see every time Stander, Pleasence, and Dorléac share the screen together more than make up for any shortcomings elsewhere in the picture. Whether their characters are being playful, threatening, or trying to emotionally destroy each other, we're treated to great performances by talented actors. It's a shame that Dorléac died at just 25 years of age shortly after making this film, because she would have undoubtedly continued to grow as an actress and would have been remembered as one of the all-time greats.

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August 2021 is Roman Polanski Month here at Shades of Gray. Check back  every Tuesday and Wednesday for posts relating to his work and his life (and to watch some of his early works).