Glenn Gould: On and Off the Record

Title: “Glenn Gould: Off the Record” / “Glenn Gould: On the Record“
Year: 1959
Directors: Wolf Koenig & Roman Kroitor
Writer: Stanley Jackson (commentary)
Starring: Glenn Gould
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach, Glenn Gould
Length: 30 minutes (each)
Synopsis: a documentary crew follows Glenn Gould, to his home (“off the record”) and to a recording session (“on the record”)
How I saw it: on video (rented on VHS from the library), July 2008
Subjective Rating: 7/10
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for story, cinematography, special effects/design and acting (n/a))

Not a great documentary – very low budget – but you can’t go wrong with the subject.

Ben-Hur

Title: Ben-Hur
Year: 1959
Director: William Wyler
Writer: Karl Tunberg, based on the novel by Lew Wallace
Starring: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith
Music: Miklós Rózsa
Distinctions: Oscars for best picture, director, actor (Heston), supporting actor (Griffith), cinematography (color), score, art direction/set decoration (color), costume design (color), special effects, editing and sound; currently #138 on IMDb’s Top 250
Length: 212 minutes
Synopsis: a Hebrew prince and his family are imprisoned by the Romans on false charges
How I saw it: online (streaming from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 4/10
Objective Rating: 4/10 (gets points for concept, characters, cinematography and music)

Pretty tedious. You could cut it down to two hours without losing anything. There are a number of lengthy segments which do nothing but show off armies of extras. The climax is about a half hour before the end of the movie.

Anatomy of a Murder

Title: Anatomy of a Murder
Year: 1959
Director: Otto Preminger
Writer: Wendell Mayes, based on the novel by John D. Voelker
Starring: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara
Music: Duke Ellington
Distinctions: currently #205 on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: a small-town lawyer defends a murder suspect
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), August 2008
Subjective Rating: 7/10
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for concept)

Nice movie. Somehow they managed to make a three hour legal drama that’s good enough to hold my interest continuously. That is an impressive feat.

The 400 Blows

Title: Les Quatre cents coups
Year: 1959
Director: François Truffaut
Writers: François Truffaut & Marcel Moussy
Starring: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Rémy, Guy Decomble, Georges Flamant, Patrick Auffay
Music: Jean Constantin
Distinctions: currently #249 on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: a French kid with a tendency to run away gets himself in trouble
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), April 2008
Subjective Rating: 3/10
Objective Rating: 4/10 (gets points for characters, dialog, special effects/design and acting)

Boring. The music is good, but completely inappropriate for the style of the movie. My impression of Truffaut: “Just point ze camera at zem. What do I care what it looks like, I am French!” I just don’t get the whole French New Wave business. Good fiction has a strong narrative, period.