The Marlon Brando Collection

[Michael]

I just ordered the Brando box from CD-WOW. My curiosity for Reflections is too strong.

And you won't regret it. I just ordered the Brando set just for Reflections .

[Gordon]

I just ordered the Brando box from CD-WOW. My curiosity for Reflections is too strong.

And you won't regret it. I just ordered the Brando set just for Reflections .

Mama always said I was a bad influence on the other boys!

[Nothing]

Not sure what the problem is here. Both sets are fairly cheap and both are worth picking up (Mutiny on the Bounty is mostly excellent + The Appaloosa is probably the worst film in the Universal set). If you're in the UK, the Warner set can be had from Movietyme for £28 VAT-free, btw.

[Michael]

I agree with Pauline Kael that the film loses its "dreamy, mythic ambiance" without its golden hues. I didn't know that the film was banned by the Catholic Church but I'm not surprised. If you haven't seen Kazan's Baby Doll yet, then you will be in for an amazing treat - a double bill of Baby Doll and Reflections in a Golden Eye will make your evening a very, very interesting one. I'm looking for a screen capture or two. I'm hoping dvdbeaver will offer a handful of them soon.

From Kael:

"John Huston directed this sensuous and intense version of Carson McCullers' Georgia-set short novel of 1941; the visual style, which suggests paintings made from photographs, has a measured lyricism. The movie doesn't find a way to give us the emotional texture of the interrelationships and dependencies in the book (one can probably enjoy the film much more if one knows the book) but the principal actors (Marlon Brando, Brian Keith, Elizabeth Taylor, Julie Harris) were able to do some startling things with their roles. The stifled homosexuality of Brando's duty-bound Major Penderton is grotesque and painful. This is one of Brando's most daring performances: the fat, ugly Major putting cold cream on his face, or preening at the mirror, or patting his hair nervously when he thinks he has a gentleman caller is so pitiful yet so ghastly that some members of the audience invariably cut themselves off from him by laughter. Taylor is charming as the Major's silly, ardent, Southern-"lady" wife, who makes love to Keith in a berry patch. Keith, underplaying, has one of his rare opportunities to show depth; at moments he seems the most believable of actors--these are great moments. The movie is most garishly novelistic just when it departs most from McCullers--when it attempts to clarify the original and bring it up to date, which means bringing in the sexual platitudes that in 60s movies were considered Freudian modernism. The story has been furbished with additional fetishes, as if McCullers' material weren't Southern and gothic enough. The Major's wife gives him a horsewhipping and then explains that the whipping cleared the air; we are cued to crank out the Freudian explanation "Oh, yes, he wanted to be beaten." With Robert Forster and Zorro David. The script is by Chapman Mortimer and Gladys Hill; the offensive score is by Toshiro Mayuzumi; the cinematography is by Aldo Tonti. The first release prints were in a "desaturated" color process--they were golden hued, with delicate sepia and pink tones; when the movie didn't do well at box offices, this stylized color was blamed, full-color prints were substituted, and the film lost its dreamy, mythic ambiance. The picture's bad luck was capped when it was condemned by the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures."

[Gordon]

I received the Brando box today and I watched Reflections in a Golden. A strange, strange film, but the golden-hued Panavision cinematography is absolutely stunning, like nothing I have ever seen before - it's a shame it is wasted on such a tawdry and ugly story. It's really difficult to know what to make of such material in 2006. Julie Harris steals the show (as ever) but this may be the movie where the latter-day Brando strangeness began. I have no idea what he saw in this role, but then again, I am not one who finds anything interesting in repressed homosexuality novels or films.

The theatrical trailer on the DVD is hilarious (and in full color) with a ridiculously hyperbolic voice-over that culminates with, "Suggested for mature audiences - leave the children home." Er... yes, that would have been a good idea.

Worth seeing for the experimental visual design and weirdness, but as a piece of drama, it is very trite and silly.

[Lino]

Within the same year or two you got John Flynn's the Sergeant, another homo-military affair in which Rod Steiger as the Closet case kills himself after kissing Corporal John Phillip Law. I would have hung around for more. Not to mention Donen's abominable Staircase with Burton and Harrison as screaming tragic nellies.)

Keep them coming! I had never heard of those two but I already went googling and they sound tremendous! Oh, and the trailer for Staircase is hilarious! A camp classic just waiting to be rediscovered?

[Lino]

DVDSavant

[Gordon]

Hey, the cinematography in The Formula is quite exceptional, often magnificent. Too bad about that offensively moralizing script and hysterical acting. I wasn't surprised to see that it was nominated for a Razzie, along with Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Actor (Brando). And dig that fucked up scene in the strip bar with the Nazi newsreel videoscreen! A colossal embarrassment for all involved, though it is somewhat engrossing in its plotting and as I say the cinematography by James Crabe (Rocky ) is gorgeous and the locations are breathtaking. The writer, Steve Shagan laid low for many years after this film. Years later, Brando said that he did the movie purely for the cash, as he was broke, and that he injected humour into his scenes, but it was cut out of this overly serious yarn.

[nazarin]

This is one of Brando's most daring performances: the fat, ugly Major putting cold cream on his face, or preening at the mirror, or patting his hair nervously when he thinks he has a gentleman caller is so pitiful yet so ghastly that some members of the audience invariably cut themselves off from him by laughter.

This moment anticipates by over three years Dirk Bogarde's performance in Visconti's Death in Venice, especially when Aschenbach goes to the barber and beautifies himself for Tadzio, revealing indeed how daring Brando was at the time. A double feature of Reflections and Death in Venice isn't a bad combo, either.

Incidentally, I watched the HD DVD issue of Mutiny on the Bounty the other night, and it's truly spectacular. Wish all the films in this box had been issued in the new format.

[Gordon]

First - as I recall - the original one-week only desaturated print in NYC actually explodes into full color in the last sequence (Brando breaking into Liz' bedroom and shooting Forster) - an alarmingly literal use of color which sounds too muich like the equally literal use of "subjective" color in Moulin Rouge to me. Gordon can you confirm this?

I'm not sure - it would be a typical touch by Huston, but there isn't much info about the film. Maybe Warner should have interview associate producer, "Doc" Erickson (prod. manager for Hitch and on The Misfits and Freud; producer of Chinatown, etc) about the film - I think he may have retired, but he's still alive.

[Michael]

Speaking of which, while not exactly camp, Brando's performance is far too mannered and mumbled to me now. The rest of the cast are exemplarily well directed, even Zorro David as the hysterical houseboy Queen, but Brando doess seem to me to be trying to push his "part" of the movie into Baronial Gothic.

But isn't Reflections supposed to be Gothic? I read Carson McCuller's novella and it makes quite a fine example of the Southern Gothic - sharing the same spirit as Faulker, Tennessee Williams, and Flannery O'Connor (my personal favorite). I thought the film with Brando's help succeeded in capturing the tone, the flavor, the spirit of the book. Huston directed Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood which I haven't seen yet. I wonder if it's as stunning as Reflections. I understand if people get put off by Reflections.. it's utterly bizarre and uncompromising. I can't think of any other films to compare to this one. Except for maybe Baby Doll for the sheer absurdity and the dreamy Southern landscapes complete with sexual fuck-ups.

[ezmbmh]

Huston's Wise Blood has been faulted for following the line of the original too closely, but here, as with The Dead, you can't top what's already wonderful. I find both these late-career literary adaptations terrific accomplishments, and it's moving to see where Huston ended up.

Wise Blood has amazing performances--Brad Dourif smoulders, Amy Wright gives a performance as a sexed-out trailer trash nymphet you have to see to believe, and H D Stanton yet again finds what seems to be the role he was born to play.

I have a pretty crappy unlicensed DVD I got on e-bay. There used to be a VHS around. Really worth checking out.

Long as I'm on it, why haven't these been given a major release?

EZ

[devlinnn]

Finally caught up with Reflections last night, having only viewed a VHS copy too many years ago to remember, and like all here, am completely blown away with Warner's decision to restore this (nearly?) to Huston's vision. They (nearly?) get this right, but stuff up The Searchers? Odd.

(With this and the upcoming Dick set, I'm slowly becoming obsessed with Taylor like it's 1986 all over again. But I don't think I'm alone - anyone else notice how many shots Huston gets of that perfect behind of hers? And in jodhpurs!)

[devlinnn]

Yes, looking again, you might be right about the double on the stairs David (the figure looks to be just that little bit less full), but as personal tastes run to clothes, fabrics and props over nudity I'm prone not to notice these matters right away. (Taylor's hair/forehead around this time is also worth noting, but can probably be talked about in the other thread.)

You're also right about Brando - he seems lost in some scenes. Thoughts drift to what Lancaster may have done here (Or Heston? The second G&T on this lazy afternoon even brings up visions of a young Woody Strode opening desk draws, checking out profiles and waistlines). The rest of the cast are note perfect, directed with a detatched, breezy ease.

[Lino]

Some thoughts on Reflections.

First time watching it in its original golden-hued version and am I mistaken or is this the look Lars von Trier has been trying to get in his films all of his career or what? If only someone told him just how good it can look with the proper people behind the camera!

Anyway, I have watched this little dark-toned oddity several times on tape before and it has always worked for me (and I'm only sorry that Warner didn't make this alternate second version available because it would've made a great discussion starting point on many levels) but I have to admit that in the form that Huston originally envisioned it, it takes a whole different life of its own and becomes quite the rare bird in the History of Cinematography. Quite a daring experiment and it's not difficult to imagine just why it didn't work at the time. Hey, it might not even work now!

But I do find interesting that bit you said david, about the film exploding into full color in the very final scene. If that's true, it makes perfect sense, both dramatically and technically. But especially dramatically, because the whole story reeks of the kind of thing that was usually whispered and never spoken out loud and that's why the film has that dreamy aspect. It's as if someone's telling this story to a near-by listener and this person's imagining the whole thing while sunbathing near a pool or something (picture yourself in a Doris Day movie hearing dirty stories and you get the general idea). And you know that thing that happens when you suddenly open your eyes after a long while under a hot sun and everything's golden for a moment? Well, that's the whole movie for ya'.

My only regret is that no actual contextualization was used on the DVD to give the movie a proper image. An audio-commentary would have been great or even a featurette. I'm sure there are hundreds of men in the military right now that wouldn't mind giving their thoughts about this movie in particular, if you know what I mean...

[Gordon]

I don't anything about Lars von Trier's films as I have not seen any, but I was going to mention John Badham's 1979 film of Stoker's immortal novel. It was released in full color on its initial release, but the recent home video editions have been supervised by Badham and he desaturated the color (2.35:1 Panavision) as he badly wanted to shoot in the film in black and white, but Universal wouldn't let him. Curious that the color wasn't fully removed, though. It has an interesting look on the remastered anamorphic DVD, though fans have longed to see the original color version for many years. Gil Taylor was the cinematographer and I have wondered what he thinks of the changes Badham made. Having said that, he was probably bemused enough by George Lucas fucking around with Star Wars. "Put more light on the dog!" Gil would shout on the set referring to Chewbacca. Legend.

[Lino]

I don't anything about Lars von Trier's films as I have not seen any

What? What planet you live on, Gordo? Just kidding of course and I'm sure you have your own personal reasons not to do so. Anyway, this is what I was talking about when comparing the color schemes used in Reflections and the ones von Trier uses in his movies:







All from the Beaver and from various von Trier movies. As you can see, he's after that sepia-toned kind of cinematography in almost every film he makes.

[Gordon]

The fourth capture is very beautiful - is that Dogville?

The tinting of black and white films in the Silent days was a powerful tool. Sadly, like many great aspects of Silent Cinema, it was (more of less?) abolished when sound came in. Orange and blue tinted monochrome is to die for! Technicolor sealed the fate of tinting techniques.

[davebert]

It's Manderlay.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The fourth one is Dogville (if Nicole Kidman isn't a giveaway than the presence of "dogville" in the URL definitely is). The fifth one is Manderlay.

[zedz]

The Element of Crime (first image above) is a bit of a dog's breakfast of a film, but photographically it's fascinating. The sepia effect you see is not achieved through processing or filters, but lighting. The entire film was drenched with sodium light, which effectively leached all real colour from the image unless the scene included a non-sodium light source (e.g. lightbulb, TV screen). So the cinematographer could achieve such effects as a monochromatically orange scene with a single cool blue light bulb hanging in the foreground - all achieved without post-production visual effects.

[davebert]

Sigh, that's what I get for reading too quickly. I was responding to the balcony pic, naturally.

I've been meaning to watch Reflections, so I suppose I'll put myself through it tonight.

[Lino]

From the imdb.com boards:

For those of you who watched the golden tinted version in its release, do you know if the print switched to full color in its very last scene or did it stay golden all the way through?

There was no full color, it stayed tinted all the way. I just watched it on DVD. A masterpiece!!!

[Gordon]

In his autobiography, Huston, We Have a Problem, the brilliant British cinematographer, Oswald Morris, who worked with Huston on eight films, states that Aldo Tonti was fired after a few days from Reflections in a Golden Eye and that he basically lit every scene that's in the movie. As he wasn't part of the production from the start, he had no say in the golden hue aesthetic and he found it overdone. He also states that he was not bothered about going uncredited. But I'll submit it to the IMDb anyway.

The book is a damn good read. He didn't like working with Kubrick on Lolita, feeling that Kubrick was disorganized and interfered with the lighting to detrimental effect at times. His memories and anecdotes about working with John Huston and Sidney Lumet are priceless, though and now I badly want to see The Hill and Equus and for the first time, Carol Reed's, The Key (1958) which was shot in black and white scope on rough seas.

[Mark Metcalf]

I just watched Reflections in a Golden Eye, rented from Netflix. I really like this film, even with Brando's awful Southern accent, almost as bad and distracting as his German accent in Morituri. The DVD is available only in the Warner box (5 films), and the cheaper TCM box (4 films). Does anybody know if the TCM box has the same version--wide-screen and golden-hued image?