herbiehancock

No 100 - Network Director - Sidney Lumet Bloody hell, one entry a week! I'm being rubbish beyond belief at the mo! Must pick up the pace here or I'll never finish the list. Network is an interesting film - It is probably one of the blackest of black comedies I have ever seen, to the extent that for a lot of it I wasn't sure whether it WAS a comedy or not.... I have also lost my notes for it so will go from what i remember. What I mostly remember is Peter Finch's incredible performance as Howard Beale. A man who's complete mental breakdown is manipulated and broadcast to the masses. It seems strangely topical, as I couldn't help but watch his impassioned rants without thinking how eerily reminiscent it was of similar situation happening right now: Beale remains an amazing and captivating character. His rants are amazing and clearly the highlight of the film. All of the film's great moments stem from these rants. We see the TV companies not knowing how to re...

No 63 - Sunset Boulevard Director - Billy Wilder Man, I just love Billy Wilder. This film challenge has taught me that he is a really impressive talent, as yet again here he has written and directed a bloody wonderful little film. The other thing that is dawning me is quite how much the advent of sound shook up cinema and quite how much it upset the old school. The transition is sort of explored in Singing in the Rain (another amazing film) but is played there more as a comedy (well, as a musical - though it's still very funny). Here we get to a more frank look at the terribly bleak after-effects of the transition to 'talkies'. Thematically, this film could be something of a sequel to Singing in the Rain (although a psychic sequel - as it was released two years earlier), perhaps looking at Lina Lamont 20 years later... In order to discuss this transition, the film does something really quite brilliant. Now, I'm not very well versed on films from the 50's and ear...