Reviews (34)

An alright movie, but not great
I had always heard that "Pretty Baby" was a good movie, but after I saw it I didn't really know what to think about it. In a way it's a good movie, but in other ways it isn't. It's about Violet (Brooke Shields) and how she grew up around prostitutes and became a prostitute at the age of 12. She ends up marrying a much older photographer (Keith Carradine).

The reasons that it can be considered a good movie is that it effectively tells the taboo story of the prostitutes, and it seems like it's realistic. However, none of the actors or actresses did that great of a job acting, at least not in my opinion. Keith Carradine seems lifeless, and it just seems that the director pretty much just jumbled up the story and threw it all in without thinking much about it at times. A lot of people won't like "Pretty Baby" because it's real controversial because of its subject and especially because of Brooke Shields shown nude at only age 12. However, if you look past the nudity and the controversy, you'll find out that it's not a terrible movie. A lot of people seem to really like the movie, so you might want to give it a try.

Absolutely UNBELIEVABLE!!!
I was very happy when PRETTY BABY became available on DVD. Soon as I found that out, I quickly ordered it from amazon.com and it arrived in only a few days.I wish to comment on the following:QUALITY OF FILM TRANSFER TO DVD: Outstanding! Picture was very clear and sharp. Colors were lively and brilliant! No noticeable defects in even the least slightest degree.MUSICAL SCORE: Soundtrack was very beautifull and moving. It represented the time period very well. It definitely contributed to the athmosphere of the time period.SET DESIGN and WARDROBE: This movie reminded me of the motion picture TITANIC, in regards to the representation and superb accuracy of the time period depicted. Just like the musical score, the set design and costumes were very true to the finest detail.ACTING: All performers, to include the supporting cast, did a remarkable job of acting. My favorite actress was Violet played by Brook Shields. She had this thick sassy southern accent and was remarkable for such a young age. The photographer who later married her was also very convincing. STORY: And now for the meat and main part of my review....I also own the movies LOLITA (Both versions), and BEAU PERE---which I received from amazon.com in a timely manner. These movies were HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL. They were a subject of much social/moral criticism! During all of this extreme negative press concerning these young girl movies, I never heard anything mentioned about PRETTY BABY...So I guess PRETTY BABY just sneaked right in and surprised me........AND BOY DID IT DO THAT!!!!!I knew the movie would be about a pre-teen prostitute...But I never would expect what the censors let the movie get away with!!!!!(a) 11 year old Brook Shields posing nude, a full body shot of her laying on a couch, from head to toes!(b) Several scenes of her walking around the house fully nude.(c) Many close-up shots of her bare chest.(d) Highly XXX dialogue, such as the line where 11 year old Violet tells her customer that "I can feel the steam just coming thru my dress"(e) The absolutely unbelievable scene where Violet is teasing this 10 year old black boy about him being a virgin. She then later throws the boy to the ground and jumps on top of him. She continues to tease him while pulling down his pants. Just as she begins to engage in forced sex with him, this black maid enters the barn and scolds Violet and gives her this lecture on how wrong it is for a WHITE girl to breed with a BLACK person.I will save the other examples for you to discover and find out yourself! I do not want to ruin the surprise and SHOCK!In terms of controversey, moral standards, and censorship....this movie blows both versions of the movie LOLITA and BEAU PERE out of the water!!!I really thought the above mentioned movies were the only three mainstream movies out their that challenged the censorships with highly controversial young girl "lolita" content.....But I JUST FOUND OUT THEIR IS A "FOURTH ONE" OUT THEIR IN THE WILD CALLED "PRETTY BABY" THAT BLOWS THEM ALL OUT OF THE WATER!!!!!!For those of you that enjoy and search the world over for mainstream "lolita type" content movies....THIS IS A 100% DEFINITE MUST OWN MOVIE!!!!!! (P.S. I do not want to waste space and your time by going into detail about what the movie was about or plot specifics...you can find out that information by reading the MAIN DESCRIPTION at the beginning, or the MAIN REVIEW...also many reviewers quote and state the same story specifics over and over...Reviews are supposed to give an EVALUATION/RATING REVIEW, not tell the story over and over again in different fashions)

Beautiful Brooke
The best part about this movie is Brooke Shields. Her beauty is obvious even at that age. She had some nude scenes. This is the type of film that perhaps can no longer be made in the climate that we live in. Susan Sarandon plays the part of Brooke's mother. Keith Carradine is also along for the ride as a not-so-successful photographer. I highly recommend this film to those who can appreciate the works of David Hamilton and Jock Sturges.

The bitter loneliness behind the red light house
A brothel is the saddest place in the world. Malle however finds a dark poetry behind the red house light and gives a beautiful intimate portrait since the point of view of a little girl.
Malle always kept in the deepest of his soul the childhood memories , and this is a direct heritage from the French Mew Wave. And this statement is supported by two essential films of him *Zazie dans le metro* from 1961 and *Au revoir les enfants* (one of his four masterpieces) from 1986 who deserved him an Academy Award as best foreigner film.
This film literally made grow up to Susan Sarandon as a top actress in a demanding role. Jodie Foster made this role without too much effort , probably due her before playing in Taxi Driver.
The script is astonishing and surrounded of a bitter atmosphere.
One little gem and a cult movie from this brilliant french director.

a sad serious movie
this movie caused a scandal as it should for having a young nude brooke shields if u get beyond that its a sad look at child prostitution in the late 1800s brooke shields plays violette daughter of a prostitute living at a brothel soon violette is groomed as the new prostitute a photographer shows up simply to take pictures of her mom for a magazine violette kinda falls for him and eventually moves out of the brothel to marryhim then her mother returns with a new sickman to steal her away as it ends a sad artsy movie but most true film critics should see it beware has beatings young nudity and many disturbing themes ... Read more

Amazon.com

The sheer audacity of My Dinner with Andre drew throngs of curious filmgoers who made the film the most talked-about art-house hit of 1981. After all, who'd ever heard of a movie consisting of nearly two hours of nonstop dinner conversation? Ah... but this isn't just any conversation--it's the kind of mesmerizing, soul-searching, life-affirming exploration that we feel privileged to listen to, and with unobtrusive style, director Louis Malle invites us to eavesdrop to our hearts' and minds' content. The film was written by two New Yorkers at the dinner table, noted playwright-actor Wallace Shawn and well-known stage director Andre Gregory, who essentially play themselves. They taped their conversations for several weeks and Shawn gradually shaped them into a scripted conversation, but you'd never know it from watching the movie. The talk flows and flows until you're captivated by Gregory's stories of world travel and spiritual quests in Poland, India, Tibet, the Sahara desert... the tales of a soul-searcher who'd dropped out of the theater world to rediscover his zest for living. Shawn plays the skeptic, the voice of reason, his feet on the ground but his own mind willing to soar. The cumulative effect of this conversation is almost hypnotic, and certainly plays into our eternal appetite for storytelling. Both primal and sophisticated, witty and profound, My Dinner with Andre is a film that can be savored over time, offering new revelations with each viewing as the listener-viewer develops his or her own appreciation of life's great mysteries. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (63)

Don't you wish you had friends like this?
Where to begin? Two real people engaging in an ideosyncratic discussion about everything. Literally. From our modern, somnambulistic culture to artistic and personal freedom, My Dinner With Andre represents one of those conversations from the distant past which you can never quite forget. Every word and observation drips with latent meaning and insight; no fear of using audicious metaphors to make a point; a willingness to expose the soul. Those kinds of conversations may ultimately be more wind than fire, but through all the twists and turns of this conversation, and the self-absorbed pretension that sometimes overwhelms the moment, this movie has a lot to say. About life. About relationships. About death. And about whether we are alive or dead, awake or asleep, happy or unhappy, honest or fraudulent. I urge you to watch this--and then watch The Sixth Sense. Believe it or not, these movies tell a similar story about the world of zombies in which we live. Great film. (Don't listen to the comments about the quality of the conversion to DVD. It ain't great, but it doesn't need to be. This movie would eminently and desirably watchable even if it was shown on some snowy, UHF broadcast.)

You Are In For A Treat
I have seen this movie several times and have always discovered new revelations during each viewing.

Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory are brilliant. They spend almost the entire time before the cameras in animated conversation while eating dinner in a small restaurant in New York City. The conversation is unforgettable and the reason it will not soon leave my memory is that I feel I was there at the table with them. This effect is due to the considerable skills of the director, Louis Malle.

Shawn has been a busy actor and playwright throughout his career with frequent appearances in various productions such as VANYA ON 42ND STREET, a movie with the same kind of appeal as MY DINNER WITH ANDRE. Gregory has worked primarily as a stage director.

Louis Malle is also an excellent director with many film credits including VANYA ON 42ND STREET.

Tres Bon!
"My Dinner with Andre" is my all-time favorite film. I watch this movie often, each time of which I notice another layer of meaning. In addition to the superior dialogue and direction in this film (which other reviewers here have aptly described), the movie is rich, visually. This movie is not visually boring, despite the fact the cameras are on Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory for nearly two hours. Andre Gregory, especially, is such an engaging conversationalist that he evokes compelling mental images in the audience as to what these far away places might look like (i.e., the Sahara and the Polish forest to name a few). After all, Gregory said "I consider myself a bit of a Surrealist," meaning that the world of dream images in the mind's eye are the locus of true imagination. It's a superb use of the verbal to evoke the visual. Yes, the film is overtly naturalistic (i.e., the restaurant setting, a 2-hour meal with "real" characters), but the sheer dialogue transports one beyond mere verisimilitude.

Having the audience imagine, in their own ways, what these venues might look like is so contrary to what we get so often in American movies today. We typically get in your-face visuals and glitzy special effects (e.g., "Lord of the Rings) that allows no room for viewer imagination: its all artificially provided for you. Such films leave me, to use Gregory's words, "passive and impotent."

"My Dinner with Andre" respects its audience by reminding us what it is to be truly human. Having conversations as portrayed in this film is my ideal evening out with a good friend(s).

I can't recommend this movie enough.

A masterpiece! - The best movie of the past 25 years
I just finished this movie, and I feel like I need to simply get a few thoughts down before my head hits my pillow. I didn't know what to expect entering My Dinner With Andre - after all, it is a movie about two guys who have dinner in a restaurant and talk the whole time. But from the moment that the goofy-looking, awkward Wallace Shawn lumbers down a New York street and we hear his voice-over, I knew that something more was taking place in this movie. What it was, I had no idea.

There are no character names; there is no 'plot;' Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, both prominent actors/playwrights of New York, meet after not having seen each other for years and they shoot the breeze. I learned that it's not as extemporaneous as I originally had imagined - Shawn and Gregory got together, recorded hours of their conversations, and then compiled a script based on them. The 'restaurant' is actually a defunct hotel, the waiters and barkeepers all actors. But there's a transcendence to it all, as the men sit and chat (mostly the powerful, lively Andre Gregory doing the talking), food being brought out to them.

What heightens the power of the film is the setup that Wallace gives in the voice-over before their dinner: Andre, the man he meets, has been living a peculiar existence traveling all over the world, when he used to never want to leave his family. A friend of Wallace's saw Andre weeks before sobbing uncontrollably on the street because he was violently moved by a line in Bergman's Autumn Sonata. Like Wallace, we don't know what to expect in the very context of the dinner conversation.

Some of the things that Andre and Wallace discuss in this movie are so unimaginably crazy, so hauntingly horrific, that even the mental images that went through my head sent chills all the way through me. At one point, Andre tells of a strange rite with some friends on Halloween in which some of them let him through a strange process of being stripped completely naked, bathed, led through a field, lowered into a grave and buried alive for half an hour. Of course, I tell you this just to tantalize you, because to begin to even summarize what goes on in 110 perfect minutes would be impossible. Andre and Wallace discuss love, marriage, perception and reality, theology, and even the validity of their very statements. That they relate it with such grace and raw, real emotion makes me refuse to believe that this was staged in any way. It feels so natural.

I can't believe that something like this could actually make its way onto film, because it's such an amazing achievement for the art itself - in a way (especially in an early story that Andre tells about the nature of performance), seeing these men talk over dinner on film is the actual embodiment of a movie folding into itself in perpetuity. These men are real figures, play real figures in the film, recreate real conversations, and talk about reality in such a way that a heightened sense of awareness pervades the whole film. I didn't get up once, check the time - a few times I leaned closer to the screen because what was being said struck so close to me, hit home so hard, that I wanted to just be nearer to it. At one point, I gasped as Andre related the idea of New York, of working society being a new kind of concentration camp in which the prisoners make the prison, abide by the rules, and don't even realize it's holding them in. Whether I believe that or not is irrelevant - the fact that it's worked into a conversation like this is amazing.

The movie moves with grace between moments of hauntingly dark realizations, to soaring epiphanies of happiness and then back again. Much of the film may be discussion about the zombie-like nature of human existence, but there is a certain empowering quality to it all. My Dinner With Andre is not just about a conversation; it is about living; it is about life; it is about reality; it is about love; but most of all it is about the fact that we can all be happy with what we have right now, even with the infinite, scary knowledge that we receive over time. We meet a man who personnifies 'normalcy' with every gesture (Wallace), and yet there's a man who has done everything in his power to resist stasis (Andre). I left the movie with a changed perspective on each man, which I'm sure is what happened between them, too. More than a few times, I felt on the verge of tears watching this, and I felt it more than ever when Erik Satie's "Gymnopedie for Piano" began at the film's conclusion. One of the most transcendent works of music was chosen for one of the most transcendently great films I've ever seen. How cool.

I'm sorry. I'm just rambling at 2:15am, but I just thought it was impossible to not attempt to put into words what could be one of the single most important experiences I've ever had with a movie. I've seen a handful of movies that have drastically changed my thinking about a certain theme or notion. My Dinner With Andre might have just changed my life.

I want to have a conversation like this
I have not seen this DVD so my review pertains only to the movie itself.

This is one of my favorite films of all time. I can watch it over and over again and it remains enjoyable.

The entire movie consists of two old friends having a conversation over dinner. Wallace Shawn plays Wallace Shawn, a struggling playwrite who acts to pay his bills. He is a realist, but he has an unshakable faith in the power and importance of art. Andre Gregory plays Andre Gregory, a once successful director who had worked with Shawn in the past, but who has since had an apparent breakdown. Shawn has heard rumors about his old friend's erratic behavior.

Shawn is wary of the dinner. How crazy is Andre? Why does he want to meet after all of these years. He gently prods Andre with some general questions, but once he gets Andre started, there is no stopping him. He had had a breakdown - or a crisis, or an epiphany depending on how one looks at it. Andre had realized that he was not really living, but, rather, sort of existing in a semi-consious state. He looked around and saw that everyone was doing the same thing. He also lost his faith in the ability of art to communicate anything. This crisis is the result of his reaction to post-modernity in general. He proceeds to tell Wallace the extremes to which he went to try to feel like he was really experiencing life again. He traveled all over the world, experimented with all sorts of mysticism and unconventional thought, and developed a conscious, almost child-like view of the world.

I will not paraphrase the entire conversation. Wallace Shawn does get his rebuttal, and it steers the conversation in a cryptic direction. The conclusion, or lack thereof, of the argument is challenging, if not down-right depressing. This aspect of the film is rarely mentioned. Although Shawn leaves exhilarated by the conversation he has had, that conversation has left the audience in a quandry. The movie should instigate some interesting conversations of your own.

The script is just wonderfull. The two men taped many of their conversations and then edited them up and made a script out of it. Great idea that I am surprised is not used more often. The result is complete naturalism. Malle is reserved and delicate in his direction. A must for anyone who likes intelligent cinema - or simply craves a good conversation. Have that conversation vicariously through this splendid film. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The fascination of watching Damage is similar to the fascination of watching a car crash in progress--you know something unpleasant is going to happen, but your attention is riveted to the scene of destruction. In the case of this acclaimed drama, adapted by playwright David Hare from the novel by Josephine Hart, the destruction results from a collision of sexual attraction between a British governmental official (Jeremy Irons) and his son's fiancée (Juliette Binoche). Blind to the damage they'll cause to others and themselves, they begin an obsessive affair based purely on impulsive attraction and the hidden emotions that feed into their immediate physical desires. As you could expect, this leads to emotional fallout for everyone concerned, lending multiple interpretations to the film's title and allowing Miranda Richardson (as Irons's wife) to give a brilliant performance drawn from raw anger and betrayal. Under the direction of Louis Malle, this forceful drama never resorts to sordid detail or gratuitous titillation. Rather, Malle and his esteemed cast have explored the ways in which the power of sexuality supercedes the rationality of logic, when mutual attraction is stronger than one's ability to resist temptation. Damage makes it clear that such an indulgence will always come at considerable cost. The DVD of this fine film includes a behind-the-scenes featurette and the original theatrical trailer. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (37)

Who is most damaged?
"Damaged people are the worst because they know they can survive." Dangerous is a good film that examines the dark side of obsessions. Jeremy Irons portrays a british government official who becomes obsessed with his son's fiance played by Juliette Binoche. The result is a film that only partially succeeds.

I had several problems with the film one being Irons motivation to become involved with this woman in the first place. A look and phone-call and then BAM! OK... but why was he so willing to jump into the dark waters? Power? Lust? Carelessness? Boredom? And herein lies the major weakness of the film. The film deals almost exclusively with the obsesson of Iron's character with Binoche but does not deal with the obsession of the mother (Iron's wife) with her son. Her relationship is clearly destructive and unhealthy but all the damage she inflicts under the guise of her love for her son never finds a voice. No fault falls on the mother when her obsession might well explain both the son's and father's weaknesses. At one part the son is talking about his family life saying that although it was good it lacked passion. His mother then replies that it is probably her fault and he replies that he rather thinks it's his father's. It's a careless and misdirecting remark and a sadly missed plot point.

As you may expect there are many sex scenes. I don't know what I was expecting but many made me laugh. They seemed so ridiculous and absurdly physical. I rather think Binoche must have suffered some bruising as a result of Iron's flailing.

While this film is meant to portray the damage that a traditional obsession (i.e. an affair) can have, it also begs to be seen from the the alternate perspective of a mother's obsession for her son. I am disappointed that Malle didn't have the courage to pursue this theme more vigorously.

Fascinating Study of Obsession
Stellar cast and thoughtful direction make this a completely fascinating film. There are some moments where you must definitely suspend your disbelief, but even so this is a thoroughly engaging character study into sexual compulsions and obsessions.

Nice to have the two different versions available, along with a short director commentary. 'Would have been nice to have a complete commentary track with one or more of the stars.

Why isn't Leslie Caron working all the time?

Uncontrollably Obsessed MP escapes unpunished
The story is seen entirely from Fleming's viewpoint. (If there is any guilt on the fiancee's part, she doesn't show it.) Fleming is a leading Conservative MP, likely to take over a Cabinet post as minister of health in the next re-shuffle. I feel the author, Josephine Hart, decided to give him that job, in order to maximise the fall that confronted him when his errors are discovered. It was as senior an establishment role that the protagonist could have without fearing he would be recognised at every street corner. Politics don't play a large part in the story, but the film will have played some small part in the image of sleaze that the Conservative party acquired in the early 1990s.

Binoche is utterly beautiful, and totally passive during the sex scenes, but her accent (cleverly excused by scriptwriter Hare as the result of her travelling the world) is all over the place. Irons is convincing in the role, and Miranda Richardson puts in another perfect performance. Their son, the victim, is almost too good-natured to be true, but this helps to highlight the contrast with his father's uncontrollable lust.

As with 'Day of the Jackal', the motion is very occasionally jerky -- one or two frames seem to be missing from the transfer from film reel to DVD, but not enough to harm one's enjoyment.

This is not far from being a truly great film, but I think it would have needed one extra dimension -- don't ask me what -- to achieve that.

Pure Animal Lust & Sexual Attraction Abound!
Louis Malle's film with a young fiancee, Juliette Binoche & the father of her soon to be husband-an elder, mid-life crisis bound, government official in Jeremy Irons. The second they gaze upon each other, you just KNOW that there is going to be some trouble ahead. Miranda Richardson as Iron's wife, plays a pivotal role in the movie also. Very erotic & base sex scenes with a twist of an ending that you will never forget. Hence, the title - DAMAGE! Highly recommended and truly great ensemble performances by all...

Damage
Love at a first sight exists, at least in this movie.
A honourable member of English Parliament falls in love with a woman who introduces herself to him unexpectadly during one party. Soon, this woman appears in his life again, this time as his son's fiance but that doesn't mean that he can not start a
very romantic affair with her. So two people who are prisoners of the happiness of the moment change so many lives forever.

I was sick to death to watch a movie where a father of an old child has sex with his fiance but I had to keep watching it only to find out how it will end. Luckily it ended perfectly making it crystal clear that prisoners of passions and killers of harmony always get what they always asked for which is = HELL on EARTH.

I would recommend this movie to people who have to learn something new each day even though it may be very disturbing to watch something like this. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Portrait of an Old Lion and a Tired City
For whatever reasons, this film never has received the recognition and appreciation I think it deserves. It was directed by Louis Malle and stars Burt Lancaster as Lou. (In Atlantic City, first names are all you need to know about those around you.) Malle carefully develops three different story lines: Lou's long-term affair with Grace (Kate Reid), a mobster's widow; Lou's relationship with Sally (Susan Sarandon) to whom he feels both a paternal and romantic attraction; and his symbiotic relationship with Atlantic City. Both he and the city seem long past their prime. During the course of the film, Sally also becomes a widow. Credit Malle and his excellent cast as well as cinematographer Richard Ciupka for creating and then sustaining an atmosphere of deterioration and menace. Special note should also be made of John Guare's screenplay. He, Malle, Lancaster, Sarandon, and the film were all nominated for an Academy Award. (FYI, The respective winners in 1980 were Bo Goldman for Melvin and Howard, Robert Redford for Ordinary People, Robert De Niro for Raging Bull, Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner's Daughter, and Ordinary People.) Toward the end of his career, Lancaster accepted a series of roles (including this one) which enabled him to explore and reveal subtle nuances of character and personality which much earlier roles neither permitted nor required. My own opinion is that his performance as Lou is his greatest achievement as an actor.

However, in certain respects, Atlantic City itself really is the dominant character. I recall brief visits to it in the 1970s. The city then bore little resemblance to what it has since become, at least in the casino area. Of course the city then bore little resemblance, also, to the elegant seaside resort it once was 75 years earlier. My guess (only a guess) is that Malle's work in this film -- especially his establishment and enrichment of precisely appropriate tone and atmosphere -- had a significant influence on later films such as House of Games (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990), Billy Bathgate (1991), Road to Perdition (2002), and The Cooler (2003). As I said, just a guess.

One final point: I think it is a disgrace that the so-called "special features" provided with the DVD version are limited to "Theatrical trailer(s)" and "Widescreen anamorphic format."

Atlantic City: Beautiful Movie with Plenty of Floy Floy
Atlantic City is one of my favorite films of all time. Usually one when makes lists of their favorite films there are many big budget blockbusters on them but not me. Atlantic City is the best movie made of its year and was vastly ignored as far as awards go. Its director, Louis Malle gives us a wonderful story of passion, lost memory and pipe dreams. Everywhere there seems to be decay, ruins, buildings being torn down, people deparate for a drug score, people holding on to the past, unable to cope with reality. John Guare wrote one of the smartest, funny, film scripts of all time, and each time I watch this gem of a film, I find more verbal riches, more warth, humanity, great and subtle humor, and surpise. Burt Lancaster, as Lou the small time hoodlum and numbers man, is a wonder to behold; how many actors have this great a performance so late in a long career and this performance ranks with his best? Susan Sarandon's performance is great also, showing beauty, tenderness, toughness, and sadness. The suppoting cast, like the great Kate Reid as the widow of "Cookie" Pinza, steal scenes left and write. When asked if Reid was a Miss America contestant Lou replies "She was more like Miss Pinball Machine." Malle directs the vilolence well but doen't overdo it-his mobsters are scary and believable but well played. The cinematography is wonderful and there is a burnished light around the locations, the buildings and the air full of the salty spray of decadence. The most beautiful scene, Lancaster watching Sarandon bathe her upper body in lemon juice is magical, as in the ritual she turns on an opera tape and is watched and coveted my an aging man. The scene is never lurid but just the opposite-sexy, bright and full of warmth,the camera going back and forth between Lancaster's eyes and his goddess getting the fish market smell where she works off and is just as stunning as the rest of the film. Rediscover this film if you have never seen it, for Louis Malle was a world class film director and I feel this is his best film in English, a complex and beautiful masterpiece no wrecking ball will ever destroy. Highly recommended.

Small Charming Movie
Screen legend Lancaster and a then up and coming but still mostly unknown Sarandon are great together in this affecting melodrama about an aging tough guy who never amounted to much and a hopeful card dealer who is going nowhere fast. He has one last adventure and she faces the grim facts of life once and for all. Their sad, washed out lives mirror the sad washed out Atlantic City. If you can't make it in Las Vegas, try Atlantic City and, if you can't make it in Atlantic City, you might as well pack it in. Nominated for a bunch of academy awards but won nothing in an excellent year for movies.

A pearl of great price
Burt Lancaster only got better with age and this has to be one of his shining roles, as a two-bit gangster (Lou Pasco) long past his prime, unwittingly involved in what would be his final deal. Louis Malle captures Atlantic City in its decline, telling a wonderful story of misplaced souls who struggle to find their place. Susan Sarandon turns in a memorable performance Sallie Matthews, who soon becomes Lou's love interest as she washes away the smell of brine from her shoulders in one of the signature scenes in the movie.

Malle constructs an elaborate story dealing with the gangsterism of Atlantic City past and present. Lou finds himself the reluctant paramour of Grace, the widow of a former crime boss, who Lou worked for. A relationship Malle never loses sight of as he develops the relationship between Lou and Sally, taking it to its fitting conclusion.

Malle has such a fine eye for detail, which made him one of the best directors in cinema. He brings his French sense of realism to Hollywood, playing off American gangster films in the same way Truffaut did, but creating what I think are more captivating films. Atlantic City is a pearl. It is so well rounded and lustrous that one can watch this movie over and over again and be enchanted each and every time.

One Of Louis Malle's Best!
As of late I have been watching the films of Louis Malle. I have watched some movies for the first time and others a second time around. What I've noticed about Malle is the way none of his films seem to have a distinctive feel to them. He seems able to direct every movie in a different style that is relatable to it's story. Each film carries it's own personal tone to it. Watch "Au Revoir Les Enfants", "My Dinner With Andre", "Damage" and this film. I don't notice any similarities in Malle's style of directing. And I guess that's a good thing.

"Atlantic City" is a film about lost hopes and dreams. The movie's most interesting character I feel is Lou (Burt Lancaster). A small time hood who remembers Atlantic City in the "old days". He claims he at one time knew all the famous gangsters. Lou is at an age in his life where he feels regret. He thinks where is his big payoff? For the past 40 years he has been Grace's (Kate Reid) bodyguard\boyfriend. And now seeks something more. He want to be one of those people who feels "important". He wants money and beautiful women around him. He wants to live it up in his old age.

The other main character is Sally (Susan Sarandon). A woman who is now on her own after he husband left her for her sister, who is now having a baby! Sally wants to become a dealer in a casino. She feels she has a lot to look forward to in the future. Things seem to be shaping up nicely for her and with enough time may get her life back on track.

What I like so much about "Atlantic City" is how Malle seems truly interested in these characters. This is one of those movies where the strenght lies not within the plot, but the people. Its the characters who make the movie because we can see ourselves in them. At one time or another I bet we have all felt a bit like Lou. I'll freely admit I have at times. We have all felt down asking ourselves when will our luck turn around. When will we hit the jackpot? For Lou it will come sooner than he thinks. But, Malle doesn't rush the movie. He lets the movie flow at its own rhythm. He really cares for these people and is willing to take the time to tell their stories. And in the end "Atlantic City" is a touching story that most people should find enjoyable.

At it's time of release "Atlantic City" was showered with awards and nominations. The movie went on to earn 5 Oscar nominations including "Best Picture". It won 7 Cesars awards, including "Best Picture" and it also won the Golden Lion award for "Best Picture". And Roger Ebert named it one of the ten best films of 1981!

I don't know if it was in some way meant as a joke or if I personally just got a kick out of this but Wallace Shawn has a brief cameo in the movie as a waiter. In a movie Malle made that same year "My Dinner With Andre" Shawn had a role in that movie. That movie was set with two people in a restaurant having dinner. This time around, Shawn is now the waiter. I don't know why but I just thought I'd mention this.

Bottom-line: One of the best films of it's year. Director Malle does a wonderful job of telling the story. The characters seem real enough where we give them our feelings. A strong touching movie. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

A complete and total surprise
I have never been a major fan of art films. I literally stumbled onto this film while channel-surfing. Although it was in the middle of the film, and I only saw a few minutes at a time until I resumed channel-surfing, I always landed back on this unusual film, which looked like a group of people going through a rehearsal. Eventually I was intrigued, and went to find out more info (like the name). After a while, I checked out the film, and saw it beginning to end.

I was amazed by what I saw. A group of performers (Wallace Shawn, Julianne Moore, George Gaynes, et al.) performing a classic Russian play in front of a small group of people, including the play's director, Andre Gregory. It looks like the group is really just rehearsing the play in their normal clothes, in an abandoned theater with minimal props. But NO! That's the actual performance they did! And by doing "Uncle Vanya" in this way, one can picture the events occuring any time, any place. I was astounded.

The biggest surprise to me was Wallace Shawn. Before I had seen him with recurring roles in "Murphy Brown" and "Star Trek: DS9," with my favorite performance as Vizzini in "The Princess Bride." Wallace Shawn as Vanya totally surprised me, and completely changed my perception of him as an actor.

I honestly believe that this film started me on a different path as to what films I watch now. I cannot recommend it enough.

A tremendous feat of cinematic and theatrical imagination.
Director Louis Malle, a decade or so after My Dinner with Andre, teamed once again with Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn to create Vanya on 42nd Street, and the second film is even more brilliant than the first. To help actors keep up their acting chops between jobs, Gregory staged recurring performances of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in a decrepit, abandoned Broadway theater (since renovated by Disney to accommodate The Lion King) and inviting selected guests to witness the proceedings. As filmed by Malle, this performance comes as close to smashing the barriers between film and theater as any films ever made (even Olivier's films of Henry V and Hamlet didn't succeed quite as well). Although the performances of Wallace Shawn, Julianne Moore and other New York actors are uniformly impressive, the standout is Brooke Smith, an actress of whom I know little (save for a guest shot on "Law and Order"). This movie shows us what a genius we lost when Louis Malle died, much too young.

Good, not great movie
A well-conceived film with an overall enjoyable cast. The best performance belongs to Brooke Smith (kidnappee in Silence of the Lambs) who perfectly portrays the heartbreaking experience of a "plain" woman with a love unrequited. Wallace Shawn is also commendable, and the character roles of Nanny and Waffles are played superbly.
However, I give this movie 4 rather than 5 stars chiefly because I was not thrilled with the performances of Julianne Moore and Larry Pine. Moore doesn't quite exude/possess enough charm and attraction to match that of her character who supposedly turns the existence of those around her upside down. And her repeated laughs seemed unnatural. Pine's Dr. Astrov likewise failed to invoke the reverence that the female characters attribute to him. He was a bit too "Bogart" and dated.
The film does have enough to stand up to repeated viewings.

See this Vanya
This film removes the old stigma surrounding Chekhov and allows audiences of all ages and backgrounds to access the brilliance, pain, laughter, and humanity of his work. It may even motivate some viewers to seek out more of his writings. The direction by Louis Maller, the translation by David Mamet and all of the performances are the most gripping, realistic, entrancing I've ever seen of "Uncle Vanya". It shows what can be achieved with no set, no costumes, just great actors, with a great script, doing what they do best.
SEE THIS FILM!

Mamet and Malle make a winner!
I remembered loving this "small" film when I saw it in the theater, so I knew I'd be happy with the DVD, whether it had any extras or not (it doesn't). Although Julianne Moore has made it big since making Uncle Vanya ("Boogie Nights," "Nine Months," "The End of the Affair"), and her lovely face dominates the DVD cover, "Uncle Vanya on 42nd Street" is truly ensemble acting at its best. Wallace Shawn as the title character does a powerful job of holding the viewer's interest, even though his Vanya is riddled with smugness, envy, self-pity, and lethargy. There are things about his performance that make you wonder if Louis Malle wasn't thinking of "Uncle Vanya" as a sequel to "My Dinner with Andre" (especially since Andre Gregory plays the director who has gathered his troupe of actors to rehearse Uncle Vanya in the falling down New Amsterdam Theater in New York City). In both movies, Shawn plays a man facing a mid-life crises, plagued with self-doubt and floundering around, looking for reasons to go on.

What struck me on my recent viewing of the film was how timeless Checkhov's story really is. Like Jane Austen, he has a great ability to find the universal in the pettiness of highly-controlled domestic life. In comparing Mamet's rendering with Paul Schmidt's excellent recent translation, it seems Mamet did a good job of crafting speakable lines. He modernized the play without wrenching it from its original time or setting. Since the performance we see is a final run-through, not a dress rehearsal, we receive no visual clues as to when the play within the movie actually begins. Malle's light hand in this regard only reinforces the dubiousness of the distinction between theater/art and reality (a much discussed subject in "My Dinner with Andre").

The decision to film "Uncle Vanya" in the decaying New Amsterdam Theater was an inspired one. When Dr. Astrov (Larry Pine), the play's most forward-looking character, bemoans the cultural and spiritual devastation caused by deforestation and human indifference to the environment, one can't help but think of the plight of 42nd Street itself. The New Amsterdam's resurrection--thanks to Disney dollars--as the current home of "The Lion King" is not without it's ironies. As all of the characters in "Uncle Vanya" are painfully aware, our futures are always purchased at a very high price. And the losses we are likely to experience as we move towards those futures may be greater than any of us will be able to bear.

"Uncle Vanya on 42nd Street" is one of those great works of art, like Eugene O'Neill's "A Long Day's Journey into Night," that makes you stop and take stock of your life. ... Read more

Description

Three giants of world cinema conspire to bring the dark prose of Edgar Allan Poe to the screen in Spirits of the Dead.Roger Vadim, Luis Malle, and Federico Fellini direct Jane and Peter Fonda, Brigitte Bardot, Alain Delon, and Terence Stamp in three separate stories of souls tormented by their own phantasmal visions of guilt, lust, and greed.In a stunning new transfer enhanced for 16X9 televisions, Home Vision Entertainment is pleased to present this marvelous volume of the macabre.

... Read more

Reviews (13)

The best is last
Spirits of the dead is a mixed bag of cinematic delight. Of the 3 episodes, only the last one "Toby Dammit" sustains interest. Fellini is at his best in this segment & Terence Stamp puts in a self destructive performance that has to be seen to be believed! His character, a self destructing actor who has reached the end of all worldly hope & desire wants only to leap into the chasm of death & destruction & he does so in spectactular fashion. This segment alone is worth the price of admission & Fellini caries the weight of the entire film on his capable talents. Images to delight & dialogue to astound, Terence Stamp should have won some kind of award for this brilliant performance as he portrays a burnt out actor with a death wish. You can't help but sympathize with him as he jolts his way from one bizarre interlude to another. You know you're at deaths door when you can turn down that blonde in the awards segment! Yikes!!! Never bet the devil your head!! See it!

Five Stars for "Toby Dammit".
There really is only one reason to watch this film and that is Fellini's "Toby Dammit". Terence Stamp takes the title role of an actor arriving in Italy to appear is some kind of weird religious western. He is at the end of his tether and all seems alien and disorentated to him. The Edgar Allen Poe story from which this segment is adapted from is called "Never wager your head to the Devil" and thats exactly what he does! All with the usual Fellini touch of class. Excellent.

Fellini Makes Films Like My Dreams--Exquisite Bliss
These three short films, loosely adapted from stories by Poe, are all packed with stunning landscape and exquisite set design. However, only Fellini's film manages to create a story worth retelling in its own right.

The first film is Roger Vadim's "Metzengerstein". The best thing I can say about it is that the gorgeous horse was the most effective actor in it. He knew his lines, and nodded when appropriate. Jane Fonda plays Contessa Frederica, an occasionally sadistic libertine who develops a passionate romantic attachment to the aformentioned horse. She is wondefully cruel and gorgeous, making the most out of some truly inspired little outfits. The segment is filmed by Claude Renoir, who captures some stunning images breathtaking beauty. Again, the scenes with the horse galloping and cavorting with Frederica are rather intoxicating. The story itself, however, is sacrificed on the alters of atmosphere and aesthetics. The end result is a very empty film.

Louis Malle's "William Wilson" basically has two really excellent scenes that make this worth watching. The first is a simple send-up of an autopsy. Wilson is demonstrating for his fellow Medical School classmates, the proper introductory procedure for performing an autopsy. Except, where his instructor had used the corpse of an old man--Wilson had bound a lovely, living lass and is preparing to dissect her. The other great scene involves Brigitte Bardot. Throughout this film, Bardot is unflatteringly coiffed in a black wig that is pulled back in a rather schoomarmish fashion. Her eyes are seductive, but she doesn't demand the kind of camera worship she has so often received in other films. However, the hair comes down and Bardot is soon being subjected to Wilson's birch rod. Her face, hair, and the slashes on her back are aesthetically quite sublime. Alain Delon is fair in the title role, but he lacks any real charisma. Between him and his doppelganger, I think they both possessed nearly as much charisma as the horse in Vadim's film. Overall, this film also sacrifices its story to the look of the film. The end is rather intense and powerful in its own right, but it lacks significance because the story itself isn't carried forth with any conviction or authority.

Terence Stamp is Toby Dammitt in the final film, directed by Federico Fellini. He really does an outstanding job looking washed out, confused, sick, drunk, and completely at the end of his tether. The film itself is phenomenal. It is by far the most absurdist and melancholy of the three films. In this adaptation of Poe's story, "Never Bet the Devil Your Head", Toby is jaundiced with everything possibly gained by fame in this life. He seems to represent the insidious truth of fame. He is also haunted by a sweet little girl in white, bouncing a big white ball. The scenes relating to her are the best, in my opinion. She is a sylph with terrible symbolic power. What does the ball mean? Why is she so demonstrably joyful? She can be read as pure and active--a regenerative force that is the impetus for new life. She certainly is spooky and charged with energy. She is clearly something that Toby's psyche cannot accept. Ultimately, the viewer is made privy to a series of associations in Toby's mind that help us understand his relationship with the little girl. But we are not made aware of her exact role in his downward spiral. It is impossible to fully convey the magic that Fellini captures with this film. From start to finish, there is a typically "Felliniesque" hyper-surrealism that transports the viewer into another dimension. This is the only film of the three that manages the rather daunting feats of transcendence and cinematic art. Nino Rota's score is haunting and hypnotic throughout. An absolute masterpiece overall.

The last on "Toby Dammit" is a short in itself
The first two in the detached trilogy are forgettable but the last one directed by Fellini is a classic, at first I thought it was Terrance Stamp and then I found out it was and I like him even more now. His performance is classic and the short is actually quite creepy rendition of Poe's "Don't lose you head" If I was a film student I would pay attention to this one. Hey Jane Fonda was pretty cute in her time, nevertheless the short with her was pretty bad and kind of dull, the second one was better though. Overall: good late night fright film with Fellini saving this film.

Toby Dammit is great, despite overdubs
The best story here is Toby Dammit. At first I was very annoyed that they overdubbed Terence Stamp's voice with some french actor's voice. But I think that's only because I'm so used to hearing Stamp's distinctive voice when I see his face. That soon melted away and I couldn't have enjoyed the story more (although I still think they should have left Stamp's voice alone). This is actual art on screen. It's both surreal and intensely real at the same time.

The devil as a little blonde girl freaked me out... This is another great piece of work from Fellini. Worth my money. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Get in line, buddy: who doesn't want to see Jeanne Moreau and Brigitte Bardot costarring as turn-of-the-century vaudevillians who get mixed up with Mexican revolutionaries? This slapstick 1965 movie by Louis Malle came three years before he took off for India to make his famous documentary, Calcutta, and it shows off the carefree side of Malle to rousing effect. The two heroines play song-and-dance women who flirt with the striptease and end up fighting for the cause of Pancho Villa. Great fun, and what a way to see two very different icons of mid-century French cinema. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Des sous-titres ! Que c'est bon !
This is great farce! You'll adore "Team Maria" (Bardot and Moreau), enjoy the often spectacular scenery, and get a real kick out of the bizarre and offbeat moments in this wonderful film. As for me, I highly appreciate the French subtitles. I have a number of French films, and although I understand French quite well, I sometimes miss bits of dialogue. This is the only French language film (though a few words of Spanish and English are uttered, too) I have on DVD that actually provides French subtitles. If you are a student of the French language, this film is a must. And if you are a student of La Bardot . . . eh bien, qu'attends-tu ?

a lighthearted South American revolution
Back in the mid-sixties, French producer Louis Malle hit the idea to couple Jeanne Moreau's great acting with Brigitte Bardot's sex-appeal. It worked, and turned 'Viva Maria' into an international hit.

Having to deal with two such great stars, this vaudeville-comedy cannot avoid being extremely well balanced. In its display of action throughout its story, set and well shot in Mexico. And, above all, balanced in meticulously granting a rightful share of attention to each of its two female leads.

When you're in the mood to watch lighthearted vaudeville, just go ahead with 'Viva Maria'. The movie won't disappoint you.

Almost a Masterpiece
I saw this movie on Turner Classic Movies not too long ago. It was in English. The dubbing was quite good. This was one of the few movies that exceeded my expectations. I usually come away at least somewhat disappointed. Not with this movie. It was very entertaining and I believe a near masterpiece. The reviewer from Michigan pretty much expresses my own sentiments. For her energetic and enchanting performance, Bardot deservedly was nominated for a BAFTA award (British's Oscar equivalent) for best actress in a foreign film.

This movie is highly recommended.

When Brigitte Met Jeanne...
Viva Maria is a wonderfully sexy, screwball, and at times surreal period comedy starring the two great French sex symbols of the sixties - Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau. I must admit that when I first saw the film (when I was young and impressionable) I was primarily attracted to the obvious charms of La Bardot. But now that I am older and wiser (well, older anyway) I can fully appreciate the subtle sensuality of Jeanne Moreau whose gorgeous eyes alone could seduce any man. Together, these two make a formidable team and seem to genuinely spark off each other.

The plot is suitably silly. In some unnamed South American country, Bardot is an Irish (!) terrorist's daughter who has learned all the tricks of the trade before suddenly becoming orphaned. On the run from the authorities, she takes refuge with a motley band of travelling performers whose shows seem to mix circus and music hall. Moreau is a star attraction although she has just lost the partner in her double act. Naturally, the two girls - both named Maria - end up on stage together where problems with the costumes lead to some delightful striptease sequences. The girls are a big hit - no surprise!

The troupe's travels take them to a country in the midst of revolution. Moreau falls for the rebel leader - George Hamilton, of all people, trying hard to look moody and magnificent. When he is killed (sad for Maria, relief for the audience) the two Marias take over leadership of the rebels - inspired by Moreau's zeal and Bardot's technical knowledge of explosives.

The film rattles along at a brisk pace, littered along the way with saucy humour and outrageous sight gags. There is a marvellous supporting cast to jolly things along, chief among them the droll Claudio Brook as the head of the troupe - a crack shot obsessed with developing a gun to shoot around corners. And, as is Louis Malle's habit, there are also some bitingly funny digs at the Catholic Church. This is not a film to be taken seriously, as its many surreal touches prove. For example, the skeleton of a horse and rider. Or the big black border guards who drink tea and speak English with impeccable Oxbridge accents. It says a lot for the ensemble playing that the film is still fun when Bardot and Moreau are not on screen.

But, of course, it's fantastic when they are - Bardot the playful kitten who enjoys sex and explosives equally, and Moreau the slightly more mature cat: sleek, sensuous and seductive. I hate to tell you about the dreams I had for weeks after seeing her love scene with Hamilton - in a prison with him chained to a wall.

Not a great film, perhaps, but certainly superlative entertainment. It would make a great double feature with Philippe de Broca's "King of Hearts". The video version is also extemely well done, with bright yellow easy-to-read subtitles, even if they occasionally clean up the translations.

Viva Bardot! Viva Moreau!

A Titillating Good-Time Romp
A lovely film. Two hours of nonstop, off-the-wall fun. "VivaMaria" recalls the better 70s productions of Roger Corman, because itshares their basic reliance on violence, sex, and titillation forentertainment... without sacrificing quality in story, character, orperformance. It is the closest Louis Malle has ever come to an exploitationfilm, and further proof that Malle was one of the true cinematic geniusesof the 20th century, on par with Fellini and Bergman, and literallyincapable of making a less-than-superb movie.

The first hour of thepicture is more enjoyable than the second, with Brigitte Bardot and JeanneMoreau as vaudevillians who do a series of striptease acts for CentralAmerican audiences, around the turn of the century. As the film progresses,Malle makes the striptease scenes randier and randier, and at one point, wealmost believe that the two actresses will go all the way (Bardot comes soclose that my jaw dropped open). Yet the strongest element of the film --also fully realized during this half --- is its unique, quirky humour. TheCentral Americans' reactions to the Bardot/Moreau circus are a laugh riot,and the sight gags highly original; I've never seen anything like them in amovie before.

The second half isn't bad -- for about thirty minutes, itslows down a bit as Bardot & Moreau become revolutionaries, and Malleshifts to pure action and Peckinpah-style violence -- but even thesescenes, in their own way, are engaging -- and the humor resurfaces in theend of the film, *coupled* with violence, for an incrediblefinish.

Because of the clearly contrived story (the idea of putting twomajor French female sex symbols in a movie that involves strippers andguns), this is the type of film that could've turned into a major flop, yetMalle and his co-screenwriter pulled it off. "Viva Maria"'ssuccess is attributable to strong writing, two splendid lead performances,and, of course, those two elements that never fail to entertain -- sex andviolence.

Highly recommended. ... Read more

Amazon.com

An irresistible and guilty pleasure, this anthology based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe is a rare opportunity to see three of the biggest names in 1960s European film direction working in the short form. The results are uneven, but so what? They're also plain outrageous. Roger Vadim's Metzengerstein stars real-life siblings Jane and Peter Fonda perversely cast as lovers. When the latter dies, Jane's character turns to a mysterious black stallion for companionship, the suggestion being that the dead man's spirit is within the horse. Both corny and vaguely lurid, this ghost tale is Vadim all the way. Louis Malle's William Wilson is an in-your-face take on Poe's classic doppelgänger fable, starring Alain Delon as a blackguard who gets his comeuppance from a nicer variation of himself. More craftsman-like than cinematically bold, the film displays the kind of crisp wit Malle didn't display often enough. Finally, Federico Fellini's Toby Dammit proves to be the most interesting piece in the trio, featuring Terence Stamp in a terrific performance as an actor at the end of his rope (the equivalent of Mastroianni's burned-out director in Fellini's 8½), who has come to Rome to star as Christ in a New Testament Western. Dense with Fellini's dreamy textures and iconic clutter, Toby Dammit is a fun experience. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (13)

The best is last
Spirits of the dead is a mixed bag of cinematic delight. Of the 3 episodes, only the last one "Toby Dammit" sustains interest. Fellini is at his best in this segment & Terence Stamp puts in a self destructive performance that has to be seen to be believed! His character, a self destructing actor who has reached the end of all worldly hope & desire wants only to leap into the chasm of death & destruction & he does so in spectactular fashion. This segment alone is worth the price of admission & Fellini caries the weight of the entire film on his capable talents. Images to delight & dialogue to astound, Terence Stamp should have won some kind of award for this brilliant performance as he portrays a burnt out actor with a death wish. You can't help but sympathize with him as he jolts his way from one bizarre interlude to another. You know you're at deaths door when you can turn down that blonde in the awards segment! Yikes!!! Never bet the devil your head!! See it!

Five Stars for "Toby Dammit".
There really is only one reason to watch this film and that is Fellini's "Toby Dammit". Terence Stamp takes the title role of an actor arriving in Italy to appear is some kind of weird religious western. He is at the end of his tether and all seems alien and disorentated to him. The Edgar Allen Poe story from which this segment is adapted from is called "Never wager your head to the Devil" and thats exactly what he does! All with the usual Fellini touch of class. Excellent.

Fellini Makes Films Like My Dreams--Exquisite Bliss
These three short films, loosely adapted from stories by Poe, are all packed with stunning landscape and exquisite set design. However, only Fellini's film manages to create a story worth retelling in its own right.

The first film is Roger Vadim's "Metzengerstein". The best thing I can say about it is that the gorgeous horse was the most effective actor in it. He knew his lines, and nodded when appropriate. Jane Fonda plays Contessa Frederica, an occasionally sadistic libertine who develops a passionate romantic attachment to the aformentioned horse. She is wondefully cruel and gorgeous, making the most out of some truly inspired little outfits. The segment is filmed by Claude Renoir, who captures some stunning images breathtaking beauty. Again, the scenes with the horse galloping and cavorting with Frederica are rather intoxicating. The story itself, however, is sacrificed on the alters of atmosphere and aesthetics. The end result is a very empty film.

Louis Malle's "William Wilson" basically has two really excellent scenes that make this worth watching. The first is a simple send-up of an autopsy. Wilson is demonstrating for his fellow Medical School classmates, the proper introductory procedure for performing an autopsy. Except, where his instructor had used the corpse of an old man--Wilson had bound a lovely, living lass and is preparing to dissect her. The other great scene involves Brigitte Bardot. Throughout this film, Bardot is unflatteringly coiffed in a black wig that is pulled back in a rather schoomarmish fashion. Her eyes are seductive, but she doesn't demand the kind of camera worship she has so often received in other films. However, the hair comes down and Bardot is soon being subjected to Wilson's birch rod. Her face, hair, and the slashes on her back are aesthetically quite sublime. Alain Delon is fair in the title role, but he lacks any real charisma. Between him and his doppelganger, I think they both possessed nearly as much charisma as the horse in Vadim's film. Overall, this film also sacrifices its story to the look of the film. The end is rather intense and powerful in its own right, but it lacks significance because the story itself isn't carried forth with any conviction or authority.

Terence Stamp is Toby Dammitt in the final film, directed by Federico Fellini. He really does an outstanding job looking washed out, confused, sick, drunk, and completely at the end of his tether. The film itself is phenomenal. It is by far the most absurdist and melancholy of the three films. In this adaptation of Poe's story, "Never Bet the Devil Your Head", Toby is jaundiced with everything possibly gained by fame in this life. He seems to represent the insidious truth of fame. He is also haunted by a sweet little girl in white, bouncing a big white ball. The scenes relating to her are the best, in my opinion. She is a sylph with terrible symbolic power. What does the ball mean? Why is she so demonstrably joyful? She can be read as pure and active--a regenerative force that is the impetus for new life. She certainly is spooky and charged with energy. She is clearly something that Toby's psyche cannot accept. Ultimately, the viewer is made privy to a series of associations in Toby's mind that help us understand his relationship with the little girl. But we are not made aware of her exact role in his downward spiral. It is impossible to fully convey the magic that Fellini captures with this film. From start to finish, there is a typically "Felliniesque" hyper-surrealism that transports the viewer into another dimension. This is the only film of the three that manages the rather daunting feats of transcendence and cinematic art. Nino Rota's score is haunting and hypnotic throughout. An absolute masterpiece overall.

The last on "Toby Dammit" is a short in itself
The first two in the detached trilogy are forgettable but the last one directed by Fellini is a classic, at first I thought it was Terrance Stamp and then I found out it was and I like him even more now. His performance is classic and the short is actually quite creepy rendition of Poe's "Don't lose you head" If I was a film student I would pay attention to this one. Hey Jane Fonda was pretty cute in her time, nevertheless the short with her was pretty bad and kind of dull, the second one was better though. Overall: good late night fright film with Fellini saving this film.

Toby Dammit is great, despite overdubs
The best story here is Toby Dammit. At first I was very annoyed that they overdubbed Terence Stamp's voice with some french actor's voice. But I think that's only because I'm so used to hearing Stamp's distinctive voice when I see his face. That soon melted away and I couldn't have enjoyed the story more (although I still think they should have left Stamp's voice alone). This is actual art on screen. It's both surreal and intensely real at the same time.

The devil as a little blonde girl freaked me out... This is another great piece of work from Fellini. Worth my money. ... Read more