Movies at Home - The Band Wagon, The Fourth Protocol and Vertigo

 

Choosing a film for a Saturday night, I came up with the Fred Astaire musical The Band Wagon. Although it was released in 1953, it has passed the test of time in some respects. It does have that big number "That's Entertainment" (written especially for this film) and "Dancing in the Dark" that was over far too quickly. Fred's dancing with Cyd Charisse was a dream. However, the big dance number near the end called "The Girl Hunt Ballet" was a big disappointment. Too long and too boring. Made no sense. Only for the very ending to be again, over too soon.

The Fourth Protocol falls into that category where the writer of the book should never be engaged to write the screenplay. My guess is that Frederick Forsyth's thriller is better in book form than on the screen. Here it seemed all pretty predictable and at times, quite hammy. Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan probably thought the same.

I was amazed that Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo seemed so dated. Again the writing did the film no favours. No wonder the script development was a difficult process. There is also a lot of time sitting in the car with James Stewart on the tail of Kim Novak. That needed a serious cut. The editing also left a lot to be desired. Then the only time the lead suffers from vertigo, the same shot is used time and again. I believe that when the film was released in 1958 it would have seemed quite ambitious. I did like the scenes filmed in San Francisco. It has apparently become a classic and that was why I bought the DVD. But I don't know why.