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HOLLYWOOD VS. SABOTEURS AND SPIES

Leonard Maltin
6331

Hollywood started fighting the Nazis before America did…but two films are seldom, if ever, mentioned in accounts of this isolationist period. Warner Bros’ Espionage Agent (1939) may not be a great film but it is certainly provocative, as I learned from watching the Warner Archive DVD. I also screened an obscure B movie from Republic Pictures called Sabotage (1939) which was rescued from oblivion by Olive Films on Blu-ray and DVD. Both pictures were made when the U.S. was officially neutral and the Motion Picture Production Code insisted that foreign countries be represented fairly—even Germany. Yet Sabotage introduces familiar German-born character actor Frank Reicher as a key figure whose nationality is crystal clear. He is the coordinator of an underground spy network that has set its sights on the town of…

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REMEMBERING NORMAN LLOYD

Leonard Maltin
6297

I am going to miss the sound of Norman Lloyd’s booming voice. It could easily reach the second balcony of any theater, and it never lost its power even as he celebrated his 106th birthday. It belied the fact that he was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Norman claimed that he had a Joisey/Brooklyn accent until he went to work for the formidable Eva LeGallienne, whose repertory troupe was filled with young men and women who spoke beautifully.  “You couldn’t play a whole repertory of work unless you could learn to speak,” he explained, “So I set about to learn and I managed to get what has been called a mid-Atlantic accent.” He graciously welcomed my daughter Jessie…

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‘TIME’ WELL SPENT

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
6339

A woman named Fox Rich is literally in our face as Time begins. She is addressing the camera, maintaining a video diary of her comings and goings. The cumulative effect only hits home as a major chapter in her life comes to a close in Garrett Bradley’s Time. This is one of the year’s best documentaries, and one of the most disarming. It already earned the filmmaker the Directing Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize. Other accolades are still to come. Fox Rich exudes poise and self-assurance, but it’s a pose she strikes—not just for the camera, or her family, but for herself. She and her husband robbed a bank twenty years ago, and while she’s served twelve years…

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COLLECTIVE: A RIVETING DOCU-THRILLER

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
5331

When a so-called documentary has you gasping at one moment and on the edge of your seat the next, you know it’s exceptional. Alexander Nanau’s Collective, from Romania, is just such a film. The title comes from the name of a nightclub that caught on fire in Bucharest one night, killing many people because there was only one exit. Even worse, many burn victims who might have been saved later perished because of bureaucratic issues within the country’s network of hospitals. Filmmaker Nanau chooses to follow one fearless investigative journalist whose determination forces the Romanian government to answer for its sins. By exposing deep-rooted corruption in his country’s health care system he puts his very life on the line.       Later in the film we meet…

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MALTIN MODERN MASTER: AN EVENING WITH BILL MURRAY

Leonard Maltin
8105

I’ve been hosting tribute evenings for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for more than thirty years. They’ve even put my name on the award—The Maltin Modern Master—which I take as a high compliment. The tribute evening takes place at the historic Arlington Theater on State Street in Santa Barbara—but not this year. When festival director Roger Durling called to tell me who had agreed to accept the honor this year I was floored: Bill Murray. Bill Murray!  Then came the letdown: the conversation would be virtual. Drat!, as W.C. Fields would say. But I didn’t reckon with our honoree’s unpredictable mind. I also didn’t know what to expect. would he be serious or jokey? Would we have time to play all the film clips we’d…

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CURIOSITY IS THE KEY

Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
6605

At a time when many of us are searching for something good to watch at home, I’d like to recommend a handful of films from off the beaten path. The only thing they have in common is that I like them, because they introduce me to worlds (and people) I wouldn’t otherwise know about. Attack of the Murder Hornets sounds like the title of a cheesy 1950s science-fiction film. It is, instead, a droll documentary about a very real threat to the Pacific Northwest that could have spelled disaster for the already depleted bee population of North America. Michael Paul Stephenson, whose resume includes Girlfriend’s Day and Best Worst Movie keeps a straight face, so to speak, as he documents the discovery of these winged invaders by a working-class beekeeper…

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AU REVOIR, BERTRAND TAVERNIER

Leonard Maltin
6913

The world has lost a brilliant filmmaker, historian, and champion, and I have lost a cherished friend, Bertrand Tavernier. He died at age 79, which is too young for a man I hoped would live forever. I admired such films as The Clockmaker, Coup de Torchon, and A Sunday in the Country long before we met. In 1994 he sent me a long letter via fax. It was jam-packed with news about his latest films and books. He was familiar with my Movie Guide and said, “Thank you for your comments on my movies. I agree with the restrictions [and] criticisms on Daddy Nostalgia. I missed [on] that film. But I think you are too severe for Life and Nothing But, one of the films I am most proud of. It got not…

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