Piper Laurie

  • Dangerous Mission (1954)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, August 2022) You could reasonably argue that Dangerous Mission is a film that’s interesting in spite of itself—a strange blend of one good casting choice, a demonstration of proto-action-movie mechanics, and an example of how far thrillers have come in execution. Part of the film’s mixed impression has to do with how ambitious it was in the first place. Not only was it shot in colour at a time where mid-range thrillers usually weren’t, it was also created for the first wave of 3D movies, and set itself up for greater scrutiny by largely taking place in outdoors setting—the Glacier National Park. Twenty-first century viewers will not be convinced by any of it—the fakeness of the studio shooting clashes with the actual exteriors and the technical stiffness of the production is the kind of thing that calls attention to itself after fifty years of much-superior production techniques. (And I’m not even going to touch the stereotypical portrayal of the Native American character.)  One thing does work rather well, though, and it’s the presence of Vincent Price as a character who—SURPRISE!—turns out to be a villain tracking the female protagonist—he’s far more interesting with his silky-voiced villainy than the bland federal agent played by Victor Mature, or the adequate Piper Laurie as the witness-on-the-run. The premise of the film still generally holds up—there’s something inherently fascinating in setting a thriller in a lodge in the middle of nowhere. But this early Irwin Allen production, directed by Louis King, simply doesn’t have what it takes to do justice to what it intends to do, and the years have not been kind to the result. (Never mind not having access to the 3D version of the film.) Dangerous Mission is not terrible, but it’s often disappointing, far more so than many other urban-set black-and-white thrillers of the time that knew how to work within their limitations.

  • The Hustler (1961)

    The Hustler (1961)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, February 2018)  As I go through the classic-film catalogue, some of them hit and some of them miss … and The Hustler does feel like a perceptible miss. Part of it has to do with my near-complete lack of interest in pool—given that the film has lengthy sequences of pure pool play, which may explain my difficulty connecting to the film. Of course, there is a lot more to The Hustler than pool—its central sport is almost irrelevant to its portrait of an incredibly ambitious protagonist, someone who has to confront a loss in the pursuit of victory. There’s a lot of drama along the way to a glum conclusion, but it feels as if The Hustler is simply too long for what it has to say. Paul Newman is very good, of course, and Jackie Gleason is also remarkable as “Minnesota Fats” while Piper Laurie is the film’s emotional centre. Even if film historians have a lot of praise for what the film brought to the table in the early sixties (it almost feels like a 1970s film at times), much of what The Hustler has to say has become well-worn territory, including its grim and realistic approach to character-driven drama. It still plays like a mature drama, but it can feel dull and exceptionally long at times.