Conference bookie::movies

90.0. "Big Carnival (originally "Ace in the Hole")" by DSSDEV::RUST () Mon Mar 22 1993 20:58

    This is another one I'd seen before; I found that I liked it as well on
    the second viewing, always a nice surprise. It's extremely cynical,
    sometimes overselling its viewpoint, but since it's based on the antics
    of the press (and those who, by buying the papers, encourage the
    press), it could not possibly be overly cynical.
    
    The story's simple: a big-city newsman, down on his luck, takes a job
    in a small-town paper, biding his time for a big story that'll get him
    back on top. When he happens across a roadside diner in the middle of
    nowhere and discovers that the owner has just gotten trapped inside the
    local Indian cave-dwellings by a landslide, he figures this is his big
    chance, and proceeds to take over.
    
    Kirk Douglas grins wolfishly and struts and snarls his way through
    this, having (or so it appears) lots of fun with the part. Early on we
    can tell he's going too far in the quest for a story, when he
    "encourages" the local sheriff (in a not-quite-unbelievable scene) to
    choose a rescue plan that'll take a few days longer, so as to milk the
    story for all it's worth. And, in between dealings, Douglas crawls to
    the trapped man, to encourage him to hang on until he's rescued. (As
    Douglas points out, human-interest stories ought to have a happy
    ending; the readers, he says, hate it when they're made out to be
    chumps.) 
    
    The ending is a teensy bit of a cop-out, but not too much; all in all,
    it's an effective - if bleak - little movie.
    
    -b

    This was another one of those little gems that the cable station AMC
    (American Movie Classics) brings to light every so often - and with no
    cuts or commercial interruptions!
    
    Directed by Billy Wilder ("Double Indemnity", "Sunset Blvd.", etc.) and
    a major box office flop for him.  Cinematography was by Charles B. Lang
    (whose work I know I've seen although nothing comes immediately to
    mind).
    
    I'd seen this in the theaters recently, and what was shown on TV was a
    pretty nice print.  The film's unusual in that it is one of the most 
    sun-lit and open "films noir" in the genre.
    
    Jan Sterling also does well with the role of the Baltimore dance-hall
    tootsie who finds herself stuck in the New Mexican desert for five
    years.
    
    And don't forget "The Great S&M Amusement Company"...
    
    - Dave

    I was much more bothered by the cop-out ending, I guess. Typical case
    of "it's OK to encourage the audience to be cynical as long as the
    cynical characters are punished".  Sets my teeth on edge.  Give me "His
    Girl Friday" or "Kiss Me Stupid", something with the courage of its
    lack of convictions.
    
    Ray