Movie Diary 2/9/2009

Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922). Caligari gets historical pride of place, but this is the film that brought supernatural invasion into a recognizably real world. Plus, those shots of the ship.

Sex and the Single Girl (Richard Quine, 1964). Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood in the He’s Just Not That Into You of its day, adapted from an advice best-seller and everything. A handful of good sight gags amidst a great deal of leering.

Road House (Jean Negulesco, 1948). Re-visiting this noir after many years, it still seems handsome-looking, marginally perverse in its sado-masochistic relationship between Richard Widmark (great) and Cornel Wilde, and fundamentally rather dull.

The Smallest Show on Earth (Basil Dearden, 1957). Cheerful couple (Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers) inherit a fleapit movie house, make it run. Peter Sellers has a few great moments in one of his wig-and-funny-voice character things.

Fail-Safe (Sidney Lumet, 1964). Neglected in the shadow of Strangelove, this is still a very effective movie — one of the best nuclear-nightmare scenarios ever made.

Friday the 13th (Marcus Nispel, 2009). Jason with a budget. Also an icepick, bow and arrow, machete, bear trap, wood chipper… I hope I’m not spoiling it. (full review 2/13, duh)