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Bad Day at Black Rock

(1955)

I’ve seen comments suggesting that John Sturges’ thriller hasn’t aged well, which I find rather mystifying. Sure, some of the characterisations border on the cardboard, but the director imbues the story with a taut, economical backbone.

The premise is compelling in itself, possessing a certain High Noon quality, as Spencer Tracy’s one-armed man arrives with questions in a stark, dilapidated, dustbowl town where he is made to feel instantly unwelcome. This soon turns to realisation that he’ll be lucky to escape with his life, yet the genial Tracy turns the other cheek and resists all attempts at provocation. Until a memorable confrontation with Ernest Borgnine (who, with Lee Marvin, expertly essays repellent thuggery), when he unleashes his Judo moves. Robert Ryan represents slightly more eloquent, but no less brutish and ignorant, villainy as the controlling figure in a town hiding a dark secret.

One of the issues raised in the film, the (mis-) treatment of Japanese Americans, stands out not only because of the period in which the film was made (1955, set in 1945) but because it has been broached so rarely since. On the downside, Andre Previn’s score is intrusively omnipresent.

****1/2

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I can only presume there’s a never-ending pile of Young Adult fiction poised for big screen failure, all of it comprising multi-novel storylines just begging for a moment in the Sun. Every time an adaptation crashes and burns (and the odds are that they will) another one rises, hydra-like, hoping…

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Doctor Who has dabbled with the search structure elsewhere, most notably across The Key to Time season, and ultimately Marinus’ mission is even more of a MacGuffin than in that sextology, a means to string together what would otherwise be vignettes to little overall coherence…

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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
Easily the best of the Narnia films, which is maybe damning it with faint praise.

Michael Apted does a competent job directing (certainly compared to his Bond film - maybe he talked to his second unit this time), Dante Spinotti's cinematography is stunning and the CGI mostly well-integrated with the action.

Performance-wise, Will Poulter is a stand-out as a tremendously obnoxious little toff, so charismatic you're almost rooting for him. Simon Pegg replaces Eddie Izzard as the voice of Reepicheep and delivers a touching performance.
***

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