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I was studying the films of Joseph Losey, both his directorial approach and his choices.
Rather late to the party, eh Richard-W.  Only just discovering The Criminal in 2016?
I've been a fan of director Joseph Losey for almost 30 years. Not too long after Losey's death in 1984, I recall watching his 1970 Figures in a Landscape on a UHF television channel broadcast around 1987/'88.
About 20+ years ago, I acquired a copy of the U.K. 45 r.p.m. of The Criminal on the E.M.I./Columbia label which has 4 cues by Dankworth & his orchestra.
I finally saw The Criminal - probably near the beginning of 2003 - after it was issued onto DVD via Anchor Bay @ the end of 2002.
As far as I am concerned, most films by Losey are masterpieces. I like The Criminal, but there are quite of number of other films by Losey which I rank higher in accordance with my personal tastes.
Have you seen Losey's 1959 Blind Date (aka Chance Meeting)? This also casts Stanley Baker and is an excellent crime/mystery/policier.
[by the way, I love The Sleeping Tiger, Time Without Pity, Blind Date, These are the Damned, Eva, The Servant, King and Country, etc.]
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As I expected, RW, you've been a follower of Losey for decades.
Losey threads here @ FSM sink quite quickly.
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There can be no doubt that MR. KLEIN is his deepest, richest work, but I agree that he was a peerless dramatist and filmmaker who directed several masterworks. This is the first time I've lumped all his films into one prolonged, disciplined study. Every film he made rewards repeated viewing.
FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE is one of the masterworks and I'm delighted to have it on blu-ray now. I haven't watched BLIND DATE yet. I'm stuck with the Alpha DVD of THE SLEEPING TIGER unless you know of a better one. But I have the Anchor Bay edition of THE CRIMNINAL which beats the U.K. edition to hell and gone. I wish that A DOLL'S HOUSE could get a region 1 / A release as its the better of the two versions that came out in 1973 don't you agree.
There was a Losey festival back in 2010 according to DavidinBerkeley ...
http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?pageID=1&forumID=7&threadID=66516&archive=0
... but he never updated FSM about how much Losey he eventually watched.
Yes, I like Losey's '73 version of A Doll's House - more than I initially anticipated.
In 2008, a region-2 DVD boxset of 8 Joseph Losey films was released via StudioCanal. 1 of these 8 is The Sleeping Tiger and this is the print I'd recommend.
http://www.studiocanal.co.uk/Film/Details/40b7985a-9de6-4571-b78f-9e920043f3c8
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By the way, what do others here think of Baker's SANDS OF THE KALAHARI? It was a box office disappointment for Baker, but it a movie I think is pretty good.
If one is on a Stanley Baker 'kick', then here's a handy thread to refer to:
http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=105803&forumID=1&archive=0
Alas, I didn't think highly of Sands of the Kalahari. I've only seen it once, but my memory recalls Sands as quite a routine picture.
I'd rather watch the episode of McGoohan's Danger Man series entitled "Judgement Day" wherein a small group of characters get trapped in a desert via a plane crash.
As for Stanley Baker directed by Cy Endfield, I strongly recommend the 1957 Hell Drivers over either Zulu or Sands of the Kalahari.
Since this is Richard-W's thread, though, let him plus other FSMers offer their 2nd opinions on Sands ...
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Posted: |
May 14, 2016 - 9:51 PM
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By: |
RoryR
(Member)
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Alas, I didn't think highly of Sands of the Kalahari. I've only seen it once, but my memory recalls Sands as quite a routine picture.
I'd rather watch the episode of McGoohan's Danger Man series entitled "Judgement Day" wherein a small group of characters get trapped in a desert via a plane crash.
As for Stanley Baker directed by Cy Endfield, I strongly recommend the 1957 Hell Drivers over either Zulu or Sands of the Kalahari.
Well, I think Sands looks quite good in its original Panavision on Blu-ray. If you can rent it or find a cheap used copy, you should give it another look, but then I just like desert movies, so...
I've seen every episode of Danger Man and have all the half-hour shows on DVD. I haven't watched them in nearly a decade, though, and can't recall "Judgement Day." It must not have made a large impression.
I've seen Hell Drivers. It was good, but I didn't think it exceptional.
OK, now I've seen The Criminal. I found it well acted, especially by Baker (I also enjoyed seeing Sam Wanamaker), and it certainly was stylishly directed, but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece. Close, but not quite. I liked Robbery better.
I'm not an expert on the films of Losey, but I'd call The Servant a masterpiece.
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Posted: |
May 15, 2016 - 12:21 PM
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By: |
Richard-W
(Member)
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Well, THE CRIMINAL is a monochrome crime noir. EVA is also a monochrome film noir, but it's other things before it's a noir. Three of the films Losey directed from Harold Pinter scripts are masterpieces: THE SERVANT, ACCIDENT, and THE GO-BETWEEN. These films operate on pure subtext. Losey had an incisive penetrating talent for subtext; a talent all directors want to hone but few achieve. FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE comes awfully close to being a masterpiece. It gains resonance by refusing to explain itself in the unimportant details. His finest film is undoubtably and inarguably MR. KLEIN. But Losey didn't make any bad films. They're all excellent, even the least of them.
I like Pete Yates' ROBBERY very much but it doesn't have any of the subtext of THE CRIMINAL. Sure they're both about a heist and a getaway but so are a lot of other movies. There's not enough resemblance on which to compare them.
I'm indifferent to the casting of Stanley Baker. No complaints, he was a good reliable actor, but I don't watch films for the actors. I think HELL DRIVERS is one of the best films ever made in England. A real kick-ass gritty action film. It was directed by Cy Endfield, another director whose work I like very much. Endfield also directed ZULU, THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and THE SANDS OF THE KALAHARI. All superb films but not in the same ballpark as Loseys'.
I took out my boxset of SECRET AGENT / DANGER MAN and played the episode "Judgment Day." A solid episode in monochrome directed by Don Chaffey, but a desert setting in the last twenty minutes doesn't constitute an analogy to THE SANDS OF THE KALAHARI. The two stories have nothing in common. The latter has Susannah York. I'd follow her anywhere.
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Posted: |
May 15, 2016 - 1:38 PM
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By: |
RoryR
(Member)
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I bought FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE when it came out on Blu-ray. I'd never even heard of it before, and I watched it just a few weeks ago. I thought it was good, but not as compelling as I'd hoped. I can't call it a masterpiece as I have no frame of reference from which to make such a statement. I did find it interesting that the screenplay was by Robert Shaw.
By the way, I have the half-hour DANGER MAN on DVD, but the hour-long sequel series eventually bored me. I rented all of them from Netflix. I found that the hour-long version was really the half-hour show padded out to meet the 52 minutes running time. Yeah, there are some good episodes, but mostly a lot of filler. The half-hour (actually 24 min.) series is much better, and I recall one episode guest starred Robert Shaw.
And, just because I wasn't floored by THE CRIMINAL doesn't mean I can't see why you'd call it a masterpiece. Others who read this should know that Joseph Losey was an American director/writer who ended up making films in the UK because he was blacklisted.
As a liberal, and somewhat of Marxist myself, Losey is kind of a hero, but I'd never call MODESTY BLAISE a masterpiece.
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