Film Review: “The Boys from Brazil”

Hello, website blog.  It’s been a while.  I recently did a little poll on the vivandlarry.com facebook fan page about what visitors most wanted to see on the website.  One of the suggestions was more film reviews, and I thought that was a good idea.

I just finished watching Franklin J. Shaffner’s 1978 film The Boys from Brazil, which Turner Classic Movies aired as part of their month-long salute to the thriller genre.  The film stars Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier in surprising roles.  Surprising for Gregory peck because he plays a ruthless Nazi, Dr. Joseph Mengele, a total departure from Peck’s all American screen persona.  Surprising for Laurence Olivier becuase he had just done a turn as a ruthless Nazi in John Schlessinger’s 1976 film Marathon Man, and in The Boys from Brazil he plays a frail Jewish Nazi hunter.

I have to admit that The Boys from Brazil isn’t a very good movie (so this review may contain some sarcasm and/or mockery).  Disappointing because it has so many big names.  Aside from Olivier and Peck, the cast includes James Mason and Lilli Palmer, and that guy who plays the creepy cart operator who lures the children to Willy Wonka’s factory of wonders in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the one with Gene Wilder, not the Tim Burton movie that I refused to watch because no one beats Gene Wilder as the Candy Man).  I just checked, his name is Günter Meisner.

The story is based on the book of the same title by Ira Levin, in which we follow a Nazi Hunter named Ezra Lieberman as he unfolds a plot by Nazi-on-the-run Joseph Mengele to clone little Hitlers (I know, right?  Huh?).  According to the recent documentary about thrillers that aired on TCM last weekend, the 1970s were prime for making people paranoid about the potential second rise of the Nazis, and Hollywood really took advantage of this.  War criminals on the run and hiding in South America, waiting to come to the US to wreak havoc after they find out “Is it safe?”  Interesting plot point right there.

DVD poster

The Boys from Brazil had a lot of potential.  The story was just weird enough to border it on horror, but unfortunately the cheesiness of the 1970s and the bad acting all around, especially by Jeremy Black who plays the Hitler clones, didn’t help it any.  Plus is had Steve Guttenberg.  Remember him?  Laurence Olivier received his 10th and final Oscar nomination for this film, and while I say “Huzzah to Larry!” it feels like one of those films that he did later in his life because he needed the money to put his younger kids through school.  It also made me really sad to see him looking so gaunt and frail.  It’s like he dropped about 30 lbs between 1976 when he did Marathon Man, and 1978 when he did this film.  There was even a scene at the end when Lieberman and Mengele are having a fighting match and they’re rolling around on the ground trying to strangle one another, and Gregory Peck looked so much meatier than poor Larry.  I hope he used a stunt double.

I want to say that this movie probably would be better with today’s special effects, but then I’m not so sure the story would hold up today because it doesn’t involve vampires or robots.

Sadly, I’d give it a C- rating.

Gregory Peck and a pack of vicious dobermans

“What do they know of Heaven or Hell, Cathy, who know nothing of life?”

Review (with SPOILERS!)–Wuthering Heights (William Wyler, 1939)

Honestly, this is one of my favorite films of all time. Starring Laurence Olivier as the dark and brooding Heathcliff, and Merle Oberon as the whimsical Catherine Earnshaw, Wuthering Heights as directed by William Wyler and produced by Samuel Goldwyn, was one of the highlights of 1939–the year many historians consider to be the greatest in motion picture history. It was based on the romantic Gothic novel by Emil Bronte, and focuses on the main love story between Heathcliff and Cathy instead of branching off to include everything else from the novel. However, in my opinion, it still works.

As a young girl, Cathy Earnshaw lived with her father, housekeeper Ellen, and brother Hindley, at Wuthering Heights, a middle-class house on the moors of northern England. The children are spoiled, but when Mr. Earnshaw brings home a beggar boy he found on the streets of Liverpool (whom he calls Heathcliff), the children must learn to share what they have with “those less fortunate.” While Hindley grows to detest Heathcliff, who becomes a stable boy after their father dies, and sees him as some sort of rival for first, their father’s affection, and later as master of the house), Cathy befriends him and eventually falls in love with him.

From a young age, Cathy and Heathcliff take refuge from life’s troubles by climbing up to Penistone Crag, and there they fashion an imaginary kingdom in which they reign as king and queen. It is at Penistone where they can be together as well as the place where Heathcliff declares to her that she’ll “always be my queen.” As much as flighty Cathy loves Heathcliff, she is soon torn between her loyalty to him and the class difference that separates them. Once, out at Penistone Crag, Cathy hears music coming from the neighboring estate, Thrushcross Grange, where the wealthy Lintons are throwing a party. Heathcliff and Cathy go to investigate, and as circumstance has it, Cathy becomes involved in this wealthy sphere while Heathcliff is shunned.

Cathy then falls for Edgar Linton (played by David Niven), but just as she turns her back to Heathcliff’s undying love, causing him to flee Wuthering Heights, she discovers that she and Heathcliff share the same soul. However, by then it is too late–Heathcliff leaves and Cathy marries Edgar Linton. Heathcliff does return, however, after having found his fortune elsewhereand having become hard and bitter, and he vows to have his revenge. At this point, the story enters a love quadrangle when Cathy’s sister-in-law, Isabella Linton, falls head over heels for the newly made “gentleman” that is Heathcliff. Cathy tries to dissuade Isabella from trying to be with Heatchliff because she knows Heathcliff is just using Isabella to punish her for being disloyal. Heathcliff eventually marries Isabella but still loves Cathy, and upon learning that Cathy is dying, he curses her even in death.

Having read the novel in high school and not liking it very much, I first saw the version starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, which I also hated. It wasn’t until I saw the 1939 version that I both fell in love with the film concept of Wuthering Heights and with Laurence Olivier. Many will agree that Olivier is the quintessential Heathcliff. He defines tall, dark and handsome, but the thing that I love most about his portrayal is his sensitivity and the emotion that he is able to convey from those deep, intense eyes. His voice is also wonderful–very powerful yet capable of being soft as well. This film launched Olivier as an international heartthrob, and deservedly, I think. He was nominated for his first Oscar for his role.

I like David Niven as Edgar (actually I like David Niven in just about anything) , and Merle Oberon made a decent Cathy, although I don’t think she was a huge talent and she falls flat during the end scene. Rounding out the cast are Flora Robson as Ellen, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Isabella (in an Oscar-nominated performance),and Donald Crisp as Dr. Kenneth. Alfred Newman’s beautiful score and Gregg Toland’s wonderful cinematography help make Wuthering Heights a lasting classic and a four-kleenex weepie.

Sadly, it’s not available on DVD in the States but you can get it on import through Amazon.

Final Rating: 4 Stars.