By Steven Suskin
22 May 2011

If it's an unknown-but-brilliant Hitchcock masterpiece you're looking for, it's time to discover Diabolique [Criterion]. No, "Diabolique" is not by Hitchcock; it comes from Henri-Georges Clouzot, who made two outstanding films — "Wages of Fear" in 1953 and "Diabolique" in 1954 — in the course of an otherwise nonspectacular twenty-five years of filmmaking. But one could say that "Diabolique" out-Hitchcocks Hitchcock; or at least that this psychological suspense thriller works as well as the best films of the master. And Clouzot gives us one of those startling moments — in a film of startling moments--that for me easily outdoes Janet Leigh-in-the-shower in "Psycho." Which, as it happens, came six years after "Diabolique."

Hitchcock, apparently, was himself in pursuit of the rights to "Celle qui N'etait Plus," the "Diabolique" source material; he did manage to purchase a subsequent novel by the same authors, which became "Vertigo." One can see how Hitchcock might be attracted to the "Diabolique" story, and one can imagine that he would have done a fine job with it. But Clouzot's film is one of a kind. This is a love triangle with a twist, the characters being an abusive schoolmaster (Paul Meurisse), his sickly wife (Vera Clouzot — wife of the director), and his sexy mistress (Simone Signoret). The two women team up against the man, but things aren't precisely as they seem. And how. Clouzot fills his film, to the brim, with water; and boy, does he make it pay off.

The folks at Criterion have done their usual fine job, taking a film that underwent an early Criterion restoration (in 1999) and further enhancing it for Blu-ray. Bonuses include selected-scene commentary, a video introduction by Serge Bromberg (codirector of Clouzot's "Inferno"), and a new interview with film critic Kim Newman.

The booklet includes an informative essay about the film, and the director, by Terrence Rafferty. Who points out that Hitchcock, in fact, admired "Diabolique" going so far as to screen Clouzot's film for his colleagues while they were writing "Vertigo" and "Psycho." Rafferty also tells us that the actor playing Monsieur Raymond, one of the teachers, is Michel Serrault, who later created the role of Albin/Zaza in the both the 1973 play and the 1978 film versions of "La Cage aux Folles."

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An American thriller which doesn't quite approach "Diabolique" but nevertheless does very well is John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate [M-G-M]. This 1962 Cold War political thriller stars Frank Sinatra, of all people, but it builds into a top-notch suspenser; the climatic chase, on a catwalk above a Presidential nominating convention, is altogether gripping. Sinatra and co-star Laurence Harvey are former Korean prisoners-of-war; what happens in Korea doesn't stay in Korea, as the saying goes, and thereby hangs the tale.

"Manchurian Candidate" came early in Frankenheimer's career, between "Birdman of Alcatraz" (also in 1962) and "Seven Days in May" (1964). It remains, arguably, his finest film. The taut script is by George Axelrod, who made his mark with the 1952 Broadway comedy "The Seven Year Itch" and directly preceded the Frankenheimer film with his screenplay for the 1961 hit "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

Sinatra and Harvey are excellent, as are several others (including Janet Leigh and James Gregory). The film is altogether stolen, though, by Angela Lansbury. Here she is — two years before Anyone Can Whistle, four years before Mame — and she is more deadly than our dear friend Mrs. Lovett. If you consider yourself a true Lansbury fan, you must see "The Manchurian Candidate." Now.

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Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night [Criterion] regularly turns up on "Best Films of the World Cinema" lists, although I must admit that I had never gotten around to watching it. It's about a middle-aged lawyer with a virginal teenaged wife and a virginal teenaged son and an ex-mistress/actress and a violent dragoon and — well, let's just say that it's the source material for A Little Night Music. Bergman was well-known in Sweden by 1955, with fifteen features to his credit. It was "Smiles of a Summer Night," though, that first brought him an international reputation, cemented in 1957 with the release of "The Seventh Seal."

"Smiles," which has just been released in a Criterion Blu-ray, turns out to be warm, funny, and erotic. And rather different in feeling than Little Night Music; the Sondheim/Wheeler/Prince musical has a waltzing sensibility, which doesn't seem all too Swedish. This is neither here nor there, of course; Night Music works exceptionally well as musical theatre, while "Smiles" is quite fine as is.

Those of us who have seen Night Music two or three or seven times will notice any number of plot differences. Desiree does not have a twelve-year-old daughter, Fredrika; she has a son who looks to be under five, named Fredrik. (The elder Fredrik learns this almost immediately, not at the end.) Fredrik does not slip and trip into a hip bath; there is no hip bath, in fact. While Fredrik is found wearing Carl-Magnus' nightshirt, he and Desiree are thoroughly innocent of any misbehavior; thus there are no papers, those legal papers, she has to sign. (Desiree, that is.) Carl-Magnus and Charlotte do not crash Madame Armfeldt's weekend in the country; they are specifically and purposefully invited by Desiree. What's more, Desiree and Charlotte put their heads together to plot the events of the weekend. Henrik doesn't even have a cello; he plays piano and guitar. And that game of Russian roulette ends in a decidedly different manner.

Of course, none of this matters; but watching "Smiles" after all these years of Night Music is certainly invigorating and interesting. Food for thought, and for discussion. Bonus features — a video introduction to the film by Bergman, a conversation between Peter Cowie and Jorn Donner (of "Fanny and Alexander"), and the original trailer — seem recycled from the 2004 DVD release. Which makes sense, as Criterion created these excellent supplements not so long ago.

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Talk about misfits. How about that enigmatic couple, Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller? How about the iconic movie stars Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable? How about director John Huston and playwright Miller? How about Montgomery Clift and any of 'em? Misfits all, come together in the Nevada desert in the summer of 1960 to film The Misfits [M-G-M].

Highly watchable, but not very good. The film is interesting for its performances and its excesses; how could it not be? Gable, famously, shot his own stunts — including that scene where he ropes a horse and is dragged through the dirt; the 59-year-old star suffered a fatal heart attack two days after the end of shooting. Monroe, meanwhile, was in desperately poor shape as her life and her marriage to Miller disintegrated; this caused numerous delays during the filming. She lived on until 1962, but "The Misfits" turned out to be her final completed film.

Clift, too, came to the shoot with his own series of misfortunes. As did Huston. Co-starred were the invaluable Thelma Ritter and Eli Wallach. But all these separate pieces are misfits, just like the mismatched jigsaw puzzle pieces in the titles. The new Blu-ray release comes without any extras other than the original trailer. *

As a change of pace, we also have two Blu-ray Books from Warner Home Video under the banner "150th Commemoration of the Civil War." An event which I, for one, hadn't thought to celebrate; but I am sure there is a substantial Civil War market. What makes these two films interesting are the detailed attention to history and the some fine actors giving fine performances. Gettysburg was rather startling when it came along in 1993: a feature that clocked in at over four hours! Ronald F. Maxwell's intensive look at the famous battle — based on the Pulitzer-winning "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara — was intended as a miniseries; executive producer Ted Turner became so excited by the footage that he determined to release it as a feature, and at that point in time Ted Turner was able to do whatever Ted Turner wanted to do. (He even got permission to film on the battlefield.) Tom Berenger as Longstreet, Jeff Daniels as Chamberlain, Martin Sheen as Robert E. Lee, Stephen Lang as Pickett, Sam Elliott as Buford, and more — including cameos by Turner and Ken Burns. This "director's cut" increases the running time (why not?) to 271 minutes, which is to say 4:31.

Turner and director Maxwell returned ten years later with a prequel to "Gettysburg," Gods and Generals [Warner]. This one follows the adventures of Lieutenant General Stonewall Jackson (Stephen Lang), who died at the Battle of Chancellorsville two months before Gettysburg. Daniels returns as Longstreet, with Robert Duvall taking up the role of Lee. Costarring are Mira Sorvino, Kevin Conway (who was also featured in "Gettysburg"), and Frankie Faison. The "Extended Director's Cut" has been expanded by a full hour to 4:40, allowing for the inclusion of the Battle of Antietam and a plot line involving John Wilkes Booth. Both Blu-rays are packaged with full-color 48-page books and a second disc with features. The release date for the Blu-rays is May 24; for diehard fans, there will also be twin "limited collector's editions" available on July 4.

(Steven Suskin is author of the recently released Updated and Expanded Fourth Edition of "Show Tunes" as well as "The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations," "Second Act Trouble" and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He also pens Playbill.com's Book Shelf and On the Record columns. He can be reached at ssuskin@aol.com.)

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