Fictionalized account of a real case tried by the author in 1952, concerning the defense of an Army lieutenant accused of murdering the man who raped his wife. Intelligent and reasonably entertaining legal thriller, though with heavy emphasis on the legal side of things and very few thrills. The book's greatest weakness, in fact, is its almost complete lack of suspense: if Traver didn't keep telling us how clever and able the prosecutor is and how fragile the case for the defense, we'd frankly never guess it ourselves. On the other hand, if Traver steers well clear of the sort of passion and messy emotions that make for good drama, he at least writes what he knows, which is the ins and outs of an imperfect legal system. The book, for instance, depends a great deal on the rape, about which there's simply no question. This has to be the case, for the book begins with our hero all but putting up a billboard outside his perfecctly rational client's jail cell spelling out for him the only possible legal defense, that being an insanity plea. Truth, we infer, may take a back seat when justice is at stake. Later, we learn the fascinating truth of the value of "expert" psychiatric testimony: it gives the jury wiggle room in their quest for a verdict. Not as good as 62 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list would have you believe, but enjoyable nevertheless. (With, however, an interesting attitude toward rape itself. Though we are given the awful details, the violated wife bounces back from the experience quite nicely and is soon even joking about her bruises. When the lawyer hero eventually succeeds in getting the rape into the trial, his reaction is the heartwarming thought, "at last I got the lady laid!") Robert Traver is the pen name of John D. Voelker. Made into a film directed by Otto Preminger in 1959.
***
Fictionalized account of a real case tried by the author in 1952, concerning the defense of an Army lieutenant accused of murdering the man who raped his wife. Intelligent and reasonably entertaining legal thriller, though with heavy emphasis on the legal side of things and very few thrills. The book's greatest weakness, in fact, is its almost complete lack of suspense: if Traver didn't keep telling us how clever and able the prosecutor is and how fragile the case for the defense, we'd frankly never guess it ourselves. On the other hand, if Traver steers well clear of the sort of passion and messy emotions that make for good drama, he at least writes what he knows, which is the ins and outs of an imperfect legal system. The book, for instance, depends a great deal on the rape, about which there's simply no question. This has to be the case, for the book begins with our hero all but putting up a billboard outside his perfecctly rational client's jail cell spelling out for him the only possible legal defense, that being an insanity plea. Truth, we infer, may take a back seat when justice is at stake. Later, we learn the fascinating truth of the value of "expert" psychiatric testimony: it gives the jury wiggle room in their quest for a verdict. Not as good as 62 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list would have you believe, but enjoyable nevertheless. (With, however, an interesting attitude toward rape itself. Though we are given the awful details, the violated wife bounces back from the experience quite nicely and is soon even joking about her bruises. When the lawyer hero eventually succeeds in getting the rape into the trial, his reaction is the heartwarming thought, "at last I got the lady laid!") Robert Traver is the pen name of John D. Voelker. Made into a film directed by Otto Preminger in 1959.
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***** Delicious tale of three wives who worry and reminisce after receiving a letter from another woman telling them she is leaving town with one of their husbands. Mankiewicz, who also wrote the script -- based on an adaptation by Vera Caspary of John Klempner's book Letter to Five Wives -- unerringly weaves each wife's unique story into a funny and dramatic tale of friendship and love that ends in an unexpected yet thoroughly satisfying way. With Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, and Ann Sothern as the three wives, and Jeffrey Lynn, Paul Douglas, and Kirk Douglas as their respective husbands, all of whom, particularly the middle pair, turn in excellent performances. Celeste Holm plays the heard but never really seen homewrecker. Academy Award winner for Best Picture and Best Director. **** Kaurismäki the director, working a certain kind of magic, creates a compelling film from a plain woman, very little dialogue, and lots of shots of match-making machinery. Kaurismäki the writer cleverly selects exactly the right scenes to tell his story about lonliness, despair, and the death by rote repetition of imagination. Kati Outinen is terrific (though that word suggests an energy her character doesn't possess) as a woman with no life and no skills for dealing with one. It all sounds very depressing when in fact it's nearly hypnotic. A standalone film, but the last in Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy, preceded by Shadows in Paradise and Ariel. Finnish, with English subtitles. *** Disparate group of luxury liner passengers must struggle to survive after a seaquake turns their ship upside down in international waters where it may sink at any moment. Strong story, driven by characters who are salvaged from sentimentality by Gallico's refusal to succumb to escapist expectations. Gets better as it goes along and includes that rarest of literary fish, the satisfying ending. Made into a movie in 1972, which spawned a literary sequel from Gallico, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, as well as two remakes, one for TV (2005) and one for the big screen called simply Poseidon (2006). * Vapid tale of three women in show business dealing with the consequences of drugs, infidelity, and ineptitude, all so that one of them can find herself. Relentlessly dull, but not nearly as depressing as it might have been, for that would have required at least one character that we cared about. Despite the title -- "dolls" being a euphemism for drugs -- the opening, which represents the women as three pills, and the drug-centric blurb on the original poster for the film, only one of the women has a drug problem. It's symptomatic of a movie searching for a unifying theme where none exists, unless perhaps it is that show business sucks. (As indeed it would, if its products were as bad as the songs in this picture.) Starring Barbara Parkins (who, if nothing else, is at least pretty), Patty Duke (who gets all the really dramatic scenes, no doubt succeeding only in shaming her identical cousin), and Sharon Tate (who, thanks to Charles Manson, gets a pass). Based on the bestselling book by Jacqueline Susann, much of which seems to have been drawn from her own life. The film was satirized by Roger Ebert and Russ Meyer three years later in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. (Ebert, in reviewing the original film, highlighted a scene with Sharon Tate in which she gives up her bust exercises with the words, "Let 'em droop," calling the scene and that line in particular "the most offensive and appalling vulgarity ever thrown up by any civilization" -- a remark that really needs no further comment.) **** Three brothers responsible for the rape and murder of an innocent young woman (Birgitta Pettersson) later seek shelter at her father's (Max von Sydow's) farm. Rich, complex examination of murder, morality, and religion, written by Ulla Isaksson and based on a medieval Swedish ballad, from which only the period and some of the ideas have been retained. Not a horror film, despite having inspired Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left (1972) and, more importantly, in spite of its violence: Bergman's realistic approach isn't intended to provoke excitement but to reveal the true face of brutality. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. * Four children are locked away in an attic so that their greedy mother can get her hands on their grandfather's fortune. Escapist nonsense that is as prurient as it is badly written (the Fifty Shades of Grey of the 1970s and, for its time, just as popular). Stuffed with some of the worst, most laughable dialogue ever published. Devoid of any artistic merit whatsoever. In short, pure genius. Followed by a career. ** Poorly written story of a woman who attempts suicide (for no apparent reason), is committed to an asylum (because it's convenient), and masturbates in front of an inmate who never speaks (since that's what one does in a mental asylum, right?). Fortunately she falls in love with the guy to whom she gives her impromptu sex show, for otherwise this movie about taking risks might in fact have taken one, and that would have spoiled the whole mood. Oh, and there's something about how her drug overdose resulted in an aneurysm that is going to kill her in a few days. Ironic, huh? Sarah Michelle Gellar is fine, but too subdued to give the film much of the life it ostensibly celebrates. Based on the novel by Paulo Coelho, who as a teenager spent time in a mental institution.
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