Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 294-295: Forster's Flicks

Recently, when reviewing Tess, I talked about how a lot of the Best Picture nominees have been adaptations of classic works of English literature. That is the theme that ties the next two films on the list as both have been adapted from novels by EM Forster.

The first film, A Passage to India, is also the list picture to be directed by the legendary David Lean whose films had previously featured in four different posts. By this time in his career Lean had become synonymous with the audacious epic and, from a visual standpoint, A Passage to India. But, unlike some of his other films, I feel that A Passage to India was as concerned with its characters as it was with its stunning scenery and incredibly filmed set pieces. Set in during the 1920s, it tells that tale of Adela Quested who journeys to India to visit her fiancée Ronny who has become a magistrate in the country. Adela is joined by Ronny's mother Mrs Moore who is a lot less stuffy than a lot of the English folk they encounter in India. During one of her first nights in India, Mrs Moore meets the widowed Dr Aziz and the two strike up a friendship of sorts as they talk about their lives. Adela quickly discovers that Ronny's friends in India have quite a bigoted view on the natives and try to keep themselves to themselves as much as they can. After asking Aziz to help them find the real India, Adela and Mrs Moore quickly find themselves on an expedition to the Marabar Caves. When Mrs Moore becomes claustrophobic, Adela and Aziz go along with only a guide for company. However, Adela later emerges from the cave with her clothes torn and it's later insinuated that she's been raped by Aziz. Although the hysterical English folk rally round Adela and Ronny, Mrs Moore fails to believe her friend would act in such a way while Aziz's ally Richard Fielding feels the same. The court case soon brings out everybody's true feelings and results in a couple of tragic events along the way. I also found that everything that came after the court case went on far too long and A Passage to India could've ended about ten minutes before it did.

When I see a film is over two and half hours long I often approach it with some trepidation however A Passage to India just flew by. Part of the reason for this was the combination of Lean's sumptuous direction and is adaptation of Forster's compelling novel. Ernest Day's cinematography transported you to 1920s India allowing us to experience the sights and sounds of what the country offered at the time. Lean's long-time collaborator Maurice Jarre won another Oscar for his original score which once again perfectly suited the tone of the film. But possibly the biggest reason for A Passage to India's success was in its casting of actors who brilliantly brought the characters to life. I'm not alone in thinking that the stand out performance in the film belonged to Peggy Ashcroft as Mrs Moore. In fact Ashcroft won the Best Supporting Actress prize for her portrayal of an elderly woman who is still a lot more open-minded than her younger counterparts. Ashcroft's performance is both tender and strong as she makes you really believe in the courage of Mrs Moore's convictions. I do feel that Judy Davis' performance as Adela should have also earned her an Oscar as the Australian actress superbly portrayed a rather naive English rose. Davis lit up the screen as the damaged yet principled young woman who struggled to know where her loyalties should lie. Similarly excellent was Victor Banerjee as the wronged Dr. Aziz as he is able to switch his character from eternal optimist to jaded realist. Fantastic support is lent from a cavalcade of memorable British actors including Nigel Havers, Richard Wilson, James Fox and Art Malik. In fact the only questionable piece of casting comes in the form of Alec Guinness as Indian Professor Godbole. It just seemed a little odd that an incredibly famous Brit was playing a role that could've easily been taken by a talented Indian actor. But that's just a minor criticism in a costume drama that I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. Though overlong, I was swept up by the performances and Lean's superb direction. It's odd to think that the master of the epic will no longer feature on this list and I feel that A Passage to India was a perfect way to end his marvellous career.

Picking up the baton from Lean in a way were director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant who became synonymous with costume drama during the 1980s and 1990s. Merchant Ivory productions' first entry into this blog comes in the form of another Forster adaptation - A Room with A View. In addition to being the first Merchant Ivory film to feature during the challenge, A Room with A View was also one of the first movies to be co-produced by the then-fledgling Film 4 company. Although a lot lighter in tone, A Room with A View shares many similarities with A Passage to India including the fact that it focuses on a foreign holiday taken by a young woman and an older companion. In this case the country is Italy, the young woman is Miss Lucy Honeychurch and her older companion is her cousin and chaperone Charlotte Bartlett. The first half of the film looks at their stay in Italy which is initially plagued by the fact that they haven't got the room with the view they ordered. Their holiday is partly influenced by the people they meet including their local vicar, a pair of gentlewomen and a worldly novelist who is currently researching her next book. However Lucy's head is turned by the free-thinking George Emerson, who is staying at her hotel along with his father. Their time in Italy is cut short by a kiss that George steals from Lucy, an act that Charlotte is later appalled by. The second half of the film then takes place in Lucy's small Surrey town where her somewhat foppish family is criticised by the local snobs. One such snob, Cecil Vyse, is intrigued by Lucy and eventually asks her to marry him, a proposition she accepts. But when George, and later Charlotte, arrive in town things chance for Cecil and Lucy all together.

The third part of the Merchant Ivory family was screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala who often proved adept at providing accessible adaptations of English literature. I certainly think she did a great job with A Room with a View as I found the film to be well-paced and delightfully comic throughout. The majority of the characters within the film, with the possible exception of Lucy, were utter eccentrics but I have to say I didn't mind this too much. Jhabvala also broke down the story beautifully by interspersing various sections with the original titles of the book's chapters and was rewarded for her work here with an Oscar. Tony Pierce-Roberts' perfectly captured both the Italian scenery and the English countryside giving both unique identities and making sure they were the ideal backdrop for the story to take place. Richard Robbins' score provided great accompaniment for each scene and really enhanced the joy of the film. The art direction and costume design was equally fantastic and both areas were similarly honoured by Oscar. In another similarity with A Passage to India, A Room With a View is bolstered by a cast of reliable English actors. Maggie Smith is excellent as the reserved Charlotte as she excels at playing the woman who has never really lived life. A fresh-faced Helena Bonham Carter excels as the innocent Lucy who grows over the course of the film as do her feelings for Julian Sands' George. Plenty of reliable support is provided by Rupert Graves as Lucy's idiot brother, Judi Dench as the aforementioned novelist and Simon Callow who goes full-frontal as the local vicar. Interestingly, Daniel Day-Lewis also makes his debut on the blog as the incredibly insensitive Cecil whose incompatibility with Lucy didn't seem to affect his desire to propose to her. Even at this early stage in his career, Day-Lewis proved that he could become the character he was tasked with playing and indeed he is able to portray Cecil as the fool of the piece. Whilst not an outstanding film, A Room with a View was an enjoyably light period drama with plenty of eccentrics played by reliable actors. It perfectly demonstrated why Merchant Ivory were successful for so many years and why they would go on to garner a number of Oscar nominations in the next decade.

Next time we remain in British period drama territory as we focus on a war film with a difference.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 174: And then Some Audrey

So here it is the first Oscar Challenge post on this brand new blog in which I continue my quest to watch every film nominated for Best Picture which I think has a projected finish date of 2015. To start this new site off we present another double bill of one person's efforts in the decade and this time we focus on the delicate features of Miss Audrey Hepburn.

Despite being nominated for five Best Actress Oscars only two of those films were nominated for Best Picture one being Roman Holiday which we looked at last decade and the other being The Nun's Story. Hepburn plays Gabrielle Van Der Mal the daughter of a brilliant doctor who herself dreams of being a medical professional and decides to become a nun so that she can work in one of the hospitals in the Congo. The first hour of the film is devoted to her becoming a nun, later known as Sister Luke, including her taking orders as well as learning her vows which means she can no longer have memories or want physical things. When it finally comes to time to take her medical exams her mother superior suggest that she fail her exam in order to show humility however when she passes she is assigned to a mental hospital in her native Belgium rather than her preferred destination of the Congo. Finally she is allowed to go to Africa where she works with Peter Finch's brilliant atheist Dr Fucani who tries to get her to open up but her vows won't allow it. While in the Congo she sees the dangers of the country when one of the other nun's is killed by a villager and she is later transported back to Belgium after she contracts TB. Missing her life in the Congo she is called to be a nurse again when she has to treat casualties hurt in the bombing of World War 2 however her feelings towards the Nazi Party make her think that she can be a nun no longer especially when she finds out her father has been killed. The film ends with Gabrielle denouncing her orders and leaving the convent once and for all her experiences their having made her a better person.

As I mentioned the first hour of The Nun's Story is almost exclusively reserved for Gabrielle's transformation into Sister Luke including watching her during dinner and during mass. As you can imagine this is pretty dull at times however it does make you relate to the characters and also what it takes to become a nun in the first place. The film really picks up in when Sister Luke makes it to the Congo partly due to the on-location filming that really makes you feel like you're there with the characters and partly because of Peter Finch. This is the first time we're seeing Finch as part of the Oscar Challenge, it won't be the last, and he makes Fucani his own being very forthright but at the same time you can see he cares about Sister Luke whether that be in a romantic way or just friendly concern is a matter we have to decide for ourselves. What makes The Nun's Story so great though is Hepburn herself who at times is the only reason to keep watching throughout you can really believe her as this young girl forced to leave behind everything she knows to give herself wholly to God. I feel she is better here than in her Oscar-winning turn in Roman Holiday partly because this film is heavier meaning the role has more gravitas and partly because it is a more mature performance. Overall this was a film of two halves one a semi-documentary on how nuns are welcomed into a convent and the other a medical film set in Africa coupled with a World War II movie. Thankfully Audrey Hepburn is the star that makes the most of her role and therefore this film is a lot better for having her be a part of it.

I'm not sure the same can be said for My Fair Lady, at least not all of it, which was the film that won Best Picture at the 1965 Oscar Ceremony. Most of us know the story of Professor Henry Higgins taking flower girl Eliza Dolittle off the street and making a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he pass her off as a lady at the next embassy ball. The film deals with their relationship as Eliza develops into a lady with Higgins winning his bet and in turn her being pursued by Freddy Eynsford-Hill a boy of breeding who is charmed by her frank nature. However Eliza has fallen for Higgins and runs away from him after he fails to thank her for winning his bet but at the end of the day she returns to him so we the viewer have to decide what happens next. For me this was Rex Harrison's film rather than Hepburn's his blustering, domineering Higgins is a joy to watch mainly because Harrison makes this brute of a man somewhat sympathetic. For me Hepburn struggles with the earlier segments in which she has to play at being a rough cockney flower-seller and personally I never bought her verbal attacks against Higgins finding them forced at times. Hepburn is better in the latter half of the film after she has almost been transformed into a lady her scenes at the races and the embassy ball being my favourite. Stanley Holloway is also great as Eliza's money-grabbing father as is Gladys Cooper as Higgins' disapproving mother. What's so great about My Fair Lady though is how it looks and how it sounds with the production design splendid, the costumes fantastic and the songs being memorable. This musical boasts some of the most famous songs from the theatre including 'I Could've Danced All Night', 'I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face', 'Get Me to the Church on Time' and my personal favourite 'On the Street Where You Live.' Like with Oliver! and The Sound of Music I'm still not convinced that an old-school musical like this should've won a Best Picture prize but again I will reserve judgment until I've seen all five.

OK hope you like the new place more to come soon.