Lesser Known Films From Celebrated Filmmakers, Part 1

Every noted filmmaker has certain films for which they are best remembered. But does that mean their less celebrated films aren't so great? Oftentimes, yes. But not always. The following are selections of lesser known but worthwhile films from some of the most celebrated and/or popular directors.


TORN CURTAIN
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Best Known For: Psycho, North By Northwest, The Birds, Vertigo, Rear Window, dozens of others

Torn Curtain is not one of Hitchcock's greatest efforts. But, Hitchcock is without a doubt one of the greatest geniuses in the history of film, and a lesser effort form him is still light-years ahead of a great deal of what's out there. and when it stars Paul Newman and Julie Andrews, it's certainly worth the time. New plays physicist Dr. Michael Armstrong, who arrives at a conference in Eastern Europe and announces his defection, much to the shock of his wife (Andrews). But it's a Hitchcock film, so of course things aren't as they seem. Newman and Andrews are good (though Hitchcock clashed repeatedly with method actor Newman, and felt his stars didn't have chemistry), and of course Hitchcock builds the suspense expertly. One sequence  in a farmhouse ranks, in my opinion, up there with Hitchcock's best.

ALWAYS
Director: Steven Spielberg
Best Known For: E.T., Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan

Spielberg is my all-time favorite director, and he has only directed one film I consider an outright dud (1941) . Always is decidedly not up there with Spielberg's best, but, for it's flaws, it's a charming little love story, with some spectacular sequences of aerial firefighting. Richard Dreyfuss (in his third and, to date, last collaboration with Spielberg) plays pilot Pete Sandich, who, after his death, lingers to help his girlfriend Dorinda Durston (Holly Hunter) move on. Aside from the obvious weakness in choice of character names, flaws include mediocre chemistry between Dreyfuss and Hunter, the bland supporting turn by Brad Johnson (I'm not especially surprised you haven't heard of him) and the fact that the story, a remake of the World War II era A Guy Named Joe feels forced in a peacetime setting. Strengths include John Goodman's highly entertaining supporting turn (Dreyfuss and Hunter both play very well off of Goodman), Spielberg and cinematographer Mikael Salomon's great work on the firefighting scenes, and Audrey Hepburn in her final performance. There is also a very memorable sequence of the ghostly Dreyfuss dancing with Hunter (who doesn't know he's there) to Smoke gets In Your Eyes. For once, I'm not arguing that the Spielberg film is great, but it has it's charms.

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
Director: Martin Scorsese
Best Known For: Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, The Departed, Mean Streets

When people think of Martin Scorsese, they don't usual think of PG rated love stories set in the 1870s. But this adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel is brilliantly directed and superbly acted by Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfieffer, and Winona Ryder (the only one of the three to receive an Oscar nomination). Day-Lewis plays Newland Archer, a successful and proper lawyer engaged to May Welland (Ryder0, who begins to reconsider his respectable but passionless life when May's cousin,  Countess Olenska (Pfieffer), arrives. Scorsese's virtuosity with the camera and eye for detail in production design have never been on better display. The mannered performances (perfectly suited to a film about emotional repression) and deliberate pace may be off-putting to some, but there is a great deal to savor here.

THE HUDSUCKER PROXY
Director: Joel & Ethan Coen (only Joel is credited as director)
Best Known For: Fargo, No Country For Old Men, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, O Brother, Where Art Thou?

This one certainly has a cult following, and my guess is a fair portion of those reading this have seen it, but it's certainly not as celebrated as much of the Coen's other work, and, while it's not their best film, it is my personal favorite (in no small part because it's the first film of theirs I saw). Tim Robbins is hilarious as Norville Barnes, a country-fried rube who, through a complicated series of events, is chosen by Chairman of the Board Paul Newman as the new C.E.O. of Hudsucker Industries, a mammoth corporation. But Norville was chosen to make the company fail so Newman and the other board members can buy up the stock. That plan fails miserably when Norville's silly invention "for kids" becomes an overnight sensation. Odd as can be, but hilarious and visually stunning.