Classic Film Review: The Nun's Story (1959)

The Nun's Story stars Audrey Hepburn as Gabrielle van der Mal, the daughter of a respected doctor (Dean Jagger), who decides to enter a convent with the ultimate aim of being able to battle tropical diseases in the Congo. It follows her various trials to get there and her troubles with her faith that manifest themselves most acutely when she meets Dr Fortunati (Peter Finch) and after the outbreak of war.

This is a pretty long film and, at times, it feels too long. While I found the intricacies of entering the convent and their teachings fascinating, I'm quite probably in the minority on that score. The opening section of the film, then, can be seen as lengthy and, something that certainty doesn't help a viewer trying to hook onto something, are all the various nuns who flit in and out of the film. Such luminaries as Edith Evans and Peggy Ashcroft have roles but keeping everyone straight, especially in the different locations, is tricky. However, in a film of this breadth that's to be expected.

Those are my criticisms but there's plenty to enjoy in this film. Audrey Hepburn is, quite simply, brilliant as Sister Luke, conveying more in the simple flicker of her eyes than most actresses could do with a placard held up. Her struggles, though rarely directly spoken of, are manifest in every scene, growing stronger as time passes. There's never a moment where the audience doesn't know what she's thinking, even if the person she's speaking to is clueless.

Beyond Hepburn's performances, the unshrinking depiction of religious life and the struggles faced by nuns is notable, along with the brief entry into the world of mental health care. Similarly, there is one scene later that is extremely shocking, more so because it comes out of nowhere. The dramatic moments in this film are few and far between but it's never boring. In addition, the score is wonderful and the direction so precise that you can feel the dedication in every moment.

Ultimately, this is a film to watch at least once. I may not watch it again because of the length but it's an exceptional Audrey Hepburn film - and that's a feat in itself.

Book Review: The Aspern Papers by Henry James

This novella follows an unnamed narrator as he travels to Venice to obtain some papers left with Juliana Bordereau by her lover, poet Jeffrey Aspern. Knowing that honesty will result in instant rejection, the narrator enters the house as a lodger and sets about working on the spinster niece of Juliana, Miss Tita. She eventually learns the truth but there's no guarantee that the papers will be handed over.

I said I wanted to read this after watching The Lost Moment (1947, review here) and I was relieved that most of what made the film melodramatic was not drawn from the original story by James. This novella is tight and, really, frustratingly short. It left me wanting more which is, I suppose, quite a good way to be left by an author of exceptional talent.

The crumbling, lethargic atmosphere of Venice and the house itself is possibly the most captivating aspect of the story. The plot itself is rather thin - man sets about to retrieve papers by duplicity - but the setting is everything. The narrator's motivation is, of course, important and brings up questions of the professional and the private and what rights we, the public, have to know all about the personal life of a 'famous' person, a debate we have daily now. Locating these papers in a dilapidated house under the guardianship of an ailing woman and her unworldly niece only adds to the sensation that some things should be left unearthed.

For me, The Aspern Papers was tantalisingly short but it covered what needed to be covered in the story. Economical with words, James nevertheless created a potent portrait of Venice that threatens to stay with me for a while.

Book Review: The Emancipated by George Gissing

First published in 1890, The Emancipated tells the story of a group of English people who encounter each other in Naples. Miriam Baske, a young and recent widow, has travelled abroad with the Spences to regain her health. Also in the area is artist Ross Mallard, an under-appreciated landscape painter. During his stay, his ward and Miriam's cousin Cecily Doran arrives with her chaperone, Mrs Lessingham. It soon becomes clear that Mallard has feelings for his ward but tries to battle them by remaining aloof from her. Also arriving in Naples, though, is Miriam's brother Reuben who immediately takes a shine to the new and improved Cecily. He is a useless young man who hopes to make a career in literature but has no definite plans. Mallard tries to steer him away from Cecily but this proves hopeless and matters are taken out of his hands.

There are a few things I found difficult with this novel. Firstly, the scope is off-putting. As well as the characters mentioned there are various others we are introduced to, and share the lives and thoughts of, including the Denyers - a mother and her three daughters who she has made as pretentious as possible. They are searching for husbands. Madeline has a potential suitor in another artist, Clifford Marsh, while Barbara is cultivating a friendship with the older Mr Musslewhite. Gissing diverges far too much from his main plot to deal with these situations, and to little effect. The novel would have been better if it had been more compact and focused solely on the thoughts and feelings of the main players. The Denyers do create a neat contrast to Cecily, though, and what happens to Madeline in the second half of the book makes her marginally more interesting.

However, all that said, Cecily is a rather boring character with little personality, especially in the first half of the book. She's a typical nineteenth-century woman, attractive to three of the men in the novel in an almost tiresome way. Far more interesting is Miriam, a Puritan who battles with her religious devotion and struggles at first to immerse herself in the beauty of Italy in case she is betraying her values. Her alteration throughout the novel is measured well by Gissing and she is by far his most successful character in The Emancipated. Ross Mallard is a reasonable creation and it's his growing relationship with Miriam that fascinated me most.

Another issue I had with the book was the fact that the first quarter seems to be a travel guide to Italy. After saying that the beauty of Naples is so well-known that it needn't be described, Gissing spends a lot of time describing it. This means that the story doesn't feel like it gets going until later on. Actually I pinpointed this on the Kindle copy I was reading from as 44% of the way through - at that point I began to want to know what would happen next. This desire didn't kick in properly, however, until three-quarters of the way through the book. I was glad I persevered with it but I know many people probably wouldn't bother.

Book Review: A Sicilian Romance by Ann Radcliffe

A Sicilian Romance has a typically twisted Gothic plot which I'll attempt to summarise without giving the end away. Emilia and Julia Mazzini lost their mother at a young age. Their father remarried to a young woman and lived away from the family castle with their brother Ferdinand. The girls are joined in their lonely life by their mother's faithful friend, Madame de Menon. Things change when the Marquis and his young wife come back to the castle. Julia is promised by her father to the ageing Duke de Luovo but has fallen in love with a friend of her brother's, Hippolitus. They plot to elope but the plan doesn't go smoothly...

This is an extremely atmospheric novel, playing on the spectres of an ancient castle and using the surrounding area - woodland, caves, secret underground passages - to great effect. It is also well-plotted with the end tying up all the loose ends completely and explaining all the mysteries put forward throughout. I have to say that certain events surprised me as I progressed and I simply enjoyed the twists and turns without trying to second guess everything.

On the characterisation side, the characters were a little under-explored for my liking, taking a back seat to the complex plot but I expected that. I also felt characters were forgotten for long periods, particularly poor Emilia. Her experience of living at the castle after her sister has fled could have been a novel in its own right.

Some of the most potent scenes in A Sicilian Romance come from truly terrifying incidents. For instance, Ferdinand, languishing in the dungeon, hears screaming from another quarter of the castle. Another example is when Julia and Hippolitus find themselves in one of the most gruesome rooms imaginable. That scene alone is enough to make this book stand out but there are many others of merit.

A Sicilian Romance draws on a number of Gothic conventions but is no less enjoyable for it. Watch out for armed bandits, nuns, convents, secret prisons and poison.

Classic Film Review: Roman Holiday (1953)

Roman Holiday stars Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in one of her first major roles. Princess Ann (Hepburn) is tired of her monotonous existence touring counties, repeating the same speeches and generally being sheltered by her guardians on the way. One night she slips out of their grasp into the city of Rome. However, the sedative she's been prescribed to help her sleep kicks in belatedly and she's found by journalist Joe Bradley (Peck) slumbering on a bench. Unable to get any sense out of her, he is forced to take her back to his apartment. The next morning he realises just who she is and sets out to get an exclusive, with help from his photographer friend Irving Radovich (Eddie Albert).

Hepburn is wonderful in this film. Her natural elegance shines through in the role and she and Peck have an excellent rapport. Peck himself is just perfect in an understated performance that does everything right. From the amusing scenes as he tries to get Ann home to the painful final scene, Peck is downright brilliant. So, for that matter, is Eddie Albert as his friend. I had difficulty placing Albert at first (I knew him from Oklahoma) but as the fiery, and sometimes clueless, Irving he's excellent. Even the supporting roles are superb - Margaret Rawlings performs wonders with her eyes in her scenes as Countess Vereberg while Alfredo Rizzo is hilarious as the taxi driver almost given responsibility of the drugged Princess Ann. I can't think of an actor who let the film down in all honesty.

Apparently Roman Holiday was filmed in black and while so that the wonderful scenery wouldn't overshadow the stars. If this is true then I'd point out that Paris didn't overshadow Hepburn a few years later in Funny Face (1957). However, the lack of colour doesn't hinder the beauty of the film and perhaps it was the right decision. There are also a couple of excellent touches throughout which attest to the care this film was created with, my favourite being the use of mirrors towards the beginning. All in all, this is a beautiful comic romance although, it has to be said, the ending is tinged with sadness.

Classic Film Review: Conspiracy of Hearts (1960)

Nuns, Nazis and children - you'd be forgiven for mistaking this for one of my favourite films. What Conspiracy of Hearts is, however, is a painful reminder of wartime interspersed with some heart-warming moments and a dash of sentimentality.

A convent has been helping to smuggle children out of a nearby concentration camp in Italy. German officers have been brought in to control the situation, making the work more difficult and dangerous. Despite advice, Mother Katharine (Lilli Palmer) refuses to accept that God intends them to leave the children in the camp and continues to put herself and her convent at risk. She is supported by most of the nuns with the exception of Sister Gerta (Yvonne Mitchell) who feels the lying to hide the children is a weight on her conscience. When a nun is shot during an escape attempt, the German officer brought in begins to become more suspicious and the film builds to a suspenseful conclusion with the nuns at risk of being executed and the latest batch of children in serious trouble.

Beginning with a news bulletin recap of events in Italy was perhaps useful but distracting to the film as a whole. The wider context didn't need to be understood; just the fact of Mussolini falling would've been information enough. However, from then on we are pushed straight into the endeavours of the nuns. There's very little dialogue at the beginning and this works to accentuate the danger. Later, as the nuns smuggle a rabbi into the convent (literally over the walls) to perform a ceremony for the children, the viewer is aware that the secret is out and the soldiers are on the way to retrieve the children. It builds the tension up to unbearable levels and leaves you seriously wondering whether the nuns will survive.

Lilli Palmer is wonderful as Mother Katharine. Her innate warmth and humour that I've noticed in other roles shone through perfectly in this one. Yvonne Mitchell demonstrated Sister Gerta's conflicts well from the beginning and her change of heart is one of the film's more endearing moments. Novice nun, Sister Mitya (Sylvia Syms), wants to devote her life to the convent but her heart had been captured by Major Spoletti (Ronald Lewis). Spoletti is the 'careless' Italian major who has turned a blind eye to the escape plots. He is forced to comply with the new strict rules until he's faced with watching Sister Mitya be attacked on German orders. The film paints a good picture of the Italian soldiers, though the Nazis are mostly framed as just that - Nazis.

Some of the scenes with the children do get a little sentimental but that would be difficult to avoid. Perhaps the most important thing about this film is that it builds ever gently to a suspenseful climax without resorting to too much melodrama. Definitely worth a watch if you want to see war from a different angle and if you're a Lilli Palmer fan.