NIJINSKY

 

Publicity poster for Nijinsky (© Herbert Ross/Hera Productions/Paramount Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Last night, I watched on the Talking Pictures TV channel here in the UK the fascinating, lavishly-staged, but ultimately heart-rending movie biopic Nijinsky. Directed by Herbert Ross and released in 1980, it tells the meteoric rise to the stratospheric heights of global fame and the equally precipitous, tragic descent into ignominy and madness of the world's most celebrated male ballet dancer – the incomparable Vaslav Nijinsky (1889/90-1950).

For all too short but wholly spectacular a time during the pre-WW1 years, the genius  of this youthful Polish-heritaged protégé of Sergei Diaghilev, founder of the Ballets Russes, burnt as brilliantly as the very stars in the heavens above, with an incandescent glory previously unimaginable in his field of the arts and never surpassed even today.

However, complex and conflicting relationships between Nijinsky, Diaghilev (who became his lover), and society girl Romola de Pulszky (who became his very unexpected wife), not to mention the extreme challenges posed when attempting to choreograph Igor Stravinsky's infamously daring, dissonant ballet 'The Rite of Spring', plus the unrelenting emotional pressures and constraints of eventually heading an entire company while still inexperienced managerially yet virtually unsupported, all lethally joined forces to wreak havoc upon Nijinsky's already fragile mental state. Inevitably, they sent this modern-day Icarus, a dancing demi-god who soared too close to the sun in his impossible quest for unattainable perfection, spiralling ever downward, plummeting to earth, his coruscating flames of splendour extinguishing like those of a cosmic falling star.

 

The real Vaslav Njinsky, photographed in summer 1907 (public domain)

All of the leads in Nijinsky are first-rate, including Alan Bates as Diaghilev, Leslie Browne as Romola, and Jeremy Irons as eminent choreographer Mikhail Fokine (yet whose jealousy of Nijinsky knew no bounds), but none more so than George de la Peña, making his movie debut in the title role. He is not only both a trained ballet dancer and choreographer himself but also a highly accomplished actor (and, for connoisseurs of totally trivial trivia, he just so happens to share my birthday!).

Throughout the movie, de la Peña gives a superlative, multi-talented and also multi-faceted performance as the dynamic but tortured Nijinsky. This is readily seen both in the sumptuous ballet segments in which he excels (including a very convincing replication of Nijinsky's legendary leap through the window at the end of the featured excerpt from Weber's 'Le Spectre de la Rose', achieving such a height and distance that he seems to be flying rather than merely dancing, exactly as audiences of the day described for Nijinsky's original version) and in the highly-charged, distressing, but authentic presentation of Nijinsky's deteriorating mental stability (culminating in schizophrenia that brought his professional dancing career to a premature, permanent end in 1917).

Thankfully, however, this latter, very traumatic aspect of Nijinsky's life, leading to him spending his last 33 years in and out of asylums and psychiatric hospitals, is kept to a minimum in this movie (no doubt due to it being based upon his wife Romola's own authored account of his life), although it is book-ended by a brief opening and closing scene in which the still-young former dancer is shown sitting disconsolately on the floor of a darkened cell incarcerated in a straitjacket – a terrible fate. Mercifully, Romola and their two daughters Kyra and Tamara stayed ever-loyal, lovingly caring for him whenever he recuperated sufficiently to be released back into the outside world for a while.

 

The real Romola and Vaslav Nijinsky, photographed in 1913, the year of their wedding (public domain)

Nijinsky died from kidney failure on 8 April 1950 in London, and is buried in Paris's famous Montmartre Cemetery, but today his name remains as revered in the history of dance as it was more than a century ago when the golden fire of his artistry was still burning at its brightest and best. Nijinsky has gained immortality, through all eternity, albeit at an ultimately horrific cost to him when alive. Happily, however, for much of its 130-minute length this extraordinary movie is a fitting celebration of his sublime achievements during his glory years.

I am very glad to have watched Nijinsky, it engaged my total attention and interest throughout, and I certainly recommend it to everyone who has a passion for the arts, especially ballet, as well as to anyone wishing to gain at least a fleeting insight into the true if often tragic, tormented nature of genius.

If you would like a preview of what to expect from this magnificent, captivating movie, please click here to view a succinct official trailer for Nijinsky. Also, please click here to watch the excerpt from 'Le Spectre de la Rose' featured in Nijinsky that I mentioned above – and be sure not to miss his world-famous, gravity-defying leap out of the window at the very end, as replicated stunningly by George de la Peña playing him.

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE! 

 

Photographed in 1911, here is the real Nijinsky as the Faun in the very first ballet that he himself created and choreographed – 'L'Après-Midi d'Un Faune' ('The Afternoon of a Faun', fauns being equivalent in Roman mythology to the satyrs of Greek mythology); it was based upon Claude Debussy's orchestral symphonic poem 'Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune' (public domain)

 

SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS

 

My official ex-rental big box video of Sinbad of the Seven Seas (© Ennzo G. Castellari/Luigi Cozzi/Cannon Films – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 28 December 2020, I finally watched another of my ex-rental big box videos that I'd long been promising myself to view. This time it was the 1989 live-action Arabian Nights-type movie Sinbad of the Seven Seas.

Directed by Ennzo G. Castellari (as well as an uncredited Luigi Cozzi), Sinbad of the Seven Seas stars Lou 'The Incredible Hulk' Ferrigno as the immensely muscular Sinbad that Hercules would have looked like if he'd decided to give up a life on land in favour of more maritime pursuits, and how Sinbad would have sounded if he'd been born and raised in Brooklyn rather than Basra.

Interesting to note, btw, is that this film also features both a Prince Ali and an evil grand vizier named Jaffar, a few years before much the same names appeared in Disney's animated movie Aladdin. Pedants' corner alert: yes, there is indeed one 'f' less in the name of Disney's vizier version.

Still on the subject of viziers: the basic plot of Sinbad of the Seven Seas opens with the fairly standard storyline for Sinbad movies, in which the benevolent caliph is bewitched by his evil, scheming grand vizier, the sorcerer Jaffar, who plans to rule in his stead (has there ever been a movie in this subgenre featuring a vizier – grand or otherwise – who isn't evil, scheming, and planning to rule in the rightful potentate's stead??).

Moreover, Jaffar magically conceals in all manner of far-flung localities guarded by all manner of malign entities Basra's five magical stones that have hitherto protected this fair city from harm. And as if all of that were not enough, Jaffir also seizes the caliph's beauteous daughter, Princess Alina, and tries to imprison and slay Sinbad and his crew when they attempt to challenge his malevolent machinations.

However, as Sinbad evidently spends much if not all of his time working out when not sailing the seven seas, his ripped physique readily enables him to break free from his subterranean dungeon, ably assisted by a rope composed of plaited living snakes(!). And after rescuing his crew forthwith, he duly sets off with them upon an epic voyage of discovery to seek out and bring back to Basra its sacred stones, which will then enable them to conquer Jaffir, break his spell over the caliph, and rescue the Princess. Job's a good 'un – as they probably never said in ancient Arabia…

Anyway, although a sundry selection of ghouls, ghostly knights, and rapacious Amazons are encountered en route, Sinbad of the Seven Seas offers little in the way of monsters, sadly, only some of the 'men in suits' variety – unlike the superb stop-motion classics featuring in Ray Harryhausen's awesome trio of Sinbad movies. Speaking of which: Jaffar in this present movie (played by John Steiner) is so outrageously OTT that he makes Tom Baker's eye-popping evil magician-prince Koura in Harryhausen's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad look positively staid and retiring by comparison!

Indeed, it soon becomes evident that Sinbad of the Seven Seas plays very much for laughs overall, once again unlike Harryhausen's Sinbad movies, which are presented in a totally serious, dramtic manner. Nevertheless, this film is still well worth watching – especially if, like me, you are a particular fan of the Sandals & Sorcery subgenre of fantasy movie, to which the numerous Sinbad and several Thief of Baghdad movies are major contributions.

Incidentally, many years ago I was fortunate enough to encounter Lou Ferrigno at a big film convention held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), just outside Birmingham, England, where he was chatting with visitors and signing photographs. They say that TV cameras make those in front of the screen look bigger than they actually are, but trust me, Lou needs no such optical trickery - that guy is BIG!! He was also very pleasant and approachable - a totally charming, genial giant of a man, whom I was delighted and very honoured to have met.

If you would like to get an idea of what to expect from Sinbad of the Seven Seas, be sure to click here to watch an official trailer of highlights from it on YouTube.

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!

 

THE INVADERS & LAND OF THE GIANTS – TWO CLASSIC TV SCI FI SERIES FROM THE 1960S

 

Official VHS video containing two episodes of The Invaders and featuring its lead star, Roy Thinnes, on the front cover (© Larry Cohen/Alan A. Armer/QM Productions/CBS Television – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

THE INVADERS

Even though it's now been over 50 years since I watched it as a child in the late 1960s, I can still vividly remember a TV sci fi series entitled The Invaders. Created by producer, director, and prolific screenwriter Larry Cohen, produced by Alan A. Armer for QM Productions, and distributed by CBS Television, it consisted of 43 episodes, and was originally screened by ABC from 1967 to 1968.

The Invaders starred Roy Thinnes as dogged investigator David Vincent, who discovers that a race of alien beings are surreptitiously invading Earth, but he has difficulty convincing anyone else of this, especially as the aliens are adept at assuming human form. What has always particularly stayed in my mind about this show, however, is that the aliens are usually betrayed by their little finger on each hand, which sticks out at a very odd, crooked angle...usually, that is.

My single most tenacious, abiding memory from the entire 2-season series is the climax to one episode in which a very shapely young lady to whom Vincent is attracted and whose shapeliness incorporates her totally normal little fingers chillingly reveals that not all of the Invaders have crooked little fingers...

On 16 January 2021, I discovered several episodes from The Invaders on YouTube, and decided to watch the very first one out of sheer nostalgia, but also because it would be the very first time that I'd seen any of this show's episodes in colour (we only had a b/w TV when I watched them at home as a child back in the 1960s). It proved to be very enjoyable, and, lo and behold, the above-described reveal, that the young woman was herself an Invader but had learned to straighten her little fingers, turned out to have been in that very first episode!

It was nice to know that I had remembered it accurately after more than 5 decades. And if you'd like to watch it yourself, click here to do so while it is still available (along with other episodes too) to do so for free on YouTube. [UPDATE - this and other Series 1 episodes have now been blocked on YouTube by CBS CIS as they apparently contain content by it, but a few Series 2 episodes are still available to watch, including this one.]

SECOND UPDATE: Today, 5 May 2024, I was luvky enough to spot, and purchase for just £2.50 each set at a local car boot sale, the complete Series 1 and 2 of The Invaders in the form of two Region 2 box sets - bargain!! 

 

My official Region 2 DVD box sets of Series 1 and 2 of The Invaders (© Larry Cohen/Alan A. Armer/QM Productions/CBS Television – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

LAND OF THE GIANTS

Recollecting The Invaders made me in turn recall another sci fi TV show that I used to watch during the late 1960s here in the UK – Land of the Giants. Created, produced, and directed by Irwin Allen, who went on to produce such famous 1970s disaster movies as The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, this show was originally screened from 1968 to 1970 by ABC, and in colour throughout (again, however, I only watched it in b/w as a child).

Set in 1983 (i.e. 15 years in the future when the show began), Land of the Giants is all about a suborbital space flight that somehow gets sucked into a space wormhole and finds itself and all of the crew and passengers on board transported to an alien planet that is very similar to Earth except for one fundamental difference. As might be guessed from this show's title, the humans who live on that planet are enormous, veritable giants, alongside whom their Earth counterparts are no bigger than mice.

During the two seasons of Land of the Giants, consisting of 51 episodes in total, the stranded Earthlings make all manner of attempts to repair their ship and find their way back home but without betraying where their home, Earth, is, in case the Giants decide to invade it. Meanwhile, they also become embroiled in all manner of intrigues and sometimes life-endangering situations, due to their tiny size making them vulnerable to a wide range of novel threats, including giant-sized counterparts of the animal forms that exist back home on Earth.

No significantly famous stars appeared in Land of the Giants, perhaps the best known being Gary Conway, who played the lead character, Captain Steve Burton. However, several familiar faces of the future made early guest appearances in it. They include John Carradine, Lee Meriwether, Jonathan Harris (Dr Zachary Smith in Lost in Space, also from the late 1960s), and Jack Albertson (who went on to feature in the afore-mentioned 1970s movie The Poseidon Adventure, as well as the very popular 1970s TV sit-com Chico and the Man, which I loved – Albertson being the man, with Chico being played by the tragically short-lived Freddie Prinze).

As with The Invaders, episodes of Land of the Giants can currently be watched for free on YouTube, including the very first one – click here to access it (albeit in a very small screen size.) [UPDATE - due to its containing Disney copyright content, this episode is no longer available to watch on YouTube in the UK, but other episodes, including the second one, still are.]

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film/TV reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE! 

 

Front cover of the official DVD box set for Series 1 of Land of the Giants (© Irwin Allen/Irwin Allen Productions/Kent Peoductions Inc/20^th Century Fox – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)