nickromney.com

Am not quite sure how I could have not even heard of Sam Peckinpah’s Cross of Iron, but I watched it recently, and it’s a very powerful film indeed. Set in 1943, in the face of huge Russian opposition, the film tracks the increasing bitterness between hard-bitten Sergeant Steiner (James Coburn) and Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell) a Prussian aristocrat.

Steiner won an Iron Cross saving Colonel Brandt’s life, thereby winning the loyalty of Brandt (James Mason). Still, his distaste both for war and his soldier’s uniform causes difficulty with even the most supportive officer, and especially with Stransky, newly-arrived from a posting in the South of France, and desperately seeking an Iron Cross for himself.

Steiner repeatedly chooses loyalty to his unit, and leads them in the face of great odds, overwhelming bombardment, and openly-hostile superiors.

It’s an amazing, gripping, disturbing film.

I get to the cinema less often these days (mainly due to working nights), but my good friends John and Laurie seem determined to let me borrow a large proportion of their DVD library. This week, I’ve watched “Pirates of the Caribbean”, and I was most entertained.

Essentially, it’s a swashbuckling epic which harks back to an earlier era of film-making (although one without CGI graphics). The film itself is set in the 18th century (and therefore towards the end of the Pirate era), around Port Royal, and as you would expect, the scenery and backdrops are magnificent.

This is obviously a high-budget film, with big production values (directed by Gore Verbinsky, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer). It doesn’t seem overblown, but that is perhaps because I’m in the target-market of viewers, being reminded of piratical adventures I used to watched aged 7 – 9 (incidentally, too young to view this 12-certificate film).

I believe Johnny Depp was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Captain Jack Sparrow, the erstwhile Captain of “the Black Pearl”, and I can certainly see why. I’ve admired his versatility as an actor for many years (and am reminded of a review of Benny & Joon which speculated what Chaplin would have been like with Johnny Depp rather than Robert Downey Jr in the lead role).

Geoffrey Rush was well cast as Barbossa, the leader of the cursed pirates, and his make up was so convincing, that it wasn’t until I watched the additional features, that the penny dropped, and I realised that I’d enjoyed his roles as Walsingham in Elizabeth and David Helfgott in Shine

Swordplay was suitably epic; sets were large; explosions were fiery. Overall, a very enjoyable film I shall return to.