Author Archive: Peter Jakobsen
All About Eve
"Too bad, we're gonna miss the third act. They're going to play it off stage."
(Written & Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz) (1950) This curlicued lass, Eve (Anne Baxter) shows her pathological ambition to act from a mile away, but the Theatre Folk are too wrapped-up in themselves to notice. Margot (Bette Davis) notices all right, but too late. Addison DeWitt gets it immediately though; he’s a critic after The Varnished Culture’s heart (soft-hearted though he is), and he is prepared to help the fledgling, albeit at a very high ticket price. This is the granddaddy of bitchy theatre films, a wall of highly-strung wit that both diminishes a film like Birdman yet makes that inferior piece possible. It features…
Continue Reading →Inherit the Wind
Proverbs, 11:29 – “He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.” ——- I watched this Stanley Kramer bag-of-wind With that pair of plump boiled hams, Tracy and March, In a hot and dusty courtroom, having a fine old time Debating whether a schoolteacher had sinned. Kids bit into the apple when their brains began to parch So he taught them evolution was no crime. Tracy, playing Darrow, fought the case upon the law, In other words he posed as legislator. But the facts were dead against him, so,…
Continue Reading →Relax, Max
"Please redeem me, let me go..."
Mad Max Franchise (Dir. George Kennedy) These highly influential and popular films are, truth to tell, shite. Oh I know, they represent a definitive textbook for the Stunt Man; they give employment to a bunch of Aussies (yay!); in the case of the first film in the series, it justifies awakening the city of Clunes; they combine great visual beauty along with nauseating ugliness; they tell the world of the practical effect of the Greens’ energy policy, but excrement they remain. Listen! We blame no one. We’d rather watch these films than 97% of the cloacal mess showing at a cinema…
Continue Reading →Pendolino
Level 2, The Strand, Sydney, January 2016 Dawdling back from the Queen Victoria Building in George Street, we passed the rococo wonderland of The Strand. Whilst loitering about the cigar and paraphernalia stores, we noticed a small sandwich board promising lunch. What we got was a beautiful dark interior, formal settings with a relaxed atmosphere, a good wine selection including import specials at reasonable prices….…and the best pasta dishes in town. Simple, elegant, unpretentious and service both assiduous and unobtrusive. We returned in August 2017 and it has maintained its standards.
Continue Reading →King Lear
"Who is it that can tell me who I am?"
(by William Shakespeare, 1606) (Dir. Neil Armfield) (Sydney Theatre Company, January 2, 2016) We offer a link to our favourite theatrical review site, Stage Noise, for the searching and wise verdict of this production (as at November 2015) by Diana Simmonds: Stage Noise review of King Lear We have little with which to disagree and little to add, except for this: Lear, in essence, might not bear proper staging. The individuals must be larger than life, and have real gravitas, so in contemporary terms, you require superstars for 7 of the roles. You need to treat the few jokes not as comedy, not even black comedy, but counter-comedy. The…
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