The Forgotten Welshman

In a culture where artistic accomplishment is measured primarily in monetary gain, it is becoming increasingly difficult to remember the era when even star actors were concerned more with their craft than the glamour of the spotlight. British actors have always been less prone to such weaknesses given their struggling film industry and age-old respect for the value of live theatre. The history of British Cinema is replete with stars whose talent was nurtured in a healthy artistic environment that shunned the kind of cinematic royalty preferred by Hollywood. One such actor who excelled in this atmosphere was Sir Stanley Baker. Son of a coal miner Baker was one of the cinema's three great Welsh actors alongside his friend and contemporary, Richard Burton and later, Burton's devotee Anthony Hopkins. Baker like the other two were proud of their working class origins and pursued their vocation with a zeal that catapulted them into the top of their profession. Tragically Baker would succumb to cancer when he was 49 years old, just months after he was knighted for his contribution to a film industry he served proudly, both as actor and producer. Unfortunately his career is much undervalued in North America with most of his films unreleased on either VHS or DVD. The following DVDs represent some of the best work from this singular performer.

The Cruel Sea (1953) Baker was always proud of his villainous roles despite being morally at odds with their behaviour. It was this breathrough role as the only working class officer on a British warship in WWII, where he created what was to become a signature performance with his bullying violence and chip-on-his-shoulder resentment of class and authority. He was soon snatched up by Hollywood to be used as a stock villain for their overseas productions including Knights of the Round Table and Helen of Troy.

Hell is a City (1960) Baker had one his first heroic roles as Manchester cop tortured by his grasping middle class wife as he tries to hunt down a gang of violent criminals. The cracks are now showing in Baker's hardened portrayals with his sensitive loyalty for the underdog manifesting itself here in a caring relationship with a waitress at the local pub. One of Hammer films rare forays into a non-horror genre, this gritty noir is a prime example of the kitchen sink realism of the era.

The Criminal (1960) Baker is now on the other side of the law in this masterpiece of British crime drama. The second of four collaborations Baker was to have with expatriate American director Joseph Losey, it was also the most successful, particularly in exploiting the sheer physical threat that Baker could exhibit on screen. Flaunting Baker's stern mouth and boxer's physique, Losey gave British cinema one of its most iconic criminals, prison gang leader and violent thief, Joe Bannion. Brutal and uncompromising, the film also provided further evidence of a code of honour among Baker's characters, protecting the helpless but never hesitating to indulge in reprisals against those in authority who have harmed him.

The Guns of Navarone (1961) Not one of Baker's greatest roles but a memorable part in a colossal hit. As the dangerous assassin in a group of Allied commandos fighting the Nazis in Greece, Baker projects the usual menace reserved for one of his amoral villains without the inner conflict that drives his most interesting and satisfying characterizations. The size and success of this production began a cycle of large scale war films that resulted in his most famous and enduring hit.

Zulu (1964) It is hard not to overstate the importance of this film to both Baker and the history of British film. Baker had formed a production company with another expatriate American director Cy Endfield, with whom he had made four previous films including the nerve-wracking trucking thriller Hell Drivers (1957), in order to make his dream project about the Welsh regiment who held their own against overwhelming odds during the Zulu Wars in South Africa. Independently financed, and cast with an unerring eye for talent including Michael Caine in his first starring role, this is the quintessential example of how to make a film about war with all of its absurdities, excitements, and most of all, horrors. Baker is stalwart in the lead role, as a Welsh engineer whose soldiering skills are severely tested at the small outpost he must defend, with all of the old issues of class and authority coming into play opposite the snobbery of inexperienced officer Caine. Baker and Endfield would collaborate once more on another African stunner, the desert survival film Sands of the Kalahari (1965). Later, after one more collaboration with Losey in 1967, Baker would continue to indulge his taste for physical roles making a succession of genre films that did little to exploit his emotional range as a performer. His early death robbed audiences of a potentially interesting career playing middle-aged villains and rebels having to confront their own mortality.

More Than Just A Pretty Face

Hollywood has always worshipped at the altar of beauty. The new phenomenon of bikini-clad actresses posing for the covers of men's lifestyle magazines , is only the latest in an escalating series of publicity efforts going back to the silent era. The more salaciously repressed times we live in demand that our stars display themselves in as wantonly a manner, as conservative society will allow. The sexual freedom of decades past has given way to sleazy voyeurism, on newsstands, on the internet and on the television. The starlets of the golden era of cinema also had to display their wares, albeit more modestly, with some being forever prisoners of their glamorous studio-built images. It is then all the more remarkable when these women were able to, on occasion, exceed the audiences perceptions of them by delivering a great performance.The following are five DVDs that reveal the talent hidden behind Hollywood's glamorous facade.

Only Angels Have Wings (1938) Rita Hayworth's first major role before she became a pin-up star, had her cast opposite cynical pilot Cary Grant and trouser-wearing ex-showgirl Jean Arthur. Hayworth had yet to receive the physical make-over that would transform her into the fantasy figure that she remains, but her beauty was already in evidence as was her dramatic talent. A relative neophyte, she more than holds her own with Grant, now exhibiting a mature stillness that was lacking in his previous energetically youthful performances. Regrettably, this would be Rita's last role that demanded talent over beauty until her middle-aged appearance dictated otherwise.

City for Conquest (1940) Ann Sheridan was sold to the public as "The Oomph Girl" but her striking looks masked an honest emotional range that served her well opposite frequent co-star James Cagney. Beloved in real-life for her earthy warmth and forthright charm, Sheridan excelled at portraying women who protected their tender inclinations with an assertive and street-wise persona. As an aspiring dancer who leaves prize-fighter Cagney due to his emotional immaturity, Sheridan is able to simultaneously engage our sympathies for her predicament as she struggles with career and relationships. Her own film career would last only a dozen or so more years but she had made peace with her image long before, and enjoyed a fulfilling social life that continued after her feature-film career had faded.

Leave Her To Heaven (1945) One year after starring in the noir classic Laura, Gene Tierney gave her greatest performance as the psychopathic wife of writer Cornel Wilde in this technicolor masterpiece. Tierney's early roles as the delicate victim, did not prepare the public for her startling transformation into a ruthless and conniving femme fatale. With help from the lush Oscar-winning cinematography by Leon Shamroy, Tierney uses her exquisite china doll veneer to hide all manner of dark schemes and emotional manipulations. It is the quintessential portrayal of dangerous beauty and evidence of a dramatic range that Tierney was unable to exploit in her subsequent films.

Don't Bother To Knock (1952) The iconic sexuality of Marilyn Monroe is one the 20th Century's most enduring images, yet before she was a sex symbol there lurked a serious student of acting technique. This film was her first starring role and depended on the ability of the young actress to give a performance of such complexity, that even those who dismiss the film as a minor thriller praise Monroe's subtle and thoughtful portrayal of mental illness. Obviously drawing upon her own troubling psychological battles and those of her family, Monroe is able to make the audience care about her, while fearing the harm she may cause to herself and others. It was a memorable beginning to one of cinema's most tragic and under-appreciated talents.

The Naked Spur (1953), Petite, blonde and pretty would certainly describe Janet Leigh's young Hollywood persona and the resulting roles were a typically bland collection that allowed for little in the way of acting. By 1953 with her marriage to Tony Curtis providing constant publicity, Leigh finally got her first taste of a juicy character. Director Anthony Mann whose famous noir films defined the post war era, now wished to bring some of that genre's dark emotional undercurrents to the Western. His regular leading man for this period was James Stewart and to co-star he cast the squeaky-clean Leigh. Shorn of her long blonde locks, her face dirtied, and clothed in work shirt and jeans, this was to be the type of physical performance that she had never experienced before. Emotionally withdrawn, and sexually threatened by the villain Robert Ryan, Leigh portrays this woman of the west with a simultaneous strength and vulnerability that is physically reinforced by her small frame and deep voice. Later on in her career, the roles would get even better but this example was the first to belie her glossy studio-manufactured image.

Where Have All the Heroes Gone?

It has been with much trepidation that I anticipate the future return of Indiana Jones. In our cynical world of reality tv and celebrity culture is there still a place for the heroes of old. Errol Flynn, Douglas Fairbanks and Tyrone Power represented the virtues of heroism without the skepticism of today's video-game generation. Thirty years later Harrison Ford was still fighting the good fight with acts of derring-do, albeit with a tongue-in-cheek-charm that never undercut the suspense. The phrase "high adventure" used to stand for something in the our culture. It didn't just refer to the physical thrills that befall the hero but also the higher moral purpose to the drama. These were stories where issues of courage and loyalty could affect a generation of viewers. I hope that messrs. Spielberg and Lucas respect this tradition as they have in the past. In our world of dwindling heroes it now more important than ever, that cynicism and snide self-interest not become the vocabulary of our heroes new & old. In honour of this sentiment, I offer my top five choices for high adventure on DVD

Where Eagles Dare (d. Brian Hutton,1969) The quintessential high-adventure film written by one of its most successful authors Alistair MacLean. A commanding Richard Burton and young Clint Eastwood go undercover as German officers to rescue an American officer from a Nazi castle in the Alps. The twists and turns of the plot may be disorienting but there is no confusion to the expertly-executed action sequences choreographed by legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt. Representing the last gasp of Sixties war epics, this film deserves more than its bare-bones DVD release.

The Vikings (d.Richard Fleischer, 1958) Muscular chest-beating action with Kirk Douglas as a one-eyed Viking warrior fighting half-brother Tony Curtis in an authentic physical recreation of ancient Nordic culture. The DVD includes a director's commentary and behind -the-scenes featurettes as well as doing justice to the stunning location photography by British ace Jack Cardiff.

The Wind and the Lion (d.John Milius,1975) The first of Milius's projected trilogy of films about his favourite U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt, charismatically embodied here by Brian Keith. His nemesis is a Berber cheftain played with tangible relish by Sean Connery, whose kidnapping of a diplomat's wife causes a international crisis. Full of cheeky humour and dynamite action, this is a film about politics and the honour of men, on a grand David Lean-like canvas. The DVD includes a commentary by the always entertaining Milius, as well as an amusing vintage making-of featurette.

Captain Blood (d.Michael Curtiz,1935)Before he was the screen's greatest Robin Hood, Errol Flynn made his starring debut with this classic skull and bones swashbuckler, as an idealistic young doctor forced into a life of high seas piracy. Eye-popping swordsmanship opposite Basil Rathbone, erotic love scenes with Olivia de Havilland, and a majestic score by Erich Korngold make this a classic for all-time. The DVD sports a superb, though far from flawless print, of the restored two hour version.

The Three Musketeers & The Four Musketeers (d. Richard Lester ,1973,1974)Filmed as one movie and later divided into two, this project represents the zenith of Lester's uniquely satirical approach to classic adventure. Utilizing irreverent historical characterizations, bawdy humour and slapstick heroics, Lester brings to life the age of rapier and dagger with a gritty Swiftian eye for the absurd as personified by his superb cast of performers including Oliver Reed, Michael York and Christopher Lee. The Anchor Bay DVD box set contains both films as well as an excellent documentary about the sometimes arduous production, featuring particularly honest observations by cast members York and Lee.