“You’re already dead.”

In July 1981, 4 particularly brutal murders took place in a house on Wonderland Drive in Laurel Canyon, California. 4 people in the house were bludgeoned to death–a fifth victim survived. After the murder, a biker with a criminal past, named David Lind (Dylan McDermott) tells the police a strange story. Lind claims that adult film legend, John Holmes (Val Kilmer) helped the residents at the Wonderland house pull off a robbery at the home of the wealthy and criminally connected, Eddie Nash (Eric Bogosian). Lind suspects Holmes of ratting out the Wonderland Gang, and he believes that Nash arranged the killings in revenge.

Holmes, however, tells a slightly different story…

As the film unfolds, it’s left up to the viewer to decide whose story is true–or closer to the truth. Was Holmes just this pathetic junkie who played both sides of the game (Lind’s version), or was Holmes more levelheaded? Was Holmes forced to watch the Wonderland murders, or did he actually participate?

Wonderland isn’t a pretty story, and there is no happy ending with good winning over evil, etc. This is a true story–based on the piecing together of certain details, and it’s irredeemably ugly. If you can take watching a film full of unpleasant characters who commit horrible crimes and get away with it, then Wonderland is well worth watching. The direction is superb, and the film very cleverly balances the factual with the probable. The plot develops at a steady pace and the opposing versions of events kept me riveted. But it’s the acting in this film that really makes for incredible viewing. Val Kilmer stars as John Holmes. I’ve never been much of a Val Kilmer fan, and I’ve tended to see him as just another pretty Hollywood face. In Wonderland, Kilmer delivers a fantastic performance. As Holmes, he’s capable of anything… and then living with it. Lisa Kudrow stars as Sharon Holmes, John’s long-suffering estranged wife. There’s one scene when she faces John. He’s busy scheming new plans (which include the Witness Protection Programme), and she bursts his bubble with a little face-to-face reality check. Kudrow is amazing, and her character is one of the most interesting aspects of the film.

DVD extras include a second disc. This is a documentary of the life of John Holmes. Fascinating stuff. On the first disc, there are also some additional features–including the LA Police detectives’ crime scene video. I’ve never quite seen anything like this before, and it really should carry a WARNING. The crime scene video is actual footage of the detectives in the house as they videotape the location of each of the bodies and note–in laborious detail–the bloodstains all over the house. This is beyond gore. It’s appalling. I didn’t watch the entire video footage, and I certainly avoided the autopsy report (another extra feature).

“You frisk the ladies.”

In the film Rogue’s Tavern detective Jimmy Kelly (Wallace Ford) and store detective Marjorie Burns (Barbara Pepper) run off to get married and plan to call a Justice of the Peace to perform the ceremony at the Red Rock Tavern. When Jimmy tries to reserve a room, he is told that the inn is fully booked, so he decides to wait there with his fiancee until the Justice of the Peace shows up. A group of people–several men and one woman are staying at the tavern. They’ve all been summoned to the inn by mysterious requests. Within a short period of time, the first corpse shows up. A savage animal bite appears to be the cause of death. The body count rises, the phone lines are dead, and the visitors discover that they are trapped inside the inn with no way to escape.

Rogue’s Tavern fits the old formula of the classic murder mystery–a remote, spooky location, and summoned guests who are promptly bumped off one-by-one. The film seems to be a direct descendant of Victorian melodrama, with bad over-acting, cheaply constructed sets, maniacal laughter from the villain, dreadful special effects, and one of the most pathetic death scenes I’ve ever seen. However, there’s a nice dynamic between Jimmy and his fiancee, and the murders are impossible to solve until the final denouement. This black and white Alpha DVD of the 1936 film was fairly decent quality.

“I’m a nobody.”

In the gritty French crime drama, Tchao Pantin, Lambert (Coluche), an overweight, morose, middle-aged man covers the night shift at a Parisian petrol station. This solitary existence–with just the occasional disturbance by a passing customer seems to be the perfect situation for Lambert. Inside the tiny shop, he silently and disinterestedly watches the world go by, and when customers impatiently complain, their insults don’t seem to touch him.

One night, Bensoussan, a young Arab (Richard Anconina) comes into the shop in order to evade the police. The incident leads to an odd, seemingly casual friendship. Bensoussan begins dropping in at night to visit, and while most people would be deterred by Lambert’s laconic style, Bensoussan doesn’t seem to notice. Over time, petty thief and street pusher Bensoussan reveals the more unpleasant facts of his existence, and Lambert begins to assume a vague, fatherly role. Just as these two wildly disparate individuals form some sort of bond, tragedy strikes. Lambert is shaken out of his twilight half-existence and embarks on a course of revenge.

Tchao Pantin is a solid entry in the French crime genre, and it works well–thanks partly to the casting of Coluche as Lambert, but also thanks to the talent of director Claude Berri. The film is set in the seamy underbelly of Paris–bleak landscapes of urban decay, gloomy nights and drizzling rain complement the story’s dark moodiness. Both Lambert and Bensoussan are disconnected individuals. Bensoussan is disconnected from society by his constant acts of crime. Lambert, on the other hand–has chosen to disconnect from his emotional pain, and while his body lumbers through life, he is so emotionally dull, he doesn’t recognize feelings until it’s too late. Fans of French crime drama–especially those with a taste for French noir–should enjoy this film. In French with English subtitles.

 “Welcome to the other side of the looking glass.”

Barry Winchell was just 22 years old when a fellow soldier in an army barracks beat him to death. Barry’s murder made headlines. It was one of those haunting news stories I could not forget. The film Soldier’s Girl is the story behind the headlines.

Barry (Troy Garity in a wonderfully understated performance) a member of the 101st Airborne stationed at Fort Campbell had just broken up with his long-term girlfriend, when he was persuaded to attend a gay club called Visions. There he met Desert Storm veteran now transgender entertainer, Calpernia Addams (Lee Pace). The chemistry is immediate, and a relationship begins. Justin Fisher (Shawn Hatosy), Barry’s conflicted, bullying roommate is the person who drags Barry to the club in the first place–calling the excursion to Visions “a test of character.” Oddly enough, Fisher, who should be the last person to harass Barry, begins baiting him about his relationship with Calpernia. The military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy regarding homosexuality places Barry is a grey zone, exposing him to ridicule and harassment. There were those who harassed Barry (”Apparently one of the men in our unit attends a club that caters to deviants”) and those who tried to turn a blind eye to what was happening. Ultimately, Barry paid with his life.

The reasons behind the murder of Barry Winchell are complex, and the film weaves in all of these elements as the story unfolds. Fisher, for instance, apparently had gay encounters of his own at Visions. Soldier’s Girl does an excellent job showing the counter mechanisms in Fisher’s behaviour and his role and responsibility in Barry’s tragic death. The film also does an incredible job of showing how complicated sexuality can be, as well as portraying the torture of loving someone who doesn’t fit into gender moulds. Barry didn’t seem to consider his relationship with Calpernia “gay” at all–Calpernia was living as a woman, and was in the process of a complete gender change. According to Fisher that made Calpernia a “mutant”. All that Barry wanted was for “everyone to be happy,” and he was innocent enough to think he could have “a private life.” This idea of privacy seems to be something that he clung to desperately.

Fisher–who was a major player in Barry’s murder–is a very well drawn character. From the beginning when Barry is assigned to Fisher’s room, it’s clear that the two men clash. Fisher lays down rules that he expects Barry to accept without question, and yet at the same time, Fisher offers to help Barry study. Fisher is complicated and is shown as severely conflicted–using his own insecurity to appeal to Barry. Fisher plays both sides of the fence in more ways than one. Fisher and new arrival Glover (Phillip Eddols), a disturbed teenager, prove to be a deadly combination. Barry and Calpernia’s touching relationship is handled beautifully and with dignity–the film is a fitting memorial.

DVD extras include: filmographies, interviews with the stars, an interview with Calpernia Addams, and a short called “Soldier’s Secrets”–a background to Barry Winchell’s story.

“I miss your healing hands.”

There is a point in all unhappy marriages when a certain pleasure is derived from making one’s spouse miserable. Dr. and Mrs. Bickleigh have reached that point. Set in the picturesque coastal British village of Wyvern’s Cross, Malice Aforethought is the story of the Bickleigh’s miserable marriage, and how Dr. Edmund Bickleigh (Ben Miller) decides to free himself from it.

It is the consensus of village gossips that Julia Bickleigh (Barbara Flynn) married beneath her. Julia, a rigid snob, who never fails to mention her family connections, agrees that her husband is a lowlife. Every chance Julia gets, she exposes her much younger husband to ridicule and public humiliation. It’s a way of making him behave. Dr. Bickleigh may have his professional status, but his roots are humble. Julia’s continuous insults always reach their target, and Bickleigh engages in a series of affairs as a form of defiance. The Bickleighs’ bad behaviour–her insults and his affairs–serve as a balance system in their relationship.

Bickleigh’s current amour is Ivy Ridgeway (Lucy Brown), and their affair is common knowledge–although Bickleigh and Ivy imagine it’s their little secret. Into this domestic maelstrom enters Madeleine Cranmere (Megan Dodds)–a glamourous bohemian whose artistic pretensions match Bickleigh’s. To Bickleigh’s smitten heart, Madeleine makes Ivy look like a dull country maid. Bickleigh promptly dumps Ivy and pursues Madeleine.

Madeleine, however, isn’t as naïve or as plaint as Ivy, and she also states that she can’t possibly marry a divorced man. Bickleigh concludes that Julia is standing in between him and happiness ….

If you are a fan of British mysteries (this one is set in the 20s), then you won’t be disappointed in Malice Aforethought. Bold characterizations mix with strong drama and a touch of black humour to produce 180 minutes of solid entertainment. The acting is excellent, the sets splendid, and the village scenery quite beautiful. But it’s the small touches that make this an excellent film–the maliciousness of the village gossips–two seemingly innocent elderly ladies, for example who parrot each other’s condemnations of the local doctor. Another humourous aspect is Dr. Bickleigh’s perception that he’s well thought of in the village. The Dr. and the seductive vamp, Madeleine deserve each other. The film is based on a novel by France Iles. If you enjoy Malice Aforethought, I also recommend Dandelion Dead.

“I’m not in your corporation anymore.”

Fabio Montale is a three-part made for French television crime drama based on the Marseilles Trilogy by Jean-Claude Izzo. The film’s protagonist is Fabio Montale (Alain Delon) who begins the series as a veteran Marseilles policeman. The first film “Total Chaos” concerns the return and subsequent murder of Montale’s sole surviving childhood friend, Ugo. Ugo returns to Marseilles to commit a revenge killing, and when he’s killed during an arrest, Montale refuses to swallow the official police story. Montale is aided and abetted by his loyal sidekick Captain Peyrol (Cedric Chevalme).

In the second film, “Chourmo” Montale is on the brink of retirement when his cousin approaches him for help. It seems that her son has a forbidden assignation with a young Arab girl, and he’s now missing. Once again Montale is swept into a situation full of intrigue and double crossing. Threads of the story lead from the first film, and it seems that a web of mafia violence is destined to stalk Montale and his acquaintances.

In the third film “Solea” Montale retires, and instead of enjoying a peaceful retirement in his idyllic clifftop home, he’s dragged once more into his violent past. His friend, Babette, who’s compiling a case against organized crime, has received death threats, and those nearest to Montale are dropping like flies. But in spite of this, our hero, Fabio, still finds time to attract the young babes.

The three-film series is quite faithful to the Izzo novels. This is a stylish police thriller, and since it’s all based in Marseilles, we get a good taste of this city–its rabbit warren features, along with spectacular shots of the coast and harbours. If you like police crime drama, then chances are you’ll really be able to sink your teeth into this. But this 3-film set doesn’t really dwell on the psychological aspects of the story and is instead more like an American police crime thriller just transplanted to the glories of Marseilles. Fabio Montale (291 minutes) is in French with subtitles.

 “I’m a funny kind of girl.”

In post WWII France, vaudeville singer Jenny Lamour (Suzy Delair) and her husband/accompanist Maurice Martineau (Bernard Blier) make an unlikely pair. She’s an effervescent extrovert, and while he’s a good husband, he’s a dullard, and just doesn’t seem to be her type. Jenny–a rather kinetic creature with a beautiful voice–has a stage act that is suggestive and flirtatious, but she always assures her husband that he’s the only man for her. Jenny’s career is on an upward swing when she goes to the photography studio of Dora (Simone Renant) a close friend of Maurice. Here Jenny comes to the attention of a hideous old lecher named Brignon (Charles Dullin). Dora warns Jenny to stay away from Brignon, but Jenny doesn’t take her advice. She thinks Brignon can further her career. Brignon’s continued interest in Jenny causes Maurice to threaten Brignon publicly.

When Brignon shows up dead, police Inspector Antoine (Louis Jouvet) investigates the murder, and Maurice is soon the main suspect.

The film’s title, “Quai des Orfevres” refers to the address of the police station where Inspector Antoine conducts most of his interviews in this French Noir crime film. Inspector Antoine seems to be another dull, sour, unprepossessing character, but as an expert in human nature, he unravels all of the suspects’ secrets. Consequently, the murder of Brignon takes a back seat to the characters involved in the investigation. There’s a generosity towards the foibles of human nature that seeps through every scene. Some of the language and the characters seem startling modern, and in the end “the case boils down to the usual: diddly squat.” From director/writer Henri-George Clouzet, Quai des Orfevres is a black and white film in French with English subtitles.

“I was born with an ace in my palm.”

In the French crime drama, Bob Le Flambeur compulsive gambler, Bob Montagne’s life revolves around chance. Bob (Roger Duchesne) is an elegant, immaculately dressed middle-aged man–well known and respected by everyone in his neighbourhood. He has the habit of doing favours for people–there’s a policeman who says Bob saved his life, and there’s Bob’s sidekick, Paolo (Daniel Cauchy) who was more or less adopted by Bob. Then there’s a young prostitute, Anne (Isabelle Corey) who attracts Bob’s attention, and he lets her stay in his flat and even finds her a job. Bob really doesn’t have much time for women, and he treats Anne rather like a stray animal, kindly but with a certain vagueness. But when pimp, Marc (Gerard Buhr) hits Bob for a loan so he can leave town and not face charges for beating a woman, Bob throws him out.

These early scenes in the film establish Bob’s complicated nature. But while he’s a complicated person, there’s one very predictable strain to his character. He can’t stop gambling–he even has a slot machine in a cupboard, and he can’t pass it without playing it. Bob is now straight after serving time for a bank robbery. He goes from playing cards all night long, to the racetrack where he wins a large sum of money. But Bob can’t stop placing bets, and he loses the money just as quickly as he won it. Like any compulsive gambler, he just doesn’t know when to stop.

When Bob learns that a local casino has a big, fat safe, he sees this as yet another gamble. Can he assemble a team to successfully rob the casino?

Bob Le Flambeur is a heist film. The film’s director, Jean-Pierre Melville was heavily influenced by American culture, so the film is in some ways a homage to gangster films. While watching the film, I was reminded of Ocean’s 11–it’s not that Bob le Flambeur is similar to Ocean’s 11, but they are both casino heist films. There the comparison begins and ends. Bob Le Flambeur focuses on the main character’s salient behaviour, and then goes from there. We become interested in Bob long before the plot to rob the casino is introduced. The film’s pace builds slowly to the heist, and fans of French noir or crime films should enjoy the film’s style. In French with subtitles.

“We’re a world of our own corruption.”

The crime thriller Tycoon: A New Russian from director Pavel Lungin is based on the life of Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Plato (Vladimir Mashkov) is a charismatic ex-mathematics professor turned entrepreneur/gangster, who with a tight circle of loyal friends, becomes phenomenally wealthy. Plato’s meteorite rise to wealth begins with selling cars, and eventually he even buys his own television station to promote Lomov (Vladimir Goussav) a favoured (and bought) political candidate from Siberia.

Chmakov (Andrew Krasko), a prosecuting judge from the provinces, is the only uncorrupted character in the film. He’s interesting, hard to read, and dogged in his attempts to discover the truth about Plato. Tycoon does an excellent job of showing how corruption consumes all aspects of Russian society, and how crime, politics, and entrepreneurship blend into each other. At one point, one character compares Russian bureaucracy to the “many-handed god”–in other words just because you bribe one set of people, that doesn’t relieve you from having to bribe others.

The film begins with Plato’s assassination, and from this point, the film jumps back and forth in time over a 15-year period. These scenes begin with a chronological announcement, such as “ten months before Plato’s death”. Unfortunately, the film’s slick, episodic style makes it rather difficult to follow the story line at times. In Russian with English subtitles.

“Always remember that you may be dealing with a homicidal maniac.”

“Without Warning” examines the serial killings of a string of beautiful blondes. Stabbed to death with gardening shears, the corpses show up within a fifteen-mile radius in Los Angeles, and the police quickly establish a pattern to the killings. Unfortunately, there are very few clues, and Lt. Pete Hamilton (Ed Binns) and Police Detective Sgt. Don Warde (Harlan Warde) realize that it’s just a matter of time before the killer strikes again.

Advertised as a film noir title, “Without Warning” is low on character development, and instead concentrates on how the police solve the murders. Viewers know the identity of the killer almost immediately, and the action follows his predatory coasting through Los Angeles. Dubbed “The Love Killer” for his penchant for tasty blondes, the introverted villian, Carl Martin (Adam Killer) plays the role with just the perfect amount of desperate hunger for the next dead blonde babe. The film’s heavy emphasis on forensics and the authoritative voice-over lend an air of faux documentary style to the film. Several times throughout the film, the detectives wander into police chemist Charlie’s (Byron Kane) crime lab, and Charlie always manages to brew up fresh coffee and fresh clues for the police. Clothing fibres, footprints, and lipstick stains all add to the forensic details.

“Without Warning” contains degrees of campiness and peculiarity that, strangely enough complement the story. For example, the police keep a half dressed dummy in their office for re-enactments, and she’s ‘murdered’ several times by all the nutters who confess to the crimes. The plot contains a not-so-subtle moral message–several of the victims are married women who meet a grizzly end when they sneak out to commit adultery. Some scenes involve close-ups–the film opens with a blonde in a motel flat on her back staring with dead, open eyes at the ceiling; another scene focuses on the killer’s shoe. So there’s a taste of the bizarre from director Arnold Laven that blends with all the seriousness of the murders and the relentlessness of the investigation. The film also manages to maintain a level of tense suspense as Carl hunts for his next gullible victim.

The print is superb, and while it can be argued that “Without Warning” isn’t strictly noir (the definition of noir seems to be expanding with the increased popularity of the genre), it’s a interesting little film to watch.