Sat 7 Dec 2013
KALEIDOSCOPE. Warner Brothers, 1966. Warren Beatty, Susannah York, Clive Revill, Eric Porter, Murray Melvin. Director: Jack Smight. A novel based on the movie was written by Michael Avallone (Popular Library 60-2132, pb, 1966).
Mark me down for one of those guys who distinctly and diligently dislike movies revolving around sporting events of any kind, whether it’s baseball, football, boxing, horse races or even card playing. With everything in the hands of the screenwriter and director, for me there’s not even a dollop of suspense. What happens next is completely in the hands of those two guys. Even if you don’t know know what happens next, it’s not the same as not knowing which two faces of the dice are going to come up.
Movies simply can’t compete with real life sporting events. If someone were to make a film in which one of two diehard rivals wins a football game with no seconds remaining on the clock by running back 109 yards on a missed field goal attempt, you’d never believe it.
So Kaleidoscope, based on Warren Beatty’s attempt (under duress) to bring down a notorious crime lord with a Napoleonic complex (Eric Porter) by wiping him out at a game of cards, was a big bad dud of a movie for me, even with some color photography that’s out of the world (taking place mostly in European casinos, but not entirely).
There’s a long lead-in to this movie that consists of Beatty breaking into a card manufacturing plant and doctoring the backs of the plates used in the process to his own advantage, and along the way attracting the eye of a young and very beautiful Susannah York, who also just happens to be the daughter of a British police inspector.
Your opinions may vary on card-playing movies like this one, and I grant you that, but as a slow as molasses movie of the “swinging sixties,” that’s another matter altogether. More of Susannah York in this regard may have helped.
December 10th, 2013 at 9:04 pm
Steve
I had fond memories of this until I saw it again a few years ago and realized that 16 year old boys tastes may improve over time.
Today the hip parts of this seem quaint, if not silly, Warren Beatty’s charm a bit threadbare since he can’t have wanted to be in this, and it unfolds generating more annoyance than suspense..
I will give Porter and Revill some credit for at least trying, and even the second time the twist at the end with York and Revill worked — but then it worked when they did it in the Barrymore’s ARSENE LUPIN (much better).
Given the way baccarat is played (the shoe comes with nine decks pre shuffled at the factory) the opening gambit is fairly clever if unlikely, and works well enough — better than the rest of the film.
The opening credits were pretty.
How much trouble is a film in when you review the titles?
A great deal more of York would have helped a lot. Incidentally she seems to be an actress almost everyone liked to work with. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything but praise for her. That and she reminds me of the appeal of the miniskirt on the right girl. There were some advantages to coming of age in that era.
For anyone who hasn’t seen it Porter’s strange hairdo is meant to reflect a Napoleonic complex, not just a hairdresser over extending themselves.
That poster (Bob Peak I think) is the best thing about the film, though I have reread and enjoyed Mike Avallone’s novelization. But then enjoying Avallone writing almost anything is no surprise.
A Mike Avallone novelization — next you’ll be telling me Marvin Albert wrote them too …
December 10th, 2013 at 10:18 pm
Thank you for this, David. There is nothing like a good well-intentioned and well-measured rant being ignored, or so it seemed!
I’ve had the Avallone book for quite a while, but when it was handy (it isn’t now) I thought I’d wait until I saw the movie first. It’s funny how those things work out.
December 11th, 2013 at 8:16 pm
Steve
Read the novelization and just pretend it has nothing to do with the film. To paraphrase Ian Fleming, it reads better than it watches.
I can’t agree about sport and gambling films, but won’t go into a long list of my arguments (My Old Man, The Killing, Tip on a Dead Jockey, Seven Thieves, Lucky Jordan, Salty O’Rourke …).
Seriously, taste is taste and this silly psychedelic compilation just doesn’t work. Catch a much better caper film of the era, The Jokers, with Michael Crawford and Oliver Reed, a film that actually is young hip, and, pardon my Austin Powers, groovy. The first Salt and Pepper with Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford was actually more fun — at least they enjoyed it whatever the audience felt. Can’t say the same for the sequel One More Time, but then Jerry Lewis was far from his best directing that one.