The 1960's-The International Star

Song Without End (1960): director- Charles Vidor and George Cukor. Bogarde looks great in this as the dashing Franz Liszt, but the plot lacks any iota of drama. I think it would have been better to focus on Liszt's early days in Paris with Chopin and George Sand. Although Capucine as the Countess is quite lovely, Genevieve Page as the spurned wife seems much more sympathetic. One wonders why Liszt chases her all across Europe for her ice-queen haughtiness. There's no real chemistry on screen between them (although in real life there seemed to be), and the dialogue is "lisztless". But hey, he looks great! Bogarde plays the part with a certain degree of rock-star flair and vanity that makes him very fun to watch, and there are quite few good Bogarde temper-tantrums too. And the amazing fact that Bogarde learned how to play piano in a few weeks is hard to believe when you see him pounding with fury on the ivory keys of the Grand Piano.
The Singer not the Song (1960): director- Roy Baker. Bogarde plays the villainous Anacleto, an atheist Mexican bandit leader who becomes involved with the latest town priest, John Mills, and the woman who falls in love with the priest, the lovely Mylene Demongeot. This is my absolute favorite of all Dirk movies (although Dirk himself considered it to be above and beyond camp). Nevertheless, I cannot gush on enough about the splendor of Dirkness in this. First off, Dirk looks absolutely incredible in this. His fetish/Mexican bandit wear includes gorgeous (and quite infamous) black leather pants, impeccable white and black shirts, a braided bolero jacket and black leather boots. Dirk's sullen demeanor and evil intentions are seductive to watch. He has never been quite so feline and alluring as he is in this. Even his voice has an unusually soft, velvety purr. His attitude towards the priest comes off as faintly erotic, as does his chemistry with Mylene Demongeot. The backdrop of the film is a gorgeous Mexican village which is almost spaghetti-western-like in its imagery. Good dialogue and interactions between the characters make this is still an unusual and absorbing film.

The Angel Wore Red (1960): director-Nunnally Johnson. A magnificent pairing of two dark beauties, the raven-haired Ava Gardner and the dark-eyed Bogarde. With the brutal Spanish Civil War as a background for this romantic story, Bogarde is convincing as the priest who loses his way, and Gardner is seductive as the cabaret woman he meets. Lovely closeups of these two, but the dialogue could have been better. There should be much more interaction between the characters, but Dirk and Ava make the most of what there is. This movie is also close to my heart for the mere fact that I love when Dirk plays Spaniards!
Victim (1961): director-Basil Dearden. A new decade for Bogarde,and a new kind of movie. He is alive with subtlety and acute inner anguish as the homosexual barrister Melville Farr who leads a personal crusade to find the blackmailers responsible for a former lover's suicide. A great social commentary and a timeless, quiet, understated performance by Bogarde. This is a character that is both vulnerable and fearlessly resilient in his quest. Sylvia Syms is remarkable as the heartbroken but loyal wife who discovers her husband's secret. This film caused quite a stir when it was initially released, and even today seems far ahead of its time in subject manner and honesty.

Damn the Defiant! (1962): director- Lewis Gilbert. A great entertaining drama on the sea with Bogarde at his utmost in sadism and cruelty as the ultra-arrogant Lt Scott-Padget. Alec Guinness' incompetent but kind Captain seems weak in comparison to the voraciously energetic Bogarde, but the combative tension between the two of them is what drives the force of the movie. This is considered one the the most historically accurate movies about the press-gangs of the 1800's and the power machinations amongst the British naval hierarchy. There are some fantastic Bogarde scenes in this where he uses his charm and fearsome severity to manipulate and terrify the members of the crew. Great costumes too! Bogarde, of course, is swooningly handsome in the British 1800's naval uniform.
The Password is Courage(1962): director-Andrew Stone. A very entertaining war drama/comedy about a British POW, played by Dirk, who causes the Nazi's several problems and mishaps during his tenure at various POW camps during WWII. The dialogue is quite snappy, and Dirk plays this character with great enthusiasm and fire. Many sequences are identical to scenes in the enormously successful Great Escape (but alas, no Steve McQueen), and even come off as a little more plausible. Dirk looks splendid and is alive with charismatic flash in this film--he even gets to wear a German officer's uniform for a couple of scenes--and one can't but help think of his future ultra-Nazi creation Max from The Night Porter!
I Could go on Singing (1963): director- Ronald Neame. Bogarde plays the reluctant former lover to Judy Garland's neurotic waning singer in this film. They make a stunning duo in this and interact with some excellent dialogue written by Bogarde himself. Bogarde is particularly restrained and thoughtful in this. The final scene with Garland is striking in its realism, and perhaps the best one- on-one scene Bogarde ever did in his career. It was shot in one take, and both Bogarde and Garland are amazing in it. Sadly, the dialogue reflects what happened between them in real life. After this picture Bogarde and Garland slowly drifted apart, partly due to the stress created by Garland's unstable behavior during the filming of the movie. (see also Judy in London Page for pictures from this film)
The Mindbenders (1963): director- Basil Dearden. A very interesting movie about the psychology of isolation and brainwashing. Dirk plays Dr Henry Longman who, in his quest to prove the innocence of a dead colleague who has been accused of treason, subjects himself to the same isolation experiment. He then himself becomes the subject of a brainwashing test by his own colleague, Michael Bryant, and a military investigator. Dirk is brainwashed to despise his wife, played by Mary Ure, whom he had once adored. Dirk has some good scenes in this with Michael Bryant and Mary Ure, whom he later abuses with shocking delight. Dirk goes from being a very adorable professor to a very vicious, degenerate husband. There is also an appearance by Wendy Craig as the local Oxford hussy. Wendy Craig works great with Dirk in this, and because of their acquaintance Dirk suggested her to Joseph Losey for the part of Susan, the icy girlfriend in The Servant. At the end of the film Dirk is returned to his senses by performing a very Dr. Sparrow-like delivery of his own wife's baby.
Doctor in Distress(1963): director-Ralph Thomas. Speaking of Dr Sparrow, this is the Sixties version of Bogarde's doctor with some great moments and a very, very different Bogarde. Instead of scampering away from the ladies, this time Dirk actually puts the moves on every gal he sees, including Samantha Eggar. Dirk has a kind of maliciously sadistic, pre-Barrett wit in this movie, and it actually helps create one of his best comic performances. The highlight, however, is his encounter with Mylene Demongeot, who played Locha to Dirk's Anacleto in The Singer not the Song three years earlier. (If you haven't noticed by now, Dirk seems to be a magnet for French women...Bardot, Caron, Capucine, Demongeot...) Mylene plays a quirky, kinky French amazon who ends up being more than Bogarde can handle.
The Servant (1963): director-Joseph Losey. Losey's classic movie, and the centerpiece for the most unlikable character Bogarde ever portrayed on film. His Barrett is loathsome, heartless and frightening. James Fox plays the vulnerable aristocrat who falls helplessly into Bogarde's web of evil. The homosexual tension between them is subtly intense. They quarrel over tea spills and house cleaning with ferocity, and then sit down for a souffle dinner, followed by a Mephistophelian chat by the fireplace. Bogarde is cruel like we've never seen before, and the hideousness of the decay he brings upon Fox leaves you stunned at the end of the movie. (see also The Servant's Quarters )
King and Country (1964): director-Joseph Losey. Once again Bogarde plays the tragic figure, this time the officer in charge of defending the runaway solider Tom Courtney from a doomed military sentence. Bogarde comes to sympathize with the simple solider and his story, and challenges the entire way of military thinking in his passionate and humanitarian defense of Courtney. But the tragedy is that his plea is for no avail, as Courtney is condemned by military law to death. Bogarde is better than ever in this, and his weakened, shaky Captain Hargreaves shown after the announcement of Courtney's doom is the most incredible bit of acting I have ever seen.
High Bright Sun (1965):director- Ralph Thomas. A very odd adventure tale which takes place in tumultuous Cyprus during the British occupation in the 1950's. Dirk plays an ultra-colonialist Major McQuire who tries to police the Island against plotters and schemers who are Cypriot patriots and anti-British. He almost comes off as the villain in this while he arrogantly spits imperialist venom in everyone's direction. Unfortunately he is not the villain--the villain is actually played by George Chakris as the Cypriot rebel. Dirk doesn't get much to do here except a final shootout scene in his hotel room. His leading lady, the very pale Susan Strasberg, gets all the most suspenseful scenes.

Darling (1965): director- John Schlesinger. Julie Christie is the vain primadonna who abandons her love of Bogarde for the insidious, reptilian appeal of Laurence Harvey, the artifical embodiment of vanity. Bogarde is both sexy and vulnerable in this, and his chemistry with Christie great. They have some very impressive scenes together, including moments of spiteful bitterness and anger, and some of my favorite Bogarde lines ever. Because of their magnetism they deserve more screen time with one another, and apparently many scenes were edited out. The angst in this film revolves around the reasons for why Christie would abandon the adorably sensitive Bogarde for the creepy Lawrence Harvey. Eventually Christie is faced with heart-wrenching desolation at the end of the film as a result of her tragic decision.
Modesty Blaise(1966): director-Joseph Losey. A hilariously unfunny attempt at high-camp adventure, this film is terribly boring all except for Bogarde, who creates a deliciously supercilious villain named Gabriel. Wearing a white wig and delighting in sadistic cruelty, Bogarde seems to be the only person having any fun. It's a shame his efforts are undermined by the surliness of Terence Stamp and the cluelessness of ltalian star Monica Vitti.
Accident (1967): director- Joseph Losey. Another classic Losey picture about pent-up sexual frustration with Bogarde as the very stifled, middle-aged Oxford don Stephen. It's hard to figure out what exactly his problem is, but lust for a very spaced-out Jacqueline Sassard is the end result. Look for a very young Michael York in this picture too. Bogarde transcends his usual mannerisms in this picture, which harkens to his future Death in Venice transformation. He also uses a superb nervous stutter for the character of Stephen. There are some good moments in this, and his scenes with Stanley Baker are quite effective. The end rape of Sassard is also breathtaking in its cruelty and spite.
Our Mother's House(1967) :director-Jack Clayton. Unusual, modern-gothic film about several children who, after their beloved mother dies, are left alone to live by themselves. Dirk appears halfway through the film as a very disreputable father with an accent like Michael Caine He quickly turns the house into his own arena of corruption and decay. Dirk has a few good scenes in this, but he hardly has time to charm the children before he starts becoming rather dastardly. One of the children, Diana, seems to be seduced more than the others by his presence, but she has only one scene with Dirk, which is the best scene of the movie. Unfortunately this faintly incestuous attraction is quietly avoided, but it could have been a very interesting twist to the plot.
Sebastian (1968):director-David Greene. If I was forced at gunpoint to choose my least-favorite Dirk film, this would have to be the one. Or perhaps I was not prepared (after enduring the tediously 'hip' credits and a frighteningly camp theme-song) for the dive into Austen-Powers, swinging Sixties hell that simply distracts ones senses to no end in this movie. Dirk comes through this thick Sixties haze faintly as a mathematical genius who helps to crack codes for the Intelligence Bureau. However, Dirk himself is distracted by his own genius, and it takes a new employee, played by Susannah York, who uses her persistance and charm, to crack his icy exterior. Not much else happens in this, except lots of kooky Sixties music, lots of hip Sixties chicks, and John Gielgud making an appearance here or there. Dirk is miles away in this. He himself described this movie as a "paralysing non-event' ---I'm afaid I have to agree with the man himself on this one.
The Fixer (1968): director-John Frankenheimer. But if only someone could "fix" this movie! Alan Bates gives a somnambulist performace in this, and the stretches of time between Dirk's appearances feel like centuries. When he does appear to keep us awake, he himself seems so irritated by the whole affair that it is hard to concentrate on his acting! A very young David Warner is the only other sign of life.
Justine (1969): director-George Cukor. The premise of this movie is silly beyond belief, and the strange 1960's-ish atmosphere makes it even harder to swallow. But from what I gather there is supposed to be some sort of Coptic Christian revolt in the works in Egypt, where the movie takes place. Anouk Aimee plays the dark female behind it all, and Michael York the innocent Englishman who falls for her. Only Bogarde livens this picture up with the witty and complex character of Pursewarden, who struggles with his guilty conscience about his incestuous relationship with his sister. His scenes with Ann Karina and Anouk Aimee are a delight, and he walks all over the helpless Michael York. But only his appearance in this film makes it worth seeing.
The Damned (1969): director- Luchino Visconti. Visconti's vision of the decadent upper-class industrialists that led to the consolidation of the Nazi regime. Dirk seems a bit out of place in this picture as the only Englishman-cum-German in Visconti's cast. There could have been more drama here, and Dirk only gets a few interesting bits of dialogue. Unfortunately the bulk of his performance was left on the cutting room floor. He is most effective with the frightfully teutonic Ingrid Thulin. The excellent cast also includes the svelte Charlotte Rampling would later star with Dirk in another Nazi-related picture The Night Porter. This is a beautifully filmed movie that truly delves into the dark psychosis of the power-hungry, amoral Nazi mentality, but not does really exhibit a stand-out Bogarde performance. Bravo also to the two sexy Helmut's in this movie--Helmut Griem and Helmut Berger!