The Last Valley

Rating:
Summary: Very Pleasurable Discovery
Review: I thought I had seen all of the films in this venue. I was very pleasantly surprised to view The Last Valley for the 1ST time, just a few days ago (Sunday, September 5, 2004). Imagine my delight to see James Clavell's masterpiece without introduction or review.
The film is exciting, dramatic, and even poignant in places. The cinematography is reminiscent of films like The Magnificent Seven, and the Rogers and Hammerstein films. There has been criticism of the fighting scenes, but they blended well with the story, much as the fighting scenes in "Flesh and Blood" look poorly done, but add to the flavour of that film.
If you have not seen this film, you are at a loss. Your life will be enriched by the experience. Here is an opportunity to see Michael Caine and Omar Sharif at their theatrical best.
I cannot express my joy and delight at finally having seen this film. I now own the DVD of course and would recommend the purchase for all videophiles of note.

Rating:
Summary: Recommended visually stunning epic drama with good acting.
Review: "The Last Valley" is a visually stunning film. Set during the 30 years war in Europe during the 17th century the film depicts the brutality of the era and the distasterous consequences of religious intolerance. Author James Clavell makes a brave and ambitous directorial debut. Michael Caine gives an outstanding but underplayed performance. I find the movie gets better with each viewing. A number of people I know are pleased they made the effort to watch it and the reaction is always the same - how come they'd never heard of it before? It is well worth seeing - an undiscovered gem.

Rating:
Summary: Waiting for a director
Review: "The Last Valley" is a curious film that always seems to be missing something. The "something" isn't difficult to locate: Vietnam. Placed against the context of when it was released, the story's fixation on the brutalities of a senseless civil war make some sense as a metaphor for contemporary events. Some thirty years later, however, every action and character seems to be waiting to be filled in by a topical reference long since forgotten.

Because everyone seems to have been paying attention to something else, the film never really focuses on moving us through its own internal logic. This lack of attention to its own dynamics results in some real peculiarities. For example, in a dramatization of a war that took place largely in Germany, we have an Arab, several Englishmen, an American, a Swede and a Brazilian in the cast, but as far as I can tell, not one German. Clavell obviously wants to be taken seriously, but for all the promises of having Something Important to say about Big Themes, there's very little delivery. The film doesn't even approach the political and historical sophistication of such big budget spectaculars as "Lawrence of Arabia," much less provide any insight into the complexities of the *very* complex Thirty Years War.

Of course, one could argue that the film isn't really about the Thirty Years War, but rather an allegory about all war. Certainly the "Lost Horizon"-like situation adds a level of irreality to the proceedings. For an allegory to work, though, it has to be pitched at a level of abstraction that makes us aware we should not take events literally. (Capra's film of "Lost Horizon," though a bit of a chore in its own right, at least succeeds at that task.) Unfortunately, "The Last Valley" contains too much gore, venality, parochialism, intolerance, envy, lust and petty-mindedness to allow such a fairy-tale situation to bloom. The film's physical Realism and attempts at historical veracity work against its allegorical pretensions.

A real filmmaker, someone who can make images compel regardless of the tinniness of the ideas they contain, might have been able to shape these events into something at least passably entertaining. As a director, Clavell is too honest and gentlemanly for his own good. He slogs along earnestly and methodically, rarely insulting our intelligence, but even more rarely engaging it. In short, in addition to lacking the context of Vietnam to give the story more punch, "The Last Valley" hasn't the *style* to succeed on its own right. It isn't so much a bad film as a set of actions, actors, ideas and themes waiting to be brought together.

Rating:
Summary: Recommended visually stunning epic drama with good acting.
Review: "The Last Valley" is a visually stunning film. Set during the 30 years war in Europe during the 17th century the film depicts the brutality of the era and the distasterous consequences of religious intolerance. Author James Clavell makes a brave and ambitous directorial debut. Michael Caine gives an outstanding but underplayed performance. I find the movie gets better with each viewing. A number of people I know are pleased they made the effort to watch it and the reaction is always the same - how come they'd never heard of it before? It is well worth seeing - an undiscovered gem.

Rating:
Summary: Caine's best film
Review: 'The Last Valley" sunk almost without a trace back in the 70's when it was first released. The only comments I recall from that time were from critics who mercilessly panned Michael Caine's accent. It's difficult to see just why the film failed. The script contains hardly a dull line, Clavell's direction is very good, John Barry's score is quite simply superb and the acting, with the exception of Arthur O'Connell and Christian Roberts in minor roles, is first class. Michael Caine dominates the film and gets some marvellous dialogue to utter. No wonder he rates his performance so highly and no wonder he's registered profound disappointment over the negative reviews. It just might be that because the script vigorously berates both Catholic and Protestant religions with equal disdain, the film found itself without a champion from either side to defend it. As for the score, I am at a loss to understand why it at least was not nominated for the Academy Awards that year. John Barry is usually terrific, but his score for "The Last Valley" is his best ever - including "Dances With Wolves". The performance of Per Oscarrson as the priest is memorable also. A wonderful film that sits comfortably in my top 10 of all time.

Rating:
Summary: Ethnic Cleansing in the C17th
Review: A film that I am sure was made with Vietnam in mind has turned a full circle with the dawning of NATO in Kosovo. An ugly thought I know, but unfortunately the killing of whole villages in central Europe in the 1600s rings so familiar with the events in central Europe today. Worth seeing as a lesson to us all. (Oh yes, Micheal Caine is in it as well).

Rating:
Summary: A Troubling Film For Troubled Times
Review: A recent review of James Clavell's 1971 film, "The Last Valley" missed the point completely. Clavell's choice of Europe in the midst of one of the worst calamities to befall Western Civilization was done because this time and place, along with the Thirty Years War, was the crucible from which the modern world emerged...the modern territorial state, sovereignty, secularism, humanism, etc. You do not have to look very hard to find references to these issues in the film. But beyond that, there are universal isssues here. True, there is a reaction to the war in Vietnam, America's worst foreign policy calamity, as there are numerous reactions to other anxieties of that time, relgion, superstition, inhumanity and humanity, and, of course, war. A national news magazine, at the time, ran the headline " Is God Dead?" Richard M. Nixon was forming an "enemies list." Revelations of American atrocities in Southeast Asia were coming out. Of course this was a troubled time. Michael Caine and Omar Sharif portray composite chararacters...they are both cast in the role of "everyman." But each represents different but no less vital parts of humanity...the realist and the idealist...hope and the abandonment of hope. You must see the film, and then ponder which holds out for mankind. The film itself is well acted, especially by Caine (note the basis for his character in "The Eagle Has Landed) and Sharif, and directed. Clavell's script is profound at times. It is beautifully, and dramtically, photographed. And it is driven by a musical score that is one of John Barry's best achievements. The transfer to DVD is not as good as one might have hoped for. It is in the bargain category, afterall. It remains visually stunning, and the sound has been preserved quite well, for the most part. This was Clavell's project from top to bottom...director, producer, writer...and he deserves credit for what is good in this film, and of course, takes blame for aspects that have not weathered as well. His main themes are timeless, and universal, and this film still works.

Rating:
Summary: A Troubling Film For Troubled Times
Review: A recent review of James Clavell's 1971 film, "The Last Valley" missed the point completely. Clavell's choice of Europe in the midst of one of the worst calamities to befall Western Civilization was done because this time and place, along with the Thirty Years War, was the crucible from which the modern world emerged...the modern territorial state, sovereignty, secularism, humanism, etc. You do not have to look very hard to find references to these issues in the film. But beyond that, there are universal isssues here. True, there is a reaction to the war in Vietnam, America's worst foreign policy calamity, as there are numerous reactions to other anxieties of that time, relgion, superstition, inhumanity and humanity, and, of course, war. A national news magazine, at the time, ran the headline " Is God Dead?" Richard M. Nixon was forming an "enemies list." Revelations of American atrocities in Southeast Asia were coming out. Of course this was a troubled time. Michael Caine and Omar Sharif portray composite chararacters...they are both cast in the role of "everyman." But each represents different but no less vital parts of humanity...the realist and the idealist...hope and the abandonment of hope. You must see the film, and then ponder which holds out for mankind. The film itself is well acted, especially by Caine (note the basis for his character in "The Eagle Has Landed) and Sharif, and directed. Clavell's script is profound at times. It is beautifully, and dramtically, photographed. And it is driven by a musical score that is one of John Barry's best achievements. The transfer to DVD is not as good as one might have hoped for. It is in the bargain category, afterall. It remains visually stunning, and the sound has been preserved quite well, for the most part. This was Clavell's project from top to bottom...director, producer, writer...and he deserves credit for what is good in this film, and of course, takes blame for aspects that have not weathered as well. His main themes are timeless, and universal, and this film still works.

Rating:
Summary: "If you find your God, tell Him we created..."
Review: An excellent story with profound implications for "what might have been," as in "This is where the course of history might have changed."

Everyone in the story does what he/she thinks needs to be done for personal survival, with self-interest ahead of everything else. This consideration has, in fact, led the Captain's brutal mercenaries to adopt a rule that there are to be no religious quarrels among them. He that breaks that rule must die. "Else we'd all be dead by nightfall." This in the midst of a war that is nominally between Catholics and Protestants.

When they decide to stay in the hidden village, the Captain orders the Catholic church spared (in contrast to his band's practice of burning all churches, of both religions) but, in deference to his Protestant followers, declares that they may build a Protestant church for their own use. It is easy to imagine what might have been created had the mercenaries chosen to remain in the valley...

Rating:
Summary: "If you find your God, tell Him we created..."
Review: An excellent story with profound implications for "what might have been," as in "This is where the course of history might have changed."

Everyone in the story does what he/she thinks needs to be done for personal survival, with self-interest ahead of everything else. This consideration has, in fact, led the Captain's brutal mercenaries to adopt a rule that there are to be no religious quarrels among them. He that breaks that rule must die. "Else we'd all be dead by nightfall." This in the midst of a war that is nominally between Catholics and Protestants.

When they decide to stay in the hidden village, the Captain orders the Catholic church spared (in contrast to his band's practice of burning all churches, of both religions) but, in deference to his Protestant followers, declares that they may build a Protestant church for their own use. It is easy to imagine what might have been created had the mercenaries chosen to remain in the valley...