Had a perfect day yesterday with a triple bill of pre-Coders at the BFI Southbank, SHANGHAI EXPRESS, HOLD YOUR MAN (In 35 mm) and then De Mille’s CLEOPATRA with Claudette Colbert. I’d not seen HOLD YOUR MAN, and it’s barely above an MGM programmer but worth seeing for Gable and Harlow, neither yet quite good but both fizzing and sparkling on their own and with each other and machine-gunning 30s wisecracks – my favourite mode of film speech — at all and sundry. I’d never seen CLEOPATRA on a big screen and it’s sexy and shocking (Colbert’s costumes in Cleopatra’s unfurling onto Ceasar). It’s kitsch of course, and the audience laughed out loud at various moments but it’s gorgeously designed, it moves beautifully, DE Mille has a clear eye for visuals (which are dazzling) and for a narrative that never ceases to move and communicates to all the audience’s instincts (including the basest). What I got from this big screen presentation was the sensuality of fabric (Claudette lounging in feathers and skins that vibrated and seemed alive. Claudette is tremendous, which I did not expect, thinking her too modern. I’ll say nothing about SHANGHAI EXPRESS — what more is there to say about this masterpiece? — except that the audience audibly gasped and swooned at some of Lee Garme’s lighting effects. We also went to see THE ORESTIA at The Bridge, which I loved, and which more on later; and even managed to get home in time to catch the last third of the football and see England win the match.
José Arroyo
