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Alex Cox on Mr Klein 'One of the greatest films of all time'

posted 12 years ago by Slime-3
4 replies | jump to latest

15-20 years ago the BBC ran an occasional weekly series on cult-movies called MOVIEDROME.
The resident host was renegade director Alex Cox (REPO MAN, WALKER etc) who introduced each offering with background detail and his own critique - which generally speaking was pithy, incisive and spot-on in each case.
When introducing a different Losey film (can't recall which, probably THE SERVANT)he described the directors career, blighted by the McCarthy witch-hunts, and ended ... "...he went on to direct MR KLEIN with Alain Delon; made in French and one of the greatest films of all time."
For YEARS I have waited to see this movie entirely because of Cox's infectious enthusiasm. It never seems to have appeared on British TV, but finally ,I found it in a JOSEPH LOSEY box set which I persuaded my wife to get me for Christmas.
Good that it is, haunting even, I can't really see why it appealed to Cox quite so much.
It's no CITIZEN KANE or THIRD MAN, DON'T LOOK NOW or FITZCARRALDO ,at least to my eyes. Does anyone else recall Cox's remarks and does anyone agree?

I will add that I certainly found the film interesting and disturbing so the effort of tracking it down was not in vain and a thank-you to Alex for flagging it up in the first place. Please BBC (or Film4 ) can you get him back on our screens for a long overdue return of MOVIEDROME?

[–] TheBrothersCarruthers 11 years ago

You're dead right about Alex's comments. The other Losey film he was introducing was called 'The Prowler' (1951). I finally saw 'Monsieur Klein' two days ago so it's too early for me to accurately judge but, yes, I think that it was astonishing, truly exceptional. Oh, Alex put a film in his Top 10 for the 'Sight & Sound' poll that I'd never heard of, called 'The Mattei Affair'. I managed to see it a few weeks ago as someone finally put it up with English subtitles. Check it out. It's magnificent; in the realm of 'Z','All The President's Men' and 'JFK'.
Kind regards.

[–] Slime-3 11 years ago

Thanks for the tip about THE MATTEI AFFAIR, I it yesterday and it is superb!
I didn't know of the film, the man himself or the story beforehand , and you are right it does have some unsettling JFK elements to it.
In structure it reminded me of CITIZEN KANE in it's use of flashbacks and investigative-journalism to paint the picture of a seriously influential figure.
I can see why Alex Cox liked it; he's quite vocal in his views on big business and politics and it emphasises the shady nature of both.
Off to track do 'Z' now as I havn't seen that either...
Cheers.

[–] ribby45 11 years ago

Slime-3

Hope you pick up this post sometime - here's what happened to Alex Cox:

http://www.colorado.edu/FilmStudies/faculty/A_Cox.shtml

Yep, back in the day, arthouse films were shown routinely on BBC 2 & Channel 4.

[–] Slime-3 11 years ago

Thanks for the link ribby45, glad to see he's still doing his thing. I thoroughly enjoyed his critiques of art/cult movies and his amusingly subversive take on the whole film business.I imagine he is highly entertaining/inspiring in his role as professor!