The Rose Tattoo (1955)

Well, what do you know: I didn't shy away from another adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play. Perhaps its Academy nomination for Best Picture told me to give it a try.

In small-town Mississippi, immigrant seamstress Serafina (Anna Magnani) copes especially poorly for three years following sudden widowhood and miscarriage. After hearing a rumor of late husband Rosario's infidelity, she has a public breakdown. Trucker Alvaro (Burt Lancaster) takes her home, and the two gradually fall in love. But Serafina still has enough pride to worry about people learning of them, especially her teen daughter, Rosa (Marisa Pavan), whose budding relationship with a sailor (Ben Cooper) has been met with strict maternal suspicion.

The Train (1964)

I'm a little surprised at myself for having associated John Frankenheimer only with The Manchurian Candidate when I had also seen Birdman of Alcatraz and Seven Days in May. These three movies came consecutively, followed by The Train. Quite a streak early in his directorial career. It probably helped to have Burt Lancaster in most of them.

Based loosely on a true story from near the end of World War II, TT begins with Colonel Franz von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) seizing dozens of classic paintings from a Parisian museum. The curator appeals to railroad-affiliated members of the Resistance to stop their train -- without damaging the cargo -- before it reaches Germany. Since Allied forces are expected soon, the cell of railway inspector Paul Labiche (Lancaster) decides that it only has to slow things down. But that's not as easy as it sounds when the German soldiers get increasingly suspicious that their "bad luck" is sabotage.

Brute Force (1947)

I sat on this disc for a while, taking a break from movies in general. The title suggested that I would have to prepare myself for more grit. On the other hand, the year of release guaranteed that it wouldn't show anything too severe on screen. The golden age of film noir was bleak but hardly ripe for R ratings, especially in Hollywood.

This one belongs to the semi-genre of prison films, which must have felt pretty well-worn after the '30s. But compared to the bulk of those, BF could be seen as more of a precursor to The Shawshank Redemption. While the prisoners are all decidedly criminal -- even collectively murdering snitches -- they get far more of our sympathy than harsh, deceptively soft-spoken chief of security Munsey (Hume Cronyn). Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) leads a group effort to escape, not only because the prison is intolerable but because his wife refuses vital medical attention unless he's with her.

Run Silent Run Deep (1958)

For multiple obvious reasons, there aren't many submarine movies, which puts a lot of pressure (heh) on the few of them to excel. I'm sure this one was expensive for the time, even if the exterior shots used mere models. The filmmakers did aim for authenticity by having real submariners train the actors. They did not aim for fidelity to the Edward L. Beach book, from what I can tell.

Apart from that, the main aspect that I appreciate is the casting. Sure, Burt Lancaster and especially Clark Gable were a bit old for captains, but as I heard Gable repeatedly call, "Dive, dive!", I realized what a natural he seemed for a combination of Commander Queeg from The Caine Mutiny and Captain Ahab from, oh, you know. And Lancaster knew how to project a disciplined officer who strongly disapproved a superior (somewhat reversed in Seven Days in May). The film is also notable for the silver-screen debut of Don Rickles, who does better at non-comic roles than I thought.