Jenseits von Mitternacht

I saw this movie upon the persistent recommendations of my lady co-employees thinking and hoping that there may be sense after all in their insistence. But of course, knowing them I expected this to be another chick movie, a maudlin love story.

To my surprise, it had a lot of suspense and I also appreciated the fact that it captured the ambience of the European countries that served as locales.

It did well in the Philippines. I saw it with a standing room crowd and it took me a while to grab a seat. But I doubt if it was well received in the US.

During the summer of '77, I didn't get to see as many movies as I had been used to seeing the past three years. The only other movie I saw that summer was "Star Wars."

So here I am, 17 years old, and I go to this with my Grandmother and an aunt, cause, lets face it, this is what is a classic 'chick flick'. I dislike that expression cause it makes it seem like you have to be a woman to gain any enjoyment, and the only movie I'd personally attach that label to is "Thelma and Louise." Just cause the main character of a movie is a woman does not mean its not about a human being who is completely unbelievable.

Anywho, I saw this again last week, and it may as well be 900 years old. They don't make trash like this anymore, but maybe that's because they don't write trash novels anymore. Gone are Harold Robbins, Jackie Susann and the author of this, Sidney Sheldon. We have Jackie Collins, but her stuff ends up on television (I think). Why has the world given up on the trash novel, the one you read on the beach or on a plane?

This has it all, like the master checklist..epic length, betrayal, a lot of over- and under-acting, revenge, nudity, sex, self-abortion, international settings, a trial, an actress, a firing squad, a bitch, a virgin, a colorless leading man and even a surprise ending. 8/10.

... but not as good as it wants to be. This sprawling drama plays out over a span of decades as it follows a pretty young Parisienne who is seduced and abandoned by an American flier, and who then marries into society with the non-specific purpose of either getting him back or getting back at him. Meanwhile the flier gets married and goes through various crises of his own. The production values are expensive and look good, but the script moves with languorous slowness and, despite some fashionable 70s-style sexual frankness, everything has an old-style Hollywood feel to it, as if the movie had been made 20 years earlier than it was. John Beck and Susan Sarandon in particular seem to have been time warped back to a Ross Hunter melodrama such as Back Street, making their performances seem out of date for the more naturalistic 1970s cinema. Marie- France Pisier emerges as the best thing in the movie, but it's a pretty dull affair otherwise, especially when she is not on screen. Sarandon's career survived this bomb, thanks to Atlantic City a few years later, but John Beck, who was supposed to vault to stardom after this, quickly found himself in the hell of TV guest star shots.

What a success this film was in Australia in 1977.... it ran for months gathering momentum among shop assistants and daytime single women ticket-buyers as a much whispered about 'must see'. well for us fellers, it was a bit raunchy showing off Gallic nubile sexiness among the ruins of Paris in WW2. I guess it also caused the rise of the miniseries movie potboiler drama that paved the way for THE BETSY, THE Greek TYCOON and many other 2hr plus glossy romantic efforts.... most long forgotten. TV really corralled this type of book/drama on film with DYNASTY and KNOTTS LANDING etc. I am surprised that is was considered a flop in the USA when a big hit elsewhere. My main memory is from a suburban cinema in Sydney....400 person sized crowd of couples.... then shocked silence during a bathtub abortion scene... followed immediately by (only) one huge athletic man staggering from his seat in a state of distress, dizzy from what he had seen, lumbering Frankenstein monster-style across the aisle, and ploughed headfirst through the plaster wall on the stairway to the foyer. The building shook and we ran to see what happened. There he was, head first through the wall, slumped in collapse, with frantic audience members trying to pull him, legs first, from the hole. He woke up and started crying: "Awww I didn't like that" he sobbed. We had to stop the projector, tell everyone that he was alright and re wound the film. "Aww don't show that bit again" he protested, so we didn't, we re started from just after. With a mug of tea and his tears wiped up, we re sat him with his cringing date and the movie rolled on....and on and on. Just so you know...FROM NOON TILL THREE is a funny (!) Charles Bronson western with Jill Ireland.. equally as enjoyable 70s. No bathtub abortions but a good train smash.

Like the previous commenter Jenny, I saw this movie when it first came out, and I too could not stop thinking about it! I saw it in this really nice theater in downtown Seattle (can't remember the name.. I think it has since been closed down and turned into something more steel and glass-like. Oh well, the memories linger...)

I have not seen this movie since I saw it in 1977, but I remember I saw it mere months before heading off to serve in the US military, and the images from this film somehow remained in my young mind throughout the time I was in the service, and beyond.

I still vividly remember the "prostitution" scene, and I still remember the flying scenes - as a fan of all things aviation-related, the movie is worth seeing just for the flight scenes alone.

I can remember going out on a few dates with girls back then, and talking glowingly about this fabulous movie. They thought I was a passionate, dreamy-eyed romantic or something. Must've had them fooled, I guess.

But if you want to see a good movie that's a bit of a potboiler paperback novel come to life, then this one's for you. I myself will be looking for a copy of this film in my local video store shortly.