THE HAPPY ENDING no stars

 You could say writer/director Richard Brooks fashioned "The Happy Ending" as a vehicle for his then wife Jean Simmons and this finest and most undervalued of actresses was rewarded with an Oscar nomination for her performance. She plays the unhappy wife of John Forsythe, (shot in soft-focus, the early part of the film explores their 'youthful' courtship though they do make for very unlikely 'kids'), who finally leaves him in order to 'find herself'. Unfortunately the film itself is something of a slog despite being a reasonably well-acted example of 'the women's picture', (even Forsythe isn't bad), with good work from co-stars Shirley Jones, Lloyd Bridges and Bobby Darin, billed here for some reason as Robert Darin.

The problem is the dime-store novel plotting and dialogue straight out of the worst kind of television soap as Brooks explores the rotteness at the heart of American marriage. Apparently it was something of a hit at the time though it's now largely and mercifully forgotten though its theme-song, 'What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life', has become something of a classic.

AMSTERDAM no stars

 I must admit I've never even heard of the real-life plot that forms the basis of the story that's told to us in David O. Russell's new film "Amsterdam" but I think it needed something more than the daft comedy-thriller Russell serves up, (I use the term 'comedy-thriller' cautiously as there is definitely a dearth of comedy on show). It's actually pretty terrible for about three-quarters of its lengthy two and a quarter hour running time, picking up in the last half hour when 'the plot' is finally revealed but by then it's much too little too late and a really rather good cast is totally trashed by the director.

It begins in 1933, flashes back briefly to 1918/19 before returning to the early thirties when fascism was on the rise in Europe and in America too if this film is to be believed. Christian Bale and John David Washington are the battle-scarred pals from the trenches who find themselves caught up in the murder of their former commander and his daughter and who go off to clear their names like a couple of amateur sleuths out of an Agatha Christie spoof.

Bale's terrific, (when isn't he), proving that even with substandard material he can still light up the screen like few others. Washington can't really compete nor indeed can anyone else though Michael Shannon is very good in much too small a role and Robert DeNiro just about salvages his reputation in the last part of the picture. It certainly looks great if a little over-designed but this is one David O Russell movie I won't be returning to anytime soon.