The Great Ones Volume Two (Side A Track Four) Mia Farrow

Sometime in the past couple of decades, the fact that Mia Farrow is one of our finest actors got lost. It happens to a lot of our greatest actors, what we think we know of their personal lives start to cloud the way we view their performances. It is a shame really because when one steps back and looks at the forty year plus career of Farrow, you see a body of work that is simply astonishing in its range, intelligence and power. This is a tribute to Mia Farrow the actress.
Mia made her acting debut at the age of fourteen in her father's 1959 production JOHN PAUL JONES. It was just a bit part though and few took note of it at the time. That would change five years later when Farrow would appear in the hugely popular television show PEYTON PLACE. While this didn't make Farrow a star, her lovely face and natural style immediately put her in the mind of anyone who saw her on the show.
A handful of roles on television and in film would follow for Mia, but no one could have predicted that a 1968 film by a relatively unknown Polish director would instantaneously catapult her into the spotlight as one of the most talked about and admired actresses of the sixties.
What can you say about Mia Farrow in ROSEMARY'S BABY? There are very few performances in the horror genre that even come close to the magnificent turn she gives as Rosemary Woodhouse. Polanski found in Farrow the perfect actress for his most popular film even though she wasn't the first choice. Farrow, like Faye Dunaway and a handful of others, owes much of her career to Tuesday Weld as ROSEMARY'S BABY was one of many high profile roles the combative actress turned down in this period. As much as I idolize Weld, Mia Farrow was made for Rosemary Woodhouse and her soft gamine looks, cropped hair and inventive acting style made her an instant icon and a world renowned star seemingly overnight.
The years following ROSEMARY'S BABY were prolific ones for Farrow even though none of her immediate follow up roles matched her work for Polanski. In this period she would manage to give several memorable performances in Joseph Losey's SECRET CEREMONY (1968), stealing the film from Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Yates JOHN AND MARY (1969), opposite Dustin Hoffman, and Richard Fleischer's 1971 thriller SEE NO EVIL.
While none of these films really captured the public attention, Farrow seemed to remain untouchable and her position as one of the country's biggest stars maintained itself. More roles would follow before Farrow would land one of her best parts in Claude Chabrol's memorable DOCTEUR POPAUL (1972). The film, released as HIGH HEELS in the States, is one of Chabrol's most underrated and Farrow is just great in it. The film, outside of giving her a chance to work with one of France's greatest directors, would also allow her to share scenes with both Jean-Paul Belmondo and the exquisite Laura Antonelli (at the height of her beauty and power here).
Mia would score big time next with the much talked about Fitzgerald adaptation THE GREAT GATSBY (1974). While the merits of Jack Clayton's film have been questioned there is no doubt that the coupling of Mia Farrow and Robert Redford wasn't a inspired one. The two are simply astonishing to look at in this film and Farrow brings a real humanity to Fitzgerald's Daisy Buchanan. The film turned out to be Farrow's biggest hit since the Polanski picture and it re-established her as a major box office draw.
Mia would drop mostly out of view in the couple of years following THE GREAT GATSBY but she would return in 1977 with a performance of unnerving power and intensity, a performance that rivaled her turn in ROSEMARY'S BABY as her finest.
FULL CIRCLE (THE HAUNTING OF JULIA) is unthinkable without Farrow. As the title character, who in the first scene watches her only child choke to death, Mia gives a complicated and fearless performance that is among my all time favorites. Looking just like she did as Rosemary Woodhouse ten years earlier, Farrow's Julia is an ambiguous and haunting creation that even after probably a dozen viewings never fails to move me or make me question what I am seeing. It is one of the great performances of the seventies and, along with ROSEMARY'S BABY and the later HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, is Farrow's finest moment.

FULL CIRCLE seemed to disappear before it even properly arrived and Farrow's moving performance was seen by a very select few. Her follow up films included Robert Altman's interesting THE WEDDING (1979) and the big budget disaster flicks AVALANCHE (1978) and HURRICANE (1979). After these roles Mia dropped out again for a few years and would resurface surprisingly in 1982 as the muse and lead actress to one of America's finest writers and directors.
So much bad blood and gossip has been passed around about Mia Farrow and Woody Allen that it has clouded the fact that for more than a decade these two delivered some of the finest work of either of their careers. Farrow worked almost exclusively for Allen between the years 1982-1992 and in that ten year stretch she delivered quality performance after performance that would cement her status as one of America's most diverse and finest actresses.

With the Woody Allen films, Farrow's icy Julia and Rosemary persona's disappeared and in their place came a warm and funny woman who exuded intelligence and style. The best of her work with Allen, 1985's THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO and the monumental features HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986) and CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (1989), are Woody Allen and Mia Farrow at their finest. How the Academy ignored Mia in HANNAH AND HER SISTERS is particularly beyond me, as it is harder to think of a more heartfelt and enduring performance from American cinema in the mid eighties.
The searing HUSBANDS AND WIVES in 1992 would mark the end of Mia Farrow's incredible professional collaboration with Woody Allen and she has only worked sporadically since. While she hasn't done anything in the past decade to equal her finest work, that is more of the fault of the films and not Mia Farrow. She remains one of the most talented and beautiful people on the planet and is still capable of turning in some of the freshest and most inventive work imaginable. Just look at the recent OMEN remake, a film that was notable for two things; its pointlessness and Farrow's scene stealing and powerful turn as Mrs. Baylock.

Mia Farrow is currently working on one of her most exciting projects in years, the upcoming film from ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND director Michel Gondry, BE KIND REWIND. The film is due out this January and one hopes that Gondry has given Farrow a role worthy of her considerable talents.
Two essential stops for Mia Farrow fans are located at:

http://www.miafarrow.org/

and

http://mia-farrow.com/

My Fantasy Criterion Collection: Volumes 1-3

Recently one of my favorite spots, the essential Twin Peaks Archive, posted an imaginary Criterion Collection Cover (seen above) for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. It came from this thread over at The Auteur's Forum and I thought it was an absolutely terrific idea and it has inspired me to create some of my own. Here are my first three imaginary discs with my ideal specs listed as well. Excuse how primitive they look as I am still learning how to create them. Hopefully, my abilities will improve and future covers will be more creative and look more professional.
I know these are just pipe dreams but just thinking about these discs puts a huge smile on my face:

Fantasy Criterion #1: Arthur Penn's Night Moves (1975)



Ideal Specs for a Three-Disc Set:
Widescreen Transfer Supervised by Arthur Penn
Feature Length Commentary from Arthur Penn and screenwriter Alan Sharp
Feature Length Commentary from Gene Hackman, Melanie Griffith and James Woods
Original 1975 Promotional Featurette
The Lost Score: A Tribute to Late Composer Michael Small
Neo Noir: A Featurette on Noir in the Seventies
The Damaged Detective: A Conversation with Gene Hackman
Career Starter: Conversations with James Woods and Melanie Griffith
Feature Length Documentary on the Making of Night Moves
Outtakes and Deleted Scenes
Photo Gallery
Bonus Book Featuring Original Screenplay, Novelization and Production Materials

Fantasy Criterion #2: Roman Polanski's Frantic (1988)



Ideal Specs for a Three-Disc Set:
Widescreen Transfer Supervised by Roman Polanski
Feature Length Commentary from Roman Polanski and Screenwriter Gérard Brach
Feature Length Commentary from Harrison Ford and Emmanuelle Seigner
The Maestro: A Conversation with Composer Ennio Morricone
Quite a Find: A Conversation with Emmanuelle Seigner
Creating a Look: A Conversation with Cinematographer Witold Sobocinski
Original 1988 Featurette
A Lesser Work?: A Look Back at Frantic
Outtakes and Deleted Scenes
Remastered CD Soundtrack
Photo Gallery

Fantasy Criterion #3: Richard Loncraine's Full Circle (1977)



Ideal Specs for a Three-Disc Set:
Widescreen Transfer Supervised by Richard Loncraine
Feature Length Commentary from Richard Loncraine
Feature Length Commentary from Mia Farrow
Creating Julia: A Conversation with Novelist Peter Straub
The Haunting: A Conversation with Composer Colin Towns
Recreating The Score: Colin Towns Performing the Score Live
Finding Olivia: A Conversation with Samantha Gates
Lets Scare the Audience to Death: A Featurette on Seventies Horror
Everything's Right Now: A Feature Length Documentary on Full Circle
Deleted Scenes and Outtakes
Remastered Soundtrack CD
Photo Gallery
Bonus Book Featuring Screenplay and Original Peter Straub Novel

Life Rotates In 45 Revolutions Per Minute (Colin Towns: Full Circle and Olivia)

This stunning 45 contains two of the most sublime moments in seventies experimental pop and should be seeked out by any fans of not only FULL CIRCLE, but British music in general.
The main selling point to this very rare 45 is that side A contains an otherwise unreleased edit of the unforgettable main theme from the film. While this edit is only a shadow of the original, it is still exceptionally powerful and is a worthwhile addition to Town's catalogue.
The b-side is the haunting OLIVIA, which is the same version as the album's take. This occasionally pops up on Ebay but, like the full album, is becoming harder and harder to find. A special edition release of the soundtrack would do well to feature this fine edit as one of the bonus tracks.

My Look at Loncraine's Full Circle at The Amplifier

My revamped and extended look at Richard Loncraine's 1977 film Full Circle (The Haunting of Julia) can now be read at the Amplifier for those interested.

Overlooked Classics: Full Circle (The Haunting Of Julia) 1977

Richard Loncraine's FULL CIRCLE (THE HAUNTING OF JULIA) is one of the most perfectly realized and executed genre films I have ever seen. From its striking and tragic opening scene to its jaw dropping final moment, FULL CIRCLE never once slips in its relatively brief 98 minute running time. It is a real masterpiece of style and class, and one of the great lost films of the seventies.
At the heart of FULL CIRCLE is a relatively simple and tragic story centering on a child's death and a mother's breakdown. Shelia Benson pointed out in her great original review that the film can be read as a study of a young woman slowly but surely losing her mind, or it can be taken as a superior ghost story. Either way, the film remains a very haunting exercise in loss, revenge and fear.
It is this sense of loss that occupies every frame of FULL CIRCLE that separates it from most films that fall into the thriller or horror genre. Mia Farrow's work as the lonely and isolated Julia is frankly astounding and Loncraine's long takes of her alone in her house or out walking are incredibly intimate. It is due to Loncraine's sensitive direction of Farrow that makes the film so incredibly resonate, and it works not only as a ghost story but as one of the great character studies in all of seventies genre cinema.
The film is remarkably singular on many levels. It is, on the one hand, a rather old fashioned and slow moving work that builds carefully and methodically. On the the other hand it is very much a film that only the late seventies could have produced, made by a group of young relatively inexperienced people who were obviously filled with invention and creativity.
While the film marks career bests for Loncraine, Farrow and composer Colin Towns, that shouldn't overshadow that much of its power is due to the cinematography by Peter Hannan, the editing of Ron Wiseman and the striking production design of Brian Morris.
Hannan had worked with Loncraine on his first film, 1975's FLAME and his work on FULL CIRCLE is really noteworthy. Even on the washed out VHS copy, you can see how beautifully photographed this film is. Hannan's striking, dreamlike work would serve him well on future projects with Loncraine as well as the legendary Nicolas Roeg. Editor Ron Wiseman, whose cutting gives FULL CIRCLE's more intense scenes a real sense of dread and power, had previously worked on the strange 1973 Canadian production THE PYX and his work here is really splendid. The seance sequence is handled extremely well in particular and much of its greatness stems from Wiseman's editorial skills.

Perhaps the most striking behind the scenes effort was given by production designer Brian Morris. Julia's house is especially memorable with its high ceilings, spiralling staircases and Gothic feel. Just look at the details Morris contributes to the work the next time you watch it, specifically how children's toys seem to be everywhere in the film. Morris would use this striking eye in later work with Loncraine and on memorably designed productions ranging from PINK FLOYD THE WALL to ANGEL HEART.
I have already written on Colin Towns incredible score and I will only reiterate that this is one of the great marriages between image and music and the soundtrack album is in bad need of reissuing, with the missing cues added on as a bonus.

Joining the magical Farrow is a very distinguished cast featuring some of the best British actors of the period. These include a young Tom Conti, a creepy Keir Dullea and a great Jill Bennett.
Young Samantha Gates, in her film debut, plays the ghostly Olivia incredibly well and it is unfortunate that she only appeared in a handful of films afterwards. Popular British actress Sophie Ward makes one of her first on screen appearances as Julia's daughter Kate, who tragically chokes to death in the films opening.
FULL CIRCLE seemed to be cursed distribution wise from the get go and it remains relatively little seen, despite being a favorite to many horror fans. Used copies of the full frame VHS version can be found on online, and I suspect that I am not the only one slightly in love with the flawed, fading print that is used on it with its soundtrack that sounds like a very scratchy record. I have often wondered what my experience would be seeing a proper widescreen dvd of it...a French DVD is available and while it does finally featuring widescreen print of the film it is unfortunately so dark that it is an eyesore to watch. FULL CIRCLE remains, much like the ghost Olivia, very much lost in time right now.

This wraps up my look at one of my favorite films...I hope that those reading the posts have enjoyed them and will take them all together as my review of the film, and not just the above rather short ended posting. It is a really splendid work that has haunted my dreams for more than two decades now. With LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH and LEMORA now on DVD, FULL CIRCLE remains to me the great lost English language genre films from the seventies...seek it out and submit to its power.

FULL CIRCLE Fan Channel on YouTube

Longtime readers here will know that one of the films that I am most passionate about is Richard Loncraine's stunning 1977 masterpiece Full Circle (The Haunting of Julia).  While this mesmerizing work is still unavailable on DVD or Blu-ray fans are becoming more and more vocal about their love for it and some exciting things are happening.  There is a very active Facebook page dedicated to the film where you can keep up with news about it and see lots of vintage material.  There is also an upcoming article about the making of the film by Simon Fitzjohn in the upcoming issue of The Dark Side.  Last, but certainly not least, Mr. Fitzjohn has started a Full Circle Fan Channel on YouTube which I invite everyone to subscribe to and follow.  Two videos have been posted so far with more to come Fingers crossed that this all leads to one of the great films of the seventies finally getting the special edition home video release it has so long deserved!