Cinematic Distractions...

The Asphalt Jungle(1950):
I saw this a few years ago. I brought it back to try and understand why I hadn't rated this noir classic higher. I came to the conclusion that I must have watched it after a chiropractor appointment on a day I was short on sleep, and rated it low due to its inability to keep me awake.
It deserved a second chance. After I gave it that second chance, I watched it three more times. It's much more caper/heist than noir.
First, we meet the thuggish Dix Handley(Sterling Hayden) who can't have lunch at his favorite diner without being shaken down by the cops. Suspected in a number of armed robberies, the cops search him as he sits at the counter. Finding no weapon, they haul him in on a vagrancy charge, "Book him on vag!". Put in a police line-up, he scowls menacingly at the witness, leading to this exchange between the witness and a cop:
Cop: Well, do you see the man who pulled the stick up last night?
Witness: I don't know.
Cop: What do you mean you don't know?!
Witness: He had a hat on.
That cop, Lt. Ditrich, played by Barry Kelley, is only as straight as he needs to be to keep his job, and figures prominently later in the story.
Dix has a gambling problem. He bets and often loses heavily on horse racing. Horses are an obsession for him. Someone Dix and Lt. Ditrich have in common is local bookie, Cobby(Mark Lawrence). Cobby is the money man for local criminal enterprises. He is like a bank for when you want to do crime but need money for the crew and the tools to do it. If you need a crew but don't have one, Cobby can also help with that.
Enter: Doc Erwin Riedenschneider
Fresh from doing time for a major jewel heist, Doc has a plan for a new, even bigger jewel heist. He needs a crew and tools, but has no money, so he goes to Cobby. The scheme is too rich for Cobby, so he sends Doc to a wealthy attorney he knows, Alonzo D. Emmerich(Louis Calhern). Like our disgraced former President, Emmerich is wealthy only on paper, and he cheats on his wife.
The sweet, young thing he has on the side is Angela Phinlay, played by none other than Marilyn Monroe. "Yipe!" For someone so young, and seemingly naive, her tastes run expensive, which puts financial pressure on sugar daddy Emmerich.
Speaking of sweet things, I almost forgot...Doll.
Doll Conovan(Jean Hagen) is Dix's girlfriend(sort of). It's clear she wants to be with him. To Dix, she is an afterthought. She works at a nightclub. It's not said exactly what her job is there, but the names of some of her co-workers imply burlesque. She moves in with Dix temporarily after the club gets raided.
That covers all of our key players. Rounding out the heist crew are diner owner and get away driver Gus Minissi(James Whitmore), and lockpicker, safecracker of dubious qualification Louis Ciavelli(Anthony Caruso).
And...Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, which is to say, Helene Stanley. Her part is small but powerful in that it brings one of the main characters to his just deserts. Of scenes that kept me coming back for more, hers is one, and the other is an intense confrontation between Lt. Ditrich and Cobby.
The award for best unintentionally hilarious dialogue goes to Dix in an exchange with Cobby after being cut off from wagering because he owes him too much money. It begins with the line, "DON'T BONE ME!", and it only gets funnier from there.
One more thing: Never treat a bullet wound with aspirin.

The Ipcress File(1965):
I heard it long before I saw it. I happened to come across the score to this movie while searching for music during one of my workouts. Other than that, I knew nothing about it. For a movie chosen by sound, I was quite pleased with it.
Top scientists from around the world, and particularly Britain, are going missing, only to be found later with their minds wiped clean of any scientific knowledge. Military man turned spy, Harry Palmer(Michael Caine), is tasked with investigating.
At the time, there was much fuss made over his character wearing glasses. Strong male leads, and certainly macho secret agent leads were not supposed to wear glasses, or enjoy cooking their own food. His character is unconventional in that regard.
There is an interview with Michael Caine in the DVD extras in which he talks about how some viewers at a preview said his character was too effeminate, saying in the rudest of terms that he was gay. I didn't watch the extras until after the movie. In the movie, Harry Palmer ogles and makes passes at women every chance he gets. In one scene in particular, an attractive blonde woman bumps into him while trying to pass him in a narrow hallway, and he laughs and says, "Thank you for a wonderful evening.". It annoyed the hell out me until I watched that interview. Anyway, it's a damn shame that he needed to act like a pig toward women to convince the audience that his character was "all man".
I really liked Nigel Green in this. I think the first movie I ever saw him in was Masque of the Red Death(1964). Sue Lloyd does a good turn as the only lady spy in the outfit. It's up to her to keep tabs on Harry, and keep her boss apprised. She doesn't have to work too hard; he hits on her from the moment they're introduced. Her boss is played by Guy Doleman. He is also Harry's boss until he assigns him to another department to help investigate the brainwashed scientists.
We see only one scientist get kidnapped. It's a wonderfully done scene that begins in a car, and ends inside a train about to leave the station. On the car ride over to the train station, the scientist peruses a copy of The New Scientist magazine.
Here are the headlines I could make out:
--Olympic Performance and Human Limits
--Hunting the Leukemia Virus
--Fresh Water from the Sea: Britain's Contribution
--Election Analysis...
The opening credits are stark and slick, and play over a scene of Harry making himself breakfast.

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears(Moskva slezam ne verit - 1980):
Follows the lives and loves of three women friends in a then and now that encompasses twenty years. Begins in 1958 with them living together in a dormitory, and then flashes forward to 1978. At the start, all three are working, two are also attending college classes, but only one is serious about getting her degree.
Katerina, Lyudmila, and Antonina:
Honest, hard working Katerina is the main focus as she has the most complex story. Man and money hungry but lazy Lyudmila experiences a few dramatic ups and downs. Good girl Antonina marries right out of college, and embraces the rigors agrarian life in a short, sweet story.
One can infer a lot about what the Soviet Union expected of its women citizens in terms of personal and professional conduct.
Aleksey Batalov of The Cranes Are Flying(1957) plays Georgi(Gosha) one of Katerina's love interests.
According to Wikipedia, the title is a Russian proverb meaning: Don't complain, solve your problems by yourself.