tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7977829011947311072024-03-14T11:53:55.081-06:00THE FILM PATROLWide-ranging discussion of film topics, mainstream and obscure, as well as humorous commentary. Your projectionist: Brad Weismann.BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.comBlogger282125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-2909845344152695482024-03-14T11:52:00.004-06:002024-03-14T11:52:56.285-06:00The NFR Project: "It" (1927)<p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPlBGdQaGyVqH6bKG552yNcWdCaE-F8kEgJFNMYMNzUQ9dcBRdHd-jLTP-6lgeaAZdFMmtLC1kVHpSShYnToqiwoWt8jY7X0_ZJKbeg7GtQQSMsjz_6RQ5-mkNRhaqS_Tfp6SiNM5UGjh3pzxjpaXo1Tv6NjyBHdlcZraEqgaNYBDePsfjD63JFY0bW9s/s1304/bbbb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1304" data-original-width="1020" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPlBGdQaGyVqH6bKG552yNcWdCaE-F8kEgJFNMYMNzUQ9dcBRdHd-jLTP-6lgeaAZdFMmtLC1kVHpSShYnToqiwoWt8jY7X0_ZJKbeg7GtQQSMsjz_6RQ5-mkNRhaqS_Tfp6SiNM5UGjh3pzxjpaXo1Tv6NjyBHdlcZraEqgaNYBDePsfjD63JFY0bW9s/s320/bbbb.jpg" width="250" /></a></b></div><b><br />‘It’</b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Clarence Badger,
Josef von Sternberg<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Hope Loring, Louis
D. Lighton<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: H. Kinley Martin<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: E. Lloyd Sheldon<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: Feb 19,
1927<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">72 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is a story
about early cross-promotion, or, as you might call it, a racket.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elinor Glyn was an
English writer who specialized in popular literature – that is, lightly erotic
and racy material, stuff to amuse the casual reader of romances. She went to
Hollywood, and crafted 28 screenplays there in the course of a decade during
the silent period. She was phenomenally successful, and she began to be
regarded as an arbiter of taste.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She coined the idea
of “It” in 1914. A simple euphemism for sex appeal, she wrote on “It” in
Cosmopolitan, a popular magazine. She dubbed up-and-coming actress Clara Bow as
the “’It’ Girl.” Glyn supplied the source material for the film “It”, adapted
it, and appeared in the film starring Bow to boot, to define her concept of
“It.” The film was a smash hit, and everyone involved profited. Bow was now a
star, and Glyn’s name and ideas were cast broadly across the culture.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It” is an
inoffensive, Cinderella story about a lowly shopgirl (Bow) who finds love and
contentment with her boss, the young and sociable Cyrus (Antonio Moreno)
despite a few minor setbacks and misunderstandings. Bow plays Betty Lou as an
energetic, charismatic do-gooder with a heart of gold, a spunky lass whose big
eyes and healthy grin make her an ambassador of the “It” concept.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Badger, who also
directed two of Raymond Griffith’s best silent comedies, would see his career
slow to an end at the beginning of the sound era. Von Sternberg would of course
move on to sweeping epics with Marlene Dietrich at their centers. Bow would
continue to make films for a decade, finally retiring young at the age of 28. Glyn
returned to England and went back to writing novels.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: The Jazz Singer.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-43854454774593477552024-02-13T09:00:00.003-07:002024-02-13T09:00:13.015-07:00The NFR Project: 'The General' (1927)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAIjJ1Gzys6Bw-NYUXN6evndEN8mNcpuC6OiYaLCVI0SRTUKuO_CeEGgAAzYiECWpyPkZ1b2b43Dal8TdoRD6B3AK4sC2P-e321X6t9M_U1NCzIJnNUzZazhrzZKUn467FxLP37MWa9CNyWUuk8bTwL3hz7wMyd-1cFQAcpU6K3-vBhD86JOaqNABXFGI/s2400/aaaa.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1348" data-original-width="2400" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAIjJ1Gzys6Bw-NYUXN6evndEN8mNcpuC6OiYaLCVI0SRTUKuO_CeEGgAAzYiECWpyPkZ1b2b43Dal8TdoRD6B3AK4sC2P-e321X6t9M_U1NCzIJnNUzZazhrzZKUn467FxLP37MWa9CNyWUuk8bTwL3hz7wMyd-1cFQAcpU6K3-vBhD86JOaqNABXFGI/s320/aaaa.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The General <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Clyde Bruckman,
Buster Keaton<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Al Boasberg, Clyde
Bruckman, Buster Keaton, Charles Henry Smith, Paul Gerard Smith<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: Bert Haines,
Devereaux Jennings<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Buster Keaton, Sherman
Kell<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: Dec. 31,
1926<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">75 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Buster Keaton’s
masterpiece <i>The General</i> is meticulous and precise, beautiful like a set
of mathematical propositions, or a Bach cantata. There’s not an extraneous frame
– everything leads to a stunning climax that is still the most spectacular gag
ever staged. Most importantly, it’s still funny, all the way through.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Keaton’s comic persona
here is the one he perfected over the previous decade – the stone-faced, stoic
endurer of nature and fate’s insults. He is clever, but guileless, level-headed
but awkward. He also happens to be a superbly trained, athletic physical
comedian. He is the unsmiling, inventive clown of silent film.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The General </i>is his eighth self-directed feature film, and
he and his team of writers and of technical experts were at a peak of
efficiency. He had gone into period filmmaking with his <i>Our Hospitality </i>(1923),
and here, with the help of 500 extras from the Oregon National Guard, he
convincingly recreates the sense and scale and sheer mass of the battles of the
Civil War era.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Keaton is Johnnie
Gray, a train engineer and solid son of the South. (Keaton wisely puts his
protagonist on the side of the underdog.) When war is declared, he attempts to
join the Confederate Army, but is rejected because, unbeknownst to him, he is
more valuable to the Cause as an engineer. His sweetheart and her family reject
him, and his disconsolately returns to the cab of his engine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">However, the Union
has a plan. It seeks to steal Buster’s train and ride it back to Northern
lines, burning bridges and wrecking track on its way. Buster makes chase on
foot, and is soon the only person still going after the train. Still he
doggedly pursues the Union men, hurtling via handcar, bicycle, and finally in
another engine towards his goal.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Keaton is fascinated
with how things work. He loves using stage machinery and camera tricks. In this
film, set primarily out of doors, he is still indulging with problems
negotiating space in time, but he is doing so in an epic way. He gets to play
with real-life, full-sized trains. The trains speed up, slow down, reverse,
change tracks, couple and uncouple, do everything but pirouette. Keaton makes
these large, clumsy machines lead a kind of elephantine dance.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Buster chases the
Yankees, who fortuitously have kidnapped his girlfriend to boot. Discovered to
be alone, he must dash away and hide from those he pursued. He comes upon a
house in a rainstorm, enters, and finds himself hiding beneath a tableful of
plotting Union generals. He discovers their plans, and escapes, having found
his girl there as well and rescuing her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now the chase is reversed. Buster steals back the <i>General </i>and
flees south, with the Union in hot pursuit. Now it’s he and his girlfriend’s
task to deter the Yankees. This is does with dimwitted assistance from her,
which leads to her being throttled, briefly, before Buster kisses her. Ah,
romance.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in;">The girlfriend role is largely ornamental, propelling some of the plot
and giving our hero a goal to achieve, that is, union with her. Marion Mack
does just fine as the fair Annabelle Lee, taking a few tumbles and generally
acting as straight woman. Buster’s real love affair is with the locomotive. He
clambers all over it, plumbs its comic possibilities, clearing happy
transforming</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in;">The crowning moment of absurdity arrives finally when a Union general
orders the pursuit train to cross a bridge damaged by fire. Orders are
followed, and the general and his army watch as the train teeters and crashes
down into the river beneath. Cut back to the straight-faced pain in the
general’s face, as he gestures listlessly for his men to go forward.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in;">As Tim Dirks reports, this stunt cost $42,000 – the most expensive shot
in silent film history. After the debacle at the bridge, the Southern forces
charge against the Union soldiers and drive them back. Buster is now, finally,
a hero.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in;">The whole production was massively expensive, and the film did not recoup
its cost in its initial run, in addition to being critically panned. It took
decades for its dark sense of humor and its kinetic grace to be appreciated.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 0in;"><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: <i>Clara Bow in </i>It.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-12778128558811606832024-02-08T19:09:00.007-07:002024-02-09T10:21:16.536-07:00The NFR Project: 'Flesh and the Devil'<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs6zk8MJDbiyyazgWYApyn24_-TI2372u3HESqy0VL6JFgp3Qkh-7oo1yMiFAdJCQ4OphPAiHCIu3iZK3WZXkE5FC_H1rz9QoHbB9VVQhJboH1IK-ycnze-WkrxeXn1rbSBwTyjj3HoXQp3yHVz1pf-qH7b4bMNRVteOqoxOwhejVMm8Egv622TVq5BQg/s300/flesh%20and%20devil.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs6zk8MJDbiyyazgWYApyn24_-TI2372u3HESqy0VL6JFgp3Qkh-7oo1yMiFAdJCQ4OphPAiHCIu3iZK3WZXkE5FC_H1rz9QoHbB9VVQhJboH1IK-ycnze-WkrxeXn1rbSBwTyjj3HoXQp3yHVz1pf-qH7b4bMNRVteOqoxOwhejVMm8Egv622TVq5BQg/s1600/flesh%20and%20devil.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><b>Flesh and the Devil</b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Clarence Brown<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Benjamin Glazer,
Marian Ainslee<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: William H.
Daniels<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Lloyd Nosler<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: Dec. 25,
1926<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">109 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is a story of
two people intersecting, gloriously, before one rose to stardom and the other
faded away into oblivion. It’s the real-life version of (and perhaps the
template for) films such as <i>A Star Is Born</i>. It’s the story of John
Gilbert and Greta Garbo.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">John Gilbert was an
established screen star. He began in the movies in 1915, enduring years of apprenticeship
and supporting roles in Hollywood before attaining leading-man fame in 1924, in
King Vidor’s <i>His Hour </i>(1924). He was quickly labeled as suitable
primarily for romantic leads, and termed “The Great Lover.” He had a contentious
relationship with fame.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Greta Garbo was a
shy young Swedish actress of 19 when she was chosen to star in <i>The Story of
Gosta Berling </i>(1924). She was immediately noted for her beauty and for her
subtle acting technique. She quickly gained a prominent role in her next film, G.W.
Pabst’s <i>Joyless Street </i>(1925). Meanwhile, Hollywood mogul L.B. Mayer saw
her in <i>Berling </i>and vowed to make her a star. With her appearance in <i>The
Temptress</i> (1926), only her second Hollywood film, she too was seen as a
bankable star, honored as an aloof beauty.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fate brought the two
together in <i>Flesh and the Devil</i>. Their immediate attraction to each
other is palpable in this film. At the same time their characters intertwined
in a story of tragic love, so did they become a highly publicized couple,
moving in together and talking of marriage.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But first, the film.
It’s a misogynistic, homophilic tale of two wealthy childhood friends in
Germany who swear eternal devotion in their youth. Unfortunately, one of them
(Gilbert) falls for a mysterious and amoral woman who neglects to tell him she
is married. When her husband finds the two of them, he demands satisfaction. At
dawn, the men meet for a duel, and Gilbert slays his rival.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sent away in
disgrace, he asks his friend to take care of Garbo’s character. Three years
later, he returns to find that she has married his friend. Once again, he finds
himself irresistibly drawn to her. This leads, naturlich, to yet another duel.
Fortunately, our friends stop their feuding and reconcile, as Garbo, en route
to stop them, falls through the frozen surface of a lake and drowns. Curtain.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It's all fairly
standard romantic-drama fare (the rich production design helps elevate the
drama), but it is extraordinary to see two people falling in love on camera. Their scene kissing in the garden is iconic. Their
chemistry is palpable, and Garbo’s face is astonishingly expressive. Garbo was
so pleased that she used director Clarence Brown, and especially
cinematographer William H. Daniels, who she felt made her look as good as
possible on screen, in many of her future films. Gilbert and Garbo were to make
three more silent features together, all of them successful.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then came the sound
era. Garbo, despite her accent, kept making hits. Gilbert, however, did not
make the transition effectively. Though it has long been a legend that his
voice was not suited for sound film, the reality is that industry politics
meant that he was sabotaged. And, quite simply, his star was sinking. Despite a
number of attempted comebacks, he never regained his silent-era popularity. He
began to drink heavily. Garbo tried to help him by insisting he be cast opposite
her in <i>Queen Christina</i> (1933), but despite his skill in that role, it
was no use. He received worse and worse roles. Finally, he died of a heart
attack in 1936, at the age of 38.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Garbo went on to
become a legend. Choosy about her roles, she maintained her screen persona of
aloof beauty, for another decade, one of the highest-paid and highest-regarded
stars of her time. She retired in 1941, at the age of 36.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: <i>Keaton’s </i>The General.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-62825803109502062642024-02-06T12:23:00.011-07:002024-02-06T12:23:55.212-07:00The NFR Project: 'The Battle of the Century'<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhgBxCypkq9De68qOr4UawRpj_lSA8M1_TYwSxawgvQksyORzzJjNnxNRzlRWlfTIu_oql6AekeYsYT8Y88_RUxRVVi4J-22NUFe7Y-ZiGSw8ECq_Yc3dNrozQYd9_1ciuLI35UIkQNDUTfRf3LitGREh2I7Lnl6pvWO0pH64S730UdgVdKqYFR5DA7Uk/s400/AAAA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="400" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhgBxCypkq9De68qOr4UawRpj_lSA8M1_TYwSxawgvQksyORzzJjNnxNRzlRWlfTIu_oql6AekeYsYT8Y88_RUxRVVi4J-22NUFe7Y-ZiGSw8ECq_Yc3dNrozQYd9_1ciuLI35UIkQNDUTfRf3LitGREh2I7Lnl6pvWO0pH64S730UdgVdKqYFR5DA7Uk/s320/AAAA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Battle of the
Century<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Clyde Bruckman<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Hal Roach, H.M.
Walker<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: George Stevens<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Richard C.
Currier<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: Dec. 31,
1927<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">16:34<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I love Laurel and Hardy. I consider their films, especially
their shorts – which did not necessitate padding in the form of an involved narrative
and some musical numbers, as their features sometimes did – to be the perfect
cure for what ails you. Their subtle interplay, their exquisite timing, their
deadpan slapstick, their flailings against fate and each other, and the obvious
deep connection between the two makes for comedy of a heightened order, best absorbed
in concentrated, bite-size pieces.</p><p class="MsoNormal">In <i>The Battle of the Century</i>, we see them at the very
beginning of their creative partnership. Stan Laurel was a vaudeville comedian
who had come to America (along with an unknown named Charlie Chaplin) in Fred
Karno’s variety troupe in 1912, and who wandered into filmmaking out West as a
solo comedy performer. Oliver Hardy was a boy tenor who literally grew into
“heavy” roles, playing the villain or second banana in over 100 early movies.
They were teamed by Hal Roach, the expert producer, director, and screenwriter
of silent comedy.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Stan was the innocent, the dim-witted naif and Ollie was the
overbearing bully, but they were bosom companions and stuck together no matter
what the (usually awful) outcome of their adventures turned out to be. This
balance of personalities resulted in enduring comedy.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With this film, they had expert help. Roach co-wrote the
script and Clyde Bruckman was a highly skilled comedy director. Even more importantly,
the film bears the credit “Supervised by Leo McCarey.” McCarey’s excellent
sense of fun and brilliant staging of gags would be made obvious in his later
films as a director, including <i>Duck Soup </i>with the Marx Brothers, <i>The
Awful Truth</i>, and <i>Going My Way</i> – and would win him three Oscars to
boot. The director of photography was none other than George Stevens, who would
go on to win two Oscars as a director himself.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We open on a stock setting for a comedy – a boxing ring. Up
against the monstrous Thunderclap Callahan (L & H regular Noah Young) is
poor Stan, Canvasback Clump. Callahan glares mercilessly across the ring; Stan
responds with his typical deer-in-the-headlights look. Ollie is his hapless
manager, to whom Stan can’t really pay attention to. Stan accidentally knocks
down the Champ, but he keeps interrupting the referee’s count by peering over
his shoulder at the fallen fighter. Eventually Stan and the ref go at it,
rolling around the ring.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Champ gets his wits back and of course fells Stan with
one punch. The pair win $5 as a result and Ollie spends it on an insurance
policy for Stan -- $1,000 in case of injury. (The insurance salesman is future
character actor Eugene Pallette.) Next, we find the two walking down a city
street. Stan nearly slips on a banana peel (yes, even then a tired premise).
Ollie tries to make him slip again, but only succeeds in making a policeman
fall down. Ollie diverts responsibility to Stan, who gets a nice clonk on the
head with a nightstick. He doesn’t cry out in the pain, he simply goes to sleep
standing up. It’s only when Ollie wakes him does he begin one of his
distinctive crying spells.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the meantime, the errant peel trips up someone else –
this time a man bearing a tray of pies (Charlie Hall, another L & H
regular). The boys again try to trade blame, but it’s on Oliver the hapless
pieman vents his spleen, tweaking his face. He turns away, and Stan blows a
raspberry. Hall calmly grabs up a pie and smashes it into Ollie’s face.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now the comic beauty of the film comes into full bloom. By this
time, the pie in the face was one of the most overused comic moments in
pictures. Those who made the film were evidently thoroughly tired of the
conceit, and decided to make the pie fight of all pie fights, once and for all.
[They were perhaps bested by Blake Edwards, considering his massive pie fight
in <i>The Great Race </i>(1965).]</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oliver calmly considers his pie-spattered self. He thinks.
He goes to the pies, and gets ready to pie Charlie Hall. He misses and hits a
woman. She enters the fray, tries to pie Ollie, and hits yet another bystander.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There is a slow, geometric progression of outrage. Innocent
parties get pied. They stop. They fume. Then they in turn, calmly and
deliberately, try to pie those who pied them. Each time the pies land, the
people involved rush to the pie van to get fresh pies, waiting respectfully for
everyone to be ready before beginning another assault. The increase in flying
baked goods grows exponentially.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Soon pies are flying up and down the avenue, with dozens of
combatants and thousands of pies (somewhere between 3,000 and 10,000 pies were
used!). Finally, Stan and Ollie run from the police, around the corner and out
of the frame.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Once and for all, the comic pie fight was put to bed. The
epic scale of the collective insanity of humanity has rarely received a better
rendition on film.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: Flesh and the Devil.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhICYYsI1Kwm9yGuUceiNRd1O7HpdHGjv6F3kce6hXgR-xlnhjBtPRKXFxx78eIoqUNUYqbMWVmyhRWjy15eLlOuZncjyCPPvzQW28SuuCHXiGzWeKV9raHeQyVsrpZ5BDaXV8EXc-gssTH9E87f6LwotPPJSn1_P-288cud4qcg7cC1mvPDzMqWUky0-k/s400/AAAA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="400" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhICYYsI1Kwm9yGuUceiNRd1O7HpdHGjv6F3kce6hXgR-xlnhjBtPRKXFxx78eIoqUNUYqbMWVmyhRWjy15eLlOuZncjyCPPvzQW28SuuCHXiGzWeKV9raHeQyVsrpZ5BDaXV8EXc-gssTH9E87f6LwotPPJSn1_P-288cud4qcg7cC1mvPDzMqWUky0-k/s320/AAAA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-53089212389888100422024-01-28T18:07:00.003-07:002024-01-28T18:07:20.443-07:00The NFR Project: 'The Strong Man' (1926) and the problem of Harry Langdon<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje_E6A6E01zG0HvPylSaT9Gw0NBG2bSfp0kcjyHTPhiPgfp2uUe1PdyPWzacplPFKT54QM6e_-gETNW6Hys2jx9h4OxLqw52zCMHOrah2o9lA2wgStHlrO8_wEIr-xldYkOTqkLfbVbVAKzV0jaqClVRxF5vOvQ6pdp3wXZnISfF2XPG5gQCoy3I89XJU/s247/wwww.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="247" data-original-width="204" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje_E6A6E01zG0HvPylSaT9Gw0NBG2bSfp0kcjyHTPhiPgfp2uUe1PdyPWzacplPFKT54QM6e_-gETNW6Hys2jx9h4OxLqw52zCMHOrah2o9lA2wgStHlrO8_wEIr-xldYkOTqkLfbVbVAKzV0jaqClVRxF5vOvQ6pdp3wXZnISfF2XPG5gQCoy3I89XJU/s1600/wwww.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Strong Man<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Frank Capra<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Arthur Ripley,
Hal Conklin, Robert Eddy, Reed Heustis<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: Glenn Kershner,
Elgin Lessley<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Harold Young,
Arthur Ripley<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: Sept. 19,
1926<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">75 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Who can explain the popularity of silent-film comedian Harry
Langdon in the 1920s? Not me.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Primarily on the strength of three successful features in a
row made in 1926 and 1927, he was dubbed by famed critic James Agee in 1949 as one
of the four great silent clowns, alongside Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">However, Agee also famously referred to Langdon as having
the demeanor of a “baby dope fiend” – giving performances that only read as creepy
and disturbing today.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Strong Man title is ironic as Langdon is here the
meekest of the meek and the weakest of the weak. He is dimwitted to the point
of imbecility.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In this film, Harry is a World War I Belgian solider who
comes to America after the war to find his pen pal, Mary Brown, who is lovely,
kind, and touchingly blind (then how did she write those letters?).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He falls in as the assistant to Zandow, the strong man. They
travel until they wind up in Mary’s home town. Harry finds his love, and goes
onstage, woefully, for his drunken master, displeasing the crowd until he fires
Zandow’s cannon at them (his one non-impotent act) and he brings the local
palace of sin down and drives its ugly and rapacious mob out of town.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is extremely difficult to watch Langdon now. His comedy
is grounded in the premise that he is childlike and naïve. However, Langdon
pushes these traits to their extreme, giving us a character that is so passive
that he is blown from one plot point to another without any exercise of will
whatsoever.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You wonder how he can make his way across a room, let alone
through an entire film. He is fate’s plaything, coy and innocent, slow-blinking
and staring off into the middle distance. He gets the girl, but he can’t for
the life of him figure out how he managed it. Even at film’s end, he stumbles
and his blind girlfriend picks him up and guides him along, into the distance.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For some reason I can’t fathom, audiences found this persona
enchanting, and he made a lot of money for First National Pictures. This is the
second of the three key Langdon films, and the first feature directed by the
soon-to-be-wildly-renowned Frank Capra, who got his real start in the industry
years previous as a gagman for <i>Our Gang </i>and Mack Sennett. This film
demonstrated Capra’s talents, and he directed the next and last memorable
Langdon feature, <i>Long Pants </i>(1927).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There is no real hint of the earnestness of Capra’s strong future
outlook and style, unless you think of Langdon as hopelessly, helplessly
earnest in his obliviousness to the complexities of existence. After the
success of <i>Long Pants</i>, the story is that Langdon now thought he was a
genius and parted ways with Capra, who went on to better things as Langdon
wasted away into obscurity in self-directed mediocrities, and finally odd
comedy jobs for small studios.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He is not a transformational comedian like Chaplin, or an
architect and engineer, as Keaton was. He doesn’t have Lloyd’s energy and
optimism. Langdon can’t seem to do anything. He just, barely, is. He is
condemned to a waifish insubstantiality, and requires the full attention of a
benign world in order to exist.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s understandable that certain kinds of comedy go out of
style. It’s just unfortunate that Langdon didn’t know when to leave well enough
alone.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: The Battle of the Century.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-80713115818136595112024-01-15T16:33:00.005-07:002024-01-15T16:33:22.565-07:00The NFR Project: 'Son of the Sheik'<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiySlAmgktt0aOCdM3ch7d25CVgu_58xQZ6djOlCeVeAWkTJa5VKy4wuMcYbsUnm2YyfGeVDtXBry7DAf6E6_cpcwXUsKINeiJhCWcXP5vj5lqqZ1nSuoNVKVSeSurrNDellcW7WOEZQkJh6d7D4uIBHmakQ5ya119apRYJN4eQGsPN5TS8PfGPS5dOD2A/s1440/dddd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiySlAmgktt0aOCdM3ch7d25CVgu_58xQZ6djOlCeVeAWkTJa5VKy4wuMcYbsUnm2YyfGeVDtXBry7DAf6E6_cpcwXUsKINeiJhCWcXP5vj5lqqZ1nSuoNVKVSeSurrNDellcW7WOEZQkJh6d7D4uIBHmakQ5ya119apRYJN4eQGsPN5TS8PfGPS5dOD2A/s320/dddd.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Son of the Sheik<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: George
Fitzmaurice<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Frances Marion,
Fred de Gresac, George Marion Jr., Paul Gerard Smith<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: George Barnes<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Unknown<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: July 9,
1926<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">80 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Silent film star Rudolph Valentino’s last picture was his
biggest.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Son of the Sheik” was a 1926 sequel (when sequels were a
rarity) to his 1921 hit “The Sheik.” That initial film cemented Valentino in
the minds of filmgoers as the great “exotic” lover. (A line of condoms was
named Sheik, and the association with Valentino’s supposed sexual prowess made
them a popular brand.)</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Like so many screen sex symbols, Valentino wanted to be
taken seriously as an actor. He made some attempts in this direction, which
proved not too profitable. “Son of the Sheik” was a return to the heartthrob
territory in which he excelled.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the film, the young son of the original sheik (both
father and son were played by Valentino, and they shared the screen through the
magic of in-camera editing) falls in love with a dancing girl, but then is
kidnapped by her family of bandits. The young sheik-to-be thinks his girl was
in on the plot, and he spurns her until the truth is revealed. There are
escapes, chases, storms, and moments of nearly compromised virtue.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Throughout, Valentino emits emotions penetratingly. He can
manifest feeling on screen vividly. Here, he yearns, he suffers, he smolders all
to perfection. It’s this fullness of emotional presence that women found so
relatable – so dissimilar to the sober, hard-working, emotionally distant ideal
American male of the time. Valentino didn’t love, he LOVED.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The film is problematic today for its portrayal of much of
the Arabic world as consisting of thieves and brigands, and for the rather
rape-y aspect of the male expression of love in the film, and general racist
tone throughout . . . for hero and heroine, as in the first film, could not
really be together unless both were of white parents – heaven forfend!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The film opened in early July of 1926. Valentino got busy
promoting it. On August 15, he collapsed in his hotel room in New York City.
After an operation for a perforated ulcer, he contracted peritonitis and died
on August 23.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The movie went into nationwide release two weeks later, and
went on to make more than two million dollars. Was it the novelty of the star’s
demise that made it such a draw? Or was Valentino precisely, exactly where he
needed to be onscreen – in an epic romantic adventure?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: The Strong Man.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-7750139305550834392023-11-26T18:17:00.004-07:002023-11-26T18:17:35.180-07:00The NFR Project: W.C. Fields in 'So's Your Old Man' (1926)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJJ1bcMF0Z9lQhdIP5soiAvvEZM5EkApmjCSgLnzoe-T5xscL1ixr6n3fasSgVUNu0Au6thkLiaVtuK2EYB7DMgI88TvnNZsxGSGNzCDdml4rJgk2KR1TXPmLO1x6N9_pazSRLtQqSH5UuRDpvf8iYYJBOSr85uiwZg5OJ-e-m83eq1sL3TN0hv0vTjOU/s1000/sos%20your%20old%20man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="1000" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJJ1bcMF0Z9lQhdIP5soiAvvEZM5EkApmjCSgLnzoe-T5xscL1ixr6n3fasSgVUNu0Au6thkLiaVtuK2EYB7DMgI88TvnNZsxGSGNzCDdml4rJgk2KR1TXPmLO1x6N9_pazSRLtQqSH5UuRDpvf8iYYJBOSr85uiwZg5OJ-e-m83eq1sL3TN0hv0vTjOU/s320/sos%20your%20old%20man.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <b>So’s Your Old Man</b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Gregory La Cava<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Howard Emmett
Rogers, Tom J. Geraghty, J. Clarkson Miller, Julian Johnson<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: George Webber<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: George Block,
Julian Johnson<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: Oct. 26,
1926<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">67 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">W.C. Fields is remembered today as the ultimate flim-flam
man, the sly and cynical popper of pretension and dysfunction around him.
However, the comedian had one other personality that he displayed in his films –
that of the put-upon everyman.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This character is on display, front and center, in this film
early in his career. Fields was already a respected juggler and comic artist on
stage, but he longed to be in the movies as well. This, his first feature film,
gives us the first hints of traits that would define Fields – his fondness for
alcohol and his allergy to regular work.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Poor small-towner Sam Bisbee is a would-be inventor who is
generally despised by his community for having little couth. His family, too,
fails to respect him. He does invent shatter-proof automobile glass, but due to
a car mix-up, he loses the chance to impress a bunch of automobile
manufacturers. He ponders suicide on his way home, but rejects it . . . then he
runs across a beautiful young woman who he suspects wants to end her life as
well. She doesn’t, but his kindness makes her want to help him. Being a
princess, she uses her influence to make Sam a respected citizen and family man
again.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Naturally, Sam doesn’t believe the woman’s royal status, and
he looks on her efforts to rehabilitate as part of a bigger scam. That he goes
along willingly with the apparent deception speaks to his contempt for the shallow
and judgmental society that has kept him down up to that point. Bisbee is happy
to put one over on the town. He gets a happy ending, deserved or not.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Shoehorned into the film is the long golfing sketch that
Fields had already perfected on stage. As such, it is a valuable documentation
of his routine. His battle with recalcitrant objects is a textbook display of the
art of slow-boil comedy.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All in all, an excellent initial outinggreat for the comedy .
(Fun fact: the famous Roaring 20’s illustrator John Held Jr. did the title
illustrations.) The premise was successful; so much so that the film was remade
with Fields for sound as <i>You’re Telling Me! </i>In 1934.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: The Son of the Sheik.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-7600251137001879072023-10-16T17:12:00.000-06:002023-10-16T17:12:02.522-06:00The NFR Project: 'Mighty Like a Moose' (1926)<p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7sK_0F8w5KhQPP9r0AOrvcJ6T4VGKavIB5lqUdg6urYPXvQrg7pYAaUGQfdJQW8xOsIPVKvuunWmJbkgZEJsAYmG3554b_L-MD8ABV3CsqlY1mUUJdZptkFXHiQUiorcnh12vjg006qAjUmNQ1VN8ThlSasgRwxBBPkZDOgVt9mCaSAz0wF02mk554Q/s2244/Mighty_like_moose_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2244" data-original-width="1410" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7sK_0F8w5KhQPP9r0AOrvcJ6T4VGKavIB5lqUdg6urYPXvQrg7pYAaUGQfdJQW8xOsIPVKvuunWmJbkgZEJsAYmG3554b_L-MD8ABV3CsqlY1mUUJdZptkFXHiQUiorcnh12vjg006qAjUmNQ1VN8ThlSasgRwxBBPkZDOgVt9mCaSAz0wF02mk554Q/s320/Mighty_like_moose_poster.jpg" width="201" /></a></b></div><b><br />Mighty Like a Moose</b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Leo McCarey<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Charley Chase, H.M.
Walker<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: Len Powers<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Richard C.
Currier<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: July 18,
1926<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">23 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Charley Chase never got his due, until now. The enterprising
writer, director, and producer of and performer in comic movies never achieved
the critical estimation that Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd did. He did not sport
an eccentric persona – in all his films he is a regular guy, caught up in
humorous yet everyday dilemmas. He never graduated to feature films, save as a
featured player. He never indulged in slapstick – his humor is that of
character and situation.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yet his humor is as crisp and clear and vital as ever. Mired
in the everyday, it still translates well to the benefit of our modern sensibilities.
Recently, his films have been collected and released in various packages, and a
biography was written about him as well. Slowly, people are getting to know
Charley Chase.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Born Charles Parrott, Chase started out in film in 1912,
playing bit parts and juvenile leads for Christie, Keystone, and L-KO Kompany,
gradually moving behind the camera as a writer and director. In 1920, he began
working for the Hal Roach comedy studio. Soon, he was its director-general.
After Harold Lloyd left the studio in 1923, he decided to step back in front of
the camera again, in the persona of Charley Chase.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Mighty Like a Moose </i>is a fine example of Chase’s
work. (The title is a play on the title of the then-popular song, <i>Mighty Lak’
a Rose</i>, a problematic bit of American culture itself due to it being written
in a stereotypical and supposed African-American dialect.) The short takes up
with a married couple, the Mooses, the husband of which (Charley) has a clinical
case of overbite, and a wife with a ship’s prow of a nose. Each secretly gets
corrective surgery to surprise the other. Unfortunately, they run into each
other immediately after the operations and don’t recognize each other – and they
begin to flirt.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Complications ensue. Enlisting expert timing, the two
prepare separately for their illicit date at their home, narrowly missing
seeing each other, in an intricate comic dance. They go to a party together;
the wife is quickly danced away with, so the husband is left to encounter (with
a sly, slow pan to the right) a grotesque-looking woman who only knows how to
dance the polka. We see their awkward dance three times . . . the third time
shot just legs and feet, a witty and remarkable shorthand that the audience can
easily understand and participate in, filling out the rest of the image with
their imaginations.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The film ends, slightly improbably, with Mr. Moose testing
his wife’s fidelity by alternating between the roles of husband and would-be
lover, finally staging a drag-out fight for his wife’s benefit. The action is
fast and inventive, and ends with a knock-down punch administered by Mrs.
Moose.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The film is also a fine example of the early work of
director Leo McCarey, who would go on to win three Oscars. McCarey credited
Charley Chase as his mentor, stating that “w<span style="background: white; color: #202122;">hatever success I have had or may have, I owe to his help
because he taught me all I know.” McCarey is noted for his creation of the team
of Laurel and Hardy, and he also directed such comedic personalities as the
Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, Eddie Cantor, and Mae West. In the sound era, he
crafted such classics as the screwball comedy <i>The Awful Truth</i>, <i>Going
My Way</i>, and <i>An Affair to Remember</i>. Even this early, his style peeks
out – the economy of motion, the clear underlining of character, and that
unteachable comic skill, timing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">As for Chase, he
continued to make comic shorts, into the Sound Era. In 1936, he stopped making
his own films, moved to Columbia, and started supervising the short-subject
comic output of that studio (yes, he directed the Three Stooges as well. Unfortunately,
Chase was a depressive and a severe alcoholic. His heavy drinking led to his
premature death in 1940, at the age of only 46.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">It took six
decades for his work to be reconsidered by the critical community, and now he
is perceived properly – as one of the primary craftsmen of American comedy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: So’s Your Old Man.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-66607815522656737452023-10-08T11:46:00.005-06:002023-10-08T11:50:58.940-06:00'She Came to Me': A movie for grown-ups<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKehJWeH61Ggkhsp_QuiuhYWtorgygclNdRN96SGHeJXSiLIqUfcTcC34kupsPsrAnyRMdkNKocuHk5Y7EnG2JCrG__fzaDr0PhVUUbj1apMrL-adsQ8EzGUu6bA8Xc7ZQUcC9CzPMl47d6enNd880gSuIjWQF6EJ05ZqtYYK_ZuZ9y6KcHKHq6hXCqCY/s755/MV5BNTU4NjExYTMtODMwMi00NzgwLWE5OTEtMzdlZTc4MjVlN2FjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDc5ODIzMw@@._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="509" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKehJWeH61Ggkhsp_QuiuhYWtorgygclNdRN96SGHeJXSiLIqUfcTcC34kupsPsrAnyRMdkNKocuHk5Y7EnG2JCrG__fzaDr0PhVUUbj1apMrL-adsQ8EzGUu6bA8Xc7ZQUcC9CzPMl47d6enNd880gSuIjWQF6EJ05ZqtYYK_ZuZ9y6KcHKHq6hXCqCY/s320/MV5BNTU4NjExYTMtODMwMi00NzgwLWE5OTEtMzdlZTc4MjVlN2FjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDc5ODIzMw@@._V1_.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><br /> <b>She Came to Me</b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Dir: Rebecca Miller<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Scr: Rebecca Miller yeah<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Pho: Sam Levy<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Ed: Sabine Hoffman<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>102 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These days, films are all too easily shoved into slots of
genre, their edges beveled down smoothly. The formulaic blockbusters of today
resemble nothing so much as well-oiled machines, without quirk or reflection.
This is not a new development: there have always been less than challenging
films out there, films designed by large crews of people to appeal to the
broadest possible audience.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then there are the independent films. Films not adapted from
another medium. Films made because they are works that can only be made as a
film. Such a one is the rare treat from writer and director Rebecca Miller, <i>She
Came to Me</i>. It’s a lovely throwback to the Silver Age of American cinema (1967-1977),
when studios took chances on idiosyncratic, personal movies, without gimmicks,
bells, or whistles, that actually found interested viewers.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is doubtful this film will make a lot of money. It wasn’t
advertised at all, as far as I can tell. Somehow Miller wielded some clout to
get this made, and I’m glad she did. She has created a lively yet understated comic universe filled
with interesting characters that travel through a completely unpredictable
plot. In other words, a STORY. What a concept!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She attracted top-notch talent to the project. Peter
Dinklage stands at the center of the film, in the hilarious role of a hang-dog
opera composer who’s got a creative block. He is married to his former
therapist (Anne Hathaway, who really gets a fun character to work with), and he
miserably gets through each day with her therapeutic assistance.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cajoled into taking a walk by his wife, the composer stops
in a bar and runs into a female tugboat captain with attachment issues (Marissa
Tomei, also great). What follows has little logic on the outside, but the film’s
emotional logic is impeccable, as everyone caroms off each other, sending each
other into entirely unfamiliar new trajectories.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are no heroes or villains in the piece (OK, maybe
Brian D’Arcy as a controlling husband and stepfather is the boogeyman the piece
needs to propel its plot). There are no overwhelming moments of action-packed
adventure, no fist-pumping affirmations. It’s simply an amusing and involving
tale of real people in complex situations, and as such is a completely
enjoyable experience.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I challenge you. If you can really digest grown-up fare,
watch this movie. It will reward you deeply, not least through the fact that it
proves that movies like this can still be made, and still can find appreciative
audiences.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-6217397235821150212023-10-02T14:08:00.005-06:002023-10-02T14:08:54.769-06:00The Last Picture Show: Saying goodbye to the drive-in<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlob8xPs_M3s4zZAiGdAi-IzNknC1xtuzvFjvh1SpAYTELojndet40mzG3Ru8b3TlTeA0sa7QZ-7a85x902506Hie_gsdIWB0bL9mTszBJ1cgCfuDSZRZjMPmfN9sljA6v9FmNYGVSf20x2qaZjy1Rn8yhMyjmh0NoEjxB_8tqE36z2Bi8iheHfVRZ2uA/s1080/drive%20in%20t%20shirt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="810" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlob8xPs_M3s4zZAiGdAi-IzNknC1xtuzvFjvh1SpAYTELojndet40mzG3Ru8b3TlTeA0sa7QZ-7a85x902506Hie_gsdIWB0bL9mTszBJ1cgCfuDSZRZjMPmfN9sljA6v9FmNYGVSf20x2qaZjy1Rn8yhMyjmh0NoEjxB_8tqE36z2Bi8iheHfVRZ2uA/s320/drive%20in%20t%20shirt.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I knew I was close when I could smell the diesel fumes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The prosaically named 88 Drive In is the last existing
drive-in movie theater in the Denver metropolitan area. It sits at 88<sup>th</sup>
and Rosemary Streets, northeast of the city, lodged in an industrial pocket
called Irondale, part of Commerce City. Its distance from the hum of
gentrification in the region spared it for decades from decease.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Now, at last, with the explosion of growth in the city, even
condemned and inconveniently placed parcels of land are being sold, for
ridiculous prices, to the highest bidder. And the Kochevar family, which owns
the drive-in, finally felt it was justifiable to sell the land. It has become
economically unfeasible for them to run the business, which would also require
substantial capital improvements in the off-season.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF5lnjdB0drenCWqVQC-s6Y4B34x8G_N-veDfNdBEQaii9t_7D5QotW8GlzRPuREJpMqI0nJVs9Y2o2bWX54vJwK8l2W7xNpbXHmo9L_ZR5ociGzH6E8xkw4HEfaTYcrnsxiX-dl8cn3MfOx4wiDTyE5wmda9LpKucvBdHBQOdpekOvKv7nfbi7zryUYg/s1080/drive%20in%20relic%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="810" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF5lnjdB0drenCWqVQC-s6Y4B34x8G_N-veDfNdBEQaii9t_7D5QotW8GlzRPuREJpMqI0nJVs9Y2o2bWX54vJwK8l2W7xNpbXHmo9L_ZR5ociGzH6E8xkw4HEfaTYcrnsxiX-dl8cn3MfOx4wiDTyE5wmda9LpKucvBdHBQOdpekOvKv7nfbi7zryUYg/s320/drive%20in%20relic%202.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relics at the concession stand.</td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal">So they sold. By this time next year, the theater’s lot will
be crowded with warehouses.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, this is the end of the line for the 88, and I just had
to go one last time.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fun facts: the theater opened in 1971, and was distinctly
unprofitable. Therefore, the next season it started to show X-rated movies.
This did not go over well with the neighbors, and they had to build a fence on
top of a nearby school so that students couldn’t clamber up at night and watch
porno.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On February 11,1973, someone set off a bomb in the
concession stand. The city and the neighbors crusaded against the theater.
Finally, it was sold to another party and the X-rated films stopped. After a
few changes of owners, Bill Holshue, who also managed my beloved Lake Shore Drive
In in Edgewater, bought the place – his daughter Susan still runs the 88.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdqH5KtCp5XGXfM_g5O33-iu63Jg8eB4qaFQ0Pje-c1hjiND-m-ulFTHeeDADb7uIDGax900HDzz-eLZWZhKVsEz8yqjaRdsrQa_3RNKti_ufiGrvBEMpaG0_gCn7X7lZtgN-knnBq6kwjtGJTNnuborML8leuPpDPx7UaaALtYHlCJfWCO7eXduUVbmA/s1080/drive%20in%20screen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="810" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdqH5KtCp5XGXfM_g5O33-iu63Jg8eB4qaFQ0Pje-c1hjiND-m-ulFTHeeDADb7uIDGax900HDzz-eLZWZhKVsEz8yqjaRdsrQa_3RNKti_ufiGrvBEMpaG0_gCn7X7lZtgN-knnBq6kwjtGJTNnuborML8leuPpDPx7UaaALtYHlCJfWCO7eXduUVbmA/s320/drive%20in%20screen.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The screen -- fighting light pollution.</td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal">The Kochevars have run it since 1976, which is when I
finally got my driver’s license and started going with gangs of friends or on
dates. I have kissed many girls at the 88 over the years. (Note to my wife: OK,
really not that many.) Back then, cars were a passport to freedom, and
drive-ins were among the very few places where we teenagers could go and do
what wanted, without dreaded parental or institutional supervision. God knows
how many children were conceived there.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I chose to go on the night of a triple horror feature, the
best possible way to say goodbye to the old place. These movies weren’t completely
current – the evening started with the kid-frienddly animation <i>Monster House
</i>(2006), then drifted into the Marvel misfire <i>Morbius </i>(2022), and concluding
in cheesy greatness with <i>The Nun II </i>(2023).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2naZVPeRYLwG4M6EiC1uRHXFCgaWu7C7TU8Sy0Rp2tfNGZJj_PbOiaK2uPaq_KtUuqs23FRK80TcCbw3iCl-A5HJD3qeAf0mtz-FsJK3ibZwQi7C2ZxeBOMnCtX7Ko-VA11nO6zgHKKTDkr9p82kcpwrkuQISUrWlIcwnfwz2Ciib6GPGg5Cy_Pgpio0/s1080/drive%20in%20entrance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2naZVPeRYLwG4M6EiC1uRHXFCgaWu7C7TU8Sy0Rp2tfNGZJj_PbOiaK2uPaq_KtUuqs23FRK80TcCbw3iCl-A5HJD3qeAf0mtz-FsJK3ibZwQi7C2ZxeBOMnCtX7Ko-VA11nO6zgHKKTDkr9p82kcpwrkuQISUrWlIcwnfwz2Ciib6GPGg5Cy_Pgpio0/s320/drive%20in%20entrance.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">The entrance was still somewhat obscure to locate, but soon
I found myself at the cinderblock hut that held the ticket-taker. He gave me a
handy snack-bar menu and list of rules and instructions. “Park by any
blue-striped pole,” he informed me, and off I went.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Unfortunately, I can’t see that well at night and I’m color blind.
The main body of the lot is row upon row of hummocked spaces, dotted by posts that used
to hold the theater’s speakers (now, you run your car’s battery down listening
to the movie on 93.7 FM). You pick at post, you park next to it. I finally gave
up and stayed in the back, among the trucks and SUVs.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, the visuals of the 88 have always been somewhat
compromised. The backdrop of the screen is the well-lighted facades of
warehouses, which tends to wash out the image in front of it. If a scene is
exceptionally dark, and since this was horror there was, it becomes incredibly
difficult to track it. Ironically, this leaves the viewer riveted to the action
in front of them, if only to keep track of what the hell was going on.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There is a major highway and rail route next to the theater,
so the rumble of vehicles and the bray of horns routinely punctures the night. You
get used to it. But you can see how the site is aesthetically challenged.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnnbmYJL62mRaeUMAPtsofLvFVYrDS_BxOySaPFzXYz2KYS562jGO8ZfscZopWPi2-jht_zgmdRBy4HLEFBbmlXHK75KbE8UKSj7N87x1ECpEbe9EogAQzQbMP3qIzZ8uIeu7Rib3qZlIRD2wT-FdkfQX9gzt8bit6OttgndsMJ0WOzftq-OPkzhkuyEM/s1080/drivein%20snaack%20bar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="810" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnnbmYJL62mRaeUMAPtsofLvFVYrDS_BxOySaPFzXYz2KYS562jGO8ZfscZopWPi2-jht_zgmdRBy4HLEFBbmlXHK75KbE8UKSj7N87x1ECpEbe9EogAQzQbMP3qIzZ8uIeu7Rib3qZlIRD2wT-FdkfQX9gzt8bit6OttgndsMJ0WOzftq-OPkzhkuyEM/s320/drivein%20snaack%20bar.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">I cruised the concession stand one last time. (The long
trough in the urinal was still there.) The family was grouped behind the counter,
prepping food, making sales. I checked out the offerings, but since I pride
myself on being cheap, I didn’t get anything. Then I broke down and got a
commemorative T-shirt.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Having done my part to contribute to the welfare of the
Kochevar family, I returned to my vehicle. Things were not going well onscreen.
<i>Monster House </i>was surprisingly good, though definitely family fare. <i>Morbius</i>?
He takes serum that cures his life-long physical disabilities, but also turns
him into a vampire. Darn it.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZcw7PXg1OfQpWVy0hnW9TgGcr9FC3bpwRX_m1GxWXd3ORZ_K4KPf0g90FAxRGu-N33Px9tWj0MqiY6zYMO-Wv-hvwq-Juz2-cmMth1B45pr9-ZKnEYtwUec0ZApeUr1lo3dcJugCQ-z5jAKtzNV7AXdiGejzvALFP02tfvEPKGzL4eL9gdUVYeZ7eLnY/s1080/drive%20in%20snack%20bar%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="810" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZcw7PXg1OfQpWVy0hnW9TgGcr9FC3bpwRX_m1GxWXd3ORZ_K4KPf0g90FAxRGu-N33Px9tWj0MqiY6zYMO-Wv-hvwq-Juz2-cmMth1B45pr9-ZKnEYtwUec0ZApeUr1lo3dcJugCQ-z5jAKtzNV7AXdiGejzvALFP02tfvEPKGzL4eL9gdUVYeZ7eLnY/s320/drive%20in%20snack%20bar%202.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">I think that’s what it was. The action was getting darker
and darker, and Jared Leto was bashing the hell out of Matt Smith (English,
unnaturally large head, former Doctor Who). He kills him, I think. But his
girlfriend gets killed, too. So he flies off all perturbed, surrounded by bats.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But oh! Dear Reader! <i>The Nun II</i>! Like <i>The Nun </i>(which
I’ve not seen), only nunnier! It’s a classic B-movie, run-of-the-mill horror
just the way you like it with jump scares and music that tips you off when to
pay attention. It’s Saints versus Demons in a somewhat-scary showdown. This movie
was made for the drive-in – simple enough to follow, blatantly entertaining,
and easy to summarize for your parents so they won’t think you spent all your
time there making out.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Demons defeated, the good restored to stability. I made it
to the end. The full moon had arced long up into the sky. It was 1 a.m., time
to go.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvpxLyYQ2mWvNfx-r4i3t6M6da8NbuUQLp3CNfcPSkkSXK_SdBLaGS6K6SwCTumK7YaGeNmguCV_4v6kfkADXt6x_vTxHVvd4NizI0YpNc4IJDljyoIj3SDTZLnW_d4FTwms7QkytZU54OHOhN0ctm-RbWaKRPJfS8BiCVuNNEvFLmPb8BXkG2xfimkCs/s1080/drive%20in%20rules.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="810" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvpxLyYQ2mWvNfx-r4i3t6M6da8NbuUQLp3CNfcPSkkSXK_SdBLaGS6K6SwCTumK7YaGeNmguCV_4v6kfkADXt6x_vTxHVvd4NizI0YpNc4IJDljyoIj3SDTZLnW_d4FTwms7QkytZU54OHOhN0ctm-RbWaKRPJfS8BiCVuNNEvFLmPb8BXkG2xfimkCs/s320/drive%20in%20rules.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-6919489346366272102023-09-29T18:24:00.001-06:002023-09-29T18:24:58.475-06:00The NFR Project: 'Hands Up!' (1926)<p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixollHu04WDguGOVXsUgzTxlPnnGyRdoMf-LpATZZYhgw_nDni8aIysumfhmagvZn9ZHFnXRPgqwzh1rXj368KFlv4xApgYrKytcbY4jW858vqL4tueB4yRJ2S9jaMtdluN_MTCOYHG4BIora3Te7-RykMoNQ2xY_uxrPfJmfmzU40HrNUevTl5Lan3o/s555/sdfgh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="555" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixollHu04WDguGOVXsUgzTxlPnnGyRdoMf-LpATZZYhgw_nDni8aIysumfhmagvZn9ZHFnXRPgqwzh1rXj368KFlv4xApgYrKytcbY4jW858vqL4tueB4yRJ2S9jaMtdluN_MTCOYHG4BIora3Te7-RykMoNQ2xY_uxrPfJmfmzU40HrNUevTl5Lan3o/s320/sdfgh.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br />Hands Up!</b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Clarence D.
Badger<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Monte Brice,
Lloyd Corrigan<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: H. Kinley Martin<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: unknown<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: Jan. 14,
1926<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">70 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There was a lot more to silent comedy than Chaplin, Keaton,
and Lloyd (thank goodness we are beginning to forget about poor Harry Langdon),
though we are never exposed to it, much less educated about it. For every comic
superstar of the period there was a multitude of lesser lights, each of some appeal
in their own way.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First of all, I must direct you to <a href="https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/hands_up.pdf">the superlative explanatoryessay on this film by Steve Massa</a>, on the National Film Registry website. (It
rightly credits the writing of Walter Kerr in <i>The Silent Clowns </i>as being
responsible for reviving interest in him.) It covers the backgrounds of most of
the principals involved in <i>Hands Up!</i>, and provides many new facts about
the life of its lead player, Raymond Griffith.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">An aspiring comic film performer, Griffith’s early lack of
success was due to his lack of a comic persona. Quickly, he moved behind the
camera and gained a reputation as a solid gagman. Finally, in 1922 he devised a
comic character utterly unlike that of the sad, sentimental heroes of most comic
features – Chaplin the winsome Tramp, Keaton the stolid buffoon, Lloyd the
eager beaver.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Griffith styled himself as a calm, debonair, and quiet man about town –
complete with white tie and tails, opera cape, top hat, and cane. His character
was intelligent, and much faster on the draw than those around him. He is
seldom surprised and never shamed, moving gracefully from one trajectory to
another, as fortune whiplashes him, with effortless grace. In a world of crazy people, Griffith is the grown-up in the room.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This film, one of his few surviving creations, takes place
in the same period as Buster Keaton’s <i>The General</i>, the Civil War.
(Released the same year, Griffith’s film did surprisingly better business than
Keaton.) Griffith is Jack, a Confederate spy whose mission is to thwart the shipment
of Yankee gold from Nevada to President Lincoln.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even in the wildest of wild wests, Griffith is at gentlemanly
ease. Slapstick events may transpire, but Griffith is nonplussed. He never mugs
for the camera – that would be far too unseemly. Instead, he relentlessly
underplays his reactions, letting the jokes do the work. He befuddles a squad
of men sent out to shoot him as a spy. He mistakes an Indian attack for that of
a bee. He foils the plans of the tribe by shooting craps with its chief (played
by the versatile Noble Johnson), and ends up teaching them the Charleston.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He deftly juggles the affections of two sisters while
struggling with his Union counterpart (Montagu Love). His efforts backfire. His
attempt to blow up the gold mine just reveals a bigger vein. He can’t get the
wagon full of gold out onto the road. Eventually, he gets the horses out but
nothing else. And so on.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Throughout, Griffith retains his sense of calm equanimity.
In defeat, he is graceful. And he comes up with an unexpected solution to his
dilemma of loving two women at the same time.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Griffith starred in 10 features. Unfortunately, he had a
damaged voice that rendered him incapable of working in sound film. His last
role was as the poignant, nonspeaking soldier who dies in a shell hole in <i>All
Quiet on the Western Front </i>(1930). After this, he turned his assured hand
to producing, crafting a number of winning films. Now, we only have fragments
of an output to mark his fascinating, short-lived silent comedy career.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: Mighty Like a Moose.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-46469402240888622142023-09-24T17:23:00.004-06:002023-09-24T17:23:25.485-06:00The NFR Project: 'Ella Cinders'<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoWSkdpS_G9rMG2l07stA8n7COsMSQJQoLPspU_2wXxRiafF8SFQv11KNysVYQ_VKM5_K8MiZg3bAIo7XCVEZssWfk1ANZ4EXVnxNxCoQ1_7quW7uNec-hcyODtPn4oGRyAOu4iFvbCt_A3bbn9IM0MNFT9WQ3oJIvpWHke5kc8GGF0UnaCbGJZWgZZYk/s935/abcd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="935" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoWSkdpS_G9rMG2l07stA8n7COsMSQJQoLPspU_2wXxRiafF8SFQv11KNysVYQ_VKM5_K8MiZg3bAIo7XCVEZssWfk1ANZ4EXVnxNxCoQ1_7quW7uNec-hcyODtPn4oGRyAOu4iFvbCt_A3bbn9IM0MNFT9WQ3oJIvpWHke5kc8GGF0UnaCbGJZWgZZYk/s320/abcd.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ella Cinders<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Alfred E. Green<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Frank Griffin
and Mervyn LeRoy, story; George Marion Jr., titles<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: Arthus
Martinelli<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Robert Kern<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: June 6,
1926<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">75 min.</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Ella Cinders </i>was a
syndicated cartoon that was launched in 1925. It began as a modernized version
of the story of Cinderella, but later expanded into the continuing adventures
of its title character.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ella’s look could easily have been taken from Colleen Moore,
who was already a movie star when the cartoon debuted. It is singularly
appropriate then that Moore portrays Ella in this screen adventure. Pert, coy,
with large expressive eyes and a banged, bobbed hairdo, Moore was a renowned
incarnation of the flapper, the good-time girl of the period.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The film was produced by Moore’s husband, John McCormick,
and released by First National Pictures. Ella is the put-upon domestic slave of
her evil step-family, the Pills. When word of a contest comes to town,
promising a trip to Hollywood and a film role for a lucky winner, Ella
determines to enter. She submits her photo, unwittingly one with her eyes
crossed. Surprisingly, the judging committee selects her as the winner due to
her comic facility. She goes to Hollywood, but finds that the contest was a
sham. She is determined to literally break into the studio, and after a few
misadventures, she finds herself with a career in show business. In the
meantime, it turns out that her iceman boyfriend back home is actually a rich
young football hero; he seeks her out and weds her.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Moore’s winsome charm and spunky attitude drive the film.
She shines as the symbol of a more carefree time.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: Hands Up!.</p><p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-81183974330645471302023-09-14T17:22:00.009-06:002023-09-14T17:50:14.856-06:00The NFR Project: 'The Black Pirate'<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMlTo_vDr5Jh1KhjuoQ_19pR2AfapTdsnaYDSuCO-mosIV-TB7vgPK3hOl5ebC_KEJLdkvVvNuOD960enQeVFWrsJQ6c99eCzf0wqUS04a6PapECEqqUZbqKzVOlweZx7JRk0p0v1YTL745XI_2pWYxpdwOQIUA8Mud8Ha_xQrvg3lf2kyNHLmQsXiBYc/s600/KEHR-articleLarge.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="600" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMlTo_vDr5Jh1KhjuoQ_19pR2AfapTdsnaYDSuCO-mosIV-TB7vgPK3hOl5ebC_KEJLdkvVvNuOD960enQeVFWrsJQ6c99eCzf0wqUS04a6PapECEqqUZbqKzVOlweZx7JRk0p0v1YTL745XI_2pWYxpdwOQIUA8Mud8Ha_xQrvg3lf2kyNHLmQsXiBYc/s320/KEHR-articleLarge.webp" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Black Pirate<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Albert Parker<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Jack Cunningham<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: Henry Sharp,
Arthur Bell, George Cave<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Bret Hampton,
William Nolan<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: March 8, 1926<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">94 min.</b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Douglas Fairbanks (Sr.) was the first king of Hollywood.
Starting out as a light comedian, he made a name for himself with his short but
peppy, fast-moving dramedies, spiked with daring stunts. Eventually, he hit
upon the perfect formula for him to celebrate his values of energy and
optimism. Swashbuckling epics, starting with <i>The Mark of Zorro </i>in 1920
(<a href="https://www.filmpatrol.com/2019/11/the-nfr-project-mark-of-zorro.html">see my review here</a>) and including <i>The Thief of Bagdad </i>(<a href="https://www.filmpatrol.com/2021/05/the-nfr-project-thief-of-bagdad.html">see my review here</a>), were his claim to fame.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The Black Pirate </i>originated, supposedly, from a
conversation Fairbanks had with a young Jackie Coogan, who expressed his
affection for Howard Pyle’s 1921 <i>Book of Pirates</i>. Leafing through the
book, Fairbanks was captivated by the illustrations and insisted on creating a
pirate project himself. He supplied the film’s story, using the pseudonym of “Elton
Thomas” (his middle names).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The film is shaped around the persona of its star, and is
composed of all the standards elements of a Fairbanks action/adventure – stirring
fight sequences, lavish detail and miniature work, a bit of (chaste) romance, a
soupcon of comedy, and just the documentation of the kinetic energy generated
by the whirlwind Fairbanks.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Additionally, the film had the distinction of being the
first successful color feature film. It seems that Technicolor had been
developed to the extent of being cost-effective. It was still crude, recording
only reds and greens in a “two-strip” format. Lacking the blues and yellows of
the spectrum, the result is a vaguely colored-in, dusky, burnished, Old
Masterish kind of look that was surely impressive 100 years ago.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The story is a classic one. A young man (Fairbanks) and his
dying father are stranded by pirates. The son swears revenge. Neatly, he comes
upon the pirates and fights their chief, killing him and winning the crew’s
allegiance. He cows his naysayers by next capturing a ship single-handled, with
he does with grace and aplomb.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When a woman is discovered on the attacked ship, our hero
adroitly keeps the others from molesting her as he fights for time and a chance
to free her. Unfortunately, his plan is discovered and he is forced to walk the
plank! Beyond this I will not go, but gentle viewer, feel sure that by film’s
fade-out, justice and virtue triumph.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Actor/director Donald Crisp was slated to direct this film,
but is supposed to have been in conflict early on with Fairbanks and taken off
the directing job. If there was a conflict, it must have resolved itself, as
here Crisp plays the prominent role of the hero’s one-armed sidekick MacTavish.
Visible here too, in the last frames of the film, are Fairbanks’ real-life
wife, Mary Pickford, dressed up like actress Billie Dove to take the closing
smooch from her husband. Such were the mores of Hollywood at the time.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The Black Pirate </i>is really the last of Fairbanks’s
great swashbucklers. He would take a much more adult tone in his 1927 <i>The
Gaucho</i>, and after that the talkies came along. Fairbanks was no longer
young, and his brand of brash, go-go, idealistic Americanism was going out of
style. He would die in 1939, at the young age of 56.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: Ella Cinders.</p><p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-75896989582776124242023-08-08T11:51:00.007-06:002023-08-08T11:51:25.637-06:00The NFR Project: 'The Flying Ace' (1926)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBlS4GRhOksuHXWJD4rjSk2SBz1ldziWZ-PHeaIuqIGdUq5Y1qhdjZ6k3H6QlVqIF-eA2k0SwV8B0jltVIbH65tASvHdoIZw_j7xzbTL6DWwalWSJY1Tce3cO_AYsgd_CbSLofwnnpk8ZNrromAfRvlH0cgj6XGvyHOaChxURQqCOdr4TkGPqsy1eEbQ/s1500/aaaaa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="991" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBlS4GRhOksuHXWJD4rjSk2SBz1ldziWZ-PHeaIuqIGdUq5Y1qhdjZ6k3H6QlVqIF-eA2k0SwV8B0jltVIbH65tASvHdoIZw_j7xzbTL6DWwalWSJY1Tce3cO_AYsgd_CbSLofwnnpk8ZNrromAfRvlH0cgj6XGvyHOaChxURQqCOdr4TkGPqsy1eEbQ/s320/aaaaa.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Flying Ace<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Richard E.
Norman<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Richard E.
Norman<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: Unknown<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Unknown<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: 1926<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">65 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the early 20<sup>th</sup> century (not to mention today),
Black people could not catch a break – neither legally, socially, nor
culturally. Racial prejudice was the norm. The Jim Crow laws, which kept
American society essentially segregated, were in full effect. On the mainstream
stage and screen, Black people were portrayed as foolish, mentally challenged,
or dangerous. Black artists played the “Chitlin’ Circuit” of Black-only
nightclubs and theaters, under the control of the Theatre Owners Booking Association
(also known as TOBA – Tough on Black Asses).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There were exceptions, such as the great Black independent
filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. He and others made what were then called “race” films
– movies intended solely for Black audiences. In Black movie houses, the same
range of films played – adventures, romance, drama, even Westerns – but they
were enacted and shot by Black artists.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Such was the case with the Norman
Studios of Jacksonville, Florida. This white-owned film company made “race”
films, and owner Richard Norman was dedicated to improving race relations, as
well as making a profit. Norman wrote and directed the film, and a question
develops – how truly can a white creator capture a Black experience?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 201.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 201.0pt;">But there is no evidence given of
a colloquial Black culture that requires special representation and understanding.
This film would play the same whether it was inhabited by Black or white actors
– the script is strictly color-blind. The resulting effect is that we see a
movie completely devoid of racial stereotyping, as it contains not a single
white character. Simply put, there is no one there whose self-esteem needs
bolstering by degrading someone of a different color.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 201.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 201.0pt;">The story revolves around a stolen
railroad payroll, and the efforts of a resolute detective (formerly a WWI
flyer, therefore the movie’s title) to recover it, as well as win the
affections of the film’s heroine. The usual machinations take place, ending
with the baddie kidnapping the girl and flying away with her, prompting the
hero to chase and effect a death-defying mid-air rescue.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 201.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 201.0pt;">Such imaginative folderol was a
staple of the films of the time. The big difference here is that, with this film,
Black audiences got to experience a modicum of cultural respect.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 201.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: The Black Pirate.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-78142038568227991562023-06-19T12:41:00.002-06:002023-06-19T12:41:14.914-06:00'The Flash': Much ado about what was that again?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-7IpA8IBeXTPH3XCgVXRt_c__ixuQJWeHywlajLidLu2bu5vCl6pF7EcJOcks6ZCTYN_ebk0fJ25TMcqtzcZoSIJOQMFDX2fwf5XLROCj6zX45DFJtsy05v2n_hHqm42wLcetb52JDbwtQYpdABrTbn-PO0Ld9LpnhnKs0yDnQg0ljevfUPkrerCQTg/s500/noxSquare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="500" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-7IpA8IBeXTPH3XCgVXRt_c__ixuQJWeHywlajLidLu2bu5vCl6pF7EcJOcks6ZCTYN_ebk0fJ25TMcqtzcZoSIJOQMFDX2fwf5XLROCj6zX45DFJtsy05v2n_hHqm42wLcetb52JDbwtQYpdABrTbn-PO0Ld9LpnhnKs0yDnQg0ljevfUPkrerCQTg/s320/noxSquare.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Flash<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Andy Muschietti<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Christina Hodson<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: Henry Braham<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Jason Ballantine,
Paul Machliss<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: June 16,
2023<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">144 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Everyone would like to go back and fix the past. That’s just
what Barry Allen (the reputationally beleaguered Ezra Miller) does in his first
and presumably his last stand-alone feature as the speedy superhero in <i>The Flash</i>.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s also something that’s occurred in the DC
superhero-movie universe, time and time again – a second-guessing, a reconsideration
of the final product through expanded “Ultimate Edition”s and directors’ cuts
in an attempt to please fans, and gain additional revenue on the way.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The Flash </i>is the
next-to-last entry in the now-abandoned DC Extended Universe model of interrelated
films (coming up later this year: <i>Aquaman
and the Lost Kingdom</i>), which commenced with <i>Man of Steel </i>in 2013, and is popularly referred to as “the
Snyderverse,” after director/producer Zach Snyder, whose vision had led the way
with entries such as <i>Batman v Superman:
Dawn of Justice </i>and <i>Justice League</i>.
Now James Gunn, director of the successful <i>Guardians
of the Galaxy </i>trilogy for Marvel, and DC’s funny, gory <i>The Suicide Squad</i>, is in charge of things at DC studios and is planning
a new series of films even as we speak.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But enough exposition. How’s the film? It’s fairly
entertaining, though as is the case with many DC films, it is too long and the
CGI has its weak moments. That’s too bad, because this movie really leans on
incorporating (spoiler alert!) all manner of alternate time-line Batmans and
Supermans into the climax, unleashing a torrent of visual effects that feels
like someone trying to push all the keys and pedals of a massive pipe organ.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the film, the Flash discovers that he can run so fast
that he can travel through time (stay with me). His father is imprisoned for
his mother’s death, and he wants to go back in time and prevent her murder, or
at least exonerate his dad. He succeeds, but in doing so changes reality, past
and present, and leaves the Earth open to destruction. He must quickly (of
course) round up his own version of the Justice League to try to deal with
General Zod, Superman’s Kryptonian opponent on <i>Man of Steel</i>, who was killed trying to conquer Earth in that film.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The movie lives or dies on the effectiveness of its central
character, and Ezra Miller does a decent job in his role as the Scarlet
Speedster. He handles goofy and confused quite well, but has his problems with
darker emotions such as anger and sadness (beware: there is copious weeping in
this movie). His work is interesting, but ultimately too lightweight for the
more serious underpinnings of the story.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ben Affleck is back at Batman. But wait! Other Batmans lurk
here too, and Michael Keaton kinds of dials it in as alternative-timeline Caped
Crusader, one that’s retired into a life of eccentric reclusiveness. Will Flash
shake him out of his stupor? What do you think?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Michael Shannon reemerges as Zod, and is given little to do
save look menacing and make pronouncements. Jeremy Irons is there in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it
as Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s faithful servant.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the end, <i>The Flash </i>is
a moderately interesting superhero flick, a standard-gauge genre film that
fills in all the blanks in the schematic of how a superhero movie is made. It
tries to have fun but bogs down in its self-indulgent conclusion. For those of
us who love or study superhero films, there are more questions. Will DC ever
stop messing up and redoing their increasingly unsuccessful releases? Can James
Gunn right the ship? Will the audience put up with it?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-60679056917738678332023-04-17T15:50:00.011-06:002023-04-17T15:50:48.228-06:00The NFR Project: Gus Viser and his Singing Duck<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj95PPjaKm-AZODSof9Sn5JgoF_k_7CgWoxQLhXDot1YNMjO40V06_AvE0w6qOgncmr4GJk9WUHVssjDQvzT6q51dsyzlsgjEDsX-s83t7pf8lA1u_U2CYjxddNto-_qtLTPsrD4iu6YE_jG2I1BuekNx3bQ288t-GCRXsJ5HuWg_L3ErCiK9n2UbtJ/s392/Gus_visser_singing_duck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="392" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj95PPjaKm-AZODSof9Sn5JgoF_k_7CgWoxQLhXDot1YNMjO40V06_AvE0w6qOgncmr4GJk9WUHVssjDQvzT6q51dsyzlsgjEDsX-s83t7pf8lA1u_U2CYjxddNto-_qtLTPsrD4iu6YE_jG2I1BuekNx3bQ288t-GCRXsJ5HuWg_L3ErCiK9n2UbtJ/s320/Gus_visser_singing_duck.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Theodore Case Sound
Test: Gus Visser and His Singing Duck <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Made May 12, 1925<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1:31<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The most enjoyable Registry entry so far is absolutely ridiculous.
A duck sits in front of the camera on a pedestal. A man enters and picks up the
duck. His face is whitened, his hair is parted in the middle and slicked down –
he looks like the embodiment of an R. Crumb cartoon. While holding it in the
crook of his arm, he begins to sing the popular tune “Ma! (He’s Making Eyes at
Me).” Every time he gets to the word “Ma” in the song, he manipulates the duck
so that it quacks.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That’s it. That’s the bit.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s hilarious and strange, and probably constitutes animal
abuse. This act would be lost in the mists of time were it not for the efforts
of the unsung chemist and inventor Theodore Case, who pioneered research into
the development of synchronized sound for movies.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Case collaborated with the better-known Lee de Forest on
techniques for capturing and reproducing sound on film, but split away from him
after not being credited properly for his contributions. At his lab in back of
his mansion in Auburn, New York, Caase filmed hundreds of experimental sound
shorts. A fire destroyed most of them, but a few dozen still exist.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They are all vaudeville acts. Perhaps Case chose them in
part because of their static nature, making it easier for a carefully placed
microphone to pick up the sonic nuances of each performer. The otherwise-unknown
Visser’s act prompts a host of questions. How did he come up with this idea? Was
he a big hit? What did the duck think of all this? Did he have one special
duck, or would he just pick one up in whatever town he was in? Where do Gus
Visser and his singing duck stand in the grand pantheon of entertainment?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The NFR Project is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: ‘The Flying Ace’.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-80556442429833906902023-03-27T14:43:00.007-06:002023-03-27T14:43:43.295-06:00The NFR Project: 'The Phantom of the Opera' (1925): Chaney's finest hour<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje8080GKpih8ajWccskMfMzp3O3A6Ccz5KGJVeICp-8RNFUE1Ffj8FgNUfo0CEga3fft944GSNJS-cNE4vmSE3Z7MzUeNgcAaKuTjCp6wvXeuZClBlPMtS4sOVuzZDJeTRHSuOlBjOn8p45sPzGrMgxjxWniX3kmXB1pScE36hl4twp6bOurvKzNHC/s700/Phantom-reveal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="700" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje8080GKpih8ajWccskMfMzp3O3A6Ccz5KGJVeICp-8RNFUE1Ffj8FgNUfo0CEga3fft944GSNJS-cNE4vmSE3Z7MzUeNgcAaKuTjCp6wvXeuZClBlPMtS4sOVuzZDJeTRHSuOlBjOn8p45sPzGrMgxjxWniX3kmXB1pScE36hl4twp6bOurvKzNHC/s320/Phantom-reveal.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Phantom of the
Opera<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Rupert Julian;
(Uncred: Lon Chaney, Ernst Laemmle, Edward Sedgwick)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: (Uncred: Walter
Anthony, Elliott J. Clawson, Bernard McConville, Frank M. McCormack, Tom Reed,
Raymond L. Schrock, Jasper Spearing, Richard Wallace)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: Charles van
Enger; (Uncred: Milton Bridenbecker, Virgil Miller)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Edward Curtiss,
Maurice Pivar, Gilmore Walker, Lois Weber<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: Nov. 15,
1925<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">93 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lon Chaney was the chameleon of silent film, the master
performer known as “The Man of a Thousand Faces.” His incredible make-up work
and acting versatility made him a legend, and his work in this, the first film
adaptation of <i>The Phantom of the Opera</i>,<i> </i>represents the pinnacle of his career.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Chaney’s adept transformations made him a favorite for
horror-movie parts. His first big hit, as Quasimodo <i>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</i> (1923), made him a household word, and
a fortune for Universal Studios.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When studio head Carl Laemmle went to Paris on vacation, he
ran across the French author Gaston Leroux, who gave him a copy of his 1910
novel <i>The Phantom of the Opera</i>.
Laemmle immediately optioned it as a vehicle for Chaney.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The now-familiar story is that of a disfigured,
psychotically wounded man who dwells beneath the Paris Opera House, a would-be
composer who fixates on a young soprano, Christine. Lurking in the background,
he mentors her and blackmails the opera’s management into letting her perform.
When his instructions are defied, he drops n immense chandelier onto the
listening audience.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Christine finds a secret passage and confronts the masked Phantom,
who takes her to his underground lair. He instructs her never to take off his
mask, which she promptly does – exposing the iconic and still truly terrifying visage
of the Phantom, a skull-like face with hollow eyes, distended cheeks, and a
nose seemingly eaten away.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This look consumed all of Chaney’s attention and skill. He
kept the make-up a secret from the cast and crew, forbid press photographs, and
kept pictures of the Phantom out of promotional materials. The result was a
shock that still resonates. The girl creeps up behind the Phantom, absorbed in
playing his organ in the depths of the theater. He gasps – he gapes – he whirls
around – she screams.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Chaney’s Phantom is pitiable, but clearly and diabolically mad.
Eventually, Christine’s lover Raoul explores the hidden corridors and arrives
to save her in the nick of time, while the Phantom is torn to pieces by an
angry mob.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">No expense was spared to recreate the Palais Garnier, with a
massive set of steel girders and concrete built to hold the weight of hundreds
of extras. (This set stood for nearly a century, so strongly was it
constructed.) Early “two-strip” Technicolor was used in the masked ball
sequence in the film. It was a prestige production all round.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All this added up to a huge investment of time and money,
and the producers got nervous. The titular director, Rupert Julian, feuded with
everyone and eventually left the production. A quick check of the credits above
show that the film was scrapped and remounted multiple times, shown over and
over to test audiences to try to find a salable product.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Screenwriters came and went. Endings were changed. Sixty per
cent of the original footage was reshot, after which much of it was edited back
into the final film. Finally, it was released and proved to be a big hit.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The combination of rich and lavish detail, and Chaney’s horror
at the heart of it, make this still a compelling film. Notably, it sparked two
remakes, one in 1943 and one in1962. Most memorably, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986
theatrical adaptation has dominated Broadway and world theater for decades.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: Theodore Case Sound Test: Gus Visser and
His Singing Duck.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-52992898994128436992023-02-28T18:00:00.007-07:002023-02-28T18:10:21.069-07:00'The Lost World' (1925): Silent sci-fi<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQsMqS-bkEmCL8m6YPtokgcWTijjn-K7sFn0TiBM9_2hNxeikAjfagrHN_TTw-UVnHcu-1FQbl72lLT_salhzMUTMZ2rZoLH9SmE-FbvBmGD4dNSLrV4w5DyxJ5srpb00VnWLnY5NtrRPXzo5FIK7DhIY7ItpGQyULHwdKx_Hd2LW7aR8WAu6FZHCA/s500/ghji.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="500" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQsMqS-bkEmCL8m6YPtokgcWTijjn-K7sFn0TiBM9_2hNxeikAjfagrHN_TTw-UVnHcu-1FQbl72lLT_salhzMUTMZ2rZoLH9SmE-FbvBmGD4dNSLrV4w5DyxJ5srpb00VnWLnY5NtrRPXzo5FIK7DhIY7ItpGQyULHwdKx_Hd2LW7aR8WAu6FZHCA/s320/ghji.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Lost World<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Harry O. Hoyt<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Marion Fairfax<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: Arthur Edeson<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: George McGuire<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: Feb. 2,
1925<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">92 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The fantasy film took a while to develop. Initial technological
limitations meant that not everything that the imagination could conceive could
be placed convincingly on film (except for, seemingly, Georges Melies). The
fantasy film took a major step forward with this outing, which married
innovative animation techniques to a successful adaptation of an early science
fiction novel.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Arthur Conan Doyle is best known as the creator of Sherlock
Holmes, but he was a writer of catholic tastes and surprisingly broad range,
who created work in multiple genres. His most prominent work of science
fiction, inspired by writers such as Jules Verne and H. Rider Haggard, is the
novel <i>The Lost World</i>. In it, he
postulates an isolated escarpment that holds dinosaurs, and other ancient flora
and fauna, in abundance. There an expedition led by the irascible and vigorous
Professor Challenger meets up with, thanks to stop-motion miniatures and a
split screen, Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus and more.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheFAv_ifRfUJRBmouoLA2Mh-_SHB02wSZ2jDJMDQ90JxVCqUk-34an7bilIym4usT_3pazkVZlUj5edEN1eT-Oej1-ba0yJ-VPmFq-AIuJGsZFKYFMrQz0A4tHH3vjldkcXEwjQGOK29Me7rG5LydnR4q0M7SrTJhS5Tr23zwIHbUiSR3OD_uvyaaL/s960/opqr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="960" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheFAv_ifRfUJRBmouoLA2Mh-_SHB02wSZ2jDJMDQ90JxVCqUk-34an7bilIym4usT_3pazkVZlUj5edEN1eT-Oej1-ba0yJ-VPmFq-AIuJGsZFKYFMrQz0A4tHH3vjldkcXEwjQGOK29Me7rG5LydnR4q0M7SrTJhS5Tr23zwIHbUiSR3OD_uvyaaL/s320/opqr.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">As in Haggard’s <i>King
Solomon’s Mines </i>(1885), the mission is to save a previous explorer lost
there. The film adds a love interest; appropriately Bessie Love, a popular
actress of the day. A couple of comic servant are shown, one unfortunately in
blackface. The travelers manage to escape the plateau, and capture a live
Brontosaurus as well. They bring it back to London, where it breaks free and
causes a bit of havoc (a narrative strategy to be pursued in <i>King Kong </i>eight years later).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The stop-motion photography is a bit clunky, but no one had
tried to execute the painstaking craft of moving small models frame by
advancing frame to create the illusion of life before, and everyone who saw the
film was astonished. This was the work of pioneer Willis O’Brien, who began by
working with clay models, and moved onto rubber figures crafted over metal
armatures. In its day, this kind of movie magic was as mind-bending as certain
CGI accomplishments a century later.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: The Phantom of the Opera.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-8357277818470562662023-02-16T18:29:00.008-07:002023-02-16T18:29:56.948-07:00The NFR Project: 'Lady Windermere's Fan' - the Lubitsch touch<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtM10V-81Pcab3mCvSEHUiq-ej8QTRyYhdcmZeBLSgnTzis3FtSuMMWQ3SryIPlJqZqhxbnyBuWFLQ2WLgdUVIccoSJ8gRpviAgqr_52oQSKRzCo5y-blfIO5BjR1bSXIwmOB4nNxASkQ5A99CC8fzmbjz9EKNP5-Ec9STDyZcCpMkiz0DP3pIEn6b/s1504/lady%20windermere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1043" data-original-width="1504" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtM10V-81Pcab3mCvSEHUiq-ej8QTRyYhdcmZeBLSgnTzis3FtSuMMWQ3SryIPlJqZqhxbnyBuWFLQ2WLgdUVIccoSJ8gRpviAgqr_52oQSKRzCo5y-blfIO5BjR1bSXIwmOB4nNxASkQ5A99CC8fzmbjz9EKNP5-Ec9STDyZcCpMkiz0DP3pIEn6b/s320/lady%20windermere.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lady Windermere’s Fan<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Ernst Lubitsch<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Julien
Josephson, Maude Fulton<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: Charles van
Enger<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Ernst Lubitsch<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: Dec. 26,
1925<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">89 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ernst Lubitsch was famous long before he came to America.
The legendary king of film’s sophisticated comedies of manners got his start in
movies in Berlin as an actor in 1913. He was drawn to working behind the
camera, and by 1920 had transitioned to directing duties alone. Varying his
output between frothy comedies and weighty historical dramas, Lubitsch soon
found his work noticed by Hollywood. By 1922, he had relocated to America.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Soon he was churning out romantic comedies based on popular
stage plays. <i>Lady Windermere’s Fan </i>comes
between two other stellar Lubitsch features, <i>The Marriage Circle </i>and <i>So
This Is Paris</i>, and is of a piece with them – a tale of
middle-to-upper-class relationship angst, rife with mistaken identities and false
assumptions, a blend of farce and melodrama.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Lady Windermere’s Fan </i>is
an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s successful and well-made 1892 play. In it, the
lady of the title suspects her husband of having an affair with a Mrs. Erlynne,
to whom he has given large sums of money. In fact, it turns out that Mrs.
Erlynne is the disgraced mother of Lady Windermere, long thought dead.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lady’s Windermere’s suspicions drive her into the arms of
Lord Darlington, who seeks an assignation with her. It is up to Mrs. Erlynne to
protect her unknowing daughter from scandal, without revealing her true
identity.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lubitsch’s directing style is elegant and smooth, light and
witty, deliberately paced. He doesn’t do any flashy camera moves – his focus is
on the human face and gesture. As social niceties play out on the surface, the
turmoil of emotions roils beneath. In a time of melodramatic action and
overstated acting in film, Lubitsch’s restraint, wit, and careful and
compassionate powers of observation make for an urbane and humanistic kind of
filmmaking that has yet to be equaled.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is of particular note that none of Wilde’s famous quips
or aphorisms are referred to here. Fortunately, the skeleton of the play’s plot
is strong, and Lubitsch and his scenarist Julien Josephson wisely lean into the
familiar mechanics of the story’s melodramatic underpinnings, relieving them of
the obligation to drop in Wilde’s bon mots.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lubitsch had an extraordinary amount of creative control over
his output, leading to his admirers referring to his unique sensibility as “the
Lubitsch touch.” Billy Wilder famously had a sign on his office wall that said,
“What would Lubitsch have done?”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lubitsch would be remembered for his silent films of this
period if for nothing else. Yet he had much more to come – the codifying of the
movie musical, for one, and his increasingly wily and wise meditations on human
frailties, including <i>Ninotchka</i>, <i>To Be or Not to Be</i>, <i>The Shop Around the Corner</i>.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The NFR Project is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e: ‘The Lost World’.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-47533980302955047102023-02-14T16:51:00.006-07:002023-02-14T16:51:42.137-07:00New book, 'Horror Unmasked,' comes out in September!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJhL9rawl7sbpR_HUbPhWqdT6y-dl2AG0rLqEhWS1cvjjByXuicylLTCjx5nzjH-uexQwjTxL1tcw6GhrwGjkUXpIgeybcLGHu9GzzUVseVx4jH91Sgz-vVElCBFMYzCcbVTOSYpsDG8JQhm5WdOsVugJlexgEycvOyyl54_flYOZmFq0MHgcRg8MP/s334/new%20book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="260" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJhL9rawl7sbpR_HUbPhWqdT6y-dl2AG0rLqEhWS1cvjjByXuicylLTCjx5nzjH-uexQwjTxL1tcw6GhrwGjkUXpIgeybcLGHu9GzzUVseVx4jH91Sgz-vVElCBFMYzCcbVTOSYpsDG8JQhm5WdOsVugJlexgEycvOyyl54_flYOZmFq0MHgcRg8MP/s320/new%20book.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">Howdy! I just wanted to let you know that my new book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Horror Unmasked: A History of Terror from ‘Nosferatu’
to ‘Nope’</i>, will be published on Sept. 5.You can pre-order it <a href="https://geni.us/T9DDH">here</a>. It’s derived from my earlier <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lost in the Dark: A World History of Horror
Film</i>, but it is revised, expanded, and richly illustrated. It was a treat
to get to update the text and make it current for a new set of readers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First, I had the great pleasure of publishing <i>Lost in the Dark </i>through the University
of Mississippi Press. In matters of getting published, I can only state that
persistence is everything. It took 100 queries on my part, 100 individual and
detailed pitches, before I succeeded. Since then, it’s been markedly easier.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The nice folks at Quarto Group read my book, and proposed a revision/expansion,
and the addition of dozens of photographs and illustrations. Sold! I got to
work on it right away, and the the result you see here. My thanks to the editors
and proofreaders – they caught a number of tiny details, imperfections that our
now expunged and will provide as definitive a text as is possible.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: white;">Here’s their very
excellent summation of the work: “</span><span style="color: #0f1111;">From the
silent-film era to the blockbusters of today, <i>Horror Unmasked</i> is a fun-filled, highly illustrated dive
into the past influences and present popularity of the horror film genre.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0f1111;">“The horror film’s pop-culture importance is
undeniable, from its early influences to today’s most significant and exciting
developments in the genre. Since 1990, the production of horror films has risen
exponentially worldwide, and in 2021, horror films earned an estimated $580
million in ticket sales, not to mention how the genre has expanded into books,
fashion, music, and other media throughout the world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #0f1111;">“Horror has long been the most popular film
genre, and more horror movies have been made than any other kind. We need them.
We need to be scared, to test ourselves, laugh inappropriately, scream, and
flinch. We need to get through them and come out, blinking, still in one piece.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #0f1111;">“This comprehensive guide features:</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="background: white; margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #0f1111; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #0f1111; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A thorough discussion on monster movies and B-movies (The Thing; It
Came from Outer Space; The Blob)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background: white; margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #0f1111; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #0f1111; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The destruction of the American censorship system (Blood Feast; The
Night of the Living Dead; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background: white; margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #0f1111; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #0f1111; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">International horror, zombies, horror comedies, and horror in
the new millennium (Matango; Suspiria; Ghostbusters)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background: white; margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #0f1111; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #0f1111; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A dissection of the critical reception of modern horror (Neon
Demon; Pan’s Labyrinth; Funny Games)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="background: white; margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #0f1111; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #0f1111; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Stunning movie posters and film stills, plus fan-made tributes
to some of the most lauded horror franchises in the world (Aliens; The
Evil Dead; The Hills Have Eyes; Scream)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #0f1111;">“A perfect reference and
informational book for horror fans and those interested in its cultural
influence worldwide, </span><i style="color: #0f1111;">Horror Unmasked</i><span style="color: #0f1111;"> provides
a general introduction to the genre, serves as a guidebook to its film
highlights, and celebrates its practitioners, trends, and stories.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /><p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-21250261901842981092023-02-01T16:48:00.001-07:002023-02-01T16:48:09.819-07:00'M3gan': Devil doll<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOiyDdBWD7oYgha1VsSDDz-bCbMJEodFWXrPqm3HilBtFoSu6CUtyKjgViSGIpySLlfZBtVFi7qzuIBdqaAYyFMNnA3cdNLVXx3VwechOKzypWHmoZkdxdwVyhzsRNwYBgZlM9Trlj4OanVmMs4HHPa9ggvgnK490MU93xDUubzBrJvci-71g1bZQG/s960/m3gan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="960" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOiyDdBWD7oYgha1VsSDDz-bCbMJEodFWXrPqm3HilBtFoSu6CUtyKjgViSGIpySLlfZBtVFi7qzuIBdqaAYyFMNnA3cdNLVXx3VwechOKzypWHmoZkdxdwVyhzsRNwYBgZlM9Trlj4OanVmMs4HHPa9ggvgnK490MU93xDUubzBrJvci-71g1bZQG/s320/m3gan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">M3gan<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Gerard Johnstone<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Akela Cooper,
James Wan<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: Peter McCaffrey,
Simon Raby<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Jeff McEvoy<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: Jan. 6,
2023<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">102 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the movies, dolls are inherently creepy, and robots are usually
threatening. How much fun it is to slap the two film memes together and see
what happens!</p><p class="MsoNormal">In this “post-horror” age, when the genre is plagued with
slow places and myriad ambiguities, it’s refreshing to find a good
old-fashioned horror movie that’s brisk, focused, and to the point, with a
relishable villain. <i>M3gan </i>is a darkly
comic disquisition on the dangers of technology that’s immensely entertaining.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The story: little Cady (Violet McGraw) loses both her
parents in an auto accident, and goes to live with her aunt Gemma (Allison
Williams), an eccentric inventor. Gemma creates interactive, robotic toys, and
is tasked by her abusive, pushy boss to create the Next Big Thing. The result
is M3gan, a robotic doll that is self-aware and can evolve on its own.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She is created as a companion for Cady, and tasked with
protecting her from physical and emotional harm. Gemma is pretty hopeless as a
parent, and M3gan fills in as a companion and support system. Unfortunately for
everyone, M3gan takes her duties very seriously. She has the mind of a
supercomputer, and very little tolerance for moral parameters.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To tell more is to spoil the fun, but be assured that M3gan’s
responses to threat rachet slowly higher and higher to and past the point of
absurdity. The film’s premise comes in part from horror maven James Wan (<i>Saw</i>, <i>Insidious</i>,
<i>The Conjuring</i>), and his sure horror
hand is in evidence here. Director Johnstone tells the story with a minimum of
fuss, and keeps the humor understated and steady throughout. The action is
toned down to PG-13 level, with no graphic shocks and only the occasional jump scare.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The real appeal is watching M3gan become self-aware, and the
bad choices that follow. In moviedom, M3gan has laready become an icon of
sorts, perfect on the outside and completely messed up within. She’s not only a
killer, she’s a killer app.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-38809824762395103782023-01-27T17:15:00.008-07:002023-01-27T17:16:17.518-07:00The NFR Project: 'Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life'<p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivL3rV1NZB5Z_dCuDDukRYDINaDcVIeF0vfRgC2V29HSt3BxMMZ6BjOlZejFL0LTsvfpdih2FK3Vmmj2wg0lWH1EohDBNM4XC29q1LuWViIYWSJbzkdY1uUMsL58aTUoFFxTjr4OXGTQ-Ps1mAfwch-KYDlGD4iIiK_9ItPOREan49Pu4iLth8MXdu/s1181/EU-PG2xUYAMuojD.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1181" data-original-width="870" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivL3rV1NZB5Z_dCuDDukRYDINaDcVIeF0vfRgC2V29HSt3BxMMZ6BjOlZejFL0LTsvfpdih2FK3Vmmj2wg0lWH1EohDBNM4XC29q1LuWViIYWSJbzkdY1uUMsL58aTUoFFxTjr4OXGTQ-Ps1mAfwch-KYDlGD4iIiK_9ItPOREan49Pu4iLth8MXdu/s320/EU-PG2xUYAMuojD.jpg" width="236" /></a></b></div><b><br />Grass: A Nation’s
Battle for Life</b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Merian C. Cooper
and Ernest Schoedsack<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Terry Ramsaye<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pho: Merian C.
Cooper, Ernest Schoedsack, and Marguerite Harrison<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Terry Ramsaye,
Richard P. Carver<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: March 20,
1925<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">71 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Grass: A Nation’s Battle
for Life </i>is one of the most extraordinary records ever put on film. It
captures a way of life thousands of years old, before modern technology
eliminated it. The second important ethnographic documentary to be released,
after Robert Flaherty’s 1922 <i>Nanook of
the North</i>, it vividly illustrates film’s ability to bring us sights we
might otherwise have never seen, lost to history forever.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Merian C. Cooper was a journalist and explorer. Ernest
Schoedsack was an adventurous cameraman. Marguerite Harrison was a journalist
and part-time spy for the U.S. Together, they conceived of making a documentary
about Kurdish tribes in Turkey, but when they got there they found the prospect
wasn’t as photogenic as they had hoped. Casting about for a subject, they came
upon word of the Bakhtiari people of southeastern Iran. After an interminable
journey across Turkey and Arabia, and after much negotiation, the three were
allowed to accompany the Baba Ahmedi tribe on their yearly migration.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The tribe, consisting of 50,000 members, and trailing half a
million horses, cattle, goats, and sheep, made the trip from the withered
grasslessness of valley summer to the high plains of the mountains every year –
a 48-day journey that involved crossing a half-mile-wide river and ascending a
12,000-foot mountain range. The grueling migration kept the flocks and herds in
fodder year-round.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The film traces this journey. The sights becoming more and
more impressive as the film goes on. To cross the River Karun, the tribesmen
must create rafts held up by inflated goat skins, and ferry their livestock and
all their possessions from one bank to another, a process taking six full days.
The extreme peril undergone by all involved is astonishing. After this comes a
climb over the mountains, through thick snow, to mountain pasturage. The
Bakhtiari hack a path through the snow with picks and shovels; the tribe makes
its way over the crest in bare feet.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All the camerawork is incredible – night shots, early in the
film, are Rembrandtian, and the rest is carefully framed and observed. (The
intertitles are jokey and condescending.) One particular shot, of thousands on
the march from the mountain pass to the plains below, stretching away for
miles, would not be equaled until the revelation of Wadi Rum in <i>Lawrence of Arabia</i>.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The incredible hardiness of the nomads is on clear display
here; it is difficult to conceive of a life lived so close to nature.
Undoubtedly, they would not be pastoralists unless necessity made them so.
Cooper and Shoedsack later considered a sequel to this film, but by that time
rail lines and roads had come into existence, making the Bakhtiaris’ travels
much easier. By and by, their migrations have lessened, become more
streamlined. With the amount of connection and advances, it is difficult to
conceive of a nomadic lifestyle persisting as recently as 100 years ago. Cooper
and Schoedsack preserved it for us. It is still compulsively watchable.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What did they do for an encore? They made <i>King Kong</i>.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><i>The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next tim</i>e:</o:p> ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan.'</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-75285889545215949302023-01-15T16:17:00.005-07:002023-01-17T16:41:24.437-07:00What's up with DC Studios?<span id="docs-internal-guid-ef8bd9d2-7fff-5f63-555c-faffbbb5e424"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCdKwvfBXmlLhTei79IA2fKCByKmgH586vlkfueD2E5LcFc8sdnVpenuB63sCIuQ0ZeZ65CKuXW3HrBTjmppAHnovqP5ytkGqc3P7RaoSdYee7jb7l4vBX7ecRCEXpgo1U-CS5Mhjz-dWp9DuPNufD1vXdmiXcHHIB01vIRHVhl9bcDShqu72iweZx/s1280/dc-studios-new-universe.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCdKwvfBXmlLhTei79IA2fKCByKmgH586vlkfueD2E5LcFc8sdnVpenuB63sCIuQ0ZeZ65CKuXW3HrBTjmppAHnovqP5ytkGqc3P7RaoSdYee7jb7l4vBX7ecRCEXpgo1U-CS5Mhjz-dWp9DuPNufD1vXdmiXcHHIB01vIRHVhl9bcDShqu72iweZx/s320/dc-studios-new-universe.webp" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />Superhero movies are still the rage, despite growing genre fatigue on the part of audiences and critics worldwide. These films are incredibly popular, and profitable. So talk of their success or failure is relative. They are not doing poorly, and they have created an immense and crowded industry to craft them.</span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By superhero movies, I mean Marvel superhero movies. The grand plan that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to reveal itself with sets of Phases that advance character and plot in a neat, tidy fashion. Marvel superhero movies have a base line of quality and high spirits that enliven even its misfire fare -- I’m looking at you, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shang-Chi</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eternals</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Morbius</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not so with DC Studios. Those responsible for the cinematic careers of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest have a much shakier record. A greater percentage of their films has done poorly. More than once, a corrective recut of a flawed film has been reissued. In fits and starts, actors have been shuffled in and out of iconic roles. Entire films, basically completed, have been scrapped (OK, a bit of a familiar story in Hollywood). Why are its superhero movies so problematic for DC?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It wasn’t always so. In the pre-CGI era, DC led the way, and produced iconic superhero films -- the original Richard Donner </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Superman</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and Tim Burton’s two </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Batman </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">films, as well as Christopher Nolan’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Batman </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">trilogy. But then there was </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Superman Returns</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, an aborted attempt to reboot the series that was later recasr as an homage sequel to the original two <i>Superman </i>movies. By that time, computer-generated imagery developed, allowing filmmakers to create visuals that could match the most extravagantly imagined superhero stories. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We dwelt in a singular narrative DC timeline from 2013’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Man of Steel </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">through the recent, disappointing </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Black Adam</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> -- the so-called Snyderverse, named for DC director Zack Snyder (some of the groundwork can be credited to Nolan and his frequent collaborator, David S. Goyer). Now, the Snyderverse is dead. James Gunn and Peter Safran are in charge now, and are developing a new slate of DC films, rebooting the narrative yet again. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few films are nearly complete and scheduled to be screened in the near future -- a </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Flash </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">film, and sequels to </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aquaman </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and Todd Phillips’ dark </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Joker</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. But the new direction or directions the studio may move in are unclear. There’s plenty of speculation on the part of fans and people in the industry as to what will come next and in what form. Why is there so much confusion?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I get the feeling that the enormity of the responsibility for bringing in a successful superhero film has intimidated rather than empowered the creative powers that be at DC. In contrast with Marvel’s lighter touch, DC’s films seem grim and grandiose. There is an odor of sanctity about the intellectual property involved, as though the reputations of Superman, Batman and the rest were too weighty to be trifled with. (Admittedly, DC has skewed darker over the decades.) Despite the astounding visuals, the plots stagger, the characters are flat (something Marvel struggles with as well), and the action leaks out through the seams. There are sweat stains on DC films.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is something lacking in creative work that rises from trepidation instead of enthusiasm. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It remains to be seen in what direction DC will head off this time. Interestingly, the silliest and most relatable of the DC heroes, Shazam! (aka the old Captain Marvel) returns in </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fury of the Gods </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">on March 17. In it, young Billy Batson, like us, is astounded by his transformation into the aforementioned, lightning-emblazoned superhero. Can DC astound rather than stupefy? We shall see.</span></p></span><p> </p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-12642785642066293072023-01-13T17:15:00.009-07:002023-01-17T16:39:44.905-07:00'Avatar: The Way of Water': Splashy<p><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghg6EVrxNJsQ_6cRuTFJxlo5RlcTba-w4Q_v3ixC0Zr9Q900WvN1EWR1AhI1VIemoSZUvDVBO2yiCMd9ZlzaMMYSOyo0dDhgwhOE9UOLbfZNEdeLbai3KWMWYexX4qHgdXiNm1ZDGSY2mkkfzRwpObaGEVsysVaB8p-lSOarBErpFTaUIZvr6BANh5/s300/avatar%20the%20way%20of%20water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghg6EVrxNJsQ_6cRuTFJxlo5RlcTba-w4Q_v3ixC0Zr9Q900WvN1EWR1AhI1VIemoSZUvDVBO2yiCMd9ZlzaMMYSOyo0dDhgwhOE9UOLbfZNEdeLbai3KWMWYexX4qHgdXiNm1ZDGSY2mkkfzRwpObaGEVsysVaB8p-lSOarBErpFTaUIZvr6BANh5/s1600/avatar%20the%20way%20of%20water.jpg" width="300" /></a></b></div><b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Avatar: the Way of Water</span></b><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-52921162-7fff-d3f4-4445-9d226109abf6"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Dir: James Cameron</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Scr: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Pho: Russell Carpenter</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Ed: David Brenner, James Cameron, John Refoua, Stephen E. Rivkin</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Premiere: Dec. 16, 2022</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>192 min.</b></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">James Cameron is driven. He makes film spectaculars, and he keeps topping himself -- and everyone else in the industry -- with his new and fanciful creations. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Terminator</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aliens</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Abyss</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Terminator 2</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Titanic</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Avatar</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. One record-breaking event after another. He seems compelled to create, literally, a new filmic landscape with each new project. We have waited for 12 years to see what’s on his mind now.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Technically, it’s a whole new ball game. Most impressively, he shoots much of his film underwater, and does so as fluently as he films above the surface. He then retools that reality with his amazing use of CGI and what must be the most advanced visual effects department in the world, crafting a new and complete ecosystem, rendered down to the most exacting details. In that sense, it is perfection itself.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a classic fantasy epic. That being said, it is one whose plot and themes a retread of previous Cameron narratives. We are once again on the beautiful, unspoiled planet of Pandora, inhabited by giant, blue, tailed, super-hippie indigenous people called the Na’vi. These noble savages (it is easy to conceive of it as </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dances with Wolves </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in outer space) are uniquely attuned to the natural world, and interact with it in perfect symbiotic harmony.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Until the %#$*(% humans show up. Yes, they’re back, and this time they’re not after Unobtanium, they’re here to colonize Pandora to escape the dying Earth. Yes, we </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Homo sapiens </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are the villains, and Cameron’s contempt for humanity was never clearer. He is agonized about our inability to stop contributing to our own environmental destruction, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Way of Water </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is very much a plea on behalf of the Earth, in cosmic trappings.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The hero of the last film, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is now a father and tribal leader. Conveniently, the evil Col. Quaritch (Stephen Lang), Jake’s nemesis, has been reborn as a Na’vi avatar as well, and he loses no time in going after Jake, the head of resistance to the human incursion. This quest for vengeance defines the rest of the film. Even the benign Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) returns, in altered form.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A flight from the dangers of being hunted leads them far away from their homeland, to another tribe that lives in sync with the ocean. What follows is about an hour of illustrating the created environment, leisuring in its wonders like a troop of travelogue-struck tourists. This guided tour of the oceanic life of Pandora does little to advance the plot, but it gives us a lot to look at and to ponder.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did I mention the magical psychic whales? There’s plenty of them. You see, they’re being hunted, illegally, as they produce a substance that stops aging (a new Unobtanium, if you will). It is this hunt and its thwarting that take up the last third of the movie, propelling us along in a fast-paced, back-and-forth manner (how often can those kids get captured? In that way, it’s remindful of </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Peter Pan</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, with Quaritch as Captain Hook.) </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So the whales and the Na’vi and the humans get it on, and it all winds up as you might expect. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So is it worth it? At three hours, the extreme vividness of the experience tends to overwhelm. It floods the senses, makes it hard to maintain focus. The middle third of the film is a stroll through visual effects. The cliche “kill your darlings” applies here. There is no one to tell Cameron if he’s gone overboard in the world-building department. His tenacious, exacting manifestation of the results of his imagination is an amazing sight. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Those looking for a new narrative experience will be disappointed. Stick around for the visuals.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-797782901194731107.post-35560143078296094332023-01-10T16:26:00.006-07:002023-01-10T16:26:48.186-07:00A bleeding-heart liberal's guide to 'Top Gun: Maverick'<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEged_OLA0l1ECXlPtL5qlH7wjeGyjK9yXfU1PX_NbSrbf1MrfgGmJfWmVedcuoLHfkI2ZVw1F9Az9e7D19V_K_1Xg53oxhaoIUnKfimo395Fy_75tedYYTe1FS6nRgd5Lzsoly5jlxcX7-GMxdK1VhxoGBSqd4WhU4A7p-vrdbERqm8_HMsZbLxgegR/s2968/unnamed-10-_wide-52629181829404f0cc1c342a2d65b8b0eb818758.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1669" data-original-width="2968" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEged_OLA0l1ECXlPtL5qlH7wjeGyjK9yXfU1PX_NbSrbf1MrfgGmJfWmVedcuoLHfkI2ZVw1F9Az9e7D19V_K_1Xg53oxhaoIUnKfimo395Fy_75tedYYTe1FS6nRgd5Lzsoly5jlxcX7-GMxdK1VhxoGBSqd4WhU4A7p-vrdbERqm8_HMsZbLxgegR/s320/unnamed-10-_wide-52629181829404f0cc1c342a2d65b8b0eb818758.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <b>Top Gun: Maverick</b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: Joseph Kosinski<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scr: Ehren Kruger,
Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Phot: Claudio Miranda<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ed: Eddie Hamilton<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Premiere: May 27,
2022<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">130 min.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 53.25pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hoo boy. Well, it’s a good thing I waited this long to see
and review this movie. That’s because it’s critic-proof. Not that many critics
disliked it. In fact, pretty much everybody loved this movie. Predictably, I
didn’t. Why?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First, I am immune to the charms of Tom Cruise. We are about
the same age, and I grew up with his movies. But somehow, his earnest and cocky
persona didn’t cause that kind of affection and admiration in me that I feel
for the great white male stars from earlier years. I know intellectually that
he has the stuff of which leading men are made, but I don’t feel it.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now he mints his greatest financial win with this film, a
sequel to the original <i>Top Gun </i>from
1986. It’s a new and improved product, engineered precisely to evoke
heart-pounding, fist-pumping ecstasy in the viewer. And, if you are a male ages
13-18, I guarantee this will provoke that.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But what if you’re older and simply have given up on the
glorification of the military and the assertion of the righteousness of
violence? If that’s true, then there’ nothing in this film for you. If you don’t
accept Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell as the World’s Greatest White Man, this
film will be an empty exercise in action virtuosity.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You see, Mitchell is still a rebel, 36 years after the first
film. He’s also still only a captain, when his friend “Iceman” (Val Kilmer) has
by now become an admiral. Why? Because he’s a rebel, dang it! He gets in
trouble all the time, and Iceman saves his bacon. This time, he’s the pilot of
a experimental craft, and by golly he flies even though he’s told not to, and
then flies it faster than it’s supposed to go, so it breaks and apart and he
bails out. What a man.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, do we see this character as an emotionally retarded man-child,
struck in Oppositional defiant disorder? No, we see him as the apogee of male
aspiration – free, irresponsible, disturbingly ageless. He indeed possesses the biggest penis in the universe.</p><p class="MsoNormal">He is reassigned to his
old combat school, the Top Gun of the title. Now he has to pull together a
ragtag assemblage of earnest and cocky youngsters who yearn to be schooled in
the Tom Cruise academy of rule-breaking charm.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It turns out they have to attack a foreign uranium-enriching
plant, run by a country that shall remain nameless (rhymes with Schmiran). This
righteous task is a deadly trip through a winding canyon, bordered by missiles,
protected by enemy fighters, with a minimal chance of success and no margin for
error! It’s basically the final sequence of <i>Star
Wars</i>, with Cruise as Luke Skywalker.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That’s right! Little old Tom Cruise goes from coaching the
jet jockeys to getting back into the game, leading the mission himself. WHOOSH!
BAM! BOOM! What do you think happens? What we would all like to have happen.
Then there’s another climax! And another!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wow. Smoke a cigarette and calm down. What else? The homoerotic
sublimation is there in spades, so there’s that. There’s Val Kilmer, the same
age as Cruise, looking old enough to be his grandfather. There’s the typical
hard-bodies-on-the-beach scene, the meditative motorcycle ride, the second
chance with an old flame. All the biggest hits are there, strung like beads on
a wire.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s a triumph of the industrial cinema. It is wired to
stimulate your pleasure zones. Unless you are like me, in which case you’ll go
back to watching your weird old foreign art films.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>BradWeishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13473472881579089861noreply@blogger.com1