2007 Repertory: Oldies but Goodies

[oscar jubis]

In this thread, I will briefly note films from the past I particularly admire (I'd rather forget mediocre movies and those that are merely "worth a look"). Most but not all of them are films I'm watching for the first time in 2007. Some are rather obscure but others are well-known and popular (movies I should have seen by now). Any type of response regarding any of these titles is highly appreciated.

ACE IN THE HOLE aka The Big Carnival (1951)

"Fuck them all! It's the best picture I ever made." (Billy Wilder)

The fact that Ace in the Hole was directed by the man who had made Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend and Sunset Boulevard was inconsequential to American filmgoers. It was perhaps Billy Wilder's biggest box office flop. "The question is whether you have the right to get people into the theatre, and they expect a cocktail and they get a shot of acid. People don't want to hear that they stink", said Wilder in retrospect. In Ace in the Hole, a cynical reporter (Kirk Douglas) delays the rescue of a man trapped in a mine shaft to create a media frenzy. Wilder reserves his most searing contempt for the growing crowd, a microcosm of America, that gathers around the cave; a bunch of thrill-seekers, voyeurs, entrepreneurs, and opportunists who feed off the disaster. Douglas and Jan Sterling, as the bitter and conspiring wife of the victim, are outstanding. Ace in the Hole is a masterpiece. It has never been released on video.

[oscar jubis]

THE SEASONS (USSR, 1975)

Artavazd Pelechian, born in Armenia in 1938, is regarded as the last master of montage to emerge from "the Soviet school". Pelechian is a documentarian who has made a dozen films of short to medium length that combine visuals and music. Like the American Frederick Wiseman, Pelechian "comments" through the editing of his films as there is no voice-over or narration. The Seasons is set in an Armenian village and concerns the clash of man and nature. The main activity of the village is sheep herding. The sheep must be taken to the other side of the river before winter arrives. This requires each sheep to be carried down a steep mountain and across the rapids one by one. It's odd, and quite spectacular to witness. Pelechian use of slow motion and Vivaldi's The Four Seasons during these sequences renders them otherworldly and sublime. This b&w film is 29 minutes long. It's not available on video.

[oscar jubis]

THE HOLLYWOOD TEN (USA/1950)

Before they served their year in jail for contempt of Congress after refusing to give testimony to the House Committee on Un-American Activities, the ten filmmakers known as the Hollywood Ten participated in this filmed manifesto. It's a 15 minute documentary that explains why the committee was formed and the hearings that took place in 1947, provides brief biographies, then each of the ten face the camera and explains how this type of inquiry goes against American values and the Constitution, and the consequences and ramifications of several possible reactions to the inquiry. The filmmakers were of course blacklisted and had great difficulty finding employment. The Hollywood Ten was directed by John Berry, who was blacklisted for his involvement in this film. It's a particularly clear-headed, direct, concise and powerful political film. It's included as an extra on the Criterion dvd of Spartacus (1960), one of the first films to "break the blacklist" when it gave a writing credit to Dalton Trumbo.

[oscar jubis]

TWENTY FOUR EYES (Japan/1954)

Kenji Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff, Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai and Mikio Naruse's Late Chrysanthemums were released in Japan in 1954. None of these masterpieces won the Japanese Academy award for Best Film that year. The winner was Keisuke Kinoshita's Twenty Four Eyes, an epic melodrama that follows the lives of a dedicated young teacher (Hideko Takamine) and her 12 pupils for two decades beginning in 1928 (when the kids enter 1st grade). The film is set in a fishing village on the Inland Sea island of Shodoshima. At first, Twenty Four Eyes concerns the clash between the young teacher's western-influenced city ways and the tradition-bound parents. Then the economy takes a downturn and Japan invades Manchuria with serious consequences for all, especially the poor villagers in the island. The film depicts with awesome eloquence and clarity the deprivations experienced by the villagers during the 1930s and 1940s, as they were victimized by Japan's imperialist aspirations. Kinoshita's film is engaging and masterfully paced, feeling much shorter than its 155-minute duration. The plight of the pacifist, idealist teacher, who watches her students beaten by poverty, disease and war, is deeply moving.
Twenty Four Eyes is available in two dvd formats: a low-priced, NTSC All-region, Hong Kong version and an expensive, PAL Region 2, UK version featuring a slightly better transfer.

[oscar jubis]

LIMELIGHT (USA/1952)

While in London to promote Limelight, the film was banned from American theaters and the great Charles Chaplin was denied re-entry to his adopted country. How ironic, in that Limelight is apolitical, a film devoid of the jabs at freewheeling capitalism one finds in his previous movie Monsieur Verdoux ("The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury"). I don't think Chaplin was completely surprised at this turn of events, given the postwar climate in the US and the activities of the HUAC and the FBI towards liberal filmmakers. Moreover, watching Limelight one senses that Chaplin knew this would become his last American film, and perhaps simply his last film. The story of the washed-up, formerly famous, still brilliant, vaudeville clown Calvero and the much younger, broken-hearted ballerina is a highly personal career summation. Limelight incorporates references to the young Chaplin (and his tramp persona) via Calvero's dreamed flashbacks. Chaplin views on art, fame, aging and death are neatly built into the plot. Limelight is sentimental, nostalgic, witty, funny and sad. Buster Keaton appears in a cameo role. Chaplin won an Oscar for Best Original Score in 1972, when Limelight finally premiered in Los Angeles.

[oscar jubis]

THE LAST THEFT (Czechoslovakia/1987)

This 21-minute vampiric flick is included on a dvd called "Labyrinth of Darkness" which collects the 8 "auteur" films made by Jiri Barta. He is considered one of the world's most important figures in animation although several of his films also use live action and The Last Theft is completely live action. Barta's animations utilize paper cut-outs, drawings, mannequins, puppets, etc. One of his most interesting films, The Vanished World of Gloves, recreates the history of cinema by animating all types of handwear; there's a Chaplinesque chase comedy, a 30s melodrama, a WWII actioner, a sci-fi/monster flick, and homages to Bunuel's L'Age d'Or and Fellini's La Dolce Vita. Barta's most celebrated work is his version of The Pied Piper of Hamelin using wooden puppets and both stuffed rats and live ones. His version is a critique of consumerism and greed with a nifty twist at the end. But my favorite Barta film is the tale of a thief who breaks into a house and gets invited to a game of dice by four creepy ghost-like creatures sitting around a table. They entice him with money, wine and luxurious comforts. The thief ends up becoming their unwilling victim. The Last Theft augments its black & white photography with selectively applied color washes. It has no dialogue but features very effective use of sound and music. It's reminiscent of German Expressionist films like Murnau's Nosferatu and Lang's Mabuse trilogy. Jiri Barta is reportedly trying to obtain financing for a feature-length version of "The Golem".

[Johann]

I saw Barta's Pied Piper at the pacific cinematheque during their "Bohemian Gothic' retro but didn't post a review.
it was quite amazing.

excellent thread oscar

[oscar jubis]

That "Bohemian Gothic" thread was quite memorable. You introduced me to the very good Valerie and her Week of Wonders by Jires, which led me to his amazing The Joke. Who Wants to Kill Jessie?, which you reviewed, is finally out on dvd! I'll be renting it soon. Check out the Barta dvd and, in case you haven't seen it, Jan Svankmajer's anarchic Lunacy (2006).

[Johann]

I agree totally about Jires and the Czech films from the 60's.
They are as good as the "nouvelle vague".
Absolutely.

Your post on Jires' The Joke is very informative and I still haven't seen it. Valerie is the only film of his I've seen and it is still held in my highest regard. One of the best screenings I've ever attended. I wish I could get that night back. It was amazing.

Czech films are astounding. There are few that I can think of that I don't like. Jiri Barta is a legend, like Svankmajer.
Track those films down.
You owe it to yourself.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Johann
I agree totally about Jires and the Czech films from the 60's.
They are as good as the "nouvelle vague".
Absolutely.

You know it man!
Back in 2004, I posted a list of the Key Films of the Czech New Wave (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=7186#post7186). I have to revise my listing of Milos Forman's Black Peter which after further review fails to measure up to the other eleven films listed. On the other hand, another viewing of Vera Chytilova's Daisies confirms my impression that it's a most freedom-loving, unhinged, brilliant masterpiece. Perhaps my favorite feminist film.

I also want to point out that the portmanteau film Pearls of the Deep, which collects five shorts based on stories by Bohumil Hrabal (the scribe who had a beer with Clinton during his official visit to Prague) is now available on dvd. Another one on my Netflix Q.

[oscar jubis]

THE ODD NUMBER (Argentina/1962)

There was ample correspondence between Argentinian writers and European film directors in the 1960s. Among the most important examples: Antonioni's Blowup, based on a story by Julio Cortazar; Bertolucci's The Spider's Stratagem, an adaptation of a story by J.L. Borges, and French and Italian versions of Bioy Casares' "La Invencion de Morel". Moreover, Alan Resnais and his screenwriter Alain Robbe-Grillet credit Casares as the inspiration for Last Year at Marienbad. Argentinian director Manuel Artin, who virtually built a career on adaptations of Julio Cortazar's short stories, was inspired to do so by Marienbad and the Resnais/Duras collaboration Hiroshima Mon Amour.

The Odd Number is a faithful adaptation of Cortazar's "Las Cartas de Mama" (Mother's Letters). It's the story of an Argentinian couple living in Paris who can't get rid of the spectre of his brother and her ex-boyfriend, who died in Buenos Aires two years earlier. The couple lead a comfortable bourgeoise existence but the guilt over the brother's death (from a prolonged illness but shortly after their wedding) torments them. The film moves back and forth between 1962 Paris (filmed on location) and 1960 Buenos Aires with smooth fluidity. The presence of the dead brother in their lives is accentuated by letters sent by his mother, who now senile has come to believe the brother is alive and coming to Paris for a visit. The odd number is, of course, three. The Odd Number carries a strong implication that the love triangle between the brothers and the girl is a recapitulation of an earlier one in which the brothers competed to take the place of the absent father in their mother's heart. It's a film of interiority in which memories and dreams take precedence over action with an excellent lead performance by Lautaro Murua. The soundtrack is strikingly modern, certainly avant-garde when the film was released.

The Odd Number was seen as part of the "Ciclo de Cine Argentino". Lamentably, it's not available on video. It was shown with English subtitles.

[oscar jubis]

ALIAS GARDELITO (Argentina/1961)

In the late 1950s and 1960s, cinema experienced a revolution against established "genre" forms of commercial cinema. In Argentina, the filmmakers involved were known as "la generacion del '60". Lautaro Murua, who was born and raised in Chile, was a key figure of the movement both as an actor and director. In Alias Gardelito, Murua directs a script by Bernardo Kordon and plays a key but secondary character. The protagonist is Toribio, who dreams of a career as a tango singer (hence the title) but engages in extortion and smuggling contraband goods to make a living. Alias Gardelito is a somber and sober look at the underworld in Buenos Aires. The film denounces the corruption at high levels and the lack of opportunities for working class youth to make an honest living. The performance by Alberto Argibay as "Gardelito" is magnificent. The outstanding b&w cinematography (with mostly location shooting) comes courtesy of Oscar Melli, another key figure of the movement.Alias Gardelito was named Best Film of 1961 by the Argentinean Film Critics Association.

[oscar jubis]

LA NINA DEL GATO (Argentina/1953)

I've known journalist/writer Adriana Bianco for about three years. She once mentioned having had an acting career in her native Argentina, which she decided to abandon when she graduated from high school. I wasn't aware until recently that she was once known as "the Shirley Temple of the Southern Cone" and that she received the Silver Condor, Argentina's most prestigious film award, as recognition for her career.

Ms. Bianco was known simply as Adrianita and the comparison to Shirley Temple is well deserved. She's so charming, cute and expressive in this, her second film. Adrianita plays "The Girl with the Cat", a poor girl trained by her alcoholic dad to pick pockets_"it's ok when they have more than they need", he tells her. The girl gets caught when she steals from a young woman who turns out to be a grifter. Adrianita is pressured to become her accomplice. La Nina del Gato shows evidence of the influence of American film noir and Italian neo-realism on Argentinean commercial cinema in the 1950s. It's quite an entertaining mix.

The film was shown as part of a retrospective and was introduced by Adrianita herself. She received a standing ovation from the large crowd that came to see her.

This is the poster for La Nina del Gato (http://www.cinenacional.com/fotos/index.php?pelicula_id=1233)

[oscar jubis]

ODD MAN OUT (UK/1947)

At least in America, few of the many admirers of Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949) have seen the British producer/director's magnificent Odd Man Out. It was the first of Reed's films to receive an Oscar nomination and the first to win a BAFTA for Best Film. Both The Third Man and Odd Man Out are set in cities dilapidated by the effects of war, Vienna and Belfast, with stunning location photography by the highly talented Australian DP Robert Krasker. The "odd man out" is an Irish Nationalist wounded during a failed robbery. While hiding and running from the authorities, he comes in contact with a variety of characters. Some attempt to take advantage of him, others lack the courage to help him, others lack the means to do so. Odd Man Out features a superb supporting cast but the film belongs to James Mason in, arguably, his best performance.

Odd Man Out was re-released in the UK last year in a new print. I was disappointed the print did not cross the Atlantic. The film isn't even available here on dvd (there's an excellent Korean dvd in NTSC format available on-line though). Turner Classic Movies will show it tomorrow at 10 a.m. Catch it if you can.

[oscar jubis]

Ryna (Romania/2005)

Ryna is a 16 year-old girl living in an ugly riverside village far from Bucharest. Ryna's tyrannical, alcoholic father forces her to shave her head, wear boy's clothes, and work at the family's mechanic shop. This feature debut of director Ruxandra Zenide is set at a point in Ryna's life when she is starting to oppose her father's rule. She starts a chaste courtship with the young postman and flirts with a French doctor who arrives to conduct anthropological research. The home environment deteriorates further after Ryna's mother gets fed up and leaves for Bucharest. Ryna has a wonderful sense of place and the rhythm of daily life in the village. The debut performance by Dorotheea Petre as Ryna is a revelation. She creates a very complex character that can't be properly described by stringing along a few adjectives. Overall, a powerful and distinctive drama.

*I've seen perhaps half a dozen Romanian films, that's all. Most of them quite memorable, including two by Lucian Pintilie: The Oak (#4, 1992 list) and An Unforgettable Summer (#15, 1994), and The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (#2, 2006). I hope to get a chance to watch Dorotheea Petre in Catalin Mitulescu's How I Spent the End of the World (2006), Radu Milhaileanu's Live and Become (2005), and 2007 Palme d'Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

Ryna went straight to dvd in the USA in 2006. A trailer is the only extra.

[oscar jubis]

THE THREE CROWNS OF THE SAILOR (Raul Ruiz/1983/France)

Tadeusz, a theology student in a Polish port city in 1958, relates how he killed his mentor and met a sailor in the street while fleeing to the train station. The sailor (Jean Bernard Guillard) offers his job on a merchant ship in exchange for three Danish crowns. The sailor takes him to a dancing hall and tells Tadeusz his life story. The sailor becomes the narrator and the film switches to color (with effective use of 2-color polarisers by DP Sacha Vierny). The sailor's story links elements of fantasy, legend, myth and folklore with daily life. It's an episodic tale that opens in Valparaiso, Chile and travels to faraway places including Dakar and Singapore.

The premise and the tales-within-tales were inspired by the poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the novel "The Night in Lisbon" by Erich Maria Remarque and informed by stories by Stevenson, Kipling and friends of Ruiz's father, a sea captain. It's a wonderfully intoxicating mix created, as explained by Ruiz, "in the spirit of bricolage". The Three Crowns of the Sailor features all kinds of patterns and correspondences between the narrative threads within it. Equally striking are the formal elements, especially deep-focus photography with a third of the frame occupied by an object inches from the camera. It reminded me of some scenes in Orson Welles' pictures but Ruiz claims he was inspired by American cartoonist Milton Caniff ("Terry and the Pirates").

[Johann]

What's "bricolage"?

I'll watch anything with Sacha Vierny as cinematographer. Someone should do a documentary on him. He contributed a lot to cinema: films with Resnais, Bunuel, Greenaway, etc.
Great directors aren't really great without visionary DP's...

[oscar jubis]

Vierny was one of the great cinematographers, wasn't he? Ten films with Alain Resnais and everything Greenaway directed between A Zed... and 8 1/2 Women. He made several films with Ruiz.
Ruiz uses the word "bricolage" to describe how he incorporates into his filmmaking process anything that's "at hand". He talks about being open to the possibilities of what's around during the shoot. This is true of both low-budget films like 3 Crowns and expensive productions like Time Regained and Klimt. Ruiz is willing to make last-minute changes to the script or to the mise-en-scene; to be spontaneous.

[oscar jubis]

OVERLORD (UK/1975)

American director Stuart Cooper and his co-writer Christopher Hudson spent years at the Imperial War Museum in London and other European archives selecting WWII footage to incorporate into the story of a fictional but average young recruit. His name is Tom Beddows (Brian Stirner), a 20 year old living with his parents in East Yorkshire. We meet him on the day he leaves home to undergo basic training in preparation for the Normandy invasion. What is truly remarkable about the film is how DP John Alcott, veteran of several Kubrick films, selects the film stock, lenses, and camera angles to match the archival footage being used. As a result, Overlord (one of the code names for the invasion), feels like a documentary even at times when the young lad is shown reminiscing or fantasizing just prior to battle. The archival material depicting bombing raids and devastation is awesome and tragic, and the experience of an "everyman" at wartime is conveyed most convincingly.

Overlord was not released in commercial theaters in the US until 2006. The film is now available on Criterion dvd with the usual extra features that enrich the experience.

[oscar jubis]

THE BIG KNIFE (USA/1955)

Robert Aldrich had just released the darkest film noir (Kiss Me Deadly) when he directed this independently produced film. It's not a noir at all, but a Hollywood-on-Hollywood tragedy faithfully based on a play by Clifford Odets. Many studio films set in Hollywood were released before (What Price Hollywood?, Sunset Blvd., In a Lonely Place, The Bad and the Beautiful) and after (The Barefoot Contessa, The Day of the Locust, The Legend of Lylah Clare). None of them serve as an indictment of the Hollywood star system and the dictatorial power of the men who run the studios quite like The Big Knife. All of it takes place in the large Beverly Hills living room of Charlie Castle (Jack Palance), a once-idealistic actor married to a woman (Ida Lupino) who loves him but has recently left him because of his philandering and his forced surrender to studio mogul Stanley Hoff. Gossip columnists, publicists, managers and studio honchos enter Castle's place as if they owned it. The Big Knife pulls no punches when showing how actors were turned into fetishistic commodities and manipulated during the Studio Era. Hoff is played by Rod Steiger as a composite character, with traits associated with Louis B. Mayer, Harry Cohn, and Jack Warner. Shelley Winters shines as a wounded wannabe starlet. Aldrich makes no attempt to soften the blow or to water down Odets' florid and poetic use of language. The jazzy score is a bit too punchy for my taste but it befits The Big Knife's angry and appalling mood.

[oscar jubis]

THE BIG COMBO (USA/1955)

Low-budget films were usually referred as "B movies" during the Studio Era. It was easier to make stylish and daring movies when the budget was low because they attracted less studio interference. Three artistically-minded directors thrived making "B movies": Edgar Ulmer, Jacques Tourneur, and Joseph H. Lewis. French New Wave directors were highly influenced and inspired by the pictures these three men made in the 40s and 50s. Lewis was a film noir specialist who made two of the best films in that genre: Gun Crazy and The Big Combo.

The Big Combo stars Cornel Wilde as a cop infatuated with the blonde lover of an elusive mob boss (Richard Conte). It's one of the sexiest and most violent films made during the 50s. It's also a quintessential film noir with the camera placed at extreme angles, high contrast between shadows and light, scenes shrouded in fog and neon, etc. Turner Classic Movies broadcasted The Big Combo recently as part of its "Screened Out: Gay Images in Film" based on how the film suggests that Conte's hit men Fante and Mingo are gay and in love with each other.

[oscar jubis]

RED ANGEL (Japan/1966)

Red as in blood and passion. Yasuzo Masumura's muse Ayako Wakao is Sakura, a 24 year-old nurse assigned to a hospital in China in 1939. She gets raped by a soldier about to be discharged and returned to the front. When this soldier comes back gravely injured, Sakura gets a reluctant doctor to perform a blood transfusion in exchange for spending the night with him (she doesn't want the rapist to think she is being vengeful). Turns out the doctor is impotent, probably as a result of morphine addiction, and simply wants Suzaku to inject him and keep him company. The medical staff can do little for the wounded soldiers besides limb amputations. Sakura takes pity on a young soldier missing both arms, who is not sent back to Japan because it would deflate public morale there. She performs sexual favors for him but falls in love with the stoic, drug-addicted doctor. Life during wartime becomes more perilous when Sakura and the doctor are sent deeper into China where Japanese troops are experiencing heavy losses.

Red Angel is a remarkable anti-war film with a strong-willed protagonist who refuses to lose her humanity under most dire circumstances. It presents an absolutely hellish view of war in b&w CinemaScope, and a frank depiction of the sexual needs of men and women. Masumura's radical mise-en-scene (radical in the context of Japanese cinema but reminiscent of Sam Fuller's war films), the brilliant performances by the whole cast, and Masumura's eloquent expression of his sociopolitical values yield one of the masterpieces of the Japanese New Wave.

Previously reviewed Japanese New Wave films:
Seijun Suzuki (Gate of Flesh (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13591#post13591), Story of a Prostitute (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13592#post13592), Princess Raccoon (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=16143#post16143))
Yasuzo Masumura (Blind Beast (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?

s=&postid=12876#post12876), Manji (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=12276#post12276))
Toshio Matsumoto (Funeral Parade of Roses (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?
s=&postid=10679#post10679))

[oscar jubis]

SPRING IN A SMALL TOWN (China/1948)

Tian Zhuangzhuang's 2002 remake of this classic drama brought it out of obscurity. In 2005, the members of the Hong Kong Film Association compiled a list of the Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures and Spring in a Small Town was number one. The film has recently become available on dvd in the USA. It's a chamber drama set shortly after WWII in the ruins a small town. Liyan, a 30-year old man who has lost his fortune and his health, lives in the dilapidated family mansion with his wife Yuwen and his cheerful 16-year old sister Xiu. The moody Liyan and his dutiful wife have slept in different rooms for several years. Liyan's spirits brighten when he receives an unexpected visit from Zichen, a dear friend he hasn't seen in 10 years. Liyan doesn't know that Zichen and Yuwen were neighbors and sweethearts once, and that they didn't marry only because of the disapproval of Yuwen's mother. In fact, Liyan believes his handsome doctor friend could make an excellent husband to his sister Xiu and asks Yuwen to serve as matchmaker.

Director Fei Mu's superb script, adapted from a short story by Li Tianji, features sparse and precise dialogue and a voice-over by Juwen that alternates between subjective, first-person confessional and objective narration. The drama is intensified by the absence of peripheral characters (except an old servant) or extras_the town is seemingly depopulated even though Yuwen goes to market daily and Xiu attends school. Spring in a Small Town takes us to the ruined walls that surround the town, Juwen's favorite place, but never peeks outside. The film conveys the plight of its heoine, trapped by duty and propriety, very effectively. It's a highly affecting piece of work by a director with obvious skills.

Wei Wei, the magnificent actress who plays the lead role, returned to acting in the 1990s after a 30 year absence. She is still active at the age of 85. Fei Mu directed China's first color film Remorse of Death (also 1948) then emigrated to Hong Kong after the communist revolution and died in 1951 at the age of 44. Spring in a Small Town was deemed "bourgeois" and banned by the party until the late 1980s.

*Both available dvd versions of the film are taken from the same print, which needs major restoration. Readjust your expectations of what a film from 1948 looks like on dvd and cherish the fact that it's been made available for home viewing.

[oscar jubis]

FACES OF CHILDREN (Switzerland-France/1925)

My first encounter with the films of the Belgian director Jacques Feyder were the clips from his silent films shown in the remarkable documentary Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood (1996). Until this week, the only Feyder film I had seen was his American film Anna Christie starring Greta Garbo. Last October, Image Entertainment released a box titled: "Rediscover Jacques Feyder: French Film Master". It consists of three discs: Queen of Atlantis, Crainquebille and Faces of Children, which many consider the best of these three silent works. It concerns a 10 year-old boy having great difficulty adjusting to the death of his mother and, subsequently, to her father's marriage to a widow who has a daughter. What makes Faces of Children particularly accomplished is the location photography shot on location in the Swiss Alps (including a stunning avalanche sequence) and the performance by the young actor Jean Forest (who debuted in Feyder's Crainquebille). Forest retired from acting in 1935 at the age of 22.

[oscar jubis]

FAT CITY (USA/1972)

John Huston's adaptation of the titular novel by Leonard Gardner was well-received at its Cannes premiere. When it was released in the States, it got uniformly excellent reviews. It was a flop.

"My God, what happened? Why didn't anybody see it? So they took out an ad in the LA Times, full-page ad, signed by hundreds of movie stars. Paul Newman and all kinds of people urging you to go see this picture. They re-released it. Guess what? Nobody went to see it. It's a cult film. Nobody wants to know about failure." (Cinematographer Conrad Hall).

John Huston had been making films about failure for over 30 years. Great films about losers like the prospectors looking for The Treasure of Sierra Madre and the adventurers in The Man Who Would Be King. One can sense from the start that Stacy Keach's tentative comeback as a boxer in the amateur circuit is doomed to fail and that teenage wanna-be Jeff Bridges won't amount to much. They will never make it to "fat city". Their environment, the underbelly of Stockton, California is rendered with pungency and amazing detail by Huston and Hall (American Beauty, In Cold Blood). The pictures exudes a gritty realism and a complete lack of artistic compromises. Candy Clark (soon to become famous in American Grafitti) and the bizarre, edgy Susan Tyrrell are both wonderful in supporting roles. Tyrrell got an Oscar nomination, a rare moment of mainstream acceptance for the decidedly unconventional actress. The film captures the downbeat historical period in which it was released yet nothing about it has dated at all.

[oscar jubis]

MON ONCLE ANTOINE (Canada/1971)

This film directed by Claude Jutra has been chosen as the Best Canadian Film of All Time in three separate polls of Canadian critics and academics _the latest poll was conducted in 2004. Runners-up: Jesus de Montreal ('88), The Sweet Hereafter ('97), Goin' Down the Road ('70), Atanarjuat (2002). Mon Oncle Antoine was also the Grand Prize winner at the 1971 Chicago Film Festival.

It's a coming-of-age film about a 14 year-old orphan named Benoit who has lived for an unspecified amount of time with foster parents Cecile and Antoine. They run a general store in a mining village in Quebec in the late 1940s. The store is a gathering place for the community, particularly during the Christmas holidays. Mon Oncle Antoine is both a sprawling portrait of village life and an intimate account of how Benoit gains awareness of the plights of the adults around him and confronts his own mortality. Benoit accompanies his "uncle" Antoine, who doubles as village undertaker, to retrieve the body of a teenage boy who has died in a remote homestead. The hazardous trip on sled provides a formative experience to the boy.

Screenwriter Clement Petron writes from personal experience, with a perceptive eye for the foibles and heartbreaks of the villagers. Jutra's apprenticeship with the likes of Jean Rouch in France is evident in the documentary feel of several scenes. He also plays the pivotal role of Cecile's lover. Jutra made several interesting films in his 25 year directorial career but most are very hard to find. He developed early-onset Alzheimer's and commited suicide by drowning, like the protagonist of his film A Tout Prende. He was only 56 years old.

[oscar jubis]

CANYON PASSAGE (USA/1946)

Director Jacques Tourneur became famous for his poetic dramas of the supernatural billed as "horror" and given inappropriate titles by the studio for box-office's sake. Films like I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man. He directed one of the classic film noirs, Out of the Past and a nifty iron-curtain thriller, Berlin Express. Familiarity with his remarkable career reveals a filmmaker as versatile as Howard Hawks. Period dramas like Stars in my Crown and westerns like Wichita and Canyon Passage are just as worthy of praise as the earlier films. Lamentably, to a large number of classic film aficionados, they remain unknown quantities.

Canyon Passage is his first color film, a Western as the title implies, set in 1856 Oregon with no canyons in sight (probably another studio-imposed title). Logan (Dana Andrews), a mule train owner, is robbed of a gold shipment while sleeping in a Portland hotel. He thinks the bandit was Honey Bragg, whom he believes had earlier killed two miners, though their murders were blamed on local Indians. Logan escorts Lucy (Susan Hayward), the fiancée of his friend George (Brian Donlevy), to the mining town of Jacksonville. They stop at the ranch of Ben Dance and his family. Logan gives a locket to Caroline, an English immigrant staying with the Dances, though Lucy doubts his serious intentions. Upon his arrival in Jacksonville, Lucy chastises George for his gambling, unaware that the problem is so severe that the banker is embezzling funds to cover his losses.

There's something of John Ford in Tourneur's rich depiction of communities, the forces that threaten to divide them and those that foster cohesion (the scene in which the whole pioneer community raise a cabin for a newly-wed couple is justly famous). Conflicts involving the nature of business and different approaches to justice are weaved into the plot gracefully. And of course, like every Tourneur picture, Canyon Passage displays his unique lighting schemes and masterful eye for frame composition. It's another beautiful and substantive film from a master filmmaker.

[oscar jubis]

THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE (USA/1970)

Sam Peckinpah earned the moniker "Bloody Sam" with the release of The Wild Bunch in 1969. It was controversial but it made a lot of money for Columbia. The studio executives were not happy with this soulful, romantic and funny western. They failed to publicize it and let it die a quick death. It's the story of grizzled frontiersman Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) who's robbed and left to die in the desert. Luckily, he finds a water spring 20 miles from the nearest town, on the stagecoach line, and turns it into a rest stop. He befriends a passing preacher, a young handsome guy who uses his power of oratory to seduce young women, and falls in love with an independent prostitute (Stella Stevens) in town. The opportunity for revenge will manifest itself but Cable is a most reluctant avenger. Peckinpah celebrates the pioneering spirit of his ancestors with warmth and lyricism. Robards and Stevens were never better than here. The recent dvd release is finally giving The Ballad of Cable Hogue deserved exposure.

[oscar jubis]

ASCENT TO HEAVEN aka Mexican Bus Ride (Mexico/1951)

For decades, Bunuel's appreciation has been based primarily on his French language films whereas most of his Spanish language and both English language films languised in relative obscurity. A major retrospective and several dvd releases over the past three years have facilitated a more comprehensive assessment of the Spanish master's amazing career.

Ascent to Heaven, a film set in coastal areas of Guerrero province, was proposed to Bunuel by Manuel Altoaguirre, an exiled Spanish poet. He based the plot on observations made during a trip through the region with his eccentric Cuban wife. The characters are residents of a remote village who must travel a long distance by bus to a town where they can sell their wares, get medical care, and have access to many services unavailable in their tiny village. Oliverio, the central character, is a young newlywed sent by his ailing, widowed mother to fetch a lawyer. She wants to write a will to prevent her greedy older sons from taking sole possession of her property. Among the travelers, a pregnant woman, a political candidate, and a voluptuous girl (the charming and sexy Lilia Prado) who intends to seduce Oliveiro at all costs. It's a road film that combines comedy and high drama and provides an ethnographic portrait of the region. Ascent to Heaven is a close cousin of the films about poor and working class folk being made in Italy at the time, but it adds a satiric edge and a marvelous surreal sequence that are pure Bunuel.

*Ascent to Heaven (Subida al Cielo) is now available on a dvd made in Mexico for both region 1 and region 4. It has excellent, easy-to-read English subtitles. Bunuel's American masterpiece, The Young One (1960), was released in the US last tuesday.

[oscar jubis]

LOVE ME TONIGHT (USA/1932)

Maurice Chevalier had become quite a star at Paramount Studios under the direction of Ernst Lubitsch (The Love Parade, The Smiling Lieutenant, One Hour With You) . The premier director of romantic comedies and operettas was preparing to shoot one of his masterpieces, Trouble in Paradise, so the producers suggested Armenia-born Rouben Mamoulian. He had just had a huge success at the helm of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Chevalier was skeptical because Mamoulian had never directed a musical, but a meeting with the director provided reassurance. This third pairing of Chevalier and the beautiful Jeanette MacDonald is now referred as "the best musical of the 1930s" and perhaps Chevalier's best vehicle.

Love Me Tonight is based on a French play by Paul Armont, a twist on the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty and Prince Charming. Chevalier is Maurice, a lusty tailor who travels to a countryside chateau to collect monies owed by a viscount to a number of Parisian tradesmen. To avoid embarrasment, the viscount (comedian Charlie Ruggles) introduces Maurice as a friend and a baron. Maurice plays along because, outside the chateau, he met and fell in love with a lovelorn princess (MacDonald) and plans to woo her. The direction by Mamoulian, who alternated between film and stage, is unrelentingly innovative, featuring a highly mobile camera, a rare early zoom shot, split screen, fast and slow motion sequences, and unusual camera angles. One of the early musical numbers is often referred as among the best ever filmed, as the tune of "Isn't It Romantic?" travels from a tailor shop to a taxi cab, to a moving train, to a marching platoon of soldiers and to a gypsy caravan until it reaches the chambers of the love-deprived princess. The already established chemistry between Chevalier and MacDonald is undeniable, and the supporting cast (including a young Mirna Loy) is first class. Most of the music score and the wonderful songs were written by Rodgers and Hart. Standouts include "Mimi", the dreamy title tune, and the hilariously witty "The Son of a Gun is Nothing but a Tailor".

[cinemabon]

This post is such an eye-opener, Oscar. I graduated in 1970 and notice titles completely foreign to me. I only recognize "Love Me Tonight" because my girlfriend forbid me to see a Maurice Chevalier film. I asked her why. "That collaborator!" she accused at the time (this was thirty years ago, but now I recall). Is it true he had some dealings with the German's during WWII?

[oscar jubis]

I'm glad you find this thread valuable. I no longer have time to post about everything I watch (as I did in 2005). The films I review here are the ones I really like that I haven't seen before or that I haven't seen in the past twenty years. Thus any interest in them is doubly appreciated.

Besides Love Me Tonight, I'm a huge fan of the films Chevalier made with Ernst Lubitsch around the same time. I have to check wether they're available on dvd like Love Me Tonight. By the way, I'd like to mention that the version of the film now available is the print re-released in the 40s, when the original version, released in the more permissive early-1930s, was subjected to a number of cuts by the censors.

FROM WIKIPIDEA:
"During World War II, Chevalier kept performing for audiences, even German soldiers. He admired Philippe Pétain, who led the collaborating Vichy regime during the war. (It must be stated that many Frenchmen at that time admired Pétain for his victories in World War I.) He moved to Cannes where he and his Jewish wife, Nita Ray, lived and where he gave several performances.

The Nazis asked Chevalier if he wanted to perform in Berlin and sing for the collaborating radio station Radio-Paris. He refused, but did give several performances in front of prisoners of war in Germany where he succeeded in liberating ten people in exchange. In 1944 when the Allied forces freed France, Chevalier was accused of collaborationism. Even though he was formally acquitted of these charges, the English-speaking press remained very hostile and he was refused a visa for several years."

[oscar jubis]

HEAVEN CAN WAIT (USA/1943)

Maverick director Ernst Lubitsch's first color picture and his last collaboration with renowned screewriter Sam Raphaelson. A most unfashionable movie to be released during the conservative and jingoistic 1940s in America. The "hero" is a spoiled, rich man who champions hedonism and makes no attempt to accomplish anything. He is Henry van Cleeve (Don Ameche) and we meet him at hell's lobby, shortly after his death. Henry figures he belongs there and offers evidence to "His Excellency" in one long, episodic flashback.

The first half of Heaven Can Wait is as witty and funny as Trouble in Paradise and Design for Living. The second half is less so. Lubitsch serves up a piercingly insightful examination of what happens to a man whose worth and security is based on his ability to charm and seduce women as he ages and becomes less attractive. He achieves a sublime, bittersweet tone and a thoughtful ambivalence towards his protagonist (rumored to share some of the director's proclivities). Heaven Can Wait was poorly received in the heartland and flopped at the box office despite wonderful performances by Don Ameche and the underrated Gene Tierney. Heaven Can Wait has steadily acquired a reputation as Ernst Lubitsch's last masterpiece. Like many of the medium's best products, it was released at a time when its potential audience was not ready to appreciate it.

[oscar jubis]

OLD HEIDELBERG (USA/1927)

This Ernst Lubitsch film is the best of many versions based on the novel "Karl Heinrich" by Wilhelm Meyer-Foster. It was turned into a famous operetta called "The Student Prince" and re-released by MGM with that title during the 40s and 50s. It's the story of Karl Heinrich, the heir to the throne of Karlsburg, who is separated from his mother at age 10 by his uncle, the King, and home-schooled at the Royal Palace. The prince (Mexican-born Ramon Novarro) is lonely and isolated until he finishes high school, when he is sent, along with his beloved tutor, to university in Heidelberg. The prince falls in love with enchanting barmaid/innkeeper Kathi (Canadian-born Norma Shearer) and discovers the joys of friendship and beer-drinking. Then the King's declining health and an arranged "marriage of state" threaten the prince's happiness.

Old Heidelberg is simply lovely. It achieves sublime poignancy when the prince returns briefly to Heidelberg prior to asuming the throne. He seeks informal camaraderie fom his college buddies but they regard him with respect and reverence. An older couple remarks "It must be great to be a King" but the expression in Novarro's face is resigned and mournful. Novarro and Shearer were never more appealing than as the tragic couple here. Their love scene in a field of waving grasses and daisy-studded hills is glorious and unforgettable.

Old Heidelberg was the centerpiece of the last edition of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. It was reportedly a huge hit with the contemporary audience. It's available on vhs and laser disc (if you can find it).

[Chris Knipp]

Heaven Can Wait.

I guess the 1978 Warren Beatty/Buck Henry film of the same title is not based on this original but on Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) ?

[oscar jubis]

Exactly. Harry Segall's play "Heaven Can Wait" is the literary source for three movies: Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Down to Earth (1941) and Heaven Can Wait (1978) not the Lubitsch film of the same title (which is in my opinion the best, but not the funniest of them all). What bothers me about Here Comes Mr. Jordan is that I didn't "buy" Robert Montgomery as a boxer whereas Beatty does look like the quaterback he plays, who gets to heaven as a result of a mistake by messenger of death/heavenly escort #7013.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for this clarification, which may be useful to our readers.

[cinemabon]

"A guy named Joe" uses a similar plot device (which Steven Spielberg later remade as "Always") where the dead guy comes back to earth from heaven and affects the outcomes of the living. This same plot device is also used in "It's a wonderful life" with Clarence the angel saving George Bailey from committing suicide. Hollywood often uses angels as plot devices (Death takes a holiday, Meet Joe Black, What Dreams may come, City of Angels, Michael, etc). However, I like the Buck Henry script better than most of the others (Warren Beatty's version). He gave Jack Warden some wonderful lines which the veteran actor turned into a lucrative and career-saving role. Buck appeared on John Stewart this week, coming off with the same charm and wit that earned him two Oscar nominations years ago (Heaven Can Wait and The Graduate) and made me laugh very hard this week when Henry compared the 'milk' of candidates (9/24/07).


http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/player.jhtml?ml_video=&ml_collection=&ml_gateway=&ml_gateway_id=23786&ml_comedian=&ml_runtime=&ml_context=show&ml_origin_url=/shows/the_daily_show/index.jhtml&ml_playlist=&lnk=&is_large=true

[oscar jubis]

The script of Heaven Can Wait (1978) was mostly written by the great Elaine May (1932-) with some input from Mr. Beatty. Ms. May seems to have been forgotten and I take the opportunity to praise her work here. Her masterpiece is probably Mikey and Nicky (1976), which she wrote and directed. A film starring John Cassavetes, Peter Falk and Ned Beatty which has not been seen by a large enough audience. I bought the vhs ages ago and watch it periodically. I don't know if it's available on dvd but it ought to be. Ms. May wrote and directed the excellent A New Leaf, directed Neil Simon's best screenplay (The Heartbreak Kid, which has been remade with Ben Stiller in the lead and comes out Friday), and also wrote the screenplay for Primary Colors. Ms. May's demise was caused by Ishtar flopping at the box office in 1987. Ishtar has been much maligned by the critics, largely in response to Warren Beatty's disdainful attitude towards the press (as documented by Jonathan Rosenbaum) and by audiences who didn't "get" that the songs are deliberately bad. Ishtar is not a great movie but it's worth watching. It's satire of American policy in the Middle East would probably be more welcome now than during its release twenty years ago.

[Chris Knipp]

I didn't like Heaven Can Wait much, but the trouble is that that kind of deus ex machina from heaven thing doesn't appeal much to my rationalistic mind. I ought to see it again some time, and my admiration for Beatty continues to grow. May and Nichols were a great team, and they've done important work separately too. I'm developing an aversion to Stiller, but I hope he redeems himself after a string of crap comedies. Ishtar was interesting; it would probably as you suggest be even more interesting to watch it again today.

[oscar jubis]

Rosenbaum was about right when calling HCW ('78) charming, likable, but not very profound. Not worth revisiting for you perhaps, as you're not inclined to like this type of fantastic premise. I've enjoyed my two viewings but I prefer May's three other 70s movies.

May and Nichols were indeed a great team, but she was equally great, most of the time, when working alone and with others.

I have no problem with Stiller when the script and direction are good.

Ishtar was interesting; more interesting to my sensibility than "safer", more conventional and, perhaps, "better" comedies.

[Chris Knipp]

Stiller has been in one or two good movies I guess, but his appetite for junk is off-putting. His record as a writer and a director may be better than as an actor.

I'm not sure what you're referring to with Elaine May. Her record has been somewhat limited and she doesn't seem to have done anything during the laqst seven years or so. Mike Nichols has done some very significant work as a director even recently.

[oscar jubis]

It's true that May hasn't done anything since her well regarded performance in Small Time Crooks and that her filmography is limited. But Mikey and Nicky, which is entirely hers, is a better film than anything Nichols has ever done. And her A New Leaf is as good as The Graduate or Carnal Knowledge or anything Nichols directed.

[Chris Knipp]

Those are large claims, my friend. I would have to see that to say.

[cinemabon]

I hate to enter the fracas but that is an awful boast, Oscar. Better than the Graduate? I like Elaine May. I would say Elaine is a brilliant writer. I watched them on the Sullivan Show years ago (the team of Nichols and May). But Mike Nichols directed "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" "Silkwood" "Catch 22" "Angels in America" "The Graduate" "Primary Colors" etc. That Mike Nichols? Are you saying that Elaine May is better than that Mike Nichols? I'm confused. If so, what is your proof?

[oscar jubis]

What I'm saying is very specific and clear, dear sirs.
I think Mikey and Nicky is better than any of those good Nichols films you listed and A New Leaf is just as good as them. No proof, just my opinion, and of course I've seen them all. I don't know if that makes May "better" than Nichols because he made more good movies than she did. But none of them is as great as May's masterpiece.

[cinemabon]

I just watched "Working Girl" and rediscovered what makes this rather dated "eighties" flick still relevant despite the hair. It has great heart. Don't get me wrong, Oscar. You are a great wit, intelligent, and I really think this should be in the guilty pleasures post (plus you've been very supportive to me).

So whose to say Elaine May isn't great? Not me.

[oscar jubis]

Thanks for the very kind words, cinemabon. I appreciate Mr. Nichols as a director who specializes in adapting texts by others to the screen. He is uniformly good. I think of Working Girl as a modern-day fairy tale in which Melanie Griffiths realizes her full potential as an actress with her characteristic charm and grace.

Ms. May has always been recognized as a great talent ( at least during the 70s). Time magazine called A New Leaf one of the funniest, most startling comedies of the decade. Dave Kehr referred to Mikey and Nicky as "one of the most innovative, engaging and insightful films" of the 70s. These are films she wrote, directed and edited. They show a unique vision of the world and human relationships. Her take on male friendship (M & N) is extremely sharp, realistic and nuanced. It's perhaps not a film "for the masses" though, as it doesn't conform to the average viewer's conception of escapist entertainment. And it probably lacks the polish of slick Hollywood product, which I actually appreciate.

[oscar jubis]

ANNA AND THE WOLVES (Spain/1973)

After appearing in Dr. Zhivago, Geraldine Chaplin stayed in Europe, and visited Madrid. He met director Carlos Saura and decided to stay. Ms. Chaplin became Saura's lover and muse. She appeard in every film he made between 1967 and 1979. As great as Saura's more recent musical films and biographical essays are, I am particularly fond of the dramas he made in collaboration with Ms. Chaplin. Most of these could reasonably be labeled political allegories. Ms. Chaplin has referred to Saura during the era prior to Franco's death as an "intellectual contorsionist", in that he had to find ways to critique Spanish institutions while being subjected to strict state censorship.

Chaplin is Anna, an American girl traveling through Europe. She gets a job as a nanny of three girls. She arrives at a country estate and meets the family. The focus of the film is Ana in relationship with the three brothers who live there. Juan is the father of the kids and married to a seemingly frigid and suicidal woman. He has a "head full of semen" says his brother Jose, as he typically and relentlessly attempts to seduce Anna. Jose is a domineering, short and bald man, obsessed with order and discipline; a collector of military uniforms. Fernando (the magnificent Fernando Fernan Gomez) is a reclusive type who has decided to lead the ascetic life of a monk within the confines of a nearby cavern. The characterization of the three men is psychologically detailed but each is clearly meant to represent societal vices and institutional malaise.

Anna and the Wolves was banned in Spain by the Franco regime for nine months. It's not one of several Saura films of the period to win major awards at the Berlinale (The Hunt, Faster,Faster, Peppermint Frappe) or Cannes (Cria, Cousin Angelica) but it deserves to be mentioned among them. Some might actually like it more than the award-winners because of its ideological clarity and a most devastating and unforgettable ending.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks a lot. Did not know that about Geraldine Chaplin. Is this on US DVD? Netflix?

[Johann]

Did you know that Kubrick never missed a Carlos Saura film?
He loved every film he made.
source: Charlie Rose show with Christiane Kubrick, Jan Harlan & Martin Scorsese to promote the doc "A Life in Pictures"

Harlan says he never missed a Woody Allen or Scorsese film either. He explained how huge a cinephile Kubrick was- he watched everything he could get his hands on, and the bad films created a shame: "I hope I don't get caught watching this.."
Marty Scorsese was relieved to hear that. I guess he gets embarrased too when sitting in front of a shitty film.

Watch the 1 hour program on youtube. It's excellent.

[oscar jubis]

*I didn't know Kubrick liked Saura's films so much but I'm not surprised at all. They even have a similar backgrounds, artistically speaking. They're both photographers-turned-filmmakers. Kubrick sold an unsolicited picture to Life magazine at age 16! Saura traveled around remore areas of Spain in his late teens/early 20s and published a book of the amazing photographs he took along the way.

*Chris, I should have specified I watched Anna and the Wolves on a Spanish dvd not available elsewhere. Unlike Peppermint Frappe, Mama Turns 100, and The Garden of Delights, Anna wasn't even released on vhs in the States. Same goes for Cousin Angelica, which I'll be viewing and reviewing soon. The dvd I recommend is the Criterion edition of Cria, still my fave Saura film, which includes an excellent biographical documentary about Saura.

[Chris Knipp]

Okay, I put Cria on my Netflix queue. They list it as Cria Cuervos.

[Johann]

Cria! is a Masterwork, an absolute must-see.
Please let us know what you think when you see it Chris.
I can't see how anyone wouldn't like it.

Saura captured something there.
I can't put my finger on it but he really captured something.
The song Porque te Vas- good God is that awesome.

Oh Ana Torrent
Angel Child

[oscar jubis]

THE CHESS PLAYERS (India/1977)

Those familiar with Satyajit Ray only through his b&w, neorealist Apu Trilogy won't believe their eyes. Here's a lush, brightly colored, political satire set in 1856 that's been rarely seen, at least in the West. Ray, as is customary, scored the music, directed and wrote the script_based on a story by the legendary Munchi Premchand. The narrative alternates between two threads. One is a picaresque tale of two "landed gentry" who are obsessed with chess to the complete neglect of their wives. They are Mirza and Meer, and they are completely oblivious to the world around them. They live solely to satisfy their desires, in the city of Lucknow, located in Oudh, the only Indian province not under British management. The second thread concerns the maneuvers between Oudh's King Wajid and the Governor General seeking to void a decade-old treaty with Wajid and have him abdicate the throne. That the King is a poet and art lover provides a rationale for Ray to regale us brief poetry recitations and a gorgeous dance sequence. The Chess Players is a feast for the senses, with beautiful sets, costumes, and music throughout. It's also an engaging history lesson within a critique of politically-passive narcissism.

[oscar jubis]

MERRY-GO-ROUND (1923)
QUEEN KELLY (Finished in 1929, not released until 1932, and only in Europe)

Erich von Stroheim was, arguably, the best filmmaker working in Hollywood during the silent era. This Viennese Jew, who converted to Catholicism and assumed a bogus aristocratic background upon arriving in America, had a consistently epic vision. He was the prototype uncompromising iconoclast and tortured artiste. He aimed to create a monumental object d'art everytime. Greed and Foolish Wives are unquestionable masterpieces even though, like every film he directed, they no longer exist as originally intended by Stroheim. When he was allowed to complete a film, it was invariably mutilated and abbreviated by the producer. Other times, he was fired before completion (Merry-Go-Round) or the film had to be reconfigured because the money dried out (Queen Kelly). Every single film he directed provides evidence of genius and was, potentially, an enduring masterpiece (this is supported not only by the two masterpieces that remain, or the masterful parts in several other films, but also because the original scripts and shooting schedules of the would-be classics are available today for our scrutiny).

Stroheim was in constant conflict with "Hollywood" because of his extravagant spending, artistic grandeur, obsessive perfectionism and European sensibilities. His vision of cinema as an art form clashed with many a producer's shortsightedness and focus on "making a quick buck". On the other hand, there's no doubt that Stroheim would have managed to achieve more, would have been allowed to continue directing, if he had learned to be practical, disciplined and diplomatic.

What fascinates me most about Stroheim is probably his ability to combine the intimate and the epic. He knew precisely how to tell a love story, often an unconventional one, and to simultaneously turn the community or society (or in the case of Greed, humankind) into a major character. Among his major themes: the extremes of passion and its consequences, the irony of honor, and the contrast between old-world decadence and American naivete. There were many directors merely interested in shooting the actors playing their roles, and maintaining narrative clarity. Stroheim had the rare ability to convey the characters' interiority, what they were thinking and feeling, by means of expressive camera placement, crosscutting, parallel actions, setting, and symbolic objects.

Both Merry-Go-Round and Queen Kelly concern an engaged wealthy man who genuinely falls in love with an innocent commoner. Both also provide a comprehensive vision of life and society. Both are essential viewing if you like silent films. Merry-Go-Round is absolutely brilliant for the first half hour or so (directed by Stroheim) and intermittently brilliant from then on, depending on the extent to which Stroheim's replacement Rupert Julian adhered to Stroheim's script and directions. But not even Julian's inconsistent directing can negate the Merry-Go-Round's acute and ironic observations about the breakdown of the social structure in Vienna following WWII.

Queen Kelly is even better, and available in a version that consists only of Stroheim's footage (an ending commissioned by star Gloria Swanson and shot by Richard Boleslawsky has been removed and included as an extra on the dvd of the film). However, the film has, in my opinion, a significant flaw. Gloria Swanson was, at age 31, too old and sophisticated to play Patricia Kelly at the early stages of the plot, when she's an orphaned teenager living in a convent. Otherwise, it's an engaging, riventing story of innocence corrupted, and a dazzling display of ingenious filmmaking by Erich von Stroheim. Queen Kelly resembles, and had an obvious influence, on Sternberg-Dietrich collaborations like Shanghai Express and The Scarlet Empress.

[Johann]

Awesome Oscar.

Erich von Stroheim should never be forgotten.
I love all his films.
He aimed high everytime and almost always suceeded.
Please watch The Merry Widow if you haven't already-it's pure greatness.

[oscar jubis]

It's odd isn't it, that the most commercially successful Stroheim movie is one of the most difficult to find. Apparently TCM has shown it before but there are no plans, as far as I know, for a home video release. I would absolutely love to see The Merry Widow. I have seen Ernst Lubitsch's sound version (1934).
Thanks for the tip. You probably watched it at the Cinematheque, right?

[cinemabon]

Stroheim relished playing 'himself' in "Sunset Boulevard" the stern director with the megaphone, eyes fixed on the actress as she casts a spell over the crew with her performance. However, the real Stroheim was quite the opposite of his on screen persona; an artisan with an expert eye for beauty. Very good, Oscar.

[Johann]

Originally posted by oscar jubis
You probably watched it at the Cinematheque, right?

No, I watched it at home in 2005, with a vhs tape from the Vancouver Public Library, and I haven't really seen it anywhere else..

[Chris Knipp]

Very informative discussion, thanks, Oscar. The Ray Chess Players review was also a new angle.

[oscar jubis]

Thanks for the responses guys!

*On TCM, one can vote for any film to be released on dvd. I voted for The Merry Widow. My library doesn't have the film on vhs, but I will continue searching for a copy now that I know it exists.

*The film Sunset Blvd.'s Joe and Norma watch in a screening room is Queen Kelly. Stroheim had a long acting career. One of his favorite roles had to be the aristocratic Captain he plays in Renoir's Grand Illusion. He was fascinated with both the aristocracy and the military, more so because he couldn't join either in real life.

*More Rays and Sauras pending, maybe for early next year.

*Since we discussed Mike Nichols in this thread, it's perhaps appropriate to express what follows here. He's got a new adaptation coming out on Xmas. Lamentably it's George Crile's lighthearted and comedic take on our country's largest covert foreign policy operation. Crile's book was criticized as (perhaps inadvertent) hero worship. It views corrupt politicians in a very sympathetic light. The film makes it worse by casting everyman, Mr. Nice Guy Tom Hanks and America's Sweetheart Julia Roberts in the lead roles. I didn't know anything about this until after I disgustedly watched the trailer for the film and experienced the audience's warm reaction to it. The film (and book) is called Charlie Wilson's War.

[oscar jubis]

THE CROWD (1928)

King Vidor, a director who made a smooth transition from silents to sound pictures, is often associated with films with epic scope. Prominent among them the silent The Big Parade and the talkies Duel in the Sun and The Fountainhead. On the other hand, The Crowd is the intimate story of an ambitious but ordinary man who travels to New York City to become a success. Vidor uses his signature rapidly rising and dropping crane shots to situate Johnny, the protagonist, among the masses of people in the streets and in a huge office in which he is one of hundreds of insurance clerks looking for advancement. Vidor uses low and high-angle framing to denote hierarchy, and achieves maximum realism by filming in real locations (Manhattan, Coney Island, Niagara Falls).

What's most remarkable about The Crowd is that it's a story of failure. A deeply poignant one. Johnny may be ambitious but he is not talented enough to deserve a raise. He doesn't get it, and he grows despondent, and his marriage to Mary (Eleanor Boardman) suffers because of it. Boardman and James Murray give outstanding performances. Murray in particular is pitifully perfect. Pitifully because his real life proved to be a tragically intensified version of his best role. In 1936, at the age of 35, he was fished out of the Hudson River after spending the last few years of his life as a bum and an alcoholic.

[cinemabon]

I read with interest your review and became curious about Murray. King Vidor so obsessed with Murray's death, he wrote a script called, "The Actor" which never went past development. The director tried several times but finally gave up on the project in 1979. One of my King Vidor favorites is "Man Without a Star," a Kirk Douglas vehicle, with a great cast. "Duel in the Sun" is probably his best film, though. Trivia: Nominated five times, he never won the coveted Oscar. To this day, "The Crowd" is considered a critical masterpiece. Irving Thalberg called James Murray, 'the finest natural actor I ever saw.' Like so many, he could not handle the pressures of fame. He found solace in alcohol and drank himself to an early death, some say possibly murdered when pushed into the Hudson River off a dock during a drunken stupor.

[oscar jubis]

Richard and Linda Thompson's song "Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?" comes to mind. We'll never know. Thanks for the info, cinemabon.
You know, there's a wonderful scene in The Crowd in which Johnny is about to jump into the Hudson River. Johnny also gets drunk to deal with embarrassment and shame after his brothers-in-law pay a visit and humiliate him. I suppose there are more parallels between the role and the actor. I find it interesting that Murray failed to show up for his audition after Vidor offered him the part. Apparently, he was not a confident man. Maybe he didn't feel capable or deserving. Vidor apparently had to search for him and insist. I also read that Vidor tried to encourage Murray to shape up years after the release of The Crowd but, obviously, did not succeed.

[Johann]

Haven't seen The Crowd in about 8 years but your posts have refreshed my memory.
Didn't know about James Murray's fate.
Definitely puts a new light on the movie.

Once again, thanks for the great info.

[oscar jubis]

I'm glad you've seen The Crowd. My other favorite is The Big Parade, mostly about a soldier's relationship with a French woman during WWI. Even when the material isn't good, King Vidor's direction transcends it. The tear-jerking of Stella Dallas, the camp of Beyond the Forest and the racism of Northwest Passage are somehow made tolerable under Vidor's supervision.

Like cinemabon, I like Duel in the Sun very much (but less than the two above-mentioned silents). I haven't seen Man Without a Star yet, as well as too many other Vidor films. Next on my schedule: his first talkie, with an all-black cast. It's called Hallelujah and it's reputed to be quite good.

[oscar jubis]

THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND (1936)

The prisoner is Samuel Mudd, the southern doctor who provided medical treatment to John Wilkes Booth after the latter assassinated president Lincoln and briefly escaped capture. Then Booth was killed while resisting arrest and several men were charged with conspiracy, Mudd among them. He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life at a penal colony in one of the Dry Tortuga Islands, off the southern tip of Florida.

The Prisoner of Shark Island was one of the earliest and best collaborations between Fox's Darryl F. Zanuck and John Ford. The film's major theme is the miscarriage of justice perpetrated by the government to appease the angry population. There was no evidence that Booth was involved in a conspiracy (although, contrary to his testimony, he had met Booth on a previous occasion, a fact elided by Ford). The influence of German Expressionism, as practiced by the great F.W. Murnau particularly, is amply evident in Bert Glennon's glistening, low-key photography. TPOSI is a series of stunning set pieces_the assassination, Booth's tense stopover at Mudd's house, the trial, the unforgettable execution scene, Mudd's brilliantly-edited failed escape, and his fight against an epidemic on the island_held together by Ford's direction, its visual texture, and a very effective performance by Warner Baxter as Mudd. The film presents a rather complex vision of our country during Reconstruction, particularly in the arc of the relationship between Mudd and one of his former slaves.

[oscar jubis]

So that's it. Year over. Another one bites the dust. And more repertory films are available than ever before. Only you cannot watch them in a theater with an audience of geeks like you (I mean me). You must watch them at home and, if there's no like-minded person around, alone. The repertory event of the year was the release of the early films of the best African-American director, Mr. Charles Burnett. It's been so hard to watch them that some critics are treating Killer of Sheep as if it was a new release, thus eligible for inclusion in Top 10 lists.

I had fun writing about some of the great oldies I watched in 2007, especially when the posts received replies. I wish I could write about several Kenji Mizoguchi masterpieces I finally was able to watch in 2007 but, since watching them required ability to read Spanish or French subtitles (or understand Mandarin) I decided it was not fair to post about The Crucified Lovers, A Woman of Rumor and others.

[Chris Knipp]

I would watch with teh French subtitles just fine.


It's been so hard to watch them that some critics are treating Killer of Sheep as if it was a new release, thus eligible for inclusion in Top 10 lists. That was going on last year too when they kept listing Melville's Army of Shadows as one of the year's best. It's an easy way to be becuase people are always more indulgent of older movies. It's rare that TimeOut New York fails to give a revival six stars, while they are cruel on newer stuff. Of course Killer of Sheep is remarkable, but it probably was not greeted with much enthusiasm originally.

[oscar jubis]

As opposed to voting for Oscar or Globe nominations, there are no rules critics (and fans) can follow when posting a list of films from a given year. I guess any film, no matter how old, which had its first commercial release in the given year would qualify. That's the case of Army of Shadows which was released in France in 1969 and never in the US until 2006. A couple of critics (and the main actor during an interview here in Miami) confirmed that Killer of Sheep had not only screenings at campuses and festivals but a bonafide commercial release in NY/LA in the 1980s. That disqualifies it from my list, based on my own criteria.

I will however list Burnett's second film, My Brother's Wedding which was never released commercially and, even if it was, became available in a brand new version for the first time in 2007. Apparently most critics have decided not to list Blade Runner aka Blade Runner: the Final Cut even though it is a brand new, never seen before version of the film. I will treat it as a new film, just as I regarded Apocalypse Now Redux as a new film because of the differences between this version and the one previously available.

[Chris Knipp]

You are right. People delight in making their own ornate rules, which get as complicated as some Medieval debate about angels on the head of a pin. I guess it's pretty hard to decide, but I would tend to prefer to keep the totally new releases in a list to themselves and give any others special mention elsewhere. But new films weren't necessarily completed in the release year. Look at the "structure" your man Hoberman imposed on his 2007 list: (http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0801,hoberman,78740,20.html)
(Speaking of structure, my list is restricted to movies made over the last five years that had their first New York theatrical engagements in 2007.)