THE MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA (1929, SOVIET UNION)

Experimental/Avant Garde Cinema Week Day 4

There are several experimental or avant garde films on the 1001 movie list. In trying to figure out how to deal with them, I have tried to handle these often tough nuts to crack by just watching them and trying to answer ten basic questions about them on my personally devised standardized test. So let us continue with...

The Man With the Movie Camera

1. What happens?
The man with the movie camera invites you into his movie theater and begins to show you a world outside the realm of traditional cinematic language.

2. Was it heavy? Did it achieve total heaviosity?
I weighed it and can officially declare it most heavy.

3. What was your favorite part?
The shots of late the late twenties Soviet Union is even more interesting without the confines of traditional narrative. I like the way Director Dziga Vertov shows the mechanics of society through machinery, trolleys or people just going to work And I like the fact that Vertov appears with his camera throughout reminding us this is a movie in case we begin to forget.

4. What was your least favorite part?
I do admit that I did look at the clock a couple of times while viewing, but I can't blame a particular section of the film.

5. Did you get it?
I believe I got it!

6. Might the viewing experience have been enhanced from either prescription or non-prescription medication of some kind?
Yes, I think medicinal enhancement of some kind might make you appreciate it even more.

7. What about the sex?
A woman in a slip...Some slow female discus throwers and high jumpers...A woman on the beach is topless and puts mud all over her. Yeah, there is some sex here. And 1929 sex at that!

8. What about the violence?
The filmmaker is about to get run down by a train! But he isn't, it's just a trick. Violence is averted here and throughout the film.

9. Describe this film in one sentence starting with "This is the film..."
This is the film that is the grandfather of films that tell a story in a non-traditional way.

10. Would you watch it again?
Yes, and should be one I shouldn't have waited until now to see for the first time. So, thanks 1001 book!...This almost makes up for making me watch Blonde Cobra, but not quite.

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LIFE, LOVE AND LAUGHTER (1923, GREAT BRITAIN)

Image Credit: British Film Institute via Silent London

 Today's guest blog post is from Spencer Blohm

Film buffs everywhere always have one film they’ve been waiting an eternity to see. For some films, it seems like no matter how hard you sleuth and search, there are no screenings, no DVDs, Blu-Rays, or even VHS tapes available. Perhaps the location of any existing prints of the film isn’t even known, and it’s simply lost to the ages.

For the British Film Institute, on the top of that list was George Pearson’s 1923 silent film Life, Love and Laughter, which, until recently, was believed to have been lost or destroyed. The only reason the BFI even knew the film existed was thanks to six production stills, a campaign booklet, and a publicity leaflet which were distributed to promote the film.

As luck would have it, the Dutch film institute EYE received a shipment of old film tins in November 2012 from a small cinema in rural Holland, which had only been open from 1929 to 1931. Earlier this year, workers at EYE finally began to sift through this shipment and stumbled upon a copy of Life, Love and Laughter. A call to the BFI confirmed that they had found the second of only two Pearson films known to still exist.

The film is noteworthy in many ways, making the find all that better. For one, it’s a full length film, something almost unheard of in the silent film era. The period during which it was created saw more silent filmmakers expanding their format into full length films, and this happened to be one of them. It’s also the film which is largely credited with launching the career of its star, Betty Balfour. Balfour was England’s answer to Mary Pickford in the 20s, who collaborated with Pearson on many films which earned her the nickname “Queen of Happiness” for the perpetual optimism she injected into her characters.

In this particular film Balfour plays Tip Toes, a down on her luck chorus girl who dreams of one day stepping into the spotlight on the main stage. She meets a young man (played by Harry Jonas) who has similarly large ambitions, except his consist of being a famous writer. The two plan to meet up two years later in order to see if either had been able to make it bit. The film served mainly as a unbeat story to comfort a nation shaken by World War I.

The film was both a critical and commercial hit, which is exactly why it was still being screened in the Netherlands six years later. The Daily Telegraph said the film was "destined in all probability to take its place among the screen classics" and the Manchester Guardian called it “spectacular at times, lit and photographed with a beauty to dream of” –a compliment which came courtesy of cinematographer Percy Strong.

While the film currently remains in the Netherlands, the BFI is hoping to obtain a copy so they can translate the Dutch title cards into English and host screenings of the notorious film. Next on BFI’s list of “Most Wanted” is another film by Pearson starring Balfour called Réveille, a film about British life during World War I.

About the Author: Spencer Blohm is a freelance entertainment, film, and pop culture blogger for DirectTelevisionSpecials.org 
While he can’t claim to be the biggest silent film buff, he’s willing to make an exception for this missing piece of film history. He lives and works in Chicago, where he’s been known to catch a talkie or two from time to time.

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WINGS (1927), SUNRISE: A STORY OF TWO HUMANS (1927)THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)

     In the beginning...She Blinded Me With Silents (Post 12 of 12)

Clara Bow in Wings

I just finished reading Bill Bryson's book One Summer: 1927. Bryson pieces together the important events that were happening in the United States at that time: Prohibition, Babe Ruth, Calvin Coolidge the great Mississipi flood, the Roots of the Great Despression and at the center of it all the young pilot Charles Lindbergh, who became the most famous man on earth that summer.

Bryson also talks about the movies of that year and I realized I hadn't seen the two movies that won the first ever Academy Award that won the best picture Oscar that year. I say two because, William Wellman' Wings won the Best Picture Production Oscar and F. W. Murnau's Sunrise: the Story of Two Humans won the Best Picture, Unique and  Artistic Production. So there were essentially two Best Picture winners that year and they were very different from each other.

Wings is a high adventure thriller often set in the front of a plane doing battle during World War I. Bryson points out that "to the astonishment of everyone he (Director William Wellman) made one of the most intelligent, moving and thrilling pictures ever made." The movie was big budgeted and seemed like a big gamble, but the story of two American pilots who start as enemies and end up as best friends and battle in the air over the skies of Europe proved to be a huge hit. 

'Many people went to Wings to not thrill at the aerial acrobatics, but gaze in admiration at its female lead, Clara Bow."-Bill Bryson

The two buddies are played by Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen, but the top billed star of the production was actually the biggest female star in Hollywood, Clara Bow (Rin Tin Tin the German Shepherd was the biggest male star). You could say that Bow's part of the girlfriend of Buddy Rogers probably should have just been a supporting role. Since she's such the biggest name here, it seems like there are a couple of scenes with Bow that are just thrown in. But I really didn't mind. I found Bow so charismatic, I actually wish she had had more to do. It's easy to see why she was such a big star, even if for only a short time.

Janet Gaynor and George O'Brien in
Sunrise: A Story of Two Humans

The other Best Picture winner was Sunrise: A Story of Two Humans, a drama about a man whose mistress convinces him to murder his wife and run away with her. After initial resistance, he agrees and takes his wife out on a rowboat to strangle her and dump her body overboard. As he's about to do it, he becomes overwhelmed with guilt and decides not to do it and asks her forgiveness.. He has to win back his wife's affection, but he does. This is a plot point I had a little trouble getting past. Keep in mind the wife realizes he's about to kill her, yet she does eventually forgive him. I'm just feeling that if my spouse was clearly about to kill me, that would pretty much be the end of the relationship. He also proves to be so volatile, that he's lucky he doesn't kill his mistress towards the end of the movie. That being said, if you could overlook this plot point, the reestablishment of their relationship is very heartwarming and provides many poignant and heartfelt moments. It does devolve into a couple of odd comic interludes (an especially strange one involving a pig) that made me think I was watching a Harry Langdon comedy at times, but the movie did get back on track and the scenes featuring the rescue of the man's wife after a storm brings everything to a satisfying conclusion.

Oh, yes and speaking of Rin Tin Tin. I brought up the German Shepherd because I also finished Susan Orlean's book (hey, two book references in one blog!) Rin Tin Tin: The Life and Legend, where she discusses the German Shepherd's rise to be the biggest movie star in Hollywood in the 20's. So I was really knocked out when I was watching Sunrise and there is a scene where the husband is taking his wife out on the boat to do her in. His dog goes crazy at this turn of events, breaks his tether and swims out to the boat and the husband has to take his dog back to shore and start his plan over again. But thanks to the dog's diversionary action, the man has time to change his mind. The hero dog is (or course) a German Shepherd.

But which of these two films was the real winner that year?

The answer is...none of the above 

"It is a painful irony that silent movies were driven out of existence just as they were reaching a kind of glorious summit of creativity and imagination, so that some of the best silent movies were also some of the last ones."-Bill Bryson

Al Jolson sings for his Mammy in The Jazz Singer.

Yes, the real winner of the 1927 sweepstakes was The Jazz Singer, forever remembered as the first movie that talked.

"The Jazz Singer was by no means the first sound movie. It wasn't even the first talking picture-but that was a nicety lost on its adoring audiences. For most people, The Jazz Singer would be the picture that made talking pictures real."-Bill Bryson

The story is about Jack Robin (Al Jolson) who forsakes singing in the synagogue for his Rabbi father to embark upon a career in show business. Though much clumsier than the other two films listed above, the artistry of any silent picture simply couldn't compete with Al Jolson singing "Toot Toot Tootsie" or "My Gal Sal." It really is a silent movie (very heavy on the cue cards) with a few songs and some dialogue here and there. It's entertaining in an antiquated way and the movie's relationship between Jack and his parents does have some moving moments.

One thing for sure, movies were never the same.

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THE LAST LAUGH (1924, GERMANY)

     In the beginning...She Blinded Me With Silents (Post 11 of 12)

                                          

The Last Laugh

F. W. Murnau's  The Last Laugh, the story of the character disintegration of a porter/doorman after he is relieved of his job and uniform, is yet another movie I first saw in my History of Film class and watching it today there are three things that stand out to me. 

The first, and one of the reasons the movie is looked at in a film class is the point of view of the camera which is sometimes distorted and never plays it straight with its narrative point of view. We get the inebriated view of the doorman when he drinks and the distorted and overblown laughter of his neighbors when they are mocking him. The camera moves quickly and sharply when the porter is doing his job and in his element. When his gets his dismissal letter, the film slows down and the vision of the porter is blurred, not wanting to read what is on the paper.

The second way to look at this film is as a character story. The doorman/porter is relieved of his job and stripped of his duties and the whole world crumbles as he becomes a lowly (in his eyes) washroom attendant. Emil Jannings plays the porter as an overly proud man who struts around like a peacock. It's partly to Janning's credit that we nevertheless feel such sympathy for him when this once strutting peacock becomes a washing room attendant and seems to barely now possess the capability to even move.  

The third way to look at the film is the ending. The real ending of the movie has the ex-doorman at his depth of despair in the washroom, not too far from the end. But there is a tacked on epilogue that begins with a title card that says something to the effect that the ending of this movie that you are about to see is basically nonsense, but we're going to show it to you anyway. So, the doorman is given an inheritance that is given to him because he was nice to a millionaire in the washroom. We see the now rich ex-doorman eating caviar, being waited on and living a happy life.

If the movie had ended in the washroom, perhaps it would have just been too bleak for the audience to accept. But since the ending is so far-fetched, perhaps they could have cut to one final shot of the old man dying with a smile on his face, with the part with him getting rich being shown as just a happy dream and the last thought he would ever have. But who am I to re-write The Last Laugh?

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BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925, SOVIET UNION)

In the beginning...She Blinded Me With Silents (Post 10 of 12)

Battleship Potemkin

Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (a film on the rebellion of of a Russian battleship and the subsequent reprisals from the czar's army),  is yet another silent I first encountered in The History of Film class I took during the 80's. It makes me nostalgic for my "textbook" A Short History of the Movies by Gerald Mast.

Here are some points on Battleship Potemkin from Mr. Mast:

1. Eisenstein has the visual ability to convert huge groups of people into complex and striking geometric shapes.

2. Eisenstein's montage increases the sense of movement and tension as the individual shots collide, crash, explode into each other.

3. Eisenstein's ability to alter mood: From the peaceful idyllic sequences of the striking workers at rest and play to the vicious slaughter of vicious slaughter of the workers in their tenements.

4. Eisenstein's sense of metaphor to comment on the action: the sickening slaughter of the dumb and defenseless ox, which comments on the slaughter of the workers.

5. Eisenstein's vision that the capitalistic Czarist system is  fundamentally inhuman and inhumane, an obstacle not only to physical survival but also human fellowship, family and brotherhood.

6. The power of his cutting is unmistakable (All the various shots and points of view of the sailor breaking the plate with the biblical platitudes on them)

7. For a film with a mass protagonist, the faces of individual people are strikingly memorable.

8. The film's five parts, mirroring the five-act structure of classical drama, form a taut structural whole: from the unity the sailor's build on the ship to the unity between ship and shore, to the unity of the entire fleet.

9. The most dazzling editorial sequence of all in the film is the slaughter of the innocent Odessans on the Steps.

10. The film time for the sequence on the Odessa Steps is longer than the actual time it would take a group of people to run down a flight of steps. Subjective time, the way it felt to be there, replaces natural time.

The most famous sequence in this film is definitely the murder of the innocent on the steps of Odessa by the czarist army. This has been called by many one of the most influential scenes in film history (obvious example-Brian De Palma in The Untouchables). One thing is for sure, you can't get through The History of Film class without it.

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THE EAGLE (1925)

In the beginning...She Blinded Me With Silents (Post 9 of 12)

The Eagle

What I know about Rudolph Valentino:

1. They made a lot of biopics of the Italian screen hearthrob over the years. I remember seeing one starring Franco Nero during the 70's.

2. He was know for being the Latin lover during the twenties

3. He was tremendously popular with his adoring female fans.

4. His overblown acting style was often mocked.

5. He died prematurely and his New York City funeral was a mass of hysteria.

6. I know the names of his most famous movies: The Sheik, The Son of the Sheik, Blood and Sand and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. 

So if I'm ever on Jeopardy! and get Valentino as a category, I might do all right. The problem is that I have never actually seen a movie with Valentino in it before. I was surprised when the new edition of the 1001 book listed the silent film The Eagle and I realized this was a Valentino movie I hadn't even heard of.

The Eagle turned out to be a fun adventure film. Valentino plays a Russian soldier who has to go on the run after he spurns a Czarina's advances. He also has to battle the evil nobleman who steals his families land. Valentino begins wearing a mask and takes on the avenging Robin Hoodesque persona of The Black Eagle. Of course, he falls in love with the evil nobleman's daughter which complicates matters.

My verdict is that Valentino is actually pretty good in this heroic role. If there was much overacting or exasperated mugging, I didn't really catch it. He even shows a flair for comedy. There is a scene where Valentino keeps putting pepper in his soup while admiring his great love that is almost Keatonesque.

The movie is also noted for a tracking shot at a dinner party that is  very impressive.

Pretty silly title card moment: Valentino as the Black Eagle kidnaps the woman he loves, but then decides to release her and adds: "You are as free as you are beautiful, and that is very, very free."

Clarence Brown appreciation society: If you had told me there was a motion picture director that had been nominated for six Academy Awards that I could never remember hearing of before, I would have thought that you were certainly mistaken. That was before I saw Clarence Brown's resume: (Annie Christie, Romance, A Free Soul, The Human Comedy, National Velvet, and The Yearling, all nominated for Academy Awards) But he also made his mark in silents, including The Eagle. 

So note to self: See more Clarence Brown films.

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NOSFERATU, A SYMPHONY OF TERROR (1922, GERMANY)

In the beginning...She Blinded Me With Silents (Post 8 of 12)

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror

You can't say the 1001 movie book doesn't have enough versions of Dracula.
Of course we have Bela Lugosi's Dracula (suave, if not a little campy) and Christopher Lee's Hammer films Dracula (Suave, but deadly).

Most Dracula's throughout filmdom had a suave air to them, (George Hamilton, Frank Langella, et al) to contrast their more deadly nature. I mention this because there is no pretension of suaveness in F. W. Murnau's famous silent rendering of the Dracula legend, Noserferatu.

Before watching the entire film for the first time, my main image of the film were clips of the creepy image of the vampire emerging from the hull of a ship to make victims of all its inhabitants. Nosferatu, as played by the wonderfully named Max Schreck, could never pass for anything in the real world other than a sideshow attraction. Nosferatu resembles more of a hobgoblin, with pointy ears, jagged teeth, impossibly bushy eyebrows and sharp claws for hands. No innocent young girl is going to fall under any romantic spell with this Dracula.

Nosferatu can't even be subtle with his dialogue in his initial scene with Jonathan Harker. When Harker cuts his hand cutting bread-no subtle Lugosi stare here. Schreck yells out (through title cards, of course) "Your blood! Your precious blood!" He leaps and starts sucking on Harker's cut finger, before Harker can pull it away.

Nosferatu also looks at a picture of Harker's fiance, where he says,"Is this your wife? What a lovely throat!" Couldn't he just comment on how pretty she is without bringing up her throat? He really is laying his cards all on the table at once here. But you got to appreciate a demon who actually acts like a demon.

The Murnau Nosferatu was remade by Werner Herzog in 1979. The 2000 film Shadow of the Vampire, starring Willem Dafoe as Max Shreck and John Malkovich as Murnau about the making of Nosferatu speculates that Shreck might really be a vampire!

He wasn't, was he?

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THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE (1921, SWEDEN)

In the beginning...She Blinded Me With Silents (Post 7 of 12)

The Phantom Carriage

The only thing I knew about The Phantom Carriage coming into this is that it was an influential Swedish film directed by Victor Sjostrom, who much later would star in Ingmar Bergman's classic Wild Strawberries.

A young charity worker is about to die (of TB, or course). She wishes to have a man named David visit her deathbed. We then come to David who we see is a drunk and conveys to his friends a story about the title's phantom carriage that at the end of the year seeks someone recently deceased to become the carriage's new coachman. A person that knows the charity worker and David finds him and tries to convince him to see her. He refuses, but his other friends also try to get him to see her. A scuffle ensues and David is killed. The clock strikes midnight and a new year begins and the carriage comes into view for David to become the new coachman.

The rest of the film shows flashbacks of David and how he was abusive toward his family and what led him into a life of drunkenness. David can see the past through the old coachman. He finally wants to make amends when his wife and children are about to die and  is finally restored to them and vows to live a righteous life.

The use of flashbacks int The Phantom Carriage to tell the story was probably quite novel for 1921, as were the special effects during the scenes where the ghosts appear transparent in the frame. These scenes are still a little unsettling even today. Overall I liked The Phantom Carriage, though I admit, that with some silent dramas like this one, I respect it more for its historical importance than anything else.

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WITHIN OUR GATES (1920)

In the beginning...She Blinded Me With Silents (Post 6 of 12)

Within Our Gates

I knew nothing about the Oscar Micheaux story before I heard a piece on the African-American filmmaker on NPR a few years ago. Oscar worked as a homesteader, a Pullman porter and owned his own business before becoming a novelist and eventually starting his own movie production company. He made forty films between 1919 and 1948. Very few survive.

Within Our Gates is one that we are lucky to have. The plot starts off with the feel of cheap melodrama, but as the story unfolds in a series of flashbacks, we see there is a lot of substance here dealing with racism, poverty, justice and the search for basic human dignity. 

It is also telling that Micheaux always had very little budget to work with, so there were basically no retakes. It's pretty remarkable under those circumstances it works as well as it does. There are a lot of scenes of note that I could point out in Within Our Gates, but the one that really sticks in my mind is of the preacher who plays the part of an idiot in front of the white businessmen and as soon as he leaves them, feels consumed with self-loathing.

Any student of the history of film should definitely check this out!

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CITY LIGHTS (1931), THE GENERAL (1926), THE PAWNSHOP (1916), THE PALEFACE (1922)

The Golden Age of Comedy (Post 12 of 12: The final battle)

Chaplin Fan: Good evening and welcome to Classic Movies Revisited. Tonight we are going to dredge up a debate that’s been going on for over eighty years. That is, deciding who was the king of silent film comedians, Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. I’m Chaplin Fan. And please, let’s stick to the films and not hold against Charlie his succession of teenage wives or any political views.

Keaton Fan: And I’m Keaton Fan. And yes, don’t hold against my guy that he later appeared in Beach Blanket Bingo.

Chaplin Fan: Deal. Go on.

Keaton Fan: My submission for the jury is Buster’s 1926 classic The General and since we need to have a short as well, I have chosen The Paleface from 1922. Why, The Paleface? Well, because I had a copy handy on VHS.

Chaplin Fan: My submission for the jury is Charlot’s 1931 classic City Lights and since I needed to pick a short as well, I chose The Pawnshop from 1916. Why did I choose The Pawnshop? Because I had a Super 8mm copy of this film in the 70’s. and I wanted to relive the memory. So make your case for The Great Stone Face.

Keaton Fan: Gladly. First of all, the most important question to answer about any silent comedy is: was it funny? Well, yes. Keaton films are damn funny. You want physical comedy? Nobody could do their own stunts like Keaton. He was an amazing visual artist. He could make something simple like about to get burned at the stake in The Paleface funny just by moving slightly away from where the tribe is about to light the fire underneath him. And the stunts on the train during The General are not only funny, they forwarded the plot and some of them makes you wonder how in the world did he do that? And he wasn’t all about stunts. Subtle scenes like the Union general burning a hole in the tablecloth and Keaton using the hole to catch a glimpse of his true love were great. Chaplin was always the one that had a reputation for demonstrating pathos or sympathy for his character, but look at the final scene of The General where Keaton states his occupation as “soldier.” I dare you not to shed a tear to that one. Now make your case for The Little Tramp.

Chaplin Fan: Thank you. In viewing The Pawnshop and City Lights, I noticed Charlie’s growth from the most popular movie star in the world to the greatest artist in the world. Charlie could find comic gold in getting caught in a ladder, fixing a cuckoo clock or accidentally foiling a heist. And in City Lights, how can you beat the opening scene of the unveiling of a statue with the Little Tramp on its lap. And the last shot of the tramp smiling when the blind flower girl regains her sight. Find a more touching ending of any movie. EVER! I haven’t even talked about the boxing scene. Hilarious, masterful and better every time you see it. Charlie always worked with great supporting foils and feemes. John Rand, Edna Purviance and others in his films were the greatest supporting comic actors of the day and Chaplin wasn't afraid to use them-

Keaton Fan: -Hold on a second. Why are we arguing?

Chaplin Fan: I don’t know. We’ve always argued about this.

Keaton Fan: Why don’t we work together? I think Chaplin was great, just not as great as Keaton.

Chaplin Fan: And I think Keaton was great, just not as great as Chaplin.

Keaton Fan: Isn’t it hard enough to get a modern audience to appreciate any black & white movie, yet alone a silent one.

Chaplin Fan: I’m with you. It’s a comic art form in cinema that was unique and will never come back. Let’s appreciate it.

Keaton Fan: Work together?

Chaplin Fan: Together.

Keaton Fan and Chaplin Fan shake hands.

Keaton Fan and Chaplin Fan stare at each other in silence.

Keaton Fan: (pointing) Keaton is number one!

Chaplin Fan: (pointing back) Chaplin is number one!

Keaton Fan huffs and exits stage left.

Chaplin Fan huffs and exits stage right.

A giant title card drops on the stage which reads: THE END

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STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. (1928)

The Golden Age of Comedy (Post 11 of 12)

Steamboat Bill Jr.

Steamboat Bill Jr. really shows off the common Buster Keaton film theme of Buster having to prove himself. In Steamboat Bill Jr., he has to prove himself seaworthy to his seadog father and worthy of marrying the girl he loves.

My favorite bit in the movie has Buster trying to sneak some tools in a loaf of bread so his father can escape from the local jail. There's also a lot of fun bits with the acrobatic Keaton almost falling off the ship into the water time and time again.

But as with many of his films, the highlight of Steamboat Bill, Jr. is the final chase or action sequence. This time, we have a cyclone that destroys everything around Buster, and the special effects are...well, how the hell did they do all that in 1928?

I'm a little sad to see the last of the Keaton films on my list. (I do realize I can see others that aren't on the sacred 1001 movie scrolls, however!). It's been fun to have a reminder just what a special talent he was.



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THE KID BROTHER (1927), THE FRESHMAN (1925), SAFETY LAST (1923)

The Golden Age of Comedy (Post 10 of 12)

The Kid Brother

When I think of silent film great Harold Lloyd, the first image I get (and I'm know I'm not alone) is of Harold hanging precariously off the side of a building clutching onto the hands of a clock in Safety Last. Possibly the second most famous Lloyd movie behind Safety Last is The Freshman, featuring Lloyd as a college football player. So it was a bit of surprise that the one movie that is listed in the 1001 movie book starring Lloyd is The Kid Brother, a movie that I admit to not being familiar with.

So I decided to watch all three. And I liked all three. Lloyd was a very inventive comedian and his movies also had strong plots to boot. The common theme in these three movies seems to be the need for Harold to impress someone (His brothers, father and the girl in The Kid Brother, the entire college in The Freshmen and the girl of his dreams in Safety Last.)

Which of these film did I like the best? I'd probably say I liked  The Freshman the most. Some very funny football scenes of Harold basically being used as a tackling dummy, an inventive dance scene where Harold's tailor has to constantly keep sewing up his suit as it comes apart, his speech before the student body and his repeated attempts to give someone that damn handshake.

However, The Kid Brother isn't too far behind. There are lots of inventive stunts (Including the laundry scene. How many films can you say there is a great laundry scene!) as well as a scene with a monkey that it still pretty mind blowing.

But how can you leave out Safety Last and Harold's famous climb up the side of a building? I guess the answer is you don't have to. Watch all three and see one of the greats of the era at work.

Safety Last

The Freshman

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OUR HOSPITALITY (1923)

The Golden Age of Comedy (Post 9 of 12)

Our Hospitality

I admit to watching all the Buster Keaton shorts for this blog through the magic of YouTube. And this one was good, though I admit to not enjoying it as much as Seven Chances or Sherlock Jr. 

But I don't think the problem was the film. The problem was the fact that the copy of the film I saw had no accompanying soundtrack.

In the late 70's I discovered a place to buy Super 8 movies called BlackHawk films. This was before there was a anything called vid-e-o ka-sets or Dee-Vee-Dee's. Since the Super 8 projector was silent, the best thing to get was, of course, silent films. I remember getting some shorts like Stan Laurel's Just Rambling Along, Laurel and Hardy's Liberty and Charlie Chaplin's The Pawnshop. We also had a short called Have Badge Will Travel, which was just a shortened silent version of Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops.

I certainly enjoyed them, but the one thing they didn't have was the music. I only bring this up because of how not having the music for this film really reminded me as to what I was missing.

If someone decides to post a YouTube of Our Hospitality with an accompanying score, I may be tempted to try it again. 

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SHERLOCK JR. (1924)

The Golden Age of Comedy (Post 5 of 12)

Sherlock Jr.

Sherlock Jr. packs an awful lot into its 44 minute running time. Buster Keaton has two passions in this film: as a projectionist and as an amateur detective. The two passions meld as Buster tries to solve the mystery of who robbed his finance's father. Of course, Buster is initially accused of the crime.

But the plot takes a back seat to the creativity and the final chase scene. The scene where projectionist Keaton's double jumps into the movie screen is still pretty impressive (Who needs CGI? And the Woody Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo owes a debt of gratitude here.)

The chase finale is just as good as the one in Seven Chances. Buster jumps between trains, through traffic, over a bridge where two trucks come together and in and out many other tricky predicaments. Buster's car lands in the water and he creatively turns it into a sailboat. Without excessive use of special effects, it makes me wonder how these silent screen comedians survived to the end of the picture.

There are little pleasures here too. The scene of Buster walking instep directly behind the man he is shadowing is yet one of them.

There is also the great final punchline where Buster and his reconciled girl view other actors on screen and emulate what is going on in the screen.

Another Buster classic.

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THE GOLD RUSH (1925)

The Golden Age of Comedy

(Post 3 of 12)

The Gold Rush

Charlie Chaplin's full length Klondike adventure The Gold Rush includes probably the Little Tramp's most famous bit of comic business, the starving man's dining off his shoes as if the nails were chicken bones and shoelaces were spaghetti. Other fun bits include his partner envisioning Charlie as a turkey and coming after him as if he was dinner. Chaplin said in Charles Chaplin: My Life in Pictures these comic ideas came from the idea of starving fortune hunters during the gold rush resorting to cannibalism.

Of course, we also have the love story of Charlie falling for the local saloon girl, who mocks him behind this back before eventually...well, you know she'll eventually discover she loves him too.

Chaplin's feature films are well represented in the 1001 movie book. (The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, Monsieur Verdoux) Though I really think they could have found room for The Great Dictator, too.

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SEVEN CHANCES (1925)

The Golden Age of Comedy (Post 1 of 12)

Seven Chances

Robert Youngson isn't a name I've thought about for some time, but looking at some of the silent comedies from the 1001 movie book has made me think back to his theatrical compilations of the greats of comedy (mostly silent) in films like The Golden Age of Comedy, Days of Thrills and Laughter and Four Clowns.

I remember catching a few of Youngson's films on television during the 70's. And yes, there was a time when things like this were shown on television instead of How I Met Your Mother marathons  or endless showings of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days!

Anyway, these films had most of the greats: Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Charley Chase and Buster Keaton, among others. I believe I first saw the ending of Buster Keaton's classic Seven Chances in Four Clowns.

The plot of Seven Chances is simple. Buster's Uncle dies and his will bequeaths Buster seven million dollars if he marries by 7 o'clock on his twenty-seventh birthday. Of course, he finds out about this the day of his twenty-seventh birthday! The girl he loves won't marry him because she thinks she only wants to do it for the money. After this rejection, Buster tries unsuccessfully to find someone else to marry him. His business partner puts an ad in the paper which explains everything and Buster suddenly has hundreds of women wanting to marry him.

The plot is pretty silly when recounted and is mostly just an excuse for Keaton's sight gags and pratfalls. But the sight gags and pratfalls are, not just funny, but high art. The last half of Seven Chances where the brides to be chase Buster through the streets, through mountains and they all have to contend with falling boulders really defines why many still love silent comedy.

The comedic gags go so fast, I found myself going back and watching scenes again. I loved the scenes where the women ran roughshod over macho football players and construction workers.

But it's really about Buster. And it has been written often how he does it all with his body movement as his facial expression never conveys happiness. His stunts are amazing (I don't use the word amazing often, but I don't mind using it here) and still very funny.

If you've never seen a Keaton movie, this would be a great place to start.

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AN ANDALUSIAN DOG (1928, FRANCE)

Experimental/Avant Garde Cinema Week Day 1

There are several experimental or avant garde films on the 1001 movie list. In trying to figure out how to deal with them, I decided that the best way for me to handle these often tough nuts to crack is just watch them and try to answer ten basic questions about them on my personally devised standardized test. So let us now begin with...

An Andalusian Dog

1. What happens?
This guy sharpens a straight razor and slices into the eyeball of this woman. Then we see another guy in female attire riding a bicycle who falls down on a curb. Then we see yet another guy with ants crawling on his hand. And this other guy (or is it a different guy?) gropes a woman's breast and buttocks. Then he begins pulling a piano with a deer and a couple of clerics on it. A lady gets run over by a car. And then we see the two main characters buried in the sand. I may have missed a few details here and there.

2. Was it heavy? Did it achieve total heaviosity?
Yes, it was very heavy and coming to a Film Studies 101 class near you.

3. What was your favorite part?
I suppose the dragging the piano weighed down by clerics scene if I had to choose one.

4. What was your least favorite part?
I suppose the dragging the piano weighed down by a dead deer scene if I had to choose one.

5. Did you get it?
Yes, I got it. Well, maybe not. Can I get back to you on that one?

6. Might the viewing experience have been enhanced from either prescription or non-prescription medication of some kind?
Absolutely

7. What about the sex?
I repeat there was a scene where we see excessive groping of breasts and buttocks.

8. What about the violence?
Eyeball slicing. Hit by car. Oh, and I forgot to mention a guy gets shot dozens of times. I'm not sure if he dies or not or just turns into a deer weighing down a piano that someone is trying to drag.

9. Describe this film in one sentence starting with "This is the film..."
"This is the film where they slice the eyeball and then the director successfully makes a film that intentionally makes no sense at all."

10. Would you watch it again?
I'm sure I will if I ever decide to take another Film Studies class.

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BLACKMAIL (1929, GREAT BRITAIN), THE 39 STEPS (1935, GREAT BRITAIN), SABOTAGE (1936, GREAT BRITAIN)

As I was looking for old video games for my son in a neighborhood pawnshop recently, I came across A DVD collection called Alfred Hitchock: The Legend Begins, which included three films on the 1001 movie list. I became very excited (I get excited easily). I forgot all about looking for silly video games and bought the DVD.

The first film I watched was Blackmail, (1929) which I found out later was originally a silent film, but was changed after production began into Britain’s first talkie. It is disorienting in spots, as the film starts as a silent film and then somewhat awkwardly makes a transition to sound. That isn’t to say it isn’t a worthwhile film and it does have several touches that Hitchcock would later make his trademark (Woman kills man in self defense, man in love with her tries to cover it up and of course the blackmailer, himself.)

The second film, The 39 Steps (1935) is probably the most famous of the three, though it was admittedly my least favorite. Hitchcock takes a lot of liberties with John Buchan’s original story and employs the innocent man on the lamb plotline that Hitchcock would later use again in North by Northwest and other films. It does includes a lot of nice banter between Robert Donat and Madeline Carroll.

The last film from this DVD set was Sabatoge (1936). This was my favorite of the three films. The plotline of a saboteur (today we would just call it a terrorist) in London and the way Hitchcock builds suspense to the inevitable bomb going off are highlights. The portrayals of the main characters played by Sylvia Sydney as the wife and Oscar Homolka, as her not-so-innocent husband were effective. I also liked the way Hithcock shot Homolka with close-ups that showed off expressive face and bushy eyebrows. This film also has a short animated sequence, Who Killed Cock Robin? from the Disney studios which makes this film a must for Disney completeists.

I'm thinking now that I should head back to the pawnshop to see if I can find a Howard Hawks DVD collection. I’ve sure got plenty of his films left on my list.

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PANDORA'S BOX (1928, GERMANY)

My own personal March movie madness. My goal is make 31 posts in 31 days about 31 movies. They all must be non-U. S. films that I haven’t seen before. Why do I make this stipulation? Don’t know exactly, by we all have to have goals, don’t we?

Day four, from Germany’s Weimar Republic
Pandora’s Box (1928)

G. W. Pabst’s allegorical tale of lust and fate featuring the captivating Louise Brooks and her Moe Howard/Leonard Nimoy/Javier Bardeem in No Country for Old Men haircut. I can’t say it blew me away, but interesting viewing from the late silent era.

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