Feline Follies (1919)

Tom and Kitty get their groove on

Directed by Otto Messmer
Produced by Paramount

A cat named Tom is hanging out in front of his house when he hears a "meow" from down the street.  His curiosity piqued, he runs off and meets Miss Kitty White and immediately professes his love.  Tom prepares for a night out on the fence with his new girl and woos her with his guitar by the trashcan.  But is he prepared for the consequences of his new relationship?  And what mischief will the mice cause while Tom is out on his dates?

Don't let the name fool you.  This is the first of the Felix the Cat cartoon shorts.  Tom will get a name change in later episodes.  This is the episode that kicked off a series of cartoons that ran from 1919 until 1936.

So is it any good?

Not really.

Feline Follies is the first animation during the marathon to remind me of The Simpsons episodes that show classic Itchy and Scratchy cartoons.  It has that repetitive style that I find grating.

As far as the story, there aren't any laughs throughout. There's nothing inventive from a modern audience perspective.  Every gag has been done better on episodes of Tom and Jerry or Looney Tunes.

SPOILERS! And the ending!  The closing shots are of Tom arriving to find his girl with a dozen kittens running around with our hero as the apparent father. Tom runs away to the gas plant, places a hose in his mouth and turns on the gas.  Fade out.

Is that supposed to be funny?  There are actually ways to pull off that joke, but you never get a moment to realize how Tom is reacting to the situation.  The dearth of laughs leading up to the final scene make the finale not funny, but horrifying.

The animation is okay (beyond my problems with the style) and it is only four minutes long, but I cannot recommend this one for anyone.

* out of *****

Watched on YouTube

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Out of the Inkwell: The Tantalizing Fly (1919)

Directed by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer
Produced by Max Fleischer

An artist sits down to draw his latest creation (a clown), but is constantly distracted by a fly in the room.  Perhaps his drawing can assist him in dispatching the insect?

There really is not much more to the plot than the above. This one may be the shortest film I have watched yet during the project, clocking in at under four minutes.

The fun of this is the interaction between the animated world and the real one.  The artist attempts to shoo the fly away, but the clown gets annoyed enough that he begins attacking the fly as well.  There's a sense of whimsy to the entire affair that will make you smile.

If The Tantalizing Fly were any longer I'd say to stay away, but at less than four minutes, it seems perfectly timed.  And it's an early animation by Max Fleischer who will create some amazing Superman cartoons!

*** out of *****

Watched on Google Video
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)

Directed by Robert Wiene
Starring Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher
Produced by Decla-Bioscop AG

Francis and Alan are friends, but in love with the same woman.  A fair arrives in town featuring the mysterious Dr. Caligari and his amazing somnambulist, Cesare.  Alan asks Cesare for his fortune and the sleepwalker tells Alan he will be dead by dawn. When Francis' friend is found murdered the following morning, suspicion falls on Caligari and Cesare.

Francis begins his own investigation and discovers that the suspects are in their trailer at the fair during a subsequent murder attempt.  Who is the killer?  And what other secrets remain in the cabinet of Dr. Caligari?

This is the most visually stunning movie I have seen to date. It's surreal.  It's Salvador Dali through the eyes of Tim Burton.  Every wall looks like it is about to fall over.  Every door and window looks like someone has grabbed the corners and stretched them to bizarre proportions.  Jagged pathways that seem to stretch for a mile are only a couple of feet.  The town bureaucrats sit on stools five feet off the ground.  Even the ladderback chairs look like someone forgot when to stop adding to their backs.  The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a wonder of production design.

If the movie were only the marvelous sets and imagery, this would be a good movie.  The interplay between the plot and the imagery is what makes the film soar.  At its heart, this is a mystery, and the plot continually shows viewers just enough to make them think the answer is obvious, just before violently yanking the rug out from under you.

The only misstep in the entire film is toward the end.  Much of the initial reveal of the killer and his methods are shown through characters reading books and placing the printed pages on the screen.  At this moment, the film slows to a crawl.  Obviously, in the sound era, it would have been easier to convey a lot of information quickly.

SPOILER!  The end of the movie shows that the surreal nature of the movie is not simply a stylistic choice, but an integral element to the plot.  Francis is revealed to be an insane asylum inmate and the entire movie is his fantasy.  Caligari is the institution's director and Francis' love is a delusional woman believing herself to be a queen.  Once you realize this is all Francis' imagination, the look of his fantasy makes a lot of sense.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a great film.  More than just an experiment in mood and surrealism, it has a plot that is well served by its setting.

****1/2 out of *****

Watched on Netflix Watch Instantly
Photos from The New York Times and

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Formative Experience: First Movie Scare

How does someone become a movie freak?  These are the formative experiences and moments of one cinephile.

The six-year-old me just went into the fetal position

This being Halloween, it seemed a good place to start with this feature was my first movie scare.  I was young (probably 5 or 6 years old) and we were driving back from a family party.  Being a child, I fell asleep in the back seat which meant I was on the receiving end of one of those cherished childhood memories: your father carrying you from the car to your bed.  There was always something very comforting and safe about those moments.

We walked into our house in Philadelphia.  My mom had gone ahead and turned on the lights and television so my half-asleep brain looked over at the screen.

There was a ethereal, demonic spirit with a booming voice surrounded by fire and smoke. The apparition was threatening a group of people gathered in front of it.  It was the most terrifying image my still young mind had ever seen.

Yes, I had just woke up in the middle of The Wizard of Oz (1939).  Dorothy and her fellowship were meeting the wizard for the first time in his throne room.

Of course, I did not know that at the time.  I lost it. I started screaming and crying.  My dad quickly brought me up to my room and I settled down.  My brain remains convinced the episode lasted ten minutes when I am sure in effect it was more like thirty seconds.

For years after that, I avoided The Wizard of Oz like the plague.  No one could convince me this movie was not about demons born in the fires of hell.  When I finally did see it, I was convinced it was not the same movie that I saw as a younger child.  How could it be?  The movie I saw featured the spawn of Satan surrounded by the flames of the underworld.  Now, I was seeing a floating head in a glass orb surrounded by colored lights and fog machines.

Memory is a funny thing.  Walking into that living room and seeing the all-powerful Oz for the first time remains the most terrifying moment any movie has ever given me.  Over time, my neurons fired to make the experience even scarier.  When I finally saw the entire movie, I could not connect the image in my brain to what was on my screen.  And the Wicked Witch of the West was much more frightening than Oz could ever hope to be.

What was your first memory of being scared by a movie?

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1919: Artists of Hollywood... Unite!

The founders of United Artists

We are reaching the end of decade number one for the site and it's another year of changes for film.  The biggest film stars in the world, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith and Douglas Fairbanks (note to self: still need to watch some Douglas Fairbanks' films), form their own studio to exercise more creative control (and receive more profits).  The name of the studio is United Artists, a title still with us today as a subsidiary of MGM.

Animation also starts to become a more serious effort.  Two unknown animators named Ub Iweks and Walt Disney formed Disney-Iwerks Commercial Artists.  Max Fleischer premiered Koko the Clown as part of the Out of the Inkwell series.  And the Felix the Cat cartoons debuted.

Comedian Harold Lloyd introduced one of the more regrettable practices in Hollywood: the test screening.  Love how every film panders to the broadest possible audience?  Thanks Harold Lloyd!

As far as our film viewing, 1918 proved to be an invigorating year.  The Blue Bird, The Bell Boy, Shoulder Arms, The Sinking of the Lusitania... all of them were great.  I spent more viewing hours than normal in that year, but it was time well spent.

What are we watching in 1919?  Broken Blossoms, another D.W. Griffith film (that I mistakenly thought was released in 1918) will definitely be on the list.  The one I am crazy excited for is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a very influential German expressionist film.  Both are available through Netflix Watch Instantly.  I will also be watching Daddy Long Legs, Mary Pickford's first production credit.

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Stella Maris (1918)

Stella and her cousin... in love....

Directed by Marshall Neilan
Starring Mary Pickford, Conway Tearle, Marcia Manon
Produced by Pickford Film

Young Stella Maris is a paralyzed girl, living an idyllic life.  She is doted on by her aunt and uncle, blushes as her handsome cousin John visits her kingdom and is attended by children dancing around a maypole and presenting tributes of flowers.  Her family has shielded her from every misery the world offers and she lives in ignorant bliss.

Of course, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  And the world is trying to balance the scales with Unity Blake.  Unity is an orphan living a hard life.  She thinks her luck is about to change when she is adopted by a young woman.  Of course, the adoptive mother is an alcoholic tyrant and, after Unity is robbed, the woman beats her ward to within an inch of her life.

The woman goes to prison and the woman's husband turns out to be John, the very man who is in love with Stella Maris.  John takes Unity as his own to make amends for his wife's deeds.  Stella is given an operation that allows her to walk and she is soon witnessing every horror life has to offer.  Stella and Unity's lives are on a collision course that will change them both forever.  But who can win the hand of John?

Let's start with the good great.  Mary Pickford plays both Stella and Unity.  Stella is basically the same Mary Pickford character we see in all of her films. The blond curls.  The seemingly perpetual smile.  Classic Pickford.

For Unity, she transforms into Stella's opposite.  She has black, flat hair.  She walks with an awkward gait and her face is unremarkable.  Through special effects, Pickford portrays both characters simultaneously and her Unity is almost a foot shorter than Stella.  She is so good, I would have never guessed it was the same actress.  An absolutely amazing job.

Neilan does a fantastic job directing.  He seems amongst the best at understanding the film grammar created by D.W. Griffith and knows how to cut and edit scenes and when to move in for a close-up.  The ending shot is a dramatic pull away that is obviously on a vehicle (there's some bouncing), but it is still the right way to end the movie dramatically.  Neilan is very good at walking the viewer through the story.

Unfortunately, the story is my big problem with this.  It's all soap opera and melodrama.  I never really cared about the plight of any of these characters.  Every person is one-dimensional and makes broad pronouncements that are not even questioned.  At one point, after his wife is improsoned John wants to leave London. Stella's family says he cannot go because it would break Stella's heart.  John stares and sadly nods his head.  There is a lot of John doing the classic soap opera stare off camera in this film.

And John's wife? Evil for sake of being evil. If she had a moustache, she would be twirling it.  She wants to destroy Unity.  And John.  And Stella.  Why?  Because she's evil.  Period.

The movie is a series of soap opera cliches.  A man who is married to an evil shrew, but in love with the beautiful young maiden.  The put-upon orphan who cannot catch a break.  The magical appearance of a doctor with a miracle cure.  John keeping his marriage a secret so as not to hurt Stella (gee, do you think she finds out anyway?).

The one last large problem for me watching this was the relationship between John and Stella.  He looks like he's in his 40s and she looks 17.  John's evil wife looks like she's in her 30s.  Pickford looks and plays roles that make her look young so to see this seemingly much older man with this really young girl feels creepy.  And then when you remember that they are actually cousins?  Ugh.

It's a shame too because Neilan and Pickford have clearly brought their A game to the film.  Pickford's Unity is a marvel to behold when compared against her Stella. Ultimately, having her talent in service of this story is like asking Frank Owen Gehry build a Jenga tower: it may look nice, but it's a waste of a consummate professional's time.

** out of *****

Watched on DVD through Netflix
Photo from Observations on Film Art

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Time Traveler Cannot Resist Chaplin Premiere?

Our mission statement here at 100 Years is bringing a modern eye to the last century of cinema, so this definitely fits with that theme.  I cannot speak to the veracity of this, but found it completely arresting.  The video below purports to show that a woman at the 1920 premiere of Charlie Chaplin's The Circus is talking on a cell phone-like device.  The actual footage starts at about the 2:30 mark.  Fake footage? Woman scratching her head while talking to herself?  Or is she in communication with the mothership?  You decide...

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