Very sad news. Leslie Nielsen has died at the age of 84. A talented dramatic actor who parlayed his serious look and tone into comedic gold in Airplane! and The Naked Gun series. Forbidden Planet is one of the great sci-fi adventures ever.
Monday, 29 November 2010
Saturday, 27 November 2010
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| A very pre-Titanic Gloria Swanson |
Starring Gloria Swanson, Bebe Daniels, Thomas Meighan
Produced by Famous Players-Lasky Company
Robert Gordon lives a frustrating life. The simple act of shaving is constantly interrupted by his wife Beth. She won't let him play the music he likes. She doesn't like his smoking. She hates his dog. She doesn't like his drinking and thinks the money spent on his wine cellar could better serve those who are starving. He tries buying Beth some negligee and meets a fetching young model Sally while making the purchase. Beth of course is completely embarrassed by the purchase as it offends her moral sensibilities.
One night, he surprises Beth with tickets to a show. She made alternate plans to host friends to hear Radinoff, a violin player that Robert can't stand. With Beth refusing to go, Robert attends the show with Sally (who conveniently arrived to drop off a missing piece of the lingerie). They go back to Sally's place and Robert finds she is a woman who likes his music, who lights his cigarette, who drinks. At the end of the evening, they kiss. Robert instantly regrets it and leaves. Beth however smells perfume on Robert's clothing and the two are soon divorced.
Everything is reversed. Robert marries Sally, who immediately begins complaining about his dog and his smoking. She even interrupts his beloved shaving ritual. Beth learns that she was viewed by others as a prude and begins donning sexier gowns and dresses. When the couple goes away for the weekend, they find Beth coincidentally there as well. Robert notices the change in the woman who now even loves dogs. The two are still obviously in love. But can fate push them back together? And where would that leave Sally?
This is a REALLY dated movie that is completely saved by its third act. In the first act, Robert drinks too much, smokes too much, spends money on frivolous things, and stays out late. If that sounds like your typical teenager, you are not far off. Only, the movie treats his vices like a virtue. Some sample title cards:
Molten lead on the skin is soothing compared to a wife's constant disapproval...
A husband hates to have his soul improved too soon after dinner - particularly when he is thinking how charming his wife will look in her new negligee.
It is the wife's conscience that 'doth make cowards of us all.'That's right. Robert is the hero here. The adulterer, drinking, smoking, spending guy is who we are cheering for. But more than that. The wife is denigrated for no great reason throughout the early part of the film.
During the second act, there is more of the same in the relationship between Robert and Sally. However, add to that the sexy out fits Beth takes to wearing. They look like tablecloths. I have seen the pattern on her bathing suit hanging as curtains on dining room windows. Obviously, this is a product of the times and you get the point when she is surrounded by every stereotypical manly man (including a pilot and a war hero). For me, it looked a little silly.
The third act turns more melodramatic and the acting really shines. Robert and Beth, trying to escape one another, end up on the same train from the hotel back to town. As they walk from the train car, Robert slips on a banana peel (seriously) and suffers a serious head injury. Beth takes Robert back to her house, where a doctor declares that the head injury has placed a strain on his heart and he cannot be moved for 24 hours. Sally arrives and of course immediately wants to move her husband. They fight with Beth ultimately winning by threatening to scar Sally's face with acid. When Robert has recovered enough to move back with Sally, the wife realizes her husband still loves Beth and tries to throw the acid in her face. Only the acid was really harmless eye wash. Beth had punk'd Sally.
With Sally's superficiality revealed, Robert can stay with Beth and enjoy a wife who pours his drinks and lights his cigars (Freud would have something to say about the move from cigarettes) while wearing lingerie.
Swanson is fantastic and completely sells every emotion in the final act. She is caring and compassionate with the injured Robert. She turns ferocious in protecting her love from Sally. The look she shoots Bebe Daniels' Sally as they are fighting is pure rage and hatred. What could have been an embarrassing end to the film turns into its saving grace.
So the ultimate message is:
And now you know what every husband knows: that a man would rather have his wife for his sweetheart than any other woman: but Ladies: if you would be your husband's sweetheart, you simply must learn when to forget that you're his wife.Wives are by design to be critical of their husbands. But by not acting like a wife, they can be great wives.
Or something.
**1/2 out of *****
Watched on Netflix Watch Instantly
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
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| Jekyll becomes Hyde |
Starring John Barrymore, Charles Lane and Brandon Hurst
Produced by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation
Dr. Henry Jekyll is a paragon of virtue. When he's not seeing to his experiments in his laboratory, he is operating a free clinic to take care of the poor. His fiancee, Millicent Carew, is in love with him, but finds herself playing second fiddle to his other pursuits. Her father George believe that Jekyll is suppressing his baser instincts and that resisting temptation is ultimately unhealthy. He takes the idealistic doctor out for a night on the town, and, after meeting the exotic Gina, Jekyll finds his faith shaken.
However, he channels that into a new quest. He wants to separate the good aspect of man (the soul) from the evil traits inherent in all men. Jekyll formulates a drug that turns him into the embodiment of carnal lust and rage, a creature he names Mr. Hyde. Jekyll's alter ego can do all of the things the doctor dare not, including loving and leaving Gina. But as the villainous Hyde begins harboring more murderous feelings, Dr. Jekyll begins to lose control over his transformations. Can the good doctor put his evil doppleganger under wraps or is it already too late to save his soul and the woman he loves?
I love Victorian era dramas and horrors. Not just any, but those that ping pong between the upper crust of society and the foreboding gas-lit shadows of a dreary London. This movie oozes atmosphere in a way that you cannot get from any other period or any other place. The interiors are lush and opulent and the exteriors are dingy and menacing. A perfect setting for the strange case of Jekyll and Hyde.
John Barrymore plays both the good doctor and his alter ego and he is fantastic in both. Early on, when he transforms into Hyde, it is all a trick of facial contortion and the way he sets his eyes. The make-up comes later and only accentuates the look Barrymore gives the character. Unlike later versions, the monster he creates seems human and that makes him all the more frightening.
Barrymore is also very good as the doctor. Understated at first, the viewer can feel his desperation and frustration as he loses control over Hyde. The evil aspect of his role is more showy, but he carries off the more subtle aspects well.
The rest of the cast does well in their roles, with the exception of Martha Mansfield as Millicent. She does a lot of staring at nothing with little to no emotion. When she finds out about the death of a loved one, she does not look sad as much as annoyed, as though someone just informed her toilet paper was stuck to her shoe.
The movie poses some interesting if simplistic food for thought about the nature of good and evil. Jekyll is good, Hyde is evil. Yet Jekyll's desire to experience evil without repercussion is what sets the drama in motion. Hyde may ultimately fail in his relationships, but at least he puts forth some effort. Jekyll's work may be altruistic but it ultimately keeps those would love him at arm's length. Jekyll's vision is clearly not right. Should we yield to temptation to keep our sanity as George suggests. Or is it better to simply not dabble in such supernatural thoughts as Jekyll's friend Lanyon admonishes him at the outset.
Needless to say, I loved this movie. Much better than the 1912 version. Definitely recommend.
****1/2 out of *****
Watched on Netflix Watch Instantly
Monday, 22 November 2010
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| A baby, a nickel and an operator cause Harold problems |
Starring Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis and Roy Brooks
Produced by Rolin Films
A despondent Harold Lloyd rides a roller coaster at the amusement park, but the twists and turns cannot help him take his mind off of his love. After the ride, he sees the girl with her new boyfriend and tries to impress her at a carnival game, but his distracted throws prove costly. When the girl's dog runs away, Harold has a chance to get back in her good graces.
After finding the dog, the girl wants to go on a balloon ride with the suitors, but her pass is only good for two. Whoever can get her mother's permission first gets her hand. Harold tries the telephone while Roy drives to the mother's house. Who will win? And how does a stolen purse come into play.
This Harold Lloyd short had me for about half of the 25 minute running time, then it just started becoming tedious. The opening on the roller coaster was very funny as was most of the search for the dog. When Harold ties the the animal's leash to the carousel, you know what's coming, but the execution is very good.
Once Harold starts trying to make the phone call, it becomes repetitive, obvious and unfunny. All of the phones are being used. The operator connects him to wrong numbers. He doesn't have a nickel to put in the payphone. His facial reactions are all basically the same and the obstacles are all relatively the same.
Once he is suspected of stealing the purse, it has moments of humor, but is again pretty repetitive. The one great laugh out loud moment was how he enlists a small boy to help him elude the police.
Technically, it's very well done. It's well shot, well edited and the print on YouTube was gorgeous.
This is an okay comedy. Not great, but certainly not bad. The opening and closing seem to be going for a Charlie Chaplin feel, but it never quite get there.
**1/2 out of *****
Watched on YouTube
Sunday, 21 November 2010
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| Keaton attempts to build a house. |
Starring Buster Keaton, Sybil Seeling and Joe Roberts
Produced by Joseph M. Schenk Productions
Buster Keaton has just married his girl and is being driven from the ceremony by his former romantic rival. The newlyweds receive an envelope informing them Buster's uncle has given them a house. Unfortunately, they find the house in boxes waiting to be assembled. When the girl's former suitor decides to cause mischief by switching the boxes around, the result is a home that looks like it was designed by Salvador Dali. Can the couple make the best of a crazy situation?
The story here is paper thin, but that is okay. The whole tale exists only to give Keaton a canvas for some amazing sight gags and physical comedy. There's a moment in the first few minutes where Keaton is straddling two cars when a motorcycle drives in between the cars and hits the comedian. It's completely unexpected and gives the viewer a moment of "how did anyone not die making these movies?".
The house reminds me of Tom Hanks' The Money Pit. There's a particular moment when one of the floors sags in a way reminiscent of the classic 1980s comedy. Characters are also subjected to multiple two story drops, including one where someone runs off the second floor, hits the ground and keeps on running.
The tale is slight, but Keaton is hysterical. I laughed out loud twice watching this and I am not one prone to laugh out loud. Very well done.
**** out of *****
NOTE: This was Keaton's first film without Fatty Arbuckle.
Watched on Google Video
Photo from The Spirit of Discordance
Saturday, 20 November 2010
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| Kay Hoog learns the secrets of the Buddha-head diamond |
Starring Carl de Vogt, Ressel Orla, Georg John
Produced by Decla-Bioscop AG
Remember the moment early in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where Indy awakens on his plane to find the pilots have bailed out and left no parachutes. Inspired by his desperation, our hero grabs his two reluctant traveling companions and leaps from the plane in an inflatable raft.
Now imagine that Dr. Jones' plan the entire time was to take a plane to a remote Asian jungle and leap from it in nothing but a life raft. Imagine it was not borne out of necessity and survival instinct, but instead was always the preferred way of leaping from the plane.
You have just gained an understanding of the awesomeness of Kay Hoog.
Early in Spiders, Part 2, Hoog accompanies the police on a raid of the house where his arch-nemesis Lio Sha is hiding out. Hoog elects to take a biplane and leap from the aircraft onto the roof of the house. Without a parachute. He does this not out of desperation or necessity. He leaps from a low flying airplane because IT'S HIS PLAN! He does it because he's Kay Hoog and if he has the opportunity to jump out of a plane, he's taking it. He does it because it is the coolest way to go in.
Spiders, Part 2 is the follow up to the appropriately titled Spiders, Part 1. The previous chapter found Lio Sha expressing her love for Hoog and him telling her to pound sand. He was in love with the Incan princess he had just rescued. Sha responds by killing said royalty. Now Hoog is out for revenge.
He gets his opportunity as both Hoog and Sha's shadowy Spiders are after the Buddha-head Diamond. Legend tells that the diamond can restore power throughout Asia to... it doesn't matter really. The jewel is a MacGuffin to get our players moving.
After raiding Sha's house (she escapes), Hoog discovers her plan and traces the Spiders to an opium den in a secret Chinese city under San Francisco. He pretends to smoke the wacky tobacky and pass out, but is pretty quickly captured anyway. The Spiders trap him in a chamber that fills with water. He escapes. How? Well... The movie is never clear on that.
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| The walls are closing in on our hero. |
Ultimately, the search for the diamond leads them to a London diamond magnate and his daughter Ellen. You immediately know Ellen is destined to fall for Hoog. You also know she's got to be kidnapped by the Spiders.
Hoog is now on a mission to retrieve the diamond AND save Ellen. It's a race to the Falklands with our hero one step ahead of the villains.
Fritz Lang is still clearly developing as a director. There are parts of this film that are incomprehensible. The pieces are there but the transitions could be clearer. At times, the story seems to meander listlessly. Still, it has an energy and story unlike anything I've seen in the 1910s.
My two regrets about Spiders are that a) Lang never made the third and fourth chapters, and b) Hollywood has never revisited this material. There are some fun ideas here. Secret cities guarded by tigers under San Francisco. Wifi across the ocean 100 years ago. Booby-trapped evil lairs where the walls threaten to crush you (see the trash compactor scene in Star Wars).
If you are looking for a fun, throw-back, popcorn flick, it is hard to go wrong with the Spiders series. Because Kay Hoog is the originial Dr. Jones.
**** out of *****
Watched on Netflix Watch Instantly
Photo from Silent Volume
Thursday, 18 November 2010
In national news, 1920 saw the first radio broadcast and the first votes for women. As far as film milestones go, this is a quiet year. Fairbanks moves from comedies and westerns into the swashbucklers that defined him with The Mark of Zorro. Buster Keaton headlines his own comedy short without Fatty Arbuckle for the first time in One Week. And the first true color animation appears in the form of The Debut of Thomas Cat.
What are watching? I'm finally viewing my first Fairbanks feature with The Mark of Zorro. I also want to track down Keaton's solo debut. Beyond that, I'm eying D.W. Griffith's Way Down East, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with John Barrymore, and Cecil B. DeMille's Why Change Your Wife (all on Netflix Watch Instantly). Also, I'm a huge fan of Michael Mann's Last of the Mohicans so Maurice Tourneur's version is a must watch.
And of course, Kay Hoog! Spiders, Part 2! More goofy awesomeness!
NOTE: An anonymous commenter pointed out that the picture in the original article was not in fact Pickfair. After careful research (okay, 15 seconds of googling) I confirmed and have updated the picture (which comes from The Silver Screen Affair.
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