Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club - Page 78

Adam_S · 09-21-2004, 03:43 AM

The Wind -

OAR LD

I really liked the Wind, not as good as Sunrise but the melodrama of this film really appealed to me in a way most melodramas fail to do. I think it was all tied up in the painful perfection of the wedding night scene, although as a whole the overall rythms of the film are absolutely wonderful throughout.

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Partie de Campaigne (A Day in the Country -

OAR VHS (incredibly bad quality)

This is the first Renoir I've seen I've been majorly disapointed in. There's nothing to this little forty minute film except in the final four minutes or so. The rest is pretty much needless and pointless set up that only serves to set the tone of the piece. I also couldn't tell a damn thing about the quality of hte production values because the VHS was so bad. As it is the film comes across as really pretentious and an overblown treatment of a very old story with no new insights or anything interesting to say about that story or why it should be told again. This work feels like the work of an amateur rather than an accomplished filmmaker and storyteller. I mean, it didn't appeal to me on any of hte levels the other Renoir I've seen have appealed.

Adam

glen_esq · 09-22-2004, 06:19 PM

Quote:

the first Indian film I’ve seen outside of Ray.

Jim - hey, you get to look forward to seeing Pakeezah from the S & S list.

I've seen three films from the list I'd give zero stars to - Jeanne Dielman, The Time to Live and the Time to Die, and Pakeezah.

I might give it a 1/2 star for costuming. The plot has such stirring moments as the heroine getting her foot caught on the railroad tracks with a train bearing down on her. Yeesh. Disappointingly, no evil guy with a black cape and twirly moustache.

Brook - I hope you get to chase down City of Sadness. You'd probably really like it, seeing that you liked Flowers of Shanghai so much.

glen_esq · 09-22-2004, 07:16 PM

Make Way for Tomorrow (McCarey, 1937)

My experience watching this was somewhat a tale of two movies. The first half I didn't think had aged too well, somewhat stuffy. The last 40 minutes or so, wow! That's as fine a piece of melodrama as I've seen from Hollywood's golden age.

Incredibly poignant filmmaking, the last scene of the movie is unforgettable.

Story of a man and wife in their 70s, penniless, losing their home and having to rely on the charity of their indifferent children. Fine performances from the leads, Beulah Bondi and Victore Moore as the hard luck old couple.

Thinking back on the film, I realize some of my displeasure with the slow, stodgy feel to the first half is to some extent McCarey setting the stage for the wonderful second half. Petty family squabbling doesn't make for the most entertaining film making, nor does watching elderly people behave like, well, annoying elderly people.

Overall, great stuff.

McCarey seen / ranked:
1. Duck Soup ****
2. Make Way for Tomorrow ****
3. Ruggles of Red Gap ****
4. The Awful Truth ***
5. Going My Way ***
6. An Affair to Remember ***
7. Love Affair ***
8. The Bells of St. Mary's ** ½
9. The Milky Way ** (I like the Danny Kaye remake a bit more)

Has anyone seen McCarey's My Son John?

I've been wanting to see this in a Reefer Madness sort of a way. No luck finding a copy, OOP. McCarey was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay, yet the film has a 3.7 imdb user rating. Rosenbaum has it on his alternative to the AFI 100 greatest film list.

Adam_S · 09-23-2004, 02:04 AM

Make Way for Tomorrow will be my second film on the list (chronologically; I think I have 6 films pre 1940 left on the list) I have no means to see, USC's cinema library doesn't have it or Les Vampires, and apparently it's not available on video right now so I can't see them acquiring a copy.

Seth Paxton · 09-23-2004, 02:32 AM

Jaws is a top 5 film for me, or at least top 10 with variations. It is one of my very favorite character pieces and to me works in that way as strongly as Schindler's List. As a horror film or shark film its fine, but those aren't the reasons I love it.

A Day in the Country is an indictment of the ignorant upper-middle class, both as the original short story and short film. However, the film adaptation underplays some of this and ends up going for the romantic twist angle a bit too strongly. Having read the story first I knew better, but I can see how that would come across as more of the main point to the film to non-readers. For me it still has Renoir touch and is enjoyable though not great.

SteveGon · 09-23-2004, 09:54 AM

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I was struck throughout the film how much like a religious zealot our good Doctor really is. It's funny how we tend to forget how strong our religious belief in science belief really is--I mean in America we have more faith in 'scientific' drugs that just make you forget about symptoms instead of actually taking actions that treat and prevent the root causes. But it's science so it's better, right.

I think you're off the mark there, but that's a discussion best left out of this thread.

For an even more extreme example of the stoic scientist, check out The Quatermass Xperiment:

Spoiler:

Brook K · 09-23-2004, 12:24 PM

Make Way for Tomorrow is one I've heard a ton of good things about but I don't have any way to see it either.

City Of Sadness is available in a 5 DVD Hou set that sells on Ebay. I think that set has Time to Live and a Time to Die as well, but I don't want to pay the 50-60 bucks the set costs.

Netflix has Les Vampires but I haven't rented it yet. I was going to go ahead and get it before October but now it is out of stock. Pyaasa shipped today and I'll get Kaagaz Ke Phool either this weekend or next week depending on if they receive the two movies I sent back today on Friday or on Monday.

Pakeezah showed on TCM last year when they did the Bollywood month but I screwed up taping it and I don't think they've ever shown it again. I think there is a DVD available from India, but again I'm not too keen on buying DVD's just to complete this challenge.

Once I've rented the remaining 5 films that Netflix has, I'll probably go check out a couple of independent video stores around Atlanta. I know at least one of them has a huge stock of foreign films but the 40m drive there and back doesn't make a lot of sense just to rent movies when I already have more than I have time to watch.

Emory Univ. is showing The Mother And The Whore in November. I'm planning on going.

DonaldB · 09-24-2004, 02:12 AM

Quote:

City Of Sadness is available in a 5 DVD Hou set that sells on Ebay. I think that set has Time to Live and a Time to Die as well, but I don't want to pay the 50-60 bucks the set costs.

City of Sadness isn't part of the Hou box set. It is available separately, but without English subs. The set, by the way, is among the essential DVD releases and is easily worth the cost.

Jim_K · 09-24-2004, 07:32 AM

I wish I could stay away from Bollywood films Lew, but given this challenge I have a few more to go.

Glen,

I haven't seen the 3 films you've mentioned but thanks for giving me something to look forward to.

Kaagaz Ke Phool

Another Musical from Guru Dutt as this one is sort of a Indian version of A Star is Born. yuck

Shoah

A grueling & gripping documentary about the Holocaust featuring interviews with survivors who tell the story in their own words. Clocking in at about 9 ½ hours & containing none of the gruesome images that one would expect given the subject matter. This poses an interesting contrast to something like Resnais’ Night and Fog. I’m glad to have seen it though I have no desire to revisit in the future.

Lew Crippen · 09-24-2004, 01:21 PM

oops, wrong thread