Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club - Page 90

Brook K · 05-04-2005, 03:43 PM

I think you just need to accept that that was the acting style of the day. This was completely acceptable at the time the films were made with complete approval of the directors who made the films. You're closing yourself off to a lot of great films out of hand. (though knowing you, you'd hate 'em anyway

)

George, did you get Les Vampires from Netflix? Because they finally removed it from my queue and sent me a message saying they don't carry the film anymore.

BD is satirical in the vein of Animal Farm, not endorsing communism. Notice that once Dallesandro is the communist leader, he is just as violent and bloodthirsty as a healthy Dracula would be. One form of tyranny is simply replaced by another. The Criterion liner note essay also speaks of it as being a comedy/parody/satire.

274 F For Fake

A movie that has been called an essay, a documentary, and argued as neither, F For Fake is ostensibly about fakery in the art world concentrating on a famous art forger and a writer who produced a fake biography of Howard Hughes. Welles meanders to other topics as well, but the true intent is an exercise in moviemaking magic and a commentary on director as magician/fake.

At first glance one may find little relevancy in 30 year old stories about forgery that take place in a strata of society foreign to most of us. Aside from the obvious thematic extension to how these stories pertain to our definition of art and the purpose served by "experts", neither did I. The true relevancy of F For Fake is what it says about Orson Welles, the artist/faker.

In exploring these other views of art, it explores Welles views of art. In telling these other stories, it presents Welles as the grand storyteller. Obliquely it furnishes us with a veiled self-commentary on Welles' life and career. It is one of the few films Welles made that contains references to his other films. It's attack on the duplicity and redundancy of art experts can easily be extended to film critics. It prominently features Welles' mistress at that time Oja Kodar. And finally features a wonderful trestise on the permanence and impermanence of great art and how art needs no definitions.

From a technical standpoint, the film is brilliantly edited with incredibly intricate intercutting. The film took an entire year to edit with 3 bays operating at the same time. It has a Godardian habit of occasional winks at the audience and jokes at our expense. For all its heady artistic themes, it also possesses a healthy dose of wit and humor. At its heart it is in some ways a coda to the career of one of America's finest artists. A-

george kaplan · 05-04-2005, 06:03 PM

I think you just need to accept that that was the acting style of the day. This was completely acceptable at the time the films were made with complete approval of the directors who made the films. You're closing yourself off to a lot of great films out of hand. (though knowing you, you'd hate 'em anyway )

I accept and understand it's the acting style of the day. But for action/drama films, that style just doesn't work for me. I don't think I'm closing myself off from great films at all. I watch them, and I don't like them, so I don't watch them again. Basically, by my definition, they're not great films, cause I have no desire to see them again. Now, comedies (especially Chaplin's) work fine as silents. And it certainly is possible to make a non-comedy silent that works. For example, Metropolis. But it does require adopting an unusual acting style for the day. But Metropolis could do it, Chaplin could do it in the Kid, so it's certainly not unheard of.

In a similar vein, cheesy B science fiction from the 50s and 60s doesn't work for me either. Lost in Space was my favorite tv show when I was four. I know this cause I sprained my ankle when I was four, and vehemently fought going to the hospital cause I was going to miss it. But I'm not four anymore, and being older, and seeing sci-fi from 2001 to Star Wars to Dark City, Lost in Space doesn't work for me anymore. Neither does Fantastic Planet which is quite similar.

George, did you get Les Vampires from Netflix? Because they finally removed it from my queue and sent me a message saying they don't carry the film anymore.

No, I don't belong to Netflix. I use an alternative called Greencine, which is where I got it from.

Brook K · 05-04-2005, 07:11 PM

Oh well, so you're hopeless then.

Actually as far as Fairbanks stuff goes, the couple I've seen haven't really done a whole lot for me though I haven't seen The Gaucho.

I thought Metropolis had pretty similar acting to a lot of the dramas of the day, Sunrise, The Crowd, etc. The story of Metropolis is pure melodrama with the sci-fi trappings.

I do agree with you on cheezy 50-60's sci-fi. Other than Thing From Another World and Godzilla movies, it doesn't work for me either, not that I've seen that much of it because in general, it doesn't interest me

I'm familiar with Greencine, just a longtime Netflix user that hasn't seen a reason to switch.

rich_d · 05-04-2005, 08:15 PM

To me the three silent dramas that come to mind are:

Sunrise
Metropolis
Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari

All three could be picked on for this and that. But each offers much and are terrific and influential films.

SteveGon · 05-04-2005, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Actually as far as Fairbanks stuff goes, the couple I've seen haven't really done a whole lot for me though I haven't seen The Gaucho.

As I said, The Gaucho is a lot of fun - very much in the vein of Indiana Jones.

I'd rank the Fairbanks films I've seen like this:

The Gaucho
The Iron Mask
The Three Musketeers
Don Q - Son of Zorro
The Mark of Zorro
The Thief of Bagdad
Robin Hood
The Black Pirate

I haven't seen Les Vampires, but I have seen Judex, from the same director, Louis Feuillade. Its another serial and pretty entertaining despite its five hour-plus length. It is on DVD so check it out.

Haggai · 05-05-2005, 12:17 AM

When it comes to great silent dramas, everyone needs to check out The Big Parade whenever it comes to DVD, which is rumored to be sometime later this year. According to IMDB--although this info might be a little sketchy no matter who cites it--The Big Parade was the highest grossing film of the silent era. It's really brilliant, and I can't wait to get a chance to see it again in a nice restored form.

Brook K · 05-05-2005, 12:40 AM

Ah, the two I've seen are Thief of Bagdad and The Black Pirate.

Outstanding Silent Dramas other than those already mentioned: The Last Laugh, Tabu, Herr Tartuffe, Faust, The Wind, The Crowd, Broken Blossoms, Intolerance, The Story Of Floating Weeds, Passing Fancy, A Page of Madness (though I wouldn't classify it as drama, but since you mentioned Caligari, I'll stick it in), Blackmail

I also wouldn't place the Russian films in this category, though I suppose one could. IMO the best of these are Strike!, The Man With A Movie Camera, and Earth.

Others Worth Seeing: The Lodger, Cabiria, Destiny, Orphans of the Storm.

I'm going to be seeing some more fairly soon. I have the Von Stroheim's in my queue around 10-12 and 5 Russian discs with 7-9 films in the 20's.

And on the S&S front I should be receiving Love Me Tonight tomorrow, plus taping the 4 Bunuel's I haven't seen, which I will try to watch as quickly as possible. I may just hit 300 before the year is out.

Adam_S · 05-05-2005, 02:09 AM

Magnificent Ambersons -

1/2
TCM cablecast
05/04/2005

I enjoyed this film quite a lot. There is a lot to like here but the pace seems a bit too fast for the gravitas the film displays and carries about. I'd like to see this again, but it's a remarkably well done film. My only dislike is that I seriously wanted to smack the adult George, alot, quite often, I'm much more interested in the other characters than in his whiny effect on their story.

george kaplan · 05-05-2005, 06:15 AM

Ah, the two I've seen are Thief of Bagdad and The Black Pirate.

I've seen those, plus Robin Hood. I will of course add The Gaucho, etc. to my to see-list, though it's at 735 and counting, so it could be a while before I get round to that film.

As far as others which people have mentioned, I've seen:

Sunrise
The Big Parade
The Wind
The Crowd
Broken Blossoms
Intolerance
Blackmail
The Man with a Movie Camera
Earth
The Lodger
Cabiria

These range in my feelings for them, but except for Blackmail (which I agree is a great film, but don't think qualifies as a silent), I have zero desire to see any of them again. Some suffer from the 'acting' problem, others don't, but whether it's acting, or story, or direction or whatever, they just don't work for me.

Now, that can't be blamed entirely on being silent, after all there are thousands of 'talkies' that I don't ever want to see again either.

SteveGon · 05-05-2005, 09:07 AM

I thought Robin Hood and The Thief of Bagdad were both longer than they needed to be, especially if one isn't acclimated to silents. The Black Pirate was just routine, mainly of interest for its being in color.

I'll also recommend the Mad Love DVD, featuring three pre-1920s shorts by Russian film pioneer Evgenii Bauer. There are fascinating both on a technical and thematic level.