Michael Elliott

I probably shouldn't comment since I've only seen BEN HUR once many years ago but I've always thought SPARTACUS was the best epic from that era. I got the set yesterday and plan on watching it whenever my television gets fixed. I'm more interested in the silent version though.


09/12/05

Story of Floating Weeds, The (1934)

A traveling actor returns to a town where his his old flame lives, which causes complications with his current girlfriend and the son who doesn’t know he’s the father. This was my first film by Yasujiro Ozu and I’m really not sure the reputation this one has over the remake but this here really didn’t work for me. The story never fully grabbed my attention and I must say that some of the dialogue was pretty lame, although I’ve heard some Japanese words don’t translate very well to English so perhaps this had something to do with it. The visual style of the film is really the only thing that kept me awake. The stark photography and lush blacks really look terrific and the simple direction also works well.

09/13/05

Rashomon (1950)

A man is murdered and at the trial various stories are told of what really happened. This was only my second film from Akira Kurosawa and I enjoyed it more than The Seven Samurai and I’d probably put it down as one of the greatest ever made. I knew the film’s reputation going in but after reading the plot I really wasn’t expecting too much but each passing minute the film just kept getting better and better. The ending was quite chilling and depressing but at the same time very uplifting. I’ll have to think a bit more about the film’s message towards human nature but it’s always good when a film makes you think after it’s over with. The performances by the entire cast are among the greatest I’ve ever seen and especially the work done by Toshiro Mifune. The cinematography is also quite beautiful and perfectly captures the mood of the film. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this film after it sits in a bit more because the emotions it left running through me are still quite fresh and looking for a few more answers. Either way this is a brilliant film.

Romance (1930)

An Italian opera diva (Greta Garbo) with a troubled past falls in love with a priest (Gavin Gordon). Like many early sound films this one here talks and talks and talks but sadly most of the talk isn’t very interesting. Garbo is very good in her role, although it’s a bit hard to believe her as an opera star. Gordon on the other hand is fairly weak and it’s a shame Garbo couldn’t get Gary Cooper like she wanted. The ending is so incredibly bad you can’t help but laughs but hey, there’s Garbo.

09/14/05

Inspiration (1931)

A beautiful model (Greta Garbo) begins dating a good, shy guy (Robert Montgomery) but things hit hard times when he learns of her rather sluttish past. Once again Garbo is quite good and Montgomery is strong but the story lets both of them down. Things start off quite nice and move well but at the 45-minute mark things just fall apart because the story keeps repeating itself. He forgives her, learns something else, hates her, forgives her, learns something else and hates her again. A nice ending almost saves the film but not quite.

Kiss, The (1929)

A flirtatious married woman (Greta Garbo) has an innocent relationship with a young kid (Lew Ayres) but when she gives him a friendly kiss goodbye tragedy follows. The main highlight here is Garbo, in her final silent and Ayres, in his film debut and their chemistry together. The two work remarkably well together and their innocent relationship really comes off as fun. The “tragedy” that happens plays out well but the really poor direction by Jacques Feyder kills this from being better. The TCM print ran 62 minutes but Maltin’s book lists the running time at 82 minutes. I don’t think anything was cut but instead they played the film at a higher FPS rate. This was also MGM’s final silent picture.

IMDB Reviews

Joe Karlosi

Bah.

Haggai

Too bad you didn't take to Ozu, Mike. I've only seen the two versions of Floating Weeds, plus Tokyo Story, all back in one week earlier this year. I've got the other two Criterions in my queue. I love his style, but it is pretty different from most other highly regarded types of films.

Rashomon is also my favorite Kurosawa, and easily one of my all-time favorite movies. The camerawork is amazingly fluid, and almost everything about the movie is really hypnotic. As great as the cast is, these aren't even my favorite performances by a few of them--I think Mifune and Minoru Chiaki (the monk) were even better in Throne of Blood, where they play the equivalents of Macbeth and Banquo. And Takashi Shimura, the woodcutter, was IMO even better in Stray Dog, Ikiru, and Seven Samurai. Shimura is surely one of the most versatile actors I've ever seen, as is possibly most evident by comparing his amazingly different roles in Ikiru and Seven Samurai.

Films watched in 2007 | 2006 | 2005

Joe Karlosi

The Brides of Dracula (1960)
One of Hammer Studios' best horror films, this sort-of-sequel to HORROR OF DRACULA returns Peter Cushing to the Van Helsing role and has him taking on a disciple of Dracula (David Peel). A nice mix of gothic horror, action and corruption (the vampire makes his own mother one of the Undead).

Criminally Insane (1975)
Otherwise known as "Crazy Fat Ethel" (or a smiliar variant), this is a bad sleaze film about an insane obese woman who bludgeons anyone who gets in her way and tries to tell her what to do (like stop eating for one thing). She then piles the corpses in a spare room and has to keep buying air freshener to hide the odor. As if all this wasn't bad enough, the acting and directing are terrible, yet fans of such exploitation crud may get a chuckle.

White Chicks (2004)
My wife picked this one for a rental (it was either this or MONSTER IN-LAW) and I decided to give it a watch even though I was against it on principal from the very first time I heard of it (I mean, I thought dressing up as another race was not tolerable?) Turned out not to be a total disaster, and the Wayans brothers often had me believing they were ditzy rich white women (who are in a class all by themselves and whom I don't mind seeing parodied).

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
The film was not what I expected it to be, but it was still pretty interesting. It's not so much a full blown-out exorcism film as it is a drama about a lawyer defending a priest when his patient dies under his spiritual care. Good performances by Tom Wilkinson as the priest, and Laura Linney's even better as his defense lawyer.

The Sting (1973)
One of the greatest films ever made, and every time I see it I get something else out of it. Paul Newman and Robert Redford are terrific together again, as is Robert Shaw as the 'baddie'. Director George Roy Hill has fashioned a masterpiece.

Schindler's List (1993)
Very gripping real-life drama from Spielberg that is effectively rendered in stark black and white and features a fine perfromance from Liam Neeson. Very powerful and disturbing. Only flaw for me was that it felt a tad overlong. I happened to like the ending that some people have complained about.

The Phantom of the Opera (1962)
Cheaply done rendition of the Phantom story, with a lot of changes and none of them for the better. Herbert Lom makes a good-looking phantom figure, but this is just an average film with little to recommend in it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but IMO Heather Sears was a homely choice to play Christina, the lead character. The famous chandelier sequence is re-worked for the ending, which is so sappy it makes me gag.

Black Friday (1940)
Once you get over the fact that this is not a horror film but a gangster story with slight elements of science, it's a good ride as doctor Boris Karloff replaces his injured friend's brain with that of a dying gangster - and creates a Jekyll/Hyde mobster with deadly results. Completely ridiculous, but much fun. Bela Lugosi is wasted in a nothing role as one of the criminal gang.

The Brick Dollhouse (1967)
If you like seeing hot naked women (which is the only reason I give this one star), this non-film is for you. It's a skin flick which unsuccessfully tries to factor in a murder mystery amidst the boobage.

A Sweet Sickness (1968)
Same as above, minus the 'murder'.

Mario Gauci

Sorry for the late reply, Mike, but here goes:


"Spaghetti West, The (2005)

IFC/Blue Underground produced documentary directed by David Gregory and produced by William Lustig takes a look at the Spaghetti Westerns of Italy. This features interviews with Leone, Eastwood, Franco Nero and various others but I¡¦ll get back to them in a second. The documentary, like all of Gregory¡¦s work, is wonderfully entertaining and helps newbies such as myself understand these types of films and want to check them out. Having seen hundreds of Italian horror films, the one thing that they struck me as were ripoff of American films yet the directors of these ripoffs would never admit that yet they¡¦d insult the filmmakers they were ripping off. The same here because their attitudes towards Leone, the man these films were ripping, is pretty damn stupid. I haven¡¦t seen many of the Italian westerns but the ones I have seen are no where near Leone¡¦s talent."

A mere couple of years ago I would have been in the same boat as you here, Mike and, while Leone's Spaghetti Westerns do indeed stand head and shoulders above the rest, this formerly maligned subgenre has spawned more than its fair share of not only excellent Westerns but good movies in their own right, namely THE RETURN OF RINGO (1965), DJANGO (1966), THE BIG GUNDOWN (1967), A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL (1967), DEATH RIDES A HORSE (1967), FACE TO FACE (1967), TEPEPA (1968), A SKY FULL OF STARS FOR A ROOF (1968), COMPANEROS (1970) and MY NAME IS NOBODY (1973).


"Regeneration (1915)

First film directed by the legendary Raoul Walsh after working on The Birth of a Nation is probably best known for being one of the first ¡§gangster¡¨ pictures as well as being one of the first films to actually shoot on the streets of Hell¡¦s Kitchen. Owen is orphaned at the age of ten and taken in by his abusive neighbors and by the time he¡¦s an adult (Rockliffe Fellows) he¡¦s a ¡§gangster¡¨ living on the streets, not working and drinking too much but a social worker decides to try and changed his ways. The term gangster here isn¡¦t like the gangster films we¡¦re accustomed to but instead it means poor folks hanging out on the streets. The historical importance of this film can¡¦t be argued and it clearly influenced some of Scorsese¡¦s films as he talked about in A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese but at the end of the day there¡¦s really very little going on in this thing. The use of real locations and real actors is a nice touch but the story drags along and the editing, which Walsh is clearly trying to copy Griffith, is a mess. The 70-minute running time feels a bit long as well. From a historic standpoint this is worth viewing once but I doubt I¡¦d go back for a second viewing. The highlight of the film is one scene where people are partying on a boat, which catches fire and they must try to make an escape. This here is certainly one of the great scenes of the silent era."

I've yet to pick this one up myself and, despite your misgivings, I still intend to do so because of its importance in film history and in Walsh's own career.


"Outside the Law (1920)

After her gangster father is framed and sent to jail, a young woman (Priscilla Dean) decides to take revenge and start stealing herself. This goes against the wise advice of Ah Woo, an Oriental wiseman and Black Mike Sylva (Lon Chaney) a gangster who framed her father. This Tod Browning directed gangster/moral tale has a brilliant start and finish but the big problem is the center section when the girl is hiding out with a man who she eventually falls in love with. During this middle section Ah Woo isn¡¦t in the picture nor is Chaney¡¦s Black Mike or Ah Wing, a second character he plays in the film. The moral section of the middle half lasts way too long and just isn¡¦t very interesting. The shootout at the start and end of the film are highly entertaining and look terrific. Chaney is good as Black Mike, although he¡¦s a tad bit better in The Penalty made a few years later."

I need to pick this one on DVD - where it is paired with SHADOWS (1922) - as well and, for what it's worth, THE PENALTY was made the same year as OUTSIDE THE LAW.


"He Who Gets Slapped (1924)

After being slapped and laughed at by his friend, a scientist (Lon Chaney) decides to join the circus as a performing clown where getting slapped can get him laughs but soon the past starts to catch up with him. This is certainly one of the best Chaney vehicles and in my opinion one of the greatest and strongest films of the silent era. Norma Shearer and John Gilbert are very strong in their roles but there¡¦s no denying that this is Chaney¡¦s film all the way through. I¡¦d also argue that he gives one of the greatest performances ever caught on film. He works brilliantly as the shamed scientist but once the clown makeup is on he takes the film and performance to another level. The clown routines are wonderfully performed and quite funny and the tragedy that follows is very touching and sad. The film works on every single level due to Chaney. This was the first film made by the then new MGM studio."

I totally agree with your assessment of this masterpiece and, in fact, I'm surprised that you've caught up with it only now; I suppose you are aware that its director, Victor Sjostrom, was not only was one of the Silent Era's premier film-makers in both his native Sweden and Hollywood - where he directed Lillian Gish in the marvelous THE WIND (1928) - but also played the central role of Ingmar Bergman's WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957).


"Mockery (1927)

Extremely disappointing effort between star Lon Chaney and director Benjamin Christensen (Haxan). Set during the Russian Revolution, a dimwitted peasant (Chaney) takes a woman (Barbara Bedford) through the dangerous forrest only to later learn that she is Countess who is blamed by other peasants for their bad living enviroment. The dimwitted peasant must then put his love for the Countess behind and fight for the peasants. This is a really bad film that doesn¡¦t work on any level dealing with the actual story. The story is incredibly dull, confusing and most of the time it¡¦s hard to care for either side of the fight. It seems Christensen had some sort of message but this never gets across. Even Chaney is rather dull here as he just lumbers around various scenes not doing much. Apparently he and the director had several battles over the director not ¡§fixing¡¨ the story and this is apparent in his weak performance. The visuals of the film are quite good, especially the opening shot of dead bodies lying on the ground."

Although I haven't watched it myself, I'm stunned you think so negatively of the potentially interesting Lon Chaney-Benjamin Christensen collaboration; not that I doubt you, but I'd still would like to make up my own mind about it someday...


"Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000)

Terrific documentary takes a look at the life and career of Lon Chaney."

Agreed.


"Story of Floating Weeds, The (1934)

A traveling actor returns to a town where his his old flame lives, which causes complications with his current girlfriend and the son who doesn¡¦t know he¡¦s the father. This was my first film by Yasujiro Ozu and I¡¦m really not sure the reputation this one has over the remake but this here really didn¡¦t work for me. The story never fully grabbed my attention and I must say that some of the dialogue was pretty lame, although I¡¦ve heard some Japanese words don¡¦t translate very well to English so perhaps this had something to do with it. The visual style of the film is really the only thing that kept me awake. The stark photography and lush blacks really look terrific and the simple direction also works well.¡¨

For someone who adores Japanese (and French) cinema as much as I do, it might be considered somewhat blasphemous to say that what I've watched of Yasujiro Ozu's (and Eric Rohmer's) work so far has done very little for me; it's not that I don't find LATE SPRING (1949), TOKYO STORY (1953) and AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON (1962) to be good or even great movies but, at the same time, they're too "uneventful" and similar to eachother to make me look forward to repeat viewings in the future; I did purchase Criterion's 2-Disc of TOKYO STORY but I've yet to watch it! Furthermore, I only need to point out that I currently have 25(!) of Ozu's movies on VHS as yet unwatched and, from what I've read about them, they're more of the same - studies of the Japanese way of life. Usually, this repetitiveness of a certain theme throughout a director's oeuvre (as in Bunuel, Hawks, Hitchcock, etc.) fascinates me but, I'm afraid, not in Ozu's case!


"Rashomon (1950)

A man is murdered and at the trial various stories are told of what really happened. This was only my second film from Akira Kurosawa and I enjoyed it more than The Seven Samurai and I¡¦d probably put it down as one of the greatest ever made. I knew the film¡¦s reputation going in but after reading the plot I really wasn¡¦t expecting too much but each passing minute the film just kept getting better and better. The ending was quite chilling and depressing but at the same time very uplifting. I¡¦ll have to think a bit more about the film¡¦s message towards human nature but it¡¦s always good when a film makes you think after it¡¦s over with. The performances by the entire cast are among the greatest I¡¦ve ever seen and especially the work done by Toshiro Mifune. The cinematography is also quite beautiful and perfectly captures the mood of the film. I¡¦m sure I¡¦ll have more to say about this film after it sits in a bit more because the emotions it left running through me are still quite fresh and looking for a few more answers. Either way this is a brilliant film.¡¨

RASHOMON is one of the earliest foreign-language films I've managed to get hold of on VHS in the mid-1990s; obviously, I've loved it instantly and, in fact, should be viewing it again (for the fourth time?) via Criterion's SE DVD in the near future. It remains one of my favorite Kurosawas and one of his towering achievements. By the way, Mike, since you didn't mention it in your review, have you ever watched Martin Ritt's maligned Hollywood remake in Western garb, THE OUTRAGE (1964), with Paul Newman, Claire Bloom, Laurence Harvey, Edward G. Robinson and William Shatner? Although it's a fairly good film in its own right (I've watched it twice so far myself), it's one of those remakes which suffer badly in comparison with the irreproachable originals - I'll mention two similar instances which I came across fairly recently: FANNY (1932 v. 1961) and SOLARIS (1972 v. 2002). While on viewing the remakes, I found them to be good movies, upon watching the originals the next day, I was compelled to lower my ratings of both from a *** to a **1/2 against the orginals' ***1/2!


"Romance (1930)

An Italian opera diva (Greta Garbo) with a troubled past falls in love with a priest (Gavin Gordon). Like many early sound films this one here talks and talks and talks but sadly most of the talk isn¡¦t very interesting. Garbo is very good in her role, although it¡¦s a bit hard to believe her as an opera star. Gordon on the other hand is fairly weak and it¡¦s a shame Garbo couldn¡¦t get Gary Cooper like she wanted. The ending is so incredibly bad you can¡¦t help but laughs but hey, there¡¦s Garbo.¡¨

Despite the film's relative obscurity, I've always wanted to watch this one because both Garbo and Clarence Brown received Oscar nominations for their work here and, in fact, it was even judged as the Best Film of 1930 by the National Board of Review!!


"Kiss, The (1929)

A flirtatious married woman (Greta Garbo) has an innocent relationship with a young kid (Lew Ayres) but when she gives him a friendly kiss goodbye tragedy follows. The main highlight here is Garbo, in her final silent and Ayres, in his film debut and their chemistry together. The two work remarkably well together and their innocent relationship really comes off as fun. The ¡§tragedy¡¨ that happens plays out well but the really poor direction by Jacques Feyder kills this from being better. The TCM print ran 62 minutes but Maltin¡¦s book lists the running time at 82 minutes. I don¡¦t think anything was cut but instead they played the film at a higher FPS rate. This was also MGM¡¦s final silent picture.¡¨

Again, I haven't watched this one myself, but I'm surprised at your opinion of Jacques Feyder's directorial abilities. He was a highly-acclaimed film-maker in the 1920s and 1930s and was responsible for several well-regarded movies like L'ATLANTIDE (1921), CRAINQUEBILLE (1922), VISAGES D'ENFANTS (1925), LES NOUVEAUX MESSIEURS (1928), LE GRAND JEU (1934) and LA KERMESSE HEROIQUE (1935); so far, I've only managed to catch up with two of his films, the splendid post-Russian Revolution drama he made in England for Alexander Korda, KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOUR (1937; with Robert Donat and Marlene Dietrich) and LA LOI DU NORD (1939).


"I probably shouldn't comment since I've only seen BEN HUR once many years ago but I've always thought SPARTACUS was the best epic from that era. I got the set yesterday and plan on watching it whenever my television gets fixed. I'm more interested in the silent version though."

While I'm quite shocked (as I'm sure Joe is) that you've only watched BEN-HUR (1959) once, I agree with your finding SPARTACUS (1960) to be a more satisfying film; in fact, I've always considered it and THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964) to be Hollywood's best epic forays into the Roman Empire. BEN-HUR, on the other hand, as great as it most certainly is, was always way too reverent for my cynical tastes...


P.S. Joe, I'll comment on 4 of the titles you've recently watched but, I'm afraid, it'll have to wait until tomorrow afternoon because it's 23:15 over here and I need to get to bed since tomorrow is looking like a tough 9 hour work day!!

Michael Elliott

Joe, I'm actually happy to see you enjoy a remake so much.

Mario/Haggai, I haven't seen any of those films you mentioned, although I did put some of them on my Netflix thing. However, I hope they're different than the horror films. It's funny because the start of the documentary pretty much calls Italian cinema a bunch of money hungry producers trying to cash in on American films and then kicks to the directors acting as if they created the genre. Of course, we know fans of this genre that don't know who John Ford is.

HE WHO GETS SLAPPED: not sure if I'll put this one over THE UNKNOWN but I did love it. I enjoyed it more than LAUGH CLOWN LAUGH, which I thought was just too depressing but I plan on watching that one and MR. FU soon. I also ordered THE SCARLET CAR and another Chaney that I can't remember the title of right now.

As for MOCKERY, it's hands down the worst Chaney film and performance I've seen. I'm not sure if you've seen .THIS SITE but they go over all Chaney's films, including the 100+ that are lost. They also have reviews from back when the films were released. Nothing good was said about MOCKERY so apparently I wasn't the only one who hated it. Just click on the filmography at the page to see a list of all films, reviews and so on.

With Ozu and the others, I decided to kick up some more foreign films before starting that horror thing next month. I've got BEAUTY AND THE BEAST sitting here with 8 1/2 and L'AGE D'OR due in tomorrow. Doubt I'll be watching them this weekend since I'm hosting a field party Saturday night. TOKYO STORY was due tomorrow but I placed it further back since I didn't care too much for the other film.

I recorded Newman's THE OUTRAGE off of TCM a while back but haven't watched it yet. There's a 1950 film called OUTRAGE directed by Ida Lupino, which is one Turner in a couple days. It also deals with a rape but I'm not sure if the films are connected.

I'm recording all the Garbo pictures off Turner, at least hte ones not in the box set, which I plan on picking up soon. I hope the titles in the box are a little better than what I watched.



The double feature of THE CAINE MUTINY and PATHS OF GLORY will be a lot better. I promise.

IMDB Reviews

Joe Karlosi

I never thought you'd say that, Michael
But that's fine, as you know how I feel about so-called "remakes" when great filmmakers still knew how to properly render 'em back in the day, and they were still worthwhile and necessary to be improved upon. Speaking of "necessary," I bought the new BEN-HUR Set today and will be watching the 1925 rough draft of the finished product fairly soon.

Joe Karlosi

Did you buy/watch THE STING yet?