05/04/08
Abel Gance: The Charm of Dynamite (1968)
Kevin Brownlow
Mildly interesting documentary about the career of director Abel Gance. The documentary shines a spotlight on three of the director's biggest films:
J'Accuse, La Roue and
Napoleon. For its time I guess this film isn't too bad but considering some of the documentaries out there now I must say that this one was pretty disappointing. These films of Gance's were hard to see when this film was made so there are countless clips of all three films shown and sometimes these clips go on for minutes at a time. The problem with this is that we get to hear very little from Gance himself who is being interviewed throughout the film. I'd much rather hear from the director on how he created these films instead of just seeing the film clips. Of course, seeing these clips were harder to see back in the day so perhaps I'm being too hard on this film.
It's Showtime (1976)
No Director Credited
Documentary in the same vein as
That's Entertainment except this one highlight various animal acts throughout the history of cinema. Dogs, cats, horses, apes and various other animals get put in the spotlight as we see clips from hundreds of movies. Flipper, Frances the Talking Mule, Rin Tin Tin, Lassie and a few others get their own segments as well. I guess these types of documentaries have their benefits but I've always felt they were rather tame because it's hard to fully enjoy what you're seeing outside the context of their original films. I've seen a lot of the movies that have clips here and the clips just don't have the same magic as they do when viewed in the original film. The best moment in the film are the clips of Rin Tin Tin. I've only seen one of his movies but that one movie was enough to call this dog amazing but that doesn't come across here because the clips, while great looking, are backed by some silly music, which really takes away from the scene.
05/07/08
Bloodsucking Cinema (2007)
Barry Gray
Short, 55-minute documentary that takes a look at why vampire films are so popular in cinema. The film takes a look at where the true legend comes from and then goes into all the films starting with 1922's
Nosferatu and leading up to current films like
Underworld and
Van Helsing. If you have the slightest knowledge of film history then you're not going to learn anything by this film because it's clearly being made for those who have never seen a vampire movie. John Carpenter, John Landis, Joel Schumaker and Uwe Boil are among the people interviewed as they talk about their own films as well as the ones they enjoyed while growing up. It was nice seeing Carpenter talk about enjoying various Hammer movies and even the 1931 Lugosi film gets a lot of talk. For some reason this film almost seems like a promotional piece for
From Dusk Till Dawn, which gets a lot of the talk. Cheech Marin talks about his roles in that film but the most interesting thing is seeing him talk about all the Mexican vampire films made throughout the decades. While there wasn't anything new I learned here the film still kept me entertained enough to enjoy what I was watching.
05/08/08
This is a Living? (1953)
No Directed Credited
Pete Smith short takes a look at people who do strange jobs that most wouldn't even try. These jobs include trapeze artists, a man and wife horseshoe throwers, a woman and horse who dive fifty-feet into water, high jumpers and various other strange jobs. As with a lot of Smith shorts, this one is entertaining throughout but there's certainly nothing overly special about it about. The movie is mildly fun do to the strange things we see but we really don't learn anything about the people doing the strange jobs or why they are being done. This is worth viewing if you can catch it on Turner Classic Movies but I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to find it.
Equestrian Quiz (1946)
Dave O'Brien
Pete Smith short was the eleventh film in the "What's Your I.Q." series, which offered quizzes to the movie audience. This quiz is all about horses and features questions like if a colt is born on December 31st then how old is it the next day. Answer: One year old. Other questions include what's the name of a betting pool, the correct way to put on a saddle, what's a pacing gait compared to a trotting gait and a few more questions. Even though I live five-miles from Churchill Downs I'm really not a fan of racing or horses but this film remained fun though. The movie is pretty entertaining from start to finish with some fun questions and some very good narration by Smith.
Frank Sinatra: The Man and His Music (1965)
Dwight Hernion
Emmy winning concert from Frank Sinatra has him talking about many of his songs and features classics like "Come Fly With Me", "You Make Me Feel So Young", "I Get a Kick Out of You", "My Kind of Town", "Young at Heart" and "I've Got the World on a String". This is a rather interesting concert and I read at various sites that Sinatra had a bad cold when they started filming this, which is obvious in several scenes where you can see him wiping his running nose and one scene where he steps away from the mic to cough. The visual look of the concert is what you'd call laid back but I found it pretty boring visually because nothing ever happens. I don't think we need anything too flashy but moving the camera every once in a while wouldn't be a bad idea. The highlight of course is Sinatra doing the singing. Out of all the songs performed I'd say "Young at Heart" would be the highlight but his performance on all of them is very good. The stories he tells aren't among the best I've heard from him but if you're a fan then this special offers up enough nice moments to make it worth watching.
05/09/08
Do Someone a Favor (1954)
David Barclay
Pete Smith short has Dave O'Brien playing a nice guy who is constantly doing people favors but then getting a bad deal. He babysits the neighbors large dog, which causes the house to get wrecked, which sends his wife away to her mothers. Things only get worst when a sexy blonde shows up at his door with car trouble. This is one of the better Smith shorts out there as this one features constant laughs from start to finish. The highlight is certainly the ending where O'Brien ends up sleeping in the garage with the dog who climbs on top of here where, of course, more trouble happens. Smith's narration is very good throughout, which is another plus.
Bustin' Loose (1981)
Oz Scott
Richard Pryor plays a con man who is blackmailed by his probation officer into taking eight troubled kids on a bus trip from Philadelphia to Seattle. Having been made in a politically incorrect time and featuring Pryor with troubled kids means you're going to have a great load of laughs but the film also has a heart of gold but more on this in a bit. As for pure laughs this is probably the best film I've seen from Pryor, although
Moving is still my favorite movie of his due to it just being a personal favorite. This movie here features non-stop laughs from start to finish and it really gives Pryor a chance to act and he proves to be very reliable here. Pryor does a great job with the comedy and really delivers the jokes but what's most refreshing is seeing how well he does with the more dramatic moments. The film has a heart of gold but I think there are a few too many tender scenes meant to make the viewer get tears in their eyes. A lot of these dramatic scenes are pretty heartfelt but I think there are just too many of them. Pryor handles all of this very well though. Cicely Tyson plays the woman trying to save the kids and she's does a good job, although the romantic subplot with Pryor is pretty weak. There are numerous great scenes in the film including a great sequence where Pryor runs into the KKK but the highlight of the movie is certainly the scene where Pryor is driving the bus and three of the kids, acting like thugs, come up and start messing with him.
05/10/08
Cubs Forever: Celebrating 60 Years of WGN and the Chicago Cubs (2008)
No Director Credited
Fun documentary covering the history of WGN and their sixty years of showing Chicago Cubs baseball games. Just about every famous moment that took place on WGN is shown here and we also get comments from the players, announcers, fans and even umpire assistants. Overall I think this thing could have been better made and followed a better path in telling its story but the documentary remains entertaining as a history lesson. We get to see famous home runs, no-hitters, the first night game at the historic stadium and just about everything else in between. Ron Santo, Mark Grace, Greg Maddux, Sammy Sosa, Ernie Banks are just a few of the names who throw in comments. I really wish they had shown more of the games from the early era of the station but for the most part they look at the past thirty years.
Our Daily Bread (1934)
King Vidor
King Vidor turned his back on Hollywood and made this independent film in a time where it wasn't a smart idea to walk away from the major studios. In the film, Karen Morley and Tom Keene play a husband and wife suffering from unemployment but their rich uncle gives them some farm land to try and get it off the ground. Unable to do it themselves, they open their land up to other poor farmers so that they can all help one another and try to make a life off the land. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well made this film was. Even though it features a very low budget it does have some terrific direction and some of the best cinematography from this era. The only thing that hampers the film is the incredibly bad performance by Keene who would go onto act in the infamous Edward D. Wood, Jr. film
Plan 9 From Outer Space. Keene is so over the top and out of place that you can't help wonder why Vidor didn't step in and do something. Outside of that the film is pretty powerful from start to finish even though this era was full of films dealing with unemployment. Morley is very good in her role and supporting players John Qualen, Barbara Pepper and Addison Richards are very good as well. The final moments of the film deal with the farmers trying to dig a two mile ditch so that water can reach their corn and this here is one of the most beautiful and powerful sequences I've seen in any film.
Key Largo (1948)
John Huston
Exciting, fast paced drama from Warner has a gangster (Edward G. Robinson) holding a group of people (Humphrey Bogart, Lionel Barrymore, Lauren Bacall) hostage in a hotel while a hurricane blows over. This might not be as legendary as
Casablanca or as mind challenging as
The Maltese Falcon but I still think this film holds up very well against those classics and I'd go even further by saying this is one of the most entertaining films ever made. I hear a lot of people say this film is a classic but it's not very deep but I say so what? The film is fast, tense and entertaining from the first scene to the last and I think you could call it a greatest hits type of film as the studio and director certainly wanted and needed a hit with this film so they just threw everything at the viewer and delivered a lot of fun. Robinson gives another terrific performance and seeing him go up against not only Bogart but also Barrymore is priceless. The scenes of Robinson freaking out as the storm nears is perfectly done by the actor. Barrymore is flawless as the cranky old man not wanting to take anything from the gangster. Bogart is also excellent in a film that delivers him one of his strongest roles. Bacall and Claire Trevor are wonderful in their supporting roles. This film is certainly dialogue driven but this is enough to pack all the energy that the film needs as the actors really bring the script to life. Huston's direction keeps everything flowing well but there's no doubt this film belongs to the terrific cast.
