28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[StanleyK]

(s) Her Sister's Rival (Bauer, 1916) **½

Aw... What'd you dislike about it?

[Yxklyx]

HE GOT IT FROM A DVD HE BOUGHT WITH CURRENCY

Aren't these early 30s films in the public domain? That's why I was so open about it.

[Russ]

Aren't these early 30s films in the public domain? That's why I was so open about it.

Yeah, that's what I imagine. I just trotted out bs's stock retort for yucks.

[B-side]

Yeah, that's what I imagine. I just trotted out bs's stock retort for yucks.

:lol:

You guys are inflating my expectations beyond reason. I will be blaming both of you if I'm not blown away.

[Grouchy]

Today I saw in the Filmoteca a very rare Browning/Chaney collaboration, West of Zanzibar. In this silent flick, Chaney is a magician whose wife is cheating on him. When he discovers it he falls off a railing and is crippled. Fifteen years later he lives in Africa, wins the admiration of a voodoo tribe, is nicknamed "Dead-Legs", and plans his elaborate revenge on the man who ruined his life, who's now an ivory merchant.

Film is atmospheric and constantly entertaining. The over the top nature of the character's plight and his revenge which I will not reveal here make it so melodramatic that I would not even call it a Horror film, despite the director and actor. There's an abrupt shift in the story when we're quickly introduced to the magician's new life in Africa, and I was kind of lost about the plot to be quite honest. This makes sense since Wikipedia tells me Browning filmed scenes that are now missing from the existing film.

A personal aside. The fact that I live in a city where I can watch a 16mm copy of this with live music (strings and drums) for a ridiculous price in international currency has confirmed an attitude that I've been having for some time, which is that - aside from the movies I might consider for my film club (www.quienesramonareyes.com.ar) - I'll try to skip entirely on home viewings from now on. Not an easy time for downloading anything right now with Megaupload closing and stuff, and I haven't watched a DVD in months. I like the theater experience too much and I have more than enough with new releases (still haven't seen The Avengers) and alternative avenues like this one.

[Qrazy]

Obviously anyone who gives a shit about film on Match-cut is going to watch that film now. Just as anyone who gives a shit should have watched the collected works of Aleksei German and Alexander Mackendrick by now.

[MadMan]

Obviously anyone who gives a shit about film on Match-cut is going to watch that film now. Just as anyone who gives a shit should have watched the collected works of Aleksei German and Alexander Mackendrick by now.

[B-side]

Famously neutral Switzerland is the setting of the political allegory The Kidnapping. During a routine day in the mountainous greens, a man's dog pursues another man's goat. The dog's owner calls for him to return, but the dog refuses and continues to chase the goat. While the dog's owner searches for the dog, the goat's owner picks up a rock and hurls it at the dog, killing it. This is the impetus for the titular kidnapping. While confronting the man who threw the rock, asking if he'd seen his dog, a beautiful blonde woman approaches the home and runs to her lover's arms, coincidentally the man who threw the rock. Eyeing both an opportunity for revenge and a wife, he kidnaps her and brings her to his village on the other side of the mountain. The denizens of this new village don't take kindly to her; fearing her foreignness and maintaining distance. A peg-legged man walks into town selling goods in the guise of a traveling salesman, and while in the kidnapper's house, delivers her a letter that informs her of the village's intent to get her back, thus setting into motion the plot that sees her using her charms to win the kidnapper's favor and that of a town madman who can't speak but rather babbles and gestures. In one scene, she can be witnessed removing the crucifix from the wall she's kept in and replacing it with a mirror given to her by her kidnapper. Switzerland was an important base of espionage for both the Axis and Allied powers in WWII, and the town madman is no doubt representative of the type of individual whose discontent was easily fed by the Germans, manipulating them into joining their forces. During an earlier scene of deception by the kidnapped woman, the madman accidentally sets fire to some hay on the ground after carelessly tossing a cigarette. Instead of putting it out with the water nearby, he throws more hay on the fire and dances maniacally, a foreshadowing of later, far more tragic events.

The rural milieu, for which I clearly have a soft spot for, offers a glimmer of middle ground between the two opposing sides and perhaps more broadly, an indifferent observer to the human chaos within its enclosure. Clouds slide and engulf mountaintops and animals roam freely. The sun peeks out behind the clouds and around the man-made architecture. Kirsanoff's, born in Estonia, beginnings were in the French avant-garde movement. He'd been known for his work in experimental cinema, working in the same era and region as Man Ray, Hans Richter, Marcel Duchamp, etc., so it's easy to see where his predilection for formal experimentation and highly visual storytelling came from. Like Switzerland, Kirsanoff doesn't explicitly lean in one direction, instead allowing his film to be the battleground while he plucks the strings above and lets loose his unique form and expressionistic visual and aural concoction. The latter best represented in a scene in which, after a typically jarring transition between scenes seemingly meant for sound and others not, Kirsanoff's film anticipates conflict by rendering all sound non-digetic, discordant and akin to a record scratching backward. The editing cuts quickly and the shadows are juxtaposed with white hot light. The Kidnapping is something special in the realm of 1930s cinema, something likely ahead of its time, which might explain why it was so heavily cut. A full 19 minutes, according to IMDb.

[Raiders]

The Kidnapping is something special in the realm of 1930s cinema, something likely ahead of its time, which might explain why it was so heavily cut. A full 19 minutes, according to IMDb.

I see that IMDb mentions some French cut of 102 minutes, but I can't actually find anything online about it being cut down from its original length. Did you find something?

[B-side]

I see that IMDb mentions some French cut of 102 minutes, but I can't actually find anything online about it being cut down from its original length. Did you find something?

Nothing specific, but it stands to reason since he was vacillating between commercial and personal fare at the time that something of his would get edited for better public reception.

[Qrazy]

Nothing specific, but it stands to reason since he was vacillating between commercial and personal fare at the time that something of his would get edited for better public reception.

Okay Fox News.

[Russ]

Nice review, Brightside. I really loved the film because it's so thematically rich. Apart from the political allegory you mention, there's also the pervasive air of sexual tension and gender politics that gives another dimension to some of the more obvious conflicts. I found it interesting how Elsi, initially equated as mere property that served to replace the loss of a dog, is anything but powerless. Her disruptive and corrupting influence over the other villagers (at the festival) and especially her exploitation of the "innocent" (the village idiot) with sexual overtures rather succinctly showed who wielded the real power. What does it say that Firmin's mother and fiance are quickly relegated to situational afterthoughts? The symbolism's great too -- especially the insect montage, featuring a rather overt flower pollination scene (as the villagers prepare for Sunday's pilgrimage). I'm also interested in the portrayal of the two peoples -- seems as if one is more rigid and traditional while the other might be more enlightened and carnal (and possibly non-spiritual). The way the story takes a slightly sinister (almost O'Henry-ish) turn, it seems as if it almost belonged in one of the old Afred Hitchcock Hour's shows that specialized in people getting their just desserts.

[Russ]

Btw, one thing I've come to learn over the last year or two -- French cinema of the 20's and 30's is simply the best. Over that span I've discovered the likes of Feyder, Ophuls, Grémillon, L'Herbier, Duvivier -- and Brightside/Raiders/Derek - have you seen Duvivier's silent (and his sound remake) film versions of Poil de Carotte -- aka The Red Head (yes, as in red-headed step-child)? If not, I recommend you do so. Both are terrific (I slightly prefer the sound version) and well worth seeking out.

[Grouchy]

The film I was talking about was remade a few years later as a talkie starring Walter Huston in the Chaney role, Kongo.

Maybe Mara, reigning queen of the Pre-Codes, has seen it.

[Russ]

The film I was talking about was remade a few years later as a talkie starring Walter Huston in the Chaney role, Kongo.

Maybe Mara, reigning queen of the Pre-Codes, has seen it.

I really enjoyed West of Zanzibar, which is the best, I think, of the Browning/Chaney collaborations. Certainly one of Chaney's finest roles. While I haven't yet seen Kongo, I understand that it's even more lurid than WoZ (which means I need to see it).

[dreamdead]

Watched Murnau's Tabu. It doesn't have the cinematographic artistry of Sunrise, but I thought its treatment of the Other was interesting. Certainly there's a kind of Malick-like innocence (and interrogation thereof) of the native population. I like the ending, which is appropriately melancholy, but the almost naturalistic cinematography at the ending, which maintains its distance from our protagonist, mutes some of its overall power. I wish I liked this one just a bit more...

[soitgoes...]

Btw, one thing I've come to learn over the last year or two -- French cinema of the 20's and 30's is simply the best. Over that span I've discovered the likes of Feyder, Ophuls, Grémillon, L'Herbier, Duvivier -- and Brightside/Raiders/Derek - have you seen Duvivier's silent (and his sound remake) film versions of Poil de Carotte -- aka The Red Head (yes, as in red-headed step-child)? If not, I recommend you do so. Both are terrific (I slightly prefer the sound version) and well worth seeking out.

Check out Au bonheur des dames, La bandera, Little Lise, and Carnival in Flanders if you haven't yet. Also Raymond Bernard, the Fanny trilogy films, Germaine Dulac, Epstein and after Jean Renoir perhaps the best early French film director, Abel Gance.

I started watching Rapt last night, and some of the imagery looks very similar to Gance's La roue.

[Spinal]

I wish I liked this one just a bit more...

I wish you did too.

[soitgoes...]

I started watching Rapt last night, and some of the imagery looks very similar to Gance's La roue.

So I just finished this, and it is indeed pretty great. The ending montage is top notch cinema. The film blends French Impressionism with the mountain films the Germans were playing with at the time. The use of non-diegetic sound can be found in Soviet cinema from the same era. I love this time period for film, as there's so much experimentation going on.

[Russ]

So I just finished this, and it is indeed pretty great.

All glory to Raiders.

[dreamdead]

I wish you did too.

I love that the ending to Tabu is as bleak as it is, as there didn't seem to be any other logical path for the narrative to go, especially in the wake of tampered endings like The Last Laugh. And I like the Lorca connection, which is something that I can see. That said, I miss some of the (likely overt) artistry that was so prevalent in Sunrise. It comes off much more naturalistic and unaffected in every facet, from acting to shot selection to camera movement, which is certainly the intention. I found the portrayal of the girl, Reri, much more interesting than Matahi, as she exhibited far more agency than women typically exhibit in films from this period. Though she caves to Hitu, the Old Warrior, she alone has knowledge, and she goes out of her way to protect Matahi (though he gets himself into the ocean despite her at the end).

Again, I like it and respect what it does, as the grade below reflects. That said, I like my Murnau more dreamlike and ethereal (what with Sunrise being in my top 5), which this film is adamantly not. I'm hoping to do Faust this year as well, so maybe that'll float my boat more.

[B-side]

Nice review, Brightside. I really loved the film because it's so thematically rich. Apart from the political allegory you mention, there's also the pervasive air of sexual tension and gender politics that gives another dimension to some of the more obvious conflicts. I found it interesting how Elsi, initially equated as mere property that served to replace the loss of a dog, is anything but powerless. Her disruptive and corrupting influence over the other villagers (at the festival) and especially her exploitation of the "innocent" (the village idiot) with sexual overtures rather succinctly showed who wielded the real power. What does it say that Firmin's mother and fiance are quickly relegated to situational afterthoughts? The symbolism's great too -- especially the insect montage, featuring a rather overt flower pollination scene (as the villagers prepare for Sunday's pilgrimage). I'm also interested in the portrayal of the two peoples -- seems as if one is more rigid and traditional while the other might be more enlightened and carnal (and possibly non-spiritual). The way the story takes a slightly sinister (almost O'Henry-ish) turn, it seems as if it almost belonged in one of the old Afred Hitchcock Hour's shows that specialized in people getting their just desserts.

Is the village idiot really innocent, though? I feel like the scene I mentioned of him burning the hay and not putting it out earlier were kind of indicative of a buried distaste, perhaps even that he was simply playing the fool? I also don't feel like the woman was especially heinous. The villagers were xenophobic toward her, even when she was being genuinely friendly (see: the scene where she goes to help the old woman with her bucket of water). She kind of went back and forth between compliant victim and empowered manipulator. And I think that grey area is important.

[Derek]

Aw... What'd you dislike about it?

I liked it, but it was less experimental and feverishly passionate than his best works. It was well-executed melodrama and the ending is terrific (par for the course), but much of it felt somewhat restrained, which doesn't play to Bauer's strengths.

Is the village idiot really innocent, though? I feel like the scene I mentioned of him burning the hay and not putting it out earlier were kind of indicative of a buried distaste, perhaps even that he was simply playing the fool? I also don't feel like the woman was especially heinous. The villagers were xenophobic toward her, even when she was being genuinely friendly (see: the scene where she goes to help the old woman with her bucket of water). She kind of went back and forth between compliant victim and empowered manipulator. And I think that grey area is important.

First off, all hail Hypno-Raiders, this was pretty great, etc. I don't think he was simply playing the fool, but you're right that there are hints at the darker side of the fool, which plays into the film's many dualities (secular/religious, sensual/ascetic, violence/tenderness) that seemingly get muddled once Elsi is kidnapped and taken to the other side of the mountain. The film really nails it on every level - the emotional/interpersonal dynamics are fantastic, the allegorical/symbolic elements thoughtful and complex and visually, it takes advantage of the gorgeous landscape, its almost Edenic beauty transformed into something almost supernaturally vindictive once a breach of passage is made...this thing really takes off once the thunderstorm hits. The last 30 minutes are a beauty to behold.

[B-side]

... this thing really takes off once the thunderstorm hits. The last 30 minutes are a beauty to behold.

Oh yeah.

[Sven]

Derek, your RoboCop rating has invalidated anything you have ever or will ever post.