Tag: silent film
Films made with no synchronised sound prior to its arrival in the late-1920s, or made in imitation of films of that era (Wikipedia entry)
She Goes to War (1929)
Published on 9 January 2020 8 January 2020 by Ewan MLeave a comment
Closer to the template for a war film, but with a woman as the protagonist (dressed up as man to fight in the trenches), and in dire need of proper restoration, is this late-silent film by Henry King, which screened as part of a retrospective on the director at last year's Il Cinema Ritrovato festival.
For a film that's been utterly mangled by history — a strange hybrid of sound and silent filmmaking that was more or less lost upon its 1929 release, re-edited to half its length in 1939, and re-released with a sententious prologue that suggests it's telling the TRUTH about war without bias, but in fact seems more keen to say "please America don't join the current conflict" — this is a fascinating document. It doesn't work very well at all dramatically: after an initial parade and soldiers shipping out, there's a cut direct to a shot of a cemetery and thence an extended period of time with the soldiers in the trenches. Dramatic irony is deployed as one woman sings a song (aided by a ukulele for a bit) about a happy land while soldiers fall down dead around her (the happy land being Heaven, of course), and then the film only really gets going in the last third, as one woman disguises herself as a man to see the front, where she gets tediously mocked by the guys who've figured out her game, but eventually proves herself somewhat. There's a terrifying sequence of tanks rumbling through flames, but this is a film crying out for proper restoration.
Director Henry King; Writers Rupert Hughes, Fred de Gresac, Howard Estabrook and John Monk Saunders; Cinematographers John P. Fulton and Tony Gaudio; Starring Eleanor Boardman, John Holland; Length 50 minutes (as it currently exists, but originally 87 minutes).
Seen at Cinema Jolly, Bologna, Tuesday 25 June 2019.
Categories Country: USA, Film Festival Screenings, Rating: GOOD•Tags 1910s, 1929, black-and-white, eleanor boardman, film reviews, films seen at the cinema, henry king, il cinema ritrovato, john holland, john p. fulton, medium-length film, period drama, silent film, tony gaudio, world war i, written by a woman
Criterion Sunday 266: The King of Kings (1927)
Published on 20 October 2019 18 November 2019 by Ewan MLeave a comment
It is difficult to watch this epic-length life of the Christ without thinking of Hail, Caesar! and its satirical take on the po-faced earnestness of filmmakers trying to render the Biblical story visual. DeMille's production hasn't got an ounce of jocularity or self-awareness to it, and to a certain extent that's just as well, because it's difficult to approach some of this material without being utterly committed to the solemnity of it all. It feels less like a portrait of Judaea 20 centuries ago as it does a pageant of big iconic scenes, and DeMille spares no effort to have doves fluttering around the important symbols, or have Jesus holding a lamb. Indeed, the campness is high as Jesus is backlit with lights every time he appears, looking like every (Western) portrait of him, all glistening beard and beatific expression (except, briefly, when Simon Peter has renounced him three times and Jesus looks on smugly). There's some interesting use of very early colour in the opening and during the Resurrection sequences, though the black-and-white is more persuasive and has a real beauty to it at times. There is undoubtedly some great religious art which has been made, even about Jesus, over the years, but this one feels like it's more for the existing fans, rendering iconic all the famous scenes, without really finding the drama (as say in another Criterion release, The Last Temptation of Christ) or a persuasive sense of how the lived experience might have been back then (as in Life of Brian). Sosin's score has a grandeur and, for better or worse, largely matches the film's own storytelling, at times lapsing into a slight kitschiness.
CRITERION EXTRAS:
There are two discs, and the second has a shortened 112-minute release from 1928, with two separate scores. I haven't watched that yet, but will update this page when I have.
On the first disc, the extras are a few production photos, some from the film's premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theater (it was the film chosen as the opening premiere at this new cinema), as well as extensive documentation of the original illustrated programme booklet (both photos and extensive text of the contents), and some telegrams from DeMille to his cast.
Director Cecil B. DeMille; Writer Jeanie Macpherson; Cinematographers J. Peverell Marley and F.J. Westerberg; Starring H.B. Warner, Ernest Torrence, Jacqueline Logan, Joseph Schildkraut; Length 155 minutes.
Seen at home (DVD), London, Sunday 20 October 2019.
Categories Classification: PG, Country: USA, Criterion Sunday, Rating: GOOD•Tags 1927, biblical drama, biopic, black-and-white and colour, cecil b. demille, criterion collection, drama, ernest torrence, f.j. westerberg, film reviews, films seen at home, h.b. warner, j. peverell marley, jacqueline logan, jesus, joseph schildkraut, period film, roman empire, silent film, usa, written by a woman
청춘의 십자로 Cheongchun-eui Sipjaro (Crossroads of Youth aka Turning Point of the Youngsters, 1934)
Published on 29 July 2019 15 August 2019 by Ewan MLeave a comment
In February 2019, the BFI Southbank programmed a season of early Korean cinema in partnership with the Korean Cultural Centre, and in the introductions at the opening night screening of Crossroads of Youth, we learned that while the first Korean film was made in 1919, the earliest surviving film (and the only surviving silent film) was this one, from 1934. Being a silent film, and one made with the intention of being accompanied by an on-stage narrator (a practice shared with Japanese cinema, perhaps unsurprising given that the territory was under Japanese occupation at the time), this was more than any ordinary screening. Indeed, for this special occasion we got not just a narrator, but a quartet of musicians and even a couple of singers coming in for periodic numbers, which meant this was a complete performance, not just a film.
For all its historical interest, it must be said that the filmmaking itself is a little patchy, which isn't helped that the first reel has been too badly damaged to salvage, but it's a testament to the fact that old films can still be unearthed in peoples' attics, and the fact it survives at all is wonderful. However, given the expectation of the narrator's accompaniment, not much is explained in the film itself (there is very little text, and no intertitles). Therefore, seeing it with the narrator acting out the parts, filling in plot details, keeping us alert to who's who (and making occasional joky asides and metatextual references about some of the onscreen action) helped immensely in enjoying this film.
With our narrator sitting at a desk by the side of the screen, it is very much clearer what's going on in the melodramatic narrative — a young man spurned in love (Lee Wan-yong) sets out to the city, where he succumbs to drinking, while his enamorata is cruelly used by rich men, who then set their sights on his sister (who is herself in town to find her brother). That said, there's also a hint that this narrative itself undergoes little changes over the course of time depending on the inspiration of its interpreter. That's not necessarily a bad thing, especially when he's gently mocking the filmmaker for going out of focus or for the patchy acting of a bit player, and it makes the film just a part of a stage show that greatly impressed me. Without that accompaniment, I can't imagine I'd be quite as generous.
Director/Writer Ahn Jong-hwa 안종화; Cinematographer Lee Myeong-u 이명우; Starring Lee Wan-yong 이원용, Shin Il-seon 신일선; Length 73 minutes.
Seen at BFI Southbank (NFT3), London, Thursday 7 February 2019.
Categories Country: Korea (South), Rating: GOOD•Tags 1934, ahn jong-hwa, black-and-white, drama, film reviews, films seen at the cinema, lee myeong-u, lee wan-yong, melodrama, relationship drama, shin il-seon, silent film, south korea
Pour Don Carlos (For Don Carlos, 1921)
This 90-minute feature may have been cut down from a much longer original, but even what survives has had to be painstakingly put together by a team of restorers from various Cinemathèques, resulting in what was presented at Il Cinema Ritrovato as a work-in-progress. Truthfully I found the historical drama aspects difficult to follow, and there's a lot that writer/director/star Musidora attempts to fit into this story of a political conflict over bringing Don Carlos (Charles VII) to the Spanish throne in the 1870s. However, Musidora clearly had a love affair with Spain (just as the camera has with her), as she returned to that setting for other films she made in the 20s. Here, she plays a supporter of Don Carlos called Allegria, and for much of the first half of the film is dressed resplendently in a military uniform, cutting quite the gloriously dashing figure. There's a second section where she's a poor peasant woman trying to free a colleague from captivity, which comes on rather suddenly, and wasn't quite as compelling, but Musidora remains a charismatic screen presence.
Directors Musidora and Jacques Lasseyne; Writer Musidora (based on the novel by Pierre Benoît); Cinematographers Frank Daniau-Johnston and Léonce Crouan; Starring Musidora, Stephen Weber; Length 90 minutes.
Seen at Cinema Lumière (Sala Mastroianni), Bologna, Wednesday 26 June 2019.
Categories Country: France, Film Festival Screenings, Rating: GOOD, Theme: Directed by Women (French Films)•Tags 1921, 19th century, black-and-white, directed by a woman, drama, film reviews, films seen at the cinema, france, frank daniau-johnston, historical drama, il cinema ritrovato, jacques lasseyne, leonce crouan, musidora, silent film, spain, written by a woman
Criterion Sunday 232: A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) and Floating Weeds (1959)
Published on 17 March 2019 15 August 2019 by Ewan MLeave a comment
Bringing together two films by Ozu, his first made towards the tail-end of the silent era of cinema in Japan, and the later one a remake in colour towards the end of his career, this allows for a compare-and-contrast approach between the two, and for me Ozu has grown significantly as a filmmaker, such that the latter is the greater work. Ozu didn't make many colour films (it took him long enough to get into sound films, after all), but the remake is lovely in many respects. The framing, the pacing and the use of colour is all expertly done. While it's a drama about an elderly travelling player returning to the small town where he fathered a child — a son who only knows him as 'Uncle' — it's also filled with moments of comedy, for the father (here played by Ganjiro Nakamura) is a rather bad actor and there's plenty of fun at the expense of his hamminess. The drama with his son didn't always connect with me on this viewing, but there's a lot of pathos to the way his life has unfolded — even if he rather too often takes it out on the women around him. The earlier film (from 1934) follows the same melodramatic plot (with Takeshi Sakamoto as the father), but it never succumbs to anything mawkish or sentimental. Ozu expresses it all so clearly that I imagine I'd pick up on a lot more were I to watch it again (which, given for technical reasons I had to watch it all completely silent, I feel I should probably do).
浮草物語 Ukikusa Monogatari (A Story of Floating Weeds, 1934)
Director Yasujiro Ozu 小津安二郎; Writers Tadao Ikeda 池田忠雄 and Ozu; Cinematographer Hideo Shigehara 茂原英朗; Starring Takeshi Sakamoto 坂本武, Choko Iida 飯田蝶子, Rieko Yagumo 八雲理恵子; Length 86 minutes.
Seen at a friend's home (DVD), London, Sunday 30 September 2018.
浮草 Ukigusa (Floating Weeds, 1959)
Director Yasujiro Ozu 小津安二郎; Writers Kogo Noda 野田高梧 and Ozu; Cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa 宮川一夫; Starring Ganjiro Nakamura 中村鴈治郎, Machiko Kyo 京マチ子, Haruko Sugimura 杉村春子; Length 119 minutes.
Seen at a friend's home (DVD), London, Sunday 7 October 2018 (and originally on laserdisc at the university library, Wellington, October 1997).
Categories Classification: PG, Country: Japan, Criterion Sunday, Rating: EXCELLENT, Rating: GOOD•Tags 1001 films, 1934, 1959, black-and-white, choko iida, criterion collection, drama, fathers and sons, film reviews, films seen at home, ganjiro nakamura, haruko sugimura, hideo shigehara, kazuo miyagawa, machiko kyo, relationship drama, rieko yagumo, silent film, small town, takeshi sakamoto, yasujiro ozu
Criterion Sunday 134: Häxan (aka Witchcraft Through the Ages, 1922)
Published on 4 June 2017 16 August 2019 by Ewan MLeave a comment
As a key text in the development of the horror film (not to mention the pseudo-documentary), I found this all a bit underwhelming really, even once you get past the early PowerPoint presentation section about the history of witchcraft. There's some gorgeous stuff in it, and a sequence with a penitent elderly lady was clearly cribbed by Dreyer for his The Passion of Joan of Arc. But as a film it's text-heavy and didactic while also never really getting particularly insightful about the underlying context for all of it (the patriarchal structures oppressing women in the mediæval era). Still, the director does have a coda linking these mediæval methods of control to his own times ("in 1921!" an aside says, as if the modern world could never countenance such superstition), and he essays a pretty camp tongue-flicking Satan.
Criterion Extras: Aside from the original version and its commentary, there's a shorter 1968 re-edit narrated by William S. Burroughs with a jazz score. In another short piece, the director Benjamin Christensen introduces his film for a 1941 re-release, addressed to camera in a stentorian manner while wearing a white lab coat, in passing explaining the magic of silent over sound cinema. There are a few outtakes from the filming, more notes towards the finished project rather than actual scenes that have been excised. Finally, there's a gallery of images from the film as well as the sources for Christensen's own slideshow.
Director/Writer Benjamin Christensen; Cinematographer Johan Ankerstjerne; Starring Benjamin Christensen; Length 107 minutes.
Seen at a friend's home (DVD), London, Wednesday 2 November 2016 (and earlier on VHS at home, Wellington, February 1998).
Categories Classification: 15, Country: Denmark, Criterion Sunday, Rating: GOOD•Tags 1001 films, 1922, benjamin christensen, black-and-white, criterion collection, denmark, drama, film reviews, films seen at home, historical drama, johan ankerstjerne, magic, medieval, silent film, sweden, witches
Sound Barrier: The Wind (1928) and Lady Macbeth (2016)
Published on 4 May 2017 16 August 2019 by Ewan MLeave a comment
I'm stepping out a little from my usual editorial policy on this site to feature two films, separated by 90 years, because I was roped into a podcast by my friend Pamela who runs the fantastic Silent London website, and her collaborator Pete. It's called Sound Barrier and is available at that link. I may have had little to contribute, but the others keep up a fine repartee.
This is a review of two films, both of which I'd only seen for the first time recently. And while one of them may have been available for some significant period of my life (i.e. all of it), and despite it clearly being one of those late masterpieces of the silent era (and an enduring film even now, able to stand alongside the already hymned greats of Murnau, Dreyer, von Sternberg and the like), it sadly seems difficult to find a copy currently. In The Wind, silent-era great Lillian Gish plays a frail if determined character, Letty, though her frailty, if anything, is the frailty of humanity in the face of Nature, and nature is duly windy and will destroy a (wo)man. If it's suggestive of her sexuality (there are at least four men who fall for her, and one of them's her cousin), it's also even more suggestive of impending death that's coming for everyone in the film, these people who have the temerity to stand on the frontier and try to make a life in such isolation. But the Swedish director, Victor Sjöström (aka Seastrom for his American films), also finds a really striking tone, with beautiful cinematography and a feeling of constant lingering unease, expressed via lap dissolves of rampant horses, a small play of feet, and that howling wind whipped up at every window and through every crack. I would love to see this film in a restored print on a big screen. I hope it happens soon.
There's an even more unbridled emotional intensity in Lady Macbeth, much of which is held in Florence Pugh's steely gaze, and that lingers over everything that happens. Of course, there's a point at which she somewhat loses the audience's sympathy (well mine anyway; it really depends what level of suffering you're willing to tolerate your protagonists inflicting), but those eyes abide. Although there's a stateliness to the scenes with her husband and father-in-law that are reminiscent of some of the more austere period films (like the recent A Quiet Passion, not least for largely eschewing a musical soundtrack), this more reminds me of Andrea Arnold's interpretation of Wuthering Heights (2011), as the camera becomes looser in intense emotional scenes, but also for the range of actors represented — with prominent roles for black actors and actors of colour in particular (Naomi Ackie's servant Anna, and Cosmo Jarvis as stablehand Sebastian only the most notable). Now there are still romantic/doomed/servile archetypes at play, but it seems to be reflecting on these a little, in the way that Pugh's Katherine toys with them all as she finds some power. Nevertheless​ it remains Pugh's film, and it's a drama that by its close has gone full-bloodiedly Shakespearean in its destructive fancy.
The Wind (1928)
Director Victor Sjöström [as Victor Seastrom]; Writer Frances Marion (based on the novel by Dorothy Scarborough); Cinematographer John Arnold; Starring Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love; Length 95 minutes.
Seen at a friend's home (DVD), London, Saturday 22 April 2017 (and again on DVD at home, Wednesday 26 April 2017).
Lady Macbeth (2016)
Director William Oldroyd; Writer Alice Birch (based on the novella Леди Макбет Мценского уезда Ledi Makbet Mtsenskovo uyezda "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" by Nikolai Leskov); Cinematographer Ari Wegner; Starring Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis, Naomi Ackie; Length 89 minutes.
Seen at Curzon Aldgate, London, Sunday 23 April 2017.
Categories Classification: 15, Country: UK, Country: USA, Rating: EXCELLENT, Rating: GOOD•Tags 1001 films, 1928, 2016, ari wegner, black-and-white, class system, cosmo jarvis, debut film, drama, film reviews, films seen at home, films seen at the cinema, florence pugh, john arnold, lars hanson, lillian gish, montagu love, naomi ackie, photographed by a woman, rural film, silent film, uk, usa, victor sjostrom, western, william oldroyd, written by a woman
LFF 2016 Day Twelve: A Woman of the World (1925) and Women Who Kill (2016)
Published on 18 October 2016 19 August 2019 by Ewan MLeave a comment
Sunday 16 October was the last day of London Film Festival, sadly, and I only had two films to see, at a fairly leisurely pace, so I even got to sit down for lunch.
A Woman of the World (1925, USA, dir. Malcolm St. Clair, wr. Pierre Collings, DOP Bert Glennon)
It's not perfect, and moves all too easily into broad melodrama, but there's a lot of genuine charm to this Pola Negri vehicle. Small town hypocrisy has always (always) been an easy target, but Negri with her — shock! — continental smoking ways and skull-shaped tattoo is a delight. She's clearly a great actor for sly sideways glances and eye rolls at the ridiculousness of everyone else, but there's a bumbling old chap with an enormous moustache and a great tattoo reveal of his own to match her in the later stages. Definitely good fun.
Women Who Kill (2016, USA, dir./wr. Ingrid Jungermann, DOP Rob Leitzell)
A sort-of-indie-comedy sort-of-thriller, this film attempts a difficult balance of competing tonal registers. I don't think it always succeeds, but it has a dry humour, not to mention the presence of Sheila Vand, who proved she could do a darker character in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, hence she's well cast here. In truth I was expecting something more along the lines of Jungermann's web series The Slope (set in the gentrified Park Slope area of Brooklyn) and its co-creator Desiree Akhavan's Appropriate Behavior. That it didn't quite do the same thing is hardly a criticism — there's only so many brittle takes on Brooklyn lesbian hipsterism one needs (though I adored Appropriate Behavior) — and it does revisit some familiar terrain in the Co-Op, but overall the horror-tinged mystery aspect is I suppose a fertile metaphorical terrain for dealing with post-break-up anxieties. Plus the leads nail their NPR/Serial-style podcasting voices for their premise.
Categories Country: USA, Film Festival Screenings, Rating: GOOD•Tags 1925, 2016, bert glennon, black-and-white, directed by a woman, drama, film reviews, films seen at the cinema, ingrid jungermann, lgbt film, london film festival, malcolm st. clair, murder, mystery, new york, relationship drama, rob leitzell, silent film, small town, usa, written by a woman
Criterion Sunday 62: La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc, 1928)
Published on 7 February 2016 19 August 2019 by Ewan MLeave a comment
I don't know there's much more to add about this most famous of Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer's films, a masterpiece of the late silent cinema and one of the greatest in all of film history. It may not even be my favourite Dreyer film (he had some fantastic later works in his native land), but it seems working in France with a bold and expansively modernist set, and some fine theatre actors, was no great obstacle to his vision. Amongst these actors are Antonin Artaud as one of the more sympathetic of Joan's accusers, though of course — whatever Dreyer's important contributions may have been to this film and to cinema as an art — it is Renée Falconetti in the title role who remains the film's iconic and lasting presence (she was never to act in cinema again, preferring the stage). The film takes the transcript of Joan of Arc's trial for heresy, and dramatises it, largely in a series of close-ups on the faces of these stern, judgemental men in their austere courtroom as Joan meets their gaze and responds with patience and unwavering belief in God, undiminshed by their taunts or by the mistreatment from her English captors. It's a film which seems scarcely to have aged.
Director Carl Theodor Dreyer; Writers Joseph Delteil and Dreyer; Cinematographer Rudolph Maté; Starring Renée Falconetti; Length 82 minutes.
Seen at Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Friday 27 June 2003 (and earlier on VHS at the university library, Wellington, September 1999, and on several subsequent occasions at home, most recently on DVD at a friend's home, Sunday 15 November 2015).
Categories Classification: PG, Country: France, Criterion Sunday, Rating: EXCELLENT•Tags 1001 films, 15th century, 1928, black-and-white, carl theodor dreyer, christianity, courtroom drama, criterion collection, film reviews, films seen at home, france, historical drama, joan of arc, medieval, religious film, renee falconetti, rosenbaum 1000, rudolph mate, sight & sound 2012, silent film
Schmutziges Geld (Song, aka Show Life, aka Wasted Love, 1928)
Published on 21 November 2015 12 September 2019 by Ewan MLeave a comment
A screening of a silent film, especially one that's fairly obscure, is always an occasion to rejoice, because it's (usually) more than just a film screening, but a live experience. Multi-instrumentalist Stephen Horne didn't disappoint either, seamlessly integrating piano, accordion and a few other exotic instruments — hinting at the pseudo-orientalist intrigue — into his score. It's also wonderful to see the talented Anna May Wong on the big screen, still best known perhaps for her turn in the same year's Piccadilly, but she is a luminous on-screen presence, and an underrepresented face in the pantheon of cinema. Wong doesn't disappoint in the title role, as a lowly nightclub dancer in some vague Eastern city (Istanbul was suggested) who finds herself early on being attacked by a group of ruffians and saved by surly Jack (Heinrich George), a man seemingly on the down-and-out. Soon, Song forms an affection for Jack as they go into work together… for it turns out he is a knife-thrower! This is, however, where the film's great weakness is exposed, for the script is full of this kind of scarcely believable whimsy, as it introduces a long-lost love for Jack in the form of the haughty ballerina Gloria (Mary Kid), her boyfriend, a rich impresario, and a plot line about Jack losing his eyesight after a heist gone wrong — although this does at least lead to some tension when he's doing his knife act. By the time the impresario has promoted Song to lead dancer at his swanky club (shades of Piccadilly) and is asking her to choose between him and the cruelly-abusive Jack (who still pines for Gloria), the relationship drama has all become a bit 'whatever' for this viewer, but at least Anna May's star still shines bright.
Director Richard Eichberg; Writers Helen Gosewish and Adolf Lantz (based on the novel by Karl Vollmöller); Cinematographer Heinrich Gärtner; Starring Anna May Wong, Heinrich George, Mary Kid; Length 94 minutes.
Seen at Regent Street Cinema, London, Sunday 15 November 2015.
Categories Country: Germany, Rating: GOOD, Theme: Asian Diaspora Cinema•Tags 1928, anna may wong, black-and-white, drama, film reviews, films seen at the cinema, germany, heinrich gartner, heinrich george, mary kid, melodrama, relationship drama, richard eichberg, silent film, uk, written by a woman