Cimarron (1931) dir. Wesley Ruggles. USA. Wesley Ruggles apparently gets the full credit for this splendid and heavy production. His direction misses nothing in the elaborate scenes, as well as in the usual film making procedure. Big production bits start with the land rush into Oklahoma in 1888, then the gospel meeting in a frontier … Continue reading Film 24: Cimarron
Category: experiment
Film 31: The Thin Man
The Thin Man (1934) dir. W. S. Van Dyke. USA. For audiences in the middle of the Depression, "The Thin Man," like the Astaire and Rogers musicals it visually resembles, was pure escapism: Beautiful people in expensive surroundings make small talk all the day long, without a care in the world, and even murder is … Continue reading Film 31: The Thin Man
Film 23: City Lights
City Lights (1931) dir. Charlie Chaplin. USA. If only one of Charles Chaplin's films could be preserved, “City Lights” (1931) would come the closest to representing all the different notes of his genius. It contains the slapstick, the pathos, the pantomime, the effortless physical coordination, the melodrama, the bawdiness, the grace, and, of course, the … Continue reading Film 23: City Lights
Film 22: Dracula
Dracula (1931) dir. Tod Browning. USA. The vampire Dracula has been the subject of more than 30 films; something deep within the legend is suited to cinema. Perhaps it is the joining of eroticism with terror. The vampire's attack is not specifically sexual, but in drinking the blood of his victims he is engaged in … Continue reading Film 22: Dracula
Film 32: Top Hat
Top Hat (1935) dir. Mark Sandrich. USA. Because we are human, because we are bound by gravity and the limitations of our bodies, because we live in a world where the news is often bad and the prospects disturbing, there is a need for another world somewhere, a world where Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers … Continue reading Film 32: Top Hat
Film 17 (a): The Fall of the House of Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) dir. J. S. Watson, Jr. & Melville Webber. USA.An avant-garde experimental film, the visual element predominates, including shots through prisms to create optical distortion.[1] There is no dialogue, though one part features letters moving across the screen. -- Wikipedia (who else would write about this minor horror … Continue reading Film 17 (a): The Fall of the House of Usher
Film 16: The Circus
The Circus (1928) dir. Charlie Chaplin. USA. Charlie Chaplin was a perfectionist in his films and a calamity in his private life. These two traits clashed as he was making "The Circus," one of his funniest films and certainly the most troubled. When he sat down to write his autobiography, he simply never mentioned it, … Continue reading Film 16: The Circus
Film 15: Un Chien Andalou
Un Chien Andalou (1928) dir. Luis Buñuel. France. Abigail: So. This exists. It is. That is all. I guess not actually, but this is my take away from the film. The image of a woman getting her eye sliced open is memorable, I suppose. My theory is Bunuel used this to launch his career, and … Continue reading Film 15: Un Chien Andalou
Film 13: The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer, France To modern audiences, raised on films where emotion is conveyed by dialogue and action more than by faces, a film like "The Passion of Joan of Arc” is an unsettling experience--so intimate we fear we will discover more secrets than we desire. Our … Continue reading Film 13: The Passion of Joan of Arc
Film 11: The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) dir. Rupert Julian. USA. "The Phantom of the Opera" is not a great film if you are concerned with art and subtlety, depth and message; "Nosferatu" is a world beyond it. But in its fevered melodrama and images of cadaverous romance, it finds a kind of show-biz majesty. And … Continue reading Film 11: The Phantom of the Opera
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