Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) dir. Frank Lloyd. USA. The weird and wonderful history of H. M. S. Bounty is magnificently transferred to the screen in "Mutiny on the Bounty," which opened at the Capitol Theatre yesterday. Grim, brutal, sturdily romantic, made out of horror and desperate courage, it is as savagely exciting and rousingly … Continue reading Film 34: Mutiny on the Bounty
Tag: epic
Film 30: The Scarlet Empress
The Scarlet Empress (1934) dir. Josef von Sternberg. USA. Von Sternberg (1894-1969) was one of the true Hollywood characters, sometimes a great director, always a great show. He dressed in costumes appropriate to the films he was directing, made his assistants remove their wristwatches because he could hear the ticking, and calmly claimed he did … Continue reading Film 30: The Scarlet Empress
Film 29: Cavalcade
Cavalcade (1933) dir. Frank Lloyd. USA. “Cavalcade” is about as well made as that subject could have been made for the screen. At first thought it would seem too foreign a matter for American consumption, but it’s the first big historical epic on England that means something over here. It’s so powerful and embracing that … Continue reading Film 29: Cavalcade
Film 24: Cimarron
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
Film 14: Wings
Wings (1927) dir. William A. Wellman. USA. "Ironically, a mass-market silent spectacular like William Wellman's Wings effortlessly showcases far more visual variety than mainstream American films have offered since: it displays shifts from brutal realism to nonrealistic techniques associated with Soviet avant-garde or impressionistic French cinema - double exposures, subjective point-of-view shots, trick effects, symbolic … Continue reading Film 14: Wings
Film 10 : Greed
Greed (1925) dir. Erich von Stroheim. USA. 'Indeed the film is realistic. Opening scenes were shot in the very gold mine that Norris wrote about; it was reopened for the movie. The San Francisco dentist's office was not a set but a real second-floor office, which still exists. Von Stroheim could have shot his desert scenes … Continue reading Film 10 : Greed
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