Alright, boys and girls. So it’s difficult to say whether it’s any good, but here it is! If you’re curious, click the link below for a PDF of the script. We’ll post longer thoughts on the whole thing tomorrow, but right now we’re going to bed. Off the Record
Tag: hollywood
Still Going!
We have done a TERRIBLE job of staying in touch. But we are doing pretty well! Just heading back from dinner. We currently have two times more pages than we had at the end of Saturday last Movie in a Weekend - clocking in at 24 pages at 10pm. We expect to have 30 before … Continue reading Still Going!
Film 35: Swing Time
Swing Time (1936) dir. George Stevens. USA. When you see anyone--an athlete, a musician, a dancer, a craftsman--doing something difficult and making it look easy and a joy, you feel enhanced. It is a victory for the human side, over the enemies of clumsiness, timidity and exhaustion. The cynical line on Astaire and Rogers was, … Continue reading Film 35: Swing Time
WE’RE BACK!
Film 33 (a): Frankenstein
Frankenstein (1931) dir. James Whale. USA. NB: This wasn't on our docket, but we inserted it upon realizing that "Bride of Frankenstein" is a direct sequel. Picture starts out with a wallop. Midnight funeral services are in progress on a blasted moor, with the figure of the scientist and his grotesque dwarf assistant hiding at … Continue reading Film 33 (a): Frankenstein
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 28: King Kong
King Kong (1933) dir. Merian C. Cooper. USA. But "King Kong" is more than a technical achievement. It is also a curiously touching fable in which the beast is seen, not as a monster of destruction, but as a creature that in its own way wants to do the right thing. Unlike the extraterrestrial spiders … Continue reading Film 28: King Kong
Film 27: Duck Soup
Duck Soup (1933) dir. Leo McCarey. USA. My father loved the Marx Brothers above all other comedians or, indeed, all other movie stars. The first movie he ever took me to was "A Day at the Races." All I remember about that experience was the fact of my father's laughter. But there was something else, … Continue reading Film 27: Duck Soup
Film 26: Zero de Conduite
Zero du Conduite (1933) dir. Jean Vigo. France. There is nothing in the history of movies that mirrors or matches the achievement of Jean Vigo. His four films can be watched in an afternoon—total running time: just under three hours. Each film is unique, separate from the others, but together they constitute a sustained attack … Continue reading Film 26: Zero de Conduite
Movie in a Weekend 