tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75192389195115672552024-03-14T02:52:55.594+00:00The Devil's ManorA Classic Horror and Fantasy Film ArchiveBob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-59535552720119039712013-10-30T23:14:00.000+00:002013-10-30T23:14:12.600+00:00Happy Halloween!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-89wANYuDcMU/UnGPRrk-RoI/AAAAAAAAByo/fDCCQBbK6uM/s1600/Happy+Halloween.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-89wANYuDcMU/UnGPRrk-RoI/AAAAAAAAByo/fDCCQBbK6uM/s1600/Happy+Halloween.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"We have no fear of you, silent shadows, who tread</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The leaf-bestrewn paths, the dew-wet lawns. Draw near</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To the glowing fire, the empty chair,—we shall not fear,</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Being but ghosts for the lack of you, ghosts of our well-beloved dead."</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pgNl7Wx6IGw/UnGPemq2J1I/AAAAAAAAByw/YX4ezrnVXZg/s1600/Happy+Halloween+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pgNl7Wx6IGw/UnGPemq2J1I/AAAAAAAAByw/YX4ezrnVXZg/s400/Happy+Halloween+2013.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A Happy Halloween to all</span></i></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>from Bob the Caretaker</i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>at The Devil's Manor</i></b></div>
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Quote from 'Hallowe'en 1915' by Winifred M. Letts </i></div>
<br />Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-3246415645885838362012-09-08T20:00:00.002+01:002013-08-25T01:25:02.293+01:00Warning Shadows (Schatten: Eine Nachtliche Halluzination) 1923<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MmGjYKj7EzU/Uhjh0jIhZ2I/AAAAAAAABp4/1fcM860VAHc/s1600/Warning+Shadows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MmGjYKj7EzU/Uhjh0jIhZ2I/AAAAAAAABp4/1fcM860VAHc/s1600/Warning+Shadows.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uzWO-fkEYro/UEZ9x6L7PtI/AAAAAAAABi4/rlOotA7HKhY/s1600/Schatten+1923.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uzWO-fkEYro/UEZ9x6L7PtI/AAAAAAAABi4/rlOotA7HKhY/s400/Schatten+1923.jpg" width="291" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<b style="font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Director:</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Arthur Robison</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>A jealous husband, a philandering wife, a group of lustful party guests, and the scene is set. Enter a mischievous shadow player, who illuminates the repressed desires of those present for all to see... and the brighter the light, the darker - and more deadly - the shadow. 'A Nocturnal Hallucination' from the men behind </i><b><i>Nosferatu</i></b><i>.</i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i></i></b></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>Synopsis:</i></b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Four guests arrive for a dinner party at the house of a wealthy nobleman. The youngest (the 'Youth') is having an affair with the nobleman's wife, and the other three 'Gentlemen' have equally amorous intentions. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A man with a travelling bag and an impudent grin watches</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> them arrive from the courtyard outside.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ubvNl6lsqlI/UEZ-LAS0kCI/AAAAAAAABjI/Lq9FznvtWOA/s1600/Warning+Shadows+1923+-+Hallucination.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ubvNl6lsqlI/UEZ-LAS0kCI/AAAAAAAABjI/Lq9FznvtWOA/s320/Warning+Shadows+1923+-+Hallucination.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>A nocturnal hallucination</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Inside the house, passions are running high. The Woman secretly shares a moment alone with her lover, while her husband paces around their marital bed, disturbed by bitter memories of happier times. Later, she preens in front of a mirror as the three Gentlemen pretend to embrace her shadow, enraging the nobleman when he sees their silhouettes moving from behind a curtain. A servant, given a humiliating dressing-down by the Woman, retaliates by slyly kindling her husband's jealousy even further.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Presently, the man from the courtyard coaxes his way inside and presents himself as a travelling entertainer and shadow puppeteer. The nobleman, amused by his jests and sleight-of-hand, allows him to put on a shadow-play. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he entertainer spins a tale of a lover's triangle, mirroring the events at the party that night. As the</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> guests all watch transfixed, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he draws out their shadows from beneath them. Their bodies fade away and their shadow-selves are brought to life, setting loose all the violent passions that had until then remained below the surface...</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CRyF0hSn46U/UEEvp8tx_SI/AAAAAAAABeg/9v_94eKmKnY/s1600/Warning+Shadows+1923+-+Shadows+Stolen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CRyF0hSn46U/UEEvp8tx_SI/AAAAAAAABeg/9v_94eKmKnY/s400/Warning+Shadows+1923+-+Shadows+Stolen.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The Entertainer (Alexander Granach) stealing shadows</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Notes:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a measure of the overall quality of German cinema during the Weimar Republic that a film as accomplished as <b><i>Warning Shadows</i></b> is so little known in comparison with works like <i><b><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-das-kabinet-des.html" target="_blank">The Cabinet of Dr Caligari</a></b></i> (1919) or <b><i><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/nosferatu-symphony-of-terror-eine.html" target="_blank">Nosferatu</a></i></b> (1922). Like its more famous forerunners, it belongs to the expressionist school, where (usually turbulent) inner emotional states are given exaggerated physical form. But what makes the film unique is the way that the plot itself playfully exploits that same premise, presenting us with a multi-layered study of art and human nature where form and content are practically indistinguishable.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a4UIhwVd4c8/UEZw4_LbEiI/AAAAAAAABiA/m6JIFQQKI7o/s1600/Warning+Shadows+1923+-+Fritz+Korner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a4UIhwVd4c8/UEZw4_LbEiI/AAAAAAAABiA/m6JIFQQKI7o/s320/Warning+Shadows+1923+-+Fritz+Korner.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Fritz Korner' shadow wears the cuckold's horns</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the cast are introduced, by appearing on stage as if part of a shadow-play themselves, there are no titles in <b style="font-style: italic;">Warning Shadows</b> - e</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ven the story's three acts are introduced by a silhouetted hand holding up the appropriate number of fingers</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. But the plot is simple enough that we don't <i>need </i>to know what the characters might be saying, and in fact, conventional means of communication don't count for much anyway. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The real story is told through the 'shadow-selves' of the players, an elaboration on the '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">doppelganger</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' theme that had been a staple of German literature for centuries.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the first half of the film, the shadows and reflections cast by the players reveal, directly or indirectly, the true motives behind their actions. They might show an embrace or hands holding when no such thing is taking place, or inspire strong emotions that before had been hidden from view. After the Entertainer brings those shadow-forms to life in the 'nocturnal hallucination' of the title, the cast are given a glimpse of what happens when those emotions are allowed free rein. The Woman thoughtlessly amuses herself with her expensive trinkets; the Man gives in to homicidal impulses after seeing himself wearing the horns of a cuckold - or perhaps a raging demon; the Servant indulges in violent oppression of his mistress, and guilt and shame drive the shallow, sardonic Gentlemen to committing double murder.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And it's not just the cast who get a long hard look at themselves. The performance of the shadow-play almost acts as a film-within-a-film, and the set design sometimes resembles a theatre's proscenium arch, hinting perhaps that the Entertainer's shadow-play corresponds to the one that we the cinema audience are watching. A sly wink at the audience, or an illustration of the seductive power of the moving image?</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AgX5K1Jc_Ls/UEZw9KrHsRI/AAAAAAAABiI/A1Gw096TVlU/s1600/Eliphas+Levi+Shadow+Benediction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AgX5K1Jc_Ls/UEZw9KrHsRI/AAAAAAAABiI/A1Gw096TVlU/s320/Eliphas+Levi+Shadow+Benediction.jpg" width="194" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like <b><i>Nosferatu</i></b>, the film was the brainchild of producer, art director and occultist Albin Grau. His supposed inspiration was an illustration from occult author Eliphas Levi's book <i>The Dogma and Ritual of High Magic</i>, where the shadow cast by a hand in papal blessing reveals the sinister outline of a demon. The inscription roughly translates as, <i>"Through the blessing of the Lord, the curse of the Antichrist is foreshadowed"</i>. This highly complex symbol could be related to Carl Jung's theory of the <i>'shadow'</i>, or the repressed unconscious. As the presumed author of <i><b>Warning Shadows</b></i>, Grau was probably more familiar with Levi than he was with Jung, but the film says as much about psychological repression as it does about the struggle between good and evil.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Warning Shadows</i></b> was produced by Pan-Film, a new company set up by Grau and his associates in the wake of the legal fight with Florence Stoker over <i style="font-weight: bold;">Nosferatu.</i> Stoker had forced <i><b>Nosferatu</b></i>'s production company Prana-Film into bankruptcy, obliging Grau to start afresh, while recruiting some of the earlier film's cast and crew. Gustav von Wangenheim and Alexander Granach, who had been Hutter and Knock respectively, took lead roles. Fritz Arno Wagner got back behind the camera, having just completed <b><i>Zwischen Abend Und Morgen</i></b> (<i>Between Evening and Morning</i>, 1923) with <i><b>Warning Shadows</b></i>' director Robison, an American who had lived in Germany from the age of eight. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The talent assembled for this project sadly didn't save it from obscurity. Later critics recognised it as a classic of its type, but contemporary audiences were indifferent; Pan-Film shared the fate of its predecessor and folded after just one production. Grau worked with Robison again, as a set designer on Robison's <b><i>Pietro der Korsar</i></b> (<i>Peter the Pirate</i>, 1925) for UFA. Wagner made several films with Fritz Lang, as did surly Servant Fritz Rasp: he was the 'Thin Man' in <b><i>Metropolis</i></b> (1927) whose entire role was thought lost until the recent rediscovery of an almost-complete print of the film in Argentina.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fYSWMNm2_1E/UEZ-KBj0wkI/AAAAAAAABjA/wSxzXuH5kAc/s1600/Warning+Shadows+1923+-+Alexander+Granach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="168" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fYSWMNm2_1E/UEZ-KBj0wkI/AAAAAAAABjA/wSxzXuH5kAc/s200/Warning+Shadows+1923+-+Alexander+Granach.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The Trickster?</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can we lastly return to Carl Jung? We can see one of his archetypes here in Alexander Granach's Entertainer -- the Trickster, an amoral symbol of mischief and rebellion who appears in the myths and stories of almost every culture, as Loki, as King Lear's Fool, Brer Rabbit, Batman's Joker. We could suggest another identity for this enigmatic figure, last seen riding away on the back of a pig. He may not have the usual horns and forked tail, but his uncanny hypnotic powers and gift for deception suggest a quite well-known personage acting under an assumed identity. Perhaps it's that faint whiff of brimstone...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">End Credits:</span></b></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fritz Korner <i>(Man),</i> Ruth Weyher <i>(Woman),</i> Gustav von Wangenheim <i>(Youth),</i> Eugen Rex, Max Gulstorff, Ferdinand von Alten <i>(Three Gentlemen),</i> Alexander Granach <i>(Entertainer),</i> Fritz Rasp <i>(Servant),</i> Carl Platen <i>(2nd Servant),</i> Lilli Herder <i>(Maid).</i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Concept and design:</i> Albin Grau,<i> Photography: </i>Fritz Arno Wagner,<i> Editing: </i>Rudolf Schneider and Arthur Robison, <i>Original Score:</i> Ernst Reige.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pan-Film, Germany</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 86 mins.</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Availability:</span></i></b><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Warning-Shadows-Schatten-Nachtiliche-Halluzination/dp/B000FS9FLC/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1347130304&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Warning Shadows (Kino)</a></span></i><br />
<br />Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-3784255182188880912012-08-19T01:12:00.000+01:002013-08-25T01:19:07.669+01:00Au Secours! 1923<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--nAE1WeKHWI/Uhjh_KwmlYI/AAAAAAAABqA/xQQX_X6FuTs/s1600/Au+Secours.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--nAE1WeKHWI/Uhjh_KwmlYI/AAAAAAAABqA/xQQX_X6FuTs/s1600/Au+Secours.jpg" /></a></div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This post published as part of the Speechless Blogathon at <a href="http://eternityofdream.blogspot.co.uk/">Eternity of Dream</a>. Click on icon at right for more information.</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xsVPkHHFtrI/UC_cj-e4o5I/AAAAAAAABVU/m-36osCfeeQ/s1600/Au+Secours+1923+-+Max+Linder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="323" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xsVPkHHFtrI/UC_cj-e4o5I/AAAAAAAABVU/m-36osCfeeQ/s400/Au+Secours+1923+-+Max+Linder.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Director: </span></i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Abel Gance</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"I would give a lot if there were in our midst a brave man who would not be afraid to spend just one hour in the castle."</span></i></b></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>1,000 francs just to spend an hour alone in a haunted castle? Oh Max, you're not going to fall for that old one are you? Here's what happens when French master of silent comedy Max Linder and world renowned director of <b>Napoleon </b>get together for a bet. But behind the freeform lunacy of Gance's camerawork, we get a glimpse of impending tragedy...</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></i></b></div>
<a name='more'></a><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Synopsis:</span></i></b><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At a gentleman's club, the Count Maulette recalls the strange and terrifying goings-on at his castle. His friend Max accepts a thousand-franc wager that he cannot stay alone in the castle for just one hour, eleven 'til midnight, without calling for help.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Max arrives at the castle to be greeted by a moving wax figure of a footman. He endures a poison bottle, assaults by ghosts, giant skeletons and predatory animals, and several other hallucinatory episodes, without surrendering his nerve. Then he receives a phone call from his wife, who tells him that a brutish intruder is forcing his way into her bedroom...</span></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Notes:</b></span></i><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qe4e4FvYlqM/UC_cirkLaXI/AAAAAAAABVM/fPN0CG1dklw/s1600/Au+Secours+1923+-+Linder+%2526+Skeleton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qe4e4FvYlqM/UC_cirkLaXI/AAAAAAAABVM/fPN0CG1dklw/s320/Au+Secours+1923+-+Linder+%2526+Skeleton.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Max encounters a skeletal intruder </i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Knowing something of the background to a film's production is not always a good thing. Can we watch <i><b>The Crow</b></i> without remembering that its star Brandon Lee was killed on-set by an improperly loaded gun? Or worse, that the shooting of <i><b>Twilight Zone: The Movie</b></i> was marred by the sickening death in a helicopter accident of Vic Morrow and two child actors, Myca Dinh Lee and Renee Shin-Yi Chen? </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make-believe horrors are perfectly acceptable, but should we feel a twinge of guilt for enjoying a movie tainted by real-life tragedy? </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's the same with </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Au Secours!</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (in English: </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'Help!'</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">). The film's informal origins belie the sad story of a real-life Pagliacci which was soon to reach it's desolate conclusion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The film apparently came about when Linder, at the time still smarting from a less-than-successful run of comedies in America, bet Gance that he couldn't complete a film in three days. Gance, then between epic projects <b><i>La Roue</i></b> (1923) and <b style="font-style: italic;">Napoleon </b>(1927), took up the challenge, although it's alleged that filming lasted for about twelve days in the end. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the course of the film, Linder's screen persona, a top-hatted toff with a gap-toothed Terry-Thomas grin, is subjected to all manner of oddities. There are lions, tigers, snakes, wax servants with detachable heads, and an armchair that comes alive to reveal an axe-wielding executioner hiding beneath. As well as these physical distractions we have Gance's disorienting subjective camerawork throwing us off-balance, expanding the threat outwards from the haunted castle set and into the movie screen itself. He uses negative, slo-mo, odd lighting effects and a super-fast barrage of images to draw us into Max's night of horror. At one point, Max is hanging off a chandelier and the film frame stretches and shrinks as he swings back and forth.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Linder's personal circumstances during filming were less than happy. A French national hero before the war, his time in service had had a devastating effect on his health and character. He wearily told <i>Motion Picture Magazine</i> in 1917: <i>"Soldiers, monsieur, learn to laugh. The horror of the battlefield is terrible. It is ghastly. To brood on it drives men mad"</i>. Ill-health, from exposure to mustard gas and a wartime bout of pneumonia, got worse. He began to suffer bouts of depression, and worst of all for France's favourite comic actor, his failure to crack America convinced him that he was no longer funny.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PxnQ0jzaFQo/UC_ck4z1MzI/AAAAAAAABVc/qp9B7mnDnV8/s1600/Au+Secours+1923+-+Palerme+%2526+Toulout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PxnQ0jzaFQo/UC_ck4z1MzI/AAAAAAAABVc/qp9B7mnDnV8/s320/Au+Secours+1923+-+Palerme+%2526+Toulout.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Gina Palerme under threat</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Near the end of <b><i>Au Secours!</i></b>, the phone call Max gets from his wife (who is fighting off an attacker bearing a strange resemblance to Oddbod in <i><b>Carry On Screaming)</b></i> reduces him to a state of near-hysteria. His eyes bulge and he sobs uncontrollably, emoting in a distinctly non-comical manner. Is this a daring moment of pathos concocted by he and Gance, or a fleeting glimpse at the fragile mental state of a man who only had two years to live? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A month after shooting for <b><i>Au Secours!</i></b> was completed, Linder married eighteen-year-old Helene Peters. The couple apparently made a suicide pact, and they attempted an overdose of barbiturates in a Viennese hotel during the shooting of Linder's last film, <b><i>The </i></b><i><b>King of the Circus</b></i>. Helene was three months pregnant. Their daughter Maud was born on July 27th, 1924, by which time <b><i>Au Secours! </i></b>had been released, but only abroad. Contractual disputes meant that it wasn't shown in Linder's native France until 1958. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Max Linder finally met his end in a hotel in Paris on the morning of Halloween, 1925. He and his wife were found side by side on their beds, pumped full of morphine and Veronal and with their wrists cut open. The official verdict was another suicide pact, but there were doubts as to whether Helene's demise was voluntary or whether she was coerced by a depressed and unstable Linder. In a last letter to his parents, he had written: <i>"the woman I married who I thought was an angel, is in reality a monster." </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can watch <i><b>Au Secours!</b></i> today and enjoy its charm and Linder's spot-on comic timing, or marvel at the liberties Abel Gance takes with his camerawork. But the film's serious moments are an uncomfortable reminder of the off-camera traumas that abruptly destroyed the life and reputation of a much-loved performer -- certainly not comedy, but not exactly horror either. As Max put it: <i>"So we learn to laugh - to take things as a matter of course. If we die, it is as it will be; if we live, we are glad. We laugh; we weep over the dead comrade; we rejoice over those who are living. So it is - the laughter and the tears are mingled together."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<div>
<i><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">End Credits:</span></b></i></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Max Linder (<i>Max</i>), Jean Toulout (<i>Count Maulette</i>), Gina Palerme (<i>Edith</i>).</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Screenplay: </i>Abel Gance <i>and </i>Max Linder,<i> Photography:</i> Georges Specht.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Alternate titles: <i>The Haunted House</i> [UK], <i>Help!</i> [USA])</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Abel Gance Films, France</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 23 mins.</span><br />
<b style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Availability:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="font-style: italic;">Au Secours! </b>is available as a supplemental feature on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305907730/ref=nosim/silenerafilmsond" target="_blank"><i><b>Lucrezia Borgia</b> </i>(<i>Image DVD</i>)</a></span>Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-49919734562622321502012-08-16T23:35:00.002+01:002013-08-25T01:14:10.509+01:00The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q0Q15oCCKNI/UhjiN23pYJI/AAAAAAAABqI/oyLfI_j9kJI/s1600/Hunchback+1923.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q0Q15oCCKNI/UhjiN23pYJI/AAAAAAAABqI/oyLfI_j9kJI/s1600/Hunchback+1923.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>This post published as part of the Speechless Blogathon at <a href="http://eternityofdream.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Eternity of Dream</a>. Click on icon at right for more information.</i></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMfTlPZGf8hgrJulsDEIdSHKqAJ8kbfaEIjd7WA_QpCrtA5DdYCzRuAjbM_VkR2F-b486GsSFCFwREWGsAxXsHsUsjNCqywB4tQfAYI884193UDZNTuc74C5garo9A6LtnOzry-aAoBog/s1600/Hunchback+of+Notre+Dame+1923.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMfTlPZGf8hgrJulsDEIdSHKqAJ8kbfaEIjd7WA_QpCrtA5DdYCzRuAjbM_VkR2F-b486GsSFCFwREWGsAxXsHsUsjNCqywB4tQfAYI884193UDZNTuc74C5garo9A6LtnOzry-aAoBog/s400/Hunchback+of+Notre+Dame+1923.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; text-align: left;"><b><i>Director:</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Wallace Worsley</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"To the townspeople he was an inhuman freak, a monstrous joke of Nature -- and for their jeers he gave them scorn and bitter hate."</i></b></span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Two thousand extras, nineteen acres of Universal backlot, one and a quarter million dollars, and three and a half hours a day in make-up for the Man of a Thousand Faces. Big numbers abound in the film that made character actor Lon Chaney into a fully-fledged movie star.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Synopsis:</span></i></b><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fifteenth-century Paris: the people celebrate the annual 'Festival of Fools', where the deformed bell-ringer Quasimodo is crowned King of Fools in honour of his extreme ugliness. Among the crowd is the beautiful gypsy girl Esmeralda, the adopted daughter of Clopin, the self-proclaimed <i>'King of the Beggars'</i>. Both Phoebus, the womanising Captain of the Guard, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jehan, brother of Notre Dame's arch-deacon, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">have designs on Esmeralda. Quasimodo watches her from afar.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qsMU1TAJV3I/UCwL-Ys32MI/AAAAAAAABSs/cL8XNG4i3yQ/s1600/Hunchback+1923+-+Chaney+tortured.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="289" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qsMU1TAJV3I/UCwL-Ys32MI/AAAAAAAABSs/cL8XNG4i3yQ/s320/Hunchback+1923+-+Chaney+tortured.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Quasimodo in chains</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Phoebus easily charms Esmeralda, and is charmed in turn by her sincere affection. At Jehan's bidding, Quasimodo attempts to abduct the gypsy girl, but is caught by the King's Guards and sentenced to twenty lashes in the town square. The suffering hunchback begs the jeering crowd for water, but only Esmeralda shows pity and fills a pitcher to quench his thirst.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Later, Phoebus takes Esmeralda to a banquet held in his honour. Her father, wary of Phoebus's intentions, gathers a posse of vagabonds from the thieves' quarter, the<i> 'Court of Miracles' </i>(a place where lame beggars can 'miraculously' walk again, and the 'blind' regain their sight)<i>,</i> to bring her back. In the ensuing standoff, Esmeralda realises she has no place among Phoebus's peers and resolves to take the vows of a nun. As she and Phoebus share a last moment alone, the jealous Jehan sneaks up and stabs Phoebus in the back. Esmeralda is arrested for the crime and tortured into a confession.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fearing an uprising among Clopin's cohorts, the courts hurriedly summon Esmeralda for execution: Quasimodo rings the death knell without realising who the victim is to be. When he sees the girl who once showed him kindness kneeling in penance at the cathedral's entrance, he swoops down and drags her inside, invoking the sacred right of sanctuary to keep her safe from persecution. Phoebus, recovered from his wounds, assembles the soldiers of the Guard to rescue her. At the same time Clopin calls for a revolt against the authority of church and state, inciting the masses to storm the Notre Dame. Quasimodo fends off the attackers with a barrage of stones and molten lead, striving to protect Esmeralda at any cost... </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Notes:</span></i></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yOnb816XVD8/UCwqPaVqEqI/AAAAAAAABTU/a-ifXUpQGN4/s1600/Hunchback+1923+-+Pressbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yOnb816XVD8/UCwqPaVqEqI/AAAAAAAABTU/a-ifXUpQGN4/s320/Hunchback+1923+-+Pressbook.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Pressbook, 1923</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deciding what makes a film great should be a straightforward thing; usually the evidence is right there on screen for all to see. The makers of <i><b>Hunchback of Notre Dame</b></i> would have had us believe that the film's sheer size made it great by default. Its 1923 pressbook throws out endless figures - 5,000 costumes, 105 electricians, a cathedral replica 225 feet high and 150 feet wide, etc., etc. - to support that claim. In the years since then, disasters like <b><i>Heaven's Gate</i></b> or <i><b>Raise the Titanic</b></i> prove that the idea is a persistent one despite evidence to the contrary.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But any claim to greatness the current film might have can be laid at the crooked feet of its mis-shaped leading man. Less of a household name now than he was in the twenties, Lon Chaney nevertheless had a massive impact on popular culture and was Hollywood's first real horror star. Film fans still recognise his Quasimodo, or his <b><i>Phantom of the Opera</i></b>, or maybe even his boggle-eyed vampire from <i><b>London After Midnght</b></i> at a glance, even if - like much of the film-going public in his heyday - they wouldn't have a clue what the private, unassuming actor looked like in real life.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chaney was already well established by 1923, having been a bit player since around 1912. His deaf parents nurtured in him a gift for physical expression, and his skill with a make-up box singled him out for increasingly visible 'character' parts. He made his mark as the crippled Frog in <i><b>The Miracle Man</b></i> in 1919, and double-amputee gangster Blizzard in <b><i>The Penalty</i></b> (directed by <i><b>Hunchback</b></i>'s Wallace Worsley) in 1920. He was Blind Pew in <i style="font-weight: bold;">Treasure Island</i> (1920), Fagin in <b style="font-style: italic;">Oliver Twist</b> (1921), and both apeman and mad scientist in <i style="font-weight: bold;">A Blind Bargain</i> (1922). An evident skill at portraying grotesque yet believably human characters soon led him to <b><i>Hunchback</i></b>, and his biggest challenge yet.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He'd been pushing for the role of Quasimodo since 1920 or thereabouts, though his efforts to get the project off the ground had been hampered by bad deals with financiers and disagreements with Universal's Irving Thalberg about potential directors. It wasn't until August of 1922 when, with Worsley on board, the studio finally pledged </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to bring Victor Hugo's 1831 novel to the screen. The film was promoted as Universal's <i>'Super Jewel'</i> prestige production of the year, and allocated an impressive budget </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of $1,250,000 .</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Previous versions of the story had sidelined the potential controversy of the novel's political and religious aspects in favour of the romance angle. We knew who would be centre stage just from the titles: <i style="font-weight: bold;">Esmeralda</i> (1922), or <i><b>The Darling of Paris</b></i> (1917), featuring Hollywood vamp Theda Bara in the lead role. At Chaney's insistence, Universal instead shuffled the secondary character of Notre Dame's deformed bell-ringer into the spotlight, and he has stayed there ever since. Charles Laughton may have given the character the voice we all recognise in 1939, but when we think of the word 'hunchback', it's a rough approximation of Lon Chaney's face and crooked figure that we can see in our mind'e eye.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q5MDiOkma8A/UCw2ist7pDI/AAAAAAAABT8/VjBBDqIZHfg/s1600/Hunchback+1923+-+Chaney+and+Miller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q5MDiOkma8A/UCw2ist7pDI/AAAAAAAABT8/VjBBDqIZHfg/s320/Hunchback+1923+-+Chaney+and+Miller.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Sanctuary for Esmeralda: Chaney<br />and Patsy Ruth Miller</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Praise was lavished on Chaney for his sensitive portrayal of Quasimodo, labouring under (so essayist Robert F Blake tells us on the Image DVD) <b><i>not </i></b>the 70-pound rubber hump of movie legend, but a plaster appendage weighing a 'mere' 20 pounds. With hindsight, the temptation is there to qualify that praise with apologies for an acting style that might be viewed these days as unnaturally melodramatic. This would be unfair: in a medium which conveyed most of it's information visually, naturalism was only one approach of many, and <i><b>Hunchback</b></i>, crammed with a mess of sub-plots as it is, limits Chaney's screen time, forcing a necessary amount of economy into his characterisation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's almost like watching a ballet. Look at the short scene immediately following Quasimodo's rescue of Esmeralda from her executioners: first he gently removes her bonds, then she awakes from her faint and is momentarily disturbed by the grim appearance of her rescuer. Quasimodo's initial dismay turns into relief as she pieces together her situation and wordlessly expresses her gratitude. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No dialogue is exchanged, but a wealth of meaning is expressed in those few feet of film. The actor's</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> gestures are unsubtle but graceful and precise, and are traded back and forth a bit like a dance. Would you criticise <b><i>West Side Story</i></b> because the fight scenes aren't realistic?</span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XPBpcmfhcEs/UC11Js5j6YI/AAAAAAAABUk/QhBJfM4u3Wg/s1600/Hunchback+1923+-+Chaney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XPBpcmfhcEs/UC11Js5j6YI/AAAAAAAABUk/QhBJfM4u3Wg/s320/Hunchback+1923+-+Chaney.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With Chaney dominating so thoroughly, it's easy to overlook the contribution of the rest of the players. There's Brandon Hurst, who led John Barrymore into temptation in the 1920 <b><i><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-john-barrymore.html" target="_blank">Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde</a></i></b>: Norman Kerry, who would team up with Chaney again for <i><b>Phantom of the Opera</b></i> and <b><i>The Unknown</i></b>: and Patsy Ruth Miller, a relative newcomer chosen as Esmeralda after an extensive talent search (if you believe the publicity, that is). Patsy recalls that she was coached during filming by Chaney as much as by director Wallace Worsley, suggesting that Chaney's influence was just as strong behind the camera.</span><br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chaney's cheekbones were built up with cotton and collodion; his nostrils were shoved open with cigar-holders; his right eye was taped closed and covered with a mound of nose putty, damaging his eyesight for the rest of his life; his hair and eyebrows were hidden under a crepe-wool fright wig; new, twisted teeth were fitted by his dentist; then there was that plaster hump, and the harness which held it in place and bent him over in a perpetual stoop. And still Chaney shone through to get the audience's sympathy and the critics' near-unanimous approval. It's the sign of a true star and a good indication of what makes a film great.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>End Credits:</i></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lon Chaney (<i>Quasimodo</i>), Patsy Ruth Miller (<i>Esmeralda</i>), Norman Kerry (<i>Phoebus de Chateaupers</i>), Brandon Hurst (<i>Jehan</i>), Ernest Torrance (<i>Clopin</i>), Nigel de Brulier (<i>Don Claudio</i>), Raymond Hatton (<i>Gringoire</i>), Kate Lester (<i>Mme de Gondelaurier</i>), Winifred Bryson (<i>Fleur de Lys</i>), Tully Marshall (<i>El Rey Luis XI</i>), Harry van Meter (<i>Mons. Neufchatel</i>), Nick de Ruis (<i>Mons. Le Torteru</i>), Eulalie Jensen (<i>Marie</i>), Roy Laidlaw (<i>Charmolu</i>), W. Ray Meyers (<i>Charmolu's Assistant</i>), William Parke, Sr. (<i>Josephus</i>), Gladys Brockwell (<i>Sister Gudule</i>), John Cossar (<i>Judge of the Court</i>), Edwin Wallock (<i>King's Chamberlain</i>).</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Story Adaptation:</i> Perley Poor Sheehan, <i>Scenario:</i> Edward T. Lowe, Jr, <i>from 'Notre Dame de Paris' by </i>Victor Hugo, <i>Photography:</i> Robert Newhard,<i> Editing:</i> Sydney Singerman, Maurice Pivar <i>and</i> Edward Curtis, <i>Art Direction: </i>E.E. Sheeley <i>and</i> Sydney Ullman,<i> Producer:</i> Carl Laemmle.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Universal, USA</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running Time 117 mins</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>Availability:</i></b></span><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hunchback-Notre-Dame-Region-NTSC/dp/B000TEUSI6/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1345153736&sr=1-2" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank"><b>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</b> (<i>Image Entertainment</i>)</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, from which some information in this post was taken.</span><br />
<br />Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-19152013593302788822012-08-14T23:33:00.000+01:002013-08-25T01:07:43.207+01:00Witchcraft Through The Ages (Häxan) 1922<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-73E0jaC8xLs/UhjiYlNpFJI/AAAAAAAABqQ/yoEieCkNPvo/s1600/Witchcraft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-73E0jaC8xLs/UhjiYlNpFJI/AAAAAAAABqQ/yoEieCkNPvo/s1600/Witchcraft.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g-qT34xvuqA/UCfburUqpAI/AAAAAAAABO8/TKtZ__ZxBJE/s1600/Haxan+1921.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g-qT34xvuqA/UCfburUqpAI/AAAAAAAABO8/TKtZ__ZxBJE/s400/Haxan+1921.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Director: </span></i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Benjamin Christensen</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"Burn me at the stake, pious fathers! Can't you see what the Devil forces me to do??"</i></b></span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Copenhagen tabloid </i>BT <i>demanded, "Get This Film Off Our Screens!". </i>Variety <i>declared: "Wonderful though this picture is, it is absolutely unfit for public exhibition". This Swedish masterpiece of diabolism combines scholarly sobriety with twisted, hallucinatory imagery worthy of Goya or Bosch. "Cultural history lecture" or celebration of blasphemous perversity? You be the judge!</i></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>
<a name='more'></a><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Synopsis:</span></i></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Chapter One</i></b> of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Häxan</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is an illustrated lecture on witchcraft and demonology, from ancient Persia and Egypt through to Europe in the middle ages.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Chapter Two</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> takes place in 1488, and dramatises prevalent beliefs about witchcraft. The witch Maria uses the hand of a hanged man to make a love potion that the Old Maid gives to a lusty Friar -- two anatomists are accused of sorcery for stealing a corpse -- women are drawn by demons to a sabbath -- and Apolone, an old crone, dreams of a castle in the sky where all her desires become real.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OicVhsozQoU/UCgg-ezMhAI/AAAAAAAABPk/Sz-fQhKP5U0/s1600/Haxan+1922+Nude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OicVhsozQoU/UCgg-ezMhAI/AAAAAAAABPk/Sz-fQhKP5U0/s320/Haxan+1922+Nude.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Debauchery at the witches' Sabbath</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Chapter Three</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> concerns the witch-hunts in Europe. Anna believes her husband, the scribe Jesper, is bewitched. Maria the Weaver is accused and taken prisoner by the Witch Judges.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Chapter Four:</i></b> Maria confesses under torture. She tells the judges of flying through the air to a sabbat in Brocken, where witches cavort with hideous demons, eat <i>"a meal of toads and unchristened children"</i>, and the cross is desecrated. Maria condemns her accusers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Chapter Five</i></b> sees Anna and the printer's family arrested and interrogated. The young monk sees his desire for Anna as evidence of sorcery; she is tricked into a confession.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Chapter Six</i></b> details the methods of torture used to extract confessions, and shows an outbreak of hysteria in a convent.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Chapter Seven</b></i> moves to the present day, where modern science and psychology provide a rational explanation for diabolical possession. 'Hysterical' illnesses manifest as sleepwalking and kleptomania. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rKM6Y4JSyMg/UCgoihUTSvI/AAAAAAAABQM/xdu68PI3q3A/s1600/Haxan+1922+-+Christensen+as+the+Devil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rKM6Y4JSyMg/UCgoihUTSvI/AAAAAAAABQM/xdu68PI3q3A/s320/Haxan+1922+-+Christensen+as+the+Devil.jpg" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Director Christensen as Satan</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>Notes:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There isn't another film quite like </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Häxan</b></i>. Director Benjamin Christensen called it <i>"a cultural history lecture in moving pictures"</i>. Nowadays we'd call it a docudrama, a dramatic re-enactment of historical events, except that the term is inadequate as <b style="font-style: italic;">Häxan </b>(<i>'The Witches'</i>) conforms neither to the conventions of drama nor those of documentary.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We see no actors at all for the first fifteen minutes or so. Instead, Christensen shows us ancient texts and illustrations, as though we are watching a history book. Afterwards, he illustrates his ideas with invented scenes from history, and a kind of narrative eventually emerges involving the Inquisition's treatment of Maria the Weaver and the scribe's wife Anna.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> But he also re-creates the imaginary world that surrounds his characters, intermingling dream sequences, hallucinations, fantasies and mythological archetypes </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with the supposedly 'true' events, and all with the same vivid attention to detail.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ex-opera singer Christensen had always taken an idiosyncratic view of his chosen subject matter. <i>"Shouldn't it be possible"</i>, he asked, <i>"for film to approach a problem in another way than through the social drama?"</i> His two previous films as director, <i><b>The Mysterious X</b></i> (1914) and <b><i>Blind Justice</i></b> (1916), had been lifted above the conventional by Christensen's creative flair. Over in the USA, Vitagraph had taken note and offered him the post of the studio's Supervising Director. By then Christensen had taken</span> <i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Häxan</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> by the horns, and the creative freedom promised by Svensk-Filmindustri's production head Ernest Mattison proved too appealing to give up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="font-style: italic;">Häxan,</b> Christensen threw out all his preconceptions in pursuit of his own unique form. <i>"I would like to know",</i> he wrote, "<i>whether a film is able to hold the public's interest without sentimentality, without unified narration, without suspense, without heroes and heroines, in short without all those things on which a good film is otherwise constructed."</i> Seeking to educate as well as entertain his audience</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, he tried to enlist the aid of historians and scholars in creating his screenplay. When no help was forthcoming, he took on the daunting task of researching it all himself, ultimately spending over two years bringing </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Häxan</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to completion. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XvKzPWcjH4U/UCq71eaZDLI/AAAAAAAABRY/IJcvYEJrtcM/s1600/Haxan+1922+-+Witches'+Flight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XvKzPWcjH4U/UCq71eaZDLI/AAAAAAAABRY/IJcvYEJrtcM/s320/Haxan+1922+-+Witches'+Flight.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Flight of the witches</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It became Sweden's most expensive film so far, costing almost two million kronor. Christensen, in trying to bring out <i>"the darker side of human nature"</i>, insisted on filming only at night wherever possible, incurring overtime expenses for his cast and crew. Bringing the nightmarish sabbaths to life meant elaborate make-up and costumes and costly stop-motion sequences. Scenes of flying witches (up to 75, in Christensen's own estimate) required the invention of a new optical printer to combine the multiple layers of imagery required.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For his cast, Christensen assembled a mix of established players, unknowns and non-actors. The amorous Friar was played by comic actor Oscar Stribolt and the role of Anna went to Astrid Holm, who had appeared in Victor Sjostrom's <i><b><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/phantom-carriage-korkarlen-1921.html" target="_blank">The Phantom Carriage</a></b></i> the year before. In contrast, Maren Pedersen, who played Maria the Weaver, was a flower seller whose craggy features had impressed Christensen enough to give her one of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Häxan</i>'s<i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i>most prominent roles. In the background were Elith Pio, who had previously been seen in Carl Dreyer's <b><i><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/leaves-from-satans-book-blade-af-satans.html" target="_blank">Leaves From Satan's Book</a></i></b> (1920), award-winning Danish actor Ib Schoenberg in his first film role, and Alice O'Fredericks, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="font-style: italic;">Häxan</b>'s script girl and later one of Denmark's most popular film directors.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i-s_TGrdw_o/UCq7yfbG1zI/AAAAAAAABRE/-VyW6SfTHN4/s1600/Haxan+1922+-+Kissing+The+Devil%2527s+Anus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="269" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i-s_TGrdw_o/UCq7yfbG1zI/AAAAAAAABRE/-VyW6SfTHN4/s320/Haxan+1922+-+Kissing+The+Devil%2527s+Anus.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>A censor's nightmare - kissing the Devil's anus</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Häxan</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'s stunning imagery and unflinching depiction of violence and perversity still packs a punch today</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and not surprisingly the censors of the time took a dim view. Despite a few protests from the tabloid press (see top of page), the film was well received in Denmark having been passed by the censors uncut. Elsewhere it was not so lucky. Christensen's frequent (and then still unusual) use of close ups was frowned upon in those countries that still saw greatly enlarged faces as somehow indecent, especially when those faces expressed extreme suffering or lustful desire.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many countries excised footage of instruments of torture and of blasphemous acts such as kissing the Devil's ass or spitting on an image of the infant Christ. The film's occasional nudity was also a problem, as was a shot of grease dripping from the cooked flesh of babies. Vociferous Catholic organisations in France took exception to</span> <i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Häxan</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'s anti-clericalism, although Christensen's treatment of the medieval church was firmly rooted in fact. He took much material from the notorious witch-hunter's manual, the <i>Malleus Maleficarum</i> (<i>'Hammer of the Witches'</i>), naming his chief inquisitor Father Henrik after one of its authors, Heinrich Kramer. The more bashful American censors weren't having any of this, and </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Häxan</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> was only released there in a heavily truncated form in 1930.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s7htsMydDF0/UCq7xduvy8I/AAAAAAAABQ8/lnw_jcpidZM/s1600/Haxan+1922+-+Devil%2527s+Feast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="301" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s7htsMydDF0/UCq7xduvy8I/AAAAAAAABQ8/lnw_jcpidZM/s400/Haxan+1922+-+Devil%2527s+Feast.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>A feast of infant flesh</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only thing that really lets </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Häxan</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> down is its final act. The sober 20th-century rationalisation of aberrant behaviour can't compare to the surreal exuberance of the preceding hour, even if it did illustrate the director's deeply-held views on criminal rehabilitation. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Häxan, </b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christensen's career had a similar sense of anticlimax. He'd proposed two sequels to </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Häxan</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">: '<i>The Saint'</i>, which would deal with religious hysteria and ecstatic visionaries, and <i>'The Spirits', </i>a study of spirit phenomena and mediumship. Neither came to pass; imported American films were flooding the Swedish market, and the money was no longer there. <i>"The film companies avoided me for two years"</i>, Christensen lamented. <i>"I was an experimentalist and therefore dangerous."</i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DWLwdFHlJuI/UCq7vwAcV6I/AAAAAAAABQ0/IMZU8TF0RCI/s1600/Haxan+1922+-+Benjamin+Christensen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DWLwdFHlJuI/UCq7vwAcV6I/AAAAAAAABQ0/IMZU8TF0RCI/s200/Haxan+1922+-+Benjamin+Christensen.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Benjamin Christensen</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A domestic re-release of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Häxan</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in 1941 (with a new filmed introduction from a lab-coated Christensen) proved a great success, and has been noted as a possible inspiration for Carl Dreyer's witch-hunt drama <b><i>Day of Wrath</i></b> (1943). The film got a third lease of life in 1968 when a new print was released by British film-maker and distributor Anthony Balch under its English title <i><b>Witchcraft Through The Ages</b></i>, with a jazz score by Daniel Humair and narration by William S. Burroughs. </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic;">Häxan </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">represented a high point that its director was never quite able to match, but as he later pointed out, <i>"It is a great fortune for an artist, just once in a lifetime, to be allowed to do what he wants."</i> </span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">End Credits:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Benjamin Christensen (<i>The Devil</i>), Maren Pedersen (<i>Maria the Weaver</i>), Kate Fabian (<i>Old Maid</i>), Oscar Stribolt (<i>Friar</i>), Knud Rassow (<i>Anatomist</i>), Wilhelmine Henriksen (<i>Apelone</i>), Astrid Holm (<i>Anna</i>), Karen Winther (<i>Anna's Sister</i>), Johannes Andersen (<i>Father Henrik</i>), Elith Pio (<i>Johannes, Witch Judge</i>), Aage Hertel (<i>Witch Judge</i>), Ib Schonberg (<i>Witch Judge</i>), Clara Pontoppidan (<i>Sister Cecilia</i>), Alice O'Fredericks (<i>Nun</i>), Else Vermehren (<i>Nun</i>), Tora Teje (<i>Modern Hysteric</i>), Albrecht Schnidt (<i>Alienist</i>), Poul Reumert (<i>Jeweller</i>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Scenario</i>: Benjamin Christensen, <i>Cinematography</i>: Johna Ankerstjerne, <i>Art Direction</i>: Richard Louw, <i>Editing:</i> Edla Hansen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Svensk Filmindustri, Sweden.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 104 mins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>Availability:</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1898019259">Häxan</a></b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/H%C3%A4xan-Witchcraft-Through-Ages-DVD/dp/B000PMGRUA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344983399&sr=8-1" target="_blank"> (Criterion)</a>. Much of the above information was taken from the DVD's audio essay by Casper Tybjerg, including the quotes attributed to Benjamin Christensen.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-72610952253238920712012-08-05T23:13:00.003+01:002013-08-25T01:26:02.861+01:00Nosferatu, A Symphony of Terror (Eine Symfonie des Grauens) 1922<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QDZ-jNyQK3A/Uhjio8g2XOI/AAAAAAAABqY/Yjl90HtsVSc/s1600/Nosferatu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QDZ-jNyQK3A/Uhjio8g2XOI/AAAAAAAABqY/Yjl90HtsVSc/s1600/Nosferatu.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<blockquote style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ProfoQmCp68/UBUuMP8VhBI/AAAAAAAABIQ/YPDtNDsDaKg/s1600/Nosferatu+1+1922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ProfoQmCp68/UBUuMP8VhBI/AAAAAAAABIQ/YPDtNDsDaKg/s640/Nosferatu+1+1922.jpg" width="187" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><i></i></b></span></blockquote>
<b style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Director:</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> F.W. Murnau</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"NOSFERATU! Does this word not sound to you like the midnight cry of the Deathbird? Take care in saying it, lest life's images fade into shadows, and ghostly dreams rise from your heart and nourish themselves on your blood."</i></b></span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></b>
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></b>
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>We love this film. F.W. Murnau's nightmarish masterpiece sees the loathsome Count Orlock bring fear and pestilence to the town of Wisborg. Here's everything you need to know about the troubled history of this first (unofficial) screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's <b>Dracula</b> and several reasons why, even after 90 years, Murnau's mythical vampire refuses to stay dead...</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Synopsis:</span></i></b><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wisborg, Germany, 1838: the clerk Hutter is sent to Transylvania by his employer Knock to arrange the purchase of a local property for his client Count Orlok. Knock promises Hutter generous rewards, the only cost being <i>"a little effort, some sweat, and perhaps... a little blood."</i> Hutter hopes to ease his wife Ellen's sense of dread by leaving her in the care of his friends, the shipowner Harding and his sister Ruth.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When he reaches the Carpathian mountains, Hutter's blithe manner is disturbed by an Inn-full of villagers living in obvious fear of Orlok, and by an old book on vampire lore he finds in his room. Obliged to make the last part of his journey alone, he is met by a sinister black-shrouded coach that carries him at breakneck speed through the forest to Orlok's castle. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hutter is alarmed at his host's cadaverous appearance, and later recoils in disgust when Orlok tries to suck blood from a cut on his finger. The next morning, he wakes with two tiny bite-marks on his neck... The Count's true nature soon becomes clear to Hutter, but he can only look on helplessly as Orlock loads earth-filled coffins on to a cart, bound for Wisborg where Ellen waits anxiously for her husband's return...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Empusa carries Orlock and his unholy cargo across the Black Sea, as one by one her crew falls victim to a mysterious plague. The contagion spreads; evil omens foretell the Count's arrival in Wisborg. Harding and Ruth are shocked to find a sleepwalking Ellen calling out: <i>"I must go to him. He's coming!"</i>... Professor Bulwer lectures his students on the vampiric qualities of nature... Knock is committed to an insane asylum, where he feasts on flies and cackles, <i>"Blood is life!"</i>... and Hutter, escaped from the Count's castle, races home to his loved ones even as the Empusa drifts into the harbour, its crew all dead and it's hold carrying a pestilence more deadly than anyone can imagine... </span></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></i>
<br />
<h3>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><b>1: "The Death-ship has a new captain..."</b></span></i></h3>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O1cdBrx9lcE/UB6pSTwoMtI/AAAAAAAABMo/oGjfjuL1mmA/s1600/Nosferatu+one-sheet+1922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O1cdBrx9lcE/UB6pSTwoMtI/AAAAAAAABMo/oGjfjuL1mmA/s320/Nosferatu+one-sheet+1922.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The vampire's shadow rises, talon-like fingers upraised. It falls on Hutter's throat and he begins to feed. Hundreds of miles away, Hutter's wife bolts upright in bed, wide-eyed, arms outstretched. As she cries out, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Hutter!!!"</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Orlock rises from his feast, and peers over his shoulder. For a moment, it's as though he and Ellen are connected, across the miles, across the gulf between life and (un)death; then he turns away, the door to Hutter's room swinging closed behind him. Ellen swoons, the spell broken. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many lyrical moments like this scattered throughout </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Nosferatu, </i>collectively elevating the film above the ordinary. N</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">inety</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> years on, it still has the power to raise shivers in the spines of the unwary, and critics and fans alike routinely decorate it with phrases like "undisputed masterpiece". Over the years, Murnau's vampire has been exhumed and examined countless times:</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Bram Stoker's '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dracula',</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> from which </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Nosferatu </b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">borrows its narrative, is one of the most expansive and potent of modern myths, and itself draws on a centuries-deep well of lore and legend. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But that's not to say that another descent into the crypt would be fruitless: there are many things of value we can gather up</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> from the cursed but fertile earth on which the vampire sleeps...</span><br />
<h3>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">2: "...A While Still 'Til Sunrise..."</span></i></b></h3>
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q6Tt4ANbgZA/UB0uGYeRICI/AAAAAAAABLg/ByK_CXjMZcY/s1600/FW+Murnau" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q6Tt4ANbgZA/UB0uGYeRICI/AAAAAAAABLg/ByK_CXjMZcY/s320/FW+Murnau" width="283" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>F.W. Murnau</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>" --'And who's the director?' -- 'We've managed to get Murnau.' -- 'Indeed! <b>Nosferatu</b> is in good hands then -- good luck!' "</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Albin Grau - <i>"Vampires",</i> 1921)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Nosferatu </i></b>was F.W. Murnau's eleventh film, and showed that his</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> fine arts background had adapted itself rewardingly to the new medium. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many still regard him as Germany's greatest film director, despite a career that lasted little longer than a decade</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Murnau, a tall (6'11") and elegant Westphalian with an aristocratic manner, had sought the company of artists and poets from an early age but only after the war did old theatrical acquaintances such as Conrad Veidt draw him into the film business. Veidt appeared in two of <i><b>Nosferatu</b></i>'s predecessors, both now lost: </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Satanas</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (1919) and </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Der Januskopf </i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1920), an unofficial adaptation of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that gave Bela Lugosi his first film role.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's a lot in <b><i>Nosferatu</i></b> to suggest that here was a fully matured talent with an assured grasp on the art of storytelling. Look how he repeatedly shows us gothic arches looming oppressively over the characters: the camera tricks - stop-motion, negatives, undercranking - that draw us into the disjointed nightmare world of the vampire: and the stunning natural landscapes which, as historian Lotte Eisner wrote, gave <i><b>Nosferatu </b></i>an authentically Expressionist quality <i>"achieved without the aid of the least artifice."</i> Murnau had been directing films for just over two years<i>.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b style="font-style: italic;">(Nosferatu </b><i>premiered at a masked ball in the Berlin Zoological Gardens in March 1922, and that was where the trouble began. Sources suggest that initial responses to the film were mostly favourable and may have kept struggling producers Prana-Film afloat had some anonymous critic not sent a copy of the programme to Bram Stoker's widow Florence. It's unclear whether or not Prana-Film ever asked Florence Stoker's permission to adapt </i>'Dracula'<i>, but she was incensed either way, and wasted no time in trying to destroy the vampire that had leapt unbidden from a vault to which she thought she had the only key.)</i></span><br />
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></b>
<br />
<h3>
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">3: The Breath of Life</span></i></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I4dxNA4N_O0/UB13BPkz-FI/AAAAAAAABME/Nru9ArAO8v8/s1600/Nosferatu+1922+-+Knock's+Letter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="244" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I4dxNA4N_O0/UB13BPkz-FI/AAAAAAAABME/Nru9ArAO8v8/s320/Nosferatu+1922+-+Knock's+Letter.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Knock's correspondence</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Behind the scenes, other hands than Murnau's were at work. Albin Grau, whose modest credit in the film reads <i>'Costumes and Sets'</i>, was effectively the production designer, art director and co-producer. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grau's was the initial inspiration for </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Nosferatu</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, prompted by a wartime encounter with a Serbian peasant whose village was allegedly threatened by an actual vampire in 1884. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grau was also one of Germany's most prominent practitioners of occult magic. He and Enrico Dieckmann co-founded Prana-Film with the specific intention of producing occult-themed films, of which </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Nosferatu </i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">was the first and last.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prana-Film took its name from the sanskrit word roughly translated as <i>"breath of life",</i> named after a publication of the Theosophical Society which Grau had formerly written for. Grau (under his ceremonial name Frater Pacitus) was head of the Grand Pansophic Lodge in Berlin, established by his associate Heinrich Traenker around the time that <b><i>Nosferatu </i></b>was in production. It became the largest occult group in Germany and had strong links with the OTO (<i>Ordo Templi Orientis</i>), which was headed in the UK by the "Great Beast" Aleister Crowley.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throughout <b><i>Nosferatu </i></b>we see glimpses of its creators' esoteric leanings, remembering that writer Henrik Galeen was himself </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a member of the Order of Rosicrucians</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. We might question the origins of the</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(fictional) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">book seen on-screen that provides the film's narrative backbone, its author identified only with three crosses; or the meaning of the authentically esoteric symbols in Knock's correspondence, and what this implies about the nature of his relationship with Orlok... In his book </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Satanic Screen,</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Nikolas Schreck points out that Nosferatu was one of the very few films subject to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"genuine magical influences" </i>and blended</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> vampirism with Satanism in a way that wasn't revisited until the 1970s.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(Florence Stoker, fiercely protective of her husband's legacy and struggling financially, started a legal battle that dragged on for years. Prana-Film was in receivership by June, leaving proposed titles like <b>Paganini</b>, <b>The Swamp Devil</b>, and <b>Dreams of Hell</b> unmade and Stoker without recompense. She carried on regardless and by 1925, succeeded in having all existing prints of <b>Nosferatu</b>, then in the hands of the receivers, destroyed.) </span></i>
<br />
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></b>
<br />
<h3>
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"><i>4: Shadow of the Vampire</i></b></h3>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0bbmuMyfh6U/UBmTonM9ipI/AAAAAAAABKk/XRv9rySoACU/s1600/Nosferatu+1922+-+Schreck+close-up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0bbmuMyfh6U/UBmTonM9ipI/AAAAAAAABKk/XRv9rySoACU/s320/Nosferatu+1922+-+Schreck+close-up.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Max Schreck</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Why him, you monster? Why not... the script girl?"</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Ah, the script girl. I'll eat her later."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(<i><b>Shadow of the Vampire</b></i>, 2000)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another mysterious figure associated with Nosferatu is its lead actor Max Schreck, about whom we still know relatively little. E. Elias Mehrige's <i><b>Shadow of the Vampire</b></i> (2000) addresses the unanswered questions about Schreck's background by putting forward the theory that Schreck was an actual vampire recruited by Murnau in the interests of authenticity. Mehrige wasn't the first; Ado Kyrou's 1963 book <i>Surrealism in the Cinema</i> asserts that <i>"No-one has ever been willing to reveal the identity of the extraordinary actor whom brilliant makeup renders absolutely unrecognisable"</i>, asking, <i>"Who hides behind the character of Nosferatu? Maybe Nosferatu himself?"</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The truth is slightly more prosaic. Schreck (German for 'terror') was assumed to be a pseudonym; it's actually the gaunt-faced actor's real name. Schreck, born in 1879, cut his theatrical teeth (so to speak) with Max Reinhardt's company in Berlin. Reinhardt later introduced him to Murnau, who immediately saw him as an ideal Count Orlock. Today, it's the only role he's known for, though he worked with Murnau again in <i><b>The Grand Duke's Finances</b></i> (1924) and appeared in over 40 films altogether.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nosferatu's troubled history and Schreck's natural reclusiveness have both fed into legend over the years. But unlike many silent stars cast aside with the coming of sound, he continued to work on both stage and screen during the thirties. His last film, <b><i>Die Letzten Vier von Santa Cruz</i></b>, was released in March 1936. Schreck had died of a heart attack a month earlier. His condition is not believed to have changed since.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(But Count Orlok proved difficult to keep down. A stray print had made its way to the Film Society in England, which again Stoker tried to suppress. Universal began negotiations to acquire the film rights to </span>Dracula <span style="font-style: italic;">in 1928, and they gave permission for </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><b>Nosferatu </b></span><span style="font-style: italic;">to be shown. It was met with general indifference.)</span></span><br />
<h3 style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5: Into the Land of Thieves and Spectres</span></i></h3>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEXBhkB03AsSkdtLI5vaOyYQDdKfAWGKuhIHzMGtkPcSzRtPVdjqVBRLwO6j8QzDO4RqEp_RdqqpVch3mJ_4iT8UMeSHtiHXpDvarbKrI_WccZg0wZWWSkrS4oosQPxcn6vcxy9DVBJSE/s1600/Nosferatu+1922+-+Lubeck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEXBhkB03AsSkdtLI5vaOyYQDdKfAWGKuhIHzMGtkPcSzRtPVdjqVBRLwO6j8QzDO4RqEp_RdqqpVch3mJ_4iT8UMeSHtiHXpDvarbKrI_WccZg0wZWWSkrS4oosQPxcn6vcxy9DVBJSE/s320/Nosferatu+1922+-+Lubeck.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The salt warehouses in Lubeck</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The raftsmen didn't know what kind of unholy cargo they were conveying through the dale..."</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(<b>Nosferatu</b>)</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The closing chapters of Stoker's <i>Dracula </i>see Van Helsing's group of vampire-hunters chase the Count across Europe to his Transylvanian lair. In July 1921, Murnau and a small crew embarked on a mission of their own to capture location footage on Prana-Film's limited budget.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First call was at Lubeck, 170 miles north-west of Berlin, which stood in for the fictional Wisborg of 1838. Here, the town's old salt warehouses doubled for the building Orlok purchased from Knock. All the other locations, <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">the funeral procession in Devenaustrasse, Hutter's home, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">the narrow alleys where Knock was chased by angry townsfolk, stood within half a mile of each other. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">In late July, they travelled forty miles east to the sea port of Wismar, where the opening high-angle view of 'Wisborg' was shot from the tower of St Mary's church. One day, the crew placed an ad in the local press asking for 30-50 live rats; the following day, the ad was replaced by one for a ratcatcher. A ship named the <i>Jurgen</i> was towed across the bay to the island of Poel, doubling for the ill-fated Empusa. Next came List by the Danish border, for Greta Schroeder's scenes on the sand dunes.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a break in filming the crew decamped to Prague, where Albin Grau swapped vampire tales with a former war comrade<i>,</i> they moved on to the Tatra mountains to film the Transylvanian scenes. Grau noted: <i>"The Nosferatu actor cut a ghostly white figure that the locals observed with horror and avoided like the devil!"</i> By mid-August they were in Vratna, in present-day Slovakia. The imposing castle at Oravsky Podzamok became Orlok's home. Local raftsmen were recruited to ferry coffins down the river Waag, and the crew stumbled across the ruins of Trencin castle, which appears at the very end of <b><i>Nosferatu </i></b>after the vampire's death. Murnau and crew returned to the studio in Berlin and filming was completed by the end of October.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(Meanwhile re-edited pirate copies of <b>Nosferatu</b> were screened in Europe under the name <b>The Twelfth Hour</b>. Others surfaced in New York and Detroit, which Universal dutifully gathered up and destroyed after the rights were finally purchased in 1930. Florence Stoker passed away in 1937; <b>Nosferatu </b>remained silent.)</span></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<h3>
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">6: Der Untergang Des Abendslandesmenschen</span></i></b></h3>
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XXRY9rf5-3Y/UBmTnMvHm4I/AAAAAAAABKc/ZoI5tlbl-MQ/s1600/Nosferatu+1922+-+Schreck+and+von+Wangenheim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XXRY9rf5-3Y/UBmTnMvHm4I/AAAAAAAABKc/ZoI5tlbl-MQ/s320/Nosferatu+1922+-+Schreck+and+von+Wangenheim.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Hutter discovers the hidden horror<br />of the vampire</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[The Germans] </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">were slipping a yellow armband over the arm of the vampire's coat. When they finished, they picked the thing up and carried it to the roof's edge. It looked like a spitted pig.</i> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic;">The yellow armband had two interlocking triangles, like the device on the costumes William S. had worn when he played Ben-Hur on Broadway. The Star of David."</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Howard Waldrop's 1976 short story (quoted above) sees cowboy heroes William S Hart and Broncho Billy fight Nosferatu with six-shooters full of wooden bullets in a flickering silent-movie version of Bremen. A group of uniformed Germans - Martin, Hermann, Josef, Ernst and Adolf - turn the situation to their own advantage. The story ends as the cowboys slink off for some well-earned rest, and burning synagogues light up the night sky.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As has been pointed out in the past, Count Orlok in some ways resembles a twisted, anti-semitic caricature of a Jew, whose only desire is to literally bleed us dry - with hooked nose, bushy eyebrows and rat-like teeth, suggesting an association with vermin that would become horribly pertinent with the advent of the Nazi's final solution. While it's both simplistic and inaccurate to attribute any kind of actual anti-semitic intent to <b><i>Nosferatu</i></b>, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it's a testament to the power and breadth of the vampire myth that it can conjure up these kind of associations. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given the socio-political attitudes of the time, it's possible to see how such a stereotype would resonate. As Brian Solomon points out in a recent post on <a href="http://thevaultofhorror.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/nosferatu-at-90-jew-as-vampire.html" target="_blank">The Vault of Horror</a>,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <i>"The parallels between vampirism and European anti-semitism go back much further than Nosferatu, and were in fact part of the continental zeitgeist for centuries."</i> The vampire is an all-purpose scapegoat, an evil personification of <i>the</i> <i>Other</i>, which in post-WW1 Germany could symbolise the Jew, the Slav, or the oppressive French government which, thanks to the Treaty of Versailles, brought a plague of ruination on the German people from abroad. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>(A print of <b>Nosferatu </b>was acquired by New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1947. Its characters were renamed after those from Stoker's </i>Dracula,<i> a trait passed on from other prints in Paris and Berlin. The vampire resurfaced once more in the 1960s, when a condensed version was shown as part of the 'Silents Please' series on American TV. )</i></span><br />
<h3>
<i><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">7: "They Observed In Horror Nature's Mysterious Ways..."</span></b></i></h3>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_IqAYrdenOvL_n6XlNQ2dxZorL9iP1MdeJMu1hZdPdHwjRav3YdoU_Pl792f_9vImVfaLFs92pkNSFqWrLJhVtBaQ4dG94B3VPSnx7UUHxZZiPa55Ur-FECI3YSe1JLmwQuUttJC5eU/s1600/Nosferatu+1922+-+Greta+Schroeder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_IqAYrdenOvL_n6XlNQ2dxZorL9iP1MdeJMu1hZdPdHwjRav3YdoU_Pl792f_9vImVfaLFs92pkNSFqWrLJhVtBaQ4dG94B3VPSnx7UUHxZZiPa55Ur-FECI3YSe1JLmwQuUttJC5eU/s320/Nosferatu+1922+-+Greta+Schroeder.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>"I must go to him. He is coming"</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"But all his films bear the impress of his inner complexity, of the struggle he waged within himself against a world in which he remained desperately alien."</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Lotte Eisner, <i>'The Haunted Screen' </i>1952)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though he made several films dealing with the supernatural, Murnau had no particular affinity for the genre: horror, drama, romance, comedy, all were part of a diverse body of work. If we were to look for any kind of unifying theme, we might find an element of paranoia, of strong relationships endangered by corrupting, unstoppable outside forces. In <b><i>Nosferatu</i></b>, this idea is complicated somewhat by the strong parallels between the corruptive force (Orlok) and the protagonist, Hutter, suggesting that they are less different than we might assume.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Murnau could net help but struggle with his homosexuality in a country that had some of the most oppressively homophobic legislation in Europe at the time. The vaguely bohemian circles he moved in were among the few where his sexuality would have at least been tolerated if not exactly encouraged. He welcomed the move to America in 1927 for similar reasons. Jim Shepherd's fictionalised biography of Murnau, <i>Nosferatu In Love</i>, paints him as a man troubled by self-hatred, and feelings of guilt over the death of a close friend (or lover?) during the war. Who might Murnau identify with most - hero or vampire?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Dracula </i>is commonly interpreted by excitable types as a multi-layered metaphor for the uncontrolled (usually female) libido, but in <b><i>Nosferatu</i></b>, the male relationships are the most intriguing. Most conspicuously, from the time Hutter falls prey to Orlok, the two men act almost as mirror images of each other... Ellen, perceptive from the beginning, seems to recognise this even before they return. When she cries out in her sleep <i>"I must go to him. He's coming"</i>, it's not clear which one of them she means. In the end, Ellen focuses her attention solely on Orlok, sending Hutter on a fool's errand while she ends the vampire's reign of terror simply by refusing to put up a fight. Significantly, and in stark contrast to Stoker's <i>Dracula</i>, the horror is not overcome through violent suppression, but through passive acceptance. </span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(In 1972, Blackhawk Films finally made a full-length version for collectors. Since then, diligent research has discovered more and more complete prints. To the gratification of <b>Nosferatu</b>'s many fans, the version we can see today presents the tenacious Count Orlok's exploits pretty much in their blood-curdling entirety. It's fortunate perhaps that Florence Stoker was cremated, otherwise she might still be turning in her grave.)</span></i></div>
<div>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Acknowledgements:</span></i></b></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Some information taken from 'The Haunted Screen' and 'Murnau' by Lotte Eisner: articles 'Six Degrees of Nosferatu' by Thomas Elsaesser, 'Vampires' by Albin Grau and 'Nosferatu At 90' by Brian Solomon on The Vault of Horror blog: and supplementary information from the Eureka DVD below. Thanks are due</i>.</span></div>
<div>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div>
<div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">End Credits:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Max Schreck </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Graf Orlok)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Gustav von Wangenheim </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Hutter)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Greta Schroeder </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Ellen, his wife)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, G.H. Schnell </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Harding, a shipowner)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Ruth Landshoff </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Ruth, his sister)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Gustav Botz </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Prof. Sievers, the town doctor)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Alexander Granach </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Knock, a property agent)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, John Gottowt </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Prof. Bulwer, a Paracelsian)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Max Nemetz </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Captain)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Wolfgang Heinz </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1st Sailor)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Albert Venohr</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (2nd Sailor)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Heinrich Witte </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Asylum Guard - uncredited)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Guido Herzfeld </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Innkeeper - uncredited)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Karl Etlinger </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Bulwer's Student - uncredited)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Hardy von Francois </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Hospital Doctor - uncredited)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Fanny Schreck </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Hospital Nurse - uncredited)</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Screenplay: </i>Henrik Galeen, <i>adapted from 'Dracula' by</i> Bram Stoker, <i>Costumes and Sets:</i> Albin Grau, <i>Photography:</i> Fritz Arno Wagner, <i>Music: </i>Hans Erdmann, <i>Producers: </i>Albin Grau <i>and </i>Enrico Dieckmann.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prana-Film, Germany</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 94 mins.</span><br />
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-style: italic;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-style: italic;">Availability:</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Substandard copies abound: instead, watch the immaculate, fully-restored version.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nosferatu-Definitive-Fully-restored-version-original/dp/B000VU0KJA/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1344202726&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Nosferatu (<i>Eureka Masters of Cinema</i>)</a></span></div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-43501220114862402442012-07-26T00:29:00.000+01:002013-08-25T00:42:49.308+01:00Danse Macabre, 1922<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k3CLKSUV_-k/Uhji6uhRFcI/AAAAAAAABqg/YETQ7uc4070/s1600/Danse+Macabre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k3CLKSUV_-k/Uhji6uhRFcI/AAAAAAAABqg/YETQ7uc4070/s1600/Danse+Macabre.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rJXKq4k6MWQ/UAL7eqRveuI/AAAAAAAABHU/mB-uFYFhB0U/s1600/Danse+Macabre+1922+-+Title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rJXKq4k6MWQ/UAL7eqRveuI/AAAAAAAABHU/mB-uFYFhB0U/s320/Danse+Macabre+1922+-+Title.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: start;"><i>Director:</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"> Dudley Murphy</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"Midnight in plague-ridden Spain -- Youth and Love flee from Death who follows their path --"</i></b></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Time for some high culture, horror lovers! In this little-known short film, Saint-Saens' supernatural opus soundtracks dancer Adolph Bolm's fantasy of the archetypal conflict between Love and a mean-fiddlin' Death...</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i></i></span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>Synopsis:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the stroke of midnight, the two young lovers, Youth and Love, enter an ancient castle. At their heels is the spectre of Death, who stalks them from the shadows as they dance, playing an eerie tune on his violin. Love falls ill, overcome by Death's nearness. As a despairing Youth prays for her well-being, a cock-crow brings the sunrise and Death fades from sight.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notes:</span></i></b><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TexanPukHjI/UA26oHZIJ9I/AAAAAAAABHg/s6qIML0mBZk/s1600/Danse+Macabre+1922+-+Death.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TexanPukHjI/UA26oHZIJ9I/AAAAAAAABHg/s6qIML0mBZk/s320/Danse+Macabre+1922+-+Death.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Olin Howland leads the Dance of Death</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's worth remembering that although silent movies work perfectly well without dialogue, they were rarely intended to be shown <i>silent</i>. <b><i>Danse Macabre</i></b> is not a horror film but a dance film, featuring choreographer Adolph Bolm's interpretation of Saint-Saens' symphonic poem of 1874. Its makers, like any film makers of the silent era, assumed the presence of a musical accompaniment, whether a full orchestra or a lone pianist. Though not physically a part of the film, this accompaniment is essential -- take it away, and the film loses its meaning altogether.</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Danse Macabre</i></b> was the fifth and final film released by director Dudley Murphy's own production company. He'd started out by taking a variety of frustratingly short-lived jobs on the periphery of the film industry before deciding that his future was in directing features. He engineered his own big break by self-producing four musically-inspired shorts in late 1920, <b><i>Soul of the Cypress</i></b>, <b><i>Aphrodite</i></b>, <b><i>Anywhere Out Of The World</i></b>, and an untitled fourth he later referred to as <i>'my Japanese film'</i>. They were given a limited release on the east coast before financial battles with his distributors forced him to move on.</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At a time when film exhibitors in the big cities would commonly use orchestral numbers or dances to fill out a programme, Murphy was intrigued by the developing contemporary practice of merging film and music (see <b><i><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/satanic-rhapsody-rapsodia-satanica-1917_27.html" target="_blank">Satanic Rhapsody</a></i></b>, 1917, for example). Buoyed up by the positive reception given to his first four films, he set up Visual Symphony Productions with associate Claude MacGowan in December 1921. Their intention was to produce short films to be screened with specific musical accompaniments, inspired by a French system which allowed a film to be manually synchronised with the tempo of a live orchestra.After Murphy's first four films were re-released, <b><i>Danse Macabre</i></b> was their first joint production, and premiered in July supporting Joe May's <b><i>The Mysteries of India</i></b>. </span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1C1NZ0-rmUU/UBBeV3eCMAI/AAAAAAAABH0/NnOPjwUFztM/s1600/Danse+Macabre+1922+-+Title+Card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1C1NZ0-rmUU/UBBeV3eCMAI/AAAAAAAABH0/NnOPjwUFztM/s320/Danse+Macabre+1922+-+Title+Card.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The mooving skeletons of<br />Danse Macabre's main titles</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The film begins with a nifty animated sequence in which skeletons spell out the title and the grinning figure of Death appears in eerie purple shades. From then on, the action concentrates on the two principal dancers' attempts to evade the clutches of Olin Howland as Death. Most of the credit went not to Murphy but to Adolph Bolm, a celebrated Russian-born ex-<i>Ballets Russes</i> dancer who had relocated to the United States in 1917. Bolm's was the name in all the trade ads and was seen at the time as the film's main creative force. Page, his partner, had studied under Bolm for several years, and was revered for her pioneering work as both a ballerina and choreographer, which she continued until well into the 1960's. <br /><br />Mention must also be made of Olin Howland, a character actor whose career (also under the name Olin Howlin) bridged the silent era and the television age. You can see him minus his Death's-head as the town drunk Jensen in <i><b>Them!</b></i> (1954) and as the unfortunate old man consumed by <b><i>The Blob</i></b> (1958). Howland's contribution to the film's uncanny atmosphere is equalled by lighting director L. Francis Brugiere, who adds some expressionistic shadows to the cramped New York studio sets.<br /><br />The critics welcomed <b><i>Danse Macabre</i></b>'s marriage of highbrow intent and crowd-pleasing execution, but Visual Symphony Productions folded after this one release, allegedly because of difficulties in securing financial backing. The film makes explicit the assumptions that were already in place in the early twenties about the importance of sound to the film medium. You can watch it with the lights out if you prefer, but don't watch it in silence. <br /><br /><i>(Some information taken from the book 'Dudley Murphy: Hollywood Wild Card' by Susan Delson)</i></span><br />
<br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">End Credits:</span></b></i><br />
<div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Adolph Bolm (<i>Youth</i>), Ruth Page (<i>Love</i>), Olin Howland (<i>Death</i>).</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Choreography:</i> Adolph Bolm, <i>Lighting</i>: L. Francis Brugiere, <i>Animation</i>: F.A.A. Dahme, <i>Music:</i> 'Danse Macabre' by Camille Saint-Saens, <i>Producer:</i> Claude H. MacGowan.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Visual Symphony Productions, USA</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 7 mins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>Availability:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both this film and Murphy's earlier <b><i>Soul of the Cypress</i></b> are included in <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Unseen-Cinema-American-Avant-Garde-Region/dp/B000AYEIJA/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1343258353&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film 1894-1947<i> (Image)</i></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-63356520971405695602012-07-15T13:18:00.000+01:002013-08-25T00:38:58.322+01:00One Exciting Night, 1922<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A21aP-MqAzo/UhjjDwtTV6I/AAAAAAAABqo/sA_352pVerw/s1600/One+Exciting+Night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A21aP-MqAzo/UhjjDwtTV6I/AAAAAAAABqo/sA_352pVerw/s1600/One+Exciting+Night.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-993vzJv7RE0/UAFmGccHJcI/AAAAAAAABGQ/CkLoEZXokq4/s1600/One+Exciting+Night+1922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-993vzJv7RE0/UAFmGccHJcI/AAAAAAAABGQ/CkLoEZXokq4/s400/One+Exciting+Night+1922.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-style: italic;"><b>Director:</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> D.W. Griffith</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"Around this house a terrible mystery, that one might say rules the world - the mystery of FEAR. Fear that is nothing, and yet every man trembles at this invisible thing from the cradle to the grave..."</i></b></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>A storm is brewing at the Fairfax mansion which bodes ill for the assembled party guests. </i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;">While young John Fairfax pursues his romantic ideal, others pursue the half-million dollars in bootlegger's bounty hidden behind a secret panel. In this comedy thriller by D.W. Griffith, sinister figures stalk the halls, and not everyone will live until morning....</i></div>
<br />
<div>
<a name='more'></a><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Synopsis:</i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Returning to his ancestral home after several years abroad, John Fairfax attends a garden party with his aunt, where he falls for a girl named Agnes Harrington. He hastily invites Agnes and her family to a party at the Fairfax estate, not knowing that a bootlegger named Clary Johnson has been running his operation from there during John's absence. After hiding half a million dollars in a trunk, Johnson is shot dead on the premises by a mysterious partner-in-crime.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following night, the guests gather at the Fairfax estate. John's hopes for romance with Agnes are hindered by her suitor, the wealthy J Wilson Rockmayne. Agnes' mother, in dire straits financially, has given Rockmayne her blessing in return for his silence over a potentially ruinous scandal. Agnes has only agreed to the union in the hope that she will win from her mother the love that she desperately craves.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oXOaSp5YL6U/UAHIP9AmORI/AAAAAAAABGc/H_qxO4GYJ7Q/s1600/One+Exciting+Night+1922+-+Face+at+the+Window.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oXOaSp5YL6U/UAHIP9AmORI/AAAAAAAABGc/H_qxO4GYJ7Q/s320/One+Exciting+Night+1922+-+Face+at+the+Window.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>A face at the window. Could this be the killer?</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the night progresses, a new servant, Samuel Jones, keeps an inscrutable eye on Mrs Harrington... a 'neighbour' who knew John's late father arrives and takes a morbid interest in last night's murder... a sinister masked figure prowls the estate... kitchen help Romeo Washington's cowardice is overcome by the charms of the maid. While detectives search for clues to the Johnson's killer and the whereabouts of the hidden loot, another victim is stabbed to death. The order is given: <i>"Watch the front and back doors! If anyone tries to get in or out, shoot! And shoot to KILL!" </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suspicion for the murders falls on John Fairfax. But can the detectives be trusted, or are they out to get the bootlegger's loot for themselves? Meanwhile, outside a terrible storm is brewing...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>Notes:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Much of what passed for 'horror' in the American cinema of the 1920's was patterned after the template forged by Broadway mystery plays such as Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood's <i>'The Bat'</i> or John Willard's <i>'The Cat and the Canary'</i>. Although it had precedents - notably Cecil B. DeMille's <i><b>The Ghost Breaker</b></i> of 1914 - D.W. Griffith's <i><b>One Exciting Night</b></i> was effectively the film that marked the cinematic birth of the 'old dark house' comedy-thriller sub-genre. Unfortunately, it had far less significance for Griffith, whose career was already in a financial and artistic decline.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>One Exciting Night</b></i> is a financial horror story. The fundamental inspiration for the film was economical -- Griffith's recent <i><b>Orphans of the Storm</b></i> (1921) had performed well at the box office, but United Artists, which he'd co-founded three years earlier, couldn't produce enough films to compete financially with the major studios. Looking for a means of turning a quick profit, he recognised in the Broadway thrillers a lucrative trend that could be translated to celluloid on a modest budget. When the film rights for <i>'The Bat'</i> proved too expensive, Griffith wrote his own treatment on the same theme which was initially titled <i>'The Haunted Grande'.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Griffith cast his current muse and mistress Carol Dempster in the lead role. Despite his best efforts to mould her into a star, she faced indifference from the public (who saw her as a second-rate clone of Lillian Gish) and occasional hostility from her co-workers (who just saw her as an irritation). As the rakish young Fairfax, he recruited fellow Kentuckian Henry Hull, fresh from playing the lead in <i>'The Cat and the Canary' </i>at the National Theatre. Cast and crew encamped at Griffith's Mamaroneck studio in Long Island, situated, incidentally, on a tract of land which had formerly enjoyed the nickname "Satan's Toe".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WHZyIQAaeSw/UAKbDGGkZZI/AAAAAAAABG4/y76_zynfqys/s1600/One+Exciting+Night+1922+-+Henry+Hull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WHZyIQAaeSw/UAKbDGGkZZI/AAAAAAAABG4/y76_zynfqys/s320/One+Exciting+Night+1922+-+Henry+Hull.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Henry Hull at the mercy of the hurricane</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What finally emerged was sadly a bit of a mess. Dempster had complained, possibly out of self-interest, that the film lacked a dramatic climax. Griffith responded by conjuring up a hurricane. Claims that genuine hurricane footage was incorporated into the narrative were only partly true; most of what we see was engineered by the director. Cast and crew were regrouped and every floodlight and wind machine he could find were mustered for a sequence which doubled the film's initial budget to - ironically - about half a million dollars. Where was that bootlegger's swag when he needed it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>One Exciting Night</i></b> premiered in Rhode Island on October 2nd, 1922. A hyperbolic poem decorated the pressbook: <i>"I CAN THRILL YOU! ... I can make you sleep / I can make you dream / I can make you shudder / I can make you scream / I am ONE EXCITING NIGHT!". </i>The critics, while not quite <i>that </i>enthusiastic, were generally kind. Griffith himself was uncharacteristically modest about the film, and was quoted as saying <i>"we shall feel amply rewarded if it serves to make you forget your own little troubles for at least a few minutes"</i>. This from a director who just a few months before had seriously considered as his next project a series of eight or ten feature films outlining the history of the world.<br /><br />Perhaps he'd spoken to his accountant. In his book <i>'D.W. Griffith: An American Life'</i>, Richard Schickel writes that <b><i>One Exciting Night</i></b>'s final budget, including promotional costs, could have been as high as $984,000. To put that figure in perspective, he goes on to explain that one of the majors could have produced a similar picture for $200,000 at most. He adds; <i>"instead of generating a quick half-million in profits, [it] generated a quick half-million in defecits"</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rko2CYiNrf8/UAKa-UzcoHI/AAAAAAAABGw/iXGVs9e9uAk/s1600/One+Exciting+Night+Lobby+Card+1922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rko2CYiNrf8/UAKa-UzcoHI/AAAAAAAABGw/iXGVs9e9uAk/s320/One+Exciting+Night+Lobby+Card+1922.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Lobby card with Carol Dempster and C.H. Crocker-King</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today's audiences might find the film difficult to swallow. It's far too long at eleven reels, and tends to meander somewhat. Griffith betrays an unfamiliarity with the thriller genre by over-explaining everything that happens, telegraphing most of the plot twists as he goes. And many critics have rightly taken issue with the film's appalling racism. An intertitle reading <i>"We'll make sure that nigger gets his share"</i>, seems less shocking after we've already seen Porter Strong (one of several white actors in blackface) grinning and eye-rolling his way through several unfunny routines as the stereotypically cowardly and dishonest negro servant Romeo.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the plus side, Dempster is appealing as an atypically modern Griffith heroine. Sylvia Cushman of the Boston Telegram singled her out for praise, calling the picture <i>"a great tribute to the New Woman ...the type that develops the body and the mind ...imitating and equalling the man"</i>. Henry Hull, later to fall prey to Warner Oland's lycanthropic bite as Dr Glendon in <b><i>Werewolf of London</i></b> (1935), brings a youthful energy to his role that belies his 32 years. And if you can stick around for it, the climatic storm scenes still generate some of the excitement that the film's title promises.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's just a bit of a long night, is all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>(Some information taken from 'D.W. Griffith: An American Life' by Richard Schickel and 'The Films of D.W. Griffith' by Scott Simmon.)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-style: italic;"><b>End Credits:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carol Dempster <i>(Agnes Harrington)</i>, Henry Hull <i>(John Fairfax)</i>, Porter Strong <i>(Romeo Washington)</i>, Morgan Wallace <i>(J. Wilson Rockmayne)</i>, C.H. Crocker-King <i>(Neighbour)</i>, Margaret Dale <i>(Mrs Harrington)</i>, Frank Sheridan <i>(Detective)</i>, Frank Wunderlee <i>(Samuel Jones)</i>, Irma Harrison <i>(Coloured Maid)</i>, Percy Carr <i>(Parker, the Butler)</i>, Charles B. Mack <i>(A Guest)</i>, Grace Griswold <i>(Aunt Fairfax)</i>, Herbert Sutch <i>(Clary Johnson)</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Screenplay</i>: Irene Sinclair [D.W. Griffith], <i>Photography:</i> Hendrik Sartov, <i>Asst. Photographer:</i> Irving B. Ruby, <i>Art Director:</i> Charles M. Kirk, <i>Special Effects:</i> Edward Scholl, <i>Original Music Score:</i> Albert Pesce.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">United Artists, USA</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 144 mins</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Availability:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not available on DVD except through Ebay dealers. Track down the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/One-Exciting-Night-Carol-Dempster/dp/B004KSA4MW/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1342354310&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=one+excitring+night" target="_blank">1997 VHS copy</a> if you can.</span></div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-39275636153890381412012-06-17T19:03:00.004+01:002013-08-25T00:32:43.586+01:00The Headless Horseman 1922<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z_6rVATT3JQ/UhjjPeQLRvI/AAAAAAAABqw/Kq_W7w4Z2LI/s1600/Headless+Horseman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z_6rVATT3JQ/UhjjPeQLRvI/AAAAAAAABqw/Kq_W7w4Z2LI/s1600/Headless+Horseman.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ychoyyrl3A4/T84F7BJNRzI/AAAAAAAABEY/PYmk2XfrxpQ/s1600/Headless+Horseman+1922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ychoyyrl3A4/T84F7BJNRzI/AAAAAAAABEY/PYmk2XfrxpQ/s400/Headless+Horseman+1922.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"><i>Director:</i> </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Edward Venturini</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"That Sleepy Hollow was a haunted and most superstitious region, Ichabod Crane had often heard, but he little dreamed how soon he was to encounter the famous chief of its legion of ghosts..."</span></i></b></blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Down-home philosopher and America's favourite 'Ropin' Fool' Will Rogers dons a Yankee frock coat to school Sleepy Hollow's children and steer clear of its mysterious phantom rider. Lucky for him he never met a headless horseman he didn't like... </span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Synopsis:</span></i></b><br />
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Late summer in 1790 and Ichabod Crane, the new schoolmaster from 'Nieu Yorke', arrives in Sleepy Hollow with his nose in a book titled <i>'A History of New England Witchcraft'</i>. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Crane is an avid reader of ghostly tales, and is familiar with the local legend of the Headless Horseman, a Hessian trooper who rides from the graveyard each night in search of the head he lost in battle.</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TwWFtWeF_1M/T847HeJzWoI/AAAAAAAABE4/xDVYottpxGE/s1600/Headless+Horseman+1922+-+Skeletal+Horseman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TwWFtWeF_1M/T847HeJzWoI/AAAAAAAABE4/xDVYottpxGE/s320/Headless+Horseman+1922+-+Skeletal+Horseman.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The Horseman beckons his mount</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Crane is happy to help himself to the community's hospitality. He sets his sights on Katrina van Tassel, daughter of the region's wealthiest farmer, much to the chagrin of her suitor Brom Bones. When Ichabod punishes the innkeeper's son Jethro Martling, Jethro's mother is outraged and Brom sees an opportunity to sew discontent. He wrecks the schoolhouse and daubs a skull on the blackboard, leading the Martlings to accuse Ichabod of witchcraft and demand that he leave town.</span><br />
<div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Local boy Adrian Van Ripper is later found dazed and disoriented, saying Ichabod has "bewitched" him. The angry locals round on the schoolmaster and he is almost tarred and feathered before the incident is revealed as another scheme engineered by Brom Bones. Ichabod is absolved, and accepts an invitation to a quilting party in the hope of another free meal.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the party, the locals engage Ichabod with more stories of their encounters with the Headless Horseman. After everyone else has left, he plucks up the courage to propose to Katrina, but she turns him down. Dejected, he rides home alone. As he reaches the bridge that had featured in so many of the townsfolk's ghostly tales, he sees the dark shape of a horse and rider charging towards him...</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>Notes:</i></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Headless Horseman</i></b> is something of an anomaly. Considering the 'classic' status enjoyed by Washington Irving's <i>The Legend of Sleepy Hollow</i>, it seems surprising that <b><i>The Headless Horseman</i></b> was the only feature film version produced until Tim Burton's in 1999. Similarly surprising is the incongruously cheery outlook for a ghost story, no doubt tailored to suit its star, the immeasurably popular humorist and entertainer Will Rogers.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xK17TLaHh3g/T94AxpcnPCI/AAAAAAAABFs/qZC0eG0pw0o/s1600/Headless+Horseman+1922+-+Schoolhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xK17TLaHh3g/T94AxpcnPCI/AAAAAAAABFs/qZC0eG0pw0o/s320/Headless+Horseman+1922+-+Schoolhouse.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Will Rogers as put-upon<br />schoolmaster Ichabod Crane</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rogers was an ex-cowboy and vaudeville performer whose star was still on the rise when <i><b>THH</b></i> was made. He'd broken into the movies with <i><b>Laughing Bill Hyde</b></i> for Goldwyn in 1918, but it was his radio shows and his syndicated column in the <i>New York Times</i> (both of which began within a few months of <i><b>THH</b></i>'s November 1922 release) that cemented his position as one of America's best-known, and best-loved, entertainers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rogers' comic talent was verbal rather than physical, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it was only with the arrival of talkies that his film career matched his success on the air or in print.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Shrewd producers (like <i><b>THH</b></i>'s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">W.W. Hodkinson, who had founded Paramount Pictures as a distribution company in 1914) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">compensated for this by allowing Rogers to write many of his own title cards, but</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> movies built around Rogers' amiably down-to-earth persona</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> suffered from the absence of dialogue. Perhaps the only advantage as far as the current film is concerned is that we're spared the incongruity of having Connecticut Yankee Ichabod Crane speaking with Rogers' broad Oklahoma drawl.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More authentically colonial is the location shooting. Exteriors for <b><i>THH</i></b> were filmed around the still relatively unspoilt </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(in 1922)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pocantico hills, close to the Tarrytown estate where author Irving made his home (although he was actually living in Birmingham, England while </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Legend of Sleepy Hollow</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> was written). Also featured in the film is Tarrytown's Old Dutch Church, whose graveyard features strongly in Irving's story. The author himself is buried in an adjacent site which was subsequently named Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in honour of his most famous work. In contrast, Tim Burton's </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Sleepy Hollow</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> was filmed almost entirely in England, though there is a connection to his more recent pic </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Dark Shadows</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Both the 1970 </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>House of Dark Shadows</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and its 1971 sequel were both filmed just a few miles from Tarrytown on the grounds of the Lyndhurst estate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P8Qvd-ahYC4/T94Av9gMRII/AAAAAAAABFk/3fscN6h51d4/s1600/Headless+Horseman+1922+-+Dutch+Church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P8Qvd-ahYC4/T94Av9gMRII/AAAAAAAABFk/3fscN6h51d4/s320/Headless+Horseman+1922+-+Dutch+Church.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The Old Dutch Church, Tarrytown, last<br />resting place of the Headless Horseman</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the presence of an authentically spooky cemetery, <b><i>THH </i></b>gets more mileage from Ichabod Crane's romantic entanglements than it does from the ghastly deeds -- real or imagined -- of its title character. Rogers' affable but slightly pompous schoolmaster drives a plot sorely lacking in dramatic tension and it often plays like an elaborate home movie of an 18th century-themed costume party. But then, Hollywood has never really recognised the potential of Irving's story. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The industry's pillaging of America's literary past has turned up multiple versions of, for example, Cooper's </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last of the Mohicans,</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Hawthorne's </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Scarlet Letter,</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> or several of Poe's </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tales of Mystery and Imagination</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, yet <i>The Legend of Sleepy Hollow</i> was for many years most visibly represented by Disney's animated short </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> of 1949.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While the good-natured <b><i>Headless Horseman</i></b> may be uninspiring as a supernatural subject, the same cannot be said of another Will Rogers vehicle from earlier in 1922. <b><i>One Glorious Day</i></b>, directed by James Cruze and originally intended for Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, starred Rogers as Professor Ezra Botts, a researcher of psychic phenomena whose body is possessed by a disembodied spirit named 'Ek'. It was the first 'imagi-movie' seen by the then-six-year-old Forrest Ackerman, spurring his lifelong fascination with fantasy and science fiction. In turn Ackerman inspired a whole generation of writers and film makers through his prominence in sci-fi fandom and the publication of his magazine <i>Famous Monsters of Filmland</i>. For that, Will Rogers gets our thanks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>End Credits:</i></b></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Will Rogers (<i>Ichabod Crane</i>), Lois Meredith (<i>Katrina van Tassel</i>), Ben Hendricks, Jr. (<i>Abraham "Brom Bones" van Brunt)</i>, Charles Graham (<i>Hans van Ripper</i>), Mary Foy (<i>Dame Martling</i>), Bernard Reinold (<i>Baltus van Tassel</i>), Downing Clarke (<i>Dominie Heckwelder</i>), Jerry Devine (<i>Adrian van Ripper</i>), Sheridan Tansey (<i>Jethro Martling</i>), Kay MacCauseland (<i>Elsa Vanderdonck</i>), Nancy Chase (<i>Gretchen Oothout</i>).</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Producer;</i> Carl Stearn Clancy, <i>adapted from the story 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' by</i> Washington Irving, <i>Cinematography;</i> Ned van Buren.</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">W.W. Hodkinson Corp., USA</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 72 mins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>Availability:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://www.grapevinevideo.com/Headless_Horseman.html" target="_blank"><b>The Headless Horseman</b> (Grapevine Video)</a></i></span></div>
</div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-18178483709296606582012-05-20T17:48:00.001+01:002013-08-25T00:27:54.050+01:00The Man From Beyond, 1922<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7MJx3K-nyis/UhjkJ5d9T8I/AAAAAAAABq8/3EQ_U8CJnR0/s1600/Man+From+Beyond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7MJx3K-nyis/UhjkJ5d9T8I/AAAAAAAABq8/3EQ_U8CJnR0/s1600/Man+From+Beyond.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XZg_lByQFns/T6rY_Nryr2I/AAAAAAAABDc/-Yqn7M9Mefk/s1600/The+Man+From+Beyond+1922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XZg_lByQFns/T6rY_Nryr2I/AAAAAAAABDc/-Yqn7M9Mefk/s400/The+Man+From+Beyond+1922.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: start;"><b><i>Director:</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"> Burton L. King</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">“A gruesome sight -– this figure stark and stiff within its icy tomb – its features frozen in a snarl of hate” </span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An Arctic expedition discovers a grounded ship, and in it a body entombed in ice... sound familiar? No, it's not some forerunner of <b>The Thing</b> but escapologist extraordinaire Harry Houdini, in his first self-produced picture. Expect death-defying stunts, hair's-breadth escapes and some ideas on transmigration of the spirit borrowed from his friend Arthur Conan Doyle... </i></div>
<br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></i></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Synopsis:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr Gregory Sinclair and François Duval, the last survivors of an ill-fated Arctic expedition, stumble across the century-old wreckage of a sailing ship named the Barkentine. The ship's first mate Howard Hillary, is discovered on deck encased in a block of ice. The two men cut Hillary free and miraculously manage to reanimate him. </span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--pFssiUf61Q/T7j-oXwq_3I/AAAAAAAABDs/a1waZaLN_80/s1600/Man+From+Beyond+1922+-+Houdini+Frozen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="244" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--pFssiUf61Q/T7j-oXwq_3I/AAAAAAAABDs/a1waZaLN_80/s320/Man+From+Beyond+1922+-+Houdini+Frozen.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Francois (Frank Montgomery) releases Howard<br />Hillary from his icy tomb</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The disoriented Hillary's only concern is for the whereabouts of his fiancée Felice Norcross, a passenger on the Barkentine. He explains how they were forced to abandon ship after encountering a ferocious storm: when Hillary had returned on board to rescue Felice's father, the Captain, long jealous of Felice and Hillary's affair, had knocked him cold and left him for dead. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr Sinclair brings Hillary home to New York, where they find Sinclair's neice, Felice Strange, about to marry Dr Gilbert Trent. Hillary breaks up the ceremony, believing this Felice to be his own lost love. Trent immediately has Hillary committed to an insane asylum, though Felice calls off the wedding anyway when she learns that her father, Dr Crawford Strange, has gone missing. Hillary soon escapes from the asylum and is reunited with Felice, who reveals the truth that Dr Sinclair had kept from him -- that he had been trapped in suspended animation for over a century. Undaunted, Hillary convinces Felice that she is the reincarnation of his fiancée, and that fate has sent him to help her find her missing father.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hillary discovers that Trent himself has been holding Dr Strange captive in a scheme to acquire Felice's inheritance, and with the aid of François and his accomplice Marie Le Grande is now attempting to frame Hillary for Strange's murder. François soon cracks and confesses to the deception; but as Hillary brings Dr Strange to safety, Trent kidnaps Felice, intending to drug her and force her into marriage. A chase leads Hillary to engage Trent in a deadly clifftop battle while his reincarnated lover drifts towards the brink of Niagara Falls...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i> Notes:</i></b></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KOxWv-lzRJ4/T7kBISdOVfI/AAAAAAAABEI/5Q5LwDzY7aY/s1600/Harry+Houdini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KOxWv-lzRJ4/T7kBISdOVfI/AAAAAAAABEI/5Q5LwDzY7aY/s320/Harry+Houdini.jpg" width="254" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Harry Houdini, publicity photo c.1920</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Harry Houdini was not your ordinary film star. <i><b>The Man From Beyond</b></i>'s original pressbook revealed that an alternative ending had been shot, completely different to the scripted version, to ensure that Houdini's first self-produced film would still reach the screen in the event he was killed while filming one of his dangerous stunts. A publicist's invention this may have been, but it serves to illustrate how the master escapologist's real-life exploits were the equal of anything that made it to the screen.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Houdini's movie career was essentially the by-product of a floundering business venture in film-processing. During the 1910's, the "self-liberator" was at the height of his fame, but this brush with the fringes of the industry convinced him that film production was a way of developing his public image on a much grander scale than was possible through personal appearances alone. His spectacular escapes had been filmed by newsreel cameramen as far back as 1901 (with <i><b>The Marvellous Exploits of the Famous Houdini In Paris</b></i>) but now he decided to take matters into his own hands.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A proposed collaboration with the Williamson brothers (who had filmed the underwater sequences of Universal's <i><b><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/20000-leagues-under-sea-1916.html" target="_blank">20,000 Leagues Under The Sea</a></b></i>) came to nothing, but soon afterwards he joined forces with B.A. Rolfe (producer of several early Tod Browning films at Metro) and writer Arthur B. Reeve to create a serial titled <i><b>The Master Mystery</b></i>, released in January 1919. It was a great success, Houdini's talents being ideally suited to a form that required a weekly death-defying escape, but complications with distribution meant that the serial's profits proved as difficult to pin down as its star. Everyone sued everyone else, and the production company, Octagon Films, collapsed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Undeterred, Houdini signed to Famous Players-Lasky for the princely sum of $2500 per week where he made <i><b>The Grim Game</b></i> and <b><i>Terror Island</i></b>, the latter of which was directed by ex-<a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-1911.html" target="_blank">Dr Jekyll</a> James Cruze. <i>(Another Hyde connection is the appearance in the current film of one-time leader-astray of <a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-john-barrymore.html" target="_blank">John Barrymore's Jekyll</a>, Nita Naldi.)</i> In both, Houdini's persona was a variation of the one created for <i><b>The Master Mystery</b></i>; a technologically-savvy man of action with a knack for getting out of a tight corner. The names are a giveaway - Harry Harper, Harvey Hanford, or the current film's Howard Hillary. It was fortunate that Houdini had no desire to stretch himself as an actor; even his biographer Kenneth Silverman admitted, <i>"...his 'acting' consists of three expressions: pucker-lipped flirtatiousness, open-eyed surprise, and brow-knitted distress"</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I4wejuxga3A/T7j-prZHfRI/AAAAAAAABD0/kMc9R_9OO9o/s1600/Man+From+Beyond+1922+-+Houdini+in+the+Padded+Cell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="254" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I4wejuxga3A/T7j-prZHfRI/AAAAAAAABD0/kMc9R_9OO9o/s320/Man+From+Beyond+1922+-+Houdini+in+the+Padded+Cell.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Locked in a padded cell, bound in a strait-<br />jacket... how will Houdini make his escape?</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was during a tour of England in 1920 that Houdini struck up a friendship with author and spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Houdini, a sceptic with a history of exposing fraudulent mediums, nevertheless had a profound interest in spiritualism, and was often suspected of having supernatural powers himself. While he and Doyle never quite came to an agreement over the true nature of life after death, they exchanged ideas with great enthusiasm. I</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">t was undoubtedly their mutual investigations into the spirit world that informed the themes of </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The Man From Beyond</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Houdini Films was set up in March of 1921 to allow its founder greater autonomy in choosing his film projects. Adaptations of Poe and </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Count of Monte Cristo</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> were briefly considered for production, but </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">TMFB, </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with its meditations on reincarnation and transmigration of the spirit,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> was first before the cameras. (A further inspiration may have been</span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> Il Misterio Del Osiris</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, a 1917 Italian production picked up by Houdini's distribution company Mystery Pictures, which dealt with the same subject matter in an ancient Egyptian context.) An adventure yarn rather than a philosophical treatise,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="font-style: italic;">TMFB</b> nevertheless ends with a quote from Doyle's book <i>The New Revelation</i>; <i>"Our personal beliefs are of no importance. The great teachers of the Earth -- Zoroaster down to Moses and Christ ...have taught the immortality and progression of the soul --- <u>reincarnation</u>."</i> Though it never takes sides on the issue, it </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is the only one of Houdini's several film projects that even attempts to tackle an explicitly metaphysical theme alongside his more familiar acts of derring-do.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WMDc8dTI54o/T7j-qxZnwsI/AAAAAAAABD8/JG2_Ven2wYU/s1600/Man+From+Beyond+1922+-+Houdini+on+the+Barkentine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WMDc8dTI54o/T7j-qxZnwsI/AAAAAAAABD8/JG2_Ven2wYU/s320/Man+From+Beyond+1922+-+Houdini+on+the+Barkentine.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Houdini laughs in the face of frostbite as Erwin<br />Connelly and Frank Montgomery look on</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And derring-do there was. Scenes in which Houdini braved the Arctic wastes dressed in little more than a loincloth (actually filmed around Lake Placid) were presumably a walk in the park for a man who prepared for his underwater escapes by taking ice water baths. There was an obligatory strait-jacket escape, a fist-fight above an unnervingly high precipice, and the climatic rescue from the rapids above Niagara Falls, for which the former Handcuff King was attached to a steel cable just to be on the safe side.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The picture made its debut in New York's Times Square on April the 2nd, following a live show in which the film's star reprised some of his more daring stunts. A glowing testimonial from Arthur Conan Doyle described <i>"a story striking in its novelty, pictured superbly and punctuated with thrills that fairly make the hair stand on end." </i>It's hard to know the extent of the public's response, as Houdini again sold the distribution rights state-by-state, and again the profits failed to materialise.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Houdini made one more film, 1923's <b><i>Haldane of the Secret Service</i></b>, then called it quits. His friendship with Doyle had ended after an ill-advised seance conducted by Doyle's wife Lady Jean in late 1922, where she claimed to have contacted Houdini's mother Bess. After his death from peritonitis on Halloween night 1926, Houdini's widow wrote to Doyle to reassure him that her late husband had never lost faith in the idea of an afterlife, but added; <i>"if, as you believe, he had psychic powers, I give you my word that he never knew it..."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Post Script: For further reading</b></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We enthusiastically recommend these recent visitors to the Manor: John Cox's site </span><a href="http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">WILD ABOUT HARRY</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a fascinating and exhaustively-researched exploration of all aspects of the master self-liberator's life and film career; and for a wealth of information on<i> </i><b style="font-style: italic;">The Man From Beyond</b>'s forerunner<i> </i><b><i>The Grim Game</i></b></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and more Houdini ephemera, visit Joe Notaro at <a href="http://harryhoudinicircumstantialevidence.com/" target="_blank">Harry Houdini Circumstantial Evidence</a>. Say hello from us!</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>End Credits:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Harry Houdini (<i>Howard Hillary</i>), Jane Connelly (<i>Felice Norcross </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>/ Felice Strange</i>), Arthur Maude (<i>Dr Gilbert Trent</i>), Albert Tavernier (<i>Dr Crawford Strange</i>), Erwin Connelly (<i>Dr Gregory Sinclair</i>), Frank Montgomery (<i>Francois Duval</i>), Nita Naldi (<i>Marie LaGrande</i>), Luis Alberni (<i>Captain of the Barkentine</i>), Yale Benner (<i>Milt Norcross</i>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Story: </i>Harry Houdini, <i>Scenario: </i>Coolidge Streeter, <i>Cinematography:</i> Louis Dunmyre, Harry A. Fischbeck, L.D. Littlefield, Alexander G. Penrod, Irving B. Ruby <i>and </i>Frank Zucker, <i>Stunts:</i> Bob Rose.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Houdini Pictures Corporation, USA</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 67 mins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>Availability:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of Houdini's surviving films can be found on <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Houdini-Movie-Star-Region-Import/dp/B0012OSGJK/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1337532298&sr=8-17" target="_blank"><b><i>Houdini: The Movie Star</i> </b><i>(Kino International)</i></a>, from which much information in this post is taken.</span>Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-39434530188224039642012-05-07T16:50:00.000+01:002013-08-25T00:19:18.741+01:00The Conquering Power, 1921<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7FumR7yPAwo/UhjkSZSSc0I/AAAAAAAABrE/31NH9s0V8BQ/s1600/Conquering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7FumR7yPAwo/UhjkSZSSc0I/AAAAAAAABrE/31NH9s0V8BQ/s1600/Conquering.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dcumfWDxm9M/T6fsxQrC32I/AAAAAAAABCo/9vtGQS5gnK4/s1600/The+Conquering+Power.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dcumfWDxm9M/T6fsxQrC32I/AAAAAAAABCo/9vtGQS5gnK4/s400/The+Conquering+Power.png" width="272" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: start;"><b><i>Director: </i></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Rex Ingram</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“A cradle of greed – each glittering louis alive – smiling back at his maddened senses, while behind the walls – beneath the floors – voices croon the soothing lullaby – GOLD – GOLD – GOLD...”</span></i></b></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Latin lothario Rudolph Valentino as Parisian Charles Grandet falls in love with his country cousin Eugenie. Can their forbidden romance survive the wrath of Eugenie's miserly father? Say, aren't we supposed to be talking about horror films here? Stay tuned, all will be revealed... </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>
<a name='more'></a><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Synopsis:</i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When banker Victor Grandet's fortune is wiped out, he sends his son Charles to the town of Noyant to live with Victor's estranged brother, the wealthy but miserly Pére Grandet. Charles is as shocked by the Grandet's meagre living conditions as he is enamoured of Eugenie, Grandet's daughter. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eugenie soon falls in love with Charles. When news reaches them that Charles' father has committed suicide, Père Grandet hatches a plot to profit from the death. Charles, believing himself to be penniless, is tricked into signing away his inheritance and is shipped off to a colonial post in Martinique, leaving Grandet free to marry his daughter off to the local notary's son.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BZrXZU0K0jw/T6ftABrwF4I/AAAAAAAABDA/Nuh_EAVb1RU/s1600/Conquering+Power+-+Valentino+&+Alice+Terry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BZrXZU0K0jw/T6ftABrwF4I/AAAAAAAABDA/Nuh_EAVb1RU/s320/Conquering+Power+-+Valentino+&+Alice+Terry.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Alice Terry and Rudolph Valentino contemplate<br />whether cousins should marry</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The marriage never takes place. When Grandet tells Eugenie he wishes to invest her precious hoard of gold coins, she reveals that she has given them to Charles in the hope that he would use them to build a new life for himself, and perhaps one day return. Grandet flies into a rage: his frail wife is killed in a struggle, and Eugenie is imprisoned inside her room. Grandet's greed becomes a mania. An accident locks him away with his gold, where fear and remorse overcome him and he begins to lose control of his sanity...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notes:</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though it's more of a romance than a horror film, <b><i>The Conquering Power</i></b> contains enough horrific elements to make it worthy of inclusion in Carlos Clarens' study of the genre and Roy Kinnard's survey of silent horror, to name but two. Director Rex Ingram, a handsome Irishman whose real name was Hitchcock, began his career with Universal Studios and made his reputation at Metro with stylish dramas set in exotic locales, like breakthrough Valentino pic <i><b>The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse</b></i> in 1920. His Aleister Crowley-inspired <i><b>The Magician</b></i> (1926) would be his only real exercise in fantasy, but many of his films had a strong flavour of the grotesque, including the current one, hence its appearance here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G1prFYFyVRw/T6fs-P1mNEI/AAAAAAAABCw/ZRqB-NjIJ_c/s1600/Conquering+Power+-+Ralph+Lewis+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G1prFYFyVRw/T6fs-P1mNEI/AAAAAAAABCw/ZRqB-NjIJ_c/s320/Conquering+Power+-+Ralph+Lewis+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Ralph Lewis succumbs to madness</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Significantly, Ingram's favourite of his own films was 1922's <i><b>Trifling Women</b></i>, a remake of <i><b>Black Orchids</b></i> (1917, also by Ingram). Based, like <i><b>Conquering Power</b></i>, on a story by Balzac, it told of a vampish fortune teller named Zareda who winds up insane, trapped in a dungeon with the dead body of one of her many lovers. It launched the careers of Ramon Novarro and Barbara Lamarr, and received critical praise and accusations of tastelessness in equal measure.</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>The Conquering Power</b></i>, we'd imagine (we have to, as <i><b>Trifling Women</b></i> is a lost film) is less salacious. The first hour is conventional enough, as 27-year old man-child Charles Grandet (Valentino) takes up with cousin Eugenie (Alice Terry, <i>“...rich in beauty, with hair to match the precious metal”</i>, who luckily turns out to not be a blood relation after all) under her father's beady eye. And if Ingram's camera seems kindest to Terry, it's because he and Valentino never got on. Ingram felt that Rudy undeservedly stole the limelight in <i><b>Four Horsemen</b></i>, whereas he was fond enough of Terry to make her into Mrs Ingram a few months after <i><b>Conquering Power</b></i> was released.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ralph Lewis as </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Père</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Grandet (an alumnus of D.W. Griffith, who featured in <i><b><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/avenging-conscience-1914.html" target="_blank">The Avenging Conscience</a></b></i>) gets harsher treatment than them both. Ingram's flamboyant visual compositions (William K Everson calls him a “great pictorialist” of the Maurice Tourneur school) frame the romantic leads in a flattering light; most shots featuring Lewis possess a kind of hazy gloom, as though old man Grandet was leeching all the light out of his surroundings. Contrasted with the lavish decadence of Charles' Parisian birthday party, scenes of </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Père</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Grandet's miserable domicile, punctuated by murky close-ups of his leering features, have all the warmth of a tomb.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gRLTmHOMuRs/T6ft6jR2ctI/AAAAAAAABDM/fjj8WQKYv-I/s1600/Conquering+Power+-+Ralph+Lewis+Recoils.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gRLTmHOMuRs/T6ft6jR2ctI/AAAAAAAABDM/fjj8WQKYv-I/s320/Conquering+Power+-+Ralph+Lewis+Recoils.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><i>Père Grandet (Ralph Lewis) again, about to<br />meet a miser's doom</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The morbidity of its mood still doesn't take the film beyond the conventions of melodrama. Only when madness overtakes Grandet in the last couple of reels do things get more interesting. In the all-too-brief interval between Grandet's clash with his daughter and the inevitable happy ending, Ingram lets go of the reins for a Grand Guignol sequence on a par with anything Tod Browning would later set loose upon Lon Chaney's audiences. Grandet's past literally comes back to haunt him, and we get a glimpse of his gold taking on a demonic, almost-human form before he meets a sticky end...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watching these sequences in <i><b>The Conquering Power</b></i> provokes any number of <i>what-if? </i>games. We might get an inkling what <i><b>Trifling Women</b></i> might have been like. We wonder what might have happened had Ingram not got bored of the film industry soon after the talkies arrived (he retired to concentrate on sculpting and writing, converting to the Islam faith in 1933) and been lured back to the Universal lot to direct Karloff or Lugosi. Or we might wonder how Charles and Eugenie's children would have turned out if the two of them really had been cousins...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>End Credits:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rudolph Valentino (<i>Charles Grandet</i>), Alice Terry (<i>Eugenie Grandet</i>), Ralph Lewis (<i>Père Grandet</i>), Carrie Daumery (<i>Mme Grandet</i>), Eric Mayne (<i>Victor Grandet</i>), Bridgetta Clarke (<i>Mme des Grassins</i>), Mark Fenton (<i>M. des Grassins</i>), Ward Wing (<i>Adolphe des Grassins</i>), Edward Connelly (<i>Cruchot, the notary</i>), George Atkinson (<i>Cruchot's son</i>), Willard Lee Hall (<i>the Abbé</i>), Mary Hearn (<i>Nanon</i>), Eugéne Pouyet (<i>Cornoiller</i>), Andrée Tourneur (<i>Annette</i>), Louise Emmons (<i>Washerwoman, uncredited</i>) John George (<i>Villager, uncredited</i>), Rolfe Sedan (<i>Annette's Suitor, uncredited</i>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Scenario:</i> June Mathis, <i>from the novel</i> Eugénie Grandet <i>by </i>Honore Balzac, <i>Producer:</i> Rex Ingram,<i> Cinematography:</i> John F. Seitz, <i>Technical directors:</i> Ralph Barton <i>and </i>Amos Myers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Metro Pictures, USA</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 89 mins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Availability:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://grapevinevideo.com/Conquering_Power.html" target="_blank">The Conquering Power <i>(Grapevine Video)</i></a></span>Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-3928656930040707042012-04-29T21:20:00.000+01:002013-08-25T00:14:46.467+01:00The Phantom Carriage (Korkarlen) 1921<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lhWlLxGmuww/UhjkcPAOQjI/AAAAAAAABrM/bOIphsihqwo/s1600/Phantom+Carriage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lhWlLxGmuww/UhjkcPAOQjI/AAAAAAAABrM/bOIphsihqwo/s1600/Phantom+Carriage.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p7QUeNdI0XM/T4L6qp_RfZI/AAAAAAAAA5M/3JGi__bo3dg/s1600/Phantom+Carriage+(Korkalen)+1921.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p7QUeNdI0XM/T4L6qp_RfZI/AAAAAAAAA5M/3JGi__bo3dg/s400/Phantom+Carriage+(Korkalen)+1921.jpg" width="273" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: start;"><b><i>Director:</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"> Victor Sjöström</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"Its driver is no ordinary man, but serves a harsh master called Death"</i></b></span></blockquote>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<i>Although there's never a good time to be beaten and left for dead in a graveyard by your alcoholic 'friends', it's particularly unfortunate if you suffer such a mishap on New Year's Eve. That's when Death's coachman comes a-calling to take you on a one-way trip to the hereafter ...worse still, he's looking to retire and hand the reins over to you... Presenting Victor Sjöström 's acclaimed saga of Death, deliverance and the demon drink...</i></div>
<br />
<div>
<div>
<div>
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div>
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Synopsis:</i></b></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Year's Eve; Sister Edit, a “slum-sister” with the Salvation Army, is dying of consumption. From her deathbed she asks to be reunited with David Holm, a vagabond she had first encountered exactly a year ago. Holm's long-suffering wife is bought to Edit's bedside, but her husband, as ever, is not at home. </span><br />
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Holm is boozing in a graveyard, recounting to his fellow drunkards the story of his friend Georges. Once, Georges had nervously told Holm the legend of Death's coachman -- whoever dies at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve is fated to serve death by gathering up dead souls in his carriage. Holm tells them that Georges died on this night a year ago.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Edit's friend Gustafsson finds Holm, but Holm refuses to see her. His friends berate him for his callousness, but flee the scene when a fight breaks out and Holm is knocked cold atop a tombstone. Coming to, he hears a great cacophony: the chimes of midnight herald the approach of Death's carriage, and driving it is his friend Georges. Holm is to take Georges' place, and is compelled to accompany him while his final tasks are carried out.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-owVUDTWsiYE/T51wCj-NFbI/AAAAAAAAA98/vxrtWRsmIYs/s1600/Phantom+Carriage+1921+-+Torre+Svenborg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-owVUDTWsiYE/T51wCj-NFbI/AAAAAAAAA98/vxrtWRsmIYs/s320/Phantom+Carriage+1921+-+Torre+Svenborg.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Georges (Tore Svennberg) calls on his old friend David Holm</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Georges accepts that he is paying the price for leading Holm -- and others -- astray. He forces Holm to recall past events that mark his own corrupting influence on those around him: his brother's imprisonment for killing a man in a drunken brawl; his own return from prison, to find that his family have abandoned him; the tireless search to find them and take his revenge that leads him to the hostel run by Sister Edit; his heartless response to her kindness.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They call on Edit. Holm, a chronic consumptive, learns he has fatally spread the disease to her. Edit is unafraid of Death but confesses to being in love with Holm. Edit had reunited Holm and his estranged wife, hoping to redeem him once and for all. Instead, the cycle of brutality had started over, and she asks for one last chance to set him on the path of righteousness. Holm tearfully begs for Edit's forgiveness and she accepts, happily surrendering to Death. But Holm's trials are not over, as Death must pay one more visit before the night is over...</span></div>
<div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notes:</span></i></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until Ingmar Bergman usurped his throne, Victor Sjöström was generally considered to be Sweden's finest film film maker, and <b><i>Körkarlen</i></b> is often cited as his most accomplished work as director. It was the newly-established Svenska-Filmindustri's first production, receiving worldwide acclaim. Bergman himself was a great admirer and directed the television adaptation of Peret Enqvist's <i><b>The Image Makers</b></i>, a dramatisation of the filming of </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Körkarlen</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, in 2000.</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Its story of a lost soul made to relive past misdeeds has many similarities with Charles Dicken's <i>A Christmas Carol</i>, and could also be considered a kind of opposite number to <i><b>It's A Wonderful Life</b></i>. Instead of the gregarious George Bailey, whose influence makes Bedford Falls a better place, we have David Holm, a wretched drunk whose tubercular cough echoes his diseased spirit in spreading misery and ruin around anyone he comes into contact with.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ImofyFeYGY0/T51wBQi-MuI/AAAAAAAAA90/v39dqOIXXOE/s1600/Phantom+Carriage+1921+-+Holm+at+Edith%2527s+Bedside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ImofyFeYGY0/T51wBQi-MuI/AAAAAAAAA90/v39dqOIXXOE/s320/Phantom+Carriage+1921+-+Holm+at+Edith%2527s+Bedside.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Holm (Victor
<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Sjöström</span> ) begs dying Sister Edit<br />(Astrid Holm) for forgiveness</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saintly Sister Edit tries repeatedly to save David Holm's soul. But we can only assume that she is possessed of some kind of Godly super-sight to see beyond the mean-spirited lowlife visible to the rest of us. Holm is no master criminal with schemes to steal or take over the world; it's unlikely he could stay sober for long enough to accomplish anything. He's not a murderer, though he does inadvertently cause Edit's death when she stays up all night on a freezing New Year's Eve mending his germ-riddled coat, and does admit to coughing in people's faces <i>"in hopes of finishing them off"</i>. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sjöström's Holm is a villain whose pettiness makes him believable. In one scene, Edit and her colleagues are in a bar handing out leaflets for a temperance meeting. She hands one to Holm, who gives it a cursory glance before crumpling it into a ball and flicking it into her face with a smile. In another, his anguished wife begs him not to infect his children and he responds by very deliberately coughing into his handkerchief and tossing it at her. It's not enough that Holm is bitter and cynical; he has to force the rest of the world into proving him right. We get glimpses of a decent man throughout the film, but it takes a brush with Death to bring them to the surface.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And here again is where <b><i>The Phantom Carriage</i></b> becomes <i><b>It's A Wonderful Life</b></i>'s antithesis. There are no kindly angels like Clarence to assure the hero that life is really worth living. There is instead the nightmare black-clad figure with a scythe and a death-coach, whose assurances are just the opposite; <i>everyone comes to me in the end, and everyone is accountable</i>. One of the film's strengths is presenting us with that archetypal, if not cliched, image and refusing to apologise for it. Death is inevitable, it says. And what's more it's right here, in your face, large as life. That these images are filmed so elegantly by Julius Jaenzon using multiple in-camera double-exposures doesn't diminish their effectiveness at all.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iPIdCvaZyrA/T51v_No9-qI/AAAAAAAAA9k/3l9CcrENtWU/s1600/Phantom+Carriage+1921+-+Holm+Attacks%2521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iPIdCvaZyrA/T51v_No9-qI/AAAAAAAAA9k/3l9CcrENtWU/s320/Phantom+Carriage+1921+-+Holm+Attacks%2521.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Shades of <b>The Shining</b>: </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><i>Sjöström</i></span><i> attacks!</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Author </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lagerl</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">öf would have preferred location</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> filming (in Landskrona, the southern Swedish town she pictured when writing the novel), but Sjöström overruled her</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, perhaps realising the difficulties in shooting the complex special effects outside of the controlled environment of the studio. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sjöström</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">can't take sole credit for the timeless imagery</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, we know now that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bergman was taking notes when we see his own chess-playing reaper in <b><i>The Seventh Seal</i></b> (1957). Other aficionados have noticed a similarity between the scene where Holm axes a door down to terrorize his family and the one in <i><b>The Shining </b></i>(1980) where Jack Nicholson does the same, though most agree this is probably coincidence.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the film was picked up by Metro for release in the USA, they re-cut the film to simplify its complicated flashback structure, presenting the whole story in chronological sequence, deeply undermining </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lagerl</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">öf's supernatural premise</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Even in a film with an unhurried pace, the scenes featuring the carriage itself were brief and, bunched up at the story's conclusion as they were, made them easy to dismiss as merely</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> the hallucinations of a drunkard. Despite (or because of) this, the film received a lot of praise, though it never made big bucks the studio would have liked.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">American critics followed the lead of their limey brethren who had called it <i>"a revelation, beautifully told and beautifully expressed"</i> on its U.K. release in February 1921. <i>The People</i>'s critic reportedly went so far as to admit, <i>"...it is of a kind altogether above the heads of our </i>[British]<i> producers"</i><i>. </i>It did give </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sjöström the opportunity to work in Hollywood, where he was put at the helm of MGM's inaugural release, the Lon Chaney circus drama <i><b>He Who Gets Slapped</b></i> (1924). More rave reviews followed, for </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">both he and Chaney. Thus was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sjöström's shining reputation set in stone as both actor and director, until his final much-discussed performance in Bergman's <b><i>Wild Strawberries</i></b> in 1957.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">End Credits:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Victor Sjöström (<i>David Holm</i>), Astrid Holm (<i>Sister Edit</i>), Hilda Borgstrom (<i>Mrs Holm</i>), Tore Svennberg (<i>Georges</i>), Concordia Selander (<i>Edit's Mother</i>), Lisa Lundholm (<i>Sister Maria</i>), Tor Weijden (<i>Gustafsson</i>), Einar Axelsson (<i>David Holm's Brother</i>), Nils Ahrehn (<i>Prison Chaplain</i>), Olof As (<i>Coachman</i>).</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Script: </i>Victor Sjöström, <i>Cinematography:</i> Julius Jaenzon, <i>Art Direction:</i> Alexander Bako, Axel Esbensen, <i>Producer:</i> Charles Magnusson, <i>based on the novel 'Korkarlen' by</i> Selma Lagerlof.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Alternate Titles: <i>The Stroke of Midnight</i> [USA], <i>Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness</i> [UK], <i>The Phantom Chariot</i>)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sevska-Film, Stockholm</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 106 mins.</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Availability:</span></i></b></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spoilt for choice: the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phantom-Carriage-Sjostrom-Makers-Bergman/dp/B000UZPMBW/ref=sr_1_4?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1335730158&sr=1-4" target="_blank">Tartan DVD</a> includes Bergman's documentary '<i>The Image Makers'</i>, and the <a href="http://www.grapevinevideo.com/Phantom_Carriage.html" target="_blank">Grapevine Video edition</a> features two edits of the film plus the complete text of the source novel. The Manor's preferred version is the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Criterion-Collection-Phantom-Carriage-Region/dp/B0056ANHCC/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1335730158&sr=1-2" target="_blank">Criterion DVD</a>, which is more complete and of slightly better quality.</span></div>
</div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-16742876142076426992012-04-22T19:28:00.000+01:002013-12-04T19:51:45.108+00:00Destiny (Der Mude Tod) 1921<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WwAjYr-ugUY/Uhjkk4jc8qI/AAAAAAAABrU/c2lwM6r-SSU/s1600/Destiny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WwAjYr-ugUY/Uhjkk4jc8qI/AAAAAAAABrU/c2lwM6r-SSU/s1600/Destiny.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pTfxSeaXu7g/T4nYLpuZ0LI/AAAAAAAAA7A/JE_ZRXBghtI/s1600/Der+Mude+Tod+1921.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pTfxSeaXu7g/T4nYLpuZ0LI/AAAAAAAAA7A/JE_ZRXBghtI/s320/Der+Mude+Tod+1921.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"><b><i>Director:</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Fritz Lang</span></div>
<b></b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"For love is strong as death,</span></i></b></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Passion is cruel as the grave;</span></i></b></i></b></div>
<b><i>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"></span></i></b>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">It blazes up like fire,</span></i></b></span></i></b></div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">
</span></i></b>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Fiercer than any flame."</span></i></b></span></i></b></div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">
</span></i></b><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>It inspired the careers of two great directors, and was removed from circulation in the USA by Douglas Fairbanks for fear it should overshadow his own work. Fritz Lang's influential first masterpiece is an adult fable which finds two young lovers in a struggle for survival that spans three continents and many centuries. Can their desire overcome the story's inevitable conclusion? </i>
</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b></span></i><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Some place, some time” -</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> a nameless village where a young man and woman fall in love and plan to marry, and where a mysterious stranger plants a garden beside the graveyard and surrounds it with an insurmountable wall bearing neither doors nor windows. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the Golden Unicorn Inn, the two lovers drink from a bridal cup while the stranger looks on. The young woman is briefly distracted and the stranger spirits her paramour away. As night falls, she arrives at the vast stone wall and sees a procession of spirits passing through it. Only then does she know that the stranger is Death, and realises what has become of her lover.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F31A21nmHBY/T4ntyzaalVI/AAAAAAAAA7I/PSS-4HUCKGI/s1600/Destiny+1921+-+The+Lives+of+Men.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="273" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F31A21nmHBY/T4ntyzaalVI/AAAAAAAAA7I/PSS-4HUCKGI/s320/Destiny+1921+-+The+Lives+of+Men.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Out, brief candle: Lil Dagover visits Death</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>(Bernhard Goetzke) </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>in search of an old flame... </i></span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">A verse from the Song of Solomon (</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">“For Love is stronger than Death...”</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">) inspires her to enter Death's domain. Inside is a hall filled with countless candles. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">“Here you see the lives of men”</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">, he tells her. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">“They flicker and burn for a time – then flicker out when God decides so.”</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> He takes pity on the girl and shows her three candles whose light is almost extinguished, promising to return her fiance if she can save just one of the three lives they represent.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first is in Persia, where she strives to protect her fugitive lover from the wrath of her brother, the Caliph; the second, in Renaissance Venice, where the man she truly loves is double-crossed by her despised betrothed; the third, in ancient China, where she is the ward of a court magician forced to take her lover on the run or become the consort of the Emperor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FmBXehJ73bc/T5REuucs3MI/AAAAAAAAA7o/KxnRTiLVaTc/s1600/Destiny+1921+-+Dagover%252C+Janssen+and+Beinsfeldt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="269" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FmBXehJ73bc/T5REuucs3MI/AAAAAAAAA7o/KxnRTiLVaTc/s320/Destiny+1921+-+Dagover%252C+Janssen+and+Beinsfeldt.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The lovers take a magic carpet ride with<br />
A Hi (Paul Beinsfeldt)</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She fails to fulfil her task, and the three flames flicker and die. But Death has one more boon to grant her: if she can find someone who will freely surrender their own life before the stroke of midnight, her lover will be spared...</span><br />
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br />
</i></b><br />
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Notes:</i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">The film that began life as </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><i>The Weary Death</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> suffered from a strange loss of identity that rendered its title more abstract the further it travelled from its German homeland. In France and Spain, it became </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>The Three Lights</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> and crossed the English Channel under two more assumed names, </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><i>Between Two Worlds</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> and </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>Destiny</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">. The latter of these was adopted on a semi-permanent basis for the English-speaking territories (not counting a few appearances as </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Beyond The Wall </i>and<i style="font-weight: bold;"> The Light Within</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">) after it finally washed up on America's shores. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Such practices were commonplace until well into the 1940s, and the kind of abstract title that saddled many an epic of the silent era (think </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>Intolerance</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>Civilisation</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>Mockery</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>Conscience</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">, etc. etc.) was particularly useful for hard-to-classify 'art' films like </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><i>Der Műde Tod</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">. Marketing men without a convenient genre label to attach to a film could thereby avoid having to attempt to explain to prospective film-goers what it was actually about. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O9-eoJkouEU/T5RG_AUp0nI/AAAAAAAAA8I/sRQ00nO_3q4/s1600/Destiny+1921+-+Dagover+%2526+Janssen+in+Persia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O9-eoJkouEU/T5RG_AUp0nI/AAAAAAAAA8I/sRQ00nO_3q4/s320/Destiny+1921+-+Dagover+%2526+Janssen+in+Persia.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Lil Dagover and Walter Janssen steal kisses<br />
in the Caliph's palace</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What it's actually about is the eternal battle between Love and Death, which, you could argue, most of the great stories are about – certainly the great horror stories, anyway. But <i><b>Der Műde Tod</b></i> is no horror but a fable for grown-ups, unconnected to a specific time or place, one that deals in archetypes rather than specifics. Above all a love story, (<i>“the stuff fairy tales are made of the world over”</i>, as Carlos Clarens wrote), it's far removed from the gritty crime dramas that Lang would make in America. All this uncharacteristic romanticism is usually blamed on Lang's uncredited co-writer Thea Von Harbou, who received similar criticism for some of the more naively sentimental parts of <i><b>Metropolis</b></i>. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Von Harbou only provided the polish for </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Der Műde Tod</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, which is also all about Fritz Lang, in both its conception and its execution.</span><br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a story inspired by Lang's childhood dream. In the grip of a fever, he imagined a benevolent stranger in a wide-brimmed hat coming to take him away from his tearful mother to a place of rest, and was only prevented from leaving by the <i>“helping hands”</i> that restrained him. The image stuck with him, and fit perfectly with the verse from the biblical <i>Song of Solomon</i> you see at the top of this page. Lang later insisted that all of his films were concerned in some way with an individual's rebellion against Fate: <i>“the struggle of a primarily good human being against accepted social injustice”</i>, a theme he never made more explicit than he did here. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Der Műde Tod</i></b>'s timing was pertinent on a personal and professional level. Lang's story of a solemn Death growing weary of his duties couldn't help but be influenced by </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the devastation of WWI, which he'd experienced for himself fighting on the Russian front, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the death of his beloved mother just a few months earlier. Professionally, he'd recently completed two-part crime thriller <i><b>The Spiders</b></i> for Decla-Bioscop while relations with his former employer Joe May were falling apart. Decla were impressed enough by <i><b>The Spiders</b></i> to entrust him with a generous budget and shooting schedule for <i><b>Der</b></i></span><b> <i>Műde</i><i> </i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Tod</b></i>, paving the way for the epic features he'd go on to produce after the studio was absorbed by the UFA conglomerate later in 1921. </span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-woNlo_q2knc/T5RHEIItyiI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/YlkuKAUG3aw/s1600/Destiny+1921+-+Dagover+through+the+wall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-woNlo_q2knc/T5RHEIItyiI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/YlkuKAUG3aw/s320/Destiny+1921+-+Dagover+through+the+wall.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Lil Dagover enters Death's domain</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lang's cast was assembled from a kind of floating repertory company that he'd use repeatedly during the 1920s. <b><i><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-das-kabinet-des.html" target="_blank">The Cabinet of Dr Caligari</a></i></b>'s Lil Dagover and <i><b><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/genuine-die-tragodie-eines-seltsamen.html" target="_blank">Genuine</a></b></i>'s Moorish manservant Lewis Brody he'd worked with before, in <i><b>The Spiders</b></i> and <i><b>The Indian Tomb</b></i> respectively. Georg John, who'd previously taken on Death's mantle himself for <b><i><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/hilde-warren-death-hilde-warren-und-der.html" target="_blank">Hilde Warren</a></i></b>, would later help to destroy the machines in <b><i>Metropolis</i></b> and put the finger on Peter Lorre in <i><b>M</b></i>, reprising his <b><i>Der Műde Tod</i></b> role as a beggar. </span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rudolf Kleine-Rogge would become Lang's favourite villain, playing the evil </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Dr Mabuse</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Metropolis</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'s Rotwang even after Mrs Kleine-Rogge, aka Thea von Harbou, left him to become Mrs Fritz Lang in 1922. But most impressive of all is future nemesis of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Dr Mabuse</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (Inspector Wenk) and ally of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Siegfried</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (Volker von Alzey) Bernhard Goetzke, as Death. Goetzke possesses the melancholy features of an Easter Island statue, which perfectly describe a figure who has been carrying out his thankless task for centuries, lending his role the kind of gravity that normally only planets can muster. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<i style="font-style: italic;"><b>Der Műde Tod</b></i> is also about space, in the sense of the great distances implied by Death's journey, or the impassable breach between the realms of the living and the dead. Goetzke's character is never threatening, but he is quite literally larger than life, only at home in his cavernous hall of candles or tracing patterns in the dirt before the vast expanse of wall that surrounds his 'garden'. His mere presence in the mundane world causes discomfort for the other characters. There's no sense of danger, it's just as though there isn't enough room for the great burden he has carried through all of space and time. By contrast, the two young lovers never seem to be more than an arm's length apart, and generate a similar kind of tension whenever they are physically separated. </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gRJVFVzWs3Y/T5RHL9S8VaI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/qDjiKoMO7io/s1600/Destiny+1921+-+The+Caliph%2527s+Garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gRJVFVzWs3Y/T5RHL9S8VaI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/qDjiKoMO7io/s320/Destiny+1921+-+The+Caliph%2527s+Garden.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>The Caliph (Eduard von Winterstein) plans a<br />
nasty surprise for his sister (Lil Dagover)</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
Lang's architectural training carries this off. He makes the studio sets (co-designed by two-thirds of the team responsible for <i><b>Caligari</b></i>) come alive, giving each of the four settings its own distinct character. The walls and bridges, enormous staircases and vaulted corridors all help to suggest the enormity of Lil Dagover's mission to save her loved one's soul. But it's not all about spectacle. When the lovers are together, the camera often mirrors their intimacy by moving in close, the two of them filling the screen as though the rest of the world doesn't matter. </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
When <b><i>Der Műde Tod</i></b> opened in Berlin in November 1921, it received a chilly reception from critics who derided it's old-fashioned Romanticism and only gathered the respect it deserved after it had travelled abroad. The French loved it, and in Spain it became a favourite of director-to-be Luis Bunuel. Another admirer was Douglas Fairbanks, who delayed the film's U.S.A. release in order to keep it off the market while he unravelled the secrets of its special effects for his own <b><i>Thief of Bagdad</i></b>. It finally surfaced through Artclass Pictures in 1924, by which time the Germans had offered a favourable re-appraisal. Legend has it that the film also made a strong impression on a young title-card designer at Islington film studios named Alfred Hitchcock, and gave him the notion that he might one day try his hand at directing.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>End Credits:</i></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lil Dagover (<i>The Young Woman / Zobeide / Monna Fiametta / Tiao Tsien</i>), Walter Janssen (<i>The Young Man / The Frank / Giovanfrancesco / Liang</i>), Bernhard Goetzke (<i>Death / El Mot / Emperor's Archer</i>), </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rudolf Klein-Rogge (<i>The Dervish / Girolamo</i>), <i>with</i></span></div>
<div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Germany:</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Hans Sternberg (<i>The Mayor</i>), Carl Ruckert (<i>The Reverend</i>), Max Adalbert (<i>The Notary</i>), Wilhelm Diegelmann (<i>The Doctor</i>), Erich Pabst (<i>The Teacher</i>), Karl Platen (<i>The Apothecary</i>), Hermann Pischa (<i>The Tailor</i>), Paul Rehkopf (<i>The Grave-Digger</i>), Max Pfeiffer (<i>The Night-Watchman</i>), Georg John (<i>The Beggar</i>), Lydia Potechina (<i>The Landlady</i>), Grete Berger (<i>The Mother</i>)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>Persia:</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Eduard von Winterstein (<i>The Caliph</i>),</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Erika Unruh (<i>Anesha</i>), </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rudolf Klein-Rogge (<i>The Dervish</i>)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>Venice:</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rudolf Klein-Rogge (<i>Girolamo</i>)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Lothar Mutel (<i>Messenger</i>), Edgar Pauly (<i>Friend</i>), Lina Paulsen (<i>Nurse</i>), Lewis Brody (<i>Moor</i>)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>China:</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Karl Huszar (<i>The Emperor</i>), Paul Beinsfeldt (<i>A Hi</i>), Max Adalbert (<i>The Chancellor</i>), Paul Neumann (<i>Executioner</i>).</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Screenplay; </i>Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou, <i>Camera; </i>Erich Nitzschmann, Hermann Saalfrank <i>and </i>Fritz Arno Wagner,<i> Art Direction;</i> Walter Rohrig (<i>German episode</i>), Hermann Warm (<i>Persian and Venetian episodes</i>) <i>and</i> Robert Herlth (<i>Chinese episode</i>), <i>Lighting;</i> Robert Hegewald, <i>Oriental artefacts and costumes from the Heinrich Umlaff Museum, Hamburg.</i></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Decla-Bioscop, Germany</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 99 mins.</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Availability:</span></i></b></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Destiny-DVD-Region-Import-NTSC/dp/B00004Z4VE/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1335118712&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Destiny (<i>Image Entertainment DVD</i>)</a></div>
</div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-92101481773055954212012-04-21T23:03:00.000+01:002012-04-08T23:11:06.269+01:00A Genuine Giveaway!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t6IdjriegNs/T3oY1LUv0eI/AAAAAAAAA30/G0GU2pnQr9Y/s1600/Genuine+1920+Melo's+House.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t6IdjriegNs/T3oY1LUv0eI/AAAAAAAAA30/G0GU2pnQr9Y/s320/Genuine+1920+Melo's+House.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">To all visitors to the Devil's Manor...</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Great News! Aficionados of Antique Anomalies may be pleased to learn that the Manor has a copy of the <b><i>rare, full-length version of '</i>Genuine'<i> to give away</i></b> to one lucky recipient!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go to your humble caretaker's Profile (at left) and send him an email explaining why you, of all people, deserve a copy of this hard-to-find and frankly rather strange old movie. In a couple of weeks from now, all emails received will be rounded up and stared at in a severe manner. The best (or most random) answer will get a <b>FREE DVD-R copy</b> (region 0) of the full 88-minute film (not available in stores!), as described below on these very pages.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Picture quality is unavoidably grainy (see screen grab above) but then, (a) the film is ninety-two years old, and (b) it's free. 'Nuff said. Winner will be notified by return email before the end of April. Thank you and good luck!</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MUaQRnLnK58/T3oY6AWdMwI/AAAAAAAAA38/yQKFnGKDH88/s1600/DM+Friendly+Gesture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MUaQRnLnK58/T3oY6AWdMwI/AAAAAAAAA38/yQKFnGKDH88/s320/DM+Friendly+Gesture.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>A small gesture of Friendship<br />
from the Devil's Manor</i></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Your friend, </i></span><br />
<div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Bob the Caretaker</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-6595075518570339882012-04-12T23:10:00.001+01:002013-08-24T23:46:11.953+01:00The Arrival From The Darkness (Prichozi Z Temnot) 1921<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kJ613sOH39A/Uhjksgc9z_I/AAAAAAAABrc/KorMGwIHPww/s1600/Arrival+Darkness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kJ613sOH39A/Uhjksgc9z_I/AAAAAAAABrc/KorMGwIHPww/s1600/Arrival+Darkness.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TJ0yXrKtYEI/T4SafdarhVI/AAAAAAAAA5c/KcA8Y-C7RH8/s1600/Arrival+From+The+Darkness+1921+-+Lamac+and+Majer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TJ0yXrKtYEI/T4SafdarhVI/AAAAAAAAA5c/KcA8Y-C7RH8/s320/Arrival+From+The+Darkness+1921+-+Lamac+and+Majer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Director:</b></span> </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Jan S. Kolar</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"At the Black Tower, see the shadow that surrounds the walls. If you are brave, you will see what lies behind the shadow!"</i></b></span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This rarity from Czechoslovakia concerns the mystery of an ancestral tower with an occupant who won't stay dead... a sobering lesson for landowners everywhere and an early starring role for Hitchcock's 'first blonde', Anny Ondra.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"><i>Synopsis:</i></b><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Richard Bor brings his neighbour, the landowner Bohdan Drazicky, the gift of an ancient book, intending to distract him with it while he makes a pass at Drazicky's wife Dagmar. Drazicky comes to Dagmar's aid and insists that Bor leaves, yet the book fascinates him. Later he falls asleep while reading of the secrets allegedly hidden within the Black Tower that stands on his ancestral land.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7H1AYPq4asc/T4dRnb955oI/AAAAAAAAA58/ZjX05QYTO10/s1600/Arrival+From+The+Darkness+1921+-+The+Alchemist%2527s+Book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="231" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7H1AYPq4asc/T4dRnb955oI/AAAAAAAAA58/ZjX05QYTO10/s320/Arrival+From+The+Darkness+1921+-+The+Alchemist%2527s+Book.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>A cryptic passage from Bor's ancient book</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Drazicky explores the Black Tower and discovers an alchemist's laboratory containing a man's body... and instructions for bringing him back to life. The man is Drazicky's ancestor Jesek, who was the apprentice of Balthasar Borro, an alchemist who had discovered the Elixir of Life. Jesek's beloved Alena had died of the plague: rather than be without her, Jesek drank the elixir and entered a state of suspended animation.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, Jesek believes that his true love Alena has been reincarnated as Dagmar, and decides that he wants her for himself. Drazicky becomes aware of Jesek's intentions to steal his wife and blows up the Black Tower, destroying the remnants of the elixir that Jesek must ingest every three days in order to stay alive. Knowing that his time is short, Jesek abducts Dagmar, while Drazicky and Richard Bor give chase...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notes:</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though Czechoslovakia has a cinematic history going back as far as the Lumiere brothers' tour of Europe in 1896, its film industry struggled to find an identity of its own until well into the sound era. Czech films never made much noise abroad until Hedy Lamarr accidentally lost all her clothes in <i style="font-weight: bold;">Ekstase</i> (1933), and only in the sixties with the arrival of Milos Forman and the Czech 'new wave' did the rest of the world sit up and take notice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u6ij9lIvPog/T4dRoeJdvkI/AAAAAAAAA6E/me4RVedlRbE/s1600/Arrival+From+The+Darkness+1921+-+Vladimir+Majer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u6ij9lIvPog/T4dRoeJdvkI/AAAAAAAAA6E/me4RVedlRbE/s200/Arrival+From+The+Darkness+1921+-+Vladimir+Majer.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Richard Bor (Vladimir Majek)<br />
in diabolical mood</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With this in mind, we can recognise a strong flavour of German Gothic in <i style="font-weight: bold;">Arrival From The Darkness. </i>The plot bears a superficial resemblance to H.P Lovecraft's story<i> The Case of Charles Dexter Ward</i> (filmed with Vincent Price as <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Haunted Palace</i> in 1963), but we've seen the like of its alchemists, haunted towers and reincarnated lovers in the works of a Wegener, a Lang or an Oswald, and we might imagine the Czechs were paying as much attention to the black magic being conjured up at UFA or Decla-Film as the rest of the movie world was in 1921.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How successful director Jan Kolar and his friend and colleague Karel Lamac were in putting their own spin on these familiar images is hard to tell through the murk of ninety years. The film reviewed here is missing about a quarter of its original running time, with bleak-looking landscapes and 'expressionist' shadows that are probably as much the work of nitrate decay and shoddy print transfers as they are the director's intention. The vital scene of Jesek's resurrection is missing and some of the darker interiors are hard to make out through the scratches but if this can be overlooked, the film has its rewards.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-73b-xubCHDA/T4dRi6Ju-yI/AAAAAAAAA50/DQnG8KnX2N8/s1600/Anny+Ondra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-73b-xubCHDA/T4dRi6Ju-yI/AAAAAAAAA50/DQnG8KnX2N8/s200/Anny+Ondra.jpg" width="143" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Anny Ondra</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The story rolls along at a lively pace, moving between the present day and the 16th-century Prague of Rudolf II. There are enough twists and turns to stop it all from getting stale and even the device of framing the supernatural story as the dream (yet <i>again!</i>) of the over-imaginative Drazicky is redeemed by a final plot twist. Vladimir Majer as Bor is the sneerily efficient villain who comes good for the finale, where he joins the chase to rescue the delirious Dagmar from Jesek's nefarious clutches.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dagmar, in the person of Anny Ondrakova, is the object of everyone's affections and Ondrakova was the nearest thing to a genuine movie star that Czechoslovakia had during the twenties. Under the truncated trade name of Anny Ondra, she achieved international fame by working extensively in Germany and Austria, mostly in romantic comedies. She formed a production company with her <i style="font-weight: bold;">AFTD </i>co-star Karel Lamac, who she was married to for a while, and in 1929 appeared in Hitchcock's <i style="font-weight: bold;">Blackmail</i>, the first of many ice-cool blondes that he was to employ during his career. It was also Hitchcock's first sound film, and Anny's accent was considered impenetrable enough for the producers to enlist English actress Joan Barry to dub all her lines.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>End Credits:</i></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Theodor Pistek (<i>Statkar Bohdan Drazicky</i>), Anny Ondrakov (<i>Dagmar Drazicky / Alena</i>), Vladimir Majer (<i>Richard Bor / Balthasar Borro</i>), Karel Lamac (<i>Jesek Drazicky</i>), Jos. Svab-Malostransky (<i>Jan</i>)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Writer:</i> Jan S. Kolar, <i>Story:</i> Karel Hlouchka.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rex-Film, Prague</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running Time 43 mins.</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Availability:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not available commercially, but can be viewed online.</span></div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-31733151344999508622012-04-07T23:59:00.000+01:002013-08-27T19:25:44.254+01:00Leaves From Satan's Book (Blade Af Satans Bog) 1920<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fq7si3YTFKY/UhjkzsBQk5I/AAAAAAAABrk/fFoio0ctrTU/s1600/Leaves+Satans+Book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fq7si3YTFKY/UhjkzsBQk5I/AAAAAAAABrk/fFoio0ctrTU/s1600/Leaves+Satans+Book.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OcgSMw99oZs/T4AYypM3qJI/AAAAAAAAA4I/ppewXtG3oPc/s1600/Leaves+From+Satans+Book+1921+Helge+Nilssen+Inquisitor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OcgSMw99oZs/T4AYypM3qJI/AAAAAAAAA4I/ppewXtG3oPc/s400/Leaves+From+Satans+Book+1921+Helge+Nilssen+Inquisitor.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"><i>Director:</i> </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Carl Dreyer</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">"And God judged Satan: Thou shalt continue thy evil doings against man. Go amongst men in fashion of a man and tempt them to do against My will."</span></b></i></blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I write this, it's Easter at the Devil's Manor, and every year around this time our thoughts turn to matters spiritual. In keeping with the occasion, we turn to Carl Theodore Dreyer's heart-warming look at some of the sterling work our Dark Lord has accomplished across the centuries. </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Synopsis:</span></i></b><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Satan is condemned to walk the earth, tempting humanity into defying God's will. For each soul he claims, a century is added to his judgement; for each that resists, he is relieved a thousand years.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Judas</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">: In Jerusalem, A.D. 30, Satan takes on the guise of a Pharisee to convince Caiaphas and his priests that the prophet Jesus is growing too powerful and should be silenced. He persuades Jesus' disciple Judas to betray his master and leads the Roman soldiers to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, condemning his soul for thirty pieces of silver.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUUrILB4GZq4s1TyKPpdRfAVB4f7P3AEJWAlXZOlj8DHVGyib3cKakdHMKRor5wApsk7V9woVNR0APDJvcnRDuPNIarDAawZd0XfPk7EPe3rVOBgsJc0GnyKCn-uQvhsMTKHX5gGmbaP4/s1600/Leaves+From+Satans+Book+1921+Inquisition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUUrILB4GZq4s1TyKPpdRfAVB4f7P3AEJWAlXZOlj8DHVGyib3cKakdHMKRor5wApsk7V9woVNR0APDJvcnRDuPNIarDAawZd0XfPk7EPe3rVOBgsJc0GnyKCn-uQvhsMTKHX5gGmbaP4/s320/Leaves+From+Satans+Book+1921+Inquisition.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The Inquisition's torture chamber</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Spanish Inquisition</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">: Seville, 16th century - a young priest, Don Fernandez, is in love with Isabella, the daughter of his patron Don Gomez de Castro. Satan enlists Fernandez to serve the Inquisition, and when Don Gomez is denounced as a heretic for dabbling in astrology, it falls to Fernandez to put him to trial. After Don Gomez dies under torture, Fernandez is ordered to extract a confession from Isabella...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The French Revolution</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">: autumn 1793, and Marie Antoinette is imprisoned and the Army of the Revolution brings the guillotine to Castle Chambord. The Count de Chambord entrusts his servant Joseph to take his wife and daughter to safety in Paris. There he meets Satan in his latest guise as Erneste Durand, the Count's former footman, who introduces Joseph to his political inner circle. Later, disguised as a beggar, Satan forces Joseph to betray his former employers in order to save his own life and ultimately puts the fate of Marie Antoinette herself in Joseph's hands...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>The Red Guard</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">: Hirola, Finland, spring 1918. Siri and her husband Paavo operate a telegraph station during the Finnish civil war. Her family are captured by a gang of Red Army soldiers led by Satan posing as 'Ivan', a former monk now collaborating with the Bolshevik invaders. Siri is told she must help lure a group of Finnish soldiers, led by Corporal Matti, into an ambush, or her husband and child will be killed.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notes:</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TP3q8Z4jN4M/T4AY1VfRCXI/AAAAAAAAA4k/IdLHH7ChOOY/s1600/Leaves+From+Satans+Book+1921+Jesus+Betrayed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="259" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TP3q8Z4jN4M/T4AY1VfRCXI/AAAAAAAAA4k/IdLHH7ChOOY/s320/Leaves+From+Satans+Book+1921+Jesus+Betrayed.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Judas (Jacob Texiere) breaks bread with Jesus<br />
(Halvard Hoff)</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carl Dreyer's <i style="font-weight: bold;">Leaves From Satan's Book</i> is a grimly serious affair from start to finish. It depicts Satan as a tragic Miltonian figure, condemned by God to harvest the souls of sinners as punishment for his transgressions -- each soul he claims adds a century to his time on Earth, each one that resists lessens that time by a millennium. But humanity seldom proves a match for Satan's cunning and there's a deep vein of fatalism running through all four chapters. Even his failure to claim Finnish heroine Siri, who would sooner die than betray her country, is a hollow victory. The Adversary exits with God's command of <i>"Continue thy evil doings!"</i> still ringing in his ears.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's Dreyer's ambition that shines out through all the gloom. Inspired by D.W. Griffith's <i style="font-weight: bold;">Intolerance,</i> which shares the four-episode structure of <i style="font-weight: bold;">Satan's Book</i> and its general theme of man's inhumanity to man, Dreyer's similarly expansive vision took in two millennia and two and a half hours of screen time. Even this was a compromise: during shooting, Dreyer attempted to persuade Nordisk to almost double his original budget of 120,000 kroner by threatening to take his production elsewhere. He eventually relented, and if <i style="font-weight: bold;">Satan's Book</i> (only his second film as director) is nowhere near as grandiose as <i style="font-weight: bold;">Intolerance</i>, it is at least bigger in scale than anything else to come out of Denmark that year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rc0ZzgTzNU8/T4Gk63EhPSI/AAAAAAAAA4s/8LIu_9fDOqo/s1600/Blade+Av+Satans+Bog+1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rc0ZzgTzNU8/T4Gk63EhPSI/AAAAAAAAA4s/8LIu_9fDOqo/s640/Blade+Av+Satans+Bog+1920.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Norwegian press ad, 1921</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's often mistakenly assumed that Marie Corelli's 1895 novel <i>The Sorrows of Satan</i> was the basis for Dreyer's film. In fact, Edgar Hoyer's screenplay (itself possibly inspired by <i style="font-weight: bold;">Satanas</i>, a 1912 Italian drama directed by Luigi Maggi) had been sitting around Nordisk's offices since 1913, where Dreyer would have read it in his former role as script editor. Coincidentally, it was Griffith who went on to film Corelli's novel for Paramount in 1926.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The six-month shoot for <i style="font-weight: bold;">Satan's Book</i> produced a film that unfolded at a stately pace. Dreyer populated his story with a sea of interesting faces, allowing his camera to linger on a wrinkled Pharisee scribe or a snarling Revolutionary commissar from his supporting cast along the way. He already knew the value of a strong close-up, an idea he took to its logical conclusion with <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Passion of Joan of Arc</i> in 1928, which was made up almost entirely of close and medium shots. Human faces and carefully-chosen architectural features alike are used to draw the viewer in to scenes which are often as delicately lit as a Vermeer painting. All of which suggests that the Devil is in the details, as they say.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Satan's Book</i> has its flaws, and is not generally considered to be one of Dreyer's best, even though his reputation is based on a mere fourteen feature films made over a fifty year career. The film's Red Guard chapter seems a bit of an anticlimax, and for a director who was later to produce a film as visually evocative and dialogue-free as <i style="font-weight: bold;">Vampyr</i> (1932), there's a surprising over-reliance on title cards in the early chapters.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On its first release in Norway in November 1920, the film was generally well-received. The only groups who took a dislike to it were conservative Christians who objected to Dreyer's portrayal of Jesus and his disciples and left-wingers appalled that Satan was shown siding with revolutionaries and Communists. Dreyer himself reportedly later dismissed it as <i>"a creepy collection of </i>olietryks <i>pictures </i>[gaudy 19th-century lithographs]<i>", </i>but he'd return to themes and ideas explored here many times during his career.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For example, martyred women cropped up again and again in Dreyer's work: Marie Antoinette's incarceration prefigured <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Passion of Joan of Arc</i>, down to a scene where Marie has her hair cut off, and Isabella's treatment at the hands of the Inquisition was recalled by the witch-hunts in <i style="font-weight: bold;">Day of Wrath</i> (1944). Religious themes dominated the rest of his career, but none was more important to him than the life of Jesus, a subject he explored for the first and only time in <i style="font-weight: bold;">Satan's Book</i>. Dreyer had begun work on a screenplay for a film about Jesus as early as 1930, but never managed to get it off the ground. He was still pushing to get the project realised shortly before his death in 1968.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>End Credits:</i></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Helge Nissen (<i>Satan</i>), Halvard Hoff (<i>Jesus</i>), Jacob Texiere (<i>Judas</i>), Hallander Helleman (<i>Don Gomez de Castro</i>), Johannes Meyer (<i>Don Fernandez Y Argote</i>), Ebon Strandin (<i>Isabella</i>), Jose (<i>Nalle Halden</i>),</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tenna Frederiksen Kraft (<i>Marie Antoinette</i>), </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Viggo Wiehe (<i>Count de Chambord</i>), Emma Wiehe (<i>Countess de Chambord</i>), Jeanne Tramcourt (<i>Lady Genevieve</i>), Emil Helsengreen (<i>People's Commisar</i>), Elith Pio (<i>Joseph</i>), Sven Scholander (<i>Michonnet</i>),Viggo Lindstrom (<i>Old Pitou</i>), Hugo Brun (<i>Count Manuel</i>), Carlo Wieth (<i>Paavo</i>), Clara Pontoppidan (<i>Siri</i>), Carl Hildebrandt (<i>Rautamiemi</i>), Christian Nielsen (<i>Corporal Matti</i>), Karina Bell (<i>Naima)</i>.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Screenplay:</i> Edgar Hoyer (with Carl Dreyer), <i>Cinematography:</i> George Schneevoigt, <i>Production Design:</i> Axel Bruun <i>and</i> Jens G. Lind.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nordisk, Denmark</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 122 mins.</span><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Availability:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The version reviewed here was the 121-minute print from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leaves-From-Satans-Region-Import/dp/B0007LXOZ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333914504&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Image Entertainment</a>. For completists, a full, 157-minute cut is available from the <a href="http://eshop.dfi.dk/Shop/ItemList.php?CategoriSelect=6" target="_blank">Danish Film Institute</a>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Some information in this post was taken from the DFI's official <a href="http://english.carlthdreyer.dk/" target="_blank">Carl Th. Dreyer website</a>, which contains extensive reference materials for all of Dreyer's films.</i></span></div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-88077999415918980412012-04-01T19:46:00.006+01:002013-08-24T23:34:09.879+01:00Genuine (Die Tragodie eines Seltsamen Hauses) 1920<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K1UycNW5CGI/UhjlA0HFO2I/AAAAAAAABrs/pB5Ru9pZn-M/s1600/Genuine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K1UycNW5CGI/UhjlA0HFO2I/AAAAAAAABrs/pB5Ru9pZn-M/s1600/Genuine.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-88vkDjhSZWw/T2zJyBhIGwI/AAAAAAAAA2M/ITrfKjyhnqc/s1600/Genuine+1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-88vkDjhSZWw/T2zJyBhIGwI/AAAAAAAAA2M/ITrfKjyhnqc/s400/Genuine+1920.jpg" width="243" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b style="font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Director:</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Robert Wiene</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">"See her, that's Genuine ... She was a priestess of the conquered tribe ... She is beautiful, but they have perverted her ... She has become savage and barbaric."</span></i></b></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>So you've created a cultural sensation and potentially changed the path of cinema history. What do you do next? Robert Wiene and the creative team behind </i><b>'<i>The</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b style="font-style: italic;">Cabinet of Dr Caligari</b><i>' delved deeper into the irrational with this hallucinatory nightmare of a feral femme fatale held captive by an eccentric recluse. Please join me for a light supper of amanita muscaria and incense fumes, and let's see if they don't bring on the bad dreams...</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b><i>Synopsis:</i></b></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since completing a portrait of a legendary high priestess named Genuine, the artist Percy has become irritable and withdrawn. He has lost interest in painting, shunning the company of his friends and preferring to spend his time alone with the portrait in his study. After turning down a wealthy patron's offer to buy the picture, Percy falls asleep while reading stories of Genuine's life. Genuine climbs down from her picture frame and creeps stealthily towards him...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Genuine is purchased at a slave market by an old eccentric named Lord Melo. He learns that she had been sold into slavery when her people were conquered by a rival tribe. Melo locks her in an opulent chamber beneath his house, though she begs to be set free. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Up there is life and all its ugliness", </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he tells her, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Here alone shall you smile. Here alone shall you be c</i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ompletely happy."</i><br />
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</i><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xP1W2aet3bE/T3gxgh3Og9I/AAAAAAAAA3c/tQCR7Rx-x9s/s1600/Genuine+1920+Melo+and+Florian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xP1W2aet3bE/T3gxgh3Og9I/AAAAAAAAA3c/tQCR7Rx-x9s/s320/Genuine+1920+Melo+and+Florian.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Melo (Ernst Gronau) instructs Florian (Hans Heinrich<br />
von Twardovski) on the finer points of male grooming</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guyard the barber attends Lord Melo each day at noon. One day, he sends his newly-apprenticed young nephew Florian in his place; meanwhile, Genuine has broken out of her underground prison, climbing the immense staircase to find Florian shaving the sleeping Lord Melo. She</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> bewitches him into slitting Melo's throat with a straight razor. Florian falls under Genuine's spell, but when she later demands that he prove his love for her by taking his own life, he cannot go through with it and is forced to make his escape.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the meantime, Melo's grandson Percy has arrived at the house. He too becomes infatuated with Genuine, quickly forgetting any questions he has about his grandfather's sudden death. Although Genuine loves Percy in return, their romance is destined to be short-lived. Guyard, stirred up by Florian's tales of murder and witchcraft, is arming a mob with scythes and bludgeons to storm Melo's house. Florian, still infatuated with Genuine, secretly makes his own way inside, determined that he shall have her, or else no-one will...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Notes:</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The critics hated <i style="font-weight: bold;">Genuine </i>when it was first released and they don't like it much better now. Two of the most acclaimed studies of post-<b><i>Caligari </i></b>German cinema, Seigfried Kracauer's <i>From Caligari To Hitler</i> and Lotte Eisner's <i>The Haunted Screen, </i>are dismissive of <i style="font-weight: bold;">Genuine</i>'s merits, and one word that crops up repeatedly in discussions of the film is <i>"failure". </i>So what went wrong, and is the criticism justified?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part of the problem seems to be the high expectations everyone had for the crew at Decla-Film in <a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-das-kabinet-des.html" target="_blank"><b><i>The Cabinet of Dr </i></b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Caligari</i></a>'s wake. When critics began using the word <i>Caligarisme</i> to describe the new style of film-making they anticipated, director Wiene and producer Erich Pommer had little choice but to offer them more of the same. The inevitable comparisons would be fine, except that <i style="font-weight: bold;">Caligari </i>was inescapably unique, the product of a happy serendipity that made it more than the sum of its parts. With hindsight, it looks as though </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Genuine</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'s</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;"> </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">creators were trying to replicate a formula that they didn't fully understand, hoping in vain that lightning would strike twice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xLeQTP8vUqU/T3gxc7risrI/AAAAAAAAA3E/GeEccEBF8zk/s1600/Genuine+1920+Fern+Andra+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xLeQTP8vUqU/T3gxc7risrI/AAAAAAAAA3E/GeEccEBF8zk/s320/Genuine+1920+Fern+Andra+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Genuine (Fern Andra), imprisoned</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Caligari</i>'s use of a framing story is repeated here, presumably with the similar intention of rationalising the bizarre content of the main narrative. The characters who visit Percy's apartment play corresponding roles, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Wizard of Oz</i>-like, in his nightmare. The patron who covets his painting becomes Genuine's captor Lord Melo; his friend Florian (who, with his ornate Flock Of Seagulls haircut, is precisely 62 years ahead of his time), a helpless slave of Genuine's fatal charm. Percy casts his dream-self as the high priestess's lover, a figure more peripheral to the main plot than you might expect.</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Genuine</i>, to be sure, is not a love story. Although most of the prints in circulation now carry the qualifier <i>"A Tale of a Vampire", </i>this is a misnomer except in the Theda Bara sense of the word. A 'vamp' Genuine may be, but a nocturnal bloodsucker she isn't. The original sub-title, "<i>The Tragedy of a Strange House"</i>, is a clearer description of what Carl Mayer's scenario is all about. The house, a riot of disorienting angles and weirdly hypnotic patterns, is a nightmare world in microcosm, in which characters act out odd rituals of domination and submission that all weave together but never quite resolve themselves. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mayer, a writer who, it has been pointed out, never wrote a thing that didn't end up on a cinema screen, had a knack for thinking visually. His scenario, loaded with potent symbols (sacrificial bloodletting, vast staircases ascending from a subterranean prison), is the glue that holds everything in place</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But only just. The critics' beef with <i style="font-weight: bold;">Genuine</i> was that it lacked coherency, a problem that's especially apparent in the 44-minute cut available today. And Robert Wiene's part in all this seems difficult to pin down when so many elements in the film seem to be working against each other. The sets, by Cesar Klein, are profoundly strange, but often threaten to swamp the actors; Lotte Eisner calls them <i>"muddled and overloaded". </i>The cast hovers between the exaggerated gestures that are appropriate to expressionist films of this type and a more naturalistic style, with the result that sometimes they come across as caricatures (Twardovski in particular, with his constant expression of wounded surprise), and sometimes they just disappear into the scenery.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H0tTxilxnFE/T3gxegPyxSI/AAAAAAAAA3M/cdQVGPkf8Wk/s1600/Genuine+1920+Fern+Andra+in+repose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H0tTxilxnFE/T3gxegPyxSI/AAAAAAAAA3M/cdQVGPkf8Wk/s320/Genuine+1920+Fern+Andra+in+repose.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Fern Andra in repose</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leading lady Fern Andra bore the brunt of the criticism in 1920, for an acting style seen as 'archaic'. Andra, born Vernal Andrews in Watseka, Illinois, was one of those movie stars whose life was far more interesting than her film career. Accused of being an American spy in Germany during WW1, she married a German nobleman, and though he died near the end of WW1, she referred to herself as a Baroness for the rest of her life. Two marriages later, around the beginning of WW2, the Americans accused her of being a German spy when rumours began to circulate that she'd once been Josef Goebbels' mistress. Andra admittedly is not the most gifted of actresses, but she has the conviction that is needed for playing a larger-than-life archetype like Genuine, and wears a succession of Cesar Klein's outrageous skin-tight costumes like a born natural.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The full, 88-minute version of the film fleshes out scenes that seem confusing in the edited version. Its pace is a little slow, but what is usually seen as a weakness becomes an asset with the benefit of hindsight: <i style="font-weight: bold;">Genuine</i>'s strength is its oddness. Its incoherency gives the story the murky, bad-dream quality that it aims for. Events often progress slowly, more often they seem to defy logic. But then, that's what bad dreams do.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If a dapper top-hatted old man buying a Caucasian priestess from an Arab slave market seems incongruous, it's because the story belongs to no definable time or place. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even the form and function of the house itself is difficult to pin down; it changes its aspect in different shots, exterior and interior, sometimes large as a mansion, sometimes small and cramped. The</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> underground chamber in which Genuine is imprisoned seems impossibly big, and looks like a madman's idea of a jungle. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Melo's servant (referred to as 'the Malay' by most sources) is apparently kept servile by means of a ring Melo wears, whose origins are never explained. And on and on.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ninety years after <i style="font-weight: bold;">Genuine, </i>we've seen the likes of Jean Cocteau, Terry Gilliam or David Lynch invent self-contained worlds that don't follow the rules of our own; <b style="font-style: italic;">Genuine</b>, whether by accident or by design, does the same. Robert Wiene and Carl Mayer failed to establish <i>Caligarisme, </i>but in trying they made a film that's not quite like any other, and for that it's worth your attention.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div>
<i><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">End Credits:</span></b></i></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fern Andra (<i>Genuine</i>), Hans Heinrich von Twardowski (<i>Florian</i>), Harald Paulsen (<i>Percy</i>), Ernst Gronau (<i>Lord Melo</i>), John Gottowt (<i>Guyard</i>), Albert Bennefeld (<i>Curzon</i>), Lewis Brody (<i>The Malay</i>).</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Screenplay:</i> Carl Mayer, <i>Photography:</i> Willy Hameister, <i>Production Design</i>: Cesar Klein (<i>costumes</i>), Bernhard Klein, Kurt Hermann Rosenberg, <i>Producer:</i> Erich Pommer.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Decla-Bioscop, Germany</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running Time 88 mins.</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Availability:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 44-minute version is included on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cabinet-Caligari-Region-Import-NTSC/dp/B00006JMQG/ref=sr_1_3?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1333300068&sr=1-3" target="_blank">The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Kino Video)</a></i></span></div>
</div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-89475573732558432922012-03-18T21:37:00.003+00:002013-08-24T23:21:35.974+01:00Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Sheldon Lewis) 1920<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x8lxsrr5dNg/UhjlJwH-vlI/AAAAAAAABr0/-CFHIMwNct0/s1600/Dr+Jekyll+Lewis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x8lxsrr5dNg/UhjlJwH-vlI/AAAAAAAABr0/-CFHIMwNct0/s1600/Dr+Jekyll+Lewis.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzfh44o6zNuhqwrIbEGxcbzHqUtIus1di3bknQiijiW3XXBLEGkTdqkGvcRmf2BUBnmIKHZsght98UQ5_ys0x_JkitBfrZu1DcAP8Yf0oC3Mvez83WeOLds7cChctjBNA-aVOVKPzfQM0/s1600/Dr+Jekyll+and+Mr+Hyde+Sheldon+Lewis+1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzfh44o6zNuhqwrIbEGxcbzHqUtIus1di3bknQiijiW3XXBLEGkTdqkGvcRmf2BUBnmIKHZsght98UQ5_ys0x_JkitBfrZu1DcAP8Yf0oC3Mvez83WeOLds7cChctjBNA-aVOVKPzfQM0/s400/Dr+Jekyll+and+Mr+Hyde+Sheldon+Lewis+1920.jpg" width="290" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"><b><i>Director</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">: J Charles Haydon</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"An Apostle of Hell!"</span></i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Among the many fine vintages in the Manor's cellars we find the occasional bottle fit only for the least sophisticated of palates, and so it is with our cinematic offerings. Dr Jekyll - no longer himself - lurks in the back alleys of 1920 New York in this quickie thriller designed to cash in on the success of Paramount's rival (??) production with John Barrymore. It's a horrid affair all round...</span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Synopsis:</span></i></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this present-day variation on the story, Dr. Jekyll is intrigued by one of the patients at his free clinic, a child suffering from an unexplained malady, <i>"dead and yet alive</i>", living proof of his theory that man has no soul. Jekyll's research follows the familiar and inevitable path -- a night at the opera with his fiancee Bernice is forgotten as he toils in his laboratory, finally drinking the elixir of transformation.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His alter-ego Edward Hyde revenges himself on Jekyll and his acquaintances, embarking upon a crime spree that climaxes with a fatal assault on Bernice's <i>"chum"</i> Danvers Carew. As the police dragnet closes around Hyde, Jekyll summons Bernice to his laboratory to hear his confession, but Hyde takes over and Bernice is murdered. The police capture Hyde, and though they are later startled to find Jekyll in his place, he transforms back into Hyde during interrogation and is sent to the electric chair. As the switch is pulled, Jekyll awakes in his study, relieved to find it has all been a dream.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notes:</span></i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Under normal circumstances, we would regard giving away a film's ending as a despicable act of callousness on a par with stealing a kitten from a blind orphan. In our defence, there must be few people reading this far who don't know how Dr Jekyll's life story is <i>supposed </i>to end, and fewer still whose enjoyment of the current film would be marred in any way by knowing that it turns out differently.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinhVVR-RYYV7BtZABgAgWSVzEg_7SykbI-zmV6gAhkbpm9tz6tLkQeXcXfnjCbP6I3mXSfWRPYfIe3fvTImnIGyGS3lsIoOmfbchwSCwnrvPJibQ0pEmJrPLYf6NIEGyYfejChnOPG5PQ/s1600/Dr+Jekyll+and+Mr+Hyde+Sheldon+Lewis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinhVVR-RYYV7BtZABgAgWSVzEg_7SykbI-zmV6gAhkbpm9tz6tLkQeXcXfnjCbP6I3mXSfWRPYfIe3fvTImnIGyGS3lsIoOmfbchwSCwnrvPJibQ0pEmJrPLYf6NIEGyYfejChnOPG5PQ/s400/Dr+Jekyll+and+Mr+Hyde+Sheldon+Lewis.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><i><b>Before and after: Sheldon Lewis as Jekyll and Hyde</b></i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Jekyll and Hyde</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> was a low-budget response to the <a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-john-barrymore.html" target="_blank">Paramount production</a> starring John Barrymore, which found it's way into cinemas only a few weeks behind the other, far classier film. It was released by the Pioneer Film Corporation, an undistinguished distribution company operational between 1918 and 1921, and was overseen by producer Louis Meyer, not to be confused with the more famous Louis B. Mayer whose company later became the last 'M' of MGM.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meyer relocated the story to the present day, ostensibly to ward off any accusations of copyright infringement from Paramount but more likely for the purpose of keeping down production costs. Unfortunately, that tight budget shows though on screen, and the whole package can't help but look like the hastily-assembled cash-in that it obviously was. Horror historian Denis Gifford makes the valid claim that Pioneer's production was a throwback to the <a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.com/2011/01/dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-1911.html" target="_blank">James Cruze</a> - starring one-reeler of almost a decade earlier - and during that decade, movies had come a long way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main offender was director and scenarist J. Charles Haydon, who was disappointed enough with the finished film to have his name removed from the credits. You could excuse his by-now customary re-arrangement of the cast (Jekyll's fiancee, previously known as Alice, Agnes or Millicent, is now called Bernice, and is the niece of Dr Lanyon and <i>'chum'</i> of Danvers Carew - who was her father in the Sullivan stage play), but not the staggering lack of imagination that tarnishes the rest of the film.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jekyll's theories seem to hinge on a few vague notions of atheism, prompting much simplistic sermonising in the intertitles. <i>"Henry, Henry," </i>Bernice scolds him at one point, "<i>why do you distress yourself with morbid thoughts - let God's sunshine into your heart."</i> Hyde's motivations aren't much more profound. His crimes amount to little more than petty theft and arson, which result in a few semi-farcical chases with a bumbling police force.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-70y9XTVSnCE/T2ZUxjGBEfI/AAAAAAAAAx4/TBUOiiVYOf0/s1600/Dr+Jekyll+and+Mr+Hyde+Lewis+Hyde+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="165" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-70y9XTVSnCE/T2ZUxjGBEfI/AAAAAAAAAx4/TBUOiiVYOf0/s200/Dr+Jekyll+and+Mr+Hyde+Lewis+Hyde+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Sheldon Lewis grimaces</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sheldon Lewis, known to serial fans as the <i>'Clutching Hand'</i> who imperilled Pearl White in <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Exploits of Elaine</i> (1916), is not particularly inspiring in either of his roles. His Jekyll looks understandably insipid when compared to Barrymore's, and as Hyde he uses a primitive wig-and-fang ensemble, limiting his characterisation to a fairly standard collection of twitches and grimaces. With a few exceptions, (D.W. Griffith's 1926 <i style="font-weight: bold;">Orphans of the Storm</i> for example), Lewis relied heavily on similar cartoon villains for the rest of his career, and was still recycling his Clutching Hand routine in <b><i>The Phantom</i></b> in 1931.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And so we come back to the ending, which is all you need to know about the film in a nutshell. To those of us who find ourselves defending silent movies to unbelievers who routinely find them dull and faintly comical, this <b><i>Jekyll and Hyde</i></b> commits the unpardonable sin of conforming to all the worst stereotypes. The whole <i>'why, it was all just a dream!' </i>cop-out (surely </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">already</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">growing stale by 1920) comes after forty-five minutes of over-the-top acting and simple-minded moralising, and still the point is driven home one more time for good measure. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Bernice - Bernice -",</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> cries Jekyll on awakening from his nightmare,</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> "I believe in God - I have a soul - and - and I still have you!"</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether he still has the audience by this point is another matter entirely.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">End Credits:</span></i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sheldon Lewis (<i>Dr Jekyll / Mr Hyde</i>), Alexander Shannon (<i>Dr Lanyon</i>), Dora Mills Adams (<i>Mrs Lanyon</i>), Harold Forshay (<i>Edward Utterson</i>), Gladys Field (<i>Bernice Lanyon</i>), Leslie Austin (<i>Danvers Carew</i>).</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Scenario:</i> J Charles Haydon, <i>based on the novel by</i> R.L. Stevenson, <i>Producer:</i> Louis Meyer.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pioneer Films, USA</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 46 mins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Availability:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For completists only: <i style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jekyll-Hyde-Region-Import-NTSC/dp/B003N2JL2A/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1332106220&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde</a> </i>(Alpha Video), which also contains the Thanhouser version of 1912.</span></div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-62940388792746466322012-02-06T20:15:00.010+00:002013-08-27T19:30:06.629+01:00The Golem (Der Golem, Wie Er In Die Welt Kam) 1920<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W64uGL6jrUE/UhjlS59VvBI/AAAAAAAABr8/QAwj1CF3JmM/s1600/Golem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W64uGL6jrUE/UhjlS59VvBI/AAAAAAAABr8/QAwj1CF3JmM/s1600/Golem.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgWMaqlnl4VzZhP0ACOu-S8WLvgUD1GBd7ge-3oCT-CrN9AccXBuKzEmkSCRR1KfYBIOtWg85WfYx9BlNp5ZL2ljHT830MwzqB6mYThNGLDVIr43FULJdBVR65UALud3JTOZgart_Kz0/s1600/The+Golem+1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgWMaqlnl4VzZhP0ACOu-S8WLvgUD1GBd7ge-3oCT-CrN9AccXBuKzEmkSCRR1KfYBIOtWg85WfYx9BlNp5ZL2ljHT830MwzqB6mYThNGLDVIr43FULJdBVR65UALud3JTOZgart_Kz0/s400/The+Golem+1920.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="font-weight: bold; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Directors:</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Paul Wegener (with Karl Boese)</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"The word, the terrible life-giving word, I have snatched it from the Dark Powers. Now I shall call the Golem to life..."</span></i></b></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>From the mouth of the demon Astaroth comes the word written in fire that will turn the giant of clay into an instrument of vengeance... Paul Wegener</i> <i>creates a work of cinema alchemy from the raw earth of an ancient Jewish legend . . .</i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Synopsis:</span></i></b><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c2Jg2QV8dcI/TzAnV-0c3WI/AAAAAAAAAnU/PggtDvhXOwg/s1600/Golem+1920+-+Wegener.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="257" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c2Jg2QV8dcI/TzAnV-0c3WI/AAAAAAAAAnU/PggtDvhXOwg/s320/Golem+1920+-+Wegener.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Paul Wegener as the Golem</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">16th-century Prague: the astrologer and mystic Rabbi Loew, <i>"the heart and mouth of the Jews",</i> sees in the stars an omen of disaster for his people. The prophecy is proven to be true when the knight Florian brings a decree from the Emperor ordering the Jews to evacuate the ghetto by the next full moon. Loew persuades Florian to grant him an audience with the Emperor, though Florian pays more attention to the charms of Loew's daughter Miriam.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Loew consults his ancient volumes of necromancy in order to create a Golem, a clay giant that will serve as a protector of his people. With the aid of his assistant Famulus, Loew summons the demon Astaroth, who reveals the secret word -- <i>AEMAET </i>(truth) -- that will breathe life into the creature. The written word is placed within an amulet on the Golem's chest, and his eyes spring open... the Golem obeys Loew's commands until the amulet is removed, and he again becomes an inanimate statue.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Loew sets the Golem to work, chopping firewood and collecting provisions as bystanders look on in astonishment. Shortly, Florian returns to invite Loew to the Emperor's 'Festival of the Roses'. Loew brings the Golem with him, and the Emperor's court is soon charmed by the imposing but benign clay man. Loew attempts to appease the Emperor by manifesting a vision of the biblical patriarchs, but his sorcery is laughed off by the court as a mere conjuring trick. Their mirth angers the gods -- the walls tremble and the palace begins to crumble around them. The Golem holds the ceiling aloft, sparing the lives of those present, and in return the Emperor agrees to allow the Jews to remain in the city.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5VJF40ZA3ZA/Ty8EwckADQI/AAAAAAAAAm0/E5hth7vessE/s1600/Golem+1920+Wegener+and+Salmonova.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5VJF40ZA3ZA/Ty8EwckADQI/AAAAAAAAAm0/E5hth7vessE/s320/Golem+1920+Wegener+and+Salmonova.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Wegener's Golem drags Miriam (Lyda<br />
Salmonova) through the burning ghetto</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Loew returns to the Jewish quarter, he finds that the Golem refuses to obey him: the stars are re-aligning, and the giant is falling under Astaroth's evil influence. He removes the Golem's life-giving amulet, and leaves for the temple to bring his good news to the people. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, Famulus calls on Miriam to bring her to temple, and discovers her in bed with Florian. He unwittingly restores the Golem to life to drive Florian away, but the enraged creature chases the knight to the top of Loew's observatory tower, and throws him to his death. As Famulus escapes, the Golem sets Loew's home ablaze and drags Miriam off into the streets. Famulus rushes to the temple, crying to Loew, <i>"Your house is in flames. The Golem is on the rampage!"... </i></span><br />
<div>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notes:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was during location filming for <i><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.com/2011/01/student-of-prague-den-student-von-prag.html" target="_blank"><b>The Student of Prague</b></a></i> in 1913 that Wegener's fascination with myth and folklore first drew him to the story of the Golem. According to legend, the Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel created the clay being to protect his people from persecution by the Emperor Rudolf II. Statues of both Loew and his creation still stand in Prague today, and rumours persisted well into the twentieth century that the remains of the original Golem were stored in the attic of the city's ancient synagogue.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7vh0OKZyF64/Ty8EdB_TOlI/AAAAAAAAAms/bGof59b7RW0/s1600/Golem+of+Prague.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7vh0OKZyF64/Ty8EdB_TOlI/AAAAAAAAAms/bGof59b7RW0/s200/Golem+of+Prague.jpg" width="155" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The Golem of Prague</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wegener's first version of <i><b>The Golem</b></i> was released in January 1915. Never a man troubled by self-doubt, he produced, directed, co-wrote and starred in the film himself, alongside his colleagues from <i><b>Student of Prague</b></i>, co-writer 'Heinrich' Galeen and co-star Lyda Salmonova, by that time his third (later to become his sixth) wife. The story was updated to the present day, when an antique dealer (Rudolf Bluemner) resurrects the Golem and it falls in love with his daughter Jessica (Salmonova). Spurned by Jessica, the monster goes on a rampage but is destroyed when the life-giving amulet is torn from its chest and it falls from a high tower. How it compares to the 1920 version we can only guess, as there are barely four minutes of the earlier film in existence today.</span><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>The Golem</b></i> was a great success in Germany, and was released America under the title <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Monster of Fate.</i> We can assume that Fate wasn't on the Monster's side as the USA declared war on Germany the same week and the film sank into oblivion. Wegener meanwhile continued to make a speciality of fantasy films, including <b><i>The Yogi</i> </b>(1916), and a series of subjects drawn from German folklore (<i>'marchenfilme'</i>), most notably <i><b>Rubezahl's Wedding</b> </i>(1916) and <i><b>The Pied Piper of Hamelin</b> </i>(1918). He also found time to resurrect the Golem once more with <i><b>The Golem and the Dancer</b></i> in 1917, in which Wegener plays himself, attending a screening of the original <i><b>Golem</b></i> and donning the monster's costume in order to seduce a dancing girl. It is often cited as the first ever horror film sequel.</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CBIOXnSzGG8/TzAd-P2qs5I/AAAAAAAAAm8/VhgqqrMfHIk/s1600/Golem+1915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CBIOXnSzGG8/TzAd-P2qs5I/AAAAAAAAAm8/VhgqqrMfHIk/s320/Golem+1915.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The Golem (1915): Wegener attacks Heinrich<br />
Galeen, as Lyda Salmonova looks on.</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yet Wegener still felt he hadn't done the story justice. Drawing on the experience gained from his <i>marchenfilme</i>, he moored his third Golem film in the murky waters of the middle ages, allowing his imagination free rein in creating a self-contained fantasy world. Contrast Wegener's concept with Gustav Meyrink's 1916 novel <i>'The Golem',</i> a contemporary tale in which the monster was portrated as a kind of personification of the ghetto itself, a spirit of the Jewish community; Wegener's Jews on the other hand were Kabbalists in cloaks and wizard's hats, trafficking in alchemy and sorcery. In his defense, Wegener at least portrayed his Jews in a sympathetic light, a perspective that would have been difficult to imagine in the German cinema of a decade later.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fairytale mood of the film was enhanced by the work of UFA studio's artists and technicians, not least the eye-catching sets designed by Hans Poelzig. His jewish ghetto was a sprawling termite mound of crooked peaks and furrows, like <i><b>Caligari</b></i>'s painted landscapes come to three-dimensional life. <i>"It is not Prague that my friend, the architect Poelzig, has built", </i>Wegener told the <i>'Film Kurier'</i> in 1920, <i>"Not Prague and not any other city. Rather it is a city-poem, a dream, an architectural paraphrase on the theme 'Golem'." </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Poelzig was a mysterious figure with many esoteric theories about his profession, including the idea that every building had its own 'music', which could only be heard by the initiated. He made a strong impression on one of his assistants, a young Austrian named Edgar Ulmer; when Ulmer eventually got to direct a film of his own, <i><b>The Black Cat</b></i> (1934), he named his architect protagonist, played by Boris Karloff, after his old mentor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSskTXxJ5aXfXRoQ6bU80TdFmC3YLeJmEmxOk8CB_nvoyiSHkG0oHVyMYuI0qR6DhvNPlxetvkBm6WXp71JDLsTNrZbJjgBGh18wfPmnSHv0MQmPHcPVYeSdoKk-Fm1nHsEWuXKjX82Y/s1600/Golem+1920+-+Jewish+Ghetto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSskTXxJ5aXfXRoQ6bU80TdFmC3YLeJmEmxOk8CB_nvoyiSHkG0oHVyMYuI0qR6DhvNPlxetvkBm6WXp71JDLsTNrZbJjgBGh18wfPmnSHv0MQmPHcPVYeSdoKk-Fm1nHsEWuXKjX82Y/s320/Golem+1920+-+Jewish+Ghetto.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Hans Poelzig's ghetto set</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The critics were impressed, too. Wegener was already a respected figure in Europe, and thanks to the enthusiastic welcome given to <i><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.com/2012/01/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-das-kabinet-des.html" target="_blank"><b>The Cabinet of Dr Caligari</b></a></i> a few months earlier, the Americans were primed for arty European fantasy in a similar vein. A review in the <i>New York Times </i>was typical; <i>"The photoplay gives the impression of some fabulous old tale of strange people in a strange world, fascinating, exciting to the imagination, and yet so unfamiliar in all its aspects that it always seems remote, elusive even, when one would like to get closer to its meaning." </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like Lugosi's Dracula or Karloff's Frankenstein Monster, the Golem is a role that Wegener, a perfect fit with his bulky frame and Mount Rushmore face, can claim as his own. Presumably satisfied with his work this time around, he at last laid his man of clay to rest and moved on to another <i>marchenfilme,</i> <b style="font-style: italic;">The Lost Shadow </b>(1921)<i>, </i>a tale of Hoffman reprising <i><b>Student of Prague</b></i>'s deal with the devil. The monster itself was revived a year later for Sascha-Film in Austria for <i><b>The Golem's Last Adventure</b>, </i>which of course it wasn't. French director Julien Duvivier remade the story again in 1936, and then 20th-century revival <i style="font-weight: bold;">It</i> menaced Roddy McDowell in 1967.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More important than these later efforts is the lasting effect that <i><b>The Golem</b> </i>would have on the next generation of film directors. It's been well documented that Wegener's performance was an inspiration for James Whale's <i>Frankenstein</i>. Whale, Edgar Ulmer and Karl Freund (<i><b>The Golem</b></i>'s cinematographer),<i> </i>whose classic monsters came to life through learning the lessons of Wegener and his expressionist contemporaries, all owe this film a great debt.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Golem, your task is done. Become lifeless clay once again, lest the Dark Power seek vengeance..."</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">End Credits:</span></i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paul Wegener (<i>'A strange creature, named</i> The Golem<i>'</i>), Albert Steinruck (<i>Rabbi Loew</i>), Lyda Salmonova (<i>Miriam, the Rabbi's daughter</i>), Ernst Deutsch (<i>Famulus</i>), Hanss Sturm (<i>Rabbi Jehuda</i>), Lothar Muthel (<i>Florian, a knight</i>), Otto Gebuhr (<i>The Emperor</i>), Max Kronert (<i>The Temple Beadle</i>), Dore Paetzoid (<i>the Emperor's Mistress</i>), Greta Schroeder (<i>Maiden with Rose</i>), Loni Nest (<i>Little Girl</i>).</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Screenplay:</i> Paul Wegener and Henrik Galeen, <i>Camera:</i> Karl Freund, <i>Camera Assistant</i> Robert Baberske, <i>Art Direction:</i> Hans Richter, <i>Sets</i>: Hans Poelzig, <i>Costumes:</i> Rochus Gleise, <i>Music Score</i>: Hans Landsberger, <i>Producer</i>: Paul Davidson.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Union-Film, Germany</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 85 mins.</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Availability:</span></i></b><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Golem-Restored-Authorized-Paul-Wegener/dp/B00006JMQH/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1328557536&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Golem (Kino Video)</span></a></div>
</div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-22189078782229009722012-01-30T23:49:00.091+00:002013-08-24T23:10:08.283+01:00Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (John Barrymore) 1920<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HnVpsjbMtCk/UhjlaRcPYYI/AAAAAAAABsE/PNFtxfuX4r0/s1600/Dr+Jekyll+Barrymore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HnVpsjbMtCk/UhjlaRcPYYI/AAAAAAAABsE/PNFtxfuX4r0/s1600/Dr+Jekyll+Barrymore.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nTOafbfCIKI/Txxh45OVWKI/AAAAAAAAAkM/D9Ggb1kV1rE/s1600/Dr+Jekyll+%2526+Mr+Hyde+Barrymore+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nTOafbfCIKI/Txxh45OVWKI/AAAAAAAAAkM/D9Ggb1kV1rE/s400/Dr+Jekyll+%2526+Mr+Hyde+Barrymore+1.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: start;"><b><i>Director:</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"> John S. Robertson</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"For some time, Jekyll renounced the dark indulgences of Hyde -- until in an hour of weakness, the demon, long caged, burst forth more malignant than before."</span></i></b></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<i>And so we call in at number 9 Barnsbury Road, Soho for an adventure in sin and degradation from the evil Edward Hyde!... "The Great Profile" John Barrymore brings Jekyll and his second self to life in this prestige production distributed by Paramount Pictures. </i></div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>Synopsis:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr Jekyll,<i>"idealist and philanthropist"</i>, pursues his researches in medicine when not treating London's poor in the free clinic he runs entirely at his own expense. One night there is a social engagement at the home of Sir George Carew, father of Jekyll's fiancée Millicent. Sir George is sceptical of Jekyll's saintly reputation, and gently mocks his principles; <i>"Your really strong man fears nothing. It is the weak one who is afraid of -- experience"</i>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Later that night, Carew takes the men to a music hall where Jekyll catches the eye of an exotic dancer named Gina. Carew arranges an introduction, but the dashing young doctor makes his excuses and leaves. Even so, Carew's taunts have left their mark on Jekyll: he becomes fascinated by the idea that man's evil nature could be wholly separated from the good. <i>"Think what it would mean!"</i> he tells his friend Lanyon,<i> "To yield to every evil impulse - yet leave the soul untouched!"</i> Jekyll withdraws to his laboratory: a potion is concocted, and soon his experiments bear fruit in the form of his hideous alter-ego, Edward Hyde.</span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuhogtucXx_fb_HpCoXFT7YZQU7LAzmNNl2pXe8pfqbOllWx7xSLIl811r6COpWZcFgyikSpMwgUSQt7aoPW1hsSTQ44VxDLgI3b6blsTjxFojL-rPqtbDdx3PTJs-KM0PtyX5N_HxVgI/s1600/Dr+Jekyll+and+Mr+Hyde+Barrymore.jpg" style="clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuhogtucXx_fb_HpCoXFT7YZQU7LAzmNNl2pXe8pfqbOllWx7xSLIl811r6COpWZcFgyikSpMwgUSQt7aoPW1hsSTQ44VxDLgI3b6blsTjxFojL-rPqtbDdx3PTJs-KM0PtyX5N_HxVgI/s320/Dr+Jekyll+and+Mr+Hyde+Barrymore.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Hyde and the music hall proprietor<br />
(Louis Wollheim)</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hyde finds lodgings in a seedy Soho backstreet, and returns to the music hall to claim Gina for himself. But his appetite for debauchery is too strong and he soon tires of her. He throws her out on the streets, trolling the gin mills and opium dens in search of new diversions and other women. The next time he comes across Gina she is a haggard ruin; he responds to her sorry state with cruel mockery.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, Jekyll's friends are growing concerned about his long unexplained absences, and about Hyde's influence over his affairs. Millicent confesses to her father that she hasn't heard anything from her fiancée for days, and Sir George resolves to hold Jekyll to account for his actions. He and Lanyon later cross paths with Hyde, preventing him from violently attacking a small boy who got in his way. Their suspicions grow deeper when Hyde produces a cheque in recompense that bears Jekyll's signature.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sir George finally confronts Jekyll in his laboratory, demanding an explanation. Jekyll refuses, saying;<i> "What right have you to question me - you, who first tempted me?"</i> As Sir George looks on in horror, Jekyll transforms into Hyde before his eyes. He tries to escape, but is overpowered by Hyde and bludgeoned to death.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mt5yg22Vefc/T234UBEme5I/AAAAAAAAA2k/W8kWg_6Okog/s1600/Dr+Jekyll+and+Mr+Hyde+-+Hyde+kills+Carew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mt5yg22Vefc/T234UBEme5I/AAAAAAAAA2k/W8kWg_6Okog/s200/Dr+Jekyll+and+Mr+Hyde+-+Hyde+kills+Carew.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Hyde, over Sir George's<br />
dead body</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lanyon discovers the body. Jekyll's colleagues pursue Hyde back to his lodgings in Barnsbury Road, but he evades capture by returning to Jekyll's house and consuming the transforming potion. Jekyll is reunited with Millicent, but his promises of devotion ring hollow; he knows that it is only a matter of time before Hyde once again gains control...</span><br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notes:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The transformation scene had been the centrepiece of any actor's portrayal of Jekyll and Hyde ever since Richard Mansfield first astonished theatregoers with his before-your-very-eyes metamorphosis in T.R. Sullivan's 1887 play. Some found Mansfield's homicidal Hyde a bit too astonishing: in a perverse tribute to his skill, he was for a time suspected of the Jack the Ripper murders by audience members who refused to believe that any sane man could fake psychosis so convincingly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John Barrymore's big scene comes half an hour into the 1920 film version. Alone in his laboratory, Barrymore's handsome Dr Jekyll raises a glass vial to his lips and hesitantly swallows its contents. Immediately he stiffens, clawing at his throat with an expression of mingled pain and fear. His hair falls over his face as he convulses violently, doubled up in agony. When he raises his head, the Great Profile is twisted into Hyde's leering countenance. Only then does the camera start to work it's own magic. It cuts away to show Hyde's elongating fingers, then returns to a face rendered more hideous by the attentions of the make-up man.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zikkRpRjSZo/T234MBCzVcI/AAAAAAAAA2U/lNaeAUAO05c/s1600/Dr+Jekyll+%2526+Mr+Hyde+Barrymore+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zikkRpRjSZo/T234MBCzVcI/AAAAAAAAA2U/lNaeAUAO05c/s320/Dr+Jekyll+%2526+Mr+Hyde+Barrymore+2.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By 1920 there had already been five screen versions of the Jekyll and Hyde story, but Barrymore's efforts surpassed them all. He was at the time the most prominent member of America's foremost acting dynasty, one that continues to the present day with his granddaughter Drew. Respected equally on stage and screen, he performed on both concurrently -- Jekyll and Hyde was shot during the day while Barrymore appeared as Richard III by night, an exhausting schedule that reportedly brought him to the verge of a nervous breakdown.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Players-Lasky's adaptation was put together in their Long Island studios with a scenario expanded to six reels and production values increased to match. The good-girl / bad-girl female leads invented by Sullivan for his stage play (named Millicent and Gina this time around) were allowed more screen time than before, offering insight into Jekyll's motivations and adding a lecherous tone to Hyde's formerly one-dimensional villainy. This sexual subtext is underlined by frequent borrowings from Oscar Wilde's <i>'The Picture of Dorian Gray'</i>. Several of Wilde's epigrams appear as intertitles, and the rakish Sir George Carew comes across as a thinly-disguised clone of <i>Dorian</i>'s Lord Henry Wotton.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WisvPcegt3c/T234PX1L0GI/AAAAAAAAA2c/E-tjDjVXxaQ/s1600/Nita+Naldi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WisvPcegt3c/T234PX1L0GI/AAAAAAAAA2c/E-tjDjVXxaQ/s320/Nita+Naldi.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Nita Naldi</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Worthy of note here is the bad-girl half of the pair, ex-Zeigfeld Girl Nita Naldi in her first major role, two years before she set the screen on fire alongside Valentino in <b><i>Blood and Sand</i></b>. Naldi's earthy sex appeal as the <i>"fimous h'Italian dancer"</i> Gina far outshines the pretty but bland Millicent (Martha Mansfield), and her scenes alongside the lecherous Hyde are some of the film's best.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Barrymore's Hyde mostly avoids the histrionics of his cinematic predecessors (see the1913 </span><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.com/2011/01/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-1913.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">King Baggott version</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for details). He's not the simian brute of earlier (and later) films, but a stealthy arachnid, menacingly motionless until stimulated into sudden outbursts of violence. And if the scuttling walk and spindly fingers were not enough of a clue to Hyde's true nature, viewers are referred to the dream sequence late in the film, when a gigantic spider with Hyde's face crawls onto the sleeping Jekyll's bed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On its release at New York's Rivoli Theatre in March 1920, the critics lavished the film and its leading man with praise. The New York Times called Barrymore's performance <i>"one of pure motion picture pantomime on as high a level as has ever been attained by anyone"</i>. Variety called it <i>"a fine, dignified production"</i>, despite labelling the story <i>"ridiculous, by modern standards"</i>. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another reviewer enthused, <i>"one leaves the theatre with the belief that motion pictures are on the verge of a new era"</i>, and perhaps he had a point. </span><br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">End Credits:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John Barrymore (<i>Dr Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde</i>), Brandon Hurst (<i>Sir George Carew</i>), Martha Mansfield (<i>Millicent Carew</i>), Charles Lane (<i>Dr Richard Lanyon</i>), Nita Naldi (<i>Gina</i>), J. Malcolm Dunn (<i>John Utterson</i>), Cecil Clovelly (<i>Edward Enfield</i>), George Stevens (<i>Poole</i>), Louis Wolheim (<i>Music Hall Owner</i>), Julia Hurley (<i>Hyde's Landlady</i>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Producer:</i> Adolph Zukor, <i>Scenario:</i> Clara S. Beranger, <i>Art Direction:</i> Robert M. Haas (<i>architecture</i>) and Charles O. Seessel (<i>decorations</i>), <i>Cinematography:</i> Roy Overbaugh, <i>Assistant Director:</i> Shaw Lovett. <i>Based on the novel 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' by</i> RL Stevenson, <i>and the play adapted by</i> Thomas Sullivan.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Famous Players-Lasky, USA</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running Time 79 mins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>Availability:</i></b></span><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jekyll-Hyde-DVD-Region-NTSC/dp/B00005O5CF/ref=sr_1_3?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1327966596&sr=1-3" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Kino Video)</a> </div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-55476905347675658592012-01-08T22:46:00.705+00:002013-08-24T23:03:36.432+01:00The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Das Kabinett Des Dr Caligari) 1920<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5WHix53GfM8/Uhktn2YUwxI/AAAAAAAABxk/1AH50rxiOF8/s1600/Cabinet+Caligari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5WHix53GfM8/Uhktn2YUwxI/AAAAAAAABxk/1AH50rxiOF8/s1600/Cabinet+Caligari.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EMT2ypoQ_ds/TwopWwbTHUI/AAAAAAAAAic/HStpGeVmUDs/s1600/Cabinet+of+Dr+Caligari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EMT2ypoQ_ds/TwopWwbTHUI/AAAAAAAAAic/HStpGeVmUDs/s400/Cabinet+of+Dr+Caligari.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: start;">Director: </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Robert Wiene</span></div>
<br />
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>"You Will Become Caligari!"</i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Devil's Manor proudly presents a horror classic and one of the best-known films of the silent era. When darkness falls on the town of Holstenwall and the frantic motion of the Carnival grows still, the sleeper walks, bringing death's cold touch at the bidding of his master Caligari... </span></i></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Synopsis:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fair comes to Holstenwall. The hypnotist Dr Caligari visits the town clerk, seeking a permit to allow him to exhibit his attraction: Cesare, a somnambulist with oracular abilities. The clerk offends Caligari with his brusque manner ... and is found stabbed to death in his room the very next morning...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following evening, two students, Francis and Alan, visit the fair. Both are in love with a girl named Jane, though they agree to remain friends whichever one of them she ultimately chooses. They join the crowd in Caligari's tent, where Alan asks Cesare to predict how long he will live. Cesare's answer is chillingly brief; <i>"Until dawn." </i>That night, Alan is murdered in his bed by an unknown assailant. A possible culprit is arrested, though Francis suspects Caligari, and enlists Jane's father to help investigate. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEh89siW4jWq401kLFPFTkNQOFCeXqL8p_dhzr2adbWKinBf-PCovZ80Bxtn8Zl0QAkhnSFUT092rN4YgFbSn6QyUq9YUmghhDKjWXECNgcz3PD67bp81YJj2np0Tywmguglg6jJ6Elxs/s1600/Cabinet+of+Dr+Caligari+-+Cesare+attacks+Jane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEh89siW4jWq401kLFPFTkNQOFCeXqL8p_dhzr2adbWKinBf-PCovZ80Bxtn8Zl0QAkhnSFUT092rN4YgFbSn6QyUq9YUmghhDKjWXECNgcz3PD67bp81YJj2np0Tywmguglg6jJ6Elxs/s320/Cabinet+of+Dr+Caligari+-+Cesare+attacks+Jane.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Cesare (Conrad Veidt) attacks Jane<br />
(Lil Dagover)</i></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Later, while Francis is spying on Caligari's quarters, Cesare breaks into Jane's bedroom. They struggle, and she collapses in a faint. Unable or unwilling to kill her, he instead carries her off across the jagged rooftops. Chased by a mob, he is forced to abandon her, and escapes to the fields outside the town where he dies of exhaustion. Francis now knows that Caligari - who had spent all night watching over a decoy dummy of Cesare - is the true culprit. Caligari escapes, but Francis tracks him to a nearby insane asylum and is horrified to discover that he is not an inmate but the asylum's head.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The doctor's obsession with the legend of an 18th-century mystic named Caligari and his murderous sleepwalker led him to assume the man's identity, swearing, <i>"I will become Caligari!" </i>The luckless Cesare, a catatonic patient, is forced to kill at his bidding. When Cesare's body is discovered, Francis has him brought to the asylum. The sight of his lifeless servant drives Caligari is into a violent rage: clearly insane, he is wrestled into a strait-jacket and locked away in one of his own cells.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notes:</span></i></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Part 1: "Spirits surround us on every side..." </span></i></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Caligari</b></i> brought a new kind of nightmare to the cinema screen. Its co-author, Hans Janowitz, described his part in its creation as <i>"the father who planted the seed"</i>, and that of his partner Carl Mayer as <i>"the mother who conceived and ripened it"</i>. It was a nightmare grown to maturity through a terrible war which had seen millions of young men subjected to terrible atrocities, and which had been conceived by a vile sex crime committed in the dark shadows of a carnival.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gjljdxQ7Rzs/TxHbh1_s5JI/AAAAAAAAAjE/jF9J4j01l3k/s1600/Cabinet+of+Dr+Caligari+-+Krauss+%2526+Veidt+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gjljdxQ7Rzs/TxHbh1_s5JI/AAAAAAAAAjE/jF9J4j01l3k/s320/Cabinet+of+Dr+Caligari+-+Krauss+%2526+Veidt+2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>Caligari (Werner Krauss) enlists his protege</i></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1913: Janowitz, a young Prague-born poet, had been wandering through a fair on Hamburg's Reeperbahn in search of a pretty girl who had caught his eye. Following the sound of laughter to a nearby park, he saw a respectable-looking middle-aged <i>bourgeois</i> disappearing into the undergrowth ... and the next day, read of a young girl raped and murdered on that very spot. He attended the girl's funeral a few days later and again caught a glimpse of the mysterious middle-aged man. Janowitz was convinced he had seen the killer and was haunted by thoughts of countless murderers roaming the city streets undetected...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Janowitz's subsequent wartime experiences did little to improve his opinion of humanity. He left the infantry a committed pacifist with a fierce hatred of authority. He settled in Berlin and befriended an eccentric Austrian Jew named Carl Mayer. Mayer's father had committed suicide when he was only sixteen, and since then the young Carl had been scraping a living as an artist and theatrical bit player. During the war, Mayer had suffered humiliating mental examinations by a high-ranking military psychiatrist and, like Janowitz, returned to civilian life an embittered man, deeply distrustful of those in power.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The two men shared a love of cinema, particularly the fantastic films of Paul Wegener, and in it recognised a way to express their revolutionary ideas. Janowitz wrote that film <i>"might lend itself to powerful poetic revelations"</i>,<i> </i>but those revelations failed to find expression until Mayer took them back to the carnival. On the Kantstrasse they saw a sideshow called "Man Or Machine" featuring a strongman who acted as if in a kind of hypnotic trance. As Janowitz later recalled, <i>“he accompanied his feats with utterances which affected the spellbound spectators as pregnant forebodings”.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was all the two men needed. Their story was concocted that very night, and a manuscript was completed in six weeks. A volume of Stendahl's letters provided the final missing piece: a Milanese army officer who gave their protagonist a name. <i>Caligari</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Part 2:"Now I shall unravel the psychiatric secrets of this Caligari!"</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mayer and Janowitz couldn't believe their luck when noted producer Erich Pommer agreed to purchase their debut screenplay for Decla-Bioscop. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to film historian Carlos Clarens, th</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">e proud parents handed over their baby for the equivalent of only $200. Pommer saw artistic potential -- and therefore, overseas sales -- in the </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"unusual, if not subversive" </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">script, but its authors were outraged at the eventual treatment is was to receive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pDFIA33oJ5s/TxHbhEBkDJI/AAAAAAAAAi8/ADHze6nwbCw/s1600/Cabinet+of+Dr+Caligari+-+Krauss+%2526+Veidt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="253" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pDFIA33oJ5s/TxHbhEBkDJI/AAAAAAAAAi8/ADHze6nwbCw/s320/Cabinet+of+Dr+Caligari+-+Krauss+%2526+Veidt.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pommer's first choice for director, Fritz Lang, was busy with his crime serial <i><b>The Spiders</b> </i>at the time, but he recommended Robert Wiene as a replacement. A cast was assembled: Werner Krauss, under contract to Decla, was Caligari, and his old colleague from the <i>Deusches Theatre</i> Conrad Veidt wore the black leotard of his sleepwalking servant Cesare. Mayer's girlfriend Gilda Langer was suggested for the role which ultimately went to Lil Dagover, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">again at Lang's suggestion</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Frederich Feher took the lead as Francis; after Robert Wiene's death, he also attempted to take the credit for most of the film's direction.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The authors' initial suggestion of Czech painter Alfred Kubin as designer was overruled by Pommer, who opted for three men from the art group <i>Der Sturm</i>. Hermann Warm and Walter Rohrig created the crazily distorted sets and Walter Riemann the costumes, an arrangement that appealed to Pommer for economic as well as aesthetic reasons. Painted light and shadow would save a lot of electricity, after all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During filming, a change in the script suggested by either Wiene or Lang (depending who you believe) completely undermined the subversive, anti-authoritarian tone of the story summarised above. A prologue and epilogue were added which revealed the entire narrative as the paranoid delusion of Francis, who is in reality a patient of Werner Krauss' kindly asylum director. As critic Siegfried Kracauer commented, <i>"A revolutionary film was thus turned into a conformist one - following the much-used pattern of declaring some normal but troublesome individual insane and sending him to a lunatic asylum."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mayer and Janowitz were outraged. Four years of wartime madness had informed their cautionary tale of unrestrained authority, which now had been gelded with an ending that timidly restored the status quo. Yet with the benefit of hindsight, the authors are at least partly vindicated. We can see that the reassuring explanation isn't all that reassuring; 'Normality' is represented by the ravings of the insane, played out before the same distorted backdrops as the madman's tale we have just watched. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of the many individuals who contributed to the making of <i><b>Caligari</b></i>, posterity has come to recognise Mayer and Janowitz as the ones who made it such a unique experience. The interest generated by their creation in the years following it's release have ensured that their voices have at last been heard, and their message has been kept alive for each successive generation that experiences their twisted carnival nightmare.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Part 3: "In the grip of an obsession"</span></i></b> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9NYDPTo8xl4/TxIOOvqCl4I/AAAAAAAAAjU/g-1XZif3K0A/s1600/Cabinet+of+Dr+Caligari+%2528Teaser%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9NYDPTo8xl4/TxIOOvqCl4I/AAAAAAAAAjU/g-1XZif3K0A/s320/Cabinet+of+Dr+Caligari+%2528Teaser%2529.jpg" width="230" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Pre-release publicity poster</span></i></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Caligari</i>'s notoriety grew gradually following its Berlin opening in February 1920. The critics were impressed, and the film became an immediate hit, thanks to a clever ad campaign (<i>left</i>) by Pommer which insisted "<i>You will become Caligari!"</i> Unfortunately, the film's artistic intentions and antiwar sentiments were mostly lost on a public which assumed that the distorted visuals represented the world seen through a madman's eyes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The campaign picked up steam. The French lifted the wartime ban on German films to allow <i>Caligari</i> to be screened, and gushing critics coined the word '<i>Caligarisme</i>' to describe the film's singular style when it opened in Paris. British distributors described a story told <i>"in somewhat the same manner in which an artist transfers his own emotions upon the canvas - in vivid and unusual strokes"</i>, adding:<i> "...you will immediately feel terror in the movements of that floating grotesque".</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it was when <i>Caligari</i> reached New York in April 1921 that its reputation was cemented. US critics weary of insipid home-grown efforts enthused that <i>"the artist has slipped into this crude phantasmagoria</i> [the cinema] <i>and begun to create"</i>. Critic Kenneth MacGowan called it <i>"the most extraordinary production yet seen". </i>Many commentators mistakenly labelled the film as 'cubist', and the film was not universally praised. Variety sniffed: <i>"It may well catch the popular fancy, but it is morbid. Continental creations usually are."</i> Either way, it made a strong impression on the public.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Los Angeles premiere in May was disrupted by rioting protesters, mostly war veterans incensed that US dollars were being fed into the pockets of German film producers. Some sections of the audience hooted derisively at screenings, unimpressed by the film's "modern art" trappings and no doubt fired up by an anti-German smear campaign generated by William Randolph Hearst's newspapers. <i><b>Caligari</b></i> appeared in countless magazine articles, and even works of fiction. According to Carlos Clarens, <i>"it remained the most talked-about film of the twenties until the advent of </i>Battleship Potemkin<i>"</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhIfeF58ZK33d6jNuyIxuDL0ZmjCsDTbAlZpEydZH0hokV2PIUNuaj8XjkMNAzloJWOXWM76gvtYumcY23yAfrUh28XqmAFYHuVoLrZvY3NiL4iBcIFDYhJm2Tmu3WWX-FTEldjBqhsTg/s1600/Cabinet+of+Dr+Caligari+%2528Arpke%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhIfeF58ZK33d6jNuyIxuDL0ZmjCsDTbAlZpEydZH0hokV2PIUNuaj8XjkMNAzloJWOXWM76gvtYumcY23yAfrUh28XqmAFYHuVoLrZvY3NiL4iBcIFDYhJm2Tmu3WWX-FTEldjBqhsTg/s320/Cabinet+of+Dr+Caligari+%2528Arpke%2529.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><i><b>Original German one-sheet poster</b></i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rightly revered nowadays as a classic, its expected influence on the course of film making never materialised. There were a few imitations, including Weine's follow-up <i><b>Genuine</b></i>, but <i><b>Caligari</b> </i>was pretty much an artistic dead end. Its more immediate effect was to make a successful break away from realism, in the process opening the doors for the German expressionist movement.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The<i> Schauerfilme</i> (shudder film) genre explored by Paul Wegener and others in the last decade would flourish after </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Caligari</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">; Wegener himself would be inspired to return to </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.com/2012/02/golem-der-golem-wie-er-in-die-welt-kam.html" target="_blank">The Golem</a></b>,</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Hans Janowitz wrote FW Murnau's Jekyll and Hyde adaptation </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic;">Der Januskopf </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1920)</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and studios across Europe began to see the viability of films whose main purpose was to run a shudder down an audience's spine. But as nightmares go, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Caligari</b> </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">remains unique even after all these years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Background information taken from <i>'From Caligari To Hitler - A Psychological History of the German Film' </i>by Siegfried Kracauer and <i>'The Monster Show'</i> by David J Skal.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">End Credits:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Werner Krauss (</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr Caligari</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">), Conrad Veidt (Cesare), Freidrich Feher (</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Francis</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">), Lil Dagover (</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jane Olsen</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">), Hans Heinrich von Twardowski (</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alan</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">), Rudolf Lettinger (</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr Olsen</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">), Rudolf Klein-Rogge (</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Criminal</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">), Hans Lanser-Rudolf (</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Old Man</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">), Henri Peters-Arnolds (</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Young Doctor</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">), Ludwig Rex (</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Murderer</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">), Elsa Wagner (</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Landlady</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Screenplay:</i> Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer, <i>Producer:</i> Erich Pommer, Rudolf Meinert, <i>Cinematography:</i> Willy Hameister, <i>Production design: </i>Walter Riemann <i>(Costumes)</i>, Hermann Warm and Walter Rohrig <i>(Set Design)</i>, <i>Assistant Director:</i> Rochus Gleise </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Decla-Film, Berlin</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running Time 72 mins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Availability:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recommended is the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cabinet-Dr-Caligari-DVD-US/dp/6305075492/ref=sr_1_10?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1326583042&sr=1-10" target="_blank">Image Entertainment</a> edition with <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cabinet-Caligari-Timothy-Olympia-Chamber/dp/B000005TAO/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1326583086&sr=1-3" target="_blank">soundtrack</a> by Timothy Brock.</span>Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-68648066841858403502011-12-30T23:21:00.007+00:002013-08-24T22:48:20.257+01:00The Devil's Church (Die Teufelskirche) 1919<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W4VKUCGquAw/UhjmC0WL8eI/AAAAAAAABsU/2oqmQXHGsDg/s1600/Devil's+Church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W4VKUCGquAw/UhjmC0WL8eI/AAAAAAAABsU/2oqmQXHGsDg/s1600/Devil's+Church.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pa0xqRhYrgA/Tvs7pWJrrII/AAAAAAAAAg4/3cKWW-hsZ-s/s1600/Devil%2527s+Church+-+Paul+Rehkopf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pa0xqRhYrgA/Tvs7pWJrrII/AAAAAAAAAg4/3cKWW-hsZ-s/s400/Devil%2527s+Church+-+Paul+Rehkopf.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="font-weight: bold; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Director:</span> </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Hans Mierendorff</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>"The lord has forced the Evil One to build Him the temple! Come - follow me - let us cleanse the temple!"</b></i></span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Congregation, please be seated, and pray silence for today's sermon! Pastor Lucifer has a few choice words to say about all your old favourites; greed, hypocrisy, deceit ... and of course, lust. "A Thunderstorm Dream in a Prologue and Four Acts" describes Satan's plan to bring three peasant villages to ruin with the help of a peasant farmer's wife...</span></i></div>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Synopsis:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Asmus, a poor farmer, dreams that the Devil comes to his village in the guise of a tinker. The village church, shared by three parishes, has burnt down. As the parish council leaders debate where the new church will stand, the 'tinker' intervenes, offering a special fireproof stone to help with the construction. The council leaders see this as a sign from God, and it is eventually decreed that Asmus' farm, which occupies the central spot between the three parishes, will be the site of the new church.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Asmus refuses to hand over his land. While he is out at work, the Devil seduces his wife Ane. <i>"Listen!"</i>, he tells her, <i>"Your kettle is singing -- it is humming the old song of domestic bliss ... l</i><i>et it boil over a little - but silently and secretly, like a secret love no-one else knows about." </i>Ane begs the 'tinker' for the child her husband cannot give her, and he whisks her away to the forest. Meanwhile, the kettle does indeed boil over, and the farmhouse catches fire. Asmus returns home to see the blaze as Ane tells him this is the "wrath of God" and dances joyfully in the light of the flames.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WkFmT39wIPM/Tv5DOPAfaII/AAAAAAAAAho/fyhUki1PLXI/s1600/Devil%2527s+Church+-+Paul+Rehkopf+%2526+Agnes+Straub.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WkFmT39wIPM/Tv5DOPAfaII/AAAAAAAAAho/fyhUki1PLXI/s320/Devil%2527s+Church+-+Paul+Rehkopf+%2526+Agnes+Straub.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Paul Rehkopf tells Agnes Straub how a<br />
watched pot never boils</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A shaken Asmus gives his land away to the parish for free, but the leaders squabble over the land rights, ultimately refusing to build the church. The despairing Pastor is visited by the Devil, who offers to build the church himself, but tells him that should the Pastor deny God before the altar, he and the church<i> "...are mine, with everything that lives and breathes in it!"</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The pastor accepts the challenge. The new church miraculously appears overnight, and the pastor leads his congregation to drive out the Evil One. But the Devil will not be ousted so easily. Ane confronts the pastor with a few accusations of her own, and a bearded stranger bearing a shepherd's crook brings about a final reckoning for the souls that hang in the balance...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notes:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Die Teufelskirche</b>, </i>produced by the splendidly-named independent company Lucifer Film, has a lot in common with <i><b><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.com/2011/12/satan-triumphant-satana-likuyushchiy.html" target="_blank">Satan Triumphant</a></b></i>, the 1917 Russian opus discussed on these pages a while ago. In both films, the church is at the centre of my infernal employer's diabolical schemes, and through it he undermines the community it serves. Sadly, this film is also incomplete, missing all of the prologue and the first act. But at least we get to see how it ends.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As in the earlier film, sex looms large - mostly in the person of Ane, an evident weak link who makes the leap from faithful farmer's wife to cocky village strumpet in no time at all. Agnes Straub as Ane gives a full-blooded performance here. The seduction scenes still carry a charge, though sensitive viewers may take exception to the way female sexuality is seen as a destructive force - <i>q.v</i>. the blatantly sexual metaphor of the boiling kettle which causes the farmer's house to burn down. Those same sensitive viewers may also worry about the way Ane seems to be </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">constantly</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on the verge of falling out of her dress. Devilish!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sex is just a means to an end, though. More mileage is derived from the theological traps set throughout the film, where Satan's most heinous schemes are justified as acts of God by the credulous villagers. There's the burning farmhouse, which Ane proclaims is God's punishment to her husband for refusing to offer his land to the community. There's the pastor's sinful desire for Ane, which he excuses by entering a plea of "only human", adding that Christ died to redeem them all - therefore, <i>"There is no sin!" </i>In fact, there's a lot here that still seems very pertinent today in an age of greedy televangelists and wayward Catholic priests...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SgQTNU8MvCQ/T2ZaSqw18zI/AAAAAAAAA1I/fxf1_XCEw9A/s1600/Devil's+Church+-+Pastor's+Confession.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SgQTNU8MvCQ/T2ZaSqw18zI/AAAAAAAAA1I/fxf1_XCEw9A/s320/Devil's+Church+-+Pastor's+Confession.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The Pastor's confession: L-R Paul Rehkopf,<br />
Hans Mierendorff, Agnes Straub, Otto Werther</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Things come to a head in the final act, set entirely inside the eponymous church. It's a theological showdown in which God himself makes a surprising guest appearance and the assembled cast fling insults and accusations at each other with aplomb. It's a rousing finale, and one can even excuse the familiar <i>'why,-it-was-all-just-a-dream' </i>conclusion, as we the audience had been aware of it as a set-up from the beginning. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a shame, as Satan (who, in the person of Paul Rehkopf, looks a lot like TV horror host Zacherle) had for once successfully damned the souls of the entire cast, thanks to the credulity of Pastor Hans Mierendorff (late of <i><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.com/2011/10/hilde-warren-death-hilde-warren-und-der.html" target="_blank"><b>Hilde Warren and Death</b></a>, </i>in his sole feature as director) and the bountiful bosom of Agnes Straub. Sadly, it seems one cannot always depend on even the most sincere of directors to provide a happy ending.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">End Credits:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hans Mierendorff (<i>Pastor</i>), Otto Werther (<i>Asmus</i>), Agnes Straub (<i>Ane</i>), Paul Rehkopf (<i>The Devil</i>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Writer: </i>Adolf Paul,<i> Assistant Director: </i> Freidrich Degener.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lucifer-Film, Berlin</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 55 mins.</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Availability:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not available commercially. Sinners are advised to view online or to seek out Ebay dealers.</span>Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-22836806708087953752011-09-12T22:35:00.013+01:002013-08-27T19:31:28.768+01:00Uncanny Tales (Unheimliche Geschichten) 1919<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LpSG7X9PioU/UhjmMCv6gtI/AAAAAAAABsc/NKTWSUknNEA/s1600/Uncanny+Tales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LpSG7X9PioU/UhjmMCv6gtI/AAAAAAAABsc/NKTWSUknNEA/s1600/Uncanny+Tales.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PohsiUh-zBM/TmPpOqmCVAI/AAAAAAAAAO0/8JdGUYBa_Cw/s1600/Unheimliche+Geschichten.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PohsiUh-zBM/TmPpOqmCVAI/AAAAAAAAAO0/8JdGUYBa_Cw/s400/Unheimliche+Geschichten.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; text-align: start;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Director:</span></i> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Richard Oswald</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“If it is totally silent we can summon the spirits... Are you afraid?”</span></i></b></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Conrad Veidt stars in a rarely-seen, tongue-in-cheek anthology of five macabre tales. Death, the Devil and the Harlot come to life in an empty bookshop, to read of mysterious disappearances, fiendish traps and murder most foul...</span></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>Synopsis</i></b>:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An antiquarian bookseller closes his shop for the night. On the walls hang portraits of Death, the Devil and a Harlot, which come to life and roam around the empty shop, amusing themselves by reading macabre tales from the bookseller’s dusty shelves…</span><br />
<i style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Apparition</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A stranger rescues a young woman when her former husband attacks her. She explains that he is insane and refuses to leave her alone even though they are divorced. The stranger escorts her to a hotel, where they stay in separate rooms. After a night out with his friends, he pays the woman a visit, only to find her room, number 117, empty and in disarray. He later questions the desk staff, who deny the room was ever occupied…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;"><i>The Hand</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two men are rivals for one woman’s affections, and they decide who shall win her by a throw of dice. The enraged loser strangles his rival to death, but the dead man’s hand tightens its grip on him... Years pass before the Murderer next meets the woman; she invites him to see her debut performance as a dancer. As the Murderer watches, a ghostly hand clutches at the stage curtain…but worse is to come when the woman invites him to join a séance…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;"><i>The Black Cat</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A traveller makes the acquaintance of a drunkard and his pretty but long-suffering wife. He is invited to their home, but is caught flirting with the drunkard’s wife and made to leave. When the jealous drunkard then threatens to harm his wife’s beloved cat, a struggle ensues and the wife is accidentally killed. He attempts to hide his crime by walling up her corpse in the cellar, but the suspicious traveller soon returns…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Suicide Club</span></i></b> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A curious stranger searching a supposedly deserted property discovers the inner sanctum of the ‘Suicide Club’, where any member unfortunate enough to draw the ace of spades from a deck of cards is bound by the club’s rules to take his own life. Despite pleas from the sister of the sinister club President, the newcomer joins the club, drinking a toast to a recently departed member…and drawing the ace of spades on his very first night…</span><br />
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Spook</span></i></b></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the 18th century, the bored wife of a caring but inattentive Baron takes in a travelling nobleman who has been injured nearby in a coach accident. Noting the developing attraction between his wife and the stranger, the Baron finds an excuse to leave his castle. Alone with the Baron's wife, the nobleman finds his mettle tested by a series of disturbances apparently supernatural in origin...</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notes:</span></i></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even in the early days, Germany took its horror films seriously. The Germans were always secure enough to serve their chills straight without the need for a get-out clause (</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“…it was all just a dream!”</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">) to explain away their supernatural happenings. Which is why we need to put a film like </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Tales of the Uncanny</b></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in its proper context. Viewed among sophisticated chillers about <i>doppelgängers</i> and Golems, audiences would have a different appreciation of a film whose sole purpose is to sneak up behind us and say “Boo!”</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ov1_pOYpB2Y/TpnlOKLHz2I/AAAAAAAAAQs/H0S51LsYRes/s1600/Uncanny+Tales+-+Death%252C+Harlot%252C+The+Devil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ov1_pOYpB2Y/TpnlOKLHz2I/AAAAAAAAAQs/H0S51LsYRes/s320/Uncanny+Tales+-+Death%252C+Harlot%252C+The+Devil.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Death, the Harlot and the Devil</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before the framing sequence in the bookshop begins, we are shown our director Richard Oswald and his two male stars (Anita Berber is conspicuously absent) in a chummy embrace, a kind of acknowledgement of the unreality of what follows. When we next see Conrad Veidt and Reinhold Schünzel, they are in character as a grimly boggle-eyed Death and a rotund, Lugosi-like Devil with a widow’s peak, cavorting with Berber the Harlot among the piles of musty books. But as the audience already knows that none of this is to be taken seriously, we can all sit back and enjoy the fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Horror, as represented by <i><b>Uncanny Tales</b></i>, was only one of many genres that director Richard Oswald dabbled in. He made his name during a brief period after the First World War when the new Weimar Republic forbade censorship of all kinds. This loophole offered him the freedom to produce a series of films dealing with previously taboo subjects like prostitution, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His perhaps most notorious film was <i><b>Anders Als die Andern</b></i> (<i>Different From the Others</i>, 1919) a sympathetic study of homosexuality starring Veidt as a gay violinist threatened by a blackmailer. The film, possibly the first to deal with the subject, was a criticism of the ‘Paragraph 175’ law, which made homosexuality a criminal offence. The scandal provoked by <i><b>Anders Als die Anderen</b></i> contributed to the re-introduction of film censorship in the May 1920 ‘Cinema Act’. The film was banned and most copies destroyed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0XOVttkF9Qs/TpnlOjlBtyI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/ezVHitvJWjo/s1600/Uncanny+Tales+-+Veidt+Room+117.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="254" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0XOVttkF9Qs/TpnlOjlBtyI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/ezVHitvJWjo/s320/Uncanny+Tales+-+Veidt+Room+117.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>'The Apparition': Conrad Veidt in room 117</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In <i><b>Uncanny Tales</b>, </i>the first story<i> </i>is by far the creepiest. There’s the scene where a nervy Veidt calls on his companion in the middle of the night, only to find her room unoccupied and in tatters; the giggling, manic Schünzel as the psychotic ex-husband; and the final, rational explanation that offers no comfort at all. Disparate elements that strike a queasily discordant note, one that the next three stories sadly can’t quite match up to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even so, the mood is maintained as well as you would expect. Squeezing five stories into less than a hundred minutes means that the pace never flags, and though the characters are sketchy at best, the three leads apply the sort of broad strokes that a film like this needs. The toweringly talented Conrad Veidt applies subtlety and overstatement as appropriate, coming over best as the dryly malevolent president of the Suicide Club. Round-faced Reinhold Schünzel makes a meal of his contributions, most often as a comically exaggerated foil to the more sober Veidt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the third-billed player, Anita Berber is somewhat under-used, her roles often amounting to little more than plot devices. Off-screen, Berber was a cabaret dancer and bisexual cocaine fiend who thrived on notoriety. She delighted in attending society functions with pet monkey and lesbian lover in tow, naked except for a fur coat. Her prim and proper on-screen Harlot pales beside the real-life exploits of a woman who produced a show in 1922 titled <i>“Dances of Depravity, Horror and Ecstasy”,</i> and who would die of tuberculosis aged only 29.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Berber is given the most screen time as the bored wife in <i><b>Uncanny Tales</b>’</i><i> </i>final story, Richard Oswald's <i>‘The Spook’</i>. This reassuringly non-supernatural finale restates the film's position as provider of a few harmless shudders, before returning to the three figures in the bookshop (who, of course, have found all of the preceding tales hilarious). The comedic element of the film was played up by Oswald in his 1932 remake, starring Paul Wegener. In this version, the stories are combined into a single narrative which serves not only as a black comedy, but as a parody of the Expressionist horrors of the preceding decade. Critics testify to the film's quality, even if Oswald might insist he was only kidding.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">End Credits:</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Conrad Veidt (<i>Death / The Stranger / The Assassin / The Traveller / Club President / The Baron</i>), Anita Berber (<i>The Harlot / Woman / Girlfriend / The Drunkard’s Wife / The President’s Sister / Baron’s Wife</i>), Reinhold Schünzel (<i>The Devil / Former Husband / Murderer / Drunk / Artur Silas / Travelling Baron</i>), Hugo Döblin, Paul Morgan, Georg John.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Screenplay:</i> Richard Oswald, <i>based on the stories</i> ‘The Apparition’ (Anselma Heine), ‘The Hand’ (Robert Leibmann), ‘The Black Cat’ (Edgar Allen Poe), ‘The Suicide Club’ (Robert Louis Stevenson), and ‘The Spook’ (Richard Oswald), <i>Cinematography:</i> Karl Hoffmann, <i>Set Design:</i> Julius Hahle, <i>Producer:</i> Richard Oswald.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Alternate titles; <i>'Eerie Tales'</i>, <i>‘Tales of Horror’, ‘Five Sinister Stories’, ‘Weird Tales’</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Richard Oswald Produktion 1919<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 97 mins.</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Availability:</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No commercial release. Contact the spirits through Ebay, or you might find a copy <a href="http://www.ioffer.com/i/weird-tales-1919-silent-conrad-veidt-rare-98753319">here</a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-19468067886432374822011-09-03T22:26:00.006+01:002013-08-24T22:39:25.808+01:00The Ghost of Slumber Mountain 1918<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UVG4wpi9jfc/UhjmgggwUUI/AAAAAAAABsk/glruVbPrcBI/s1600/Ghost+Slumber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UVG4wpi9jfc/UhjmgggwUUI/AAAAAAAABsk/glruVbPrcBI/s1600/Ghost+Slumber.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e1YAkxlMPWs/Tm-fn2NqVgI/AAAAAAAAAO4/01694GLfIwM/s1600/Ghost+Of+Slumber+Mountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e1YAkxlMPWs/Tm-fn2NqVgI/AAAAAAAAAO4/01694GLfIwM/s400/Ghost+Of+Slumber+Mountain.jpg" width="201" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Director:</span></b> </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Willis O'Brien</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"His fevered breath was in my face! - - I could almost feel his fangs tearing my flesh!!"</span></i></b></blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A ghostly hermit's strange telescope opens a window into the prehistoric world in 'King Kong' animator Willis O'Brien's prototypical debut feature.</span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Synopsis:</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Uncle Jack tells his two nephews the story of his trip with his friend Joe into Dream Valley, where they made camp on Slumber Mountain. They come across the haunted cabin of a hermit, Mad Dick. Joe tells Jack how he once followed Dick to the top of the mountain to find him peering into the distance through an odd-looking telescope.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That night, as Jack falls asleep by the fire, he hears a voice calling to him from Dick's cabin. Inside, he finds old bones, books on dinosaurs, and a box containing the odd instrument that Joe spoke of. Mad Dick's ghost appears and leads Jack to the summit of the mountain. Jack is instructed to use the telescope, and through it sees all manner of prehistoric creatures; a brontosaurus lumbers through the undergrowth, a Diatryma hunts a snake, and a Triceratops battles to the death with a ferocious Tyrannosaurus...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notes:</span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Willis O'Brien broke into the movie business by bringing dinosaurs to life. Born in Oakland, California in 1886, he'd tried his luck in many jobs - boxer, bartender, brakeman, rancher, cartoonist for the San Francisco Daily News - but it was while working as a wilderness guide for the palaeontologists digging for fossils in Crater Lake that his fascination with dinosaurs was born. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Later, while working as a stonecutter, he hit on the idea of making his sculptures move. Drawing on his developing interest in prehistory, he produced a minute-long animation using models of a dinosaur and a caveman. This led to local exhibitor Henry Wobber financing a comic short titled <i><b>The Dinosaur and the Missing Link</b></i>, which was picked up for distribution by Edison Studios early in 1917. They commissioned a series of similar subjects, released as 'Mannikin Films' under the Conquest Pictures banner. The titles that followed, <i><b>Morpheus Mike, The Birth of a Flivver, RFD 10,000 B.C., Prehistoric Poultry</b>, </i>and so on, all featured Willis's tiny animated cavemen and a motley assortment of prehistoric animals.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Edison had dropped it's short subject program by the end of 1917, but by then producer Herbert M. Dawley had recruited O'Brien with another project, which for the first time presented the animator's creatures alongside real human beings. Or, if not 'alongside', then certainly 'in close proximity to'.Whether because of a lack of technical experience on O'Brien's part, or simply a lack of resources, the plot contrives to show us the dinosaurs from a distance. It's only in the final scene, where Uncle Jack is chased by an angry Tyrannosaurus, that there is any kind of interaction, and this is achieved by cross-cutting rather than showing dinosaur and human in the same shot. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The dinosaur sequences for <i><b>The Ghost of Slumber Mountain</b></i> took three months to complete and the finished film, which was mostly live-action, came in at a relatively modest $3,000. It's original running time was said to be over half an hour, although Dawley inexplicably cut the film down to 11 minutes for a later release. The version that survives today runs to just short of 19 minutes at standard speed. Unused footage was given an airing in Dawley's fantasy <i><b>Along the Moonbeam Trail</b></i> in 1920<i>.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dawley, seen on the screen as kindly Uncle Jack, was less avuncular in real life, paying O'Brien only a modest flat fee for his work: we can assume Dawley benefited far more from the film's eventual profits of over $100,000. The relationship between the two men quickly soured, as Dawley, himself a model-maker, attempted to publicly take credit for the film's effects. He obtained patents for the armatures that O'Brien had created for <i><b>Slumber Mountain</b></i> and ultimately threatened a lawsuit when O'Brien began work on <i><b>The Lost World</b></i> in 1922.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thankfully, both the courts and history were on O'Brien's side and it was proved that the innovations were his. Primitive though it is, <i><b>Slumber Mountain</b></i> represents a great leap forward in cinematic technique, only a couple of brontosaurus-sized strides away from the far more sophisticated <i><b>Lost World</b></i>, and its honorary successor <i><b>King Kong</b></i>, the undisputed high point of O'Brien's forty-five year career. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">End Credits:</span></i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Herbert Dawley (<i>Uncle Jack Holmes</i>), Willis O'Brien (<i>Mad Dick</i>).</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Story and Visual Effects:</i> Willis O'Brien, <i>Technical Advisor:</i> Barnum Brown, <i>Producer: </i>Herbert M. Dawley.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">World Film Corporation, USA</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running time 19 mins</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Availability: </span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An 11-minute cut is available as an extra on <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Planet-Dinosaurs-DVD-Region-NTSC/dp/B000TJBNB2/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1315948931&sr=1-1"><b><i>Planet of The Dinosaurs</i></b> (Retromedia)</a>, along with O'Brien's earlier short <i><b>The Dinosaur and the Missing Link</b></i>. The 19-minute version is widely available to view online.</span></div>
</div>
Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7519238919511567255.post-41166158689038702392011-09-02T21:29:00.002+01:002013-08-24T22:36:21.321+01:00Eyes of the Mummy (Die Augen der Mumie Ma) 1918<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DeMi0ThLKZc/UhjmwWkWuhI/AAAAAAAABss/zyh7aH2YAx0/s1600/Eyes+Mummy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DeMi0ThLKZc/UhjmwWkWuhI/AAAAAAAABss/zyh7aH2YAx0/s1600/Eyes+Mummy.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jeEA5CG8q_g/TpmTGgxIbLI/AAAAAAAAAPc/KjW6OKlrgHg/s1600/Eyes+of+the+Mummy+-+Trade+Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jeEA5CG8q_g/TpmTGgxIbLI/AAAAAAAAAPc/KjW6OKlrgHg/s320/Eyes+of+the+Mummy+-+Trade+Poster.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="font-weight: bold; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Director:</span></i><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"> </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Ernst Lubitsch</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"The Eyes are alive! The Eyes are alive!"</span></i></b></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A traveller to Egypt rescues a beautiful girl from the evil influence of her captor, until fate decrees that he follow the lovers to Europe and exact his revenge. A tragic melodrama from the director later famed for his sophisticated Hollywood comedies.</span></i></div>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Synopsis:</span></i></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Albert Wendland is a painter travelling in Egypt, intrigued by stories he overhears about the haunted tomb of Queen Ma. The only man he meets who has seen the tomb for himself has been driven insane; all he can tell Wendland of his experience is, <i>“The eyes are alive!”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Undeterred, Wendland makes the journey into the desert. At the entrance to the tomb, he finds an Arab named Radu, who offers to be his guide. Wendland is led inside to where Ma’s casket rests, and is startled when the ancient Queen’s eyes seem to come to life. When Wendland tries to get a closer look, Radu protests violently; the two men fight and Radu is brought down by a pistol shot. Wendland discovers that the casket is a doorway to a hidden chamber, and that the eyes he had seen belong to a beautiful Egyptian girl.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The girl, Ma, explains that Radu has kept her as his slave for several years. Wendland pledges to take her home with him and they abandon the wounded Radu on the tomb’s dusty floor. Radu stumbles into the desert, where he is rescued by Wendland's countryman Prince Hohenfels and his expedition. Radu promises servitude to the Prince in return for saving his life; in secret, he prays to his gods for vengeance on Ma and her lover.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wendland introduces Ma to German society, where she becomes a celebrated dancer. Prince Hohenfels, returned from Egypt, comes to the theatre one night to see her perform. He is accompanied by Radu, who immediately recognises Ma; she senses Radu's hypnotic gaze, and collapses on stage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4XFMzK8_6Nc/Tpnb2PzIU5I/AAAAAAAAAQc/FZAMvQQiDf8/s1600/Eyes+of+the+Mummy+-+Death+Scene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4XFMzK8_6Nc/Tpnb2PzIU5I/AAAAAAAAAQc/FZAMvQQiDf8/s320/Eyes+of+the+Mummy+-+Death+Scene.jpg" width="221" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Radu (Emil Jannings) menaces a<br />
helpless Ma (Pola Negri)</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ma is taken ill. She learns that Wendland has sold his portrait of her to the Prince, and begs Wendland to ask him to return it, knowing that Radu is not far away. But Radu has already found the painting and angrily driven a knife into its heart. Wendland’s signature is the final clue that will lead Radu to Ma, and his revenge… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Notes:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Viewers coming to <i><b>Eyes of the Mummy</b> </i>expecting a supernatural tale of love across the centuries in the same mould (no pun intended) as the 1932 Karloff film will be sorely disappointed. It barely even qualifies as a horror film, instead taking its template from melodramas like the often-filmed <i><b>Trilby</b> </i>(as did <i><b>Phantom of the Opera</b></i>, for that matter), that of an innocent girl rescued from the clutches of a powerful villain, in this case a wild-eyed Emil Jannings in Arab drag.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some questions arise about the ambiguity of the Egyptian scenes - the name 'Ma' for instance. Is it just coincidence that the girl has the same name as the supposedly ancient Queen? And what exactly is the extent of Radu's influence, when we know Ma is never physically held captive? These avenues are never explored, and in the end it's easier to imagine Radu merely as a sleazy confidence trickster, and the whole saga as a straightforward romance with tragic undertones.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The film was intended as a showcase for the talents of dark-eyed beauty Pola Negri. Director Lubitsch met Negri in 1917 while she was working for Saturn films in Berlin. By then, the woman born Barbara Appolonia Chalupek in 1897 was already an accomplished stage actress and ballerina, and had appeared in several films in her native Warsaw. Convinced of her star quality, Lubitsch persuaded PAGU-Film (then part of state-owned UFA) to devise a large-scale drama with Negri in the lead role.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, it's possible this was just Lubitsch's excuse to expand his repertoire beyond the comedies he was best known for even then. What he ultimately bought to this quasi-horror subject (in which, by the way, there is no actual mummy) was a winning way with his characters, later termed <i>'the Lubitsch Touch'</i> by his Hollywood contemporaries. Ma's awkward integration into European society, for example, is explored with just as much care as the more conventionally dramatic scenes. But when the action takes over, as in the final confrontation between Radu and Ma, some deftly-handled editing draws the viewer in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VaGSRO_CuSc/TpnewhqgqVI/AAAAAAAAAQk/GSU9EKjyll8/s1600/Pola+Negri.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VaGSRO_CuSc/TpnewhqgqVI/AAAAAAAAAQk/GSU9EKjyll8/s320/Pola+Negri.jpg" width="249" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Pola Negri publicity photo</i></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lubitsch and Negri were something of a mutual appreciation society, Lubitsch calling Negri <i>"one of the most vital persons I have ever known"</i>, and Negri in turn praising <i>"...the agility with which he expressed his often brilliant thoughts"</i>. They made several more films together in Berlin before the lure of Hollywood proved too strong for them both. Negri's exotic good looks brought her stardom in a string of 'femme fatale' roles for Paramount, teaming up with Lubitsch one last time for<i> <b>Forbidden Paradise</b></i> in 1924. Lubitsch himself enjoyed great acclaim with musicals and comedies - <b><i>The Merry Widow</i>, <i>Ninotchka</i>, <i>To Be Or Not To Be</i></b> and many more.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Emil Jannings, of course, went on to feature in a brace of German expressionist classics: Paul Leni's <i><b>Waxworks</b></i> and F.W. Murnau's <i><b>Faust</b></i>. Though many of his contemporaries later fled Germany, Jannings continued to work under the Nazi regime, as did his co-star Harry Liedtke. Lieddtke, Ma's celluloid saviour, was killed in his home in 1945 while defending a young lady from Russian soldiers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Eyes of the Mummy</b></i> got some attention on it's release in October 1918, but political upheavals in Germany and the arrival of <i><a href="http://thedevilsmanor.blogspot.com/2012/01/cabinet-of-dr-caligari-das-kabinet-des.html" target="_blank"><b>The Cabinet of Dr Caligari</b></a></i> a year later meant its time in the public eye was short. When given a belated release in the U.S. in 1922, Variety dismissed it as <i>"another of those labored dime novel dramatic stories from the UFA plant"</i>, but at least found the time to praise Pola Negri's dancing skills.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">End Credits:</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pola Negri (<i>Ma</i>), Harry Leidtke (<i>Albert Wendland</i>), Emil Jannings (<i>Radu</i>), Max Laurence (<i>Prince Hohenfels</i>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Screenplay:</i> Hans Kraly, Emil Rameau, <i>Cinematography:</i> Alfred Hansen, <i>Art Direction:</i> Kurt Richter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PAGU-Film (UFA), Germany</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Running Time 57 mins</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Availability:</span></i></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="http://www.grapevinevideo.com/Eyes_of_the_Mummy.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eyes of the Mummy (Grapevine Video)</span></a>Bob the Caretakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331140832816328461noreply@blogger.com3