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film: Sirk: Written on the Wind (1956)

When I studied film this is one we were forced into watching because it exemplified the qualities of melodrama. Now, of course, I can’t use the word without thinking of the film, of Dorothy Malone stroking that oil rig, to be precise, and of Robert Stack clutching his gun and collapsing out the door. MyContinue reading “film: Sirk: Written on the Wind (1956)”

film: Berkeley: For Me and My Gal (1942)

Little known secret: more than anything I want to dance. Astaire, in Holiday Inn, I didn’t know what life was until I saw him move, and then Gene Kelly in American in Paris. Well…there’s no magic anymore, so, what have I? India. I will simply mention my one observation on this film, something very funny.Continue reading “film: Berkeley: For Me and My Gal (1942)”

film: Feuillade: Juve contre Fantômas (1913)

I was wrong about the Fantômas series–this film is fantastic. What shines through, above all else, Feuillade’s level of confidence. The first in the series, which bored the hell out of me, had very little movement, scenes were drawn out, stereotypical mime pageants, and it felt like silent theatre. Juve is a bumbling detective whoContinue reading “film: Feuillade: Juve contre Fantômas (1913)”

film: Curtiz: Casablanca (1942)

Lately it’s becoming more common that I learn my body can do all sorts of neat things. Usually these things involve intense physical discomfort and/or pain. As the band struck up “As Time Goes By” and the screen faded, I found myself with a smile I’ve never smiled before, one that I cannot recreate, oneContinue reading “film: Curtiz: Casablanca (1942)”

film: DeMille: The Cheat (1915)

I would expect that my introduction to a director whose name I’ve so long known I’d be far more impressed. Or impressed at all. As it is, I have almost no recollection of this film at all. And I’m pretty sure that I watched it just this morning. Now, let’s see–aside from DeMille, it wasContinue reading “film: DeMille: The Cheat (1915)”

film: Hitchcock: The 39 Steps (1935)

I was thankful that The 39 Steps was not actually a thriller, not in the later Hitchcock sense of the word. Of course it had many of his later elements, and much of his humor, and most notably: an otherwise anonymous woman opens her mouth to scream, and a train whistle blares forth, from theContinue reading “film: Hitchcock: The 39 Steps (1935)”

show: Pippin

From the first I’ve maintained that the ending is tragic, and my friends all disagreed, saying it was a happy ending, after all, it’s a comedy, and he ends up with a happy marriage and escapes what would amount to murder. The ending is devastating. When I first saw this I cried, and when IContinue reading “show: Pippin”

film: Feuillade: Les Vampires, Le Cryptogramme rouge (e3, 1915)

Finally, the first evidence of burning sexuality in film. 1915. The gang sits backstage, and one of the men walks across the room, looking like Marlon Brando, very self-assured, he turns around and whistles, and a woman follows his path and right as she reaches him he roughly grabs her the hair atop head andContinue reading “film: Feuillade: Les Vampires, Le Cryptogramme rouge (e3, 1915)”

film: Huston: The Maltese Falcon (1941)

If you didn’t know, I studied film during my first year in college, and finding myself, after one year, too emotionally unstable to continue its pursuit, I switched to studying something else. I didn’t watch another film until 2007–and this was it. Watching it, I suddenly understood many things I hadn’t as an artsy filmContinue reading “film: Huston: The Maltese Falcon (1941)”

film: Feuillade: Les Vampires [e2] : La Bague qui tue (1915)

Midway through a scene, a shot, that looked almost identical to one from Fantomas. The film was carried heavily by letters and newspapers, as in Fantomas, and…surprise, the same director, Feuillade. I could not get my hands on episode 1, so I began with 2, and it was short enough to maintain some of myContinue reading “film: Feuillade: Les Vampires [e2] : La Bague qui tue (1915)”