Regularly updated blog charting the most important films of the last 104 years.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
69. Me And My Gal (1932)
Directed By Raoul Walsh
Synopsis
Who knows?
Review
This seems to be a non-existing film... it has an entry on IMDB but there is no copy anywhere... I saw it once on Ebay, going for 50 pounds... eMule doesn't have it and if anyone knows how to get it tell me. All the reviews I've read of it don't really rave about it anyway. Can't even find a picture for this post.
Big Woman pretends to love little man, who is the director of a Freak Show. Actually she is only trying to get his money. She marries him, and then tries to poison him with the help of her lover. Lover is killed by Freaks, and she is permanently disfigured.
Review
I am probably biased when reviewing this film, as I am a sick, sick person. I am actually quite interested in genetic accidents and "freaks of nature", and this is a fantastic film for me. It's not sexual or anything...
Ok technically it isn't that accomplished, aside from the truly great ending scene, in the rain when the Freaks take their revenge. This film is, however, a relic of the Freak Show period, and it is truly unique. Browning who had worked with sideshow attractions before becoming a director did a fine job of humanising his characters, and the Freaks aren't in the film just for some gratuitous shock value, but become fully rounded human beings who suffer from not looking like everyone else, while feeling like anyone else.
Many might say that this is an exploitation film, but there were very little alternatives for people in the conditions of most characters in the film; working in a circus was a way of becoming financially independent and in some cases quite wealthy. The special features on the DVD have very interesting histories of the characters, and make you rethink what in our PC age might be seen as shocking or demeaning. You owe it to yourself to watch it, more than as a piece of cinema as a piece of history. Buy it at Amazon UK or US.
Final Grade
9/10
Trivia
But better than this is a montage of the characters to the sound of Beautiful by Christina Aguilera:
That was truly quality...
From Wikipedia:
The famous quote
At one point in the film, the Freak crowd cry: "Gooble gobble, gooble gobble, we accept her, we accept her, one of us, one of us!" It is a phrase that has been used in homage numerous times since, including:
* It was nominated by AFI for AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes, which was a voted upon list of the greatest movie quotes in the history of American cinema. The quote from Freaks didn't make the top 100, however.
* In the season 1 episode of The Simpsons called There's No Disgrace Like Home and in the season 14 episode called Special Edna.
* In the South Park episode Butters' Very Own Episode.
* In the Clerks Animated Series. episode 6.
* In the episode of Johnny Bravo titled Carnival of the Darned, which was an obvious homage to Freaks.
* It was the inspiration for the Ramones' song "Pinhead" (quoted as "Gabba Gabba"); the introduction runs "Gabba-Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us!". This led to the famous Ramones cheer "Gabba-Gabba Hey!"
* It was also the inspiration for the Girls Against Boys song "Freaks", which was featured on the soundtrack of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
* The quote also appears in Robert Altman's The Player (1992).
* And in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers with the accompanying clip playing after the characters say the line.
* And in the Marillion song "Separated Out", from the album Anoraknophobia.
* In an issue of the comic book Harley Quinn. Harley, a former psychiatrist, is sent to live in Arkham Asylum herself, after repeatedly freeing The Joker. As she is being led to her cell, Dr. Arkham asks her "Why did you do it? You were one of us!" prompting her to chant "One of us! One of us!" and the other inmates to join in.
* In the Marilyn Manson song doll dagga, buzz buzz, ziggety on the album golden age of grotesque.
* In DVD commentary for the third season of The Kids in the Hall, Mark McKinney states that two of the show's recurring characters, Kevin McDonald's Bearded Lady and his own Chicken Lady, were inspired by the movie.
* Bill Griffith's comic strip character Zippy the Pinhead was inspired by Schlitzie the pinhead in the film
* David Bowie references Browning's film 'Freaks' within the first verse of Diamond Dogs:
As they pulled you out of the oxygen tent, You ask for the latest party, With your silicone hump and your ten inch stump, Dressed like a priest you was, Todd Browning's freak you was.
* A screen capture of Hans has become an internet meme. It was apparently from the DVD, as there is a subtitle of "Never before did I think I should be so unlucky."
* Frank Zappa once called it one of his favourite films. Note that his debut album was called Freak Out! and he used to call himself and the fans of his music "freaks", a name with the same kind of "proud label" as "hippie", though as Zappa put it himself: "more original and creative". On a later album from 1980 called Tinsel Town Rebellion, the cover features a collage, & a close look reveals a couple of stills from the movie are visible in the artwork.
* Tom Waits mentions some of the performers by name in the opening number from The Black Rider, "Lucky Day Overture".
* Writer David Hine references the movie in the last two issues of his Marvel comicbook District X
* In the Malcolm in the Middle episode Carnival, Dewy rounds up a gang of side-show freaks to get Stevie away from a security guard.
Marlene is a fox. Something on a train. Marlene is sexy. Chinese guy gets murdered... Marlene...
Review
All the pictures you see here are taken from the film, so now you have a reason to watch it, there you go. Marlene is the film, enhanced by being extremely well shot and having a great sense of light and dark.
Actually there is not much to be said about the plot. There's a train from Peking to Shanghai during the Chinese revolution and Marlene is a notorious prostitute who is in love with a doctor also on the train. But Marlene and Anna May Wong steal the whole show as the white and chinese prostitutes, strong, yet fragile women who steal every scene they are in. The rest of the characters are there for scenery, and you really don't care that much.
There's just an electricity to Marlene's performance; she isn't that great an actress, although she plays the icy maiden perfectly. But the star quality is there like in no one else at the time, just as in the Blue Angel she is striking all the way through. The set design is also great, particularly at the beggining, when the train crosses Peking right through the city centre. Of course this is an imagined China, but it is the China as most of us imagine it in our dreams, chaotic, beautiful and dangerous... much like Marlene herself. And don't get me started about her clothing. Buy it at Amazon UK or US.
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
A Marlene Slideshow:
From Wikipedia:
The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and won for Best Cinematography (Lee Garmes).
Ok, this is a good film, but it is really not that great. Firstly the main plot is almost exactly like Public Enemy; lowlife rises to power through force of weapons. Unfortunately Scarface isn't quite as brutal as Public Enemy. Scarface was actually finished in 1930 but was only released in 32, making it come out in the coat-tails of Enemy, which made it no favours. Had it been released first...
There's another couple of films which influenced this film very directly, and curiously they are European film, and both by Fritz Lang. The scene at the end in the house, shooting the police outside is almost exactly like the silent Dr. Mabuse, Der Spieler, with the boarded up windows and the rifles. The appearence of Tony at the beggining of the film as a shadow, whistling a tune before he kills a man, is also lifted from Lang's M, and like in M the tune recurrs when Scarface is about to do a killing. This is slightly strange, as M came out in 1931, when Scarface was supposedly already finished in 1930... if that is so, the simiarities are too strong for mere coincidence.
That said, it is a particularly well directed film, and visually it beats Public Enemy, the appearence of the emblematic cross throughout the film, either as shadows or as someone writing it as a strike in a bowling score sheet, is very well done as is the World Is Yours sign used ironically at the end. The whole light and shadow play is very film noir and that's where this film gets points.
Paul Muni is a great actor, but unfortunately the same part had been played better by James Cagney in Public Enemy. Another thing that grates on my nerves is the usage of weird comic relief characters here, where they aren't really needed. Such as the slightly retarded Dope or the over stereotyped Italian characters... it's just unecessary. The film almost redeems itself completely with a truly great ending, it doesn't quite manage however.
Still, it is worth watching. Buy it at Amazon UK or US. Final Grade
7/10
Trivia Alternate Ending, which is a bit crap and the studio made Hawks use this, fortunately new editions return to the old ending:
Wikipedia:
The film is loosely based upon the life of Al Capone (whose nickname was "Scarface"). Capone was rumored to have liked the film so much that he had his own copy of it.
The film was completed in 1930 but censors would not allow its release until 1932, because of concerns that it glorified the gangster lifestyle and showed too much violence. Several scenes had to be edited, the subtitle "The Shame of the Nation" as well as a text introduction and epilogue had to be added, and the ending had to be modified. Howard Hawks disowned this version and it was created without his input. In the modified ending, the main gangster goes to trial and is hanged; in the original ending, which is also the one usually shown today, the gangster is shot dead by police.
Two master thiefs meet and fall in love. They try to swindle a rich heiress only for the male thief to fall in love with the heiress and vice versa. They are found out and leave, realising they are right for each other.
Review
1932 is proving to be a great year for cinema indeed. Some of the innovation in camera movements has been lost with the passage to talkie, it's true, but a lot was won with dialogue, this is one of those films.
The dialogue is exquisite, the comical timing as well, it doesn't depend on physical comedy anymore, it is more refined and in this case extremely well achieved. Of course there are visual gags like the courting of the thief couple by robbing each other, but the funniest bit in that same courting is in the dialogue.
Again, as in most comedies of this era it is just a joy to watch, and in this case there is a certain soft touch of the aristocratic which makes it feel at the same time strangely screwball and refined.
Also, the actors are of course great, but not without a certain wink to the camera, done in appropriate deadpan. So it is another romcom, but not just another one, and that is why it is on this list, it is very expertly crafted. Buy it at Amazon UK or US. Final Grade
9/10
Trivia
The courting scene, brilliant:
Wikipedia:
His next film was a romantic comedy, written with Samson Raphaelson, Trouble in Paradise (1932). Trouble in Paradise was popular both with critics and with audiences, but was made before the enforcement of the production code. After 1935, Trouble in Paradise was withdrawn from circulation and was not seen again until 1968. The film was never available on videocassette and only became available on DVD in 2003.
Man comes back from WWI, he's convicted for a crime he didn't commit and ends up in an inhumane chain gang. After escaping he goes on to make a very successful life as an engineer until he is caught again. After escaping a second time he ends up stealing for a living.
Review
A very uncompromising, in a way that would end in the States in 1934 when the Hays Code started being implemented strongly. This is a film by Mervyn LeRoy of Little Caesar fame and starring Paul Muni who played Scarface this same year, and he is a truly great actor, you empathise with his terrible ordeal.
It is particularly impressive in the depiction of the chain gang system as akin to medieval torture, and the chains, the floggings and the general feel of the thing aren't very far off. Fortunately the film itself contributed to the ending of the chain gang and if for nothing else it makes it a worthy film.
There are many other things to love about this, however, from the two great chase sequences, including the much imitated escapee running away from bloodhounds in a swamp and the amazing car chase near the end when Muni blows up a bridge to stop a car from chasing him.
The whole film stands on Muni's performance, and he was justly nominated for an Academy Award for it. A great and important in more ways than one piece of work. Buy it from Amazon UK or US.
Final Grade
9/10
Trivia
No clips of the film, but here's a clip of a documentary on the reinstatement of chain gangs.. yes they're back:
From Wikipedia on Paul Muni:
Muni was 29 when he began acting on Broadway in 1924. His first role, that of an elderly Jewish man in the play We Americans, was written by playwright Sam Harris; it was also the first time that he ever acted in English.
He was signed by Fox three years later, in 1929, and received an Oscar nomination for his first film The Valiant. However, he was unhappy with the roles and decided to return to Broadway.
In 1932, Paul Muni returned to Hollywood to star in such harrowing pre-Code films as Scarface and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang. He received a second Academy Award for Best Actor nomination for the latter film. Warner Brothers recognized his considerable talent and signed a long-term contract with him.
He went on to receive a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for The Life of Emile Zola (1937) and to win the Academy Award for The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936).
In the ensuing years until his retirement in 1959, he spent his time acting on film and stage. He was widely recognized as a talented if eccentric individual. He would go into a rage whenever anyone wore red, but at the same time he could often be found between sessions relaxing with his violin. Over the years, he also became increasingly dependent on his wife, Bella, who terrified directors by forcing them to redo scenes that did not meet her satisfaction.
63. Boudu Saved From Drowning (Boudu Sauve Des Eaux) (1932)
Directed By Jean Renoir
Synopsis
Bum is saved from drowning, wins lotery, goes back to being bum! Ta da!
Review
French commedies have until now managed to be consistently amusing and actually very risqué, while Love Me Tonight was an example of an American comedy which had some sexual liberties, the French commedies make it the rule more than the exception, and are all the better for it.
Boudu is no exception, it is a great film with Michel Simon, who was also great in La Chienne, as the main character, a thoroughly obnoxious and sex crazed hobo who gets taken in by a middle class family. Boudu is at the same time charming and extremely obnoxious, and the comparisons with the other famous Tramp of the cinema are inevitable, what if Chaplin's character was given a voice and a more hard core sex drive?
It is yet another comedy which will make you have a smile on your face the whole way through, and like in most French comedies of the time this is mainly based on witty dialogue and a genuine feeling of empathy for the characters. There is some slapstick here in Boudou's actions but that is not what is funny, his attitudes clashing with those around him are what works here. Buy it at Amazon UK or US.
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
Sorry, couldn't find anything on youtube...but Google Video has a little interview with Michel Simon, very old, of both La Chienne and Boudu:
Tailor is owed some money by a Viscount, and decide to collect at the Chateau. Getting there he falls in love With the Princess Jeanette. The Viscount keeps the Tailor at he Chateau presenting him as a Baron. He is finally found out, but still gets the girl.
Review
No review makes justice to the fun that watching this film is. I actually feel a bit bad for loving a romantic comedy musical so much... but I did. The word me and my girlfriend came up with to describe the film was "delightful". And yes, it is one of those films which you watch with a happy grin in your face the whole way through, achieving loud laughter in a number of situations.
But if I may state my case it isn't a simple Musical RomCom. Firstly, it has music by Rogers and Hart, like Isn't It Romantic. Secondly, it has Maurice Chevalier who although not a great singer has a great screen presence. Thirdly, it is a very frisky film indeed, the Code wasn't enforced strictly yet, and the amount of sexual innuendo is amazing, and fourthly it is directed like the great work of art that it ends up being.
Mamoulian is a pretty amazing director. He makes the film fly by through his astounding lightness of touch, while still using amazing camera and editing work. From the beggining where the different sounds of Paris start coming together into a rhythmic song to the last chase sequence which would make Eisenstein blush at what his techniques of editing were being used for, and with such flare, passing through the slow-motion hunting scene, when the hunters return home slowly not to wake up the sleeping stag... It is just an amazing, funny, well shot, light film and not much can be faulted with it... nothing in fact. It's perfect. There! So buy it now from Amazon UK or US.
Final Grade
10/10
Trivia
I need to put two songs here.
Isn't it romantic, where the song travels from Maurice to Jeanette, through a costumer, a taxi driver, his costumer, the army and a Gypsy camp before arriving at his future love... great:
Nothing but a tailor... amazing:
Wikipedia:
The movie was adapted by Samuel Hoffenstein, George Marion Jr. and Waldemar Young from the play by Paul Armont and Léopold Marchand. It was directed by Rouben Mamoulian. The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. It features the classic Rodgers and Hart songs "Isn't it Romantic?", "Mimi", and "Lover" (the last of these is not sung romantically as it often is in nightclubs, but comically, as Jeanette MacDonald tries to control an unruly horse that she is riding). The staging of "Isn't It Romantic?" was revolutionary for its time, combining both singing and film editing, as the song is passed from one singer (or group of singers) to another, all of whom are at different locales.
Man arrives in creppy village. Creppiness ensues. Man is buried alive in flour.
Review
It is not often that horror meets artsy in films, but this is an example of that. In my previous Dreyer review, of Joan Of Arc, he got a 10. The same isn't happening today. There are several possible reasons why I was underwhelmed by the film; firstly, it takes quite a while to take off. The creppiness is there but you aren't really getting it until later. The most important problem must however be a result of the DVD version.
The DVD version by Image Entertainment is simply horrible. Not only does it not have any special features whatsoever, except for a completely unrelated short animation film by some Russian guy, but it has the most horrible subtitling job I've ever seen. Half the speech is not subtitled, and my grasp of German is flimsy. When it is subtitled it is in Gothic font, not only tacky but hard to read, set in a blackbox that sometimes takes almost half the screen. Fortunately the film does not have a lot of dialogue, or we'd be royally fucked. Even if you understand German, the sound quality is so poor that you will have problem distinguishing what is being said. Not only that but there was no restoration done to the print shown, it is full of scratches and the formatting means people's heads are at times cut off the screen.
All this obviously affected my enjoyment of the film. I am however trying to judge the film in it's own sake. And one thing must be said, it is positively nightmarish, and in fact it is one of the best simulations of what a nightmare feels like in the movie screen. It is freaky, it is slow, it is tense and it is full of strange, almost surreal imagery. Comparisons could be made to Buñuel's films, it is however much more structured as a story than any surrealist film, and it is not nonsensical. But the importance of death is there, with constant underlying sexuality, from the insane victim in her bed to the hostage tied up in the Doctor's house...And you have to love the whole sequence where you see the world through the eyes of a dead man looking through a window in the casket. Actually one of the strongest points in the film is the point of view. The camera work mimics a first person view, making you extremely well aware of the sorroundings, frequently panning inside a room from one point of interest to another one. Also the use of shadows is unlike anything before in cinema.
You can buy the horrid DVD version from Amazon UK or US. Final Grade
7/10
Trivia
Here is the whole film:
From Wikipedia:
Dreyer turned to private financing from Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg to make his next film as the Danish film industry was in financial ruin. Vampyr (1932), is a surreal meditation on fear. Logic gave way to mood and atmosphere in this story of a man protecting two sisters from a vampire. The movie contains many indelible images, such as the hero, played by de Gunzburg (under the screen name Julian West), dreaming of his own burial and the animal bloodlust on the face of one of the sisters as she suffers under the vampire's spell. The film was shot as a silent but had dialogue added later through dubbing.
Man works at a mail office, and paints in his spare time. His wife is a hag, so he falls under the spell of duplicitous prostitute. Prostitute much in love with her abusing pimp. Pimp sells man's paintings under a fake name for a small fortune. Whore, bitch and all around bad person leaves man, pimp leaves her because she is of no use to him is she isn't bringing home paintings. Man comes back next day and in a fight kills prostitute. Pimp also comes to visit and finds her dead. Pimp gets death penalty for the murder. Man ends up as a vagabond, having left his wife and been caught stealing by his office to support his mistress.
Review
This was a very good film, as as you've noticed by the sinopsis it has a quite convoluted and interesting plot. Also, it's the first of many Jean Renoir films which will be reviewed here. The film is at the same time funny, innovative, tragic and depressing in equal measures and it is also refreshingly amoralistic.
Unlike most US films France did not feel the need to instruct its public with the films it produced. The criminal isn't punished for what he did, in fact all bad things that happen to him are not related to the murder at all. The wrong guy gets killed and there is no victory for justice. Neither does the main character (Legrand) ever get recognition for his paintings, which are by all accounts great works of art. The film ends with him destitute, no one ever knowing who he was, in fact all those who knew him despised his paintings, and himself. Particularly his demonic wife. In the end you cannot empathise with any character in the film, Legrand is a dead fish, the prostitute is a duplicitous bitch, Dede, the pimp, is a pimp and a wife-beater caring only for money. But then again you are not supposed to empathise with anyone at all in the film. If you do feel some sympathy it is toward Legrand, who is a murderer and whose only act of bravery was standing up to the bitch, killing her. And therefore not even an admirable act. This breaks all sorts of conventions, and makes it a better film for it.
Another interesting little touch is the framing of the film itself as a type of Punch and Judy show, or whatever the French equivalent of Punch and Judy is. The film starts as a puppet theatre introducing the story and characters and at the end of the film, when you've forgoten all about the puppets, the camera zooms out and the curtain falls on the little puppet stage. This is indeed a small touch, but a very effective one. You cannot get this film in DVD at all! And if you want it in VHS you can only get it from the States, so no PAL only NTSC... of course there are illegal means of obtaining it (beware, because I've been told *cough* *cough* you can only get it with Spanish subtitles, so either you are good at French or Spanish or you be fucked) ... but if you want to get it, get it from Amazon US.
Edit: I lie! You can get it in DVD from www.Amazon.fr ... just search for La Chienne Final Grade
9/10
Trivia
The film is so obscure that no YouTube or Google video entries at all... if it ain't American... but here's a slide show of Jean Renoir's father (Pierre-Augueste Renoir) paintings:
From Wikipedia:
Jean Renoir (September 15, 1894 – February 12, 1979), born in the Montmartre district of Paris, France, was a film director, actor and author. He was the second son of Aline Victorine Charigot and the French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. As a film director and actor he made over forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s. As an author, he wrote the definitive biography of his father, Renoir My Father (1962).
Man is compulsed to kill children. Police mount a a full scale man-hunt, the underground syndicates do the same, seeing that the police are reinforcing their activity in the streets because of the murderer. Man is caught by the underground and taken to a kangaroo court. Man defends himself. The police barges in and takes him to be tried in a real court... sentence is a mystery.
Review
Fritz Lang had a brilliant eye for film; this was seen in Dr. Mabuse and Metropolis previously here, and M is no exception and is probably the best of the three, and quite likely one of the best films reviewed here until today, with only Dreyer's Joan of Arc as a possible competitor.
This film has it all, great acting, great camera and filming techniques, a fascinating plot and message as well as extremely accomplished use of sound. It is quite impossible to find flaws with it... except that people screaming in German grates on my nerves, which isn't the film's fault at all. The camera angles are amazing, as is the editing, from the sly comparison between operating procedures in the police with those of the crime world, to the voice over which starts with a man speaking on the phone to go about showing us the forensics and archival processes in the police, to the depiction of the murders, its great.
Fritz Lang is not the only star of the film, however, all actors are great but Peter Lorre is fantastic as M, the murderer, at the same time unnerving and sympathetic... as much as a child serial-killer can be. And here comes the brilliance of the plot and message, we feel pity for M because he is a compulsive, he hates himself and lives tormented with his actions, he is truly sorry for what he has done, but he can't stop himself, unlike those criminals who judge him in the kangaroo court, who are proud of their safe-breaking skills or murders. Lorre is an assassin, but he is pathetic more than anything. And only a great film and a great character can make you believe that... and root against those who want to execute him immediately. Buy it from Amazon UK or US.
Final Grade
10/10
Trivia
Peter Lorre's speech.. great stuff:
Wikipedia:
M was the first starring role for Peter Lorre, and it boosted his career, even though he was typecast as a villain for years after.
Lorre's climactic speech was appropriated by Joseph Goebbels for the Nazi propaganda film The Eternal Jew, a Holocaust apologist film that blames Jews for devaluing German culture with degenerate art. Because Lorre was Jewish, the film uses his final speech as "proof" that Jews exemplify innate criminality, and refuse to take responsibility for their wrongdoings.
Although sound had been used in films for several years before M, the film was one of the first to use a leitmotif, associating the "Hall of the Mountain King" with the Lorre character. Late in the film, the mere sound of the song lets the audience know that he must be nearby, offscreen. This association of a musical theme with a particular character or situation, a technique borrowed from opera, is now a film staple.
Although The Maltese Falcon (1941 film) is traditionally credited as the first film noir, the American genre was inspired by earlier European films with dark, stylish cinematography, and in that respect, M anticipated many essential features of the genre.
The movie was remade in Hollywood in 1951 , shifting the action from Berlin to Los Angeles. The remake, directed by Joseph Losey with David Wayne playing Lorre's role, was not well received by critics or audiences.
Today, M consistently ranks among the top 75 of the Internet Movie Database's top 250 films.
Kid is a gangster since a very young age. The absence of ASBO's forces him into a life of crime, the prohibition helps. Kid grows up to be a pretty violent bloke. Gets his commeupance.
Review
This is a pretty good gangster film, I've seen it considered the best 30's gangster film, which I can't really confirm or deny, as I haven't seen all of them, but it surely must be up there.
Fortunately the Hays code wasn't being enforced strictly yet, which allows this film to get away with loads of things that later would have been impossible. And it is not only the violence, but also the sexual content. Of course all these things are done quite subtly, there is no actual sex or nudity, this is not French, but there are allusions to stuff that happens off screen. The same happens with the violence, it is brutal but except for the famous grapefruit scene, there is little violence on-screen. The camera pans out, and what you hear are shots, screams and death rattles. Still, it is very effective indeed.
Something must be said about the direction as well, Wellman is quite a brilliant director, without really overwhelming the film, his angles are great as is his camera technique. Two good examples of this are the "revenge" scene and the ending, where the camera is a floor level, and all we see are the legs and feet of Tom's brother coming in our direction.
But the great plus of the film is definitely James Cagney. Few actors before him are as natural in cinema, or have such screen presence. Cagney is not a pretty man, but he is a great actor, he captures the whole screen with his performance, not only is his movement naturalistic but his way of delivering the lines as well. And while he is sorrounded by a very so-so cast - Jeane Harlow isn't that good here - his performance just eclipses everything else. So buy it from Amazon UK or US.
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
He can dance too:
Wikipedia:
* It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story.
* The rocket-paced film was such a smash that it ran 24 hours a day at a theatre in Times Square during its initial release.
* Edward Woods was originally playing Cagney's role until the director switched them, which is why the children's appearances are reversed in the flashback sequences, since those scenes were shot before the switch. The studio promised Woods that they'd make it up to him, then dropped his contract when it expired.
* Mae Clarke's ex-husband had the grapefruit scene timed, and would buy a ticket just before that scene went onscreen, go enjoy the scene, leave, then come back during the next show just in time to see only that scene again. (Source: Cagney's autobiography.)
* The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
The tramp meets a blind girl and falls in love with her. He also meets a millionaire who when drunk is very generous indeed, and when sober forgets all about his new best friend. Girl can be cured in Vienna by this doctor guy, the Tramp decides to make the money by sweeping streets and participating in boxing fights. That fails, and he gets money from the drunken millionaire. Gives money to blind girl, and gets arrested for theft. Back from jail, meets the girl who recognises him as her benefactor, who she thought was a millionaire.
Review
Ok, this was that rarest of things... a truly great Chaplin movie. As you have noticed I am not much of a Chaplin fan, I like Keaton much better for example and find Chaplin's films to be unecessarily sappy, while he doesn't have the same physical prowess as Keaton.
In this film, however, Chaplin achieves the "just right" mix between love story and comedy. The Tramp is a character that requires both Pathos and comedy to work, and usually Chaplin erred on one of the sides, or just made it clash. Here it melds perfectly. And we have to thank the acting for that, Chaplin is now a more experienced actor, and his leading lady, despite all the problems she created on set is equally unmarred by overacting.
This makes for believable characters, both when they are being funny or incredibly touching, as in the final scene. It is also a smarter film than the Gold Rush for example, Chaplin's jokes have many more layers to them than might at first seem aparent, like when dressed as a millionaire and driving his new car, the Tramp goes off in search of a fag-end (cigarrete butt for ye of the colonies), fighting another tramp for it. The scene in the restaurant with the spagghetti is equally intelligent in it's ballet-like intricacy, really worth watching. Buy it at Amazon UK or US.
Final Grade
9/10
Trivia
The accurate portrayal of a man looking at a porn mag stand:
Wikipedia:
Several well-known directors have praised City Lights. Orson Welles has been quoted as saying that this is his favorite movie of all time. In 1963, the American magazine Cinema asked Stanley Kubrick what he felt were the top-ten films; he listed City Lights at number 5. In 1972, renowned Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky was asked to list his 10 favorite films and placed "City Lights" at number 5 whilst expressing his admiration for the director, "Chaplin is the only person to have gone down into cinematic history without any shadow of a doubt. The films he left behind can never grow old." Celebrated Italian director, Federico Fellini, has often praised this film and his Nights of Cabiria makes quotations from it. In the 2003 documentary Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin, Woody Allen said it was Chaplin's best picture. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
French experimental musician and film critic Michel Chion has written an analysis of City Lights, published as Les Lumières de la ville. Slavoj Žižek also used the film as a primary example in one of his essays on Jacques Lacan, Why Does a Letter Always Arrive at Its Destination?
