Film 4: Nosferatu

Plot Summary from Netflix:
Many horror freaks call F.W. Murnau's silent German classic the scariest Draculaadaptation ever. The bone-chilling tale kicks off when a sailor on a ghost ship opens a coffin, thereby releasing a vampire named Count Orlok who sets off on a rampage of terror aimed at a real estate agent and his comely wife. The creepy caped one is played by Max Schreck, sporting grotesque makeup that transforms him into a symbol of pestilence and decay.


And from Filmsite.org:
Shot on location, it was an unauthorized film adaptation of Stoker's Dracula with Max Schreck in the title role as the screen's first vampire - a mysterious aristocrat living in distant Bremen named Count Graf Orlok (Max Schreck). Because of copyright problems, the vampire was named Nosferatu rather than Dracula, and the action was changed from Transylvania to Bremen.


Film viewing due date: 2/10/10

Next film released on: 2/11/10

Film 3: The Kid

Here is the plot summary from Netflix:

Considered one of Charlie Chaplin's best films, The Kid also made a star of little Jackie Coogan, who plays a boy cared for by The Tramp when he's abandoned by his mother, Edna. Later, Edna has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her son. When she finds him and wrests him from The Tramp, it makes for what turns out be one of the most heart-wrenching scenes ever included in a comedy. Chaplin also directs.

Viewing Due Date: 1/31/10

Next Film Released on 2/01/10

Way Down East Review #2

I was fascinated by the movie Way Down East for two main reasons: 1) the production value is extraordinary considering the time it was created and 2) having recently watched Birth of a Nation it was apparent that D.W. Griffith had matured into what I will now consider one of the greatest directors of all time. 
The story is complicated but told in a fluid fashion.  The acting is really well done.  I remember being infatuated with Lillian Gish after seeing the film Broken Blossoms several years ago where she played an abused woman who falls in love with someone of a different race.  She nailed that role and I was amazed at what she could do sans words.  Her performance in Way Down East is heartwrenching at times - she plays "wounded" with as much sympathy in her face as I've ever seen.  I'm going to arbitrarily credit her with creating the term "puppy dog eyes."  The only comparable performance that comes to mind is from Bjork in Dancer in the Dark.
Girl by Locker did a great job summarizing some of the more powerful scenes.  And yes, the final action sequence on ice is all the more amazing when you learn it was shot on location.  That's dedication to the craft.  What I've really enjoyed about the first two movies in our study group is that they both have a specific message that the writer/director wants to tell.  I don't agree with the Birth of a Nation message but I applaud the fact that both these films were made because the writer/director had a message to tell.  You get the sense that Griffith would say that the movies HAD to be made.  You can sense the passion.  They are the types of movies that are perfect for running next door to the local watering hole and sharing a pint over in-depth discussion.  Love those movies.  In any case, I rated it a 3 out of 5. 

Next movie will be released this evening.  Stay tuned...

Way Down East Review #1

After my first foray into silent film with Birth of a Nation, I was looking forward to my second movie Way Down East. It sounded so scandalous – sham marriages, an illegitimate child, betrayal, false identities, and the corruption of innocence all set in 1920. DW Griffith did not disappoint and Lillian Gish gave a stellar performance as Anna Moore, an inexperienced country bumpkin and ultimately fallen woman in search of her voice and place in society. There were three main scenes that stood out for me. (Don’t read if you don’t want to know what happens).

Lennox Sanderson, a wealthy playboy who is good at three things – Ladies, Ladies and LADIES, dupes the young Anna Moore into a fake marriage just so he can get her in bed. After Anna reveals her pregnancy to him, Sanderson admits to her that they were never married and the next sequence of scenes gave me chills as Anna realizes just how screwed she is – knocked up and without a husband in 1920! After giving birth to her baby, there is a scene in which the child is sick and Anna tries to warm him. She keeps rubbing the baby’s hands when the doctor comes in and tells her the child is cold because he is dead. Took my breath away.

We see Anna change throughout the film from a naive girl to one more aware of the realities of the world. Ultimately, she finds her voice and in another favorite scene of mine, she denounces Sanderson as a seducer who preyed upon her innocence. After the family with whom she had been living discovers her past, they kick her out of the house. Sanderson, of course, was at dinner and as Anna leaves, nearly without saying a word, she turns and says, “You found out so much! Why didn't you find out the whole truth? That I was an ignorant girl betrayed through a mock marriage. (Pointing at Sanderson) This man - an honored guest at your table - why don't you find out what HIS life has been? For HE is the man who betrayed me!” I cheered for Anna!

This then leads to, hands down, the best scene in the entire movie. Though Anna denounces Sanderson, she is still so filled with shame that she runs out into the night and the blizzard that rages. She staggers through the snow, we see close-ups of Gish nearly frozen, and then Anna sees the icy river “calling to her.” She passes out on a piece of ice which floats down the river toward a treacherous waterfall. David, her true love, hops from piece of ice to piece of ice trying to rescue her before she goes over the edge. Honestly, I didn’t have high hopes for Anna. I thought she was a goner. That’s usually what happens to those kinds of women. Ultimately, however, David rescues her. I read that this scene looks so real because it was actually filmed on location and that the stunts are real.

In the end, I’m not 100% sure of Griffith’s point. Is he trying to say the sexual double-standard between men and women is messed up, that it’s wrong that men can sow their oats and women can’t? Or is he trying to tell women that they should keep their panties on? I’m voting for option number 1. On my Netflix rating, I give this movie 4 stars (out of 5).

Film 2: Way Down East

Here is the plot summary from Netflix:
Screen legend Lillian Gish stars as Anna Moore, a naïve New Englander duped into a sham marriage by a silver-tongued roué who deserts her after she turns up pregnant. When the infant dies, Anna leaves Boston, changes her name and finds shelter in the bucolic transcendence of a farm community. There she captures the heart of callow romantic David Bartlett, but Anna's checkered past comes back to haunt her.

Viewing Due Date: 1/19/10

Next Film Released on 1/20/10

Birth of a Nation - Review #2

Birth of a Nation is the first silent film I have ever seen. My prior knowledge of the movie consisted of knowing it was incredibly racist, it lasted 3 hours, and Juror #3 has a mad crush on Lillian Gish, the actress who plays Elsie Stoneman in the movie. I expected to feel bored and, quite frankly, icky seeing all the KKK members riding to rescue the white population of Piedmont, South Carolina. 

Though I honestly never got past the ick factor, I wasn’t bored during three hours of silent film. There were parts that were slower for me. For example, the Civil War felt like it was never going to end, but I think that was because I’m from Atlanta and we get our fill of that war down here in Dixie. I also felt at times that there was overacting, in particular with the female characters. I mean, really, you had to jump off a cliff in order to get away from a man who kept yelling, “Don’t worry miss. I won’t hurt you.”?  (I know it was to make a point…but still).

I came away from the movie thinking that DW Griffith is quite a filmmaker. Toward the end of the movie when the KKK is riding to save the white folk in a cabin besieged by black soldiers, Griffith uses cutaway shots showing the men on horseback and then cutting back to the cabin under siege. The result was a highly suspenseful action sequence. I read while doing a bit of research that this was the first time this technique had been used in film, and I think about how exciting it must have been to witness it for the first time in movie theaters.

Overall, I’m happy we started with this movie. For two people who want to see how film has evolved over the years, this was a good movie to start with. On my Netflix star ratings, I give it a three (out of five stars). 

Birth of a Nation - Review

They sure don't make propaganda films like they used to.  Fahrenheit 9/11 should bow down in shame.  DW Griffith was clearly a racist - in any era - but the man was a genius when it came to telling a story and exploring the possibilities of film.  I found myself snarkily (yes I made that word up) laughing at the content of the film and how ridiculous it was.  However, the production was anything but amateurish which somehow just made it scary.  Regardless of the subject matter, this was an epic story, spanning the Civil War through Reconstruction, with engaging characters and a director who knew how to tell a story.

To think that this was created in 1915 is mind-blowing.  The recreation of the Lincoln assassination gave me chills - and this is a silent film people!  The score and choreography were flawless.  The acting was embellished but not like other films around this time - it was a step away from placing theater acting on film.  From a technical aspect this film is famous for having played with overlapping images, portrait framing and colored scenes among a host of others.  Griffith experimented with the film but did so with a keen understanding of how technical aspects can help tell the storytelling as opposed to just being something cool.  I wish James Cameron and the creators of Avatar understood this.  In an age where technology is moving super fast and everyone is racing to use it first, Birth of a Nation is a great reminder that technology and creative exploration within film needs to be purposeful.  It is a tool for explaining the story, not an enhancement for it.

Here are a couple links to other reviews on the web:
http://www.filmsite.org/birt.html
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030330/REVIEWS08/303300301/1023%20
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/birth_of_a_nation/%20