A criminal on the
run hides in a circus and seeks to possess the daughter of the ringmaster at
any cost.
Showing posts with label 1927. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1927. Show all posts
2014-06-03
2012-06-12
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Master of German Expressionism, Freidrich Wilhelm
Murnau was along G.W. Pabst and Fritz Lang the most important German
director of its time. He is also one of the main influence on the young career
of Alfred Hitchcock. It is
interesting and also a little unsettling how Patrick McGilligan in his biography of Hitchcock, A Life in Darkness and Light, emphasizes
on Murnau’s influence first, and also his sexuality. The German being a notable
homosexual, McGilligan wrote that it had an important effect on Hitchcock at
the time. However, the quality of Murnau’s German films: The Phantom, Nosferatu, Faust, and The Last Laugh and the fact that they are multiple times celebrated
masterpieces can’t lie on his effect on any filmmaker of the 1920’s. In 1927, Murnau
was invited by the Fox studios in Hollywood for whom he directed Sunrise, the most sublime and
accomplished Silent Film of all time. Sadly, in 1931 Murnau died from a road
accident at only 42 years old. Nonetheless, the films he left behind are enough
to place him amongst the pantheon of directors. Imagine just if he could have
lived twenty or thirty years older how many great films he could have had
directed. We’ll never know for sure but let’s have a look at his greatest film:
Sunrise.
It’s been almost a decade since I’ve seen Sunrise for the first time, I was slowly
discovering Mediafilm’s list of
masterpieces following my recent love for Murnau’s Nosferatu. The university where I was doing my degree in History
had a decent DVD version of Sunrise
in its library and I rented it in order to place this giant name into my
references. Naively, I wasn’t prepare to fully digest such a cornerstone of the
Seventh Art. It is indeed a piece of Art of grand beauty and mastery.
The story of a married farmer (George O’Brien) tempted by his mistress (Margaret Livingston) to get out of his life and get rid of his wife
(Janet Gaynor) is the center story
of this masterpiece. The mistress is a woman from the city and she tries to
convince the man that they could live a passionate love story in the city if he
gets rid of his wife. In 1927, it was more than a reality that there was a
duality between the people of the country and the people of the cities. The
late ones were still considered as evil or mad because of the industries, the stress, and the many
problems like the lack of space, time, and the fast evolution of technologies.
Just look at another masterpiece of the same year from fellow German, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. The depiction of the city and the future is not so
bright while being on the spot. So it is more than appropriate to understand
that Murnau’s temptress comes from the city. It also carries a romantic vision
of the country and no matter how appealing the city looks the country side
still is where the roots of men and women are. It is also the translation of
the intense and human emotions on the screen with the minimum title cards for a
Silent Film. Murnau wanted to almost get rid of them and be able to tell his
story with only his visual mise en scène
and exact directing of the actors.
Beautifully photographed and wonderfully acted Murnau’s
masterpiece depicts the perfect Silent film and it will always be listed as the
ultimate mastery of this media. Furthermore, it is one of the best films of all
time and it is celebrated in many lists and tops. Personally, I love Sunrise but I prefer Nosferatu over because of the little
flaws and the eerie cinematography. Murnau’s Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is a must see and a highly
recommended flawless film.
2010-06-08
The General
The General (Clyde Bruckman & Buster Keaton, 1927)
In the 1920's there was a big opposition between moviegoers: the Chaplin side against the Keaton side. Chaplin's tramp was more emotionnal and had more sensivity in his adventures. While on his side, Buster Keaton was more of a mime, the same sad face of a "white clown" - Fellini. Chaplin used many emotionnal lever to make us care about his little tramp, many faces and so much misery. Meanwhile, Keaton used with his sad expressions the fact that he was made of "rubber" to make us laugh.
Near a century later, this opposition between those two greats is more like a conjunction. The competition they delivered to each other helped to keep better and better quality in their performances for the public. And someone who likes Chaplin nowadays will surely like Keaton. I think Chaplin was a better storyteller: he understood the world around him better than most of the people of his time. Keaton was more a stuntman than Chaplin was, he could do scenes with a high level of danger and never hurt himself.
The danger is palpable in The General, some scenes are total madness: Buster Keaton is in the front of a steam engine for much of the lenght of the film! I was very young when I understood that a train doesn't stop like a bike...and even just a bike you could seriously hurt yourself when you fall from it! So the steam engine can kill the stuntman! The General is like watching extreme sports for the 1920's! It's crazy, it's dangerous, the adrenaline is in the top and the guy could be seriously hurt and he possibly could die if something goes wrong!
For the modern day moviegoers that discovers The General, they may find some gags cartoonesque. Well, they couldn't be more right! When at Warner Bros. they were doing Bugs Bunny cartoons, they openly declared that they were truly inspired by Buster Keaton's films. The cartoons gave more opportunities to the animators that could emphasized some of the gags and stunts Keaton did in his films. His influence is even palpable in Spongebob Squarepants cartoons!
As you have probably wondered, I'm not gonna write a synopsis or an analysis on The General, I love this movie too much to find its weaknesses and I prefered to let you my personal impressions of it. The General deserves its spot on the Top 5 of the greatest Silent films of all time!
A Retrospective by Michaël Parent
In the 1920's there was a big opposition between moviegoers: the Chaplin side against the Keaton side. Chaplin's tramp was more emotionnal and had more sensivity in his adventures. While on his side, Buster Keaton was more of a mime, the same sad face of a "white clown" - Fellini. Chaplin used many emotionnal lever to make us care about his little tramp, many faces and so much misery. Meanwhile, Keaton used with his sad expressions the fact that he was made of "rubber" to make us laugh.
Near a century later, this opposition between those two greats is more like a conjunction. The competition they delivered to each other helped to keep better and better quality in their performances for the public. And someone who likes Chaplin nowadays will surely like Keaton. I think Chaplin was a better storyteller: he understood the world around him better than most of the people of his time. Keaton was more a stuntman than Chaplin was, he could do scenes with a high level of danger and never hurt himself.
The danger is palpable in The General, some scenes are total madness: Buster Keaton is in the front of a steam engine for much of the lenght of the film! I was very young when I understood that a train doesn't stop like a bike...and even just a bike you could seriously hurt yourself when you fall from it! So the steam engine can kill the stuntman! The General is like watching extreme sports for the 1920's! It's crazy, it's dangerous, the adrenaline is in the top and the guy could be seriously hurt and he possibly could die if something goes wrong!
For the modern day moviegoers that discovers The General, they may find some gags cartoonesque. Well, they couldn't be more right! When at Warner Bros. they were doing Bugs Bunny cartoons, they openly declared that they were truly inspired by Buster Keaton's films. The cartoons gave more opportunities to the animators that could emphasized some of the gags and stunts Keaton did in his films. His influence is even palpable in Spongebob Squarepants cartoons!
As you have probably wondered, I'm not gonna write a synopsis or an analysis on The General, I love this movie too much to find its weaknesses and I prefered to let you my personal impressions of it. The General deserves its spot on the Top 5 of the greatest Silent films of all time!
A Retrospective by Michaël Parent
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