The General

Tittle:  The General

Director: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton

Release Year: 1926

Trivia: Buster Keaton said that this was his favorite movie.

Orson Welles stated that Keaton’s  The General  is “the greatest comedy ever made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps the greatest film ever made

500 Oregon National Guardsmen play the 2 armies.

Premiere voted this movie as one of “The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time” in 2006.

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #18 Greatest Movie of All Time. It was the first inclusion of this film on the list.

Runtime:

Review:

In terms of iconic silent stars there are two titan’s Charlie chaplain and buster Keaton . Nicknamed  The Great Stone Face I had seen many still’s from his movies and I have heard that Jackie Chan is a massive fan  but that was all I really knew that and he had amazing stunts in his film. But until this film came along I have never seen any of his work  until now. The film follow buster Keaton as Johnnie Gray  as he gets refused from enlisting in the army because he is a engineer. This leads to a misunderstanding between the love of his life Annabelle Lee played by Marion Mack who thinks he is a coward .Later in the film his train is taken and he goes on a one man crusade to  get it back he also along the way find his girlfriend that was taken as well as the train .He retrieves his train and takes it back to the southern lines. And helps to lead a counter attacks against a force from the south It is definitely a film that pales when you describe it  it sounds bit plain and boring .

But it could not be further from the truth. The film is a very ambitious it’s filed with action the sub plot with the love story between and the comedy is very subtle and in terms of slap stick this is a fine example. This film is a must see for fans of silent movie’s the film is filled with crazy stunts last minutes saves and split second shots. An interesting point for me as well was the villains in the film where northerners it is set during the civil war and the hero played by Buster Keaton is a southerner engineer .It is definitely a film that shows the south in a very positive light which is interesting and makes you think about why it was so  badly received  at the time in the north and the south.

. The acting is helped with the music and editing .But the star of the film is buster Keaton and his train the general he runs up down and around the train with apparent ease. There are derailment stunts moving platform stunts moving from platform to platform the stunts in this film are something to behold .Practical massive effects there is great action amazing death defying stunts. Early cinema did not have the problems with large camera or sounds recording

The cameras where much smaller and easier to move.Very early cinema in films like the last laugh which has lots of moving camera shots. The general is the same fantastic tracking shots along with the train very smooth. It reminded me of a personal favourite film of my own The Fall well worth a look and I would say the same for The General. But does Buster Keaton get his train back and will the south be victorious  well you will have to watch it  find out .The film is in the public domain and can be watched in full below.

THX 1138

Tittle:  THX 1138

Director: George Lucas

Release Year: 11 March 1971

Trivia: The underground chase near the end was shot in a not-yet-completed segment of the BART subway system in San Francisco

George Lucas has worked the title of this film, or parts of it, in some of his other films. In American Graffiti, the license plate of one car is “THX 138”. In Star Wars, a reference is made to “prison cell 1138”. The cinema sound certification his company developed is called “THX”

This film was made as a result of George Lucas’s student film short project at USC, Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB.

Runtime: 86 min

Review:

This film is pretty well known but one of those films a lot of people have not seen .To clarify which version I am watching I viewed the recent directors cut special addition version. This version has very poorly implemented CGI with the very effective original practical effects. But I will go into more detail about that later the main difference between the version saw and the original is about three minutes if new footage and slight changes to the dialogue. The film is set in a grim future society a sedated future where consumerism is the religion of the masses. It follows the fortunes of Thx played by Robert Duvall as he attempts to find his partner called Lut played by Maggie McOmie. They are separated after they go off their meds and a wonderful Donald Pleasence as Sen. Of course Donald Pleasence is probably best known for playing Dr. Sam Loomis in the Halloween film. Also plays a part in there separation playing in the film a creepy overseer .The acting through out the film is superb and it would be difficult to find fault in. Also the original vision of the designer and the creation of the future  is amazing and in terms of art direction is a master class in creating a familiar but also unfamiliar future. The score and sound design again are a stand out feature well-crafted music and fantastic sound design over all make it a very interesting watch.

But where the film falls a little flat I would say has to be in the script it feels disjointed and at times seems to stumble from place to place. There is some plot convenience and a few moment s where the suspension of disbelief is stretched to the very limit. Now onto the effects the practical original effects are fantastic. The new CGI effects stick out like a sour thumb poorly implemented and lacking and relation to eh scene .At times it felt like they just wanted to clutter up the frame with more CGI. There is an added scene completely created inn CGI where the robot police are getting dressed in a locker room. A idea if you think about is absolutely stupid .Why are robot dressing and undressing do they have of time or is this a robot police officer gym do they go home to their robot wife’s and picks up there robot kids .A pointless scene and one that showcases hoe poor CGI looks in comparison to a person in a mask. There are some moments where the original effects are very clever they have a normal guy play a hologram no need for any other effects. It’s a normal human who says he is a hologram who left the mainframe because he was bored an interesting idea in itself and done well.

This film is  also a famous flop it was the first in a planned series of films for a co-production with MGM and  American Zoetrope the company founded by Francis Ford Coppola. When they showed this film to MGM they cancelled there seven picture deal and demanded the money back for the script development .Over all it is a fascinating film very ambitious showing  the audience a sterile inorganic future with some wonderful acting. But does Thx find his love Lut? Well you will have to watch it to find out.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters!

Tittle:  Godzilla King of the monsters

Director: Ishirô Honda, Terry O. Morse

Release Year: 27 April 1956

Trivia: Godzilla’s roar was made by dragging a resin-coated leather glove up and down a contrabass and having the subsequent recording slowed down significantly. The echoing sound came from playing the sound in an empty toilet tank and recording it.

In the American version, Godzilla’s size was increased from 150 feet to nearly 400 feet

The Japanese version of the film received a Japanese Academy Award nomination for Best Picture but lost to Seven Samurai. It did, however, win the award for Best Special Effects.

Runtime: 80 min

Review:

Godzilla king of the monsters Toho’s studio’s most famous creation by far. My first exposure to the monster was in 1998 the American adaptation with Matthew Broderick as the star. Although later I read that Toho had disowned that particular instalment and said that the monster in that film was a different Godzilla and not “the Godzilla” While researching the film for list of shame I read the tittle of the extensive list of films and enemy .He has taken on King Kong, mecha Godzilla ,mothra ,Gamera  and King Ghidorah a massive three headed dragon similar to the hydra in Greece mythology. Who is Godzilla Fighter, ladies man, giant monster Godzilla seems to have it all.

Today I will be taking a look at the original film in the series Godzilla king of the monster. The version of the film I watched was the American dub which is quite poor in execution. It follows the fortunes of an American reporter as he follows the case. Starting with the destruction of numerous boats in fire to the reveal of Godzilla and his subsequent attack on Tokyo and his possible destruction. This framing device would work a lot better if it was filmed years apart with the reporter played by Raymond Burr as Steve Martin standing in the corner of numerous scenes with a translator .This really does not help the film stand in with their backs to camera are dubbed in conversation with the main reporter. And even though he is the narrator and the film is based on his personal experience we are given scene he could not possibly know about in detail.

The film paints a very broad picture of the characters and their relationship in exposition over dubbing. This is very clunky when he details a love triangle between a few key players in the Japanese cast. I might be slightly prejudiced against dubbing as I normally try to avoid it and if I ever get the opportunity I will watch the original Japanese version which I imagine is much better although Godzilla has a few good moments. The reason I avoid dubbing is that it usually in my experience very badly done a perfect example would be in the film hard boiled I watched the dubbed and the subtitled version. The subtitled version was much richer in story even having a running subtext with two of the main characters completely dropped from the dubbed version. But enough of my personal vendetta against dubbing what about the star of the piece the king of the monsters Godzilla

The unnatural roar of Godzilla greets the opening credits Godzilla king of the monsters In the story it is implied that nuclear test has awoken Godzilla to wreak havoc and Godzilla attacks has many  obvious reference to nuclear attacks and the imagines used are very similar to documentary footage of Hiroshima and Nagasaki .  The suit and miniatures I felt where very well  done and as the monster attacks the  city it has some very good moments Godzilla as he roams the streets seems to hate clock towers as he smashes it up with particular venom that and flash photography as he attacks another observation tower when some people are taking picture of him .A moment that had me scratching my head was when during the attacks some army officers are standing around kind of relaxing and Godzilla manages to sneak up on the them .And they turn and run in shock as Godzilla rains down radioactive fire Godzilla is a giant radioactive monster and somehow he can sneak up on them . The film has some very entertaining moment and the story is solid as well. It has Godzilla a plus in any film mad scientist and a love triangle what more could you want? .

This is a film that is hard to take by itself it really does make you want to see how it will evolve in a later film he has a son. No sign of mother Godzilla maybe he can produce offspring asexually I am sure there is plenty of fan fiction online about the subject. And in later Godzilla films to use the terms of professional wrestling goes from a heal (a bad guy) to a face (good guy) or maybe he was jealous of the other monsters wrecking the city before he got a chance to. Even with my complaints about the American dub version it is worth a looks if you can find it the Godzilla in a rubber suit is much better than the poor CGI version the world was given in 1998 .And over 50 years later Godzilla’s roar as he runs rampant on the city streets is still fresh and interesting But what can they do to stop Godzilla’s rampage well you will have to watch it to find out .

The 39 Steps

Tittle:  39 steps

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Release Year: 1935

Trivia: Before filming the scene where Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll run through the countryside, Alfred Hitchcock handcuffed them together and pretended for several hours to have lost the key in order to put them in the right frame of mind for such a situation.

Remade under the same title in 1959

According to one of his sons, John Buchan (upon whose 1915 novel the film was based) was impressed with the film, despite its departures from his original plot.

Runtime: 86 min

Review:

Very few if any other directors have had the impact as Alfred Hitchcock. His shadow looms over most film directors. His auteur vision masterful storytelling and an attention to every aspect of the film make his films a cut above the rest. Of course he was not alone he worked with the great composer Bernard Herrmann and costume designer Edith Head         and he had fantastic cast Gary grant and James Stewart a personal favourite of mine. Who in my opinion was the perfect everyman and an amazing actor. I have seen all of Hitchcock’s American films my personal favourites are  Shadow Of A Doubt with Joseph Cotton and Strangers On A train both truly classic  films which sometimes get overlooked with other classics like Psycho  and Vertigo. But one area of Hitchcock’s back catalogue I have yet to see are his early black and white films before his move to America. His works on films like the lodger and 39 steps I have seen in Hitchcock documentary’s but have never got around to watching until now.

The film is a spy film which follows the fortunes of Robert Donat as Hannay who is informed of a plot to steal state secrets and wrongly accused of murder. The female lead is Madeleine Carroll as Pamela she appears later in the film and is handcuffed to the male lead. The 39 Steps feels to me to be the first draft of Saboteur. A film Hitchcock did for universal in 1942. The later Hitchcock film having stronger visual a very similar story if not almost identical in its structure. But The 39 Steps it has some very entertaining twist some genuinely funny humour  but with some very obvious plot convenience thrown in as well over all it is still a very interesting film well shot and acted there are some issues with the sound from time to time but overall it is audible. The film is now in the public domain and can be viewed in full on YouTube so there is nothing stopping you checking it out. A perfect film for fans of Hitchcock and early cinema to see the all the elements of classic Hitchcock are there  the female blonde lead, Innocent man wrongly accused, MacGuffin and the Hitchcock cameo who appears at about seven minutes in, tossing some litter as Richard and Annabella run from the music hall. The real question is what are the 39 steps and can Hanney save the day and keep the spy’s from revealing the secret? Well you will have to watch it to find out.

Glengarry Glen Ross

I’m tentatively getting the ball rolling here, having just watched Glengarry Glen Ross, and then proudly scratched it off my list of shame. Many years ago, somebody told me that Glengarry Glen Ross was a great film, and I immediately had visions of a drama set high in the Scottish highlands like some Scots version of The Quite Man. Obviously my knowledge of theatre was fairly non-existent back then, because this film is, of course, based on the play by David Mamet, is set in New York, and depicts the desperation of real estate salesmen, scrabbling for good leads, and more than willing to stab each other in the back in the process.

There’s a cast here that needs no introduction: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin..and Johnathon Pryce pops up too.The acting cannot be criticised, but what amazed me most was Jack Lemmon’s performance in the role of Shelley Levene. Pacino is great, but Lemmon is in a league of his own..in a fleeting moment you can see so many emotion pass over his face. One minute I was disgusted by him, the next I was sympathetic. Having only ever really seen him in The Odd Couple and The Apartment, I’d forgotten what a great actor he was.

I’m guessing that some films on my list may be slightly heavy going-perhaps this is why I failed to include 2001-A Space Odyssey. Glengarry Glen Ross, however, was a pleasant surprise-it was a drama the likes of 12 Angry Men, in the way that it was obviously adapted from a play, but yet thanks to strong cast was successfully translated from stage to screen. There’s not much to like in any of these characters, they are the personifications of greed and deceit, yet there is just enough humanity present to allow us to understand their actions. A carefully placed photo of Shelley’s daughter is all it takes to redeem him somewhat in our eyes.

Certainly one to watch again, Glengarry Glen Ross is now off the list!

Gemma 27/01/2013