Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1923) **1/2

A cult movie in more ways than one.

Shown as a Witching Hour film since the 1960s, this 1923 Ben Christensen silent docuhorror (I think I just made this genre up) is a study of witchcraft through the ages. It's supposed to be a "documentary", but I don't know how realistic one can truly be when it comes to filming reenactments of the Devil & Co. I can just imagine the outrage the release of this film caused in strict-Lutheran Sweden and Denmark! In America, a Variety reviewer said this about the film: "Wonderful though this picture is, it is absolutely unfit for public exhibition." Satanism, overt sensualism, and a bit of nudity were just too darn much for 1923!

While the story is not bowl-you-over compelling (though it is both spooky and comical at the same time), the set design, makeup, costumes, and lighting are imaginative. And who doesn't love a story with the devil, horns and all, seducing young women? An interesting film to watch, sober or otherwise.

Read More

Nosferatu ( Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens)1922 **

Suave, sophisticated, and outright sexy is what you think of Max Schreck's Nosferatu, right? Don't be ashamed to admit it... What? You don't like pasty skin, pointed ears, sickening-long and pointed nails, and the gait of a floating corpse? Aren't you a fan of German Expressionism?

This 1922 silent by F.W. Murnau is a classic retelling of the Dracula myth that has often been imitated, but never surpassed. For those not in the know, Murnau had some problems with Bram Stoker's people, so he changed the setting and the names of the characters from the original novel. Instead of Count Dracula wreaking havoc in London we have Count Orlock, played by Shreck, decimating Bremen, Germany. However, the core plot is the same as the book. I'm sure you know the crux of the story, so I'll move on to what is great about this picture.


The interplay between shadow and light in some scenes is just fantastic. Photographers Gunther Krampf and Fritz Wagner do an amazing job of capturing just the right amount of light to capture the creepiness that is Orlock's shadow.

Max Schreck is unforgettable as Count Orlock. To allow yourself to become so embedded in the skin of your character takes talent. Hand movements, facial expressions, the tautness of his frame--all of these were perfectly orchestrated in such a way as to make Count Orlock a timeless movie monster. Those of you who have seen Willem Dafoe's portrayal of Schreck in Shadow of the Vampire might have a deeper appreciation of Schreck's work.

My favorite scene is when Count Orlock arrives by boat in Bremen and eerily glides off the boat and through the darkened and deserted streets. This scene gave me nightmares when I first saw it as a child. Do you have a favorite scene?

This film is a classic and should be watched--even if you don't think Max Schreck is the Sexiest Man Alive

 

 

 

Read More

The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen) 1921 **

Ever wonder where Ingmar Bergman got some of his ideas for The Seventh Seal? Look no further than this classic 1921 Swedish silent by Victor Sjostrom. Yes, the same Sjostrom who starred in the 1957 Bergman classic, Wild Strawberries, is the star and director of The Phantom Carriage (aka Korkarlen).

The opening of the story takes place on New Year's Eve at the deathbed of a Salvation Army sister who wants to see David Holm (played by Sjostrom) before she dies. The problem is David is out on a drunk--his usual state of being. Through a series of flashbacks we learn how the dying woman became ill--she contracted consumption from mending David's ratty coat after he passed out at her station the previous New Year's Eve. To make a long story short, David is found and told that the sister wants to see him. Being his usual SOB self, he refuses to go and proceeds to get into a fight with some men who crack him over the head with a bottle, seemingly killing him. This is where the phantom carriage comes into play.

Every year at the stroke of midnight a person condemned to hell dies and is given the duty of driving the carriage around collecting others like themselves for the rest of the year. The driver of David's carriage happens to be Georges, an old friend of his. In one of the most spectacular images captured in early film, you have David Holm's spirit rise from his body only to look down at his own corpse lying on the ground. David's first task as carriage driver (after visiting the sister) is to collect his wife and children who have perished by self-inflicted poisoning. In an unusual twist, Georges gives David a second chance to put things right. So after reawakening at midnight in his own human form, David races home to prevent his family's death. Unlike Bergman's Death, this one does grant reprieves.

While I don't like the ending (David deserved his cursed fate), the film is still a classic. The translucent shots are awesome for the time. The flashbacks within flashbacks make the story complex and compelling. And, quite simply, the phantom carriage itself is really creepy. A must see--but difficult to find.

Read More

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari) 1919 **

Oh, German expressionism, how I love thee let me count the ways. This 1919 German horror (yes, I said horror) classic is without a doubt one of the all-time best international silents ever made. Directed by Robert Wiene (with a little help from Fritz Lang), this film is off-the-hook crazy.

The title character, Dr. Caligari (played by the spooky Werner Krauss), is a would-be hypnotist who travels around Germany performing shows with his sleepwalking minion Cesare. Quite simply, Marilyn Manson is the modern day twin of Cesare in both appearance and overall creepiness. Some murders take place and the story's hero/narrator, Francis, suspects Dr. Caligari and Cesare are to blame. In a twist that M. Night Shyamalan has an altar set up to for inspiration, it is revealed that Dr. Caligari isn't really criminally insane, but rather Francis--who is telling the story from his reserved spot in an asylum. The music that is played during this revelation makes the hair on your arms stand on end.

As if the story itself isn't strange enough, the set design is a psychological marvel. Expressionistic art is in the forefront of every scene. The scenery is misshapen and unrealistic--it is another story unto itself, mocking the idea of what reality actually looks like. Film school dissertations have been written on what set designers Warm, Reimann, and Roehrig were actually trying to convey about the realm of the real and unreal.

If you call yourself a silent film fan, you should have this film in your library. Browning and Whale fans should see many similarities with their films and this one. This is definitely a film that is worthy of being watched.

Read More

Les vampires (1915) ***

First, don't allow the title of this 1915 French silent serial to fool you--this is not a film about blood-sucking vampires. Sorry to disappoint the Goths and Ann Rice fans. Yet, take solace, the villains do wear a lot of black and seem to like to wear a lot of face powder. Second, don't attempt to watch all 10 episodes (approximately 7.5 hours) in one sitting. After heeding these few bits of advice, sit back and prepare yourself for the strange mind of Louis Feuillade.

The story revolves around a Parisian criminal gang who refer to themselves as, you guessed it, the Vampires. Their arch-nemesis is a news reporter named Philippe Guerande; a man I would not refer to as compelling. And like any good hero, he has a bumbling sidekick named Mazamette. The clear star of the film is Musidora, who plays Irma Vep, one of the more capable Vampires.

This film has a number of twists and turns--you never really know who is good and who is evil. And even when you get a good impression of who actually is a baddie, say the Grand Vampire for example, they end up killed and replaced by another Grand Vampire, who, in turn, also ends up dead as well. All told, there were 4 Grand Vampires. In addition, seemingly upstanding citizens, such as judges and cops, turn out to be members of this society of criminals.

The film is a showcase of criminal possibilities--robberies, shootings, poisonings, trap doors, scam artists...the list goes on and on.

This crime thriller is an interesting watch. Later films in this genre owe a lot to Feuillade. But be warned, you must have patience to enjoy this film. There are some episodes that could have done with a bit more editing--not Baz Luhrmann cuts exactly but something closer to Hitchcock. In the realm of film history, this film serves its purpose.

 

 

Read More

Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) **

Let me start off by saying that I don’t like this movie. It isn’t because the acting is bad—it’s quite good, actually . And, it has nothing to do with poor writing--Vina Delmar’s screenplay is indeed superb.  Perhaps it is because it lacks a strong directorial hand—no, that can’t be it, either, because Leo McCarey does a fine job as well. In fact, this is most probably one of his strongest films—he thought it was the strongest of all. So, what is it that I don’t like about this film?  Quite frankly, it’s despondently depressing.  It was like watching Soviet Realism with a bottle of vodka and a handful of Quaaludes. Now, don’t think I don’t like downer films—The Hours (2002) is one of my favorite films, and anyone who has seen it knows it has its Zoloft moments. Yet, the depressing difference between the The Hours and Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) is this: there is some light at the end of the tortured tunnel with The Hours. There is only darkness in the end with Make Room for Tomorrow.  The film haunts me, and not in a good way.

Victims of the Depression and callous children, elderly couple Barkley and Lucy Cooper (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi) find themselves separated from one another when they lose their house and have to go live with their adult children.  They have FIVE children, but none of them can take both parents into their homes.  Really?  Somebody couldn’t roll out a cot or let one of them sleep on the couch?  And, if that wasn’t bad enough, then they are faced with the fact that they aren’t even wanted individually. One son’s wife convinces him that they need to put Lucy in a rest home; and, a daughter convinces Barkley that he should move to California and live with another daughter because the climate will be better for his health.  It’s difficult to believe that these two sweet, old people could have raised such ungrateful children. I’m sure this is the root reason why I don’t like this film.  I would NEVER treat my parents like this, but I know countless others who would and they make me physically ill.  The film is just too realistic a portrait of selfishness on an unfathomable level.

I would like to say that the only enjoyable part of this movie is when the couple reunites for one day before being shipped off to their separate destinations. They visit all the places they went on their honeymoon fifty years earlier and are unabashedly happy to be with one another.  They get better treatment from the strangers they meet out that day than they could ever get from their children. Yet, alas, even this slight respite from despair is ruined when the couple part ways at the train station.  They, and you the viewer, know that this is the last time they will EVER see one another.  I’d rather watch Ed Harris jump out that window in The Hours one-hundred times than watch this pitiful couple say their final goodbyes “just in case something happens.”  I really felt ill after I watched this. 

Both Bondi and Moore are heartbreaking in their roles. I suppose I could blame their too spot on portrayals for my displeasure with the movie, but that doesn’t seem fair.  I find it hard to believe that neither was nominated for an Academy Award—in fact, the film garnered no nominations at all. Really?  Luise Rainer wins for portraying a Chinese peasant with a really bad accent in The Good Earth, but Beulah Bondi, who personified a granny put out to pasture, doesn’t even get nominated?  Funny thing, when he won the Oscar for Best Directing for The Awful Truth (an excellent film, by the way) McCarey said thanks but that he got the award for the wrong film. 

Final verdict: if you really love your parents don’t watch this movie.  It will make you angry and depressed.  Still, if you are someone who wouldn’t think twice about dropping them at the “home” and visiting them only on holidays (if that), please watch this film to see how loathsome you really are. If I have offended anyone with this—Good.

Read More