[Silent Film Marathon] 24# Metropolis (1927)

My Rating: 9/10

Directed by: Fritz Lang

Written by: Thea Von Harbou

Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Sci-Fi

Runtime: 120 Minutes (147 Minutes restored version)

How can I start this review? I guess I can start by saying that Metropolis is clearly one of the earliest Sci-Fi films and shows that even during the 1920’s people grew suspicious of machines taking over. With colossal and outstanding sets, terrific acting and amazing visual effects (for the time), Metropolis is not only one of the first Sci-Fi films, but one of the greatest. Some of the acting may be overdone, but being a silent film it has to push itself and it still grasps your attention to what’s happening. For the first time since its début in 1927, a two-hour-and-27-minute version of Fritz Lang's masterwork — a version that includes 25 minutes of previously lost footage — will be generally available. To see the film as the director intended, on Blu-ray with an original score recorded by a 60-piece orchestra, greatly enhances the reputation of a film already considered one of the icons of the silent era. Metropolis may not be the best film that exists in cinema, but I say firmly it is a film to see before you die. Once more I have discovered a foreign silent film that shows that world cinema has a lot to offer.

Plot: 

Taking place in the futuristic city Metropolis society is divided into two classes. The "managers" live in luxurious skyscrapers and the workers live and toil underground. The city was founded and built by the autocratic Joh Fredersen. Fredersen's son, Freder, lives a life of luxury as do all the sons of the manager class. One day, as Freder is cavorting in the Eternal Gardens, he sees a beautiful girl who has with her a group of workers' children. She is quickly shooed away, but Freder becomes infatuated with her and follows her down to the workers' underworld. There, he sees the horrors of the workers' lives. He is appalled when an enormous machine, the M-Machine, violently explodes, killing dozens of workers. In the smoke, Freder envisages the M-Machine as Moloch, a monstrous deity to which the hapless workers are sacrificed.

Freder then returns to his father at the new tower of Babel and confronts him about the workers plight and the explosion of the M-Machine. Grot, foreman of the Heart Machine, arrives to inform Fredersen of several mysterious maps which have been found in workers' pockets. Because he has not heard both of these bits of news from Josaphat, his clerk, Fredersen fires him, and also orders a spy (credited as the "Thin Man") to tail his son. The story is massive – and sometimes hard to follow – and after this point in the film, we meet a robot, see a city flooding and several other great happenings.

One of the film's first moments showing the workers.

Colossal and Amazing Sets: 
Now this is one of my favourite aspects about the film. Metropolis'' employed vast sets, 25,000 extras and astonishing special effects to create two worlds: the great city of Metropolis, with its stadiums, skyscrapers and express ways in the sky, and the subterranean workers' city, where the clock face shows 10 hours to cram another day into the work week. Lang's film is the summit of German Expressionism, the combination of stylized sets, dramatic camera angles, bold shadows and frankly artificial theatrics.

One of the most memorable shots from the film.

The sets where absolutely astounding and with the films budget being estimated at 5, 100 000 Richsmark (about 1 Million pounds), making it the highest budget film from Germany at this time the film’s sets can still blow people away today. From start to finish the set where so fantastically designed and the architecture was fascinating. Today there are many films that lend it’s style to this film. This includes Bride of Frankenstein in 1935, Batman’s Gotham City and even Rotwang's artificial hand was given homage in Dr. Strangelove. So Metropolis still stands as one of the best stylised films around.

Early Day Future Ideas

Now everyone thinks about what it might be like in the future. In fact, several scientists and such believed that by the point in time we are in right now that there would be flying cars. There are some flying/hovering cars that exist today, but are simply not economical or affordable. The clear message form the film is basically about how Machine can talk over man and it shows just how back the ides of the future was even thought of during the 20’s. The message of the film is brilliant and with the film’s final moments a saying of great truth is said and finishes in a memorable and genius way.

Robots!

There is only one initial robot in the film, and it is the creation from Rotwang that he wants to basically take over Metropolis. The interesting thing here is this routine of world conquest with the use of robots has been used several times in the future in films and television. We first meet the robot not long into the film, and the mad scientist Rotwang calls it Hel. Although since the film’s début, the robot has gone by the name of many things, Maria, Mashinenmensch and even robotrix.  This may very well be one of the earliest film robots to exist and the first moments we see that robot, it’s quite astounding. Just watching it come to life, walking towards the camera on the platform was a great moment in the film.

The Robot when Maria is being cloned into the robot.

The Acting

The acting was simply marvellous and most of the cast gave refreshing and warm performances. Alfred Abel played Joh Fredersen very well and so did his son’s actor Gustav Froehlich. The actress who played Maria, Bridgette Helm was one of my favourites. Playing two sides, Maria and her clone the robot gave a very wonderful performance. Rudolph Klein Rogge as Rotwang was another one of my favourites and he gave a psychotic kind of performance to his character. Overall for acting in this film is pretty darn good!

The robot clone version of maria.

Remarkable Music

Since the film’s debut several different scores have been made for the film. In 1975 BBC did an electronic version and in 2004 Jeff Mills created a techno score for Metropolis. The version that I got to listen to thankfully and gratefully was the original score that consisted of a phenomenal 60 instruments. The music was absolutely fantastic and is one of my favourite silent film music tracks. Along with the colossal sets and remarkable visuals, the film’s music gives it that extra impact and truly creates tension and excitement.

Overall:

For anyone who fears a two and a half hour run time, especially in a silent film, let me assure you that Lang's epic is riveting from start to finish. Fritz Lang’s long Sci-Fi masterpiece stands as an amazing film even today with it’s surprising visual effects and futuristic set designs and is another silent film not to be forgotten. The film is important in cinema history because of it’s overall message an overall the film is wonderfully entertaining, suspenseful and very thrilling. When watching Metropolis it’s a very different film experience and anyone that watches the film will agree.

 

Ratings:

Screenplay/Story: 9.2/10

Characters: 9/10

Emotion: 9/10

Visuals & Editing: 9.4/10

Direction & Cinematography: 9.3/10

Music: 9.2/10

Overall: 9.2/10

[Silent Film Marathon] 23# Modern Times (1936)

My Rating: 10/10

Directed & Produced by Charlie Chaplin

Written by Charlie Chaplin & Paulette Goddard

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

Runtime: 85 Minutes

This film will not be forgotten the history of cinema because of the crafted beauty. This is the last time we see Chaplin’s iconic tramp character and he certainly left with a good exit. Modern Times is almost perfect in every way. It’s full of great characters, great set design, and a terrific story and with Chaplin doubling as a composer the music was outstanding. It’s 1936 and silent films are pretty much obliterated by the rise of sound pictures since 1928 with ‘The Jazz Singer’. All the action shows the insanity of the modern world and being 1936, it’s just when times are getting better for the suffering world of ‘the depression era’. It boasts great emotion and does the obvious thing of making you laugh all in one. Chaplin planned on this film actually being a talkie film, and I am glad that he didn’t because if he did, who knows if this film would be good. Both ways I think it would probably be great and it’s great that Chaplin stuck to his guns one last time. Although using small clips of dialogue and synchronised sound effects and music, it stands with it’s intertitles and marvellous story as a silent film and is definitely one of Chaplin’s greatest pictures.

The Tramp is an assembly-line worker driven insane by the monotony of his job. After a long spell in an asylum, he searches for work, only to be mistakenly arrested as a Red agitator. Released after foiling a prison break, Chaplin makes the acquaintance of orphaned gamine (Paulette Goddard) and becomes her friend and protector. He takes on several new jobs for her benefit, but every job ends with a quick dismissal and yet another jail term. During one of his incarcerations, she is hired to dance at a nightclub and arranges for him to be hired there as a singing waiter. He proves an enormous success, but they are both forced to flee their jobs when the orphanage officials show up to claim the girl. Dispirited, she moans, "What's the use of trying?" But the ever-resourceful Chaplin tells her to never say die, and our last image is of Chaplin and The Gamine strolling down a California highway towards new adventures.

The tramp inside the machine.

The Tramp is so simplistically one of the greatest characters in cinema and is 100% sweet, honest and most of all, lovable. Since his character rose millions of people have identified and connected with this character, and despite the fact initially he is a homeless character, he is an honest and sweet man. The creation of the tramp was when Chaplin was told to put funny make-up on and he basically grabbed a hat, large pair of shoes, a pair of baggy pants and a tight coat, and amazingly the character would come to be one of the greatest in cinema history. Many critics and film enthusiasts have identified this character as Chaplin’s social commentary on life and to some degree, it is. Chaplin's social commentary, while critical of the faults and excesses created by the capitalist system, also shows support and belief in the “American Dream”. In Modern Times, Chaplin creates a “portrayal consistent with popular leftist stereotypes of wealthy capitalists and oppressed workers in the 1930s. He is simply one of the finest characters there is and is 100% golden for sure.

The cast of characters included in the film was simply too good. Beside out little friend the tramp, we have a gamin (Paulette Godard), big bill the steel mill worker and several other small characters that make this film brilliant. To start with I’d like to talk about the gamin. The gamin is a homeless girl (around 16-17 I assume) who soon becomes an orphan when her father is shot in the street one day and soon becomes friend with the tramp after bumping into him. Paulette Goddard is simply one of the most beautiful actresses there ever was. With a heart-warming smile and a beautiful face that boasts emotion she is both a talented and beautiful actress.

Paulette giving a delightful smile.

Like in City Lights the music was done surprisingly good and gives a very different feel to the film like any other silent film. Being 1936 the quality was clearly better and synchronising sound was in there. So the music and sound effects where all very well synced and created terrific comedy. There was sometimes dialogue used but it’s never character to character. We first have the boss of the steel mill who talks through a video camera to one of the workers and then we have the feeding machine that introduces itself. We also have some dialogue from the radio at times, but other than this there is no real dialogue used.

Well Chaplin obviously knew this would be the last time his tramp character would ever get used, so he made him go out with a bang. In one of the film’s final moments The Tram must sing at the café. He forgets the lyrics so the gamin writes the lyrics on his cuffs, which when he is dancing come off. So he improvises in singing and for the first time we hear out tramp let out a voice, but not an English one. Not only was Chaplin a great writer, director and all that other stuff, but he could fairly sing too. The song was in an Italian spoken one and was outrageously funny and amusing.

The Tramp in the eating machine.

The first fine moment of the film is when the tramp is at the assembly line. It really shows the insanity of the assembly line which was something that was become largely used in industries. Another great scene is when the sellers of the feeding machine arrive at the factory to test out the product. The tramp is selected and the machine goes wild in this frantically comedic scene. Later in that day at the steel mill the Tramp goes absolutely nuts and starts going insane, cranking people’s noses and buttons on clothes. The tramp seems to go in and out of jail like crazy and after he comes out of the asylum he picks up a flag that fell out of a van. He waves it a little shouting to the van that they dropped it and unknowingly, a crowd of protesters came unknowingly behind him. So the tramp is arrested as an opposed communist protesting leader and gets out of jail eventually.

Eventually in the film the tramp gets a job as a night watch and along with the gamin, they stay there for the night and have some fun (not that kind of fun). They go to the toy department and begin to roller-skate around. Unknowingly the tramp is avoiding death as he skates near a broken banister blindfolded. The final of my favourite scenes is definitely when the tramp must sing. It was comically brilliant and very entertaining.

Chaplin in his imagination scene.

Another sweet romance story

Chaplin is always good at making simplistically golden stories, and when it comes to romance, he does this. Although the gamin is likely to be only a 16 year old girl, the love life between her and the tramp was beautiful and brings a smile to your face. In one scene the tramp is imagining him and the gamin in a home and the scene was captivating and made me smile as It took my heart away. It’s the sincere kind of emotion that makes Chaplin’s films great. During this time, Chaplin married Goddard and the chemistry between them in acting was terrific.

The film's final moment.

Overall:

The film leaves our tramp character very well with him and the gamin walking down the street together, ready to face anything that comes up to make ends meet. Very many have claimed this to be the finest of Chaplin’s workings and to an extent it is agreeable. Alongside The Kid and The Gold Rush this is one of Chaplin's fine workings and is my favourite of his work so far. It is comically genius, masterfully written and is full of wonderful characters. Overall this is one of the highlights of his career and is a film that should not be forgotten…ever!

Ratings:

Screenplay/Story: 9.5/10

Characters: 9.5/10

Emotion: 9.1/10

Visuals & Editing: 9.3/10

Direction & Cinematography: 9.6/10

Music: 9.2/10

Overall: 9.5/10

[Silent Film Marathon] 22# Greed (1924)

My Rating: 9/10

Directed by: Erich Von Stroheim

Written by: Erich Von Stroheim & June Mathis 

Based on the novel by: Frank Norris

Genre: Drama, Mystery & suspense

Runtime:  140 Minutes (Extended/Restored version 239 Minutes)

 

Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold…the very thing that can destroy a soul, overtake a person’s life and alter their personality. It is the very thing that can bring happiness into a person’s life with treasures and good living, but can also destroy someone with greed. Showing exactly what money can do to a person in a very surreal but semi-truthful way, Greed is the biggest silent film story there is spanning four hours (for this version at least), but four great hours they are. With the original being cut tremendously, this version is a recreation of how director Erich Von Stroheim wanted it to be. It is a compelling drama that has great truth, character and excitement all over in it’s four hours, and in those hours a lot happens. Director Stroheim was very close to this project, and also dedicated it to his mother as one of the opening titles say. It is good that the extended version was created because it truly shows the transformation of the characters in this huge drama about the destruction money can bring. In it’s original run, footage was cut and what was lost was considered the greatest tragedy in cinema history. In this version the company have tried to reconstruct the story narrative of how Stroheim wanted it. So in great dedication they did it, and thank goodness they did. It is undeniably a dramatic story, filled with the spirit of its film title, without a hero or a heroine.

Mac and Trina when they first meet

Stripped to its bare essentials, McTeague tells the story of a brutish, but basically good-natured, miner named McTeague (played by Gibson Gowland), who finds his true calling in life by taking over the practice of a travelling dentist. Setting up shop in San Francisco, McTeague falls in love with Trina (ZaSu Pitts), the daughter of German immigrants. It happens that Trina is the girlfriend of McTeague's best pal Marcus (Jean Hersholt), who is mildly resentful, but ultimately forgiving, when McTeague and Trina are married. Always seeking out an opportunity to better herself, Trina buys a lottery ticket. When the ticket pays off and she wins a fortune, the previously even-tempered Trina undergoes a complete personality change, metamorphosing into a grasping, greedy, miserly shrew, hoarding huge sums of money while her husband must get by on his meagre earnings as a dentist. Trina's sudden windfall sparks a change in both McTeague and Marcus, as well; driven to distraction by his wife's avarice, McTeague turns into a violent beast, while Marcus boils with jealousy over losing the now-prosperous Trina to McTeague. The rest of the story has so much that happen it would be illegal of me to tell you the rest of the story. Towards the end, it is a battle for the money, with murder, deceit and hatred all over.

Greed shows such a huge transformation with all of its characters it is simply one of the greatest character developments in any motion picture. Starting with McTeague, a man who was once a happy dentist with his new wife who he loved dearly soon becomes a complete wreck. Soon into the relationship the two of them get worse because of the money that his wife, Trina keeps holding out on him. In the first hour of the film we meet most of the characters including Mac McTeague, Marcus, Trina and her family. All because of this great fortune, being a sum of $5, 000 (which at the time was a huge amount) the family is destroyed. Marcus was once McTeague’s great friend. Understanding the love McTeague has for Trina, he gives her up to him with no hard feeling. In this scene Marcus seems like one of the nicest friends you could ask for. Soon into the film it changes when that lottery ticket brings the money to Trina. Now Marcus hates McTeague, feeling he was cheated out of the money. The story is so big it’s what makes it exciting, so many characters, so much enriched story, and the best thing is, it is irresistibly easy to follow.

The Sieppe family (Trina's family).

Captivating the acting definitely is, and powerful too. Using expressions and movement, Stroheim has brought to the screen characters that are so convincingly powerful it creates pure drama. Gibson Gowland played Mac McTeague like a saint. Such powerful and convincing acting came from him and his performance was remarkable. The next to my attention is Zasu Pitts. Her performance was equally astounding and the look on her face in her maddened ways with her money was psychotically gripping. She has proven herself to be one of the best actresses of the silent era; although I have only seen one of her films this one spans out long enough to say she is one of the best. Marcus was played by Jean Hersholt who also gave a great performance to the screen with his character. His character Marcus was once a good friend, soon a mad hot head who feels cheated out of money. Everyone in the film gave great performances, from McTeague to Trina’s eccentric father; everyone did a darn good job.

I must say the music was superb in it’s length and several of the songs gave such edge to the scenes. One scene that is my favourite because of its music is when Trina is out looking for McTeague one night and there is this beautiful lullaby kind of music playing in the background. All the music in the film was extremely well done and supports it’s great set designs, scenes and acting.

The confrontation with Mac and Marcus.

Cut, cut and more cutting:
The original film spanned at an unbelievable 10 hours, covering 40 reels. Realizing it was far too long to be shown; Stroheim cut it down to six hours, to be screened with intermissions in two nights. However, Goldwyn producers told him to cut it to a more manageable length. With the assistance of fellow director Rex Ingram and editor Grant Whytock, von Stroheim trimmed the film to about four hours, to be shown in two parts. However, during production, Goldwyn was merged into MGM. After screening it at full length once to meet contractual obligations, MGM removed Greed from von Stroheim's control despite his protests. The negative was given to MGM's head scriptwriter, June Mathis, with orders to cut it even further. Mathis gave the print to a routine cutter, who reduced it to 2.5 hours.

The scene when Trina tells Mac to find a job, not even giving him money for a cab.

So simply, Greed is the most famous lost film in cinema history, and just thinking that over 5 hours of the footage is lost is pretty tragic. In this 4 hour version of the film, several of the scenes are narrated using images and intertitle cards and is clearly to pick up the pace of the story and if I am wrong there, then it is because the footage was damaged. The story is so huge; I wouldn’t have minded an extra hour because it would be worth it.  This version was recreated by Turner Entertainment (who currently hold rights to the film) in 1999 and I am glad they dud, because Greed is certainly an important piece of cinema.

It is clear that director Stroheim put his heart and soul into getting this film made, and being inspired from the book called McTeague he captured word for word, page for page. From filming in a real desert in 120 degree weather to filming in real goldmines, Strohheim was dedicated to making this film. At the beginning of the film a title card appears with a message from Stroheim himself saying, “No matter if I could talk to you three weeks steadily could I possibly describe even to a small degree the heartache I suffered through the mutilation of my sincere work”. The message just shows how his great talents have been conjured into this production, and it's outcome was magnificent.

Overall:

The surviving "Greed" is an uncompromising exercise in naturalism, capturing the rough working-class lives of the new U.S. cities, where saloons doubled as living rooms. And there is a real poignancy in the plight of McTeague, who may by the end be a double murderer but is essentially a gentle, simple-minded soul. The film is historically significant, aesthetically brilliant and most of all, it is entertaining. Many people will not be able to sit through a 4 hour picture, but Greed has to be an ultimate exception. It’s full of drama and story enough to keep you satisfied for it’s length and is definitely worth it all. Overall Greed is possible the largest silent film there is and the remaining extended edition still leaves you satisfied with it’s tremendous story.

Ratings:

Screenplay/Story: 9.4/10

Characters: 9.3/10

Emotion: 9.2/10

Visuals & editing: 9.2/10

Direction & Cinematography: 9.4/10

Music: 9.1/10

Overall: 9.3/10

[Silent Film Marathon] 21# The Impossible Voyage (1904)

My Rating: 8/10

Directed by: George Mêliés

Runtime: 20 Minutes

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Family

 

2 years after George Mêliés made ‘A trip to the Moon’, a film similar was made. The thing I find really interesting is how much of a pioneer Mêliés was for film making. The stories he created where childish and full of fantasy. All the strange sets make them very interesting to look at and in The Impossible Voyage we see some very strange, unusual but somewhat pleasant imagery. The film is also slightly tinted in colour, so some of the colours are quite florescent. This film feels like something that was more targeted to a young audience and it is very fun to watch.

The Impossible Voyage tells the story of using every known means of transportation; several savants from the Geographic Society undertake a journey through the Alps to the Sun which finishes under the sea. I just loved all the effects again in this one. When we see the sun’s face we see it yawn and the travellers train enter its mouth, and soon red fiery smoke flies out of his mouth. It is a little comical piece and it’s very clever. It’s wonderfully imaginative and I just loved the set design of the sun’s surface.

There isn’t much that can be said about this 20 minute short, as I did with ‘A Trip to the Moon’. But even 100 years on here it still manages to fascinate and hold interest. Overall it’s a short little fun adventure full of imaginative sets, a strange story and pioneering special effects.

You can watch it on youtube here: (only part 1)

[Silent Film Marathon] 20# The Unknown (1927)

My Rating: 8/10

Directed by: Tod Browning

Written by: Tod Browning & Waldemar Young

Genre: Drama, Horror, Romance, Mystery & Suspense

Runtime: 50 Minutes

Certainly one of the darker films, if not the darkest, piece of work silent film star Lon Chaney and director Tod Browning collaborated and created. Once more Chaney gives a remarkable performance to the screen as Alonzo, the armless. The story is short, but in this 50 minute feature you’re in for a great ride. Browning is one of the great mysteries of film history. His life story is filled with contradictions (some he created himself). No one argues the fact that he was the architect of the classic American horror film Dracula (1931), with Bela Lugosi as Dracula. His success is one that is grounded in his macabre but decidedly non-supernatural silent works. Beyond that the story gets cloudy. Then we all know the idea of his film Freaks, which results were so horrific it basically destroyed his career. The Unknown is a pretty dark story but is highly entertaining and is one of the greatest last silent films, as 4 months later the fir talkie arrived, The Jazz Singer.

Plot:

Nanon in the circus act

The circus is in town and our first scene we meet Alonzo the Armless, and the circus owners daughter, Nanon, who are performing an act. Alonzo being armless (this soon changes) he uses his feet to throw knives around Nanon against a board, which is considered now one of those cliché circus tricks.  Alonzo is madly in love with Nanon, and wants her all for himself. One night we discover Alonzo has arms with his good friend Cojo who takes the corset off where his arms are hidden behind his back. Nanon has a pathological fear of being touched by any man. This leads Alonzo to believe that he is attractive to Nanon so long as his keeps his arms hidden. Halfway through the film, Alonzo murders the circus manager--a crime witnessed by Nanon, who was only able to glimpse Alonzo’s distinctively mutated thumb. To cover up his crime, and to make himself the perfect mate for Crawford, Chaney blackmails a doctor into amputating his arms. Upon returning to the carnival, the now-genuinely armless Alonzo learns to his horror that Crawford has overcome her aberration of being touched, thanks to handsome circus strong man Malabor. Enraged, Chaney plots to kill Kerry in a horrible fashion...but guess who ends up seriously dead?

A short but excellent story

There is a great irony to the story that gives it it’s rush of excitement. It shows to what extent people go to at time for love and the story is truly excellent for it’s length. Once more silent film legend Lon Chaney provides a wondrous performance as he has with previous silent films before this. There is so much to comment on with the story, but doing that would utterly ruin the plot. There are plenty of characters and a high amount of suspense to keep you entertained for it’s 50 minute runtime.

Alonzo (left) with his friend Cojo (right).

Overall:

It is a drama of obsession that is still shocking nearly 85 years later, and the extremes of which I am not about to divulge here. You will have to see it for yourself to witness the film’s dark glory. In conclusion,The Unknown may be short, but it’s dark and twisted story gives it edge and excitement enough to keep the modern day viewer enthralled.

Ratings:

Screenplay/Story: 8.4/10

Characters: 8.3/10

Emotion: 8.2/10

Visuals & Editing: 8/10

Direction & Cinematography: 8.4/10

Music: 8.3/10

Overall: 8.4/10

[Silent Film Marathon] 19# Un chien Andalau (1929)

My Rating: 8/10

Directed by: Luis Buñuel

Written by: Luis Buñuel & Salvador Dali

Runtime: 17 Minutes

Genre: Art House & International, Fantasy

Surreal, strange, alarming and weird. Those are a few words to describe this film. Having to watch it twice to understand the film, which still didn’t do 100% justice, the film (the few intertitles where in French and weren’t translated. I now totally get it, and for something from 1929, it’s quite an alarming and provoking film. There simply is no plot in this odd film which is essentially a barrage of striking and irrational images designed to shock and provoke. The film is said to be a dream logic film in narrative flow that can be described in terms of then-popular Freudian free association, presenting a series of tenuously related scenes. Dream logic is the perfect way to put it because we have all awoken to remember a very strange dream at one point. This 17 minute short film stands out from the crowd to every other silent film of this era because of its graphic and shocking imagery. Its true treasury of a film and it still manage to make people cringe today with it’s shocking eye slit moment and the weird happenings that take place.

 A film considered ‘Dream Logic’

The film opens with a title card reading "Once upon a time". What may be the film's conclusion unfolds; a middle-aged man (played by Buñuel) sharpens his razor at his balcony door and tests the razor on his thumb. He then opens the door, and idly fingers the razor while gazing at the moon, about to be engulfed by a thin cloud, from his balcony. There is a cut to a close-up of a young woman (Simone Mareuil) being held by the man as she calmly stares straight ahead. Another cut occurs to the moon being overcome by the cloud as the man slits the woman's eye with the razor, and the vitreous humour spills out from it. Being black & white, it was strange to see the vitreous humour come out. The scene was done by cutting the eye of a calf and it’s very convincing.

Moments before the eye cutting scene.

 Un Chien Andalou was one of the first handmade films--movies made by their creators on a shoestring budget, without studio financing. It is an ancestor of the works of John Cassavetes and today's independent digital movies. Today the film is shown in universities and film schools to show it’s powerful and vivid –let’s not forget about cringing- imagery. In one of the scenes we have a man who feels a woman’s breasts, which is the first time I’ve seen anything truly sexual in a silent film, and her clothes she is wearing fades off for a few seconds. It’s an unexplainable scene so you will really have to watch it for yourself.

Another one of the films alarming moments is when we see one of the characters cut hand having ants crawl out from it. Once more, explanation is none and it’s another part of the gruesome imagery the film shows. Last but not least, the other weird thing is when the man –the very one who felt that woman’s breasts- pulls 2 pianos, a carcass of a donkey and 2 priests (who are very confused). It all doesn’t make sense which is probably why the film is so renowned and it’s something to see before you die.

The confused priests.

 Overall:

It still manages to make people cringe today and people are still discovering this beholding it’s wondrous and strange power. The film fully has no plot purpose, but today it is considered a short masterpiece. Although Buñuel subverts every expectation that a viewer might bring to the film (time moves arbitrarily forward and backward, characters vanish and reappear, and the action remains stubbornly illegible), the images he uses to convey his deeper meanings remain passionate, resonant, and alarmingly, weirdly sexual to this day. The best way to put this film is an oddity, but a darn good oddity at that. It’s easily the weirdest of any silent film of that time because of its surreal imagery, empty plot and alarming tone. Although many consider it a masterpiece, and it is to an extent, the 15 minute short film does not surpass amazement so my rating stays at a firm 8.2/10.

Ratings:

Screenplay/Story: 8.4/10

Characters: 7.6/10

Emotion: 8/10

Visuals & editing: 8.2/10

Direction & Cinematography: 8.4/10

Music: 8.3/10

Overall: 8.2/10

[Silent Film Marathon] 18# City Lights (1931)

My Rating: 9/10

Directed & written by: Charlie Chaplin

Runtime: 90 Minutes

Genre: Romance, Comedy

In 1931, sound films where at the point the new way of films, but Chaplin stuck by silent films for just a while yet, and out came City Lights, a charming and sincere comedy film. Starring once more the classic character the tramp this Chaplin film was equally as charming as it was funny. As a comedy it certainly compares to other comedies out there –and certainly outlives many of the newest ones around-. City Lights is easily one of the greatest silent films and all because of Chaplin’s marvellous writing, acting and of course, directing. It’s got plenty of good moments and the occasional use of comic sounds and it’s overall a beautiful film. It’s great that Charlie Chaplin stuck with silent films just a while longer, and five years after this film would go on to having his last, being Modern Times. It’s truly a comical masterpiece and is much more than just a comedy; it’s a wonderful drama and romance story.

 Plot:

Once more casted as The Tramp, our character meets a blind flower girl, and through a series of coincidences has gotten the impression that the shabby tramp is a millionaire. A second storyline begins when the tramp encounters a millionaire himself who is only recognised by him when he is drunk. So with these two plots, the tramp tries to raise money for the blind girl to have an eye operation. The highlights include the tramp in a boxing match, and the final scene where the tramp meets the blind girl once more who at this point, can now see.

The Tramp’s Adventures through the City

The film opens with our tramp sleeping on a new monument being given to a city, and soon after he encounters the blind girl whom he buys a flower from. It is almost love at first sight (for the tramp that is) when the tramp meets her as he stays to watch her. The Tramp’s whole journey is wild, funny and heart-warming.  City Lights is a mix of comedy and romance which makes it one of the most perfect comedy films. The Tramp gets into so many different predicaments throughout the story. The film, like most silent films, had sudden flashes of written dialogue. City Lights only had a few of them which I actually enjoyed because it didn't have to base itself on lines. The tramp also encounters a rich man about to commit suicide by throwing himself into a river, but the tramp stops him, telling him “Tomorrow, the birds will sing”. As I said, the drunk and suicidal man only recognises the tramp when he is drunk and it’s really funny seeing them together. I love the scene when they go out together in the night, where the tramp ends up eating confetti instead of spaghetti, and other funny happenings.

the tramp and the blind girl.

 Great music and great acting

The acting was terrific, and not only Chaplin was the highlight acting. The blind girl was played wonderfully and the eccentric rich man was hilarious too. Another thing that I loved was the music. It was extremely well done and was very in sync with the actions of the actors. The music in our first moments is little kazoo sounds to a man speaking (the scene with the monument). One of the film’s finest moments was the boxing scene where the tramp must fight a big tough guy. Being small and weak, but high in agility the tramp dodges him swiftly. It was a very well-co-ordinated scene and Chaplin’s clever and athletic ability. So overall the acting was superb and the music was terrific.

Overall:

Chaplin is certainly one of the greatest directors (and actors might I add) there is with almost every single one of his films being brilliant. City Lights was one of his last silent features but with his clever and legendary writing, Chaplin pulled it off with great critical response. Since then the film has been loved and cherished and is among the best silent films for sure. There is no doubt that when City Lights ends, you'll feel very positive. From start to finish, it is packed with happiness that will easily fill you. This is and will always be a masterpiece that will not be forgotten.  Overall City Lights is charming as it is funny.

Ratings:

Screenplay/Story: 9.1/10

Characters: 9/10

Emotion: 9/10

Visuals & editing: 8.9/10

Direction & Cinematography: 9.2/10

Music: 8.9/10

Overall: 9.1/10

[Silent Film Marathon] 17# Der Letze Mann (The Last Laugh) (1924)

My Rating: 8/10

Directed by: F.W Murnau

Written by: Carl Mayer

Genre: Drama, Art House & International

Runtime: 77 Minutes

As usual I start my reviews with the first thing that comes into my head about the film. The Last Laugh tells a story of an old doorman, who is proud as can be, and even prouder of his uniform with it’s wide shoulders, military lapels and comic opera cuffs. With artistic resonance, director F.W Murnau brings another classic to the screen in this finely crafted piece of entertainment. Using no title cards, except for one that guides us as a narrative, the film’s surprising imagery, smooth camera tracking and movement and a story that comes to terms as simple, it is another classic silent film of the era. Once more an international silent film has come to my eyes, and is making me realise that there is more cinema out there than I know.

Plot: The story is simple and tells the story of a man (Emil Jennings) who was proud and had everything, prouder than he should be as a doorman. He is a pleasant man who loves his work. One day, the hotel's insensitive new manager decides that the old man is no longer up to his job. The manager demotes Jannings to the men's wash-room attendant, and the effect is disastrous on the man's prestige and self-esteem. The story is surprisingly basic and mostly follows only the doorman, but it still manages to grasp your attention. We see the doorman, who is now a wash-room attendant, in the wash-room with a look on his face with no self-esteem, utter disgrace and embarrassment. 

The once proud Doorman.

 More great Cinematography from Murnau

Once again Murnau has played out the cinematography beautifully. Using that vignette style with the camera and its black dark edges, and several of the effects used where innovative and inventive. For a black & White film, and a silent one at that, the imagery and expressionism was off the scale. One scene I’ll never forget is the doormen’s dream sequence which is exactly what I’m talking about. It was fascinatingly strange and shows how weird some dreams just can be. In this dream, the doormen s in his job once again and e walks through those classic revolving doors to find about 6 other doormen trying to lift some luggage. The doormen commanding them to stop by waving his hands then easily lifts the luggage with one hand.  He proudly walks back into the hotel with the luggage high in the air with one arm and soon begins throwing it in the air and catching it. Around him are people clapping. The scene was bizarre and a true oddity. But showed the psychological state the doorman was in.

About 60 minutes into the film, you are left in pretty much no doubt that this story has not got happy ending, but Murnau (either because his producers forced him to or he wanted to) decided to take pity on the character and turn things around. I mentioned the one place in the film where a title card is used and it is here. It is not necessary, and the film would make perfect sense without it. But Murnau seemed compelled to use it, almost as an apology for what follows. We see the pathetic old man wrapped in the cloak of the night watchman who was his friend, and the movie seems over. Then comes the title card, which says, "Here the story should really end, for, in real life, the forlorn old man would have little to look forward to but death. The author took pity on him and has provided a quite improbable epilogue."

This happy ending as conjured from thin air. Some critics say it was unnecessary, but either way the story ended fine and was most satisfying. If the film where to ending this tragedy, it would still suite the title, that of which being the society gets the last laugh on him. Instead we have and ending of our doormen, who inherited a fortune from a man who died in his arms in the wash room (whose will said whoevers arms he died in gets the fortune) laughing in his carriage with his friend laughing showing he gets the last laugh.

The doorman as the Wash-room attendant.

One critics comment

Its indeed quite a remarkable film and one critic wrote “His tragedy could only be a German story," wrote the critic Lotte Eisner, whose 1964 book on Murnau reawakened interest in his work. "It could only happen in a country where the uniform (as it was at the time the film was made) was more than God." It does bring to my attention that this is the time during the rise of the Nazis indeed and the doorman’s total identification with his job, hi position, his uniform and his image helps foreshadow how when he puts his uniform on the doorman is no longer an individual, but a somewhat slavishly loyal instrument of a larger organisation. And when he takes the uniform off, he ceases to exist, even in his own eyes.

Overall:

The doorman is almost constantly in shot with the camera, and once more shows Murnau’s talented ways in the silent era. Der Letze Mann holds as a pretty significant film, but with all this praise why not a 90% rating? Well as much enriched the story is it follows one character and one character only, which is fine but everything is focused on him. The story also ended out of the blue with the writer, which was a little satisfying, but the tragic ending would have left the audience more speechless and surprised. Well overall Der Letze Mann or should I say ‘The Last Laugh’ is among the classic silent films of the era, with great imagery, and a story of one man’s psychological state and tragedy. It has an interesting message and has a very compelling story.

Ratings:

Screenplay/Story: 8.2/10

Characters: 8.2/10

Emotion: 8.2/10

Visuals & Editing: 8.5/10

Direction & Cinematography: 8.5/10

Music: 8.3/10

Overall: 8.4/10