72. L'Age d'Or (1930)

This movie seems to be the inspiration for many people's misconceptions about foreign films. It basically makes no sense and is deliberately strange and odd. It is filled with weird images, notably the cow in the bed, the woman 'shrimping' the statue, etc.

I really did enjoy it though, but I confident that 90% of the people I know would think it's retarded.

A basic plot synopsis would be that a man and a woman try to make love but stuff keeps getting in the way. Including a cow.

There was a lot going on in this film, most notably for me the interchangeability of people and objects. The woman of the film often is seen as either a poster, or in one scene two shots are overlapped, one of her and one of her dress, as if to say that her dress is as valuable as she is. In another scene the man is taken away as they are about to kiss, so she ends of up sucking the toe of a statue.

The movie also skewers elitist values as in one scene at a party a wealthy dowager(Simpsons reference) gets slapped and everyone is shocked and concerned for her, but at the same time in the field outside a gameskeeper shoots his son and no one really cares.

Also a dog gets kicked and a blind man gets kicked, a priest gets thrown out of a window. In the same scene a burning pine tree is tossed out of a window(shades of Muchmusic?).

It's all very weird, but strangely compelling. Good thing I went to college and can appreciate these things.

274. Great Expectations (1946)

I've never read the book and I didn't know the story at all and David Lean movies have been hit or miss for me so far, so my expectations were not great. I make funny.

The story is kind of slow moving, especially considering it starts out with a genuinely creepy scene of Pip being accosted by an escaped convict who is strangely obsessed with young boys' livers. Pip's genorisity towards the convict plays a crucial role in the story, but at the time it seemed somewhat superfluous.

Pip is an orphan who lives with his sister and her husband in poverty, and is eventually taken in as a servant for a strange lady named Miss Haversham. She lives in a delapidated mansion with a young lady named Estella. Miss Haversham was stood up at the altar by an old beau, and hasn't exactly moved on. There is a particularly hideous wedding cake featured prominantly in her room.

Jean Simmons has been someone I have been crushin' on lately, having just recently watched her in 1947's Black Narcissus as in Indian girl, and in 1960's Spartacus, as Spartacus' wife. I had never heard of her before, but she is quite a good actress, and she has really striking features, and an expressive face. I have heard her described as 'impossibly beautiful', which is about as well as I could describe. Anyway she plays the younger version of Estella in this and she is very good as a strange young lady who torments and taunts Pip with insults and kisses.

The story moves slowly with Pip eventually receiving the wealth of a mysterious benefactor, which allows him to pursue Estella in London's high society. Anyway the story starts to tie together in a way I found surprising, and made alot of sense considering everything that had preceded it.

I wasn't especially engaged by the movie until the last 30 minutes or so when everything starts to make sense. Up until then I wasn't sure why the story was being told, but it actually comes together really nicely. I heard this Dickens character wrote some other books or pamphlets of some kind.

I should mention David Lean's direction in this movie, which might be its best feature. He makes really good use of the absense of color, by use shadows and darkness. There is one shot which is as good as anything I have ever seen, in which Mr Jaggers who is the lawyer for the mysterious benefactor visits Pip and his uncle Joe during Pip's apprenticeship. Jaggers enters through the doorway which is center screen and the shadows of Pip on the left and Joe on the right appear at each side creating the impression of three men standing all in a row, but only Mr. Jaggers is actual on camera. It's as good as anything Sergei Eisenstein does in Ivan the Terrible.

Another great shot appears at the end of the movie when Estella now back at the mansion she grew up in sits down in Miss Haversham's old chair, and it's incredible how she assumes her posture, like you get the connection right away, she is going to become Miss Haversham. It's a brilliant bit of acting by Valerie Hobson, and great direction by David Lean to convey such a small thing so powerfully.

It's also Alec Guiness' first movie. He doesn't play a major role but it did mark the start of his relationship with David Lean, and he would go on to play in 7 of his movies.

So far I am 2-1-1 on David Lean movies. This was good, The Bridge on the River Kwai was amazing, Lawrence of Arabia was pretty disappointing, and Dr. Zhivago was inconsistent as hell, but had enough good parts to recommend it. 1945's Brief Encounter shall decide it all.

866. Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

There is an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia called "Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom" in which all the characters basically use sex as a means of screwing(pun intended) each other over, and in the end no one gets what they want.

This movie reminded me of that episode. Basically Glenn Close and John Malkovich try and one up each other with their sexual exploits and in the end everyone is destroyed.

It's interesting to me that where I really enjoyed "Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom", I found it very difficult to watch "Dangerous Liaisons" even though the themes are essentially very similar. Obviously the tone of each is markedly different and that is the cause of my drastically different feelings about the two.

My question I guess is this: why does the tone make it okay for me to revel the ugliness of IASIP and feel uncomfortable at the malice of "Dangerous Liaisons"? I suppose the episodic nature of IASIP has allowed me to grow accustomed to the faults of the characters, and the fact that it's played mostly for laughs affects my feelings too. Also the ugliness is usually forgotten by the next episode, so you aren't forced to deal with the destruction of each character.

In contrast the characters of "Dangerous Liaisons" are seen to fall apart under the weight of their actions: Uma Thurman goes from chaste to whore, Keanu Reeves betrays his first love, John Malkovich falls in love with the very person he is trying to corrupt, Michelle Pfeiffer becomes corrupted, and finally Glenn Close as the gleeful orchestrator of this chaos comes to terms with her own emptiness.

I respect the movie for what it is, but I don't think I have ever watched a movie that is so mean spirited and contains so much malice. I realize that is the point, but it makes it an uncomfortable viewing experience.

PS everyone should watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it's Seinfeld on crack, literally.

114. The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)

I was scared to watch this movie because it's long, it's a drama, I'd never heard of it, and it's in black & white. But I pretty much want to marry this movie.

It's another movie like Mr. Smith Goes To Washington that I was surprised to see made right after the war. Basically 3 veterans come home from the war and the story of their re-adjustment to life at home unfolds. All the performances are quite good and the story gets going very quickly. I was just plain surprised at how much I liked this movie.

I was severely impressed by the choice of Harold Russell as Homer. Basically Russell was an actual vet who had lost both his hands above the wrist, and had prosthetic hooks. The opening scene where his 'hands' are revealed is very powerful, and then when you actually see him using the hooks to light a cigarette you realize they actually chose a real war amp to play the part. I thought that was very bold, and it works very well, even though Russell is pretty stilted in some scenes. His inexperience is more than compensated for by his remarkable use of his 'hands', and the power of watching him come to terms with his handicap.

As I delve further into the list, I am surprised to see that Hollywood has always made films that are relevant and topical, and even controversial. I have always just had the naive assumption that all of the sudden movies became topical in like 1977 or something. But movies like this prove that is not the case.

339. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)

My favorite scene is this movie is the montage of Jimmy Stewart punching people in the face. I think more movies need that. Jimmy Stewart punching people in the face.

I think what I like about Frank Capra movies is the clear division between good and evil. The good guys are likeable, and while not infallible, do what's right in the end. Meanwhile the bad guys seem to have no soul, and have every awful tactic at their disposal. Basically the bad guys screw over the good guys til you can't take it anymore and then in the end the good guys triumph. The formula is simple but with the right people it works so well.

I am surprised this movie would get made in 1939. It's pretty cynical about how the political system works in America, and I was just surprised that on the cusp of war, a movie like this would get made. After doing a bit of research I found that the movie was considered quite controversial, and there were fears that this movie could be used as propaganda against the US.

I think am probably being naive but as I watch all these old movies I am surprised that they are actually fairly topical. I just assumed that anything remotely controversial or critical got whitewashed, but except for the notable lack of nudity and gay people, these old movies present alot of relevant themes, with at least some honesty.

I just wasn't expected this movie to portray corruption so openly. It was good to see.

An Explanation

In case anyone is wondering what I am doing, here goes.

I am currently endeavoring to try and watch all 1000 movies on the They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? list.

Prior to starting I had seen 94 on the list. I am now up to 120 or so.

This blog is meant to track my progress and explore my relationship to these films.

Enjoy.

976. Tom Jones (1963)

Here is my Tom Jones story. In 2002 or so I took a drama class in college and had to watch a play. So I went and saw a musical version of Tom Jones at my college. It was pretty bad, as it combined bad acting with 70's pop music. I distinctly remember 'Fernando' by Abba being prominent. Another song in the musical was 'Cecilia' by Simon & Garfunkel. I didn't know the who sang it, but I recognized. After some searching I discovered it was S & G, which lead me to buy Bridge Over Troubled Water, which in turn lead to a long-time fascination with S & G.

From there I read a biography of them, which went into detail about S & G's connection with Mike Nichols. From there I had a burning desire to watch The Graduate, which currently stands as my all time favorite movie. So thank you bad college production of 'Tom Jones' for your serendipitous influence upon my life.